Author: NowReadThis

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Avenging Spider-Man: My Friends Can Beat Up Your Friends


By Zeb Wells, Joe Madureira, Greg Land, Leinil Francis Yu, Jay Leisten & Gerardo Alanguilan (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-509-3

Since Spider-Man first joined the Avengers he has spent a lot of time questioning his worth and fittingness and that nervous insecurity informs this delightful compendium of brief sidebar stories starring the wall-crawler and individual members of the World’s Mightiest Heroes in team-up action.

Collecting the first five issues of team-up title The Avenging Spider-Man, which began at the end of 2011 – presumably to capitalise on the then-impending Avengers film release – this engaging and upbeat compendium is as big on laughs as mayhem, as you’d expect with award-winning Robot Chicken scripter Zeb Wells at the keyboard…

The madcap mayhem begins with a three-part collaboration illustrated by Joe Madureira and co-starring military monolith Red Hulk wherein the subterranean Moloids once ruled over by the Mole Man attack during the New York Marathon and kidnap Mayor J. Jonah Jameson.

The only heroes available are the criminally mismatched and constantly bickering web-spinner and Crimson Colossus, who follow, by the most inconvenient and embarrassing method possible, the raiders back into the very bowels of the Earth…

There they discover that an even nastier race of deep Earth dwellers, the Molans, led by a brutal barbarian named Ra’ktar, have invaded the Mole Man’s lands and now are intent on taking the surface too. The only thing stopping them so far is a ceremonial single-combat duel between the monstrous Molan and the surface world “king” Mayor Jameson…

Understandably Red Hulk steps in as JJJ’s champion, with the Wall-crawler revelling in his own inadequacies and insecurities again, but when Ra’ktar kills the Scarlet Steamroller (don’t worry kids, it’s only a flesh wound: a really, really deep, incredibly debilitating flesh wound) Spider-Man has to suck it in and step up, once more defeating impossible odds and saving the day in his own inimitable, embarrassing and hilarious way…

Next up is a stand alone story pairing the web-spinner with the coolly capable and obnoxiously arrogant Hawkeye (limned by Greg Land & Jay Leisten) which superbly illustrates Spider-Man’s warmth, humanity and abiding empathy as the fractious allies foil an attempt by the sinister Serpent Society to unleash poison gas in the heart of the city, but without doubt the undisputed prize here is a magical buddy-bonding yarn featuring Captain America which charismatically concludes this compendium.

The wonderment begins when some recently rediscovered pre-WWII comics strips by ambitious and aspiring kid-cartoonist Steve Rogers leads to a mutual acknowledgement of both Cap and Spidey’s inner nerd… and just in case you’ve no soul, there’s also plenty of spectacular costumed conflict as the Avengers track down and polish off the remaining scaly scallywags of the Serpent Society in a cracking yarn illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu & Gerardo Alanguilan…

By turns outrageous, poignant, sentimental, suspenseful and always intoxicatingly action-packed, this is a welcome return to the good old fun-stuffed thriller frolics Spider-Man was born for…

™ & © 2012 Marvel and subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A, Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.

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Showcase Presents Superman volume 4


By Edmond Hamilton, Robert Bernstein, Jerry Siegel, Leo Dorfman, Al Plastino, Curt Swan, George Klein & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1271

By the time of the stories collected in this fabulous fourth monochrome compendium Superman was truly a global household name, with the burgeoning mythology of lost Krypton, modern Metropolis and the core cast familiar to most children and many adults.

The Man of Tomorrow was just beginning a media-led burst of revived interest.

In the immediate future, television exposure, a rampant merchandising wave thanks to the Batman-led boom in superheroes generally, highly efficient world-wide comics, cartoon, bubblegum cards and especially toy licensing deals would all feed a growing frenzy. Everything was working to keep the Last Son of Krypton a vibrant yet comfortably familiar icon of modern, Space-Age America: particularly the constantly evolving, ever-more dramatic and imaginative comicbook stories…

The tales in this tome span October 1962-February 1964 culled from Action Comics #293-309 and Superman #157-166 and increasingly saw the Man of Tomorrow facing more fantastic physical threats and critical personal and social challenges.

Action Comics #293 gets things off to a fine start with ‘The Feud Between Superman and Clark Kent!’ by Edmond Hamilton & Al Plastino, as another exposure to the randomly metamorphic Red Kryptonite divided the Metropolis Marvel into a rational but powerless mortal and an aggressive, out of control superhero, determined to continue his existence at all costs…

Superman #157 (November 1962) opened with a key new piece of the ongoing legend as ‘The Super-Revenge of the Phantom Zone Prisoner!’ by Hamilton, Curt Swan & George Klein introduced permanently power-neutralising Gold Kryptonite and Superman’s Zone-o-phone – allowing him to monitor and communicate with the incarcerated inhabitants – in a stirring tale of injustice and redemption.

Convicted felon Quex-Ul used the device to petition Superman for release since his sentence has been served, and despite reservations the fair-minded hero could only agree.

However further investigation revealed Quex-Ul had been framed and was wholly innocent of any crime, but before Superman could make amends for the injustice he had to survive a deadly trap which the embittered and partially mind-controlled parolee had laid for the son of the Zone’s discoverer…

The issue also contained a light-hearted espionage-sting yarn as the Action Ace became ‘The Super-Genie of Metropolis!’ (Robert Bernstein & Plastino) as well as ‘Superman’s Day of Doom!’ by Jerry Siegel, Swan & Klein, wherein a little kid saves the Man of Steel from a deadly ambush set during a parade in the hero’s honour.

Action #294 then offered a classic duel between Superman and Lex Luthor in ‘The Kryptonite Killer!’ (Hamilton & Plastino) wherein the obsessed scientist creates elemental humanoids to destroy his hated foe, whilst #295’s ‘Superman Goes Wild!’ featured an insidious plot by the Superman Revenge Squad to drive the hero murderously insane – courtesy of creators Bernstein, Swan & Klein.

Issue #158 of his solo title featured the full-length epic ‘Superman in Kandor!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) which saw raiders from the preserved Kryptonian enclave attacking the Man of Steel in ‘Invasion of the Mystery Supermen’, describing him as a traitor to his people. Baffled, Superman infiltrated the Bottle City with Jimmy Olsen where they created the costumed identities of Nightwing and Flamebird to become ‘The Dynamic Duo of Kandor!’ and discovered the answer to the enigma before saving the entire colony from utter destruction in ‘The City of Super-People!’

Action #296 seemed to offer a simple man vs. monster saga in ‘The Invasion of the Super-Ants!’ (Hamilton & Plastino) but the gripping yarn also had a sharp plot twist and timely warning about nuclear proliferation, whilst in #297 ‘The Man Who Betrayed Superman’s Identity!’ by Leo Dorfman, Swan & Klein, veteran newsman Perry White was tricked into solving the world’s greatest mystery after a bump on the head gave him amnesia.

Whilst Editor Mort Weisinger was expanding the series’ continuity and building the legend, he learned that each new tale was an event which added to a nigh-sacred canon and that what he printed was deeply important to the readers. However as an ideas man he wasn’t going to let that aggregated “history” stifle a good plot situation, nor would he allow his eager yet sophisticated audience to endure clichéd Deus ex Machina cop-outs which would mar the sheer enjoyment of a captivating concept.

Thus “Imaginary Stories” were conceived as a way of exploring non-continuity plots and scenarios, devised at a time when editors believed that entertainment trumped consistency and fervently believed that every comic read was somebody’s first and, unless they were very careful, their last…

This volume’s first Imaginary Novel follows, taken from Superman #159 wherein ‘Lois Lane, the Super-Maid of Krypton!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) saw a baby girl escape Earth’s destruction by rocketing to another world in ‘Lois Lane’s Flight from Earth!’ befriending young Kal-El and growing to become a mighty champion of justice.

She clashed with ‘The Female Luthor of Krypton!’ and saved the world over and again before tragically enduring ‘The Doom of Super-Maid!’ at a time when attitudes apparently couldn’t allow a girl to be stronger than Superman – even in an alternate fictionality…

Dorfman, Swan & Klein produced ‘Clark Kent, Coward!’ in Action #298 wherein a balloon excursion dumped Jimmy, Lois and the clandestine crusader in a lost kingdom whose queen found the timid buffoon irresistible. Unfortunately the husky hunks of the hidden land took great umbrage with her latest fascination…

In his eponymous publication the hero temporarily lost his powers in ‘The Mortal Superman!’ (#160 by Dorfman &Plastino) and almost died in ‘The Cage of Doom!’, before his merely human wits proved enough to outsmart a merciless crime syndicate, after which the mood lightened when, fully restored, he became ‘The Super-Cop of Metropolis!’ to outwit a gang of spies in a classy “why-dunnit” by Siegel, Swan & Klein.

Action #299 revealed the outlandish story behind ‘The Story of Superman’s Experimental Robots!’ in a truly bizarre tale from Siegel & Plastino, after which Superman #161 led with an untold tale that revealed how he tragically learned the limitations of his powers.

In ‘The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent!’ (Dorfman & Plastino) a vacation time-travel trip led to his foster parent’s demise and only too late did the heartbroken hero learn that his actions were not the cause of their deaths, after which ‘Superman Goes to War’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) lightened the mood as a war game covered by the Daily Planet staff segued into the real thing when Clark discovered some of the participants were actually aliens.

Action Comics reached #300 with the May1963 issue and to celebrate Hamilton & Plastino crafted the brilliantly ingenious ‘Superman Under the Red Sun!’ which saw the Man of Tomorrow dispatched to the far, far future where Earth’s sun has cooled to crimson and his powers faded. The valiant chronal castaway suffered incredible hardship and danger before figuring out a way home, just in time for #301 and ‘The Trial of Superman!’ (Hamilton & Plastino), wherein the Man of Steel allowed himself to be prosecuted for Clark Kent’s murder to save the nation from a terrible threat.

Dorfman, Swan & Klein’s ‘The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!’ (Superman #162) is possibly the most ambitious and influential tale of the entire “Imaginary Tale” sub-genre: a startling utopian classic so well-received that decades later it influenced and flavoured the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman continuity for months.

In ‘The Titanic Twins!’ the Metropolis Marvel is permanently divided into two equal beings who forthwith solve all Earth’s problems with ‘The Anti-Evil Ray!’ and similar scientific breakthroughs before both retiring with pride and the girls of their dreams, Lois Lane and Lana Lang (one each, of course) in ‘The End of Superman’s Career!’

There’s no record of who scripted Action #302’s ‘The Amazing Confession of Super- Perry White!’ but Plastino’s slick illustration lends great animation to the convoluted tale wherein the Man of Steel replaces the aging editor to thwart an assassination plot, only to accidentally give the impression that the podgy Perry is his actual alter ego…

Superman #163 offered a crafty mystery as ‘Wonder-Man, the New Hero of Metropolis!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein) almost replaced the Man of Steel, were it not for his tragic foredoomed secret whilst ‘The Goofy Superman!’ (Bernstein & Plastino) saw Red K deprive the Metropolis Marvel of his powers and sanity, resulting in a rather fortuitous stay in the local home for the Perpetually Bewildered – since that’s where a cunning mad bomber was secretly hiding out…

Action #303 saw the infernal mineral transform Superman into ‘The Monster from Krypton!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein), almost dying at the hands of the army and a vengeful Supergirl who believed her cousin had been eaten by the dragon he’d become, whilst #304 heralded ‘The Interplanetary Olympics!’ by Dorfman, Swan & Klein, with Superman deliberately throwing the contest and shaming Earth… but only for the best possible reasons…

Next up is a classic confrontation between the Caped Kryptonian and his greatest foe in ‘The Showdown Between Luthor and Superman’ (Superman #164, October 1963 and by Hamilton, Swan & Klein again) pitting the lifelong foes in an unforgettable confrontation on the post-apocalyptic planet Lexor – a lost world of forgotten science and fantastic beasts – which resulted in ‘The Super-Duel!’ and displayed a whole new side to Superman’s previously two dimensional arch-enemy.

The issue also included ‘The Fugitive from the Phantom Zone!’ (Siegel & Plastino) a smart vignette which saw Superman cunningly outwit a foe he could not beat by playing on his psychological foibles…

Action #305 featured the Imaginary Story ‘Why Superman Needs a Secret Identity!’ (Dorfman, Swan & Klein) which outlined a series of personal tragedies and disasters following Ma and Pa Kent’s proud and foolish public announcement that their son was an alien Superboy, whilst in Superman #165 ‘Beauty and the Super-Beast!’ and its conclusion ‘Circe’s Super-Slave’ (Bernstein, Swan & Klein), the Man of Steel was seemingly helpless against the ancient sorceress, but in fact the whole thing was an elaborate hoax designed to foil the alien invaders of the Superman Revenge Squad. The issue’s third tale, ‘The Sweetheart Superman Forgot!’ (Siegel & Plastino) featured a memorable and heartbreaking forbidden romance in which a powerless, amnesiac and disabled Superman met, loved and lost a good woman who loved him purely for himself. When his memory and powers returned Clark had no recollection of Sally Selwyn, who’s probably still pining faithfully for him…

Action #306 offered ‘The Great Superman Impersonation!’ by Bernstein & Plastino, as in a twist on the Prince and the Pauper Clark Kent was hired to protect the President of a South American republic because he looks enough like Superman to fool potential assassins. Of course it’s all a Byzantine con, but by the end who’s conning who?

The reporter’s crime exposés found ‘Clark Kent – Target for Murder!’ in Action #307 (by an unattributed scripter and artists Swan &Klein) but the villainous King Kobra made the mistake of his life when the hitman he hired turned out to be the intended victim in disguise, whilst issue #308 concentrated on all-out fantasy when ‘Superman Meets the Goliath-Hercules!’ (anonymous & Plastino) after crossing into a parallel universe.

Before returning the Man of Steel helped a colossal demigod perform the Six Labours of King Thebes in a story clearly cobbled together in far too much haste.

Superman #166 (January 1964) featured ‘The Fantastic Story of Superman’s Sons’ by Hamilton, Swan & Klein: an Imaginary Tale and solid thriller built on a painful premise -what if only one of Superman’s children inherited his powers? The story begins in ‘Jor-El II and Kal-El II’ with the discovery that little Kal junior takes after his Earth-born mother and subsequently grows into a teenager with real emotional problems.

Hoping to boost his confidence, Superman packs both sons off to Kandor where they’ll be physically equal and soon the twins are finding adventure as ‘The new Nightwing and Flamebird!’

However, when a Kandorian menace escapes to the outer world, it’s up to the human son to save Earth following ‘Kal-El II’s Mission to Krypton!’ which wraps everything up in a neat and tidy bundle of escapist fun.

This volume closes with a strange TV tie-in tale from Action Comics #309 as an analogue of This Is Your Life honours Superman by inviting all his friends – even the Legion of Super-Heroes and especially including Clark Kent – to ‘The Superman Super-Spectacular!’ (Hamilton, Swan & Klein).

With no other option the Metropolis Marvel is compelled to share his secret identity with somebody new so that they can impersonate him. Although there must be less convoluted ways to allay Lois’ constant suspicions, this yarn does include perhaps the oddest guest star appearance in comics’ history…

These tales are the comicbook equivalent of bubblegum pop music: perfectly constructed, always entertaining, occasionally challenging and never unwelcome. As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling, mind-boggling and yes, frequently moving all-ages stories also perfectly depict the changing mores and tastes which reshaped comics between the safely anodyne 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more”.

I know I certainly do…
© 1962-1964, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Thor: the Deviants Saga


By Robert Rodi, Stephen Segovia, M. Jason Paz & Jeffrey Huet (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-511-6

Once again a major motion picture adaptation has generated a host of supplemental comics product and as Thor returns to the big screen in The Avengers movie there’s still plenty for established fans and freshly-interested parties to grapple with, such as this stirring and tempestuous epic featuring the final fate and rebirth of Jack Kirby’s other Marvel “gods and monsters” series…

The Eternals debuted in 1976 in a series slightly at odds with and removed from the regular company continuity and revealed that giant Celestial aliens had visited Earth in Epochs past, gene-gineering proto-hominids into three distinct species: Human Beings; god-like super-beings who called themselves Eternals and monstrous, genetically unstable but highly intelligent creatures dubbed Deviants. Moreover the Space Gods had periodically returned to check up on their experiment…

Never a comfortable contemporary fit with the rest of the Marvel Universe, the comic explored Kirby’s fascinations with Deities, Space and Supernature through the lens of very human observers. Once the series ended and Kirby left, other creators subsequently co-opted the concept into the regular continuity.

Skilfully remastered here by Robert Rodi and artists Stephen Segovia, M. Jason, Paz & Jeffrey Huet, the story picks up on elements of the 2007 collection Neil Gaiman’s Eternals and opens in the ruins of Asgard as Thor discovers ancient deposed, Deviant ruler Ereshkigal has crept in and is searching through the rubble.

The Deviants have fallen on hard times and face extinction from a deadly plague, inspiring the demonic ex-empress to seek Asgardian tools and weapons to facilitate her return to power. After an inconclusive battle, Ereshkigal escapes with the Unbinding Stone of Oshemar, an apparently innocuous globe which can literally unmake reality.

Utterly unaware of the power of her purloined prize, the Deviant tries and fails to usurp control from the current rulers of the Lemurian under-city which is their home whilst Thor, galvanised by the imminent destruction of the universe, seeks allies and the location of her hidden homeland amongst his old comrades in Olympia, cloaked Earthly citadel of his old Eternal comrades.

The city is all but deserted, with only resurrected hero Virako, master technician Phastos and “reformed” Deviants Karkas and Ransak the Reject occupying the vast mountaintop metropolis…

Before the valiant band can formulate a plan, however, the city is invaded by a Deviant army led by immortal Warlord Kro and a coterie of elite monster warriors. After a spectacular battle the heroes are temporarily overwhelmed and Phastos captured: his incredible devices taken in the misguided belief that they can reverse the effects of the disease devastating the Deviant population.

With the Unbinding Stone still in Ereshkigal’s meddling hands and their friend in peril, Thor and his comrades must storm the very heart of Lemuria before personal tragedy becomes universal Armageddon, but at least they have a hidden ally in the heart of the enemy – the outcast Eternal known alternatively as Gilgamesh and the Forgotten One…

Also re-entering the mix are the space-scattered, missing Eternals, but even if they return in time what can anybody do against a doom-obsessed potentate possessing a device which destroys atomic bonds and has no off-switch…?

A grandiose old-fashioned blockbuster epic, this rousing yarn is craftily constructed so that even first-time readers can get right into the swing of things, whilst veteran followers will find plenty of old favourite characters and themes revisited and clarified, with the adventure rattling along to a perfect climax with the portentous promise of more to come.

Fast, furious, frantic fantasy fun for older kids that no Fights ‘n’ Tights fanatic could possibly resist.
™ & © 2012 Marvel and subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A, Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.

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Battle Scars


By Cullen Bunn, Matt Fraction, Christopher Yost, Scot Eaton & Andrew Hennessy (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-512-3

What happens when everything you think you know is proven to be a lie? How does a practical, self-reliant normal man cope?

Short, sharp, supremely shocking and superbly entertaining, this collected six-part ‘Shattered Heroes’ miniseries was set in the aftermath of the Fear Itself company-wide crossover and focused on troubled American Army Ranger Marcus Johnson, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who overnight found himself in an impossible situation a million miles from the sane and sensible – if understandably deadly – world he knew.

Afflicted by PTSD after all he experienced as a soldier, and with the world still recovering from the visceral global panic of “the Fear” (when dark Asgardian Gods almost destroyed the world through a wave of supernatural terror), Johnson returns home to attend his mother’s funeral.

Nia Johnson was a simple Atlanta schoolteacher killed in a terror-inspired street riot.

Or was she…?

On leave for the burial, Johnson discovers evidence that his mother was actually assassinated by mercenaries who then attack him in broad daylight. Hot on their heels comes super-hitman Taskmaster and the baffled soldier is only saved by the intervention of Captain America and a new iteration of the covert agency Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.

Without any explanation Johnson is taken into protective custody but, determined to get some answers, escapes and stumbles his baffled way through the insane world of superhumans and secret societies where everybody is a costumed lunatic and they’re all trying to kill him or recruit him.

With only his best buddy Ranger Phil “Cheese” Coulson to depend on, Johnson battles an army of maniacs who literally want his blood, discovers his mother’s incredible secret, and learns of his connection to one of the oldest and most valiant heroes in the Marvel Universe in a spectacular, compelling and rocket-paced rollercoaster ride which fittingly introduces him to a world he never wanted or even believed in…

Without, I hope, giving too much away, I’ll suggest that the contemporary trend of rationalising and aligning comicbook and screen versions of superhero scenarios clearly inspired this classy espionage super-saga and its ties to the interlocking Avengers/Iron Man/Thor/Captain America mega-movie franchise. If I’m being vague, I apologise, but if you’ve seen the movies, read this book and you’ll see what I mean.

If you’re not a devout movie maven, however, read the book anyway.  The sheer quality of the tale by storymen Cullen Bunn, Matt Fraction, Christopher Yost and artists Scot Eaton & Andrew Hennessy seems certain to make this marvellous yarn a guaranteed hit and crucial keystone of 21st century Marvel continuity.
A British Edition ™ & © 2012 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. and published by Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Outsiders: Pay As You Go


By Judd Winick, Carlo Barberi, Ron Randall, Scott McDaniel, Freddie Williams III & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1366-4

Finally exposed to a world which  believed them dead and now also blamed for setting off a nuclear explosion which destroyed a large part of Russia and poisoned the atmosphere for miles around, the underground metahuman coalition known as The Outsiders found themselves on a path to oblivion as their series peaked even whilst winding down for a major reboot.

This sixth compelling compendium (collecting #42-46 and Annual #1of Judd Winick’s grim and witty Outsiders comicbook) saw Nightwing, Grace, Thunder, Metamorpho, Katana and Owen Reece (speedster son and heir of the recently – and temporarily – deceased Captain Boomerang) – up to their muscular armpits in trouble as the story-arc ‘Mad Scientists’ continued with ‘The Weaving Factories’ (illustrated by Ron Randall, Pop Mhan, Art Thibert & Steve Bird) as exposed mastermind Dr. Sivana attacked Sydney, Australia with a weapon that neutralised technology and turned people into infinitely suggestible idiots (no, even worse than usual…).

First to respond was Nightwing’s team who flew straight to the smug mad scientist’s new lair and straight into a trap. Rather than kill them all, however, the demented doctor made them a staggering offer in ‘The Man Behind the Curtain’ before Katana spectacularly turned the tables on the maverick savant.

Even while being driven off Sivana gloated that an irresistible seed had been planted in the rogue heroes’ minds…

The eponymous ‘Pay as You Go’ storyline then begins with ‘The Skeleton Crew’ (art by Carlo Barberi & Thibert): an untold tale from the year that was skipped in the ‘One Year Later’ event and the exploit which led the world to believe the entire team was dead…

At that time the Outsiders were struggling to cope after the Infinite Crisis, particularly Anissa Pierce AKA Thunder, who was grieving for her father Black Lightning.

Elder hero Jefferson Pierce, believing himself guilty of murder, had surrendered to the authorities and chosen to serve time under an alias in the metahuman prison known as Iron Heights, but when Batman-trained vigilante and part-time villain Red Hood reached out to Nightwing with evidence that Lightning had been deceived and was completely innocent of the crime which had crushed his spirit, heart and soul, the conflicted Dick Grayson had no choice but to inform the team he had just quit…

The drama further unfolded in ‘Sins of the Father’ (Freddie Williams III, Barberi & Thibert) as the details behind the guilt-driven Lightning’s self-incarceration were revealed and Red Hood named the who, how, and why of the real killer before ‘Friends, Lovers and Other Strangers’ (additional inks by Bird) saw the team initially refuse to bust him out because of the political ramifications before changing their minds and sending the new Captain Boomerang in to infiltrate and pave the way…

Unfortunately Jefferson refused to go, but when Boomerang realised Black Lightning’s cover had been broken and an entire prison of super-criminals was hungry to kill him the Outsiders had no choice but to go in hard and heavy…

It all went bad in ‘The Wrong to do the Right’ (illustrated by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens) as the hasty plan quickly misfired, resulting in the entire prisoner population breaking free and hard-line warden Gregory Wolfe maniacally over-reacting. In the resulting catastrophe 43 inmates and guards perished and the Outsiders, although believed dead too, were blamed.

Nightwing and Arsenal, who had been noticeably elsewhere at the time, were perceived as not involved, but they knew the truth and shared the blame: the plan had been theirs and in the undertaking of it they had destroyed the team’s standing and reputation forever. Moreover, in the aftermath, one of the Outsider’s, unable to bear the guilt of his actions, ended his life…

Brutal, uncompromising and savagely action-packed, the dark secret of the Outsiders had been revealed just in time for a big finish, but these cynically plausible superhero sagas are still gripping, shocking and extremely readable: compelling tales which will enthral older fans of the genre.

To Be Concluded…
© 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Crazy World of Gardening


By Bill Stott (Exley)
ISBN: 978-1-85015-355-9

As it’s a Bank Holiday here in Britain and probably raining somewhere, I’ve taken the opportunity to re-examine the so-very-English obsession with domestic horticulture through the medium of cartoon books and in particular a collection of dry, droll and often painfully accurate observations by one of my favourite unsung gagsters, Bill Stott.

Another prolific but criminally nigh-forgotten staple of British cartooning, Stott’s manic loose line, stunningly evocative drawing and mordantly acerbic conceptions (which basically boil down to “no matter how strange, if it can happen it will happen to you, but only if somebody is watching…”) were a mainstay of Punch, Private Eye, The Times and many other papers and publications since 1976.

In his other life he was – and still is – a degree-level college painting and drawing tutor. Moreover he’s still in the game – such as it is in these days of magazine and newspaper cartoon paucity – and you can check out his latest stuff or even commission an original simply by visiting billstott.co.uk.

There might even be copies of this superb little rib-tickler on sale there…

British cartooning has been magnificently served over the centuries by masters of form, line, wash and most importantly clever ideas repeatedly poking our funny bones whilst pricking our pomposities and fascinations, and nothing says more about us than our dark compulsion to mow lawns and torture plants in flood or gale or drought and all points between…

Within the pages of the Crazy World of Gardening (released in both English and American editions as a hardcover and paperback) the wise reader will learn the horror and delight of motor mowers, why men and women mustn’t garden together, how every living thing that sprouts or flies or crawls hates and despises humanity, the wit, wisdom and worth of gnomes, anti-slug tactics, how hosepipes are not our friends, the root cause of garden distress, hedge-warfare, the misery of pond-life, greenhouse etiquette and such various and assorted plant lore as will keep the aforementioned wise ones safely inside whilst letting nature and the seasons – such as they now are – just get on with it…

These kinds of cartoon collection are perennial library/charity shop and jumble sale fare and if you ever see a Stott package (others in this particular series include The Crazy World of Cats, Cricket, Hospitals, Housework, Marriage and Rugby) in such a place, do yourself a favour, help out a good cause and have a brilliant laugh with another true master of mirth.
1987 Bill Stott. All rights reserved.

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Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Scorpion


By Brian Michael Bendis & Sara Pichelli (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-515-4

When the Ultimate Comics Spider-Man died, a new hero in his image arose…

Marvel’s Ultimates imprint began in 2000 with a post-modern take on major characters and concepts to bring them into line with the tastes of a 21st century readership – a wholly different market from those baby-boomers and their descendents content to stick with the precepts sprung from founding talents Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee… or simply those unable or unwilling to deal with the five decades (seven if you include the Golden Age Timely tales retroactively co-opted into the mix) of continuity baggage which saturated the originals.

Eventually even this darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its ancestor and in 2008 the cleansing event “Ultimatum” culminated in a reign of terror which excised dozens of super-humans and millions of lesser mortals in a devastating tsunami which inundated Manhattan, courtesy of mutant menace Magneto.

In the aftermath Peter Parker and his fellow meta-human survivors struggled to restore order to a dangerous new world.

Spider-Man finally gained a measure of acceptance and was hailed a hero when he valiantly and very publicly met his end during a catastrophic super-villain showdown…

This collection (collecting Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #6-10) follows child prodigy Miles Morales as the freshly empowered 13 year old learns to cope with his astounding new physical abilities, discovers the painful cost of living a daily life of lies and how an inescapable sense of responsibility is the worst of all possible threats…

Now a day resident at the prestigious and life-changing Brooklyn Visions Academy Boarding School, Miles spends only weekends at home and is coming to terms with some unpleasant truths. Foremost is that he has secrets to keep from his parents, but also poisoning the air is the fact that his father used to be a street-thug and now passionately hates costumed heroes – like Spider-Man.

Almost as bad is the discovery that Miles’ Uncle Aaron is a major thief and bad-guy known in the game as the Prowler…

Ever since a living piece of Aaron’s loot bit Miles and transformed him into a super-strong and fast kid who can walk up walls, turn invisible and deliver a devastating venom charge through his hands, the Prowler has been laying low, and the action opens here as he resurfaces in Mexico, narrowly escaping a deal-gone-sour with local super-powered gang-lord the Scorpion.

Meanwhile the replacement Spider-Man has been making a name for himself in New York, and news of a junior Arachnid Avenger is soon making global headlines… Classmate, confidante and fellow nerd Ganke undertakes to train Miles using candid footage of the deceased Peter Parker in action and, when continued sightings of the boy hero reach Aaron south of the border, the wily rogue instantly puts two and two together and heads back to the Big Apple.

As the troubled teen tackles street scum and even old Spidey villains such as Omega Red, triumphing more by luck than skill or judgement, Aaron murders underworld tech-guru The Tinkerer and co-opts his ingenious arsenal of criminal gadgets before confronting Miles at school: offering hints at a possible partnership…

Since Peter Parker perished his Aunt May and true love Gwen Stacy have been world travelling. They’re in Paris when the shocking news of a successor reaches them…

In New York harassed Police Captain Quaid is also coming to terms with another Wall-crawling crazy to complicate his life but is utterly unaware that major grief has hit town as the Scorpion, following the Prowler, has seen New York is wide open for a new Kingpin of Crime to step in and take over…

After a spectacular battle against The Ringer, Spider-Man and Quaid reach an accommodation of sorts, but the Prowler’s first North American clash with the Scorpion doesn’t go nearly as well and Aaron Morales once again accosts his nephew with veiled threats and a shocking offer…

Of course it all devolves into a fist-fight before calmer heads prevail and Miles really thinks over what’s on the table: one of the world’s most effective and capable villains is offering to train him in combat, strategy and survival on the streets whilst schooling him in the myriad ways the underworld works…

Only problem is that the Prowler has no intention of reforming and won’t say what he expects in return…

To Be Continued…

Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Samnee & Sara Pichelli have crafted a stirring new chapter which offers intriguing new insights into the morally ambiguous and far less black-and-white world of modern Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas, and as usual this volume also contains a gallery of alternate covers to delight and thrill.

Tense, breathtaking, action-packed, evocative and portentous suspense; full of the light-hearted, self-aware and razor sharp humour which blessed the original Lee/Ditko tales, and lovely to look at, this second collection (which does end on a cliffhanger , I’m afraid) looks set to prove that the new Spider-Man is here to stay – unless they kill him too…
A British Edition ™ & © 2012 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. and published by Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Footrot Flats book 5


By Murray Ball (Orin Books)
ISSN: 0156-6172

For one of the most successfully syndicated strips in the world, Footrot Flats seems to have passed from public consciousness with painful alacrity. Created in 1975 by cartoonist and comics artist Murray Ball after returning to his New Zealand homeland, the fantastical farm feature ran for a quarter of a century, with the first of a multitude of strip compendia, calendars and special editions released in 1978.

It appeared in newspapers on four continents until 1994 when Ball retired it, citing reasons as varied as the death of his own dog and the state of New Zealand politics.

Thereafter books of new material were released until 2000, resulting in 27 daily strip collections, 8 volumes of Sunday pages known as “Weekenders”, 5 pocket books and ancillary publications such as “school kits” and the aforementioned, all-new, annual calendars.

There was a stage musical, a theme park and a truly superb animated film Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tail Tale.

The well travelled and extremely gifted Mr. Ball had originally moved to England in the early 1960s, becoming a cartoonist for Punch (producing Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero and All the King’s Comrades) as well as drawing numerous strips for DC Thompson and Fleetway and concocting a regular political satire strip in Labour Weekly.

After marrying he returned to the Old Country and resettled in 1974 – but not to retire…

Ball was busier than ever once he’d bought a small-holding on the North Island to farm in his “spare time”. This inevitably led to the strip under review. Taking the adage “write what you know” to startling and occasionally stomach-churning heights, the peripatetic pencil-pusher promptly gave up sleeping altogether to limn these wickedly funny escapades concerning the highs and lows – and most definitely “wildests” – of the agricultural life as experience by the earthily metaphoric Wallace Footrot Cadwallader: an oaf in search of the plot…

Wal is a big, bluff farmer. He’s a regular bloke: likes his food; loves his sport – Rugby, Football (the Antipodean kind, not the girl’s game the Yanks call Soccer) and Cricket; each in its proper season and at no other time…

He owns a small sheep farm (the eponymous Footrot Flats) best described as “400 acres of swamp between Ureweras and the Sea”.

With his chief – and only – hand Cooch Windgrass (a latter-day Francis of Assisi), and a sheepdog who calls himself “Dog”, Wal scrapes a living – and one too many bolshie beasts – but is, at least, his own boss.

Dog is the star (and narrator) of the strip: a cool, if imaginative and overly sentimental know-all and blowhard, utterly devoted to his, for want of a better term, Master – unless there’s food about, or Jess (the sheepdog bitch from down the road) is in heat again.

Dry, surreal and wonderfully self-deprecating, the humour comes from the perfectly realised characters, human and otherwise, the tough life of a bachelor farmer and especially the country itself.

Other notable regular’s include Wal’s fierce and prickly little niece Janice – known to all as Pongo, the sternly staunch and starched Dolores Monrovia Godwit Footrot, AKA Aunt Dolly, wise guy local lad Rangi Wiremu Waka Jones, Dolly’s spoiled Corgi Prince Charles, and Pew, a sadistic, inventive, obsessed and vengeful magpie who bears an unremitting grudge against Farmer Cadwallader …

The biggest and most terrifying scene-stealer is Horse, a monstrous and invulnerable tomcat who lords it over every living thing in the district …

The comedy is as always, absolutely top-rate and Ball is one of those gifted few who can actually imbue a few lines on paper with the power of Shakespeare’s tragedy and the manic hilarity of manic geniuses like the Marx Brothers or Laurel and Hardy. When combined with his sharp, incisive writing the result is pure irresistible magic.

In the UK Titan Books published three volumes in the early 1990s and foreign editions were released in German, Japanese, Chinese and American, but the same material is readily available from a number of publishers and retailers; here more than ever the internet is your friend.

The dry dramas and funny old businesses generally accrue via the laconic raconteuring of “The Dog”, a great lazy canine softie, eking out his daily crusts (and oysters and biscuits and cake and lamb’s tails and scraps and chips and…), alternately getting on with or annoying the sheep, cows, bull, goat, hogs, ducks, bugs, cats, horses, geese, all the resolutely undomesticated wildlife and the decidedly odd humans his owner knows or is related to.

Dog – his given name is an embarrassing, closely and violently guarded secret – loves Wal but always tries to thwart him if the big bloke is trying to do unnecessarily necessary farm chores such as chopping down trees, burning out patches of scrub, culling livestock, or trying to mate with the pooch’s main rival Darlene “Cheeky” Hobson, hairdresser-in-residence of the nearest town.

This extra-large (262x166mm) landscape monochrome fifth volume again comes from the Australian editions series and started the tradition of dividing the strips into approximately seasonal sequences, as well as beginning to show another near unique facet of the series with the ever-expanding cast visibly aging in what approximates real-time in the world of periodical publishing.

After a rather reluctant biography from the artist’s then teenaged son Mason, an appreciation from the canine star’s occasional paramour Jess the sheep-bitch and an introduction from The Dog himself, a selection of spot gags and cartoons describing anti-Cheeky tactics precedes the strip sensations of ‘Spring’ as Wal and the Dog prepare for the grimy, smelly profusion of life which follows the far from gentle rainy season.

When not living in terror of the farm cat Horse, teasing the corpulent Corgi Prince Charles or dreading the competition with noble hunting hound Major, the Dog runs continually afoul of the deer which infest the spread. A hilarious sequence of the humans trying to take Horse to the Vet easily segues into a plethora of close encounters as the livestock all experience the stirrings of love in their prodigious loins…

With ‘Summer’ comes cricket, baby animals, sea fishing, and Pongo for the school holidays: all offering new ways to add to Wal’s blood pressure and Dog’s embarrassment. This year’s particular novelties include water shortages, hang-gliding and using a helicopter to herd deer – and why that’s such a good idea…

‘Autumn’ brings harvests and rugby and more rain and sheep well into the pregnancies that make Wal’s life so rewarding (yeah, more sarcasm, mate) whilst ‘Winter’ offers floods, lambing season – always at night and always in rain or snow – plus, mud, footy, mud, river-fishing for whitebait and mud, although this year the old oaf does try his hefty hand at golf and gets talked into coaching the school rugby team with results any idiot could predict; especially as The Dog is on the team too…

Footrot Flats, whether singly or in collections such as this, always marries sarcasm, satire, slapstick and surreality in a perfect union of pathos and down to earth (and up to your elbows) humour that is utterly captivating; expansive, efficient, exciting and just plain brilliant.

If you feel the need to fill your lungs with country air, your boots with squelchiness and your brain with breathtaking belly-laughs why not give the Dog a go? Let your preferred search engine be your guide…

Go on. Fetch!
© 1981 Murray Ball. All Rights Reserved.

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Wonder Woman Archive Editions volume 2


By Charles Moulton (William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter) & Frank Godwin (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-594-3

Wonder Woman was conceived by polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter in an attempt to offer girls a positive and forceful role model. She debuted as a special feature All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), before springing into her own series and the cover-spot of new anthology title Sensation Comics a month later. An instant hit the Amazing Amazon quickly won her own eponymous supplemental title in late Spring of that year (cover-dated Summer 1942).

Once upon a time on a hidden island of immortal super-women, an American aviator crashed to Earth. Near death, Steve Trevor of US Army Intelligence was nursed back to health by young Princess Diana. Fearing her growing obsession with the man, her mother Queen Hippolyte revealed the hidden history of the Amazons: how they were seduced and betrayed by men but rescued by the goddess Aphrodite on condition that they isolated themselves from the rest of the world and devoted their eternal lives to becoming ideal, perfect creatures.

When goddesses Athena and Aphrodite instructed Hippolyte to send an Amazon warrior back with the American to fight for freedom and liberty, Diana overcame all other candidates and became the emissary Wonder Woman. On arriving in America she bought the identity and credentials of love-lorn Army nurse Diana Prince, elegantly allowing the Amazon to be close to Steve whilst enabling the heartsick medic to join her own fiancé in South America. Soon Diana also gained a position with Army Intelligence General Darnell as his secretary to ensure that she would always be close to her beloved. She little suspected that, although the painfully shallow Steve only had eyes for the dazzling Amazon superwoman, the General had fallen for the mousy but superbly competent Diana Prince…

Using the nom de plume Charles Moulton, Marston scripted all the Amazing Amazon’s many and fabulous adventures until his death in 1947, whereupon Robert Kanigher took over the writer’s role whilst venerable veteran co-creator H.G. Peter illustrated almost every WW tale until his own death in 1958.

This second superb full-colour deluxe hardback edition collects her every groundbreaking adventure from Wonder Woman #2-4 and Sensation Comics #13-17 from Fall 1942 to April 1943, and commences, after an appreciative Foreword from star comics editor Diane Schutz, with the epochal Wonder Woman #2.

After a photo-feature about ‘The Men Behind Wonder Woman’ and an illustrated prose piece about ‘The God of War’, a four-part epic introduces the Amazing Amazon’s greatest enemy in ‘Mars, God of War’ who instigated the World War from his HQ on the distant red planet and was chafing at the lack of progress since Wonder Woman entered the fray on the side of the peace-loving allies. Now he decides to take direct action rather than trust his earthly pawns Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito…

When Steve went missing Diana allowed herself to be captured and transported to Mars where she began to disrupt the efficient working of the war-god’s regime and fomented unrest amongst the slave population, before rescuing Steve and heading home to Earth.  ‘The Earl of Greed’, one of Mars’ trio of trusted subordinates, took centre stage in the second chapter with orders to recapture Steve and Diana at all costs.

As the bold duo attempt to infiltrate Berlin, Greed used his influence on Hitler to surreptitiously direct the German war effort, using Gestapo forces to steal all the USA’s gold reserves.

When Steve was gravely injured, the Amazon returned to America and whilst her paramour recuperated she uncovered and foiled the Ethereal Earl’s machinations to prevent much-needed operating funds from reaching Holliday College where young girls learned to be independent free-thinkers…

With Greed thwarted, Mars next dispatched ‘The Duke of Deception’ to Earth where the spindly phantom impersonated Wonder Woman and framed her for murder. Easily escaping from prison the Princess of Power not only cleared her name but also found time to foil a Deception-inspired invasion of Hawaii, leaving only ‘The Count of Conquest’ free to carry out Mars’ orders.

His scheme was simple: through his personal puppet Mussolini, the Count attempted to physically overpower the Hellenic Heroine with a brutal giant boxing champion whilst Italian Lothario Count Crafti tried to woo and seduce her. The latter’s wiles actually worked too, but capturing and keeping the Amazing Amazon were two different things entirely and after breaking free on the Red Planet, Diana delivered a devastating blow to the war-machine of Mars…

This issue then ends with a sparkling double page patriotic plea when ‘Wonder Woman Campaigns for War Bonds’…

Sensation Comics #13 (January 1943) follows with ‘Wonder Woman is Dead’ as a corpse wearing the Amazon’s uniform was discovered and the astounded Diana Prince discovered her alter ego’s clothes and the irreplaceable magic lasso were missing…

The trail led to a cunning spy-ring working out of General Darnell’s office and an explosive confrontation in a bowling alley, whilst ‘The Story of Fir Balsam’ in Sensation #14 offered a seasonal tale concerning lost children, an abused mother and escaped German aviators which was all happily resolved around a lonely pine tree…

Wonder Woman #3 dedicated its entirety to the return of an old foe and began with ‘A Spy on Paradise Island’ as the plucky fun-loving gals of the Holliday College for Women and their chubby, chocolate-gorging Beeta Lamda sorority chief Etta Candy were initiated into some pretty wild Amazon rites on Paradise Island, inadvertently allowing an infiltrator to gain access and pave the way for an invasion by Japanese troops.

Naturally Wonder Woman and the Amazon prevailed on the day but the sinister mastermind behind it all was revealed and quickly struck back in ‘The Devilish Devices of Baroness Paula von Gunther.’

Whilst the on-guard Amazons built a women’s prison that would be known as “Reform Island”, acting on information received by the new inmates, Wonder Woman trailed Paula and was in time to crush her latest scientific terror – an invisibility ray…

‘The Secret of Baroness von Gunther’ offered a rare peek at a villain’s motivation as the captured super-spy reveals how her little daughter Gerta had been a hostage of the Nazis for years and a goad to ensure total dedication to the German cause. Naturally, the Amazing Amazon instantly determined to reunite mother and child at all costs after which ‘Ordeal by Fire’ found the Baroness aiding Diana and Steve in dismantling the spy network and slave-ring the Nazis had spent so long building in America, but only at great personal and physical cost to the repentant Paula…

Over in Sensation #15 (March 1943) ‘Victory at Sea’ pitted Diana and Steve against murderous saboteurs determined to halt military production and working with shady lawyers whilst in #16 ‘The Masked Menace’ was one of very few stories not illustrated by H.G. Peter but the work of illustrator and strip cartoonist Frank Godwin, stepping in as the crushing workload of an extra 64-page comicbook every couple of months piled the pressure on WW’s artistic director.

The tale saw steadfast Texan Etta about to elope with slick and sleazy Euro-trash Prince Goulash, until Diana and Steve crashed the wedding party to uncover spies infiltrating across the Mexican border and a plot to blow up the invaluable Candy family oil-wells…

The inescapable war-fervour was tinged with incredible fantasy in Wonder Woman #4 which opened with ‘Man-Hating Madness!’ wherein a Chinese refugee from a Japanese torture camp reached America and drew the Amazon into a terrifying plan to use biological weapons on the American Home-Front after which cruel and misogynistic ‘Mole Men of the Underworld’ kidnapped the Holliday girls and Diana and the reformed and recuperated Paula rescued them, freed a race of female slaves and secured America’s deepest border from attack.

Then ‘The Rubber Barons’ provided a rousing, romp which saw greedy corporate profiteers attempt to hold the Government and war effort to ransom with a new rubber manufacturing process in a high-tech tale involving mind-control, gender role-reversal and behaviour modification as only a trained and passionate psychologist could promote them…

The issue but not this book then concluded with an untitled saga as Paula, now fully accepted into Amazon society, was attacked by Mavis, one of her erstwhile spy-slaves. The traumatised victim then abducted her ex-mistress’ little Gerta and Wonder Woman, burdened with responsibility, was compelled to hunt her down…

This sterling deluxe book of nostalgic delights ends with a famed classic in Sensation #17’s ‘Riddle of the Talking Lion’ (also probably drawn by Godwin) wherein Diana Prince visited an ailing friend and discovered that Sally’s kids had overheard a Zoo lion speaking – and revealing strange secrets…

Although Steve and Diana dismissed the tall tale, things take a peculiar turn when the beast is stolen and the trail leads to Egypt and a plot by ambitious Nazi collaborator Princess Yasmini…

Too few people seem able to move beyond the posited subtexts and definite imagery of bondage and subjugation in Marston’s tales – and frankly there really are a lot of scenes with girls tied up, chained or about to be whipped – but I just don’t care what his intentions might have been: I’m more impressed with the skilful drama and incredible imaginative story-elements that are always wonderfully, intriguingly present: I mean, just where do such concepts as giant battle kangaroo steeds or sentient Christmas trees stem from…?

Exotic, baroque, beguiling and uniquely exciting these Golden Age adventures of the World’s Most Famous female superhero are timeless and pivotal classics in the development of comics books and still provide lashings of fun and thrills for anyone looking for a great nostalgic read.
© 1942, 1943, 2000 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Desert Peach volume 6: Marriage & Mayhem


By Donna Barr (Aeon)
ISBN: 1-883847-07-9

The Desert Peach is the supremely self-assured and eminently efficient gay brother of the legendary German soldier hailed as “the Desert Fox”. Set in World War II Africa and effortlessly combining hilarity, absurdity, profound sensitivity and glittering spontaneity, the stories describe the trials and tribulations of Oberst Manfred Pfirsich Marie Rommel; a dutiful if unwilling cog in the German War Machine, yet one determined to remain a civilised gentleman under the most adverse and unkind conditions.

However, although as formidable as his beloved elder sibling, the gracious and genteel Peach is a man who loathes causing harm or giving offence and thus spends his service commanding the dregs of the military in the ghastly misshapes of the 469th Halftrack, Gravedigging & Support Unit of the Afrika Korps, daily endeavouring to remain stylish, elegant, civil and gracious to the assorted waifs, wastrels and warriors on both sides of the unfortunate global conflict.

It’s a thankless, endless task: the 469th houses the worst the Wehrmacht has ever conscripted, from malingerers and malcontents to useless wounded, shiftless conmen, screw-ups and outright maniacs.

Pfirsich unilaterally applies the same decorous courtesies to the sundry natives inhabiting the area and the rather tiresome British and Anzac forces – not all of whom are party to a clandestine non-aggression pact Pfirsich has agreed with his opposite numbers in the amassed Allied Forces. In fact the only people to truly annoy the peace-loving Peach are boors, bigots, bullies and card-carrying Blackshirts…

The romantic fool is also passionately in love with and engaged to Rosen Kavalier: handsome Aryan warrior and wildly manly Luftwaffe Ace…

Arguably the real star of these fabulous frothy epics is the Peach’s long-suffering, unkempt, crafty, ill-mannered, bilious and lazily scrofulous orderly Udo Schmidt, a man of many secrets whose one redeeming virtue is his uncompromising loyalty and devotion to the only decent man and tolerable officer in the entire German army.

This tragically rare sixth softcover collection reprints issues #16, 17 and 19 (#18 being a reproduction of the innovative Musical Program which accompanied the stage show: to see that check out The Desert Peach Webcomic or http://www.desert-peach.com/comic/DP18.pdf) and starts with an enchanting comic introduction from the captivatingly clever Mike Kazaleh before ‘Flight of the Phoenix’ opens the comedic assault. Even though ill-bred rogue Udo’s impending wedding to Tuareg princess Falila has been apparently side-lined, a spoil of that outrageous betrothal – a magnificent Arabian war-mare named Phoenix – is still causing trouble for Pfirsich, who is her nominal owner.

The steed is wild and utterly untrained, constantly causing trouble for the decidedly neat and tidy Peach and especially Sergeant Mögen and Lieutenant Hecht, who are responsible for her care…

When scattered tribesmen convene a colossal horse-fair on the camp’s doorstep, the problems magnify exponentially: not only was Phoenix stolen, but she comes from legendarily purebred lines and unless the Peach can arrange an honourable and fitting stud for her it might result in a native uprising…

Now all he has to do is select the right one out of the hundreds of willing stallions and touchy, eager Arab owners, but as usual the soldiery have the own ideas on the perfect partner, all filtered through personal prejudices and ideological bigotry…

So when Udo attempts to settle the quandary one dark night by taking Phoenix to his own preferred favourite, all hell naturally breaks loose as the skittish steed rampages through camp before making her own choice… When the valiant Rosen and sundry soldiers try to catch her, Udo then ends up trapped between the ever-so-keen equine bride and her equally impatient suitors, and taken for a ride he’ll never forget…

As a consequence of the riot Udo is held responsible for the accidental gelding of a stallion and as an outlander faces death or worse – until somebody suggests that if he were actually married to his desert princess he’d be a tribesman and allowed to buy his way out of trouble…

This is followed by ‘Culture Shock’ as fanatical political officer Winzig works himself into a tizzy about the upcoming miscegenation nuptials and reveals a long-hidden shameful secret: he is a musical prodigy whose piano playing could make Devils weep and Angel dance with delight. Most appalling of all is his facility for jazz – a form of music the Nazis have declared “sub-human”…

His secret out, Winzig is easily cajoled by Pfirsich into playing at the up-coming wedding, but other problems are surfacing. The rumours that Udo is Jewish are circulating again (they’re all true but were scotched by the Desert Peach in book 5: Belief Systems) but when the coordinating commanders of both Tuareg and German parties are trying to sort out the form of service, the panicking and reluctant groom sees a get-out-of-jail-free card – whatever ceremony is performed, it won’t be binding…

Udo had been griping and trying to weasel his way out of his impending, unwanted but necessarily pragmatic wedding from the start. The swarthy little scoundrel wanted sex not commitment, and now only the threat of agonising dismemberment is making Schmidt nee Isador Gülphstein  honour his word and live up to his responsibilities…

That is of course until the poor shmuck catches sight of Falila in all her wedding finery…

After a chaotic, joyous and hilarious wedding and reception in the local bordello everything seems to have worked out until the bride’s father hears a certain tale that his new son-in-law is a Hebrew…

Using humour to devastating effect, the author manipulates the crisis to make a few telling points about religion and prejudice and, with order restored, this volume then concludes with the utterly manic and earthily scatological ‘Self-Propelled Target’ as some of the weary and jaded grave-digging unit play with wrong cadaver and both Winzig and Pfirsich accidentally ingest organic matter from a rotting – and exploding – corpse. With Pfirsich revoltingly hors-de-combat the men of the469th declare open war on the hated political martinet they call the “Human Swastika”…

With the Peach incontinent and incommunicado the battle of nerves and dogma rapidly escalates to terrifying heights and when the recuperating Peach almost loses his life in one of the malicious pranks, Udo at last steps in to settle things with disastrous and disgusting consequences…

Treading in the same the same anti-war trench as Three Kings, Hogan’s Heroes, Oh, What a Lovely War! and Catch 22, these Desert Peach adventures are always bawdy, raucous, satirical, authentically madcap and immensely engaging; this time though they’re also painfully romantic, revoltingly near-the-knuckle and intoxicatingly subversive.

These gloriously baroque yarns were some of the very best comics of the 1990s and still pack a shattering comedic kick, liberally leavened with situational jocularity, accent humour and lots of footnoted Deutsche cuss-words for the kids to learn. Moreover, with this volume the potential of the minor supporting characters is at last fully realised with The Peach often relegated to a minor or supervisory role.

This captivating excursion is also capped off with many magical extras: hilarious marginal illustrations and more cut-out paper-dolls and extra outfits for you to admire and play with: this time featuring the wardrobe of Udo and the log-suffering Winzig.

The Desert Peach ran for 32 intermittent issues via a number of publishers and was subsequently collected as eight graphic novel collections (1988-2005). A prose novel, Bread and Swans, a musical, and an invitational collection by other artists entitled Ersatz Peach were also created during the strip’s heyday. A larger compendium, Seven Peaches, collected issues #1-7 and Pfirsich’s further exploits continue as part of the Modern Tales webcomics collective…

Illustrated in Barr’s fluidly seductive wood-cut and loose-line style, this book is another must-have item for lovers of wit, slapstick, high drama and belly-laughs and grown-up comics in general. All the collections are pretty hard to find these days but if you have a Kindle, Robot Comics have started releasing individual comicbook issues, and for anybody with internet access and mature tastes as mentioned above there’s always The Desert Peach webcomic to fall back on…
© 1992-1994 Donna Barr. Introduction © 1994 Mike Kazaleh. All rights reserved. The Desert Peach is ™ Donna Barr.