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June 29, 2013June 28, 2013

Showcase Presents Justice League of America volume 5

By Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Marty Pasko, Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin, Frank McLaughlin & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-85768-195-9

After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read the Action Comics debut of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s history was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven: a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces. Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one (â€¦or even one-and-a-half if there’s a sidekick in situâ€¦).

The Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comicbooks and when Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, it was inevitable that there would be a new banding together of the latest reconfigured mystery men.

That moment came with The Brave and the Bold #28, a classical adventure title that had recently transformed into a try-out magazine like Showcase. Just before Christmas 1959 the ads began running. â€œJust Imagine! The mightiest heroes of our timeâ€¦ have banded together as the Justice League of America to stamp out the forces of evil wherever and whenever they appear!â€

The rest was history: the JLA captivated the youth of a nation, further reinvigorated an industry and even inspired a small family publishing concern to create the Fantastic Four, inspiring a whole new way of telling comics stories.

Following a meteoric rise, TV spin-offs brought trendy international awareness of costumed crusaders which in turn led to catastrophic overexposure. By 1968 the superhero boom looked to be dying just as its predecessor had at the end of the 1940s.

Sales were down generally and production costs beginning to spiral. More importantly â€œfreeâ€ entertainments, such as television, were now found in even the poorest household. If you were a kid in the sixties, think just how many brilliant cartoon shows were created during that decade, when comics artists such as Alex Toth and Doug Wildey moved into West Coast animation studios.

Moreover, many comicbook heroes were now appearing on that ubiquitous small screen. As well as wholly original characters, the Marvel heroes, Superman, Aquaman, Batman, and even the JLA were there every Saturday in your own living room – even after that global bubble had burstâ€¦

It was also a time of great political and social upheaval. Change was everywhere and unrest even reached the corridors of DC. When a number of creators agitated for increased work benefits the request was not looked upon kindly. Many left the company – not always voluntarily – for other outfits. Some quit the business altogether.

Of course the greatest threat was the insatiable appetite for supernatural themes which decimated the industry’s pantheons of gaudily-clad mystery menâ€¦

This fifth monochrome Justice League Showcase volume compellingly reflects the signs of the times as the next generation of writers fostered a â€œnew waveâ€ and saw the title’s lowest ebb. Publication slowed to six issues a year before the tide slowly turned and the World’s Greatest Superheroes began climbing again to the top of the gradually recovering, tried-and-tested Fights ‘n’ Tights arenaâ€¦

Collecting Justice League of America #107-132 from the era when superheroes were in the direst doldrums and looked like disappearing forever, this tome covers the period September/October 1973 to June 1976, during which the market changed forever from mass market to niche-industry and comicbooks stopped being casual, cheap or disposable entertainment.

By the end of this book the stories reflected the harsh facts, and publishers had accepted the conceptual and commercial transition from a broad-appeal medium slavishly following outside trends and fashions to increasingly become a targeted service making only what their most dedicated fans wantedâ€¦

The dramas begin here with Justice League of America #107 and ‘Crisis on Earth-X’ by Len Wein, Dick Dillin & Dick Giordano, the first chapter of another landmark crossover with their Earth-2 counterparts and antecedents in the JSA.

Following the popular revival of a forgotten team during their previous get-together (The Seven Soldiers of Victory as seen in Showcase Presents Justice League of America volume 4), this time the annual team-up reintroduced another band of Golden Age warriors – from corporate acquisition Quality Comics and newly rechristened The Freedom Fightersâ€¦

It began when a recreational trip across the dimensional barrier was accidentally sabotaged by android stowaway Red Tornado, depositing Batman, Green Arrow and Elongated Man from Earth-1 and Superman, Sandman and Doctor Fate from Earth-2 into another alternate universe – one where the Nazis had won World War II.

Trapped and outnumbered, the seven displaced heroes were rescued by the last liberty-loving champions of a world dominated by fascist super-science and a secret dictator. Joining forces with embattled champions Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor and the Human Bomb the newcomers ended the Nazi threat forever in the sinister sequel ‘Thirteen Against the Earth!’â€¦

With everybody returned to their home planes #109 then brought back a cultish guest star as ‘The Doom of the Divided Man!’ revived the dormant career of 1960’s hero/villain Eclipso, who harboured another cunning plan to conquer the world. However the real focus of this tale was the unexpected resignation of Hawkman following his recall to home planet Thanagarâ€¦

Wein, Dillin & Giordano then got to deliver a delightful and potent seasonal present in #110 as Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Red Tornado had to adapt to abrasive substitute Green Lantern John Stewart (a controversial â€œangry black manâ€ conceived at a time when non-Caucasian heroes could be counted on the fingers of one hand) mid-mission, when the League gathered to hunt down ‘The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!’

Murderous psychopath The Key had set up the heroes for ambush with the callous assassination of an actor hired to cheer orphaned kids, but his horrific deeper scheme was only foiled thanks to the supernatural intervention of an almost forgotten League memberâ€¦

JLA #111 introduced a seminal villain who became, decades later, a pivotal player in The Final Crisis. Here however the enigmatic Libra merely used his incredible abilities to revive the dormant Injustice Gang of the World.

Although his stated goal was to imbue Chronos, Mirror Master, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Shadow Thief and Tattooed Man with energies stolen from Aquaman, Superman, Batman, Flash, Elongated Man and the fully recovered GL Hal Jordan, the ‘Balance of Power!’ he was really seeking meant keeping all the purloined might for his own unimaginable useâ€¦

Those stolen super-powers featured in #112’s follow-up ‘War with the One-Man Justice League!’ as the entire team gathered to help restore their diminished comrades. The high risk solution was to resurrect power-stealing android Amazo to collect the stolen energies and abilities – but nobody considered what the mechanoid might do after it absorbed Batman’s vast intellect and suspicious mindâ€¦

Justice League of America #113 (September/October 1974) proved how desperate were the times for the spandex set as the epic annual collaboration with the JSA was restricted to a single issue. Nevertheless ‘The Creature in the Velvet Cage!’ proved to be one of the very best team-up tales as a JLA visiting party to Earth-2 (Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Elongated Man) shared the shame and horror of The Sandman, when his greatest secret was catastrophically revealed.

Years ago the Master of Dreams had accidentally transformed his sidekick Sandy, the Golden Boy into a ravening silicoid monster and been compelled to sedate and imprison his best friend.

Now after three decades the beast was awake and free, seemingly intent on destroying the world. At least that’s what Hourman and the Golden Age Flash and Wonder Woman believed when they joined their old comrade on his tragic manhuntâ€¦

Wein, with the plotting assistance of Mark Hanerfeld, ended his run as scripter with a smart and decidedly effective little thriller in #114 – ‘The Return of Anakronus!’ During a League-sponsored telethon an enigmatic time-bending villain took disgraced old team mascot Snapper Carr and his family hostage. Although definitely dangerous, the crazed felon’s ranting didn’t make much sense: after all, why would a man who had repeatedly defeated the JLA stoop to demanding a mere cash ransomâ€¦?

The tone turned cosmic in #115 as Denny O’Neil provided a fill-in script which brought back retired hero J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars who begged his former comrades to save the dying remnants of his people from ‘The Last Angry God!’ who had imprisoned them on a far-distant world.

Cary Bates then contributed ‘The Kid Who Won Hawkman’s Wings!’ in #116 as sightings of Hawkman in Midway City led Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Flash and Batman into a deadly duel against the Matter Master. Closer inspection revealed the Pinioned Paladin to be a baffled kid named Charley Parker who had no idea why he changed into a Golden Eagle, whilst the actual mastermind behind the plot was a shock to everybody concernedâ€¦

After just over a year’s absence the true winged Wonder returned in JLA #117. ‘I Have No Wings and I Must Fly!’ – scripted by Elliot S! Maggin and with Giordano’s protÃ©gÃ© Frank McLaughlin assuming the role of regular inker over Dick Dillin’s sleek and effective pencils – saw alien cop Katar Hol resurface to warn Earth of a deadly extraterrestrial menace dubbed The Equalizer.

This ineffable menace was driven to achieve pure balance in the universe, and to achieve this he somehow homogenised entire civilisations, making life forms exactly identical to each other.

His Equalizer plague weapon was overwhelmingly contagious and – after reducing the population of Thanagar to imbecilic, four foot tall clones of each other, including Hol’s beloved wife Shayera – the unfathomable voyager had turned his single eye upon Earthâ€¦

With his homeworld quarantined and after defeating the appalling threat beside the JLA, Hawkman had no other refuge than our planet and promptly joined Aquaman, Black Canary, Flash Red Tornado and Superman in resisting the ‘Takeover of the Earth-Masters!’ (#118 by Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin). This saw a misguided attempt by trans-dimensional beings who sought to save our world from super beings by despatching eerie hyper-evolving Adaptoid organisms.

With even the Man of Steel unable to face the ghastly invaders, Hawkman devised a risky strategy involving his Equalization-infected wife, which fortunately turned out in Humanity’s favour in #119’s ‘Winner Takes the Earth!’

Another old friend reappeared in #120 as ‘The Parallel Perils of Adam Strange!’ (written by Bates) saw the Earth-born champion of Planet Rann forced to re-fight his greatest battles after despotic Kanjar Ro murdered his fiancÃ©e Alanna.

Even though Ro had cruelly stacked the deck, Strange – and his newly arrived Justice League allies – triumphed and even pulled a rabbit out of the hat to restore the Rannian heroine in time for her own magical wedding in the blistering conclusion ‘The Hero Who Jinxed the Justice League!’

In issue #122 Marty Pasko delved into the team’s private lives and revealed why the JLA shared their civilian secrets with each other in ‘The Great Identity Crisis!’ as old enemy Dr. Light used photonic super-science and the too-good-to-be-true mineral Amnesium (guess what it causes?) to mess with the heroes’ minds and lure them into what should have been inescapable death-trapsâ€¦

Another year gone, it was then time for the annual JLA/JSA yarn and Bates, Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin stepped far off the reservation with ‘Where on Earth Am I?’ and ‘Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!’ from issues #123 and 124.

In Flash #179 (‘The Flash – Fact of Fiction?, May 1968) Bates and Gardner Fox first took the multiple Earths concept to its illogical conclusion by trapping the Monarch of Motion in â€œourâ€ Reality of Earth-Prime, where the Sultan of Speed was just a comic-book character.

Here Bates and co-scripter Maggin returned to the idea as a story conference in Editor Julie Schwartz’s office led to the oafish goons playing with the Flash’s hastily-constructed Cosmic Treadmill, sending one of them hurtling between dimensions.

Transformed and empowered by the journey, Cary Bates became the most dangerous villain alive, leading Earth-2 criminals The Wizard, Shade, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Icicle and The Gambler in a lethal assault on JSA heroes Robin, Hourman, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite.

Maggin, meanwhile, had followed his friend but ended up on Earth-1. Undaunted, he recruited Batman, Black Canary, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Flash to save three imperilled universes but it took the Divine Might of the supernal Spectre to truly set every thing back to its assigned place and timeâ€¦

Gerry Conway began his long association with the Justice League in #125 with a clever 2-parter concerning the dumping of toxic energy from an outer dimension onto Earth. ‘The Men Who Sold Destruction!’ craftily employed schizophrenic villain Two-Face as their wily broker to expend the deadly forces, but the super-minds of Dronndar completely underestimated the double-dealing Harvey Dent‘s capacity for betrayal. Almost as bad was that the opportunistic Weaponers of Qward and the JLA were as easily fooled by the Machiavellian maniac in #126’s Byzantine conclusion ‘The Evil Connection!’

JLA #127 confirmed that ‘The Command is â€œChaosâ€!’ when new menace The Anarchist discovered a means of tapping Green Lantern’s power battery and desperate Hal Jordan begged his fellow champions to stop him recharging his ring at any cost, after which Pasko popped back to author a sharp, smart reintroduction for the Earth-1 Amazing Amazon in #128’s ‘Death-Visions of the Justice League!’

For a period â€œourâ€ Wonder Woman had lost her powers and fought crime as a martial artist (see Diana Prince: Wonder Woman volumes 1-4), but once her supernatural gifts returned she underwent a self-imposed set of trials before rejoining the team.

Sadly her readmission coincided with the team disbanding following a cataclysmic, psychologically punishing assault by alien fear-eater Nekron, and even the Princess of Power seemed unable to galvanise the Leaguers before ‘The Earth Dies Screaming!’ in #129.

The next issue explored the revelatory early days of the team’s orbiting satellite headquarters as ‘Skyjack at 22,300 Miles!’ (scripted by Pasko) disclosed how an intergalactic interloper attempted to turn the space base into a spawning ground and put the nonplussed heroes through a gamut of ghastly trials before order and equilibrium were unconventionally restored.

This mammoth tome ends with a clever mystery double-bill from Conway, Dillin & McLaughlin. Issue #131 featured ‘The Beasts Who Thought Like Men!’ wherein a new credit card currency for America somehow enhanced the minds of animals and insects, simultaneously decreasing human brainpower to such a low point that bugs could enslave deadly villains like Sonar and Queen Beeâ€¦

The tale took a strange turn in #132 as Superman vanished and Supergirl stepped in to help against animals organised enough to conquer the country. Even then there was still one more tangled twist in the tale of ‘The Beasts Who Fought Like Men!…’

The Justice League of America has become a keystone of American comics and these tales are still among the most thought-provoking, controversial and purely entertaining episodes in their half-century history.

With captivating covers provided by Nick Cardy, Mike Grell, Giordano, Ernie Chan (nÃ©e Chua) & JosÃ© Luis GarcÃa-LÃ³pez, this captivating transition tome shows the unalloyed appeal of the Fights ‘n’ Tights Crowd at their most innovative and inspiring.

Just Imagineâ€¦
Â© 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

June 28, 2013June 27, 2013

Misery City

By K. I. Zachopoulos & Vassilis Gogtzilas (Markosia)
ISBN: 978-1-905692-81-1

For purists every literary genre is sacrosanct – unless you can come up with a way to mix or blend them with such style, verve and panache that something new is born which feels like it’s always been one if the gangâ€¦

Misery City is a dark, bleak and ferociously introspective comic that relates the cases of Max Murray, a dowdy, down-at-heel shamus walking the meanest streets imaginable, in a vast and ever-changing metropolis situated on the outskirts of Hell – and, no, that’s not poetic license or flowery prose, it’s a geography lessonâ€¦

Following an effusive Foreword from arch-stylist Sam Keith and an Introduction from big-league writer J. M. de Matteis, the first five issues of the comics series unfold in this pocket novel package: a stark, unrelenting procession of grimly trenchant case-files starring a shabby private eye just trying to get by uncovering other people’s secrets and make some sense of the most pitiless town in creation.

Of course he has a few secrets of his ownâ€¦

The black parade begins on the ‘Night of the Corpse’ when the world-weary Max is attacked by a giant skeleton and has to use his beloved and handy handgun Fat Betty to end the undead animate. Times are both tough and weird so he doesn’t give it much thought before retiring to his dingy office to await a new client and caseâ€¦

When the phone rings it’s that sexy waitress Pakita from the Bar. Max has had the serious hots for her forever, but his rising hopes take a dive when the mercurial Mexican only hires him to check up on her cheating boyfriend.

With heavy heart and azure cojones the gumshoe goes looking, utterly unaware that an old enemy has returned seeking vengeance. Professor Ego was penned in unimaginable torment because of Murray, and now that he’s out he’s wasting no time in sending a plague of devils to get some paybackâ€¦

As a host of demonic clowns hunt the private detective, Max has found Pakita’s man. Seeing the faithless dog with another woman drives him crazy though and the shamus goes ballistic, beating the cheating Dick to a pulp. Appalled and repentant, Max then heads over to Pakita’s place to apologise and finds her gone, snatched by his long-forgotten foe.

Answering the ‘Call of Ego’ Max heads for the horror’s Tower hideout and a brutal showdownâ€¦

Despite his shoddy appearance, this PI is no dumb palooka. His secret vice is reading and his internal monologue is peppered with quotes and allusions from poets like Dante and Tennyson. They’re the only thing comforting him as ‘A Wooden Coffin for Max Murray part I’ finds him taking the Hell train to the worst part of MiseryCity for a surveillance job.

Horny as usual, Max is disappointed to discover what the owner of that sexy French voice on the phone looks like, but still agrees to check out the old abandoned timber-framed family house the tearful widow fears property developers want.

Maybe he should have been more suspicious, but the client’s stunning daughter Josephine had turned his head and all points southâ€¦

When he enters the ramshackle old pile a colossal zombie fiend attacks Max and, before he can react, the entire house explodes out of the ground and rockets into orbitâ€¦

Lost in space and out of options, the gumshoe reveals a few of his own incredible survival secrets destroying the monster (said client’s vengeful and very angry husband) in ‘A Wooden Coffin for Max Murray part II’ before escaping the timber trap and settling scores with the murderous she-devils.

It appears Max is on a first name basis with the Big Boss of the Inferno, and the head man is keen on renewing a satanic acquaintance with the understandably reluctant detectiveâ€¦

The malign mystery yarns conclude with a stunning surprise in ‘The Last Drag of a Pocket God’ as Max tracks down a puissant phantom with astounding delusions of grandeur. However, after sending Marty â€œThe Voiceâ€ Coronado to his final rest, an uncomfortable conversation with Pakita forces him to confront his own long-suppressed thoughts and examine the illusions that keep him going on the pitiless streets of Misery Cityâ€¦

Potent targeted vulgarity and a brusque, verbally confrontational narrative style gives Kostas Zachopoulos’ manic scripts a supremely savage edge, whilst the freakish, surreal Horror-Noir milieu is perfectly captured by illustrator Vassilis Gogtzilas’ astoundingly frenetic art, delivered in a melange of assorted styles. This mean, moody and menacing chronicle is topped off with a host of powerful pin-ups and a cover art gallery to further disquiet and beguile the unwary reader.
Misery City â„¢ & Â© 2013 Kostas Zachopoulos, Vassilis Gogtzilas and Markosia Enterprises, Ltd. All rights reserved.

June 27, 2013June 26, 2013

Golden Age Green Lantern Archives volume 2

By Bill Finger, Martin Nodell & Irwin Hasen (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-794-8

Following the invention of the superhero genre and the early innovations in Superman and Batman at DC/National Comics, an avalanche of costumed crusaders erupted onto the nation’s newsstands. At the head of that gaudy tidal wave, thanks to innovative publisher Max Gaines and his comics mastermind Editor Sheldon Mayer, All American Comics (who co-published in association with and were eventually absorbed by DC) produced many of the new industry’s greatest and most memorable characters.

Most prominent was the first comicbook super-speedster who took off in Flash Comics (which also featured Hawkman and Johnny Thunder), followed a few months later by evergreen, immortal Green Lantern, the world’s original superhero coalition in the Justice Society of America, capped by the creation of the greatest female hero of all time – Wonder Woman.

Superman started the ball rolling and was the undisputed star of the medium, but the editors at All American truly understood it and the wide-eyed readershipâ€¦

The Emerald Avenger debuted in the sixteenth issue of the company’s flagship title All-American Comics, just as superheroes started to dominate, supplanting newspaper strip reprints and stock genre characters in the still primarily-anthologised comicbooks.

For the duration of the war and a few years beyond it, GL and his mystery man amigos Red Tornado, The Atom, Sargon the Sorcerer and Doctor Mid-Nite stole the show with only celebrated gag-strip Mutt and Jeff or exceptional military strips Hop Harrigan and Red, White and Blue remaining to represent merely mortal stars.

All too soon, however, they would vanish as tastes changed and costumed champions were superseded by cowboys, cops and private detectivesâ€¦

Devised by up-and-coming cartoonist Martin Nodell (and fleshed out by the incredible Bill Finger in the same way he had contributed to the success of Batman), Green Lantern became AA’s second smash sensation six months after The Flash and preceding by a year and a half the unprecedented success of the Amazing Amazon.

He won his own solo-starring title less than a year after his premiere and feature-starred in many anthologies such as Comics Cavalcade and All Star Comics for just over a decade, before he too faded away in the early1950s, having first suffered the humiliating fate of being edged out of his own comicbook by his pet, Streak the Wonder Dogâ€¦

This second engagingly impressive hardcover Archive edition – collecting the Viridian Vigilante’s appearances from Green Lantern Quarterly #2-3 (Winter and Spring 1942) and All-American Comics #31-38, from October 1941 to May 1942 – opens with rousing reminiscences, intriguing comparisons and tantalising trivia titbits, courtesy of the Foreword by godfather of American fandom Dr. Jerry Bails, before the procession of pictorial peril beginsâ€¦

Ambitious young engineer Alan Scott survived the sabotage and destruction of a passenger-packed train due only to the intervention of a battered old railway lantern. Bathed in its eerie verdant glow, he was regaled by a mysterious green voice with the legend of how a meteor fell in ancient China and spoke to the people: predicting Death, Life and Power.

After bringing doom to the mystic who reshaped it into a lamp and, centuries later, sanity to a madman, it now promised incredible might to bestow justice to the innocent. Instructing the engineer to fashion a ring from its metal and draw a charge of power from the lantern every 24 hours, the ancient artefact urged the engineer to use his formidable willpower to end all evil – a mission Scott eagerly embracedâ€¦

The ring made him immune to all minerals and metals, and enabled him to fly and pass through solid matter amongst many other miracles, but was powerless against certain organic materials such as wood or rubber which could penetrate his jade defences and cause him mortal harmâ€¦

After wandering the country for months, Scott eventually settled in Capitol City and took a job as first engineer and eventually radio announcer at the APEX Broadcasting System whilst he fruitlessly pursued feisty reporter Irene Miller. Before long he even had a trusted sidekick in the flabby form of Doiby Dickles, a rotund, middle-aged Brooklyn-born cab driver originally intended as a light foil for the grim, poker-faced Emerald Avenger.

Soon, however, the bumbling buddy grew to be one of the most popular and beloved comedy stooges of the era; sharing covers and even by-lines with the star who, thanks to scripter Finger (who wrote all the stories in this volume), was a grim, brooding and spookily mysterious figure of vengeance weeding out criminals and gangsters. Moreover, just as with the early Batman sagas, there was always a strong undercurrent of social realism, ballsy sentimentality and human drama.

The action starts with All-American Comics #31’s ‘The Adventure of the Underfed Orphans!’ illustrated by Martin Nodell, wherein Alan and Irene investigate food poisoning at a municipal children’s home, and uncover a shocking web of abuse and graft leading to the upper echelons of City Hall and the grimiest gutters of the underworldâ€¦

Most of the All-American GL tales were untitled such as #32, drawn by Irwin Hasen, which revealed how a veteran beat cop’s son fell in with the wrong crowd. Framed by his boss and arrested by his own dad, vengeful Danny was only stopped from ruining his life forever by the Emerald Avenger and Doiby who helped him get the goods on Gardenia and reconcile with his grateful dad.

The next issue (by Nodell) struck close to home as gangster Pug Deagan tried to take over the Taxicab Drivers’ union and Doiby called on his Grim Green friend to clean up the racket and expose the real brain behind the operation, whilst in All-American #34, the Dynamic Trio of Alan, Irene and Mr. Dickles investigated a collapsing building and were drawn into a colossal construction scandal involving the Mayor, culminating in the horrific failure of Capitol City’s biggest and busiest bridge.

Always one of the most powerful characters in comics, this tale especially demonstrated the sheer scope of Green Lantern’s mightâ€¦

All-American Comics #35 found Doiby wracked by toothache and haplessly stumbling into a grisly murder at the dentist’s office. Once again racketeers were trying to take over a union and only GL and Dickles could stop them. That tale concluded with the cabbie having that tooth punched out and learning the secret of Alan Scott – an even bigger shock!

A huge hit from the start, the Emerald Crusader was fast-tracked into his own solo title, where the creators were encouraged to experiment with format. Green Lantern Quarterly #2 was cover-dated Winter 1942 and offered ‘The Tycoon’s Legacy’ by Finger & Nodell: a 4-chapter â€œnovel-length storyâ€ which saw radio engineer Scott promoted to roving man-with-a-microphone, promptly rushing to the assistance of a poor but honest lawyer and a porter swindled out of a five million dollar bequest. Both cases deliciously intertwined like a movie melodrama, and also saw a framed man freed from the asylum to challenge the swindling estate executors who had trapped him there.

Events took a murderous turn just as Alan’s emerald alter ego got involved, and before long Green Lantern was cracking heads and taking names in the hunt for the mastermind behind it all – a man known only as ‘Baldy’â€¦

Bill Finger was a master of this type of socially redeeming mystery thriller, and the unrepentant fan in me can’t help but wonder what he could have accomplished with such a prodigious page count on his other â€œDark Avengerâ€ assignment Batman and Robinâ€¦

Hasen illustrated the remaining All-American yarns in this collection, beginning with #36 (March 1942) which took GL and Doiby to the motor racing circuit to foil the machinations of mobsters murdering drivers of a new type of car. With no clue as to how the killings were accomplished, Doiby volunteered to drive the ill-fated Benson Comet himself, trusting in his pal â€œDa Lantrinâ€ to save the day as usualâ€¦

Issue #37 found the heroes helping a disgraced pilot whose crashed plane cost America its greatest scientific minds. A closer investigation revealed not only Fog Blake‘s innocence but that the Brain Trust had been cunningly abducted by Nazi agentsâ€¦ but not for long, after which issue #38 pitted the Emerald Guardian against a diminutive criminal strategist who organised America’s gangs like ‘Another Napoleon’ before facing his own Waterloo in a blaze of green lightâ€¦

With America freshly put on an all-encompassing war-footing, superheroes at last tackled the world’s latest monsters full-on, and with great verve and enthusiasm this blistering compilation concludes in another novel-length epic from the third Green Lantern Quarterly deliciously crafted by Finger & Nodell.

It begins with ‘The Living Graveyard of the Sea’ as Alan and Irene (and stowaway Doiby) take ship for Australia only to be torpedoed by a gigantic German super U-Boat. Although Green Lantern fights off the air and sea assault the liner is lost. The survivors take to life boats and the one with Doiby, Irene and Alan is drawn into a vast impenetrable fog-bankâ€¦

The clouds conceal an ancient wonder: a Sargasso Sea enclave of mariners from many eras who have, over the centuries, evolved into a truly egalitarian, pacifist society. However the lifeboat contains a cross-section of modern America, all horribly infected with greed, pride, arrogance and prejudice and, although welcomed, the newcomers soon disrupt the idyllic microcosm.

Things take an even worse turn when another U-Boat surfaces within the sea city and fanatical Kapitan Schmidt attempts to annexe the realm and convert the ancients to ‘The Nazi Dream’. The stakes are raised even further when he finally gets a message through to Berlin and Hitler himself demands that the strategically crucial secret island be taken at all costsâ€¦

The fantastic finale comes as Irene and Doiby redeem their selfish fellow Americans and rouse the calmly neutral Sargasso citizens to fight for freedom and liberty in ‘Utopia vs. Totalitarianism’ whilst all Green Lantern has to do is sink the entire Nazi naval and aerial armada tasked with taking the hidden sea worldâ€¦

I sometimes think – like many others I know – that superhero comics were never more apt or effective than when they were whole-heartedly combating fascism with explosive, improbable excitement and mysterious masked marvel men.

The most satisfyingly evocative and visceral moments of the genre all seem to come when gaudy gladiators soundly thrashed – and please forgive the contemporary offensive colloquialism – â€œNips and Nazisâ€, and the staggering denouement depicted here is one of the most expansive and breathtaking ever seenâ€¦

Complete with the stellar covers by Nodell & Hasen, this riotous vintage assembly of classic Fights ‘n’ Tights fare is enthralling, engrossing and overwhelmingly addictive – even if not to every modern fan’s taste – and no lover of Costumed Dramas can afford to miss out on the fun â€¦
Â© 1941, 1942, 2002 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

June 26, 2013June 25, 2013

Jinx book 2: Little Miss Steps

By J. Torres, Rick Burchett & Terry Austin (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-936975-42-6 (HC)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â : 978-1-936975-41-9 (PB)

For most of us, when we say comicbooks, thoughts either turn to buff men and women in garish tights hitting each other and lobbing trees or cars about, or stark, nihilistic crime, horror or science fiction sagas aimed at an extremely mature and sophisticated readership of already-confirmed fans.

For American comics these days that is indeed the norm. Over the years though (and throughout the rest of the world still), other forms and genres have continued to wax and wane.

However one US company which has held its ground against the tide over the years â€“ supported by a thriving spin-off television and movie franchise â€“ is the teen-comedy powerhouse that created a genre through the exploits of carrot-topped Archie Andrews and the two girls he could never choose between â€“ Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge.

As decades passed, other companies largely ignored the fact that girls read comics too and, in their frantic, slavish pursuit of the spandex dollar, lost half their potential audience. Girls simply found other ways to amuse themselves until, in the 1990s, the rise of manga painfully proved to comics publishers what Archie Comics had always known.

Ever since that pivotal moment Editors have attempted to recapture that vast missing market: creating worthy titles and imprints dedicated to material for the teen/young adult audience (since not all boys thrive on a steady diet of cosmic punch-ups and vengeful vigilantes) which had embraced translated manga material, momentous comics epics like Maus and Persepolis or the abundant and prolific prose serials which produced such pop phenomena as Twilight, The Hunger Games and Harry Potter.

Archie thrived by never abandoning its female readership and by constant reinvention of its core characters, seamlessly adapting to the changing world outside its bright, flimsy pages: shamelessly co-opting pop music, youth culture and fashion trends into its infallible mix of slapstick and romance.

Each and every social revolution has been painlessly assimilated into the mix (the company has managed to confront a number of major issues affecting the young in a manner both even-handed and tasteful over the years), and the constant addition of timely characters such as African-American Chuck and his girlfriend Nancy, fashion-diva Ginger, Hispanic couple Frankie and Maria and a host of others such as spoiled home-wrecker-in-waiting Cheryl Blossom all contributed to a broad and refreshingly broad-minded scenario.

There are non-sensationalised interracial romances, and in 2010 Archie jumped the final hurdle for a family-entertainment medium with the introduction of Kevin Keller, an openly gay young man and a clear-headed advocate capably tackling and dismantling the last major taboo in mainstream kids comics.

Where once cheap, prolific and ubiquitous, strip magazines in the 21st century are extremely cost-intensive and manufactured for a highly specific – and dwindling – niche market. Moreover the improbably beguiling and bombastic genres that originally fed and nurtured comicbooks are increasingly being supplanted by TV, movies and assorted interactive games media.

Happily, old-school prose publishers and the still-fresh graphic novel industry have a different business model and far more sustainable long-term goals, so the magazine makers’ surrender has been turned into a burgeoning victory, as solid and reassuringly sturdy Comics-as-Books increasingly buck the slowly perishing pamphlet/papers trend.

Publishers like Archieâ€¦

Jinx: Little Miss Steps is the second outing for a venerable child-star of the company given a stunning makeover and refit courtesy of a multi award-winning creative team. Writer J. Torres (Teen Titans Go!, Degrassi: the Next Generation, Alison Dare, Days Like This, Lola – a Ghost Story and others) and celebrated artists Rick Burchett & Terry Austin are responsible for turning adorable six-year old tomboy Li’l Jinx into a genuine icon of, if not role-model for, modern teenaged girls in a style and manner at once astonishingly accessible and classically captivating.

You might be familiar with the precocious and feisty Li’l Jinx who debuted in Pep Comics #62 (cover-dated July 1962). Created by Joe Edwards, she debuted as the publisher began dropping superheroes such as the Shield and Black Hood to specialise in kid-friendly humour features. Over the next few decades she appeared in her own title, as well as Li’l Jinx Giant Laugh-Out and assorted anthologies such as Pep and Archie Giant Series Magazine.

Like Edwards’ own son, her birthday was on Halloween, and the writer/artist put much of himself into the strip. A boisterous, basically decent, sports-loving, mischievous tyke (in the manner of our Minnie the Minx), when not romping, cavorting and tussling with other kids such as Gigi, Greg, Charley Hawse, Russ, Roz and Mort the Worry Wart, Jinx almost exclusively interacted with her long-suffering dad Hap Holliday. Her mother was seldom seenâ€¦

She faded away gradually during the 1980s as teenagers and Turtles supplanted younger characters in Archie’s stable.

She was revived and given a thorough 21^st century upgrade for a new serial in Life With Archie (beginning in #7, March 2011) a growing girl just starting high school. She hadn’t lost all her rough edges thoughâ€¦

After a handy ‘Cast of Jinx’ page, this superb sequel – available in both paperback and hardcover editions – opens with the stroppy lass freaking out because she’s going to be late for a meeting with her mother. Jinx has lived with her dad ever since her parents divorced and almost never sees Mery Holliday anymoreâ€¦

A busy ER nurse, Mery disappoints her daughter again at the last minute so, after fruitlessly reaching out to her already booked and busy friends, the frustrated Jinx settles in to watch an old movie with dear old Dadâ€¦

She’s still fuming at Rose Valley High on Monday, and when the gang start talking about baseball tryouts she goes ballistic at the injustice of the fact that girls aren’t allowed to audition. In high school only boys play B-ball. Girls have to play Softballâ€¦

Already in trouble with Coach Boone for trying to join the all-male Football squad, Jinx’s day is further spoiled when the sports master pre-emptively warns her not to cause any further disruption. The guys don’t get it: sure, she’s better at sports than any of them, but that’s the rules.

Anyway, her mother was a Softball superstar in her day, so why shouldn’t she be content to be the same?

Later, when her mother again cancels at the last moment Jinx blows her topâ€¦

Her female friends don’t really understand either and Dad is baffled when his despondent daughter just seems to give up. It takes a bizarre pep-talk from shallow fashion-plate frenemy Gigi to bring Jinx out of her funk and, after a confrontation with Boone that she could never have predicted, Jinx gets her shot at joining the Baseball squadâ€¦

Gigi and Roz are pursuing more traditional roles, joining the committee to organise the Freshman Dance, but their attempts to socialise and civilise Jinx end in bloodshed and embarrassment. There’s even more such in store as the recovering tom-boy becomes increasingly aware that her old sandlot pals Greg and Charley are starting to think of her as something other than the one who beats them at every game and sportâ€¦

Gigi of course is delighted: there’s never enough teasing and bitchiness to test her verbal venom and well-manicured claws onâ€¦

At the Baseball tryout things go very badly. When Jinx loses it and beats up Charley, she not only falls foul of viperish Principal Vernon, but worse yet, her mother is there to publicly shame her in front of everybodyâ€¦

Dad is more understanding but knows there are traumas and repercussions still to come. Although the infuriated Jinx refuses to take her mother’s calls she cannot avoid Mery when the entire family is called into Vernon’s office. Afterwards mother and daughter reconcile and make yet another date to spend time together. Later Dad confides that one reason his ex-wife has been constantly postponing seeing Jinx is that Mery has a big announcement she’s afraid to make…

He won’t however tell his irksome, impatient child what it is.

Gigi has some disquieting ideas about what such a personal parent-related revelation might be, but the glamour girl’s attention is focussed on her latest party idea – making the upcoming school soiree a Sadie Hawkins Dance. That, she gleefully explains, is where the usual system is reversed and the girls have to invite the boysâ€¦

It’s just one more thing to aggravate and annoy the surly tomboy as both Greg and Charley unsubtly start pestering her to pick one of them. With the lads making complete idiots of themselves Jinx dodges the hot potato by inviting an unsuspecting rank outsider, but still has to cope with the breathtaking bombshell her mother drops when she finally turns up for their family day…

With Greg and Charley in ridiculous macho overdrive Jinx starts to wonder if there’s something wrong with her. After all she’s great at sports, hates girly things like fashion and make-up, loathes dresses and can’t wear anything but sneakers.

Putting all that together with hating boys, and Jinx has to wonder if perhaps she’s gay but really doesn’t know it yetâ€¦

Clever, witty and intoxicatingly engaging, Jinx is a superb example of what can be accomplished in comics if you’re prepared to portray modern kids on their terms and address their issues and concerns. Without ever resorting to tired soap opera melodrama or angst-ridden teen clichÃ©s, Torres has delivered a believable cast of young friends who aren’t stupid or selfish, but simply finding their own tentative ways to maturity. The art by Burchett and Austin is semi-realistic and shockingly effective.

Compellingly funny, gently heart-warming and deftly understated, this is book that will certainly resonate with kids and parents, offering genuine human interactions rather than manufactured atom-powered fistfights to hold your attention. It especially gives women a solid reason to give comics another try.

As added extras this tome also includes a host of bonus features such as background on Joe Edwards’ classic strip: comparing the teen ‘Jinx’ with ‘Li’l Jinx’, as well as the changing faces of ‘Dad’, ‘Jinx, Charley & Greg’ and ‘Jinx and her Mother’.

For aspiring creators there are also a few secrets shared as ‘The Concept of Mery’, ‘The Concept of Mari’ and ‘Behind the Scenes with Jinx Covers’ provides artistic grist for anybody inspired enough to make their own stories.

Sheer exuberant fun; perfectly crafted and utterly irresistible.
Â© 2013 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

June 25, 2013June 24, 2013

Asterix and the Great Divide, Asterix and the Black Gold, Asterix and Son

By Uderzo, translated by Anthea Bell & Derek Hockridge (Orion Books and others)
ISBNs: 978-0-75284-773-3, 978-0-75284-774-0 and 978-0-75284-775-7

Alberto Aleandro Uderzo was born on April 25^th 1927, in Fismes, on the Marne, son of Italian immigrants. As a child reading Mickey Mouse in Le PÃ©tit Parisien he dreamed of becoming an aircraft mechanic and showed artistic flair from an early age. Albert became a French citizen when he was seven and found employment at 13, apprenticed to the Paris Publishing Society, where he learned design, typography, calligraphy and photo retouching.

When WWII broke out he spent time with farming relatives in Brittany and joined his father’s furniture-making business. Brittany beguiled and fascinated Uderzo: when a location for Asterix’s idyllic village was being mooted the region was the only choice.

In the post-war rebuilding of France Uderzo returned to Paris and became a successful artist in the country’s burgeoning comics industry. His first published work, a pastiche of Aesop’s Fables, appeared in Junior, and in 1945 he was introduced to industry giant Edmond-FranÃ§ois Calvo (whose own masterpiece The Beast is Dead is long overdue for a new editionâ€¦).

The tireless Uderzo’s subsequent creations included the indomitable eccentric Clopinard, Belloy, l’InvulnÃ©rable, Prince Rollin and Arys Buck. He illustrated Em-RÃ©-Vil’s novel Flamberge, worked in animation, as a journalist and illustrator for France Dimanche, and created the vertical comicstrip ‘Le Crime ne Paie pas’ for France-Soir. In 1950 he illustrated a few episodes of the franchised European version of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Jr. for Bravo!

An inveterate traveller, the prodigy met Rene Goscinny in 1951. Soon fast friends, they decided to work together at the new Paris office of Belgian Publishing giant World Press. Their first collaboration was in November of that year; a feature piece on savoir vivre (how to live right or gracious living) for women’s weekly Bonnes SoirÃ©e, after which an avalanche of splendid strips and serials poured forth.

Jehan Pistolet and Luc Junior were created for La Libre Junior and they produced a western starring a Red Indian who eventually evolved into the delightfully infamous Oumpah-Pah. In 1955 with the formation of Ã‰difrance/Ã‰dipresse, Uderzo drew Bill Blanchart for La Libre Junior, replaced Christian Godard on Benjamin et Benjamine and in 1957 added Charlier’s Clairette to his portfolio.

The following year later, he made his debut in Tintin, as Oumpah-Pah finally found a home and a rapturous audience. Uderzo also drew Poussin et Poussif, La Famille Moutonet and La Famille Cokalane.

When Pilote launched in 1959 Uderzo was a major creative force for the new magazine collaborating with Charlier on Tanguy et Laverdure and launching with Goscinny a little something called Asterixâ€¦

Although Asterix was a massive hit from the start, Uderzo continued working on Les Aventures de Tanguy et Laverdure, but soon after the first adventure was collected as AstÃ©rix le gaulois in 1961 it became clear that the series would demand most of his time – especially as the incredible Goscinny never seemed to require rest or run out of ideas.

By 1967 the strip occupied all Uderzo’s time and attention, so in 1974 the partners formed IdÃ©fix Studios to fully exploit their inimitable creation. When Goscinny passed away three years later, Uderzo had to be convinced to continue the adventures as writer and artist, producing a further ten volumes until 2010 when he retired.

After nearly 15 years as a weekly comic strip subsequently collected into compilations, in 1974 the 21st tale (Asterix and Caesar’s Gift) was the first to be published as a complete original album before being serialised. Thereafter each new release was a long anticipated, eagerly awaited treat for the strip’s millions of fansâ€¦

According to UNESCO’s Index Translationum, Uderzo is the tenth most-often translated French-language author in the world and the third most-translated French language comics author – right after his old mate RenÃ© Goscinny and the grand master HergÃ©.

More than 325 million copies of 34 Asterix books have sold worldwide, making his joint creators France’s best-selling international authors. There is even the tantalising yet frightening promise of a new volume sometime this October by replacement creative team Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conradâ€¦

One of the most popular comics features on Earth, the collected chronicles of Asterix the Gaul have been translated into more than 100 languages since his debut, with twelve animated and live-action movies, TV series, assorted games, toys, merchandise and even a theme park outside Paris (Parc AstÃ©rix, naturellement)â€¦

So what’s it all about?

Like all the best stories the premise works on more than one level: read it as an action-packed comedic romp of sneaky and bullying baddies coming a cropper if you want or as a punfully sly and witty satire for older, wiser heads. We Brits are further blessed by the brilliantly light touch of master translators Anthea Bell & Derek Hockridge who played no small part in making the indomitable little Gaul so very palatable to English tongues.

More than half of the canon occurs on Uderzo’s beloved Brittany coast, where, circa 50 B.C., a small village of cantankerous, proudly defiant warriors and their families resisted every effort of the mighty Roman Empire to complete the conquest of Gaul. The land had been divided by the conquerors into the provinces of Celtica, Aquitania and Amorica, but the very tip of the latter just refused to be pacifiedâ€¦

The remaining epics occur in various locales throughout the Ancient World, where the Garrulous Gallic Gentlemen visited every fantastic land and corner of the civilisations that proliferated in that fabled eraâ€¦

When the heroes were playing at home, the Romans, unable to defeat the last bastion of Gallic insouciance, futilely resorted to a policy of absolute containment. Thus the little seaside hamlet was permanently hemmed in by the heavily fortified garrisons of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium.

The Gauls couldn’t care less: daily defying the world’s greatest military machine simply by going about their everyday affairs, protected by the magic potion of resident druid Getafix and the shrewd wits of the diminutive dynamo and his simplistic, supercharged best friend Obelixâ€¦

Firmly established as a global brand and premium French export by the mid-1960s, Asterix the Gaul continued to grow in quality as Goscinny & Uderzo toiled ever onward, crafting further fabulous sagas; building a stunning legacy of graphic excellence and storytelling gold. Moreover, following the civil unrest and nigh-revolution in French society following the Paris riots of 1968, the tales took on an increasingly acerbic tang of trenchant satire and pithy socio-political commentaryâ€¦

By the time this edition was released Goscinny had been gone for three years and Uderzo soldiered on aloneâ€¦

Asterix and the Great Divide was the 25^th volume, released in 1980 as Le Grand FossÃ©, which was in many ways something of departure and a stylistic compromise.

In another Gaulish village internecine strife is brewing. Political rivals Cleverdix and Majestix have split the sleepy hamlet down the middle with an election for chief which ended in a dead tie. They then made the figurative literal by having a huge trench dug through the centre of town, cutting the place in two, with the population resolved into uncompromising Leftists and stubborn Rightistsâ€¦

It’s a tragedy in many ways, with friends and families split into feuding camps, but the most heartrending separation concerns dashing Histrionix, son of Leftist Cleverdix and his one true love Melodrama, daughter of Majestix. Their warring sires refuse to concede or compromise and that simmering Cold War has frustrated their children’s happiness foreverâ€¦

The lover’s pleas cannot move either deadlocked party leader and the intolerable situation is further exacerbated by the insidious, coldly calculating advisor to Majestix who secretly eggs on the old warrior for his own purposes.

Wily toady Codfix‘s latest idea is to get their Roman overlords to intervene, installing Majestix as sole ruler by force. In return Codfix would be given Melodrama in marriage. Of course that would make him next in line for the ruler’s position. Codfix is both patient and ambitiously far-sightedâ€¦

When Melodrama learns of the plan she immediately informs Histrionix and the prince tells Cleverdix – who knows full well he cannot resist the overwhelming might of the Romans. The former soldier then remembers an old war-buddy who still successfully resists the conquerors. His name is Vitalstatistixâ€¦

As Histrionix heroically dashes to the village of Indomitable Gauls – he does everything heroically – Codfix has gone to the local garrison with his request. Centurion Umbrageous Cumulonimbus however, has his own problems: discipline is lax and the soldiers are grumbling because of the menial chores they are forced to perform. Codfix has the perfect solution. If the Romans put Rightist Majestix in charge they could take the pacified Leftists as slavesâ€¦

In the meantime Histronix has returned with Vitalstatistix’ best men. Asterix, Obelix and Getafix the Druid are discussing the matter with Cleverdix when Roman soldiers arrive. Codfix however has overstepped himself and underestimated the nobility of Majestixâ€¦

The doughty Rightist refuses to let any Gaul be enslaved – even political opponents – so the uncaring Romans grab him and his followers instead. Impressed with his rival’s integrity, Cleverdix accepts Asterix’ offer of assistance and our heroes infiltrate the garrison as volunteer slaves using an elixir that revitalises the body but causes a touch of amnesiaâ€¦

Having fun by exploiting these new Romans’ ignorance of their true identities, the heroes feed the imprisoned Gauls soup fortified with the Druid’s strength potion before Asterix and Obelix lead a mass breakout which soon finds the prisoners back in their divided hamlet but no closer to an amicable resolution.

And both sides know that the Romans will soon come, eager for revengeâ€¦

Codfix has wisely stayed with the garrison and found the last of Getafix’ elixir, left behind during the liberation. When he sneaks back into the village he also discovers a fresh batch of power-potion whipped up in advance of the impending attack and steals it.

The next day the Gauls wake to find the invaders marching upon them, fortified by the elixir which has erased the punishing memory of their recent defeat, and super-charged by the power potion.

Left with nothing but Obelix and Gaulish courage, the villagers unite to fight and fall with honour but are astonished when a bizarre series of transformations wrack the potion-powered Romans. It takes a long time to become a Druid and apparently the first thing you learn is to never mix potionsâ€¦

Codfix has used the distraction to kidnap Melodrama. Demanding ransom and safe passage he has not reckoned on Histrionix’ determination, Asterix’ ingenuity or Obelix’ strength and – after a climactic confrontation involving our luckless Pirates – gets what’s coming to himâ€¦

With the Romans routed and Codfix suitably punished, Cleverdix and Majestix settle their differences with a traditional Gaulish duel after which someone else becomes chief of the reunified village. The former divide is transformed into an appropriate symbol of their unity and life goes on happilyâ€¦

Asterix and the Great Divide was devised by Uderzo as a critique on current affairs and metaphorical attack on the Berlin Wall which had, since 1961, split the city physically, Europe symbolically and the world ideologically. His earnest tale was more dramatic and action-oriented than previous Asterix fare, with the regulars frequently reduced to subordinate roles, but for all that there are still cunning laughs and wry buffoonery in welcome amounts.

Asterix and the Black Gold (L’OdyssÃ©e d’AstÃ©rix) debuted in 1981 and again saw Asterix and Obelix undertake a long voyage into the unknown, rife with bold adventure and underpinned by topical lampooning and timeless swingeing satire.

The 26^th saga begins with a brace of wild boar demonstrating that they were canny opponents for the voracious Obelix. Whenever the gigantic Gaul spotted these particular pigs in his daily hunts they would evade him by leading him to the nearest Roman patrol. The only thing Obelix loved more than eating pork was bashing Romansâ€¦

Back in RomeJulius Caesar is livid. He’s just received news that the insufferable, indomitable Gauls have been training wild boars to lead Roman patrols into Gaulish ambushesâ€¦

The raging ruler’s continued attempts to end the aggravating resistance always fail and in a fit of fury he charges his chief of the Roman Secret Service M.I.VI (geddit?) with ending his galling Gallic grief – or elseâ€¦

M. Devius Surreptitius has just the man for the job. Dubbelosix is of Gaulish-Roman extraction and has, by persistence and deviousness, qualified as a Druid. He is charming, wily, debonair and comes with a host of cunning hidden gadgets – and he’s also the spitting image of Sean Conneryâ€¦

Dispatched on a mission to stop the French resisting, Dubbelosix is secretly working with his boss M to supplant Caesar, but also harbours ambitions to rule Rome alone â€¦but first he has to destroy the infernal Gauls. His chance comes almost as soon as he arrives in that little villageâ€¦

Getafix is in a near-panic. The Druid has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Phoenician merchant Ekonomikrisis who is bringing a vital ingredient for the magic potion which keeps the Romans at bay. When the ship at last arrives and the peddler apologises for forgetting the fabled rock oil, the highly strung Getafix has a fit and passes out.

Luckily a young Druid dubbed Dubbelosix is passing and, after a minor skirmish with a Roman patrol, accompanies Asterix and Obelix back to their comatose friendâ€¦

The spy might be a double agent but he knows his stuff and soon cures the ailing Getafix, who explains that the generally useless black ooze from the Middle East is vital to the potion: without a fresh supply they are all doomed.

When Asterix and Obelix – and faithful hound Dogmatix, of course – volunteer to obtain some of the crucial rock oil, Dubbelosix insists on going with them. But as they commandeer the Phoenician’s ship for the emergency mission, Getafix clandestinely warns Asterix to watch the too-good-to-be-true young Druidâ€¦

Expediting matters by selling off Ekonomikrisis’ wares at prices nobody – even Pirates – dares refuse, our heroes make their way to Mesopotamia, unaware that Dubbelosix, using his unique messaging service, has briefed Caesar and M to stop the ship at all costs.

After a succession of military vessels are sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean by the joyfully belligerent Gauls, the Ruler of the World is forced to change tactics and blockade all ports to prevent Asterix and Obelix from disembarking.

With time running out, Ekonomikrisis eventually sneaks the Gauls and Dubbelosix ashore in distant Judea and the trio travel overland to Jerusalem where they are befriended by the locals who have no love for the Romans. The oppressors are always just one step behind the voyagers, though. It is as if someone is telling them every time they alter their plansâ€¦

After a memorable night in a village called Bethlehem, the Hebrews’ attempt to smuggle the Gauls into Jerusalem is sabotaged by Dubbelosix. However the Middle Eastern garrisons have never seen fighters like Asterix and Obelix and the doughty heroes escape, leaving the scurrilous double agent behind.

With time running out at home and no word of the fate of their friends the Gauls are hidden by friendly merchants, and learn that the Romans have seized and burned all the rock oil in the city – and probably the entire region. Their only chance to secure some of the previously worthless black goo is to get it from the source – in Babylon, where it just seeps out of the groundâ€¦

Assisted by brave, helpful guide Saul ben Ephishul (a loving visual tribute to Uderzo’s deeply-missed partner RenÃ© Goscinny, who was Jewish) Asterix and Obelix undertake another perilous journey into the deep desert, frolicking in the Dead Sea and encountering a procession on fanatical tribes all warring on each other for long-forgotten reasons in a savage lampoon of modern Middle East strifeâ€¦

Eventually though, the Gauls are completely lost; waterless and without hope under the scorching sun. However when little Dogmatix starts digging in the sand, the resultant oil gusher provides more than enough to buoy up their hopes and they battle on to rendezvous with Ekonomikrisis for a frantic return to Gaul.

Unfortunately, Dubbelosix has tracked them down again and has one last trick to playâ€¦

This return to the style and format of classic collaborations features hilarious comedy set-pieces, thrilling drama and a bitingly gentle assault on the madness of keeping ancient feuds alive, the intransigence of religious tensions and the madness of recurring oil crises; lampooning ideologies and dogmas whilst showing how great it is when people can just get along.

Fast, furious and funny-with-a-moral, this is one of the artist/author’s very best efforts and even manages a double-shock ending…

Asterix and Son was released in 1983, the 27^th saga and another unconventional step off the well-worn path as it touched on a rather touchy subjectâ€¦

One particularly fine morning in the Village of Indomitable Gauls Asterix and Obelix awake to discover someone has left a baby in a basket on their doorstep. Nonplussed and bewildered they try to care for the infant – much to the horror of the local cows who would be delighted to provide sustenance if milked in a normal manner – but human tongues in the village are beginning to wagâ€¦

Things only get worse after the feisty tyke develops a taste for magic potion and somehow keeps finding new supplies of itâ€¦

Determined to clear his name and find the boy’s real parents, Asterix begins his investigations at the four Roman Garrisons, even as Crismus Cactus, Prefect of Gaul begins a suspiciously sudden emergency census of the local villagesâ€¦

Hyper-charged on potion, the baby keeps getting out and following Asterix and Obelix, who discover that the Romans seem to be looking for one child in particularâ€¦

After a painful encounter with our heroes, Crismus Cactus retires to his villa where a VIP from Rome is waiting. Marcus Junius Brutus is Caesar’s adopted son and is most insistent that the mystery baby is found and turned over to him – even if he has to raze all Gaul to achieve his aimâ€¦

The infant in question is still causing trouble for the villagers and Brutus marshals an army near the isolated hamlet, successfully confirming the child’s location with a rather inept spy. The kid’s treatment of the intruder prompts Asterix to seek out a nanny, but as the village women are still suspicious and condemnatory, he hires a rather unsavoury stranger named Aspidistra for the taskâ€¦

This causes even more vicious tongue-wagging amongst the Gaulish women, who assume the worst of both her and Asterix. Inexplicably nobody notices the ferocious childminder’s astonishing resemblance to the Prefect of Gaulâ€¦

Unfortunately once Crismus has successfully infiltrated the village he can’t get out again, and spends a punishing time amusing the infant horror until his nerve breaks. Out of patience, Brutus then attacks with the full might of Rome, torching the village and bombarding it with catapults.

As the men tank up on potion and counterattack, the village women head for the beach, but Brutus, willing to sacrifice his entire army, is waiting and grabs the babyâ€¦

As soon as the Roman Legions are crushed Asterix and Obelix return and discover what has occurred. Filled with rage they set off in deadly pursuit and save the child just in time for his real mother and father to arrive. Two of the most powerful people in the world, they are extremely angry with somebodyâ€¦

Laced with a dark and savage core, this rollicking rollercoaster ride combines tragedy with outrageous slapstick, transforming historical facts into a compelling comedy-drama that is both delightful and genuinely scary in placesâ€¦

Stuffed with sly pokes and good-natured joshing, featuring famous caricatures to tease older readers whilst the raucous, bombastic, bellicose hi-jinks and fast-paced action astounds and bemuses the younger set, these tales all celebrate the spectacular illustrative ability of Uderzo and prove that the potion-powered paragon of Gallic Pride was in safe and steady hands.

If you still haven’t experienced this sublime slice of French polish and graphic Ã©lan there’s no better time than nowâ€¦
Â© 1980-1983 Goscinny/Uderzo. Revised English translation Â© 2002 Hachette. All rights reserved.

June 24, 2013June 23, 2013

World War Z – the Art of the Film

By various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-178116-885-1

Regular readers will know that I’ve never been the biggest fan of zombie fiction but occasionally something comes along that compels me to re-evaluate my position. Such was Max Brooks’ 2009 companion to his excellent novel World War Z released as The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks â€“ a truly mind-boggling piece of graphic indulgence.

Now in the interests of completeness – and because those fine people at Titan Books sent me a review copy – I’m putting you wise to the official film-book which accompanies the blockbuster movie adaptation that resulted from the aforementioned paeans to the unliving and unlovedâ€¦

This should be interesting for all of us as I haven’t seen the movie yetâ€¦

Max Brooks is a successful actor and screenwriter (most notably as part of the team scripting Saturday Night Live, and animation aficionados might recognize his name from the voice credits of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Batman Beyond and Justice League. You’ve probably laughed at a lot of his dad’s movies such as High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein and the first version of the Producers.

Brooks the Younger’s wry, satirical re-imagining of those hoary shambling horror icons has captivated readers since the book’s release in 2003 and the long-awaited, much-delayed cinema release has been eagerly anticipatedâ€¦

The basic premise of this specific Rise of the Living Dead posits that a virus is responsible for the fall of civilisation. The infection can be found in every corner of the Earth, and it sure looks like Apocalypse Nowâ€¦

This epic – 160 pages and 272 x 214mm – paperback volume reprints the shooting script (complete and correct at time of going to press) liberally illustrated and intercut with photographic stills, production art, storyboard sequences, computer modelling pieces and concept illustrations by Seth EngstrÃ¶m, Kim Frederickson, Robbie Consing and others, peppered with quotes from cast, production crew, scripters and director Marc Forster.

The global setting and the journey of nominal protagonist Gerry Lane is visually divided into a ‘Prologue’ and key locations from the picture as the hero experiences and explores the Z-zone of ‘Philadelphia’ – paying particular attention to the fact that our own war zone of Glasgow substituted for the â€œCity of Brotherly Loveâ€ – plus critical clashes in an ‘EZ Save’ supermarket and the ‘Newark Projects’, all ably augmented by Consign’s designs and storyboards.

Other key scenes encompass a ragtag naval ‘Flotilla’ that might be humanity’s last refuge, glimpses of lost ‘Korea’, the battle for ‘Jerusalem’ and the last retreat to ‘Wales’ before a final illuminative section hands over commentary to Special Effects wizards Andrew R. Jones, Alex Reynolds, Simon Crane, Simon Atherton and Scott Farrar who reveal the secrets of making ‘Zombies’ real, building the ‘Tools’ to kill them again and the magic of ‘Shooting Greenscreen’â€¦

For the technically minded there’s also a full list of Acknowledgements to round off your brush with deathâ€¦

Always the most engaging publishing add-ons to motion picture releases, such â€œArt ofâ€¦â€ compendia are as much a part of the fun these days as popcorn and gum under your seats.Â This book is both intriguing and pretty: enticing and genuinely informative enough to keep any fan happy. It might even convince me to watch the filmâ€¦.
World War Z â„¢ and Â© 2013 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

June 23, 2013June 21, 2013

Man of Steel – Inside the Legendary World of Superman

By Daniel Wallace with photographs by Clay Enos (Insight Studios/Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-178116-817-2

Always foremost amongst the fascinating publishing add-ons to accompany major fantasy motion picture releases are the â€œArt ofâ€¦â€ compendiums, and the terrific oversized (286 x 240 x 22mm) hardcover tome which supports the new Man of Steel film is both gloriously enticing and genuinely informative.

Author Daniel Wallace has compiled an eye-popping mix of production art, panoramic stills, pre-production designs and concept paintings gleaned from the various art departments and combined them with behind-the-scenes interviews, commentary and colour to produce a celebratory coffee-table art-book that is absolutely breathtaking.

After a Foreword by producer Christopher Nolan and Introduction from director Zack Snyder, ‘Modern Day Mythmaking’ reveals how the project came about with ‘Making it Happen’ and ‘Making it Real’, further disclosing the secrets of ‘The Suit’ before closing with the film’s philosophical mission statement in ‘Superman VÃ©ritÃ©’.

The all-important ‘Casting Man of Steel’ explores and examines the actors, roles and thinking of the vast and stellar cast over nearly thirty electrifying pages, paying great attention to the costumes and designs of a scenario and society such as Superman fans have never seen before.

That imagination overload continues into ‘Welcome to Krypton’, highlighting ‘Kandor’ and ‘The Kryptonian Chamber’ before digressing onto a page dedicated to ‘Speaking Kryptonian’ (in my day it was â€œKryptoneseâ€ but that’s my own personal digression-lite), after which the visual secrets of ‘The Ruling Council’, ‘Crafted Technology’ and ‘Automated Helpmates’ bring the planet’s robotic excesses to astounding life.

Now a ravaged, worn-torn world, Krypton’s martial advances are spotlighted in ‘Armed for Battle’ whilst ‘The House of El’, ‘Flora and Fauna’ and ‘The Genesis Chamber’ readily inform and expand on the unworldly realities of the lost planet and Superman’s history.

Further visualisations and revelations depict ‘Last Hope’, the awesomely appalling ‘Black Zero’, ‘The Dead Colonies’ long-abandoned by Krypton, and explain how the film designers attempted ‘Communicating with Contours’ before concluding with views of the pivotal ‘Scout Ship’ that changed Clark Kent’s life foreverâ€¦

Locations and sets star in ‘Welcome to Earth’, with specific attention paid to the hero-in-waiting’s ‘Northern Journeys’, ‘Smallville’, Earth’s military bastion ‘U.S. Northcom’ and of course, ‘Metropolis’ before the epic exploration ends with a heartfelt appreciation of ‘The Heart of the Legend’â€¦

Admittedly Inside the Legendary World of Superman was released to cash-in on the long-awaited movie, but this utterly engrossing picture-treat is such a superb slice of sheer imaginative indulgence no fan of film or funnybooks will want to miss out on such a marvellously magical experience.
Â© 2013 DC Comics. MAN OF STEEL, SUPERMAN and all related characters and elements â„¢ and Â© DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

June 22, 2013June 22, 2013

Man of Steel – the Official Movie Novelization

By Greg Cox (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78116-599-7 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â E-book edition ISBN: 978-1-78116-600-0

As you might have noticed, there’s another Superman movie hitting big screens at the moment and, as is the norm, the movie blockbuster comes with all the usual attendant extras.

Released a week after the premiere of Man of Steel, the Official Movie Novelization recapitulates that tale in an absorbing 320 page paperback – sadly sans any illustrations – for fans of a literary bent, duly expanding the breathtaking visual experience in the adroit, incisive way specialist author Greg Cox has made his own.

Don’t take my word for it: check his adaptations of films such as the Underworld trilogy, Daredevil, Ghost Rider or The Dark Knight Rises, comics series such as Infinite Crisis, Countdown, Final Crisis amongst others, as well as his legion of cult media tie-ins and comics-related booksâ€¦

Spoiler Alert: since almost everybody alive knows the mythos of Superman by now and the whole point of this latest movie is to reinterpret, reinvigorate and reinstate that legend, I’m going to manfully restrain myself from outlining the plot of this engaging prose package in anything but the vaguest detail, in case you haven’t seen the stunning visual tour de force yet.

Krypton dies and scientific rebels Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van send their newborn son to another world to escape its destruction. However a goodly portion of film and book concentrate on the fabulous, uncanny and war-torn planet where Jor-El struggles with former friend and desperate terrorist General Zod as each strives to preserve Krypton in their diametrically opposed ways, so you won’t be reading about the child of two worlds until chapter sevenâ€¦

A ship lands in Kansas, years pass and strange, anonymous miracles occurâ€¦

A young reporter begins to chart these odd occurrences.

Another star-craft is found, buried millennia-deep in polar iceâ€¦

And one day a ghastly extraterrestrial war-craft comes to Earth, full of deadly super-beings hunting someone called Kal-Elâ€¦

Full of sly in-joke nods to previous comics, film and TV iterations and littered with those arcane snippets of lore beloved by seasoned fans, this engaging yarn, based on the original screenplay by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan, adds some depth to the frantic on-screen spectacle and will delight every Superman that loves to curl up with a good book.

June 21, 2013June 20, 2013

Superman: Transformed!

By Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Scott Eaton, Ron Frenz, Tom Grummett, Ron Lim, Paul Ryan, Dennis Janke, JosÃ© MarzÃ¡n Jr, Denis Rodier & Josef Rubinstein (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-406-0

The Man of Steel has proven to be all things to most fans during his 75-year existence so, with the character currently undertaking his latest radical shake-up, what better time to spotlight one of the strangest and most controversial refits of Superman ever conceived?Â Although largely out of favour these days as all the myriad decades of accrued mythology are inexorably re-assimilated into an overarching all-inclusive multi-media film-favoured continuity, the stripped-down, gritty post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Man of Tomorrow as re-imagined by John Byrne, and marvellously built upon by a succession of immensely talented comics craftsmen, resulted in some stunning highs and lows.

The fan in me loathed this â€œstuntâ€ at the time, but the seemingly desperate attempt to keep reader attention high at all costs now reads rather well and offers genuine moments of sheer Fight’s ‘n’ Tights magic – especially in the stunning combat sequencesâ€¦.

Almost as soon as the Byrne restart had stripped away much of the mythology and iconography which had grown up around the Strange Visitor from Another World over fifty glorious years, successive creative teams spent a great deal of time and ingenuity putting much of it back, albeit in terms more accessible to a cynical and well-informed audience far more sophisticated than their grandparents ever were.

Thus as a notional tip of the hat to the legendary imaginary story ‘The Amazing Story of Superman–Red and Superman–Blue’! from Superman volume 1, #162, July 1963 this strange transformation occurredâ€¦

Collecting Superman volume 2, #119, 122-123, Adventures of Superman #542, 545, Action Comics #729, 732 and Superman: Man of Steel # 64 and 67 (from January and April 1997) this hyper-charged thriller reads best if taken in conjunction with a working knowledge of the characters, but newcomers can soon get up to speed by paying attention to the carefully administered snatches of expository dialogue and the handy â€œPreviouslyâ€ prose pageâ€¦

When an inter-cosmic Sun Eater devoured our life-giving star, Earth was plunged into a sudden and catastrophic Big Freeze. The ultimate sacrifice by a hero-turned-villain ended the â€œFinal Nightâ€ by reigniting Sol, but not before Superman, unceasingly battling to the limits of his strength, utterly exhausted his body’s solar-charged power and became no more than merely mortalâ€¦

Now as ‘Sunburned!’ (Superman #119 by Dan Jurgens, Ron Frenz & Joe Rubenstein) opens, the all-too human Clark Kent at last admits that his abilities are not returning, even as a squad of time-displaced teenagers from a millennium away also struggle to find their proper placeâ€¦

Man of Tomorrow and Legion of Super-Heroes stumble over each other whilst breaking into Lex Luthor‘s citadel of science and, with the cautious consequence-drenched assistance of the Wickedest Man in the World, borrow a spaceship to take Superman to the Sun and â€“ hopefully – a massive solar booster shot.

The attempt fails and the Metropolis Marvel, forced to fight crime as a powerless mortal, is compelled to take even more drastic measures in Adventures of Superman #542. ‘Power Trip!’ (Karl Kesel, Paul Ryan & JosÃ© MarzÃ¡n Jr.) has him turn his secret problem over to the scientists of clandestine Genetic Research Project Cadmus. Unfortunately their facility is in trouble too as spoiled, fun-loving, bratty metahuman genius Misa has infiltrated the factory of wonders with her incredible gadgets, looking to make a little mean-spirited mischiefâ€¦

After the Project barely survives her devastating pranks, all Security supremo Guardian can do is offer Superman transport to the Antarctic Fortress of Solitude where the former Man of Steel has stored many super-scientific devices from shattered Kryptonâ€¦

Action Comics #729 follows that voyage to its disastrous conclusion as a massive electrical disturbance brings Superman crashing into the polar vastness far short of his goal. ‘Generator X!’ by David Michelinie, Tom Grummett & Denis Rodier, sees him rescued by research scientists who expected help with their own dilemma – a real job for Supermanâ€¦

Whilst probing the Earth’s mantle they had unleashed a semi-sentient energy force which was periodically ravaging their base, and even though powerless, Kal-El valiantly led the battle to get rid of it. Tragically the only thing that could hold the ephemeral entity was Superman’s depleted Kryptonian body…

After eventually expelling the energy-beast into space, Superman arrived at his Fortress and rendezvoused with friend and technical advisor Professor Emil Hamilton, but even alien science was unable to fix his power-problems. Moreover, odd electrical anomalies kept occurring. Appliances short-circuited and even the trans-dimensional barrier around the Bottle City of Kandor flickered in un-Superman’s presenceâ€¦

Suddenly the despondent defender was urgently summoned by New Gods Mister Miracle and Big Barda with a crisis of cosmic proportions that only Superman could handleâ€¦

‘Into the Fire!’ (by Louise Simonson, Ron Lim & Dennis Janke from Superman: Man of Steel #64) saw Kal-El help to investigate an uncanny mystery which had smashed the antithetical worlds of Apokolips and New Genesis together and stolen the memories of Metron, God of Knowledge. The incredible solution involved a deadly trip into the heart of our sun which inexplicably restored Superman’s full powers.

Those odd electrical events kept happening thoughâ€¦

The second section of this collection features tales from a few months later – most of the intervening events having been separately collected in Superman vs. The Revenge Squad! – as the annoying sparks and short circuits around the Man of Steel slowly intensifyâ€¦

Superman #122 revealed ‘The Kandor Connection’ (Jurgens, Frenz & Rubenstein) wherein hyper-powered rebel Ceritak agonises and acts out against his imprisonment. This version of Kandor was an enclave of thousands of alien captives, enslaved by a marauding tyrant named Tolos and penned in a pocket-dimension. Although Superman had liberated Kandor from the intergalactic body-snatcher, he was unable to restore the inhabitants and, after establishing the container in his Fortress, left them alone to forge their own multi-species society in enforced isolationâ€¦

Now however as Ceritak’s petulant rages become a menace to everybody, in the outer universe Superman and Lois have come to the Fortress to assess the Man of Steel’s latest symptoms. During a fight against thugs in Metropolis, Superman became intangible and a bystander was wounded by a bullet that passed through, rather than bounced off himâ€¦

When it happens again in the Fortress, Superman phases through the impenetrable dimensional walls of Kandor, and Ceritak – seizing a chance in billion – latches on to his energy wake as the hero struggles back to Earthâ€¦

Oblivious to the fact, Lois and Clark return to America only to discover something is terribly wrong: Superman is turning into an explosive, out of control generator of deadly lightningâ€¦

The calamity continues in ‘Power Crisis!’ (Adventures of Superman #545 by Kesel, Scot Eaton & MarzÃ¡n Jr.) with the horrified hero blinking in and about of existence, emitting shattering blasts of radiation, materialising all over Earth and agonisingly bombarded by new senses, perceptions and sensations.

Barely able to move without causing disasters, Clark is helpless when delusional maniac Atomic Skull kidnaps Lois. The embattled hero then suffers another terrifying transfiguration – into a blazing being of blue white energy.

Battling the nuclear madman in this state, Superman loses and is apparently dispersed into nothingnessâ€¦

He recondenses in Antarctica in Action Comics #732, gaining enough control to teleport back to Metropolis in time to team-up with his former adversary and prevent a radioactive catastrophe in ‘The Saving Skull’ (Michelinie, Grummett & Rodier).

Meanwhile the blockbusting Ceritak slowly makes his way towards the city and an inevitable showdownâ€¦

The clash came in Superman: Man of Steel #67 and ‘Say Goodbye to That Costumeâ€¦’ (Simonson, Jon Bogdanove & Janke) as the ferocious fight pits Ceritak – dubbed Scorn by the uncomprehending journalists on the scene – against a blazing energy avatar that used to be Superman.

The monster’s immense strength and speed are easily the equal of the bizarre battery of new abilities exhibited by the mutated Man of Power – electrical blasts, intangibility, magnetic bursts and much more. The pointless, futile fight ultimately leaves Scorn crushed and the Metropolis Marvel on the edge of a final, fatal dispersalâ€¦

In Superman #123, with her husband on the verge of extinction, Lois rallies friends and foes alike for a last-ditch attempt to save the valiant voltaic hero. In a desperate race against time and with only Clark’s indomitable willpower holding him together, Hamilton and S.T.A.R. Labs’ chief Kitty Faulkner – suspiciously assisted by Lex Luthor – build a suit to contain and channel those volatile forces.

This allows a ‘Supermanâ€¦ Reborn!’ Jurgens, Frenz & Rubenstein) to begin a new phase in his â€œNever-ending Struggleâ€ and begin a year of astounding adventures the likes of which fans had never seen.

Clever drama, spectacular action and rollercoaster pace, coupled with the usual high standard of character interplay, all underscore this much-maligned but hugely enjoyable diversion in the amazing life of Superman and this saga is truly deserving of a second look and honest reappraisal.

June 20, 2013June 22, 2013

Barnaby volume 1: 1942-1943

By Crockett Johnson (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-522-8

This is one of those books that’s worthy of two reviews, so if you’re in a hurryâ€¦

Buy Barnaby now â€“ it’s one of the most wonderful strips of all time and this superb hardcover compilation has lots of fascinating extras. If you harbour any yearnings for the lost joys of childish glee you would be crazy to miss this bookâ€¦

However, if you’re still here and need a little more time to decideâ€¦

As long ago as August 2007 I whined that one of the greatest comic strips of all time was criminally out of print and in desperate need of a major deluxe re-issue. So, as if by the magic of a fine Panatellaâ€¦ Cushlamocree! Here it isâ€¦

Today’s newspapers have precious few continuity drama or adventure strips. Indeed, if a paper has any strips – as opposed to single panel editorial cartoons – at all, chances are they will be of the episodic variety typified by Jim Davis’ Garfield or Scott Adams’ Dilbert.

You might describe these as single-idea pieces with a set-up, delivery and punch-line, all rendered in a sparse, pared-down-to-basics drawing style. In that they’re nothing new.

Narrative impetus comes from the unchanging characters themselves, and a building of gag-upon-gag in extended themes. The advantage to the newspaper is obvious. If you like a strip it encourages you to buy the paper. If you miss a day or two, you can return fresh at any time having, in real terms, missed nothing.

Such was not always the case, especially in America. Once upon a time the Daily â€œfunnyâ€ – comedic or otherwise – was a crucial circulation builder and preserver, with lush, lavish and magnificently rendered fantasies or romances rubbing shoulders with thrilling, moody masterpieces of crime, war, sci-fi and everyday melodrama. Even the legion of humour strips actively strived to maintain an avid, devoted following.

And eventually there was Barnaby which in so many ways bridged the gap between then and now.

On April 20th 1942, with America at war for the second in 25 years, the liberal New York tabloid PM began running a new, sweet little kid’s strip which was also the most whimsically addicting, socially seditious and ferociously smart satire since the creation of Al Capp’s Li’l Abner – another complete innocent left to the mercy of scurrilous worldly influencesâ€¦

The outlandish 4-panel Daily, by Crockett Johnson, was the product of a man who didn’t particularly care for comics, but who – according to celebrated strip historian Ron Goulart – just wanted steady employmentâ€¦

David Johnson Leisk (October 20^th 1906-July 11^th 1975) was an ardent socialist, passionate anti-fascist, gifted artisan and brilliant designer who had spent much of his working life as a commercial artist, Editor and Art Director.

Born in New York City and raised in the outer borough of Queens when it was still semi-rural – very near the slag heaps which would eventually house two New York World’s Fairs in Flushing Meadows – Leisk studied art at Cooper Union (for the Advancement of Science and Art) and New York University before leaving early to support his widowed mother. This entailed embarking upon a hand-to-mouth career drawing and constructing department-store advertising.

He supplemented his income with occasional cartoons to magazines such as Collier’s before becoming an Art Editor at magazine publisher McGraw-Hill. He also began producing a moderately successful, â€œsilentâ€ strip called The Little Man with the Eyes.

Johnson had divorced his first wife in 1939 and moved out of the city to Connecticut, sharing an ocean-side home with student (and eventual bride) Ruth Krauss, always looking to create that steady something when, almost by accident, he devised a masterpiece of comics narrativeâ€¦

However, if his friend Charles Martin hadn’t seen a prototype Barnaby half-page lying around the house, the series might never have existed. Happily Martin hijacked the sample and parlayed it into a regular feature in prestigious highbrow leftist tabloid PM simply by showing the scrap to the paper’s Comics Editor Hannah Baker.

Among her other finds was a strip by a cartoonist dubbed Dr. Seuss which would run contiguously in the same publication. Despite Johnson’s initial reticence, within a year Barnaby had become the new darling of the intelligentsiaâ€¦

Soon there were hard-back book collections, talk of a Radio show (in 1946 it was adapted as a stage play), rave reviews in Time, Newsweek and Life. The small but rabid fan-base ranged from politicians and the smart set such as President and First Lady Roosevelt, Vice-President Henry Wallace, Rockwell Kent, William Rose Benet and Lois Untermeyer to cool celebrities such as Duke Ellington, Dorothy Parker, W. C. Fields and even legendary New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

Of course the last two might only have checking the paper because the undisputed, unsavoury star of the show was a scurrilous if fanciful amalgam of themâ€¦

Not since George Herriman’s Krazy Kat had a piece of popular culture so infiltrated the halls of the mighty, whilst largely passing way over the heads of the masses and without troubling the Funnies sections of big circulation papers.

Over its 10-year run from April 1942 to February 1952, Barnaby was only syndicated to 64 papers nationally, with a combined circulation of just over five and a half million, but it kept Crockett (a childhood nickname) and Ruth in relative comfort whilst America’s Great and Good constantly agitated on the kid’s behalf.

This splendid collection opens with a hearty appreciation from Chris Ware in the Foreword before cartoonist and historian Jeet Heer provides a critical appraisal in ‘Barnaby and American Clear Line Cartooning’ after which the captivating yarn-spinning takes us from April 20^th 1942 to December 31^st 1943.

There’s even more elucidatory content after that, though, as education scholar and Professor of English Philip Nel provides a fact-filled, picture-packed ‘Afterword: Crockett Johnson and the Invention of Barnaby’, Dorothy Parker’s original ‘Mash Note to Crockett Johnson’ is reprinted in full, and Nel also supplies strip-by-strip commentary and background in ‘The Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes, and Little Men’s Chowder & Marching Society: a Handy Pocket Guide’â€¦

The real meat begins with ‘Mr. O’Malley Arrives’ which ran from 20^th-29^th April 1942, setting the ball rolling as a little boy wished one night for a Fairy Godmother and something strange and disreputable fell in through his windowâ€¦

Barnaby Baxter is a smart, ingenuous and scrupulously honest pre-schooler (four years old to you) and his ardent wish was to be an Air Raid Warden like his dad. Instead he was â€œadoptedâ€ by a short, portly, pompous, mildly unsavoury and wholly discreditable windbag with pink wings.

Jackeen J. O’Malley, card carrying-member of the Elves, Gnomes, Leprechauns and Little Men’s Chowder and Marching Society – although he hadn’t paid his dues in years – installed himself as the lad’s Fairy Godfather. A lazier, more self-aggrandizing, mooching old glutton and probable soak (he certainly frequented taverns but only ever raided the Baxter’s icebox, pantry and humidor, never their drinks cabinetâ€¦) could not be found anywhere.

Due more to intransigence than evidence – there’s always plenty of physical proof whenever O’Malley has been around – Barnaby’s father and mother adamantly refused to believe in the ungainly, insalubrious sprite, whose continued presence hopelessly complicated the sweet boy’s life.

The poor parents’ greatest abiding fear was that Barnaby was cursed with Too Much Imaginationâ€¦

In fact this entire glorious confection is about our relationship to imagination. This is not a strip about childhood fantasy. The theme here, beloved by both parents and children alike, is that grown-ups don’t listen to kids enough, and that they certainly don’t know everything.

Despite looking like a fraud – he never uses his magic and always has one of Dad’s stolen cigars as a substitute wand – O’Malley is the real deal: he’s just incredibly lazy, greedy, arrogant and inept. He does sort of grant Barnaby’s wish though, as his midnight travels in the sky trigger a full air raid alert in ‘Mr. O’Malley Takes Flight’ (30^th April-14^th May)â€¦

‘Mr. O’Malley’s Mishaps’ (15^th-28^th May) offer further insights into the obese elf’s character – or lack of same – as Barnaby continually failed to convince his folks of his newfound companion’s existence, and the bestiary expanded into a topical full-length adventure when the little guys stumbled onto a genuine Nazi plot with supernatural overtones in the hilariously outrageous ‘O’Malley vs. Ogre’ which ran from 29^th May to 31^st August.

‘Mr. O’Malley’s Malady’, 1^st-11^th September, dealt with the airborne oaf’s brief bout of amnesia, but as Mum and Dad thought their boy was acting up they took him to a child psychologist. However ‘The Doctor’s Analysis’ (12^th-24^th September) didn’t helpâ€¦

The war’s effect on the Home Front was an integral part of the strip and ‘Pop vs. Mr. O’Malley’ (25^th September-6^th October) and ‘The Test Blackout’ (7^th-16^th October) saw Mr. Baxter become chief Civil Defense Coordinator despite – not because – of the winged interloper, and suffer the usual personal humiliation.

There was plenty to go around and, when ‘The Invisible McSnoyd’ (17^th-31^st October) turned up, O’Malley got it all.

The Brooklyn Leprechaun, although unseen, was O’Malley’s personal gadfly, always offering harsh, ribald counterpoints and home truths to the Godfather’s self-laudatory pronouncements, and ‘The Pot of Gold’ (2^nd-20^th November) with which he perpetually taunted and tempted JJ provided a wealth of laughsâ€¦

When Barnaby won a scrap metal finding competition and was feted on radio, O’Malley co-opted ‘The Big Broadcast’ (21^st-28^th November) and brought chaos to the airwaves, but once again Mr. Baxter wouldn’t believe his senses. Dad’s situation only worsened after ‘The New Neighbors’ (30^th November-16^th December) moved in and little Jane Shultz also started candidly reporting Mr. O’Malley’s deeds and misadventuresâ€¦

Barnaby’s faith was only near-shaken when the Fairy Fool’s constant prevarications and procrastination meant Dad Baxter’s Christmas present arrived late. The Godfather did accidentally destroy an animal shelter though, so ‘Pop is Given a Dog’ (17^th-30^th December) concluded with a happy resolution of sortsâ€¦

A perfect indication of the wry humour that peppered the feature can be seen in ‘The Dog Can Talk’ which ran from 31^st December 1942 to 17^th January 1943. New pooch Gorgon could indeed converse – but never when the parents where around, and only then with such overwhelming dullness that everybody listening wished him as mute as all other muttsâ€¦

Playing in an old abandoned house (don’t you miss those days when kids could wander off for hours unsupervised by eagle-eyed, anxious parents – or even able to walk further than the length of a garden?) served to introduce Barnaby and Jane to ‘Gus, the Ghost’ (18^th January-4^th February) which in turn involved the entire ensemble with ration-busting thieves when they uncovered ‘The Hot Coffee Ring’ (5^th-27^th February). Barnaby was again hailed a public hero and credit to his neighbourhood, even as poor Dad stood back and stared, nonplussed and incredulous.

As Johnson continually expanded his gently bizarre cast of Gremlins, Ogres, Ghosts, Policemen, Spies, Black Marketeers, Talking Dogs and even Little Girls, all of whom could see O’Malley, the unyieldingly faithful little lad’s parents were always too busy and too certain that the Fairy Godfather and all his ilk were unhealthy, unwanted, juvenile fabrications.

With such a simple yet flexible formula Johnson made pure cartoon magic.

‘The Ghostwriter Moves In’ (1^st-11^th March) found Gus reluctantly relocate to the Baxter dwelling, where he was even less happy to be cajoled into typing out O’Malley’s odious memoirs and organising ‘The Testimonial Dinner’ (12^th March-2^nd April) for the swell-headed sprite at the Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes, and Little Men’s Chowder & Marching Society clubhouse and pool hallâ€¦

With the nation urged to plant food crops, ‘Barnaby’s Garden’ (3^rd-16^th April) debuted as a another fine example of the things O’Malley was (not) expert in, whilst ‘O’Malley and the Lion’ (17^th April-17^th May) found the kid offering sanctuary to a hirsute circus star even as the conniving cheroot-chewing cherub contemplated his â€œreturnâ€ to showbiz, after which ‘Atlas, the Giant’ (18^th May-3^rd June) wandered into the serial. At only 2 feet tall the pint sized colossus was not that impressiveâ€¦ until he got out his slide-rule and demonstrated that he was, in essence, a mental giantâ€¦

‘Gorgon’s Father’ (4^th June-10^th July) turned up to cause contretemps and consternation before disappearing again, after which Barnaby and Jane were packed off to ‘Mrs. Krump’s Kiddie Kamp’ (12^th July-13^th September) for vacation rest and the company of normal children.

Sadly, although the wise matron and her assistant never glimpsed O’Malley and Gus, all the other tykes and inmates were more than happy to see themâ€¦

Once the kids arrived back in Queens – Johnson had set the series in the streets where he’d grown up – the Fairy Fool was showing off his â€œmechanical aptitudeâ€ on a parked car with its engine wastefully running and broke the idling getaway car just in time to foil a robbery.

Implausibly overnight, he became an unseen and reclusive ‘Man of the Hour’ (14^th-18^th September) and preposterously translated that into a political career by accidentally becoming a patsy for a corrupt political machine in ‘O’Malley for Congress!’ (20^th September-8^th October).

This strand gave staunchly socialist cynic Johnson ample opportunity to ferociously lampoon the electoral system, the pundits and even the public. Without spending money, campaigning – or even being seen – the pompous pixie won ‘The Election’ (9^th October-12^th November) and actually became ‘Congressman O’Malley’ (13^th-23^rd November) with Barnaby’s parents perpetually assuring their boy that this guy was not â€œhisâ€ Fairy Godfather’â€¦

The outrageous satire only intensified once ‘The O’Malley Committee’ (24^th November-27^th December 1943) began its work, by investigating Santa Claus, despite the newest, shortest Congressman in the House never actually turning up to do a day’s workâ€¦

Raucous, riotous sublimely surreal and adorably absurd, the untrammelled, razor-sharp whimsy of the strip is always instantly captivating, and the laconic charm of the writing is well-nigh irresistible, but the lasting legacy of this ground-breaking strip is the clean sparse line-work that reduces images to almost technical drawings, unwavering line-weights and solid swathes of black that define space and depth by practically eliminating it, without ever obscuring the fluid warmth and humanity of the characters.

Almost every modern strip cartoon follows the principles laid down here by a man who purportedly disliked the medium…

The major difference between then and now should also be noted, however.

Johnson despised doing shoddy work, or short-changing his audience. On average each of his daily encounters, always self-contained, built on the previous episode without needing to re-reference it, and contained three to four times as much text as its contemporaries. It’s a sign of the author’s ability that the extra wordage was never unnecessary, and often uniquely readable, blending storybook clarity, the snappy pace of â€œScrewballâ€ comedy films and the contemporary rhythms and idiom of authors such as Damon Runyan.

He managed this miracle by type-setting the dialogue and pasting up the strips himself – primarily in Futura Medium Italic but with effective forays into other fonts for dramatic and comedic effect.

No sticky-beaked educational vigilante could claim Barnaby harmed children’s reading abilities by confusing the tykes with non-standard letter-forms (a charge levelled at comics as late as the turn of this century), and the device also allowed him to maintain an easy, elegant, effective balance of black and white which makes the deliciously diagrammatic art light, airy and implausibly fresh and accessible.

During 1946-1947, Johnson surrendered the strip to friends as he pursued a career illustrating children’s book such as Constance J. Foster’s This Rich World: The Story of Money, but eventually he returned, crafting more magic until he retired Barnaby in 1952 to concentrate on books.

When Ruth graduated she became a successful children’s writer and they collaborated on four tomes, The Carrot Seed (1945), How to Make an Earthquake, Is This You? and The Happy Egg, but these days Crockett Johnson is best known for his seven â€œHaroldâ€ books which began in 1955 with the captivating Harold and the Purple Crayon.

During a global war with heroes and villains aplenty, where no comic page could top the daily headlines for thrills, drama and heartbreak, Barnaby was an absolute panacea to the horrors without ever ignoring or escaping them.

For far too long Barnaby was a lost masterpiece. It is influential, ground-breaking and a shining classic of the form. You are all poorer for not knowing it, and should move mountains to change that situation. I’m not kidding.

Liberally illustrated throughout with sketches, roughs, photos and advertising materials as well as Credits, Thank You and a brief biography of Johnson, this big book of joy is a long-overdue and very welcome addition to 21^st century bookshelves – especially yoursâ€¦

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