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August 27, 2012August 27, 2012

Judge Dredd: the Complete Case Files 01

By John Wagner, Pat Mills, Carlos Ezquerra, Ian Gibson, Mike McMahon, Brian Bolland & various (Rebellion)
ISBN: 978-1-90426-579-0

Britain’s last great comic icon could be described as a combination of the other two, combining the futuristic milieu and thrills of Dan Dare with the terrifying anarchy and irreverent absurdity of Dennis the Menace. He’s also well on the way to becoming the longest-lasting adventure character in our admittedly meagre comics stable, having been continually published every week since February 1977 when he first appeared in the second issue of science-fiction anthology 2000AD – and now that the Dandy’s slated for cancellation, veterans Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan might one day be overtaken in the comedy stakes tooâ€¦

However with at least 52 2000AD strips a year, annuals, specials, a newspaper strip (in the Daily Star and later The Metro), the Judge Dredd Megazine, numerous reprinted classic comics collections and even two rather appalling DC Comics spin-off titles, that adds up to a phenomenal amount of material, most of which is still happily in print.

Bolland by his own admission was an uneconomically slow artist and much of his Dredd work appeared as weekly portions of large epics with other artists handling other episodes,

Judicial Briefing: Dredd and his dystopian ultra-metropolis of Mega-City One – originally it was to be a 21^st century New York – were created by a very talented committee including Pat Mills, Kelvin Gosnell, Carlos Ezquerra, Mike McMahon and others, but with the major contribution coming from legendary writer John Wagner, who has written the largest portion of the canon under his own and several pseudonyms.

Joe Dredd is a fanatically dedicated Judge in the super-city, where hundreds of millions of citizens idle away their days in a world where robots are cheaper and more efficient than humans, and jobs are both beloved pastime and treasured commodity. Boredom has reached epidemic proportions and almost everybody is just one askance glance away mental meltdown. Judges are peacekeepers who maintain order at all costs: investigating, taking action and trying all crimes and disturbances to the hard-won equilibrium of the constantly boiling melting pot. Justice is always immediateâ€¦

Dredd’s world is a polluted and precarious Future (In)Tense with all the key analogues for successful science fiction (as ever a social looking-glass for the times it’s created in) situated and sharply attuned to a Cold War Consumer Civilisation. The planet is divided into political camps with post-nuclear holocaust America locked in a slow death-struggle with the Sov Judges of the old Eastern Communist blocs. The Eastern lawmen are militaristic, oppressive and totalitarian – and that’s by the US Judges’ standards – so just imagine what they’re actually likeâ€¦

They are necessary fascists in a world permanently on the edge of catastrophe, and sadly, what far too many readers never realise is that the strip is a gigantic satirical black comedy with oodles of outrageous, vicarious cathartic action.

Such was not the case when the super-cop debuted in 2000AD Prog (that’s issue number to you) #2 (March 5^th 1977), stuck at the back of the new weekly comic in a tale finally scripted after much intensive re-hashing by Peter Harris and illustrated by Mike McMahon & Carlos Ezquerra.

The blazing, humourless, no-nonsense (all that would happily come later) action yarn introduced the bike-riding Sentinel of Order in the tale of brutal bandit Whitey whose savage crime spree was ended with ferocious efficiency before the thug was sentenced to Devil’s Island â€“ a high-rise artificial plateau surrounded by the City’s constant stream of lethal, never-ending, high-speed trafficâ€¦

In Prog 3 he investigated The New You in a cunning thriller by Kelvin Gosnell & McMahon wherein a crafty crook tried to escape justice by popping into his local face-changing shop, whilst #4 saw the first appearance of the outcast mutants in The Brotherhood of Darkness (Malcolm Shaw & McMahon) when the ghastly pariahs invaded the megalopolis in search of slaves.

The first hints of humour began in Prog 5’s Krong by Shaw & Ezquerra, with the introduction of Dredd’s Italian cleaner Maria, wherein deranged horror film fan and hologram salesman Kevin O’Neill – yes it’s an in-joke – unleashed a giant mechanical gorilla on the city. The issue was the first of many to cover-feature old Stone Faceâ€¦

Frankenstein 2 pitted Dredd against an audacious medical mastermind hijacking citizens to keep his rich aging clients in fresh, young organs, after which #7 saw ruthless reprobate Ringo’s gang of muggers flaunting their criminality in the very shadow of The Statue of Judgement until Dredd lowered the boom on themâ€¦

Charles Herring & Massimo Belardinelli produced the Antique Car Heist in #8, which first indicated that the super-cop’s face was hideously disfigured, when the Judge tracked down a murderous thief who stole an ancient petrol-burning vehicle, after which co-creator John Wagner returned in Prog 9 to begin his staggering run of tales with Robots, illustrated by veteran British science fiction artist Ron Turner, which set the scene for an ambitious mini-saga in #10-17. The gripping vignette was set at the Robot of the Year Show, and revealed the callous cruelty indulged in by citizens upon their mechanical slaves as a by-product of a violent blackmail threat by a disabled maniac in a mechanical-super chairâ€¦

Those casual injustices paved the way for Robot Wars (alternately illustrated over the weeks by Ezquerra, Turner, McMahon & Ian Gibson) wherein carpenter-robot Call-Me-Kenneth experienced a mechanical mind meltdown and became a human-hating steel Spartacus, leading a bloody revolution against the fleshy oppressors. The slaughter was widespread and terrible before the Judges regained control, helped in no small part by loyal, lisping Vending droid Walter the Wobot, who became at the epic’s end Dredd’s second live-in comedy foilâ€¦

With order restored a sequence of self-contained stories firmed up the vision of the crazed city. In Prog 18 Wagner & McMahon introduced the menace of mind-bending Brainblooms cultivated by a little old lady career criminal, Gerry Finley-Day & John Cooper described the galvanising effect of the Muggers Moon on Mega-City 1’s criminal class whilst Dredd demonstrated the inadvisability of being an uncooperative witnessâ€¦

Wagner & McMahon introduced Dredd’s bizarre paid informant Max Normal in #20, whose latest tip ended the profitable career of The Comic Pusher, Finley-Day & Turner turned in a workmanlike thriller as the super-cop tackled a seasoned killer with a deadly new weapon in The Solar Sniper and Wagner & Gibson showed the draconian steps Dredd was prepared to take to bring in mutant assassin Mr Buzzz.

Prog 23 launched into all-out ironic satire mode with Finley-Day & McMahon’s Smoker’s Crime when Dredd trailed a killer with a bad nicotine habit to a noxious City Smokatorium, after which Malcolm Shaw, McMahon & Ezquerra revealed the uncanny secret of The Wreath Murders in #24. The next issue began the feature’s long tradition of spoofing TV and media fashions when Wagner & Gibson concocted a lethal illegal game show in You Bet Your Life whilst #26 exposed the sordid illusory joys and dangers of the Dream Palace (McMahon) and #27-28 offered some crucial background on the Judges themselves when Dredd visited The Academy of Law (Wagner & Gibson) to give Cadet Judge Giant his final practical exam. Of course for Dredd there were no half measures or easy going and the novice barely survived his graduationâ€¦

With the concluding part in #28, Dredd moved to second spot in 2000AD (behind brutally jingoistic thriller Invasion) and the next issue saw Pat Mills & Gibson tackle robot racism as Klan-analogue The Neon Knights brutalised the reformed and broken artificial citizenry until the Juggernaut Judge crushed them.

Mills then offered tantalising hints on Dredd’s origins in The Return of Rico! (McMahon) when a bitter criminal resurfaced after twenty years on the penal colony of Titan, looking for vengeance upon the Judge who had sentenced him. From his earliest days as a fresh-faced rookie, Joe Dredd had no time for corrupt lawmen – even if one were his own clone-brotherâ€¦

Whitey escaped from Devil’s Island (Finley-Day & Gibson) in Prog 31, thanks to a cobbled-together device that turned off weather control, but didn’t get far before Dredd sent him back, whilst the fully automated skyscraper resort Komputel (Robert Flynn & McMahon) became a multi-story murder factory that only the City’s greatest Judge could counter before Wagner (frequently using the pseudonym John Howard) took sole control for a series ofÂ savage whacky escapades beginning with #33’s Walter’s Secret Job (Gibson) as the besotted droid was discovered moonlighting as a cabbie to buy pwesents for his beloved master.

McMahon and Gibson illustrated the two-part tale of Mutie the Pig: a flamboyant criminal who was also a bent Judge, and performed the same tag-team effort for The Troggies, a debased colony of ancient humans living under the city and preying on unwary citizensâ€¦

Something of a bogie man for wayward kids and exhausted parents, Dredd did himself no favours in Prog 38 when he burst in on Billy Jones (Gibson) and revealed a massive espionage plot utilising toys as surveillance tools, and tackled The Ape Gang in #39 (19^th November 1977 and drawn by McMahon), seamlessly graduating to the lead spot whilst shutting down a turf war between augmented, educated, criminal anthropoids in the unruly district dubbed â€œthe Jungleâ€â€¦

The Mega-City 5000 was an illegal and murderously bloody street race the Judges were determined to shut down, but the gripping action-illustration of the Bill Ward drawn first chapter was sadly overshadowed by hyper-realist rising star Brian Bolland, who began his legendary association with Dredd by concluding the mini-epic in blistering, captivating style in Prog 41.

From out of nowhere in a bold change of pace, Dredd was then seconded to the Moon for a six-month tour of duty in #42 to oversee the rambunctious, nigh-lawless colony set up by the unified efforts of three US Mega-Cities there. The place was as bonkers as Mega-City One and a good deal less civilised – a true Final Frontier townâ€¦

The extended epic began with Luna-1 by Wagner & Gibson, with Dredd and stowaway Walter almost shot down en route in a mysterious missile attack and then targeted by a suicide bomb robot before they could even unpack.

‘Showdown on Luna-1’ introduced permanent Deputy-Marshal Judge Tex from Texas-City whose jaded, laissez-faire attitudes got a good shaking up as Dredd demonstrated he was one lawman who wasn’t gong to coast by for the duration of his term in office. Hitting the dusty mean streets, Dredd began to clean up the wild boys in his town by outdrawing a mechanical Robo-Slinger and uncovering another assassination ploy. It seemed that reclusive mega-billionaire Mr. Moonie had a problem with the latest law on his lunar turfâ€¦

Whilst dispensing aggravating administrative edicts like a frustrated Solomon, Dredd chafed to hit the streets and do some real work in #44’s McMahon-limned ‘Red Christmas’. An opportunity arose when arrogant axe-murderer Geek Gorgon abducted Walter and demanded a showdown he lived to regret, whilst ’22nd Century Futsie!’ (Gibson) saw Moonie Fabrications clerk Arthur Goodworthy crack under the strain of over-work and go on a destructive binge with Dredd compelled to protect the Future-shocked father’s family from Moonie’s over-zealous security goons.

The plotline at last concluded in Prog 46 with ‘Meet Mr. Moonie’ (Gibson) as Dredd and Walter confronted the manipulative manufacturer and uncovered his horrific secret. The feature moved to the prestigious middle spot with this episode, allowing the artists to really open up and exploit the colour centre-spread, none more so than Bolland as seen in #47’s Land Race as Dredd officiated over a frantic scramble by colonists to secure newly opened plots of habitable territory. Of course there’s always someone who doesn’t want to shareâ€¦

Ian Gibson then illustrated 2-part drama ‘The Oxygen Desert’ in #48-49, wherein veteran moon-rat Wild Butch Carmody defeats Dredd using his superior knowledge of the airless wastes beyond the airtight domes. Broken, the Judge quits and slides into despondency but all is not as it seemsâ€¦

Prog 50 saw the debut of single-page comedy supplement Walter the Wobot: Fwiend of Dwedd – but more of that later – whilst the long-suffering Justice found himself knee-boot-deep in an international interplanetary crisis when ‘The First Lunar Olympics’ (Bolland) against a rival lunar colony controlled by the Machiavellian Judges of the Sov-Cities bloc escalated into assassination and a murderous politically-fuelled land grab. The issue was settled in ostensibly civilised manner with strictly controlled ‘War Games’ yet there was still a grievously high body-count by the time the moon-dust settledâ€¦ This vicious swipe at contemporary sport’s politicisation was and still is bloody, brutal and bitingly funnyâ€¦

Bolland also illustrated the sardonic saga of ruthless bandits who were up for a lethal laugh in #52’s The Face-Change Crimes, using morphing tech to change their appearances and rob at will until Dredd beat them at their own game, before Wagner & Gibson crafted a four-part mini-epic (Progs 53-56) wherein motor fanatic Dave Paton’s cybernetic, child-like pride-and-joy blew a fuse and terrorised the domed territory, slaughtering humans and even infiltrating Dredd’s own quarters before the Judge finally stopped Elvis, The Killer Car.

Bolland stunningly limned the savagely mordant saga of a gang of killer bandits who hijacked the moon’s air before themselves falling foul of The Oxygen Board in #57, but only managed the first two pages of 58’s Full Earth Crimes leaving Mike McMahon to complete the tale of regularly occurring chaos in the streets whenever the Big Blue Marble dominated the black sky aboveâ€¦

It was a fine and frantic note to end on as with ‘Return to Mega-City’ Dredd rotated back Earthside and business as unusual. Readers were probably baffled as to why the returned cop utterly ignored a plethora of crime and misdemeanours, but Wagner & McMahon provided the logical and perfect answer in a brilliant, action-packed set-up for the madcap dramas to come.

This first Case Files chronicle nominally concludes with Wagner & McMahon’s Firebug from Prog 60 as the ultimate lawgiver dealt with a crazed arsonist literally setting the city ablaze and discovered a venal motive to the apparent madness, but there’s still a wealth of superb bonus material to enjoy before we end this initial outing.

Kicking off proceedings and illustrated by Ezquerra is the controversial First Dredd strip which was bounced from 2000AD #1 and vigorously reworked – a fascinating glimpse of what the series might have been, followed by the first Walter the Wobot: Fwiend of Dwedd stwips (sowwy – couldn’t wesist!) from 2000AD Progs 50-58.

Scripted by Joe Collins, these madcap comedy shorts were an antidote to the savage and brutal action strips in the comic and served to set the scene for Dredd’s later full-on satirical lampoonery.

Tap Dancer was illustrated by Ian Gibson and dealt with an embarrassing plumbing emergency whilst Shoot Pool! (Gibson) saw the Wobot again taking the Judge’s instructions far too literallyâ€¦

Brian Bolland came aboard to give full rein to his own outrageous sense of the absurd with the 5-part tale of Walter’s Brother, a bizarre tale of evil twins, a cunning frame-up and mugging that inevitably resulted in us learning all we ever needed to know about the insipidly faithful and annoying rust-bucket. Dredd then had to rescue the plastic poltroon from becoming a prate of the airwaves in Radio Walter before the star-struck servant found his 15 seconds of fame as the winner of rigged quiz-show Masterbrain, and this big, big book concludes with a trio of Dredd covers from Progs 10, 44 and 59, courtesy of artists Ezquerra, Kev O’Neill and McMahon.

Always mesmerising and beautifully drawn, these short punchy stories starring Britain’s most successful and iconic modern comics character are the constantly evolving narrative bedrock from which all the later successes of the Mirthless Moral Myrmidon derive. More importantly, they timeless classics that no real comic fan can ignore – and just for a change something that you can easily get your hungry hands on. Even my local library has copies of this masterpiece of British literature and popular cultureâ€¦

August 27, 2012August 26, 2012

To celebrate the upcoming movie starring Britain’s greatest comics action-hero, here’s a long overdue glimpse at his early days. For information on a day of celebratory signings please check out our Noticeboard section.

August 26, 2012August 24, 2012

Ghost Rider – Danny Ketch Classic volume 1

By Howard Mackie, Javier Saltares & Mark Texeira with Jimmy Palmiotti (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3735-1

In the early 1970’s, following a downturn in superhero comics sales Marvel shifted focus from straight costumed crusaders to supernatural and horror characters and one of the most enduring was a certain flaming-skulled vigilante dubbed the Ghost Rider.

Carnival stunt-cyclist Johnny Blaze had sold his soul to the devil in an attempt to save his foster-father from cancer. As is always the way of such things Satan, or arch-liar Mephisto as he actually was, followed the letter, but not spirit, of the contract and Crash Simpson died anyway.

When the Demon Lord came for Blaze only the love of an innocent saved the bad-boy biker from eternal pain and damnation. Temporarily thwarted, Johnny was afflicted with a body that burned with the fires of Hell every time the sun went down and became the unwilling host for outcast and exiled demon Zarathos – the Spirit of Vengeance.

After years of travail and turmoil Blaze was liberated from the demon’s curse and seemingly retired from the hero’s life.

As Blaze briefly escaped his pre-destined doom, a tragic boy named Danny Ketch assumed the role of Zarathos’ host and prison by a route most circuitous and tragicâ€¦

From that dubious period of fashionably â€œGrim ‘n’ Grittyâ€ super-heroics in the early 1990s comes this slight but engagingly fast-paced horror-hero re-imagining courtesy of writer Howard Mackie and artists Javier Saltares & Mark Texeira, which quickly secured the new Ghost Rider status as one of the hottest hits of the period.

This first Danny Ketch Classic volume reprints issues #1-10 of the revitalised series spanning May 1990 – February 1991, and opens, following a reminiscence from the author, with the bonanza-sized introductory tale ‘Life’s Blood’ which sees young Danny and his photographer sister Barbara looking for Houdini’s tomb in the vast Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn on the eve of Halloween.

Unfortunately they stumble into a bloody criminal confrontation between ninjas and gangsters over a mysterious briefcase. Discovered, the siblings flee but Barb is hit by an arrow, whilst the case itself is snatched by a juvenile gang who plague the wooded necropolis.

The ninjas and their macabre leader Deathwatch are the victors of the fire-fight and are soon hunting for their hard-won prize and the witnessesâ€¦

In an adjacent junkyard Danny is helplessly watching Barb bleed out when his attention is caught by a glowing pair of eyes. Closer inspection reveals them to be an arcane design on the gas-cap of an abandoned motorbike. The ninjas, having caught the girl who stole the briefcase, are closing in on the Ketch kids when Danny, his hands soaked in his sister’s blood, touches the glowing bike symbol and is inexplicably transformed into a spectral horror, burning with fury and indignation – a Spirit of Vengeance hungry to assuage the pain of innocent blood spilled with inhuman vitality, toting an infinitely adaptable bike chain and a mystic â€œPenance Stareâ€ which subjected the guilty to unimaginable psychic pain and guiltâ€¦

The Blazing Biker makes short work of the ninjas, but when the police arrive and find him standing over the dying Barbara, they naturally jump to the wrong conclusionâ€¦

As the Ghost Rider flees on a bike with wheels of fire, causing spectacular amounts of collateral carnage, Barb is rushed to hospital, where a re-transfigured, bruised, bleeding and totally confused Danny finds her the next morningâ€¦

In the richest part of Manhattan, Wall Street shark and psionic monster Deathwatch makes a ghastly example of the man who lost his briefcase twice even as his rival for its possession, criminal overlord Wilson Fisk, similarly chastises his own minions for failure.

The contents of the case are not only hotly disputed but utterly lethal and both factions will tear Brooklyn apart to get themâ€¦

Meanwhile the teen thieves known as the Cyprus Pool Jokers find three canisters in that purloined case and hide them all over the vast cemetery, unaware that both Deathwatch’s ninjas and the Kingpin’s hoods are hunting for them. At Barbara’s bedside Danny is plagued by guilt and anger. Unable to help his comatose sister the lad determines to investigate what happened to him. When he awoke the blazing bike had returned to a normal configuration and now Danny climbs aboard and heads back to Cyprus Hills to look for answers just as the competing packs of killers are turning the streets into a free-fire zone.

Riding straight into the bloodbath, Danny sees his bike gas-cap glowing again and, almost against his will, slams his palm onto it, unleashing his skeletal passenger once againâ€¦

Devastating the assembled mobsters and murderers, the Ghost Rider then takes wounded Cyprus Pool Jokers Ralphie and Paulie to hospital and another pointless confrontation with the authoritiesâ€¦

‘Do Be Afraid of the Dark!’ finds open war between Deathwatch and the Kingpin’s forces for the canisters neither side possesses, with the Ghost Rider roaming the night tackling the increasingly savage hunters on both sides. The girl Paulie has admitted that she has no idea where two of the containers could be, since the Jokers split up to hide them and she’s now the last of themâ€¦

The urban horror escalates when Deathwatch’s metahuman enforcer Blackout joins the hunt: a sadistic man-made vampire with the ability to manipulate fields of complete darkness. This psychotic mass-murderer targets entire families and starts his search by â€œquestioningâ€ the cops who attended the initial battle in the graveyardâ€¦

Danny is on the verge of a breakdown, snapping viciously at his mother and girlfriend Stacy and utterly unable to share the horror that his life has become. Between days at Barb’s bedside, and nights as the slave to a primal force obsessed with blood and punishment, Ketch is drowningâ€¦

When Blackout tracks down the recovering Ralphie, the Ghost Rider is too late to save the young felon’s parents and only just manages to drive the vampire away before the boy too succumbs, leading to the inevitable final clash in ‘Deathwatch’, wherein the Wall Street dilettante’s forces find the canisters before being overwhelmed by the Kingpin. Ever pragmatic, the ninja-master simply surrenders, but the wildly unpredictable Blackout refuses to submit and slips into a berserker rage of slaughter, before escaping with the containers and terrified hostage Paulie.

The albino maniac knows the canisters contain a toxin that will wipe out New York and harbours an impossible plan to use them to kick-start an atomic war which will produce a nuclear winter on an Earth he would inevitably rule. However his delusional dreams are ended when the Ghost Rider appears and engages the vampire in blistering battle.

Incensed beyond endurance, Blackout savagely bites the blazing biker, but instead of blood sucks down raw, coruscating hellfire which leaves his face a melted, agonising ruin and burns the canisters to harmless slagâ€¦

Issue #4 found Danny, unable to resist the constant call to become the Furious Flaming Apparition, decide to lock up the cursed motorcycle beyond the reach of temptation in faraway Manhattan, only to find it had a mind of its own when a clash between a biker gang and an old Thor villain trapped both Ketch and an car full innocent bystanders in a subterranean parking garage. ‘You Can Run, but You Can’t Hyde!’ taught the troubled young man that the Rider was a cruel necessity in a bad world, an argument confirmed by the beginning of an extended subplot in which children began vanishing from the streets of Brooklynâ€¦

The very epitome of Grim’n’Gritty stopped by for a two issue guest-shot in #5-6 as ‘Getting Paid!’ and ‘Do or Die!’ saw a mysterious figure distributing free guns to children, drawing the attention of not just the night-stalking Spirit of Vengeance but also the merciless, militaristic vigilante Frank Castle, known to criminals and cops alike as The Punisher.

The weapons are turning the city into a deadly battleground, but the cops and unscrupulous TV reporter Linda Wei seem more concerned with stopping the Ghost Rider’s campaign against the youthful killers than ending the bloodshed. Danny decides to investigate in his mortal form and quickly finds himself in over his head, but for some reason the magic medallion won’t transform him. He is completely unaware how close he was to becoming the Punisher’s latest statisticâ€¦

The situation changes that night and the flaming-skulled zealot clashes with the Punisher before uniting to tackle the true mastermind – a manic anti-nationalist, anti-capitalist terrorist known as Flag-Smasher.

With the insane demagogue determined to unleash a storm of death on Wall Street, the driven anti-heroes are forced to briefly unite to end the scheme and save the â€œbadâ€ kids and the system that created themâ€¦

‘Obssesion’ in #7, illustrated solely by Texeira, saw the return of animal-trainer and contortionist the Scarecrow, who had barely troubled Iron Man, the X-Men and Captain America in his early days, but after having slipped into morbid thanophilia had become a death-preoccupied maniac who presented a truly different threat to the mystic agent of retribution.

A far greater menace was seen – or rather, not seen – with the return of Blackout who silently stalked Danny Ketch, savagely slaughtering everybody who knew him. Not even the police guards at Barbara’s hospital bedside could stop the fiend with half-a-faceâ€¦

Through dreams Danny debated his cursed existence with the Spirit of Vengeance in #8’s ‘Living Nightmare’ (Mackie, Saltares & Texeira) constantly bemoaning his fate but seemingly unable to affect the implacable, terrifying being he couldn’t stop becoming. Adding to his fevered nights were visions of Deathwatch, Barbara and the vile psycho-killer Blackout.

As Blackout continued to murder anybody coming into contact with the troubled Ketch – who was seemingly paralysed by his dilemma – girlfriend Stacy neared the end of her training as a cop, and her father increased patrols to catch the blazing Biker. Impatient and scared, the Cypress Hills Community Action Group took controversial steps to safeguard their streets by hiring maverick private security company H.E.A.R.T. (Humans Engaging All Racial Terrorism – truly one of the naffest and most inappropriate acronyms in comics history) who promptly decided Ghost Rider was the cause of all the chaos and went after him with an arsenal of high-tech military hardware and a helicopter gunshipâ€¦

The Spirit of Vengeance was already occupied, having found Blackout attacking a girl, but their final showdown was interrupted when the fiery skeleton was attacked by a colossal Morlock (feral mutants who live in tunnels beneath New York) who mistook the saviour for the assailantâ€¦

Issue #9 guest-starred the X-Factor – a reformed X-Men team comprising Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman and the Beast who uncover the mystery of the missing children in ‘Pursuit’ (with additional inks by Jimmy Palmiotti) when they follow the Ghost Rider and Morlocks under the city.

Tragically, Blackout too is on the Blazing Biker’s trail and finds in the concrete depths even more victims to torture Danny Ketch’s breaking heart and blistered soul before their climactic last clashâ€¦

This volume ends on a thematic cliffhanger with ‘Stars of Blood’ as Danny begins a new phase of life reconciled to his burden. When a series of horrific murders are attributed to a publicity-seeking serial killer named Zodiak, the boy begins investigating the deaths and discovers that the haunted gas-cap is again inactive, although it does transform him later when he stumbles over a couple of kids fightingâ€¦

Arcanely active again, the Ghost Rider then follows a convenient tip to the astrological assassin and discovers a far more prosaic reason for the string of slayings before an inclusive and unsatisfying battle with the insufferable, elusive Zodiak.

Meanwhile across town, the humiliated H.E.A.R.T. team accept a commission from Deathwatch to destroy the Spirit of Vengeance, whilst in the western USA the previous victim of the curse of Zarathos is riding his motorcycle hard, determined to get to New York and destroy the latest Ghost Rider as soon as possibleâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

This expanded re-issue of the 1991 Ghost Rider Resurrected trade paperback also includes the cover and introduction to that volume, pin-ups by Saltares, Texeira & Palmiotti and a full cover gallery and, despite being markedly short on plot and utterly devoid of humour, does deliver the maximum amount of uncomplicated thrills, spills and chills for action-starved fight fans.

If you occasionally feel that subtlety isn’t everything and yearn for a vicarious dose of simple wickedness-whomping, this might well be the book for youâ€¦
Â© 1990, 1991, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

August 25, 2012August 22, 2012

Both

By Tom Gauld & Simone Lia (Bloomsbury)
ISBN: 978-1-77046-065-2

Tom Gauld is a Scottish cartoonist whose works have appeared in Time Out and the Guardian. He has illustrated such children’s classics as Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man and his own books include Guardians of the Kingdom, 3 Very Small Comics, Robots, Monsters etc., Hunter and Painter and The Gigantic Robot.

At the prestigious RCA he met fellow genetically-predisposed scribbler Simone Lia – author of Please God, Find me a Husband! and Fluffy (a Bunny in Denial), kids books Billy Bean’s Dream, Follow the Line, Red’s Great Chase and Little Giant and she produced the strips ‘Sausage and Carrots for The DFC and ‘Lucie’ for Phoenix Comic as well as the Guardian and Independent.

Clearly comics kindred spirits, Gauld and Lia formed Cabanon Press in 2001and began self-publishing quirky, artily surreal strips and features. Their first two publications enigmatically entitled First and Second were collected in 2002 as Both and serve as a shining example of the kind of uniquely authorial/literary cartoon creativity and wonderment British pen-jockeys excel at.

Likened to the works of Edward Gorey, their studied, intense tirades, animorphic escapades and meanderingly perambulatory excursions are more Stream of subtly steered Consciousness than plotted stories: eerily mundane progressions mesmerisingly manufactured andÂ rendered in a number of styles to evoke response if not elicit understanding.

Which is a long-winded and poncey way of saying: â€œThis stuff is great! You’ve got to see thisâ€¦â€

Within these digest sized, hard-backed monochrome pages you will encounter a talking table lamp, sensitive sentient food, quarrelsome knights, and socially inept and incompatible astronauts, and discover the human tragedy of contracting ‘Road Leg’.

There are of course bunnies, big bugs, sheep, steamrollers, the frustrations of ‘Outside’, love poems, comedy feet and a belligerent, outraged sweetcorn kernel, plus vignettes like ‘I’m in Love’ before the low-key domestic serial ‘End of Season Finale’ introduces off-duty Mexican Wrestlers, as well as political insight from the ‘Bread and Bhagi Show’ and psychological thrills courtesy of ‘Monkey Nut and Harrowed Marrow’. There are, however, no ducksâ€¦

Some comics pretty much defy description and codification – and a good thing too.

The purest form of graphic narrative creates connections with the reader that occur on a visceral, pre-literate level, visually meshing together on a page to produce something which makes feelings – if not necessarily sense.

When creators can access that pictorially responsive area of our brains as well as these two by ricocheting around the peripheries of the art form with such hilariously enticing and bizarrely bemusing concoctions, all serious fans and readers should sit up and take notice.

No more hints: go find this fabulously funny book now.

Â© 2003 Tom Gauld and Simone Lia. All rights reserved.
You can see more of their work at www.tomgauld.com and simonelia.com

August 24, 2012August 22, 2012

Rose

By Jeff Smith & Charles Vess (Cartoon Books)
ISBN: 978-1888963113

In Bone Jeff Smith created a fully-realised fantasy milieu with which to tell an astounding magical epic as much Tex Avery and Walt Kelly as J. R. R. Tolkien or the Brothers Grimm. Once the prime series was firmly up and running, much of the rich and textured back-story of that incredible world was further fleshed out and filled in by the author in collaboration with top-flight fantasy illustrator Charles Vess in an enchanting dark fable simply entitled Rose.

Many years ago the Harvestar princesses ‘Briar and Rose’ learned the origins of the world and its creatures. When the land was fresh and reality was still closely linked to the world of dreams the first dragon Mim kept the balance between them. However when the malevolent spirit called Lord of the Locusts possessed her, this primal dreamer went mad and began to destroy everything. Mim’s own dragon children were forced to battle her and after horrendous, blood-soaked clashes they triumphed by turning her to stone, burying the rapacious Locust Lord forever. From debris and carnage the valley was createdâ€¦

Rose is a gifted but inattentive young student, blessed with a great affinity for The Dreaming World, but her elder sister Briar’s â€œDreaming Eyeâ€ is blind. Most people assume that when the time comes it is Rose who will inherit the throne and role of the People’s protectorâ€¦

And that day seems not far off when their father tells them that they must depart for Old Man’s Cave and their graduation test. The sisters had been schooled for years by mystic philosophers called The Disciples of Venu to become Veni-Yan-Cari or â€œAwakened Onesâ€, strong in the ways of the Dreaming Arts, but the girls never imagined that the day to take up their responsibilities would come so soon.

‘Our Brightest Hope’ opens with the sagacious Great Red Dragon discussing the sisters with the mystic Headmaster. However the gravest news concerns the river dragon Balsaad who may have turned down an old, dark pathâ€¦

At dawn a small party of soldiers led by Palace Guard Captain Lucius Down escorts the girls on their trip and Rose, as always, brings along her valiant talking hounds Cleo and Euclid. As they set off Briar is even more acerbic and crabby than usual until Rose is overwhelmed by one of her â€œgitchyâ€ premonitions. The feeling is strong, disorienting but brief and perhaps simply caused by the distracting proximity of the astonishingly hunky Luciusâ€¦

The feelings persist throughout the trip and Captain Down, ever-cautious, soon discovers one of the giant rat-creatures known as â€œHairy Menâ€ stalking the party, but drives it off with little fuss.

Soon the pilgrims are ensconced at an inn in the village of Oak Bottom where the girls stayed years before as toddlers, enjoying simple, open hospitality. Rose’s interest in Lucius is clear to all and aspects of her awakening gifts manifest with embarrassing frequency. However the noble Captain seems bizarrely concerned with the comfort of ‘The Ice Queen’ Briarâ€¦

When the girls at last are safely deposited with their tutors at the cave in ‘We Ask, Teach’ the surly elder girl seems determined to be difficult, challenging the sages at all points and Rose again feels sympathy for her sibling’s lack of the Family’s hereditary powers. Later Rose has a strangely disturbing dream where she and the dogs respond to a small dragon’s pleas for help and rescue it from a river. The scenes suddenly become nightmarish as she is drawn into a dark cavern by a monstrous giant insect which has smothered her mother and father with fiercely clinging locustsâ€¦

Shaken and anxious Rose decides to skip school and play with Euclid and Cleo but annoyingly encounters the scolding Red Dragon who chides her for neglecting her responsibilities. However as she rides back, the dogs spot a figure they think is Briar heading up a remote path. Following, a fearsome apparition terrifyingly orders them to ‘Turn Back’ and a storm of grasshoppers attacks, but undaunted Rose and her loyal hounds persevere and are ambushed by the dragon of her dream, grown to colossal size and bristling with mocking ferocityâ€¦

‘Balsaad’ is only driven off after a brutal struggle in which Rose severs his hand with her sword and the chastened princess then rushes to her tutors to inform them but is intercepted by Briar who advises her not tell of her dream and its real-world repercussions in ‘The Warning’â€¦

With the season’s first snows falling Rose is summoned to ‘The Cave’ and questioned by the Headmaster, admitting to having encountered the rogue dragon ravaging the countryside but, heeding her beloved elder sister, denies any knowledge of or pertinent dreams about the creature or its dreaded â€œEmancipatorâ€. Even whilst suspecting that her elders already know the truth Rose sticks to her story and trusts in her sister, confiding that she is going out into the blizzard to destroy Balsaad.

Her faith in Briar is badly shaken however, when she accidentally spots the beguiled Lucius sneaking into her elder sister’s room…

As the heartbroken Rose marches ‘Into the Nightâ€¦’ accompanied by Euclid and Cleo she discovers a nocturnal gathering of the normally timid Hairy Men, moving to an irresistible rendezvous at some silent command as the nearby hamlet is being eradicated by the rampant Balsaad until he too responds when ‘The Master Calls’, reaffirming his commitment to the hidden Emancipator’s scheme to free the Lord of the Locusts in ‘The Pact’.

At last given license to destroy all the humans – and those pesky dogs – Balsaad roars off whilst Rose, Euclid and Cleo again encounter the Red Dragon in ‘Frozen’. The antediluvian Scarlet Sage is unable to dissuade the indomitable Princess and regretfully advises how to defeat the beast and the hideous sacrifice Rose must enact to make things rightâ€¦

At ‘Midnight’ Lucius and his men are ambushed by a rabid army of rat creatures leaving just Rose and dogs to save Oak Bottom in an epic battle against the black river-wyrm and his manipulative master but, just as the benevolent Red Dragon predicted, for Rose to fulfil ‘The Promise’, the tragic princess has to abandon all her hopes, dreams and aspirations before reluctantly destroying the greatest love of her lifeâ€¦

Far darker in tone than the series it spun off from, the saga of Rose combines classic mythic themes and borrowed legends to tell a deeply moving parable about family, duty and responsibility, captivatingly made real by one of the world’s greatest fantasy illustrators.

Lovely, thrilling and unforgettable entertainment for anybody with an ounce of imaginationâ€¦
Rose is â„¢ & Â© 2000, 2001, 2002 Jeff Smith. All rights reserved.

August 23, 2012August 23, 2012

Thor volume 2

By Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr. with John Buscema, Klaus Janson & Jerry OrdwayÂ (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4632-2

In the middle of 1962, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby launched their latest offbeat superhero creation in anthology monsters-and-mysteries title Journey into Mystery #83. The taleÂ Â introduced crippled American doctor Donald Blake who took a vacation in Norway only to encounter the vanguard of an alien invasion. Fleeing in terror he was trapped in a cave wherein lay an old, gnarled walking stick. When, in helplessness and frustration, the puny human smashed the cane into a huge boulder obstructing his escape, his insignificant frame was transformed into the hulking and brawny Norse God of Thunder, Thor!

The series grew from formulaic beginnings battling aliens, commies and cheap thugs into a vast, breathtaking cosmic playground for Kirby’s burgeoning imagination with Journey into Mystery inevitably becoming the Mighty Thor where, after years of bombastic adventuring, the peculiarities and inconsistencies of the Don Blake/Thor relationship were re-examined and finally clarified to explain how the immortal godling could also be locked within frail Don Blake.

The epic saga took the immortal hero back to his long-distant youth and finally revealed that the mortal surgeon was no more than an Odinian construct designed to teach the Thunder God humility and compassionâ€¦

Time passed, Kirby left and the Thunderer’s fortunes waxed and waned. During the troubled mid-1990’s the title vanished, culled with the Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and Fantastic Four and subcontracted out to Image creators Jim Lee and Rob Liefield during 1996-1997 in a desperate attempt to improve sales after Marvel’s apocalyptic Onslaught publishing event.

In 1998 Heroes Return and Heroes Reborn saw those properties rejoin the greater Marvel Universe, relaunched with brand new first issues with the Thunder God reappearing a few weeks later.

In July Mighty Thor volume 2 opened with ‘In Search of the Gods’ by Dan Jurgens, John Romita Jr. & Klaus Janson, which with its ‘Deal with the Devil!’ depicted the return of the lost god and the Avengers after more than a year way from the home cosmos only to find that hallowed Asgard had been devastated and deserted.

Moreover, back on Earth the Thunderer was reinstated into the â€œrealâ€ world just in time to die in battle against the annihilating Asgardian artefact known as the Destroyer. Whilst the Avengers struggled on against the unstoppable creature, the godling’s spirit was snatched from the realm of death-goddess Hela by mysterious mystic powerhouse Marnot before being melded with the dying body of EMT Jake Olsen: an innocent killed during the struggle thanks to Thor’s negligence.

The resurrected Storm Lord again walked the Earth but only as the dormant-until-summoned alter-ego of another frail mortal host: duly defeating the Destroyer, battling sea-monsters of sea-goddess Sedna, sparring with Hercules and being framed for attacking and devastating Olympusâ€¦

The true architects of most of this mayhem were a pantheon of previously unknown Dark Gods – Perrikus, Adva, D’Chel, Slottoth, Tokkots and Majeston Zelia – so powerful that they managed to take possession of the fallen Fabled Realm and bar Thor’s return to Asgardâ€¦

This second compilation collects the contents of issues #9-13 and the 1999 Thor Annual and sees the end of that first extended story-arc beginning with ‘Answers’ by regular writer Dan Jurgens and guest illustrators John Buscema & Jerry Ordway as a very old robotic menace returns when a couple of young punks luck into the operating system for android bandit Replicus. Whilst the earthbound Thunder God is taking care of business in Asgard, the Dark usurpers are crowing over the ravaged, tortured bodies of his best friend Balder, betrothed Lady Sif and mighty sire Odin, all the while scheming how to destroy the last remaining free Asgardianâ€¦

Thor is just as keen on meeting his elusive tormentors and finally gains insight from the enigmatic Marnot who reveals a long ago day when the early Asgardians encountered the pantheon of cruel gods enslaving the realm of Narcisson and were propelled into a brutal all-out war.

Against all logic the Narcisson’s won and were on the verge of eradicating the Asgardians until a juvenile Thor turned the tide and enabled Odin and his surviving warriors to carry the day. With the dark gods defeated and imprisoned the All-Father then wiped the memories of the triumphant warriors to spare them the trauma and loss of so many comrades and loved ones. But now somehow the Narcisson gods were free and had at last conquered the Eternal Realm.

Armed at last with knowledge, Thor began to prepare for the invasion and liberation of Asgardâ€¦

The campaign began in the three part saga ‘The Dark Wars’ by Jurgens, John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson as the human Jake Olsen frantically began to set his complex human affairs in order. The conjoined hero was blithely unaware that Dr. Jane Foster – Don Blake’s first love – had deduced his godly secret and that an unknown hand was setting him up to take the fall for selling stolen hospital drugsâ€¦

Before the exiled prince was ready, however, Perrikus attacked New York demanding a duel with the Odin-son and threatening to kill the Lady Sif if the Thunderer didn’t show. With the gateway to Asgard clear, Thor charges in to find the city as bad as ever and his loved ones broken toys of the Dark Gods. Enraged he attacks but after a blockbusting battle his magic mallet is cloven in half and he feels himself impossibly transforming back into mortal Jake Olsenâ€¦

Forced to flee into a sewer drain, Olsen discovers a horrific underworld beneath the fallen city and is captured by trolls in the very bowels of Asgard. The frail human is being worked to death as far above the black pantheon are unable to detect any trace of the vanished Thor, but feels a burst of untrammelled hope and joy when he discovers that many of his missing comrades are also enslaved in the noisome pitsâ€¦

However before Olsen can attempt to rescue them the vile Tokkots appears and whisks him back to the throne-room and the waiting Narcissons, but Perrikus is furious that he cannot battle his true enemy but only a mortal shell, until the broken battered human falls on the remnant of mystic Mjolnir and is transformed into a fighting mad Storm Lordâ€¦

Unexpectedly Thor flees into inter-dimensional space, realising that pride and fury are not enough and that what he really needs are potent alliesâ€¦

The fearsome finale begins as Thor convinces the deadly Destroyer and Hercules to raid the once-Golden Realm in a blistering last charge against the Dark Ones and their massed minions whilst he raids the depths to free the Asgardian survivors and activates a cleverly concealed ally. Soon Odin, Sif and Balder are free too and the fall of the Narcissons is seemingly assured – but the malignant invaders still have one last nasty card to playâ€¦

It proves not enough and eventually the brutalised Asgardians are triumphant, after which the epilogue ‘The Work of Odin’ answers many questions – such as the true identity of manipulative schemer Marnot, the ultimate fate of the human trapped within the deadly Destroyer’s shell and the fate of both light and dark godsâ€¦

This excessively action-packed, if plot light, chronicle is completed by the inclusion of the 1999 Thor Annual which at last revealed why Thor arrived back in our universe so much later than his Avenging Allies.

Written and pencilled by Jurgens with inks from Janson ‘The Tears of a God’ found Thor visiting the Fantastic Four and describing the dimensional rip which left him partially amnesiac and filled with ineffable sadness, before – for our eyes only – the story was fully disclosedâ€¦

After battling Doctor Doom in the space between worlds, Thor and the Iron Dictator were cast onto an alien planet where the wounded Thunderer was nursed to health by a mysterious outcast named Ceranda. Somehow unable to leave the desolate world, the lost scion of Asgard grew slowly closer to the beautiful hermit, whilst elsewhere Doom was taking control of the a subterranean society and co-opting their technology and resources to his selfish needsâ€¦

The last thing the Lord of Latveria needed for escape was Thor’s dimension-spanning hammer and he knew the true reason why it wasn’t workingâ€¦

This tale of dark desire and selfish love ended badly all round so perhaps its best that after the battle and return to Earth Thor had no memory of the weeks spent with the bewitching Cerandaâ€¦

Whilst not to everyone’s taste, this blistering Fight’s ‘n’ Tights epic is a cosmic clash fan’s delight and the artwork is undeniably some of the best of the modern Marvel Age, so if you want your pulse to pound and your graphic senses to swim this is the ideal item for you.
Â© 1998, 1999, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

August 22, 2012August 26, 2012

Showcase Presents Showcase volume 1

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78116-364-1

This review is incredibly long. If you want to skip it and just buy the book – because it’s truly brilliant – then please do. I won’t mind and you won’t regret it at allâ€¦

In almost every conceivable way the â€œtry-out titleâ€ Showcase created the Silver Age of American comicbooks and is responsible for the multi-million dollar industry and nascent art form we all enjoy today.

For many of us, the Silver Age is the ideal era and a still-calling Promised Land of fun and thrills. Varnished by nostalgia (because it’s the era when most of us caught this crazy childhood bug), the clean-cut, uncomplicated optimism of the late 1950s and early 1960s produced captivating heroes and compelling villains who were still far less terrifying than the Cold War baddies then troubling the grown-ups. The sheer talent and professionalism of the creators working in that too-briefly revitalised comics world resulted in triumph after triumph all of which brightened our young lives and still glow today with quality and achievement.

The principle was a sound one and graphically depicted in the very first issue: the Editors at National were apparently bombarded with readers’ suggestions for new titles and concepts and the only possible way to feasibly prove which would be popular was to offer test runs and assess the fans reactionsâ€¦

This magnificent monochrome tome starts firmly ensconced in the age of genre thrillers and human adventurers, covering the first 21 issues from that historic series, spanning March/April 1956 to July/August 1959, and starts the ball rolling with the first and last appearances of Fireman Farrell in a proposed series dubbed Fire Fighters.

Following the aforementioned short ‘The Story Behind Showcase’ by Jack Schiff & Win Mortimer, the realistic dramas begin in ‘The School for Smoke-Eaters’ by Schiff and the superb John Prentice, which introduced trainee fireman Mike Farrell during the last days of his training and desperate to simultaneously live up to and escape his father’s fabulous record as a legendary â€œsmoke-eaterâ€.

The remaining stories, both scripted by Arnold Drake, dealt with the day-to-day drama of the job: first in ‘Fire under the Big Top’ wherein an unscrupulous showman ignored Farrell’s Fire Inspection findings with tragic consequences, then in ‘Fourth Alarm’ which mixed an industrial dispute over fireman’s pay, a crooked factory owner and a waterfront blaze captured on live TV in a blisteringly authentic tale of human heroism.

Showcase #2 featured Kings of the Wild: tales of animal bravery imaginatively related in three tales scripted by Robert Kanigher – who had thrived after the demise of superheroes with a range of fantastical genre adventures covering western, war, espionage and straight adventure. ‘Rider of the Winds’, stunningly illustrated by Joe Kubert, told the tale of a Native American lad and his relationship with his totem spirit Eagle, ‘Outcast Heroes’ (Ross Andru & Mike Esposito) related how an orphan boy’s loneliness ended once he befriended a runaway mutt who eventually saved the town’s kids from a flood and ‘Runaway Bear’, drawn by Russ Heath, used broad comedy to describe how an escaped circus bruin battled all the horrors of the wilderness to get back to his comfortable, safe life under the Big Top.

Issue #3 debuted Kanigher & Heath’s The Frogmen in an extended single tale following candidates for a US Underwater Demolitions Team as they moved from students to successful undersea warriors. Beginning with ‘The Making of a Frogman’ as the smallest diver is mocked and chided as a ‘Sardine’ by his fellows – especially the ones nicknamed ‘Shark’ and ‘Whale’ – but persevering and forging bonds until the trio were dumped into blazing Pacific action in ‘Flying Frogmen’, eventually learning the worth of teamwork and sacrifice by destroying a Japanese Sub base in ‘Silent War’â€¦

The feature, if not the characters, became a semi-regular returning strip in All-American Men of War #44 (April #1957) and other Kanigher-edited war comics: making Frogmen the first but certainly not the last graduate of the try-out system. The next debut was to be the most successful but the cautious publishers took a long, long time to make it soâ€¦

No matter which way you look at it, the Silver Age of the American comic book began with The Flash. It’s an unjust but true fact that being first is not enough; it also helps to be best and people have to notice. The Shield beat Captain America to the news-stands by over a year yet the former is all but forgotten today.

The industry had never really stopped trying to revive the superhero genre when Showcase #4 was released in late summer of 1956, with such precursors as The Avenger (February-September 1955), Captain Flash (November 1954-July 1955), Marvel’s Human Torch, Sub-Mariner and the aforementioned Sentinel of Liberty (December 1953-October 1955) and even DC’s own Captain Comet (December 1953-October 1955) and Manhunter from Mars (November 1955 until the end of the 1960’s and almost the end of superheroes again!) still turning up in second-hand-stores and â€œFive-and-Dimeâ€ half-price bins. What made the new Fastest Man Alive stand out and stick was â€¦ well, everything!

Once the DC powers-that-be decided to try superheroes once more, they moved pretty fast themselves. Editor Julie Schwartz asked office partner and Golden-Age Flash scripter Robert Kanigher to recreate a speedster for the Space Age, aided and abetted by Carmine Infantino & Joe Kubert, who had also worked on the previous incarnation.

The new Flash was Barry Allen, a forensic scientist simultaneously struck by lightning and bathed in the exploding chemicals of his lab. Supercharged by the accident, Barry took his superhero identity from a comic book featuring his predecessor (a scientist named Jay Garrick who was exposed to the mutagenic fumes of â€œHard Waterâ€). Designing a sleek, streamlined bodysuit (courtesy of Infantino – a major talent who was rapidly approaching his artistic and creative pinnacle), Barry Allen became the point man for the spectacular revival of a genre and the entire industry.

‘Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt’ (scripted by Kanigher) and ‘The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier’ (written by the superb John Broome) are polished, coolly sophisticated short stories that introduce the comfortingly suburban superhero and firmly establish the broad parameters of his universe. Whether defeating bizarre criminal masterminds such as The Turtle or returning the criminal exile Mazdan to his own century, the new Flash was a protagonist of keen insight and sharp wits as well as overwhelming power. Nonetheless the concept was so controversial that despite phenomenal sales, rather than his own series the Fastest Man Alive was given a second Showcase tryout almost a year laterâ€¦

Showcase #5 featured the last comics concept in years that didn’t actually develop into an ongoing series, but that’s certainly due to the changing fashions of the times and not the quality of the work that made up the three crime yarns comprising the cops-&-robbers anthology Manhunters. ‘The Greatest Villain of all Time’ by Jack Miller & Mort Meskin told how Hollywood screenwriter-turned-police detective Lt. Fowler was dogged by a madman who was playing for real all the fantastic bad guys the mystery author had once created, whilst in ‘The Two Faces of Mr. X’ (Miller, Curt Swan & Sy Barry) a male model was drafted by the FBI to replace a prominent mob-boss. Unfortunately it was the day before the gangster was scheduled for face-changing plastic surgery.‘The Human Eel’ (Miller & Bill Ely) pitted a cop unable to endure heights against an international high-tech rogue who thought he knew all the answersâ€¦

The next tryout was on far firmer fashion grounds and was the first feature to win two issues in a row.

The Challengers of the Unknown were a bridging concept. As the superhero genre was ever so cautiously being alpha-tested in 1956 here was a super-team – the first new group- entry of the still-to-be codified Silver Age – but with no uncanny abilities or masks, the most basic and utilitarian of costumes, and the most dubious of motives: Suicide by Mysteryâ€¦

If you wanted to play editorially safe you could argue that were simply another para-military band of adventurers like the long running Blackhawksâ€¦ but they weren’t.

A huge early hit – winning their own title before the Flash (March 1959) and just two months after Lois Lane (March 1958, although she had been a star in the comics universe since 1938 and even had TV, radio and movie recognition on her side), the Squad struck a chord that lasted for more than a decade before they finally diedâ€¦ only to rise again and yet again. The idea of them was stirring enough, but their initial execution made their success all but inevitable.

Jack Kirby was – and still is – the most important single influence in the history of American comicbooks. There are quite rightly millions of words written about what the man has done and meant, and you should read those if you are at all interested in our medium. I’m going to add a few words to that superabundance in this review of one of his best projects, which like so many others, he perfectly constructed before moving on, leaving highly competent but never as inspired talents to build upon.

When the comic industry suffered a collapse in the mid 1950’s, Kirby returned briefly to DC Comics where he worked on mystery tales and the Green Arrow back-up strip whilst creating the newspaper strip Sky Masters of the Space Force. He also re-packaged for Showcase an original super-team concept that had been kicking around in his head since he and long-time collaborator Joe Simon had closed the innovative but unfortunate Mainline Comics.

After years of working for others, Simon and Kirby had finally established their own publishing company, producing comics with a much more sophisticated audience in mind, only to find themselves in a sales downturn and awash in public hysteria generated by the anti-comic book pogrom of US Senator Estes Kefauver and the psychologist Dr. Frederic Wertham. Simon quit the business for advertising, but Kirby soldiered on, taking his skills and ideas to a number of safer, if less experimental, companies.

The Challengers of the Unknown were four extraordinary mortals; heroic adventurers and explorers brought together for a television show who walked away unscathed from a terrible plane crash. Already obviously what we now call â€œadrenaline junkiesâ€, they decided that since they were all living on borrowed time, they would dedicate what remained of their lives to testing themselves and fate. They would risk their lives for Knowledge and, of course, Justice.

Showcase #6, dated January/February 1957 – which meant it came out in time for Christmas 1956 – introduced pilot Ace Morgan, wrestler Rocky Davis, daredevil acrobat Red Ryan and scholarly marine explorer â€œProfâ€ Haley in a no-nonsense short by Kirby, scripter Dave Wood and inkers Marvin Stein and Jack’s wife Roz, before devoting the rest of the issue to a spectacular epic with the doom-chasers hired by duplicitous magician Morelian to open an ancient container holding otherworldly secrets and powers in ‘The Secrets of the Sorcerer’s Box!’

This initial story roars along with all the tension and wonder of the B-movie thrillers it emulates, and Kirby’s awesome drawing resonates with power and dynamism as the heroes tackle ancient horrors such as ‘Dragon Seed!’, ‘The Freezing Sun!’ and ‘The Whirling Weaver!’

The fantasy magic continued in the sequel, a science fiction crisis caused when an alliance of Nazi technologies and American criminality unleashed a terrible robotic monster. Scripted by Kirby himself, ‘Ultivac is Loose!’ (Showcase #7, dated March/April 1957) introduced the beautiful and capable boffin Dr. June Robbins, who became the fifth Challenger at a time when most comic females had returned to a subsidiary status in that so-conservative era. As her computers predicted ‘A Challenger Must Die!’ the lads continued their hunt for the astonishing telepathic, sentient super-robot who inadvertently terrorised ‘The Fearful Millions’ but soon found their sympathies with the tragic artificial intelligence after ‘The Fateful Prediction!’ was fulfilledâ€¦

Showcase #8 (June 1957) again featured the Flash and led with another Kanigher tale. ‘The Secret of the Empty Box’, a perplexing but pedestrian mystery, saw Frank Giacoia debut as inker, but the real landmark was the John Broome thriller ‘The Coldest Man on Earth’.

With this yarn the author confirmed and consolidated the new phenomenon by introducing the first of a Rogues Gallery of outlandish super-villains. Unlike the almost forgotten Golden Age the new super-heroes would face predominantly costumed foes rather than thugs and spies. Bad guys would henceforth be as visually arresting and memorable as the champions of justice. Captain Cold would return time and again as the pre-eminent Flash Foe and Broome would go on to create every single member of Flash’s classic pantheon of super-villains.

The issue and this compilation also includes a filler reprint ‘The Race of Wheel and Keel’ by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane & Harry Lazarus, probably from Real Fact Comics and recounting the true story of how in 1858 a shipping magnate and stagecoach tycoon devised a contest to show which method of transportation was the fastestâ€¦

When Lois Lane – arguably the oldest supporting character/star in the Superman mythology if not DC universe – finally received her own shot at a solo title, it was very much on the terms of the times.

I must shamefacedly admit to a deep, nostalgic affection for her bright and breezy, fantastically fun adventures, but as a free-thinking, (nominally) adult liberal of the 21^st century I’m simultaneously shocked nowadays at the jolly, patronising, patriarchally misogynistic attitudes underpinning too many of the stories.

Yes, I’m fully aware that the series was intended for young readers at a time when â€œdizzy damesâ€ like Lucille Ball or Doris Day played to the popular American gestalt stereotype of Woman as jealous minx, silly goose, diffident wife and brood-hungry nester, but to ask kids to seriously accept that intelligent, courageous, ambitious, ethical and highly capable females would drop everything they’d worked hard for to lie, cheat, inveigle, manipulate and entrap a man just so that they could cook pot-roast and change super-diapers is just plain crazy and tantamount to child abuse.

I’m just sayingâ€¦

Showcase #9 (cover-dated July/August 1957) featured Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane in three tales by Jerry Coleman, Ruben Moreira & Al Plastino and opened with the seminal yarn ‘The Girl in Superman’s Past’ wherein Lois first met red-headed hussy Lana Lang, childhood sweetheart of Superboy and a pushy conniving go-getter out to win Lois’ intended at all costs. Naturally Miss Lane invited Miss Lang to stay at her apartment and the grand rivalry was off and runningâ€¦

‘The New Lois Lane’ aggravatingly saw Lois turn over a new leaf and stop attempting to uncover his secret identity just when Superman actually needed her to do so and the premier concludes with the concussion-induced day-dream ‘Mrs. Superman’ as Lois imagines a life of domestic super-blissâ€¦

The next issue (September/October 1957) featured three more of the same, all illustrated by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye, beginning with ‘The Jilting of Superman’ scripted by Otto Binder, wherein the Man of Tomorrow almost fell for an ancient ploy when Lois pretended to marry another man to make the alien oaf realise what she meant to himâ€¦

‘The Sightless Lois Lane’ by Coleman told how a nuclear accident temporarily blinded the journalist, but her unexpected recovery almost exposed Clark Kent‘s secret when he callously changed to Superman in front of the blind girl, after which Binder delightfully detailed the contents of ‘The Forbidden Box from Krypton’: a cache of devices dug up by a Smallville archaeologist originally packed by Jor-El and intended to aid the infant superbaby on Earth. Of course when Lois opened the chest all she saw was a way to become as powerful as the Man of Steel and soon became addicted to being a super-champion in her own rightâ€¦

Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane launched into her own title scant months later, clearly exactly what the readers wantedâ€¦

Showcase #11 (November/December 1957) saw the Challengers return to combat an alien invasion on ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’, with the unique realist Bruno Premiani inking a taut doomsday chiller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats even today, as whilst searching for missing Antarctic explorers the lads discovered an under-ice base where double-brained aliens were preparing to explosively alter the mass and gravity of Earth.

‘The Tyrans’, although intellectually superior, are no match for the indomitable human heroes and with their Plan A scotched, resort to brute force and ‘The Thing That Came out of the Sea’ even as Prof scuttles their aquatic ace in the hole with ‘One Minute to Doom’â€¦

By the time of their last Showcase issue (#12, January/February 1958) they had already won their own title. ‘The Menace of the Ancient Vials’ was defused by the usual blend of daredevil heroics and ingenuity (with the wonderful inking of George Klein, not Wally Wood as credited here) as international spy and criminal Karnak stole a clutch of ancient chemical weapons which created giants and ‘The Fire Being!’, summoned ‘The Demon from the Depths’ and created ‘The Deadly Duplicates!’ before the pre-fantastic four were able to put their enemy down.

Flash zipped back in Showcase #13 (March/April 1958) in a brace of tales pencilled by Infantino and inked by Joe Giella. ‘Around the World in 80 Minutes’, written by Kanigher, followed the Scarlet Speedster as he tackled atomic blackmail in Paris, foiled kidnappers and rebuilt a pyramid in Egypt, dismantled an avalanche in Tibet and scuttled a pirate submarine in the Pacific whilst Broome’s ‘Master of the Elements’ introduced the outlandish chemical criminal Al Desmond who ravaged Central City as Mr. Element until the Flash outwitted him.

One final try-out issue – inked by Giacoia – cemented the Flash’s future: Showcase#14 (May/June 1958) opened with Kanigher’s eerie ‘Giants of the Time-World!’ as the Fastest Man Alive smashed dimensional barriers to rescue his girlfriend Iris West from uncanny cosmic colossi and stamped out an alien invasion plan, after which Al Desmond returned with an altered M.O. and new identity as Doctor Alchemy whose discovery of the mystic Philosopher’s Stone made him ‘The Man who Changed the Earth!’ This stunning yarn was a memorable and worthy effort to bow out on, but it would still be a nearly a year until the first issue of his own title finally hit the stands.

To reiterate: Showcase was a try-out comic designed to launch new series and concepts with minimal commitment of publishing resources. If a new character sold well initially a regular series would follow. The process had been proved with Frogmen, Lois Lane, Challengers of the Unknown and Flash and Editorial Director Irwin Donenfeld now urged his two Showcase editors to create science fiction heroes to capitalise on the twin zeitgeists of the Space Race and the popular fascination with movie monsters and aliens.

Jack Schiff came up with a â€œmaskedâ€ crimefighter of the future who debuted in issues #15 and 16 whilst Julie Schwartz decided to concentrate on the now in the saga of a contemporary Earth explorer catapulted into the most uncharted territory yet imagined.

Showcase #15 (cover-dated September/October 1958) commenced without fanfare or origin the ongoing adventures of Space Ranger in ‘The Great Plutonium Plot’ plotted by Gardner Fox, scripted by pulp sci-fi veteran Edmond Hamilton and illustrated by Bob Brown.

The hero was in actuality Rick Starr, son of a wealthy interplanetary businessman who spent his free time battling evil and injustice with incredible gadgets and devices and the assistance of his shape-shifting alien pal Cryll and capable Girl Friday Myra Mason. When Jarko the Jovian space pirate began targeting only ships carrying the trans-uranic element, Rick suspected a hidden motive and donning his guise of the Space Ranger laid a cunning trap, which revealed a hidden mastermind and a deadly ancient device which endangered the entire solar systemâ€¦

From his base in a hollow asteroid, Space Ranger ranged the universe and ‘The Robot Planet’ took him and his team to Sirius after discovering a diabolical device designed to rip Sol’s planets out of their orbits. At the end of his voyage Starr discovered a sublime civilisation reduced to cave-dwelling and a mighty computer intelligence intent on controlling the entire universe unless he could stop itâ€¦

Issue #16 opened with ‘The Secret of the Space Monster’ (plot by John Forte, scripted by Hamilton, illustrated by Brown) as Rick, Myra and Cryll investigated an impossible void creature and uncovered a band of alien revolutionaries testing novel super-weapons after which ‘The Riddle of the Lost Race’ (Fox, Hamilton & Brown) took the team on a whistle-stop tour of the Solar system in pursuit of a vicious criminal and the hidden treasures of a long-vanished civilisation.

A few months later Space Ranger was transported to science fiction anthology Tales of the Unexpected, beginning with issue #40 (August 1959) and holding the lead and cover spot for a six year runâ€¦

One of the most compelling stars of those halcyon days was an ordinary Earthman who regularly travelled to another world for spectacular adventures, armed with nothing more than a ray-gun, a jetpack and his own ingenuity. His name was Adam Strange, and like so many of that era’s triumphs, he was the brainchild of Julius Schwartz and his close team of creative stars.

Showcase #17 (cover-dated November-December 1958) proclaimed Adventures on Other Worlds, courtesy of Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs, and told of an archaeologist who, whilst fleeing from enraged natives in Peru, jumped a 25 foot chasm only to be hit by a stray teleport beam from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. He materialised on another world filled with giant plants and monsters, and was rescued by a beautiful woman named Alanna who taught him her language via a cunning contrivance.

‘Secret of the Eternal City!’ revealed that Rann was a planet recovering from atomic war, and the beam was in fact a simple flare, one of many sent in an attempt to communicate with other races.

In the four years (speed of light, right? As You Know, Bob, Alpha Centauri is about 4.3 light-years from Sol) that the Zeta-Flare travelled through space, cosmic radiation converted it into a teleportation beam. Until the radiation drained from his body Strange was to be a very willing prisoner on a fantastic world of mystery, adventure and romance…

And an incredibly unlucky one apparently, as no sooner had Adam started acclimatising than an alien race named The Eternals invaded, seeking a mineral that would grant them immortality. Strange’s courage and sharp wits enabled him to defeat the invaders only to have the radiation finally fade, drawing him home before his adoring Alanna could administer a hero’s reward.

â€¦And thus was established the principles of this beguiling series. Adam would intercept a Zeta-beam hoping for some time with his alien sweetheart, only to be confronted with a planet-menacing crisis.

The very next of these, ‘The Planet and the Pendulum’ saw him obtain the crimson-and-white spacesuit and weaponry that became his distinctive trademark in a tale of alien invaders, attacking a lost colony of Rannians on planetary neighbour Anthorann which also introduced the subplot of Rann’s warring city-states, all desperate to progress and all at different stages of recovery and developmentâ€¦.

The next issue featured the self-explanatory ‘Invaders from the Atom Universe’ with sub-atomic marauders displacing the native races until Adam unravelled their nefarious plans and ‘The Dozen Dooms of Adam Strange’ wherein the hero had to outfox the dictator of Dys who planned to invade Alanna’s home-city Rannagar.

With this last story Sachs was replaced by Joe Giella as inker, although the former did ink Showcase #19’s stunning Gil Kane cover, (March/April 1959) which saw the unwieldy Adventures on Other Worlds title replaced with the eponymous logo Adam Strange.

‘Challenge of the Star-Hunter’ and ‘Mystery of the Mental Menace’ were classic puzzle tales wherein the Earthman had to outwit a shape-changing alien and an all-powerful energy-being, and after so doing Adam Strange took over the lead spot and cover of the anthology comic Mystery in Space with the August issue of that year.

Clearly on a creative high and riding a building wave, Showcase #20 (May/June 1959) introduced Rip Hunterâ€¦ Time Master and his dauntless crew as ‘Prisoners of 100 Million BC’ (by Jack Miller & Ruben Moreira in a novel-length introductory escapade which saw the daredevil physicist, his engineer friend Jeff Smith, girlfriend Bonnie Baxter and her little brother Corky travel back to the Mesozoic era, unaware that they were carrying two criminal stowaways.

Once there the thugs hi-jacked the Time Sphere and held it hostage until the explorers helped them stock up with rare and precious minerals. Reduced to the status of castaways Rip and his team became ‘The Modern-Day Cavemen’ but when an erupting volcano caused ‘The Great Beast Stampede’ the chrononauts finally turned the tables on their abductorsâ€¦

Miller was always careful to use the best research available but never afraid to blend historical fact with bold fantasy for Hunter’s escapades, and this volume concludes with an epic follow-up in ‘The Secret of the Lost Continent’ (Showcase #21, July/August, 1959, illustrated by Sekowsky & Joe Giella) wherein the Time Masters jumped progressively further back in time in search of Atlantis.

Starting with a dramatic meeting with Alexander the Great in 331BC, the explorers follow the trail back centuries to ‘The Forbidden Island’ of Aeaea in 700BC and uncover the secret of the witch Circe before finally reaching 14,000BC and ‘The Doomed Continent’ only to find the legendary pinnacle of early human achievement to be a colony of stranded extraterrestrial refugeesâ€¦

Rip Hunter would appear twice more in Showcase before winning his own comic and the succeeding months would see the Silver Age kick into frantic High Gear with classic launches coming thick and fastâ€¦

These stories from a uniquely influential comicbook truly determined the course of the entire American strip culture and for that alone they should be cherished, but the fact they are still some of the most timeless, accessible and entertaining graphic adventures ever produced is a gift that should be celebrated by every fan and casual reader.

Buy this for yourself, get it for your friends and get a spare just because you canâ€¦

August 21, 2012August 21, 2012

Cartoon Network 2-in-1: Ben 10 Alien Force/The Secret Saturdays

By many and various
(DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2878-1

The links between kids’ animated features and comicbooks are long established and, I suspect, for young consumers, indistinguishable. After all, it’s just adventure entertainment in the endâ€¦

DC’s Cartoon Network imprint is arguably the last bastion of children’s comics in America and has produced some truly magical homespun material (such as Tiny Titans, Batman: Brave and the Bold or Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!) as well as stunning interpretations of such television landmarks as Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory and others.

This particular dynamic and fast-paced parcel of thrills gathers a brace of contemporary kids’ TV sensations in back-to-back exploits taken from monthly periodical Cartoon Network Action-Pack (issues # 26-42) and opens with the further adventures of a boy who becomes a one-man alien legion of extraterrestrial champions with the mere flick of a wristâ€¦

Ben Tennyson was a plucky kid who could become ten different alien super-heroes by activating a fantastic device called the Omnitrix. At first the young boy clandestinely battled fantastic foes with his eccentric Grandpa Max and obnoxious cousin Gwen but by the time of these tales Ben is a teenager, having retired for a few years before again taking up the mantle of planetary protector.

He is also well on the way to becoming a global household name and has his own power-packed teen posse including Gwen, reformed super bad-boy Kevin Ethan Levin and romantic interest/techno-ninja Julie Yamamoto, all whilst struggling to master the far more powerful Ultimatrix deviceâ€¦

In short complete tales (following a handy guide to the cast and checklist of alien alternates which Ben can morph into) the reluctant hero, his hyper-charged avatars and BFFs tackle a continual stream of world-shaking threats and typical teen traumas beginning with ‘The New Order’ by Matt Wayne & Rob Haynes, wherein Kevin’s car is stolen.

The sweet ride is packed with advanced alien tech and only Gwen’s skill in manipulating â€œmannaâ€ or magic enables them to track it to old enemies the Forever Knights, servants of elitist primal race the Highbreed. Cue big, big fightâ€¦

Another fact-page, this time delivering the details on the Highbreed and their devoted servants the Forever Knights and insidiously cloaked infiltrators dubbed DNAliens is followed by ‘Bad Boy’ (Charlotte Fullerton, Mike Cavallaro & Mike DeCarlo) wherein Kevin seems to return to his evil ways by impersonating Ben. It’s all a ploy to fool DNAliens, but nobody thought to tell Gwen thatâ€¦

‘A Blast from the Past’ (Fullerton & Min. S. Ku) sees a Space cop’s overeager son attempt to arrest Kevin only to accidentally uncover a very real hidden menace, whilst ‘A Brief Mystery of Time’ by the same creative team finds Ben stuck in a deadly time loop until sometimes ally Professor Paradox offers a few useful if unusual hintsâ€¦

‘Double Trouble’ reintroduces Ben’s evil doppelganger Albedo, who has devised a perfect way to reactivate his own Omnitrix and finally replace the hero – or so he thinks – whilst in ‘Ship Shape’, a small gift from Ben to Julie causes big trouble after her alien mecha-pet suddenly goes wild and Ben’s planned ‘Lazy Day’ (Amy Wolfram & Ku) goes horribly wrong after Gwen reminds him of an appointment with a covert colony of DNAliensâ€¦

Robbie Busch, Cavallaro & DeCarlo then reveal a sweet trap for the young heroes at the local Ice Cream emporium, courtesy of a de-frocked Forever Knight who was their ‘Soda Jerk’, Jason Hall & Ku describe how ‘The Past is the Key to the Future’ when a long-dormant Highbreed doomsday bomb activates and Ben has to travel five years back in time to when he first became a hero to uncover the means of deactivating it – without being seen by his earlier self – before the Ben 10 bits conclude with Jake Black & Ku’s ‘Backcountry Battleground’ wherein a snowboarding holiday turns into a catastrophic confrontation when Ben, Gwen and Kevin unearth a DNAlien installation threatening all of Earthâ€¦

The second half of the bifurcated blockbuster is dedicated to a family of clandestine crypto-zoologists covertly discovering and protecting Earth’s hidden beasts of fact and fable against all threats and menaces as The Secret Saturdays.

â€œDocâ€ (don’t call him Solomon) and Drew Saturday are members of a hidden society called The Secret Scientists, dedicated to protecting the Earth from hidden threats both ancient and modern, unravelling mysteries, and saving lost and undiscovered species from human encroachment and exploitation.

When not in their hidden base and wildlife preserve they travel the globe with their precocious son Zak – who has an un explained psychic ability to connect with â€œcryptidsâ€ – and rescued creature-comrades gorilla-cat Fiskerton, genetically augmented dragon Komodo and pterosaur Zon, unravelling the unknown and battling hostile foes and forces.

Most notable among those are villainous TV crypto-zoologist V.V. Argost, beast-hunting mercenary Van Rook and Piecemeal, a dastardly and depraved culinary cove obsessed with and dedicated to eating the rarest creatures in the worldâ€¦

The show was created by Jay Stephens and premiered in October 2008, framed very much in the mould of classic 1960s Hanna-Barbera adventure animations such as Jonny Quest and the Herculoids, beginning here with ‘The Cannibal Curse’ written and inked by Stephens with pencils by Scott Jeralds in which the family travel to Fiji to accept a ceremonial apology from the descendants of natives who ate Doc’s great, great, great grandfather, only to encounter Dakuwaqa, possibly a â€œliving fossilâ€ dunkleosteus but certainly not a genuine immortal shark godâ€¦? But they could be wrongâ€¦

Brandon Sawyer & Mike Manley take the clan to the Russian Steppes for ‘Crying Wolf!’ in search of Kalmakian snakes, but Zak and Fiskerton’s unconventional appearance soon has the natives screaming â€œWawkalak!â€ However even though Fisk certainly isn’t the fabled Russian werewolf, the inevitable bandits hassling the town certainly have some uncanny creature in their thrallâ€¦

‘Way Past Bedtime’ (John Rozum, Jeralds & Manley) sees Zak, Fisk and Komodo try to escape their babysitter Abby Grey, only to be taken on a wild excursion to a lost sepulchre by the compulsive and tempestuous tomb-raider. In the crypt they encounter a fantastic watch-beast and the murderous Van Hook, looking for a lost artefactâ€¦

‘Sticks and Stones’ (Rozum, Will Sweeney & Manley) finds Zak, Fisk and Komodo trying to retrieve a replica artefact they’ve accidentally lost in the preserve beneath the Saturday base. Unfortunately Argost is also after it and he’s brought a pet peril of his own. To make things perfect, that’s when the storm and flash-floods hitâ€¦

By the same team, ‘The Storm that Shook Japan’ found the entire family investigating a devastated town with anthropoid ally Professor Mizuki. However the depredations of the tree-dwelling giant Lightning-Thunder-Birds are as nothing compared to the humans who have been wilfully clear-cutting their ancient forests, after which Komodo steals the spotlight in ‘Escape from Weird World’ when the canny dragon is stolen by Argost’s manservant Munya, only to orchestrate a mass breakout from his critter Colditz, whilst the entire reunited family encounter terror and cruel misunderstanding in Italy after an old shepherd dies and flocks begin disappearing. Only Doc’s uncanny perspicacity prevents a huge tragedy by unravelling the ancient mystery of the Guardian of ‘The Cave of the Cacus’â€¦

The all-ages adventure ends on a rather gruesome and grisly note with Rozum, Jeralds & Manley’s ‘Meal Worms’ as the search for invisible skyfish in Mexico results in another nasty encounter with ghastly gourmand Piecemeal and the first sighting of a terrifying species of atmospheric jellyfishâ€¦

Despite being ostensibly aimed at TV kids, these mini-sagas are wonderful old-fashioned comics thrillers which no self-respecting fun-fan should miss: accessible, entertaining, well-rendered yarns for the broadest range of excitement-seeking readers, making this terrific tome a perfect, old fashioned delight. What more do you need to know?
â„¢ and Â© 2010 Cartoon Network. Compilation Â© 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

August 20, 2012August 19, 2012

OZ: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

By L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower & Skottie Young (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2921-9 (hb)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 978-0-7851-2922-7 (tpb)

We all know the story of The Wizard of Oz – or at least the bare bones of it harvested to make the admittedly stunning 1939 film – but the truth is there’s a vast amount from that legendary 1900 novel by jobbing journalist and prolific author Lyman Frank Baum that remained unfilmed, and this superb and faithful adaptation by rabid fan Eric Shanower and artist Skottie Young rectifies and redresses those glaring tinseltown omissions and alterations with stunning skill and mesmerising charm.

As superb an illustrator as author, Shanower himself produced five original graphic novels set in Baum’s magic kingdom (The Enchanted Apples of Oz, The Secret Island of Oz, The Ice King of Oz, The Forgotten Forest of Oz, and The Blue Witch of Oz between 1986 and 1992, recently compiled into one scintillating chronicle as Adventures in Oz) as well as a new prose work, short stories and contributions to various academic and critical volumes on Baum and his creations.

In 2009 Marvel began producing a sequence of miniseries by Shanower and Skottie Young faithfully adapting Baum’s original texts, and the first 8-part classic has been collected as both a premier hardcover and trade paperback edition that will delight and astound both veteran and completely fresh readers.

Much of the familiar skeleton is there. Dorothy and her little dog Toto are spirited away from dreary, flat Kansas by a cataclysmic cyclone in the family house which, after many hours in the air, dumps the pair in a fantastic land of rolling hills and glorious vistas.

Under the fallen domicile is a dead witch and the blue-clad Munchkins who populate the place couldn’t be happier.

When the Good Witch of the North appeared, she explains that Dorothy has done a great thing, but she cannot help the little girl return home to her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Nobody has ever heard of Kansas, but perhaps the great and terrible Wizard of Oz could help. Dorothy and Toto are advised to follow the Yellow Brick Road to his City of Emeralds in the centre of Oz, and since the girl’s cheap boots were hardly up to the journey, it’s pretty lucky she was awarded the Silver Shoes of the deceased Hagâ€¦

She walked for a long time, feted everywhere by happy, witch-free folks and eventually encountered a scarecrow in a field of corn. He wasn’t much different from the ones at home except that he winked at her and struck up a conversationâ€¦

The straw man was uncomfortable and Dorothy extricated him from his uncomfortable position stranded on high with a pole up his back, after which they discussed her plight and the Wizard’s ability to do anything. After relating how he was made the Scarecrow, hoping the green sage could provide him with brains, asked the little lass if he could accompany her to the City of Emeraldsâ€¦

Their route took them through a darkly wooded area overgrown with trees and as night was falling, Dorothy wanted to stop. The Scarecrow saw a cottage deep in the trees and although it was scary and abandoned they planned to rest there. However, whilst looking for water they heard eerie screams and followed them to a tin woodman immobile and rustingâ€¦

Once the little girl had used a handy oilcan to liberate him the Woodsman related a tragic – and gruesome – tale of cursed love and an enchanted axe which that turned an enamoured young man, piece by piece, into an unfeeling kettle without a heart.

Perhaps the Wizard could provide one if he joined them on their questâ€¦?

As they journeyed onwards together through the seemingly endless forest Dorothy’s provisions began to run out and they were attacked by a fearsome and magnificent lion. As Toto bravely defended his mistress, the King of Beasts made to devour the dog and angry Dorothy slapped the savage beast’s face.

The predator crumbled into tears and shared his own tale of woe: a life built on bluff and the permanent terror that all the forest creatures currently afraid of him might discover that the Lion was far more scared of them. He too joined the party for Ozâ€¦

As they proceeded on their way they encountered and conquered many perils together: huge gorges cutting across the road, savage sabre-toothed Kalidahs, a huge river and a field of toxic poppies.

It was here that the Lion, Toto and Dorothy fell into an unshakable sleep, but luckily the Tin Woodman saved the life of a Field-mouse who happened to be the Queen of the mice. and in gratitude she bade all her millions of subjects to carry the slumberers to safety after which she gave Dorothy a whistle that could summon aid from the mice should she ever again need it.

Eventually they reached pleasant countryside where all the houses were painted green and at long last saw the high green wall of the City of Emeraldâ€¦

After much shilly-shallying each postulant was granted an audience with the Wizard, who looked alarmingly different to each one of them and said they could only achieve their heart’s desires if they performed one little task – killing the deadly Wicked Witch of the Westâ€¦

With no other choice the questors set off for the Land of the Winkies, defeating talking wolves, savage crow armies and killer bees before succumbing to an attack by flying monkeys which dismembered the Scarecrow and the Woodman and saw the Lion and Dorothy dragged off as slaves.

The feisty child’s life was one of terrible drudgery until the Witch stole one of the magic silver shoes and Dorothy threw a bucket of scrub-water over herâ€¦

With the Witch dead, the jubilant and liberated Winkies rebuilt the Woodman and reassembled the Scarecrow so that the triumphant adventurers could begin an epic Pilgrimage back to Oz and their promised rewards.

But their trials and tribulations were far from overâ€¦

And that’s barely past the half-way point in this astoundingly captivating book which is incontrovertibly the very best adaptation yet of one of the world’s greatest tales.

Shanower’s adaptation provides a far darker, more naturalistically vivid and far edgier atmosphere â€“ after all, this was a story originally written at a time when it was still okay to frighten children or make them feel sad, and the grim facts of harsh life weren’t covered up unnecessarily – whilst Skottie Young’s gloriously stylised and vibrant interpretation is a wonder to behold, capturing idyllic fields of pastoral wonder, strange peoples, fantastic magic, scary beasts and spectacular events with supreme aplomb, all perfectly enhanced by the sensitive colour palette of Jean-Francois Beaulieu and Jeff Eckleberry’s deft calligraphy.

Also included are Shanower’s impassioned introduction ‘Blame it on Toto’, Baum’s original dedication from 1900 accompanied by a superb illustration of Dorothy and Toto by Young, a complete cover gallery of the miniseries, including variants by Shanower himself and J. Scott Campbell, an overview of the novels, theatrical productions and films and a stunning sketchbook section featuring working drawings and designs for Dorothy, The Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, The Good Witch of the North, Toto, Winged Monkeys, The Wizard of Oz and The Wicked Witch of the West. All capped off by a behind-the-scenes feature on how the covers and colour pages were processed and assembled

If you’ve seen the films and cartoons you only think you know Oz. Start reading these magnificently lush and luxurious comics adaptations and learn the truth – and while you’re at it, don’t forget to read Baums’s (unabridged) prose masterpieces too; you can even read them for free, courtesy of Project Gutenberg.

August 19, 2012August 18, 2012

Bone book 2: Chase that Cow

By Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)
ISBN: 978-0-96366-9-095-4

Jeff Smith burst out of relative obscurity in 1991 and changed the comics-reading landscape with his enchanting all-ages comic-book Bone. The compelling black and white saga captivated the market and prospered at a time when an endless procession of angst-ridden, steroid-breathed super-vigilantes and implausibly clad â€œBad-Grrlsâ€ came and went with machine-gun rapidity.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Ohio, Smith avidly absorbed the works of Carl Barks, Charles Schultz and especially Walt Kelly from an early age, and purportedly first began producing the adventures of his Boneville creations at age ten.

Whilst attending Ohio State University he created a prototype strip for the College newspaper: ‘Thorn’ was another early incarnation of his personal universe and a valuable proving ground for many characters that would eventually appear in Bone. A high school classmate became a Disney animator and Smith subsequently gravitated to the field before striking out on his own, having mastered the graceful gentle slapstick timing and high finish style which typifies his art style.

He founded Cartoon Books to self-publish 55 delightful black and white issues: a fantasy-quest yarn that owed as much to Tex Avery as J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as his personal holy trinity, Barks, Schultz & Kelly. The thrilling and fantastically funny saga progressed at its own unique pace between 1991 and 2004 and since then has been collected into nine volumes from Cartoon Books (with two further collections of prequels and side tales), reissued in colour by Scholastic Books and even reprinted in Disney Adventures magazine.

At series’ end, Smith issued a monumental one volume compilation (more than 1300 black and white pages) which Time magazine dubbed â€œthe best all-ages graphic novel yet publishedâ€ and one of the â€œTop Ten Graphic Novels of All Time.â€

Smith has won many awards including 11 Harveys and 10 Eisners. In 2011, a spectacular 20^th anniversary full-colour edition of the Brobdingnagian single volume was released, stuffed with extras and premiums. If you’ve got the dough, that’s the book to shoot forâ€¦

As you can see there are plenty of versions to opt for but – purist that I am – I’ve plumped for the original Cartoon Books collection where the action commences in Out of Boneville, which re-presents the first six episodes.

Fone Bone is a strange, amorphous, yet affably decent little guy, a thematic blend of Mickey Mouse and Asterix who had been run out of the town of Boneville along with his tall and not-so-bright cousin Smiley Bone. Well to be exact they weren’t, but their dastardly, swindling cousin Phoncible P. â€œPhoneyâ€ Bone was, due to the sort of financial and political irregularities, misdemeanours and malfeasances that bring down presidents – and he only was running for Mayor at the timeâ€¦

After an incredibly journey the trio were separated and ended up in Lost Valley: an oasis of pastoral beauty hidden from the rest of the world. Along the way Bone was adopted by a dragon he doesn’t believe in, stalked by ghastly rat monsters and befriended by a talking leaf-insect (like a stick insect but flat, not long – and very, very chatty) called Ted.

After a harsh winter living wild in the deep forest he met the beauteous and oddly compelling human girl Thorn. It was Crush-at-First-Sight and he happily accepted an offer to stay with her and grandmother Rose Ben until he could find his lost cousins. He soon came to regret it when Phoney finally turned up and started his old tricks againâ€¦

Phoney’s insatiable drive to steal, cheat and fake a buck made life pretty uncomfortable for the besotted Fone Bone, but real trouble was actually brewing in the deep woods where an ancient evil had awoken, driving the stupid, stupid rat creatures who infested the place into a frenzy.

An incredibly old, cold war was heating up again and for the humans of nearby Barrelhaven village the stakes couldn’t be higher. The dark creatures and night-haunts were waiting for the advent of their prophesied one – a small bald creature with a star on its chest – remarkably similar to the one on Phoney’s shirtâ€¦

When the assembled horror-hordes attacked the cottage their putative chosen one was long goneâ€¦

Phoney had scented money and moved to the hamlet in search of easy marks and, as Thorn and Fone raced to warn the villagers that the beasts had risen, Gran’ma stayed behind to battle the rat things. When Bone’s â€œimaginaryâ€ dragon rescued the fleeing pair, they retraced their frantic steps to find the feisty old biddy had survived and overcome her attackers. Moreover, Rosie and the Dragon were old acquaintancesâ€¦

As the Dragon returned to the deep woods the humans (and Bone) leave the wrecked cottage and relocate to Barrelhaven, where they find Smiley has been all along, serving drinks in the local tavern. Phoney is there too – working off a tremendous bar-tab and looking to make some easy, preferably illicit cashâ€¦

This second stunning compilation collects issues #7-12 of the comicbook and also includes the contentsÂ of premium special Wizard Presents Bone #13Â½; opening with Thorn and Fone enjoying the bucolic delights of ‘The Spring Fair’.

Our diminutive love-struck hero is in heaven as he strolls with the oblivious Thorn but when her attention is diverted by hunky young travelling honey-seller Tom, Bone gets into a fight with the peddler and the girl, before storming off to find his own sticky treat by raiding a wild bee’s nest in the forest – with calamitous and hilariously painful results.

Phoney meanwhile is planning to fleece the villagers with a betting scam. For years the uncannily robust and unbeatable Gran’Ma has won the annual Great Cow Race (which seemingly consists of stampeding a herd and outrunning them to a finish line) and the riotous event has become her very own yearly moment of glory.

Now the wily rogue and his gullible patsy Smiley are taking bets against her, whilst disseminating disinformation that she is ailing and past her prime. All the smart money – chickens, goats, sheep etc. – is on a dark horse â€œMystery Cowâ€â€¦

And with the entire village constantly asking about her health, old Rose begins to worry and doubt herselfâ€¦

‘The Map’ finds Phoney’s betting booth doing a roaring trade with all bets on the as yet unseen Mystery Cow, when the battered, bruised and mightily stung Bone comes by. Appalled to see his cousin up to his old tricks, the honey-dipped hero confronts Phoney and discovers the whole plan: even though the entire village has put all their valuables on the outsider, Gran’Ma will easily win the Great Race since the enigmatic bovine challenger will be Smiley in a cow suitâ€¦

Thorn is dreaming, seeing again a time past when mysterious cloaked figures and dragons met in a cave and considered the inevitable return of a dark and deadly menace. Sharing the dream with Bone she remembers an old chart Bone found in the Great Desert and which first led him to safety in the valley … a map she drew whilst a toddler in that cave of dragonsâ€¦

‘The Mystery Cow’ opens on the day of the race, and tension in Barrelhaven is at a sullen fever pitch. Rose’s confidence is still fragile though and tavern owner Lucius – who is sweet on her – finally accedes to Phoney’s constant haranguing and agrees to bet the entire business on the race. The rest of the punters are nervous though. They’ve wagered all their worldly goods against Gran’Ma on a critter no one has ever seen and Lucius suggests that maybe they should check on itâ€¦

Given a noon deadline to produce the unbeatable cow for the town’s perusal, duplicitous, greedy Phoney is starting to see some flaws in his infallible plan and Thorn too gets a moment of cold realisation when Tom blows her off for a more pliable companionâ€¦

Downhearted, Bone has retired to the woods to read Moby Dick, but after a heart-to-heart with Ted, determines to bare his soul to Thorn in a love poem.

His mood is soon lost though when a couple of Rat Creatures turn up, wondering aloud if he is fair game or the â€œSmall Mammalâ€ they aren’t allowed to eat as elsewhere, with noon approaching, Phoney pulls a bold stunt and again fools the oafish villagers with the crazed, unbeatable ferocity of his Mystery Cowâ€¦

‘The Great Cow Race’ is about to start and udder-draped Smiley has his instructions to finish behind Gran’Ma, but Phoney’s greed gets the better of him when he circles back to his booth to find Lucius at last ready to bet the bar. Unfortunately the doughty old buzzard wants to place it on Rose to win – and the odds are now 100 to 1â€¦

With vivid memories of his last tar-and-feathering, the bovine bookmaker hurtles to intercept Smiley and tell him to win at all costs and as the herd thunders by with Rose in the lead, Bone appears, running his own desperate race. At his milky heels are the two starving and stupid, stupid Rat Creatures.

Sadly where there are a couple, inevitably the entire ravenous horde soon follows – and they do, perfectly and painfully intermingling with the frantic racers just as the finish line comes into sightâ€¦

‘Retribution’ opens with the victorious Gran’Ma, Lucius and Thorn riding a cartload of building supplies back to their devastated cottage. Hidden in the back are the Bone cousins, Phoney only gradually recovering from the rough-and-ready justice he has received from the incensed villagers.

With Smiley teasing Bone about the dragon only he has seen it’s a slow and anxious journey through the dark woods, since the Rat Creatures all vanished into the forest after the race melee ended. Indeed many ancient eyes, both friendly and inimically hostile, are following the party’s progressâ€¦

As the two starving rat things who started the debacle lay low and uproariously consider the upside of quiche as opposed to raw flesh, the repair squad arrives at the cottage and begins work, whilst in the background Lucius and Rose discuss the real importance of what’s been happening, especially for Thornâ€¦

Following a delightful poetic frolic from Bone’s frisky friends the possum kids, the book ends on a funny if foreboding note as the bombastic Lucius and ham-fisted, half-witted Smiley learn a little more about each other whilst painfully rebuilding Gran’Ma’s house ‘Up on the Roof’â€¦

I’ve talked a lot about the influences that informed this wonderful series and there’s one more that cannot be ignored: if you squint your eyes just right you can see the charm-adjacent convolutions of Bill Watterson’s Calvin (see The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. No, really. Do. It’s utterly wonderful and so are all the other collections) sneaking in to further flavour this astounding, raucous, beguiling, child-friendly extravaganzaâ€¦

Bone is a truly perfect comic tale and one that appeals to kids and adults equally. Already it is in the rarefied rank starring Tintin, Pogo, Rupert Bear, Little Nemo and the aforementioned and cherished works of Schultz, Kelly and Barks. It is only a matter of time before it breaks out of the comic club completely and becomes kin to the likes of Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, the Moomins and Oz.

If you have kids or can still think and feel like one you must have these booksâ€¦

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