Author: NowReadThis

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Axa Adult Fantasy Color Album


By Enrique Badia Romero & Donne Avenell (Ken Pierce Books/Eclipse Comics)
ISBN: 0-912277-27-0

Axa ran in The Sun Monday to Saturday from 1978 to her abrupt cancellation in 1986 – a victim of political and editorial intrigue which saw the strip cancelled in the middle of a story – and other than the First American Edition series from strip historian Ken Pierce and this colour collection, has never been graced with a definitive collection. It should be noted also that at the time of these books she was still being published with great success and to popular acclaim.

In those days in Britain it often appeared that the only place where truly affirmative female role-models appeared to be taken seriously were the cartoon sections, but even there the likes of Modesty Blaise, Danielle, Scarth, Amanda and all the other capable ladies who walked all over the oppressor gender, both humorously and in straight adventure scenarios, lost clothes and shed undies repeatedly, continuously, frivolously and in the manner they always had…

Nobody complained (no one important or who was ever taken seriously): it was just tradition and the idiom of the medium… and besides, artists have always liked to draw bare-naked ladies as much as blokes liked to see them and it was even “educational” for the kiddies – who could buy any newspaper in any shop without interference, even if they couldn’t get into cinemas to view Staying Alive, Octopussy or Return of the Jedi without an accompanying adult…

Enrique Badía Romero’s career began in his native Spain in 1953, where he produced everything from westerns, sports, war stories and trading cards, mostly in conjunction with his brother Jorge, eventually forming his own publishing house. “Enric” began working for the higher-paying UK market in the 1960s on strips such as ‘Cathy and Wendy’, ‘Isometrics’ and ‘Cassius Clay’ before successfully assuming the drawing duties on the high-profile Modesty Blaise adventure-serial in 1970 (see Modesty Blaise: The Hell Makers and Modesty Blaise: The Green Eyed Monster), only leaving when this enticing new prospect appeared.

Tough’n’sexy take-charge chicks were a comic-strip standard by the time the Star Wars phenomenon reinvigorated interest in science fiction and the infallible old standby of scantily-clad, curvy amazons in post-apocalyptic wonderlands never had greater sales-appeal than when The Sun – Britain’s best-selling tabloid – hired Romero and Donne Avenell to produce a new fantasy feature for their already well-stacked cartoon section.

This beautifully illustrated but oddly out of kilter collection doesn’t bear much similarity in terms of tone or format to the (ostensibly) family-oriented daily strip, and features none of the regular supporting cast such as long-suffering lover Matt or robotic companion Mark 10, which leads me to suspect it was created independently for the European market, perhaps as a Sunday page in Romero’s homeland of Spain or elsewhere where attitudes and mores are more liberal.

Certainly in the early 1980s Axa appeared in the French adult bande dessinee magazine Charlie Mensuel which reprinted many classic newspaper strips from around the world and after that closed in the Swedish publication Magnum.

Whatever their origin the tales collected here are far stronger and more explicitly sexual in nature; occasionally coming close to being mere macho rape-fantasies, so please be warned if such content, no matter how winningly illustrated, might offend…

The eponymous heroine was raised in a stultifying, antiseptic and emotionless domed city: a bastion of technological advancement in a world destroyed by war, pollution and far worse. Chafing at the constricting life of the loveless living dead, Axa broke out and, ancient sword in hand, chose to roam the shattered Earth searching for something real and true and free…

This slim oversized tome opens with Axa crossing a trackless wasteland under a scorching sun until she finds a hidden grotto beneath a ruined building. The coolly sensual hidden pool is a welcome delight but harbours a ghastly monster and mutant voyeur…

Captured by the hideously scarred human degenerate Axa discovers his gentle nature but is soon abducted by his far-less sympathetic brethren who attempt to use her as a brood mare for their next generation, until fate, her newfound friend and that ever-present long-sword combine to effect her escape…

Resuming her aimless explorations, Axa then encounters a coastal village but is almost killed by a pack of wild dogs. Her desperate flight takes her to a lighthouse on the promontory above the deserted town where ruggedly handsome Juame and his teenaged daughter Maria have been trapped for months.

Soon the sexual tension between Axa and Jaume culminates in the only way it can and Maria is driven mad by a jealousy she can barely comprehend. When a roving band of vicious post-apocalyptic Hell’s Angels hits town hungry for slaughter and kicks, the conflicted teen opens the tower doors for them…

The brutes casually murder her father and are intent on adding her and Axa to their string of human playthings, but when a terrific storm hits Axa breaks loose and becomes the bloody tool of harsh, uncompromising and final fate…

This incarnation of the warrior wanderer is certainly harder-hitting and more visceral than the British strip version and has little of the feature’s sly, dry humour, but art-lovers cannot fail to be impressed by Romero’s vibrant mixed-media illustration and imaginative, liberating page compositions.

Lush, lavish, luxurious and strictly for adventure-loving adults, there’s still a tantalising promise of a major motion picture and above all else Axa is long overdue for a definitive collection. Where is that bold publisher looking for the next big thing…?
Axa ©1985 Enrique Badía Romero. Previously ©1983, 1984 in Spanish.  Express Newspapers, Ltd.

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Showcase Presents World’s Finest volume 2


By Jerry Coleman, Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Dick Sprang & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-053-6

For decades Superman and Batman were the quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest” team. They were friends as well as colleagues and the pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

This most inevitable of Paladin Pairings first occurred on the Superman radio show in the early 1940s, whilst in comics the pair had only briefly met whilst on a Justice Society of America adventure in All-Star Comics #36 (August-September 1947) – and perhaps even there they missed each other in the gaudy hubbub…

Of course they had shared the covers on World’s Finest Comics from the outset, but never crossed paths inside; sticking firmly to their specified solo adventures within. However once that Rubicon was crossed thanks to spiralling costs and dwindling page-counts the industry never looked back…

This second blockbusting black and white chronicle gathers their cataclysmic collaborations from World’s Finest Comics #112-145, spanning September 1960 to November 1964, just as the entire planet was about to go superhero crazy and especially Batman mad…

Issue #112 by Jerry Coleman, Dick Sprang & Sheldon Moldoff featured a unique and tragic warning in ‘The Menace of Superman’s Pet’ as a phenomenally cute teddy bear from space proved to be an unbelievably dangerous menace and unforgettable true friend. Bring tissues you big baby…

In an era when disturbing menace was frowned upon, many tales featured intellectual dilemmas and unavoidable pests. Both Gotham Guardian and Man of Steel had their own magical 5th dimensional gadflies and it was therefore only a matter of time until ‘Bat-Mite Meets Mr. Mxyzptlk’ in a madcap duel to see whose hero was best… with America caught in the metamorphic middle.

WF #114 found Superman, Batman and Robin shanghaied to the distant world of Zoron as ‘Captives of the Space Globes’ where their abilities were reversed but justice was still served in the end, after which ‘The Curse that Doomed Superman’ saw the Action Ace consistently outfoxed by a scurrilous Swami with Batman helpless to assist him…

Curt Swan & Stan Kaye illustrated #116’s thrilling monster mash ‘The Creature From Beyond’ as a criminal alien out-powered Superman whilst concealing an incredible secret, and all the formula bases were covered as Lex Luthor used ‘Super-Batwoman and the Super-Creature’ to execute his most sinister scheme against the World’s Finest heroes.

In #118 Sprang & Moldoff illustrated ‘The Creature that was Exchanged for Superman’ as the Man of Tomorrow was hijacked to another world so that a transplanted monster could undertake a sinister search and leaving the Dynamic Duo to fight a desperate holding action whilst ‘The Secret of Tigerman’ in #119 (and inked by Stan Kaye) found a dashing new hero in charge as the valiant trio attempted to outwit a sinister new criminal mastermind.

Veteran artist Jim Mooney began illustrating Coleman’s scripts in #120 starting with ‘The Challenge of the Faceless Creatures’ as amorphous monsters repeatedly siphoned off Superman’s powers for nefarious purposes after which the Gotham Gangbuster was eerily transformed into a destructive horror in the trans-dimensional thriller ‘The Mirror Batman’ and #122 (inked by Kaye) saw an alien lawman cause a seeming betrayal by the Dark Knight, leading to ‘The Capture of Superman’…

Zany frustration and magical pranks were the order of the day in #123 as ‘The Incredible Team of Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk’ (Sprang & Moldoff) returned to again determine whose hero was greatest, whilst ‘The Mystery of the Alien Super-Boy’ (#124, illustrated by Swan & Moldoff) pitted the heroes against a titanic teenager with awesome powers and a deadly hidden agenda whilst ‘The Hostages of the Island of Doom’ (Mooney & John Forte) saw Batman & Robin used as pawns to compel Superman’s assistance in a fantastic criminal’s play for ultimate power…

Luthor’s eternal vendetta inadvertently created an immensely destructive threat in ‘The Negative Superman’ (#126, scripted by Ed Herron for Mooney & Moldoff) which stretched Batman and Robin’s ingenuity to the limit before ‘The Sorcerer From the Stars’ (by Coleman) challenged the heroes to stop his plundering of Earth’s mystic secrets whilst ‘The Power that Transformed Batman’ (#128, Coleman & Mooney) temporarily made the Caped Crusader an unstoppable menace.

Dave Wood, Mooney & Moldoff pitted the World’s Finest team against their greatest enemies in #129’s ‘Joker-Luthor, Incorporated!’ whilst Coleman & Mooney posed an intergalactic puzzle with devastating consequences for the heroes in ‘Riddle of the Four Planets!’ and Bill Finger, Sprang & Moldoff presented a stirring action thriller when the team inexplicably added a surplus and incompetent fourth hero to the partnership in ‘The Mystery of the Crimson Avenger’ from #131.

With Finger the new regular scripter, tense mysteries played a stronger part in the dramas, such as when Superman was forced to travel back in time to rescue ‘Batman and Robin, Medieval Bandits’ (art by Mooney) and clear their names of historical ignominy, whilst #133 found ‘The Beasts of the Supernatural’ (Mooney & Moldoff) leeching the Man of Steel’s power and the Gotham Guardians hard-pressed to fool the mastermind behind the attacks after which the heroes battled for their lives against an alien dictator and ‘The Band of Super-Villains’ (Mooney)

World’s Finest Comics #135 (August 1963, inked by Moldoff) was Dick Sprang’s last pencil job on the series and a great swansong as ‘Menace of the Future Man’ saw the heroes valiantly and vainly battling a time-tossed foe who knew their every tactic and secret, after which ‘The Batman Nobody Remembered’ (Mooney & Moldoff) offered a paranoid nightmare wherein the Dark Detective faced a hostile world which thought him mad, whilst ‘Superman’s Secret Master!’ (#137, Finger & Mooney) seemingly turned the Action Ace into a servant of crime until Batman deduced the true state of affairs…

Finger bowed out in #138 with ‘Secret of the Captive Cavemen’ as an alien spy’s suicide led the heroes back 50,000 years to stop a plot to conquer Earth after which Dave Wood provided an eerie sci fi thriller in ‘The Ghost of Batman’ (Mooney & Moldoff) and a classic clash of powers in #140’s ‘The Clayface Superman!’ (Mooney) as the shape-shifting bandit duplicated the Metropolis Marvel’s unstoppable abilities…

A new era dawned in World’s Finest Comics #141 (May 1964) as author Edmond Hamilton and artists Curt Swan & George Klein ushered in a more realistic and less whimsical tone in ‘The Olsen-Robin Team vs. “the Superman-Batman Team!”’ wherein the junior partners rebelled and set up their own crime-fighting enterprise: however there was a hidden meaning to their increasingly wild escapades…

In #142 an embittered janitor suddenly gained all the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes and attacked the heroes out of frustration and jealousy in ‘The Composite Superman!’ after which the Dark Knight suffered a near fatal wound and nervous breakdown in ‘The Feud Between Batman and Superman!’ a condition cured only after a deadly and disastrous recuperative trip to the Bottle City of Kandor.

Super-villains were becoming more popular and #144 highlighted two of the worst when ‘The 1,000 Tricks of Clayface and Brainiac!’ almost destroyed the World’s Finest team forever and this stellar second collection ends on an enthralling high note when Batman was press-ganged to an alien ‘Prison For Heroes!’: not as a cell-mate for Superman and other interplanetary champions, but as their sadistic jailer…

These are gloriously clever yet uncomplicated tales whose dazzling style has returned to inform if not dictate the form for much of DC’s modern television animation – especially the fabulous Batman: the Brave and the Bold series – and the contents of this tome are a veritable feast of witty, charming thrillers packing as much punch and wonder now as they always have.
© 1960-1964, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Bodyssey


By Richard Corben & Simon Revelstroke (Catalan Communications/Fantagor Press)
ISBNs: Signed/numbered Limited Edition 0-8741 603-2-4, softcover 978-0-8741 603-2-1
1993 Fantagor edition 978-0-96238-418-9

Richard Corben is one of America’s greatest proponents of graphic narrative: an animator, illustrator, publisher and cartoonist, springing from the tumultuous wave of independent counterculture commix of the 1960s and 1970s to become a major force in comics storytelling with his own unmistakable style and vision. He is renowned for his mastery of airbrush and captivatingly excessive anatomical stylisation and infamous for delightfully wicked, darkly comedic horror and beguiling eroticism in his fantasy and science fiction tales.

Always garnering huge support and acclaim in Europe, he was regularly collected in luxurious albums even as he fell out of favour – and print – in his own country. This particular hilarious adult saga developed in response to a stunning 8-plate art portfolio ‘Scenes from the Magic Planet’ from 1979. After serialisation in Heavy Metal #97-102 in 1985, the complete scandalous graphic novel epic was first released in December 1986 and re-published by the artist’s own Fantagor Press company in 1993.

The necromancer Hunghoul has run off (flown actually in a fantastic cloud machine) with Pilgor the Barbarian’s faithless wife Smegmella and the obliviously cuckolded hero is hunting them through the skies but their inevitable death duel doesn’t go well and the hero is dumped into the oceans far below.

Washed ashore in a strange country the massively-thewed champion becomes an object of imminent affection for an undulating Pudenda Beast until rescued by a reptile man named Ytgna – a scurrilous creature with plans of his own which sorely need a mighty muscled dupe and puissant fighter…

The wily lizard enlists the lovelorn hero in his own a quest to locate and liberate the amply pulchritudinous Ammora, and soon their search brings them to the fleshpot quarter of cesspit city Foulmouth where Pilgor catches the eye and steamier regions of androgynous Succulus Agripper, the Brothel Queen of the degenerate metropolis. Being a healthy upstanding chap Pilgor violently refuses the unwholesome unwelcome advances, effecting a spectacular escape and making another implacable, powerful and unforgiving enemy…

Eventually Ytgna and Pilgor locate their quarry – or so they think – but she proves to be far more than they bargained for and the searchers find themselves unwelcome guests of the formidable Amazons of Tumeschia and about to lose their he-man standings until a giant comatose goddess awakes and an extremely phallic giant titan invades. And that’s when the still most-piqued Agripper and his army turn up…

Meanwhile at Castle Bilious the first bloom of love is fading for Hunghoul and Smegmella so the wizard is happy to turn his attention back to Pilgor – who is still keen on exercising bloody vengeance upon them.

With the Amazons and Agripper hard on his heels and the nasty necromancer waiting for him the witless warrior is heading inexorably for a spectacular, eye-popping climax…

I’ve only got the signed and numbered limited edition so the remaining pages might not be in either of the softcover editions, but if you can, ensure you find a copy which ends the saucy fantasy extravaganza with the original portfolio plates from 1979.

In magnificent textured monochrome grey-tones and washes ‘Pilgor Discusses Politics with his Friends’, ‘Hunghoul’s Guards’, ‘Ytgna and his Faithful Ammora’, ‘Machola Seeks a Remembrance’, ‘Uncle Hunghoul Collects a Titbit’, ‘Pilgor Works his Work’, ‘Pilgor drops in at Dinnertime’ and ‘Pilgor’s and Ammora’s Happy Ending’ cap off the wry and whimsically debauched fantasy in a wave of sheer artistic excellence.

Like the cross between the World’s smuttiest Conan story and “Carry On, Barbarian!” this tale perfectly epitomises Corben’s unique visual style, love of the dark and scathingly sharp sense of humour. Combine that with humanity’s apparently insatiable hunger for sex, nudity, monsters and magic and this book becomes another utterly unmissable indulgence…
© 1986, 1993 Richard Corben. All rights reserved.

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Stan Lee Presents Captain America


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & various (Marvel/Pocket Books)
ISBN: 0-671-82581-X-225

Perhaps I have a tendency to overthink things regarding the world of graphic narrative, but it seems to me that the medium, as much as the message, radically affects the way we interpret our loves and fascinations. Take this pint-sized full-colour treat from 1979.

It’s easy to assume that a quickly resized, repackaged paperback book collection of the early comics extravaganzas was just another Marvel cash-cow in their perennial “flood the marketplace” sales strategy – and maybe it was – but as someone who bought these stories in most of the available formats over the years I have to admit that this version has a charm and attraction all its own…

During the Marvel Renaissance of the early 1960’s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby followed the same path which had worked so tellingly for DC Comics, but with less obviously successful results.

Julie Schwartz had changed the entire comics scene with his revised versions of the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed natural to revive those characters who had dominated Timely/Atlas in days past.

A new Human Torch had premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four, and in the fourth issue of that title the Sub-Mariner resurfaced after a twenty year amnesiac hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive their superhero line in the mid 1950s). All that was left was to complete the triangle by bringing back the Star Spangled Sentinel of Liberty…

However although the teen Torch had won a solo-spot in Strange Tales he hadn’t set the World on fire there (sorry, utterly irresistible and I’m truly ashamed – just not enough to hit “delete”) so it was decided to revive the Company’s biggest Golden Age gun within the fledgling company’s star-packed team-book.

This carefully reformatted digest delight opens with the fabled contents of Avengers #4 (March 1964, inked by George Roussos) an epic landmark wherein ‘Captain America joins the Avengers!’ in a blockbusting tale which had everything which made the company’s early tales so fresh and vital. The majesty of a legendary warrior returned in our time of greatest need: stark tragedy in the loss of his boon companion Bucky, time-lost aliens, gangsters, Sub-Mariner and even wry social commentary all couched in vast amounts of staggering Kirby Action.

Six months later the Old Soldier won his own solo-series in Tales of Suspense #59 (cover-dated November 1964), initially in a series of short, self-contained action romps such as ‘Captain America’, (scripted by Lee and illustrated by the staggeringly perfect team of Jack Kirby & Chic Stone): an unapologetic rocket-paced fight-fest wherein an army of thugs invaded Avengers Mansion since only the one without superpowers was at home…

The next issue held more of the same, when ‘The Army of Assassins Strikes!’, this time attempting to overwhelm the inexhaustible human fighting machine at the behest of arch foe Baron Zemo, whilst ‘The Strength of the Sumo!’ was insufficient when Cap invaded Viet Nam to rescue a captured US airman, after which he took on an entire prison’s population to stop the ‘Break-out in Cell Block 10!’

After these gloriously visceral and bombastic escapades the series took an abrupt turn and began telling tales set in World War II. From ToS #63, March 1965, ‘The Origin of Captain America’, by Lee, Kirby & Frank Ray (AKA veteran artist Frank Giacoia) recounted, recapitulated and expanded the manner in which physical wreck Steve Rogers was selected as the guinea pig for a new super-soldier serum, only to have the genius responsible die in his arms, cut down by a Nazi bullet.

Now forever unique, Rogers became the living, breathing, fighting symbol and guardian of America, but spent his quieter moments as a husky but easygoing ordinary G.I. in boot camp at Fort Lehigh.

It was there he was accidentally unmasked by Camp Mascot Bucky Barnes, who blackmailed the hero into making the boy his sidekick. The next issue kicked off a string of spectacular thrillers as the Red, White and Blue Boys defeated enemy saboteurs Sando and Omar in ‘Among Us, Wreckers Dwell!’ before Chic Stone returned for the next tale ‘The Red Skull Strikes!’ in which the daring duo met and first foiled the Nazi mastermind’s schemes of terror and sabotage in America.

‘The Fantastic Origin of the Red Skull!’ saw the series swing into high gear and switch settings to Europe as sub-plots and characterisation were added to the all-out action and spectacle. With Cap captured by his bragging fascist foe and brainwashed into attacking his own commanders, the Master of Menace felt smug enough to reveal his own rise to power after which ‘Lest Tyranny Triumph!’ and ‘The Sentinel and the Spy!’ (both inked by Giacoia) combined espionage with stunning combat and sinister subversion with mad science as the plot to murder the head of Allied Command segued into a battle with a German infiltrator who had stolen Britain’s latest secret super-weapon.

The heroic duo stayed in England for ‘Midnight in Greymoor Castle!’ (with art by Dick Ayers over Kirby’s) as English and Nazi collaborator scientist Cedric Rawlings captured Bucky whist Ranger Steve Rogers participated on an Army raid in France. The second part ‘If This be Treason!’ had Golden Age veteran and Buck Rogers newspaper strip artist George Tuska perform the same function as the hero deserts his comrades to rush back to Young Ally’s rescue before the final part (and last wartime adventure) ‘When You Lie Down with Dogs…!’ neatly wrapped up the saga, with Joe Sinnott inking a rousing conclusion involving repentant traitors, military madmen and handy terror weapons…

These mini-masterpieces of tension, action and suspense perfectly demonstrated the indomitable nature of this perfect American hero and I suppose in the final reckoning how you come to the material is largely irrelevant as long as you do, but I’m certain that different people are receptive to different modes of transmission and we should endeavour to keep all those avenues open…
© 1979 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Swamp Thing


By Len Wein & Berni Wrightson (Tor/DC Comics)
ISBN: 0-523-49012-7

In my perpetual quest to highlight the rare and odd (or “show off” as my mum used to call it) I’ve unearthed a few more nostalgically tangential and “comicbook-adjacent” little gems that will gradually make their way into these reviews whenever I’m feeling a little bit halcyon or backwards-looking.

Take this little treat from 1982, released to coincide with the then still-Big-News of a movie based on a comic book character…

The first fan-sensation of the modern age of comics (or perhaps the last of the true Silver Age?), Swamp Thing had powerful popular fiction antecedents and in 1972 when the character first appeared, was seemingly a concept whose time had come again. Prime evidence was the fact that Marvel were also working on a man-into-mucky, muddy mess character at the very same time.

Both Swampy and Man-Thing were thematic revisions of Theodore Sturgeon’s classic novella It and bore strong resemblances to the immensely popular Hillman character The Heap, who slushed his way through the back of Airboy Comics (née Air Fighters) from1943; bridging the first death of superheroes and rise of horror and crime comics.

My fan-boy radar suspects that Roy Thomas’ marsh-monster the Glob (from Incredible Hulk #121 and #129 (November 1969 and June 1970) either inspired both DC and Marvel’s creative teams, or was part of that same zeitgeist. Skywald, a minor player patterned on Warren Comics monochrome magazine hits Eerie and Creepy, released a new black-&-white title The Heap in the Autumn of 1971.

For whatever reason, by the end of the 1960s superhero comics had started another steep sales decline, once again making way for a horror/mystery boom: a sea-change facilitated by a swift rewriting of the Comics Code Authority. At DC, House of Mystery and its sister title House of Secrets returned to short story anthology formats and gothic mystery scenarios, taking a lead from such TV successes as Twilight Zone and Rod Serling’s Night Gallery with EC veteran Joe Orlando as editor.

The twelfth anthology issue of House of Secrets cemented the genre into place as the industry leader. In it writer Len Wein and Berni Wrightson produced a throwaway gothic thriller set at the turn of the 19th century, wherein gentleman scientist Alex Olsen was murdered by his best friend and his body dumped in a swamp. Years later his beloved bride, now the unsuspecting wife of the murderer, was stalked by a shambling, disgusting beast that seemed to be composed of mud and muck…

‘Swamp Thing’ (cover-featured in HoS #92, June/July 1971) struck an immediate chord with the buying public. The issue was the top-selling DC title of that month and reader response was fervent and persistent. By all accounts the only reason there wasn’t an immediate sequel or spin-off was that the creative team didn’t want to produce one.

Eventually however, bowing to interminable pressure and with the sensible suggestion of transplanting the concept to contemporary America, the first issue of Swamp Thing appeared on newsstands in the Spring of 1972.

It was a magnificent hit and an instant classic.

Wein and Wrightson together produced ten issues, crafting an extended, multi-chaptered tale of justice/vengeance that was at once philosophically typical of the time and a prototype for the story-arc and mini-series formats which dominate modern comicbook production. They also used each issue/chapter to pay tribute to a specific sub-genre of timeless horror story whilst advancing the major plot.

This nifty little monochrome digest reprints their first three collaborations from the solo title and begins with the revamped origin of a contemporary mire-monster in ‘Dark Genesis’ as husband and wife biologists Alec and Linda Holland move deep into the Bayou Country, working on a “bio-restorative formula” that would revolutionise World Farming. Working in isolation, they were guarded by Secret Service agent Matt Cable.

When representatives of an organisation called The Conclave demanded that they sell their research to them – or else – the patriotic pair refused and the die was cast. When the lab was bombed. Alec, showered with his own formula and blazing like a torch, hurtled to a watery grave in the swamp.

He did not die.

Hideously altered by the formula (and remember, please, that this is prior to Alan Moore’s landmark re-imagining of the character) he was transformed into a gigantic man-shaped horror; immensely strong, unable to speak and seemingly made from living plant matter. Cable and Linda, misinterpreting the evidence, believed that the big mossy ogre killed Alec…

Whilst the G-Man hunted the mossy beast through the swamp Conclave agents returned and attempted to force the secret from Linda. When the monster doubled back he found her body and exacted a terrible vengeance on her killers…

Cable, having failed twice over, determines to hunt the Swamp Thing to the ends of the Earth…

The second tale ‘The Man Who Wanted Forever’ introduced diabolical sorcerer Anton Arcane and his artificial homunculi, The Un-Men (subject of their own Vertigo series in recent years); an aged, seemingly benevolent savant who shanghaied Swamp Thing to the doom-laden Balkans and offered to cure Holland’s vegetable state. However the mage had his own ghastly plans for the vacated green body and Alec had to make a tragic choice to save the world…

As Cable tracked down the plant pariah and began an obsessive vendetta, this stunning collection concludes with the powerfully moving ‘Patchwork Man’ which introduced romantic interest Abigail Arcane and her tragic Frankensteinian father Gregori: the thwarted sorcerer’s dead brother and his earliest experiment in extending life beyond medical and moral limits…

The mini-revolution in the “Camp-superhero” crazed 1960s saw four-colour comicbook material migrate briefly from flimsy pamphlet to the stiffened covers and relative respectability of the paperback bookshelves and the nostalgic wonderment these mostly forgotten fancies still afford long ago showed that there was a proven market for such items beyond the brief attention spans of bored kids.

This terrific little black and white tome, part of National Periodical Publications’ decades-long efforts to reach wider reading audiences, is particularly appealing as Swamp Thing is one of the most sensitively reformatted books of its type and Wrightson’s art – like the work of Steve Ditko – is actually enhanced by the removal of the standard comicbook colouring.

Hard to find but definitely worth it…
© 1982 DC Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved. Swamp Thing is a Trademark of DC Comics Inc

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Uncanny X-Men: From the Ashes


By Chris Claremont, Paul Smith, Walt Simonson, John Romita Jr. & Bob Wiacek (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-6155

In 1963 X-Men #1 introduced Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Marvel Girl and the Beast: very special students of Professor Charles Xavier, a wheelchair-bound telepath dedicated to brokering peace and integration between the masses of humanity and the emergent off-shoot race of mutants dubbed Homo Superior. After years of eccentric and spectacular adventures the mutant misfits disappeared at the beginning of 1970 during a sustained downturn in costumed hero comics as supernatural mystery once more gripped the world’s entertainment fields.

Although their title was revived at the end of the year as a cheap reprint vehicle, the missing mutants were reduced to guest-stars and bit-players throughout the Marvel universe and the Beast was made over into a monster until Len Wein, Chris Claremont & Dave Cockrum revived and reordered the Mutant mystique with a brand new team in Giant Size X-Men #1 in 1975.

To old foes-turned-friends Banshee and Sunfire was added a one-shot Hulk villain dubbed Wolverine, and all-original creations Kurt Wagner, a demonic German teleporter codenamed Nightcrawler, African weather “goddess” Ororo Monroe AKA Storm, Russian farmboy Peter Rasputin, who transformed at will into a living steel Colossus and bitter, disillusioned Apache superman John Proudstar who was cajoled into joining the makeshift squad as Thunderbird.

The revision was an unstoppable hit and soon grew to become the company’s most popular and high quality title. In time Cockrum was succeeded by John Byrne and, as the team roster shifted and changed, the series rose to even greater heights, culminating in the landmark “Dark Phoenix” storyline which saw the death of (arguably) the series’ most beloved and groundbreaking character.

In the aftermath, team leader Cyclops left and a naive teenaged girl named Kitty Pryde signed up just as Cockrum returned for another spectacular sequence of outrageous adventures.

The franchise inexorably expanded and in 1982 a fresh generation of students enrolled in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters…

Released in 1990, as Marvel was tentatively coming to grips with the growing trend for “trade paperback” collections, this sturdy 228 page full-colour compendium collects a supremely impressive run of issues of the Uncanny X-Men (#168-172, from April-December 1983) which perfectly encapsulated everything that made the outrageous outcasts such an unalloyed triumph and touchstone of youthful alienation.

The action opens as Kitty Pryde reacts badly to the news that she is being transferred to the student team of New Mutants… or as she calls them, “X-Babies”…

‘Professor Xavier is a Jerk!’, by Chris Claremont, new star art-find Paul Smith and inker Bob Wiacek, related the battled-hardened Pryde’s reaction to the arbitrary declaration as the team enjoyed a little downtime following a stupendous battle in space against the ghastly alien body-stealers The Brood. The sulking quickly escalated into a cataclysmic life-or-death struggle as Pryde and her little space-dragon Lockheed accidentally uncovered an infestation of alien predators which had remained undiscovered in the depths of the X-Mansion for months…

Meanwhile, original X-Man Cyclops had left the team again to catch up with rebound girlfriend Lee Forrester but discovered a new woman who was the exact duplicate of his dead one-and-only Jean Grey…

‘Catacombs’ plunged head-on into a new crisis as the team are called in when the Angel is abducted by a hitherto undiscovered enclave of outcast mutants dwelling beneath the streets of New York. With Kitty as part of the rescue team the X-Men descended into the tunnels and battled the horrific Morlocks and their charismatic leader Callisto.

Easily outmatched and overpowered the heroes were helpless until Storm took a radical, irreversible step: defeating Callisto in a death-duel and becoming the new ruler and protector of the subterranean deviants in ‘Dancin’ in the Dark’. Above their heads in the halls of the wealthy and powerful, the Hellfire Club was under sustained attack by a telepath of incredible power and spiteful intensity whilst in Alaska Scott Summers had fallen deeply in love with disturbing doppelganger Madelyne Pryor despite fearing she might be some new aspect of the immortal cosmic Phoenix…

Pencilled by Walt Simonson, issue 171 saw a major new player join the misunderstood mutants when ‘Rogue’ – a powers and memory leeching teen who had nearly murdered Carol Danvers – knocked on the mansion door begging for sanctuary and medical help.

It seemed her uncontrollable ability was afflicting her with stolen personalities and slowly driving her crazy. When the former Ms. Marvel, now a cosmic powered entity dubbed Binary, saw the girl who had stolen her life become a guest of the X-Men, sparks and fists inevitably flew…

Wolverine had been absent for weeks on a personal quest to Japan (see Marvel Platinum – the Definitive Wolverine or any number of collected editions of the first Wolvie miniseries by Claremont & Frank Miller), which culminated with the announcement of his impending marriage to Japanese aristocrat Mariko Yashida.

‘Scarlet in Glory’ found the rest of the team in Japan for the impending nuptials and poisoned by vengeful villains leaving Logan and Rogue – whom he deeply distrusted – to seek out an antidote. At the same time the transformation of Storm from nature goddess to grim-and-gritty bad-ass was completed by the mercenary maniac Yukio as the last X-Men raced their fast-approaching toxic deadline…

The result was sheer carnage as the feral Wolverine went wild. With desperate-to-please Rogue in tow Wolverine carved a bloody trail to Yakuza mercenary (and Mariko’s rival for the rule of Clan Yashida) Silver Samurai and psychopathic mastermind Viper in ‘To Have and Have Not’…

Although the bold champions were eventually triumphant, the victory came at great cost. Wolverine returned to America alone and unwed… and all the while, the long-hidden presence manipulating events had jockeyed for position, pushing the globally scattered heroes to one inescapable conclusion…

‘Romances’ opened with Binary choosing to leave Earth with the swashbuckling Starjammers and ended with Scott returning to the X-Men to announce his own imminent marriage to Madelyne. This calm before the storm led into the spectacular issue #175 with the revelation that one of the X-Men’s oldest enemies had returned to unleash the ultimate destructive force, culminating in the end of the world and the seeming ultimate revenge of ‘Phoenix!’ (with additional art from John Romita Jr.).

The issue also saw Scott and Madelyne tie the knot before slipping away for a honeymoon from hell in the concluding episode ‘Decisions’.

Setting the scene for upcoming epics, there was a final meeting between Logan and Mariko, the US Government sought new and permanent ways to curb mutant power and Callisto returned to the Morlocks but the main focus was the newlyweds’ crash-landing in monster-plagued seas…

These character driven tales proved conclusively that the X-Men phenomenon was bigger than any single creator and that the series was capable of infinitely renewing itself. The stories here opened up a whole sub-universe of action and adventure that fuelled more than a decade of expansion and are still some of the best comics of that distant decade.

Compelling, effective, moving and oh, so pretty, From the Ashes is a book no Fights ‘n’ Tights fan can do without.
© 1983, 1990 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman Archives volume 3


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Don Cameron, Joe Samachson, Joseph Greene, Jerry Robinson, George Roussos, Jack Burnley & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-099-2

With the Dynamic Duo fully developed and storming ahead of all competition in these stories (originally published in Detective Comics #71-86 between January 1943 and April 1944), the creative chores finally grew too large for the original team. As the characters’ popularity grew exponentially, new talent was hired to supplement Bob Kane, Bill Finger and their assistants Jerry Robinson & inker, colourist and letterer George Roussos. Batman and Robin had become a small industry, just like Superman.

During this period more scripters joined the team and another soon to be legendary artist began adding to the inimitable legend of the Dark Knight…

After a lengthy and thought-provoking Foreword from veteran creator and celebrated cartoonist Jerry Robinson, this third deluxe hardback celebration of the Gotham Guardians’ incredible early exploits begins with ‘A Crime a Day!’ (by Finger, Kane & Robinson) from premiere crime anthology Detective Comics #71, possibly the most memorable and thrilling Joker escapade of the period, after which issue #72 found our heroes crushing murderous con-men in ‘License for Larceny’ by Joe Samachson, Kane & Robinson.

In Detective Comics #73 (March 1943) Don Cameron, Kane & Robinson went back to spooky basics with brutal efficiency when ‘The Scarecrow Returns’, after which moody chiller #74 introduced a pair of fantastically grotesque criminal psychopaths in the far from comical corpulent forms of the Deever cousins, alias ‘Tweedledum and Tweedledee!’ in a stirring yarn by Cameron & Robinson with inks by Kane, Roussos and Charles Paris.

Detective #75 presented a new aristocrat of crime in the pompous popinjay ‘The Robber Baron!’ (Cameron, Jack Burnley & Roussos) and the Joker resurfaced in #76 to ‘Slay ’em With Flowers’ in a graphic chiller by Horace L. Gold, Robinson & Roussos whilst Bill Finger, Kane & Roussos introduced a fascinating new wrinkle to villainy with the conflicted doctor who ran ‘The Crime Clinic’ in #77. Crime Surgeon Matthew Thorne would return many times over the coming decades…

Issue #78 (August 1943) pushed the patriotic agenda when ‘The Bond Wagon’ (Joseph Greene, Burnley & Roussos) to raise war funds was targeted by Nazi spies and sympathisers whilst ‘Destiny’s Auction’ by & Robinson, offered another sterling human interest drama as a fortune teller’s prognostications lead to fame, fortune and deadly danger for a failed actress, has-been actor and superstitious gangster…

Detective #80 saw the fateful fate of Harvey Kent finally resolved in epic manner with ‘The End of Two-Face!’ by Finger, Kane, Robinson & Roussos after which Cameron, Kane & Roussos introduced another bizarre and baroque costumed crazy with ‘The Cavalier of Crime!’ in #81 and explored the dark side of American Football with the explosive downfall of the ‘Quarterback of Crime!’ in #82.

Portly butler Alfred’s diet regime led the Gotham Guardians to a murderous mesmerising medic and criminal insurance scam in ‘Accidentally on Purpose!’ (Cameron, Kane & Roussos again) before ‘Artists in Villainy’ (#84 by Mort Weisinger & Dick Sprang, with layouts by Ed Kressy) pitted the Partners in Peril against an incredible Underworld University.

Detective #85, by Finger, Kressy & Sprang, was the artist’s first brush with the Clown Prince of Crime and one of the most madcap moments in the canon as Batman and his arch-foe both hunted ‘The Joker’s Double’ and this compelling chronicle concludes in high style with #86 as Cameron & Sprang recount how a sleuthing contest between Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Alfred leads to a spectacular battle against sinister smugglers in ‘Danger Strikes Three!’

With glorious covers from Kane, Robinson, Burnley and Sprang this terrific tome is another irresistible box of classic delights that no fan of the medium can afford to miss.
© 1942-1944 DC Comics. Renewed 1971-73. Compilation © 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 2


By Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Edmond Hamilton, Jim Shooter, Curt Swan, John Forte & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1- 4012-1724-2

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten over and again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This splendid, charm-soaked, action packed second monochrome collection continues to re-present those early tales from the disparate Superman Family titles in chronological order: the sagas from their own feature spanning Adventure Comics #322-348, plus guest-shots from Superboy #117, 124-125 98 and pertinent portions of Superman Annual #4, covering July 1964 to September 1966.

From Adventure #322 the fun-filled futurism opens with ‘The Super-Tests of the Super-Pets’ by Edmond Hamilton, John Forte & Sheldon Moldoff, wherein the Legion’s mighty animal companions – Krypto, Streaky the Super Cat, Beppo, the monkey from Krypton and Comet the magical Super-horse – were left to guard Earth as the major players continued to pursue the elusive Time Trapper.

When Chameleon Boy’s pet Proty II applied to join the bestial bunch they gave him a series of extremely difficult qualification tasks…

‘The Eight Impossible Missions!‘ (#323 by Jerry Siegel, Forte & George Klein) found the incomprehensibly smart Proty setting the human Legionnaires a set of challenges to determine their next leader, after which the tone switched to deadly danger in ‘The Legion of Super-Outlaws!’ by Hamilton & Forte, as a mad scientist bearing a grudge manipulated a super-team from far distant Lallor into attacking the United Planets heroes…

Issue #325 revealed how ‘Lex Luthor Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes!’ (Siegel & Forte) in a cunning tale of deadly deception whilst a ‘Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires!’ (Siegel, Forte & Klein) found the female members attempting to eradicate their male comrades. Of course they didn’t mean it and a sinister mastermind was behind it all…

Superboy #117 (December 1964) featured a classy thriller wherein Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid, Ultra Boy, Element Lad and Brainiac 5 seemingly travelled back 1000 years to attack the Boy of Steel in ‘Superboy and the Five Legion Traitors!’ (Siegel, Curt Swan & Klein) whilst over in Adventure #327 ‘The Lone Wolf Legionnaire!’ introduced Brin Londo; a troubled teen framed for appalling crimes who would one day become a valued member of the team in a clever thriller from Hamilton, Forte, Klein & Moldoff.

Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney began an engaging run of tales in #328 beginning with ‘The Lad who Wrecked the Legion!’ as the insidious Command Kid joined the superhero squad in order to dismantle it from within.

Narrowly escaping that fate, the heroes had to confront the topsy-turvy threat of their own imperfect doppelgangers in #329’s ‘The Bizarro Legion!’ after which another nefarious juvenile infiltrated the LSH intending to destroy them all in ‘Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire!’. The dastardly plan proceeded without a hitch until the victorious Dynamo-Boy recruited the malevolent Lightning Lord, Cosmic King and Saturn Queen and fell victim to ‘The Triumph of the Legion of Super-Villains!’ in #331.

Rescued and restored, the good kids were back in Adventure #332 to face ‘The Super-Moby Dick of Space!’ (by Hamilton & Forte) wherein the recently resurrected Lightning Lad suffered crippling injuries and an imminent nervous breakdown…

‘The War Between Krypton and Earth!’ in #333, by Hamilton, Forte & Klein, had the time travelling heroes flung back into the World’s antediluvian past and split into internecine factions on opposite sides of a conflict forgotten by history, after which ‘The Unknown Legionnaire!’ (Hamilton, Forte & Moldoff) posed a perilous puzzle with an oppressed race’s future at stake…

The same creative team introduced deadly super-villain ‘Starfinger!’ in #335 who framed a luckless Legionnaire for his incredible crimes before ‘The True Identity of Starfinger!’ (inked by Klein) was revealed and the entire team focused on the real menace.

Superboy #124 (October 1965, by Otto Binder & George Papp) featured Lana Lang as ‘The Insect Queen of Smallville!’ who was rewarded with a shape-changing ring after rescuing a trapped alien. Naturally she used her new abilities to ferret out Clark Kent’s secrets…

Adventure #337 highlighted ‘The Weddings that Wrecked the Legion!’ by Hamilton, Forte & Moldoff as two couples resigned to marry. However, there was serious method in the seeming marital madness…

Long absent Bête Noir the Time Trapper at last returned in #338 when Siegel & Forte revealed ‘The Menace of the Sinister Super-Babies!’ with sultry Glorith of Baaldur using the Chronal Conqueror’s devices to turn everybody but Superboy and Brainiac 5 into mewling infants. When they turned the tables on the villains a new era dawned for the valiant Tomorrow Teens…

Superboy #125 (November 1965) signalled darker days ahead by introducing a legion reservist with a tragic secret in ‘The Sacrifice of Kid Psycho!’ by Binder & Papp, after which Hamilton, Forte & Moldoff told the bittersweet tale of disaffected and tormented Lallorian hero Beast Boy who turned against humanity in Adventure Comics #339’s ‘Hunters of the Super-Beasts!’

The slow death of whimsy and light-hearted escapades culminated in #340 when Brainiac 5’s latest invention went berserk, becoming ‘Computo the Conqueror!’ (Siegel, Swan & Klein): attacking humanity and even killing one of the superheroes before ‘The Weirdo Legionnaire!’ (inked by Moldoff) began the team’s fight-back and eventual glorious triumph.

‘The Legionnaire who Killed!’ (#342 by Hamilton, Swan, Moldoff & Klein) saw Star Boy forced to take a life and confronted with the harshest of consequences, whilst ‘The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords!’ by Hamilton, Swan & Klein saw the bold band of heroes invade the stronghold of a sinister cult which claimed to control chance and destiny.

The same creative team ramped up the tension in Adventure #344 with ‘The Super-Stalag of Space!’ wherein the Legion – as well as many other planetary champions – were incarcerated by malicious alien overlord Nardo; an epic thriller completed in #345 with ‘The Execution of Matter-Eater Lad!’

With Adventure #346 (July 1966) the dramatic revolution culminated in ‘One of us is a Traitor!’ as Jim Shooter, barely a teenager, sold script and layouts (finished and inked by veteran Sheldon Moldoff) for a spectacular Earth invasion yarn as the sinister Khunds attacked and the depleted Legion inducted four new members to bolster their strength. However, although Princess Projectra, Nemesis Kid, Ferro Lad and Karate Kid were all capable fighters it was soon apparent that one was an enemy agent…

With Earth all but conquered ‘The Traitor’s Triumph!’ (Shooter, Swan & Klein) seemed assured, but there was one last surprise to come in this spectacular debut yarn from one of the industry’s most innovative creators…

This splendid second compendium concludes with a tense thriller by Shooter & Papp from Adventure #348 as the secret origin of Sun Boy was revealed when radioactive rogue Dr. Regulus attempted to gain misplaced vengeance in ‘Target-21 Legionnaires!’

But wait! There’s more!

Before the end there’s an expanded illustrated pictorial check-list and informational guide to the entire team by Swan, Klein & Al Plastino, culled from Superman Annual #4, 1961, Adventure Comics #316 and #365 (January 1964 & February 1968, respectively).

The Legion is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in comicbook history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became American Comics Fandom. Moreover, these sparkling, simplistic and devastatingly addictive stories as much as the legendary Julie Schwartz Justice League fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and built the industry we all know today.

These naive, silly, joyous, stirring and utterly compelling yarns are precious and fun beyond any ability to explain – even if we old lags gently mock them to ourselves and one another. If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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A Matter of Time


By Juan Gimenez (Catalan Communications)
ISBN: 978-0-87416-012-3, Del Rey edition (2005):  978-0-34548-314-0

Juan Antonio Giménez López was born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1943 and after studying industrial design attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona. Hugely influenced by Hugo Pratt and Francisco Solano López, Gimenez broke into the comics field with stories for Argentine magazines Record and Colomba before beginning his long association with European comics in such publications as Spain’s Zona 84, Comix International and 1994, France’s Metal Hurlant and Italy’s Lanciostory, L’Eternauta  and Skorpio, before gaining global fame with his scintillant Metabarons series produced in collaboration with Alejandro Jodorowsky.

His preferred metier is adult tales of science fiction and/or combat and Gimenez is an accredited expert on all things avionic or to do with war in the air.

In 1985 Catalan Communications collected a selection of time-travel related short stories (many of which had appeared in the American magazine Heavy Metal) usually known as the Time Paradox Tales into one glorious baroque and stunningly beautiful fantasy anthology with dark, sardonic and sublimely lyrical overtones of classic 2000AD Future Shocks or Twisted Times “sting-in-the-tale” stories…

Following a expansive and lavishly illustrated critique from Carlos Gimenez (no relation) the elegantly lush procession of exotic, eccentric eight-page excitements begins with ‘DIY’ wherein a father and son meddle with the wrong home-computer program and dad ends up a terrified touchline visitor at some of the most dangerous moments of all time and space, after which ‘Tridisex’ details the horrific fate of a couple of salacious chronal researchers who land in the right place at the right time but at the wrong size…

‘Express’ sees a dedicated time-assassin dispatched into the past to unwittingly murder himself whilst ‘Entropy’ details a tragic timeslip which causes the greatest combat aircraft of two eras to experience the closest of encounters.

‘8½’ explores the secret advantage of the fastest gunslinger of the Wild West and recounts the fate of the time-tourist who rooted for him whilst a tragic synchronicity-loop and incomprehensible paradox at last explains the great leap forward of an ancient civilisation in ‘Chronology’…

‘Residue’ takes the exercise in futility that is war to its inescapable conclusion in a lustrous four-page paean to technological advantage, bringing this magnificent artistic treat to a close on the darkest of downbeats…

Gritty, witty and ever so pretty, A Matter of Time is pure speculative gold: old-fashioned, cutting edge fantasy fun and entertainment with a satirical edge and its tongue firmly in its cheek. Perfume for the eyes so breathe deeply and jump aboard.
© 1982-1985 Juan Gimenez. English translation © 1985 Catalan Communications. All rights reserved.

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Essential Marvel Two-In-One volume 1


By Jim Starlin, Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Gil Kane, Sal Buscema, Ron Wilson & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1729-2

Imagination isn’t everything. As Marvel slowly grew to a position of dominance in the wake of the losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators, they did so less by experimentation and more by expanding and exploiting proven concepts and properties.

The only real exception to this was the en masse creation of horror titles in response to the industry down-turn in super-hero sales – a move expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing, or battling – often both – with less well-selling company characters was not new when Marvel decided to award their most popular hero the lion’s share of this new title, but they wisely left their options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch. In those long-lost days editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since super-heroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.

After the runaway success of Spider-Man’s Marvel Team-Up the House of Ideas carried on the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm – the Fantastic Four’s most iconic member – beginning with two test runs in Marvel Feature before graduating to its own somewhat over-elaborate title.

This economical, eclectic monochrome compendium gathers together the contents of Marvel Feature #11-12, Marvel Two-In-One #1-20, 22-25 and Annual #1, as well as Marvel Team-Up #47 and Fantastic Four Annual #11, covering the period September 1973 – March 1977.

It all kicked off with a perennial favourite pairing as the Thing once more clashed with the Hulk in ‘Cry: Monster! (by Len Wein, Jim Starlin and Joe Sinnott from Marvel Feature #11,  September 1973) wherein Kurrgo, Master of Planet X and the lethal Leader manipulated the blockbusting brutes into duking it out – ostensibly to settle a wager – but with both misshapen masterminds concealing hidden agendas…

That ever-inconclusive yet cataclysmic clash left Ben stranded in the Nevada desert where Mike Friedrich, Starlin & Sinnott promptly dropped him in the middle of the ongoing war against mad Titan Thanos as Iron Man helped the Thing crush monstrous alien invaders in ‘The Bite of the Blood Brothers!’ (#12, November 1973); another spectacular and painfully pretty all-action punch-up.

Still stuck in the desert when the dust settled Ben eventually trekked to an outpost of civilisation just in time to be diverted to Florida in Marvel Two-In-One #1 (January 1974) where Steve Gerber, Gil Kane & Sinnott magnificently revealed the ‘Vengeance of the Molecule Man!’ as Ben learned some horrifying home truths about what constituted being a monster battling with and beside the ghastly and grotesque anti-hero Man-Thing.

With the second issue Gerber cannily traded a superfluous supporting character from the Man-Thing series to add some much needed depth to the team-up title. ‘Manhunters from the Stars!’ pitted Ben, old enemy Sub-Mariner and the Aquatic Avenger’s powerful cousin Namorita against each other and aliens hunting the emotionally and intellectually retarded superboy Wundarr in another dynamically intoxicating tale illustrated by Kane & Sinnott. That case also left the Thing de facto guardian of the titanic teenaged tot…

Sal Buscema signed on as penciller with #3 as the Rocky Ranger joined the Man Without Fear ‘Inside Black Spectre!’, a crossover instalment of the extended epic then playing out in Daredevil #108-112 (this action-packed fight-fest occurring between the second and third chapters) after which ‘Doomsday 3014!’ (Gerber, Buscema & Frank Giacoia) found Ben and Captain America catapulted into the 31st century to save Earth from enslavement by the reptilian Brotherhood of Badoon, leaving Wundarr with Namorita for the foreseeable future…

The furious future-shocker concluded in MTIO #5 as the Guardians of the Galaxy climbed aboard the Freedom Rocket to help the time-lost heroes liberate New York before returning home. The overthrow of the aliens was completed by another set of ancient heroes in Defenders #26-29 (since collected in the superbly economical Essential Defenders volume 2).

Marvel Two-In-One #6 (November 1974) began a complex crossover tale with the aforementioned Defenders as Dr. Strange and the Thing encountered a cosmic event which began with a subway busker’s harmonica and led inexorably to a ‘Death-Song of Destiny!’ (Gerber, George Tuska & Mike Esposito) before Asgardian outcasts Enchantress and the Executioner attempted to seize control of unfolding events in #7’s ‘Name That Doom!’ (pencilled by Sal Buscema) only to be thwarted by Grimm and the valiant Valkyrie. There’s enough of an ending here for casual readers but fans and completists will want to hunt down Defenders #20 or the previously plugged Essential Defenders volume 2 for the full story…

Back here though issue #8 teamed the Thing and supernatural sensation Ghost Rider in a quirky and compelling Yuletide yarn for a ‘Silent Night… Deadly Night!’ (Gerber, Buscema & Esposito) as the audacious Miracle Man tried to usurp a very special birth in a stable…

Gerber moved on after plotting the Thor team-up ‘When a God goes Mad!’ for Chris Claremont to script and Herb Trimpe & Joe Giella to finish: a rather meagre effort with the Puppet Master and Radion the Atomic Man making a foredoomed power play, but issue #10 was a slice of inspired espionage action with Ben and the Black Widow battling suicidal terrorist Agamemnon who planned to detonate the planet’s biggest nuke in the blistering thriller ‘Is This the Way the World Ends?’ by Claremont, Bob Brown & Klaus Janson.

Marvel Two-In-One had quickly become a kind of clearing house for cancelled series and uncompleted storylines. Supernatural series The Golem had featured in Strange Tales #174, 176 and 177 (June-December 1974) before being summarily replaced mid-story by Adam Warlock and MTIO #11 provided plotter Roy Thomas, scripter Bill Mantlo and artists Brown & Jack Abel to offer some spectacular closure when ‘The Thing goes South’ resulted in stony bloke and animated statue finally crushing the insidious plot of demonic wizard Kaballa.

Young Ron Wilson began his lengthy association with the series and the Thing in #12 as Iron Man and Ben tackled out of control, mystically-empowered ancient Crusader Prester John in ‘The Stalker in the Sands!’; a blistering desert storm written by Mantlo and inked by Vince Colletta, after which Luke Cage, Power Man popped in to help stop a giant monster in ‘I Created Braggadoom!, the Mountain that Walked like a Man!’ – an old fashioned homage scripted by Roger Slifer & Len Wein, whilst Mantlo, Trimpe & John Tartaglione offered a spooky encounter with spectres and demons in #14’s ‘Ghost Town!’ a moody mission shared with The Son of Satan.

Mantlo, Arvell Jones & Dick Giordano brought on ‘The Return of the Living Eraser!’ a dimension-hopping invasion yarn which introduced Ben to Morbius, the Living Vampire after which a canny crossover epic began with the Thing and Ka-Zar plunging ‘Into the Savage Land!’ to dally with dinosaurs and defeat resource plunderers, after which the action switched to New York as Spider-Man joined the party in MTIO #17 to combat ‘This City… Afire!’ (Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Esposito) when mutated madman Basilisk transported an active volcano from Antarctica to the Hudson River with the cataclysmic conclusion following (from Marvel Team-Up #47) where Mantlo, Wilson & Dan Adkins finished off the epic and saved the day in fine style with ‘I Have to Fight the Basilisk!’

Another short-changed supernatural serial was finally sorted out in MTIO #18. ‘Dark, Dark Demon-Night!’ by Mantlo, Scott Edelman, Wilson, Jim Mooney & Adkins, found mystical watchdog The Scarecrow escape from its painted prison to foil a demonic invasion with the reluctant assistance of the Thing, after which Tigra the Were-Woman slinked into Ben’s life to vamp a favour and crush a sinister scheme by a rogue cat creature in ‘Claws of the Cougar!’ by Mantlo, Sal Buscema, & Don Heck.

That yarn segued directly into Fantastic Four Annual #11 which began a time-travelling sage with ‘And Now Then… the Invaders!’ by Roy Thomas, Big John Buscema & Sam Grainger, wherein Marvel’s First Family travelled back to 1942 to retrieve a cylinder of miracle-metal Vibranium which had begun to unwrite history after falling into Nazi hands.

En route they became embroiled in conflict with WWII super-team the Invaders which comprised early incarnations of Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the android Human Torch.

The time-busting task went well once the heroes finally united to assault the Nazi castle where the Vibranium was held, but after the quartet returned to their own repaired era, only Ben realised that the mission wasn’t completed yet…

The action continues in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 as, with the present unravelling around him, Ben returned to 1942 in ‘Their Name is Legion!’ by Thomas, Sal Buscema, Grainger, Tartaglione & George Roussos, to link up with Home Front Heroes The Liberty Legion (The Patriot, Thin Man, Red Raven, Jack Frost, Blue Diamond, Miss America and the Whizzer) and thwart Nazi raiders Skyshark and Master Man, Japanese agent Slicer and Atlantean traitor U-Man‘s invasion of America: a battle so big it spilled over and concluded in Marvel Two-In-One #20 (October 1976) in a shattering ‘Showdown at Sea!’ against diabolical Nazi scientist Brain Drain, courtesy of Thomas, Sal Buscema & Grainger.

MTIO #21 featured a team-up with Doc Savage but as Marvel no longer holds a license for that character, the story is excluded from this collection and the action resumes with #22’s two-part Thor pairing against the Egyptian God of Death in ‘Touch Not the Hand of Seth!’ (Mantlo, Wilson & Pablo Marcos); a fantastic cosmic extravaganza concluded with the assistance of Jim Shooter & Marie Severin in ‘Death on the Bridge to Heaven!’, after which Ben had a far more prosaic time with neophyte hero Black Goliath as a devastated downtown Los Angeles asked ‘Does Anyone Remember… the Hijacker?’ (by Mantlo, Shooter, Sal Buscema & Marcos).

This initial economical compendium ends on the cusp of a new era as the much delayed and postponed team-up with Iron Fist, the Living Weapon heralded the start of writer/editor Marv Wolfman’s impressive run on the title. ‘A Tale of Two Countries!’ illustrated by Wilson & Grainger, saw the Thing and the master martial artist shanghaied to the Far East as part of a Machiavellian plan to conquer the island kingdom of Kaiwann. Naturally they both strenuously objected…

These stories from Marvel’s Middle Period are of variable quality but nonetheless all are an honest attempt to entertain and exhibit a dedicated drive to please. Whilst artistically the work varies from adequate to quite superb, most fans of frantic Fights ‘n’ Tights genre would find little to complain about.

Although not really a book for casual or more maturely-oriented readers there’s lots of fun on hand and young readers will have a blast, so there’s no real reason not to add this tome to your straining superhero bookshelves…
© 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.