Adaptations – Page 13 – Now Read This!

July 7, 2016July 6, 2016

Tarzan Archives: The Joe Kubert Years volume 1

By Joe Kubert with Burne Hogarth (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-59307-404-3

Soon after first publication in 1912 Tarzan of the Apes became a multi-media sensation and global star. More novels and many movies followed; a comic strip arrived in 1929, followed by a radio show in 1932 and the Ape-Man inevitably carved out a solid slice of the comicbook market too once the industry was firmly established.

Western Publishing were a big publishing and printing outfit based on America’s West Coast, rivalling DC and Marvel at the height of their powers. They specialised in licensed properties and the jewels in their crown were all the comics starring the Walt Disney and Warner Brothers cartoon characters.

The publishers famously never capitulated to the wave of anti-comics hysteria that resulted in the crippling self-censorship of the 1950s. Dell Comics – and latter imprints Gold Key and Whitman – never displayed a Comics Code Authority symbol on their covers. They never needed toâ€¦

Dell also sought out other properties like movie or newspaper strip franchises, and would become inextricably associated with TV adaptations once the small screen monopolised modern homes.

In 1948 Dell produced the first all-new Tarzan comicbook. The newspaper strip had previously provided plenty of material for expurgated reprint editions until Dell Four Color Comic #134 (February 1947).

This milestone featured a lengthy, captivating tale of the Ape-Man scripted by Robert P Thompson – who wrote both the Tarzan radio show and aforementioned syndicated strip â€“ with art by the legendary Jesse Marsh.

Marsh & Thompson’s Tarzan returned with two further tales in Dell Four Color Comic #161, cover-dated August 1947. This was a frankly remarkable feat: Four Colour was a catch-all umbrella title that featured literally hundreds of different licensed properties – often as many as ten separate issues per month – so such a rapid return meant pretty solid sales figures.

Within six months the bimonthly Tarzan #1 was released (January/February 1948), beginning an unbroken run that only ended in 1977, albeit by a convoluted routeâ€¦

After decades as Whitman staples, licensing of Edgar Rice Burroughs properties was transferred to DC – not just Tarzan and his extended family, but also fantasy pioneers John Carter of Mars, Carson of Venus, Pellucidar and others – with the new company continuing the original numbering.

Tarzan #207 had an April 1972 cover-date and the series carried on until February 1977 and issue #258. From then on Marvel, Malibu and Dark Horse extended the jungle Lord’s comicbook canonâ€¦

The early 1970s were the last real glory days of National/DC Comics. As they slowly lost market-share to Marvel, they responded by producing controversial and landmark superhero material, but their greatest strength lay – as it always had – in the variety and quality of its genre divisions.

Mystery and Supernatural, Romance, War and Kids’ titles remained strong or even thrived and the company’s eye for a strong brand was as keen as ever.

Tarzan had been a mainstay of Dell/Gold Key, and a global multi-media phenomenon, so when DC acquired rights they justifiably trumpeted it out, putting one of their top creators in sole charge of the legendary Ape-Man’s monthly exploits, as well as generating a boutique bunch of ERB titles in a variety of formats.

The DC incarnation premiered in a blaze of publicity at the height of a nostalgia boom and was generally well received by fans. For many of us, those years provided the definitive graphic Tarzan, thanks solely to the efforts of the Editor, publisher and illustrator who shepherded the Ape-man through the transition. They were all the same guy: Joe Kubert.

Kubert was born in 1926 in rural Southeast Poland (which became Ukraine and might be Outer Russia by the time you read this). At age two his parents took him to America and he grew up in Brooklyn. According to his Introduction his earliest memory of cartooning was Hal Foster’s Tarzan Sunday stripsâ€¦

Joe’s folks encouraged him to draw from an early age and the precocious kid began a glittering career at the start of the Golden Age, before he was even a teenager. Working and learning at the Chesler comics packaging â€œShopâ€, MLJ, Holyoke and assorted other outfits, he began his close association with National/DC in 1943. A canny survivor of the Great Depression he also maintained outside contacts, dividing his time and energies between Fiction House, Avon, Harvey and All-American Comics, where he particularly distinguished himself on The Flash and Hawkman.

In the early 1950s he and old school chum Norman Maurer were the creative force behind publishers St. Johns: creating evergreen caveman Tor and launching the 3D comics craze with Three Dimension Comics.

Joe never stopped freelancing, appearing in EC’s Two-Fisted Tales, Avon’s Strange Worlds, Lev Gleason Publications & Atlas Comics until in 1955 when, with the industry imploding, he took a permanent position at DC, only slightly diluted whilst he illustrated the contentious and controversial newspaper strip Tales of the Green Berets from 1965 to 1968. From then on he split his time drawing Sgt. Rock and other features, designing covers and editing DC’s line of war comicbooks.

And then DC acquired Tarzanâ€¦

This first fabulous hardcover archive (also available in digital formats) collects the lead stories from Tarzan #207-214 (April-November 1972); a tour de force of passion transubstantiated into stunning comic art, with Kubert writing, illustrating and lettering. Moreover, the vibrant colours in this epic re-presentation is based on Tatjana Wood’s original guides, offering readers a superbly authentic and immersive experience whether you’re coming fresh to the material or joyously revisiting a beloved lost time.

The only disconcerting things about this stellar compilation are the cover reproductions, which appear in all their iconic glory but manipulated to remove DC’s trademark logos. The mightiest force in the modern jungle is still Intellectual Property lawyersâ€¦

The tense suspense begins with an adaptation of first novel Tarzan of the Apes and opens with a safari deep in the jungle. A pretty rich girl is driving her white guide and native bearers at a ferocious pace as she desperately hunts for her missing father.

When a bronzed god bursts into view battling a panther, she watches aghast as human impossibly triumphs over killer cat and then beats his chest whilst emitting an astounding scream. As the terrifying figure vanishes back into the green hell the girl’s questions are grudgingly answered by the old hunter who relates a legend he has heardâ€¦

‘Origin of Tarzan of the Apes’ depicts how, following a shipboard mutiny, John Clayton, Lord Greystoke and his wife Lady Alice are marooned on the African coast with all their possessions, including the vast library of books and Primers intended for their soon to be born babyâ€¦

Against appalling odds they persevered, with Greystoke building a fortified cabin to shelter them from marauding beasts, especially the curious and savage apes which roam the region. Despite the birth of a son, eventually the jungle won and the humans perished, but their son was saved by a grieving she-ape who adopted the baby to replace her own recently killed â€œBaluâ€â€¦

The ugly, hairless boy thrived under Kala‘s doting attentions, growing strong but increasingly aware that he was intrinsically different. He only discovered the how and why after years of diligent effort: through sheer intellectual effort and the remnants of his father’s books and papers, Tarzan learned to read and deduced that he was a M-A-Nâ€¦

The tale within a tale continues in ‘A Son’s Vengeance: Origin of the Ape-Man Book 2’ as the boy rises to prominence amongst his hirsute tribe and through imagination and invention masters all the beasts of his savage environment. Eventually a brutal, nomadic tribe of natives settle in the area and Tarzan has his first contact with creatures he correctly identifies as being M-E-N like himâ€¦

The new situation leads to the greatest tragedy of his life as a hunter of M’Bonga’s tribe kills beloved, devoted Kala and Tarzan learns the shock of loss and overpowering hunger for revengeâ€¦

Issue #209 revealed how civilisation finally caught up with Tarzan as ‘A Mate For the Ape-Man: Origin of the Ape-Man Book 3’ saw him meet and save American Jane Porter, her elderly father and his own cousin.

Just as had happened years earlier, these unlucky voyagers were marooned by mutineers. Discovering John Clayton’s cabin, the castaways find the lost peer’s diary, which is of especial interest to William Clayton, the current Lord Greystoke. As tensions rise and humans die, Tarzan takes his golden haired mate deep into the impenetrable verdureâ€¦

Both tales conclude neatly and tantalisingly in ‘Civilisation: Origin of the Ape-Man Book 4’ as innately noble Tarzan returns Jane to her fiancÃ© William Clayton in time for the westerners to be rescued by French Officer Paul D’Arnot.

When the dashing Lieutenant is captured and tortured by M’Bonga’s tribesmen, Tarzan rescues him and nurses the Frenchman back to health. In return the officer teaches him to speak the human languages that up until that moment he could only read and write inâ€¦

By then however the navy vessel and saved souls have all sailed away, each carrying their own secrets with themâ€¦

With no other options, lovelorn Tarzan agrees to accompany D’Arnot back to civilisation. The eternal comrades eventually settle in Paris with Tarzan practically indistinguishable from other menâ€¦

Even today ‘Origin of the Ape-Man’ is still the most faithful adaptation of ERB’s novel in any medium: potent and evocative, fiercely expressive, a loving and utterly visceral true translation of the landmark saga.

Kubert’s intent was to adapt all 24 Burroughs novels and intersperse them with short, complete tales, but the workload, coupled with his other editorial duties was crippling. To buy some time #211 combined old with new as ‘Land of the Giants’ partially adapted and incorporated Don Garden & Burne Hogarth’s newspaper strip tale ‘Tarzan and the Fatal Mountain’: Sunday strip pages #582-595 which had originally ran from May 3^rd to August 2^nd 1942 (you can see that saga in al its uncut glory by tracking down Tarzan versus the Barbarians (Complete Burne Hogarth Comic Strip Library volume 2).

Here a battle with crocodiles dumps Tarzan in a lost valley where giant natives are being persecuted by deformed, diminutive outworlder Martius Kalban who hungers for the secrets of their prodigious size and strength. Even after gaining his dark desire, Kalban finds himself no match for the outraged Ape-Manâ€¦

‘The Captive!’ is a latter-day exploit, beginning a run of yarns based on the short stories comprising ERB’s book Jungle Tales of Tarzan. Here the relationship between Ape-Man and the elephants is explored with each saving the other from the ever-present threat of the hunters of M’Bongaâ€¦

The Jungle Tales reworkings continue with ‘Balu of the Great Apes’ as childhood friends of Tarzan becomes incomprehensibly aggressive after the birth of their first baby and this first astounding compilation ends with ‘The Nightmare’ as starving Tarzan steals and gorges on meat and drink from the native village. The resultant food-poisoning takes him on a hallucinogenic journey he will never forget and almost costs his life when he can no longer tell phantasm from genuine threatâ€¦

Supplemented by full Creator Biographies of Burroughs and Kubert, this tome is a masterpiece of comics creation no lover of the medium or fantasy fan can afford to be without.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan Â® The Joe Kubert Years Volume One Â© 1972, 2005 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All rights reserved. Tarzan Â® is owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., and used by permission.

July 2, 2016July 1, 2016

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus volume 3

By Andi Watson, Christopher Golden, Tom Sniegoski, Joe Bennett, Hector Gomez, Christian Zanier, Cliff Richards, Jason Pearson & various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-59307-885-0

Although debuting as a motion picture starlet, Buffy the Vampire Slayer only really found her high-kicking feet after migrating to the small screen. Soon after securing her status as a certified media sensation, she won her own comicbook (in 1998), with smart, suspenseful, action-packed yarns exploding out of a monthly series, graphic novels, spin-off miniseries and short stories in showcase anthology Dark Horse Presents – all complementing the sensational, groundbreaking and so culturally crucial TV show.

Buffy Summers lives in small California hamlet Sunnydale, built over a paranormal portal to the Nether Realms dubbed The Hellmouth. Here, she and a small band of buddies battle devils, demons and all sorts of horrors inexorably drawn to the area and all regarding humanity as an appetiser and planet Earth an irresistible eldritch â€œfixer-upperâ€ opportunity.

With Rupert Giles, scholarly mentor, father-figure and Watcher of all things unnatural, Buffy and her â€œScooby Gangâ€ sought to make the after-dark streets of Sunnydale safe for the largely-oblivious human morsels, ably abetted and occasionally aided by an enigmatic undead Himbo calling himself Angelâ€¦

Collected here in the third of seven supremely scintillating Omnibus editions (and mirroring events on the show’s third season) are the contents of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1-8, 12, 16, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Annual 1999, Dark Horse Extra #12-16 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Play with Fire – collectively spanning 1998-2004 – all re-presented for your delectation as a chronological continuity rather than in original publishing order: well-nigh 300 pages of full-colour mystery, merriment and mystical martial arts mayhem.

As recapitulated in series Editor Scott Allie’s Introduction, although the stories were created in a meandering manner up and down the timeline, this Omnibus series offers them in strict chronological continuity orderâ€¦

It all begins with the ‘Wu-Tang Fang’ (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 by Andi Watson, Joe Bennett & Rick Ketcham) and starts following another tedious day at Sunnydale High School. Firm friends and comrades in adversity Willow, Xander and Buffy are blowing off steam at local club The Bronze when vampires attack.

The Slayer easily deals with the ill-conceived assault but afterwards is confronted by a mysterious oriental figure in a cloak and straw hat.

It disappears without incident but Xander, fed up with being saved by a girl and still reeling from an all-night kung fu movie marathon, enrols next day at a martial arts Dojo.

He soon painfully discovers his sensei is a bullying brute, even as Buffy and Giles are tracking a string of martial artists killed by vampiresâ€¦

The standard searches of the Library’s lore-books turn up a name: San Sui of the Xiang River – an ancient wandering warrior who challenged fighters to duels and drank their blood when they lostâ€¦

Courtesy of the mysterious stranger, Xander’s brutal teacher soon meets just such a fate, but San Sui is totally unprepared for Buffy, who takes out the stored resentment over all the extra training she’s been forced to endure on his smug, undead assâ€¦

‘Halloween’ (Watson, Bennett & Ketcham) then delightfully covers the annual arcane imbecility of Trick or Treating in Sunnydale; a night when vamps generally stay in, due to the hordes of happy people wandering about. This time, however, a pack of smart young dead things decide to stock up on tasty human titbits for their enforced staycationâ€¦

One of the abductees is scholarly stalwart Willow, snatched after storming out of an argument with her folks. Since, like most of the older high-schoolers, Buffy is stuck with chaperoning little kids on the night, nobody notices her BFF is missing until almost too lateâ€¦

Of course the Slayer does her thing and rescues her gal-pal in time, but after a ferocious, vamp-eviscerating battle, Buffy’s concern for Willow causes her to miss one demon who manages to flee with severe – but not undeath-threatening – injuries. That will prove a costly oversight in months to come as grudge-bearing Selke slowly regains her power and feeds a burning hatredâ€¦

Jumping up a month, #3 goes ‘Cold Turkey’: continuing in sinister Seasonal fashion as Buffy is tasked by her mother with producing the traditional and daunting Thanksgivings Day fest. Stuck with necessarily late-night shopping in-between school and Slayer-ing, she and Giles are increasingly obsessing over that missing fourth Halloween human-hoarderâ€¦

Selke is hiding out and recuperating via the most degrading and disgusting means, but when she spots her hated enemy picking up turkey ‘n’ trimmings at the soul-destroying All-Nite-O-Mart, the damaged and depleted devil decides to surprise the Slayer and speed her own recovery with a hot meal.

Not her best idea ever, but despite a blistering graveyard confrontation, the irrepressible Queen of the Damned again escapes with most of her scurvy skin intactâ€¦

‘Dance with Me’ by Christopher Golden, Hector Gomez & Sandu Florea was produced for TV-Guide (November 21-27, 1998) and details The Slayer’s brief and final encounter with a boy who used to pester her at school functions. He’s a lot more forceful as a vampire, but still strikes out one last timeâ€¦

Watson, Gomez & Florea reunited for Buffy #4 as ‘White Christmas’ sees the Slayer strapped for cash and forced to work at the local Mall to make money for gifts and a new party dress.

However, as Sunnydale is situated on The Hellmouth and Buffy is a certified weirdness magnet, her shifts at The Popsicle Parlor inevitably lead to demon-destroying overtime when she discovers creepy boss Mr. Richter spending all his idle moments in the Big Freezer, summoning infuriating ice imps and giant killer Frost Elementalsâ€¦

Having survived that cataclysmic Yule duel relatively unscathed, the Scooby Gang – Willow, Cordelia, Oz, Xander and Buffy – look forward to a ‘Happy New Year’ complete with blood-free party, until dusty, crusty Lore Librarian Giles discovers a gigantic hell-hound raiding his book stacks and sets the crazy kids hot on its heels.

The trail leads to doomed, damned lovers, a guiltily romantic triangle and an ancient curse from witch-haunted Salem before the savage crescendo almost ends Willow’s lifeâ€¦

In ‘New Kid on the Block Part 1’ (co-written with Dan Brereton) Watson, Gomez & Florea depict Xander obsessing over pretty transfer student Cynthia with his pathetic, fawning, drooling attentions cruelly mocked by his best friends – and rightly soâ€¦.

His infantile ardour is hardly halted when the girls decide to have a slumber party. Resolved not to miss out even though he’s not invited (and certainly not creepy at all), the hapless idiot sneaks into the night of nail varnish, romcoms and pink pyjamas and is horrified to discover that he’s not the only unwelcome intruderâ€¦

Buffy, exhausted from staking a new band of bloodsuckers plaguing the town, is almost too late to save the day in ‘New Kid on the Block Part 2’. However, after driving off the monster party-crashers, she confers with noble vampire boyfriend Angel and realises that even though able to move around in daylight, sweet little Cyn might not be all she seemsâ€¦

‘Food Chain Part I’ by Golden, Gomez & Florea originated in Buffy #12 – where it was originally seen under the title ‘A Nice Girl Like You’ and revealed how new student Sandy inexplicably got involved with bad boy Brad Caulfield and his gang.

No one in the Scooby-Gang can understand what she sees in the local loutsâ€¦ until Buffy uncovers Sandy’s true nature and her nasty habit of feeding on the energy of young folkâ€¦

The same creative team produced ‘Play with Fire’ – a serialised saga gathered from promotional periodical Dark Horse Extra â€“ in which Willow’s growing facility with and dependency on witchcraft draws the gang into a clash with an earthbound ghost and his demonic abusersâ€¦

‘Food Chain Part II’ (from Buffy #16 by Golden, Christian Zanier, Marvin Mariano, Draxhall Jump, Curtis P. Arnold, Jason Minor & Andy Owens) then concludes the sorry saga, revealing how poor Brad is still connected to the demonic Sandy’s monstrous master and is now killing in his nameâ€¦

‘The Final Cut’ by Watson, Jason Pearson, Cliff Richards & Joe Pimentel originated in Buffy #8, and details how a student horror movie being made in town masks a demonic entity dwelling in the celluloid and feeding off the young stars. It should never have put Buffy in the spotlightâ€¦

Golden, Tom Sniegoski, Richards & Pimentel then wrap up the monster-mashing madness by reporting ‘The Latest Craze’ (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Annual 1999) wherein an avaricious old enemy introduces demonically-addictive toy â€œpetsâ€ to the impressionable Sunnydale kids. However, the wickedly adorable â€œHooligansâ€ are not only magical moonlight kleptomaniacs but also have a sinister agenda all their ownâ€¦

Supplementing this compilation of mystic madness are copious photo, Title Page and Cover Galleries with material from Arthur Adams & Dave Stewart, Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend & Guy Major, Joe Bennett, Chynna Clugston, Gomez, Randy Green, Ketcham, Joyce Chin, Owens, Zanier and Fabio Laguna to complete the eerie excitement experience.

Visually impressive, winningly constructed and proceeding at a hell-for-leather pace, this arcane action fearfully funny fright-fest is utterly engaging even if you’re not familiar with the vast backstory: a creepy chronicle as easily enjoyed by the most callow neophyte as every dedicated devotee.

Moreover in this era of TV binge-watching, with the shows readily available on TV and DVD, if you aren’t a follower yet you soon could – and should – beâ€¦
Buffy the Vampire Slayer â„¢ & Â© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

June 28, 2016June 27, 2016

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: Burne Hogarth’s Lord of the Jungle

By Burne Hogarth with Robert M. Hodes & Skip Kholoff (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-537-5

Modern comics and graphic novels evolved from newspaper comic strips. These daily pictorial features were – until relatively recently – overwhelmingly popular with the public and highly valued by publishers who used them as a powerful tool to guarantee and increase circulation and profits. From the earliest days humour was paramount; hence our terms of usage â€œFunniesâ€ and, of course, â€œComicsâ€.

Despite the odd ancestor or precedent like Roy Crane’s Wash Tubbs (comedic when it began in 1924, but gradually moving through mock-heroics to light-action to become a full-blown adventure serial with the introduction of Captain Easy in 1929), the vast bulk of strips produced were generally feel-good laughter-makers or occasional child-oriented fantasy.

The full blown dramatic adventure serial began on January 7^th 1929 with Buck Rogers and Tarzan which both debuted the same day. Both adapted pre-existing prose properties and their influence changed the shape of the medium forever. The 1930s then enjoyed an explosion of such fare, launched with astounding rapidity and success. Not just strips but actual genres were created in that decade which still impact on today’s comicbooks and, in truth, all our popular fiction forms. In fact, your comicbooks started as reprint compilations of such newspaper circulation-fodderâ€¦

In terms of sheer quality of art, the graphic narrative iteration of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels by Canadian commercial artist Harold â€œHalâ€ Foster were unsurpassed, and the strip soon became a firm favourite of the masses. Supplemented by movies, books, a radio show and ubiquitous advertising appearances, White God of the Jungle John Clayton, Lord Greystoke soon became a meta-character. Just like Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan became â€œrealâ€ to the world.

Foster initially quit the strip at the end of the 10-week adaptation of the novel Tarzan of the Apes. He was replaced by Rex Maxon, but returned (at the insistent urging of Burroughs himself) when the black-&-white daily was expanded to include a lush, full colour Sunday page featuring original adventures.

Leaving Maxon to capably handle the Monday through Saturday progression of novel adaptations, Foster produced the epic Sunday page until 1936 (233 consecutive weeks) after which he momentously moved to King Features Syndicate to create his own strip landmark and weekend masterpiece. Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur launched on February 13^th 1937 and is still with us today.

Once the four month backlog of material he had built up was gone, Foster was succeeded by a precociously brilliant 25-year old artist named Burne Hogarth (1911-1996): a young graphic visionary whose superb anatomical skill, cinematic design flair and compelling page composition revolutionised the entire field of action/adventure narrative illustration.

The galvanic modern dynamism of the idealised human figure in today’s comicbooks can be directly attributed to Hogarth’s pioneering drawing and, in later years, his dedicated efforts as an educator.

When Hogarth in turn left the strip he found his way into teaching (he co-founded – with Silas H. Rhodes – the Cartoonist and Illustrators School for returning veterans which evolved into the New York School of Visual Arts) and also authored an invaluable and inspirational series of art textbooks such as Dynamic Anatomy and Dynamic Figure Drawing which influenced generations of aspiring artists.

In the early 1970s Hogarth was lured back to the leafy domain of legendary Lord Greystoke, producing â€“ with co-writer Robert M. Hodes and lettering assistant Skip Kholoff – two magnificent volumes of graphic narrative in the dazzling style that had captivated audiences more than thirty years previously. Recently both were bundled into a magnificent hardback edition by Dark Horse (also available digitally through Kindle and ComiXology) as a magnificent tribute to Hogarth’s mastery.

Tarzan of the Apes is a strong candidate for the title of first Graphic Novel. Originally released in 1972, it stunningly adapts the first half of ERB’s groundbreaking popular classic in large bold panels, vibrantly coloured, accompanied by blocks of Burroughs’ original text. The electric visuals leap out at the reader in a riot of hue and motion as they recount the triumphant, tragic tale of the orphaned scion of British nobility raised to puissant manhood by the Great Apes of Africa.

The saga follows his life as cub of loving she-ape Kala, his rise to prominence amongst his hirsute tribe and how he masters all the beasts of his savage environment. The mighty, brilliant foundling – through intellect alone and the remnants of his father’s papers – learns to read and deduces that he is a Man, but still inflicts brutal vengeance on the human tribesmen responsible for killing beloved, devoted Kala before submerging himself in the ways of the tribe.

The adaptation ends just prior to the arrival of the white woman who will reshape Tarzan’s destiny foreverâ€¦

Four years later Hogarth returned to his subject, but instead of completing his bravura interpretation of Tarzan of the Apes he instead produced an adaptation of the short tales which formed the composite novel Jungle Tales of Tarzan.

That book was a series of episodes reminiscent of Kipling’s â€œJust Soâ€ stories, set before the first fateful meeting with Jane Porter and the Ape-Man’s introduction to civilisation. Instead it related how and when the Lord of the Jungle confronted various cognitive stages in his own intellectual and physical development.

If that sounds dry, it’s not. Burroughs was a master storyteller and his prose crackles with energy and imagination. With this book he was showing how the Ape-man’s intellectual progress was a metaphor for Man’s social, cerebral and even spiritual growth from beast to human. He also never forgot that people love action and broad belly-laughs.

Hogarth was also an acclaimed intellectual and the four tales he adapted here afforded him vast scope to explore his cherished perfect temple that was the Ideal Man. The flowing organic compositions he created for his Jungle Tales of Tarzan are strengthened by the absence of colour, allowing the classicism of his line-work to create stark divisions of form and space that contribute to the metaphysical component of his subject.

The monochrome magic begins with ‘Tarzan’s First Love’ with the adolescent finding himself increasingly drawn to fetching young She-Ape Teeka. However, no matter what he did, the young maiden just wasn’t interested in her ardent, hairless admirerâ€¦

Next to enthral is a savage tale of comradeship as the human befriends mighty elephant Tantor who proves valiant and true following ‘The Capture of Tarzan’ by the local tribesmen responsible for Kala’s death, after which ‘The God of Tarzan’ sees him overdose on his dead father’s books and suffer a brain-expanding religious experienceâ€¦

The drama ends here in a riot of phantasmagoria as young Tarzan steals spoiled, cooked meat from the native villagers and endures ‘The Nightmare’.

Don’t let my effusive verbiage deter you, folks: you don’t need a dictionary to enjoy this work; all you need are eyes to see and a heart to beat faster. This is all vital, violent motion, stretching, leaping, running, fighting, surging power and glory: guaranteed to give indolent comic lovers all the thorough cardio-vascular work-out they’ll ever need…

Edgar Rice Burroughs was a genius at engaging the public’s collective imagination, whilst Hogarth was an inspired and inspirational artisan who, as well as gradually instilling his pages with ferocious, unceasing action, layered his works with subtle symbolism. Heroes looked noble, villains suitably vile and animals powerful, beautiful and deadly. Even vegetation, rocks and clouds looked spiky, edgy and liable to attack at a moment’s noticeâ€¦

This compilation is a vivid visual masterwork: a coiled-spring tension of vigorous vitality and explosive action and dream come true for every generation of dedicated fantasists to enjoy.

Magnificent, majestic, awe-inspiring, crucial comics entertainment.
Â© 1972, 1976, 2014 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All rights reserved. Tarzan Â® is owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., and used by permission.

June 22, 2016June 21, 2016

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, adapted by Tony Lee and Cliff Richard (Titan Books edition)
ISBN: 978-184856-694-1

Here’s something short, sharp and shocking to tide over all horror-lovers and devotees of the dark during the long, tedious sun-filled summer months.

In 2009, at his Editor’s urging, writer Seth Grahame-Smith rewrote Jane Austen’s immortal 1813 tale of fashionably practical romance, blending it with elements of zombie apocalypse and martial arts fiction.

It became something of a literary sales sensation, starting a mini-genre of its own and has been latterly augmented by a prequel, sequel and interactive e-Book. On its way to becoming the Next Big Thing in popular films, it was also adapted as a rather intriguing graphic novel in 2010.

Optioned by Del Rey/Random House, the project was delegated to British scripter Tony Lee (Starship Troopers, Wallace and Gromit, Dr. Who, Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Irregulars) and Brazilian illustrator Cliff Richard (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, New Thunderbolts) who together translated the rather copious and mesmerising verbiage into pictorial narrative perfectionâ€¦

A Word of Warning: read the original 1813 novel.

Just do.

How can you have got to your age without achieving some degree of literary accomplishment? It’s already funny and charming and bitingly savage, even before the addition of spin-kicks, massed musketry and marauding undead flesh-eatersâ€¦

In 19^th century Britain a plague besets the land. The unquiet dead – variously described as the â€œStrickenâ€, â€œDreadfulsâ€, â€œZombiesâ€ or â€œUnmentionablesâ€ by genteel folk of good breeding – roam the land, infecting and eating the populace as well as livestock and sundry other living creatures.

This tedious inconvenience is well managed by militias, the army and many young folk who have scrupulously studied battle tactics and esoteric fighting arts from the cradleâ€¦ even the womenâ€¦

However, in bucolic Hertfordshire at Netherfield Park, a real crisis is developing: Mrs. Bennet has five daughters of marriageable age; at least one of whom simply must make a suitable entrance into society if the family home is to be preserved and maintainedâ€¦

Tragically, although Elizabeth, Jane, Mary, Catherine (Kitty) and Lydia are polished and accomplished in maidenly virtues, they are far too enamoured of their proficiency in oriental modes of combat to adequately apply themselves to impressing the splendid gentleman of means Mother wishes them to impress.

Most distracting and distressing of all is stalwart Mr. Bennet, who fritters away all his time seeking better ways to destroy the rapacious sufferers of the â€œstrange plagueâ€, rather than play proper host to the likes of dashing yet aloof Mr. Darcy or his associates such as gaudy Mr. Bingley and the objectionable Mr. Wickham as they pay their respects to his wayward daughtersâ€¦

And so it progresses, as the ultimate romantic connexion between Elizabeth and Darcy is perpetually delayed by the stringencies of hidebound etiquette; petty manoeuvrings of dowagers, aunt and rivals all keenly expanding their own social standing; whims of fate and the interminable, incessant attacks of the mindless, slavering walking dead infesting England’s highways and bywaysâ€¦

Although very much a one-trick pony in terms of plot and story, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is an astounding beautiful thing to look upon. Richard’s monochrome illustration is beguiling where it needs to be and stunningly effective in the plentiful fight scenes whilst Lee’s script successfully encapsulates the constant war between the daughters and their mother as she tries to marry them off to the family’s best social and financial advantage. He’s also pretty adept at wringing the irony and slapstick out of a sceneâ€¦

Fast, furious and funny, this is well worth a look, just as long as you read the original Austen Classic of World Literature firstâ€¦
Â© 2010 Quirk Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

June 17, 2016June 15, 2016

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus volume 2

By Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Jen Van Meter, Christopher Golden, James Marsters, Doug Petrie, Daniel Brereton, Jeff Matsuda, Cliff Richards, Luke Ross, Ryan Sook, Hector Gomez, & various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-59307-826-3

A hunger to be frightened is imprinted inn our genes and courses through our surging blood. Psycho-killers, ravening monsters, unsuspected epidemics, funfair rides, overdue bills, undeleted search-histories and a host of other things – daft and not – all trigger our visceral, paralysed fright, fight or flight response and thus always feature highly in our mass entertainments.

These days however the slow-building tension and cerebral suspense of the printed genre has been largely overtaken and superseded by the shock-values and sudden kinetic action of both small and big screens, with the entire oeuvre also liberally doused in a hot sauce of teen alienation, unrequited love and uncontrollable hormones – all making for a heady (if often predictable and flavourless) brew.

The transition was very much the result of a landmark American TV show and assorted media spin-offs which refocused the zeitgeist. However, even decades later, Dark Horse Comics’ clever, witty graphic interpretation of the cult global mega-hit TV franchise Buffy the Vampire Slayer remains a superbly enjoyable fear-feast, so here’s another look at that comics landmark via the publisher’s economical and engaging Omnibus Editions series.

Once the company secured the strip licensing rights, they began producing a regular series, a welter of impressive original Graphic Novels, numerous miniseries, spin-offs and specials. They even featured assorted cast and characters in their own anthology titles such as Dark Horse Presents. Long after the beloved TV show died, from 2007 onward comics delivered creator Joss Whedon’s never-broadcast, continuity-canonical Season Eight and beyond to the delight faithful fans and followers.

Buffy Summers lived in small California hamlet Sunnydale, built over a paranormal portal to the Nether Realms dubbed The Hellmouth. Here, she and a small band of buddies battled devils, demons and all sorts of horror inexorably drawn to the area and whom/what/which all considered humanity an appetiser and planet Earth an irresistible eldritch â€œfixer-upperâ€ opportunity.

With Rupert Giles, scholarly mentor, father-figure and Watcher of all things unnatural, Buffy and her â€œScooby Gangâ€ sought to make the after-dark streets of Sunnydale safe for the largely-oblivious human morsels, ably abetted and occasionally aided by an enigmatic stud-muffin calling himself Angelâ€¦

Collected here in the second of seven big bad Omnibus editions are the contents of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #60-63, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike & Dru #1-2, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ring of Fire and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Dust Waltz plus pertinent material from anthologies Reveal and Dark Horse Presents Annual 1998, (collectively spanning 1998 to 2003), presented for your delectation as a chronological continuity rather than in original publishing order: well-nigh 300 pages of full-colour mystery, merriment and mystical martial arts mayhem.

As explained in series Editor Scott Allie’s Introduction, although printed sagas and spin-offs were created in a meandering manner up and down the timeline, this series of books re-presents them in strict chronological continuity order, before apologising for the fact that back then an initial lack of up-to-date information often led to a few hairy moments and false starts.

This collection begins with outrageously experimental and enticing strip ‘Angels We Have Seen on High’ (by Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Jeff Matsuda, Hakjoon Kang, Nolan Obena & colourist Dave McCaig from Reveal, November 2002) wherein Buffy – still not settled into her new home – reluctantly takes little sister Dawn to a funfair. When the Slayer is distracted by a pack of feeders, she leaves the brat with a responsible adult who proves to be anything butâ€¦

Happily a mysterious leather-clad figure proves to be her guardian angelâ€¦

Next up is ‘A Stake to the Heart’ (Buffy the Vampire Slayer #60-63, August-November 2003 by Nicieza, Cliff Richards, Brian Horton, Will Conrad & Michelle Madsen) wherein the family is sundered after Buffy’s dad leaves for a new, less complicated life. Taking out her feelings on Sunnydales’s undead legions, the Slayer is unaware that she is being observed by Angel and his demonic sponsor Whistler as well as malignancy spirits ‘Deceit’, ‘Guilt’, ‘Abandonment’ and ‘Trepidation’ which feed on misery and negative emotions.

Meanwhile in another part of town, a dowdy British scholar arrives and begins his new day job as the librarian at Sunnydale High Schoolâ€¦

Despite their cruellest efforts the malignancies have never contended with someone like Buffy before, nor her still-hidden future alliesâ€¦

Whimsically concocted by Jan Van Meter, Luke Ross, Rick Ketcham & Guy Major, ‘MacGuffins’ originated in Dark Horse Presents Annual 1998, and focuses on fun as Buffy gets a unique educational gift from new Watcher Giles: dutiful agent of the venerable cult tasked with training and assisting Slayers in their anti-arcane endeavours.â€¦.

All she has to do is catch the damned things before they wreck her house and lifeâ€¦

Although Buffy was a hot, hip teen monster-killer, as the TV series developed it became increasingly apparent that the bad guys were the true fan-favourites. Cool vampire villain and Ã¼ber-predator Spike eventually became a love-interest and even a suitably tarnished white knight, but at the time of this collection he was still a jaded, immortal, immoral psychopathâ€¦ every girl’s dream date.

His eternal paramour was Drusilla: a demented, faithless libertine precognitive vampire who killed and turned him. Dru thrived on a constant stream of fresh decadent thrills and revelled in baroque and outrÃ© bloodletting.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike & Dru #2 – from October 1999 – saw the twisted lovers gradually making their way to Sunnydale, roaming the American South in ‘Queen of Hearts’ (by Christopher Golden, Ryan Sook & Major). Arriving in St Louis they board a gambling palace on a paddle-steamer, just wanting to waste some time and test their fortunes. Unfortunately the enterprise is being operated by a sinister luck-demon with as little concept of fair play as Dru and Spikeâ€¦

When they finally realise the real stakes, all the forces of elemental supernature can’t prevent the river running red – and sundry other colours – with demon bloodâ€¦

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ring of Fire was scripted by screenwriter/producer Doug Petrie (in his time a writer, director and co-executive producer on the TV show). The art comes from Sook, Tim Goodyear & colourist Dave Stewart. It was originally released as a slim, full-colour, all-new graphic novel which established the artist as a major comics talent.

The tale is set during TV Season 2 (which ran from Autumn 1997 to Spring 1998) when Buffy’s enigmatic vampire boyfriend Angel had reverted to a soulless slaughterer of innocents. His latest victim was High School computer teacher Jenny Calendar, who moonlighted as a gypsy witch and practising technopagan. She was also the one true love of Buffy’s mentor Gilesâ€¦

One dark and stormy night twelve miles off the coast in ‘The Rising’ a Japanese cargo ship transporting ancient Samurai armour weathers staggering waves and a visit from a ghastly horror calling himself â€œAngelusâ€â€¦

The 500-year-old war suit once belonged to warrior demon Kelgor, whose power was tied to it and enabled him to raise an army of undead killers in 16^th century Japan. Angelus and his unwilling allies Spike and Drusilla intend sparking the necromantic apocalypse designated â€œThe Ring of Fireâ€ and all they lack is Kelgor’s corpse (hidden by Watchers half a millennium ago). They’re expecting the Slayer to find that for themâ€¦

Cool vampire villain Spike was severely wounded and confined to a wheelchair at this time and Dru exulted in tormenting him by playing up to Angelus â€¦

With Giles all but paralysed by grief, â€œScooby-Gangâ€ stalwarts, Willow, Xander and Oz are left to search copious reference files for information, but as their painstaking study bears dark fruit Giles is ambushed by Angel and Dru at Jenny’s grave. Buffy is there to rescue him, but that just gives Spike the opportunity to follow the merely human vampire hunters and activate the dead Samurai’s blazing revival spellâ€¦

Rushing to their side Buffy manages to (mostly) destroy freshly resurrected Kelgor, but as the Slayer pursues she is arrested by Federal spooks who know exactly what she isâ€¦

Frustrated but not thwarted, the terrible trio are at each others throats until Dru realises there is still some life in Kelgor’s remains. Moreover, the demon wants to share his centuries-old back-up plan with them. Hidden with the remains of ‘The Seven Samurai’ graves scattered throughout the state is the secret of true resurrection, and if the vampires gather the contents of those hidden tombs, all their wicked wishes can still come trueâ€¦

Meanwhile, locked in a covert detention centre, Buffy faces exposure to the world and worst yet her mother. Giles is gone: fallen far off the deep end and reverted to his old, manic persona of â€œRipperâ€, but that’s not a bad thing since he knows the people who arrested Buffy aren’t government agentsâ€¦ or even people. Yet even before he can get to her, back-up Slayer Kendra busts her imprisoned predecessor out.

(Long Story Short: when Buffy briefly died the next Slayer was activated, and even though the Blonde Bombshell was subsequently revived, Kendra, once here, wasn’t going awayâ€¦)

The action goes into overload as the Japanese hell-lord is finally fully reconstituted to form an alliance with Dru, leaving Angel and Spike twisting in the wind. The â€œFedsâ€ are then exposed as opportunistic demons trying to secure the resurrection spell for themselves in ‘Kelgor Unbound’. They are ultimately frustrated in that diabolical dream as Ripper has taken off with it, madly determined on bringing back his Jennyâ€¦

Across town Buffy, Kendra and the gang are too late to stop the final ritual. Dru and Kelgor exultantly awaken a colossal flame-breathing devil-bird to expedite their conquest of humanity and, forced into a tempestuous alliance with bad boys Angel and Spike, the vastly overmatched Buffy and Co need more magic than young witch Willow can conjure.

They need Giles back or the world is lostâ€¦

That cataclysmic clash is followed by the first issue of the miniseries Buffy the Vampire Slayer Spike & Dru: ‘Paint the Town Red’ from April 1999. It was co-written by James Marsters, who played the laconic Spike, with Christopher Golden. Illustrated by Sook & Stewart, the tale is set just after the undead couple split following a terrific love-spat, and follows the heart-sore Cockney Devil to an isolated Turkish village where he establishes a private harem and hunting preserve. Everything is perfect until Dru comes looking for him with her latest conquest, a recently-resurrected necromancer.

Koines is her love-slave, a wizard capable of controlling corpses with but a thought. Until she set her death-monger against Spike it hadn’t occurred to anybody that vampires are just another kind of cadaver, but once the mage realises he decides to renegotiate the terms of his rather one-sided relationship with the inventively psychotic vampire virago, and Spike discovers that he is not quite over Dru yetâ€¦

The story portion of this immense collection concludes with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Dust Waltz from October 1998

Scripted by Dan Brereton and illustrated by Hector Gomez, Sandu Florea & Major, it was the very first Buffy comics offering; released as a full-colour, all-original graphic novel which set the tone and timbre for the forthcoming series.

It all begins in ‘Promenade’ as twin ancient vampiric horrors slowly cruise towards California and a showdown in Sunnydale. At school Buffy is still insolently resisting the stern admonitions of Giles to keep training, but a merciful interlude is offered when the Watcher invites Buffy and her gang – Willow, Xander and former mean girl Cordelia – to accompany him to Baytown Port and meet his niece Jane, imminently due to disembark from a world cruise.

It also inadvertently affords the squad their first, albeit unsuspected, glimpse of Vampire â€œOld Onesâ€ Lilith and Lamia, who have made a pilgrimage to the Hellmouth with their bloodsucking Champions to indulge in savage ritualistic combat.

That night Buffy, on monster patrol with (once more reformed and benevolent) vampire boyfriend Angel, encounters and destroys one of the Champions. Deprived of her tool for the ritual, Lilith decides Angel will be his replacement – whatever it takesâ€¦

Tension intensifies in ‘Moondance’ as Buffy hunts for the vanished Angel, with Jane tagging along in defiance of Giles’ wishes. The Bloody Sisters have an army of infernal beasts and creatures with them, however, and the gang is captured and dragged to the Hellmouth even as the Watcher frantically seeks the true purpose of the dark combat ceremonyâ€¦

Buffy, however, is far more direct and simply marches straight into the monsters’ midst to deal with the threat and save her friends â€œSlayer-styleâ€ in blistering, action-packed eponymous conclusion ‘The Dust Waltz’.

Of course even after trashing the vampire hordes there’s the small problem of un-summoning the colossal elder god the battle was designed to awakenâ€¦

Supplementing this compilation of chthonic confabulations are copious photo, Title Page and Cover Galleries with material from Matsuda & McCaig, Horton, Ross, Ketcham & Major and Sook, to complete the eerie excitement experience

Visually impressive, winningly constructed and proceeding at a hell-for-leather pace, this arcane action-fest is utterly engaging even if you’re not familiar with the vast backstory: a creepy chronicle as easily enjoyed by the most callow neophyte as every dedicated devotee.

Moreover in this era of TV binge-watching, with the shows readily available on TV and DVD, if you aren’t a follower yet you soon could – and should – beâ€¦
Buffy the Vampire Slayer â„¢ & Â© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

May 28, 2016May 26, 2016

Buffy the Vampire Slayer volume 1

By Joss Whedon, Christopher Golden, Daniel Brereton, Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Paul Lee, Eric Powell, Joe Bennett, Cliff Richards, & various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-59307-784-6

Blood-drenched supernatural doomed love is a venerable if not always creditable sub-genre these days, so let’s take another look at one of the ancient antecedents responsible for this state of affairs in the shape of Dark Horse Comics’ translation of the cult TV show franchise Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Collected here in the first of seven big bad Omnibus editions is material from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike & Dru #3 (December 2000), Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Origin (January-March 1999) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer #51-59 (November 2002 to July 2003); nearly three hundred pages of full-colour mystical martial arts mayhem and merriment.

As explained in comicbook Editor Scott Allie’s Introduction, although the printed sagas and spin-offs were created in a meandering manner up and down the timeline, this series of books re-presents them in strict chronological continuity order, beginning with a perilous period piece entitled ‘All’s Fair’ (by Christopher Golden with art Eric Powell, Drew Geraci & Keith Barnett) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike & Dru #3 originally from December 2000.

Although Buffy was a hot and hip teen cheerleader-turned-monster-killer, as the TV series developed it became clear that the bad-guys were increasingly the real fan-favourites. Cool vampire villain and Ã¼ber-predator Spike eventually became a love-interest and even a suitably tarnished white knight, but at the time of this collection he was still a jaded, blood-hungry, immortal, immoral psychopathâ€¦ every girl’s dream date.

His eternal paramour was Drusilla: a demented precognitive vampire who killed him and made him an immortal bloodsucker. She thrived on a stream of fresh decadent thrills and revelled in baroque and outrÃ© bloodletting.

There has been an unbroken mystical progression of young women tasked with killing the undead through the centuries, and here we see the Chinese Boxer Rebellion of 1900, where Spike and Dru are making the most of the carnage after killing that era’s Slayer. The story then shifts to the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933 where the undying mad lovers are still on the murderous prowl. However, the scientific wonders of the modern world displayed in the various exhibits are all eclipsed by one scientist who has tapped into the realm of Elder Gods as a cheap source of energy.

To further complicate matters Spike and Dru are being stalked by a clan of Chinese warriors trained from birth to destroy the predatory pair and avenge that Slayer killed in Beijingâ€¦

Gods, Demons, Mad Scientists, Kung Fu killers, Tongs and terror all combine in a gory romp that will delight TV devotees and ordinary horrorists alike.

Next up is a smart reworking of the cult B-movie which launched the global mega-hit TV.

Starring Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Luke Perry and Rutger Hauer, the film was released in 1992 with a modicum of success and to the lasting dissatisfaction of writer/creator Joss Whedon. Five years later he got to do it right and in the manner he’d originally intended. The ensemble action horror comedy series became something of a phenomenon and inspired a new generation of Goth gore-lovers as well as many, many â€œhomagesâ€ in assorted media – including comics.

Dark Horse won the licensing rights in the USA, subsequently producing an enthralling regular comicbook series plus a welter of impressive miniseries and specials. In 1999 the company – knowing how powerfully the inclusivity/continuity/completism gene dominates comics fan psychology – finally revisited that troublesome cinematic debut with miniseries Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Origin running from January to March.

Scrupulously returning to the author’s script and core-concept, restoring excised material, shifting the tone back towards what Whedon originally intended, whilst reconfiguring events until they better jibed with the established and beloved TV mythology, adaptors Christopher Golden & Daniel Brereton with artists Joe Bennett, Rick Ketcham, Randy Emberlin & J. Jadsen produced a new 3-issue miniseries which canonically established exactly what the formerly vapid Valley Girl did in her old hometown that got her transferred to scenic Sunnydale and a life on the Hellmouthâ€¦

It all kicks off in ‘Destiny Free’ as shallow yet popular teen queen/cheerleader Buffy Summers shrugs off recurring nightmares of young women battling and being killed by vampires throughout history to continue her perfect life of smug contentment. Even a chance meeting with grungy stoner bad-boys Pike and Benny can’t dent her aura of self-assured privilege and studied indolence.

The nightmares keep mounting in intensity, however, and all over town teenagers are disappearingâ€¦

Things come to a head the week her parents leave town for a trip. In a dark park, a maniac attacks Pike and Benny and is only driven off by the intervention of a mysterious, formidable old man. Even so the assailant manages to take the screaming Benny with himâ€¦

Next day the same old geezer is at school, annoying Buffy. She is blithely mocking until he tells her about her nightmares and explains that she has an inescapable destinyâ€¦ as a slayer of monstersâ€¦

Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of the Earth a monster is marshalling his forces and making terrifying converts out of the spoiled worthless children of Californiaâ€¦

Buffy’s strange stalker is exceedingly persistent and that night, despite her disbelieving misgivings, she and Merrick – an agent of an ancient, monster-hunting secret society – lurk in a graveyard waiting for a recently murdered man to rise from his fresh graveâ€¦

When he does – along with unsuspected others – Buffy’s unsuspected powers and battle reflexes kick in and, against all odds, she spectacularly overcomesâ€¦

‘Defenseless Mechanisms’ finds the aggressively altered Buffy grudgingly dropping her fatuous after-school activities and friends to train with the increasingly strident and impatient Watcher Merrick. Even though her attitude is appalling and her attention easily diverted, the girl is serious about the job, and even has a few new ideas to add to The Slayer’s traditional arsenalâ€¦

Even as she starts her career by pretending to be a helpless lost girl to draw out vile vamps, across town Pike is in big trouble. He also knows what is happening: after all every night Benny comes to his window, begging to be let in and offering to share his new life with his best buddyâ€¦

At school the change in Buffy is noticeable and all her old BFFs are pointedly snubbing her, even as every sundown Lothos‘ legion gets bolder and bigger. A fatal mistake occurs on the night when Slayer and Watcher save the finally outmanoeuvred Pike from Benny and the Vampire Lord. Only two of the embattled humans survive and escapeâ€¦

The tales escalates to a shocking climax when the undead army invades the long-awaited Hemery High School dance looking for Buffy and fresh meat/recruits. With his bloodsuckers surrounding the petrified revellers and demanding a final reckoning, Lothos believes his victory assured, but in all his centuries of unlife he’s never encountered a Slayer quite like Buffy Summersâ€¦

As Allie’s Introduction already revealed, there are major hassles involved in producing a licensed comicbook whilst the primary property is still unfolding. Thus, as the print series was winding up the editors opted for in-filling some glaring gaps in the Slayer’s early career. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #51-59, spanning November 2002 through July 2003, addresses the period between the film’s end and her first days in Sunnydale, leading off with ‘Viva Las Buffy’ (Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Cliff Richards & Will Conrad) which details what the Slayer did next: abandoning her disintegrating family as they prepared to leave LA and the reputation their daughter has garnered.

Buffy hooks with sole survivor and wannabe monster-hunter Pike and they eventually fetch up in Nevada to investigate the apparently vampire-run Golden Touch Casino. The young warriors have no idea that a dark solitary stranger with a heavenly name is stalking them or that somewhere in England a Council of arrogant scholar-magicians are preparing a rather controversial candidate to join her as the new Watcherâ€¦

Sadly Rupert Giles has a rival for the post who is prepared to do literally anything to secure the positionâ€¦

Whilst Pike and the Slayer infiltrate the gambling palace as menial workers, moodily formidable solo avenger Angelus has gone straight to the top and been hired as an enforcer for the management. When both independently operating factions are exposed, the Vamp with a Soul is tossed into a time-trap and despatched back to the 1930s whilst Buffy and Pike battle an army of monsters before confronting the ghastly family of monstrosities running the show in two eras.

The living and undead heroes endure heartbreak and sacrifice before this evil empire is ended foreverâ€¦

Paul Lee then reveals the bizarre story of ‘Dawn & Hoopy the Bear’ wherein Buffy’s little sister accidentally intercepts a Faustian gift intended for the absent Slayer and finds herself befriended by a demonic Djinn who seems sweet but is pre-programmed for murderâ€¦

Through the narrative vehicle of Dawn reading her big sister’s diary, the last piece of the puzzle is revealed in ‘Slayer, Interrupted’ (Lobdell, Nicieza, Richards, Conrad, Lee & Horton) as Buffy’s own written words disclose her apparent delusional state. With no other choice her parents have their clearly troubled teen committed to a psychiatric institution.

Meanwhile in Ireland, Giles – having overcome his own opposition – completes his training preparations by undergoing a potentially lethal ritual and confronting his worst nightmare before heading to the USA, where Angelus and demonic attendant Whistler are still clandestinely watching over the Slayer.

That’s all to the good, as the asylum has been infiltrated by a sorcerous cult intent on gathering â€œbridesâ€ for infernal night-lord Rakagoreâ€¦

As Buffy undergoes talk therapy with the peculiar Dr. Primrose, she comes to realise the nature of her own mission, her role as a â€œCreature of Destinyâ€ in the universe and, most importantly, that the elderly therapist is not all she seems eitherâ€¦

With her head clear at last, all Buffy has to do is prove she’s sane, smash an invasion of devils, reconcile with her family and get ready for the new school year at Sunnydale Highâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

Supplementing the hoard of supernatural treasures is a copious photo, Title Page and Cover Gallery with material from Ryan Sook, Guy Major, Bennett, Gomez, Jadsen, RenÃ© Micheletti, Paul Lee & Brian Horton.

Visually impressive, winningly scripted and illustrated and most importantly proceeding at a breakneck rollercoaster pace, this supernatural action-fest is utterly engaging even if you’re not familiar with the vast backstory: a creepy chronicle as easily enjoyed by the most callow neophyte as by the dedicated devotee.

Moreover in this era of TV binge-watching, with the shows readily available on TV and DVD, if you aren’t a follower yet you soon could – and should – beâ€¦
Buffy the Vampire Slayer â„¢ & Â© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

April 20, 2016April 19, 2016

Manga Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

By William Shakespeare, illustrated by Kate Brown and adapted by Richard Appignanesi (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-0-9552856-4-6

With the Bard of Avon seemingly everywhere at the moment, I’m taking the chance to leap on yet another bandwagon and using this jolly little graphic treat to opportunistically make myself seem a bit cleverâ€¦

As far as we can tell, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written and first performed between 1590 and 1597. It is a fantastical comedy of wonder and folly dealing with the unlikely concatenation of events surrounding the marriage of Athenian Duke Theseus to stately Hippolyta. The impending nuptials affect four young lovers who don’t know their own heads – let alone hearts – and a half-dozen of hoi-polloi workers wanting to perform a celebratory play for their lord.

Sadly in those days, fairies and supernatural sorts gleefully messed with mortals when not selfishly scoring points off each other, and the spiteful machinations of occult overlord Oberon when crossed by his wife Titania has startling repercussions for the humans of every class and mannerâ€¦

The immortal story has made it into comics form numerous times and, if you’re one of the precious few people unfamiliar with the tale (firstly, shame on you and secondly, go watch it right now; there are many excellent filmed versions in every possible language) this imaginatively welcoming rendition is extremely easy to take upâ€¦

SelfMadeHero is a British publisher specialising in literary graphic novels. Their top lines include a number of Shakespeare adaptations in child-friendly manga form and Eye Classics, concentrating on modern masterpieces by the likes of Poe and Kafka. Also in their expanding repertoire are Sherlock Holmes tales, Crime Classics and sequential narrative biographiesâ€¦

There’s no point prÃ©cising the plot [see the damn’ play!], but adaptor Richard Appignanesi (Italia Perverso, Yukio Mishima’s Report to the Emperor) with the assistance of consultant Nick de Somogyi and splendorous illustrator Kate Brown (Young Avengers, Fish + Chocolate, Tamsin and the Deep) have conspired to create a truly engaging scenario.

Visually casting the unfolding events in a nebulous near-future where the deathless prose (iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets actuallyâ€¦), forest frolics and pastoral scenes are accompanied by interior settings and costumes at once authentically vintage and comforting futuristic – togas, tee-shirts and sneakers: like an old episode of Dr. Who or Star Trek – the overall effect is at once accommodating, exotic and intriguing.

Augmented by textual features ‘Plot Summary of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘A Brief Life of William Shakespeare’, this appetising colour-&-monochrome treat is a terrific read and timeless visit to the realm of romantic wonder. Better yet, it’s still readily available through many online vendorsâ€¦
Â© 2008 SelfMadeHero. All rights reserved.

April 19, 2016April 18, 2016

Little Adventures in Oz volume 1

By Eric Shanower (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-60010-589-0

We all know the story of The Wizard of Oz – or at least the bare bones of it as harvested to make the admittedly stunning 1939 movie classic – but the truth is that there is a vast surplus of fantastic wonders from that legendary 1900 novel by jobbing journalist and prolific author Lyman Frank Baum that remained unfilmed.

Happily this collection of superb and faithful extrapolations by rabid fan Eric Shanower draws heavily from the prose canon, restoring almost all of those glaring tinseltown omissions and alterations whilst keeping in play all those beloved stars the wider world knows. He does so with stunning skill, wondrous wit and mesmerising charm.

As superb an illustrator as author, Shanower (whose far too occasional â€œstraightâ€ comics work includes Prez: Smells Like Teen President, The Elsewhere Prince and the astoundingly ambitious Age of Bronze) produced five original albums set in Baum’s magic kingdom for independent publisher First Comics’ groundbreaking line of graphic novels, all codified as Adventures in Oz.

Between 1986 and 1992 he crafted 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; since then going on to release a new prose work, numerous short stories and scholarly contributions to various academic and critical volumes on Baum and his creations.

In 2007 Shanower paired with Skottie Young at Marvel Comics to adapt the original Baum books in a stellar sequence which utterly reinvigorated the immortal franchise. That inspired the repackaging of his earlier one-man show and the comic tales were eventually compiled into a set of scintillating chronicles as Little Adventures in Oz. This initial volume reproduces the first and third so-very beautiful Shanower albums, repackaged and remastered in a splendid new edition, bundled up with a glittering hoard of visual treasures and behind-the-scenes gems to delight every devotee of the canon and lover of modern fairy tales.

The extraordinary excursion to miraculous lands and climes opens with a beautiful map of the incredible kingdom and its environs, before launching into 1986’s The Enchanted Apples of Oz.

Kansas expatriate Dorothy Gale is strolling along the Yellow Brick Road with Scarecrow and wise hen Billina when a magical castle materialises. Entering the sparkling keep, they meet stately Valynn who has in the courtyard ‘The Apple Tree’ which has sustained Oz since time began. Its enchanted fruits are what underpin the realm’s magic; allowing chickens to talk, imbuing inanimate objects with life and dangerously capable of breaking any enchantmentâ€¦

Such a resource has made the place a target for evil-doers so for many lonely centuries solitary sentinel Valynn has defended the castle, most notably from sinister sorcerer Bortagâ€¦

Touched by the guardian’s lonely plight, Dorothy takes her to see Queen Ozma, in hope of relieving her of the onerous duty. Bortag, however, has not ended his depredations and swoops down on his flying swordfish Drox, making short work of Scarecrow and Billina who have volunteered to guard the tree in Valynn’s absence.

His sack full of stolen fruit, the sinister scrumper then rushes to the edge of Oz â€“ just where it meets the Deadly Desert – and feeds his plunder to a hideous sleeping hag. She is the legendarily evil Wicked Witch of the South and, horrifically, at first touch of the plundered pippins ‘The Witch Awakes’â€¦

Secrets are revealed in ‘Bortag’s Unfortunate Past’ as the homely Quadling mage is spurned by the monster he has loved for countless ages. She immediately returns to the tree and begins voraciously consuming Enchanted Apples. With each bite magic diminishes and the fabulous denizens of Oz become increasingly mundane. Billina barely has time to convince the jilted wizard to fix the crisis his unrequited love has caused before she reverts to a mere clucking fowlâ€¦

With all Oz’s mystical champions helpless before the Witch, it’s up to Dorothy and grieving, repentant lovelorn Bortag to stop the Witch’s brutal depredations. Luckily, they still have one advantage: ‘The Magic Belt’â€¦

Witty, wise, thrilling and potent with the narrative power of comradeship and redemption, this stunning yarn is followed by another lavishly-limned suspenseful thriller as The Ice King of Oz opens with ‘The Proposal’â€¦

The Emerald City is abuzz with excitement as a heretofore-unknown realm sends a diplomatic delegation to Oz. After the usual exchange of fantastic gifts the ambassador Popsicle drops his bombshell. The Ice King intends to cleave to other traditional forms of alliance by marrying Princess Dorothyâ€¦

The revelation is greeted with great surprise and a gentle but firm refusal which only results in ‘Treachery’ as the icy embassage vanishes overnight, taking Ozma with them as a flash-frozen prisoner.

A hurried council-of-war results in hastily-assembled rescue party, supplemented by new companion Flicker. Originally a human Candle-Maker, he was turned into a one of his own tapers by the Wicked Witch of the West. Only recently restored to life, he remains a man made of wax with a head fiercely aflameâ€¦

Transported in a magical vehicle by Glinda the Good‘s sorcery, Dorothy, Scarecrow, tin man Nick Chopper and Flicker voyage ever southward to ‘The Land of Ice’ enduring many sub-zero perils until they broach the snowy wastelands and find themselves ‘In the Ice Palace’â€¦

However, after a calamitous confrontation against the cold commander’s amassed legions, our heroes seem doomed to remain ‘In the Ice King’s Power’ until Dorothy’s common sense and Flicker’s valiant determination find a way to pierce his frozen faÃ§adeâ€¦

Compellingly, hypnotically illustrated and written with beguiling grace, this is a fabulous romp for devotees and newcomers alike, and this captivating collection also includes a vast treasure-trove of extras beginning with a sublime Art Gallery of original covers, painted cover studies, character designs, early concept-art, plus the first four pages of an as-yet unfinished tale entitled ‘General Jinjur of Oz’.

Word of Warning: do not read this. It’s utterly brilliant and causes a real wrench when you realise there’s no more and no conclusionâ€¦

Also included are a lovely painting of Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, 5 pages of pencil art layouts for The Enchanted Apples of Oz, a gallery of Shanower Christmas Cards and a watercolour vignette disclosing ‘A Concise History of the Marvelous Land of OZ’.

If you still constantly crave to visit the lost lands of childhood wonder, this superb picture parade is probably your only passport to adventureâ€¦

April 6, 2016April 5, 2016

Archie vs. Predator

By Alex de Campi, Fernando Ruiz, Rich Koslowski, Jason Millet & various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-805-5

For nearly three-quarters of a century Archie Andrews has epitomised good, safe, wholesome fun, but inside the staid and stable company which shepherds his adventures there has always hidden an ingenious and deviously subversive element of mischief.

Family-friendly iterations of superheroes, spooky chills, sci-fi thrills and genre yarns have always been as much a part of the publisher’s varied portfolio as the romantic comedy capers of America’s cleanest-cut teens since they launched as MLJ publications in the Golden Age’s dawning.

As you probably know by now, Archie has been around since 1941, spending most of those seven-plus decades chasing both the gloriously attainable Betty Cooper and wildly out-of-his-league debutante Veronica Lodge whilst best friend Jughead Jones alternately mocked and abetted his romantic endeavours and rival Reggie Mantle sought to scuttle his every moveâ€¦

As crafted over the decades by a legion of writers and artists who’ve skilfully logged innumerable stories of teenage antics in and around the idyllic, utopian small-town Riverdale, these timeless tales of decent, upstanding, fun-loving kids have captivated successive generations of readers and entertained millions worldwide.

To keep all that accumulated attention riveted, the company has always looked to modern trends with which to expand upon their archetypal brief. In times past they have strengthened and cross-fertilised their stable of stars through a variety of team-ups such as Archie Meets the Punisher, Archie Meets Glee, Archie Meets Vampirella and Archie Meets Kiss, whilst every type of fashion-fad and youth-culture sensation have invariably been accommodated into and explored within the pages of the regular titles.

That willingness to dip traditional toes in unlikely waters led in 2015 to the publishers taking a bold and potentially controversial step which paid huge dividends and created another monster sales sensationâ€¦

The genesis of this most unlikely cross-fertilisation of franchises is explained in great detail and with a tremendous sense of â€œhow did we get away with it?â€ in Roberto Aguirre Sacasa’s ‘Introduction’, but just in case you’re new to the other participant in all thisâ€¦

Predators are an ancient alien species of trophy-taking sporting types who have visited the hotter parts of Earth for centuries, if not millennia. They are lone hunters who can turn invisible and resort to a terrifying selection of nasty weapons. They particularly like collecting skulls and spinal columnsâ€¦

Predator was first seen in the eponymous movie from 1987 and started appearing in comic book extensions and continuations published by Dark Horse with the 4-issue miniseries Predator: Concrete Jungle (June 1989 to March 1990). It was followed by 22 further self-contained outings and numerous crossover clashes ranging from Batman and Superman to Judge Dredd and Tarzan, steadily keeping the franchise alive and kicking whilst the movie iteration waxed and wanedâ€¦

This spectacularly eccentric yarn pulls off the peculiar and miraculous trick of creating a hilarious and scary family-friendly teen-slasher flick which begins ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ as all the young cast regulars head to Costa Rica for Spring Break and are having the time of their lives, until Betty and Veronica have a particularly vicious spat over Archie which leads to a spooky confrontation and a curse uttered over what might be an actual voodoo dagger.

Science-whiz Dilton is occupied with his telescope watching and everybody is blissfully unaware that they’ve piqued the attention of something patient, invisible and completely alienâ€¦

When they all head home they have no conception that some of their number are already trophies on a wallâ€¦

With the youngsters back in Riverdale Archie and his companions settle back into their routine but soon realise that something has followed them when a beloved adult is decapitated in plain sight. Soon the community is cut off and they are all waiting ‘To Live and Die in a Small Town’â€¦

Convinced their meddling with the occult has brought on the killing-spree, Betty and Veronica testily consult sorcerous expert Sabrina (the Teenage Witch) but that ends in another welter of scarlet and screaming and the first sighting of the thing from the starsâ€¦

Thing get grim and crazy as the rapidly depleting posse of teens meet the Government agents tasked with covertly countering the Predators but continue to fall until Dilton rolls out the weird science and Archie dons a ‘Full Metal Varsity Jacket’â€¦

Soon the beloved cast is down to the barest essentials and the last few resistors face their final curtain in ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’â€¦

After a surprisingly gripping and gory conclusion that will astonish and delight everyone an ‘Afterword’ by series Editor Brendan Wright gives more insight into the impetus and creative process behind this inspired tale, but there are still plenty of treats in store.

Scripter Alexi de Campi also got to play with others creators’ toys in a series of Bonus Crossovers, which rounded out the comics issues. Here follow quirky, perky little one and two page vignettes such as the eerily satisfying ‘Sabrina Meets Hellboy’ with art and colours by Robert Hack, lettered by Clem Robins, and the fabulously bizarre ‘Li’l Archie and his Pals meet Itty Bitty Mask’ by Art Baltazar.

Philosophical and physical depths are plumbed as ‘Jughead meets Mind MGMT’ (Matt Kindt) and the girls have fun when ‘Josie and the Pussycats meet Finder’ illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil, with colours from Jenn Manley Lee and letters from the ubiquitous de Campi.

By all accounts, when news of this project got out an army of eager professionals clamoured to get involved. The miniseries offered a wealth of covers-&-variants â€“ some scattered about and acting as chapter-breaks by Ruiz, Koslowski, Millet, Dan, Parent, GisÃ¨le, Maria Victoria Robado and Andrew Pepoy. The rest are gathered in a massive Variant Cover Gallery displaying varying degrees of gore, whimsy and humour from Eric Powell, Francesco Francavilla, Colleen Coover, Darick Robertson with Millet, Pepoy with Millet, Dennis Calero, Patrick Spaziante, Robert Hack with Stephen Downer, Dustin Nguyen, Kelley Jones with Michelle Madsen, Paul Pope with Shay Plummer, Faith Erin Hicks with Cris Peter, Joe Quinones, Tim Seeley, Richard P. Clark, Ruiz with Anwar Hanano, Koslowski as full illustrator and even more.

Also on view are samples of ‘Promo Art’ prepared for the comics convention circuit and a large section of Ruiz’s developmental ‘Character Studies’ plus a feature on the ‘Art Process’ from rough pencils through to finished colour pages.

But wait, there’s still more as ‘Unused Covers’ offers eight final tantalising ideas which never made it off the drawing boards of Ruiz, Pepoy, GisÃ¨le and Faith Erin Hicks.

This book is one of those â€œPitch hooksâ€ Hollywood producer types thrive by. All you need is the three word title and a graphic acronym to know whether you’ll love this yarn.

Archie Versus Predatorâ€¦.

AVP.

Another Victorious Pairing.

Astounding.
Visual.
Perfection.

Archie vs. Predator Â© 2015 Archie Comic Publications, Inc. and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Archieâ„¢ and Â© 2015 Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Predatorâ„¢ and Â© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All guest material â„¢ and Â© 2015 its creators or copyright holders. All rights reserved.

January 26, 2016January 25, 2016

In Search of Lost Time: Swann’s Way

By Marcel Proust, adapted and illustrated by StÃ©phane Heuet and translated by Arthur Goldhammer (Gallic Books)
ISBN: 978-1-90831-390-4

I love comics, both in form and function, and wouldn’t ever be without them. I also read the odd book or two.

Valentin Louis Georges EugÃ¨ne Marcel Proust, although arguably an acquired taste, wrote what is considered by many to be one of the very best ones – actually a succession of them classed as one big one – and even though there are no uncanny monsters, rampaging robots or alien invasions and precious few fights of any sort, the incredibly bold and ambitious StÃ©phane Heuet has undertaken to adapt Ã la recherchÃ© du temps perdu to the comics medium and has gone about it in a most satisfying manner.

Long known in English as Remembrance of Things Past, the current graphic narrative iteration produced by the adaptor and his erudite translator has plumped for the contemporary option In Search of Lost Time for its umbrella title – which is what it was called when originally translated by C. F. Scott-Moncrieff, who turned the seven volumes (3200 pages) of delicately phrased French into English between 1922 and 1931.

When Penguin’s 1995 edition was released, the complete reworking by scholars from three countries settled upon the latter as a more fitting title. Now the forthcoming pictorial volumes will also be distinguished thus and given individual titles to demarcate each singular tome.

What’s it about? In broad short form it ponders the huge social changes which occurred in France, especially the diminution of aristocracy and the advancement of the Middle Classes from the TroisiÃ¨me RÃ©publique (French Third Republic – 1870 until the Nazis installed the Vichy Government in 1940) to the fin de siÃ¨cle or turn of the 20th century, as seen by one family and their rather large coterie of friends, lovers, social associates, climbers and hangers on.

It’s also about the force of memory and nostalgia and how the senses can become irresistible doorways into our pasts. It’s about a guy recalling the village where he grew up. It is a vast achievement with over 2000 characters, acknowledged as a masterpiece of the written word. You really should try it some time.

We’re talking about Heuet’s adaptation now though, and in this first volume – reissued by Gallic Books as a magnificent, oversized full colour hardback – adapts the initial tome Swann’s Way plus ancillary tales Swann in Love and Place-Names: The Name in a staggering potent, gloriously understated and phenomenally powerful Ligne Claire style which seems the very epitome of all that is French.

The collection is augmented by a compelling and beautiful map of Paris in those days, a fascinating and educational ‘Translator’s Introduction’ from esteemed scholar Arthur Goldhammer discussing underlying themes and motifs such as the effects of music, a full illustrated Glossary of terms and contextual ephemera, and a breathtakingly lovely pictorial guide to the 71 key characters introduced at this stage, courtesy of ‘The Narrator’s Family Tree’.

Also included are a non-fictive biography of the author himself and a beguiling glimpse at ‘Proust’s Family Tree’, complete with maps and views of the rural idyll which inspired the novel.

Most people know only two things about Ã la recherchÃ© du temps perdu: the Narrator is never named or identified and everything kicks off when a pastry – a Madeleine – he dips in his tea as an adult triggers an avalanche of involuntary memories, taking him back to his childhoodâ€¦

As the Narrator ponders how night in his bedroom opens his mind to recollection, the revelations of our story begin in ‘Combray’; a quiet hamlet his family lived in for much of his childhoodâ€¦

The times were full of little incidents he barely understood. His parents were of a certain social standing. There were people they welcomed into the home, others they sought to entice there and some they actively – if politely – sought to ostraciseâ€¦

One of the most intriguing was the inspirationally debonair demi-outcast Charles Swann.

Sometimes he was welcome and at other times not. He had a daughter named Gilberte who the young Narrator found oddly fascinatingâ€¦

That’s all you’re getting. The whole point of these intricate revelations and interlocking relationships is unpicking them yourself, and Heuet’s methodically efficient yet light and inspired visuals make that job a sheer delightâ€¦

Accompanying the bucolic yet cosmopolitan travails and aspirations of the family is the tangential and hugely absorbing tale of Swann in Love which offers further insights into and revelations of the great man’s other life in Paris. Through an extended period it traces the over-educated sophisticate’s meeting with a fashionable demimondaine name Odette de CrÃ©cy and follows the course of their placidly tempestuous affair to a most familiar denouement where a most surprising conclusion is reachedâ€¦

Ending this initial foray into literature is Place-Names: The Name, which returns to the inner landscape of the Narrator for an elegiac and stunningly beautiful celebration of childhood intrigues and obsession, couched in terms of place visited and those others merely longed-for. Simultaneously tempering and honing those early passions is a period spent in Paris where the wide-eyed boy unknowingly added to his store of precious memories through his frequent but irregular afternoon meetings with the characters of the Champs-ElysÃ©esâ€¦ particularly the whimsical and unpredictable Gilberte Swannâ€¦

This is a sweet and subtle, marvellously European confection both beguiling and oddly fulfilling. The stylish, muted palette and seeming preponderance on head-shots might at first deter potential readers – Lord, I hope not – but that’s nothing to quibble over: Heuet’s skill comfortably accommodates the wide cast and will certainly entice and reward any reader prepared to persevereâ€¦

Classics Illustrated used to adapt books into comic form and they became a short-cut for school cheats who couldn’t be bothered to read great literature or were too busy to study for exams. This superb tome – and all its companion volumes – is far more than a prÃ©cis in pictures; this worshipful adaptation is a companion to, not a substitute for; and thus is another brilliant example of the range of our art-form, and well worthy of your serious attention.
First published in France as Du cÃ´tÃ© de chez Swann: Ã‰dition IntÃ©grale by Ã‰ditions Delcourt 2013. Â© Ã‰ditions Delcourt 2013. Translation Â© Arthur Goldhammer 2015. All rights reserved.

In Search of Lost Time: Swann’s Way will be released on February 1^st 2016 and is available for pre-order now.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: