Category: Crime Comics

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Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: The Little Sister


Adapted by Michael Lark (A Byron Preiss Book/Fireside Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59687-535-7 (TPB)

If you’re going to adapt classic, evocative crime novels into graphic narrative you really can’t start from better source material than Raymond Chandler. His fifth novel, The Little Sister, was published in 1949, after nearly a decade of hard living and work as a Hollywood screenwriter, and it is a perfect example of his terse yet poetic hard-boiled style.

All the beloved and iconic imagery is present in Michael (Gotham Central, Legend of Hawkman, Terminal City) Lark’s static snapshot style as prim Orfamay Quest hires the laconic Marlowe to track down her missing brother, a spiritual soul who seems to have gone off the rails since hitting the sin city of Los Angeles.

Little Orfamay seems wound up pretty tight for such a run-of the-mill case, but the world-weary detective soon starts to take things a little more seriously after the bodies begin to drop and corpses start showing up in the strangest places…

This taut and twisted compote of mobsters, blackmail and double-dealing is an ideal example of a tale adapted well: underplayed art and direction augmented by controlled pace and a sensitive use of a deliberately limited colour palette.

A cool look at a period classic, this is a crime-fan’s dream book, and what’s truly criminal is that it’s been allowed to remain out-of-print.
© 1997 Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. Text of The Little Sister © 1949 Raymond Chandler, © renewed 1976 Mrs Helga Greene. All Rights Reserved.

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Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow (Will Murray Pulp History Series)


By Will Murray, illustrated by Frank Hamilton, Rick Roe, Colton Worley, Joe DeVito, Edd Cartier & various (Odyssey Publications)
ISBN: 979-8-54I38-708-7 (PB/Digital edition)

In the early 1930s, just as the Great Depression hit hardest, a new kind of literary (and ultimately multimedia) hero was born …or more correctly, evolved. The Shadow afforded thrill-starved Americans measured doses of extraordinary excitement via cheaply produced periodical novels and over eerily charged airwaves via an iconic radio show.

Made exceedingly cheaply and published in their hundreds for every style and genre, “Pulps” bridged stand-alone books and periodical magazines. Results ranged from unforgettably excellent to pitifully dire, and amongst originals and knock-offs of every conceivable stripe, for exotic or esoteric adventure-lovers there were two stars who outshone all others in terms of quality and sheer imagination.

The Superman of his day was Doc Savage, whilst the premier relentless creature of the night darkly dispensing grim justice was the enigmatic vigilante/ultimate detective discussed here.

As seen in Dark Avenger: The Strange Saga of The Shadow (successor to this book) the enthralling enigma grew out of a combination of sources: radio show Detective Story Hour and the Street & Smith publication Detective Story Magazine it promoted; a succession of scary voices variously deployed by Orson Welles, James LaCurto and Frank Readick Jr.) but above all a Depression-era populace in dire need of cathartic entertainment.

From the very start on July 31st 1930, that narratorial “Shadow” was more popular than the stories he highlighted…

How that aural phenomenon was translated into an iconic literary/media sensation and exactly who was responsible forms the basis of this compelling testament as prolific author, scripter and historian Will Murray turns his spotlight on those who contributed to the amalgamated marvel of mystery and imagination.

Following his reminiscence-fuelled Introduction, Murray restates the origin of the character in photo-filled feature ‘The Five O’clock Shadow’ and details how the Street & Smith campaign to make a voice and a feeling real and remunerative spawned a landmark of broadcast entertainment, before ‘Out of the Shadows: Walter Gibson’ offers an engaging and revelatory interview with the magician-turned-crime writer conducted by Murray and Jim Steranko at the 1975 New York Comic Art Convention.

That interview was in a public forum, and the transcript omitted a lengthy digression comprising Gibson’s oral history of the Shadow’s signature fire opal ring. Here – in its entirety – it comprises ‘The Purple Girasol’, after which it’s the turn of ‘Heroic Editor: John L. Nanovic’ to be rediscovered and awarded his share of the acclaim.

Prolific and underrated, successor scripter ‘Theodore Tinsley: Maxwell Grant’s Shadow’ is celebrated all his many works after which we concentrate on illustration as cover artist ‘Graves Gladney Speaks’.

‘Walter B. Gibson Revisited’ revisits an interview with the author from PulpCon 5 (Akron Ohio, July 1976) conducted by Murray and Bob Sampson, discussing his working stance and fellow creatives at Street & Smith, whilst his connection to, expertise and excellence in conjuring and legerdemain are celebrated in ‘Walter Gibson’s Magical Journey’…

Back in the realm of visions, an appreciation of a true master of pulp art exploring the mysterious ‘Edd Cartier: Master of Shadows’ is augmented by acknowledgement of the Dark Detective’s most obvious legacy in ‘The Shadowy Roots of Batman’, with ‘Memories of Walter’ synthesizing the emotions stirred up by the author’s passing in December 1985.

Packed with fascinating detail and elucidatory anecdotes, plus plenty of pictures and photos, this beguiling documentary of bygone times and appreciation of the giant shoulders we all stand on, this so readable tome also includes biographies ‘About the Author’ and ultra-fan Tim King, whose crucial role is covered in ‘About our Patron’.

If heroes and history are important to you this Master of Mystery: The Rise of The Shadow is truly unmissable.
© 2021 Will Murray. All rights reserved. Artwork © Condé Nast & used with permission.

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The Wild Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Volume Two


By Will Murray, illustrated by Gary Carbon, Joe DeVito, Jason C. Eckhardt (Odyssey Publications)
ISBN: 979-8-379327-44-6 (PB/Digital edition)

I’m always saying it, in fact we all are: Something Strange is Going On. Let’s address that situation with a week of detective-themed reviews…

Way back in the days when even the shabbiest waif or emphysema-riddled ragamuffin could read, story periodicals for young and old ruled. Countless stories recounted the exploits of adventurers, do-gooders and especially detectives. None ever matched the cachet and pulling power of Sherlock Holmes. Even today the meta-real household name continues and thrives, both in countless reworkings and adaptations of canonical classics and in new material by and for devoted and dedicated admirers ever-hungry for more…

Holmes wasn’t the first but he is most assuredly the most popular and well known. His success spawned a storm of imitators and tribute acts – some even going on to immortality of their own. In1893, just as The Strand Magazine published the “last Sherlock Holmes story” (The Adventure of the Final Problem – and it nearly was as Conan Doyle held out against incredible pressure from fans, editors and bankers until 1901 when The Hound of the Baskervilles began serialisation) another profoundly British criminologist was beginning his own spectacular multimedia career: Sexton Blake…

As described by physician Arthur Conan Doyle via the narratives of companion and stalwart factotum Dr. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ fictional exploits (54 short stories and 4 novels beginning in 1887) popularised and formulated detective fiction: mythologising the processes of observation, deduction, logical reasoning and forensic science. Britain became a nation of crime fans and Holmes went on to repeat the process for most of the planet…

The first exploit was A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual 1887, with the majority of stories thereafter in The Strand Magazine. Inevitably, the character soon escaped the page to appear in countless, stories, plays, films, television shows, adverts and anything else canny entrepreneurs could think of.

Although graphic adaptations are plentiful, original English language comics have not excelled with regard to the Great Detective: a trio of newspapers strips, brief comic book runs by Charlton (1955) and DC Comics (1975) and some few later miniseries by independent publishers such as Caliber and Moonstone. Holmes is, however, an evergreen guest collaborator: popping up to aid everyone from Batman to The Muppets to The Shadow himself.

If you can find them, Scarlet in Gaslight: An Adventure in Terror and A Case of Blind Fear by Martin Powell & Seppo Makinen would provide resolute pictorialist devotees with a rare and worthwhile treat: showing the Master Ratiocinator testing himself against other literary touchstones of the period – specifically Bram Stoker’s Lord of the Undead in alliance with the truly evil Professor Moriarty and then H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man…

He has also faced such contemporary challengers as The Phantom of the Opera and Mr Hyde in the company of Henry Jekyll, Toulouse L’Autrec and Oscar Wilde…

Writers and fans alike share an oddly perverse but clearly overwhelming desire to “mix and match” favourite literary figures: especially from the Victorian Era, that birthplace of so many facets of popular culture. Holmes is so much a household name that his inclusion in any venture is a virtual guarantee of commercial success, but regrettably often no guarantee of quality. Of course, no one can get too much of a good thing and happily Holmes and Watson have thrived under the aegis of many creative stars ever since Doyle’s death. Writers adding to the oeuvre include Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Anthony Burgess, A.A. Milne, P.G. Wodehouse, John Dickson Carr, Anthony Horowitz and so many more, and today I’m sharing the efforts of another with a well-earned reputation in the field….

Will Murray is something of a classic fiction force of nature. Journalist, editor and author, he produces scholarly histories and critiques on cult characters in the Will Murray Pulp History Series (as seen in today’s other posting) and celebrates the pulp experience in general and especially fading genres via new prose stories for the canon of so many landmark literary characters and concepts. Through print, audio and eBooks, Murray has extended the legends and shelf life of The Shadow, Doc Savage (and Pat Savage), The Spider, King Kong, The Green Lama, The Bat, The Avenger, The Destroyer (Remo Williams), Tarzan and The C’thulu mythos, He is especially adept at crafting combinations: teaming individual stars and concepts in team -up tales such as King Kong vs Tarzan…

You’ll probably want to see – or may already enjoy – Murray’s comics too: gems like prose novel Nick Fury, Agent of S.H. I.E.L.D.: Empyre, and visual delights like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (co-created with Steve Ditko), Spider-Man, Hulk, Secret Six, The Destroyer, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Spider, The Gray Seal, Ant-Man, Green Hornet, Zorro, The Phantom and more…

These stories were originally published in magazines and books from MX Publishing, Thrilling Adventure Yarns and Belanger Books, and are set in various periods of the consulting Detective’s long and prestigious career. This tome is the second and latest of two volumes and I’m happy to confide that I enjoyed it so much when my comp copy arrived that I actually paid with my own money to get the first one too…

Following an effusive and informative ‘Introduction’ discussing how this collection concentrates on stories challenging Holmes’ rational mindset and non-rationalistic encounters, the casebook reopens with ‘The Singular Problem of the Extinguished Wicks’ as the investigator reveals his fascination with Spontaneous Human Combustion and its effect on a particularly gruesome demise, after which ‘The Mystery of the Spectral Shelter’ sees Holmes approached by a Hansom cab driver who has had a decidedly close call with a vanishing café used by his professional compatriots…

The irascible ratiocinator’s perennial problem with mind-numbing boredom is highlighted in ‘The Problem of the Surrey Samson’ and assuaged by a theatrical turn whose seemingly miraculous strength does not endure Holmes’ close scrutiny, whilst ‘The Uncanny Adventure of the Hammersmith Wonder’ exposes a body in incredible circumstance and – once properly pondered – sees the detective solve a long-hidden generational crime…

Weird – but still plausible – science and a truly grotesque murder inform ‘The Repulsive Matter of the Bloodless Banker’ before Murray adds his own choice pick to that army of previously established associates.

A ghost story – or is it? – bringing mysteries of ancient Egypt to Edwardian England, ‘The Adventure of the Abominable Adder’ is set in 1903 and introduces the champion of rational thought to his equally estimable but operationally opposite number. This tale sees Algernon Blackwood’s spiritual detective John Silence – Physician Extraordinary also consulted by a terrified client with both valiant advocates needed to solve the mystery.

Silence was among the best of a wave of “ghost-breaker” heroes from that death-obsessed era, appearing in six stories by the prolific Blackwood (1869-1951), beginning with ‘A Psychical Invasion’ (1908).

A genteel and refined war of world-views having been declared, Mind and Soul met again in ‘The Adventure of the Sorrowing Mudlark’ as Dr. Silence asks the esteemed logician to assist a dead woman trapped in an eternal search, before a mythological mystery manifests when a green-hued lad long ago abducted by fairies abruptly returns to a rustic village in ‘The Adventure of the Emerald Urchin’, with Silence again offering unique insights…

With Holmes assuming the narrator’s role, 1908-set conundrum ‘The Adventure of the Expelled Master’ details how he deduced the manner in which a maths teacher was actually murdered despite his body being observed flying up a chimney and rocketing across the heavens, before this embassage into eerie esoterica concludes with Watson’s already crucial role in the stories expanded. It’s 1915 and whilst involved in the war effort the military doctor seeks to drag his old comrade out of retirement to verify the provenance of an unearthed hoard seemingly minted in fabled Atlantis in ‘The Conundrum of the Questionable Coins’…

Wrapping up the investigations are fulsome biographical dossiers on Murray in ‘About the Author’ and artist Gary Carbon in ‘About the Artist’.

Compelling, rewarding and just plain fun to read, these tales are a delight and a must for any Holmesian follower.
© 2023 by Will Murray. All rights reserved. Front cover image & frontispiece © 2023 by Gary Carbon. All rights reserved. Back cover image © 2023 by Joe DeVito. All rights reserved.

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The Phantom: The Complete Sundays Archive Volume Three 1945-1949


By Lee Falk, Ray Moore & Wilson McCoy: introduction by Daniel Herman (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-61345-100-7 (HB/Digital edition)

Born Leon Harrison Gross, Lee Falk created the Ghost Who Walks at the request of his King Features Syndicate employers who were already making history, public headway and loads of money with his first strip sensation Mandrake the Magician. Although technically not the first ever costumed champion in comics, The Phantom became the prototype paladin to wear a skin-tight body-stocking and the first to have a mask with opaque eye-slits…

The generational champion debuted on February 17th 1936, in an extended sequence pitting him against an ancient global confederation of pirates. Falk wrote and drew the daily strip for the first two weeks before handing over illustration to artist Ray Moore. The spectacular and hugely influential Sunday feature began in May 1939.

For such a long-lived, influential series, in terms of compendia or graphic collections, The Phantom has been quite poorly served in the English language market (except for the Antipodes, where he has always been accorded the status of a pop culture god). Many companies have sought to collect strips from one of the longest continually running adventure serials in publishing history, but in no systematic or chronological order and never with any sustained success. That began to be rectified when archival specialists Hermes Press launched their curated collections…

This third edition is a lovely and large (229 x 330 mm) landscape hardback/digital tome, displaying a complete full colour Sunday per page. Released in March 2016, its 208 pages are stuffed with sumptuous visual goodies like panel and logo close-ups, comics covers and lots of original art and opens with publisher Daniel Herman’s ‘Introduction: The Sunday’s Continue…’ recapping all you need to know about the feature and disclosing how Wilson McCoy assumed the illustrator’s role from Ray Moore – and why nobody knows exactly when he did…

For those who came in late: 400 years previously, a British mariner survived an attack by pirates, and – after washing ashore on the African coast – swore on the skull of his father’s murderer to dedicate his life and that of his descendants to destroying all pirates and criminals. The Phantom fights evil and injustice from his fabulous lair deep in the jungles of Bengali. Throughout Africa and Asia he is known as the “Ghost Who Walks”…

His unchanging appearance and unswerving war against injustice led to his being considered an immortal avenger by the uneducated, credulous and wicked. Down the decades, one heroic son after another has inherited the task, fought and died in an unbroken family line, with the latest wearer of the mask indistinguishable from the first and proudly continuing the never-ending battle.

In his first published exploit the Phantom met and fell for wealthy American adventurer Diane Palmer and his passion for her was soon reciprocated and returned and she became a continuing presence in both iterations of the series as ally, partner, sounding board, a means of reader identification and naturally a plot pawn and perennial hostage to fortune.

Almost every saga featured powerful, capable and remarkably attractive women as both heroes and villains, and in opening tale ‘Queen Pera the Perfect’ (running from December 9th 1945 to March 17th 1946), Diana saw the tables turned…

The aforementioned ruler of remote but rich Karola was constrained to find a husband, and so sent her fanatical minions into the world to find a man worthy of her. They returned with a musical genius, celebrated fighter pilot, champion pugilist and cinema’s greatest lover, but wherever they went they heard legends of an incredible superman…

After The Phantom repeatedly refuses her men’s offer, and gives her stern lesson in manners, she responds by having him imprisoned in her dungeons until he sees sense, and this time it’s his true love who has to save the day…

Spanning March 24th to August 4th 1946, ‘King of Beasts’ sees the liberated champion retuned to Bengali in time for Diana to be unjustly imprisoned. A priceless pearl necklace has been stolen from a maharajah and nobody believes the story of who actually took it: not the police and certainly not American mobster Poison Ivy and his boys…

When The Phantom tries to engineer a jailbreak, he’s caught too and charged with being an accomplice, only for the true thief to free him and Diana by sending a pickpocketing monkey to unlock their cell. In the ensuing flight, Diana is snatched by the mobsters, who don’t believe a word about a hidden mastermind using trained beasts to burgle. That all changes when a trained troop of elephants bust into the bank and porcupines empty a packed casino for their masked master…

With chaos unleashed, The Phantom retrenches and calls in his own equine ally and canine corps. Mighty steed Hero and lupine assistant Devil soon track down the King of Beasts who is far from what anyone expected. However even after he’s handled, there’s still increasingly murderous Poison Ivy to deal with…

Another female fury debuts in ‘The Scarlet Sorceress’ (August 11th – December 22nd) as a royal visit to the Deep Woods of the Bandar People introduces little Princess Valerie and her grandfather the Rajah of Volara. The child will soon become a pawn in a wicked plot…

When the princess of neighbouring kingdom Wogu falls ill, a devious manipulator “prophesies ” that only golden-haired Valerie’s blood can save the ailing waif, prompting a kidnapping and a frantically fast response from the Ghost Who Walks. Not all the monstrous forces set against him can slow the Phantom, but after exposing the witch as a charlatan, the hero discovers that he’s fighting not a villain but another victim. Soon, however, his efforts save all involved and pacify two kingdoms…

December 29th 1946 to June 29th 1947 finds The Phantom once more battling to save Diana after the filthy rich and spoiled Potentate of Ptjar Prince Pepe abducts her to be his very best bride. Law and reason mean nothing to the repulsive despot and by the time the hero reaches the distant kingdom, she is beyond even the Ghost’s reach. His only recourse is to play Pepe’s game and in a dozen days complete ‘The 12 Tasks’ conceived to frustrate and humiliate the hero. However, wit and ingenuity married to his mighty physicality make short work of the impossible – such as capturing an invulnerable giant bandit, emptying a river of carnivorous fish, banishing every shark in the bay or stopping all crime for 24 hours – and despite Pepe’s cheating equivocations the final task changes the nation forever and for the better…

A return to jungle warfare and tribal feuding underpins ‘The Dragon God’ (July 26th to November 16th) as Diana’s interest in an ancient Wambesi idol presages the fire-breathing saurian coming to life and demanding its worshippers kill and plunder their neighbours the Ulangi. With “The Phantom’s Peace” broken, the Ghost Walks amongst them to re-establish order and quickly discovers white instigators and recovered wartime weaponry behind the uprising, but once begun war has its own momentum and tribal grudges run deep and burn forever…

With bloodshed ended, a change of pace and tone heralds the return of an appalling duo who had previously made life miserable for The Phantom. Spanning November 23rd 1947 to May16th 1948, ‘The Marshall Sisters’ sees over-privileged brats Lana and Greta return to Africa in a ruthless no-holds barred competition to seduce and wed the mighty jungle avenger. This is after their last attempt to land the ultimate trophy husband was foiled by Diana Palmer…

When allure, deception and blackmail all fail, the hellions even try shanghaiing and blunt force trauma to achieve their aims, but lose all control when the various thugs they hire hijack the caper…

A relatively short story running from May 23rd through September 5th follows, revealing how a long-running annual sporting contest devised by the original ancestral Phantom has served to ameliorate tribal tensions for four centuries. Although its dollar value is meaningless to the competitors who strive for pride and bragging rights alone, the gem-stuffed urn that acts as ‘The Phantom Trophy’ is an irresistible prize for cop-killing fugitives Spike and Grunt.

When they rope in more scallywags to swipe the prize from the previous holders/custodians, before it can be handed over to the new champions tribal war erupts. Although The Phantom hunts the thieves he might be too late as naked greed turns the rogues against each other…

The final sequence in this volume visits ‘The Haunted Castle’ (September 12th 1948 – February 13th 1949) as Diana goes exploring alone and is propelled into wild unexplored country. As The Phantom and Devil search for her, she wanders a lost valley whose people are enslaved by sinister wizard Great Moogoo who shrinks anyone who opposes him to the size of a plaster gnome and adds them to his terrifying garden…

As the lascivious sorcerer captures her, Diana’s man has tracked her to the stone citadel and begun a one-man siege that exposes his nefarious trickery and wrecks his powerbase…

Taken from America’s immediate post-war period, these brief encounters are bold, brash, uncomplicated fare, full of despicable rogues, lost kingdoms, savage tribes, dangerous but still redeemable dames and very bad guys, but thrillingly reassuring entertainment for all that. Just remember, different times have different values. If the kind of fare you’d encounter in a 1940s Tarzan movie or cop thriller might offend, you should consider carefully before starting this…

Finally rediscovered, these lost treasures are especially rewarding as the material is still fresh, entertaining and addictively compelling. However, even if it were only of historical value (or just printed for Australians – manic devotees of the implacable champion from the get-go) surely the Ghost Who Walks is worthy of a little of your time?
The Phantom® © 1945-1949 and 2016 King Features Syndicate, Inc. ® Hearst Holdings, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

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The Newsboy Legion by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby volume Two


By Joe Simon & Jack Kirby with Don Cameron, Joe Samachson, Ed Herron, Arturo Cazeneuve, Curt Swan, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert & others (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7236-4 (HB/Digital edition)

Just as the Golden Age of comics was beginning, two young men with big dreams met up and began a decades-long association that was always intensely creative, immensely productive and spectacularly in tune with popular tastes. As kids they had both sold newspapers on street-corners to help their families survive the Great Depression…

Joe Simon was a sharp-minded, talented guy with 5 years’ experience in “real” publishing; working from the bottom up to become art director on a succession of small papers – such as the Rochester Journal American, Syracuse Herald and Syracuse Journal American – before moving to New York City to freelance as an art/photo retoucher and illustrator. Recommended by his boss, Simon joined Lloyd Jacquet’s pioneering Funnies Inc. This was a production “shop”: a conveyor belt of eager talent generating strips and characters for numerous publishing houses eager to cash in on the success of Action Comics and its stellar attraction Superman.

Within days, Simon created The Fiery Mask for Martin Goodman of Timely Comics (now Marvel) and met Jacob Kurtzberg, a cartoonist and animator just hitting his stride with the Blue Beetle for the Fox Feature Syndicate.

Together, Simon and Kurtzberg (who went through many pen-names before settling on Jack Kirby) enjoyed a stunning creative empathy and synergy: galvanizing an already electric neo-industry with a vast catalogue of features and even sub-genres.

They produced influential monthly Blue Bolt, rushed out Captain Marvel Adventures #1 for Fawcett and – after Martin Goodman appointed Simon editor at Timely – created a host of iconic characters such as Red Raven, the first Marvel Boy, Hurricane, The Vision, Young Allies and million-selling mega-hit Captain America.

Famed for his larger-than-life characters and colossal cosmic imaginings, “King” Kirby was an astute, spiritual hard-working family man who lived through poverty, gangsterism and the Depression. He loved his work, hated chicanery of every sort and saw a big future for the comics industry…

When Goodman failed to make good on his financial obligations, Simon & Kirby jumped ship to industry leader National/DC, who welcomed them with open arms and open chequebook. The pair were initially an uneasy fit, bursting with ideas the staid company were not comfortable with and thus given two strips that were in the doldrums until they found their creative feet…

Turning both around Sandman and Manhunter virtually overnight and – once established and left to their own devices – went on to devise the “Kid Gang” genre (technically, it was “recreating” as the notion was one of the duo’s last innovations for Timely as seen in 1941’s Young Allies). The result was unique and trendsetting juvenile Foreign Legion The Boy Commandos.

The little warriors began by sharing the spotlight with Batman in flagship publication Detective Comics, but before long they won their own accompanying solo title – which promptly became one of the company’s top three sellers. Frequently cited as the biggest-selling US comic book in the world at that time – Boy Commandos was such a success that the editors, painfully aware that the Draft was lurking, green-lit the completion of extra material to lay away for when their star creators were called up.

S&K assembled a creative team that generated so many stories in a phenomenally short time that publisher Jack Liebowitz then suggested they retool some of it into adventures of a second kid gang…

Thus was born The Newsboy Legion and super-heroic mentor The Guardian…

Probably based on the Our Gang/Little Rascals film shorts (1922-1944) and pitched halfway between a surly comedy grotesques and charmingly naive ragamuffins, the Newsboy Legion comprised four ferociously independent orphans living together on the streets of “Suicide Slum” peddling papers to survive. Earnest, good-looking Tommy Tompkins, garrulous genius Big Words, diminutive, hyper-active chatterbox Gabby and feisty, pugnacious Scrapper – whose Brooklyn-based patois and gutsy belligerence usually stole the show – were all headed for a bad end until somebody extraordinary entered their lives…

Their exploits offered a bombastic blend of crime thriller and comedy caper, leavened with dynamic superhero action and usually seen from a kid’s point of view. The series debuted in Star-Spangled Comics #7, forcing Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy off the covers and to the back of the book. The Legion remained lead feature until the end of 1946 when, without fanfare or warning, issue #65 was published without them.

The lads had been ousted and replaced by solo tales of Robin, the Boy Wonder. His own youth-oriented solo series subsequently ran all the way to SSC #130 in 1952, by which time superhero romps had largely been supplanted throughout the industry by general genre tales.

This second superb collection concludes their Golden Age exploits, with tales from Star-Spangled Comics #33-64 (cover-dated June 1944 – January 1947), including every stunning cover by Kirby, Simon, Fred Ray and teenager Gil Kane all inked by Arturo Cazeneuve, John Daly, Steve Brodie, George Roussos & Stan Kaye. There’s also an informative Introduction from The Jack Kirby Collector/Two Morrows’ publishing guru John Morrow setting the scene for the fun that follows…

In the very first tale, rookie cop Jim Harper adopted a superhero alter ego to administer hands-on justice when The Law was not enough. His vigilantism resulted in the capture of an infamous kidnap ring. Newspapers dubbed the mysterious hero the Guardian of Society and sold like hotcakes on all street corners, making money for even the poorest junior entrepreneurs.

Harper initially had no intention of repeating his foray into vigilantism but when he caught Tommy, Big Words, Gabby and Scrapper shoplifting, his life changed forever. The tough little monkeys were headed for reform school, but he made an earnest plea for clemency on their behalf and the judge appointed him their responsible adult: their “guardian”.

“The Newsboy Legion” were set on a righteous path, but their suspicions were aroused. Frustratingly, no matter how hard they tried, the boys could never prove that their two Guardians were the same guy…

With tales of the war declining in popularity, Star Spangled Comics #33 opens this concluding compilation with ‘The Case of the Bashful Bride!’ Regular illustrator Arturo Cazeneuve limns a fast-paced but uncredited yarn as gangster Sloppy Sam seemingly hangs up his gat after marrying into money. The nosy kids simply can’t accept the transformation and their poking around soon uncovers a cunning plot, cruel criminality and just a hint of hilarious hoity-toity crossdressing behind the scheme…

Naturally, by the time they’re in over their heads, Harper has again swapped his badge and gun for golden helmet and shield to wrap up the case…

The boys’ lives were peppered by dozens of get-rich-quick notions that inevitably uncovered crimes and unleashed chaos. In ‘From Rags to Ruin!’ (#34, by Cazeneuve, July 1944), Gabby discovers the power of positive thinking and talks himself into a high-paying executive position at an insurance company. His dream sours after discovering he’s the figurehead – and fall guy – for a protection racket. Time to call in some old pals…

Still calling himself Eli Katz, future superstar Gil Kane illustrated #35’s ‘The Proud Poppas!’ as the Newsboys adopt a homeless orphan fleeing a cruel and repressive institution. Peter wants to be an artist and gleefully moves into the Boys’ orbit – and shack – but his rightful carers desperately want him back and ruthless kidnappers now know who he is and where he’s hiding…

Cazeneuve returned for ‘The Cowboy of Suicide Slum!’ as grizzled former western sheriff Hawkeye Hawkins of Howlin’ Gulch comes Back East to see the sights. The Legion are all beguiled by his tall tales and before long hip-deep in trouble after they convince the ornery coot to display his talents by going after local gang boss Little Dodo…

After saving a swell from bullies in the slum, Scrapper is offered an apprenticeship by the city’s top gem cutter in ‘Diamonds in the Rough!’ However, as a business prone to criminality, the benefactor expects the fisty firebrand to protect his hands and quit fighting…

When workmen fixing waterpipes trigger a crude oil gusher in Suicide Slum, everybody wants to cash in whilst the toffs in swanky Doughbilt Apartments don’t want their views ruined by derricks. Into that bubbling cauldron of trouble come opportunists; crooks too, so it’s not long until The Guardian and the Legion discover what’s actually going on in ‘Roll Out the Barrels’…

Steve Brodie begins inking Cazeneuve in #39’s ‘Two Guardians Are a Crowd!’ (December 1944) as a crooked doppelganger plays hob with the hero’s reputation and the boys’ conviction of Harper’s double life – until the inevitable face-off – after which notorious thief Danny the Dip bids ‘Farewell to Crime!’ by writing a tell-all memoir. When the kids get involved, it’s exposed as less a confession and more perjury and blame-shifting, leading to the Guardian getting truth – and justice – his way…

When a criminal set fires and create street accidents to tie up first responders in ‘Time Out for the Guardian!’, cop Harper is among the injured. Mistakenly diagnosed with a broken leg, he uses the mistake to convince his wards that the superhero is another guy when they go after the culprits. However, they are just young, not idiots…

In #42, the Legion discovers ‘The Power of the Press!’ when they produce a grassroots periodical going after crooks at ground level. It’s good enough to get them framed by malign mastermind The Undertaker until good old Jim steps in, before the boys test their musical chops in a (naturally fixed and wildly comedic) barbershop quartet singing competition designed to expose the ‘Trials of a Tenor!’

Misguided philanthropy and unthinking privilege steer Ethelreda Winkle and her nephew Cuthbert when the daft dowager sets up an institute to elevate the poor by teaching them proper manners in ‘Etiquette Comes to Suicide Slum!’ With thieves flocking in to improve their chances of better scores, Harper asks the Newsboys to get with the program and learns all is not as seems, after which ‘Crime Gets Clipped!’ finds the lads setting up a …news-gathering “clipping service” and catching a vain bigshot plundering the city’s banks…

‘Clothes Make the Criminal!’ finds the kids on the trail of crooks using a selection of stolen uniforms and costumes to commit outrages before Jim and the boys again prove they have the right stuff…

With George Roussos inking Cazeneuve, ‘The Triumph of Tommy!’ sees the bold Newsboy gunned down by a robber. To recuperate, he’s carted off to Camp Woko-ni-to (“for underprivileged children of the slums”) by his doctor, and when his comrades visit, it sparks another fight when Tommy spots the thug who shot him laying low. Meanwhile, The Guardian has been following another trail and pops up just when he’s most needed…

‘Booty and the Blizzard!’ is one of the few stories we know the writer of. Don Cameron scripts for Cazeneuve & Roussos as an icy cold snap cuts off Suicide Slum and the industrious boys shovel out a network of tunnels for fellow residents trapped behind ten feet of hard-packed snow. Too bad it’s also an ideal escape route for wily bank bandits, until the Guardian learns to ski…

The same creative team measure out ‘One Ounce to Victory!’ as a scrap paper drive gets hyper-competitive when the Newsboys compete with rival news peddlers the Hawker Street Hawks. As if bitter enmity isn’t enough, the effort is made more dangerous after recently released convict Tightlips Leo hides the map to his stashed loot in one of those collected paper piles and resorts to murderous means to retrieve it…

Cover-dated November 1945, Star Spangled #50 features Joe Samachson, Joe Kubert & Roussos adding a flash of film fantasy in ‘The Leopard Man Changes his Spots!’ Here the boys help a meek movie star specialising in monsters channel his inner hero and escape the clutches of a racketeering mobster.

Another industrious enterprise transforms into a means of corralling crooks when the boys start a second-hand apparel business. Naturally, any way to help poor folk advance draws cunning connivers with a perfidious plan, but ‘The Style Show of Suicide Slum’ (Cameron & Kubert) also triggers a wicked comedy of errors when the ugliest jacket on Earth (concealing a fortune in stolen cash) is inadvertently passed from one ungrateful recipient to the next…

Cameron, Cazeneuve & Brodie reunite for #52’s ‘Rehearsal for a Crime!’ as Gabby breaks into an abandoned theatre and mistakes a practise run for robbery for a new play pre-debut. When he comes back with his pals they are all captured and it’s up to Harper to seek them out, shut them down and save the day…

Kirby returned in the next issue where Gabby won a jingle contest – and $500 – and pursued a career in rhyme as ‘The Poet of Suicide Slum!’ (script by Cameron and inked by Brodie). His delusions and propensity for naming gangsters and their plans in his odes soon made him a target for early immortality… until The Guardian applied his own brand of two-fisted criticism…

Another acknowledgement of the rise in western themes informs ‘Dead-Shot Dade’s Revenge!’ (by an uncredited writer, Kirby & Brodie) as a spiky relic of pioneer days drives his “prairie schooner” into Suicide Slum. He’s come 2000 miles in pursuit of Gaspipe Gosser, who stole Dade’s life savings, and it’s all The Guardian can do to stop the old coot shooting him dead like a dawg just to see him drop…

Happily, Gosser’s guilt triggers a pre-emptive strike that gives the hero all he needs to put the thug away, after which Curt Swan & Jack Farr depict how ‘Gabby Strikes a Gusher!’ He had been tending his vegetable garden when he discovered oil, but just as he looks into setting up a company, the thugs who originally stole the stuff came calling…

Cooking for the Newsboys was done on a strict rota basis, with dealer’s choice the prime consideration. When Gabby accidentally came into possession of oysters dropped by fleet-footed Willy Wetsell, he thought it solved his problem of what the gang would eat that night.

Instead, each mollusc contained a superb, huge fully processed Arabian pearl and Jim Harper realised that this ‘Treasure of Araby’ (art by Kirby & Ray Burnley) was far more than chance and not in the least lucky…

Kirby & John Daly limned Star Spangled Comics #57’s cunning shocker as mobster Snake Huggins resolved to fix the interfering brats for good. His plan was to hit him at his weakest point and resulted in ‘A Recruit for the Legion!’ but wealthy Timothy Tuck was not what he seemed and proved a far bigger threat that he looked…

Kirby handled exotic diversion ‘Matadors of Suicide Slum!’ as the boys befriend elderly janitor Perez and hear rousing tales of his glory days in the bullrings of Mexico. Coincidentally, Yankee businessmen are trying to bring the bloody sport to Suicide Slum, leading to a decades-delayed concluding duel between the man and his nemesis El Diabolo. Only, it’s not quite as they recalled or any onlooker quite expected…

From sentimental slapstick, we turn to criminal mystery in Kirby’s Daly inked ‘Answers, Inc.!’ (#59, August 1946) wherein Tommy cashes in on an unsuspected gift for solving riddles, puzzles and general knowledge quizzes. Although he’s smart, he’s still a kid though and when a cunning cove poses a pithy conundrum, Tommy hands over a method for a foolproof heist. Happily, jaded, cynical Jim Harper is on hand to ask his own difficult questions whilst The Guardian is ready to answer them…

Ed Herron, Swan and Stan Kaye then detail a whimsical winner as Scrapper seeks to become ‘Steve Brodie Da Second!’ to one-up friendly rivals the Boy Commandos. The Brodie in question is not the inker, but the turn of the century sportsman who claimed to have survived jumping off the East River Bridge. Here, however, Scrapper’s idiotic emulation ends when he jumps right into a gangster’s secret submarine, and silly season stunt escalates to front page crime caper…

Swan & Kaye then continued the new trend for stunts as Guardian’s pursuit of a crook leads to a syndicate dictating the demise of him and the Newsboy Legion under the pretence of sponsoring them in ‘The Great Balloon Race!’ across America, after which ‘Prevue of Tomorrow’ sees a mysterious stranger spark chaos by handing out papers offering news from 24 hours into the future. Of course for our heroes forewarned is simply forearmed…

Brodie inked Swan on penultimate outing ‘Code of the Newsstand!’ as the boys visit Chinatown just as Harper enters the enclave to find escaped convict Stiletto Mike. Of course, they are first to find the felon but it’s The Guardian who has the last word… and punch.

Cover-dated January 1947, Star Spangled Comics #64 closed the Newsboy Legion’s eclectic run with ‘Criminal Cruise!’ wherein Swan & Brodie had the kids literally sailing off into the sunset after winning an all-inclusive holiday to the South Seas. Naturally, trouble followed with lost tickets, stowaways and a gang of jewel thieves spicing up the voyage…

And that was that for almost 25 years, until Kirby brought them back in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (October 1970), spearheading his mega revitalisation of DC’s continuity – but let’s talk of that another day…

There is a glorious abundance of Jack Kirby material available these days: true testament to his influence and legacy, with this magnificent and compelling collection in collaborations with fellow pioneer Joe Simon being another gigantic box of delights perfectly illustrating the depth, scope and sheer thundering joy of the early days of comics. Funny, thrilling and ideally accessing simpler days, this is a treat every fan should enjoy and share.
© 1944, 1945, 1946, 2017 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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XIII volumes 1 & 2: The Day of the Black Sun & Where the Indian Walks


By William Vance & Jean Van Hamme, coloured by Petra (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-039-9 (Album PB/Digital Black Sun) 978-1-84918-040-5 (Album PB/Digital Indian Walks Sun)

One of the most consistently entertaining and popular adventure serials in Europe, XIII was created by writer Jean Van Hamme (Wayne Shelton, Blake and Mortimer, Lady S.) and artist William Vance when working on numerous strips such as Bruce J. Hawker, Marshal Blueberry, Ramiro, Bob Morane and more.

Van Hamme – born in Brussels in 1939 – is one of the most prolific writers in comics. After academically pursuing business studies he moved into journalism and marketing before selling his first graphic tale in 1968.

Immediately clicking with the public, by 1976 he had also branched out into novels and screenwriting. His big break was the monumentally successful fantasy series Thorgal for Le Journal de Tintin magazine. He then cemented his reputation with mass-market bestsellers Largo Winch and XIII as well as more cerebral fare such as Chninkel and Les maîtres de l’orge. Van Hamme has been listed as the second-best selling comics author in France, ranked beside the seemingly unassailable Hergé and Uderzo.

Born in Anderlecht, William Vance was the comics nom de plume of William van Cutsem, (September 8 1935 – May 14th 2018). After military service in 1955-1956 he studied art at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts and promptly became an illustrator of biographic features for Le Journal de Tintin in 1962. His art is a classical blend of meticulous realism, scrupulous detail and spectacular yet understated action. In 1964 he began maritime serial Howard Flynn (written by Yves Duval) before graduating to more popular genre work with western Ray Ringo and espionage thriller Bruno Brazil (scripted by Greg). Further success followed when he replaced Gérald Forton on science fiction classic Bob Morane in Femmes d’Aujourd’hui, (and later Pilote and Tintin).

Constantly working on both serials and stand-alone stories, Vance’s most acclaimed work was his collaboration with fellow Belgian Van Hamme on a contemporary thriller based on Robert Ludlum’s novel The Bourne Identity…

XIII debuted in 1984, originally running – to great acclaim – in prestigious comics anthology Le Journal de Spirou. A triad of albums were rushed out – simultaneously printed in French and Dutch language editions – before the first year of serialisation ended.

The series was a monumental hit in Europe – although publishing house Dargaud were initially a little slow to catch on – but has fared less well in its many attempts to make the translation jump to English, with Catalan Communications, Alias Comics and even Marvel all failing to maximise the potential of the gritty mystery thriller. That all changed when Cinebook took over. To date all the original series and most of the spin-offs have seen print…

XIII: The Day of the Black Sun

The epic conspiracy thriller was first seen in Le Journal de Spirou #2408- 2411, triggering an epic journey of unrelenting action, mood, mystery and mayhem. Quickly packaged as debut album collection Le jour du soleil noir, it begins here in translated form on a windswept, rocky shore where retired Abe’s quiet day of fishing is ruined after he reels in a body…

Shockingly, his catch is still alive – despite being shot in the head – and as Abe’s wife Sally examines the near-corpse she finds a key sewn into his clothes and Roman numerals for “thirteen” tattooed on his neck. The area is desolate and remote and the fisherman has already gone for the only medical assistance he can think of: an alcoholic surgeon struck off for operating whilst inebriated…

After a tense, makeshift and rushed procedure ends in miraculous success, the three conspirators agree they can never tell anyone. Old Martha has performed a miracle in saving the presumably shipwrecked stranger, but if the authorities ever find out, she faces jail for practicing without a license.

There’s a further complication. The gunshot victim – a splendid physical specimen clearly no stranger to action or violence – has suffered massive and probably irreversible brain trauma. Although now sound in body, he has completely lost his mind. Language skills, social and reflexive conditioning and muscle memories remain intact, but every detail of his life-history have been utterly erased…

Some while later, as Martha explains all this to the swiftly recuperating stranger – whom Abe and Sally have named Alan after their own dead son – his lost past life explosively intrudes when contract killers invade the remote beach house with guns blazing. Terrifying skills he has no conception of instantly surface asaAlan lethally counters the attack, but too late to save anybody but himself and Martha…

In the aftermath, Alan finds a photo of himself and a young woman on one of the hitmen and, with Martha’s help, traces the image to nearby metropolis Eastown. Desperate for answers, and certain more killers must be coming, the human question mark heads out to confront unimaginable danger and hopefully find the answers he so urgently needs…

Eager to find the mystery woman he was clearly intimate with, he tracks the photo to the offices of the local newspaper, bringing him to the attention of a shady cop who recognises the amnesiac and makes sinister plans…

The woman in the photo is Kim Rowland, a local widow officially listed a “missing person”. When Alan goes to her house he finds the key he was carrying fits the front door. Inside is a scene of devastation, but a thorough search utilising gifts he was unaware he possessed turns up another key and a note warning someone named Jake that “The Mongoose” has found her and she must disappear…

As the search unfolds, Alan/Jake is ambushed by the dirty cop and newspaper editor Wayne. Gloating, Lieutenant Hemmings calls him “Shelton” and demands the return of a large amount of money the baffled amnesiac has no notion of. Alan/Jake/Shelton guesses the new key he found is for a safe-deposit box and bluffs the thugs into taking him to the biggest bank in town…

The bank manager there also knows him as Mr. Shelton and happily escorts him to his private room, but when Hemmings and Wayne examine the briefcase left in Shelton’s deposit box, a booby trap detonates. Taking advantage of the confusion, their prisoner snatches up the case and expertly escapes from the bank, despite the institution rapidly initiating lockdown procedures.

Later in a shabby hotel room, the agonised angry amnesiac considers the huge amount of cash in the case and – not for the first time – wonders what kind of man he used to be…

Preferring motion to inactivity, Alan prepares to leave, but stumbles into a mob of armed killers breaking into his room. In a blur of lethal activity, he escapes to the roof with the thugs in hot pursuit and crashes into another group led by a man called Colonel Amos…

The chilling executive calls his captive “Thirteen”, claiming to have previously dealt with his predecessors XI and XII over something called the “Black Sun case”…

The Colonel also very much wants to know who Alan is, and has some shocking facts already at his disposal. The most sensational is a film of the recent assassination of the American President, clearly showing the lone gunman to be the now-appalled Thirteen…

Despite Alan’s heartfelt conviction that he is not an assassin, Amos continues to accuse his memory-wiped captive of being an employee of a criminal mastermind. The Security Supremo wants the man in charge, but fails to take Alan’s submerged but instinctive abilities into account. He is taken completely by surprise when the prisoner rashly leaps out of a fourth floor window…

Somehow surviving the plunge and subsequent pursuit, the frantic fugitive heads for the only refuge he knows, but by the time he reaches Martha’s beachside house trouble has beaten him there…

Another band of killers is waiting; led by a mild-seeming man Alan inexplicably calls The Mongoose. This smug monster expresses surprise and admiration: he thought he’d ended Thirteen months ago…

Tragedy follows an explosion of deadly violence, as Alan goes into action. Henchmen are mercilessly despatched – albeit too late to save Martha – but The Mongoose escapes, swearing dire revenge…

With nothing but doubt, confusion and corpses behind him, the mystery man regretfully hops a freight train west and heads toward an uncertain future…

And so began one of the most compelling and convoluted mystery adventures ever conceived, with subsequent instalments constantly taking the questor deeper and deeper into danger, misery, frustration and – always – more death…

 

XIII volume 2: Where the Indian Walks

The epic conspiracy saga of unrelenting mood, mystery and mayhem began when a kind old man came upon a body on a windswept, rocky shore. The human flotsam was alive despite being shot in the head, and had a key sewn into his clothes and the Roman numerals for thirteen tattooed on his neck. He was treated by an alcoholic, struck-off surgeon and as he recuperated a complication emerged irreversible brain trauma. Language skills, muscle memories, even social and reflexive conditioning all remained, but every detail of his life-history was gone…

The bewildering journey resumes in Where the Indian Walks (originally collected in Europe as in Là où va l’Indien in late 1985, after earlier serialisation in Spirou #2462-2465, spanning 28th June to 9th July 1985).

Here and now, the human enigma’s search for Kim Rowland brings him to a military base where her dead husband was once stationed. His enquiries provoke an unexpected response and it takes a whole platoon to subdue him after Alan instinctively resists arrest with horrific force. Soon he is being interrogated by General Ben Carrington and his sexily capable aide Lieutenant Jones.

They claim to be from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, know an awful lot about black ops units and – eventually – offer incontrovertible proof that their memory-challenged prisoner is in fact officially deceased Captain Steve Rowland – and one of their select number…

Soon after, Carrington has Jones test the returned prodigal’s ingrained combat abilities. When Steve beats her, he’s made a strange offer…

The military spooks drop him off in Rowland’s home town of Southberg: clandestinely returned to his rat’s nest of a family just in time for the vultures to begin circling the dying body of paralysed patriarch Matt Rowland.

Steve’s wheelchair-bound pa still exerts an uncanny and malign grip over the town, local farmers and his own grasping, ambitious relatives. The surprise reappearance of another potential heir really sets the cat among the pigeons…

The sheer hostility of the avaricious relatives isn’t his problem, however: before Steve left town for the army, he pretty much made enemies of everyone in it. Even the sheriff has happily harboured a grudge foe years…

One who hasn’t is storekeeper Old Joe who shows the amnesiac home movies that give the obsessed Thirteen the most solid clue yet to his quarry. So stunned by the possibilities is Alan/Steve that he’s completely unprepared for the brutal murder attempt that follows. Luckily, the sheriff is on hand to stop it, but when the bruised and battered truth-seeker arrives back at the family mansion, Colonel Amos is waiting, applying further pressure to find the mastermind behind the President’s assassination. This time however it’s Kim he wants to question… as soon as Steve finds her…

The Forgetting Man ignores every distraction; using the scant, amassed film and photo evidence to narrow down the location of a cabin by a lake “where the Indian walks”. It has to be where Kim is hiding…

That single-mindedness almost proves the seeker’s undoing when the patriarch is murdered and his recently returned son perfectly framed for the killing…

With Thirteen again subject of a furious manhunt, Carrington and Jones reappear to help him reach the cabin, but when he finally confronts Kim, the anguished amnesic receives the shock of his life… just before the posse bursts in…

To Be Continued…

XIII is one most compelling and convoluted mystery adventures ever conceived, with subsequent instalments constantly taking the questing hero two steps forward, one step back (…and one step to the side too) as he encountered a world of pain and peril whilst unravelling a web of past lives he is told he led by people he can never trust…

Fast-paced, clever and immensely inventive, XIII is a series no devotee of mystery and murder will want to miss.
Original editions © Dargaud Benelux (Dargaud-Lombard SA), 1984 by Van Hamme, Vance & Petra. All rights reserved. These editions published 2010 by Cinebook Ltd.

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Resurrectionists: Near Death Experienced


By Fred Van Lente, Maurizio Rosenzweig & Moreno DiNisio (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-760-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Surely everybody loves a cool crime caper yarn? If so, and yet still seeking a little something extra, here scripter Fred Van Lente (Action Philosophers, Archer & Armstrong, Cowboys & Aliens, X-Men: Noir, Brainboy, MODOK’s 11) delivers another riotously rewarding, big-picture concept to astound fans of films and funnybooks alike.

Illustrated by Italian team Maurizio Rosenzweig (Frontiersman, Laida Odius, Davide Golia, Clown Fatale) and colourist Moreno DiNisio (The Scumbag, Black Science, Dead Body Road), the tale is both frighteningly simple and terrifyingly complex…

Once upon a time 3000 years ago in ancient Egypt, an architect named Tao finished a tomb for a dangerously ambitious priest. Unfortunately, august cleric Herihor yearned to be Pharaoh instead of the Pharaoh (yeah, that’s an utterly unconnected Iznogoud reference!) and felt that the necessary precautions to ensure his ambitions in this life and the next should include killing everyone who worked on the project, …even Tao’s pregnant wife Maya…

Meanwhile in the present day, major thief Jericho Way is stealing relics to order for a mysterious client with big pockets and extremely fixed tastes. The disgraced former architect has no idea why the mystery man only wants Egyptian stuff, or that the so-shy client is technically someone he’s known for many centuries…

With brother-thief Mac, Jericho is planning to boost some scrolls from a museum, but has become aggravatingly distracted by dreams of himself in another time and place. The master planner is blithely unaware that a lot of very strange and dangerous people are somehow cognizant of the changes he’s going through – after all they’ve been there before innumerable times – and are now extremely concerned about the life-decisions he’s going to make over the next few days…

The first inkling that something is up comes after a particularly intense “dream” as Jericho realises that he can now read the ancient Egyptian scrawl on the scroll he’s just swiped…

Simultaneously, long ago, in Herihor’s tomb, Tao – having escaped his pursuers but now hopelessly lost – settles down to die. Soon he is shocked and astounded to see another face…

Tomb robbers – also called “Resurrectionists” – have already broken into his impregnable design but their triumph now offers him a way out …and opportunity for revenge…

And as Jericho shares his memories of those robbers with Mac, he notes the recurring resemblances to recent acquaintances, and it all becomes clear that he and his new co-crew have been working on that revenge and this robbery for a very long time indeed…

Revealing a mystic vendetta than spans millennia and an undying love affair, this supremely engaging supernatural saga sees a gang of archetypal thieves locked in an eternal duel of wits and wills against a monster who has co-opted the Afterlife through the most devious and patient methods ever conceived. However, since the ragtag band of rogues can call upon the experiences of every person they have ever been, maybe this time they’re going to pull off the Crime of the Ages and at last obtain vengeance and peace in equal measure…

A delicious melange of spooky reincarnation yarn, edgy conspiracy-thriller and all-action buddy-movie come heist-caper, this is a brilliantly conceived and executed tale with plenty of plot twists you don’t want me to reveal, but which will intoxicate and astound all lovers of devious and deranged dark fantasy.

…And where’s the movie of this masterpiece?
Resurrectionists © 2014, 2015 Fred Van Lente and Maurizio Rosenzweig. All rights reserved.

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The Question: Pipeline


By Greg Rucka, Cully Hamner, Laura Martin, Dave McCaig & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3041-8 (TPB)

As created by Steve Ditko, The Question was Vic Sage: a driven, obsessed journalist who sought out crime and corruption irrespective of the consequences. The Charlton Comics “Action-Hero” line was acquired by DC – along with a host of other cool and quirky outsiders – when the B-List company folded in 1983, and the ultimate loner became the template for the compulsive vigilante Rorschach when Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons first drafted the miniseries which would become Watchmen.

An ordinary man pushed to the edge by his upbringing and obsessions, Sage used his fists and a mask that made him look faceless to get answers (and, consequently, justice) whenever normal journalistic methods failed.

After a few minor successes around the DC universe Sage got a job in the town where he grew up. Hub City (purportedly based on East St. Louis) was a true urban hell-hole: the most corrupt and morally bankrupt municipality in America. When Sage started cleaning house as his faceless alter ego, he was promptly killed, rescued and resurrected by the inscrutable Shiva – “World’s Deadliest Assassin”.

Crippled, Sage journeyed into the wilderness to be healed and trained by Denny O’Neil’s other legendary martial arts creation, Richard Dragon.

Eventually, a new kind of hero resurfaced in Hub City, philosophically inquisitive rather than merely angry and frustrated, but still cursed with a drive to understand how and why things universally go bad. Aligning himself with his old intellectual mentor and ethical sounding board Professor Aristotle Rodor, Sage set about cleaning up “The Hub” and finally getting a few answers…

Spinning out of DC’s 52 (2006-2007) and Countdown to Final Crisis (2007-2008) mega-events, disgraced Gotham City cop Renee Montoya was selected and trained to take up the faceless mask and obsessions of the shadowy hero when Sage slowly succumbed to cancer.

First as his disciple and then as his heir (and after being masterfully schooled in martial arts by Dragon) she took up Sage’s quest. Montoya was soon drawn into a secret war with the passionate adherents of a malign “gospel of All Things Evil” alternatively known as the Books of Blood or the Crime Bible.

This legendary antithetical tract was said to counter all that is good in the world: justifying and codifying all that is wrong. Driven by a need to understand the evils she fights and stop the spread of this monstrous belief, the new Question hunted down the remaining copies of the book and the distinct factions which protected them and promoted the terrible teachings.

Her path eventually pitted her against the secret master of the “Dark Faith”: immortal Vandal Savage, who was believed by many to be the human species’ first murderer…

Collecting a stunning back-up series originally from Detective Comics #854-865 (August 2009 to July 2010), this globe-girdling saga of corruption and depravity is by writer Greg Rucka, illustrator Cully Hamner and colourists Laura Martin & Dave McCaig opens in the aftermath of that apocalyptic confrontation.

Montoya and inherited ally “Tot” Rodor are ensconced in their desolate lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, looking for a new case: sorting through emails from a “help-offered” website they’d set up…

Eventually, a particular message catches Renee’s eye. Hector Soliz is an illegal immigrant who has searched for his sister ever since she went missing. He foolishly trusted the “coyote” who originally smuggled him into America to do the same for Louisa, but never took into account that, for men like Varga, pretty young girls have a value far beyond simple cargo to be smuggled across a closed border…

Taking the case, Renee is soon breaking into the flesh peddler’s home and dealing harshly with Varga’s brutal thugs. There she finds a bed with chains and a camera set-up…

After undergoing some especially intense enquiries, the coyote gives up the name of the man he eventually sold Louisa to: millionaire shipping exporter Gordon Chandless.

Gettng into the businessman’s palatial HQ isn’t much harder, but overconfidence costs The Question dearly when she is surprised and overpowered by hulking bodyguard Mr. Bolt and his handy tasers…

Unable to pry any answers from his faceless captive, Chandless opts for her quiet removal, and by the time The Question escapes a watery death-trap and returns in a very bad mood, the wily trafficker is already gone…

Painfully aware that she’s tracking an evil enterprise of vast proportions, Renee uses Tot’s data-mining skills to track the mogul of misery to a luxury Hollywood lair: going in blazing, and utterly disdainful of his army of heavies. They might be unable to stop the implacable Question, but two of them are capable enough to kill their own boss at the clandestine command of his master…

Despite being back at square one in regard to the criminal hierarchy, Renee now has a location on a certain container vessel ready to ship out with a new cargo of slaves. Righteous indignation, cold fury and lucky intervention by the FBI soon sees all the victims safe and free – including little Louisa Soliz…

‘Pipeline: Chapter Two’ moves the story on as The Question continues her crusade to destroy the trafficking empire: slowly and violently working her way up a chain of scum and crushing individual enterprises whilst inexorably zeroing in on the major player behind the network of sin and misery…

Such costly interventions prompt the mystery leader to fight back hard, and during her raid on a top-of-the-range hot car franchise, bad guys retaliate with a devious and deadly ambush of their own. That’s when Montoya’s secret weapon makes her presence known and the crooks all end up maimed or worse at the hand of the relentless unforgiving Huntress…

Helena Bertinelli was mob royalty but, following the type of massacre considered an occupational hazard for “The Family”, she disappeared. The only survivor of a major hit, she trained: becoming a masked avenger mercilessly punishing all gangsters, whilst defending ordinary folk. She especially despises those who prey on children…

Huntress and The Question continue busting rackets across the world, methodically dismantling the network whilst climbing the ladder to the big boss. They finally provoke an overwhelming response in the form of super-assassin Zeiss.

It’s all part of a deeper plan conceived by the vengeful vigilantes, who promptly co-opt the mercenary killer to give up his unassailable paymaster. However, their tactics revolt Tot and the elderly scholar resigns.

Undeterred, but now deprived of crucial technical support, the determined duo head for Gotham City where Helena introduces The Question to the top-secret leader of the all-female super-team known as the Birds of Prey. Former GCPD detective Montoya cannot believe that Commissioner Gordon’s mousey dweeb daughter Barbara was once Batgirl and is now covert anti-crime mastermind Oracle…

Her irresistible cyber-probing soon has the duo invading an underworld server-farm in Odessa which – after a studied application of maximum force – provides a money trail to the Pipeline overlord. Sadly, when they sneak onto Oolong Island, they walk straight into a trap…

The rogue state is the ultimate expression of Capitalism. Populated by criminals and mad scientists of many nations, it maintains its precarious independence by selling proscribed technologies to anyone with money, proudly free from the annoying oversight of law or hindrance of morality…

President-for-Life Veronica Cale starts by torturing her captive heroes, but after debating with The Question, soon sees that the most profit doesn’t necessarily stem from staying bought…

Soon, Montoya and Bertinelli are on the final stretch: sneaking into Syria and invading the stronghold of the man who has turned humans into commodities and exported sin and horror on a global scale. Unfortunately, the wickedest man alive is ready and waiting for them…

The cataclysmic ultimate confrontation is as much theosophical debate as brutal beat-down, and in the final reckoning the allies must become enemies for the best possible reasons before finding anything approaching an acceptable answer to their dilemmas…

Moody, fast-paced, challenging and astoundingly action-packed, this stylish book also offers a hugely engaging ‘Sketchbook’ section from Cully Hamner, offering developmental glimpses into his evolution of the characters; a fascinating 8 pages of layouts and roughs and amazing set designs for story-locations which will delight and amaze all lovers of comic art.

Compelling and breathtaking, Pipeline exposes the dark underbelly of mainstream Fights ‘n’ Tights comics, proving that you don’t need graphic excess to tell hard-hitting tales.

© 2009, 2010, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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A Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium II


By Rick Geary (NBM/ComicsLit)
ISBN: 978-1-56163-907-6 (Digest HB)

Master cartoonist Rick Geary is a unique presence in both comics and true crime literature. His compelling forensic dissections – in the form of graphic novel reconstructions – of some of the most infamous and groundbreaking murder mysteries since policing began never fail to beguile or entertain.

Although outrageously still unavailable digitally, for many years Geary’s unblinking eye powerfully probed the last hundred years or so in his Treasury of XXth Century Murder series. Prior to that, he first began graphically capitalising on a fascination with Mankind’s darker aspects way back in 1987, via a delicious anthologised tome entitled A Treasury of Victorian Murder.

That initial volume and 3 of the 8 that succeeded it (Jack the Ripper, The Fatal Bullet and The Beast of Chicago) were combined and re-issued in 2012 as a splendidly morbid monochrome deluxe hardback – because, after all, bloody murder is always a black and white affair…

More of his most compelling past triumphs were gathered into a second blockbusting 400-page monochrome hardback to delight fans of the genre and, without a shadow of a doubt, make new converts out of the as yet unconvinced…

Combining a superlative talent for laconic prose, incisive observation and meticulously detailed pictorial extrapolation with his gift for recounting the ruthless propensities of humans throughout history, Geary ceaselessly scoured police blotters, newspaper archives and even history books to compile more irresistibly infectious social sins and felonious infractions.

His unique cartooning style is the perfect medium to convey starkly factual narratives in a memorable, mordant and undeniably enjoyable manner. Each epic endeavour is accompanied by an Introduction and scholarly Bibliography, with most adaptations also offering splendidly informative maps and diagrams to set the stories firmly in place.

Starting off this largely ladykiller-laden catalogue of crime is The Borden Tragedy, digging through an abundance of details surrounding one of the most infamous – if not mythic – crimes ever perpetrated.

In Fall River, Massachusetts on August 4th 1892, prosperous self-made man Andrew Borden and his second wife Abby were found slain inside their own home. Death in both cases was caused by multiple axe blows.

Rather than his later neutral narrative stance, here Geary illustrates the “first-hand account” of an acquaintance of youngest daughter Lizzie Borden who – after much inept investigation and public speculation – was settled upon by the authorities as the likeliest suspect.

Many and various suppositions, theories, scandals and gossip-points are scrupulously examined as she stands trial for the crimes – a case muddled by a subsequent axe-murder whilst Lizzie was actually in custody – and the spotlight follows her through the much-protracted case, past her acquittal and to her eventual death in 1927…

The graphic re-enactment is accompanied by a copious photo and text section featuring a wealth of ‘Press Clippings of the Time’ as well as a reproduction of ‘Borden’s Indictment’ and The Boston Advertiser article on her eventual “Not Guilty” verdict.

The Mystery of Mary Rogers concerns the assault and murder of a New York City cigar shop girl which mesmerised the citizenry in 1841. Such was the furore that author Edgar Allen Poe appropriated the events for his C. Auguste Lupin tale The Mystery of Marie Roget: a rather unwise move, since he knew the deceased and thereby opened himself up to loudly-voiced suspicions of complicity…

The facts are that on the 28th July 1841, a number of well-to do-citizens left stifling Manhattan Island for the Jersey Shore and there discovered the body of the “Segar Girl” floating in the Hudson; battered, strangled and with her hands tied across her chest.

A hasty autopsy and even quicker inquest, held under insultingly cavalier circumstances, produced no culprits or suspects but somehow managed to throw suspicion on everyone from the men who pulled her out of the water to her drunken suicidal fiancée and even her own mother…

A talking point for all and sundry from the highest society paragon to the lowliest street trash, her death produced ever-more scandalous revelations and groundless lewd rumours – all scrupulously explored by Geary – over the next few years, but the case remains unsolved still…

The Saga of the Bloody Benders began in largely unsettled Kansas, during the period immediately following the American Civil War, when a family of German-speaking immigrants settled near the Osage Trail. There they built a General Store-&-Hotel equidistant between the nascent townships of Cherry Vale, Parsons and Thayer.

By the time they vanished four years later, provably ten but probably many, many more travellers and settlers had been robbed and murdered. Thereafter, the insalubrious Benders simply vanished from the sight of man…

Geary, with supreme style and dry wit, presents the facts and the best of the rumours in his inimitable style to create yet another unforgettable masterpiece of Gothic whimsy.

The Case of Madeleine Smith focused on the true and scandalous secret affair between Emile L’Anglier, a low-born French clerk, and prim, proper, eminently respectable Miss Madeleine Smith, daughter of a wealthy Scottish merchant.

The slow poisoning of the Gallic Romeo led to a notorious trial in the 19th century and the eventual verdict shocked everyone and satisfied nobody…

The entrancing chronicle of carnage and venality concludes with the epic account of The Murder of Abraham Lincoln, covering the 62 days from 4th March to May 4th 1865, when actor John Wilkes Booth and a band of like-minded Confederate diehards schemed to murder the President (and other Northern politicians they held responsible for the destruction of the South), and how their wild plot came to startling, implausible fruition…

Following the Inauguration Ceremony for his second Term of Office, the normally fatalistic and security-disparaging President Lincoln was troubled by unease, disquiet and dreams of assassination. They might have been possibly generated by the sack-full of death threats stashed away by his Secretary John Hay.

Elsewhere, Secessionist sympathiser Booth was planning a blow for revenge and personal immortality, but increasingly found his co-conspirators a disappointing bunch. Driven and desperate, he persevered for his cause…

All the many players are scrutinised in Geary’s careful examination, with the peculiar circumstances that left Lincoln vulnerable counterbalanced by insights and minutiae provided into his less-than-fanatical nemeses.

Only one of the many assassinations planned by the Secessionist cabal came to anything, and following that foul deed, grisly death-watch and post mortem, Geary’s depiction of the bold but inept manhunt which followed is capped here by Booth’s satisfyingly dramatic end, leaving nothing but the artist’s masterful summing up to ask the questions nobody has answered yet and leave us all with the certain knowledge that this too is a murder still largely unexplained if not unsolved…

These compelling cold cases are a perfect example of how graphic narrative can be so much more than simplistic fantasy entertainment, and such merrily morbid murder masterpieces as these should be mandatory reading for every mystery addict and crime collector.

Such seductive storytelling, erudite argument and audacious drawing produce an irresistible dash and verve which makes for unforgettable reading: Geary is a unique talent in the comic industry, as much for his style as his subject matter and methodology in telling tales. Always presenting both facts and the theories – contemporary and modern – with chilling graphic precision, captivating clarity and devastating dry wit, he attacks criminology’s greatest mysteries with a force and power even Oliver Stone would envy, and every true crime podcaster should admire…
© 1997-2007, 2015 Rick Geary.

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Whiteout volume 1 & volume 2: Melt – Definitive Editions


By Greg Rucka & Steve Lieber & various (Oni Press)
ISBN: 978-1-932664-70-6 (TPB vol 1) 978-1-932664-71-3 (TPB vol 2) 978-1-620104-48-4 (TPB compendium)

When done right there’s no artistic medium which can better depict the myriad intricacies of a murder-mystery than the comic strip.

These superb and seminal slices of crime fiction were the 2D debut of novelist Greg Rucka and saw up-&-coming artist Steve Lieber achieve his full illustrative potential in a gripping chiller set in a world where, despite appearances, nothing is simply black and white…

Originally released in 1998 as a 4-part miniseries from Oni Press, Whiteout introduced disgraced Deputy U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko, suffering banishment to the ends of the Earth – generally known as McMurdo Station, Antarctica – following a tremendous and unforgivable screw-up during her Stateside duties.

Seamlessly filling in crucial background detail as it swiftly progresses, we learn Antarctica is an international “Neutral Zone” co-managed by the USA, Britain, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Australia and other nations. Here, mineral exploitation is forbidden by treaty, military weapons are proscribed and there are 400 men to every woman. Antarctica is a place where all Man’s basest instincts are curtailed by official accord – or at least that’s the global party line…

In the cold and isolated outpost Stetko doesn’t go out of her way to adapt, settle in or make friends. This a place where few people stay for more than a few months, whether they’re involved with the military, explorers, scientists or even dubious business types.

It’s dull drudgery all the way… but that ends when Carrie is called out to examine a body on the ice…

The face has been horrendously removed from the brittle corpse but the remote surroundings are a mess, with multiple deep core-samples removed from the frozen wastes. Stetko wouldn’t even be involved if the body hadn’t been clad in a parka with American flags on it. Even after prying the cadaver loose from the ice, she has to wait days for it to thaw enough before the camp doctor everyone calls Furry can begin an autopsy.

More worryingly, further investigation reveals the international research expedition was supposed to comprise five men: two Americans, a Briton, an Argentinean and an Austrian. Where and who are the other four?

Sole friendly face Furry is having little luck with the body. Somebody has employed an ice hammer to make sure identification is impossible, but the diligent doc gets enough from the remains of the feet to fax off prints to the U.S. Eventually, details come back and Stetko starts searching for the killer of American citizen Alexander Keller… who is NOT one of the research team at all…

Interviewing the pilot who ferried the team out generates no leads, and days are wasted checking other bases by radio. Moreover, time is running out. With True Winter coming, most camps are preparing to shut down: ferrying all but the most essential staff back to civilisation until a slightly more hospitable Spring makes life on the ice survivable again. Once “Winter-over” begins, the killer will be impossible to find…

When she gets a call back from British-administered Victoria Station that two of the missing team are there, Carrie catches her first break by hitching on a flight ferrying Australian pilot John Haden to his next gig. Despite his easy charm and manner, Carrie knows something is not right about him…

Rendezvousing with officious administrator Lily Sharpe, Carrie refuses to wait out another impending storm. Eventually, both women venture out onto the ice to find the outlying cabin of the missing men. As they enter, they’re attacked by an axe-wielding masked man who has just killed both of her suspects in the same way Keller was dispatched…

Giving chase into the storm, Carrie is overpowered and her vital guide-wire cut. Lost in a binding whiteout with the temperature drastically dropping by the second, she is going to die mere feet from safety and will not be found for months… or at all…

As Sharpe recovers and follows, Stetko has, with Herculean determination and a deal of sheer luck, found a temporary sanctuary where she is safe if no longer sound. She never will be again…

Lost in delirium and suppressed memories, Carrie almost fights her way free from her last-minute rescuer but is at last taken to the Station’s infirmary. When fit enough to travel, the Marshal is ferried back to McMurdo by the mysterious Lily who reveals that the two remaining suspects have been spotted on the ice at Amundsen-Scott base.

As much through anger and resentment, at her boss’ insistence Carrie, with Sharpe in tow, heads after them. On reaching the far station she receives an astounding surprise on spotting “dead man” Keller in the canteen…

Sharpe, meanwhile, has the last two suspects. Or at least, their bloody, battered remains…

Keller eludes the Marshal and lies hidden in Sharpe’s plane, where he finds her gun. According to the Antarctica Treaty, all weapons are banned on the jointly-administered continent, but that’s far from being the British woman’s biggest secret sin…

Everything kicks into high gear as Keller and hidden allies mercilessly strike back before the mystery is exposed and murky motives are revealed as the stunning conclusion reveals just how dangerous trust can be in a land which scours the heart and soul every minute of every day…

Smart, cynical and intoxicatingly devious, this superb fair-play murder mystery was one of the best comics crime capers in a generation, and promptly spawned a sequel.  In Whiteout Rucka & Lieber created a powerful and determined truth-seeker wedded to a ferociously evocative and utterly distinct milieu in which to prove her worth.

Riding a wave of critical acclaim, writer and artist reunited for searing sequel Melt: another 4-issue miniseries released by Oni Press from September 1999 to February 2000 before being gathered into its own graphic novel compilation.

This dark, bleak tale begins with a quick body-bestrewn history lesson on Antarctica, from the deadly duel between Scott and Amundsen and following frantic scurry – and brief brush wars – by a host of nations hungry to possess the territory. That ceased in 1961, when Cold War caution and the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction resulted in the Antarctic Treaty.

This landmark pact saw the region designated a neutral area reserved for purely scientific research: one where all military activity was strictly prohibited.

Antarctica is still a bizarre Neutral Zone co-managed by many nations, where mineral and commercial exploitation is completely forbidden. At least officially…

In this follow-up fable, US Marshal Stetko is recuperating in New Zealand when the American embassy drags her in just so a CIA spook named James can tell her she’s going back to the ice – voluntarily or not.

The Agency monitors chatter and has discovered that a Russian science station has been destroyed by an explosion, with the loss of all 14 personnel. They believe it was no accident. Overruling Stetko’s arguments about jurisdiction, the Feds tell her she’s going to investigate, or “offer help, in the spirit of the Treaty” because – despite her naive beliefs – every nation represented officially present in Antarctica has weapons stockpiled there – even the “good guy” Americans – and Tayshetskaya Base was just such an armoury/staging ground for potential conflicts…

Weathering a tirade of threats and discounting a wealth of promised bribes, Carrie soon finds herself on a plane heading due south. At the burned-out site of the base she’s greeted – if not welcomed – by her Russian opposite number Pyotr Danilovich and his emergency team. The harassed investigator studiously knows nothing and is severely disquieted when Stetko points out that one of the burned bodies from the “accident” has a bullet hole in it.

Of course, according to the Treaty, all weapons are banned, but this isn’t like anything she’s seen before…

Leaving Pyotr desperately trying to convince himself that it’s all just a mistake and accident, Carrie wanders through burned-out wreckage and plunges through the flooring into a hidden room stuffed with crates of small arms. In a corner are three empty crates marked with the tri-foil – international symbol for radiation. The Russians had stored nukes here – and they’re gone now…

Far away, six killers race away on snowmobiles with their prizes, but have no appreciation or understanding of the ice. After crashing into a hidden crevasse there are only five…

Back at Tayshetskaya, a mysterious Russian arrives. Captain Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuchin claims to be Carrie’s official back-up and liaison: tasked by his government with giving her all the assistance she needs. He disarmingly and disingenuously adds that he’s also there to quash any embarrassing scandal…

He confirms that the killer thieves are former Speznaz: mercenaries who have seized the nukes for a client and will smuggle them out over the ice rather than through more reasonable channels. After checking in with her own bosses, Carrie is told to get them – and proof of the Russian government’s treaty-breaking – if she ever wants to leave Antarctica…

Using satellite tech, Stetko and Kuchin narrow down the mercs’ current location and set off after them on skis, but the mutually suspicious manhunters almost die in a booby trap and are buried alive in a crevasse…

Forced to trust each other for the duration, they brilliantly extricate themselves to resume the chase. They have an unsuspected ally: brutal remorseless Antarctica is gradually eroding the confidence and capability of the fleeing killers: now reduced to four cold, slowly dying men. Sadly, the ice plays no favourites and tries its damnedest to kill Carrie and her stoic companion too…

After surviving a huge storm, Carrie wakes up alone and – suspicions sadly confirmed – sets off after duplicitous Kuchin. She does not know the cagy Russian has been captured by their quarry and faces a most unpleasant end, but neither the mercs nor their intended victim realise the US Marshal has found their lost and flash-frozen comrade and now possesses the very best in freelance weaponry and camouflage…

Escalating into an inevitable, spectacularly bloody climax, this grim, gritty and stunningly gripping thriller confirms Carrie Stetko’s guts, resolve and sheer smarts in a devastating display of swift, effective, problem-solving violence and propensity to do the right thing no matter what the cost…

Sharp, hard-boiled and savagely ultra-cool, this magnificent cold-hearted intercontinental caper was a sublime second outing for one of the best female crimebusters in comics and remains a wonderful experience for mature readers to while away cold, lonely nights.

In 2017, these chilly classics were reissued in a classy compendium edition which sadly did nothing to offset the appalling 2009 movie adaptation that had followed the original comic’s release. Just remember Films are not the intended ended result of comics. Read the stories as intended and have as much fun as you can in your own head.

… And agitate for the returns of Carrie Stetko…

™ & © 1998, 1999 2007 Greg Rucka. All rights reserved.