Category: Fantasy

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Set to Sea


By Drew Weing (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-771-0

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Alluring, Tantalising and totally Satisfying… 9/10

Graphic novels have been around long enough now that certain subdivisions have developed.

Many are superhero sagas stuffed with visual Sturm & Drang, others canny crime capers, haunting horror stories or quirky comedies. Age targeting and other demographics apply too, with some books intended for mature readers whilst others are designed to appeal mostly to youngsters.

Happily there are still those others which defy simple categorisation: the heartfelt results of earnest, talented creators letting themselves go where their unfettered imaginative minds take them. Sometimes they’re simply a good strong tale, beautifully told and universally appealing.

Such a craftsman is Drew Weing, who currently delights with his web-comic The Creepy Files of Margo Maloo, but first came to notice with a subversively mesmerising tale of maritime fortitude in 2010.

Now that sublime and out-of-print yarn is back as a deliciously handy, pocket-sized softcover reissue that will – if there’s any justice – finally make him a household name amongst lovers of tall tales and comic treasures.

This beguiling, irresistibly stirring salty saga follows an indigent poet and aspiring barfly with a taste for maritime verse whose lack of true inspiration is dramatically cured when he is press-ganged aboard a Hong-Kong Clipper and forcibly learns the true life of a globe-girdling mariner.

Initially resistant to a life afloat, a terrifying brush with death and battle against rapacious pirates opens the poet’s eye and forces him to accept the only life he could ever truly enjoy.

As the years and a myriad of exotically different lands pass by he even manages, whilst traversing the world for joyous, raucous decades, to satisfy his artistic leanings into the bargain and finally discover where his heart truly lies…

Magically circular in structure and beautifully drawn in a worshipful blend of Elzie Segar, traditional woodcut prints and, I suspect, a touch of Jeff Smith’s Bone and Tony Millionaire’ wonderful confections (see Drinky Crow’s Maakies Treasury) this superbly rough ‘n’ tumble monochrome epic collects the impressive original online comic into a salty, panel-per-page paean to the value of true experience over romantic fantasy, and even manages to be a telling examination of the role of the arts in life.

A true graphic odyssey which any lover of a dream-life must see, this eternally fresh yet solid entertainment is a genuine “must read”.

Captain’s Orders…
© 2014 Drew Weing. All rights reserved.

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Lego Ninjago – Masters of Spinjitzu volumes 1 and 2


By Greg Farshtey, Paulo Henrique & Laurie E. Smith (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-192-1 (volume 1); ISBN: 978-1-78276-193-8 (volume 2)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Ideal, cheap & cheerful Stocking Stuffers… 9/10

Toys, games, licensed characters and products have been profitable fodder for comics for the last half-century at least. Since the 1980s children’s television has been just another showroom for an increasingly strident pantheon of robots, dragons, dinosaurs and the like.

However, whatever your opinion of that fact, what can’t be denied is that most of those shows carried in their wake tie-in comics, many of which have been a new generation’s gateway into the world of graphic narrative… and I deem that a Very Good Thing.

One of the biggest multimedia franchises on the planet at the moment is Lego – which has steadily grown from the inspirational bundles of building bricks I used to jam into ingeniously spiky missiles to lob at my little brother – into a vastly expansive, nigh-infinite canvas of characters, settings, scenarios and story potentials with which youngsters and adults can while away the idle hours.

The savvy chaps behind the ubiquitous über-toy have also commissioned proprietary universes for their product, such as the world of Lego Ninjago – Masters of Spinjitzu where the dramas and memes of martial arts movies have been reconstituted into a winning heroic formula for fun and action loving kids…

As any Fule Kno… the ebullient fantasy concoction launched in 2011, following on from an earlier ninja-based iteration, subsequently releasing hundreds of themed characters and toy sets, vehicles, monsters and dragons, video games, apps, a board game, a TV cartoon series, music album and lots more, all supported by an official website.

…And a series of kid-friendly graphic novels.

Published by Papercutz in the USA and Titan Comics in Britain, the splendidly engaging comic strip romps are complete mini sagas scripted by Greg Farshtey, drawn by Paulo Henrique and coloured by Laurie E. Smith, offering light-hearted adventures to delight and charm the young at heart.

Volume 1: The Challenge of Samukai!
Debut volume The Challenge of Samukai! opens with a stunning gallery of star pin-ups and a handy map of feudal wonder-world Ninjago before cunningly recapitulating past events in ‘The Wager Part One’ as Samukai, Lord of the Underworld muses on his current unhappy situation.

His rule is being undermined by wicked, formerly mortal interloper Garmadon. The vile newcomer is also interfering with the underlord’s plans to conquer the surface world. Their seething rivalry is about to result in open warfare when they decide on a last-chance bet to settle the situation…

Reviewing the history of his enemy in ‘Origins’, Samukai again sees how the brother of noble teacher and paragon Sensei Wu tried to steal the puissant Four Golden Weapons only to be defeated and banished to the underworld for millennia.

During that time Wu hid the weapons and led a valiant, honourable life devoted to the martial discipline of Spinjitzu, but when Garmadon eventually escaped hell to attack him with an army of skeleton warriors the elderly sage was defeated.

Retrenching, Master Wu recruited and trained four young men to be his assistants and agents. Cole, Zane, Jay and foolish, headstrong blacksmith Kai (plus the rowdy last disciple’s sister Nya) eventually carried on for Wu and ensured the Golden Weapons remained out of Garmadon’s clutches.

Now the evil rivals are wagering sole rule of the underworld and Ninjago to the one who defeats the young warriors and finds the hidden auric artefacts…

The struggle begins in ‘Turn About’ as red ninja Kai is lured into a mystic trap and ensorcelled so that he appears as a skeleton monster to his brothers in arms.

Thankfully his speed and wits are enough to counter the ploy just as Samukai ambushes black ninja Cole, forcing him to face ‘A Choice of Dooms’. Observational and deductive skill prove far more effective than his super-speed fighting style…

The Four Ninja are undergoing one of Sensei Wu’s elucidatory tests when they fall into ‘The Trap’ but soon turn the tables on gloating Samukai who is sent fleeing back to his drear kingdom where ‘The Wager Part Two’ sees him face down the triumphant Garmadon and narrowly secure a new and precarious détente…

Volume 2: Mask of the Sensei
The non-stop rollercoaster thrills continue in volume 2 as Mask of the Sensei – after some more pin-ups and maps – finds Kai and his sister Nya called to the scene of an accident in their village. Mighty Sensei Wu has been hit by an ox cart and lies dangerously ill…

Thanks to their dutiful ministrations he slowly pulls through but as he quits his sickbed they notice that he seems a little out of sorts. The venerable sage has had a vision. In order to best protect Ninjago, his four students must conquer the world and rule it under him…

Worrying that the head injuries have deranged Wu, Kai dispatches Nya to fetch his warrior comrades whilst he keeps an eye on the Master. The aged savant is charming and plausible as he begins a program of strange improvements, such as fortifying the village and harshly taxing the peasants, deflecting their complaints with beguiling stories of future riches for all, but Kai knows something is very wrong…

By the time the other ninjas arrive Kai is gone “on a special mission” and Wu has equally mysterious tasks for all of them, with the fate of the world at stake.

Soon the heroes are ranging far and wide to recover impossible treasures such as “dust from a raging river” and a “snowball from the Great Desert” whilst in a deep underground cave Kai and the real Sensei strive to free themselves from an impossible trap…

Even once they are free and the Four Ninjas reunited, how can they possible defeat the malign shape-shifting foe who has escaped from the darkest regions of the underworld to take over the world with his equally appalling army of identity stealing cohorts?

Fast, funny, smartly plotted and expertly accomplished, this brace of tales is sure to enthral boisterous youngsters everywhere and, as surely by now every kid gets Lego for Christmas, why not get yours a version that they can read over and over again …and perhaps even develop a notionally quieter collecting bug with?
LEGO & Ninjago are ™ the Lego Group. © 2014 the Lego Group. All rights reserved.

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Jim – Jim Woodring’s Notorious Autojournal


By Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-752-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A beguiling glimpse into the early thoughts of a narrative master … 9/10

There are a few uniquely gifted and driven comics creators who simply defy categorisation or even description. There’s a pantheon of artisans: Kirby, Ditko, Hergé, Eisner, Clowes, Meskin, Millionaire and a few others who bring something utterly personal and universally effective to their work just beyond the reviewer’s skills (mine certainly) to elucidate, encapsulate or convey. They are perfect in their own way and so emphatically wonderful that no collection of praise and analysis can do them justice.

You just have to read the stuff yourself.

At the top of that distinguished heap of graphic glitterati is Jim Woodring. It’s a position he has maintained for years and clearly appears capable of holding for generations to come.

Woodring’s work has always been challenging, spiritual, grotesque, philosophical, heartbreaking, funny, beautiful and extremely scary. Moreover, even after reading that sentence you will still be absolutely unprepared for what awaits the first time you encounter any of his books – and even more so if you’ve already seen everything he’s created.

Cartoonist, fine artist, toy-maker and artistic Renaissance man, Woodring’s eccentric output has delighted far too small and select an audience since his first mini-comics forays in 1980. Even though the reader may have avidly adored his groundbreaking oneirically autobiographical Fantagraphics magazine Jim (1986 and cherry-picked for this collection), its notional spin-off series Frank (of which the volume Weathercraft won The Stranger 2010 Genius Award for Literature), maybe Tantalizing Stories, Seeing Things or more mainstream features such as his Star Wars and Aliens tales for Dark Horse Comics, there is still never anything but surprise waiting when his next story appears…

An accomplished storytelling technician these days, Woodring grows rather than constructs solidly surreal, abstractly authentic, wildly rational, primal cartoon universes, wherein his meticulous, clean-lined, sturdily ethereal, mannered blend of woodblock prints, R. Crumb landscapes, expressionist Dreamscapes, religious art and monstrous phantasmagoria all live and play and often eat each other.

His stories follow a logical, progressional narrative – often a surging, non-stop chase from one insane invention to the next – layered with multiple levels of meaning but totally devoid of speech or words, boldly assuming the intense involvement of the reader will participate and complete the creative circuit.

Such was not always the case and this superb and sumptuous oversized (292 x 228mm) hardcover compilation – which gathers his earlier formative and breakthrough efforts in colour and monochrome – offers the very best of his strips, paintings, poems and stories from breakthrough autobiographical magazine JIM and other (sadly unnamed) sources between 1980 and 1996.

This compulsive collection also includes a new 24-page strip starring the artist’s hulking, bewhiskered, aggressively paranoid, dream-plagued family man/cartoonist alter ego, and certainly cements his reputation as a master of subconscious exploration, surreal self-expression and slyly ironic comedic excoriation – and it’s still almost impossible to describe.

You really, really, really have to dive in and discover for yourself…

Packed with hallucinatory spot-images and cover illustrations from JIM, the furtive fruits of Woodring’s ever-present dream-recording “autojournal” are prefaced by a beguiling and informative ‘Author’s Note’ before the wonderment begins with ‘Jim #1 in its entirety’: the complete contents of his very first self-published fanzine from 1980.

A master of silent expressive cartooning, Woodring’s playfully inventively fascination with and love of words and tale-making shines through in such laboriously hand-lettered, illustrated epigrammatic vignettes as ‘Lozenge’ and ‘Jim Today’ as well as witty iconographic concoctions like ‘Tales of Bears’ and ‘Troutcapper Hats’ before the first strip saga details a doomed fishing trip in ‘Seafood Platter from Hell’ and a moment of early silent psychedelia reveals how ‘Two Children Inadvertently Kill an Agent of the Devil Through an Excess of Youthful High Spirits’…

Another personal true story and painful brush with disability and imperfection is disclosed in ‘Invisible Hinge’ whilst ‘The Hour of the Kitten’ returns to distressed, disturbed prose before the first of many outrageous faux-ads offers those indispensable conscience-pets ‘Niffers’, preceding another text-trek in ‘A Walk in the Foothills’.

Cats play a large part in these early strips and ‘Big Red’ is probably the cutest bloody-clawed, conscienceless killer you’ll ever meet whilst ‘Enough is Enough’ offers graphic pause before an ad for the home ‘Dreamcorder’ segues into a disturbing poster of rural excess in ‘A Lousy Show’.

‘Particular Mind’ provides a strip encapsulating life-drawing, relationships and hallucinations after which the tempting services provided by ‘Jim’s Discipline Camp’ are counterbalanced by a paean to pharmacopoeia in ‘Good Medicine’.

More savage exploits of ‘Big Red’ lead to a commercial presentation in ‘This is the Meat (…That Changed Me, Dad!)’, whilst ‘Horse Sinister’ describes in prose and pictures another disturbing dream dilemma and ‘At the Old Estate’ introduces a sophisticated loving couple whose wilderness paradise is forever altered by an unwelcome visitor’s incredible revelation. Thereafter a worried young child describes how life changed after he found his parents’ ‘Dinosaur Cage’…

The truly eccentric tale of ‘Li’l Rat’ (from a 1965 story by John Dorman) is followed by a visual feast of images from ‘Jim Book of the Dead’ and a surreal flyer for ‘Rolling Cabine’, after which ‘What the Left Hand Did’ captures in strip form the horrors of mutilation and malformation before the macabre tone-painting ‘Almost Home’ leads to an epic strip of father and son fun beginning with ‘Let’s Play!’…

Jim’s jaunt soon transports him to ‘Powerland’ where dad meets himself, whilst ‘Nidrian Gardner’ revisits a couple of suave swells whilst ‘Looty’ offers consumers a toy they just shouldn’t own…

‘The Hindu Marriage Game’ leads our unhappy bearded fool to a place where his lack of judgement can truly embarrass him whilst ‘Quarry Story’ explores a debilitating recurring dream about the nature of artistic endeavour and ‘This House’ explains how you can live life without ever going outside again…

The first inklings of the mature creator emerge in absurdist romp ‘The Birthday Party’ after which prose shaggy-dog story ‘The Reform of the Apple’ leads to a dark and distressing cartoon confrontation with doom on ‘The Stairs’ before the largely monochrome meanderings give way to stunning full-colour surreal reveries in ‘Screechy Peachy’.

The radiant hues remain for galvanic image ‘Vher Umst Pknipfer?’ and pantomimic rollercoaster romp ‘Trosper’ before bold black & white introspection resumes with a naked lady and a garrulous frog in ‘Dive Deep’.

A ghostly Hispanic condition of drunkenness haunts a bunch of cruelly playful kids in ‘Pulque’ after which young Max asks dad a leading question in ‘Echo’ and radio rebels Chip and Monk meet some girls and risk the wrath of civic authority with illegal broadcasting in ‘A Hometown Tale’, after which an ideal wife has a bad-tempered off-day in ‘Obviously Not’.

As the years progressed many of Woodring’s later spiritual and graphic signature creatures had slowly begun to appear in his strips. Old met new in ‘His Father Was a Great Machine’ wherein strident Jim has an encounter with a phantasmagorical thing, after which little Susan and a determined slug shaped up for an inevitable collision in the prose fable ‘When the Lobster Whistles on the Hill’.

Sheer whimsy informs ‘Cheap Work/Our Hero is a Bastard’ and the bizarre offerings of ‘Jimland Novelties’ whilst ‘The Smudge-Pot’ shows what all magazine letters pages should be like, after which ‘Pulque’ – in full colour strip mode – returns with a message for the dying before ‘Boyfriend of the Weather’ wraps up the surreal voyages with a homey homily and reproductions of Jim #1, volume 2 back cover and Jim #2, volume 2 cover bring this festival of freakish fun to the finale with style, aplomb and oodles of frosting…

Woodring’s work is not to everyone’s taste or sensibilities – otherwise why would I need to plug his work so earnestly – and, as ever, these astounding drawings have the perilous propensity of repeating like cucumber and making one jump long after the book has been put away, but the artist is an undisputed master of graphic narrative and an affirmed innovator always making new art to challenge us and himself.

He makes us love it and leaves us hungry for more and these early offerings provide the perfect starter course for a full bodied feast of fantasy…

Are you feeling peckish yet…?
© 2014 Jim Woodring. All rights reserved.

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Thor: Ages of Thunder


By Matt Fraction, Patrick Zircher, Khari Evans, Clay Mann, Dan Brereton, Doug Braithwaite, Michael Allred, Miguel Ángel Sepúlveda, Victor Olazaba & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3568-5

Since his creation by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby in Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962), the spectacular adventures of Thor have encompassed everything from crushing petty crime capers to saving universes from cosmic doom. As the decades passed he has also survived numerous reboots and re-imaginings to keep the wonders of fabled Asgard appealing to an easily jaded readership.

An already exceedingly broad range of milieux and scenarios spawned even greater visual variety after the Thunderer’s recent introduction to the pantheon of cinematic Marvels and his ongoing triumphs as a bona fide burgeoning movie franchise.

From the cod mythology of the company’s own bowdlerized Aesir whilst simultaneously drawing upon established ancient of Scandinavia, in 2008 Matt Fraction and a doughty band of artists crafted a saga spanning a number of specials and one-shots which riotously examined the early days of the bellicose Lord of Storms in the fantastic prehistory of the Nine Realms of existence, and this slim bombastic fantasy tome collects the opening blasts with Thor: Ages of Thunder (June 2008), Thor: Reign of Blood (August), Thor: Man of War (January 2009) and Thor: God-Sized Special (February 2009).

The legendary adventure opens with the eponymous ‘Ages of Thunder’ – rendered in painterly manner by Patrick Zircher, Khari Evans & Victor Olazaba – which sees the gods of Asgard arrogantly gloating after their gory victory against the ferocious Frost Giants of Jotunheim; monsters who had rampaged to the very gates of the city and even breached one of the great walls before Thor’s mighty hammer ended their threat with lethal finality.

The complacent victors then feasted mightily, gorging themselves on the golden apples of immortality which were the source of their power and could only be gathered from the magnificent World Ash Yggdrasil by lovely enchantress Idun.

…All but dour Thor, who shunned the festivities and as usual saved his share of the magic fruit against imagined times of future peril…

Some time later a human stonemason came to the gates of Asgard and bargained to repair the broken wall. Sensing sport, Allfather Odin and duplicitous Loki dickered with the mortal and imposed what they considered impossible conditions and a ludicrous deadline for the task, secure in the knowledge that what the man promised was impossible and they would never have to pay his preposterous price…

Of course the smug war gods were completely wrong and in a terrifyingly short time the mason was almost done: looking forward to carrying off his reward… beautiful, irreplaceable Idun…

Faced with humiliation and the loss of the source of all his people’s strength, Odin ordered the master of mischief to fix the problem, which the conniving cheat accomplished with barely a day to spare. Unfortunately this only provoked the furious mason to reveal his true identity – one of the recently defeated Frost Giants – and his bloody revenge was only ended by the arrival of the red-handed, increasingly aloof Thunder God.

For his part in the near-calamity Loki was banished to the icy wastes where, amidst horrendous cold and privation, he was approached by a giant eagle – another shapeshifting giant – who offered to save and feed him in return for Idun…

This bargain the trickster kept, delivering the golden goddess to the giant’s icy harem. Soon the Aesir were ailing as their mighty powers faded with the last of the apples they once devoured so profligately…

As heroic gods searched the Nine Realms for the missing enchantress, Odin and the court resolved to beg Thor for apples from his miserly hoard, but the Thunderer refused their entreaties. All-wise Odin reasoned Loki was the cause of their trouble and with dire threats forced him to retrieve Idun, but knowing his adopted son’s nature then beseeched Thor to follow and make sure the task was done properly…

This the murderous, sour- spirited Thor accomplished but an awful rift was driven between Allfather and sons…

The tale resumes in ‘Thor: Reign of Blood’ (illustrated by Evans, Zircher & Olazaba) as the Frost Giant’s tragic yet formidable daughter enacts a plan of icy vengeance which begins as a savagely relentless winter grips Asgard. Sheltered in his cavernous, echoing Great Hall, Odin reveals that in his youth he had a dalliance with the icy maiden which almost cost his life and has despised her ever since.

Nevertheless Spring must come so they will negotiate…

With Loki as envoy she is invited to Asgard and demands the greatest treasure in existence before she will rescind her endless freeze. Charged with cleaning up the mess, the trickster commissions three wondrous artefacts from the artisan dwarves of Nidavellir: a gold-propagating armband, a magical necklace and a giant-killing broadsword…

Unable to help himself, Loki then enters into a deadly side bet with the craftsmen over which treasure Odin will deem best…

When the gifts are displayed, the Allfather suddenly succumbs to his long-suppressed hatred and uses the sword to dispatch the Frost Giant’s Daughter before she can choose her tribute, effectively, if dishonourably, ending the eternal winter.

Once Loki weasels his way out of his bet with the dwarves the matter seems settled, but Idun is increasingly beguiled by the metal-smiths’ magical necklace…

Travelling to Nidavellir she sells herself for the gleaming trinket, and when Odin learns what she has done his rage knows no bounds. In response The Enchantress curses the entire world, causing legions of the dead to arise and attack the helpless living.

Once more mighty Thor is called upon to risk everything and end an overwhelming threat created by his family’s arrogance and cupidity…

‘Thor: Man of War’ (Clay Mann, Zircher & Olazaba) finds the Thunderer driven into berserker rage by the antics of his people, rampaging like a maniac through all the Nine Worlds. Enraged at the disruption of the natural order, Odin orders his beloved Valkyries to stop his errant heir by any means necessary.

Soon their leader Brunnhilda has engaged the demented Thor in all-out combat, but their cataclysmic clash awakens a colossal Storm Giant and soon both Asgardians are battling for their live against the ravaging pernicious primal entity. Before it finally falls, the furious fighters need the timely assistance of godly comrades Balder, Hogun, Fandral and Volstagg …

However, rowdily celebrating their victory in Svartalfheim, the victorious heroes and war women soon fall into fighting each other and watchful Odin is compelled to personally teach his wayward son the meaning and responsibilities of godhood…

Closing the chronicle, from Thor: God-Sized Special #1 comes ‘The Death and Life of Skurge the Executioner’ by Dan Brereton, Doug Braithwaite, Michael Allred & Miguel Ángel Sepúlveda, which traces the life of a former villain who redeemed his many grievous sins at the gates of the underworld to save the hosts of Asgard and Earth.

After a rousing visual recap, the saga moves on to a bizarre mystery as the assembled warriors of the golden realm realise that their memories of Skurge have been tampered with.

Travelling to the underworld, Thor, Loki and Balder find that even Death Goddess Hela has succumbed to the mystic meddling.

Given leave to continue by the terrifying queen of the damned, the voyagers press on and find that the cause of all their woes is the seductive Enchantress… but her motives for the worlds-shaking spell are nothing they could have suspected…

With extra features including covers by Marko Djurdjevic, a section on his preliminary production process and impressive pencil sketches and roughs by Zircher, this is a bloodily beautiful fairytale fable which would not be out of place amongst the true Elder Eddas.

Frantic, furious and ferociously enthralling, Ages of Thunder is a superb slice of mythic Marvel madness no action-loving fantasy fan could possibly resist.
© 2008, 2009, Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Usagi Yojimbo book 9: Daisho


By Stan Sakai (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56971-259-7

Despite changing publishers a few times the Roaming Rabbit has been in continuous publication since 1987, with more than 30 collections and books to date. He has guest-starred in many other series (most notably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its TV incarnation) and even almost made it into his own small-screen show.

There are high-end collectibles, art prints, computer games and RPGs, a spin-off sci-fi comics serial and lots of toys. Author Sakai and his creation have won numerous awards both within the Comics community and amongst the greater reading public.

Usagi Yojimbo (which translates as “rabbit bodyguard”) first appeared as an extra in anthropomorphic comedy The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy which premiered in 1984 amongst assorted furry ‘n’ fuzzy folk in Albedo Anthropomorphics #1.

He subsequently graduated to a solo-starring act in Critters, Amazing Heroes, Furrlough and the Munden’s Bar back-up series in Grimjack.

In 1955, when Stan Sakai was two years old, his family moved to Hawaii from Kyoto, Japan. He left the University of Hawaii with a BA in Fine Arts, and pursued further studies at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design in California.

His early forays into comics were as a letterer – most famously for the inimitable Groo the Wanderer – before his nimble pens and brushes found a way to express his passion for Japanese history, legend and the works of Akira Kurosawa and his peers, after which Sakai transformed a work-in-progress about a human historical hero into one of the most enticing and impressive fantasy sagas of all time.

Its engaging protagonist is a Bushido bunny and it’s still more educational, informative and authentic than any dozen Samurai sagas you can name…

Although the deliriously peripatetic and expansive period epic stars sentient animals and details the life of a wandering Samurai eking out as honourable a living as possible by selling his sword as a Yojimbo (bodyguard-for-hire), the milieu and scenarios all scrupulously mirror the Feudal Edo Period of Japan (roughly the 17th century AD by our Christian reckoning) whilst simultaneously referencing other cultural icons from sources from Zatoichi to Godzilla.

Miyamoto Usagi is brave, noble, industrious, honest, sentimental, gentle, artistic, empathetic, long-suffering and conscientious: a born soldier whose master has been murdered, now devoted to the spiritual tenets of Bushido. He simply cannot turn down any request for help or ignore the slightest evidence of injustice. As such, his destiny is to be perpetually drawn into an unending panorama of incredible situations.

The title was as much a nomad as its star. This guest-star-stuffed eighth monochrome masterpiece marshals yarns released by Mirage Publishing as Usagi Yojimbo volume 2, #7-14, and comes with an Introduction from writer James Robinson, after which the medieval mystery play resumes with ‘The Music of Heaven’ wherein Miyamoto and a wandering flock of tokagé lizards (ubiquitous, omnivorous reptiles that populate the anthropomorphic world, replacing scavenger species like rats, cats and dogs in the fictitious ecosystem) encounter a gentle, pious priest whose life is dedicated to peace, music and enlightenment…

When their paths cross again later, the ronin is almost murdered by a ruthless assassin who has killed and impersonated the holy man Komuso in an attempt to catch Usagi off guard…

Evocative and movingly spiritual, this classic of casual tragedy perfectly displays the vast range of storytelling Sakai can pack into the most innocuous of tales.

More menaces from the wanderer’s past reconnect in ‘The Gambler, The Widow and the Ronin’ as a professional gambler who fleeces villagers with rigged samurai duels plies his shabby trade in just another little hamlet.

Unfortunately this one is home to his last stooge’s wife, and whilst his latest hired killer Kedamono is attempting to take over the business, to make matters worse the long-eared nomad who so deftly dispatched his predecessor Shubo has just strolled into town looking for refreshments…

Again forced into a fight he doesn’t want, Miyamoto makes short work of blustering Kedamono, leaving the smug gambler to safely flee with the entire take. Slurping back celebratory servings of Saké, the villain has no idea that the inn where he relaxes employs a vengeful widow and mother who knows just who really caused her man’s death…

‘Slavers’ then begins a particularly dark journey for the ronin as Usagi stumbles across a boy in chains escaping from a bandit horde. Little Hiro explains how the ragtag rogues of wily “General” Fujii have captured an entire town and are making the inhabitants harvest all their crops for the scum to steal…

Resolved to save them the rabbit infiltrates the captive town as a mercenary seeking work, but is soon exposed and taken prisoner.

‘Slavers Part 2’ finds Miyamoto stoically enduring the General’s tortures until the boy he saved bravely returns the favour, after which the Yojimbo’s vengeance is awesome and terrible.

However even as the villagers rebel and take back their homes and property, chief bandit Fujii escapes, taking Usagi’s daishō (matched long and short swords) with him.

As previously seen, to take a samurai’s swords is to steal his soul, and the monster not only has them but continually dishonours them by slaughtering innocents as he flees the ronin’s relentless pursuit.

‘Daisho – Part One’ opens with a hallowed sword-maker undertaking the holy methodical process of crafting blades and the harder task of selecting the right person to buy them. Three hundred years later, Usagi is on the brink of madness as he follows the bloody trail of Fujii, remorselessly picking off the General’s remaining killers whilst attempting to redeem those sacred dispensers of death…

The chase leads him to another town pillaged by Fujii where he almost refuses to aid a wounded man until one of the women accuses him of being no better than the beast he hunts…

Shocked back to his senses Miyamoto saves the elder’s life and in gratitude the girl Hanako offers to lead him to where Fuji was heading…

‘Mongrels’ then changes tack as erstwhile ally and hard-to-love friend Gennosuké enters the picture. The irascibly bombastic, money-mad bounty-hunter and conniving thief-taker is on the prowl for suitably profitable prospects when he meets the Stray Dog: his greatest rival in the unpopular profession of cop-for-hire.

After some posturing and double-dealing wherein each tries to edge out the other in the hunt for Fujii they inevitably come to blows and are only stopped by the fortuitous intervention of the rabbit ronin…

‘Daisho – Part Two’ sees the rugged individualists come to a shaky truce in their overweening hunger to tackle the General. Mistrustful of each other they nevertheless cut a swathe of destruction through Fujii’s regrouped band, but even after the furious ronin regains his honour swords there is one last betrayal in store…

Older, wiser and generally unharmed, Gen and Usagi then part company again as ‘Runaways’ once more takes a peek into Usagi’s past. Stopping in a town he hasn’t visited in years, the rabbit hears a name called out and his mind goes back to a time when he was a fresh young warrior in the service of Great Lord MifunÄ—.

Young princess Takani Kinuko had been promised as bride to trustworthy ally Lord Hirano and the rabbit had been a last-minute replacement as leader of the “babysitting” escort column to her impending nuptials.

When an overwhelming ambush destroyed the party, Usagi was forced to flee with the stuck-up brat, both masquerading as carefree, unencumbered peasants as he strove to bring her safely to her husband-to-be through a seeming army of ninjas killers.

The poignant reverie concludes in ‘Runaways – Part 2’ as valiant hero and spotless maid fell in love whilst fleeing from the pitiless, unrelenting marauders on their heels. Successful at last, their positions naturally forced them apart once she was safely delivered.

Shaken from his memories the ronin moves on, tragically unaware that he was not the only one recalling those moments and pondering what might have been…

This emotional rollercoaster ends on a note of portentous foreboding with ‘The Nature of the Viper’, opening a year previously when a boisterous, good-hearted fisherman pulled a body out of the river and nursed his amazingly not dead catch slowly back to health. If he expected gratitude or mercy the peasant was sadly mistaken, as the victim explained whilst killing as soon as he was able.

Jei is a veritable devil in mortal form, believing himself a “Blade of the Gods”; singled out by the Lords of Heaven to kill the wicked. The maniac makes a convincing case: when he stalked Usagi the monster was struck by a fortuitous – or possibly divinely sent – lightning bolt and is still keen to continue his quest…

This medieval monochrome masterwork also includes a gallery of covers to charm and delight one and all.

Fast-paced yet lyrical, informative and funny, and always astoundingly action-packed, Usagi Yojimbo alternately bristles with tension and thrills and frequently breaks your heart with irresistible tales of pride, triumph and tragedy.

Simply bursting with veracity and verve, this is a perfect comics experience: monolithic, magical tales of irresistible appeal that will delight devotees and make converts of the most hardened hater of “funny animal” stories.
Text and illustrations © 1994, 1995, 1998 Stan Sakai. All other material and registered characters are © and™ their respective owners. Usagi Yojimbo and all other prominently featured characters are registered trademarks of Stan Sakai. All rights reserved.

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Michael Moorcock’s Elric volume 1: The Ruby Throne


By Julien Blondel, Didier Poli, Robin Recht & Jean Bastide, translated by Nora Goldberg (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978 -1-78276-124-2

Michael Moorcock began his career as a comics creator aged 15; writing and editing such classic strips as Tarzan, Dogfight Dixon, Jet Ace Logan, Captain Condor, Olac the Gladiator and many, many other British stalwarts before making the jump to prose fiction, where he single-handedly revitalised a genre in 1961 with the creation of Elric and the high-concept notion of the Eternal Champion.

Elric is a landmark of the Sword and Sorcery genre: fore-doomed last ruler of the pre-human civilisation of Melniboné, a race of cruel, nigh-demonic sorcerers.

These arrogant, dissolute creatures are in a slow, decadent decline after millennia of dominance over the Earth.

An albino, Elric is physically weak and of a brooding, philosophical temperament, caring for nothing save his beautiful cousin Cymoril, who will die one day soon whilst he battles her loathsome usurping brother Prince Yyrkoon.

The White Wolf doesn’t even really want to rule, but it is his duty, and he is the only one of his debased race to see the (comparatively) freshly evolved race of Man as a threat to the Empire.

He owns or is possessed by a black sword called Stormbringer: a magical blade that steals the souls of its victims and feeds their life and vitality to the pale and pallid physical weakling.

Moreover, Elric is a tragic incarnation of the restless Eternal Champion, reincarnated in every time, place and alternate dimension. His life is blood and tragedy, exacerbated by his dependence on that soul-drinking black sword and his sworn allegiance to the chimerical Lords of Chaos.

Everybody knows all that, right?

Now, however, the creator of the iconic wanderer – and arguably a whole sub-genre of fantasy fiction – has allowed his premiere paladin to undergo a moody, spectacular and enchanting make-over under the auspices of a team of premiere French graphic masters. Tasking themselves to re-adapt, augment and expand Moorcock’s tales and novels (with his willing and eager permission and supervision), writer Julien Blondel, penciller Didier Poli, inker Robin Recht and colour-artist Jean Bastide – with some preliminary design input from Jean-Baptiste Hostache – in 2013 released Elric: Le Trône De Rubis…

As Moorcock avers in his Author’s Introduction and recapitulation of previous adaptations by the truly stellar artists who have worked on his bony warrior since he and the wonderful James Cawthorn first imagined him, the result is magnificent. Following that hearty endorsement the chance to see how far modern latitude and Continental sensibilities have taken the appalling empire of decadence begins…

Deep in the unholy exquisite fastnesses of the Dreaming City Imrryr, the recent history of the casually sadistic Melnibonéans plays out. The birth of flawed albino prince Elric cost the life of his mother and broke his once relentless, remorseless father Sadric, but now that young Emperor sits on the Ruby Throne of office; buoyed up by drugs, blood and dark magic administered by his consort-cousin Cymoril.

Across the vast court chamber her brother Yyrkoon gazes with undisguised hate. He longs for the throne and a return to the days when Melnibonéans scourged the other races of the world for profit and pleasure. Knowing it will mentally vex and physically tax his hated overlord, the dissident goads Elric into performing a summoning: a call to the patron gods of Chaos whose power first made the city great.

However, before the covert challenge can amount to anything, military commander Dyvim Tvar breaks in with urgent news. The supposedly impenetrable Sea Maze which protects the island city has been breached by ships of the upstart humans. Captives interrogated by macabre Doctor Jest speak of mercenaries, invasion and possibly a traitor…

The timing could not be worse: the deadly dragons employed as skyborne defenders by Melniboné for millennia are all in their crucial sleep cycle and so Elric has no choice but to call on the golden battle barges of his navy. First though he must replenish his energies through Cymoril’s eldritch ministrations and physical charms…

Even though she is his true love and closest ally, he refuses to listen to her entreaties that her vile brother Yyrkoon be permanently dealt with…

When the navy intercepts the human invaders the carnage is incredible and Elric, powered by sacrificial magic, fights like a true emperor of devils, invoking an army of dead warriors to rise from the sea and destroy the upstart monkey people who would challenge their betters.

However, at the moment of victory, a vengeful straggler tips the fully armoured Elric into the bloody waters and Yyrkoon, the only witness, turns away…

With the Emperor drowned Yyrkoon wastes no time in declaring himself the successor to the Ruby Throne and exultantly plans a bloodbath against the lower kingdoms, but Elric is not dead. Deep beneath the sea he has been snatched up by ferocious sea god Straasha, who honours an ancient contract with the rulers of Melniboné and hints of imminent dooms and endings to come…

Yyrkoon’s debauched celebrations are interrupted by Elric’s appalling surprise entrance and cool reclaiming of his exalted position, but the albino again scorns Cymoril’s advice to kill her incorrigible brother quickly and painfully. It is a mistake that will cost Elric dear as later, pent in a dank cell, the usurper summons demonic Aaven’Kar, Devourer of the Depths.

The hungry hellbeast rampages through the palace and by the time the Emperor confronts his challenger, Yyrkoon has fed the thing Cymoril…

As the gloating villain flees, enraged and helpless Elric breaks, calling out to prime Chaos Lord Arioch in his pain and fury.

…And after a chilling, anticipatory moment, the callous, calculating, so very patient dark deity replies…

To Be Continued…

This sumptuous oversized (284x212mm), painted colour hardback album also includes a stunning behind-the-scenes look at the unique (for France) creative process from origination in ‘Genesis’, through pages of design sketches (Elric, Stormbringer, Cymoril, Yyrkoon, Dyvim Tvar, The Melnibonéans, Arioch and Doctor Jest), and a glimpse at preliminary artwork by Hostache in ‘Lavishness and Excess’.

Topping things off are intriguing first imaginings of ‘Dragon Isle’ and ‘Palace of Imrryr’, a feature on ‘Collaborative Development’; creator biographies and a tantalising peek at the next volume…

Elric is a primal character whose sheer imaginative force has inspired a host of superb graphic interpretations – and probably daunted many eager movie producers – with the astonishing complexity and emotional power of his dying, dawning world. This latest tremendously dark and deeply engaging graphic extravaganza again raises the creative bar and proves why he is the leading star of fantasy fiction.

Elric: Le Trône De Rubis and all contents are © 2013 Éditions Glénat. This Translated Edition © 2014 Titan Comics. Adapted from the works of Michael Moorcock related to the character of Elric of Melniboné © 2013, Michael & Linda Moorcock. Introduction © 2014, Michael Moorcock. All characters, the distinctive likenesses thereof and all related indicia are ™ and © Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc.

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Loki Agent of Asgard: Trust Me


By Al Ewing, Lee Garbett & Nolan Woodard (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-600-7

One of Marvel’s richest seams of pure imagination, the Nine Realms impacted by the mighty races of Asgard and its satellites have always offered stirring, expansive tales of a non-traditional nature to comicbook readers.

As iconic a character as his adoptive sibling Thor, God of Evil Loki has worked his vile, self-serving machinations for millennia and was rightly deemed one of the most diabolical villains in creation.

Things are different now.

What you need to know: after millennia of doctrinaire double-dealing and abusive micro-management All-Father Odin is gone, and the governance of his puissant kingdom, having been briefly misruled by his sons Thor and Balder, has been left to his wife Freyja and sister goddesses Idunn and Gaea who act in concert as a co-operative “All-Mother”.

The city they rule from now resides on Earth a few paltry feet above the ground of Broxton, Oklahoma and has been renamed Asgardia…

Moreover the eternally capricious and malign Loki has undergone some shocking changes too. Resurrected from death and hell by his eternally optimistic half-brother Thor, the trickster has recently endured life as a woman and been reborn again as an (ostensibly) innocent boy-child whilst his long-suffering and constantly betrayed family attempt one final gambit to reform the villain and raise a true and decent scion of Asgard.

Collecting Loki Agent of Asgard issues #1-5, published between April and August 2014 and captivatingly concocted by scripter Al Ewing, illustrator Lee Garbett and colour artist Nolan Woodard, this initial compilation traces the latest career path of the apparently reformed great trickster.

Now, after mooching around being generally benevolent and non-threatening as one of the Young Avengers, the former menace is approaching physical maturity and discovers that the All-Mother of Asgardia have a use for a smart young man who is still at heart the wily, devious God of Mischief – nor will they take nay for an answer…

Asgardians all understand the overwhelming, inescapable force and power generated by Stories, and the triumvirate have an intriguing proposition for Loki. In ‘Trust Me’, as payment for his performing certain tasks as a one-man Asgardian Secret Service, they will delete select portions of his appalling life history from every record in the Nine Realms, one insidious exploit per mission.

It’s a most tempting deal. For as long as that fearsome history remains it will always pull at him, dragging him back to what he once was, so the reincarnated godling is keen to diminish the temptations of his past, escape the heavy chains of reputation and prophecy and be his own man at last…

With the promise of becoming less potentially evil through each successive task, Loki sets out on his first case. Over the years there has been a slow, steady bleed of gods and artefacts from Asgard to the lesser realms and now the All-Mother wants those things back where they belong.

Thus the callow trickster invades Avengers Tower and battles Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, messing with their extensive database on him whilst extracting a horrific Asgardian monster secretly possessing noble Thor.

However, as always with the Trickster, things are not quite what they seem…

In ‘Loki and Lorelei, Sitting in a Tree’ he is despatched to retrieve the seductively wanton sorceress who has been preying on humans, gods and monsters for years and, during an unlikely night of Speed Dating, makes the charming acquaintance of Verity Willis, a mortal with the unfortunate gift of being able to see through any lie, subterfuge of illusion…

Lorelei’s trail leads to Monte Carlo and a monumental heist – which the Asgardian agent takes for his own – but he subsequently lets the witch go. The mischief-maker has a plan brewing and is putting together select crew. He might be working for the authorities now and trying to modify his behaviour, but he is still Loki…

Nobody is playing a straight game. In ‘Your Life is a Story I’ve Already Written’ the shocking identity of the vile spirit that possessed Thor is revealed. Despite being a prisoner of the All-Mother, the most wicked creature in the Nine Realms reveals thus how in ages past he deviously implicated the boy Odin in senseless murder and orchestrated the conditions whereby proto-god Sigurd the Ever-Glorious came to possess the unrelenting, unstoppable, truth-rending sword Gram.

As a result of many Machiavellian machinations, young Odin became Lord of all the Realms years before his time, Gram was safely locked away until Loki could claim it and Asgard grew to be mighty and all-conquering… but now the devil in his dungeon waits for the final pieces in his astoundingly long game to fall into place…

The saga returns to the present where ‘Lets You & Him Fight’ finds the long absent Sigurd attempting to reclaim the irresistible Gram from young Loki but subsequently press-ganged into the trickster’s secret service.

These diversions are also starting to gain the unwelcome attention of the All-Mother who have also tasked their Earthly Agent with bringing back in the millennially truant Sigurd.

To expedite matters they have cited the ferocious Exdesir as back-up, but a bunch of short-tempered Valkyries is the last thing Loki needs watching him at this fragile juncture.

…And that’s before arch tempter Mephisto involves himself in the scheme, seeking to gull a few unwary gods into signing infernal contracts of damnation by flaunting hidden truths like jewels…

All the crafty conniving results in a cosmic confrontation in Asgardia with ‘This Mission Will Self-Destruct in Five Seconds’ as Loki’s crew breach the mythical city-state in search of answers to the All-Mother’s increasingly off-kilter behaviour and the truth about the creature not so safely locked in the citadel’s deepest dungeon…

Sly, cool and witty, exceedingly engaging, fast and funny – like all the very best caper stories – this canny, time-bending chronicle succeeds in deftly delineating the reborn Loki as a sharp operator doing good deeds whilst never actually proving whether he’s really reformed or is still a subtle and beguiling Master of Evil…

This delicious Costumed Drama also offers digitally-diverting extra content for tech-savvy consumers courtesy of AR icon sections all accessible through a free digital code and the Marvel Comics app for iPhone®, iPad®, iPad Touch® & Android devices at Marvel’s Digital Comics Shop as well as a glorious covers-and-variants gallery by Jenny Frison, Frank Cho, Mike Del Mundo & Olivier Coipel.
™ and © 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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Vowels


By Skye Ogden (Gestalt Publishing)
ISBN: 978-0-9775628-1-7

I’ve long admitted my love for comics in black and white and frequently expressed my admiration for creators who can tell a tale in utter silence, without benefit of text, and when this lavish and splendid digest sized (212 x 144mm) paperback arrived in my Review copies mailbag, it immediately became my favourite example of the form.

Created by Australian cartoonist, designer and illustrator Skye Ogden, Vowels is a phenomenally engaging sequence of five linked fables which mesmerically examines aspects of the human condition, all played out in an oddly welcoming, if harsh, desert landscape that houses hulking cavemen and their suitably formidable women, adorable lizards, wide eyed aliens and, latterly, extremely unpleasant invading soldiery…

This is one of those books you’ll thank me for staying non-specific about, so I’ll only go so far as to say that ‘a’ is a broadly comedic chase vignette starring the aforementioned dawn people and the unlucky reptile, whilst ‘e’ introduces a diminutive alien wanderer to the happy, hirsute couple before following the unhappy voyager into a most peculiar afterlife and rebirth…

In ‘i’ the little guy’s distant relatives take the stage in a bustling marketplace for a dose of Romeo and Juliet frustration and tragedy before overwhelming, abiding loss is expressively characterised in ‘o’ after which the fascinating, universally accessible discussion on the nature of existence concludes with the brutal horrors of war, occupation and vengeance…

Depicted in a beguiling timelessly engaging cartoon style, deliciously reminiscent of the legendary Vaughn Bode and employing all the devastatingly expressive, pantomimic artifices of Charlie Chaplin, Vowels is a masterpiece of the cartoonist’s craft where life, death, love, hate, jealousy, obsession, protectiveness, greed, raw naked aggression and cruelty are pared down to the bone and graphically, forensically explored in a manner which only makes us hungry for more.

Deeply enticing, appealingly slick and intoxicatingly addictive, Vowels is an irresistible torrent of purely visual drama and which will delight all aficionados of the medium who value comics for their own sake, and don’t need a route map or score card to enjoy themselves.
© 2007 Skye Ogden. All rights reserved.

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Papyrus volume 5: The Anger of the Great Sphinx


By Lucien De Geiter, coloured by Georges Vloeberghs & translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-115-0

Papyrus is the rapturously beguiling masterwork of Belgian cartoonist Lucien de Gieter. It premiered in 1974 in legendary weekly Spirou, running to more than 30 albums and consequently spawned a wealth of merchandise, a television cartoon show and a video game.

De Gieter was born in 1932 and studied at Saint-Luc Art Institute in Brussels before going into industrial design and interior decorating. He made the jump into sequential narrative in 1961, first through ‘mini-récits’ (fold-in, half-sized booklets) inserts for Spirou, starring his jovial cowboy ‘Pony’, and later by writing for art-star regulars such as Kiko, Jem, Eddy Ryssack and Francis.

He later joined Peyo’s studio as inker on ‘Les Schtroumpfs’ (The Smurfs) and took over the long-running newspaper strip ‘Poussy’.

In the 1960s De Gieter launched mermaid fantasy ‘Tôôôt et Puit’ whilst Pony was promoted to the full-sized pages of Spirou, deep-sixing the Smurfs to expand his horizons by going to work for Tintin and Le Journal de Mickey.

From 1972-1974 he assisted cartooning legend Berck on ‘Mischa’ for Germany’s Primo, whilst his newest project: a historical confection which would occupy his full attention and delight millions of fervent fans for the following four decades.

The annals of Papyrus encompass a huge range of themes and milieux, mixing Boy’s Own adventure with historical fiction, fantastic fantasy and interventionist mythology: the epic yarns gradually evolving from traditional “Bigfoot” cartoon style and content towards a more realistic, dramatic and authentic iteration. Moreover each tale readily blended light fantasy escapades with the latest historical theories and discoveries.

Papyrus is a fearlessly forthright young fisherman favoured by the gods who quickly rises to become a hero of Egypt and friend to Pharaohs. As a youngster the plucky Fellah was singled out and given a magic sword courtesy of the daughter of crocodile-headed Sobek.

The youthful champion’s first task was to free supreme deity Horus from imprisonment in the Black Pyramid of Ombos thereby restoring peace to the Double Kingdom, but his most difficult and seemingly never-ending duty is to protect Pharaoh’s wilful, high-handed and insanely danger-seeking daughter Theti-Cheri – a princess with an astounding knack for finding trouble …

The Anger of the Great Sphinx is the fifth Cinebook translation (20th album of the series and originally released in 1997 as La Colère du grand Sphinx); a spooky testing of faith through vile supernatural villainy eventually thwarted by unflinching daring and honest devotion…

The eerie escapade opens when restless Papyrus discovers the princess sleepwalking in the corridors of Pharaoh’s great Palace in Memphis. Cautiously following, he trips over court jester Puin and by the time he recovers his feet Theti-Cheri has seized a waiting chariot and hurtled into the dark desert beyond the gates.

Extremely alarmed, the lad leaps astride Puin’s phenomenally intelligent donkey Khamelot and rushes after her…

In the bleak wastes Papyrus is attacked by a living sandstorm threatening to end the line of Pharaohs, but successfully drives it off with his magic sword, just as terrified Puin catches up. As the sun rises they see that they are near the venerable complex of pyramids and Re Harmakhis, Guardian of the Horizon.

The mighty monuments and the Great Sphinx are all but buried under the eternally shifting sands…

Nervous Puin wants to return to the city, leaving such great concerns to Pharaoh and the gods, but Papyrus refuses to abandon the mesmerised princess who can be seen between the paws of the great statue. As he approaches, the stone beast roars that Theti-Cheri now belongs to him because her father has broken an ancient pact to keep the sands from covering him and his temples.

As assign of his dissatisfaction, the princess will die at sunset…

Desperate for a solution, the boy hero agrees to give the insidious sandstorm his magic sword if it will save the princess and the swirling devil advises the lad to find Anty, the Divine Ferryman and seek passage to the Island of the Gods where he can petition the Divinities for merciful intervention…

Dashing to the Nile with Puin and Khamelot in hot pursuit, Papyrus is forced to match wits with the duplicitous Ferryman – a conniving talking crocodile boat with a grudge against the boy from previous encounters.

Once again the rogue vessel tries to cheat and bamboozle the boy. Whilst ostensibly taking the trio to the gods’ home, Anty plies the humans with a hallucinogenic drink (resulting in a stunning and baroque display of the author’s spectacular imagination and artistic virtuosity) before leaving them unconscious in a bed of reeds.

Here they are discovered by trio of sibling dotards – dubbed Pepi I, Pepi II and Pepi III – who minister to them. They are in turn saved by Papyrus when bullying brigands try to rob their hovel. The elders are fishermen now but once they were paid by Pharaoh to keep the Sphinx and pyramids clear of sand.

In recent years though they appear to have been forgotten…

With horror the boy realises they have been left back near the Sphinx and the day is fast fading. With ho hope left of gaining the gods’ aid he rushes off to find Anty and teach the conniving Ferryman the error of his wicked ways before returning to hand his wonderful sword over to the smugly triumphant sandstorm…

At his most despondent moment, through the roaring sand Papyrus sees the Pepis. The elderly janitors have organised the entire village: young and old alike are toiling amid the storm to clear the Sphinx for the sake of their beloved princess.

When Khamelot inadvertently reminds the frantically labouring peasants of a tried-and-true way to dampen down the swirling grains and make them more manageable, the furiously screaming storm devil is at last beaten and blows away…

In the quiet still morning the Sphinx is again free from obstruction and obscurity, but Papyrus is heartbroken to see that it is all too late.

Carrying the corpse of Theti-Cheri into the desert he denies his faith, screaming at the gods who have been so unfair… and they answer, revealing the foolish mistake the passionate, impatient lad has made…

With the princess joyously restored and Re Harmakhis gleaming in all his golden glory Pharaoh at last arrives in a blare of trumpets to reaffirm his dynasty’s obligations and devotion to the gods, elevating the three Pepis to the exalted station of Eternal Guardians of the Sphinx. The newly appointed opponents of the shifting sands have recently taken possession of a certain magic sword and gratefully return it to the boy who restored their family fortunes…

Epic, chilling, funny, enthralling and masterfully engaging, this is another amazing adventure to thrill and beguile lovers of wonder from nine to ninety-nine, again proving Papyrus to be a sublime addition to the family-friendly pantheon of continental champions who wed heroism and humour with wit and charm, and anybody who has worn out those Tintin and Asterix albums would be wise beyond their years to add these classic chronicles to their dusty, wellbeloved bookshelves.
© Dupuis, 1997 by De Gieter. All rights reserved. English translation © 2012 Cinebook Ltd.

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The Phoenix Presents Long Gone Don Book 1: The Monstrous Underworld


By The Etherington Brothers (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-910200-04-9

Kids love to be scared and they thrive on imaginative adventure, especially if it comes liberally dosed with oodles of wry sardonic comedy. Such being the case it’s quite understandable how Long Gone Don came to be such a popular and enduring feature of British comics phenomenon The Phoenix, where it has run almost continuously from the first issue.

Since 2012 David Fickling Books have published a traditional weekly anthology comic for girls and boys which has successfully restored the glorious heyday of picture-story entertainment; embracing the full force of modernity whilst telling old-fashioned fun and thrilling stories.

Each issue offers humour, adventure, puzzles and educational strips and material in an exultation of cartoon fun and fantasy. Since its premiere, The Phoenix has gone from strength to strength, winning praise from the Great and the Good, child literacy experts and the people who really matter – the utterly engaged kids and parents who read it…

The Phoenix was voted No.2 in Time Magazine‘s global list of Top Comics and Graphic Novels and is the only strip publication started in the UK in the last forty years to have passed the 100 issue mark. The magazine celebrated its first anniversary by developing a digital edition available globally as an app and is continually expanding its horizons…

As devilishly devised by The Etherington Brothers – Robin and Lorenzo, whose past efforts have included Malcolm Magic and Yore (in The Dandy), Monkey Nuts, Baggage and the brilliant puzzle-venturer Von Doogan – this thrilling and hilarious spooky romp stars unlucky Don Skelton, whose proper history doesn’t really begin until after an astounding concatenation of crazy circumstances leave the hapless schoolboy dead in a bowl of Oxtail Soup…

From there it’s a quick and disorienting drop into the netherest of Nether Regions where the bewildered waif discovers his unruly hair has turned milk-white and the fantastic, green-sanded landscape is dotted with familiar objects expanded to most unlikely proportions…

No sooner has he struggled out of the colossal bowl he’s splashed down into than Don is taken under the scabby wing of a rather lugubrious and excitable crow with an outrageous Spanish accent who tries to explain the unlikely situation to the stunned and incredulous lad…

Moreover the antsy avian – one Castanet, by name – strongly stresses the sense of urgency needed to get off the Arrival Plains as Brobdingnagian means of expiration tend to land with a crash every moment…

Having safely escorted the newcomer away from the region of plummeting dooms, Castanet then begins his introduction to the bizarre afterlife by taking Don to the chaotic pit of trouble dubbed Broilerdoom (“Afterlife of the Lost, the Damned and the Generally Terrifying”) where they are promptly robbed and forced to participate in a rigged election.

Don, however, manages to vote for the wrong guy, instantly setting off citywide alarms and immediately earning the undying enmity of monstrous dictator General Spode and his unctuous assistant Valush, if not the supreme dictator’s glamorous but bored consort Regina…

Soon boy and bird are being hotly pursued through the grotty avenues and alleyways by the demonic yet incompetent soldiery but are only saved when an even bigger and scarier monster called Lewd makes his terrifying entrance.

The giant outlaw and his agile assistant Safina are no fans of Spode and, after duffing up the militia, take the fugitives deep into the sordid, sprawling slums of Krapookerville where they can catch their breath in relative safety…

Their current base is an inn of iniquity named The Demon Drink where, between brawls, the outlaws give Don a quick lesson in post-life geography and geopolitics. He soon learns his companions are more rebels than rogues and have taken his miscast vote as a sign to strike against the despotic General. Don then meets the freedom fighters’ inside agent…

Seen as catalysts for change, Don and Castanet are despatched to coax the city’s Great Hero Ripley out of retirement. The person Don mistakenly voted for has become a celebrity gardener and has no intention of facing Spode again but he does suggest another potential candidate and rallying point for the masses…

Soon the entire under region is aflame with unrest and rebellion and Don has made the acquaintance of one of the underworld’s most incredible and awe-inspiring entities whilst turning said underworld upside down…

Rocket-paced, spectacular, absorbing and utterly hilarious, this uncanny adventure is conceived and rendered in a gorgeous, loving pastiche of the magnificent style of Goscinny and Uderzo, a kind of Asterix in the Underworld meets Eric the Viking.

Fast, fun and funny, Long Gone Don is a superb serving of macabre mirth no lovers of daft or dark delights can afford to miss.

Text © Robin Etherington, 2014. Illustrations © Lorenzo Etherington, 2014. All rights reserved.
To find out more about The Phoenix or subscribe, visit: www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk