Graphic Novels – Page 109

November 30, 2017November 29, 2017

JLA Deluxe volume 6

By Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, Yvel Guichet, Lewis La Rosa, Darryl Banks, Dietrich Smith & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5136-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Blockbuster, No-Nonsense Entertainmentâ€¦ 8/10

When the Justice League of America – driving force and cornerstone of the Silver Age of Comics – was re-imagined and relaunched in 1997, the sheer bravura quality of the stories propelled the series back to the forefront of industry attention, making as many new fans as it recaptured old ones. The stories were smart, fast-paced, compelling, challengingly large-scale and drawn with effervescent vitality.

With JLA you could see on every page all the work undertaken to make it the best it could beâ€¦

The reinvigorated super-squad were a phenomenally hot property at this time, with creative teams coming aboard and moving on with startling rapidity. Writer Joe Kelly’s run on the World’s Greatest Superheroes has some notable moments for drama and action lovers, all contained in this Sixth Deluxe Trade Paperback and eBook compilation.

Contained herein are JLA #61-76 which comprise the majority of this fifth Deluxe Edition (available in hardback, paperback and eBook formats) and collectively spanning February 2002 to February 2003.

Illustrated by Doug Mahnke & Tom Nguyen, the wonderment kicks off with the stand-alone tale ‘Two-Minute Warning’, one of the best â€œday-in-the-lifeâ€ type stories ever seen, blending sharp dialogue, spectacular art and a novel format to elevate it beyond the many other attempts to show what everyday means for such god-like beingsâ€¦

Then 3-part disaster fable ‘Golden Perfect’ unfolds: a tale examining the nature of Truth itself. When Wonder Woman leads the team to the hidden kingdom of Jarhanpur to rescue a baby from a life of hereditary slavery, she encounters a despot whose philosophy counters her belief in objective or absolute truth.

The explosive dispute shatters her magical Golden Lasso of Hestiaâ€¦

All too soon this defeat has astounding repercussions for the entire universe. The broken lasso has destroyed objective truth completely. What people believe becomes the only arbiter of Reality.

The moon is made of green cheese, the world is flat, Earth is the centre of the universeâ€¦

As it all unravels, a devastated Amazon Princess must find a way to reconcile her beliefs within the new Reality while the rest of the JLA battle desperately to keep the cosmos alive.

A dynamic end-of-everything tale that challenges the mind as well as stirring the blood, the patented Kelly one-liners, especially from Plastic Man, leaven the tension and heighten the enjoyment in this cracking little epic.

Changing pace and cracking more smiles, ‘Bouncing Baby Boy’ is a wistful, genuinely funny team-up of the mismatched Batman and Plastic Man. This small story looks at the sad side of the eternal clown (that would be Plas, not Batsâ€¦), seen through the â€œcold and emotionlessâ€ eyes of the Dark Knight, and provides a welcome change from the Big Stories that increasingly all super-team books comprise.

An extremely potent example of such follows, spanning issues # 66-76. ‘The Obsidian Age’ is an ambitious epic designed to redefine the JLA which begins with ‘The Destroyers Part 1′ as peculiar water-based events and phenomena indicate that Aquaman – believed killed in a recent catastrophe which seemingly eradicated Atlantis – is actually alive and trying to contact his JLA comrades.

When the team are subsequently attacked by an ancient mystical warrior they get their first clue that it’s not â€œsomewhereâ€ but â€œsome whenâ€â€¦

‘The Destroyers Part 2’ finds the heroes recovering from a second attack by the terrifying Tezumak and native shaman Manitou Raven, whose coordinated manipulations bring the JLA into the ruins of ‘Stillborn Atlantis’ and all-out combat with the deranged Ocean Master. When Tempest (the all-grown-up Aqualad, now a powerful magical adept himself) and a conclave of mystic champions, including Zatanna, Faust and Doctors Occult and Fate, are called in to assess the deteriorating situation in the no-longer sunken city, the assembled paladins of science and magic realise that something truly terrible is about to be unleashedâ€¦.

Renewed assaults from the past indicate another growing global crisis and when the JLA discover a hidden message from Aquaman, they voyage back 3000 years to discover an unsuspected era of Atlantean domination.

With Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Plastic Man gone, a stand-in team of heroes are appointed to guard the world, but the ancient mastermind behind the menace has also prepared a contemporary trap for the substitute JLAâ€¦

Illustrated by Yvel Guichet & Mark Propst, ‘New Blood’ features Zatanna and the Atom trying to stave off a concatenation of clearly unnatural natural disasters with the aid of Green Arrow, Captain Marvel, Firestorm, Jason Blood (with and without Etrigan the Demon), Hawkgirl, reformed villain and troubled soul Major Disaster, Nightwing and new find Faith. There’s even input and some hands-on help from the Justice Society of America uniting to form a desperate scratch-team woefully overmatched and under-trainedâ€¦

Meanwhile and elsewhen, the strands of mystery are unravelled in ‘Revisionist History’ which finds the time-lost First Team in 1000BC, where an above-the-waves Atlantis leads a coalition of nations and super-warriors in a campaign to conquer the known world by sword and sorcery. This unrecorded episode of human history contravenes all known histories, and clandestine reconnaissance by the JLA reveals an enchantress named Gamemnae is behind the scheme.

However, her plans extend far beyond her own epoch and to that end she has kidnapped the 21^st century water-breathing Atlanteans and enslaved their king Aquamanâ€¦

Fortunately, Gamemnae’s own team is far from united: Manitou Raven and his bride Dawn are deeply troubled by the venality of their allies and the obvious nobility of the Justice Leaguersâ€¦

Back in the future, focus returns to the new team in ‘Transition’ (with art again by Guichet & Propst) as the planet is ravaged by geological catastrophes and Gamemnae’s millennial booby-trap activates, designed to conquer the world of tomorrow by suborning its meta-human and mystic defendersâ€¦

In ‘History is Written Byâ€¦’, Kelly, Mahnke & Nguyen reveal the JLA battling hopeless odds in ancient Atlantis whilst trying to liberate its enslaved, water-breathing, time-switched descendants, whilst in modern times ‘Last Call’ (Guichet & Propst) finds the replacement League faring badly against Gamemnae’s monstrous animated time-trapâ€¦ until a ghostly message from the past enables them to turn the tideâ€¦

The tension mounts as ‘Obsidian’ follows the final tragic battle between the JLA and Gamemnae’s hyper-powered hit-squad The Ancients, revealing how her future assaults began even as Manitou finally succumbs to his conscience and changes sides.

‘Tragic Kingdom’ (by Mahnke, Guichet, Darryl Banks, Dietrich Smith and inkers Nguyen, Propst, Wayne Faucher & Sean Parsons) simultaneously provides the origin and final fall of the deadly Witch-Queen in a cataclysmic confrontation that bends times, breaks the barriers between life and death and costs one of the heroes everythingâ€¦

In the aftermath the JLA gather to mourn one of their own who has fallen. ‘Picking up the Pieces’ (with art from Lewis LaRosa & Al Milgrom) sees the JLA conclude a 3000-year quest to restore their fallen comrade and re-jig their roster in the dread dire days following the adventure that has left them all forever changedâ€¦

By The Way: the action of Obsidian Age takes place immediately after the devastation of DC Crossover Event â€œOur Worlds At Warâ€ – wherein an alien doomsday device named Imperiex almost destroyed the planet – but there’s enough useful background and build-up in the chapters collected here to circumvent any possible confusion should that saga have passed you byâ€¦

Engaging, engrossing and especially entertaining, this is a superior superhero slugfest that will appeal to a lot of readers who thought the Fights ‘n’ Tights genre beyond or beneath themâ€¦
Â© 2002, 2003, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

November 29, 2017

Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers

By Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4401-4

Everybody loves a solid sensibly sensational team-up and, if you’re a comicbook fan, â€œdiscoveringâ€ a slice of previously unrevealed secret history about your preferred fictive universe is an indescribable thrill. So, what better than if you can combine both guilty pleasures with enjoying a rollicking four-fisted action rollercoaster ride, well written and superbly rendered?

Just one such concatenation of good things in one basket is Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers by Reginald Hudlin & Denys Cowan. Comic continuity is ultimately fluid and this yarn – originally released as a 4-issue miniseries between June and September 2010 – reveals the secret and tumultuous first meeting between the patriotic symbols of two embattled nations, but only nit-picking, devoted fans-boys need quibble over which (of at least three) â€œfirst contactsâ€ this riotous romp describes.

The rest of us can simply hang on as a fabulous all-action clash unfolds before our very eyesâ€¦

The Black Panther rules over a fantastic African paradise which isolated itself from the rest of the world millennia ago. Blessed with unimaginable resources – both natural and not so much – the nation of Wakanda developed uninterrupted and unmolested by European imperialism into the most technologically advanced human nation on Earth.

The country has also never been conquered. The main reason for this is an unbroken line of divinely-sponsored warrior kings who safeguard the nation. The other is a certain miraculous super-mineral found nowhere else on Earthâ€¦

In contemporary times that chieftain is T’Challa: an unbeatable, feline-empowered, strategic genius who divides his time between ruling at home and serving abroad in superhero teams such as The Avengers, beside costumed champions such as Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Thor and Captain Americaâ€¦

However, long ago as World War II engulfed the world, another Black Panther – the grandfather of the one we know best – met a far younger and more impulsive Sentinel of Libertyâ€¦

With the first two chapters inked by Klaus Janson the action kicks off in the middle of a furious as Gabe Jones – the black guy in Sgt. Fury’s Howling Commandos – is just as startled as his white buddies to find a masked maniac dressed like an American flag pounding the crap out of the Nazis they’re being swamped byâ€¦

Although they initially think he’s a clown, the Howlers soon take to the naÃ¯ve Star-Spangled Captain America. They have to, as the Top Brass think they complement each other and have ordered soldiers and superhero to work together from now on.

Meanwhile in Germany, Adolf Hitler orders his most elite warriors to invade a barely known African kingdom to secure supplies of a vibration-absorbing mineral crucial to the development of the Wehrmacht’s V-weapons. Arch-supremacist Baron von Strucker and his cronies expect no trouble from the primitive, sub-human non-Aryans, but the malign Red Skull has reservationsâ€¦

When the Allies get word of the expedition, they quickly send their top team to stop the Nazis, but they are too late. The fabled Wakandans have already despatched the German expeditionary force with the ruthless silent efficiency that has kept their homeland unconquered for thousands of yearsâ€¦

As a shocked Captain America surveys the bloody handiwork, he is challenged by a warrior in a sleek black outfit, looking like a human pantherâ€¦

Soon his amazement increases exponentially. Although seemingly barbaric and uncivilised, the Wakandans are technologically more advanced than America, capable enough to capture the Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos without a fight, and with a spy network that encompasses the world and has even gleaned his top secret civilian identity. Worst of all, the Black Panther kicks his butt when they inevitably clashâ€¦

Soon, however, the Americans are â€œguestsâ€ of the Wakandans, forced to watch as the next wave of Nazi conquerors attempt to overwhelm the nation. However, what nobody realises is that the Red Skull is in command now and the sacrifice of an entire tank division is part of his overall strategy to conquer the upstart Africans defying the might of the Third Reichâ€¦

Soon, the Howlers are on tricky ground: acting as unschooled diplomats and emissaries of their country and ideology. But Black Panther King Azzuri knows what they really want is a sample of precious, sacred Vibraniumâ€¦

Until now Gabe has felt that he’s allied with the only non-racists in the US armed forces, but now Fury orders to get close to the Africans and secure some of the miracle metal at all costs. Stunned by the casual, unthinking racism of his superior and his white comrades, Gabe is torn by conflicting emotions. Especially as Azzuri has shown him great favour and a black-only promised land any negro living in America would die to live inâ€¦

The Nazis’ intent is also plain and the Skull’s true attack is not long in coming. As well as troops and planes, the Germans employ their own secret weapons – robotic war-suits and metahuman super-soldiers Master Man, Krieger Frau (Warrior Woman) and merciless sadist Armless Tiger Man. They are assisted by a traitor from Wakanda’s own dissident region: the mercilessly savage, cruelly ambitious Man-Apeâ€¦

With issues #3 and 4 inked by Tom Palmer & Sandu Florea, the action roars into high gear as the German offensive achieves its goal of penetrating Wakanda’s defences and even sees the king’s sons T’Chaka and S’Yan (both future Black Panthers) attacked in the palace by a murderous assassin before being saved by the deeply conflicted Gabeâ€¦

And then it’s nothing but all-out war, picking up the pieces and adjusting to a new normal in a world that doesn’t know the meaning of the wordâ€¦

Confronting head-on historical and contemporary issues of racism whilst telling a stunning tale of action and adventure is no mean feat, but Hudlin and Cowan pull it off here with staggering success. Flags of Our Fathers brilliantly contrasts the result of two national symbols in conflict and united in mutual benefit with style and wit, and still manages to tell a tale of breathtaking power and fun. Read it now and see for yourself.
Â© 2010, 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

November 28, 2017November 27, 2017

Green Lantern/Green Arrow

By Dennis O’Neil & Neal Adams, with Elliot Maggin, Frank Giacoia, Dick Giordano, Dan Adkins, Berni Wrightson & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3517-8

After the successful revival of The Flash in 1956, DC (or National Comics as they then were) was keen to build on a seemingly resurgent superhero trend. Showcase #22 hit the stands at the same time as the fourth issue of the new Flash comicbook (#108 if you’re the kind who keeps count) with the architects of the Silver Age – editor Julie Schwartz, writer John Broome and artists Gil Kane & Joe Giella – providing a Space Age reworking of a Golden-Age superhero who battled injustice with a magic ring.

Super-science replaced mysticism as Hal Jordan, a young test pilot in California, was transported to the side of a dying alien policeman who had crashed on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his power-ring – a device which could materialise thoughts – to seek out a replacement ring-bearer; honest and without fear.

Scanning the planet, it had selected Jordan and brought him to an appointment with destiny. The dying alien bequeathed the ring, a lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his noble profession to the astonished Earthman.

Having established the characters, scenario and narrative thrust of the series that would become the spine of DC continuity, a universe of wonder was opened to wide-eyed readers of all ages. However, after barely a decade of earthly crime-busting, interstellar intrigue and spectacular science fiction shenanigans, the Silver Age Green Lantern became one of the earliest big-name casualties of the downturn in superhero sales in 1969, prompting Editor Schwartz to try something extraordinary to rescue the series.

The result was a bold experiment which created a fad for socially relevant, ecologically aware, mature stories which spread throughout DC’s costumed hero comics and beyond; totally revolutionising the industry and nigh-radicalising many readers.

Tapping relatively youthful superstars-in-waiting Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams to produce the revolutionary fare, Schwartz watched in fascinated disbelief as the resultant thirteen groundbreaking, landmark issues captured the tone of the times, garnering critical praise, awards and valuable publicity from the outside world, whilst simultaneously registering such poor sales that the series was finally cancelled anyway, with the heroes unceremoniously packed off to the back of marginally less-endangered comicbook The Flash.

America at his time was a bubbling cauldron of social turmoil and experimentation. Everyone and everything were challenged on principle, and with issue #76 of Green Lantern (April 1970 and the first issue of the new decade) O’Neil & Adams utterly redefined super-heroism with â€œIssuesâ€-driven stories transforming complacent establishment masked boy-scouts into uncertain, questioning champions and strident explorers of the enigma of America.

At least the Ring-Slinger was able to perceive his faults, and was more or less willing to listen to new ideasâ€¦

Reprinting the contents of Green Lantern #76-87, 89 – barring the all-reprint #88 – and the emerald back-up strips from The Flash #217-219 and 226, this crucial Trade Paperback (and eBook) compiles all the legendary and lauded landmark tales in one spectacular and unmissable volume.

It all kicks off with ‘No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia): a true benchmark of the medium, utterly reinventing the concept of the costumed crusader as newly-minted, freshly-bankrupted millionaire Oliver Queen challenges his Justice League comrade’s cosy worldview. All too soon the lofty space-cop painfully discovers real villains wear business suits, have expense accounts, hurt people just because of skin colour and will happily poison their own nests for short-term gainâ€¦

The specific villain du jour is a wealthy landlord whose treatment of his poverty-stricken tenants isn’t actually illegal but certainly is wickedly immoralâ€¦

Of course, the fact that this yarn is also a brilliantly devious crime-thriller with science-fiction overtones doesn’t exactly hurt eitherâ€¦

‘Journey to Desolation’ in #77 was every bit as groundbreaking.

At the conclusion of the #76 an immortal Guardian of the Universe – known as â€œthe Old Timerâ€ is assigned to accompany the Emerald Duo on a voyage to â€œdiscover Americaâ€: a soul-searching social exploration into the dichotomies which divide the nation – and a tremendously popular pastime for the nation’s disaffected citizens back then.

The first stop brought the trio to a poverty-stricken mining town run as a private kingdom by a ruthless entrepreneur happy to use agent-provocateurs and Nazi war criminals to keep his wage slaves in line. When a young protest singer looks likely to become the next Bob Dylan and draw unwelcome publicity, he has to be eliminated – as do the three strangers who drive into town at just the wrong momentâ€¦

Although the heroes provide temporary solutions and put away viciously human criminals, these tales were always carefully heavy-handed in exposing bigger ills and issues which couldn’t be fixed with a wave of a Green Ring; invoking an aura of helplessness that was metaphorically emphasised during this story when Hal is summarily stripped of much of his power for no longer being the willing, unquestioning stooge of his officious, high-and-mighty alien mastersâ€¦

The confused and merely-mortal Green Lantern discovers another unpalatable aspect of human nature in ‘A Kind of Loving, a Way of Death!’ when newly-widowed Black Canary joins the peripatetic cast. Seeking to renew her stalled relationship with Green Arrow, she is waylaid by bikers, grievously injured and taken in by a charismatic hippy guru.

Sadly, Joshua is more Manson than Messiah and his brand of Peace and Love only extends to white people: everybody else is simply target practiseâ€¦

The continuing plight of Native Americans was stunningly highlighted in ‘Ulysses Star is Still Alive!’ as corporate logging interests attempt to deprive a mountain tribe of their very last scraps of heritage, once more causing the Green Knights to take extraordinarily differing courses of action to helpâ€¦

GL/GA #80 then returns some science fictional gloss in a tale of judicial malfeasance when ‘Even an Immortal Can Die!’ (inked by Dick Giordano), after the Old Timer uses his powers to save Green Lantern rather than prevent a pollution catastrophe in the Pacific Northwest. For his selfish deed he is chastised by his fellow Guardians and dispatched to the planet Gallo for judgement by the supreme arbiters of Law in the universe.

His earthly friends accompany him there and find a disturbing new administration with a decidedly off-kilter view of justiceâ€¦

Adams’ staggering facility for capturing likenesses added extra-piquancy to this yarn that we’re just not equipped to grasp all these decades later, with the usurping, overbearing villain derived from the Judge of the infamous trial of anti-war protesters â€œThe Chicago Eightâ€.

Insight into the Guardians’ history underpins ‘Death Be My Destiny!’ when Lantern, Arrow and Canary travel with the now-sentenced and condemned Old Timer to the ancient planet Maltus (that’s a pun, son: just type Thomas Robert Malthus into your search engine of choice or even look in a book).

They arrive on a world literally choking on its own out-of-control population. The uncanny cause of the catastrophe casts an unlovely light on the perceived role and worth of women in modern societyâ€¦

On a more traditional note #82 enquired ‘How Do You Fight a Nightmare?’ (with additional inks from Bernie Wrightson) as Green Lantern’s greatest foe unleashes Harpies, Alien Amazons and all manner of female furies on the hapless hero before Black Canary and Green Arrow can turn the tide, all whilst asking a few extremely pertinent questions about women’s rightsâ€¦

‘â€¦And a Child Shall Destroy Them!’ crept into Hitchcock country to reintroduce Hal’s old flame Carol Ferris and take a pop at education and discipline in the chilling tale of a supernal mutant in thrall to a petty and doctrinaire little martinet with delusions of ethical and moral grandeur.

Wrightson also inked #84’s ‘Peril in Plastic’: a staggering attack on out-of-control consumerism, shoddy cost-cutting and the seduction of bread and circuses with costumed villain Black Hand just along for the polemical ride, after which the comics world changed forever in the two-part saga ‘Snowbirds Don’t Fly’ and ‘They Say It’ll Kill Meâ€¦But They Won’t Say When!’

Depiction of drug abuse had been strictly proscribed in comicbooks since the advent of the Comics Code Authority, but by 1971 the elephant in the room was too big to ignore and both Marvel and DC addressed the issue in startlingly powerful tales that opened Pandora’s dirty box forever. When the Green Gladiators are drawn into conflict with a vicious heroin-smuggling gang Oliver Queen is horrified to discover his own sidekick had become an addictâ€¦

This sordid, nasty tale did more than merely preach or condemn, but actively sought to explain why young people turned to drugs, just what the consequences could be and even hinted at solutions older people and parents might not want to consider. Forty-five years on it might all seem a little naÃ¯ve, but the earnest drive to do something and the sheer dark power of the story still delivers a stunning punch…

For all the critical acclaim and astonishingly innovative creative work done, sales of Green Lantern/Green Arrow were in a critical nosedive and nothing seemed able to stop the rot. Issue #87 featured two solo tales, the first of which ‘Beware My Power!’ introduced a bold new character to the DCU.

John Stewart is a radical activist: an angry black man always spoiling for a fight and prepared to take guff from no-one. Hal Jordan is convinced the Guardians have grievously erred when they appointed Stewart as Green Lantern’s official stand-in, but after seeing how his proposed substitute responds to an openly racist US presidential candidate trying to foment a race war the Emerald Gladiator is forced to change his tune.

Meanwhile, bankrupted millionaire Oliver Queen faces a difficult decision when the retiring Mayor of Star City invites him to run for his office. Written by Elliot Maggin ‘What Can One Man Do?’ poses fascinating questions for the proud rebel by inviting him to join â€œthe establishmentâ€ he despises, and actually do some lasting good. His decision is muddied by well-meaning advice from his fellow superheroes and the tragic consequences of a senseless street riotâ€¦

Issue #88 was a collection of reprints (not included here) but the title went out on an evocative, allegorical high note in #89 as ‘â€¦And Through Him Save a Worldâ€¦’ (inked by Adams) balances jobs and self-interest at Carol Ferris’ aviation company against clean air and pure streams in an naturalistic fable wherein an ecological Christ-figure makes the ultimate sacrifice to save our planet and where all the Green Heroes’ power cannot affect the tragic outcomeâ€¦

Although the groundbreaking series folded there, the heroics resumed a few months later in the back of The Flash #217 (August-September 1972). ‘The Killing of an Archer!’ opens a run of short episodes which eventually led to Green Lantern regaining his own solo series. The O’Neil, Adams & Giordano thriller relates how Green Arrow makes a fatal misjudgement and accidentally ends the life of a criminal he is battling. Devastated, the broken swashbuckler abandons his life and heads for the wilderness to atone or dieâ€¦

The next episode ramps up the tension as a plot against the Archer is uncovered by Green Lantern and Black Canary in ‘Green Arrow is Dead!’ whilst ‘The Fate of an Archer’ sees Canary critically injured and GL hunting down Oliver just in time to save her lifeâ€¦

Adams moved on to other projects then but returned for one last hurrah with O’Neil and Giordano in Flash #226 as ‘The Powerless Power Ring!’ reveals that the mightiest weapon in the universe is useless if the man wielding it is not up to the taskâ€¦

As well as these magnificent, still-challenging epics – superbly recoloured by Cory Adams and Jack Adler – this chronicle also reprints the seven all-new Adams covers created for a 1983 reprint miniseries and completing the experience of challenging tales of social injustice which signalled the end of comics’ Silver Age. This volume closed one chapter in the life of Green Lantern and opened the doors to today’s sleek and stellar sentinel of the stars. It’s ageless and evergreen and should have pride of place on every Fights ‘n’ Tights Fanboy’s most accessible bookshelf.
Â© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1983, 1992, 1993, 2012, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

November 26, 2017November 24, 2017

Popeye Classics volume 2

By Bud Sagendorf, edited and designed by Craig Yoe (Yoe Books/IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-61377-652-0Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â eISBN: 978-1-62302-415-4

There are few comic characters that have entered communal world consciousness, but a grizzled, bluff, uneducated, visually impaired old sailor with a speech impediment is possibly the most well-known of that select bunch.

Elzie Segar had been producing Thimble Theatre since December 19^th 1919, but when he introduced a coarse, brusque â€œsailor manâ€ into the everyday ongoing saga of Ham Gravy and Castor Oyl on January 29^th 1929, nobody suspected the giddy heights that walk-on would reachâ€¦

In 1924 Segar created a second daily strip The 5:15: a surreal domestic comedy featuring weedy commuter and would-be inventor John Sappo and his formidable wife Myrtle which endured – in one form or another – as a topper/footer-feature accompanying the main Sunday page throughout the author’s career. The feature even survived his untimely death, eventually becoming the trainee-playground of Popeye’s second great stylist: Bud Sagendorf.

After Segar’s far-too-premature death in 1938, Doc Winner, Tom Sims, Ralph Stein and Bela Zambouly all worked on the strip, even as the animated features brought Popeye to the entire world. Sadly, none of them had the eccentric flair and raw inventiveness that had put Thimble Theatre at the forefront of cartoon entertainmentsâ€¦

Born in 1915, Forrest â€œBudâ€ Sagendorf was barely 17 when his sister – who worked in the Santa Monica art store where Segar bought his supplies – introduced the kid to the master who became his teacher and employer as well as a father-figure. In 1958, Sagendorf took over the strip and all the merchandise design, becoming Popeye’s prime originatorâ€¦

When Sagendorf became the Go-To Guy, his loose, rangy style and breezy scripts brought the strip itself back to the forefront of popularity and made reading it cool and fun all over again. He wrote and drew Popeye in every graphic arena for 24 years.

He died in 1994 and was succeeded by â€œUndergroundâ€ cartoonist Bobby London.

Bud had been Segar’s assistant and apprentice, and – from 1948 onwards – exclusive writer and illustrator of Popeye’s comicbook adventures in a regular monthly title published by America’s king of licensed periodicals, Dell Comics.

When Popeye first appeared, he was a rude, crude brawler: a gambling, cheating, uncivilised ne’er-do-well. He was soon exposed as the ultimate working-class hero: raw and rough-hewn, practical, but with an innate, unshakable sense of what’s fair and what’s not; a joker who wanted kids to be themselves – but not necessarily â€œgoodâ€ – and someone who took no guff from anyoneâ€¦

Naturally, as his popularity grew Popeye mellowed somewhat. He was still ready to defend the weak and had absolutely no pretensions or aspirations to rise above his fellows but the shocking sense of dangerous unpredictability and comedic anarchy he initially provided was sorely missedâ€¦ but not in Sagendorf’s comicbook yarnsâ€¦

Collected in their entirety in this beguiling full-colour hardback (also available in a digital edition) are issues #5-9 of the Popeye comicbooks produced by the irrepressible Bud, collectively spanning February/March to October/November 1949.

The stunning, seemingly stream-of-consciousness stories are preceded by an effusively appreciative Foreword – ‘Society of Sagendorks’ – by inspired aficionado, historian and publisher Craig Yoe and a fabulous collation of candid photos, strip proofs, original art and designs, foreign edition covers and greetings cards in another ‘Bud Sagendorf Scrapbook’.

Popeye‘s fantastic first issue launched in February 1948, with no ads and duo-coloured (black & red) single-page strips on the inside front and back covers – which were always dynamic, surreal, silent sight gags of incredible whimsy and ingenuity.

We rejoin the parade of laughs and thrills one year later with #5 and a single-page duel of wits between Popeye and master moocher Wellington J. Wimpy over the price of water before main event ‘Moon Goon! or Goon on the Moon! or The Man in the Moon is a Goon!’ espies the scrappy sailor-man hired in dishonest circumstances to pilot a ship to our nearest celestial neighbour.

Once there, he and Wimpy meet a number of incredible races, discover the origins of their unsightly associate Alice the Goon and enjoy an astounding and perilous new means of locomotion to get them back down to Earthâ€¦

Short prose stories were a staple of these comics and ‘Swee’ Pea‘s Dip in the Dark!’ details a frantic scramble for survival after the mighty muscled, irrepressible â€œinfinkâ€ falls overboard during a sudden squall at sea, after which cartoon hilarity ensues as Wimpy tests the patience and resolve of diner chef Rough House in ‘Another Day, Another Breakfast!’ before deciding to grow his own burgers by raising cattleâ€¦

The interior end page then sees Olive Oyl fall foul of Swee’ Pea’s boisterous playtime whilst the full-colour back cover gag sees the little lad get down and dirty defending his pocket moneyâ€¦

Sporting a shark-themed cover #6 (April/May 1949) opens with a monochrome Popeye short involving bad dreams before lengthy sea-borne saga ‘Raft! or It’s a Long Drift Home! or Rafts are Boats, But Not So Comfortable!’ depicts Swee’ Pea and playmate Hink jerry-build a dubious wooden vessel and disappear down the river and out into the oceanâ€¦

When piratical rogue Captain Zato picks up the soggy waifs he thinks he has the secret of controlling Popeye and gaining vast wealth, but he’s made a terrible mistakeâ€¦

‘Pappy Doesn’t Tell a Story!’ offers a prose poser as Popeye’s salty sire Poopdeck adamantly refuses to lull Swee’ Pea with a bedtime tale, after which that ravenous finagler J. W. Wimpy stars in ‘A Story of Hunger and Desert Madness entitled Food! Food! or May I Borrow Your Duck, Mister?’ dumped in a desert for his usual parsimonious behaviour (fare-dodging on a locomotive). As starvation looms, the chiseller encounters owlhoot bandit Terrific Tension and a grim battle begins for possession of the cowboy’s most treasured possession – a ham sandwichâ€¦

A Popeye and Olive end-page reveals how to keep the picnic dry before #7 (June/July) opens with a similar jape starring Wimpy bamboozling the overconfident Sailor-man. Then, in dazzling full-colour, ‘Help! or Sailor, Save My Baby!’ finds our grizzled hero acting as bodyguard to a millionaire’s little girl. Sadly, Olive is not happy since the precious Miss Pat Goldhold is old enough to pose a matrimonial threat, and is almost glad when thieves and a hulking man-monster turn up to rob herâ€¦

After getting the notion that people only like him because he’s tougher than them, Popeye feigns weakness and hosts a ‘Surprize Party!’ to test his theory. The result is quite an eye-opener and segues into text tale ‘Swee’ Pea and the Hungry Lady!‘ with Wimpy resorting to drag to steal provender from a babyâ€¦

The master moocher exhibits even greater guile in ‘A Tale of Brains vs. Work entitled Who Won? or The Fleeter of Foot Emerges Victorious!’, again fooling Rough House and his customers with the old raffle dodge, before a Popeye closing gag finds Olive learning the finer points of manners from her brawling beauâ€¦

Issue #8 (August/September) sees the opener-strip back in black & red as Popeye decides Swee’ Pea’s new kite might a bit big for him, after which ‘On the House’ finds the sailor and the skiver go into business together as hamburger vendors. Happily, Swee’ Pea is on hand and on guard to ensure Wimpy’s carnivorous instincts are kept under controlâ€¦

Sagendorf took his japery with alternate appellations to extreme limits with ‘I Am the Mayor!’) but I’m not playing anymore so just buy the book if you want to see the tale’s other titles) but the comedy is even sharper than usual as Swee’ Pea races across America to substitute for Popeye and save the town of Boghill from bullying entrepreneur and arms dealer Bull Brancoâ€¦

‘Quiet Please’ offers prose diversions as the bombastic baby attempts to fix Poopdeck’s hammock and ensure a good night’s sleep for the veteran mariner after which Sagendorf’s old strip charges ‘Sappo and Wotasnozzle’ unexpectedly resurface. Here henpecked oaf John Sappo once more allows his mad scientist lodger Professor Wotasnozzle to make him a pasty after sampling the bonkers boffin’s food stretching breakfast additive. Of course, it’s not just the meal that elongates exponentiallyâ€¦

Black and white and red all over the Popeye and Olive Oyl end-page reveals the sailor’s breaking point when being asked to constantly rearrange furniture before the last issue in this outrageous compendium (#9, October/November) opens with the first half of the prose tale as opener. ‘Black Jack’ reveals the sheer stupidity of telling a kid like Swee’ Pea pirate stories at bedtime before main cartoon feature ‘Misermites! or I’d Rather Have Termites!’ details how the peaceful coastal town of Seawet is plagued by an invasion plundering dwarves. When the petty pilferers vanish back to their island with Swee’ Pea as part of their spoils, Popeye and Wimpy give chase and end up battling a really, really big secret weaponâ€¦

Then ‘Presenting John Sappo and the Experiment of the Sound Pills!’ finds the goony-eye genius and his long-suffering stooge enduring the gibes of Sappo’s little nephew and respond in typical over-the-top fashion after which the concluding part of ‘Black Jack’ wraps up this particular nautical compendium.

There is more than one Popeye. Most of them are pretty good, and some are truly excellent. This book is definitely top tier and if you love lunacy, laughter, frantic fantasy and rollicking adventure you must add this treasure trove of wonder to your collection.
Popeye Classics volume 2 Â© 2013 Gussoni-Yoe Studio, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Popeye Â© 2013 King Features Syndicate. â„¢ Heart Holdings Inc.

November 22, 2017November 21, 2017

The Complete James Bond: OCTOPUSSY – the Classic Comic Strip Collection 1966-1969

By Ian Fleming, Jim Lawrence & Yaroslav Horak (Titan Books)
ISBN: 987-1-78565-325-4

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Truly Traditional Licence to Thrillâ€¦ 9/10

There are sadly few British newspaper strips that can rival the influence and impact of the classic daily and Sunday â€œfunniesâ€ from America, especially in the field of adventure fiction. The 1930’s and 1940’s were particularly rich in popular, not to say iconic, creations and you’d be hard-pressed to come up with household names to rival Popeye, Dick Tracy or Flash Gordon, let alone Blondie, Little Orphan Annie or Popeye – and yes, I know I said him twice, but Elzie Segar’s Thimble Theatre was funny as well as thrilling, constantly innovative, and really, really good. You should really read them if you haven’t yetâ€¦

What can you recall for simple popularity let alone longevity or quality in Britain? Rupert Bear? Absolutely. Giles? Technically, yes. Nipper? Jane? Garth? I’d hope so, but I doubt it. The Empire didn’t quite get it until it wasn’t an empire any more. There were certainly many wonderful strips being produced: well-written and beautifully drawn, but that stubborn British reserve just didn’t seem to be in the business of creating household names.

Until the 1950’sâ€¦

Something happened in the Britain of the New Elizabethans – and I’m not going to waste any space here discussing it. It just did. Now we’re moving on.

In a new spirit that seemed to crave excitement and accept the previously disregarded, comics got carried along on the wave. Eagle, Lion, the regenerated Beano and girls’ comics in general all shifted into visually receptive high gearâ€¦ and so did daily newspapers at a time when print was everyone’s major source of staying in touch with the world…

Thanks to another canny and comforting luxury repackaging – just in time for the Christmas presents rush! – I can once more communally reminisce about one of British strip-cartooning’s greatest triumphs, since Titan Books have a new addition to their line of lavish, oversized (294 x 277 mm) monochrome compilations of Ian Fleming’s immortal James Bond.

Debut 007 novel Casino Royale was published in 1953 and subsequently serialised in the Daily Express from 1958: initiating a sequence of paperback novel adaptations scripted by Anthony Hern, Henry Gammidge, Peter O’Donnell and Kingsley Amis before Jim Lawrence (a jobbing writer for American features who had previously scripted the aforementioned Buck Rogers) signed on for The Man with the Golden Gun to complete the transfer of the authorial canon to strip format.

When that mission was accomplished, Lawrence was invited to create new adventures, which he did until the strip’s ultimate demise in 1983.

Illustration of the feature was always of the highest standard. Initially John McLusky provided art the until 1966’s conclusion of You Only Live Twice and – although perhaps lacking in vivacity – the workmanlike clarity of his drawing easily coped with the astonishing variety of locales, technical set-ups and sheer immensity of cast membersâ€¦

He was succeeded by Yaroslav Horak, who also debuted on Golden Gun; instituting a looser, edgier style, at once more cinematic and with a closer attention to camera angle and frenzied action that seemed to typify the high-octane vim and verve of the 1960’s. Horak illustrated 26 complete adventures until 1977 when The Daily Express ceased carrying Bond and the then-running case suddenly switched to The Sunday Express (from January 30^th until conclusion on May 22^nd).

Here, however, the heady brew of adventure, sex, intrigue and death is at an all-time high in this addictively accessible fourth volume which finds the creators on top form as they reveal how the world’s greatest agent never rests in his mission to keep us all free, safe and highly entertainedâ€¦

The frantic derring-do and dark, deadly last-ditch double-dealings commence once superstar screenplay writers Neal Purvis & Robert Wade (The World is Not Enough; Die Another Day; Casino Royale; Quantum of Solace; Skyfall and Spectre as well as Johnny English) share some secrets and observations in their Introduction ‘Adapting Bond’.

Then ‘Octopussy’ (Daily Express 14^th November 1966 – 27^th May 1967) unfolds: a classic Ian Fleming tale. Originally a short story, under the skilful hands of Lawrence & Horak, a simple smuggling caper in the West Indies blossoms into a complex tale of Nazi Gold, murdered agents and exotic deaths in exotic locales as Bond pits his wits against deplorable rogue Major Smytheâ€¦.

Bowing to the wave of popularity caused by the blockbuster films of the time, there are even a few Q Branch gadgets on offer. Horak excels at the extended underwater sequences and the action is frenetic and non-stop. Moreover, thanks to the enlarged landscape pages of this edition, every picturesque detail is there to be drooled overâ€¦

The sea also plays a major role in ‘The Hildebrand Rarity’ (29^th May – 16^th December 1967) which details the true fate of a new Royal Navy robot weapon which seemingly fails but has in fact been stolen by flamboyant millionaire and career sadist Milton Krest. At his most dashing undercover best, Bond infiltrates the wealthy sicko’s glamorous circle in a terrific tale full of innovation and intrigue. You won’t believe how many ways there are to kill with fish!

Having exhausted Fleming’s accumulated prose canon, all-original material begins with ‘The Harpies’ (4^th October 1968 – 23^rd June 1969) as Bond adopts he persona of ex-copper Mark Hazard to infiltrate defence contractor Simon Nero‘s factory and rescue a kidnapped scientist whilst seeking to end the depredations of a deadly gang of female flying bandits.

Here Horak’s extreme design style and dynamic lines impart tremendous energy to scenes that must labour under the incredibly difficult restrictions of the 3-panel-a-day newspaper format.

Wrapping up the sinister espionage shenanigans is Lawrence’s second addition to 007 lore – and what a cracker it is! In ‘River of Death’ (24^th June – 29^th November 1969) Bond must penetrate the Amazon River stronghold of a maniacal oriental scientist and former Red Chinese torturer Dr. Cat. This latest madman is supplying trained animals to international criminals for the purposes of robbery, espionage and murderâ€¦

Horak’s intense illustration is approaching a career peak here and easily copes with action, mood, cutting edge science, beautiful women and exotic locales as diverse as the Alps, sultry Rain Forests, London’s underworld and Rio de Janeiro at Carnival time.

James Bond is the ultimate secret agent. You all know that and have – thanks to the multi-media empire that has grown up around Ian Fleming’s masterful creation – your own vision of what he looks like and what he does. That’s what dictates how you respond to the latest movie, game or novel. Here, however, is James Bond at his suave and savage best and as close to his original conception and roots as you will ever find.

Fast, furious action, masses of moody menace, sharply clever dialogue and a wealth of exotic locales and ladies make this an unmissable adjunct to the Bond mythos and a collection no fan can do without. After all, nobody does it betterâ€¦

Octopussy Â© Ian Fleming Publications Ltd/Express Newspapers Ltd 1966. The Hildebrand Rarity Â© Ian Fleming Publications Ltd/Express Newspapers Ltd 1967. The Harpies Â© Ian Fleming Publications Ltd/Express Newspapers Ltd 1969. River of Death Â© Ian Fleming Publications Ltd/Express Newspapers Ltd. 1969. James Bond and 007 are â„¢ of Danjaq LLC used under licence by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
The Complete James Bond: OCTOPUSSY – the Classic Comic Strip Collection 1966-1969 will be published on November 24^th and is available for pre-order now.

November 20, 2017November 17, 2017

The Adventures of Red Sonja volume 1

By Roy Thomas, Bruce Jones, Frank Thorne, Dick Giordano, Esteban Maroto, Neal Adams, Ernie Chan & various (Dynamite Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-1-93330-507-3

Once upon a time, girls expertly wielding swords and kicking butt were rarer than politicians who respected personal boundaries. These days, though, it seems no lady’s ensemble is complete without a favourite pig-sticker and accompanying armour accessories. You can probably trace that trend back to one breakthrough comics characterâ€¦

Although Diana Prince, Valkyrie and Asgardian goddess Sif all used bladed weapons none of them ever wracked up a bodycount you’d expect or believe until ‘The Song of Red Sonja’ (Conan the Barbarian #23, February 1973, drawn, inked and coloured by Barry Windsor-Smith) introduced a dark-eyed hellion to the world.

The tale became one of the most popular and reprinted stories of the decade, winning that year’s Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards in the Best Individual Story (Dramatic) category.

Although based on Robert E. Howard’s Russian warrior-woman Red Sonya of Rogatine (as seen in the 16^th century-set thriller The Shadow of the Vulture, with a smidgen of Dark Agnes de Chastillon thrown into the mix) the comicbook Red Sonja is very much the brainchild of Roy Thomas.

In his Introduction ‘A Fond Look Back at Big Red’ he shares many secrets of her convoluted genesis, development and achievements as part of this first archival collection (available in trade paperback and digital editions) of her Marvel Comics appearances.

Released at a time when the accepted wisdom was that comics starring women didn’t sell, Marvel Feature (volume 2) was launched to capitalise on a groundswell of popular interest stemming from Sonja’s continuing guest shots in Conan stories. This initial compilation collects issues #1-7 (November 1975-November 1975) and opens with a then scarce-seen reprintâ€¦

Sonja graduated from cameo queen to her first solo role in a short eponymous tale scripted by Thomas and illustrated by Esteban Maroto, Neal Adams, Ernie Chan in the first issue of the black-&-white, mature-reader Savage Sword of Conan magazine cover-dated August 1974. Colourised (by Jose Villarrubia) and edited, it filled out the premier generally-distributed Marvel Feature, revealing in sumptuous style how the wandering mercenary undertook a mission for King Ghannif of Pah-Dishah: a task which led to her first meeting with Conan and one for which she was promised the potentate’s most treasured gift. When that turned out to be a position as his next wife, Sonja’s response was swift and sharpâ€¦

That captivating catch-up yarn leads to ‘The Temple of Abomination’ (Thomas & Dick Giordano) as the restless warrior stumbles upon a lost church dedicated to ancient, debauched gods and saves a dying priest of Mitra from further torture at the hands of monstrous beast-menâ€¦

MF #2 saw the last piece of Red Sonja’s ascendancy fall into place when Frank Thorne signed on as illustrator.

Thorne is one of the most individualistic talents in American comics. Born in 1930, he began his comics career drawing romances for Standard Comics beside the legendary Alex Toth before graduating to better paid newspaper strips. He illustrated Perry Mason for King Features Syndicate and at Dell/Gold Key he drew Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim and The Green Hornet, as well as the first few years of seminal sci-fi classic Mighty Samson.

At DC he produced compelling work on Tomahawk and Son of Tomahawk before being hired by Roy Thomas at Marvel to illustrate his (belated) breakthrough stripâ€¦ Red Sonja. Forever-after connected with feisty, earthy, highly sexualised women, in 1978 Thorne created outrageously bawdy (some say vulgar) swordswoman Ghita of Alizarr for Warren’s adult science fantasy anthology 1984/1994 as well as such adult satirical strips as Moonshine McJugs for Playboy and Danger Rangerette for National Lampoon.

He has won the National Cartoonists Award for comic books, an Inkpot Award and a Playboy Editorial Award.

Applying his loose, vigorous style and frenetic design sense to a meticulously plotted script from Bruce Jones, Thorne hit the ground running with ‘Blood of the Hunter’ wherein Sonja tricks formidable rival Rejak the Tracker out of a mysterious golden key. She has tragically unleashed a whirlwind or torment, however, as the hunter remorselessly stalks her, butchering everyone she befriends and driving her to the brink of death before she finally confronts him one last timeâ€¦

Issue #3 reveals the secret of the golden key after Sonja takes some very bad advice from an old wise-woman and reawakens a colossal death-engine from an earlier age in ‘Balek Lives!’, after which the mercenary’s endless meanderings bring her to a village terrorised by a mythological predator. However, when she looks into the ‘Eyes of the Gorgon’ she discovers that the most merciless monsters are merely humanâ€¦

That same lesson is repeated when ‘The Bear God Walks’, but after joining a profitable bounty hunt for a marauding beast, Sonja and her temporary comrades soon find that fake horrors can inadvertently summon up real onesâ€¦

With Marvel Feature #6, Roy Thomas returned as scripter and immediately set up a crossover with Conan and his then-paramour pirate queen BÃªlit.

Although the concomitant issues of Conan the Barbarian (#66-68) aren’t reproduced here the story is constructed in such a way that most readers won’t notice a thing amissâ€¦

Thus, ‘Beware the Sacred Sons of Set’ finds Sonja – after routing a pack of jackal-headed humanoid assailants – commissioned by Karanthes, High Priest of the Ibis God, to secure a magical page torn from mystic grimoire the Iron-Bound Book of Skelos in demon-haunted Stygia. She is barely aware of an unending war between ancient deities, or that old colleague and rival Conan is similarly seeking the arcane artefactâ€¦

After clashing repeatedly with her rivals and defeating numerous beasts and terrors, Sonja believes she has gained the upper hand in ‘The Battle of the Barbarians’, but there is more at stake than any doughty warrior can imagineâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

Topped off with a full colour-remastered cover gallery by Gil Kane and Frank Thorne, this is a bold and bombastic treat for fantasy action fans of all ages, genders or persuasions.
RED SONJAÂ® and related logos, characters, names and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Red Sonja Corporation unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved.

November 17, 2017November 15, 2017

In the Days of The Mob

By Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, Mike Royer Sergio AragonÃ©s & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4079-0

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: An Ideal Alternative to Any Movie Blockbusterâ€¦ 9/10

There’s a magnificent abundance of Jack Kirby collections around these days (though still not every single thing he ever did, so I remain a partially disgruntled fan) and this sturdy oversized hardback re-presents the complete â€œKing’s Canonâ€ of one his most personal – yet subsequently misunderstood and mishandled – DC projects.

Famed for his larger than life characters and gigantic, cosmic imaginings, â€œKingâ€ Kirby was an astute, spiritual man who had lived through poverty, gangsterism, the Depression and World War II – all grist for his imaginative mill and the basis for this particular publishing project.

He saw Post-War optimism, Cold War paranoia, political cynicism and the birth and death of peace-seeking counter-cultures. He was open-minded and utterly wedded to the making of comics stories on every imaginable subject.

On returning from World War II, with his long-term creative partner Joe Simon, he created the entire genre of Romance comics for the Crestwood/Prize publishing outfit. Prior to that, however, Joe and Jack plundered history books and the daily papers to craft a raft of edgy, adulted oriented crime thrillers for titles such as Headline Comics, Real Clue Crime Stories and Justice Traps the Guilty. The genre was one they made uniquely their ownâ€¦

Changing tastes and an anti-crime, anti-horror witch-hunt quashed the comics industry, so under a doctrinaire, self-inflicted conduct code, publishers stopped innovating and moved into more anodyne areas. This established holding pattern persisted until the rebirth of superheroes.

Working at a little outfit dubbed â€œAtlasâ€, Jack partnered with Stan Lee and when superheroes were revived, astounded the world with a salvo of new concepts and characters that revitalised if not actually saved the comics business.

Kirby understood the fundamentals of pleasing his audience and always toiled diligently to combat the appalling state of prejudice about the type-and-picture medium – especially from insiders and professionals who despised the â€œkiddies’ worldâ€ they felt trapped in.

However, after a decade or so, costumed characters again began to wane. Public interest in genre topics and the supernatural was building, with books, television and movies all exploring the subjects in gripping and stylish new ways.

The Comics Code Authority was even ready to slacken its censorious choke-hold on horror titles to save the entire industry from implosion as the 1960s superhero boom fizzled out.

Experiencing increasing editorial stonewalling and creative ennui at Marvel, in 1970 Kirby accepted a long-standing offer from arch rival National Periodical Publications AKA DC Comicsâ€¦

Before he was let loose on DC’s continuity with his epic, controversial, grandiose Fourth World project Kirby looked for other concepts which would stimulate his vast creativity and still appeal to an increasingly fickle market. General interest in the supernatural was rising, and America was enjoying a protracted love affair with period gangster yarns thanks to shows like The Untouchables, and books and movies such as The Godfather and Bonnie and Clydeâ€¦

Promised freedom to innovate, one of the first projects he tackled was a new magazine format carrying material targeting adult readerships. He devised Spirit World – a supernatural-themed, adult-oriented monochrome magazine – and sister title In the Days of the Mob, dedicated to revisiting the heady era when crime ran wild in America.

For the full story of how that worked out, you can read Mark Evanier’s acerbic article in companion volume Jack Kirby’s Spirit World. The net result of constant editorial cowardice and backsliding was that Kirby and his small team were left to create magazines that DC didn’t promote or support and cancelled even before they hit the news-stands.

After decades of obscurity the work was at last gathered into two glorious and oversized (282 x 212 mm) hardback compilations, each collecting the superb but poorly received and largely undistributed first issues launched in the summer of 1971, plus whatever remained of the unpublished second issues.

In the Days of the Mob #1-and-only was released with no discernible marks or connections to DC/National Comics with a September 1971 cover-date through a subsidiary called Hamilton Distribution and vanished without trace. The historical details plus other contextual treasures are provided in ‘Crime and Punishment Pinball: An Introduction by John Morrow’ wherein the esteemed historian, collector and publisher describes the state of play in the Bad Old Days, before the comics wonderment begins.

Ghetto-kid Kirby used his own childhood experiences to flavour the graphic reconstructions of the explosive careers of legendary gangsters and this long-awaited revival In the Days of the Mob forsakes continuity in favour of plot and mood-driven tales related by a sinister narrator-host.

Printed in redolent sepia monotones, the premier issue combined comics stories (because DC wouldn’t spring for colour photography) with prose and monochrome â€œFoto-Featuresâ€, all furiously fuelled by the King’s unique perspective.

Inked by Vince Colletta the stories were journalistic biographs delivered with a supernatural twist as the stories came direct from the horse’s mouth from the Ultimate Big House as seen in ‘Welcome to Hell!’ which introduced the sardonic Warden Fry, gatekeeper of a hell made especially for mobsters and murderers.

The first of Fry’s cautionary tales is ‘Ma’s Boys’, detailing the rise and fall of the infamous Barker bandit clan and their psychopathic domineering mother, after which ‘Bullets for Big Al’ offers just one little snippet from a modern mythology packed with atrocious acts of violence.

Featurette ‘The Breeding Ground’ then provides a word-&-photo snapshot of the era’s poverty and privations whilst text article ‘Funeral for a Florist’ by Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman describes the war between Capone and Johnny Torrio for control of Prohibition-era Chicago, after which graphic action resumes with the lowdown on the ‘Kansas City Massacre’ of FBI agents which made Pretty Boy Floyd a legend and Public Enemy No. 1.

Obsessive angler Country Boy is caught by examining his ‘Method of Operation’ before Sergio AragonÃ©s lightens the mood with two pages of gangster gags in ‘Killjoy was Here’ and the criminal capers conclude with a reproduction of the ‘John Dillinger Wanted Poster’ that came free with the original magazine.

Comics need a huge amount of creative lead-in and preparation and by the time Kirby learned the title was scrubbed the second issue was all but complete. Here, for the first time fans can now see how the magazine might have developed as – inked by Mike Royer and printed in standard black line – the majority of that unpublished material follows.

Leading off is a salutary moment with Warden Fry and a double-page spread starring Hitler before the bloody vendetta between Brooklyn brothers Meyer, Willie and Irving Shapiro and aspiring mobster Kid Twist led to the creation of organised crime in the form of ‘Murder Inc.’

Devised as a full-length account the story diverts to describe ‘The Ride!’ as Twist orders his pet goons to get rid of a stool-pigeon giving information to up-&-coming lawman Thomas E. Deweyâ€¦

Another diversion follows as Kirby details ‘the Colorful, Beautiful, Pragmatic, Inscrutable, Ladies of the Gang!’ revealing how Mrs. Tootsie, Miss Murder Inc., The Kiss of Death Girl and the Decent Kid make the best of life as attendants (willing or otherwise) of men with a price on their heads, before the saga comes to savage end in ‘A Room for Kid Twist!’

Wrapping things up is a rare comedy outing for Kirby as he postulates a variety of technical innovations crooks might benefit from in an outlandish catalogue of ‘Modern Technology and the Getaway Car!’

Jack Kirby always was and remains a unique and uncompromising artistic force of nature: his words and pictures are an unparalleled, hearts-&-minds grabbing delight no comics lover could resist. If you’re not a fan or simply not prepared to see for yourself what all the fuss has been about then no words of mine will change your mind.

That doesn’t alter the fact that Kirby’s work shaped the entire American scene and indeed the entire comics planet – affecting the lives of billions of readers and thousands of creators in all areas of artistic endeavour for generations. He’s still winning new fans and apostles, from the young and naive to the most cerebral of intellectuals. In this, his centenary year, Jack’s work is still instantly accessible, irresistibly visceral, deceptively deep whilst simultaneously mythic and human.

Wherever your tastes take you, his creations will be there ready and waiting. So, if cops and robbers are your bag, it would a crime to miss out on these classic treasures.
Â© 1971, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

November 14, 2017November 13, 2017

Batman: Harley and Ivy The Deluxe Edition

By Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Ty Templeton, Shane Glines, Dan DeCarlo, Ronnie Del Carmen, Rick Burchett, StÃ©phane Roux & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6080-4

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Psychosis and Spice and Everything Niceâ€¦ 9/10

Created by Paul Dini & Bruce Timm, Batman: The Animated Series aired in the US from September 5^th 1992 to September 15^th 1995. Ostensibly for kids, the breakthrough TV animation series revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and immediately began feeding back into the print iteration, leading to some of the absolute best comicbook tales in the hero’s many decades of existence.

Employing a timeless visual style dubbed â€œDark Decoâ€, the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power, tone or mood of the premise, reshaped the grim avenger and his extended team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and panache that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object toâ€¦

The series offered a superbly innovative retro makeover for many classics super-villains and even added one unexpected candidate to the Rogues Gallery. Harley Quinn wasn’t supposed to be a starâ€¦ or even an actual comicbook character. As would soon become apparent, however, the manic minx had her own off-kilter ideas on the matterâ€¦

Harley was first seen as the Clown Prince of Crime’s slavishly adoring, abuse-enduring assistant in Joker’s Favor (airing on September 11^th 1992) where she instantly captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers.

From there on she began popping up in the licensed comicbook and – always stealing the show – infiltrated mainstream DC comicbook continuity and into her own title. Along the way a flash of inspired brilliance led to her forming a unique relationship with toxic floral siren and plant-manipulating eco-terrorist Poison Ivyâ€¦ a working partnership that delivered a bounty of fabulously funny-sexy yarnsâ€¦

Collecting the eponymous 3-issue miniseries from 2004 plus Batman Adventures Annual #1 (1994), Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1 (1995), Batman and Robin Adventures #8 (July 1996), Batgirl Adventures #1 (1998) and material from Batman: Gotham Knights #14 (April 2001) and Batman Black and White #3 (2014) this deluxe hardback (and eBook) is an amazing cornucopia of comic treasures to delight young and old alike.

It begins with a global-spanning romp written by Dini, illustrated by Timm & Shane Glines from Batman: Harley & Ivy #1-3 as the ‘Bosom Buddies’ have a spat that wrecks half of Gotham before escaping to the Amazon together to take over a small country responsible for much of the region’s deforestation and spreading a heady dose of ‘Jungle Fever!’.

Once Batman gets involved the story suddenly shifts to Hollywood and the very last word in creative commentary on Superheroes in the movie business as ‘Hooray for Harleywood!’ delivers showbiz a devastating body blow it can never recover fromâ€¦.

As we all know, Harley is (literally) insanely besotted with killer clown The Joker and next up Dini, Dan DeCarlo & Timm wordlessly expose her profound weakness for that so very bad boy as she’s released from Arkham Asylum only to be seduced back into committing crazy crimes and stuck back in the pokey again, all in just ’24 Hours’â€¦

‘The Harley and the Ivy’ comes from Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1 wherein Dini and Ronnie Del Carmen depict the larcenous ladies going on an illicit shopping spree after kidnapping Bruce Wayne thanks to a dose of Ivy’s mind-warping kissesâ€¦

‘Harley and Ivy andâ€¦ Robin’ (Batman and Robin Adventures #8, by Dini, Ty Templeton & illustrator Rick Burchett) features more of the same except here the bamboozled sidekick becomes an ideal Boy Toy Wonder: planning their crimes, giving soothing foot-rubs and bashing Batman until a little moment of green-eyed jealously spoils the perfect set-upâ€¦

Batgirl Adventures #1 was the original seasonal setting for ‘Oy to the World’ (Dini & Burchett) as plucky teen Babs Gordon chases thieving thrill-seeking Harley through Gotham’s festive streets and alleys only to eventually team up with the jaunty jester to save Ivy from murderous Yakuza super-assassins.

Batman: Gotham Knights #14 yielded up brilliantly dark but saucily amusing tale ‘The Bet’ written by Dini and illustrated by Del Carmen. Incarcerated once more in Arkham, the Joker’s frustrated paramour and irresistible, intoxicatingly lethal Ivy indulge in a little wager to pass the time: namely, who can kiss the most men whilst remaining in custody. This razor-sharp little tale manages to combine innocent sexiness with genuine sentiment, and still packs a killer punch-line after the Harlequin of Hate unexpectedly pops inâ€¦

The madcap glamour-fest finishes with a moment of monochrome suspense as ‘Role Models’ (Dini & StÃ©phane Roux) sees a little girl escape her manic kidnapper and find sanctuary of a sort with the pilfering odd coupleâ€¦

DC Comics sat on a goldmine of quality product for years but now they’re finally unleashing a blizzard of all-ages collections and graphic novels such as this one: child-friendly iterations of their key characters all stemming from the Paul Dini/Bruce Timm Batman series. These adventures are consistently some of the best comics produced of the last three decades and should be eternally permanently in print, if only as a way of attracting new young readers to the medium.

Batman: Harley and Ivy is a frantic, laugh-packed hoot that manages to be daring and demure by turns. An absolute delight, well worth the price of admission and an irresistible seasonal treasure to be enjoyed over and over again.
Â© 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2014, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

November 13, 2017November 12, 2017

Ms. Marvel Masterworks volume 2

By Chris Claremont, Simon Furman, Jim Shooter, George PÃ©rez, Bob Layton, David Michelinie, Jim Mooney, Carmine Infantino, Dave Cockrum, Mike Vosburg, Mike Gustovich, Michael Golden, David Ross & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9575-7

Until relatively recently American comics and especially Marvel had very little in the way of positive female role models and almost no viable solo stars. Although there was a woman starring in the very first comic of the Marvel Age, Invisible Girl Susan Storm took years to become a potent and independent character in her own right. They’ve come a long way since thenâ€¦

Ms. Marvel launched in her own title, cover-dated January 1977. She was followed by the equally copyright-protecting Spider-Woman in Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977, and securing her own title 15 months later) and Savage She-Hulk (#1, February 1980). Then came the music-biz sponsored Dazzler who premiered in Uncanny X-Men #130 the same month, before inevitably graduating to her own book.

Once upon a time Ms. Marvel was Carol Danvers, a United States Air Force security officer. She was first seen in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March 1968): the second episode of the saga of Kree warrior Mar-Vell AKA Captain Marvel, who had been dispatched to Earth as a spy after the Fantastic Four repulsed the alien Kree twice in two monthsâ€¦

That series was written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Gene Colan with the immensely competent Carol perpetually investigating Mar-Vell’s assumed and tenuous cover-identity of Walter Lawson for many months.

This was until Danvers was collateral damage in a devastating battle between the now-defecting alien and his nemesis Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel#18 (November 1969).

Caught in a climactic explosion of alien technology, she pretty much vanished from sight until revived as and in Ms. Marvel #1 (January 1977), heralding a new chapter for the company and the industryâ€¦

This second sturdy hardcover volume (or enthralling eBook if you prefer), collects Ms. Marvel volume 1#15-23, relevant portions of Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11, Avengers #197-200, Avengers Annual #10 and material from Marvel Fanfare #24, circuitously spanning March 1978 to October 1992, and leads off with an effusive Introduction from latter-day Danvers writer Kelly Sue DeConnick before the game-changing dramas commenceâ€¦

Never having fully recovered from her near-death experience, Danvers had left the military and drifted into writing, slowly growing in confidence before relocating to New York City to work for publisher J. Jonah Jameson on his new project Woman Magazine.

During this time Carol learned that she had gained Kree-based abilities, psychic powers and partial amnesia: creating the role of Ms. Marvel without her own knowledge. Eventually her personality split was healed and she became a fully conscious and ferociously competent costumed championâ€¦

With Chris Claremont scripting and Jim Mooney & Tony DeZuÃ±iga providing the art, ‘The Shark is a Very Deadly Beast!’ opens this edition as the two-fisted titan clashes with undersea villain Tiger Shark. The action begins after Carol stumbles over him abducting the Sub-Mariner‘s teenaged cousin Namorita. Despite a brief side trip to Avengers Mansion, only Ms. Marvel is on hand to provide succour in cataclysmic concluding ‘The Deep Deadly Silence!’ (inked by Frank Springer).

‘Shadow of the Gun!’ (Mooney & DeZuÃ±iga) then enhances the X-Men connection by introducing shape-shifting mutant Mystique in a raid on S.H.I.E.L.D. to purloin a new super-weapon which then sees impressive service in #18’s ‘The St. Valentine’s Day/Avengers Massacre!’ (inked by Ricardo Villamonte): a blockbuster battle featuring the beginnings of a deadly plot originating at the heart of the distant Kree Imperium.

The scheme swiftly culminates in ‘Mirror, Mirror!’ (art by Carmine Infantino & Bob McLeod) as the Kree Supreme Intelligence attempts to reinvigorate his race’s stalled evolutionary path by kidnapping Earth/Kree hybrid Carol Danvers. However, with both her and Captain Marvel hitting hard against his emissary Ronan the Accuser, eventually the Supremor and his plotters take the hint and go home empty-handedâ€¦

Ms. Marvel #20 highlights a huge makeover as Danvers dumps her Mar-Vell-inspired uniform and finally finds her own look and identity in ‘The All-New Ms. Marvel’ courtesy of Claremont, Dave Cockrum & Bob Wiacek.

Here the utterly re-purposed hero tackles a hidden kingdom of predatory, intelligent, post-atomic dinosaurs infesting the American deserts, leading to a catastrophic clash with ‘The Devil in the Dark!’ (inked by Al Milgrom) in the following issue.

Now one of the most hands-on, bombastic battlers in the Marvel pantheon, Ms. M is more than ready for a return match with Death-Bird in ‘Second Chance!’ (art by Mikes Vosburg & Zeck) but thrown for a total loop in her personal life after being fired from Woman Magazine.

All these bold changes came too late as the series’ dwindling sales had earmarked it for cancellation. ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ (inked by Bruce D. Patterson) resolves a long-running plot thread involving the disappearance of old friend Salia Petrie in a tale guest-starring the time-travelling Guardians of the Galaxy, just in time for the end of the road.

The series stopped there but two more stories were in various stages of preparation. They eventually saw print in 1992 (the Summer and Fall issues of oversized anthology publication Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11). Here they are presented in an originally untitled yarn dubbed ‘Sabretooth Stalks the Subway’: a ferocious fight against the feral mutant maniac by Claremont & Vosburg, followed by ‘Cry, Vengeance!’ (Claremont, Simon Furman, Vosburg & Mike Gustovich) as Ms. Marvel, now a card-carrying Avenger, faces off against Mystique and her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

This tale incorporates an additional section explaining how Carol is later attacked by young mutant Rogue, permanently loses her powers and memory and is eventually reborn as the cosmic-powered adventurer Binary: which is all well and good but somewhat takes the punch out of the later tales in this collectionâ€¦

Relegated to an ensemble role in the Avengers, Danvers’ life took a strange and disturbing turn in Avengers 197-199 (July to September 1980 and represented here by pertinent extracts from those issues).

Written by David Michelinie with art from Infantino & Brett Breeding and George PÃ©rez & Dan Green, these snippets follow a strange and terrifyingly rapid transformation as Carol finds herself impossibly pregnant and bringing an unknown baby to term in a matter of daysâ€¦

The mystery is solved in ‘The Child is Father Toâ€¦?’ (Avengers #200, October 1980 by plotters, Jim Shooter, PÃ©rez & Bob Layton, scripter Michelinie, illustrated by PÃ©rez & Green). The baby is born and hyper-rapidly matures as time goes wild, with different eras overwriting the present. The unearthly child begins building a machine to stabilise the chaos but the heroes misunderstand his motives.

â€œMarcusâ€ claims to be the son of time-master Immortus, trying to escape eternal isolation in other-dimensional Limbo by implanting his essence in a mortal tough enough to survive the energy required for the transfer.

Literally reborn on Earth, his attempts to complete the process are foiled by the World’s Most Confused Heroes and he is drawn back to his timeless realm. Carol, declaring her love for Marcus, unexpectedly goes with himâ€¦

Ms. Marvel only plays a peripheral role in ‘By Friendsâ€¦ Betrayed!’ (Avengers Annual #10 (1981, by Claremont, Michael Golden & Armando Gil), as powerless, amnesiac Carol is rescued from drowning by Spider-Woman, prior to Mystique launching an all-out attack on the World’s Mightiest Heroes whilst attempting to free the Brotherhood from custody.

In that attack Danvers’ mind and abilities are taken by power-leaching mutant Rogue, seemingly ending her adventuring life, and in the aftermath, the Avengers learn the horrific truth of her relationship with Marcus and their part in his doomâ€¦

One final sentimental moment comes with Claremont, David Ross & Wiacek’s ‘Elegy’ (Marvel Fanfare #24, January 1986) as Carol – now high-energy warrior Binary – returns to Earth to catch up with old friends and learns of the tragic death of Captain Mar-Vellâ€¦

Extras in this stellar compendium include a full cover gallery, a Ross alternative cover; ‘The RE-Making of Ms. Marvel’ promo article from F.O.O.M. #22, house ads for her 1978 makeover relaunch and biographies of all the creators involved.

Always entertaining, often groundbreaking and painfully patronising (occasionally at the same time), the early Ms. Marvel, against all odds, grew into the modern Marvel icon of capable womanhood we see today.

These stories are a valuable grounding of the contemporary champion but also still stand up on their own as intriguing examples of the inevitable fall of even the staunchest of male bastions – superhero storiesâ€¦
Â© 1978, 1979, 1981, 1992, 2014 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

November 4, 2017November 3, 2017

Avengers Epic Collection: Once an Avengerâ€¦

By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Don Heck & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9582-5

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Matchless Marvel Mayhem and Melodramaâ€¦ 8/10

One of the most momentous events in Marvel Comics history came in the middle of 1963 when a disparate array of individual heroes banded together to combat an apparently out of control Incredible Hulk.

The Avengers combined most of the company’s fledgling superhero line in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package. Over the decades the roster has unceasingly changed, and now almost every character in their universe has at some time numbered amongst their colourful ranksâ€¦

The Avengers always proved that putting all one’s star eggs in on single basket can pay off big-time. Even when all Marvel all-stars such as Thor, Captain America and Iron Man are absent, it merely allows always the lesser lights of the team to shine more brightly.

Of course, the founding stars regularly featured due to the rotating, open door policy which meant that most issues included somebody’s fave-rave. The increasingly bold and impressive stories and artwork were no hindrance either.

After Lee moved on, the team was left in the capable hands of Roy Thomas who grew into one of the industry’s most impressive writers, guiding the World’s Mightiest Heroes through a range of adventures ranging from sublimely poetic to staggeringly epicâ€¦

This compilation â€“ available in hardcover, paperback and eBook iterations – collects Avengers #21-40 from October 1965 to May 1967.

With this second collection the team – consisting of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and his sister the Scarlet Witch – was already a firm fan-favourite with close attention to melodrama sub-plots, leavening the action through compelling soap-opera elements that kept readers riveted.

After debuting insidious infiltrator Swordsman in the previous volume, writer Stan Lee and illustrators Don Heck & Wally Wood – without pausing for creative breath – launched another soon -to-be big name villain in the form of Power Man. ‘The Bitter Dregs of Defeat!’ (Avengers #21) depicted his creation and the diabolical plan hatched with the evil Asgardian witch the Enchantress to discredit and replace the quarrelsome quartet. The scheme was only narrowly foiled in the concluding ‘The Road Back.’

An epic 2-part tale follows as the team is shanghaied into the far-future to battle against and eventually with Kang the Conqueror. ‘Once an Avengerâ€¦’ (Avengers #23, December 1965 and, incidentally, my vote for the best cover Jack Kirby ever drew) is inked by the wonderful John Romita (senior), pitting the heroes against an army of fearsome future men, with the yarn explosively and tragically ending in From the Ashes of Defeat!’ by Lee, Heck & inker Dick Ayers.

The still-learning team then face their greatest test yet after they are captured by the deadliest man alive in #25’s ‘Enterâ€¦ Dr. Doom!’ and forced to fight their way out of the tyrant’s kingdom of Latveria.

Since change is ever the watchword for this series, the next two issues combined a threat to drown the world from subsea barbarian Attuma with the return of some old comrades. ‘The Voice of the Wasp!’ and ‘Four Against the Floodtide!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia as the pseudonymous Frank Ray) is a superlative action-romp but is merely a prelude to the main event – issue #28’s return of founding Avenger Giant-Man in a new guise as ‘Among us Walks a Goliath!’ This instant classic introduced the villainous and ultimately immortally alien Collector whilst extending the company’s pet theme of alienation by tragically trapping the size-changing hero at a freakish ten-foot height, seemingly foreverâ€¦

As Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch bow out and return to Europe to reinvigorate their fading powers Avengers #29 features ‘This Power Unleashed!’ and brings back Hawkeye’s lost love Black Widow as a brainwashed Soviet agent attempting to destroy the team.

She recruits old foes Power Man and Swordsman as cannon-fodder but is foiled by her own incompletely submerged feeling for Hawkeye, after which ‘Frenzy in a Far-Off Land!’ sees dispirited colossus Henry Pym embroiled in a futuristic civil war amongst a lost south American civilisation. The conclusion threatened to end in global incineration in the ludicrously titled yet satisfyingly thrilling ‘Never Bug a Giant!’â€¦

The company’s crusading credentials are enhanced next as ‘The Sign of the Serpent!’ and concluding chapter ‘To Smash a Serpent!’ (Avengers#32-33, with Heck providing raw, gritty inks over his own pencils) craft a brave, socially-aware epic.

Here the heroes tackle a sinister band of organised racists in a thinly veiled allegory of the Civil Rights turmoil then gripping America. Marvel’s bold liberal stand even went so far as to introduce a new African-American character, Bill Foster, who would eventually become a superhero in his own right.

It was then back to crime-busting basics as Roy Thomas officially began his long association with the team in #34’s ‘The Living Laser!’, but second part ‘The Light that Failed!’ again assumes political overtones as the light bending super-villain allies himself with South American (and by implication, Marxist) rebels for a rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills.

The team’s international credentials are further exploited when long-missing Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver return, heralding an alien invasion of the Balkans in ‘The Ultroids Attack!’ and ‘To Conquer a Colossus!’ (Avengers #36-37). Along for the ride and a crucial factor in repelling an extraterrestrial invasion is newly cured and reformed Natasha Romanoff – the sinister, merciless Black Widowâ€¦

Thomas clearly had no problem juggling a larger roster of characters as he promptly added Olympian godling Hercules to the mix, first as a duped and drugged pawn of the Enchantress in #38’s ‘In our Midstâ€¦ An Immortal’ (inked by George Roussos, nee Bell) and then as a member from the following issue onwards, when the Mad Thinker attacks during ‘The Tormentâ€¦ and the Triumph!’.

No prizes for guessing who was throwing the punches in #40’s ‘Suddenlyâ€¦ the Sub-Mariner!’ as the team battle the Lord of Atlantis for possession of a reality-warping Cosmic Cube; a riotous all-action romp to end a superb classic chronicle of furious Fights ‘n’ Tights fables.

Augmenting the narrative joys is an abundance of behind-the-scenes treasures such as original art reproductions, production-stage pencilled page photostats and a fascinating sequence of â€œtweakedâ€ cover-corrections. Still more extras include Tee-shirt art-designs by Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia & Wally Wood plus earlier Kirby and Gil Kane Avengers collection covers modified by painters Dean White & Richard Isanove.

Unceasingly enticing and always evergreen, these immortal epics are tales that defined the Marvel experience and a joy no fan should deny themselves or their kids.
Â© 1965, 1966, 1967, 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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