Graphic Novels – Page 144

October 7, 2014October 6, 2014

Iron Man: Rings of the Mandarin

By Kieron Gillen, Luke Ross, Joe Bennett, Scott Hanna, Cliff Richard & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-616-8

Supreme survivor Tony Stark has changed his profile many times since his 1963 debut when, as a VIP visitor in Vietnam observing the efficacy of weaponry he had designed, the arch-technocrat wunderkind was critically wounded and captured by a Communist warlord.

Put to work with the spurious promise of medical assistance upon completion, Stark instead built a prototype Iron Man suit to keep his heart beating and deliver him from his oppressors. From there it was a small jump into a second career as a high-tech Knight in Shining Armourâ€¦

Ever since then the former armaments manufacturer has been a liberal capitalist, eco-warrior, space pioneer, civil servant, Statesman, and even spy-chief: Director of the world’s most scientifically advanced spy agency, the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate.

Of course, he was also a founder member of the world’s most prominent superhero assemblage, the Mighty Avengers, and affirmed Futurist; an impassioned advocate of inevitable progress by way of building better tomorrowsâ€¦

For a popular character/concept weighed down with a fifty-year pedigree, radical reboots are a painful periodic necessity. To stay fresh and contemporary, Stark’s origin and Iron Man’s continuity have been radically revised every so often, but never so drastically as during his latest revamp – the final collected chronicle of which here re-presents Iron Man volume 5, #23.NOW – 28, spanning March to June 2014.

What Just Happened: following a few notable escapades in outer space, the once-jaded Armoured Avenger uncovered a few surprises in his own past (for which see the two-volume Iron Man: The Secret Origin of Tony Stark) and discovered that he had been adopted by industrialist Howard and Maria Stark to deceive a manipulative alien device with big plans.

Rigellian Recorder 451 – one of millions of sentient automatons programmed to travel the universe acquiring knowledge – had developed a programming flaw and struck out on its own, slowly furthering its own secret agenda.

The renegade had been working with his parents to genetically alter their unborn child and make it a technological super-warrior capable of defending Earth from exponentially increasing alien attacks that were to come as the universe responded to the deadly potential for destruction of Humankindâ€¦

Recorder never realised Howard was deeply suspicious and – after decoding the genetic alterations 451 had installed in the foetus – tampered with some of themâ€¦

Years later, after a spectacular struggle, Tony Stark defeated the deranged robot Rigellian and returned to Earth where further enquiries into his family’s shady history uncovered an astonishing, life-altering discovery kept hidden for years by his brilliantly paranoid father: Tony had an older brother who was the actual subject of 451’s genetic manipulation.

Arno Stark was a bed-ridden, technological genius who was forever trapped in an iron lung, locked away and raised in isolation at the Maria Stark Foundation Hospice, but now the brothers were gloriously reunited. There was only one small caveat to Tony’s unbounded joy. He was no blood relation to Arno, but apparently secretly adopted as a ploy to deceive the alien automatonâ€¦

With a brother even more brilliant than he, Tony began bigger, bolder enterprises such as the construction of a modular super-city to save humanity from self-inflicted extinction. The creative geniuses dubbed it Troy, but no sooner had they unveiled their Iron Metropolis than they were targeted by the alien super-weapons previously employed by arch nemesis The Mandarin.

The ill-considered location of their World of Tomorrow was Mandarin City: a private island off the coast of mainland China long ignored and avoided by the nations of the world since the death of the villain who controlled it.

It was the perfect site on which the Starks could make their vision liveâ€¦ but only after driving out the Triads and other vermin profiting from a legally tenuous citadel no world power was confident enough to annexe. The villain’s Rings, meanwhile, had somehow achieved a cooperative (to an argumentative point) co-consciousness and begun enacting their own destructive agenda by seeking out host-wearers whose personalities and ambitions were compatible with their ownâ€¦

In London, radical journalist Abigail Burns was seduced by a sentient flaming Ring which deemed her worthy but her brief time as Red Peril led to mutilation and eventually revelation.

The other cosmic adornments also found troubled partners and began sowing destruction, countered by Tony, former War Machine pilot James Rhodes (now all decked out as the Iron Patriot) and immobile Arno, who took remote control of the city’s mechanical police force. Dispatching thousands of empty Armour suits as a Trojan Guard he saved lives and property and thwarted the Rings’ initial assault.

Unfortunately a far more arcane and malign player became involved when Dark Elf Malekith the Accursed then began slaughtering Ring wearers in search of a full set for himselfâ€¦

Scripted by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Luke Ross, Joe Bennett, Scott Hanna & Cliff Richard, the latest stage in the evolution of Iron Man takes up from where Iron Metropolitan dramatically paused as, in the Asgardian Nine Realms, Malekith gloats over the Rings he now grips in his cruelly taloned hand.

Later on Earth, when Iron Man tackles another deranged new Mandarin, the battle explosively ends when the Dark Elf ambushes the combatants and bloodily takes another Ring for his own.

Fed up with playing catch-up, Tony changes tactics and hires Shevaun Haldane (former Dark Angel and mystic mercenary) to act as his handler and advisor as he attempts to infiltrate his eldritch enemy’s magical home turf of Svartalfheimâ€¦

Unfortunately it involves leaving his best weapon behind as â€œcold ironâ€ is anathema to Elves and they can spot him coming if he goes in fully kitted-upâ€¦

Naturally the mission goes wrong from the start and the covert intruder pops up in the royal throne room. Following a bombastic battle the technological mortal is soon being harried by the Wild Hunt through the outer reaches of a mythical hellscapeâ€¦

Back on Earth Arno is proving to be as devious and many-layered as his foster-brother and enters into an unconventional political alliance with Abigail Burns even as Tony opts to sacrifice his intended escape route home for Shevaun sending in his fearsome Iron Man assault suitâ€¦

Soon the tables are totally turned. Although Malekith’s psychological assaults – claiming baby Tony might be an Elven changeling – hit home hard, the Fairy devil has no real defence against a mightily ticked off Iron-shod Avenger and his problems only multiply when the remaining six Ring-Wearers drop in, determined to maintain their new-found autonomy by destroying the magical abomination trying to control them allâ€¦

Besieged on all sides, the Accursed Elf is forced to capitulate and surrenders his four Rings and an escape route to the triumphant Tony, but as always has an ulterior motive and craftily takes something from the Maria Stark Foundation Hospice that may in time prove far more valuable and deadly than the trinkets he has grudgingly surrenderedâ€¦

With four Rings in custody Tony, Arno and devoted inspirational AI H.E.L.E.N. begin reverse-engineering the sublime extraterrestrial devices and soon have enough data to construct a true counter to the star-tech’s unsurpassed might and collectivised intellect.

Their final solution then engages the enemy in the Mandarin’s City, miles deep under London where Ring-wearer Mole Man has convened a meeting of his fellow hosts to outline his plan for revenge. The meeting is cut short when Iron Man, Red Peril and Arno – in a formidable life-support battle suit – blaze in to end the threat but subsequently find one of their own is in the enemy campâ€¦

Riotously wrapping up the blockbusting future-flavoured epic in spectacular, cathartic fashion, this action-packed Fights ‘n’ Tights rollercoaster splendidly closes one chapter in the ongoing escapades of the Golden Gladiator whilst setting the scene for more metal-machined marvels to come.

Bold, imaginative and supremely engaging, this expansive, explosive repositioning of the Stark dynasty comes with a cover-&-variants gallery by Mike Del Mundo, Christian Ward, In-Hyuk Lee, Jennifer Parks, Joe Quinones, Mike Perkins and Paul Renaud as well as the usual digital extras accessible via the AR icon sections (Marvel Augmented Reality App) which give access to story bonuses once you download the free code from marvel.com onto your smart-phone or Android-enabled tablet.
â„¢ & Â© 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.

September 30, 2014

Superman-Batman: Absolute Power

New Revised Review

By Jeph Loeb, Carlos Pacheco, Ivan Reis & Jesus Merino (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0447-1 (hardcover):Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 978-1-4012-0714-4 (trade paperback)

For many years Superman and Batman worked together as the â€œWorld’s Finestâ€ team. They were best friends and the pairing made perfect financial sense as National/DC’s most popular heroes could cross-sell their combined readerships.

When the characters were redefined for the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths 1980s and 1990s, they were remade as cautious (but respectful) co-workers who did the same job whilst deploring each other’s methods.

They preferred to avoid contact whenever possible – except when they were in the Justice Leagueâ€¦ but then, the character continuity of team titles has always been largely at odds with heroes at home in their own titlesâ€¦

However, after a few years of this new status quo the irresistible lure of Cape & Cowl Capers inexorably brought the pair together again with modern emotional intensity derived from their incontestably differing methods and characters in a series of epic adventures packed with high-value guest-stars.

This visually intoxicating tour of alternate times and places, collecting issues #14-18 of Superman/Batman (January-April 2005 and scripted by Jeph Loeb with art by Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino), again revisits and resets the original team-up concept, seeing the most important heroes in the universe uniquely co-opted by a trio of menaces from a very familiar tomorrowâ€¦

It all begins in ‘I Pledge Allegianceâ€¦’ wherein a rocketship crash in a Kansas cornfield and a murder in Gotham City back alley take a turn into the unknown thanks to a trio of time travellers. Decades pass and Kal-El of Krypton and 10-year old murder witness Bruce Wayne are reared by the cunning chrononauts to become the heroes they were destined to be, but with decidedly different ethics and motives.

The manipulators are far from idle over those years, intercepting other key events and ensuring Barry Allen, Arthur Curry, Hal Jordan and alien J’onn J’onzz all die before becoming Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern and the Manhunter from Mars.

However destiny is hard to thwart and other champions will always arise to try and restore the way reality should beâ€¦

Even as global rulers Superman and Batman are eradicating annoying gadfly Green Arrow and celebrating their anniversary of dominance with fond foster parents Lightning Lord, Cosmic King and Saturn Queen of the 31^st century Legion of Super Villains, in a dank subway under America’s former capital a determined Amazon invader is using her Lasso of Truthâ€¦

Galvanised by her Grecian gods, Diana of Themyscira has tracked down the mystical embodiment of the Human Spirit and restored his memory.

Now Uncle Sam is ready to set the world right once againâ€¦

Wearing the power ring intended for Hal Jordan and liberating his original team of Freedom Fighters (Phantom Lady, Dollman, The Ray and Human Bomb) from their time-overwritten new lives, he leads them and Diana in a bold counterattack against the Cape & Cowl oppressors’ HQ in ‘What Price Freedomâ€¦?’

Their targets meanwhile, have just survived their closest call yet, destroying the mystic city of Nanda Parbat but almost falling before the possession powers of Deadman Boston Brandâ€¦

By the time Superman and Batman return, Uncle Sam’s team have already defeated a team of thralls from the erstwhile Legion of Super-Heroes and, with no quarter asked, Diana kills Batman before herself being slain by his vengeance-crazed foster brother. The Freedom fighters press on to capture their target – the future felons’ time machine – but when Kal detonates the Human Bomb with his lethal heat vision the co-mixing of alien energies disrupts the time bubble and rends the very fabric of space-time.

And in a place beyond all universes, an unlikely assemblage of reluctant allies consider how best to remedy the situation they have instigatedâ€¦

Superman and the somehow restored Batman awaken in a strange Earth where animals talk and act like men, and after a violent confrontation with Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth, abruptly find themselves phased into another impossibly confused iteration of their home.

Here western gunfighters El Diablo, Bat Lash, Tomahawk, Scalphunter, Jonah Hex (packing bullets made from a glowing green meteor) and other cowboy crusaders hunt them down on behalf of President Lex Luthor and execute them bothâ€¦

Alive again in that non-dimensional other-place, Man of Steel and Darkest Knight are confronted by Darkseid, knowledge god Metron, Etrigan the Demon and an older wiser Superman, who apprise them of the stakes in play ‘When Time Goes Asunderâ€¦’ before instructing the notional heroes how only they can repair reality.

Of course the Master of Apokolips does nothing for freeâ€¦

Sent through time to mend their own origin tales, the saving of Jonathan and Martha Kent goes perfectly but when faced with allowing his parents to be killed again Bruce Wayne baulks and kills their assailant before the thief can pull the trigger.

As the Caped Crimebuster vanishes from reality, Superman is catapulted forward in time to ‘A World without Batmanâ€¦’, or indeed any superheroes. Attacked by Sgt Rock‘s Easy Company and the Haunted Tank, the Action Ace fights back valiantly before discovering that immortal eco-terrorist Ra’s Al Ghul is the undisputed dictator of Earth and he has destroyed every metahuman the world ever knewâ€¦

Retrenching Clark Kent then seeks out the Waynes and their playboy son Bruce in an attempt to restore some semblance of the only man ever to defeat â€œThe Demon’s Headâ€â€¦

Despite his many failings, Bruce is still a strategic genius and soon devises a horrific way to bolster the hard-pressed heroes’ forces before their final, doomed assault on Al Ghul. Tragically the World’s Finest warriors have not realised that their foe has allied himself with the time-tampering Villains’ Legion, nor that their former foster parents have plundered the future for murderous metahuman reinforcementsâ€¦

The chronal carnage concludes with a spectacular confrontation in ‘Thy Will be Done’ (with additional pencilling by Ivan Reis) as Superman on the edge of utter defeat turns his enemies’ time-bending tactics to his own advantage and finds allies of his own from another furious futureâ€¦

Although a superbly engaging piece of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction, this temporal tempest of a tale suffers from the most common ailment to afflict such time-warping sagas – the reader already knows it will come OK in the end.

The art however is astoundingly beautiful and, subtly augmented by Laura Martin’s colouring, is one of the prettiest cascades of chronal Armageddons you will ever seeâ€¦

Although an aging fan-boy’s dream and featuring a vast amount of fondly familiar razzle-dazzle from scripter Loeb, Absolute Power is probably a yarn best enjoyed by dedicated fans equipped with the memories to keep it all straight.

September 26, 2014September 25, 2014

Spirou & Fantasio: The Marsupilami Thieves

By AndrÃ© Franquin,translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-167-9

Spirou (whose name translates as both â€œsquirrelâ€ and â€œmischievousâ€ in the Walloon language) was created by French cartoonist FranÃ§ois Robert Velter AKA Rob-Vel for Belgian publisher Ã‰ditions Dupuisin response to the phenomenal success of HergÃ©’s Tintin for rival outfit Casterman.

The legendary anthology was launched on April 21^st 1938 with this other red-headed lad as the lead of the anthology weekly comic which bears his name to this day.

He began life as a plucky bellboy/lift operator employed by the Moustique Hotel (a reference to publisher’s premier periodical Le Moustique) whose improbable adventures with his pet squirrel Spip eventually evolved into high-flying surreal comedy dramas.

Spirou and his pals have spearheaded the magazine for most of its life, with a phalanx of truly impressive creators carrying on Velter’s work, beginning with his wife Blanche â€œDavineâ€ Dumoulin who took over the strip when her husband enlisted in 1939.

She was aided by Belgian artist Luc Lafnet until 1943 when Dupuis purchased all rights to the feature, after which comic-strip prodigy Joseph Gillain (â€œJijÃ©â€) took over.

In 1946 JijÃ©‘sassistant AndrÃ© Franquin assumed the reins, slowly sidelining the short, gag-like vignettes in favour of longer epic adventure serials, introducing a wide and engaging cast of regulars and eventually creating a phenomenally popular magic animal dubbed Marsupilami to the mix (first seen in Spirou et les hÃ©ritiers in 1952 and now a spin-off star of screen, plush toy store, console games and albums all his own), crafting increasingly fantastic tales until he resigned in 1969.

He was succeeded by Jean-Claude Fournier who updated the feature over the course of nine stirring adventures that tapped into the rebellious, relevant zeitgeist of the times with tales of environmental concern, nuclear energy, drug cartels and repressive regimes.

By the 1980s the series seemed outdated and without direction: three different creative teams alternated on the serial, until it was at last revitalised by Philippe Vandevelde writing as Tome and artist Jean-Richard Geurts best known as Janry, who adapted, referenced and in many ways returned to the beloved Franquin era. Their sterling efforts consequently revived the floundering feature’s fortunes and resulted in fourteen wonderful albums between 1984 and 1998.

As the strip diversified into parallel strands (Spirou’s Childhood/Little Spirou and guest-creator specials A Spirou Story Byâ€¦) the team on the main vehicle were succeeded by Jean-David Morvan & JosÃ©-Luis Munuera, and in 2010 Yoann and Vehlmann took over the never-ending procession of amazing adventuresâ€¦

Cinebook have been publishing Spirou and Fantasio’s exploits since October 2009, concentrating on translating Tome & Janry’s superb pastiche/homages of Franquin, but for this fifth edition (originally entitled Les voleurs du Marsupilami or ‘The Marsupilami Robbers’), they’ve reached back all the way to 1952 and translated the second appearance of the adorable wonder-beast by the great man himself.

On January 3^rd 1924, Belgian superstar creator AndrÃ© Franquin was born in Etterbeek. Drawing from an early age the lad began formal art training at Ã‰cole Saint-Luc in 1943. When the war forced the school’s closure a year later, Franquin found animation work at Compagnie Belge d’Animation in Brussels where he met Maurice de Bevere (Lucky Luke creator â€œMorrisâ€), Pierre Culliford (Peyo, creator of The Smurfs) and Eddy Paape (Valhardi, Luc Orient).

In 1945 all but Culliford signed on with Dupuis, and Franquin began his career as a jobbing cartoonist and illustrator, producing covers for Le Moustique and scouting magazine Plein Jeu.

All during those early days Franquin and Morris were being trained by JijÃ© who was the main illustrator at Spirou. He turned the youngsters and fellow neophyte Willy Maltaite AKA Will (Tif et Tondu, Isabelle, Le jardin des dÃ©sirs) into a perfect creative bullpen known as the La bande des quatre or â€œGang of Fourâ€ who revolutionised Belgian comics with their prolific and engaging â€œMarcinelle schoolâ€ style of graphic storytelling.

JijÃ© handed Franquin all responsibilities for the flagship strip part-way through Spirou et la maison prÃ©fabriquÃ©e, (Spirou #427, June 20^th 1946) and the eager lad ran with it for two decades, enlarging the scope and horizons until it became purely his own.

Almost every week fans would meet startling new characters such as comrade and rival Fantasio and crackpot inventor the Count of Champignac. Along the way Spirou and Fantasio became globe-trotting journalists, continuing their weekly exploits in unbroken four-colour glory.

The heroes travelled to exotic places, uncovering crimes, revealing the fantastic and clashing with a coterie of exotic arch-enemies such as Zorglub and Zantafio as well as one of the first strong female characters in European comics, rival journalist Seccotine (renamed Cellophine in this current English translation).

In a splendid example of good practise, Franquin mentored his own band of apprentice cartoonists during the 1950s. These included Jean Roba (La Ribambelle,Boule et Bill), JidÃ©hem (Sophie, Starter, Gaston Lagaffe) and Greg (Bruno Brazil, Bernard Prince, Achille Talon, Zig et Puce), who all worked with him on Spirou et Fantasio.

In 1955 a contractual spat with Dupuis saw Franquin sign up with rivals Casterman on Tintin, where he collaborated with RenÃ© Goscinny and old pal Peyo whilst creating the raucous gag strip Modeste et Pompon.

He soon patched things up with Dupuis and returned to Spirou, subsequently co-creating Gaston Lagaffe in 1957 but was obliged to carry on his Tintin work tooâ€¦

From 1959, writer Greg and background artist JidÃ©hem assisted Franquin but by 1969 the artist had reached his Spirou limit and resigned, taking his mystic yellow monkey with himâ€¦

His later creations include fantasy series Isabelle,illustration sequence Monsters and bleak adult conceptual series IdÃ©es Noires,but his greatest creation – and one he retained all rights to on his departure – is Marsupilami, which in addition to comics tales has become a star of screen, plush toy store, console and albums.

Franquin, plagued in later life by bouts of depression, passed away on January 5^th 1997 but his legacy remains, a vast body of work that reshaped the landscape of European comics.

The Marsupilami Thieves was originally serialised in Spirou #729-761 (collected into an album in 1954); a sequel to previous adventure Spirou et les hÃ©ritiers in which the valiant lad and his inseparable companion colleague encountered an incredible elastic-tailed anthropoid in the jungles of Palombia and brought the fabulous, affable creature back to civilisation.

Franquin’s follow-up tale – crafted from an idea by fellow cartoonist Jo Almo (Geo Salmon) – sees the triumphant journalists visit the big City Zoo where their latest headline has ended up, only to be stricken with guilt and remorse at the poor creature’s sorry state of incarceration.

Resolving to free the poor thing and return him to his rainforest home, their plan is foiled when the poor thing suddenly dies in its cage. Distraught and suspicious, the boys muscle their way in to see the vet and discover the corpse has gone missingâ€¦

Acting quickly Spirou and Fantasio rouse the authorities and the commotion prevents the body thief from escaping. All through the night the keepers and our heroes scour the institution and in the dark of night finally spook the mysterious malefactor from his cosy hiding placeâ€¦

There follows a spectacular and hilarious midnight chase through the zoo, with the lads harrying a dark figure who must be some kind of athlete past a panoply of angry animals, hindered more than helped by inept keepersâ€¦

They almost catch the intruder, but a last burst of furious energy propels the bandit over a back wall, but not before Spirou snatches a paper clue from himâ€¦

The precious scrap takes the determined investigators to the flat of Victor Shanks, where his wife Clementine provides further information. Her man is flying off to the city of Magnana for his new job and to deliver a packageâ€¦

The boys’ frantic chase to the airport is plagued by manic misfortune and they miss Victor by mere moments, but undeterred borrow a neighbour’s car and attempt to follow overland.

This leads to a fractious episode of fisticuffs with striking Customs Officers. After a night in jail, the undeterred duo and the kvetching Spip eventually fetch up in Magnana and the search begins.

A month later they are frustrated and ready to throw in the towel when Spirou literally runs into Clementine Shanks and tracks her to a football stadium where formerly unemployed desperate Victor is now a star of the local soccer teamâ€¦

Confronting the essentially good-hearted rogue Fantasio and Spirou force the truth from him. In return for his new job Victor drugged and swiped the Marsupilami for ruthless showman The Great Zabaglione as a star attraction for his circus and travelling menagerieâ€¦

Determined to see the little creature free, the boys attempt to infiltrate the show but are quickly discovered and forcefully expelled, but after a chance meeting with weird science master Count of Champignac try once more disguised as miraculous magic act Cam and Leonâ€¦

This time the ruse works but after a phenomenally outrageous opening performance the brutal Zabaglione rumbles the reporters and things look bleak for the lads and the Marsupilami until guilt-wracked Victor steps in to save the day.

â€¦And once the dust settles the wondrous beast is free, but happily opts to stay with the boys and share their fun-filled, exciting exploitsâ€¦

Soaked in superb slapstick comedy and with gallons of gags throughout, this exuberant yarn is packed with angst-free action, thrills and spills and also offers an early ecological message and an always-timely moral regarding the humane treatment of animals. There is even a fascinating history and creative overview of the timeless wandering heroes in the back-up feature ‘Spirou & Fantasio’s Stories Last Through Generations’.

The Marsupilami Thieves is the kind of lightly-barbed, comedy-thriller to delight readers who are fed of a marketplace far too full of adults-only carnage, testosterone-fuelled breast-beating, teen-romance monsters or sickly sweet fantasy.

Easily accessible to readers of all ages and drawn with all the beguiling style and seductive but wholesome Ã©lan which makes Asterix, Lucky Luke, The Bluecoats and Iznogoud so compelling, this is a true and enduring landmark tale from a long line of superb exploits, certain to be as much a household name as those series – and even that other kid with the white dogâ€¦
Original edition Â© Dupuis, 1954 by Franquin. All rights reserved. English translation 2013 Â© Cinebook Ltd.

September 24, 2014September 22, 2014

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 â€œrabbit bodyguardâ€) 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 nameâ€¦

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 17^th 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 tokagÃ© 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 enlightenmentâ€¦

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 guardâ€¦

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 refreshmentsâ€¦

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 SakÃ©, 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 deathâ€¦

‘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 â€œGeneralâ€ Fujii have captured an entire town and are making the inhabitants harvest all their crops for the scum to stealâ€¦

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 daishÅ (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 deathâ€¦

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 huntsâ€¦

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 headingâ€¦

‘Mongrels’ then changes tack as erstwhile ally and hard-to-love friend GennosukÃ© 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 roninâ€¦

‘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 storeâ€¦

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 â€œbabysittingâ€ 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 beenâ€¦

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 â€œBlade of the Godsâ€; 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 â€œfunny animalâ€ stories.
Text and illustrations Â© 1994, 1995, 1998 Stan Sakai. All other material and registered characters are Â© andâ„¢ their respective owners. Usagi Yojimbo and all other prominently featured characters are registered trademarks of Stan Sakai. All rights reserved.

September 23, 2014September 22, 2014

All-New X-Men: One Down

By Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger and many and& various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-626-7

When bestial mutant Henry McCoy learned he was dying, he indulged in a spot of time-travel in a last-ditch attempt to give his life meaning. Seeking to prevent a species war, he brought the young, naive X-Men of his own youth into the future to reason with his radicalised former comrade Scott Summers, praying the still idealistic and hopeful teens could reason with Mutant Enemy Terrorist No. 1 and divert him from a path of doctrinaire madnessâ€¦

The gamble paid off in all the wrong ways. Rather than shocking Cyclops back to his senses, the confrontation hardened the renegade’s heart and strengthened his resolve. Moreover, even after the younger McCoy miraculously cured his older self, boy-Henry and the rest of the X-Kids were trapped in their own future and began gradually defecting to the radicalised teamâ€¦

Scripted by Brian Michael Bendis, this stellar saga collects All-New X-Men #25-29 (published from June to August 2014), taking the time-displaced teens to the ends of the universe and even further into uncharted temporal territoryâ€¦

The mind-shattering rematch commences in All-New X-Men #25 (illustrated by Stuart Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger and a host of guest-artists) and follows a dramatic change in young Jean Grey’s status as the team catches their collective breath after being shanghaied to the ends of the universe by Gladiator and the Shi’ar who sought to exterminate the timelost telepotent before she could become a host vessel for the Phoenixâ€¦

Already the teen quintet have been reduced to four as the younger Cyclops elected to remain in space with Corsair of the Starjammers– the father he believed dead and gone for most of his young lifeâ€¦

The future-locked Angel, Iceman, Beast, and Jean are stretched to their emotional breaking point. Since an attack by Evil Mutants masquerading as X-Men from the future (X-Men: Children of the Atom) they have faced the very real prospect of never returning to their own time; risking destroying all reality with every moment they aren’t back there and, worst of all, watching Jean go slowly crazy trying not to become the impossibly perfect superwoman everybody keeps talking about in such hushed tonesâ€¦

The celebratory 25^th issue is something of a visual tour de force as the elder Beast has a dreamlike visitation showing him the alternate futures and realities that have been eradicated because of his precipitate act of bringing the teen heroes into todayâ€¦

Short on plot but fascinating fans with tantalising glimpses of rosters both familiar and fantastic, what follows is a feast of vignettes, scary, dramatic and even funny, illustrated by David Marquez, Bruce Timm, Arthur Adams, David Mack, Robbi Rodriguez, Lee Bermejo, Kent Williams, J.G. Jones, Maris Wicks, Jason Shiga, Dan Hipp, Jill Thompson, Paul M. Smith, Skottie Young, Ronnie del Carmen, J. Scott Campbell, Max Wittert, Jake Parker and Bob Wiacek; some of which, I’m sure, we’ll be seeing again one dayâ€¦

The narrative resumes with Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger at the artistic helm again with #26 and Jean’s own nightmares regarding the change in her power-set brought on by the Shi’ar confrontation and her brush with the Phoenix force. She finds a measure of solace in the unsuspected solicitude of the older Cyclopsâ€¦

Meanwhile outside in the Canadian wilderness surrounding the fortress-like New Charles Xavier School, Angel is trying to explain to X-23 (a teenage female clone of Wolverine) that young Scott has dumped her for a life of adventure with his dad. When she storms off she is ambushed by the last person she expected to seeâ€¦

Later, when Professor Kitty Pryde sends out search parties, they find her near-dead form and rush her back to safety inside the citadelâ€¦ but it isn’t herâ€¦

The duplicity is the first gambit in a second attack by the future Brotherhood – hulking monster Ice-Thing, Deadpool, a Hank McCoy somehow consecrated to evil, psychotic shapeshifter Raze, super-strong Molly Hayes (from the Runaways) and Marvel Girl’s psionic remnant Xorn – led by the son of Charles Xavierâ€¦

Chapter three reveals the uncanny origins of the wicked Xavier and his crusade to destroy his father’s legacy. As the invaders storm the facility, Xorn turns the psychically conjoined Stepford Sisters – Celeste, Mindee and Phoebe – into a telepathic torture engine to torment and take out the studentsâ€¦

In the melee one casualty discovers a new superpower and the tables turn when the real X-23 bursts in, eager to pay back her recent murder in kindâ€¦

Xavier’s objective is Jean and, as he psychically engages her, his insane true motivations are revealed for the first time, as is a fortuitous secret – not all of his team are volunteersâ€¦

He is also completely unaware of and unprepared for the changes wrought by her ordeal in outer space and soon the battle goes catastrophically against him. The one good thing about time travel, however, is that that you can try, try, try againâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

Dark, moody, chronally complex, convoluted and explosively cathartic, One Down blends brooding tension and sinister suspense with staggering all-out action and comes with a stunning 10 covers-&-variants gallery by Immonen, Von Grawbadger, Rafael Grampa, Frank Cho, Alex Ross and Matthieu Forichon as well as AR icon sections (Marvel Augmented Reality App) for access to story bonuses once you download the free code from marvel.com onto your smartphone or Android-enabled tablet.
â„¢ and Â© 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.

September 22, 2014September 19, 2014

Uncanny Avengers: Avenge the Earth

By Rick Remender, Daniel AcuÃ±a & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-627-4

If you haven’t read the Avengers for a while then you’ve got lots of catching up to do.

What You Need to Know: Once upon a time mutant hero Wanda Maximoff – daughter of arch-villain Magneto and known to the world as the Scarlet Witch – married android warrior The Vision and they had (through the agency of magic and her unsuspected chaos-energy fuelled ability to reshape Reality) twin boys. Over the course of time it was revealed that her beloved sons were mere magical constructs which subsequently vanished (for further details see Marvel Platinum: the Definitive Avengers).

Years passed and the loss drove Wanda mad. When she finally slipped over the edge her resultant slaughter-spree destroyed many of her Avenger comrades. The effects of her actions spread to reshape the entire Marvel Universe, resulting in the team’s dissolution and climactic reboot (Avengers Disassembled and New Avengers: Breakout).

The team had barely recovered from that catastrophe before she overwrote Reality again, altering recent Earth history such that mutants ruled over a society where humans were an evolutionary dead-end, living out their lives and destined for extinction within two generations.

It took a legion of champions and a huge helping of luck to put that genie back in a bottle (see House of M), but in the aftermath less only 198 mutants existed on Earthâ€¦

The Witch was partially rehabilitated and began her quest for redemption during Avengers versus X-Men where the World’s Mightiest Heroes strove against the remaining mutants for control of Hope Summers: a girl born to be the mortal host of implacable force of cosmic destruction and creation known as The Phoenix.

However the primal phenomenon instead possessed a quintet of X-Men, corrupting them by manifesting their dream of making Earth a paradise for besieged, beleaguered Homo Superior and hell for humanity.

At the height of the clash mankind was briefly enslaved by resurgent mutants before the appetites of the omnipotent Phoenix Force caused those possessed by it to turn upon each other. Soon its transcendent power transformed rallying figurehead and mutant freedom-fighter Cyclops into another apparently unstoppable, insatiable â€œDark Phoenixâ€.

At that crossroads moment his beloved mentor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men and formulator of the aspiration of peaceful mutant/human co-existence, returned – only to be killed by his most devoted discipleâ€¦

Professor X’s death united X-Men and Avengers in a joint effort which overthrew the cosmic avatar but, in the days following the departure of the Phoenix Force, progress and reconciliation stalled. The mostly human world festered with fresh resentment even as new mutants began to manifest, and it wasn’t long before mankind fell into its old habits of intolerance, violence and bigoted, vigilante outragesâ€¦

When undying Ã¼ber-Nazi Red Skull stole Xavier’s brain and appropriated the deceased mutant’s awesome telepathic abilities, his terrorist outrages were halted by a new team of Avengers: one formed by Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. to counter the rising tide of inter-species hostilityâ€¦

Having been born out of one wave of genocidal race-wars, the Sentinel of Liberty was painfully aware that America’s mutant minority had been poorly served – when not actively institutionally discriminated against – and sought to make amends by publicly adopting Xavier’s utopian vision. To that end he convened the high-profile, affirmatively-active Avengers Unity Division, comprising human and mutant heroes working together.

The quintessential Avenger chose former government agent Havok (Cyclops’ brother Alex Summers) to lead the team, which consisted of himself, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Rogue, Wolverine, Sunfire, Wonder Man and the Wasp.

Later, at a press conference inducting the latter two, the group was ambushed by the Grim Reaper and the clash ended with Rogue killing the psychopath in full view of the watching world. In one shocking instant the entire enterprise seemed utterly undermined with all that hard-won pro-mutant progress wastedâ€¦

Still reeling from that setback the Unity Division were then blasted into universal overdrive as the eternal rivalry between arch-nemesis Kang the Conqueror and his elder self Immortus resurfaced with the attack of future-reared mutant Dark Messiahs The Apocalypse Twinsâ€¦

Through temporal manipulation they appropriated mystic Asgardian war-axe JarnBjorn – a weapon capable of killing even space god Celestials – and set about reordering our present where all-powerful scourge Apocalypse had recently been killed.

Many attempted to replace him as mutant messiah and exterminator of humanity. On solar-orbiting Starcore Station his son Genocide petitioned the terrifying Celestials to accept him as their new agent.

Celestials are a crucial component in the mechanics of the cosmos; their only interest being the raw, unstoppable processes of evolution. The Apocalypse Twins exercised their claim by using JarnBjorn to murder the supposedly-omnipotent Celestial Gardener: framing humanity for the blasphemy and thereby endangering the very fabric of existenceâ€¦

The Scarlet Witch’s relationship with Wonder Man had been strained ever since she killed and resurrected him, and the traumatised energy being had reacted in many odd ways. For one thing he became a pacifist, willing to help the Avengers in every way possible – except by fighting – and eventually declared himself Wanda’s devoted loverâ€¦

The Avengers could not stop the Twins crashing the space-station on Rio de Janeiro, although Thor and Sunfire did save the city from utter obliteration.

The Twins were reacting to years of cruel deceit. Raised by Kang in time-warped isolation in a private concentration camp in 4145AD, Eimin and Uriel eventually deduced their patron’s motives were self-serving and resolved only to trust each other whilst saving their own embattled speciesâ€¦

To that end they constituted their own squad of Four Horsemen of Apocalypse to winnow humanity and its heroes. These latest heralds of mutant Rapture and human Armageddon were not the bio-engineered living creatures their predecessor preferred, though. Instead Eimin and Uriel opted for a quartet of dead apostles – Sentry, Banshee, Daken and Grim Reaper – to pave their way to mutant ascendancyâ€¦

When Immortus informed Captain America of the plot and the ghastly consequences should the Twins win the war to control all times, spaces and realities, he also included undisclosed details of Wolverine’s murderous past, and the Unity team split over issues of philosophy and pragmatismâ€¦

Thus Havok was hard-pressed to keep the Avengers focused before the onslaught of the Twins’ zombie Horsemen, and their attack failedâ€¦

The Twins were actually enacting a secret agenda: tricking Wanda and her lover into using her world-warping powers to bring about the long-desired Mutant Raptureâ€¦

Despite destroying Uriel, the Uncanny Avengers could not stop Eimin from altering the timeline. Earth was obliterated by Celestial Executioner Exitar and Planet X became the homeworld of the entire mutant race.

Six years later, Havok, his wife The Wasp and time-travel expert The Beast work as a resistance cell, trying to unmake the new history and restore a reality they feel to be the right oneâ€¦

Collecting Uncanny Avengers #18-22 (published May-September 2014), this time-rending confection kicks everything into chaotic overload as Alex Summers battles old mutant foes and even former friends on a world which is a literal paradise for Homo Superior. Despite the best efforts of Magneto and his fanatical followers they eventually succeed but reality does not immediately revert.

Instead Kang appears with an army of the multiverse’s greatest villains – and even a few future heroes – with some bad newsâ€¦

Although the Dam is down, this reality will persist unless Havoc can gather the survivors of the Uncanny Avengers and send their consciousnesses back in time to prevent the key events from ever transpiring.

To ensure Alex complies, Kang then steals his daughter Katie, promising to keep her safe from all the necessary time-alterations, but the grizzled mutant knows a veiled threat and extortion when he sees themâ€¦

Eimin is also aware of the temporal manipulations and rouses the mutant defenders of Planet X to stop Havok, Wasp and Beast. Amongst the hit-squad sent to foil them are their oldest friends and even Alex’s brother Cyclops.

Amidst the spectacular clashes, another scheme is being played out and the resistors’ hopeless cause is successful due to a last-minute switching of allegiances by a mutant high in the hierarchy of power of the X-Worldâ€¦

Soon the minds of Alex, Wasp, Sunfire, Wolverine and Thor are back in their younger bodies just as Earth is facing its final moments. Some heroes warn Wanda and Wonder Man that they are being tricked by Eimin whilst others intercept Tony Stark and the Vision as they obliviously prepare to lead a coalition of Avengers, Doctor Doom plus an army of metahumans – good and evil – against the planet-sized Exitar: the outraged Celestials’ official executioner and sentient Extinction Event.

Forearmed with future knowledge, the humans destroy the lethal Celestial, but this only leaves the duplicitous and Machiavellian Kang and his Chronos Corp in control of the miraculously saved and restored world. The entire campaign has been orchestrated by the Conqueror to place him in ultimate control of the universeâ€¦

Kang, however, has not reckoned on the determination and outrage of grieving father Havok, nor the last ditch heroics of his ultimate rival Immortus and a hastily convened Infinity Watch of cosmic champions including The Guardians of the Galaxy, Silver Surfer, Nova, the Phoenix, Starfox and Universal Protector Captain Mar-Vellâ€¦

In the shattering aftermath of that final all-out confrontation, most – but not all – Avengers are restored to life, and many who have been resurrected will never be the same, physically or emotionally.

And the thought occursâ€¦ what will the Celestials do when they learn of their punishing agent’s death?

Scripted by Rick Remender, gloriously illustrated by Daniel AcuÃ±a, and offering a covers-&-variants by AcuÃ±a, Greg Land, Frank D’Armata, Lee Weeks, Paul Mounts, Katie Cook, In-Hyuk Lee, Agustin Alessio, Rob Guillory and John Tyler Christopher, here is pure superhero adventure at its most apocalyptic.

This bombastic, bewildering, breathtaking, utterly compulsive and convoluted saga may be a bit daunting for casual readers, but dedicated followers of high-octane Costumed Dramas will no doubt adore the fantastic premise, incredible action and staggering scope of events.
â„¢ & Â© 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.

September 19, 2014September 18, 2014

Deadpool vs. Carnage

By Cullen Bunn, Salvador Espin, Mike Henderson, Aaron Kim Jacinto & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-613-7

Stylish killers and mercenaries craving something more than money have long made popular fiction protagonists and light-hearted, exuberant bloodbath comics will always find an appreciative audienceâ€¦

Deadpool is Wade Wilson (yes, a thinly disguised knockoff of Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke the Terminator: get over it – DC did), a hired killer and survivor of genetics experiments that have left him a grotesque bundle of scabs, scars and physical abnormalities but practically immortal, invulnerable and capable of regenerating from any wound.

He is also a certifiable loonâ€¦

The wisecracking high-tech â€œMerc with a Mouthâ€ was created by Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza, debuting in New Mutants #97, another product of the Canadian â€œWeapon Xâ€ project which created Wolverine and so many other mutant/cyborg super-doers. He got his first shot at solo stardom with a couple of miniseries in 1993 (Deadpool: the Circle Chase & Sins of the Past) but it wasn’t until 1997 that he finally won his own title, which blended 4th-wall-busting absurdist humour (a la Ambush Bug) into the mix and secured his place in Marvel history.

Since then he has become one of Marvel’s iconic, nigh-inescapable characters, perennially undergoing radical rethinks, identity changes, reboots and more before always, inevitably, reverting to irascible, irreverent, intoxicating type in the endâ€¦

Back in the anything goes, desperate hurly-burly of the late 1980s-early1990s, fad-fever and spin-off madness gripped the superhero genre in America as publishers hungrily exploited every trick to bolster flagging sales.

In the melee Spider-Man spawned an intractable archenemy called Venom: deranged, disgraced reporter Eddie Brock who bonded with Peter Parker’s Secret Wars costume (a semi-sentient alien parasite dubbed the Symbiote) to become a savage, shape-changing dark-side version of the Webspinner.

Eventually the arachnid adversaries reached a brooding dÃ©tente and Venom became the â€œLethal Protectorâ€, dispensing his own highly individualistic brand of justice anywhere but New York City.

However, when the symbiote went into breeding mode it spawned a junior version which merged with serial psycho-killer Cletus Kasady. Utterly amoral, murderously twisted and addicted to both pain and excitement, they became the terrifying metamorphic Carnage: a death-crazed monster tearing a bloody swathe through the Big Apple before an army of superheroes caught him and his equally lethal â€œfamilyâ€ (as seen in the crossover epic Maximum Carnage).

One of the most dangerous beings on Earth, eventually Kasady was executed and his remains dumped safely into high-Earth orbit. Of course â€œsafeâ€ is an extremely relative term and eventually the crimson killer returnedâ€¦

Following a clash between The Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius‘ mind in Peter Parker’s body) and the Wizard, Kasady was resurrected but separated from his increasingly self-aware symbiote…

Written throughout by Cullen Bunn, this sublimely continuity-light and baggage-free bloody kill spree collects Superior Carnage Annual (April 2014) and the subsequent 4-part miniseries Deadpool vs. Carnage (June-August 2014), gorily repositioning the scarlet slaughterer for his next assault on the cowering Marvel Universe.

The all-action abattoir-fest opens with Superior Carnage Annual (illustrated by Kim Jacinto, Mike Henderson and colourist Jay David Ramos) as the recently recaptured Kasady – lobotomised in a clash with the Scarlet Spider – awaits medical assessment in Kramer Penitentiary. Psychologist Dr. Jenner is interviewing the unrepentant but clearly cognitively recovered felon to see if he is mentally competent to be tried for his crimes, but the headshrinker also has a secret agendaâ€¦

In New York City, the symbiote is barely contained in an unbreakable tube on Spider Island (fortress base of the Superior Spider-Man), raging in destructive fury against imprisonment and terrifying the mercenaries guarding it.

When an inmate at far-distant Kramer tries to kill Kasady the captive creature goes instantly berserk before apparently expiring.

Meanwhile at Morse Laboratories in New Mexico, researcher Carla Unger is working late, examining a few scrapings taken from the symbiote. Despite the risks, it’s way better than cooking dinner for her abusive husband Will, but when the seemingly-dormant scarlet shreds suddenly possess her, she heads home for a final family mealâ€¦

The symbiote is going to find Cletus, and is soon hopping from body to body, gaining strength whilst leaving a trail of corpses across America, but it is all too late. Power-mad Dr. Jenner, hungry to be the symbiote’s permanent host and exasperated that his first attempt to kill Kasady failed, stifles the dying inmate in the prison infirmary, but when the thing from another world final arrives it rejects him before reanimating its preferred host’s corpseâ€¦

Reunited and resurgent, the component parts that comprise the revitalised Carnage then begin taking an awful vengeance on everybody at the institutionâ€¦

Some time later Deadpool vs. Carnage opens with the scarlet slayer still enjoying an extended if motiveless murder spree throughout the Midwest.

In his apartment and own world, Wade Wilson is channel surfing TV stations and suddenly divines a personal message from the universe telling him to stop Carnageâ€¦

After a few false starts and more nudging from everyday objects like billboards, video games and comics, the Manic Merc finally stumbles across Kasady in an abandoned housing development in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the two unkillable kooks start fighting.

It seems to be pretty even until Cletus’ homicidal old squeeze Shriek turns up and ambushes Deadpoolâ€¦

This really isn’t the kind of tale that depends on plot, but if you’re a fan of hyperkinetic Warner Brothers cartoons where two protagonists try increasingly outrageous and escalating methods of mass destruction to destroy each other then you’ll adore the frantic, blackly hilarious duel which only ends after Deadpool picks up a bunch of symbiotes of his own – and a cool shape-changing dog – from a secret military base where the government has been trying to weaponise the alien parasites for the armyâ€¦

Sharp, fast-paced and excessively, addictively action-packed, this wry and sanguine rollercoaster romp also includes a covers-&-variants gallery by Rafa Garres, Glenn Fabry & Adam Brown and Leinil Francis Yu: offering a complication free riot of gratuitous gory fun and thrills that will delight the appetites for graphic destruction of Fights ‘n’ Tights fans everywhere.
â„¢ & Â© 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. Italy. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

September 16, 2014September 15, 2014

The Star Wars

By George Lucas, J.W. Rinzler, Mike Mayhew & Rain Beredo (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78329-498-5

I’m sure we all know the modern mythology of Star Wars and its mindbendingly expansive continuity to a greater or lesser extent. The problem with any such monolithic achievement is an eventual loss of spontaneity and freshness, but now true disciples and occasional dabblers alike have another, new-old strand to followâ€¦

In September 2013 Dark Horse Comics began a 9-issue adaptation (#0-8) of George Lucas’ 1974 original draft for a science fiction movie romp of epic scope, expanded and interpreted by scripter Jonathan W. Rinzler, illustrator Mike Mayhew and colour-artist Rain Beredo, which offered fans of both the franchise and action comics another bite from a very different cherry.

Sadly, what most die-hards will want is to seek out the similarities and differences but, as tempting as that is, I’d like to concentrate on what makes this a good graphic novel and leave the cinematic nitpicking to those more adept and so inclinedâ€¦

If you had somehow come from another planet and picked up The Star Wars, what you would have is a grandiose space-opera thriller with quite a few similarities to Frank Hebert’s epochal Dune saga and redolent of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, jam-packed with valiant champions fighting a last-ditch rearguard action against an oppressive, tyrannical Empire which wants to run everythingâ€¦

The warriors called Jedi-Bendu whose martial skills carved out a benevolent galactic coalition are in decline, hunted near to extinction by a rival cult known as the Knights of Sith. As the martial sects waged their war, the nature of politics changed and a new, rapacious government sought to consolidate a league of voluntarily participant systems into an overweening monument to iron-handed control.

On the fourth moon of Utapau aged, ravaged Kane Starkiller is training his sons in the all-but lost martial arts of Jedi-Bendu when the hunters who have eradicated almost all of his kind appear. When the family heroes finally escape the trap they are reduced to only Kane and his elder son Annikinâ€¦

Heartbroken, they head for Aquilae, unaware that their homeworld has been targeted by the New Empire. The autonomous system is the last free star kingdom, all others having capitulated to pressure and been absorbed into the burgeoning governmental/commercial juggernaut.

The Emperor, Governor Hoedaack and taciturn General Vader don’t expect too much trouble with this last campaign, but tribunal member Vantoss Coll believes otherwise. He knows Aquilae’s planetary defences are commanded by the mythic Jedi-Bendu Luke Skywalkerâ€¦

It won’t be enough. Skywalker has the ears of King Kayos and Queen Breha but their parliament is riddled with cowards, appeasers and outright traitors like Count Sandageâ€¦

When the attack comes it is in the form of a colossal, moon-sized space-station and Skywalker’s forces are overwhelmed, even with the help of the recently returned Kane and Annikin and a desperate warning from Aquilae’s top agent Clieg Whitsun who arrives moments before the first shattering assault.

With hell about to rain down Skywalker orders Annikin to collect and protect wayward heir Princess Leia whilst he leads the planet’s space forces against the encroaching death star. During the battle two argumentative imperial droids, Artwo and Threepio, eject from the station and meet up with Annikin and Leia in the deep deserts below.

With Kayos murdered, Sandage happily capitulates and orders Skywalker to surrender, but the old soldier refusesâ€¦

With Captain Whitsun in tow he absonds, choosing to save the young Princes Biggs and Windy by getting them off-planet. Intending to link up with Annikin at distant Gordon Spaceport where his old alien smuggler pal Han Solo lurks, their flight is harried by faceless waves of white armoured troopers but the real trouble starts when despicable Vader reluctantly accepts the advice and aid of formidable Sith legend Prince Valorumâ€¦

After a stunning and non-stop procession of increasingly brutal fights – and with their numbers tragically reduced by the death of two valiant stars – the surviving fugitives get off-planet and make it to primitive frontier world Yavin where Skywalker and Annikin find not only danger and betrayal but an unlikely turncoat ally and a potential game-changing army of bellicose giant beasts called Wookiesâ€¦

Of course it’s all far more complex and intriguing than that, with young love, dastardly betrayals, tragic sacrifice, plentiful comedy moments and above all astounding, rocket-paced action to carry readers along, and lovers of blaster-blazing action will be well served by the raw energy and lovely artwork.

It would appear that there is an inexhaustible demand for stories from â€œA Galaxy Far, Far Awayâ€¦â€ but this time as another tale of noble rebels and dastardly Empires unfolds the big difference is that you don’t really know what’s coming next. If you’re a movie maven you could call it an alternate universe yarn if you wanted to, but this is a book no lover of great comics will want to miss.
The Star Wars and Star Wars Â© 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. & â„¢. All rights reserved. Used under authorisation. Text and illustrations for Star Wars are Â©, 2013, 2014 Lucasfilm

September 12, 2014September 11, 2014

Amazing Spider-Man: The Gauntlet volume 1 – Electro and Sandman

By Mark Waid, Dan Slott, Fred Van Lente, Joe Kelly, Adam Kubert, Barry Kitson, Paul Azaceta, JM Ken Niimura, Javier Pulido & Stefano Gaudiano (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3871-6

Nerdy school kid Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, whilst seeking to cash-in on the astonishing abilities he’d developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy.

His beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered, and the traumatised boy determined henceforward to always use his powers to help those in need. For years the brilliant young champion suffered privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego endured public condemnation and mistrust as he valiantly battled all manner of threat and foeâ€¦

During a particularly hellish period a multitude of disasters seemed to ride hard on his heels and a veritable army of old enemies simultaneously resurfaced to attack him (an overlapping series of stories comprising and defined as â€œThe Gauntletâ€), before Parker’s recent tidal wave of woes was revealed to be the culmination of a sinister, slow-building scheme by the surviving family of one of his most implacable foes – and one who had long been despatched to his final reward.

Spanning January and February 2010, the first skirmishes in that campaign of terror are collected here, having originated in Dark Reign: The List – Amazing Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man #612-616 and as pertinent extracts from Web of Spider-Man #2, as old foes returned to trouble a hero already reeling from the fact that his most despised and crazy enemy has just been made the second most powerful man in Americaâ€¦

Officially psychotic Norman Osborn has bedevilled both Spider-Man and Peter for years. His abused son Harry was the misunderstood hero’s greatest friend but the stress and strain, over time, turned the Osborn heir into a drug addict, a costumed carbon copy of his old man and, latterly, a certifiable basket case.

Callously oblivious, Norman – through various machinations – became America’s Security Czar: the â€œtop-copâ€ in sole charge of the beleaguered nation’s defence and freedom, especially in regard to the USA’s costumed community.

Capitalising on the Skrull Secret Invasion he rose to power on a tidal wave of public popularity but soon instituted an oppressive Dark Reign, driving the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes underground and forming his own team of deadly Dark Avengers, all in the grossly debased name of â€œnational securityâ€â€¦

Not content with commanding all the covert and military resources of the USA, Osborn personally led the team, wearing a formidable suit of â€œrequisitionedâ€ Iron Man armour and calling himself the Iron Patriot, even whilst covertly conspiring with a coalition of major super-villains to divvy up the world between them.

From Dark Reign: The List – Amazing Spider-Man, ‘The Last Name’ by Dan Slott, Adam Kubert & Mark Morales finds the whiny media liberals of digital news-source Front Line (populated and staffed by all the ethical reporters from the former Daily Bugle) searching for ways to expose Osborn’s true nature and plans.

When Joe Robertson reminds Parker that no narcissist egomaniac ever destroyed anything he was in, the Astounding Arachnid invades the high tech Oscorp Tower and makes off with incriminating recordings of the former Green Goblin torturing prisoners and testing weapons on human subjects.

With his new position imperilled, Osborn dons the Iron Patriot Armour and gives chase, consequently devastating much of Midtown as he exultantly thrashes his greatest foe. However he’s too late to stop Parker from uploading the films to the world wide web and his brutal behaviour in front of the gathered witnesses is his first big mistake. Now the public are talking, wondering and starting to remember what he used to beâ€¦

‘Gauntlet Origins: Electro’ (written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Barry Kitson from Web of Spider-Man #2) then discloses just how blue collar electrical lineman Max Dillon came to grips with the power he developed after being hit by lightning. Stealing components from Stark Industries, being disdained and rejected by Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants all fostered his determination to be a big shot one day and make everybody payâ€¦

Amazing Spider-Man #612-614 cumulatively bring ‘Power to the People’ (Mark Waid & Paul Azaceta) as, against a backdrop of rolling power outages and an economic downturn, Dillon makes his move after hiring the Mad Thinker to stabilise and augment his famously erratic electrical abilities.

Unfortunately that calls for more cash than he’s got and soon Electro is looking to make more – and quicklyâ€¦

Rather than robbery, however, he cunningly opts for a very public crusade against skeevy and controversial publisher Dexter Bennett who has just been deemed too big to fail. Awarded a huge government bailout to keep his trashy newspaper The DB (nee Daily Bugle) open, the billionaire is clearly living large even as decent, hard working Americans are suffering the biggest recession in historyâ€¦

The campaign leads to riots in the streets and Electro makes his move, offering Bennett the chance to buy off the electrical agitator with a quick cash injection.

â€¦And that’s when Spider-Man tracks down the Thinker’s lair and spoils the perfect planâ€¦

With his scheme in ruins, all that’s left for Dillon is revenge and destruction and deathâ€¦

As the dust finally settles after a spectacular clash which demolishes a New York landmark, Dillon is visited in jail by an old ally who offers another chance for paybackâ€¦

A backup in Amazing Spider-Man #612, ‘The Other Woman’ by Joe Kelly & JM Ken Niimura then cheekily examines the odd relationship of Spider-Man and amoral adventuress Black Cat, contrasting their commitment-free flings to Peter’s ongoing problems with old flames like Mary Jane Watson and intriguing new co-worker Norah Winters before ‘Keemia’s Castle’ (Amazing Spider-Man #615-616 by Van Lente & Javier Pulido) sees the start of another baffling mysteryâ€¦

Carlie Cooper is a CI for the police and when robbery and murder evidence in her custody goes missing she turns to science whiz Peter Parker to clear her name. The trail leads the unlikely sleuth to the South Bronx and a missing girl named Keemia Alvarado.

Keemia’s mother was something of a prison groupie and her relationship with metamorphic felon Flint Marko – the Sandman – apparently resulted in a child. After fact – and suspicion – checking with journalist Betty Brant, Spider-Man puts a few together and heads out to closed-for-the-winter Governors Island where he finds his reformed former foe and the missing girl.

Marko denies all knowledge of the crimes. All he wants is to spend time with his little princess and he uses his new power to create autonomous sandy doppelgangers to emphatically press home his point.

It’s only after defeating the outnumbered arachnid that the stunned Sandman realises that some of his duplicates are more autonomous – and bloodthirstily evil – than othersâ€¦

Fast, furious, and easily combining frantic action with moving character vignettes and ferociously addictive soap opera melodrama, these tales are offbeat even by Spider-Man’s standards – which is no bad thing – but sometimes suffer from a surfeit of unaddressed backstoryâ€¦ which rather is.

Nonetheless, the stories here are clever, compelling and beautifully illustrated throughout, so art lovers and established fans have plenty to enjoy. Moreover the explosive, if occasionally confusing, Fights ‘n’ Tights rollercoaster is graced with an expansive gallery of covers-&-variants by Adam Kubert, Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, Marko Djurdjevic, Paolo Rivera, Frank Cho, Adi Granov, Ed McGuiness and Joe Quinones

September 11, 2014September 10, 2014

Gotham Central book 1: In the Line of Duty

By Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka & Michael Lark & Stephen Gaudiano (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1923-9 (HC)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â : 978-1-4012-2037-2 (SC)

One of the great joys of long-lasting, legendary comics characters is their potential for innovation and reinterpretation. There always seems to be another facet or corner to develop. Such a case was Gotham Central, wherein modern television sensibilities cannily combined with the deadly drudgery of the long-suffering boys in blue of the world’s most famous four-colour city.

Owing as much to shows such as Hill Street Blues, Homicide: Life on the Streets and Law & Order as it did to the baroque continuity of Batman, the series mixed gritty, authentic police action with a soft-underbelly peek at what the merely mortal guardians and peacekeepers had to put up with in a world of psychotic clowns, flying aliens and scumbag hairballs who just won’t stay dead.

This compilation – collecting Gotham Central #1-10 (February – October 2003, by writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka and sublimely illustrated by Michael Lark) – revisits those much-missed stories in either standard paperback or lavish hardcover format and starts off with an erudite and informative Introduction on ‘The Mean Streets of Gotham’ by celebrated crime author Lawrence Block.

Brubaker and Rucka co-wrote the eponymous two-part premier tale ‘In the Line of Duty’ wherein a desperate child-kidnap investigation by detectives Marcus Driver and Charlie Fields of ex-Commissioner Gordon‘s hand-picked Major Crimes Unit leads them all unawares to the temporary hideout of murderous superfreak Mr Freeze.

The cold killer horrifically destroys Charlie and sadistically leaves Driver injured but alive as an object lesson.

The GCPD have a strange relationship with the Dark Knight. They all know he’s out there, but the official line is that he’s an urban myth and the Administration refuses to acknowledge his existence. Thus a civilian is employed to turn on the bat-signal on the roof when crises occur and the public are told the eerie light is simply used to keep the cowardly, superstitious underworld cowedâ€¦

In such circumstances all real cops are loath to ask for The Bat’s help so Driver and his grieving, angry colleagues pull out all the stops to find and capture Freeze before the masked vigilante insultingly finishes their job for them.

However, as night falls and the frozen bodycount rises, Marcus deduces what Freeze is planning and has no choice but to ask new Police Commissioner Akins to suspend his embargo and call in the whacko expert before hundreds more dieâ€¦

From an era when comicbook noir was enjoying a superb renaissance, this classic take on the theme of the hunt for a cop-killer is a masterpiece of edgy and fast-paced tension whilst simultaneously perfectly introducing a large cast of splendidly realised new and very individual playersâ€¦

Brubaker scripts the second story solo as ‘Motive’ finds the again fit-for-duty Driver and his temporary partner Romy Chandler using solid police work to solve the outstanding kidnap case, all the while under the gun as arson villain The Firebug dances on the horizon burning down the city one building at a time.

Fourteen year old babysitter Bonnie Lewis vanished while walking home from her yuppie client’s house and a subsequent ransom demand later proved to be a fake. Now, after her body is found, Driver and Chandler carefully re-examine the facts and discover that almost everybody involved has been lyingâ€¦

As they methodically sift evidence, alibis and possible motives, they begin to realise that even this tragically normal crime has its roots in both common greed and the gaudy madness of Gotham’s metahuman menacesâ€¦

The gripping procedural drama then segues back to the city’s aristocracy of maniacs as Greg Rucka scripts ‘Half a Life’ with focus switching to Renee Montoya: a solid cop with too many secrets.

After her former partner Harvey Bullock was fired with extreme prejudice, tongues started wagging, but now an old case threatens to destroy her career and end her lifeâ€¦

When arresting rapist Marty Lipari, he tried to stab her, and she subdued him. Now her morning is ruined when the skel sues her for ten million dollars in damages.

It only gets worse when she and partner Crispus Allen get a bogus case dumped on them by the corrupt, lazy meatheads in Robbery Division, but the capper is dinner with her traditional, devout Catholic parents who still want her to settle down and have kidsâ€¦

Her life begins to truly unravel when a photo of her kissing another woman does the round of colleagues, friends and family. Not all her fellow cops are homophobic bigots: but just enough that’s she kept her life private for years. Now, apparently outed by Lipari’s hired gumshoe Brian Selker, she is targeted by Internal Affairs when first the PI and then Lipari himself are shot to death.

With her lover Darla threatened, her gun identified as the murder weapon and a huge amount of illicit drugs found in her apartment, Renee is soon on her way to jail – another bad egg just like Bullock.

Nobody in MCU thinks she’s guilty but the evidence is overwhelming, and the crisis comes when en route she’s busted out by masked men and taken to the hidden citadel of one of Batman’s most nightmarish nemesesâ€¦

Utterly alone, in the unfriendliest job in the world, in the nastiest town on Earth, Montoya has to deal alone with a crazed maniac who’s destroyed her life just so he can be with her forever.

As a Major Crimes Detective she’s seen how bad The Bat’s enemies can get, but this time she’s the target, not the hunter or witness, and it’s not just her life at stakeâ€¦

This engrossing drama never steps outside of human bounds irrespective of the nature of evil in Gotham, and the original comic presentation (from issues #6-10) won Eisner, Harvey, Eagle and Prism awards for Best Story in 2003.

Sadly not included in this volume are the two earlier tales from Renee’s past (Batman Chronicles #16 – Two Down, by Rucka & Jason Pearson & Cam Smith, and Detective Comics #747 – Happy Birthday Two You, by Rucka, William Rosado & Steve Mitchell) which explained that oblique connection to her obsessive suitor – although you can find then in the original 2005 trade paperback Gotham Central: Half a Life.

The appropriate quota of human drama, tension, stress and machismo all play well under Michael Lark’s deftly understated illustrations, adding a grimy patina of pseudo-reality to good old fashioned cops ‘n’ robbers stories, played out in what can only be described as the urban city of the damned.

The procedural cop thriller on the edge of hell is a stunning study in genre-crossing storytelling, and this edition includes a full cover gallery by Lark as well as a fulsome section of designs and character sketches in ‘Staffing the GCPD’.

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