Category: Graphic Novels

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Uncanny Avengers volume 3: The Apocalypse Twins


By Rick Remender, Gerard Gorman Duggan, Daniel Acuña & Adam Kubert (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-564-2

In the aftermath of the Avengers versus X-Men publishing event, company-wide reboot MarvelNOW! repositioned and recast the entire continuity in the ongoing never-ending battle to keep old readers interested and pick up new ones.

What You Need to Know: Once upon a time mutant Avenger Wanda Maximoff – daughter of arch-villain Magneto and known to the world as the Scarlet Witch – married android hero 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 not real and they subsequently vanished (for further details see Marvel Platinum: the Definitive Avengers).

As years passed her loss slowly drove Wanda mad, and when she finally slipped completely over the edge the resultant slaughter-spree destroyed many of her Avengers team-mates. The effects of her actions subsequently reshaped the entire Marvel Universe, resulting in climactic reboot Avengers Disassembled.

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 or “sapiens” were an acknowledged evolutionary dead-end living out their lives and destined for extinction within two generations.

It took every champion on Earth and a huge helping of luck to put that genie back in a bottle (another colossal crossover – House of M), and in the aftermath less than 200 mutants were left on Earth…

The Witch was partially rehabilitated and began her quest for redemption during the aforementioned Avengers versus X-Men with the World’s Mightiest Heroes striving against the remaining mutants for control of Hope Summers: a girl born to be mortal host to the 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.

In the ensuing conflict humanity was briefly enslaved before, inevitably, the selfish appetites of the Phoenix Force caused those possessed to turn upon each other. Soon its transcendent power transformed rallying figurehead and mutant freedom-fighter Cyclops into another apparently unstoppable, insatiable “Dark Phoenix”.

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 disciple…

Professor X’s death united X-Men and Avengers but, in the days following the expulsion of the Phoenix Force, progress and reconciliation stalled. The mostly human world festered with resentment even as new mutants began to manifest, and liberated mankind again fell into its old habits: intolerance, violence and bigoted, vigilante outrages…

When undying über-Nazi the 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 hostility…

Having been born out of one wave of genocidal race-hatred, the Sentinel of Liberty was painfully aware that America’s mutant minority had been poorly served – if not actively institutionally discriminated against – and sought to make amends by continuing 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,and the squad’s bloody baptism of fire saw them stop the Skull’s freakish army of bio-engineered S-Men and seemingly prove the promise of the premise.

However at a very public press conference inducting two new members – Wonder Man and the Wasp – they were attacked by ancient enemy Grim Reaper. The clash ended when mutant Rogue slaughtered the psychopath in full view of the horrified watching world. In one shocking instant the entire enterprise seemed utterly undermined with all that hard-won pro-mutant progress wasted…

Collecting Uncanny Avengers #6-11 (cover-dated June to October 2013), and the spin-off Uncanny Avenger AU #8 (July), this astounding celebration of the magic of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction kicks everything into time-busting cosmic overdrive as the harried heroes fall prey to the bewildering machinations of arch-nemesis Kang the Conqueror and his most potent pawns The Apocalypse Twins…

It all begins in Scandinavia in 1013AD where/when a young, cocky and rebellious Thor is attacked by En Sabah Nur, immortal mutant Apocalypse and agent of the all-powerful Space Gods dubbed Celestials. The grotesque creature believes he is safeguarding the future by promoting the triumph of only the very strongest mutants, but all the petulant Thunderer knows is that he has been shamed and thrashed by a freak with an unfair advantage – star-forged armour…

Apocalypse is guided in his seemingly random attacks by former enemy Pharaoh Rama-Tut who advocates pre-emptive attacks on certain beings: those whose descendents would one day unite to resist the mutant advocate of Survival of the Fittest: the ancestors of a group called Avengers…

In Asgard Thor learns that his father Odin is subject a non-aggression pact with the Celestials but is too headstrong and angry to put aside his grievance. When sternly told to drop the matter, the furious godling finds suspiciously handy help from his malevolent half-brother Loki who shows him a spell which can enchant Thor’s battle-axe JarnBjorn into a weapon capable of rending even Celestial armour…

Delighted with his new unstoppable blade, Thor goes looking for a rematch and does not see that a stranger has been masquerading as his brother…

The Storm Lord arrives in primitive London just as Apocalypse attacks the next name on Rama-Tut’s list; a warrior named Folkbern Logan…

The Pagan soldier has been attacked by Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen and Thor is the answer to his prayers, wielding JarnBjorn with devastating effect. Saving Logan, destroying the servants and grievously wounding Apocalypse he returns to Asgard only to be severely admonished by Odin, even as elsewhen Apocalypse realises he has been played for a fool by Rama-Tut. The real winner is Kang who quietly takes his intended prize – a weapon even Space Gods cannot endure…

In our present, Apocalypse has been recently killed and many deadly creatures vie for the dubious honour of assuming his mantle and role as mutant messiah/exterminator of humanity. Thus on solar-orbiting Starcore Station his appalling son Genocide petitions the Celestials to accept him as their new agent…

The Celestials are a crucial component in the mechanics of the cosmos, their only interest being the raw, unstoppable processes of evolution. However when the enigmatic Apocalypse Twins materialise, they exercise their claim as true heirs by using JarnBjorn to achieve the impossible: executing the omnipotent Celestial Gardener and thereby endangering the very fabric of existence…

On Earth Havok has just successfully defended Rogue from murder charges at a S.H.I.E.L.D. hearing and attempts to keep her busy and out of sight by sending her after Magneto when news arrives that Earth’s alien early warning satellite The Peak is under attack.

Wanda meanwhile is trying to talk with WonderMan. Their relationship has been strained ever since she killed and resurrected him and the traumatised energy being is undergoing a few confusing life-changes. For one thing he’s now become a pacifist. He will help the team in every way possible… except by fighting…

Despite all efforts the Avengers are unable to save The Peak from the Twins, who use the fallen Celestial’s vehicle to send the station crashing down on Rio de Janeiro. Although Thor and Sunfire are able to save the city from obliteration the rest of the team are more concerned with a secret they have just uncovered: Wolverine’s hidden role in the death of the Twin’s birth-father – the former X-Man Warren Worthington, AKA Archangel…

Whilst all this is occurring Captain America is fighting for his life in war-torn South Sudan and manoeuvred into uncovering a message from a mysterious ally purporting to know what is actually going on.

The Twins are also aware of layers of deceit. Raised by Kang in time-warped isolation Eimin and Uriel are beginning to suspect their patron’s motives and each other’s dedication. These qualms do not prevent them from detonating an atomic blast just as the rest of the Avengers arrive to supplement Thor and Sunfire…

The Marvel Universe is a busy place and whilst this saga was unfolding another major event was simultaneously unfolding in the pages of Age of Ultron. There, a time-warping event created an alternate Earth where the malign mechanoid took over the world from a point in Earth’s future. The epic spawned a plethora of “extra” issues – such as Uncanny Avengers #8AU – wherein the characters from the alternate timeline spawned by the temporal tribulations offered decidedly different tales of our most famed champions.

In this chronal digression – written by Gerard Gorman Duggan and illustrated by Adam Kubert – we glimpse the formative years of the Apocalypse Twins as Kang temporarily frees his twisted children from his private concentration camp in 4145AD. The Lord of Time had been raising them in such harsh conditions to temper them for future roles, but now seeks to test his charges with a first mission of assassination.

The target is veteran Red, White and Blue Sentinel of Justice Colonel America but the operation does not go according to plan…

Returning with #9 to the regularly scheduled tale Ragnarok Now! displays the deepening rift in the Unity team as the resurgent adult Apocalypse Twins continue their campaign for mutant ascendancy by constituting their own squad of Horsemen to winnow humanity and its heroes. These heralds of Mutant Rapture and human disaster are not the bio-engineered creatures their true father preferred however.

The children of En Sabah Nur instead opt for a quartet of dead horrors to pave their way to triumph…

In Sudan meanwhile, Captain America digests information received from the godlike Immortus – another “master of time” and purportedly Kang’s reformed future self. The decidedly untrustworthy savant has entrusted the Star Spangled Avenger with the actual nature of reality and revealed why the Twins must be stopped as well as the ghastly consequences should they win the ongoing war to control all times, spaces and realities…

When Cap then learns of Wolverine’s murderous past actions the team splits over philosophy and pragmatism. Havok is hard-pressed to keep the heroes united before the onslaught of the Twins’ zombie Horsemen, Sentry, Banshee, Daken and Grim Reaper: all deadly killers with deep emotional ties to the heroes and all of whom died at the hands of Avengers…

As the Unity squad splits up to tackle the Apocalypse agents, the calamitous clashes only mask the Twins’ secret agenda: they have seemingly seduced the reality-shredding Scarlet Witch to their cause, convincing her to use her world-warping curse to bring about their long-desired ascendancy as instigators of the Mutant Rapture…

To Be Continued…

Scripted by Rick Remender and illustrated by Daniel Acuña, this rather confused and somewhat convoluted, but exceedingly spectacular, complex and ambitious epic may be a bit daunting for casual readers but dedicated followers of mutant mayhem will no doubt adore the fantastic premise and blockbusting scope of events.

Also provoking much applause and approbation are a gallery of covers and variants by John Cassaday & Laura Martin, Milo Manara and Jim Cheung, whilst the selection of 21st century extra content in the form of AR icon sections includes trailers, character bios, creator commentaries and oodles more. The Marvel Augmented Reality App pages grant access to story bonuses once you download the little dickens – free from marvel.com – onto your smart-phone or Android-enabled tablet. So you should do that too, right?
™ & © 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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Wolfsmund volume 2


By Mitsuhisa Kuji, translated by Ko Ransom (Vertical)
ISBN: 978-1935654-79-7

There’s not much to found regarding pseudonymous woman of mystery Mitsuhisa Kuji other than that she has worked as assistant to both Kentaro Miura (Berserk) and Kaoru Mori (Emma, Anything and Something), but this simply means that we can appreciate her solely through her work, such as this fearsomely nihilistic and bleakly beguiling historical re-enactment of the legend of William Tell as collected in this second English-language volume of Wolfsmund…

Set in 14th century Switzerland and drawing on historical records, the serial debuted in 2009 as Ookami no Kuchi: Wolfsmund in Seinen publication Fellows! – with four tankōbon volumes collected thus far – and details the struggle of three formerly autonomous alpine cantons, Uri, Unterwalden and Shwyz, for freedom and independence from the oppressive domination of invaders from what is rapidly becoming the oppressive and savagely rapacious Habsburg Empire.

Unconventionally, rather than starring dashing heroes, this interpretation of the oft-told folktale centres around the monolithic fortress of Wolfsmund, situated in the Sankt Gotthard Pass: an impenetrable keep, barrier and waystation between mountain passes which dictates and controls the population’s ability to move, flee and find allies, intelligence or war materiel. The castle complex forms a crucial trade bottleneck between Germany and Italy and houses a garrison of hard-hearted soldiers commanded by a human monster in angelic form.

Wolfram the Bailiff is a sadistic sentinel with a dark genius for ferreting out insurrection, disposing of freedom fighters and crushing the people’s hopes. So far nobody has survived falling under his excoriating gaze…

The horrific murderously medieval passion play resumes with ‘Hans and Eva Part One’ as another would-be rebel dies from torture and the aging innkeeper of Uri again publicly rows with his lovely and extremely young wife. Gossip is rife amongst the villagers and for once it’s all true: she married him for his money; he wanted her for her body.

Neither of them is fulfilling their side of the bargain, however…

The resistance fighters of the area are more concerned with their impossibly bad luck. Somehow, valued, experienced men keep falling to Wolfram’s agents: it’s almost as if someone is informing on them…

Eva is unhappy. She loves jewels and wants Hans to buy her more, and so the grizzled barkeep makes another secret journey to Wolfsmund to relate conversations overheard in his hostelry. In the meanwhile however Eva haughtily dons all her bling and defiantly parades around Uri where some very desperate men at last put two and two together…

The dark fable concludes in ‘Hans and Eva Part Two’ as with their cover blown the innkeeper and his repentant bride seek safe passage from Wolfram only to learn to their cost what the beautiful psychopath thinks of traitors and betrayers.

The pair are left to the tender mercies of the rebels and only the intervention of the mysterious dark prostitute who plies her trade in the inn outside the mountain keep’s gates – known as the Wolf’s Mouth – prevents Eva’s death at the hands – and nastier members – of the resistance men. The greedy child does not escape justice though…

The remainder of this increasingly dark and shocking saga relates the appalling story of ‘Cedar and Juwel’ as, with the struggle intensifying and Wolfram’s reprisals hitting ever harder, an itinerant street performer and her little girl arrive at the pass. The debased woman Cedar wants to return to her home in Germany and will happily ply the tricks of more than one trade to get there, and she doesn’t seem to care whether her daughter Juwel comes with her or not…

However, after seducing a Bishop she comes to the attention of Wolfram – a far harder audience to impress. The savage games he plays with both mother and child lead to a concatenation of tragedies which compel the mysterious Madam of the Inn to blow her own cover, heralding the foreboding return of the land’s inevitable liberator… the last son of William Tell…

This stunningly bleak and breathtakingly vicious examination of the human cost of national liberation is rendered with astounding skill in a powerful semblance of woodblock-etching (in the manner of Albrecht Dürer): stark, uncompromising illustration which perfectly compliments the daunting milieu, adamantine scenery and cruelly brutal episodes wherein heroes of “the Eternal Alliance” repeatedly try and fail to pass through the Wolf’s Maw or fool the brutally deadly cherub in command…

Harsh, uncompromising and visceral, this unhappy saga is best enjoyed by older readers, and those who realise that not every ending is a happy one…

Wolfsmund is printed in the ‘read-from-back-to-front’ manga format.

© 2010 Mitsuhisa Kuji. All rights reserved.

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And… we’re back

As I’m now fully back in the saddle – and wearing a brand new Office Chair Seat Beltâ„¢ – I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the paramedics, ambulance pilots, A&E personnel and especially the astoundingly hardworking nurses, doctors, physiotherapists and support staff of Wards 2 and 12 at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Woolwich for looking after me so diligently and enabling me to get back to business so quickly.

Even though they’re all normal people with real jobs and will probably never read any of this, you at least should know just who’s responsible (or to blame, I suppose) for my speedy recovery.

RATIONALISE POLITICS, NOT HOSPITALS.

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The James Bond Omnibus volume 005


By Jim Lawrence & Yaroslav Horak (Titan Books)
ISBN: 987-0-85768-590-2

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Traditional Licence To Thrill… 8/10

There are sadly very few British newspaper strips to challenge the influence and impact of classic daily and Sunday “funnies” 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. You would be hard-pressed to come up with home-grown household names to rival Popeye, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, Flash Gordon or Steve Canyon, let alone Terry and the Pirates or the likes of Little Lulu, Blondie, Li’l Abner, Little Orphan Annie or Popeye and yes, I know I said him twice, but Elzie Segars’s Thimble Theatre was funny as well as thrilling, constantly innovative, and really, really good.

What can you recall for simple popularity let alone longevity or quality in Britain? Rupert Bear? Absolutely. Giles? Technically, yes. Nipper? Jane? The Perishers? Garth?

I hope so, but I doubt it.

The Empire didn’t quite get it until it wasn’t an empire any more. There were certainly very 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’s.

Something happened in ‘fifties Britain – but I’m not going to waste any space here discussing it. It just did.

In a new spirit that seemed to crave excitement and accept the previously disregarded, comics (as well as all entertainment media from radio to novels) got carried along on the wave. Eagle, the regenerated Dandy and Beano, girls’ comics in general: all shifted into creative high gear, and so did newspapers. And that means that I can go on about a graphic collection with proven crossover appeal for a change.

The first 007 novel Casino Royale was published in 1953 and subsequently serialised in the Daily Express from 1958, beginning a run of paperback book 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) came aboard with The Man With The Golden Gun to complete the transfer of the Fleming canon to strip format, thereafter being invited to create new adventures, which he did until the strip’s ultimate demise in 1983.

The art on the feature was always of the highest standard. Initially John McLusky provided the illustration until 1966’s conclusion of You Only Live Twice and, although perhaps lacking in verve, the workmanlike clarity of his drawing easily coped with the astonishing variety of locales, technical set-ups and sheer immensity of cast members, whilst accomplishing the then-novel conceit of advancing a plot and ending each episode on a cliff-hanging “hook” every day.

He was succeeded by Yaroslav Horak, who also debuted on Golden Gun with 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 1960’s.

Titan books have re-assembled the heady brew of adventure, sex, intrigue and death into a series of addictively accessible monochrome Omnibus editions and this fifth compilation 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 entertained…

The frantic derring-do and dark, deadly diplomacy commences with ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ which first ran in the Daily Express from July 7th to October 14th 1975. Solidly traditional 007 fodder, it found Bond assigned to kidnap/rescue Arda Petrich, the comely daughter of a foreign asset, and keep vital intelligence out of the hands of the KGB.

This pacy thriller is most notable more for the inevitable introduction of the eccentric gadgets which had become an increasingly crucial component of the filmic iteration than for the actual adventure, but there are still thrills and flesh aplenty on view.

Hard on the heels of that yarn is brief but enthralling encounter ‘The Torch-Time Affair’ (October 15th 1975 – January 15th 1976), wherein the hunt for a record of all Soviet subversion in Latin America leads to bodies on the beach, a mountain of lies and deceit, breathtaking chases on roads and through jungles, and an astonishingly intriguing detective mystery as Bond and female “Double-O” operative Susie Kew must save the girl, get the goods and end the villain.

But which one…?

‘Hot-Shot’ (January 16th – June 1st) finds the unflappable agent assisting Palestinian freedom fighter Fatima Khalid as she tries to clear the name of her people of airline atrocities committed by enigmatic Eblis terrorists. Their cooperative efforts uncover a sinister Indian billionaire behind the attacks before Bond recognises an old enemy at the heart of it all… Dr. No!

In ‘Nightbird’ (2nd June – 4th November) sporadic attacks by what appear to be alien invaders draw 007 into a diabolical scheme by a cinematic genius and criminal master of disguise apparently in search of military and political secrets and weapons of mass destruction. However a far more venal motive is the root cause of the sinister schemes and reign of terror…

Despite surreal trappings, ‘Ape of Diamonds’ (November 5th 1976 – January 22nd 1977) is another lethally cunning spy exploit as a deadly maniac uses a colossal and murderous gorilla to terrorise London and kidnap an Arab banker, leading Bond to a financial wild man determined to simultaneously destroy Britain’s economic prosperity and steal the Crown Jewels. Happily for the kingdom, Machiavellian Rameses had completely underestimated the ruthless determination of James Bond…

‘When the Wizard Awakes’ finds bad guys employing supernatural chicanery, when the body of a Hungarian spy – dead for two decades – walks out of his tomb to instigate a reign of terror that eventually involves S.P.E.C.T.R.E., the Mafia and the KGB until the British Agent unravels the underlying plot…

In 1977 the Daily Express ceased publication of the Bond feature and the tale was published only in the Sunday Express (from January 30th -May 22nd 1977). Later adventures had no UK distribution at all, only appearing in overseas editions. This state of affairs continued until 1981 when another British newspaper – the Daily Star – revived his career. Presumably, we’ll deal with those cases in another volume.

The first of those “lost” stories are included here, however, beginning with ‘Sea Dragon’, produced for European syndication: a maritime adventure with geo-political overtones wherein crazed billionairess and scurrilous proponent of “women’s liberation” Big Mama Magda Mather tried to corner the World Oil market using sex, murder and a deadly artificial sea serpent.

In ‘Death Wing’ Bond is needed to solve the mystery of a new and deadly super-weapon employed by the Mafia for both smuggling contraband and assassination. Despite a somewhat laborious story set-up, once the tale hits its stride, the explosive end sequence is superb as the undercover agent finds himself used as a flying human bomb aimed at the heart of New York City. His escape and subsequent retaliation against eccentric hit-man Mr. Wing is an indisputable series highpoint.

This astounding dossier of espionage exploits ends in ‘The Xanadu Connection’ (1978) as the daring high-tech rescue of undercover agent Heidi Franz from East Germany inexorably leads the super spy down a perilous path of danger and double-cross.

When Bond is tasked with safeguarding the wife of a British asset leading resistance forces in Russian Turkestan, the mission inevitably leads 007 to the Sino-Soviet hotspot where he is embroiled in a three-sided war between KGB occupation forces, indigenous Tartar rebels and their ancestral enemies of the Mongol militias led by insidious, ambitious spymaster Kubla Khan.

Deep in enemy territory with adversaries all around him, Bond is hardly surprised to discover that the real threat might be from his friends and not his foes…

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 better…
© 1975, 1977, 1977, 1978, 2013 Ian Fleming Publications Ltd/ Express Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Avengers: the Last White Event


By Jonathan Hickman, Dustin Weaver, Mike Deodato Jr. & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-569-7

In the aftermath of the blockbuster Avengers versus X-Men publishing event, the company-wide reboot MarvelNOW! reset the entire overarching continuity: a drastic reshuffle and rethink of characters, concepts and brands with an eye to winning new readers and feeding the company’s burgeoning movie blockbuster machine…

Collecting Avengers volume 5 #7-11 (cover-dated May to July 2013), this ongoing big picture series is again written by the scarily impressive Jonathan Hickman; someone with a distinct gift for mixing “mind-boggling” with “thrilling” and making it all seem easy.

This corner of the grand superhero sub-set (with others including Uncanny Avengers, Avengers Arena, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Young Avengers, Avengers Assemble and Avengers Underwear Secrets – sorry, that last one’s still imaginary) could be seen as the spine which conceptually links the many series and stars together.

In the previous volume an incredibly ancient trio of “Gardeners” – robotic Aleph, seductive Abyss and passionate Ex Nihilo – landed on Mars to begin work on their latest project: remaking Earth into something special.

To attain their ends they bombarded the third rock from the sun with bio-mutational “Origin bombs”, seeding locations with new, exotic and deadly life-forms. When the Avengers went after the perpetrators, the infinitely old invaders claimed to have been tasked by the first species in creation and The Mother (of the entire universe) to test and, whenever necessary, eradicate, recreate and replace life on other worlds.

For Earth their major exhibit was a new form of man: a prototype Adam to supersede humanity…

Captain America responded by gathering an expanded contingent of Avengers: the old trusted team and a new expansion squad of champions gathered from across the globe. This auxiliaries comprised Wolverine, Spider-Man, Falcon, Spider-Woman, master of Kung Fu Shang-Chi, Captain Marvel, former X-mutants Cannonball and Sunspot, teleporter and reality shaper Eden Fesi (now calling himself Manifold), pan-dimensional superman Hyperion, cosmic crusader Captain Universe and alien mystery-woman Smasher to augment the old regulars Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow.

Although the Gardeners were thwarted, Ex Nihilo remained on Mars after the Avengers took custody of his handmade modern Prometheus. The menace bided his time, waiting whilst Tony Stark sought to decode and understand the Adam left in the Avengers’ care. When at last Earth’s greatest inventor cracked the mystery, the strange creature – now calling himself a Nightmask – promptly predicted an imminent end to everything and the advent of another extinction-level threat…

Elsewhere as the ancient aliens’ six bio-attacks radically transformed and evolved flora, fauna and geography at the strike-sites – which needed constant attention from the heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D. – arcane elements of the Infinite were aligning and both Nightmask and Captain Universe became instantly aware of a shattering “White Event”…

Reality is composed of discrete universes held apart by an infinite crimson underspace dubbed the Superflow. Now with that immemorial barrier somehow fragmenting, the timeless engineers who maintain it can only stoically observe as ‘The Last White Event’ (illustrated by Dustin Weaver, with hues from Justin Ponsor) brings destruction and a global doom device to the Avengers’ world.

As Nightmask explains – in the most obscure terminology – a White Event heralds the ascension of a universe. Usually the cosmos provides a Nightmask as herald, and creates a Justice, a Cipher, occasionally a Spitfire and – inevitably – a being of infinite power: a Starbrand. This has just happened again, but this particular universe – and the entire machinery of the multiverse – is broken…

After the artificial man pinpoints the ground-zero location of the trigger event, Iron Man leads the team to a smoking, five-mile wide crater which was once a small suburban college town. The edgy heroes discover a traumatised young man at the centre of devastation…

‘Starbranded’ (Adam Kubert & Ponsor) describes how the celestial source-code which ensures the right person receives ultimate power had failed and, rather than being suitable or even capable, bullied, needy kid Kevin Connor was the very last person who should become a living planetary defence system…

As the confrontation devolves into catastrophic combat, with Connor easily thrashing the likes of Thor and the Hulk, cosmically aware Captain Universe realises that even for such a rare occurrence as a White Event, something is fundamentally wrong with the Big Picture.

Adam/Nightmask then abruptly intervenes, arbitrarily transporting Connor to Mars where Abyss and Ex Nihilo are waiting…

‘Star Bound’ (Weaver, Mike Deodato Jr. & Ponsor) picks up the tale as, after another impatient fight, Starbrand learns how, after millennia of home world “improvements”, bored Ex Nihilo tweaked his eternal brief and did something a little different with the Origin Bombs he dropped on Earth…

The alien had no idea what results his meddling might achieve, but at least after billions of years it would be different…

Teleporting back to Earth with only the best of intentions, Connor and Adam land in Croatia in time to encounter the fruit of Ex Nihilo’s meddling but their good intentions produce only disaster and when the Avengers arrive the situation only escalates…

After a handy cryptography-key page for the alien ‘Builder Machine Code’ used throughout the stories, a clever change of pace sees a group of Avengers sent to Saskatchewan at the request of the Canadian government. The province was also the site of an Origin Bomb strike and the appalling changes to the area were at first investigated by the team of Canadian heroes from Omega Flight. They didn’t come back.

Now in ‘Validator’ (drawn by Deodato Jr. and colour-rendered by Frank Martin), with all contact lost Wolverine leads a team into the dark heart of the mutated environment to discover a terrifying secret …

When the mutagenic hard rain first fell nobody realised that there were in fact seven bio-bombs. In desolate Norway, the ruthless techno-terrorists of Advanced Idea Mechanics were unhampered as they harvested the horrific result of that particular Origin-strike.

Thus this second globe-girdling collection closes with ‘Wake the Dragon’ (Deodato Jr. & Martin) as a team of espionage-adept Avengers – Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Sunspot, Cannonball and Shang-Chi – travel to Hong Kong to gather intel and stop the sale of whatever doomsday bioweapons AIM has crafted from their researches…

As seduction, cajolery, bribery and inevitably outrageous violence all prove insufficient to the task, only the Master of Kung Fu’s “old ways” and spiritual purity are able to divine the incredible, deadly truth behind all the layers of secrets and lies…

To Be Continued…

Utter Fights ‘n’ Tights magic that will delight fans of doom-drenched Costumed Dramas, this tome also offers a stunning covers-and-variants gallery by Dustin Weaver, Justin Ponsor, Joe Quinones & Daniel Acuña and the now mandatory extra content – trailers, character bios, creator video commentaries, behind the scenes features and more – for tech-savvy consumers courtesy of AR icon sections  all accessible through a free digital code and the Marvel Comics app for iPhone®, iPad®, iPad Touch® & Android devices at Marvel’s Digital Comics Shop.
™ and © 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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The Last Temptation


By Neil Gaiman & Michael Zulli (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56971-455-3 (softcover)           978-1-59307-414-2 (Hardback)

In advance of a re-coloured commemorative anniversary release, I thought I’d offer a quick peek at a little lost classic of cross-media marketing that no fan of horror, comics or Halloween should be without – especially as, in either hardback or softcover, the sublime line-drawing and tonal effects of artist Michael Zulli are presented in stark and stirring black and white…

The Last Temptation was Alice Cooper’s twentieth studio album and in 1994 Marvel, in conjunction with Epic records, published a 3-issue miniseries for their abortive Marvel Music imprint to celebrate the release. The first issue was also included as a freebie with the LP. The veteran recording artist worked closely with up-and-coming author Neil Gaiman to craft a narrative that would appeal to music mavens, fantasy fans and lovers of mystery…

In 2005 Dark Horse collected the quirkily baroque supernatural vignette into a beguilingly macabre monochrome monograph that still visually enchants and emotionally entangles – and the turbulent tome is still readily available through internet retailers if, like me, you still hanker for the days of powerful penmanship and tonal terror wedded to graphic excess.

The story is a simple fable of sinister seduction and crucial choices at a crossroads…

Following author Neil Gaiman’s Introduction, lyrically explaining the genesis of the project, ‘Act One: Bad Place Alone’ opens in the joyously anticipatory days before Halloween as Steven and his classmates trade gross-out urban-legend horror stories whilst walking home from school through their painfully plebeian little town.

Passing an alley they spot a nigh-hidden old edifice with a hokey billboard that boasts “Theatre of the Real!! The Grandest Guignol!”

…And suddenly a decidedly creepy and sinister top-hatted Showman is there: huckstering the delights within and daring the quartet to enter. Only Steven, acutely aware of his perceived failings, actually accepts the sardonic dare…

The tall dark strange-ling magnanimously assures the lad that everything is free… but can Steven really be that naïve? At least enticingly dowdy ticket-collector Mercy seems to see something in the boy…

Seating himself in a dank and desolate auditorium redolent of smoke and old flames, the boy takes in a unique show of oddly unhappy morality plays and almost loses himself in uncounted hours of dark entertainment. Finally after enduring and enjoying a sordid stream of blandishments he leaves, reeling from an offer to join the eccentric and uncanny travelling show.

He is not as unmoved or unchanged as he seems when he rejoins his pals… who have waited nearly a minute for him…

‘Act Two: Unholy War’ sees young Steven racing for home as his traditional, pedestrian reality reasserts itself. Over dinner the parents ramble on until Steven turns the conversation towards theatres. He then learns there might have been one in town years ago, but there was some scandal about a fire and the owner stealing children…

As the weary boy heads for bed he feels the power of the Showman still affecting him. In his dreams the eerie tout is there, asking impossible questions and posing terrible, irresistible challenges.

It’s Halloween morning and Steven increasingly finds the Theatre’s influence tugging at him. School is populated with scary monsters and familiar freaks and he knows a proposition has been made. He has no choice but to make a choice in ‘Act Three: Cleansed by Fire’…

Firstly though he makes a stop at the town Library and, through the auspices of the formidably Scary Librarian, does a little research. The sheer number and ominous regularity of missing children on Halloween gives him pause and stiffens his resolve…

When he finally leaves the streets are filled with Trick-or-Treaters – but not all of them are young or alive…

All he can do now is return to the Theatre of the Real, make his choice and live or die by it…

Moody, mercurial and mesmerising, this captivatingly suspenseful comic chiller echoes and recalls the Dark Carnival yarns of Ray Bradbury, and this meander through the byways of the October Country will certainly delight anybody with a taste for the night and love of narrative arts.
The Last Temptation™ and © 1994, 1995, 2000 Nightmare, Inc. and Neil Gaiman. The Last Temptation™ and all prominent characters and distinctive likeness are trademarks of Nightmare, Inc. and Neil Gaiman. Illustrations © 1994, 1995, 2000 Michael Zulli. All rights reserved.

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Black Widow: the Name of the Rose


By Marjorie Lui & Daniel Acuña, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Jamie McKelvie & Matthew Wilson & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4700-8

The Black Widow started life as a svelte and sultry honey-trap Russian agent during Marvel’s early “Commie-busting” days. Natasha Romanoff was subsequently redesigned as a super villain, fell for an assortment of Yankee superheroes – including Hawkeye and Daredevil – and finally defected; becoming an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., freelance do-gooder and occasional leader of the Avengers.

Throughout her career she has been considered efficient, competent, deadly dangerous and somehow cursed to bring doom and disaster to her paramours. As her backstory evolved, it was revealed that she had undergone experimental Soviet procedures which had enhanced her physical capabilities and lengthened her lifespan, as well as assorted psychological processes which had messed up her mind and memories…

Always a minor fan favourite, the Widow only really hit the big time after being in the Iron Man and Captain America movies, but for us unregenerate comics-addicts her print escapades have always offered a cool, sinister frisson of delight.

This particular caper compilation originally surfaced as the first story arc of her short-lived 2010 comicbook series, (reprinting Black Widow volume 4 #1-5, June to October), but first opens with a short tale from the Enter the Heroic Age one-shot from July of that year.

‘Coppélia’, by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Jamie McKelvie & Matthew Wilson, saw Natasha back in the former U.S.S.R. to retrieve a package sought by assorted intelligence agencies, international arms dealers and even more nasty, untrustworthy types. Sadly, that also perfectly describes her own bosses…

Eponymous epic ‘The Name of the Rose’ (by Marjorie Lui & Daniel Acuña) commences as gargantuan old country ally Black Rose rendezvous with his erstwhile comrade to warn her that someone has made her a target…

Despite the timely warning the sultry spy still falls to an ambush attack and regains consciousness on an operating table. There’s a hole in her stomach from where her assailant had unlocked her most shameful secret and surgeons are desperately working to save her…

In attendance are former lovers Logan AKA Wolverine, Tony (Iron Man) Stark and current boyfriend Bucky (Captain America) Barnes, as Natasha is keenly aware since she is awake and can hear them. Paralysed, she can only think back to how this all started a day earlier when she received a black rose in an envelope marked “remember Natasha”…

As she is wheeled into Recovery, Wolverine goes hunting for her assailant, but finds himself unable to take vengeance for his friend…

In hospital, the Widow rouses from a dream of her youth on the Russian Front in WWII and finds Logan guarding her. He now knows what was taken from her and is prepared to back off as the still surgically traumatised ex-agent attempts to escape from the ward which is also her prison.

In a darkened room an anonymous spook informs Hawkeye, Stark and Captain America that for as long as she’s been their “friend” Natasha has been gathering data on them – and on everybody she has ever met…

Whilst they defend her, elsewhere Pepper Potts is shot by assassin-for-hire Lady Bullseye, and as Stark rushes to her side the spymaster casually reveals that the Widow’s files describe the best way to get to the inventor is through his cherished assistant…

On the run Natasha retreats to one of her scrupulously maintained safe-houses to recuperate and re-arm. Once fully tooled up, the Black Widow goes hunting by making herself a target and is confronted by lethal renegade Elektra who’s rather annoyed at finding she’s in those exposed files too. But then, so are all the people who ever trusted the Widow…

Barely surviving the clash, Natasha is later found and nursed by Black Rose. Having deduced a piece of the puzzle she then heads to London in pursuit of the hidden mastermind who has exposed her and stolen her clandestine insurance policy.

Because that’s all it was…after all, she would never have used any of that accumulated information unless she had to, would she?

These damning ruminations are interrupted by a trio of assassins from her KGB days and the resulting battle leads to even more deaths but further revelations and recriminations…

Pursued by friend and foe alike the quest takes Natasha to Russia and a final chilling confrontation with Lady Bullseye before her beloved Bucky finally finds her…

From here on the build up to the splendidly convoluted, sharply smart conclusion is so gripping and twisty that I’d be a real meany to even consider spoiling it for you. Suffice to say all answers are forthcoming and the bad guys get what’s coming to them in a most spectacular and resoundingly gratuitous manner…

This captivating and astoundingly beautiful tome is rounded out by ‘Black Widow Saga’ – a comprehensive prose and picture recap of ‘The Early Years’, programming and conditioning secrets of ‘The Red Room’, as well as Natasha’s ‘Spy & Saboteur’ exploits, ‘The Super Hero Life’, origins of ‘The New Black Widow’ and ‘The Deadliest Days’ of her latter life.

Also included are a gallery of covers by Acuña, Travel Foreman, Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, Stephanie Hans & Joe Quinones, accompanied by a photographic Movie Variant and a one page Black Widow introductory strip by Fred Van Lente & McKelvie to make this such a superb example of genre-blending Costumed Drama that you’d be thoroughly suspect and probably mentioned in dispatches for neglecting it.
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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World’s Finest


By Sterling Gates, Julian Lopez, Ramon F. Bachs, Jamal Igle, Phil Noto & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2797-5

For decades the Man of Tomorrow and Caped Crusader were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest team”. The affable champions were best buddies as well as mutually respectful colleagues and their pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could happily cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

During the 1950s most superheroes of the American Golden Age faded away leaving only headliners Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (plus whoever they could carry in the back of their assorted titles) to carry on a rather genteel campaign against a variety of thugs, monsters and aliens.

With economics and rising costs also dictating a reduction in average page counts, the once-sumptuous anthology World’s Finest Comics (originally 96 pages per issue), which had featured solo adventures of DC’s flagship heroes plus a wealth of other features, simply combined the twin stars into a single lead story every issue, beginning with #71, July-August 1954.

And so they proceeded until 1970 when another drop in superhero fortunes saw WFC become a Superman team-up book with rotating guest partners. However, after a couple of years, the original relationship was rekindled and renewed and, with the World’s Finest Heroes fully restored to their bizarrely apt pre-eminence, enjoyed another lengthy run until the title was cancelled during Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985-1986.

The maxi-series rewrote the DC universe, and everything was further shaken up by John Byrne’s subsequent retooling The Man of Steel which re-examined all the Caped Kryptonian’s close relationships in a darker, more cynical light.

When the characters were redefined for the post-Crisis era, they were recast as suspiciously respectful co-workers who did the same job but deplored each other’s methods and preferred to avoid contact whenever possible – except when they were in the Justice League of America (but for the sake of your sanity, don’t fret that right now!).

Over the following few years of this new status quo the irresistible lure of Cape & Cowl Capers inexorably brought them together again, but now with added modern emotional intensity derived from their incontestable differences.

Moreover, sentimental fools that we comics fans are, the sheer emotional cachet (and perhaps copyright value of the brand) ensured that every so often a new iteration of the singular title was released to keep all interested parties happy…

Thus this moody, cleverly post-modern 21st century spin on the irresistible combination of heroic dynasties which gathers World’s Finest volume 4, #1-4 from December 2009-March 2010, set during the period of the recent overarching Superman publishing event “World of New Krypton/World Without Superman”, wherein 100,000 Kryptonians who have escaped imprisonment in the Bottle City of Kandor gain superpowers under Sol’s light, and build themselves a planet in our solar system…

The book also contains supplementary material from Action Comics #865, 2008 and DC Comics Presents #31, 1981.

With the Man of Steel’s arch-nemesis General Zod prominent and pre-eminent in the newly re-established society of New Krypton, and most of Earth crazy-paranoid about a world full of belligerent supermen flying around in their backyard, Kal-El has abandoned his adopted homeworld to keep an eye on the system’s newest immigrants…

Earth is not completely defenceless, however. As well as the JLA and Superman’s hand-picked replacement Mon-El of Daxam, Supergirl and a mysterious “Superwoman” still fly the skies and top-secret, sinister paramilitary, anti-alien task force Project 7734 is watching, certain that there are other ET insurgents just waiting in hiding…

Against such a backdrop this quartet of interlinked team-ups written by Sterling Gates charts a heroic procession which begins with ‘Nightwing and Red Robin’ (illustrated by Julian Lopez and Bit) and finds the latest Kryptonian to use the appellative seek out the third Boy Wonder’s aid in rescuing his partner Flamebird from the insidious criminal broker The Penguin…

In Case You Weren’t Paying Attention: “The Dynamic Duo of Kandor” were first created by pulp author Edmond Hamilton with artists Curt Swan & George Klein for Superman #158 (January 1963, ‘Superman in Kandor!’) which saw raiders from the Kryptonian enclave attacking the Man of Steel and painting him as a traitor to his people.

The baffled Superman then infiltrated the BottleCity with Jimmy Olsen where they created Batman and Robin-inspired masked identities Nightwing and Flamebird to ferret out an answer.

Over intervening decades the roles were reprised by a number of others in Kandor and on Earth, before eventually being appropriated for Bat-characters when Dick Grayson became Nightwing and original Batgirl Bette Kane re-branded herself as Flamebird.

The latest heroes to use the names are Kryptonians masquerading as human heroes during this time of xenophobic hysteria: failed soldier and former priest Thara Ak-Var and Lor-Zod, a boy born in the Phantom Zone and briefly adopted by Lois and Clark Kent (for further details check out Superman: Nightwing and Flamebird volume 1).

With Thara captive, the former Christopher Kent has tracked down Tim Drake, whom he had previously met. They unite to rescue Flamebird, consequently uncovering an insidious, wide-ranging plan involving many members of their respective crime-busting clans as well as villains Kryptonite Man and the robotic Toyman…

With mission accomplished the heroes are replaced in #2 by ‘Guardian and Robin’ (art by Ramon F. Bachs & Rodney Ramos) as the clone of 1940s mystery man Jim Harper tries to fill the Man of Steel’s shoes in Metropolis, battling human Xerox machine Riot, only to run into the latest iteration of Robin (Damien Wayne, son of Bruce and Talia Al Ghul).

The acerbic, abrasive, assassin-trained 10-year old is tracking stolen Waynetech gear and won’t let super creeps like Mr. Freeze or the life-leeching Parasite stand in his way – even if it means having to work with sanctimonious old fogeys like the Golden Guardian. Sadly neither generation of hero is aware that Toyman will intercept their prisoners as soon as they hand them over to the cops…

In another part of Metropolis, cyber-crusader Oracle contacts the undercover Girl of Steel for a mission. The enigmatic data-wrangler has tracked Freeze and Kryptonite Man to Gotham but her usual operatives have been captured by the mystery mastermind behind the plot. Flying to the rescue, Kara Zor-El effects their rescue but chooses not to work with the morally-ambiguous Catwoman. She has no problems pairing with the junior partner, however…

‘Supergirl & Batgirl’ (illustrated by Jamal Igle, Jon Sibal & Jack Purcell) finds the Kryptonian bonding with Stephanie Brown (daughter of C-list bad-guy Cluemaster, and previously known as The Spoiler and fourth Robin) tracking the nefarious trio of nogoodniks and uncovering the truth behind the far-reaching plot.

The original aged paranoid inventor Toyman wants to remove forever the threat of the aliens above him. To that end he has constructed a monolithic Superman/Batman Robot, stuffed it with lethal Green -K ordinance (courtesy of reluctant hostage Kryptonite Man) and sent it hurtling towards New Krypton.

At least he would have if those interfering kids hadn’t become involved and set the monstrous K-droid rampaging through downtown GothamCity…

Everything pulls together for the climactic ‘Superman & Batman’ – with art from Phil Noto – as replacement Dark Knight Dick Grayson convinces the original Man of tomorrow to temporarily abandon his clandestine assignment on New Krypton to join him in stopping the rioting robot.

The new Daring Duo are as much hampered as assisted by Robin and Batgirl, and things go from bad to worse when the manic mechanoid finally launches for space with Supergirl and Batman still aboard…

Despite a lot of potentially confusing backstory to navigate, this is a tremendously engaging Fights ‘n’ Tights romp, packed with rollercoaster pace and drenched with light-hearted action: even finding room for a portentous teaser of more sinister games in play. As such it should amply reward fans of either or both franchises, but this tome also includes even more comics thrills, chills and spills.

It starts with an introduction from Sterling Gates dealing with how star scribe Geoff Johns married a myriad different and conflicting versions of one of Superman’s oldest foes into a viable and thoroughly competent revival, revealing the life-secrets and horrific motivations of ‘The Terrible Toyman’ (Action Comics #865, July 2008, illustrated by Jesus Merino) to doomed hostage Jimmy Olsen and, of course, us…

Dick Grayson also gets a another shot sharing the limelight with the Man of Steel as ‘The Deadliest Show on Earth’ (by Gerry Conway, José Luis García-López & Dick Giordano from DC Comics Presents #31, March 1981) concisely describes the odd couple’s pre-Crisis battle against a psychic vampire predating the performers at the troubled Sterling Circus…

With covers and variants by Noto, Kevin Maguire, Brad Anderson, Ross Andru & Giordano, this is a surprisingly satisfying superhero treat for all fans of Costumed Dramas and raucous rowdy adventure.
© 1981, 2008, 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Wallace & Gromit – The Complete Newspaper Comics Strips Collection volume 1: 2010-2011


By various (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-87276-032-0

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: An X-mas tradition in the making… 10/10

Hard though it is to believe, Wallace & Gromit have been delighting us for nearly 25 years and this extremely engaging compilation perfectly attests to just how much a cornerstone of British culture the potty putty pair have become.

The ingenious, quintessentially English cheese-chasing chaps were originally conceived as an ArtSchool graphic novel for the student Nick Park, before the Plasticene lure of movement and sound diverted the concept to the world of animation.

Now a multi-media success, the animator’s ingenious inventors have come full circle with this compelling compilation of the newspaper comic strip adaptation spawned by their small (and big) screen endeavours.

According to the informative Foreword by Nick Park, in his youth the affable creator was a big fan of comics, newspaper strips and those gloriously fun-filled Christmas Annuals, so this book, incorporating all three, must be a big boost to the old glee muscles…

After years of perpetually waiting for more Wallace & Gromit, the public were given a big treat after Aardman and Titan Comics put their collective creative noggins together and produced a daily, full-colour comic strip to run in Red-Top tabloid The Sun.

The series was produced by committee and actually actualised (for this edition at least) by scripters Richy Chandler, Robert Etherington, Ned Hartley, Rik Hoskin, David Leach, J.P. Rutter and Rona Simpson, with Gordon Volke, Mike Garley, & Luke Paton with art by Jimmy Hansen & Mychailo Kazybrid, Sylvia Bennion, Jay Clarke, Viv Heath & Brian Williamson, inked by Bambos Georgiou with colours by John Burns & Digikore.

The rather complex creative process is explained in the closing essay ‘Tomb of the Unknown Artist’ if you’re of an inquiring technical nature…

Despite some early controversy about the suitability of the venue, the feature launched on Monday 17th May, 2010, cleverly offering a regular weekly adventure broken down into six, complete, stand-alone gags in traditional format (three panels: Set-up, Delivery, Punchline!). What could be better?

The tone is bright and breezy, inventive family fare with all the established characters in play and the emphasis equally on weird science and appalling puns.

…And Cheese, buckets and buckets of fermented milk-curd mirth…

Dedicated to the further adventures of Northern boffin Wallace and the incomparable best-of-breed working dog Gromit, and set as ever in and around scenic 62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan, the first six-day week reveals that ‘The Tooth Hurts’ in a painful progression from agonised impacted wisdom tooth through the construction of an oddly automated – and frankly terrifying – “Cavitron” to a more traditional extraction thanks to the dog’s sensibly take-charge attitude.

This is promptly followed by similar results from the construction of washing-up robot ‘Helping Hands’, sound amplifying ‘Hear Muffs’ and the first of a dozen double-page spread photo pin-ups taken from the original animated features.

Then ever-peckish Wallace attempts to update the ancient science of apiary in ‘Knowing Bee, Knowing You’, builds his own T-Rex in ‘Jurassic Lark’, “helps” Gromit solve the mystery of missing milk with the overzealous ‘Roboplod’ and even catch a tragic dognapper in ‘Pet Detectives’…

There’s a wealth of delightful in-jokes scattered throughout the strips such as scholarly Gromit’s quirky reading habits (The Dog Delusion by Richard Pawkins, Paws by Peter Barkly, Cracking Cakes by Nigella Pawson or On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwinalot…) as well as a glorious parade of pained and hangdog expressions on the permanently perplexed pooch’s puss.

After another tasty photo-spread the lads go into ‘The Restaurant’ business with their Cheesy Way Diner, get into a bit of a kerfuffle with long-suffering Reg and Ida from ‘The House Next Door’, herald the pastapocalypse with an ultimate noodle maker that triggers ‘The Spaghetti Incident’ after which the lucky dog discovers the lost city of Wallabyzantium under the house in ‘Raiders of the Lost Bark’…

Another pin-up heralds a commission to fix the clock tower chronometer in ‘Gromit Time’ whilst ‘Life’s a Beach’ introduces rival tinkerer Otto Bahn mit his hund Wulfie at the European Inventor’s Convention, before the appallingly keen Sharp-sichord quickly graduates from honing pencils to bigger challenges in ‘Wallace’s Sharp Idea’ and football is forever changed by the old fool’s Robo-goalie in ‘A Safe Pair of Hands’.

The sport of cheese-rolling was easy meat for Wallace in ‘The Edam Busters’ after which a series of unconnected one-off strips comprising ‘Funnies #1’ is followed by the return of penguin super-thief Feathers McGraw in ‘Jolley-Goode Jewels’, the advent of ruthless twitcher Albert Ross in ‘Watch the Birdy’ and a foray into automated barber-ism in ‘A Snip Above’

Feathers made a break for it in ‘It Had to be Zoo’ whilst Wallace was beta-testing his robot-muck-spreader, and the inventor made quite a splash in his new day-job as a chauffeur ‘Driving Miss Crazy’, before Gromit registered extreme discontentment with his instant-self-assembly kennel in ‘Gone Camping’.

The lads celebrated Halloween as paranormal investigators of a haunted school in ‘Ghostblusters’, before all that cheese got to Wallace and Gromit put him on a diet in ‘A Fridge Too Far’. Then, following some more solo ‘Funnies #2’, there was monkey business aplenty when an ape went ‘Bonkers About Conkers’ before ‘A Family Affair’ unearthed a tradition for innovation in our pair’s inspirational ancestors…

The threat of Ballroom Dancing with Wendolene prompts the construction of another ill-advised training robot in ‘Strictly Wallace’, and greedy impatience the building of a ‘Cake-While-You-Wait’ oven, before the far more efficient ‘12 6 Days of Christmas’ celebrates the season with speedily surreal succinctness, after which a half-dozen ‘Breakfast Gags’ usher in a new year rife with catastrophic potential…

The restless dilettante then improves winter sports with jet-pack technology in ‘Ice to See You’, safeguarded Reg and Ida’s sowing season with the accidentally sinister ‘Scarecrowmatic’ and builds a Caddy-Matic contraption to take the dullness out of golf in ‘Hole in One (Hundred)’, going on to sculpt ice statues and an ‘Abominable Snowman’ before retiring with a ‘Perfect Cuppa’ courtesy of a jury-rigged Teasmaid-from-Hell…

Another cash shortfall leads to a dalliance with the arts in ‘Bona Lisa’ whilst an overabundance of soft fruit inspires a domestic mechanised revolution in ‘Bit of a Jam’, after which Albert Ross returns to squash Wallace’s sky-writing enterprise in ‘Love is in the Air’. Gromit then wants a bit of help protecting nest boxes from predatory moggies and Wallace’s solution is certainly ‘For the Birds’…

Disappearing dairy comestibles prove that ‘Sweet Dreams are made of Cheese’ and poor TV reception requires ‘Another Grand Day Out’ to clear space of accumulated junk – good thing they had that old rocket lying about – but autumnal clutter needs a more hands-on approach in ‘Leaf it to Wallace’, whilst the bonkers boffin’s attempts to mechanise newspaper delivery don’t work so well for Gromit the ‘Paper Hound’…

There were too many strings attached to ‘The Pup-Pet Show’ for the impecunious innovator, but a complete overhaul of Mr. Braddle’s little enterprise into ‘The Hard Work Hardware Shop’ paid big dividends, leaving time for a little fishing break in ‘Hook, Line and Stinker’ but it’s soon back to business when Feathers set his beady eye on the ‘The Faver-Heigh Egg’ belonging to a crusty colonel…

The chaps’ attempt to put up the official town bunting for the Queen’s visit lead to ‘A Right Royal Knees Up’ after which a Mayoral Fancy Dress affair offers real rewards for the brace of ‘Caped Crusaders’ and this initial barrage of batty bewilderments concludes with one more snack break as the boys adapt their removals firm to the needs of a catering crisis in ‘Movers and Shakers’…

Lovingly rendered and perfectly timed, the skilful blend of low comedy and whimsy is just as memorable in two dimensions as four, and this book will make a lot of kids – of all ages – extremely happy. Moreover, for all those parents who deliberately avoided the strip because of the paper which carried it, you no longer have that excuse and should now consider this annual collection a “must have” for your family bookshelf…
WALLACE & GROMIT, AARDMAN, the logos and all related characters and elements are © and ™ Aardman/Wallace & Gromit Ltd. 2013. All rights reserved.