Category: Graphic Novels

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Batman and the Outsiders: The Snare


By Chuck Dixon, Carlos Rodriguez, Julian Lopez, Ryan Benjamin, Bit & Saleem Crawford (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-136-6

Following the forcible dissolution of Nightwing’s covert and pre-emptive strike force, Batman resumed leadership of the Outsiders and, after a daunting series of on-going auditions, settled on a core squad comprising Metamorpho, Grace, Katana, Geo-Force, Batgirl and Green Arrow, keeping mass-moving powerhouse Thunder on a short probationary leash and with standby options on a number of others…

This second slim tome collects issues #6-10 of the return run of the Dark Knight’s covert operatives – the first occurring during the 1980s and as yet only partially re-presented in Showcase Presents Batman and the Outsiders volume 1. This epic middle section of a triptych of books (the last still forthcoming) deals with an epic struggle against a terrifying extraterrestrial plot which threatened to engulf the Earth…

Written throughout by Chuck Dixon, the action starts with ‘Ghost Star’ – illustrated by Carlos Rodriguez & Bit – as elemental changeling Rex Mason drifts helplessly in space, trapped aboard a space shuttle commandeered by the employees of mystery plutocrat Mr. Jardine.

Orbiting the far side of the Moon, Metamorpho observes a titanic alien structure under construction. When the marooned hero finally contacts Earth, Batman, who had assumed his agent had burned up in the ship’s launch, immediately sets a rescue-plan in motion. Worryingly, it involves stealing a rocket from a top-secret and ultra-secure Chinese military base…

Meanwhile Rex has infiltrated the mystery construct and discovered it to be manned by possessed human astronauts all working like soulless drones to complete the cosmic conundrum…

And on Earth, Outsiders Green Arrow, Grace and Katana are captured by Chinese metahuman guards Dragonfire, Angry Wizard and Barefoot Tiger. A massive international incident seems inevitable but the general in charge seems to prefer a quieter, far more final solution…

In ‘The Snare’ Batman allows his new boffin Salah Miandad access to the Batcave supercomputers to defeat the Chinese electronic security measures as, half a world away, Batgirl attempts to free the captives from their brutal interrogators and Geo-Force seeks assistance from the US Pacific Fleet.

Beyond the Moon, Metamorpho is running for his life from the mindless construction slaves only to be ejected from the bizarre artefact into hard vacuum…

The rescue of Rex’s rescuers gets underway when the Dark Knight brings in old Outsiders team-leader Nightwing, but before he can begin, Batgirl is forced to very publicly save her comrades from a firing squad in ‘The Hard Way’ (pencilled by Julian Lopez). Out in space Rex manages to find sanctuary on the space-shuttle he’d previously vacated and discovers the purpose of the mystery device when it unleashes a devastating particle beam at the Lunar surface, shattering the crust and vaporising untold tons of dust, rock and lunar ice…

In Inner Mongolia things look bleak for Batman’s overmatched and outgunned operatives until Nightwing and Thunder appear, teleported in by the reconfigured and repurposed Observational Metahuman Activity Construct – now dubbed Remac.

The former Omac – originally designed to nullify metahumans – is under the telemetric control of Salah (still safely closeted away in the Batcave) and together they make short work of the Chinese super-squad, leaving Nightwing and Thunder free to help the already-liberated Outsiders trash the conventional military forces on the base before beaming back to Gotham City…

By the time ‘The Uninvited’ begins, Metamorpho has returned to Earth and been arrested by the Europeans for hijacking their space-shot – although he quickly escapes in his own uniquely embarrassing manner – whilst Outsiders science officer Francine Langstrom has been piecing together the informational snippets Mason had gleaned whilst aboard the astral weapon…

For months Jardine has been covertly co-opting astronauts from many nations, using them to build his honking giant space-gun; returning them to earth with their memories erased. His goal, now apparently realised, was to vaporise moon ice and store it beneath the satellite’s surface. Luna now has an underground sea at its core… but why?

To answer that question Batman determines to probe the subconscious of the unwitting astronauts and calls on the particular talents of Lia Briggs: once the psionic Outsider Looker and now an even more formidable telepath, thanks to her death and resurrection as a Vampire Queen…

Her mental probing almost costs Lia’s undead life but she discovers that the abductees’ minds were temporarily switched with those of incomprehensibly alien mentalities with dark designs upon our world. She also finds a connection to a rave-bondage club in old Gotham…

This tome concludes with ‘Monsters’ (illustrated by Ryan Benjamin & Saleem Crawford) as a raid on the club reveals a ghastly form of Russian Roulette where thrill-seeking kids pay to be attacked by a monstrous alien parasite. For most it is instant death, but a very lucky few find the fatal bite activates their latent metahuman powers…

However the gullible super-stooges have no idea just what their benefactor’s true agenda actually is and, even as Batman and his team pursue the creature, back at base, Francine and her newly-returned husband Kirk (Man-Bat) Langstrom can only watch in horror as Salah’s consciousness is absorbed into and trapped within Remac…

To Be Concluded… One day, I hope.

Fast, furious, cynically clever, beautifully illustrated and utterly compelling, this is another old-fashioned rollercoaster romp that fulfils every dyed-in-the-spandex Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s fevered dreams and art-lovers will also adore the gallery of superbly evocative covers by Doug Braithwaite, J. Calafiore, Mark McKenna & Brian Reber.

Straight-shooting rough and tumble comicbook clamour at its very best…
© 2007, 2008, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: the Action Comics Archives volume 4


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Don Cameron, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Sam Citron, Ira Yarbrough, Jack Burnley & Stan Kaye (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-710-5

Without doubt the creation of Superman and his unprecedented adoption by a desperate and joy-starved generation quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form.

Within three years of his 1938 debut the intoxicating blend of eye-popping action and social wish-fulfilment which hallmarked the early exploits of the Man of Tomorrow had grown to encompass cops-and-robbers crime-busting, reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy and even whimsical comedy, but once the war in Europe and the East snared America’s consciousness, combat themes and patriotic imagery dominated most comicbook covers if not interiors.

In comic book terms at least Superman was master of the world, and had already utterly changed the shape of the fledgling industry. There was the popular newspaper strip, a thrice-weekly radio serial, games, toys, foreign and overseas syndication and the Fleischer studio’s astounding animated cartoons.

Thankfully the quality of the source material was increasing with every four-colour release and the energy and enthusiasm of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had informed and infected the burgeoning studio that grew around them to cope with the relentless demand.

Superman was definitely every kid’s hero, as confirmed in this classic compendium, and the raw, untutored yet captivating episodes reprinted here had also been completely embraced by the wider public, as comicbooks became a vital tonic for the troops and all the ones they had left behind…

Due to the exigencies of periodical publishing, although the terrific tales collected in this fourth hardback tome putatively take the Man of Steel to January 1944, since cover-dates described return-by, not on-sale dates they were all prepared well in advance, and real-world events and reactions took a little time to filter through to the furious four-colour pages, so many of the stories have a tinge of uncertainty and foreboding that was swiftly fading from the minds of the public as the far more immediate movie-newsreels showed an inexorable turning of the tide in the Allies’ favour…

Nevertheless since invaders, spies and saboteurs had long been a tried-and-true part of the narrative currency of the times, patriotic covers – which had been appearing on many comicbooks since the end of 1940 – piled on the galvanising pressure and resulted here in some of the most striking imagery in Superman’s entire history.

Spanning October 1942 to January 1944, this fourth delicious deluxe hardcover collection of the Man of Tomorrow’s exploits reprints the lead strip from issues #53-68 of totemic, groundbreaking anthology Action Comics, following the never-ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way to a point where War’s end was perhaps in sight and readers could begin considering a life without potential invasion and subjugation, seen here by an almost imperceptible shift from a war footing to stories of home-grown domestic dooms and even some whimsically fun moments…

Co-creator Jerry Siegel was finally called up in 1943 and his prodigious scripting output was somewhat curtailed, necessitating more and more contributions from the ingenious and multi-faceted Don Cameron and with Shuster – increasingly debilitated by failing eyesight and tied up in producing the newspaper strip, the trusty, ever-changing stalwarts of the Superman Studio were drawing most of the comicbook output at this time. Following a fulsome Foreword from publisher and long-time fan Bill Schelly the wonderment commences with Action Comics #53 and Siegel & John Sikela’s fantastic thriller ‘The Man Who put Out the Sun!’ wherein bird-themed menace Night-Owl uses “black light” technology and ruthless gangsters to plunder at will until the Man of Steel takes charge. In #54 ‘The Pirate of Pleasure Island!’ followed the foredoomed career of upstanding citizen Stanley Finchcomb, a seemingly civilised descendent of ruthless buccaneers, who succumbed to madness and became a ruthless marine marauder. Or perhaps he truly was possessed by the merciless spirit of his ancestor Captain Ironfist in this enchanting supernatural thriller by Siegel & Sikela…

Ed Dobrotka stepped in to ink the whimsical Li’l Abner spoof ‘A Goof named Tiny Rufe’ as the desperate cartoonist Slapstick Sam began to plagiarise – and ruin – the simple lives of a couple of naïve hillbillies until Superman interceded, whilst ‘Design for Doom!’ in Action #56, by Siegel & Sikela, pitted the Man of Tomorrow against a deranged architect who created global, city-wrecking catastrophes simply to prove the superiority of his own creations.

Superman was pitifully short on returning villains in the early days so #57’s return of the Prankster as ‘Crime’s Comedy King’ made a welcome addition to the Rogues Gallery, especially as the Macabre Madcap seemed to have turned over a new philanthropic leaf. Of course there was malevolence and a big con at the heart of his transformation, after which the Action Ace stepped into Batman territory for #58’s gruesome drama ‘The Face of Adonis!’ (illustrated by Sam Citron & the Superman Studio) which saw a rogue plastic surgeon transform an aging movie star into a grisly grotesque, holding his face hostage and turning the celluloid hero into his personal thief. Even Superman could not prevent this dark drama from ending in tragedy…

Sheer fanciful fantasy featured in 59#s ‘Cinderella – a la Superman’ (Sikela) as in an early experiment in continuity-busting, Clark Kent had to babysit Lois’ niece Susie Tomkins and dreamed his heroic alter ego into becoming the Fairy Godmother in a witty and imaginative re-enactment of the classic tale. Susie would return over and again as a pestiferous foil for both Clark and Superman…

A different kind of prototype Imaginary Tale was seen in #60 with ‘Lois Lane – Superwoman!’ wherein the hospitalised and concussed go-getter dreamed that she developed abilities equal to the Metropolis Marvel’s after a blood transfusion from the Man of Steel. Despite proving her worth over and again as a costumed crusader, in the end Lois fell into cliché by cornering Superman and demanding they marry…

Siegel & Sikela ended their Action Comics partnership in #61 with ‘The Man they Wouldn’t Believe!’ as Lois seemingly fell for a flamboyant playboy and Clark was panicked into revealing his secret identity in a vain attempt to win her back. Typically she refused to believe him and every effort Kent made to prove his Kryptonian mettle ended in humiliating disaster. How fortunate, since Lois was playing a part to expose a ruthless criminal…

Don Cameron took over as scripter with #62, kicking off a fine run with the utopian future shocker ‘There’ll Always be a Superman!’ (with art by Dobrotka) as an aged sage in 2143AD regaled his grandchildren with tales of how the ancient Man of Tomorrow polished off Nazis who had enslaved their ancestor as part of a plan to build U-Boat bases under America – an old sea yarn confirmed by the storyteller’s other houseguest, Superman himself…

Shifting gears to nail-biting suspense, Action #63 revealed ‘When Stars Collide!’ (Cameron & Ira Yarbrough), the cosmic calamity that caused Superman to lose his memory and fall under the sway of devious and manipulative crooks. As if that wasn’t enough, the debris from the stellar smash was falling inexorably to Earth and the only man who could save us had no idea what to do until Lois shook his wits clear…

Another returning villain debuted in #64 in the Dobrotka- illustrated classic ‘The Terrible Toyman’, wherein an elderly inventor of children’s novelties and knick-knacks began a spectacular spree of high-profile and potentially murderous robberies, with Lois as his unwilling muse and accessory after which ‘The Million-Dollar Marathon!’ purloined the venerable plot of George Barr McCutcheon’s 1902 novel Brewster’s Millions (and filmed four times – 1915, 1921, 1926 & 1935 – before Action Comics #65 made it the subject of the October 1943 issue) to show Superman helping a poor doctor spend $1,000,000 in twenty-four hours to inherit twice that amount for a children’s hospital. Trying to queer the deal was the poor medic’s rascally cousin and a pack of very violent thugs…

Heartstrings were further tugged in #66 when an elderly blind millionaire was reunited with his long-lost grandson in ‘The Boy who Came Back!’ Even after Superman reluctantly exposed the cruel scam there was still a shocking (and still surprising today) twist in the tale, whilst ‘Make Way for Fate!’ (#67 and illustrated by Citron) saw the Man of Steel turn back time and reunite stubborn lovers separated for decades as part of a larger plan to build a new Officer Training School in Metropolis…

This spectacular collection closes with ‘Superman Meets Susie!’ (Yarbrough & Stan Kaye) as little Miss Tomkins returned as a teller of huge fibs, which the Man of Tomorrow undertook to make real, all in an attempt to teach Lois a little patience. However the incorrigible brat goes too far when she starts reporting her fantasies to the papers and crooks take advantage…

The main bulk of the stunning covers in this collection were by Jack Burnley and almost exclusively war-themed (excluding The Prankster on #57) until the Toyman’s launch in #64, after which the overseas struggle quickly gave way to scenes of homeland crime and fantastic adventure, with artists John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka & Stan Kaye generally taking that lead spot.

These Golden Age tales offer irresistible and priceless enjoyment at an absurdly affordable price and this superbly robust and colourful format has inestimably advanced the prestige and social standing of the medium itself as well as preserving a vital part of American popular culture.

Still some of the very best Fights ‘n’ Tights any fan could ever find, these tales belong on your bookshelf in a prideful place you can easily reach for over and over again.
© 1942, 1943, 1944, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents the Doom Patrol Volume 1


By Arnold Drake, Bruno Premiani, Bob Brown & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-218-9

1963 was the year when cautious comicbook publishers finally realised that superheroes were back in a big way and began reviving or creating a host of costumed characters to battle outrageous menaces and dastardly villains.

Thus it was that at National Comics venerable anthology-mystery title My Greatest Adventure dipped its toe in the waters with a radical take on the fad and introduced a startling squad of champions with their thematic roots still firmly planted in the B-movie monster films of the era that subtly informed the parent comic.

No traditional team of masked adventurers, the cast comprised a robot, a mummy and an occasional 50-foot woman, who joined forces with and were guided by a brusque, domineering, crippled mad scientist to fight injustice in a whole new way…

Covering June 1963 to February 1966, this first quirky monochrome compilation collects the Fabulous Freaks’ earliest exploits from My Greatest Adventure #80-85 and thereafter, issues #86-101 of the renamed title once overwhelming reader response compelled editor Murray Boltinoff to change it to the Doom Patrol.

The dramas were especially enhanced by the drawing skills of Italian cartoonist and classicist artist Giordano Bruno Premiani whose highly detailed, subtly humanistic illustration made even the strangest situation dauntingly authentic and grittily believable as with the premier tale ‘The Doom Patrol’ scripted by Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, which saw a mysterious wheelchair bound scientist summon three outcasts to his home promising to change their miserable lives forever.

Competitive car racer Cliff Steele had died in a horrific pile up, but his undamaged brain had been transplanted into a fantastic mechanical body. Test pilot Larry Trainor had been trapped in an experimental stratospheric plane and become permanently radioactive, with the dubious benefit of gaining a semi-sentient energy avatar which could escape his body to perform incredible stunts for up to a minute at a time.

To pass safely amongst men Trainor had to constantly wrap himself in special radiation-proof bandages.

Ex-movie star Rita Farr had been exposed to mysterious gases which gave her the unpredictable and, at first, uncontrolled ability to shrink or grow to incredible sizes.

These outcasts were brought together by brilliant but enigmatic Renaissance Man The Chief, who sought to mould the solitary misfits into a force for good and quickly proved his point when a mad bomber attempted to blow up the city docks. The wheelchair bound savant directed the trio of strangers in defusing it and no sooner had the freaks realised their true worth than they were on their first mission…

In the second chapter ‘The Challenge of the Timeless Commander’ an incredibly ancient menace tried to capture a fallen alien ship, intent on turning its extraterrestrial secrets into weapons of world conquest, culminating in ‘The Deadly Duel with General Immortus’ which saw the Doom Patrol dedicate their lives to saving humanity from all threats.

My Greatest Adventure #81, solely scripted by Drake, featured ‘The Nightmare Maker’ combining everyday disaster response – saving a damaged submarine – with a nationwide plague of monsters. Stuck at base, The Chief monitored missions by means of a TV camera attached to Robotman’s chest, and quickly deduced the uncanny secret of the beasts and their war criminal creator Josef Kreutz.

A clever espionage ploy outed the Chief – or at least his image, if not name – in #82’s ‘Three Against the Earth!’, leading the team to believe Rita a traitor. When the cabal of millionaires behind the scheme were revealed as an alien advance guard who assumed the wheelchair-bound leader to be a rival invader, the inevitable showdown nearly cost Cliff what remained of his life…

‘The Night Negative Man Went Berserk!’ in #83 spotlighted the living mummy when a radio astronomy experiment interrupted the Negative Man’s return to Larry Trainor’s body, pitching the pilot into a coma and sending the ebony energy creature on a global spree of destruction. Calamity piled upon calamity when crooks stole the military equipment constructed to destroy it and only desperate improvisation by Cliff and Rita allowed avatar and host to reunite…

Issue #84 saw ‘The Return of General Immortus’ as ancient Babylonian artefacts led the team to the eternal malefactor, only to have the wily warrior turn the tables and take control of Robotman. Even though his comrades saved him Immortus escaped with the greatest treasures of all time…

My Greatest Adventure #85 was the last issue and featured ‘The Furies from 4,000 Miles Below’, monstrous subterranean horrors fuelled by nuclear forces. Despite having tricked Elasti-Girl into resuming her Hollywood career, the paternalistic heroes were pretty grateful when she turned up to save them all from radioactive incineration…

An unqualified success, the comicbook transformed into The Doom Patrol with #86 and celebrated by introducing ‘The Brotherhood of Evil’, an assemblage of international criminals and terrorists led by French genius-in-a-jar The Brain and his greatest creation, a super-intelligent talking gorilla dubbed Monsieur Mallah. The diametrically opposed teams first crossed swords after brotherhood applicant Mr. Morden stole Rog, a giant robot the Chief intended for the US military…

DP #87 revealed ‘The Terrible Secret of Negative Man’ when Brotherhood femme fatale Madame Rouge tried to seduce Larry. When the Brain’s unstoppable mechanical army invaded the city, Trainor was forced to remove his bandages and allow his lethal radiations to disrupt their transmissions…

An occasional series of short solo adventures kicked off in this issue with ‘Robotman Fights Alone’, wherein Cliff was dispatched to a Pacific island in search of an escaped killer, only to walk into a devastating series of WWII Japanese booby-traps…

All the mysteries surrounding the team’s leader were finally revealed in issue #88 with ‘The Incredible Origin of the Chief’, a blistering drama which told how brilliant but impoverished student Niles Caulder received unlimited funding from an anonymous patron interested in his researches on extending life. Curiosity drove Caulder to track down his benefactor and he was horrified to discover the money came from the head of a criminal syndicate who claimed to be eons old…

Immortus had long ago consumed a potion which extended his life and wanted the student to recreate it now that the years were finally catching up. To insure Caulder’s full cooperation, the General had a bomb inserted in the researcher’s chest and powered by his heartbeat …

Building a robot surgeon, Caulder tricked Immortus into shooting him, determined to thwart the monster at all costs. Once clinically dead, his Ra-2 doctor removed the now-inert explosive and revived the bold scientist, but tragically the robot had been too slow and Caulder lost the use of his legs…

Undaunted, the Man Who Lived Twice then destroyed all his research and went into hiding for years, with Immortus unaware that Caulder had actually succeeded in the task which had stymied history’s greatest doctors and biologists…

Now, under the alias of super-thief The Baron, Immortus had captured the Doom Patrol and demanded a final confrontation with the Chief. Luckily the wheelchair-locked inventor was not only a biologist and robotics genius but also adept at building concealed weapons…

In #89 the team tackled a duplicitous scientist who had devised a means to transform himself into ‘The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Menace’ and ‘The Private War of Elasti-Girl’ saw the Maid of Many Sizes use unsuspected detective skills to track down a missing soldier and reunite him with his adopted son before ‘The Enemy within the Doom Patrol’ saw shape-shifting Madame Rouge infiltrate the team and almost turn them against each other.

Issue #91 introduced multi-millionaire Steve Dayton who created a superhero persona solely to woo and wed Rita Farr. With such ambiguous motivations ‘Mento – the Man who Split the Doom Patrol’ was a radical character for the times, but at least his psycho-kinetic helmet proved a big help in defeating the plastic robots of grotesque alien invader Garguax…

DP #92 found the team confronted by a temporal terror in ‘The Sinister Secret of Dr. Tyme’ with the abrasive Mento again saving the day whilst ‘Showdown on Nightmare Road’ in #93 saw The Brain’s latest monstrous scheme result in the evil genius being planted inside Robotman’s skull and poor Cliff transplanted into a horrific beast, until the Chief out-played the French Fiend at his own game…

Bob Brown stepped in to illustrate #94’s lead feature ‘The Nightmare Fighters’ with an eastern mystic’s uncanny abilities swiftly debunked by solid American science but Premiani was around to render the solo-feature ‘The Chief “Stands” Alone’ wherein Caulder eschewed his deputies’ aid to bring down bird-themed villain The Claw with a mixture of wit, nerve and weaponised wheelchair.

When The Chief attempted to cure Rita and Larry in DP #95 it resulted in switched powers and the ‘Menace of the Turnabout Heroes’, so naturally that would be the very moment the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man would pick for a return bout, whilst in #96, on ‘The Day the World Went Mad!’, the Patrol’s frantic investigations revealed that the global wave of insanity was caused by a deadly alliance of the Brotherhood, Garguax and Immortus, which they were helpless to counteract…

In issue #97 that sinister syndicate attacked Earth by transforming innocent citizens into crystal, spectacularly resulting in ‘The War against the Mind Slaves’, the return of Mento and a stunning showdown on the moon, after which #98 saw both ‘The Death of the Doom Patrol’ – a grievous over-exaggeration on behalf of transmutational foe Mr. 103, who was actually compelled to save Caulder from radiation poisoning – and the Brown-drawn solo-thriller ’60 Sinister Seconds’ in which Negative Man had to find and make safe four atomic bombs in different countries within as minute…

Brown also handled both tales in Doom Patrol #99, starting with an old-fashioned battle against a deranged entomologist whose mechanical insects delivered ‘The Deadly Sting of the Bug Man’ and proceeding to the groundbreaking first appearance of shape-shifting juvenile delinquent ‘The Beast-Boy’ who burgled than saved the team with his incredible ability to become any animal he could imagine.

A vast extended storyline began with #100 and ‘The Fantastic Origin of Beast-Boy’ (illustrated by Premiani) wherein the obnoxious kid was revealed as orphan Gar Logan, a boy being slowly swindled out of his inheritance by his ruthless guardian Nicholas Galtry.

The conniving accountant had even leased his emerald-hued charge to scientist Dr. Weir for assorted experiments, but when the Patrol later tackled rampaging dinosaurs, the trail led to Gar who at last explained his uncanny powers.

Whilst in Africa as a toddler Logan had contracted a rare disease and his scientist father tried an experimental cure which left him the colour of cabbage but with the ability to change shape at will.

Now it appeared that Weir has used the lad’s altered biology to unlock the secrets of evolution… or had he?

Despite foiling the scheme the team have no choice but to return the boy to his guardian, but Rita is not prepared to leave the matter unresolved… The anniversary issue also saw the start of an extended multi-part thriller exploring Cliff’s early days after his accident and subsequent resurrection beginning with ‘Robotman… Wanted Dead or Alive’. Following Caulder’s implantation of Cliff’s brain into the mechanical body the shock drove the patient crazy and Steele went on a city wide rampage…

This first fantastic collection concludes with Doom Patrol #101 and the riotous romp ‘I, Kranus, Robot Emperor!’ wherein an apparently alien mechanoid had a far more terrestrial and terrifying origin, but the real meat came from the subtle war between Galtry and the Chief for possession of Beast Boy.

The tale ended on a pensive cliffhanger as the Patrol then dashed off to rescue fellow adventurers the Challengers of the Unknown – a tale for the next volume, I’m afraid…

There was still however the second instalment of the Robotman saga, saw the occasionally ration, if paranoid Cliff Steele hunted by the authorities and befriended by crippled, homeless derelicts in ‘The Lonely Giant’…

Although as kids we all happily suspended disbelief and bought into the fanciful antics of the myriad masked heroes available, somehow the exploits of the Doom Patrol – and their surprisingly synchronistic Marvel counterparts the X-Men (freaks and outcasts, wheelchair bound geniuses, both debuting in the summer of 1963) always seemed just a bit more “real” than the usual caped and costumed crowd.

With the edge of time and experience on my side it’s obvious just how incredibly mature Drake and Premiani’s take on superheroes actually was and these superbly engaging, frantically fun and breathtakingly beautiful tales should rightfully rank amongst the finest Fights ‘n’ Tights tales ever told.
© 1963, 1964, 1965, 2009 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Hellboy Junior


By Mike Mignola, Bill Wray, Stephen DeStefano, Dave Cooper, Hilary Barta, Pat McEown, Glenn Barr, Kevin Nowlan, Dave Stewart & John Costanza (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1569719886

Although probably best known for revitalising the sub-genre of horror-heroes via his superb Hellboy and B.P.R.D. tales, creator Mike Mignola conceals a dark and largely unsuspected secret: he has a very dry, outlandish and wicked sense of humour…

Since 1997, whenever nobody was looking, he and co-conspirator Bill Wray have concocted outrageous, uproarious and vulgarly hilarious spoof tales which might – but probably weren’t – untold yarns of the scarlet scallywag’s formative days in hell before being drawn to earth and reared as a champion of humanity against the Things of the Outer Darkness…

Moreover, they convinced those gullible fools at Dark Horse Comics to publish them, first in the Hellboy Junior Halloween Special and again in an eponymous 2-issue miniseries in 1999 which also included many scurrilous and hilarious spoofs, pastiches and pokes at a host of family-friendly favourites from parental favourite Harvey Comics: beloved icons such as Casper, Wendy the Good Little Witch, Stumbo the Giant, Baby Huey and Hot Stuff, the Little Devil…

With most of the material scripted by Wray, this appallingly rude, crude and unmissable compilation bolts all the material together and even springs for an all new feature, but begins with Bill & Mike’s painfully cruel ‘The Creation of Hellboy Jr.: a Short Origin Story’ before tucking into ‘Maggots, Maggots, Everywhere!’, an all-Wray buffet of gastric ghastliness wherein the stone-fisted imp, fed up with his meagre ration of icky bug-babies, goes looking for something better to eat. Perhaps he shouldn’t have taken restaurant advice from that sneaky Adolf Hitler, whose rancid soul Junior should have been tormenting anyway…

After that epic-monster-infested odyssey, Mignola illustrates a mordant and wry adaptation of a German folk tale in ‘The Devil Don’t Smoke’ before Stephen DeStefano outrageously illustrates the agonisingly hilarious ‘Huge Retarded Duck’ and Hilary Barta lends his stylish faux-Wally Wood pastichery to ‘The Ginger Beef Boy’, wherein a frustrated transvestite creates the son he yearned for from the ingredients of a Chinese meal…

Following a stunning pin-up by Kevin Nowlan, Dave Cooper draws ‘Hellboy Jr.’s Magical Mushroom Trip’ wherein the ever-hungry imp and his pet ant disastrously attempt to grow their own edible fungus only to end up in deep shiitake when their psychotropic crop brings them into conflict with the big boss. Fans of evil dictators might welcome the guest appearance by Idi Amin…

Implausibly based on a true story, Wray & Mignolas’s ‘Squid of Man’ details the Grim Reaper’s wager with a mad scientist endeavouring to birth a new Atlantean race from the freshly dead remnants of cephalopods, arthropods, crustaceans, fine twine and lightning, whilst ‘The Wolvertons’ details the life and loves of an Alaskan lumberjack, his multi-tentacular alien wife and their extraordinarily hybrid kids Brad and Tiffany. Wray and Pat McEown spared no effort in their passionate tribute to Basil Wolverton, cartoon king of the Grotesque, so read this story before eating…

Back in Hell, Jr. regretfully experienced ‘The House of Candy Pain’ (Wray, Barta, John Costanza & Dave Stewart), when he and fellow imp Donnie fled to Storyland and the Forbidden Forest of Festible Dwellings. They should have stuck with the shack made from steaks or Tofu Terrace, but no, they had to enter the Gingerbread House…

Following a Barta bonus pin-up, Wray does it all for the tragic tale of ‘Sparky Bear’; a cub torn from his natural environment and raised by humans as a fire-prevention spokesperson, whilst the Cooper-limned parable of ‘Somnambo the Sleeping Giant’ proves that even if your village is overrun with demons, sometimes the cure is worse than the affliction, an idea echoed in the tale of ‘Wheezy, the Sick Little Witch’ (art by DeStefano) a poorly tyke whose cute li’l animal friends could neither cure nor survive contact with…

After surviving a nasty fast-food experience in ‘Hitler’ and a mock ad for your very own Spear of Destiny, the all-new ‘Hellboy Jr. vs Hitler’ (Wray & Stewart) depicts how a the little devil couldn’t even escort the Fallen Führer to the depths of Lower Hell without screwing up and giving the mono-testicular reprobate another chance to resurrect his Reich and, after a painted Wray Halloween scene and saucy Hell’s hot-tub pin-up from Glenn Barr, the mirthful madness concludes with Mignola & Stewart’s ‘Hellboy Jr. Gets a Car’ wherein the Hadean Half-pint takes an illicit test drive in a roadster meant for a Duke of Hell. It does not end well…

This Chymeric chronicle also includes a ‘Hellboy Junior Sketchbook’ with working drawings, colour roughs and layouts by Wray, McEown & DeStefano, to top off a wildly exuberant burst of tongue-in-cheek, sardonic and surreal adult fun which is a jovially jocund and gut-bustingly gross gas for every lover of off-the-wall, near-the-knuckle fun.
Hellboy Jr. ™ and © Mike Mignola. All individual strips, art & stories © 1997, 1999, 2003 their individual creator or holder. All rights reserved.

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Avengers: X Sanction


By Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-514-7

As the new Avengers film screens across the world, Marvel has released more books and trade paperback collections to maximise exposure and cater to those movie fans wanting to follow up the cinematic exposure with a comicbook experience.

This particular short and sweet saga from megastar scripter Jeph Loeb & the art team supreme Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines engagingly entangles two filmic franchises as the World’s Mightiest Superheroes and Marvel’s misunderstood mutants clash in a time-busting tale originally released at the end of 2011 as the 4-part miniseries Avengers: X Sanction.

And that was merely the prologue to a summer-long publishing event which pitted Avengers against X-Men in a catastrophic all-out war…

Superbly self-contained, this epic encounter opens with Captain America, Iron Man, Red Hulk, Wolverine, Spider-Man and other heroes responding to a mass-escape by super-villains from the Lethal Legion when the Falcon is shot by a hidden sniper and spirited away…

Only the Sentinel of Liberty notices something amiss and follows the abductor to a freighter in the harbour, where he finds his friend trapped in a containment tube and wired to a colossal cache of explosives. The sniper is revealed as sometime-ally Nathan Summers AKA Cable, a mutant warrior from the far future possessing awesome psionic abilities yet cursed with an incurable, progressive techno-organic virus which is inexorably consuming his flesh and only held in check by the victim’s indomitable force of will…

In temporally tantalising forward flashbacks it is revealed that Cable is at last succumbing to his infection. He has a day to live and has travelled back from the end of time to unmake history and save his daughter Hope (destined to prevent the planet’s doom) from being killed. Unfortunately that can only be achieved by murdering the Avengers…

After a spectacular battle Cable also subdues Captain America just as Iron Man notices his missing comrades and tracks them to the Hudson River. Plagued by half memories and lost moments with Hope, Cable attacks and after a shattering struggle also overwhelms the Armoured Avenger, only to be ambushed by the brutally efficient Red Hulk…

Wracked by the final stages of his fleshly consumption, Cable is vastly overmatched, even with the timely martial assistance of his future mentor Blaquesmith, but Summers’ handicap becomes an advantage when the techno-organic contagion abandons his dying frame and infects the Crimson Colossus…

As Cable prepares to execute his targets, X-Men Cyclops and Hope burst in, intent on talking him down. Faced with his father and imminently endangered daughter (an outrageously long and overly-complicated time travel story which isn’t germane or necessary to know here: just Google it afterwards, ok?), Cable falters but can’t be dissuaded…

Just as he prepares to save the future by killing everyone present, the final players arrive when Spider-Man and Wolverine crash in…

Unable to stop and mere minutes from his own end, Cable attacks again knowing that no sacrifice is too great to prevent the death of Hope and the salvation of Earth…

Fast, furious and wickedly compelling, this time-twisting all-action thriller delivers a mighty punch without any real necessity to study beforehand that comics-continuity veterans and film-fed newbies alike will relish.

The comicbooks in this short series also sported a host of variant covers and the extensive gallery at the back includes simply stunning images from McGuinness, Bryan Hitch, Joe Quesada, Carlo Pagulayan, Stephen Platt, Ian Churchill, Steve Skroce and four from Leinil Francis Yu to delight and astound the artistically astute amongst you.

™ & © 2012 Marvel and subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A, Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.

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Batman and the Outsiders: The Chrysalis


By Chuck Dixon, Julian Lopez, Carlos Rodriguez & Bit (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-070-3

Following the forcible dissolution of Nightwing’s covert and pre-emptive strike force, Batman once again took over the leadership of the Outsiders and, after a daunting series of auditions, settled on a core squad comprising the Martian Manhunter, Metamorpho, Grace, Katana and Catwoman, with standby options on a number of others and rejecting mass-moving powerhouse Thunder mooching about on probation…

This first slim tome collects issues #1-5 of the second run of Batman and the Outsiders, and is the initial book of a triptych of volumes (the last still forthcoming) covering an epic struggle against a terrifying extraterrestrial plot which threatened to engulf the Earth; eventually growing to involve a goodly portion of the planet’s metahuman protectors…

Written throughout by Chuck Dixon and inked by Bit, the breakneck action erupts in ‘The Chrysalis’, illustrated by Julian Lopez, wherein master strategist Batman dispatches Katana, Metamorpho and Catwoman to infiltrate the skyscraper HQ of mystery Eurotrash money-man Mister Jardine, whose corporate conglomerate has been making some very peculiar purchases – items dubious enough to set alarms roaring in the Bat-computer…

With the Martian Manhunter inserted as a psionic Trojan Horse inside the building, the infiltrators discover the enigmatic billionaire has not only illegally stockpiled radioactive and fissionable materials but also unearthed a deadly anti-metahuman weapon of the sort which nearly overran the world during the Infinite Crisis…

The Observational Metahuman Activity Construct – or Omac – is a nanotech-purposed cyborg designed to overcome any super-powered foe, and in ‘Infestation’ (pencilled by Carlos Rodriguez) the freshly repurposed death-machine goes after the Outsiders whilst the Manhunter plunders Jardine’s data.

With the situation rapidly going south, Thunder defies Batman and rushes to the rescue, proving his assertion that she is not professional enough for the team. Already en route, rowdy Amazon Grace Choi is preparing an escape route for the sorely pressed team when, in a desperate move, the Element Man channels all the citadel’s power through his own unique body and immobilises the Omac…

‘Throwdown’ (with Lopez returning to the pencil art) sees the terrified and self-preserving Catwoman quit and replaced by Cassandra Cain, the reformed assassin who was briefly the third Batgirl, as Batman and the Outsiders defy the Justice League by refusing to destroy the captured nano-nemesis.

When it suddenly reactivates itself, both teams are simultaneously attacked and only a tremendous joint effort subdues it once more.

In the aftermath, JLA-er Geo-Force quits and rejoins his old Outsider allies, unaware that the Dark Knight has manipulated his former comrades, allowing his science squad Francine Langstrom and Salah Miandad time to reprogram the death machine as another member of the covert team…

In ‘Mission: Creep’ a pair of mysterious strangers also enlist, as does radical wild card Green Arrow, before the Outsiders invade French Guiana to stop a commercial space launch. Langstrom’s investigations have revealed that the sinister Jardine has been using Omac technology to create new biological species designed to live off-Earth…

Whilst the billionaire moves to take over the site, eliminating the launch personnel and loading two ships with his mysterious payloads, in the surrounding rainforest wildly differing perspectives and methodology have set the Outsiders at each others’ throats…

Meanwhile in Gotham, Salah has finally erased the captured cyborg’s protocols and dubbed the reformed member Remac, blissfully unaware that the giant automaton still has a measure of its old sinister sentience…

And in the jungle, Batman and his squad close in on the launch-pad determined to stop whatever Jardine wants rocketed into space, blithely oblivious to the cadre of metahuman mercenaries waiting to ambush them…

This first cliffhanging chronicle concludes with ‘Ghosts’ as Batman’s ethereal emissaries Ralph and Sue Dibny (dead but still battling evil as Ghost Detectives) scuttle the trap, allowing Metamorpho, Katana, Green Arrow and Batgirl to overcome murderous assassins Gunhawk, Militia, Bunny and Camorouge, whilst even Jardine’s personal Omac bodyguard is unable to withstand the gravity-warping power of Geo-Force.

Nevertheless, the mission is not a success as one of the ships manages to launch, carrying with it into appalling unknown dangers the valiant but vastly over-matched Metamorpho…

To Be Continued…

Fast and furious, beautifully illustrated and totally mesmerising, this spectacular romp is a fabulous Fights ‘n ‘Tights thriller to delight fans of the genre and art-lovers will also adore the gallery of covers and variants by Doug Braithwaite, Ryan Sook, Eric Battle & Art Thibert.

Straightforward action adventure at its very best…
© 2007, 2008, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Star Trek the Manga volume 1: Shinsei Shinsei (“New Lives/New Stars”)


By Chris Dows, Joshua Ortega, Jim Alexander, Mike W. Barr, Rob Tokar, Makoto Nakatsuka, Gregory Giovanni Johnson, Michael Shelfer, Jeong Mo Yang & EJ Su (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 978-1-59816-744-3

Whilst the stellar Star Trek brand and franchise might not have actually reached any new worlds yet, it certainly has permeated every civilisation here on Earth, with daily live-action and animated screen appearances appearing somewhere on the planet almost every hour and comics iterations generated in a host of countries long lying fallow and unseen.

If only somebody could sort out the legal and logistical hassles so we could see again the stunning UK strips which appeared in Joe 90, TV21, TV Comic and Valiant from such fabulous creators as Angus Allan, Harry Lindfield, Mike Noble, Alan Willow, Ron Turner, Jim Baikie, Harold Johns, Carlos Pino, Vicente Alcázar, John Stokes and others, I could die a happy boy…

In 2006, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the phenomenon, and capitalising on the global boom in Japanese styled comics, Tokyopop began releasing a series of all new manga adventures starring the indomitable crew of the Starship Enterprise as they boldly went all over the universe, courtesy of a serried band of international comics creators…

This initial monochrome masterpiece kicks off with ‘Side Effects’ by Chris Dows & Makoto Nakatsuka, and finds Captain Kirk, Science Officer Spock, Dr. McCoy and Ensign Pavel Chekov investigating a derelict ship which houses unsuspected horrors. Aboard the aged vessel are bodies from many species, displaying the hideous evidence of ruthless biological and mechanical augmentation…

When they release an exotic woman who appears to be the only survivor, she attacks them and infects Chekov with a virulent mutagenic virus whilst the other “corpses” revive and converge on them…

Although they beam back to the relative safety of the Enterprise, when a colossal vessel emerges from a wormhole, the derelict and Federation ship are swiftly snagged in a tractor beam and pulled into the time-dilation field of a Black Hole, seemingly harnessed to a ramshackle space-station.

Lost in space and time, Kirk beams a party over to the satellite in search of a cure for the disease ravaging Chekov, only to find the same unstoppable woman devastating the equally-infected remnants of an ancient civilisation who have sheltered aboard the station for centuries. Chief scientist Mynzek has been seeking a cure for untold ages, experimenting on volunteers and captives alike, but with success in his grasp at last, his latest subject has returned with vengeance in mind and her own all-assimilating agenda…

With resistance futile and the station rapidly self-destructing, Spock manages to secure a blood-sample to save Chekov, and the Enterprise quickly hurtles back through the wormhole and to the 23rd century, utterly unaware of the universal threat that will grow over the millennia from the last gasp of a desperate, dying civilisation and its first cyborg queen…

‘Anything But Alone’, by Joshua Ortega & Gregory Giovanni Johnson, sees the Enterprise orbiting an unknown world in response to a mysterious signal. Beaming down, Kirk, Spock and McCoy discover the thriving survivors of a long dead civilisation, maintained by miraculous nano-machines which can construct anything the people could possibly need. However the gracious, welcoming, childless citizens of Ximega II are concealing a tragic secret which only head scientist Prekraft seems willing to reveal. Moreover, he seems to going crazy with loneliness…

”Til Death’ (Mike W. Barr & Jeong Mo Yang) opens with Captain Kirk performing one of his more pleasant duties by officiating at the wedding of crewmembers Becky Randall and Tom Markham whilst the Enterprise scans a long-dead planet. However when dormant automated systems begin firing on the ship from separate locations, the survey mission switches to investigation mode and two landing parties beam down to find the shattered remnants of a civilisation which clearly self-destructed.

Retrieving twin sarcophagi which have somehow survived the holocaust, the explorers return to the Federation vessel, but soon inexplicable events begin to disrupt the ordered running of the ship and discipline of the crew…

The elaborate electronic coffins had each contained a withered husk and, momentarily forgotten as friends and lovers increasingly turn on each other, power is leeched from ship’s systems to rejuvenate the interred aliens. Soon the telepathic tyrants Faron and Nadira are fully restored and ready to finally end the hate-fuelled gender-war which pitted male against female and eradicated all life on their world. How lucky that there are so many men and women on the ship to act as their drones. But how unfortunate that one is a coldly dispassionate telepathic half-breed whose best friend is the most stubborn man in the galaxy…

A diplomatic mission to end an interplanetary conflict sees the Enterprise acting as a cargo courier, shuttling peace-making gifts between warring worlds. But whilst the entrancing emotion-reactive screen entitled The Weave by its Xoxxan craftsmen delights and beguiles all who regard it, the cutely appealing sacred animal ‘Oban’ genetically  recreated by the Xanvians conceals a monstrous and deadly secret which only becomes apparent when an unfortunate accident releases a mind-boggling, indestructible horror on the ship…

Faced with the prospect of renewed war, Kirk and Spock must determine if a maverick dissident, a duplicitous government or an impossible freak occurrence has endangered the tenuous peace process in a compelling political thriller by Jim Alexander & Michael Shelfer.

The manga action ends in classic style with ‘Orphans’, by Rob Tokar & E.J. Su, as the Enterprise performs escort duty for a peaceful space-faring race plagued by piracy. However the Lowarians and James T. Kirk have sadly underestimated the determination of the Haarkos, whose one-man raider-craft were shaped like humanoid robot-knights – complete with gigantic, lethal swords and shields…

When the battle-crazed mecha attack the starship, the lead pilot loses her life and another is captured before the Enterprise’s superior firepower drives off the rest of the pack, leaving Kirk with the impossible task of trying to reason with a merciless, ten-year old boy-soldier trained to kill from infancy.

If Kirk cannot find a way to reason with the honour-obsessed, battle-hardened warrior Xill he may have no choice but to exterminate all of these brutal, suicidal children who are as much victims as the race they now prey upon…

This particular edition (there are three counting a Diamond Distributor Exclusive and a Convention Special Exclusive) also includes the moving short-story ‘First, Do No Harm’ (by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dillmore from the prose Star Trek anthology Constellations) which details an unpleasant and unwelcome mission to extract rogue doctor Revati Jendra from the closed, primitive world of Grennai.

The fugitive medic’s actions contravene the Prime Directive and daily endanger the social development of the entire planet, even though she perfectly blends in with the natives and saves lives in a manner no patient would ever suspect as being beyond planetary norms…

However, as her close friend of twenty years, Leonard McCoy knows that there must be a damned good reason for her actions, whilst Kirk and Spock are more concerned by Starfleet’s suspicious wall of “classified” and “top security” roadblocks surrounding every aspect of her first expedition to Grennai decades ago…

Full of the verve, sparkle and wide-eyed enthusiasm of the original TV show, these continuing adventures are a real treat, and even if the manga visuals are a bit of a shock at first, you’ll soon adapt and surely settle in for another splendid ride on the timeless rollercoaster ride that is Star Trek…
™, ® & © 2006 CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved.

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Silver Surfer: In Thy Name


By Simon Spurrier & Tan Eng Huat (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2749-9

Although pretty much a last minute addition to Fantastic Four #48-50’s ‘Galactus Trilogy’, Jack Kirby’s scintillating creation the Silver Surfer quickly became a watchword for depth and subtext in the Swinging 1960s Marvel Universe, and one character Stan Lee kept as his own personal toy for many years.

Tasked with finding planets for space-god Galactus to consume, one day the Silver Surfer discovered Earth, where the latent nobility of humanity reawakened his own suppressed morality; causing the shining scout to rebel against his master and help the FF save the world.

In retaliation, Galactus imprisoned his one-time herald on Earth, making him the ultimate outsider on a planet remarkably ungrateful for his sacrifice. In 1968, after increasingly frequent guest-shots and even a solo adventure in the back of Fantastic Four Annual #5, the Surfer finally got his own (initially double-sized) title at long last.

The last questing, vital soul of a soft and decadent civilisation, Norrin Radd allowed himself to be transformed into gleaming herald in a Faustian bargain with Galactus to save his home-world Zenn-La from the planet-devouring cosmic entity. His eventual emancipation never gave him the opportunity to permanently return to his place of birth, nor settle down with his lost love Shalla Bal, whom he had forsaken for a life of service to the Great Destroyer.

The Silver Surfer was always a pristine and iconic character when handled well – and sparingly – yet once he gained and sustained a regular comic book presence in the 1980s he became somewhat diminished; less… special.

After a strong start his adventures became formulaic and even dull. In reworking the character for the modern market, a huge amount of the mystique that made the critically beloved but commercially disastrous Christ allegory from the Stars a cause celebre was lost.

In recent times the Space-bound Scout has been used more sparingly and with greater innovation as in this fanciful fable from scripter Simon Spurrier, artist Tan Eng Huat and colourist Jose Villarrubia, originally released as a four-part miniseries in 2007.

Adrift and aimless, the Silver Surfer glides through the trackless void, pondering the nature of life and how vastly varied but fundamentally similar it seems throughout creation, when he is suddenly attacked by organ-pirates determined to reduce him to saleable spare parts…

When a colossal starship drives off the grisly bandits the sky-rider meets the sublimely civilised Explorocrat Ruqtar Koil, urbane envoy-at-large and dutiful Minister Plenipotentiary of the star-spanning Ama Collective.

Norrin is extremely impressed with the grandiose, genteel and winningly cultured fellow voyager and the vast peacefully utopian alliance of scholars and explorers he represents, as epitomised by their holy credo the Binarc – “to improve ourselves, and seek others who wish the same”…

However, after accepting an invitation to visit Ama-Prime, the Surfer experiences a few nagging doubts after meeting the autocratic and far too unctuous Empress, but is easily assuaged by the calm serenity of her manifested paradise world.

Some time later his peaceful reveries are interrupted when Koil begs a small favour…

Brekknis is a poor and primitive “ripening world” whose unhappy natives are currently under threat from a ravening demon apparently made from old ghosts. Dispatched to assist the lowly aborigines, the Explorocrat felt the Surfer’s power might be beneficial, but when the Silver Sentinel sees how the Ama envoy treats the poverty-stricken people his suspicions return.

Brekk leader Accordite Tol-Wes paints a very different picture of the Collective: one of haughty disdain, galling paternalism and enforced cultural solidarity. To ensure right and rational thinking, the Ama long ago closed all the Brekk churches and temples…

When the demon manifests it is revealed as a monstrous monolith of rage comprised of broken war-machines and slaughtered soldier’s spirits screaming “vengeance for genocide”…

After the Surfer’s incredible Cosmic Power dispatches the creature, a strange thing happens: the stunned and grateful primitives fall to their knees and declare Norrin to be their promised messiah the Lightlord…

When the Empress visits her troubled and uncivilised Brekknian children, her offhand manner and an assassination attempt – quickly thwarted by the Surfer – inexorably ramps up festering tensions and the Star-born Scout clandestinely confers with Tol-Wes for the other side of the story.

Long ago the Brekk were a militant and warlike people who found a measure of peace in a new religion which united their world. However when they tried to take their gospel to other worlds, they quickly encountered the atheistic Ama Collective who took them into their star-girdling fold and made them quit their extreme and foolishly fanatical ideas of Faith and higher powers…

Now with the Lightlord’s long promised return, the Brekk will rise and throw off the yoke of the impious invaders…

Refusing the ridiculous role of messiah, Norrin attempts to defuse the escalating situation, but is attacked again by organ pirates and succumbs to a force even greater than his own…

Koil and the pirates are working together and the Sky-Rider is simply an expendable piece in a vast Machiavellian game. Crucified on Brekknis, the Surfer realises that the Ama want a final war with the Brekk, but he has tragically underestimated the fanatical missionary zeal of the equally blood-hungry, faith-fuelled fundamentalists…

Refusing to be a figurehead for the forthcoming madness, Norrin flies away but discovers a horrific secret: the Ama are holding hostage the offspring of a sublime trans-dimensional being, forcing its “mother” to reshape events in ways that will make the outcome of desired conflict a brutal certainty…

Confronted at last by a truly innocent victim in this sorry affair, the Surfer tries once more to broker a ceasefire but, with both rationalist autocrats and religious maniacs determined to exterminate each other, is at last forced to combat the bloodshed with his own brand of overwhelming firepower and desperate duplicity…

Sadly, some things, such as prejudice, hatred and fanaticism are beyond physical force or reasoned argument…

This is a sharp, cynical political allegory of colonial expansionism and callous manipulation delivered with classic British wit, dry understatement and heartfelt, bitter resignation, cloaked in the gleaming armour of a spectacular cosmic action-clash, courtesy of the splendidly imaginative art and colours.

This slim but beguiling tome also includes a cover gallery by Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald and a sketch section featuring Tan Eng Huat’s remarkable concept designs for the many and varied aliens populating the tale.
© 2007, 2008 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Turning Points


By Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Chuck Dixon, Steve Lieber, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano & Bob Smith, Brent Anderson, Paul Pope & Claude St. Aubin (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1360-2

Over the many decades of Batman’s existence, almost as important as the partnership between Dark Knight and assorted Boy Wonders has been the bizarrely offbeat yet symbiotic relationship between those caped and costumed vigilantes and Gotham City’s top cop James Gordon.

In this collection, compiling five individual pastiches released as the miniseries Turning Points in 2001, readers saw revealed significant moments in the development of that shadowy alliance produced, as an added bonus for long-term aficionados, in tribute to key eras in Batman’s waxing and waning career by veteran artists and the toast of the new wave creators…

It all begins with ‘Uneasy Allies’ by Greg Rucka & Steve Lieber, set in the days – and style – of the mysterious vigilante’s stormy debut in Frank Miller & Dave Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One.

Police Captain Gordon is still the only honest cop in a corrupt and brutally gung-ho force, reeling from the shock of his wife divorcing him. When bereaved, heartsick and crazed college professor Hale Corbett takes a wedding hostage, Gotham’s SWAT team commander is champing at the bit to storm in and rack up the body-count, but wanted felon The Batman offers Gordon a slim hope of ending the siege without loss of life…

All the masked nut-case wants in return is a sympathetic ear at the GCPD…

A working relationship established, ‘…And Then There Were… Three?’ (by Ed Brubaker & Joe Giella – who drew many of the 1960s stories and the Batman newspaper strip) celebrates the era of TV’s “Batmania” as, about a year after their first meeting, reports of a garishly garbed boy assistant to Batman begin to filter in. As deadly psychopath Mr. Freeze rampages through the city, Gordon demands to why the now-tolerated Caped Crusader is recklessly endangering a child…

In a romp filled with such past icons as giant props and gaudy villains, a decidedly deadly outcome makes Gordon realise the true nature of Batman and Robin’s relationship…

‘Casualties of War’ (Brubaker, Dick Giordano & Bob Smith) is set in the bleak aftermath following the death of second Robin Jason Todd, the crippling of Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon and the torture of her father, all at the bone-white hands of The Joker.

A solitary, driven Dark Knight haunts the streets and allies, ceaselessly crushing criminals with brutal callousness, whilst sinister serial killer The Garbage Man prowls unchallenged…

When the wheelchair-bound Barbara fails in an attempted intervention to calm a Batman pushing himself near to breaking-point, it takes a rooftop heart-to-heart with now Commissioner Gordon to finally crack the Gotham Guardian’s shell and begin the healing process…

Years later, as a result of a strategically systematic attack by would-be crime-lord Bane, an exhausted and broken Batman was replaced by another, darker hero. Set during the Knight-Fall publishing event, ‘The Ultimate Betrayal’ (by Chuck Dixon & Brent Anderson) describes the moment Gordon realised that his enigmatic ally had become a remorseless machine and exterminating angel hunting criminals with no regard to life anymore.

If only third Robin Tim Drake could have told him that the man behind the cowl – and claws and razor-armour – was actually Azrael: hereditary and murderously programmed living weapon of an ancient warrior-cult…

The journey comes full circle with ‘Comrades in Arms’ by Rucka, Paul Pope & Claude St. Aubin, wherein a mysterious stranger and his family hit Gotham on a mission to find Gordon and Batman, just as the Commissioner introduces his destined successor Michael Akins to the Major Crimes Unit.

Word on the street is that the Russian mob are planning a huge retaliatory strike and every cop is waiting for the hammer to fall when Hale Corbett walks into Police HQ demanding to see Gordon and the masked manhunter who changed his life all those years ago…

Filtered through gritty modern sensibilities but still able to revere past glories and the Batman’s softer side, this superbly readable collection also includes a cover gallery by artistic all-stars Javier Pulido, Ty Templeton, Joe Kubert, Howard Chaykin, Pope & Tim Sale.
© 2001, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Death of Captain America: The Man who Bought America


By Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Fabio Laguna, Luke Ross & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2971-4

I’m usually a little at odds and uneasy with today’s all-pervasive, consumer-crazed “Have it First! Have it Now!” philosophy. I generally prefer to see things working well and a bit worn in before I commit myself to an opinion or risk time and/or money on an item.

I also find that this policy pays dividends when looking at comics and graphic novels. Something you love at first sight often palls and pales into insignificance on re-reading, whilst often a little mellowing and maturation offers insights into material that might not have impressed on initial inspection…

A perfect case in point is the unceasing cacophony of collections which poured out of Marvel during their headline-grabbing stunt of having legendary patriotic icon Captain America assassinated as the climax of the publishing event Civil War. Despite being superbly crafted and gripping material, the sheer manic hyperbole of the press machine involved at the time turned many folks off and I quickly turned my attention elsewhere…

The Star Spangled Avenger was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby at the end of 1940 and launched in his own title (Captain America Comics, #1 cover-dated March 1941) with overwhelming success. He was the absolute and undisputed star of Timely (Marvel’s early predecessor) Comics’ “Big Three” – the other two being the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. He was also the first to fall from popularity at the end of the Golden Age.

When the Korean War and Communist aggression dominated the American psyche in the early 1950s he was briefly revived – with the Torch and Sub-Mariner – in 1953 before sinking once more into obscurity until a resurgent Marvel Comics once more brought him back in Avengers #4.

It was March 1964 and the Vietnam conflict was just beginning to pervade the minds of the American public…

This time he stuck around.

Whilst perpetually agonising over the death of his young sidekick (James Buchanan Barnes AKA Bucky) in the final days of the war, the resurrected Steve Rogers first stole the show in the Avengers, then promptly graduated to his own series and title as well. He waxed and waned through the most turbulent period of social change in US history, but always struggled to find an ideological niche and stable footing in the modern world.

Eventually, whilst another morally suspect war raged in the real world, during the Marvel event known as Civil War he became an anti-government rebel and was ambushed on the steps of a Federal Courthouse.

Naturally, nobody really believed he was dead…

Over the course of three volumes he was replaced by that dead sidekick. Years previously Bucky had been captured by the Soviets and used as their own super-assassin – The Winter Soldier. There’s no truer maxim than “nobody stays dead in comics”, however, and after being rescued from his unwanted spy-role the artificially youthful and part cyborg Barnes reluctantly stepped into his mentor’s boots…

Whilst Bucky was coming to terms with his inheritance; still largely unknown and unwelcome to the general public, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter – pregnant with Steve’s baby and a prisoner of Nazi über-menace the Red Skull – was undergoing a subtle program of brainwashing by perfidious psychologist Dr. Johan Faustus.

Although the mind-bending had succeeded in making her shoot Captain America on the Courthouse steps, the doped and duped operative was slowly clawing her way back to sanity, but received a huge shock after she discovered a comatose Steve alive and in captive in an underground cell…

The Skull – a disembodied malign consciousness trapped in the head of ex-Soviet General Aleksander Lukin – is well on the way to conquering the USA at last and also determined to have a new perfect body of his own again. Closeted with his body-swapping, gene-warping wizard Arnim Zola, a mysterious plan for Sharon’s baby and the body in the basement are coming to fruition…

Marvel’s extended publicity stunt was building to a blockbusting, revelatory close in this third volume (collecting issues #37-42 of Captain America volume 5 from 2008) written by master planner Ed Brubaker with art from Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Luke Ross, Fabio Laguna, Rick Magyar & Roberto De La Torre, with the promise of a new Captain America in situ at the close…

In a close-fought election year, the sudden rise of independent candidate Senator Gordon Wright and his Third Wing Party takes America by storm. Backed by corporate colossus Kronas and monolithic security division Kane-Myer and very publicly targeted by conservatives, radicals, liberals and nut-jobs alike, Wright seems the perfect and only candidate for the sensible ordinary man-in-the-street…

Whilst S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Tony Stark orders The Falcon to partner up with the still reluctant Bucky and track down Faustus, in Lukin’s lair Sharon has escaped again and gone searching for Steve…

What she finds is the deranged duplicate who briefly played Captain America in the 1950s. After a few short months the reactionary patriot had been forcibly “retired” when the super-soldier serum he’d used soured and turned him into a raving, racist paranoid. The fascistic facsimile had a tenuous grip on reality at best and attacked the real Sentinel of Liberty many times after escaping government custody…

Before she can shoot the horrific travesty of the man she loved, the Skull and Faustus recapture Sharon. Taking careful steps not to harm her, they restrain the dazed agent in the infirmary. Meanwhile Falcon and the new Captain America clash with Zola and agents of Advanced Idea Mechanics, destroying one of the Skull’s hidden facilities. Despite the heroes’ stunning triumph the Skull’s overall progress seems unchecked and unstoppable…

His next move is to release the reconditioned 1950s Cap and convince the public that the replica is their real fallen hero miraculously returned. When the Avenger then endorses Wright on live TV the political outsider suddenly seems a certainty for the White House, but things go awry when the Cap impostor clashes with Barnes and the young replacement defeats the veteran fake.

His nerve and spirit broken, the ersatz Avenger disappears, just as another disaster strikes at the plotters, when the Skull’s deeply disturbed daughter Sin attacks Sharon and causes her to lose the baby she’s carrying…

When AIM agents recapture the counterfeit Cap, Barnes and the Falcon are watching and get an unexpected hand from Faustus, who knows exactly when to leave a sinking ship. After triggering Sharon’s long disabled GPS chip the sinister shrink also makes a few last-minute adjustments to her memory and programming…

The disparate paths converge at a televised Presidential Debate – which now includes Wright – where, the Senator believes, one of his rivals will be assassinated and the Third Wing’s National Security stance will make him a shoo-in for the Oval Office. However the Skull has never played straight in his life and has agendas within schemes inside his plot…

As Falcon and Russian super-spy Black Widow spearhead a devastating rescue raid on the Nazi’s base, the new Captain America saves all the candidates on live TV before spectacularly capturing the assassins. In the midst of yet another Götterdämmerung the Skull and Zola play their final card and attempt to transfer the Machiavellian maniac’s mind out of Lukin’s body, but gravely underestimate the paranoid rage of their fake Cap and Sharon’s sheer determination to stop them at any cost…

In the shattering aftermath, Sharon is recuperating with S.H.I.E.L.D., Wright is disgraced, and Bucky Barnes is publicly acclaimed as the only Captain America, but although defeated the Red Skull is not dead.

Zola, it seems, has saved his master again, but the process has not met with approval and might be seen more as a punishment than salvation by the bitterly frustrated fascist overlord…

With covers and variants from Epting, Jackson Guice and Frank Cho, this concluding tome in The Death of Captain America triptych is a dark, tension-packed action-extravaganza that probably depends a little too much upon a working knowledge of Marvel continuity but, for those willing to eschew subtext or able to ignore seeming incongruities and go with the flow, this sinister conspiracy-thriller epic with guest-shots from Avengers luminaries Nick Fury, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Tony Stark is genuinely enthralling and well worth the effort.

The saga of the new Sentinel of Liberty resumed in Captain America: the Man with No Face and if you’re a full-on fan of the Fights ‘n’ Tights genre you’re assured of a thoroughly grand time there too.
© 2008 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.