Category: Graphic Novels

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The Adventures of Superman


By George Lowther, illustrated by Joe Shuster (Applewood Books)
ISBN: 978-1-55709-228-1

Without doubt the creation of Superman and his unprecedented reception by a desperate and joy-starved generation quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form. Within months of his launch in Action Comics #1 the Man of Tomorrow had his own supplementary solo comicbook, a newspaper strip, overseas licensing deals, a radio show and animated movie series, plus loads ands loads of merchandising deals.

In 1942 he even made the dynamic leap into “proper” prose fiction resulting in still more historic “firsts”…

George F. Lowther (1913-1975) was a Renaissance man of radio when sound not vision dominated home entertainment. He scripted episodes of such airwave strip adaptations as Dick Tracy and Terry and the Pirates as well as the Mutual Radio Network’s legendary Adventures of Superman show.

He also wrote episodes for Roy Rogers, Tom Mix and a host of other series and serials. In 1945 he moved into television with equal success as writer, producer, director and even performer, adding a string of novels for kids to his CV along the way.

With the success of the Superman radio broadcasts a spin-off book was a sure-fire seller and in 1942 Random House released a stunning, rocket-paced history of the Man of Steel, which fleshed out the character’s background (almost a decade before such detail became part of the comics canon), described the hero’s rise to fame and even found room for a thrilling pulp-fuelled contemporary adventure in a handsome hardback lavishly illustrated by co-creator Joe Shuster. The novel was the first Superman tale not scripted by Jerry Siegel and the world’s first novelisation of a comicbook character.

That book will set you back upwards of a thousand dollars today but in 1995, Applewood Press (a firm specialising in high-quality reproductions of important and historic American books) recreated that early magic in its stunning entirety in a terrific hardback tome which included a copious and informative introduction from contemporary Superman writer Roger Stern as well as the original Foreword by DC’s Staff Advisor for Children’s literacy, Josette Frank.

The art is by Joe Shuster at the peak of his creative powers and includes the dust-jacket and 4 full-colour painted plates (all reproduced from the original artwork), a half-dozen full-page black and white illustrations and 34 vibrant and vital pen-and-ink spot sketches of the Caped Kryptonian in spectacular non-stop action, gracing a fast and furious yarn that begins with the destruction of Krypton and decision of scientist Jor-El in ‘Warning of Doom’ and ‘The Space Shi’.

The saga continues with the discovery of an incredible baby in a rocket-ship by farmer Eben Kent and his wife Sarah in ‘Young Clark Kent’ and the unique boy’s early days and first meeting with Perry White in ‘The Contest’.

Following ‘The Death of Eben’ the young alien refugee moved to the big city and became ‘Clark Kent, Reporter’ after which we switch to then present-day for the main event as investigative reporter and blockbusting champion of justice combine to crush a sinister plot involving spies, saboteurs, submarines and supernatural shenanigans in the classy conundrum of ‘The Skeleton Ship’ and ‘The Vanishing Captain’ which was resolved in the epic ‘Fire at Sea’, ‘Mystery of the Old Man’, ‘Attempted Murder’, ‘Enter Lois Lane’ and ‘Return of the Skelton Ship’, resulting in ‘The Unmasking’, the revelation of a ‘Special Investigator’ and an amazing ‘Underwater Battle’ before at last the wonderment ends with ‘The Mystery Solved’.

This magical book perfectly recaptures all the frantic fervour and mind-boggling excitement of the early days of action adventure storytelling and is a pulp fiction treasure as well as a pivotal moment in the creation of the world’s premier superhero. No serious fan of the medium or art-form should miss it and hopefully with another landmark Superman anniversary on the horizon another facsimile edition is on the cards. If not, at least this volume is still readily available…
© 1942 DC Comics. Introduction © 1995 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Who is Miles Morales?


By Brian Michael Bendis & Sara Pichelli (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-503-1

When the Ultimate Comics Spider-Man died writer Brian Michael Bendis and Marvel promised that a new hero would arise from the ashes…

Marvel’s Ultimates imprint began in 2000 with a new post-modern take on major characters and concepts to bring them into line with the tastes of 21st century readers – apparently a wholly different market from those baby-boomers and their descendents content to stick with the precepts sprung from founding talents Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee… or simply those unable or unwilling to deal with the five decades (seven if you include the Golden Age Timely tales retroactively co-opted into the mix) of continuity baggage which saturated the originals.

Eventually even this darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its ancestor and in 2008 the cleansing event “Ultimatum” culminated in a reign of terror which excised dozens of super-humans and millions of lesser mortals in a devastating tsunami which inundated Manhattan courtesy of mutant menace Magneto.

In the aftermath Peter Parker and his fellow meta-human survivors struggled to restore order to a dangerous new world.

Spider-Man finally gained a measure of acceptance and was hailed a hero when he valiantly and very publicly met his end during a catastrophic super-villain confrontation…

This collection (re-presenting the introductory teaser from Ultimate Comics Fallout #4 – August 2011 – and the follow-up Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Who is Miles Morales? #1-5) introduces a new and even younger Arachnid Avenger and describes how, just like his predecessor, a troubled boy learned the painful price of misusing the unique gifts fate had bestowed…

The epic opens with a skinny kid having the poor taste to parade around town in a cheap imitation costume of fallen hero Spider-Man encountering and somehow defeating vicious super-villain The Kangaroo before the revelations begin by spinning back to the recent past where manic industrialist Norman Osborn repeats the genetic experiment which first gave Peter Parker his powers (see Ultimate Spider-Man volume 1: Power and Responsibility) via artificially-mutated spider bite.

Unfortunately the deranged mastermind didn’t expect a burglar to waltz in and accidentally carry off the new test subject as part of his haul…

When grade-schooler Miles Morales got into the prestigious and life-changing Brooklyn Visions Academy Boarding School by the most callous of chances, the brilliant African American/Latino boy quickly and cynically realised that life is pretty much a crap-shoot and unfair to boot. Feeling guilty about his unjust success and sorry for the 697 other poor kids who didn’t get a chance, he snuck off to visit his uncle Aaron.

The visit had to be secret since his uncle was a “bad influence”: a career criminal dubbed The Prowler. Whilst there, a great big spider with a number on its back bit Miles and he began to feel very odd…

For a start he began to turn invisible…

Suddenly super-fast and strong, able to leap huge distances and fade from view, Miles rushed over to see his geeky pal Ganke, a brilliant nerd already attending Brooklyn Visions. Applying “scientific” testing the boy also discovers Miles can deliver shocking, destructive charges through his hands. When Miles goes home Ganke did more research and deduced a connection to the new hero Spider-Man; pushing his friend towards also becoming a costumed crusader.

However, after Miles assisted during a tenement fire, saving a mother and baby, shock set in and he decided never to use his powers again…

Time passed: Miles and Ganke had been roommates at the Academy for almost a year when news of a major metahuman clash rocked the city. The troubled Miles headed out and was a bystander at the scene of Spider-Man’s death.

Seeing a brave man perish so valiantly, Miles was once more consumed by guilt: if he had used his own powers when they first manifested he might have been able to help; to save a truly great hero…

As part of the crowd attending Parker’s memorial Miles and Ganke talked to another mourner, a girl who actually knew Parker. Gwen Stacy offered quiet insights to the grieving child which altered the course of his life forever: “with great power comes great responsibility…”

Clad in a Halloween Spidey costume borrowed from Ganke, Miles took to the night streets for the first time and stopped the Kangaroo from committing murder…

His third night out the exhilarated boy encountered the terrifying and furiously indignant Spider-Woman who thrashed and arrested him, dragging him to Government agency S.H.I.E.L.D where Hawkeye, Iron Man and master manipulator Nick Fury coldly assessed him.

However, before they could reach a decision on Miles’ fate, the murderous Electro broke free of the building’s medical custody ward and went on a rampage.

Despite defeating all the seasoned heroes the voltage villain was completely unprepared for a new Spider-Man: especially as the boy had a whole extra range of powers including camouflage capabilities and an irresistible “venom-strike” sting…

As Miles considered the full implications of his victory, Fury imparted a staggeringly simple homily: “With great power…”

Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli have crafted a stirring new chapter which is both engaging and intriguing and the volume also contains a gallery of alternate covers by Marko Djurdjevic and Pichelli.

Tense, breathtaking, action-packed, evocative and full of the light-hearted, self-aware humour which blessed the original Lee/Ditko tales, this is a controversial but worthy way to continue and advance the legend that Fights ‘n’ Tights addicts will admire and adore…
A British Edition ™ & © 2012 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. and published by Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Cartoon Network 2-in-1: Ben 10 Ultimate Alien/Generator Rex


By Amy Wolfram, Jake Black, Scott Beatty, Eugene Son, Rob Hoegee, Aaron Williams, Jason Bischoff, Ethan Beavers, Mike Bowden, Min S. Ku & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3305-1

The links between kids’ animated features and comicbooks are long established and, I suspect, for young consumers, indistinguishable. After all, it’s just all-ages adventure entertainment in the end…

DC’s Cartoon Network imprint is probably the last bastion of children’s comics and has produced some truly magical homespun material (such as Tiny Titans, Batman: Brave and the Bold or Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!) as well as stunning interpretations of such television landmarks as Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Cartoon Network Block Party and others.

This dynamic and fast-paced parcel of thrills gathers two of contemporary kids’ most popular TV sensations in back-to-back exploits taken from monthly periodical Cartoon Network Action-Pack (issues # 48-51, 54, 56, 57, 59) and opens with the further adventures of a boy who could become a profusion of extraterrestrial champions…

Ben Tennyson was a plucky kid who could become ten different alien super-heroes by activating a fantastic device called the Omnitrix. At first the young boy clandestinely battled fantastic foes with his eccentric Grandpa Max and obnoxious cousin Gwen but by the time of these tales Ben is a teenager, has gained global fame and his own power-packed teen posse including reformed super bad-boy Kevin Levin and romantic interest/techno-ninja Julie Yamamoto, all whilst struggling to master the far more powerful Ultimatrix device…

In short complete tales by Amy Wolfram, Jake Black, Scott Beatty and Eugene Son, illustrated by Ethan Beavers, Min S. Ku, Mike Cavallaro, Dan Davis & Luciano Vecchio, Ben and his hyper-charged avatars and BFFs tackle world-shaking threats and typical teen traumas beginning with ‘Fashion Victim’ wherein a sudden trend for kids to wear knock-offs of Ben’s signature jacket leads to mistakes and mayhem when short-sighted monsters and old foe Charmcaster attack, whilst ‘Going Viral’ finds an embarrassing defeat by a dragon posted on the internet by the young hero’s biggest fan.

There’s an impressive treatise on schoolyard bullying in ‘Dodge Ben!’ after which the indignities pile up when old foe Aggregor attacks during the cringe-worthy premiere of ‘Ben 10 on Ice’ and an alien journalist shares a day in the life of a galactic hero in ‘Breaking News.’

Ben’s notoriety almost leads to a tragic misunderstanding in ‘Star Chaser’ and Julie gets some unwelcome paparazzi attention in ‘Tabloid Trouble’ before this scintillating selection concludes with Ben’s persistent homework hassles in ‘The Monster at the End of this Book’…

The last half of the volume is dedicated to a new boy wonder struggling to be a hero in a post-apocalyptic world…

Generator Rex is an amnesiac lad with the ability to turn parts of his body into fantastic technological weapons as a result of a global catastrophe which seeded Earth with nanites and turned the world into a constantly mutating nightmare.

The nanites randomly turn humans – and other organisms – into Exponentially Variegated Organisms or “EVOs”: monsters that cause even more death and destruction. Their threat is combated by the secret organisation Providence…

Rex, who can actually cure EVOs of their mutational infections, and his gun-toting, talking monkey pal Bobo are the agency’s top operatives in battling the monsters’ attacks and hunting down the suspected cause of the initial disaster, a maniac named Van Kleiss…

The creators for these gripping yarns include Rob Hoegee, Eugene Son, Scott Beatty, Aaron Williams Jason Bischoff, Min S. Ku, Ethan Beavers & Mike Bowden.

The adventure begins in the EVO homeland of Abysus with ‘Distraction!’ as the boy and Bobo raid Van Kleiss’ castle on a seeming fool’s errand before tackling a forgotten enemy from the past in the epic length ‘Extra Baggage’…

‘Heart of Stone’ introduces a potential rival to Van Kleiss’ malign dominance in the sultry serpentines shape of Dr. Eden Williams, after which there’s a beguiling change of pace with the twisted love story ‘A Blank Canvas’.

‘The Unforgiving Minute’ poses an impossible quandary for Rex and a group of survivors as yet uncontaminated by the omnipresent nanite contagion whilst ‘Only a Game’ finds the entire horror-hunting team playing spy at a “Warworld of Warlocks” computer convention before the action spectacularly climaxes when the impossible happens and Rex is apparently infected by nanites in ‘Freak Out’…

Despite being aimed at TV kids, these mini-sagas are wonderful old-fashioned comics tales that no self-respecting fun-fan should miss, but if you still need further cajoling perhaps learning that both shows were devised by “Man of Action” might further persuade you.

Man of Action is the working pseudonym for an entertainment-think-tank comprised of Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly & Steven T. Seagle and whilst Ben 10 bears a striking – but surely superficial – similarity to two beloved and quirky 1960s DC second-string strips – Dial “H” for Hero and Ultra, the Multi-Alien – Generator Rex is actually based on Image Comic M. (Machina) Rex, which debuted in 1999 courtesy of Whilce Portacio & Brian Haberlin’s Avalon Studios, crafted and produced by Aaron Sowd, Kelly & Rouleau.

Accessible and entertaining for a broad range of thrill-seeking readers this terrific tome is a perfect, old fashioned delight. What more do you need to know?

™ and © 2011 Cartoon Network. Compilation © 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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New Mutants: The Demon Bear Saga


By Chris Claremont & Bill Sienkiewicz (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-87135-673-4

New Mutants was the first regular X-Men spin-off series (unless the you count the brief but brilliant saga of The Beast in Amazing Adventures #11-17 (all six-and-a-half tales are reprinted in Essential Classic X-Men volume 3) and the return to grass roots of powerful alienated kids in training offered many opportunities for slightly different tales that resonated with teen-aged readers.

The team – or perhaps class – gradually expanded as scripter Claremont explored his twin pet themes of alienation and female empowerment and by the time of this collection (reprinting issues #18-21, August-November 1984) his original kid cast – Scottish lupine metamorph Rahne (Wolfsbane) Sinclair, Brazilian solar powerhouse Roberto (Sunspot)DaCosta, human Cannonball Sam Guthrie and projecting psionic Dani (Psyche) Moonstar – had been joined by two new pupils whilst the older Vietnamese Xi’an Coy Manh AKA Karma had been sidelined in the ensuing months.

New additions included Amara Aquilla, a living volcano codenamed Magma who hailed from a lost colony of the Roman Empire and Ilyana (Magik) Rasputin, little sister of Russian X-Man Colossus and recently returned after ten years trapped in a sorcerous, timeless nether-dimension…

With #18, iconoclastic artist Bill Sienkiewicz began a stellar and controversial run pushing the illustrative narrative envelope with his expressionistic, multi-disciplinary range of styles: a perfect place to begin a new kind of adventure for the mutant Next Generation…

‘Death-Hunt’ begins with a fearsome flash forward of horrors to come before Psyche reveals her own precognitive talents have been warning her of the approach of a legendary animal spirit inimical to her tribe. However, whilst training in the Danger Room she gains her first inkling that the threat might be more than myth…

Meanwhile in deep space, a young alien mutant technological organism is fleeing from a catastrophic threat… his own murderous paranoid father.

With Professor X absent and a blizzard hitting, Dani roams the snowy grounds of the school when an impossible ursine monster attacks…

The action switches to the local hospital for ‘Siege’ as Moonstar’s broken body is rushed into emergency surgery. Her personal bogeyman is terrifyingly real and not of this Earth; a magical foe of her people determined to invade this plane and convert Earth into a realm of dark spirits.

In space the alien fugitive flees unheedingly towards Earth, disastrously encountering the swashbuckling Starjammers, before plunging onward. In the hospital, doctors struggle to save Dani, and Magik gleans some useful information with her mystic powers. The Bear needs to destroy Psyche because she holds the secret of defeating it and preventing the poisoning of our world with its malign influence.

With her classmates desperately guarding her dying body during the operation, the Bear’s next attack transports the entire medical centre to its mystical dimension, the metaphysical ‘Badlands’…

On its home turf it is unstoppable, warping a cop and nurse into Native American archetypes to attack the kids whilst slowly tainting the soul of the planet with its evil. Fighting back with all they have, the valiant kids stumble onto a last-ditch plan of attack to defeat the Bear and when returned to Earth they discover a shocking secret about the permanently transformed nurse and policeman…

The book ends with the extra-long ‘Slumber Party’ as the girls of Xavier’s School indulge in a relatively normal part of growing up. With the boys – including new recruit Doug Ramsey – banished for the night, a group of girls from Salem Centre stay over for the time-honoured festivities, but when dying techno-organic parasite Warlock crashes the party – fleeing from his homicidally destructive sire The Magus – the frolics dissolve into planet-threatening horror…

With the introduction of the weirdly warped Warlock and down-to-Earth Doug, the New Mutants cast was relatively complete and an era of superb storytelling and sublime experimentation began…

Fast-paced, evocative, thought-provoking, funny and scary, this book epitomises the very best of Marvel’s second renaissance and these compelling tales are amongst the most impressive and enjoyable of the vast Mutant canon.
© 1984, 1990 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Legion of Super-Heroes: Archive Edition Volume 4


By Jerry Siegel, Edmond Hamilton, Otto Binder, Jim Mooney, John Forte, George Papp & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-123-9

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten over and again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This sturdy, charm-soaked, action packed fourth full-colour deluxe hardback collection continues to re-present those early tales from the disparate Superman Family titles in chronological order: the sagas from their own feature spanning Adventure Comics #329-339, plus Legion-starring tales from Superboy #124 and 125, covering February to December 1965 cover-dates.

This period began the Tomorrow Team’s slow transformation from wholesome, imaginative, humorous and generally safe science fiction strip to a more dramatic and even grittily realistic combat force in constant peril and, after an informative Foreword from sometime Legion Editor KC Carlson, one of the last truly whimsical cases opens this collection.

The madcap merriment occurred when the heroes had to confront and outwit the topsy-turvy threat of their own imperfect doppelgangers in Adventure Comics #329’s ‘The Bizarro Legion!’ (by Jerry Siegel & Jim Mooney) after which a nefarious juvenile criminal infiltrated the LSH intending to destroy them all from within in ‘Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire!’ by the same creative team.

The dastardly plans proceeded without a hitch until the victorious Dynamo-Boy recruited the malevolent adult meta-criminals Lightning Lord, Cosmic King and Saturn Queen, consequently falling victim to ‘The Triumph of the Legion of Super-Villains!’ in #331.

Rescued and restored, the valiant young heroes were back in Adventure #332 to face ‘The Super-Moby Dick of Space!’ (Edmond Hamilton & John Forte) wherein the recently resurrected Lightning Lad suffered crippling injuries and an imminent nervous breakdown…

‘The War Between Krypton and Earth!’ in #333, (Hamilton, Forte & George Klein), had the time-travelling team flung far back into the our world’s antediluvian past and split into internecine factions on opposite sides of a conflict forgotten by history, after which ‘The Unknown Legionnaire!’ (Hamilton, Forte & Sheldon Moldoff) posed a perilous puzzle with an inadvertently oppressed and overlooked race’s entire future at stake…

The same creative team then introduced deadly super-villain ‘Starfinger!’ in #335 who framed a luckless Legionnaire for his incredible crimes before ‘The True Identity of Starfinger!’ (inked by Klein) was revealed, allowing the entire squad to focus on the real menace.

Superboy #124 (October 1965, by Otto Binder & George Papp) featured Lana Lang as ‘The Insect Queen of Smallville!’ who was rewarded with a shape-changing ring after rescuing a trapped alien. Naturally she used her new abilities to ferret out Clark Kent’s secrets…

Adventure #337 highlighted ‘The Weddings that Wrecked the Legion!’ by Hamilton, Forte & Moldoff as two couples resigned to marry. However, there was serious method in the seeming marital madness…

Long absent Bête Noir the Time Trapper at last returned in #338 when Siegel & Forte revealed ‘The Menace of the Sinister Super-Babies!’ with sultry Glorith of Baaldur using the Chronal Conqueror’s devices to turn everybody but Superboy and Brainiac 5 into mewling infants. When they turned the tables on the villains a new era dawned for the valiant Tomorrow Teens…

Superboy #125 (November 1965) signalled darker days ahead by introducing a legion reservist with a tragic secret in ‘The Sacrifice of Kid Psycho!’ (Binder & Papp), after which Hamilton, Forte & Moldoff told the bittersweet tale of disaffected and tormented Lallorian hero Beast Boy who turned against humanity in Adventure Comics #339’s ‘Hunters of the Super-Beasts!’ to bring this sterling collection to a solidly entertaining end.

The slow death of whimsy and move from light-hearted escapades to daily life and death struggles would culminate in tragedy and triumph in the next edition…

The Legion is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in comicbook history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became American Comics Fandom.

Moreover, these sparkling, simplistic and devastatingly addictive stories – with full creator biographies and a glorious gallery of covers from the sublime art-team of Curt Swan & George Klein – as much as Julie Schwartz’s Justice League fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and underpinned the industry we all know today.

These naive, silly, joyous, stirring and utterly compelling yarns are precious and fun beyond any ability to explain. If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1964, 1965, 1992, 1993, 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Outsiders volume 2: Sum of All Evil


By Judd Winick, Tom Raney, Will Conrad, Tom Derenick & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0243-8

Once upon a time superheroes, like firemen, sat around their assorted lairs or went about their civilian pursuits until the call of duty summoned them to deal with a breaking emergency. In the grim and gritty world after Crisis on Infinite Earths, the concept evolved with a number of costumed adventurers evolving into pre-emptive strikers…

After the deaths of a number of Teen Titan comrades, Arsenal convinced the heartbroken Nightwing to run a covert and pre-emptive pack of professed “hunters” to seek out and take down metahuman threats and extraordinary criminals before they could harm innocent lives or create chaos…

This second compendium collects issues #8-15 of the compelling and controversial Outsiders comicbook, ramping up the action and alienation even further as disaster and the tensions of living life outside the rules begins to take its inevitable toll…

This volume eschews individual issue titles but for your convenience and mine I’ve supplied them when applicable. The drama commences with the three-part ‘Devil’s Work’ by Judd Winick, Tom Raney & Sean Parsons as Arsenal, recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, calls in brutal vigilante The Huntress to bolster the team over the strident objections of Nightwing. Meanwhile Russian mobster Ishmael Gregor slaughters a bus full of people as the opening gambit in his scheme to steal the demonic powers of one-time super-villain Sabbac and bring about Hell on Earth…

The action continues in ‘Lightning from Above and Below’ (inked by Scott Hanna) as the new Sabbac (a supernatural super-being sponsored by devil-lords Satan, Any, Belial, Beeelzebub, Asmodeus and Craeteis in the way the ancient gods empowered Captain Marvel) trounces and severely wounds Jade, Thunder and especially Grace, prompting veteran hero Black Lightning to step in. Even with his aid the heroes are hard-pressed to stop Gregor and turn back an invasion of demons until Captain Marvel Jr. shows up in the concluding ‘A Family Matter’…

A dark change of pace is offered with ‘Scream without Raising Your Voice’ illustrated by Will Conrad & Sean Parsons, as Arsenal comes to terms with the psychological trauma of taking a machine-gun burst to the chest helped by different kinds of tough love from Grace and Nightwing…

The remainder of the book is taken up with a spectacular battle with a resurgent Fearsome Five beginning with the prologue ‘Out with the New, In with the Old’ (Winick, Tom Derenick & Kevin Conrad) as fugitive mad scientist Dr. Sivana recruits and manipulates murderous metahuman Gizmo, Psimon, Jinx and Mammoth by promising to resurrect their dead comrade Shimmer, whilst the Outsiders’ solidarity and resolve begins to crumble after Huntress quits.

‘Five by Five’ opens with ‘New Business’ (art by Raney) as the restored Fearsome Five begin raiding numerous LexCorp holdings for Sivana, forcing the heroes to break into smaller teams and chase them down.

‘Strength in Numbers’ sees the Outsiders thoroughly beaten and only narrowly escaping with their lives prompting the quintet of super-psychopaths to turn on their boss. Going their own way the manic villains concoct a plan to gain global respect by nuking Canada with twenty-three stolen nuclear missiles.

As the battered Outsiders race to stop them, neither side is aware that the whole thing is a warped, Byzantine plan by an outside party to make a real killing…

Razor-sharp, rocket-paced, action-packed and edgily affecting, Outsiders was one of the very best series pursuing the “strike first and strike hard” hero-concept, generating some of the most compelling Fights ‘n’ Tights action of the last decade. Still punchy, evocative and extremely readable, these thrillers will delight older fans of the genre.
© 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: the Dark Knight Archives volume 5


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson, Jack Burnley, Dick Sprang & various (DC)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0778-6

War always seems to stimulate creativity and advancement and these sublime adventures of Batman and Robin more than prove that axiom as the growing band of creators responsible for producing the bi-monthly adventures of the Dark Knight hit an artistic peak which only stellar stable-mate Superman and Fawcett’s Captain Marvel were able to equal or even approach…

Following an introduction by newspaper journalist and fan Michelle Nolan, this fantastic fifth edition (collecting Batman #17-20 and spanning June/July 1943 to December 1943/January 1944) opens with the gloriously human story of B. Boswell Brown, a lonely and self-important old man who claimed to be ‘The Batman’s Biographer!’ Unfortunately ruthless robber The Conjurer gave the claim far more credence than most in a this tense thriller by Don Cameron, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson & George Roussos…

This was counterbalanced by ‘The Penguin Goes A-Hunting’ (Cameron again with art by Jack & Ray Burnley), a wild romp wherein the Perfidious Popinjay went on a hubris-fuelled crime-spree after being left off a “Batman’s Most Dangerous Foes” list.

The same creative team concocted ‘Rogues Pageant!’ when murderous thieves in Western city Santo Pablo inexplicably disrupt the towns historical Anniversary celebrations after which Joe Greene, Kane & Robinson detail the Dynamic Duo’s brutal battle with a deadly gang of maritime marauders in the unique ‘Adventure of the Vitamin Vandals!’

Batman #18 opened with a spectacular and visually stunning crime-caper as the Gotham Gangbusters clashed again with dastardly bandits Tweedledum and Tweedledee whilst solving ‘The Secret of Hunter’s Inn!’ by Joe Samachson & Robinson, after which ‘Robin Studies his Lessons!’ (Samachson, Kane & Robinson) saw the Boy Wonder grounded from all crime-busting duties until his school work improved – even if it meant Batman dying for want of his astounding assistance!

Bill Finger and Burnley brothers crafted ‘The Good Samaritan Cops’; another brilliant human interest drama focused on the tense but unglamorous work of the Police Emergency Squad and this issue concluded with a shocking and powerful return engagement for manic physician and felonious mastermind ‘The Crime Surgeon!’ (Finger, Kane & Robinson),

The writers of the first and third stories in Batman #19 are sadly unknown to us (perhaps William Woolfolk?) but there’s no doubting the magnificent artwork of rising star Dick Sprang who pencilled every tale in this blockbusting issue, beginning with ‘Batman Makes a Deadline!’ wherein the Dark Knight investigated skulduggery and attempted murder at the City’s biggest newspaper after which Don Cameron authored the breathtaking fantasy masterpiece ‘Atlantis Goes to War!’ with the Dynamic Duo rescuing that fabled submerged city from Nazi assault.

The Joker reared his garish head again in the anonymously penned thriller ‘The Case of the Timid Lion!’ with the Clown Prince enraged and lethal whilst tracking down an impostor committing crime capers in his name before Samachson, Sprang and inker Norman Fallon unmasked the ‘Collector of Millionaires’ with Dick Grayson investigating his wealthy mentor’s bewildering replacement by a cunning doppelganger…

Batman #20 featured the Mountebank of Mirth in ‘The Centuries of Crime!’ (Cameron & the Burnleys) with The Joker claiming to have discovered a nefariously profitable method of time-travelling, whilst ‘The Trial of Titus Keyes!’ (Finger, Kane & Robinson) offered a masterful courtroom drama of injustice amended, focussing on the inefficacy of witness statements…

‘The Lawmen of the Sea!’ by Finger & the Burnleys found the Dynamic Duo again working with a lesser known Police Division as they joined the Harbor Patrol in their daily duties and uncovered a modern day piracy ring before the volume ends on a dramatic high with ‘Bruce Wayne Loses Guardianship of Dick Grayson!’ wherein a couple of fraudsters claiming to be the boy’s last remaining relatives petition to adopt him.

A melodramatic triumph by Finger, Kane & Robinson, there’s still plenty of action, especially after the grifters try to sell Dick back to Bruce Wayne…

With an expansive biographies section and glorious covers from Robinson, Ed Kressy and Sprang this gloriously indulgent deluxe hardback compendium is another irresistible box of classic delights that no fan of the medium can afford to miss.

© 1943, 1944, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Comics: the 75th Anniversary Poster Book


By various, compiled and with commentary by Robert Schnakenberg & Paul Levitz (Quirk Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59474-462-4

Here’s another poster-sized (a colossal 282 by 356mm) full-colour art-book, this time with material far more familiar to comics fans. Beautiful, captivating and still readily available, this tremendous tome was released in 2010 to celebrate America’s premier funnybook publisher in their 75th year of continuous existence.

This 208 page compendium, devised with 100 whole-page images – suitable and intended for framing – with background information and a couple of equally vibrant and chronologically pertinent cover contenders on each reverse side, charts all the breakthroughs, major debuts and key events of the companies (initially National Periodical Publications and All-American imprints) which merged to become DC, and includes the fruits of other publishers like Fawcett, Quality and Charlton Comics whose creative successes were later acquired and assimilated by the unstoppable corporate colossus which forms today’s universally recognised multi-media phenomenon.

The obvious candidates are all there and of course the vast majority of these stunning illustrations are superhero themed, but there are also fine examples of the bizarre fads, eccentric mores and mind-boggling concepts that were simply part-and-parcel of comics from the last eight decades.

The four-colour graphic parade begins with New Fun Comics #1 (February 1935 and with issues #2 and 3 decorating the potted history of the company on the back) and follows with the obvious landmarks  such as Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, Superman #1 and 14, Flash Comics #1, Batman #1 and Sensation Comics #1 but also finds space for equally evocative but less well-used covers as Detective #11, Adventure #40, Action #19, Green Lantern #1 and Sensation #38.

From the almost superhero-free 1950s come such eccentric treats as Mr. District Attorney #12, Our Army at War #20, Mystery in Space #22, Strange Adventures #79 and 100, Showcase #12, Leave it to Binky #60, Adventure Comics #247, Detective #275 (“The Zebra Batman!”) and many more, whilst the tumultuous 1960s offers such treasures as Flash #123, Showcase #34, Brave and the Bold #42 & 58 and Justice League of America #21 as well as practically unseen treasures like Falling in Love #62, Heart Throbs #93, Girls’ Love #127 among others…

The 1970s through to today are represented by such examples as Wonder Woman #205, Shazam! #3, Prez #3, Detective #475, Weird Western Tales, #53, Weird War #89, New Teen Titans #1, Ronin #1, Swamp Thing #34, Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, the first issues of  The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Hellblazer, Sandman, The Killing Joke, V for Vendetta and Preacher, Wonder Woman #0, Superman #75, Cat Woman #2, New Frontiers #6, Arkham Asylum Anniversary Edition, Batman: Year 100 #1, All-Star Superman #10 Batman #679 and others. All these covers can of course be viewed online through numerous database sites – but those aren’t crisply printed on high-grade card and ready to frame…

The artists include Lyman Anderson, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Creig Flessel, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino, John Romita Sr., Ramona Fradon, Neal Adams, Joe Orlando, Berni Wrightson, Steve Ditko, Mike Sekowsky, Bob Oksner, Curt Swan, Nick Cardy, Jack Kirby, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, Dave McKean, Michael Golden, Darwyn Cooke, Dave Johnson, Adam Hughes, Jim Lee, James Jean, Tim Sale, Paul Pope, Frank Quitely, Alex Ross and a myriad of others…

For my rarefied tastes there are too few of the company’s superb young kids and funny animal titles and not enough of their genre successes, as exemplified by the War, Western, Romance, Science Fiction, Jungle Action, Sword & Sorcery and mystery/horror titles which kept the company afloat when mystery men periodically palled on the public’s palate, but this book is nevertheless a splendid catalogue of DC’s contribution to global culture and an overwhelming celebration of the unique glory of comics.

Even better; there are still thousands of covers left to shove into follow-up volumes…

Art and compilation © 2010 DC Comics. All rights Reserved.

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Al Williamson Archives volume 2


By Al Williamson with an introduction by Victor Williamson (Flesk)
ISBN: 978-1-933865-34-8

Al Williamson was one of the greatest draughtsmen ever to grace the pages of comicbooks and newspaper comics sections. He was born in 1931 in New York City, after which his family relocated to Bogotá, Columbia just as the Golden Age of syndicated adventure strips began.

The lad’s passion for “the Comics” – especially Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim – was broadened as he devoured imported and translated US material as well as the best that Europe and Latin America could provide in such anthology magazines as Paquin and Pif Paf. When he was twelve the Williamsons returned to America and, after finishing school, the artistic prodigy found work in the industry that had always obsessed him.

In the early 1950s he became a star of E.C. Comics’ science fiction titles beside kindred spirits Joe Orlando, Wally Wood, Roy G. Krenkel, Frank Frazetta and Angelo Torres, and drew Westerns Kid Colt and Ringo Kid for Atlas/Marvel. During the industry’s darkest days he found new fame and fans producing newspaper strips, first by assisting John Prentice on Rip Kirby – another masterpiece originally created by Alex Raymond – and from 1967 with Secret Agent Corrigan.

As comicbooks recovered in the 1960s Williamson drew Flash Gordon for King Comics and worked on mystery tales and westerns for DC whilst drawing Corrigan, later becoming the go-to guy for blockbuster sci-fi film adaptations with his stunning interpretations of Blade Runner and Star Wars.

His stunning poetic realism, sophisticated compositions, classicist design and fantastic naturalism graced many varied tales, but in later years he became almost exclusively a star inker over pencillers as varied as John Romita Jr., Larry Stroman, Rick Leonardi, Mark Bright, José Delbo and a host of others on everything from Transformers to Spider-Man 2099, Daredevil to Spider-Girl and his magical brushes and pens embellished many of Marvel’s Graphic Novel productions such as The Inhumans or Cloak and Dagger/Predator and Prey.

Al Williamson passed away in June 2010.

After a memory-soaked celebratory introduction from his son Victor, this second oversized (305x229mm) 64 page collection features more sketches, working drawings, doodles, unlinked pages, model sheets, unused and unfinished pages as well as a few completed but unseen treasures from one of the stellar creators of our art form.

In assorted media and forms from quick line sketches in ink, broad brush and tonal studies, full pencils and finished illustrations, Williamson displays his mastery in magical pictures ranging from intoxicating fantasy and barbarian women, valiant sword-wielding warriors, wondrous dinosaurs, Cowboys and Indians, rockets and robots, sports heroes, period drama scenes, cosmic adventurers, beasts and monsters, aliens, action sequences, beguiling nudes and glamour studies, his delicious trademark cute lizards, and so much more.

Standout and extra-inspiration pieces include a fabulous page of the Rocketeer, a Reef Ryan pulp page, many 1960s Flash Gordon sketches, more glorious John Carter of Mars illustrations and a few hard-boiled crime scenes…

The beautifully intimate glimpses of a master at work, with full colour reproduction capturing every nuance of Williamsons’ gorgeous pencil strokes, make this a book a vital primer for anybody dreaming of drawing for a living and the astounding breadth and scope of work presented here make me itch to pick up my pencil and draw, draw, draw some more myself.

Enticing, revealing, rewarding and incredibly inspirational, no lover of wonder or art lover can fail to be galvanised by this superb portfolio of excellence.

© 2011 The Estate of Al Williamson. Introduction © 2011 Victor Williamson. Rocketeer illustration © 1984 The Rocketeer Trust. All Rights Reserved.

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Ultimate Comics Hawkeye


By Jonathan Hickman, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona & Brad Anderson (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-464-5

Marvel’s Ultimates imprint launched in 2000 with major characters and concepts re-imagined to bring them into line with the presumed different tastes of modern readers.

Eventually the alternate, darkly nihilistic universe became as continuity-constricted as its predecessor and in 2008 the cleansing event “Ultimatum” culminated in a reign of terror which apparently (this is comics, after all) killed dozens of super-humans and millions of lesser mortals.

The era-ending event was a colossal tsunami triggered by Magneto which inundated the superhero-heavy island of Manhattan and devastated the world’s mutant population. The X-Men as well as many other superhuman heroes and villains died and in the aftermath anybody classed as a ‘”Homo Superior” had to surrender to the authorities or be shot on sight. Understandably most survivors as well any newly emergent X-people kept themselves well hidden. The world quickly became a far more deadly and fast-changing place with science and paranoia running rampant…

Before the Deluge S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury ran an American Black Ops team of super-humans called the Avengers, but he was eventually toppled from his position for sundry rule-bending antics – and being caught doing them.

Now Fury’s back, once more running the Federal Security Agency: firmly re-established and in charge of both secret agents and the official superhero team for public consumption whilst running another clandestine super-squad doing stuff the officially sanctioned Ultimates wouldn’t dream of…

As well as the pick of remaining and new superhumans, Fury’s sometime secret army consists of James Rhodes: a fanatical soldier wearing devastating War Machine battle armour; the Hulk, ruthless super-spy Black Widow, resurrected WWII super soldier Captain America (part of the bright and shiny public Image company but always happy to slum it when necessary) and the infallible professional fixer Hawkeye – the man who never misses…

This compilation collects the Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye four part miniseries from August to November 2011, which acted as prelude and sidebar to yet another relaunch of the constantly-changing grim and gritty alternate universe. Also on view in this tale is a new take on mainstream Marvel’s hidden race concepts of metahumans and monsters The Eternals, Deviants and Celestials and offers a big tip of the hat to Jack Kirby’s other paranormal alien-nation the Inhumans…

In this apocalyptic modern world individual metahumans can be Weapons of Mass Destruction and personal superpowers are now the focus of a terrifying new global arms race. When the new nation SEAR (SouthEast Asian Republic) devolves into civil war the outside world learns that they have developed a serum that will randomly spark fantastic abilities in anybody dosed with it.

To achieve a monopoly in metahuman resources the SEAR rulers have also released an artificial virus to eradicate the X-Gene: as it spreads around the planet it destroys the potential for any more mutants to be born. There will never again be naturally occurring challengers to “The People”…

Unfortunately for the SEAR government – and thus their ally America – the insurrectionists rampaging through the ambitious new nation comprise the now uncontrollable unwilling first test subjects of the chemical trigger they have dubbed “The Source”…

When S.H.I.E.L.D. is ordered to assist the beleaguered SEAR authorities, Fury sends his very best and most trusted agent but events too quickly spiral out of control as a race of belligerent New Gods go wild in the streets. Moreover, Hawkeye’s true mission is not to save some tin pot dictators from their own folly but to secure a sample of the source for the good old USA…

When the situation becomes irretrievable Fury dispatches covert Ultimate-X and the Hulk but even these formidable fighting forces are ill-equipped to halt the carnage; especially since the “The People of the Source” have decimated the capital city and already fractionated into two philosophically opposed sub-groups led by two feuding brothers Zorn and Xorn: the vengefully aggressive Eternals and pacific, philosophical Celestials.

Sadly for humanity, the former far outnumber the latter…

However one thing both factions agree on is that Earth now belongs to their kind and anybody – powered or merely human – are lowly “Deviants”…

Featuring some valuable hints on the history and abilities of Olympic champion and reformed felon Clint Barton and his close association with Fury, this intriguing tome is a terse and straightforward do-or-die action rollercoaster and classy “gathering doom” tale in its own right but was only ever intended as an introduction to bigger events in the core title The Ultimates.

However the always entertaining Jonathan Hickman and cruelly underrated Rafa Sandoval (augmented by the inks of Jordi Tarragona and colourist Brad Anderson) make this a sleek and glossy simple pleasure for older Fights ‘n’ Tights fans and the impressive cover gallery by such stars as Neal Adams, Adam Kubert and Kaare Andrews add immeasurably to the book’s visual appeal.

Even though far more upbeat and exuberant that the usual Ultimate fare, the trademark post-modernity and cynical, dark action is still here to deliver the visceral punch fans insist on, so this is a pretty good book for anybody thinking on jumping on to the decidedly different world of Wonder: one which will resonate with older readers who love the darkest side of superheroes and casual readers who know the company’s movies better than the comic-books.

A British edition licensed and published by Panini UK, Ltd. ™ & © 2012 Marvel Entertainment LLC and its subsidiaries. Licensed from Marvel Characters B.V. All Rights Reserved.