Category: Graphic Novels

By Walt Simonson, Arthur Adams, Art Thibert & Al Milgrom (Marvel)
ISBN13: 978-0-87135-877-6

During the 1990s high-profile stunts were all the rage in comics as companies realized that a large sector of the buying public thought themselves “Investors”. A plot twist, a costume change, a different format or shiny cover (or better yet covers: plural), anything – just so long as The Press got hold of it – translated directly into extra sales. There are many stories and concepts from that era which (mercifully) may never make it into trade paperbacks and collections, but there are some that deserved to, did, and really still should be.

When Walt Simonson was writing (and usually drawing) the venerable flagship title Fantastic Four, his high-tech, high-tension saga was abruptly interrupted by a gloriously tongue-in-cheek graphic digression. Three issues, #347-349, poked gentle fun at the trend-meisters and speculators and consequently became some of the “hottest” comics of the year.

When a Skrull outlaw invades Earth, heavy pursuit is not far behind, so she attacks the Fantastic Four and seemingly kills them. Then disguised as Sue Richards she recruits the four best-selling heroes in the Marvel Universe – Spider-Man, The Hulk, Wolverine and Ghost Rider – to hunt down “the murderers” as The NEW Fantastic Four! Their hunt takes them to the bowels of the Earth and into battle with the Mole Man, and reveals some fascinating background into the origins of supernormal life on Earth.

What could so easily have been a cheap stunt is elevated not only by the phenomenal art of Arthur Adams (assisted by Gracine Tanaka) but also the lovingly reverential script, which references those goofy old ‘Furry-Underpants Monsters’ of immediate pre-FF vintage, and which is packed with traditional action and fun besides.

I can’t believe this fabulous gem is out of print, but at least it’s still readily available as a trade paperback (which isn’t such good news for a couple of guys I know who still have a few hundred copies of the comics…).

© 1990, 1992 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Dan Jurgens & Gordon Purcell (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-482-X

One of the key set pieces of Infinite Crisis (ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0959-9) was the destruction of the city of Blüdhaven by the Society of super-villains, using the toxic monster Chemo as a high-altitude bomb.

One Year Later: The surviving population now huddle as dispossessed refugees around the ruined remnants, with Federal agents and US soldiers harassing or interning them, whilst undertaking secret missions in the poisonous and – oddly – radioactive rubble. Metagene mutations and other monstrosities are common, but well-meaning and determined superheroes are still being ordered to stay away by their own government.

Within the devastated city limits the enigmatic civil servant Father Time has his own draconian agenda, but subversive malcontents such as the Atomic Knights are sabotaging his plans, whilst among the dispossessed of the shanty-town outside the city walls new heroes with proud, Liberty-Loving and tradition-steeped names like Firebrand and Uncle Sam are no longer willing to accept oppressive government rule – especially when it’s their own.

This highly politicised drama is an intriguing vehicle designed to relaunch the Quality Comics heroes known as the Freedom Fighters into the new DC universe, with guest shots from the Teen Titans and Green Lantern plus the inevitable return of a long-lost hero to the fold, and as such is impressively ambitious. However, the events often seem to run away from scripters Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, and there’s an inescapable sense of confusion that spoils the show a little. It is however very engagingly illustrated by Dan Jurgens, Gordon Purcell and Palmiotti wearing his inker’s outfit.

Collected from the six-issue miniseries this book also ends on an unsatisfactorily unfinished note, as that series was designed as a springboard into other projects. If you followed Infinite Crisis this is a diverting side-story you’d probably enjoy, but I suspect its intrinsic merits will be lost on any casual readers.

© 2006, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Liefeld, Napton, Altstaetter, Gomez & Micheletti (Maximum Press)
ISBN: 1-888610-01-8

I have perhaps an odd policy regarding reviews of comics and graphic novels. I really try to say positive things in an informative manner about the fruits of the medium I love. Simply put, I can’t understand why publishers don’t realise that they shouldn’t be enemies. I consider TV, Movies, Books, Games and everything else that keeps disposable income away from comics sales to be The Adversary, and want to do my bit to keep every benighted soul out of their clutches – and yes, I know many comics spring directly from those sources: but they’re judged as comics when I get hold of them here.

With such an ethos working I, frankly, don’t want to review anything that is absolutely, irredeemably awful. I want people to buy graphic narratives.

But I fully acknowledge that since there are many reasons a person might want a graphic novel, they might not be reasons or tastes I share. It’s all about the comics, OK?

So I’m reviewing this book reluctantly, and only due to continued requests from a friend or two.

In the mid-1990s Rob Liefeld had a very public split from the other Founding Fathers of Image Comics and went his own way with Maximum Press and later Awesome Entertainment. A high profile name, he secured the comicbook rights to the classic TV series Battlestar Galactica (this is the original iteration, not the 21st century reworking).

Whatever else you want to say about Mister Liefeld, he certainly loves his childhood influences. Collected in this volume are the first four issues of the comic he “produced” through the talents of co-writer and scripter Robert Napton, designer Karl Altstaetter, and art team Hector Gomez & Rene Micheletti, wherein the Rag-Tag fleet of human survivors finally find the lost planet Earth that they’ve been seeking for over twenty years.

The events and sub-plots are heavily dependent on a thorough working knowledge of the TV episodes, so if you know who The Seraphs, Lucifer VI, Baltar, Count Iblis and Commander Cain are you can just concentrate on the sheer daftness of the story and the annoying overuse of scratchy lines, odd poses, extreme Cropped Close-ups and superfluous, lazy single eyeball shots in lieu of the odd mid-shot or background.

When the heroes reach Earth, it’s the age of the dinosaurs, but a hidden pyramid/ship/tomb reveals two hibernating survivors of the mythic Thirteenth Colony of Man that the refugees have been hunting all these years. The ship is Eden and the hibernauts are named Adam and Eve. Then the Cylons show up and there’s loads of shooting and explosions.

Please don’t mistake me; I’ve seen – and defended – product just as weak as this on many occasions. But they at least were honest attempts that knew no better. This is glossy, slick, expensive, cynical rubbish that assumes consumers will settle for any old tat as long as the right names are on it.

I don’t suppose there’s ever much chance of even finding this book, but if you do, don’t buy it. Even if you possess the variant gene that craves and revels in the paradox of “So Bad it’s Good” or subscribe to the Razzies(â„¢) and all those other sentiments that applaud and garner amusement from the worst that Entertainment can offer, save your money for something good – or at least honest.

Satisfied now Mr S and Miss C?

Battlestar Galactica ™ & © 1995 Universal City Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Christopher Gage & various (WildStorm)
ISBN: 1-84576-749-5

Disappointing umpteenth kickstart for the denizens of Jim Lee’s WildStorm universe characters – now, thanks to Infinite Crisis and 52, a bona fide element of the DCU – in which various heroes are transported to the near future by the reality bending sometime-WildC.A.T. Void. Of course it’s another dystopic disaster-area and each champion is tasked to return to their own critical point in time and prevent The End from happening.

The book is comprised of six single issues all written by Christopher Gage. Midnighter: Armageddon #1 is illustrated by Simon Coleby, Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon #1 by Neil Googe, Horacio Domingues & Dan Davis, Wetworks: Armageddon #1 by Brandon Badeux, Gen13: Armageddon #1 by Jonboy Meyers, digitally inked and coloured by Tony Washington, Stormwatch PHD: Armageddon #1 by Leandro Fernández & Francisco Parozini and WildCats: Armageddon #1 by Talent Caldwell.

To add to the annoyance caused by this flashy, shiny, vacuous eye-candy is the obligatory cliffhanger ending. The resolution is saved for another book, someday, so in this rare incidence I’m suggesting you wait for that. If that’s any good you might then consider buying this pretty nonsense, if only for the sake of completeness.

© 2007, 2008 WildStorm Productions, an imprint of DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Sharman Devono & Hiroshi Hirata (Eclipse Books)
ISBN: 0-913035-30-0

Holding a strong claim to be the first ever collaboration between an American comicbook writer and a Japanese Manga artist this slim but impressive little gem is still readily available through many online retailers.

Eclipse was one of the first publishers to get into the trans-Pacific translation business with such seminal serials as Area 88, Legend of Kamui and Mai, the Psychic Girl. Finding an audience eager for a fresh graphic experience they soon branched out into new material. This terse black and white tale combines real events from a turbulent period in Japan’s troubled history and combines them with supernatural elements for a tense, foreboding drama with the accent on human interaction rather than simple swordplay.

The Kyushu Campaign occurred during a period when Toyotomi Hideyoshi was attempting to make himself Dictator of Japan. In June 1587 he sought to consolidate his power on the island of KyÅ«shÅ« where the rebel Daimyō (Lords) of Satsuma resisted him. Into this hotbed of intrigue a Nō Actor and samurai named Okubo Nagayasu became an unstoppable secret agent for Tokugawa Ieyasu – Lord of the Five Provinces, second most powerful man in the Empire, and a wily campaigner who sought to maintain his own position through stealth, rather than by siding with either faction.

Nothing could prevent the war that occurred, especially as Jesuit missionaries were manipulating newly converted nobles for their own ends. As usual the real casualties in such affairs are the honest soldiery, but when the samurai Harada Sadayasu falls during the inevitable battle, he reluctantly returns from the dead as Shiko, a Son of Death. An unclean thing, he wants only the peace of the grave, but is ordered by his Daimyō to continue in his duty. Killing his Lord’s enemies…

The structure of this tale is a little odd and I suspect it was originally intended to be a longer work, but it’s an engrossing and exotic yarn for all that. Seminal artist Hirata is actually a gekiga exponent (which means he produces “dramatic pictures” rather than the more frivolous manga or “irresponsible pictures” – a sophism equivalent to our own western debate over “High” and “Low” art). He has had few of his works translated into English and the most well known is probably Satsuma Gishiden, a gritty historical saga in the manner of the legendary Lone Wolf and Cub. His other series include ‘Jaken Yaburetari’, ‘Tsunde ha Kazushi’, ‘Mosû Ogidachi’ and ‘Shikon’.

If you’re a fan of oriental fiction or would just like to try something a little different this is definitely a book worth hunting down

© 1987 Sharman Devono & Hiroshi Hirata. All Rights Reserved.

By Cefn Ridout & Charlie Adlard (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-7851-0156-X

Don’t be fooled by the title and brace yourself for a disappointment if you’re a huge fan of the World War II Howling Commando and irascible leader of the planet’s most advanced espionage agency. Although he gets top billing, Nick Fury is largely absent from the post-Cold War proceedings in this well-intentioned if erratic thriller that is in actuality the spiritual conclusion to the sage of the mysterious Night Raven.

As seen in Night Raven: the Collected Stories (ISBN13: 978-1-85400-557-3), Night Raven: House Of Cards (ISBN13: 978-1-85400-288-4) and as yet un-collected illustrated prose adventures from various British Marvel publications, Night Raven was a masked vigilante who fought crime in New York and Chicago in the years between World Wars I and II. In later years he became locked in a bloody, relentless vendetta with the immortal villainess Yi Yang, Queen of the Dragon Tong.

When a S.H.I.E.L.D. asset is murdered inside the US embassy in Moscow soon after the fall of the Soviet system, expatriate Russian super agent and Avenger Natasha Romanoff is dispatched to unravel the secrets the new rulers don’t want revealed.

What she discovers is the incredible fate of the fearsome urban legend now known as Black Bird as he slaughters his way through bureaucrats and Russian Mafia alike in his single-minded mission to destroy the woman who kept him from a peaceful grave.

Superbly illustrated by Charlie Adlard this is nonetheless an uncomfortable blending of genres, with a strange pace to it: almost as if there’s been some savage trimming and pruning with no thought to narrative cohesion. Pretty and adventurous, it’s probably only of real interest to real aficionados.

© 1995 Marvel Entertainment Group/Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.