Category: Humour

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Roy Rogers King of the Cowboys: The Collected Dailies and Sundays


By Albert Laws Stoffel, Mike Arens, Hy Mankin, Al, Bob, Chuck & Tom McKimson, John Ushler, Pete Alvarado, Alex Toth & various (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-1-932563-51-1 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Classic Holiday Fare & Your Granddad’s Delight … 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

If you live long enough, you will either calcify into a barking reactionary nightmare-to-know or possibly spend your last days wracked with shame and guilt: an apologist for your life and loves. It’s especially true in film and comics, where suspect or devalued prior cultural modes and mores can slap happily-woke, proudly re-informed You right in the face as soon as you start.

A conscience is a wonderful thing but so is the ability to realise how components of your idealised past were not so golden and glorious for everyone. It may be hard to admit, but lots of great old stuff had ethical sell-by dates and now can’t be more than purely historical or aesthetic artefacts but not comprehensively accepted popular entertainment. So BIG NOs to race/ethnic/religious humour, sexist attitudes and exploitation, gender suppression, white/male supremacy, cultural appropriation in all forms, anything claiming to be “just banter”, and everything else I’ve missed. You literally know what I mean.

If you have a fondness or connection to any kind of cross-generational entertainment you are at risk of this phenomenon. Take a good hard listen to almost any pop song lyric from 1956  onwards and think “stalker?” And just how rapey do leading men need to be before they are seen as villains?

As an ancient Briton, I personally suffer from a nostalgic sin. I love so many comic strips where casual and pointless female nudity is a given, and periodical comics tales where chicks put on skimpy costumes just to serve sandwiches, get held captive or be told “no dear”. I have argued art-appreciation and acknowledged sublime illustrative talent but it’s still gratification via nudity…

And yet there are still comics, films, shows, records, posters and books that I will ask you to exempt, accept and explore for what I consider worthwhile reasons.

One of the most tricky subsets of this quandary is westerns. In almost every aspect and platform this overwhelmingly popular genre just can’t be defended without a raft of caveats and picky exemptions. Root and branch, westerns are a shoddy defence and inadequate alibi for brutal colonialism, constructed by victors to whitewash and justify their sins. But again, there are so, so many really entertaining ones…

If any fellow shameful hypocrites are still with me, I’m not saying some things deserve a pass because of exculpatory artistic merits, but only asking that if you admire such wonderful “guilty-pleasure” arts and stories, keep foremost in mind that what you see is not the same as what others may. The same of course applies to anyone I’ve offended with the previous pontificating paragraphs. Yes, it is your childhood, and yes it was great and did you no appreciable harm, but you are not the only past and potential consumer of such material, whether Cowboys & Indians yarns, husbands & boyfriends who’ll “be watching you” or the latest Irish or poof joke…

Moving on…

Born Leonard Franklin Slye on November 5th 1911, American – and for a while, global – cultural touchstone Roy Rogers was a hugely popular entertainer who started as a rodeo performer and singing cowboy and built an empire on a folksy yet heroic image and fictionalised life. As a singer and actor (live shows, 90 movies, radio serials and more) he was a household name even before conquering the new medium of television. From 1951-1957, Roy, wife Dale Evans, horse Trigger and faithful dog Bullet were weekly invited into everybody’s home and enjoyed a mini-empire of comic books, strips. Rogers died on July 8th 1998. Unlike many contemporary media icons, he has not sustained his celebrity much beyond his generation of fans even though his name – and Trigger’s – remain an aspect of colloquial folklore.

While at his acme, however, Roy Rogers merchandise was exemplary. Artists such as John Buscema and Nat Edson drew his comic books (which sold north of 2 million copies per issue in the late 1950s), and his personalised toy guns, archery gear and cowboy/cowgirl playsets topped Christmas shopping lists. As seen in this curated compilation, the syndicated strip drew upon gifted but usually uncredited journeymen artists like Mike Arens, Hy Mankin, Al, Bob, Chuck & Tom McKimson, John Ushler and Pete Alvarado, and employed gifted ghosts and part-timers like Alex Toth.

Running seven days a week for 12 years, Roy Rogers King of the Cowboys graced 186 papers across America. As with all Hermes volumes, the vintage material is supplemented by picture-packed essays and editorial additions. Here that begins with Foreword ‘Roy Rogers and waiting at the Newsstand’, penned by his son Roy “Dusty” Rogers Jr., and precedes Tim Lasiuta’s Introduction ‘Roy Rogers, the 1950s, and the Funnies’ offering background, context and artist biographical data amidst many glorious illustrations including painted comic book covers, candid photos, panel details, and fabulous merch items such as fan club cards, movie posters, lunchboxes, press stills, original art and more.

The storytelling (by journalist Albert Laws Stoffel), and art are exemplary, and it’s a shame this is a commemorative celebratory selection rather than complete collection. Unlike many similar western strips of the era, the Rogers experience was vaguely contemporary, and family oriented, with action and violence taking a backseat to domestic drama, humour and mysteries suitable to children.

Opening the comics section and spanning January 2nd to February 17th 1950, ‘The Shasta Valley Dam’ details daily how a local irrigation project is almost scuttled by a selfish landowner, putting ranch owner Roy and old pal/travelling salesman Willie Dooley through a gauntlet of pacy perils, promptly followed by ‘Jack Spratt’ (January 2nd to February 17th), wherein our hero helps the sheriff of Jericho capture ghostly bandit “The Stick”…

Portly but astonishingly spry and astute “Zumaho Medicine Man” ‘Two Shadow’ (April 17th – June 10th) requests the Rogers touch when his tribe are framed for crimes and dangerous recidivism next, tumultuously causing chaos all around before leading to the exposure of a rich white man’s plot to deprive the tribe of oil deposits beneath their lands.

Pausing briefly to enjoy original art for a Roy Rogers Colouring Book, comics fun resumes with ‘Chili’ (June 12th – August 5th) as Willie Dooley discovers his dream of settling down endangered when hydraulic engineers divert all the region’s waters for illicit mining. Thankfully a sharp little Mexican kid is on hand to point out a solution, but not before an uncharacteristic and violent protracted shooting battle breaks out…

More colouring book art carries us into ‘The Sheep-Cattle War’ (August 7th – September 30th) as Roy is made deputy marshal of Peace City to quell a manufactured crisis that only benefits enigmatic bandit chief The Shroud, but also somehow helps a local business casualty get even richer, after which 1950’s daily dilemmas conclude with ‘The Stagecoach Race’ (October 2nd – November 25th). The stories all very much mirror the plots of the movie and TV serials that inspired them, and this was no doubt exactly what the franchise holders and reading public wanted as in this much-told tale of rival businesses competing for a stagecoach contract with Roy in the middle of sassy, gun-totin’ owners’ daughters and evil entrepreneurs…

As with many strips of the era, Roy Rogers Dailies and Sunday strips told separate stories. Here credited to Al McKimson and in full colour is ‘The Charity Carnival’ (August 21st – November 20th 1955) as Roy ends the cheating ways of a bunch of fairground folk before joining little Chili – from March 4th to 27th May 1956 – in stopping the ‘Attempted Murder’ of a man who’s been dead for 50 years…

Covering 26th May to September 1st 1957, ‘Bride By Mail’ offers a comedy break when a woman contracted to marry a man she’s never met expresses her anger that the hubby sent her a picture of Roy instead for his own far less attractive face. Cue a disgruntled wedding party and much gun-waving until the real sender of the picture is exposed as well as his greedy reason…

The storytelling concludes with Roy exposing scuba divers mimicking sea monsters for nefarious purposes in ‘Underwater Mystery’ (24th August to November 23rd 1958) before we return to academia with Daniel Herman’s copiously illustrated essay ‘Roy Rogers and the Art of Alex Toth’, revealing the graphic maestro’s previously unheralded contributions, before ending with another tranche of ‘Memorabilia’…

A treasure very much of its time, but with enough intrinsic charm and artistic merit to be worth a cautious modern revisit, Roy Rogers King of the Cowboys: The Collected Dailies and Sundays is an acquired taste that might just make a select comeback.
© 2011 The Roy Rogers Family Entertainment Corporation, reprinted with permission.  Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Invincible Iron Man Omnibus volume 2


By Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, George Tuska, Johnny Craig, Don Heck, Frank Giacoia, Dan Adkins, Mike Esposito, Sam Grainger & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5899-2 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Solid Gold, Sterling Silver so-Shiny Wonders … 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Super-rich supergenius inventor Tony Stark moonlights as a superhero: wearing a formidable, ever-evolving suit of armour stuffed with his own ingenious creations. An arch-technologist who hates to lose and constantly upgrades his gear, Stark continually re-makes Iron Man one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. There are a number of ways to interpret his creation and early years: glamorous playboy, super-rich industrialist, inventor, philanthropist – even when not operating in his armoured alter-ego.

Created in the immediate aftermath of the 1960s Cuban Missile Crisis at a time when “Red-baiting” and “Commie-bashing” were American national obsessions, the emergence of a brilliant new Thomas Edison employing Yankee ingenuity and invention to safeguard and better the World seemed inevitable. Combining that era’s all-pervasive belief that technology could solve any problem with the universal imagery of noble knights battling tangible and easily recognisable Evil, the proposition almost becomes a certainty. Of course, it might simply be that we kids thought it both great fun and very, very cool…

This fabulous full-colour compendium revisits the dawn days of Marvel’s rise to ascendancy via the Steel Shod Sentinel’s early days: chronologically re-presenting all his solo exploits, feature, letters & editorial pages, pin-ups and pertinent sections from Tales of Suspense #84-99; interim attraction Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner #1 and thereafter Iron Man #1-25, spanning December 1966 to May 1970, as well as essays and Introductions from previous, less lengthy collections that were so important in establishing rapport and building a unified comics fandom…

This period under review saw the much-diminished and almost-bankrupt former comics colossus finally surpass DC Comics’ preeminent pole position and become darling of the student counter-culture. In these tales, Stark is still very much a gung-ho, patriotic armaments manufacturer, and not the enlightened capitalist liberal dissenter he would become…

Marvel’s dominance of the US comic book was confirmed in 1968 when most of their characters finally got their own titles. Prior to that – due to a highly restrictive distribution deal – the company had been limited to 16 publications per month. To circumvent this drawback, Marvel developed “split-books” with two features per title, such as Tales of Suspense where Iron Man originally solo-starred before being joined by patriotic cohort Captain America in issue #59 (cover-dated November 1964). Marvel’s fortunes prospered; thanks in large part to Stan Lee’s gift for promotion, but primarily because of superbly engaging stories such as the ones collected in this enticing hardback/eBook edition.

With the new distributor came demand for more product, and the split book stars all won their own titles. When the division came, the Armoured Avenger started afresh with a “Collector’s Item First Issue” – but only after a shared one-shot with The Sub-Mariner that squared divergent schedules. Of course, Cap retained the numbering of the original title; thereby premiering in number #100.

Following a critique by critic and historian Arlen Schumer in his Introduction (from Marvel Masterworks Iron Man volume 5) the sterling adventures – all-Gene Colan illustrated – resume with the shiny portion of ToS #84 picking up soap opera style with Stark submitting to months of governmental pressure and testifying to a Congressional Committee hungry for the secrets of his greatest creation. However. at the critical moment, the inventor keels over…

Stark’s controversial reputation is finally restored as the public at last learns that his life is only preserved by a metallic chest-plate keeping his maimed heart beating in ‘The Other Iron Man!’ (scripted by Lee and inked by Frank Giacoia). Somehow, nobody at all connects that hunk of steel to the identical one his Avenging “bodyguard” wears…

With the hero stuck in a hospital bed, best friend Happy Hogan foolishly dons the suit to preserve that precious secret, only to be abducted by the insidious Mandarin in another extended assault that begins with ‘Into the Jaws of Death’. Prior to that, readers are whisked back to so-different days by the first letters page offering Mails of Suspense…

Propelled by guilt and fuelled by fear, still-ailing Stark breaks into his own Congressionally-closed factory to create new, more powerful armour and flies to the rescue in ‘Death Duel for the Life of Happy Hogan!’ The cataclysmic clash rattles the “bamboo curtain” but is soon successfully concluded, and the Americans return home just in time for #87 and #88 to host the merciless Mole Man who attacks from below, prompting a ‘Crisis… at the Earth’s Core!’ Sadly, the villain has no idea who hostage Stark really is, believing hottie assistant Pepper Potts and her boss ‘Beyond all Rescue!’, but is soon proved very wrong, after which another old B-List bad-guy takes his shot in ‘The Monstrous Menace of the Mysterious Melter!’ and tense, terse sequel ‘The Golden Ghost!’ which fabulously feature a glorious reprise of Iron Man’s original bulky battle suit and a wonderfully twisty conclusion, before ‘The Uncanny Challenge of the Crusher!’ offers an all-action tale – possibly marred for modern audiences by a painful Commie-bustin’ sub-plot featuring a thinly disguised Fidel Castro…

Also somewhat dated but still gripping are references to then then-ongoing “Police Action” in Indo-China which look a little gung-ho (if completely understandable) as Iron Man goes hunting for Red Menace Half-Face ‘Within the Vastness of Viet Nam!’ The urgent insertion results in another clash with incorrigible old foe Titanium Man in ‘The Golden Gladiator and… the Giant!’ before our hero at last snatches victory from the mechanical jaws of defeat in ‘The Tragedy and the Triumph!’ (this last inked by Dan Adkins). Giacoia returns and a new cast member then debuts in #95 as eager-beaver adult boy scout S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell is assigned as security advisor to America’s most prominent weapons maker. It coincides with Thor villain Grey Gargoyle attacking in ‘If a Man be Stone!’, but he utterly mismatched and overpowered maniac is summarily defeated in ‘The Deadly Victory!’ in anticipation of Tales of Suspense #97 launching an extended story-arc to carry the series into the solo series and beyond, as criminal cartel the Maggia seeks to move in on Stark’s company.

The campaign opens with the hero’s capture as ‘The Coming of… Whiplash!’ reveals the Golden Avenger cut to steely ribbons, drawn out in ‘The Warrior and the Whip!’ and – as the magnificent Archie Goodwin assumed scripting duties and EC legend Johnny Craig came aboard as inker – trapped on a sinking submarine ‘At the Mercy of the Maggia’, just as the venerable Tales of Suspense ends with the 99th issue…

Of course, it was just changing title to Captain America as Tales to Astonish seamlessly morphed into The Incredible Hulk, but – due to a scheduling snafu – neither of the split-book co-stars had a home that month (April 1968). This situation led to the one-&-only Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner #1 to carry concluding episode ‘The Torrent Without… The Tumult Within!’, wherein sinister super-scientists of A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics, acronym-fans) snatch the Armoured Avenger from the Maggia’s swiftly sinking submarine, intent on stealing the hero’s technical secrets. Invincible Iron Man #1 finally appeared with a May 1968 cover-date, triumphantly ending the extended subsea-saga as our hero stands ‘Alone against A.I.M.!’: a thrilling roller-coaster ride supplemented by ‘The Origin of Iron Man’ offering a revitalised re-telling to conclude Colan’s impressive tenure on the character.

Breaking briefly for an educational Introduction from comics historian Dewey Cassell, running down the stellar career and achievements of debuting artist George Tuska, the action accelerates into a bold new era with Invincible Iron Man #2. Entrenched illustrator Colan moved on and ‘The Day of the Demolisher!’ found EC megastar Johnny Craig tackling the art-chores. His first job was a cracker, as scripter Goodwin lays down years of useful groundwork by introducing Janice Cord as a romantic interest for the playboy inventor. The real problem is a monolithic killer robot built by her deranged father and the start of a running plot-thread examining the effects of the munitions business and the kind of inventors who work for it. Also from this point on the letters page became ‘Sock it to Shell-Head’. No comment.

Goodwin & Craig brought back Stark’s bodyguard Happy Hogan in time to help rebuild the now-obsolete Iron Man armour and consequently devolve into a marauding monstrous menace in ‘My Friend, My Foe… the Freak!’ for #3, and retooled a long-forgotten Soviet super-villain into a major threat in ‘Unconquered is the Unicorn!’ in #4. This particular tech-enhanced maniac is dying from his own powers and thinks Tony will be able – if not exactly willing – to fix him…

With Iron Man #5, another Golden Age veteran joined the creative team. George Tuska – who had worked on huge hits such as the original (Fawcett) Captain Marvel and Crime Does Not Pay, plus newspaper strips like The Spirit and Buck Rogers – would illustrate the majority of Iron Man’s adventures for the next decade, becoming synonymous with the Armoured Avenger…

Inked by Craig, ‘Frenzy in a Far-Flung Future!’ is an intriguing time-paradox tale wherein Stark is kidnapped by the last survivors of humanity, determined to kill him before he can build the super-computer that eradicated mankind. Did somebody say “Terminator”?

A super-dense (by which I mean strong and heavy) Cuban Commie threat returned – but not for long – in ‘Vengeance… Cries the Crusher!’ Next, the sinister scheme begun way back in ToS #97 finally bears brutal – and for preppie S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell – painful fruit in 2-part thriller ‘The Maggia Strikes!’ and ‘A Duel Must End!’ Here former Daredevil foe the Gladiator leads a savage attack on Stark’s factory, friends and would-be new love. The saga also reveals the tragic history of mystery woman Whitney Frost and lays the seeds of her evolution into one of Iron Man’s most implacable foes…

A 3-part saga follows as The Mandarin resurfaces with a cunning plan and the certain conviction that Stark and Iron Man are the same person. Beginning with a seeming Hulk guest-shot in #9’s ‘There Lives a Green Goliath!’, proceeding through the revelatory and explosive Nick Fury team-up ‘Once More… The Mandarin!’ before climaxing in spectacular “saves-the-day” fashion as our hero is ‘Unmasked!’ This epic by Goodwin, Tuska & Craig offers astounding thrills and potent drama with dozens of devious twists, just as the first inklings of the social upheaval America was experiencing began to seep into Marvel’s publications. As the core audience started to grow into the Flower Power generation, future tales would take arch-capitalist weapon-smith Stark in many unexpected and often peculiar directions. All of a sudden maybe that money and fancy gadgetry weren’t quite so fun or cool anymore?

Goodwin, Tuska & Craig build on a sterling run of solid science-flavoured action epics with the introduction of a new sinister super-foe in #12 as ‘The Coming of the Controller’ sees a twisted genius using life-energy stolen from mind-slaved citizens to power a cybernetic exo-skeleton. Along the way he and his brother embezzle the fortune of Stark’s girlfriend Janice Cord to pay for it all. Of course, Iron Man is ready and able to overcome the scheming maniac, culminating in a cataclysmic climax ‘Captives of the Controller!’ as the mind-bending terror attempts to extend his mesmeric, parasitic sway over the entire populace of New York City…

Another educational and fascinating Introduction – The Tony Stark/Iron Man Dilemma – by dynamic draughtsman George Tuska, detailing his stellar career and achievements, leads us into an era of constant change. Originally, combining then-sacrosanct belief that technology and business could solve any problem with the universal imagery of noble knights battling evil made the concept behind the Invincible Iron Man an infallibly successful proposition.

Of course where once Tony Stark was the acceptable face of Capitalism, the tumultuous tone of the closing decade soon resigned his suave image to the dustbin of history. With ecological disasters and social catastrophe from the abuse of industry and technology the new mantras of the young, the Golden Avenger and Stark International were soon confronting some tricky questions from the increasingly socially conscious readership. All of a sudden maybe that money and fancy gadgetry weren’t quite so fun or cool anymore?

With an Iron Clad promise of stunning action and compelling intrigue this iconic hardback (and digital) chronological compendium covers Iron Man #14-25, spanning June 1969 – May 1970, and opens with an educational and fascinating Introduction from dynamic draughtsman George Tuska, detailing the stellar career and achievements of the veteran artist.

Writer Archie Goodwin and illustrious illustrators Tuska & Johnny Craig continued a sterling run of genre-flavoured action epics as IM #14 depicts ‘The Night Phantom Walks!’ with the scripter craftily paying tribute to Craig’s past history drawing EC’s landmark horror comics. Here the artist pencilled & inked the tale of a zombie-like monster prowling a Caribbean island, destroying Stark Industry installations. As well as being a terse, moody thriller, the story marks the first indications of a different attitude as the menace’s ecologically inspired reign of terror includes some pretty fair arguments about the downsides of “Progress” and rapacious globalisation…

With Craig back inking, Tuska returned with #15 and ‘Said the Unicorn to the Ghost…!’ as the demented former superspy allies himself with Fantastic Four foe The Red Ghost in a desperate bid to find a cure for his drastically shortened lifespan. Attempting to kidnap Stark, the Ghost betrays the Unicorn and retrenches to an African Cosmic Ray research facility in concluding instalment ‘Of Beasts and Men!’, where it takes a fraught alliance of hero and villain to thwart the ethereal mastermind’s ill-conceived plans…

A suspenseful extended epic opened in IM #17 after an advanced android designed to protect Stark’s secret identity achieves sinister sentience and sneakily replaces him. ‘The Beginning of the End!’ also introduces enigmatic Madame Masque and her malevolent master Midas, who plans to take over America’s greatest technology company… as hostilely as possible…

Dispossessed and on the run, Stark is abducted and aligns with Masque and Midas to reclaim his identity, only to suffer a fatal heart-attack in ‘Even Heroes Die!’ (guest-starring The Avengers) before a ground-breaking transplant – still practically science fiction in those distant days – offers renewed hope in ‘What Price Life?’ When the ruthlessly opportunistic Midas instantly strikes again, Madame Masque switches sides and all hell breaks loose…

The X-Men’s dimensionally displaced alien nemesis attacks the restored and recuperating hero in ‘Who Serves Lucifer?’ (inked by Joe Gaudioso – AKA Mike Esposito) before being rudely returned to his personal dungeon dimension, after which African-American boxer Eddie March becomes the new Iron Man in #21’s ‘The Replacement!’ as Stark – free from the heart-stimulating chest-plate which had preserved his life for years – is briefly tempted by a life without strife. Unfortunately, and unknown to all, Eddie has a little health problem of his own…

When Soviet-sponsored armoured archenemy Titanium Man resurfaces, it’s in conjunction – if not union – with another old Cold War warrior in the form of a newly-upgraded Crimson Dynamo in #22’s chilling classic confrontation ‘From this Conflict… Death!’ With a loved one murdered, a vengeance-crazed Iron Man then goes ballistic in innovative action-thriller ‘The Man Who Killed Tony Stark!!’ before ultimately finding solace in the open arms of Madame Masque as Craig returns to fully illustrate superb mythological monster-mash ‘My Son… The Minotaur!’ and stays on as imminently departing scripter Goodwin pins Iron Man’s new Green colours to the comic’s mast in #25’s stunning eco-parable ‘This Doomed Land… This Dying Sea!’ Ably aided and abetted by Craig – whose slick understated mastery adds a sheen of terrifying authenticity to proceedings – the Armoured Avenger clashes and ultimately teams with veteran antihero Namor the Sub-Mariner. Ultimately the turbulent rivals must destroy Stark’s own hyper-polluting facility, consequently overruling and abandoning his company’s previous position and business model. Tragically, his attempts to convince other industry leaders to do likewise meets with the kind of reaction that tragically then (and again now) typified America’s response to the real-world situation…

Although the action ends here, there are many fantastic extras to enjoy, beginning with a comedy short gleaned from Marvel’s contemporaneous comedy pastiche magazine Not Brand Echh #2 (September 1967). Here Roy Thomas, Don Heck & Dan Adkins pit clunky 20th century crusader The Unrinseable Ironed Man against a parody-prone 40th century stalwart old fans will surely – if not surlily – recognise, even if here he’s called ‘Magnut, Robot Biter!’…

With covers throughout by Kirby, Colan, Gil Kane, Bill Everett, Craig, Tuska, Marie Severin, Giacoia, John Romita, Esposito, Larry Lieber, & John Verpoorten, other art treats include a character-packed Colan self-portrait from 1970; 15 pages of interior page and cover art, and the covers of Marvel Double Feature Classics #1-19 and Marvel Super-Heroes #31; plus the text-free art for this collection by Salvador Larocca & Frank D’Amata.

On show here is a fantastic period in the Golden Gladiator’s career, one that perfectly encapsulates the changes Marvel and America went through and some of the best and most memorable efforts of a simply stellar band of creators. These are epic exploits, still charged with all the urgency and potency of a time of crisis and a nation in tumult, so what better time than now to finally tune in, switch on or return to the Power of Iron Man?
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Teen Titans: Year One (New Edition)


By Amy Wolfram, Karl Kerschl & Serge Lapointe, coloured by Stéphane Péru & John Rausch, lettered by Nick J. Napolitano (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6724-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: How Growing-Up-Super Really Feels… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

The concept of kid hero teams was not a new one when DC finally entrusted their big heroes’ assorted sidekicks with their own regular comic:  resulting in a fab, hip and groovy ensemble as dedicated to helping kids as they were to stamping out insidious evil.

The biggest difference between juvenile wartime groups such as The Young Allies, Newsboy Legion and Boy Commandos or 1950s holdovers like The Little Wise Guys or Boy Explorers and the creation of the Teen Titans was quite simply the burgeoning phenomena of “the Teenager” as a discrete social and commercial force. These were kids who could – and should – be allowed to do things themselves without constant adult “help” or supervision. As early as The Brave and the Bold #54 (June/July 1964), DC’s Powers-That-Be tested the waters in a gripping tale by Bob Haney & Bruno Premiani teaming Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad.

The wild punt was a huge hit and the kids – supplemented by Wonder Girl and Speedy – got their own title, offering teen tinged tales crafted by old(ish) white guys. To be fair, the sagas were certainly unlike anything else DC was concurrently producing and have certainly withstood the test of time as a peek at Teen Titans The Silver Age volumes 1 & 2 will confirm.

However, ways in which society relates to kids – and vice versa – has changed radically since the hazy crazy, shimmery sixties, and this delicious dose of post-modern retro-revelation details how a new century and fresh thinking can reevaluate the trials and costs of growing up super. Originally released in 2008 as 6-part miniseries Teen Titans: Year One, this coming of ages yarn is packed with humour and pathos as well as action, making many memorable points whilst delivering a wonderful superhero romp. It was crafted by animation screen writer/comics writer Amy Wolfram (Sym-Bionic Titan, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, The Secret Saturdays, Supergirl, Legion of Super-Heroes) and Karl Kerschl (Adventures of Superman, Gotham Academy, All-Flash, Majestic) with the assistance of inker Serge Lapointe, colourists Stéphane Péru & John Rausch and letterer Nick J. Napolitano.

Offering a compelling reinterpretation of those classic quirkily eclectic Silver Age sagas, there’s a heavy emphasis on the kind of adults who would expose kids to violent thugs, murderers and psychopaths on a nightly basis… including the pressures involved all around and the coping mechanisms evolved to manage that kind of life…

It begins with the Boy Wonder distracted and painfully not meeting Batman’s expectations, wasting time with some costumed sidekicks he’s recently met. Soon the kids are trading stories and covertly working together against the likes of The Ant and Ding Dong Daddy, becoming overnight sensations as in the background, psionic monster the Antithesis is making its move.

It all gets crazy serious when the super-juniors realize their guardians and mentors are going off the rails and becoming increasingly dangerous to the world and themselves, and it’s now up to them to save the day and the world…

Despite how heavy that all sounds, the epic exploit – originally entitled “In the Beginning…’, ‘Flash in the Pan’, ‘Young Heroes in Love’ and ‘Awakening’ – is actually bright, breezy, inspiring and frequently hilarious, but it does pull no punches.

Fast paced, funny, compelling and captivating, this is absolute escapism and absolutely delightful and you absolutely should get this book, Absolutely.
© 2008, 2024 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Hellboy Omnibus volume 1


By Mike Mignola, with John Byrne, Mark Chiarello, Matt Hollingsworth, James Sinclair, Dave Stewart, Pat Brosseau & various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-50670-666-5 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-50670-687-0

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Seasonal Standard for Shock Addicts… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

After the establishment of the US comic book direct market system, there came a huge wave of independent publishers. As with all booms, a lot of them went bust. Some few however were more than flash-in-the-pans, growing into major players of a new world order. Arguably, the most successful was Dark Horse Comics who fully embraced the concept of creator ownership (amongst other radical ideas). This concept – and their professional outlook and attitude – drew many big name creators to the new company and in 1994 Frank Miller & John Byrne formally instituted sub-imprint Legend for major creators wanting to produce their own way and at their own pace.

Over the next four years the brand counted Mike Mignola, Art Adams, Mike Allred, Paul Chadwick, Dave Gibbons and Geof Darrow amongst its ranks; generating a wealth of superbly entertaining and groundbreaking series and concepts. Unquestionably, most impressive, popular (and long-lived) was Mignola’s supernatural thriller Hellboy. The monstrous monster-hunter debuted in event program San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (August 1993) before formally launching in 4-issue miniseries Seed of Destruction (where Byrne scripted over Mignola’s plot and art). Colourist Mark Chiarello added loads of mood with his understated hues.

That story and the string of sequels that followed were re-presented in the first of four trade paperback offerings (also available as a complete boxed set). This particular tome offers Mignola’s earliest longform triumphs starring the Scourge of Sheol – The Wolves of Saint August; The Chained Coffin; Wake the Devil and Almost Colossus. The omnibi were latterly accompanied by a companion series featuring all the short stories.

The incredible story begins with a review of secret files. On December 23rd 1944 American Patriotic Superhero The Torch of Liberty and a squad of US Rangers interrupt a satanic ritual predicted by Allied parapsychologist Professors Trevor Bruttenholm and Malcolm Frost. They were working in conjunction with influential medium Lady Cynthia Eden-Jones. All waited at a ruined church in East Bromwich, England when a demon baby with a huge stone right hand eventually appeared in a fireball. The startled soldiers took the infernal yet seemingly innocent waif into custody. Far, far further north, off the Scottish Coast on Tarmagant Island, a cabal of Nazi Sorcerers roundly berated ancient wizard Grigori Rasputin whose Project Ragna Rok ritual seems to have failed. The Russian is unfazed. Events are unfolding as he wishes…

Five decades later, the baby has grown into a mighty warrior engaging in a never-ending secret war: the world’s most successful paranormal investigator. Bruttenholm has spent the years lovingly raising the weird foundling whilst forming an organisation to destroy unnatural threats and supernatural monsters: The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. “Hellboy” is now its lead agent. Today, the recently-returned, painfully aged professor summons his surrogate son and warns of impending peril wrapped in obscured reminiscences of his own last mission. The Cavendish Expedition uncovered an ancient temple submerged in arctic ice, but what occurred next has been somehow excised from Bruttenholm’s memory. Before he can say more, the mentor is killed by a rampaging plague of frogs, and enraged Hellboy is battling for his life against a demonic giant amphibian…

Following fact-files about Project Ragna Rok and ‘An African Myth about a Frog’, Chapter Two opens at eerie Cavendish Hall, set on a foetid lake in America’s Heartland. Matriarch Emma Cavendish welcomes Hellboy and fellow BPRD investigators Elizabeth Sherman and Dr. Abraham Sapien, but is not particularly forthcoming about her family’s obsession. Nine generations of Cavendish have sought – and sponsored the search for – the Temple at the Top of the World. Three of her own sons were lost on the latest foray, from which only Bruttenholm returned, but her story of how founding patriarch Elihu Cavendish’s obsession infects every male heir for hundreds of years imparts no fresh insights. She also says she knows nothing about frogs, but she’s lying and the agents know it…

As they retire for the night, Hellboy’s companions prepare for battle. Psychic firestarter Liz is taken unawares when the frogs attack and our Dauntless Demon fares little better against another titanic toad-monster. Of Abe there is no sign: the BPRD’s own amphibian has taken to the dank waters of the lake in search of long-buried answers…

And then a bald Russian guy claiming to know the truth of Hellboy’s origins appears and monstrous tentacles drag the hero through the floor…

Chapter Three views a vast hidden cellar where Rasputin explains he is the agent for undying and infinite antediluvian evil: seven-sided serpent Ogdru-Jahad who sleeps and waits to be reawakened. Hellboy was originally summoned from the pit to be the control interface between the Great Beast and the wizard whilst he oversaw the fall of mankind, but when the BPRD agent refuses his destiny – in his obtuse, obnoxious manner – Rasputin goes crazy…

Overwhelmed by the Russian’s frog foot soldiers, Hellboy is forced to listen to the story of Rasputin’s alliance with Himmler and Hitler, and how they sponsored a mystic Nazi think-tank to conquer Earth. Of how the mage manipulated the fanatics, found the Temple at the Top of the World and communed with The Serpent, and of how that last Cavendish Expedition awoke him. Of how he used them to trace the crucial tool he had summoned from Hell half a century ago… And then the raving Russian reveals how his infernal sponsor Sadu-Hem – The Serpent’s intermediary – has grown strong on human victims but will become unstoppable after feasting on Liz’s pyrokinetic internal forces…

With all hell literally breaking loose, the final chapter sees Rasputin exultantly calling upon each of the seven aspects as Hellboy attempts a desperate, doomed diversion and the long-missing Abe Sapien finally makes his move, aided by a hidden faction Rasputin had not anticipated…

The breathtaking conclusion sees supernal forces spectacularly laid to rest, but the defeat of Sadu-Hem and his Russian doll only opens the door for other arcane adversaries to emerge…

Bombastic, moody, laconically paced, suspenseful and explosively action-packed, Seed of Destruction manages the masterful magic trick of introducing a whole new world and making it seem like we’ve always lived there.

‘The Wolves of Saint August’ was originally serialised in Dark Horse Presents #88-91 during 1994, before being reworked a year later for a Hellboy one-shot of the same name. Mignola handles art and script, with James Sinclair on colours and Pat Brosseau making it all legible and intelligible.

Set contemporarily, the moody piece sees the red redeemer working with BPRD colleague Kate Corrigan, investigating the death of Hellboy’s old pal Father Kelly in the Balkan village of Griart. It’s not long before they realise the sleepy hamlet is actually a covert den of great antiquity, where a pack of mankind’s most infamous and iniquitous predators still thrive…

Mignola has a sublime gift for setting tone and building tension with great economy. It always means that the inevitable confrontation between Good and Evil has plenty of room to unfold with capacious visceral intensity. This clash between unfrocked demon and alpha lycanthrope is one of the most unforgettable battle blockbusters ever seen…

In 1995 Dark Horse Presents 100 #2 debuted ‘The Chained Coffin’. Here Hellboy returns to the English church where he first arrived on Earth in 1943. Five decades of mystery and adventure have passed, but as the demon-hunter observes ghostly events replay before his eyes, he learns the truth of his origins. All too soon, Hellboy devoutly wishes he had never come back…

Wake the Devil delivered a decidedly different take on the undying attraction of vampires when a past case becomes active again. Hellboy and fellow outré BPRD agents Sherman & Sapien are still reeling from losing their aged mentor and uncovering Rasputin’s hellish scheme to rouse sleeping Elder Gods he served. Moreover, the apparently undying wizard – agent for antediluvian infinitely evil seven-sided serpent Ogdru-Jahad who-sleeps-and-waits-to-be-reawakened – is responsible for initially summoning Hellboy to Earth as part of the Nazi’s Ragna Rok Project. Now the Russian’s clandestine alliance with Himmler, Hitler and their mystic Nazi think-tank is further explored as, deep inside Norway’s Arctic Circle region, a driven millionaire visits a hidden castle. He is seeking the arcane Aryans long-closeted within, eager to deliver a message from “The Master”. In return, the oligarch wants sanctuary from the imminent end of civilisation…

In New York City, a bloody robbery occurs in a tawdry mystic museum and the BPRD are briefed on legendary Napoleonic soldier Vladimir Giurescu. It now appears that enigmatic warrior wasn’t particularly wedded to any side in that conflict… and was probably much older than reports indicated. More important is re-examined folklore suggesting Giurescu was mortally wounded many times but, after retreating to a certain castle in his homeland, would always reappear: renewed, refreshed and deadlier than ever. In 1882 he was in England and clashed with Queen Victoria’s personal ghost-breaker Sir Edward Grey, who was the first to officially identify him as a “Vampire”.  In 1944, Hitler met with Vladimir to convince the creature to join him, but something went wrong and Himmler’s envoy Ilsa Haupstein was ordered to arrest Giurescu and his “family”. The creatures were despatched in the traditional manner and sealed in boxes… one of which has now been stolen from an NYC museum. Intriguingly, the murdered owner was once part of the Nazi group responsible for Ragna Rok. The BPRD always consider worst-case scenarios, and if that box actually contained vampire remains…

The location of the bloodsucker’s fabled castle is unknown, but with three prospects in Romania and only six agents available, a trio of compact strike-teams is deployed with Hellboy in solo mode headed for the most likely location. Although not an active agent, Dr. Kate Corrigan wants Hellboy to take especial care. All indications are that this vampire might be the Big One, even though nobody wants to use the “D” word…

In Romania, still youthful Ilsa Haupstein talks to a wooden box, whilst in Norway her slyly observing colleagues Kurtz and Kroenen express concern. Once the most ardent of believers, Ilsa may have been turned from the path of Nazi resurgence and bloody vengeance. Her former companions are no longer so enamoured of the Fuehrer’s old dream of a vampire army either. Leopold especially places more faith in the creatures he has been building and growing…

Over Romania, Hellboy leaps out of a plane and engages his experimental jet-pack, wishing he was going with one of the other team… and even more so after it flames out. At least he has the limited satisfaction of crashing into the very fortress Ilsa is occupying…

The battle with the witch-woman’s grotesque servants is short and savage and as the ancient edifice crumbles, Chapter Two reveals how on the night Hellboy was born, Rasputin suborned Ilsa and her comrades. Making them devout disciples awaiting Ogdru-Jahad’s awakening, he saves them from Germany’s ignominious collapse. Now the Russian ghost appears offering her another prophecy and a great transformation…

Deep in the vaults, Hellboy comes to and meets a most garrulous dead man, unaware that in the village below the Keep, the natives are recognising old signs and making the traditional preparations again…

Hellboy’s conversation provides much useful background information but lulls him into a false sense of security, allowing the revenant to savagely attack and set up a confrontation with the ferocious forces actually responsible for the vampire’s power. Battling for his life, Hellboy is a stunned witness to Giurescu’s resurrection and ultimate cause of his latest demise, whilst far above, Rasputin shares his own origins with acolyte Ilsa, revealing the night he met the infamous witch Baba Yaga…

Nearly 300 miles away, Liz and her team scour ruined Castle Czege. There’s no sign of vampires but they do uncover a hidden alchemy lab with an incredible artefact in it: a stony homunculus. Idly touching the artificial man, Liz is horrified when her pyrokinetic energies surge uncontrollably into the artefact and he goes on a destructive rampage…

With the situation escalating at Castle Giurescu, Hellboy ignites a vast cache of explosives with the faint hope that he will be airlifted out before they go off, but is distracted by a most fetching monster who calls him by a name he doesn’t recognise before trying to kill him.

If she doesn’t, the catastrophic detonation might…

As the dust settles and civil war breaks out amongst the Norway Nazis, in Romania Ilsa makes a horrific transition and Hellboy awakes to face Rasputin, even as the BPRD rush to the rescue. Tragically Abe Sapien and his squad won’t make it before the revived and resplendent Giurescu takes his shot, whilst the world’s most successful paranormal investigator confronts and is seduced by uncanny aspects of his long-hidden infernal ancestry. With all hell breaking loose, the displaced devil makes a decision which will not only affect his life but dictate the course of humanity’s existence…

The breathtakingly explosive ending also resets the game for Rasputin’s next scheme, but the weird wonderment rolls on in a potent epilogue, wherein the mad monk visits macabre patron Baba Yaga for advice…

The story-portion of this magnificent terror-tome terminates with 1997’s 2-part miniseries ‘Almost Colossus’ wherein traumatised pyrokinetic Liz awaits test results. During the Castle Czege mission, an artificial man she discovered inadvertently drained Liz’s infernal energies, bringing it to life and causing hers to gradually slip away. Now, Hellboy and Corrigan are back in the legend-drenched region, watching a graveyard from which 68 bodies have been stolen. Elsewhere, the fiery homunculus is undergoing a strange experience: he has been abducted by his older “brother” who seeks, through purloined flesh, blackest magic and forbidden crafts to perfect their centuries-dead creator’s animation techniques.

Before the curtain falls, Hellboy – aided by the ghosts of repentant monks and the younger homunculus – battles a metal giant determined to crown itself God of Science, saving the world if he can and Liz because he must…

Wrapping up the show is a wealth of arty extras, beginning with the 1991 convention illustration Mignola created because he just wanted to draw a monster. From tiny acorns…

Following on – with author’s commentary – is a horror hero group shot that is Hellboy’s second ever appearance and a brace of early promo posters, and the full colour Convention book premiere appearance as ‘Hellboy – World’s Greatest Paranormal Investigator’ battles a giant demon dog, courtesy of Mignola & Byrne. Hellboy Sketchbook then shares a treasure trove of drawings, designs and roughs from the early stories again, fully annotated to round out the eerie celebratory experience.

Available in paperback and digital formats, this bombastic, moodily suspenseful, explosively action-packed tome is a superb scary romp to delight one and all, celebrating the verve, imagination and longevity of the greatest Outsider Hero of All: a supernatural thriller no comics fan should be without.
Hellboy™ & © Seed of Destruction © 1993, 2018 Mike Mignola. Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman and all other prominently featured characters are trademarks of Mike Mignola. All rights reserved.

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Tiny Titans volume 3: Sidekickin’ it


By Art Baltazar & Franco with (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2653-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fun Family Fables …9/10

DC’s characters have become a mainstay of kids’ television fare with their much-missed Cartoon Network imprint arguably the last bastion of children’s comics in America, consolidating the link between TV and 2D fun and thrills with stunning interpretations of such TV landmarks as Ben 10, Scooby Doo, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory and others. That kids’ comics line also reverse-engineered truly exceptional material based on TV iterations of their proprietary characters like Legion of Super Heroes, Batman: Brave and the Bold, Supergirl and Krypto the Super Dog as well as material like Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! which was merely similar in tone and content.

For many – me included – the imprint’s finest release, and one which has a created a sub-genre recreated at many different publishers, was a series ostensibly aimed at beginning readers, but which became a firm favourite of older fans… and a multi-award winner too.

Superbly mirroring the magical wonderland inside a child’s head where everything is happily mixed up together, Tiny Titans is a sublime antidote to continuity cops and slavish fan-boy quibbling (erm, uh…  I think you’ll find that in…) by reducing the vast cast of the Teen Titans Go! animated series, the greater boutique of the mainstream comic books and (ultimately) the entire DC Universe to little kids and their parents/guardians in the wholesome kindergarten environment of Sidekick City Elementary School. It’s a scenario spring-loaded with in-jokes, sight-gags and beloved yet gently mocked paraphernalia of generations of strip readers and screen-watchers…

Collecting issues #13-18 (April to September 2009) of the magically madcap and infinitely addictive all-ages mini-masterpiece, this third volume begins on a petulant note with Pet Club at Wayne Manor. Art Baltazar and co-creator Franco (Aureliani) have mastered a witty, bemusingly gentle manner of storytelling that just happily rolls along, with the assorted characters getting by and trying to make sense of the great big world, having “Adventures in Awesomeness”. The method generally involves stringing together smaller incidents and moments into an overall themed portmanteau tale and it works astoundingly well.

After a handy and as-standard identifying roll-call page, ‘Tough Cookie’ features Raven feeding park critters but desperately striving to keep her hard-as-nails rep intact, after which bubble-headed Psimon goes to science club and gets caught in some uncool name-calling. The main event kicks off with the kids and their pets convening at Stately Wayne Manor and incurring the wrath of dapper, long-suffering manservant Alfred. The Penguins don’t help… no, wait, they actually do. ‘A Hot Spot’ then finds Raven and Kid Devil trading power sets with Firestarter Hotspot and evoking the joys of being a Bird Scout, after which The Kroc Files shows the Wayne’s wonderful ultimate butler and the roguish reptilian each demonstrating ‘How to Pick up the Dry Cleaning’, before the issue ends with a Tiny Titans Bubble Squares puzzle and a pinup of bird-themed champions Hawk, Dove and Raven.

Sea-themed issue #14 opens with a proudly shouted ‘Aw Yeah Titans!’ and class trip to Paradise Island. The boys just can’t understand why they have to stand on tables while the girls can run about freely wherever they like and play with the all the weird animals…

Back in Sidekick City, Cyborg’s vacuum cleaning invention runs amok while Beast Boy and little Miss Martian stage a shapeshifting duel, even as on Paradise Island ‘Stay for Dinner’ sees Wonder Girl and the other Wonder Girl guests for lunch – as lunch – of Mrs. Cyclops.

Wrapping up affairs is another Kroc Files (‘How to Bake a Chocolate Cake’), a string of gags in Time for Jokes by the Riddler’s kid Enigma plus a ‘Paradise Island Pet Club Pin-up!’

The next issue finds ‘Bunnies, Bunnies, Everywhere Bunnies’ at Wayne Manor, where Alfred opts to stay home and watch the kids and their pets. Sadly, magician Zatara joins the fun and once more loses his magic wand to playful Beppo the Super Monkey. Cue rapid rabbit reproduction…

Elsewhere, Deathstroke’s daughter Rose lands her share of babysitting duties, and soon learns how to handle the Tiny Terror Titans before a ‘Tiny Titans Epilogue’ reveals a marvellous secret regarding one of those proliferating bunnies, as issue concludes with more activity freebies: ‘Pet Club Mammal Travel’ and a bonus pin-up of Rose and those Tiny Terrors…

Issue #16 revisits a perennial puzzle of comics, specifically ‘Who’s the Fastest?!’ as Coach Lobo sets his heart on making the Sidekick Elementary kids ultra-fit. Part of the regimen includes a footrace around the entire world, and Supergirl, Inertia and Kid Flash all think they have it nailed…

Lesser-powered tykes find unique ways to cope with natural obstacles – such as the ocean – in ‘As the Race Continues…’ while the Coach takes a load off with coffee and comics, and the Wonder Girls and Shelly trade costume tips. Down south, late starters Mas y Menos join the final dash to the finish where a non-starter surprisingly triumphs…

In the aftermath, shrinking-hero contingent The tiny Tiny Titans indulge in ‘One more Contest’ before an ‘Aw Yeah Pin-up’ of Supergirl and Kid Flash follows a Tiny Titans Coin Race activity page. ‘Raven’s Book of Magic Spells’ starts as a play date but is bewilderingly disrupted when Trigon’s devilish daughter shows off her latest present in ‘Mixin’ it Up’: accidentally manifesting unlikely mystical heavyweight Mr. Mxyzptlk. And so, hilarity and impish insanity ensue…

Back in what passes for the land of reason, Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg are tasked with recovering Batman’s cape and mask in ‘Battle for the Cow’ (if you read DC regularly, you know how painful a pun that is). Naturally, Starfire and Bumblebee have a sensible, pain-free solution to their woes, after which the Boy Wonder’s birthday party displays a fashion parade of alternative costumes in the present-giving portion of festivities…

Those tiny Titans go clothes hunting in ‘Shop Shrinking’ while Kid Flash, Robin and Cyborg ask ‘Hey, What’s Continuity?’ Wrapping up is another Kroc Files contrasting how Alfred and the lizardly lout cope with ‘Walking in the Rain’, topped off with Special Bonus Pin-up ‘The Return of the Bat-Cow!’

Concluding the juvenile japery is a fall from grace which can only be called ‘Infinite Detention’ as lunch lady Darkseid is demoted to Janitor for the Day and typically overreacts to boisterous behaviour in the hallways. With both good kids and bad suffering after-class incarceration, arguments ensue and the stern Monitor increase the tally for the slightest infraction. Soon kids are facing days of detention. Sadly for the Monitor, his nemesis Anti-Monitor has popped by with coffee and more stupid pranks…

One final Kroc Files reveals ‘How to go Bowling’ and Enigma offers another session of ‘Aw Yeah Joke Time!’ before the tome terminates with a selection of character sketches and studies repackaged as ‘Class Photos’.

Despite being ostensibly aimed at super-juniors and TV kids, these wonderful, wacky yarns – which marvellously marry the heart and spirit of such classic strips as Peanuts and The Perishers with something uniquely mired and marinated in pure comicbookery – are an unforgettable riot of laughs no self-respecting fun-fan should miss: accessible, entertaining, and wickedly intoxicating. What more do you need to know?
© 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Gash


By Søren G. Mosdal (Slab-O-Concrete)
ISBN: 978-1-89986-639-7 (TPB)

Not all comics are nice. Not all stories are cosy and comforting. This slim volume collects some short strips by Danish cartoonist Søren Glosimodt Mosdal; powerful, surreal to the point of absurdism, starkly, bleakly, casually violent yet unbelievably compelling vignettes of modern disassociation and spiritual isolation in an urban landscape of staggering indifference.

A seasoned cartoonist and newspaper illustrator born in Nairobi, Mosdal studied and now lives in Copenhagen: a member of their Fort Knox Studios and part of Finland’s Kuti Kuti comics association. Regular clients include Fahrenheit magazine (since 1994), and literary periodical Zoe, whilst his collected comic books include Feuerwerk, Madeleine, une femme libre (with scriptwriters Rudy Ortiz & Pierre Colin-Thibert), and Eric Le Rouge: roi de l’hiver. Beginning this century, Mosdal has increasingly concentrated on music-related works and themes, such as a comic biography of Elvis Presley and Lost Highway, about Hank Williams.

However, in this glorious lost gem from 2001 – and reprinting a Danish collection of two years’ prior – Mosdal’s intense, exaggerated drawing bristles with ill-suppressed animosity as he tells of ordinary life: getting drunk, getting stoned, getting laid and ultimately getting nowhere. Whether relating what I pray are not autobiographical everyday interludes or delivering candid depictions of the deeply distressing adventures of Hans Drone – “The Greatest Writer of our Time!” – or any of the other misfits gathered herein, Mosdal’s fevered works are unsettling yet unforgivably intoxicating. If you’re old enough and strong enough, and have patience and time to go looking, these beautiful, ugly stories are ready in wait for you and absolutely worthy of your attention.

If only some smart, wide-eyed English-language publisher would run that risk…

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Kids Are Still Weird – and More Observations From Parenthood


By Jeffrey Brown (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-344-8 (digest TPB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-345-5

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fabulous Family Fable … 9/10

It’s never too late to find a treasure or have a good time. Cartoonist Jeffrey Brown certainly knows that, as a glance at any of his painfully incisive autobiographical mini-comics, quirky literary graphic novels and hilarious all-ages comedy cartoons will show.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1975, Brown studied Fine Art at the Chicago Art Institute but abandoned painting to concentrate on comics. His intense, bizarrely funny observational strips garnered him fans amongst in-the-know consumers and fellow creators alike: all finding something to love in such varied fare as his 4-volume “Girlfriend Trilogy” (Unlikely, AEIOU and Every Girl is the End of the World For Me and opening shot Clumsy), Bighead, A Matter of Life, Little Things, Funny, Misshapen Body, Undeleted Scenes, Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations, Little Things or Sulk. If he’s new to you and you’re looking for a new multi-ranging talent to follow, other career treats include the Lucy & Andy Neanderthal series, slyly satirical all-ages funny stuff for The Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror, Marvel’s Strange Tales, Incredible Change-Bots, and similar visual venues.

Happily, unlike so many creators with such an eclectic oeuvre, Brown also achieved a measure of mainstream success thanks to a keen artistic sense and lifelong love affair with the most significant popular arts phenomenon of the last 45 years. In 2012 Brown created a breakout best-seller with an hilarious exploration of soft, nurturing side of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Wondering what might have been, Brown had the most dangerous man (more or less) in the Empire spend a little quality time with his missing offspring.

The hilarious pre (Jedi) school experiences of Darth Vader and Son (as would have been seen in Star Wars – Episode Three and a Half) were followed by Vader’s Little Princess, Star Wars: Jedi Academy and more, investigating deliriously daft and telling snatches of Skywalker domesticity – like baseball practise with light sabres – and was utterly irresistible.

No fan of the all-conquering franchise could possibly do without those deliciously sweet treats and those superbly subversive cartoon confections fully inform this stunning collation of similar kiddie hijinks which exploit the best thing about being a cartoonist with children… ready-made, constant gag ideas just waiting to be shared…

A follow-up to 2014’s Kids are Weird, here Brown and wife Jennifer reveal more things Oscar – and his little brother Simon – do and say that make sense to them but cause hidebound adults to gasp, splutter, spit-take and reach for notebooks. It’s a world of froot loops and green poops, toys (soft and so not) and declamatory statements, books read and trips misremembered and a package of experiences designed to prompt the response “yeah, but mine went…”

Both delicious and agonising in their forthright simplicity, these non-sequential pictorial snippets reveal how we’ve all been there, or somewhere quite near. Packed with joyous wonder, Kids Are Still Weird is a magical delight for all engaged in raising the next generation and an intoxicating examination of what makes us human, hopeful and incorrigible…
© 2024 Jeffrey Brown.

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The Invisible Guest in Moominvalley


By Tove Jansson, adapted by Cecilia Davidsson & A. Haridi, illustrated by Filippa Widlund, translated by A. A. Prime (Macmillan Children’s Books)
ISBN: 978-1-5290-1027-5 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-5290-5764-5

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Fabulous Family Fable … 9/10

Tove Jansson was one of the greatest literary innovators and narrative pioneers of the 20th century: equally inspired in shaping words and making images to create whole worlds of wonder. She was especially expressive with basic components like pen and ink, manipulating slim economical lines and patterns to realise sublime realms of fascination, whilst her dexterity made simple forms into incredibly expressive and potent symbols and, as this collection shows, so was her brother…

Tove Marika Jansson was born into an artistic, intellectual and rather bohemian Swedish family in Helsinki, Finland on August 9th 1914. Patriarch Viktor was a sculptor and mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson a successful illustrator, graphic designer and commercial artist. Tove’s brothers Lars – AKA “Lasse” – and Per Olov became – respectively – an author, cartoonist and art photographer. The family and its close intellectual, eccentric circle of friends seems to have been cast rather than born, with a witty play or challenging sitcom as the piece they were all destined to inhabit.

After extensive and intensive study (from 1930-1938 at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, the Graphic School of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and L’Ecole d’Adrien Holy and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris), Tove became a successful exhibiting artist through the troubled period of the Second World War. Brilliantly creative across many fields, she published the first fantastic Moomins adventure in 1945. Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Little Trolls and the Great Flood or latterly and more euphoniously The Moomins and the Great Flood) was a whimsical epic of gently inclusive, acceptingly understanding, bohemian misfit trolls and their rather odd friends…

A youthful over-achiever, from 1930-1953 Tove had worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish satirical magazine Garm: achieving some measure of notoriety with an infamous political sketch of Hitler in nappies that lampooned the Appeasement policies of European leaders in the build-up to WWII. She was also an in-demand illustrator for many magazines and children’s books, and had started selling comic strips as early as 1929.

Moomintroll was her signature character. Literally.

The lumpy, gently adventurous big-eyed romantic goof began life as a spindly sigil next to her name in her political works. She called him “Snork” and claimed she had designed him in a fit of pique as a child – the ugliest thing a precocious little girl could imagine – as a response to losing an argument with her brother about Immanuel Kant.

The term “Moomin” came from her maternal uncle Einar Hammarsten who attempted to stop her pilfering food when she visited, warning her that a Moomintroll guarded the kitchen, creeping up on trespassers and breathing cold air down their necks. Snork/Moomin filled out, became timidly nicer – if a little clingy and insecure – acting as a placid therapy-tool to counteract the grimness of the post-war world. The Moomins and the Great Flood didn’t make much of an initial impact but Jansson persisted, probably as much for her own edification as any other reason, and in 1946 published second book Kometjakten (Comet in Moominland).

Many commentators believe the terrifying tale a skilfully compelling allegory of Nuclear Armageddon. In truth, an undercurrent of bleak anxiety and the dangers of imminent unwanted change underpins all of her Moomin tales, subtly addressing the fact that the world is a wonderful but also scary, dangerous place beyond our control, and why we should value friends and family and always welcome the needy and all strangers.

You should read it now… while you still can. When it and third illustrated novel Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll AKA sometimes The Happy Moomins) were translated – to great acclaim – into English in 1952, it prompted British publishing giant Associated Press to commission a newspaper strip about her seductively sweet and sensibly surreal creations. Jansson had no misgivings or prejudices about strip cartoons and had already adapted Comet in Moominland for Swedish/Finnish paper Ny Tid. Mumintrollet och jordens undergäng. Moomintrolls and the End of the World was a popular feature so Jansson readily accepted the chance to extend her eclectic family across the world. In 1953, The London Evening News began the first of 21 Moomin strip sagas which promptly captivated readers of all ages. Jansson’s involvement in the cartoon feature ended in 1959, a casualty of its own success and a punishing publication schedule. So great was the strain that towards the end she recruited brother Lars to help. He took over, continuing the feature until its end in 1975.

Liberated from the strip’s pressures, Tove returned to painting, writing and other creative pursuits: generating plays, murals, public art, stage designs, costumes for dramas and ballets, a Moomin opera and nine more Moomin-related picture-books and novels, as well as 13 books and short-story collections strictly for grown-ups.

Tove Jansson died on June 27th 2001. Her awards are too numerous to mention, but just think: how many artists get their faces on the national currency?

Whenever such a creative force passes on, the greatest tragedy is that there will be no more marvels and masterpieces. Happily, so tirelessly prolific was Tove that her apparently endless bounty bequeathed plenty of material for later creators and collaborators to pick over. One such example is this glorious picture book, part of a series using her characters and adapted from her short story The Invisible Child from prose anthology Tales from Moominvalley.

The entire generationally familiar cast are present for this comforting parable about an abused and neglected child welcomed into the bustling, tempestuous Moomin clan, and how silent unseen Ninny slowly adapts and recuperates. With warmth, patience and understanding the child is allowed to become her new self, not cured or fixed, but just better…

Heartwarming with a hidden edge and hiding plenty of impact to balance the fun and charm, this is solidly engaging picture tale is adapted by Cecilia Davidsson (Utvandrarna, Invandrarna, Leva lite till, mucho Moomins adaptations) & A. Haridi, with Jansson’s unique imagery translated by prolific comics star/book illustrator Filippa Widlund (många pixiböcker/Pixi Books, Bojan series, The Buoy and the Tow Truck). As a narrative it is utterly compelling, and carries a message always worth repeating.

Witty, thrilling, sentimental and moving, The Invisible Guest in Mooninvalley is every youngster’s perfect introduction to sequential narratives, and a beguiling reminder to oldsters why we love them…
Entire contents © Moomin Characters™. All rights reserved.

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Basil Wolverton’s The Culture Corner


By Basil Wolverton (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-308-8 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Because it’s Still Funny… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Basil Wolverton was one of a kind; a cartoonist and wordsmith of unique skills and imagination and one whose controversial works inspired and delighted many whilst utterly revolting others. Born in Central Point, Oregon on July 9th 1909, Wolverton worked as a Vaudeville performer, reporter and cartoonist, and – unlike most cartoonists of his time – preferred to stay far away from the big city. For most of his life he mailed in work from the rural wilderness of Vancouver, Washington State.

He made his first national cartoon sale at age 16 and began pitching newspaper strips in the late 1920s. A great fan of fantastic fiction and the swiftly-developing science fiction genre, Wolverton sold Marco of Mars to the Independent Syndicate of New York in 1929 but the company then declined to publish it, citing its similarity to the popular Buck Rogers feature.

Equally at home with comedy, horror and adventure fantasy material the young creative dynamo adapted easily to the concept of superheroes, and began working extensively in the new medium of comicbooks, where he produced such gems as Spacehawks and Disk-Eyes the Detective for Circus Comics, plus a brace of minor hits and unabashed classics: the grimly imaginative (but unrelated) sci fi cosmic avenger Spacehawk for Target Comics and Rockman – Underground Secret Agent for Timely/Marvel’s USA Comics.

Seemingly tireless, Wolverton produced an apparently endless supply of comedy features too, ranging from extended series like Superman/boxing parody Powerhouse Pepper to double, single and half-page gag fillers such as ‘Bedtime Bunk’, ‘Culture Quickie’ and ‘Bedtime Banter’. In 1946 he infamously won a national competition held by Al Capp of Li’l Abner fame to visualise Lena the Hyena, that strip’s “ugliest woman in the world”, and during the 1950s space and horror boom crafted some of the most imaginative short stories comics have ever seen. Of course, he also worked for Mad Magazine.

Wolverton had been a member of Herbert W. Armstrong’s (prototype televangelist of a burgeoning Christian fundamentalist movement) Radio Church of God since 1941. In 1956, he illustrated the founder’s pamphlet ‘1975 in Prophecy’ and two years later produced a stunning illustrative interpretation of The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last. Soon after he began writing and drawing an illustrated six-volume adaptation of the Old Testament entitled ‘The Bible Story: the Story of Man’ serialised in the sect’s journal The Plain Truth. In many ways, these religious works are his most moving and powerful.

In 1973, Wolverton returned to comic books, illustrating more of his memorably comedic grotesques for DC’s Plop!, but the aging artist suffered a stroke the next year. Basil Wolverton died on December 31st 1978.

In 2010 Fantagraphics collected a spectacular haul of Wolverton’s very best gag features in a uniquely informative hardback also available in a fancy-shmancy sci fi digital edition.

Culture Corner ran as a surreal, sublimely screwball half-page “advice column” in Whiz Comics, as well as The Marvel Family and The Daisy Handbook from 1946 to 1955, when publisher Fawcett sold off its comic division to Charlton Comics – including the very last unpublished strips. The hermit-cartoonist was clearly a meticulous creator, and his extensive files have bequeathed us a once-in-a-lifetime insight into his working practice and the editorial exigencies of the period.

Wolverton sent a fully pencilled rough of each proposed episode to Will Lieberson and Virginia Provisiaro (Executive editor and Whiz Comic’s editor respectively) who would comment, then commission or reject. The returned pencils would then form the skeleton of the instalment. This marvellously madcap tome re-presents the full-colour strips with (almost) all of the original pencil roughs – diligently stored by Wolverton for decades – as counterpoint and accompaniment, revealing the depth not only of Wolverton’s imagination at play but also his deft facility with design and inking.

Also included are many extra roughs and all the extent rejected ideas – still some of the most outrageous tomfoolery ever unleashed even after all these years.

Basil Wolverton was something of an inventor and DIY maestro, according to his son Monte’s illuminating introduction, turned the family home into a dream-house Rube Goldberg or our own Professor Brainstawm would be proud of. That febrile ingenuity is clearly seen in the advisements of Croucher K. Conk Q.O.C. (Queer Old Coot) as with awesome alliteration and pre-Rap rhyming riffs, the surly savant suggests solutions for some of life’s least tiresome troubles.

Among the welter of whacky wisdoms here, some of the most timelessly true are ‘How to Raise Your Eyebrows’, ‘How to Eat your Spaghetti without Getting Wetty’, ‘How to Clap without Mishap’, ‘How to Stop Brooding if your Ears are Protruding’, ‘How to Bow’ and ‘How to Grope for Bathtub Soap’: prominent amongst more than a hundred other sage prescriptions, so whatever your age, alignment or species this crazy chronicle has something that will change your life – and often for the better!

Graphically grotesque, inveterately un-sane and scrupulously screwball, this lexicon of lost laughs is still a must have item for anyone in need of certifiably classy cheering up.
© 2010 Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved.

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Red Moon


By Carlos Trillo & Eduardo Risso, translated by Zeljko Medic (Dark Horse/SAF Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-447-7(HC)  eISBN: 978-1-62115-916-2

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Marvel’s Most Magical… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

If you like a whiff of tongue in cheek whimsy with your fantastic fairytales you might want to take a look at this superb treat from prolific and much-missed Argentinean journalist and comics writer Carlos Trillo (Topo Gigio, Alvar Mayor, El Loco Chávez, Peter Kampf, Cyber Six, Point de rupture) and terrifyingly versatile illustrator Eduardo Risso (Batman, 100 Bullets, Jonny Double, Parque Chas, Simon, Boy Vampire), starring an affable boy acrobat and a tempestuous little princess.

Los misterios de la Luna roja was originally released as a quartet of comics between 1997 and 1998 by Ervin Rustemagi?’s Balkan publishing powerhouse Strip Art Features and appears here as compiled in a stunning translated tome thanks to Dark Horse Comics. Kicking off with scene-setting epic ‘Bran the Invisible’, the supremely wry, deftly comedic action opens as junior tumbler Antolin and his showbiz mentors Crocker & Theo fetch up their travelling show in the extremely depressed and downhearted land of Burien.

Unable to raise a single smile or any sign approbation, the lad soon learns that the kingdom is in mourning. Burien’s Lord and defender has been stricken with grief since his wife Tyl died. Moreover, their daughter Moon is both bonkers and prone to violence. She also talks to (shouts at and fights with) an invisible friend…

However, after encountering the red-haired daughter of the despondent widower, Antolin is quickly forced to conclude that she’s not crazy at all. His first clue is that unseen Bran apparently predicted the acrobat’s arrival and how the orphan boy would help “Red Moon” save the land. The clincher, though, is that something undetectable keeps hitting him…

There’s no time to waste since the marauding armies of the cruel yet cowardly Lord of Leona are already making their uncontested way over the now-undefended borders…

And thus begins an epic confection with crucial quests, astounding odysseys, barbarically vile villains, fairy queens, witches, dragons and monsters all in attendance as the valiant children – and Bran – flee the invasion, uncover the incredible truth of Tyl’s fate and seek to amass a meagre but prophesied army of incredible individuals to rescue Burien and restore Moon’s father to his previous competence and glory…

The saga concludes as Antolin and Red Moon return to the troubled land of Burien resolutely accompanied by their implausibly unbeatable ‘Attack Circus’ – and a few useful Fairy trinkets – resolved to repel the vile invasion and deliver to the sadistic Leona his just deserts. Controversially, that inevitable prospect provides no Happy Ever After for Antolin, who learns in the throes of triumph for Burian that his beloved mentors Theo & Crocker were sent to certain doom by the invaders…

Thus he sets off again, following their trail into ‘The Never Kingdom’ and is soon delighted to see Moon – and (not see) Bran – following the former partner-in-peril. Braving icy wastes, horrific beasts and a population of magically-mutated monsters, the kids challenge the power of wicked crone Panta and consequently discover that the malevolent sorceress and cannibal might perhaps be the long-lost mother of foundling Antolin…

Family feeling doesn’t count for much in Panta’s world, so there are few regrets after Moon discovers the secret of reversing the witch’s transformation spells and starts putting the Never Kingdom to rights…

The fabulously engaging, deliciously trenchant frolics then wrap up with the introduction of insalubrious junior jester Patapaf – and his ventriloquistic stick Pitipif – who play a critical role in the search for ‘The Book of All Dreams’.

With peace and joy restored to his subjects, the widowed Lord of Burian remarries but his new bride is almost immediately abducted by invulnerable ogre Lamermor de Granf to ensure that her husband will duel him for the right to rule Burien. Outraged Moon can do nothing until she enjoys a fairy-sent dream and learns the smug giant has a hidden weakness. Setting off with Patapaf to find wandering showman Antolin and talking cat Blas Pascual de la Galera the little warriors invade Witch Queen Yaga’s fortress – and subconscious – to ferret out a long-occluded means to destroy Lamermor, accidentally acquiring an unlikely ally who will ensure their victory and a Happy Ending at last…

Fast, funny and filled with family-friendly action and thrills, Red Moon is a delirious double-edged delight, with knowing sophistication for adult readers working side-by-side with gloriously inventive takes on traditional tale-telling, adeptly realised by Risso’s magnificently surreal illustration.

Ideal bedtime reading for anybody and any time.
Red Moon™ & © 2005, 2006, 2014 SAF Comics. All rights reserved.