Category: LGBTQIA+

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Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip volume 1


By Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)
ISBN: 978-1-89493-780-1 (HB/Digital edition)

Tove Marika Jansson was born into an artistic, intellectual and practically Bohemian Swedish family in Helsinki, Finland on August 9th 1914, making today her 110th anniversary, so hyvää vuosipäivää to her and all you fans…

Father Viktor was a sculptor, and mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson enjoyed a successful career as illustrator, graphic designer and commercial artist. Tove’s brothers Lars and Per Olov became a cartoonist/writer and photographer respectively. 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 act in.

After a period of intensive study from 1930-1938 (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 war.

Intensely creative in many fields, she published the first fantastic Moomins adventure in 1945: Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Little Trolls and the Great Flood or more euphoniously The Moomins and the Great Flood): a whimsical epic of gentle, inclusive, accepting, understanding, bohemian, misfit trolls and their strange friends…

Always an over-achiever, from 1930 to 1953 Tove worked as an artist and cartoonist for Swedish satirical magazine Garm, achieving some measure of notoriety with an infamous political sketch of Hitler in nappies, lampooning the Appeasement policies of Chamberlain and other European leaders in the build-up to World War II. She was also a much-in-demand illustrator for many magazines and children’s books. She had been selling her comic strips as early as 1929…

Moomintroll was literally her signature character. The lumpy, big-eyed goof began life as a spindly sigil beside her signature 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 about Immanuel Kant with her brother.

The term “Moomin” came from maternal uncle Einar Hammarsten who attempted to stop Tove pilfering food when she visited by warning her that a Moomintroll guarded the kitchen, creeping up on trespassers and breathing cold air down their necks. Over childhood years and far beyond Snork/Moomin filled out, became timidly nicer, if a little clingy and insecure: a placid therapy-tool to counteract the grimness of the post-war world.

The Moomins and the Great Flood was relatively unsuccessful but Jansson persisted, as much for her own therapeutic benefit as any other reason, and in 1946 sequel Kometjakten (Comet in Moominland) was published. Many commentators believe this terrifying tale a skilful, compelling allegory of Nuclear destruction, and both it and third illustrated novel Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll or occasionally The Happy Moomins) were translated into English in 1952. Their success prompted British publishing giant Associated Press to commission a newspaper strip about her seductively sweet, sensibly surreal surrogate family.

Jansson had no prejudices about strip cartoons. Early efforts included Lunkentus (Prickinas och Fabians äventyr, 1929), Vårbrodd (Fotbollen som Flög till Himlen, 1930) and Allas Krönika (Palle och Göran gå till sjöss, 1933). And she had already successfully adapted Comet in Moominland for Swedish/Finnish paper Ny Tid. Mumintrollet och jordens undergång – Moomintrolls and the End of the World – was a popular feature and Jansson readily accepted a chance to extend her message across the world.

In 1953 The London Evening News began the first of 21 Moomin sagas which captivated readers of all ages. Tove’s involvement ended in 1959: a casualty of its own success and a punishing publication schedule. So great was the pressure that she had recruited brother Lars to help. He proudly and most effectively continued the feature until its end in 1975.

Free of the strip she returned to painting, writing and her other creative pursuits, generating book illustration, plays, murals, public art, stage designs, costumes for dramas and ballets, a Moomin opera, 9 more Moomin-related picture-books and novels, as well as 13 books and short-story collections more obviously intended for grown-ups.

Her awards are too numerous to mention (literally dozens of international art and literary plaudits), but consider this: how many modern artists – let alone comics creators – get their faces on the national currency or have commemorative coins struck bearing their image?

She died on June 27th 2001… but her timorous little critters and their better, nicer world have proliferated beyond belief.

Tove could deploy slim economical line and pattern to create sublime worlds of fascination, and her dexterity made simple forms into incredibly expressive and potent symbols. In this first volume the miraculous wonderment begins with ‘Moomin and the Brigands’ as our rotund, gracious and deeply empathic hippo-esque troll-ling frets about the sheer volume of freeloading visitors literally eating him out of house and home. Too meek to cause offence and simply send them all packing, he consults his wide-boy, get-rich-quick mate Sniff, but when their increasingly eccentric eviction schemes go awry Moomin simply leaves, undertaking a beachcombing odyssey culminating with him meeting the beauteous Snorkmaiden.

When the jewellery-obsessed young lass (yes, she looks like a hippo too – but a really lovely one with long lashes and such a cute fringe!) is kidnapped by bandits, finally mild-mannered Moomin finds his inner hero…

‘Moomin and Family Life’ then reunites the prodigal Moomin with parents Moominpappa and Moominmamma – a most strange and remarkable couple. Mamma is warm and capable but overly concerned with propriety and appearances, whilst Papa spends all his time trying to rekindle his adventurous youth. Rich Aunt Jane, however, is a far more “acquired” taste.

‘Moomin on the Riviera’ finds flighty Snorkmaiden and drama-starved Moominpappa dragging the extended family and assorted friends on an epic voyage to the sunny southern land of millionaires. On arrival, the Moomins’ small-town idiosyncrasies are mistaken for so-excusable eccentricities of the filthy rich – a delightfully telling satirical comedy of manners and a plot that never gets old – as proved by the fact that the little escapade was expanded to and released as 2015’s animated movie Moomins on the Riviera…

This initial incomparable volume of graphic wonderment concludes with fantastic adventure in ‘Moomin’s Desert Island’, wherein another joint family jaunt leaves the Moomins lost upon an unknown shore where ghostly ancestors roam: wrecking any vessel that might offer rescue. Sadly, the greatest peril in this knowing pastiche of Swiss Family Robinson might well be The Mymble – a serious rival for Moomintroll’s affections. Luckily, Snorkmaiden knows of some wonderfully romantic, bloodthirsty pirates who might be called upon to come to her romantic rescue…

These truly magical timeless tales for the young are laced with incisive observation and mature wit that enhances and elevates only the greatest kids’ stories into classics of literature. These volumes are an international treasure and no fan of the medium – or biped with even a hint of heart and soul – can ever be content or well-read without them.

Tove’s Moomin comic strips were originally collected in seven Scandinavian volumes before the discerning folk at Drawn & Quarterly translated them into English as a series of luxurious oversized (224 x 311 mm) hardback tomes. There some UK editions from SelfMadeHero in the twenteens and now some of these tales have returned in new paperback reprinting, with Moomin Adventures Book 1 (July 2024, ISBN: 978-1-77046-742-2) offering ‘Moomin on the Riviera’ and ‘Moomin’s Desert Island’ plus some later co-productions with Lars.

© 2006 Solo/Bulls. All Rights Reserved.

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John Constantine, Hellblazer volume 1: Original Sins


By Jamie Delano, Rick Veitch, John Ridgway, Alfredo Alcala, Tom Mandrake, Brett Ewins, Jim McCarthy & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3006-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Originally created by Alan Moore during his groundbreaking run on Swamp Thing, mercurial modern wizard John Constantine is a dissolute chancer who plays with magic like an addict but on his own terms for his own ends. He is not a hero. He is not a nice person. Sometimes though, he’s all there is between us and the void…

Given his own series by popular demand, Constantine premiered at the height of Thatcherite Barbarism in Britain, during the dying days of Reaganite Atrocity in the US, to become a founding father of DC’s adult-oriented Vertigo imprint. Hard to imagine back then that we’d one day be looking back with any sense of fond nostalgia, but there you go…

This collection collects John Constantine, Hellblazer #1-9 plus crossover chapters from Swamp Thing #76-77; cumulatively spanning January – October 1988 at what was the beginning of a renaissance in comic book horror that continues to this day.

Back in 1987 Creative Arts and Liberal Sentiments were dirty words in many quarters and the readership of Vertigo was pretty easy to profile. British scripter Jamie Delano began the series with a relatively safe horror-comic plot about an escaped hunger demon, introducing us to Constantine’s unpleasant nature and odd acquaintances – such as Papa Midnite – in a tale of infernal possession and modern voodoo, but even then, discriminating fans were aware of a welcome anti-establishment political line and metaphorical underpinnings.

‘Hunger’ and ‘A Feast of Friends’ also established another vital fact. Anyone who got too close to John Constantine tended to end very badly, very quickly…

‘Going for It’ successfully equated Conservative Britain with Hell (no change there either, obviously), with demons trading souls on their own stock market and Yuppies getting ahead in the rat race by selling short. Set on Election Day 1987, this potent pastiche never loses sight of its goal to entertain, whilst making telling points about humanity, individuality and society.

Constantine’s cousin Gemma and tantalising splinters of his Liverpool childhood are revealed in ‘Waiting for the Man’: a tale of abduction and ghosts introducing disturbing Christian fundamentalists The Resurrection Crusade, and a mysterious woman known only as Zed.

America is once again the focus of terror in ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’ as the Vietnam war breaks out again in rural Iowa, before we pop back to Blighty for ‘Extreme Prejudice’.

Skinheads, racism demons and more abound as Delano cannily joins up lots of previously unconnected dots to reveal a giant storyline in the making. The Damnation Army are up to something, but nobody knows who they are. Now everything’s going bad and somehow Zed and the Resurrection Crusade are at the heart of it all…

Brett Ewins & Jim McCarthy briefly replaced magnificent regular illustrator John Ridgway for the first 3 pages of ‘Ghost in the Machine’, before the beautifully restrained, poignantly humanistic stylism returns with Constantine further unravelling the Damnation plot by catching up with the Coming Thing: the cutting edge mysticism dubbed cyber-shamanism.

In Delano’s world the edges between science and magic aren’t blurred – they simply don’t exist…

Alfredo Alcala signs on as inker with ‘Intensive Care’ and the drama ramps up to a full gallop as the plans of both Crusade and Army are revealed, with the value and purpose of Zed finally exposed. All Constantine can do in response is make the first of many bad bargains with Hell…

We then take a stranger turn due to the nature of periodical publishing. The storyline in Hellblazer #1-8 ran contiguously, before converging with Swamp Thing wherein the wizard reluctantly lends his physical body to the planetary plant elemental so that the monster can impregnate its human girlfriend Abigail Arcane. Thus, in the ninth issue, there’s a kind of dissolute holding pattern in play as the weary wizard confronts ghosts of all the people he’s gotten killed to allow all the pieces to be suitably arranged. ‘Shot to Hell’ (Delano, Ridgway & Alcala) then neatly segues into Swamp Thing #76-77 for the conception of a new messiah. Sort of.

Immediately post-Alan Moore, Swamp Thing comics were sidelined by many fans. However they soon realised successor (writer-artist) Rick Veitch – aided by moody inker Alcala – was producing a stunning sequence of mini-classics well worthy of serious scrutiny. The issues built on Moore’s cerebral, visceral writing as the world’s plant elemental became increasingly involved with ecological matters.

Having decided to “retire”, Swamp Thing (an anthropomorphic plant imprinted with the personality and mind of murdered biologist Alec Holland) was charged by his ephemeral overlords in “The Green” with facilitating the creation of his/its successor. However, the ancient and agonising process was contaminated by consecutive failures and false starts, leading to a horrendous series of abortive creatures and a potentially catastrophic Synchronicity Maelstrom.

Alec, “wife” Abigail and chillingly charismatic Constantine are eventually compelled to combine forces – and some body-fluids – in ‘L’Adoration de la Terre’ (ST #76, by Veitch & Alcala) – to conceive a solution before the resultant chaos-storm destroys the Earth.

The process is not with risk – or embarrassment – but the affair is brought to a successful conclusion in ‘Infernal Tringles’ (Swamp Thing #77, Tom Mandrake pencilling) and with terrestrial order restored, the participants go their separate ways… but events have affected them all in ways that will have terrible repercussions in months and years to come…

Rounding out this so-sophisticated spook-fest is an original covers gallery by Dave McKean and John Totleben, plus an in-world exposé of Constantine in ‘Faces on the Street’ by faux journalist Satchmo Hawkins. Also included are other relics of the antihero’s sordid past such as the lyrics from Venus of the hardsell – a single from John’s aberrant punk band mucous membrane – and extracts from the magician’s medical file whilst he was held in Ravenscar Secure Psychiatric Facility…

Delivered by creators capable and satiric, but still wedded to the basic tenets of their craft, these superb examples of horror fiction – inextricably linking politics, religion, human nature and sheer bloody-mindedness as the root cause of all ills – are still powerfully engaging. Lovingly constructed, they make a truly abominable character seem an admirable force for our survival. The art is clear, understated and subtly subversive while the slyly witty, innovative stories jangle at the subconscious with scratchy edginess.

This is a book no fear-fan should be without.
© 1987, 1988, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Last Gender: When We Are Nameless volume 1 (of 3)


By Rei Taki translated by Rose Padgett (Vertical/Kodansha)
ISBN: 978-1-6472191-4 (Vertical tank?bon PB) Digital edition 978-1-68491-721-1

A woman goes into a bar.

That’s usually shocking enough for Japanese fiction, but in Rei (Tada Ooki na Neko ni Naritai, Love-Kyo: Kateikyoushi ga xx Sugite Benkyou Dokoro ja Nai) Taki’s deft exploration of sexual diversity, it’s merely the start of a well-intentioned, honest appraisal of what infinite variety in human experience and being actually means. The tale is especially extraordinary as it comes from a country and culture currently involved in a (very polite and restrained) war of past and future and tradition vs. change, where gender and gender roles have always been cast in stone and a hot button topic…

After a short stand-alone try-out tale was reworked and developed (which is included at the end of this edition), Last Gender: Nani Mono demo nai Watashi-tachi debuted in 2022. Its brief interlocking vignettes eventually filled three volumes, employing a picaresque format – in many ways thematically similar to US sitcom Cheers – to peruse those people who generally inhabit the margins of society… either through choice or more often than not due to fear and shame.

In such a strictly formalised society those judgements are most likely to be self-inflicted and imagined, and painfully concrete and condemnatory, as we will see…

Chapter 1 opens with one person’s candid ruminations on what is gender before ‘Welcome to BAR California’ finds nasty, preachy gossip and media scandalmongering hanging in the air as assistant manager Yo prepares to open up for the evening. Checking bottles are full, glasses clean, rooms ready and restocked and all lube, fresh underwear and condom dispensers are full, they are soon distracted by a nervous and curious young woman. She has come in to the venue where “all are welcome” carrying her husband’s membership card and very much wanting to know what it exactly entitles her spouse to…

An explanation of facilities, by-laws, responsibilities, duties and potential rewards – further clarified by a new friend – results in Manami addressing her prior pre- and mis-conceptions, and signing up to discover lots more she didn’t know about herself…

With frequent subtle reminders, asides and dissertations on what staff and patrons consider constitutes gender, sexualities statuses, consent and suitable behaviour, the vignettes continue with ‘An Orchid Blooming in the Fog’. Transgender bisexual Ran shares with Yo early unhappy encounters (incidentally providing us with mindboggling factual detail on insurance cover and finance for gender affirmation surgery in Japan), and happy-go-lucky, persistently pally pansexual Mao adds his own unique perspective and past moments. Ultimately his benign attentions and upbeat manner manifest more revelations of his own unsettled life and its pressures…

The forces of expectation and tradition shaping Mao are more closely monitored in ‘Family of Mannequins’ even as stolid salaryman Sawada Masanori and college girl Amiru debut with their own individual flavours of difference. It’s a risky road to travel but bigender Sawada will only really be content once his wife and child can understand how and why he is also Marie and that will only happen if they can affirm their ‘True Love’, whilst the student still struggles to accept that any boundaries exist…

Amiru steps into the spotlight for closing episode ‘Aromantic Fairy Tale’ delving deeper into her innate belief that sex and love have nothing to do with each other and explaining how all the stories society train us with need to be re-examined if not revoked. Of course, nothing has worked yet to stop her yearning for “the one”, and some of the test candidates have been a bit extreme to say the least. Just look at Yukihiro, with his odd provisos and props… and just what is the secret he shares with only Yo?

To Be Continued…

Filling up this initial tome are ‘Translation Notes’, house ads, a featurette on sex bars and how the clientele adopts aliases in ‘BAR California’s Back Yard #1’ as well as an afterword from Rei Taki, prior to that aforementioned ‘Prototype Story: A Self For All Seasons’ showing how the initial explorations of spousal abuse and similar reasons for such sex bar venues was dialled down for a more subtle and forensic investigation of the people who need them…

There are – even by manga standards – fairly explicit and frequent sex scenes amidst all the character interplay, and the occasionally blunt yet potent evaluations, clarifications and reiterations of gender issues, minorities and status through the lens of Japanese frankness can be a bit breathtaking if we westerners aren’t braced. Nonetheless, Last Gender: When We Are Nameless is a compelling and intriguing foray into gender & sexual diversity, pansexuality, propensities, individuality and autonomy that needs to be seen by anyone still breathing and still dating. Over to you then…
© 2021 Rei Taki. English translation © 2022 Rei Taki. All rights reserved.

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The Case of Alan Turing


By Éric Liberge & Arnaud Delalande, translated by David Homel (Arsenal Pulp Press)
ISBN: 978-1-55152-650-8 (HB/Digital edition)

After decades of cruel injustice and crushing, sidelining silence, British mathematician Alan Turing – one of the greatest intellects in humanity’s history – is finally the household name and revered pioneer of science he always deserved to be. As well as books and films describing the astounding achievements and appalling way this brilliant, misunderstood man – arguably the creator of the modern world we inhabit – was treated by his contemporaries and society in general, there are also graphic novels (so if you’re interested you should also seek out Jim Ottaviani & Leland Purvis’ The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded) delineating the factual stuff whilst trying to get beneath the skin of a most perplexing and unique individual.

This gloriously oversized (231 x 13 x 287 mm) full-colour hardback biography – also available as an e-book – was first released in 2015 as Le Cas Alan Turing: Histoire extraordinaire et tragique d’un genie and employs an emphatic literary approach that is more drama than documentary. The moving script by author Arnaud Delalande (La Piege de Dante) – via award-winning translator David Homel – only touches on Turing’s early, troubled home life and post-war scandals as the genius descended into self-loathing and court-mandated chemical castration to cure his “social deviancy”.

Mere hints and allegations – let alone actual accusations – of homosexuality destroyed many men until officially decriminalised in Britain’s 1967 Sexual Offences Act, and although (after years of passionate campaigning) Turing was posthumously pardoned in 2013, his loss to suicide probably deprived the entire world of a generation of marvels…

The major proportion of this tale concentrates on World War II and Turing’s work as a cryptographer and inventor at British code-breaking centre Bletchley Park, where an insular young man struggled to convince his officious, unimaginative superiors to let him construct a mechanical brain to defeat the Wehrmacht’s presumed-infallible Enigma machines. Turing’s victories cemented his reputation and ensured that the battle against fascism was won…

The key figures are all there: sometime fiancée Joan Clark, Professor Max Newman, and the weak, shady rent-boy who brought about Turing’s eventual downfall and demise, fully complemented by less well known figures: the MI5 operative who was his constant shadow before and after the war, boyhood lost love Christopher Morcom and so many other unsung heroes of the intelligence war…

Played out against a backdrop of global conflict, Turing’s intellectual obsession with Walt Disney’s Snow White and a recurring motif of poisoned apples (the method by which the tormented soul ended his life) loom large in a story which reads like a movie in the making. Moreover, this powerful tale of an outsider’s temporary triumphs and lasting impact is beautifully and compellingly rendered by true master of historical comics Eric Liberge (Monsieur Mardi-Gras Descendres, Le Dernier Marduk, Tonnerre Rampant, Les Corsaires d’Alcibiade), affording proceedings an aura of unavoidable, impending destiny…

Balancing out the tragedy of chances missed is an informative photo-illustrated essay on ‘The Cryptography War’ from historian, educator and government consultant Bruno Fuligni detailing the development and use of different kinds of cipher and codes; how Enigma changed the rules of the spying game and how Turing changed it all again…

This is an astoundingly effective and moving way to engage with a true story of incredible accomplishment, dedication and terrifying naivety, one that ends with horrific loss to us all and forever-unanswered sentiments of “What If?” and “If Only…”
Text © Éditions des Arènes, Paris 2015. Translation © 2016 by David Homel.

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Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather


By Ron Zimmerman, John Severin, Steve Buccellato, Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Wes Abbott & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4362-8 (HB/Digital edition) 978-0-7851-1069-9 (TPB)

For most of the 1960s nobody did superheroes better than Marvel Comics. However, even fully acknowledging the stringencies of the Comics Code Authority, the company’s style for producing their staple genre titles for War, Romance and especially TV-driven Western fans left a lot to be desired. Any hint of sexuality, venality of authority figures, or using guns the way they were intended to be used capitulated to overwhelming caution and a tone that wouldn’t be amiss in kids’ cartoons or pre-Watershed family TV shows. Eventually, however, the reborn company’s boldness and hunger for innovation overwhelmed practicality and common sense. Mercifully for revivals of pre-superhero veterans like Rawhide Kid, the meagre art-pool consisted of master craftsmen such as Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers and others…

Technically the Kid is one of the company’s older icons, having debuted in his own title with a March 1955 cover-date. A stock-standard sagebrush centurion clad in a buckskin jacket, his first adventures were illustrated by jobbing cartoonists like Bob Brown and Ayers and the book was one of the first casualties when Atlas’ distribution woes forced the company to cut back to 16 titles a month in the autumn of 1957.

With small screen cowboys ubiquitous and youthful rebellion a hot societal concept in 1960, owner/publisher Martin Goodman – via Stan Lee & Jack Kirby – unleashed a brand new six-gun stalwart little more than a moody teenager and launched him in summer of that year, economically continuing the numbering from the failed 50’s original…

Crucial to remember is that those yarns were not trying to be gritty or authentic: they were accessing a vast miasmic morass of wholesome, homogenised Hollywood mythmaking that generations of mainly white preferred to learning of the grim everyday toil and terror of the real Old West: simplistic Black Hats vs. White Hats delivered with all the bombast and bravura Jack Kirby and his stellar successors could so readily muster…

It all (re) began when Lee, Kirby & Ayers introduced adopted teenaged Johnny Bart who showed all and sundry what he was made of after his retired Texas Ranger Uncle Ben was gunned down by a fame-hungry cheat. After very publicly exercising his right to vengeance, the naive kid fled Rawhide before explanations could be offered, resigned to life as an outlaw.

The Kid was a wandering, straight shootin’ action ace for decades, periodically returning and even joining forces with the Avengers to battle Kang the Conqueror before fading into the sunset.

Then he became a perennial revivalist, enjoying an occasional miniseries encore (beginning with Rawhide Kid volume 2 #1-4 in 1985) whenever creators wanted to test genre waters or craft experimental media mash-ups. Maybe it was because a mean teen the size of Wolverine offers some sort of untapped reader interest? A taste of Team appeal saw Rawhide bundled with fellow western stalwarts in 2000’s Blaze of Glory #1-4, 2002’s sequel Apache Skies #1-4 and 2010’s Rawhide Kid: The Sensational Seven…

However, his most memorable and controversial stint is what we’re covering today. Between April and June 2003, The Kid fell under the aegis of the mature-reader Marvel Max imprint and the result was a smart and sassy spoof featuring a gay cowboy at the peak of his prowess…

Scripted by Ron Zimmerman, Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather was illustrated by the legendary John Severin: an incredibly gifted illustrator who had split his stunning career between gritty action tales (Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, Nick Fury, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, Incredible Hulk, King Kull, The Losers, Semper Fi) and hilarious comedy in parody/lampoon vehicles like Mad, Cracked and Crazy magazines.

His collaborator Zimmerman was a film and TV producer/stand-up comedian and writer who worked on Friday the 13th, Jet Li’s The One and many other shows and movies. His other comic credits included Spider-Man: Get Kraven, Ultimate Adventures, and stints on The Punisher, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and more.

Here, the partnership resulted in some of funniest moments in Marvel’s genre history…

Following a scene-setting faux edition of the Wells Junction News revealing some life history under the banner headlines ‘Rawhide Kid seen in town’, the daft and deceptive drama begin when an infamous outlaw rides into desolate and isolated Plum Springs one quiet fall day.

Like the movie Shane, this tale is seen through the eyes of a young lad who might not be mature enough to glean the subtext of what’s going on…

Toby Morgan is callow and impressionable so when the notorious gunslinger appears, his paw – farmer turned sheriff Matt Morgan – starts reassessing what it means to be a “real man”. The sheriff is already trying to live down being publicly humiliated – and shot as an afterthought – by Cisco Pike and his gang when they stormed the town. Now he has an unsuspecting – and incredibly glamorous and attractive – rival for his son’s admiration…

Matt is keenly aware that’s he’s lost the manhood stakes. Toby is bullied at school and reveals that he too thinks his pa’s a coward whilst the appalling things the ensconced outlaws call him are even echoed by his own friends. When Mayor Walker Bush demands Matt get rid of the increasingly bold and obnoxious owlhoots, Morgan can’t even find a deputy to die with him…

Rawhide’s reputation keeps the Pike gang cowed, even after he refuses to join their number in a classic confrontation, but no-one expected the fearsome Kid to be so well spoken and prissy: worrying about his clothes and hair and manners and such. Why, what with his moisturizers, bathrobes, provocatively shiny chaps, cigarette holders, Canadian Beaver hats, unsolicited fashion and grooming tips he’s practically swishy…

Learning of the Morgan family problems, the Kid offers to help out: setting young Toby straight and urging his advice on stolid, stoic Matt. The sheriff – despite being regularly shot every time the gang appears – momentarily believes things might work out, but is unaware Pike has recruited extra help for the inevitable showdown. These are all ace killers like Thunderclaw, Red Duck, Le Sabre, Chinese ninjas and lethal man-hating Catastrophe Jen. Of course, they need to move pretty fast now or Jen will kill all the guys she’s riding beside…

And then the inescapable showdown happens and Morgan learns who he really is and who his real friends are…

Challenging stereotypes by combining constant outright hilarity with classic wild west tropes, cartoon action and moments of true pathos, Slap Leather plays the originally moody and po-faced gunfighter as a wittily sharp-tongued, out-&-proud gay man in a vibrant tribute to genre-bending – think The Birdcage or In & Out blended with Blazing Saddles or Zorro: The Gay Blade. It also comes packed with a passel of TV in-jokes (schoolmarm Laura Ingulls, ranchers Haus & Little Jo Cartrite, newspaper publisher Lew Grant) and comics sight gags by the masterful and puckish Severin. With covers by Dave Johnson, Kaare Andrews, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson, Darwyn Cooke and J. Scott Campbell, this a jolly and uplifting treat for anyone who likes to see old edifices poked…
© 2018 MARVEL.

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Kevin Keller Celebration! Omnibus


By Dan Parent, J. Bone , Paul Kupperberg, Bill Galvan, Pat Kennedy, Tim Kennedy, Fernando Ruiz, Bob Smith, Rich Koslowski, Al Milgrom, Glen Whitmore, Jack Morelli, Gisele Lagace, Derek Charm, Sina Grace, Phil Jimenez, Ryan Jampole, Gary Martin, Digikore Studios & various (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-64576-887-6 (HB/Digital edition)

Following the debut of Superman, MLJ were one of so many publishers to jump on the “mystery-man” bandwagon: concocting their own small but inspired pantheon of gaudily clad crusaders. In November 1939 they launched Blue Ribbon Comics, and swiftly followed up with Top-Notch and Pep Comics. Content was that era’s standard mix of masked heroes, clean-cut two-fisted adventurers, genre prose pieces and gags.

Soon after, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (hence MLJ) spotted a gap in the already overcrowded market. In December 1941 the Fights ‘n’ Tights, heaving He-Man crowd were gently nudged aside by a much less imposing hero: an ordinary teenager in mundane adventures just like the readership, but with the companionable laughs, good times and romance emphasised. Goldwater developed the youthful everyman protagonist concept and tasked writer Vic Bloom & artist Bob Montana with making it all work. Inspired by and referencing the successful Andy Hardy movies (starring Mickey Rooney), their new notion premiered in Pep Comics #22. The unlikely star was a gap-toothed, freckle-faced, red-headed kid obsessed with impressing the pretty blonde next door.

A 6-page untitled tale introduced hapless boob Archie Andrews and wholesomely fetching Betty Cooper. The boy’s wryly unconventional best friend and confidante Jughead Jones also debuted there, as did idyllic small-town utopia Riverdale. It was a huge hit and by the winter of 1942 the kid had won his own series and then a solo-starring title. Archie Comics #1 was MLJ’s first non-anthology magazine and with it began an inexorable transformation of the entire company. With the introduction of ultra-rich, raven-haired Veronica Lodge, all the pieces were in play for the comic book industry’s second Genuine Phenomenon.

By 1946 the kids were totally in charge, and MLJ officially reinvented itself, becoming Archie Comics, retiring most of its costumed characters years before the end of the Golden Age and becoming, to all intents and purposes, a publisher of family-friendly comedies.

The hometown settings and perpetually fruitful premise of an Eternal Romantic Triangle – with girl-hating Jughead to assist or deter and scurrilous love-rat rival Reggie Mantle to test, duel and vex our boy in their own unique ways – the scenario was one that not only resonated with fans but was somehow infinitely fresh and engaging…

Like Superman’s, Archie’s success drove a change in content at every other US publisher (except Gilberton’s Classics Illustrated), creating a culture-shifting multi-media brand encompassing TV, movies, newspaper strips, toys, merchandise, a chain of restaurants and (in the swinging sixties) a pop music sensation when Sugar, Sugar – from one of the many animated TV cartoons – became a global summer smash hit. Clean and decent garage band “The Archies” has been a fixture of the comics ever since…

The eternal triangle has generated thousands of charming, raucous, gentle, frenetic, chiding and even heart-rending humorous dramas ranging from surreal wit to frantic slapstick, with the kids and a constantly expanding cast of friends (boy genius Dilton Doily, genial giant jock Big Moose and occasional guest Sabrina the Teenage Witch amongst so many others), growing into an American institution and part of the American cultural landscape.

The feature thrived by constantly refreshing its core archetypes; boldly and seamlessly adapting to a changing world outside those bright and cheerful pages: shamelessly co-opting youth, pop culture, fashion trends and even topical events into its infallible mix of comedy and young romance. Each and every social revolution has been assimilated into the mix and over decades the company has confronted most social issues affecting youngsters in a manner both even-handed and tasteful.

Constant addition of new characters like African-American Chuck Clayton and girlfriend Nancy Woods, fashion-diva Ginger Lopez, Hispanic couple Frankie Valdez &Maria Rodriguez, student film-maker Raj Patel and spoiled home-wrecker-in-waiting Cheryl Blossom all contributed to a wide and refreshingly broad-minded scenario. In 2010 Archie jumped the final hurdle (until now) – for decades a seemingly insurmountable one for kids’ comic books – when openly gay student Kevin Keller became an adored and admired advocate tackling and dismantling one of the last major taboos of mainstream comics.

Created by writer/artist Dan Parent & inker Rich Koslowski (lettered by Jack Morelli and coloured by Digikore Studios), Kevin debuted in Veronica #202 (September 2010). It was the first comic book in the company’s long, long history to go into a second printing…

This landmark Kickstarter-funded hardback/eBook compendium gathers that delightful debut and the avalanche of tales that followed – specifically from Veronica #202, 205, a 4-issue Kevin Keller miniseries in #207-210; Kevin Keller #1-15, Life with Kevin #1-5; Life With Archie #16, a strip from 2015’s Comic Book Legal Defense Fund #1 and a slew of seldom seen, rare and even all-new material comprising the first decade of the new star..

It all begins with a ‘Foreword’ by creator Dan Parent and context-establishing ‘Introduction – Who is Kevin Keller?’ before the first of many, many covers and variants segues into ‘Chapter One: Isn’t it Bro-Mantic’ (Veronica #202, September 2010), introduces a charming, good-looking and exceedingly-together lad who utterly bowls the flighty heiress over. Veonica Lodge is totally smitten with him, even though he can out-eat human dustbin Jughead and loves sports. Although suave Kevin inexplicably loves hanging out with the ghastly Jones boy Ronnie is determined to make him exclusively hers. Jughead (who clearly possesses fully-functioning gaydar) is totally cool with his new pal, and sees an opportunity to pay Ronnie back for the many mean things she has said and done over the years…

When Kevin finally explains to Veronica why she is wasting her time, she takes it fabulously well and soon they are hanging out as best buds. After all, they have so much in common: chatting, stylish clothes, shopping, boys…

The cover parade alternates with Retro Fashion pages (depicting our star and his new friends in assorted pin-ups detailing styles across the decades) and the first here accompanies the cover of Veronica #205 (March 2011). Immensely popular from the outset, Kevin struck a chord with the readership and returned a few months later in ‘The Buddy System’, with her bombastic dad giving the obviously perfect new guy an all-clear to monopolise his daughter’s time. The following fun-filled days do have one major downside however, as poor Betty is increasingly neglected…

You’d think Archie would be jealous too, but he’s just glad someone “safe” is keeping other guys away from “his” Ronnie. It seems the ideal scenario for everyone but Betty, but when man-hunting, filthy rich, overprivileged, entitled precious princess Cheryl Blossom hits town, it puts everything back into perspective…

A text briefing on Kevin’s own Mini Series precedes the next big step as repeated cameos in Archie titles rapidly evolved into a miniseries, expanding Kevin’s role whilst answering many questions about his past. It started with ‘Meet Kevin Keller!’ (as the new boy took over Veronica #207-10, June – December 2011) wherein we learn he was an army brat, born in Britain but raised all over the world, and now living in Riverdale with his dad (retired and invalided army colonel) Thomas, mum Kathy and feisty sisters Denise and Patty. It also shows Kevin is a typical guy who loves practical jokes as much as food and sports…

Whilst sharing these facts with Betty and Ronnie, he also lets slip some less impressive details: how he was a nerdy, braces-wearing late developer frequently a target of bullies…

‘The Write Stuff’ (#208) is set during the build-up to his dad’s surprise birthday party and discloses how Kevin plans to serve in the army before becoming a journalist, whilst also showing the gentle hero’s darker side after he is compelled to intervene – and end – the persecution of a young Riverdale student by older kids.

‘Let’s Get it Started’ (#209) finds Kevin ambushed and pressganged by his new friends into participating in a scholastic TV quiz show where anxiety and nerves almost get the better of him. Happily, Ronnie inadvertently breaks his paralysing stage fright with a humiliating gaffe, but that’s just a palate cleanser for a potent object lesson in the concluding chapter…

As Kevin steps in to shelter and help one of the kids who used to torment him long ago, ‘Taking the Lead!’ also finds him reluctantly running for Class President at the insistent urging of Ronnie and the gang. It’s not that he wants the position particularly, but when star school quarterback and bigoted jock David Perkins starts a campaign based on intolerance, innuendo and intimidation, Kevin feels someone has to confront the smugly-macho, “real man” who boasts of being the most popular boy in school…

Despite a smear campaign and dirty tactics any Presidential candidate would be proud of, truth, justice and decency win out…

This breezy and engaging collection pauses for ‘An Interview with Kevin Keller’ offering further background direct from the horse’s mouth and segues into a briefing on Kevin’s Ongoing Series as Kevin Keller #1-15 (February 2012 – September 2014) opens with ‘Chapter Seven: There’s a First Time for Everything’ wherein the much-travelled, journalism-obsessed “Army Brat” finally starts to settle in at Riverdale High. In short order he is elected Class President, has his first commercial writing published and reveals a shocking secret…

For all his accomplishments Kevin has never gone on a real date, and when a certain someone asks him out, the Keller kid turns to Betty for some confidence-boosting advice. He isn’t a complete neophyte; there was something like a date once before, but thanks to his catastrophic nervousness it was a major disaster. Unfortunately, Reggie overhears their huddled conversation and the self-proclaimed romance expert elects to give Kevin the benefit of his vast masculine wisdom. Exuberant preparations become a catalogue of horror and, as more well-meaning friends involve themselves, it looks certain Kevin will repeat that horrific initial experience…

Thankfully some stabilising words from lurve-hating Jughead and an eventful morning with remarkably understanding Colonel Keller, mum Kathy and feisty sisters Denise and Patty soon restore some necessary calm and equilibrium.

The next tale moves from straight slapstick to heart-warming empathy as Class President Kevin must organise a prom in ‘May I Have this Dance?’ Only then does he discover that he has a secret admirer. Of course, once Veronica finds out it’s not a secret for long…

As the 70s-themed fashion disaster begins to take shape, further furtive communications reveal the clandestine would-be wooer is someone still not fully at ease with his sexual orientation; forcing Kevin to be at his most understanding and forgiving…

Contentious themes and prejudices surface in #3’s ‘Stranded in Paradise’ when the summer vacation begins and Kevin gets a job as a lifeguard. One beach is the time-honoured hangout of all Riverdale kids, but when Cheryl Blossom and her rich Pembroke School cronies invade the space, sparks fly. The grubby “Townies” are challenged to a surfing contest for sole possession of the sands with Kevin as star competitor and secret weapon for the home team. The fair-minded stalwart has, however, underestimated the vicious tactics of loathsome homophobe Sloan…

Next comes a timely international epic set at the 2012 London Olympics. ‘Games People Play’ sees the Colonel – who has dual British/American citizenship – invited to be a torchbearer. Having been UK born and latterly spending four years in England, Kevin is delighted to be going back for a visit and reconnecting with old mate Brian. He doesn’t even mind when shopping-crazy Veronica inveigles an invite to join the family. Thus, when Dad falls foul of London’s Underground at a crucial moment, Kevin is ready and more-or-less willing to step in for what appears to be the unluckiest and most dangerous section of the entire torch route…

Feeling GLAAD reviews the award KK won prior to ‘Drive Me Crazy!’ (#5, December 2012) hitting the next milestone in a young man’s life as the affable pedestrian finally gains independence with the arrival of his first car. It is, in fact, the old jeep belonging to his dad and the fun really hits high gear after Moose and Dilton offer to spruce it up and make it roadworthy in their own inimitable manner – just in time to play havoc with Kevin’s date with old pal Todd…

A Word from George Takei offers the insights of the actor, author and rights activist in anticipation of his walk-on part in star-studded saga ‘By George!’ (#6, January 2013) wherein a class project about inspirational heroes leads to the kids invading a local comic convention headlined by the Star Trek star. Meanwhile, Mr. Takei surprises all concerned by returning the favour at Riverdale High. If only Kevin wasn’t so distracted by the return of old flame Brian and the promise of new romance…

KK #7 demand ‘Decisions, Decisions!’ as Kevin dates aggressive surly bad boy Devon: a student determined to keep his status as a macho hetero male. Patience, understanding and love only go so far though, and when Kevin convinces Devon to finally come out, the misunderstood lout faces repercussions from his family and friends the Keller kid couldn’t anticipate…

Moreover, piling on the pressure, an old secret admirer who remained anonymous chooses this moment to identify himself to the ever-popular Kevin. Everything boils over in ‘Play by the Rules!’ (#8) as Veronica cons him into starring in her self-penned stage opus Teenagers: The Musical! Kevin’s proximity to former secret admirer Paul drives Devon to jealous stalking, but thankfully in the unavoidable denouement, the only real casualty is Ronnie’s atrocity of a show…

Possibly due to increasingly targeted flack from real world villainous oppressors One Million Moms, the remaining run of Kevin Keller never made the jump to graphic compilations – until now. Here Never Before Collected! gathers them issues beginning with #9 as ‘Chapter Fifteen: The Tag-Alongs’ sees childhood friends William and Wendy (the other two of the “Three Musketeers”) sign up as lifeguards too. The reunion is marred when Ronnie and Devon continually distract the swim sentinels, but it’s as nothing as circumstance conspire to drag all of them – and the rest of the family – on Kevin and the Colonel’s sacrosanct annual father/son fishing trip…

The Kiss details how and why One Million Moms singled out Kevin Keller as a threat to America’s children as the creators sneakily struck back whilst covering the next big landmark in the fictional hero’s life. Kevin Keller #10 (August 2013) saw ‘A Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss!’ share that first moment of commitment with Devon, how one obnoxious woman bystander responded to it and how the rest of Riverdale slapped her down…

Dan Parent remained as penciler when Paul Kupperberg scripted #11’s ‘Charity, Schmarity!’ (ably assisted by inker Rich Koslowski, Jack Morelli on letters and Digikore Studios applying colours) as Kevin and Ronnie go to war after being unable to agree on what kind of fundraiser to organise for the after school Literacy Program, but when New Year’s Eve traditions are pilloried in ‘Resolution Revolution’ (written by Parent), the besties are fondly reunited with Devon acting as a latterday Grinch and ultimately going far too far…

Single again in Kevin Keller #13 (May 2014),Kevin’s woes are lifted when Paul seizes his romantic chance in Kupperberg & Parent’s ‘Elementary, My Dear Kevin!’ As the school is gripped by constant – if not actually always true – “exposés” perpetrated by salacious scandal-mongering gossip “The Riverdale Whisperer”, devoted journalist Kevin determines to unmask the cruel liar…

Because no comic book star can be truly complete without a costume, Kevin Keller #14 and 15 saw our hero suit up as a costumed cavorter. The reasoning is explained in The Equalizer before the last two issues of Kevin’s first solo series changed his life forever. It begins penultimately as in ‘That’s Really Super, Kevin!’ (Parent, Koslowski, Morelli & Glenn Whitmore) as Ronnie uses her wealth to remake her favourite guy into an gadget-geared mystery man after he saves an old lady from a mugger.

Although initially reluctant, the chance to help others and Veronica’s persistent badgering as potential costumed compatriot Power Teen soon sees him prowling Riverdale as clean-cut masked vigilante The Equalizer…

Typically, the reluctant do-gooder is torn between pleasing a pal, helping people in need and not being an embarrassing idiot, and he’s soon distracted and far more concerned with impressing the Lodge’s hunky support staffer Tony than reducing the ludicrously low crime rate of Riverdale. The added pressure of the most popular and well-known teen in town keeping his identity secret from all the people who know him forces a big decision in closing issue #15’s ‘Holding Out For a Hero’…

Life with Kevin textually covers the next chapter as ‘Meet the New Kevin Keller’ details how his solo gig ended but two years later, he was back in a 5-issue miniseries by Parent, inker J. Bone & Jack Morelli, focused what occurred after he finished at Riverdale and graduated from college. Life with Kevin – in a limited but superbly effective palette of black, white and blue – traced his career after moving to Manhattan to join a major metropolitan news outlet…

Cover-dated June 2016 and subtitled Kevin in the City, #1 referenced sitcoms like 30 Rock, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, and begins in ‘Chapter 22: You’re Gonna Make it After All! (Maybe)’ as Keller moves into a grim apartment, meets his interesting neighbours and makes an unforgettable first impression on his new boss at station NYC-TV. Sadly, his views on what constitutes journalism don’t tally with hers in the cutthroat era of clickbait and Twitterstorms. Even more tragically, the fact that the camera loves and viewers adore him means Kevin could be forced into becoming a useless, vapid Screen Celeb himself…

The day ends perfectly when Veronica shows up. On Kevin’s advice, his BFF talked back to daddy and now she’s disinherited, broke and homeless…

‘Room for Change’ picks up a short while later with Kevin finding his love life and dating days seriously curtailed by oblivious roommate Ronnie, who, unsurprisingly, cannot hold on to any job she finds (mostly waitressing) and whose efforts to help inevitably go badly awry…

After building a profile on a dating app and then accidentally outing himself on live TV – a strict policy no-no at NYC-TV – Kevin’s life gets even crazier. In ‘I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can!’ boss Babs is ordered to exploit her camera-shy protégé onscreen as much as legally possible, leading Ronnie to accidentally endanger the mental health of a shy young gay student Kevin is secretly helping through difficult times…

The gathering storm breaks on social media in ‘Past Tense!’ with Bab’s ruthless attempt to capitalise on the personal crisis for ratings compelling Kevin to make a world-changing decision – but only after a chaotic comedy of errors devastates the station’s schedules…

The story pauses for now with ‘Moving Forward!’ (#5, January 2018) as the progression of roommate dramas, two-timing bad boyfriends, family health scares and career calamities lead to Kevin taking charge of his life and choosing the future he wants and deserves despite what everyone else thinks…

Archie Comics were early advocates of alternate reality wherein adult versions of their pantheon explored in great depth unlikely possibilities. The strand saw Archie married to both Betty and Veronica in drama-heavy sagas and even murdered.

As explained in Kevin Marries…, the Keller boy got the same opportunities in Life With Archie #16 (January 2012), much to the ire of those One Millom Mom martinets…

Here ‘Chapter Twenty-Seven: For Better or For Worse’ and ‘Chapter Twenty-Eight: For Richer or For Poorer’ (by Kupperberg, Fernando Ruiz, Bob Smith & Whitmore, and released just as America was legalising gay marriage) saw wounded soldier Kevin fresh back from the Middle East and recuperating from physical and mental wounds. His assigned physical therapist became so much more and – as all the drama and intrigue of the Archie-verse played out around them – Kevin and Clay Walker decided to tie the knot…

As previously mentioned, this epic compilation was funded by friends on Kickstarter. The response also generated new a Parent-tale as ‘Chapter Twenty-Nine: Brand New Story Celebration!!’ takes us on a tour of Riverdale with old friends meeting many of the contributors who stumped up for the book – and new boyfriend Paolo, before ‘Chapter Thirty: Bonus Story ‘Read Between the Lines’ makes a stand for diversity and champions libraries and librarians’ never-ending battle against book-banners, as first seen in Comic Book Legal Defense Fund #1, 2015.

Closing this book are a number of ‘Bonus Features’: pin-ups and a cover gallery including modern masterpieces and remastered classic Archie images retrofitted to suit our 21st century all-star by Parent, Gisele Lagace, J. Bone, Derek Charm, Sina Grace, Phil Jimenez, Dan DeCarlo, Bill Galvan, Ryan Jampole, Steve Downer and more: ‘Bonus promotional Sketches’ and full ‘Backer Credits’.

At once hilarious, enthralling and magically inclusive Kevin Keller: Celebration! is a joyous, miraculously fun collection for you and everyone you know and like to enjoy over and over again.
Kevin Keller Celebration! © 2022 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Harley Quinn: A Rogue’s Gallery – The Deluxe Cover Art Collection


By Bruce Timm, Terry & Rachel Dodson, Amanda Connor & Paul Mounts, Tim Sale, Jim Lee, Frank Cho, Alex Ross and many & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7423-8 (HB/Digital edition)

Comic books aren’t just stories. So often the cover is as important and thrilling as the contents – if not more so. Let’s face it; we’ve all gone for something for its appearance only to be disappointed by its interior. So it’s a relief and a delight to thoroughly recommend a comic cover-art compilation where the visuals are as extraordinary as the material they were promoting.

Harley Quinn was never supposed to be a star – or even actual comics character. As soon became apparent, however, the manic minx always has her own astoundingly askew and off-kilter ideas on the matter – and any other topic you could name: ethics, friendship, ordnance, coffee, cuddle bunnies…

Created by Paul Dini & Bruce Timm, Batman: The Animated Series aired in the US from September 5th 1992 to September 15th 1995. Ostensibly for kids, the breakthrough television cartoon revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and immediately began feeding back into the print iteration, consequently leading to some of the absolute best comic book tales in the Dark Knight’s many decades of existence.

Employing a timeless visual style dubbed “Dark Deco”, the show mixed elements from all iterations of the character and, without diluting the power, tone or mood of the premise, reshaped the grim avenger and his extended team into a universally accessible, thematically memorable form even the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding exuberance and panache that only the most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to…

Harley was initially the Clown Prince of Crime’s self-destructive, slavishly adoring, extreme abuse-enduring assistant, as seen in “Joker’s Favor” (airing September 11th 1992). She instantly captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers and began popping up in the incredibly successful licensed comic book. Always stealing the show, Harley soon graduated into mainstream DC continuity. Along the circuitous way, Quinn – AKA Dr. Harleen Quinzel – developed a support network of sorts in living bioweapon Poison Ivy and a bizarre love/hate relationship with some of Gotham’s other female felons…

After a brief period bopping around the DCU, she was re-imagined as part of the company’s vast post-Flashpoint major makeover: subsequently appearing all over comics as cornerstone of a new iteration of the Suicide Squad, in those aforementioned movies and her own adult-oriented animation series. At heart, however, she’s always been a comic glamour-puss, with big, bold, primal emotions and only the merest acknowledgement of how reality works…

Harley Quinn: A Rogue’s Gallery – The Deluxe Cover Art Collection is a giant collection of some of the best comic covers from her first quarter century of existence spanning her first print appearance in Batman Adventures #12 (1993) to 2017: charting her progress from frolicsome cartoon felon to comic book big draw, movie magnate and all around gay icon.

Of course, you could just take my word for it and accept there are gathered here 170 fabulous eye-grabbing images (plus a few bonus sketches and such) by 92 stellar artists – mostly stripped of verbal clutter and text livery – but I suspect many will also study the huge shopping lists of names and numbers assembled below.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THEM – they are for obsessive completists like me, okay?

If you’re still here and not off shopping now, what’s here are the covers from Batman Adventures: Mad Love #1, Batman Adventures #12; Gotham Adventures #12;  Batman: Harley Quinn #1;  Harley and Ivy: Love on the Lam #1; Harley Quinn #1, 3, 4, 9, 11, 13, 19, 38; Batman Adventures #3, 16; Gotham Girls #3; Harley and Ivy#1-3; Detective Comics #831, 837; Batman #613; Joker’s Asylum II: Harley Quinn #1; Gotham City Sirens #1, 5, 15, 20; Gotham City Sirens Book II; Suicide Squad #1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 21; Detective Comics volume 2 #23.2, 39; Harley Quinn volume 2 #0-3, 6-9, 11-13, 15-19, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30; Harley Quinn Invades Comic-Con International: San Diego #1; Harley Quinn Holiday Special #1; Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special #1; Secret Six #5; Action Comics volume 2 #39; Aquaman volume 2 #39; Batgirl volume 4 #39; Batman volume 2 #39; Batman and Robin volume 2 #39; Batman/Superman #19; Catwoman volume 4 #39; The Flash volume 4 #39, 47; Grayson #7; Green Lantern volume 5 #39, 47; Green Lantern Corps volume 3 #39; Justice League volume 2 #39, 47; Justice League Dark volume 1 #39; Justice League United #9; Sinestro #10; Supergirl volume 6 #39; Superman volume 3 #39, 47, Superman/Wonder Woman #19; Teen Titans volume 4 #7; Wonder Woman volume 4 #39, 47; New Suicide Squad #4, 22; Green Arrow volume 5 #47; Justice League of America volume 3 #6; Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad: April Fool’s Special #1; Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad: April Fool’s Special #1; Harley Quinn and Her Gang of Harleys #1; DC Comics Bombshells #27, 32; Harley Quinn volume 4 #1, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 17-19, 21, 22; Harley’s Greatest Hits; Harley Quinn Volume 1: Die Laughing; Justice League Vs Suicide Squad #1, 3; Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1 and Suicide Squad volume 7 #1-2, 4, 8, 13, 16, 20.

These are chronologically delivered, fully listed and accredited on the contents pages, so I’m also going to list the creators in case someone’s a particular favourite. Represented here by single images or many bites of the cheery cherry are Bruce Timm, Mike Parobeck & Rick Burchett, Alex Ross, Shane Glines, Joe Chiodo, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson, Tim Sale, Scott Morse, Kelsey Shannon, Simone Biachi, Jim Lee & Scott Williams, Claudio Castellini, Guillem March, Ryan Benjamin, Paul Renaud, Ivan Reis, Eber Ferreira & Rod Reis, Greg Capullo & FCO Plascencia, Ken Lashley & Matt Yackley, Jason Pearson, Chris Burnham & Nathan Fairbairn, Amanda Connor & Paul Mounts, Dave Johnson, Alex Sinclair, Stephane Roux, Adam Hughes, Clay Mann, Tommy Lee Edwards, Mike Allred & Laura Allred, Ant Lucia, Darwin Cooke, Dan Panosian, Eduardo Risso, Ben Caldwell, Emanuela Lupacchino & Tomeu Morey, Chad Hardin, Neal Adams, Ryan Sook, Jeromy Cox, John Timms, Nicola Scott, Danny Miki, Cliff Chiang, Jill Thompson, J.G. Jones, Jim Balent, Mike McKone & Dave McCaig, Marco D’Alfonso, Dustin Nguyen, Joe Quinones, Mikel Janin, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, Joe Benitez, Peter Steigerwald, Francis Manapul, Sean Galloway, Phil Jimenez & Hi-Fi, Jeremy Roberts, Juan Ferreyra, Brennan Wagner, Joe Madureira, Nei Ruffino, Lee Bermejo, Frank Cho, Mirka Andolfo, Joseph Michael Linsner, Minjue Helen Chen, Tony S. Daniel, Jason Fabok, Babs Tarr, Rafael Albuquerque, Yanick Paquette, Paul Pope & Lovern Kindzierski, Tyler Kirkham, Jae Lee & June Chung, Ed Benes & Dinei Ribeiro, Aaron Lopresti, Tom Raney & Gina Going, Khary Randoph & Emilio Lopez, Michael Turner, Carlos D’Anda, Laura Martin, Sabine Rich, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ashley Witter, Dawn McTeigue, Jonboy Myers, Sunny Gho, Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion, Paul Pelletier & Sandra Hope, Joshua Middleton. Liam Sharp, Billy Tucci, John Romita Jr & Dean White, and Otto Schmidt.

This collection is exciting, lovely to look upon, deliriously daft, happily hilarious and will provide hours of delighted deliberation as we all dip in, reminisce and ultimately disagree on what should and shouldn’t be included. Enjoy, Art-lovers, Bat-Fans and proud Harley-queens!

If you are utterly absorbed and crave still more, you might want to also see companion volume The Art of Harley Quinn by Andrew Farago.
© 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Leonard & Larry 3: Extracts From the Ring Cycle at Royal Albert Hall


By Tim Barela (Palliard Press)
ISBN: 978-1-88456-805-3 (Album PB)

We live in an era where Pride events are world-wide and commonplace: where acceptance of LGBTQIA+ citizens is a given… at least in all the civilised countries where dog-whistle politicians, populist “hard men” totalitarian dictators (I’m laughing at a private dirty joke right now) and sundry organised religions are kept in their generally law-abiding places by their hunger for profitable acceptance and desperation to stay tax-exempt, scandal-free, rich and powerful.

There’s still too many places where it’s not so good to be Gay but at least Queer themes and scenes are no longer universally illegal and can be ubiquitously seen in entertainment media of all types and age ranges… and even on the streets of most cities. For all the injustices and oppressions, we’ve still come a long, long way and it’s and simply No Big Deal anymore. Let’s affirm that victory and all work harder to keep it that way…

Such was not always the case and, to be honest, the other team (with religions proudly egging them on and backing them up) are fighting hard and dirty to reclaim all the intolerant high ground they’ve lost thus far.

Incredibly, all that change and counteraction happened within the span of living memory (mine, in this case). For English-language comics, the shift from illicit pornography to homosexual inclusion in all drama, comedy, adventure and other genres started as late as the 1970s and matured in the 1980s – despite resistance from most western governments – thanks to the efforts of editors like Robert Triptow and Andy Mangels and cartoonists like Howard Cruse, Vaughn Bode, Trina Robbins, Lee Marrs. Gerard P. Donelan, Roberta Gregory, Touko Valio Laaksonen/“Tom of Finland” and Tim Barela.

A native of Los Angeles, Barela was born in 1954, and became a fundamentalist Christian in High School. He loved motorbikes and had dreams of becoming a cartoonist. He was also a gay kid struggling to come to terms with what was still judged illegal, wilfully mind-altering psychosis and perversion – if not actual genetic deviancy – and an appalling sin by his theological peers and close family…

In 1976, Barela began an untitled comic strip about working in a bike shop for Cycle News. Some characters then reappeared in later efforts Just Puttin (Biker, 1977-1978); Short Strokes (Cycle World, 1977-1979); Hard Tale (Choppers, 1978-1979) plus The Adventures of Rickie Racer, and cooking strip (!) The Puttin Gourmet… America’s Favorite Low-Life Epicurean in Biker Lifestyle and FTW News. Four years later, the cartoonist unsuccessfully pitched a domestic (AKA “family”) strip called Ozone to LGBTQA news periodical The Advocate. Among its proposed quotidian cast were literal and metaphorical straight man Rodger and openly gay Leonard Goldman… who had a “roommate” named Larry Evans…

Gay Comix was an irregularly published anthology, edited at that time by Underground star Robert Triptow (Strip AIDs U.S.A.; Class Photo). He advised Barela to ditch the restrictive newspaper strip format in favour of longer complete episodes, and printed the first of these in Gay Comix #5 in 1984. The remodelled new feature was a huge success, included in many successive issues and became the solo star of Gay Comix Special #1 in 1992.

Leonard & Larry also showed up in prestigious benefit comic Strip AIDs U.S.A. before triumphantly relocating to The Advocate in 1988, and – from 1990 – to its rival publication Frontiers. The lads even moved into live drama in 1994: adapted by Theatre Rhinoceros of San Francisco as part of stage show Out of the Inkwell. In the 1990s their episodic exploits were gathered in a quartet of wonderfully oversized (220 x 280 mm) monochrome albums which gained a modicum of international stardom and some glittering prizes. This third compendium compiled by Palliard Press between 1996 -2000, follows Domesticity Isn’t Pretty and Kurt Cobain & Mozart Are Both Dead, whilst paving the way for last volume (to date) How Real Men Do It.

As previously stated, as well as featuring a multi-generational cast, Leonard & Larry is a strip that progressed in real time, with characters all aging and developing accordingly. The strips are not and never have been about sex – except in that the subject is a constant generator of hilarious jokes and outrageously embarrassing situations. Triumphantly skewering hypocrisy and rebuking ignorance with dry wit and superb drawing, episodes cover various couples’ home and work lives, constant parties, physical deterioration, social gaffes, rows, family revelations, holidays and even events like earthquakes and fanciful prognostications.

Following an Introduction from Animation historian Charles Solomon and Lief Wauters potted history of the strip ‘The Life and Times of Leonard & Larry’, a ‘Leonard & Larry Timeline’ provides a crucial curated recap in copious detail, including reintroducing the vast Byzantine, deftly interwoven cast, with past highlights and low points and reminds readers that this strip passes in real time and the players are aging just like we are…

Star couple Leonard Goldman and Larry Evans live together despite vast family circles and friend groups all apparently at odds with each other. The feature also prominently and increasing plays with fantasy as dream manifestations – or are they actual ghosts? – of composers Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his bitter frenemy Johannes Brahms plague cast members: acting as a vanguard for even odder occurrences to come…

This family saga is primarily a comedy of manners, played out against social prejudices and grudging gradual popular acceptances, but it also has shocking moments of drama and tension and whole bunches of heartwarming sentiment set in and around West Hollywood.

The extensive Leonard & Larry clan comprise the former’s formidable unaccepting mother Esther – who still ambushes him with blind dates and nice Jewish girls – and the latter’s ex-wife Sharon and the sons of their 18-yeat marriage Richard and David. Teenaged Richard recently knocked up and wed equally school-aged Debbie, making the scrappy couple unwilling grandparents years (decades even!) before they were ready. The oldsters adore baby Lauren but didn’t need to relive all that aging trauma when Debbie announced there would soon be an older sister…

Maternal grandparents Phil and Barbra Dunbarton are ultra conservative and stridently Christian, spending a lot of time fretting over Debbie and Lauren’s souls and their own social standing. They’re particularly concerned over role models and what horrors she and her brother Michael are being exposed to whenever the gay guys babysit. Their appearances are always some of funniest and most satisfying as the deviant clan expands exponentially in this volume…

David Evans is as Queer as his dad, and works in Larry’s leather/fetish boutique store on Melrose Avenue. That iconic venue provides loads of quick, easy laughs and many edgy moments thanks to local developer/predatory expansionist Lillian Lynch who still wants the store at any cost. It’s also the meeting point for many other couples in Leonard & Larry’s eccentric orbit. Their friends/clients enjoy greater roles this time, offering other perspectives on LA life.

Flamboyant former aerospace engineer Frank Freeman lives with acclaimed concert pianist Bob Mendez and is saddled with an compulsive yen for uniforms. It comes in handy again when Bob’s sex-crazed celebrity stalker Fiona Birkenstock breaks jail to re-kidnap him – at least until she switches affection to a certain celebrity judge sentencing her…

Larry’s other employee is Jim Buchanan whose alarming dating history stabilised when he met a genuine cowboy at one of L & L’s parties. Merle Oberon was a newly “out” Texan trucker who added romance and stability to Jim’s lonely life. Sadly, it got complicated in other ways once Merle became a Hollywood soap star and his agents, managers and co-star convinced him his career needed Oberon back in that closet…

Jim, by the way, is the original and central focus of the overly-critical dead composers’ puckish visits…

Also catching attention this time are heated discussions on the supernatural as the ghost composers graduate from dream-based plot device to active participants, playing pranks on many more of the minor cast members. Their games re balanced with ever-kvetching aging-averse Larry painfully adapting to being a doting grandad/perennial babysitter. Jim and Merle meanwhile engage a psychic to exorcise their haunt housemates, blithely unaware that she’s an undercover tabloid hack looking for a juicy exposé…

Younger players take centre stage, offering the author opportunity to spike not just anti-gay bigots but take on good old-fashioned racism too, even delivering a gleefully potent poke at American fundamentalism when the “Christian Coalition” relentlessly pursues good old white, Texan celebrity Merle to be the face of their next “decency campaign” and just won’t take no for an answer…

A surprisingly hard-hitting – if deviously velvet-gloved – storyline sees Jim discovering he was adopted: in fact the child of an unwed catholic girl exploited by the Irish Church’s baby-selling scandal (you really should look up Ireland’s Mother & Baby Homes). Reeling and despondent, his downward spiral is resolved by Merle who secretly arranges a trip to Ireland and a family reunion no-one wanted but everyone benefitted from…

David is Larry’s gay son and not expected to cause chaos and consternation, but that ends when he and his bestie Collin help their lesbian roommate Nat get pregnant and our freaked out oldster contemplates becoming a grandfather yet again…

That hilariously potent arc is compounded when ex-wife Sharon attends one of their frequent dinner parties and gets off with the still-sore former spouse’s only straight acquaintance (classical violinist Gene Slatkin). The liaison sparks incomprehensible jealousy and primeval macho ownership behaviour in Larry, but it’s so much worse when he learns the result is geriatric pregnancy and his becoming an unpaid baby sitter for another family addition…

Extended saga ‘The Baby Shower’ finds the entire conflicted and in many parts intolerant extended family in one room and scoring points As first Sharon and then Nat go into labour it sparks fourth wall shenanigans as Larry again has a meltdown and flees from the hospital, archenemy Mike the midwife, all semblance of parental responsibility and general biological “ickiness”.

The feature provides plenty of moments of wild abandon too, such as when Larry loses a friend’s beloved dog and finds an enormous python with a very full stomach, fun with tarantulas and a startling dream sequence wherein grandkids (7-year-old Lauren and 3-year-old Michael) take over “creating” strip a few times, ultimately confirming grampy’s crazed conviction that he’s nothing but a character in a comic strip crafted by a sadist. Further hallucinogenic riffs – including cowboy antics and a rebellion of Barbie dolls – leads finally to a major emotional growth spurt and Larry’s return to the hospital just in time to join the happy events…

Leonard & Larry is a traditionally domestic marital sitcom/soap opera with Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz – or more aptly, Dick Van Dyke & Mary Tyler Moore – replaced by a hulking bearded “bear” with biker, cowboy and leather fetishes and a stylishly moustachioed, no-nonsense fashion photographer. Taken in total, it’s a love story about growing old together, but not gracefully or with any dignity. Populated by adorable, appetising fully fleshed out characters, Leonard & Larry was always about finding and then being yourself and remains an irresistible slice of gentle whimsy to nourish the spirit and beguile the jaded. If you feel like taking a Walk on the Mild Side now this tome is still at large through internet vendors. So why don’t you?
Excerpts from the Ring Cycle in Royal Albert Hall © 2000 Palliard Press. All artwork and strips © 2000 Tim Barela. All rights reserved The Life and Times of Leonard & Larry © 2000 Lief Wauters.

After decades of waiting, the entire ensemble is available again courtesy of Rattling Good Yarns Press. Sublimely hefty hardback uber-compilation Finally! The Complete Leonard & Larry Collection was released in 2021, reprinting the entire saga – including rare as hens’ teats last book How Real Men Do It (978-1955826051). It’s a little smaller in page dimensions (216 x280mm) and far harder to lift, but it’s Out There if you want it…

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Safer Places


By Kit Anderson (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-77-6 (PB)

If you get a holiday this year and you’re one of those folk that like to read, here’s something a bit different that will certainly add to the desired sense of getting away from it all…

If you’re open to the idea, there’s wonder all around us. It’s not a new notion but remains a potently beguiling one that confirms its power in these interconnected vignettes exploring memory, imagination, inner worlds, nature, secrets, self-help solutions and isolation.

Explored over an initially undisclosed set of parameters and across myriad places and times, these are moments of shared-yet-exclusive realities that appear to be an example of a growing creative vogue/creative zeitgeist – as you’ll see when we imminently review similar but so different Avery Hill release Infinite Wheat Paste: Catalytic Conversions.

Here, however, cartoonist and tale-teller Kit Anderson merges mundane momentary travails with commonplace entertainment escape routes (wizard’s worlds, haunted houses, cyber-realities, alien mindscapes, fresh starts) to explore “liminal spaces and small magic”: digging deep to find the “something greater” we all crave and that must be waiting just out of our sight and other perceptions. Master of short form graphic narratives – you can just call them comics if you want – she hails from Boulder, Colorado but now lives near Zürich. Anderson was ceaselessly making graphic stories even before earning an MFA from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2022. You can look for her stuff at Parsifal Press and The Rumpus for greater elucidation and edification…

Taking a year to complete, over 18 brief tales Safer Places melds inquisitive inspirations to contemplative cartooning and builds an interlocking sampling of other worlds, times and existences which all lead back to a common core. Blending pedestrian and surreal, employing a variety of art styles and colour palettes, it all begins with ‘Quest I’ as unseen critics speculate upon an old guy who seems to be a wizard who favours the wilds over civilisation, before a bereft boy looking for his cat finds something strange, wondrous and ultimately unsustainable in ‘The Basement’…

Tantalising travelogue ‘Wonders of the Lost City’ carries us to ‘Sleep Tape: Country Lane’ and a loving couple under strain and in need of calming talk therapies before the wizard – still moving in mysterious ways – pops back into view for ‘Quest II’, after which a boy in very uncharted waters takes a revelatory ‘Deep Breath’…

More calming tactics and rural idyls manifest in ‘Sleep Tape: Forest Walk’ for a woman too wedded to a Wi-Fi-enabled “Smart” world, whereas work pressure taking its toll on a watcher of post dystopian woodlands cannot be as readily assuaged in ‘Lookout Station’. At least the poetic ruminations of ‘Morning’, ‘Hills’ and ‘Waves’ carry us gently into ‘Quest III’ and the wizard’s dramatic interaction with a forest fox, prior to ‘Fallow’ detailing the shocking behaviour of an aged, burned out farmer making amends… and one last lifestyle change.

A computer nerd’s close encounter with digital ‘Wallpaper’ quietly segues into floral terrors as a student succumbs to transformative life-changing illness in ‘Weeds’ whilst ‘Quest IV’ sees a darker day dawn for the wizard before a harassed and lonely wage-slave finding solace and companionship thanks to ‘Sleep Tape: At the Seaside’…

‘Whump’ offers a contemplative laugh before a solitary walking tour takes a lonely wanderer to ‘The World’s Biggest Ball of Twine’ even as another recluse escapes connections by grabbing a bike and going for a ‘Ride’, all before the wizard heads home to recharge in ‘Quest V’…

Bemusing and seductive, these interlocking voyages reveal the cathartic force of creativity and therapeutic siren call of world-making. Come visit soon, yes?
© Kit Anderson 2024. All rights reserved.

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Liebestrasse


By Greg Lockard, Tim Fish, Héctor Barros, Lucas Gattoni & various (Dark Horse/Greg Lockard-ComiXology Originals)
ISBN: 9781506724553 (TPB/Digital edition)

As we’re all mindful of D-Day, WWII and how the world changed after that, here’s a poignant fable set in those distant days about one of the things they were all fighting for – the right to love and be loved by whoever you choose…

The story opens covertly in the Land of the Free. It’s 1952 and an aging, wealthy man seeks solace and the company of “his own kind” in a very special bar…

The next day, Sam Wells visits a modern art exhibition where a brief encounter with a young man of similar tastes and disposition triggers memories and a potent flashback to an old friend. Soon after, Wells is flying to Berlin to establish new business contacts and, hopefully, relive some of the better moments of his past.

As he moves around the divided city, Wells’ mind flits back to 1932 when, as a young Mover & Shaker, he was posted to Germany to set up an overseas office for his company. For a young man of wealth and his particular proclivities, the Weimar Republic offered many opportunities and temptations. Crucially, it also allowed freedom from dangerous oversight. Nevertheless, there was also an inescapable sense of oppressive menace, especially after meeting audacious, outspoken Philip Adler and falling madly, passionately, head over heels in love.

Philip’s sister Hilde was already in the sights of the rising National Socialists for creating un-Aryan art, but his constant challenging of the party in words, and especially with his “degenerate” lifestyle, soon painted a target on all their backs, as well as on the numerous doomed-and-dancing-on-the-volcano’s-edge liberals Sam met at endless parties and in the music clubs…

As months passed, the affair intensified – as did the danger – and inevitably, the hammer fell. For Sam that meant a beating and deportation, but for Philip there was no such callous leniency. Now decades later, Wells is back and has to face Hilde again…

Set firmly in the footsteps of the Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood, Liebestrasse is a tale of regret, thwarted love and “might-have-beens ” from writer Greg Lockard and artist Tim Fish, aided and abetted by Héctor Barros on colours with Lucas Gattoni providing letters and calligraphy. Forceful, frantic, passionate and deeply moving, it is a powerful testament to the abiding power and wonder of passion but also a sobering reminder of how far we’ve come: an irrefutable argument for live and let love…
LIEBESTRASSE © 2019 Greg Expectations, LLC & Timothy Poisson. All rights reserved.