Category: LGBTQIA+

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Starman: Bowie’s Stardust Years


By Reinhard Kleist, coloured by Thomas Gilke & Reinhard Kleist, translated by Michael Waaler (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-914224-08-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content reproduced for literary and historical veracity.

Graphic biographies are a now a solid staple of publishers fare, just as biopics, podcasts and “tell-all” TV series similarly entice consumers eager for intimate, often salacious detail on celebrities of every shape and shade and ranking. Thanks to that apparently insatiable appetite for speculative if not actually fictionalised lifestories – officially sanctioned or otherwise – in movies like Walk the Line, Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman or shows including The Crown, Mr. Selfridge or Mr. Bates vs the Post Office, the demand for candid revelation is extremely high, especially as offering purportedly keen insights onto people and events we only think we know but presume we have a right to impinge upon is pure, primal unfettered monkey curiosity in action…

This one – originally released in Germany in 2021 by pioneer documentarian Reinhard Kleist (The Olympic Dream: The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar, The Boxer: The True Story of Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft, Castro: A Graphic Novel) – pushes the envelope on what exactly constitutes and defines reportage with the first half of an extended exploration into a world icon: an assessment that is wildly expressionistic and defiantly fully unsanctioned…

It’s probably fair to say that David Bowie spent his life (lives?) managing his own mythology and seeking to control his own story, but apparently famous people belong – at least in part – to everyone. That’s certainly the premise of this compelling rags-to-the-point-of-disaster saga, told in flashbacks and hi-octane fantasy set-pieces tracing the rise and early successes of young David Robert Jones (January 8th 1947 – January 10th 2016). Touching upon his many personas and innovations and especially exploring the sybaritic excesses, the tale carries the reader to the moments that ended Bowie’s American odyssey of near self-destruction in 1975.

Visual dissection and informed deduction plays out as traditional drama as Kleist depicts the background, family, maternal disapproval, hungry ambitions and subsequent early race for fame that gripped a music-obsessed, sax-playing Bromley boy and how he evolved a tactic of personal reinvention in his incessant chase for the stars…

On the way and via formulative days of gigging and making contacts during the sixties and seventies, we meet his tragic but deeply inspirational older brother Terry, best friend Marc Bolan, future wife Angie Barnett, exploitative management sharpie Tony DeFries, Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, up-&-comer Iggy Pop, groundbreaking fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto and many more people relatively famous folk. We’re on hand at the birth of Glam Rock and controversial but headline grabbing, dabbling with androgyny and “gender-bending” that led to the breakthroughs that almost destroyed him: the release of melancholic anthem of the era Space Oddity (with Major Tom consequently becoming a personal avatar haunting the singer forever after) and the birth of soul-sucking vampire Ziggy Stardust, a sybaritic alter ego who nearly consumed his creator…

As ambition, excess, and the dreamer’s love of science fiction fuel his inspiration, Bowie/ Ziggy hits America like meteor but soon the fallout starts taking its toll. Adoration and desire war with dissatisfaction and painful self-exploration and unless something Ch-Ch-Changes we will all be witness to a Rock‘n’Roll Suicide…

Arguably massaging history to explore the price of ambition and assess the cost of pursuing power, as well as the shocking threat and reward of sexual identity to society, this cautionary the tale is augmented by a Gallery of images encapsulating the man, the moments and his ever-present space-suited internal avatar…

© Text & illustration 2021 by Carlsen-Verlag GmbH, Hamburg, Germany. All rights reserved. English translation © SelfMadeHero 2023

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The Golden Age Green Lantern Archives volumes 1 & 2


By Bill Finger, Martin Nodell, E.E. Hibbard, Irwin Hasen & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-507-4 (HB vol 1), 978-1-56389-794-8 (HB vol 2)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Time for another Birthday briefing as we exploit the month of renewal and fresh starts by celebrating 85 glorious years for another Golden Age stalwart: someone who has gained a modern cachet as probably DC’s most venerably proud gay icon…

The ever-expanding array of companies that became DC published many iconic “Firsts” in the early years of the industry. Associated outfit All-American Publications (co-publishers until bought out by National/DC in 1946) originated the first comic book super-speedster as well as the monumentally groundbreaking Wonder Woman, The Atom, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder and so many others who became mainstays of DC’s pantheon of stars.

Thanks to comics genius and editorial wunderkind Sheldon Mayer, All-American Comics  published the first comic book super-speedster in Flash Comics. They followed up a few months later with another evergreen and immortal all-star.

Lighting up newsstands from May 17th 1940, The Green Lantern debuted in anthological All-American Comics #16 (cover-dated July of that auspicious year). It was the company’s flagship title just as superheroes began to truly dominate the market, supplanting newspaper strip reprints and stock genre characters in the still primarily anthology-based industry.

The Emerald Gladiator would be swiftly joined in A-AC by The Atom, Red Tornado, Sargon the Sorcerer and Doctor Mid-Nite, until eventually only gag strips such Mutt and Jeff and exceptional topical tough-guy military strips Hop Harrigan (Ace of the Airwaves) and Red, White and Blue remained to represent mere mortal heroes. And then, tastes shifted after the war and costumed crusaders faded away, to be replaced by cowboys, cops, clowns and private eyes…

Devised by up-and-coming cartoonist Martin Nodell (and fleshed out by Bill Finger in the same generally unsung way he had contributed to the success of Batman), GL soon became AA’s second smash sensation.

The arcane avenger gained his own solo-starring title little more than a year after his premiere and also appeared in other anthologies including Comics Cavalcade and All Star Comics for just over a decade before, like most first-generation superheroes, he faded away in the early1950s. However, GL first suffered the uniquely humiliating fate of being edged out of his own strip and comic book by his pet, Streak the Wonder Dog…

However, that’s the stuff of other reviews. This spectacular, quirkily beguiling deluxe Archive edition (collecting the Sentinel of Justice’s appearances from All-American Comics #16-30 – covering July 1940 to September 1941 as well as the Fall 1941cover-dated Green Lantern#1) opens with a rousing reminiscence from Nodell in a Foreword discussing the origins of the character before the parade of raw enchantment starts with the incredible history of The Green Flame of Life…

Ambitious young engineer Alan Scott only survives the sabotage and destruction of a passenger-packed train due to the occult intervention of a battered old railway lantern. Bathed in its eerie emerald light, he is regaled by a mysterious green voice with the legend of how a meteor once fell in ancient China. It spoke to the people, predicting Death, Life and Power.

The star-stone’s viridian glow brought doom to the savant who reshaped it into a lamp, sanity to a madman centuries later and now promised incredible power to bring justice to wronged innocents.

Instructing Scott to fashion a ring from its metal and draw a charge of power from the lantern every 24 hours, the ancient artefact urges the engineer to use his formidable willpower to end all evil: a mission Scott eagerly takes up by promptly crushing corrupt industrialist Dekker – who had callously caused wholesale death just to secure a lucrative rail contract…

The ring makes Scott immune to all minerals and metals, enables him to fly and pass through walls, but as he battles Dekker’s thugs the grim avenger painfully discovers that living – arguably “organic” – materials such as wood or rubber can penetrate his jade defences and cause him mortal harm. The saboteurs duly punished, Scott resolves to carry on the fight and devises a “bizarre costume” to conceal his identity and strike fear and awe into wrongdoers.

Most of the stories at this time were untitled, and A-AC #17 (August 1940) finds Scott in Metropolis (long before it became the fictional home of Superman) where his new employer is squeezed out of a building contract by a crooked City Commissioner in bed with racketeers. With lives at risk from shoddy construction, the Green Lantern moves to stop the gangsters but nearly loses his life to overconfidence before finally triumphing, after which #18 finds Scott visiting the 1940 New York World’s Fair. This yarn (which I suspect was devised for DC’s legendary comic book premium New York World’s Fair Comics #2 but shelved at the last moment) introduces feisty romantic interest Irene Miller as she attempts to shoot the gangster who framed her brother.

Naturally, gallant he-man Scott had to get involved, promptly discovering untouchable gang-boss Murdock owns his own Judge, by the simple expedient of holding the lawman’s daughter captive…

However, once Alan applies keen wits and ruthless mystic might to the problem, Murdock’s power – and life – are forfeit, after which, in #19, Scott saves a man from an attempted hit-&-run and finds himself ferreting out a deadly ring of insurance scammers collecting big pay-outs through inflicting “accidents” upon unsuspecting citizens.

All-American Comics #20 opened with a quick recap of GL’s origin before instituting a major change in the young engineer’s life. Following the gunning down of a roving radio announcer and assassination of that reporter’s wife, our hero investigates APEX Broadcasting System in Capitol City and again meets Irene Miller. She works at APEX and, with Alan’s help, uncovers a scheme whereby broadcasts are used to transmit coded instructions to smugglers. Once the Ring-wielder mops up the gang and their inside man, engineer Scott takes a job at the company and begins a hapless romantic pursuit of capable, valiant Irene.

Thanks to scripter Bill Finger, Green Lantern was initially a grim, mysterious and spookily implacable figure of vengeance, weeding out criminals and gangsterism but, just as with early Batman sagas, there was always a strong undercurrent of social issues, ballsy sentimentality and human drama. All-American #21 sees the hero expose a cruel con wherein a crooked lawyer presses young criminal Cub Brenner into posing as the long-lost son of a wealthy couple to steal their fortune. Of course, the kid has a change of heart and everything ends happily, but not before stupendous skulduggery and atrocious violence ensue…

In #22, when prize-fighter Kid McKay refuses to throw a bout, mobsters abduct his wife and even temporarily overcome the fighting-mad Emerald Guardian. Moreover, when one brutal thug puts on the magic ring, he swiftly suffers a ghastly punishment allowing GL to emerge victorious. Slick veteran Everett E. Hibbard provided the art for A-AC #23, and his famed light touch frames GL’s development into a less fearsome and more public spirited and approachable champion. As Irene continues to rebuff Alan’s advances – in vain hopes of landing his magnificent mystery man alter ego – the engineer accompanies her to interview movie star Delia Day and stumbles into a cruel blackmail racket. Despite their best efforts the net result is heartbreak, tragedy and many deaths.

Issue #24 then sees the Man of Light going undercover to expose philanthropist tycoon R.J. Karns, who maintains his vast fortune by trafficking unemployed Americans into slavery on a tropical Devil’s Island, and #25 finds Irene uncovering sabotage at a steel mill. With GL’s unsuspected help she then exposes purported enemy mastermind The Leader as no more than an unscrupulous American insider trader trying to force prices down for a simple Capitalist coup…

Celebrated strip cartoonist Irwin Hasen began his long association with Green Lantern in #26 when the hero aids swindled citizens whose lending agreements with a loan shark are being imperceptibly altered by a forger to keep them paying in perpetuity, after which the artist illustrated the debut appearance of overnight sensation Doiby Dickles in All-American #27 (June 1941). The rotund, middle-aged Brooklyn-born cab driver was simply intended as light foil and occasional sidekick for the poker-faced Emerald Avenger, but rapidly grew to be one of the most popular and beloved comedy stooges of the era; soon sharing covers and even by-lines with the star.

In this initial dramatic outing, he bravely defends fare Irene (sorry: irresistible – awful, but irresistible) from assailants as she carries plans for a new radio receiver device. For his noble efforts, Doiby is sought out and thanked by Green Lantern. After the verdant vigilante investigates further, he discovers enemy agents at the root of the problem, but when Irene is again targeted, the Emerald Avenger is apparently killed. This time, to save Miss Miller, Doiby disguises himself as “de Lantrin” and confronts the killers alone before the real deal turns up to end things. As a reward, the Brooklyn bravo is offered an unofficial partnership…

In #28 the convenient death of millionaire Cyrus Brand and a suspicious bequest to a wastrel nephew lead Irene, Doiby & Alan to sinister gangster The Spider, who manufactures deaths by natural causes, after which #29 finds GL and the corpulent cabbie hunting mobster Mitch Hogan, who forces pharmacies to buy his counterfeit drugs and products. The brute utilises strongarm tactics to ensure even the courts carry out his wishes – at least until the Lantern and his wrench-wielding buddy give him a dose of his own medicine…

The last All-American yarn here is from issue #30 (cover-dated September 1941) and again sees Irene sticking her nose into other peoples’ business. This time she exposes a brace of crooked bail bondsmen exploiting former criminals trying to go straight, before being again kidnapped. This high-energy compilation concludes with the rousing contents of Green Lantern #1 from Fall 1941, scripted by Finger and exclusively illustrated by Nodell, who had by this time dropped his potentially face-saving pseudonym Mart “Dellon”. The magic begins with a 2-page origin recap in ‘Green Lantern – His Personal History’, before ‘The Masquerading Mare!’ sees GL & Doiby smash the schemes of racketeer Scar Jorgis… who goes to quite extraordinary lengths to obtain a racehorse inherited by Irene.

Following an article by Dr. William Moulton Marston (an eminent psychologist familiar to us as the creator of Wonder Woman) discussing the topic of ‘Will Power’, comic thrills resume when a city official is accused of mishandling funds allocated to buy pneumonia serum in ‘Disease!!’ Although GL & Doiby spearhead a campaign raising money to prevent an epidemic, events take a dark turn when untouchable, unimpeachable Boss Filch experiences personal tragedy and exposes his grafting silent partners high in the city’s government hierarchy…

Blistering spectacle is the focus of ‘Arson in the Slums’, as Alan and Irene are entangled in a crusading publisher’s strident campaign to renovate a ghetto. Of course, philanthropic Barton and his real estate pal Murker have only altruistic reasons for their drive to re-house the city’s poorest citizens. Sure, they do…

Doiby is absent from that high octane thriller but guest-stars with the Emerald Ace in prose tale ‘Hop Harrigan in “Trailers of Treachery” – by an unknown scripter and probably illustrated by Sheldon Mayer: a ripping yarn starring AA’s aviation ace (and radio star) after which ‘Green Lantern’ & Doiby travel South of the Border to scenic Landavo to investigate tampering with APEX’s short-wave station and end up in a civil war. They soon discover the entire affair has been fomented by foreign agents intent on destroying democracy on the continent…

With the threat of involvement in the “European War” a constant subject of US headlines, this type of spy story was gradually superseding general gangster yarns, and as Green Lantern displayed his full bombastic might against tanks, fighter planes and invading armies, nobody realised that within mere months America and the entire comic book industry were to be refitted and reconfigured beyond all recognition. Soon mystery men would be patriotic morale boosters parading and sermonising ad infinitum in every corner of the industry’s output as the real world brutally intruded on the hearts and minds of the nation…

Including a breathtaking selection of stunning and powerfully evocative covers by Sheldon Moldoff, Hasen & Howard Purcell, this magnificent book is a sheer delight for lovers of the early Fights ‘n’ Tights genre: gripping, imaginative and exuberantly exciting – but yet again remains out of print and unavailable in digital formats. One day, though…


Golden Age Green Lantern Archives volume 2

This second engagingly impressive hardcover Archive edition spans October 1941 to May 1942, collecting the Viridian Vigilante’s appearances from Green Lantern Quarterly #2-3 (Winter & Spring 1942) and the leads tales from All-American Comics #31-38. It opens with rousing reminiscences, intriguing comparisons and tantalising trivia titbits, in a Foreword by godfather of American fandom Dr. Jerry Bails, prior to the procession of pictorial peril begins…

Ambitious young engineer Alan Scott survived the sabotage and destruction of a passenger-packed train due only to the intervention of a battered old railway lantern. Bathed in its eerie verdant glow, he was regaled by a mysterious “green voice” with the legend of how a meteor fell in ancient China and spoke to the people: predicting Death, Life and Power.

After bringing doom to the mystic who reshaped it into a lamp and, centuries later, sanity to a madman, it now promised incredible might to bestow justice to the innocent. Instructing the engineer to fashion a ring from its metal and draw a charge of power from the lantern every 24 hours, the ancient artefact urged the engineer to use his formidable willpower to end all evil – a mission Scott eagerly embraced. The ring made him immune to all minerals and metals, and enabled him to fly and pass through solid matter amongst many other miracles, but was powerless against certain organic materials such as wood or rubber which could penetrate his jade defences and cause him mortal harm…

After wandering the country for months, Scott eventually settled in Capitol City, taking a job as first engineer and eventually radio announcer at APEX Broadcasting System. He also fruitlessly pursued feisty reporter Irene Miller. Before long he had a trusted sidekick in the flabby form of Doiby Dickles, a rotund, middle-aged Brooklyn-born cab driver. Originally intended as a light foil for the grim, poker-faced Emerald Avenger, the bumbling buddy grew to be one of the most popular and beloved sidekicks of the era. Thanks to scripter Bill Finger – who wrote all the stories in this volume – GL was a grim, brooding, spookily mysterious figure of vengeance weeding out evil in tales strongly highlighting social realism, ballsy sentimentality and human drama.

Illustrated by Nodell, the comics action starts in All-American Comics #31’s ‘The Adventure of the Underfed Orphans!’ as Alan & Irene probe food poisoning at a municipal children’s home, and uncover a shocking web of abuse and graft leading to the upper echelons of City Hall and the grimiest gutters of the underworld…

Most of the All-American GL tales were untitled, such as Hasen’s effort in #32, revealing how a veteran beat cop’s son falls in with the wrong crowd. Framed by his boss and arrested by his own dad, vengeful Danny is only saved from ruining his life forever by the Emerald Avenger & Doiby who help him get the goods on Gardenia and reconcile with his grateful dad. The next story (limned by Nodell) strikes close to home as gangster Pug Deagan tries to take over the Taxicab Drivers’ union and Doiby calls on his Grim Green pal to clean up the racket and expose the real brain behind the operation, whilst in A-AC #34, the Dynamic Trio of Alan, Irene & Mr. Dickles investigate a collapsing building and are drawn into a colossal construction scandal involving the Mayor, and culminating in the horrific failure of Capitol City’s biggest and busiest bridge. Always one of the most powerful characters in comics, this tale especially demonstrates the sheer scope and scale of Green Lantern’s might.

All-American Comics #35 sees Doiby wracked by toothache and haplessly stumbling into a grisly murder at the dentist’s office. Once again racketeers are trying to take over a union and only GL & Dickles can stop them. The tale concludes with the cabbie having that tooth punched out and learning the secret of Alan Scott – an even bigger shock!

A huge hit from the off, the Emerald Crusader was fast-tracked into his own solo title, where creators were encouraged to experiment with format. Green Lantern Quarterly #2 (cover-dated Winter 1942) offered ‘The Tycoon’s Legacy’ by Finger & Nodell: a 4-chapter “novel-length story” seeing radio engineer Scott promoted to roving man-with-a-microphone, and promptly rushing to the assistance of a poor but honest lawyer and a porter swindled out of a $5,000,000 bequest. Both cases deliciously intertwine like a movie melodrama, and also see a framed man freed from the asylum to challenge the swindling estate executors who had trapped him there…

Events take a murderous turn just as Alan’s emerald alter ego gets involved, and before long Green Lantern is cracking heads and taking names in the hunt for the mastermind behind it all – a man known only as ‘Baldy’…

Finger was a master of such socially redeeming mystery thrillers, and the unrepentant fan in me can’t help but wonder what he could have accomplished with such a prodigious page count on his other “Dark Avenger” assignment Batman and Robin…

Hasen illustrated the remaining All-American yarns in this collection, beginning with #36 (March 1942), taking GL & Doiby to the motor racing circuit to foil the machinations of mobsters murdering drivers of a new kind of car. With no clue as to how the killings are accomplished, Doiby volunteers to drive the ill-fated Benson Comet, trusting in his pal “Da Lantrin” to save the day as usual…

A-AC #37 has the heroes helping a disgraced pilot whose crashed plane cost America its greatest scientific minds. Closer investigation reveals not only Fog Blake’s innocence but that the Brain Trust had actually been cunningly abducted by Nazi agents – but not for long, after which #38 pits the Emerald Avenger against a diminutive criminal strategist organising American gangs like ‘Another Napoleon’ before facing his own Waterloo in a blaze of verdant light…

With America freshly put on an all-encompassing war-footing, superheroes at last tackled the world’s latest monsters full-on, and with great verve and enthusiasm this stunning selection concludes with another novel-length epic from the third Green Lantern Quarterly and deliciously crafted by Finger & Nodell.

It begins with ‘The Living Graveyard of the Sea’ as Alan & Irene (plus stowaway Doiby) take ship for Australia, only to be torpedoed by a gigantic German super U-Boat. Although Green Lantern fights off the air and sea assault, the liner is lost. Survivors take to lifeboats and the one with Doiby, Irene & Alan is drawn into a vast impenetrable fog-bank. The vapours conceal an ancient wonder: a Sargasso Sea enclave of mariners from many eras who have, over centuries, evolved into a truly egalitarian, pacifist society. Sadly, the lifeboat contains a cross section of modern America, all horribly infected with greed, arrogance, prejudice and pride, so – although welcomed – the newcomers soon disrupt the idyllic microcosm.

Things take an even worse turn as another U-Boat surfaces within the sea city and fanatical Kapitan Schmidt attempts to annexe the realm and convert the ancients to ‘The Nazi Dream’. Stakes are raised even further when he finally gets a message through to Berlin and Hitler himself demands that the strategically crucial secret island be taken at all costs…

The fantastic finale comes as Irene & Doiby redeem their selfish fellow Americans and even convince the calmly neutral Sargasso citizens to fight for freedom and liberty in ‘Utopia vs. Totalitarianism’ whilst all Green Lantern has to do is sink an entire Nazi naval and aerial armada tasked with taking the hidden sea world…

I believe – like so many others – that superhero comics are never more apt or effective than when they wholeheartedly combat fascism with explosive, improbable excitement and mysterious masked marvel men. The most satisfyingly evocative and visceral moments of the genre all seem to come when gaudy gladiators soundly thrash bigots, supremacists and agents of organised intolerance, and the staggering denouement depicted here is one of the most expansive and breathtaking ever seen…

Complete with stellar covers by Nodell & Hasen, this riotous vintage assembly of classic Fights ‘n’ Tights fare is enthralling, engrossing and overwhelmingly addictive – even if not to every modern fan’s taste – and no lover of Costumed Dramas can afford to miss out on the fun…
© 1940, 1941, 1942, 1999, 2002 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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i love this part



By Tillie Walden (Avery Hill)
ISBN: 978-1-91039-532-5(HB) 978-1-91039-517-2 (TPB)

It’s time to remind readers of another imminently impending St. Valentines’ Day. I’m stifling my usual curmudgeonly attitudes for a while and re-recommending a book that’s solidly on the side of being in love, but not so disingenuous as to assure you that it’s all hearts and flowers…

Sweet but never cloying or calorific, i love this part deliciously pictorializes the happy, introspective, contemplative and aspirational moments of two schoolgirls who have found each other. Shared dreams, idle conversations, disputes and landmark first steps, even fights and break-ups are seen, weathered and sorted. Novelty, timidity, apprehension, societal pressure and even some unnecessary shame come into it, but generally this is just how young people learn to love and what that inevitably entails. Somehow the trappings shift all the time but clearly nothing really changes…

Apart from the astoundingly graceful and inviting honesty of the tale, the most engaging factor is author Tillie Walden’s brilliantly cavalier dismissal of visual reality. These interactions are all backdropped by wild changes in dimension and perspective, abrupt shifts in location and landscape and shots of empty spaces all adding a sense of distance and whimsy to very familiar proceedings.

Walden is a great admirer of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo so fellow afficionados will feel at home even if neophytes might experience the odd sensation of disorientation and trepidation. Like being in love, I suppose…

Gloriously celebrating not just the relationships but also in the sheer joy of drawing what you feel, Walden is still a relative newcomer – albeit a prolific and immensely gifted one – who has garnered heaps of acclaim and awards. Whether through her fiction or autobiographical works (frequently combined in the same stories), she always engenders a feeling of absolute wonder, combined with a fresh incisive view and measured, compelling delivery in terms of both story and character. Her artwork is a sheer delight.

Before globally turning heads with such unforgettable, deeply personal tales as On a Sunbeam, A City Inside, Spinning, Mini Meditations on Creativity, and Are You Listening? she followed up on her Ignatz Award-winning debut graphic novel The End of Summer with this fluffy yet barbed coming-of-age tale, and has latterly expanded her oeuvre with gems including Alone in Space, My Parents Won’t Stop Talking and the Clementine series (three books and counting…). In 2023 she became Vermont’s youngest ever Cartoon Laureate, and will hold the post until 2026.

i love this part is charming, moving, sad, funny and lovely. You’d have to be bereft of vision and afflicted with a heart of stone to reject this comic masterpiece; available in hardback, softcover and digital formats: a romantic treat no one should miss.
© Tillie Walden 2016. All rights reserved.

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Judge Anderson PSI Files volume 01


By Alan Grant, John Wagner, Brett Ewins, Cliff Robinson, Robin Smith, Barry Kitson, Jeff Anderson, Will Simpson, Mark Farmer, Mick Austin, David A. Roach, Arthur Ranson, Carlos Ezquerra, Kim Raymond & various (Rebellion)
ISBN: 978-1-90673-522-7 (TPB/Digital Edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

A wellspring of spin-off creativity, Britain’s last great comic icon can be described as a combination of the other two, combining the futuristic milieu and thrills of Dan Dare with the terrifying anarchy and irreverent absurdity of Dennis the Menace. He’s also well on the way to becoming the longest-lasting adventure character in our admittedly meagre comics stable, having been continually published every week since February 1977 when he first appeared in the second issue of science-fiction anthology 2000AD. As such he’s also spawned a rich world where other stars have been born and thrived…

Judge Dredd and the ultra-dystopian environs of Mega-City One were created by a creative committee including Pat Mills, Kelvin Gosnell, Carlos Ezquerra, Mike McMahon and others, with the majority contribution coming from legendary writer John Wagner, who has written the largest portion of the canon under his own and several pseudonymous names.

Joe Dredd is a fanatically dedicated Judge in the super-city, where hundreds of millions of citizens idle away their days in a world where robots are cheaper and usually more efficient than humans. Jobs are both beloved pastime and treasured commodity and boredom has reached epidemic proportions. Almost everybody is just one askance glance away from mental meltdown. Judges are pot-watching peacekeepers who maintain order at all costs in a vast bubbling cauldron: investigating, taking action and trying all crimes and disturbances to the hard-won equilibrium of the constantly boiling melting pot. Justice is always immediate…

They are necessary fascists in a world permanently on the edge of catastrophe, and sadly, what far too many readers never realised is that the entire milieu is a gigantic satirical black comedy with oodles of outrageous, vicarious cathartic action. Just keep telling yourself, some situations demand drastic solutions…

In 1980 and Progs (that’s tomorrow-talk for issue number) #149-151 – January 26th-February 9th – with continuity and scenario firmly established, Wagner, writing as John Howard, introduced Judge Death: an undead lawman from an alternate Earth, whose Judges, faced with the same interminable problems as our world, took their creed to its only logical conclusion. If all crime is perpetrated by the living, then to eradicate crime…

After ending all life in his own dimension, the ghostly ghoul extended his mission to ours, wiping out criminals and law-abiding citizens alike, with the Judges – even Dredd – unable to stop him… until the flamboyant and unconventional psychic recruit Judge Cassandra Anderson of PSI Division sacrificed herself to trap the evil spirit forever…

With Wagner clearly on a creative roll, the fans spoke long and loud. Both the Zombie Peacemaker and Anderson returned within a year. Credited to T.B. Grover (still Wagner in Progs #224-228/August 8th to September 5th 1981), ‘Judge Death Lives’ saw a desperate citizen releasing the horror from his eternal tomb at the behest of three more expired Judges: Mortis, Fire and Fear.

Reunited with their leader the Dark Judges went about their lawful occasions, executing vast numbers of Mega-City citizens. It took a trans-dimensional trip to their origin realm – “Deadworld” – before Dredd & Anderson could stop the slayers; and even then, only temporarily. Those magnificent yarns appear often in other collections, and I’ll surely revisit them again soon, but the most important aspect of all that is how both Anderson and Death went on to their own series… which brings us to here, because this book is not about Joe Dredd but rather what can bloom in his honking, big-booted shadow…

Cassandra Anderson, as part of the Judges’ psychic/weird phenomena division is given far more leeway than her straitlaced, buttoned-down street cops colleagues. That made her own exploits far quirkier, outrageous and experimental, thereby guaranteeing her a solo series…

Spanning 1983-1990 and collecting early cases as originally seen in anthological weekly 2000AD #416-427, 468-478, 520-531, 607-609, 612-613, 614-612, 635-644, 645-647, 657-659, 669-670, 712-717 and 758-763, plus self-contained episodes from 2000AD Annual 1984 and 2000AD Sci-Fi Special 1988, the eerie off-kilter terrors begin with another outing for the ‘Four Dark Judges’ as detailed by new lead scripter Alan Grant and Wagner in Progs #416-427, with illustrators Brett Ewins, Cliff Robinson and Robin Smith tag-teaming the art. As with the majority of these yarns, veteran letterer Tom Frame made sense of it all…

The opening tale details how the essences of Death and his subordinate Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis mentally bombard the psychic peacekeeper until she breaks regs and dimension hops to their deceased dimension – “Deadworld” – to sort them out once and for all. However, they quickly overpower her consciousness and use her to unleash themselves on the puling masses of Mega-City One. With another kill-spree in full flow, suspended Anderson breaks a few more rules and finds a way to despatch one Dark Judge and force the remaining trio to retreat. She’s ready for them when they strike again and end up banished to Limbo thanks to fortitude, determination and new Judge tech. It’s the only thing that saves her from her own commanding officers…

Grant, Wagner, Ewins & Frame catered Anderson’s second solo-starring soirée (#468-478) as ‘The Possessed’ sees Anderson investigating a poltergeist at Ed Poe “hab-block” (big, Big apartment buildings) and inexorably drawn into a war with demons led by child-possessor Gargarax. Even PSI-Division’s exorcists are outgunned when Cassandra’s gifts lead her to block satanists secretly summoning the arcane entities by sacrificing relatively innocent waif Hammy Blish, and the conflict and carnage soon spread far, wide and even deep under the mass-metropolis into its appalling Undercity…

Anderson’s hunt for Gargarax ultimately leads her to its private hell and war against a host of devils, but her escape and the ensured safety of Mega-City One come at a grave cost…

The rich history of the City and Anderson’s precognitive visions fuel the next epic yarn as illustrators Barry Kitson, Jeff Anderson, Will Simpson, John Aldrich, and letterers Frame & Steve Potter join Grant & Wagner for ‘Hour of the Wolf’ (#520-531). As vague, surreal dream portents plague the rule-breaking Judge, seeking to warn her of a deadly plot, Sov-City psychic sleeper agents attempt to wreck her city, kill her and liberate the Judges’ greatest opponent – arch terrorist Orlok the Assassin of East-Meg One…

The campaign almost succeeds and costs many more lives before the mass murderer is (barely) thwarted…

Grant, Mark Farmer & Frame deliver a shorter pace-changing romp in Progs #607-609 as ‘Contact’ sees Anderson sent to the far end of the solar system to scope out a strange alien ship that has ignored all other forms of communication or investigative scanning. Good call too, as what she finds are liars and deeply predatory…

Mick Austin joins Grant & Frame across #612-613 as ‘Beyond the Void’ sees Anderson despatched to handle a transcendental incident at the Mahatma Cote monastery. There she finds a Lama’s spiritual journey has taken him to the gateway of Judge Death’s cosmic cell, and must act accordingly. David A. Roach then assumes control of the vision-making for Grant as ‘Helios’ (#614-622) sees her and occasional partner Judge Corey on the trail of a long-dead, vengeance-crazed killer using mind-control and surgical alteration to carry out his schedule of slaughter.  Grant, Austin & Gordon Robson then sort out a solo saga in 2000AD Sci-Fi Special 1988. ‘Judge Corey: Leviathan’s Farewell’ finds the empath chasing ruthless sugar smugglers to the toxin-blighted coastal shores, only to have a deep encounter with something old, uncanny and irresistibly tragic…

Arthur Ranson illustrates Grant’s next extended storyline as ‘Triad’ (#635-644) reveals the true nature of an ethereal serial killer with a penchant for baroque monsters and Fortean events hunting in Mega-City One. The connection to an abused boy is not clear at first but as more bodies spectacularly drop, Anderson’s visions become clearer and much more insistent and soon the hand of an old enemy can be seen.

An unhealthy obsession with robots grips a unique spree killer in ‘The Prophet’ (#645-647 by Grant, Roach & Potter) whilst #657-659’s ‘The Random Man’ – illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra – sees Anderson in pursuit of a sex-&-gambling-obsessed perp in the throes of transition, before Roach returns to limn #669-670’s ‘The Screaming Skull’: a deviously twisted macabre mystery of ghosts, assassins and the world’s oldest motive for murder…

One last extended epic brings the psionic shenanigans to a close as Grant, Roach and Potter take two bites of the cherry (Progs #712-717 and 758-763) to explore the meaning of ‘Engram’ in a Shakespearean saga of Cursed Earth witches, a child of destiny and Anderson in hot pursuit of pyrokinetic mass murderer Verona Rom. One threat ended, a bigger one emerges and the Judge-out-of-water must contend with a ghostly stalker only she can see, not-so-slowly driving her insane. After mounting bouts of madness Anderson is sectioned to an Iso-Cube, whilst her colleagues and superiors dig deep to find what really happened in the Cursed Earth, leading to staggering revelations of her own childhood, a game changing reunion with the witches in the scarred wastelands and rebirth of intent in Mega-City One…

To Be Continued…

Rounding out this initial monochrome compendium is ‘Bonus Strip: The Haunting’ by Grant, Kim Raymond & Tony Jacob from 2000AD Annual 1984 with the Judge battling demonic usurper Dahak for the mind and soul of impulsive scholar Dr Levin who should have kept his hands off the treasures of the Mega-City One Museum of Antiquities…

Supplemented by Ewins’ cover for 2000 AD Prog #468, and biographies of the ‘Writers’ and ‘Artists’ involved, these groundbreaking tales are amongst the very best action adventures Apocalypse-obsessed, dystopia driven Britain has ever produced, neatly balancing paranoia with gallows humour and innate anarchic disrespect for authority (any authority) with pulse-pounding thrills, spills and chills.

This is sheer addictive nostalgia for my generation, but the stories hold up against anything made for today’s marketplace. Buy it for the kids or keep it for yourself; this cheap-&cheerful tome is glorious, funny challenging and beautifully realised… and steel yourself for even better yet to come…
© 1983, 1985,1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 & 2012 Rebellion A/S. All rights reserved.

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Batman: Harley and Ivy The Deluxe Edition


By Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Ty Templeton, Shane Glines, Dan DeCarlo, Ronnie Del Carmen, Rick Burchett, Stéphane Roux & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6080-4 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Psychosis and Spice and Everything Nice… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for comedic effect.

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 TV animation series revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and immediately began feeding back into the print iteration, leading to some of the absolute best comicbook tales in the hero’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 wholly accessible, thematically memorable form that the youngest of readers could enjoy, whilst adding shades of exuberance and panache that only most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to. In fact, so many didn’t object over the years that in August 2024 we got a fresh bite of the cherry. If you love Batman, are steeped in the vast mythology of Gotham City and adore stylish animated wonderment, you owe it to yourself to watch the Reinvented-But-Just-As-Good show Batman: Caped Crusader…

Thirty-plus years ago (!) the original TV series offered a superbly innovative retro makeover for many classic supervillains and even added one unexpected candidate to the Rogues Gallery. Harley Quinn wasn’t supposed to be a star – or even an actual comic book character. As soon become apparent, however, the manic minx had her own off-kilter ideas on the matter…

Harley was first seen as the Clown Prince of Crime’s slavishly adoring, abuse-enduring assistant in Joker’s Favor (airing September 11th,1992) where she instantly captured the hearts and minds of millions of viewers. From there on she began popping up in the licensed comic book and – always stealing the show – infiltrated mainstream DC comicbook continuity and into her own title. Along the way a flash of inspired brilliance led to her forming a unique relationship with toxic floral siren and plant-manipulating eco-terrorist Poison Ivy – a working partnership that delivered a bounty of fabulously funny-sexy yarns, and has brought the pair film and TV fame as a romantic power couple…

Collecting the eponymous 3-issue miniseries from 2004 plus cool stuff from Batman Adventures Annual #1 (1994), Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1 (1995), Batman and Robin Adventures #8 (July 1996), Batgirl Adventures #1 (1998) and material from Batman: Gotham Knights #14 (April 2001) and Batman Black and White #3 (2014), this spiffy deluxe hardback/eBook is an amazing cornucopia of comic treasures to delight young and old alike, and a perfect reminder why Batman & Co. remain so popular even after 85 years (and counting…).

It begins with a global-spanning romp written by Dini, illustrated by Timm & Shane Glines from Batman: Harley & Ivy #1-3 as the ‘Bosom Buddies’ have a spat that wrecks half of Gotham before escaping to the Amazon together to take over a small country responsible for much of the region’s deforestation and spreading a heady dose of ‘Jungle Fever!’. Once Batman gets involved the story suddenly shifts to Hollywood and the very last word in creative commentary on Superheroes in the movie business. ‘Hooray for Harleywood!’ delivers showbiz a devastating body blow Tinseltown will never recover from…

As we all know, Harley is (certifiably) insanely besotted with killer clown The Joker and next up Dini, Dan DeCarlo & Timm wordlessly expose her profound weakness for that so very bad boy when she’s released from Arkham Asylum only to be seduced back into committing crazy crimes and stuck back in the pokey again, all in just ‘24 Hours’…

‘The Harley and the Ivy’ comes from Batman Adventures Holiday Special #1 wherein Dini & Ronnie Del Carmen depict the larcenous ladies on an illicit shopping spree thanks to a dose of Ivy’s mind-warping kisses and up-close-and-personal close encounter with Bruce Wayne…

‘Harley and Ivy and… Robin’ (Batman and Robin Adventures #8, by Dini, Ty Templeton & illustrator Rick Burchett) features more of the same, except here the bamboozled sidekick becomes an ideal BoyToy Wonder: planning their crimes, giving soothing foot-rubs and bashing Batman until a little moment of green-eyed jealously spoils the perfect set-up…

Batgirl Adventures #1 was the original seasonal setting of ‘Oy to the World’ (Dini & Burchett) as plucky teen Babs Gordon chases thieving, thrill-seeking Harley through Gotham’s festive streets and alleys only to eventually team up with the jaunty jester to save Ivy from murderous Yakuza super-assassins. Next up, Batman: Gotham Knights #14 gifts us brilliantly dark yet saucily amusing tale ‘The Bet’ (Dini & Del Carmen). Incarcerated once more in Arkham, the Joker’s frustrated paramour and irresistible, intoxicatingly lethal Ivy indulge in a small wager to pass the time: namely, who can kiss the most men whilst in custody. This razor-sharp little tale manages to combine “innocent sexiness” with genuine sentiment, and packs a killer punch-line after the Harlequin of Hate unexpectedly pops in…

The madcap glamour-fest finishes with a late arriving moment of monochrome suspense (from Batman Black and White #3, by Dini & Stéphane Roux) as ‘Role Models’ sees a little girl escape her manic kidnapper and find sanctuary of a sort with the pilfering odd couple…

For years DC sat on a goldmine of quality product before finally unleashing a blizzard of all-ages collections and graphic novels such as this one: child-friendly iterations (and others not-so-much) of key characters stemming from the Paul Dini/Bruce Timm Batman series. These adventures are consistently some of the best comics produced of the last four decades and should be eternally permanently in print, if only as a way of attracting new readers to the medium.

Now a bone fide Christmas tradition – just like arguing about Die Hard or pondering what to do with brussels sprouts (eat them if you like them, pass if you don’t?), Batman: Harley and Ivy is a frantic, laugh-packed hoot that manages to be daring and demure by turns. An absolute delight and an irresistible seasonal treasure to be enjoyed over and over again.
© 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2014, 2016 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Spinning (New Edition)


By Tillie Walden (Avery Hill Press)
ISBN: 978-1-91039-595-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Modern Classic Everyone Should Read… 10/10

Transitions are important. In fact, they are literally life changing. Here’s another one captured and shared by the amazing Tillie Walden…

We usually attribute wisdom and maturity in the creative arts to having lived a bit of life and getting some emotional grit in our wheels and sand in our faces, but that’s not the case for Texas-raised Tillie, whose incredible canon includes I Love this Part, On a Sunbeam, Are You Listening? and Clementine, not to mention award-winning debut graphic novel The End of Summer… and the revelatory biography we’re featuring today.

If you’re a completist, you’ll also want her picture book My Parents Won’t Stop Talking (created with Emma Hunsinger), Tegan and Sarah: Crush 2 and even her Cosmic Slumber Tarot set.

You don’t need a mask to have an origin story, and it’s a rare person – or perhaps indicative of self-deception or mental illness – who never ponders who they are or how they got to right here, right now. It’s a process that’s infinitely rewarding for creators and their readers. Spinning is a perfect example of an extremely talented person taking a basic human drive, exploiting it and turning it into magic. It’s a very personal origin story, which may have great relevance and meaning for many seeing it – and it’s got costumes too…

As previously stated, Walden has created a bunch of books and they mostly have little bios that say that she’s from Austin, Texas, as if that’s some kind of warning or character reference. Later ones say that she lives in Vermont with her wife and two cats and teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

So how did that all happen?

Intimate and revelatory, some of the story is here: snapshots concentrating on her middle school years, back when she was a competitive ice skater, moodily rendered in moody tones of purple and yellow that somehow emphasise the impression of a child under a stark and lonely spotlight, or maybe a chicken in speeding headlights…

There’s something worrisome and uncomfortable about the kind of family that allows – or worse, pushes – a child into a punishing regime of intense training in pursuit of sporting excellence (or any other kind with a monetary benefit attached). I’ve heard all the arguments for and frankly, I don’t care. I was in a choir from age 5 to the end of secondary school, and I know just when it stopped being fun and became a burden…

Tillie back then was a kid who had to get up hours before school, travelling mostly on her own to isolated rinks and push relentlessly just to be one of the few seeking to excel at figure and synchronised skating. There were countless hours of sleep deficit, cruelly screaming or smotheringly solicitous coaches, equally exhausted and brittle girls just as reluctant to be there and always perishing cold. And that’s only how each day started.

… And then the family abruptly upped sticks from New Jersey to resettle in Austin, Texas…

The next few years are revisited with punishing candour and beguiling charm, employing the conceit of specific moves in a skating program as indicators/chapter headings. We open with ‘Waltz Jump’, covering her East Coast life and cross-country transition to a whole new world as soon as 5th grade classes ended…

‘Scratch Spin’ sees scorching August heat as the new kid meets teammates and/or rivals Michaela, Jennifer, Rosalind, Dasha and Little Dasha: as Tillie quickly learns that nothing she knew before applies here. At least coach Caitlin seems supportive and not another screaming harpy…

To supplement the misery, boost her grades and ostensibly offset bullying, Tillie is enrolled in a private girls’ school and sent for private cello lessons, proving her parents knew nothing about girls or school. Even skating has changed. Now she must attend two different rinks at separate times of day, constantly test to qualify and of course, endure more new friends… and otherwise.

Although Carly, Trinity, Sarah and the rest are all nice enough, it somehow only reinforces Tillie’s feelings of isolation and discomfort…

‘Flip Jump’ features first crushes, new bestie Lindsay, scary moments with adored brother John and a creepy old guy, with young Miss Walden triumphantly rejoining the traveling competition circuit, whilst ‘Axel’ celebrates her turning 12 and becoming bogged down in all the complex social interactions she just doesn’t understand, but which increasingly obsess her class and teammates. There’s also a bitterly regretted missed chance to confront the bully who made her life hell for a year…

Increasingly aware that skating is now a chore, not a choice, Tillie begins to ‘Spiral’ after a near fatal accident she refuses to tell anyone about, but which has lasting repercussions. There’s a life changing moment when she realises how much she enjoys drawing and how good she is at it, and a far happier discovery: classmate Rae likes her every bit as much as Tillie likes her – and in just the same way.

‘Spread Eagle’ sees that critical first love brutally end when her girlfriend’s parents find out and take preventative action: something Tillie would have far preferred to the understanding talk her own mother forces upon her, and which leads to the skater coming out to anyone who cares to listen…

As art grows to consume her, skating declines as an interest but paradoxically boosts her ability to win. Nevertheless, a crisis inevitably approaches and ‘Counter’ focuses on her at age 16, simultaneously seeking to bolster her skate ranking and planning on leaving Texas as soon as possible. SATs loom large on everyone’s horizon and Tillie has to endure extra tutoring despite having no intention of going to college. The arrangement almost makes her another crime statistic, but the real result of her narrow escape is realisation that her entire life is all about being tested and narrowly passing or surviving…

Floating days go by in a non-involved haze, before she eventually wakes up and takes charge. ‘Lutz’ addresses all her biggest challenges coming at once, yet another near-death experience, a life-altering unburdening and a decision at last made, leading into the liberating whirl of ‘Twizzle’ to free herself from twelve years a slave to other people’s wishes and the beginning of her own life…

That’s further addressed in the biographical Author’s Note that closes this magnificent and moving memoir. I said earlier that this was a part of Tillie Walden’s story; for more – as much as she’s willing to share – you’ll need to read her other books, both the biographical and fully fictional ones. Get them, read them, tell a friend. Give generously and wisely as the festive season unfolds…
© 2017 Tillie Walden. All rights reserved. This edition published 2024. All rights reserved.

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Dracula Marries Frankenstein! – An Anne of Green Bagels Story


By Susan Schade & Jon Buller (Papercutz)
ISBN: 978-1-62991-815-0 (TPB)

Papercutz are a company committed to publishing comics material for younger readers, combining licensed properties such as Asterix, The Smurfs and Nancy Drew with intriguing and compelling new concepts such as The Wendy Project and this tasty tantalising gem, a tried and true Halloween treat.

In her first adventure – where she found her long-missing dad – Anne Blossom and her family moved to the sleekly antiseptic metropolis and model community of Megatown. It was initially an uncomfortable fit. On her first day at school the other kids dubbed her “Anne of Green Bagels” because of the health-food spirulina lunch her grandmother had baked…

Eventually, however, she settled in, the town grew more human, and she made some friends. In this follow-up tale Anne and one of those pals – Otto Immaculata – decide to make a movie and, being fans of spooky stories, opt for a thriller-feature starring Frankenstein and Dracula.

As is always the way in these ventures, whilst scouting shooting venues, the plot evolves and by the time they have convinced the exceedingly eccentric owner of gothic mansion Herringbone Hall (which actually predates the entire city of Megatown) the project has morphed into a romcom tentatively entitled Dracula Marries Frankenstein…

The project proceeds apace, but when the usually sweet dowager Augusta Herringbone realises the kids are contemplating and condoning “same-sex marriage” she reacts in a most peculiar and astounding manner!

Moreover, when her over-the-top response goes viral, Herringbone Hall suddenly catches fire! Has the kid’s innocent summer-fun project unleashed a wave of hatred and intolerance in Megatown, or is there an even more incredible secret to be exposed? Maybe this ill-starred tale is a horror story after all…

Smart, funny and warmly inclusive whilst tackling adult issues in an accessible manner, Dracula Marries Frankenstein melds mystery, laughs and adventure in the grand style, all delivered by creative – and wedded – couple Susan Schade & Jon Buller in their hybrid graphic novel; alternating illustrated text chapters with cartoon strip episodes, in the manner & format of our own, equally alternatively life-stylish Rupert Bear Annuals.

An excellent and eminently re-readable children’s romp for modern times and forward-thinking families.
© 2017 Susan Schade & Jon Buller.

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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.