Category: Marvel Superheroes

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X-Men: Age of X


By Mike Carey, Simon Spurrier, Clay Mann, Steve Kurth, Paul Davidson & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-490-4

Most people who read comics have a passing familiarity with Marvel’s ever-changing X-Men franchise and most of us have seen alternate world stories so this intriguing and highly entertaining package seems pretty easy to pigeonhole… but appearances can be deceiving.

With a property as valuable as these massed mutants, change is a necessarily good thing, even if you sometimes need a scorecard to keep up. This utterly engrossing tome (collecting Age of X Alpha, X-Men Legacy #245-247, New Mutants volume 3 #22-24 and Age of X Universe #1 and 2) keeps the backstory baggage to the barest minimum for newbies and non-addicts; concentrating instead on building an “end-of-days” tension in a brutally harsh last stand scenario – although the pacing is a little hard to grasp in places.

This Marvel publishing event, which ran from January to April 2011, is a tribute to the Age of Apocalypse mega-crossover of 1995, with an introductory Alpha issue, dedicated stories in X-men core titles and a pair of “Universe” compilations focusing on the non-mutant heroes of the altered continuity.

Written by Mike Carey and illustrated by Mirco Pierfederici, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Carlo Barberi, Walden Wong, Paco Diaz and Paul Davidson, the initial instalment describes a very different world where all-out species war is being waged between humans and homo superior. Anti-mutant statutes by the Human Coalition have all but eradicated mutantkind and any ordinary mortal who might carry the hated genes to make them.

Three years of inspired atrocity later, the stories of those last remnants of the variant species are examined in telling vignettes: Scott Summers was forced to execute his fellow inmates at a mutant Alcatraz before spectacularly escaping, Sam Guthrie survived the extermination of his entire family, super-powered or not, and Wolverine lost all his abilities destroying a pathogen designed to wipe out all genetic aberrations.

During the darkest moment of this man-made Extinction Event Magneto rescued the last remnants of meta-humanity and created a monumental Fortress X from the ruins of a devastated city. Here the remaining mutants hold out in a desperate all-or-nothing holding action…

After 1000 days of dire and valiant resistance a kind of last ditch détente persists. The humans keep attacking and the mutants perpetually narrowly beat them off. In this world where there are no telepaths and there has never been a Professor X, every day is one more precious moment of defiant unity in the face of imminent doom.

The stalemate continues in X-Men Legacy #245 (Carey, Clay Mann & Jay Leisten) as the resistors continue to defy the human world’s technology and soldiery. Especially vital are the contributions of the Force Warriors: energy-casting mutants whose powers maintain an impenetrable energy-shield around Fortress X. They are led by the charismatic Legion – son of Dr. Moira MacTaggert and an unknown father…

The most tragic hero is Legacy, whose touch can steal memories and abilities. She is not allowed to fight but is tasked with preserving forever the dying memories of mutants who fall in battle.

A few resisters are troubled by more than just the state of the world: something is imperceptibly wrong with reality itself. Metal-morph Madison Jeffries discovers there is something amiss with the stars in the sky; Summers, dubbed the Basilisk, realises that he’s killed some humans more than once and some defenders question why so many mutants are mysteriously imprisoned in the citadel’s dungeons.

Moreover, the enigmatic “X” who runs the fortress seems more concerned with containing them than defeating the human attackers. Even Magneto feels something is being kept from him – and he’s in charge…

When immaterial internee Kitty Pryde escapes the Brig and penetrates the forcefield she discovers something fantastic and X orders her silenced at all costs, precipitating traitorous action from Legacy, Cajun thief Gambit and even Magneto himself…

The New Mutants chapters are illustrated by Steve Kurth & Alex Martinez and follow Basilisk, Legacy and the liberated Pryde as they begin unpicking the darkly credible but ferociously flawed universe they inhabit. A turning point comes when the fugitive fighters free an imposing bald man named Xavier who claims to be a telepath…

Cunningly tapping into the brooding pressure and extreme vivacity of life during wartime and wonderfully reminiscent of William Hope Hodgson’s macabre 1912 classic The Night Land (an absolute “must-read” for all fantasy fans) this is an effective thriller and just a little different from your standard “unite and save the universe” crossover-events with a superb and spectacular surprise climax that will delight regulars and visiting readers alike.

And that’s the only real problem here: because after that satisfactory ending the Age of X Universe stories (written by Simon Spurrier, Jim McCann & Chuck Kim, illustrated by Khoi Pham, Tom Palmer, Paul Davidson & Gabriel Hernandez Walta) follow, totally killing the mood and the flow despite all being extremely well-produced revelatory side-bars and effective character-pieces.

Viewed on their own merits the stories of Spider-Man’s ultimate sacrifice, the brutal and tragic career of Humanity’s Avengers (Captain America, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Ghost Rider, the arachnoid Redback plus the most disturbing Hulk ever) and hidden secrets of the Mutant-hunting Dr. Strange are extremely impressive. If they’d been disclosed before the big reveal, surprise ending they would have been valuable elements in the greater narrative but chucked in after the fact they just detract from a really impressive story-ending.

This action-packed, compulsive and otherwise excellent volume also includes variant covers by Olivier Coipel and Clayton Mann.

If you want fast, furious and fulfilling Fights ‘n’ Tights magic this is a nearly perfect one-shop stop for your edification and delectation – just make sure you read the last bit after the first bit and before the middle bit…

™ and © 2010 & 2011 Marvel Entertainment LCC and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. A British edition released by Panini UK Ltd.

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Essential Super-Villain Team-Up volume 1


By Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Wally Wood, Keith Giffen & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-9041-5973-5

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner was the second super-star of the Timely Age of Comics (but only because he followed after the cover-featured Human Torch in Marvel Mystery Comics #1) and has had the most impressive longevity of the company’s “Big Three” Torch, Subby and Captain America.

He was revived in 1962 in Fantastic Four #4; once again an anti-hero/noble villain and has been prominent in the company’s pantheon ever since.

The following issue introduced the first great villain of the Silver Age in the form of technologically armoured dark knight Doctor Doom, who takes up the lion’s share of this eclectic yet excellent collection of dastardly double-dealings encompassing Astonishing Tales #1-8, Giant-Sized Super-Villain Team-Up #1-2, Super-Villain Team-Up #1-14 and 16-17, as well as pertinent crossover appearances in Avengers #154-156 and Champions 16.

Incidentally, Fantastic Four #6 featured the first Super-Villain Team-Up of the Marvel age as Doom and Namor joined forces as ‘The Deadly Duo’. The Master of Latveria inevitably betrayed and tried to kill the Prince of Atlantis in that tale: an event which colours the relationship of the characters to this day… All of those magical moments appear in Essential Fantastic Four volume 1, by the way.

Although Doom had his first true solo outing in Marvel Super-Heroes #20 (May 1969) this magnificent and monumental monochrome collection opens with his follow-up series which began with ‘Unto You is Born… the Doomsman!’ (July-August 1970) wherein Roy Thomas & Wally Wood revealed the master manipulator’s daily struggle to maintain his iron control over the Ruritanian kingdom of Latveria, building a super-robot to crush the incipient rebellion of ousted Crown Prince Rudolfo and his mysterious sponsor.

However the use of a girl who seemed to be Victor von Doom’s lost love had the desired effect and the rebels almost succeeded in driving the tyrant from Doom Castle. In the attendant chaos the Doomsman device wandered away…

‘Revolution!’ proved Doom was not the only master of mechanoids as Rudolfo and the enigmatic Faceless One used the Doomsman to wreak havoc throughout the country, before a final assault in ‘Doom Must Die!’ (scripted by Larry Lieber) found all the tyrant’s enemies vanquished and the Monarch of Menace once more firmly in control.

Lieber & Wood then pitted Doom against the Red Skull in ‘The Invaders!’ as an army of leftover Nazis stormed into the country whilst Doom was away, only to be crushed and banished in ‘A Land Enslaved!’ (Astonishing Tales #5, by Lieber, George Tuska & Mike Esposito) as soon as he came back.

Issue #6 saw the Lord of Latveria invade the African nation of Wakanda in ‘The Tentacles of the Tyrant!’ determined to seize the vast stock of wonder mineral Vibranium only to fall foul of the furious tenacity of its king and defender T’Challa the Black Panther in ‘…And If I be Called Traitor!’ (Gerry Conway, Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia).

The short solo run ended in high style with a little landmark entitled ‘Though Some Call it Magic!’, wherein Conway, Colan & Tom Palmer revealed Doom’s darkest secret. Every year the ultimate villain was forced to duel the rulers of Hell in the vain hope of freeing the soul of his mother from eternal torment, and every year he failed: a tragic trial which punished both the living and the dead.

With this tormented mini-epic even further depth and drama were added to the greatest villain in the Marvel universe.

The series vanished with no warning and Doom returned to his status as premier antagonist in the Fantastic Four and elsewhere until Giant-Sized Super-Villain Team-Up #1 was released (March 1975), once more bathing the Deadly Despot in a starring spotlight.

In the intervening years the Sub-Mariner had also lost his own series, despite some very radical and attention-grabbing stunts. A nerve gas dumping accident perpetrated by surface dwellers had catastrophically altered his hybrid body, forcing him to wear a hydrating-suit to breathe. The same toxin had plunged the entire nation of Atlantis into a perpetual coma.

Alone and pushed to the brink of desperation, Prince Namor rescued Doom from a deadly plunge to Earth after the Iron Dictator’s latest defeat the hands of the FF and Silver Surfer in an impressive and effective framing sequence bracketing two classic reprint tales. ‘Encounter at Land’s End!’ (by Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Joe Sinnott) saw Doom plucked from the sea and the edge of death by a Sub-Mariner in dire need of scientific wizardry to cure his somnolent race and prepared to offer an alliance against all mankind to get it…

Painfully aware of their unhappy past history the outlaws recalled a previous encounter ‘In the Darkness Dwells Doom!’ (from Sub-Mariner #20, by Thomas, Buscema & Johnny Craig) wherein the fugitive Atlantean was offered sanctuary in New York’s Latverian embassy before being blackmailed and betrayed (again) by the Devil Doctor…

Initially reluctant, Doom reconsiders after recalling a past battle against the diabolical Diablo. ‘This Man… This Demon!’ (Thomas, Lieber, Giacoia & Vince Colletta) is the aforementioned solo tryout from Marvel Super-Heroes #20, which restated the Doctor’s origins and revealed his tragic, doomed relationship with a gypsy girl named Valeria…

The debate ends in a cataclysmic clash of egos and raw destructive power with both parties more bitterly opposed than ever but the follow-up ‘To Bestride the World!’ (Thomas, Mike Sekowsky & Sam Grainger) in the all-new Giant-Sized Super-Villain Team-Up #2 (June 1975), forced Doom to change his mind when his own android army rebelled after the long-lost Doomsman (under its new guise of Andro) returned and co-opted them for a war against organic life.

After blistering battle and extensive carnage Namor and Doom triumphed together and parted uneasy allies, only to regroup in the pages of Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (August 1975) as a chaotic ongoing series began with ‘Slayers from the Sea!’ by Tony Isabella, George Tuska, Bill Everett & Fred Kida.

As Doom actually contemplates treating an ally as a equal in the opening chapter ‘An Alliance Asunder?’, in the second part ‘Frenzy on a Floating Fortress’ (illustrated by George Evans & Frank Springer) Namor is ambushed by old foes Attuma, Dr. Dorcas and Tiger Shark, leading Doom to rush to his rescue in #2 as ‘In the Midst of Life…!’ (with art from Sal Buscema & Kida) the Sub-Mariner’s truest friend was murdered by his assembled enemies, leading to a brutal climax in ‘If Vengeance Fails!’ by Jim Shooter, Evans & Jack Abel.

Super-Villain Team-Up was an intriguing concept cursed with a revolving door creative team crisis: nobody seemed able to stay with the series for more than a couple of issues. Somehow the standards remained high but with no long-term planning the plots and characterisation jumped all over the place.

Bill Mantlo, Herb Trimpe & Jim Mooney produced ‘A Time of Titans!’ in #4 as Doom and Sub-Mariner battled each other and encountered a prototype Deathlok the Demolisher before splitting up yet again, after which Steve Englehart stepped in for ‘…And Be a Villain!’ (illustrated by Trimpe & Don Perlin) wherein the Lord of Latveria artificially exacerbated Namor’s breathing affliction and threatened to annihilate dormant Atlantis. Despite all the efforts of the Fantastic Four the Sub-Mariner was forced to swear fealty to Doom or see his people and himself perish forever…

This tumultuous issue also introduced mystic Batman knock-off the Shroud whose avowed mission was to free the world from the curse of Doom at all costs…

Jack Abel inked ‘Prisoner!’ in #6 as the FF invaded Latveria to rescue the promise-bound Sub-Mariner only to be sent packing by US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who had just signed a non-aggression pact with Doom. One American observed no such legal or diplomatic niceties in ‘Who is… The Shroud?’ (Pablo Marcos inks) and, after revealing his origins to Namor, the Master of Darkness freed him from his vow by killing Dr. Doom.

As Shroud and Namor fled for the border chaos broke out in Latveria, but in actuality Doom was not dead. He had been rescued and imprisoned by Namor’s cousin Namorita and girlfriend Tamara in ‘Escape!’ (illustrated by Keith Giffen & Owen McCarron) under the misguided apprehension that they could force the Metal-shod Monarch into helping Atlantis and their Prince., The crisis escalated as it segued into an ongoing Avengers storyline, beginning ‘When Strikes Attuma?’ (Avengers #154 by Conway, George Perez & Marcos) as the Sub-sea Slayer enslaved the World’s Mightiest Heroes and commanded them to kill Namor…

The saga continued in Super-Villain Team-Up #9 (scripted by Mantlo, drawn by Jim Shooter & Sal Trapani) as the ‘Pawns of Attuma!’ attacked only to discover Doom in charge and easily able to thwart their half-hearted assault. In Avengers #155 the beaten heroes were helpless, leaving only the confused, battle-crazed Namor and a substitute team to hunt down the barbarian sea lord, with the epic conclusion ‘The Private War of Doctor Doom!’ in #156 (written by Shooter, drawn by Sal Buscema & Marcos) where the liberated and resurgent heroes joined forces to crush Attuma and prevent Doom from turning the situation to his own world-conquering advantage…

Behind the scenes in Latveria, Shroud had installed Prince Rudolfo as a faux Doctor Doom but things went wrong very quickly in Super-Villain Team-Up #10 (by Mantlo, Bob Hall & Perlin) when Captain America investigated ‘The Sign of the Skull!’

In the Latverian Embassy the genuine despot learned from the Star-Spangled Avenger that Red Skull had once more invaded Doom’s homeland, even as the Sub-Mariner discovered greedy surface-men pillaging his comatose city of Atlantis.

As Doom and Captain America battled their way through Latveria’s formidable defences the Skull proceeded in establishing his Fourth Reich, easily defeating the Shroud in ‘My Ally, my Enemy’ but when Namor raged in, tracking the ravagers of Atlantis to Doom’s castle, the tables were finally turned and the Iron Dictator swore to finally cure the Atlanteans in return for the Sub-Mariner’s aid against the Nazi invaders.

Firstly though, the Skull plans to enslave the earth with a hypno-ray had to be crushed in ‘Death Duel!’ with the Iron Doctor pursuing the Nazi mastermind to his hidden moonbase, casually sacrificing the Shroud in the process.

Finally fulfilling his oath Doom resurrected the comatose Atlanteans in #13, but only after a blistering sub-sea battle with amphibian arch-foe Krang and a brobdingnagian sea beast in ‘When Walks the Warlord!’ (by Mantlo, Giffen & Perlin)

With Atlantis and Namor restored a new era began and ended with Super-Villain Team-Up #14 (October 1977). ‘A World For the Winning!’ by Mantlo, Hall, Perlin & Duffy Vohland, opened with mutant villain Magneto tricked into a duel with Doom who was de facto master of the world since he had seeded the atmosphere with a mind control gas.

Ever the sportsman, the Lord of Latveria released Magneto from his control, allowed him to liberate one other thrall and challenged them both to save the world…

It was the last issue of the troubled title and the story concluded in Champions #19 (November 1977) as the Master of Magnetism and the Beast spectacularly overcame all odds and saved the day in ‘A World Lost!’ (Mantlo, Hall & Mike Esposito). A year later Super-Villain Team-Up #15 appeared from nowhere (dated November 1978 and presumably released to safeguard the copyright) with a reprint of the Red Skull story from Astonishing Tales #4-5.

‘Shall I Call Thee Master?’ by Peter Gillis, Carmine Infantino & Bruce Patterson was released a year later ( #16 May 1979, with one final issue 12 months after that) wherein the Skull, Hatemonger and radical geneticist Arnim Zola whiled away the days in a human atrocity lab. This was a dark exploration of monstrous inhumanity where torture and degradation were simply a way of passing the time until the leftover Fascists could build a new Cosmic Cube and reshape all reality to their twisted whims.

In this instance they were thwarted by merely mortal secret agents in the long delayed but savagely effective conclusion ‘Dark Victory!’ (Gillis, Arvell Jones & Patterson), after which the concept and title were shelved for decades.

This eccentric and thoroughly fan-only compendium concludes with a double page spread omitted from earlier reprintings of ‘This Man… This Demon!’ and the rather magnificent cover of that tale from Marvel Super-Heroes #20.

For all its flaws Super-Villain Team-Up was a bold experiment and a genuinely enjoyable dalliance with the different during the 1970s – as long as the reader had an in depth knowledge of the company’s ever- more complex continuity. I truly wish more people would sample the delights of this offbeat saga but I doubt any new reader could cope with the terrifying torrent of unexplained backstory.

Still, I’d be delighted if you prove me wrong…
© 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1977, 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Captain America volume 5


By Jack Kirby, Frank Robbins, Frank Giacoia & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4535-6

Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby in an era of frantic patriotic fervour, Captain America was a dynamic and highly visible response to the horrors of Nazism and the threat of Liberty’s loss. He faded during the post-war reconstruction but briefly reappeared after the Korean War: a harder, darker sentinel ferreting out monsters, subversives and the “commies” who lurked under every American bed. Then he vanished once more until the burgeoning Marvel Age resurrected him just in time to experience turbulent, culturally divisive 1960s.

This fifth Essential collection features the spectacular return of “The King”, as Jack Kirby took over writing, drawing and editing the Sentinel of Liberty in the year of the country’s two hundredth birthday. This stunning black and white compendium reprints issues #187-205 (July 1975-January 1977) of the monthly comicbook and includes Captain America Annual #3 and the magnificent commemorative tabloid Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles.

At the end of the previous volume the Red Skull had returned in all his gory glory and, after a staggeringly effective campaign of terror, revealed that the high-flying Falcon had been his unwitting secret weapon for years: a cheap gangster named Sam “Snap” Wilson reprogrammed by the Cosmic Cube into the perfect partner for Captain America and a tantalising, ticking time bomb waiting to explode…

Captain America and the Falcon #187 opens the show here with ‘The Madness Maze!’ (by John Warner, Frank Robbins & Frank Chiaramonte) with the Skull fled and the now-comatose Falcon in the custody of super-spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Suddenly the Star-Spangled Avenger was abducted by a mysterious flying saucer and attacked by alchemical androids employed by a rival espionage outfit , culminating in a ‘Druid-War’ (Warner, Sal Buscema & Vince Colletta), before Tony Isabella, Robbins & Chiaramonte put Cap into an ‘Arena For a Fallen Hero!’ where psychological warfare and unarmed combat combined into a radical therapy to kill or cure the mind-locked sidekick.

Just as the radical cure kicked in an old foe took over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s flying HQ in ‘Nightshade is Deadlier the Second Time Around!’ (Isabella, Robbins & Colletta), after which the crimes of forcibly-reformed Snap Wilson were examined and judged in the climactic wrap-up ‘The Trial of the Falcon!’ (Isabella, Bill Mantlo, Robbins & D. Bruce Berry) with a predictable court ruling, a clutch of heroic cameos and a bombastic battle against the sinister Stilt-Man.

With the narrative decks cleared, Captain America and the Falcon #192 featured an ingenious, entertaining filler written by outgoing editor Marv Wolfman, illustrated by Robbins & Berry, wherein Cap hopped on to a commercial plane and found himself battling Dr. Faustus and a contingent of gang-bosses on a ‘Mad-Flight!’ thousands of feet above New York.

In 1976 Kirby exploded back into the Marvel Universe with a slew of new creations (2001: a Space Odyssey, Machine Man, The Eternals, Devil Dinosaur) and assumed control of established characters Captain America and latterly the Black Panther. His return was much hyped at the time but swiftly became controversial. His new work quickly found friends, but his tenure on his earlier inventions divided the fan base.

Kirby was never slavishly wedded to tight continuity and preferred, in many ways, to treat his stints on Cap and the Panther as a kind of creative “Day One”.

Captain America Annual #3 was a feature- length science fiction shocker which eschewed the convoluted back-story and cultural soul searching of the recent past and simply confronted the valiant hero with a cosmic vampire in ‘The Thing From the Black Hole Star!’; a riot of rampaging action and end-of-the-world wonderment featuring a fallible but fiercely determined fighting man free of doubt and determined to defend the world at all costs…

Kirby had big plans for the nation’s premiere comicbook patriotic symbol. Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles was released to commemorate the USA’s two hundredth year in Marvel’s tabloid Treasury Format (80+ pages of 338 x 258mm dimensions) and featured the Sentinel of Liberty on an incredible excursion through the key eras and areas of American history.

A vast, expansive, panoramic and iconic celebration of the memory and the myth of the nation, this almost abstracted and heavily symbolic 84 page extravaganza perfectly survives the surrender of colour and reduction to standard comic dimensions, following Captain America when cosmic savant Mister Buda propelled the querulous Avenger into successive significant segments of history: encountering lost partner Bucky during WWII, meeting Benjamin Franklin in Revolutionary Philadelphia and revisiting the mobster-ridden depression era of Steve Roger’s childhood.

Cap met Geronimo during the Indian Wars, suffered the horrors of a mine cave-in, survived a dogfight with a German WWI fighter ace, battled bare-knuckle boxer John L. Sullivan, resisted slavers with abolitionist John Brown, observed the detonation of the first Atom Bomb, saw the great Chicago Fire and even slipped into America’s future…

He experienced the glory days of Hollywood, the simple joys of rural homesteading and the harshest modern ghetto, before drawing strength from the nation’s hopeful children…

Inked by such luminaries as Barry Windsor-Smith, John Romita Sr. and Herb Trimpe the book-length bonanza is peppered with a glorious selection of pulsating pin-ups.

After absorbing the worth of a nation Captain America and the Falcon #193 concentrated on saving it with the opening salvo in an epic storyline leading up the immortal super-soldier’s own 200th issue.

Inked by fellow veteran Frank Giacoia ‘The Madbomb’ revealed a ‘Screamer in the Brain!’ when a tiny new weapon was triggered by unknown terrorists, reducing an entire city block to rubble by driving the populace into a mass psychotic frenzy. Experiencing the madness at close hand Cap and the Falcon were seconded by the government to find the culprits and the full scale device hidden somewhere in America…

‘The Trojan Horde’ introduced plutocratic mastermind William Taurey who intended to unmake the American Revolution and restore an aristocracy. Using inestimable wealth, a cadre of similarly disgruntled millionaire elitists, an army of mercenaries, slaves transformed into genetic freaks and other cutting edge super-science atrocities, the maniac intended to forever destroy the Republic.

Moreover, when he was in charge, the first thing Taurey intended was to hunt down the last descendent of Colonial hero Steven Rogers, who had killed Taurey’s Monarchist ancestor and allowed Washington to win the War of Independence.

Little did he suspect the subject of his wrath had already infiltrated his secret army…

In ‘It’s 1984!’ (inked by D. Bruce Berry) Cap and Falcon got a first-hand look at the kind of world Taurey advocated, battling their way through monsters, mercenaries and a mob fuelled by modern mind-control and Bread and Circuses, before ultra-spoiled elitist Cheer Chadwick took then under her bored and privileged wing…

Even she couldn’t keep her new pets from being sucked into the bloody, brutal Circus section of the New Society as the heroes were forced to fight for their lives in ‘Kill-Derby’ and as the US army raided the secret base in ‘The Rocks are Burning!’ (Giacoia inks) the heroes realised it was all for nought since the colossal Mad-Bomb was still active and lost somewhere in their vast Home of the Brave.

The offbeat ‘Captain America’s Love Story’ took a decidedly different and desperate track as the Bastion of Freedom was forced to romance a sick woman to get to her father – who had invented the deadly device – after which ‘The Man Who Sold the United States’ returned to all-out action as the Cap and Falcon raced a countdown to national disaster as the Bomb was finally triggered by ‘Dawn’s Early Light!’ in a spectacular showdown climax which surpassed every expectation.

With Captain America and the Falcon #201, the pace shifted to malevolent moodiness and uncanny mystery with ‘The Night People!’: a street-full of mutants and maniacs who periodically phased into and out of New York City, creating terror and chaos every evening. When Falcon and Leila were abducted by the eerie encroachers there were soon converted to their crazed cause by the ‘Mad, Mad Dimension!’ they inhabited during daylight hours, leaving Captain America and new associate Texas Jack Muldoon hopelessly outgunned when their last-ditch rescue attempt left them all battling an invasion of berserkers beasts in ‘Alamo II!’

On bludgeoning, bombastic top-form, the Star-Spangled Avenger saved the day once more, but no sooner were the erstwhile inhabitants of Zero Street safely ensconced on Earth than ‘The Unburied One!’ pitted the indefatigable champions against a corpse which wouldn’t play dead. The concluding chapter and last tale in this blockbusting tome revealed the cadaver had become home to an energy being from the far future when ‘Agron Walks the Earth!’ but not even its blistering power and rage could long baulk the indomitable spirit and ability of America’s Ultimate Fighting Man.

This supremely thrilling collection also has room for a selection of Kirby cover roughs and un-inked pencils that will delight art fans and aficionados. The King’s commitment to wholesome adventure, breakneck action and breathless wonderment, combined with his absolute mastery of the comic page and unceasing quest for the Next Big Thrill, always make for a captivating read and this stuff is as good as any of his post Fourth World stuff.

However, it does make this book a bit of a double-edged treat. Engaging and impressive as the first half-dozen stories in this volume are, they are worlds away in style, form and content from the perfect imaginative maelstrom of Kirby at his creative peak.

Not better but very, very different.

You can hate one and love the other, but perhaps it’s better to try to appreciate each era on its own merits…

Fast-paced, action-packed, totally engrossing fights ‘n’ tights masterpieces no fan should ignore and above all else, fabulously fun tales of a true American Dream…

© 1972, 1973, 1984, 1975, 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Revenge of the Living Monolith – Marvel Graphic Novel #17


By David Michelinie, Mark Silvestri, Geoff Isherwood & many various (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-083-1

Marvel don’t generally publish original material graphic novel these days but once they were market leader in the field with a range of “big stories” told on larger pages emulating the long-established European Album (285 x 220mm rather than the standard 258 x 168mm of today’s books) featuring not only proprietary characters in out-of-the-ordinary adventures but also licensed assets like Conan, creator-owned properties like Alien Legion and new character debuts.

This extended experiment with big-ticket storytelling in the 1980s and 1990s produced some exciting results that the company has never come close to repeating since. Many of the stories still stand out today – or would if they were still in print.

Released in 1985, Revenge of the Living Monolith is a conventional but highly enjoyable Fights ‘n’ Tights thriller paying glorious homage to those long-gone blockbuster movies with colossal monsters stomping urban population centres into kindling, yet still finds room to add some impressive character gloss to one of Marvel’s most uninspired villains.

Conceived and concocted by Editor Jim Owsley, scripted by David Michelinie and illustrated by Mark Silvestri & Geoff Isherwood (with nearly 4 dozen additional last-minute contributors!) this bombastic yarn is delightfully accessible to all but the most green reader of comics delivering action, tension and winning character byplay to both the faithful readership which made Marvel the premier US comics publisher for such a long time and even the newest kid on the block….

The plot itself is simple and effective: when young Ahmet Abdol was growing up in Cairo, he was bullied and abused for his intellect and imagination. Only the love and devotion of the lovely Filene kept him sane during the years of struggle until he became Egypt’s most respected historian.

However his “sacrilegious” twin discoveries that the ancient Pharaohs were super-powered mutants and that he shared their ancient bloodline brought only scorn, mob violence and shattering tragedy to Abdol and especially to his beloved wife and baby daughter. When his own cosmic powers manifested in the wake of the bloody incident, Abdol was abducted and deified by an ancient cult who saw him as their Living Pharaoh.

After battling the X-Men, Thor and Spider-Man in his mountainous, monstrous incarnation of the Living Monolith the defeated Last God-King was imprisoned in Egypt where he festered and schemed…

After years in forgotten isolation Abdol finally frees himself and begins an incredible plot to remove all his enemies and transform himself into a Cosmic-powered God, beginning by capturing the Fantastic Four and making them his living batteries. Unfortunately even at the point of his apotheosis Abdol is not beyond further heartbreak and a tragedy of his own making provokes him into an agonising rampage of destruction through New York City, with only She-Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man on hand to combat the swathe of destruction…

Including last-minute cameos from most of Marvel’s costumed pantheon, this spectacular superhero saga is a perfect, if brief, distraction from the world’s woes for every fan of mainstream comics mayhem.
™ & © 1985 Marvel Comics Group/Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Ms. Marvel volume 1


By Gerry Conway, Chris Claremont, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Dave Cockrum, Mike Vosburg & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2499-3

Until relatively recently American comics and especially Marvel had very little in the way of positive female role models and almost no viable solo stars. Although there was a woman starring in the very first comic of the Marvel Age, the Invisible Girl took years to become became a potent and independent character in her own right.

The company’s very first starring heroine was Black Fury, a leather-clad, whip-wielding crimebuster from the newspaper strips created by Tarpe Mills in April 1941. She was repackaged as a resized reprint for Timely’s funnybooks and renamed Miss Fury for a four-year run from 1942-1946 – although the tabloid strip survived until 1952. Fury was actually predated by the Silver Scorpion who debuted in Daring Mystery Comics #7 (April 1941), but she was relegated to a minor position in the book’s line-up and a very short shelf-life.

Miss America first appeared in the anthology Marvel Mystery Comics #49 (November1943), created by Otto Binder and artist Al Gabriele and after a few more appearances won her own title in early 1944 received her own book. Miss America Comics lasted but she didn’t as with the second issue (November1944) the format was changed, becoming a combination teen comedy/fashion/domestics tips magazine, and feisty super-heroics were steadily squeezed out. The publication is most famous now for introducing virginal evergreen teen ideal Patsy Walker.

A few others appeared immediately after the War, many spin-offs and sidekicks such as female Sub-Mariner Namora (debuting in Marvel Mystery Comics #82, May 1947 and graduating to her own three issue series in 1948), the Human Torch‘s secretary Mary Mitchell who as Sun Girl starred in her own three issue 1948 series before becoming a wandering sidekick and guest star in Sub-Mariner and Captain America Comics.

Masked detective Blonde Phantom was created by Stan Lee and Syd Shores for All Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946) and sort-of goddess Venus debuted in her own title in August 1948, becoming the gender’s biggest success until the advent of the Jungle Girl fad in the mid-1950s; mostly by dint of the superb stories and art by the great Bill Everett and by ruthlessly changing genres from crime to romance to horror every five minutes…

Jann of the Jungle (by Don Rico & Jay Scott Pike) was just part of an anthology line-up in Jungle Tales #1 (September 1954), but took over the title with the eighth issue (November 1955). Jann of the Jungle continued until issue June 1957 (#17) and spawned a host of in-company imitators such as Leopard Girl, Lorna the Jungle Queen and so on…

During the costumed hero boom of the 1960s Marvel experimented with a title shot for Madame Medusa in Marvel Super-Heroes (#15, July 1968) and a solo series for the Black Widow in Amazing Adventures # 1-8 (August 1970-September 1971). Both were sexy, reformed villainesses, not wholesome girl-next-door heroines… and neither lasted alone for long.

As the costumed crazies craze began to subside in the 1970s, Stan Lee and Roy Thomas looked into creating a girl-friendly boutique of heroines written by women, beginning with Claws of the Cat by Linda Fite, Marie Severin & Wally Wood and Night Nurse by Jean Thomas and Win Mortimer (both #1’s cover-dated November 1972). A new jungle goddess Shanna the She-Devil #1, by Carole Seuling & George Tuska, debuted in December 1972; but despite these impressive creative teams none of these fascinating experiments lasted beyond a fifth issue.

Red Sonja, She-Devil with a Sword, caught every one’s attention in Conan the Barbarian #23 (February 1973) and eventually gained her own series and The Cat mutated into Tigra, the Were-Woman in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974) but the general editorial position was that books about chicks didn’t sell.

The company kept trying and eventually found the right mix at the right time with Ms. Marvel who launched in her own title cover-dated January 1977. She was followed by the equally copyright-protecting Spider-Woman in Marvel Spotlight #32 (February 1977, winning her own title 15 months later) and Savage She-Hulk (#1, February 1980) as well as the music-biz sponsored Dazzler who premiered in Uncanny X-Men #130 that same month, before inevitably graduating to her own book.

Ms. Marvel was actually Carol Danvers, a United States Air Force security officer introduced in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March 1968): the second episode of the saga of Kree warrior Mar-Vell, who had been dispatched to Earth as a spy after the Fantastic Four had repulsed the aliens twice in two months (see Essential Fantastic Four volume 4 and Essential Captain Marvel volume 1).

The series was written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Gene Colan and the immensely competent Carol investigated the Mar-Vell’s assumed identity of Walter Lawson for months until she was caught up in a devastating battle between the now-defecting alien and his nemesis Yon-Rogg. She was caught in a climactic explosion of alien technology and pretty much vanished from sight until Gerry Conway, John Buscema & Joe Sinnott revived her for ‘This Woman, This Warrior!’ (Ms. Marvel #1, January 1977) as a new chapter began for the company and the industry…

This volume, collecting Ms. Marvel #1-23, relevant portions of Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11 and Avengers Annual #10, opens with the irrepressible and partially amnesiac Danvers moving to New York to become editor of “Woman” a new magazine for modern misses published by Daily Bugle owner J. Jonah Jameson. Never having fully recovered from her near-death experience, Danvers had left the military and drifted into writing, slowly growing in confidence until the irascible publisher had made her an offer she couldn’t refuse…

At the same time as Carol was getting her feet under a desk a mysterious new masked heroine began appearing, such as when she pitched up to battle the sinister Scorpion in a brutal bank raid. The villain narrowly escaped to rendezvous with Professor Kerwin Korwin of AIM (a high-tech secret society claiming to be Advanced Idea Mechanics) who had promised to increase the Scorpion’s powers and allow him to take long-delayed revenge on Jameson – whom the demented thug blamed for his freakish condition…

Danvers had been secretly having premonitions and blackouts since her involvement in the final battle between Mar-Vell and Yon-Rogg and had no idea she was transforming into Ms. Marvel. Her latest vision-flash occurred too late to save the publisher from abduction but her “Seventh Sense” did allow her to trace the Scorpion before her unwitting new boss is injured, whilst her incredible physical powers and knowledge of Kree combat techniques enabled her to easily trounce the maniac.

‘Enigma of Fear!’ featured a return engagement for the Scorpion as Korwin and AIM made Ms. Marvel their latest science project. Whilst the Professor turned himself into an armoured assassin codenamed Destructor, Carol’s therapist Mike Barnett made an analytical breakthrough with his patient and discovered she was a masked metahuman even before she did. Although she again felled the Scorpion Ms. Marvel was ambushed by the Destructor, but awoke in #3 (scripted by Chris Claremont) to turn the tables in ‘The Lady’s Not For Killing!’

Travelling to Cape Canaveral to interview old friend Salia Petrie for a women astronauts feature, Danvers was soon battling an old Silver Surfer foe on the edge of space and all her occluded memories returned just in time for a final confrontation with the Destructor during which she almost learnt that ‘Death is the Doomsday Man!’ (by Claremont, Jim Mooney & Sinnott).

Android Avenger the Vision guest-starred in #5 as Ms. Marvel crossed a ‘Bridge of No Return’. After Dr. Barnett revealed he knew her secret, Carol was forced to battle the Vision when AIM tricked the artificial hero into protecting a massive, mobile “dirty” bomb, before ‘…And Grotesk Shall Slay Thee!’ pitted her against a subterranean menace determined to eradicate the human race, culminating in a waking ‘Nightmare!’ when she was captured by AIM’s deadly leader Modok and all her secrets were exposed to his malign scientific scrutiny.

Grotesk returned in #8 as ‘The Last Sunset…?‘ almost dawned for the entire planet, whilst ‘Call Me Death-Bird!’ (illustrated by Keith Pollard, Sinnott & Sam Grainger) introduced a mysterious, murderous avian alien who would figure heavily in many an X-Men and Avengers saga, but who spent her early days allied to the unrelenting forces of AIM as they attacked once more in ‘Cry Murder… Cry Modok!’ (art by Sal Buscema & Tom Palmer).

Frank Giacoia inked #11’s ‘Day of the Dark Angel!’ wherein supernal supernatural menaces Hecate, the Witch-Queen and the Elementals attacked the Cape, preventing Carol from rescuing Salia Petrie and her space shuttle crew from an incredible inter-dimensional disaster…

The astonishing action continued in ‘The Warrior… and the Witch-Queen!’ (Sinnott inks) before ‘Homecoming!’ (Mooney & Sinnott) explored Carol’s blue collar origins in Boston as she battled a pair of marauding aliens and ‘Fear Stalks Floor 40’ (illustrated by Carmine Infantino & Steve Leialoha) pitted her against her construction worker, anti-feminist dad even as she was saving his business from the sinister sabotage of the Steeplejack.

Mooney & Tony DeZuniga provided the art for ‘The Shark is a Very Deadly Beast!’ as undersea villain Tiger Shark kidnapped the Sub-Mariner’s teenaged cousin Namorita and only Ms. Marvel, after a brief side trip to Avengers Mansion, was on hand to provide succour in ‘The Deep Deadly Silence!’ (inked by Frank Springer). ‘Shadow of the Gun!’ (Mooney & DeZuniga) enhanced the X-Men connection by introducing shape-shifting mutant Mystique in a raid on S.H.I.E.L.D. to purloin a new super-weapon, which saw impressive service in #18’s ‘The St. Valentine’s Day/Avengers Massacre!’ (Mooney & Ricardo Villamonte): a blockbuster battle that featured the beginning of a deadly plot from within the distant Kree Imperium.

The scheme swiftly culminated in ‘Mirror, Mirror!’ (Infantino & Bob McLeod) as the Kree Supreme Intelligence attempted to reinvigorate his race’s stalled evolutionary path by kidnapping the Earth/Kree hybrid Carol Danvers. However with both her and Captain Marvel hitting his emissary Ronan the Accuser eventually the plotters took the hint and went home empty handed…

Ms. Marvel #20 saw a great big makeover as Carol Danvers finally created her own look and identity in ‘The All-New Ms. Marvel’ courtesy of Claremont, Dave Cockrum & Bob Wiacek wherein the utterly re-purposed hero tackled a hidden kingdom of intelligent post-atomic dinosaurs infesting the American deserts, leading to a catastrophic clash with ‘The Devil in the Dark!’ (inked by Al Milgrom).

Now one of the most hands-on, bombastic battlers in the Marvel pantheon, she was more than ready for a return match with Death-Bird in ‘Second Chance!’ (art by Mike Vosburg & Mike Zeck), but thrown for a total loop when she was fired from Woman Magazine. All these changes came too late as the series’ sales had earmarked it for cancellation. ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ (inked by Bruce D. Patterson) resolved the long-running disappearance of Salia Petrie in a tale guest-starring the time travelling Guardians of the Galaxy, just in time for the end of the road.

The series ended there but two more stories were in various stages of preparation and finally saw print in 1992 (the Summer and Fall issues of oversized anthology publication Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11) beginning with an untitled, ferocious fight with mutant maniac Sabretooth (by Claremont & Vosburg), followed by ‘Cry, Vengeance!’ (by Claremont, Simon Furman, Vosburg & Mike Gustovich) as Ms. Marvel, now a card-carrying Avenger, faced off against Mystique and her brotherhood of Evil Mutants. This tale features an additional section which explained how Carol was attacked by the young mutant Rogue, permanently lost her powers and memory and was eventually reborn as the cosmic being Binary: which is all well and good but somewhat takes the punch out of the last tale in this collection.

Admittedly Ms. Marvel only has a peripheral role in ‘By Friends… Betrayed!’ from Avengers Annual #10 (1981, by Claremont, Michael Golden & Armando Gil), as a powerless, amnesiac Carol Danvers was rescued from drowning by Spider-Woman, prior to Mystique and Rogue launching an all-out attack on the World’s Mightiest Heroes whilst attempting to free the Brotherhood from custody.

Spectacular and utterly compelling the tale seemed to write a satisfactory conclusion to Carol’s career but in comics nothing is forever…

This comprehensive monochrome chronicle also includes full entries on Death-Bird, Captain Marvel, the Kree and Rogue, taken from the Marvel Universe Handbook.

Always entertaining, often groundbreaking and painfully patronising (occasionally at the same time), the early Ms. Marvel, against all odds, grew into the modern Marvel icon of capable womanhood we see today. These adventures are a valuable grounding of the contemporary champion but also still stand up on their own as intriguing examples of the inevitable fall of even the staunchest of male bastions – superhero stories…

© 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1992, 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Platinum: the Definitive Captain America


By Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-483-6

As a primer or introductory collection for readers unfamiliar with the immortal Sentinel of Liberty this book has a lot to recommend it. In the past I’ve berated previous editions of the “definitive” line from Marvel because of the editorial selections, but this volume, compiled to support the impending cinema release, has a sensible selection of pertinent classics balanced by a few generally forgotten gems, so well done this time, chaps.

Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby at the end of 1940, and launched in his own Timely Comics’ (Marvel’s earliest iteration) title. Captain America Comics, #1 was cover-dated March 1941 and was a monster smash-hit. Cap was the absolute and undisputed star of Timely’s  “Big Three” – the other two being the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner – and one of very the first to fall from popularity at the end of the Golden Age.

When the Korean War and Communist aggression dominated the American psyche in the early 1950s Cap was briefly revived – as were his two fellow superstars – in 1953 before they all sank once more into obscurity until a resurgent Marvel Comics once more needed them. When the Stars and Stripes Centurion finally reappeared he finally managed to find a devoted following who stuck with him through thick and thin.

After taking over the Avengers he won his own series and, eventually, title. Cap waxed and waned through the most turbulent period of social change in US history but always struggled to find an ideological place and stable footing in the modern world, plagued by the trauma of his greatest failure: the death of his boy partner Bucky.

With another Captain America film about to launch around the world, Marvel has, quite understandably, released a batch of tie-in books and trade paperback collections to maximise exposure and cater for movie fans wanting to follow up with a comics experience. This celebratory compilation collects a selection of obvious and less well known epics under their Marvel Platinum/Definitive Editions umbrella, focusing on various versions of the Star-Spangled Avenger’s origin and first cases, combined with a canny collection of clashes against arch-foe and supreme villain the Red Skull.

This treasury of tales reprints the obvious landmarks from Captain America Comics #1, Avengers volume 1, #4, Tales of Suspense #80-81, Captain America volume 1, #143, 253-255, Marvel Fanfare volume 1, #18, Captain America volume 5, #25 and Captain America volume 1, #601 which, whilst not perhaps the absolute “definitive” sagas, come pretty damn close…

This career retrospective kicks off the only way it can: with two stories from the groundbreaking first issue of Captain America Comics (March 1941) by Simon & Kirby with inks by Al Liederman. Here we first see how scrawny, enfeebled young patriot Steven Rogers was continually rejected by the US Army until the Secret Service, desperate to counter a wave of Nazi-sympathizing espionage and sabotage, invited the passionate young man to become part of a clandestine experiment intended to create physically perfect super-soldiers.

When a Nazi agent infiltrated the project and murdered its key scientist, Rogers became the only successful graduate and America’s not-so-secret weapon. Sent undercover as a simple private he soon encountered James Buchanan Barnes: a headstrong, orphaned Army Brat who became his sidekick and costumed confidante “Bucky”. All of that was perfectly packaged into mere seven-and-a-half pages for ‘Meet Captain America’ whilst the Red, White and Blue Duo took a full 14 to first meet and defeat their greatest enemy whilst solving ‘The Riddle of the Red Skull’ – a thrill-packed, horror-drenched master-class in comics excitement.

During the Marvel Renaissance of the early 1960’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby aped the tactic which had worked so tellingly for DC Comics, but with mixed results. Julie Schwartz had incredible success with revised and modernised versions of the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed natural to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days.

A new Human Torch had premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four, and in the fourth issue of that title Sub-Mariner resurfaced after a twenty year amnesiac hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive their superhero line in the mid 1950s).

The teenaged Torch was promptly given his own solo feature in Strange Tales (see Essential Human Torch vol.1) and in #114 the flaming teen fought an acrobat pretending to be Captain America; an unashamed test-run to see if the new readership had a taste for an old hero…

The real thing promptly resurfaced in Avengers #4 (March 1964): a true landmark of the genre as Marvel’s greatest Golden Age sensation was revived. ‘Captain America Joins the Avengers!’ has everything that made the company’s early tales so fresh and vital. The majesty of a legendary warrior (that most of the readers had never heard of!) returned in our time of greatest need, stark tragedy in the loss of his boon companion Bucky, aliens, gangsters, Sub-Mariner and even wry social commentary. This story by Stan Lee, Kirby & George Roussos just cannot get old.

Eight months later Cap started solo adventures in the split-book Tales of Suspense #59 (sharing with fellow Avenger Iron Man) and went from strength to strength in stories set both in the modern world and WWII. From Tales of Suspense #80-81 (August and September 1966), comes a spectacular saga as the resurrected embodiment of Nazism, aided by subversive technology group AIM, threatened the entire universe after purloining a reality-warping ultimate weapon in ‘He Who Holds the Cosmic Cube!’ (Lee, Kirby & Don Heck). Happily the valiant Cap saved the day in the astounding climax ‘The Red Skull Supreme!’(inked by Frank Giacoia).

Cap soldiered on in ToS until #99, after which the title was changed to Captain America with the 100th issue. Now an established hit of the Marvel universe the Star-Spangled Avenger went from strength to strength, but hit a shaky conceptual patch once the turbulent social changes wracking the country began to seep into and inform the comicbook stories.

By the time of Captain America volume 1, #143 (November 1971 by Gary Friedrich & John Romita Sr.) Steve Rogers had a love interest in the form of spy Sharon Carter, a new costumed partner in The Falcon, worked as a volunteer agent of Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. agency and had a job as a New York City beat cop…

The Falcon, in his civilian identity of social worker Sam Wilson, had been trying to get friendly with “Black Power” activist Leila Taylor and at last a long-running subplot about racial tensions in Harlem boiled over… ‘Power to the People’ and ‘Burn, Whitey, Burn!’ (the issue was a giant-sized special) saw riots finally erupt with Cap and Falcon caught in the middle, but copped out in the final chapter by taking a painfully parochial and patronising stance and revealing that the unrest amongst the ghetto underclass was instigated by a rabble-rousing super-villain in ‘Red Skull in the Morning… Cap Take Warning!’

What a difference a decade makes. By the time of Captain America volume 1, #253-255 (January – March 1981 and part of an epochal run by Roger Stern, John Byrne & Joe Rubinstein collected in full in Captain America: War & Remembrance) the Sentinel of Liberty was once more a firmly entrenched establishment figure – almost running for president – concerned with saving the nation from extreme ulterior threats and sedition but not too concerned with social debate.

A grave peril from the past resurfaced in “Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot” wherein Cap was called to England and the deathbed of old comrade Lord Falsworth who battled Nazis as the legendary Union Jack in the WWII Allied superteam The Invaders. Steve found a brooding menace, family turmoil and an undying supernatural horror in the concluding “Blood on the Moors”, which saw the return of vampiric villain Baron Blood, the birth of a new patriotic hero and even now is still one of the very best handled Heroic Death stories in comics history. This sinister saga is followed by ‘The Living Legend’ from #255, as Stern, Byrne & Rubinstein reinterpret the Simon & Kirby origin tale with extra-added detail and enhanced drama…

Captain America has always been held up as a mirror of the American people and ‘Home Fires!’ by Stern, Frank Miller & Rubinstein (from Marvel Fanfare volume 1, #18, January 1985), tragically depicted how the hero’s faith and resolve could be turned against him when a devastating campaign of inner-city arson attacks led to the most unexpected of culprits with the vilest of motives, after which this chronicle leaps to the now classic ‘Death of the Dream’ by Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting from Captain America volume 5, #25 (April 2007).

This infamous issue depicted the startling events leading up to the murder of Steve Rogers after he surrendered to the US government at the conclusion of the Civil War which had tragically divided the country’s metahuman community. Interested parties requiring the full story should also track down Captain America: Reborn.

After years of killing and re-launching the series Captain America resumed its original numbering with volume 5, #50, being followed by volume 1, #600. From #601 (September 2009) comes one last impressive WWII yarn to close the comics part of this impressive tome as veteran Cap illustrator Gene Colan (assisted by colour artist Dean White), renders in his inimitable painting with pencil style, an eerie epic of the undead scripted by Brubaker wherein Captain America and Bucky stalk the bloody frontlines of Bastogne in 1945, stalking a bloodsucking assassin turning G.I.’s into vampires in ‘Red, White and Blue-Blood’…

The book is rounded out with a tribute to Gene Colan, cover reproductions, “technical secrets” and a comprehensive history of Cap’s seven-decade career and capabilities, ‘The True Origin of Captain America’ by historian Mike Conroy as well a fascinating postscript from Joe Simon’s Bulletin Board.

This book is one of the very best of these perennial supplements to cinema spectacle, but more importantly it is a supremely well-tailored device to turn curious movie-goers into fans of the comic incarnation too. If there’s a movie sequel, I’m sure Marvel has plans for much of the masterful material – by a vast range of creators – necessarily omitted here, but at least we have a superb selection to entice newcomers and charm the veteran American Dreamers.

™ and © 1941, 1964, 1966, 1971, 1981, 1985, 2007, 2009, 2011 Marvel Entertainment LCC and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. A British edition released by Panini UK Ltd.

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Essential Captain America volume 4


By Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2770-3

Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby in an era of frantic patriotic fervour, Captain America was a dynamic and highly visible response to the horrors of Nazism and the threat of Liberty’s loss. He faded during the post-war reconstruction but briefly reappeared after the Korean War: a harder, darker sentinel ferreting out monsters, subversives and the “commies” who lurked under every American bed. Then he vanished once more until the burgeoning Marvel Age resurrected him just in time to experience turbulent, culturally divisive 1960s.

By the time of this fourth Essential collection, reprinting issues #157-186 (January 1973-June 1975) of his monthly comicbook the once convinced and confirmed Sentinel of Liberty had become the unhappy, uncomfortable symbol of a divided nation, but was looking to make the best of things and carve himself a new place in the Land of the Free. Real world events were about to put paid to that American dream…

After meeting and defeating an ugly past in the form of the Captain America and Bucky of the 1950s, Steve Rogers hoped for less troublesome times when ‘Veni, Vidi, Vici: Viper!’ (written by Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema & John Verpoorten) began an epic, engrossing storyline by introducing a despicable advertising executive-turned snaky super-villain ostensibly working for a enigmatic boss named the Cowled Commander.

It transpired that corrupt connections at the Precinct where Rogers worked as a policeman had been stirred into murderous action by our hero’s presence, leading to good cops being framed, bombs in offices and the Viper taking out survivors with lethally poisonous darts…

When social worker Sam Wilson, in the guise of the Falcon, came to investigate both he and Cap succumbed to the deadly venom until ‘The Crime Wave Breaks!’ (Englehart, Buscema & Verpoorten) saw a last-second escape from death, a ramping up of criminal activity and Rogers’ abduction, leading to a ‘Turning Point!’ wherein super-scum-for-hire Porcupine, Scarecrow, Plantman and the Eel’s ill-conceived attack gave the game away and uncovered the hidden mastermind in their midst.

‘Enter: Solarr!’ (inked by Frank McLaughlin) presented an old-fashioned clash with a super-powered maniac as the main attraction, but the real meat was the start of twin sub-plots that would shape the next half-dozen adventures, as the Star-Spangled Avenger’s newfound super-strength increasingly made Falcon feel like a junior and inferior partner, whilst Steve’s long-time romantic interest Sharon Carter stole away in the night without leaving a word of explanation…

Captain America and the Falcon #161 saw the tension between Steve and Sam intensify as the heroes went searching for Sharon in ‘…If he Loseth His Soul!’, finding a connection to the girl Cap loved and lost in World War II and a deadly psycho-drama overseen by criminal shrink Dr. Faustus, culminating in a singular lesson in extreme therapy which only proved ‘This Way Lies Madness!’

‘Beware of Serpents!’ saw the returning Viper and Eel combine with the Cobra to form a Serpent Squad as the vengeful ad-man began a campaign to destroy the Sentinel of Liberty with the “Big Lie” weapons and tactics of Madison Avenue. Although the instigator quickly fell, the scheme rumbled on with slow but certain consequences…

Issue #164 was a stunningly scary episode illustrated by Alan Lee Weiss, introducing minx-ish mad scientist Deadly Nightshade, a ‘Queen of the Werewolves!’ who infected Falcon with her chemical lycanthropy as an audition to enlist with one of the planet’s greatest menaces…

The full horror of the situation was revealed when ‘The Yellow Claw Strikes’ (Englehart, Buscema & McLaughlin), renewing a campaign of terror begun in the 1950s, but this time attacking his former Chinese Communist sponsors and the USA indiscriminately. Giant bugs, deadly slave assassins and reanimated mummies were bad enough, but when the Arcane Oriental’s formidable mind-control duped Cap into almost beating S.H.I.E.L.D. supremo Nick Fury to death during the ‘Night of the Lurking Dead!’ the blistering final battle could only result in further tragedy when an old ally perished in the Frank Giacoia inked ‘Ashes to Ashes’.

One of the Star-Spangled Avengers most durable enemies sort-of resurfaced in the tense thriller ‘…And a Phoenix Shall Arise!’ (inked by John Tartaglione & George Roussos) before the Viper’s long-laid plans began to finally bear bitter fruit in #169’s ‘When a Legend Dies!’ (additional scripting from Mike Friedrich) as anti Captain America TV spots made people doubt the honesty and sanity of the nation’s greatest hero. As the Falcon and his “Black Power” activist girlfriend Leila Taylor left for the super-scientific African nation of Wakanda in search of increased powers, Cap battled third-rate villain the Tumbler.

In the heat of battle the Sentinel of Liberty seemed to go too far and the thug died…

‘J’Accuse!’ (Englehart, Friedrich, Buscema & Vince Colletta) saw Cap beaten and arrested by too-good-to-be-true neophyte crusader Moonstone, whilst in Africa Leila was kidnapped by Harlem hood Stone-Face: far from home and hungry for some familiar foxy friendship… ‘Bust-Out!’ in #171 found Cap forcibly sprung from jail by a mysterious pack of “supporters” as Black Panther and the newly flying Falcon crushed Stone-Face preparatory to a quick dash back to America and a reunion with Cap.

‘Believe it or Not: The Banshee!’ began with Captain America and the Falcon beaten by but narrowly escaping Moonstone and his obscurely occluded masters, after which the hard-luck heroes followed a lead to Nashville, encountered the fugitive mutant Master of Sound, and stumbled into a secret pogrom.

For long months mutants had been disappearing unnoticed, but now the last remaining X-Men – Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Professor X – had tracked them down only to discover that Captain America’s problems also stemmed from ‘The Sins of the Secret Empire!’ whose ultimate goal was the conquest of the USA.

Eluding capture by S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve and Sam infiltrate the clandestine Empire, only to be exposed and confined in ‘It’s Always Darkest!’ before turning the tables and saving the day in #175’s ‘…Before the Dawn!’ wherein the grand plan is revealed, the mutants liberated and the culprits captured. In a shocking final scene the ultimate instigator is unmasked and shockingly dispatched within the Whitehouse itself…

At this time America was a nation reeling from a loss of idealism caused by Vietnam, Watergate and the partial exposure of President Nixon’s crimes. The general loss of idealism and painful public revelations that politicians are generally unpleasant – and even possibly ruthless, wicked exploiters – kicked the props out of most Americans who had an incomprehensibly rosy view of their leaders, so a conspiracy that reached into the halls and backrooms of government was extremely controversial yet oddly attractive in those distant, simpler days…

Shocked and stunned, Steve Rogers searched his soul and realised he could not be the symbol of such a country. Despite the arguments and advice of his Avenging allies he decided that ‘Captain America Must Die!’ Unable to convince him otherwise Sam Wilson carried on alone, tackling an invasion by a body-snatching old X-Men foe in ‘Lucifer be thy Name’ and wrapping up the threat in ‘If the Falcon Should Fall…!’ Meanwhile, as Steve Rogers settled into an uncomfortable retirement, a few painfully unqualified civilians began trying to fill the crimson boots of Captain America with dire results…

Captain America and the Falcon #179 saw Rogers hunted by a mysterious Golden Archer whose ‘Slings and Arrows!’ convinced the ex-hero that even if he couldn’t be Captain America, neither could he abandon the role of do-gooder; leading to a life-changing decision and ‘The Coming of the Nomad!’ in #180. The Serpent Squad turned up again with Princess Python in tow and maniac nihilist Madame Hydra assuming the suddenly vacant role of the Viper.

When “the Man Without a Country” tackled the ophidian villains he came off second best but did stumble across a sinister scheme by the Squad and Sub-Mariner’s arch-nemesis Warlord Krang to raise a sunken continent and restore an ancient civilisation in ‘The Mark of Madness!’ At the same time Falcon was ignoring his better judgement and agreeing to train a determined young man as the next celebrated Captain America…

An era ended when Sal Buscema surrendered Captain America and newspaper-strip creator Frank Robbins came aboard for a controversial run beginning with ‘Inferno!’ (inked by Joe Giella). Whilst Nomad successfully mopped up the Serpent Squad despite well-meaning police interference, Sam and Captain America’s substitute had encountered the Sentinel of Liberty’s greatest enemy with fatal consequences…

‘Nomad: No More!’ (inked by Giacoia) found the grief-stricken Steve Rogers once more take up his stars and stripes as the murderous Red Skull began simultaneously attacking the hero’s loved ones and destroying America’s economy by defiling the banks and slaughtering the financial wizards who ran them, beginning in the chillingly evocative ‘Cap’s Back!’ (Herb Trimpe, Giacoia & Mike Esposito), rampaging through the utterly shocking ‘Scream of the Scarlet Skull!’ (art by Buscema, Robbins & Giacoia) and climaxing in ‘Mindcage!’ (with additional scripting from John Warner and art by Robbins & Esposito) wherein our titular hero’s greatest friend was apparently revealed as the Skull’s stooge and slave.

And on that staggering cliffhanger note this epic collection concludes…

Despite the odd cringe-worthy moment (I specifically omitted the part where Cap battles three chicken-themed villains, for example, and still wince at some of the dialogue from this era of “blacksploitation” and ethnic awareness) these tales of matchless courage and indomitable heroism are fast-paced, action-packed, totally engrossing fights ‘n’ tights that no comics fan will care to miss, and joking aside, the cultural significance of these tales were crucial in informing the political consciences of the youngest members of post-Watergate generation…

Above all else ‘though, these are fabulously fun tales of a true American Dream…

© 1972, 1973, 1984, 1975, 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Fantastic Four – Marvel Illustrated Books


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby with Joe Sinnott
(Marvel Illustrated Books)
ISBN: 0-939766-02-7

Here’s another look at how our industry’s gradual inclusion into mainstream literature began and one more pulse-pounding paperback package for action fans and nostalgia lovers.

One thing you could never accuse entrepreneurial maestro Stan Lee of was reticence, especially when promoting his burgeoning line of superstars. In the 1960s most adults, – including the people who worked there – considered comic-books a ghetto. Some disguised their identities whilst others were “just there until they caught a break.” Stan, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko had another idea – change the perception.

Whilst the artists pursued their imaginations waiting for the quality of the work to be noticed, Lee proactively pursued every opportunity to break down the slum walls: college lecture tours, animated TV shows, ubiquitous foreign franchising and of course getting their product onto the bookshelves of “real” book shops.

After a few abortive attempts in the 1960s to storm the shelves of bookstores and libraries, Marvel made a concerted and comprehensive effort to get their wares into more socially acceptable formats. As the 1970s closed, purpose-built graphic collections and a string of new prose adventures tailored to feed into their all-encompassing continuity began to appear.

Whereas the merits of the latter are a matter for a different review, the company’s careful reformatting of classic comics adventures were generally excellent; a superb series of primers and a perfect new venue to introduce fresh readers to their unique worlds.

The project was never better represented than in this classy little Kirby cornucopia of wonders with crisp black and white reproduction, sensitive editing, efficient picture-formatting and of course, three superb yarns from the very peak of Lee & Kirby’s magnificent partnership…

The first story ‘When Strikes the Silver Surfer!’ pitted the bludgeoning, tragic, jealousy-consumed Thing in unabashed, brutal battle with the Silver Surfer, an uncomprehending alien of incomprehensible power, trapped on Earth and every inch a “Stranger in a Strange Land”. When the gleaming godling turned to the Thing’s blind girlfriend Alicia Masters for tea and sympathy, her brooding boyfriend immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion…

Alicia was the pivotal actor in the follow-up two-part tale ‘What Lurks Behind theBeehive’ and the concluding ‘When Opens the Cocoon!’ a sinister saga of science gone mad which served to introduce a menace who would eventually become a major star in Marvel’s firmament.

The action opens as gifted sculptress Alicia is abducted to a technological wonderland where a band of rogue geniuses have genetically engineered the next phase in evolution but now risk losing control of their creation even before it can be properly born… As the Fantastic Four frantically searches for the seemingly helpless girl, she has penetrated the depths of the incredible hive and discovered the secret of the creature known only as “Him”.

Alicia’s gentle nature is the only thing capable of placating the nigh-omnipotent newborn creature (who would eventually evolve into the tragic cosmic voyager Adam Warlock), but as the FF finally arrive to save the day events spiral out of control and imminent disaster looms large…

It’s easy to assume that such resized, repackaged paperback book collections of early comics extravaganzas were just another Marvel cash-cow in their tried-and-tested “flood the marketplace” sales strategy – and maybe they were – but as someone who has bought these stories in most of the available formats over the years, I have to admit that these handy back-pocket versions are among my very favourites and ones I’ve re-read most – they’re just handier and more accessible – so why aren’t they are available as ebooks yet?
© 1966, 1967, 1982 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Ultimate Comics Captain America


By Jason Aaron & Ron Garney (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-489-8

In 2000, when Marvel hived off portions of their established continuity into a separate, darker, grittier universe more relevant to the video game-playing, movie-watching 21st century readers than the 1960s Lee/Kirby/Ditko ongoing monolith, they started with the most popular characters – Spider-Man and the X-Men – only gradually adding analogues for the remaining characters and trademarks.

Even when the Mighty Avengers finally appeared, renamed the Ultimates in 2002, readers were only sparingly brought up to speed on the assorted back-stories of the alternative heroes and villains – including a remarkably familiar yet staggeringly different “Living Legend of World War II”.

Frail Steve Rogers still underwent radical experimentation to become America’s first super-soldier and after a brief stellar career as the living symbol of his war-beleaguered nation, disappeared in a blazing explosion. He was resurrected from a block of ice in modern times and re-assumed his place at the forefront of masked heroes. However, this Sentinel of Liberty was no costumed boy-scout, but rather a deadly and remorseless warrior: a master strategist and supremely skilled street-fighter always ready to apply the ultimate sanction. In short: a conscienceless killer.

In Ultimate Comics Captain America the eternal soldier is on the trail of rogue states seeking to duplicate the super-soldier serum which created him at the behest of his new government masters, when he is captured and subjected to horrendous torture and indoctrination by a living ghost…

Whilst Steve Rogers slept in the ice, America continued its march to global dominance and when the Vietnam conflict escalated the Military sought to recreate Captain America by transforming starry-eyed patriotic kid Frank Simpson into a living embodiment of the American war machine…

Tragically Vietnam was a different kind of war and Simpson (an iteration of the deeply troubled villain Nuke created by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli in Daredevil: Born Again) broke under the weight of the dirty jobs and corrupt missions he was assigned to carry out. One day he walked into the jungle and was never seen again…

Now Simpson is back and has clearly discovered how to duplicate the serum that empowers him; selling it to North Korea, Iran and anybody else dedicated to the downfall of the “the Land of the Free”…

Ignoring official orders to stand down, Steve Rogers hunts his successor – who has already thoroughly defeated him once – only to stumble on the USA’s greatest nightmare. Overmatched, outfought and easily captured by Simpson, Rogers is subjected to a terrifying re-education program that opens his eyes to what his country became whilst he slept and the kind of nation Captain America now stands for…

The stark, savage and nihilistically modern Ultimates Comic universe is well-stocked with dark-and-gritty doppelgangers of the gleaming pantheon crafted by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, but since its inception at the turn of the century, the imprint has resolved into something which can easily stand on its own merits, as seen in this wonderful tale (originally published as Ultimate Comics Captain America #1-4).

With the impending imminent release of the latest Captain America movie, a large number of graphic novel collections starring the Sentinel of Liberty have been commissioned and this brutal, beautiful fable of frustrated idealism and corrupted patriotism is one of the very best of recent vintage, in this, that or any other universe.

Written by Jason (Scalped) Aaron, revisiting the source material of his Vertigo classic The Other Side and stunningly illustrated by Ron Garney, whose art on the mainstream hero (see Captain America: Operation Rebirth) returned the Star-Spangled Avenger to dizzying heights of popularity after decades in the doldrums, Ultimate Comics Captain America is a breathtaking, thought-provoking examination of duty and honour and a fabulously entertaining rollercoaster ride of action and adventure for older readers. It’s also a gloriously accessible tale for anybody approaching the character for the very first time…

Tense, compelling, morally challenging and explosively cathartic, this saga of conjoined yet eternally antagonistic ideologies in savage confrontation is absolute comics gold of the very highest quality: challenging, compelling and wildly satisfying.

™ and © 2011 Marvel Entertainment LCC and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. A British edition released by Panini UK Ltd.

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Captain America: Hail Hydra


By Jonathan Maberry, Sergio Cariello, Tom Scioli, Phil Winslade, Kyle Hotz & Graham Nolan (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-488-1

Everything changed for a little company called Marvel when, in issue #4 of the Avengers, the assembled heroes recovered the body of US Army Private Steve Rogers floating in a block of ice and consequently resurrected World War II hero Captain America. With this act bridging the years to Timely and Atlas Comics (which had in fact begun with the revival of Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four #4), Marvel instantly acquired a comforting longevity and potential-packed pre-history: lending an enticing sense of mythic continuance to the fledgling company that instantly gave it the same cachet and enduring grandeur of market leader National/DC.

In 2010, after years of conflicting continuity (and with a movie in the offing), Marvel updated those pivotal events and early future-shocked days in the contemporary world with the stunning re-interpretation Captain America: Man Out of Time before repeating the operation with another generational miniseries: this time following the returned Sentinel of Liberty as he fought an extended campaign against a fearsome and undying foe.

Captain America: Hail Hydra! focuses on five crucial skirmishes fought over the Red, White and true Blue hero’s long years of valiant service wherein the he continually clashed with an organisation of insidious evil and astounding ambition,  with each issue illustrated by a different artist in a pastiche of the relevant time.

The action, illustrated Sergio Cariello, begins in 1944 as Captain America and teen partner Bucky helped German anti-Nazi freedom fighter Trude Lohn smash a plot by the baroquely bonkers, certifiably mad Doctor Geist, who had discovered how to reanimate the dead. During the apocalyptic struggle Cap was injected with the unholy serum and although the triumphant trio succeeded in depriving Hitler of an undead army they had no idea of the sinister scientist’s greater scheme, the ancient society he belonged to or what effect his devil drugs would have on America’s greatest warrior…

Tom Scioli pictured the second instalment in tribute to Jack Kirby, wherein more hints into the history of the cult that would become Hydra were interspersed with Cap’s first days as an Avenger following his half-century enforced hibernation. After reuniting with the now geriatric Trude, he and his new comrades clashed with ex-Nazi Baron Strucker and Geist’s unliving army only to be thoroughly overmatched and outmanoeuvred. The deranged doctor seemed more interested in gathering blood samples from Cap and Thor than winning the battle he had instigated…

A few years later the plan becomes clearer when the Sentinel of Liberty, partner in crime-fighting the Falcon, and African Avenger Black Panther were attacked by an army of zombies attempting to steal the fabled Elixir of Life from a hidden Wakandan repository of knowledge called the Grotto of Solomon. Lavishly rendered by Phil Winslade, the spectacular clash was also lightly dusted with further glimpses of the order’s historic attempts to gather arcane knowledge and artefacts pertaining to their mysterious millennial goal…

For a brief period the US government replaced the Star-Spangled Avenger with a less independent agent and Steve Rogers took the identity of “The Captain”. Kyle Hotz delineates an adventure from those turbulent times as the unencumbered hero tackled Geist’s latest monstrosity and worked with Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. to get one step ahead of Hydra.

After thwarting a terrifying attack on the heart and soul of America Rogers is forced to consider not only what Geist is truly after but also what his devilish serum might have made of Captain America that fateful night in 1944…

Graham Nolan closes the saga in captivating style as Rogers, now Director of the Avengers, and old partner Bucky (the current Captain America) enlist a garrison of guest stars as they home in on Strucker and Geist just as their incredible seven-thousand year scheme comes to a shocking culmination. Even the World’s Mightiest Heroes would be hard-pressed to overcome the incredible beings Hydra has finally birthed…

This book does have a few niggling plot flaws but nothing so flagrant that it disrupts the overall flow of action and delicious flavour of nostalgia; so unless you’re a dedicated, nit-picking devotee the striking art and rollicking rollercoaster thrills and chills should carry the day nicely, providing a solid dose of immortal, enticing entertainment

Fast-paced, full-on spectacle and clever infilling of the established canon makes Captain America: Hail Hydra! a striking saga that should serve to make many fresh fans for Marvel’s eternally evergreen old soldier.

™ and © 2011 Marvel Entertainment LCC and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. A British edition released by Panini UK Ltd.