Category: Marvel Superheroes

Posted on

Essential Iron Man volume 3


By Archie Goodwin, Gerry Conway, George Tuska, Don Heck & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2764-2

Having finally overtaken the aging colossus of National/DC, upstart Marvel Comics sometimes seemed to be at a loss for what to do next. The answer is obvious to us: more of the same… but back then the rules were being constantly rewritten, the country was changing and conflict was everywhere. Perhaps what was needed was more experimentation…

Created in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis and at a time when “Red-baiting” and “Commie-bashing” were American national obsessions, the emergence of a brilliant new Thomas Edison, using Yankee ingenuity, invention and wealth to safeguard and better the World, seemed inevitable. Combine the then-sacrosanct belief that technology and business could solve any problem with the universal imagery of noble knights battling evil and the concept behind the Invincible Iron Man seems an infallibly successful proposition.

Of course where once Tony Stark was the acceptable face of 1960s Capitalism; a glamorous millionaire industrialist/inventor and a benevolent all-conquering hero when clad in the super-scientific armour of his alter-ego Iron Man, the tumultuous tone of the times soon resigned his suave, fat-cat image to the dustbin of history and with ecological disasters and social catastrophe from the abuse of industry and technology the new mantras of the young, the Golden Avenger and Stark International were soon confronting some tricky questions from the increasingly socially conscious readership.

All of a sudden maybe that money and fancy gadgetry weren’t quite so fun or cool anymore…?

This third gleaming black and white chronological compendium covers that transitional period, reprinting Iron Man #12-38 and also includes a tumultuous team-up with the Man Without Fear from Daredevil #73, which held a key portion of an rather complex comics crossover.

Writer Archie Goodwin and artists George Tuska & Johnny Craig continued their sterling run of solid science-flavoured action epics with the introduction of a new sinister super-foe in #12 with ‘The Coming of the Controller’ a twisted genius who used the energy of enslaved citizens to power a cybernetic exo-skeleton and the embezzled funds of Stark’s girlfriend Janice Cord to pay for it all. Of course Iron Man was ready and able to overcome the scheming maniac, culminating in a cataclysmic climax in ‘Captives of the Controller!’

With #14’s ‘The Night Phantom Walks!’ Goodwin paid tribute to Craig’s past history drawing EC’s landmark horror comics as the artist pencilled and inked the tale of a zombie-like monster which prowled a Caribbean island destroying Stark Industry installations. As well as being a terse, moody thriller this story marked the first indications of a different attitude as the menace’s ecologically inspired reign of terror included some pretty fair arguments about the downsides of “Progress” and rapacious globalisation…

Tuska returned with #15 and ‘Said the Unicorn to the Ghost…!’ as the demented former spy allied himself with Fantastic Four foe Red Ghost in a bid to find a cure for his drastically shortened his life-span. Attempting to kidnap Tony Stark the Ghost betrayed the Unicorn and retrenched to an African Cosmic Ray research facility in the concluding ‘Of Beasts and Men!’, and it took a risky alliance of hero and villain to thwart the phantom mastermind’s ill-conceived plans…

An extended epic began in Iron Man #17 as an android designed to protect Stark’s secret identity gained sinister sentience and actually replaced him. ‘The Beginning of the End!’ also introduced the enigmatic Madame Masque and her malevolent master Midas, who planned to take control of America’s greatest technology company.

Dispossessed and on the run Stark is abducted and aligns with Masque and Midas to reclaim his identity only to suffer a fatal heart-attack in ‘Even Heroes Die!’ (guest-starring the Avengers) before a ground-breaking transplant – still practically science fiction in those distant days – gave him renewed hope in ‘What Price Life?’ The opportunist Midas instantly struck again whilst the enigmatic Madame Masque switched sides…

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

When armoured menace Titanium Man resurfaced, another old threat in the form of the Crimson Dynamo returned in #22’s classic ‘From this Conflict… Death!’ and a vengeance-crazed Iron Man went ballistic in the innovative action-thriller ‘The Man who Killed Tony Stark!!’ before finding solace in the arms of Madame Masque as Johnny Craig returned to fully illustrate the superb mythological monster-mash ‘My Son… The Minotaur!’ and stayed on as Archie Goodwin pinned Iron’s Man new Green colours to the comic’s mast in #25’s stunning eco-parable ‘This Doomed Land… This Dying Sea!’

Teamed with and battling against antihero Sub-Mariner the Armoured Avenger was forced to destroy one of his own hyper-polluting facilities, subsequently changing his company’s ethical position and business model – although his attempts to convince other industry leaders to do likewise met with the kind of reaction that tragically typified America’s response to the real-world situation.

Original Iron Man artist Don Heck returned for the fantasy-fuelled romp ‘Duel in a Dark Dimension!’ (inked by Craig) with guest villain The Collector and racial tensions took centre-stage in ‘The Fury of the Firebrand!’ which introduced an inflammatory radical with secret and highly personal agenda of hate aimed squarely at Stark and the fat-cat he represented. He was also a human napalm grenade…

Goodwin bowed out with #28’s riotous return match ‘The Controller Lives!’ so Mimi Gold scripted an old-fashioned commie-buster yarn, drawn by Heck and inked by Chic Stone, as Iron Man freed a tropical paradise from its enslaving socialist overlords in ‘Save the People… Save the Country!’ before Allyn Brodsky took over as scripter with #30’s ‘The Menace of the Monster-Master!’ a rousing rampage full of Maoist menace as a giant lizard ravaged Japan until the Golden Avenger stepped in and took charge…

Far more intriguing were ‘Anything… For the Cause!’ wherein back-to-nature hippie protesters were manipulated by an unscrupulous businessman, and which introduced new regular cast-member Kevin O’Brian, and #32’s ‘Beware… The Mechanoid!’ (illustrated by Tuska & “Gaudioso”) which related the salutary tale of an alien explorer who made the lasting mistake of exploring America whilst disguised as a black man…

Heck & Gaudioso handled the art for ‘Their Mission: Destroy Stark Industries!!’ as corporate raider Spymaster unleashed his Mission: Impossible-inspired team the Espionage Elite to deprive America of both the inventor and his company, a fast-paced thriller which concluded in the bombastic finale ‘Crisis… and Calamity!!’

Something of a comics wunderkind, Gerry Conway assumed the writer’s reins in Iron Man #35 as the Armoured Avenger sought ‘Revenge!’ on the Spymaster but was distracted by an ongoing battle between Daredevil, Nick Fury, Madame Masque and criminal network called Zodiac – all contesting the ownership of an extra-dimensional wish-granting super weapon. That battle spilled over into Daredevil #73 ‘Behold… the Brotherhood!’ (Conway, Gene Colan & Syd Shores) before messily concluding halfway through Iron Man #36 (art by Heck & Esposito) before the Steely Centurion was waylaid by terra-forming aliens in ‘…Among Men Stalks the Ramrod!’

Incapacitated and with his new heart damaged, Stark revealed his secret to Kevin O’Brian ‘In This Hour of Earthdoom!’ (inked by Jim Mooney) before the invaders were finally repelled. This volume ends on a pleasantly low-key note in an engaging gangster drama from Conway, Tuska & Esposito wherein Iron Man is forced to respond quite assertively ‘When Calls Jonah…!’

With this volume Marvel firmly paced itself in the camp of the young and the restless experiencing firsthand the social upheaval America was experiencing. This rebellious teen sensibility and increased political conscience permeated the company’s publications as their core audience grew from Flower Power innocents into a generation of aware activists. Future tales would increasingly bring reformed capitalist Stark into many unexpected and outrageous situations…

But that’s the meat of another review, as this engrossing graphic novel is done. From our distant vantage point the polemical energy and impact might be dissipated, but the sheer quality of the comics and the cool thrill of the perennial dream of man in perfect synchrony with magic metal remains. These superhero shenanigans are some of the most underrated but impressive tales of the period and are well worth your time, consideration and cold hard cash…

© 1969, 1970, 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Incredible Hulk: Return of the Monster


By Bruce Jones, John Romita Jr. & Tom Palmer (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0943-3

Bruce Banner was a military scientist accidentally caught in a gamma bomb blast of his own devising. As a result he would unexpectedly transform into a giant green monster of unstoppable strength and fury when distressed or surprised. As both occasional hero and mindless monster he rampaged across the Marvel Universe for years, finally finding his size 700 feet and a format that worked, becoming one of young Marvel’s most resilient features.

An incredibly popular character both in comics and more global media beyond, he has often undergone radical changes in scope and direction to keep his stories fresh and his exploits explosively compelling…

One of the most impressive runs of recent vintage was by noted thriller and horror writer Bruce Jones (see especially his impressive Hitchcock pastiche Somerset Holmes) who injected some long-neglected suspense and pure menace back into the saga. This slim volume (re-presenting issues #34-39 of The Incredible Hulk comicbook from 2001) combines his moody, humanistic writing with the ponderously powerful pencilling of John Romita Jr. and the slickly realistic inking of Tom Palmer to stunning effect.

Always running from the authorities and himself, Banner has finally lost all hope in the aftermath of one of the Hulk’s bouts of mindless destruction which devastated Chicago and resulted in the death of a little boy, Ricky Myers. This book opens with ‘The Morning After’ as a cold and emotionally dead Banner hides in a sleazy hotel where he encounters Jerome, a kid so smart that he knows joining a gang is the only thing that can keep someone with his kind of brains alive.

The desperate lad gets a glimpse at another option after he tries to burglarize the skinny, repressed white guy down the hall and when Jerome gets in over his head it is Banner not the Hulk who is the solution…

Incognito, restlessly wandering but with a mysterious ally keeping him one step ahead of his myriad pursuers Banner is slowly reconnecting with the humanity he has avoided ever since the monster was first created. In the wordless, deeply moving ‘Silent Running’ the fugitive narrowly escapes capture at a diner due to the inadvertent assistance of an autistic child, whilst ‘The Gang’s All Here!’ introduces a mismatched pair of assassins hired by the secret organisation actually behind the current manhunt for Banner and the Hulk.

Both the lethal killer Slater and his rival/partner Sandra Verdugo have been co-opted by a cabal of Men in Black with an unspecified interest in ramping up anti-Hulk hysteria and they definitely want Banner. They also appear to have the literal power of life and death over their unwilling agents…

With Banner’s old friend Doc Samson lured into the pursuit the cabal makes its move in ‘You Must Remember This…’ but when the gamma-fuelled psychologist is distracted by a small child’s experience of school bullying the Hulk-hunters converge and generate a colossal amount of collateral damage at the ‘Last Chance Café’, before events get totally out of hand and terrifyingly weird in the concluding ‘Tag… You’re Dead!’

Using the theme of troubled childhoods and imagery based on the classic Frankenstein films that were such an integral part of the Jade Giant’s conceptual genesis, these tales focus on Banner and judiciously limit the use of his emerald alter ego to the point where the monster almost becomes a ghost. Ever-present but never seen (the monster is only on 21 of the 144 pages of this collection and that includes covers, dream-sequences, flashbacks and spot illustrations) like a catastrophic Rebecca haunting a Midwestern Manderley, the Hulk is a oppressive force of calculated salvation and last resort rather than mere reader-friendly graphic destruction and gratuitous gratification.

Like all great monsters he lurks in the shadows, waiting for his moment…

One of the most beguiling and impressive Hulk yarns of all, this book is the first of three self-contained volumes which utterly reinvigorated the character and completely refocused the series for the 21st century. If you’re new to the series or looking for an excuse to jump back on, this is the book for you…
© 2001, 2002 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Essential Fantastic Four volume 4


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1484-X

This fabulous fourth black-and-white compendium of the classic and landmark “Stan & Jack” Fantastic Four sees the feature achieve its highest potential in a string of superlative tales that proved the bold boast on every cover… “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!”

Jack Kirby was in his conceptual prime and continually unleashed his vast imagination on spectacular plot after plot whilst Stan Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas that Marvel – or any publisher, for that matter – has ever seen. Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their creative powers, and full of the confidence that only success brings, with Kirby in particular eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed.

This volume, covering the early career of comics’ First Family covers Fantastic Four #64-83 (July 1967-February 1969) plus the fifth and sixth annuals, a bombastic blend of super-science, soap opera and stunning action that has seldom been equaled and never bettered.

The magic commences with ‘The Sentry Sinister’ (inked as always by Joe Sinnott) a frenetic adventure romp which pitted the team against a super-scientific robot buried for millennia by an ancient star-faring race. This tropical treat expanded the burgeoning interlocking landscape to an infinite degree by introducing the imperial Kree who would grow into one of the fundamental pillars supporting the continuity of the Marvel Universe.

Although regarded as long-dead the Kree themselves resurfaced in the very next issue as the team was attacked by an alien emissary ‘…From Beyond this Planet Earth!’ The formidable Ronan the Accuser turned up looking to see what could possibly have destroyed his Sentry. Simultaneously The Thing’s blind girlfriend Alicia was abducted by a super scientific stranger…

The mystery of her disappearance was revealed in #66 in ‘What Lurks Behind the Beehive?’ as the heroes trailed the seemingly helpless girl to a technological wonderland where a band of rogue geniuses had genetically engineered the next phase in evolution but lost control of it even before it could be properly born…

‘When Opens the Cocoon!’ revealed the secret of the creature known only as Him and only Alicia’s gentle nature could placate the nigh-omnipotent creature (who would eventually evolve into the tragic cosmic voyager Adam Warlock), after which the tight continuity gradually paused to allow the Inhumans (a time-lost race of paranormal beings long secluded from mortal men) and the Black Panther to share the stage in that year’s Annual, wherein the sinister invader Psycho-Man attempted to ‘Divide… and Conquer!’

Frank Giacoia actually inked this wrongly attributed yarn that pitted the emotion-bending invader against both the King of Wakanda and the Royal Family of hidden Attilan until the FF could pitch in, delayed as they were by the news that the Sue Richards was pregnant – and soon to confined in the most appallingly sexist manner until the birth…

The Annual also included another comedy insight into the creation of Marvel Epics as Stan, Jack and Frank asked ‘This is a Plot?’ and after the now customary Kirby pin-ups (Inhumans Black Bolt, Gorgon, Medusa, Karnak, Triton, Crystal and Maximus, a colossal group shot of Galactus the Silver Surfer and others and a double page spread of the FF themselves) a rapidly rising star-in-the-making got his first solo appearance in ‘The Peerless Power of the Silver Surfer’ a pithy fable of cruel ingratitude that reintroduced the Mad Thinker’s lethal Artificial Intelligence creation Quasimodo…

In FF #68 the Thinker himself enacted his latest plan and ‘His Mission: Destroy the Fantastic Four!’ as the cogitating criminal replaced a famous doctor and subverted a potential cure for The Thing’s rocky condition into a mind-warping scheme to turn the Thing against his comrades (inked as ever by the remarkable Joe Sinnott). The scheme progressed in ‘By Ben Betrayed!’ as the newly malevolent Grimm attempted to murder the rest of the team only to be driven temporarily away. Desperately searching for him the FF soon captured the Thinker and freed Ben from mind-control in ‘When Fall the Mighty!’ but the victory left the heroes unconscious and only Sue conscious to tackle the villains last-ditch killer android in ‘…And So It Ends…’

With baby on board Reed and Sue resigned, leaving Ben, Johnny and the Inhuman maid Crystal to hold the fort when cosmic calamity came calling. In ‘Where Soars the Silver Surfer!’ the sky-born wanderer imprisoned on Earth by the world-devouring Galactus went cage-crazy and attacked humanity, forcing Reed’s return, whilst #73 presented the conclusion to a long-running Daredevil (see Essential Daredevil volume 2) story wherein the sightless crusader was ousted from his own body by the Iron Dictator Doctor Doom.

Warning the FF of imminent attack the Man without Fear then subsequently defeated Doom – but neglected to tell the heroes of his victory… outmatched and unable to convince them any other way DD enlisted Thor and Spider-Man in ‘The Flames of Battle…’ to solve the problem Marvel style – with a spectacular pointless and utterly riveting punch-up…

The Surfer was back in #74 ‘When Calls Galactus’ as the planet-eater returned to our skies demanding that his one-time herald once more become his food-finding slave, but despite his increasingly violent probings, Galactus cannot locate his target. That’s because the Surfer had departed for ‘World Within Worlds!’ forcing Reed, Ben and Johnny to follow. When attacked by Psycho Man they are ‘Stranded in Sub-Atomica!’ and as they struggle to survive Galactus applies ever-more pressure… ‘Shall Earth Endure?’

Turning himself in to save Earth, the Surfer is summarily returned to his captivity here as soon as ungrateful Galactus is finished feeding, just in time to begin his own landmark series – but that’s the subject of another review, another time…

Meanwhile in FF#78 another attempt to cure Ben Grimm goes awry in ‘The Thing No More!’ due to interference from old foe The Wizard and, in ‘A Monster Forever?’, Ben’s choice to stay a rocky monster and save his friends from the bludgeoning Android Man.

A brief change of pace took the team to the Indian Lands of old friend Wyatt Wingfoot to solve an eerie mystery ‘Where Treads the Living Totem!‘ before the sixth Annual spotlighted the birth of Franklin Richards. Unfortunately however, not before Reed, Ben and Johnny invaded the anti-matter Negative Zone to confront a monstrous creature named Annihilus whose power was the only thing that could prevent the death of Sue and her unborn child. ‘Let There Be… Life!’ is a groundbreaking 48 page epic that is as stunning to read now as it ever was, passionate thrilling and mind-boggling in its visual intensity.

With Sue a new mother faithful Crystal became the first new official member of the team and promptly showed her mettle by pulverizing the incorrigible Wizard in #81’s ‘Enter… the Exquisite Elemental!’ and this volume concludes with a classic two-part clash against the inhuman Maximus as he once more attempted to conquer mortal humanity. ‘The Mark of… the Madman!’ saw the FF come to the aid of the imprisoned Royal Family of Attilan before together trouncing the insane despot in ‘Shall Man Survive?’

Did I say concludes? Not quite as this book still finds room for a selection of 6 original art pages from Kirby and his alternate cover for issue #65, you lucky, lucky people…

These are the stories that confirmed Jack Kirby as the absolute master of superhero storytelling and gave Marvel the push needed to overtake the decades-dominant DC. They’re also some of the very best comics ever produced and as thrilling and compulsive now as they ever were. This is a must-have book for all fans of graphic narrative.

© 1967, 1968, 1969, 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Essential Daredevil volume 2

New, Revised review


By Stan Lee, Gene Colan & various (Marvel)
ISBN 0-7851-905239-1462-9

Marvel Comics built its fan-base through strong and contemporarily relevant stories and art, but most importantly, by creating a shared continuity that closely followed the characters through not just their own titles but also through the many guest appearances in other comics. Such an interweaving meant that even today completists and fans seek out extraneous stories to get a fuller picture of their favourites’ adventures. In such an environment, series such as ‘Essential’ and DC’s ‘Showcase’ are an economical and valuable product that approaches the status of a public service for collectors.

This particular edition, reprinting the exploits of a very different Daredevil to the one radicalised into a grim urban vigilante by Frank Miller and his successors from the 1980’s onwards, covers the period from March 1967 (#26) to January 1969 (#48), and includes the first Annual plus Fantastic Four #73 where a long-running storyline concluded (see what I mean about cross-collecting?).

The adventures are fairly typical 1960’s action-fodder. Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose other senses hyper-compensate, making him a formidable acrobat and fighter, and a human lie-detector. Very much a second-string hero for most of his early years, he was nonetheless a popular one, due in large part to the incredibly humanistic art of Gene Colan. He fought gangsters and a variety of super-villains, and even the occasional alien invasion. He also joked and wise-cracked his way through life, unlike the grim and moody quasi-religious metaphor he’s been seen as in latter years.

The action commences with marked improvement in overall story quality as Stan Lee began to use longer soap operatic plot-threads to string together the unique fight scenes of increasingly bold Gene Colan, who was finally shaking off the last remnants of his predecessor’s art style. In a very short time John Romita had made the character his own before moving on to Spider-Man, so when Colan took over he kept the clipped solid, almost chunky lines whilst drawing the Man without Fear, but increasingly drew everything else in his loose, fluid, near-tonal manner.

This clash of visuals was slow to pass but by the time of ‘Stilt-Man Strikes Again’ (DD #26, March 1967) a leaner, moodier hero was emerging. The major push of the next few issues was to turn the hopeless romantic triangle of Matt Murdock, best friend/Law partner Foggy Nelson and their secretary Karen Page into a whacky quadrangle by introducing fictitious twin brother Mike, who would be “revealed” as Daredevil to divert suspicion from the blind attorney who actually battled all those weird villains…

Confused yet…?

Also skulking in the background was arch-villain Masked Marauder who was closing in on DD’s alter ego. He got a lot closer in ‘Mike Murdock Must Die!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) as Stilt-Man teamed with the Marauder and Spider-Man clashed with old Horn-Head before the villains met their apparent ends.

DD had his first clash with extraterrestrials in #28’s moody one-trick-pony ‘Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Planet!’ a Dick Ayers inked thriller wherein the invaders’ blindness rays proved inexplicably ineffective against the Crimson Crime-buster.

John Tartaglione inked the next tale, a solid, action-packed gangster thriller entitled ‘Unmasked!’ whilst issue #30 began a protracted and impressive epic clash with old Thor foes the Cobra and Mister Hyde, complete with Asgardian cameo in ‘…If There Should Be a Thunder God!’

Attempting to catch the criminals DD masqueraded as Thor only to encounter the real McCoy, and was ambushed by the villains once the Thunderer departed. As a result DD lost his compensating hyper-senses and had to undertake a ‘Blind Man’s Bluff!’ which almost fooled Cobra and Hyde… Sadly it all went wrong before it all came right and against all odds Murdock regained his abilities just in time ‘…To Fight the Impossible Fight!’

Daredevil #33 saw the entire cast head to Canada for Expo ’67 (the World’s Fair) encountering another borrowed villain in ‘Behold… the Beetle!’ and its frenetic sequel ‘To Squash the Beetle!’ The first Annual follows; a visually impressive but lacklustre rogues’ gallery riot as five old foes ganged up on Daredevil in ‘Electro and the Emissaries of Evil!’ with the Man without Fear putting a pretty definitive smack-down on the electric felon, the Matador, Gladiator, Stilt-Man and Leapfrog.

Of more interest are the ‘Inside Daredevil’ pages, explaining his powers, how his Billy Club works and the Matt/Mike Murdock situation, with stunning pin-ups of Karen, Foggy, Ka-Zar, DD and a host of old foes. Rounding out the experience is a short comedy tale ‘At the Stroke of Midnight!: an Actual Unrehearsed Story Conference with (and by) Stan and Gene!’

‘Daredevil Dies First!’ pitted the sightless wonder against old Fantastic Four foe Trapster, but Horn-Head was only a stepping-stone in his complex plan to destroy the World’s premier super-team. However DD managed to turn the tables in #36’s ‘The Name of the Game is Mayhem!’ (inked by Giacoia) a clash that left the blind hero weakened and easy prey for another FF arch-foe. Tartaglione returned to ink the startling ‘Don’t Look Now, But It’s… Doctor Doom!’

Helpless before the Iron Dictator DD was trapped in ‘The Living Prison!’ (Giacoia inks) as Doom swapped bodies with the sightless crusader to facilitate an ambush on the FF which culminated in a stupendous Battle Royale in Fantastic Four #73’s crossover conclusion as the Torch, Thing and Mr. Fantastic fought DD, Thor and Spider-Man in ‘The Flames of Battle…’ (by Lee, Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott). When involved in mind-swap cases it’s always prudent to advise your friends when you regain your original body…

DD finally got to battle some of his own bad-guys in #39 as old foes the Ani-Men returned with a new name and a new boss. ‘The Exterminator and the Super-Powered Unholy Three’ (inked by George Tuska) reintroduced Bird-Man, Ape-Man and Cat-Man in the pay of a criminal genius working with time-based weapons, but the real meat of the tale was Foggy Nelson’s campaign to become New York City’s District Attorney and his revived relationship with ex-con Deborah Harris: now Matt Murdock’s only rival for Karen’s affections was his imaginary twin brother Mike…

That story proceeded in #40, resulting in a spectacular clash ‘The Fallen Hero!’ (inked by Tartaglione) and concluded the only way it could in ‘The Death of Mike Murdock!’ as Matt took advantage of his final battle with the Exterminator to end the charade. He didn’t come clean though, as Daredevil revealed that Mike was only one of a number of Men without Fear in the first part of a prolonged battle with a new nemesis as ‘Nobody Laughs at The Jester!’ (inked by Dan Adkins).

The Malevolent Mountebank only wanted to be more successful as a criminal than he had been as an actor until mayoral candidate Richard Raleigh hired him to spoil incorruptible Foggy Nelson’s campaign for the D.A. post; precipitating a protracted saga which kicked off with a temporarily befuddled DD ‘In Combat with Captain America!’ (inked by Vince Colletta) before being framed for killing the Jester’s alter ego Jonathan Powers in #44’s ‘I, Murderer!’

Defeated by the Jester in ‘The Dismal Dregs of Defeat!’, Horn-Head became a wanted fugitive and after a frenetic manhunt was finally arrested before snatching victory in the thoroughly enthralling conclusion ‘The Final Jest!’ as inker extraordinary George Klein began a long and impressive association with the series.

With the Vietnam War raging a story involving the conflict was inevitable, but #47’s ‘Brother, Take My Hand!’ was so much more than a quick cash-in or even well-meaning examination of contemporary controversy, as Marvel found a new African-American character (one of far too few in those blinkered times).

Newly-blinded veteran Willie Lincoln turned to Matt Murdock and Daredevil for help on his return home. A disgraced cop framed by gang-boss Biggie Benson before joining the army, Lincoln was now back in America to clear his name… at all costs. This gripping, life-affirming crime thriller not only triumphs in Daredevil’s natural milieu of moody urban menace but also sets up a long-running plot that would ultimately change the Man without Fear forever.

The book ends with the return of Stilt-Man in ‘Farewell to Foggy’ as Matt’s oldest friend wins the election for D.A. but acrimoniously turns his back on Murdock, seemingly forever.

This is a good place to end as Stan Lee would hand over the scripting to Roy Thomas soon after this and the social turbulence that marked the end of the 1960s would begin to transform the dashing, wise-cracking Daredevil into something closer to his current dark archetype. But that’s for another volume…

© 1967, 1968, 1969, 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Annihilation Conquest Book 1


By various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-8751-2782-6

Annihilation was another of those company-wide publishing events that “Changed The Marvel Universe Forever” (and don’t they all?) which ran for most of 2006, and involved most of the House of Ideas’ outer space outposts and cosmic characters. Among the stalwarts in play were Silver Surfer, Galactus, Firelord (and a host of previous heralds of the world-eater), Moondragon, Quasar, Star-Lord, Thanos, Super-Skrull, Tana Nile, Gamora, Ronan the Accuser, Nova, Drax the Destroyer, a Watcher and a host of alien civilisations such as the Kree, Skrulls, Xandarians, Shi’ar et al., all falling before a invasion of rapacious negative zone bugs and beasties unleashed by the insectoid horror Annihilus.

If you’re new to the Marvel universe and that bewildering list of daunting data didn’t leave you screaming in frustration, then please read on…

As is usual in these public thinnings of the herd, a number of good guys and bad died and had their trademark assumed by a new and glitzier model whilst some moribund careers got a successful and overdue shot in the arm…

The event spawned a number of specials, miniseries and new titles, (subsequently collected as three volumes plus a Classics compilation that reprinted key appearances of a number of the saga’s major players) and inevitably led to a follow-up event: Annihilation: Conquest.

The first volume of this surprisingly engaging sequel series collects Annihilation: Conquest Prologue, Annihilation: Conquest Quasar #1-4, Annihilation: Conquest Star-Lord #1-4 and Annihilation Saga, opening on a scarred and war-torn realm of known space, decimated and still reeling from the chaos of the Annihilation Wave and its aftermath.

The Kree and Skrull empires are splintered, the Nova Corps of Xandar reduced to a single agent, ancient gods are loose and a sizable portion of the Negative Zone invaders have tenuously established themselves in territories stolen from the billions of dead sentients that once populated the cosmos. The Supreme Intelligence is gone and arch-villain Ronan has become a surprisingly effective ruler of the Kree remnants. Cosmic Protector Quasar is dead and Phyla-Vel, daughter of the first Captain Marvel has inherited both his powers and name…

In ‘Prologue’ (written by Dan Abnett & Any Lanning, illustrated by Mike Perkins and coloured by Guru eFX) Phyla-Vel and psychic demi-goddess Moondragon are working with the pacifist Priests of Pama to relieve the suffering of starving survivors, whilst Peter Quill, one time cosmic champion Starlord, is working with Ronan and the remnants of the warlike Kree on the planet Hala to shore up the battered interstellar defences of the myriad races in the sector.

Quill has brokered an alliance with the Spaceknights of Galador (an old noble cyborg species most famously represented by 1980s hero Rom) that should enhance the all-pervasive etheric war-net, but once uploaded the date instantly causes disastrous problems throughout the system. In seconds all technology in the region is compromised: overruled by a murderous, electronic sentient parasitic species known as the Phalanx, whose cybernetic credo is “peace and order through assimilation”. Once more organic life is facing total extinction…

On planet Pama, Phyla and Moondragon are targeted by enslaved Kree automatons as the Phalanx attempt to destroy any credible resistance before spectacularly cutting off the entire quadrant from the rest of the universe. If life is to survive this threat it must be saved by the champions trapped inside…

The miniseries ‘Starlord’ (written by Keith Giffen, with art from Timothy Green II, Victor Olazaba & Nathan Fairbairn), finds the one-time Cosmic Avenger stripped of his powers and technological enhancements – all now liabilities when facing a predator species that infests electronic devices – and seconded to a Kree resistance division. Here he is tasked with turning Kree prisoners into a Penal Strike Force (a highly engaging intergalactic Dirty Half-Dozen) and taking out the Phalanx base where the invaders are perfecting a more efficient way to assimilate organics into their mechanistic hive-mind.

Once a major bad-guy race in the Marvel mainstream, whoever the Kree consider criminals look surprising like failed heroes to me. Firstly there’s Galactic Warrior Bug (originally from the 1970’s phenomenon Micronauts), the current Captain Universe (ditto), the Shi’ar berserker Deathcry, failed Celestial Madonna Mantis, anamorphic adventure Rocket Raccoon and the gloriously whacky “Kirby Kritter” Groot, a Walking Tree and one-time “Monarch of Planet X.”

With this reluctant team in tow and using natural abilities and decidedly primitive weapons the squad invades Hala, now the central beachhead of the Phalanx, to discover and destroy the augmented assimilation project, but they have drastically underestimated the remorseless ingenuity and creative callousness of the electronic invaders…

Sharp, witty and ingenious, this is a magnificent romp full of thrills and worthy sacrifice that no comic fan could possibly resist, and is promptly followed by the epic tragedy of Phyl-Vel, the new Quasar as she and her lover Moondragon endure a terrible quest to the heart of the imprisoned Quadrant, following a mysterious voice that urges them to save the one being who could possibly turn back the seemingly irresistible tide of Phalanx assimilation.

‘Quasar: Destiny’ (written by Christos N. Gage, illustrated by Mike Lilly, Bob Almond, Scott Hanna, Mark McKenna, Roland Paris & Stephane Peru) sees the couple journey to a hidden world of hope, dogged by the deadly Earth automaton Super-Adaptoid, now a fully-integrated Phalanx super-warrior possessing the powers of the Avengers and Phyla’s father the first Captain Marvel. Moreover, even plagued by overwhelming berserker rages and cut off from her power source, the untried Quasar must succeed before her abilities fade forever…

Little does she realise that Moondragon, her bedrock in these times of overwhelming trouble, is slowly undergoing an inevitable contamination potentially more hideous than Phalanx assimilation…

This epic race across the universe ends in a tragic surprise and one final glimmer of hope for the desperate champions of organic life – which will have to wait until the second volume to flourish or die.

This tome doesn’t end here, though. Rounding out the book is a selection of design sketches from Timothy Green II & Nathan Fairbairn and the invaluable and incisive Annihilation Saga, written by Michael Hoskin – a 34 page text précis using a huge selection of illustrations from the various Annihilation storylines to fill in and bring up to speed any readers (such as myself at the time so I can verify its usefulness and efficacy) who missed the original event.

Artists and writers sampled here include Aleksi Briclot, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson, Andrea DiVito, Laura Villari, Mitch Breitweiser, Scott Kolins, Ariel Olivetti, Kev Walker, Rick Magyar, Renato Arlem, Gregory Titus, Jorge Lucas, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mike McKone & Sean Chen.

I admit to having a deep-seated antipathy to and suspicion of these vast inter-connected, braided mega series; always worrying that readers are subjected to unnecessary pressure to include titles and tales they normally wouldn’t care to try (and usually subsequently discovering that they needn’t have once the super-sagas are concluded) but every so often the publishing stunt is elevated by sheer quality of material and those rare instances result in pure comics gold. Annihilation: Conquest, with its blend of bombastic derring-do, metaphorical war allegories, dashing adventure, dry humour and Armageddon politics is one such example and I wholeheartedly commend it to your house…

© 2007, 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Marvel Zombies 2


By Robert Kirkman, Sean Phillips & Arthur Suydam (Marvel)

ISBN: 978-0-7851-2545-7
With the nights drawing in and assorted haunts roaming the land I thought I’d follow-up a previous graphic novel review with another nervous peek at one of modern Marvel’s most successful niche-franchises: a canny blend of gratuitous sarcasm, knowing, measured respect for canonical comicbook lore and sheer necrophilic bravado starring the departed-but-not-gone denizens of an alternate Marvel Universe.

In Marvel Zombies: Dead Days a dire extra-dimensional contagion ravaged Earth, and heroes, villains and all creatures in-between were eradicated by fearsomely frightful and discomfortingly familiar flesh-eating superheroes who weren’t so different from the ones we all know – except for a rapacious, all consuming taste for living flesh that only paused when there was no-one and nothing left to eat…

Against all odds a small band of mortals and mutants survived the catastrophe and the subsequent manic hunts of the zombies for one last morsel of living meat… until an ill-considered visit by the Silver Surfer and Galactus. These cosmic paragons were, after a cataclysmic struggle, utterly consumed by the undead super-humans, but not before the walking dead’s ranks were reduced to six – Tony Stark, Luke Cage, Giant-Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine and the Hulk.

Engorged on the extra-galactic planet-eater’s cosmic power and with all other food sources apparently consumed the cosmic sextet abandoned Earth: for the next forty tears they scoured their entire dimension, killing and eating every thing and every civilisation they could find, on the way swelling their ranks with the dead infected carcasses of intergalactic powerhouses Gladiator, Phoenix, Firelord and Thanos who had all fallen in battle against the unstoppable horrors.

Now, with the universe emptied of all life, but still just as ravenously, insatiably hungry, the zombies turned back towards Earth, intending to use the Fantastic Four’s old trans-dimensional travel technology to find a new universe – and eat that too.

In four decades the Earth’s meagre survivors had developed into a small but by no means viable colony, led by the aged T’Challa, onetime superhero Black Panther. With the aid of mutant machinesmith Forge he had welded an uneasy alliance between Humans, Homo Superior and another more startling faction: zombies who had lost their appetite for flesh…

It would seem that if the undead don’t taste flesh for long enough the irresistible hunger fades – a fact that was slowly becoming apparent to some of the cosmic zombies making their way back home through a universe cleansed of all life…

Life on Earth was no picnic either. Despite the end of the world, species tension remained undiminished and a civil war was brewing, human against mutant, fomented by the insanely ambitious Malcolm Cortez, leader of the long-gone Magneto’s Acolytes. An assassination attempt on T’Challa precipitated a final crisis, but when the cosmic undead arrived, intent on escaping to fresh hunting grounds, they discovered one last tasty snack just waiting there to tide them over on their intended journey…

However some of the monsters, tempted by the sight of hunger-free zombies battling beside their proposed last meal, change sides…

By no means as bleakly black and comedic as the first volume, this story thunders along as a far more cohesive tragic adventure, with a diminished gratuitous death-toll, coherent characterisation, genuine dramatic tension and spectacular action replacing the shock tactics and mordant slapstick of earlier tales: more a “What If?” crossover than a stand-alone, exploitative event, and the gripping saga ends on a moody downbeat that promises more and even better to come…

This book, reprinting the comicbook miniseries Marvel Zombies 2 #1-5, also includes the wealth of alternate and variant cover reproductions by painter Arthur Suydam whose astounding pastiche images of pictorial landmarks from Marvel’s decades-long-history has done so much to make the series a commercial success.

Although still very much a one-trick pony, there seems to be no way to sate the avid appetite of fans for these tales, which depend greatly on a deep familiarity with the regular Marvel pantheon, a fondness for schlock horror and the cherished tradition of superheroes fighting each other. Not for the squeamish or continuity-purist hardliners, there are certainly loud laughs, poignant pauses and frissons of fear awaiting the open-minded reader…

© 2007, 2008 Marvel Publishing, Inc, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Fire & Water: Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner and the Birth of Marvel Comics


By Blake Bell (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-166-4

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: 9/10 Perfect for art lovers, Marvel Zombies, wannabe illustrators and lovers of pure comic magic

There’s currently a delightful abundance of beautiful coffee-table art-books/biographies celebrating the too-long ignored founding fathers and lost masters of American comic books, and this fabulous tome highlights the astounding wizardry of one of the most accomplished draughtsmen and yarn-spinners of that incredibly fertile early period.

As always you can save time and trouble by simply buying the book now rather than waste your valuable off-hours reading my blather, but since I’m going to froth on anyway feel free to accompany me as I delineate just why this tome needs to sit on your “favourites” shelf.

This lavishly illustrated, oversized tome traces the tragic life and awe-inspiring body of work of possibly the most technically accomplished artist of the US comicbook industry: a man of privilege and astonishing pedigree (he was a direct descendent and namesake of iconoclastic poet and artist William Blake) haunted by illness, an addictive personality and especially alcoholism, but a man who nevertheless raised a family, shaped an art-form and left twin legacies: an incredible body of superlative stories and art, and, more importantly, broken lives saved by his becoming a dedicated mentor for Alcoholics Anonymous.

William Blake Everett was born in 1917 into a wealthy and prestigious New England family. Bright and precocious he contracted Tuberculosis when he was twelve and whilst recuperating in Arizona began a life-long affair with and battle against booze. For the rest of his chequered life “Wild Bill” vacillated between magnificent artistic highs and heartbreaking personal lows, covered with chilling frankness in this excellent biography, written in conjunction with the artist’s surviving family.

Although telling, even revelatory and concluding in a happy ending of sorts, what this book really celebrates is not the life but the astounding legacy of Bill Everett. A gifted, driven man, he was a born storyteller who had the sheer naked ability to make all his own worlds real; and for nearly five decades his incredible art and wondrous stories, which began in the heydays of the Pulps (see also Spicy Tales Collection) enthralled and inspired successive generations of fellow dreamers.

His beautiful artwork featured in a variety of magazines before his fortuitous stumbling into the right place at the right time secured Everett’s place in history forever with his creation of the first anti-hero in comics.

Yet even before the advent of the mutant hybrid Sub-Mariner who, along with his elemental counterpart The Human Torch, secured the fortunes of the budding Marvel Comics (covered in a fascinating and detailed account which clears up many controversies that have raged amongst fans ands historians for decades) Everett was a valued and admired writer/artist/letterer/designer whose early seminal triumphs are lovingly covered here in many reproduced strip extracts, sketches and an utterly invaluable collection of original art pages.

Bill Everett was a jobbing cartoonist who drifted into the new world of comicbooks: a budding industry that combined his beloved drawing with his other compulsion – making up stories. The first chronological art selection here features a plethora of his compelling and irresistible covers for Amazing Mystery Funnies, Blue Bolt, Target Comics, Amazing-Man Comics, Victory Comics, Heroic Comics, and the landmark Motion Picture Funnies Weekly (for which he produced not only the pre-Marvel/Timely Sub-Mariner, but also the all-important back cover sales pitch) and many designs and roughs for unpublished titles, interspersed with pages and spreads from early creations Amazing-Man, Dirk the Demon, Skyrocket Steele, Music Master, The Chameleon, Hydroman, Sub-Zero and of course Prince Namor.

The early days of Marvel Mystery Comics and the Sub-Mariner’s own feature title are thoroughly represented with many pages of original art starring not only his aquatic antagonist but also The Fin and Human Torch, and this section is also full of delightful sketches from his four years of service in the Army Corps of Engineers.

The industry had changed radically by the time Everett mustered out: superheroes were on the wane and other genres were rising in popularity. Returning as a freelancer to Marvel/Timely, Everett worked again on Sub-Mariner and even created the sexy spin-off Namora and stillborn kid crusader Marvel Boy, but it was with the series Venus that he moved in a new direction: glamorous, glorious horror.

For over a decade he brought a sheen of irresistible quality to the generally second-rate chillers Timely/Atlas/Marvel generated in competition with genre front-runners EC Comics. It’s easy to see how they could compete and even outlive EC, with these lush and lurid examples of the hundreds of stunning covers and chillingly beautiful interior pages selected from such titles as Mystic, Menace, Astonishing, Adventures into Weird Worlds, Uncanny Tales, Suspense, Marvel Tales, Spellbound, Mystery Tales, Men’s Adventures and others. My only quibble is that unlike the companion volume featuring unsung genius Mort Meskin (see From Shadow to Light) there are no complete stories collected in this otherwise perfect primer.

Despite being unacknowledged as a master of terror, this period was probably Everett’s most technically adroit, but he also excelled in the other genre-ghettoes of the period. His ability to freeze manic action and convey tension into a single image made him the perfect choice for lead cover artist in the burgeoning military comics fields as can be seen in examples from Man Comics, Navy Tales, Battlefield, Navy Action, Navy Combat and others.

Everett truly excelled in the lush, stylistic depiction of action and horror themes – as well as the seductive delineation of sexy women, although he was equally effective in less histrionic arenas such as merchandising art, wholesome western, romances, cartoon and Bigfoot comedy styles, represented here by pages and covers from such diverse publications as Marvin the Mouse, Nellie the Nurse, Cracked, Jann of the Jungle, True Secrets, Girl Confessions, Bible Tales For Young Folk, Tales of Justice, Quick Trigger Western, Yellow Claw, Sports Action, Pussycat and so many others.

His final creative period follows his return to Marvel after time in the commercial art world and covers the creation of Daredevil, unsatisfactory runs on the Hulk, Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Rawhide Kid and others as well as his stints inking Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Ross Andru, Herb Trimpe, Dan Adkins and Barry Windsor Smith, before, clean and sober after decades, he produced a landmark run on his signature Sub-Mariner.

Tragically, decades of smoking and alcohol abuse had taken its toll, and only four years after turning his life around he died of complications arising from heart surgery, just when he seemed on the cusp of a brilliant creative renewal as remarkable as his meteoric rise in the 1930s and 1940s.

Evocatively written by biographer Blake Bell, with dozens of first hand accounts from family, friends and contemporaries; the sad, unjust life of this key figure of comics art is lovingly recounted here with hundreds of artistic examples from school days, army service, commercial and cartoon illustration and many intimate photographs supplementing the treasure trove of comics images. By tracking Everett’s early career as a pulp magazine illustrator, through his pioneering superhero art to the moody masterpieces of the 1950s and the Pop Art comics renaissance of the his later years, Fire and Water offers an opportunity to revel in the mastery of a truly unique pillar of America’s sequential Art establishment.

Most importantly for collectors and art-fans there is a overwhelming abundance of beautiful comics magic; from compelling page layouts, sketches and compositions to bold, vibrant pencils and slick luscious inking, and for we comics cognoscenti, the jackpot of never-before-seen unpublished pages: penciled, inked and camera-ready art-boards, as well as illustrations, family pieces and examples of his non-comics career

Brilliant, captivating, and utterly unmissable, this is the book Bill Everett deserves – and so do you.

© 2010 Fantagraphics Books. Text © 2010 Stephen Brower. All art © its respective owners and holders. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Knights of Pendragon: Once and Future


By Dan Abnett, John Tomlinson, Gary Erskine & Andy Lanning (Marvel/Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-431-7

The world was a rapidly changing place in 1990 and fledgling offshoot Marvel UK was critically rising high thanks to the immensely impressive original Captain Britain material being created by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. On a roll, the company attempted to expand its line with an associated title, once more combining Arthurian fantasy with tried and true Marvel superheroic action. Or so everybody thought…

The Knights of Pendragon prominently featured Captain Britain on the covers but the epic tale that unfolded over the next few months was far more a supernatural horror story in the manner of prophetic TV show “Doomwatch” than a traditional Fights ‘n’ Tights slugfest – even by the often outré British standards.

Steeped in ecological hot-button topics and starring, initially at least, a podgy, over-the-hill welsh copper who had begun life as a authoritarian gadfly before becoming a solid, stolid comrade to Brian Braddock (Cap’s aristocratic Alter Ego), Knights of Pendragon followed Chief Inspector Dai Thomas as he seemingly went off the deep end, plagued by horrific premonitions of grisly massacres that all seemed linked to environmental crimes perpetrated by globe-girdling conglomerate the Omni Corporation. However as the months unfolded a pattern slowly unfolded that indicated something far older and more dangerous than money was flexing long dormant fangs and sinews…

This book gathers issues #1-9, July 1990-March 1991, of the first volume (a second far more traditional series followed in 1993) and sees the saga begin with ‘Brands and Ashes’ as Thomas is summoned by Captain Britain to a meeting of the clandestine agency the Weird Happenings Organisation. It appears the retired cop’s dream of 87 hungry patrons mysteriously suffocating in a spacious, airy well-ventilated burger-bar has come hideously true. Meanwhile Omni Corp exec Grace has sent her dashing leg-breaker Dolph to “reason” with the minister in charge of W.H.O….

As Thomas is briefed on an increasingly large and violent tide of bizarre eco-mysteries, down in Kent something horrible is occurring on an Omni farm using new and lethally dangerous pesticides. Rogue TV journalist Kate McClellan is circling too. She smells a big story and is ruthlessly open-minded. She wants and will publish the truth no matter how strange and impossible it might appear…

Thomas is getting worse. His visions now include blackouts and fugue episodes in which he sees himself as the medieval hero of the ancient epic “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” battling ogres, villains and monsters.

‘Skin and Bone’ finds him following a lead to Africa where ivory poachers are using helicopters and assault rifles to slaughter elephants in vast numbers. McClellan is there before him and has already discovered a link to smuggled diamonds and Omni but before Thomas can make an arrest the supernal force he is slowly coming to believe in exacts its own bloody justice, whilst ‘Oil and Water’ sees cop and reporter in Florida, investigating another bizarre Omni-related atrocity – smuggling endangered species – when an ambush goes wrong. Any doubt of supernatural involvement is abandoned when they are rescued from certain death by a creature that cannot possibly exist…

Thomas is gradually changing: evolving into a younger, fitter version of himself and the premonitions and dreams of Gawain are occurring more frequently. In ‘Blood and Feathers’, Grace decides to end the old copper’s interference with an elite squad of high tech mercenaries led by Dolph. After smashing another animal smuggling ring – with his bare hands – Thomas and McClellan are attacked in broad daylight. He overcomes the super-commandoes with ease, but the machinations of Grace have made him a liability to W.H.O. and Captain Britain is ordered to bring him in at all costs…

‘Hope and Glory’ reveals Kate is having visions of her own. As Thomas makes his way across Costa Rica hunting the thing that’s hunting Omni’s assorted enterprises, she is arrested by W.H.O. agents. Dai is close to the answers he’s been seeking as he enters an apocalyptic area of jungle deforestation, convinced he is Gawain reborn. The spirit of the planet has given man one final chance to live with, not against, the eco-system, but the forces of progress and destruction are subtle and have turned his greatest friend against him…

After a stupendous battle Thomas is beaten to death by Captain Britain, and in the concluding ‘Once and Future’ Gawain takes full control of his broken body, casually revealing the guilt-wracked superhero to be Lancelot whilst Kate houses the spirit of Guinevere. Attacked by demonic monsters the trio trek through the devastated rain-forest, making a pilgrimage to the home of the embattled animating force called the Green Knight, saving the Green Chapel, mystical heart of the world, from dark forces that have worked through Omni and other modern enterprises which value profit over the planet…

Its mission accomplished, Gawain’s essence leaves Dai’s body, resurrecting and healing him, but there has been no victory, only a truce. The Green Knight will no longer attack human greed and folly directly, but the latest Knights of Pendragon are expected to work in its stead. The second story-arc sees new men of goodwill chosen as hosts for the immortal heroic essences and a redefinition of the vague dark forces they must combat.

In ‘Revelations’ author Ben Gallagher is drawn to a remote Scottish island to bear witness to a brutal slaughter of dolphins, whilst in London a serial killer hunts successful businesswomen and in her technological ivory tower, Omni exec Grace is possessed by the Green Knight’s opposite number, a vile entity calling itself The Bane.

During the Great War the British Empire was championed by a pioneering band of costumed heroes. Union Jack was mere mortal who used brains, brawn and good British ordnance to battle the Hun in two world wars before being succeeded by his son. The third incarnation was Joey Chapman, a true working class hero who here finds himself the next recipient of the spirit of Lancelot.

Kate has a troubled son squirreled away at a remote boarding school. When Cam McClellan goes missing after being possessed by the Merlin analogue known as Herne the Hunter, the situation forces elderly history teacher Peter Hunter to reveal his darkest secret. ‘The Only Child’ describes how in the Great War the schoolmaster was masked mystic superman Albion, but with his surrendered Pendragon force now inhabiting a disturbed child he fears he must reassume the role he gratefully relinquished decades ago.

Captain Britain and Union Jack join the search for Cam but spend more time battling each other than actually helping, leaving the London serial killer free to attack his next target – the world-famous TV journalist Kate McClellan. However, even though the madman is old acquaintance he has not reckoned on her new status as a full-blown Pendragon.

Events take a truly dark turn when Grace arrives at the school to abduct the confused and immensely powerful Cam, intending to corrupt him as once she damned Arthur’s son Mordred…

Gallagher’s sensitively creative yet indomitable nature makes him a perfect host for the returned Sir Percival and in the untitled closing tale he sees the powers arrayed against the returned Knights in full flow, as an innocent dies and entire families of dolphins are sacrificed to the horrific greed and paranoia of humanity and the awful hunger of the Bane

The epic has been building across the nine issues of the series collected here, written with chilling passion by Dan Abnett and John Tomlinson and illustrated with stunning power by then fresh-faced new boy Gary Erskine, suitably inked by near-veteran Any Lanning.

With intriguing and revelatory reminiscences from the writers and original series editor Steve White describing the initial resistance and eventually outright hostility from upper management to the title plus a cover gallery by such leading lights as Alan Davis, Simon Bisley, John Bolton and others, this engrossing and still controversial epic revives a pivotal moment in British mainstream comics and still enthrals two decades later.

Ending on a pensive set of cliffhangers, this absorbing thriller is but half-done, with another utterly fabulous and morally challenging volume still to see. I can’t wait…

© 1990, 1991, 2010 Marvel Entertainment LLC and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini.

Posted on

Ultimate Avengers 2: Crime and Punishment


By Mark Millar, Lenil Francis Yu & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-465-2

Marvel Ultimates began in 2000 as a reconfiguration of key characters and concepts to bring them into line with the tastes of modern readers – perceived as a potentially separate buying public from the baby-boomers and their descendents, who were content to stick with the various efforts that had sprung from the fantastic originating talents of Kirby, Ditko and Lee – and one unable or unwilling to deal with the decades of continuity baggage that had accumulated around the originals.

Eventually this darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its predecessor and in 2008 the cleansing event “Ultimatum” culminated in a reign of terror which apparently (this is still comics, after all) killed three dozen odd heroes and villains plus millions of lesser mortals. Although a good seller (in contemporary terms, at least) the saga was largely trashed by the fans who bought it, and the ongoing new “Ultimatum Comics” line quietly back-pedalled on its declared intentions…

The key and era-ending event was a colossal tsunami that drowned the superhero-heavy island of Manhattan and this second post-tidal wave collection (assembling issues #7-12 of Ultimate Avengers 2) finds the survivors fully adapted to their dried-out world and back in business.

Before the Deluge Nick Fury ran an American Black Ops team of superhumans called the Avengers, but he was eventually toppled from his position for sundry rule-bending antics – and being caught doing them. Now he’s back, running another black ops team doing stuff real heroes wouldn’t dream of…

His far from happy band of brothers consists of Hawkeye – the man who never misses, James Rhodes: a fanatical soldier wearing devastating War Machine battle armour; Gregory Stark, Iron Man’s smarter, utterly immoral older brother, Nerd Hulk, a cloned gamma-monster with all the original’s power but implanted with Banner’s brain and milksop character and ruthless super-spy Black Widow. You can never have enough super-stooges though, and Fury is actively recruiting…

First on his wish-list is the Punisher, a vengeance-crazed vigilante carving his way through the underworld of three continents. It’s hard to imagine an even colder stone-killer than the standard Marvel Universe Frank Castle but creators Mark Millar, Lenil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan & Laura Martin just about manage. However, his campaign of retribution is promptly stopped cold by Captain America.

Imprisoned by Federal authorities, the Punisher never makes it to prison, and soon after a new masked hero with loads of guns and a big skull on his chest reluctantly joins Fury’s death-squad…

The other newbie is super-gangsta Tyrone Cash, whose recruitment causes a lot more collateral damage. Before being blackmailed onto the team the violence-addicted, invulnerable superhuman had another life: a college professor who researched how to maximise human physical potential. One day he just vanished, leaving a pile of rubble and some very instructive data that his student Bruce Banner developed to its ultimate end… much to the world’s eternal regret.

Though not as strong as the Hulk, Cash is homicidally violent and aggressive, and enjoys breaking stuff and hurting people. Only the greatest threat imaginable could force Fury to keep such a dangerous tool around…

And that happens to be a flaming-skulled mutant biker called Ghost Rider who is relentlessly hunting and killing the Vice President’s oldest buddies and has now set his eyeless sights on the Veep himself… Carving a swathe of fiery destruction that leads to the White House itself, the Ghost Rider is utterly unstoppable. No mutant has ever been as powerful. If the press-ganged team didn’t know better, it would seem that the blazing biker is a real ghost… but there’s no such thing, right?

Trenchant, sardonic and incredibly violent, the traditional super-science scenario takes a big, bold step into the realm of satanic, supernatural horror and, as always, the grim-and-gritty heroes are almost indistinguishable from the genuine bad-guys in this stunningly engrossing, anti-heroic epic. No shining knights here, but plenty of dark ones…

Given some distance and far removed from market hype and the frantic, relentless immediacy of the sales arena there’s a far better chance to honestly assess these tales on merit alone, and given such an opportunity you’d be daft not to take a long hard look at this spectacular, beautifully cynical thriller: another breathtaking, sinisterly effective yarn that could only be told outside the Marvel Universe, but it’s also one that should solidly resonate with older fans who love the darkest side of superheroes and especially those casual readers who know the company’s movies better than the comic-books.

™& © 2010 Marvel Entertainment LLC and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini.

Posted on

Fall of the Hulks volume 2


By various (Marvel/Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-463-8

In recent years the number of Gamma-mutated monsters rampaging across the Marvel landscape has proliferated to inconceivable proportions. There are assorted Hulks, She-Hulks, Abominations and all kinds of ancillary atomic berserkers roaming the planet so it’s no more than prudent to thin the herd.

The days of Bruce Banner getting angry and going Green are long gone too, so anybody taking their cues from the TV or movie incarnations will be wise to assume a level of unavoidable confusion. Nevertheless this epic story is worth the effort so persist if you can.

Even if you are familiar with Hulk history ancient and modern, you might still founder on the odd point of narrative as this book continues the spectacular saga of the myriad rainbow-coloured gamma-morphs cluttering up the Marvel Universe becoming a brawny army of conquest for the world’s wickedest brain trust. This interim volume collects most – but by no means all – of the issues involved in a major storyline which ran through the various Hulk-related comics during the first half of 2010.

Depending on many lost crannies of lore and broad continuity this book (collecting Incredible Hulk #607-608, Hulk #21, Savage She-Hulks #1 and Red Hulk #2-4) resumes the tale of The Intel, a gang of super-smart bad-guys – the Leader, Egghead, Red Ghost, the Wizard, Mad Thinker and Dr. Doom – who stole the Lost Library of Alexandria, repository of all arcane knowledge, to further their schemes of domination.

Coming together during the early days of the Marvel Universe the cabal also purloined a cosmic-powered Hulk robot designed by Galactus which furthered their long-term plans which included creating a legion of Hulk-like servants, capturing the eight most brilliant men on the planet and of course ruling the world.

Contemporarily if not consequently there are eight Variant Hulks and analogues, but Bruce Banner is not one of them. The mysterious and all-conquering Red Hulk has stolen Banner’s gamma power, leaving nothing but a determined mortal – albeit a brilliant, determined and incredibly driven one. Banner has never been more dangerous…

The origin of the Red Hulk was partially revealed after The Intel replaced Egghead with the biological computer Modok. Events moved swiftly after Dr. Doom betrayed the cabal. Banner joined Red Hulk to stop his assorted foes as the Intel began to capture their intellectual opposite numbers.

Natural enemies, Banner and Red Hulk have become uneasy allies until the Intel are defeated, always pursuing their own agendas and watching each other for the first sign of betrayal. The Intel meanwhile have taken Reed Richards, Dr. Doom, Henry (the Beast) McCoy and T’Challa, the Black Panther and as this volume opens are moving to capture their next target – Henry Pym, size-changing superhero and Earth’s Scientist Supreme in ‘Man With a Plan’.

Chaos builds globally as the assorted Gamma gladiators: Skaar – Son of Hulk, Lyra (Hulk and Thundra’s daughter from an alternate future), Doc Samson, A-Bomb (venerable sidekick Rick Jones transformed into an atomic Abomination), Red She-Hulk and the Red Hulk all clash in interminable, inconclusive battles. Earth’s many costumed champions gather to save the day and Banner gathers his own select team of ruthless Avengers to take the battle to the Intel’s heart…

Doc Samson has been working with the evil geniuses for years and his recent indoctrination of Red She-Hulk has drawn attention from mutant warriors Elektra and Domino. More revelations about Lyra’s origins come to light in ‘The Deal’ whilst Red Hulk’s plan to destroy the cabal comes undone as the superhero assault is thwarted and the rescuers become more super-soldiers for the Intel.

In ‘Mindgame’ Banner’s schemes are no more successful: his team’s raid gathers lots of intelligence but once more The Intel’s forces ultimately overcome all opposition. The only problem they face is the increasing instability of their grotesque pawns – such as the ‘Big, Red, and Deadly!’ She-Hulk.

‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The A-Bomb’ uncovers more of Samson’s perfidy as Rick Jones realises he has been programmed as a sleeper agent to kill Banner, whilst Lyra clashes with her time-lost mother Thundra and Red She-Hulk in ‘The Savage Sex’ before the book ends on an anticipatory cliffhanger with ‘Best Case Scenario’ as, with the Intel in control of the planet Red Hulk and Banner prepare to bring it all crashing down…

Taken on its own this middle volume sounds utterly incomprehensible: a thin strand of coherent narrative picking its way through a bewildering assortment of block-busting punch-ups and arcane references, but I would advise readers to re-read the previous volume and trust to the writing of Jeph Loeb, Greg Pak, Jeff Parker and Harrison Wilcox, whom I’m sure will produce clarity and closure in the next collection….

Moreover if you’re e a fan of spectacular art the monumental illustrations by Paul Pelletier, Ed McGuinness, Carlos Rodriguez, Fernando Blanco, Ryan Stegman, Salvador Espin with Zach Howard, Vincente Cifuentes, Mark Palmer, Jason Paz, Danny Miki, Tom Palmer and Crimelab Studios are cumulatively breathtaking in scope and power. As always the book includes a gallery of the many cover variants that graced the original comicbook releases

Still flawed, but still not fatally; there’s an ominous gathering impetus that rockets the action (oh, so much action) along here despite all the problems and I’m confident that the conclusion will iron out all my current frowns. However it’s probably sound advice to re-re-read the previous volume before tackling this one and best to study both before the next one comes out…
™& © 2010 Marvel Entertainment LLC and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini.