Category: Graphic Novels

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Ultimate Spider-Man Volume1: The New World According to Peter Parker


By Brian Michael Bendis & David Lafuente with Justin Ponsor (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-443-0

The Marvel Ultimates project began in 2000 with a thoroughly modernizing refit of key characters and concepts to bring them into line with contemporary “ki-dults” – perceived to be a separate buying public to those baby-boomers and their declining descendents who seemed content to stick with the various efforts that sprang from the fertile, febrile gifts of Kirby, Ditko and Lee. Eventually the streamlined new universe became as crowded and continuity-constricted as its predecessor and in 2008 a publishing event dubbed “Ultimatum” culminated in a reign of terror which apparently (this is comics, after all) killed three dozen odd heroes and villains and millions of ordinary mortals.

Although a huge seller (for modern comics at least) the saga has been largely slated by the fans who bought it, and the ongoing new “Ultimatum Comics” line is quietly back-pedalling on its declared intentions…

The key and era-ending event was a colossal tsunami that drowned the superhero-heavy island of Manhattan and this post-tidal wave collection (assembling issues #1-6 of the relaunched Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) picks up the story of the survivors slowly readjusting to their altered state.

Peter Parker is sixteen years old, a perennial hard-luck kid and loser and canny geek just trying to get by. Between High School and slinging fast food (Burger Frog is his only source of income since the Daily Bugle got hit) he still finds time to fight crime although his very public heroics during the crisis have made him a beloved hero of police and citizenry alike – which is the creepiest thing he has ever endured.

He lives in a big house with his Aunt May, and despite his low self-image has stellar hottie Gwen Stacy for a devoted girlfriend, and is daily enduring the teen-angsty situation of equally stellar hottie Mary Jane Watson (his ex-squeeze) being constantly around and acting all grown-up about it. He briefly dated mutant babe Kitty Pride: remember when not having any girlfriend was the definition of “loser”?

As New York slowly recovers a new villain with a purloined name is carefully positioning himself to take full control – which he commences by murdering one of Spidey’s greatest surviving foes – whilst the wallcrawler is occupied with a resurgent pack of increasingly violent street crimes. One thing the wave didn’t wash away was greed and stupidity…

As the mastermind’s wicked plans near brutal fruition Spider-Man is being secretly helped by a new young crusader who seems determined to avoid observation at all costs, but Peter’s real problems begin when old superhero chums start returning. Kids like the Human Torch and Iceman are completely alone in the aftermath, and with schools and accommodation stretched to breaking point, what can a sweet old lady like May do but open her doors to them? His secret identity was constantly threatened before; how can he possibly conceal his adventurous life when two such famous characters suddenly move in…?

Combining smart dialogue and teen soap opera dynamics with spectacular action – beautifully rendered by artist David Lafuente and colourist Justin Ponsor – this is a surprisingly compelling and enjoyable costumed drama with plenty of laughs that easily rises above its troubled origins. Absolutely worth any jaded superhero fan’s time and money and well on the way to becoming a palpable sleeper hit…
™ and © 2010 Marvel Entertainment LCC and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. A British edition released by Panini UK Ltd

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Showcase Presents Hawkman volume 2


By Gardner Fox, Murphy Anderson, Bob Haney, Dick Dillon & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1817-1

After fighting long and hard to win his own title it was such a pity that time and fashion seemed to conspire against the Winged Wonder…

Katar Hol and his wife Shayera Thal were police officers on their own highly advanced planet of Thanagar. They originally travelled to Earth from the star system Polaris in pursuit of a shape-changing spree-thief named Byth but stayed to study Earth police methods in the cultural metropolis of Midway City. This all occurred in the wonderful ‘Creature of a Thousand Shapes’ which appeared in The Brave and the Bold #34 (cover-dated February-March 1961), but the public was initially resistant and it was three years and many further issues, guest-shots and even a back-up feature in Mystery in Space before the Winged Warriors finally won their own title

Hawkman #1, cover-dated April-May 1964, signalled the beginning of a superb run of witty, thrilling, imaginative and hugely entertaining science fiction, crime-mystery and superhero adventures that captivated the devoted but still painfully small audience.

This second, concluding volume, reprinting in crisp efficient black and white Hawkman #12-27, Brave and the Bold #70, The Atom #31 and the avian portions of the last-ditch combination-comic The Atom and Hawkman #39-45, recommences the magic with another large-scale cosmic epic that originally debuted in February-March 1966 (issue #12). ‘The Million-Year-Long War!’ is pure Gardner Fox storytelling, recounting how a Thanagarian exploration team awakened two aliens determined to kill each other even after eons of suspended animation and whose enmity drove them to possess all of Thanagar, turning Hawkman’s homeworld into one huge weapon. As usual Fox’s imaginings were gloriously illustrated by Murphy Anderson – as they would be until Julie Schwartz surrendered editorial control with issue #22.

Hawkman #13 featured a startling time-bending saga ‘Quest of the Immortal Queen!’ wherein a Valkyrie from Earth’s far future decided to add the Winged Wonder to her seraglio of lusty warriors plucked from history. Happily his wife Shayera strenuously objected and is both smart and tough enough to sort things out. Fox’s treatment of female characters was highly unique for those pre-feminist times: all his heroines – a large number of them wives, not wishy-washy “girlfriends” – were capable, intelligent and most importantly, wholly independent individuals.

Hawkgirl was written as every bit her husband’s equal and the Hawks had one of the most subtle and sophisticated relationships in the business. Like Sue and Ralph Dibney (Elongated Man and wife) Katar and Shayera were full partners, (both couples were influenced by the Nick and Nora Charles characters of the Thin Man movies) and the interplay between them was always rich in humour and warmth.

As a sign of the times super-secret criminal conspirators C.A.W. returned to seize control of the ‘Treasure of the Talking Head!’ – an ancient computer which held all the world’s knowledge, built before the birth of Christ, and the Pinioned Paladins then faced a fantastic monster in ‘Scourge of the Human Race!’, an encounter which revealed the true history of humanity as the last surviving specimen of Homo Sapiens’ earliest rival for mastery of the planet attempts to reverse evolution…

Issue #16 was a dimension-hopping sequel to Hawkman #6 (‘World Where Evolution Ran Wild’): an incredible Lost Worlds romp which combined secret history, fantastic fantasy and DC’s signature fascination with apes and simians in ‘Lord of the Flying Gorillas!’ whilst #17’s ‘Ruse of the Robbing Raven’ changed pace with a clever costumed crook caper. The issue also contained the first short back-up tale in over a year – another science based mystery entitled ‘Enigma of the Escape-Happy Jewel Thieves!’

Hawkman then guest-starred – and clashed – with Batman in The Brave and the Bold #70 (February-March 1967): ‘Cancelled: 2 Super-Heroes’ by Bob Haney, EC legend Johnny Craig and Chuck Cuidera saw the usually comradely crime-busters at each others throats due to the machinations of a manic millionaire who collected secret identities, whilst later that month in his own title the Winged Wonder teamed with Adam Strange against the malevolent Manhawks to locate the ‘World That Vanished!’ The planet in question was Thanagar and when it went it took Hawkman’s beloved Shayera with it…

This colossal tale concluded in the next issue with the action-packed ‘Parasite Planet Peril!’ and the Avian Ace then joined his old friend in The Atom #31 for ‘Good Man, Bad Man, Turnabout Thief!’ (by Fox, Gil Kane & Sid Greene) to battle a phantom super-criminal hidden within the brain of an innocent man, before returning to home ground for Hawkman#20’s ‘Death of the Living Flame’ a classy anthropological tomb-raiding yarn and the introduction of a new and persistent foe in ‘Lion-Mane… the Tabu Menace!’

The alien-infected leonine marauder returned in the very next issue ‘Attack of the Jungle Juggernaut!’– a typically classy thriller for Fox and Anderson to bow out with. With issue #22, George Kashdan took over the editorial reins, tapping Bob Haney, Dick Dillin and Charles “Chuck” Cuidera to continue the adventures of the Winged Wonders in a market increasingly indifferent to costumed characters. ‘Quoth the Falcon “Hawkman Die!”’ certainly hit the ground running as the tale of extraterrestrial paranoia and civil unrest resulted in Hawkman revealing his secret identity and alien heritage to a hostile Earth…

‘The Hawkman from 1,000,000 B.C.!’ was another dark, moody tale wherein a mad scientist’s time-plundering ray inflicts dinosaurs, ancient warriors and an amnesiac Hawkman on the shell-shocked citizens of Midway City. Arnold Drake scripted the alien invasion saga ‘The Robot-Raiders from Planet Midnight!’ and Haney resurfaced for ‘Return of the Death Goddess!’ and Shayera’s brief but ghastly possession by the ghost of the mythical Medusa.

The writing was on the wall by June-July 1968 and the prophetically entitled ‘Last Stand on Thanagar!’(issue #26) scripted by Raymond Marais, was a rushed inconsequential affair before the final tale ‘…When the Snow-Fiend Strikes!’ ended Hawkman’s solo career with a muddled tale of Communist agents and Yetis in the Himalayas.

It was a bad time for superheroes. Buying tastes had changed and a drop in comic sales and attendant rise in interest in supernatural themes prompted publishers to drop or amend much of the anti-horror provisions of the Comics Code Authority. Tales of mystery and imagination were returning after nearly a decade-and-a-half, but sales figures notwithstanding, Julie Schwartz had worked too hard to just let Hawkman die.

Just as Marvel were converting their double-feature split books into solo titles Hawkman was crammed into the equally struggling Atom comic for one last year of adventures.

The Atom and Hawkman, beginning with #39 (October-November 1968, carrying on the numbering of the Tiny Titan’s publication) featured some of Schwartz’s biggest creative guns, alternating short solo stories with shared adventures. The first of these was ‘Vengeance of the Silver Vulture!’ an epic battle against a resurgent Mayan death-cult written by Bob Kanigher, illustrated by Anderson and Joe Giella, with cover art by Joe Kubert – who would also contribute interior art to the feature he struggled so long and hard to create.

Written by Fox, pencilled by Kubert and inked by Anderson, the Hawkman portion of #40, ‘Man with the Inbuilt Panic Button!’ and its sequel ‘Yo-Yo Hangup in the Sky!’ from #41 are one last splendid slice of the “Good Old Days” – an intriguing mystery about a ordinary man who suddenly develops the power of teleportation – but only from one life-threatening crisis to a greater one…

Denny O’Neil joined Dick Dillin and Sid Greene for ‘When the Gods Make Madness!’, a full-length team-up which pitted the heroes against Hindu gods, and Kanigher revived the Golden Age Hawkman’s greatest foe in the two part saga of The Gentleman Ghost ‘Come to my Hanging!’ and the concluding ‘The Ghost Laughs Last’, both illustrated by Anderson.

The Atom and Hawkman #45 was the final issue, a revelatory psycho-drama featuring both heroes by O’Neil, Dillin and Greene that wrapped up their comic tenure and set them up with a prolonged series of further adventures in Justice League of America: a veritable lifeboat for cancelled costumed crime-fighters at that time.

‘Queen Jean, Why Must We Die?’ revealed that the Atom’s fiancée Jean Loring was the descendent of aliens who had crashed on Earth in the Stone Age. Returned from sub-molecular exile the survivors drove her insane – because their hereditary rulers must be free of all care – before the heroes could rescue – but not cure her. This tale would provide much of the basis for Loring’s actions in contemporary sagas Identity Crisis and Countdown to Final Crisis…

And then , but for the JLA, occasional guest-spots or back-up features in Action or Detective Comics that was it for the Winged Wonders until changing tastes and times gave them another, indeed many other, shots at the stars.

Hawkman briefly grew into one of the most iconic characters of the second superhero boom, not just for the superb art but also because of brilliant, subtle writing and incomparable imagination. These tales are comfortably familiar but grippingly timeless. Yet comics are a funny business; circumstances, tastes and fashions often mean that wonderful works are missed and unappreciated.

Don’t make the same mistake readers did in the 1960s. Together with its first volume this book captures and perfectly preserves the very essence of the Silver Age of Superheroes. Whatever your own vintage, read these astounding adventures and become a fan. It’s never too late.
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Catwoman: the Long Road Home


By Will Pfeiffer, David Lopez & Alvaro Lopez (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-181-6

After a phenomenal relaunch (see Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score, The Dark End of the Street and Crooked Little Town) the feline felon motored along nicely for years before falling prey to her most telling weakness: she is inextricably bonded to the Bat Franchise and as it turns, so does she.

Despite some sterling work from Will Pfeiffer, David Lopez & Alvaro Lopez, the series was marked for cancellation and the final days saw her sucked into both the Amazons Attack and Salvation Run publishing events (see particularly Wonder Woman: Amazons Attack!, Justice League of America: Sanctuary, JLA: Salvation Run and the previous volume Catwoman: Crime Pays).

So it is that this final compilation (collecting issues #78-82 of her gone-but-not-forgotten monthly comic) opens with the urban defender of Gotham City’s downtrodden underclass marooned on a distant deadly planet where America’s super-criminals have been clandestinely deported by the government, trying to avoid being killed by her own rogues gallery (Russian émigrés Hammer & Sickle and Cheetah most notably) whilst back on Earth old friend Slam Bradley’s search for her has led him into a murderous deathtrap…

One Final Whine (and you just know that’s not true): as I’ve said in many a review, graphic novels are different from simultaneously published periodicals, and lots of the tricks that augment sales in the latter are actual hindrances in the former. This first chapter is the ideal example of that observation.

In the comic-books this story culminates with a cataclysmic death-duel on the alien Hellworld, and a Slam Bradley teaser/cliffhanger after which the informed reader turns to Salvation Run issues #6 and 7 to discover what happens next. In this collection we simply, inexplicably find Catwoman back on Earth and coming to Slam’s rescue. Bast help you if you’re on a tight budget or only collect Catwoman books…

Feel free to consider that an advisory to buy Salvation Run too.

After saving Bradley Selina returns to unfinished business: chiefly tracking down The Thief, an obnoxious upstart who stole all her possessions and reputation to augment his own, which she does with panache and perhaps excessive force and zeal, before settling a few other old scores, most notably with criminal information broker The Calculator, and drives off into the sunset after one final fight with Batman.

This is a readable if necessarily bitty clean-up operation prior to Catwoman joining the cast of the ensemble series “Gotham City Sirens”, but there are still moments of the old magic to be found here. A rather unfortunate end to a superb series and a wrap-up only the most dedicated fans should have to endure.

© 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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JLA: Salvation Run


By Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham, Sean Chen, Walden Wong & others (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-981-9

It all makes sense really: if you’re normal folks in a world of casually destructive gods and monsters wouldn’t you want to get rid of them? That’s the premise of this dark and sardonic take on George II’s “Wahr on Turrrism” as seen through the gaudy lens of the DC universe.

Salvation Run was a seven part miniseries which spilled over most prominently into Justice League of America (see Sanctuary) and Catwoman (both Catwoman: Crime Pays and Catwoman: the Long Road Home), although the build-up, which saw a large number of DC super-villains seemingly vanish was featured in a quite a number of disparate DC titles.

The first chapter ‘Hellish New World’ (by Willingham, Chen & Wong) follows the murder of Bart Allan in Flash – Fastest Man Alive: Full Throttle and concentrates on that hero’s killers as they try to survive on a deadly alien world. They had been captured and sent there by the hard-line political animal Amanda Waller and her pet penal battalion The Suicide Squad, a government-controlled team of super-villains acting as a black-ops team in return for (limited) freedom. It’s not long before a multitude of metahumans ranging from cheap thugs like Black Spider and Hyena to “aristocrats” such as Cheetah, Clayface and the Joker are also unceremoniously dumped and forgotten…

Clandestinely deported without trial, they were told their new world had everything they needed to survive, but when they fell out of teleportational Boom Tubes they all quickly discovered that somebody lied: everything animal, vegetable and mineral on this Hellworld has been programmed to kill them…

In ‘Take this World and Shove It!’ the body-count of (admittedly minor) bad-guys begins to mount and in a grisly echo of Lord of the Flies the Joker takes charge – until the final batch of transportees arrive: a group which includes Lex Luthor, Catwoman and an incredibly scared and angry Suicide Squad, finally betrayed by their Government taskmasters…

Matthew Sturges took over the scripting with ‘All You Need is Hate’ and the trenchant black comedy was cranked up as rivalries and philosophical differences divided the villains on all but one point – that there were enough mad scientists on hand to find a way back to Earth…

‘Life is But a Nightmare’ revealed that the never-unaware Batman had planted a heroic infiltrator among the villains, and as immortal Vandal Savage lured a small harem of Bad Girls to a distant “safe area” to begin populating the planet with his progeny, the civil war among the factions claimed its first major player, whilst ‘Through a Glass Deadly’ (illustrated by Joe Bennett and Belardino Brabo) saw the morally ambivalent Catwoman forced to betray Batman’s spy to the villains just as the true masters of Hellworld reveal their own long-range plans for the deported villains.

‘Burning Down the World’ saw open warfare break out as Luthor and Joker attempt to beat each other to death whilst all about them Hellworld’s creators attack and the violent deadly affair ends with a mass prison break when Luthor’s genius returned them all (the survivors anyway) to Earth with renewed hatred of society and a huge simmering grudge to work off… ‘We Gotta Get Out of this Planet’ (by Sturges, Chen, Wong and Wayne Faucher) ends in spectacular fashion a hard look at DC’s dark side and firmly re-establishes the pecking order of the underworld just in time for the ultimate shake-up of Final Crisis.

Wicked, funny and grimly gory this is a fascinating look at the other costumes in the DCU, but there’s enough high concept and clever subtext to delight those casual readers who look beyond the normal “who’s tougher than who” antics.

For clearer comprehension I advise reading Justice League of America: Sanctuary before attempting this book.

© 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Justice League of America: Sanctuary


By Alan Burnett, Dwayne McDuffie, Ed Benes & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-051-2

The fourth volume of the latest Justice League of America incarnation (collecting issues #17-22 of the monthly comic) sees a changing of the creative guard as the always impressive Alan Burnett splits the scripting duties with equally impeccable Dwayne McDuffie to tie-in the Worlds Greatest Heroes to a company-wide storyline that wasn’t quite a braided-mega-crossover but was more than a shared plotline.

The graphic novel (or album or trade paperback collection: take your pick) is a wonderful vehicle for a complete reading experience in an industry and art-form that has always suffered from its own greatest strength – vitality and immediacy due to being periodically published.

Simply stated: you can generate huge enthusiasm for your product if it comes out frequently (or constantly), and more so if your product shares a storyline with a congruent product. That simple maxim gave early Marvel an insurmountable advantage in the 1960s and DC, being slow to catch on is still playing Catch-Up in the cross-selling stakes.

Unfortunately that advantage becomes a hazard once these parallel sagas are bundled up into what ought to be cohesive one-off packages, i.e. books, as inevitably backstory and initiating events have to be ignored, précised or included. One day all periodical material will be downloadable on demand and I’ll go back to reviews of actual comics…

The epic in question here is Salvation Run: a miniseries which spilled over most prominently into Catwoman (see both Catwoman: Crime Pays and Catwoman: the Long Road Home), although the build-up, which saw a large number of DC super-villains seemingly vanish, was featured in a quite a number of disparate DC titles.

The chapters here were divided into the lead feature ‘Sanctuary’ parts 1-3, by Burnett, Ed Benes and inkers Sandra Hope, Mariah Benes & Ruy José, with McDuffie providing captivating character-based vignettes, before assuming full writing chores for the last two tales in this volume.

It all kicks off when a desperate gang of super criminals smashes into the JLA’s headquarters and promptly surrenders, requesting asylum. Investigation reveals that villains from the most pathetic to the most powerful are being “disappeared” and even incarceration in the League’s dungeon on the Moon is preferable to the unknown fate of their fellows.

When hard-line political animal Amanda Waller and her pet penal battalion The Suicide Squad turn up demanding the heroes hand over the bad-guys the shocking secret comes out: the US government has had enough of metahuman threats and is rounding them up, without benefit of Due Process, and deporting them to another world from which they can never return. Moreover, she’s equally prepared to trample the JLA’s human rights to get what – and who – she wants…

Full of spectacular action and telling metaphor this yarn has plenty of surprises and for best effect should be read before any of the above cited collections, as it has no real conclusion, only lots of climaxes…

McDuffie’s first tale is ‘Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen…’ illustrated by Jon Boy Meyers & Serge LaPointe, wherein Vixen reveals a secret that might get her booted off the team to Red Arrow, Red Tornado and Green Lantern, and ‘Meanwhile, Back at Owl Creek Bridge…’, (Meyers & Mark Irwin) sees the Tornado – currently bodiless and inhabiting the team’s computer system – make a decision that could save or end his “life”. Both these short stories lay the threads for upcoming longer tales.

After the conclusion of ‘Sanctuary’ McDuffie and Ethan van Sciver pit the (Wally West) Flash and Wonder Woman against the alien insect Queen Bee Zazzala in ‘Back up to Speed’ and the book closes focusing on the Human Flame, as he joins a bevy of baddies feted by the villainous Libra in a prequel to Final Crisis. ‘The Gathering Crisis’ is illustrated by Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino.

Even though possibly no more than a bunch of interludes and add-ons, the sheer quality of the work collected here elevates this book above the average superhero sock-fest, and if you are a fan of the “Big Events” the room to see characters breathe and move here is a bonus of unparalleled worth.

© 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Green Lantern: Wanted: Hal Jordan


By Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Daniel Acuña & Oclair Albert (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1590-3

With the series well on its way after his turbulent resurrection in Green Lantern: Rebirth this fourth collection continues to build towards the cosmic spectaculars that seem to dominate the modern comics scene: in this case the Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night.

Collecting issues #14-20 of the monthly comicbook, all the stories are as usual, written by Geoff Johns and the drama starts with the eponymous title feature. ‘Wanted: Hal Jordan’ by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert picks up a storyline begun during the previous volume (Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns). Throughout the previous year many countries enacted new laws against metahumans – good, bad or undecided – and due to increased geo-political tensions Hal Jordan had rejoined the US Air Force.

He and fellow pilots Jillian “Cowgirl” Pearlman and Shane Sellers were shot down by Chechnyan rebels over Russian airspace, captured and tortured before escaping. When “intel” reveals the torturers have resurfaced, the still-traumatised Green Lantern once more invades Russian territory to confront them, but anticipated vengeance turns to a rescue mission when he finds that Cowgirl has already found them and been shot down again. As the forces of an enraged and extremely belligerent Russia attack the Emerald Invader, so too do a host of alien bounty-hunters who have been secretly stalking the hero since his return…

The carnage escalates as the Justice League and other American heroes try to stop Jordan before an international incident becomes a global catastrophe, whilst behind the scenes an old foe is finally making his long-laid plans a terrifying reality…

Taut, visceral and satisfyingly complex, this tale is a prelude to the aforementioned Sinestro Corps War, and features one of the very best cameo Batman “moments” in recent memory.

The volume continues and concludes with a three-part tale illustrated by the wonderful Daniel Acuña which sets up threads for the mega-crisis after the Sinestro shenanigans (now that’s confident forward planning!). ‘The Mystery of the Star Sapphire’ re-examines and clarifies the history and methodology of the alien Zamarons (who older fans will recall are an all-female off-shoot of the Guardians of the Universe) and the purple energy-stone that periodically possessed GL’s old girlfriend Carol Ferris.

After returning to Earth and initially re-absorbing Ferris that pesky jewel jumps ship to what it thinks is Jordan’s latest flame, Cowgirl Pearlman, culminating in a spectacular, breathtaking power-duel that also lays the groundwork for much of the Blackest Night saga.

Combining big-picture theatrics with solid characterisation Green Lantern is the perfect contemporary superhero series, vast in scope, superb in execution and blending just the right amounts of angst, gloss and action in the storytelling mix: but a basic familiarity with DC/Green Lantern history is advisable.

Perhaps you’d best review some of the earlier graphic novel collections and wonderful Showcase Presents editions before tackling this little gem…

© 2006, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Manhunter: The Special Edition


By Archie Goodwin & Walter Simonson (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-374-6

One of the most celebrated superhero series in comics history, Manhunter catapulted young Walt Simonson to the front ranks of creators, revolutionised the way dramatic adventures were told and still remains the most lauded back-up strip ever produced. Concocted by genial genius Archie Goodwin as a support strip in Detective Comics (#437-443, October-November 1973 to October-November 1974) the seven episodes – a mere 68 pages – won six Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards during its far too brief run.

In case you’re wondering: Best Writer of the Year 1973 – Archie Goodwin,

Best Short Story of the Year 1973 ‘The Himalayan Incident’,

Outstanding New Talent of the Year 1973 – Walter Simonson,

Best Short Story of the Year 1974 ‘Cathedral Perilous’,

Best Feature Length Story of the Year 1974 ‘Götterdämmerung’ and

Best Writer of the Year 1973 – Archie Goodwin.

Paul Kirk was a big game hunter and part-time costumed mystery man before and during World War II. Becoming a dirty jobs specialist for the Allies, he lost all love of life and died in a hunting accident in 1946. Decades later he seemingly resurfaced, and came to the attention of Interpol agent Christine St. Clair. Thinking him no more than an identity thief she soon uncovered an incredible plot by a cadre of the World’s greatest scientists who had combined into an organisation to assume control of the planet once they realised that man now had the means to destroy it.

Since the end of the War the Council had infiltrated all corridors of power, making huge technological advances (such as stealing the hero’s individuality by cloning him into an army of superior soldiers), slowly achieving their goals with no-one the wiser, but the returned Paul Kirk had upset their plans and was intent on thwarting their ultimate goals…

This slim volume reprints the much-missed Mr. Goodwin’s foreword from the 1979 black and white album Manhunter: the Complete Saga and gathers in one spiffy single collection Kirk’s entire tragic quest to regain his humanity and dignity. Coloured by Klaus Janson and lettered by Ben Oda, Joe Letterese, Alan Kupperberg & Annette Kawecki, it tells of St. Clair and Kirk’s first meeting in ‘The Himalayan Incident’, her realisation that all is not as it seems in ‘The Manhunter File’ and their revelatory alliance in ‘The Resurrection of Paul Kirk.’

Now fully a part of Kirk’s crusade Christine discovered just how wide and deep the Council’s influence ran in ‘Rebellion!’ before beginning the end-game in the incredible ‘Cathedral Perilous’ and gathering one last ally in ‘To Duel the Master’…

With all the pieces in play for a cataclysmic confrontation, events take a strange misstep as Batman stumbles into the plot and threatens to inadvertently hand the Council ultimate victory. ‘Götterdämmerung’ fully lived up to its title and perfectly wrapped up the saga of Paul Kirk – which was a superb triumph and perplexing conundrum for decades to come.

In an industry notorious for putting profit before aesthetics the pressure to revive such a well-beloved character was enormous, but Goodwin and Simonson were adamant that unless they could come up with an idea that remained true to the spirit and conclusion of the original, Manhunter would not be seen again.

Although the creators were as good as word DC did weaken a few times and Kirk clones featured in the Secret Society of Super-Villains and the Power Company, but they were mere shabby exploitations of the original. Eventually however, an idea occurred and the old conspirators concocted something that was usable and didn’t debase the original saga. Archie provided a plot, and Walter began to prepare the strip.

And after years of valiant struggle Archie finally succumbed to the cancer that had been killing him. Anybody who had ever met Archie Goodwin will understand the void his death created. He was irreplaceable.

Without a script the project seemed doomed until Simonson’s wife Louise suggested that it be drawn and run without words: a silent tribute and the last hurrah for a true hero. Manhunter: the Final Chapter reunites all the characters and brings the sublime epic to a perfect resolution. Now it really is all over…

With a touching afterword from Walter and a couple of pin-ups thrown in, this book represents a perfect moment of creative brilliance and an undisputed zenith in comics storytelling. This is a tale no comic fan can afford to be without.
© 1973, 1974, 1999 DC Comics.  All Rights Reserved.

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JLA: Tower of Babel


By Mark Waid, Howard Porter & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84023-304-4

After battling every combination of ancient, contemporary and futuristic foes, the World’s Greatest Superheroes found themselves pitted against an unbeatable threat in this startling exploration of paranoia that originally ran in issues #42-46 of the monthly comic-book, and spread into JLA Secret Files #3 and JLA 80-Page Giant #1

As a taster to the main event the book begins with ‘Half a Mind to Save a World’, an intriguing take on Asimov’s Fantastic Voyage from Dan Curtis Johnson, Mark Pajarillo and Walden Wong, wherein the Atom leads a JLA team on a mission to forcibly evacuate an advanced civilisation of bacteria that have taken up residence in a small boy’s brain, but of course, the bacteria aren’t that keen on moving…

Tower of Babel begins with immortal eco-terrorist Ra’s Al Ghul’s latest plan to winnow Earth’s human population to manageable levels well underway. In ‘Survival of the Fittest’ (Waid, Porter and Drew Geraci) a series of perfectly planned pre-emptive strikes cripple the Martian Manhunter, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Plastic Man and Green Lantern whilst Batman is taken out of the game by the simple expedient of stealing his parents’ remains from their graves.

With the Dark Knight distracted and his fellow superheroes disabled the action begins: suddenly humanity has lost the ability to read. Books, newspapers, complicated machinery instructions, labels on medicine bottles – all are now gibberish. The death toll starts to rise…

In ‘Seven Little Indians’ as the League attempt to regroup and fight back Batman realises that the tactics and weapons used to take out his allies, now including Superman, were his own secret contingency measures, designed with sublime paranoia in case he ever had to fight his super-powered friends…

Inserted next is ‘Blame’ by Dan Curtis Johnson, Pablo Raimondi, Claude St. Aubin and David Meikis from JLA Secret Files #3 which reveals how Talia, Daughter of the Demon, stole Batman’s anti-hero files and devices before Tower of Babel resumes with ‘Protected by the Cold’ as Batman leads a counter-attack despite the shock and fury of his betrayed comrades, and as the final phase kicks in and humans lose the power of speech too, the disunited team mounts a last-ditch assault on Al Ghul in ‘Harsh Words’ (illustrated by Steve Scott and Mark Propst). The same team handled the epilogue where the recovered heroes angrily seek to understand how their trusted friend could have countenanced such treachery…

The volume concludes with two thematically linked vignettes from JLA 80-Page Giant #1, ‘The Green Bullet’ by John Ostrander, Ken Lashley and Ron Boyd and ‘Revelations’ by Priest, Eric Battle and Prentis Rollins wherein Batman clears the Man of Steel of a trumped-up murder charge whilst Aquaman and Wonder Woman seek to deal with their obvious dislike and distrust of each other…

This volume (voted by multimedia reviews website IGN as number 20 on their list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels) is indeed one of the best Batman tales ever: a perfect, defining example of the man who thinks of everything, and is tough enough to prepare for the worst of all outcomes. As the Dark Knight was (temporarily) cast out of the League a new era began and the fans couldn’t have been happier. That’s a feeling you can share simply by picking up this startlingly impressive tale.
© 1998, 2000 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Black Widow: The Coldest War – A Marvel Graphic Novel


By Gerry Conway, George Freeman & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 0- 87135-643-0

By 1990 Marvel’s ambitious line of all-new graphic novels was beginning to falter, and some less-than-stellar tales were squeaking into the line-up. Moreover, the company was increasingly resorting to in-continuity stories with established – and company copyrighted – characters rather than creator-owned properties and original concepts.

Not that that necessarily meant poor product, as this intriguing superhero spy thriller proves. The Coldest War is set in the last days of the US/Soviet face-off with what looks to be a pasted-on epilogue added as an afterthought, but as the entire affair was clearly scripted as a miniseries – most probably for the fortnightly anthology Marvel Comics Presents – an afterword set after the fall of the Berlin Wall doesn’t jar too much and must have lent an air of imminent urgency to the mix.

The Black Widow started life as a svelte and sultry honey-trap Russian agent during Marvel’s early “Commie-busting” days. She fell for an assortment of Yankee superheroes – including Hawkeye and Daredevil – and finally defected; becoming an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and occasional leader of the Avengers. Throughout her career she has been considered competent, deadly, efficient and cursed to bring doom and disaster to her paramours.

Gerry Conway provides a typically twisty, double-dealing tale set in the dog-days of Mikhail Gorbachev’s “Perestroika” (“openness”) government when ambitious KGB upstarts undertake a plan to subvert Natasha (nee Natalia) Romanova and return her to Soviet control using the bait of her husband Alexei Shostokoff – whom she has believed dead for years. Naturally nothing is as it seems, nobody can be trusted and only the last spy standing can be called the winner…

Low key and high-tech go hand in hand in this sort of tale, and although there’s much reference to earlier Marvel classics this tale can be easily enjoyed by the casual reader and art fan.

And what art! George Freeman is a supreme stylist, whose drawing work – although infrequent – is always top rate. Starting out on the seminal Captain Canuck, he has excelled on Jack of Hearts, Green Lantern, Avengers, Batman (Annual #11, with Alan Moore), Wasteland, Elric, Nexus and The X-Files (for which he won the Eisner Award for colouring). He co-founded the design/colouring studio Digital Chameleon in 1991.

Here, inked by Ernie Colon, Mark Farmer, Mike Harris, Val Mayerik and Joe Rubinstein with colours from Lovern Kindzierski he produced a subtle and sophisticated blend of costumed chic and espionage glamour that easily elevated this tale to a “must-have” item.
© 1990 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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John Constantine, Hellblazer: Son of Man


By Garth Ennis & John Higgins (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-830-3

Garth Ennis ended a spectacular run on the urban wizard and all-around nasty-piece-of-work John Constantine in grand manner with Hellblazer: Rake at the Gates of Hell. By wrapping up all his loose ends and eradicating almost everything built during his tenure Ennis gave the regrettable impression that he was never coming back, but to every fan’s delight he returned with frequent collaborator John Higgins (see Pride and Joy) to craft this terrifying and pitiless tale of urban horror and twisted heritage set in the darkly charismatic London underworld.

During the Falklands War, when John Constantine was still in and out of criminal asylums, gang boss Harry Cooper asked a favour. Already well acquainted with the worst that Hell housed, the cocky young wizard knew true evil when it stuck a gun up his nose and was wise enough to comply.

With a few of his friends – for they weren’t all dead back then – he successfully resurrected Cooper’s dead son, and counted himself lucky to escape with his life and knees intact. No one, especially Cooper, needed to know just how he’d accomplished the impossible.

Twenty years later an older wiser man, he’s being harassed by Copper’s thugs and their bought coppers again. The kid’s all grown up now and taking over the family business, but his actions don’t make sense. Rather than making money, all his efforts seem destined to turn the city into a seething cauldron of race-hate and gang warfare: a literal Hell on Earth.

Now Constantine has to deal with the thing he brought back before it settles with him and all London too – but the outlook is far from rosy…

Collecting issues #129-133 of the monthly comicbook, this is an excellent blend of crime-thriller a la “Cool Britannia” with the signature black comedy-horror that Ennis has made his own, and the expressive, boldly subtle art of John Higgins perfectly captures the brutality, hilarity and sheer fear generated in this terrific thriller.

Grown-up comics simply don’t get better than this and both crime fans and horror lovers can pick this book up with no prior familiarity and still have the time of their lives…

© 1998, 1999, 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.