Category: Graphic Novels

Posted on

Batman: The Black Casebook


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-312-4

Despite having his name writ large on the cover the only thing Grant Morrison produced for this weird and wonderful collection is the introduction, so if he’s the reason you buy Batman you’re in for a little disappointment. However if you feel like seeing the incredible stories that inspired him, then you’re in for a bizarre and baroque treat as this collection features a coterie of tales considered far too outlandish and fanciful to be canonical for the last few decades but now reintroduced to the mythology of the Dark Knight as a casebook of the “strangest cases ever told!”.

Tales from the anodyne 1950s (with just a little overlapping touch of the 1960s) always favoured plot over drama – indeed a strong argument could be made that all DC’s post-war costumed crusaders actually shared the same character (and yes I’m including Wonder Woman) – so the narrative drive focuses on comfortably familiar situations and outlandish themes and paraphernalia: but as a kid they simply blew me away. They still do.

Starting things off is a ‘A Partner for Batman’ (Batman #65 June/July 1951) by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz and Charles Paris, wherein Batman’s training of a foreign hero is misconstrued as a way of retiring Robin, whilst a trip out west introduces the Dynamic Duo to their Native American analogues in ‘Batman… Indian Chief!’ (issue #86, September 1954, by France Herron, Sheldon Moldoff and Stan Kaye), and ‘The Batmen of All Nations!’ (Detective Comics #215, January 1955 by Edmond Hamilton, Moldoff and Paris) took the sincere flattery a step further by introducing nationally-themed imitations from Italy, England, France, South America and Australia, all attending a convention that’s doomed to disaster…

A key story of this period introduced a strong psychological component to Batman’s origins in ‘The First Batman’ (Detective Comics #235, September 1955) courtesy of Finger, Moldoff and Kaye, and the international knock-offs returned to meet Superman and a new shocking mystery hero in ‘The Club of Heroes’ (Worlds Finest Comics #89, July/August 1957 by Hamilton and the magnificent Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye).

‘The Man who Ended Batman’s Career’ introduced the malevolent Professor Milo (Detective Comics #247, September 1957, Finger, Moldoff & Paris) who used psychological warfare and scientific mind-control to attack our heroes. The same creative team brought him back for an encore in Batman #112, in ‘Am I Really Batman?’

France Herron scripted one of Sprang and Paris’ best ever art collaborations in the incredible, spectacular ‘Batman… Superman of Planet X!’ (Batman #113, February 1958) and Finger, Moldoff & Paris introduced the Gotham Guardian’s most controversial “partner” in ‘Batman Meets Bat-Mite’(Detective Comics #267, May 1959), but ‘The Rainbow Creature’ (Batman #134, September 1960) is a rather tame monster-mash from Finger and Moldoff which only serves to make the next tale more impressive.

‘Robin Dies at Dawn’ is an eerie epic which first appeared in Batman #156, June 1963 by Finger, Moldoff & Paris (supplemented by, but not dependent upon, a Robin solo adventure sadly omitted from this collection). In it Batman experiences truly hideous travails on an alien world culminating in the death of his young partner. I’m stopping there as it’s a great story and plays a crucial part in the latter day sagas Batman: R.I.P., and The Black Glove. Buy this book and read it yourself…

But wait: There’s more! From the very end times of the old-style tales comes the inexplicably daft but brilliant ‘The Batman Creature!’ (Batman #162, March 1964) by an unknown writer, Moldoff and Paris, wherein Robin and Batwoman must cope with a Caped Crusader transformed into a rampaging giant monster. Shades of King Kong, Bat-fans!

Even though clearly collected to cash in on the success of the modern Morrison vehicle these stories have an intrinsic worth and power of their own, and these angst-free exploits from a different age still have a magic to captivate and enthrall. Do not dismiss them and don’t miss this book!

© 1951, 1954-1960, 1963, 1964, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Dungeon: The Early Years volume 2: Innocence Lost


By Joann Sfar & Lewis Trondheim, art by Christophe Blain, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-56163-564-1

This slim tome is another part of the eccentric, raucous and addictively wacky franchise that adds a starkly adult whimsy to the fantastic worlds of fantasy fiction. This second volume of Early Years fills in some historical gaps that might have puzzled readers of Dungeon Parade, Zenith, Monstres and Twilight. There’s this magic castle, in a fantastic land of miracles, see, and it’s got a dungeon…

But before that Castle was built there was the debauched, bureaucratised and grimly frenetic urban hellhole of Antipolis. In it Dungeon Keeper-to-be Hyacinthe prowls the night as masked vigilante The Night Shirt but his midnight adventures are being seriously curtailed by his unrequited love for the fair Gabrielle, not to mention the unpleasant and lingering aftereffects of some prior requiting with the serpentine lady-assassin Alexandra…

When Gabrielle is falsely arrested by over-officious rabbits Hyacinthe must engineer her release, which involves leaving the relative comfort zone of the City for the wilds of rabbit-infested frontier town Zedotamaxim and the charnel hamlet of Necroville…

A second story After the Rain is set many years later when the now dissolute Hyacinthe is a middle-aged, unhappily married roué. Set in his ways and unhappy the former Night Shirt is enticed into making a comeback by the clever Doctor Cormor who must battle greed and the establishment itself to stop a subway being dug through the unstable pile of detritus that forms the very bedrock of the city. Perhaps it is less the noble quest than the return of slinky Alexandra that fires up the weary hero, but when inevitable disaster strikes will Hyacinthe be ready or able to cope?

The inhabitants of this weirdly surreal universe include every kind of anthropomorphic beast and bug as well as monsters, demons, mean bunnies, sexy vamps and highly capable women-folk who know the true (lack of) worth of a man. This is an epic saga played as an eternal and highly amusing battle of the sexes, with tongues planted firmly in cheeks – and no, I won’t clarify…

Comprising two translated French albums ‘Une Jeunesse Qui S’Enuit’ and ‘Apres La Pluie’ this is a delightfully surreal, earthy, sharp, poignant and brilliantly outlandish contemporary comedy that’s a joy to read with vibrant, wildly eccentric art moody as Dark Knight and jolly as Rupert Bear.

Definitely for grown-ups with young hearts, Dungeon is a near-the-knuckle, illicit experience which addicts at first sight, but for a fuller comprehension – and added enjoyment – I’d advise buying all the various incarnations.
© 2001-2006 Delcourt Productions-Tronfheim-Sfar-Blain. English translation © 2009 NBM. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Superman: Past and Future


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-074-1

In the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU, time travel became a really big deal. So when the Metropolis Marvel did break the fourth dimension, as in the superb Superman: Time and Time Again the gimmick became as big a deal as the plot. But there was a period when all history and the implausible future was just a short spin away…

Superman is the comicbook crusader who started the whole genre and in the decades since his debut in 1938 has probably undertaken every kind of adventure imaginable. With this in mind it’s tempting and very rewarding to gather up whole swathes of his inventory and periodically re-present them in specific themed collections, such as this delightful confection of time-busting escapades from the many superb writers and artists who have contributed to his canon over the years.

The fun begins with a tale from Superboy #85 (1960) which reiterated an iron-clad cosmic law of the Silver Age: “History Cannot Be Changed”: as the Smallville Sensation tragically discovered in ‘The Impossible Mission!’ (by Jerry Siegel and George Papp) when he traveled to 1865 to prevent the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, fate will always conspire to make events unfold along a predestined course…

A different theory was in play in 1947 when the Man of Steel broke the time barrier for the first time to collect famous signatures for an ailing boy in ‘Autograph, Please!’ (Superman #48, by Siegel and John Sikela), whilst in ‘Rip Van Superman’ (Superman #107, 1956 by Bill Finger Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye Siegel) an accident placed the hero in a coma, trapping him in a future where he was redundant…

The 1960s were the heyday of time travel tales with the Man of Tomorrow and his friends nipping forward and back the way you or I (well me, anyway) would pop to the pub. In the brilliantly ingenious ‘Superman Under the Red Sun!’ (Action Comics #300, 1963 by Edmond Hamilton and Al Plastino) our hero is dispatched to the far, far future where the sun has cooled, and undergoes incredible hardship before figuring out a way home.

In ‘Jimmy’s D-Day Adventure!’ the boy reporter travelled to World War II to solve a bizarre mystery only to end up a trusted member of Hitler’s inner circle, (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #86, (1964, Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Klein) whilst his Daily Planet colleague almost ripped apart the fabric of reality by nearly becoming Superman’s mum in ‘Lois Lane’s Romance with Jor-El!’ (Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #59, 1965, by Hamilton and Kurt Schaffenberger)

One of the boldest experiments of the decade occurred when Hamilton, Swan and Klein introduced us to ‘The Superman of 2965!’ (Superman #181, November 1965) for a series of adventures starring the Man of Steel’s distant descendent. A two-part sequel appeared the following summer in Action Comics #338-339, ‘Muto… Monarch of Menace!’ and ‘Muto Versus the Man of Tomorrow!’ and a postscript tale appeared in World’s Finest Comics #166 entitled ‘The Danger of the Deadly Duo!’ teaming that era’s Batman and Superman against Muto and the last in a long line of Jokers.

For Superman #295, Elliot Maggin, Curt Swan and Bob Oksner produced ‘Costume, Costume – Who’s got the Costume?’ (1976) a neat piece of cross-continuity clean-up that featured DC parallel worlds including those of Kamandi and the Legion of Super-Heroes. From that same year ‘Superman, 2001!’, by Maggin, Cary Bates Swan and Oksner is an imaginary Story (a tale removed from regular continuity) featured in the anniversary issue Superman #300, and posited what would have happened if baby Kal-El’s rocket had landed in the Cold War era of 1976 – an intriguing premise then which looks uncomfortably like the TV series Smallville to my jaded 21st century eyes.

This fascinating collection concludes with ‘The Last Secret Identity’ (from 1983’s DC Comics Presents Annual #2, by Maggin, Keith Pollard, Mike DeCarlo and Tod Smith, which introduced the first incarnation of Superwoman, when a time-travelling historian landed in Metropolis only to become the subject of her own research.

These tales are clever, plot driven romps far removed from today’s angst-heavy psycho-dramas and unrelentingly oppressive epics. If you’re after some clean-cut, wittily gentle adventure there’s no better place to go – or time…

© 1947, 1956, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1976, 1983, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker


By Otto Binder (Bantam Books)
ISBN: F3569

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

Whilst Jack passionately pursued his imagination waiting for the quality of the work to be noticed, Stan sought every opportunity to break down the ghetto walls: college lecture tours, animated TV shows (of frankly dubious quality at the start, but always improving), and of course getting their product onto “real” bookshelves in real book shops.

In the 1960s on the back of the “Batmania” craze, many comics publishers repackaged their old comics stories in cheap and cheerful paperbacks, but to my knowledge only monolithic DC and brash upstart Marvel went to the next level and commissioned all-new prose novels starring their costumed superstars. The publisher Bantam Books had been specialising in superhero fiction since 1964 when they began reprinting the 1930s pulp novels of Doc Savage, so they must have seemed the ideal partner in this frankly risky enterprise.

The first of these novels was an unlikely choice, considering the swelling appeal of both Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four, but I imagine that the colourful team of adventurers selected was one that Lee was happy to let another writer work on, and perhaps it was even a way of defending their trademark in all arenas (after all the British TV series The Avengers was screening in America to great success (necessitating Gold Key’s comic book tie-in being titled John Steed and Emma Peel).

Whatever the reason, The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker launched with little fanfare (I don’t even recall an ad in the comic-books themselves, at a time when company policy dictated that changing one’s socks got a full write-up on the “Marvel Bullpen Bulletins Page”) and it didn’t garner a lot of praise…

Which is actually a real shame, as it’s a pretty good yarn extremely well told by pulp and comics veteran Otto Binder, whose Adam Link prose stories inspired Isaac Asimov’s ‘I, Robot’ tales whilst his Captain Marvel, Superman, Captain America and uncounted other comics scripts inspired just about everybody.

The heroic team, consisting of Goliath, the Wasp, Hawkeye, Iron Man and Captain America (but not Quicksilver or the Scarlet Witch who both look so good on that spiffy painted cover) are called upon to battle Karzz, a monstrous alien mastermind from the future who has travelled back in time to eradicate the entire Earth, in a fast-paced thriller that barrels along in fine old style, and doesn’t suffer at all from the lack of pulse-pounding pictures.

This is, of course, only really a treat for the most devout fan, either of the Marvel Universe or the vastly underrated work of one of the true pioneers of two genres. At least it’s not that hard to track down if you’re intrigued and hungry for something a little bit old-school and a little bit different…
© 1967 Marvel Comics Group. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Countdown: Arena


By Keith Champagne, Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84567-867-6

Already bloated and overblown with too many plot-threads and too little discipline, the Countdown publishing event spawned a number of miniseries, crossovers and specials that did little to contribute to the drama but worked wonders with the overall level of muddle, confusion and bewilderment – not to mention producing a distressing kind of four colour snow-blindness.

The premise is as old as the hills: the villainous Monarch, who is trying to conquer the multiverse even as the 52 realities are unraveling around him, has decided to build an army from the most powerful superheroes of all those myriad worlds. To that end he has shanghaied alternate versions of Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman and all their costumed confederates from their home-worlds and made them compete against “themselves”.

Of each hero, by the end “there can be only one…” which give writer Champagne the opportunity to revisit such successful past ElseWorlds experiments as Gotham by Gaslight, Batman: Red Rain, Superman: Red Son, JSA: Liberty Files and many others as well as recent alternate venues such the Tangent Universe, the world of The Authority and the glorious DC: the New Frontier.

This tale, which was originally released as a four issue miniseries, is action-packed, vicarious and falls into the secret pit at the heart of every comics fan by attempting to answer those unholy questions “who’s strongest…?” and “who would win if…?” but if it’s that bad why am I wasting your time blathering on about it?

Two reasons really: the first is that sometimes all you really want from a comic experience is a great big fight, and this yarn has lots of those, and secondly the breathtaking carnage is drawn in spectacularly loose and engrossing fashion by one of the most stylish artists currently working in American comics. Sometimes comics are completely saved by the art and Scott McDaniel’s kinetic mastery just does that for me.

Unless you’re a story completist and you’re buying all the multifarious offshoots of Countdown I’d think long and hard about getting this book – the narrative does not even conclude here: only dovetails back into the overarching parent-tale, but if you can let niggling details like sense and logic go there’s a splendid visual treat in store for anyone who gets off on costumed character catharsis. Pick a side: I dare you…
© 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

The Savage Land


By Chris Claremont, Michael Golden, Dave Cockrum & Bob McLeod, Paul Smith & Terry Austin (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-338-5

In the late 1980s as Marvel was just beginning to move away from their experimental graphic novels and towards today’s reprint-only trade paperbacks, there were very few stand out, stand-alone story-lines that fitted neatly into the rather restrictive format they had settled upon: approximately 80 pages (or four issues) worth of story and featuring popular characters in stories strong enough to get the fans to shell out (said fans being assumed to have already got the original comics). Nobody thought the books would have an independent target audience outside the fan-base.

So most of those early collections were miniseries like Hercules: Prince of Power and Hawkeye or popular short story-arcs like Thor’s Ballad of Beta Ray Bill or the initial Power Pack story (Power Pack Origin Album). Many starred the X-Men.

This lost treasure (which was reprinted in 2002 as X-Men and Spider-Man: Savage Land (ISBN: 978-0-7851-0891-7) is a well-produced oddment that despite being a rousing yarn is more of a cautionary tale about the comics business itself.

In 1982 the company launched a high-quality anthology magazine entitled Marvel Fanfare: slick paper stock, superior printing and a brief to bring innovation and bold new directions. Indeed, under Al Milgrom’s editorial guidance, a number of notable tales from exceptional creators were published, but cynical me – and not just me – soon noticed that a lot of those creators were the ones that had problems with periodical processes and couldn’t make a deadline even if you bought them a ‘how to’ book and a kit labelled “Deadlines for Dummies.”

These day’s that’s nothing to shout over: comics come out when they do and editors have no real power to decree otherwise, but in the 1980’s it was big deal, with printers booking a project in for a pre-specified date, and charging a punitive fee if the publisher didn’t get a product in on time. That’s why inventory tales were created: fill-in issues that would sit in a drawer until a writer blew it or an artist had his work eaten by the dog. Sometimes the US Mail simply lost the stuff in transit…

This tale teams Spider-Man, Ka-Zar and a bunch of X-Men in a spectacular return to the Savage Land – the antediluvian repository beneath the South Pole where fantastic civilisations and dinosaurs fretfully co-exist – that all kicks off in ‘Fast Descent into Hell’ when a distraught woman tries to find her missing lover, last seen in that lost world. Unfortunately that lost soul is Karl Lykos, a man who feeds on mutants to become a ghastly human Pteranodon called Sauron, and the only way to find him is through Warren Worthington III, the winged mutant publicly known as the Angel.

Worthington’s expedition to the Savage Land includes an embedded news team from the Daily Bugle, including photographer and trouble magnet Peter Parker, who quickly stumbles across a band of evil mutants planning to conquer the outer world by creating mutant hybrids.

In the second chapter of what appears to me an extended Marvel Team-Up storyline that was hit by the “Dreaded Deadline Doom” Claremont and Golden continue the saga in ‘To Sacrifice my Soul…’ as Spidey and Ka-Zar, the Jungle Lord, join forces to crush the mutation plot, inadvertently unleashing the aforementioned Sauron on the sub-polar world.

Golden’s stylish easy grace gave way to the slick, accomplished method of New X-Men designer Dave Cockrum, inked by Bob McLeod for ‘Into the Land of Death…’ as a full team of X-Men (Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Storm) joined the Angel and the Ape-man (sorry, just couldn’t resist – and where’s their collected edition, huh?) to thwart the diabolical dinosaur man and his new mutant allies, before legend-in-training Paul Smith stepped in to finish the epic in grand style with the assistance of inker Terry Austin in the climactic, action-packed ‘Lost Souls!’

This story is premium Mutant Mayhem produced by two of the best artists ever to draw the team as well as featuring some of the best art – and colouring – ever produced by Golden, and far in advance of his groundbreaking Micronauts run. This is an old-fashioned comics treat no true fan should be without.
© 1987 Marvel Entertainment Group. © 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

The Magic Goes Away – DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel #6


By Larry Niven, adapted by Paul Kupperberg & Jan Duursema (DC Comics)
ISBN: 0-930289-19-6

During the 1980s DC, on a creative roll like many publishers large and small, attempted to free comics narrative from its previous constraints of size and format as well as content. To this end, legendary editor Julie Schwartz called upon contacts from his early days as a Literary Agent to convince major names from the fantasy literature world to allow their early classics to be adapted into a line of Science Fiction Graphic Novels.

The groundbreaking short-story by Larry Niven was released in 1976 during the first energy/oil crisis and was met with almost universal acclaim. Quickly expanded into a novella it is a powerful allegory of conservation and sensible management of resources. The settings and universe were subsequently used for other stories including The Burning City and The Burning Tower (co-written with Jerry Pournelle) and others.

This adaptation is probably the most comfortingly traditional of these experimental comic strip interpretations and comes courtesy of the inexplicably underrated Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema, with delightful lettering and calligraphic effects from Todd Klein.

Long ago when the world literally ran on magic, a long-lived warlock noticed that every so often his powers would diminish until he relocated to another part of the world. Warlock built a simple device and used it to prove that Mana, the spark of magic, was a finite thing and could be used up…

A warrior washed up in a sea-side village and it was clear he had survived some appalling catastrophe. When he was recovered he left in search of a magician – any magician. At this time Warlock and Clubfoot, once among the mightiest magicians on Earth, were wandering, assessing the state of a world rapidly running out of wonders, and increasingly aware that humanity was adapting to a life without them.

They carried their paraphernalia, including the skull of the necromancer Wavyhill, with them as they searched for a location with enough Mana to power the spells which were all but useless everywhere now.  Warlock had a big idea.  Earth’s Mana might be exhausted but the moon’s must be untouched.  All they needed was enough power to get to it…

Then the warrior introduced himself and told his tale.  His nation had tried for uncounted years to conquer magical Atlantis.  When they did, killing all the priests, the island sank. Guilt-crazed Orolandes the Greek determined to make amends and sought wizards to show him how.

With the world more mundane every moment these stalwarts joined other magicians – untrustworthy souls all – in a last ditch attempt to bring back their dying lifestyle. Finding the location of the last god in existence the conclave planned to steal his Mana, and use it to bring the untapped moon down to Earth…

The tale is a delightfully logical and rational exploration and celebration of fantasy that acknowledges all the rich wealth of the genre whilst applying some hard-edged rules to it.  Kupperberg and Duursema walk a dangerous tightrope but joyously capture the marvels of the milieu, whilst depicting the raw tension, and cynicism of a world on the edge of the ultimate systems-crash.

Beautiful and terrifying this is an adaptation and allegory that every consumer (of fantasy or indeed anything) should read…
© 1978 Larry Niven. Text & illustrations © 1986 DC Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Underworld Unleashed


By Mark Waid, Howard Porter, Dennis Janke & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-447-5

In deference to the season here’s a brief chat about one of DC’s lesser company crossover classics. Underworld Unleashed was a DC universe-wide tale in which an ancient lord of Hell returns to offer heroes and villains whatever they desire – generally manifested as a boost in powers and a new costume – in return for their souls.

The story is more about baddies than goodies and there’s a juicy role for Flash’s Rogues Gallery – especially the Trickster, but the tale wanders too far and wide and though there are a lot of nice character moments there’s some fairly dire bits too.

Moreover the tale lacks conviction and tension, the horror and carnage really doesn’t have any lasting impact, and of course the Tempter has a nasty plan-within-a-plan, but as so often before, DC shot themselves in the foot by only selectively collecting the saga into one volume.

Whereas I can grasp the need to keep a collection manageable (the original event ran to the three issue miniseries included here, 42 assorted tie-ins over three months worth of regular titles and four one-shot Specials) I find it incomprehensible that key ancillary stories can be arbitrarily ignored.

A quartet of supplementary Specials ‘Abyss: Hell’s Sentinel’, ‘Apokolips: Dark Uprising’, ‘Batman: Devil’s Asylum’ and ‘Patterns of Fear’ added a great deal to the overarching storyline yet only the first of these (beautifully crafted by Scott Peterson, Phil Jimenez, J.H. Williams, John Stokes and Mick Gray, detailing the Golden Age Green Lantern’s rescue of the DCU’s magical champions from Hell) is included here. It is a great segment but so are the ones inexplicably omitted.

The bargain-basement Faustian bargains all end well and a kind of order is restored, but this very potentially highly enjoyable tale is unfairly truncated and we’re all the poorer for it. Hopefully somebody will get around to restoring this tale to a more comprehensible state for future editions…

Ooh, that’s the doorbell.

I’m off to throw hard candies at some kids; Happy Halloween reading…
© 1995, 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

The Question Volume 3: Epitaph for a Hero


By Dennis O’Neil, Denys Cowan & Rick Magyar (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-996-3

In the “real” world, some solutions require careful Questions…

An ordinary man pushed to the edge by his obsessions, Vic Sage used his fists and a mask that made him look faceless to get answers (and justice) whenever normal journalistic methods failed – or whenever his own compulsive curiosity gripped him too tightly. After a few minor successes around the DC universe Sage got a TV reporting job in the town where he grew up.

This third collection (reprinting issues #13-18 of the highly regarded 1980s series) brings Sage into a thoroughly modern nightmare as he seeks to discover the foundations of patriotism, honour and glory and the roots of domestic terrorism in ‘Be All that you can Be…’ when a team operating on strict military principles carries out a series of murderous attacks on Army recruiting centres and personnel. The ace reporter tracks down the killers only to be captured and experience a harrowing example of their torturous training and a staggering example of their integrity in the concluding ‘Saving Face’.

The major portion of the Question’s adventures take place within the urban hell of Hub City, a ghastly analogue of blighted, Reagan-era Chicago, run by a merciless political machine and an utterly corrupt police force until Sage and the Question returned. His old girlfriend Myra Connelly had married the drunken puppet who is the Mayor and now as he dissolves into madness she is trying to win a mandate to run the city herself. Another unlikely champion is reformed and conflicted cop Izzy O’Toole, formerly the most corrupt lawman in “the Hub”.

‘Epitaph for a Hero’ further pushes the traditional boundaries and definitions of heroism when racist private detective Loomis McCarthy comes seeking to pool information on a spate of racially motivated murders during a tight fought election struggle between Myra and millionaire “old guard” patrician Royal Dinsmore. This startling mystery is not as cut-and-dried as it appears and presents some very unsettling facets for all concerned…

Izzy O’Toole continues his struggle for redemption in a brutal untitled confrontation with mythic underpinnings as illegal arms-dealers Butch and Sundance attempt to turn Hub into their own Hole-in-the-Wall (that was an impregnable hideout used by bandits in the old West), casting the grizzled old lawdog as a highly unlikely “Sheriff of Dodge City”.

The tale continues in ‘A Dream of Rorschach’ which tacitly acknowledges the debt owed to the groundbreaking Watchmen in the revival of the Question, as Sage reads the book and has a vision of and conversation with the iconic sociopath whilst flying to Seattle and a chilling showdown with Butch and Sundance as well as a highly suspicious and impatient Green Arrow in the concluding ‘Desperate Ground’.

Complex characters, a very mature depiction of the struggle between Good and Evil using Eastern philosophy and very human prowess to challenge crime, corruption, abuse, neglect and complacency would seem to be a recipe for heady but dull reading yet these stories and especially the mythic martial arts action delineated by Denys Cowan are gripping beyond belief and constantly challenge any and all preconceptions.

Combating Western dystopia with Eastern Thought and martial arts action is not a new concept but O’Neil’s focus on cultural and social problems rather than histrionic super-heroics make this series a truly philosophical work, and Cowan’s raw, edgy art imbues this darkly adult, powerfully sophisticated thriller with a maturity that is simply breathtaking.

The Question’s direct sales series was one of DC’s best efforts from a hugely creative period, and with a new hero wearing the faceless mask these days those tales form a perfect snapshot in comics history. Whether it fades to obscurity or becomes a popular, fabled and revered icon depends on you people: to make it the hit it always should have been all you have to do is obtain these superb trade paperback collections, and enjoy the magic…

© 1988, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Essential Avengers volume 3


By Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Barry Smith & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0787-3

Slightly slimmer than the usual phonebook sized tome, this third collection of the Mighty Avengers’ world-saving exploits (here reproducing in crisp, stylish black and white the contents of issues #47-68 of their monthly comic book and their second summer Annual) established Roy Thomas as a major creative force in comics and propelled John Buscema to the forefront of fan-favourite artists. These compelling yarns certainly enhanced the reputations of fellow art veteran Don Heck and Gene Colan and made the wider comics world critically aware of the potential of John’s brother Sal Buscema and original British Invader Barry Smith…

With the Avengers the unbeatable and venerable concept of putting all your star eggs in one basket always scored big dividends for Marvel even after the all-stars such as Thor and Iron Man were replaced and supplemented by lesser luminaries and Jack Kirby moved on to other Marvel assignments and other companies. With this third volume many of the founding stars regularly began showing up as a rotating, open door policy meant that almost every issue could feature somebody’s fave-rave, and the amazingly good stories and artwork were certainly no hindrance either.

Opening this fun-fest is ‘Magneto Walks the Earth!’ from Avengers #47 by writer Roy Thomas (who wrote all the stories contained here), illustrated by John Buscema and George Tuska wherein the master of magnetism returns from enforced exile in space to put his old gang together by recruiting mutant Avengers Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch… whether they’re willing or otherwise…

Tuska assumes full art chores for the second chapter in this saga, ‘The Black Knight Lives Again!’ which introduced a brand new Marvel Superhero, whilst furthering a sub-plot featuring Hercules’ return to an abandoned Olympus and #49, (pencilled and inked by Buscema) concluded the Mutant trilogy with ‘Mine is the Power!’ clearing the decks for the 50th issue tussle as the team rejoins Hercules to restore Olympus by defeating the mythological menace of Typhon in ‘To Tame a Titan!’

Reduced to just Hawkeye, the Wasp and a powerless Goliath the Avengers found themselves ‘In the Clutches of the Collector!’ in #51 (illustrated by Buscema and Tuska), but the brief return of Iron Man and Thor swiftly saw the Master of Many Sizes regain his abilities in time to welcome new member Black Panther in the Vince Colletta inked ‘Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes’ which premiered obsessive super-psycho the Grim Reaper.

Next follows the slightly disconcerting cross-over/conclusion to an epic X-Men clash with Magneto from (issues #43-45) that dovetailed neatly into a grand Avengers/mutant face-off in the Buscema-Tuska limned ‘In Battle Joined!’ whilst issue #54 kicked off a mini-renaissance in quality and creativity with ‘…And Deliver Us from the Masters of Evil!’, which re-introduced the Black Knight and finally gave Avengers Butler a character and starring role, but this was simply a prelude to the second instalment which debuted the supremely Oedipal threat of the Robotic Ultron-5 in ‘Mayhem Over Manhattan!’ (inked by the superbly slick George Klein).

Captain America’s introduction to the 1960s got a spectacular reworking in Avengers #56 as ‘Death be not Proud!’ accidentally returned him and his comrades to the fateful night when Bucky died, which segued neatly into 1968’s Avengers Annual #2 (illustrated by Don Heck, Werner Roth and Vince Colletta). ‘…And Time, the Rushing River…’ found Cap, Black Panther, Goliath, Wasp and Hawkeye returned to a divergent present and compelled to battle the founding team of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Giant-Man and the Wasp to correct reality itself.

Buscema and Klein were back for the two-part introduction of possibly the most intriguing of all the team’s roster. ‘Behold… the Vision!’ and the concluding ‘Even an Android Can Cry’ retrofitted an old Simon and Kirby hero from the Golden Age – an extra-dimensional mystery-man – into a high-tech, eerie, amnesiac, artificial man with complete control of his mass and density, and played him as the ultimate outsider, lost and utterly alone in a world that could never, never understand him.

As the adventure and enigma unfolded it was revealed that the nameless Vision had been built by the relentless, remorseless robotic Ultron-5 to destroy the Avengers and especially his/its own creator Henry Pym. Furthermore the mechanical mastermind had used the brain pattern of deceased hero-Wonder Man (see Essential Avengers) as a cerebral template, which may have been a mistake since the synthetic man overruled his programming to help defeat his maniac maker.

Avengers #59 and 60, ‘The Name is Yellowjacket’ and ‘…Till Death do us Part!’ (the latter inked by Mike Esposito moonlighting as Mickey DeMeo) saw Goliath and the Wasp finally marry after the heroic Doctor Pym was seemingly replaced by a new insect-themed hero, with a horde of heroic guest-stars and the deadly Circus of Evil in attendance, followed in swift succession by yet another crossover conclusion.

‘Some Say the World Will End in Fire… Some Say in Ice!’ wrapped up a storyline from Doctor Strange #178 wherein a satanic cult unleashed Norse demons Surtur and Ymir to destroy the planet, and the guest-starring Black Knight hung around for ‘The Monarch and the Man-Ape!’ in Avengers #63; a brief and brutal exploration of African Avenger the Black Panther’s history and rivals.

The next issue began a three-part tale illustrated by Gene Colan whose lavish humanism was intriguingly at odds with the team’s usual art style. ‘And in this Corner… Goliath!’, ‘Like a Death Ray from the Sky!’ and ‘Mightier than the Sword?’ (the final chapter inked by Sam Grainger) was part of a broader tale; an early crossover experiment that intersected with both Sub-Mariner and Captain Marvel issues #14, as a coterie of cerebral second-string villains combined to conquer the world by stealth.

Within the Avengers portion of proceedings Hawkeye revealed his civilian identity and origins before forsaking his bow and trick-arrows, becoming a size-changing hero, and subsequently adopting the vacant name Goliath.

The last three issues reprinted here also form one story-arc, and gave new kid Barry Smith a chance to show just how good he was going to become.

In ‘Betrayal!’ (#66, inked by the legendary Syd Shores) the development of a new super metal, Adamantium, triggers a back-up program in the Vision who is compelled to reconstruct his destroyed creator, whilst in ‘We Stand at… Armageddon!’ (inked by Klein) Adamantium-reinforced Ultron-6 is moments away from world domination and the nuking of New York when a now truly independent Vision intercedes before the dramatic conclusion ‘…And We Battle for the Earth’ (with art from young Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger) sees the team, augmented by Thor and Iron Man, prove that the only answer to an unstoppable force is an unparalleled mind…

To compliment these staggeringly impressive adventures this book also includes ‘Avenjerks Assemble!’ by Thomas, John Buscema and Frank Giacoia: a short spoof from company humour mag Not Brand Echh, the five page full-team entry from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and a beautiful terrific team pin-up.

As the halcyon creative days of Lee and Kirby drew to a close, Roy Thomas and John Buscema led the second wave of creators who built on and consolidated that burst of incredible imagineering into a logical, fully functioning story machine that so many others could add to. These terrific transitional tales are exciting and rewarding in their own right but also a pivotal step of the little company into the corporate colossus.

© 1967, 1968, 2001 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.