By Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0780-9
The Silver Age “thinking man’s hero†returns in this second compilation of adventures on other worlds, reprinting tales from Mystery in Space #66-80.
For me, Adam Strange, more than any other character, epitomises the Silver Age of Comics. An Earth archaeologist who, whilst fleeing from enraged natives in Peru, jumped a 25 ft chasm only to be hit by a stray teleport beam from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. He materialised on another world, filled with monsters, fabulous civilisations and non-stop peril for which brains, not brawn, were the only solution.
Witty, sophisticated, gloriously illustrated and fantastically imaginative: And there was always the woman named Alanna, beautiful, but somehow unattainable. The happy-ever-after was always just in reach, but only after one last adventure…
After the bravura of the first Adventures on Other Worlds (see Adam Strange Archives volume 1, ISBN: 1-4012-0148-2) the far-flung fantasy continued with ‘Space Island of Peril’ by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, a duel with an alien super-being who plans to throw Rann into its sun, followed in #67 by the deceptive ‘Challenge of the Giant Fireflies’ when Adam’s adopted home is menaced by thrill-seeking creatures who live on the surface of our sun.
Murphy Anderson returned as inker-in-residence for ‘The Fadeaway Doom’ wherein Rannian General Kaskor made a unique attempt to seize power by co-opting the Zeta Beam itself. ‘Menace of the Aqua-ray Weapon!’ had a race from Rann’s primeval past return to take possession of their old world, whilst #70 saw ‘The Vengeance of the Dust Devil’ threaten not just Rann but also Earth itself.
‘The Challenge of the Crystal Conquerors’ (inked by Giella) was a sharp game of bluff and double-bluff with the planet at stake but #72 was a radical departure from the tried and true formula. ‘The Multiple Menace Weapon’ found Adam diverted to Rann in the year 101,961AD to save his descendents before dealing with the threat to his own time and place. This was followed by the action-packed mystery thriller ‘The Invisible Raiders of Rann!’
The puzzles continued with #74’s complex thriller ‘The Spaceman who Fought Himself!’, inked by the back-for-good Murphy Anderson, leading to MiS #75 and a legendary team-up with the freshly-minted Justice League of America against the despicable Kanjar Ro in ‘Planet that came to a Standstill’, indisputably one of the best tales of DC’s Silver Age and a key moment in the development of cross-series continuity.
After that 25 page extravaganza it was back to 14 pages for #76’s ‘Challenge of the Rival Starman!’ as Adam becomes the involuntary tutor and stalking-horse for an alien Champion. ‘Ray-Gun in the Sky!’ is an invasion mystery that invited readers to solve the puzzle before our hero did, and ‘Shadow People of the Eclipse’ pitted the Earthman against a bored alien thrill-seeker. Issue #79’s ‘The Metal Conqueror of Rann’ saw him fighting a much more personal battle to bring Alanna back from the brink of death.
The book closes with ‘The Deadly Shadows of Adam Strange’ wherein an old enemy returns to wreak a bizarre personal revenge on the Champion of two Worlds.
These short-story thrillers from a distant time still hold great appeal and power for the wide-eyed and far-seeing. The deluxe Archive format makes a fitting home for the extraordinary exploits of Adam Strange: by far and away some of the best written and drawn science fiction comics ever produced.
Whether for nostalgia’s sake, for your own entertainment or even to get your own impressionable ones properly indoctrinated, you really need these books on your shelves.
By Berni Wrightson (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 0-930193-68-7
This review is continued from Back for More (ISBN: 0-93158-22-30-X) and The Mutants (ISBN: 0-937848-00-X) both of which I recently covered, and serves to show that you should always check your facts and the most unassailable area of your bookshelves before sounding off.
In 1988 Fantagraphics Books gathered the superb contents of those two rare tomes into one splendid compendium (although a few portfolio drawings seem absent to my tired eyes) and even included a rather pedestrian movie-parody from a contemporary humour magazine to boot.
Although Beneath the Dignity of the Apes (scripted by Marv Wolfman) is less than stellar, the merits of Mother Toad, The Task, Limstrel, The Game That Plays You, A Case of Conscience, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (co-illustrated by Jeff Jones and Alan Weiss), Stake Out, The Reaper of Love, Out on a Limb, Conjure Woman, Maudlin Love Comix, Nosferatu, Ghastly Horror Comix, the Last Hunters, Feed It!, Wrightson’s Revolting Rhymes, Breathless, King of the Mountain, Man, Ain’t she Sweet? and Uncle Bill’s Barrel, not to mention the aforementioned selection of drawings, taken from Web of Horror and other sources are exceptional efforts from a major talent, having lost little of their punch or ghastly appeal.
Also I know that both eBay and Amazon have copies for sale if you’re tempted…
A new edition wouldn’t be a waste of time either…
By Gardner Fox, Joe Kubert, Murphy Anderson & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1280-3
With the superhero revival in full swing by 1961, Julius Schwartz turned to reviving one of DC’s most visually arresting and iconic Golden Age characters. Once again eschewing mysticism for science fiction (the original Hawkman was a reincarnated Egyptian prince murdered by a villainous priest), he selected scripter Gardner Fox and artist Joe Kubert to build a new hero for the Space Age.
Katar Hol and his wife Shayera Thal are police officers on their own planet of Thanagar. They’ve travelled to Earth from the star system Polaris in pursuit of a spree-thief named Byth who has assaulted a scientist and stolen a drug that gives the user the ability to change into anything. Thus the scene was set in ‘Creature of a Thousand Shapes’ which appeared in The Brave and the Bold #34 (cover-dated February-March 1961), a spectacular work of graphic magic, with the otherworldly nature of the premise rendered captivatingly human by the passionate, moody expressiveness of Kubert’s art. It is a minor masterpiece of comic storytelling, and still a darned good read.
The high-flying heroes returned in the next issue, stationed on Earth to study Terran police methods. In ‘Menace of the Matter Master’ they defeat a plundering scientist who has discovered a means to control elements, whilst ‘Valley of Vanishing Men’ takes them to the Himalayas to discover the secret of the Abominable Snowmen. B&B #36 saw them defeat a modern day wizard in ‘Strange Spells of the Sorcerer’ and save the world from another Ice Age whilst defeating ‘The Shadow Thief of Midway City’.
With the three-issue try-out finished the publishers sat back and waited for the fan letters and sales figures. And something odd happened: fans were vocal and enthusiastic, but the huge sales figures just weren’t there. It was inexplicable. The quality of the work was plain to see on every page but somehow not enough people had plunked down their dimes to justify starting a Hawkman series.
A year later they tried again. The Brave and the Bold #42 (cover-dated June-July 1962) featured ‘The Menace of the Dragonfly Raiders’ and found Katar and Shayera returning to Thanagar just in time to encounter a bizarre band of alien thieves. Here was superhero action in a fabulous alien locale and the next issue maintained the exoticism – at least initially – before Hawkman and Hawkgirl returned to Midway City to defeat a threat to both worlds – ‘The Masked Marauders of Earth’. One last B&B issue followed (#44, October-November 1962), with two splendid short tales, ‘Earth’s Impossible Day’ and the eerie doomsday adventure ‘The Men who Moved the World’, and then the Hawks vanished again. It certainly looked like this time the magic had faltered.
That however, is not the end of the saga. Convinced he was right Schwartz retrenched. Enjoying some success with the new Atom title, and mindful of the response when he had teamed the Flash and Green Lantern in the summer of 1962, Schwartz had writer Fox include the Winged Wonder in ‘The Case of the Cosmic Camera’ (The Atom #7, June/July 1963), an interplanetary thriller illustrated by Gil Kane and Anderson, which ranged from the depths of space to Earth’s most distant past. This new clean-limbed version clearly found fan-favour and in 1963 Hawkman returned! Again!
Mystery in Space had been the home of Adam Strange since issue #53 (see DC Archive: Adam Strange vol. 1, ISBN: 1-4012-0148-2, vol. 2, ISBN: 1-4012-0780-9) and with #87 (November 1963) Schwartz moved the Winged Wonders into the back-up slot, and even granted them occasional cover-privileges. Still written by Fox, Kubert’s moody art had been superseded by the clean, graceful line-work of Murphy Anderson. ‘The Amazing Thefts of the I.Q. Gang!’ was followed a month later by ‘Topsy-Turvy Day in Midway City!’
With the management now on board, guest appearances to maximise profile were easier to find. Hawkman returned to The Brave and the Bold with issue #51 (cover-dated December 1963-January 1964) to team with Aquaman and face the ‘Fury of the Exiled Creature!’ This quirky tale of monsters, magic and mayhem in sunken Atlantis was written by Bob Haney and illustrated by the criminally neglected Howard Purcell, and then it was back to Mystery in Space #89 and the ‘Super-Motorized Menace!’ the month after that.
These were brief, engaging action pieces but issue #90 was a full length story teaming the Hawks and Adam Strange in a legendary End-of the-World(s) epic. ‘Planets in Peril!’, illustrated by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, was the last Hawkman back-up. From the next month, and after three years of trying, Hawkman would star in his own title.
Cover-dated April-May 1964, Hawkman #1 is a gem of an issue by Fox and Anderson. Two of the most visually arresting characters in comics, 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 are equal partners, (both couples were influenced by the Nick and Nora Charles characters of the Thin Man movies) and the interplay is always rich in humour and warmth.
In ‘Rivalry of the Winged Wonders’, and whilst accommodatingly recapping their origins for newcomers, the couple decide to turn their latest case into a contest. Hawkgirl would use Thanagarian super-science to track and catch a band of thieves whilst Hawkman limited himself to Earth techniques and tools in solving the crime. This charmingly witty yarn is balanced by the action thriller ‘Master of the Sky Weapons’ as Chac, an ancient Mayan warrior, threatens the world with alien super weapons.
‘Secret of the Sizzling Sparklers!’ is a another action-packed thriller concerning trans-dimensional invaders, and issue #2 closes with ‘Wings across Time’ a mystery revolving around the discovery of the flying harness of the legendary Icarus. Another brain-teaser opened the third issue. Scientific bandits proved less of a menace than ‘The Fear that Haunted Hawkman’ and ordinary thugs and an extraordinary alien owl resulted in our heroes becoming ‘Birds in a Gilded Cage’.
Issue #4 opened with a tale that would revolutionise DC comics. ‘The Girl who Split in Two!’ introduced Zatanna, daughter of a magician who had fought crime in the 1940s only to “mysteriously disappearâ€.
Zatarra was a magician-hero in the Mandrake mould who had fought evil in the pages of Action Comics for over a decade beginning with the very first issue. During the Silver Age Gardner Fox had Zatarra’s young and equally gifted daughter, Zatanna, searching for the missing magician by teaming up with a selection of superheroes Fox was currently scripting (if you’re counting, these tales appeared in Hawkman #4, Atom #19, Green Lantern #42, and the Elongated Man back-up strip in Detective Comics #355 as well as a very slick piece of back writing to include the high-profile Caped Crusader via Detective #336 – ‘Batman’s Bewitched Nightmare’. The saga concluded in Justice League of America #51‘Z – As in Zatanna – and Zero Hour!’ )
This wide, long-running experiment in continuity proved to the creators – and publishers – that there was a dedicated fan-base out there with a voracious appetite for experimentation and relatively deep pockets. Most importantly it finally signalled the end of the period where DC heroes lived and battled in a world of their own.
‘The Machine that Magnetized Men!’ is another fine tale, as the winged Wonders use reason and deduction to defeat thieves who are impossible to touch. ‘Steal, Shadow– Steal!’ in number #5 is the first full-length thriller in the run, as the ruthless Shadow thief returns to seek revenge, believing that causing the next Ice Age is an acceptable consequence of his schemes. Issue #6 is another long tale, and one that turned DC’s peculiar obsession with gorillas into a classic adventure.
‘World Where Evolution Ran Wild!’ draws our heroes to fabled Illoral where a scientist’s explorations have stretched Selection to un-natural limits. Bold, brash and daft in equal proportions, this is a fabulous romp and seeing again the cover where Hawkman struggles for his life against a winged gorilla makes the adult me realise those DC chaps might have known what they were doing with all those anthropoid covers!
By issue #7 (April-May 1965) the world was gripped in secret agent fever as the likes of James Bond, the Man from U.N.C.L.E., and a host of others suaved across our TV screens, and even comics were not immune, though spies had been a staple threat there for nearly two decades. Before Hawkman joined that crowd however he had to deal with the rather mediocre threat posed by ‘The Amazing Return of the I.Q. Gang!’ They were quickly returned to prison and the Hawks moved on to face the ‘Attack of the Crocodile-Men!’, a high-octane super-science thriller that introduced C.A.W. – the Criminal Alliance of the World!
Another supremely captivating cover adorned #8 as the Hawks had to defeat an ancient Roman artificial intelligence built by the not-so mythical Vulcan himself in ‘Giant in the Golden Mask!’, and then defeat an alien Harpy who’d been buried for half a million years in ‘Battle of the Bird-Man Bandits’. Issue #9 saw The Atom guest star as an old villain returned with a seemingly perfect revenge plan in the full-length super-thriller ‘Master Trap of the Matter Master!’, whilst #10 saw a playful Gardner Fox at his best in both ‘Hawkman Clips the Claws of C.A.W!’, another espionage drama with a delicious subplot as the Winged Wonder aids a sexy CIA agent with a big secret of her own, and then solved ‘The Magic Mirror Mystery’: a fair-play tale brainteaser with lots of high-flying action to balance the smart stuff.
This first volume closes with another superb full-length epic when ‘The Shrike Strikes at Midnight!’ as the trail of a super-powered winged bandit leads all over the world and on to the star system Mizar in a gripping tale of crime, super-villainy, aliens, revolutions and even dinosaurs.
Hawkman grew to be one of the most iconic characters of the second superhero boom, not just for the superb art but also because of a brilliant, subtle writer with a huge imagination. These tales are comfortably familiar but somehow 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. Whatever your age, read these astounding adventures and become a fan. It’s never too late.
By David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-937-X
Some books you can talk about, but with others it’s simply a waste of time. This is one of the latter. If you’re aware that the Justice Society of America was the industry’s first super-team formed to fight in World War II, and are now an organisation who regularly save the world whilst mentoring the next generation of superheroes, whilst the Justice League of America are the World’s Greatest Superheroes (and have all the characters who’ve appeared on TV and in movies) then you have all the background you need to read this wonderful example of fights ‘n’ tights fiction.
The JLA and JSA have gotten together to celebrate Thanksgiving when the alien conqueror Despero attacks them and the entire world by releasing the Seven Deadly Sins who promptly possess Batman, Power Girl, Mr. Terrific, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, Plastic Man and Captain Marvel.
Can the remaining heroes defeat the sins without killing their friends, and save the world from total destruction? Of course they can, that’s the point. But seldom have they done it in such a spectacularly well written and beautifully illustrated manner.
This is a piece of pure, iconic genre narrative that hits every target and pushes every button it should. If you love superhero comics you should own this lovely book.
By Jim Starlin & Berni Wrightson (Marvel)
ISBN: 0- 87135-299-0
I can’t recall the last time Marvel published an all-original graphic novel as opposed to a collection, but not so very long ago they were a market leader in the field with an entire range of “big stories†told on larger than normal pages (285 x 220 mm rather than the now customary 258 x 168 mm) featuring not only proprietary characters but also licensed assets like Conan and even creator-owned properties like Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar.
This one is full-on Marvel Madness and a wonderfully comedic outing for two of the industry’s biggest names. Released in 1987 it teamed old friends and young turks Jim Starlin and Berni Wrightson on a big kids dream project as Marvel’s top monstrous strongmen the Hulk and the Thing are abducted by a cosmic civil servant of the Federation of Matriculon. He needs a couple of tough guys for a bit of Repo work.
Promised two wishes, good for anything their hearts desire, our bellicose heroes are tasked with recovering a fabulous new product (“Mall Addy’s Nutritional Big Changeâ€) from the worst monster on a world full of monsters.
Beautifully painted art and wicked, tongue-in-cheek humour garnish what is basically one great big fight comic. In the immortal words of Tiswas, “this is what they want!â€
Fast. Furious. Funny. This proves that – at least in comics – violence does solve some things! Fabulous!
By Mike Baron, Jeff Butler, Bill Reinhold & various (IDW Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-6001-0129-8
During the huge creative outburst of the early 1980s a number of independent publishers sprang up with an impressive variety of high quality concepts and packages. One of the very best of these was Mike Baron’s captivating psycho-warrior The Badger. Originally part of the superb Capital Comics line (other class acts included Baron and Steve Rude’s Nexus and Steven Grant & Rich Larson’s Whisper) the series – all of them – were snatched up by highly perspicacious First Comics when Capital closed its publishing division to concentrate on distribution.
Norbert Sykes is a Vietnam veteran and expert in many forms of martial arts. On his return to Madison, Wisconsin after his tour of duty he is institutionalised for maiming some frat boys he caught torturing ducks in a park. In the asylum he meets an immortal Celtic wizard named Ham (full name Hammaglystwythkbrngxxaxolotl – and I only typed that to teach my spellchecker a lesson) and case worker Daisy Fields. Norbert has at least seven distinct personalities and can communicate with animals; Ham likes to cause trouble and Daisy… Daisy hates being patronised by imbeciles in positions of authority…
Recently awoken from a fifteen hundred year coma, Ham engineers his and Norbert’s release, hires Daisy as his assistant and uses his magic to amass real 20th century power – vast wealth. Deep down though the wizard is still the anarchic, amoral druid who plays with weather systems by spilling innocent blood…
And thus begins one of the strangest superhero comics ever crafted. Raw, rebellious, rambunctious and never conventional, this is an engaging and unique take on men in tights best described by the series own tag line ‘Put on a costume and fight crime? You’d have to be Crazy!’
This collection assembles the four Capital issues and the next two from pick-up publisher First and although there are few problems with the early colour reproduction, it’s a delight to see Madison’s Finest back on the shelves. Mike Baron has a profound love for Hong Kong cinema with its spectacular fights and impenetrable internal logic, and that “go with the flow†attitude is evident in this glorious, manic riot of comedy, sly commentary, frank character-play and all-out action.
After the necessary introductions of the first issue the narrative rockets along as the new associates set up house in the ugliest mansion in Wisconsin. Norbert resumes his career as a street vigilante, Ham plays nasty games with the eco-system and, from Tibet, agents from the ancient Society to Obliterate Sorcery come a-calling…
The second issue also featured a couple of vignettes – more shaggy-dog stories than actual adventures – by Baron, Rick Burchett, Charles Truog and Butler, and these provide some fine insights into the cast and characters.
The third issue ‘The Day the Comics Fell’ (pencilled by Burchett and inked by Dennis Wolf) is an action extravaganza that devolves into high satire when the Reverend Leopold Grabbitt hits town determined to save the “Chillun of Amercuh†from the sinful horrors of comic books. Would that his fate at the hands of Ham could be reproduced in the real world…
That issue was topped off by a further delving into the 4th Century origins of the weather wizard by Baron and Butler, and the last Capital issue deals with the repugnant world of dog-fighting in salutary and satisfactory fashion. The creators frequently used the comic as vehicle for satisfying scores – and more power to them!
At the end of the issue Badger was literally banished to Limbo and when First Comics picked up the series months later they first guested Norbert in the already established Nexus (issues #6-7). Unfortunately that tale isn’t reprinted here, but the action does pick up with issue #5. The Badger’s return to Earth coincides with Ham’s battle to save a 1600 year old tree from an energy conglomerate that plans to turn rural Wisconsin into an experimental Uranium refinery.
That battle takes the remaining two issues in this first volume (crafted by the new creative team of Baron, Bill Reinhold and Jeff Dee) and grippingly escalates into one of the strangest environmental campaigns of all time, but the resolution isn’t a comfortable ending and this volume ends on something of a cliffhanger, but that’s only a minor annoyance, isn’t it?
This is another big box of comics delight: frantic, captivating and deliciously habit-forming. If you crave angst-free, full-on fun and excitement The Badger is well worth tracking down.
By Berni Wrightson (Archival Press)
ISBN: 0-93158-22-30-X
I was reviewing the first Un-Men collection (Get Your Freak On! – ISBN: 978-1-84576-748-8) when I decided to simultaneously – and gratuitously – revisit the classic 1970s Swamp Thing, which led me to The Mutants (ISBN: 0-937848-00-X) …and that led me here.
Towards the end of the turbulent 1960s a lot of fresh talent was trying to break into the comics industry at a time when a number of publishers were experimenting with cheaper black and white magazines rather than four-colour comic books. Companies like Warren, Skywald and a small host of imitators were hiring kids who then honed their craft in public.
A respectable number of those neophytes, such as Bruce Jones, Mike Kaluta and Jeff Jones, Al Weiss, as well as Wrightson, grew into major talents after drawing pastiches of the EC Comics they had loved as kids – and they paved the way when the comics market again turned to shock, mystery and black comedy to sell funny-books.
The seven tales collected here are garnered from such varied sources: horror, fantasy and Sci Fi tales, showing Wrightson’s absolute mastery of black and white line and tones, and mostly, as far as I know, self-penned.
Visually King of the Mountain, Man! is vintage Wrightson, but again his devilishly wicked sense of humour is the real star. Ain’t she Sweet? and Uncle Bill’s Barrel, which close this volume, are indistinguishable from his professional horror work at DC, which surely shows that he was ready for the big time by this stage – even it wasn’t necessarily ready for him…
As a chronology of the development of one of the industry’s finest talents this is an indispensable package, but this book can stand on its own as a vastly entertaining fantasy anthology. Someone, somewhere please take note and republish this book (and The Mutants, too)!
By Walt Kelly (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-920-3
Our Gang (also known as the Li’l Rascals) movie shorts were one of the most popular series in American Film history. From 1922 onwards they featured the fun and folksy humour of a bunch of “typical kids†(atypically though, there was full racial equality and mingling – but the little girls were still always smarter than the boys) having wholesome adventures in times safer and more simple.
The rotating kid cast and slapstick shenanigans were the brainchild of film genius Hal Roach (who worked with Harold Lloyd, Charley Chase and Laurel and Hardy amongst others) and these brief cinematic paeans to a Golden Age of childhood entered the “household name†category of Americana in amazingly swift order.
From 1942 Dell released an Our Gang comic book written and drawn by the legendary Walt Kelly, who, consummate craftsman that he was, resorted to wit, verve and charm to concoct a progression of stories that elevated an American childhood of the War Years to the mythical levels of Baum and Twain.
This third collection, re-presenting the tales from issues #16 to #23, take the eternal scamps from the dog-ends of World War II to the shaky beginnings of a new world (April 1945 – June 1946), but the themes and schemes are as comfortingly familiar as ever, with Froggy, Buckwheat (eventually plain Bucky), Janet, Red and Baxter (not to mention Julep the Goat) foiling crooks, raising cash, lazing around and rushing about in a pictorial utopia of childhood aspiration and unsullied joy.
As always the tales are lovingly reproduced in a gloriously luxurious collection, this time sporting a Jeff Smith cover and an informative introduction by Walt Kelly historian Steve Thompson.
This idyllic paean to long-lost days of games and dares, excursions, adventures, get-rich-quick-schemes, battles with rivals and especially plucky victories is a fabulous window into a better universe. If the eternal struggle palls, here is a beautiful tonic from a master of comics that has truly universal appeal.
By Larry Hama, Andrew Wildman, Art Nichols & Joe Rubinstein (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0199-4
There was a period in the mid 1990s where, to all intents and purposes, the corporate behemoth known as Marvel Comics had completely lost the plot. An awful lot of stories from that period will probably never be reprinted, but some of them weren’t completely beyond redemption.
At one stage the symbiote went into breeding mode, creating a junior version of itself that merged with Cletus Kasady, a totally amoral and completely deranged psycho-killer. Calling him/itself Carnage, it tore a bloody swathe through New York before an army of superheroes caught him and his equally noisome “familyâ€.
There is no love lost between Venom and Carnage.
This collected four-issue miniseries (perhaps the best of a truly lackluster series of self-contained Venom stories released by Marvel) sees the Lethal Protector return to New York just as Kasady, who has sold the rights to his life to an online gaming company, uses a complimentary computer terminal to escape from the Ultra-High Security Ravencroft Hospital for the criminally insane.
That’s about it for plot. Larry Hama is an absolute master of hell-for-leather, gung-ho action, with a dry black wit and sharp ears for a good line, and the art is competent and frenetic, with inker Rubinstein mercifully blunting the worst excesses of the artists, who were fully immersed in the infernally annoying scratchy-line “Image style†penciling of the time.
Shallow and with no discernible lasting merit, this is nevertheless and full-on hoot of superheroic excess and could just be the solution to a dull, wet afternoon.
By Berni Wrightson & various (Mother of Pearl)
ISBN: 0-937848-00-X
I was reviewing the first Un-Men collection (Get Your Freak On!- ISBN: 978-1-84576-748-8) when I decided to simultaneously – and gratuitously – revisit the classic Swamp Thing: it’s odd how your day will take you because I then thought about the rarer stuff that Wrightson did when he was just breaking into the business…
Towards the end of the turbulent 1960s a lot of fresh talent was trying to break into the comics industry in America. Moreover at that time a number of publishers were experimenting with cheaper black and white magazines rather than four-colour comic books. Companies like Warren, Skywald and a small host of imitators were hiring kids who then honed their craft in public.
Some of those neophytes, Bruce Jones, Mike Kaluta and Jeff Jones, as well as Wrightson, all got a chance to grow, and more importantly, by actually drawing pastiches of the EC Comics they had revelled in as youngsters – a market that the comics mainstream scorned. At least at that moment in time…
Culled from various sources this book reprints a number of those fledgling horror, Sci Fi and fantasy tales, showing the sheer skill and virtuosity of the artist. With occasional scripts from Terry Bisson, Dick Kenson, Virgil North and David Izzo, these are primarily self-penned as well as illustrated novelettes. Mother Toad, The Task, the assorted adventures of Limstrel, The Game That Plays You, A Case of Conscience, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Stake Out, The Reaper of Love, Out on a Limb, Conjure Woman, Maudlin Love Comix, Nosferatu, Ghastly Horror Comix, and a delightful untitled pantomimic horror spoof all conclusively display the astounding talent of the young Wrightson, and most importantly his devilishly wicked sense of humour.
Also included is an incredible 17 page portfolio section which even has a selection from his seminal Frankenstein adaptation. Simply as a casual read this would be a fine book to own, but as a chronology of the development of one of the industry’s finest talents it is indispensable. Someone, somewhere take note and republish this book!
