Category: Graphic Novels

Posted on

Promethea, Book 2

Promethea, Book 2

By Alan Moore, J H Williams III & Mick Gray, with Jose Villarrubia & Jeromy Cox (America’s Best Comics)
ISBN: 1-84023-370-2

Sophie Bangs is a student who has discovered the metaphysical nature of a god-like being called Promethea. Throughout history women – and even some men – have been able to manifest as incarnations of a Spirit of Imagination that resides in the greater world of the unconscious named the Immateria where all Gods, Stories and Ideas dwell.

In real terms that means Sophia can transform into a super-powerful flying Amazon, and perhaps join the legions of Science Heroes who protect – and endanger – the world. Collecting issues #7-12 of the monthly comic, this volume begins to show just how different this version of an old story can be. Sophie is not some frustrated do-gooder suddenly flush with new-found power; she is and always has been concerned with knowing things.

As various real-world forces align themselves in response to the latest return of Promethea, Sophia is exploring the Immateria, looking for answers, and examining the careers of her predecessors. When those antithetical forces attack the hospital where her new-found friend Barbara is slowly dying, the resultant battle with the forces of Hell reveals just how potent a weapon Promethea can be. The serious reader is advised to examine closely the running sub-plot with hero team The Five Swell Guys and the psychotic serial killer The Painted Doll. As well as divertingly action-packed in a very cerebral tale, the long-running side-bar will have major repercussions in volumes to come.

Having dealt with the demon-horde, and the secret organisation that summoned them, Sophie again deviates from the expected in her dealings with infamous Sorcerer Jack Faust, and has a Y2K monster battle before the volume ends with a mystical primer on the history, meaning and symbolism of The Tarot that is the closest I’ve seen the printed page get to a multi-media experience.

This series always had the most experimental aspirations. It will never have universal appeal, but if you are serious about comics it is an experience you owe yourself to try. And don’t be fooled. This book isn’t a lecture or a lesson, it’s a journey…

© 2001 America’s Best Comics, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Eagle Classics: Fraser of Africa

Eagle Classics: Frasier of Africa

By George Beardmore & Frank Bellamy (Hawk Books -1990)
ISBN: 0-948248-32-7

Frank Bellamy is one of British Comics’ greatest artists. In the all-too brief years of his career he produced magnificent and unforgettable visuals for Eagle, TV21, Radio Times (Doctor Who) and graduated to the Daily Mirror newspaper strip ‘Garth’ in 1969. He turned that long-running but lacklustre adventure strip into a magnificent masterpiece of fantasy, with eye-popping, mind-blowing black and white art that other artists were proud to boast they swiped from. After only 17 stories he died suddenly in 1976 and it’s absolutely criminal that his work isn’t in galleries, let alone in permanent collected book editions.

He was born in 1917 but didn’t begin comic strip work until 1953 – a strip for Mickey Mouse Weekly. From there he moved on to Hulton Press and drew strips starring Swiss Family Robinson, Robin Hood and King Arthur for Swift the “junior companion” to Eagle. In 1957 he moved on to the star title producing stand-out and innovative work on a variety features beginning with the biography of Winston Churchill.

‘The Happy Warrior’ was quickly followed by ‘Montgomery of Alamein’, ‘The Shepherd King – the story of David’, and ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’, from which he was promptly pulled only a few months in. As Peter Jackson took over the back page historical adventure, Bellamy was on his way to the Front Cover and the Future.

When Hulton were bought by Odhams Press there were soon irreconcilable differences between Frank Hampson and management. The creator of Dan Dare left his super-star creation (see the review for The Road of Courage ISBN: 90-6332-801-X for a fuller run-down of those events) and Bellamy was tapped as his replacement – although both Don Harley and Keith Watson were retained as his assistants.

For a year Bellamy produced Dan Dare, redesigning the entire look of the strip (at management’s request) before joyfully stepping down to fulfill a lifetime’s ambition.

For his entire life Frank Bellamy had been fascinated – almost obsessed – with Africa. When asked if he would like to draw a big game hunter strip he didn’t think twice. ‘Fraser of Africa’ debuted in August 1960, a single page every week in the prestigious full-colour centre section. George Beardmore wrote the three serials ‘Lost Safari’, ‘The Ivory Poachers’ and ‘The Slavers’ and Bellamy again surpassed himself by inventing a colour palette that burned with the dry, yellow heat of the Veldt. The strip became the readers’ favourite, knocking Dare from a position considered unassailable.

Fraser the character is a man out of time. Contrary to modern assumptions, he was a man who loved animals, treated natives as full equals and had a distinctly 21st century ecological bent. For a Britain blithely rife with institutionalized racism, cheerfully promoting blood-sports and still wondering what happened to The Empire, Fraser’s startlingly ‘PC’ antics were a thrilling, exotic and salutary experience for us growing boys.

Notwithstanding the high quality of the stories, Fraser of Africa is a primarily an artistic landmark. The techniques of line and hatching, the sensitive, atmospheric colours, even the staging and layout of the pages, which would lead to the majestic ‘Heros the Spartan’ and eventually the bravura creativity displayed in the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet strips for TV21, all were derived from the joyous stories of the Dark Continent.

Yet another one to add to “The Why Is This Not In Print?” Pile…

Fraser of Africa ©1990 Fleetway Publications. Compilation © 1990 Hawk Books.

Posted on

Flash: The Return of Barry Allen

Flash: The Return of Barry Allen

By Mark Waid, Greg LaRocque, Sal Velluto & Roy Richardson (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-268-5)

When the Flash died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, he was succeeded by his sidekick Wally West, who struggled to fill the boots of his predecessor, both in sheer physical ability and, more tellingly, in confidence. He felt like a fraud, but like a true hero he persevered.

Just as he was becoming comfortable in the role though, the unthinkable happened: (actually in comics not so unthinkable – and that idea is used to telling effect within the text) Barry Allen reappeared, stunned, amnesiac, but undoubtedly alive…

That is the set-up for one of the best superhero tales of the 1990s, a rollercoaster ride of bluff, misdirection and all-out action that was instrumental in shutting up old coots like me who kept whining about how the new stuff just wasn’t as good as the old…

Despite some less than stellar artwork this is a great tale, captivatingly told and should push the buttons of any superhero fan, whether a Flash follower or not. Track it and enjoy.

© 1993 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Flash: The Life Story of the Flash

Flash: The Life Story of the Flash

By ‘Iris Allen’ with Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, Gil Kane, Joe Staton & Tom Palmer (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-244-4

This is a rather odd, but definitely courageous, attempt to do something a little different with superhero iconography. The Flash has been a successful DC Comics property since 1940 and there have been a number of different versions over the decades.

To Baby-Boomers like myself, the ‘proper’ Flash is Barry Allen, whose introduction in Showcase #4 (1956) ushered in the ‘Silver Age of Comics’ and began the second age of superheroes – which doesn’t seem to have abated yet. This might spoil the ending for you but Barry died during the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths event, to be succeeded by his sidekick, Wally West.

This blending of comic art and prose tells Barry Allen’s life-story definitively (sic) in the faux form of a biography that fell through time from the future during the ‘Return of Barry Allen’ storyline (Flash: The Return of Barry Allen ISBN: 1-56389-268-5) and is a charming acknowledgement of the character’s popularity.

Whilst I feel that a better use of the readers money would be to invest in the original tales via one of the various reprint packages such as ‘Showcase Presents…’ or ‘DC Archives’, if you must have the career of the second Flash rationalised, the lavish art of Gil Kane, Joe Staton and Tom Palmer, supplemented by the précis of such knowledgably dedicated scribes as Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn is perhaps the best way to have it.

© 1997 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Batman: Black and White, Vol 2

Batman: Black and White, Vol 2

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-56389-828-4

This second collection of Dark Knight adventures in monochrome is gathered from the back of the first sixteen issues of the Batman anthology title Gotham Knights, a showcase feature that derived from the success of the original miniseries collected in Volume 1 (ISBN 1-85286-987-9). Also included are five never before printed mini classics.

Kicking off proceedings is the incongruous ‘Case Study’, with Paul Dini’s Joker origin oddly over-rendered by Alex Ross. Much more satisfying is the hilarious ‘Bats, Man’ by Ty Templeton and Marie Severin, one of the most under-rated cartoon humorists of all time, which is followed by the charming and insightful ‘A Matter of Trust’ by Chris Claremont, Steve Rude and Mark Buckingham. The powerful reverie ‘Night After Night’ by Kelley Puckett and Tim Sale is followed by a classic duel of detective wits in ‘Fortunes’ by Steven T. Seagle and Daniel Torres.

Warren Ellis’ cynical procedural ‘To Become the Bat’ is sparsely illustrated by Jim Lee, whilst John Byrne returns to a simpler time in nostalgic ‘Batman with Robin, the Boy Wonder’. ‘Broken Nose’ is a sharp and visceral Paul Pope memory poem, and John Arcudi and Tony Salmons’ ‘Greetings from… Gotham City’ is an engaging caper yarn.

‘Hide and Seek’ is a moody tale with a twist, courtesy of Paul Levitz and Paul Rivoche, and an obvious arch foe comes off second best in Walter Simonson and John Paul Leon’s ‘The Riddle’. Arcudi returns to script the sadly lack-lustre ‘A Game of Bat and Rat’ for John Buscema to draw, but Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso are on top form with the dark and sinister ‘Scars’. Howard Chaykin returns Batman to a wartime era for some Bund-busting with Catwoman in the superbly illustrated ‘Blackout’, drawn with glorious dash by Jordi Bernet, and José Luis García-López does the same with Eisenhower’s mythical America in ‘Guardian’, as Alan Brennert scripts the first meeting between the Caped Crusader and Gotham’s first protector, the original Green Lantern.

Bob Kanigher and Kyle Baker unwisely resurrect the Batman Junior concept in ‘Snow Job’, Dave Gibbons graphically recalls simpler times in ‘The Black and White Bandit’ and Harlan Ellison and Gene Ha combine brains with brawn in ‘Funny Money’. Tom Peyer reunites Gene Colan and Tom Palmer for the pocket horror story ‘Stormy Nether’, while the runaway best tales are the utterly brilliant story of a wager between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, and the chilling psycho-drama duel of will between Batman and the Scarecrow. ‘The Bat No More’ is by Alan Grant and the astonishing Enrique Breccia, whilst ‘The Bet’ is written by Paul Dini and captivatingly depicted by the hugely under-rated Ronnie Del Carmen.

Batman is a character of seemingly unlimited flexibility and gifted with enough discrete history to provide apparently endless reinterpretation. These short tales, ignoring their gimmick of colour, show what Batman needs more than anything else is a venue for brief, complete tales as well as convoluted, over-long sagas.

© 2000, 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

The Real and Fake Monkey

The Real and Fake Monkey

Adapted by Zhang Cheng, art by Zheng Jiasheng (Zhaohua Publishing House, Beijing)
No ISBN

The exploits of the Immortal Monkey-King have long been a main-stay of Chinese popular culture, and the tales of this self-made god have delighted untold billions since first written down in Xiyouji (“The Journey to the West”) by the sixteenth century scholar and novelist Wu Cheng’en.

This particular adventure occurs after The Buddhist Monk Tripitaka has begun his mission to India to obtain sacred scriptures on behalf of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The wilful and arrogant Monkey has been ordered by the Gods to accompany and protect the Monk, in the desperate hope that responsibility will better him. Also travelling are the monk’s disciples Pigsy and Sandy.

When Monkey’s impatience causes Tripitaka to fall into the hands of bandits, he uses unnecessary force whilst rescuing the monk, killing two of them. The furious monk banishes Monkey, but when he leaves a demon duplicates our hero’s appearance, attacking the pilgrims and stealing their supplies.

So perfect is the substitution that not even the Gods themselves can tell the difference or indeed stop the carnage the real and fake Monkey cause by trying to kill each other. It takes the direct intervention of the Tathagata Buddha himself to resolve the crisis.

Although often at odds with the Western narrative convention the exhilaration and low comedy of the Monkey King and, of course, the fantastic, glorious battles are always a delight to see and the light touch of an illustrative master like Zheng Jiasheng imparts an thrilling exoticism to the mix.

Brilliant stuff, and in a refreshingly different manner.

© 1983 Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House.

Posted on

Superman: Camelot Falls

Superman: Camelot Falls

By Kurt Busiek, Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-434-X

After the never-ending calamity of DC Comics’ Infinite Crisis event, the company re-set the time line of all their publications to begin one year later. This enabled them to refit their characters as they saw fit, provide a jumping on point for new converts and also give themselves some narrative wiggle-room.

The first major story-line for the Man of Steel (collecting Superman #654-658) in the post-Infinite Crisis world has him confronted by the morally ambivalent magician Arion, survivor of Ancient Atlantis (when it was above the waves and not filled with mermaids). The mighty mage informs him that his never-ending battle for Truth and Justice will incontrovertibly lead to the destruction of the Earth, and that he should cease his hero-ing immediately. And all this whilst the Man of Tomorrow has to sort out high-tech mobsters Intergang, a Soviet Superman-analogue called Subjekt 17 and brewing domestic strife with wife Lois and childhood sweetheart Lana Lang.

The “Superman is bad for Humanity” plot is one that older fans have lived through before, although the mechanics of it this time does offer a few little twists; but it still devolves into another yet “last-stand” in a dystopian alternate future, with lots of heroic noble deaths that haven’t really happened and never will.

I loathe this narrative trick. Whether it’s on Star Trek, or X-Men or where-ever, if you haven’t got the guts or the clout to actually kill off important characters, stop playing stupid, lazy mind-games with your audience. You insult our intelligence with glorious demises that are purely for show and can be unmade with a handy application of “And then we woke up”.

Beautifully illustrated, this is nevertheless a disappointing adventure, all style but displaying very little content. It also ends mid-story, which does nothing to sweeten the distaste. Surely the editors could have waited for the complete package before rushing out these slim 128 pages?

© 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

JSA Presents Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.

JSA Presents Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.

By Geoff Johns, Lee Moder & Dan Davis (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-84576-595-8

Before hitting it big Geoff Johns started his DC career by revamping the Star Spangled Kid for the 21st century. The original Kid and sidekick Stripesy (an adult) fought crime in the 1940’s, both as a duo and as part of the original Seven Soldiers of Victory. The gimmick was that the sidekick was an adult whilst the literal Kid was the boss and gave the orders. It seemed like a natural development to thrill the children who bought comics and that idea hasn’t been lost here.

Stripesy is Pat Dugan, that same stalwart who battled in the 1940s. He’s still the same guy, more or less (time travel paradox plot – don’t ask – just go with it) and has just remarried. His new wife has a teen-aged daughter, Courtney, who is something of a handful, and is resentful that the new family has upped sticks and moved out of Beverly Hills to relocate to Blue Valley, Nebraska.

We all know what a spoiled brat can be like, but Courtney surprises everybody when her snooping uncovers Pat’s secret and, more importantly, his mementoes. When blackmailing him elicits no results, she steals the Star Spangled uniform to bait him at a party. The costume’s belt is a cosmic power source, which is fortunate, as Blue Valley is the secret base for an evil organisation bent on world conquest.

When the dance is attacked by masked terrorists Courtney manifests super powers and deals with them, but not before step-dad reveals a secret of his own – he’s built a robot battle suit to carry on crime-fighting. Forced to team-up, she learns to be less selfish and he finds that he’s destined to be the “and” part of any partnership.

A light-hearted romp, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E (the first eight comicbook issues of which are collected here) has a lovely light touch and a terrific spin on the derring-duo theme. The character dynamic as over-protective adult and wilful child discover each other is very often as touching as it is funny and the angst-light action featuring such DC icons as Starman, Teen Titans/Young Justice, Captain Marvel and eventually the JLA and JSA plus a host of villains, aliens and the truly evil denizens of your average American High School make this a very youth friendly series.

© 1999-2000, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

Star Wars: Chewbacca

Star Wars: Chewbacca

By Darko Macan & various (Dark Horse/TitanBooks)
ISBN 1-84023-274-9

There’s nothing to keep the fans hopping like a popular licensed property that co-ordinates its various side-ventures. Still, I suppose it shows that the owners have faith in the fidelity of their fan base. Here’s good example that – luckily for us – still manages to be an excellent example of comic book magic.

In the Star Wars novel (all words, no pictures or sound effects!) Vector Prime, Chewbacca the Wookie was killed. This caused ructions throughout the extended Star Wars community. And unlike comic-books where death is seldom final, the big hairy galoot stayed dead. So Dark Horse were able to produce a delightful four issue miniseries that featured many talented artists illustrating short episodes from the hirsute hero’s life, under the plot device of a memorial tribute with the people who knew him contributing their thoughts and favoured memories.

Despite its downbeat approach the concept is powerfully effective and this collection is a warm and evocative delight. Darko Macan blends loss, heroism, wit, humour and sentiment in a telling way. The art from Brent Anderson & Willie Blyberg, Igor Kordey, Jan Duursema, Dave Gibbons, Dusty Abell & Jim Royal, John Nadeau & Jordi Ensign, Martin Egeland, Kilian Plunkett and Rafael Kayanan although disconcertingly varied in style is uniformly gripping and effective.

All too often these books are about the winning and losing. It’s genuinely nice to see so readable a tale about being left behind.

Star Wars © 2001, 2007 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

JLA: Year One

JLA: Year One

By Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn & Barry Kitson (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84023-082-7

If the chop-and-change continuity gymnastics DC have undergone in recent years gives you a headache, but you still love reading excellent super-hero team stories, you could just take my word that this is one of the best of that breed and move on to the next review. If you’re okay with the confusion or still need convincing, though, read on.

DC published the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics in the 1940s. They were the first super-hero team in comics. In 1960 the publisher revived the concept as the Justice League of America, eventually reintroducing their JSA ‘ancestors’ as the heroes of an alternative Earth. By 1985 the continuity was overcrowded with heroic multiples which the editorial Powers-That-Be deemed too confusing, and a deterrent to new readers, resulting in the maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths, the events of which led to a winnowing and restructuring of the DC universe.

With all the best bits from stories past (for which one could read ‘least charming or daft’) having now occurred on one Earth, and with many major heroes re-launched (Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash etc.), one of the newest curses to readers – and writers – was keeping definitive track of what was now DC ‘History’ and what had never actually happened. Thus the twelve issue maxi-series JLA: Year One presented the absolute, definitive, real story of the Justice League, the World’s Greatest Superheroes.

Of course since Infinite Crisis and the subsequent publishing extravaganzas such as 52 and Countdown it’s not strictly true anymore. Still. Again…

None of which impacts upon the superb quality of the tale told. Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn and artist Barry Kitson produced a superb version of the team’s earliest days. It’s set “ten years ago”, when an alien invasion initially brings Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary (daughter of the JSA heroine), Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter together to save the Earth from colonisation.

The main action occurs after that victory, as the heroes – novices all – decide to band together as a team. The story of their bonding and feuding, under the extended threat of rogue geneticists who plan to remake the planet, the mystery of who is actually bankrolling their team, as well as the usual everyday threats in a superhero’s life, is both enchanting and gripping.

In-the-know fans will delight at the clever incorporation of classic comics moments, in-jokes and guest-shots from beloved contemporaneous heroes and villains such as the Blackhawks, Doom Patrol, original Blue Beetle and such, but the creators never forget their new audience and nothing is unclear for first-timers to the concept.

The finale is a fanboy’s action-packed dream as every hero on Earth unites to combat an all-out, alien invasion when their first foes return and even succeed in taking our planet! Of course the JLA save the day again in glorious style. The brilliantly addictive plot, superb dialogue and wonderfully underplayed art suck the reader into an enthralling climax that makes you proud to be human – or at least terrestrially based.

When it’s done right there’s nothing wrong with being made – and allowed to be feel – ten years old again.

© 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.