Category: Graphic Novels

 

By Darwyn Cooke with Dave Stewart (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-064-6

In the concluding volume of Darwyn Cooke’s tribute to the glory days of DC comics and idealistic Americana, the world teeters on the brink between a new age or ultimate destruction as a reptilian alien the size of Manhattan Island prepares to replace humanity with its own spawn. Only the small, brave band of heroes willing to defy a US Government banning order stand between humanity and a new holocaust.

This bright reworking of the 1950s, seen through twenty-first century eyes, and featuring all the stars of DC’s early Silver Age, manages to leaven our righteous cynicism about a truly dark, hypocritical and paranoid era of American history with a bright, child-like hopeful enthusiasm for a better tomorrow defended by better heroes. It is an absolute delight to see a worldly-wise but upbeat heroic tale.

It looks good, it reads good, and By Golly, it does you good!

© 2005 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

 

By Darwyn Cooke with Dave Stewart (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84023-939-5

Ever since DC Comics retrofitted most of their first fifty years of story continuity with the incredibly successful Crisis on Infinite Earths they’ve apparently been seeking ways to get it all back into play again. Comics seem to work best when they access some component of nostalgia, and Darwyn Cooke’s tribute to the 1950s is a glorious blending of simpler times, two-fisted slam-bang action and the brooding menace of both Communism and McCarthyism delivered in the garish four-colour dreams of ten-year-old children.

All the DC greats come into play in a brand new yet refreshingly, comfortingly, old retelling of the archetypes of that era. There are aliens, monsters, Martians, test pilots, cars with fins, feisty reporters and Rock ‘n’ Roll. The story is basic and simple, but never slips into pastiche or parody. Darwyn Cooke successfully manages to skate between and around the hurdles of kids with no access to the time period involved (nor indeed the characters) and the expectations of an older generation of readers who have spent such a long time wondering where “their” heroes went.

For my part, this is probably one of the best things I’ve read in the last ten years. Cooke and especially colourist Dave Stewart have managed to access and treat with respect an era that I’d thought gone forever, whilst at the same time concocting a cracking good yarn that seems genuinely timeless. My only quibble is that I have to wait for the second and concluding part, notwithstanding the fact that I bought the mini-series when it came out last year.

An absolute gem for kids of all ages; even casual readers who watch more movies than they read comics will be immensely satisfied.

© 2005 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

 

By Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra
ISBN 1401-203-531

Garth Ennis is a huge fan of the British war comics he grew up reading. He’s also a writer with a distinct voice and two discrete senses of humour.

The black sardonic ironies of Preacher and True Faith are not present in this compilation of the two Rifle Brigade miniseries he produced with veteran combat illustrator Carlos Ezquerra. What you get here is the cruel, ultra-violent gross-out stuff that made Hitman or The Boys such guilty pleasures.

The Brigade are Blighty’s top combat unit, dealing death and destruction to the Hun in World War II. They’re also the worst congregation of deviants and psychopaths ever gathered under one roof, giving the creators the opportunity to lampoon every cliché you’ve ever seen in a war movie.

The plots (escaping from the Gestapo’s dungeon and beating the Germans to the mystical artefact that is Hitler’s missing testicle, respectively) are simply hangers to drape an avalanche of bad taste jokes on. The scripts, one-liners, and action sequences are all up to their usual high standards but whether it’s an enjoyable experience depends on what kind of humour you prefer. Not one for the easily offendable or retired Colonels.

© 2001, 2002, 2003 Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra. All rights reserved.

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-599-0

The Amazing Amazon finally gets her own volume in this generally excellent series, and although long-time fans may be disappointed that so much contained herein has been reprinted before – and often – it is a good sampling for casual and new readers to start their comic book addiction with.

The mandatory origin is taken from 2001’s graphic album Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth, by Paul Dini and Alex Ross. Hidden from the eyes of man a race of immortal superwomen has prospered in all fields of science and art, secure in their isolation and the protection of their Hellenic Gods. This all ends when planetary war forces US air-force pilot Steve Trevor down on their secluded home. Nursing him, Diana, young daughter of the queen – I know there’s no men, but don’t ask, just read the book – falls in love, and determines to return with him to ‘Man’s World’ to fight evil and be near him.

Following from that is the character’s second ever appearance from Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942). Popular psychologist William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter tell the tale of how the Amazon Princess returns wounded aviator Trevor to the modern world and chooses to adopt a human identity to be near him in ‘Wonder Woman Comes to America’. ‘Villainy Incorporated!’ by the same team comes from 1948 (Wonder Woman #28), an epic-length tale of revenge as eight of her greatest enemies escape from Transformation Island where they were imprisoned, seeking the Amazons destruction.

Another team with long experience of our heroine is writer Robert Kanigher and artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Their work is represented here by ‘Top Secret’ (Wonder Woman #99, 1958) as Steve tries to trick her into marriage – something the creep tried a lot back then – and ‘Wanted – Wonder Woman’ (issue #108, 1959), as flying Saucer aliens frame our heroine for heinous crimes as a precursor to a planetary invasion. In the mid 1960s attempts were made to boost the sales and profile of the heroine and Kanigher, Andru and Esposito began recycling the stories and style of Marston and Peter. From that period comes ‘Giganta – the Gorilla Girl’ (Wonder Woman #163, 1966), when an evolutionary experiment transforms a great Ape into a seven foot tall blonde with the hots for Steve.

Huge changes were in store for Princess Diana. With the arrival of Mike Sekowsky and young scripter Denny O’Neil the Amazon would lose her powers and become an Emma Peel/Modesty Blaise -like character fighting evil with nothing but her wits, martial arts and the latest Carnaby Street oufits. From Wonder Woman #178 (1968) comes ‘Wonder Woman’s Rival’ the prequel to that big change and the new team’s first work on the character in a tale of blackmail, murder – and fashion!

Eventually our heroine regained her powers and petitioned to rejoin the Justice League of America. She set herself twelve tasks to prove her worthiness and asked for a different JLA-er to monitor each one. Wonder Woman #212, 1974 featured her saving the world from nuclear Armageddon with Green Lantern along for the ride. ‘Wish Upon a Star’ is a relatively thrill-free romp courtesy of Elliot Maggin, but has lovely art from Curt Swan and Phil Zupa.

Robert Kanigher returns for the sentimental but endearing ‘Be Wonder Woman… And Die’ (Wonder Woman #286, 1981), illustrated by Jose Delbo and Dave Hunt, as much the tale of a dying actress as the mighty superheroine.

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-event of 1985, Wonder Woman was re-imagined for the post-crisis DC universe, and her comic series started again from #1. From the twentieth issue of that run comes ‘Who Killed Myndi Mayer’ (1988) by writer/artist George Perez, and inked by Bob McCloud, an intriguing, if heavy-handed, crime mystery surrounding the shooting of wonder woman’s publicist.

The volume ends with a pretty but slow day-in-the-life tale as Lois Lane interviews the heroine and cultural ambassador to Mans’s World during a typical day, providing readers with valuable insights into the heroine and the woman. ‘She’s a Wonder’ (Wonder Woman #170 – Second Series, 2001) is written and drawn by Phil Jimenez with inks from Andy Lanning and seems like a cosy way to wrap up this first volume.

Wonder Woman is a world figure of comic fiction, and looks set to remain one. This unchallenging collection might not be her best material but it is a solid representation of what gave her such fame.

© 1942, 1948, 1958, 1959, 1966, 1968, 1974, 1981, 1988, 2001, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

By The Luna Brothers (Image)
ISBN 1582404836

We live in an age of celebrity. It is ghastly, but it is true. It was, therefore, only a matter of time before the venerable old super-hero genre got the treatment. Ultra is the “Hello” of the super set, dishing the Goss on the paranormals who live among us, complete with their Agents, Managers, stylists, entourages, trade associations and parasitic tabloid paparazzi.

The concept isn’t exactly fresh but the creators take it to its considered extreme, by concentrating on a week in the lives of three “typical” heroines when they aren’t world-saving, striving to illuminate the human in “Super-human”. Sadly, for me at least, the same type of contrived romantic entanglements and stagy, forced comedic set-ups that made me quit Ally McBeal at the end of season one and makes me immune to soap-operas and reality TV, made this feel like laborious and stilted twinky-fodder.

Another problem is the overly mannered artwork. Perhaps the drab and stilted pictures are intended as a metaphor for the bland, inconsequential subject matter, but the conceit of using “actual pages from Ultra” as a staging device is overused and the text pages rather than adding insight finally became a chore to read.

There’s an odd quirk that makes us overly interested in how the famous live, who they’re shagging, what they wear (obviously very little in a book about super-heroines aimed at a comic-book audience) and I’m sure someone’s already bought the movie option for “I’m-A-Celebrity-Who-Can-Eat-Steel-So-You-Better-Get-Me-Out-Of Here-If-You-Know-What’s-Good-For-You”, so I’m sure I’m wasting time whining here, but that’s just me.

And as for that quirk? I resist it. If we all did, maybe all those celebrities would stop primping for us and get on with their lives, too.

™ & © 2005 The Luna Brothers. All Rights Reserved.