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June 10, 2015June 8, 2015

Showcase Presents the Unknown Soldier volume 2

By David Michelinie, Bob Haney, Robert Kanigher Gerry Conway, Gerry Talaoc, Dick Ayers, Joe Kubert, Romeo Tanghal & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4081-3

In America after the demise of EC Comics in the mid-1950’s and prior to the game-changing Blazing Combat, the only certain place to find controversial, challenging and entertaining American war comics was DC.

In fact, even whilst Archie Goodwin’s stunning but tragically mis-marketed quartet of classics were waking up a generation, the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman was a veritable cornucopia of gritty, intriguing and beautifully illustrated battle tales presenting combat on a variety of fronts and from many differing points of view.

Whilst the Vietnam War escalated, 1960s America increasingly endured a homefront death-struggle pitting deeply-ingrained Establishment social attitudes against a youth-oriented generation with a radical new sensibility. In response DC’s (or rather National Periodical Publishing, as it then was) military-themed comicbooks became even more bold and innovativeâ€¦

That stellar and challenging creative period came to an end as all strip trends do, but a few of the more impressive and popular features (Sgt. Rock, Haunted Tank, The Losers) survived well into the second superhero revival. One of the most engaging wartime wonders was a notional espionage thriller starring a faceless, nameless hero perpetually in the right place at the right time, ready, willing and so very able to turn the tide one battle at a timeâ€¦

This second moody monochrome compendium collects the lead feature from issues #189-204 (July 1975-March 1977) of the truly venerable Star-Spangled War Stories anthology and thereafter #205-226 (May 1977-April 1979) of the abruptly re-titled Unknown Soldier from when the â€œImmortal G.I.â€ finally took over the book in name as well as fact.

One of the very best concepts ever devised for a war comic, The Unknown Soldier was actually a spin-off – having first appeared as a walk-on in a Sgt Rock story from Our Army at War #168 (June 1966, by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert).

By 1970 the illustrator had become editor of DC’s war titles and was looking for a new cover/lead character to follow the critically acclaimed Enemy Ace who had been summarily bounced to the back of the book after issue #150.

The series featured a faceless super-spy and master-of-disguise whose forebears had proudly fought and died in every American conflict since the birth of the nationâ€¦

The strip grew to be one of DC’s most popular and long-lived: Star-Spangled became Unknown Soldier in 1977 with #205 and the comic only folded in 1982 with issue #268 when sales of traditional comicbooks were in harsh decline.

Since then the character has resurfaced a number of times (12 issue miniseries in 1988-9, a 4-part Vertigo tale in 1997 followed by a rebooted ongoing series in 2009), each iteration moving further and further way from the originating concept.

One intriguing factor of the original tales is that there is very little internal chronology: for most of the run individual adventures take place anytime and anywhere between the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the surrenders of Germany and later Japan. This picaresque approach adds a powerful sense of both timelessness and infallible, unflinching continuity. The Unknown Soldier has always and will always be where he is needed mostâ€¦

As seen in the previous Showcase volume, his full origin was revealed in Star-Spangled War Stories #154’s ‘I’ll Never Die!’ recounting how two inseparable brothers joined up in the days before America was attacked and were posted together to the Philippines just as the Japanese began their seemingly unstoppable Pacific Campaign.

Overwhelmed by a tidal wave of enemy soldiers one night the brothers held their jungle posts to the last and when relief came only one had survived, his face a tattered mess of raw flesh and boneâ€¦

As US forces retreated from the islands the indomitable survivor was evacuated to a state-side hospital. Refusing medals, honours or retirement, the recuperating warrior dedicated his remaining years to his lost brother Harry and determinedly retrained as a one man-army intelligence unit.

His unsalvageable face swathed in bandages, the nameless fighter learned the arts of make-up, disguise and mimicry, perfected a broad arsenal of fighting skills and offered himself to the State Department as an expendable resource who could go anywhere and do anythingâ€¦

After a long run of spectacular stories by numerous stellar creators, shifting fashions eventually provoked a shift in emphasis. Relative neophytes David Michelinie & Gerry Talaoc came aboard with Star-Spangled War Stories #183, resulting in an evocative change of direction.

The horror boom in comics was at its peak in 1974 and new editor Joe Orlando capitalised on that fascination with a few startling modifications – the most controversial being to reveal the Soldier’s grotesque, scar-ravaged face – presumably to draw in monster-hungry fear fansâ€¦

The military/macabre mood resumes here with Michelinie & Talaoc on fine form and well dug-in as the Unknown Soldier is despatched to discover the secret of the ‘The Cadaver Gap Massacres’ (SSWS #189).

What he finds as Nazi officer Major Wollheim is a death camp where prisoners are mere guinea pigs for making monsters and experimental atrocity weapons, and before long he falls foul of a repentant, guilt-riddled scientist whose loyalties ultimately are only to money. The ghastly discoveries of ‘Project: Omega’ lead to a cataclysmic clash with uncontrollable beast-men and the salvation of the only true innocent in the entire death-campâ€¦

Issue #191 offered a ‘Decision at Volstadt’ as the fleeing superspy encounters rabid resistance fighters, merciless Hitler Youth zealots and fanatical Lt. Strada, who has already lost far too much to the Immortal G.I. Captured by his Italian nemesis, the rival soldiers’ ‘Vendetta’ ends the only way it could in SSWS #192â€¦

Gerry Conway scripted ‘Save the Children!’ in #193, detailing how a mission to blow up a train carrying generals directing the war on the Eastern Front goes horribly wrong after the phantom fighter finds his targets’ families have come along for the ride, after which Michelinie returns to explore ‘The Survival Syndrome’ wherein the penetration of a high-tech Nazi communications complex hidden in a French village shows the wary warrior the true cost of a having a quisling in the familyâ€¦

Star-Spangled War Stories #195 introduced ‘The Deathmasters’ as the Unknown Soldier infiltrates a Nazi assassination school and find himself assigned to murder one of the Allies’ greatest assets in war-torn Odessa in #196’s ‘Target Red’.

Conning everyone into thinking he’s succeeded, he then returns to Germany to scotch a scheme to replace key Allied personnel with Nazi doppelgangers: all it costs to quash the project is the life of an innocent girl and a little bit more of his soulâ€¦

The war in North Africa is almost over in #197 but the master of disguise is nevertheless dispatched to destroy German anti-tank airplane prototypes in ‘The Henschel Gambit’. Typically however he is intercepted by Arab raiders led by a US Senator’s maverick daughter and again forced to choose between his mission and innocent livesâ€¦

Thereafter, thanks to Nazi counter-intelligence manoeuvrings, the Immortal G.I. is tricked into killing the Allies’ top strategist in ‘Traitor!’ Court Martialled and sentenced to death, he is forced to escape and retrace his steps, seeking a witness to his innocence in #199’s ‘The Crime of Sgt. Schepke’.

En route he encounters Maquis legend Mlle Marie but events spiral completely out of control and he has no choice but to sacrifice her entire resistance unit to destroy a new super-weapon in the concluding ‘Deathride’â€¦

Although Marie honours her promise and clears his name, she also swears to kill him for expending her comrades like pawnsâ€¦

The scene switches to New York City in SSWS #201 as the Soldier engages in ‘The Back-Alley War’ by infiltrating a gang of German-American anti-war isolationists in search of saboteurs and spies and to Italy in #202 where an outbreak of typhus is holding up the war.

His task is to find a downed US plane carrying an experimental counter serum but his penetration of a Nazi hospital seems to indicate that neither side has found ‘The Cure’â€¦

Issue #203 finds the master-spy reduced to teaching arrogant, unstable English aristocrat (with royal connections) Richard Ebbington all the tricks of his deadly craft, only to be subsequently ordered by the top brass to stop him fulfilling his first murder mission.

Somebody up top forgot to tell somebody in the middle that Ebbington’s target is a German general planning to assassinate Hitler, so the Unknown Soldier is forced to stop his protÃ©gÃ©’s ‘Curtain Call’â€¦

After 36 years of varied publication Star-Spangled War Stories ended with #204 as prior scripter Bob Haney and veteran war artist Dick Ayers joined Talaoc for ‘The Unknown Soldier Must Die!’ wherein old ally Chat Noir (an African-American sergeant who got fed up of institutionalised racism and deserted the US Army to join the French Resistance) is captured by the Nazis and brainwashed into becoming their secret weapon to kill the Immortal G.I.â€¦

Cover-dated May 1977 the first Unknown Soldier (#205) places history’s lynchpin at the Battle of the Bulge in winter 1944. Whilst expanding on his origins ‘Legends Never Die!’ also proves once more that the right man in the right place at the right time can change the course of destinyâ€¦

‘Glory Gambit!’ begins an extended campaign as Adolf Hitler himself unleashes the Wehrmacht’s answer to the Unknown Soldier. Black Knight is Count Klaus von Stauffen, the chess-obsessed SS officer who captured and conditioned Chat Noir and is now making his way into the heart of England with but one missionâ€¦

The hunt for the merciless master of disguise and doom continues throughout London in #207’s ‘Kill the King!’, before the scene again shifts, dumping the Soldier in North Africa in 1942 to rehabilitate a trio of deserters in ‘Coward, Take my Hand!’

US #209 takes us to the Pacific in 1945 and a personal duel with a Japanese prison camp torturer whose attempts to break the scarred superspy result in defeat, death and ‘Tattered Glory!’ on blood-drenched rock called Iwo Jimaâ€¦

In #210 the Man of Many Faces invades a Nazi fortress impersonating a specialist interrogator to rescue or kill America’s most important agent in ‘Sparrows Can’t Sing!’ after which issue #211 reprints a classic Haney & Kubert tale from Star-Spangled War Stories #159 where George S. Patton became the thinly-veiled basis for ‘Man of War’ with the Unknown Soldier dispatched to investigate a charismatic general who had pushed his own troops to the brink of mutinyâ€¦

An experimental surgical operation traps the G.I. behind the wrong face on the wrong side of the German lines in #212, where he encounters Hitler’s fanatical schoolboy â€œWerewolfâ€ killer-elite and becomes in turn ‘The Traitor in Wolf’s Clothing!’

The shocking theme was further explored in #213 as Unknown Soldier has to extract from the Fatherland the son of a scientist vital to the war effort. Sadly ‘The Ten-Year-Old Secret Weapon!’ has embraced every facet of life in the Hitler Youth and fights his would-be rescuer every step of the wayâ€¦

Kanigher wrote and Romeo Tanghal inked the Ayers illustrated ‘Deadly Reunion!’ in #214 as of the Soldier – in the guise of an elderly Jew – allows himself to be taken to a death camp to spring Mlle. Marie. She isn’t at all gratefulâ€¦

Haney, Ayers &Talaoc reunited in #215 as the faceless fury replaced a sailor in the merchant marine to expose a traitor selling out convoy freighters to U-boats haunting ‘The Savage Sea!’ after which ‘Taps at Arlington!’ (art by Ayers & Tanghal) sees Chat Noir confront American racism whilst the Soldier exposes a spy painting a bullseye on the backs of troops in Italyâ€¦

In #217 the Man Without a Face becomes Hermann Goering’s chief supplier of stolen paintings in ‘Dictators Never Sleep!’ The plan is to give the infamous art lover a Rembrandt primed to explode when Hitler is in front of itâ€¦ and it would have worked if Klaus von Stauffen hadn’t been presentâ€¦

With the Black Knight hot on his heels the frustrated phantom is harried across Europe in ‘The Unknown Soldier Must Die!’, only stopping briefly to destroy a V2 base and have another shot at the Fuehrer before experiencing ‘Slaughter in Hell!’ (inked by Tanghal) when von Stauffen turns the tables by impersonating his arch enemy in a bid to murder Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower.

He would have succeeded if not for the Immortal G.I.’s strategic cunningâ€¦

Issue #220 by Haney, Ayers &Talaoc saw the Soldier organise a band of maverick warriors from many Nazi-conquered countries into a daring-but-doomed foreign legion dubbed ‘The Rubber Band Heroes’ after which ‘Sunset for a Samurai!’ finds him on a suicide mission to the heart of Japan to save an undercover agent crucial to the American forcesâ€¦

Unknown Soldier #222 promised ‘No Exit from Stalag 19!’ when the unsung hero was ordered to rescue a military boffin from the heart of Fortress Europa (in a wry and trenchant riff on the plot of The Bridge on the River Kwai) whilst in #223, ‘Mission: Incredible!’ (Ayers &Tanghal) details the convoluted course of a plan to destroy a Heavy Water plant in the snow-capped mountains of Norway.

The Soldier and Chat Noir reunited in #224 to investigate a dead zone where Allied bombers simply vanish without trace, only to find barbaric military madness running wild in ‘Welcome to Valhalla!’ after which the Immortal G.I. is forced to arrest a charismatic general for treason in ‘Four Stars to Armageddon!’ (Ayers &Talaoc) before uncovering the astounding truth behind his supposed betrayals.

The military madness lurches to a bloody halt with #226 as Chat Noir and his faceless comrade do what entire flotillas of Navy vessels could not: using guile and subterfuge to board the Nazi’s unbeatable dreadnaught and ‘Sink the Kronhorst!’â€¦

Dark, powerful, moving and overwhelmingly ingenious, The Unknown Soldier is a magnificent addition to the ranks of extraordinary mortal warriors in an industry far too heavy with implausible and incredible heroes. These tales will appeal to not just comics readers but all fans of adventure fiction.
Â© 1975-1979, 2014 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

June 9, 2015June 8, 2015

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – the graphic novel

Adapted by Alan Grant & Cam Kennedy (Waverley Books)
ISBN: 978-1-902407-44-9

As part of the celebrations for Edinburgh’s selection in 2004 as the first UNESCO City of Literature, Scottish comics veterans Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy were invited to convert a brace of classic tales by Robert Louis Stevenson to publishing’s hottest mediumâ€¦

The second appeared in 2008 with a bare minimum of abridgement or adulteration by Grant and galvanically brought to life through the stunning art of the inimitable Kennedy with colours and letters provided by Jamie Grant: all seamlessly collaborating to perfectly picture one of the most famous and groundbreaking tales of terror in the annals of storytelling.

The timeless tale opens as lawyer Mr. Utterson becomes intrigued by the ‘Story of the Door’ as related by walking companion Richard Enfield. That worthy describes how, after remonstrating with a bestial, shrivelled homunculus of a man who was thrashing a street child, he discovered a possible although unlikely and unwelcome connection to a mutual friend of superlative honour and worthiness.

However what connection a depraved creature such as Edward Hyde might have with the benevolent and brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll was beyond either man’s conception. Blackmail perhapsâ€¦?

The multi-layered and convoluted chain of events unfolds at a beguiling pace as the pair begin a systematic ‘Search for Mr. Hyde’, even consulting the scientist’s great mentor Dr. Lanyon before unexpectedly encountering the despicable decadent himself, sneaking into Jekyll’s home through the means of his own key.

Eventually Utterson is compelled to ask the suspected extortion victim himself but ‘Dr. Jekyll was Quite at Ease’ and even extracted a promised that the lawyer would ensure that Hyde got his legal due should untoward circumstances warrantâ€¦

Events overtake everyone when details of ‘The Carew Murder Case’ become a public sensation and Hyde is hunted for killing a prominent politician in fit of unprovoked fury. Long-shrouded secrets begin to leak out after the ‘Incident of the Letter’ as Jekyll assures his distraught and apprehensive friends that Hyde will be seen no more, leaving Utterson to conclude that Henry is completely under the thumb of the desperate fugitiveâ€¦

‘The Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon’ precipitates further speculation as the failing sage gives the inquisitors a letter to be opened upon his (imminent) demise, prompting Enfield and Utterson to reluctant action and intervention on ‘The Last Night’ which reveals the shocking truth of the affairâ€¦

With the tragedy complete all that remains is to discover the reasons and causes which are provided by the aforementioned letter containing ‘Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case’â€¦

Chances are high that nobody reading this is unaware of the general events of this much retold tale but the moody, evocative, dynamic and suspenseful reiteration here is a sheer pictorial triumph which adds freshness to familiarity and emerges as not simply a distillation, adjunct or accommodation but actually works as well in comics terms as the original literary ones.
Adapted text Â© 2008 Alan Grant. Illustrations Â© 2008 Cam Kennedy. All rights reserved.

June 8, 2015June 5, 2015

The Adventures of Blake and Mortimer: Atlantis Mystery

By Edgar P. Jacobs, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-107-5

Master storyteller Edgar P. Jacobs pitted his distinguished duo of Scientific Adventurers Professor Philip Mortimer and Captain Francis Blake against a wide variety of perils and menaces in stunning action thrillers which merged science fiction, detective mysteries and supernatural thrillers in the same timeless Ligne claire style which had done so much to make intrepid boy reporter Tintin a global sensation.

The strip debuted in Le Journal de Tintin #1 (26^th September 1946): an international anthology comic with editions in Belgium, France and Holland. The magazine was edited by HergÃ©, with his eponymous star ably supplemented by a host of new heroes and features for the modern ageâ€¦

L’enigme de l’Atlantide was the fourth electrifying exploit of the peerless pair, originally serialised from March 30^th 1955 to May 30^th 1956, and subsequently collected in a single chronicle as the seventh drama-drenched adventure album the following year.

The stunning secret history saga became the 12^th translated Cinebook release, and opens here with vacationing Intelligence operative Blake arriving in the Azores on idyllic island Sao Miguel where Mortimer is engaged in exploring deep caves in his ceaseless search for new knowledge.

From the moment he lands the British Agent is under constant scrutiny by mysterious gangsters and no sooner does he join his old comrade than petty acts of vandalism and outright sabotage begin to occurâ€¦

Unbeknownst to the pair, whilst they are distracted, a mysterious intruder searches the Professor’s palatial lodgings only to be blasted by an even more fantastic figure with a ray-gun.

The delayed detectives only arrive in time to observe an astounding escape before the bellicose boffin explains how he has apparently discovered a new mineral of incredible potential in the vast cave system far below the surface of the island. He suggests it might be the wonder metal Plato describes as â€œOrichalcumâ€; the most prized element of the fabled Atlanteansâ€¦

Undeterred by the break-in, the bold Brits lay plans to further evaluate Mortimer’s mammoth cavern and before long a small but dedicated team are scrambling through perilous crevices to terrifying depths in search of more of the mystery.

The â€œmad Englishâ€ are no longer the main topic of conversation on the island however: everybody else is glued to newspaper reports of flying saucer sightingsâ€¦

Glad of their return to obscurity and utterly unaware that one of their team has been replaced by a deadly old enemy, the valiant subterranean explorers struggle on against formidable and oppressive odds underground, but when the Professor’s Geiger Counter begins to react wildly and they recover a huge chunk of the mystery mineral, the saboteur makes his move.

As a sudden storm threatens to wash the entire expedition away, the infiltrator incepts warnings from the surface, swipes the samples and, cutting the rope ladders, abandons Blake and Mortimer to their deathsâ€¦

His big mistake is pausing to gloat: a well-aimed rock hurled by the Secret Serviceman seemingly seals the scoundrel’s fate tooâ€¦

Unable to go back, the plucky duo then decide to chance everything on following a subterranean river under the island in the vanishingly small hope of finding an exit. Instead, after an astounding under-earth odyssey, what they discover is mercilessly marauding pterodactyls and a fantastically advanced civilisation of super-scientistsâ€¦

Soon the pair are recuperating in the vast bastion of Poseidopolis – thriving last outpost of legendary Atlantis – befriended by young noble Prince Icarus. He happily shares the epic true history of Ancient Earth and his still space-faring nation with them, secure in the knowledge that they will never leave the subterranean metropolis for as long as they liveâ€¦

Unfortunately, with their customary impeccable timing, the British bravos have arrived just as the city’s most trusted civil servant Magon is about to usurp the hereditary rulers’ millennia of unchallenged power. All too soon they become embroiled in a shattering civil war at the earth’s core.

Not only is the entire kingdom of noble Lord Basileus at stake, but the schemer and his allies also have designs upon the Atlanteans’ outer space dominions and the hapless, ignorant surface nations in betweenâ€¦

Packed with astounding action, double-doses of dastardly duplicity and captivatingly depicting the cataclysmic end of a fabulous secret civilisation, this is one of the Distinguished Duo’s most glorious exploits and one no lover of lost world yarns should miss.

Addictive and fantastic in the truest tradition of pulp sci-fi and Boy’s Own Adventures, Blake and Mortimer are the very epitome of dogged heroic determination; the natural successors to such heroic icons as Professor Challenger, Bulldog Drummond and Richard Hannay, always delivering grand, old-fashioned Blood-&-Thunder thrills and spills in timeless fashion and with mesmerising visual punch.

Any kid able to suspend modern mores and cultural disbelief (call it alternate earth history or bakelite-punk if you want) will experience the adventure of their livesâ€¦ This Cinebook edition also includes excerpts from two forthcoming albums plus a short biographical feature and chronological publication chart of Jacobs’ and his successors’ efforts.

June 6, 2015June 5, 2015

The Evil of Oz

By Ryan Fuller & Sanjana Baijnath (CreateSpace)
ISBN: 978-1-49351-704-6

Depending on your outlook, you’re either going to adore or despise this oneâ€¦

We all know the story of The Wizard of Oz – or at least the bare bones of it harvested to make the admittedly stunning 1939 film – but the truth is there’s a vast amount from that legendary 1900 novel by jobbing journalist and prolific author Lyman Frank Baum that remained unfilmed and unaddressed.

In recent years a number of books, comics, films and stage productions have taken another look – and many liberties – with the modern myth, but this is one of the most forthright, unrepentant and engaging – especially if you’re a lover of gory horror stories.

It begins at the scene of bloody multiple homicides in ‘Kansas’. A maniac has brutally ended the lives of an old farmer and his wife and their niece Dorothy Gale isn’t making a bit of sense over the crime.

Then again there’s not much sense to be had when the perp steals hearts after crudely removing them with an axeâ€¦

Once the cops have gone, however, the survivor undertakes a strange course of action. Activating her silver slippers, she summons a raging storm and, gripping the gory murder weapon, heads back to ‘Munchkinland’ in search of answers and justiceâ€¦

Her return to the beautiful happy place she once liberated is a nightmare of shattered dreams. The wonderful kingdom is dark and blighted, reeking of decadence, decay and death. Dorothy isn’t surprised when she is mobbed by disgusting diminutive aberrations. She just wields the axe with terrifying dexterity in a deadly dance of destructionâ€¦

Grimly retracing her steps on a once-golden path she makes her way to ‘The Emerald Stockade’, encountering en route an old friend brought low and made example of.

He relates the reason for Oz’s decline but does not accompany her as she moves on to ‘The Stumps’ and a shocking confrontation with another beloved former comrade fallen on hard and mercilessly uncompromising timesâ€¦

Having dealt justice to her guardians’ murderer means nothing after Dorothy learns who has overseen the tainting of the magical land and she struggles onward, enduring a similar heartrending reunion in ‘The Petrified Forest’ before reaching ‘The Bright City’ and a final battle with the avaricious traitor who instigated the corruptionâ€¦

However, even after winning her last smidgen of scarlet retribution, Dorothy still has one last happy memory to ruin and betrayal to avenge when she meets ‘The Man Behind the Curtain’â€¦

Bleak, nihilistic and superficially feeling like Titus Andronicus meets I Spit on Your Grave, Ryan Fuller’s sparse, spartan and extremely evocative violent chiller is realised with lush and lavish painted artwork by Sanjana Baijnath and carries a subtle but venerable message: be careful what you wish forâ€¦

The acquisition of all those so-long-desired and hard-won gifts did nothing but sour and poison the once-noble champions who strived so mightily to attain them and now the heroes are monsters who need to be put downâ€¦

Visceral, unflinching, possibly exploitative but with a moral subtext that cannot be denied, this is a terror tale to tantalise fans with adult tastes and post modern sensibilities.

No copyright notice that I could find so I’m assuming Text Â© 2015 Ryan Fuller and Illustrations Â© 2015 Sanjana Baijnath.
The Evil of Oz is also available as a Kindle edition.

June 5, 2015June 3, 2015

Twin Spica Book 8

New, Revised Review

By Kou Yaginuma (Vertical)
ISBN: 978-1-935654-13-1

Kou Yaginuma first captured the hearts and minds of the public with poignant short story 2015 Nen no Uchiage Hanabi (2015: Fireworks, published in Gekkan Comics Flapper, June 2000). Following its unprecedented success, he expanded the subject and themes into a major manga epic combining hard science and humanist fiction with lyrical mysticism and traditional tales of school-days and growing up.

2024 AD: diminutive teenager Asumi Kamogawa has always dreamed of going into space. From her earliest moments the solitary child gazed up at the stars with imaginary friend Mr. Lion, especially gripped by the twinkling glow of Virgo and alluring binary star Spica.

An isolated, serious child, she lived with her father, a common labourer who had once worked for the consortium which built the rockets for Japan’s Space Program.

When Asumi was a year old, the first Japanese launch ended in utter catastrophe after rocket-ship ShishigÅ (â€œThe Lionâ€) exploded on its maiden flight: crashing to earth on the coastal city of Yuigahama. Hundreds were killed and many more injured, including Asumi’s mother.

Maimed and comatose, the matron took years to die. The shock crushed her grieving husband and utterly traumatised infant Asumi.

In response to the disaster Japan set up an astronautics and space sciences training facility where, after years of determined struggle, Asumi was accepted by the Tokyo National Space School. Slowly making friends like Shinnosuke Fuchuya (who used to bully her as child in Yuigahama), boisterous Kei Oumi, chilly and distant Marika Ukita and spooky, ultra-cool Shu Suzuki, Asumi daily moved closer to her unshakable dream of going to the stars.

Against all odds – she is small, looks weak and is very poor – Asumi endures and always succeeds. She still talks with Mr. Lion, who seems to be the ghost of an astronaut who died on the ShishigÅâ€¦

Individual episodes in these compelling monochrome volumes are divided into â€œMissionsâ€, all methodically forming a vast tapestry explaining the undisclosed interconnectedness of generations of characters, all linked by the call of the heavens.

Volume 8 comprises numbers 39-46, and also includes a brace of enchanting sidebar stories plus another autobiographical vignette from the author’s own teenage years.

Mission: 39 opens as the still guarded and aloof Asumi undertakes a devout daily personal ritual – absorbing the wonder of the Heavens at the local Planetarium. Times are tough, however, and the venerable old edifice is about to close forever, a victim of economic cuts and dwindling public interestâ€¦

Later she rejoins classmates Oumi and Ukita on the school roof for more stargazing. Excitement rises when they think they might have discovered a new supernovaâ€¦

Mission: 40 concentrates on the rapidly approaching end of semester and exams. Oumi is ill and might not pass, whilst enigmatic Shu reveals yet another hidden talent after being given the shocking news that he is confidentially considered for participation in an American Shuttle mission.

Meanwhile, with Christmas near Asumi shares an intimate moment trimming a tree with shy, diffident Kiriu from the local orphanage. Even this is fraught with implications: he’s apparently an anti-space program activist and she can hardly afford any distractions. With her workload and part-time job she barely has time to think as it isâ€¦

Mission: 41 only sees Asumi’s concentration-slipping intensify and we learn some tragic truths about golden boy Suzuki’s dysfunctional and abusive home life. Most disturbingly, Miss Kamogawa’s closest girl classmates now think they’re catching odd glimpses – and even finding physical evidence – of Asumi’s ludicrous â€œimaginary friendâ€â€¦

When Kiriu unexpectedly reveals he is leaving Japan, she then has to make a choice between her current feelings and her life’s dream. It takes another typically brash and dramatic intervention during a crucial exam by old rival and â€œfrenemyâ€ Fuchuya to set her straight on what she really needs in the heartrending Mission: 42â€¦

The focus switches to orphan Kiriu’s history and his amazing secret is revealed through a poignant letter to Asumi in Mission: 43, whilst 44 concentrates on mounting school pressure with the conflicted Fuchuya recalling the pivotal moment in his childhood when his fireworks-making grandfather sparked his own interest in the starsâ€¦ and Asumiâ€¦

The Americans’ tantalising offer to send a Japanese astronaut up with the US shuttle becomes public knowledge in Mission: 45 and fierce competition for the single placement ensues. The jolly rivalry is counterpointed by more agonising reminiscences from Shu over the mystery malady that took his mother, before the main storyline concludes in Mission: 46 as the students are made to realise the importance of their final years, and solitary Asumi at last realises how her life has changed. With some surprise she grasps that she has actual friends she might lose so very soonâ€¦

The going is getting tougher and, now that they are all nearing the end of their preliminary training, it becomes increasingly, painfully clear to the determined star-students that the bonds so painstakingly forged are on the verge of being severed. After only one more year, final selections will be made: most of the class will fail and vanish from each other’s lives. A countdown clock is tickingâ€¦

Also included in this volume are two ancillary tales: ‘Giovanni’s Ticket’ returns to Asumi and Fucchy’s formative years in Yuigahama following the ShishigÅ crash, exploring their tempestuous relationship whilst the poignant ‘Guide to Cherry Blossoms’ reveals the power of making art and following the path to love whilst examining roads not taken by pensive teacher Kasumi Suzuki during the highly symbolic spring festival.

The book ends with a wistfully autobiographical ‘Another Spica’ vignette culled from author Yaginuma’s lovelorn days as a part-time server on a soft-drink stand in a theme park; one more charming insight into creative minds, art in the raw and unrequited passionsâ€¦

These deeply moving marvels originally appeared in 2005 as Futatsu no Supika 8 and 9 in the Seinen manga magazine Gekkan Comics Flapper, targeted at male readers aged 18-30, but this ongoing, unfolding beguiling saga is perfect for any older kid with stars in their eyesâ€¦

Twin Spica ran from September 2001-August 2009: sixteen volumes tracing the trajectories of Asumi and friends from callow students to trained astronauts and the series has spawned both anime and live action TV series.

This delightful saga has everything: plenty of hard science to back up the informed extrapolation, an engaging cast, mystery and frustrated passion, alienation, angst and true friendships; all welded seamlessly into a joyous coming-of-age drama with supernatural overtones, raucous humour and masses of sheer sentiment.

Rekindling the irresistible allure of the Final Frontier for the next generation (and the last ones too) Twin Spica is quite simply the bestâ€¦

These books are printed in the Japanese right to left, back to front format.
Â© 2011 by Kou Yaginuma/MEDIA FACTORY Inc. Translation Â© 2011 Vertical, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

June 4, 2015June 3, 2015

Yakari and the Grizzly

By Derib & Job, translated by Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-16-8

In 1964, journalist AndrÃ© Jobin founded children’s magazine Le Crapaud Ã lunettes and began writing stories for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later he hired fellow French-Swiss artist Claude de Ribaupierre, who had begun his career as an assistant at Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs), working on Smurfs strips for venerable weekly Spirou.

Together they created the well-received Adventures of the Owl Pythagore and two years later struck pure gold with their next collaboration.

Launching in 1969, Yakari detailed the life of a young Sioux boy on the Great Plains; sometime after the introduction of horses by the Conquistadores and before the coming of the modern WhiteMan.

Filled with gentle whimsy, the strip celebrates a generally bucolic existence in tune with nature and free of strife, punctuated with the odd crisis generally resolved without fame or fanfare by a little lad who is smart, compassionate, braveâ€¦ and can converse with all animalsâ€¦

As â€œDeribâ€, de Ribaupierre – equally fluent and brilliant in both the enticing, comically dynamic â€œMarcinelleâ€ cartoon style and a devastatingly compelling meta-realistic action illustration form – went on to become one of the Continent’s most prolific, celebrated and beloved creators through such groundbreaking strips as Celui-qui-est-nÃ©-deux-fois, Jo (the first comic on AIDS ever published), Pour toi, Sandra and La Grande Saga Indienne).

A large and significant proportion of his stunning works over the decades reverberate with his beloved Western themes, magnificent geographical backdrops and epic landscapes, and Yakari is considered by many to be the feature which catapulted him to mega-stardom.

First published in 1979 as the strip cemented its prominence and popularity, Yakari et le grizzly was the fifth collected European album. The previous year the feature had begun running in Tintin, and would go on to spawn two animated TV series (1983 and 2005), a wide range of merchandising and spin-offs and achieve monumental global sales of the 38 albums (in 17 languages) to date.

Released in English translation in 2006, Yakari and the Grizzly opens one late autumn night as aged beaver Wooden Dam and young raccoon Black Mask sneak into the Sioux encampment in search of Yakari. The worried pair have an odd story to tell: healthy adult animal are disappearing and the younglings need the wonderful human problem-solver to find themâ€¦

Riding out on faithful pony and confidante Little Thunder, the brave boy encounters a nervous vixen and her cubs and a female otter whose mate has also vanished. The day passes in fruitless searching and that night, after hearing a terrifyingly loud roar, a kind old owl offers some friendly advice to the searchers: stay out of the hills, something strange is happening thereâ€¦

Next morning, grateful, worried but determined, Yakari and Little Thunder nevertheless turn towards the gentle rise and soon find missing pal Thousand-Mouths frantically gathering berries. The beaver is desperately scared and warns the pair to flee before it’s too lateâ€¦

Resolved to help whatever the risk, our heroes press onwards and upwards and discover many missing animals – even bears – all working as petrified slaves for a huge and bellicose grizzly. Afraid of nothing Yakari scolds the greedy beast and almost dies as the big bully swipes at him with huge clawsâ€¦

Barely escaping the gloating monster, Yakari and his pony are again warned off by Thousand-Mouths who reveals that no one will resist or run away because the big bear has threatened their families. Temporarily stumped, the little brave is relieved when his wise totem animal Great Eagle arrives and councils that a little patience will provide an answer to their problemâ€¦

Seeing the startling truth of the statement, Yakari advises his furry chums on a long term plan which consists of actually working even harder, providing the unreasonable brute with all the food he can eat. All too soon the snows start and the fattened grizzly feels the call of his den and long months of welcome hibernation. Now the second part of Yakari’s plan can beginâ€¦

The visually spectacular, seductively smart and splendidly subtle solution to the bully bear’s disgraceful behaviour is a masterpiece of diplomacy and highlights the charming, compassionate and redemptive nature of this superb all-ages seriesâ€¦

The exploits of the valiant little voyager who speaks to animals and enjoys a unique place in an exotic world is a decades-long celebration of joyously gentle, marvellously moving and enticingly entertaining adventure, honouring and eulogising an iconic culture with grace, wit, wonder and especially humour.

These gentle sagas are true landmarks of comics literature and Yakari is a strip no fan of graphic entertainment should ignore.
Original edition Â© 1978 Le Lombard/Dargaud by Derib & Job. English translation 2006 Â© Cinebook Ltd.

June 3, 2015June 1, 2015

Mercy: Shake the World

By J.M. DeMatteis & Paul Johnson (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels)
ISBN: 978-0-486-79905-6

Dover’s superb line of lost and rescued comics classics continues with a still-fresh and immensely innovative spiritual odyssey first seen in 1993, now resurrected in a softcover collection packed with fascinating extras and bonus material.

Originally conceived as one of a tranche of titles developed by Editor Art Young for the Disney Company’s ambitious but ultimately stillborn Touchmark adult comics imprint (the others being Sebastian O, Enigma and Shadows Fall) in the early 1990s, Mercy was first released as a 64-page one-shot comicbook in the initial wave of DC’s Vertigo line in 1993.

Thematically at odds with the dark, uncompromising and nihilistic fare of titles such as Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Doom Patrol and even the groundbreaking, bleakly lyrical Sandman, the astounding near-life experiences of Joshua Rose came and went relatively unremarked then, but at last gets a fair chance to shine here.

Preceded by an absorbing reunion between creators as transcribed in ‘About Mercy: Shake the World – a Conversation Between Writer J.M. DeMatteis and Artist Paul Johnson’, the phantasmagorical journey of revelation unfolds through a cascade of stunning painted visuals that begin in a coldly antiseptic hospital roomâ€¦

Middle-aged and long-bled of all inner joy, Joshua Rose was almost glad when the stroke put him into a coma.

Jaded, world-weary, bitterly disappointed to his core, he has no illusions about life’s wonders or humanity’s merits. He lies inert in his exorbitantly expensive private clinical cell, impaled on and afflicted with dozens of tubes and needles and machines.

Seemingly dead to the world, he is in fact acutely aware of not just his own physical surroundings but also every inconceivable nook and cranny of universal time and space.

Spurning his wife and his world, Rose’s morose and twisted psyche roams infinity despising everything he sees in it, especially the miraculous mute woman glowing blue, constantly flashing across his consciousness and dragging him to uncountable encounters with people in all their pathetic, pitiful privation, sordid weakness, tawdry injustice and innate inescapable misery.

He derisively calls her â€œMercyâ€ but as she silently lures him ever onwards to scenes of family discord in London, an agonising personal trial in a primeval South American rainforest and a death-haunted, woe-infested apartment in Brooklyn, Joshua observes her tireless confrontations with monsters and worse and, somewhere deep inside, begins at last to changeâ€¦

Crafted in true collaborative fashion by DeMatteis and Johnson, the deeply evocative and astonishingly expressionistic voyage of discovery is deconstructed in a number of extra features beginning with intriguing ‘Excerpts from the Outline’ exploring the writer’s initial plot concepts before being expanded with forensic intensity through illustrator Johnson’s beguiling monochrome ‘Page Layouts’.

Then, augmented by page after page of lavish and lovely full colour ‘Production Art’, character sketches and design roughs; accompanied by the artist’s thoughts on his process in ‘About the Art’, the entire delicious and eccentric delight is finally summed up in original editor Art Young’s laudatory ‘Afterword’, putting to bed one of the most intoxicating and passionate paeans to humble humanity ever crafted in comics form.

Mercy was different then and it’s still different now: an ideal confection for comics connoisseurs who remain forever bright at heartâ€¦

Mercy: Shake the World will be in stores from June 17^th 2015 and is available for pre-order now. Check out www.doverpublications.com, your internet retailer or comic shop of choice.

June 2, 2015June 1, 2015

Robin Archives volume 2

By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Win Mortimer, Jim Mooney & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2625-1

Created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson, Robin the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940), which introduced a juvenile circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mob boss.

The story of how Batman took the orphaned Dick Grayson under his scalloped wing and trained him to fight crime has been told, retold and revised many times over the decades and still regularly undergoes tweaking to this day.

In the original comics continuity Grayson fought beside his mentor until 1970 when, as an indicator of those turbulent times, he flew the nest, becoming a Teen Wonder, college student and eventually leader of a team of fellow sidekicks and young justice seekers – the Teen Titans.

He graduated to his own solo spot in the back of Detective Comics from the end of the 1960s, alternating with Batgirl, and held a similar spot throughout the 1970s in Batman. The college-based wonder won a starring feature in the anthology comic Batman Family and a run of Giant Detective Comics Dollar Comics before becoming a star all over again in the 1980s as leader of the New Teen Titans, first in his original costumed identity and eventually in the reinvented guise of Nightwing. He even re-established a turbulent working relationship with his dark, driven and dangerous former senior partner.

Robin’s creation as a junior hero for younger readers to identify with inspired an incomprehensible number of costumed kid crusaders and Grayson continues in similar innovative vein for the older, more worldly-wise readership of America’s increasingly rebellious contemporary youth cultureâ€¦ but his star potential was first realised much earlier in his eternally young careerâ€¦

From 1947 to 1952, (issues #65-130) Robin, the Boy Wonder had a solo series – and cover spot – in Star Spangled Comics at a time when the Golden Age superhero boom was fading, its gaudy bravos gradually being replaced by more traditional heroes in genres such as crime, westerns and boys’ adventure stories.

The exploits herein contained blended in-continuity action capers with more youth-oriented fare, frequently reducing adults Batman, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon to minor roles or rendering them entirely absent, allowing the kid crusader to display not just his physical accomplishments but also his brains, ingenuity and guts.

This second sturdy deluxe hardback Archive Edition re-presents more tales from Star Spangled #86-105 (covering November 1948 to June 1950) recapturing the dash, verve and universal appeal of one of fantasy literature’s greatest youth icons – albeit with a greater role for Batman – and opens with a fascinating Foreword by Bill Schelly who adds a layer of historical perspective and canny insight to the capers to come.

Every beautiful cover is included – although most of the later ones feature colonial-era frontier sensation Tomahawk – and are lovingly rendered by Jim Mooney, Win Mortimer, Charles Paris, Bob Kane and Fred Ray.

Although unverified, writers Bill Finger, Don Cameron, David Vern Reed and Jack Schiff are considered by most comics historians to be the authors of the stories in this volume and I’m going to happily concur here with that assessment until informed otherwise. Easier to ascertain is Mooney as penciller of almost all and inker of the majority, with other pencil and penmen credited as relevantâ€¦

The action-packed relatively carefree high jinks commence with Star Spangled Comics #86 and ‘The Barton Brothers!’ (inked by Win Mortimer, who remained until #90) as the Boy Wonder took up the lone vengeance trail to hunt down a trio of killers whose crime spree culminated in gunning down the mighty Batman, after which racketeer Benny Broot discovered he was related to the aristocracy and patterned all his subsequent vicious predations on medieval themes as ‘The Sinister Baron!’â€¦

Robin went AWOL in defiance of his mentor to clear the father of a schoolmate in ‘The Man Batman Refused to Help!’ but his good intentions in clearing the obviously framed felon almost upset a cunning plan to catch the real culprit, after which SSC #89 saw ingenious hoods get hold of ‘The Batman’s Utility Belt!’ and start selling customised knock-offs until the Dynamic Duo crushed the racket.

The murder of a geologist sent the partners in peril out west in #90 to solve ‘The Mystery of Rancho Fear!’, going undercover as itinerant cowboys to deal with a gang of extremely contemporary claim-jumpers whilst, with Mooney now handling all the art-chores, issue #91 found the Boy Wonder instigating a perplexing puzzle to stump his senior partner in ‘A Birthday for Batman!’

It would have all been the perfect gift if not for the genuine gangsters who stumbled upon the anniversary anticsâ€¦

The crimebusting kid played only a minor role in #92’s ‘Movie Hero No. 1’ wherein Batman surreptitiously replaced and eventually redeemed an action film actor who was a secret coward, but resumed star status in ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx!’ when a mute, masked mastermind seemingly murdered the Dark Knight and supplanted Gotham’s criminal top dog Red Mask.

Entertainment motifs abounded in those days and Star Spangled Comics #94 heralded ‘The End of Batman’ when the Dynamic Duo stumbled on a film company crating movie masterpieces tailored to the unique tastes and needs of America’s underworld after which greed and terror gripped the streets when a crook employed an ancient artefact to apparently transform objects – and even the Boy Wonder – to coldly glittering gold in #95’s ‘The Man with the Midas Touch!’

An indication of changing times and tastes came with the September 1949 Star Spangled as Fred Ray’s Tomahawk took over the cover-spot from #96 onwards whilst inside, Robin’s solo tale ‘The Boy Who Could Invent Miracles!’ was pencilled by Sheldon Moldoff with Mooney inking.

The story saw the kid crusader working alone whilst Batman recovered from gunshot wounds, encountering a well-meaning bright spark whose brilliantly conceived conceptions revolutionised the world – but almost exposed the masked avenger’s secret identityâ€¦

First seen in Star Spangled Comics #70, The Clock was an anonymous criminal time-and-motion expert who became the closest thing to an Archenemy Robin had. ‘The Man Who Stole Time!’ returned yet again in #97 (with Mooney back on full art), determined to publicly humiliate and crush his juvenile nemesis through a series of suitably-themed crimesâ€¦ but with the same degree of success as alwaysâ€¦

In #98 a classmate of Dick Grayson’s briefly became ‘Robin’s Rival!’ after devising a method of travelling on phone lines as Wireboy. Sadly his ingenuity was far in excess of his fighting ability or common sense and he was wisely convinced to retire, after which gambling gangster Sam Ferris broke jail and turned his obsession with turning circles into a campaign of ‘Crime on Wheels!’ until Robin set him straight againâ€¦

SSC #100 offered a powerfully moving tale as the Boy Wonder gave shelter to ‘The Killer-Dog of Gotham City!’ and proved that valiant Duke could shake off his criminal master’s training to become a boon to society.

In #101 High School elections were being elaborately suborned by ‘The Campaign Crooks!’ with a bizarre scheme to make an illicit buck from students, whilst in #102 ‘The Boy with Criminal Ears!’ developed super-hearing: making his life hell and ultimately bringing him to the attention of sadistic thugs with an eye to the main chanceâ€¦

Star Spangled Comics #103 saw the introduction of ‘Roberta the Girl Wonder!’ as class polymath Mary Wills decided to follow her heart and try to catch the ideal boyfriend by becoming his crime-fighting rival, whilst #104’s ‘Born to Skate’ revealed how classmate Tommy Wells‘ freewheeling passion led Robin to a gang using a roller-skate factory to mask crimes as varied as smuggling, kidnapping and murderâ€¦

The wholesome all-ages action ends with a rewarding tale blending model-making and malfeasance as a guilt-wracked Robin comes to the aid of a police pilot who had been crippled – and worse – whilst assisting on a case.

As part of his rehabilitation the Junior Manhunter devises high-tech models for Bill Cooper‘s aviation club but when ‘The Disappearing Batplanes!’ are purloined by cunning air pirates the scene is set for a terrifying aerial showdownâ€¦

Beautifully illustrated, wittily scripted and captivatingly addictive, these rousingly traditional superhero escapades are a perfect antidote to teen-angst and the strident, overblown, self-absorbed whining of contemporary comicbook kids.

June 1, 2015June 1, 2015

Asterix and the Class Act

By R. Goscinny & A. Uderzo, translated by Anthea Bell & Derek Hockridge (Orion)
ISBN: 978-0-7528-6640-6

One of the most-read comics strips in the world, Asterix the Gaul has been translated into over 100 languages. More than 325 million copies of the 35 canonical Asterix books have sold worldwide, making Goscinny & Uderzo France’s bestselling international authors.

The strip has spawned numerous animated and live-action movies, TV series, assorted toys, games, apparel and even been enshrined in its own tourist hotspot – Parc AstÃ©rix, near Paris.

The diminutive, doughty hero was created in 1959 by two of the Ninth Art’s greatest proponents, RenÃ© Goscinny & Albert Uderzo: masters of cartoon narrative then at the peak of their creative powers.

Firmly established as a global brand and premium French export by the mid-1960s, Asterix continued to grow in quality as Goscinny & Uderzo toiled ever onward, crafting further fabulous sagas; building a stunning legacy of graphic excellence and storytelling gold. As such prominent and ever-rising stars their presence was often requested in other places, as varied as fashion magazine Elle, global icon National Geographic and even a part of Paris’ 1992 Olympic Bidâ€¦

Although the ancient Gaul was a massive hit from the start, Uderzo continued working on other strips, but as soon as the initial epic was collected as AstÃ©rix le gaulois in 1961 it became clear that the series would demand most of his time – especially as the astounding Goscinny never seemed to require rest or run out of ideas.

By 1967 Asterix occupied all Uderzo’s attention, and in 1974 the partners formed IdÃ©fix Studios to fully exploit their creation. At the same time, after nearly 15 years as a weekly comic strip subsequently collected into compilations, the 21^st tale (Asterix and Caesar’s Gift) was the first published as a complete original album before being serialised. Thereafter each new release was a long anticipated, eagerly awaited treat for the strip’s millions of fansâ€¦

With the sudden death of impossibly prolific scripter Goscinny in 1977, the creative wonderment continued with Uderzo – rather reluctantly – writing and drawing fresh adventures until his retirement in 2010.

In 2013 new yarn Asterix and the Picts opened a fresh chapter in the annals as Jean-Yves Ferri & Didier Conrad began a much-anticipated continuation of the franchise.

Before that, however, Uderzo was convinced to gather and – in many instances – artistically re-master some of the historical oddments and pictorial asides which had incrementally accrued over the glory-filled decades; features by the perfect partners which just didn’t fit into major album arcs, tales done for Specials, guest publications and commercial projects starring the indomitable Gaul. To cap off the new-old package Albert crafted an all-original vignette from that halcyon world of immortal heroesâ€¦

This intriguing compilation first appeared in France as AstÃ©rix et la rentrÃ©e gauloise in 1993 – and a decade later in English – gathering those long-forgotten side-pieces and spin-off material starring the Gallant Gauls and frequently their minor-celebrity creators too.

Following an expansive and explanatory ‘French Publisher’s Note’ – and the traditional background maps and cast list – a press conference from Chief Vitalstatistix leads directly into the eponymous ‘Asterix and the Class Act’ (from Pilote #363 October 6^th 1966) wherein the first day of school finds the little legend and his big buddy sadly miscast as truant inspectors and kid catchers for head teacher Getafixâ€¦

Each little gem is preceded by an introductory piece, and following the hard facts comes ‘The Birth of Asterix’. First seen in October 1994’s Le Journal exceptionnel d’AstÃ©rix, the tale is set ‘In the Year 35 BC (Before Caesar)’ and finds a certain village in high dudgeon as two young women go into labour. Their distracted husbands soon find a way to distract themselves – and everybody else – with a mass punch-up that quickly becomes the hamlet’s preferred means of airing issues and passing the timeâ€¦

‘In 50 BC’ comes from May 1977 and re-presents newspaper-style strips produced at the request of an American publisher hoping to break the European sensation in the USA. The endeavour inevitably stalled but the panels – introducing and reprising the unique world of the Gallic goliaths – wound up being published in National Geographic.

Apparently Uderzo loves chickens and, especially for the original August 2003 release, he concocted the tale of ‘Chanticleerix the Gaulish Cockerel’ detailing the struggle between the village’s chief clucker and a marauding Roman Eagle. It sounds pretty one-sided but faithful mutt Dogmatix knows where the magic portion is keptâ€¦

Pilote #424 (7^th December 1967) was full of Seasonal festive fun so ‘For Gaul Lang Syne’ saw Obelix attempt to use druidic mistletoe to snaffle a kiss from beautiful Panacea. He soon came to regret the notionâ€¦

‘Mini, Midi, Maxi’ was produced for fashion magazine Elle (#1337 2^nd August 1971) but the discussion of ancient Gaulish couture soon devolved into the kind of scraps you’d expect, after which ‘Asterix As You Have Never Seen Him Beforeâ€¦’ (Pilote #527, 11^th December 1969) displays Uderzo’s practised visual versatility as our heroes are realised in various popular art styles from gritty superhero to Flash Gordon, a Charles Schulz pastiche and even as an underground psychedelic tripâ€¦

Approached to contribute a strip to Paris’ bid, the partners produced ‘The Lutetia Olympics’ which was later published in Jours de France #1660 (25^th October 1986) and depicted how Caesar’s attempts to scotch a similar attempt to hold the great games in Gaul failed because of a certain doughty duo, whilst ‘Springtime in Gaul’ (from Pilote #334, 17^th March 1966) was an early all-Albert affair wherein our heroes help the mystic herald of changing seasons give pernicious winter the bootâ€¦

‘The Mascot’ originated in the first digest-sized Super Pocket Pilote (#1, 13^th June 1968) and revealed how the constantly thrashed Romans decided to get a lucky animal totem, but chose the wrong-est dog in the world to confiscate, after which ‘Latinomania’ (originally crafted in March 1973 and re-mastered for the first AstÃ©rix et la rentrÃ©e gauloise in 1993) took a sly poke at the fragile mutability of language.

‘The Authors Take the Stage’ describes how usually-invisible creators became characters in their own work and ‘The Obelix Family Tree’ collects a continuing panel strip which began in Pilote #172 (7^th February 1963) and ran until #186 wherein Mssrs. Goscinny and Uderzo encounter a modern day Gaulish giant and track his ancestors back through history.

An at last everything ends with ‘How Do They Think It All Up?’ (Pilote #157, 25^th October 1962) as two cartoonists in a cafÃ© experience ‘The Birth of an Idea’â€¦

Adding extra lustre to an already stellar canon, these quirky sidebars and secret views thankfully collect just a few more precious gags and wry capers to augment if not complete the long and glorious career of two of France’s greatest heroes – both the real ones and their fictive masterpieces. Not to be missed…
Â© 2003 Les Ã‰ditions Albert RenÃ©/Goscinny-Uderzo. English translation: Â© 2003 Les Ã‰ditions Albert RenÃ©/Goscinny-Uderzo. All rights reserved.

May 31, 2015May 29, 2015

Prometheus: Fire & Stone

By Paul Tobin, Juan Ferreyra & various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-650-1

Spinning out of the movie Prometheus and its comicbook iteration, Fire and Stone was a bold and ambitious publishing event begun in 2014 designed to link four separate franchises into a coherent – if rather time-distanced – universe.

A quartet of 4-part miniseries featuring core concepts from Prometheus, Alien, Predator and AVP: Aliens Vs Predator was conceived by scripters Paul Tobin and Kelly Sue DeConnick, with the calamitous clash of cultures and creatures culminating in one-shot Fire and Stone: Omega.

The first of those pocket series is now available as a sleek paperback collection scripted by Tobin and moodily designed and illustrated by Juan Ferreyra, opening the time and space shredding saga in 2219 AD above the third moon of the Calpamos planetoid in the Zeta 2 Reticuli system.

Four Earth craft have rendezvoused there, seeking answers to the question of what happened to a long-lost research ship.

Historian and filmmaker Clara Atkinson aboard command ship Helios ponders the ongoing mission as the crews of engine core vehicle Geryon, military patrol ship Perses and salvage vessel Kadmos slowly shake off the effects of deep space hibernation and get reacquainted.

Captain Angela Foster is cranky but seems exhilarated at the prospect of hugely valuable salvage and effusive medical officer James Weddel is his usual grabby self, but apparently affable astrobiologist Francis Lane is hiding something. He’s coincidentally in charge of maintaining and servicing the service humanoids such as meek-seeming synthetic assistant Elden – the only being aware of the secretive boffin’s failing healthâ€¦

What nobody except Foster knows is the true purpose of the mission. She is hunting legendary exploratory ship Prometheus and chimeric, inspirational leader Sir Peter Weyland. Moreover, when Weyland was lost on LV-223 in 2090 he was seeking to prove a crazy theory that a race of giants he called â€œThe Engineersâ€ had seeded the universe with life. He wanted to find the creators of humanity, and now so does sheâ€¦

Leaving Geryon in orbit, the smaller ships confidently head for solid ground. Foster takes the Helios down and soon discovers that the supposedly barren moon is rich with weird, superabundant, aggressive and extremely ugly lifeforms. Strangely, most of it seems to be concentrated in a single implausible and very forbidding micro-rainforestâ€¦

Discoveries come thick, fast and increasingly disquieting. A strange, viscous black goo which seems to be the very essence of raw life. Bizarre corpses and skeletons crushed, torn apart or burned by acid. An ecosystem of fauna filling every biological niche and all looking as if they were patterned on the same creatureâ€¦

Lane is particularly taken with the omnipresent black ooze and he and Elden are missing when the main party discover a lost human-colony ship somehow shifted to the wrong planet and submerged by a wall of overgrown undergrowth.

They are utterly unprepared for the marauding xenomorphs hungrily waiting inside for fresh preyâ€¦

It all goes pretty much as you’d expect (and, I suspect, hope) after that, but whilst the Aliens begin their hideous and inexorable dance of death, other things that will impact the succeeding story-arcs come into play too.

Whilst Foster’s party is searching, a wave of the big-headed bugs swarm the Helios, leaving it locked down and besiegedâ€¦

Lane begins experimenting with the black goo in a cave, seeking a cure for his cancer. When he injects poor, passive Elden with a sample, the astrobiologist is appalled to see rapid and terrifying forced evolution in action, transforming a harmless and completely docile programmed servant into a monster with a ruthless will and deadly agenda of its ownâ€¦

Others explorers find a crashed craft of incontrovertibly alien origin and dependable, staunch and fun-loving ebullient military man Galgo grabs up extraterrestrial weaponry. Later, seeing the way the winds are blowing, he promptly abandons the science teams and the Helios to fateâ€¦

None of the wide-ranging humans are prepared for the consequences when a long-dormant Engineer begins checking his planetoid-sized laboratory again and, seeing assorted specimens and unidentified creatures running riot, starts dispassionately clearing up the mess and shutting down the chaosâ€¦

Soon only three humans are left cowering in the dark but refusing to give inâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

Fast-paced, intensely gripping and closely following the tried-and-tested formula of the film franchises, this is a superb horror/sci fi romp to delight fans of the cinematic classics and breathtaking thrill rides in general, which also offers a cover gallery and chapter-break art by David Palumbo plus a potent and beguiling selection of designs and notes from illustrator’s Juan Ferreyra’s ‘Sketchbook’.

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