Posts

Posted on

Mandrake the Magician: Fred Fredericks Sundays volume 1 – The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar


By Lee Falk & Fred Fredericks (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-692-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Time for another Birthday briefing as we exploit the month of mystery and imagination to celebrate 90 glorious years for another Golden Age stalwart…

Regarded by many as comics’ first superhero, Mandrake the Magician debuted as a daily newspaper strip on 11th June 1934 – although creator Lee Falk had sold the strip almost a decade previously. Initially drawing it too, Falk replaced himself as soon as feasible, allowing the early wonderment to materialise through the effective understatement of sublimely solid draughtsman Phil Davis. An instant hit, Mandrake was quickly supplemented by a full-colour Sunday companion page from February 3rd 1935.

Falk – as 19-year-old college student Leon Harrison Gross – had sold the strip to King Features Syndicate years earlier, but asked the monolithic company to let him finish his studies before dedicating himself to it full time. Schooling done, the 23-year-old born raconteur settled into his life’s work, entertaining millions with astounding tales. Falk also created the first costumed superhero in moodily magnificent generational manhunter The Phantom, going on to spawn an entire comic book subgenre with his first creation. Most Golden Age publishers boasted at least one (and usually many) nattily attired wizards in their gaudily-garbed pantheons: all roaming the world(s) making miracles and crushing injustice with varying degrees of stage legerdemain or actual sorcery.

Characters like Mr. Mystic, Ibis the Invincible, Sargon the Sorcerer, and an assortment of  “…the Magician”’s like Zatara, Zanzibar, Kardak proliferated ad infinitum: all borrowing heavily and shamelessly from the uncanny exploits of the elegant, enigmatic man of mystery gracing the world’s newspapers and magazines. In the Antipodes, Mandrake was a suave and stalwart regular of Australian Women’s Weekly and became a cherished icon of adventure in the UK, Australia, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Turkey and across Scandinavia: a major star of page and screen, pervading every aspect of global consciousness.

Over many decades he has been a star of radio, movie chapter-serials, a theatrical play, television and animation (as part of series Defenders of the Earth). With that has come the usual merchandising bonanza of games, toys (including magic trick kits), books, comics and more…

Falk worked on Mandrake and “The Ghost who Walks” until his death in 1999 (even on his deathbed, he was laying out one last story), but also found a few quiet moments to become a renowned playwright, theatre producer and impresario, as well as an inveterate world-traveller. After drawing those first few strips Falk united with sublimely polished cartoonist Phil Davis, whose sleekly understated renditions took the daily strip, and especially the expansive full-page Sunday pages (collected in companion volume The Hidden Kingdom of Murderers), to unparalleled heights of sophistication. Davis’ steadfast, assured realism was the perfect tool to render the Magician’s mounting catalogue of spectacular miracles. Soon the Magician was a major star of page & screen, pervading all aspects of global consciousness as hinted at in a furore of fact features and massed memorabilia treats, beginning with introductory essay ‘The Real Mandrake the Magician’. This discusses real-life stage magician Leon Mandrake – who shared the evocative sobriquet in the mid-20th century – as revealed courtesy of his son Lon. Next on the bill is an appreciation of Davis’ inspired replacement as illustrator, in ‘Fred Fredericks – My Mandrake Artist’ by Andreas Erikson, with incisive exploration of Harold “Fred” Fredericks, who took over art production when Davis died and who ultimately assumed full creative duties when Falk himself passed on in 1999. This briefing covers that his tenure and includes his prodigious pre- and post-Mandrake comics work.

Those in the know are well aware that Mandrake was educated at the fabled College of Magic in Tibet, thereafter becoming a suave globe-trotting troubleshooter. Always and everywhere he was accompanied by African partner-in-crimefighting Lothar and, from early on, capable companion (eventually, in 1997, bride) Princess Narda of Cockaigne. Together they solved mysteries and fought evil. Those exploits took the close-knit team literally everywhere, and the strips section of this luxury monochrome landscape hardback opens on ‘Traveler’s Tale’ which ran from March 21st to August 22nd 1965 and saw the last episodes illustrated by Davis, before his death in 1964 from a heart attack.

The saga sees Mandrake in the arctic, where iceberg-watching leads to the recovery of an apparent alien in a survival capsule. A physical and mental marvel, while slowly awakening Opolo deduces not just the English language but also that he’s been in hibernation for 60,000 years. He goes on to reveal that he’s actually from Earth, albeit part of a space-faring race that preceded Homo Sapiens. He’s also pining for his estranged true love Adrana, and Mandrake is happy to help him find her and the long buried civilisation they both came from and are the last survivors of…

Incredibly, along the way, the magician also solves an ancient murder mystery and plays cupid to the reunited survivors, before seeing them abandon their birthworld for the stars…

Always well in tune with contemporary zeitgeists – like sci fi and spy fi – Falk dipped into the growing well of supervillains monopolizing book shelves and airwaves by next reviving Mandrake’s personal arch-nemesis as ‘The Cobra Returns’ (August 29th 1965 – April 3rd 1966). The sinister savant was once Mandrake’s tutor at The College of Magic and here begins a globally destabilising assassination spree, provoking crime busting agency Inter-Intel to call in the Magician and his crew to consult. Sadly, the ploy only makes the perfidious plotter turn his full murderous attentions on our heroes, in an escalating series of attacks that ultimately end in a spectacular showdown and apparent end of the evil one…

With global stability secured, organised crime goes wild, and the miracle trio are kept busy helping the good guys crack down on mobsters in ‘The Underworld vs. Inter-Intel’ (April 10th – August 7th 1966), after which ‘The Astro Pirates’ (August 14th – December 25th 1966) highlights a modern spin on an old racket…

When bold bandits begin holding up airliners in the stratosphere they foolishly pick a jet carrying Narda, and a fully-engaged Mandrake and Lothar spare no effort to end the sinister sky-jinks, after which – inspired by the “Great Northeast Blackout” of November 5th 1965 – Falk & Fredericks fill us in on ‘The Blackout Caper’ (January 1st – April 23rd 1967), as a mad scientist teams up with mobsters to use darkness and chaos to get rich quick and fulfil even nastier nuclear ambitions but underestimate the power of the mighty magician…

Fredericks was a liberal and civil rights proponent, and had for months been subtly changing the “happy, loyal native” appearance of the African globetrotter to match the acts and character Falk had been crafting for years. The process was completed with a reboot of their first adventure together spanning April 30th – September 24th. ‘The Meeting of Mandrake and Lothar’ relates how the practically superhuman prince of reclusive kingdom “the 12 Nations” joins Mandrake in stopping crazed fugitive Mad Dog Dill, before abdicating all monarchical responsibilities to fight evil everywhere. However, returning to the present, shocks abound as Lothar agrees to helm his people’s transition to democracy by becoming their president, just as Mandrake and Narda are targeted by a manic gambler turned master-villain.

‘The Game of Chance’ (October 1st 1967 – February 11th 1968) soon sees Lothar return to aid in the comeuppance of devious blackmailer, kidnapper and influence-peddler Baron Chance and, prior to a resurgence of full-on fantasy, returns in ‘Invasion of the Babu’ (February 18th – July 21st 1968). No stranger to space adventure, Mandrake and Co are best friends with Magnon and Carola, Emperor and Empress of the Central Galaxy and benign rulers of one million worlds. The humans were there when the potentates had their baby Nardraka, and, as dutiful “godparents”, pull out all the stops when the toddler princess is abducted by barbaric invaders the Baboos.

Sadly for them, the apelike alien aggressors make a string of mistakes, beginning with hiding the hostage on even more barbaric Earth, continuing with trying to outsmart Mandrake and closing with believing Nardraka is “just” a stupid little female…

With one crisis resolved, Mandrake barely survives the renewed attentions of the Baron as ‘Second Chance’ (July 28th – November 3rd 1968) sees the magician and Inter-Intel hunt the murderous malefactor to his hidden island fortress and strike a major blow against organised crime, after which ‘The All or Nothing Hunt’ (November 10th 1968 – March 30th 1969), heralds the arrival of alien gamblers Alpha and Beta, who have made the mage their next obsession. Hiding a planet-eradicating bomb on Earth, the wagerers expect the wonder wizard to traverse the globe, deciphering clues to deactivate it. Of course, the extraterrestrials don’t play fair, but Mandrake isn’t playing at all…

No good deed goes unpunished, however, and ‘The Galactic Rumble’ (April 6th – September 7th 1969) reveals that Alpha and Beta are intergalactic crime lords with millions of thugs now indulging in an intergalactic gang war Magnon’s military and peacekeepers are helpless to stop. Isn’t it time to call in some consultants with the know-how to fight them on their own terms?

Yes it is, and not even exploding stars and marauding star dragons can long slow them down…

Ending the show are ‘The Fred Fredericks Mandrake the Magician Complete Sunday Checklist (1965-2002)’, plus full biographies of Fred Fredericks and Lee Falk. This thrilling tome offers exotic locales, thrilling action, bold belly laughs, cunning crime action and sheer wonder in equal measure. Paramount taleteller Falk instinctively knew from the start that the secret of success was strong and, crucially, recurring villains to test and challenge his heroes, and make Mandrake an unmissable treat for every strip addict. These stories have lost none of their impact and only need you reading them to concoct a perfect cure for the 21st century glums.
Mandrake the Magician © 2018 King Features Syndicate. All Rights Reserved. All other material © 2018 the respective authors or owners.

Posted on

Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives volume 1


By Steve Ditko, Joe Gill, and various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60669-289-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Timely Tome of Terrors … 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Steve Ditko (November 2nd 1927 -c. June 29th 2018) was one of our industry’s greatest talents and probably America’s least lauded. His fervent desire was to just get on with his job telling stories the best way he could. Whilst the noblest of aspirations, that dream was always a minor consideration and frequently a stumbling block for the commercial interests which for so long controlled all comics production and still exert an overwhelming influence upon the mainstream bulk of Funnybook output.

Before his time at Marvel, the young Ditko mastered his craft creating short stories for a variety of companies, and it’s an undeniable joy to look at this work from such an innocent time. At this time he was just breaking into the industry: tirelessly honing his craft with genre tales for whichever publisher would have him, free from the interference of intrusive editors.

This first fantastic full-colour deluxe hardback – and potently punchy digital treasure trove – reprints his early works (all from the period 1953-1955), comprising stories produced before the draconian, self-inflicted Comics Code Authority sanitised the industry, and although most are wonderfully baroque and bizarre horror stories there are also examples of Romance, Westerns, Crime, Humour and of course his utterly unique Science Fiction tales, cunningly presented in the order he sold them and not the more logical, albeit far less instructive chronological release dates. Sadly, there’s no indication of how many (if any) were actually written by moody master Ditko either.  If guessing authors, I’d plump for editor Pat Masulli and/or the astoundingly prolific Joe Gill (who was churning out hundreds of stories per year) as the strongest suspects…

And, whilst we’re being technically accurate, it’s also important to note eventual publication dates of the stories in this collection don’t have a lot to do with when Ditko rendered these mini-masterpieces: Charlton paid so little, the cheap, anthologically astute outfit had no problem buying material it could leave on a shelf for months – if not years – until the right moment arrived to print. All tales and covers here are uniformly wonderfully baroque and bizarre fantasies, suspense and science fiction yarns, helpfully annotated with a purchase number to indicate approximately when they were actually drawn.

Ditko’s first strip sale was held for a few months and printed in Fantastic Fears #5 (an Ajax/Farrell publication cover-dated January/February 1954): a creepy, pithy tale entitled ‘Stretching Things’, followed here by ‘Paper Romance’ – an eye-catching if anodyne tale from Daring Love #1 (September 1953, Gilmor). A couple of captivating chillers from Simon and Kirby’s Prize Comics hot horror hit Black Magic come next. ‘A Hole in his Head’ (#27, November/December 1953) combines psycho-drama and time travel whilst more traditional tale ‘Buried Alive’ (#28 January-February 1954) is a self-explanatory gothic drama.

Stylish cowboy hero Utah Kid stopped a ‘Range War’ in Blazing Western #1 (January 1954, Timor Press), and Ditko’s long association with Charlton Comics properly began with the cover and vampire shocker ‘Cinderella’ from The Thing #12 (February 1954). The remainder of the work here was published by Charlton, a small company with few demands.

Their diffident attitude to work was ignore creative staff as long as they delivered on time: a huge bonus for Ditko, still studiously perfecting his craft and never happy to play office politics. They gave him all the work he could handle and let him do it his way…

After the cover for This Magazine is Haunted #16 (March 1954) comes ‘Killer on the Loose’: a cop story from Crime and Justice #18 (April 1954), and the same month saw him produce cover and three stories for The Thing #13: ‘Library of Horror’, ‘Die Laughing’ and ‘Avery and the Goblins’. Space Adventures #10 (Spring 1954) first framed the next cover and the witty cautionary tale ‘Homecoming’, followed by three yarns and a cover from the succeeding issue – ‘You are the Jury’, ‘Moment of Decision’ and the sublimely manic ‘Dead Reckoning’…

This Magazine is Haunted #17, (May 1954), featured a Ditko cover and three more moody missives: ‘3-D Disaster, Doom, Death’, ‘Triple Header’ and intriguingly experimental ‘The Night People.’ That same month he drew the cover and both ‘What was in Sam Dora’s Box?’ and ‘Dead Right’ for mystery title Strange Suspense Stories #18. He had another shot at gangsters in licensed title Racket Squad in Action (#11, May-June 1954), producing the cover and stylish caper thriller ‘Botticelli of the Bangtails’ and honed his scaring skills with the cover and four yarns for The Thing #14 (June 1954): ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, ‘The Evil Eye’, the utterly macabre ‘Doom in the Air’ and grisly shocker ‘Inheritance!’

He produced another incredible cover and five stories in the next issue, and, as always was clearly still searching for the ultimate in storytelling perfection. ‘The Worm Turns’, ‘Day of Reckoning’, ‘Come Back’, ‘If Looks could Kill’ and ‘Family Mix-up’ range from giant monster yarn to period ghost story to modern murder black comedies , but throughout, although all clearly by the same artist, no two tales are rendered the same way. Here is a true creator pushing himself to the limit.

Steve drew the cover and ‘Bridegroom, Come Back’ for This Magazine is Haunted #18, (July 1954), ‘A Nice Quiet Place’ and the cover of Strange Suspense Stories #19, plus the incredible covers of Space Adventures #12 and Racket Squad in Action #11, as well as cover and two stories in Strange Suspense Stories #20 (August 1954) – ‘The Payoff’ and ‘Von Mohl Vs. The Ants’ – but it was clear that his astonishing virtuosity was almost wasted on interior storytelling.

His incredible cover art was compelling and powerful and even the normally laissez-faire Charlton management must have exerted some pressure to keep him producing eye-catching visuals to sell their weakest titles. Presented next are mind-boggling covers for This Magazine is Haunted #19 (August 1954), Strange Suspense Stories #22 and The Thing #17 (both November 1954) as well as This Magazine is Haunted #21, (December1954).

The Comics Code Authority began judging comics material from October 26th 1954, by which time Ditko’s output had practically halted. He had contracted tuberculosis and was forced to return to his family in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, until the middle of 1955. From that return to work come the final Ditko Delights in this volume: the cover and a story which originally appeared in Charlton’s Mad Magazine knockoff From Here to Insanity (#10, June 1955). A trifle wordy by modern standards, ‘Car Show’ nevertheless displays the sharp, cynical wit and contained comedic energy that made so many Spider-Man/Jonah Jameson confrontations an unforgettable treat a decade later…

This is a cracking collection in its own right but as an examination of one of the art form’s greatest stylists it is also an invaluable insight into the very nature of comics. This is a book true fans would happily kill or die for.
This edition © 2009 Fantagraphics Books. All Rights Reserved

Posted on

Yakari and the Pronghorns (volume 22)


By Derib & Job, coloured by Dominique and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-144-6 (Album PB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A World We All Want … 9/10

In 1964 children’s magazine Le Crapaud à lunettes was founded by Swiss journalist André Jobin, who then wrote for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later, he hired Franco-Swiss artist Claude de Ribaupierre AKA “Derib”. The illustrator had launched his own career as an assistant at Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs): working on The Smurfs strips for venerable weekly Le Journal de Spirou. Thereafter, together they created the splendid Adventures of the Owl Pythagore before striking pure comics gold a few years later with their next collaboration.

Derib – equally au fait with enticing, comically dynamic “Marcinelle” cartoon style yarns and devastatingly compelling meta-realistic action illustrated action epics – went on to become one of the Continent’s most prolific and revered creators. It’s a crime such groundbreaking strips as Buddy Longway, Celui-qui-est-nà-deux-fois, Jo (first comic to deal with AIDS), Pour toi, Sandra and La Grande Saga Indienne haven’t been translated into English yet, but still we patiently wait in hope and anticipation…

Over decades, much of Derib’s stunning works have featured his beloved Western themes: magnificent geographical backdrops and epic landscapes. Yakari is considered by fans and critics to be the strip which led him to his deserved mega-stardom. Debuting in 1969, self-contained episodes trace the eventful, nomadic life of a young Oglala Lakota boy on the Great Plains, with stories set sometime after the introduction of horses (by colonising Conquistadores) but before the coming of modern Europeans.

The series – which also generated two separate animated TV series and a movie – has notched up 42 albums thus far: a testament to its evergreen vitality and brilliance of its creators, even though originator Job moved on and Frenchman Joris Chamblain took on the writing in 2016.

Abundant with gentle whimsy and heady compassion, Yakari’s life is a largely bucolic and happy existence: at one with nature and generally free from privation or strife. For the sake of dramatic delectation, however, the ever-changing seasons are punctuated with the odd crisis, generally resolved without fuss, fame or fanfare by a little lad who is smart and brave, and who can – thanks to a boon of his totem guide the Great Eagle – converse with animals…

In 1997, Yakari et Les Cornes fourchues became the 23rd European album, but as always, content and set-up are both stunningly simple and sublimely accessible, affording new readers total enjoyment with a minimum of familiarity or foreknowledge required…

It’s spring and everything is vivid and portentous. As Yakari and his pony Little Thunder frolic in the prairie grasses, they see old Quiet Rock fishing. As he’s nowhere near water and using a moccasin as bait, they simply have to know what he’s doing…

And thus begins the boy’s introduction to the wondrous prairie antelope called pronghorns. How different it might have all been if the magnificent curious beast had not spooked when the little human spoke in words a stag could understand?

As the creature bounds away, Yakari stumbles over well-hidden twin fawns – Topii and Tipoo – and meets their extremely protective new mother. By morning his bruises are healed and the deer are convinced Yakari is not a hunter seeking an easy meal, but they can’t afford to relax as wolves and coyotes are always near at this time of year…

With papa keeping vigil, boy and fawns bond, playing lots of reindeer games (sorry, couldn’t stop myself) but things get extremely serious when Yakari sees a plume of smoke. In a flash, everyone is fleeing a terrifying wildfire and the massive stampede racing ahead of it, and that’s when the boy realizes Topii is missing…

When the immediate danger subsides, boy and pony go looking for the kid, but nobody really expects a happy outcome. Thankfully, Topii has made a very useful friend in a sagacious, protective porcupine and Yakari is not the kind of boy to lose hope or stop until a job is done….

Yakari is one of the most unfailingly absorbing and entertaining all-ages strips ever conceived. It should be in every home, right next to Tintin, Uncle Scrooge, Asterix, Calvin and Hobbes and The Moomins. It’s never too late to start reading something wonderful, so why not get back to nature as soon as you can?
Original edition © Derib + Job – Editions du Lombard (Dargaud – Lombard s. a.) – 2000. All rights reserved. English translation 2024 © Cinebook Ltd.

Posted on

Madame Choi and the Monsters – A True Story


By Sheree Domingo & Patrick Spät translated by Michael Waaler (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-91422-422-5 (PB/Digital editions) 1-5389-469-6 (softcover)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Miss at Your Peril… 9/10

Throughout the entire post-WWII Cold War era, the arena of drama and fiction was packed with tales of espionage, abduction and impossible love blossoming amidst and against totalitarian odds and opposition. It was a potent life-enhancing trope expressing the hope of better days to come and an undying symbol of how the human spirit will always overcome. There were countless movies made about it…

And then one day, the whole wide world discovered that this had happened…

Freelance writer/editor Dr. Patrick Spät studied philosophy, sociology and literary history in some of Germany’s finest educational establishments, subsequently specialising in socio-political and historical fare. He lives in Berlin – itself no stranger to this kind of yarn – and in 2019 won great acclaim with his graphic novel Der König der Vagabunden (The King of the Vagabonds).

His collaborator on this award winning slice of graphics reportage is Sheree Domingo. After studying at the Kunsthochschule in Kassel and Luca School of Arts in Brussels she began working life as a cartoonist. With impressive graphic novels such as Ferngespräch (Long Distance Call) under her belt, she joined Dr. Spät for this sublime slice of secret history and delivered Madame Choi und die Monster: a masterpiece of modern German expressionist unreal politik…

Employing wild and compellingly emphatic illustration, a limited but vivid colour palette and by dividing events into short scenes across multiple levels of storytelling, Madame Choi and the Monsters – A True Story details the appallingly eventful life of Korean (I’m deliberately not saying North or South here) film star and screen legend Choi Eun-hee.

An abused woman and mother who rose to national stardom despite the men in her life, she fell foul of draconian censorship in the anti-Communist South and was, in 1978, abducted by film fanatic/totalitarian dictator Kim Jong-il. Kidnapped to make wonderful movies for the personal edification of “The Dear Leader” and uplifting of the North Korean people, Madame Choi survived re-education and was eventually joined by the least abusive of her husbands, producer/director/filmmaker Shin Sang-ok. Although divorced from Choi, he had immediately started investigating her disappearance… until the North Koreans snapped him up too. Transported, tortured, exploited and ultimately and reteamed with his muse, he feels old emotions stirring…

Before long the legendary cinema duo are making more movies… but with the right budget, message, and motivation…

How that happened, what the result was and how the couple dramatically made it back from behind the bamboo curtain is interspersed with a comics adaptation (or at least an estimated interpretation built from notes and accounts) of the cinema’s couple’s greatest achievement – a no-holds-barred remake of feudal rebellion/monster epic Pulsagari. The flick is reputed to be a lost classic, but we’ll never probably know as no copies remain in existence… except apparently for those reels confiscated and treasured by the Dear Leader in his private film hoard.

Smart witty, shocking, compelling, romantic and, to be frank, just a bit terrifying, Madame Choi and the Monsters is augmented by a fully detailed ‘Chronology’ of events capping off a brilliant tale of how strange life, love and obsession can be. This is a treat no thinking funnybook fan should miss.
© Edition Moderne / Sheree Domingo & Patrick Spät 2022. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Showcase Presents the Haunted Tank volume 1


By Robert Kanigher, Russ Heath, Irv Novick, Jerry Grandenetti, Joe Kubert, Jack Abel & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0789-2 (TPB)

Robert Kanigher (1915-2002) was one of the most distinctive authorial voices in American comics, blending rugged realism with fantastic fantasy in his signature war comics, horror stories and superhero titles such as Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, Hawkman, Metal Men, Flash, Batman and even other genres too numerous to mention here. In 1956, he scripted ‘Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt’ – the first story of the Silver Age, introducing Barry Allen as a new Flash to the hero-hungry kids of the world.

Kanigher sold his first stories and poetry in 1932, wrote for the theatre, film and radio, and joined the Fox Features shop where he created The Bouncer, Steel Sterling and The Web, and provided scripts for Blue Beetle and the original Captain Marvel. In 1945 he settled at All-American Comics as writer and editor, staying on when the company amalgamated with National Comics to become the forerunner of today’s DC. Writing Flash and Hawkman, he also created Black Canary and, decades later, debuted another memorable female lead in Lady Cop, as well as so many memorable villainesses like Harlequin and Rose and the Thorn. That last torrid noir temptress he redesigned during the relevancy era of the early 1970s, launching a “schizophrenic” crime-busting super-heroine to haunt the back of Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane… which Kanigher also scripted.

When mystery-men faded out at the end of the 1940s, the ever-resourceful scribe  shifted over to westerns and war stories, becoming in 1952 writer/editor of the company’s combat titles: All-American War Stories, Star Spangled War Stories and Our Army at War.

He created Our Fighting Forces in 1954 and added G.I. Combat to his burgeoning battle-boutique when Quality Comics sold their titles to DC in 1956, all the while scripting Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder, Rex the Wonder Dog, Silent Knight, Sea Devils, Viking Prince and a host of others.

Kanigher was a restlessly creative writer and used his uncanny but formulaic adventure arenas as a testing ground for future series concepts. Among many epochal war features he created were Sgt. Rock, Enemy Ace, The War that Time Forgot and The Losers… as well as the irresistibly compelling “combat ghost stories” collected in this stunning, economical monochrome war-journal. This terrific first tome re-presents the early blockbusting exploits of boyhood friends Jeb Stuart Smith, Arch Asher, Slim Stryker and Rick Rawlins, as depicted in G.I. Combat #87-119 (April/May 1961- August/September 1966), and also includes guest-star missions from The Brave and the Bold #52 (February/March 1964) and Our Army at War #155 (June 1965).

The eerie action opens with ‘Introducing – the Haunted Tank’, illustrated by the sublime Russ Heath. In this debut the now-adult pals are all assigned to the same M-3 Stuart Light Tank, named for a legendary Confederate Army General who was a strategic wizard of cavalry combat. During a patrol, the underdog neophytes somehow destroy an enemy Panzer even though they are all knocked unconscious in the process…

Narrated by Jeb as he mans the Commander’s spotter-position (head and torso sticking out of the top hatch and completely exposed to enemy fire whilst driver Slim, gunner Rick and loader Arch remain inside), the tanker recounts how a ghostly voice seems to offer advice and prescient, if veiled, warnings. These statements and their midget war machine soon draw the jibes of fellow soldiers who drive bigger, tougher war machines…

Eventually the little tank proves its worth and Jeb wonders if he imagined it all due to shock and his injuries, but in #88 ‘Haunted Tank vs. the Ghost Tank’, Jeb is actually seeing and conversing with his phantom namesake as he and the boys solve the utterly rational mystery of an enemy battle-wagon which seems to disappear at will. ‘Tank with Wings’ in G.I. Combat #89 was illustrated by Irv Novick, describing how old General Stuart’s impossible prophecy comes chillingly true after the M-3 shoots down a fighter plane whilst hanging from a parachute, after which Heath is back to limn a brutal clash against German ‘Tank Raiders’ who steal the Americans’ haunted home on treads.

Throughout the early days Jeb’s comrades continually argued about what to do with him. Nobody believed in the ghost and they all doubted his sanity, but ever since he began to see the spirit soldier, Stuart Smith has somehow become a tactical genius. His “gifts” are keeping them all alive against incredible, impossible odds…

G.I.C #91’s ‘The Tank and the Turtle’ sees a chance encounter with a plucky terrapin lead to clashes with strafing aircraft, hidden anti-tank guns and a booby-trapped village, whilst ‘The Tank of Doom’ (art by Jerry Grandenetti) sees the snowbound tank-jockeys witnessing true heroism and learning that flesh, not steel, wins wars. In #93 Heath depicted a ‘No-Return Mission’ which depletes American tank forces until the Ghostly General takes a spectral hand to guide his mortal protégés through a veritable barrage of traps and ambushes, after which ‘The Haunted Tank vs. the Killer Tank’ seeks to widen the General’s role as the phantom protector agonises over intel he is forbidden to share with his Earthly namesake during a combined Allied push to locate a Nazi terror-weapon. This time, the young sergeant must provide his own answers…

The rest of the crew are near breaking point and ready to hand Jeb over to the medics in #95’s ‘The Ghost of the Haunted Tank’, but when Slim assumes command he too starts seeing and hearing the General amidst the blistering heat of battle…

In ‘The Lonesome Tank’ Jeb is back in the hot-seat and scoffing at other tank commanders’ reliance on lucky talismans, until the General seemingly abandons him and he is pushed to the brink of desperation, after which G.I.C #97’s ‘The Decoy Tank’ proves that a brave man makes his own luck after a Nazi infiltrator takes the entire crew hostage. ‘Trap of Dragon’s Teeth’ allows the Ghostly Guardian to teach Jeb a useful lesson in trusting one’s own senses over weapons and machinery in combat, and issue #99 greets legendary Joe Kubert who starts a stint on the series in the book-length thriller ‘Battle of the Thirsty Tanks’, with the Stuart labouring under desert conditions which reduce both German and American forces to thirsty wrecks as they struggled to capture a tantalising oasis.

The crew reveal their fathers had all been tank jockeys in WWI and who disappeared in action when ‘Return of the Ghost Tank’ in #100 finds the lads back in Europe. Shock follows shock as they realise their sires had all been part of the same crew, with credibility further stretched when the M-3 begins to retrace and re-enact the last mission of their missing dads…

Any doubts about whether the General is real or imagined are laid to rest in #101’s ‘The Haunted Tank vs. Attila’s Battle Tiger’ (illustrated by Jack Abel), as the barbarian’s evil spirit becomes patron to a German Panzer, opening a campaign to destroy both living and dead Jeb Stuarts, after which Kubert returned for ‘Battle Window’: a moving tale of old soldiers wherein a broken-down, nonagenarian French warrior gets one final chance to serve his country, as the American tank blithely trundles into a perfect ambush…

A particularly arcane prognostication in #103 drives Jeb crazy until ‘Rabbit Punch for a Tiger’ shows him how improvisation can work like magic in a host of hostile situations, whilst ‘Blind Man’s Radar’ helps the crew complete a dead man’s mission after picking up the sightless sole survivor of an Axis attack.

In the mid-1960s before the Batman TV show led to rampant “Bat-mania”, The Brave and the Bold featured team-ups of assorted DC stars. Issue #52 (February/March 1964) grouped Tankman Stuart with Sgt. Rock and Lt. Cloud as the 3 Battle Stars in ‘Suicide Mission! Save Him or Kill Him!’ (by Kanigher & Kubert). In this superb thriller, the armoured cavalry, infantry and Air Force heroes unite to escort and safeguard a vital Allied agent… who had been sealed into a cruel and all-encompassing iron suit. Fast-paced, action-packed and utterly outrageous, the perilous chase across occupied France is one of the best battle blockbusters of the era.

Back in G.I. Combat #105 the ‘Time-Bomb Tank!’ starts seconds after the B&B yarn, as the Haunted Tank receives intel that Rock’s Easy Company are under attack. As they dash to the rescue, however, circumstances cause the M-3 to become a mobile Marie Celeste…

The ‘Two-Sided War’ finds Jeb promoted to Lieutenant and suffering apparent hallucinations when he and his crew are trapped in the Civil War, after which #107’s ‘The Ghost Pipers!’ details how the tankers aid the last survivor of a Scottish battalion in an attack that actually spans two wars, before again teaming up with Rock in ‘The Wounded Won’t Wait’. As Rick, Arch and Slim are injured, the Easy Co. topkick rides shotgun on the brutal return trip back to base…

Issue #109’s ‘Battle of the Tank Graveyard’ downplays supernatural overtones for a more straightforward clash deep within a deadly mountain pass, whilst ‘Choose Your War’ has the Confederate General chafing at his role assisting “Union” cavalry – until circumstances again seem to place the modern soldiers in a historical setting and the two Jebs work out their differences.

For #111’s ‘Death Trap’ the uncanny crew again work with Easy Company – in the desert this time since continuity was never a big concern for Kanigher. However, when the M-3 is captured, Jeb and the boys endure a bloody taste of infantry fighting before taking it back.

‘No Stripes for Me’ is actually a Rock tale from Our Army at War #155 (June 1965) with the Haunted Tank in close support as a battle-hungry General’s son continually refuses the commendations and promotions his valiant actions deserve, no matter what the cost to men or morale around him…

Rock and Jeb stayed together for G.I. Combat #112’s struggle against the Luftwaffe ‘Ghost Ace!’ who is Attila the Hun’s latest mortal avatar: a blistering supernatural shocker that once more forces the Phantom General to take a spectral hand in the battle against evil, after which ‘Tank Fight in Death Town!’ sees the war follow the M-3 crew back into a much-needed leave. Luckily Rock and Easy Co. are around to provide vigorous fire-support…

After nearly four years in the saddle, scripter Kanigher decided to revamp the backstory of the crew and issue #114 (October/November 1965) featured the Heath illustrated ‘Battle Origin of the Haunted Tank’, with the General revealing he had been assigned to watch over the M-3’s boys by Alexander the Great. In the afterlife, all great military commanders sponsor mortal combatants, but Stuart had refused to pick anybody and was stuck looking after “Damned Yankees”. Happily, the mettle and courage under fire of the boys changed many of his opinions after watching their first battle in the deserts of North Africa…

Heath also drew the team-up in #115 wherein Jeb is reunited with Navajo fighter-pilot Johnny Cloud as ‘Medal for Mayhem!’ pits both spiritually-sponsored warriors against overwhelming odds and forced to trade places in the air and on the ground. (Cloud regularly encountered a cirrus-mounted “Indian Brave” dubbed Big-Brother-in-the Sky galloping across the heavens during his fighter missions…) Novick then illustrated a sequel when Cloud and Stuart help proud Greek soldier Leonidas fulfil his final mission in the stirring ‘Battle Cry of a Dead Man!’

‘Tank in the Icebox’ in #117 is another Heath martial masterpiece wherein a baffling mystery is solved and a weapon that turns the desert into a frozen hell is destroyed, before Novick assumes the controls for the last two tales in this volume, beginning with ‘My Buddy – My Enemy!’ wherein bigoted Slim learns tragically too late that not all Japanese soldiers are monsters, and #119 again asks difficult questions when Jeb and the crew must escort an American deserter to his execution, with German forces attempting to kill them all before they get there in ‘Target for a Firing Squad!’ An added attraction for art fans and battle buffs are the breathtaking covers by Heath, Kubert & Grandenetti, many of them further enhanced through the stunning tonal values added by DC’s brilliant chief of production Jack Adler.

These spectacular tales cover The Haunted Tank through the blazing, gung-ho early years to a time when America began to question the very nature and necessity of war (Vietnam was just beginning to really hurt the home front in 1966), and combat comics started addressing the issues in a most impressive and sensitive manner.

The war fare here combines spooky chills with combat thrills but always offer a powerful human message that has never dated and may well rank amongst the very best war stories ever produced. This is a series long overdue for a modern archival and digital renaissance.
© 1961-1966, 2006 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

The Dangerous Journey


By Tove Jansson, translated by Sophie  Hannah (Drawn & Quarterly/Enfant)
ISBN: 978-1-77046- (HB) eISBN: 978-1-77046-638-8

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Warm Storytelling for the Darkest Nights… 10/10

Tove Jansson was one of the greatest literary innovators and narrative pioneers of the 20th century: equally inspired in shaping words and making images to create whole worlds of wonder. She was especially expressive with basic components like pen and ink, manipulating slim economical lines and patterns to realise sublime realms of fascination, whilst her dexterity made simple forms into incredibly expressive and potent symbols and as this collection shows, so was her brother…

Tove Marika Jansson was born into an artistic, intellectual and rather bohemian Swedish family in Helsinki, Finland on August 9th 1914. Patriarch Viktor was a sculptor and mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson a successful illustrator, graphic designer and commercial artist. Tove’s brothers Lars – AKA “Lasse” – and Per Olov became – respectively – an author/, cartoonist and art photographer. The family and its close intellectual, eccentric circle of friends seems to have been cast rather than born, with a witty play or challenging sitcom as the piece they were all destined to inhabit.

After extensive and intensive study (from 1930-1938 at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, the Graphic School of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and L’Ecole d’Adrien Holy and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris), Tove became a successful exhibiting artist through the troubled period of the Second World War. Brilliantly creative across many fields, she published the first fantastic Moomins adventure in 1945. Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Little Trolls and the Great Flood or latterly and more euphoniously The Moomins and the Great Flood) was a whimsical epic of gently inclusive, acceptingly understanding, bohemian misfit trolls and their rather odd friends…

A youthful over-achiever, from 1930-1953 Tove had worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish satirical magazine Garm: achieving some measure of notoriety with an infamous political sketch of Hitler in nappies that lampooned the Appeasement policies of European leaders in the build-up to WWII. She was also an in-demand illustrator for many magazines and children’s books, and had started selling comic strips as early as 1929.

Moomintroll was her signature character. Literally.

The lumpy, gently adventurous big-eyed romantic goof began life as a spindly sigil next to her name in her political works. She called him “Snork” and claimed she had designed him in a fit of pique as a child – the ugliest thing a precocious little girl could imagine – as a response to losing an argument with her brother about Immanuel Kant.

The term “Moomin” came from her maternal uncle Einar Hammarsten who attempted to stop her pilfering food when she visited, warning her that a Moomintroll guarded the kitchen, creeping up on trespassers and breathing cold air down their necks. Snork/Moomin filled out, became timidly nicer – if a little clingy and insecure – acting as a placid therapy-tool to counteract the grimness of the post-war world.

The Moomins and the Great Flood didn’t make much of an initial impact but Jansson persisted, probably as much for her own edification as any other reason, and in 1946 second book Kometjakten (Comet in Moominland) was published. Many commentators believe the terrifying tale a skilfully compelling allegory of Nuclear Armageddon. You should read it now… while you still can. When it and third illustrated novel Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll or sometimes The Happy Moomins) were translated into English in 1952 to great acclaim, it prompted British publishing giant Associated Press to commission a newspaper strip about her seductively sweet and sensibly surreal creations.

Jansson had no misgivings or prejudices about strip cartoons and had already adapted Comet in Moominland for Swedish/Finnish paper Ny Tid. Mumintrollet och jordens undergäng – Moomintrolls and the End of the World – was a popular feature so Jansson readily accepted the chance to extend her eclectic family across the world. In 1953, The London Evening News began the first of 21 Moomin strip sagas which promptly captivated readers of all ages. Jansson’s involvement in the cartoon feature ended in 1959, a casualty of its own success and a punishing publication schedule. So great was the strain that towards the end she recruited brother Lars to help. He took over, continuing the feature until its end in 1975.

Liberated from the strip’s pressures, Tove returned to painting, writing and other creative pursuits: generating plays, murals, public art, stage designs, costumes for dramas and ballets, a Moomin opera and 9 more Moomin-related picture-books and novels, as well as 13 books and short-story collections strictly for grown-ups.

Tove Jansson died on June 27th 2001. Her awards are too numerous to mention, but just think: how many artists get their faces on the national currency?

Whenever such a creative force passes on, the greatest tragedy is that there will be no more marvels and masterpieces. Happily, so tirelessly prolific was Tove that her apparently endless bounty left plenty of material for later creators and collaborators to pick over. One such example is this stunning children’s rhyming picture book, part of a series using her characters.

In a wonderfully peaceful place, there’s a girl called Susanna and a cat. Life is pretty idyllic but the brooding human wants action, not contentment…

When she makes an unwise move near the napping moggy, it precipitates a strange event, and a lengthy, laborious trek by many modes of transport through strange lands, supplying all the adventure a girl could ask for. Thankfully, there are some oddly familiar and exceedingly helpful characters heading in the same approximate direction…

Finished in 1970, this metaphysically moody and marvellous allegorical meandering was Jansson’s last picture book for kids, as she graduated to even darker themes addressing mature issues. As a narrative it is utterly compelling, and, for an example of kids’ doggerel, translator Sophie Hannah keeps the rhythm and rationale rolling along with exemplary invention.

Witty, thrilling and disturbingly lovely in dark ways The Dangerous Journey is every youngster’s perfect introduction to sequential narratives, and a beguiling reminder to oldsters why we love them…

Entire contents © Tove Jansson, 1970 Moomin Characters™. Translation © 2010, 2018 Sophie Hannah. All rights reserved.

Posted on

1066: William the Conqueror


By Patrick Weber & Emanuele Tenderini, translated by Pierre Bison and Rebekah Paulovch-Boucly (Europe Comics)
No ISBN: digital only

Although I’ve never for a moment considered history dry or dull, I can readily appreciate the constant urge to personalise characters or humanise events and movements, especially when that job is undertaken with care, respect, diligence and a healthy amount of bravado.

An excellent case in point is this superb, digital-only (still!) retelling from 2011, ruminating upon and postulating about individual motives and actions, whilst relating the verifiable events leading up to the most significant moment in English – if not full-on British – history  – apart from all the other ones. Other individual and national opinions may apply…

In case you were one of those who were asleep, surreptitiously ogling a classmate who didn’t even acknowledge your existence, or carving your name into a desk or body part: on October 14th 1066, a force of French invaders led by William, Duke of Normandy clashed with the forces of Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson in East Sussex near Hastings (most historians agree that the actual bloodletting happened in a place later dubbed – for no apparent reason – “Battle” and commemorated thereafter by the edifice of Battle Abbey.

Translated into a compelling, lively and lovely digital edition thanks to the benevolence of the collective imprint Europe Comics, 1066: William the Conqueror opens with historian and author Patrick Weber’s foreword ‘Before Setting Sail’, revealing how the magnificent Bayeux Tapestry closely inspired the fictionalised account he crafted with veteran comics illustrator Emanuele Tenderini (Dylan Dog, Wondercity, World of Lumina).

The story is gripping and savvy, putting flesh and bones on a wide range of complex characters, all trapped in a web of royal intrigue and savage power politics, long before Halley’s comet appeared in the skies over northern Europe more than a millennium ago. The war of nerves between the kings and kingmakers of proto-England, machinations of the ferocious Godwinson clan and untrammelled ambitions of the Norman Duke play out against the pitiful backdrop of a rich and powerful country suffering for lack of coherent – or even barely capable – leadership. The parallels to today are painful to behold and we all know how the last shambles played out.

Here, though, is a possible explanation of why…

Most marvellous of all, this is also a brilliantly compelling adventure yarn with readers not sure who to root for before the big action finish…

Adding lustre to the tale is bonus section ‘Deep Within the Inner Stitchings’: an accessible exploration of the Tapestry, accompanied by character sketches and designs.

Potent, beguiling, evocative and uncompromising, this a retelling any fan of history and lover of comics will adore.
© 2015 – Le Lombard – Tenderini & Weber. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Superman: The Silver Age Dailies volume 3 – 1963-1966


By Jerry Siegel & Wayne Boring (IDW Publishing/Library of American Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-6134-0179-4 (HB)

his book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

The American comic book industry – if it existed at all – would be utterly unrecognisable without Superman. Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s unprecedented invention was fervidly adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation and quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form. Spawning an army of imitators and variations within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of breakneck, breathtaking action and wish-fulfilment which epitomised the early Man of Steel grew to encompass cops-&-robbers crimebusting, socially reforming dramas, sci fi fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East sucked in America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters, all dedicated to profit through exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

From the outset, in comic book terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming the shape of the fledgling funnybook biz, the Man of Tomorrow irresistibly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media. Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic invention as epitome and acme of comics creation, the truth is that very soon after his springtime debut in Action Comics #1 the Man of Steel was a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Popeye, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and Mickey Mouse.

We parochial and possessive comics fans too often regard our purest and most powerful icons in purely graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers and their hyperkinetic kind long ago outgrew their four-colour origins and are now fully mythologized modern media creatures instantly familiar in mass markets, across all platforms and age ranges…

Far more people have seen and heard the Man of Steel than have ever read his comic books. His globally syndicated newspaper strips alone were enjoyed by countless millions, and by the time his 20th anniversary rolled around, at the very start of what we know as the Silver Age of Comics, he had been a thrice-weekly radio serial star, headlined a series of astounding animated cartoons, become a novel attraction (written by George Lowther) and helmed two films and his first smash, 8-season live-action television show. He was a perennial sure-fire success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers and in his future were even more shows (Superboy, Lois & Clark, Smallville, Superman & Lois), a stage musical, franchise of blockbuster movies and almost seamless succession of games, bubble gum cards and TV cartoons. These started with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and have continued ever since. Even superdog Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for the majority of the previous century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country – and often the planet – it was seen by millions, if not billions, of readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic-books. It also paid better.

And rightly so: some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were created to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them grew to be part of a global culture. Mutt and Jeff, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more escaped their humble tawdry newsprint origins to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar. Most still do…

The daily Superman newspaper comic strip launched on 16th January 1939, supplemented by a full-colour Sunday page from November 5th of that year. Originally crafted by luminaries like Siegel & Shuster and their studio (Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, Dennis Neville, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Paul J. Lauretta & Wayne Boring), the mammoth task required the additional talents of Jack Burnley and writers like Whitney Ellsworth, Jack Schiff & Alvin Schwartz. The McClure Syndicate feature ran continuously until May 1966, appearing at its peak, in over 300 daily and 90 Sunday newspapers; a combined readership of more than 20 million. Eventually, Win Mortimer and Curt Swan joined the unflagging Boring & Stan Kaye whilst Bill Finger and Siegel provided stories, telling serial tales largely divorced from comic book continuity throughout years when superheroes were scarcely seen.

Then in 1956 Julie Schwartz kicked off the Silver Age with a new Flash in Showcase #4 and before long costumed crusaders began returning en masse to thrill a new generation. As the trend grew, many publishers began to cautiously dabble with the mystery man tradition and Superman’s newspaper strip began to slowly adapt: drawing closer to the revolution on the comicbook pages. As Jet-Age gave way to Space-Age, the Last Son of Krypton was a comfortably familiar icon of domestic America: particularly in the constantly evolving, ever-more dramatic and imaginative comic book stories which had received such a terrific creative boost when superheroes began to proliferate once more. The franchise had been cautiously expanding since 1954 and by 1961 Superman was seen not only in Golden Age survivors Action Comics, Superman, Adventure Comics, World’s Finest Comics and Superboy, but also in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane and Justice League of America. Such increased attention naturally filtered through to the more widely-read newspaper strip and resulted in a rather strange and commercially sound evolution…

This third and final  hardback collection (encompassing November 25th 1963 to its end on April 9th 1966) opens with a detailed Introduction from Sidney Friedfertig, disclosing the provenance of the strips; how and why Siegel was tasked with repurposing recently used and soon to be published scripts from comic books; making them into daily 3-and-4 panel black-&-white continuities for an apparently more sophisticated, discerning newspaper audience.

It also offers a much-needed appreciation of the author’s unique gifts and contributions…

If you’re a veteran comic book fan, don’t be fooled: the tales “retold” here might seem familiar but they are not rehashes: they’re variations and deviations on an idea for audiences seen as completely separate from the kids who bought comic books. Even if you are familiar with the traditional source material, the serialised yarns here will read as brand new, especially as they are gloriously illustrated by Wayne Boring at the peak of his illustrative powers.

After a few years away from the feature, Boring had returned to replace his replacement Curt Swan at the end of 1961, regaining the position of premiere Superman illustrator to see the series to its demise. Moreover, as the strip drew to a close many strip adaptations began appearing prior to the “debut” appearances in the comics. As an added bonus, the covers of the issues these adapted stories came from have been included as a full, nostalgia-inducing colour gallery…

Siegel & Boring’s astounding everyday entertainments recommence with Episode #145, ‘The Great Baroni’ (November 25th to September 14th 1963), revealing how the Caped Kryptonian helps an aging stage conjuror regain his confidence and prowess. It’s based on a tale by Siegel & Al Plastino from Superboy #107 (which had a September 1963 cover-date).

‘The Man Who Stole Superman’s Secret Life’ (December 16th 1963 to 1st February 1964 as first seen in Superman #169, May 1964, by Siegel & Plastino) was a popularly demanded sequel to the story where the Man of Tomorrow lost his memory and powers, but fell in love.

When his Kryptonian abilities returned he returned to his regular life, unaware that he had left heartbroken Sally Selwyn behind. She thought her adored Jim White had died…

Now as Clark investigates a crook who is a perfect double for Superman, he stumbles into Sally and a potentially devastating problem…

Episode #147 – February 3rd to March 9th – saw the impossible come true as ‘Lex Luthor, Daily Planet Editor’ (by Leo Dorfman, Swan & George Klein from Superman #168 April 1964) reveals how the criminal genius flees to 1906 and lands the job of running a prestigious San Francisco newspaper – until a certain Man of Tomorrow tracks him down…

March 9th saw Clark, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane begin ‘The Death March’ (originally an Edmond Hamilton & Plastino tale from Jimmy Olsen #76, April 1964): an historical recreation turned agonisingly real after boss Perry White seemingly has a breakdown. Of course, all is not as it seems…

‘The Superman of 800 Years Ago’ has a lengthy pedigree. It ran in newspapers from April 6th to May 18th but was adapted from an unattributed, George Papp illustrated story, ‘The Superboy of 800 Years Ago’. That debuted in Superboy #113 (June 1964), and was in turn based upon an earlier story limned by Swan & Creig Flessel from Superboy #17 at the end of 1951. Here a robotic Superman double is unearthed at a castle in Ruritanian kingdom Vulcania, so our inquisitive hero time-travels back to the source to find oppressed people and a very familiar inventor. Suitably scotching the plans of a usurping scoundrel, he leaves a clockwork champion to defend democracy in the postage stamp feudal fiefdom…

‘Superman’s Sacrifice’ was the 150th daily strip sequence, running from May 18th to June 20th (adapted from a Dorfman & Plastino thriller first seen in Superman #171, August 1964). Here the Man of Steel is blackmailed by advanced alien gambling addicts Rokk and Sorban, who want to wager on whether Superman will kill an innocent. If he doesn’t, they will obliterate Earth. The callous extraterrestrials seem to have all the bases covered and, even when the Metropolis Marvel thinks he’s outsmarted them, the wicked wagerers have an ace in the hole…

It’s followed by another tale from the same issue wherein Hamilton & Plastino first described ‘The Nightmare Ordeal of Superman’ (June 22nd – July 25th) wherein the Action Ace voyages to another solar system just as its power-bestowing yellow sun novas into red. Deprived of his mighty powers, our hero must survive a primitive world, light-years from home; battling cavemen and monsters until rescue comes in a most unlikely fashion…

The author of ‘Lois Lane’s Love Trap’ was unattributed, but the tale was drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger when seen in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane # 52 (October 1964). As reinterpreted here by Siegel& Boring (July 27th to August 22nd) however, it tells how Lois and Clark travel to the rural backwoods to play doctor and cupid for diffident lovers, after which August 24th to October 10th depicts ‘Clark Kent’s Incredible Delusions’ (seen in comic books in Superman #174, January 1965 by Hamilton, Swan, Plastino & Klein).

Incredible incidents begin after a visitor to the Daily Planet casually reveals he is secretly Superman. Not only does he have the powers and costume, but Clark cannot summon his own abilities to challenge the newcomer. Can Kent have been hallucinating for years? The real answer is far more complex and confusing…

A tip of the hat to a popular TV show follows as a deranged actor trapped in a gangster role kidnaps Lois and her journalistic rival, determined to prove her companion is a mobster and ‘The “Untouchable” Clark Kent’ (October 12th – November 7th): a smart caper transformed by Siegel from a yarn by Dorfman, Swan & Klein in Superman #173 November 1964.

‘The Coward of Steel’ (Siegel & Plastino, Action Comics #322, March 1965) ran November 9th to December 19th, revealing how Superman’s pipsqueak act becomes all-consuming actuality after aliens ambush the hero with a fear ray.

The year changed as Lois went undercover to catch a killer in ‘The Fingergirl of Death’ (Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane # 55 by Otto Binder & Schaffenberger; February 1965), reinterpreted here by Siegel & Boring from December 21st 1964 to January 23rd.

‘Clark Kent in the Big House’ – January 25th to March 6th – by Binder & Plastino was seen in Action #323 April 1965 and saw Clark in a similar situation: covertly infiltrating a prison to get the goods on an inmate. Sadly, once he’s there the warden has an accident and nobody seems to recognise Kent as anything other than a crook getting his just deserts…

There was more of the same in ‘The Goofy Superman’ (March 8th to April 12th, taken from Robert Bernstein & Plastino’s tale from August 1963’s Superman #163). This time though, Red Kryptonite briefly makes Clark certifiably insane. After he is committed and gets better, he sticks around to clear up a few malpractices and injustices at the asylum before heading home. A different K meteor causes extremely selective amnesia ‘When Superman Lost His Memory’ (from April 14th to May 22nd and originally by Dorfman, Swan & Klein from Superman #178 July 1965). This time the mystified Man of Steel must track down his own forgotten alter ego…

‘Superman’s Hands of Doom’ was the 160th strip saga, running May 24th through June 26th, as adapted from a Dorfman & Plastino thriller in Action #328 (September 1965). It detailed the cruelly convoluted plans of big-shot crook Mr. Gimmick who tries to turn Superman into an atomic booby trap primed to obliterate Metropolis, after which a scheming new reporter uses dirty tricks to make her mark at the Planet, landing ‘The Super Scoops of Morna Vine’ (June 28th– August 21st) through duplicity, spying, cheating and worse in a sobering tear-jerker first conceived and executed by Dorfman, Swan & Klein in Superman #181, November 1965.

The comic book version of ‘The New Lives of Superman’ – by Siegel, Swan & Klein – didn’t appear until Superman #182 in January 1966, but the Boring version (such an unfair name for a brilliant artist!) ran in papers from August 23rd – October 16th 1965: detailing how Clark has an accident which would leave any other man permanently blind. Not being ordinary, Superman had to find another secret identity and hilariously tries out being a butler and disc jockey before finding a way for Clark to return to reporting…

Something like the truly bizarre ‘Lois Lane’s Anti-Superman Campaign’ was seen in SGLL #55 (Dorfman & Schaffenberger, January 1966). As reinterpreted by Siegel & Boring for an adult readership from October 18th to December 18th, the stunts produced for the Senatorial race between her and Superman are wild and whacky (and could never happen in real American politics, No Sirree Bob Roberts!), even if 5th Dimensional pest Mr. Mxyzptlk is behind it all. (and wouldn’t that be a comforting reason for the last year of campaigning…)

Running December 20th 1965 through January 8th 1966, as adapted from a Dorfman & Pete Costanza thriller in Superman #185 (which eventually saw full-colour print in April 1966), ‘Superman’s Achilles Heel’ offers a slick conundrum as the Man of Might must wear a steel box on his hand after losing his invulnerability in one small area of his Kryptonian anatomy. The entire underworld tries to get past that shield, but nobody really thinks the problem through…

The end of the hallowed strip series was fast approaching, but it was business as usual for Siegel & Boring who exposed over January 10th through February 26th ‘The Two Ghosts of Superman’ (Binder & Plastino from Superman #186, May 1966) as our hero goes after crafty criminal charlatan Mr. Seer. Fanatical fans might be keen to see the cameo here from up-&-coming TV superstar Batman before the curtain comes down…

The era ended with another mystery. ‘From Riches to Rags’ (Dorfman & Plastino from Action Comics #337, May 1966) has Superman compulsively acting out a number of embarrassing roles – from rich man to poor man to beggar-man and so forth. Spanning February 28th to April 9th, it sees a hero at a complete loss until his super-memory kicked in and recalled a moment long ago when a toddler looked up into the night sky…

Superman: The Silver Age Dailies 1963-1966 is the last of three huge (305 x 236 mm), lavish, high-end hardback collections starring the Man of Steel and a welcome addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and many of the abovementioned cartoon icons. If you love the era or just crave simpler stories from less angst-wracked times these yarns are great comics reading, and this is a book you simply must have…
Superman ™ & © 2014 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on

The Chronicles of Legion volume 1-4: Rise of the Vampires, The Spawn of Dracula, Blood Brothers & The Three Faces of Evil



By Fabien Nury, Mathieu Lauffray, Mario Alberti, Zhang Xiaoyu, Tirso, Eric Henninot & various, translated by Virgine Selavy (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-093-1 (vol. 1), 978-1-78276-094-8 (vol. 2), 978-1-78276-095-5 (vol. 3), 978-1-78276-096-2 (vol. 4) – album HBs/Digital editions.

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

We’ve all been in love with vampires since the golden age of Victorian Gothic and it’s taken the undead in some extremely odd directions (I personally draw the line at sparkly immortal kissy-face boy-toys, but to each his own)…

Thankfully our European cousins have a more sanguine view of such matters and innate respect for tradition even when they reinterpret the old classics. Prolific scribe Fabien Nury (Stalin’s Death: A Real Soviet History, Once Upon a Time in France, The Master of Benson Gate, Necromancy as well as the epic Je Suis Légion with John Cassaday) began in 2011: a generational saga putting a fresh creepy spin on the legend whilst keeping a steady eye on the tone of what has gone before…

Les Chroniques de Legion was illustrated by round-robin art-team Mathieu (Star Wars, Long John Silver) Lauffray, Mario (Nathan Never, Morgana, assorted DC covers) Alberti, the enigmatic Zhang Xiaoyu (Crusades, Savage Highway) & Tirso Cons (Eye of the Devil, Le Manoir murmurs), reflecting the tale’s beguiling skirmishes occurring across a number of evocative eras.

First volume Rise of the Vampires found its English-language voice in 2014, opening in 1476 as barbaric warlord Vlad Tepes finally falls before the overwhelming armies of the invading Moslem horde. His stubborn Transylvania a crushed and broken province, the infamous leader had been dragged from the arms of his favourite concubine and beheaded by exultant general Selim Bey. Working for the invaders, Vlad’s despised and treacherous brother Radu knew that the story was not over yet…

As the victorious Turk ravishes his despised enemy’s beloved, Dracula’s implacable sibling rival is just too late to stop his brother’s malign blood invading the Moslem’s body and eating his devout mind. In an instant, Selim Bey’s is gone, overwritten by the undying Impaler…

Nor can Radu stop the sanguine horror escaping, and after “Selim” murders the Sultan and vanishes, the Transylvanian turncoat endures all the anger and hatred of the Ottomans. Of course, since his blood is just as accursed as Vlad’s, Radu’s story doesn’t end with his body’s destruction either…

In 1521, Vlad is on the move once more, inhabiting the body of Gabriella Del La Fuente. This recent orphan voyages to the New World; contracted to marry audacious conquistador Hernan Torres. A flower of the aristocracy, her perfect beauty is only marred by a strange scarlet mark on the back of her neck… a blemish shared with her recently-departed father Victor and a long-dead Turk named Selim Bey…

She has no idea Radu reached the Americas long ago, and transformed them to a hell of his own devising. The other brother has sustained his own arcane life by equally esoteric means, only in his case the intellect was scattered and diminished by the swarm of rats who consumed him and passed on his essence for the longest time…

Russia in 1812, and an undying warrior spirit wears French Hussar Armand Malachie. As Napoleon’s broken armies flee vengeful Cossacks after the battle of Berezina, he convinces his faithful subordinates Kholya, Stern, Hartmann and Feraud to desert with him. Detouring to the Wallachian Mountains, they hunt for valuable loot Armand had heard about: the “Lost Treasure of Vlad Dracula Tepes”…

It’s all a lie. The true reason for the diversion is that Dracula sensed far-distant Radu had allowed an unprecedented atrocity to be created and the time has come to end their infinitely extended vendetta forever…

London, 1887: elderly lawyer Morris Webster contacts friendless, antisocial clerk and gambling addict Victor Douglas Thorpe with an offer that will forever liberate the morose wastrel and ne’er-do-well from the drudgery of his impoverished Whitechapel life. For reasons inexplicable, Thorpe has been selected by immensely rich aristocratic recluse Lord Byron Cavendish to inherit all his lands and properties… upon successful conclusion of a personal interview, of course…

To Be Continued…

 

The Chronicles of Legion volume 2: The Spawn of Dracula

The epic war between immortal blood-drenched brothers continues in the second translated volume with a reiteration of the gory facts: Vlad Tepes Dracula and his younger brother Radu possess the power to extend their lives beyond what anyone else would think of as death. Their consciousnesses are carried in their blood, and by transferring the potent ichor to other living beings they can possess and dominate any number of victims infinitely. Both have lived for centuries and for all that time they have hated each other…

Here the story expands across three theatres of war with their unceasing attempts to destroy each other centred in very different eras. However,  rather than disparate clashes over time and space, these duels comprise glimpses of an extended, ceaseless campaign of terror with mere mortals callously disposable tools, weapons and cannon fodder…

The opening act occurs in 1885 as gambling addict and utter swine Victor Douglas Thorpe enters the palatial home of reclusive Lord Byron Cavendish. Should the upcoming interview go well, the impoverished cad will soon be heir to the largest fortune in the Empire…

The conference goes exactly as the unseen benefactor intends. When the successful applicant returns to London, he bears a strange red mark and is no longer quite himself.

Centuries earlier in 1521, Gabriella Del La Fuente bears the same scarlet sigil as she is escorted through the green hell of the New World to a meeting with her powerfully placed future husband. Guided by the conquistador’s enticingly masculine mulatto bastard Martin, the Doña’s party – rough soldier, cloying Spanish priests, avaricious self-important dignitaries and her fanatically loyal bodyguard Carlos – slowly make their way through the jungles until an uncanny sense warns of danger ahead…

Seconds later they are attacked by a horde of screaming barbarian warriors seemingly immune to pain and mortal harm, fighting on after being holed by musket fire or even beheaded.

Moments before her body’s imminent demise, Gabriella recognises her brother’s bloodmark on an attacker’s neck and, even as faithful, steadfast Carlos comes to her rescue, Vlad realises Radu has beaten her to this new continent and made himself at completely home.

Miles away, seeing through the dying eyes of his puppets, the other undying scion of Transylvania screams in fear and fury…

With daylight the much-diminished party struggles on towards Torres’ citadel and half-constructed cathedral, with the bride-to-be increasingly succumbing to lust as she cares for her wounded and septic future son-in-law. Once inside the Mission, she is forced back into the role of diffident contract-bride, but Hernan is no easy man to love. His thoughts are solely of preserving a legacy and creating a legitimate dynasty, and her bringing more grasping priests and fanatical Inquisitors to plague him has not endeared her to the Great Man…

Reduced to the status of closeted brood-mare, Gabriella has Carlos capture a huge eagle and, by allowing it to bite her, gains a mighty avian frame from which to view the world and survey her own inexorable rise to power. As he slowly recovers, Martin too falls under her spell, but this bewitching has nothing to do with her blood…

In late 19th century England an aristocrat’s estate burns in a vast and deliberate conflagration, but the new Lord has no regrets and looks only forward, never back.

In 1812 a band of deserters from Napoleon’s army have reached Targovishte. Armand Malachie has led faithful surviving subordinates Kholya, Stern, Hartmann and Feraud to the Wallachian Mountains in search of the treasure of Dracula, but the long-suffering peasants there, rapidly recognise who the dashing French Hussar is carrying inside him…

When an innkeeper passes on a message from Radu, arrogant Vlad disregards it, but later engages in a pointless clash with a band of Cossacks leading to the death of his mortal host…

As his men abandon his corpse to the snows, the embarrassed immortal marshals his fading strength to reanimate the cadaver and follow in search of a new meat-home…

And in 1887, Victor Douglas Thorpe attends the funeral of his so-suddenly and suspiciously deceased benefactor and is accosted by the woman who carries his unborn child. Her entreaties go unacknowledged and, as he is driven away in his livered carriage, she bitterly damns him…

To Be Continued…

 

The Chronicles of Legion volume 3: Blood Brothers

The unstinting war of immortal sanguinite siblings flows into a third translated volume as here some hint of what caused their enhanced states of being and eternal enmity is at last revealed. Still unfolding, across varied theatres of war, very different aspects of their inhumanity, our saga resumes in 1812 where Transylvanian snows conceal so many creatures which are Radu, collectively awaiting the next move of the Napoleonic deserters lured to this frozen wasteland by dreams of finding Dracula’s gold.

The teller of those tales was Captain Armand Malachi who led his battle-hardened comrades to Wallachia Mountains before dying in battle. At least that’s the way they all saw it. Vlad, riding Malachi, found it expedient to fall down when “killed” but now, with his host form actually ceasing to function in the crippling cold, the eternal warrior is forced to transfer his accommodations to something more welcoming and sustaining. When he catches up to his former friends, however, their understandable reaction leads to more violence and in the end only poor Kholya remains of any real use…

Half a world away and back in 1521, Gabriella, bearing a sign marking all the blood-ridden, stoically endures the vigorous dynastic intentions of future husband Hernan. She had endured the New World to be his comfortable, church-sanctioned brood-mare but is now far more interested in the Conquistador’s bastard son.

Her empire-building is not only imperilled by her treacherous body’s needs, but also by the impossibly powerful, indefatigably hostile natives bearing the taint and preternatural vitality of brother Radu.

When the “Indios” mount a full attack on the half-built compound, the Europeans barely repel the assault, and then only at the cost of the Doña’s steadfast and mystically augmented Carlos, whom she impetuously sacrifices to preserve Martin. In the gory aftermath, Hernan’s son realises what she is and what she’s done, but when they foolishly consummate their overwhelming passion, the constantly spying priests of the Inquisition make their own move. They are of course, no match for the powers of a Dracula…

Soon Hernan is gone too and Gabriella turns her attentions to making the New World her own. All that remains to bar her progress is firmly embedded Radu…

London in 1887 is the centre of the universe and formerly impoverished scoundrel Victor relishes his return to it, even as the latest embodiment of a monster. The new Lord Cavendish takes his place amongst the aristocracy of the Athenaeum Club but cannot escape their haughty disapproval and even outright hostility. No one knows why the immensely wealthy old oligarch settled his title and the largest fortune in the Empire upon such a blatant parvenu blackguard, but they all have suspicions…

When Chief Superintendent Warren of Scotland Yard and solicitor Mr. Morris Webster attempt to extort the new Peer with a fabrication of supposition and innuendo, they are unaware that they are challenging a sadistic absolute monarch carrying centuries of experience in removing threats to his security, but his summary treatment of them is as nothing to the way the next chancer is dealt with…

Soon afterwards the holder of Thorpe’s old gambling debts attempts to reassert his old hold on the former addict and foolishly uses Esther Harrington as leverage. When he was human, Thorpe had left her pregnant and penniless without a second thought, but as new Lord Cavendish is more concerned about making a statement than any sum of money. Before long Whitechapel’s grimy streets first run red with his all-encompassing vengeance and then explosively burn in a furious storm of purging flame.

Afterwards Cavendish cannot really explain why he lets Esther live or why he sets her up with a fortune and a new life… in distant India…

And in the cold snows of a dark night, Roma gypsies gather around a campfire where an old man tells the story of two brothers who were held hostage by the Ottoman Sultan to keep their lordly father compliant. The boys dealt with enforced captivity in different ways. Tough, rebellious Vlad bided his time and nursed his hatred whilst softer, weaker sibling Radu quickly capitulated, becoming a favourite plaything of the Sultan.

One day an aged pilgrim came to court carrying a box with two scorpions in it and Vlad discovered the means to fulfil all his dreams, but at such an incredible cost…

To Be Concluded…

 

The Chronicles of Legion volume 4: The Three Faces of Evil

Bleak, thrilling and sumptuously sinister, this last instalment feels a little rushed as the wetware war of brothers escalates across separate eras. With the Carpathian brothers clashing continually, and taking everyone in their proximities to hell with them, the fate of the unborn abomination is undisclosed…

However, as Vlad and Radu exploit their specific advantages and specialities, the physical clashes enter the terrifying realm of 20th century global conflicts and espionage endeavours, with corpses piling high everywhere. However, and as always, throughout their entwined existences, no one gets out alive and at last the bloody chess game and extended proxy wars can only be settled up close and personally: face to face and ichor to ichor…

Ultimately there a victor of sorts, but it doesn’t feel like it…

With illustrator Eric Henninot (Little Jones, Carthago, XIII Mystery) stepping in to limn a portion of the cataclysmic conclusion, the winner appears to be attrition and weariness, but is there one last bite in one of these beasts?

Physically unfolding as a quartet of luxurious oversized (211 x 282mm) full-colour hardbacks, as well as in digital editions, this superbly illustrated and beguiling told serial saga presents an intoxicatingly absorbing jigsaw of terror and tragedy that is a stunning and ambitious treat for all fans of fang and fear…
The Chronicles of Legion and all contents © Editions Glénat 2011-2012. Translated editions © Titan Comics, 2014 & 2015.

Posted on

Spinning (New Edition)


By Tillie Walden (Avery Hill Press)
ISBN: 978-1-91039-595-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Modern Classic Everyone Should Read… 10/10

Transitions are important. In fact, they are literally life changing. Here’s another one captured and shared by the amazing Tillie Walden…

We usually attribute wisdom and maturity in the creative arts to having lived a bit of life and getting some emotional grit in our wheels and sand in our faces, but that’s not the case for Texas-raised Tillie, whose incredible canon includes I Love this Part, On a Sunbeam, Are You Listening? and Clementine, not to mention award-winning debut graphic novel The End of Summer… and the revelatory biography we’re featuring today.

If you’re a completist, you’ll also want her picture book My Parents Won’t Stop Talking (created with Emma Hunsinger), Tegan and Sarah: Crush 2 and even her Cosmic Slumber Tarot set.

You don’t need a mask to have an origin story, and it’s a rare person – or perhaps indicative of self-deception or mental illness – who never ponders who they are or how they got to right here, right now. It’s a process that’s infinitely rewarding for creators and their readers. Spinning is a perfect example of an extremely talented person taking a basic human drive, exploiting it and turning it into magic. It’s a very personal origin story, which may have great relevance and meaning for many seeing it – and it’s got costumes too…

As previously stated, Walden has created a bunch of books and they mostly have little bios that say that she’s from Austin, Texas, as if that’s some kind of warning or character reference. Later ones say that she lives in Vermont with her wife and two cats and teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies.

So how did that all happen?

Intimate and revelatory, some of the story is here: snapshots concentrating on her middle school years, back when she was a competitive ice skater, moodily rendered in moody tones of purple and yellow that somehow emphasise the impression of a child under a stark and lonely spotlight, or maybe a chicken in speeding headlights…

There’s something worrisome and uncomfortable about the kind of family that allows – or worse, pushes – a child into a punishing regime of intense training in pursuit of sporting excellence (or any other kind with a monetary benefit attached). I’ve heard all the arguments for and frankly, I don’t care. I was in a choir from age 5 to the end of secondary school, and I know just when it stopped being fun and became a burden…

Tillie back then was a kid who had to get up hours before school, travelling mostly on her own to isolated rinks and push relentlessly just to be one of the few seeking to excel at figure and synchronised skating. There were countless hours of sleep deficit, cruelly screaming or smotheringly solicitous coaches, equally exhausted and brittle girls just as reluctant to be there and always perishing cold. And that’s only how each day started.

… And then the family abruptly upped sticks from New Jersey to resettle in Austin, Texas…

The next few years are revisited with punishing candour and beguiling charm, employing the conceit of specific moves in a skating program as indicators/chapter headings. We open with ‘Waltz Jump’, covering her East Coast life and cross-country transition to a whole new world as soon as 5th grade classes ended…

‘Scratch Spin’ sees scorching August heat as the new kid meets teammates and/or rivals Michaela, Jennifer, Rosalind, Dasha and Little Dasha: as Tillie quickly learns that nothing she knew before applies here. At least coach Caitlin seems supportive and not another screaming harpy…

To supplement the misery, boost her grades and ostensibly offset bullying, Tillie is enrolled in a private girls’ school and sent for private cello lessons, proving her parents knew nothing about girls or school. Even skating has changed. Now she must attend two different rinks at separate times of day, constantly test to qualify and of course, endure more new friends… and otherwise.

Although Carly, Trinity, Sarah and the rest are all nice enough, it somehow only reinforces Tillie’s feelings of isolation and discomfort…

‘Flip Jump’ features first crushes, new bestie Lindsay, scary moments with adored brother John and a creepy old guy, with young Miss Walden triumphantly rejoining the traveling competition circuit, whilst ‘Axel’ celebrates her turning 12 and becoming bogged down in all the complex social interactions she just doesn’t understand, but which increasingly obsess her class and teammates. There’s also a bitterly regretted missed chance to confront the bully who made her life hell for a year…

Increasingly aware that skating is now a chore, not a choice, Tillie begins to ‘Spiral’ after a near fatal accident she refuses to tell anyone about, but which has lasting repercussions. There’s a life changing moment when she realises how much she enjoys drawing and how good she is at it, and a far happier discovery: classmate Rae likes her every bit as much as Tillie likes her – and in just the same way.

‘Spread Eagle’ sees that critical first love brutally end when her girlfriend’s parents find out and take preventative action: something Tillie would have far preferred to the understanding talk her own mother forces upon her, and which leads to the skater coming out to anyone who cares to listen…

As art grows to consume her, skating declines as an interest but paradoxically boosts her ability to win. Nevertheless, a crisis inevitably approaches and ‘Counter’ focuses on her at age 16, simultaneously seeking to bolster her skate ranking and planning on leaving Texas as soon as possible. SATs loom large on everyone’s horizon and Tillie has to endure extra tutoring despite having no intention of going to college. The arrangement almost makes her another crime statistic, but the real result of her narrow escape is realisation that her entire life is all about being tested and narrowly passing or surviving…

Floating days go by in a non-involved haze, before she eventually wakes up and takes charge. ‘Lutz’ addresses all her biggest challenges coming at once, yet another near-death experience, a life-altering unburdening and a decision at last made, leading into the liberating whirl of ‘Twizzle’ to free herself from twelve years a slave to other people’s wishes and the beginning of her own life…

That’s further addressed in the biographical Author’s Note that closes this magnificent and moving memoir. I said earlier that this was a part of Tillie Walden’s story; for more – as much as she’s willing to share – you’ll need to read her other books, both the biographical and fully fictional ones. Get them, read them, tell a friend. Give generously and wisely as the festive season unfolds…
© 2017 Tillie Walden. All rights reserved. This edition published 2024. All rights reserved.