Now Read This!

February 3, 2015February 2, 2015

Twin Spica volume 6

By Kou Yaginuma (Vertical)
ISBN: 978-1-935654-03-2

This beguilingly intimate paean to the unyielding allure of the stars came out of Kou Yaginuma’s poignant vignette ‘2015 Nen no Uchiage Hanabi’ (‘2015: Fireworks’), published in Gekkan Comic Flapper magazine in June 2000.

Subsequently expanded and enhanced, the themes and characters grew into a spellbinding coming-of-age epic which wedded hard science and humanist fiction with lyrical mysticism wrapped up in traditional tales of school-days friendships and growing up.

Small, unassuming Asumi Kamogawa has always dreamed of going into space. From her earliest moments the lonely child gazed with intense longing up at the stars, her constant companion and confidante an imaginary friend dubbed Mr. Lion.

When Asumi was a year old, the first Japanese space launch had ended in catastrophe after rocket-ship ShishigÅ (â€œThe Lionâ€) exploded: crashing back to earth on the city of Yuigahama where the Kamogawas lived. Hundreds were killed and many more injured.

Among the cruellest casualties was Asumi’s own mother. Maimed and comatose, the matron took years to die and the long, drawn-out tragedy deeply traumatised her tiny, uncomprehending daughter. The shock also crushed her grieving husband who had worked as a designer on the rockets for Japan’s fledgling Space Program.

In the wake of the disaster, Tomoro Kamogawa was assigned by the corporation who had built the ship to head the reparations committee. Guilt-wracked and personally bereaved, the devastated technologist visited and formally apologised to each and every survivor or victim’s grieving family. The experience harrowed and crushed him.

He is certainly no fan of the space program now; having lost his wife, his beloved engineering career and his pride to the race for the heavens. He raised his daughter alone, working two – and often three – menial jobs at a time for over a decade and cannot countenance losing the very last of his loved ones to the cold black heavensâ€¦

In response to the Lion disaster, Japan set up an Astronautics and Space Sciences Academy. After years of passionate struggle and in defiance of her father’s wishes, in 2024 Asumi – an isolated, solitary, serious but determined teenager – was accepted to the Tokyo National Space School. Without her father’s blessing, she reluctantly left Yuigahama and joined the new class.

Amongst the year’s fresh intake were surly, abrasive Shinnosuke Fuchuya (an elementary school classmate who used to bully her as a child back in Yuigahama), jolly Kei Oumi, chilly Marika Ukita and spooky, ultra-cool style-icon and fashion victim Shu Suzuki who all gradually became the shy introvert’s closest acquaintances.

Every day Asumi closed inexorably upon her stellar goal. Ever since the crashing rocket had shattered her family, she had drawn comfort from the firmament, with Mr. Lion staring up at the heavens by her side; both especially drawn to the twinkling glow of Virgo and the alluring binary star Spica.

And now she was so tantalisingly closeâ€¦

Small, poor, physically weak but resolutely capable, Asumi endures and triumphs over every obstacle and she still talks with Mr. Lion – who is very probably the ghost of a ShishigÅ crewmanâ€¦

All any student at the Academy can think of is going to space, but they are harshly and constantly reminded that most of them won’t even finish their schooling. At just four feet, eight inches tall Asumi constantly struggles to meet the arduous physical requirements but has already survived far greater problems. She is still adjusting to the busy life of Tokyo, sleeps in tawdry communal women’s dorm â€œThe Seagullâ€, struggles with many of her classes and subsists on meagre funds, supplemented by part-time jobsâ€¦

Individual stories are divided into â€œMissionsâ€ with volume six covering numbers 25-29, and also including a mesmerising sidebar tale of Asumi’s childhood as well as another entrancing autobiographical vignette from the author’s own teenage years.

‘Mission: 25’ begins with standoffish Ukita in big trouble in the deep woods. Asumi’s entire class are enduring a brutal survival exercise in the wilds but the former rich girl – who has recently escaped her overbearing father’s domination – also suffers from some secret mystery malady. Moreover she has recently decided to go off her meds.

Now she is weak and bleeding, lost where no one can help herâ€¦

As the carefully monitoring teachers move in to save Ukita, Asumi reaches her classmates at the designated target zone. They are astounded to find that she has made her way to them without the compass they all had in their survival kitsâ€¦

With only Ukita a no-show, Asumi abandons her own position of safety to go back into the woods and search for her, unaware that the object of her concern is slowly recovering at the teachers’ monitoring post.

As previously seen in a sequence of flashbacks, the enigmatic girl has an ancient and unexplained connection to the boy who became Mr. Lionâ€¦

Long ago in Yuigahama, a lad obsessed with rockets met a frail and sickly rich girl, stuck in isolation in a big house. Her name was Marika Ukita and they became friends despite her condition and the constant angry intervention of her father.

She was beguiled by his tales of space flight and the history of exploration, and shared the only joyous moment in her tragic life, when her over-protective dad took her to see a play called Beauty and the Beastâ€¦

During the big annual Fireworks Festival the boy made a lion-mask of the Beast to wear, but she never came. He had to break into the mansion to show her. She was very sick but wanted to dance with himâ€¦

Later the dying daughter had quietly rebelled when told she was being packed off to a Swiss sanatorium. She slipped out of the house when no-one was watching and vanished. The boy knew where she had gone and rushed off to save herâ€¦

In the Now as slowly recovering Cadet Ukita see her classmates all head back into danger for her, she experiences awful memories: visions of a man wealthy enough to replace a lost daughter through money and science but not show her any love. Furious yet inexplicably delighted, Ukita begins to realise that she has friends who will risk everything for herâ€¦

‘Mission: 26’ finds the exhausted little astronaut-to-be back home safely at the Seagull hostel, blithely unaware that romantically interested party Kiriu and his fellow orphan Akane have been missing their Asumi.

Instead she is busy teaching Ukita – still plagued with memories of her father’s draconian efforts to keep her healthy but never caring if she was happy – how to be sociable. Soon they realise how much they share in respect to love of the starsâ€¦

Asumi’s joy soon dissipates when she learns of Kiriu’s latest crisis and that little sister Akane has been hospitalised with sunstroke. The determined tyke was sitting outside waiting for her astronaut friend to visitâ€¦

Returning to the orphanage that night Kiriu is astounded to find Asumi there, and even more astonished when she invites him to come see the stars with herâ€¦

‘Mission: 27’ offers more insight into Mr. Lion’s past as a special guest lecturer visits the Space School. Astronaut Ryohei Haijima is a god to the star-struck kids but he seems almost apologetic and embarrassed to be there, with no pride in his achievements.

Mr. Lion knows his story. As boys they were at school together and worked on rocketry projects that gave them both ineffable pleasure. They both became astronauts, and if Haijima hadn’t artfully relinquished his position to the desperately eager Lion, he would have died in the ShishigÅ disaster.

On hearing this, Asumi decides to reintroduce the despondent victim of Survivor’s Guilt to his boyhood friendâ€¦

Focus shifts to ultra-cool Shu Suzuki with ‘Mission: 28’ as the laconic rich kid goes missing for a week whilst his classmates suffer the next devilish practical course devised by their tutors to separate potential space explorers from ordinary mortals. Concerned, they all begin searching for him and learn an extraordinary story.

Suzuki too has problems with parents. As the first son of a wealthy business and political dynasty he was groomed from birth to inherit the mantles of duty and government, but when he refused and chose the stars he was disowned. As his friends converge on the lost boy he invites them all to sit with him and fold origami stars, wryly revealing he’s been working for the past week to pay for his tuitionâ€¦

The ongoing saga pauses here after ‘Mission: 28’ finds the class practising in a space shuttle trainer. As usual the tests are rigged, unfair and a complete surprise but as she bitterly complains – as always – Oumi realises that a strange calmness and complacency has become Ukita’s new emotional state.

Stressed to their limits the students look forward to the imminent summer vacation and when Oumi stridently suggests they all head for the beach together, Fuchuya states he has to go home. Undaunted, Oumi points out that Yuigahama is a seaside town – and must have a beach – whilst Asumi reminds them that the town’s annual Fireworks Festival is forthcomingâ€¦

With the holiday plans a fait accompli, the kids separate and Ukita finds the irrepressible Suzuki moving his meagre belongings into the library. Soon all of them are helping him kit out the attic he intends to squat in, astounded at the beautiful book-crammed annexe, filled floor to ceiling with tomes about spaceâ€¦

And then it’s time for the holidays and Asumi heads back to Yuigahama, looking forward to the Festival and seeing Fuchuya’s wonderful grandfather again. She’s going to be very disappointedâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

Although the main event goes into a holding pattern here, further insights into Asumi’s childhood are forthcoming as ‘Tiny, Tiny Aqua Star’ reveals how the little outcast was ostracised and bullied by her fellows for claiming she had an astronaut lion ghost for a friend. The unflaggingly honest waif never knew her shy classmate Shinnosuke Fuchuya was quietly keeping the worst of the class’s abuse away from herâ€¦

Life was still pretty unpleasant, however, but took a sweet upturn when old Mr. Fuchuya (the lad’s granddad) gave her one of his handmade sparklers to light at the Fireworks Festival.

More disturbing was the urgent and savage demand of one of her tormentors. Following the death of her mother, Yuzo wanted Asumi to show her the place where you see ghosts, even if it cost both their livesâ€¦

The manga miracles then conclude with ‘Another Spica’ which sees author Yaginuma in autobiographical mode once more, harking back to his ambition-free teens, chopping pineapples in his crappy job and enduring the self-castigating hell of a first dateâ€¦

These unforgettable tales originally appeared in 2004 as Futatsu no Supika 6 in Seinen manga magazine Gekkan Comic Flapper, aimed at male readers aged 18-30, but this ongoing, unfolding saga is perfect for any older kid with stars in their eyesâ€¦

Twin Spica filled sixteen collected volumes from September 2001 to August 2009, tracing the trajectories of Asumi and friends from callow students to accomplished astronauts and has spawned both anime and live action TV series.

This sublime serial has everything: plenty of hard science to back up the informed extrapolation, an engaging cast, mystery, frustrated passion, alienation, angst, enduring friendships and just the right blend of spiritual engagement with wild-eyed wonder; all welded seamlessly into an evocative, addictive drama.

Rekindling the magical spark of the Wild Black Yonder for a new generation, this is a treat no imagineer with head firmly in the clouds can afford to missâ€¦

Â© 2011 by Kou Yaginuma. Translation Â© 2011 Vertical, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book is printed in the Japanese right to left, back to front format.

February 2, 2015February 1, 2015

Marvel Zombies Vs. Army of Darkness

By John Layman, Fabiano Neves, Fernando Blanco, Sean Phillips & various (Marvel/Dynamite Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4243-0

Swiftly catching a cultural wave to become one of modern Marvel’s most popular niche-franchises, a canny blend of gratuitous violence, sharp wit and arrant buffoonery led to the Marvel Zombies taking the comics-reading world by storm in the mid-2000s.

So big was the concept that, like a flesh-eating infection, it even escaped the confines of corporate continuity to engender an inter-company crossover with another hugely popular horror franchiseâ€¦

In one of the many Marvel universes an intruder from beyond brought an extra-dimensional curse to one tragic reality: a pestilence that without exception instantly turned the infected (for which read â€œbittenâ€) victims into ravenous, undead eating machines.

Confronted by wave after wave of valiant superheroes, â€œpatient zeroâ€ defeated them all and his all-conquering contagion spread exponentially as defenders fell to rise as voracious monsters. Before a day was out a chain-reaction of hungry terror had devastated the world, leaving its costumed champions nothing more than the apex predators atop a rapidly diminishing food sourceâ€¦

Ash Williams – as played onscreen by actor Bruce Campbell – is the implausible demon-killing star of the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness movies devised by Sam Raimi. A horny, misogynistic oaf and charmless goon, he is nonetheless chosen by fate to destroy all â€œdeaditesâ€: ravening evil ghosts intent on ending all life, spawned by a malignant, malevolent sentient tome known as The Necronomicon.

For a total butthole, Ash is surprisingly competent at his jobâ€¦

Dark Horse Comics produced the first Evil Dead comicbook series in 1992 and Dynamite Entertainment picked up the license in 2004 with dark and daft miniseries Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes. It led to 2005’s Army of Darkness: Shop Till You Drop (Dead) and Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator before an on-going series was commissioned in 2006.

Considering his predilection for gory, sardonic splatter-tainment, the dimension-hopping, time-jumping Ash was a dead cert to visit Marvel’s funerary fun houseâ€¦

This slim and sinister inter-company chronicle collects Marvel Zombies Vs. Army of Darkness #1-5 (May – September 2007), courtesy of scripter John Layman and illustrators Fabiano Neves with Fernando Blanco, Sean Phillips and colourist June Chung all contributing to the mix.

Unusual for such intersecting universe imbroglios, the events of this yarn are â€œin-continuityâ€, occurring during, contiguous with and affecting the tragic happenings seen in ‘Marvel Zombies: Dead Days’: even offering key story points not revealed in the exclusively Marvel talesâ€¦

It begins after Ash arrives on Earth in the hours before the infection first hits. A no-nonsense blue-collar kind of guy, the Deadite Destroyer can take demonic monsters and time-travel in his stride but is flabbergasted to see grown men in tights beating each other up.

Watching Daredevil battle super-villain Thunderball the nonplussed wanderer is unable to discern who is good and who evil but his amazement is suspended after the wicked spirit of the Necronomicon appears and taunts him with a prophecyâ€¦ â€œThis world will die and an army of the dead will riseâ€â€¦

Stuck in a world of costumed clowns, Ash decides to go straight to the top and seeks out Avengers Mansion, but the assembled heroes refuse to believe his warnings of doom. Being dumped in a lake by the Scarlet Witch only serves to jog his memory however and he recalls his last moments before arriving in this fruity, steroid-infested madhouseâ€¦

He was dead and about to enter Heaven when a costumed maniac attacked, biting the deceased, turning them into flesh-eating horrors and wrecking the entire Afterlife. Ash escaped back to the lands of the living, but the creature followed himâ€¦

The heroes are leaving to investigate reports of a monster when Ash finds them again, and Colonel America orders Spider-Man to take the raving lunatic away for his own safety. By the time the traveller convinces the Wallcrawler that he isn’t crazy, the damage has been done. Almost all of the World’s Mightiest Heroes are ravening undead horrors and Ash is ‘Earth’s Mightiest Zero’â€¦

Stunned, the late-arriving webspinner is easy meat for the Star-Spangled zombie, leaving Ash helpless before a hungry rabble of former heroesâ€¦

Events kick into grisly top gear in ‘Marvel Team-Ups’ as Spider-Man, frantically fighting the hunger that’s killing him, whisks Ash to temporary safety before fleeing, leaving the extra-dimensional demon killer all alone until seeming kindred spirit The Punisher shows up.

The man with the skull on his chest doesn’t care about undead monsters: he’s busy killing a few living ones like The Kingpin, Hammerhead and The Owlâ€¦

Once his current job is completed however he comes around to Ash’s way of thinking, but his confrontational manner of only dealing with things head on soon ends his usefulness. The vigilante does however leave Ash with a lot of serious ordnance, which the cocky Mr. Williams uses to save hot babe Dazzler from imminent death by superhero biteâ€¦

Ash is convinced that the Necronomicon is summoning Deadites to this Earth and, after informing her that an evil magic book is behind all the grief, Dazzler takes him to the home of Doctor Strange, reasoning that if the chronicle of chaos is to be found anywhere it will be in the library of Earth’s Sorcerer Supremeâ€¦

They are too late: ‘Night of the Livid Dead’ finds Ash meeting again the Scarlet Witch (now the only still-breathing Avenger) and encountering his Marvel Earth counterpart as well as a flesh-eating humanoid duck named Howard, but the mystic they’re seeking is long gone.

Ash and his new team do however convince the other tormented tomes in the library to tell them where the Necronomicon is currently located and, leaving scenes of escalating horror behind them, the mortals fly to Latveria to confront a foreigner with the unlikely name of Doctor Doomâ€¦

By the time they get there the plague has gone global and the Balkan kingdom is under siege: possibly the only place on Earth where humans still live – and only then behind the straining force-fields of Castle Doomstadt.

‘The Book of Doom’ opens with the Iron Dictator disregarding Ash’s warnings of infernal invasion in favour his own conclusions of a simple pan-dimensional virus, before dumping him in the pens where a breeding stock of humans is cached, ready to repopulate Earth after Doom inevitably destroys the zombie hordes.

Unconvinced by his captor’s arrogant assurances, Ash busts out and meets Scarlet Witch on her way to the dictator’s library. Soon they are interrogating the Devil Doctor’s copy of the Necronomicon and Ash discovers he been played from page oneâ€¦

Reeling with despair and defeat he then releases a hot chick in a glass tube who calls herself Amora the Enchantress, blissfully unaware that she is both an evil goddess and a plague-carrying zombie Doom has been experimenting onâ€¦

The tale and the world comes to an explosive, blood-drenched end in concluding chapter ‘The Stalking Dead’ wherein an army of undead heroes converge on Latveria, but not before Ash and Doom pull a minor rabbit out of their combined hats, ferrying the last humans to a place of other-dimensional safety. The hapless Deadite Hunter, however, is less lucky and lands in a dimension with a monster problem even he hasn’t encountered beforeâ€¦

Fast-paced, irreverent, raucous and gorily outrageous, this laugh-out-loud saga of no-guts-and-less-glory will sit well with readers hungry for immature entertainment and all comicbook completists, and comes with a splendid gallery of covers-&-variants by Arthur Suydam, recreating eight classic scenes from Marvel history. Also included are those inspirational originals by John Byrne, Terry Austin, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Carmine Infantino, Ross Andru, Dick Giordano, Jim Lee, Jim Starlin and Frank Miller.

Â© 2007, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. All Marvel characters, names and distinctive likenesses are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc. Army of Darkness and all characters, names and distinctive likenesses are trademarks of Orion Pictures â„¢ & Â© 1993-2009 Orion Pictures Corporation, Inc. All rights reserved. Licensed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. to Dynamic Forces Inc. Dynamite, Dynamic Entertainment & its logo â„¢ & Dynamic Forces Inc. Inc. All rights reserved.

January 31, 2015January 30, 2015

The Question: Pipeline

By Greg Rucka, Cully Hamner, Laura Martin, Dave McCaig & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3041-8

The Question, as created by Steve Ditko, was Vic Sage, a driven, obsessed journalist who sought out crime and corruption irrespective of the consequences. The Charlton Comics â€œAction-Heroâ€ was purchased by DC – along with a host of other cool and quirky outsiders – when the B-List company folded in 1983, and became the template for the compulsive loner Rorschach when Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons first drafted the miniseries which would become the groundbreaking Watchmen.

An ordinary man pushed to the edge by his upbringing and obsessions, Sage used his fists and a mask that made him look faceless to get answers (and, consequently, justice) whenever normal journalistic methods failed.

After a few minor successes around the DC universe Sage got a job in the town where he grew up. Hub City (purportedly based on East St. Louis) was a hell-hole, the most corrupt and morally bankrupt municipality in America. When Sage started cleaning house as The Question he was promptly killed, rescued and resurrected by the inscrutable Shiva – â€œWorld’s Deadliest Assassinâ€.

Crippled, he journeyed into the wilderness to be healed and trained by O’Neil’s other legendary martial arts creation, Richard Dragon.

Eventually a new type of hero returned to Hub City, philosophically inquisitive rather than merely angry and frustrated, but still cursed with a drive to understand how and why things universally go bad. Aligning himself with his old intellectual mentor and sounding board Professor Aristotle Rodor, Sage set about cleaning up â€œThe Hubâ€ and finally getting a few answersâ€¦

Spinning out of DC’s 52 (2006-2007) and Countdown to Final Crisis (2007-2008) mega-series, disgraced Gotham City cop Renee Montoya was groomed to take up the faceless mask and obsessions of the shadowy hero as Sage slowly succumbed to cancer.

First as his disciple and then as his heir (and after being masterfully schooled in martial arts by Richard Dragon) she took up Sage’s quest and was soon drawn into a secret war with the passionate adherents of a malign gospel of All Things Evil alternatively known as the Books of Blood or the Crime Bible.

This legendary tome was said to counter all that is good in the world and justify and codify all that is wrong. Driven by a need to understand the evils she fights and stop the spread of this monstrous belief, the new Question hunted down the remaining copies of the book and the distinct factions which protected them and promoted the terrible teachings.

Her path eventually pitted her against the secret master of the â€œDark Faithâ€: the immortal Vandal Savage, believed by many to be the human species’ first murdererâ€¦

Collecting the stunning back-up series from Detective Comics #854-865 (August 2009 to July 2010) this globe-girdling saga of corruption and depravity by writer Greg Rucka, illustrator Cully Hamner and colourists Laura Martin and Dave McCaig begins in the aftermath of that apocalyptic confrontation, with Montoya and â€œTotâ€ Rodor ensconced in their desolate lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

They are looking for a new case; sorting through emails from a â€œhelp-offeredâ€ website they’d set up when a particular message catches Renee’s eye.

Hector Soliz is an illegal immigrant who has been searching for his sister ever since she went missing. He foolishly trusted the â€œcoyoteâ€ who originally smuggled him into America to do the same for Louisa, but never took into account that, for men like Varga, pretty young girls have a value far beyond simple cargo to be smuggled across a closed borderâ€¦

Taking the case, Renee is soon breaking into the flesh peddler’s home and dealing harshly with Varga’s brutal thugs where she finds a bed with chains and a camera set-upâ€¦

After undergoing some especially intense enquiries the coyote gives up the name of the man he eventually sold Louisa to: millionaire shipping exporter Gordon Chandless.

Breaking into the businessman’s palatial HQ isn’t much harder, but overconfidence soon costs The Question dearly as she is surprised and overpowered by hulking bodyguard Mr. Bolt and his handy tasersâ€¦

Unable to get any answers from his faceless captive, Chandless opts for her quiet removal, but by the time The Question escapes a watery death-trap and returns in a very bad mood, the wily human trafficker is already goneâ€¦

Painfully aware that she’s tracking an evil enterprise of vast proportions, Renee uses Tot’s data-mining skills to track the mogul of misery to his luxury Hollywood lair and goes in blazing, disdainful of his army of heavies. They might be utterly unable to stop the implacable Question, but two of them are capable enough to kill their own boss at the clandestine command of his masterâ€¦

Despite being back at square one in regard to the criminal hierarchy, Renee does now have a location on a certain container vessel ready to ship out with a new cargo of slaves. Righteous indignation, cold fury and a lucky intervention by the FBI soon finds all of the victims safe and free – including little Louisa Solizâ€¦

‘Pipeline: Chapter Two’ moves the story on as The Question continues her crusade to destroy the trafficking empire, slowly and violently working her way up the chain of scumbags and crushing individual enterprises whilst inexorably zeroing in on the major player behind the network of sin and miseryâ€¦

Of course such costly interventions prompt the mystery leader to fight back, and during her raid on a top-of-the-range hot car franchise the bad guys retaliate with a devious and deadly ambush of their own. That’s when Montoya’s secret weapon makes her presence known and the crooks all end up maimed or worse at the hand of the relentless unforgiving Huntressâ€¦

Helena Bertinelli was mob royalty but, following a massacre considered an occupational hazard in â€œThe Familyâ€ line of work, she disappeared. The only survivor of a major hit, she trained to become a masked avenger ruthlessly punishing all gangsters whilst sticking up for innocent ordinary folk. She especially despises those who prey on childrenâ€¦

Huntress and the Question continue busting rackets all across the world, methodically dismantling the network as they climb the ladder to the big boss, and finally provoke an overwhelming response in the form of super-assassin Zeiss.

It was all part of a far deeper plan conceived by the vengeful vigilantes who promptly co-opt the mercenary killer to give up his unassailable paymaster. Their tactics however revolt Tot and the elderly scholar resigns.

Undeterred but now deprived of crucial technical support, the determined duo head for Gotham City where Helena introduces The Question to the top-secret leader of the all-female super-team known as the Birds of Prey. Former GCPD detective Montoya cannot believe that Commissioner Gordon‘s mousey dweeb daughter Barbara was once Batgirl and is now covert anti-crime mastermind â€œOracleâ€â€¦

Her irresistible cyber-probing soon has the dynamic duo invading an underworld server-farm in Odessa which – after the studied application of maximum force – provides a money trail to the Pipeline overlord. However when they sneak onto Oolong Island they walk straight into a trapâ€¦

The rogue state is the ultimate expression of Capitalism: peopled by criminals and the mad scientists of many nations, it maintains its precarious independence by selling proscribed technologies to anyone with money, proudly free from the annoying oversight of law or hindrance of moralityâ€¦

President-for-Life Veronica Cale starts by torturing her captive heroes but after debating with The Question soon sees that the most profit doesn’t necessarily stem from staying boughtâ€¦

Before long, Montoya and Bertinelli are on the final stretch: sneaking into Syria and invading the stronghold of the man who has turned humans into commodities and exported sin and horror on a global scale.

Unfortunately the wickedest man alive is ready and waiting for themâ€¦

The cataclysmic final confrontation is as much theosophical debate as brutal beat-down and in the final reckoning the allies must become enemies for the best possible reasons before finding anything approaching an acceptable answer to their dilemmasâ€¦

Moody, fast-paced, challenging and astoundingly action-packed, this stylish trade paperback edition also offers a hugely engaging ‘Sketchbook’ section from Cully Hamner offering developmental peeks into his evolution of the characters, a fascinating eight pages of layouts and roughs and some of his amazing set designs for story-locations which will delight and amaze all lovers of comic art.

Compelling and breathtaking, Pipeline exposes the dark underbelly of mainstream Fights ‘n’ Tights comics and proves that you don’t need graphic excess to tell hard-hitting tales or captivate lovers of adventure blockbusters.
Â© 2009, 2010, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

January 30, 2015

Marvel Zombies: the Complete Collection volume 1

By Mark Millar, Robert Kirkman, Reginald Hudlin, Greg Land, Sean Phillips, Francis Portela, Mitch Breitweiser & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-8538-3

Swiftly catching a cultural wave to become one of modern Marvel’s most popular niche-franchises, the canny blend of gratuitous measured sarcasm and arrant cosmic buffoonery compiled here traces all the early appearances of the deadly departed, flesh-eating superheroes from an alternate universe which wasn’t so different from the one we all know – at least until a dire contagion killed every ordinary mortal and infected every super-human upon itâ€¦

This mammoth volume re-presents the first appearances of those chompy champions as seen in Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-23 and #30-32, Marvel Zombies #1-5, Marvel Zombies: Dead Days #1 and Black Panther volume 4 #28-30 (plus material from Marvel Spotlight: Marvel Zombies/Mystic Arcana collectively spanning September 2005 to October 2007) and leaps into sinister high gear following Robert â€œThe Zombie Guyâ€ Kirkman’s informative introduction ‘Marvelous Zombies’â€¦

In many ways a highly entertaining one-trick pony, these tales all depend on a deep familiarity with the regular Marvel pantheon, a fondness for schlock horror and the cherished tradition of superheroes beating the stuffings out of each other.

This time however, it’s for keeps, with beloved icons actually eating the stuffings out of each other – and just about everyone else – until only a handful of living breathing folk remain, desperately seeking a cure or a way to escape their universe without bringing the hunger plague with themâ€¦

It all begins with the first chronological appearance of the brain-eaters: a bleak and subtle exploit which appeared in Ultimate Fantastic Four #21-23. This team is a retooled version of the Lee/Kirby stalwarts created as part of the Marvel Ultimates imprint which began in 2000.

After Marvel’s near-demise in 1996, the new management oversaw a thoroughly modernising refit of key properties: fresher characters and concepts to appeal to a new generation of â€œki-dultsâ€ – perceived to be a potentially separate buying public from those readers content to stick with the various efforts that had gradually devolved from the Founding Fathers of the House of Ideas.

This super-powered quartet are part of a corporate think-thank tasked with saving the world and making a profit, and in ‘Crossover’ by Mark Millar, Greg Land & Matt Ryan, wÃ¼nderkind Reed Richards is contacted by a smarter, older version of himself offering the secrets of trans-dimensional travel.

Defying his bosses and comrades, Reed translates to the other Earth only to find he’s been duped by adult, zombie versions of the FF, looking for fresh fields to infect and people to digestâ€¦

Breaking free, young Richards discovers a devastated, desolate New York populated solely by manic monster superheroes, all eager to eat one of the last living beings on the planet. Suddenly rescued by Magneto, Reed meets other survivors as they prepare for their last hurrah. Offering them a chance to escape, Reed is blissfully unaware that he’s already allowed the Zombie FF to invade the still living world he came fromâ€¦

Culminating in a bombastic battle on two planes of reality and a tragic heroic sacrifice, this creepy chronicle ends with the zombie FF imprisoned on Ultimate Earthâ€¦

The concept evolved into a franchise in February 2006 with the launch of 5-part miniseries Marvel Zombies, by Robert Kirkman & Sean Phillips, which returned to the infected alternate Earth to detail the final fall of humanity and the improbable things that happened nextâ€¦

With the living all gone or infected, Earth’s former heroes and villains are at a loss. Fighting and bickering whiles away time but since nothing can kill them and only living flesh will sate their hunger for even a second, all hope seems lost until a strange glowing alien on a surfboard appears in the skyâ€¦

Unaware that Giant-Man has keeping a stash of live humans (including former friend Black Panther) to eat in secret and one piece at a time, the zombies are united by Colonel America and Iron Man into an army to capture and consume the cosmic skyrider.

As the living ruin who was the Panther escapes and fortuitously unites with Magneto’s remaining mutant acolytes, the Silver Surfer falls to a happily distracted army of zombies who devour him and somehow absorb his cosmic energies. But as they finish, the planetary devourer Galactus arrives, demanding to know where his herald isâ€¦

The star god eats entire planets to survive but even he has never encountered hunger such as possesses the zombies. Hundreds of the massed undead launch themselves at him and although he destroys many he cannot kill them allâ€¦

As Earth’s remaining human and mutants form an uneasy alliance and flee to a hidden sanctuary, Galactus readies himself to consume Earth but is unprepared for the ingenuity of the zombie Avengers who turn the tables and eat the eater.

Now the whole universe is at risk since Iron Man, Hulk, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Giant-Man and Spider-Man – fuelled by Galactus’ limitless cosmic energy – can travel from planet to planet to assuage their unceasing appetitesâ€¦

Following a few tantalising snippets culled from intervening UFF issues with the undead quartet describing what they’ll do when – not if – they get loose, the saga finally explodes into high gear in ‘Frightful’ from Ultimate Fantastic Four #30-32, by Millar, Land, Ryan & Mitch Breitweiser.

Here the Ultimate Universe Dr. Doom enacts a subtle plan to crush his arch-rival Reed Richards, but the imprisoned, lab-rat zombie FF have their own agenda: one which includes escaping and eating every living thing on the planetâ€¦

A far more serious tale of revenge and obsession, this yarn is a real chiller in a volume far more silly than scary and culminates in an unlikely sacrifice to save the world from the one person nobody expected to give a damnâ€¦â€¦

Events take a lighter tone if not turn when events on the original Marvel Earth impinge on the zombieverse.

Here a Civil War had erupted between costumed heroes after the US government ordered all superhumans to unmask and register themselves. From that period comes ‘Good Eatin”, a light-hearted, grotesquely slapstick 3-part hoot from Black Panther #28-30 (July-October 2007).

The tale revealed how, on undead Earth, the six victorious zombies – Tony Stark, Luke Cage, Giant-Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine and the Hulk – ate Galactus and absorbed all his power. With every other food source exhausted they then ranged their entire reality for forty years, killing every thing and every person in every civilisation they could find.

Convened for a brief time as the â€œNew Fantastic Fourâ€ of our Earth, X-Man Storm, Human Torch, Thing and the Panther went time- and dimension-hopping at just the wrong moment and ended upon a hidden citadel of the shape-shifting Skrulls just as the Galactal Zombie Diners Club discovers what just might be the last edible planet in their universe.

‘Hell of a Mess’, ‘From Bad to Worse’ and ‘Absolutely No Way to Win’ (by Reginald Hudlin & Francis Portela) comprise an action-packed, hilariously bad-taste splatter-fest to delight the thrill-seeking, grossness-engorged teenager in us allâ€¦

The story portion of this chronicle of the damned concludes with a one-shot prequel which concentrated on the tragedy of the final hours of that doomed alternity. In Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (May 2007), Robert Kirkman & Sean Phillips detailed exactly how humanity ended after Earth’s heroes all gathered to battle a super-villain from another dimension.

This intruder had unfortunately imported an extra-dimensional curse to this reality: one that turns the infected (for which read â€œbittenâ€) victims into ravenous, undead eating machines. Before a day was out a chain reaction of terror had devastated the world, leaving its costumed champions nothing more than the apex predators atop a rapidly diminishing food sourceâ€¦

This tome is as much art book as graphic narrative and also includes an incredible range of alternate and variant covers as well as a gallery of the landmark original covers used by zombie illustrator Arthur Suydam as the basis for the 50 new spoof and pastiche images he created: all referencing key moments from Marvel’s decades-long-history and adding so much to the project’s success.

These include Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko’s Amazing Fantasy #15 (from August 1962), Spider-Man #1 by Todd McFarlane (August 1990), Amazing Spider-Man #50 (July 1967 by John Romita Sr.), Hulk #1 by Kirby & Paul Reinman (May 1962), Avengers #4 (March 1964 by Kirby), Daredevil #179 (February 1988 by Frank Millar & Klaus Janson), X-Men #1 (September 1963, by Kirby & Sol Brodsky, Silver Surfer #1 (John Buscema, August 1968), Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961 by Kirby), Avengers #87 (April 1971 by John Buscema & John Verpoorten), the other X-Men #1 from October 1991 by Jim Lee & Scott Williams, Secret Wars #1 (May 1984, Mike Zeck & John Beatty) and so many more, all accompanied by the artist’s fascinating insights and commentary

As well as Suydam’s fiendish fifty reinterpretations there are 42 covers by Land, Matt, Frank D’Armata, Justin Ponsor, Jay Leisten, Phillips, Juan Bobillo, Kaare Andrews, David Aja, Leonard Kirk, Aaron Lopresti, Jeromy Cox, Carlo Pagulayan, Romita Sr., Ed McGuinness, Jason Keith, Richard Corben, Ariel Olivetti, David Yardin, Matt Milla, Scott Clark, Boris Vallejo, Earl Norem, Kyle Hotz and Dan Brown, all adding to the devilish dark art delights and augmenting the feature-packed prose section at the end.

Essays and snippets here include ‘Interview Excerpts from Marvel Spotlight: Robert Kirkman/Greg Land’, ‘A Gruesome Good Time: The Story of the Marvel Zombies’, ‘Whose Stomach Are You In?’, ‘Undead Again’ and ‘Life Among the Zombies’ – all by Dugan Trodglen – plus a picture-&-sketch packed expose of ‘The Crazy World of Arthur Suydam’ as explained to John Rhett Thomas, all adding to the comprehensive overbite overview of things ..

By no means to everyone’s taste, this blending of ferocious fangtastic fable with gross-out comedy mixes the sentiments of American Werewolf in London, the iconography of Shaun of the Dead and the cherished hagiography of the Marvel Universe to surprisingly engaging effect. Not for the squeamish or continuity-cherishing hardliners, there might be a loud laugh or frisson of fear awaiting the open-minded casual readerâ€¦
Â© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

January 29, 2015January 28, 2015

Orbital book 4: Ravages

By Serge PellÃ© & Sylvain Runberg, translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-088-7

Serge PellÃ© & Sylvain Runberg’s mismatched pair of Diplomatic Peacekeeper agents return in the conclusion of the sinister saga begun in Orbital: Nomads, subtly tweaking and deftly twisting that cunning epic of far-flung, futuristic political intrigue into a full-on horror story of relentless alien terrorâ€¦

What you need to know: After decades of pariah-status and exclusion, 23^rd century Earth finally joined a vast Confederation of interstellar civilisations, despite grave and abiding concerns about humanity’s aggressive nature and xenophobic tendencies shared by many of the member species. On Earth the feeling was largely mutualâ€¦

Prior to the humanity’s induction a militant â€œIsolationistâ€ faction had graduated from politics to horrific terrorism: committing atrocities both on Earth and distant worlds where mankind had already developed colonies and bases. Ultimately they failed to prevent humanity’s inclusion in the pan-galactic union and were sidelined in global politics.

Neither they nor the ill-will they fostered really went awayâ€¦

One particular Confederation worry was the way humans had treated the alien civilisation of the Sandjarrs, whose world was invaded in Earth’s all-consuming drive for territory and exploitable resources. The subsequent atrocities almost exterminated the stoic desert dwellersâ€¦

The vast bureaucracy of the Interworld Diplomatic Office works through operatives assigned in pairs to troubleshoot throughout the galaxy, defusing crises before they can become flashpoints of violence, and recently IDO’s first human recruit Caleb Swany had been surprisingly teamed with Sandjarr Mezoke Izzua: a situation clearly designed as a high-profile political stunt.

So was their initial mission: convincing an Earth mining colony on the moon Senestem to peacefully surrender a profitable planetary industry to the aliens who actually own the satellite it was situated on. Overcoming outrageous odds and problems, the unlikely team of rookies resolved the issue in true diplomatic manner with a minimum of casualties and nobody really happy or satisfiedâ€¦

Released in France in 2010, Orbital: Ravages is the fourth album released by Cinebook and picks up as Caleb and Mezoke find a simple state function is rapidly devolving into an interspecies crisis…

The Galactic Great-and-Good are on Earth to confirm the end of Human/Sandjarr hostilities in a series of spectacular Reconciliation Ceremonies, but the political glad-handing is in danger of imploding after Kuala Lumpur’s human fisherman clash with a hitherto unsuspected enclave of star-spanning cannibalistic alien gypsies known as the Rapakhunâ€¦

One of the greatest benefits of induction into The Confederation has been the infusion of alien technologies which have cleansed and reinvigorated the gravely wounded ecosystem of long-abused and much-polluted Earth. Now, however, the newly restocked, abundant seas and mangrove swamps around Malaysia are blighted by the mass extinction of millions of valuable fish. The humans blame the uninvited aliens, requiring Swany and Mezoke – accompanied by Caleb’s old mentor Hector Ulrich (instrumental in brokering Earth into the Confederation) – to forcefully intervene; promising all aggrieved parties that the truth will be found and shared.

This might be tricky: much of mankind is still anti-alien, and local economies are fragile, whilst the Rapakhun are apparently no innocent angels. Many space civilisations despise them. The stellar nomads are flighty wanderers who go where they please and refuse to be represented in or on Confederation Councils.

Moreover, all the cosmic bigwigs on Earth are only concerned with their precious Reconciliation Ceremonies, looking good and validating their controversial decision to admit Earth to the Civilised Worlds of the galaxyâ€¦

Whilst Caleb and Mezoke are fully occupied with the freshly-arrived delegation of Sandjarr dignitaries, fish are still dying and when human fisherman get too close to the agreed-upon neutral zone they are suddenly exterminated, outraging many watching members of the Malaysian Navy.

Although Caleb attempts to downplay and even suppress the concatenation of bad news in hope of keeping the Ceremonies alive the slaughter of fishermen provokes a â€œpatrioticâ€ clique in the Navy peacekeeping force to look the other way when the locals decide to deal with the nomads once and for allâ€¦

The riots and bloodshed are appalling and the IDO agents realise they need to know more about the Rapakhun: someone needs to visit their last port of call and see what the nomads are really capable ofâ€¦

The story resumes in the grimily cosmopolitan Shah Alam district of Kuala Lumpur where impoverished human and alien scrap-merchants work, salvaging materials and tech from defunct starships. As tensions rise everywhere, one of the greedy toilers makes a grisly discovery and dies horribly in exactly the same manner as the fishermen in the swampsâ€¦

Caleb meanwhile, over Mezoke’s protests, is in full-spin-control mode; weaving a pack of placatory lies to the journalists of uncounted watching worlds. Unable to leave Earth mid-crisis, the IDO agents have recruited enigmatic human star-pilot Nina and her secretly-sentient Neuronome ship Angus to canvas the distant world of Dehadato, last port of call of the nomadic Rapakhun, but before they can report anything a vast riot breaks out in the Shah Alam.

The Fishermen’s Quarter is ablaze, a war-zone rife with scared and angry humans and aliens, but when Caleb, Mezoke and Hector fly over the scene of destruction and looting they are brought down by rioters and have to fight their way outâ€¦

Thanks to IDO intervention, canny bargaining, judicious bribery by city officials and an unlikely detente between the extraterrestrial scrap merchants and ambitious new spokesman of the Fisherman’s Federation, the situation is soon damped down and all sides again tensely wait for answersâ€¦

On Dehadato Nina and Angus are exploring the Rapakhun’s last campsite and uncover scenes of horrific devastation, even as in Kuala Lumpur Confederation leaders are thinking about cutting their losses and cancelling the Reconciliation Ceremonies, terrified that the situation is fast becoming politically untenable.

It takes all of Caleb’s strident persuasiveness to convince them – and Mezoke – to continue the itinerary of events. However he only gets his first inkling that they might be right when he’s informed that a body as been found in the city, butchered in the same extreme and inexplicable manner as the fishermen in the swampâ€¦

Back on Dehadato, Nina and Angus have rescued a poacher from the folly of his actions in pursuing monstrous, colossal and protected Nargovals. As the SÃ¼lfir recovers he imparts snippets of information about the stellar nomads and an incredible beast which was here before the Rapakhun left.

The doughty hunter only tried for the unstoppable leviathans which killed his entire poaching team after first ensuring there were no more Varosash on the planet. They had apparently departed with the gypsy cannibalsâ€¦

Caleb has already concluded that the Rapakhun are behind all his problems, but as he stalks them in the Mangrove swamps, word comes from Nina that stops him in his tracks. It may already be too late though. At the biggest sports arena in the city, thousands of avid Speedball fans – human and not â€“ are packed together and reaching a fever pitch of excitement, unaware that a hideous invisible killer, the very essence of all mankind’s fear of alien monsters, is about to consume them allâ€¦

Can the disunited Caleb and Mezoke with the pitifully few allies they can call upon end the invisible and rapacious threat before it ends humanity?

Nina and the SÃ¼lfir think they have a plan. Risky and probably fatal, but a plan nonethelessâ€¦

Fast-paced, action-packed, gritty and spectacular, Ravages is pure space-opera, with delightfully complex sub-plots fuelled by political intrigue and a vast unexplored canvas tantalising readers at very moment.

One of the most beguiling sci fi strips of all time, Orbital is a delight every fan of the future should indulge inâ€¦
Original edition Â© Dupuis 2010 by Runberg & PellÃ©. All rights reserved. English translation Â© 2011 by Cinebook Ltd.

January 28, 2015January 27, 2015

Captain America & the Korvac Saga

By Ben McCool, Craig Rousseau, Rachelle Rosenberg, with Jim Shooter, George PÃ©rez, Pablo Marcos & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5160-9

Over the decades since its founding, Marvel has published a number of popular and/or critically successful mega-epics which fans always talk about with great fondness. In relatively recent years the company began to reconfigure some of them – such as Avengers & the Infinity Gauntlet and Spider-Man & the Secret Wars for younger readers in the manner of the company’s all-ages Marvel Adventures format: notionally â€œin-continuityâ€ tales offering cosmic thrills, chills and light drama as a (possibly misdirected) way to bring kids in on the House of Ideas’ biggest successes.

This yarn is one of the most intriguing, greatly diverging from its source material as writer Ben McCool, illustrator Craig Rousseau and colourist Rachelle Rosenberg wittily wove an alternate interpretation adding a contemporary tone to the twice time-displaced Sentinel of Liberty.

This highly entertaining digest-sized collection collects the 4-issue miniseries Captain America & the Korvac Saga from February-May 2011 and also re-presents the opening shot in the original epic from Avengers #167 (January 1978) as crafted by Jim Shooter, George PÃ©rez & Pablo Marcos.

The new yarn retells the saga, giving the Star-Spangled Avenger the leading role in an engaging and appealing way, adding contemporary sensibilities and a lighter take to a classic but rather dark and gritty Fights ‘n’ Tights yarn.

I would strongly suggest, however, that if you’ve never seen the original epic, you track it down either in Essential Avengers volume 8, Avengers: the Korvac Saga or elsewhere: it’s not strictly necessary but you will get to read an extremely classy piece of fantasy fiction as it was originally intendedâ€¦

The action here opens in ‘Strange Days’ as Cap leads his avenging comrades Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, The Beast and Iron Man against a quartet of super-villains inexplicably amped up and retooled into major menaces.

Maelstrom, Quasimodo, Living Laser and Super-Adaptoid are putting up far more resistance than expected and when the android Vision detects unusual emanations he and the Sentinel of Liberty track the signals to a sinister technologist who oddly presents no real threat and is easily subdued.

With his defeat the fearsome foursome also fold, but as Cap hauls him off to jail the mystery man exhibits an unnerving understanding of the Super Soldier’s sense of being a man cut off from his own timeâ€¦

Disturbed without knowing why, the Star-Spangled Avenger later visits the stranger in jail and is on hand when a strange team of super-beings try to break the enigmatic prisoner outâ€¦

‘Souljacker’ finds the aggressive newcomers demanding custody of the stranger, a thing they call â€œKorvacâ€. They also claim it is a cyborg from a thousand years in the futureâ€¦

The smug captive delights in all the commotion; turning to energy and freeing his villainous quartet to attack the newcomers. A time portal is opened but in the melee only the acrobatic alien named Nikki and tempestuous star-warrior Firelord follow Korvac through it. Before it finally snaps shut though, Captain America also hurtles into the stellar unknownâ€¦

On the other side is the year 3003 and a scene of fantastic future warfare where Nikki and Firelord reveal how they and her now-stranded companions Starhawk, Vance Astro and Charlie-27 – AKA The Guardians of the Galaxy – had been hunting Korvac before it could use the â€œPower Cosmicâ€ it stole from space god Galactus to destroy humanityâ€¦

No sooner have the explanations finished than the energy entity attacks them. After valiantly driving the killer off Cap is determined to make things right and enquiring how to stop it learns that the long-gone star deity had a special weapon known as the â€œUltimate Nullifierâ€ which could negate Korvac’s purloined powerâ€¦

As the trio set off for Taa-II, Galactus’ solar-system-sized ship, ‘The Traveler’ takes us back to the year 3001 when the battered fugitive cyborg first encountered the seemingly abandoned starship and tapped into incomprehensible energies which allowed it to became a transcendent new form of lifeâ€¦

Two years later as the determined trio vector in on the incredible vessel, Korvac materialises and ambushes them. With cosmic-powered Firelord taking the brunt of the assault, Cap and Nikki painfully crash into the system-ship and begin a terrifying safari through astounding beasts and terrors in search of the Ultimate Nullifier. They are within sight of their goal when their beaten companion crashes at their feet and the triumphant Korvac comes for themâ€¦

With doom inescapable ‘The Star Lord’ brings the cosmic odyssey to a tremendous conclusion as Captain America’s final indomitable battle against the cyborg God from Tomorrow brings the long vanished Galactus into the fray to set all things arightâ€¦

This star-spanning, time-busting blockbusting little box of delights includes a cover gallery by Rousseau & Chris Sotomayor, as well as one by PÃ©rez & Terry Austin which precedes one final treat as the fresh adventure is capped off by a re-presentation of the original 1970s saga.

In the 1960s Jim Shooter was a child-prodigy of comics scripting writing the Legion of Superheroes and Superman before he’d even finished High School. After college, when he returned to the industry and gravitated to Marvel Comics it seemed natural to find him working on a comic with just as many characters as that fabled future super-team.

His connection to The World’s Mightiest Superheroes, although episodic, was long-lived and produced some of that series’ best tales, and none more so than the cosmic epic begun here: a sprawling tale of time-travel and universal conquest which originally ran in The Avengers issues #167-168 and 170-177.

In previous issues a difference of opinion between Captain America and Iron Man over leadership styles had begun to polarise the team and those submerged tensions started to show in ‘Tomorrow Dies Today!’

In the Gods-&-Monsters filled Marvel Universe there are entrenched and jealous Hierarchies of Power, so when a new player mysteriously materialises in the 20^th century the very Fabric of Reality is threatenedâ€¦

It all kicks off when star-spanning 31^st century Guardians of the Galaxy materialise in Earth orbit, hotly pursuing a cyborg despot named Korvac.

Inadvertently setting off planetary incursion alarms, their minor-moon sized ship is swiftly penetrated by an Avengers squad, where, after the customary introductory squabble, the future men – Charlie-27, Yondu, Martinex, Nikki, Vance Astro and enigmatic space God Starhawk – explain the purpose of their missionâ€¦

Cap had previously fought beside them to liberate their home era from Badoon rule and Thor had faced Korvac before so peace soon breaks out, but even with the resources of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes the time travellers are unable to locate their quarryâ€¦

Meanwhile on Earth a new and mysterious being named Michael is lurking in the background. At a fashion show staged by Janet Van Dyne he achieves a psychic communion with model Carina Walters and they both vanish, oblivious to a pitched superhero battle that breaks out involving not only the Wasp and her husband Yellowjacket, but also Nighthawk against the perfidious Porcupineâ€¦

To Be Continued – Elsewhereâ€¦

In 2012 the Marvel Adventures line was superseded by specific comicbook titles tied to Disney XD TV shows designated as â€œMarvel Universe cartoonsâ€, but these collected stories are still an intriguing and perhaps more culturally accessible means of introducing character and concepts to kids born often two generations or more away from those far-distant 1960s originating events.

However even though these stories are extremely enjoyable yarns, parents should note that some of the themes and certainly the violence might not be what everybody considers â€œAll-Ages Super Hero Actionâ€ and might perhaps better suit older kidsâ€¦
Â© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

January 27, 2015January 26, 2015

The Mighty Thor: When Gods Go Mad

By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, John Buscema & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-185-9

When the Thor films screened across the world, Marvel quite understandably released a batch of tie-in books and trade paperback collections to maximise exposure and cater to movie fans wanting to follow up with or even rekindle a childhood comics experience.

In the UK the company’s British adjunct Panini collected an unlikely assemblage featuring the Thunderer’s most turbulent transition for one of its handy Pocket Book Editions (130 x 198mm) which, much to my surprise, works exceedingly well as an introductory epic into the wondrous worlds of contemporary Asgardian mythologyâ€¦

Whilst the expanding Marvel Universe had grown evermore interconnected as it matured, with characters constantly tripping over each other in New York City, the godly heritage of Thor and the soaring imagination of Jack Kirby had often drawn the Storm Lord away from mortal realms into stunning, unique landscapes and scenarios.

More than any other Marvel feature, The Mighty Thor was the strip where Kirby’s creative brilliance always found its greatest release in cosmically questing exploration of an infinite and dangerous universe and the strip suffered a sharp, sudden loss of imaginative impetus when he unexpectedly quit Marvel in 1970.

His departure left the series floundering, despite the best efforts of (arguably) the company’s greatest remaining illustrators, Neal Adams and John Buscema. The King’s dreaming, extrapolating and honing of a dazzling new kind of storytelling and graphic symbology, wedded to soul-searching, mind-boggling questioning of Man’s place in the universe – and all within the limited confines of a 20-page action adventure – appeared an impossible act to follow, but now with the perspective of passing decades it might be worth reassessing that judgementâ€¦

Collecting Thor #179-188, cover-dated August 1970 to May 1971 and scripted throughout by Stan Lee, the saga opens following a cataclysmic clash with fire-demon Surtur which saw omnipotent over-god Odin imprisoned by treacherous Loki in â€œThe Sea of Eternal Nightâ€ whilst his subjects battled fiery Armageddon.

The forces of good naturally persevered and here and now the action commences with ‘No More the Thunder God!’ as warrior companions Sif and Balder are dispatched to Earth to arrest the fugitive Loki in the wake of Thor’s early departure on the same mission.

This story was Kirby’s last tale of the Thunderer and he left on a cliffhanger with the Thunder God ambushed by his wicked step-brother. By mystically switching bodies, the cunning Lord of Evil gains safety and all the powers of the Storm Lord whilst Thor is fated to endure whatever punishment Odin decrees for the arch-schemerâ€¦

The epic resumed in ‘When Gods Go Mad!’ which introduced the totally different style of Neal Adams to the mix – even if inked by the comfortably familiar Joe Sinnott – as the true Thunder God is sent to Hades and the tender mercies of infernal demon-lord Mephisto, whilst on Earth Loki uses his brother’s stolen body to terrorise the United Nations Assembly and declare himself Master of the Worldâ€¦

Faithful lover Sif, however, knowing the truth leads the Warriors Three Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg on a rescue mission to the Infernal Realm, leaving valiant Balder to struggle against the power of Thor and malice of Loki in the concluding chapter ‘One God Must Fall!’

Eventually Mephisto is worn down by the innate nobility and unflagging courage of the Asgardians, banishing them from his vile domain and leaving the true Thunder God free to battle his brother and inevitably set the world to rightsâ€¦.

The new era truly began with Thor #182 as John Buscema assumed the artistic reins for ‘The Prisonerâ€¦ The Powerâ€¦ andâ€¦ Dr. Doom!’ as the First Son of Asgard becomes entangled in Earthly politics after a young girl entreats him to rescue her missile-designer father from the deadly Iron Monarch of Latveria.

The decidedly down-to-Earth and mismatched melodrama concluded with human alter ego Dr. Don Blake ‘Trapped in Doomsland!’ until Thor could retrieve his mislaid mallet and teach the insidious dictator the true meaning of powerâ€¦

Lee, Buscema & Sinnott then began their own ambitious cosmic saga in #184 with ‘The World Beyond!‘ wherein a sinister and implacable force began devouring the outer galaxies, and the subsequent psychic reverberations began to unravel life on Earth and in Asgard. With all life imperilled Odin departs to combat the enigmatic threat aloneâ€¦

Sam Grainger inked ‘In the Grip of Infinity!’ as the cosmic calamity intensified and the All-Father fell to the invader whilst ‘Worlds at War!’ revealed the true architect of the conflagration, leading to a desperate last-ditch ploy uniting the forces of Good and Evil together in ‘The World is Lost!’ before one final clash – inked by Jim Mooney – answered all the questions and led to ‘The End of Infinity!’

Although vast in scope and drenched in powerful moments revealing the human side of the gods in extremis, this tale suffers from an excess of repetitive padding and a rather erratic pace. At least this book wisely excludes the ponderous epilogue (from Thor #189) which saw the true architect of the universal rampage come calling for ill-considered revengeâ€¦

All in all, When Gods Go Mad offers a grandiose and bombastic series of battles and incipient ever-encroaching doom in the best Fights ‘n’ Tights tradition, illustrated by three of the most brilliant artists American comics have ever produced.

The Kirby Thor will always be a high-point in graphic fantasy, all the more impressive for the sheer imagination and timeless readability of the tales. With his departure the series foundered for the longest time before finding a new identity, yet even so the artists who followed him – whilst not possessing his vaulting visionary passion – were every inch his equal in craft and dedication.

Thus this book (which also includes covers by Adams, Sinnott, John Romita Sr., Marie Severin, John Buscema and John Verpoorten) is still an absolute must for all fans of action and inspirational, unearthly adventure.
â„¢ & Â© 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

January 26, 2015

The Veil

By Greg Rucka & Toni Fejzula, with AljoÅ¡a TomiÄ‡ & various (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-492-7

It’s January and the nights are long and cold. Good thing there’s plenty of scary stories and coolly creepy graphic novels to while away the midnight hoursâ€¦

Written by Greg Rucka and chillingly illustrated by Toni Fejzula with additional colour work from AljoÅ¡a TomiÄ‡, Veil collects the introductory 5-issue miniseries (March to July 2014) which saw the debut of one of the more intriguing femme fatales in modern comics historyâ€¦

It all begins in an abandoned, desolate subway station where a beautiful, naked and extremely confused young woman awakens on a bed of most surprised rats. Babbling incoherently but not at all scared, she makes her way above ground and finds herself in a modern Sodom and Gomorrah where her nubile helplessness soon attracts the attention of the pimps and other two-footed predatorsâ€¦

Big mean Vincent especially seems unable to resist his most basic urges but the victim-to-be is rescued by unlikely hero Dante who inexplicably – and unlike every other John on the street – seems compelled to shield rather than covet herâ€¦

Covering her nakedness, Dante takes her to his shabby apartment and tries to get some sense out of the girl who calls herself â€œVeilâ€. Vincent and his homies, however, are not the types to defer gratification and come looking for her with plenty of guns and bad attitudesâ€¦

It’s the last mistake of their short, violent lives but in the bloody aftermath Dante knows more than ever that, whatever she is, this girl must be protected. As they go on the run through the seedy backstreets and alleys of the city Veil seems to grow more clear-headed even as she displays ever-greater impossible abilities.

Elsewhere men wielding a different kind of irresistible power are discussing her. In the gory detritus of a satanic ritual, money-man Mr. Scarborough unwisely chides the black magician he and his consortium have hired – with apparently negligible returnâ€¦

Despite apparent failure and the clear absence of the thing they paid for, insouciant Cormac remains aggravatingly untroubled. Just why is revealed after Scarborough’s thugs try to kill him for his presumed failure and the scheming wizard displays some of the other powers at his commandâ€¦

The demands of ego satisfied on both sides, Cormac assures Scarborough that he will find the missing vessel of unfettered power he was hired to summon. He never actually specifies who will profit from it, thoughâ€¦

Back in the nasty part of town, cops have arrested Dante and Veil, but the girl’s uncanny allure compels one of them to force himself upon her as he has so many other street girls. His partner will never sleep easy again after seeing what she left of himâ€¦

With Veil vanished, the still-handcuffed Dante flees whilst in an empty, deconsecrated church Cormac works, summoning a rat familiar to scent out his target and draw it to him. If he knows that Scarborough and his billionaire business associates have sanctioned an assassination hit team to take him out, he doesn’t careâ€¦

The killer elite arrive soon after the mesmerised Veil and are on site when the mage binds her with a mystic chain, ordering her to change to her true form. The hit squad doesn’t stand a chanceâ€¦

Dante meanwhile has hooked up with an old friend who has rid him of the handcuffs, if not his obsession to help the strangely compelling Veil. The poor sap isn’t that surprised when a rat bites Gabriel and something terrifying starts talking through his mouth. It seems the Devil wants his property back and is prepared to help Dante save her from the mad mortals who currently possess herâ€¦

Sharply scripted and superbly illustrated, this rocket-paced rollercoaster ride to Hell and back is a superb blend of corporate chicanery, sinister sorcery, grimy street crime, gory excess and unlikely heroism that delivers a bloodbath of spooky, sexy action even as it promises more revelations to come.

This classy full-colour hardback edition also includes a copious ‘Veil Sketchbook’ section depicting the evolution and intriguing multiple aspects of the enigmatic star to astound art lovers and all aficionados of the darkly exotic.
Â© 2014, 2015 Nervous Habit, Inc. All rights reserved.

January 25, 2015January 24, 2015

Treasury of Mini Comics volume 2

By many and various, edited by Michael Dowers (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-807-6

The act of stringing pictures and/or words together is something almost everybody has done at some stage of their lives. It’s a key step in the cognitive path of children and, for an increasing number of us, that compulsive, absorbing euphoria never goes away.

Whilst many millions acquiesce to the crushing weight of a world which stifles the liberation of creativity, turning a preponderance of makers into consumers, a privileged, determined few carry on: drawing, exploring, and in some cases, with technology’s help, producing and sharing.

Michael Dowers, the force behind not only this compilation but also Brownfieldpress and Starhead Comix, adores the concept of crafting and disseminating mini comics and his books Newave!- The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980 and volume one of this series described and reproduced hundreds of examples: spotlighting with enticing, encouraging exuberance those incurably driven artisans who came out of the â€œanything goesâ€ 1960s and 1970s Underground Commix movement still craving a vehicle of expressly personal expression.

Such creators aren’t really in it for the money – although a few have moved on to find a modicum of mainstream comics fame, at least – and, in an era before computers, they found time to write, draw and compile artwork (small press people are notoriously generous, contributing to projects at the drop of a hat) before laboriously photocopying, cutting, folding, stapling and then distributing the miniscule marvellous results.

Just by way of definition: most mini comics were and still are home-produced pamphlets using borrowed – or when necessary paid for – print processes. The most popular format was an 8Â½ x 11inch sheet, folded twice, and printed at local copy-shops (or clandestinely churned out on school/work repro systems like early Xerox, Photostat, Mimeo or Spirit Banda machines) on any paper one could lay hands on.

Because they weren’t big, they were called â€œmini commixâ€. Inspired, no?

Thanks to a seemingly inexhaustible modern appetite for such uniquely individualistic endeavours here’s a superb sequel tome – one more massive paper brick of fun (848 monochrome and colour pages, 178 x 127mm) – compiling and sharing many of the very best mini masterpieces from the 1970s to right here, right nowâ€¦

Many key figures in the proliferation of this uniquely eloquent people’s medium are included here, not only through examples of their groundbreaking work, but also through statements, interviews and fond reminiscences.

If human beings have access to any kind of reproductive technology they seemingly cannot resist making copies of their own private parts or creating their own comics, and here content comes from all over the North American continent – and even beyond – covering everything from superhero spoofs, monster-mashes, robot rampages, animal antics, autobiography, recreational drugs, religious, spiritual and philosophical diatribes and polemics, surreal experimental design and just plain fun stories, chatter and gags: all as sexually explicit, violent, strident or personally intimate as their creators wanted them to beâ€¦

As usual I’ll deliver here my standard warning for the easily offended: this book contains comic strips never intended for children. If you are liable to be offended by raucous adult, political and drug humour, or illustrated scenes of explicit sex or unbelievable comedy violence, don’t buy this book and stop reading this review. You won’t enjoy any of it and might be compelled to cause a fuss.

I’ll probably cover something far more wholesome tomorrow so please come back then.

It all starts with Michael Dowers’ introduction wherein he brings the history of the sub-medium up to date and posits a connection with the legendarily scandalous â€œGentlemen’s under-the-counterâ€ publications known as Tijuana Bibles which livened up life for our forebears in the early part of the 20^th century with explicit and illegal cartoon cavortings featuring famous stars of screen and newspaper strips.

That proposition is upheld and further explored following ‘The Hundred Year Old New Waver in â€œDamn Punks Got it Easy Todayâ€’: a hilarious graphic diatribe (dis)courtesy of Brad W. Foster from Time Warp #3 (2007) after which a genuine, authentic and anonymous Tijuana Bible inclusion offers erotic relief to ‘The Van Swaggers’.

Then follows a batch of modern tributes and reinterpretations beginning with masked wrestler/guitarist The Crippler by Fiona Smyth (2007) and the astoundingly disturbing, politically punishing ‘Obliging Lady’ from Ethan Persoff & Scott Marshall’s The Adventures of Fuller Bush Man & John McCain (2009)â€¦

A splendid faux pastiche of the original pamphlets, Hairy Crotch & Rim Johnson in ‘The Interview’ is an anonymous entry from 1995, whilst Lilli Loge abandons the form but ramps up the spirit for the tale of a girl and her slave in ‘A Blessing in Disguise’ from Ben & Jenny from 2009.

That same year clean-cut Euro icon Lucky Luke got homo-erotically spoofed as ‘Hunky Luke in Calamity Jack’ by Anna Bas Backer after which Antoine Duthoit (2013) plunders Jim Woodring’s style and character cast for the outrageous Spank.

From 1972 Trina Robbins delivers classic pastiche ‘Sally Starr Hollywood Gal Sleuth’ solving a â€œMinit Mysteryâ€ whilst Bob Conway offers classic cartoon capers ‘Out to Lunch’ and ‘Chicken Shit’ in 1980’s Tales of Mr. Fly, and David Miller & Par Holman venerate the disaffected teen outsider experience in a blast of vignettes in Punkomix #1 from 1982.

Clark Dissmeyer laments the life of a Two-Fisted Cartoonist (#1 1983) after which Steve Willis’ 1983 Sasquatch Comix #3 details a strange encounter in the wild woods and R.K. Sloane & Jeff Gaither noxiously explore a life in hell with Fresh Meat from 1985.

A genuine small press big noise reveals all in the ‘Jeff Nicholson Interview’ after which the creator’s infamous cartoon polemic Jeff Nicholson’s Small Press Tirade (1989) still proves to be astoundingly powerful and the ‘Dan Taylor Interview’ segues neatly into some of his superbly eclectic Shortoonz from 1990 and the deliciously vulgarian Unleashed #1 from 2010.

John Trubee’s 1990 Vomit! #1 is a captivating manifesto of the politically baroque and philosophically bizarre whilst from 1992 Jason Atomic’s Wongo Batonga pt. 2 gloriously celebrates the magnificent freedom of superheroic imagination in a lengthy explosion of power-packed battles before Patrick Dowers explores human diversity in Marvels of the Sideshow Freaks.

Corn Comics #1 (Marc Bell, 1993) provides a hilarious laugh-ride of bitter twisted types after which the ‘Tom Hart Interview’ precedes his wittily poignant 1993 slice-of-life saga Love Looks Left and all-star line-up J.R. Williams, Pat Moriarity & R.L. Crabb collaborate on the 1994 cautionary tale ‘Devil Stay Away From Me’.

Impishly shocking Ellen Forney & RenÃ©e French then reveal how The Exquisite Corpse Bakes a Pie (1994), after which a ‘Molly Kiely Interview’ is stunningly supplemented by her rendition of a bevy of female music and movie icons who all possessed that indefinable sense of Sass! (1995).

Jeffrey Brown’s 1998 paean to hopelessness and confusion ‘To Wenatchee’ is followed by Pshaw’s whimsical story of a little robot in The One Eyed World (1999) after which ‘Colin Upton Presents A Short Guide To the Care and Production of Mini-Comics’ provides everything anyone needs to know about making story-art stories.

Contemporary cartoon wild child Johnny Ryan 2002 exposes guilty secrets from Shouldn’t You Be Working? #5, before the ‘Souther Salazar Interview’ leads to the artist’s wide-ranging ‘In Case of Emergency Only’ (2003) and Max Clotfelter’s eerily post-apocalyptic Snake Meat #1 from 2004.

Her smartly evocative 2004 Science Fiction Affliction is preceded by an ‘Alison Cole Interview’ after which Thought Cloud Shrines from 2007 perfectly displays Theo Ellsworth’s astounding graphic imagination and meticulous penmanship; gifts shared by Lisa Hanawalt and revealed in a stunning fashion parade of freaks in Stay Away From Other People from 2008, augmented by her hilarious ’12 Things To Do When you Are Stuck in Traffic’.

Travis Millard’s ‘Sad Dad’ introduces a deucedly depressing modern pantheon in Who Let the Gods Out (2008) whilst Bobby Maddness explores a variety of baffling annoyances in Too Small Comics #2 (2010) and Esther Pearl Watson describes a ghastly future populated solely by pop stars and fashion models in Eric Parris World from 2009.

The marvellous Jim Rugg contributes a stunning and outrageous pop at America’s dumbest President and most moronic national symbol in the delirious ‘Rambo 3.5’ (2009) after which, from 2010, Donald & Daniel Zettwoch mesmerise with their incredible personal history of phone exchange technology in ‘Cut Lines and Intricate Minds’ as seen in Tel-Tales #1 and Tom Neely employs dozens of bootlegged Popeyes in a surreal spinach-fuelled Battle Royale for his DoppelgÃ¤ngerâ€¦

The ‘Jason T. Miles Interview’ leads naturally enough into his 2010 tale of terror ‘Dump’ from Pines 3.

The irrepressible manga marvel DJ Cat Gosshie goes through a series of adorable â€œtotally-streetâ€ trans-Pacific short story syncopations as delineated by Harukichi in 2011 before Pakito Bolino then relates the hyperkinetic end of everything with the ‘Male of the Future’ from D.O.C. (2012)

DemonDust #10 by Bernie McGovern (2012) lyrically explores the poetry of atomic theory and human interactiveness whilst from the same year Shuttlecakes reveals the stunning dexterity and artistic facility of Susan Belle before the ‘Caroline Paquita Interview’ leads to her seductively gender-political compilation Womanimalistic #3 from 2013 to close the monochrome section of this collection.

However, following the ever-so-useful ‘Artist website and contact info’ pages, there’s even more compelling cartoon self-expression all crafted to make use of carefully considered colour, commencing with Kristyna Baczynski’s travails of a pretty kitty in ‘Nine Lives’ from 2012, Leah Wishnia’s disturbing exploration of women’s lives from Spithouse #1 (2008) and an even more distressing tale of psychological brutality from Nick Bertozzi in ‘5/4’ from 2000 before Ethan Persoff concludes the challenging cartoon content with a stunning graphic potpourri from Plastic Tales and Stories #2.

This tremendous tome features some of the host of pioneering craftsmen who worked in the self-printing movement which became today’s thriving Alternative/Small Press publishing industry as well as the current internet comics phenomenon, and this book has incredible appeal on an historical basis.

However, that’s really not the point: the real draw of such collections is that creativity is addictive, good work never pales or grows stale and the great stories and art here will make you keen to have a go too.

I’ve done it myself, for fun â€“ even once or twice for actual profit â€“ and it’s an incredible buzz (I should note that I am still married to a wife not only tolerant but far more skilled and speedy in the actual â€œphotocopy, cut, fold, stapleâ€ bit of the process and willing, if not keen, to join in just so she might occasionally be with the compulsive dingbat she marriedâ€¦)

The sheer boundless enthusiasm and feelgood rewards of intellectual freedom from making such comics celebrated in this astoundingly vast, incredibly heavy and yet still pocket-sized hardback is a pure galvanic joy that will enchant and impel every fan of the art-form: as long as they’re big enough to hold a pencil, old enough to vote, and strong enough to lift the book.
Treasury of Mini Comics volume 2 Â© 2015 Michael Dowers and Fantagraphics Books. All contents Â© 2013 their respective creators or authors. All rights reserved.

January 24, 2015January 23, 2015

Wolverine: Season One

By Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, Salva Espin & Cam Smith, with Jason Aaron, RamÃ³n PÃ©rez, Laura Martin & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-6672-6

Much as I’d love to believe otherwise, I know that the Cold War, transistor radio and pre-cellphone masterpieces of my youth are often impenetrable to younger fans – even when drawn by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Bill Everett or Don Heck.

Perpetual and overarching revision – or at least the appearance of such – is the irresistible force driving modern comics. There must be a constant changing of the guard, a shifting of scene and milieu and, in latter times, a regular diet of death, resurrection and rebirth – all grounded in relatively contemporary terms and situations.

Even for relatively minor or secondary stars the process is inescapable, with increasing supra-comicbook media adjuncts (film, TV, games, etc.) dictating that subjects be perpetually updated because the goldfish-minded readers of today apparently can’t understand or remember anything that’s more than a week old.

Alternatively, one could argue that for popular characters or concepts with a fifty-year + pedigree, all that history can be a readership-daunting deterrence, so radical reboots are a painful but vital periodic necessityâ€¦

Publishing ain’t no democracy, however, so it’s comforting to realise that many of these retrofits are thankfully exceptionally good comics tales in their own right and anyway, the editors can call always claim that it was an â€œalternate Earthâ€ story the next time the debut saga is modernisedâ€¦

Released in 2013, Wolverine: Season One is an all-new distilation of the Feral Fury’s debut appearances in the Marvel Universe, delivered in a hardback graphic novel with hidden extras.

It was a late entry into a series designed to renovate, modify and update classic origin epics (following Fantastic Four, X-Men, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Doctor Strange, and Avengers) which, despite clearly being intended as story-bibles for newer, movie-oriented fans and readers, mostly managed to add a little something to the immortal but hopelessly time-locked tales.

Scripted by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, illustrated by Salva Espin & Cam Smith with colours from Jim Charalampidis, the saga opens in the forested wilds of Canada where our unmistakable savage star is engaged in a ferocious struggle for survival against the mystical man-eating monster known as the Wendigo.

The horrific death-duel is witnessed by backpackers Heather and James Macdonald Hudson whose first assumptions – that the man is as bestial as the monster – are shaken when the clearly overmatched underdog intervenes after Wendigo turn his hungry attention to themâ€¦

Battle rejoined, the big beast slaughters the little man and shambles off, leaving the stunned couple to realise that â€“ somehow, impossibly – their saviour is not deadâ€¦

Taking him back to their cabin, they nurse the incredibly fast-healing stranger to a semblance of health but although his body mends quickly his mind seems shattered. Moreover, they can see metal inside the clearly superhuman survivorâ€¦

Heather and James are not ordinary citizens either. They are employed by Canada’s security services where he is prominent in the clandestine Department H, building a suit of high-tech battle armour.

Idle chatter with the older scientists there leads James to rumours of a project called â€œWeapon Xâ€ wherein a man had indestructible Adamantium grafted to his bones before going crazy and slaughtering everybodyâ€¦

The potentially homicidal maniac and certified amnesiac meanwhile has been patiently tended by Heather who has achieved a cognitive breakthrough. Reaching the man submerged by the animal, she has restored his power to speak but not to remember his past.

She was only slightly daunted by the razor sharp, nine-inch claws that tended to spring out of his arms whenever he became frustrated or upsetâ€¦

James meanwhile has discussed Weapon X with his boss Dr. Myra Haddock and been told a pack of face-saving placatory lies about the whole shameful affair. She is however, extremely keen to bring the feral enigma into Department H, whose mandate is creating a super-soldier for Canadaâ€¦

Soon the wild man is being groomed for the role of a special agent – a role he seems remarkably familiar with – but James is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with Heather’s new role as his â€œkeeperâ€ and the subject’s growing infatuation with his wifeâ€¦

Throughout the training period the clawed conundrum has been subject to traumatic nightmares (buried memories of the tortures he endured as the involuntary test subject of the Weapon X program) and after a particularly arduous session in the laboratory he snaps, attacking Heather in berserk fury.

During the PTSD driven assault he shouted a nameâ€¦ â€œLoganâ€â€¦

The net result is a huge fight as James dons the Exo-Suit he’d been building and goes after the mystery man. Total destruction of the base is only averted by scheming Dr. Haddock’s intervention; dragging them back to Heather’s bedside so she can shout at them bothâ€¦

Chastened and frightened, the agent now known as Logan wants to quit, but Haddock has other plans. The monolithic man-monster known as the Hulk has wandered over the border into Canada and she wants her Weapon X to tackle the emerald invader. Not to kill him, necessarily: if Logan can get back with a gamma-irradiated blood sample that will be success enough. With such a transformative DNA to add to the Department’s discoveries, a Canadian super-soldier serum is an eventual certainty.

There’s only one little problem: the Jade Goliath is in the same region as the Wendigo and Logan still has a psychological handicap regarding the cannibal beast which all but killed himâ€¦

Outfitted in a tailored combat outfit and codenamed â€œWolverineâ€ the feisty scrapper is dropped into the middle of a brutal blockbusting battle between the behemoths – and is nearly pounded to jelly. Only last minute intervention by James saves the mighty mite, but he does come back with the Green Goliath’s blood all over himâ€¦

Haddock, however, has had enough of her subordinates’ seeming lack of guts and hires a freelance operative named Victor Creed who has similar abilities to Logan but none of his squeamishness about killing or following orders.

The big brute also claims to have shared history with Logan. The little amnesiac certainly has plenty of bad dreams and flashbacks after meeting the cruelly taunting new guyâ€¦

With Codename Wolverine benched due to his growing insubordination and repugnance at the Department’s methods, Creed – now using the combat appellative â€œSabretoothâ€ – is dispatched to bring in the Wendigo for Haddock’s vivisection labs whilst Logan is placed in lockdown and sedated.

He’s sprung by Heather who gives him a new costume to go after Sabretooth and her blinkered, out-of-his-depth husband. James might have a suit like Iron Man‘s but he’s no superhero, and accompanying Creed on this mission is likely to get him killedâ€¦

Thanks to Logan’s mutant super senses he locates the cannibal beast first and, due to his new rational state, manages to befriend the monster. Unfortunately when James – still writhing in unfounded jealousy of Logan – and Creed arrive, Sabretooth’s bloodlust soon provokes a terrifying four-way warâ€¦

Only when Heather becomes involved and endangered does James come to his senses and suddenly all bets are offâ€¦

The cataclysmic combat seems to shake a few hidden memories loose, however, and in the aftermath Wolverine wants out of Department H. James too has had enough of Haddock and goes to her superiors with a new idea: rather than super-soldiers, perhaps what Canada needs is a team of superheroes.

He even knows a consultant the government can hire: a metahuman specialist named Professor Charles Xavier. Once Logan and the American savant meet history is madeâ€¦

The Beginningâ€¦

As an additional fillip the reimagined origin is supplemented with ‘Survival 101’ by Jason Aaron, RamÃ³n PÃ©rez and Laura Martin (from Wolverine and the X-Men #25, April 2013) wherein the tough-love terror, in his capacity as headmaster of the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning, drags a pack of his most troublesome and recalcitrant charges on an educational away-day to the dinosaur-infested Savage Land for a little team-building and bonding.

Of course if he’d realised his murderous big brother Dog had returned from the dead to hunt him, Professor Logan might just have opted for detentions and pop quizzes insteadâ€¦

Fair Warning: this tale is funny, scary and extremely addictive but does not conclude hereâ€¦

Also included are seven pages of design sketches, cover examples and variants by Espin, Julian Totino Tedesco, PÃ©rez & Martin making this an enticing and entertaining package for both newcomers and dedicated aficionados alike.
Â© 2013 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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