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November 27, 2014November 28, 2014

Redcoats-ish: Jeff Martin’s War of 1812

By Jeff Martin (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-0-9921-5086-0

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Perfect for Making History Funâ€¦ 8/10

In recent years there seems to have been a glorious renaissance of Canadian mass culture. Being Erica, Rookie Blue, Orphan Black, Republic of Doyle, Murdoch Mysteries and a host of other intriguing TV shows all offer a slightly skewed look at entertainment standbys and standards – and that’s not even counting the hordes of individual Canucks who’ve made their mark in what we provincial Brits lazily consider the American monopoly of populist literature, movies, music, and assorted dramatic artsâ€¦

Comics and strips too have become reinvigorated, with scribes and pen-pushers producing some of the most interesting stuff since the mid-1980s when Cerebus the Aardvark was the undisputed acme of Indie publishing, Puma Blues invented a strikingly different aesthetic sensibility and a different Renegade Press put out such spellbindingly novel fare as Normalman, Neil the Horse, The Spiral Cage and a host of other off-kilter gems to liven up the world of cartoons and funnybooks.

Following on yesterdays review here’s an intriguing sidebar to one of the most badly-handled wars in history, which officially ended in December 1814, courtesy of well-fed diplomats in Ghent, but carried on killing folk and cocking up lives in the New World until somebody finally got around to telling the actual combatants in 1815â€¦

During its bi-centennial those times of trans-border trouble were wittily reassessed by cartoon and illustrator Jeff Martin via a weekly webcomic and are now cunningly compiled here through the auspices of Renegade Arts Entertainment.

In ‘A Note from the Frontline’ author Martin describes his long interest in the source material of this clash of incompetents, after which comics maven – and self-confessed liquor-lover – Jay Bardyla offers some insightful perspective into the creator’s career and process in ‘Forward March!’

Then the raucous rounds of slapstick shot and snark-filled sarcasm bombs are unleashed when a couple of ill-prepared, reluctant and self-preservation-obsessed citizens find themselves somehow marching off to war with the Canadian militiaâ€¦

At least stout and surly baker George is initially keen to serve, rushing off with no thought of danger (reallyâ€¦ none at allâ€¦) but he insists on dragging wisely reluctant trapper and frustrated bread buyer John Pink with him into the woods in search of the front lines.

In truth nobody made them go, nobody really wants them there and, after tramping through the brush for a good long time, they realise that they have no idea what the invading Americans even look like.

When they finally encounter some strangers by a river George and John spend so much time arguing what to do that their targets walk up and attack them firstâ€¦

And so it goes as folk on both sides – none of whom have ever been trained to fight – shamble through the dense countryside, missing each other and only inflicting harm accidentally, whilst simultaneously wishing they’d never started the affairâ€¦

As our hapless halfwits stumble into more and more trouble, not particularly participating in the all-but forgotten Battle of Maguaga and being on hand but no help at all during the daft-but-true exploit of the fall of unconquerable American stronghold Fort Detroit, other incongruous characters are introduced such as the dryly laconic native Joseph and a barking mad-alcoholic serving British Sergeant, all contributing greatly to the aura to the fiasco.

However the real delights and most incisive jabs are reserved for actual personalities of the conflict: Indian messiah Tecumseh, charismatic Canadian Major-General Isaac Brock, staggeringly inept American commander General William Hull and venal Washington war hawk Henry Clayâ€¦

Fast, funny and surprisingly informative, Redcoats-ish provides smart laughs, sharp observation and stylishly splendid cartoon comedy capers that no lover of history or hilarity will want to miss.
Redcoats-ish: Jeff Martin’s War of 1812 Â© 2014 Renegade Arts Entertainment.

November 26, 2014November 28, 2014

The Loxleys and the War of 1812 (second edition)

By Alan Grant, Claude St. Aubin, Lovern Kindzierski, Todd Klein & Mark Zuehlke (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-0-9921508-0-8

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Beautiful, Educational and Fun, the perfect giftâ€¦ 10/10

America’s been in lots of wars since it won Independence and has, in fact, started a goodly proportion of those for less than noble reasons. To be fair, Britain’s much longer record is no better, but most people here have never even heard of the brutal and frankly stupid conflict now known as The War of 1812.

Two centuries after the fact a small independent creative outfit known as Renegade Arts Entertainment (generally Alexander Finbow, Alan Grant, Doug Bradley, John Finbow, Nick Wilson and Jennifer Taylor: originators of comics and audio books, movies, animation, prose and graphic novels, merchandise and games) put their heads together and commemorated the story of the forgotten clash of political intransigents and empire-building politicians as a pictorial tome for youngsters featuring a multi-generational family caught up in the conflict.

The book won a number of prestigious awards and the narrative was later adapted into an animated motion comic (with the assistance of Arcana Studios and the Department of Canadian Heritage), iPad and digital PDF iterations and numerous other online formats as well as a wealth of educational materials for use in conjunction with the piece.

Author Alan Grant rewrote his comics saga as a prose novel and Oscar-nominated screen writer Tab Murphy remade the original story into both a screenplay and school play performed by students across Canada. There is even an 1812timeline.com you can follow whilst reading the version of your choiceâ€¦

Hopefully that will be this brand new, fully updated and upgraded second edition, a stunning 175 page full-colour hardback tome which marries the powerful and enthralling graphic narrative with an abundance of fascinating extras.

Packed with additional illustrations, Alexander Finbow’s background-packed Foreword and the moving Acknowledgements page whets the appetite for the rollercoaster tale of ‘The Loxleys and the War of 1812’ by writer Grant, illustrator Claude St. Aubin, colourist Lovern Kindzierski and letterer Todd Klein.

Matriarch Aurora Loxley is justifiably proud of her extended family, three generations living and working together to build a farm and a life in a welcoming land. Originally from Pennsylvania she and her departed husband Abraham migrated to Canada after the War of Independence to the far side of the Niagara River where their burgeoning clan prospered near the Canadian town of York.

Extracts from her journal begin with the harvest of 1811 where well-earned celebrations are only slightly marred by talk amongst the men of war with America. Britain is currently battling Napoleon all over the world and the Royal Navy has been raiding American ships and ports, impressing men they claim are British deserters to serve in their embattled vessels. The practise outrages their southern neighbours the other side of the river, but many leaders in Washington DC act just as badly as the former regal masters they despise. The â€œWar Hawksâ€ in Congress are rapacious expansionists: wanting to wipe out the Indian peoples and believing it is their destiny to rule the entire continent.

As the idle party talk continues frail William takes a moment to capture the entire family (a dozen happy souls and their dog Duke) in a pencil portrait that depicts their last time as a happy, united familyâ€¦

Everything changes on the night of November 11^th when the Loxleys invite a frantic messenger into their home. He brings news that the main settlement of visionary Chief Tecumseh‘s â€œnation within a nationâ€ has been destroyed by a force of Americans in a night of massacre.

Tecumseh and his brother The Prophet have worked long to create a federation of disparate tribes as a bulwark against American westward expansion. Now the Yankees have taken the opportunity to move north as well and intend to drive the British out of Canadaâ€¦

And so begins a deeply moving, informative, even-handed and intensely exciting tale of ordinary people moved to defend themselves against greed and aggression set against the backdrop of possibly the most ineptly handled, poorly executed war in history.

Despite being born of common greed and ruthless ambition by a few and ignorance and intolerance by a multitude, the haphazard, cravenly executed conflict nonetheless bought misery and death to thousands of serving soldiers, sailors and militia volunteers on both sides and domestic atrocity to an uncounted number of innocent civilians over the following two years and eight months.

Even America’s greatest victory, one of pitifully few in an overcautious, criminally mismanaged string of campaigns, was a ludicrous farce. Despite being considered a stunning triumph and affirmation at the time, the Battle of New Orleans occurred weeks after the war officially ended and nobody except the dead, maimed and missing really caredâ€¦

As the Locksley family splinters, the story powerfully covers the role of militias on both sides – as well as the valiant French-speaking citizens we know as QuebeÃ§ois today – and examines the crucial part played by and eventual betrayal of the native peoples.

Also seen through innocent eyes are the machinations of the politicians on both sides and the aftermath of the warâ€¦

For old fuddy-duddies like me who like their facts and analysis printed on paper there’s historian Mark Zuehlke’s epic, fascinating and lavishly illustrated essay ‘The War of 1812: Historical Summary’ – preceded by a stunning painting of ‘The White House in Flames’ by John M. Burns – to enjoy before a range of follow-up features offer further information through ‘Creator Biographies’ and alluring details on the other strands of the project such as ‘The Loxleys and the War of 1812 School Play’ and ‘The Loxleys and the War of 1812 Novel by Alan Grant’ both of which include excerpted passages and a piece on the ‘The Interactive iPad and Android Tablet app’ before everything concludes with a wealth of delightful ‘Initial Character Designs by Claude St. Aubin’

Despite the panoply of interactive iterations listed above, this sterling and compulsively readable chronicle ably proves one of my most fervently held beliefs: the comics medium is the perfect means to marry learning with fun and a well made graphic treatise is an unbeatable mode with which to Elucidate, Educate and Enjoy.

So buy this and do soâ€¦
The Loxleys and the War of 1812 Â© 2012 Renegade Arts Entertainment.

November 25, 2014

Thor, God of Thunder: The Last Days of Midgard

By Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic, Agustin Alessio, Ive Svorcina & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-603-8

Created by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, The Mighty Thor began his stellar career in Journey into Mystery #83 (August 1962), delivering an unceasing procession of spectacular adventures which encompassed everything from crushing crime capers and smashing sinister super-villains to saving entire universes from cosmic doom.

As the decades passed he survived numerous reboots and re-imaginings to keep the wonders of fabled Asgard appealing to an increasingly jaded readership. An already exceedingly broad range of scenarios spawned even greater visual variety after the Thunderer’s introduction to the pantheon of cinematic Marvels and his ongoing triumphs as a bona fide burgeoning movie franchise.

The most recent publishing iteration of Marvel’s most tempestuous hero began by simultaneously focusing on the Storm Lord in the past, present and future with this compilation (gathering Thor, God of Thunder #19.NOW to 24, cover-dated April to September 2014) bringing that conceit to its natural, if staggeringly apocalyptic, conclusion.

Crafted primarily by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, this chronicle visits two vastly separated eras as the Lord of Storms tackles two ultimate enemies of Earth in two distinctly different times.

‘The Last Days of Midgard’ opens with an appraisal of how, across the universe, many worlds are inexplicably dying, whilst on Earth Thor is renewing his ineffable bond with the blue planet he loves so much. Having recently made the acquaintance of junior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Rosalind Solomon and been more than a little impressed, he is thus on hand when she begins her job in the agency’s new Environmental Hazard division by uncovering a high-tech underwater Japanese whaling fleet hunting inside a UN undersea preserve.

As her solo assault fails Solomon is surprised – and a little annoyed – to be rescued by the almighty storm god who soon routs and destroys the poachers. Meanwhile in Alaska the new CEO of super-corporation Roxxon is unveiling his latest moneymaking scheme.

Unctuous wunderkind Dario Agger is proudly publicising his new project to bring clean – if exorbitantly expensive – mined ice for drinking water from Jupiter’s moon Europa. Of course he fails to mention his company’s covert activities: deliberately polluting water tables, melting Earth’s icecaps and befouling the atmosphere.

Under his new business model Roxxon intends to ecologically destabilise the planet so that they can monetise their brand of high-tech stopgap solutionsâ€¦

Agger’s first foray goes embarrassingly awry when Thor hijacks his press launch; hand-delivering an entire mountain of clean ice and promising all the Earth might ever needâ€¦

Furiously brushing aside Agent Solomon’s thinly veiled threat that S.H.I.E.L.D. is on to him, the self-proclaimed god of money vows vengeance and brings in his lawyers and lobbyists. Superheroes and even S.H.I.E.L.D. enforce laws, but corporations own the politicians who make and – where necessary – rewrite themâ€¦

In the far distant future the universe is winding down and All-father Thor is a weary, maimed but still stubborn god. The end of time has almost no deities left in it, save the aged, one-eyed, one-armed Last King of Asgard, with only his (recently liberated from slavery yet ferociously independent) granddaughters Atli, Ellisiv and Frigg for company.

He spends his days sitting on and mourning the burned out, nigh-dead Earth he loves so much, but his ancient passions for the planet are stoked back to blazing fury when world-devourer Galactus arrives determined to consume at last the only celestial morsel ever to frustrate his unending hungerâ€¦

As the second issue opens King Thor banishes his fiery granddaughters back to Asgard whilst he prepares to die at long last defending his barren charge even as back in the Now his younger self has returned to the town of Broxton, Oklahoma; a place he sometimes calls home.

After a previous Ragnarok brought the extra-dimensional realm of Asgard to destruction and scattered the souls of the gods, a mysterious voice summoned the deceased Thor back to life – on Earth – in a crack of shattering thunder. Revived for an unspecified purpose the solitary godling swiftly set about retrieving the souls of his fellow Aesir, all scattered and hidden inside human hosts, and set up Asgard-on-Earth a few paltry feet above the ground of Oklahomaâ€¦

Following many battles and conflicts the mystic floating city – now dubbed Asgardia – was officially declared an Embassy of the Gods by the US government, and life for the rural humans below settled down to a pattern of strangely heightened, intense friendly cooperation with their amazing neighboursâ€¦

Outraged at what Solomon has told him of Roxxon and contemptuous as ever of mortal laws, Thor then causes the destruction of all the corporation’s flying pollution factories, provoking Agger to move the hero up his agenda and retaliate…

In his corporate lair the billionaire revels in the power of money and science whilst murderously â€œinspiringâ€ his ineffectual think-tank to find solutions to his god problem. The gory brainstorming session soon arrives at a perfect response but inadvertently reveals a stunning secret about the cruel plutocratâ€¦

As Agger sets his plans into motion, at the end of time the last King of Asgard refuses to surrender his beloved Earth to Galactus and, as the battle ferociously escalates, readies himself to die gloriously with his wounded worldâ€¦

The third chapter sees the apparent defeat of the elder god, whilst in his past the unstoppable power of money and influence as applied by Roxxon has moved clerical mountains and brought misery to the younger Thunderer.

The corporation has moved into Broxton with a spurious scheme to bring jobs, prosperity and progress to the isolated farming town. Of course the first step is buying up all the land they can and splitting up the community. That is quickly followed by establishing a second wave of atmosphere-poisoning flying factories over their bewildered headsâ€¦

Correctly assessing what Thor’s furious impatient response will be, smug Agger is waiting with a legion of lawyers and writs waiting to serve the god with injunctions, cease-&-desist orders and damages suits. After the CEO refuses the Asgardian’s offer to buy back Broxton with the unlimited wealth of the Eternal Realm, only Rosalind Solomon’s frantic pleading stops the enraged Thor from blowing his top and getting himself arrested or even deported from Earthâ€¦

In a distant Tomorrow Galactus has defeated the ancient Thunder Lord and thrown his battered body into space, whilst in the Now Agger initiates the next phase in his blueprint for vengeance, summoning monstrous troll Ulik and his troglodytic legions to literally undermine Broxton and Asgardia and slay Thor when he inevitably intervenesâ€¦

Issue #22 opens with the world-devourer preparing to render the defenceless future Earth to rubble when the incomparable and ever defiant Atli, Ellisiv and Frigg return, bearing an arsenal of god-killing weapons, whilst in present day Oklahoma Thor resorts to guile and patience – two things he is legendarily short of – as Rosalind leads the fight back against Roxxon.

Things soon go wrong though when she is targeted by hungry trollsâ€¦

As defeated King Thor rallies at the end of the universe and storms towards the place where the most ultimate of weapons is cached, in the present Thor confronts Agger and is astonished to see him transform into a bloodthirsty beast easily the match of a godâ€¦

The final chapter features even more spectacular cataclysmic combat on two time-fronts with ravening monsters equally served their just deserts, topped off with a brace of twist endings each serving to set the scene for forthcoming dramas, but the graphic drama does not quite end there.

Thor, God of Thunder #24 featured ‘The Last Days of Midgard Epilogue: Adieu, Midgard, Adieu’ (illustrated by Agustin Alessio & colourist Ive Svorcina with Ribic), and here offers a downbeat conclusion to the bombastic epic as beaten but undeterred Dario Agger pleads possession by uncanny forces and puts all Roxxon’s resources behind a campaign to remove the terrifying, alien, immigrant Asgardians from American – if not Earth’s – holy soilâ€¦

Amidst an aura of almost constant super-powered strife, it’s ludicrously easy to sway public opinion and All-Mother Freyja decides its time for the repaired and fully restored wonder city to leave for another, more welcoming place in the unending cosmos. But before they go Thor has one last invaluable gift for all the friends in Broxton he feels he has failedâ€¦

This blistering book of battles, trickery, triumphs and tragedies comes equipped with a gallery of covers-&-variants by Ribic, Alessio, Pascal Campion, Jenny Parks, Simone Bianchi, Nic Klein, Clay Mann and Ron Garney, plus bunches of extra content available via the AR icon option (providing special augmented reality content available exclusively through the Marvel AR app for iPhoneÂ®, iPadÂ®, iPad TouchÂ® & Android devices and Marvel Digital Comics Shop).

Furious, fun and fabulous Fights ‘n’ Tights furore no superhero fantasy fan could possibly resist.
â„¢ & Â© 2014 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.

November 24, 2014November 28, 2014

Channel Evil

By Alan Grant, Shane Oakley, D’Israeli, Suzanne O’Brien & various (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-0-986820021-4-5

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: spooky chills for dark winter nightsâ€¦ 8/10

As the nights draw in, thoughts just naturally turn to hunkering down by a fire, eating to excess, drinking to oblivion and scaring the bejeezus out of each other with uncanny stories.

In that hallowed tradition comes a stunning (mostly) monochrome treat from veteran comicbook craftsmen Alan Grant (Robo-Hunter, Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Batman, The Bogie Man, plus one or two other things you might have heard of) and Shane Oakley (Fatal Charm, Mister X, Albion) which began life as an apparently cursed miniseries from Renegade and Berserker Comics in 2009.

That story is well covered in the brace of Introductions by author Grant and his film-making partner in creative cooperative Renegade Arts Entertainment, so I won’t waste your time here. However, with Channel Evil finally completed, the spectacular results have been released as a gripping grimoire of wicked wonderment with even more appreciations and reminiscences from horrorist Doug â€œPinheadâ€ Bradley in his Foreword before a decidedly different scary story starts in, of all places, Blackpoolâ€¦

‘Don’t Touch that Dial’ opens with ambitious local TV presenter Jez Manson doing what he loves most: ripping apart and humiliating a minor celeb on his talk show. Having crushed another eager hopeful, the Man of the Hour celebrates by taking his glamour model girlfriend Lian for a walk along the Central Pier and is cajoled into seeing a show starring medium Conni Verona.

The mouthy sceptic is unimpressed with the psychic’s message of universal peace and love as she â€œchannelsâ€ her spirit guide Great Horam – but on seeing the packed and enrapt audience Manson knows money when he smells itâ€¦

Arranging for Connie to appear on his show is easy and avaricious agent â€œFast Mickâ€ also senses more priceless publicity and ratings in store. Unfortunately when Conni is interviewed on Channel X-33 things don’t go as expected as she turns his ridiculing ambush back upon him, daring him to try and contact the spirit dimensions himself.

Forced to comply, Jez has a go and, after four millennia, the pagan god Ba’al finds himself a new and extremely inviting vesselâ€¦

Jez’s transformation is terrifying, compulsive and hypnoticâ€¦ until Conni snaps him out of his possessed state with a smart slap across the face. Manson is dazed and visibly shaken but all Mick can see is the astounding viewer reactions and offers from the major networks for more of the sameâ€¦

Brushing off Conni’s warning about messing with the unknown, Jez and Mick go on a club-hopping bender but the exhausted interviewer begs off early, heading home to crash out.

Later that night three rowdily drunken stag night partiers are burned to deathâ€¦

‘Interference Pattern’ sees Lian arrive home after a â€œPage 3â€ gig to find Jez in an uncharacteristically gloomy state, morbidly dwelling for reasons even he can’t explain on the triple homicide.

Across town, meanwhile, world-weary Sergeant Niven and his junior partner Detective Tate start their investigations at the morgue. All they’ve got to go on is three crispy charred corpses, a jerry can with an almost useless partial fingerprint and a brain-fried wino who might have witnessed the attackâ€¦

Jez is enduring horrific nightmares of slaughter and conquest, punctuated by demands from a supernal maniac that he surrender his bodyâ€¦

Mick does more than amorously solicitous Lian to quash those night terrors. The wily manager has arranged a live broadcast from Louis Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors for Jez to display his captivating new talent before an eager audience and sensation-hungry world. Once again Ba’al does not disappointâ€¦

After a stunningly baroque and grotesque display which brings the gods of television clamouring to his door with their chequebooks out, Jez heads for home utterly exhausted. Exultant Mick finds him there crashed out next day, with no memory of the intervening hours. Lian is there too. Well, at least most of her isâ€¦

With Manson utterly oblivious to the situation, Mick does what every good manager does and fixes things. Utterly unaware of what he’s done, the presenter is far more worried by a spate of bloody atrocities across the country. He’s convinced they’re all Ba’al’s work.

The police, thanks to that partial print, have listed Jez as a person of interest and paid a visit, but once again the agent has all the bases coveredâ€¦

Despite everything he seen Mick is still sceptical, but agrees to fetch Conni Verona to â€œfixâ€ either Jez’s delusion or – just possibly – the demonic intrusion. When he returns, however, his client is missing, giving the agent time to arrange one more televisual spectacular for the massesâ€¦

With the police closing in and Conni and Great Horam poised to banish the invading spirit the stage is set for a cataclysmic climax, but as you’d expect the ferocious ancient god has his own ideasâ€¦

Dark, witty, razor-paced and genuinely suspenseful, Grant’s Channel Evil delivers a potent punch to delight modern fans of mood and mystery, couched in slick and subtle terms and illustrated with devilishly stylish aplomb by Oakley and Suzanne O’Brien, but this wicked chronicle does not end there.

Also included is a gallery of covers and variants by Wayne Nichols, Mark Buckingham, Frank Quitely & D’Israeli, a fascinating glimpse into Oakley’s process via an extensive ‘Sketch Book’ feature, and a brilliant, informative and blackly hilarious bonus story as the red-handed storm god himself gives a candid in-depth TV interview which reveals his astonishing history and literally brings the house down in ‘An Evening With Ba’al’â€¦

Smart, sharp and unforgettable, this is a spooky yarn no grown-up fear aficionado will dare to miss.
Channel Evil Â© 2012 Renegade Arts Entertainment and Alan Grant.

November 23, 2014

Gotham Central book 2: Jokers and Madmen

By Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Stephen Gaudiano, Greg Scott, Brian Hurtt & various(DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2521-6

There are two names synonymous with Gotham City, USA.

If you’re a cop you keep your own opinions about the Batman, and it’s pretty much unanimous that The Joker is not someone you ever want to deal with. A madman with a homicidal flair for the theatrical, the clown loves a special occasion. It’s Christmas and it’s started to snowâ€¦

One of the greatest rewards of long-lasting, legendary comicbook characters is their infinite potential for innovation and reinterpretation. There always seems to be another facet or aspect to develop. Such is the case in regard to the much-missed sidebar series Gotham Central, wherein cop show sensibilities cannily combine with the deadly drudgery of the long-suffering boys in blue patrolling the world’s most famous four-colour city.

Owing as much to shows like Hill Street Blues, Law & Order or Blue Bloods as it did to the baroque continuity of The Dark Knight, the mesmerising tales of the series combined gritty, authentic police action with furtive, soft-underbelly glimpses at what merely mortal peacekeepers have to put up with in a world of psychotic vaudevillians, flying aliens and scumbag hairballs who just won’t stay dead.

This second huge hardback volume, collecting more procedural exploits of the hard-pressed guardians of the most dangerous city in America – specifically Gotham Central #11-22 spanning November 2003 to October 2004 – begins with moodily effulgent introduction ‘Noir Town’ by crime author Duane Swiercznski and a handy double-page feature re-introducing the hardworking stiffs of First Shift, Second Shift and the Police Support team of the ‘Gotham City Police Department, Major Crimes Unit’ before the dramas start to unfold.

First up is uncharacteristic tearjerker ‘Daydreams and Believers’ by Ed Brubaker, Brian Hurtt and colourist Lee Loughridge which explores the GCPD’s strange relationship with the masked manhunter.

They all know he’s out there, but the official line is that he’s an urban myth and the Administration refuses to acknowledge his existence. Thus, civilian receptionist Stacy is the only person allowed to operate the rooftop bat-signal whenever crises occur, whilst the public are told that the eerie light is simply used to keep the cowardly, stupid, superstitious underworld cowedâ€¦

Here however we get a glimpse into the shy lamplighter’s inner thoughts as she observes the fractious byplay of the MCU regulars: all getting by thinking they’re fooling everyone else with their jealous bitching, petty sniping and tawdry clandestine affairs.

It’s all okay, though. Stacy has her own world to retreat into: one where the mighty Batman is her enigmatic but passionate loverâ€¦

The main event opens with a Yuletide shopping panic that looks to be the most memorable ever as ‘Soft Targets’ by Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark & Stephen Gaudiano finds the entire Major Crimes Unit frantically hunting a sniper randomly assassinating citizens. Things get even nastier and more fraught when Mayor Dickerson is killed as he consults with new Police Commissioner Michael Akins.

The ruthless shooter guns down a school teacher and the medical examiner collecting her body and soon the pre-Christmas streets are deserted. The assassin then identifies himself by launching a website promoting â€œBatman for Mayorâ€ and the appalled police realise just who they’re dealing withâ€¦

As Stacy turns on the roof signal her greatest wish comes true at last as the Gotham Guardian sweeps her off her feetâ€¦ microseconds before a fusillade of shots would have made her the latest statisticâ€¦

As the Dark Knight vanishes into the snowy darkness after the maniac, the cops get back to their meticulous police work, tracking ballistics and hunting for the website’s point of origin. Mounting media frenzy and their own frustration lead to crippling tension and soon they are all at each other’s throats, but a potentially nasty situation is immediately curtailed by a new postingâ€¦

A live web-cam feed starts, counting down to a fresh victim somewhere in the huge terrified powder-keg metroplisâ€¦

As the cops pull out all stops to identify the building on-screen and resort to old reliables, such as violently rousting the Harlequin of Hate’s old flunkies, the scene suddenly changes. Now it shows prime media pain-in-the-neck Angie Molina as a captive of the killer clown: stashed somewhere anonymous and slowly ticking down to a bloody and show-stopping demiseâ€¦

And just when things can’t get any crazier, The Joker turns himself inâ€¦

Even the insufferably cocky kook’s capture doesn’t halt the slaughter, since the proudly Machiavellian perpetrator can carry on killing by pre-programmed remote control even as he languishes in a cellâ€¦

When Lt. Ron Probson elects to go all â€œold schoolâ€ in his interview with the loon, it only results in his own death and the clown’s escape. Stacy only avoids death a second time because Captain Maggie Sawyer shoots first – and often – and saves her questions for laterâ€¦

Working a lead, Detectives Nate Patton and Romy Chandler have meanwhile found the captive reporter and realised the Joker’s convoluted, mass-murderous endgame, but even with Batman on scene they don’t all make it outâ€¦

‘Life is Full of Disappointments’ (by Brubaker and Rucka with art from Greg Scott) then focuses on disgruntled Second Shift veteran Jackson â€œSargeâ€ Davies who is still chafing at once again being passed over for promotion – especially as prissy new Day Shift commander David Cornwell has been parachuted in from outside the unit to run thingsâ€¦

As the squad come back from burying their dead, Sarge and partner Nelson Crowe catch a nasty case: a dead girl in a dumpster. However Stephanie Becker was no lost indigent or fun-loving party girl killed for the contents of her purse.

She worked in accounting at prestigious Washburn Pharmaceuticals and was killed with an exotic toxin. As the grizzled old-timers methodically work the case they find a succession of odd occurrences which lead them to First Shift colleagues Tommy Burke and Dagmar Procjnow, currently investigating the suspicious death of middle aged widow Maryellen Connolly, a still-warm stiff previously employed in the same office and slain the same wayâ€¦

All the evidence seems to point to an unsanctioned million dollar deficit and deep Mafia involvement at the Pharma factory, but the diligent detectives keep pushing and discover a far older potential motive for the murdersâ€¦

The gritty grimoire of Gotham atrocity ends with the bleakly chilling ‘Unresolved’ (by Brubaker, Lark & Gaudiano from issues #19-22) which features the reappearance of conflicted fan-favourite and all-around slob Harvey Bullock after the GCPD reopen a landmark cold case.

Marcus Driver and new partner Josie Mac are called to a hostage situation where a deranged perp continually screams about voices in his head before eating his own shotgunâ€¦

The troubled stiff was Kenny Booker – only survivor of an infamous High School bombing which shocked the city eight years previously – and the fresh tragedy compels Driver to take another look at the still unsolved mysteryâ€¦

The â€œGotham Hawksâ€ were a championship school baseball team eradicated in a locker room explosion but every effort of Bullock and his squad could not pin down a single lead. However, when Marcus and Josie re-examine the accumulated evidence they find a potential link to one of Batman’s weirdest and creepiest foes.

It’s not enough and they are forced to call in the disgraced ex-cop for a consult. The move is a huge mistake as they are utterly unprepared for the fallout when Bullock talks to them.

The legendary maverick was fired after arranging the death of a killer the law couldn’t touch, and he has taken to drowning his days in booze. However this case has haunted Harvey for years and now that he sees a possible solution he goes completely off the rails in his hunger to finish things.

The trouble is that even now the facts tumbling in are increasingly pointing to a completely different culprit from the one Bullock always suspected but the fixated former lawman just won’t listenâ€¦

Going on a rampage he courts death by brutalising malevolent mobster The Penguin whilst miles away another suspect, galvanised after years of apparent anonymity, breaks out of Arkham Asylum and goes huntingâ€¦

Even after all this the true story is far more twisted than the bewildered detectives could have possibly imagined and the eventual conclusion destroys further lives and sanity and honour before the dust finally settlesâ€¦

From an era when comicbook noir was enjoying a superb renaissance, these classic thrillers are masterpieces of edgy, fast-paced tension packed with layers of human drama, tension, stress and suspense.

Solid gritty police drama seamlessly blended with the grisly fantasy of the modern superhero seems like a strange brew, but it delivers knockout punches time after time in this captivating series which was the notional inspiration for the current TV sensation outlining just how Batman’s city got that way.

November 22, 2014

X-Factor volume 11: Happenings in Vegas

By Peter David, Sebastian Fiumara, Valentine De Landro, Emanuela Lupacchino, Pat Davidson & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4655-1

Since its debut in the 1980s, X-Factor has been a splendidly effective umbrella title for many uniquely off-kilter iterations of Marvel’s mutant phenomena. Undoubtedly the most impressive and enduring assemblage was created by writer Peter David in 2006; mixing starkly violent suspense with cool detective mystery, laugh-out-loud comedy and fantastic Fights ‘n’ Tights action – and even slyly addressing social issues in a regular riot of superbly adult Costumed Drama.

The premise saw Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man – veteran of a formerly government-sponsored (and controlled) team – appropriating the name for his own, to create the specialist metahuman private detective agency X-Factor Investigations.

Setting up shop in the wake of â€œThe Decimationâ€, which had reduced the world’s mutant population to a couple of hundred empowered individuals and millions of distressingly humanised (ex) Homo Superior, he and a perpetually fluctuating team set out to discover why and how it had happened and, once that was settled, just kept goingâ€¦

This splendid sampling of strange happenings – written as ever by Peter David – collects X-Factor #207-212 (September 2010 – February 2011), exploring some less well scrutinised elements of the immortal themes of Love and Death in a most unique mannerâ€¦

Recently returned to New York from the wilds of Detroit (by way of the furious future), Madrox and literal mystery woman Layla Miller have no trouble settling in as ‘Lost Souls’ – illustrated by Sebastian Fuimara – opens with a stunning and statuesque client decked out in skimpy green sheen hiring X-Factor to track down a missing man and stolen pendant.

Her effect on the usually ambivalent-to-ladies, luck-manipulating alien Longshot is a study in weapons-grade pulchritude and should really have tipped off the detectives that all was not rightâ€¦

Elsewhere Guido â€œStrong Guyâ€ Carosella, Armando â€œDarwinâ€ MuÃ±oz and psionic super-woman Monet St. Croix are back from South America, having rescued the latter’s abducted dad from drug-lords and mystic menace Baron Mordo. To facilitate their escape Monet had to promise to let the dying sorcerer steal her life energies, but once on safe ground again the wizard finds that he has bitten off more than he can chewâ€¦

At a shooting range, young lovers Rictor and Shatterstar are working out a few emotional problems like men do, whilst a multitude of Madroxes and his unforgiving ex Theresa Rourke Cassidy (AKA Siryn) have located the fugitive thief Gofern. However, when they challenge the roistering rogue, things take a distinct left turn into pure wyrdâ€¦

Back home, Rictor’s former girlfriend Rahne â€œWolfsbaneâ€ Sinclair accidentally interrupts him and Shatterstar making up and her shock is transparent and devastating. It’s pretty mutual however as the furiously feral transmorph seems to be extremely pregnant with what Rictor assumes is his childâ€¦

The untitled second part opens with Rahne taking out her not-just hormonal anger on her boyfriend’s boyfriend whilst in a dingy dive across town Gofern – now revealed as objectionable alien oik Pip the Troll – fights desperately to regain the amulet Madrox has confiscated. He claims the piece was the only thing protecting himâ€¦

Whilst the rest of the team strive to stop Wolfsbane killing Shatterstar, back at the bar things get very cold as outraged Asgardian Death Goddess Hela manifests to reclaim the obnoxious jester who dared to run from herâ€¦

The action switches to Las Vegas in ‘Strip Search’ (Lupacchino & Davidson) as a hand-picked squad track the Queen of the Nordic Damned. Madrox is determined to cancel the contract and rescue poor shmuck Pip from the underworld, but the trail seems to lead to nothing but frustration.

Splitting up, Layla, Shatterstar, Siryn and Guido manage to wreck most of the town before Longshot’s luck powers draw them to vacationing Jane Foster (former love of Thor and expert on many things Asgardian) who advises them that the last thing they should do is attract the mercurial goddess’ attentionâ€¦

Never ready to accept good advice, Madrox sets Longshot loose on the casinos and almost bankrupts the city before Hela takes the blatant baitâ€¦

Valentine De Landro illustrates the untitled next chapter as, back in the Big Apple, Monet agrees to psi-probe a woman plagued by dreams of atrocity and is frankly astounded by a rare, easily achieved success. Rictor and Rahne meanwhile go for an ultrasound scan and discover something most unsettling and inexplicably lupine and mystical about their impending sprogâ€¦

The action returns to a secret necropolis of Nevada for ‘Staying in Vegas’ (Lupacchino & Davidson) with the wayward away team under attack by an unending horde of undying warrior zombies. Whilst Hela idly tortures Pip in Niffleheim, his would-be saviours battle effectively but not tirelessly in the lands above.

They’re almost glad when the formidably daunting thunder god Thor – having received a phone call from an old friend – explosively storms in and takes commandâ€¦

The saga astoundingly concludes as the unlikely and constantly sniping assemblage invades the nether regions to save the troll, much to Hela’s amusement. When challenged, she hands over the malodorous little troglodyte with a shrug and a smile.

She’s already bored with Pip and instead wants Longshot for her new toy, but when spurned the Queen of Hell is still in a good mood and grants them leave to depart.

Of course the exit is on the other side of her realm, but surely crossing the hostile, frozen perdition whilst every corpse and monster in her power tries to kill them won’t be any problemâ€¦?

As the heroes doggedly battle their way across the tundra of terror, Shatterstar is specifically targeted by recently deceased wolf-god Hrimhari, who claims the gleeful alien adventurer smells of his one true love. With horror Siryn remembers how the lupine lord once had a fling with the absent Wolfsbaneâ€¦

With inevitable doom at hand, coldly calculating Madrox challenges Hela directly, gambling Darwin’s ability to hyper-evolve and counter every threat to his existence will provide a means to beat the death goddessâ€¦

Against all odds it does and they all – even Pip – escape, but the horrifying effects and shattering power of gentle Armando’s latest adaptation don’t fade even after they are all safely back on Earthâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

With covers by David Yardin, this volume continues a superb run of challenging, compelling, compulsive and supremely scary funny tales, making this iteration of X-Factor the ideal example of mature Costume Dramas: utterly indispensable for everyone who needs wit to underpin their superhero soap opera shenanigans.

November 21, 2014

Showcase Presents the Trial of the Flash

By Cary Bates, Carmine Infantino, Frank McLaughlin, Dennis Jensen & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3182-8

Barry Allen was the second comicbook comet to carry the name of Flash, and his debut was the Big Bang which finally triggered the Silver Age of American comicbooks after a series of abortive remnant revivals (Stuntman in 1954 and Marvel’s â€œBig Threeâ€, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner and Captain America from 1953 to 1955). There were also a few all-original attempts such as Captain Flash, The Avenger and Strongman from 1954-1955.

Although none of those – or other less high-profile efforts – had restored or renewed the popularity of masked mystery-men, they had presumably piqued readers’ consciousness, even at conservative National/DC. Thus the revived human rocket wasn’t quite the innovation he seemed: after all, alien crusader Martian Manhunter had already cracked open the company floodgates with his low-key launch in Detective Comics #225, November 1955.

However in terms of creative quality, originality and sheer style The Flash was an irresistible spark and after his landmark first appearance in Showcase #4 (October 1956) the series – eventually – became a benchmark by which every successive launch or reboot across the industry was measured.

Police Scientist – we’d call him a CSI today – Allen was transformed by a simultaneous lightning strike and chemical bath into a human thunderbolt of unparalleled velocity and ingenuity. Yet with characteristic indolence the new Fastest Man Alive took three more try-out issues and almost as many years to win his own title. However when he finally stood on his own wing-tipped feet in The Flash #105 (February-March 1959), he never looked backâ€¦

The comics business back then was a faddy, slavishly trend-beset affair, however, and following a manic boom for superhero tales prompted by the Batman TV show the fickle global consciousness moved on to a fixation with supernatural themes and merely mortal tales, triggering a huge revival of spooky films, shows, books and periodicals. With horror on the rise again, many superhero titles faced cancellation and even the most revered and popular were threatened. It was time to adapt or die: a process repeated every few years until the mid-1980s when DC’s powers-that-be decided to rationalise and downsize the sprawling multi-dimensional multiverse the Flash had innocently sparked into existence decades previouslyâ€¦

Barry had been through the wringer before: in 1979 (Flash #275 to be precise) his beloved wife Iris was brutally murdered and thereafter the Scarlet Speedster became a darker, grittier, truly careworn hero. Gradually over four years the lonely bachelor recovered and even found love again but a harshly evolving comics industry, changing fashions and jaded fan tastes were about to end his long run at the topâ€¦

The Vizier of Velocity was still a favoured, undisputed icon of the apparently unstoppable Superhero meme and a mighty pillar of the costumed establishment, but in times of precarious sales and with very little in the way of presence in other media like films, TV or merchandise, that just made him a bright red target for a company desperate to attract a larger readership.

It soon became an open secret that he was to be one of the major casualties of the reality-rending Crisis on Infinite Earths. The epic maxi-series was conceived as an attention-grabbing spectacle on every level and to truly succeed it needed a few sacrifices which would make the public really sit up and take noticeâ€¦

With such knowledge commonplace, long-time scripter Cary Bates went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the Crimson Comet and the comic title which inspired a super-heroic revolution went out in a totally absorbing blaze of gloryâ€¦

This momentously massive stand-alone monochrome collection gathers the pertinent chapters of an astonishingly extended and supremely gripping serial which charted the triumphs and tragedies of the Monarch of Motion’s last months and savoured the final moments of the paramount hero and symbol of the Silver Age.

Contained herein are Flash #323-327, 329-336 and 340-350, spanning July 1983 to October 1985, written throughout by Bates and pencilled by originating artist Carmine Infantino, opening on the day Barry is supposed to marry his new sweetheart Fiona Webb.

As the nervous groom dresses for the ceremony, however, an Oan Guardian of the Universe appears with appalling news. Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash has escaped from the timeless hell the vengeful Vizier of Velocity banished him to for murdering Irisâ€¦

Inked by Rodin Rodriguez, ‘Run Flash – Run for your Wife!’ sees the distraught hero pursuing and battling his ultimate enemy on the run all over he world as the clock ticks down, culminating in #324’s ‘The Slayer and the Slain’ (Dennis Jensen inks) with the police issuing a missing persons alert for the vanished Barry Allen.

Crushed Fiona finally gives up on her man and is leaving the church just as Zoom dashes in with Flash hard on his winged heels. The maniac has boasted that he will repeat himself by slaughtering his archenemy’s second love, but with femto-seconds to spare Barry goes into overdrive and grabs his foe by the neckâ€¦

When the dust settles the wedding guests see Flash trying to comfort the bride-to-be but Police Captain Darryl Frye and Detective Frank Curtis are distracted by something the speedster has not noticed: Zoom’s lifeless corpseâ€¦

The media circus begins in #325 as ‘Dead Reckoning’ sees the guilt-racked speedster go into heroic overdrive all around the world but somehow never quite outrunning the Press or his own remorse.

As friends and allies wonder where they stand, the vile miscreants of The Flash Rogues’ Gallery come together to steal Zoom’s cadaver. Captains Cold and Boomerang, Pied Piper, Weather Wizard and The Trickster actually despised the Reverse-Flash and need to desecrate his corpse for the utter embarrassment he has brought upon their association: letting himself get killed by the scarlet Boy Scoutâ€¦

Their heartbroken foe meanwhile has stopped running, and Barry visits Fiona where she lies in hospital. The shock of Barry’s abandonment has traumatised and perhaps even deranged her, but worse is in store. After leaving her room in his Flash persona, the hero is reluctantly arrested by Captain Frye on a charge of Manslaughterâ€¦

‘Shame in Scarlet’ (inked by Gary Martin) opens on the arrest and arraignment but the madhouse of raving pressmen and downhearted cops is just what the recently captured Weather Wizard needs to mask a bold getaway scheme.

Ever dutiful, Flash eludes custody long enough to stop the rogue before surrendering himself againâ€¦

Fiona’s doctors refuse to believe the still-missing Barry Allen came to see her and diagnose a delusional breakdown, whilst out on the streets Frank Curtis is further distracted by teenaged Angelo Torres; a kid barely surviving in a tough gang-controlled area of Central Cityâ€¦

Released on his own recognizance, Flash sneaks into his own apartment but as the realisation of his destroyed life finally sinks in, he loses control and trashes the place in an explosive outburst. By the time his terrified neighbours break in he has gone and the suspicion that someone has targeted the missing Police Scientist seems confirmedâ€¦

Roaming the streets the Crimson Comet sees Angelo fleeing from a mugging but is appalled to realise he has tackled the wrong guy. Torres was chasing the real thiefâ€¦

Still reeling at how far he has fallen, the shell-shocked speedster is barely aware that he is bleeding badly (from self-inflicted wounds incurred when destroying his home), and allows a cop to take him to hospital. The good deed does not go unpunished. When he arrives, Fiona is there and suddenly flares into a state of total hysteriaâ€¦

The horrors pile on in ‘Burnout’ (#327, inked by Jensen) as Flash reconciles with Angelo, unaware that the kid has been targeted by the malign Super-Gorilla Grodd as part of a convoluted vengeance scheme.

Flash is too preoccupied by his next personal crisis as the Justice League of America holds a special session to judge his actions and conduct. A nail-bitingly close vote of his crestfallen best friends will determine whether he can remain a member of the august groupâ€¦

Flash #328 is a partial reprint exploring the Flash/Professor Zoom vendetta and not included here, so the saga resumes with ‘What is the Sinister Secret of Simian and Son?’ (#329, with new regular inker Frank McLaughlin picking up the pens the brushes). Grodd uses Angelo and other kids to perpetrate series of bold raids even as, in front of the maddened media cameras, unscrupulous, publicity-hungry celebrity criminal defense attorney Nicholas D. Redik attempts to insert himself into the â€œCase of the Centuryâ€, claiming to be Flash’s lawyer and only chance of acquittalâ€¦

The oblivious, troubled human thunderbolt has other ideas. He has already contacted â€œBarry’sâ€ old friend Peter Farley to act on his behalf, blithely unaware that back home Grodd has taken over Angelo and Fiona has succumbed to a total mental breakdownâ€¦

The final confrontation with the Ã¼ber-ape begins in ‘Beware the Land of Grodd!’ (scripted by Joey Cavalieri over Bates’ plot) as Redik manipulates the media to force Flash to switch lawyers and Captain Frye pushes the ongoing search for the missing Barry to new heights. With all these distractions the Vizier of Velocity is easily ambushed by Grodd before Angelo, at the moment of truth in #331’s ‘Dead Heat!’, has a change of heart and mind. With a supreme effort of will the remorseful lad breaks the super-ape’s conditioning, allowing the speedster to triumph.

Returning the renegade to futuristic Gorilla City, Flash leaves the mental monster in the custody of his old comrade Solovar, returning to America just in time to hear Farley being murdered during a phone conferenceâ€¦

Bates rejoins Infantino & McLaughlin as ‘Defend the Flashâ€¦ and Die?‘ sees the Scarlet Speedster hurtle across the country to save his lawyer from a colossal explosion, but even he is not fast enough to prevent the victim incurring massive injuries.

As speculation runs riot in the media that someone is targeting Flash’s defenders, old enemy Rainbow Raider take advantage of the chaos to instigate a string of robberies, but even at his lowest ebb the hero is too much for the multicoloured malefactorâ€¦

Redik is now publicly offering to take the case for free, but Farley’s absentee business partner has already taken up her ailing associate’s celebrity caseloadâ€¦

In issue #333, as inexplicably hostile attorney Cecile Horton confers with her newly inherited client, ‘Down with the Flash!’ reveals how certain elements of Central City have seemingly turned on their former champion. Fiona too is still drawing trouble, as a petty thug and his crazy brother break into the asylum treating her, looking for a little one-stop emergency therapy. Sadly for them the Monarch of Motion is still keeping an eye on his tragic fiancÃ©eâ€¦

N.D. Redik then attempts to bribe and/or bully Horton off the case, but despite clearly despising her crimson client, Cecile is determined to honour Peter’s wishes and save the speedster.

The mastermind stirring up anti-Flash sentiment is revealed in ‘Flash-Freak-Out!’ Just as the pre-trial manoeuvrings begin, the formerly supportive Mayor suddenly becomes the disgraced hero’s biggest detractor.

Pied Piper’s mind-altering influence even manages to make the hero apparently go berserk on live TV in ‘How to Trash a Flash!’, leaving even his most devoted fans wondering if their beloved champion has in fact gone crazyâ€¦

â€¦And whilst Flash is trying to save the Mayor, at her secluded retreat Cecile Horton is caught in an explosive blast like the one that took out her partnerâ€¦

‘Murder on the Rocks’ in #336 finds Flash arriving too late for once, but the ecstatic speedster is astounded to discover his lawyer has saved herself through sheer quick thinking – although another woman has been killed. The tabloid reporter had been bugging the supposed â€œsafe houseâ€ and accidentally fallen foul of a couple of killers-for-hireâ€¦

The trail of death leads the forensically trained Flash inexorably to a man whose arrogant determination to be a star in the tragedy costs him everythingâ€¦

Rather annoyingly the next three chapters are absent here. They would have shown how Flash finally finished the Piper and incurred the wrath of the Rogues who subsequently turned a hulking simpleton into a programmed super killer dubbed Big Sir before unleashing him on the Scarlet Speedsterâ€¦

We rejoin the story with Flash #340 to ‘Reach Out and Waste Someone!’ as the hurtling hero turns the tables on Cold, Boomerang, Weather Wizard, Trickster and Mirror Master by befriending Big Sir. The danger averted, the Flash then surrenders himself to the courts.

After many months #341 sees proceedings finally open in ‘Trial and Tribulation!’ only for the weary defendant to discover that go-getting District Attorney Anton Slater has dropped the charges. The wily attention-seeker has abandoned his manslaughter case in favour of a charge of Second Degree Murderâ€¦

With the still at-large Rogues rampaging through the city, the opening arguments quickly start to make the stunned Flash appear like a cunning killer and, whilst he reels in court, Captain Cold and Co again brainwash the now docile Big Sir. When the shattered speedster leaves after his first bruising day the Brobdingnagian brute ambushes him, wrecking his face with a massive maceâ€¦

Maimed, dazed and reeling Flash flees in unconscious panic leaving Sir to assault the gathered media in ‘Smash-Up!’ Barely thinking, the wounded warrior heads for Gorilla City where the super simians’ miraculous medical technology saves his life. Recovered and ready to return, Flash is certain he has made the right decision by asking Solovar to use their advanced science to enact a certain alteration for himâ€¦

Upon his return the Vizier of Velocity again deprograms Big Sir and the odd couple make sure the Rogues can’t hurt anyone any moreâ€¦

Flash #343 kicks the drama into even higher gear in ‘Revenge and Revelations!’ as the secret of why Cecile hates her crimson-clad client is exposed and merciless mobster monster Goldface attacks, even as in the far future another Flash foe escapes an unbeatable prison and heads for the present, intent on adding to the doomed hero’s historic woesâ€¦

‘Betrayal!’ in #344 is a partial reprint (by Bates & John Broome, Infantino, McLaughlin & Joe Giella) which combines the first appearance and an early exploit of Kid Flash with that devoted protÃ©gÃ©’s devastating expert testimony under oath on the witness stand.

The reluctant lad’s damaging evidence is then compounded when Cecile makes an explosive mistake which exposes ‘The Secret Face of the Flash!’ to the courtroom and the worldâ€¦

Confusion reigns in #346 as the shocking revelation is upstaged by reports that the actual victim might not be dead. A merciless yellow-and-red blur has been spotted all over Central City attacking civilians and destroying police records in ‘Dead Man’s Bluff!’â€¦

The Reverse-Flash has escaped certain death many times before but as he mercilessly attacks the other Rogues – with even the Jurors narrowly escaping certain doom – there is a sure and certain feeling that something is not rightâ€¦

The trial concludes in #347’s ‘Back from the Dead!’ but even with the thoroughly thrashed Rogues and Police Captain Fry attesting the victim is still alive, more than one malign presence in the courtroom is affecting the jurors and ‘The Final Verdict!’ comes back â€œguiltyâ€â€¦

However the story is not over and #349 unleashes a cascade of staggering revelations revealing clandestine agents acting both for and against the harried Human Hurricane in ‘â€¦And the Truth Shall Set him Free!’ before the extended extravaganza of #350 begins by declaring ‘Flash Flees’ and thereafter shows the Scarlet Speedster defeating his ultimate nemesis, clearing his name and even living happily ever afterâ€¦ until that fore-destined final moment in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Staggering in scope, gripping in execution and astoundingly suspenseful, these last days of a legend make for stunning reading: a perfect example of the kind of plot-driven Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction we just don’t see enough of these days.

If you feel a need for a traditionally thrilling kind of speed reading, this is a chronicle you must not miss.

November 20, 2014November 19, 2014

Uncanny X-Men: Sisterhood

By Matt Fraction, Greg Land, Yanick Paquette, Terry Dodson, Jay Leisten, Karl Story & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4105-1

Since its revival in 1975 Marvel’s Mutant franchise has always strongly featured powerful and often controversial female characters and the balance has never rested solely on the side of light.

For every valiant woman – or indeed super-powered, conflicted teenage girl – fighting the good fight there has been a shady lady playing for the dark side.

This particular collection – gathering Uncanny X-Men #508-512, cover-dated June to August 2009 – primarily features a stupendous clash between the maligned mutant mavericks and a dastardly coterie of extremely wicked women warriors but also offers a fascinating insight into the occluded history of one of the endangered species’ most enigmatic survivorsâ€¦

At this point in time, the evolutionary offshoot dubbed Homo Sapiens Superior is at its lowest ebb. As seen in both House of M and Decimation storylines, Scarlet Witch Wanda Maximoff – ravaged by madness and her own reality-warping power – reduced the world’s multi-million plus mutant population to a couple of hundred individuals with three simple wordsâ€¦

Most of the remaining genetic outsiders accepted a generous and earnest offer to relocate to San Francisco but, of course, trouble is always happy to make house callsâ€¦

Scripted throughout by Matt Fraction, the 4-part saga ‘Sisterhood’ – illustrated by Greg Land, Jay Leisten and colourist Justin Ponsor – opens following the shocking news of a massacre in Cooperstown, Alaska.

Terrorists had razed the isolated town to burning rubble because of reports that the first mutant baby since The Decimation had been born thereâ€¦

Anti-mutant activist and passionate bigot Simon Trask was quick to stir the flames of panic and prejudice with his Humanity Now Coalition pushing the government to end the threat of mutants forever. With hysteria growing, even previously neutral outcasts began making their way to the mutant enclave of the Greymalkin Industries Facility on the Marin Headlands. However, even with an ever-growing host of feared and despised genetic pariahs housed in her city and the entire population potentially at risk from fanatics and mutant-hunters, Mayor Sadie Sinclair still stands firm on her offer of sanctuary.

The dark drama commences in a secluded private cemetery in Tokyo as the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants disinter a certain body. They are interrupted by probability-bending sometime X-ally Domino whose main talent seems to be landing in the wrong place at the right time.

Sadly, even her odds-altering powers and superspy training are not enough to stop the grave-robbing, and Regan and Martinique Wyngarde (daughters of the malevolent Mastermind), psychic assassin Chimera, cyborg killer Lady Deathstrike, extra-dimensional witch Spiral and the infernal spirit of Red Queen Madelyne Pryor get away with the corpse of ninja legend Kwannonâ€¦

In San Francisco Henry McCoy convenes his newly convened X-Club; a unique think tank comprising human geneticist Kavita Rao, mutant tech-savant Madison Jeffries, atomic mutation expert Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi and former Nazi-hunting mutant mystery man James Bradley AKA Doctor Nemesis.

The Beast carefully outlines their intended goal: finding a way to reactivate the millions of mutants â€œcuredâ€ by the Scarlet Witch. Their first session soon concludes that she has somehow switched off the power-creating â€œX-Geneâ€ in most of the mutant population, but they need to know more about the origin of their own species before they can turn them all on againâ€¦

Elsewhere in the city the Sisterhood have completely resurrected the purloined corpse and filled the body with a former hostâ€¦ or at least one of themâ€¦

Long ago (Uncanny X-Men #256-258, in fact) priests of ninja cult The Hand mystically transposed the mind of telepath Betsy Braddock – AKA Psylocke – into the physical shell of a lethally effective adherent named Kwannon. The brainwashing and mystic body-swapping turned the English Rose into a sultry, sexy Chinese bodyguard/concubine/siren and perfect gift for the undisputed overlord of the Orient, The Mandarin.

After much ado, myriad battles and many years, both mind-switched incarnations died in combat, but now the Red Queen has succeeded in reuniting the long-separated soul and form of the elite killerâ€¦

As the X-Men reach out and enlist former Canadian mutant hero – and media-savvy global Gay celebrity – Jean-Paul Beaubier (one-time Alpha Flight member Northstar), the sinister Sisterhood moves on to the next stage of Pryor’s convoluted game-planâ€¦

With the enclave happily acclimatising and being welcomed by the mellow Californians, the demagogue Trask springs his latest nasty surprise from Washington DC. Proposition X demands legislation to ensure the mandatory sterilisation of mutants and all humans carrying the X-Geneâ€¦

The news drives the younger mutants at Greymalkin into a fury, whilst in the science labs cooler heads have devised a potential plan to study the origins of their kind: all they have to do is travel back in time and get blood samples from the first humans to conceive a mutant childâ€¦

Outmanoeuvred, the usually reticent and inspirationally obnoxious Bradley is forced to admit having been born in 1906, and that his own parents might well be the best possible candidatesâ€¦

Before they can act, though, the Sisterhood invade the Facility using a prisoner in the detention centre to deactivate all the psychic security provisions. The assault is devastating and catches the X-Men completely off guard, but Pryor’s big mistake is underestimating the determination and sheer bloody-mindedness of student heroes X-23, Armor, Pixie and the telepathic gestalt called the Stepford Cuckoosâ€¦

Following the kids’ counterstrike, the swift recovery and retaliation of the adult X-folk quickly drives the Sisterhood out, but Wolverine is forced to admit that the invaders got what they came for: a lock of hair from Jean Grey he’s been treasuring since her death.

The sample could provide the ghostly Pryor with the genetic material needed to grow herself a new body – one with all the power of the nigh-omnipotent Phoenixâ€¦

The conclusion (with additional art by Terry & Rachel Dodson) sees the desperate X-Men rush to foil the plot and spectacularly triumph, not only ending the threat of cosmic resurrection but incidentally reclaiming one of their own fallen from the graveâ€¦

Following that all-out cosmic-tinged clash ‘The Origin of the Species’ (illustrated by Yanick Paquette & Karl Story) offers a taste of steam-punk and tragedy as the postponed jaunt to the dawn of the Mutant Age finally gets underway.

Accompanied by the restored Psylocke and Archangel, Beast’s â€œX-Clubâ€ of super science geeks pop back to San Francisco in 1906 on an extremely tight deadline to get blood samples from Dr. Nemesis’ parents but stumble into the birth of their worst nightmareâ€¦

Inventor Nicola Bradley and his wife Catherine have been striving to complete a generator that will provide free, unlimited broadcast power for humanity but are increasingly being threatened by thugs and brigands determined to steal it.

Cornelius Shaw and his mentor Lord Molyneux are using the sybaritic Hellfire Club to fund Bradley’s experiments but they want his incredible engine for purposes far darker than lighting the world.

Molyneux has visions of mankind crushed under the monstrous heel of a new superior race – â€œOvermenâ€ – and needs the battery to power his colossal mechanical Sentinel. Against that even the aberrations-to-come will be helplessâ€¦

He’s also behind the attempted raids; hedging his bets in case Bradley cannot complete the job, so when the freakish X-Club turns up he knows the time to act is nowâ€¦

Thankfully – and perhaps instinctively inspired by his wife’s pregnancy – Bradley solves the final problem, but soon regrets his actions as the Hellfire lords take his device and unleash a marauding mechanical myrmidon upon the populace.

â€¦And that’s when the strangers with wings and blue fur and other incredible abilities reveal themselvesâ€¦

Concluding in calamity, catastrophe and cruel, heartbreaking irony, this smart slice of time-tampering neatly wraps up a superb sample of Mutant Mayhem: at once exciting, enthralling and exceptionally entertaining.

This slim, stirring, supremely sensuous Fights ‘n’ Tights tome also includes a selection of cover reproductions and variants by Land, Ponsor, Paquette, Edgar Delgado, Laura Martin, J. Scott Campbell & StÃ©phane Roux, resulting in a treasure trove of treats for all fans of sexy superheroes and combat connoisseurs alike

November 19, 2014November 18, 2014

Harvey Kurtzman’s Jungle Book

By Harvey Kurtzman (Ballantine/Kitchen Sink)
ISBNs: 978-0-87816-033-4 (Kitchen Sink HB),Â Â Â Â Â 338-K (Ballantine original PB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Hard To Find – but absolutely worth itâ€¦ 10/10

Here in Britain we think we invented modern satire, and quite frankly it’s a pretty understandable notion, with The Great 1960s Wit Scare producing the likes of Peter Cook, John Bird, John Fortune, Bernard Levin, Richard Ingrams, Alan Bennett, Paul Foot, Ned Sherrin, Jonathan Miller, David Frost and institutions such as The Establishment club, That Was the Week that Was and the utterly wonderful Private Eye (long may She reign, offend, fly at Gads and survive repeated libel and defamation writsâ€¦).

Somehow our American cousins were not so copiously blessed. Their share of genuine world-changing, liberal-lefty intellectual troublemakers only really comprised Tom Lehrer and Harvey Kurtzman. Of course it a very large country with an unbelievable number of guns equally distributed amongst smart folks, idiots and lunatics alikeâ€¦

Creative genius Kurtzman is probably the most important cartoonist of the last half of the 20th century – even more so than Will Feiffer, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert or Will Eisner.

His early triumphs in the fledgling field of comicbooks (Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and especially the groundbreaking, game-changing Mad) would be enough for most creators to lean back on but Kurtzman was a force in newspaper strips (See Flash Gordon Complete Daily Strips 1951-1953) and a restless innovator, commentator and social explorer who kept on looking at folk and their doings and just couldn’t stop making art to share his findingsâ€¦

He invented a whole new format when he converted the highly successful colour funny book Mad into a black-&-white magazine, safely distancing the brilliant satirical publication from the fall-out caused by the 1950s comics witch-hunt which eventually killed all EC’s other titles.

He pursued comedy and social satire further with the magazines Trump, Humbug and Help!, all the while creating challenging and powerfully effective humour strips such as Little Annie Fanny (for Playboy), Nutz, Goodman Beaver, Betsy and her Buddies and many more. He died far too soon, far too young in 1993.

In 1959, having left Mad over issues of financial control and with both follow-up independent ventures Trump andÂ Humbug defunct, the irrepressible Kurtzman convinced Ballantine Books to publish a mass-market paperback of all-new satirical material.

The company had just lost the rights to publish Mad‘s paperback reprint line and were cautiously amenableâ€¦

The intriguing oddment saw the Great Observer in top form, returning to his comic roots by spoofing and lambasting strip characters, classic cinema, contemporary television and apparently unchanging social sentiments in a quartet of hyper-charged tales. Unfortunately the project was the first of its kind in America and met with less than stellar success. No one had ever published 140 pages of new comics in one savage bite before, and even the plenitude of strip reprint books always had one eye to the kids’ market.

This stuff was strictly for adults who would happily read newspaper or magazine strips but didn’t want to be seen carrying a book of them. Duly enlightened Kurtzman returned to safer ground and launched Help! just in time for the Swinging Sixties’ satire boomâ€¦

The slim monochrome package might not have changed the nation but it certainly warped and affected a generation of budding cartoonists and writers. Quickly becoming a legend – and nearly a myth in fan circles – Jungle Book was rescued from limbo in 1987 when Denis Kitchen (that much-missed crusading champion of all things grand, esoteric, nostalgic and/or naughty in comics), released the entire lost volume as a deluxe oversized (214 x 149 x 19mm) collectors hardback edition through his Kitchen Sink Press.

It’s still one of the funniest, most marvellous examples of wit and creativity comics have ever produced, as well as Kurtzman’s longest single work and is long overdue for another go-round.

Large sized paperback editions were also released at the time, but are now just as hard to findâ€¦

Deemed one of the â€œTop 100 Comics of the 20th Centuryâ€ by The Comics Journal, the racy, revelatory controversial – and in 1959 completely ignored – tome’s full title is Harvey Kurtzman’s Jungle Book: Or, Up from the Apes! (and Right Back Down) – In Which Are Described in Words and Pictures Businessmen, Private Eyes, Cowboys, and Other Heroes All Exhibiting the Progress of Man from the Darkness of the Cave into the Light of Civilization by Means of Television, Wide Screen Movies, the Stone Axe, and Other Useful Arts and the Kitchen Sink edition augments its reproduction with an effusive and captivating ‘Intro’ from devoted fan Art Spiegelman plus an information-packed ‘Outro’ by editor and comics historian Dave Schriener.

The material itself is gloriously timeless and revelatory. In 1959 it gave the author an opportunity to experiment with layout, page design, narrative rhythms and especially the graphic potential of lettering, all whilst asking pertinent probing questions about the world changing around him.

‘Thelonius Violence, Like Private Eye’ is ostensibly a parody of groundbreaking TV show Peter Gunn, with the jazz-loving hipster â€œWhite Knight for Hireâ€ scoring chicks and getting hit an awful lot as he infallibly and oh-so-coolly tracks a killer whilst protecting blackmail victim Lolita Nabokovâ€¦

The tale is slick and witty and sublimely smart, whereas the next piece barely contains a lot of pent-up frustration for past sins and misdemeanours.

For ‘Organization Man in the Grey Flannel Executive Suite’ Kurtzman accessed his experiences working for bosses (such as Marvel’s Martin Goodman) to create the salutary tale of a decent young man’s progress up the corporate ladder at Shlock Publications Inc. The quasi-autobiographical impressionable and ambitious naÃ¯f in question is Goodman Beaver (who would be resurrected for Help! and eventually, improbably evolve into Little Annie Fanny) and his transformation from sweet kid to cruel, corrupt, exploitative typical business jerk makes for truly outrageous reading.

The title comes from a trio of contemporary bestsellers on the subject of men in business: Executive Suite by Cameron Hawley (1952), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson in 1955 and William H. Whyte’s 1956 drama The Organization Man.

‘Compulsion on the Range’ simultaneously spoofs top-rated western Gunsmoke and the era’s growing fascination with cod psychology and angst-ridden heroes as Marshal Matt Dolin‘s far-reaching obsession with out-shooting infallible outlaw Johnny Ringding which takes him to the end of the Earthâ€¦

The volume wraps up with an edgily barbed tribute to Great Southern novels like Erskine Caldwell’s Tobacco Road and God’s Little Acre and assorted works of William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, filtered through a glorious froth of absurd melodrama, frustrated passions and steamy sex (by all accounts the Very Best Kind), all outrageously delivered via astoundingly rendered caricatures and inspired dialect and accent gags.

In ‘Decadence Degenerated’ us sees thet nothin’ evah changes in sleepy ole Rottenville. Then wun naht, when the boys is jus’ a-oglin’ purty Honey-Lou as ushul, somethin’ goes awry an’ it all leads to murdah an’ lynchin’ befoah a snoopy repohtah who claims he frum up Noath turn up thinkin’ he can fin’ the truthâ€¦

Soon violent passions is furtha aroused and nothin’ kin evah be the same aginâ€¦

Funny, evocative and still unparalleled in its depth and visual potency, Harvey Kurtzman’s Jungle Book inspired and influenced creators and storytellers as disparate as Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Gilbert Shelton and Terry Gilliam. This is a masterpiece of our art form which no true devotee can afford to be without.

November 18, 2014

Uncanny X-Force volume 1: The Apocalypse Solution

By Rick Remender, Jerome OpeÃ±a, Leonardo Manco, Dean White, Chris Sotomayor & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-4655-1

There’s no such thing as simple background when dealing with Marvel’s mutant mythology. Uncanny X-Force debuted as a monthly title in October 2010, replacing its previous convoluted incarnation X-Force volume 3 (itself the inheritor of nearly twenty years of chopping, changing and hyper-charged complexity).

The premise of the prior title was to describe the actions of a covert team of X-Men convened to perform covert black-ops – and even wetwork – missions at a time when mutants numbered no more than a couple of hundred endangered souls. The group acted with the blessing of Cyclops – titular head of the sorely diminished X-nation – during the Messiah Complex and Second Coming publishing events but were summarily disbanded when exposed to the shocked scrutiny of their understandably appalled fellow mutantsâ€¦

Written by Rick Remender, the new iteration – and this collection (comprising material from Wolverine: The Road to Hell – November 2010 – and issues #1-4 of Uncanny X-Force published with December 2010 to March 2011cover-dates) – opens with ‘The First Day of the Rest of Your Life’ from the aforementioned Wolverine one-shot wherein the feral fury realises that there’s still a need for a squad ready to do whatever it takes to keep the species of Homo Sapiens Superior safeâ€¦

Illustrated by Leonardo Manco and colourist Chris Sotomayor the introductory vignette finds the man called Logan joining Archangel, Psylocke and Fantomex in secret base Cavern-X deep in the Arizona desert, all in agreement that they must continue their necessary work without Cyclops’ knowledge, if only to give him plausible deniability and a clean conscienceâ€¦

All are troubled souls with blood on their hands. Archangel will fund the project and has in fact already begun their first mission, despatching insane assassin Deadpool to track down the most dangerous mutant monster in historyâ€¦

Eponymous epic ‘The Apocalypse Solution’, with art by Jerome OpeÃ±a and colours from Dean White, then opens in Egypt as the mirthful maniac uncovers an underground Temple and finds devoted acolytes of Clan Akkaba led by the insidious Ozymandias resurrecting the recently slain Apocalypse with their own willingly spilled blood.

The monster had spent millennia testing mutantkind and frequently gathered prime examples to be his agents. Now as Deadpool searches the base he encounters a monstrous Minotaur. The resurrectionists have freed the Final Horsemen: Apocalypse’s last line of defence and the most wicked killers in historyâ€¦

With contact lost the rest of the team rush to the site in Fantomex’s extraordinary sentient vehicle EVA (in actuality a biomechanical exterior nervous system for the stylish, bio-engineered mutant thief/adventurer) all resigned that the Scourge of Earth must die again at all costs.

Archangel is riven by doubt and apprehension. When he was merely the X-Man Angel Apocalypse ripped out his wings, remade his body and rewired Warren Worthington‘s brain to make him one of his Horsemen. Thanks to the telepathic power of his lover Psylocke, Warren has regained autonomy now but lives in dread of that deep programming, constantly struggling to stop the murderous malice resurfacing. What will happen if and when he confronts his returned former master?

The rescue mission is only partially successful. Although they save Deadpool they are too late to prevent the Clan and revived Horsemen teleporting away with their newly restored yet strangely different masterâ€¦

The second chapter finds the team apparently carving their way through a mass of minions at the Akkaba Temple until Archangel intrudes and discovers that the entire exercise is a simulation designed to accustom Psylocke to killing the winged wonder if Apocalypse should take him over or – worse yet – should his own dark nature win out over the personality of Warren Worthingtonâ€¦

With the chilling realisation that Wolverine has been preparing her to do the same for all of them, Warren is shocked from his dark thoughts by news that the fugitives have been tracked to the Blue Area of the Moon and expedites their pursuit in EVAâ€¦

However the raid immediately falters as the team is picked off by the arisen Horsemen even as, far below them in a colossal sentient Celestial ship, fanatical factotum Ozymandias experiences a few difficulties with his adored master.

The reborn En Sabah Nur is an innocent child who simply won’t accept the merciless philosophies of his former incarnation. Whilst his determined would-be killers rally and overcome their foes, edging ever closer, the return of the true Apocalypse seems destined to failâ€¦

The blistering examination of relative moralities kicks into overdrive when Psylocke bursts into the child’s chamber just ahead of her red-handed comrades. Despite his warring personalities Archangel is ready to save the world; to Deadpool it’s just another hit and Wolverine knows that sometimes dark deeds are inevitable, but their readiness and resignation to execute the crying boy is nevertheless stalled.

Merciless, resolute Psylocke won’t let them harm the boyâ€¦

Tense, taut, bloodily action-packed and ethically challenging, The Apocalypse Solution offers a far darker side of the mutant question for fans – if not, perhaps, casual readers – to enjoy, leavening the grim tone with razor-sharp gallows humour and even moments of moving sentiment – which do nothing to dilute the shocking surprise endingâ€¦

This slim tome is further augmented by a covers-&-variants gallery by Mico Suayan, Jason Keith, Esad Ribic, Marko Djurdjevic, J. Scott Campbell, Edgar Delgado, Rob Liefeld, Thomas Mason and Clayton Crain, Behind-the-Scenes feature ‘Evolution of a Page: from Script to Colors’ plus a prose-&-picture history of recent ‘X-Force’ history narrated by Wolverine himself (as transcribed by Jeph York)â€¦

Complex, compelling, compulsive and chilling, X-Force is a splendid example of mature Costume Dramas for everyone looking for a dash of darkness in their superhero soap opera shenanigans.
Â© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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