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Alien Worlds


By Bruce Jones, William F. Nolan, Al Williamson, John Bolton, Adolpho Buylla, Tim Conrad & various (Blackthorne)
ISBN: 0-932629-53-9

The 1980s were a hugely fertile time for American comics-creators. An entire new industry had been started with the birth of the Direct Sales market and, as dedicated specialist retail outlets sprung up all over the country operated by fans for fans, new companies began to experiment with format and content, whilst eager readers celebrated the happy coincidence that everybody seemed to have a bit of extra cash to play with.

Most importantly, much of the “kid’s stuff” stigma had finally dissipated and America was catching up to the rest of the world in acknowledging that sequential narrative might just be a for-real actual art-form…

Consequently many new publishers were soon competing for the attention and cash of punters who had grown resigned to getting their on-going picture stories from DC, Marvel, Archie and/or Harvey Comics. European and Japanese material had been creeping in and by 1983 a host of young companies such as WaRP Graphics, Pacific, Eclipse, Capital, Now, Comico, Dark Horse, First and many others had established themselves and were making impressive inroads.

New talent, established stars and fresh ideas all found a thriving forum to try something a little different both in terms of content and format. Even smaller companies had a fair shot at the big time and a lot of great material came – and too often, as quickly went – without getting the attention or success it warranted.

A perfect example was distributor/retailer-turned-publisher Pacific Comics who entered the arena at the start in 1981 with a terrific line of genre titles by the industry’s top talents, from accomplished titans like Jack Kirby to new headliners like Mike Grell and unknowns such as Dave Stevens.

The fledglings over-extended themselves and were gone by 1984 with less than thirty titles published but their superb product, creator-favourable commercial ethic and key properties were rapidly snapped up by other independents such as Eclipse, Topps, Sirius First, Blackthorne and others.

Probably their best two titles were a brace of EC inspired anthologies entitled Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds, both edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell, which presented short stories in the cynically scary, blackly funny manner perfected by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein in the gory glory days before the Comics Code Authority aborted the birth of American adult comics in 1954.

Alien Worlds ran for nine stunning full-colour issues – one of then a 3-D special – from Pacific (and latterly Eclipse) before dying, and in 1986 Jones and Blackthorne gathered 10 of the very best into a black and white trade-paperback collection that went practically unnoticed in the tide of innovative books that year, but which is still one of the high points of American graphic science fiction.

With almost all the stories written by Jones in full-on Ray Bradbury mode, this intriguing compendium opens with ‘Deep Secrets’ from issue #4 (September 1983, illustrated by Jeff Jones), a chilling murder plot sparked by a broken heart and twisted love after which John Bolton drew ‘Lip Service’ (#5, December 1983) wherein a Earth civil servant discovers a nasty bedroom secret about the natives on Cylis 4, whilst Brent Andersen’s ‘Small Change’ from April 1984’s seventh issue puckishly depicts a tale of clandestine interstellar cooperation in a kid’s Frisbee duel…

Also from #4 ‘Girl of my Schemes’ illustrated by Bo Hampton deliciously takes computer-dating and adventure holidays to the ultimate extreme whilst ‘Wasteland’ (#5, with art by Tom Yeates) finds a hospital shut-in helplessly watching his friend accidentally unravel history on a malfunctioning TV set and ‘Talk to Tedi’ (#1, December 1982, by Tim Conrad) will break your heart as it delineates the story of marooned spacer John Hagarty as he survives on a hostile world with only his son’s robotic cuddly toy for company…

Also from that premiere issue, ‘The Few and the Far’ is another magnificent visual tour de force for EC veteran Al Williamson which shows the hidden costs of inter-species warfare when two embattled survivors cannot see eye to eye, after which Williamson adapts SF author William F. Nolan’s ‘…And Miles to go Before I Sleep’ (#8, November 1984) wherein a dying spaceman goes to extraordinary lengths to see his parents one final time…

Adolpho Buylla illustrated the future-shocker ‘Plastic’ (#5 again) with the inevitable result of permanent warfare surprising no-one, not even the dying, and this collection ends with an engaging yet poignant, post-apocalyptic tale of a robot-boy and his monkey set ‘One Day in Ohio’ by Ken Steacy from Alien Worlds #4.

Stunning suspense sagas, swingeing satirical swipes and the very best art ever seen in pulp science fiction set these creepy, clever, sexy thrillers at the forefront of that decade’s comics classics and still deliver an overwhelmingly impressive rollercoaster of shocks, twists and heartbreaks today.

If you’re in the mood for some grand old-fashioned space-opera, magnificently illustrated and exciting as all get-out, then you can’t go far wrong with this lost gem, although, once again these and the tales not retold here are long overdue for a 21st century revisitation…
© 1986 Bruce Jones, William F. Nolan and the respective illustrators.

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Showcase Presents the Haunted Tank Volume 1


By Robert Kanigher, Russ Heath, Irv Novick, Joe Kubert & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0789-8

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

Kanigher sold his first stories and poetry in 1932, wrote for the theatre, film and radio, and joined the Fox Features shop where he created The Bouncer, Steel Sterling and The Web, whilst providing scripts for Blue Beetle and the original Captain Marvel.

In 1945 he settled at All-American Comics as both writer and editor, staying on when the company amalgamated with National Comics to become the forerunner of today’s DC. He wrote Flash and Hawkman, created Black Canary and Lady Cop, and many memorable villainesses such as Harlequin and Rose and the Thorn. This last temptress he redesigned during the relevancy era of the early 1970s into a schizophrenic crime-busting super-heroine who haunted the back of Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, which Kanigher also scripted.

When mystery-men faded out at the end of the 1940s, Kanigher moved into westerns and war stories, becoming in 1952 writer/editor of the company’s combat titles: All-American War Stories, Star Spangled War Stories and Our Army at War. He created Our Fighting Forces in 1954 and added G.I. Combat to his burgeoning portfolio when Quality Comics sold their line of titles to DC in 1956, all the while working on Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder, Rex the Wonder Dog, Silent Knight, Sea Devils, Viking Prince and a host of others.

Kanigher was a restlessly creative writer and frequently used his uncanny but formulaic adventure arenas as a testing ground for future series concepts. Among the many epochal war features he created were Sgt. Rock, Enemy Ace, The War that Time Forgot and The Losers as well as the irresistibly compelling “combat ghost stories” collected here in this stunning and economical monochrome war-journal.

This terrific first monochrome tome re-presents the early blockbusting exploits of boyhood friends Jeb Stuart Smith, Arch Asher, Slim Stryker and Rick Rawlins from G.I. Combat #87-119 (April/May 1961- August/September 1966) and also includes guest-star postings from The Brave and the Bold #52 (February/March 1964) and Our Army at War #155 (June 1965) beginning with ‘Introducing – the Haunted Tank’, illustrated by the sublime Russ Heath.

In this introductory tale the now-adult pals are all assigned to the same M-3 Stuart Light Tank, named for the legendary Confederate Army General who was a genius of cavalry combat – and during a patrol somehow destroy an enemy Panzer even though they are all knocked unconscious.

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

Eventually the little tank proves its worth and Jeb wonders if he imagined it all due to shock and his injuries, but in #88 ‘Haunted Tank vs. the Ghost Tank’, Jeb was actually seeing and conversing with his phantom namesake as he and the boys solved the completely logical mystery of an enemy battle-wagon which seemed to disappear at will.

‘Tank With Wings’ in G.I. Combat #89 was illustrated by Irv Novick and described how the old General’s impossible prophecy came chillingly true when the M-3 shot down a fighter plane whilst hanging from a parachute, after which Heath returned to limn a staggering clash against German ‘Tank Raiders’ who had stolen their haunted home on treads.

Throughout the early days Jeb’s comrades continually argued about what to do with him. Nobody believed in the ghost and they all doubted his sanity, but ever since he began to see the spirit soldier Stuart Smith had become a tactical genius and his “gifts” were keeping them all alive against incredible odds. In #91’s ‘The Tank and the Turtle’ a chance encounter with a plucky terrapin led to brutal clashes with strafing aircraft, hidden anti-tank guns and a booby-trapped village whilst ‘The Tank of Doom’ (illustrated by Jerry Grandenetti) saw the snow-bound tank-jockeys witness true heroism and learn that flesh, not steel, won wars…

In #93 Heath depicted a ‘No-Return Mission’ which depleted American tank forces until the Ghostly General took a hand and guided his mortal protégé through a veritable barrage of traps and ambushes, after which ‘The Haunted Tank vs. the Killer Tank’ began to widen the General’s role as the phantom protector agonised over intel he was not allowed to share with his Earthly namesake during a combined push to find a Nazi terror-weapon.

This time it was the young sergeant who had to provide his own answers…

The rest of the crew were near breaking point and ready to hand Jeb over to the medics in #95’s ‘The Ghost of the Haunted Tank’ but when Slim took over he too began to see and hear the General in the blistering heat of battle…

In ‘The Lonesome Tank’ Jeb was back in the hot-seat and scoffing at the other tank commanders’ reliance on lucky talismans, until the General seemingly abandoned him and he was pushed to the brink of desperation, whilst in G.I. Combat #97 ‘The Decoy Tank’ proved that a brave man made his own luck after a Nazi infiltrator took the entire crew hostage.

‘Trap of Dragon’s Teeth’ allowed the Ghostly Guardian to teach Jeb a useful lesson in trusting one’s own senses, not weapons and machinery, in combat, after which issue #99 saw the legendary Joe Kubert begin a stint on the series in the book-length thriller ‘Battle of the Thirsty Tanks’ with the Stuart labouring under desert conditions which reduced both German and American forces to thirsty wrecks as they struggled to capture a tantalising oasis.

‘Return of the Ghost Tank’ in #100 found the lads back in Europe as the crew revealed that their fathers had all been tank jockeys in WWI who had disappeared in action. Shock followed shock when they realised their sires had all been part of the same crew and reality was further stretched when the M-3 began to retrace the last mission of their missing fathers…

Any doubts about whether the General was real or imagined were finally laid to rest in #101’s ‘The Haunted Tank vs. Attila’s Battle Tiger’ illustrated by Jack Abel, as the evil spirit of the barbarian became patron to a German Panzer and began a campaign to destroy both the living and dead Jeb Stuarts, after which Kubert returned for ‘Battle Window’, a brilliant tale of old soldiers where a broken-down nonagenarian French warrior was given one final chance to serve his country as the American tank blithely drove into a perfect ambush…

A particularly arcane prognostication in #103 drove Jeb crazy until ‘Rabbit Punch for a Tiger’ showed him how improvisation could work like magic in a host of hostile situations whilst ‘Blind Man’s Radar’ helped the crew complete a dead man’s mission after picking up a sightless survivor of an Allied attack.

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

Back in G.I. Combat #105 the ‘Time-Bomb Tank!’ began seconds after the B&B yarn as the Haunted Tank received information that Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company were under attack and dashed to the rescue. However circumstances soon caused the M-3 to become a mobile Marie Celeste…

The ‘Two-Sided War’ saw Jeb promoted to Lieutenant and suffer apparent hallucinations where he and his crew were trapped in the Civil War after which #107’s ‘The Ghost Pipers!’ found the tank aiding the last survivor of a Scottish battalion in an attack that spanned two wars, before again teaming up with Rock in ‘The Wounded Won’t Wait’ as Rick, Arch and Slim were injured and the Easy Co. topkick rode shotgun on the brutal ride back to base…

Issue #109 ‘Battle of the Tank Graveyard’ downplayed the supernatural overtones for a more straightforward clash in a deadly mountain pass whilst ‘Choose Your War’ found the Confederate General chafing at his role assisting “Union” cavalry until circumstances again seemed to place the modern soldiers in a historical setting and the two Jeb Stuarts worked out their differences.

In #111’s ‘Death Trap’ the Armoured Cavalry crew was again working with Easy Company – in the desert this time, as continuity was never a big concern for Kanigher – but when the M-3 was captured by the enemy, Jeb and the boys had a bloody taste of infantry fighting before taking it back.

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

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

After nearly four years in the saddle scripter Kanigher decided to revamp the backstory of the crew and issue #114 (October/November 1965) featured the Russ Heath illustrated ‘Battle Origin of the Haunted Tank’ with the General revealing that he had been assigned to watch over the M-3’s boys by Alexander the Great.

In the afterlife all great military commanders sponsored mortal combatants but he had refused to pick anybody and was stuck looking after “Damned Yankees”. Happily the courage and mettle of the boys under fire had changed many of his opinions after watching their first battle in the deserts of North Africa…

Heath also drew the team-up in #115 where Jeb was reunited with Navajo fighter-pilot Johnny Cloud as ‘Medal for Mayhem’ pitted both spiritually-sponsored warriors (Cloud regularly saw a mounted Indian Brave dubbed Big-Brother-in-the Sky galloping across the heavens during his missions) against overwhelming odds and forced to trade places in the air and on the ground, after which Novick illustrated the sequel when Cloud and Stuart helped proud Greek soldier Leonidas fulfil his final mission in the stirring ‘Battle Cry of a Dead Man!’

‘Tank in the Icebox’ in #117 was another Heath martial masterpiece wherein an incredible mystery was solved and a weapon that turned the desert into a frozen hell was destroyed before Novick took the controls for the last two tales in this volume, beginning with ‘My Buddy… My Enemy’ as a bigoted Slim learned tragically too late that not all Japanese soldiers were monsters and #119 again asked difficult questions when Jeb and the crew had to escort an American deserter to his execution with German forces attempting to kill them all before they got there in ‘Target for a Firing Squad!’

An added attraction for art fans and battle buffs are the breathtaking covers by Heath, Kubert and Grandenetti, many of them further enhanced through the stunning tonal values added by DC’s brilliant chief of production Jack Adler.

These spectacular tales cover the Haunted Tank through the blazing gung-ho early years to a time when America began to question the very nature and necessity of war (Vietnam was just beginning to really hurt the home-front in 1966) and combat comics started to address the issue in a most impressive and sensitive manner. They combine spooky chills with combat thrills but always offer a powerful human message that has never dated and may well rank amongst the very best war stories ever produced.
© 1961-1966, 2006 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Shazam! Archives volume 2


By Bill Parker, C.C. Beck, Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Pete Costanza, Charles Sultan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 01-56389-521-8

One of the most venerated and beloved characters of America’s Golden Age of comics was created by Bill Parker and Charles Clarence Beck in 1940 as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity which followed the stunning success of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett character quickly moved squarely into the area of light entertainment and even straight comedy, whilst as the years passed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action, drama and suspense.

Homeless orphan and good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to be given the powers of six gods and heroes to battle injustice. He transforms from scrawny precocious kid to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel by speaking aloud the wizard’s acronymic name – invoking the powers of legendary patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.

At the height of his popularity Captain Marvel outsold Superman and was even published twice a month, but as the Furious Forties closed tastes changed, sales slowed and Fawcett saw the way the wind was blowing. They settled an infamous long-running copyright infringement case begun by National Comics in 1940 and the Big Red Cheese disappeared – as did so many superheroes – becoming little more than a fond memory for older fans…

This second magnificent deluxe full-colour hardback compendium re-presents the lead strips and pertinent Spy Smasher episodes from the fortnightly Whiz Comics #15-20 where Fawcett conducted one of comics’ first character crossover sagas, as well as the premier issue of solo title Captain Marvel Adventures and the magnificent Special Edition Comics #1 which opens this spectacular box of delights after an enthralling introduction by cartoonist, author and historian R.C. Harvey.

Fawcett had a brilliant hit on their hands and in late 1940 released a 64-page bonus comic dedicated to their dashing hero with four all-new adventures by Parker & Beck.

It began with an untitled epic wherein Billy and his adult alter ego battled mystery powerhouse Slaughter Slade and his ghastly monsters – including a giant spider and a super-intelligent gorilla – when they tried to lay waste to the nation’s Capitol.

‘Captain Marvel and the Haunted House’ was an old-fashioned spooky chiller where a dead man’s curse proved to have a mortal and mercenary cause whilst ‘Captain Marvel and the Gamblers of Death’ pitted the hero against betting racketeers who preferred to kill athletes rather than pay out to winning punters.

The Special Edition ended with the epic ‘Captain Marvel and Sivana, the Weather Wizard’ wherein Billy returned to Venus and discovered the deranged genius had devised a method of creating natural disasters on Earth. Sivana’s scheme to get rich from millions of insurance claims naturally fell foul of the World’s Mightiest Mortal and Billy’s sheer ingenuity…

In the formative years as the feature catapulted to the first rank of superhero superstars, there was actually a scramble to fill pages so Captain Marvel Adventures #1 (1941) was farmed out to up-and-coming whiz-kids Joe Simon & Jack Kirby who produced the entire issue in a hurry from Beck and Parker’s guides.

First up was a visually impressive drama with the irrepressible Sivana creating ‘Z’; a hulking brute designed to be every inch the Captain’s equal. After a spectacular knock-down, drag-out, Kirby-co-ordinated dust-up it was apparent that he wasn’t…

‘Captain Marvel Out West’ found Billy in Rimrock City covering a rodeo for radio listeners before stumbling onto a rustling plot that only the big Red Galoot could quash and, after ‘Captain Marvel’s Puzzle Page’, the Big Guy headed into outer space to crush a gang of alien slavers who had invaded a peaceful Earth-like planet.

Following another perplexing ‘Billy Batson’s Game Page’ the Golden Age Dream-Team wrapped up their stint by crafting ‘Captain Marvel Battles the Vampire’, a manic thriller in the movie haunted vein that would so influence their Captain America stories a year later, as Billy is just too late to stop unwise scientist Doctor Deever’s attempt to reanimate the deadly blood-sucker Bram Thirla. Luckily all the powers of the undead were no match for the Good Captain…

This is followed by an ad for the blockbusting Captain Marvel Movie Serial, which might have inspired the next bold innovation (by a tragically unknown scripter or scripters, although I suspect Parker had a hand in the proceedings somewhere…)

From the middle of Whiz Comics #15 (March 2nd 1941) comes ‘Spy Smasher’ – illustrated by Pete Costanza – which saw the physical and mental marvel Alan Armstrong defeat the giant Grosso only to be brainwashed by his master: a Nazi agent called The Mask.

Soon the costumed hero had become America’s greatest foe, terrorising and sabotaging the country he loved, so two weeks later in Whiz #16 the Captain Marvel lead feature carried on the serial suspense in a dazzling duel (illustrated by Beck & Costanza) wherein Marvel’s brawn and Billy’s brains proved no match for the mesmerised former hero, who after murdering the Mask, released a prison full of convicts and used the brainwashing ray on the Captain…

Happily it didn’t work but in the Spy Smasher instalment (with art by Charles Sultan) Armstrong’s destructive campaign decimated America’s heavy industry and almost killed his girlfriend and sidekick Eve Corby until a certain crimson comet stepped in…

Issue #17 saw Armstrong try to kill Billy’s boss Sterling Morris and steal a deadly new poison gas despite Marvel’s best efforts before continuing into that issue’s Spy Smasher instalment where the tireless madman struck into the nation’s heartland; devastating crops and natural resources with an artificial cyclone.

The crossover continued until the splendid climax in #18 (June 13th 1941) as Armstrong met the Axis spymasters in America and declared war on them too. The hypnotised hero was determine to destroy all governments but finally met his match and was successfully cured in a blistering final fight with Marvel before the concluding Spy Smasher chapter saw them join forces to route the enemy espionage ring…

Whiz Comics #19 (July 11th 1941) then follows with business as unusual when ‘Captain Marvel and the Black Magician’ (possibly written by Otto Binder?) found Billy exposing supernatural charlatans and being targeted by an affronted but genuine backwoods witch-man after which this tome terminates with the rousing ‘Crusher of Crime’ from #20 (August 8th) wherein Sivana laid a deadly trap for Billy before making himself Marvel’s physical match.

Of course, there was much more going on than first appeared…

DC eventually acquired the Fawcett properties and characters and in 1973 revived the Captain for a new generation to see if his unique charm would work another sales miracle during one of comics’ periodic downturns.

Re-titled Shazam! due to the incontestable power of lawyers and copyright convention, the revived heroic ideal enjoyed mixed success before being subsumed into the company’s vast stable of characters…

Nevertheless Captain Marvel is a true icon of American comic history and a brilliantly conceived superhero for all ages. This second stellar collection further proves that these timeless and sublime comic masterpieces are an ideal introduction to the world of superhero fiction: tales that will appeal to readers of any age and temperament.
© 1940, 1941, 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Platinum: the Definitive Avengers


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Neal Adams, John Byrne, Kurt Busiek, George Pérez, Brian Michael Bendis & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-507-9

The Avengers have always proved that putting all one’s star eggs in one single basket pays off big-time: even when all Marvel’s all-stars such as Thor, Captain America and Iron Man were absent, it merely allowed the team’s lesser lights to shine more brightly.

Of course all the founding stars regularly featured due to the rotating, open-door policy which meant most issues included somebody’s fave-rave – and the boldly grand-scale impressive stories and artwork were no hindrance either.

As the new Avengers film screens across the world, Marvel has again released a bunch of tie-in books and trade paperback collections to maximise exposure and cater to those movie fans wanting to follow up the cinematic exposure with a comics experience.

Under the Marvel Platinum/Definitive Editions umbrella, this treasury of tales reprints some obvious landmarks from the pantheon’s serried history, specifically Avengers volume 1 #1, 4, 57, 93, Avengers West Coast #51-52, Avengers volume 3, #10-11, Avengers volume 1 #503, Avengers Finale and New Avengers #3 which, whilst not all absolutely “definitive” epics, certainly offer a sublime snapshot of just how very great the ever-shifting team of titans can be.

During the Marvel Renaissance of the early 1960’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby aped the tactic which had worked so tellingly for DC Comics, but with mixed results. Julie Schwartz had incredible success with revised and modernised versions of the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed natural to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days. The JLA inspired Fantastic Four featured a new Human Torch and before long Sub-Mariner was back too…

As the costumed hero revival brought continuing success, the next stage was obvious and is covered here at then end of the volume by historian Mike Conroy’s informative essay ‘The True Origin of the Avengers’…

The concept of combining individual stars into a group had already made the Justice League of America a commercial winner and inspired the moribund Atlas outfit of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to invent many “super-characters” after the Fantastic Four. Nearly 18 months later the fledgling House of Ideas had a viable stable of leading men (but only sidekick women) so Lee & Kirby assembled a handful of them and moulded them into a force for justice and even higher sales…

After a period of meteoric expansion, in 1963 the burgeoning Marvel Universe was finally ready to emulate the successful DC concept that had truly kick-started the Silver Age of comics and this stunning historical retrospective begins as it should with two stories from the groundbreaking Lee/Kirby run which graced the first eight issues of the World’s Mightiest Heroes.

Seldom has it ever been done with such style and sheer exuberance. Cover-dated September, The Avengers #1 launched as part of an expansion package which also included Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos and The X-Men…

‘The Coming of the Avengers’ is one of the cannier origin tales in comics. Instead of starting at a zero point and acting as if the reader knew nothing, Stan & Jack (plus inker Dick Ayers) assumed readers had at least a passing familiarity with their other efforts and wasted very little time or energy on introductions.

In Asgard Loki, god of evil, was imprisoned on a dank isle, hungry for vengeance on his half-brother Thor. Observing Earth he espied the monstrous, misunderstood Hulk and engineered a situation wherein the man-brute seemingly went berserk to trick the Thunder God into battling the monster. When the Hulk’s sidekick Rick Jones radioed the Fantastic Four for assistance, Loki diverted the transmission and smugly waited for the mayhem to manifest.

Unfortunately for him, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp also picked up the SOS….

As the heroes converged in the American Southwest to search for the Jade Giant they realized that something was oddly amiss…

This terse, epic, compelling and wide-ranging yarn (New York, New Mexico, Detroit and Asgard in 22 pages) is Lee & Kirby at their bombastic best and one of the greatest adventure stories of the Silver Age and is followed by the long-awaited return of the last of the “Big Three”…

Avengers #4 (March 1964) was a true landmark of the genre as Marvel’s greatest Golden Age sensation was revived. ‘Captain America Joins the Avengers!’ has everything that made the company’s early tales so fresh and vital. The majesty of a legendary warrior (that most of the readers had never heard of!) returned in our time of greatest need, stark tragedy in the loss of his boon companion Bucky, aliens, gangsters, Sub-Mariner and even wry social commentary. This story by Lee, Kirby & George Roussos just cannot be bettered.

In #57 (October 1968) Roy Thomas, John Buscema & George Klein produced a Golden Age revival of their own as ‘Behold… the Vision!’ introduced a terrifying android apparition designed by arch-foe Ultron to destroy the heroes. Sadly not appearing here is the conclusion wherein the eerie, amnesiac, artificial man with complete control of his mass and density discovered a fraction of his origins and joined the human heroes….

Avengers #89-97 comprised perhaps the most ambitious and certainly boldest saga in Marvel’s early history: an astounding epic of tremendous scope which dumped Earth into a cosmic war the likes of which comics fans had never before seen and creating the template for all multi-part crossovers and publishing events ever since.

The Kree-Skull War captivated a generation of comics readers and from that epic comes the extra-long ‘This Beachhead Earth’ (Avengers #93 November 1972, by Thomas, Neal Adams & Tom Palmer) as the Vision was almost destroyed by alien invaders and Ant-Man was forced to undertake ‘A Journey to the Center of the Android!’ to save the android’s unconventional life. Thereafter the Avengers became aware of not one but two alien presences on Earth: bellicose Kree and sneaky shape-shifting Skrulls, beginning a ‘War of the Weirds!’ on our fragile globe.

Acting too late, the assembled team were unable to prevent the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Captain Marvel from being abducted by the Skrulls…

That cliff-hanging drama is followed by a revelatory two-part tale from Avengers West Coast #51-52 (November and December 1989) by John Byrne & Mike Machlan which opens with ‘I Sing of Arms and Heroes…’ wherein the Scarlet Witch hunted for her missing children only to discover some horrifying truths about them and her own powers. The tragedy was only resolved when demonic foe Master Pandemonium and supernal arch-tempter Mephisto deprived her of everything she had ever believed, wanted or loved in ‘Fragments of a Greater Darkness’…

Avengers volume 3, #10-11 (November and December 1998) by Kurt Busiek, George Pérez, Al Vey & Bob Wiacek) recaps the history and celebrates the team’s anniversary with a parade in ‘Pomp and Pageantry’ until the ghostly Grim Reaper hijacked the affair and attacked them through the medium of their own dead yet resurrected members Wonder Man, Mockingbird, Swordsman, Hellcat, Dr. Druid, Thunderstrike and Captain Marvel. At the same time the increasingly unstable Scarlet Witch learned the true nature of her reality-altering powers in the catastrophic concluding clash ‘…Always an Avenger!’

A few years later the “World’s Mightiest Heroes” were shut down and rebooted in a highly publicised event known as Avengers Disassembled. Of course it was only to replace them with both The New and The Young Avengers. Affiliated comic-books Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Spectacular Spider-Man ran parallel but not necessarily interconnected story-arcs to accompany the Big Show.

Said Show consisted of the worst day in the team’s history as a trusted comrade betrayed the World’s Mightiest Superteam resulting in the destruction of everything they held dear and the death of several members, all of which originally appeared in issues #500-503 plus the one-shot Avengers Finale.

From that epic event comes the closing chapter ‘Chaos part four’ (#503, December 2004, by Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch, Olivier Coipel & Danny Miki) wherein the uncomprehending, surviving heroes discovered and reluctantly despatched the true author of all their woes and losses, after which the moody and elegiac Avengers Finale signalled the end of an era in a powerful tribute by a host of creators including Bendis and artists Finch, Miki, Frank D’Armata, Alex Maleev, Steve Epting, Lee Weeks, Brian Reber, Michael Gaydos, Eric Powell, Darick Robertson, Mike Mayhew, Andy Troy, David Mack, Gary Frank, Mike Avon Oeming, Pete Patanzis, Jim Cheung, Mark Morales, Justin Ponsor, Steve McNiven, George Pérez, Mike Perkins, Neal Adams & Laura Martin.

It is undeniably one of the best superhero “Last Battles” ever created, and loses little impact whether it was your five hundredth or first experience with these tragic heroes.

Shocking and beautiful, there was a genuine feeling of an “End of Days” to this epic Armageddon.

The final comics tale in this sturdy volume comes from New Avengers #3 (March 2005) as, in the aftermath of a massive breakout of super-villains, Captain America and Iron Man tried to put the band back together with a whole new generation including Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and the Amazing Spider-Man.

‘Breakout Part 3’ is just a fraction of a longer epic by Bendis, Finch, Allen Martinez, Miki & Victor Olazaba, but ends this action-adventure compendium on a solid note indicating that the best is still yet to come…

Also contained herein is an extensive prose feature covering the history of the team, the aforementioned ‘true origin’ piece and a raft of classic covers to tantalise and tempt…

This book is one of the very best of these perennial supplements to cinema spectacle, but more importantly it is a supremely well-tailored device to turn curious movie-goers into fans of the comic incarnation too. If there’s a movie sequel, I’m sure Marvel has plans for reprinting much of the masterful material necessarily omitted here, but at least until then we have a superb selection to entice newcomers and charm the veteran American Dreamers.
™ and © 1963, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1989, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2012 Marvel & subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A, Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.

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Essential Fantastic Four volume 6


By Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2162-6

With the sixth collection of tales from “The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” a new kind of FF style was established. With Jack Kirby’s departure the staggeringly inventive imagination and High-Concept rollercoaster of mind-bending ideas gave way to more traditional tales of character, with soap-opera leanings and super-villain dominated Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas.

This volume covers Fantastic Four #111-137 (June 1971- August 1973) and includes a few pertinent Marvel Universe Handbook pages delivering crucial background data on super-foes Diabolo, Air-Walker, Over-Mind and Thundra.

At the end of the previous collection an experiment to allow Ben Grimm to switch between human and monster forms went tragically awry and the action commences here with ‘The Thing… Amok’ by Stan Lee, John Buscema & Joe Sinnott) as Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch tried to minimise the damage their deranged friend inflicted on the city whilst the increasingly marginalised Sue Richards was packed off to tend baby Franklin with eldritch governess Agatha Harkness.

With all of New York seemingly against them, the embattled heroes were on the ropes when the Incredible Hulk joined the fracas in #112’s ‘Battle of the Behemoths!’. As Sue finally returned, The Thing appeared to have perished but once more Reed Richards saved – and cured – his best friend just as another menace materialised in ‘The Power of… the Over-Mind!’: another insidious cosmic menace presaged by an ominous warning from alien voyeur The Watcher.

The psionic super-menace further incited civilian antipathy towards the FF in ‘But Who Shall Stop the Over-Mind?’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) before physically trouncing the team.

With #115 Stan Lee surrendered the scripting role to Archie Goodwin, who revealed ‘The Secret of the Eternals’ (not the earthly proto-gods created by Kirby, but an ancient alien race) in a visually stunning sequence limned by Buscema & Sinnott which culminated in Reed being taken over by the Over-Mind and attacking his erstwhile comrades…

Double-sized Fantastic Four #116 featured ‘The Alien, the Ally, and… Armageddon!’ as the desperate heroes, unable to access any superhero assistance, recruited deadly foe Doctor Doom to lead them in the final battle against the unbeatable Over-Mind. They were nonetheless crushed and only saved at the crucial moment by an unexpected saviour in ‘Now Falls the Final Hour!’

With the world saved and order restored, the heartsick Human Torch headed for the Himalayas and a long-delayed rapprochement with his lost girlfriend Crystal of the Uncanny Inhumans in FF #117.

Months previously she had been forced to leave civilisation because modern pollutants had poisoned her system, but when Johnny Storm battled his way into her homeland in ‘The Flame and the Quest!’ he was horrified to discover that she had never arrived back in Attilan’s Great Refuge…

Blazing his way back to New York, Johnny used Agatha Harkness to track Crystal down and found her the mesmerised slave of arcane alchemist Diabolo who was using her to conquer a South American country in ‘Thunder in the Ruins!’ (inked by Jim Mooney). That issue also included an intriguing short piece starring the Thing in ‘What Mad World?’ wherein the Tragic Titan got a glimpse at an alternative Earth where an even greater mishap occurred after the fateful spaceflight which created the Fantastic Four…

The Black Panther – renamed Black Leopard for political reasons – guest-starred in #119’s ‘Three Stood Together!’ as inker Sinnott returned and Roy Thomas scripted a damning indictment of South African apartheid. When the heroic ruler of jungle wonderland Wakanda was interned in the white-ruled state of Rudyarda, Ben and Johnny flew in to bust him out and only incidentally recapture a deadly super-weapon…

Fantastic Four #120 heralded an extended and overlong epic by Stan Lee which began with ‘The Horror that Walks on Air!’ as an invader claiming to be an angel scoured the Earth and declared humanity doomed. The tale laboriously continued in ‘The Mysterious Mind-Blowing Secret of Gabriel!’ with the utterly overmatched FF rescued by the Silver Surfer before facing off against the world-devouring ‘Galactus Unleashed’ whilst Reed again outsmarted the cosmic god to prevent the consumption of ‘This World Enslaved!’

Although beautifully illustrated, the hackneyed saga was a series low-point, but Lee was back on solid dramatic ground with #124’s ‘The Return of the Monster’ and concluding episode ‘The Monster’s Secret!’ wherein the mystery menace Reed had once dubbed ‘the Monster from the Lost Lagoon’ resurfaced to haunt a hospital, steal drugs and kidnap Sue… but only for the best and most noble of reasons.

Roy Thomas became writer/editor with #126, revisiting the classic origin and first clash with the Mole Man in ‘The Way it Began!’

This reverie prompted the Thing to invade the sub-surface despot’s realm in search of a cure for the blindness which afflicted his girlfriend Alicia in ‘Where the Sun Dares Not Shine!’ and soon the embattled brute found  himself embroiled in a three-way war between Mole Man, Kala, Empress of the Netherworld and immortal dictator Tyrannus.

When his comrades came after Ben they were duped into attacking him in ‘Death in a Dark and Lonely Place!’…

After four pages of pin-ups by Buscema & Sinnott featuring a host of friends and foes ‘The Frightful Four… Plus One!’ saw the Torch again visit Attilan, whilst in New York the Thing was ambushed by The Sandman, Wizard, Trapster and their newest ally the super-strong Amazon Thundra.

Happily, Crystal’s Inhuman sister Medusa was there to pitch in as the clash escalated and spread to ‘Battleground: the Baxter Building!’ where baby Franklin began to exhibit terrifying abilities. Always left holding the baby and fed up with her husband’s neglect, Sue finally left Reed, whilst in the Himalayas Johnny forced his way to Crystal’s side only to find his worst nightmares realised…

Fantastic Four #131 described a ‘Revolt in Paradise!’ (Thomas, Ross Andru & Sinnott) as Crystal, her brand new fiancé Quicksilver, and the rest of the Inhumans were attacked by their genetically-programmed slave-race the Alpha Primitives.

At first it seemed that insane usurper Maximus was again responsible for the strife but there was a deeper secret behind the deadly danger of ‘Omega! The Ultimate Enemy!’ and when the rest of the FF arrived Reed soon ferreted it out…

Issue #133 celebrated Christmas with ‘Thundra at Dawn!’ as the mysterious Femizon returned to battle Ben again, courtesy of Gerry Conway, Ramona Fradon & Sinnott, whilst ‘A Dragon Stalks the Sky!’ in #134 (Conway, Buscema & Sinnott) found Reed, Johnny, Ben and Medusa fighting forgotten foe Gregory Gideon and his latest acquisition the Dragon Man; a bombastic battle which concluded in a struggle to possess ‘The Eternity Machine’…

The secret of that reality-warping device was revealed in the two-part thriller which ends this edition as the cosmic entity Shaper of Worlds created a horrific and paranoid pastiche of 1950s America; re-running the conflicts between rebellious youth and doctrinaire, paternalistic authority in ‘Rock Around the Cosmos!’ and the surreal conclusion ‘Rumble on Planet 3’…

Although Kirby had taken the explosive imagination and questing sense of wonder with him on his departure, the sheer range of beloved characters and concepts he had created with Stan Lee served to carry the series for years afterwards and these admittedly erratic and inconsistent stories kept the Fantastic Four ticking over until bolder hands could once again take the World’s Greatest Comics Magazine Heroes back to the stratospheric heights where they belonged.

Solid, honest and creditable efforts, these tales are probably best seen by dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but could still thrill and enthral the generous and forgiving casual browser looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement.
© 1971, 1972, 1973, 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Vic and Blood – the Chronicles of a Boy and his Dog


By Harlan Ellison & Richard Corben (St. Martin’s Press/NBM/IBooks)
ISBNs: NBM edition 978-0-31203-471-9   IBooks edition: 978-0-74345-903-7

Richard Corben is one of America’s greatest proponents of graphic narrative: a legendary animator, illustrator, publisher and cartoonist surfing the tumultuous wave of independent counterculture commix of the 1960s and 1970s to become a major force in pictorial storytelling with his own unmistakable style and vision. He is renowned for his mastery of airbrush and captivatingly excessive anatomical stylisation and infamous for delightfully wicked, darkly comedic horror and beguiling eroticism in his fantasy and science fiction tales. He is also an acclaimed and dedicated fan of the classics of gothic horror literature…

Always garnering huge support and acclaim in Europe, he was regularly collected in luxurious albums even as he fell out of favour – and print – in his own country.

This album adapts a short story by science fiction iconoclast Harlan Ellison which turned the medium on its head when first published in 1969, spawning an award-winning cult-film and perpetually dangling the promise of a full and expansive prose novel before the eager fans. Much of that intention is discussed in Ellison’s After Vic & Blood: Some Afterthoughts as Afterword which ends the 1989 edition…

I suspect I’ll be long dead by the time the nigh-legendary Blood’s a Rover novel is finally released but at least this stunning graphic novel gilds the apocalyptic lily by also adapting the author’s prequel and sequel novelettes to produce a tale with a beginning, a middle and an ending of sorts…

The post-apocalyptic milieu was one Corben would return to over and over again but it never looked better (if that’s not a grim contradiction in terms) than in the triptych of survivalist terror that begins here with ‘Eggsucker’ as genetically-engineered telepathic war-mutt Blood relates how he and his 14 year old human partner Vic (don’t call him “Albert”) survive on a daily basis amidst the shattered ruins of America after the final war.

Vic is a “solo”, unaffiliated to any of the assorted gangs that have banded together in the radioactive aftermath, scavenging and trading and never staying in one place too long. Blood has looked after him for years: faithful, valiant and protective. The dog has taught the lad everything, even how to speak properly…

After a booze-for-bullets swap goes hideously wrong the partners have a falling-out, but that only lasts until Vic stumbles into trouble again and Blood dashes to his rescue…

Next up is the pivotal tale ‘A Boy and his Dog’ wherein Vic and his canine mentor find a healthy and nubile girl from the sunken puritanical subterranean enclaves known as “Downunders” slumming amongst the ruins of civilisation.

Hungry for something other than rancid rations, Vic follows her and is forced to kill a number of other lustful hunters to possess the tantalising Quilla June Holmes, who bamboozles the horny lad with all her talk of love…

However, it’s all part of an elaborate trap and before long the born survivor is trapped by his own teenaged hormones in the parochial, backward-looking New Topeka underground refuge, destined to be the stud to sire a new generation of humanity for the aging and increasingly sterile Downunder men…

Of course nobody thought to ask the putative mares what they thought of the plan and Quilla June quickly rebels, helping Vic to kill her father and escape back to the dangerous freedom of the surface.

Up above faithful Blood has not fared well: slowly starving whilst waiting for Vic to sow his wild oats and return. He is near death when the fugitives reappear and only an act of true love can save him…

The saga-so-far concludes with a shocking surprise in ‘Run, Spot, Run’ as the increasingly acrimonious Vic and Blood squabble and fall out, whilst starvation, toxic food and savage ghosts torment them both, resulting in a momentary lapse of concentration which leads the pair into ghastly peril…

Fair Warning: many readers will probably feel short-changed by the cliff-hanging ending but there is a conclusion of sorts and the astounding power of the artwork should offset any potential feeling of unfulfilled drama.

This superb collection was re-released in 2003 by IBooks in a celebratory edition which also contained the original short-stories in prose form as well as added extras such commentaries and The Wit and Wisdom of Blood.

Corben’s unique vision captures the weary, doom-laden atmosphere, charged hunger and despondent denouement of the original with devastating effect and this seminal, seductive work is undoubtedly a true classic of the Day-After-Doomsday genre. The artist’s sublime acumen in depicting humanity’s primal drives and the grim gallows humour of the situation has never been bettered than with these immortal stories. This is a book no comics or horror fan should be without.
Artwork © 1987 Richard Corben. “Eggsucker” © 1977 Harlan Ellison. “A Boy and his Dog” © 1969 The Kilimanjaro Corp. “Run, Spot, Run” © 1980 The Kilimanjaro Corp. Adapted versions © 1987 The Kilimanjaro Corp. Colour & cover © 1989 NBM.

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Vixen: Return of the Lion


By G. Willow Wilson & Cafu, with Bit and Josh Middleton (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2512-4

In 1978 fashion model Mari Jiwe McCabe was almost the first black woman to star in her own American comicbook, but the fabled “DC Implosion” of that year saw the Vixen series cancelled before release. She eventually premiered three years later in Action Comics #521’s ‘The Deadly Rampage of the Lady Fox’ (by creator Gerry Conway and Superman mainstays Curt Swan & Frank Chiaramonte) and skulked around the DC Universe until she joined the re-booted JLA in Justice League of America Annual #2.

A classic team-player, over decades working within assorted JLA rosters, the Suicide Squad, Ultramarine Corps, Checkmate and the Birds of Prey, Vixen’s origin has changed a lot less than most.

Mari Jiwe comes from a line of warriors blessed by animist Trickster god Kwaku Anansi. The mythical creator of all stories claims to have designed her abilities – and those of fellow hero Animal Man – allowing Vixen, through use of an arcane artefact dubbed the Tantu Totem, to channel the attributes and power of every animal that has ever lived.

As a child in M’Changa Province, Zambesi, her mother was killed by poachers and her missionary father was murdered by his own brother over possession of the Totem.

To thwart her uncle, the orphan moves to America, eventually becoming a model to provide funding and cover for her mission of revenge…

At first a reluctant superhero, Vixen became one of the most effective crusaders on the international scene and was a key member of the latest Justice League when her powers began to malfunction and she was forced to confront Anansi himself (for which tales see Justice League of America: Sanctuary and Justice League of America: Second Coming)…

Vixen: Return of the Lion originally appeared as a 5-part miniseries in 2009 and opens with ‘Predators’ as a League operation uncovers a plot by techno-thugs Intergang to fund a revolution in troubled African nation Zambesi. Amongst the impounded files is a record which proves that fifteen years earlier, Vixen’s mother was actually killed by Aku Kwesi, a local warlord working with the American criminals…

When Mari learns the truth, not even Superman can stop her from heading straight to her old village to find the man responsible. Africa is not America however, and the lawless settlement has no time for a woman who does not know her place – even if she does have superpowers…

When Kwesi appears, Vixen’s powers are useless against him and she escapes with her life only because the warlord’s lieutenant Sia intervenes…

In ‘Prey’ the broken and severely wounded Mari is dumped in the veldt by Sia and staggers her way across the war-ravaged plain, battling beasts and hallucinating – or perhaps meeting ghosts – until she is attacked by a young lion and rescued by a holy man…

Alarmed at Vixen’s disappearance and further discoveries linking Kwesi and Intergang, the JLA mobilise in ‘Sanctuary’ as the lost Vixen gradually recuperates in a place where the constant battles of fang and claw survival are suspended and the saintly Brother Tabo offers her new perspective and greater understanding of her abilities. Her JLA comrades meanwhile have exposed Intergang’s infiltration but fallen to a power even Superman could not resist…

As the League struggles against overwhelming odds, ‘Risen’ sees a transcendent Vixen flying to the rescue, picking up some unexpected allies en route before facing her greatest challenge in the shocking conclusion ‘Idols’, wherein a few more hidden truths are revealed and a greater mystery begins to unfold…

Also featuring a gallery of stunning covers by Josh Middleton this is an exceptional and moodily exotic piece of Fights ‘n’ Tights fluff from scripter G. Willow Wilson and artists Cafu & Bit that will delight devotees of the genre and casual readers alike.
© 2006, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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NeMo Balkanski’s FIB Chronicles


By Nemanja Moravic Balkanski & various (the Publishing Eye)
ISBN: 978-0-9868440-0-3

Some creators seduce and beguile but others choose to inform and affect with confrontational shock tactics…

The most wonderful thing about the comics medium is the limitless ways stories and art can be combined to educate, elucidate and entertain. For every Hergé there’s a Harvey Pekar, for every Alfred Bestall a Johnny Ryan (and John Ryan too) and so on, and there are comic strips to suit literally every age and temperament.

Some of the most evocative and addictively uncompromising efforts that I’ve seen in quite a while appear in this collection from Belgrade émigré Nemanja Moravic Balkanski, whose stunningly disturbing spoofs and edgy cultural pastiches have been gathered into a magnificent oversized full-colour hardback FIB Chronicles.

Balkanski was born in Belgrade in 1975 and, after mastering a multitude of artistic disciplines from comics to graphic design, theatre arts to film-making, and poetry to performance, emigrated to Vancouver 2007. Much of this vintage material contained here (also available as an app) come from his Balkan days, represented in this disquietingly substantial and blackly comic tome under the guiding conceit that the individual escapades of a nightmarish cast of distressing ne’er-do-wells and uncanny outcasts have been gathered into a damning dossier thanks to the scurrilous non-efforts of the far-from-intrepid clandestine agents of the Fabulous Investigation Bureau.

The result is a selection of their most atypical observations – presumably leaked here as a wake-up call to unwitting and complacent humanity…

The iconoclastic strips gathered here date from 1998-2005 and, supplemented by new bridging material in a staggering variety of artistic styles, describe a dark and disturbing underworld of barely perceived and unwisely ignored peril and surreal threat wrapped up in careful pastiche and savage parody…

US cop dramas come under the cosh when corruptly hip detective Cash Money experiences ‘Hair Fear’ and tackles feminist terror in ‘W.T.N. Griffit’ whilst tragic, plucky waif Boy Lyndo gets his shot at a happy ever after in ‘The Final Episode’ and the bizarre habits of a cult of Mel Gibson impersonators is exposed in ‘Gipsons vs Graduates’ after which gay lovers walk hand-in-hand down the wrong street in the weird war story ‘Jelly & Butter’ – a yarn conceived by Balkanski’s long-time collaborator Vladimir Protic.

A theatrical slasher-killer appears in ‘Space (the Final Frontier)’ and scatological stoner anthropomorph ‘Bud Bunny’ plays not-so-nice games with the other animals before fashion-plate Eau de Cologne falls foul of the harpy-ish harridans known as the BigDos in ‘Trigger’ and we are exposed to ‘Johnny McWire Getting the Beating of his Life’ and ‘Mr. Friday Night’ goes home alone yet again…

Booze and Balkan warriors come under the microscope one more in ‘Galactica, the Space Bottlesip’ (based on Branimir “Johnny” Å tulić‘s poem “Sons of Bitches”) after which the file devotes a lot of crazed and crucial pages to cybernetic dreamer Digital Standstill‘s climactic confrontation with ‘BigDo’s’ before we observe a salutary encounter with the ‘Psycho from 134th Street’ (scripted by Protic).

The battle against creeping communism is examined in the uplifting tale of ‘Little Mexico: El Dentista’, the nature of modern relationships in ‘It is My Friend’ and the value of introspection in ‘Sam Lr. Stag: His Life was a Drag’ before the life of a fascist monster is dissected in ‘Shalken Rösse’ and we are treated, in conclusion, to the meteoric rise and political acumen of the transcendent of ‘Melon Pig’, courtesy of Protic and Balkanski…

With additional articles, ‘Declassification Files’, a glossary of new words and expressions and even a few game-pages for the strong-stomached, this tainted love-affair with life’s moist and fetid underbelly is a dank graphic delight that not even every mature and cosmopolitan reader will enjoy: but for those with just the right blend of world-weary insouciance and malignant, undemanding innocence the words and pictures married together here will strike an unforgettable chord.

Strident, cruel, sardonically whimsical, overwhelmingly clever and bleakly hilarious in a Kafka meets Steven Wright channelling Bill Hicks kind of way, this absurdist, hauntingly affecting and astonishingly illustrated book is a uniquely entertaining read the brave and bold and reasonably old won’t dare to miss…
All comics © 2011 Nemanja Moravic Balkanski. Everything else All comics © 2011 Nemanja Moravic Balkanski and The Publishing Eye. All rights reserved.

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Fangbone!: Third Grade Barbarian and Fangbone! 2: The Egg of Misery


By Michael Rex (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin)
ISBNs: 978-0-2-399-25521-2 and 978-0-2-399-25522-9

When I was a kid (mere weeks ago according to those who know me best) comics were cheap, plentiful and published in cognitive strands: Pre-school stuff read to you, kindergarten magazines read with someone, “Juvenile” stories for boys and girls together and “Post-juvenile” material you bought for yourself, generally divided by both genre and gender.

Irrespective of quality, quantity or historical significance, this wealth and riot of affordable private entertainment taught kids of all ages how to absorb and enjoy illustrated narratives, but in latter times the sheer cost of these items have all but killed the market and if younger kids read printed comics at all it’s most likely as graphic novels.

So it’s a good thing that there are so many good ones around.

Case in point: the new series of original cartoon yarns by best-selling children’s author Michael Rex whose latest wry and raucous concoction looks well set to keep the next generation of fans eager, adept and giggling…

In another universe on Skullbania, a world of gleaming swords and foul-smelling sorcery, little Fangbone of the Lizard Tribe is the lowest oik on his barbarian horde’s totem pole. The fierce, valiant but undervalued lad always gets the boring, disgusting jobs while the grown-ups get to do all the fighting and hero-ing.

The world is in constant peril: wicked forces are slowing reassembling the scattered body-parts of the vile villain Venomous Drool. Once the demon-king is complete the rise of eldritch evil will be complete and unwashed humanity doomed…

When a dying messenger arrives bearing the last body-part – the ghastly Big Toe of Drool – the elders and wise-men know a quest is necessary. However no true warrior will go; preferring to stay and battle the encroaching army of malignant Drool worshippers…

Seeing his chance to win glory and a little respect, Fangbone volunteers, carrying the dire digit to the Sorcerer of Ribcage Rock where the clearly disappointed Druid resignedly opens a passageway to another cosmos and, bidding the boy to protect the Toe at all costs from all who might seek it, sends the half-pint hero to a garbage dump in New Jersey…

Bred to adapt to every situation and overcome all odds, the culture-shocked and bewildered Fangbone soon makes an ally of happily hyperactive third-grader Bill, blending in by joining Ms. Gillian‘s remedial class at Eastwood Elementary School. The unkempt, unruly visitor quickly becomes the most popular kid in the “Losers” group, even though he is surly, ignorant, won’t wash and won’t play school games or sports even to save his classmates from humiliation and bullying…

Fangbone has more pressing needs: the necromantic Drool worshippers are unshakeable and constantly send a plethora of magic menaces to retrieve the toe, and moreover the barbarian boy is determined to recruit an army and return to save Skullbania.

But as he slowly acclimatises Fangbone begins to realise that friends make the best allies and with his odd comrades in class 3-G beside him no menace is unbeatable…

Fangbone: the Egg of Misery finds the strangest kid in New Jersey adapting and fitting in – more or less – when his clan send him a new and potentially powerful ally: a White Titan Razor Dragon. Unfortunately it’s in the form of an egg and the dutiful lad must play hookey to constantly sit on it until it hatches.

When Bill suggests that 3-G can share the nesting duties, Fangbone returns to school and immediately joins the class’ latest assignment: building a Dodo and performing a skit about it for the school’s Extinction Pageant. Bill knows it’s going to be a disaster and is convinced everyone will laugh at the “Losers” again, and because he’s so passionate about it all Ms. Gillian makes him project leader…

When Bill and his mum show Fangbone how to shop, another Drool-demon attacks and in the aftermath Bill discovers that his barbarian chum has a secret weapon: feet which have never been washed…

As the egg grows and pageant day approaches, Bill and Fangbone research how to care for and train dragons, but all is not well. The demonic incursions continue apace and when at last the shell cracks it becomes perilously clear that the Egg didn’t come from the Lizard Tribe but is another dastardly Drool device…

Luckily the stalwart comrades of class 3-G are all as valiant as Fangbone and Bill…

These slickly savvy, lampooning tales are fast-paced, funny, action-packed, immensely imaginative and grossly engrossing in the way kids have always adored: there’s hitting, chasing, fighting, bullies beaten and friendships forged, and adults learn that us kids can take care of ourselves. Moreover, the jokes are innocently naughty, the scenarios seldom stray from the ickily silly and the moral messages are all subtle enough that they don’t get in the way.

Wry, sly, irreverent and, crucially, spoofing contemporary sources and situations just as in the glory days of Beano, Dandy, Buster, Whizzer & Chips and all the fabled rest, these anarchically enthralling cartoon chronicles will certainly turn any kid onto comics and are sure to delight fantasy readers of any age …
© 2012 Michael Rex. All rights reserved.

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Avengers Origins


By Roberto Aguirre-Sarcasa, Mike Benson, Adam Glass, Sean McKeever,
Kathryn Immonen, Kyle Higgins, Alex Siegel & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-508-6

One of the most momentous events in Marvel Comics history occurred in 1963 when a disparate array of individual heroes banded together to stop the Incredible Hulk. The Mighty Avengers combined most of the company’s fledgling superhero line in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package and over the years the roster has waxed and waned until almost every character in their universe has appeared within those hallowed pages.

Now fifty years later with a blockbuster live-action movie about to bust wide open and the franchise set to go global, the classic backstories of five of the Assembled Avengers get a 21st century make-over to compliment those already afforded to film favourites Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man and the Hulk.

These captivating re-interpretations and updatings originally appeared as 5 individual one-shots at the end of 2011 and are collected here as a superb primer and introduction to the deluge of Avengers material still to come…

The revelations begin with ‘Ant-Man & the Wasp’ (by writer Roberto Aguirre-Sarcasa and artist Stephanie Hans) as, with the murder of his wife still fresh in mind, research scientist Henry Pym discovers how to shrink and is befriended by a very special ant. Soon the fringe theorist is expiating his grief by battling crooks and monsters as the Astonishing Ant-Man until flighty design student Janet Van Dyne sets her cap for him. When her father is killed by a horror from space she finally understands Pym and forces him to use his technological wizardry to transform her into an avenging human Wasp…

‘The Vision’ – scripted by Kyle Higgins & Alex Siegel with art by Stephane Perger – is set a few years later when the Avengers are fully established and follows the moral struggle of the eerie android who believes he was built by robotic tyrant Ultron to destroy the World’s Mightiest Heroes. That programming only lasted until his first clash with his targets after which something uniquely human grips the artificial assassin…

Mike Benson, Adam Glass and artist Dalibor Talajic retell the formative events which turned young gangsta Carl Lucas into ‘Luke Cage’: how the street punk was framed for drug running by his best friend, sent to federal lock-up, and survived an unsanctioned medical experiment which turned him into a human tank. Adding to the classic origin tale of vengeance that saw the fugitive con become a Hero for Hire is the pivotal life-changing tragedy which turned that desperate bad-man into a true champion of justice…

‘Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver’ by Sean McKeever & Mirco Pierfederici follows the teen-aged gypsy twins as they flee human superstition and bigotry and fall into the hands of mutant terrorist Magneto. When their interminable battles against the X-Men and the increasing instability of their terrifying master proves too much they make a bold jump and apply for membership with a true band of brothers…

This captivating chronicle concludes with the boyhood of ‘Thor’ (by Kathryn Immonen & Al Barrionuevo, with additional art by Michel Lancombe & Jeff Huet) as the wild and unruly heir of Odin is drawn into constant mischief by his half-brother Loki. Their treatment of child-goddess Sif finally prompts the All-Father to take steps and Thor’s life changes forever when he is charged with overseeing the creation of the Hammer Mjolnir.

Once he proves worthy of wielding it the Thunderer-to-be immediately oversteps his bounds and Odin is compelled to teach his arrogant first-born a lesson that will change the destiny of Asgard and Earth forever…

By wisely leaving the established canon largely unchanged, concentrating on infilling moments and addressing only the most glaringly outdated attitudes of the originals, these new stories successfully tread that fine line which means that readers completely unaware of the characters’ histories can enjoy the fundamental core of the Avengers appeal without old-timers like me feeling too alienated or patronised.

And of course, should you want to, all of those original masterpieces are readily available to enjoy in numerous reprint collections, such as the relevant Essential Editions or Marvel Masterworks series, and I strongly urge you to read those too…

As a rule I’m always cautious about updates and reboots of classic comics material but I must admit that such things are a necessary evil as the years roll on, and when the deed is done with sensitivity and imagination (not to mention dynamic, spectacular aplomb) I can only applaud and commend the effort.
™ & © 2012 Marvel & subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A, Italy. All Rights Reserved. A British edition published by Panini UK, Ltd.