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Elementals: The Natural Order


By Bill Willingham (Comico)
ISBN: 978-0-93896-508-4

Long before he achieved universal acclaim with his sublime adult fantasy series Fables, writer/artist Bill Willingham first turned comic fans’ heads with a post-modern re-evaluation of the superhero in a series entitled Elementals which took many Fights ‘n’ Tights traditions and turned them on their heads with telling and most pervasive effect.

The team debuted as a back-up tale in the one-shot Justice Machine Annual published by Texas Comics in 1983 and was picked up a year later by new publisher Comico, one of the front-runners in an explosion of new companies which grew out of the 1980s rise of the Direct Sales market and dedicated comics retail outlets.

This enchanting and enthusiastic volume collects that initial introduction and the subsequent first five innovative issues of their own title and opens with ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ by Willingham & Bill Anderson, as master villain Lord Saker demands a situation report from his trusted aide Shapeshifter. She describes how four recently deceased individuals have all inexplicably resurrected, each with the powers and attributes of one of the ancient alchemical elements.

Police officer Jeanette Crane revived with the ability to wield flame and heat and goes by the codename Morningstar, helicopter pilot and Vietnam vet Jeff Murphy has flight, speed and wind-based powers and answers to Vortex, whilst wealthy trust-fund brat Rebecca Golden has become a web-footed green sea-sprite dubbed Fathom.

The last resurrectee is 14 year old Tommy Czuchra: a disturbingly brilliant, adult and coldly rational boy-genius who can transform at will into a colossal Monolith of soil and rock.

Each of the quartet died in accidents directly related to their new conditions as avatars of Fire, Air, Water and Earth.

Saker is apprehensive: his centuries-old mystic master-plan is nearing fruition and now these supernatural agents have inconveniently manifested. When he dispatched his personal metahuman hit-squad, the Elementals easily routed them. Only Shapeshifter survived to report the bad news…

The series proper began with ‘The Spontaneous Generation’ (Willingham & Michelle Wolff Anderson) as the unlikely and reluctant heroes consult with Rebecca’s dad – a major league New York lawyer – about their situation. In this highly realistic and rational world, superpowers have only ever been the stuff of comicbooks, but now here they are alive again with incredible abilities, having just fought human chameleons, dragons and monsters…

Moreover, they each oppressively remember the pain and horror of dying but have no idea how or why they have returned…

And that’s when FBI spook Porter Scott turns up…

Meanwhile Saker’s remaining superhuman resources (Shapeshifter, Behemoth, Ratman, Electrocutioner, Annihiliator and Chrysalis) attack; ambushing the team during a lunch in the Seattle Space Needle, oblivious to the hundreds of civilian lives endangered in the assault. Once again outmatched the bad guys retreat, taking Fathom’s dad hostage…

After a ‘Destroyers’ pin-up by Willingham and Neil Vokes the drama resumes in ‘Angel of Light’ as some time later the Federal authorities – in the forms of Major General Benjamin Franklin Richter and NSA Special Agent William Lyons – discuss the National Crisis that has developed since the Elementals surrendered themselves to save David Golden.

Simultaneously, over the villain’s hidden citadel Nacht Island, the Elementals have broken free and are again devastating Saker’s Destroyers as well as his large army of fundamentalist soldiers: all willing zealots to his arcane cause.

Although the battle goes well in ‘Birds of Prey’ (inked by Rankin) the heroes are unprepared for the wizard to draw more power from his apparently infernal patrons and blithely unaware that Vortex has been killed and partially consumed by Ratman…

Even so the Elementals are clearly winning and look likely to end the affair quickly until Saker himself intervenes…

A year passes.

In ‘The Mean Seasons’ (Willingham, Herman & Rankin with added assistance from Dave Johnson, Mike Leeke & Bill Cucinotta) the Alchemical Allies have been prisoners all that time and Saker is close to his endgame, activating his agents in the Federal Government and readying himself to unleash the horrifying Shadowspear. As the sorcerer readies himself to destroy the world Jeff has almost fully recovered and his revenant comrades are also preparing for one last sally…

Saker has discerned that the Elementals do not age and cannot be killed by any means he can devise, but has unwisely formed an intellectual relationship with Tommy: foolishly disclosing his tragic and painfully unjust biblical origins and the reason he wants to see God’s creation unmade.

The Mage’s biggest mistake was believing that the seemingly broken foursome had given up and the cataclysmic Saves-the-Day climax of ‘Riders of the Storm’ (Willingham, Herman & Rankin) is both stunningly epic and superbly chilling…

Although the characters are not themselves particularly innovative the hard-headed, cynical and ruthlessly pragmatic manner in which Willingham and later author Jack Herman used them was a landmark breakthrough. As much as Alan Moore’s take on Marvelman, the Elementals always seemed to work in the most plausible and perhaps only possible manner our world could operate if men became modern gods and monsters.

The Natural Order is one of the very best superhero yarns of the era and still holds up incredibly well: slick, savvy, distressingly mature and savagely cynical.

If you want Adult Fights ‘n’ Tights thrills hunt down this magical masterpiece and enjoy the End of the World as we know it.
© 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988 William T. Willingham. All right reserved.

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The Names of Magic


By Dylan Horrocks & Richard Case (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-888-4

Way back when Neil Gaiman was just making a name for himself at DC he was asked to consolidate and rationalise the role of magic in that expansive shared universe. Over the course of four Prestige Format editions a quartet of mystical champions (thereinafter known as “the Trenchcoat Brigade”) took a London schoolboy on a Cook’s Tour of Time, Space and Infinite Dimensions in preparation for his becoming the most powerful wizard of the 21st Century, and an overwhelming force for Light or Darkness.

Shy, bespectacled Timothy Hunter (co-created by John Bolton) was an ordinary lad unaware of his incredible potential: a natural but untutored magical prodigy (and yes, I know who he looks like but the series came out eight years before anybody had ever heard of Hogwarts, so get over it).

In an attempt to keep him righteous the self-appointed mystic guides provided him with a full tutorial in the history and state of play regarding The Unseen Art and its major practitioners and adepts. However, although the four guardians were not united in their plans and hopes for the boy, the “other side” certainly had no doubts. If Hunter could not be turned to the Dark he had to die

The Books of Magic spawned a 75 issue run of issues under the Vertigo imprint plus attendant annuals, mini-series and spin-offs as the neophyte sorcerer struggled to find his way and learn the craft, aided and/or hindered by sort-of girlfriend Molly and a hidden personal history akin to a colossal, convoluted cosmic onion skin. His enigmatic lineage and true origins remained a crushing, crippling but crucially important mystery – especially since all the mystic powers of this world and many others either wanted him dead or enslaved…

By 2001 and the advent of this excellent tome (collecting the five-part Names of Magic miniseries) Hunter is a lonely, isolated fourteen year old runaway with no past, roaming the streets of London. His loving family have been exposed as fakes and surrogates, he’s lost or been abandoned by all his human associates and the final reeling shock was finding out that his real mother was Titania, Queen of Faerie and his sire her mortal falconer and plaything Tamlin…

However when he is simultaneously attacked by a raiding party of the Theena Sidhe from the Higher Realms and a politically influential mortal magician’s cult in ‘Invocation’, Tim is rescued by a sword-wielding stranger and old mentor Dr. Occult and his life is once again collapsing around his ears…

The stranger is Ash; a Walker and one of a hidden human brotherhood who police the ancient magical places of Earth, charged with taking the unwilling boy on a pilgrimage down those venerable lost paths to save his life and find his calling.

The Rosicrucian sages of The Cold Flame of the Golden Lotus, who want to co-opt Hunter’s power or negate his threat potential, have been embedded in the fabric of British Society for centuries and soon have their media tools and pet coppers on the trail whilst the rival Faerie stalkers – supposedly under a truce to leave Tim alone – rely on their own arcane methods to relentlessly pursue the fugitives…

When man and boy rendezvous with the “Trenchcoat Brigade” in Cornwall it is decided to closet the lad at the puissant magical college known as the White School where he can be safely trained in the use of his incredible powers.

Of course, there’s a snag: to enter a student must simply utter their True Name but when Tim tries he discovers that even his own identity is a lie…

Reeling in shock at the School gate, Tim and Ash narrowly escape a police ambush in ‘Trust’ and the boy almost succumbs to a beguiling spell from Lotus master Mr. Lily before stumbling into another Faerie trap. It appears that one clan of Fair Folk has made a pact with the eternal enemy of The Unseelie Court to destroy Tim, but the fugitives turn the tables on their hunters and Tim saves one of them from death, binding her into an unbreakable debt that she must repay twice-over…

‘Secrets’ sees Tim and Ash recruit modern Pagan “Bearclaw” Clarke to their Spirit Quest. However the Cold Flame close in and a police raid disrupts the astral journey before any secrets can be uncovered. Ruthlessly shooting their way out, the trio take ‘Flight’, daringly hiding deep inside the Faerie Kingdoms.

On Earth Mr. Lily turns his attention to Tim’s lost love Molly in his attempts to trap the young mage whilst, after a climactic struggle in Elfland, the seekers are captured and dragged before High King Auberon who denies all knowledge of Tim’s troubles. The Faerie Lord swears to ferret out the renegades working with the Seelie Court, and Tim finally learns his True Name, just before Iolanthe, eager to expend her onerous debt, warns him that he’s walked into another trap…

Battling free, the fugitive four head back to Earthly Cornwall where they wait helplessly for their following foes – both Faerie and Cold Flame – to converge for a final assault. With their backs to the sea and sure death approaching on all sides Tim and crew take refuge in tourist trap Merlin’s Cave, where as the various factions slaughter each other to get to him, the boy finds a hidden door and discovers the whole and unexpurgated ‘Truth’…

Although a series with a lot of highs and lows and one which never really lived up to its promise, Books of Magic was a popular early foray into mature comic publishing for Vertigo and subsequent returns to the characters have proved quite impressive.

Here Dylan Horrocks and illustrator Richard Case – augmented by cover artist Bolton – have recapitulated and reconfigured the past whilst crafting a compelling and enjoyable fantasy yarn that reads well, looks great and stands solid enough on it own to easily serve as an introduction to the saga of Tim Hunter.
© 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Shazam! Archives volume 1


By Bill Parker, C. C. Beck & Pete Costanza (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-053-4

One of the most venerated and beloved characters of America’s Golden Age of comics was created by Bill Parker and Charles Clarence Beck 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 1940s progressed 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 name – an acronym for the six legendary patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.

This magnificent full-colour, deluxe hardback compendium re-presents the first 15 adventures from Whiz Comics #2 to 15 (February 1940 to March 1941 – there was no #1, two issue #5’s and two editions in March but I’ll try to explain all that as we go along) to cash in on the sales phenomenon of Superman and his many imitators and descendents.

Publisher Fawcett had first gained prominence through an immensely well-received light entertainment magazine for WWI veterans named Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang, before branching out into books and general interest magazines. Their most successful publication – at least until the Good Captain hit his stride – was the ubiquitous boy’s building bible Mechanix Illustrated and, as the decade unfolded, the scientific and engineering discipline and can-do demeanour underpinning MI suffused and informed both the art and plots of the Marvel Family titles.

The series was the brainchild of writer/editor Bill Parker and brilliant young illustrator Charles Clarence Beck who, with his assistant Pete Costanza, handled all the art in this book, and in this quirky first volume the adult hero is a serious, bluff and rather characterless powerhouse his whilst his junior alter ego Billy is the true star: a Horatio Alger archetype of impoverished, bold, self-reliant and resourceful youth overcoming impossible odds by pluck, grit and sheer determination…

Author, journalist and fan Richard A. Lupoff covers in great detail the torturous beginnings of the feature in his Foreword before the magic proper starts with a rare and priceless glimpse at the hero’s nigh-cursed design stage and the book also contains biographical details on all the creators.

To establish copyright, publishers used to legally register truncated black and white facsimile editions called “Ash-can Editions” in advance of their launch issues. For Fawcett, the production of their first comicbook proved an aggravating process since this registration twice uncovered costly snags which forced the editors to redesign both character and publication.

Contained herein are cover reproductions of Flash Comics #1 starring Captain Thunder (obliviously scheduled for release mere days after DC’s own Flash title hit the stands), Thrill Comics #1 which repeated the accident just as Standard’s Thrilling Comics launched, and the uncoloured art for the first half of the story of Captain Thunder which would eventually be re-lettered and released as the lead in anthology title Whiz Comics #2 cover-dated February 1940.

Like many Golden Age series the stories collected here never had individual titles and DC’s compilers have cleverly elected to use the original comics’ strap-lines or cover blurbs to differentiate the tales…

‘Gangway for Captain Marvel!’, drawn in style reminiscent of early Hergé, saw homeless orphan newsboy Billy Batson lured into an abandoned subway tunnel to a meeting with the many millennia-old wizard Shazam. At the end of a long life fighting evil, the white-bearded figure grants the lad the powers and signature gifts of six gods and heroes; bidding him to continue the good fight.

In thirteen delightfully clean and simple pages Billy gets his powers, has his secret origin revealed (he’s heir to a fortune embezzled by his crooked uncle Ebenezer), wins a job as a roaming radio reporter for Amalgamated Broadcasting and defeats the demonic schemes of Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana who is holding the airwaves of America hostage, with the mighty, taciturn and not yet invulnerable Marvel only sparingly used to do the heavy lifting.

It is sheer comicbook poetry…

The March issue had no cover number but was listed as #3 in the indicia and featured ‘The Return of Sivana’ as the insane inventor unleashed a mercenary army equipped with his super-weapons upon the nation, attempting to become Emperor of America. His plan was thwarted by Billy acting as a war correspondent and the mighty muscles of Marvel…

The third (April) Whiz Comics had “Number 3” on the cover but #4 inside and proudly proclaimed ‘Make Way for Captain Marvel!’ before bolding leaping into full science fiction mode as Billy was shanghaied to Venus in Sivana’s mighty rocket-ship. The boy was forced to reveal his amazing secret to the demented inventor whilst battling incredible monsters and the giant frog-men dubbed “Glompers” but the magnificently guileless and gallant Marvel was seemingly helpless against the savant’s new ally Queen Beautia as the deadly duo prepared to invade Earth.

Only seemingly though…

‘Captain Marvel Crashes Through’ (4 on the cover, #5 inside) detailed how the bewitching Beautia, aided by Sivana’s technology, ran for President. However the sinister siren had a soft heart and when Billy was captured (and faced the first of a multitude of clever gadgets designed to stop him saying his magic word) she freed him, thus falling foul of the gangsters who were backing her. Luckily Captain Marvel was there to save the day…

An inexplicable crime-wave shook the country in ‘Captain Marvel Scores Again!’ (5 on the cover and #5 inside: the wild numbers game finally ending here) as a different sinister scientist used a ray to turn children into thieves and even young Billy was not immune, whilst in ‘Captain Marvel and the Circus of Death’ (July 1940) Sivana returned with fantastic Venusian dino-monsters which the Good Captain was hard-pressed to handle. Incidentally, this was the first issue where the Big Red Cheese was seen definitely flying as opposed to leaping – something Superman is not acknowledged as doing until late 1941…

In ‘Captain Marvel and the Squadron of Doom’ young Billy travelled to the North Pole for a radio story and discovered a secret organisation thawing out frozen cavemen to act as an army of conquest, after which he and his mature magical avatar foiled a murderous spiritualist causing mass-drownings to bolster his reputation and fortune in ‘Saved by Captain Marvel!’

Whiz #9’s ‘Captain Marvel on the Job!’ saw the man and boy foil a revolution, recover foreign crown jewels and defeat a madman with a shrinking ray after which Sivana and Beautia returned in ‘Captain Marvel Battles the Winged Death’ a blistering yarn involving espionage and America’s latest secret weapon. In this tale the Empress of Venus finally reformed and became a solid citizen…

‘Hurrah for Captain Marvel!’ found Batson investigating college hazing and corrupt sporting events whilst in #12 (January 1941) the World War loomed large as “Gnatzi” maritime outrages brought Billy to London where he uncovered the spy responsible for sinking refugee ships in ‘Captain Marvel Rides the Engine of Doom!’

‘Captain Marvel – World’s Most Powerful Man!’ featured Sivana’s latest atrocity as the madman disrupted hockey matches, blitzed banks and incapacitated the US army with a formula that turned men into babies. Even Billy wasn’t immune but at least Beautia was there to help him…

War looked increasingly inescapable and many heroes jumped the gun and started fighting before America officially entered the fray. ‘Captain Marvel Boomerangs the Torpedo!’ was a superb patriotic cover for Whiz #14 (March 1941) but the actual story involved Sivana’s capture and subsequent discovery of a thought process which allowed him to walk through walls and bars. Happily the World’s Mightiest Mortal possessed the Wisdom of Solomon and deduced a solution to the unstoppable menace…

This superb collection concludes after another stirring cover ‘With the British Plane Streaking to a Fiery Doom, Captain Marvel Dives to the Rescue!’ (issue #15 and also cover-dated March) and an unrelated adventure which revealed the incredible origin of Dr. Sivana, his astounding connection to Beautia, and also introduced her brother Magnificus – almost as mighty a fighter as Marvel – when Billy was kidnapped and trapped once again on Venus…

DC/National Periodical Publications had filed suit against Fawcett for copyright infringement as soon as Whiz Comics #2 was released and the companies slugged it out in court until 1953, when, with the sales of superhero comics decimated by changing tastes, Captain Marvel’s publishers decided to capitulate. The name lay unclaimed until 1967 when M.F. Enterprises released six issues of an unrelated android hero before folding after which Marvel Comics secured rights to the name in 1968.

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. Retitled 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 collection only scratches the surface of the canon of delights produced over the years and is an ideal introduction to the world of adventure comics: one that will appeal to readers of any age and temperament.
© 1940, 1941, 1992 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Desert Peach book 5: Belief Systems


By Donna Barr (Aeon)
ISBN: 1-883847-07-9

The Desert Peach is the supremely self-assured and eminently capable gay brother of the legendary German soldier hailed as “the Desert Fox” and one of the most perfectly realised characters in comics.

Set in World War II Africa and effortlessly combining hilarity, absurdity, profound sensitivity and glittering spontaneity, the stories describe the daily grind of Oberst Manfred Pfirsich Marie Rommel; a dutiful if unwilling cog in the German War Machine and his efforts to remain a civilised gentleman under the most adverse and unkind conditions.

However, although as formidable as his beloved elder sibling Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the gracious and genteel Peach is a man who loathes causing harm or giving offence and thus spends his dry and dusty days with the ever-so-motley crew of the 469th Halftrack, Gravedigging & Support Unit of the Afrika Korps, trying to remain stylish, elegant, civil and gracious to the men under his command and the enemy forces around him.

It’s a lot of work: the 469th houses the worst dregs of the Wehrmacht, from malingerers and malcontents to useless wounded, sharpers, screw-ups and outright maniacs.

Pfirsich unilaterally applies the same decorous courtesies to the sundry natives inhabiting the area and the rather tiresome British – not all of whom are party to a clandestine non-aggression pact Pfirsich has agreed with his opposite numbers in the amassed Allied Forces. The only people the Peach really has no time for are boors, bigots, bullies and card-carrying Blackshirts…

The romantic fool is also passionately in love with and engaged to Rosen Kavalier: handsome Aryan warrior and wildly manly Luftwaffe Ace…

Arguably the real star of these fabulous frothy epics is the Peach’s long-suffering, unkempt, crafty, ill-mannered, bilious and lazily scrofulous orderly Udo Schmidt, a man of many secrets whose one redeeming virtue is his uncompromising loyalty and devotion to the only decent man and tolerable officer in the entire German army.

This tragically rare fifth softcover collection reprints issues #13-15 and starts with an enchanting comic introduction from the captivatingly clever Roberta Gregory after which the sagacious star yields focus to the tragically bewildered Doberman in ‘Nobody’ wherein the pitifully shell-shocked Corporal finally blows himself up with his pet landmine and is evacuated home.

Dobi unexpectedly returns some time later with tales of his nightmarish detour to the hidden Jewish concentration camps where all the undesirables are being dealt with: systematically and efficiently eradicating Jews and other “sub-humans”…

Pfirsich is appalled and refuses to believe the stories: surely no sane human beings could perpetrate such atrocities? Udo however, has also heard stories of how Hitler and his hierarchy are dealing with Jews and shares them with his commander. In a rage the Peach rushes off to tell his brother, knowing the Field Marshal can do something about it.

The noble Desert Fox also explodes in fury and determines to return to Berlin to stop the program. His plan is simple – since Hitler is a good man and cannot possibly know of these atrocities, all Erwin has to do is inform Adolf and the Fuhrer will put a stop to the horrors…

Pfirsich, knowing Hitler’s hierarchy far better than that, is faced with an impossible choice: allow his brother to sign his own death warrant or withdraw the allegations and become complicit in genocide…

This bleakly chilling and tortured black comedy is followed by ‘Surprise, Surprise’ with Udo griping and trying to weasel his way out of his impending, unwanted but necessarily pragmatic wedding to Bedouin princess Falila. The swarthy little scoundrel wants sex not commitment, but as Pfirsich urges his subordinate to honour his word and live up to his responsibilities another secret slips out.

Udo Schmidt used to have another name: the only card-carry Nazi Party member in the entire 469th was born Isador Gülphstein…

“Udo” is the scion of a venerable line of soldiers who have served the Fatherland and the long-suffering son of a proud German Jewish veteran of the Great War who changed the family name so that his sons could join the army too… whether they wanted to or not.

Now, with The Peach fully aware of the fate Jews are facing, how can he risk Schmidt’s secret getting out? Moreover how can he risk antagonising the desert tribes or disappointing the clearly addled girl who wants to marry Udo? After all, fanatic camp political officer Kjars Winzig already suspects something isn’t – or rather is – Kosher about Udo…

The troubles only really begin when eavesdropping boyfriend Rosen Kavalier takes charge and offers a drastic and outrageous solution…

This darker-than-usual volume concludes with ‘The Triangle Trade’ (from a suggestion by cartoonist Steve Gallacci) as The Peach encounters by-the-book soldier Oberst Quark, herding a supply column directly towards an Allied tank unit.

Keen to avoid any bloodshed Pfirsich intercepts the column and lends the commander his spotter plane, determined to keep the Germans out of trouble whilst their war-mongering commander is safely up in the air.

Deprived of glorious battle Quark conceives a subtle vengeance and transfers the two biggest troublemakers in his command to the 469th.

Sadly the younger Rommel has never encountered the average fighting man and sorely overestimates his ability to control the greedy, vicious and cunningly duplicitous thugs Leutnants Hecht and Horowitz…

With the camp quickly dissolving into a hotbed of criminality and black marketeering harsh measures are called and this time even Rosen has met his match. Seizing the nettle Pfirsich is forced to fall back upon his own unique strengths to solve this thorny dilemma effectively and with unmistakable style…

Fabulously following the same anti-war path as Sgt. Bilko, Hogan’s Heroes, Oh, What a Lovely War! and Catch 22, as well as such tangential films as Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and The Birdcage, these Desert Peach adventures are always bawdy, raucous, clever, authentically madcap and immensely engaging.

These gloriously baroque yarns were some of the very best comics of the 1990s and still pack the comedic kick of a silken howitzer or chartreuse flamethrower, liberally leavened with situational jocularity, accent humour and lots of footnoted Deutsche cuss-words for the kids to learn. Moreover, with this volume the dark bitter edges and cold iron underlying these fabulous characters and their horrific, doomed situation become ever more poignant and powerful.

The Desert Peach ran for 32 intermittent issues via a number of publishers and was subsequently collected as eight graphic novel collections (1988-2005). A prose novel, Bread and Swans, a musical and an invitational collection by other artists entitled Ersatz Peach were also created during the strip’s heyday. A larger compendium, Seven Peaches, collected issues #1-7 and Pfirsich’s further exploits continue as part of the Modern Tales webcomics collective…

Illustrated in Barr’s fluidly seductive wood-cut and loose-line style, this book is a must-have for any lover of wit, slapstick, high drama and belly-laughs and grown-up comics in general. All the collections are pretty hard to find these days but if you have a Kindle, Robot Comics have started releasing individual comicbook issues for anybody with internet access and mature tastes…
© 1991-1994 Donna Barr. Introduction © 1994 Roberta Gregory. All rights reserved. The Desert Peach is ™ Donna Barr.

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Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 1


By Otto Binder, Curt Swan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0787-8

When the blockbusting Man of Tomorrow debuted in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) he was instantly the centre of attention but even then the need for a solid supporting cast was apparent and quickly tailored for. Glamorous daredevil girl reporter Lois Lane premiered with Clark Kent and was a constant companion and foil from the outset.

Although unnamed, a plucky red-headed, be-freckled kid worked alongside Clark and Lois from Action Comics #6 (November 1938) and was called by his first name from Superman #13 (November-December 1941) onwards. That lad was Jimmy Olsen and he was a major player in The Adventures of Superman radio show from its debut on April 15th 1940; somebody the same age as the target audience for the hero to explain stuff to (all for the listener’s benefit) and the closest thing to a sidekick the Man of Tomorrow ever needed…

When the similarly titled television show launched in the autumn of 1952 it became a monolithic hit and National Periodicals began cautiously expanding their increasingly valuable franchise with new characters and titles. First up were the gloriously charming, light-hearted escapades of that rash, capable but naïve photographer and “cub reporter” from the Daily Planet: the first spin-off star of the Caped Kryptonian’s rapidly expanding entourage began with Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #1, which launched in 1954 with a September-October cover date.

As the decade progressed the oh-so-cautious Editors at National Comics tentatively extended the franchise in 1957 just as the Silver Age of Comics was getting underway and it seemed there might be a fresh and sustainable appetite for costumed heroes and their unique brand of spectacular shenanigans. Try-out title Showcase, which had already launched The Flash (#4 & 8 ) and Challengers of the Unknown (#6-7) followed up with a brace of issues entitled Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane in #9 and 10 before swiftly awarding her a series of her own – in actuality her second, since for a brief while in the mid-1940s she had her own solo-spot in Superman.

This gloriously nostalgic and scintillatingly addictive monochrome tome chronologically covers those experimental franchise expansions, re-presenting Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #1-22, (September/October 1954 to August 1957 and Showcase #9 July/August 1957, plus the very first Lois Lane solo strip from Superman #28 – May/June 1944 as a welcome bonus.

The fabulous vintage all-ages entertainment (courtesy of dedicated creative team Otto Binder, Curt Swan & Ray Burnley) begins with ‘The Boy of 1000 Faces’ in which the ebullient junior journalist displays his phenomenal facility for make-up and disguise to tap a jewel thief before heading to timber country and solving the ‘Case of the Lumberjack Jinx’ before masquerading as ‘The Man of Steel’s Substitute’ and tackling public requests too trivial for his Kryptonian chum.

‘The Flying Jimmy Olsen’ opened the second issue with a daring tale of idiocy as the lad swallowed an alien power-potion with staggering disregard for the potential repercussions (a recurring theme of those simpler times) whilst ‘The Hide and Seek Mystery’ displayed his crime-solving pluck as he hunted down more jewel thieves after which the boy became ‘Jimmy Olsen, Superman’s Ex-Pal’ to expose a cunning conman.

He became ‘The Boy Millionaire’ in #3 when a wealthy dowager repaid a kind deed with a vast cash reward. Sadly all money brought Jimmy was scammers, conmen and murderous trouble. After that he headed to Tumbleweed, USA to cover a rodeo and somehow became ‘The Fastest Gun in the West’ before meeting the highly suspect eccentric who was ‘The Man Who Collected Excitement’.

‘The Disappearance of Superman’ perplexed Metropolis in #4 until his valiant pal solved the mystery and saved the Caped Kryptonian’s life whilst as ‘The Hunted Messenger’ Jimmy risked certain death to outwit gangsters before replacing a regal look-alike and playing ‘King for a Day’ in a far off land threatened by a ruthless usurper.

In issue #5 ‘The Boy Olympics’ displayed Jimmy’s sentimental side as he risked his job to help young news vendors from a rival paper and almost got replaced by a computer in ‘The Brain of Steel’ before beguiling and capturing a wanted felon with ‘The Story of Superman’s Souvenirs’…

The cutthroat world of stage conjuring found him competing to become ‘The King of Magic’ in JO #6’s first tale after which the diminutive lad endured a punishing diet regime – hilariously enforced by Superman – before covering the sports story of the year in ‘Jockey Olsen Rides Star Flash’. The last tale found Jimmy bravely recovering ‘100 Pieces of Kryptonite’ that fell on the city rendering Superman helpless and dying…

Jimmy Olsen #7 found the boy teaching three rich wastrels a life-changing lesson in ‘The Amazing Mirages’ after which a magic carpet whisked him away to write ‘The Scoop of 1869’ and the lad’s boyhood skills enabled him to become ‘The King of Marbles’, catching a crook and more headlines…

In #8 pride in his investigative abilities and a slick conman compelled him to uncover his pal’s secret identity in ‘The Betrayal of Superman’ after which he was ‘Superboy for a Day’ (sort of) and wowed the chicks when a sore throat enabled him to become ‘Jimmy Olsen, Crooner’, whilst in #9 he disastrously switched jobs to ‘Jimmy Olsen, Cub Inventor’, became a TV quiz mastermind in ‘The Million-Dollar Question’ and piloted a prototype Superman robot in ‘The Missile of Steel’.

In #10 the canny lad turned the tables on a greedy hoaxer in ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Martian Pal’ and suffered amnesia in ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Forgotten Adventure’ before going back to nature as ‘Jungle Jimmy Olsen’, whilst the next issue found him acting, after a stellar accident, as ‘Superman’s Seeing-Eye Dog’, dumping the neglectful and busy Man of Steel for a more appreciative comrade in ‘Jimmy Olsen, Clark Kent’s Pal’ and accidentally exposing a corrupt boxing scam as ‘T.N.T. Olsen, the Champ’.

He helped out a circus chum by becoming ‘Jimmy Olsen, Prince of Clowns’ in #12, thereafter uncovering ‘The Secret of Dinosaur Island’ and falling victim to a goofy – if not plain mad – scientist’s bizarre experiment and reluctantly became ‘The Invisible Jimmy Olsen’, whilst in #13 and tracking a swindler he met a half dozen namesakes in ‘The Six Jimmy Olsens’. Criminals then targeted the cub reporter’s secret weapon in ‘The Stolen Superman Signal’ and the lad found himself the subject of a cruel but necessary deception when the Metropolis Marvel perpetrated ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Super Illusions’…

Issue #14 opened with a time-travel western tale as the lad instigated ‘The Feats of Chief Super-Duper’ after which a scientific accident seemingly imbued the bold boy with Clark Kent’s personality and created ‘The Meek Jimmy Olsen’ before the cub was lost in American wilderness and was outrageously mistaken for ‘The Boy Superman’.

JO #15 found him demoted and at a dog-show where his infallible nose for news quickly uncovered ‘The Mystery of the Canine Champ’ after which an injudiciously swallowed serum gave him super-speed and he became ‘Jimmy Olsen, Speed Demon’ and a strange ailment forced him to dispose of his most treasured possessions in ‘Unwanted Superman Souvenirs’…

A scurrilous scammer in #16 offered to regress the boy’s consciousness and help him re-live ‘The Three Lives of Jimmy Olsen’ after which a series of crazy coincidences compelled identity-obsessed Clark to convince Lois Lane that Jimmy was ‘The Boy of Steel’ before another chemical concoction turned the lad into a compulsive fibber and ‘The Super Liar of Metropolis’.

The next thrill-packed issue featured ‘Jimmy Olsen in the 50th Century’ wherein the lad was transported to an era where history had conflated his and Superman’s lives, whilst in ‘The Case of the Cartoon Scoops’ he rediscovered a gift for drawing and the curse of clairvoyance before an horrific accident turned him into ‘The Radioactive Boy’, whereas in #18, humour was king as ‘The Super Safari’ found him using a “magic” flute to capture animals for a circus, ‘The Riddle Reporter’ saw him lose scoops to a masked mystery journalist and he then had to nursemaid his best friend when a criminal’s time weapon turned the Man of Steel into ‘Superbaby, Jimmy Olsen’s Pal’…

In #19 ‘The Two Jimmy Olsens’ introduced a robot replica of the cub reporter whilst in ‘The Human Geiger Counter’ the kid became allergic to the Action Ace before a brain injury convinced him he was ‘Superman’s Kid Brother’. The next issue opened with ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Super-Pet’ as a souvenir hatched into a living breathing dinosaur. His misguided efforts to save a small-town newspaper culminated in ‘The Trial of Jimmy Olsen’ after which Superman secretly turned his pal into ‘The Merman of Metropolis’ in a convoluted scheme to preserve his own alter ego.

Issue #21 revealed an unsuspected family skeleton and a curse which seemingly transformed reporter into pirate in ‘The Legend of Greenbeard Olsen’, whilst ingenuity and a few gimmicks briefly turned him into junior hero ‘Wonder Lad’ but arrogance and snooping were responsible for the humiliation that resulted from ‘The Wedding of Jimmy Olsen’ to Lois Lane…

A month later the lady finally starred in her own comicbook as, galvanised by a growing interest in superhero stories, the company’s premiere try-out title pitched a brace of issues focused on the burgeoning Superman family of features.

Showcase #9 (cover-dated July/August 1957) featured Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane in three tales by Jerry Coleman, Ruben Moreira & Al Plastino and opened with the seminal yarn ‘The Girl in Superman’s Past’ wherein Lois first met red-headed hussy Lana Lang, childhood sweetheart of Superboy and a pushy conniving go-getter out to win Lois’ intended at all costs. Naturally Miss Lane invited Miss Lang to stay at her apartment and the grand rivalry was off and running…

‘The New Lois Lane’ aggravatingly saw Lois turn over a new leaf and stop attempting to uncover his secret identity just when Superman actually needed her to do so and the premier concludes with the concussion-induced day-dream ‘Mrs. Superman’ as Lois imagines a life of domestic super-bliss…

When Lois Lane finally received her own shot at solo stardom it was very much on the terms of the times. I must shamefacedly admit to a deep, nostalgic affection for her bright and breezy, fantastically fun adventures, but as a free-thinking, liberal (nominally) adult of the 21st century I’m simultaneously shocked nowadays at the patronising, nigh-misogynistic attitudes underpinning many of the stories.

I’m fully aware that the series was intended for young readers at a time when “dizzy dames” like Lucille Ball or Doris Day played to the popular American gestalt stereotype of Woman as jealous minx, silly goose, diffident wife and brood-hungry nester, but to ask kids to seriously accept that intelligent, courageous, ambitious, ethical and highly capable females would drop everything they’d worked hard for to lie, cheat, inveigle, manipulate and entrap a man just so that they could cook pot-roast and change super-diapers is just plain crazy and tantamount to child abuse.

Oddly enough the 1940s interpretation of the plucky news-hen was far less derogatory: Lois might have been ambitious and life-threateningly precipitate but at least it was to advance her own career and put bad guys away as seen in the four-page vignette which closes this volume.

‘Lois Lane, Girl Reporter’ debuted in Superman #28 (May/June 1944) a breathless fast-paced screwball comedy-thriller by Don Cameron & Ed Dobrotka wherein the canny lass fails to talk a crazed jumper down from a ledge and saves him in another far more flamboyant manner, reaping the reward of a front page headline.

Before that Golden Age threat however there’s one last issue of the junior member of the Superman Family. JO #22 begins with ‘The Mystery of the Millionaire Hoboes’ as the lad tracked down the reason wealthy men are masquerading as down-and-outs before exposing the evil secrets behind ‘The Super-Hallucinations’ afflicting the Man of Tomorrow and ending with ‘The Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen’ wherein resident affable crackpot genius Professor Phineas Potter evolved the boy into a man from 1,000,000AD. That cold but surely benevolent being had a hidden agenda however and was able to bend Superman to his hyper-intelligent will…

These spin-off, support series were highly popular top-sellers for over twenty years; blending action, adventure, broad, wacky comedy, fantasy and science fiction in the gently addictive manner scripter Otto Binder had first perfected a decade previously at Fawcett Comics on the magnificent Captain Marvel and his own myriad mini-universe of associated titles.

As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling and yes, occasionally deeply moving all-ages stories also perfectly depict the changing mores and tastes which reshaped comics from the safe 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more”.

I know I certainly do…
© 1944, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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100 Bullets: Once Upon a Crime


By Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-594-X

Originating as merely the best crime comic in decades, 100 Bullets grew into a terrifyingly imaginative conspiracy thriller of vast scope and intricate, intimate detail. With this eleventh volume (collecting issues #76-83 of the breathtakingly adult comic book) creators Azzarello & Risso apparently had all their ducks in position and began to earnestly reveal a few long-hidden secrets as they counted down to the inevitable big finish.

However, as always there’s far, far more going on than you might think, and there are still a few surprise twists in store…

Not long after Columbus landed in America, thirteen ancient European crime-families migrated to the New World and clandestinely carved up the continent in perpetuity between them. As the country grew cultured and a new nation was born The Trust embedded itself within every aspect.

To prevent their own greed and ambition from destroying the sweetest deal in history, the Families created an extraordinary police force to mediate and act when any Trust member or faction acted against the unity and best interests of the whole.

They were called the Minutemen and were always led by the kind of peacekeeper needed to keep them honest and actively cooperating – a man uniquely honest, dedicated, smart and remorseless.

Not too long ago though, some of The Trust’s current leaders decided they no longer needed overseers and acted with characteristic ruthlessness to remove them.

Minutemen leader Agent Graves didn’t take this lying down and has been gradually enacting a plan to rectify that casual injustice. For years he has been appearing to various betrayed and defeated people as a “Court of Last Resort” offering answers, secrets, an untraceable handgun and 100 Bullets …

Some of those tragic beneficiaries have been revealed as Minutemen with their personalities hypnotically submerged in cover identities to hide and protect them from The Trust. Reawakened by Graves as he confidently proceeds with his long range strategy no-one really knows what the end-game and ultimate goals are…

Now the situation has spun completely out of control. Trust Fix-it man Mr. Shepherd is dead, killed by his most trusted agent Dizzy Cordova and the Minutemen are as divided, confused and fractionated as their erstwhile employers.

Moreover, Dizzy might have been the gun but it was Graves who pulled the trigger…

As always, pay attention when perusing: the uncompromising co-creators have never sugar-coated their work nor spoon-fed their audience and these stories need to be carefully studied: both the hypnotically spartan story and stunningly stylish visuals…

After an introduction and appreciation from groundbreaking TV innovator Tom Fontana the complex psycho-drama resumes with ‘Punch Line’ as Mr. Branch and Wylie Times baby-sit Dizzy and errant Trust heir Benito Medici in the desert whilst new Trust warlord Lono, prison buddy Loop Hughes and Minuteman Victor Ray decompress in typically sordid and anti-social style…

Graves keeps his distance and his plans from those most loyal to him but Remi Rome and Cole Burns know something is breaking when Wylie informs Graves that he will keep Dizzy from returning to him at all costs.

Wylie’s next call is to barely under control psychotic Lono, an angry man hungry to kill Graves and get his hands on the bitch who shot his buddy Shepherd…

With all factions on a collision course, mercenary bandit Coochie and his gang pick exactly the wrong moment to try and impress Graves by “rescuing” Dizzy and when Victor apparently switches to Wylie’s team the stage is set for the brutal removal of one more major player…

‘Split Decision’ records yet another shifting of alliances as, after still more mayhem and Machiavellian machinations, Dizzy returns to Grave’s team with everybody aware that she’s only there to kill the man who messed up her life and her mind…

The book concludes with ‘Tarantula’ as, thousands of miles away, the mysterious painting “La Morte dil Cesar” – which has tantalised and tempted assorted antagonists since The Counterfifth Detective – rises to prominence again when Remi’s brother Ronnie is dispatched to Rome to obtain it for Graves.

Once there the retired mob leg-breaker is swiftly enveloped in a tangled web of sex, double-crosses, murder, sex, art-fraud, triple-crosses and sex with deadly wild card Echo Memoria, who has been playing her own game at the edges of the action since she first seduced the hapless Mr. Branch in A Foregone Tomorrow, thereby setting up a catastrophic confrontation in the days to come.

This final story-arc blends the contemporary tale of Ronnie’s Roman holiday with Graves’ intimate revelations to Dizzy of how he first recruited Shepherd to his squad and the lousy reason his own mentor, veteran Minuteman Curtis Hughes, never got to lead the peacekeeping cadre…

Laced with telling flashbacks to the days when Graves’ team still acted for The Trust and packed with the kind of gratuitous smut and atrocity that we’ve come to expect and adore, Once Upon a Crime cranks up the action and tension to an almost unbearable degree as the grand denouement looms large.

Over months and years Azzarello & Risso painstakingly planted many seeds which grew into a tangle of shoots simultaneously entwining and growing off at tangents before coming together into a perfect mosaic of magnificent power and intensity.

These are some of the very best graphic novels ever crafted and demand your utmost attention. You need them all and the very best is still to come…
© 2006, 2007 Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso & DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Freaks!


By Nik Perring, Caroline Smailes & Darren Kraske (The Friday Project/HarperCollins)
ISBN: 978-0-00-744289-8

We’ve all been in the know for years, us comics fans, but it’s only recently that the big wide world got into the whole mind-boggling realm of superpowers and scary monsters. With such self-aware and crafty shows as Misfits, Being Human, No Heroics and even US imports like as No Ordinary Family, Alphas, The Cape and numerous others, the concept of powers and abilities which take us above and beyond the norm have become as much part of common parlance as “Beam me up Scotty” and “These are not the droids you’re looking for” – and remember when grown-ups and your dad had no idea what those meant either?

Freaks! is a stunning collection of themed prose pieces ranging from compulsively brief vignettes to devastatingly effective epigrams which examine the concept of having a super-power, from the broadly literal such as ‘The Photocopier’ wherein the daughter of a lady who can duplicate herself waits impatiently for her own gift to develop, or ‘Statuesque’ wherein a passionate woman gradually petrifies herself, to far more cerebral and metaphysical forays into the weird world like the bittersweet ‘Clipped Wings’, heartrending ‘Invisible’ or piteous ‘Fifty Per Cent’…

Some are just plain creepy like ‘In her Basket’ and ‘Faulty Baby’ or gut-wrenchingly horrific as with ‘The Boner’ or ‘Damaged’…

Sometimes you can only stop and wonder if the abilities are real at all or just in your head…

Or theirs…

Blending paranormal paranoia with self-delusion and pitting incisive, instinctive intuition against genuine contemplative otherworldliness, these yarns by Carol Smailes and Nik Perring (working individually and in tandem) describe ordinary folk with uncanny gifts and extraordinary people who have mastered the mundane horrors of the world.

These 47 individual slices of kitchen sink fantasy are written with scathing wit, measured surreality, biting venom and shattering poignancy, all graced and augmented with lavish and plentiful monochrome illustrations by author/artist Darren Kraske.

If you’re looking for alien invasions or flamboyant punch-ups you’ll be left wanting, but if you fancy some exceedingly adult and mostly mature laughs and tears, a few chills and a lot of clever, thought-provoking entertainment then Freaks! is definitely the book for you.
© 2012 Caroline Smailes and Nik Perring. Illustrations © 2012 Darren Kraske. All rights reserved.

This book is part of publisher HarperCollins’ experimental Friday Project where the traditional modes of book creation are augmented by concentration on new digital technology and disciplines as well as innovative methods of acquiring, publishing, selling and promoting their product. For more details you should check out http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/about-harpercollins/Imprints/the-friday-project/Pages/The-Friday-Project.aspx
To learn more about the creators please go to http://www.carolinesmailes.co.uk/
http://nikperring.com/ and http://theargonautsalmanac.blogspot.com/
Freaks! is scheduled for release on April 12th 2012.

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Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come parts 1, 2 & 3


By Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin & various (DC)
ISBNs: 978-1-4012-1741-9,   978-1-4012-1946-8,   978-1-4012-2167-6

After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read the launch of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre’s (and indeed industry’s) progress was the combination of individual stars into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven – a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces and fan-bases. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick.

The Justice Society of America was created for the third issue (Winter 1940/1941) of All-Star Comics, an anthology title featuring established characters from various All-American Comics publications. The magic was instigated by the simple expedient of having the assorted heroes gather around a table and tell each other their latest adventure. From this low key collaboration it wasn’t long before the guys – and they were all white guys (except Red Tornado who merely pretended to be one) – regularly joined forces to defeat the greatest villains and social ills of their generation. Within months the concept had spread far and wide…

And so the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comicbooks. When Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, the game-changing moment came with the inevitable teaming of the reconfigured mystery men into a Justice League of America.

From there it wasn’t long until the original and genuine article returned. Since then there have been many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both the highly successful rebooting of the JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter and the seminal but critically favoured new Starman series by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a new mission and fan-base big enough to support them. As the century ended the original super-team returned and have been with us in one form or another ever since.

This iteration, called to order after Infinite Crisis and Identity Crisis, found the surviving heroes from World War II acting as mentors and teachers for the latest generation of young champions and metahuman “legacy-heroes” (family successors or inheritors of departed champions’ powers or code-names): a large, cumbersome but nevertheless captivating assembly of raw talent, uneasy exuberance and weary hard-earned experience (for details see Justice Society of America: the Next Age and Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga).

This triptych of tomes collects issues #7-22 of the Justice Society of America series, the first Annual and Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Specials: Superman, Magog and The Kingdom; expanding, clarifying and building on those new heroes introduced in the landmark 1996 Mark Waid & Alex Ross miniseries, by rationalising many of the characters and concepts with the then-current DC continuity.

Kingdom Come and its belated sequel The Kingdom managed to connect that initially ring-fenced continuity to the mainstream DC universe and introduced “Hyper-Time”, a bridging concept which opened the way for all the storylines and history eradicated in Crisis on Infinite Earths to once more be “real and true”. Gradually a number of those variant elements began to coalesce in the relaunched Justice League and Justice Society series culminating in the expansive extended epic collected in these three volumes – although the entire saga could happily have fitted into one large tome…

This ambitious and almost daunting epic commences when Nathan Heywood awakes after an attack by modern Nazi meta-humans to realise most of his family have died in the assault. Of little comfort is the fact that his own crippling injuries have been repaired by the activation of his latent powers. The paraplegic youth has become a creature of living steel; unfeeling and ‘Indestructible’. For the sake of his surviving kin Heywood assumes the persona of new legacy hero Citizen Steel.

Soon after, ‘Bells and Whistles’ concentrates on the history of Jesse Chambers, wife of the second Hourman and daughter of WWII heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Bell. Jesse inherited the powers of both parents but her level-headedness is all her own and vitally necessary when fellow member Damage, fuelled by berserker rage, breaks a State Exclusion Order whilst chasing super villain Zoom – the hyper-fast maniac who shredded the hero’s face and turned him into a hideous monster doomed to hide forever behind a mask.

‘Prologue: Thy Kingdom Come’ switches focus to Power Girl who has only recently discovered her true origins as a survivor from an alternate universe where her cousin Superman was the World’s Greatest Hero and leader of an another Justice Society, now all long-gone and forever lost in a universe-shredding Infinite Crisis…

During a gala party for three generations of heroes, the team are called to a flaming mystical conflagration and when 31st century refugee and barely-in control schizophrenic Starman uses his powers to extinguish the blaze he inadvertently plucks a survivor out of the void between dimensions.

This newcomer looks and sounds just like Power Girl’s own dearly-departed Earth-2 Superman…

‘What a Wonderful World’ sees the Man of Steel from the Kingdom Come continuity describe how the heroes and their successors of his world almost destroyed the planet (with flashback sequences painted by Alex Ross) before Starman explains his own connection to all the realms of the multiverse. Initially suspicious, the JLA come to accept the elder Man of Steel.

Elsewhere, a deadly predator begins to eradicate demi-gods and pretenders to divinity throughout the globe…

‘The Second Coming’ reveals how the Strange Visitor from Another Earth believes his world dead, just as a new crop of legacy heroes (Judomaster, Mr. America, Amazing Man, Lightning and David Reid) join the team, whilst in ‘New Recruits’ the death-toll of murdered godlings mounts rapidly…

This first volume concludes with an expansive sketch section from Alex Ross.

The second book of Thy Kingdom Come (collecting Justice Society of America #13-18 and Annual #1) opens with ‘Supermen’ wherein the latest incarnation of Mr. America (an FBI agent turned freelance super-villain profiler) alerts the JSA to the serial god-killer and points the way to a mysterious personage known only as Gog.

When his files reveal their suspect to be an old foe of this world’s Superman, his elder alternate volunteers to discuss the case with the Man of Steel whilst deep below the fertile earth of the Congo an alien presence communes with its apocalyptic herald…

‘Thy Kingdom Come: Gog’ at last begins the epic in earnest as the assembled team is attacked by the mysterious Gog, resulting in a staggering battle in ‘The Good Fight’ and culminating in a dramatic climax in Africa and the release and apotheosis of the One True Gog…

This immense being is an ancient deity from the race which spawned the New Gods and has been gestating in our Earth since his own world died uncounted millennia ago…

The colossal gleaming god immediately proclaims a new era for Mankind in ‘He Came, and Salvation With Him’: striding across Africa, ending want, cleansing the scorched earth, feeding the starving and curing the afflicted with broad waves of his gigantic hands.

The battle-hardened heroes are highly suspicious but since among those cured are Damage, Star Man, Doctor Midnite and Sand the miracles cause a split in the JSA ranks in ‘Wish Fulfillment’.

Something is not right though: beyond the haughty bombast there are inconsistencies. Atheist Mr. Terrific is apparently invisible to the wandering god and despite his hopes and prayers Citizen Steel is ignored whilst all others have their wishes granted even without asking.

For example Power Girl but not Superman are summarily dispatched “Home”…

With confrontation seemingly inevitable the beneficent Gog suddenly diverts from his path and declaims that he will eradicate all war…

‘Earth-2 chapter one: Golden Age’ and ‘Earth-2 chapter two: ‘The Hunted’ (from Justice Society of America Annual #1) starts with Power Girl materialised on the alternate Earth she believed long destroyed and reunited with all the friends she believed long dead. But then, why is she so unhappy and desperate to escape?

Before she can answer her own question another Power Girl turns up and all rationality and hope of a peaceful solution rapidly fades…

This volume ends with JSA #18’s ‘War Lords’ as, whilst preaching, peace, love and restoration, Gog inflicts outrageously cruel punishments on civil war soldiers in the Congo and to all sinners before transforming David Reid into his new almighty herald Magog…

The third and final Book (covering issues #19-22 of Justice Society of America and Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Specials: Superman, Magog and The Kingdom) begins with Power Girl trapped on Earth-2 and consulting that world’s Michael Holt (who never became Mr. Terrific like his other-dimensional counterpart) in ‘Out of Place’ whilst a universe away, Black Adam follows phenomena which indicate his dead beloved Isis is returning, and the JSA declares war on itself as one half of the team prepares to defend Gog from the other…

 

‘Earth Bound’ kicks everything into high gear as Power Girl escapes from there to here, followed by the amassed and enraged heroes of Earth-2: a shattering confrontation which re-establishes a whole new DC multiverse.

Then Justice League of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman pits “our” Man of Tomorrow against his other-dimensional doppelganger whilst revealing the secret tragedy which made the Kingdom Come Kryptonian quit in the first place, whilst Justice League of America Kingdom Come Special: Magog describes ‘The Real Me’ as Gog’s new herald re-examines his own sordid past and proves himself his own brutal, uncompromising man…

That issue also provided ‘The Secret Origin of Starman’ which discloses how a teenager from the 31st century became the key and roadmap to the myriad pathways of the multiverse.

Justice League of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom opens the final conflict with Gog as the lost god reveals the staggering price he demands for his miraculous bounty and Sand uncovers its true cost whilst JSA #21 ‘Saints and Sinners’ opens the full-scale war when the heroes attack.

When Magog’s eyes are opened he deserts his malign god presaging the beginning of the end but humanity is saved in its most desperate hour in the concluding chapter ‘Thy Will Be Done’ after which, with the threat ended the lost heroes of the myriad Earths win their final rewards…

Conceived by Geoff Johns & Alex Ross to irrevocably button down the company’s new continuity, this extended tale is beguiling and impressive if you’re well-versed in the lore of the DC Universe but probably impenetrable if you’re not.

Executed by Johns with inserted segments illustrated and painted by Ross and the major proportion of the art provided by Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin, Ruy Jose, Rodney Ramos & Drew Geraci, Jerry Ordway, Prentis Rollins, Bob Wiacek, Richard Friend, Rebecca Buchman, John Stanisci, Mick Gray, Kris Justice, Norm Rapmund, Scott Kolins, Jack Purcell & Nathan Massengill, the final volume concludes with another expansive sketch section from Alex Ross and a stunning double-page portrait of the Earth-2 JSA by Jerry Ordway.

As I’ve already stated, I fear this blockbusting yarn will be all but unreadable to anyone not deeply immersed in the complex continuity of DC’s last three decades, which is a real shame as the writing is superb, the artwork incredible and the sheer scope and ambition breathtaking. However, if you love Fights ‘n’ Tights cosmic melodrama and are prepared to do a little reading around (Kingdom Come and The Kingdom are mandatory here) then you might find yourself with a whole new universe to play in…
© 2007, 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Valiant Era Collection


By Jim Shooter, Bob Hall, Don Perlin, Steve Ditko, Gonzalo Mayo, Stan Drake & various (Valiant)
No ISBN

During the market-led, gimmick-crazed frenzy of the 1990s amongst the interminable spin-offs, fads and shiny multiple-cover events a new comics company revived some old characters and proved once more that good story-telling never goes out of fashion. As Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter had made Marvel the most profitable and high-profile they had ever been and, after his departure, he used that writing skill and business acumen to transform some almost forgotten Silver-Age characters into contemporary gold.

Western Publishing had been a major player since comics’ earliest days, blending a wealth of licensed titles such as TV and Disney titles, Tarzan, or the Lone Ranger with homegrown hits like Turok, Son of Stone and Space Family Robinson. In the 1960s during the superhero boom these adventure titles expanded to include, Brain Boy, M.A.R.S. Patrol Total War (created by Wally Wood), Magnus, Robot Fighter (by the incredible Russ Manning) and in deference to the atomic age of heroes, Nukla and the brilliant Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom. Despite supremely high quality and passionate fan-bases, they never captured the media spotlight of DC or Marvel’s costumed cut-ups. Western shut up their comics division in 1984.

With an agreement to revive some, any or all of these four-colour veterans, Shooter and co-conspirator Bob Layton came to a bold decision and made those earlier adventures part-and-parcel of their refit: acutely aware that old fans don’t like having their childhood favourites bastardized and that revivals need all the support they can get. Thus the old days were canonical: they “happened.”

The company launched with a classy reinterpretation of science fiction icon Magnus, but the key title to the new universe they were building was the broadly super-heroic Solar, Man of the Atom which launched with an eye to all the gimmicks of the era, but also cleverly realised and realistically drawn.

Hit after hit followed and the pantheon of heroes expanded until dire market condition and corporate chicanery ended the company’s stellar expansion. Gradually it fractionated and all but disappeared…

Now with a Bloodshot movie in the offing and reports of the company’s revival here’s a glimpse at one of their too few graphic novel collections from the early days of the format.

The Valiant Era Collection, representing Magnus #12, Solar #10-11, Eternal Warrior #4-5 and Shadowman #8, was released in 1994 as an introductory sampler and canny compendium of first appearances from the company’s burgeoning continuity which gathered a disparate selection of tales which had one thing in common: the debuts of characters that had quickly become “hot”.

In the collector-led era of the early 1990s – before one zillion internet sites and social networking media – many new concepts caught the public’s attention only after publication. The seemingly-savvy snapped up multiple copies of comics they subsequently couldn’t sell and many genuinely popular innovations slipped by unnoticed until too late.

This trade paperback from a company that valued storytelling above all else addressed that thorny issue by simply bundling their own hot and hard to find hits in one book…

‘Stone and Steel’ was written by Faye Perozich and Shooter and illustrated by Gonzalo Mayo, and found Robot-Fighting superman Magnus transported to a timeless dimension where dinosaurs and cavemen existed side by side. Once there he became embroiled in a battle for survival against his old enemy Laslo Noel: a rabid anti-technologist not averse to using modern super-weapons to force his point of view.

The Lost Land had other defenders, most notably two Native American warriors named Turok and his young companion Andar. The pair had been a popular Western Publishing mainstay for over a quarter of a century (see Turok, Son of Stone) and their initial (re)appearance here led to their revival in a succession of titles which even survived the company’s demise as well as a series of major computer and video games.

That spectacular and entrancing epic is followed by a two-part Solar saga which introduced an immortal warrior prince and paved the way for the disclosure of the secret history which underpinned the entire Valiant Universe.

Solar was brilliant nuclear physicist Phil Seleski, who designed a new type of fusion reactor and was transformed into an atomic god when he sacrificed his life to prevent it destroying the world.

His energized matter, troubled soul, coldly rational demeanour and aversion to violence made him a truly unique “hero” but his discovery of hidden meta-humans and a genuine super-villain in the ambitious, mega-maniacal form of ultra psionic Toyo Harada led Solar into a constantly escalating Secret War.

Solar #10, ‘The Man who Killed the World’ by Shooter, Don Perlin, Stan Drake, John Dixon & Paul Autio, introduced a raft of new concepts and characters beginning with troubled teen Geoffry McHenry – the latest in a long line of Geomancers blessed or cursed with the power to communicate with every atom that comprises our planet. When the world screams that a sun-demon is about to consume it Geoff tracks down Seleski only to determine that Solar is not unique and the threat is still at large.

Meanwhile, however, Harada’s Harbinger Foundation has sent all its unnatural resources to destroy the Man of the Atom, supplemented by a mysterious individual named Gilad Anni-Padda, an Eternal Warrior who has been battling evil around the globe for millennia and has worked with a number of Geoff’s predecessors…

The concluding chapter ‘Justifiable Homicides’ (Shooter, Steve Ditko, Ted Halsted & Mayo) finds Geomancer, Gilad and Solar battling for their lives against an army of Harbinger super-warriors but as always with this series, the ending is not one you’ll see coming…

Gilad quickly jumped to his own series and Eternal Warrior #4-5 introduced his immortal but unnamed undying nemesis in ‘Evil Reincarnate’ (Kevin Vanhook, Yvel Guichet & Dixon) a tale of ancient China which segues neatly into a contemporary tale battling the drug-baron who is his latest reborn iteration before the nanite-enhanced techno-organic wonder warrior Bloodshot explodes onto the scene in ‘The Blood is the Life’ (by Vanhook & Dixon); a blockbusting action epic which set up the enhanced assassin’s own bullet-bestrewn series and, tangentially, the 40th century Magnus spin-off Rai…

The final debut in this volume was not for another hero but rather featured the introduction of the Valiant Universe’s most diabolical villain. Shadowman #8 held ‘Death and Resurrection’ (Bob Hall, Guichet & Dixon) and changed the rules of the game throughout the company’s growing line of books.

Jack Boniface was a struggling session saxophonist trying to strike it rich in the Big Easy when he was seduced by Lydia, a mysterious woman he picked up in a club. Her sinister, trysting assault left him unconscious, amnesiac and forever altered by a bite to his neck. Lydia was a Spider Alien: part of a race preying on humanity for uncounted centuries and responsible for creating many of the paranormal humans who secretly inhabit the world.

Her bite forever changed Jack and when darkness falls he becomes agitated, restless and extremely aggressive: forced to roam the Voodoo-haunted streets of New Orleans as the compulsive, impulsive daredevil dubbed Shadowman – a violent, driven maniac, hungry for conflict – but only when the sun goes down…

This tale examines the deadly criminal drug sub-culture of the city as a new narcotic begins to take its toll: a poison which forces its victims to careen through the streets bleeding from every orifice until they die. Witnesses call them “Blood Runners”…

As Shadowman investigates he is unaware that he is a target of the drug’s creator – an ancient sorcerer named Master Darque – and that soon the world will no longer be the rational, scientific place he believed.

Soon Jack will have terrifying proof that magic is both real and painfully close and that the Man of Shadow is not a creature of exotic physics and chemistry but something far more arcane and obscure…

Despite being a little disjointed these stories are immensely readable and it’s a tragedy that they’re not all readily available. Still there are always the back issue comics and the hope that the new revival might spawn a few trade paperback editions. Until then you can still hunt down this and the precious few other collections via your usual internet and comic retailers, and trust me, you really should…
© 1994 Voyager Communications Inc. and Western Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Flash: Race Against Time


By Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, Oscar Jimenez, Anthony Castrillo, Jim Cheung, Sergio Cariello & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-721-4

Created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, Jay Garrick debuted as the very first Scarlet Speedster in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940). “The Fastest Man Alive” wowed readers and inspired dozens of high-velocity knock-offs for over a decade before changing tastes benched him and most other superheroes in 1951.

The concept of speedsters – and superheroes in general – was revived in 1956 by Julie Schwartz in Showcase #4 when police scientist Barry Allen became the second DC good guy to run with the concept.

The Silver Age Flash was the heroic match which sparked off the 1960’s revival of costumed adventurers. His rollercoaster ride of jet-age escapades ushered in a new and seemingly unstoppable proliferation of superheroes and villains. When he died in a typically gallant manner along with many others during Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985 he was succeeded by his sidekick Kid Flash.

The neophyte human meteor initially struggled to fill the golden boots of his predecessor, both in sheer physical capability and, more tellingly, in confidence: Wally West felt a fraud, but like a true champion he persevered and eventually overcame all odds and challenges.

However after years in the role West grew and become, arguably, an even greater hero than his mentor, triumphing over not only his predecessor’s uncanny foes and a whole new Rogues’ Gallery of his own in a non-stop succession of increasingly incredible exploits…

Most of the super-speedsters in the DCU congregate in the twinned metropolis of Keystone and Central City. Here resides Wally’s true love, journalist Linda Park, his aunt Iris West-Allen (a refugee from the 30th century and Barry’s widow) and fellow velocity vigilante Jay Garrick. Nephew Bart (Impulse) Allen and elder statesman of Speedsters Max Mercury reside nano-seconds away in Manchester, Alabama.

At the end of his last adventure – battling a ruthless maniac who attempted to seize control of the extra-dimensional Speed Force which empowers all super-fast heroes and villains – the legion of speedsters were anxiously awaiting his return after Wally vanished into the extra-dimensional phenomena.

But, as Race Against Time (reprinting issues #112-118 of the monthly Flash comicbook) opens with ‘Future Perfect’ by Mark Waid, Anthony Castrillo & Anibal Rodriguez, Linda has a new Flash in her life: John Fox an new hyper-hero who has travelled back from the 27th century.

Wally has gone missing before and always found a way to return and so, while he’s gone, Fox has come back to protect the Twinned City from harm, especially new thermal felon Chillblaine. However as the goes go by and Linda grows dangerously close to the Future Flash she is utterly unaware of his secret agenda and dark motives…

Wally, meanwhile is lost and bouncing around the corridors of chronology. As ‘Race Against Time’ proper begins he materialises in ‘Wallyworld’ (with Oscar Jimenez & Jose Marzan Jr. joining Castrillo & Rodriguez); the 64th century era where he is venerated and revered as a god.

The drone-like citizens dote on his every word, devoid of individual initiative and, having adopted all his bad habits beg The Flash to “wisely lead them”…

After utterly failing to set them straight Wally dumps the whole mess into the hands of the last responsible adult of the epoch and escapes back into the time-stream just as back in the 20th century, Linda and Fox discover that the new Chillblaine is a foe far beyond their ability to handle…

‘Sibling Rivalry’ finds Wally in the 30th century clashing with Barry Allen’s children Don and Dawn Allen. The super-fast “Tornado Twins” have grown to adulthood in an oppressive, xenophobic dystopian World-state where aliens and metahumans are hunted, and without their aid he’s stuck there. In Central/Keystone a millennium earlier, Fox’s troubles also multiply when magnetic maniac Dr. Polaris and a hideous, hidden ally kidnap Iris for her knowledge of future events…

The Future Flash’s secret is revealed as Wally, gradually nearing his home era with each temporal leap, arrives in the 27th century and meets Fox for the first time. In this world hyper-velocity and time-travel are illegal, mandates enforced by super-robots known as ‘Speed Metal’ (with additional pencils from Jim Cheung). Most worrying however is the realisation that with each jump Wally’s memory of Linda erodes: the closer he gets the more the Speed Dimension pulls at him and the less he remembers of his human life and love…

After helping Wally return to the time-stream Fox makes a momentous decision. He knows that a Great Disaster will afflict the end of the 20th century: a mini Ice Age that will devastate the world. Assuming Wally will be unable to stop it – if he arrives at all – Fox follows him, determined to change history, save humanity and, if necessary, replace his ancestor…

By the time of ‘Flash Frozen’ (Jimenez & Marzan Jr.), Linda thinks she has fallen for Fox and Wally consequently finds himself drawn into the Speed Force, becoming pure unthinking energy just as the Ice Age trigger event begins. Frantically hunting for the cause – be it Chillblaine, Polaris or something else – Fox is completely overwhelmed, and his troubles only increase when Linda realises he has been manipulating her from the start.

Luckily, that’s the moment when Wally becomes the first person ever to return from beyond the Speed Barrier to save the day and redeem John Fox in the spectacular climax ‘Double Team’ (illustrated by Cheung & John Nyberg), but tragically it’s not soon enough to save everybody…

There’s no rest for the repentant however, and in the aftermath when Speed Metal robots arrive, hunting the fugitive Fox, the far-flung Flashes have to unite once more to defeat them and save Linda in ‘Cold, Cold Heart’ (scripted by Brian Augustyn & Waid with art from Sergio Cariello & Brian Garvey)…

Superlative scripter Mark Waid and this impressive band of collaborators went into imagination overload to produce a stunning adventure which called on a wealth of fascinating facets from the vast mythology that has grown around three generations of Scarlet Speedster.

Race Against Time is another sublime, superb rocket-ride of drama, tension and all-out inspirational action, captivatingly told and perfectly pushing the buttons of any superhero fan, whether a Flash follower or not. Catch and enjoy, time and time again…
© 1996, 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.