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Superior Spider-Man: My Own Worst Enemy


By Dan Slott, Ryan Stegman, Giuseppe Camuncoli & John Dell (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-538-3

Over the years the Wondrous Wallcrawler has undergone many evolutions, refits and even backsliding revisions, but this new continuation, picking up where Amazing Spider-Man #700 shockingly ended, is probably the most radical character revamp yet and the boldest of all the MarvelNOW! relaunches.

There is no way to avoid this so be prepared to suffer at least temporary consternation and a major spoiler alert. If you don’t want to know what’s happened to Marvel’s signature character, stop now and read no further.

For those who remain: for the majority of the aforementioned anniversary epic, the mind of Peter Parker had been transferred into the rapidly failing body of deranged super-creep Otto Octavius and, despite his every valiant effort, in the end perished with that decrepit, expiring frame.

Now the former Doctor Octopus is permanently installed in the Amazing Arachnid’s body and ready to assume his life… with a few minor alterations and improvements…

The outlook for humanity is not as bleak as it might seem: on the very brink of defeat Parker pulled off a brilliant coup and forced Octavius to emotionally relive every moment of tragedy and sacrifice that made Spider-Man the champion he was.

From the turmoil came understanding and the villain reformed, swearing to live the rest of his stolen life in tribute to his enemy; honestly carrying on the mission of Spider-Man, guided by the binding principle that “with great power comes great responsibility”…

Written by Dan Slott with art by Ryan Stegman, Giuseppe Camuncoli & John Dell, My Own Worst Enemy collects issues #1-5 of The Superior Spider-Man (cover-dates March- May 2013) and opens with ‘Hero or Menace?’ as the still shell-shocked and guilt-tinged amalgam answers the call to duty when a new iteration of his old gang the Sinister Six begins a series of daring raids.

Boomerang, The Shocker, Speed Demon, Overdrive, a new female Beetle and robot prototype The Living Brain are attacking a science lab when the resolute Wallcrawler swings in with great intentions. Sadly when the opposition proves too much, the transplanted terror quickly reverts to type and flees.

…Until he spots an innocent in danger and, despite himself, turns back to effect a spectacular rescue and drive off his foes with a savage efficiency quite unlike Spider-Man and more fitting to a super-villain…

Appropriating the Living Brain for himself, “Parker” then reports for work at commercial think-tank Horizon Labs, determined to make stopping The Six his priority. Fellow workers notice a distinct change in their once easy-going pal and, after a cagy chat with head genius Max Modell, the arrogant, egotist agonisingly realises that every new scientific achievement, breakthrough and triumph will henceforward be credited to his greatest enemy.

There is one advantage however: as Parker, Octavius is rekindling an intimate relationship with the stunning female Mary Jane Watson…

When the Sinister Six attack again the Superior Spider-Man is waiting. A coldly methodical rationalist, the ingenious savant has deduced their plans and laid a trap: countering their numerical and power advantages by setting technological ambushes, stroking his own ego by calling the press in advance so that they can record his triumph.

However he almost blows it all by flying into a rage and nearly beating Boomerang to death.

Octavius has no idea what finally stays his hand: no conception that some portion of Peter Parker’s consciousness survives and is beginning to have a tangible effect on his purloined life…

As ‘The Peter Principle’ opens, the new, ultra-efficient Spider-Man has become New York’s darling. Even Mayor J. Jonah Jameson has embraced the Web-spinner, to the utter incredulity of not only the imperceptible phantom of Parker but also two of his former girlfriends.

Mary Jane and Police CSI Officer Carlie Cooper both know of Peter’s secret life and are discussing how much he’s changed. However when MJ reveals she’s considering getting back together with him, Carlie is reminded of something. The last time Spider-Man fought Doc Ock the killer maniac broke her arm. He also claimed that he was Peter trapped in the villain’s body…

The new Parker is exultant. He has spent his day improving Spider-Man’s costume, gimmicks and methodology, building spy robots to patrol the city for him while he plans a scientific strategy to bed Mary Jane, to the petulant horror of his unsuspected in-house voyeur.

Before the campaign can progress however another old Spider-foe resurfaces as The Vulture strikes, employing children as surrogate flying thieves working to steal one final big score for the ancient crook….

‘Everything You Know is Wrong’ opens as Jameson takes the City’s relationship with Spider-Man one step further towards full legitimisation, whilst MJ reels from a shocking announcement from “Peter” and Carlie’s suspicions begin to obsess her. The Web-spinner’s hunt for the Vulture is also stalled.

Octavius had a special affinity with the wily old bird and isn’t keen on catching him, but that all changes when he realises just how the flying Fagin truly regards his flock, inadvertently inflicting Otto’s horrific and revelatory childhood memories on the hapless ghost Parker. The appalling injuries the hero then inflicts on the Vulture push Carlie towards the only logical conclusion possible…

This stunning reinvention ends with a staggeringly potent 2-parter beginning with ‘The Aggressive Approach’ wherein the hidden Otto Octavius continues to shine at Horizon, smugly producing groundbreaking technologies until he is reminded that the body he wears never finished college.

Ego gutted by Parker having no doctorate, he determines to return to University and win the coveted honorific, even as at Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane the lethal sociopath Massacre escapes, leaving another trail of bodies. The ever-present shade of the true Peter Parker is appalled and wracked with guilt. He once had the chance to end the killer’s atrocities and chose not to…

The new Spider-Man has no such qualms and promises Mayor Jameson that will not be the outcome this time…

Unknown to all, the Wallcrawler’s greatest foe is also readying himself for a return match even as ‘Emotional Triggers’ finds Octavius turning all his intellect and resources to finding the murderous Massacre.

Well, almost…

With Phantom Parker incessantly and fruitlessly screaming at him, the decidedly less excitable Spider-Man first takes time off to cultivate a new lady-friend and satiate his culinary appetites before tackling the fugitive psycho-killer, who has meanwhile formed an alliance with an unscrupulous businesswoman keen on using his ability to grab headlines and air-time to promote her company.

Eventually, however, the Wallcrawler’s robot eyes find Massacre, and Spider-Man leads a SWAT team against the emotionless mass murderer, ending a horrific hostage crisis in a manner no real hero ever would…

This marvellously intriguing fresh start includes the usual cover-&-variants gallery – by Stegman, Mike Deodato, Jr., Joe Quesada, Camuncoli, J. Scott Campbell, Adi Granov, Humberto Ramos, Skott Young, Ed McGuiness, Simone Bianchi & Mike Bagley – behind-the-scenes production feature ‘Superior Insight’ and the now obligatory 21st century extra content for tech-savvy consumers in the form of AR icon sections.

These Marvel Augmented Reality App pages give access to story bonuses once you download the little dickens – free from marvel.com – onto your smart-phone or Android-enabled tablet.

If you’ve never read a Spider-Man comic in your life you can start right here. Honestly, everything you need to start fresh and cold is covered in this smart spin, even if nobody in fandom really believes Peter Parker is gone for good…

™ & © 2013 Marvel. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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A Cartoon History of the Monarchy


By Michael Wynn Jones (Macmillan)
ASIN: B001H0OAOO           ISBN: 0-333-19805-0

Just picked this up in a second-hand shop and thought of you – well, some of you anyway – on this anniversary day…

We’re far too reluctant in this country to celebrate the history and quality of our own cartooning tradition; preferring simply to remark on the attention-grabbers or impressive longevity of one or two classic and venerable veterans of the pen-&-ink game, when the actual truth is that for an incredibly long time the political art movement of the Empire and Commonwealth – and its enemies – was vast, varied and fantastically influential.

The British wing of the form has been magnificently serviced over the centuries by masters of form, line, wash and most importantly ideas, repeatedly tickling our funny bones or enraging our sleeping consciences and sensibilities, all whilst poking our communal pomposities and fascinations.

From its earliest inception, satiric draughtsmanship has been used to attack and sell: initially ideas, values, opinions and prejudices or but eventually actual products too. In newspapers, magazines and especially comicbooks, the sheer power of graphic narrative, with its ability to create emotional affinities, has led to the creation of unforgettable images and characters – and the destruction of real people or social systems.

When those creations can affect the daily lives of millions of readers, the force that they can apply in the commercial or political arena is almost irresistible…

In Britain the cartoonist has held a bizarrely precarious position of power for centuries: the deftly designed bombastic broadside or savagely surgical satirical slice instantly capable of ridiculing, exposing, uplifting or deflating the powerfully elevated, unapproachable and apparently untouchable with a simple shaped-charge of scandalous wit and crushingly clear, universally understandable visual metaphor.

For this method of concept transmission, lack of literacy or education is no barrier. As the Catholic Church proved millennia ago with the Stations of the Cross, stained glass windows and a pantheon of idealised saints, a picture is worth far more than a thousand words…

For as long as we’ve had printing in this country there have been scurrilous gadfly artists commentating on rulers, society and all iniquities: pictorially haranguing the powerful, pompous, privileged and just plain perfidious through swingeing satire and cunning caricature. Sometimes artists have been just plain mean…

Britain had no monopoly on talent and indignation, and this canny compendium also frequently features European – and latterly American – takes on our scandalous Royals and oddball citizenry…

Released in 1978 and desperately in need of updating and re-issue, A Cartoon History of the Monarchy offers a potted, far from hagiographic history and deliciously skewed view of our Ruling Elite in all their unsavoury glory; an unbroken line of jibes, asides and broadsides gathered from divers sources by jobbing journalist and aficionado of japes, lampoons and sketches Michael Wynn Jones, who here casts a discriminating eye from the reign of Elizabeth I up until just before the Silver Jubilee of the second Regina to bear the name…

Following a handy list of the Kings and Queens of England, the pomposity-puncturing procession commences with The Age of Intolerance, reproducing cartoons and adding commentary dealing with the doings of the ten monarchs from Elizabeth I – George II.

The accompanying essays describe the zeitgeist of those times – the religious question as England, Wales, Ireland and eventually Scotland came to numerous crises regarding succession.

That issue always revolved around whether the land should be Catholic or Protestant. ‘Popes, Plots and Puritans’ led to the final solution when ‘The Men from Hanover’ arrived to settle the matter and fully cement the nation under the Church of England.

The savage sampling of the nation and continent’s opinions are represented here by 26 visual bombards such as the allegorical assault ‘Diana and Callisto’ by Dutch artist Miricenys from 1585, the anonymous ‘England’s Miraculous Preservation’ from 1648 and ‘The Royal Oake of Brittayne’ (from 1649) amongst so many others.

Cartoon grotesques such as ‘Cromwell’s Car’ (1649) or ‘Babel and Bethel’ (1679) appear beside such scandalous foreign attacks as Dutch illustrator Dusart’s ‘Fr. James King’ and the anonymous French pictorial polemic ‘Notice of Burial’ (both from 1690). We British riposted with jeering celebrations of martial triumphs such as ‘The Arrival of William and Mary’ (1689), ‘The Great Eclipse of the Sun’ (simultaneously a topical spin on a solar event in 1706 and the defeat of “Sun King” Louis XIV by the British armies of Queen Anne), and ‘A Bridle for the French King’ from the same year.

Domestic contretemps are highlighted through such draughtsman’s delights as the anonymous 1743 shocker ‘The Hanover Bubble’, Ebersley’s ‘The Agreeable Contrast’ (from 1746 and attacking King George’s brother “Butcher” Cumberland’s treatment of Jacobites after the defeat of the Young Pretender), and the exposure of Popish influence in the Highlands described by ‘The Chevalier’s Market’ from 1745…

Whereas much of this material – both British and foreign – was generally national commentary and straight religio-political assault, by the time period covered in The Wickedest Age: George III – George IV (1760-1830) the cartoon had also evolved into a weapon designed to wound with wit and crush through cruel caricature.

After covering the major crises and scandals of the generally sensible – if parsimonious – third George in ‘The Royal Malady’, ‘“The Dregs of Their Dull Race”’ and ‘Twilight Years’, a veritable Golden Age of popular disapproval and artistic mugging of the Prince Regent and much-delayed, frustrated monarch (and his many mistresses) is covered in ‘The Prince of Whales’, ‘The Secret Marriage’, ‘“Pray Get Me a Glass of Brandy”’ and ‘Delicate Investigations’.

The public disdain of the times generated a fusillade of cartoon prints, represented here by 35 graphic bombards and savage cartoon sallies by names which have become as famous as any ruler. However master character assassins Townsend (‘The Scotch hurdy-gurdy’), George Cruikshank (‘Royal Condescension’), Gillray (‘A New Way to Pay the National Debt’, ‘A Voluptuary under the Horrors of Digestion’), Rowlandson (‘The Prospect Before Us’) and Heath (‘A Triumph of innocence over perjury’) are ably bolstered by lesser lights West (‘The Save-all and the Extinguisher!’), Williams (‘Low Life above stairs’), Vowles (‘The shelter for the destitute’) and Marshall (‘The kettle calling the pot ugly names’) and a few anonymous pen-pricks who nevertheless hit hard with ‘Tempora Mutantor’, ‘The captive Prince’ and ‘Reading of the Imperial decree’ and more.

As periodical publication overtook print-shops as the greatest disseminators of carton imagery, the open savagery and targeted vulgarity of caricaturists was gradually replaced with mannered, if barbed, genteel observation.

Thus The Age of Discretion: William IV, Victoria (spanning 1830-1901) offers a different style of Royal Commentary: no less challenging, but certainly much more overtly respectful when critical. Sometimes, though, this new family-oriented cartooning, even in magazines such as Punch and The Times, simply sunk to fawning veneration as the institution of monarchy became more and more removed from the lives of the citizenry.

William’s times are summed up in text via ‘The Sailor King’ and ‘Reform Billy’ whilst Victoria’s epochal reign and the Parliamentarians who increasingly wielded the decisive power is described through ‘The Queen of the Whigs’, ‘Revolutions are bad for the Country’, ‘The Black and the Brown’ and ‘Years of Widowhood’.

The 36 collected images capture those days of Empire, with Heath, Seymour and Doyle predominant in illustrating bluff sea-dog William’s socially contentious days of Reform.

Victoria’s years, from engaging popular ingénue Queen, through happy bride to politically intrusive grand dame of European Court intrigue, highlights the craft of Doyle (‘The Queen in Danger’, 1837), Leech, (‘There’s Always Something’, 1852), Tenniel (‘Queen Hermione’, 1865, ‘New Crowns for Old Ones!’, 1876), Morgan (‘Where is Britannia?’ and ‘A Brown Study’ – both 1867) and Sambourne (‘Kaiser-i-Hind’, 1876) amongst so many others.

Her latter years also saw a rise in social conscience cartooning as displayed by the crusading Merry with ‘The Scapegrace of the Family’ (1880), ‘The fall of the rebels‘ in 1886 and more, or the telling modernist take of Max Beerbohm whose ‘The rare, the rather awful visits of Albert Edward to Windsor Castle’, cuttingly illustrated the rift between the Empress and her playboy heir…

Despite her well-known disapproval, the good-time Prince became an effective king as was his son, both covered in The Edwardian Age: Edward VII – George V, spanning 1901-1936. Their dutiful achievements are recounted in ‘The Coming King’ and ‘The First Gentleman of Europe’ before war with Germany necessitated a family name change for George – ‘The First Windsor’…

With kings increasingly used as good-will ambassadors and being cited in scandals that frequently ended in court, the 30 cartoons included in this section include many German pieces from not only the war years but also the tense decade that preceded them, as Imperial Superpowers jostled for position and tentatively used propaganda to appeal to the world’s “unwashed masses” for justification for their aims and ambitions.

Beside veteran caricaturists such as Leech, Morgan, May, Partridge, Staniforth and David Low are merciless lampoons from German cartoonists Brandt, Blir, Heine, Gulbransson and Johnson as well as French illustrator Veber and lone American Kirby.

Our pictorial history lesson concludes with The Age of Respectability: Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II generally skipping World War II, concentrating instead on the openly secret scandal of Edward and Mrs Simpson in ‘Abdication’ before the advent of ‘New Elizabethans’ brought a modern age of rulers as sideshow attractions…

Although Fleet Street chose to whitewash and suppress the affair between a King-in-waiting and the American divorcee, the rest of the world made great play of the situation: as seen here with 11 telling cartoon shots from Americans McCutcheon and Orro, whilst French scribbler Effel posited typically insouciant Gallic ‘Une Solution’ and German-based Gulbransson played up the true romance angle…

In the meantime British cartoonist Low had to be at his most obliquely hilarious, delineating the crisis by not mentioning it, and Punch stars like Partridge steadfastly pursued a line of deferential, tragic sacrifice…

Although there is very little material featuring wartime monarch George VI – a propaganda casualty of the conflict – the last 20 images herein celebrate the changing image of a very public Royal Family as pictured by names very familiar to contemporary cartoon lovers.

The imagery is also contextually far more familiar – and presumably comfortable – to modern tastes as print media generally learned to save their vitriol for politicians and celebrities and reserved only minor chidings and silly teasing for “the Royals”, as seen in ‘Birthday Greetings’ and ‘Under the Splendid Empire Tree’ by Shepard from 1947 or Illingworth’s 1951 panels ‘Family Ties’ and ‘Happy Returns’.

Papers were, however, happy to utilise the monarchy to score points against governments, as seen in an attack on Enoch Powell (Cummings’ ‘Ministry of Repatriation’) and the battle between Rhodesia’s Ian Smith and Harold Wilson lampooned in ‘Your Move!’ by Jak (both from 1968) or the legendary Giles’ ‘New Rent Assistance Bill’ (1971).

Also offering acerbic jollity of a far more blueblood-specific variety are cartoon giants Trog and Waite who join the abovementioned in exploiting the Royal Family’s gift for headline-stealing gaffes in such daring gags as ‘I Suppose we did send them to the Right Schools?’, ‘I Suppose she’ll think these are of the Queen Mother’, ‘More Pay’ and ‘Andrew’s Exchange Student’: coming full circle with the best of Hanoverian excesses scrutinised by a cost-conscious government and public – but this time for rather more gentle laughs…

Appended with a scholarly section of Acknowledgements, Illustration sources and Index of artists, this is an extremely welcoming and effective introduction to the lasting relationship between Royalty, Church and Fourth Estate that offers a fantastic overview of Regal adaptability and cultural life through a wealth of cunningly contrived images and pictorial iconography that reshaped society and the world.

These are timeless examples of the political pictorialist’s uncanny power and, as signs of the times, form a surprising effecting gestalt of the never-happy nation’s feeling and character…

None of that actually matters now, since these cartoons have performed the task they were intended for: shaping the thoughts and attitudes of generations of voters. That they have also stood the test of time and remain as beloved relics of a lethal art form is true testament to their power and passion.

Stuffed with astounding images, fascinating lost ephemera and mouth-watering tastes of comic art no aficionado could resist, this colossal collection is a beautiful piece of cartoon history that will delight and tantalise all who read it and truly deserves to be back on bookshelves…
© Michael Wynn Jones 1978. All rights reserved.

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Thor God of Thunder: The God Butcher


By Jason Aaron & Esad Ribic (Marvel Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-533-8

In the wake of the game-changing Avengers versus X-Men publishing event, the company’s entire continuity was reconfigured. From that point on the banner MarvelNOW! indicated a radical repositioning and recasting of all the characters in an undertaking designed to keep the more than 50-year old universe interesting to readers old and new alike.

This involved a varying degree of drastic rethink for beloved icons, concepts and brands, always, I’m sure, with one wary eye on how the material would look on a movie screen…

Collecting Thor, God of Thunder #1-5 (cover-dated January-April 2013) by Jason Aaron & Esad Ribic, this big, bold blockbuster saga simultaneously unfolds over three separate eras and offers a spectacular clash as the bellicose Lord of Lightning faces his ultimate adversary…

It begins in Iceland in 893AD where a young god revels amongst his Viking worshippers, slaying monsters and bedding mortal maids in the days before he proved himself worthy enough to wield the mystic mallet Mjolnir.

During his revels a dismembered corpse washes up, terrifying the valiant Norsemen. They have never seen the like but Thor recognises it as a god from another pantheon, slaughtered and dismembered like meat…

In the now, Thor is summoned into deep space and the parched planet Indigarr. The Thunderer has mystically heard the desperate prayer of a little girl and on his arrival brings rain and salvation to her dying world.

Celebrated as a saviour, the Storm Lord wonders aloud why the people did not pray to their own gods – across the entire universe, all civilisations and peoples have deities – and learns they are dead. Investigating further he locates Indigarr’s god-palace and discovers the entire pantheon was tortured to death ages ago…

As a monstrous black beast ambushes him he remembers a horrific experience more than a millennium past and knows fear…

In the furthest future, an aged Thor sits in a shattered Great Hall of Asgard. He has only one arm and one eye and is the last god – perhaps the last being – in existence …except for the uncountable hordes of savage black beasts that surround him…

The cosmic conundrum continues in ‘A World without Gods’ as, in Iceland, Thor leads a bold band of worshipful reivers on a quest into what will one day be Russia and encounters a being who has killed all the gods of the Slavs.

Appropriating one of the perished pantheon’s flying horses Thor soars aloft to challenge the mysterious God Butcher and, amidst a welter of ‘Blood in the Clouds’, eventually defeats the maniacal alien Gorr…

In the present, an enraged Thunder God, having honourably disposed of the celestial corpses, sets off to discover the truth of the situation…

Arriving at the pan-cosmic metropolis of Omnipotence City, where gods of every world and time have met since the universe began, the Thunderer discovers that over the eons many divinities have gradually stopped visiting.

After consulting the infinitude of scrolls in ‘The Hall of the Lost’, Thor journeys to many of the worlds and finds the same thing over and again: slaughtered, desecrated corpses and planets bereft of godly life. Each of them does harbour a brutal black beast though…

In ancient Russia the Thunder godling recovers after seven days in a coma, tended by his faithful Vikings. Seeking to confirm his victory, Thor subsequently searches the icy wastes and finds the last of the Slavic Celestials, left as a swiftly expiring signpost to a rematch with the diabolical divinity-slayer…

In our time Thor and Avenger ally Iron Man visit the same region, scouting the cave where Thor ended the menace of Gorr, the God Butcher in the 9th century.

After all he has seen in space, however, the Thunderer is questioning his memory and conclusions. Wiser and warier than his youthful incarnation, the Prince of Asgard dispatches the Golden Avenger to warn Earth’s other pantheons of their imminent peril before entering the cave he’d last visited more than a thousand years ago…

At the very end of days the dotard Thunder God continues to slay black beasts, hungry for the honourable death they will not allow him…

And in the 21st century the Lord of Storms finds not his foe, but a pathetically broken alien god the Butcher has left with a personal message – “It’s all your fault, Thor…”

At the end of time ‘The Last God in Asgard’ is left to fight again but never die, as in the now, Thor and broken alien deity Shadrak return to Omnipotence City following a slipped reference to something called “Chronux” and stumble into a raid by beast creatures determined to erase all reference to it from the infinite library of the eternal omnopolis.

In 893AD the awful truth of what occurred in Gorr’s cavern is revealed, as the present-day Thor follows a faint hope to the planet of the Time Gods and learns the impossibly grandiose, history-shredding scheme of the Butcher.

Gorr meanwhile has uncovered the true origin-story of universal life and invades the corridors of time to achieve his ‘Dream of a Godless Age’…

The Celestial Slaughterman is even more elated when his 21st century nemesis is catapulted to Asgard at the end of eternity. Now the chronal marauder has two Thors to play with – for as long as he wishes…

To Be Continued…

Dark, complex, expansive and disturbing, this cruelly compelling yarn perfectly capitalises on the Thunder’s God’s key conceptual strengths to offer a decidedly different take on the venerable hero – one that should delight fans who think they’ve seen it all.

Also included herein are swathes of extra content for tech-savvy consumers via the AR icon option (described as “code for a free digital copy on the Marvel Comics app for iPhone®, iPad®, iPad Touch® & Android devices and Marvel Digital Comics Shop: a special augmented reality content available exclusive through the Marvel AR app – including cover recaps, behind the scenes features and more”) as well as the usual available-to-all expansive cover-and-variants gallery by Ribic, Skott Young, Daniel Acuña, Joe Quesada, Olivier Coipel & Rajko Milosevic Guera.

™ & © 2013 Marvel. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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Blade of the Immortal volume 1: Blood of a Thousand


By Hiroaki Samura translated by Dana Lewis & Toren Smith (Dark Horse/Studio Proteus)
ISBN: 978-1-56971-239-9

Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1970, manga master Hiroaki Samura differs from many of his contemporary colleagues in that he actually pursued classical art training before abandoning oil paints and easels for the monochrome freedom and easy license of the “whimsical drawings” industry.

He was, however, plucked from college in the early 1990s before finishing his degree, to find huge success creating the astonishing fantasy saga Mugen no JÅ«nin (The Inhabitant of Infinity) for Seinen magazine Afternoon.

The series ran from June 25th 1993 to December 25th 2012, a total of 30 volumes which spectacularly blended ubiquitous Samurai comics themes and scenarios with vengeful supernatural plots, political intrigues, existential philosophy and punk-era nihilism as the driven, murderously efficient antihero constantly deployed his outrageously eccentric arsenal of fanciful edged weapons, whilst pondering the merits of salvation and the meaning and point of living too long…

The series was picked by Dark Horse in 1996 and released as Blade of the Immortal, first as a monthly comicbook series and, from 2007 onwards, exclusively in collected graphic novel editions.

One note of caution for purists: the series’ dialogue is written in an updated, quirkily anachronistic literary style which strives for emotional veracity rather than (faux) period authenticity, so it can all be a little disconcerting at first…

Set in middle of the Tokugawa Shogunate (between 1600 and 1868AD), this first sublimely engaging volume opens with ‘About the Translation’ – a prose section explaining the translation process and the symbology of the piece – before ‘Prologue: Criminal’ introduces debased and unsavoury Ronin Manji; one-eyed outlaw and a weary killer looking for peace and redemption in all the wrong places.

The “Slayer of 100 Good Men” – including his own peace-keeper brother-in-law – Manji is currently stalking Gyobutsu “Johnny” – a mass-murderer who kills his victims whilst disguised as a priest. When a trap goes wrong the debased Ronin manfully ignores a pistol shot through his brain to finish his sacrilegious quarry.

The Ronin is no longer as other men. There are worms in his head, and as they knit his inexplicably non-fatal wound back together, Manji broods.

In his despicable past he was a cheap sell-sword who killed as he pleased. When his misdeeds brought him into conflict with his “cop” brother-in-law he also butchered him. The shock drove his sister Machi mad.

She was the only thing Manji ever cared about…

Yaobikuni has no problem with living forever – she won’t die until she’s saved every soul in Japan – and when the unkillable reprobate again meets the 800-year old nun who inflicted on him the sacred Kessen-chu bloodworms which can heal any hurt, she draws him into the old pointless discussion about salvation. Yaobikuni urges him to give up the sword, but all he wants to do is die….

Even if he could, it’s no longer an option now that he has to care for his grievously damaged Machi…

The problem is savagely solved when the vengeful brother and 20-strong gang of “Johnny” abduct her, determined to make her murderous brother pay emotionally and physically for the death of their leader.

Manji’s botched rescue attempt leaves him triumphant above a sea of corpses and utterly alone in the world…

Pushed too far, he finds Yaobikuni and offers her a deal: if he kills one thousand truly evil men she must remove the Kessen-chu and let Manji rest at last.

Despite misgivings that he’s just found another way to keep on killing, the nun agrees…

‘Conquest’ introduces young Rin, whose father Asano was targeted for slaughter by a merciless gang of anarchist thugs calling themselves the Ittō-ryÅ«.

Long ago the grandfather of their leader Anotsu Kagehisa had been shamefully and unjustly expelled from Asano’s Mutenichi– ryÅ« fencing Dojo, and the grandson had resolved to destroy all such schools and the socially stratified, arrogantly smug advocates of privilege who populated them.

Gathering an army of similarly aggrieved, like-minded rebels and outcasts, Anotsu murdered many Swords-masters: destroying their legacies and accumulating a powerful army before seeking his ultimate triumph over a despised ancestral enemy…

After ending Rin’s father, Anotsu gave her mother O-Toki to his men, but told them to leave the little girl alone.

Rin never saw her mother again and now, aged sixteen, the last sword of the Mutenichi- ryū School was in the metropolis of Edo looking for payback. What she found was a jolly little nun who suggested she seek out a maimed-and-mangy, mean-looking Ronin to act as her bodyguard…

They didn’t hit it off. Manji was condescending and patronising and wanted her to prove her contention that the members of Ittō-ryÅ« were genuinely evil before he subtracted them from his target tally of 1000 human monsters…

Reaching an agreement of sorts the pair join forces, unaware that Rin has been followed by Anotsu’s macabre lieutenant Kuroi Sabato. The deranged psycho-poet has been sending taunting verses to the girl ever since that fateful night, whilst secretly treasuring his keepsake of her mother O-Toki all these lonely years…

Now he’s ready for Rin to complete a ghastly set of horrific personalised trophies but the satanic stalker has never met – or killed – anyone like Manji before…

The eerie epic closes here with ‘Genius’ wherein the decidedly odd couple seek aid and assistance from an old friend of Rin’s father. Retired samurai Sōri has dedicated his remaining years to becoming an artist, but still struggles to master the tricky discipline of “sword-painting”. The uncouth Manji can barely contain his scornful taunts, especially as the artist seems unwilling to assist a lady in distress, apparently far more concerned with the trivial problem that he can never get the reds right in his compositions…

Of course the revenant Ronin has no idea that once Sōri was The Shogun’s Ninja …

More of Anotsu’s psycho-killer goons have followed Rin and Manji to the painter’s lodgings however, looking for the blade-wielding girl genius who killed the lethally adept Kuroi. When they attack the sleeping Rin they soon discover to their everlasting regret the mettle of her allies…

In the stillness after the slaughter, Rin and Manji move on to continue their vendetta against the Ittō-ryū, but Sōri regretfully remains behind to pursue his art.

At least now he knows what pigments suit him best…

‘An Interview with Hiroaki Samura’ and a selection of cover illustrations from the comicbook iteration complete this viscerally brutal, staggeringly beguiling first volume of mythic martial mastery…

Although crafting other works such as the western Emerald, romantic comedies, erotic works and horror stories such as Night of the Succubus and Bradherley’s Coach, Blade of the Immortal is undoubtedly Mr. Samura’s signature creation – so far – and a truly unparalleled delight for fans of not just manga but for all lovers of dark fantasy.
© 1996, 1997 Hiroaki Samura. All rights reserved. English translation rights arranged through Kodansha Ltd. New and adapted artwork & text © 1996, 1997 Studio Proteus and Dark Horse Comics Inc. All other material © 2000 Dark Horse Comics Inc. All rights reserved.

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Heroes for Hire: World War Hulk


By Zeb Wells, Fred Van Lente, Clay Mann, Alvin Lee, Leonard Kirk, Alé Garcia, James Cordeiro, Terry Pallot & John Bosco (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-7851-2800-7

After a TV reality show starring actual superheroes went hideously wrong and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of children in Stamford, Connecticut, popular opinion turned massively against masked crusaders. The US government mandated a scheme to licence, train and regulate all metahumans but the plan split the superhero community, and an indignant, terrified general populace quivered as a significant faction of their former defenders refused to surrender to the bureaucratic vicissitudes of the Super-Human Registration Act.

The Avengers and Fantastic Four fragmented and, as the conflict escalated, it became clear to all involved that the increasingly bitter fighting was for souls as much as lives.

Both sides battled for love of Country and Constitution and both sides knew they were right.

At the heart of the savage clash of ideologies, bionic detective Misty Knight and her ninja partner Colleen Wing assembled a squad of warriors to do some real good during the worst of times…

Knight and Wing – the Daughters of the Dragon – were former associates of Power Man & Iron Fist, and revived their old firm Heroes for Hire to apprehend metas who refused to comply with the SHRA.

However the new squad – ex-thief Black Cat, Kung Fu Master Shang-Chi, insect avatar Humbug, sadistic martial arts polymath Tarantula and super-mercenary Paladin – soon found themselves at odds with the tricky path they were following as their promised role (only apprehending villains) began to suffer increasing “mission creep”…

Moreover as they tracked their sanctioned targets, they lost a comrade (Atlantean powerhouse Orka), credibility and the trust of all sides in the Civil War…

This collection, gathering issues #11-15 and primarily scripted by Zeb Wells, brings down the curtain on the second Heroes for Hire series (spanning August to December 2007) and saw the team founder and die amidst internal strife and the end of the world …

This particular Armageddon was the result of The Incredible Hulk returning to Earth after months away on another planet.

He had been peremptorily exiled to a brutal, barbaric world by Reed Richards, Dr. Strange and Tony Stark but found lasting love and family there. However, when the savage paradise was destroyed by Earthly technology, the Grim Green Giant returned to his homeworld at the head of an alien coalition of survivors dubbed The Warbound, determined to exact vengeance in kind…

The frantic call to arms begins in ‘Infestation’ (illustrated by Clay Mann & Terry Pallot) as the H4H team land in New York after a mission in the antediluvian Savage Land and walk into a city under martial law.

The job had been to capture a missing link Homo Habilis specimen (dubbed Moon Boy) for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s science division, but during the expedition, unknown to the others, insect avatar Humbug was taken by colossal bugs long-vanished from the rest of the world, leaving his friends to believe him dead and eaten.

He was subsequently found, but somehow changed: no longer the whiny clown they knew. Powerful, confident and slightly frightening, he informed them that they had to rush home to fight a threat to the entire planet. His friends had no idea what Earth’s ancient insect masters of had transformed their laughable companion into…

Brought up to speed by S.H.I.E.L.D., the heroes join the mobilisation to resist Hulk and the Warbound, ignoring the bizarre warnings of Humbug that the true threat was “the warrior-beetle and his queen”…

Seeing no profit, Paladin leaves even as the frantic insect master, wracked by inexpressible contacts with the invader-bugs, rushes off into the locked-down city. Following, Shang-Chi and the others discover their deranged comrade stalking bizarrely cute insect scavengers. As they try to befriend one of the “Hivelings”, Humbug casually dismembers it and showers them with its “blood”…

These tales were accompanied by a sidebar serial, ‘Killer Instincts’ (by Fred Van Lente, John Bosco & Pallot), wherein the absconding Paladin discovers S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new super-agent Scorpion raiding the NYPD’s confiscated super-weapon and evidence warehouse and gets into a fight he can’t win…

‘Subjugation’ (Wells, Mann & Pallot) finds the team and Moon Boy – fully-cloaked from the scout aliens’ chemical senses by bug ichor – infiltrating the Warbound flagship until the ultra-advanced King Miek penetrates the subterfuge.

Humbug chooses to slip away rather than warn his companions, leaving them all to be captured as he confronts the true threat to Earth. Tragically when he faces the sinister Brood Queen her presence is too much and the man-bug becomes her helpless thrall…

Meanwhile, back at ‘Killer Instincts’ (Van Lente, Bosco & Pallot), the struggle between Paladin and Scorpion escalates as both combatants begin employing all the stashed gimmicks impounded there…

‘Incarceration’ reveals how the situation goes from bad to worse as Humbug turns on his former comrades, allowing them to be tortured. However, whereas the Brood Queen sees his connection to Earth’s insect overlords as a means of subverting the entire planet – and making it her new global nest – Miek only sees a rival…

When the King demands to know which one of the infiltrators killed his Hiveling, Humbug blames Tarantula. Shocked and appalled, but refusing to snitch on Humbug, Colleen claims she did it and both women are dragged off to be tortured to death…

‘Killer Instincts’ concludes with the apparent death of Paladin, but the whole fight has been orchestrated as a test, with Scorpion utterly unaware who has been pulling her psychotic strings…

‘Procreation’ (Wells, Alvin Lee, Mann & Pallot) then finds Misty, Shang, Black Cat and Moon Boy casually discarded in Central Park as their framed companions are made the hosts and food for a new generation of horrific bugs…

As the Brood Queen prepares to do likewise to all of New York, Paladin steals a S.H.I.E.L.D. super-tank, links up with the remaining members of Heroes For Hire and leads a last charge into the proto-nest under MadisonSquareGarden…

The final confrontation comes in ‘Extermination’ (with art by Lee, Leonard Kirk, Alé Garcia, James Cordeiro & Pallot) as the heroes brutally clash with Humbug and discover how little humanity remains in his ghastly mutated form.

Defeated and discarded by their former sidekick, the Heroes regroup to rescue Colleen and Tarantula.

As Humbug agonisingly transforms into his ultimate form, the surprise secret weapon of the Insect Lords ends the threat of the Brood Queen, and one member of H4H takes uncharacteristic measures to end both Humbug’s dishonourable career and a beloved comrade’s eternal suffering.

Tragically, even in the aftermath of it all, there’s one final betrayal for the broken heroes to endure…

Dark, destructive and decidedly downbeat, this turbulent tome closed the books on the Commerce-fuelled Champions with a distinct tinge of unfinished business and led to a third iteration in 2010…

Before this lot shut up shop, however, there’s still space to mention that this collection includes a cover gallery by Clayton Henry, Takeshi Miyazawa, Sana Takeda & Francis Tsai, and again strongly recommend this splendidly gritty, witty, funny, fast-paced and spectacularly action-packed series which will surely delight all older fans of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction.
© 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Battling Boy

(Uncorrected Proof Copy)

By Paul Pope (First Second)
ISBN: 978-1-59643-145-4

Paul Pope is undoubtedly one of the most creative and visually engaging creators working in comics these days. Since his debut in 1993 he has stunningly combined elements of European and Japanese styles with classical American themes to produce tales of science fiction, fantasy, crime, comedy, romance, adventure and even superheroics, generally for mature audiences.

If you’re not a fan yet, check out Sin Titulo, Batman: Year 100, Heavy Liquid, 100%, One Trick Ripoff and more…

This latest venture, however, is aimed a general readership – Hey, Kids, This Means You! – and introduces a world very similar to our own but with one big, big difference…

Arcopolis City would be the perfect place to bring up kids but for one thing. Ghastly devils roam at night, stealing children. Even the days are increasingly fraught as a seemingly endless procession of monstrous beasts incessantly carves a swathe of mindless destruction through the bright, breezy thoroughfares…

Of course the valiant sentinels of the Fighting 145th do their very best to contain the daily onslaughts, but it is to jet-packed, ray-gun-wielding science hero Haggard West that the harried citizens look to end the crisis. Those heartfelt hopes are cruelly dashed, however, when hooded horror Sadisto lays a crafty trap and blasts the magnificent rocket-man out of the sky…

His daughter and apprentice Aurora is shattered as she watches her dad vanish in a blast of blazing plasma…

Entire universes away, a shining citadel of warrior deities celebrates a very special event as the greatest pantheon of dutiful cosmic champions in the universe revels in the brief return of their mightiest hero. The stormy saviour of many worlds is back to see his son, who has reached a very special age…

The Boy is not ready for his Turning Day. Even if every child born here is invariably sent into the cosmos on their 13th birthday to save some lesser race from imminent peril on the venerable quest known as “a Ramble”, he knows he isn’t strong enough yet. After all, many of his childhood comrades have never returned…

As usual, though, his puissant father knows best and the anxious lad (armed with a very special cloak, battle grieves, the Encyclopedia Monstrosity, keys to an apartment, a map, a magic credit card and a dozen totem tee-shirts) is booted out of the veritable Valhalla of the Starry Lofts and dumped on a mountaintop overlooking a seemingly continent-sized city …just as a homogonous Humbaba rampages through Arcopolis eating cars and crushing tanks…

Before hurtling off to another appointment with destiny, the lad’s proud father casually reminds his spooked scion that if his “Battling Boy” cannot end the plague of monsters on this world, humanity is finished here…

Even as Aurora West begins to unlock the secrets of her father’s legacy and keenly embrace her own dreamed of destiny, the reluctant young demi-god makes his way to the epicentre of chaos and engages the ferocious furious Humbaba.

Things do not go according to plan…

Wry, spectacular and astonishingly engaging, this is a supremely entertaining, beautifully rendered yarn with plenty of fast-paced action, judicious suspense, likable heroes and a gloriously arch villain in the Machiavellian Sadisto, whose subtle scams and unlikely alliances stretch far beyond this blockbusting premiere epic.

This is an ideal comic book for older kids, and reads even better if you’re their adult keeper or guardian. Don’t miss out on the start of something very special…
© 2013 by Paul Pope. All rights reserved.

Battling Boy will be published on October 8th 2013.

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Essential Killraven


By Don McGregor & P. Craig Russell, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo, Neal Adams, Herb Trimpe, Gene Colan & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1777-3

When the first flush of the 1960s superhero revival began to fade at the end of the decade Marvel, who had built their own resurgent renaissance on the phenomenon, began desperately casting around for new concepts to sustain their hard-won impetus. The task was especially difficult as the co-architect of their success (and the greatest and most experienced ideas-man in comics) had jumped ship to arch-rival National/DC, where Jack’s Kirby’s battalion of Fourth World series, The Demon, Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth and other innovations were opening up new worlds of adventure to the ever-changing readership.

Although a global fascination with the supernatural had gripped the public – resulting in a huge outpouring of mystery and horror comics – other tried-and-true genre favourites were also revived and rebooted for modern sensibilities: westerns, war, humour, romance, sword & sorcery and science fiction…

At this time Stan Lee’s key assistant, star writer, ex-English teacher and lover of literature Roy Thomas was increasingly dictating the direction of Marvel: creating new concepts and securing properties that could given the “Marvel Treatment”.

The policy had paid huge dividends with the creation of new titles Tomb of Dracula, Monster of Frankenstein and Werewolf by Night, whilst the brilliantly compelling Conan the Barbarian had quickly resulted in a whole new comicbook genus…

This compilation collects the bold and mercurial science-fiction thriller from Amazing Adventures #18-39, the saga’s nominal conclusion in Marvel Graphic Novel #7, a rare crossover appearance from Marvel Team-Up #45 and the 2001 Marvel Knights one-shot Killraven #1: an eclectic and admittedly inconsistent hero-history that has at times been Marvel’s absolute best and strong contender for worst character, in a sporadic career that spanned May 1973 to 1983 with occasional revivals and near-conclusions ever since.

The feature struggled for a long time to carve out a solid identity for itself, but finally found a brilliantly effective and fantastically poetic voice when scripter Don McGregor arrived – and stayed – slowly recreating the potential epic into a perfectly crafted examination of contemporary American society in crisis; proving the old adage that all science fiction is about the Present and not the Future….

He was ideally complimented in his task by fellow artisan P. Craig Russell whose beautifully raw yet idealised art matured page by page over the long, hard months he illustrated the author’s increasingly powerful and evocative scripts.

The dystopian tomorrow first dawned in Amazing Adventures #18, conceived by Thomas & Neal Adams, but scripted by Gerry Conway, wherein a ‘Prologue: 2018 A.D.’ introduced a New York City devastated by invasion and overrun by mutants, monsters and cyborgs all scavenging for survival. The creative process was a very troubled one. Adams left the project in the middle of illustrating the debut episode, leaving Howard Chaykin & Frank Chiaramonte to finish the tale of how a refugee mother lost her life defending her two boys from terrifying alien Tripods and vile human turncoats who had early switched allegiance to their revolting, human-eating new masters…

Young warrior and escaped gladiator Killraven then overcame all odds to kill a monstrous genetic manipulator dubbed the Keeper and save his brother Joshua, only to discover his sibling long gone and his despised tormentor grateful for death.

The elderly scientist had been compelled to perform many mutagenic experiments for his alien masters but had secretly enacted a Machiavellian double-cross, creating hidden powers in Jonathan Raven which might eventually overthrow the conquerors.

All the boy had to do was survive their horrific arena games until he was old enough to rebel against the Martians who had occupied Earth since 2001…

With his dying breath, Keeper provided his uneducated murderer with the history of ‘The War of the Worlds!’: of Free Mankind’s furious futile, atomic last stand and how the conquerors had possessed the shattered remnant of Earth…

He reveals how his gladiatorial training and scientific abuses shaped Killraven into the perfect tool of liberation and retribution, even to the warrior’s recent escape and first attempts at raising a resistance movement…

However just as the story ends the liberator realises he has tarried too long as mutant monsters close in…

The adventure resumed in #19 as the rebel narrowly escaped the psionic snares of ‘The Sirens of 7th Avenue’ (Conway, Chaykin & Frank McLaughlin) and the myriad terrors of the devastated metropolis to link up with second-in-command M’Shulla and strike a heavy blow against the alien butchers by destroying two hulking mechanical Tripods.

Newly elevated to the status of genuine threat to the conquerors, the rebels planned a raid on a New Jersey base but were instead captured by the mesmerising Skarlet, Queen of the Sirens, who handed them over to the Martian in charge of the city…

Forced to fight a mutated monstrosity in the alien’s private arena, Killraven unexpectedly turned the tables and drove off the gelatinous horror before boldly declaring that he was the guardian of Mankind’s heritage and would make Earth free again…

Amazing Adventures #20 was written by Marv Wolfman, with Herb Trimpe & Frank Giacoia illustrating ‘The Warlord Strikes!’, wherein the Freemen raided a museum and acquired weapons and armaments even as Killraven got himself a new look.

Easily defeating the traitorous lackeys of the Martian Masters the rebels were blithely unaware that the carnivorous extraterrestrial devils were deploying their latest tool: a cruelly augmented old enemy who hunted them down and easily overcame their primitive guns, swords and cross bows with his own onboard cyborg arsenal…

The ambitious series was already floundering and dearly needed a firm direction and steady creative hands, so it’s lucky that the concluding chapter in #21 (November 1973) saw the debut of Don F. McGregor, a young ambitious and lyrically experimental writer who slowly brought depth of character and plot cohesiveness to a strip which had reached uncanny levels of cliché in only three issues.

With Trimpe & “Yolande Pijcke” illustrating, ‘The Mutant Slayers!’ began the necessary task of re-establishing the oppressive, hopeless, all-pervasive horror and loss of Well’s original novel.

Determined to translate the concept into modern terms for the new generation of intellectual, comics-reading social insurgent, McGregor also took the opportunity to introduce the first of a string of complex, controversial and, above all, powerful female characters into the mix…

Carmilla Frost was a feisty, sharp-tongued geneticist and molecular biologist ostensibly faithful to her Martian masters, but she took the earliest opportunity to betray their local human lieutenant and help Killraven and the Freemen escape the brutal clutches of the Warlord.

For her own closely-guarded reasons, she and her bizarrely devoted monster anthropoid Grok the Clonal Man then joined the roving revolutionaries in their quest across the shattered continent…

In issue #22 (illustrated by Trimpe & Chiaramonte), the motley crew arrived in the former capital and encountered a ‘Washington Nightmare!’ After defeating a band of slavers led by charismatic bravo Sabre, Killraven formed an uneasy alliance with local rebel leader Mint Julep and her exclusively female band of freedom-fighters.

The green-skinned warrior woman had also battled Sabre and cautiously welcomed Killraven’s offer of assistance to rescue her captured comrades from the literal meat-market of the Lincoln Memorial, where flesh-peddling mutant horror Abraxas auctioned tasty human morsels to extraterrestrial patrons.

The raid went badly however, and it was Killraven himself who ended up on the conquerors’ menu in ‘The Legend Assassins!’ wherein the newly liberated resistance fighters united in a last-ditch attempt to save their tempestuous leader from the High Overlord.

Killraven, meanwhile, found himself main course in a public propaganda-feeding/execution, about to be devoured by a debased vermin-controlling freak named Rattack…

The hero’s faithful followers – including gentle, simple strongman Old Skull and embittered Native American Hawk – arrived just in time to join the furious fray in #24’s spectacular ‘For He’s a Jolly Dead Rebel’ (inked by Jack Abel) but their escape was only temporary and they were quickly recaptured.

However their example impressed more than one disaffected collaborator. When former foes led by Sabre united in battle against the Martian Overlord, the result was a shattering defeat for the once-unbeatable oppressors…

Amazing Adventures #25 introduced a returning nemesis for the charismatic rebel and his freedom fighters in ‘The Devil’s Marauder’ (art by Rich Buckler & Klaus Janson), as Killraven inconclusively clashed with Cyclopian Martian flunky Skar. During the battle the hard-pressed human was unexpectedly gripped by a manifestation of hidden psychic power – granting him visions he could not comprehend…

Travelling across country the rebels had stumbled onto another forgotten glory of Mankind’s past in the state once dubbed Indiana. The race circuit of the Indianapolis 500 was now a testing-ground for new terror-tripods and thus a perfect target for sabotage. However, when the fury-filled Killraven tackled human-collaborators and the sinister Skar returned, the incensed insurgent stepped too far over ‘The Vengeance Threshold!’…

In issue #26 Gene Colan & Dan Adkins illustrated ‘Something Worth Dying For!’ as the Freemen reached Battle Creek, Michigan where the Rebel Rouser encountered a feral snake/horse hybrid that he simply had to possess before the band was ambushed by human outlaws guarding a fabulous ancient treasure at the behest of petty tyrant Pstun-Rage the Vigilant…

As the place had once been the site of America’s breakfast cereal empire and this wry yarn is filled with oblique in-jokes – many of the villains’ names are anagrams of Kellogg’s cereals – you can imagine the irony-drenched secret of the hoard the defenders gave their lives to protect and the pragmatic Killraven’s reaction to it…

The drama kicked into spectacular high gear in Amazing Adventures #27 with the arrival of Craig Russell (inked by Jack Abel) and the start of a dark epic entitled ‘The Death Breeders’.

Whilst crossing frozen Lake Michigan in March 2019, the band was attacked by monstrous lampreys and Grok suffered a wound which would eventually prove fatal…

McGregor always hated the notion of simplistic, problem-solving, consequence-free violence which most entertainment media thrived on and frequently, slavishly, tried to focus on some of the real-world repercussions such acts should and would result in…

The heroes were headed to what was once Chicago; now a vast industrialised breeding pen to farm human babies for Martian consumption. En route they met pyrokinetic mutant Volcana Ash who had her own tragic reason for scouting the ghastly palaces of Death-birth…

Whilst the new allies undertook an explosively expensive sortie against the Death Breeders, at the same time in the far-distant halls of the Martian Kings of Earth, the Warlord was tasking the recovered, repaired Skar with a new mission: hunt down Killraven and destroy not only the man, but most importantly the legend of hope and liberation that had grown up around him…

In #28 (pencilled, inked and even coloured by Russell in the original) Ash revealed her horrific origins and the purpose of her quest as the Freemen battled monsters which abounded in the chemically compromised lake.

Elsewhere, chief butcher The Sacrificer watched his depraved boss Atalon live up to his decadent reputation as ‘The Death Merchant!’ – emotionally tenderising the frantic “Adams and Eves” whose imminent newborns would be the main course for visiting Martian dignitaries…

Everything changed during Killraven’s fateful raid to liberate the human cattle, however. When the disgusted hero skewered one of the extraterrestrial horrors, he experienced severe psychic feedback and realised at last that his debilitating, disorienting visions had been an unsuspected ability to tap into Martian minds…

And in the wastelands, Skar was murderously retracing the Freemen’s route, getting closer and closer to a final showdown…

With Amazing Adventures #29 the series title was changed to Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds as ‘The Hell Destroyers’ saw the rebel leader score his greatest victory, inspiring thousands of freshly-liberated earthlings by utterly destroying the temple of atrocity before gloriously escaping into the wilderness and modern mythology…

The pace of even a bi-monthly series was crippling to perfectionist Russell, and ‘The Rebels of January and Beyond!’ in #30 was a frantic six-page melange from him, Adkins, Trimpe, Chiaramonte & Abel, all graphically treading water as The Warlord “reviewed” (admittedly beautiful) fact-file pages on Killraven, M’Shulla and Mint Julep.

The saga continued in #31 on ‘The Day the Monuments Shattered’ wherein McGregor & Russell ended the Death Breeders storyline in stunning style. Pursued by Atalon and The Sacrificer into the icy wilds from Gary, Indiana to St. Louis where broken Earth outcasts hid as the Twilight People, the fugitives took refuge in a cavern. This was to allow an accompanying Eve to give birth in safety, but only led to an attack by a monolithic mutant monster just as their pursuers found them.

The battle changed the landscape and ended three ghastly travesties forever…

In #32 ‘Only the Computer Shows Me Any Respect!’ (art by Russell & Dan Green) found the reduced band in devastated Nashville, where Killraven, M’Shulla, Carmilla, Old Skull and Hawk wandered into leftover holographic fantasy programs which conjured both joy and regret, even as Skar’s tripod brought him ever-closer to a longed-for rematch.

Things took a nasty turn when Hawk’s painful memories of his father’s addictions to fantasy detective Hodiah Twist manifested as cruelly real threats and the malfunctioning program materialised a brutally solid savage dragon…

Issue #33 was another deadline-busting fill-in. ‘Sing Out Loudly… Death!’ was written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by Trimpe & D. Bruce Berry, wherein the Freemen took refuge from the elements in a vast cave and encountered a hostile tribe of refugee African Americans who had gone native and returned to their roots.

The hidden wild men had only one rule – kill all honkies – but that changed once Killraven saved them from a marauding giant octo-beastie…

The long-delayed clash with Skar at last occurred in #34 as the cyborg Cyclops ambushed the wanderers when they reached Chattanooga, Tennessee and caused ‘A Death in the Family’ (McGregor & Russell) – two deaths, actually – before the heartbroken, enraged Warrior of the Worlds literally tore his gloating nemesis to pieces…

Killraven fully entered Marvel Universe continuity – albeit on a branch line – with a crossover appearance by Spider-Man: courtesy of a time-and-space spanning multi-parter in Marvel Team-Up which saw the Amazing Arachnid lost and visiting the past and a number of alternate tomorrows.

From issue #45 ‘Future: Shock!’ by Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito saw the weary Wallcrawler wash up in this particular furious future just as Killraven was cornered by killer tripods, and offer arachnid assistance as the liberators stumbled into an hallucinogenic nightmare. Immediate problem solved, the chronologically adrift Arachnid continued his time-tossed travels…

Amazing Adventures #35 resumed the epic tragedy as the last battered survivors stumbled into Atlanta, Georgia and met ‘The 24-Hour Man’ (McGregor & Russell, but finished by Keith Giffin & Abel), encountering an addled new mother and instant widow, even as Carmilla was abducted by a bizarre mutant with an irresistible and inescapably urgent biological imperative…

‘Red Dust Legacy’ (illustrated by Russell & Sonny Trinidad in #36) focused on Killraven’s developing psychic powers as the charismatic champion gained unwelcome insights into the Martian psyche, even as The Warlord travelled to Yellowstone and taunted the rebel leader with news that his long-lost brother Joshua lived. The hero had no idea it was as an indoctrinated pawn code-named Death Raven.

The self-appointed defender of humanity then invaded a replica Martian environment in Georgia and destroyed the Martians’ next generation by contaminating their incubators…

Inked by Abel, #37 revealed the origins of affable Old Skull in ‘Arena Kill!’ when the wanderers discovered a clandestine enclave of humans in the Okefenokee Wildlife Preserve.

One final fill-in by Mantlo, Giffin & Al Milgrom appeared in #38. ‘Death’s Dark Dreamer!’ saw Killraven separated and stumble into a wrecked but still functional dream-dome to battle the materialised fantasies of its ancient occupant, whose pre-invasion memories fuelled attacks by strangely familiar defenders patterned after Iron Man, Man-Thing, Dr. Strange and almost every other hero you could think of…

The beautiful, troubled and doomed saga stopped – but did not end – with Amazing Adventures #39 (November 1976) as McGregor & Russell introduced the decimated Band of Brothers to an incredible new life-form in ‘Mourning Prey’…

And that’s where the gloriously unique, elegiac, Art Nouveau fantasy vanished with no comfortable resolution until 1983 when Marvel Graphic Novel #7 featured an all-new collaboration by McGregor and Russell starring Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds.

That painted full-colour extravaganza is reproduced here and commences after a catch-up Prologue and six pages of character profiles to bring readers old and new up to speed…

‘Last Dreams Broken’ opens in February 2020 at Cape Canaveral where Killraven connects again to a distant consciousness and sets off for Yellowstone in search of answers to inexpressible questions…

Along the way the rebels meet 59-year old Jenette Miller – probably the last surviving astronaut on Earth – as ‘Cocoa Beach Blues’ finds her teaching the warrior wanderers some history and human perspective in between the constant daily battles, whilst in ‘Blood and Passion’ The Warlord prepares his deadliest trap for his despised antagonist as Killraven is finally reunited with Joshua.

The drama runs its inevitable course in ‘Let it Die Like Fourth of July’ as all the hero’s hopes and fears are cataclysmically realised…

McGregor’s long-anticipated conclusion did not disappoint and even set up a new beginning, but in this monochrome edition Russell’s stunning colour artwork suffers egregiously from being reduced to greyscale tones, and if you get the chance to see the original Graphic Novel version, grab it and run…

Those same artistic mixed results plague the last tale in this tome too.

In 2001 the Marvel Knights imprint offered another revival as Killraven #1, written and painted by Joseph Michael Linsner with Eva Hopkins, saw the Warrior of the Worlds back in New York as ‘Killraven: 2020’, fleeing tripods and stumbling into an untouched alcove where a flower-child from 1976 lay preserved in a hibernation-chamber.

Alice and two dozen happy young liberals thought to sleep their way out of the pollution, violence and corruption of those unhappy times, but as the only survivor she found the future far from what she had expected.

The unhappy Hippy did have some life-changing advice and insights for the crazy war-monger who rescued her, though…

Also included here is the text introduction page from Amazing Adventures #18 for a fascinating insight into Roy Thomas’ expectations of what became a landmark of visual narrative poetry that was far beyond its time and mass audience’s taste.

Confused, convoluted, challenging, controversial (this series contained the first ever non-comedic interracial kiss in American comics – in 1975 if you can believe it!), evocative, inspirational and always entertaining, this is graphic narrative that no serious fan or fantasy addict should miss. Do it now: the future is not your friend…
© 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1983, 2001, 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Showcase Presents the Spectre volume 1


By Gardner F. Fox, Bob Haney, Michael L. Fleisher, Paul Kupperberg, Murphy Anderson, Neal Adams, Jim Aparo & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3417-1

The Spectre is one of the oldest characters in DC’s vast stable, created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily in 1940 and debuting via a 2-part origin epic in More Fun Comics #52 and 53. Moreover, just like Siegel’s other iconic creation, he soon began to suffer from a basic design flaw: he’s just too darn powerful.

Unlike Superman however, this champion of justice was already dead, so he can’t really be logically or dramatically imperilled. Of course in those far off early days that wasn’t nearly as important as sheer spectacle: forcibly grabbing the reader’s utter attention and keeping it stoked to a fantastic fever pitch.

Starting as a virtually omnipotent ghost, the Grim Ghost evolved, over various returns, refits and reboots into a tormented mortal soul bonded inescapably to the actual embodiment of the biblical Wrath of God.

The story is a genuinely gruesome one: police detective Jim Corrigan was callously executed by gangsters before being called back to the land of the living. Ordered to fight crime and evil by a glowing light and disembodied voice, he was indisputably the most formidable hero of the Golden Age.

He has been revamped and revived many times, and in the 1990s was revealed to be God’s Spirit of Vengeance wedded to a human conscience. When Corrigan was finally laid to rest, Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan and latterly murdered Gotham City cop Crispus Allen replaced him as the mitigating conscience of the force of Divine Retribution…

However the true start of that radically revised and revitalised career began in the superhero-saturated mid-1960s when, hot on the heels of feverish fan-interest in the alternate world of the Justice Society of America and Earth-2 (where all the WWII heroes retroactively resided), DC began trying out solo revivals of 1940’s characters, as opposed to their wildly successful Silver Age reconfigurations such as Flash, Green Lantern, Atom and Hawkman…

This sublime and colossal Showcase selection collects and documents the Man of Darkness’ return in the Swinging Sixties, his landmark reinterpretation in the horror-soaked, brutalised 1970s and even finds room for some later appearances before the character was fully de-powered and retrofitted for the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe.

As such this mammoth monochrome tome (624 peril-packed pages!) contains Showcase #60, 61 and 64, The Spectre #1-10, team-up tales from The Brave and the Bold #72, 75, 116, 180 & 199 and DC Comics Presents #29, the lead strips from Adventure Comics #431-440 and one last hurrah from horror-anthology Ghosts #97-99, encompassing the end of 1965 to the middle of 1983.

As previously mentioned, DC tried out a number of Earth-2 iterations (Starman/Black Canary – with Wildcat – in The Brave and the Bold #61-62 whilst Showcase #55 & 56 spotlighted Doctor Fate & Hourman with a cameo from the original Green Lantern), but Schwartz and Fox only finally achieved their ambition to launch a Golden Age hero into his own title with the revival of the Ghostly Guardian in Showcase – but it was hard going and perhaps benefited from a growing general public interest in supernatural stories…

After three full length appearances and many guest-shots, The Spectre won his own solo series at the end of 1967, just as the super-hero craze went into a steep decline, but maybe Showcase #60 (January/February 1966) anticipated the rise of supernatural comics by re-introducing Corrigan and his phantom passenger in ‘War That Shook the Universe’ by Earth-2 team supreme Gardner F. Fox & Murphy Anderson.

This spectacular saga revealed that the Heroic Haunt had vanished two decades previously, leaving the fundamentally human Corrigan to pursue his war against evil on merely mortal terms until a chance encounter with a psychic investigator freed the ghost buried within him.

A diligent search revealed that, twenty years previously, a supernal astral invader had broken into the Earth plane and possessed a mortal, but was so inimical to our laws of reality that both it and the Grim Ghost were locked into their meat shells – until now…

Thus began a truly spectre-acular (don’t groan – that’s what they called it back then) clash with the devilish Azmodus that spanned all creation and blew the minds of us gobsmacked kids…

Issue #61 (March/April) upped the ante when the even more satanic Shathan the Eternal subsequently insinuated himself into our realm from ‘Beyond the Sinister Barrier’, stealing mortal men’s shadows until he was powerful enough to conquer the physical universe. This time The Spectre treated us to an exploration of the universe’s creation before narrowly defeating the source of all evil…

The Sentinel Spirit returned in Showcase #64 (September/October 1966) for a marginally more mundane but no less thrilling adventure when ‘The Ghost of Ace Chance’ took up residence in Jim’s body. By this time it was established that ghosts needed a mortal anchor to recharge their ectoplasmic “batteries”, and the unscrupulous crooked gambler was determined to inhabit the best frame available…

The try-out run concluded, the editors sat back and waited for sales figures to dictate the next move. When they proved inconclusive Schwartz orchestrated a concerted publicity campaign to further promote Earth-2’s Ethereal Adventurer.

The Brave and the Bold #72 (June/July 1967) saw the Spectre clash with Earth-1’s Scarlet Speedster in ‘Phantom Flash, Cosmic Traitor’ by Bob Haney, Carmine Infantino & Charles “Chuck” Cuidera. This sinister saga saw the mortal meteor transformed into a sinister spirit-force and power-focus for unquiet American aviator Luther Jarvis who returned from death in 1918 to wreak vengeance on the survivors of his squadron – until the Spectre intervened…

Due to the vagaries of comicbook scheduling, Brave and the Bold #75 (December 1967/January 1968) appeared at around the same time as The Spectre #1, although the latter had a cover-date of November/December 1967.

In the Batman team-up title – scripted by Haney and drawn by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito – the Ghostly Guardian joined the Dark Knight to free Gotham City’s Chinatown from ‘The Grasp of Shahn-Zi!’: an ancient oriental sorcerer determined to prolong his reign of terror at the expense of an entire community and through the sacrifice of an innocent child, after which the Astral Avenger finally, simultaneously, debuted in his own title…

The Spectre #1 featured ‘The Sinister Lives of Captain Skull’ by Fox & Anderson, and divulged how the botched assassination of American Ambassador Joseph Clanton and an experimental surgical procedure allowed one of the diplomat’s earlier incarnations to take over his body and, armed with mysterious eldritch energies, run amok on Earth.

Those “megacyclic energy” abilities enabled the revenant to harm and potentially destroy the Ghostly Guardian and compelled the Spectre to pursue the piratical Skull through a line of previous lives until he could find their source and purge the peril from all time and space…

With issue #2 (January/February 1968) artistic iconoclast Neal Adams came aboard for the Fox-scripted mystery ‘Die Spectre – Again’ wherein crooked magician Dirk Rawley accidentally manifested his etheric self and severely tested both Corrigan and his phantom partner as they sought to end the double-menace’s string of crimes, mundane and magical. At this time the first inklings of a distinct separation and individual identities began. The two halves of the formerly sole soul of Corrigan were beginning to disagree and even squabble…

New scripter Mike Friedrich joined Adams for #3’s ‘Menace of the Mystic Mastermind’ wherein pugilistic paragon Wildcat faced the inevitable prospect of age and infirmity even as an inconceivable force from another universe possessed petty thug Sad Jack Dold and turned him into a nigh-unstoppable force of cosmic chaos…

‘Stop that Kid… Before He Wrecks the World’ was written & illustrated by Adams and saw a similar trans-universal malignity deliberately empower a young boy as a prelude to its ultimate conquest, whilst #5’s ‘The Spectre Means Death?’ (all Adams again) appeared to show the Ghostly Guardian transformed into a pariah and deadly menace to society, until Jim’s investigations uncovered the emotion-controlling Psycho Pirate at the root of the Spectre’s problems…

Despite all the incredible talent and effort lavished upon it, The Spectre simply wasn’t finding a big enough audience. Adams departed for straight superhero glory elsewhere and a hint of changing tastes came as veteran illustrator of horror comics Jerry Grandenetti came aboard.

Issue #6 (September/October 1968) saw his eccentric, manic cartooning adding raw wildness to the returning Fox’s moody thriller ‘Pilgrims of Peril!’ and Murphy Anderson also re-enlisted to apply a solid ink grounding to the story of a sinister invasion by a quartet of phantom Puritans who invaded the slums of Gateway City, driving out the poor and hopeless as they sought lost arcane treasures. These would allow demon lord Nawor of Giempo access to Earth unless The Spectre could win his unlife or death duel with the trans-dimensional horror…

As the back of issue #7 was dedicated to a solo strip starring Hourman (not included in this collection), The Spectre saga here – by Fox, Grandenetti & Anderson – was a half-length tale which followed the drastic steps necessary to convince the soul of bank-robber Frankie Barron to move on. Since he was killed during a heist, the astral form of aversion therapy used to cure ‘The Ghost That Haunted Money!’ proved to be not only ectoplasmically effective but outrageously entertaining…

Issue #8 (January/February 1969) was scripted by Steve Skeates and began a last-ditch and obviously desperate attempt to turn The Spectre into something the new wave of anthology horror readers would buy.

As a twisted, time-lost apprentice wizard struggled to return to Earth after murdering his master and stealing cosmic might from the void, on the mundane plane an exhausted Ghostly Guardian neglected his duties and was taken to task by his celestial creator.

As a reminder of his error, Penitent Phantasm was burdened by a fluctuating weakness – which would change without warning – to keep him honest and earnest. What a moment for the desperate disciple Narkran to return then, determined to secure his elevated god-like existence by securing ‘The Parchment of Power Perilous!’…

The Spectre #9 completed the transition and opened with an untitled short from Friedrich (illustrated by Grandenetti & Bill Draut) which saw the Man of Darkness again overstep his bounds by executing a criminal. This prompted Corrigan to refuse the weary wraith the shelter of his reinvigorating form and, when the Grim Ghost then assaulted his own host form, the Heavenly Voice punished the spirit by chaining him to the dreadful Journal of Judgment: demanding he atone by investigating the lives inscribed therein in a trial designed to teach him again the value of mercy…

The now anthologised issue continued with ‘Abraca-Doom’ (Dennis J. O’Neil & Bernie Wrightson) as The Spectre attempted to stop a greedy carnival conjurer from signing a contract with the Devil, whilst ‘Shadow Show’ by Mark Hanerfeld & Jack Sparling detailed the fate of a cheap mugger who thought he could outrun the consequences of a capital crime…

The next issue gave up the ghost and The Spectre folded with #10 (May/June 1969), but not before a quartet of tantalising tales by writer or writers unknown showed what might have been…

‘Footsteps of Disaster’ with art from Grandenetti & George Roussos, followed a man from cradle to early grave and revealed the true wages of sin, whilst ‘Hit and Run’ (probably drawn by Ralph Reese) proved again that the Spirit of Judgment was not infallible and even human scum could be redeemed…

‘How Much Can a Guy Take?’ (Sparling) offered salvation to a shoeshine boy pushed almost too far by an arrogant mobster, and the series closed with a cunning murder mystery involving what appeared to be a killer ventriloquists doll in the Grandenetti & George Roussos illustrated ‘Will the Real Killer Please Rise?’

With that the Astral Avenger returned to comicbook limbo for nearly half a decade until changing tastes and another liberalising of the Comics Code saw him return as the lead feature in Adventure Comics #431 (January/February 1974) in a shocking run of macabre, ultra-violent tales from Michael L. Fleisher & Jim Aparo.

‘The Wrath of… The Spectre’ offered a far more stark and unforgiving take on the Spirit Sentinel and reflected the increasingly violent tone of the times as a gang of murderous thieves slaughtered the crew of a security truck and were tracked down by a harsh, uncompromising police lieutenant named Corrigan.

When the bandits were exposed, the cop unleashed a horrific green and white apparition from his body which inflicted ghastly punishments that horrendously fitted their crimes…

With art continuity (and no, I’m not sure what that means either), from Russell Carley, the draconian fables continued in #432 as in ‘The Anguish of… The Spectre’ assassins murdered millionaire Adrian Sterling and Corrigan met the victim’s daughter Gwen. Although the now-infallible Wrathful Wraith soon exposed and excised the culprits, the dead detective had to reveal his true nature to the grieving daughter. Moreover, Corrigan began to feel the stirring of impossible, unattainable yearnings…

Adventure #433 exposed ‘The Swami and… The Spectre’ as Gwen sought spiritual guidance from a ruthless charlatan who promptly paid the appalling price when he finally met a real ghost, whilst in #434 ‘The Nightmare Dummies and… The Spectre’ (with additional pencils by the great Frank Thorne) saw a plague of department store mannequins run wild in a killing spree at the behest of a crazed artisan who believed in magic – but couldn’t imagine the cost of his dabbling…

Issue #435 introduced journalist Earl Crawford who tracked the ghastly fallout of the vengeful spirit’s anti-crime campaign and became ‘The Man Who Stalked The Spectre!’ Of course once he saw the ghost in grisly action Crawford realised the impossibility of publishing this scoop…

Adventure #436 saw Crawford still trying to sell his story as ‘The Gasmen and… The Spectre’ set the Spectral Slaughterman on the trail of a gang who killed everybody at a car show as a demonstration of intent before blackmailing the city. Their gorily inescapable fate only put Crawford closer to exposing Corrigan, after which in #437 ‘The Human Bombs and… The Spectre’ (with pencils from Ernie Chan & Aparo inks) found a kidnapper abducting prominent persons – including Gwen – to further a merciless mad  scheme of amassing untold wealth… until the Astral Avenger ended their depredations forever…

In #438 ‘The Spectre Haunts the Museum of Fear’ (Chan & Aparo again) saw a crazed taxidermist turning people into unique dioramas until the Grim Ghost intervened, but the end was in sight again for the Savage Shade and #439’s ‘The Voice that Doomed… The Spectre’ (all Aparo) turned the wheel of death full circle, as the Heavenly Presence who created him allowed Corrigan to fully live again so that he could marry Gwen.

Sadly it was only to have the joyous hero succumb to ‘The Second Death of The… Spectre’ (#440, July/August 1975) and tragically resume his endless mission…

This milestone serial set a stunning new tone and style for the Ghostly Guardian which has informed each iteration ever since…

From midway through that run, Brave and the Bold #116 provided another continuity-crunching supernatural team-up with Batman in a far less graphically violent struggle against the ‘Grasp of the Killer Cult’ (Haney & Aparo). When Kali-worshipping Thugs from India seemingly targeted survivors of a WWII American Army Engineer unit, Detective Corrigan and the Dark Knight clashed on both the method and motives of the mysterious murderers…

DC Comics Presents #29 (January 1981, by Len Wein, Jim Starlin & Romeo Tanghal) revealed what happened after Supergirl was knocked unconscious after a cataclysmic battle and sent hurtling through dimensions measureless to man. When her cousin tried to follow, the Ghostly Guardian was dispatched to stop the Metropolis Marvel from transgressing ‘Where No Superman Has Gone Before’…

By the early 1980s the horror boom had exhausted itself and DC’s anthology comics were disappearing. As part of the effort to keep them alive, Ghosts featured a 3-part serial starring “Ghost-Breaker” and inveterate sceptic Dr. Terry 13 who at last encountered ‘The Spectre’ in issue #97 (February 1981, by Paul Kupperberg, Michael R. Adams & Tex Blaisdell), where terrorists invaded a high society séance and were summarily dispatched by the inhuman poetic justice of the Astral Avenger…

Now determined to destroy the monstrous revenant vigilante, Dr. 13 returned in #98 as ‘The Haunted House and The Spectre’ found the Ghost-Breaker interviewing Earl Crawford and subsequently discovering the long sought killer of his own father. Before 13 could act, however, the Spectre appeared and stole his justifiable retribution from the aggrieved psychic investigator…

The drama closed in Ghosts #99 as ‘Death… and The Spectre’ (Kupperberg, Michael R. Adams & Tony DeZuniga) found the scientist and the spirit locked in one final furious confrontation.

This staggering compendium of supernatural thrillers concludes with two more team-up classics from Brave and the Bold beginning with ‘The Scepter of the Dragon God’ by Fleisher & Aparo (from #180, November 1980).

Although Chinese wizard Wa’an-Zen stole enough mystic artefacts to conquer the world and destroy the Spectre, he foolishly underestimated the skill and bravery of the merely mortal Batman, whilst #199 (June 1983) ‘The Body-napping of Jim Corrigan’, by Mike W. Barr, Ross Andru & Rick Hoberg, found the ethereal avenger baffled by the abduction and disappearance of his mortal host.

Even though he could not trace his own body, the Spectre did know where the World’s Greatest Detective hung out…

Ranging from fabulously fantastical to darkly – violently – enthralling, these comic masterpieces perfectly encapsulate the way superheroes changed over a brief twenty year span, but remain throughout some of the most beguiling and exciting tales of DC’s near-80 years of existence. If you love comicbooks you’d be crazy to ignore this one…
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1983, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved

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Tales from The House of Mystery


By Jack Oleck, illustrated by Berni Wrightson (Warner Paperback Library)
ISBN: 0-446-75226-6- 095

When superheroes entered their second decline in the early 1970s, four of the six surviving newsstand comicbook companies (Archie, Charlton, DC, Gold Key, Harvey and Marvel) relied increasingly on horror and suspense anthologies to bolster their flagging sales. Even wholesome Archie briefly produced Red Circle Sorcery/Chillers comics and their teen-comedy core moved gently into tales of witchcraft, mystery and imagination.

DC’s first generation of mystery titles had followed the end of the first Heroic Age when most comicbook publishers of the era began releasing crime, romance and horror genre anthologies to recapture the older readership which was drifting away to other mass-market entertainments like television and the movies.

As National Comics in 1951, the company bowed to the inevitable and launched a comparatively straight-laced anthology – which nevertheless became one of their longest-running and most influential titles – with the December 1951/January 1952 launch of The House of Mystery.

When a hysterical censorship scandal led to witch-hunting hearings attacking comicbooks and newspaper strips (feel free to type Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, April-June 1954 into your search engine at any time) the industry panicked, adopting a castrating straitjacket of stringent self-regulatory rules and admonitions.

Even though mystery/suspense titles produced under the aegis of the Comics Code Authority were sanitised, anodyne affairs in terms of Shock and Gore, the appetite for suspense was still high, and in 1956 National introduced sister titles Tales of the Unexpected and House of Secrets.

Supernatural thrillers and spooky monster stories were dialled back into marvellously illustrated, genteel, rationalistic fantasy-adventure vehicles which nonetheless dominated the market until the 1960s when the super-hero returned in force – having begun a renaissance after Julius Schwartz reintroduced the Flash in Showcase #4, 1956.

Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Atom and a host of other costumed cavorters generated a gaudy global bubble of masked myrmidons which even forced the dedicated anthology suspense titles to transform into super-character split-books with Martian Manhunter and Dial H for Hero in House of Mystery and Mark Merlin – later Prince Ra-Man – sharing space with anti-hero Eclipso in House of Secrets.

When the caped crusader craziness peaked and popped, Secrets was one of the first casualties, folding with the September-October 1966 issue. House of Mystery carried on with its eccentric costumed cohort until #173 and Tales of the Unexpected to #104.

However nothing combats censorship better than falling profits, and at the end of the 1960s the superhero boom busted again, with many titles gone and some of the industry’s most prestigious series circling the drain too…

This real-world Crisis led to the surviving publishers of the field agreeing to loosen their self-imposed restraints against crime and horror comics. Nobody much cared about gangster titles at the time, but as the liberalisation coincided with another bump in public interest in all aspects of the Great Unknown, the resurrection of scary stories was a foregone conclusion and obvious “no-brainer.”

Thus with absolutely no fanfare at all House of Mystery and Unexpected switched to scary stories and House of Secrets rose again with issue #81, (cover-dated August-September 1969); retasked and retooled to cater to a seemingly insatiable public appetite for tales of mystery, horror and imagination … Before long a battalion of supernatural suspense titles dominated DC and other companies’ publishing schedules again.

Simultaneously and contiguously, there had been a revolution in popular fiction during the 1950s with a huge expansion of affordable paperback books, driving companies to develop extensive genre niche-markets, such as war, western, romance, science-fiction, fantasy and horror…

Always hungry for more product for their cheap ubiquitous lines, many old novels and short stories collections were republished, introducing new generations to fantastic pulp authors like Robert E. Howard, Otis Adelbert Kline, H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth and many others.

In 1955, spurred on by the huge parallel success of cartoon and gag book collections, Bill Gaines began releasing paperback compendiums culling the best strips and features from his landmark humour magazine Mad and thus comics’ Silver Age was mirrored in popular publishing by an insatiable hunger for escapist fantasy fiction.

In 1964 Bantam Books began reprinting the earliest pulp adventures of Doc Savage, triggering a revival of pulp prose superheroes, and seemed the ideal partner when Marvel began a short-lived attempt to “novelise” their comicbook stable with The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker and Captain America in the Great Gold Steal.

Although growing commercially by leaps and bounds, Marvel in the early 1960s was still hampered by a crippling distribution deal limiting the company to 16 titles (which would curtail their output until 1968), so each new comicbook had to fill the revenue-generating slot (however small) of an existing title. Even though the costumed characters were selling well, each new title would limit the company’s breadth of genres (horror, western, war, etc) and comics were still a very broad field at that time. It was putting a lot of eggs in one basket and superheroes had failed twice before for Marvel.

As Stan Lee cautiously replaced a spectrum of genre titles and specialised in superheroes, a most fortunate event occurred with the advent of the Batman TV show in January 1966. Almost overnight the world went costumed-hero crazy and many publishers repackaged their old comics stories in cheap and cheerful, digest-sized monochrome paperbacks. Archie, Tower, Marvel and DC all released such reformatted strip books and the latter two carried on their attempts to legitimise their output by getting them into actual bookshops to this day.

Released in 1973, when the horror boom was at its peak, Tales from The House of Mystery was another attempt to breach the bookshop barrier. A prose anthology by veteran comics scripter Jack Oleck, the compendium adapted and modified, for a presumed older audience, eight short scary stories from the comics, each magnificently illustrated by DC’s top terror artist “Berni” Wrightson, who also provided a moodily evocative frontispiece starring the comic’s macabre host Cain and the stunning painted cover above.

The wry, dry shock-ending mini-epics begin with ‘Chamber of Horrors’ wherein a violently paranoid young man gets the notion that the newcomers in town are a family of vampires, after which ‘Nightmare’ reveals the uncanny fate of an obnoxious American vacationer who was determined to ruin a day-trip to Stonehenge for all those gullible over-imaginative fools on the tour bus…

‘Collector’s Item’ related how two old friends sharing a passion for coin collecting met a ghastly fate after squabbling over some particularly impressive specimens from ancient Judea, and ‘Born Loser’ proved that for some poor schmucks even magic wasn’t enough to escape a shrewish wife and the consequences of murder…

‘Tomorrow, the World’ detailed the efforts of a concerned psychiatrist who was unable to shake the convictions of his hopeless patient that a coven of witches and warlocks was about to conquer the world for Satan, whilst the bittersweet romance of ‘The Haunting’ revealed a shocking truth about the house acquired by devoted newlyweds Joel and Peggy.

Voodoo and reincarnation proved the lie to the maxim ‘You Only Die Once’ after a French plantation owner thought he had gotten away with murdering his coldly disdainful wife, and this brief box of dark delights ends on a savagely ironic and even cruel note as well-meaning social workers and doctors cure a desolated lame orphan of his foolish belief in a happy fantasy land by an ‘Act of Grace’…

By today’s standards this octet of occult thrillers might seem a little tame or dated, and the experiment clearly had no lasting effect on either comics or book consumers, but this little oddity is still a fascinating experiment that will delight comics completists, arch-nostalgics and fantasy fans alike…
© 1973 National Periodical Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Marvel Platinum: the Definitive Iron Man Reloaded


By Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Mike Friedrich, Tony Isabella, Len Kaminski, Matt Fraction, Don Heck, George Tuska, Greg LaRocque, Kev Hopgood, Salvador Larroca, Carmine di Giandomenico, Nathan Fox, Haim Kano & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-529-1

With Summer Movie Blockbuster season hard upon us Marvel has again sagaciously released a wealth of film-inspired 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 comicbook experience.

Produced under the always intriguing Marvel Platinum/Definitive Editions umbrella, this treasury of tales gathers a few of the more impressive but happily less obvious landmarks from the Steel Sentinel’s extensive canon; this time cannily focusing on sinister mastermind, ultimate arch-enemy and movie menace the Mandarin.

Contained herein are high-tech hi-jinks from Tales of Suspense #50, Iron Man volume 1, #21-22, 68-71, 291 & 500, Marvel Team-Up #146 and Iron Man volume 5 #19, (listed on Marvel’s Database as Invincible Iron Man volume 1 #19), spanning 1964 to 2011, which offers a fair representation of what is quite frankly an over-abundance of riches to pick from…

Arch-technocrat and supreme survivor Tony Stark has changed his profile many times since his debut in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963) when, as a VIP visitor in Vietnam observing the efficacy of the munitions he had designed, he was critically wounded and captured by sinister, cruel Communists.

Put to work building weapons with the dubious promise of medical assistance on completion, Stark instead created the first Iron Man suit to keep himself alive and deliver him from his oppressors. From there it was a simple jump to full time superheroics as a modern Knight in Shining Armour…

Since then the inventor and armaments manufacturer has been a liberal capitalist, eco-warrior, space pioneer, Federal politician, affirmed Futurist, Statesman and even Director of the world’s most scientifically advanced spy agency, the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, and, of course, one of the world’s most prominent superheroes with the Mighty Avengers…

For a popular character/concept lumbered with a fifty-year pedigree, radical reboots are a painful but vital periodic necessity. To keep contemporary, Stark’s origin and Iron Man’s continuity have been drastically revised every so often with the crucible trigger event perpetually leapfrogging to America’s most recent conflicts. As always, change is everything but, remember Man, these aren’t just alterations, these are upgrades…

After the now-mandatory introduction from Stan Lee, the star-studded action begins with ‘The Hands of the Mandarin!’ from Tales of Suspense #50 wherein the wonderful Don Heck returned as regular penciller and occasional inker after a brief absence, and Lee introduced The Golden Avenger’s first major menace: a modern-day Fu Manchu who terrified the Red Chinese so much they tricked him into attacking America in the hope that one threat would destroy the other.

In response Iron Man invaded the mastermind’s oriental citadel where, after a ferocious but futilely inconclusive fight, he simply went back home to the Land of the Free.

The furious Mandarin held a grudge however and would make himself arguably Iron Man’s greatest foe.

Of course whilst Stark was the acceptable face of 1960s Capitalism – a glamorous millionaire industrialist, scientist and a benevolent all-conquering hero when clad in the super-scientific armour of his alter-ego – the turbulent tone of the 1970s soon relegated his suave, “can-do” image to the dustbin of history. With ecological disaster and social catastrophe from the myriad abuses of big business manifestly the new zeitgeists of the young, the Golden Avenger and Stark International were soon confronting a few tricky questions from their increasingly politically savvy readership.

With glamour, money and fancy gadgetry not quite so cool anymore, the questing voices of a new generation of writers began posing uncomfortable questions in the pages of a series that was once the bastion of militarised America…

Iron Man #21-22 (January & February 1970, by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska & Joe Gaudioso) found the multi-millionaire trying to get out of the arms business and – following a heart transplant – looking to retire from the superhero biz.

African-American boxer Eddie March, became ‘The Replacement!’ as Stark, free from the heart-stimulating chest-plate which had preserved him for years, was briefly tempted by a life without strife. Unfortunately, unknown to all, Eddie had a major health problem of his own…

As Stark pursued a romantic future with business rival Janice Cord, her chief researcher and would-be lover Alex Niven was revealed as a Russian fugitive using her resources to rebuild the deadly armour of the Crimson Dynamo. The renegade easily overcame the ailing substitute Avenger and, when Soviet heavy metal super-enforcer Titanium Man resurfaced with orders to arrest Niven, a three-way clash ensued. Stark was forced to take up his metal burden again – but not before Eddie was grievously injured and Janice killed in #22’s classic ‘From this Conflict… Death!’

Stark’s romantic liaisons always ended badly. Four years later he was ardently pursuing Roxie Gilbert, a radical pacifist and sister of his old enemy Firebrand. She, of course, had no time for a man with so much blood on his hands…

Iron Man #68-71 (June to November 1974) was the opening sortie in a multi-part epic which saw mystic menace The Black Lama foment a war amongst the World’s greatest villains with ultimate power and inner peace as the promised prize. Written by Mike Friedrich and illustrated by Tuska & Mike Esposito, it began in Vietnam on the ‘Night of the Rising Sun!’ as the Mandarin struggled to free his mind, which was currently trapped in the dying body of Russian villain the Unicorn.

Roxie had dragged Stark to the recently “liberated” People’s Republic in search of Eddie March’s lost brother, a POW missing since the last days of the war. Then the Americans were separated when Japanese ultra-nationalist, ambulatory atomic inferno and sometime X-Man Sunfire was tricked into attacking the Yankee Imperialists. The attack was abruptly ended when Mandarin shanghaied the Solar Samurai and used his mutant energies to power the mind-transfer back into his own body.

Reinstated in his original form, the Chinese Conqueror began his campaign in earnest, eager to regain his castle from rival oriental overlord Yellow Claw. Firstly though, he had to crush Iron Man who had tracked him down and freed Sunfire in ‘Confrontation!’ That bombastic battle ended when the Golden Avenger was rendered unconscious and thrown into space…

‘Who Shall Stop… Ultimo?’ found the reactivated giant robot-monster attacking the Mandarin’s castle as the sinister Celestial duelled the Claw to the death, with both Iron Man and Sunfire arriving too late and forced to mop up the sole survivor of the contest in ‘Battle: Tooth and Yellow Claw!’…

‘Hometown Boy’ (September 1984, by Tony Isabella, Greg LaRocque & Esposito) comes from the period when Stark succumbed to alcoholism and lost everything and his friend and bodyguard Jim Rhodes took over the role of Golden Avenger.

As Stark tried to make good with a new start-up company, this engaging yarn from Marvel Team-Up #146 sees the substitute hero still finding his ferrous feet whilst battling oft-failed assassin Blacklash at a trade fair in Cleveland, as much hindered as helped by visiting hero Spider-Man…

Despite successfully rebuilding his company, Stark’s woes actually increased. Iron Man # 291 (April 1993) found the technocrat trapped in total paralysis and using a neural interface to pilot the armour like a telemetric telepresence drone. He had also utterly alienated Rhodey who had been acting as his proxy in a tailored battle suit dubbed War Machine…

Concluding an epic saga, ‘Judgment Day’ by Len Kaminski & Kev Hopgood explosively revealed how the two feuding friends achieved a tentative rapprochement whilst battling a proverbial army of killer robots and death dealing devices programmed to hunt down Rhodes at all costs…

Invincible Iron Man #19 comes from December 2009 by Matt Fraction &Salvador Larroca. During this time the Federal initiative known as Superhuman Registration Act led to Civil War between costumed heroes and Stark was appointed the American government’s Security Czar – the “top cop” in sole charge of a beleaguered nation’s defence and freedom. As Director of high-tech enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D. he was the last word in all matters involving metahumans and the USA’s vast costumed community…

However his mismanagement of various crises led to the arrest and assassination of Captain America and an unimaginable escalation of global tension and destruction, culminating in an almost-successful Secret Invasion by shape-shifting alien Skrulls.

Discredited and ostracised, Stark was replaced by rehabilitated villain and recovering split-personality Norman Osborn (the original Green Goblin), who assumed full control of the USA’s covert agencies and military resources, disbanded S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed the nation under the aegis of his new umbrella organisation H.A.M.M.E.R.

Osborn was still a monster at heart however and wanted total power. Intending to appropriate all Stark’s technological assets, the “reformed” villain began hunting the fugitive ex-Avenger. Terrified that not only his weaponry but also the secret identities of most of Earth’s heroes would fall into a ruthless maniac’s hands, Stark began to systematically erase all his memories, effectively lobotomising himself to save everything…

‘Into the White (Einstein on the Beach)’ reveals the conclusion of that quest as Stark, little more than an animated vegetable wearing his very first suit of armour, faced his merciless adversary in pointless futile battle, whilst in America faithful aide Pepper Potts, the Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s last deputy director Maria Hill raided Osborn’s base to retrieve a disc with Tony’s last hope on it and simultaneously engineer the maniac’s ultimate defeat…

The comics portion of this winning compilation concludes with the lead tale from Iron Man volume 1 #500 (March 2011) wherein the generally recovered Stark is plagued by gaps in his mostly restored memory.

‘The New Iron Age’ by Matt Fraction, Carmine di Giandomenico, Nathan Fox, Haim Kano & Salvador Larroca, is a clever, twice-told tale which begins when Stark approaches sometime ally and employee Peter Parker in an effort to regain more of his lost past.

Stark is plagued by dreams of a super-weapon he may or may not have designed, and together they track down the stolen plans for the ultimate Stark-tech atrocity which has fallen into the hands of murderous anti-progress fanatics resulting in spectacular showdown of men versus machines…

Contiguously and interlaced throughout the tale are dark scenes of the near future where the Mandarin has conquered the world, enslaved Tony Stark and his son Howard and, with the ruthless deployment of Iron Man troopers and that long-ago designed super weapon, all but eradicated humanity.

With Earth dying, rebel leader Ginny Stark leads the suicidal Black Widows in one last charge against the dictator, armed with primitive weapons, aided by two traitors within the Mandarin’s household and guided by a message and mantra from the far forgotten past…

The book is rounded out with pertinent covers from Jack Kirby, Tuska, Esposito, Jim Starlin, Dave Cockrum, Ron Wilson, John Romita Sr., LaRoque, Bob Layton, Hopgood & Larroca, plus a dense and hefty 21 pages of text features, including ‘The Origin of the Mandarin’ by Mike Conroy and history, background and technical secrets of Crimson Dynamo, Justin Hammer, Happy Hogan, Mandarin, Pepper Potts, Stark Industries, Titanium Man and War Machine.

This thoroughly entertaining accompaniment to the cinema spectacle is also a well-tailored device to turn curious movie-goers into fans of the comic incarnation and another solid sampling to entice the newcomers and charm the veteran Ferro-phile.
© 2013 Marvel. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.