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Requiem Vampire Knight Tome 5: The City of Pirates and Blood Bath


By Pat Mills & Ledroit (Panini Books UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-496-6

As is so often the case Europe is the last and most beneficial arena for the arts and untrammelled creativity, and none more so than comics and sequential narrative. Mercifully the Continent cherishes the best of the world’s past as well as nurturing the fresh and new, without too much concern for historical bugbears of political correctness, transient social impropriety and contemporary censoriousness – which is why so many established English language strip creators produce their best work there.

Perhaps it’s simply that they revere not revile the popular arts as much as all those hoity-toity classical ones….

Requiem Vampire Knight is an impressive example of self-publishing done right, and happily with commensurate rewards. For years writer Pat Mills wanted to break into the European market and in 2000 he did so by setting up Nickel Editions with publisher Jacques Collin (whose Zenda Editions produced some of the nicest looking albums of the 1980s) and artist Olivier Ledroit who illustrated the first four books of the incredibly popular Chroniques de la Lune Noire (Black Moon Chronicles) for Zenda before the series transferred to Dargaud. Mills and Ledroit were already old comrades having previously worked on the impressive Sha.

Mills is well known to readers of this blog (see for example Marshal Law: Fear and Loathing and his incontestable masterpiece Charley’s War) but perhaps Ledroit is not so familiar. After studying Applied Arts he began his career as an illustrator for games magazines and broke into Bandes Dessinee (that’s comics to us Anglaise) in 1989 with the aforementioned Black Moon Chronicles, written by François Marcela Froideval.

Specialising in fantasy art Ledroit drew Thomas Mosdi’s Xoco (1994) before teaming with Pat Mills on the acerbic, futurist thriller Sha, set in an ultra-religious fascistic USA (1996-1999 and thematically in the real world any minute now).

His lush painterly style was adapted to fairytales in 2003 with L’Univers Féerique d’Olivier Ledroit, and he is credited as one of the founding fathers of the darkly baroque fantasy sub-genre BD Gothique.

From a financially shaky start Requiem Vampire Knight quickly proved that quality will always find an audience and Nickel swiftly expanded whilst continuing the excessively adult adventures of deceased warrior Heinrich Augsburg. The saga is released as annual albums in France and has been serialized in Germany as Requiem Der Vampirritter and in America’s Heavy Metal (beginning in Volume 27 #1, March 2003).

Two years ago Panini UK brought this evocative series to Britain in superb oversized, A4 format, double-editions presenting two albums per volume and the fifth compendium is here just in time to assault the Christmas market. The City of Pirates and Blood Bath continues the hell-bent saga of a conflicted Nazi doomed to unlive his life as a vampire warrior in a macabre inverse world of evil, which began in Requiem Vampire Knight Tome 1: Resurrection and Danse Macabre.

Augsburg was a German officer killed on the Eastern Front in 1944. As he died all he could think of was his guilt over a doomed affair with the Jewess Rebecca whom he chose not to save when the Gestapo came for her…

Resurrection is a brooding, blood-drenched world of eternal strife and warfare: a grim, fantastic, necromantic mirror of Earth with the seas and land-masses reversed, where time runs backwards and denizens grow younger day by day – if they’re not “expired” first by any of a billion-and-one friends, allies, total strangers or archest enemies.

The charnel realm is populated by all the worst sinners of Earth reincarnated as monsters of myth in a damned domain where the dead mortals are reborn in ranks and hierarchies determined by their sins on Earth. Their only purpose is to expiate or exacerbate the sins of their former lives…

Heinrich (now called Requiem) is a Vampire: one of the top predators in this bloody post-existence reality, pinnacle of Hell’s pyramid of puissance and a full knight at the court of Dracula.

Requiem and his blood-draining kin are trapped in a spiral of bloodletting, debauchery and intrigue and his position is far from secure. Not only has he earned the enmity of the treacherous faction of elite Nosferatu led by Lady Claudia Demona, Lord Mortis and Baron Samedi, but it appears that he may be a returned soul…

Long before Augsberg died on a frozen battlefield, killed by a Russian he was trying to rape, the Templar Heinrich Barbarossa had committed such atrocities in the name of Christianity that he was guaranteed a place in Dracula’s inner circle when he inevitably reached Resurrection.

However the remade Barbarossa/Vampire Knight Thurim committed such an unpardonable crime that he and it were excised from the court and Resurrection itself.

But in this volume, Requiem, plagued by memories of a doomed affair with a proscribed Jewess named Rebecca, is in the midst of a cataclysmic all-out war involving every ghastly inhabitant of the blazing inferno they’re pent within…

Amidst the factions of Vampires, Gods, arcane Archaeologists, Lamias, Werewolves, Ghouls and so many others, Rebecca too has reconstituted in Resurrection. Her only chance of eternal rest is to expire the one responsible for her being there…

I’d strongly advise picking up the previous chronicles before this one if back-story means much too you, since Mills & Ledroit don’t waste any time or space on catching up, but storm straight into the unfolding epic with a staggering climax to the all-encompassing war between the unruly desperadoes of Aerophagia, The City of Pirates and Dark Harbour, capital and stronghold of the Vampire Court of Draconia.

Along the breakneck way we discover that the second most important man in post-War America was the earthly identity and hideous soul reconstituted as the deadly Buccaneer Queen Lady Mitra, who has been trading with the living world of Earth for holy weaponry capable of destroying Nosferatu, whilst the conflicted and irresolute warrior Requiem makes an unlikely conquest who will again divert him from his quest for Rebecca.

Also drawing attention is the samurai vampire Dragon, bound to the pirate cause by his ancient – and therefore baby-like – sensei Tengu, but whose own unholy dream is to find and expire the man who caused the atomic death of Hiroshima…

As the conflict escalates to a bloody, burning climax all of Resurrection is embroiled in the constant carnage and even the most exalted monsters begin to falter and finally “die”…

With everything in uproar Dracula begins his final moves in the bloody game as Requiem, torn between desire, duty and despair faces off against his martial and spiritual counterpart Dragon…

Blood Bath combines the incredible end of the war with Mills’ signature blackly mordant bad-taste humour, as a peerless duel between the Vampire Knights devolves into murderous slapstick as demon-infant Tengu battles his own master (Requiem’s teacher and sponsor Cryptos – an even younger baby-thing) whilst a euphoric Lady Mitra invades the Vampire sanctum intent of sealing her victory in the ichor of undead elite Lady Zarkov and Queen Bathory.

Tragically for her, Mitra succeeds and learns a horrifying ultimate truth…

Meanwhile, in a far corner of the realm the race of dragons who once were England’s greatest champions are moving against their once-ally Draconia…

Unrelentingly hard and heavy, this spectacularly decadent, opulent, Machiavellian dalliance with the wildest dreams – and grim, black wit – of a new De Sade, this book ends on yet another cliffhanger as the Vampire Lord prepares to make his endgame move, but that a blood-drenched spectacle for a later day…

For any fan of Mills’ work there nothing truly new here to be shocked by, but the liberating license to explore his favourite themes guided only by his own conscience and creative integrity has resulted in a complex, intensely compelling epic of revenge and regret on the most uncompromising of worlds where there is literally no justice and no good deed ever goes unpunished.

Blending cosmic warfare with sardonic deadpan humour, wrapped in the ludicrously OTT trappings of sadomasochistic fetishism, this is a truly epic saga of Gothic hopelessness perfect for the post-punk, post-revisionary, lavishly anti-reductionist fantasy fan.

But it’s probably best if you don’t show your gran or the vicar and certainly not your – or anybody else’s – kids. They’ve probably got their own copies anyway…

Ledroit’s illustration is utterly astonishing. In places delightfully reminiscent of Druillet’s startlingly visual and deceptively vast panel-scapes from such lost masterpieces as Yragael: Urm as well the paradoxically nihilistic energy of such decadent Michael Moorcock civilisations as Granbretan or Melniboné, he has created a truly unique scenario with his vibrant palette. Never has the horrific outer darkness been so colourfully captured and the sheer scope of the numerous ambulatory nightmares and eye-popping battles is utterly mind-boggling.

A darkly grim and mordantly cynical secularist dream, this is a fabulously realized adult fantasy of blood and thunder both beguiling and addictive.

Dark, dark magic!

© 2009, 2010, 2011 Nickel/Mills/Ledroit.  All rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 1


By Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan, John Forte & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1- 4012-1382-4

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from dozens of alien civilisations took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited that legend to join them…

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten again and again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This glorious, far-and-wide ranging monochrome collection assembles the many preliminary appearances of these valiant Tomorrow People and their inevitable progress towards and attainment of their own feature; including all pertinent material from Adventure Comics #247, 267, 282, 290, 293, and 300-321, Action Comics #267, 276, 287 and 289, Superboy #86, 89, 98, Superman #147, Superman Annual #4 and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #72 and 76.

The many-handed mob of juvenile universe-savers debuted in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958) in a Superboy tale wherein three mysterious kids invited the Boy of Steel to the 30th century to join a team of metahuman champions all inspired by his historic career. Created by Otto Binder & Al Plastino, the throwaway concept inflamed public imagination and after a slew of further appearances throughout Superman Family titles, the LSH eventually took over Superboy’s lead spot in Adventure for their own far-flung, quirky escapades, with the Caped Kid Kryptonian reduced to “one of the in-crowd”…

However here the excitement was still gradually building as the kids returned more than a 18 months later in Adventure #267 (December 1959) for Jerry Siegel & George Papp to play with. In ‘Prisoner of the Super-Heroes!‘ the teen wonders turned up to attack and incarcerate the Boy of Steel because of a misunderstood ancient record…

The following summer Supergirl met the Legion in Action Comics #267 (August 1960, by Siegel & Jim Mooney) as Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy secretly travelled to “modern day” America to invite the Maid of Might to join the team, in a repetition of their offer to Superboy 15 years previously (in nit-picking fact they claimed to be the children of the original team – a fact glossed over and forgotten these days: don’t time-travel stories make your head hurt…?).

Due to a dubious technicality, young and eager Kara Zor-El failed her initiation at the hands of ‘The Three Super-Heroes’ and was asked to reapply later – but at least we got to meet a few more Legionnaires, including Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid and Colossal Boy…

With the editors still cautiously testing the waters, it was Superboy #86 (January 1961) before the ‘The Army of Living Kryptonite Men!’ by Siegel & Papp turned the LSH into a last-minute Deus ex Machina to save the Smallville Sentinel from juvenile delinquent Lex Luthor’s most insidious assault. Two months later in Adventure #282, Binder & Papp introduced Star Boy as a romantic rival for the Krypton Kid in ‘Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes!’

Action #276 (May 1961) introduced ‘Supergirl’s Three Super Girl-Friends’ by Siegel & Mooney, which finally saw the her crack the plasti-glass ceiling and join the team, sponsored by Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl and Triplicate Girl. We also met for the first time Bouncing Boy, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy and potential bad-boy love-interest Brainiac 5 (well at least his distant ancestor Brainiac was a very bad boy…)

Next comes a pivotal two-part tale ‘Superboy’s Big Brother’ (by Robert Bernstein & Papp from Superboy #89, June 1961) in which an amnesiac, super-powered space traveller crashes in Smallville, speaking Kryptonese and carrying star-maps written by the Boy of Steel’s long-dead father…

Jubilant, baffled and suspicious in equal amounts the Superboy eventually, tragically discovered ‘The Secret of Mon-El’ by accidentally exposing the stranger to a lingering, inexorable death, before desperately providing critical life-support by depositing the dying alien in the Phantom Zone until a cure could be found…

With an August 1961 cover-date Superman #147 unleashed ‘The Legion of Super-Villains’ (Siegel, Curt Swan & Sheldon Moldoff): a stand-out thriller featuring Lex Luthor and the adult Legion coming far too close to destroying the Action Ace until the temporal cavalry arrived…

Adventure #290 (November) by Bernstein & Papp seemingly gave Sun Boy a starring role in ‘The Secret of the Seventh Super-Hero!’ – a clever tale of redemption and second chances, followed in #293 (February 1962) by a gripping thriller from Siegel, Swan & George Klein: ‘The Legion of Super-Traitors’ wherein the future heroes were turned evil, prompting Saturn Girl to recruit a Legion of Super-Pets including Krypto, Streaky the Super Cat, Beppo, the monkey from Krypton and Comet the magical Super-horse to save the world – and yes, I typed all that with a reasonably straight face…

‘Supergirl’s Greatest Challenge!’ by Siegel & Mooney (Action #287 April 1962) saw her visit the Legion (quibblers be warned: for some reason it was mis-determined as the 21st century in this story) and saved future Earth from invasion. She also met a telepathic descendent of her cat Streaky. His name was Whizzy (I could have omitted that fact but chose not to – once more for smug, comedic effect and in sympathy with cat owners everywhere)…

Action #289 featured ‘Superman’s Super-Courtship!’ wherein the Girl of Steel scoured the universe for an ideal mate for her cousin. One highly possible candidate was the adult Saturn Woman, but her husband Lightning Man objected… Perhaps charming at the time, but modern sensibilities might quail at the conclusion that his perfect match was a doppelganger of Supergirl herself, but thankfully a bit older…

By the release of Superboy #98 (July 1962), the decision had been made. The buying public wanted more Legion stories and after ‘The Boy With Ultra-Powers’ by Siegel, Swan & Klein introduced a mysterious lad with greater powers than the Boy of Steel, focus shifted to Adventure Comics #300 (cover dated September 1962) where the futuristic super-squad finally landed their own gig; even occasionally taking an alternating cover-spot from the still top-featured Superboy.

Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes opened its stellar run with ‘The Face Behind the Lead Mask!’ by Siegel, John Forte & Plastino; a fast-paced premier which pitted Superboy and the 30th century champions against an impossibly unbeatable foe until Mon-El, long-trapped in the Phantom Zone, briefly escaped a millennium of confinement and saved the day…

In those halcyon days humour was as important as action, imagination and drama, so many of the early exploits were light-hearted and moralistic. Issue #301 offered hope to fat kids everywhere with ‘The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy!’ by regular creative team Siegel & Forte, wherein the process of open auditions was instigated (providing devoted fans with loads of truly bizarre and memorable applicants over the years) whilst allowing the rebounding human rotunda to give a salutary pep talk and inspirational recount of heroism persevering over adversity.

Adventure #302 featured ‘Sun Boy’s Lost Power!’ as the golden boy was forced to resign until fortune and boldness restored his abilities whilst ‘The Fantastic Spy!’ in #303 provided a tense tale of espionage and possible betrayal by new member Matter-Eater Lad.

The happy readership was stunned by the events of #304 when Saturn Girl engineered ‘The Stolen Super-Powers!’ to make herself a one-woman Legion. Of course it was for the best possible reasons, but still didn’t prevent the shocking murder of Lightning Lad…

With comfortable complacency utterly destroyed #305 further shook everything up with ‘The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire!’ who turned out to be the long-suffering Mon-El finally cured and freed from his Phantom Zone prison.

Normally I’d try to be more obscure about story details – after all my intention is to get new people reading old comics – but these “spoiler” revelations are crucial to further understanding here and besides you all know these characters are still around, don’t you?

Pulp science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton took over the major scripting role with Adventure #306 and introduced ‘The Legion of Substitute Heroes!’ (still quirkily, perfectly illustrated by John Forte): a group of rejected applicants who selflessly banded together to clandestinely assist the champions who had spurned them, after which transmuting orphan Element Lad joined the team, seeking vengeance of the space pirates who had wiped out his entire species in ‘The Secret Power of the Mystery Super-Hero!’ and #308 seemingly saw ‘The Return of Lightning Lad!’

Spoiler Warning: skip to the next paragraph NOW!!! if you don’t want to know it was actually his similarly empowered sister who once unmasked – and unmanned – took her brother’s place as Lightning Lass…

‘The Legion of Super-Monsters!’ was a straightforward clash with embittered applicant Jungle King who took his rejection far too personally and gathered a deadly clutch of space beasts to wreak havoc and vengeance whilst ‘The Doom of the Super-Heroes!’ in #310 was a frantic battle for survival against an impossible foe and Adventure #311 saw ‘The War Between the Substitute Heroes and the Legionnaires!’ begin with a cease-and-desist order from the A-Team which turned into secret salvation as the plucky, stubborn outcasts carried on anyway under the very noses of the blithely oblivious LSH…

Issue #312 (September 1963) saw the ‘The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires!’ and the inevitable resurrection of Lightning Lad – but only after the harrowing sacrifice of one devoted team-member – whilst in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #72 (October) ‘The World of Doomed Olsens!’ (Siegel, Swan & Klein) depicted an intriguing enigma wherein the cub-reporter was confronted by materialisations of his most memorable metamorphoses (see the Superman: the Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen for further details), only to deduce it was all a prank by those naughty Legion scamps… but one with a serious purpose behind the jolly japery…

In #313’s ‘The Condemned Legionnaires!’ (Hamilton, Swan, Klein & Forte) Supergirl played a starring role when the mysterious Satan Girl infected the team with a deadly plague and forced them all into perpetual quarantine whilst ‘The Super-Villains of All Ages!’ (illustrated by Forte) had a manic mastermind steal a Legion Time-Bubble to recruit the greatest monsters and malcontents of history – Nero, Hitler and John Dillinger – as his irresistible army of crime.

Why he was surprised when they double-crossed him and took over the bodies of Superboy, Mon-El and Ultra Boy is beyond me… Happily, the lesser legionnaires still proved more a match for the brain-switched rogues.

‘The Legionnaires Super-Contest!’ in #315 finally saw the Substitute heroes go public, for which the primary team offered to allow one of them to join the big boys. Which one? That’s the contest part…

Issue #316’s ‘The Renegade Super-Hero!’ saw one trusted team-mate revealed as a career criminal and go on the run, but of course there was more to the tale than first appeared, after which the heroes were introduced to ‘The Menace of Dream Girl!’ a ravishing clairvoyant who beguiled her way into the Legion for her own obscure, arcane reasons. In her well-meaning way she presaged the coming of deadly threat The Time Trapper and also found a moment to convert the electrically redundant sister of the revived Lightning Lad into the gravity-defying Light Lass.

Adventure #318 featured ‘The Mutiny of the Legionnaires!’ wherein Sun Boy succumbed to battle fatigue and became a draconian Captain Bligh during an extended rescue mission, whilst in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #76 (April 1964) Siegel & Forte described ‘Elastic Lad Jimmy and his Legion Romances!’ wherein the plucky journalist was inveigled into the future and found himself inexplicably irresistible to the comely costumed champions of Tomorrow. It wasn’t his primitive charm, though…

Hamilton & Forte began a strong run of grittier tales from #319 on, beginning with ‘The Legion’s Suicide Squad!’ as the Science Police asked the team to destroy, at all costs, a monolithic space fortress, whilst #320 debuted a daring new character in Dev-Em, a forgotten survivor of Superman’s dead homeworld who was little more than a petty thug when Superboy first defeated him.

Now in ‘The Revenge of the Knave From Krypton!’ by Siegel, Forte, Papp, Moldoff & Plastino, the rapscallion returned as either a reformed undercover cop or the greatest traitor in history…

The story portion of this wonderful tome concludes with Adventure #321 and ‘The Code of the Legion!’ by Hamilton, Forte & Plastino which revealed the team’s underlying Articles of Procedure during a dire espionage flap, whilst testing one Legionnaire to the limits of his honour and ingenuity and actually ending another’s service forever.

Perhaps.

This is followed by an appropriate extra from Superman Annual #4 which featured a two-page informational guide illustrated and pictorial check-list of the team by Swan & Klein which was amended and supplemented in Adventure #316 with an additional two pages of stunning micro-pin-ups, all faithfully included here. This fabulously innocent and imaginative chronicle also includes every cover the team starred on: mostly the work of honorary Legionnaire Curt Swan and inkers George Klein, Stan Kaye, and Sheldon Moldoff.

The Legion is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in American comicbook history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became Comics Fandom. Moreover, these sparkling, simplistic and devastatingly addictive stories as much as the legendary Julie Schwartz Justice League fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and built the industry we all know today.

These naive, silly, joyous, stirring and utterly compelling yarns are precious and fun beyond any ability to explain – even if we old lags gently mock them to ourselves and one another. If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.

© 1958-1964, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Green Arrow volume 1


By France Herron, Dave Wood, Jack Kirby, George Papp, Lee Elias & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0785-4

Green Arrow is one of DC’s Golden All-Stars: a fixture of the company’s landscape, in many instances for no discernable reason, more or less continually since his debut in 1941. He was originally created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp for More Fun Comics # 73 as an attempt to expand the company’s superhero portfolio, and in the early years proved quite successful. The bowman and boy partner Speedy were two of the few costumed heroes to survive the end of the Golden Age.

His blatant recombination of Batman and Robin Hood seemed to have very little going for itself but the Emerald Archer has somehow always managed to keep himself in vogue. He carried on adventuring in the back of other heroes’ comicbooks, joined the Justice League of America at the peak of their fame and became the spokes-hero of the anti-establishment generation during the 1960’s “Relevancy Comics” trend, courtesy of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams.

Under Mike Grell’s stewardship and thanks to the epic miniseries Green Arrow: the Longbow Hunters (DC’s second ‘Prestige Format Mini-Series’ after the groundbreaking success of Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) he at last became a headliner: an urban predator dealing with corporate thugs and serial killers rather than costumed goof-balls.

After his long career and a few venue changes, by the time Julie Schwartz’s revivification of the Superhero genre the Emerald Archer was solid second feature in both Adventure and World’s Finest Comics where, as part of the wave of retcons, reworkings and spruce-ups the company administered to all their remaining costumed old soldiers, a fresh start began in the summer of 1958…

This splendidly eclectic collection of the peripatetic Bowman’s perennial second string exploits gathers the pertinent material from Adventure Comics #250-269, World’s Finest Comics #95-140, Justice League of America #4 and his guest-shots in Brave and the Bold #50, 71 and 85, covering the period July 1958 to September 1969.

Part of that revival happily coincided with the return to National Comics of Jack Kirby after the collapse of Mainline: the comics company he and partner Joe Simon had created as part of the Crestwood/Prize publishing combine.

Not long after that groundbreaking move the industry was hit by the Comics Code censorship controversy and a sales downturn that hit many creators very, very hard…

This stunning monochrome compendium opens with ‘The Green Arrows of the World’ (by scripter Dave Wood and Jack with wife Roz inking) wherein heroic masked archers from many nations attended a conference in Star City unaware that a fugitive criminal was lurking within their midst, whilst that same month George Papp illustrated the anonymously scripted ‘Green Arrow vs Red Dart’ in World’s Finest Comics #95, a dashing tale of the Ace Archer’s potential criminal counterpart and his inevitable downfall.

Adventure #251 took a welcome turn to fantastic science fiction as Ed Herron & the Kirbys resolved ‘The Case of the Super-Arrows’ wherein the heroes took possession of high-tech trick shafts from 3000AD, whilst WFC #96 (writer unknown) revealed ‘Five Clues to Danger’ – a classic kidnap mystery made even more impressive by Kirby’s lean, raw illustration.

A rare continued case spanned Adventure‘s #252 and 253 as Wood, Jack & Roz revealed ‘The Mystery of the Giant Arrows’ before Green Arrow and Speedy temporarily became ‘Prisoners of Dimension Zero’ – a spectacular riot of giant aliens and incredible exotic otherworlds, followed in WF #97 with a grand old-school crime-caper in Herron’s ‘The Mystery of the Mechanical Octopus’.

Kirby was going from strength to strength and Adventure #254’s ‘The Green Arrow’s Last Stand’, written by Wood, is a particularly fine example as the Bold Bowmen crashed into a hidden valley where Sioux braves had thrived unchanged since the time of Custer whilst the next issue saw them battle a battalion of Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender their island bunker in ‘The War That Never Ended’ (also by Wood).

World’s Finest #98 almost ended the heroes’ careers in Herron’s ‘The Unmasked Archers’ wherein a practical joke caused the pair to expose themselves to public scrutiny and deadly danger…

During those heady days origins weren’t as important as imaginative situations, storytelling and just plain getting on with it, so co-creators Weisinger & Papp never bothered to provide one, leaving later workmen Herron, Jack & Roz (in Kirby’s penultimate tale before devoting all his energies to the fabulous newspaper strip Sky Masters) to fill in the blanks with ‘The Green Arrow’s First Case’ as the Silver Age superhero revival hit its stride in Adventure Comics #256 (January 1959).

Here we learned how wealthy wastrel Oliver Queen was cast away on a deserted island and learned to use a hand-made bow simply to survive. When a band of scurvy mutineers fetched up on his desolate shores Queen used his newfound skills to defeat them and returned to civilisation with a new career and secret purpose…

Adventure #257’s ‘The Arrows That Failed’ saw a criminal mastermind tamper with the archer’s equipment in a low-key but intriguing yarn by an unknown scripter, most memorable for being the first artistic outing for golden-age great Lee Elias who would become the strip’s sole artist until its demise after Kirby’s spectacular swan-song in WF #99. ‘Crimes Under Glass’ was written by Robert Bernstein and found the GA and Speedy battling cunning criminals with a canny clutch of optical armaments.

Adventure Comics #258 (March 1959) featured a rare cover appearance for the Emerald Archer as he guest-starred in the lead feature ‘Superboy Meets the Young Green Arrow’ by Jerry Coleman & Papp, after which inspiring boyhood on-the-job training the mature bowman then schooled a lost patrol of soldiers in Toxophily (that’s posh talk for archery, folks), desert survival and crime-busting in ‘The Arrow Platoon’: another anonymously scripted yarn limned by Elias.

The same month in WF #100 the Emerald Avenger faced light-hearted lampoonery and sinister larcenists in ‘The Case of the Green Error Clown’ by Herron and the now-firmly entrenched Elias, whilst Adventure #259 showed that ‘The Green Arrow’s Mystery Pupil’ had ulterior and sinister motives for his studies whilst #260 revealed ‘Green Arrow’s New Partner’ to be only a passing worry for Speedy in a clever drama by Bernstein.

World’s Finest #101 introduced a crook who bought or stole outlandish ideas for malevolent purposes in ‘The Battle of the Useless Inventions’ by lead writer Herron, whereas Adventure #261 and the uncredited fable ‘The Curse of the Wizard’s Arrow!’ used bad luck and spurious sorcery to test the Archers’ ingenuity.

WF #102 featured Herron’s snazzy crime-caper ‘The Case of the Camouflage King!’ whilst in Adventure #262 ‘The World’s Worst Archer!’, by Bernstein, finally gave Boy Bowman Speedy an origin of his own and explained how just how narrowly the part-Native American boy Roy Harper came to not being adopted by Oliver Queen, after which #263 ‘Have Arrow – Will Travel’ (Bernstein) saw the independent lad sell his skills to buy a boat… a solid lesson in thrift and good parenting if not reference-checking….

World’s Finest #103 offered a Bob Haney mystery-thriller ‘Challenge of the Phantom Bandit’ after which an anonymous scripter finally bowed to the obvious and dispatched the Emerald Archer to feudal Sherwood Forest in ‘The Green Arrow Robin Hood’ (Adventure #264, September 1959) and WF #104 found GA undercover on a modern Native American Reservation ‘Alias Chief Magic Bow’ (by Herron).

‘The Amateur Arrows!’ (by Bernstein in Adventure #265) had the Battling Bowmen act as Summer Camp tutors on a perilously perfidious Dude Ranch for kids, #266 again saw their trick-shot kit malfunction in a clever conundrum with a surprise mystery guest-star in Bernstein’s ‘The Case of the Vanished Arrows!’ and WF #105 introduced deceptively deadly toy-making terror ‘The Mighty Mr. Miniature’ (Herron).

In Adventure Comics #267 the editors tried another novel experiment in closer continuity. At this time the title starred Superboy with two back-up features following. The first of these starred equally perennial B-list survivor Aquaman who in that tale ‘The Manhunt on Land’ (but not this volume: you’ll need to scoop up Showcase Presents Aquaman volume 1 for the full saga) saw villainous Shark Norton trade territories with Green Arrow’s foe The Wizard. In a rare crossover, both parts of which were written by Bernstein, the two heroes worked the same case with Aquaman fighting on dry land whilst the Emerald Archer pursued his enemy beneath the waves in his impressively innovative strip ‘The Underwater Archers’.

‘The Crimes of the Pneumatic Man’ by Herron, (WF #106) debuted a rather daft balloon-based bandit, whilst Adventure #268 saw another time-trip result in ‘The Green Arrow in King Arthur’s Court!’ by Bernstein who also scripted the February 1960 issue #269 wherein ‘The Comic Book Archer!’ saw the pair aid a cartoonist in need of inspiration and salvation.

That was the hero’s last appearance in Adventure. From then on the Amazing Archers’ only home was World’s Finest Comics, beginning a lengthy and enthralling run from Herron & Elias in #107-112, systematically defeating ‘The Menace of the Mole Men’ – who weren’t what they seemed – and ‘The Creature from the Crater’ – which also wasn’t – before becoming ‘Prisoners of the Giant Bubble’, a clever crime caper loaded with action.

WF 110 introduced photonic pillager ‘The Sinister Spectrum Man’ with a far more memorable menace challenging the heroes in ‘The Crimes of the Clock King’ before a lucky felon discovered their hidden lair and became ‘The Spy in the Arrow-Cave’ a tale that starts weakly but ends on a powerfully poignant high note.

The painfully parochial and patronising tone of the times seeped into the saga of ‘The Amazing Miss Arrowette’ (scripted by Wood) in WF #113 as a hopeful, ambitious Ladies’ Archery competitor tried her very best to become Green Arrow’s main helpmeet. Moreover, in a series famed for absurd gimmick shafts, nothing ever came close to surpassing the Hair-Pin, Needle-and-Thread, Powder-Puff or Lotion Arrows in Bonnie King’s fetching and stylish little quiver…

The times were changing in other aspects, however, and fantasy elements were again popular at the end of 1960, as evidenced by Herron’s teaser in WF #114. ‘Green Arrow’s Alien Ally’ neatly segued into ‘The Mighty Arrow Army’ as the Ace Archers battled a South American dictator and then encountered a sharp-shooting circus chimp in #116’s ‘The Ape Archer’.

A jump to the big time occurred in Justice League of America #4 (April 1961) when Green Arrow was invited to join the world’s Greatest Super-Heroes just in time to save them all – and the Earth for good measure in Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs’ epic sci fi extravaganza ‘Doom of the Star Diamond’ before returning to quirkiness and mere crime-crushing in WF #117 and ‘The Cartoon Archer’ by Wood & Elias, wherein a kidnapped cartoonist used caricature as a deadly weapon and desperate life-line…

World’s Finest #118 featured ‘The Return of Miss Arrowette’ (more Wood); a far less cringeworthy effort which nonetheless still managed to make the Bow Babe both competent and imbecilic at the same time, before Herron penned ‘The Man with the Magic Bow’ in #119, with an actual sorcerous antique falling into the greedy hands of a career criminal whilst Oliver Queen and Roy Harper became victims of ‘The Deadly Trophy Hunt’ in #120 and needed a little Arrow action to save the day and their secret identities.

Master scribe John Broome provided a taut and impressive tale of despair and redemption in #121 with ‘The Cop Who Lost his Nerve’ and WF #122 saw ‘The Booby-Trap Bandits’ (Haney) almost destroy our heroes in a tense suspense thriller and Wood wrote one of his very best GA yarns in #123 ‘The Man Who Foretold Disaster’. Herron rose to the challenge in WF 124-125: a brace of bold and grittily terse mini-epics beginning with a breathtaking gang-busting yarn ‘The Case of the Crime Specialists’ and the taut human drama of ‘The Man Who Defied Death’ to pay his son’s medical bills…

‘Dupe of the Decoy Bandits’ by Wood in #126 was another sharp game of cops and robbers whilst George Kashdan revealed the heart-warming identity of ‘Green Arrow’s Secret Partner’ in #127 after which Wood successfully tried his hand at human-scaled melodrama as a retiring cop proved himself ‘The Too-Old Hero’ in #128.

Oddly – perhaps typically – just as the quality of Green Arrow’s adventures steadily improved, his days as a solo star were finally ending. Herron scripted all but one of remaining year’s World’s Finest exploits, beginning with #129’s robotic renegade ‘The Iron Archer’, after which an author unknown contributed ‘The Human Sharks’ as the Bold Bowmen returned to battle crime beneath the seas.

A despondent boy was boosted out of a dire depression by joining his heroes in #131 and ‘A Cure for Billy Jones’ whilst ‘The Green Arrow Dummy’ was an identity-saver and unexpected crook catcher in its own right.

Subterranean thugs accidentally invaded and became ‘The Thing in the Arrowcave’ in #133, whilst ‘The Mystery of the Missing Inventors’ saw a final appearance and proper treatment of Arrowette, but the writing was on the wall. Green Arrow became an alternating feature and didn’t work again until WF #136 and the exotic mystery of ‘The Magician Boss of the Incas’ (September 1963).

A month later Brave and the Bold #50 saw the Ace Archer team-up in a book length adventure with the Martian Manhunter. ‘Wanted – the Capsule Master!’ pitted the newly minted Green Team in a furious fight with marauding extraterrestrial menace Vulkor; a fast-paced thriller by Bob Haney & George Roussos followed by WF #138’s ‘The Secret Face of Funny-Arrow!’ wherein a formerly positive and good natured spoof-performer took a sudden turn into darker and nastier “jokes” and World’s Finest #140 (March 1964) aptly presented ‘The Land of No Return’ by Bill Finger, with the Battling Bowmen falling into a time-locked limbo where heroes from history perpetually strove against deadly beasts and monsters…

The heroes’ decades-long careers ended there and they became nothing more than bit-players in JLA and Teen Titans exploits until Brave and the Bold #71 (April-May 1967) written by Haney and drawn by his Golden Age co-creator George Papp, wherein Green Arrow helped Batman survive ‘The Wrath of the Thunderbird!’ and crush a criminal entrepreneur determined to take over the wealth and resources of the Kijowa Indian Nation.

This volume ends with the first cathartic and thoroughly modern re-imagining of the character which paved the way for the rebellious, riotous, passionately socially-aware avenger of modern times.

Brave and the Bold #85 is arguably the best of an incredible run of team-ups in that title’s prestigious history and certainly the best yarn in this collection. ‘The Senator’s Been Shot!’ reunited Batman and Green Arrow in a superb multi-layered thriller of politics, corruption and cast-iron integrity, wherein Bruce Wayne became a stand-in for a law-maker and the Emerald Archer got a radical make-over that turned him into the fiery liberal gadfly champion of the relevancy generation – and every one since.

Ranging from calamitously repetitive and formulaic – but in a very good and entertaining way – to moments of sublime wonder and excitement, this is genuine mixed bag of Fights ‘n’ Tights swashbuckling with something for everyone and certainly bound to annoy as much as delight. All ages superhero action that’s unmissable. Even if you won’t love it all you’ll hate yourself for missing this spot-on selection.

© 1958-1964, 1967, 1969, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Masterworks volume 27 The Avengers 21-30


By Stan Lee, Don Heck & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-993-6

After first launching the Avengers with the venerable concept of putting all your star eggs in one basket, narrative and scheduling problems prompted Stan Lee to downplay Marvel’s most popular stars in favour of lesser lights with les crowded schedules, allowing the title to develop healthy emotionally character-driven sub-plots that were necessarily missing for decades from its thematic precursor and rival Justice League of America.

By the time of this stellar third deluxe collection (re-presenting Avengers #21-30 from October 1965 to July 1966) the policy was paying big dividends as the team became another hotbed of stewing passions and brewing internal conflicts with veteran campaigner Captain America constantly at war with and doubting himself whilst wrangling young, unruly and ambitious newcomers – and ex-criminals – Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch in the tried and true, soapily operatic Marvel Manner.

Avengers #21 (by Stan Lee, Don Heck & Wally Wood) launched another big-name villain in Power Man, created by the evil Enchantress in ‘The Bitter Dregs of Defeat!’ as part of a diabolical plan to discredit and displace the heroic ideals. Her scheme succeeded in splitting up and outlawing the team, but after a clash with the Circus of Evil in #22 the plot was foiled by the indomitable Captain America in ‘The Road Back.’

A two-part Kang tale followed as the team was shanghaied into the far-flung future to battle against and latterly beside the Tyrant of Time. Avengers #23 (incidentally, my vote for the best Marvel cover Jack Kirby ever drew) ‘Once an Avenger…’ was superbly inked by the elder John Romita before the yarn spectacularly concludes with the epic ‘From the Ashes of Defeat!’ by Heck & Dick Ayers.

The underrated team faced their greatest test yet when they were cunningly captured, magnificently survived and easily escaped the deadliest man alive in #25′s ‘Enter… Dr. Doom!’ but, as change was ever the watchword for this series, the following two issues combined a threat to drown the world with the return of an old comrade.

‘The Voice of the Wasp!’ and ‘Four Against the Floodtide!’ (Lee, Heck & Frank Giacoia) made for a superlative action-romp as the undersea barbarian Attuma attempted to raise the world’s sea-level to destroy humanity. Notified by the long-retired Wasp the Avengers dashed to the depths to stop the marine maniac, but that saga was simply a prelude to the main event…

Issue #28 featured the return of Giant-Man in a new guise. ‘Among us Walks a Goliath!’ was an instant classic which introduced the villainous Collector and extended the company’s pet theme of alienation by tragically trapping the size-changing hero at a freakish ten-foot height, seemingly forever.

Avengers #29, ‘This Power Unleashed!’ then brought back Hawkeye’s lost love Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow and a brainwashed Soviet agent in an unlikely attempt to destroy the team using fearsome foes Power Man and Swordsman as cannon-fodder before this delightful diversion annoying ends on a classy cliffhanger with ‘Frenzy in a Far-Off Land!’ as the dispirited colossus desperately sought a cure to his colossal condition.

Seeking expert aid the grim giant became embroiled in a civil war amongst a lost South American civilisation: a two-part yarn that threatened to end in global incineration – but one that concludes in another volume…

Riveting tales of action and adventure, a charismatic blend of established and new characters and some of the best illustrated narrative in Marvel’s history makes this tome both utterly enticing and aggravatingly frustrating, but as the next book is also stuffed with brilliant adventure tales I suppose dedicated fans will be content  to buy that one too.

These stories set the tone for Marvel’s superheroes: the group dynamics, the themes and even the kinds of menaces they faced. Where the Fantastic Four were as much explorers as champions; a family with the same passions, the Avengers were disparate individuals called together to get a job done. How well these adventures still read is testament to how well the creators succeeded in their craft…
© 1965, 1966, 1993 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Animal Land book 1


By Makoto Raiku, translated and adapted by Stephen Paul (Kondansha USA)
ISBN: 978-1-935429-13-5

Here’s a sly and rather subtle allegory from relative manga newcomer Makoto Raiuku (Newtown Heroes, Genmai Blade, and the enormously popular Konjiki no Gash!! which hit American TV screens as Zatch Bell!!).

Dōbutsu no Kuni or “Animal Country” began in 2009 and follows the incredible life of a seemingly human baby abandoned and cast adrift on a river only to wash up in the land of animals: a dog-eat-dog, literally bestial world of raw savagery where the weak always die and only the strong are able to survive.

‘Word 1: Hello, Baby’ opens proceedings with little Monoko, an orphan Tanuki (a sort of tiny raccoon dog indigenous to Japan). Since her parents were eaten by wild cats she’s been unable to pull her weight in the hard-pressed Tanuki community; all rushing to store enough for the rapidly approaching winter. It doesn’t look like she’s going to make it…

Her world and existence change forever when she adopts the strange hairless monkey cub which washes up on the river bank one cold day. This is a very strange baby and Monoko insanely decides to become its new mother against all the advice of the village.

In Animal Land all creatures are at odds and cannot understand other species cries, but Monoko decides to risk everything – including being eaten by cats such as the fearsome Kurokagi – to steal some milk for the foundling to drink.

Despite a horrifying but successful mission the baby is cold and dying: it has no will to live and the Tanuki elders brusquely tell her to stop wasting everybody’s time and resources.

Desperate Monoko cuddles it with her body, sharing her warmth in a desperate, lonely struggle to keep it alive one more night. When she awakes she discovers something miraculous and staggering game-changing…

The initial episodes ends with another huge shock: the baby can speak Tanuki…

The mystery increases in the second instalment ‘Word 2: Baby’s Power’ when the infant reveals that he can converse and understand the speech of all animals – even the ultimate predator Kurokagi – thereby discovering the dire marauder’s tragic secret and further reshaping the nature and destiny of the savage domain, whilst the third and final chapter ‘Word 3: Baby Cries Over His Name’ sees Monoko’s first maternal crisis as she finds a keepsake from the baby’s biological mother and fears her joyous new world is crumbling around her until once more the wonder baby comes to her emotional and physical rescue…

Despite what the publishers would have you believe this isn’t just another cute kiddie-book. For starters it’s filled with scatological asides and the audience advisory is 13 and older. Moreover, despite being filled with action, adventure and slapstick/social gaffe humour in the grand manga manner, this is a tale filled with scary moments, brutal situations and heartbreaking poignancy, with a lot to say about family, community, integration, unity and understanding through plain-talking and communication.

Also included in this initial monochrome volume are translator’s notes, a guide to Japanese honorifics, Omake pages (“extra” or “bonus”) of short cartoon strips and a longer piece wherein Makuto Raiku lets us in on the background of and inspiration for the strip: sharing the bittersweet story of his and wife’s best friend Riku – an abandoned wounded puppy…

More Animal Farm than The Gruffalo, this is a brilliant piece and impressive slice of social fantasy for kids, and would make a great gift for older children getting too big for traditional kids stuff.

This volume is printed in the traditional front-to-back, right-to-left reading manner.

© 2010 Makoto Raiku. English translation © 2011 Makoto Raiku. All rights reserved.

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Marvel Masterworks: All-Winners 1-4

New Expanded Review

By Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Carl Burgos, Bill Everett & others (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-7851-1884-5

Unlike their Distinguished Competition, Marvel Comics took quite a while to get into producing expensive hardbound volumes of their earliest comic adventures. In the cold hard light of day it’s fairly clear to see why. The sad truth is that a lot of Golden Age Marvel material is not only pretty offensive by modern standards but is also of rather poor quality. One welcome exception, however, is this collection of the quarterly super-hero anthology All Winners Comics.

Over the course of the first year’s publication (from Summer 1941 to Spring 1942) the stories and art varied wildly but in terms of sheer variety the tales and characters excelled in exploring every avenue of patriotic thrill that might enthral ten year old boys of all ages. As well as Simon and Kirby, Lee, Bill Everett and Carl Burgos, the early work of Mike Sekowsky, Jack Binder, George Klein, Paul Gustavson, Al Avison, Al Gabriele and many others can be found as the budding superstars dashed out the supplemental adventures of Captain America, Sub-Mariner, The Human Torch, Black Marvel, The Angel, Mighty Destroyer, and The Whizzer.

This spectacular deluxe full-colour hardback compendium opens with a fulsome and informative introduction from Roy Thomas – architect of Marvel’s Golden Age revival – ably abetted by Greg Theakston, after which  All Winners Comics #1 commences with Carl Burgos’ Human Torch adventure ‘Carnival of Fiends’ as Japanese agent Matsu terrorises the peaceful pro-American Orientals of Chinatown whilst the physically perfect specimen dubbed the Black Marvel crushes a sinister secret society known as ‘The Order of the Hood’ in a riotous action romp by Stan Lee, Al Avison & Al Gabriele after which Joe Simon & Jack Kirby contributed a magnificent Captain America thriller-chiller in ‘The Case of the Hollow Men’ as ghastly artificial zombies rampaged through the streets of New York…

Stripling Stan Lee scripted the prose teaser ‘All Winners’ – an affable chat between the four-colour stars – after which an untitled Bill Everett Sub-Mariner yarn saw the errant Prince of Atlantis uncover and promptly scupper a nest of saboteurs on the Virginia coastline whilst the inexplicably ubiquitous Angel travelled to the deep dark jungle to solve ‘The Case of the Mad Gargoyle’ with typical ruthless efficiency in an engaging end-piece by Paul Gustavson.

Issue #2 (Fall 1941) began with the Torch and incendiary sidekick Toro tackling the ‘Carnival of Death!’ – a winter jamboree this time rather than a circus of itinerant killers – in a passable murder-mystery with less than stellar art, after which Simon & Kirby delivered another stunning suspense shocker in the exotic action masterpiece ‘The Strange Case of the Malay Idol’.

Lee graduated to full comic strips in ‘Bombs of Doom!’ as Jack Binder illustrated the All Winners debut of charismatic behind-enemy-lines hero The Destroyer; the text feature ‘Winners All’ saw a Lee puff-piece embellished with a Kirby group shot of the anthology’s cast and second new guy The Whizzer kicked off a long run in an untitled, uncredited tale about spies and society murderers on the home-front. After a page of believe-it-or-not ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ a ghost artist produced ‘The Ghost Fleet’ to end the issue with another Sub-Mariner versus Nazi submariners action romp.

All Winners #3 pitted the Torch against Japanese terrorists in ‘The Case of the Black Dragon Society’, a rather over-the-top slice of cartoon jingoism credited to Burgos but perhaps produced by another anonymous ghost squad. Simon and Kirby had moved to National Comics by this issue and Avison was drawing Captain America now, with scripts by the mysterious S.T. Anley (geddit?) but ‘The Canvas of Doom!’ still rockets along with plenty of dynamite punch in a manic yarn about a painter who predicts murders in his paintings, whilst The Whizzer busted up corruption and slaughter in ‘Terror Prison’ in a rip-roarer from Lee, Mike Sekowsky & George Klein.

‘Jungle Drums’ was standard genre filler-fare after which Everett triumphed with a spectacular maritime mystery as ‘Sub-Mariner visits the Ship of Horrors’ and The Destroyer turned the Fatherland upside down by wrecking ‘The Secret Tunnel of Death!’

The final issue in this compendium was cover-dated Spring 1942 and with enough lead time following the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the patriotic frenzy mill was clearly in full swing.

A word of warning: though modern readers might well blanche at the racial and sexual stereotyping of the (presumably) well-intentioned propaganda machines which generated tales such as ‘Death to Nazi Scourge’ and ‘The Terror of the Slimy Japs’, please try to remember the tone of those times and recall that these contents obviously need to be read in an historical rather than purely entertainment context.

The aforementioned ‘Terror of the Slimy Japs’ found the Human Torch and Toro routing Moppino, High Priest of the Rising Sun Temple and saboteur extraordinaire from his lair beneath New York, whilst Cap and Bucky contented themselves with solving ‘The Sorcerer’s Sinister Secret!’ and foiling another Japanese sneak attack before The Whizzer stamped out ‘Crime on the Rampage’ in a breakneck campaign by Howard “Johns” nee James.

‘Miser’s Gold’ was just one more genre text tale followed by Everett’s take on the other war as ‘Sub-Mariner Combats the Sinister Horde!’ …of Nazis, this time, after which the Destroyer brought down the final curtain by hunting down a sadistic Gestapo chief in ‘Death to Nazi Scourge’.

Augmented by covers, house ads and other original ephemera, this is a collection of patriotic populist publishing from the dawn of a new and cut-throat industry, working under war-time conditions in a much less enlightened time. That these nascent efforts grew into the legendary characters and brands of today attests to their intrinsic attraction and fundamental appeal, but this is a book of much more than simple historical interest. Make no mistake, there’s still much here that any modern fan can and will enjoy.
© 1941, 1942, 2003 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Essential Daredevil volume 4


By Gerry Conway, Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2762-3

Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, making him an astonishing acrobat, formidable fighter and a living lie-detector. Very much a second-string hero for most of his early years, Daredevil was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due in large part to the captivatingly humanistic art of Gene Colan. He fought gangsters, a variety of super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion. He quipped and wise-cracked his way through life and life-threatening combat, utterly unlike the grim, moody, quasi-religious metaphor he’s been seen as in latter years.

In these tales from the pivotal era of relevancy, social awareness and increasing political polarisation the Man Without Fear was also growing into the judicial conscience of a generation…

Marvel Comics built its fan-base through audacious, contemporary stories with spectacular art and by creating a shared continuity that closely followed the characters through not just their own titles but also through the many guest appearances in other comics. Such an interweaving meant that even today completists and fans seek out extraneous stories simply to get a fuller picture of their favourites’ adventures.

This fourth Essential monochrome collection re-presents Daredevil #75-101, covering April 1971 to July 1973 and also includes Avengers #111, wherein twin storylines converged and concluded.

The Marvel Magic opens with a drama of political intrigue and kidnapping as Murdock travelled to the banana republic of Delvadia where ‘Now Rides the Ghost of El Condor!’ by scripter Gerry Conway and the incomparable art team of Gene Colan & Syd Shores: a canny yarn of revolutionary fervour and self-serving greed concluded in ‘The Deathmarch of El Condor!’ in Daredevil #76, with inker Tom Palmer beginning his long association with Colan as perhaps his most effective inker.

Guest stars abounded in ‘…And So Enters the Amazing Spider-Man!’ as an uncanny artefact appeared in Central Park inviting DD, Spidey and the Sub-Mariner to join a fantastic battle in a far-flung lost world. The adventure concluded in the Atlantean’s own comic (#40) but as Daredevil didn’t join the quest that sequel isn’t included in this tome.

As an aside to interested 1980’s post-punk/neo-psychedelic saddoes everywhere, I might mention that this story is where Julian Cope found the phrase “The Teardrop Explodes’…

Issue #78 returned to more traditional territory as ‘The Horns of the Bull!’ followed the downfall of petty thug Bull Taurus after enigmatic mastermind Mr. Kline transformed him into a savage beast and set him upon the Man Without Fear…

Gary Friedrich wrote the cataclysmic conclusion ‘Murder Cries the Man-Bull!’ but Conway was back to spectacularly reintroduce a vintage villain ‘In the Eyes… of the Owl!’ which presaged a major format change for the series from Daredevil #81’s ‘And Death is a Woman Called Widow’ (inked by Jack Abel) wherein former Soviet super-spy Natasha Romanoff burst onto the scene as the ubiquitous Kline was finally unmasked and revealed to be once again behind all DD’s woes…

After a stunning pin-up of the bodacious Black Widow by the incredible Bill Everett the conspiracy drama continued with ‘Now Send… the Scorpion’ as Kline – AKA the Assassin – set the manic artificial arachnid against DD and the Widow whilst his master attempted to suborn Murdock’s greatest friend Foggy Nelson.

At the end of that issue the Scorpion was apparently dead and ‘The Widow Accused!’ by Nelson. A sham trial intended to railroad and pillory the Russian émigré ensued in #83, (art by Alan Weiss, Barry Smith & Bill Everett) with the Assassin dispatching brutish Mr. Hyde to ensure his victory. Against all odds Murdock cleared Natasha of the charges, prompting the hidden mastermind to take direct action in ‘Night of the Assassin!’ (Colan & Shores). Attacking DD and the Widow in Switzerland – whence she had fled to nurse her wounded pride – Kline met final defeat in a shocking climax to the extended saga.

Daredevil #85 found the couple romantically involved and returning to America on a ‘Night Flight!’ hijacked by the bloodthirsty Gladiator, after which another long forgotten foe resurfaced for the last time in ‘Once Upon a Time… the Ox!’ (Palmer inks) before Matt and Natasha relocated to San Francisco and stumbled into one more ancient enemy in #87’s ‘From Stage Left, Enter: Electro!’

The memory lane menaces continued in ‘Call Him Killgrave!’ as the mind-bending Purple Man resurfaced, erroneously convinced DD had tracked him down to queer his nefarious schemes. As the origin of the Black Widow was revealed the sinister spellbinder attacked and was temporarily repulsed: regrouping with Electro and attacking again in ‘Crisis!’ just as a mysterious man from Natasha’s sordid past resurfaced with portentous news of a long-forgotten mission…

Daredevil #90 explored ‘The Sinister Secret of Project Four!‘ as Hornhead began suffering inexplicable, incapacitating panic attacks, explained a month later in ‘Fear is the Key!’ when Mister Fear struck again… only to be revealed as more than he first seemed…

Issue #92 finally bowed to the inevitable and became Daredevil and the Black Widow just as a new menace struck ‘On the Eve of the Talon!’ and the Project Four saga roared to a conclusion as industrialist Damon Dran won ‘A Power Corrupt!’ and was transformed into a monolithic Indestructible Man rampaging through San Francisco; arrogantly aware that ‘He Can Crush the World!’ Only superhuman heroism and an ultimate sacrifice saved that day…

‘Bullfight on the Bay!’ saw the Man-Bull break jail and rampage across America to revenge himself upon Daredevil, forcing Natasha to do her very worst in the concluding chapter ‘The Widow Will Make You Pay!’ (inked by Ernie Chua nee Chan).

Steve Gerber took over scripting with #97 (from Conway’s plots) for ‘He Who Saves’ as a street acrobat suffered a calamitous accident and was subsequently mutated by sinister hidden forces into proto-godling the Dark Messiah. The already unstoppable Agent of Change was joined by three equally awesome Disciples of Doom in #98’s ‘Let There be… Death!’ but even though physically overmatched, DD and the Widow’s psychological warfare proved fatally effective.

‘The Mark of Hawkeye!’ by the now autonomous Gerber, Sam Kweskin & Shores, found Natasha’s old boyfriend turn up determined to reclaim her, leading to the Archer’s sound and well-deserved thrashing and a quick jump into Avengers #111. ‘With Two Beside Them!’ (by Steve Englehart, Don Heck & Mike Esposito) had the West Coast vigilantes join a ragtag team of heroes to rescue a number of X-Men and Avengers enslaved by the malevolent Magneto.

Back in the City by the Bay and dumped by Natasha for his anniversary issue, Daredevil agonisingly relived his origins and danger-drenched life in ‘Mind Storm!’ (Gerber, Colan & John Tartaglione) whilst a savage and embittered psionic terrorist launched a series of mind-mangling assaults on the populace, culminating in a shattering showdown between the blind hero and Angar the Screamer as well as a shaky reconciliation with the Widow in ‘Vengeance in the Sky with Diamonds!’, illustrated by Rich Buckler & Frank Giacoia.

This supremely enticing volume also has one last treat in store: two unused Gil Kane covers for issues #90 and 91, to supplement his superb stint as the features premier cover artist.

As the social upheaval of this period receded the impressively earnest material was replaced by fabulous fantasy tales which strongly suggested the true potential of Daredevil was in reach. These beautifully illustrated yarns may still occasionally jar with their heartfelt stridency and sometimes dated attitudes but the narrative energy and sheer exuberant excitement of these classic adventures are delights no action fan will care to miss. And the next volume heads even further into uncharted territory…

© 1971, 1972, 1973, 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Sensational Spider-Man: Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut


By Roger Stern, John Romita Jr. & Jim Mooney (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-87135-572-0

Here’s one more slim yet elegant lost treasure from the early days of graphic novel compilations that might amuse and will certainly delight all-out aficionado and neophyte Spidey fans alike – and perhaps the odd X-Men completist also.

Released in 1989, this full-colour 48 page compendium collects two supremely impressive issues of Amazing Spider-Man (#229-230 from June-July 1982) which perfectly encapsulate everything that made the wondrous Wall-crawler such an unalloyed superstar and icon of youthful exuberance.

The drama opens as Peter Parker is warned by blind, paraplegic clairvoyant Madame Web that her life is about to be endangered by a monstrous and uncompromising force of nature – and that he is her only hope of survival. The Arachnid Adventurer has had experience of the seer’s psychic prowess before and his usual scepticism is tinged with genuine foreboding…

Meanwhile out at sea, a nondescript freighter is carrying mutant menaces Black Tom Cassidy and Cain Marko, the inhuman colossus known as The Juggernaut towards New York. Tom is determined to destroy the X-Men and plans to kidnap Madame Web and exploit her gifts to that end. Unfortunately, he has no idea that if she is unplugged from her life-support chair for even seconds she will die…

Brutish and impatient the mystic man-monster Marko, drops into the ocean and walks through the airless depths of the Atlantic sea-floor across the remaining miles to the Big Apple, for truly ‘Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut’…

Striding ashore determined and oblivious to all attempts to stop him, the Juggernaut ponderously proceeds in a direct line to his target, smashing through people, cars, buildings and Spider-Man. Unable to defeat or even slow the monster and with no other super-heroes available the Web-Spinner redoubles his efforts but fails to save Web…

Realising he has failed when the savant collapses into a coma, Marko callously turns away and starts his long, slow, immensely destructive walk back to his ship…

The saga concludes with ‘To Fight the Unbeatable Foe!’ wherein an impossibly overmatched and righteously enraged Wall-crawler determines to make the monster pay for his crimes at any and all costs, resulting in one of the most improbable and incredible triumphs of his career.

This spectacular David and Goliath clash, riotously referencing the classic monster-invaders-and-trashes-the-big-city film genre, is a perfect slice of what makes Spider-Man great: tension-packed drama, heroic ingenuity, indomitable courage and astounding action. This yarn is indubitably one of the best individual collections of the hero ever assembled another perfect primer for anyone looking to discover the magic for the first time.
© 1989 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Flash: Blitz

New revised review

By Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, Phil Winslade & various (DC)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-986-7

Blitz brings to an end a stunning storyline which has already filled previous editions Blood Will Run, Rogues and Crossfire – so you’d better have read those first – and sees third incarnation of the Flash Fastest Man Alive Wally West end his protracted war against a veritable army of super-villains in triumph and tragedy as potentially his greatest foe, the “Reverse Flash” called Zoom, strikes his cruellest blow.

This climactic collection gathers the tumultuous epic conclusion from Flash volume 2, #192-200 and opens with ‘Run Riot, part 1: Awakened’ scripted, as ever, by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Scott Kolins & Doug Hazlewood wherein an army of apes invades Extreme-Security metahuman penitentiary Iron Heights to free diabolical super-gorilla Grodd, consequently liberating most of the Rogues Flash had spent so much time and energy capturing.

Instantly on the scene, Wally is hard-pressed to contain the chaos before ‘On the Run’ ramps up the tension as the monstrous anthropoid casually, callously cripples Wally’s friend Rogue-profiler Hunter Zolomon and leaves the Scarlet Speedster a physically and emotionally broken man before escaping.

‘Dead or Alive’ finishes the Run Riot triptych as an almost-restored and vengeful Vizier of Velocity visits the hidden Gorilla City which spawned Grodd in search of allies and answers just as that hirsute horror attempts to conquer the apes who first spurned him…

After that catastrophic combat Wally returns to America in ‘Off Balance’ where his wife Linda is experiencing some odd symptoms as her pregnancy progresses. And in the Twin Cities of Keystone and Central, deceased villain The Top has returned in a borrowed body… Meanwhile, wheelchair-bound Zolomon finds it impossible to accept his new condition…

Phil Winslade applies his gritty realist art-style to ‘Helpless’ as explosive teleporter Peek-a-boo returns and Zolomon presses Wally to use his time-travelling technology to undo the attack which incapacitated him.

Unable to comply, Flash abandons the angry profiler but is totally unprepared when Linda becomes a casualty of Peek-a-boo’s detonating departures and utterly unaware that the furious ex-cop – obsessed with changing his recent history at all costs – has stolen the time-bending Cosmic Treadmill…

Kolins & Hazlewood return for the eponymous story-arc Blitz and ‘Rogue Profile: Zoom’ wherein Hunter Zolomon’s tragic history is fully revealed and the horrific consequences of his desperate, doomed act become apparent before ‘Rush’ finds him as the newly-minted Zoom hunting everybody Wally holds dear…

‘Into the Fast Lane’ reveals the hideous effects the Treadmill have wrought on Zolomon as his campaign of terror extends to Wally’s hometown: his malign warped intent to inflict maximum suffering on his erstwhile friend, before the spectacular, brutally shocking conclusion ‘The Final Race’ wherein all the Flash’s greatest allies gather to protect Wally and Linda, but simply aren’t enough to forestall a ghastly tragedy…

The culmination of years of high-octane tension and action, this tale cleared the decks for a startling new direction and is prime Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction of the highest quality.
© 2003, 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Captain America vol. 1


New expanded review
By Joe Simon & Jack Kirby and various (Marvel Comics)

ISBN: 0-7851-1619-2

Over the last twenty years a minor phenomenon developed in the world of comic collecting. The success of DC’s Archive imprint – which produced luxury hardback reprints of rare, expensive and just plain old items out of their mammoth back-catalogue – gradually resulted in a shelf-buckling array of Golden and Silver Age volumes which paid worthy tribute to the company’s grand past and still serves a genuine need amongst fans of old comics who don’t own their own software company or Money Bin.

It should also be noted that many volumes, at least latterly, seemed to coincide with the release of a film or TV show.

From tentative beginnings in the 1990’s DC, Marvel and Dark Horse have pursued this (hopefully) lucrative avenue, perhaps as much a sop to their most faithful fans as an exercise in expansion marketing. DC’s electing to spotlight not simply their World Branded “Big Guns” but also those idiosyncratic yet well-beloved collector nuggets – such as Doom Patrol, Sugar and Spike or Kamandi – was originally at odds with Marvel’s policy of only releasing equally expensive editions of major characters from “the Marvel Age of Comics”, but in recent times their Dawn Age material has been progressively released.

A part of me understands the reluctance: sacrilegious as it may sound to my fellow fan-boys, the simple truth is that no matter how venerable and beloved those early stories are, no matter how their very existence may have lead to classics in a later age, in and of themselves, most early Marvel tales just aren’t that good.

This Marvel Masterworks Captain America volume reprints more or less the complete contents of the first four issues of his original title (from March to June 1941) and I stress this because all the leading man’s adventures have often been reprinted before, most notably in a shoddy, infamous yet expensive 2-volume anniversary boxed set issued in 1991.

However, the groundbreaking and exceptionally high quality material from Joe Simon & Jack Kirby is not really the lure here… the real gold nuggets for us old sods are the rare back-up features from the star duo and their small team of talented youngsters. Reed Crandall, Syd Shores, Alex Schomburg and all the rest worked on main course and filler features such as Hurricane, the God of Speed and Tuk, Caveboy; strips barely remembered yet still brimming with the first enthusiastic efforts of creative legends in waiting.

Captain America was created at the end of 1940 and boldly launched in his own monthly Timely title (the company’s original name) with none of the customary cautious shilly-shallying. Captain America Comics, #1 was cover-dated March 1941 and was an instant monster smash-hit. Cap was the absolute and undisputed star of Timely’s “Big Three” – the other two being the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner – and one of the very first to fall from popularity at the end of the Golden Age.

Today, the huge 1940s popularity of the other two just doesn’t translate into a good read for modern consumers – excluding, perhaps, those far-too-few Bill Everett crafted Sub-Mariner yarns. In comparison to their contemporaries at Quality, Fawcett, National/All American and Dell, or Will Eisner’s Spirit newspaper strip, the standard of most Timely periodicals was woefully lacklustre in both story and most tellingly, art. That they survived and prospered is a Marvel mystery, but a clue might lie in the sheer exuberant venom of their racial stereotypes and heady fervour of jingoism at a time when America was involved in the greatest war in world history…

However, the first ten Captain America Comics are the most high-quality comics in the fledgling company’s history and I can’t help but wonder what might have been had National (née DC) been wise enough to hire Simon & Kirby before they were famous, instead of after that pivotal first year?

Of course we’ll never know and though they did jump to the majors after a year, their visual dynamic became the aspirational style for super-hero comics at the company they left and their patriotic creation became a flagship icon for them and the industry.

This lavish and exceptional hardback volume opens with ‘Case No. 1: Meet Captain America’ by Simon & Kirby (with additional inks by Al Liederman) wherein we first see how scrawny, enfeebled young patriot Steven Rogers, continually rejected by the US Army, is recruited by the Secret Service. Desperate to counter a wave of Nazi-sympathizing espionage and sabotage, the passionate young man was invited to become part of a clandestine experiment intended to create physically perfect super-soldiers.

When a Nazi agent infiltrated the project and murdered its key scientist, Rogers became the only successful graduate and America’s not-so-secret weapon.

Sent undercover as a simple private he soon encountered James Buchanan Barnes: a headstrong, orphaned Army Brat who became his sidekick and costumed confidante “Bucky”. All of that was perfectly packaged into mere seven-and-a-half pages, and the untitled ‘Case No. 2’ took just as long to spectacularly defeat Nazi showbiz psychics Sando and Omar.

‘Captain America and the Soldier’s Soup’ was a rather mediocre and unattributed prose tale promptly followed by a sinister 16-page epic ‘Captain America and the Chess-board of Death’ and the groundbreaking introduction of the nation’s greatest foe whilst solving ‘The Riddle of the Red Skull’ – a thrill-packed, horror-drenched master-class in comics excitement.

The first of the B-features follows next as Hurricane, son of Thor and the last survivor of the Greek Gods (don’t blame me – that’s what it says) set his super-fast sights on ‘Murder Inc.’ – a rip-roaring but clearly rushed battle against fellow-immortal Pluto (so not quite the last god either; nor exclusively Norse or Greek…) who was once more using mortals to foment pain, terror and death.

Hurricane was a rapid reworking and sequel to Kirby’s ‘Mercury in the 20th Century’ from Red Raven Comics #1 (August 1940) but ‘Tuk, Caveboy: Stories from the Dark Ages’ is all-original excitement as a teenaged boy in 50,000 BC raised by a beast-man determines to regain the throne of his antediluvian kingdom Attilan from the usurpers who stole it: a barbarian spectacular that owes as much to Tarzan as The Land that Time Forgot…

Historians believe that Kirby pencilled this entire issue and although no records remain, inkers as diverse as Liederman, Crandall, Bernie Klein, Al Avison, Al Gabrielle, Syd Shores and others may have been involved in this and subsequent issues…

Captain America Comics #2 screamed onto the newsstands a month later and spectacularly opened with ‘The Ageless Orientals Who Wouldn’t Die’, blending elements of horror and jingoism into a terrifying thriller, with a ruthless American capitalist the true source of a rampage against the nation’s banks…

‘Trapped in the Nazi Stronghold’ saw Cap and youthful sidekick Bucky in drag and in Europe to rescue a pro-British financier kidnapped by the Nazis whilst ‘Captain America and the Wax Statue that Struck Death’ returned to movie-thriller themes in the tale of a macabre murderer with delusions of world domination, after which the Patriotic Pair dealt with saboteurs in the prose piece ‘Short Circuit’. Tuk then tackled monsters and mad priests in ‘The Valley of the Mist’ (by either the King and a very heavy inker or an unnamed artist doing a passable Kirby impression) and Hurricane speedily and spectacularly dealt with ‘The Devil and the Green Plague’ in the depths of the Amazon jungles.

17-page epic ‘The Return of the Red Skull’ led in #3 – knocking Adolf Hitler off the cover-spot he’d hogged in #1 and #2 – as Kirby opened up his layouts to utterly enhance the graphic action and a veritable production line of creators joined the art team (including Ed Herron, Martin A, Burnstein, Howard Ferguson, William Clayton King, and possibly George Roussos, Bob Oksner, Max Elkan and Jerry Robinson) whilst eye-shattering scale and spectacle joined non-stop action and eerie mood as key components of the Sentinel of Liberty’s exploits.

The horror element dominated in ‘The Hunchback of Hollywood and the Movie Murder’ as a patriotic film was plagued by sinister “accidents” after which Stan Lee debuted with the text tale ‘Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge’ before Simon & Kirby – and friends – recounted ‘The Queer Case of the Murdering Butterfly and the Ancient Mummies’; blending eerie Egyptian antiquities with a thoroughly modern costumed psychopath.

Tuk (drawn by either Mark Schneider – or perhaps Marcia Snyder) reached ‘Atlantis and the False King’ after which Kirby contributed a true tale in ‘Amazing Spy Adventures’ and Hurricane confronted ‘Satan and the Subway Disasters’ with devastating and final effect.

The last issue in this fabulous chronicle opens with ‘Captain America and the Unholy Legion’ as the heroes crushed a conspiracy of beggars terrorising the city, before taking on ‘Ivan the Terrible’ in a time-busting vignette and solving ‘The Case of the Fake Money Fiends’, culminating on a magnificent high by exposing the horrendous secret of ‘Horror Hospital’.

After the Lee-scripted prose-piece ‘Captain America and the Bomb Sight Thieves’ young Tuk defeated ‘The Ogre of the Cave-Dwellers’ and Hurricane brought down the final curtain on ‘The Pirate and the Missing Ships’.

An added and very welcome bonus for fans is the inclusion of all the absolutely beguiling house-ads for other titles, contents pages, Sentinels of Liberty club bulletins and assorted pin-ups…

Although lagging far behind DC and despite, in many ways having a much shallower Golden Age well to draw from, it’s great that Marvel has overcome an understandable reluctance about its earliest product continues to re-present these masterworks – even if they’re only potentially of interest to the likes of sad old folk like me – but with this particular tome at least the House of Ideas has a book that will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best that the Golden Age of Comics could offer.
© 1941 and 2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.