Now Read This!

May 2, 2011May 1, 2011

Ultimate Comics New Ultimates: Thor Reborn

By Jeph Loeb & Frank Cho (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-475-1

The stark, savage and nihilistically modern Utimates Comic universe is stocked with dark and gritty analogues of the shiny dynasty crafted by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, but since its inception at the turn of this century has resolved into something which can easily stand on its own merits.

With the Norse hero Thor very much in the public eye at the moment a number of his Ultimately alternative adventures have quickly found themselves translated into graphic novels and Thor Reborn, although certainly not the easiest to begin your acquaintance with, is probably the most action-packed and definitely the best illustrated.

Written by Jeph Loeb and captivatingly depicted by Frank Cho the saga is actually a tale of the alternate Avengers (originally published as Ultimate Comics New Ultimates #1-5) which opens with the Thunderer trapped in the land of the dead, and mourned on Earth by his fellow heroes – especially his devoted lover Valkyrie; a mortal woman artificially empowered by clandestine means who now wields Thor’s hammer.

When her old team the Defenders attacks Ultimates HQ, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Captain America, Valkyrie and mystery goddess Zarda are easily defeated and the attackers steal the mystic mallet, setting off a disastrous chain of deadly eventsâ€¦

Meanwhile the lost Thor has been granted a chance to escape his dolorous prison: all he has to do is impregnate his captor: Hela, Queen of Deathâ€¦

Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil and Black Panther are just strolling through the park when Loki, god of Madness and Mischief, with Amora the Enchantress in tow, leads an invasion of trolls and monsters to Earth. In his hand is Thor’s dimension-traversing hammerâ€¦

Before the assembled champions can muster a defence Amora mesmerises all the female Ultimates including S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Carol Danvers, and inevitably the indomitable, hard-pressed heroes fallâ€¦

But at the moment of triumph a secret weapon turns the tide and the Ultimates escape to fight another day, whilst in Valhalla, bargain fully carried out, Thor readies himself to return, only to discover that one small detail has been neglected. For him to return to life once more, somebody on the other side must dieâ€¦

Tense, compelling and explosively cathartic, the saga of the Thunderer’s return is pure comics hokum of the very highest quality: unassuming but wildly satisfying.

May 1, 2011May 1, 2011

Omaha the Cat Dancer Complete Set (part 2)

By Reed Waller & Kate Worley with James M. Vance (NBM/Amerotic)
Set ISBN: 978-1-56163-601-3
Vol. 4 ISBN: 978-1-56163-451-4, vol. 5 ISBN: 978-1-56163-451-4, vol. 6 ISBN: 978-1-56163-451-4, vol. 7 ISBN: 978-1-56163-451-4

These books are intended to make adults laugh and think and occasionally feel frisky. If the cover images haven’t clued you in, please be warned that these items contain nudity, images of sexual intimacy – both hetero and homosexual – and language commonly used in the privacy of the bedroom and probably school playgrounds whenever supervising adults aren’t present.

If that sort of thing offends you, read no further and don’t buy these books. The rest of us will just enjoy one of the best graphic novel experiences ever created without you.

Omaha the Cat Dancer began during the 1970s as an â€œundergroundâ€ venture and over slow torturous decades grew into a brilliant but controversial drama of human fallibility were all the actors just happened to be ordinary people with animal characteristics. What most people noticed was the matter-of-fact and constant inclusion of graphic sex acts, extremely well rendered.

As there’s only so much a man of my hard-lived years can endure and certainly only so much me you can stand, I’ve divides this graphic novels review of the series and specifically the glorious seven-volume complete set that prompted it in two (see yesterday’s post for the rest). The entire supremely economical shrink-wrapped gift set is available for your reading pleasure and you’d be bonkers not to not take advantage of the fact, but if you are of a cautious nature most individual editions can still be obtained through internet retailers.

The stunning, addictive saga of the erotic dancer, her bone-headed boyfriend and the anthropomorphic extended ensemble cast takes a dark and dreadful turn with Volume 4 (re-presenting the Kitchen Sink Omaha issues #10-13 and the one-page gag strip ‘Alterations’ from Fire Sale #11988-1989) as the mysterious death of Charles Tabey Sr., the increasing violence and oppression of the Campaign for Decency and a seemingly constant stream of personal revelations strain Omaha and Chuck’s relationship to the breaking point.

The Story resumes after an introduction from writer James Vance (who married Kate Worley after she split up with Waller and worked with the artist to finish the saga from her notes after her untimely death in 2004), before the tense drama kicks into high gear as Chuck comes to terms with the shocking knowledge that his mother didn’t die decades ago. The pressure seems to be affecting him badly – or perhaps the thought of all the wealth and responsibility – and the decent young man is becoming as exploitative, abusive and creepy as his manic dad was, but even though he’s acting paranoid, it doesn’t mean he’s hasn’t got real and deadly enemies. The situation isn’t helped by learning that somewhere his beloved Omaha has a husband she hasn’t quite divorced and never ever mentionedâ€¦

The sinister Senator Bonner is ratchetting up the pressure of his anti-smut campaign and even close ally Jerry is working to his own agenda, with the assistance of avaricious partner Althea. Confused, lonely and neglected, Omaha devotes her energies to dancing for the upcoming video for Shawn’s band, and Rob confronts Shelley whom he believes ordered the attempt on his life and torching of his studioâ€¦

At long last the will is read and Chuck does indeed inherit the bulk of his father’s holdings and, apparently, many of Tabey Sr.’s deranged obsessions. The far more intriguing than she appears Shelley acts on Rob’s misperceived accusations whilst her lover/carer Kurt Huddle finds part-time employment with the mysterious Mr. Lopez – the last major player in an increasingly complex game. Meanwhile high-powered call-girl, blackmailer and keeper of Secrets Joanne re-insinuates herself with Jerry and Chuck and Bonner in a terrifying confrontation threatens to destroy Omaha and Chuck in his own blackmail schemeâ€¦

During the video shoot Omaha and Joanne compare notes on Bonner, after which the capable call-girl enlists Rob’s photographic aid in a scheme to get the goods on the hypocritical Senator – with whom she shares a highly secret and extremely specialised professional relationshipâ€¦

Whilst both Joanne and Rob are practising their unique skills the senator is murdered in the most compromising of all positions and the story moves effortlessly from human drama to dark murder mystery. Abandoned, bewildered, angry and very hurt, Omaha leaves town unaware that both she and Joanne are suspects in the Bonner murder caseâ€¦

As she heads for a new life in rural Wisconsin, Chuck is learning some long-forgotten personal history from his mother, but no matter how she disguises her appearance that increasingly popular video means the cat dancer will never be truly safe or unseenâ€¦

Volume 5 is introduced by Neil Gaiman, after which issues #14-17 (1990-1992) find the lovers painfully adapting to life apart, with all of Omaha’s old friends wondering where she’s gone. Meanwhile in Lawrenceville, Wisconsin, after an abortive stab at office work for an all-too-typical, male-dominated factory, â€œSusan Johnsonâ€ goes back to honest work dancing in the town’s only strip joint, making some reliable new friends and meeting a young man who will become far more…

In Mipple City, Joanne and her lawyer finally clear her of suspicion in Bonner’s murder, Jerry is planning to reopen infamous bordello The Underground as a legitimate nightclub, and Chuck is making new friends and intimate acquaintances whilst spending his days trying to save the Bohemian A Block district from redevelopment, inadvertently getting far closer to the heart of all the various intrigues that threaten the players in the drama, and Jerry’s business partner Althea reveals her true colours and allies. At Senator Bonner’s funeral Lopez reveals an unsuspected connection to the venomous politicianâ€¦

Shelley has made new friends too (in a scathing and utterly delightful episode exposing unexpected biases in certain sorts of feminists and do-gooders), Joanne is increasingly at odds with Rob regarding the films of Bonner’s last moments and when Jerry invites Chuck to become a partner in his new nightclub Althea tries to secure the deal by offering herself as sweetenerâ€¦ or does she actually have another reason for her bold advances?

Kurt and Shelley’s relationship begins to show signs of strain but in Lawrenceville â€œSusanâ€ is relaxed and happy, with the strength to contact the friends she ran out on.

In Mipple, the cops are slowly uncovering some uncomfortable facts about everybody in the Bonner case when the Senator’s private secretary comes forward with new information, whilst Joanne is finally securing her final weapon necessary to expedite her plansâ€¦

The final Kitchen Sink issues (#18-20, 1993-1994) comprise the major part of the sixth volume, and follow an introduction from Terry Moore, a brief discourse on the cat dancer cast’s other appearances and a few shorts pieces from diverse places.

First there’s a delightful humorous foray into mainstream comics from Munden’s Bar Annual #2 in 1991. ‘A Strip in Time’, wherein the exotic kitty pops up in the legendary pan-dimensional hostelry, after which two short and sexy vignettes originally produced for The Erotic Art of Reed Waller , one untitled and the other graced with the subtly informative designation ‘Waking Up Under a Tent’, act to somewhat offset the angst and drama of the main event.

Rob learns what Shelley’s actual role was in the arson attack on his shop, Joanne takes a live-in position with Mr Lopez and after many abortive attempts Chuck and Omaha finally speak. As Thanksgiving dawns many of Omaha’s friends gather for a momentous dinner, things start to unravel for the bad-guys trying to destroy A Block and in Wisconsin, just as she is becoming reconciled with Chuck, the cat dancer’s fling with appreciative punter Jack intensifies to a crisis point. Meanwhile elsewhere, somebody with an intimate knowledge of her recognises the hot dancer in a rock video and begins making fevered inquiriesâ€¦

When Shawn’s touring band reaches Lawrenceville and discover â€œSusieâ€ is Omaha, the scene is set for her return to Mipple City, where, after being arrested in connection with Bonner’s murder, Chuck’s mother reveals the whole story of her past and the sordid truth of Calvin Bonner’s obsessive depravity and Charles Tabey’s bi-polar affliction. In light of the horrific revelations Chuck seems to go completely off the deep end and, far too late, his friends and family realise that money and looks might not be the only things the son inherited from the fatherâ€¦

Next, just a smidge out of chronological order, comes ‘Tales of Mipple City: Rob Steps Out’ a charming first date tale which first appeared in the anthology series Gay Comics #22 (1994) after which the tension and revelations resume as the cops release Maria Elandos Tabey, whilst her son is sectioned. In Lawrenceville, Susie gets an unforgettable farewell from Jack after which she returns to her true love who has never needed her moreâ€¦

The final volume in this magnificent series features the last four issues published by Fantagraphics as Omaha the Cat Dancer volume 2, #1-4 (1994-1995). The series has at times seemed cursed: plagued by illness and creative problems which have taken its toll on all the creators. The creators ended their relationship in spectacular fashion at this time and only began working together again in 2002. Soon after Kate Worley died from cancer and it seemed the saga was destined to remain an unfinished masterpiece, but in 2006 Waller and Worley’s husband James Vance began to finish the job from her notes, with the concluding chapters serialised in the magazine Sizzle. When those final instalments are finally collected the completed Omaha the Cat Dancer will be possibly the finest adult comics tale in historyâ€¦

For now however the brilliant yarn reaches a kind of conclusion here as after an introduction from honorary Mipple City resident Denis Kitchen, and a stunning cartoon recap Omaha and Chuck renew their relationship, Jerry and Shelley and Rob and Joanne reach workable dÃ©tente agreements and that missing husband tracks the cat dancer to her new home. Set over the Christmas/New Year period, all the various plot threads come together during an unforgettable party at Chuck’s palatial new house, although the hung-over aftermath promises that there are still stories to be told and loose ends to be knotted off once and for all.

Even if the saga stopped here, Omaha the Cat Dancer would be an incredible narrative achievement and groundbreaking landmark of comics creation, but with the promise of a final resolution still to come, it looks set to become an icon of our industry, celebrated forever for moving beyond simple titillation and happy, innocent prurience to become a fully matured work of Art.

Captivating, intense, deeply moving and addictively engrossing, Omaha never forgets to be also be fun and fabulous and utterly inclusive: full of astonishingly well drawn, folk (admittedly largely furry or feathered folk) happily naked and joyously guilt – freeâ€¦ at least about sex…

No cats, dogs, birds or ferrets were harmed, abused, distressed or disagreeably surprised in the making of these lovely, lovely books, so if you’re open-minded, fun-loving and ready for the perfect grown-up adventure please take advantage of this unmissable opportunity. You won’t regret itâ€¦.

April 30, 2011May 1, 2011

Omaha the Cat Dancer Complete Set (part I)

By Reed Waller & Kate Worley with James M. Vance (NBM/Amerotic)
Set ISBN: 978-1-56163-601-3
Vol. 1 ISBN: 978-1-56163-451-4, vol. 2 ISBN: 978-1-56163-457-3, vol. 3 ISBN: 978-1-56163-474-3

If that sort of thing offends you, read no further and don’t buy these books. The rest of us will just enjoy one of the best graphic novel experiences ever created without you.

Omaha the Cat Dancer began during the 1970s as an â€œundergroundâ€ venture and over the torturous decades grew into a brilliant but controversial drama of human fallibility with all the characters played by funny animals. What most people noticed was the matter-of-fact and constant inclusion of graphic sex acts.

The series was subject to many obscenity seizures by various muddle-headed stickybeaks over the years, inspiring the formation of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. One classic case apparently involved the local defenders of morality raiding a comics store because Omaha promoted Bestiality!

As there’s only so much excitement a man of my advanced years and proclivities can endure (and probably only so much me you can stand) I’ll be to reviewing these seven tomes in two batches rather than in totality but I will remind you each time that the whole saucy saga is available in a supremely economical shrink-wrapped gift set that you’d be crazy to not take advantage of.

After an introduction by late-coming co-scripter James Vance and Reed Waller’s original intro from the 1987 collected edition, The Complete Omaha the Cat Dancer volume 1 gathers the short story appearances from a number of Counter-culture Commix as well as some out-of-continuity infilling short pieces so readers can enjoy what can best be described as the official Directors Cut of the tale.

The wicked wonderment begins with the very first ‘Adventures of Omaha’ from Vootie in 1978. Vootie began in 1976 as a self-published fanzine founded by Reed Waller and like-minded artistic friends who bemoaned the loss of anthropomorphic comics – once a mainstay of US comicbooks.

When contributors also griped that there wasn’t much sex in comics either, Waller, taking inspiration from R. Crumb’s Fritz the Cat and responding to an intensification of local Blue Laws, created the evocative, erotic dancer and compared her free and easy life-style against a typical, un-elected, interfering know-it-all moral guardian busybody. Blue Laws are particularly odious anti-fun statutes – usually instigated by religious factions – designed to keep the Sabbath holy by dictating shop-opening hours and generally limit or ban adult entertainments like clubs and pubs, and their repressive use (in fact and fiction) became a major narrative engine for the series.

‘Why they Call Her Omaha’ introduces young stripper Susie Jensen who hits the metropolis of Mipple City, Minnesota (a thinly concealed Minneapolis) and signs up with a modelling agency where she meets fellow dancer Shelley Hine. Over lunch they bond and pick a better stage name for the gorgeous but naive newcomer, whilst ‘Kitten of the Month’ and ‘Omaha centrefold’ reveal the first glorious results of her managements efforts. No-holds barred sexual action returns in ‘Shelley and Omaha’ with the girls, now popular erotic dancers, meeting some guys who will play a big part in the unfolding drama to come.

In ‘Chuck and Omaha’, which officially heralded the beginning of scripter Kate Worley’s stunning contribution to the series, Jerry – one those aforementioned pick-up guys – introduces Omaha to Chuck Katt, a shy artist who will become the great love of the sexy kitty’s life. ‘Adventures of Omaha’ sees the budding relationship progress whilst ‘Tip of the Iceberg’ moves the grander story arc along when Mipple bans nipples in the opening shot of a political power-grab using Christian and Family-morality pressure groups as unwitting, if fervent, patsiesâ€¦

Although it comprises less than 50 pages the preceding material took nearly fifteen years to produce. For years Omaha had no fixed abode; peripatetically wandering from magazine to Indie book and even guest-shots in the occasional mainstream publication. From Kitchen Sink’s Bizarre Sex #9-10 in 1981-2, a pastiche page in E-Man (in 1983 and included in volume 2), Dope Comix #5 (1984), she even starred in a story from Munden’s Bar Annual #2 in 1991. Often stalled for creative, not censorship, reasons Omaha finally won her own title in 1984 from SteelDragon Press, but vanished again until 1986 when Kitchen Sink Press finally took over publication. For further details I strongly advise checking the lovely official website at www.omahathecatdancer.com.

Volume 1 switches to high gear and addictive narrative mode with the 40 page ‘Omaha #0’: a single page recap followed by a powerfully compelling yarn wherein the forces of decency make life increasingly difficult for the adult entertainment industry. With stripper bars closing Omaha is recruited to dance for â€œThe Undergroundâ€: an exclusive, ultra-secret, high-class bordello that caters to the darkest desires of America’s ultra-elite of: businessmen and politicians many of whom are actively leading the Decency campaignâ€¦

Shelley is involved too, recruiting contacts from her old profession for more hands-on roles. Meanwhile Chuck has reapplied for his old advertising job where his old girlfriend Joanne makes life uncomfortable. However she has other problems as powerful forces are drawing Omaha and Chuck into a far-reaching and sinister schemeâ€¦

On opening night all the elements for disaster converge as the â€œMovers and Shakersâ€ get more debauchery than even they can handle: someone has doped the entire proceedings leading to a violent, destructive orgy and set up cameras to record the whole event for blackmail purposes. As they flee the club hitmen try to kill Chuck but shoot Shelley instead. Believing her dead, Omaha and Chuck run for their lives. Heading for Joanne’s house Chuck reveals that he is the son of Charles Tabey: monomaniacal millionaire businessman, undisputed ruler of Mipple City and the probable target of the assassinationâ€¦

Narrowly escaping another murder attempt they find Tabey and Joanne are intimately involved and are horrified to find that the millionaire was behind the whole thing, intending to mould Chuck into the kind of son he needs. The man is also clearly raving madâ€¦

The traumatised, terrified young lovers jump into their car and head for California in the short ‘Adventures of Omaha’ vignette and the first volume concludes with the contents of ‘Omaha #1‘ as they reach San Francisco tired, hungry and broke.

Grateful for the kindness of strangers, they soon discover Joanne waiting for them and find that Tabey is not their only persecutor. During a drunken three-way another hired killer almost ends them allâ€¦

From a well-intentioned, joyous celebration of open living free-loving modernity Omaha had evolved into a captivating adult soap opera and conspiracy thriller of mesmerising intensity and complexityâ€¦

Volume 2, with a reprinted introduction by Kate Worley, eases into the enticing adult entertainment with the aforementioned ‘Hotziss Twonkies’ parody from First Comics’ E-Man #5 before issues #2-5 enlarge the sinister saga. In the aftermath of their latest close shave, Chuck and Joanne antagonistically spar whilst the increasingly traumatised cat dancer wanders the streets of San Francisco. When she is abducted by Tabey, who is moving against all his old enemies, Chuck and Joanne fall into bedâ€¦

Meanwhile Jerry, who also works for Tabey, is busying sorting the fallout from the club riot and shooting. In a secluded palatial beach-house Omaha discovers that Chuck’s dad has been watching over them for some time and soon discovers another shocking secretâ€¦.

Omaha was utterly groundbreaking in its mature treatment of gay and disabled relationships; offering the sound and common sense opinion that this is what all people think and do and after all, â€œit’s just sexâ€â€¦

Paralysed but not deceased Shelley is also sequestered in the house. She is a long-term Tabey employee and slowly developing a relationship with her nurse Kurt Huddle, and the manic tycoon has convinced Omaha to stay and help care for her. Back in Frisco Chuck has rekindled his old relationship with Joanne, utterly unaware that she has the films and photos taken at the club on that terrible night.

Rob Shaw, gay photographer, enters the picture, as developer and guardian of the contentious materials and old friend of Joanne. Chuck misses Omaha and the tension leads to him splitting with Joanne and moving in with Rob. The cat dancer too is lonely and finds unsatisfactory solace with Jerry again, but when Tabey goes off his meds Jerry arranges for Chuck and Omaha to reunite, leading to a dreadful confrontation between father and long-estranged son, as an apparent result of which the millionaire takes his own lifeâ€¦

Together again at last, Omaha and Chuck comfort each other as the repercussions of Charles Tabey Sr.’s demise shake the country and the cast. The close-knit group endure loss, guilt and outrageous press scrutiny as the matter of inheritance crops up. Against his wishes, Chuck might be incredibly rich and saddled with unwanted responsibilities but there are some unspecified problems with the will.

The plots thicken when Joanne and Rob have a falling out and as all this is going on, back in Mipple City a powerful new threat makes his move. Senator Bonner was one of the patrons at the Underground that fateful night but now he’s making a move for total power, stirring up a wave of fundamentalist hatred and anti-smut indignation with his â€œCrusade for Decencyâ€â€¦

Volume 3 (covering issues #6-9 and with an introduction by Trina Robbins) follows the action back to Minnesota, but things are difficult for Chuck and Omaha who can’t seem to re-establish their earlier, innocent rapport. They go house-hunting, whilst in San Francisco Rob Shaw is visited by thugs after the photos of the riot at The Underground. His shop destroyed, the photographer narrowly escapes burning with itâ€¦

Mipple City’s Blue Laws are more draconian than ever. When Omaha and Shelley, who has moved into the ground floor of the Cat dancer’s new house, visit their old workplace the Kitty Korner, they discovers that the performers now have to dance behind plate glass – which makes tucking punter’s tips into g-strings really trickyâ€¦

When old friend Shawn turns up he tells Chuck and Omaha of the plan to redevelop A Block – that part of town where all the artists, musicians and strip clubs are. Something needs to be done to stop it – and now, Chuck might just be the richest, most influential degenerate in townâ€¦

As the lovers go furniture shopping Shelley and Kurt look for a suitable physical therapy clinic – preferably a non-religious, non-judgemental un-condescending one – and later whilst Omaha helps Shelley move in, Chuck and Jerry make plans to fight the destruction of A Block, but as ever, there is far more going on than the lovers can imagineâ€¦

Omaha wants to get back into dancing and as Chuck becomes increasingly mired in the running of his father’s many businesses, Kurt learns some of Shelley’s murky history and Joanne and Jerry compare notes and make plans.

Rob turns up in Mipple after more attempts on his life, convinced that he needs to find his attackers’ boss before his luck runs out and the book ends on a shocking note for Chuck when he discovers that long-dead mother isn’tâ€¦

All these volumes, printed in black and white and at 8Â½ inches by 11, much larger than the original comicbooks, also contain many full page illustrations (many from the delightful art-book The Erotic Art of Reed Waller). This saga is one of the turning points of comics history – a moment when we could all provably say â€œthis is socially relevant, capital â€œAâ€ Artâ€ – as viable and important as the best play or film or symphony: don’t miss this opportunity to make the whole marvellous classic yours foreverâ€¦

April 29, 2011May 1, 2011

Ultimate Thor

By Jonathan Hickman, Carlos Pacheco & Dexter Vines (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-484-3

In 2000, when Marvel retooled their traditional continuity into a separate, darker, grittier universe more relevant to the video game-playing, movie-watching 21^st century readers than the 1960s Lee/Kirby/Ditko ongoing monolith, they started with the most popular characters and only gradually added analogues for the established characters and trademarks.

Even when the Avengers finally appeared as the Ultimates, readers were only sparingly brought up to speed on the assorted back-stories of the alternative heroes and villains – especially the wild, hammer-wielding warrior who couldn’t decide if he was Thorlief Golmen, mental patient, psychiatric nurse and anti-American radical protester or Thor, ancient Norse god of Thunder and battle.

After many struggles against his malicious, reality-warping brother Loki, the immensely powerful Thor is found here as a patient under the care of the European Union Super Soldier program. When his doctors call in linguistic expert and psychotherapist Donald Blake the true and fantastic story of his origins unfoldâ€¦

Eons ago Asgard was a fantastic place of adventure and glory; an ideal paradise for the young warrior-brothers Balder, Thor and Loki to fight, carouse and enjoy life. But even gods grow older and apartâ€¦

The time is just prior to the start of World War II Nazi Occult scientist: Baron Zemo leads an army against Asgard, having already allied himself with the gods’ greatest enemies, the Frost Giantsâ€¦

All is not as it seems however, and Zemo is no mortal invader. Moreover his intention is to end all the gods and bring about Ragnarokâ€¦ and despite the magnificent heroics of the Norse deities he succeeds. But now it is revealed that the brothers did not die and were reborn in mortal form on Earthâ€¦

Now as an Age of Supermen begins the brothers awakeâ€¦ and one of them is madâ€¦

Compellingly scripted by Jonathan Hickman and beautifully illustrated by Carlos Pacheco & Dexter Vines this lovely yarn (originally released as miniseries Ultimate Comics Thor #1-4) could probably be a mite confusing for readers who haven’t seen Thor’s other Ultimate appearances and certainly is quite choppy in delivery as it in-fills the missing portions of those stories. Even so, this is still a hugely engaging adventure that could easily act as an introduction to those other epics and is well worth your attention.

April 28, 2011April 28, 2011

Bigger Nothings: The Little Nothings Gift Set volumes 1-3

By Lewis Trondheim, translated by Joe Johnson (NBM/ComicsLit)
ISBN: vol. 1: 978-1-56163-523-8 vol. 2: 978-1-56163-548-1 vol. 3: 978-1-56163-576-4
Gift pack ISBN: 978-1-56163-599-3

I first became aware of Lewis Trondheim’s subtly enchanting vignettes in Fantagraphics’ Mome comics anthologies rather than through its internet presence and it’s an utter delight for this old duffer (me, not him) to see this blend of cartoon philosophy, personal introspection, whimsical inquiry and foible-filled observations gathered into such handy tomes for constant re-reading.

With over 100 books sporting his name, (which isn’t actually Lewis Trondheim but Laurent Chabosy) the writer/artist/editor and educator is one of Europe’s most prolific comics creators: illustrating his own work, overseeing animated cartoons of such print successes as La Mouche (The Fly) and Kaput and ZÃ¶sky and editing the younger readers book series Shampooing for Dargaud.

His most famous works are the global hits ‘Les Formidables Aventures de Lapinot’ (translated as The Spiffy Adventures of McConey) and, with Joann Sfar, the Donjon (Dungeon) series of nested fantasy epics (see the translated Dungeon: Parade, Dungeon: Monstres and Dungeon: the Early Years).

In his spare time he has written for satirical magazine Psikopat and provided scripts for many of the continent’s most popular artists – such as Fabrice Parme (Le Roi Catastrophe, VÃ©nÃ©zia), Manu Larcenet (Les Cosmonautes du futur), JosÃ© Parrondo (Allez Raconte and Papa Raconte) and Thierry Robin (Petit PÃ¨re NoÃ«l),

He is a cartoonist of uncanny wit, piercing, gentle perspicacity, comforting affability and self-deprecating empathy and prefers to control scrupulously what is known and said about himâ€¦

A little while ago the well-travelled graphic introvert began drawing a deliciously intimate cartoon blog wherein all the people Trondheim knows are rendered as anthropomorphisedÂ animals (with him a dowdy, parrot-beaked actor/director) which has been edited into a series of enchanting full-colour albums. Page after page of introspective, whimsical, querulous and enticingly intriguing reportage has emerged since, and thanks, presumably, to the global recession you can now pick up the first three in an extremely economical bargain gift packâ€¦

Volume 1, The Curse of the Umbrella, features ruminations on gardening and possessing a vegetable death-touch, introduces his family, examines the love-hate relationship with technology and computer games and covers the dramas of becoming first time cat-owners at an advanced age. Hypochondria and the internet’s impact as an enabler of such recurs, as do work-processes for the self-employed, keeping fit, snacks, memory, death, bird-poop, the weather and travel to comics events in exotic locations such as the Reunion Islands and Edinburgh. The daily bulletins explore little events and really big themes and there are also purely visual moments that you just have to see to getâ€¦

In volume 2, The Prisoner Syndrome, the cascade of cartoon delights continues with more of the same whilst adding summer beach madness, floating with the fishes, exploring volcanoes, ecology and hotel wastefulness, comic convention memory (so different from the regular kind). There’s animal antics, travel, energy-saving, visiting Africa, Guadeloupe, Romania and London, the differences between men and women, global political crises and the heartbreaking helplessness and inevitable consequences of seeing your pet die.

Uneasy Happiness, the third and final volume in this collected set, sees the bird-faced gentleman amicably nit-picking and further musing his way through the life of an old and successful comic creator: travelling to conventions, making stories and dealing with the distressingly peculiar modern world, especially focusing on his increasing hoarding proclivities, concerns over his creative and financial legacy, mice in the bookshelves and packing…

The ruminations and anti-dramas regularly range from his inability to de-clutter (every comic maven’s weakness!), toilet etiquette (public and private), gadgets, marriage, parenthood, the actual science in TV shows, how mad cats are, brilliant ideas that come when you’re asleep, computers, and getting old, interspersed with reactions to the many wonderful places he has visited on the comics convention circuit (Venice, Portugal, Fiji, Australia and others in this volume).

All genteelly re-coloured for book publication, these Little Nothings have become some of my favourite 21^st century graphic novels; gently contemplative, subtly pleasingâ€¦

I strongly suggest that if you need a little non-theological, un-theosophical yet hilariously existential spiritual refreshment you take advantage of this fortuitous collection with the utmost alacrityâ€¦

April 27, 2011April 27, 2011

Thor: For Asgard

By Robert Rodi & Simone Bianchi (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-482-9

Once again a major motion picture adaptation has generated a host of supplemental comics product and as Thor thunders onto silver screens everywhere there’s plenty for established fans and freshly-interested parties to grapple withâ€¦

In this effective and beautiful re-imagining by Robert Rodi, illustrated with astounding imagination and beauty (if not always the greatest narrative or sequential clarity) by Simone Bianchi, the long dreaded Twilight of the Gods has begun and cracks are beginning to show in the heroic faÃ§ade of the noble and mighty Asgardiansâ€¦

Reprinting the six-issue miniseries published in 2010 under the Marvel Knights imprint the saga opens in the second icy year of the dread Fimbulwinter, with the shining god Balder long dead, all-father Odin long missing and Thor as Regent.

A better warrior than ruler Thor leads an embattled, increasingly contentious and disgruntled populace in punitive forays against old enemies such as the Frost Giants. All around them former vassal states are stretching long unused muscles and airing old grievances and his two closest advisors are at constant odds with each otherâ€¦

With the snowy streets of Asgard awash with resentment, if not outright sedition, Idunn informs the out-of-his-depth Thunderer that the Golden Apples – source of immortality – are almost gone and with Spring and Summer banished, no more will grow.

Asgard’s enemies are gathering, led by a secret mastermind, Odin’s mysterious mission has gone awry and, in the gleaming city, mutterings have become desperate, traitorous acts. With even Valhalla, the glorious Hall of the Dead, threatened, and now murder in the streets, Thor needs all his powers to help him, but even his faithful magic mallet has betrayed him: it has been long indeed since the Prince of Asgard was worthy enough to wield the Hammer of the Godsâ€¦

With chaos and destruction all around can the hard-pressed Thor hold things together or would the truly heroic thing be to let Ragnarok come and start fresh amid the ruinsâ€¦?

Bleak, subtly allegorical and utterly enchanting, this moody epic of endings and new beginnings is a powerful tale of a deftly different pantheon that will delight newcomers to the character but possibly irritate long-term Marvelites.

Moreover, by ending on a foreboding note – completists should take heed – the tale is not completely done and there may be more to followâ€¦

April 26, 2011April 27, 2011

R.I.P. Best of 1984-2004

By Thomas Ott and friends (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 987-1-60699-417-7

Being an old geezer but unreconstructed punk at heart I can firmly attest and confirm that the teen-years urge to shock and addiction to loud, fast, shouty-boy music never goes away. The same holds true for in-your-face comic stripsâ€¦

Thomas Ott is a Swiss cartoonist, musician, satirist and film-maker (born in Berne in June 1966) who has, since the mid-1980s, been producing stunning strips and pastiches for commercial publications such as Ahai, Okay Erotik Magazin, Strapazin, SÃ¼ddeutsche Zeitung, El Vibora, LibÃ©ration, L’Echo des Savanes and a host of others whilst pursuing his own uniquely meticulous trash-culture visions in self-published monochrome anthological albums such as Tales of Error, Dead End, and Greetings from Hellville.

Now this retrospective compendium from Fantagraphics presents 19 of the very best (seven never before seen) spanning two decades of shocking horror, crime noir, mordant, nihilistic love, juicy revenge, surreal justice and bleak, black irony all delivered in Ott’s signature and obsessively meticulous scratchboard style, with gleaming white narrative emerging from ebon pages, sans dialogue but occasionally boasting impressive and imaginative typography.

Beginning with raw and raucous EC comics homages ‘The Hero’, ‘Clean Up!’, ‘A Wrinkled Tragedy’ and ‘Headbanger’; gradually building up to longer – and far shorter – pieces such as ’10 Ways to Kill Your Husband’, ‘Massacre Melodies Presents Buddy Butcher in â€œBuddy Goes Bloodyâ€’, ‘G.O.D.’, ‘Goodbye!’, ‘The Job’,Â ’10’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Hardbitten mystery and sardonic imagination begin to predominate with ‘Breakdown’, ‘The Millionairs’ and ‘Washing Day’ but there’s still room for a laugh in ‘Dawn of the Dead’ and ‘The Clown’ or a disturbing chill in ‘La FiancÃ©e du Lapin’ (written by David B) and sheer exuberance in ‘Recuerdos de Mexico’ before ending in classic droll darkness with ‘The Hook’.

Ott’s psychobilly sensibilities litter his narrative world with pimps, thugs and geeks; desperate chancers, deadly beloveds and down and outs on the edge of reality as well as society, so if jaded comics fans might feel they’ve been here before, the wider world are still only curious first-timers into a dismal dimension of vice, spice and bad adviceâ€¦

Graphic, violent funny and unforgettable this is a special treat for thrill-starved adults in search of something a little beyond the normâ€¦

April 25, 2011April 27, 2011

Krampus: the Devil of Christmas

By various, edited by Monte Beauchamp (Last Gasp)
ISBN: 978-0-86719-747-1

With Easter upon us it’s clearly time to start thinking about Christmas and this delightfully engrossing hardback celebration from artist, historian and designer Monte Beauchamp (a welcome expansion on his 2004 book The Devil in Design) focuses on a lost aspect of the Season of Good Will.

For decades Monte Beauchamp’s iconic, innovative narrative and graphic arts magazine Blab! highlighted the best and most groundbreaking trends and trendsetters in cartooning and other popular creative fields. Initially published through the auspices of the much-missed Dennis Kitchen’s Kitchen Sink Press it moved first to Fantagraphics and exists as the snazzy hardback annual Blabworld from Last Gasp. Here however he looks back not forward to revel in the lost exuberance and dark creativity of a host of anonymous artists whose seasonal imaginings spiced up the Winter Solstice for generations of kidsâ€¦

In Western Europe, particularly the German-speaking countries but also as far afield as Northern Italy and the Balkans, St Nicholas used to travel out with gifts for good children accompanied by a goat-headed, satanic servant. Fur-covered, furtive, chain-bedecked, sinister and all-knowing, the beast-man with a foot long tongue and one cloven hoof, wielded a birch switch to thrash the unruly and a large sack to carry off disobedient children.

The Krampus became a fixture of winter life in Austria, Switzerland and the German Principalities, with his own special feast-day (December 5^th – just before St. Nikolaus’ Day), parades, festivals and ceremonial child-scaring events. Back then we really knew how to reward the naughty and the niceâ€¦

This spectacular tome celebrates the thrilling dark edge of the Christmas experience as depicted through the medium of the full-colour postcards that were a vital facet of life in Europe from 1869 to the outbreak of World War I.

However, even with fascinating histories of the character and the art-form related in ‘Greetings From Krampus’, ‘Festival of the Krampus’ and ‘Postal Beginnings’ the true wonder and joy of this collection is the glorious cacophony of paintings, prints, drawings collages – and even a few primitive photographic forays – depicting the delicious scariness of the legendary deterrent as he terrified boys and girls, explored the new-fangled temptations of airplanes and automobiles and regularly monitored the more mature wickednesses of courting couplesâ€¦

A feast of imagination and tradition ranging from the wry, sardonic and archly knowing to the outright disturbing and genuinely scary this magical artbook is a treasure not just for Christmas but for lifeâ€¦

April 24, 2011April 24, 2011

Essential Defenders volume 2

By Len Wein, Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2150-1

Last of the big star-name conglomerate super-groups, the Defenders would eventually number amongst its membership almost every hero – and a few villains – in the Marvel Universe. No surprise there then since the initial line was composed of the company’s major league bad-boys: misunderstood, outcast and often actually dangerous to know.

For Marvel in the 1970s, the outsider super-group must have seemed a conceptual inevitability – once they’d finally published it. Apart from Spider-Man and Daredevil (both of whom come visiting in this tome) all their heroes regularly teamed up in various mob-handed assemblages, and in the wake of the Defenders’ success even more super-teams featuring pre-existing characters would be packaged – the Champions, Invaders, New Warriors and so onâ€¦ but never with so many Very Big Gunsâ€¦

The genesis of the team in fact derived from their status as publicly distrusted â€œvillainsâ€, and they never achieved the â€œin-continuityâ€ fame or acceptance of other teams, but that simply seemed to leave the creators open to taking a few chances and playing the occasional narrative wild card.

This second semi-chronological monochrome masterpiece collects a wealth of material from a large list of sources: Giant Sized Defenders #1-5 (not 1-4 as it so embarrassingly states on the cover), Defenders #15-30, Marvel Two-In-One #6-7, Marvel Team-Up #33-35 and Marvel Treasury Edition #12 and opens with a stunning combination of highly readable reprints wrapped in a classy framing sequence by Tony Isabella, Jim Starlin & Al Milgrom.

Giant Sized Defenders #1 (cover-dated July1974) begins with Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers’ ‘Banished to Outer Space’ from The Incredible Hulk #3, followed by a brilliant 1950s Bill Everett Sub-Mariner fantasy-thriller ‘Bird of Prey!’ From there the focus switches to Dr. Strange for the Denny O’Neil scripted Steve Ditko mini-masterpiece ‘To Catch a Magician!’ (Strange Tales #145) and the concoction concludes with a big battle as the three stars plus sorcerer’s apprentice Clea and the valiant Valkyrie dispatch a self-inflicted mystic menace.

After a splendid double-page pin-up by Sal Buscema the regular epics resume with Defenders #15 and a two-part duel manic mutant Magneto who first institutes a ‘Panic Beneath the Earth!’ courtesy of writer Len Wein, Buscema & Klaus Janson, leading X-Men mentor Charles Xavier to enlist the outcast heroes aid.

The concluding clash includes the Brotherhood of Evil and ‘Alpha the Ultimate Mutant’ (inked by Mike Esposito) after which Giant Sized Defenders #2 (October1974) positively astounds with the superb supernatural thriller ‘Hâ€¦ as in Hulkâ€¦ Hellâ€¦ and Holocaust’ wherein Wein, Gil Kane and Janson pit the always-embattled Jade Giant against the sinister Sons of Satanish and the Defenders must perforce call on Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan, for some highly specialised assistanceâ€¦

In Defenders #17 the core-group of Dr. Strange, Hulk, Valkyrie and reformed bad-boy Nighthawk engaged with and then enlisted the aid of Hero for Hire Luke Cage in ‘Power Play’ (Wein, Buscema & Dan Green) wherein the bombastic Wrecking Crew’s decimation of New York’s prime real estate while hunting for a hidden super-weapon led to a spectacular ‘Rampage!‘ before the furious finale (Chris Claremont, Wein, Buscema & Janson) found everybody frantically ferreting out the location of a deadly ‘Doomball!’

Immediately afterwards, Strange, Clea and Fantastic Four lynchpin The Thing encountered a disharmonious cosmic challenge in Marvel Two-In-One #6’s ‘Death-Song of Destiny’ (by Steve Gerber, George Tuska & Esposito) that concluded in #7 with ‘Name That Doom!’ (Sal Buscema pencils) as Valkyrie joined the melee just in time to cross swords with the egregious Enchantress and Executionerâ€¦

The aftermath of that eldritch encounter spilled over into Defenders #20 as Gerber came aboard to begin a truly groundbreaking run of stories. ‘The Woman She Wasâ€¦’ (Buscema & Vince Colletta) started to unravel the torturous backstory of Valkyrie’s unwitting human host Barbara Norris during a breathtakingly bombastic battle that also reanimated the diabolical threat of the Undying Ones (see Essential Defenders volume 1 for details).

Steve Gerber was a uniquely gifted writer who combined a deep love of Marvel’s continuity minutiae with irrepressible wit, dark introspection and measured imagination and surreality. His stories were always at the extreme edge of the company’s intellectual canon and never failed to deliver surprise and satisfaction.

In Defenders #21 he began a long and epically peculiar saga with ‘Enter: the Headman!’ (illustrated by Buscema & Sal Trapani) wherein a trio of thematically linked scientists and savants, all â€œstarsâ€ of Marvel’s pre-superhero fantasy anthologies, opened their insidious campaign of conquest and vengeance by driving the city temporarily insaneâ€¦

Before the next chapter however, a brace of extended sagas play chronological catch-up here: firstly ‘Games Godlings Play!’ from Giant-Size Defenders #3 (written by Gerber, Starlin & Wein with art from Starlin, Dan Adkins, Don Newton & Jim Mooney) with Daredevil joining Strange, Valkyrie, and Sub-Mariner to save the Earth from the Grandmaster, a cosmic games-player whose obsession with gladiatorial combats pitted the heroes against intergalactic menaces from infinityâ€¦ and beyond.

Then follows a more down-to-Earth tale as the ex-Avenger Yellowjacket popped in to help crush insane criminal genius Egghead and Nighthawk’s old gang the Squadron Sinister on ‘Too Cold a Night for Dying!’ (Giant Sized Defenders #4, by Gerber, Don Heck & Colletta).

Marvel Team-Up #33-35 come next; a triptych of tales by Gerry Conway, Buscema and Colletta opening with Nighthawk and Spider-Man asking ‘Anybody Here Know a Guy Named Meteor Man?’, leading the webslinger to an inflammatory death-cult and requiring Valkyrie to help mop up the sky-borne bandit in ‘Beware the Death Crusade!’.

MTU #35 revealed how Dr. Strange and The Human Torch cleaned out that fiery ‘Blood Church!’ whilst Valkyrie languished in the cultist’s dungeon dimensionâ€¦

Meanwhile, in Defenders #22’s ‘Fangs of Fire and Blood!’ (Gerber, Buscema & Esposito) the secret society known as the Sons of the Serpent began another hate-fuelled racist terror-pogrom, forcing the outcast champions into an uncomfortably public response in ‘The Snakes Shall Inherit the Earth!’ with Yellowjacket returning to confront his old enemies (See Essential Avengers volume 2).

Even with his assistance the Defenders were defeated and left ‘â€¦In the Jaws of the Serpent!’ (inked by Bob McLeod) necessitating a nick-of-time rescue by Daredevil, Luke Cage and Daimon Hellstrom before the epic ended in a stunning twist as ‘The Serpent Sheds its Skin’ (inked by Jack Abel).

Giant Sized Defenders #5 was another diverse-hands production with the story ‘Eelar Moves in Mysterious Ways’ credited to Gerber, Conway, Roger Slifer, Wein, Claremont & Scott Edelman. Dependable Don Heck & Mike Esposito drew the satisfyingly cohesive results: how the Defenders met with future heroes Guardians of the Galaxy in a time-twisting disaster yarn that set up the next continued arc for the monthly comicbookâ€¦

‘Savage Time’ (Defenders #26 by Gerber, Buscema & Colletta) saw Hulk, Strange, Nighthawk and Valkyrie accompany the Guardians back to 3015AD in a bold bid to liberate the last survivors of mankind from the alien, all-conquering Badoon: a mission which opened with ‘Three Worlds to Conquer!’, became infinitely more complicated when ‘My Mother, The Badoon!’ revealed the sex-based divisions that so compellingly motivated the marauding lizard-men and triumphantly climaxed in the stirring ‘Let My Planet Go!’

The pressures of producing regular comics is staggering and constant with the slightest communications delay, illness, personal emergency or even work lost in transit causing all manner of costly hiccups. During the 1970s these â€œDreaded Deadline Doomsâ€ occurred all too often and in response Marvel instituted a policy of keeping one-size-fits-all, complete stories for every title in â€œinventoryâ€: i.e. stashed in a drawer ready to use in an emergencyâ€¦

Designed to fill pages on time but produced with the intention of never being used, most of them were not that goodâ€¦

‘Gold Diggers of Fear!’ (Defenders #30, by Bill Mantlo, Sam Grainger & Jack Abel) pitted Strange, Hulk, Nighthawk and Valkyrie against Tapping Tommy, a high-tech assassin who based his modus operandi and weaponry on Busby Berkeley musical numbersâ€¦

The 1970s were strange: When Gerber’s eccentric throwaway character Howard the Duck proved popular enough to support his own series it quickly became one of Marvel’s top sellers. So much so that when the 1976 Presidential race began fans began a campaign to nominate the moody mallard through a Write-in Vote. Their satirical slogan was â€œGet Down, America!â€

This bizarrely appealing volume ends with Marvel Treasury Edition #12, originally a tabloid-sized special which followed Howard’s reluctant bid for the Oval Office in ‘The Duck and the Defenders’ (Gerber, Buscema & Janson); an hilarious guest-star stuffed extravaganza pitting the World’s Weirdest Heroes against a dryly sardonic team of mystic wannabes – comprising Sitting Bullseye, Tillie the Hun, The Spanker and their implausible guru Dr. Angst â€“ all bound and determined to frustrate the will of the masses and gain ultimate power themselvesâ€¦

It’s not serious Fights ‘n’ Tights but it is seriously funny.

For the longest time The Defenders was the best and weirdest superhero comicbook in the business, and this bitty, unwieldy collection was where it all started. The next volume would see the inspirational unconventionality reach stellar heightsâ€¦

If you love superheroes but crave something just a little different these yarns are for youâ€¦ and the best is still to come.

April 23, 2011April 24, 2011

Showcase Presents Eclipso

By Bob Haney, Lee Elias, Alex Toth & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2315-1

Although it’s generally accepted that everybody loves a good villain they seldom permit them the opportunity of starring in their own series (except perhaps in British comics, where for decades the most bizarre and outrageous rogues such as Charlie Peace, Spring-Heeled Jack, Dick Turpin, Von Hoffman or The Dwarf were seen as far more interesting than mere lawmen).

However when America went superhero crazy in the 1960s (even before the Batman TV show sent the entire world into a wild and garish â€œHigh Campâ€ frenzy) DC converted all of its anthology titles into character-driven vehicles and long-running paranormal investigator Mark Merlin suddenly found himself sharing the cover spot with a costumed but very different kind of co-star.

Breathing new life into the hallowed Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde concept, Bob Haney and Lee Elias debuted ‘Eclipso, The Genius Who Fought Himself’ in House of Secrets #61, cover-dated July-August 1963, the saga of solar scientist Bruce Gordon who was cursed to become host to a timeless Evil.

Whilst observing a solar eclipse on tropical Diablo Island, Gordon was attacked and wounded by a crazed witchdoctor named Mophir, wielding a black diamond. As a result whenever an eclipse occurred Gordon’s body was possessed by a demonic, destructive alter ego with incredible powers and malign hyper-intellect. The remainder of the first instalment showed how the intangible interloper destroyed Gordon’s greatest achievement: a futuristic solar-powered city.

The format established, Gordon, his fiancÃ© Mona Bennett and her father, who was also Gordon’s mentor, pursued and battled the incredible Eclipso and his increasingly astounding schemes. At least he ha a handy weakness: exposure to sudden bright lights would propel him back to his cage within Bruce Gordonâ€¦

‘Duel of the Divided Man’ saw the helpless scientist attempting to thwart the uncontrollable transformations by submerging to the bottom of the Ocean and exiling himself to space – to no effect, whilst in ‘Eclipso’s Amazing Ally!’, illustrated by the legendary Alex Toth, the malignant presence manifests when an artificial eclipse and lab accident frees him entirely from Gordon’s body. Against the backdrop of a South American war Gordon and Professor Bennett struggled to contain the liberated horror but all was not as it seemedâ€¦

Issue #64 ‘Hideout on Fear Island’ saw Gordon, Mona and Bennett hijacked to a Caribbean nation inundated by giant plants for an incredible clash with giant robots and Nazi scientists. Naturally when Eclipso broke out things went from bad to worseâ€¦

‘The Man Who Destroyed Eclipso’ had the Photonic Fiend kidnap Mona before a deranged physicist actually separated Eclipso and Gordon in a wild scheme to steal a nuclear missile, whilst the threat of a terrifying alien omnivore forced heroes and villain to temporarily join forces in ‘The Two Faces of Doom!’

‘Challenge of the Split-Man!’ found Gordon and Eclipso once more at odds as the desperate scientist returned to Mophir’s lair in search of a cure before inexplicably following the liberated villain to a robot factory in Scotland.

Veteran cartoonist Jack Sparling took over the artist’s role with #68 wherein ‘Eclipso’s Deadly Doubles!’ revealed how Gordon’s latest attempt to effect a cure only multiplied his problems, after which ‘Wanted: Eclipso Dead or Alive!’ found the beleaguered scientist hired by Scotland Yard to capture himself – or at least his wicked and still secret other selfâ€¦

‘Bruce Gordon, Eclipso’s Ally!’ returned the long suffering trio to Latin America where an accident robbed Gordon of his memory – but not his curse, leading to the most ironic alliance in comics, ‘The Trial of Eclipso’ had the periodically freed felon finally captured by the police and threatening to expose Gordon’s dark secret and ‘The Moonstone People’ stranded the Bennetts, Gordon and Eclipso on a lost island populated by scientists who hadn’t aged since their own arrival in 1612â€¦

Even such a talented writer as Bob Haney occasionally strained at the restrictions of writing a fresh story for a villainous protagonist under Comics Code Restrictions and the later tales became increasingly more outlandish after ‘Eclipso Battles the Sea Titan’ wherein a subsea monster threatened not just the surface world but also Eclipso’s ultimate refuge – Bruce Gordon’s bodyâ€¦

Another attempt to expel or eradicate the horror inside accidentally created a far more dangerous enemy in ‘The Negative Eclipso’ after which a criminal syndicate, fed up with the Photonic Fury’s disruption of their operations, decreed ‘Eclipso Must Die!’

It had to happen – and did – when Mark Merlin (in his superhero persona of Prince Ra-Man) met his House of Secrets stable-mate in the book-length thriller ‘Helio, the Sun Demon!’ (#76, with the concluding second chapter drawn by the inimitable Bernard Baily) wherein Eclipso created a fearsome, fiery solar slave and the Bennetts teamed with the enigmatic super-sorcerer to free Bruce and save the world from flaming destruction.

All-out fantasy subsumed suspense in the strip’s dying days with aliens and creatures abounding, such as ‘The Moon Creatures’ which Eclipso grew from lunar dust to do his wicked bidding or the hidden treasure of Stonehenge that transformed him into a ‘Monster Eclipso’.

Issue #79 featured a return match for Prince Ra-Man in ‘The Master of Yesterday and Tomorrow!’ with Baily again pitching in to tackle an extended epic wherein Eclipso got his scurrilous hands on a selection of time-bending trinkets, whilst #80 (October 1966) ended the series with no fanfare, no warning and no ultimate resolution as ‘The Giant Eclipso!’ pitted the fade-away fiend against mutants, cops and his own colossal doppelganger.

Not everything old is gold and this quirky, exceedingly eccentric collection of comics thrillers certainly won’t appeal to everyone. However there is a gloriously outrÃ© charm and fanciful delight in these silly but absorbing sagas if you’re of an open minded mien, and the art of Elias, Toth, Sparling and Baily has never looked more vibrant or effective than in this crisp and splendid black and white collection.

Not for him or them then, but perhaps this book is for youâ€¦

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