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March 10, 2013March 7, 2013

Isis & Osiris: To the Ends of the Earth – An Egyptian Myth

Isis
By Jeff Limke & David Witt (Graphic Universe)
ISBN: 978-1-58013-320-3, 978-0-82256-570-3

The heroic tales and beliefs of ancient cultures have for centuries formed an integral part of children’s educational development – and a good thing too. These days though, those magnificently inspiring and unforgettably visual yarns are as likely to be disseminated via graphic novel as through the sparsely illustrated prose books which had such a formative influence on my early days.

Isis & Osiris: To the Ends of the Earth was released in 2007, one self-contained chronicle in a larger series which similarly retold through sequential narrative many other myths and legends such as Jason’s Quest with the Argonauts, the Labours of Hercules or the Saga of King Arthur.

Packaged as full-colour, 48 page, card-cover booklets, they were designed to introduce kids to the magical riches of human history and imagination. This particular epic retells one of the oldest stories of our species, revealing a story of love, hate and the devotion of marriage, as well as describing the invention of Egypt’s infamous burial ceremony and system of justice.

The story begins in the most ancient of days as the divine Isis begins a holy ritual with the royal infant Dactyl, simultaneously regaling him with a tale of ‘A Party to End all Parties’. At that long-ago festival her beloved and revered husband Osiris was betrayed by his jealous, ambitious and infinitely wicked brother Set.

The dark plotter had brought a lavish and ornate stone sarcophagus carved from solid rock to the celebration and proposed a party game: whomever the beautiful bier best fitted would win it forever. Everybody tried and failed to settle into it until noble, jolly Osiris at last lay within, at which time it magically sealed itself, trapping the king of the gods within ‘A Stone-Cold Prize’â€¦

His fate sealed, Osiris and the sarcophagus were hurled into the mighty Nile River by Set’s servants, to vanish from sight as the triumphant usurper assumed control of the world. Heartbroken but determined, Isis became a ‘Goddess Interrupted’ as she roamed the Earth for years, searching for her lost husband.

The Nile was the source of all life and Osiris’ magical passage had wrought wondrous changes and transformations Isis could track as she wearily walked the world. Eventually Isis arrived in the land ruled by Queen Astarte where she was made most welcome even as she saw the stump of a huge Tamarisk tree and felt the presence of he long-lost love.

The mighty growth was so impressive that the King had ordered it to be carved into a glorious imperial column for his palace, and when she travelled there Isis knew her quest was ended.

Arriving at our story’s starting point, the divine goddess, in her gratitude, was attempting to bless Astarte’s infant son Dactyl with her heavenly gifts when the suspicious queen inadvertently burst into her chamber and interrupted the benison. This contravention of the law of courtesy cost the mother and her son greatlyâ€¦

Angered and impatient, Isis shattered the ceremonial column and released the hated sarcophagus from within it, before commandeering a boat and crew to take her beloved back up the Nile to his stolen kingdom.

‘A God Comes Home, a God Goes Missing’ found the reunited couple preparing to celebrate Osiris’ resurrection, with amazing new gifts for the people – such as farming tools and wheat – aided by their hawk-headed son Horus and Set’s jackal-headed boy Anubis. As they busied themselves, nobody saw a giant boar steal in and remove the still-slumbering Osirisâ€¦

When she discovered him missing the goddess exploded in fury, unleashing her wrath against the people until fair-minded Horus calmed her down and restored her reason.

By the banks of the river, the boar resumed his true shape and spiteful, jealous Set, determined never to lose or share the worship of mankind, cut his brother into many pieces and scattered them ‘To the Ends of the World’â€¦

Shattered and disconsolate, Isis is comforted and encouraged by Set’s wife Nephthys, who urges her to find the strength to search for her husband again. With the aid of her sister-in-law, Anubis, and Horus, Isis once more roams the earth until all the scattered segments of Osiris are found and reconstituted. All but oneâ€¦

With a vital fragment missing, Isis has a potter construct a clay replacement from the earth her husband had previously blessed, and undertakes a new ceremony to recombine, reunite and reanimate the pieces. By ‘Making a Mummy’ she and her priests totally heal the withered husk and bring Osiris back to vibrant life.

His journey to the Land of the Dead had greatly changed the mighty ruler and, restored to health and power, he has accepted a great burden. Henceforth he will judge all those going to the afterlife with a set of scales balancing the evil in men’s hearts against the weight of a heavenly featherâ€¦

All religious stories are devised to explain away contemporary unsolved questions and unknowable mysteries. The liturgical history lesson retold here was one people’s attempt to rationalise the course of their lives as farmers whilst explaining how and why their laws and customs began and, although grossly simplified here, works in an engaging manner that should certainly tempt readers to go and find out more.

Engrossing, dynamic, pretty and blessed with a light touch, this splendid introduction to mythology is designed for kids with a reading age of nine or above – that’s Year 4, I suspect – and also contains a full ‘Glossary’ of characters and concepts, suggested ‘Further Reading, Websites and Films’, creator biographies in ‘About the Author and the Artist’ and an ‘Index’.

They also read very well as sequential narrative in their own right and would serve not just as educational aid but as a smart way to get your youngsters into comics.
Â© 2007 Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

March 9, 2013March 7, 2013

Batman: Knight and Squire

Batman - Knight and Squire
By Paul Cornell & Jimmy Broxton with Staz Johnson (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3071-5

British Dynamic Duo Knight and Squire first appeared in the cheerfully anodyne, all-ages 1950s – specifically in a throwaway story from Batman #62 (December 1950/January 1951) – as ‘The Batman of England!’

Earl Percy Sheldrake and his son Cyril returned a few years later as part of seminal assemblage ‘The Batmen of All Nations!’ (Detective Comics #215 January 1955) – a tale retrieved from the ranks of funnybook limbo in recent times and included in Batman: Black Casebook – with sequel ‘The Club of Heroes’ appearing in World’s Finest Comics #89, July-August 1957. That one’s reprinted in Showcase Presents World’s Finest volume 1.

The characters had languished in virtual obscurity for decades before fully entering modern continuity as part of Grant Morrison’s build-up to the Death of Batman and Batman Incorporated retro-fittings of the ever-ongoing legend of the Dark Knight dynastyâ€¦

They floated around the brave New World for awhile with guest shots in places like Morrison’s JLA reboot and Battle For the Cowl before finally getting their own 6-issue miniseries (December 2010 – May 2011), courtesy of scripter Paul Cornell and artist Jimmy Broxton (with some layout assistance from Staz Johnson), who rather bit the hand that fed them by producing a far from serious, but captivating quirky and quintessentially English frolicsome fantasy masterpiece.

It all begins, as most things boldly British do, down the pub. However The Time in a Bottle is no ordinary boozer but in fact the favourite hostelry for the United Kingdom’s entire superhuman community: the worthy and the wickedâ€¦

Hero and villain alike can kick back here, taking a load off and enjoying a mellow moment’s peace thanks to a pre-agreed truce on utterly neutral ground, all mystically enforced by magics and wards dating back to the time of Merlinâ€¦

As the half-dozen chapters of ‘For Six’ open it’s the regular first Thursday of the month – and that’s an in-joke for Britain’s comics creator community – with the inn abuzz with costumed crusaders and crazies, all determined to have a good time.

Cyril Sheldrake, current Earl of Wordenshire and second hero to wear the helm and mantle of The Knight, sends his trusty sidekick Beryl Hutchinson – AKA The Squire – to head off a potential problem as established exotics Salt of the Earth, The Milkman, Coalface, The Professional Scotsman and the Black and White Minstrels all tease nervous newcomer The Shrike.

He’d do it himself but he’s chatting with Jarvis Poker, the British Jokerâ€¦

The place is packed tonight in honour of visiting yank celebrity Wildcat, and a host of strange, outrageous and even deadly patrons all bustle about as Beryl chats to the formerly cocky kid who’s also getting a bit of grief because he hasn’t quite decided if he’s a hero or villain yetâ€¦

She’s giving him a potted history of the place when the customary bar fight breaks out but things take an unconventionally dark turn and an actual attempted murder occurs. It would appear that two of these new gritty modern heroes have conspired to circumvent Merlin’s pacifying protectionsâ€¦

Each original issue was supplemented with a hilarious text page which here act as chapter breaks, so after ‘What You Missed If You’re A Non-Brit’ (a glossary of national terms, traits, terminology and concepts adorned with delightful faux small ads), the tale continues as Beryl and Cyril spend a little down-time in rural Wordenshire where the local civilians tackle the insidious threat of The Organ Grinder and his Monkey so as not to bother the off-duty Defenders.

However the pair do rouse themselves to scotch the far more sinister schemes of inter-dimensional invader Major Morris and the deadly Morris Menâ€¦

That’s supplemented by the far-from-serious text feature ‘What Morris Men are Like’â€¦

The saga then kicks into high gear with the third instalment as Britain’s Council for Organised Research announces its latest breakthrough.

C.O.R.’s obsessively romantic Yorkist Professor Merryweather had no idea that her DNA reclamation project would lead to a constitutional crisis after she reconstituted Richard III, but it seems history and Shakespeare hadn’t slandered the Plantagenet at all. The wicked monarch was soon fomenting rebellion, using his benefactor’s technology to resurrect equally troublesome tyrants Edward I, Charles I, William II and the ever-appalling King John and even giving them very modern superpowersâ€¦

Of course Knight, Squire and her now besotted not-boyfriend Shrike were at the vanguard of the British (heroic) Legion mustered to fight for Queen and Country and repel the concerted criminal uprisingâ€¦

Following a history lesson on ‘Cabbages and Kings’, Beryl invited the Shrike back to the Castle for tea, teasing and some secret origins, but things went typically wrong when Cyril’s high tech armour rebelled, going rogue and attacking them all.

The text piece deals with ‘Butlers and Batmen’ before it all goes very dark when lovable celebrity rogue Jarvis Poker gets some very bad news from his doctor and a terrifying follow-up visit from the real Joker.

The CampCriminal was desperately concerned about his national legacy but GothamCity’s Harlequin of Hate is just keen on increasing his ghastly and frankly already astronomical body-count. First on the list is that annoying Shrike kid, but the American psycho-killer has big, bold, bizarre plans to make the UK a completely good guy-free zoneâ€¦

Broken up with a two-part ‘The Knight and Squire Character List’, it all culminates and climaxes with a spectacular and breathtaking showdown after the malevolent Mountebank of Mirth goes on a horrendously imaginative hero-killing spree that decimates the Costumed Champions of Albion: a campaign so shocking that even Britain’s bad-guys end up helping to catch the crazed culpritâ€¦

Rewarding us all for putting up with decades of â€œGor, blimey guv’norâ€ nonsense in American comics whilst simultaneously paying the Yanks back for all those badly researched foggy, cobbled-rooftops-of-London five minutes from Stonehenge stories which littered every aspect of our image in the USA, this witty, self-deprecating, action-packed and deucedly dashing outing perfectly encapsulates all the truly daft things we noble Scions of Empire Commonwealth love and cherish about ourselves.

Stuffed with surreal, outrageous humour, double entendres, quirky characters, catchphrases and the comedy accents beloved by us Brits – Oh, I say, Innit Blud? – and rife with astonishingly cheeky pokes at our frankly indefensible cultural quirks and foibles, this is the perfect book for anyone who loves grand adventure in the inimitable manner of Benny Hill, Monty Python and the Beano.

Also included are covers and variants from Yanick Paquette & Michel Lacombe and Billy Tucci & HiFi, plus a wealth of working art, character designs and sketches by Jimmy Broxton and an unpublished spoof cover in tribute to the immortal Jarvis Pokerâ€¦

Buy this book. It’s really rather good. Oh, go on, do: you know you want toâ€¦
Â© 2011, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

March 8, 2013March 5, 2013

Avengers/Defenders War

Av-def war
By Steve Englehart, Bob Brown, Sal Buscema & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2759-8 (HC), Â Â Â Â Â 978-0-7851-5902-5 (2012 TPB)

For kids – of any and all ages – there is a simply primal fascination with brute strength and feeling dangerous, which surely goes some way towards explaining the perennial interest in angry tough guys who break stuff as best exemplified by Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk. When you add the mystery and magic of Doctor Strange the recipe for thrills, spills and chills becomes simply irresistibleâ€¦

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 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 again 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.

The Avengers, however, are the result of one of the most momentous events in Marvel Comics history, when in 1963 Stan Lee & Jack Kirby combined most of their disparate, freshly minted individual heroes as a response to the astounding success of National/DC’s Justice League of America.

The Mighty Avengers combined the company’s fledgling superhero stars Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package: ostensibly called together by fate to stop the Incredible Hulk – although Asgardian nemesis Loki was actually the fiend behind it all.

Over the years the roster has waxed and waned until almost every character in their universe has at some time numbered amongst their serried ranks.

As described in his Introduction, in 1973 wunderkind scripter Steve Englehart was writing both series as (well as Doctor Strange, the Hulk and Luke Cage, Hero for Hire) and, yearning for the days of summer blockbuster annuals, decided to attempt his own massive multi-player epic. Bravely given the editorial go-ahead at a time when deadline crunches regularly interrupted ongoing storylines, the author and his regular pencillers Sal Buscema and Bob Brown laid their plansâ€¦

Threads had been planted as early as Defenders #4 with Englehart carefully putting players in place for a hugely ambitious cross-over experiment: one that would turn the comics industry on its head.

When madwoman Barbara Norris was cursed by Asgardian Amora the Enchantress she became an incarnation of old Avengers enemy The Valkyrie. The denouement of the tale also left part-time Avenger and Defender the Black Knight an ensorcelled, immobile stone statue, and as Strange and Co. searched for a cure, aided by the Silver Surfer and the tempestuous Hawkeye (another Assembler looking to forge a solo career), they fell into a subtle scheme orchestrated by two of the greatest forces of evil in all creation.

The massive cross-over experiment began with a little prologue taken from the end of Avengers #115 illustrated by Brown & Mike Esposito. ‘Alliance Most Foul!’ saw extra-dimensional demon lord Dread Dormammu and Loki unite to search for an ultimate weapon that would give them final victory against their foes. They would trick the Defenders into securing the six component parts by â€œrevealingâ€ that the reconstructed Evil Eye could restore the petrified Black Knight, a plan that began at the end of Defenders #8â€¦

The first chapter in ‘The Avengers/Defenders Clash’ was ‘Deception!!’ (Buscema & Frank McLaughlin) as a message from the limbo-locked spirit of the Black Knight was intercepted and doctored by the twins of evil, leading directly to ‘Betrayal!’ wherein the Avengers, hunting for their missing comrade, â€œdiscoverâ€ that their oldest enemies Hulk and Sub-Mariner may have turned the Black Knight to stone.

This and following chapter ‘Silver Surfer Vs. the Vision and the Scarlet Witch’ comprise the contents of Avengers #116, illustrated by Brown & Esposito, wherein the rival teams split up: one to gather the scattered sections of the Eye and the other to stop them at all costsâ€¦

Defenders #9 (Buscema & McLaughlin) began with the tense recap ‘Divide â€¦and Conquer’ before ‘The Invincible Iron Man Vs. Hawkeye the Archer’ and ‘Dr. Strange Vs. the Black Panther and Mantis’ shed more suspicion and doubt on the mystical villain’s subtle master-plan.

Avengers #117 ‘Holocaust’, ‘Swordsman Vs. the Valkyrie’ and the turning point ‘Captain America Vs. Sub-Mariner’ (Brown & Esposito) led to the penultimate clash in Defenders #10 (Buscema & Bolle) ‘Breakthrough! The Incredible Hulk Vs. Thor’ and the inevitable joining together of the warring camps in ‘United We Stand!’, but sadly too late as Dormammu seized the reconstructed Evil Eye and used its unimaginable power to merge his monstrous realm with ours.

Avengers #118 provided the cathartic climactic conclusion in ‘To the Death’ (Brown, Esposito & Giacoia) as all the heroes of the Marvel Universe battled the demonic invasion, whilst united Avengers and Defenders plunged deep into the Dark Dimension itself to end the threat of the evil gods forever (or at least for the momentâ€¦).

With the overwhelming cosmic threat over the victorious Defenders attempted to use the Eye to cure their stony comrade, only to find that his spirit had found a new home in the 12th century.

In Defenders #11’s ‘A Dark and Stormy Knight’ (inked by Frank Bolle), the group travelled to the distant past encountering wonderment, miracles and a kind of happy ending whilst combating black magic. However they ultimately failed to retrieve or restore the Knight and went their separate ways – as did departing scripter Englehart.

Also included in this perfect Fights ‘n’ Tights festival of fisticuffs and frantic action

is a cover gallery of all the issues – including the prologues from Avengers #115 and Defenders #8 – as well as Carlos Pacheco’s cover to the 2002 edition and the full-painted Buscema cover to this book, digitally enhanced by colourists Richard Isanove, Avalon’s Matt Milla & Michael Kelleher.

If all you want is spectacularly pure classic comicbook gratification then this is the book for you – especially as the latest paperback edition of this perennial favourite was only released last yearâ€¦
Â© 1973, 2007, 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

March 7, 2013March 5, 2013

Madwoman of the Sacred Heart

By Jodorowsky & Moebius, translated by Natacha Ruck & Ken Grobe (Sloth Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-908830-01-2

Here’s a modern masterpiece of comics creativity at last available to English-speaking audiences, one of the most intriguing and engaging works by two creative legends of sequential narrative. To some people, this superb piece of thought provoking fiction might be shocking or blasphemous however, so if you hold strong views on sex or religion – especially Christianity – stop right now, spare yourself some outrage and come back tomorrow.

Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky is a filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comics writer, world traveller, philosopher and spiritual guru, born in Tocopilla, Chile in 1929. He is most widely known for his films Fando y Lis, El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Sante Sangre, The Rainbow Thief and others, as well as his vast comics output, such as Anibal 5, (created whilst living in Mexico) Le Lama blanc, Aliot, The Meta-Barons, Borgia and more, co-created with some of South America and Europe’s greatest artists. His nigh decade-long collaboration with Moebius on the Tarot-inspired adventureÂ The Incal (1981-1989) completely redefined and reinvented what comics could aspire to and achieve.

Best known for his violently surreal avant-garde films, loaded with highly-charged, inspird imagery blending mysticism and â€œreligious provocationâ€ and his spiritually informed fantasy and science fiction comics, Jodorowsky is also fascinated by the inner realms and has devised his own doctrine of therapeutic healing: Psychomagic, Psychogenealogy and Initiatic massage. He still remains fully engaged and active in all these creative areas today.

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was born in the suburbs of Paris in 1938 and raised by his grandparents. In 1955 he attended the Institut des Arts AppliquÃ©s where he became friends with Jean-Claude MÃ©ziÃ¨res who, at 17, was already selling strips and illustrations to magazines such as Coeurs Valliants, Fripounet et Marisette and Spirou. Giraud apparently spent most of his time drawing cowboy comics and left after a year.

In 1956 he travelled to Mexico, staying with his mother for eight months, before returning to France and a full-time career in comics, mostly westerns such as Frank et Jeremie for Far West and King of the Buffalo, A Giant with the Hurons and others for Coeurs Valliants in a style based on French comics legend Joseph â€œJijÃ©â€ Gillain.

Giraud spent his National Service in Algeria in 1959-1960, where he worked on military service magazine 5/5 Forces FranÃ§aises and, on returning to civilian life, became JijÃ©’s assistant in 1961, working on the master’s long-running (1954-1977) Western epic Jerry Spring. A year later, Giraud and Belgian writer Jean-Michel Charlier launched the serial ‘Fort Navajo’ in Pilote #210, and soon its disreputable, anti-hero lead character Lieutenant Blueberry became one of the most popular European strips of modern times. In 1963-1964, Giraud produced strips for satire periodical Hara-Kiri and, keen to distinguish and separate this material from his serious day job, first coined his pen-name â€œMoebiusâ€.

He didn’t use it again until 1975 when he joined Bernard Farkas, Jean-Pierre Dionnet and Philippe Druillet – all rabid science fiction fans – to become the founders of a revolution in narrative graphic arts as â€œLes Humanoides Associesâ€. Their groundbreaking adult fantasy magazine MÃ©tal Hurlant utterly enraptured the comics-buying public and Giraud again wanted to utilise a discrete creative persona for the lyrical, experimental, soul-searching material he was producing: series such as The Airtight Garage, The Incal (with Alejandro Jodorosky) and the mystical, dream-world flights of sheer fantasy contained in Arzachâ€¦

To further separate his creative bipolarity, Giraud worked inks with a brush whilst the futurist Moebius rendered with pens. Both of him passed away on March 10^th 2012.

Jodorowsky and Moebius’ second groundbreaking co-creation was originally released in three albums from Les HumanoÃ¯des AssociÃ©s as La Folle du SacrÃ© CÅ“ur (1992), Le PiÃ¨ge de l’irrationnel (1993) and Le Fou de la Sorbonne (1998) before the saga was collected into one massive, ecstatic and revolutionary volume in 2004.

The company’s American arm Humanoids, Inc. translated it into English in 2006, which forms the basis for this comprehensive new edition from fledgling British publisher Sloth Comics.

Professor Alan Mangel is a world-renowned aesthete, deep thinker and chief lecturer at the celebrated Sorbonne. As such he is the focus of much student attention – particularly female – but none as fervent as that of the insular, fanatically bible-bashing Christian and deeply disturbed Elisabeth.

When the teacher’s shrewish wife Myra denounces, shames and impoverishes him at the moment of his greatest triumph, the arrogantly cerebral, proudly austere, violently chaste and determinedly sexually abstinent Mangel loses the awed respect of his once doting students and disciples who shun his once overcrowded classes and even mock and assault him.

Only Elisabeth remains devoted to him but she has designs both carnal and divine on the aging, flabby, secular, lapsed and born-again Jew. To make matters worse, when she throws herself at him and is repulsed, this awakens the philosopher’s own lustful youthful libido which takes form as a gadfly ghost constantly urging him to indulge in acts of vile debauchery and rampant lust.

Eventually the pressure is too great and Mangel agrees to meet Elisabeth at the Church of the Sacred Heart. The journey there is awful: even the universe seems set against him as rude taxi-drivers, a mad old lady tramp and even dogs further humiliate the broken old man.

In the holiest part of the church Elisabeth again attempts to seduce the long sterile and wilfully impotent Alan, explaining that her researches have revealed him to be the biblical Zacharias reborn, destined to impregnate her with a son: the Prophet John who would in turn herald the rebirth of Jesusâ€¦

Again the rational scientist baulks at her words but Elisabeth promises a miracle and when Mangel’s horny, ghostly other self â€œpossessesâ€ him the dotard loses control and finally gives the mad girl what she’s been begging forâ€¦

Plagued with shame and remorse, still tormented by his inner letch and broke, Mangel resumes lecturing and slowly rebuilds his reputation until one day Elisabeth returns, her nude body declaring her to be forever the property of Alan Zacharias Mangel. She is three months pregnant with the sterile man’s baby and has already recruited the St. Joseph who will help them fulfil their sacred missionâ€¦

The divinely-dispatched protector, a drug addict and petty criminal previously called Muhammad, already has a line on The Mary: she’s his girlfriend Rosaura, currently imprisoned in a secure mental hospital. She’s also in a comaâ€¦

Dragged against the will he no longer seems capable of exerting, Mangel experiences his latest ongoing tribulation when St. Joseph breaks The Mary out with the aid of a gun and his distressed guts give way to what will be, for all of the chosen ones, an uncomfortable and prolonged period of stress-related explosive diarrhoeaâ€¦

Against all his rational protests and worries, things just seem to keep falling into place for the pilgrims. Rosura is no longer comatose, and they get away without a single problem – if you don’t count the olfactory punishment the Professor’s rebellious innards are repeatedly inflicting upon them allâ€¦

â€œMaryâ€ is the most ravishing creature he has ever seen, but as crazy as her friends. When she cavorts naked in a field during a midnight thunderstorm, frantically imploring God to impregnate her with the second Jesus, Mangel’s lustful ghost again overtakes him and he surreptitiously copulates with the wildly bucking lascivious loonâ€¦

The next day reality hits hard when he reads of two nurses executed when the comatose daughter of an infamous Columbian drug baron was abducted from a certain institutionâ€¦

The second chapter opens with the four fugitives hiding out in a lavish seaside house and Mangel – as always – arguing with both his priapic phantom and rationalist conscience. His so impossibly, imperturbably, persuasive companions are untroubled: they are simply passing the days until the birth of John the Baptist and the Second Coming of Christâ€¦

The next crisis is pecuniary as the lavish spending of the trio soon exhausts the Professor’s funds and they are reduced to their last 100 franc noteâ€¦

Elisabeth is unconcerned and simply places a bet with it. Operating under divine guidance the horse race wins the quartet three and half million Francs, but before the reeling rationalist can grasp that, there’s another insane development as Mary/Rosaura declares herself to be the Androgynous Christ – both male and female – reborn and made manifest to save us all.

She still looks devastatingly all-woman however, and when she kisses the old fool and sends him back to the Church of the Sacred Heart to â€œobtainâ€ a vial of holy Baptismal oil, he goes despite himself, arguing all the way with his imaginary sex-obsessed younger self.

It’s another humiliating and deranged debacle. The famous house of worship is hosting an ecumenical convention of argumentative theologians of all religions and that self-same crazy woman is still there, claiming to be God and challenging them all.

After driving them away she even tries to have sex with the bewildered fallen philosopher who barely escapes with the stolen oil. The worst of it all is that, based on recent evidence, Mangel can’t even say with any certainty that the ill-smelling harridan isn’t telling the truthâ€¦

Driving back through the fleshpots of the city with his ghost tempting him every inch of the way, the weary savant is dragged back to appalling reality by a newspaper headline declaring that the police have a witness in the murder/abduction of Rosaura Molinares, daughter of the most wanted drug trafficker on Earth.

However, when the nigh-unhinged thinker reaches his sanctuary from reason, the true believers already know. They taped the TV news and show him the witness describing a completely different killer: El Perro, chief hitman of Pedro Molinares‘ Medellin Cartelâ€¦

With the last foundations of precious logic crumbling, Mangel reaches an emotional tipping point and when The Androgynous Christ demands he make love to her, the old fool submits to stress – and his ever-horny spectral alter ego – by surrendering to his lusts. Before long he is in the throes of a bizarre, eye-opening, life-altering four-way love session with all the mad people he has wronged in his head and heartâ€¦

The epiphanic moment is rather spoiled when the wall explodes and a cadre of mercenaries working for a rival cartel burst in, looking for Rosaura’s father. They’re followed by the Columbian Secret Service, also hunting the drug lord and quite prepared to kill everybody to find him.

â€¦And they in turn are ambushed by American DEA agents who slaughter everybody in their sights in their desperation to capture Molinares’ daughter and her weirdo friends. The illegally operating Yanks drag their captives to a submarine waiting offshore just as French police hit the beach and El Perro attacks the sub, spectacularly rescuing the quartet and transporting them to safety by helicopter and cargo planeâ€¦

The concluding chapter opens with all of France astonished by the kidnapping of its most beloved thinker, even as in a Columbian Garden of Eden a newly-enlightened and happy Mangel and his heavily pregnant Elisabeth prepare for the birth of The Child.

The Androgynous Christ too has changed and grown, easily converting the hard-bitten drug gangsters into a holy army of believers in the redeemer Jesusaâ€¦

Top dog Pedro Molinares is dying from cancer and his devoted army are fully, fanatically in tune with Jesusa’s plans, especially after an impossible blood miracle seemingly proves their new leader’s earthbound divinity. Equally astounded, Mangel too reaches a spiritual crisis as he accompanies Elisabeth deep into the jungle to give birth.

Mangel’s journey and ultimate transformation at the hands of rainforest shaman DoÃ±a Paz then lead to even more astonishing revelations, changes and shocks that I’m just not prepared to spoil for you…

Controversial, shocking, challenging, fanciful, enchanting and incredibly funny, this a book you must read and will always remember.
â„¢ Les HumanoÃ¯des AssociÃ©s, SAS, Paris. English version Â© 2011 Humanoids, Inc., Los Angeles. All rights reserved.

March 6, 2013March 5, 2013

The First X-Men: Children of the Atom

By Neal Adams & Christos Gage with Andrew Currie (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-522-2

By now you’re either aware or not of mutant continuity, so in the spirit of this high octane, terse, and immensely enjoyable prequel, I’ll forego the usual catch-up scorecard and prÃ©cis to simply state that new readers can jump on with the minimum of confusion and, by the skilful use of banter, be readily brought up to cruising speed.

Presumably designed to appeal as much to fans of the movie franchise as comicbook aficionados, the drama is set in those Cold War days when Charles Xavier was a college student – and latterly American G.I. – whilst immortal beast Wolverine and feral manhunter Sabretooth both worked as spies specialising in wet-workâ€¦

Even in the Marvel Universe today not all Children of the Atom are found and mentored by heroes, villains or the ever-vigilant Federal Government, and in the long-gone era revealed by this tale (originally released at the end of 2012 as 5-issue miniseries) we learn a few harsh secrets about the early moments of the burgeoning and isolated emergent mutant race and the tragic way today’s draconian status quo was established.

In a fast-paced romp from co-writers Neal Adams and Christos Gage, fully illustrated by the living graphic legend and artistic associates Andrew Wildman & Matthew Wilson, the action begins in the eponymous first chapter when the cagy mutant Logan meets with the son of an old friend.

Young Anthony is â€œspecialâ€ in the same way Wolverine is, but just as the elder metahuman makes contact in the heart of Harlem, the boy starts glowing and explosively detonatesâ€¦

When the boy’s remains are quickly shipped away the veteran spy realises it was by fellow spooks – American FBI agents.

Shocked and shaken Logan talks things over with savage sometime-partner Victor Creed and convinces him to help in hunting down, protecting and training all those other freaks popping up everywhere – before the government scoops them up as guinea-pigs or weaponsâ€¦

However when Logan and Creed break into FBI HQ at Quantico they not only discover Anthony’s body in a lab but also files and plans for the capture of all mutants. Their own names are on a listâ€¦

Although ambushed by agents in robotic armour they easily escape and head for WashingtonDC to foil the next planned rendition – a young girl named Holly Bright â€“ completely unaware that Anthony has revivedâ€¦

Holly is living on the streets and has the ability to take thoughts and images from minds and cast spellbinding illusions, which comes in handy when a full compliment of robo-agents arrive just as Logan and Creed locate her.

The next name takes them to OxfordUniversity in England where brilliant PhD student Charles Xavier is planning his marriage – to Moira MacTaggert – and a rich, happy, uncomplicated future. When the trio of bizarre, brutal creatures turn up they tell him a preposterous story of hunted beings and ask him to join as their leader. He refuses and sends them packing, but he has to believe that he’s on the FBI’s catch listâ€¦ after all he read it in their minds.

Disgusted with the telepath’s refusal to join or even acknowledge the problem, Logan, Creed and Holly head for South America and the next name – a magnetic mutant and determined killer named Erik Lehnsherrâ€¦

First however they find ‘Common Cause’ with a monstrous teen in Colorado, rescuing Ben Goldendawn – Yeti – from common hunters rather than Feds, before joining him in another assault on Quantico. Ben was in mental contact with his equally empowered brother, but when the mutants reach Virginia they find the government facility abandoned and reduced to rubble.

It’s not a complete disaster however. Buried in the debris is the now fully recovered Anthony who gratefully joins the refugees as Logan takes a time-out andÂ trains his kids in the basics of combat, survival and living under the radarâ€¦

Meanwhile in Argentina, Lehnsherr is increasingly active: tracking Nazi war criminals and exterminating them in the same ruthless manner that they eradicated his family and people. When Logan and the team find him, Magneto spectacularly refuses to join, declaring a war against oppression is no place for children.â€¦

Somewhere in America, anthropologist Bolivar Trask stridently advises his FBI employers to renew all efforts to locate and destroy all â€œHomo Superiorâ€ beings before they supplant mankind, overruling the suggestions of senior Agent Fred Duncan who advises working with, not alienating and eliminating, the coming raceâ€¦

Their Director Hartfield has his own short-term solution however: using their own pet mutant to enslave and subjugate the worrisome freaksâ€¦

In ‘A Place to Belong’ the government’s ghastly mind-controlling monster Lyle Doorne, AKA Virus, is deployed even as Wolverine’s pack tackle and fail to recruit a demented, super-strong and very crazy water-breathing wino in Manhattan (a sly tip of the hat to Fantastic Four #4, for all the long-term fans. Look it up if you wantâ€¦). They are inexplicably aided by Agent Duncan, covertly and independently testing his policy of cooperationâ€¦

Later at their wilderness hideaway, the unwise relationship between Victor and Holly takes a major step forward even as, at the Pentagon, Private Xavier is removing all suspicious flags against his name and scrubbing his own government record via his psychic gifts before arranging his own transfer to the top-secret Federal Project Chimera in Pennsylvaniaâ€¦

Things are going badly: no one realised the full extent of Virus’ abilities nor that the horrific monster might have his own agenda for both humanity and Homo Superior, and when Logan’s heroes raid the facility to rescue Yeti’s long-lost brother, nobody realises it’s all part of Doorne’s game planâ€¦

Secret origins lead off ‘Things Fall Apart’ before the team – now comprising nine mutants of varying age and ability – starts to disintegrate from internal tensions, ably abetted by the Trojan Horse that Virus has planted amongst them. The FBI’s shaky solidarity is also fracturing, with Duncan and Trask – who advocates using robot hunter/killers to utterly exterminate all mutants – constantly clashing.

Hartfield prefers the latter option and a flight of prototype Sentinels is launched to capture the rogue misfits. Desperate to see his toys in action, Trask and his driver Xavier head to the fugitive’s hideout in time to see Virus’ scheme come close to dreadful fruition before the subsequent horrific battle scars all the surviving outcasts forever, turning Sabretooth into Wolverine’s most vengeful and implacable foe forevermore in ‘I Dreamed a Dream’â€¦

Clever and powerfully engaging, this sharp, gritty and very pretty exercise in dramatic in-filling skilfully operates as a prequel to many themes and events of the later overarching continuity whilst never losing sight of the principal objective of entertaining both devotees and newcomers alike.

This thrilling rollercoaster ride also includes a stunning selection of covers and variants from Adams, Ryan Stegman, Mike Deodato Jr., Shane Davis, Daniel AcuÃ±a and Adam Kubert for all art-lovers to enjoy.
â„¢ & Â© 2012 and 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.

March 5, 2013March 4, 2013

Agent Gates and the Secret Adventures of Devonton Abbey (a Parody)

By Camaren Subhiyah & Kyle Hilton (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-4494-3434-2

Parody has been a major staple of the comics and cartooning world ever since the days of Hogarth and Cruickshank, so it’s marvellous to see that our colonial cousins are keeping the home fires burning in this sublimely over the top tribute to blockbuster British Television export Downton Abbey, which mingles devastatingly wry observation with outrageously surreal exaggeration to top-hole effect.

I’m not actually a follower or fan of the source material but I know great art and witty writing when I see it, and this supremely daft delight certainly rings both those bellsâ€¦

The aristocratic Crawhill family has occupied stately Devonton Abbey for centuries and now – in April 1914 – the current Earl Richard is master of a house that consists of his unfortunately American wife Cora, wilful daughters Margaret, Cynthia and Flora. Also firmly in residence is his formidable mother the Dowager Countess Viola; an acid-tongued basilisk who knows all the family’s secrets and is the true ruler of the richly furnished and well-upholstered roost.

Below stairs, although head butler Mr. Larson runs the estate’s affairs, lamed valet and under-butler Jack Gates is also privy to much that goes on and is far more important that most realiseâ€¦

With the winds of a Great War mustering on the idyllic horizon, unscrupulous German Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Jagow pays a formal visit. The filthy Boche spy and warmonger is well aware that Devonton and its faÃ§ade of foppish, old-world primness and decadence conceals the clandestine HQ of the British Empire’s Secret Intelligence Service and their exotic super-powered operatives, but has not reckoned on the sheer pluck and determination of the bionic Agent Gates, nor his mysterious handler Agent Heraâ€¦

Still, all does not goes as anybody planned and the mad Hun expires before disclosing any useful intelligence. The covert operatives continue blithely on preparing for the visit of Austro-Hungarian Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand, unaware that traitors and agents of the Kaiser have penetrated into the very heart of the household.

Lord Richard and Lady Cora are far more concerned with prestige, aristocratic rivalries, maintaining the proper niceties regarding their property and their deucedly useless daughters â€“ all far too wrapped up in their silly â€œcausesâ€ such as animal husbandry, parties, any husbandry, marrying cousins, the estate Petting Zoo, Trousers For Women and such dÃ©classÃ© tosh and taradiddle – to concentrate on the things that truly matter.

Happily above and below stairs Lady Viola and Gates are on the case, ensuring the succession of Devonton and safety of the nation by bringing in new if not actually blue bloodâ€¦

A touch of Bullshot Crummond, a dash of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and just a hint of Blackadder, not to mention heaping helpings of Richard Hannay and his illustrious True Brit ilk, all served up with lashings of superbly silly hijinx inform this brilliant bash at the award-winning show, with Steampunk plotlines working in perfect tandem with deliriously funny and absurdist stabs and japes involving the perfectly rendered cast of that most proper of serials.

If you love the show enough to see it successfully spoofed or just love outstanding comedy adventure this is a pictorial billet doux to a bygone era that you won’t want to missâ€¦
Â© 2013 Kyle Hilton and Camaren Subhiyah. All rights reserved.

March 4, 2013March 1, 2013

Uncanny X-Men – First Class: Hated and Feared

By Jeff Parker, Scott Gray, Roger Langridge, Craig Rousseau, Roger Cruz, David Williams, David Calero, Sean Galloway, Joe Infurnari, Cameron Stewart & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-4051-4104-4

In 2006 the deliriously naive secret school-days adventures of the Marvel’s Merry Mutants were re-imagined as X-Men First Class (a comicbook iteration, not the movie) which updated and reinterpreted the seminal 1960s adventures for the far more sophisticated contemporary audience.

An 8-issue miniseries and a One-Shot Special led to a further 16 issue run: retrofitting old stories, creating new material by in-filling existing narratives and especially by integrating the kids with the mainstream continuity through team-ups with assorted guest stars such as Doctor Strange, Man-Thing, Gorilla-Man, Thor and Invisible Woman. The experiment was a conceptual success and even led to a number of spin-off series based on the same winning â€œuntold X-talesâ€ format.

However all good things come to an end – until the next time a few years from now – and the junior league finally had to move on into their later lives and rejoin the ongoing Marvel Universe continuity. Thus in 2009 the 4-issue miniseries X-Men – First Class: Finals revealed the story of the trainees’ graduation and fed directly into the landmark tale which introduced a thoroughly modern new teamâ€¦

In 1975 Len Wein & Dave Cockrum revived the revered but painfully uncommercial fan favourite in Giant Size X-Men #1, replacing most of the 1960s team – Iceman, The Angel, Marvel Girl, The Beast, Lorna Dane and Havok – with a second generation of edgier international mutants young and old.

With both field-leader Cyclops and wheelchair-bound telepath Professor Charles Xavier remaining to carry on the dream of brokering peace and achieving integration between the sprawling masses of humanity and an emergent off-shoot race with terrifying extra abilities, the stage was set for â€œAll New, All Differentâ€ adventures, and the fledgling squad rapidly became the company’s biggest hit and asset.

Comic fans have an insatiable appetite for untold tales and details, so this fresh iteration of the First Class concept, rather than rewriting or updating canonical tales already perpetually in print and utterly familiar to fans, opted to exploit gaps and spaces between scenes and stories with all new yarnsâ€¦

Collecting one-shot Giant-Size Uncanny X-Men: First Class #1 and the first four issues of the follow-up Uncanny X-Men: First Class from 2009, the revelations begin as quintessential good Soldier Cyclops struggles to adapt to the undisciplined strangers who comprise his unwelcome new team.

After an ill-omened and almost catastrophic battle against a giant mutant fungus, the lone remaining graduate of Xavier’s original intake takes stock by studying the early exploits of Storm as a thief in Cairo, Banshee‘s battle against a Faerie Bog Ogre in Ireland, Nightcrawler‘s formative days in a German circus and Peter Rasputin‘s very first transformation into a living steel Colossus.

Of course Wolverine‘s revelations were clearly a cover-story – if a hilariously funny one – but the effort to understand his new comrades in arms soon allowed a connection to be made by the earnest, dedicated, determinedly single-minded team leaderâ€¦

That initial outing – a collaborative jam-session from writers Jeff Parker, Scott Gray & Roger Langridge and assembled illustrators Craig Rousseau, David Williams, Dennis Calero, Sean Galloway, Joe Infurnari, Cameron Stewart, John Beatty – was capped off with an hysterical glimpse at the list of ‘International Mutant’s Who Didn’t Make the Team’ before the regular series commenced with ‘Refugee’ by regular series scripter Gray and artist Roger Cruz.

Set just after Marvel Girl Jean Grey â€œdiedâ€ and was resurrected as the cosmic entity Phoenix (approximately between X-Men #108 and 111 if you’re counting) the drama begins after demonic-seeming Nightcrawler Kurt Wagner was attacked by the very humans he had saved and went into a depression of disappointment and disgust.

Thus when the Royal Family of the mysterious Inhumans came to visit Professor X as part of a cultural exchange, the dejected hero was intoxicated by the concept of an entire society that venerated the concept of being physically differentâ€¦

The Inhumans were conceived as an incredible lost civilisation and debuted in 1965 (in Fantastic Four #44-48, during Stan Lee & Jack Kirby’s most fertile and productive creative period).

They are a race of disparate (generally) humanoid beings, genetically modified by aliens in Earth’s distant pre-history, who consequently became technologically advanced far ahead of emergent Homo Sapiens. Few in numbers, they isolated themselves from barbarous dawn-age humanity, first on an island and latterly in a hidden Himalayan valley, voluntarily closeted in their fabulous city Attilan – until a civil war brought them into the public gaze of the modern world.

The hidden race practised a ritual and doctrine wherein almost every member of their society – was on reaching maturity – subjected to mutagenic Terrigen Mists which transformed them into an utterly unique being: something Wagner was unaware of when he made a fervent request of Xavier and Inhuman monarch Black Bolt and his queen Medusaâ€¦

In the meantime his cousins Triton, Karnak, Gorgon, and Medusa’s bewitching sister Crystal (and her giant teleporting dog Lockjaw) were being entertained by the other X-Men until abrasive alpha-dogs Wolverine and Gorgon clashed and a bombastic battle broke outâ€¦

With no real harm done, arrangements were made and Kurt, accompanied by best friend Peter â€œColossusâ€ Rasputin, became guests in the hidden Himalayan retreat, enjoying the easy camaraderie of the society of strangers, until Kurt witnessed the Terrigen ceremony and went ballistic, incensed that perfectly healthy, normal youngsters were deliberately turned into monstersâ€¦ just like himâ€¦

Struck down for disrupting the sacred ritual in ‘To Err is Inhumanâ€¦’ Nightcrawler was held for trial, but Triton and Colossus secretly warned the rest of the X-Men, and Cyclops led a rescue mission which quickly escalated into a small, short war that almost destroyed Attilan before order and peace were restoredâ€¦

Banshee was the focus of ‘The Next Life’ as wise old Sean Cassidy was targeted for revenge by the father of his long-dead bride. That was bad enough, but the cruel weapon of choice was a mutant who could materialise ghosts of lost loved onesâ€¦

Meanwhile in space, astronomer astronaut Peter Corbeau of the UN satellite Starcore One detects three impossible entities cavorting on the surface of the sunâ€¦

This premiere volume concludes with a classic girl’s night out and a cosmic cliffhanger in ‘Sisters of the Dragon’ illustrated by David Williams, as African Ã©migrÃ© Ororo Monroe (AKA Storm) joins Jean and her martial arts/Private Eye pals Colleen Wing and Misty Knight for some downtime, chat and socialisation, only to be ambushed by queen of criminality Nightshade.

The devious diva needs something from the impregnable S.H.I.E.L.D. Heli-carrier and unless the weather witch gets it her friends will die horribly. Complying and completing her task before spectacularly turning the tables on Nightshade, Ororo doesn’t realise the seriousness of messing with the vindictive spy agencyâ€¦

Meanwhile Professor X is psychically shocked by a telepathic distress call from old colleague Corbeau. Starcore has been invaded by a trio of sadistic solar horrorsâ€¦ and Earth is nextâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

This superbly entertaining collection wisely keeps the continuity baggage to a bare minimum, determined to deliver a compelling, rocket-paced rollercoaster ride of thrills and chills, heavy on action and light on extended sub-plots.

Engaging, exciting and extremely enjoyable, these new adventures are a welcome continuation of the Good Old Days that will delight fans and newcomers alike, offering another bite of that long-lost perfect cherry for all lovers of grand mutant Fights ‘n’ Tights action, mirth and mayhemâ€¦
Â© 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

March 3, 2013March 2, 2013

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Divided We Fall, United We Stand

By Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez & Pepe Larraz (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-523-9

When Spider-Man died, a new hero arose in his image â€¦

Marvel’s Ultimates imprint began in 2000 with a post-modern take on major characters and concepts to bring them into line with the tastes of a 21st century readership – a wholly different market from those baby-boomers and their descendents content to stick with the precepts sprung from founding talents Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Leeâ€¦ or simply those unable or unwilling to deal with the five decades (seven if you include the Golden Age Timely tales retroactively co-opted into the mix) of continuity baggage which saturated the originals.

Eventually even this darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its ancestor and in 2008 the cleansing event â€œUltimatumâ€ culminated in a reign of terror which excised dozens of super-humans and millions of lesser mortals in a devastating tsunami which inundated Manhattan, courtesy of mutant menace Magneto.

In the months that followed, plucky Peter Parker and his fellow meta-human survivors struggled to restore order to a dangerous new world, but just as Spider-Man finally gained a measure of acceptance and was hailed a hero by the masses, he took a bullet forÂ Captain America and very publicly met his end during a catastrophic super-villain showdown â€¦

In the aftermath, child prodigy Miles Morales gained suspiciously similar powers and began the same deadly learning curve: coping with astounding new physical abilities, painfully discovering the daily costs of living a life of lies and realising how an inescapable sense of responsibility is the most seductive method of self-harm and worst all of possible gifts.

He was helped and hindered in equal amounts by his Uncle Aaron: a career super-criminal dubbed The Prowlerâ€¦

This compilation (collecting Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #11-18, August 2012-February 2013 and written throughout by Brian Michael Bendis) follows Miles and his close circle of confidantes from ordinary tragedy and peril into total chaos as America succumbs to a second Civil War when global crises, ineffectual leadership and rogue elements in power converge and whole swathes of ordinary Americans secede from the Unionâ€¦

A day resident at the prestigious BrooklynVisionsAcademyBoarding School, Miles spends only weekends at home and is coming to terms with some unpleasant truths. Foremost is that he has secrets to keep from his parents, but also poisoning the air is the fact that his father used to be a street-thug and now passionately hates costumed heroes – like Spider-Man.

The Prowler has been secretly grooming Miles ever since some of his loot bit the youngster, transforming him into a super-strong and fast kid who can walk up walls, turn invisible and deliver a devastating venom charge through his hands,Â and the action opens here as the manipulative creep tricks Miles into attacking Mexican gang-lord and prospective new Kingpin of Crime the Scorpion.

The action (illustrated by David Marquez) begins with a blistering raid on the Mexican’s plush new club where, in the heat of battle, the novice wall-crawler at last realises Aaron isn’t reforming or making amends, but simply clearing out the opposition for his own attempt to take over New York’s underworldâ€¦

Events come to a tragic head when the gangster accosts Miles at school and tries to blackmail him with threats of telling the boy’s father all about Spider-Man, resulting in a devastating showdown. Equipped with years of criminal experience and an ingenious arsenal of gadgets he murdered underworld tech-savant The Tinkerer for, Aaron goes crazy, determined to finish his rebellious nephew.

The fight inevitably escalates, endangering a busload of civilians who all apparently see the neophyte wall-crawler first save them before killing the Prowler in a horrific explosionâ€¦

Meanwhile in the wider world: In the wake of the global inundation, ongoing internecine strife amongst the covert ops community, and deadly brushfire wars all over the planet, ousted spymaster Nick Fury regained control of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s army of agents and officially-sanctioned super-squad The Ultimates as well as clandestine task-force The Avengers, just as civilisation began coming apart at the seamsâ€¦

Metahumans had become the preferred â€œWeapons of Mass Destructionâ€ and personal superpowers were the focus of a terrifying global arms race. In Asia, emergent federated nation SEAR dissolved into bloody conflict soon after developing a serum that randomly sparked fantastic abilities in ordinary humans. The plan had been to win the organic arms race but events quickly overtook the leadership when they tried to stack the deck by simultaneously releasing a virus that neutralised genes which triggered natural mutations.

With a plague preventing the birth of any more mutants and lab-produced metahumans roaming the streets, SEAR collapsed from internal dissent and open warfareâ€¦

From the conflict, dual metahuman nations were established and both Celestials and Eternals began offering super-powers to anybody brave or greedy enough to want themâ€¦

When WWII super soldier Captain America vanished, the gods of Asgard, who had been dragged from their heavenly halls and marooned on Earth, were slaughtered by a new fantastic race called the Children of Tomorrow, whose appearance presaged a deadly fight for control of Earth by the Maker – disgraced former superhero Reed Richards.

The deranged genius had created a high-tech Dome where enhanced time, forced evolution and ruthless scientific augmentation enabled the inhabitants to hyper-develop thousands of years in the space of a few days.

The war against the Dome involved most of the world’s metahumans, allowing corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Flumm to oust Fury and blackmail Bruce Banner into attacking the future city. The Hulk’s assault went tragically wrong, however, once The Maker convinced the man-monster to switch allegiances and the American President, distracted by one too many crises, allowed genocidal anti-mutant activists to turn the southwest into their own hunting preserve, inspired by the hate-filled preachings of Reverend William Strykerâ€¦

With Sentinels and militias controlling Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Oklahoma, and carrying out a successful campaign of extermination, and Texas declaring independence, many other states saw opportunity and followed suit, even as the President launched the nation’s entire nuclear arsenal at the ever-evolving Dome.

The nuclear fusillade and a metahuman attack could not obliterate the Dome but the component intelligence of the living City was badly damaged. In retaliation Richards unleashed the Hulk and a very special Child of Tomorrow he had cultured without the knowledge of the Dome hive-mind. The child detonated with nuclear force in the Capitol, utterly eradicating WashingtonDC and the American governmentâ€¦

Even though the Dome was no longer an urgent threat, President Howard – who only the day before was the earnest but under-qualified new Secretary of Energy – was in already well in over his head.

With a nuclear-armed Texas threatening the Union, Sentinels rampaging through the southwest and militant local militias sparking rebellions all over the country, the President declared martial law as the nation splintered around him. Flumm was also rapidly losing his grip and could not handle more bad newsâ€¦

And then word arrived that Captain America had returned from his self-imposed exileâ€¦

(For fuller comprehension the reader is strongly advised to consult companion Ultimate Comics series X-Men and The Ultimates. These will greatly enhance understanding of the parlous state of this alternate universe in its darkest hoursâ€¦)

With the Land of the Free ripped apart by a rash of local rebellions and actual state secessions, this binary publishing event – designed to create a jumping-on point for new readers – opens for Spider-Man with the 2-part ‘Divided We Fall’ as the Sentinel of Liberty stops in New York long enough to learn that there’s a new – 13-year old – wall-crawler.

Keenly aware that the previous Spider-Man died because of him, Captain America overreacts and hunts down Miles, just when as the boy is trying to deal with being accused of murder â€“ and unsure whether or not he was actually guiltyâ€¦.

A battle against opportunist thief Batroc the Leaper is a cathartic relief for the troubled boy but things get complicated again aftr during a shocking, surprise confrontation with May Parker, Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson which changes Miles’ life forever.

Peter Parker’s loved ones have been following the new boy’s short career and now they give the poor kid their full support and approval – as well as the original martyr’s web-shooters and secret formula.

At last Spider-Man will be a web-spinner againâ€¦ unless the furious and outraged Captain America shuts him down for goodâ€¦

The clash of wills is only resolved when the rampaging Rhino breaks loose and Spidey saves the day, leading the Star Spangled Avenger to grudgingly permit the kid to carry onâ€¦ under strict adult supervision and training.

The saga culminates with the concluding 4-chapter ‘United We Stand’ (illustrated by Marquez & Pepe Larraz) as Civil War explodes west of the Rocky Mountains and, in locked-down New York, Spider-Man gets a huge boost when he learns from the cops that he wasn’t responsible for the Prowler’s death.

However, even as the ebullient arachnid rushes to enlist in the Ultimates’ push to retake America, his own strait-laced father is being arrested for breaking curfew. The horrible ramifications of this misunderstanding will bring the loving, concerned parent to the edge of insanityâ€¦

Cap is still trying to make his exuberant teenaged volunteer go home when a devastating attack by Hydra-backed separatists plunges Miles into the thick of the action. Convinced by the boy’s conviction if not capability, the Sentinel of Liberty at last welcomes the new kid to the team.

Events quickly overtake everybody however when President Howard is informed by seditious elements of his own government that he has no official mandate to rule. In the middle of the war the over-burdened leader calls an emergency Recall Electionâ€¦

With the election and daily battles on every news channel, the tirelessly fighting Captain America is elected to the battered nation’s highest office even though he was unaware that he was a candidate. Without breaking step, the hero gratefully accepts before getting back to the job of re-Uniting the Statesâ€¦

The fighting shifts to Casper, Wyoming for the final battle against a million-strong militia manipulated by the secret magical mastermind behind the entire crisis, with President America in the vanguard as usual. Sadly, Spider-Man is elsewhere, lost and near deathâ€¦

The boy was partnered with the constantly objecting Spider-Woman Jessica Drew – who obnoxiously insisted that he was too young to be there at all. Far worse than his wounds and prospects is Miles’ suspicion that she might have been right after allâ€¦

The fighting was fast and furious but after a spectacular skirmish the Amazing Arachnid saved the President’s life and was knocked out. He woke up wounded and lost in the flat vastness of Wisconsin with a Hydra-controlled Giant-Woman trying to squash him like a bug.

Nobody was there to see him achieve his most impressive victory ever, but even though he was feted all the way back to New York as the victorious Union forces began the long, tedious job of consolidating power whilst attempting Reconstruction and Reconciliation, Miles had bigger problems.

He now had even bigger secrets and a far more complex double-life to keep from his folks and his father was acting really, really strangelyâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

This extra-long volume also contains a gallery of covers and variants (by Kaare Andrews. Jorge Molina, David Marquez, Rainier Beredo, Sara Pichelli & Adi Granov) and this so-contemporary saga also incorporates a 21st century extra for all those tech-savvy consumers with added value in mind, as many chapters contain an AR icon (Marvel Augmented Reality App) which gives access to all sorts of story bonuses once you download the little dickens – for free – from marvel.com onto your iPhone or Android-enabled device.
â„¢ & Â© 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.

March 2, 2013March 1, 2013

Booyah!

By Loran, translated by FNIC (Sloth Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-908830-00-5

The Continent has long been the home of superbly crafted, challenging comics fare – unbelievable amounts of it in all manner of styles and genres – and English readers have suffered for decades due to the paucity of decent translations to our churlish mother tongue.

That’s not to say that what we have seen (especially recently with the advent of the wonderful Cinebook line of European classics) hasn’t been wonderful; it’s simply that there’s so very much we still haven’tâ€¦

Thus I’m delighted to welcome a new company into the Anglo-arena with this gloriously anarchic offering from cartoon wild-man Laurent Crenn AKA Loran and his horrifically hilarious Bouyoul, who’s jumped the Pond and had his passport stamped – in blood – as the cute and cuddly catastrophe-in-action Booyah!

Loran’s work was first seen in Anus Horibilis, working with co-founders Fred and Jean-Louis Marco, producing the shocking shenanigans of not only this effervescent, well-meaning pariah but also Captain Caca, Gringo Malo and Les Rangers de l’Espace and latterly at Atelier du PrÃ©au and Le Cycliste.

The little devil’s – Bouyoul, not Loran’s – second swing at fame is covered in this delicious initial translated collection and commence with ‘Happy Birthday’ as the well-intentioned green gargoyle hosts a celebration for the local kids, before his customary lack of fine coordination and impulse control, combined with sheer bad luck, turn the joyous anniversary into a bloodbath that is many attendees’ lastâ€¦

A little old lady, her cat ‘Domino’ and Booyah’s determination to prove he’s not a monster all conspire to ruin the emerald atrocity’s day before ‘Mr. Sandman, Bring Me a Scream’ reveals a disastrous, savage and surreal encounter with the master of dreams which clearly shows why neither of them should be trusted as babysitters, whilst the short, sharp ‘Interlude’ features a silent exploit that proves the amiable horror is no fisherman’s friendâ€¦

The rest of this supremely engaging, perilously poor taste comedy of terrors features the epic extravaganza ‘Night of the Living Dead Scout Zombies from Hell’ as a troupe of pious lads and their redoubtable guardian Father Barnaby come upon Booyah asleep in the woods. After an initial misunderstanding where the aged cleric tries to exorcise â€œthe demonâ€ and dies of a heart attack, the affable abnormality takes charge of the cub pack and tries to lead them out of the wilderness. Tragically the earth where they first bury poor old Barnaby is a secret testing ground for a new genetically modified crop – one the scurrilous MonsanlysÂ© Corporation are only just discovering has some rather terrifying side-effectsâ€¦

By the time Booyah gets the scouts to the edge of the forest he’s lost two more kids to tragic, explosively explicit accidents. They too have rejoined the bosom of the earth and the kingdom of heaven. As darkness falls the soil is ruptured by ghastly vegetable zombies sporting the standard super-infectious bite and soon the green goon and his last two charges (no longer good clean-living Christian boys, alas) are fighting for all they’re worth to suppress the horticultural horrors who have decimated the National Scout Jamboreeâ€¦

Outrageously off-kilter, starkly sardonic and brutally hysterical, Booyah is the absolute antidote to anodyne touchy-feely cartoon capers, and if you love your comedy dark and your fantasy unexpurgated and splashed with spurting gut-bustingly jovial gore, this manically inventive immature-readers-only hoot (think of The Simpsons‘ Itchy and Scratchy with the kid gloves off) is definitely worth a few moments of your time.
Â© 2011 La Martiniere. English translation Â© 2011 Sloth Publishing, Ltd.

March 1, 2013February 28, 2013

Ultimate Comics the Ultimates: Divided We Fall, United We Stand

By Sam Humphries, Billy Tan, Timothy Green II, Luke Ross & Terry Pallot (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-524-6

The Ultimate Comics imprint launched in 2000, upgrading and reformatting hallowed Marvel characters and concepts for a presumed-more sophisticated modern audience: one that mostly comprised older readers rather than the youngsters who had participated in the company’s 1960s rise to glory.

Eventually the alternate, darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its predecessor, and in 2008 the â€œUltimatumâ€ story-arc culminated in a reign of terror which wiped out dozens of the new super-humans and millions of lesser mortals.

The era-ending event was a colossal tsunami triggered by mutant terrorist/messiah Magneto which inundated the superhero-heavy island of Manhattan and utterly devastated the world’s mutant population. Ever since The Deluge, the world has been stumbling from crisis to catastropheâ€¦

This volume, collecting Ultimate Comics: the Ultimates issues #13-18 (September 2012 – January 2013) is part of an imprint-wide crossover which saw America fall into urban chaos and civil war, with the saga affecting and seen from the points of view of a newly blooded Spider-Man, a revitalised team of Ultimates and the last remaining X-Menâ€¦

How We Got Here: In the wake of the global inundation, ongoing internecine strife amongst the covert ops community, and deadly brushfire wars all over the planet, ousted spymaster Nick Fury regained control of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s army of secret agents and officially-sanctioned super-squad The Ultimates as well as clandestine task-force The Avengers, just as civilisation was coming apart at the seamsâ€¦

Metahumans had become the preferred â€œWeapons of Mass Destructionâ€ and personal superpowers were the focus of a terrifying global arms race. In Asia, emergent nation SEAR (SouthEastAsianRepublic) dissolved into bloody conflict soon after developing a serum which randomly sparked fantastic abilities in ordinary humans. Their plan had been to win the organic arms race but events quickly overtook the leadership when they tried to stack the deck by simultaneously releasing a virus that neutralised genes which triggered natural mutations.

With random metahumans roaming the streets, SEAR collapsed from internal dissent and open warfareâ€¦

From the conflict, dual metahuman nations were established and both Celestials and Eternals began offering super-powers to anybody brave or greedy enough to want themâ€¦

Meanwhile American hero Spider-Man was murdered, resurrected WWII super soldier Captain America went AWOL and the gods of Asgard, who had been dragged from their heavenly halls and marooned on Earth, were slaughtered by a new fantastic race called the Children of Tomorrow.

The Children were the results of a fantastic experiment by the Maker – disgraced, deranged former superhero Reed Richards – who created a high-tech Dome where enhanced time and ruthless scientific augmentation enabled the inhabitants to hyper-evolve thousands of years in the space of a few days.

The Dome inexorably expanded into a voracious semi-sentient super-city and absorbed much of Western Europe, despite every effort of the region’s superhumans, until vengeful Thor broke into the marauding metropolis and, with the aid of boffin Sam Wilson (AKA the Falcon), Iron Man Tony Stark (and his sentient brain-tumour side-kick), Captain Britain, Hawkeye, Black Widow and the elevated Celestials of Xorn and Eternals of Zorn stopped the incursion by excessive violence and by turning the dome dwellers against their increasingly doctrinaire and draconian leader.

At the same time, corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Flumm forced Fury out and blackmailed Bruce Banner into attacking the Dome. The Hulk‘s enforced assault went tragically wrong, however, once The Maker convinced the man-monster to switch allegiances and the American President, distracted by one too many crises, allowed anti-mutant activists to turn the southwest into their own hunting preserveâ€¦

With Sentinels and militias controlling Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Oklahoma, and other states threatening secession, the President launched the nation’s entire nuclear arsenal at the ever-evolving Dome. To ensure no interference, the Commander-in-Chief also invoked â€œthe Winter Protocolsâ€ and ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to capture or kill all Ultimates and Avengersâ€¦

The nuclear fusillade and the metahuman attack could not obliterate the Dome but the component intelligence of the living City was badly damaged. In retaliation Richards unleashed the Hulk and a very special Child of Tomorrow he had cultured without the knowledge of the Dome hive-mind. The child detonated with nuclear force in the Capitol, utterly eradicating WashingtonDC and the entire governmentâ€¦

Stunned by the loss of the entire ruling structure of America, self-promoted Director Flumm was further incensed when Fury, Falcon, Hawkeye and the Widow all escaped captureâ€¦

Although the Dome was no longer a credible or urgent threat, President Howard – who only a day previously was the earnest but under-qualified Secretary of Energy – was in over his head. With a nuclear-armed Texas quitting the Union and declaring itself an independent nation, mutant-hunting Sentinels rampaging through the southwest states and militant local militias sparking rebellions all over the country, the last thing he needed to hear was that the Ultimates and Avengers are all free.

Forced to overreact, the President declared martial law as the nation splintered around him. Flumm too was rapidly losing control and could not cope with more bad newsâ€¦

And then word arrived that Captain America had returned from his self-imposed exileâ€¦

(For fuller comprehension the reader is strongly advised to consult companion series Ultimate Comics: X-Men 1 & 2 and previous volumes of this series. These will greatly enhance understanding of the parlous state of this alternate universe in its darkest hoursâ€¦)

With the Land of the Free ripped apart by numerous small rebellions and full state secessions, this twinned publishing event – designed to create a jumping-on point for new readers – opens with the 2-part ‘Divided We Fall’ (by Sam Humphries, Billy Tan, Timothy Green II & Terry Pallot) as Director Flumm is compelled by President Howard to deploy the hated and unruly Ultimates, overruling the S.H.I.E.L.D. boss’s warning that they cannot be controlledâ€¦

Even as the harried leader appoints veteran administrator spy and former White House administrator Carol Danvers his Chief of Staff, news pictures come in of Captain America battling in New Mexico, whilst in New York, Iron Man Stark is galvanised into action again and calls Thor away from the massive graveyard that holds the remains of his entire race. It’s time to put the old band back togetherâ€¦

Cap is on a rampage of indignant patriotic fury: destroying Sentinels and thrashing murderous mutant hunters. When he’s finally joined by his former comrades the revolution of hate swiftly collapses as the heroes forcibly drag the abandoned states back into the Union.

None of them are aware of the long-term role played by an enigmatic rabble-rouser and power-broker named Morez, who slips away to one of the other areas where he’s successfully fomented dissent, even as the Sentinel-held territories fall to resurgent American Forces â€¦

Forced out of the shadows, Morez reappears in Texas, convincing the businessmen and corporate heads that run the New Republic to fire their prized solitary nuke at New York City. Instantly apprised, Iron Man, Thor and the Sentinel of Liberty join the other Ultimates in invading the Lone Star Nation, with less than fifteen minutes to find the missile’s abort code and avert another bloodbathâ€¦

Meanwhile Morez has contacted the head of the Senate Emergency Powers Committee and convinced ambitious Senator Underwood to have the government look the other way whilst the manipulator facilitates Wyoming becoming an independent militia-run nationâ€¦

As the heroes rip Dallas apart in their successful attempt to stop the missile, Thor notices an odd symbol on the gold used by the Republic’s ex-movers and shakers and begins to suspect that another Asgardian escaped the exterminationâ€¦ the Evil Oneâ€¦

Howard too feels the rug ripped out from under him when Underwood finds a dubious legal precedent and claims the new President has no official mandate to rule. In the middle of the Civil War there’s going to be an emergency Recall Electionâ€¦

And on the West Coast, the constantly moving Morez offers deadly weaponised WASP security drone technology to the radical hippies, free thinkers and Silicon Valley entrepre-nerds who have assumed control of Washington State, Oregon and California: decent dudes whose freedom loving new country is currently being swamped by American refugees and Internally Displaced Persons from the embattled USAâ€¦

The hard-fought war of reunification occurs in the 4-part ‘United We Stand’ (illustrated by Luke Ross) and sees the well-meaning free thinkers of the West Coast Nation become accidental mass-murderers when Morez assumes control of the WASPs and lets them loose upon the refuges flooding across the new border. With the election and the genocide both filling the media airwaves, Howard orders Captain America not to intervene in California, but the Star-Spangled legend decides to listen to the higher authority of his conscienceâ€¦

Following a surprise meeting with Fury, Captain America goes west, linking up with Hawkeye and Black Widow to spectacularly save victims live on TV. As Morez switches his attention to Wyoming, all over the country voters begin exercising their mandate with a surprise â€œWrite-in candidateâ€â€¦

When Thor and Iron Man destroy the automated system unleashed by Morez, the grateful West Coasters are happy to rejoin the nation just as the Sentinel of Liberty receives a call and is informed that he’s the new Presidentâ€¦

Rapidly sworn in, Steven Rogers remains in costume and appoints Carol Danvers his political operative as he stays in the field dragging his America out of Civil War. As she navigates the stormy waters stirred up by the infuriated Senator Underwood, the Ultimates are ending the bloody feud between North and South Carolina and forcing them both back into the United States. Thor, suspecting Asgardian influence, heads to top secret Project Pegasus in Wyoming as Cap ends weeks ofÂ urban anarchy and territorial tumult by the Great Lakes Liberation Front in Michigan by sheer presence and charismaâ€¦

With their influence impossibly slipping away, Flumm and Underwood finally go too far when they try to assassinate their Red, White and Blue Commander-in-Chief, leaving the assembled Ultimates free to concentrate on their true foe at last.

In Wyoming, Morez’s true identity is finally revealed and the evil Asgardian makes his play at last using the secret of Pegasus to enslave the state and turn terrified citizens into willing warriors in his army of rebellion: a Hydra of hate aimed at America’s heartâ€¦

Moreover there will be no help from Thor: guilt and the villain’s new weapon have made the Thunderer a helpless slave of the malign manipulatorâ€¦

In Wyoming, as the ensorcelled Hydra forces clash with S.H.I.E.L.D. and a small force of loyal metahumans including the new Spider-Man, Giant-Woman Cassie Lang and Invisible Woman Sue Richards – last survivor of the legendary Fantastic Four – the real battle for Liberty is only won when Iron Man, Thor and President America defeat the Evil One in the skies above the embattled, sundered nationâ€¦

This bombastic battle for life, liberty and honour is designed to be read independently of the other strands (in Ultimate Comics X-Men and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) if desired, so I’m not going to spoil the manner in which new President of the forcibly re-United States moves forward after the victory, but of course such a dictatorial beginning isn’t to everyone’s taste and naturally there’s more trouble brewing in the wingsâ€¦

The darkly trenchant, nihilistically cynical Ultimate fare, with its signature post-modernity and bleakly brutal action, still delivers the grim ‘n’ gritty punch fans crave, but successfully surmounts those limits here by offering a powerfully uplifting message of hope for the determinedly worthy that is both satisfying and keenly tantalising. However for maximum impact you really should read those other two collections in this triptych of comics delightsâ€¦

As usual the volume also contains a gallery of covers and variants – by Michael Komarck and Adi Granov – and this so-contemporary saga also incorporates a 21^st century extra for all those tech-savvy consumers with added value in mind, as many chapters contain an AR icon (Marvel Augmented Reality App) which gives access to all sorts of story bonuses once you download the little dickens – for free – from marvel.com onto your iPhone or Android-enabled device.

Don’t touch that dial yet, fans, there’s still more to comeâ€¦
â„¢ & Â© 2013 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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