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Batman: Turning Points


By Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Chuck Dixon, Steve Lieber, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano & Bob Smith, Brent Anderson, Paul Pope & Claude St. Aubin (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1360-2

Over the many decades of Batman’s existence, almost as important as the partnership between Dark Knight and assorted Boy Wonders has been the bizarrely offbeat yet symbiotic relationship between those caped and costumed vigilantes and Gotham City’s top cop James Gordon.

In this collection, compiling five individual pastiches released as the miniseries Turning Points in 2001, readers saw revealed significant moments in the development of that shadowy alliance produced, as an added bonus for long-term aficionados, in tribute to key eras in Batman’s waxing and waning career by veteran artists and the toast of the new wave creators…

It all begins with ‘Uneasy Allies’ by Greg Rucka & Steve Lieber, set in the days – and style – of the mysterious vigilante’s stormy debut in Frank Miller & Dave Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One.

Police Captain Gordon is still the only honest cop in a corrupt and brutally gung-ho force, reeling from the shock of his wife divorcing him. When bereaved, heartsick and crazed college professor Hale Corbett takes a wedding hostage, Gotham’s SWAT team commander is champing at the bit to storm in and rack up the body-count, but wanted felon The Batman offers Gordon a slim hope of ending the siege without loss of life…

All the masked nut-case wants in return is a sympathetic ear at the GCPD…

A working relationship established, ‘…And Then There Were… Three?’ (by Ed Brubaker & Joe Giella – who drew many of the 1960s stories and the Batman newspaper strip) celebrates the era of TV’s “Batmania” as, about a year after their first meeting, reports of a garishly garbed boy assistant to Batman begin to filter in. As deadly psychopath Mr. Freeze rampages through the city, Gordon demands to why the now-tolerated Caped Crusader is recklessly endangering a child…

In a romp filled with such past icons as giant props and gaudy villains, a decidedly deadly outcome makes Gordon realise the true nature of Batman and Robin’s relationship…

‘Casualties of War’ (Brubaker, Dick Giordano & Bob Smith) is set in the bleak aftermath following the death of second Robin Jason Todd, the crippling of Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon and the torture of her father, all at the bone-white hands of The Joker.

A solitary, driven Dark Knight haunts the streets and allies, ceaselessly crushing criminals with brutal callousness, whilst sinister serial killer The Garbage Man prowls unchallenged…

When the wheelchair-bound Barbara fails in an attempted intervention to calm a Batman pushing himself near to breaking-point, it takes a rooftop heart-to-heart with now Commissioner Gordon to finally crack the Gotham Guardian’s shell and begin the healing process…

Years later, as a result of a strategically systematic attack by would-be crime-lord Bane, an exhausted and broken Batman was replaced by another, darker hero. Set during the Knight-Fall publishing event, ‘The Ultimate Betrayal’ (by Chuck Dixon & Brent Anderson) describes the moment Gordon realised that his enigmatic ally had become a remorseless machine and exterminating angel hunting criminals with no regard to life anymore.

If only third Robin Tim Drake could have told him that the man behind the cowl – and claws and razor-armour – was actually Azrael: hereditary and murderously programmed living weapon of an ancient warrior-cult…

The journey comes full circle with ‘Comrades in Arms’ by Rucka, Paul Pope & Claude St. Aubin, wherein a mysterious stranger and his family hit Gotham on a mission to find Gordon and Batman, just as the Commissioner introduces his destined successor Michael Akins to the Major Crimes Unit.

Word on the street is that the Russian mob are planning a huge retaliatory strike and every cop is waiting for the hammer to fall when Hale Corbett walks into Police HQ demanding to see Gordon and the masked manhunter who changed his life all those years ago…

Filtered through gritty modern sensibilities but still able to revere past glories and the Batman’s softer side, this superbly readable collection also includes a cover gallery by artistic all-stars Javier Pulido, Ty Templeton, Joe Kubert, Howard Chaykin, Pope & Tim Sale.
© 2001, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Death of Captain America: The Man who Bought America


By Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Fabio Laguna, Luke Ross & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2971-4

I’m usually a little at odds and uneasy with today’s all-pervasive, consumer-crazed “Have it First! Have it Now!” philosophy. I generally prefer to see things working well and a bit worn in before I commit myself to an opinion or risk time and/or money on an item.

I also find that this policy pays dividends when looking at comics and graphic novels. Something you love at first sight often palls and pales into insignificance on re-reading, whilst often a little mellowing and maturation offers insights into material that might not have impressed on initial inspection…

A perfect case in point is the unceasing cacophony of collections which poured out of Marvel during their headline-grabbing stunt of having legendary patriotic icon Captain America assassinated as the climax of the publishing event Civil War. Despite being superbly crafted and gripping material, the sheer manic hyperbole of the press machine involved at the time turned many folks off and I quickly turned my attention elsewhere…

The Star Spangled Avenger was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby at the end of 1940 and launched in his own title (Captain America Comics, #1 cover-dated March 1941) with overwhelming success. He was the absolute and undisputed star of Timely (Marvel’s early predecessor) Comics’ “Big Three” – the other two being the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. He was also the first to fall from popularity at the end of the Golden Age.

When the Korean War and Communist aggression dominated the American psyche in the early 1950s he was briefly revived – with the Torch and Sub-Mariner – in 1953 before sinking once more into obscurity until a resurgent Marvel Comics once more brought him back in Avengers #4.

It was March 1964 and the Vietnam conflict was just beginning to pervade the minds of the American public…

This time he stuck around.

Whilst perpetually agonising over the death of his young sidekick (James Buchanan Barnes AKA Bucky) in the final days of the war, the resurrected Steve Rogers first stole the show in the Avengers, then promptly graduated to his own series and title as well. He waxed and waned through the most turbulent period of social change in US history, but always struggled to find an ideological niche and stable footing in the modern world.

Eventually, whilst another morally suspect war raged in the real world, during the Marvel event known as Civil War he became an anti-government rebel and was ambushed on the steps of a Federal Courthouse.

Naturally, nobody really believed he was dead…

Over the course of three volumes he was replaced by that dead sidekick. Years previously Bucky had been captured by the Soviets and used as their own super-assassin – The Winter Soldier. There’s no truer maxim than “nobody stays dead in comics”, however, and after being rescued from his unwanted spy-role the artificially youthful and part cyborg Barnes reluctantly stepped into his mentor’s boots…

Whilst Bucky was coming to terms with his inheritance; still largely unknown and unwelcome to the general public, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter – pregnant with Steve’s baby and a prisoner of Nazi über-menace the Red Skull – was undergoing a subtle program of brainwashing by perfidious psychologist Dr. Johan Faustus.

Although the mind-bending had succeeded in making her shoot Captain America on the Courthouse steps, the doped and duped operative was slowly clawing her way back to sanity, but received a huge shock after she discovered a comatose Steve alive and in captive in an underground cell…

The Skull – a disembodied malign consciousness trapped in the head of ex-Soviet General Aleksander Lukin – is well on the way to conquering the USA at last and also determined to have a new perfect body of his own again. Closeted with his body-swapping, gene-warping wizard Arnim Zola, a mysterious plan for Sharon’s baby and the body in the basement are coming to fruition…

Marvel’s extended publicity stunt was building to a blockbusting, revelatory close in this third volume (collecting issues #37-42 of Captain America volume 5 from 2008) written by master planner Ed Brubaker with art from Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Luke Ross, Fabio Laguna, Rick Magyar & Roberto De La Torre, with the promise of a new Captain America in situ at the close…

In a close-fought election year, the sudden rise of independent candidate Senator Gordon Wright and his Third Wing Party takes America by storm. Backed by corporate colossus Kronas and monolithic security division Kane-Myer and very publicly targeted by conservatives, radicals, liberals and nut-jobs alike, Wright seems the perfect and only candidate for the sensible ordinary man-in-the-street…

Whilst S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Tony Stark orders The Falcon to partner up with the still reluctant Bucky and track down Faustus, in Lukin’s lair Sharon has escaped again and gone searching for Steve…

What she finds is the deranged duplicate who briefly played Captain America in the 1950s. After a few short months the reactionary patriot had been forcibly “retired” when the super-soldier serum he’d used soured and turned him into a raving, racist paranoid. The fascistic facsimile had a tenuous grip on reality at best and attacked the real Sentinel of Liberty many times after escaping government custody…

Before she can shoot the horrific travesty of the man she loved, the Skull and Faustus recapture Sharon. Taking careful steps not to harm her, they restrain the dazed agent in the infirmary. Meanwhile Falcon and the new Captain America clash with Zola and agents of Advanced Idea Mechanics, destroying one of the Skull’s hidden facilities. Despite the heroes’ stunning triumph the Skull’s overall progress seems unchecked and unstoppable…

His next move is to release the reconditioned 1950s Cap and convince the public that the replica is their real fallen hero miraculously returned. When the Avenger then endorses Wright on live TV the political outsider suddenly seems a certainty for the White House, but things go awry when the Cap impostor clashes with Barnes and the young replacement defeats the veteran fake.

His nerve and spirit broken, the ersatz Avenger disappears, just as another disaster strikes at the plotters, when the Skull’s deeply disturbed daughter Sin attacks Sharon and causes her to lose the baby she’s carrying…

When AIM agents recapture the counterfeit Cap, Barnes and the Falcon are watching and get an unexpected hand from Faustus, who knows exactly when to leave a sinking ship. After triggering Sharon’s long disabled GPS chip the sinister shrink also makes a few last-minute adjustments to her memory and programming…

The disparate paths converge at a televised Presidential Debate – which now includes Wright – where, the Senator believes, one of his rivals will be assassinated and the Third Wing’s National Security stance will make him a shoo-in for the Oval Office. However the Skull has never played straight in his life and has agendas within schemes inside his plot…

As Falcon and Russian super-spy Black Widow spearhead a devastating rescue raid on the Nazi’s base, the new Captain America saves all the candidates on live TV before spectacularly capturing the assassins. In the midst of yet another Götterdämmerung the Skull and Zola play their final card and attempt to transfer the Machiavellian maniac’s mind out of Lukin’s body, but gravely underestimate the paranoid rage of their fake Cap and Sharon’s sheer determination to stop them at any cost…

In the shattering aftermath, Sharon is recuperating with S.H.I.E.L.D., Wright is disgraced, and Bucky Barnes is publicly acclaimed as the only Captain America, but although defeated the Red Skull is not dead.

Zola, it seems, has saved his master again, but the process has not met with approval and might be seen more as a punishment than salvation by the bitterly frustrated fascist overlord…

With covers and variants from Epting, Jackson Guice and Frank Cho, this concluding tome in The Death of Captain America triptych is a dark, tension-packed action-extravaganza that probably depends a little too much upon a working knowledge of Marvel continuity but, for those willing to eschew subtext or able to ignore seeming incongruities and go with the flow, this sinister conspiracy-thriller epic with guest-shots from Avengers luminaries Nick Fury, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Tony Stark is genuinely enthralling and well worth the effort.

The saga of the new Sentinel of Liberty resumed in Captain America: the Man with No Face and if you’re a full-on fan of the Fights ‘n’ Tights genre you’re assured of a thoroughly grand time there too.
© 2008 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Fantastic Four: The New Fantastic Four


By Dwayne McDuffie, Paul Pelletier, Rick Magyar & Scott Hanna (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2483-2

If you’re new to the first family of comic books, or worse yet returning after a sustained absence, you might have a few problems with this otherwise superb selection of high-concept hi-jinks featuring Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Thing and the Human Torch. However if you’re prepared to ignore a lot of unexplained references to stuff you’ve missed there’s a magically enthralling epic on offer in this terrific tome.

The Fantastic Four were – usually – maverick scientist Reed Richards, his fianceé and later wife Sue Storm, their friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s teenaged brother Johnny, driven survivors of a private space-shot which went horribly wrong when Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding.

When they crashed back to Earth the quartet found that they had all been hideously mutated into outlandish freaks. Richards’ body became elastic, Sue gained the power to turn invisible and project force-fields, Johnny could turn into living flame, and tragic Ben was trapped as a shambling, rocky freak. Shaken but unbowed they vowed to dedicate their new abilities to benefiting mankind.

After years of stunning adventures the close-knit fantastic family came to a parting after the Federal Superhuman Registration Act put the team on opposing sides of the costumed heroes’ Civil War, when Reed sided with the Government and his wife and brother-in-law joined the rebels. Ben, appalled at the entire situation, dodged the issue by moving to France…

This volume collects Fantastic Four #544-550 (June-November 2007 and originally running as the story-arc ‘Reconstruction’) and picks up in the aftermath of a group reconciliation, with temperaments still frayed and emotional wounds barely scabbed over…

The witty drama begins with ‘From the Ridiculous to the Sublime’ as, in an attempt to repair their damaged marriage, Reed and Sue take a second honeymoon to the moon of Titan courtesy of the Eternal demi-gods who inhabit the artificial paradise, whilst on Earth, Ben and Johnny are joined by temporary houseguests Black Panther and his wife Ororo, the former X-Man Storm.

The royal couple of Wakanda have only recently been forced to leave their palatial New York embassy after it was bombed…

No sooner have they settled in than old ally Michael Collins – formerly the cyborg Deathlok – comes asking a favour…

When a young hero code-named Gravity sacrificed his life to save Collins and a host of other heroes, his body was laid to rest with full honours. But now, his grave has been desecrated and the remains stolen. When the appalled New Fantastic Four investigate, the trail leads directly into intergalactic space…

After visiting the Moon and eliciting information from pan-galactic voyeur Uatu the Watcher, the quartet travel to the ends of the universe where cosmic entity Epoch is resurrecting Gravity to become the latest “Protector of the Universe”.

Unfortunately she might not finish as the Silver Surfer and Galactus’ new herald Stardust are preparing the sidereal monolith to be the World-Eater’s latest snack…

‘Don’t Make Me Embarrass You in Front of Your Friends’ finds Reed and Sue nearing Titan and beginning their break as, in another corner of the Cosmos, the FF battle the gleaming invaders in a desperate holding action. Whilst the Panther and Collins return to Earth for a Deus ex Machina weapon, ‘Aw, That’s Just Crude’ sees Gravity revived just as Galactus himself shows up, ravenous and ready to eat everything…

As the new universal protector shows his mettle by defeating the planet-devourer, Reed is forced to put the honeymoon on pause when his idle examination of an interstellar probe makes him suspect that the entire solar system might well be in danger…

‘Never Ask Her if she’s Wearing Colored Contact Lenses’ finds Reed back on Earth, with Sue simply sunning herself on Titan. However, whilst Mr. Fantastic’s suspicions are confirmed by fellow heroic super-scientist Hank Pym, The Wizard and a host of super-villains from previously iterations the Frightful Four attack and capture the Invisible Woman, but only after a truly cataclysmic clash…

Already distracted by the revelation that an alien race on the verge of extinction had sent the probe as a warning and that an all-consuming horde of marauders dubbed Contrasepsis was heading earthward, Richards flies off the handle when the Wizard boasts of Sue’s plight via long range radio beam. However when he rushes to return to Titan, Reed’s ship explodes…

Luckily the wily Panther had suspected a trap and ‘Kind of an Expensive Test’ finds the heroes hurtling towards the outer moon and a Battle Royale with the despicable scum who had tortured the Invisible Woman.

Even though the Wizard had a terrifying hidden ally, the devastating duel eventually ends in the good guys favour, but not before Sue displays why she is the scariest member of the FF and not one to ever be pushed around, after which ‘So I Guess You’re Saying the Honeymoon’s Over’ finds the Fantastic Six hurtling into deeper space where the Contrasepsis are massing. What they find is a violent degradation in the fabric of reality and a massing of the Watchers, all gathered to observe the end of everything…

It all comes together in a spectacular anniversary romp wherein the assembled heroes, Gravity, Stardust and the Silver Surfer and master of magic Doctor Strange unite to solve a cosmic mystery and save the conceptual being who is the very personification of life in ‘Should Eternity Perish’…

Also including a cover gallery from fan-favourite Michael Turner and pencilled pages from the penciller, this brilliantly scripted yarn by Dwayne McDuffie, with captivating art from Paul Pelletier, Rick Magyar & Scott Hanna, perfectly blends high-concept action with dazzling wit and razor-sharp comedy moments to create a perfectly wonderful Fights ‘n’ Tights extravaganza no clued-in, space freak comics fan could possibly find fault with.

Fantastic Fun. Get it.
© 2007 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.

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The World’s Greatest Middle Age Cartoons


By various, edited by Mark Bryant (Exley)
ISBN: 978-1-85015-508-9

Here’s another little dip into the vast library of cartoon comedy generated by Britain’s greatest natural resource (and still un-privatised so it belongs to us all for the moment): folks what make us laugh…

This selection comprises a nice slice of lesser known but still-pithily opinionated pen-smiths and brush-mongers, all turning a jaded and indeed long-suffering, probably myopic and squinty eye on the inescapable fate that awaits most of us. I’m assuming of course, that nobody here today has yet reached those lofty depths of “Middle Age”…

The cartoons re-presented here have been harvested from the pages of such literary colossi as Punch, The Spectator and Private Eye amongst many national and international sources and deftly display the wry, smug, elegant, frantic, resigned and obnoxious attractions of and reactions to the slow bit between adolescence and senescence which seems to revolve around cake, comfy chairs and utter bewilderment at how bad things have gotten…

In these pages you’ll first discover the heartbreak of exhausted skin, creaking bones and meandering waistlines, the joy of taking up hobbies and pastimes, the faithfulness of pets, gardening, vanity, self-delusion, impatience, futility, embarrassingly roving eyes and wandering hands, the brutal cruelty of fashion, an increasing familiarity with Doctors’ waiting rooms, unsuspected ailments, crisis after crisis, hair where it shouldn’t be and not where you’d like it, that first whiff of approaching death, grandchildren, personal “use-by dates”, how love never dies but increasingly needs a little help and especially how one can go off sarcasm…

As usual this particular book isn’t as much what I’m recommending (although if you can find a copy you won’t regret it) as the type of publication that I’m commemorating. Such life-affirming cartoons by Norman Thelwell, Gerard Hoffnung, Bill Stott, Sally Artz, Les Barton, Helen Cusack, Stidley Easel, Charles Rodriguez, Hector Breeze, Tony Husband, Clive Collins, Michael ffolkes, Donegan, David Haldane, Fleo, Grizelda Grizlingham, Bud Handelsman, Holte, Henry Martin, David Austin, Edward McLachlan, Cluff, David Myers, Ken Pyne, Viv Quillin, Bryan Reading, Heath and Roland Fiddy are sitting idly out of touch when they could be filling your bookshelves and giving your somnolent hearts a damned good, potentially invigorating laugh time and time again…
Selection © 1994 Exley Publications, Ltd. The copyright of each cartoon remains with each cartoonist or copyright holder.

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Superman: World Without a Superman


ISBN: 978-1-56389-193-9
By Dan Jurgens, Karl Kesel, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern & various (DC Comics)

Although largely out of favour these days as all the myriad decades of Superman mythology are inexorably re-assimilated into one overarching all-inclusive multi-media DC continuity, the stripped-down, gritty post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Man of Steel as re-imagined by John Byrne, and marvellously built upon by a stunning succession of gifted comics craftsmen, produced some genuine comics classics.

Most significant of them was a three-pronged story-arc which saw the martyrdom, loss, replacement and eventual resurrection of the World’s Greatest Superhero in a stellar saga which broke all records and proved that a jaded general public still cared about the venerable, veteran icon of Truth, Justice and the American Way…

This second landmark collection features material which originally appeared in Adventures of Superman #498-500, Action Comics #685-686, Superman: the Man of Steel #20-21, Superman #76-77 plus material from Superman: the Legacy of Superman and Superman #75, covering cover-dates January-March 1993 and originally published as the braided saga “Funeral for a Friend”.

After a brutal rampage across Middle America the mysterious monster dubbed Doomsday had only been stopped in the heart of Metropolis by a supreme and fatal effort on Superman’s part. Our story begins moments later in ‘Death of a Legend’ (scripted by Jerry Ordway and illustrated by Tom Grummett & Doug Hazlewood) as Lois Lane and still-standing survivors Guardian, Dubbilex and the JLA attempt vainly to resuscitate the fallen victor.

Elsewhere in the rubble Lex Luthor II (actually the original evil entrepreneur in a cloned body) recovers the still-living remains of Supergirl. Her intimate relationship with the Man of Steel a closely guarded secret, Lois is compelled to revert to journalist mode, unable to explain why she isn’t rushing to the aid of her fiancé Clark Kent, who is still numbered among the missing.

Superman’s ultimate sacrifice affects everyone deeply. Retired costumed crusader Jose Delgado considers returning to the Gangbuster role which almost killed him. Inventor Emil Hamilton and ex-prizefighter Bibbo Bibbowski dedicate their merely mortal gifts to carrying on the Man of Tomorrow’s work. With genetics research lab Cadmus and Metropolis authorities squabbling over the Kryptonian’s remains and the still-living Doomsday, in Smallville, Kansas an elderly couple sit in stunned shock, horror and disbelief…

‘Re-Actions’ by Roger Stern, Jackson Guice & Denis Rodier sees Project Cadmus Director Paul Westfield  thwarted in his efforts to harvest Superman’s corpse by Luthor, who intends to finally bury the Man of Steel in a fitting public mausoleum in Centenniel Park. As the news spreads and the world mourns, the recuperated Supergirl becomes the public face of Team Luthor’s expanded role as protectors of Metropolis…

In a place outside of time, temporal custodians Waverider and the Linear Men perpetually review the final battle but can find no viable way to turn back time…

‘Funeral Day’, by Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove & Dennis Janke, follows the World’s Greatest Heroes as they pay final homage to their valiant comrade amidst a world expressing its unceasing grief in respectful dignity… but not the whole world…

In Kansas, bereft Jonathan and Martha Kent, unable to attend their own son’s interment, hold a private ceremony in the field where he first fell to Earth…

In honour of Superman, the Justice League and other heroes gather to perform good deeds in his name, divined from the vast sacks of letters left for Superman every day in ‘Metropolis Mailbag II’ (Dan Jurgens & Brett Breeding), whilst young runaway Mitch, whose family were amongst the first victims of Doomsday, makes his own pilgrimage to the site of the Action Ace’s death, convinced that by saving him Superman had forfeited his own life…

In a quiet part of the city, Lois and Ma and Pa Kent and Lana Lang convene. As the only people privy to Superman’s secret they must decide whether to reveal his identity to a public already flooded by shysters and charlatans claiming to be the fallen champion’s intimates and legal heirs…

Meanwhile, beneath the mausoleum, Westfield’s agents are working: digging ever closer to the Kryptonian’s cadaver…

Although nobody can fathom why, Luthor had placed security sensors in the crypt and sends Supergirl to investigate the disturbance in ‘Grave Obsession’ (Ordway, Grummett & Hazlewood). She discovers the body gone and a huge hole leading down to the subsurface enclave of the dropouts, alien dregs and mortal monsters known as Underworlders who have carved out a tenuous home for themselves beneath the streets of Metropolis. With Police Inspector Dan “Terrible” Turpin she battles a number of the realm’s bizarre inhabitant’s but find no trace of the Man of Steel.

Frustrated, they return to the surface, but the veteran cop is suspicious. Why would young Luthor build a crypt with monitors and access tunnels…?

‘Who’s Buried in Superman’s Tomb?’ (Stern, Guice & Rodier) quickly answers the question by revealing the Man of Steel’s corpse on a slab at Cadmus, unbenownst to Project’s security chief Guardian (a clone of murdered cop and part-time superhero Jim Harper), who is patrolling Metropolis to honour his departed friend. Meanwhile Luthor is plagued with doubt: since cheating certain death himself, he is painfully ware – and afraid – that his greatest enemy might have done the same…

At Cadmus, Dubbilex, Guardian and the Newsboy Legion (juvenile clones of a 1940s crimebusting team whose “Originals” are now Project scientists) discover Superman’s body and confront Westfield…

And at the tomb a new religious cult has manifested, predicting the rise and return of the Last Son of Krypton, whilst Luthor rushes over to Cadmus determined to stop Westfield at all costs…

‘The Guardians of Metropolis’, by Karl Kesel & Walter Simonson, reveals how Superman’s genetic code is finally broken, but before the maliciously ambitious Westfield can capitalise on it, Guardian and the Newsboy remove the data and consign it to deep space in the care of augmented Jim Harper clone Auron, whilst in ‘Ghosts’ (Simonson, Bogdanove & Janke) the deep tunnels beneath Metropolis flood, driving many Underworlders to the surface and Lois down to the depths to investigate possible deliberate sabotage. Meeting the Newsboy Legion there, she backtracks to Cadmus and discovers her beloved Clark’s corpse. She determines to make the defilers pay with the power of the Press…

And in Kansas, bereaved and broken, Jonathan Kent collapses under the agony of a massive heart attack…

After Supergirl and Lois furiously invade Cadmus to retrieve the body, ‘The End’ (Jurgens & Breeding) sees a murderously triumphant Luthor reclaim Superman’s body “for Metropolis” and finally bury his arch-foe, whilst in Smallville Clark Kent’s Pa succumbs and passes from this world…

This powerful if ponderous epic concludes with ‘Life after Death’, by Ordway, Grummett & Hazlewood, as doctors frantically attempt to resuscitate Jonathan Kent, who has passed beyond Mortal Realms and met his cherished son. As Gangbuster bites off more than he can chew in the alleys of Superman’s city, Jonathan battles ghosts, memories and demons in a last-ditch struggle to save his boy. With the opportune aid of cosmic entity Kismet the elder Kent finally convinces Superman to leave the light and return to Earth…

He awakes in the ER, mumbling “Clark is back”…

And all over Metropolis, as fresh sightings of the hero begin to circulate, Lois and the police discover Superman’s coffin is open and the tomb is empty again…

To Be Concluded…

Relatively short on action but bursting with tension, drama and emotion, the brooding mood here served as a valuable and necessary palate-cleansing pause before the stunning epic conclusion introduced a plethora of Supermen in a bold and long-term push to revitalise the Superman franchise, but the positively manic public interest beyond the world of comics even embraced this distinctly downbeat interlude, taking everyone by surprise and making the Man of Tomorrow as vital and vibrant a sensation as in the earliest days of his creation.
© 1993 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Wonder Woman volume 4


By Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, Irving Novick & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-474-9

Wonder Woman was created by psychologist and polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston and uniquely realised by respected illustrator and co-creator Harry G. Peter just as the spectre of World War II began to directly affect America.

Using the pen-name Charles Moulton, Marston scripted all her adventures until his death in 1947, whereupon Robert Kanigher took over the writer’s role. H. G. Peter soldiered on with his unique artistic contribution until he passed away in 1958. Wonder Woman #97, in April of that year, was his last hurrah and the end of an era.

With the exception of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and a few innocuous back-up features, costumed heroes had all but vanished at the end of the 1940s, replaced by mostly mortal champions in a deluge of anthologised genre titles until Showcase #4 rekindled the public’s interest in costumed crime-busters with a new iteration of The Flash in 1956.

From that moment the fanciful floodgates opened wide once more, and whilst re-inventing Golden Age Greats such as Green Lantern, Atom and Hawkman, National/DC gradually updated all the those venerable veteran survivors who had weathered the backlash and none more so than the ever-resilient Amazing Amazon …

Artists Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, who had illustrated every script since Wonder Woman #98 in May of 1958, finally bowed out during the dog-days of this pivotal monochrome collection (re-presenting issues #157-177, October 1965-August 1968), graduating to Superman, Brave & the Bold, The Flash and eventually new Kanigher combat creation The Losers, whilst the Amazing Amazon floundered on the edge of cancellation – as indeed she had done for much of the 1960s.

Writer/editor Kanigher had constantly reinvented much of the original mythos, tinkering with her origins and unleashing her on an unsuspecting world in a fanciful blend of girlish whimsy, rampant sexism, strange romance, alien invasion, monster-mashing and utterly surreal (some would say-stream-of-consciousness) storytelling…

By the time this volume opens the Silver Age superhero revival was at its peak and, despite individual stories of stunning imagination and excellence, the format and timbre of Wonder Woman was looking tired and increasingly out of step with the rest of National/DC’s gradually gelling – and ultimately shared – continuity but, by its close, costumed characters were again in decline and a radical overhaul of Diana Prince was on the cards…

While all the other champions and defenders were getting together and teaming up at the drop of a hat – as indeed was the Princess of Power in Justice League of America – within the pages of her own title a timeless, isolated fantasy universe was carrying on much as it always had.

The madcap mythological mayhem began with the first of a two-part shocker from Wonder Woman #157 when Diana followed her beloved on a suicide mission to Red China – or Oolong Island, at least – where an insane and obnoxious giant cybernetic menace was planning to launch Nuclear Armageddon against the West.

Captured and transformed into ‘I – the Bomb!’ Steve Trevor was only saved by Amazon science but still had to endure separation and ‘The Fury of Egg Fu’ in #158 before crushing the ovoid outlaw once again.

Kanigher never forgot he was writing comicbooks and he took pains to constantly point it out to the readership – even though their preference might not be to have narrative rules, and suspension of disbelief flouted whilst fourth walls were continually broached. With ‘The End – or the Beginning?’ which closed out the issue, he gathered all the vast cast of the series in his office and told them that most of them were fired. Readers were then challenged to guess who would be back for the Big Change in #159…

The promised reboot consisted of a full switch to the faux 1940’s stories road-tested in #156 (see Showcase Presents Wonder Woman volume 3) and began with ‘The Golden Age Secret Origin of Wonder Woman’ wherein we saw the humbling and self-exile of the Amazons, and how thousands of years later baby Diana was shaped from clay and given life by goddesses Athena and Aphrodite. Growing to mighty maturity, the girl then rescued downed Air Force pilot Steve Trevor and after winning a divinely-ordained contest travelled back to “Man’s World” to conquer injustice and aggression through Amazon strength and ideals.

There was even room for a follow-up tale in which their journey was interrupted by enemy agents who brought down Wonder Woman’s Invisible Plane on ‘Doom Island’, only to discover the staggering power of America’s latest defender…

Issue #160 found her battling deranged bandit The Cheetah who took her Amazonian Bracelets of Submission and inadvertently unleashed all Diana’s pent-up hostility in ‘The Amazon of Terror’ before arch foe Mars psychically prompted a brilliant if misogynistic mutant midget to attack her in ‘Dr. Psycho’s Revenge’…

WW #161 opened with a convoluted clash against freelance spy Countess Draska Nishki whilst rival film companies battled to produce the ultimate filmic Pharaonic epic. Happily ‘The Curse of Cleopatra’ proved to be industrial espionage and not ancient Egyptian evil and, undaunted, Diana then foiled a crooked attempt to steal Steve’s knowledge by Nishki and Angle Man who shrank inside his skull. Determined to save her beloved’s honour the Amazon had to win an incredible ‘Battle Inside of a Brain!’

‘The Startling Secret of Diana Prince’ opened #162 and disclosed how the Paradise Island Émigré purchased the identity and papers of lovelorn Army Nurse Diana Prince in order to be close to Trevor at all times before ‘The Return of Minister Blizzard’ pitted Wonder Woman against an icy usurper determined to steal the throne and heart of a polar princess by giving her Manhattan as a gift…

Psycho returned in #163 and used an evolutionary advancement device to turn a two-ton anthropoid into curvaceous eight-foot tall blonde berserker. ‘Giganta – the Gorilla Girl’ then attacked the Amazon, determined to have Steve as her mate… ‘Danger – Wonder Woman’ then reintroduced the Machiavellian Paula von Gunta – also inexplicably hot for Trevor – who used thugs, hypnosis and the Amazon’s own magic weapons in her campaign to remove her romantic rival.

Issue #164 featured a full-length thriller wherein the Power Princess was almost bamboozled into marrying Steve’s commanding officer General Darnell, before being compelled by Angle Man and her own magic lasso into attacking America in ‘Wonder Woman… Traitor’ whilst in #165 ‘Perils of the Paper Man’ found an incredible parchment pariah turn to crime in an effort to win the Amazon’s heart before ‘The Three Fantastic Faces of Wonder Woman’ were made manifest by the irrepressibly evil Dr. Psycho.

In #166 ‘The Sinister Schemes of Egg Fu, the Fifth’ to steal US submarines were quickly scrambled by the Amazing Amazon whilst in ‘Once a Wonder Woman…!’ Diana’s attempts to win Steve in her unglamorous mortal persona were accidentally foiled by the perfidious Cheetah and WW# 167 offered up ‘The Secret of Tabu Mt.’ when the real Diana Prince needed help rescuing her new husband from a lost Aztec tribe, after which Steve shamefully used the ‘Strange Power of the Magic Lasso’ to make the Amazon his slave for a day…

After inexplicably forgiving the sod, in #168 Diana almost lost her magical lariat in ‘Three Hands on the Magic Lasso’ when a ruthless collector hired Giganta, Dr. Psycho and Paula von Gunta to steal it for him whilst ‘Never in a Million Years’ found Diana back on Paradise Island attempting to forcibly dissuade a love-struck Amazon from following a man back to America.

The Golden Age veneer was gradually slipping and it once again seemed that the series was sliding towards oblivion. Middle period fantasy elements began to reappear, so when Mars created an almost unstoppable menace in #169, guile and passion at last won the day when ‘Wonder Woman Battles the Crimson Centipede’ after which General Darnell renewed his romantic campaign when the Amazon was trapped in ‘The Cage of Doom!’

A duplicate of Steve created by Dr. Psycho in #170 psychologically tortured and almost destroyed ‘The Haunted Amazon’ and unconquerable alien apes could only be stopped by ‘Wonder Woman – Gorilla’ after which WW#171 saw vacationing Amazons sucked into the ‘Terror Trap of the Demon Man-Fish’ before a malign miniscule malcontent reared his furry head again in the crime caper ‘Menace of the Mouse Man!’

Veteran war artist Irv Novick took over the art with #172 (October 1967) and ‘A Day in the Life of an Amazon’ presented a slightly more realistic edge, even though the portmanteau tale saw Diana crush costumed criminals, fight a giant baby and blitz an alien invasion whilst ‘The Amazing Amazon Crime!’ found her hard-pressed to defeat a felonious android facsimile…

Firmly re-established back in the late Sixties, #173 revealed ‘Wonder Woman’s Daring Deception’ when a jealous Amazon tried to usurp her position as ambassador to Man’s World after which she briefly became ‘Earth’s Last Human’ until a neat time-travel trick enabled her to go back in time and foil a Martian sneak attack. In #174 her boyfriend at last got to outshine Diana when mysterious power-pills (courtesy of Angle Man) enabled the Air Force pilot to become a superhero in ‘Steve Trevor – Alias The Patriot’ whilst ‘Wonder Woman vs. the Air Devils!’ ended the issue in a tense duel between the Princess of Power and the self-proclaimed King of Crime…

With the end in sight and after decades at the helm, Kanigher managed one last genuine surprise twist in #175 when ‘Wonder Woman’s Evil Twin!’ from a parallel Earth attacked, determined to take everything our heroine cherished, but his final script was something of an anticlimax when the ‘Threat of the Triple Stars’ (#176 June 1968) found the Amazon seriously outmatched by three brothers whose sibling rivalry extended to seeing whom could out-power, woo, overwhelm and wed her. Apparently she had no say in the matter…

The final tale in this volume – and indeed of the old Amazing Amazon – was a fill-in by Bill Finger, J. Winslow Mortimer & Jack Abel, and one of the best tales of the entire run.

‘Wonder Woman and Supergirl vs. the Planetary Conqueror!’ (August 1968) detailed how interplanetary marauder Klamos had briefly tired of battle and sought a mate. Abducting the most powerful females from a host of worlds, the astral emperor forced them to battle for the “honour” of being his bride. In a thrilling, gritty tale, the Girl of Steel and Amazing Amazon at last showed their mettle – and feminist credentials – by trashing everything and exposing a colossal deception at the heart of an evil empire that spanned a dozen galaxies.

It was a splendid high note to end on. With the next issue Mike Sekowsky would begin a root and branch overhaul that would see Steve murdered, Diana stripped of her powers and the Amazons gone from the Earth. A whole new kind of Wonder Woman was coming… and can be seen in the magical quartet of full-colour collections Diana Prince: Wonder Woman, and hopefully one day in an equally stunning monochrome Showcase edition such as this one…

Always wild, bold, action-packed, thrilling and utterly delightful, whilst often mind-boggling and practically incomprehensible by modern narrative standards, these exuberant, effulgent fantasies are usually illogical and occasionally just plain bonkers, but in those days adventure in the moment was paramount and if you could put rationality and consistency aside for a moment these utterly infectious romps simply sparkled then and now with fun, thrills and sheer spectacle.

Wonder Woman is rightly revered as a focus of female strength, independence and empowerment, but the welcoming nostalgia and easy familiarity of such innocuous imaginative fairytales must be a magical escape for open-minded readers, whilst the true, incomparable value of these stories is the incredible quality entertainment they still offer.
© 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 201 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Milo Manara Glamour Books 1 & 2


Edited by Vincenzo Mollica & Antonio Vianovi (Glamour International Productions)
No ISBNs

For some folks the graphic arts collections under review here will be unacceptably violent and/or dirty. If that’s you, please stop here and come back tomorrow when there will something you’ll approve of but which will certainly offend somebody else.

Maurilio Manara was born on September 12th 1945 and grew into an intellectual, whimsical craftsman with a dazzling array of artistic skills ranging from architecture, product design, sumptuous painting and of course an elegant, refined, clear-clean line style with pen and ink. He is best known for his wry and always controversial sexually explicit material – although that’s more an indicator of our comics market and sad straitened society than any artistic obsession.

His training was in the classical arts of painting and architecture before succumbing to the lure of comics. In 1969, he started his career in sexy horror strips with the Fumetti Neri series Genius, worked on the magazine Terror and in 1971 began his adult career  illustrating Francisco Rubino’s Jolanda de Almaviva. In 1975 his first major work, a reworking of the Chinese tales of the Monkey King, was released as Lo Scimmiotto (The Ape).

By the end of the seventies he was working for Franco-Belgian markets as an A-list creator. It was while creating material for Charlie Mensuel, Pilote and L’Écho des savanes that he created his signature series HP and Giuseppe Bergman for A Suivre.

As the 80’s staggered to a close he wrote and drew, in his characteristic blend of bawdy burlesque and saucy slapstick, increasingly smart if eccentrically satirical and baroque tales during a devastatingly penetrating assault on modern media and bastardized popular culture; which were increasingly being used at that time to cloak capitalist intrusions and commercial seductions in the arts.

All of these periods are strongly represented in the books under review here. In 1984 and 1985 the Italian outfit which produced Popular Arts magazine Glamour Illustrated released a brace of fabulous art-books collecting and cataloguing the extant works of this maestro of mature modern sequential narrative (covering 1967 – 1985) which had limited distribution in Britain – despite the best efforts of specialist importer Titan Distributors – and these tomes are long past due for revision and reissuing…

These glorious compilations, 144 and 84 pages respectively (many of them full-colour high-gloss inserts), simultaneously transcribed in Italian, French and English, track the artistic development and display the incredible ability and versatility of an incomparable graphic stylist, with Milo Manara Glamour Book divided into early and ‘Unpublished Works’, ‘Black and White’ – printed pieces and extracts ranging from comics pages and panels, pin-ups, ads, illustrations, posters and covers – and concluding with erotic works dubbed ‘Nubinlove’.

The extensive central ‘Colour’ section reveals, in stunning glossy hues, his canon of covers for comics, magazines, books and records; posters, cartoons, animation model sheets and storyboards and paintings, plus many pages and extracts from his strips produced in Italy, France and America.

Milo Manara 2 Glamour Book was rushed out a year later due to immense public demand and, although finding a few delicious historical nuggets omitted from volume 1, concentrated on recently completed material, unseen sketches and draught drawings in its ‘Unpublished Works’ and ‘Black and White’ sections and included a ton of storyboards and design illustrations from the movie adaptation of his infamous sex-comedy ‘Le déclic’ both in monochrome and full colour, in a section which also displayed book, portfolio and magazine covers, calendar illustrations and advertising spreads.

Both collections also contain impressively comprehensive checklists which detail in full Manara’s vast publication record to date in their ‘Chronology’ and ‘Bibliography’ sections.

As you would expect there is a breathtaking amount of beautifully rendered flesh on display in an unrelenting series of lascivious situations but there is also a welcome glimpse into the scrupulous working practice of an artist equally renowned for his historical research and devotion to historical accuracy and authenticity… and his wickedly sly, dry sense of humour.

Milo Manara is a world class storyteller that English speakers have too long been deprived of and these beautiful books are desperately in need of updating and re-release, if only to supplement Dark Horse’s sterling efforts to popularise the Maestro through their Manara Library project…
No copyright notice so let’s assume © 1967-1986 Milo Manara. All Rights Reserved. If anybody knows better please let me know and we’ll amend the entry.

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Essential Iron Fist volume 1


By Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Larry Hama, Chris Claremont, John Byrne & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-7851-1546-5

Comicbooks have always operated within the larger bounds of popular trends and fashions – just look at what got published whenever westerns or science fiction dominated on TV – so when the ancient philosophy and health-&-fitness discipline of Kung Fu made its unstoppable mark on domestic entertainment it wasn’t long before the Chop Sockey kicks and punches found their way en masse onto the four-colour pages of America’s periodicals.

As part of the first Martial Arts bonanza, Marvel converted a forthcoming license to use venerable fictional villain Fu Manchu into a series about his. The series launched in Special Marvel Edition #15, December 1973 as The Hands of Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu and by April 1974 (#17) it became his exclusively. A month later the House of Ideas launched a second oriental-tinged hero in Iron Fist; a character combining the Eastern combat philosophy with high fantasy, magic powers and a proper superhero mask and costume…

The character also owed a hefty debt to Bill Everett’s pioneering golden Age super-hero Amazing Man who graced various Centaur Comics publications between1939 and 1942. The tribute was paid by Roy Thomas & Gil Kane who adopted and translated the fictive John Aman‘s Tibetan origins into something that gibed better with the 1970’s twin zeitgeists of Supernatural Fantasy and Chinese martial arts mayhem…

This collection gathers the multifarious appearances of the Living Weapon from Marvel Premier #15-25, Iron Fist #1-15, Marvel Team-Up #63-64 and Power Man & Iron Fist #48-50 spanning May 1974 to April 1978 which saw the bombastic human blockbuster uncover his past and rediscover his heritage and humanity before inevitably settling into the inescapable role of costumed superhero.

The saga began on a spectacular high in Marvel Premier #15 with ‘The Fury of Iron Fist!’ by Thomas, Kane and inker Dick Giordano which saw a young masked warrior defeat the cream of a legendary combat elite in a fabled other-dimensional city before returning to Earth. Ten years previously little Daniel Rand had watched as his father and mother died at the hands of Harold Meachum whilst the party risked Himalayan snows to find the legendary city of K’un Lun.

Little Danny Rand had travelled with his wealthy parents and business partner Meachum in search of the lost city which only appeared on Earth for one day every ten years. Wendell Rand had some unsuspected connection to the fabled Shangri La but was killed before they arrived, whilst Danny’s mother had sacrificed herself to save the child from wolves and her murderous pursuer.

As he wandered alone in the wilderness, the city found Danny and the boy spent the next decade training: mastering all forms of martial arts in the militaristic, oriental, feudal paradise and enduring arcane ordeals, living only for the day he would return to Earth and avenge his parents…

After conquering all comers and refusing immortality, Iron Fist returned to Earth a Living Weapon able to turn his force of will into a devastating super-punch…

From the outset the feature was plagued by an inability to keep a stable creative team, although, to be fair, story quality never suffered, only plot and direction. Reaching New York City in #16, ‘Heart of the Dragon!’ by Len Wein, Larry Hama & Giordano found Iron Fist reliving the years of work which had culminated in a trial by combat with mystic dragon Shou-Lao the Undying, winning him the power to concentrate his fist “like unto a thing of Iron” and other unspecified abilities, whilst permanently branding his chest with the seared silhouette of the fearsome wyrm. His recollections were shattered when martial arts bounty hunter Scythe attacked, revealing that Meachum knew the boy was back and had put a price on his head…

Danny had not only sacrificed immortality for vengeance but also prestige and privilege. As he left K’un Lun, supreme ruler of the city Yü Ti, the August Personage in Jade had revealed that murdered Wendell Rand had been his brother…

Marvel Premier #17 saw Doug Moench take over the scripting as Iron Fist stormed Meachum’s skyscraper headquarters, a ‘Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance’ converted into a colossal 30-storey death trap, which led to a duel with a cybernetically-augmented giant dubbed Triple-Iron and a climactic confrontation with his parents’ killer in #18’s ‘Lair of Shattered Vengeance!’

The years had not been kind to Meachum. He’d lost his legs to frostbite as he returned from the Himalayas, and hearing from Sherpas that a boy had been taken into K’un Lun, the murderer had spent the intervening decade awaiting in dread his victims’ avenger…

Filled with loathing, frustration and pity, Iron Fist turned away from his intended retribution, but Meachum died anyway, slain by a mysterious Ninja as the deranged multi-millionaire attempted to shoot Danny in the back…

In #19 Joy Meachum and her ruthless uncle Ward, convinced Iron Fist had killed the crippled Harold, stepped up the hunt for Iron Fist via legal and illegal means whilst the shell-shocked Living Weapon aimlessly wandered the streets. Adopted by the enigmatic Colleen Wing Danny then met her father, an aging professor of Oriental Studies who had fallen foul of a ‘Death Cult!’

In his travels the aged savant had acquired an ancient text The Book of Many Things, which, amongst other things, held the secret of K’un Lun’s destruction. The deadly disciples of Kara-Kai were determined to possess it. After thwarting another attempt Iron Fist tried to make peace with Joy, but instead walked into an ambush where the bloodthirsty ninja again intervened, slaughtering the ambushers…

A period of pitiful and often painful inconsistency began as Tony Isabella, Arvell Jones & Dan Green took over with #20 wherein the Kara-Kai cultists renewed their attacks on the Wings whilst Ward Meachum hired a veritable army to destroy the Living Weapon in ‘Batroc and other Assassins’ – with the identity of the ninja apparently revealed as the elderly scholar…

Marvel Premier #21 introduced the ‘Daughters of the Death Goddess’ (inked by Vince Colletta) as the Wing’s were abducted by the cultists and bionic ex-cop Misty Knight debuted first as foe but soon as ally. When Danny tracked down the cult he discovered some shocking truths – as did the ninja, who had been imprisoned within the ancient book by the August Personage in Jade in ages past and had possessed the Professor in search of escape and revenge…

All was revealed and the hero exonerated in #22’s ‘Death is a Ninja’ (inked by “A. Bradford”) when the ninja disclosed how, as disciple to sublime wizard Master Khan, he had attempted to conquer K’un Lun and been imprisoned in the crumbling tome. Over years he had discovered a temporary escape and had manipulated the Professor and Iron Fist to secure his release and the doom of his jailers. Now exposed, he faced the Living Weapon in one last cataclysmic clash…

A measure of stability began with #23 as Chris Claremont, Pat Broderick & Bob McLeod took the series in a new direction. With his life’s work over and nearly nine years until he could go “home”, Danny was now a man without purpose until whilst strolling with Colleen he stumbled into a spree shooting in ‘The Name is… Warhawk.’

When the cyborg-assassin had a Vietnam flashback and began sniping in Central Park, the Pride of K’un Lun instantly responded to the threat and thus began his career as a hero…

In ‘Summerkill’ (inked by Colletta) the itinerant exile battled an alien robot dubbed the Monstroid and began a long and complicated association with Princess Azir of Halwan as the mysterious Master Khan resurfaced, apparently intent on killing her and seizing her country…

Marvel Premier #25 saw the end of the hero’s run and the start of his short but sweet Golden Age as John Byrne became regular penciller for ‘Morning of the Mindstorm!’ (inked by Al McWilliams). When Colleen was abducted and her father driven to the edge of insanity by mind-bending terrorist Angar the Screamer, Danny, made of far sterner stuff, quickly overcame the psychic assaults and tracked the attackers to Stark Industries and into his own series…

Iron Fist #1 (November 1975) featured ‘A Duel of Iron!’ as the Living Weapon was tricked into battling Iron Man, whilst Colleen escaped and ran into Danny’s future nemesis Steel Serpent before being recaptured and renditioned to Halwan…

After a spectacular, inconclusive and ultimately pointless battle, Danny and Misty Knight also headed for Halwan in ‘Valley of the Damned!’ (#2, inked by Frank Chiaramonte) with the hero recalling a painful episode from his youth wherein his best friends Conal and Miranda chose certain death beyond the walls of regimented K’un Lun rather than remain in the lost city where they could not love each other…

As Master Khan began to break Colleen, Danny and Misty stopped-over in England where a nuclear horror named The Ravager slaughtered innocents by blowing up London Airport and the Post Office Tower (we rebuilt it as the BT Tower, so don’t panic), compelling Iron Fist to punch far above his weight in ‘The City’s Not For Burning!’

Inevitably it ended in ‘Holocaust!’ as Ravager was unmasked as master-villain Radion the Atomic Man, who fatally irradiated Danny until the hero discovered the cleansing and curative power of the Iron Fist and stormed to his greatest triumph…

Whilst Misty recuperated Danny became involved with a guilt-ridden IRA bomber named Alan Cavenaugh before tackling another of Khan’s assassins in ‘When Slays the Scimitar!’ after which Iron Fist and Misty finally infiltrated Halwan in #6, courtesy of crusading lawyer Jeryn Hogarth who also promised to secure Danny’s inheritance and interests from the Rand-Meachum Corporation. The Pride of K’un Lun didn’t much care since the successfully brainwashed Colleen had been unleashed by Khan, determined to kill her rescuers in ‘Death Match!’…

None of the earthly participants were aware that in a hidden dimension, Yü Ti spied on the proceedings with cold calculation…

By using the Iron Fist to psychically link with Colleen, Danny had broken Khan’s control and at last the malignant mage personally entered the fray in #7’s ‘Iron Fist Must Die!’, a blistering battle which broached the dimensions and exposed the August Personage in Jade’s involvement in Wendell Rand’s death. Given the choice between abandoning his friends on Earth or returning to K’un Lun for answers and justice the Living Weapon made a hero’s choice…

With Iron Fist #8 Danny returned to New York and tried to pick up the pieces of a life postponed for more than a decade. Unaware that Steel Serpent was now working for Joy Meachum, Danny joined the company until merciless mob boss Chaka and his Chinatown gangs attacked the business ‘Like Tigers in the Night!’ (inked by Dan Adkins), and Iron Fist was fatally poisoned. Sportingly offered an antidote if he survived a gauntlet of Chaka’s warriors, Danny triumphed in his own manner when ‘The Dragon Dies at Dawn!’ (Chiaramonte inks) but when a hidden killer bludgeoned Chaka, Danny was once again a fugitive from the cops and dubbed a ‘Kung Fu Killer!’ (Adkins) until he, Colleen and Misty exposed the entire plot as a fabrication of the gangster.

In #11 ‘A Fine Day’s Dawn!’ the Living Weapon squared off against the Asgardian empowered Wrecking Crew and, with Misty a hostage, was compelled to fight Captain America in #12’s ‘Assault on Avengers’ Mansion!’ until the Pride of K’un Lun and the Sentinel of Liberty were able to unite and turn the tables on the grotesque godlings…

In the intervening time Cavenaugh had arrived in New York, but not escaped the reach of his former Republican comrades who hired hitman Boomerang to kill the traitor and ‘Target: Iron Fist!’ with little success, but the villain introduced in issue #14 came a lot closer and eventually eclipsed Iron Fist in popularity…

‘Snowfire’, inked by Dan Green, found Danny and Colleen running for their lives in arctic conditions when a retreat at Hogarth’s Canadian Rockies estate was invaded by deadly mercenary Sabre-tooth. It just wasn’t their week as, only days before, a mystery assailant had ambushed Iron Fist and impossibly drained off a significant portion of the lad’s Shou-Lao fuelled life-force… Despite being rendered temporarily blind, the K’un Lun Kid ultimately defeated Sabre-tooth, but the fiercely feral mutant would return again and again…

With Claremont and Byrne increasingly absorbed by their stellar collaboration on the revived and resurgent adventures of Marvel’s mutant horde, Iron Fist #15 (September 1977) was their last Martial Arts mash-up for awhile. The series ended in spectacular fashion as through a comedy of errors Danny found himself battling Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Storm and Phoenix in ‘Enter, the X-Men’.

The cancellation was clearly not planned however as two major subplots went unresolved: Misty had disappeared on an undercover assignment to investigate European gang-boss John Bushmaster and Danny again had his chi siphoned off by the mysterious Steel Serpent…

Fans didn’t have to wait long: Claremont & Byrne had already begun a stint on Marvel Team-Up and turned the Spider-Man vehicle into their own personal clearing house for unresolved plot-lines. MTU #63-64 (November & December 1977 and inked by Dave Hunt) exposed the secret of K’un Lun exile Davos in ‘Night of the Dragon’ as the Steel Serpent sucked the power of the Iron Fist from Danny, leaving him near death. Risking all she had gained, Misty broke cover and rushed to his aid.

With the Wall-crawler and Colleen (the girls using the team name “Daughters of the Dragon”) to bolster him, Iron Fist defeated Davos and reclaimed his heritage in ‘If Death be my Destiny…’ before shuffling off into a quiet retirement and anonymity.

…But not for long.

The creative team supreme, augmented by inker Dan Green took over Power Man with the December 1977 issue to finally close their extended saga beginning with#48’s ‘Fist of Iron… Heart of Stone!’

Spurned and furious, Bushmaster had tracked down Misty and, by kidnapping his girlfriend Claire Temple and mentor Noah Burstein, coerced Luke Cage into attacking Danny and the Daughters. A man of infinite subtlety, Bushmaster had dangled a carrot too: proof that would clear the fugitive of outstanding drugs charges and enable him to live as a free man under his real name once again…

When Cage couldn’t kill his targets he believed he had doomed his friends, but #49’s ‘Seagate is a Lonely Place to Die!’ (February 1978) revealed that the criminal mastermind’s real purpose was to force Burstein to repeat the chemical experiment which had given Cage super-strength and impenetrable skin. Now united with Iron Fist, Cage had to defeat a stronger, smarter, utterly ruthless version of himself before finally winning his ‘Freedom!’ in Power Man & Iron Fist #50 (April 1978) and beginning a new and extremely impressive partnership with the Living Weapon who had at last found his place in the world..

Although sadly suffering through some grim patches, the greater bulk of the Iron Fist saga ranks amongst the most exciting and enjoyable Costumed Dramas of Marvel’s second generation. If you want a good, clean fight comic this is probably one of your better bets…
© 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Outsiders/Checkmate: Checkout

New expanded Review

By Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Joe Bennett, Matthew Clark, Eddy Barrows, Ron Randall, Jack Jadson & Art Thibert (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-737-2

Finally exposed to a world which had believed them all dead and now also blamed for setting off a nuclear explosion which had devastated a large part of Russia, the underground metahuman coalition known as The Outsiders – “rogue” superheroes who proactively sought out threats and ignored political boundaries or repercussions – found themselves on the edge of oblivion as their series hurtled towards a blistering climax and a major reboot.

Set after and resulting from the earth-shaking events of 52, this slick, fast-paced thriller co-written by Greg Rucka & Judd Winick combined the daily devious duplicity of Checkmate (a covert UN agency tasked with overseeing superhuman activity) with the take-no prisoners-and-make-no-excuses crusade of the Outsiders for an epic of unrealpolitik and edgy, cynically grim-and-gritty nastiness…

Collecting a six-part crossover (Checkmate #13-15 and Outsiders #47-49, June-September 2007) it all began in ‘Checkout part 1′ illustrated by Joe Bennett & Jack Jadson, with off-the-grid fugitives Captain Boomerang, Katana, Metamorpho, Thunder and Grace attacked and subdued by Checkmate operatives. It didn’t go strictly to plan however and Nightwing soon turned the tables by invading the agency’s HQ and capturing Black Queen Sasha Bordeaux…

Part two, with art by Matthew Clark & Art Thibert, saw him liberate his comrades and set about trashing the place until the Queen convinced the Outsiders to work with them on a mission far too dirty for their own rule-bound agents; namely invading Oolong Island, a rogue state peopled by criminal absconders and the mad scientists of many nations.

Checkmate wanted the deranged tinkerers stopped, but the new nation had hidden international allies and its proximity to China and North Korea made the situation a political powder-keg…

The Outsiders accepted the offer, but knew they were being played…

Illustrated by Bennett, Eddy Barrows & Jadson, the third chapter opens when a combined force which included Bordeaux, Count Vertigo, Fire, Thomas Jagger, Josephine “Mlle. Marie” Tautin and disembodied electronic intellect The Thinker infiltrated the fortress of evil, and Boomerang let slip that he’d worked with some of the agents before – on illegal, unsanctioned missions – compelling White Queen Amanda Waller to sabotage the mission and save herself from the censure of the Checkmate Royal Council…

Trapped on Oolong the squad desperately fought free of a bucket load of technological terrors and retreated, but Boomerang, Nightwing and Bordeaux were left behind after the Black Queen ordered her operatives to escape with crucial data and evidence that Waller was a traitor, in a blistering all-action chapter from artists Clark, Ron Randall & Art Thibert.

However, apparent proof of Chinese involvement in the malignant Rogue State appeared when symbionic super-fighter Immortal Man in Darkness intercepted the fleeing Outsiders jet, whilst far behind them monstrous scientific sadist Chang Tzu AKA Egg Fu prepared to vivisect and examine his prisoners under the supervision of the People’s Hero August General in Iron…

‘Checkout Part 5’ (Bennett & Jadson) saw terse diplomatic double-dealing almost disclose China’s role before that nation cut loose all its embarrassing ties. As a rescue mission began, Chang’s appalling investigations brought Boomerang and Bordeaux to the edge of a merciful death before Nightwing finally broke free…

‘Checkout: Conclusion’ (by Clark, Randall & Thibert) saw the united forces of Checkmate and the Outsiders roar to the rescue only to find they’d be played for fools. Happily White King Mr. Terrific and Batman had a better grip on matters and tracked Chang to his true sponsors in North Korea…

With the battered team survivors rather than victors, the Dark Knight then decided to take charge of the Outsiders and run things his way again…

If you love outrageous action, sexy heroes and truly vile bad-guys (many of them working for “our side”), this dark, utterly Gung-Ho blockbuster has great pace, superb dialogue, loads of gratuitous violence and beautifully cool art.

Brutal, uncompromising and savagely action-packed, the dark saga the Outsiders inevitably led to a big finish long ago, yet these painfully plausible superhero sagas are still gripping, shocking and extremely readable: compelling tales which will enthral older fans of the genre.
© 2007, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Fanatics Guide to: Dogs


By Roland Fiddy (Exley)
ISBN: 978-1-85015-272-9

The field of British cartooning has been tremendously well-served over the centuries with masters of form, line, wash and most importantly ideas perpetually tickling our funny bones whilst poking our pomposities and fascinations.

As is so often the case many of these masters of merriment and mirth are being not-so-slowly forgotten in their own lands whilst still revered and adored everywhere else. One of our most prolific and best was a infinitely sharp tool named Roland Fiddy whose fifty year career encompassed comics, newspaper strips and dedicated gag-books such as the one I’m re-scrutinizing here; one of a “Cartoonists Dozen” (that’s eleven, with another “almost finished, just drying, in the post and trust me, well worth waiting that little bit longer for, boss”) assaulting such commonplace perennial Pandora’s Boxes of modern society as Sex, Computers, Dads, Diets, Money, Cats, Husbands, the Bed and more.

His brash, efficient and amorphously loose drawing line winnowed out extraneous detail and always zeroed straight in to the punch-line with a keen and accurate eye for shared experience and a masterfully observational sense of the absurd, whether producing one-off gags for magazines such as Punch, cartoons and strips for comics or even the far tougher discipline of daily features; winning him nearly two dozen international humour awards from places as disparate as Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and many others. His work was particularly well received in the USA, making him an international icon and ambassador of “Britishness” as valuable as Giles or Thelwell.

“Fiddy”, as he signed his work, was born in Plymouth in 1931 and educated at Devonport High School, Plymouth College of Art and Bristol’s West of England College of Art: a dedicated course of study interrupted for three years compulsory National Service which saw him join the RAF.

He had been teaching art for two years before he sold his first professional cartoon to digest men’s magazine Lilliput in July 1949. He quickly graduated to Punch, selling constantly to intellectual powerhouse editor Malcolm Muggeridge. By 1952 he was also a regular contributor of gags to populist papers the News Chronicle, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror.

His first continuity work was for the post-war British comics industry, creating Sir Percy Vere for Clifford Makins, editor of the prestigious Eagle after it was bought by Odhams from original publisher Hulton Press. He followed up the period poltroonery with an army strip entitled Private Proon for Boy’s World before settling back into his comfort zone with a weekly page of one-off gags for Ranger.

The Fun with Fiddy feature was one of the few (others included the legendary Trigan Empire) which survived the high-end comic’s inevitable absorption into Look and Learn.

In 1976 he began a decade-long stint drawing the rather anodyne Tramps (scripted by practising Christian Iain Reid) which featured jovial hoboes Percival and Cedric; an inexplicably well-regarded strip which ran seven days a week. I mention the religious aspect in case you ever see Tramps in the Kingdom: a 1979 collection of the 110-odd, faith-based episodes. To my knowledge the remaining 3000 or more everyday, secularly funny instalments haven’t ever been collected.

In 1985 Fiddy created Paying Guest for the Sunday Express (another 10 year spree) and in 1986 Him Indoors for The People. The home-grown strip market was changing and contracting however and increasingly Fiddy chose to sell gags as an international freelancer and create cartoon books.

Within these pages, available as both English or American editions and going into at least three reprintings, is a wealth of wryly good natured if obviously long-suffering observation of canine co-dependence divided into separate themes – or perhaps breeds – such as ‘Dogs are Diverse’, ‘Dogs are Domesticated’, ‘Dogs are Doted On’, ‘Dogs are Devoted’, ‘Dogs can be Difficult’, ‘Dogs Discovering that Dimensions can be Deceptive’, ‘Dogs Can be Despondent’, ‘Dogs are Dependable’, ‘Dogs Can be Devious’, ‘Some Dogs Dramatize’, ‘Some Dogs are Dangerous’ and more…

Fiddy built a solid body of irresistible, seductive and always astonishingly funny work which enjoyed universal appeal and delighted readers of all ages, appearing in innumerable magazines, comics and papers where his instantly recognisable style always stood out for its enchanting impact and laconic wit.

Other than the Fanatic’s Guide books his most impressive and characteristic collection is probably The Best of Fiddy.

Roland John Fiddy died in 1999 and we all miss him still.
© 1991 Roland Fiddy.