Now Read This!

March 13, 2011March 13, 2011

Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood

By Bill Willingham, Andersen Gabrych, Damion Scott, AlÃ© Garza & Jesse Delperdang (DC Comics)
ISBN: 987-1-84576-200-1

Batman has gathered young allies about him since the second year of his crusade: adopting waif and strays and training them to be the best that they can be, all for the greater good of his beloved Gotham City.

When Gotham City was devastated by an earthquake and abandoned by the US government (Batman: Cataclysm and Batman: No Man’s Land volumes 1-3), a few heroes stayed to protect the innocent. One of these was a new, mute incarnation of Batgirl.

The crisis ended and a semblance of normality returned to the battered metropolis. The new heroine, named Cassandra Cain, was brought under the wing of Barbara Gordon, wheelchair-bound crime-fighter Oracle (and the previous Batgirl) who now ran her own crew of women heroes – the Birds of Prey.

Cassandra, mute, unable to communicate in any manner yet fluent in reading gesture, posture and body-language, was raised as an experiment by her father, super-assassin David Cain. The hired killer had over-ridden her language centres to make combat her only method of expression. An apparent runaway, she was adopted by Batman as a weapon in his never-ending battle, but the more humane Oracle had become her guardian and teacher.

Cassandra’s brain and learning disabilities were subsequently alleviated by a telepath and the unbeatable martial artist was just beginning to carve out her own life when the War Games crisis made Gotham too hot for heroesâ€¦

Tim Drake was the third Robin, a child prodigy who deduced Batman’s secret identity and his impending guilt-fuelled nervous breakdown following the murder of Jason Todd – Robin #2. Drake attempted to manipulate Dick Grayson – the first boy hero to be dubbed â€œBoy Wonderâ€ – into returning as the Dark Knight’s partner before grudgingly accepting the position himself (see Batman: A Death in the Family and Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying).

After a long period of training and acclimation Batman offered Tim the job instead, and this interpretation took fans by storm, securing a series of increasingly impressive solo mini-series (see Robin: A Hero Reborn) and eventually his own long-running comic book.

Being trained by Batman is clearly an arduous and agonising undertaking. During the terrifying Batman: Wargames saga Drake in his turn became estranged from his moody mentor and forcibly retired from the fights ‘n’ tights game. Batman replaced Tim with Stephanie Brown, daughter of the criminal Cluemaster, who became the vigilante Spoiler to compensate for her father’s depredations. Don’t get too excited though, since she only starred as the fourth Robin for a fraction over six pagesâ€¦

Soon Tim was back – ‘though you won’t see how or why here – setting up on his own as defender of the nearby city of BlÃ¼dhaven – a mini-Metropolis that made Gotham look like paradise…

The slim volume collects monthly issues #132-133 of Robin and #58-59 of Batgirl, a canny crossover concoction entitled Fresh Blood that saw both newly emancipated and independent street warriors striking out on their own in the very heart of urban darkness. The drama opened with ‘Too Many Ghosts’ as Tim, still recovering from Stephanie’s death, cautiously planned his first anti-crime campaign.

With faithful family Butler Alfred in tow as mentor and quartermaster he had moved to BlÃ¼dhaven planning to methodically dismantle the city’s mob hierarchy, but had no inkling that deceased criminal-mastermind Blockbuster was seemingly returned from the dead. Whilst on his first reconnaissance run Robin was ambushed and almost killed by super-assassin Shrike until an unexpected ally stepped inâ€¦

‘Following Footsteps’ revealed how Cassandra Cain also set up in BlÃ¼dhaven to go it alone. Soon however she was working with Tim; her combat skills meshing perfectly with his strategic flair and deductive abilities. Establishing clandestine links with two of the few honest cops in town they planned to take down the returned Blockbuster, but discover a shocking secret in ‘The Auction’ and end up tackling one of Batman’s greatest and most insidious foes instead: a deadly and spectacular clash that they cannot possibly surviveâ€¦

Na-aah, just kidding – of course they do: but the concluding chapter ‘Settling Up’ is probably one of the best and most satisfying fight-fests of that era, with assorted thugs, wise-guys and meta-threats Brutale and the Trigger Twins adding to the panorama of exotic carnage before the new kids in town triumph and carve up the territory between them: their incompatible approaches pulling them apart before they could really get togetherâ€¦.

Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that these nifty little thrillers were the acme of the Batman franchise, but the pace of change in comics is relentlessly rapid and remorselessly unforgiving, so engaging little gems like this come and go like wisps of mist caught in a million candlepower bat-signal beamâ€¦

Nevertheless, the edgy, fresh scripting of Bill Willingham and Andersen Gabrych married to the unconventional but superbly effective art of Damion Scott, AlÃ© Garza & Jesse Delperdang prove to be a heady and irresistible brew that delivers as much kick now as it ever did. This is a Bat-bunfight no fan could possibly bear to missâ€¦

March 12, 2011March 10, 2011

Conan the Barbarian: The Horn of Azoth – A Marvel Graphic Novel

By Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Mike Docherty, Tony DeZuniga & Tom Vincent (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-87135-639-0

During the 1970â€²s, in response to a global downturn in superhero sales, and rise in interest in all things supernatural, the American comic book industry opened up after more than fifteen years of cautious and calcified publishing practices. These had come about as a reaction to the scrupulously-censorious oversight of the self-inflicted Comics Code Authority: A body created by publishers to police their product and keep it palatable and wholesome after the industry suffered their very own McCarthy-inspired Witch-hunt during the 1950s. Thus instead of crime comics – the other big casualty of the CCA – the first genre to be revisited was Horror/Mystery comics and from that came the pulp masterpiece Conan the Cimmerian.

Sword & Sorcery prose stories had undergone a global renaissance in the paperback marketplace since the release of soft-cover editions of Lord of the Rings (first published in 1954), and the 1960s saw the resurgence of the two-fisted fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline and Fritz Lieber, whilst many modern writers such as Michael Moorcock and Lin Carter kick-started their careers with contemporary versions of man, monster and mage. Indisputably the grand master of the genre was Robert E. Howard.

Marvel Comics tested the waters in early 1970 with a little tale called ‘The Sword and the Sorcerers’ (from the horror anthology Chamber of Darkness #4) whose hero Starr the Slayer bore no small resemblance to the Barbarian. It was written by Roy Thomas and drawn by young Englishman Barry Smith, a recent Marvel find, and one who was just breaking out of the company’s Kirby house-style.

Despite some early teething problems, including being cancelled and reinstated in the same month, the comic-strip adventures of Robert E. Howard’s characters were as big a success as the prose yarns. Conan became a huge success: a mega-brand that saw new prose tales, a TV series and cartoon show, a newspaper strip and most importantly a Major Motion Picture in 1982.

â€¦And it all largely stemmed from the vast range of comics initiated by Thomas, Windsor-Smith (as he became) and the excellent succession of comics creators that followed.

Thomas was a huge fan of the prose material and took great pains to adapt the novels and short stories into the graphic canon, but he was also one of the top writers in his field and much of the franchise’s success devolves from his visceral grasp on the character, which makes this particular graphic novel of particular interest.

After the success of the first film Thomas and fellow Marvel stalwart Gerry Conway were invited to write the second movie script. Â How they did and why their script was accepted and never made is textbook Hollywood (I know whereof I speak: buy us a drink one day and I’ll tell you my own tales of Tinsel Town Tactics) and makes a fascinating introduction to this tome; but the upshot was at the end of the protracted process the scripters had a brilliant Conan yarn that everybody loved but that wasn’t going to be Conan the Destroyer. This meant of course, that with a little wheeler-dealing and a few secured permissions it could be returned to the artform that spawned itâ€¦

Thus â€œKing of Thievesâ€ became the superb savage thriller ‘The Horn of Azoth’ and opens with the itinerant Barbarian earning a crust pit-fighting in Shadizar the Wicked until he runs afoul of a local Magistrate – to the legislator’s lasting regret. The burly brigand is captured by the city guard but escapes the dungeons with the aid of a beautiful young witch. Together they flee the city with her giant bodyguard and it transpires that she needs Conan to help her fulfil a dark and ancient prophecy. Of course she tells him it’s to help unearth a fabulous treasureâ€¦

Locating the lost fortress and broaching its defences are child’s play for a bandit like the Cimmerian, but the mages within prove an unexpected obstacle and the little band is soon augmented by a boy-wizard with his own hidden agenda and an Amazonian Nubian warrior princess as they all converge on a distant rendezvous with fate.

It’s soon clear that everybody is lying to Conan as warring factions struggle to awaken or re-inter antediluvian god Azoth. Whoever wins the world is equally imperilled and unless he works a miracle Conan is collateral damage in a cosmic war that has been brewing for eonsâ€¦

With brawny battles, warring wizards and enough suspense to choke a mastodon, this action-packed yarn is rip-roaring fantasy fare, brimming with supernatural horrors, wild women and spectacular titanic clashes, cannily recounted by immensely talented creators at the top of their form. Especially effective is Mike Docherty’s supremely illustrative art, ably enhanced by Tony DeZuniga’s smooth inking and Tom Vincent’s lush colours.

Still available, this is a another magnificently oversized tale (produced in the European Album format with glossy white pages 285mm x 220mm rather than the standard US proportions of 258 x 168mm) that provides another heady swig of untrammelled joy for lovers of the genre and fans of the greatest hero ever to swing a sword or plunder a tombâ€¦
Â© 1990 Conan Properties Inc All Rights Reserved.

March 11, 2011March 12, 2011

Superman Vs. The Revenge Squad!

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-487-9

Here’s another thrilling snapshot which highlights the era of superb creativity following in the wake of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman reboot. If you’re counting, the tale first appeared – in whole or in part – in Adventures of Superman #539, 542, 543, Action Comics #726, 730, Man of Steel #61, 65 and Superman: Man of Tomorrow #7.

By extracting pertinent episodes from a selection of sub-plots and entire episodes, the assembled creators – writers Karl Kesel, David Michelinie, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson and Roger Stern in close conjunction with artists Jon Bogdanove, Sal Buscema, Tom Grummett, Stuart Immonen, Ron Lim, Tom Morgan, Paul Ryan, Brett Breeding, Klaus Janson, Dennis Janke, Jose Marzan Jr. & Denis Rodier – assembled a crafty and exciting romp which pitted the Metropolis Marvel against a peculiar array of particularly irate enemies all working for a mysterious mastermind who was far from what he appearedâ€¦

The action commences with ‘Dopplegangster’ wherein a clone from the top-secret Cadmus Project intercepts a high-tech intruder and is infected with a hideous condition which brings all his submerged evil to the surface.

The invader is Misa, a spoiled, fun-loving, metahuman brat with incredible futuristic devices who has plagued Superman and the Project before, but here her skirmish with the re-grown Floyd â€œBulletsâ€ Barstow has lasting effects, accidentally transforming the good-natured clone into a troubled paranoid soul who might suddenly transform at any moment into a brutal Anomaly with elemental shape-changing powers and no conscience at all.

Meanwhile in Metropolis Superman has his hands full defending the city and shuffling his new job as Editor of The Daily Planet, whilst venerable boss Perry White recovers from lung cancer and the subsequent chemo-therapy. It gets no easier when living weapons-platform Barrage returns in ‘Arms’, determined to kill Police Chief Maggie Sawyer, whom he blames for the loss of his right limb, and the anarchic Riot – a raving loon who generates living duplicates every time he is struck – also pops up to cause mischief and mayhem in ‘Losin’ It’.

‘Hero or Villain?’ concentrates on the history of Lex Luthor, providing insight and oversight to the multi-billionaire inventor who is under arrest and awaiting trial, whilst alien superwoman Maxima frets and festers in her futile quest to find a suitable mate. The Man of Steel was her first choice and he refused her many times. Once again she tries to have her way with him and the violent rejection sends her straight into the influence of someone who is gathering a team to destroy the Caped Kryptonian foreverâ€¦

The unified assault begins in ‘The Honeymoon’s Over’ as Riot, Misa, Anomaly and Barrage meet Maxima and take their shot at their mutual enemy in ‘President of the United Hates’, but there is something not quite right about their enigmatic, shadowy leader and besides, what strategic genius would put five incompatible, uncontrollable ego-maniacs in the same team and expect them to have a ghost of a chance against Superman?

The final, spectacular battle inevitably goes awry for the rogues in ‘Losers’ and as the dust settles all the evidence points to only one possible culprit for the Revenge Squad’s campaign of terror. But is it really that clear-cutâ€¦?

Although a little disconnected in places – this storyline was running simultaneously with another extended saga (collected in the soon-to-be-reviewed Superman Transformed!) and the excision of irrelevant pages doesn’t lend itself to a seamless and smooth read – this tale perfectly exemplifies the brilliant blend of cosmic adventure, fights ‘n’ tights action, soap opera drama and sheer enthusiastic excitement that typified the Superman franchise at this time.

This kind of close-plotted continuity was a hallmark of the 1980s and 1990s Superman, and that such a strong tale could be constituted from snippets around the main story is a lasting tribute to the efficacy and power of the technique. Superman vs. the Revenge Squad! is a delightfully old-fashioned fun-fest that will delight fans of The Legend and followers of the genre alike.

A British edition (ISBN: 978-1-84023-077-2) was released by Titan Books at the time and may well be easier to find than the out-of-print US original.

March 10, 2011March 12, 2011

StormWatch: Final Orbit

By Warren Ellis, Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary, Michael Ryan & Luke Rizzo and Chris Sprouse & Kevin Nowlan (WildStorm/ DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-381-0

One era ended and another began with the brace of tales collected in this slim tome: a rare positive example of the often vilified (by me particularly) movie property/comicbook crossover events and one which actually impinges on and affects the continuity of one if not both partners in the enterprise.

StormWatch was the UN’s Special Crisis Intervention unit; created to manage global threats and superhuman menaces with international ramifications. From their Skywatch satellite in orbit above Earth they observed, waiting for a member nation to call for helpâ€¦

The multinational mini-army comprised surveillance and intelligence specialists, tech support units, historians, researchers, detention facilities, combat analysts, divisions of uniquely trained troops, a squadron of state-of-the-art out-atmosphere fighter planes and a band of dedicated superheroes for front-line situations beyond the scope of mere mortals. In the pilot’s seat was the incorruptible overseer codenamed â€œWeathermanâ€.

The title was part of the 1990s comics revolution which saw celebrated young creators abandon major â€œwork-for-hireâ€ publishers to set up their own companies and titles – with all the benefits and drawbacks that entailed. Like most of those glossy, formulaic, style-over-content, painfully derivative titles, it started with honest enthusiasm but soon bogged down for lack of ideas.

Warren Ellis took over the moribund morass with issue #37 (collected in assorted graphic novels and reviewed in here recently) and immediately began kicking some life into the title. Soon the series became an edgy, unmissable treatise on modern heroism and the uses and abuses of power. Making the book unquestionably his plaything Ellis slowly evolved StormWatch out of existence, to be reborn as the no-rules-unbroken landmark The Authority.

This volume collects the concluding issues of the comic’s second volume (#11-12) between which a WildC.A.T.s/Aliens one-shot neatly slotted in to change that particular fictional universe forever.

It all begins with ‘No Reason’ (illustrated by Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary and Michael Ryan & Luke Rizzo) as the assembled heroes and foot-soldiers of the UN Crisis Intervention organisation detect an odd asteroid moving towards Earth. Dispatching two shuttles to examine and divert the giant rock before it can fall into our planet’s gravity-well, the explorers soon realise it’s a vessel of unknown origins.

When contact is lost the assorted tensions rise, but the re-routing of the ominous astral intruder goes off as planned and the mysterious moonlet is soon heading into the sun. However only one ship is returning to Skywatch and they aren’t answering the radioâ€¦

WildC.A.T.s/Aliens (Ellis, Chris Sprouse & Kevin Nowlan) opens with a StormWatch life-pod crashing into Manhattan: its few battered survivors telling of an alien attack by creatures all fangs and rage and spitting acid. The creatures were unstoppable and as soon as the refugees had escaped Weatherman sealed the space-station in an unbreakable quarantineâ€¦

Rogue heroes WildC.A.T.S, fearing the aliens are their marauding Daemonite enemies, decide to break the global protocols and investigate the locked down StormWatch citadel. But the beasts they find there are like nothing they have ever experienced beforeâ€¦

In one of the few comics situations where Ridley Scott and James Cameron’s Aliens truly worked and fully displayed their awesome ferocity, the WildC.A.T.S only just rescue the scant survivors of StormWatch’s 500+ compliment of mortals and metahumans, before sending the irreparably contaminated space station plunging into the sun after the star-rock that brought the Aliens to our doorstepâ€¦

With the immediate threat to Earth averted, ‘No Direction Home’ wraps up the tale and the saga of StormWatch as the organisation’s Black Ops unit Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor and Swift go deep undercover to tie-up all the loose ends preparatory to re-emerging as The Authorityâ€¦

Combining low key drama and oppressive tension with staggering action and adventure this chilling tale was the perfect palate-cleanser before the landmark step-change of The Authority and their in-your-face, unconventional, uncompromising solutions to traditional costumed crusader problems.

StormWatch: Final Orbit – although certainly not to everybody’s taste – perfectly closes one chapter of the post-modern superhero saga: solidly in tune with the cynical, world-weary predilections of many older fans and late-comers to the medium.

March 9, 2011March 8, 2011

The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told

By Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-930289-29-3Â paperback ISBN: 978-0-9302893-9-3

When graphic novels were just establishing themselves as a separate collector commodity in the late 1980s DC launched an ambitious series of themed hardback compendiums celebrating â€œThe Greatest Stories â€¦â€ but after not nearly enough comprehensive chronicles the project was shelved. The title was revived early this century in a glossy, stripped down softcover format and continues intermittently to this day, exclusively focusing on individual heroes and titles.

One of the first of these collections naturally featured the Big Gun who started it all and this compelling array of fantastic adventures, also commemorating fifty years of Super Action, is as intriguing for what’s omitted as it is enticing for its included contents. After all, how do you pick 340 pages out of the incalculable thousands of magic moments filled with the exploits of one of the greatest and most enduring characters in world fiction?

Giving it a shot in 1987 – not long after the immensely successful reboot that came after Crisis on Infinite Earths – were co-editors Mike Gold and Robert Greenberger, who explain their methodology in ‘Gathering the Greatest’ and ‘End Notes’ respectively. Also contributing a weighty text treatise was John Byrne, the then architect of the Man of Steel’s new adventures who trace ‘The Origins of Superman’ in his lengthy but fascinating introduction.

After those passionate prose pieces the action begins with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s ‘Superman versus Luthor’ from Superman #4 (Spring 1940); a landmark first clash with the rogue scientist who, back then, was a rangy red-headed menace with a bald and pudgy henchman. Somehow he got confused with his boss in later adventures and became the slap-headed super-criminal we know todayâ€¦

Full-on villains were few and far between back then but ‘Superman versus The Archer’ is cited as introducing the first costumed foe Superman ever faced (from #13, November-December 1941, credited here to Siegel and Shuster, but actually mostly the artwork of Superman Studio stalwart Leo Nowak) a riotous murder-mystery matched in energy and simplistic enthusiasm by the two-page feature ‘What if Superman Ended the War?’ from the tabloid Look Magazine (February 1940) wherein Hitler and Stalin, instigators of that distant â€œsecond European Warâ€ were hauled off to the World Court by the irresistible Man of Tomorrow. Once America joined the melee Superman was constrained to be far more circumspectâ€¦

‘The Mysterious Mr. Mxyztplk’ (Superman #30, September-October 1944, credited to Siegel and John Sikela, but actually drawn by Ira Yarborough) introduced the fifth dimensional imp who periodically tested the Man of Steel’s ingenuity and patience in a still hilarious perfect example of daffy screwball comedy. Much-reprinted, but always glorious, Mxyztplk (later Anglicised to Mxyzptlk, presumably to make it easier to spell) became a cornerstone of the Superman mythos: an insufferable pixie, against whom all Superman’s strength and power were useless. From then on brains were going to be as important as brawn as they introduced frustration as the Big Guy’s first real weakness.

We jump all the way to the 10^th Anniversary issue for ‘The Origin of Superman’ (from Superman #53, July-August 1948, by Bill Finger & Wayne Boring) as new editor Mort Weisinger began expanding the mythology by introducing the heritage of lost Krypton to a new generation of fans.

From Superman #123 (August 1958) ‘The Girl of Steel’ by Otto Binder, Dick Sprang & Stan Kaye trialed the concept of a distaff Supergirl as part of a three-chapter yarn involving a magic wishing totem (the other two segments ‘The Lost Super-Powers’ and ‘Superman’s Return to Krypton’ are also included and just as impressive) whilst ‘Clark Kent’s College Days’ (#125, October-November 1958) by Jerry Coleman & Al Plastino) began an occasional series of ‘Untold Tales of Superman’ by revealing how, when and why Superboy became the Man of Steel.

From the same year Action Comics #241 provided ‘The Key to Fort Superman’ an intriguing puzzle-play featuring Batman, written by Coleman and illustrated by Boring & Kaye, whilst another major player in the Metropolis Marvel’s canon debuted in theÂ captivatingly tragic 3-part novel ‘The Battle With Bizarro’ (Superboy #68, October 1958) by Binder & George Papp. That Silver Age also introduced the bewitching mermaid Lori Lemaris in ‘The Girl In Superman’s Past’ – another Untold Tale of Superman by Finger & Boring which originally surfaced in Superman #129 (May, 1959).

By the late 1950s Superman had settled into an ordered existence. Nothing could really hurt him, nothing would ever change, and thrills seemed in short supply. With the TV show cementing the action, writers increasingly concentrated on supplying wonder instead. ‘Superman’s Other Life’ by Binder, Boring & Kaye (Superman #132, October 1959) shows what might have happened if Superman had grown up on an unexploded Krypton, courtesy of Batman and the projections of a super-computer.

This momentous costumed drama is counter-pointed by the deliciously whimsical and bizarre mystery romp ‘The Night of March 31^st‘ (Binder, Curt Swan & Sheldon Moldoff from Superman #145, May 1961) and the compelling epic ‘The Death of Superman’ from #149 (November 1961, by Siegel, Swan & George Klein – possibly the most effective art-team ever to work on the Man of Steel).

They also illustrated Leo Dorfman’s ‘The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!’ (Superman #162, July 1963) possibly the most influential tale of this entire sub-genre and a perfect response to the tragedy of the previous saga: a startling utopian classic so well-received that decades later it influenced and flavoured the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman continuity for months.

When Julie Schwartz took over the editorial duties in 1970, he decided to shake things up with spectacular results, but before then a brilliant but off-the-wall inclusion here is ‘The Forever People!’ (Forever People #1, February 1971, by Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta and infamously, Al Plastino who was engaged to redraw Superman’s head), a stunning tour de force of wonderment which introduced â€œThe King’sâ€ Fourth World universe to fans, instantly changing the way DC Comics were perceived and how the medium could be received.

Schwartz breathed fresh life into the Superman franchise when his editorial changes took hold in 1971, spearheading controversial and socially challenging material unheard of since the feature’s earliest days. From Superman #247 (January 1972) comes a groundbreaking yarn by Elliot Maggin, Swan and Murphy Anderson which questioned the nigh-omniscient hero’s effect on human development and self-reliance in ‘Must There be a Superman?’

Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons produced one of the last great Superman stories before the great upheaval of Crisis on Infinite Earths with ‘For the Man Who Has Everything’ (Superman Annual #11, 1985) as the alien despot Mongul attacks the Man of Tomorrow with the most insidious of weapons and not even Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman are enough to turn the tideâ€¦

When DC Comics decided to rationalise and reconstruct their continuity with Crisis on Infinite Earths they used the event to regenerate their key properties. The biggest shake-up was Superman and it’s hard to argue that change was unnecessary. The old soldier was in a bit of a slump, but he’d weathered those before. So how could a root and branch overhaul be anything but a marketing ploy that would alienate real fans for a few fly-by-night chancers who would jump ship as soon as the next fad surfaced?

Superman’s titles were cancelled/suspended for three months, and boy, did that make the media sit-up and take notice â€“ for the first time since the Christopher Reeve movie. But there was method in this corporate madnessâ€¦

Man of Steel, written and drawn by John Byrne and inked by Dick Giordano stripped away vast amounts of accumulated baggage and retuned the hero to the far from omnipotent edgy but good hearted reformer Siegel and Shuster had first envisioned. It was a huge and instant success, becoming the industry’s premiere ‘break-out’ hit and from that overwhelming start Superman returned to his suspended comic-book homes with the addition of a third monthly title premiering in the same month.

The miniseries presented six complete stories from key points in Superman’s career, reconstructed in the wake of the aforementioned Crisis and ‘The Secret Revealed’ (by Byrne & Terry Austin) comes from the second issue of that remodeled, Post-Crisis, Superman (July 1986) ending this glorious compendium with satisfactory circularity by revealing just how differently the new Lex Luthor thought and worked: a new kind of arch villain for the Reagan eraâ€¦

Every generation has its own favourite Superman. This selection has the potential to make a fan reconsider just which one that might be. It’s probably wiser to just love them allâ€¦
Â© 1940-1986, 1987 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

March 8, 2011March 5, 2011

Will Eisner’s New York the Big City

By Will Eisner (Kitchen Sink Press)
ISBN: 0-87816-020-5 Â Hardcover: 0-87616-019-1

William Erwin Eisner was born in 1906, on March 6th in Brooklyn, and grew up in the ghettos of the city. They never left him. After time served inventing much of the visual semantics, semiotics and syllabary of the medium he dubbed â€œSequential Artâ€ in strips, comicbooks, newspaper premiums and instructional comics he then invented the mainstream graphic novel, bringing maturity, acceptability and public recognition to English language comics.

In 1978 a collection of four original short stories in comics form released in a single book, A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories. All the tales centred around 55 Dropsie Avenue, a 1930’s Bronx tenement, housing poor Jewish and immigrant families. It changed the American perception of cartoon strips forever. Eisner wrote and drew a further 20 further masterpieces opening the door for all other comics creators to escape the funnybook and anodyne strip ghettos of superheroes, funny animals, juvenilia and â€œfamily-friendlyâ€ entertainment. At one stroke comics grew up.

Eisner was constantly pushing the boundaries of his craft, honing his skills not just on the legendary Spirit but with years of educational and promotional material. In A Contract With God he moved into unexplored territory with truly sophisticated, mature themes worthy of Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald, using pictorial fiction as documentary exploration of social experience.

Restlessly plundering his own childhood and love of human nature as well as his belief that environment was a major and active character in fiction, in the 1980s Eisner began redefining the building blocks unique to sequential narrative with a portmanteau series of brief vignettes that told stories and tested the expressive and informational limits of representational drawings on paper.

In New York the Big City he took nine themes pertaining to life in the Big Apple and pictorially extemporised combining drama, comedy, politics, adventure and fantasy: producing urban art-music from Blues to Punk, Soul to Ragtime and Gospel to sweet, hot Jazz – all with a pencil and brushes.

Many of these enticing, entrancing micro-plays are silent; but whenever necessary and apropos Eisner’s ear for idiom and inflection made miracles and his affection for the ambient sounds of the streets always underscores the harsh, happy and wholly immersive experience of living for The City.

Delivered in monochrome line and seductive grey wash tones the impressionistic voyage begins with ‘The Treasure of Avenue ‘C’‘ which explores the all-encompassing maw that is a street grating with ‘The Ring’, ‘The Money’, ‘The Weapon’, ‘The Key’ and the connective punch-line ‘The Treasure’. ‘Stoops’ similarly examines the lives that pass before the ubiquitous front steps of tenements, beginning with ‘Witnesses’, ‘Supper Time’ and ‘Home’ before concluding with a description of ‘Stoopball’.

Each individual section is preceded by a moving and expressive tone-painting of the unmistakable cityscapes, and none more powerful than the view from an â€œElâ€ train that introduces ‘Subways’. Included are ‘An Affair on the BMT Local’, ‘Theater’, ‘Art’, ‘Night Rider’, ‘Blackout’ and ‘The Last Man’. Wherever people congregate there is ‘Garbage’ and Eisner’s sly, witty but compulsively human commentary comprises a look at ‘Cans’, ‘Trash’, ‘The Source’ and ‘Waste’ whilst ‘Street Music’ more closely scrutinises the makers of the messes in ‘Love Song Fortissimo’, ‘Pianissimo’, ‘In Concert’, ‘Opera’, ‘Aria’, ‘Decibel’ and the hilarious ‘Rhythm’.

‘Sentinels’ tackles the monuments of street furniture with ‘Hydrant’, ‘Wayside’, ‘Fountainhead’, ‘Fire Alarm’, ‘Mailbox’, ‘Dead Letter’, ‘Last Minute Mail’, ‘Signal’, ‘Lamppost’, ‘Ringeleivio’, ‘Sewers’ and ‘The River’ whilst ‘Windows’ uncovers all the world’s secrets with ‘A View of Life’, ‘Crows Nest’, ‘Observer’, ‘Fire Exit’, ‘Privacy’, ‘Disposal’, ‘Peeper’, ‘Prisons’, ‘Worm’s Eye View’ and the powerfully evocative ‘Sermonette’.

‘Walls’ are everywhere and here they describe ‘Space’, define ‘Freedom’, delineate a ‘Maze’ and ‘Man’s Castle’, act as a ‘Bulletin Board’ and offer ‘Enclosure’ and ‘Escape’. Moreover ‘Walls Have Ears’, promote another kind of ‘Privacy’ and provide a unique ‘Backdrop’, before re-enacting ‘Jericho’ and becoming ultimately the ‘Last Frontier’.

In NYC everything revolves around ‘The Block’; it is ‘The Old Neighborhood’, home of the ‘Neighborhood Girl’ from ‘Our Block’ on ‘The Good Street’ where ‘Aliens’ get a particular welcome. Eventually though, the homeliest slum inevitably becomes a ‘High Rent District’ and even ‘The Belmont Avenue Gang’ has to yield to the inexorable force of ‘Gentrification’â€¦

Eisner’s elegiac fascination with city life, deep empathy with all aspects of the human condition and instinctive grasp of storytelling produced here another magnificently mortal and compellingly mundane melodrama, moving and uplifting and funny and deeply, wistfully true.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be amazedâ€¦

As ever the Medium is the Message, especially when the artefact is such a substantially solid tome delivering comics gold in beguiling, incisive black and white – and once again I’m smugging it up because my hardcover with tipped in illustrative plate has proved to have been well worth the initial investment as Will Eisner’s New York the Big City is a veritable cartoon touchstone of all that’s best about the art of cartooning.

Whether it’s your first or ten thousand and first time of reading, this is a tome every comics aficionado will treasure forever, so any edition you can get, you really, really mustâ€¦

March 7, 2011March 5, 2011

Batman: The Cult

By Jim Starlin & Bernie Wrightson, with Bill Wray (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-93028-985-0

After the runaway success of The Dark Night Returns proved that fans wanted tales with darker, edgier heroes and would stump up big bucks to get them, the floodgates opened for miniseries released on expensive Baxter paper in book-like formats. DC quickly complied, following up with this deceptively effective thriller by two of the industry’s biggest fan-favourites: Jim Starlin and master of horror Bernie Wrightson, ably augmented by colour artist Bill Wray.

The story begins with ‘Ordeal’ as the Batman, experiencing mind-bending hallucinations and irresistible cravings to commit bloody slaughter, slowly awakes to the realisation that he has lost track of how long he has been a has been a prisoner of the army of hoboes and gutter-trash who have taken over Gotham City’s worst streets. They are being organised and led by a charismatic quasi-priest named Deacon Blackfire.

Moreover the dark messiah claims to be an immortal medicine man of the lost Miagani people who ruled the land before the White Men cameâ€¦

Batman knows what Deacon is doing: using standard techniques developed by cult-leaders and spies to break down resistance. Pain, isolation, starvation and drugs are all employed to break down resistance and individuality: but he just can’t stop his iron resolve crumbling under the assault. It is more than any man can bearâ€¦

In flashbacks that heighten the aura of confusion, the story unfolds: the city’s worst predators were being found beaten or dead and the worst areas of the metropolis suddenly became safer to live in. But the good news soon took a dark turn. Fewer thugs were worked over and dumped but far more went missing with only bloodstains and silence to mark their passing. Batman followed the clues into the sewersâ€¦ and wasn’t seen again.

Crime levels are down: thieves, pimps and muggers too scared to venture out. Commissioner Gordon and Robin know it’s too good to be true, but public opinion is hugely supportive of Deacon Blackfire’s campaignâ€¦

And deep underground the Dark Knight is crumbling as the army of derelicts find they have a taste for blood. Already their definition of what constitutes valid targets has slippedâ€¦

In ‘Capture’ the broken bat becomes one of Blackfire’s army but he balks at murder and instead escapes into the night, rambling and incoherent as he fights off the drugs and conditioning. When Blackfire moves to seize control of the entire city, assassinating police and officials, Batman is recaptured, but this time Robin follows him to the grim world of tunnels and terror. The dynamic duo make a break for freedom, but end up deeper underground and find horrifying proof of the depths of the Deacon’s terrible madnessâ€¦

‘Escape’ sees the hobo army amok in the streets as Robin struggles to break the broken Batman out of the sewer citadel and Gordon finds impossible evidence that Deacon’s claims to immortality might not be spurious. However total anarchy has taken hold with citizens being casually murdered in their homes and when Gordon is gunned down the National Guard declares Martial Law. With Batman mentally incapacitated, when the military units are massacred the federal government pulls out, abandoning Gotham and its helpless population to Blackfire’s disciplesâ€¦

With the situation hopeless Robin and Alfred can only wait to see if Bruce Wayne will ever be able to become Batman again. After a harrowing reexamination of his history and purpose, a determined, angry and far Darker Knight emerges with new tactics, harsher weapons and an unshakable hunger to destroy Blackfire and take back his cityâ€¦

Batman: the Cult is a grim and powerful thriller that emphasises the psychological rather than physical or technical attributes of the most popular superhero in the world, but the saga is still packed with tension and suspense peppered with spectacular action set-pieces. Fierce, frenzied and ferociously fun, this is a long neglected slice of Batmania ripe for reappraisal.

March 6, 2011March 2, 2011

Last of the Dragons – A Marvel Graphic Novel

By Carl Potts, Denny O’Neil, Terry Austin, Marie Severin & James R. Novak (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-335-0

During the 1980s Marvel was an unassailable front-runner in the American comicbook business, outselling all its rivals and increasingly making inroads into the licensed properties market that once went to the Whitman/Dell/Gold Key colossus. Much of their own superhero stable might have become cautious and moribund, but the company was expanding into many other arenas.

When the direct sales market began Marvel started its own creator-owned, rights-friendly fantasy periodical in response to the success of Heavy Metal which in turn led to a blossoming of many bold but comparatively low-selling titles in a host of varied genres.

From that ground breaking Epic Illustrated magazine comes this gloriously absorbing East-meets-West period fantasy (beginning with #15, October 1982 through #20 at the end of 1983) by then-newcomer Carl Potts who plotted and pencilled the tale for scripter Denny O’Neil, inker Terry Austin and colourist Marie Severin to finish and Jim Novak to inscribe.

Collected in 1988 under the Epic Comics imprint and released in the extravagantly expansive European Album format (a square high-gloss page of 285 x 220mm rather than today’s elongated and parsimonious 258 x 168mm) which delivered so much more bang-per-buck, The Last of the Dragons did its part to popularise the now over-exposed Japanese cultural idiom – but it still reads superbly wellâ€¦

‘The Sundering’ opens in 19^th century Japan as aged master swordsman Masanobu meditates in the wilderness until a young warrior disturbs his contemplation by attacking a basking dragon. The magnificent reptiles are gentle, noble creatures but the samurai is hungry for glory and soon wins his bloody trophyâ€¦

After the arrogant victor has left Masonobu meets Ho-Kan, a young priest and caretaker of the Dragons. The youth is filled with horror and misery at the brutal sacrilege, but worse is to come for the tearful cleric. As he returns to the temple he stumbles upon a faction of his brother monks secretly conditioning young forest Wyrms, training them to deny their true natures and kill on commandâ€¦

‘The Vision’ finds Ho-Kan returned to the temple too late: the aggressive monk Shonin has returned from a voyage to the outer world and has reached the conclusion that the Dragons must be used to preserve Japan from insidious change threatened by the encroaching white man’s world. In fact he has already been training the beasts.

When the elders object Shonin’s followers massacre the monks and set out for the wilds of America where they will breed and train hordes of killer lizards under the very noses of the enemy. Few escape the slaughter, but Ho-Kan is one and he will stop the madness somehowâ€¦

In a meditative vision he sees Takashi: a half-breed boy whose Christian sailor father abandoned him. The outcast boy was eventually adopted by a ninja clan and became a great fighter. Somehow he holds the key to defeating Shoninâ€¦

In ‘The Departure’ Ho-Kan hires the ninjas to stop the warmongering monks but, when he also tries to enlist Masanobu, Shonin’s acolytes capture him. Under torture he reveals all and the wicked clerics then trick the sword-master into fighting the ninjas for them. After killing all but Takashi the monks thereafter invite Masanobu to join them on their journey to the West. The elderly swordsman has no idea that the beasts he guards are hopelessly degraded monsters now.

In ‘The Arrival’ the monks and their hidden cargo take ship for California, unaware that a half-cast crewman has enlisted on a closely-following ship. Takashi the last ninja is bound in his duty and hungry for vengeance. He will not be deniedâ€¦

When they disembark on a remote bay on the American coast the priests’ intention of slaughtering the sailors and Masanobu goes awry when one of the baby dragons escapes. In the ensuing melee the aged swordsman realises the true state of play and flees into the forests.

The Native American tribes of the Californian forests are helpless before the martial arts and war-dragons of Shonin in ‘The Meeting’ until they meet Takashi – hot on the trail. He defeats and then joins with them. As Takashi and the assembled braves stalk the monks they encounter Masanobu who is also determined to end this dishonourable travesty once and for allâ€¦

All of which results in a tumultuous and stirring climax in ‘The Decision’ as all the disparate faction meet to forever decide the fate of a nation, the nature of a species and the future of heroesâ€¦

This is a magically compelling tale for fantasy fans and mature readers: an utterly delightful cross-genre romp and one more masterful tale to add to the â€œwhy is this out of print?â€ list.
Â© 1982, 1983, 1988 Carl Potts. All Rights Reserved.

March 5, 2011March 5, 2011

The Death of the New Gods

By Jim Starlin, Matt Banning, Art Thibert & Mark McKenna (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-871-3

When Jack Kirby returned to the home of Superman in 1970 he brought with him one of the most powerful concepts in comicbook history. The epic grandeur of his Fourth World saga grafted a whole new mythology over the existing DC universe and blew the developing minds of a generation of readers.

Starting in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, where he revived the 1940s kid-team The Newsboy Legion, introduced large-scale cloning in the form of The Project and hinted that the city’s gangsters had extraterrestrial connections, Kirby then moved on to the Forever People, New Gods and Mister Miracle; an interlinked triptych of projected finite length titles that together formed an epic mosaic.

Those three groundbreaking titles introduced two rival races of gods, dark and light, risen from the ashes of a previous Armageddon to battle forever â€¦and then their conflict spread to Earthâ€¦

Kirby’s concepts, as always, fired and inspired his contemporaries and successors. The gods of Apokolips and New Genesis became a crucial keystone of DC continuity and integral foundation of that entire fictional universe, surviving the numerous revisions and retcons which periodically bedevil long-lived comics fans.

Many major talents dabbled with the concept over the years and a host of titles have come and gone starring Kirby’s creations. Recently, however as part of yet another attention-grabbing crossover Crisis publishing event, it was decided to kill them all off.

This compendium from 2007 collects the 8 issue miniseries that ostensibly finished Kirby’s wildest imagining – but of course this is comics and nobody dies foreverâ€¦

The tale begins after a number of events around the planet, wherein denizens of Apokolips and New Genesis were found dead with gaping holes in their chests.

In ‘So Beginsâ€¦ the End’ Daily Planet reporter Jimmy Olsen investigates the bloody murder of paraplegic war veteran Willie Walker, unaware that the case is connected to the recent death of New God Lightray. In fact Walker was the host of the Black Racer, physical embodiment of Death for all Fourth World Deities.

Meanwhile God of Inquiry Metron has detected something subtly wrong with Reality and Darkseid, Lord of Apokolips and privy to secret data, makes fresh, bold plansâ€¦ As Scott (Mister Miracle) Free and his beloved wife Big Barda play hero on Earth, in the Supertown floating above New Genesis the war god Orion makes a grisly discovery – another mighty warrior with his chest ripped open. On Earth Scott turns his back for a second and Barda too diesâ€¦

In ‘Celestial Genocide’ the New Gods take stock and realise that a vast number of superbeings have been cut down without a hint of a struggle and that the death toll is rising exponentially. Back on Earth, the Justice League begins to investigate the death of one of their own. Scott and Superman bring Barda’s body to New Genesis, where Orion is pressing for an attack on Darkseid, the obvious culprit for the deaths.

After conferring with Metron, Superman and Scott follow Orion to Apokolips, whilst the leader of New Genesis Takion goes with the aged Himon to examine the Cosmic Source Wall – a colossal barrier that separates the universe from the creation force that birthed realityâ€¦

‘Armageddon Tarantella’ sees the trio of heroes as they battle their way through the Darkseid’s forces, only to realise that the god-killer has been decimating Apokoliptians with equal easeâ€¦ and the pace of deicide is increasingâ€¦

‘Bearing Witness’ follows Superman, Orion and Scott as they pursue the notion that the killer is someone they know, but each successive suspect turns up dead. Chaos and panic are building and whilst the gentle gods of New Genesis seem frightened but fatalistically resigned, the terrors of Apokolips are determined to fight and kill before they eventually succumbâ€¦

In the interim Metron has used his time-spanning capabilities to discover the brains if not the hands behind the slaughter, subsequently learning the true history of the Gods and meeting the source of all the horrorsâ€¦

In ‘Mistakes’ Apokolips heavies Kalibak and Mantis lead an invasion of New Genesis with only Superman and Orion to face them, after which the war-god makes the ultimate sacrifice to draw out the mysterious and seemingly unstoppable killer in the sixth chapter ‘Sacrifice’â€¦

The end draws close in ‘Seraphic Reunification’ as with only a handful of New Gods remaining Superman and Scott Free face the killer only to discover he has been an impostor all along. Whilst they are occupied in cataclysmic combat Darkseid finally makes his move attacking the mastermind behind the plot, determined to wrest ultimate power from the God-killer in ‘The End’â€¦

Jim Starlin is the â€œgo-to guyâ€ for both cosmic storylines and major character deaths (see The Death of Captain Marvel or Batman: A Death in the Family for examples) and his introduction explains how and why he was pressured into writing the end to Jack Kirby’s ultimate comics achievement; and for my money nobody else alive could have done the job justice. It ain’t Kirby, but at least the deed was done with understanding and respect for what The King stood for.

A spectacular murder mystery, full of metaphysical flourishes and human depth with eye-popping action and even a few left-field surprises along the way, The Death of the New Gods is a fitting end to The Fourth Worldâ€¦ at least until some editor decides that the concept is too valuable to leave aloneâ€¦

This volume, which is strictly for fans of superhero tales and au fait with the minutiae of the original series (which absolutely ought to be read firstâ€¦) also contains a stunning cover gallery by Starlin & Matt Banning and includes the variant cover by Ryan Sook.

March 4, 2011March 5, 2011

Salvatore volume 1: Transports of Love

Salavatore is a car mechanic: an absolute wizard with all things mechanical but a grumpy sod who dislikes customers so much he built his garage on the peak of a mountain to discourage them. However he is just so good that they come anyway, prepared to put up with the grief and his attitude, if only he would fix their ailing vehiclesâ€¦ and besides, Salvatore has a secret he needs peace and quiet forâ€¦

Nicolas de CrÃ©cy has released more than thirty albums since he began working in 1990, both one-off books such as Journal d’un fantÃ´me, Escales, Plaisir de myope and La Nuit du grand mÃ©chant loup and series/serials such as LÃ©on la came, Monsieur Fruit and Salvatore; the first two of which comprise the artfully arch little romance under review here.

Salvatore is a dog with a lot of pain in his life but has struggled on, buoyed by his artisan’s dedication and sensibility which makes him such an exceedingly good mechanic. One day the tragically short-sighted widow Amandine pulls into his frosty, mountaintop garage with a suspicious knocking in her car engine and his life changes for ever.

As well as practically blind, Amandine is heavily pregnant with twelve piglets (not unknown for a sow of her breed) and something softens within the cold canine. Offering her the unexpected hospitality of his fondue lunch, Salvatore nevertheless succumbs to his one weakness – â€œborrowingâ€ a surplus part from her vehicle for his great project.

The little dog has a dream and is prepared to sacrifice his principles to achieve it: he once loved and lost a bitch named Julie who moved to South America. Since then he has devoted all his spare time to building a fantastic vehicle to follow her and where undoubtedly, love will reunite them foreverâ€¦

His super-car is almost ready: the last part necessary can be picked up on the way; all he has to do is reach an understanding with its current owner – a perfectly reasonable bull named Jerome.

Amadine however, has not quite left his life: a practically sightless, heavily pregnant lady should never be trusted to drive a small family runabout down a snow-capped mountain slopeâ€¦

Her chaotic and magnificently slapstick journey leaves her and the car stranded many kilometres away atop a Parisian rooftop where she prematurely delivers her dozen babies. Horribly one little piggy goes missing on the way to hospital, and one fine day that stray waif will have a huge impact on Salvatore’s fateâ€¦

Originally released in 2005 as Transports Amoureux (beautifully coloured by Ruby) ‘Transports of Love’ seamlessly segues here into the second album, Le Grand DÃ©part or ‘The Grand Departure’ with tints and hues provided this time by Walter.

Finally en route to his dream in the almost perfect Julie-Mobile Salvatore has hit a snag. Jerome might be an amenable type but the wife who just divorced him is not. She took the car – including that desperately needed final component – as part of the settlement and had it dismantled as an art installation – or possibly just out of spite.

Amadine meanwhile has broken out of hospital with her eleven piglets, driven by maternal hormones to find her missing baby. The lost cherub has fallen into odd circumstances, amongst sewer scum, political activists and a seductively dark and twisted catwoman siren of the underworldâ€¦

Hard-pressed by his defrayed desire for his distant Julie, Salvatore’s ethics have degenerated to the point where he is contemplating fraud and outright theft to get that vagrant last part: luckily he has allied himself with a mysterious and peculiarly moralistic tiny little mute man with a facility for computer science. Perhaps together they can find a way to ease true love’s pathâ€¦

Surreal and joyously whimsical, but with a delightfully dark edginess, the multi-award winning cartoonist de CrÃ©cy has revolutionised French comics with such popular and groundbreaking works as PÃ©riode glaciaire (released in English as Glacial Period) and this hypnotically addictive sophisticated fable is undoubtedly destined to be just as successful.

Funny, gently adventurous, subversively satirical and yet filled to bursting with empathy and pathos, this beguiling yarn will schmooze itself into your head and make itself too comfortable for you to removeâ€¦

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