By John Whalen & Mike Hawthorne (Vertigo)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-748-8
The Un-Men were originally grotesque graphic cannon-fodder created by Len Wein and Bernie (then Berni) Wrightson for the second issue of the legendary Swamp Thing comic in 1972. They also appeared in Wrightson’s last issue (#10 – see Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis, ISBN: 978-1-56389-044-4) along with their malevolent creator Anton Arcane.
As part of that series’ ongoing theme of pastiching classic horror icons – Werewolves, Witches, Vampires and so forth – they were a grotesque and memorable visual backdrop for the tale of a wizard who dabbled with artificial life forms in an attempt to build a body he could live forever in. And thus far that’s all the overt connection to Swamp Thing in this phenomenally delayed spin-off, although some of the characters and the main premise stems from that landmark series.
In this first volume, collecting issues #1-5 of the Vertigo comicbook, we are introduced to the city of Aberrance, Texas; a tawdry tourist-trap with a unique line in themed entertainment. Government-sponsored, this town is occupied solely by freaks and weirdoes, and derives its income from the two million “normal†Americans who flock there every year to gawk at them.
Unsavoury as that might sound, it’s also a place with a big secret. The ruling hierarchy are not natural freaks in the grand old carnival manner, but rather the supernatural creations of Anton Arcane, who run the place with institutionalized elitism, disdaining all the other geeks, misfits and outcasts – or “Gaffs†– who have congregated there. In Aberrance the Freaks run the show, Gaffs do what they’re told and “Normals†spend their vacations and their cash feeling disgusted and thankful. There’s even a blockbuster Reality TV show “American Freakâ€, storming up the Nielsens…
The town only exists because a whistle-blower alerted the world to the fact that the US Military were running a weapons development facility trying to create better monsters for future wars. When exposed the Authorities sheepishly turned the place – an old Atomic bomb test site – into a Reservation for the Abnormal, with full independence and autonomy, but they’re still poking around there in more or less clandestine manner.
And thus we meet Phineas Kilcrop, albino Federal Agent for the US Department of Energy whose sorry remit is to ensure all those monstrosities stay where they’re put. When he returns a murdered escapee to Aberrance, he becomes embroiled in a war for independence, a bizarre conspiracy and the sheer insanity of a plan to rewrite nature. Moreover, the heads of the Un-Men elite all seem to know more about his clouded past than he does…
Fast paced and sharp tongued, this is an above average conspiracy thriller that could develop into something really special, although this first book doesn’t always hit satisfactory notes. Tinged with black comedy and with a lot to say about image, isolation and society, it hasn’t yet said anything here. You might want to pick this up for its potential to deliver, but I suspect most fans will wait to see how succeeding episodes play out…
By Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson (Vertigo/DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-044-4
The first fan-sensation of the modern age of comics (or perhaps the last of the true Silver Age?), Swamp Thing has powerful popular fiction antecedents and in 1972 was seemingly a concept whose time had come again. Prime evidence was the fact that Marvel were also working on a man-into-mucky, muddy mess character at the very same time.
For whatever reason, by the end of the 1960s superhero comics had started another steep sales decline, once again making way for a horror/mystery boom: a sea-change augmented by a swift rewriting of the specific terms of the Comics Code Authority. At DC, House of Mystery and its sister title House of Secrets returned to short story anthology formats and gothic mystery scenarios, taking a lead from such TV successes as Twilight Zone and Rod Serling’s Night Gallery with EC veteran Joe Orlando as editor.
Referencing the sardonic narrator/storyteller format of the EC horror titles, Orlando created Cain and Abel to shepherd readers through brief, sting-in-the-tail yarns produced by the best creators, new and old, that the company could hire. Artists Neal Adams, Mike Kaluta, and especially Berni Wrightson undoubtedly produced their best work for these two titles and the vast range of successors the horror boom generated at DC.
The twelfth anthology issue of House of Secrets cemented the genre into place as the industry leader. In it writer Len Wein and Wrightson produced a throwaway gothic thriller set at the turn of the 19th century, wherein gentleman scientist Alex Olsen is murdered by his best friend and his body dumped in a swamp. Years later his beloved bride, now the unsuspecting wife of the murderer, is stalked by a shambling, disgusting beast that seems to be composed of mud and muck…
‘Swamp Thing’ cover featured in HoS #92 (June-July 1971), and it struck an immediate chord with the buying public. The issue was the best selling DC comic of that month, and reader response was fervent and persistent. By all accounts the only reason there wasn’t an immediate sequel or spin-off was that the creative team didn’t want to produce one.
Eventually however, bowing to interminable pressure, and with the sensible idea of transplanting the concept contemporary America, the first issue of Swamp Thing appeared on newsstands in the Spring of 1972. It was an instant hit and an instant classic.
Wein and Wrightson produced ten issues together, crafting an extended, multi-chaptered tale of justice/vengeance and a quest for answers that was at once philosophically typical of the time and a prototype for the story-arc and mini-series formats that dominate modern comicbook production. They also used each issue/chapter to pay tribute to a specific sub-genre of timeless horror story whilst advancing the major plot.
The origin ‘Dark Genesis’ finds Alec and Linda Holland deep in the Bayou Country, working on a “bio-restorative formula†that will revolutionise World Farming. They are working in isolation, protected by Matt Cable, a Secret Service agent, when representatives of an organisation called The Conclave, demand that they sell their research to them – or else. Obviously the patriotic pair refuse, and the die is cast when their lab is bombed. Linda dies instantly but Alec, showered with his own formula and blazing like a torch hurtles to a watery grave in the swamp.
But he does not die.
Transformed by the formula (and remember, please, that this is prior to Alan Moore’s landmark re-imagining of the character) he is transformed into a gigantic man-shaped monster, immensely strong, unable to speak, and seemingly made from living plant matter. Holland’s brain still functions however, and he vacillates between finding his wife’s killers and curing his own monstrous condition. Cable, misinterpreting the evidence, also wants revenge, but he thinks that the monster is the cause of death of his two charges…
Over the next nine issues, Swamp Thing travelled the world, encountering the black sorcerer Anton Arcane and his artificial homunculi, The Un-Men (recently the subject of their own Vertigo series), Abigail Arcane and her tragic Frankensteinian father The Patchwork Man, and a werewolf on the moors of Scotland, before returning to America and finding ‘The Last of the Ravenwind Witches’. In the wilds of Vermont he encounters Paradise on Earth, care of an old clockmaker but is attacked by the voracious Conclave, leading to one of the most evocative and revered team-ups of the 1970s.
Swamp Thing #7’s ‘Night of the Bat!’ featured the final showdown with remorseless robber-barons of The Conclave in Gotham City, and a landmark collaboration with the resurgent Batman, himself finally recovering from the hyper-exploitation of the “Campy†TV show era. Wrightson’s rendering of the superhero through the lens of a horror artist inspired a whole generation of aspiring comics professionals and firmly set the caped crusader to rest, replacing him with a Dark Knight.
Somewhat at a loss after the end of his quest (Swamp Thing came out bi-monthly, so the tale had taken well over a year to tell – unprecedented at a time when most comics still had two or more complete stories per issue) the Moss Monster shambled through America’s hinterlands encountering a Lovecraftian horror in the New England town of Perdition, a ghastly but misunderstood alien and finally the unquiet ghosts of slaves and plantation-owners. This grim and powerful closing tale also featured the return of Arcane and the grotesque Un-Men.
The initial series staggered on under some very capable and talented hands (up until #24), but the fever of inspiration was never re-kindled, meaning that the very best of that iconic saga can be easily contained in one volume. This is a superb slice of old-fashioned comics wonderment, from a less cynical and sophisticated age, but with a passion and intensity that cannot be matched. And, ooh, that artwork…
By Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-342-8
The third volume of these cheap ‘n’ cheerful black and white compendiums of past Justice League classics covers a period in DC’s history that still makes many a fan shudder with dread but I’m going to ask them to reconsider their aversion to the “Camp Craze†that saw America go superhero silly in the wake of the Batman TV show (and, to a lesser extent, the Green Hornet series that introduced Bruce Lee to the world). I should also mention that comics didn’t create the craze. Many popular media outlets felt the zeitgeist of a zanier, tongue-in-cheek, mock-heroic fashion: Just check out DVDS of Lost in Space or The Man from U.N.C.L.E if you doubt me…
The third annual JLA/JSA team-up starts the fun, a largely forgotten and rather experimental tale wherein the Johnny Thunder of Earth-1 wrested control of the genie-like Thunderbolt from his Justice Society counterpart and used its magic powers to change events that led to the creation of all Earth-1’s superheroes. It’s JSA to the rescue in a gripping battle of wits in #37’s ‘Earth – Without a Justice League’ and the concluding ‘Crisis on Earth-A!’
Issue #39 was an Eighty-Page Giant reprinting Brave and the Bold #28 and #30 and Justice League of America #5, so this volume makes do with just a cover reproduction before continuing with issue #40 and the ‘Indestructible Creatures of Nightmare Island’ a challenging conundrum wherein an astral scientist’s machine to suppress Man’s basest instincts almost causes the end of humanity, but also an action packed psycho-thriller stuffed with super-villainous guest-stars.
Issue #41 introduced a modern version of an old Justice Society villain. The Earth-1 mastermind called The Key is a diabolical scientist who used mild-altering psycho-chemicals to control the behaviour of our heroes in ‘The Key – Master of the World!’ He was followed by a guest-appearance from DC’s newest superhero sensation. Acquitting himself splendidly against the Cosmic Force named The Unimaginable, he was naturally offered membership in the team but astonishingly, he declined in the in the controversial ‘Metamorpho says – No!’
Justice League of America #43 was cover dated March 1966 and introduced a villainous team led by an old foe. ‘The Card Crimes of the Royal Flush Gang’ is a fine “Goodies and Baddies†romp and the first issue to feature the legendary DC “Go-Go checkerboard†banner at the top of the cover. This iconic cover-feature still generates a frisson of child-like anticipation in many older fans and is often used in pastiches and homage today to instantly create an evocative mood. It also marked the end of a brilliant career, as veteran inker Bernard Sachs put down his brushes for the final time and retired from the League and the comics field.
The next issue was inked by Frank Giacoia, a tense bio-thriller entitled ‘The Plague that Struck the Justice League!’, and he was joined by Joe Giella for the witty monster-menace double-feature ‘The Super-Struggle against Shaggy Man!’ in issue #45.
A wise-cracking campy tone was fully in play with the next issue, in acknowledgement of the changing audience profile. It was the opening part of the fourth annual crossover with the Justice Society of America. This time the stakes were raised to encompass the destruction of both planets in ‘Crisis Between Earth-One and Earth-Two’ and issue #47’s ‘The Bridge Between Earths’, wherein a bold – if rash – experiment pulls the two sidereal worlds into an inexorable hyper-space collision, whilst to make matters worse an anti-matter being uses the opportunity to explore our positive matter universe.
Peppered with wisecracks and “hip†dialogue, it’s sometimes difficult to discern what a cracking yarn this actually is, but if you’re able to forgive or swallow the dated patter, this is one of the best plotted and illustrated stories in the entire JLA/JSA canon. Furthermore, the vastly talented Sid Greene signed on as regular inker with this classic adventure, adding expressive subtlety, beguiling texture and whimsical humour to the pencils of Mike Sekowsky and the increasingly light, comedic scripts of Gardner Fox.
The next issue was another Eighty-Page Giant (reprinting Brave and the Bold #29 and #30 and Justice League of America #2 and 3, represented here by its stirring Sekowsky/Murphy Anderson cover, followed by the ‘Threat of the True-or-false Sorcerer’ in which a small team of the biggest guns (Batman, Superman, Flash and Green Lantern) must ferret out a doppelganger Felix Faust before he inadvertently dissolves all creation. There’s no excessive hoopla to celebrate the fiftieth issue but ‘The Lord of Time Attacks the 20th Century’ is another brilliantly told tale of heroism, action and sacrifice that, uncharacteristically for the company and the time, references and includes the ongoing Vietnam conflict. With “Batmania†in full swing editor Julie Schwartz also deemed it wise to include Robin, The Boy Wonder with regulars Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Snapper Carr and Batman.
Issue #51 concluded a long-running experiment in continuity with ‘Z – As in Zatanna – and Zero Hour!’ in which a comely young sorceress concluded the search for her long-missing father with the assistance of a small group of Leaguers and guest-star Ralph “Elongated Man†Dibny.
Zatarra was a magician-hero in the Mandrake mould who had fought evil in the pages of Action Comics for over a decade beginning with the very first issue. During the Silver Age Gardner Fox had Zatarra’s young and equally gifted daughter, Zatanna, go searching for him by guest-teaming with a selection of superheroes Fox was currently scripting (if you’re counting, these tales appeared in Hawkman #4, Atom #19, Green Lantern #42, and the Elongated Man back-up strip in Detective Comics #355 as well as a very slick piece of back writing to include the high-profile Caped Crusader via Detective #336 – ‘Batman’s Bewitched Nightmare’).
Experimentation was also the basis of #52’s ‘Missing in Action – 5 Justice Leaguers!’, a portmanteau tale that showed what happened to those members who didn’t show up for issue #50. Hawkman – plus wife and partner Hawkgirl – Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Superman reported their solo yet ultimately linked adventures, whilst the Atom referred them to his time-travelling escapade with Benjamin Franklin from the pages of his own comic (The Atom #27 ‘Stowaway on a Hot Air Balloon!’). Batman still managed to make an appearance through the magic of a lengthy flash-back, showing again just how ubiquitous the TV series had made him. No editor in his right mind would ignore a legitimate (or even not-so) chance to feature such a perfect guarantee of increased sales.
‘Secret Behind the Stolen Super-Weapons’ found Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Hawkman – again with Hawkgirl guest-starring – deprived of their esoteric armaments and in desperate need of the Atom, Flash, Aquaman and Superman. Card-carrying criminals returned in ‘The History-Making Costumes of the Royal Flush Gang’, a taut mystery-thriller with plenty of action to balance the suspense. This fed perfectly into another summer-spectacular team-up with the JSA.
Boasting a radical change, the Earth-2 team now starred an adult Robin instead of Batman, but Hourman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Wildcat, Johnny Thunder and Mr. Terrific still needed the help of Earth-1’s Superman, Flash, Green Lantern and Green Arrow to cope with ‘The Super-Crisis that Struck Earth-Two’ and ‘The Negative-Crisis on Earths One-Two!’
This cosmic threat from a dying universe was in stark contrast to the overly-worthy but well intentioned ‘Man – Thy Name is Brother!’ in issue #57, where Flash, Green Arrow and Hawkman joined Snapper Carr in defending human rights and equality via three cases involving ethnic teenagers; a black, a native American/Apache (and if that modern phrase doesn’t indicate the necessity and efficacy of such stories in the 1960’s then what does?) and an aid-worker in India. Beautifully drawn and obviously heartfelt, I still ponder on the fact that all the characters are male… but eventually comics would confront even that last bastion of institutionalised prejudice.
There’s one last Eighty-Page Giant cover in this gloriously cost-effective monochrome compendium (issue # 58 reprinted Justice League of America #1, 6 and 8), and it was produced by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson. That’s followed by the extremely odd conceptual puzzler ‘The Justice Leaguer’s Impossible Adventure’ before the volume closes with the return of an old adversary and another “hot†guest-star. Issue #60 featured ‘Winged Warriors of the Immortal Queen!’ and pitted the enslaved and transformed team against DC’s newest sensation – Batgirl.
These phonebook-like collections – each in excess of 500 pages – are an absolute gift for modern fans with a desperate need to catch up without going bankrupt. They’re also the perfect gift for youngsters needing an introduction to a fabulous world of adventure and magic. Of all the various reprint editions and formats available for classic material, these monochrome tomes are my absolute favourites.
By various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-916-6
The summer volume of the alternative, cutting edge cartoon-arts anthology presents even more new creators to augment the fabulous regulars behind a compelling cover by European creator Killoffer- plus a fascinating extended, illustrated interview with typographer and artist Ray Fenwick whose telling vignettes are peppered throughout this book.
After a cool spoof of ‘Poker Dogs’ by Kurt Wolfgang, the book proper opens with a silent chiller entitled ‘5:45 AM’ by Al Columbia followed by the exceptional (and equally wordless) ‘Einmal ist Keinmal’ by cover artist Killoffer. The sixth part of Wolfgang’s ‘Nothing Eve’ follows, and although still compelling visually, the protracted story-plot is becoming a distant memory – hopefully a future collection will allow the full power and verve of the narrative to compete fairly with the magical illustration.
Nate Neal channels classic Underground Comix of the Sixties with the portmanteau strip-jam ‘The 5 Simple Cosmic Do Dats’, and Ray Fenwick’s ‘Truth Bear’ tells it like it is before the superb Eleanor Davis takes the breath away with ‘The 10,000 Rescues’ another silent strip featuring those plucky li’l gals Dot and Louisa.
Dash Shaw returns with the mesmeric ‘The Galactic Funnels’ followed by the returning John Hankiewicz, who provides a disturbing moment in Jazz history entitled ‘Those Eyes’. Émile Bravo’s ‘A Question of Human Resources’ provides a typically Gallic view of Workers and Politics whilst Andrice Arp’s seductive full page illustrations ask ‘The Question is “How Did This Happen?‒, ‘The Problem is “What Do We Do Now?‒, ‘How Much Longer is This Going to Go On?’ and ‘How Many More Times is This Going to Happen?’
‘Shoes’ from Conor O’Keefe is a wistful, faux elegiac watercolour strip reminiscent of the very beginnings of our art form, followed by the aforementioned Fenwick interview, after which O’Keefe returns with ‘Fly’. ‘Million Year Boom’ is a chilling cautionary tale from Tom Kaczynski whilst Paul Hornschemeier offers an illustrated prose vignette ‘The Guest Speaker’ to accompany the ninth part of his urban saga ‘Life With Mr Dangerous’, which follows. Closing this volume is Ray Fenwick’s trenchant ‘Cre-A-Tor in “Trial & Omni-Error‒.
Whether you’re new to comics, new to the areas beyond the mainstream or just want something new; these strips and this publication will always offer a decidedly different read. You may not like all of it, and perhaps the serializations should provide recaps (but don’t) but Mome will always have something you can’t help but respond to. You really should try it…
By Pat Mills & Kevin O’Neill (Titan Books)
ISBN: 9781-84576-943-7
Though not strictly a graphic novel this copiously illustrated book finally collects the prose stories starring the deeply troubled superhero hunter that appeared on Nick Percival’s Cool Beans website between 2000 and 2002. A continuation of the character first published by Epic Comics and Dark Horse as well as the British Apocalypse Comics, these stories are intended for adult readers – whatever that means, these days.
In the dystopian metropolis of San Futuro, the returned dregs of America’s latest war litter the streets. Once again soldiers have been abandoned by their country as soon as the conflict ended, but his time drugs trauma and stress aren’t the only long-term problems. Genetic engineering made US troops into superheroes, but it couldn’t unmake them so now they’re just a dangerous problem the Authorities would love to ignore.
Joe Gilmore is one such returnee who took a different route. He’s a cop who uses his cursed abilities to remove the worst of the super-scum from the streets. He is Marshal Law and far too infrequently since 1987 he’s been a tool of brutal criticism and satire on the overweening cult of superheroes in American comicbooks.
In the comics incarnation the series is characterised by nudity, creative profanity, barbed parody, sexual situations (I don’t think I’ve ever typed that phrase before!) extreme violence and fabulous hilarity. O’Neill’s art is always stuffed with extras and both creators blatant dislike for costumed heroes shines out like a batsignal.
This book then is a mixed blessing. It’s great to see two more canonical tales ‘The Day of the Dead’ (a showdown with a band of superhero serial killers) and ‘Cloak of Evil’ (the suspicious suicide of San Futuro’s top Sex Worker leads to way more than anybody expected) but Mill’s choppy prose won’t be to everybody’s taste. Moreover even with O’Neill’s wonderful illustrations (19 black and white double page spreads) a vital story element is absent. On a Marshal Law page as much goes on in the backgrounds and margins and the scenery walls as in front of the camera, but that simply isn’t possible here.
This compilation is interesting and powerful, but not as effective as a new comic would be. We’re waiting…
By Tatsuya Hamazaki & Yuzuka Morita (TokyoPop)
ISBN: 978-1-4278-0635-2
This is a very confusing sequel to a sequel based on a computer game about a computer game. The originals were based on a Japanese anime series called .hack//Roots… and I’m going to stop there with the background stuff because my eyes are starting to bleed. There are three (maybe four by now) game editions and a couple of TV series but that has little relevance to the book I’m holding in my hand.
By the year 2017 a huge multiplayer online game called The World has gripped humanity to such an extent that most of the planet are now continuously lost in a fantasy realm of fighting Avatars – the online personas of players. Most are trapped there with no way out. PKs – Player Killers – hunt and destroy Avatars and more adaptable PKKs have evolved. Player Killer Killers hunt down and slay the predators but not for any moral purpose, they’re just a better test of prowess.
But even if the population is lost in The World (R: 2 to be exact) the real world still impinges. PKK Haseo – AKA “The Terror of Death†– roams the cyber-realm hunting for the PK “Tri-Edge†whose attack on his friend Shino left her in a real coma – an increasingly common event in The World. And covert forces are manipulating the game and the billions of players for some as yet unspecified purpose. What is really going on?
No, I’m serious asking here because I truly am terribly confused. I feel completely unable to comment on the narrative because so much back-story is unavailable to new readers. It seems competent and may be excellent but I just can’t tell. The art however, by Yuzuka Morita is good; fast, slick and strong on action but with a sensitive touch in regard to character interaction.
Impressive looking, this is not a book for the uninitiated.
By Wing Shing Ma (DrMaster Publications)
ISBN13: 978-1-59796-131-8
I’ve said it before and it’s still true. Hong Kong comics are beautiful. They’re produced using an intensive studio art-system that means any individual page might be composed of painted panels, line-art, crayons and art pencils, literally anything that will get the job done. And that presumably is to enhance not so much nuances of plot but rather details of the mysticism/philosophy of Kung Fu that my western sensibilities just aren’t attuned to. They are astounding to look at, but don’t expect them to make much sense.
These relentless action classics (originally published by Hong Kong outfit Jademan Comics) have been digitally re-mastered for trade paperbacks. The protagonist, tough, good-looking, Hero Hua, is a husband and father, the latest in a long line of Guardians tasked with protecting a magic sword powered by blood. His line has safeguarded the blade for generations, and the ability to endure personal sacrifice is bred to the bone in him.
When a Gangster tries to steal the Blood Sword, the collateral damage includes most of Hero’s family, launching a vendetta that encompasses half the planet. The villains are thoroughly evil, masters of every fighting art and dirty trick and Hero and his incomprehensibly wide circle of friends and associates – who come and go with dazzling brevity – fight an unceasing battle to preserve the sword and avenge his family.
Because that’s fundamentally what this genre of comic is: One glorious, lavish spectacular exhibition of Kung Fu mastery. Like much of the region’s classic cinema, all other considerations are suborned to the task of getting the fighting started and to keeping it going. If you’re looking for characterisation, sharp dialogue or closure, look elsewhere. If, however, you want Good Guys thumping Bad Guys in extended, eye-popping ways, you might want to give this a go. Be warned though, it is by nature a never-ending story…
This is the sixth volume and to be honest, all sense of logic and continuity has long been abandoned by the creators. Hero, his son and their disparate allies must overcome foes that include a vampire, Q Level Face Card Assassins, the deadly fashionistas of the Nymph Flower Puzzle and a host of other exotic menaces, just to stay alive, and I suspect there’s no real story structure left to get in the way of all the action. Needless to say the book ends on a cliffhanger…
Crafted in a dizzying variety of artistic styles including pen-and-ink, crayon, painted art, even photography, this is a comic about fighting, heavily influenced by the spiritual aspect of Kung Fu. If you prefer a semblance of realism in your fiction this rollercoaster romp is not for you. This is Fighting Fantasy…
Superhero fans might be amazed at the variety of powers a lifetime of knuckle push-ups and bowing can produce, but this is a style of comic wedded to the concept of study and training and will producing literal miracles. It is however, irresistibly exuberant, beautifully illustrated and endlessly compelling. If you’re open to different ways of telling tales you may find yourself carried away on this relentless tide of shallow heroes and non-stop action.
Young Paris – don’t call him Michael, he hates it – may finally have had a turn of good luck. Not only has he inherited some property from his reclusive grandfather, but the residents of picturesque little hamlet Raven Hollow are desperate to buy it from him, sight unseen. Nonetheless he makes his way their and finds that it’s not all so cut and dried.
The property is a cemetery named The Boneyard and not everything within its walls is content to play dead. There’s Abby, a beautiful vampire chick, a foul-mouthed skeleton, a demon with delusions of grandeur, a werewolf who thinks he’s a cross between James Dean and the Fonz, a witch, a hulking Frankensteinian monster and even talking gargoyles over the gate. Most worrying of all: There’s even a voluptuous (married) amphibian who adds worlds of meaning to the phrase “predatory man-eater.â€
The place is a veritable refuge for the restless dead and every sort of Halloween horror, but somehow they all seem more human and friendly than the increasingly off-kilter townsfolk whose desperate measures to make Paris sell show that not all monsters haunt graveyards.
Reprinting issues #1-4 of the independent comic book in full process colour, this is a charming, sly and irresistibly addictive book, a warm-hearted comedy of terrors that is one the best humour series to come out of the States since Charles Addams first started reporting from that spooky old house in the 1940s.
This is a must-have for Horrorists, Humorists and especially Romantics with an open mind, which can even be read by younger teenagers.
This themed collection re-presents some of the best clashes between the Gotham Guardian and the tragic lawyer-turned-criminal Harvey Dent – the visual embodiment of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde known as Two-Face.
To get you up to speed, the book starts with the most recent interpretation of the character’s origin, an impressive two-page recap by the Marks Waid and Chiarello, first seen in Countdown #27 (December 2007), before the book proper begins with the classic original trilogy of tales from Detective Comics #66, 68 and 80 (August and October 1941, and October 1943).
Written by the inimitable Bill Finger, and illustrated by Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos they told the tragic tale of Harvey Kent (yes that’s right, his name was only altered to Dent in the 1950s) a brilliant and fearless District Attorney driven insane when a mobster destroyed the left side of his gorgeous face with vitriol (that’s Sulfuric Acid, if you weren’t staying awake in Chemistry).
His life destroyed in the very courtroom of his greatest triumphs, Kent embarked on a crime-spree throughout Gotham City, taking the number “2†as his inspiration and using the toss of a double-headed coin to make all his key moral decisions for him. It took all of the dynamic Duo’s efforts to stop him, but he kept turning up like a bad penny until the fledgling science of plastic surgery cured his uniquely visual form of split personality.
He more or less returned in Detective #187 (September 1952). ‘The Double Crimes of Two-Face’ (by Don Cameron, Dick Sprang and Charles Paris) is a classic “fair-play†mystery featuring the character’s return so I’ll say nothing about it and let you solve it yourselves, but he returned for keeps in ‘Two-Face Strikes Again!’ (Batman #81, February-March 1954), by David Vern and the immaculate art team of Sprang and Paris.
As comics become increasingly more anodyne in the 1950s Two-Face faded from view, but with the return of a grimmer, moodier hero in the early 1970s the scene was set for a revival of Batman’s more warped villains. ‘Half an Evil’ (Batman #234, August 1971) is a spectacular action packed mystery, one the absolute best collaborations of Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano.
By 1989 a revitalized post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC were busily revising their internal history and from Secret Origins Special #1 Mark Verheiden, Pat Broderick and Giordano produced a new take on the tragedy of Harvey Dent, which served as a basis for the following 1996 two-part tale from Batman #527 and 528. ‘The Face Schism’ and ‘Schismed Faces’, by Doug Moench, Kelly Jones and John Beatty is a slick and ghoulish carnival tale of twists, turns and double crosses, but in all that cleverness it rather forgets to be clear and entertaining.
The penultimate yarn is also rather disappointing, but not for any storytelling deficiencies. ‘Face the Ecaf’ is from Batman #653, and is by James Robinson, Don Kramer and Wayne Faucher. It’s set in the “One Year Later†period following the Infinite Crisis event when all the Bat heroes abandoned Gotham and Two-Face was given the job of protecting the city by the Dark Knight.
It’s part Six of Eight.
Surely such a major storyline should be left to its own collection and not simply truncated and shoved in any old how? It’s not as if there isn’t plenty of other fine material around to fill those twenty odd pages. Or was the temptation of one more major name on the package too much for Marketing to resist?
Rant over: the book does end with possibly the best modern Two-Face tale yet produced. ‘Two of a Kind’ is a short piece of Noir perfection by Bruce Timm that first appeared in Batman: Black and White #1 in 1996. Rendered in the style of the Batman Animated TV show it is suave, sultry, steamy and shocking. You’ll love it!
All the tales have been lavishly recoloured (except that last one, of course) and quibbles notwithstanding, this is a great book stuffed with quality reading entertainment. As an introduction to one of Batman’s best baddies, or simply as a wonderful way to spend some downtime, this is highly recommended.
By Archie Goodwin & Howard Chaykin (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-577-9
I can’t recall the last time Marvel published an all-original graphic novel as opposed to a collection, but not so very long ago they were a market leader in the field with an entire range of “big stories†told on larger than normal pages (285 x 220 mm rather than the now customary 258 x 168 mm) featuring not only proprietary characters but also licensed assets like Conan and even creator-owned properties like Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar.
The Scorpio Connection should have been one of their very best productions, scripted by the supremely talented Archie Goodwin and painted by the versatile Howard Chaykin, it featured arguably their most popular character, Wolverine, and the immortal super-spy Nick Fury in a twisty espionage/revenge thriller, full of action set-pieces and even a plot maguffin straight out of Greek Tragedy, but this is sadly one of those times when the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
It is still an immensely readable adventure as aging warrior Fury hunts down the assassin Scorpio who may or may not be his brother Jake, long presumed dead, encountering and joining the revenge-driven Wolverine who wants the Zodiac killer who butchered his oldest friend. There is glamour, intrigue, exotic locales and enough action to satisfy the most devoted Bond-fan, but somehow it all seems forced and never seems to gel.
Pretty, engaging but tragically insubstantial, this won’t appeal to much more than the already converted.
