Now Read This!

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-624-5

After Infinite Crisis DC re-set the time-line of all their publications to begin One Year Later: This allowed them to retool their characters as necessary, provided a jumping on point for new converts and also provided lots of narrative wiggle-room.

DC’s ambitious weekly miniseries came to a barnstorming conclusion with the final revelations of the “Lost Year”. It also spawned a tie-in miniseries as events between issues #49 and #50 escalated into a Global super-powered conflict (for which you’ll need to read DC: World War III – ISBN: 978-1-84576-653-5) before all the dust finally settled. And after 52 another epic series, Countdown, immediately began…

As with the other books (52: Volumes 1, 2 & 3 – ISBN: 1-84576-552-4, ISBN: 978-1-84576-553-8 and ISBN: 978-1-84576-604-7 — see previous reviews), I’m not going to give away any plot points because you really need to see it all for yourselves. Suffice to say that if you have any interest in super-hero sagas you will love this, and if you don’t, you won’t.

This volume collects issues #40-52 of the weekly serial and as the various strands starring Supernova, Infinity Incorporated, and The Question resolve, Black Adam’s tragic situation leads him to declare war on the world. Ralph Dibney’s final fate is revealed and a new Wonder Woman debuts. Starfire and Adam Strange finally return to Earth as the Mad Scientists of Oolong Island reap the just rewards for their manic inventiveness.

And finally Booster Gold and Rip Hunter discover the fateful secret of “52”, just in time to save all of creation into the bargain.

Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid, with breakdowns by Keith Giffen, 52 volume 4 is drawn by Eddy Barrows, Chris Batista, Joe Bennett, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jamal Igle, Dan Jurgens, Justiniano, Mile McKone, Patrick Olliffe and Darick Robertson with inks by Eddy Barrows, Belardino Brabo, Drew Geraci, Dan Green, Jack Jadson, Andy Lanning, Patrick Olliffe, Rodney Ramos, Norm Rapmund, Darick Robertson, Lorenzo Ruggiero and Walden Wong. The colouring is by David Baron, Hi-Fi, Pete Pantazis and Alex Sinclair, lettering by Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh and Ken Lopez, and the original comic covers are by J. G. Jones and Sinclair.

Love or hate mainstream American comic-books, 52 is a truly remarkable achievement, chockfull of wit and inventiveness, clever touches and lots of solid jumping-on points for new readers and returnees. If you can handle the multiplicity of plot-lines this is a series that will reward and astound.

© 2006, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Jerry Ordway (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-085-2 (Hardback) ISBN13: 978-1-56389-153-3 (Softcover)

Since DC acquired the rights to the Golden Age Captain Marvel (as published by Fawcett from 1940-1953) there have been many enjoyable and effective treatments of the characters. But until last year’s Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (ISBN: 978-1-84576-389-3) none had captured the exuberance and charm of the originals and certainly none had come close to the popularity that had once threatened Superman’s, nor the sheer quality of the endeavour. Jerry Ordway’s 1994 re-imagining of the concept came awfully close, though…

Billy Batson is a little boy living on the streets. His archaeologist parents left him with his uncle Ebenezer when they went on a dig to Egypt. They never returned and he was thrown out as his uncle stole his inheritance. No one knows where his baby sister is…

Sleeping in a storm drain, selling newspapers for cash, the indomitable kid is pretty street-savvy, but when the mysterious shadowy stranger bids him follow into an eerie subway he somehow knows it’s okay to comply. When he meets the wizard Shazam and gains the powers of the ancient Gods and Heroes he knows he has the opportunity to make things right at last. But he isn’t aware of just what depths of evil corporate vulture Thaddeus Sivanna is capable, nor the role that Black Adam played in the fate of his parents…

This superb and mesmerising retelling was an original graphic novel that led to the most successful comic-book revival that Captain Marvel has yet experienced. The characters refitted in that series are more or less the same ones currently seen in DC comics such as Countdown. The pulp adventure atmosphere conjured up by Ordway in conjunction with his sumptuous art and spectacular design make for a captivating experience, and the artist’ s writing has never been more approachable and beguiling. This is a wonderful book for fans of adventure as well as “costumed drama” junkies.

© 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

A MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL

 

By Sam Glanzman (Marvel)
ISBN: 0- 87135-556-6

Sam Glanzman produced comic magic for decades in an underplayed, effective and matter-of-fact manner. For many years this hugely neglected talent has been making great narrative art without flash or dazzle, gaining fans among the cognoscenti yet largely unnoticed by the mainstream fans, but in 1987 he produced an autobiographical graphic novel that made quite a few waves.

A Sailor’s Story (ISBN: 0- 87135-298-2) captivatingly related his experiences as a young man aboard the American Destroyer U.S.S. Stevens in a no-nonsense, highly entertaining tale, and broke new ground in the progress of the graphic novel as a medium for artistic expression. It also reached a lot of buyers who wouldn’t be caught dead with a copy of Spider-Man or Conan…

This sequel returns to the Pacific at the height of World War II, and by clever use of narrative devices such as Ship’s Travel Logs incorporated into the page designs, and diagrams and cutaways as part of the text, manages to instil an even more documentary atmosphere into this wonderfully human-scale drama. This is used to create a foreboding sense of dread as the crew encounters and learns to live with the then-unknown terror weapon of suicide-pilots who would become a household name to us: Kamikaze!

Combining the folksy, informative charm of the first volume with the “hurry-up-and-wait” tension of modern warfare, and delivered in an increasingly bold and innovative graphic style, Wind, Dreams and Dragons is one of the best explorations ever produced of sea-combat as seen through the eyes of the ordinary seaman. I pray some right-thinking publisher re-releases this – and its companion predecessor – as soon as possible…

© 1989 Sam Glanzman. All Rights Reserved.

A MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL

 

By Sam Glanzman (Marvel)
ISBN: 0- 87135-298-2

Inexplicably, many superb creators who dedicate a lifetime to producing a volume of work are never rewarded for their efforts. Probably the most shamefully neglected of these hidden stars – at least in the American comicbook industry – is Sam Glanzman. With a solid, unique and rough-hewn style he has worked since the 1940s on a variety of titles for a number of companies, mostly on anthology material for fantasy, mystery, war and adventure anthologies, but also on the occasional serial characters such as Willy Schulz, Hercules and Tarzan for Charlton, Kona for Dell, and The Haunted Tank and U.S.S. Stevens for DC.

It is this last series of guardedly-autobiographical tales, derived from his tour of duty on that eponymous American Destroyer in World War II, which formed the precedent for the superb pictorial autobiography I’m discussing here. And if anybody from DC is reading this, those U.S.S. Stevens strips are so-very-long overdue for the trade paperback treatment, too!

In 1987 editor Larry Hama made the bold decision to publish Glanzman’s simple, matter-of-fact account of his days as a young man aboard a Pacific Fleet Destroyer as part of Marvel’s original Graphic Novel imprint. The spectacular result was a high point in American sequential narrative and even spawned a second volume (A Sailor’s Story II: Wind, Dreams and Dragons: ISBN: 0- 87135-556-6).

Glanzman is a natural storyteller, with the ability to make dry fact entrancing and everyday events compelling. With his gritty art style and powerful sense of colour he weaves memory into magic. His depiction of ship-board life is informative and authentic, and his decision to down-play action and concentrate on character is brave and tremendously effective. He also knows how to make a reader laugh and cry, and when.

A Sailor’s Story is a moving and obviously heartfelt paean to lost days and lost people, a war story that glorifies life, not death, by a creator who loved the experience and loves his art-form. When you read this superb book you will too.

© 1987 Sam Glanzman. All Rights Reserved.

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-604-7

Recap: After Infinite Crisis DC re-set the time-line of all their publications to begin One Year Later: This allowed them to retool their characters as necessary, provided a jumping on point for new converts and also give themselves lots of narrative wiggle-room.

And DC created an ambitious weekly miniseries to tell much of the story of that “Lost Year”, initially through the exploits of their minor players. It also proved a means of setting up an even more ambitious crossover event at its end. As with the previous books (52: Volumes 1 & 2 – ISBN: 1-84576-552-4 and ISBN: 978-1-84576-553-8 respectively), I’m going to encapsulate the myriad plot strands in broad terms as this is a series you really should see for yourselves.

Six months after the Infinite Crisis the World has generally moved on, but small stories are occurring that will bring the planet into another global catastrophe. Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash and many other heroes are still missing but new heroes such as Supernova, and Everyman Project graduates Infinity Incorporated have moved into the gap they left. Meanwhile Renee Montoya and The Question have undergone a life-altering journey and now she must make one final desperate trip back to the mystical Shangri La called Nanda Parbat.

Black Adam has a new family and is well on the way to becoming a force for good, but an unforgiving American Agency uses the Suicide Squad to bring tragedy and disaster back into his life just as Ralph Dibney is nearing the end of his supernatural pilgrimage with the disembodied Helmet of Fate. He is now closer than ever to his dead wife Sue.

Batman, Robin and Nightwing finally resurface far from home, and in Metropolis John Henry Irons (formerly the armoured hero Steel) has been unable to prove the sinister nature of the Everyman Project. On New Years Eve that Project reaches a grim and bloody conclusion…

Light-years from anywhere Starfire and blind Adam Strange are fighting the diabolical Lady Styx with the dubious assistance of Lobo, the Deadliest Bounty Hunter in the Universe. Their total victory is marred by the tragic, heroic death of their compatriot Animal Man. His burial in deep space is quite moving, but as the survivors head for Earth so is Animal Man… moving, that is!

In Gotham City, as everywhere, the Bible of Crime is converting thugs into zealots. Nightwing’s first meeting with Batwoman is amidst a tidal wave of fanatics and monsters, but does it presage a new partnership? Elsewhere, other heroes are also slowly reappearing…

The assembled Mad Scientists of Oolong Island in the China Seas have created unbelievably dangerous weapons. Just what kind of maniac lets such people keep them, though? And all the while Booster Gold and Rip Hunter are searching time and space for the mastermind behind the incipient end of the universe, and are very close to discovering the ultimate secret of “52”.

This volume collects issues #27-39 of the weekly serial and the ongoing storylines are racing towards a mighty conclusion, picking up speed and losing characters. This is where the body-count starts to hit home as new favourites and old begin their final adventures.

Jointly written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid, with breakdowns by Keith Giffen, 52 volume 3 is drawn by Chris Batista, Joe Bennett, Tom Derenick, Jamal Igle, Phil Jimenez, Drew Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Shawn Moll, Patrick Olliffe, Joe Prado and Andy Smith, with inks by Mariah Benes, Joe Bennett, Keith Champagne, Drew Geraci, Dan Green, Jack Jadson, Ruy José, Andy Lanning, Jay Leisten, Dave Meikis, Nelson, Rodney Ramos, Norm Rapmund, Prentis Rollins and Ray Snyder. The colouring is by David Baron, Hi-Fi, Pete Pantazis and Alex Sinclair, lettering by Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau, Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh and Travis Lanham, and the amazing original covers are by J. G. Jones and Sinclair.

By this third volume the sheer bravado of the thing is finally paying off. The result is a qualitative success that truly shows that at least somebody in modern comics is prepared to take a few risks and push a few envelopes.

© 2006, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.