By Paul Dini & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-673-3
The second collection of post-Infinite Crisis Batman adventures from Detective Comics (issues #827-834) presents another fine crop of tales of the Not-Quite-So Dark Knight righting wrongs in the urban sewer of Gotham City, courtesy of Paul Dini and a stalwart team of associates.
‘Double Talk’, illustrated by Don Kramer and Wayne Faucher, introduces a new and nasty Ventriloquist as the mouthpiece of the murderous Scarface, whilst ‘Sharkbite’ is an old-fashioned murder “whodunit†with reformed villain-turned-consulting-detective The Riddler racing Batman to the killer’s identity.
Stuart Moore and artist Andy Clarke combine for the excellent two-parter ‘Siege’ as a human bomb captures the entire Wayne Tower skyscraper during a peace conference, and Dini, Kramer and Faucher return for ‘Kind of Like Family’ wherein Harley Quinn struggles with her decision to go straight when Scarface and the new Ventriloquist make her an offer she just can’t refuse.
‘Triage’, by Royal McGraw and Andy Clarke brings back Silver Age villains Fox, Shark and Vulture in a chilling psycho-drama before the volume concludes with the superb ‘Trust’ as warped stage magician Ivar Loxias returns in a chilling tale of slaughter and trickery guest-starring the bewitching Zatanna by the first team of Dini, Kramer and Faucher. And wait ’til you see the twist…
These tales of a renewed and determined crime-fighter look well set to overturn the Grim Sociopath image that has dogged Batman for too long. They are fresh, thrilling and powerfully compelling adventures that will astonish long-time fans and casual browsers equally. This is the best Batman in years.
Although now available as a CD-Rom with a musical score, old git that I am, I prefer my graphic narratives silent, so I’m recommending this slim volume of sketches, paintings, photos and comic strip recollections from one of the world’s most innovative illustrators (which is subtitled “A Journal of Travels through Africa and Southeast Asiaâ€) over its technological successor. At least you can read this in the bath or on the toilet – a welcome advantage as any world traveller (including the author) must admit.
With punchy, edgy line drawing cartoons Kuper recounts his Trip-of -a-Lifetime to the aforementioned destinations, accompanied by partner Betty Russell in a mesmerising documentary of jet-lag, exhaustion, trepidation, non-restful sleep, wonderment, joy and of course, violent, explosive stomach-disorders. Of especial use is the photo-feature Toilets of the World.
In addition to the journal strips there are many beautiful, expressive and arresting paintings, sketches, collages and drawings from this marvellously gifted artist and critic. This is comics reportage at its most engaging, and it’s a shame more creators don’t dabble in this area of our art-form.
Some of the collected material has also been seen in World War III Illustrated, Heavy Metal, American Illustration, Traveller, Bleeding Heart and Step-By-Step Graphics.
By Bob Haney & Dick Dillin (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-672-6
Are you old enough to yearn for simpler times?
The brilliant expediency of the 52 concept lends the daftest tale from DC’s back catalogue credibility and contemporary resonance since there’s now a chance that even the hippest and most happening of the modern pantheon can visit/interact with the most outrageous world or concept in DC’s long history. So this collection of well told tales from the 1970s, supplemented by tales from more self-conscious times, can be reprinted with a clear continuity-conscience without even the most strident fan complaining.
Written by Bob Haney and drawn mostly by Dick Dillin, the Super-Sons appeared with no fanfare in World’s Finest Comics #215, 1972; a bad time for superhero comics, but a great era for teen rebels. The free-wheeling, easy-rider, end of the flower-power days saw a huge focus on “teen consciousness†and the “Generation Gap†was a phrase on many lips. The editors clearly saw a way to make arch-establishment characters instantly pertinent and relevant, and being mercifully oblivious to the constraints of continuity (some would say logic) simply produced tales of the rebellious teen sons of the World’s Greatest Heroes out of whole cloth.
And well constructed, well told tales they are. In “Saga of the Super Sons†(inked by Henry Scarpelli) the young heroes run away from home – on the inevitable motorcycle, natch! – and encounter a scurrilous gang-lord. But worry not, the paternalistic parents are keeping a wary eye on the lads! Speaking as someone who was the target market for this experiment, I can admit that the parental overview grated then and still does, but as there were so many sequels somebody must have liked it.
“Little Town With a Big Secret†appeared in the very next issue, another human-scale human interest tale, but with a science-fiction twist and the superb inking of Murphy Anderson. WF # 221 featured “Cry Not For My Forsaken Son!†by the same team, which showed a troubled son the difference between value and worth, and the value of a father as opposed to a biological parent. Issue #222 “Evil in Paradise†(inked by Vince Colletta) took the young heroes to an undiscovered Eden to resolve the ancient question of whether Man was intrinsically Good or Evil.
“The Shocking Switch of the Super-Sons†(WF #224, and also inked by Colletta) took teen rebellion to its most logical conclusion as a psychologist convinces the boys to trade fathers! “Crown For a New Batman!†is a definite change of pace as Bruce Jr. inherits the Mantle and the Mission when his father is murdered! But never fear, all was not as it seemed, fans! This thriller first appeared in WF #228, and was inked by Tex Blaisdell, who also inked Curt Swan, artist for the more traditional Lost Civilisation yarn “The Girl That Time Forgotâ€, from WF #230.
The Relevancy Era was well over by the time Haney, Dillin and Blaisdell crafted “Hero is a Dirty Name†(WF #231), wherein the Sons question the motivation for heroism, and in #233’s “World Without Men†(inked by John Calnan) they tackle sexual equality and unravelled a plot to supplant human males. “The Angel With a Dirty Nameâ€, by the same team (WF #238) is a villains ‘n’ monsters slug-fest indistinguishable from any other super tale, and the original series ends with WF #242’s “Town of the Timeless Killersâ€, illustrated by Ernie Chua and John Calnan, wherein the kids are trapped in a haunted ghost-town and stalked by immortal gunslingers; an ignominious close to a bold experiment.
The kids made a one-stop return in “Final Secret of the Super-Sons†by Denny O’Neil, Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano (WF #263) when it was revealed that they were a simulation running on Superman’s giant Computer. In a grim indication of how much of a chokehold shared continuity had grown into, they then escaped into “reality†anyway…
The collection concludes with a short tale by Haney and Kieron Dwyer that appeared in Elseworlds 80-Page Giant. “Superman Jr. is No More!†is a charming and fitting conclusion to this odd, charming and idiosyncratic mini-saga.
If you’re not chained to continuity why not take a look at a few gems (and one or two duds) from a era where everybody read comics and nobody took them too seriously?
By Hiroshi Aro (Studio Ironcat)
ISBN: 978-1-9290-9000-6
This deceptively charming if saucy tale dwells on the Japanese fascination with gender-roles, but does it in a slapstick manner devoid of much of the cloying coyness of other manga series.
Futaba Shimeru (Kun is a suffix denoting maleness – like Futaba-boyo or Futaba-mate) is an average high-school student plagued with all the usual problems that beset boys. He’s trying to do well academically, he’s trying to shine on the school wrestling team and he’s blissfully unaware that one of the teachers is smitten with him, as is his cute but superstitious classmate Misaki. I should specify here that Misaki is a girl but the teacher isn’t. I’m not sure about the implications of a homoerotic fixation by a teacher for a student in a Japanese context; it’s played broadly and for laughs and the book is not meant for children anyway, but still…
When a boy sneaks some American porn mags into school Futaba’s life changes forever. Excited despite himself he suddenly turns into a beautiful girl, loses all his (her?) clothes and is chased naked through the school. She only escapes by using her wrestling skills, causing the captain of the school team to declare that he will never rest until she joins the wrestling squad! Everybody else just wants to see her naked again…
When Futaba gets home after many adventures, his father reveals that they all have the genetic disorder and it simply means he has come of age. He also lets slip that he was the one who gave birth to the boy, not his mother! Moreover, the headmaster, a part-time superhero, is also in on the secret…
Racy, rude and very funny, this is social and culture-shock at its merry best, incorporating traditional manga school hi-jinks, with a knowing nod into hormonal, adolescent humour. If you like manga, aren’t easily shocked and love to laugh, this strange, strange tale could be just your cup of tea…
By Darwyn Cooke with J. Bone and Dave Stewart (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-687-0
Some people are just hard to please. The Spirit is one of the greatest and most influential comics creations of all time and Darwyn Cooke is unarguably one of the best writer/artists in the industry today, but I still find it difficult to wholeheartedly praise his first efforts on DC’s acquisition and revival of the character, as seen in this compilation collecting the first six issues of comic book and the one-shot Batman/The Spirit.
Although I’m sure the impending movie has had a lot to do with this enterprise, The Spirit has always been a fundamentally Graphic and Design icon and Cooke has maintained the visual innovations as well as the racy, tongue-in-cheek comedy and breathtaking action. Perhaps my objections stem mostly from the facts that it’s set in a more-or-less contemporary world rather than the fabled forties and fifties. The ingenuous, camouflaged sexuality of Will Eisner’s work is missing from modern “in-your-face†liberated relationships, and that passionate tension is sorely missed. Or perhaps I’m just too churlish to accept anybody else’s interpretation of the character.
I certainly can’t fault the work on its own terms. Starting at full tilt with “Ice Ginger Coffeeâ€, which introduces the masked vigilante-detective who fights crime in Central City with the covert approval of Police Commissioner Dolan in a barn-storming tale of abduction, extortion and gangsterism, Cooke tells captivating adventure stories that will appeal to much wider audiences than the average super-hero comic. “The Maneater†introduces P’Gell, – a sultry vixen whose greatest weapon is ruthless allure – and the mostly comedic bit-player Hussein to the cast, as well as filling in some blanks from the hero’s past, when he was merely Private Eye Denny Colt, and the boyfriend of Dolan’s daughter Ellen.
A bloody gang-massacre is only the beginning in “Resurrectionâ€, which reveals the origin of The Spirit and introduces the gruesome Alvarro Mortez, who will return to bedevil Central City in future issues. “Hard like Satin†pits the outlaw detective against the indomitable CIA agent Silk Satin in a gruelling test of wills that brings Eisner’s ultimate villain The Octopus into the modern continuity, and the hysterically funny and chilling “Media Man†reintroduces Mister Carrion and his beloved vulture Miss Julia. The final solo adventure “Almost Blue†is a fantastical tale of rock ‘n ‘roll excess and extraterrestrial addiction with a poignant undercurrent which sits a little uncomfortably with the book’s final chapter.
“Crime Convention†adds Jeph Loeb to the regular team of Cooke, inker J. Bone and colourist Dave Stewart, to recount a frantic, funny tale of The Spirit and Batman’s first meeting whilst safeguarding a Police Commissioners convention from the amassed hordes of their respective Rogues Galleries. Originally released as a prelude to the ongoing Spirit series, this is oddly out of place both stylistically and thematically but is enjoyable nevertheless.
This is by any standard a truly great comics read and you shouldn’t let my reluctance influence you. If you haven’t seen Eisner’s originals you must read them, no argument there. But even though this volume isn’t MY Spirit, it is a damned good one. Go on, read them both. Please yourselves…
By Ron Goulart (Arlington House) ISBN: 0-87000-252-X
Softcover (Hermes Press) ISBN: 1-932563-70-9
Modern comics evolved from newspaper comic strips. These pictorial features were until very recently highly popular with the public and highly valued by publishers who used them as a powerful weapon to guarantee and even increase circulation – and profits. From the earliest times humour was paramount; hence the terms “Funnies†and of course, “Comicsâ€.
Despite the odd ancestor or precedent like Roy Crane’s Wash Tubbs (comedic when it began in 1924, it gradually moved from mock-heroics to light-action and became a full-blown adventure with the introduction of Captain Easy in 1929), or Tarzan (which began on January 7th 1929) and Buck Rogers (also January 7th 1929) – both adaptations of pre-existing prose properties – the vast bulk of strips produced were generally feel-good humour strips with the occasional child-oriented fantasy.
This changed in the 1930s when an explosion of action and drama strips were launched with astounding rapidity. Not just strips but actual genres were created in that decade which still impact on not just today’s comic-books but all our popular fiction.
This superb book from author, historian and strip writer Ron Goulart is considered the definitive text on the decade. It outlines the development of the strips, the creators and the legacy of this most incredible creative period in the history of graphic narrative. Written with captivating enthusiasm Goulart describes the rise of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and many other science-fiction strips; aviation serials like Smilin’ Jack,Flying Jenny and all the rest; Westerns like Red Ryder and the Lone Ranger; Cops ‘n’ Robbers, Detectives and Spies (Dick Tracy, Charlie Chan, Secret Agent X-9, etc.) and straight adventure strips like Terry and the Pirates and all the wonderful rest.
The Hermes Press paperback is produced in a landscape format with an addition 250 illustrations to supplement those in the hardback and highlights strips such as Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Tarzan, Scorchy Smith, Dick Tracy, Terry and the Pirates, Prince Valiant, The Phantom, Brick Bradford, The Spirit, and Don Winslow as well as lesser known examples like Bronc Peeler, Tex Thorne, Roy Powers, Dan Dunn and Tailspin Tommy. The text is also littered with contributions from Noel Sickles, Milton Caniff, Roy Crane, Alfred Andriola, Dick Moore, Mel Graff, Leslie Turner, Roy Crane, Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Chester Gould, Fred Harmon and Frank Robbins.
It’s virtually impossible for us to understand the power and popularity of the comic strip in America from the Great Depression to the end of the Second World War. With no television, far from universal usage of radio, and movie shows at best a weekly treat for most people, household entertainment was mostly derived from the comic sections of daily and especially Sunday Newspapers. Comic strips were the most common recreation of untold millions of people who were well served by a fantastic variety and incredible quality. This brilliant book recaptures that time with powerful effect. It is a book we should all read and hopefully it will show you just how great an entertainment medium comics can be.
By Michael Jan Friedman, Peter David & Pablo Marcos (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-85286-457-5
This is an interesting concept that doesn’t quite resolve into a winning piece of fiction, but should still please fans of the TV show and avid graphic novel readers. Originally released as two separate miniseries (Star Trek: The Modala Imperative #1-4 and Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Modala Imperative #1-4) it is less a team-up of the two Enterprise crews but rather more an shared mission separated by a century of change.
The story begins with Captain Kirk’s return to the planet Modala ten years after his first visit, when he was a lowly Lieutenant serving under the legendary Christopher Pike. As part of the survey team he recommended the world for membership in the Federation and has been sent back to assess their development and determine if the Modalans are ready to join the Interstellar Community. He decides on a small covert landing party consisting of himself and new Ensign Pavel Chekov. This will be the lad’s first Away Mission.
On beaming down they find a world run by a totalitarian government with weapons and technology far beyond their current level of development. Without further ado they become embroiled in a revolutionary movement, with Kirk once again stretching the definitions and spirit of the Prime Directive of absolute non-interference in non-Federation Cultures. After much ducking and weaving the crew escape, leaving the planet in isolation for another century, a dictatorship that must solve its own problems before it can join the greater universe.
One Hundred years later Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s Enterprise returns to Modala to assess the situation. A free world celebrating its Centennial of Liberation, it eagerly awaits an invitation to join the Federation of Planets, and looks forward to seeing again the survivors of that momentous second visitation. Dr McCoy and Mr. Spock are welcome guests at the festivities but when the mysterious arms-dealers also return demanding payment for the weapons they provided to the previous government, the planet-wide party swiftly descends into bloody chaos.
This is a very readable, if light, yarn that has lots to recommend it, although art-lovers might bristle at a somewhat lacklustre effort from artist Pablo Marcos. To leaven that, however, they can luxuriate in the absolute joy of Adam Hughes’ original comic book covers, which are worth the price of admission all by themselves.
By Johns, Willingham, Daniel & McDaniel (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-297-5
As DC’s Infinite Crisis loomed, it impacted on all the titles then being published by the company. As well as being a little hard and unforgiving for new readers it also played hob with narrative structure when simply trying to tell a story in a collected edition, but if you’re willing to read ’em then I’m game to try and explain the mess.
Collecting Teen Titans #29-33, Teen Titans Annual #1, Robin #146-147 and more-or-less pertinent extracts from Infinite Crisis #5-6, this fraught and angst-ridden story begins with the return of previously dead members of the team who reveal that the doors between Life and Death are breaking down. When deceased villain Brother Blood turns up leading an army of corpses including a team of dead Titans, it takes a desperate trip to the Great Beyond to set things right.
But this is mere prelude to the catastrophic battle between the recuperating modern Superboy (see Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders, ISBN: 1-84576-247-9) and the deranged Superboy Prime, one of the survivors of the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths and a key instigator of the even greater Infinite Crisis. In a cataclysmic battle that involves an army of super-folk the young hero is grievously injured, and Robin leads a team to Luthor’s Lair in search of a cure for his injuries (this sequence, scripted by Bill Willingham, is a beacon of quality in an otherwise pedestrian and workmanlike affair).
Superboy recovers just in time to team up with Batman’s original sidekick Nightwing for one last Grand Hurrah before meeting a final fate which sadly is all too predictable.
Despite the best efforts of a huge number of quality creators such as writers Geoff Johns, Bill Williams, Marv Wolfman and the aforementioned Willingham, eight pencillers, sixteen inkers and five colourists, not to mention four letterers, this histrionic tale doesn’t fare well read alone, yet is actually all but lost in the greater cacophony of the main event. If you want to read this you will definitely need a large pile of other Crisis tie-in volumes for anything even approaching the full story.
By Stan Lee & John Romita (Marvel/ Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN13: 978-1-905239-32-0
By 1977 Stan Lee had all but surrendered his role as editor and guiding light of Marvel Comics for that of a roving PR machine to hype-up the company he had turned into a powerhouse. In that year two events occurred that catapulted Marvel’s trademark character into the popular culture mainstream. One was the long anticipated release of the Amazing Spider-Man live action TV show – a mixed blessing and pyrrhic victory at best – whilst the other, and one much more in keeping with his humble origins was the launch of a syndicated newspaper strip.
Both brought the character to a wider audience but the later offered at least a promise of editorial control – a vital factor in keeping the Wallcrawler’s identity and integrity intact. But even this medium dictated some tailoring of the “Merry Marvel Madness†before the hero was a suitable fit with the grown-up world of the Funny Pages.
Which is a longwinded way of saying that completists and long-time fans will be happy with this collection of strips, as will any admirer of the black-and-white artwork of the senior John Romita (latterly inked by the great Frank Giacoia); but the stories, tame, bowdlerised and rather mediocre, struggle without the support network of a Marvel Universe, and are necessarily dumbed-down for readers not familiar with the wider cast or long history.
If the reader is steeped in the common folklore of Spider-Man, the adventures introducing Dr. Doom and Dr. Octopus are merely heavy-handed, but for newcomers they are presented as if all participants are already familiar, with no development or real explanation. A new villain The Rattler comes next, followed by the more appropriate (for strips at least) gangster The Kingpin before the strip finally gets around to a retelling of the origin, but now based on that aforementioned TV show rather than the classic Lee/Ditko masterpiece. It is safe to say that in those early years the TV series informed the strip much (too much) more than the comic-books.
A revised Kraven the Hunter came next, which presented an opportunity to remove Mary Jane Watson from the strip in favour of a string of temporary girl-friends, more in line with the TV version, and this also signalled a reining-in of super-menaces in favour of a less fantastic string of opponents such as a middle-Eastern terrorist. The launch of a Spider-Man movie took Peter Parker to Hollywood and a new version of deranged special-effects genius Mysterio, before Dr. Doom returned, attempting to derange our hero with robot pigeons and duplicates of Peter Parker’s associates.
This is followed by an exceptional run as three street thugs terrorise Aunt May for her social security money, and Spider-Man has to foil a crazed fashion-model who has discovered his identity and is blackmailing him. These human-scale threats are a perfect use of the hero in this more realistic milieu – and they are the best stories in this collection (reprinting the first two years of the feature; from January 3rd 1977 to January 28th 1979), which regrettably ends with a (feel free to shudder) protection racket story set in the Disco owned by Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn.
The wonderful art sadly can’t counteract the goofy stories that predominate in this collection, nor has time been gentle with the dialogue, which is so antiquated that it might be dug up on Time Team, but there is nonetheless a certain guilty pleasure to be derived from this volume if you don’t take your comics too seriously….
By Darryl Cunningham & Simon Gane (Slab-O-Concrete)
ISBN: 1-899866-16-7
Here’s another cool cure for the seemingly endless homogeneity of mainstream comic books from the sorely missed Slab-O-Concrete outfit. John Dark is a secret agent who quits his job seconds before being fired. He becomes an enforcer for a gang boss because criminals are less corrupt and evil than any spy or politician and proceeds to cause as much mayhem and carnage as any post-modern thriller fan could ever want.
Brilliantly mordant black humour, solid dialogue and just enough deep-seated respect and admiration for its antecedents to cheer up the jaded fan, this slim book, which also contains “Underworld†a bleak, black tale a gangster’s final vengeance, was released just ahead of the wave of Cool, Retro British gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and to my mind is infinitely superior to them simply because of the stylish and eccentric artwork of Simon Gane.
