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Outrageous Tales from the Old Testament

Outrageous Tales from the Old Testament

By various (Knockabout)
ISBN: 0-86166-054-4

This cracking all-star oddment is actually still in print, unlike so many of the graphic novels and collections I recommend, but if you’re a devout Christian you be best advised to just jump to the next review. Originally released in 1987, it features a varied band of British creators adapting – with tongues firmly in cheeks – a selection of Biblical episodes, and the results are earnest, bitter and darkly funny.

‘Creation’ is the preserve of Arthur Ranson, whilst Donald Rooum explores Eden in ‘Gandalf’s Garden’ and Dave Gibbons puts a decidedly modernistic top-spin to the saga of ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’. Alan Moore and Hunt Emerson examine ‘Leviticus’ (that would be the one with all those Commandments) whilst Neil Gaiman tackles ‘The Book of Judges’ accompanied by Mike Matthews (both the introduction and ‘The Tribe of Benjamin’), Julie Hollings (‘Jael and Sisera’), Peter Rigg (‘Jephthah and His Daughter’), Graham Higgins (‘Samson’) and Steve Gibson (‘Journey to Bethlehem’) and even finds time to produce ‘The Prophet Who Came to Dinner’ (From the Book of Kings) with long-time collaborator Dave McKean.

Closing the volume are Kim Deitch with ‘The Story of Job’, ‘Daddy Dear’ (from Ecclesiastes) by Carol Bennett and Julie Hollings and the incredibly graphic ‘A Miracle of Elisha’ (also from the Book of Kings) by the magnificent Brian Bolland.

Powerful and memorable, these interpretations won’t win any praise from Christian Fundamentalists but they are fierce, subtle and scholarly examinations of the Old Testament from passionate creators with something to say and an unholy desire to instruct. As free thinking adults you owe it to yourself to read these stories, but only in the spirit in which they were made.

© 1987 Knockabout Publications and the Artists and Writers. All Rights Reserved.

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The Embalmer, Vol 1

The Embalmer, Vol 1

By Mitsukazu Mihara (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 1-59816-646-8

In Japan the sociology of death is different. Preservation and beautification of corpses is considered unclean and tasteless. Shinjyurou Mamiya is a dark enigmatic young man with a dangerous calling. He is an embalmer, convinced that he can assuage the pain of loss by his loving care of the dead. One corpse at a time he brings peace and fulfilment to the bereaved in a hostile society that does not understand him.

This truly modern gothic character has friends and a fully realised ‘normal’ life, but also a dedication to his craft that is absolutely enthralling. As with all very the best manga tales ‘The Embalmer’ captures the subtle differences in cultures with powerful effect. Superbly illustrated, these episodes of a unique character in a unique situation are powerful, moving and addictive.

By making the stories all about the transitional characters, Mitsukazu Mihara has created a truly memorable Protagonist and a story with appeal far beyond the usual fan-base. This series is one of the very best of its kind and one I can happily recommend even to people who don’t like the Japanese style of comic strip. Try it, it’s worth it.

This book is printed in the ‘read-from-back-to-front’ manga format.

© 2003 Mitsukazu Mihara. English script © 2006 TokyoPop Inc.

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Empire

Empire

By Samuel R .Delaney, illustrated by Howard Chaykin (Berkley/Putnam)
SBN: 399-12245-1

There was a time when Howard Chaykin was about more than lewdness, and potty-mouthed confrontation (not that I’m opposed in any way to those highly entertaining facets of his work): Once he was the darling of the swashbuckling science fiction crowd, both in comics like Monark Starstalker (Marvel) or his own Cody Starbuck, and in the superb paperback covers he produced. In 1976, before he began adapting Star Wars for Marvel, he started a project for Byron Priess Visual Publications with acclaimed author Samuel R .Delaney. It took nearly three years but when it was released Empire was an instant classic and a genuine contender for the title “First Graphic Novel”.

Vast, lush and expansive, this is the story of Wyrn, a young archaeologist who becomes embroiled in a race to recover the separated segments of an artefact that will bring down the dictatorship of the Information-Barons of the Kūndūke. Seduced as much by the charismatic rebel leader Qrelon as by the thirst for adventure and knowledge, the search takes him across the universe and into the heart of corruption in a non-stop thrill-ride of fantastic, exotic adventure.

Perhaps a little simplistic by modern standards, this high-speed, high-concept romp is magnificently illustrated in an engagingly painterly manner whilst Delaney’s poetic style creates a seductive blend of action and political thriller richly steeped in technological philosophy. Whilst the elements of young rebels and sprawling evil dictatorships has now become common currency, the sheer style of this book keeps it a high point of the genre and a worthwhile read for any fan.

© 1978 Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Eagle Book of Cutaways

The Eagle Book of Cutaways

By L Ashwell Wood, edited by Denis Gifford (Webb & Bower)
ISBN: 0-86350-285-7

It seems inconceivable today, but one of the most popular features in the most popular comic of the 1950’s wasn’t a comic strip at all. When Eagle launched on April 14th 1950, it was a black and white, tabloid-sized periodical, combining strip and prose on good paper with a fuller-than-full-colour front, back and inner cover. The same high quality photo-gravure was used on the centre sheet; four more glorious colour pages for drab, grey, austere post-war Britain.

Across the very centre of those was a painted spread depicting ‘The New Gas Turbine-Electric Locomotive – The 18000’. That was a magnificent train with the engine and operating system exposed, pertinent points numbered and an explanatory block of text explaining all the details. Boys (and, I’m sure, girls) and their dads were transfixed and continued so for the next nine hundred and ninety issues. Each week a new technological marvel of the Space Age and an emergent Modern World would be painted in mind-boggling detail and breezy efficient clarity to captivate and fascinate the readers.

Most of them were crafted by the marvellous L Ashwell Wood (of whom precious little is known; for what there is you should go to Steve Holland’s wonderful and informative Bear Alley website) and although not a new concept, they have become part of the shared psyche of British comic fandom. Ever since then, the fascinating allure of cutaway drawings has bewitched readers, from TV21 to 2000AD and every comic in between.

This grand book reproduces 46 of the very best, from that aforementioned wonder of the rails through other trains and boats and planes and even to that Marvel of a future Age, Dan Dare’s rocket-ship Anastasia (originally revealed on February 7th 1958). This book commands some pretty terrifying prices – and even though I’m prepared to say that it’s worth it, the best solution would be for some enterprising history or popular culture publisher to get the thing back into print immediately – if not sooner.

Illustrations © 1988 Fleetway Publications/Syndication International. All Rights Reserved.

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Amateurs at Arms

Amateurs at Arms

By George Wunder (Stackpole Books)
ISBN: 0-8117-0096-8

George Wunder (1912-1987) is another unsung hero of the comics industry. He began as a gag cartoonist, assisted Noel Sickles on Scorchy Smith (who shared a studio with Milton Caniff), reputedly worked in Military Intelligence during World War II and then took over Terry and the Pirates when Caniff left to create Steve Canyon. He wrote and drew the adventures of Terry until the strip ended (1946-1973). He was also a brilliant painter and he loved military history.

This book, relating events of the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1883, is a beautiful – if perhaps a tad jingoistic – series of folksy and engaging vignettes, forty-two in all, accompanied by an equal number of absolutely glorious narrative paintings, combining historical accuracy with superbly observed humanism and a huge helping of broad humour. The War was full of everyday heroes that the Movies have left behind, and this volume brings some of them to vibrant life with magical effect both in words and pictures.

Although not strictly comics, I’ve used this book to highlight this wonderful creator (many ‘ghosts’ and follow-up artists suffer unjustly in that their efforts are seldom reprinted). With his charming grasp of history and his lush art (very reminiscent of our own Ron Embleton) George Wunder made history as gripping as any strip. This is a wonderful book any art-loving fan-boy would be proud to own.

© 1975 George Wunder. All Rights Reserved.

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The Situation is Hopeless

The Situation is Hopeless

By Ronald Searle (Penguin Books)
ISBN: 0-1400-6312-9

Sometimes there is simply no need for complex story-telling. Just occasionally the graphic narrative only needs a title and the talents of an artistic phenomenon to convey not just a story, not only shades of depth and texture but also, most magically, the pure emotion of a situation made real with line and colour.

Ronald Searle, expatriate caricaturist and commentator, has been making pictorial wonders for decades. His surreal and abstract grotesques have been charming generations whilst he either makes telling points or just makes us want to laugh until we burst.

This slim collection of full colour animal drawings, criminally out-of-print (but mercifully readily available and inexpensive from a number of internet-based retailers) is one of his dark, sardonic and manic best.

Featuring such visual delights as ‘Imbecile rodent confident that it has a foolproof claim against the Disney Organization’, ‘Loquacious parrot convinced that it is teaching man a basic vocabulary’, ‘Aggressive chicken applying Kung Fu to a Peking Duck’ and ‘Baby seal under the impression that clubs are centres of social activity’ these thirty-two masterpieces of edgy madcappery could make a brick laugh out loud.

© 1980 Ronald Searle. All Rights Reserved.

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Night and the Enemy

limited edition hardcover

Night and the Enemy

By Harlan Ellison & Ken Steacy (Comico)
ISBN: 0-936211-07-5

Harlan Ellison’s dark and chilling space war tales are always eminently readable. This volume sees five of the best – all taken from the long-running sequence of novellas and short-stories detailing Mankind’s last-ditch struggle against star-spanning conquerors – adapted in a variety of visual formats by air-brush wizard Ken Steacy, together with a new prose framing-sequence from the author.

The battle against the Kyben lasted ten generations and involved all manner of technologies including time travel. Probably the most famous of these is the award-winning Demon with a Glass Hand, adapted as both an episode of The Outer Limits (1964) and as a DC Graphic Novel (ISBN13: 978-0-9302-8909-6), but that’s a book for another time.

Here we have some of the earliest tales in that epic conflict, beginning with the apocalyptic ‘Run for the Stars’, a traditional panels and balloons strip, followed by ‘Life Hutch’, a grim survival tale combining blocks of text with large images in both lavish colour and stark monochrome.

‘The Untouchable Adolescents’ is a bright and breezy art job disguising a tragic and powerful parable of good intentions gone awry, whilst the sardonic two-pager ‘Trojan Hearse’ rates just one powerful, lonely illustration. ‘Sleeping Dogs’ is a moody epic that fitting concludes the adaptations but fans will be delighted to find this volume carries an original entry in the annals of the Earth-Kyba conflict with the prose and picture ‘The Few… The Proud’: Ellison’s first new story for the series in fifteen years.

This spectacular book is an innovative and compelling treat for both old-time fans of the writer and comic readers in general.

Run for the Stars, Life Hutch, The Untouchable Adolescents, Trojan Hearse, Sleeping Dogs and all additional text © 1987 The Kilimanjaro Corporation.
Art and cover © 1987 Ken Steacy. All Rights Reserved.

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Popeye: The First Fifty Years

Popeye: The First Fifty Years

By Bud Sagendorf (Virgin Books)
ISBN: 0-907080-16-2

There are few comic characters that have entered world consciousness, but a grizzled, bluff, uneducated, visually impaired old sailor with a speech-impediment is possibly the most well known of that select bunch. Elzie Segar had been producing Thimble Theatre since December 19th, 1919, but when he introduced a coarse, brusque “Sailor man” into the saga of Ham Gravy and Castor Oyl on January 29th, 1929 nobody suspected the heights that walk-on would reach.

Rather than explore the genius of Segar here, let’s concentrate on a general overview of Popeye in this anniversary book from 1981. Compiled and written by his assistant Bud Sagendorf (who took over the strip, the comic book and the merchandise design in 1958) it is a glorious primer into the huge, rich history and vast cast of the strip, with lavishly illustrated features on everything Popeye from Spinach to Collectibles, Notable Quotes to Maps and diagrams of the wild world the Sailor roams.

After Segar’s tragic death in 1938, Doc Winner, Tom Sims, Ralph Stein and Bela Zambouly all worked on the strip as the animated features brought Popeye to the World. When Sagendorf took over in 1958 his loose, rangy style and breezy scripts brought the strip itself back to the forefront of popularity and made reading it cool again. He wrote and drew Popeye until Bobby London took over in 1994.

This book is a gem for fans and casual readers alike. I’m hoping that with the 80th Anniversary so close now that King Features are planning something as good if not better for that landmark event.

©1981 King Features Syndicate, Inc. and Virgin Books, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Goodnight Opus

Goodnight Opus

By Berkeley Breathed (Little, Brown & Co.)
ISBN: 0-316-10881-2

After a desperately brief and glittering career as a syndicated strip cartoonist and socio-political commentator (so often the very same function) Berkeley Breathed retired Bloom County and Outland and became a writer and illustrator of children’s books. He lost none of his perception or imagination, and actually got better as a narrative artist. He didn’t completely abandon his entrancing cast of characters.

This is a story about the magic of storytelling and features that universal innocent Opus the Penguin. One night, as she has done two hundred and nine times before, Granny starts to read that svelte waterfowl his favourite bedtime book but this night is different. Tonight, Opus’ mind wanders and he “departs the text”…

And so begins a riotous flight of Technicolor fantasy as sedate monochromatic images give way to a powerful, vibrant and surreal romp all the way to the Milky Way and back, by way of animated monuments, the burned out Fairy of Sleep, and stopovers at some of the most exotic corners of the planet.

Less a story than an exuberant travelogue of Imagination, delivered in sharp and lyrical rhyme, this is a book to trigger dreams and promote creativity. A perfect primer to explain how to wonder and wander… So every kid, at any age should own it.

© 1994 Berkeley Breathed. All Rights Reserved.

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Firkin Collection

Firkin Collection

By Hunt Emerson & Tym Manley (Knockabout)
ISBN: 0-861661443

Once again the adult magazine industry has provided a comic strip classic, and this time it’s in the scraggy form of a black and white cat. Running for more than twenty years in the top-selling Fiesta, Firkin (more correctly “that Firkin Cat…”) has observed and commentated, advised and mocked the frankly insane mating habits of Homo (not so very) Sapiens.

In two page instalments the wise and ignoble Moggy has lectured the horny and lovelorn, touching upon every aspect of sexuality in an unbroken string of hilarious, grotesque, bawdy and baroque strips from the fevered minds of writer Tym Manley and cartoon Renaissance Man Hunt Emerson.

For the detail-minded, Firkin is the office mouser of adult photographers and has therefore seen it all – although he’s also been a secret agent, superhero and everything else in between, too. Rude, crude, unbelievably vulgar and pant-wettingly funny, these strips are an international hit too, being translated into eight languages. If you’re an open-minded and amusable grown-up these cat’s tales are an addictive treat and hold the secret of the truest love of all…

© 1981-2000, 2007 Hunt Emerson & Tym Manley. All Rights Reserved.