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Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups


By Gardner Fox, John Broome & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0470-9

As I’ve mentioned before, I was one of the “Baby Boomer” crowd that grew up with Gardner Fox and John Broome’s tantalisingly slow reintroduction of Golden Age superheroes during the halcyon, eternally summery days of the 1960s. To me those fascinating counterpart crusaders from Earth-Two weren’t vague and distant memories rubber-stamped by parents or older brothers – they were cool, fascinating and enigmatically new. And for some reason the “proper” heroes of Earth-One held them in high regard and treated them with obvious deference…

It all began, naturally enough, in The Flash, flagship title of the Silver Age Revolution. After ushering in the triumphant return of the costumed superhero concept the Scarlet Speedster, with Fox and Broome at the reins, set an unbelievably high standard for superhero adventure in sharp, witty tales of science and imagination, illustrated with captivating style and clean simplicity by Carmine Infantino.

Gardner Fox didn’t write many Flash scripts at this time, but those few he did were all dynamite. None more so than the full-length epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever. ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (the Flash #123 September 1961, illustrated by Infantino and Joe Giella) introduced the theory of alternate Earths to the continuity and by extension resulted in the multiversal structure of the DCU, Crisis on Infinite Earths and all the succeeding cosmos-shaking crossover sagas that grew from it. And of course where DC led, others followed…

During a benefit gig Flash (police scientist Barry Allen) accidentally slips into another dimension where he finds that the comic-book hero he based his own superhero identity upon actually exists. Every adventure he had absorbed as an eager child was grim reality to Jay Garrick and his mystery-men comrades on the controversially named Earth-2. Locating his idol Barry convinces the elder to come out of retirement just as three Golden Age villains, Shade, Thinker and the Fiddler make their own wicked comeback… Thus is history made and above all else, ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ is still a great read that can electrify today’s reader.

Fox revisited Earth-2 nine months later in #129’s ‘Double Danger on Earth!’ (inked by Murphy Anderson) as Jay Garrick ventured to Earth-1 to save his own world from a doom comet, only to fall foul of Captain Cold and the Trickster. Another cracking thriller, as well as double Flash action, this tale teasingly reintroduced Justice Society stalwarts Wonder Woman, Atom, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary. Clearly Editor Schwartz had something in mind…

‘Vengeance of the Immortal Villain!’ from Flash #137 (June 1963, inked by Giella) was the third incredible Earth-2 crossover, and saw the two Flashes unite to defeat 50,000 year old Vandal Savage and save the Justice Society of America: a tale which directly led into the veteran team’s first meeting with the Justice League of America and the start of all those aforementioned “Crisis” epics.

That landmark epic can be found elsewhere (most notably in Crisis on Multiple Earths volume 1, ISBN-13: 978-1-56389-895-2), and this collection continues with the less well-known ‘Invader from the Dark Dimension!’ (Flash #151, March 1964, by Fox, Infantino and Giella), a full-length shocker where the demonic Shade ambitiously attempts to plunder both worlds.

Public approval was decidedly vocal and Editor Julie Schwartz used DC’s try-out magazines to sound out the next step: stories set on Earth-2 with exclusively Golden Age characters.

Showcase #55 saw the initial team-up of Doctor Fate and Hourman as the Justice Society stalwarts battled the monster of Slaughter Swamp when ‘Solomon Grundy Goes on a Rampage!’ Produced by Fox and Anderson, this bombastic yarn even had room for a cameo by Earth-2’s Green Lantern, and the original text page featuring the heroes’ origins is also reproduced here.

Showcase #56 also featured “the Super-Team Supreme” (and by the same creative team supreme) in ‘Perils of the Psycho-Pirate!’ wherein ex-con Roger Hayden (cell-mate of the original JSA villain) steals the magical Masks of Medusa to go on an emotion-controlling crime-spree. Fan-historians should note that this tale is a pivotal antecedent of the landmark Crisis on Infinite Earths (ISBN: 978-1-5638-9750-4) as well as a superbly engaging adventure in its own right. A text feature on the original Psycho-Pirate accompanies the story.

Although getting in late to the Counterpart Collaborations game, the inevitable first teaming of the Hal Jordan and Alan Scott Green Lanterns is one of the best and arguably second-most important story of the entire decade. ‘Secret Origin of the Guardians!’ by John Broome, Gil Kane and Sid Greene (Green Lantern #40, October 1965) introduced the renegade Guardian Krona, revealed the origin of the multiverse, showed how evil entered our universe and described how the immortal Oans took up their self-appointed task of policing the cosmos. It also shows Gil Kane’s paramount ability to stage a superhero fight like no other. This pure comicbook perfection should be considered a prologue to the aforementioned Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Still looking for an Earth-2 concept that would support its own series Schwartz, Fox and Anderson debuted the team of Starman and Black Canary in The Brave and the Bold #61 (September-October 1965), pairing the heroes against the eerily translucent villain the Mist in ‘Mastermind of Menaces!’ This compelling thriller is augmented here by the text feature biography of the Black Canary.

Although not featured in this volume, Schwartz and Fox did finally achieve their ambition to launch a Golden Age hero into his own title. After three Showcase appearances and many guest-shots the Spectre won his own book at the end of 1967, just as the super-hero craze went into a steep decline.

This fabulous volume concludes with a back-up tale from issue #7 (November/December 1968) of that brilliant but ill-fated series. ‘The Hour Hourman Died!’ by Fox, Dick Dillin and Sid Greene, is a dark and clever attempted-murder mystery that packs a book’s worth of tension and action into its nine moody pages and serves as a solid thematic reminder that the golden Silver Age of the 1960s was a creative high point that simply couldn’t last. When you start at the top the only way is down…

Still irresistible and compellingly beautiful after all these years, the stories collected here shaped the American comics industry for decades and are still influencing not only today’s funny-books but also the brilliant animated TV shows and movies that grew from them. These are tales and this is a book you simply must have.

© 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 2005 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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Totally Captivated volume 6


By Hajin Yoo (NetComics)
ISBN: 978-1-60009-298-5

Ewon is an orphan who has always made his own way – although not without some big mistakes. Now a flighty college student, his biggest error was probably getting involved with Jiho, who, enraged by Ewon’s casual infidelity, sold him to a local Mafia boss to pay off a debt. What nobody expected was that the devilishly handsome and eccentrically deadly gang-boss Mookyul would fall in love with the slave/errand boy/gofer.

After some particularly convoluted love-triangle confusion Ewon and Mookyul have declared their love for each other and plan to flee the oppressive and ultimately fatal life of a crime family. But Mookyul’s obligations are seemingly inescapable and when his sadistic and ambitious junior Nahmyung Kim makes his move to replace the distracted mobster it leads to a lot of grief and bloodshed…

Can the lovers ever be happily together or will the call of duty and power of the Mob tear them apart?

The oddly compelling gangster love story concludes in fine style as the lovers brave death and dishonour to find a way to stay together…

I’m not the target market for Shujo (girl’s stories) romances nor Shônen-Ai (explicit boys in love) tales – even ones with lots of fighting – and I never quite believed the conceit here that all these young, really androgynous, non-threatening guys were ruthless Mafia leg-breakers and button men, but there is something quite compelling and comfortably Shakespearean about the rivalry and interplay between the junior bosses, the paternal yet terrifying roles of the ruthless over-bosses, the unswerving loyalty of the subordinate thugs and the honest, overwhelming love the protagonists have for each other.

Passionate, engaging, poignant and even funny this is a Manhwa (Korean Comic) yarn open-minded readers might find to be surprisingly to their taste.
© 2009 Hajin Yoo. All Rights Reserved. English text © 2009 NetComics.

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Wolverine Battles the Incredible Hulk


By Len Wein, Herb Trimpe, Jack Abel & various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN: 0-87135-612-0

A little while ago I reviewed Marvel Platinum: the Definitive Wolverine (ISBN: 978-1-84653-409-6), and I rather went off on one about incomplete stories. In a spirit of placatory fairness I feel I should mention this lovely little compilation from 1989 which reproduced the full first adventure of the manic mutant with the unbreakable bones.

It all starts with ‘And the Wind Howls… Wendigo!’ (from Incredible Hulk #180, October 1974) wherein the Jade Giant bounces across the Canadian Border to encounter a witch attempting to cure her lover of a bestial curse which has transformed him into a rampaging cannibalistic monster. Unfortunately that cure meant the Hulk had to become the Wendigo in his stead…

It was while the big Green and Giant White monsters were fighting that Wolverine first appeared – in the very last panel – and that’s what leads into the savage fist, fang and claw fest that follows. ‘And Now… the Wolverine!’ (from Incredible Hulk #181 November 1974) by Len Wein, Herb Trimpe & Jack Abel, captivatingly concluded the tragic saga of both Canadian monsters, and there’s even room for the obligatory behind-the-scenes featurette. But that’s not all…

Also included is a rarely seen and wonderfully light-hearted meeting between the off-duty mutant Logan and the fun-loving godling Hercules which originally appeared in Marvel Treasury Edition #26. ‘At the Sign of the Lion’ is by Mary Jo Duffy, Ken Landgraf and a young George Perez, and shows exactly why most pubs and bars reserve the right to refuse admission…

This is a cracking little read, and shows why sometimes a little forethought is better than a big budget…
© 1986, 1989 Marvel Entertainment Group. All Rights Reserved.

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Feng Shui Academy


By Haruka Shouji & Midori Natsu, translated by Jason Tanthum (DrMaster Publications)
ISBN: 978-1-59796-191-2

If you’re one of those people who’s never read a manga tale, or who’s been tempted but discouraged by the terrifying number of volumes these tales can run to here’s a delightful little fantasy fable complete in one book that shows all that’s best about comics from the East.

Comfortably fitting into the Worst Witch/Harry Potter milieu of magical schools it details the exploits of young Enoki Ozunu, the best and most talented student at the Kusanagi School of Magical Architecture. This Tokyo establishment trains students to restore spiritual harmony to buildings using Feng Shui, and to exorcise the demons and ghosts that can infest a dwelling once its “Harmonic Seals” are broken. Narrative balance is more easily achieved by adding a bunch of memorable school friends – and enemies – and a chaotic home-life, courtesy of his foster family.

Beyond all the intriguing and exotic scenarios and mythology is a solid school-days comedy drama, packed with excitement and honest sentiment as orphan Ozunu and his sassy cat-girl familiar Kyara save people’s homes from giant Earth-Spiders, root rats, eel water-spirits and more; and rescue the odd monster from evil people.

Uncomplicated, charming, funny and unashamedly sentimental (I defy the hardest-hearted old git to read the story of the faithful ghost-cat without shedding a tear or two) this older kid’s adventure exemplifies all that’s best in Manga and is a darn good read to boot.
© 2006 Haruka Shouji. © 2006 Midori Natsu. English translation © 2008 DrMaster Publications Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Escape From “Special”


By Miss Lasko-Gross (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-804-6

When I recently reviewed A Mess of Everything (ISBN: 978-1-56097-956-1), the second part of Miss Lasko-Gross’ bewitching graphic autobiographical trilogy, I heartily bemoaned missing the first volume. Thanks to the wonderful people at Turnaround Distribution (that’s their graphic novels homepage under the publishers section to your right) and especially the hyper-efficient Jessica, no sooner had that earnest question appeared than a review copy was winging my way.

It was even better than I could have hoped.

Little Melissa is a very difficult child: smart and constantly questioning her unconventional parents (easy-going hippie-types) and the guards and inmates at her elementary school (both intransigent teachers and status-obsessed kids). Even at six years old she is a fiercely independent thinker – the kind of kid modern parents usually dope with Ritalin.

She flounders in all the arenas of childhood, subsequently being moved from school to school. She has a child-therapist and like many smart creative kids has problems with reading. Painfully self-aware but ultimately adamantine, Melissa has to endure the social horrors of Special Education.

But please don’t think this is a book about the crushing of a spirit. Whether on a tour-bus with her so-very-hip ‘n’ cool folks, fumbling with classmates or fighting off nightmares, this is a series of skits and sketches that affirm Melissa’s vibrant character; one which can adapt but will never buckle. Illustrated in a powerful primitivist – almost naïve-ist – art style and symbology, the little girl endures and overcomes in tales that are charming, sad, funny, reassuring and just plain strange.

Miss (that’s her name now – she changed it ) Lasko-Gross has been producing graphic narrative for most of her life, editing the Pratt Institute’s Static Fish comicbook, working in Mauled, House of Twelve 2.0, Legal Action Comics, Aim and others whilst generally living the kind of life that finds its way onto the pages of fabulous books like this one.

I have to plead a special interest at this stage. I’ve been producing my own autobiographical strips for years now; in assorted small press and self-produced publications as well as various annuals produced by the Comics Creators Guild, so I’m a dedicated proponent of the form, but the powerfully direct stories in Escape from “Special” are of such a high calibre that they’re far beyond some new genre and demand to be seen by a greater audience that don’t even care if their reading matter has pictures or not. These tales are in the same category as American Splendor, Maus and Persepolis.

Now unless you’re blessed with the unique blend of whiney charisma that I possess and shamelessly exploit, you’ll have to obtain your copy the old fashioned way – and you really should. These are words and pictures that you’ll revel in for years to come.
© 2006 Miss Lasko-Gross. All Rights Reserved.

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Mighty Love


By Howard Chaykin, with Don Cameron, Kurt Hathaway & Dave Stewart (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-930-2

Don’t let the outfits fool you: it’s not just another kinky love story…

Oddly released under the DC rather than Vertigo imprint, this is a story about crime in the big city and of the compromises individuals must make to achieve their purposes.

Delaney Pope is a rough, tough cop on a corrupt force who is fed up with seeing the scum she arrests get away with murder – or worse. Lincoln Reinhardt is a slick, liberal defense lawyer constantly thwarting the frames and set-ups of those cops. He often clashes with Pope in the course of his job. They both loathe each other with a passion.

Unbeknownst to either they both assuage their work-day frustrations by putting on masks and costumes to beat the crap out of criminals (with or without badges) in the commission of their crimes – where there are no doubts about guilt, innocence or mitigations.

The thrill of these nocturnal forays inevitably lead to a meeting of “Skylark” and “Iron Angel”, and a tenuous, teasing team-up when separate cases bring them together against the city’s first criminal mastermind. Not knowing each other’s real identity, but afraid to unmask and lose that so-tantalising tension, the pair have to decide what’s most important, the actual or the promised…

This delightfully fizzy adult romp prods all the fetishistic trappings of superhero storytelling as the brassy and whimsical writer/artist (with computer effects by Cameron, lettering from Hathaway and colours by Stewart) blends riffs from The Shop Around the Corner, The Thin Man, Pat and Mike and even Adam’s Rib with a plethora of crime caper movies to produce a costume drama in the unmistakable Chaykin manner.

Clearly the pilot for an unrealized longer series, Mighty Love is a fast and stylish little oddity that reads well and looks great – so if all you want is a good time; Baby, look no further…
© 2003 Howard Chaykin, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Silverheels


By Bruce Jones, Scott Hampton & April Campbell (Eclipse Books)
ISBN: 0-913035-27-0 (Limited Edition: hardback, signed with a tipped-in b&w plate)

ISBN: 0-913035-26-2 (hardback)

ISBN: 0-913035-22-X (trade paperback)

If you’re ever in the mood for some grand old-fashioned space-opera, magnificently illustrated and thrilling as all get-out, then you can’t go far wrong with this lost gem (still readily available through various online retailers and, for all I know, your local comic shop).

Starting life as a limited series from the groundbreaking but woefully unprofessional Pacific Comics (always superb product, but lamentably underfinanced, poorly scheduled and badly distributed) in December 1983, the completed tale finally found its way, like so many others, to fellow West Coast outfit Eclipse, where it joined the ranks of their superb Graphic Novel line alongside such classics as the Rocketeer, Sabre and I am Coyote.

The story from Bruce Jones and April Campbell tells of Silverheels, a troubled young “‘Pachee” warrior with hidden psychic powers. On a future Earth where Aryan Supremacists the Nazites have won a global war and installed themselves as a triumphant master-race, all sub-races are treated like cattle – or game. The Nazites even took their xenophobic madness into space, but their dreams of purity and conquest were crushed by an alliance of space-faring races.

Always an outsider, Silverheels escapes the reservation where the impure races have been left to die and breaks into the Nazite fortress just as inspectors from the Intergalactic Council arrive to assess whether the defeated Aryans are reformed and repentant enough to be allowed back into space.

Of course they aren’t, but as the young Apache, acting on the instinctive promptings of his psi-potent subconscious, bluffs his way onto an extraterrestrial training mission to select worthy Earthmen, he is indifferent to the hatred of the duplicitous Nazites. Although they all want him silenced before he can expose their secrets, the young mongrel only has eyes for Miranda, the beautiful, racially perfect daughter of the Nazite leader. Such a pity that she’s promised to the brutal übermensch Kraus…

Produced in the gloriously humanistic Faux-EC Comics style beloved by so many of Jones’ generation, this tale of love, pride and the unconquerable human spirit isn’t as clear-cut as it may sound and there are plenty of surprises to augment the spectacular action and gritty drama as Silverheels triumphs over every lethal obstacle before the shocking ending arrives.

As always the lush painted art of Scott Hampton is utterly entrancing, and great story-telling is timeless so this book is one you’ll delight in over and over again.
Story © 1987 Bruce Jones Associates. Art 1987 © Scott Hampton. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: Shadows Linger


By Kurt Busiek, Peter Vale, Jesús Merino, Renato Guedes, Jorgé Correa Jr & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-146-5

Following directly on from Superman: the Third Kryptonian (ISBN: 978-1-84856-005-5) the tales in this package originally appeared as issue #671-675 of the monthly Superman comicbook, divided into two yarns thematically harking back to the gloriously innocent Silver Age Superboy stories as drawn by George Papp.

First up is a thoroughly tumultuous modern interpretation of Lana Lang’s finest, daftest schoolgirl moments. ‘Insect Queen’ is a cracking invasion thriller in three parts (illustrated by Peter Vale, Wellington Dias and Jesús Merino) wherein the adult Lana has assumed control of Lex Luthor’s old company, only to be abducted to a hidden moonbase and made the DNA template for an alien arthropod hive-brain’s new body.

The deadly insect queen has even made Superman her slave…

This delightfully gratifying “Saves-the-World” romp rattles along with sharp dialogue and lots of movie in-jokes; a superb palate cleanser before ‘Shadows Linger’ re-retools the story of “Superboy’s older brother” Mon-El for the post-Smallville/Superman Returns generation.

An alien from the Krypton-like world of Daxam, Mon-El is, like all his species, hyper-sensitive to common lead. Once exposed, a Daxamite will inevitably die. When this happened to the solitary star voyager, Superman was compelled to banish his new-found friend to the nebulous Phantom Zone to preserve his life.

Just as Mon-El reveals the horrific fundamentalist regime he fled from, three Daxamite Priest-Elders of the Protonic Flame appear on Earth demanding Mon-El’s surrender… or else. To further complicate matters a super-villain with the ability to duplicate and magnify an opponent’s powers is loose, wanting what they all want (world domination and busty super-heroines as willing handmaidens)…

A crazed ego-maniac and three intractable zealots with all his powers were bad enough for the Man of Tomorrow, but then some fool had to unleash the planet-consuming Galactic Golem…

Fun-filled and action-packed, this a well-told traditional tale beautifully realized by Renato Guedes & José Wilson Magalháes (with Jorgé Correa Jr. pitching in at the end), another swift, punchy antidote to those interminable multi-part cosmic sagas. There’s life yet in the World’s Most Senior Superhero…

© 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Luba


By Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-960-9

In the 1980s a qualitative revolution forever destroyed the clichéd, stereotypical ways different genres of comic strips were regarded. Most prominent in destroying these comfy pigeonholes we’d built for ourselves were three guys from Oxnard, California; Jaime, Mario (occasionally) and Gilberto Hernandez.

Love and Rockets was an anthology comics magazine that featured the slick, intriguing, sci-fi-ish larks of punky young things Maggie and Hopey – las Locas – and the heart-warming, terrifying, gut-wrenching soap-opera fantasy of Palomar. These gifted synthesists captivated us all with incredible stories that sampled a thousand influences conceptual and actual – everything from Archie Comics and alternative music to German Expressionism and masked wrestlers. The result was pictorial and narrative dynamite.

Palomar was the playground of Gilberto, created for the extended serial Heartbreak Soup: a poor Latin-American village with a vibrant, funny and fantastically quotidian cast. Everything from life death, adultery, magic, serial killing and especially gossip could happen in the meta-fictional environs of Palomar, and did, as the artist explored his own post-punk influences, comics, music, drugs, comics, strong women, gangs, sex, family and comics, in a style that seemed informed by everything from the Magical Realism of writers like Carlos Fuentes and Gabriel García Márquez to Saturday morning cartoons and the Lucy Show.

Beto, as he signs himself, returned to the well of Palomar constantly, usually with tales centred around the formidable matriarch – or perhaps Earth Mother figure – Luba, who ran the village’s bath house, acted as Mayor – and sometimes police chief – as well as adding regularly and copiously to the general population. Her children, brought up with no acknowledged fathers in sight, are Maricela, Guadalupe, Doralis, Casimira, Socorro, Joselito and Concepcion. A passionate, fiery woman who speaks her mind and generally gets her own way, she keeps a small claw-hammer with her at all times.

Luba is a character who defies easy description and I don’t actually want to: As one of the most complex women in literature, let alone comics, she’s somebody you want to experience, not learn of second-hand. You will probably notice that she has absolutely enormous breasts. Deal with it. These stories are casually, graphically, sexually explicit. Luba’s story is about Life, and sex happens, constantly and often with the wrong people at the wrong time. If harsh language and cartoon nudity (male and female) are an insurmountable problem for you don’t read these tales. It is genuinely your loss.

After a run of spectacular stories (all of which have been collected in a variety of formats and editions which I really must get around to reviewing) like An American in Palomar, Human Diastrophism and Poison River, the magazine ended and Luba and her extended family then graduated to a succession of mini-series which concentrated on her moving to the USA and reuniting with her half-sisters Rosalba (“Fritz”) and Petra, taken when her mother Maria fled from Palomar decades previously.

Which brings us to this delightfully massive and priceless tome: Luba collects in one monumental volume her later life as an proud immigrant who refuses to learn English (or does she?), over 80 stories covering 596 black and white pages ranging from lengthy sagas to sparkling single page skits which originally appeared in Luba, Luba’s Comics and Stories, Luba in America, Luba: the Book of Ofelia and Luba: Three Daughters. The tone and content ranges from surreal to sad to funny to thrilling. The entire world can be found in these pages.

Although in an ideal world you would read the older material first, there’s absolutely no need to. Reminiscence and memory are as much a part of this brilliant passion-play as family feeling, music, infidelity, survival, punk rock philosophy, and laughter – lots and lots of laughter. Brilliantly illustrated, these are human tales as coarse and earthy any as any of Chaucer’s Pilgrims could tell, as varied and appetising as any of Boccaccio’s Decameron and as universally human as the best of that bloke Shakespeare.

I’m probably more obtuse – just plain dense or blinkered – than most, but for years I thought this stuff was about the power of Family Ties, but it’s not: at least not fundamentally. Luba is about love. Not the sappy one-sided happy-ever after stuff in chick-flicks, but LOVE, that mighty, hungry beast that makes you always protect the child that betrays you, that has you look for a better partner whilst you’re in the arms of your one true love, and hate the place you wanted to live in all your life. The love of cars and hair-cuts and biscuits and paper-cuts and stray cats that bite you: selfish, self-sacrificing, dutiful, urgent, patient, uncomprehending, a feeling beyond words.

Just like the love of a great comic…

© 2009 Gilbert Hernandez. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Platinum: the Definitive Wolverine – UK Edition


By various (Marvel/Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN:  978-1-84653-409-6

Perhaps it’s my advanced age or possibly my surly, intractable nature, but I’m finding fault in a lot of places where minor annoyance too easily becomes major grievance. A perfect example is this large and lavish compendium of adventures culled from the publishing history of major motion picture star and everybody’s favourite man-on-the-edge Wolverine.

Debuting as an antagonist for the Incredible Hulk as a tantalising glimpse at the end of issue #180 (Oct 1974) before having a full-length scrap with the Jade Giant in #181, the semi-feral Canadian mutant with the fearsome claws and killer attitude rode – or perhaps caused – the meteoric rise of the All–New, All Different X-Men before gaining his own series and super-star status; a tragic, brutal, misunderstood hero cloaked in mysteries and contradictions.

And as a primer or introductory collection for readers unfamiliar with the diminutive mutant this book has a lot to recommend it. I’m also keenly aware of the need for newcomers to have his centuries-long life presented in some form of chronological order: but as so much of that convoluted chronicle has been collected elsewhere in full, wouldn’t a bibliography page of other available collections and trade paperbacks be less confusing than the extracted snippets from longer sagas that make up so much of this book?

For each chapter from a longer saga printed here, another lesser known piece had to be ignored. For example there’s nothing of the fascinatingly insightful little vignettes that Christopher Claremont and John Bolton produced for the back-up slot in Classic X-Men, no solo one-shots or Annual stories and only one-eight page instalment from the character’s well-nigh one hundred appearances as the lead in the fortnightly anthology Marvel Comics Presents – yet the first Wolverine mini-series, already collected numerous times (and as recently as a Premiere Hardback in 2007) appears in it’s entirety. I realise the title is “Marvel Platinum”, but what a wasted opportunity…

However, I cannot deny that what does appear is of great quality, beginning with the second part of his long-awaited secret origin. Taken from the landmark 2001/2002 miniseries (available as Origin: the True Story of Wolverine, ISBN 978-1-904159-07-0) by Paul Jenkins and Andy Kubert & Robert Isanove, it depicts the tragic and horrific events that led to sickly boy James Howlett first “popping his claws” on a 19th century Canadian estate. Good dialogue, entrancing pictures but very little sense can be gleaned from this extract, so we should be grateful at least that the untitled chapter of the Weapon X Saga – part 8 of 13 (written and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith) is so short and pretty to look upon, because it’s utterly bewildering seen out of context – and I’ve just read the latest complete compilation of the tale (Wolverine: Weapon X, ISBN: 978-0-7851-3726-9) when it was re-released in March 2009.

At least ‘And Now… the Wolverine!’ from Incredible Hulk #181 (November 1974) by Len Wein, Herb Trimpe & Jack Abel is a complete tale wherein Canada’s top-secret super-agent is unleashed upon both the Emerald Goliath and the man-eating Wendigo in an 18 page romp stuffed with triumph, tragedy and lots of slashing and hitting. It’s followed by ‘Home Are the Heroes’ (Uncanny X-Men #109, February 1978); a superb one-off tale from Claremont, John Byrne & Terry Austin, who were fast approaching their collaborative peak.

Returning home from saving the entire universe for the first time the X-Men are attacked by Weapon Alpha (James Hudson, latterly Vindicator of Alpha Flight) determined to reclaim Canada’s “property”; i.e. Agent Logan A.K.A. Wolverine. Amidst the frantic action the first intriguing hints of the story behind the team’s “resident psycho” were tantalisingly presented, but never at the expense of clarity and entertainment.

Following that is the aforementioned four part miniseries from September – December 1982, by Claremont, Frank Miller & Joe Rubinstein. Undoubtedly one of the best Wolverine tales ever created, it reveals the mutant adventurer’s savage clash with both Japanese royalty and their criminal underworld (apparently almost the same thing) to secure the love of the tragic princess Lady Mariko. This leads into the one-shot Spider-Man versus Wolverine (February 1987) wherein the Web-Spinner’s arch foe Hobgoblin meets his fate, almost as collateral damage, in an extended clash with Soviet spies and treacherous friends which brings the globe-trotting X-Man and the Wall-Crawler to Cold War Berlin. ‘High Tide’ is by James C. Owsley, Mark Bright and Al Williamson.

The next two tales are again chapters from an extended story-line: namely the all-out war between the X-Men and Magneto termed Fatal Attractions (ISBN: 978-0-7851-0065-2), but at least there’s enough expository dialogue to inform readers of what’s going on. Beginning with ‘Dreams Fade’ (X-Men #25, October 1993, by Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert & Matt Ryan) and continuing in ‘Nightmares Persist’ (Wolverine #75, November 1993, by Larry Hama, Adam Kubert, Mark Farmer, Dan Green & Mark Pennington) Charles Xavier’s prodigies clash with the master of Magnetism terrorist Acolytes, resulting in the traumatic removal and unexpected after-effects of the super-metal Adamantium which had for so long augmented Logan’s skeleton.

The story part of the book ends (although there’s still a superbly informative text feature from comics savant Mike Conroy and an extended 10-page data file at the back) with the beautiful and utterly bewildering contents of Wolverine #145 (December 1999), by Erik Larsen, Leinil Francis Yu & Dexter Vines. Again drawn from an extended storyline this impenetrable mish-mash has our hero lost in time, replaced by a Skrull who became the Wolverine of many of our favourite past classics, whilst the other, real, hero became one of the Four Horseman of mutant Darwinist Apocalypse.

I think…

There’s lots of chaotic, brutal action; savage duels with the Hulk and Sabretooth before the entire thing ends on a cliffhanger. It isn’t even the last part!

One of the most frustrating and poorly conceived books I’ve ever reviewed, the true gems in here – which every comics fan should read – are practically cancelled out by impressive yet infuriatingly incomplete fragments that are no more than a catalogue of other books you should buy. Caveat Emptor, fans, because this is not Marvel’s finest moment.

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