Battle of the Planets, Vol 1: Trial by Fire

Battle of the Planets, Vol 1: Trial by Fire

By Alex Ross, Sharrieff, Tortosa, Law & Dreamer Design (Dark Horse/TitanBooks)
ISBN: 1-84023-607-8

Older fans may remember the cartoon series from the late 1970s and anime aficionados will tell you it should more properly be called ‘Science Ninja Team Gatchaman’ (if they’re not the smug sort that try to impress you with poorly enunciated Japanese) but this nostalgia friendly revival of the genetically modified band of teenaged superheroes is best remembered as ‘G-Force’.

When picked up and translated by broadcasters outside Japan the show was infamously editorially butchered both in premise and storylines for the protection of the presumably delicate sensibilities of western youth, but in recent years a more faithful, re-mastered version was released leading to talk of a new incarnation and the volume featured here.

Briefly then, when Earth is menaced by extraterrestrial raiders determined to plunder our natural resources only the team of bird-patterned young warriors secretly bred by a maverick governmental advisor has any chance of defeating the overwhelming destructive technology of the aliens. Fast-paced and well-written, the creative team of Munier Sharrieff, Wilson Tortosa, Shane Law and Dreamer Design studios – with some impressive assistance from avowed cartoon fan and all-around Recovering Nostalgic Alex Ross have captured the all-action spirit of the series with great enthusiasm, and the animation style artwork is very engaging.

On slight quibble though is that even with lots of supplemental pin-ups, and covers from the original comic-book miniseries from Image, this is still a frustratingly slim volume. Let’s hope later editions will be a bit more substantial.

© 2003 Sandy Frank Film Syndication Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Flash Gordon Volume 3

Flash Gordon Volume 3

By Alex Raymond, with Don Moore (Checker BPG)
ISBN: 1-933160-25-X

This third full-colour, hardback collection of the legendary Sunday comic strip covers the period from October 25th 1937 to June 5th 1938. The continual weekly adventures went from one hairsbreadth escape, fight or chase to another, but for expediency’s sake the publisher has subdivided the non-stop action into four tales: ‘Forest Kingdom of Mongo’, ‘Tusk-Men of Mongo’, ‘Beast-Men of Mongo’ and ‘Outlaws of Mongo’.

Escaping from the evil Ming’s forces after an abortive coup, Flash, Dale and Zarkov crash into the huge jungle of Mongo. Struggling through desperate hardship and overcoming both monsters and the esoteric semi-humans they finally reach Arboria, the Tree kingdom of Prince Barin, Ming’s son-in-law. An honourable man, Barin tries to hide them, but a traitor flees to Ming, seeking advancement in return for the hero’s location. Despite a frantic chase Flash fails to catch the traitor and Ming attacks Arboria.

Flash’s capture ends the assault and Ming thinks he has Flash executed, but once again the villain is fooled. Flash escapes and joins the resistance in the tunnels beneath the city. When Ming floods the tunnels, very few escape but the measures result in massive destruction as the water undermines the foundations of the metropolis…

And so the book ends, but not the adventure. Even stripped down to the bare plot-facts, the drama is captivating. Once you factor in the by-play, the jealousies and intrigues, all rendered with spectacular and lush visualisation by the master of classical realism, you can begin to grasp why this feature captured the world’s imagination and holds it still.

Along with Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) and Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon), Raymond’s work on Flash Gordon is considered to be pivotal to the development of American – if not world – comic art. These works influenced everybody that followed until the emergence of manga and the advancement of computer technology. If you’ve only heard how good this strip is, you owe it to yourself to experience the magic up close and personal.

© 2005 King Features Syndicate Inc. ™ Hearst Holdings, Inc.

Akiko on the Planet Smoo, Vol 1

Akiko on the Planet Smoo, Vol 1

By Mark Crilley (Sirius)
ISBN 1-57989-009-1

This is a glorious story for children and the young-at-heart of all ages. Sweet little girl Akiko once again journeys to the fabulous planet Smoo, where she has all sorts of fantastic adventures with a cast of characters as captivating and memorable as any from Little Nemo or the tales of Oz. Smoo (both the planet and the books) abounds with cool robots, one-legged rogues, princes and professors, and some of the best drawn hideous monsters you could ever hope not to see.

Mark Crilley has crafted an epic romp with a genuine and literal ‘Sense of Wonder’ where the evil villains are not all that bad, and where the dauntless companions aren’t particularly competent, all the while stage-managing enough harmless, mildly gratuitous violence to keep even the most hardened toddler happy.

This earliest Volume 1 (there are a few different editions out there – everything from E-books to paperbacks) follows on from a comic miniseries. When Akiko returns to Smoo for a visit, she lands in a devastated city. An old enemy has attacked and she must now lead a rescue party to recover the kidnapped Prince Froptoppit from the insidious Alia Rellapor. This argosy takes her to many fantastic places where she relives experiences older heads might recognise as homages to favourite literary moments, including being swallowed by a tremendous sea monster, duelling flying pirates and being captured by tiny people on a lost island

Crilley’s loving blend of children’s fantasy icons is a savvy romp that uses thrilling chases and scary monsters to captivate and charm as “ordinary” Akiko proves over and again how special any Earth kid can be.

I’ve deliberately concentrated on this admittedly scarce edition because for some inexplicable reason this earliest collection – when the creation still had a few rough edges to it – just throbs with joy and promise. But even if you can’t find this version, the others are practically identical, just so long as you discover Smoo. Thoroughly enjoyable, this is the kind of strip that parents should read with their kids. Then they’ll be comic fans for life… as long as people of Crilley’s calibre keep coming up with the goods.

© 2007 Mark Crilley. All Rights Reserved.

X-Kai Volume 1

X-Kai Volume 1

By Asami Tohjoh (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59816-373-6

The Japanese have a peculiar skill in blending seeming opposites in their culture and especially in their arts. This series, with the faintest echoes of Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami’s Crying Freeman saga, recounts the adventures of Kaito Yagami, a florist with an unusual side-line. He is a melancholic, contemplative assassin-for-hire who uses his knowledge of botany to kill with vegetable based poisons.

As we follow his contracts from commission to completion we experience his innermost ruminations and recollections. In Japan killers are more often poet than psychopath, it seems, and the author’s ability to create empathy if not sympathy is impressive, whilst the artwork haunts and captivates.

Slow and lilting in delivery, this is a thriller to ponder with rather than rush through. This book is printed in the ‘read-from-back-to-front’ manga format.

© 1998 Asami Tohjoh. All Rights Reserved. English text © 2006 TOKYOPOP Inc.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol 1: Power and Responsibility

Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol 1: Power and Responsibility

By Brian M. Bendis, Bill Jemas, Mark Bagley, Art Thibert & Dan Panosian (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-7851-0786-X

After Marvel’s bankruptcy problems of the mid 1990s the creative fraction of the company came back swinging, and one of the most successful concepts was the brutal remodelling and modernising of their core characters for the Hip and Now ‘Ultimate’ imprint. Eschewing the hide-bound continuity that had originally taken Marvel to the top of the comicbook heap, the company’s major characters were given complete makeovers, a new universe to play in and were carefully re-crafted to appeal to a young, contemporary, 21st century audience.

Peter Parker was once again a nerdy high-school geek, brilliant but bullied by his physical superiors, there was a much more scientifically feasible rationale for the spider bite that gave him super-powers, and his Uncle Ben still died because of his lack of responsibility. The Daily Bugle is still there as is the outrageous J Jonah Jameson. But now in a more cynical, litigious world, well-used to cover-ups and conspiracy theories, arch foe Norman Osborn – a corrupt and ruthless billionaire businessman – is behind everything.

Any pretence to the faux realism of traditional superhero fare is surrendered to a kind of tried-and-tested TV soap-opera melodrama that links all characters together in invisible threads of karmic coincidence, but, to be honest, it actually doesn’t hurt the narrative. As long as internal logic isn’t contravened, it doesn’t have to make sense to be entertaining.

By reworking key moments of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man, the creators have captured the core value of the original and cast in it terms that modern youngsters can readily assimilate. The Ultimate Peter Parker speaks to the new young reader in the same way the 1960s incarnation spoke to my generation.

The storyline is very close to what movie-goers saw in the first Spider-Man movie, which is no coincidence and a big bonus if watching the film turned viewers into comic collectors. The art is frenetic and vivid, Brian Michael Bendis’ dialogue as fresh as anything on television and the pace is non-stop. If you need to recapture or recreate an audience, this is a very positive way to do it.

© 2000, 2001 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Wonder Woman: Over Five Decades of Great Covers

Wonder Woman: Over Five Decades of Great Covers

By Gloria Steinem (Introduction) and various (Abbeville Press Inc. 1995)
ISBN: 0-7892-0012-0

Produced in the same format as the Action and Detective Comics cover collections (a clutch-bag compatible 11.4 x 9.9 x 2.3 cm, 320 pages) this nostalgic book cover fifty years of eye-catching wonderment from a variety of DC titles that featured US comics’ greatest female icon. Obviously that means that an awful lot of covers have been excluded but there’s still a captivating collation of art on view, taken from Wonder Woman (first and second series), The Legend of Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics and All-Star Comics, spanning January 1942 to October 1994.

As well as a lengthy and erudite introduction from life-long fan Gloria Steinem, there are the spectacularly stylish artworks of Harry G. Peter, Ross Andru, Eduardo Barreto, Howard Bender, Brian Bolland, Joe Brozowski, Rich Buckler, Jack Burnley, Nick Cardy, Ernie Chua/Chan, Frank Chiaramonte, Dave Cockrum, Gene Colan, Vince Colletta, Ernie Colón, Paris Cullins, Jose Delbo, Mike Esposito, Ric Estrada, Joe Gallagher, José Luis García-López, Jay Geldhof, Frank Giacoia, Dick Giordano, Mike Grell, Ed Hannigan, Frank Harry, Irwin Hasen, Don Heck, Jeff Jones, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Chris Marrinan, Frank Miller, Sheldon Moldoff, Gray Morrow, Michael Nasser, Irv Novick, Bob Oksner, Jerry Ordway, Authur Peddy, George Pérez, Trina Robbins, Bernard Sachs, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Staton, Jill Thompson and Alex Toth.

Although never quite as iconic as her two DC compatriots, Wonder Woman is nonetheless an icon of huge historical and social importance, and this commemorative digest is a superb example of her appeal and longevity.

©1995 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

The Golem’s Mighty Swing

The Golem's Mighty Swing

By James Sturm (Drawn & Quarterly Publications)
ISBN 10: 1-89659-771-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-896597-71-3

Set in the 1920s American Heartland, James Sturm’s The Golem’s Mighty Swing harks back to happier, darker times in American history to relate a tale of the early, less enlightened days of baseball. These were times when every city and most towns had ball teams, but also when non-white, non-Christian sportsmen were barred from competing with “Real Americans”.

The Stars of David are a Jewish ball team, barely eking out a living touring the country, capitalising on their ethnicity to attract the local yokels to the games – and their livelihood. So when a sharp four-flushing promoter makes them a degrading yet potentially lucrative offer…

Hiring a Black player and billing him as a son of the “Lost Tribe of Israel” is incautious, but the hype goes too far when he is touted as an actual Golem – a clay statue animated by Rabbinical magic. Things go terribly wrong during a game when the spectacle-starved ball-fans riot, enflamed by stupidity and the anti-Semitic racism that was so much a part of that era.

It’s a beautifully rendered and powerfully compelling book, powerfully evocative, fearsomely authentic and subversively underplayed for maximum effect. Sturm’s art is subtle and simple relating a sad yet oddly life-affirming tale.

You can read this superb book as a parable about race, culture, integration or human nature… just as long as you do read it.

© 2003 James Sturm. All Rights Reserved.

The Ditko Collection, Vol 1: 1966-1973

The Ditko Collection, Vol 1: 1966-1973

Edited by Robin K. Snyder (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 0-930193-07-5

After Steve Ditko left Marvel he continued working for Charlton Comics before creating such cult classics as The Hawk and the Dove and the superbly captivating Beware… The Creeper at DC in 1968. It was during this period that the first strips derived from his interpretation of the Objectivist philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand began appearing in fanzines and independent press publications like Witzend and The Collector.

This softcover book from that champion of all that is good at the Fringes, the Experimental and the just plain Different, Fantagraphics Books, edited by fan and bibliographer Robin K. Snyder, represents lost treasures of a driven and dedicated artistic trailblazer whose beliefs never faltered, whose passion never waned and whose art never stagnated. Amongst beautiful tone and wash gag pieces, are the sometimes strident, occasionally didactic, but always bold, impassioned and above all – for Ditko never forgets that this is a medium of Narrative and Art – gripping stories and parables of some of his most honest – and infamous characters.

The challenging experience begins with the steel-masked Mr. A whose nine short dramas and various concept pages/pin-ups/spot illustrations make up the bulk of this book. In many respects A is an extension of that faceless Agent of Justice, The Question, looking at society, ruthlessly seeking Truth and utterly incapable of moral compromise.

Whilst working on Mr. A Ditko also examined the very concept of Heroism with the two-part ‘H Series’. “D. Skys” is a successful actor whose career stalls because he won’t accept the increasing tide of nihilistic, anti-heroic and morally bankrupt roles society seems to be demanding. Instead of taking the soft option of compliance, the disaffected player finds a more worthwhile use for his talents as a righter of wrongs using his talents to benefit society rather than collude with its downfall.

The volume concludes with the truly intense ‘J Series’; a harsh examination of the concept of justice and even some notions on how to attain and abide by it.

The most common complaint about this area of Ditko’s work – and there have been many – is the sometime hectoring nature of the dialectic. Nobody likes to be lectured to – but that’s how things are learned. Our schools and Universities depend on the lecture as their primary tool of communication, just as Ditko’s is the comic strip artform.

He’s showing you a truth he believes – but at no time is he holding a gun to your head. If you disagree that’s up to you. He acknowledges that you are equals and that you are ultimately responsible for yourself. It’s a viewpoint and tactic an awful lot of religions could benefit from.

I love comics. Steve Ditko has produced a disproportionate amount of my favourite pages over the decades. He is a unique voice and an honest genius with pencil and brush. The tales here have been collected elsewhere; never often enough, always with little fanfare. But if you can find this volume and its sequel you’ll see a lot of his best work, undiluted by colour, and on lovely large (274x212mm) white pages.

But even if you can’t find these, find something. Because Steve Ditko is pure comics.

© 1985 Steve Ditko. All Rights Reserved

Star Wars Legacy, Vol 1: Broken

Star Wars Legacy, Vol 1: Broken

By John Ostrander & Jan Duursema (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN 1-84576-461-7

When the shattered Empire’s remnants retreated into uncharted space The New Republic became the administrators of the galaxy. Luke Skywalker re-established the Jedi Knights as a peace-keeping force throughout the now peaceful worlds. And then the extra-galactic invaders known as the Yuuzhan Vong attacked.

Their devastating depredations were only finally countered by a desperate alliance of New Republicans and Imperial Remnants. The marauders were eventually defeated and interned on the planet Zonoma Sekot.

Now a new Sith threat has destroyed the fragile alliance and set the galaxy ablaze again. The deadly Darth Krayt re-forged the age-old connection with the Empire and the hard-pressed Jedi are once again losing…

Set about 125 years after the events of the film Return of the Jedi, this is the tale of Cade, a no-good petty thug and the last member of the Skywalker bloodline. As the Dark Side seems to on the verge of a final victory, is this grim, vicious, charismatic thug truly the last, best hope for peace and justice?

John Ostrander and Jan Duursema are Star Wars veterans and extremely accomplished comic creators in their own right, and their darker, edgier, world-weary anti-hero has put a new and welcome sheen of danger and unpredictability on a franchise that has almost become too shiny and comforting. This is a series with great potential and a rip-roaring space-opera yarn. New readers start here…

© 2007 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

Mome 8: Summer 2007

Mome 8: Summer 2007

By various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-847-3

Mome is more magazine than book. The latest edition features strips and graphic artworks from a variety of earnest and dedicated comics creators from the capital “A” end of our artform. It is intense and often hard to read and produced to the highest production standards. It is considered by many to be a successor to Art Spiegelman’s seminal Raw.

This volume features work by Ray Fenwick, Sophie Crumb, Tom Kaczynski, Émile Bravo, Al Columbia, Jonathan Bennett, Joe Kimball and Paul Hornschemeier. There is also the concluding episode of European legend Lewis Trondheim’s philosophically autobiographical trilogy ‘At Loose Ends’, plus an interview with Eleanor Davis and as her haunting, memorable tale ‘Stick and String’.

Mome is more book than magazine. It is published quarterly and features cutting edge cartooning and graphic narrative from a variety of creators. It is challenging, diverting, pretentious, absorbing, compelling, annoying and wonderful. Do not ignore it. It is compulsive reading for anyone who doesn’t just read comics to relax.

Mome © 2007 Fantagraphics Books. Individual stories are © the respective creator. All Rights Reserved.