Now Read This!

 

By Mark Millar & Steve McNiven (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN 978-1-905239-60-3

The Patriot Act changed America as much as the destruction of the World Trade Towers. I’m not offering any comment on either event. It is simply that popular arts grow from the social climate as much as the target audience. In a post-9-11 America the creators and the consumers now think different thoughts in different ways. Thus the company that first challenged the middle-class suburban status quo of the comic industry in the late 1960s makes Homeland Security the theme of a major publishing event.

After a reality show starring superheroes goes hideously wrong, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of children, popular opinion turns massively against masked heroes. A scheme to licence, train and regulate all superdoers is mandated by the Federal government. A terrified and indignant populace quivers as a proportion of superheroes, led by the ultimate icon of Liberty, Captain America, refuse to surrender their autonomy and in many cases, anonymity.

The Avengers and the Fantastic Four, bedrock teams of the Marvel Universe fragment in scenes reminiscent of the American Civil War, with ‘brother’ pitted against ‘brother’. As the conflict escalates it becomes clear to all involved that they are fighting for souls as much as lives. Both sides fight for the love of their country and Constitution and both sides are right. Only a moral sacrifice seems able to counteract the heritage of atrocity that seems inevitable as battle after inconclusive battle divides and destroys heroes of the World.

Lavishly illustrated, action packed and yet more cerebral and philosophical than you’d imagine, this tale sadly just falls just short of total success. Mark Millar, though not American, ably illuminates the points of view of all concerned, but somehow, the reasons for the conflict just don’t seem enough to convince me that such comrades could so readily abandon their principles and their friendships. Nor do I buy that such tremendous collateral damage could be countenanced by such scrupulous defenders for so long.

Maybe it’s just me though, since the original miniseries was certainly successful enough. Perhaps you should simply pick up the book and decide for yourselves.

© 2006, 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Brian Bolland (Knockabout – Palmano Bennett)
ISBN 0861661508

Brian Bolland is probably one of the best artists in the comics biz, with a precise, almost super-real, photographic style that has won him many fans and probably just as many imitators. His work is meticulous and time-consuming, and indicative of a high degree of self-control. The man himself is gentle, quiet and self-effacing. If you’ve ever met him you probably came away thinking, “Wow! What a Nice, Quiet Guy,” and never for a moment thought that those are the sort of words most neighbours of serial killers use when rabid News-crews shove microphones under their noses during an interview scrum.

With this collection of strip work – not even blackmail or threat of physical force seems able to convince him to draw whole cartoon stories on a regular basis any more – we get a glimpse of the fevered mind locked behind all those ultra-fine lines and rock-solid visualisations. And what a mind it is.

Gathered together from such disparate sources as Escape, A1 and Vertigo comic anthologies, these strips are sly, clever and just plain witty inner explorations that have as much to do with Samuel Beckett, Alan Whicker, Viv Stanshall (for Mr Bolland too knows the sublime mystery of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (“Look over Walls! Wrestle Poodles… and Win!”) and Freud as it does with x-ray vision, spandex, gloved fists and winged boots.

Fans will be delighted to know that there are plenty of knockout naked women on hand, although you will be asked in a positively Crumb-like manner why you want them, as the lavishly rendered tales of The Actress and the Bishop give way to the introspective, therapeutic yet oddly engaging Mr Mamoulian, a loose, experimental and quintessentially English series of short picture essays that explore inner myths, and creativity, rendered directly into ink in a free-form manner and oddly reminiscent of John Ryan’s wonderful Harris Tweed strips for the Eagle.

Mr Bolland’s dark brand of whimsy can be experienced in the latter portion of the book with reprints from Vertigo’s Heart Throbs and Strange Adventures, where even the chore of taking the readership – Americans at that! – into consideration doesn’t fully quell the idiosyncratic nature of his writing. This is a jolly good book of comics.

Beautiful pictures that make you think. What a splendid idea!

© 2004 Brian Bolland except The Princes & the Frog/The Prince and the Witch, The Kapas 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham & Val Semeiks (DC Comics/Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84576-232-0

One of the interlinked miniseries that form the protracted prologue to the Infinite Crisis publishing event, this book deals with a select band of super-criminals and their mysterious, anonymous leader who resist the mobilisation of the DC villains into an unstoppable organization.

Said Super-Mob, calling itself “The Society” determines to wipe out these independents and the result is an exceptionally cool caper tale where, since the Good Guys are Bad Guys, the best lines don’t get scooped up by the antagonists, and for once you can start your read genuinely not knowing who’s going to be breathing come the final curtain.

Gail Simone’s script is full of canny plot-twists and strong, credible characterisation, the art is smooth and dynamic, and the situation is refreshingly believable. Also invaluable are the “previously on” and “scorecard” sections that bring edited highlights and identifying cameos from other sources to the mix so that non-fanboys can keep the ninety or so characters in mind without suffering a debilitating embolism.

This is a great little book, and shows how modern, superhero comics can and should be done.

© 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.