Now Read This!

By Bob Harras, Paul Neary, Kim DeMulder & Bernie Jaye (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-87135-554-X

Nick Fury the spy debuted at the height of the 1960s espionage fad, following on the heels of James Bond, Danger Man, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and so very many others. He was also already the star of Marvel’s only war comic Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, an improbable and decidedly over-the-top WWII series similar to The Dirty Dozen. For a few brief years with Jim Steranko in charge the S.H.I.E.L.D. series was one of the best strips in America if not the world, but when the writer/artist left and the spy-fad ended the whole concept faded into the background architecture of the Marvel Universe.

In 1989 a six issue prestige format miniseries reinvigorated the concept. As a company targeting the youth-oriented markets Marvel had experienced problems with their in-house clandestine organisation. In most of their other titles US agents and “the Feds” were more often than not the bad guys, and here Bob Harras used this theme as well as the oddly quirky self-referential fact that nobody aged in comic continuity to play games with the readers.

When Fury discovers that everybody in the organisation has been “turned” and is now a threat to freedom and democracy he goes on the run, hunted with all the resources of the world’s most powerful covert agency. Can he turn the tables on the edifice he created with every friend against him and reclaim S.H.I.E.L.D. for the forces of Good? Can he even survive until morning?

Crafted to blend Invasion of the Body-Snatchers with The Spy Who Came in From the Cold this is a frantic all-out thriller that pays little attention to common-sense or the meticulous and stifling minutiae of continuity but concentrates on momentum to tell an entertaining tale. Daft, fast-paced and as paranoid as a bag of monkeys on goof-balls – as any decent spy-thriller should be – there’s lot’s of fun to be had here for readers not too tied in to pedantry or history.

© 1989 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Chuck Dixon, Kevin West & Bob Almond (WildStorm)
ISBN13: 978-1-0-84576-634-4

Here’s a rare treat for readers other than dyed-in-the-wool teen-slasher fanatics as the two tales in this compilation (collecting issues #1-3 and #5-7 of the comic-book) offer at least the possibility that the victims can escape an inevitable fate in a far above average example of how to write a licensed horror property.

First is ‘Freddy’s War’, the tale of army brat Jade Arnstrum who moves into the accursed suburban backwater of Springwood with her brother Brad and retired Marine dad. Even before she’s unpacked she’s having weird dreams. A little girl nobody sees gives her vague warnings and there’s a sense of menace…

When her brother burns to death she finally finds a kid willing to tell her the story of Freddy Krueger, but unlike the beaten sheep of the town she decides to include her dad in the secret and together they take the fight into the dreamworld. This time Freddy’s got a battle on his hands. Drawn in a powerfully underplayed manner by Kevin West and inked by Bob Almond, Chuck Dixon’s taut script even provides an unexpected conclusion for we jaded know-it-alls.

‘The Demon of Sleep’ by the same creative team is another welcome variation on the theme. Every school has its outsiders and the smart nerdy outcasts of Springwood know that as well as the Jocks and the Popular cliques making their lives hell, eventually so will the spectral monster that kills in dreams. Unlike normal kids though, these bright sparks know how to cooperate, and they have a plan…

This dark, sardonic tale has plenty of shocks and twists in a nasty little adventure that mirrors supernatural trauma with the true horror of High School life and once again the story provides enough surprises to provide some genuine moments of tension.

In a genre that swims in predictability these gory yarns prove that a little thought can still work miracles. This book is a rare treat for all horror fans.

© & ™ MMVII New Line Productions, Inc. A Nightmare on Elm Street is ™ New Line Productions, Inc, (so7). © 2006, 2007 New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Wes Craig (WildStorm)
ISBN13: 978-1-0-84576-638-2

I’ve already mentioned that I have aesthetic reasons for disliking a lot of generic “Teen-Slasher” fiction, so I’ll only briefly recapitulate here. If an evil is unstoppable, and the humans/victims have no chance of escape or survival then all narrative tension is lost and all you have is a body-count and an exercise in grotesque imagination, not a story. That said I have to admit that this sequel to the remake of the legendary cannibal gore-fest wherein a slaughterhouse worker uses his chainsaw to gut hapless kids is… unfortunately just another one of those.

A follow-up FBI team arrives in the town of Fuller, Texas in 1974 to gather evidence on the greatest mass-murderer in American history – and who is still at large – just ahead of a mobile TV news crew, only to discover that not only have the killings not stopped, but the killer had a large family with the same tastes. Moreover the entire town was complicit in the deaths. This daft plot rapidly degenerates into the ever-escalating bloodbath the target audience is waiting for and it all ends as you’d expect – with nothing resolved and another sequel on the cards.

Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and artist Wes Craig work at the best of their capabilities and I’m sure dedicated fans will be happy enough but I fear there’s nothing here for the casual or more discerning reader.

© MMVII New Line Productions, Inc. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) © 1974 Vortex, Inc. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) © MMIII New Line Productions, Inc. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning © MMVI New Line Productions, Inc. Leatherface and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are ™ Kuhn/Henkel. All Rights Reserved. © 2006, 2007 New Line Productions, Inc.

UK EDITION

By Brian Michael Bendis & various (Panini Publishing UK)
ISBN13: 978-1-905239-68-9

Although wearing the trappings of the new, darker, more in-your-face Marvel Universe, this tale is at heart an old fashioned “Who Can Save the World?” tale featuring the latest – possibly most sales-savvy – team of superheroes to carry the fabled Avengers ID card.

Reprinted from Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1 and issues #14-20 of the monthly New Avengers comic book, illustrated by Frank Cho, Steve McNiven, Mike Deodato Jr., Rick Mays, Jason Martin, Dexter Vines and Joe Pimentel this story by Brian Michael Bendis clarifies – or perhaps further muddies the true allegiances of double-agent Jessica Drew who, as the Avenger Spider-Woman is also an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the terrorist organisation Hydra.

As if that’s not grief enough Captain America and Iron Man go public with possibly the least popular roster in history comprising the mutant Wolverine, Spider-Man, Luke Cage and the mysterious all-powerful basket-case known as the Sentry. At least Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird and probably a bunch more code-names by the time you read this) is on hand to pitch in when necessary…

Couple all that with a positively hostile US Government and a new S.H.I.E.L.D. boss who’s ruthless when defied, then the unstoppable threat from space that is cutting a swath of death and destruction across the planet seems almost the least of the team’s worries.

Sharp, entertaining, competent if a little complex for the newcomer or returning fan, this disaster-movie style follow-up to the House of M crossover event is an unassuming and amiable read for fans of the “fights ‘n’ tights” scene.

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

By various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-872-5

The latest volume of the alternative cartooning and graphic arts series is truly autumnal in tone despite the addition of many more brightly coloured pages. The experimental nature of the features is often challenging but the rewards are great for the devotee prepared to work with the material rather than slavishly absorb. It also helps to let go of style preconceptions.

This volume features a fantastic variety of work by Ray Fenwick, Tim Hensley, Al Columbia, Eleanor Davis, Gabrielle Bell, Andrice Arp, Joe Kimball, Tom Kaczynski, Kurt Wolfgang, Brian Evenson, Zak Sally, Paul Hornschemeier and Sophie Crumb. There’s also a frankly astounding art feature on the multi-media illustrator Mike Scheer, but the real gem is the first instalment of a wordless and surreal epic ‘The Lute String’ by Jim Woodring.

Mome is as much magazine as book and each one is a graphic event. The earnest and dedicated creators make intense and often hard to read comics which are then reproduced to the highest print standards. It is well on the way to achieving its goal of becoming the twenty-first century successor to Art Spiegelman’s seminal Raw. This one, as always, is challenging, diverting, pretentious, absorbing, compelling, annoying and wonderful.

If you love our art form and think without moving your lips you need to see this series.

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

By William Messner-Loebs & Phil Winslade with Patricia Mulvihill (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-301-0

This slim oversized all-original tale was produced under DC’s Elseworlds imprint wherein characters are freed from their regular continuity’s shackles for adventures that test the limits of credibility and imagination.

Amazonia posits a world where a tragic fire destroys the entire British Royal Family in the 1890s and a very distant cousin becomes ruler of Victoria’s Empire. Under this aggressively male sovereign the Empire goes from strength to strength and the rights of women wither and die. Once more and forever they are playthings and possessions, to the point of having to wear chains in public.

Enter Steven Trevor, late of His Majesty’s Air-Marines, and trying to make a living as a music-hall impresario. His actress-wife is a foreign beauty, dark, tall, statuesque, able to jump huge distances and strong enough to wrestle lions. When she saves the royal heir from an assassin it begins an inexorable and bloody series of events that will liberate half the Empire and end half a century of cruelty, abuse and atrocity.

This is a powerful and challenging fable of sexual equality, blending the Wonder Woman mythology with Steam-punk fantasy and the legend of Jack the Ripper with cracking effect. William Messner-Loebs writes with convincing authenticity and Phil Winslade’s Victoriana-style artwork, beautifully reminiscent of both penny-dreadful engravings and the lovely sweeping line of Charles Dana Gibson is utterly captivating.

Often the Elseworlds variations come off as ill-conceived or poorly executed, but when it all comes together as it does in Wonder Woman: Amazonia the result is pure gold.

© 1997 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.