Now Read This!

 

By Howard Chaykin, David Tischman & Niko Henrichon (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-4012-0073-7

This fascinating and fun piece of steam-punk fluff comes from the always interesting Howard Chaykin and David Tischman, snappily illustrated by Niko Henrichon (best known for the superb Pride of Baghdad – ISBN 1-84576-242-8).

The plot involves the intended conquest of America by the Mad Scientist Nikola Tesla and a cabal of Robber-Barons, which can only be thwarted by that magnificent showman and patriot P. T. Barnum, with the aid of his Congress of Anomalies (which would pejoratively be deemed Circus Freaks in less distinguished circles).

The action and sly social commentary rattle along, blending comedy and thrills much in the way of the circus itself. Can President Grover Cleveland be saved? Will the Union stand? Of course, but the fun is in the accomplishment.

The creators have produced a fine Scientific Romance and you should ignore the similarities to the movie Wild, Wild West. If you were a fan of the TV show though, you might be happy to add this to your bookshelf. If you’re a comic lover looking for something light and a little less ‘mainstream’ then you too might be… Amazed! Enthralled! Enraptured!

Well, you might!

© 2003 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

By various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84023-930-1

Presumably as a result of the recent TV revival, Titan Books collected the best of the 1970s comics originally published by Marvel (issues #1-5, 15-16). Behind a new Garry Leach cover you’ll find the adaptation of the TV pilot and the opening episode (‘Exodus’ and ‘Deathtrap’) by Roger McKenzie and the hugely under-rated Ernie Colon, followed by ‘The Lost Gods of Kobol’ two parter by McKenzie, and comic big-guns-in waiting Walt Simonson and Klaus Janson.

Rounding out the reprints are two stories original to the comics (‘Derelict’ and ‘Berserker’), the last of which is notable for being one of the first instances of Walt Simonson’s return to his celebrated high-graphic style (so revolutionary in the seminal Manhunter) where abstraction and typography become dominant over company “house-style”.

All Titan publications have a nice collection of added features and this one’s no exception with articles on the show in paperbacks and merchandise as well as comics, plus a set of blueprints for various bits of kit from the series.

Although not a fan of the show and not terrifically impressed by the comics at the time, I now find these to be a surprisingly good read with some very competent picture-making too. This is a great entry-level package to get people into comics.

© 2004 Universal Studios Licensing LLLP. All rights reserved.

 

By various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84576-220-7

Whether or not you’re a fan of a particular property, doesn’t really impact on the production of comic spin-offs these days – if indeed it ever did. I’ve read some very palatable comics and Graphic Novels that often outshone their TV or Movie antecedents and of course some of my favourite viewing has been forever soured by an inauspicious franchising deal.

The attempt to translate the multi-award winning television adventures of insomniac super-spy Jack Bauer falls somewhere between the two. As it would be next to impossible to duplicate the one hour equals one episode “real-time” format (1 comic page per hour?) the various creators have had to rely on action, dastardly evil-doers and the frankly limited characterisations of the TV cast.

That being the case, the three tales presented here are not that bad. ‘One Shot’ written by J. C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes with art by Renato Guedes, and set before the first series was broadcast, is a competent little thriller concerning an IRA terrorist turned supergrass and the Counter Terrorist Unit’s attempt to protect her from her very unhappy former associates. A powerful bonus for fans is the savvy use of characters we already know will soon be dead or exposed as shmucks or traitors.

‘Midnight Sun’ from the same creative team, and set during the first term of President Palmer, has our principal team sent to Alaska following the suspicious deaths of oil pipeline executives, possibly at the hands of Eco-terrorists, in another well-drawn if unchallenging thriller.

Manny Clark illustrates the last tale, ‘Stories’ which occurs during the time Agent Bauer was infiltrating the Salazar Drug Cartel (that’s between Seasons 2 and 3, if you’re counting). When Chechen terrorists interrupt a nefarious deal in a luxury hotel Jack has to do his thing without blowing his cover. Sadly the art, which looks like bad painting on hastily downloaded photographs, makes a dog’s dinner of a pretty good script, which pretty much kiboshes this better than average package.

Buy it if you’re a fan or can tolerate disappointment, but be warned, it all ends badly.

™ & © 2005 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly Publications 1998)
ISBN: 1-896597-12-2

We often talk of comics and graphic narrative as if it’s one homogenous lump, and as well as doing the medium a tremendous disservice it’s also incredibly misleading. Those people that haughtily declaim “Oh, We Never Watch Television”, usually mean they deplore whatever it is you’ve just mentioned but that their own viewing habits somehow don’t count. And in a way they’re absolutely correct. For them the term is a group pejorative. But Big Brother is not Eastenders is not The Sky at Night is not Mastermind is not News 24 is not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The medium is now a conveyance, the content is a product you can select or decline. Now try that phrase with the concept of comics.

Adrian Tomine tells short stories. They are about “Now”, and “I feel that…” and “How does…” His Spartan monochromatic drawing style works as an ideal camera for his elegiac documentaries. In an art form that too often relies on hyperbole and melodrama not just for content but for narrative technique, he eschews bravura for insight, telling little tales about the commonplace and the ordinary, showing just how extraordinary and poetic a “realer” life can be.

Originally released as issues 1-4 of Optic Nerve, Sleepwalk presents sixteen vignettes of broken hearts and trampled dreams, of uncompromising self-recriminations and day-to-day reminiscences that make us all shrug and think “well, there’s always tomorrow…”

If you read Maus for the scale of Man’s capacity for evil or Stuck Rubber Baby for his ability to change and overcome, then Sleepwalk should access your capacity to empathise and endure. Few comics comment on the Human Condition without taking a strident position. Here’s one that asks you to choose your own, and choose it every single time. Find it. Buy it. Read it.

Think about it.

© 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Adrian Tomine. All Rights Reserved.