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Batman: Strange Apparitions

Batman: Strange Apparitions 

By Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin & various (DC Comics/Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-109-2

In the mid 1970s Marvel Comics were kicking the stuffing out of DC Comics in terms of sales if not quality comic book product. The most sensible solution seemed to be to poach the top talent. That strategy had limited success but one major defection was Steve Englehart, who had scripted groundbreaking work on the Avengers and Dr. Strange titles.

He was given the Justice League of America for a year but also requested, and was given the Batman slot in the flagship DC title Detective Comics. Expected to be daring and innovative, he instead chose to invoke a classic and long-departed style which became a new signature interpretation, and one credited with inspiring the 1989 movie mega-blockbuster.

Initially Englehart was paired up with artists Walt Simonson and Al Milgrom for the series. ‘…By Death’s Eerie Light!’ and ‘The Origin of Dr Phosphorus’ from Detective #469, May 1977, introduced not only a skeletal, radioactive villain but also the corrupt city council of Rupert “Boss” Thorne, and had the Caped Crusader outlawed in his own city. The team also provided the sequel ‘The Master Plan of Dr. Phosphorus!’ which introduced another landmark character, the captivating ‘Modern Woman’, Silver St. Cloud.

With issue #471 (August 1977) relative newcomers Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin took over the art chores and the magic truly began. As the scripts brought back golden-age and ‘A-list’ villains the art captured the power and moodiness of the strip’s formative years whilst adding to the unique and distinctive iconography of the Batman. Last seen in Detective Comics #46 (1940 and reprinted most recently in Batman Chronicles volume 3, ISBN 1-84576-431-5), quintessential Mad Scientist Hugo Strange came closer than any other villain to destroying both Bruce Wayne and the Batman in ‘The Dead Yet Live’ and ‘I Am The Batman!’ (Detective #471 and #472 respectively).

Robin returned to the strip in #473’s ‘The Malay Penguin!’ as the wily Napoleon of Crime challenges the Dynamic Duo to an entrancing duel of wits, and the next issue featured the second ever appearance of Deadshot (after an initial outing in Batman #59, 1950). So reinvigorated was this third rate foe by his treatment in ‘The Deadshot Ricochet’ that he’s seldom been missing from the DC Universe since, starring in a number of series such as Suicide Squad and Secret Six, and even in a couple of eponymous miniseries.

Englehart saved the best for last with all the sub-plots concerning Silver St. Cloud, Boss Thorne, Gotham City Council, and even a recurring ghost culminating in THE classic confrontation with The Joker. Detective #475 and #476, ‘The Laughing Fish!’ and ‘The Sign of the Joker!’, comprise one of the most reprinted Bat-tales ever concocted, and was even adapted as an episode of the award winning TV show Batman: The Animated Adventures in the 1990s. In fact you’ve probably already read it. But if you haven’t… what a treat you have awaiting you!

Having said all he wanted to say, Steve Englehart left Batman and quit comics for a good few years. After a reprinted story in #477, Marshall Rogers drew one last adventure (in issues #478 and #479). Len Wein scripted ‘The Coming of… Clayface III’ and ‘If a Man be Made of Clay…’ whilst Dick Giordano replaced Terry Austin as inker on a tale of obsession and tragedy as another Golden-Age villain got a contemporary make-over. Sadly it just wasn’t the same. The magic moment was over, leaving us all wanting more. And surely that’s how it should be.

© 1977, 1978, 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Tramps Like Us

Tramps Like Us 

By Yayoi Ogawa (Tokyopop)
ISBN 1595-321-39X

This intriguing, introspective love story is a beguiling and tasteful exploration of modern relationships at the margins of societal norms. Sumire Iwaya is a thoroughly modern woman, with a good job, better prospects and her priorities sorted. But like so many career women her romantic life is a problem. Recovering from a messy affair with the boss’s son, and constantly evaluating her admittedly high romantic standards just means that she’s tired, stressed, comfortably situated and terribly, terribly lonely.

When she discovers a beautiful young man in a dumpster she grudgingly gives him shelter. He appears to be a complete innocent, vital, energetic and without guile – or manners. Fed up with her life and with the kind of men she seems to attract, she enters into a bizarre pact with the vagrant. Naming him Momo, after a dog she had as a child, she adopts him as her secret pet. She will feed, bathe and pamper him in return for companionship, warmth and the kind of unconditional love that only an animal can provide.

But what is “unconditional”? As Sumire’s life goes on, with friends, career and even a new boyfriend all piling their respective pressures on, her secret pet increasingly becomes her only haven of contentment. But Momo is not a dumb animal. He has his own life no matter how he might deny it. And in this classic “When Harry Met Sally” dilemma the couple are being compelled by their own natures to reassess their relationship and thereby endanger their only emotional refuge.

Sharp, charming and strikingly drawn, this is a book for grown-ups that manages to be mature whilst still being decorous. I eagerly await the sequel.

© 2000, 2004 Yayoi Ogawa. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman Chronicles vol 1

Superman Chronicles vol 1 

By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster (DC Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-259-2

A welcome soft-cover collection of the earliest stories of the Man of Steel and quite literally the birth of a genre if not an actual art form. Here is the crude, rough, uncontrollable wish-fulfilling exuberance of a righteous and superior man dealing out summary justice to wife-beaters, reckless drivers and exploitative capitalists, as well as thugs and ne’er-do-wells which captured the imagination of a generation. Here they are presented in totality and chronological order from Action Comics #1 (June 1938) through #13 (June 1939), his appearance from New York’s World Fair No. 1 (also from June 1939) and culminating with the landmark first issue of his own solo title from July of that year.

As well as cheap price and no-nonsense design and presentation, and not withstanding the historical significance of the material presented within, there is a magnificent bonus for any one who hasn’t read some or all of these tales before. They are astonishingly well-told and engrossing mini-epics that can still grip the reader.

In a world where Angels With Dirty Faces, Bringing Up Baby and The Front Page are as familiar to our shared cultural consciousness as the latest episode of Dr Who or the next Bond movie, the dress, manner and idiom in these near-seventy year old stories can’t jar or confuse. They are simply timeless, enthralling, and great.

© 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Star Wars Clone Wars vol 7: When They Were Brothers

Star Wars Clone Wars vol 7: When They Were Brothers 

By various (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN 1-84576-107-3

Another solid package of space-opera thrills from the Star Wars: Clone Wars franchise concentrates on the foredoomed relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin (Darth Vader) Skywalker. Reprinting Star Wars Free Comic Day Special 2005 and Star Wars: Obsession issues #1-5, all the stories here are set a few months before the opening of the film Revenge of the Sith.

The action begins with Haden Blackman and Brian Ching’s tale of obsession when a hard-driven Obi-Wan risks not just his life but also his reputation in a manic hunt for the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress. The she-Sith is believed to be dead by the entire galaxy, trusted companion Anakin, who clearly remembers that time when he personally killed her. There’s all the grit and derring-do you’d expect and no real surprises, but it’s all done well enough to carry one along for the thrill-ride.

Miles Lane and Nicola Scott provide the balance of the book with their tale of foreboding friendship as the Jedi dynamic duo find themselves crashed on an enemy planet with a hard deadline to capture the insidious Count Dooku. High on action but short on plot, the emphasis here is mostly with examining any tiny cracks that might be forming in the heretofore indomitable and steadfast team.

As always the Dark Horse franchise provides reliable bang for your buck and produces reading that should satisfy the comic fan as much as the Star Wars aficionado.

© 2005 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved

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Rizelmine

Rizelmine 

By Yukiru Sugisaki (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59532-901-3

The premise of RizelMine will be familiar territory to long-time manga fans, featuring as it does a hapless high-school boy/all-around geek (this one is 15-year-old Iwaki Tomonori) and a beautiful, super-powerful girl who inexplicably falls hopelessly in love with him, leading to the traditional slap-stick chaos and fearsome personal embarrassment all around.

Rizel is – or appears to be – a cute twelve year old girl, which would be annoying enough to a young man preparing to declare his undying love for his high school teacher. But his protestations are not only largely ignored, but they seem to inevitably lead to humiliation and quite a lot of bruising.

Tomonori adores older women, and cannot understand why this girl bursts into his bedroom brandishing a marriage certificate and telling him that they are now man and wife. He certainly can’t imagine why his parents are going along with this nonsense, nor why Rizel’s three incredibly scary “guardians” have moved in with them.

It soon transpires that Rizel is an artificial life-form needing to experience human love to further evolve. Furthermore, the government are prepared to go to any lengths to maximise their asset, and it doesn’t care how embarrassing or inconvenient it might be for some of its citizens. Enduring the approbation of his school-mates, the machinations of the world’s richest boy – who wants to marry Rizel himself – and the truly catastrophic repercussions of annoying his child-bride (something Tomonori does with astounding regularity) our hero soldiers on, determined to regain his pride, social standing and equilibrium. If only Rizel wasn’t so darned nice…

Although perhaps a slightly disturbing premise to contemporary western eyes (I don’t even know if school-children can marry in Japan!) this is a fairly standard manga comedy-fantasy that will delight aficionados of the genre but probably baffle the casual reader.

© 2002 Yukiru Sugisaki /KADOKAWA SHOTEN. All Rights Reserved.
English text © 2005 TOKYOPOP Inc.

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James Bond: Goldfinger

James Bond: Goldfinger 

By Ian Fleming, Henry Gammidge & John McLusky (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-908-5

This edition of Titan Books’ 007 newspaper strip collections comes from the period when the workmanlike John McLusky was the artist and features Henry Gammidge’s adaptations of no less than five Ian Fleming tales of the world’s most famous Secret Agent.

The title tale faithfully adapts Fleming’s novel of the world’s most ambitious bullion robbery, so if you’re only familiar with the film version there will be a few things you’ve not seen before. The action fairly pounds along and the tension is high throughout this signature tale.

Following Goldfinger is Risico. Bond is tasked with stopping a heroin smuggling gang whose motive is not profit but social destabilisation. Next is A View to a Kill, a traditional Cold War thriller with 007 on the trail of a gang who have been stealing secrets by ambushing military dispatch riders.

For Your Eyes Only, which was cobbled together with Risico to become the Roger Moore film version, is an adaptation of Fleming’s short story, wherein Bond is given a mission of revenge and assassination. Set in Jamaica with the Nazi war-criminal Von Hammerstein as culprit and target for the man with a licence to kill, it is a solid piece of dramatic fiction that once again bears little similarity to the celluloid adventure.

The volume concludes with the controversial Thunderball adaptation. That particular tale was censored and curtailed at the behest of Lord Beaverbrook, owner of the Daily Express, where the strip was running. Five days of strip were excised and for the full story you’ll need to read the ancillary text feature, but what remains is still pretty engrossing comic fare and at least some effort was made to wrap up the storyline before the strip ended.

James Bond was to return a year later in the adaptation of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service .These stories are a must for not only aficionados of Bond but for all thriller fans, as an example of terse gripping adventure uncluttered by superficial razzamatazz. Get back to basics, and remember that classic style is never out of fashion.

Strip © Express Newspapers Ltd. 1987. All Rights Reserved.

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Pyongyang

Pyongyang 

By Guy Delisle (Drawn & Quarterly Books)
ISBN 1896-597-890

The only things I knew about North Korea I picked up from too many comics (mostly American) and the TV so this book was a rather surprising delight. As much lyrical travelogue as pithy autobiography, it relates the bemused culture shock of Canadian animator Delisle, who, working on a French work-permit, is invited behind the bamboo curtain to train and supervise Korean artists as a production supervisor. Cheap animators, of course, being one of the few resources that North Korea can use as a means of securing capital from the decadent West.

What he finds and illustrates both reinforces and explodes much of the modern mythology surrounding the world’s only communist dynasty. Using a simplified, utilitarian style he shows us an utterly alien environment that is nevertheless populated with people who are so very similar too ourselves, albeit they do their best not to let it show. The book is stuffed with nuggets of revelation, dryly observed by the innocuous author.

Gently-paced and often dream-like in quality, the humorous tone of drawing accentuates the oddly strictured sense of foreboding. Allowed only one book (in his case, perhaps unwisely, 1984) which must be donated to the State on leaving the country, and his CD walkman (since personal radios are banned) his airport interrogation is sheer mental torture. Only once we’ve been thoroughly immersed in the culture and the personal foibles of the people he is allowed to meet does the compliant Delisle surprise us by revealing that he risked everything by smuggling in a tiny radio so he could get more than state-controlled information – and entertainment!

Subtly playing with the ominous reputation of part of “The Axis of Evil”, Delisle has produced a readable, gentle, non-discriminating reverie that informs and charms with surprising effect.

© 2003, 2005 Guy Delisle and L’Association. All Rights Reserved.

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The Originals

The Originals 

By Dave Gibbons (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-011-5

Dave Gibbons is, like me, a bit of a geezer, except better looking, more talented and, hopefully, much more understanding. Our memories stretch back further than last week’s EastEnders. Combine that with the current zeitgeist (go look it up) for introspective reminiscent drama and The Originals could have been an edgy coming-of-age tale of 1960s Mods and Rockers, delivered in the meticulous and hyper-detailed graphic style that is his trademark, which might not in and of itself be a bad thing.

What Gibbons has chosen to do, however, is to move the entire thing into the future and layer it with a mythic subtext, making it more allegory than reportage or documentary. The beautiful monochromatic art captures a feel for the past but has somehow excised the grime and the grit that you know must be there.

Has the choice of setting amplified or castrated the story? I don’t know. It is enjoyable but feels like there ought to be more to it. Perhaps I should read it again with Quadrophenia playing really loud…

© 2004 Dave Gibbons. All Rights Reserved.

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Constantine: Hellblazer Rare Cuts

Rare Cuts 

By Various
ISBN 1-84023-974-3

A solid representative selection of the life of John Constantine can be found in Rare Cuts, a collection of one-off stories that have managed to escape being reprinted thus far. Contained within these pages you can find “Newcastle: A Taste of Things to Come” (Hellblazer #11) by Delano, Richard Piers Rayner and Mark Buckingham, which is something of an origin story for the character and sets the thematic scene for all the issues to follow.

Next up is the excellent two-parter “Early Warning” and “How I Learned to Love the Bomb” (#25-26) by Grant Morrison and David Lloyd, a truly eerie tale of political subversion and occult possession. Delano and Sean Phillips produced “The Dead Boy’s Heart” (#35), wherein little Johnny Constantine has his first traumatic glimpse into how the world really works, and issue 56 by Ennis and Lloyd provides “This is the Diary of Danny Drake”, a moody, chilling tale of the terrors of parenting.

The last story is from Hellblazer #84 (“In Another Part of Hell”), wherein our ‘hero’ and his good mate Chas experience a truly macabre event featuring an old house, an old bag and a monkey in a wig. With a timeline and map of Constantine’s London to round out the package this is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to Vertigo’s most successful publication.

© 2005 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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James Bond: Dr. No

James Bond: Dr. No 

By Ian Fleming, Henry Gammidge & John McLusky (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84576-089-1

The Dr No edition begins with an adaptation of Diamonds are Forever, which pits the Bond against an insidious gang of diamond smuggling criminals, in an explosive all-action romp before directly segueing into the tense, low-key thriller From Russia With Love, both courtesy of Gammidge and McLusky. The artist hits a creative peak with Dr No itself, scripted by Peter O’Donnell – before he created the amazing Modesty Blaise – as Bond returns to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of two operatives and stumbles upon a plot to sabotage the American rocketry program.

These stories come from an age at once less jaded but more worldly; a place and time where the readers lived daily with the very real threat of instant annihilation. As such, the easy approachability of the material is a credit to the creators.

These volumes are a must for not only aficionados of Bond but for all thriller fans, as an example of terse gripping adventure uncluttered by superficial razzamatazz. Get back to basics, and remember that classic style never goes out of fashion.

Strip © Express Newspapers Ltd. 1987. All Rights Reserved.