{"id":25381,"date":"2022-01-15T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T08:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=25381"},"modified":"2022-01-15T13:14:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:14:04","slug":"dc-universe-illustrated-by-neal-adams-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2022\/01\/15\/dc-universe-illustrated-by-neal-adams-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"DC Universe Illustrated by Neal Adams volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Neal Adams<\/strong> with Dennis O’Neil<\/strong>, Gardner F. Fox<\/strong>, Robert Kanigher<\/strong>, Howard Liss<\/strong>, Hank Chapman<\/strong>, Len Wein<\/strong>, Bob Haney<\/strong>, Mark Evanier<\/strong>, Sergio Aragon\u00c3\u00a9s<\/strong>, Joe Kubert<\/strong> & various (DDC Comics)
\nNo ISBN: digital only edition<\/p>\n

As the 1960s began Neal Adams was a young illustrator who had worked in advertising and ghosted some newspaper strips whilst trying to break into comics. Whilst pursuing a career in advertising and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real art\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he did a few comics pages for Archie Comics and subsequently became one of the youngest artists to co-create and illustrate major licensed newspaper strip Ben Casey<\/strong> (based on a popular TV medical drama series).<\/p>\n

That comics fascination never faded, however, and Adams drifted back to National\/DC, doing a few covers as inker or penciller before eventually finding himself at the vanguard of a revolution in pictorial storytelling\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

He made such a mark that DC have regularly curated and reissued his work in a series of commemorative collections. This is the first of a proposed series of eBook tomes extracted from heftier physical artefacts covering the artists’ minor efforts (those not starring Batman<\/strong>, Deadman<\/strong> or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hard-Travelling Heroes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Green Lantern\/Green Arrow<\/strong>) in themed original publication order.<\/p>\n

Revisiting Teen Titans <\/strong>#20-22 and gatherings material from Detective Comics<\/strong> #369; Superman<\/strong> #254; Justice League of America<\/strong> #94; Our Army At War<\/strong> #182, 183, 186, 240; Star Spangled War Stories<\/strong> #134, 144; Fanboy<\/strong> #5 and Amazing World of DC Comics Special Edition<\/strong> #1 it cumulatively embraces November 1969 through July 1999.<\/p>\n

Following a contextualising Foreword by Paul Levitz and Adams’ thoughts in his own ‘Superheroes Foreword’<\/em> the comic dramas commence with a tale of slinky sleuth The Elongated Man<\/strong> who solves a bizarre theft connected to the ‘Legend of the Lovers’<\/em> Lantern’<\/em> (scripted by Gardner F. Fox from Detective Comics<\/strong> #369, November 1969).<\/p>\n

We then encounter a bold triptych from Teen Titans <\/strong>#20-22 (March\/April to June\/July 1969), written by Adams and pencilled by him and Sal Amendola with inks by brush-maestro Nick Cardy – one of the all-out prettiest illustration jobs of that decade.<\/p>\n

Completing s a long-running plot-thread of extra-dimensional invaders by endowing everything with a counterculture twist, ‘Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho’<\/em> is a spectacular rollercoaster romp deftly blending teen revolt, organised crime, anti-capitalist activism, bug-eyed monsters and cunning extraterrestrial conquerors\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Symbolic super-teens Hawk and Dove<\/strong> briefly join the proceedings for #21’s ‘Citadel of Fear’<\/em> (Adams & Cardy): chasing smugglers, facing evil ETs and ramping up the surly teen angst quotient whilst moving the invaders story-arc towards stunning conclusion ‘Halfway to Holocaust’<\/em> wherein the abduction of Kid Flash<\/em> and Robin<\/strong> leads to a cross-planar climax as Wonder Girl<\/em>, Speedy<\/em> and a radical new ally quash the invaders forever\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Excerpts from Justice League of America<\/strong> #94’s ‘Where Strikes Demonfang’<\/em> – specifically pages 1, 5, 20 and 22 – tie up loose ends from the Deadman saga seen elsewhere (in Strange Adventures<\/strong> of the Adams Deadman <\/strong>collections) before a modern pin-up of ‘Ra’s al Ghul’<\/em> brings us to a delightful treat scripted by Len Wein taken from The Private Life of Clark Kent<\/em> backup series.<\/p>\n

‘The Baby Who Walked Through Walls’<\/em> comes from Superman<\/strong> #254 (July 1972): scripted by Len Wein and deliciously detailing how even the mighty Man of Tomorrow is no match for a toddler determined to dodge her babysitter and go exploring\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Unpublished Superman pages and thumbnails culled from ‘Amazing World of DC Comics Special Edition #1’<\/em> (February 1976) segue into a selection of public service messages starring the Caped Kryptonian – specifically ‘Justice for All Includes Children 1, 2, 6 <\/em>and 7′<\/em> – and are followed by a monochrome and a full-colour v ‘9\/11 Tribute’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Self-parody changes the tone as an excerpt from Fanboy<\/strong> #5 (July 1999) finds Mark Evanier & Sergio Aragon\u00c3\u00a9s joining the master of moody in an unlikely iteration of the Daft Knight\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A ‘Batman Sketchbook’ <\/em>offers preliminary doodles for Robin’s new costume, Batman roughs and Joker redesigns, culminating in finished pin-ups of all before the tone twists back to hyper-realism and a ‘War Stories Foreword’<\/em> by Neal Adams begins a chronological excursion through the artist’s combat contributions to DC canon.<\/p>\n

All recoloured in Adam’s lush modern manner, the lean sparse sagas commence with ‘It’s My Turn to Die’<\/em> from Our Army At War<\/strong> #182 (July 1967), with Howard Liss scripting the tale of an officer who’s reached his emotional limit, whilst ‘Invisible Sniper’<\/em> (Liss again from OAAW <\/strong>#183, August 1967) tracks an embattled GI hunting an infallible enemy with a killer gimmick\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘The Killing Ground’<\/em> (Star Spangled War Stories<\/strong> #134, August -September 1967) is a Robert Kanigher moment from The War That Time Forgot<\/strong>, with PT Boat survivors striving against a succession of seaborne antediluvian atrocities, after which ‘My Life for a Medal’<\/em> – Our Army At War<\/strong> #186 (November 1967, by veteran scribe Hank Chapman) – holds a shocking lesson for a glory-hungry go-getter.<\/p>\n

A visual triumph, Joe Kubert inked hot new penciller Adams on Kanigher’s ‘Death Takes No Holiday!’<\/em> (SSWS<\/strong> #144, April-May 1969) as another macabre death-dealing French aviator – dressed as a skeleton – terrorised and butchered Jagdstaffel pilots at will, forcing the Kaiser’s Enemy Ace<\/strong> Hans von Hammer<\/em> into insane action to inspire his men and cure a young flier of fear-induced madness\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

War takes a weird – and socially relevant – turn as we visit the future for our concluding clash in Bob Haney’s ‘Another Time Another Place’<\/em> (Our Army At War<\/strong> #240, January 1972) as an elite squad meet the enemy and get a sobering surprise\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Sadly short of Adams incredible canon of covers, we wrap up with only full ‘Biographies’<\/em> as a bonus, but this beautiful book still offers a look at less often seen gems that were in many ways more informative than all the big-banner achievements of a major force in comics. Now, if only DC would sort out his horror stories and truly lost gems like Jerry Lewis<\/strong>, we’d all be happy\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1999, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Neal Adams with Dennis O’Neil, Gardner F. Fox, Robert Kanigher, Howard Liss, Hank Chapman, Len Wein, Bob Haney, Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragon\u00c3\u00a9s, Joe Kubert & various (DDC Comics) No ISBN: digital only edition As the 1960s began Neal Adams was a young illustrator who had worked in advertising and ghosted some newspaper strips whilst … <\/p>\n

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