{"id":28289,"date":"2023-07-13T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T09:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28289"},"modified":"2023-07-06T19:01:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T19:01:46","slug":"the-bozz-chronicles-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/07\/13\/the-bozz-chronicles-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bozz Chronicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy David Michelinie<\/strong> & Bret Blevins<\/strong>, with John Ridgway<\/strong>, Al Williamson<\/strong> & various (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels)
\nISBN: 978-0-486-79851-6 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

During the 1980s the American comics scene experienced an astounding proliferation of new titles and companies in the wake of the creation of the Direct Sales Market. With publishers now able to firm-sale straight to specialised, dedicated-retail outlets rather than overprint and accept returned copies from general magazine vendors, the industry was able to risk and support less generic titles whilst authors, artists and publishers could experiment without losing their shirts.<\/p>\n

At the height of the subsequent publishing explosion and in response to a wave of upstart innovators, Marvel developed its own line of creator-owned properties: launching a host of idiosyncratic, impressive series in a variety of formats under the watchful, benevolent and exceptionally canny eye of Editor Archie Goodwin. The delightfully disparate line was dubbed Epic Comics and reshaped the industry.<\/p>\n

One of the most significant hits was a winsomely engaging blend of fantasy, criminology and urban myth with a beautifully simple core concept: \u201cSherlock Holmes from Outer Space\u201d. Even that painfully broad pitch-line does the series it became an unforgivable disservice\u2026<\/p>\n

The Bozz Chronicles<\/strong> was – and is – so much more. It became one of Epic\u2019s earliest hits and sensations, and the reasons it never continued beyond its initial 6-issue run (December 1985 to November 1986) had nothing to do with poor sales\u2026<\/p>\n

The mesmerising mix of Victoriana, super-science and sorcery might even be considered as an early precursor if not progenitor of the visual form of the literary genre K. W. Jeter dubbed \u201csteampunk\u201d in 1987\u2026<\/p>\n

Preceded with a Foreword<\/em> from Brandon Graham, Dave Michelinie\u2019s self-deprecating Introduction \u2018Blame it on Spielberg\u2019, <\/em>and fond reminiscences from originating illustrator Bret Blevins, an amazing moment in comics history repeats itself as \u2018The Bozz Chronicles\u2019 <\/em>opens on Mandy Flynn<\/em>. She is a fiercely independent young woman plying her trade – described then and now as the World\u2019s Oldest – in the sooty, sordid environs of London in the last quarter of the 19th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

Saucy, sassy, sensitive and lovely, she is bringing her latest \u201cbrief acquaintance\u201d up to her attic abode when the incipient physical transaction is suddenly curtailed by discovery of a strange-looking foreigner trying to commit suicide in her rooms\u2026<\/p>\n

As her toff flees in terror, Mandy tries to talk down the intruder and realises just how strange he truly is: eight feet tall, pale yellow in complexion, with a hairless, pointy head. He is also gentle, exceptionally well-spoken, has a long tail and can fly\u2026<\/p>\n

Six months pass. Mandy and the creature she calls Bozz are doing exceptionally well. He still claims to be from another world and certainly acts like no human she has ever met: he cannot tell lies, communicates with animals, constantly wanders around naked and absorbs like a sponge every scrap of knowledge she can provide for him through books and journal and newspapers.<\/p>\n

Bozz misses his home: a far-distant world of benevolent intelligences he has no chance of ever returning to: so much so that he was trying to end himself as much through boredom as loneliness. Mandy\u2019s brilliant idea to keep him alive was to engage his prodigious intellect in puzzles. She set them up as consulting detectives based in the less than fashionable Maracot Road, using the proceeds to better her own hand-to-mouth existence in the process. The only problem is that when no challenging cases manifest, Bozz\u2019s thoughts instantly return to ending it all\u2026<\/p>\n

Thankfully, just as she is preparing to hide all the sharp objects again, a truly unique mystery knocks on the door and the secretary of Lord Giles Morgan<\/em> requests their help. According to the Press, Pamela Grieves<\/em>\u2019 employer – and prospective Prime Minister – recently escaped an assassination attempt. However, the loyal amanuensis was with him when it happened and claims he did not survive. In fact, after having made further discreet inquiries, Miss Grieves found her master had in fact been dead for some three years prior to the attack\u2026<\/p>\n

As Bozz excitedly accepts the commission, Mandy is convinced they are dealing with a madwoman, but when their client is destroyed by a bolt of lightning as soon as she leaves their office the retired demimondaine is forced to think again\u2026<\/p>\n

Naturally the inquiry agents\u2019 first step is to interview Lord Giles and although the shady politician proves no help at all, Bozz gleans much useful information from the caged bird in Morgan\u2019s study. Soon they are on the trail of an aristocratic secret society utilising vast funds and weird science to resurrect the dead in pursuit of a deadly and regressive political and economic agenda (so hard not to comment satirically here!)\u2026<\/p>\n

Sadly, even the alien outcast\u2019s uncanny powers prove insufficient to stop the schemers, but Mandy has gifts of her own and beguiles a rowdy American former prize-fighter she finds in a bar to assist in the climactic final confrontation.<\/p>\n

Besotted, punch-drunk Salem Hawkshaw<\/em> then joins the detectives to handle any future physical exigencies that might occur, but despite everything he sees is never convinced his big, bemused boss is anything other than a crazy circus freak\u2026<\/p>\n

The new colleagues are all painfully aware that their sudden success has brought them to the attention of Scotland Yard\u2019s most privileged operative and the notorious trio have barely caught their breath before Inspector Colin Fitzroy<\/em> comes calling, deviously offering them a case the police have no interest in.<\/p>\n

Apparently a drunk has seen demons in Park Lane\u2026<\/p>\n

As the shamefully-employed scion of Britain\u2019s richest family continues trying to impress the ravishing Miss Flynn, further arcane incidents occur, \u2018Raising Hell\u2019 <\/em>in the capital\u2019s swankiest district. Before long the consulting detectives find troubled Samantha Townes<\/em>, whose husband has fallen foul of the vilest black magic and his own gullibility\u2026<\/p>\n

Wealthy Inspector Fitzroy has more pressing problems. A rash of exceedingly orderly murders has turned up odd artefacts defying explanation by any expert Scotland Yard can muster: things that cannot possibly have been built by any craftsman on Earth\u2026<\/p>\n

In \u2018The Tomorrow Man\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Al Williamson) a trip to the funfair does little to alleviate Bozz\u2019s boredom, but does lead to the genteel gullible giant being gulled: lured away by a wily pack of street children who use his powers and naivety to perpetrate a crime spree.<\/p>\n

Later, when the shady show\u2019s owner tries to kidnap Bozz for his freak attractions, the ultimately unsuccessful attack leaves the alien blind. The kids\u2019 ringleader Oliver<\/em> brings him to underworld surgeon Dr. Paine<\/em> – who runs a subterranean clinic as a sideline to pay for his researches into time travel. He sees in the stranger a perfect opportunity to advance the causes of science\u2026<\/p>\n

Redeemed by Bozz\u2019s unflagging trust, Oliver at last realises the enormity of his betrayal and fetches Mandy and Salem to effect a rescue, but by the time they arrive, chronal chaos is erupting everywhere\u2026<\/p>\n

As engaging and enthusiastic as the tales have been until this point, \u2018Were-Town!\u2019 <\/em>is (at least for history-buffs and especially Londoners) a truly stand-out moment in the series, as the ineffably marvellous British veteran John Ridgway stepped in to illustrate a pithy, punchy deep midwinter tale disclosing a hint of Mandy\u2019s past whilst introducing her reprehensible absentee father Egan Thorpe<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve always whined in Britain about how Us and Ours are represented in American productions and, despite the obviously strenuous and diligent researches Michelinie & Blevins undertook, frequently the tone of their Bozz Chronicles often smacks more of Hollywood than Cricklewood. It\u2019s not something non-Brits will even notice, but for us aging \u201cCockerney Sparrers\u201d the differences are there to be seen\u2026 and felt.<\/p>\n

Such is not the case (as gratefully acknowledged by the creators themselves in the respective, respectful Introductions) when Ridgway applied his meticulous line and copious pictorial acumen – gleaned from decades drawing a variety of British strips for everything from Commando Picture Library<\/strong> to Warrior<\/strong> to 2000AD<\/strong> or Doctor Who<\/strong> and The Famous Five<\/strong> – to a genuinely spooky, photographically authentic tale of deranged artists, dastardly squires and infernal paintings coming to unholy life in snow-capped rural wilds of Southeast England\u2026<\/p>\n

Michelinie & Blevins reunited for \u2018The Cobblestone Jungle\u2019 <\/em>as Inspector Fitzroy again calls upon Bozz & Co: impelled as much by his lusty fascination with Amanda as the demands of an African king who needs the assistance of the British Empire if he is to guarantee a steady flow of diamonds from his equatorial satrapy\u2026<\/p>\n

Apparently, a white man had stolen the tribe\u2019s sacred jewel and brought it to his hidden jungle playground in London. Thanks to some canny legwork from little Oliver, the detective trio track the bounder, but nobody anticipated the filched gewgaw emitting destructive death-rays\u2026<\/p>\n

After a spectacular battle high above the city, Bozz ends the threat, but his biggest surprise comes when the grateful king asks to thank him personally and reveals a millennia-old connection to Bozz\u2019s extraterrestrial race\u2026<\/p>\n

For Mandy, Bozz, Salem and Fitzroy it all culminates in a desperate trek to the Dark Continent in search of \u2018King Solomon\u2019s Spaceship\u2019 <\/em>and the achievement of the marooned alien\u2019s most fervent desires\u2026 until a gang of German raiders and Mandy\u2019s own cynical self-interest ruins everything\u2026<\/p>\n

Rounded out by sketches and preliminary designs in a superb \u2018Bonus Artwork and Cover Gallery\u2019 <\/em>from Blevins and closing with an effusive \u2018Afterword by John Ridgway\u2019<\/em>, this is a magnificent moment in comics collaboration which will soon hopefully reclaim its place at the forefront of fantasy fables.
\nThe Bozz Chronicles \u00a9 1985, 1986, 2015 David Michelinie. Introduction \u00a9 2015 David Michelinie. Foreword \u00a9 2015 Brandon Graham. Afterword \u00a9 2015 John Ridgway. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Michelinie & Bret Blevins, with John Ridgway, Al Williamson & various (Dover Comics & Graphic Novels) ISBN: 978-0-486-79851-6 (TPB\/Digital edition) During the 1980s the American comics scene experienced an astounding proliferation of new titles and companies in the wake of the creation of the Direct Sales Market. With publishers now able to firm-sale … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Bozz Chronicles”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[191,42,75,122,125,105,225,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-best-of-british","category-crime-comics","category-historical","category-humour","category-mature-reading","category-mystery","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7mh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28289"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28293,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28289\/revisions\/28293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}