Category: Graphic Novels

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks Spider-Man volume 3: The Goblin and the Gangsters


By Stan Lee & Steve Ditko with Sam Rosen & Art Simek (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4617-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

The Amazing Spider-Man celebrated his 60th anniversary in 2022. However, I’m one of those radicals who feel that 1963 was when he was really born, so let’s start the New Year with acknowledgement of that opinion and warning of many more of the same over the year…

These stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before but this one is part of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These new books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller, about the dimensions of a paperback book. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for the digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

Marvel is often termed “the House that Jack Built” and King Kirby’s contributions are undeniable and inescapable in the creation of a new kind of comic book storytelling. However, there was another unique visionary toiling at Atlas-Comics-as-was, one whose creativity and philosophy seemed diametrically opposed to the bludgeoning power, vast imaginative scope and clean, gleaming futurism that resulted from Kirby’s ever-expanding search for the external and infinite.

Steve Ditko was quiet and unassuming, diffident to the point of invisibility, but his work was both subtle and striking: innovative and meticulously polished. Always questing for affirming detail, he ever explored the man within. He saw heroism and humour and ultimate evil all contained within the frail but noble confines of humanity. His drawing could be oddly disquieting… and, when he wanted, decidedly creepy.

Crafting extremely well-received monster and mystery tales for and with Stan Lee, Ditko had been rewarded with his own title. Amazing Adventures/Amazing Adult Fantasy featured a subtler brand of yarn than Rampaging Aliens and Furry Underpants Monsters: an ilk which, though individually entertaining, had been slowly losing traction in the world of comics ever since National/DC had successfully reintroduced costumed heroes.

Lee & Kirby had responded with The Fantastic Four and so-ahead-of-its-time Incredible Hulk, but there was no indication of the renaissance ahead when officially just-cancelled Amazing Fantasy featured a brand new and rather eerie adventure character…

This compelling compilation re-presents the rise of the wallcrawler as originally seen in Amazing Spider-Man #20-28 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (spanning cover-dates January-September 1965) and is lettered throughout by unsung superstars Sam Rosen & Art Simek, allowing newcomers and veteran readers to comprehensively relive some of the greatest moments in sequential narrative.

The parable of Peter Parker began when a smart but alienated high schooler was bitten by a radioactive spider on a science trip. Discovering he’d developed arachnid abilities – which he augmented with his own ingenuity and engineering genius – Peter did what any lonely, geeky nerd would when given such a gift… he tried to cash in for girls, fame and money.

Creating a costume to hide his identity in case he made a fool of himself, Parker became a minor celebrity – and a vain, self-important one. To his eternal regret, when a thief fled past him, he didn’t lift a finger to stop the thug, and days later discovered that his Uncle Ben has been murdered by the same criminal…

Crazy for vengeance, Parker stalked and captured the assailant who made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known. Since his social irresponsibility led to the death of the man who raised him, the boy swore to always use his powers to help others…

It wasn’t a new story, but the setting was familiar to every kid reading it and the artwork was downright spooky. no gleaming high-tech world of moon-rockets, mammoth monsters and flying cars here… this stuff could happen to anyone…

Amazing Fantasy #15 came out the same month as Tales to Astonish #35 – the first to feature the Astonishing Ant-Man in costume, but it was the last issue of Ditko’s Amazing playground. However, the tragic last-ditch tale struck a chord with the public and by year’s end a new comic book superstar launched in his own title, with Ditko eager to show what he could do with his first returning character since the demise of Charlton’s Captain Atom…

Holding on to the “Amazing” prefix to jog reader’ memories, the Amazing Spider-Man #1 hit newsstands in December sporting a March 1963 cover-date and two complete stories.

Sans frills or extras, the ongoing saga resumes here with Amazing Spider-Man #20. Ditko’s preference for tales of gangersterism drove the stories, but his plots also found plenty of time and room for science fictional fun , supervillain frolics and subplots involving Peter Parker’s disastrous love life and poverty-fuelled medical dramas involving always-on-the-edge-of-death Aunt May…

The wallcrawler had inexplicably become the whipping boy of publicity-hungry – and eventually obsessed – publisher J. Jonah Jameson, who bombarded the hero with libellous print assaults in newspaper the Daily Bugle. He was blithely unaware that the photos Parker sold him for his print attacks were paying Spider-Man’s bills…

With Amazing Spider-Man #20 and ‘The Coming of the Scorpion!’, Jameson let his compulsive hatred get the better of him: paying scientist Farley Stillwell to endow a private detective with insectoid-based superpowers. Unfortunately, the process drove mercenary Mac Gargan (originally commissioned to trail Parker and discover how the kid got all those exclusive photos) completely mad before he could capture Spidey, leaving the webspinner with yet another lethally dangerous meta-nutcase to deal with…

The issue closed with a stunning Marvel Masterwork Pin-up of ‘Peter Parker and Ol’ Webhead’…

A recurring humorous duel involved a rivalry between the Amazing Arachnid and fellow teen hero Johnny Storm – The Human Torch which reached new heights of hilarity in #21. ‘Where Flies the Beetle…!’ features a hilarious love triangle as the Torch’s girlfriend Doris Evans uses Peter Parker to make her flaming beau jealous. Unfortunately, the Beetle – a villain with high-tech insect-themed armour – is simultaneously stalking her: seeking bait for a trap. As ever, Spider-Man is simply in the wrong place at the right time, resulting in a spectacular fight-fest…

This issue also offers a stunning and much reprinted Ditko Marvel Masterwork Pin-up of ‘Spider-Man’ before ASM #22 preeeeeeeesents… ‘The Clown, and his Masters of Menace!’: affording a return engagement for the Circus of Crime with splendidly outré action and a lot of hearty laughs provided by increasingly irreplaceable supporting stars Aunt May, Peter’s girlfriend Betty Brant and J. Jonah Jameson, before #23 delivers a superb thriller blending the mundane mobster and thugs that Ditko loved to depict with the more outlandish threat of a supervillain attempting to take over all the city’s gangs.

‘The Goblin and the Gangsters’ is both moody and explosive, the supervillain’s plot foiled by a cunning competitor and the driven hero’s ceaseless energy, and this tale is complemented by a Ditko Marvel Masterwork Pin-up of ‘Spidey’ that Amazingly features all the supporting cast and every extant villain in his rogues’ gallery…

Another recurring plot strand debuted in #24, as a dark brooding tale had the troubled boy question his own sanity in ‘Spider-Man Goes Mad!’. This psychological stunner finds a clearly delusional wallcrawler seeking psychiatric help, but there is more to the matter than simple insanity, as an insidious old foe makes an unexpected return and employs psychological warfare to destroy…

Amazing Spider-Man #25 once again sees the Bugle’s obsessed publisher take matters into his own hands. ‘Captured by J. Jonah Jameson!’ introduces Professor Smythe – whose dynasty of robotic Spider-Slayers would bedevil the webslinger for years to come – hired by the bellicose newsman to remove Spider-Man for good.

Issues #26 and 27 comprised a captivating 2-part mystery exposing a deadly duel between the Green Goblin and an enigmatic new masked criminal. ‘The Man in the Crime-Master’s Mask!’ and ‘Bring Back my Goblin to Me!’ together form a perfect arachnid epic, with soap-opera melodrama and screwball comedy leavening tense crime-busting thrills and all-out action.

‘The Menace of the Molten Man!’ in #28 is a tale of science gone bad and remains remarkable today not only for the spectacular action sequences – and possibly the most striking Spider-Man cover ever produced – but also as the story in which Peter Parker finally graduates from High School.

Ditko was on peak form and fast enough to handle two monthly strips. At this time he was also blowing away audiences with another oddly tangential superhero. Two extremely disparate crusaders met in ‘The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!’: lead story in the second super-sized Spider-Man Annual (released in October 1965 filled out with vintage Spidey classics).

The entrancing fable unforgettably introduced the Amazing Arachnid to arcane other realities as he teamed up with the Master of the Mystic Arts to battle power-crazed mage Xandu in a phantasmagorical, dimension-hopping masterpiece involving ensorcelled zombie thugs and the stolen Wand of Watoomb. After this, it was clear that Spider-Man could work in any milieu and nothing could hold him back…

Also included here from that immensely impressive landmark are more Ditko pin-ups comprising ‘A Gallery of Spider-Man’s Most Famous Foes’ – highlighting such nefarious ne’er-do-wells as ‘The Circus of Crime’, The Scorpion’, ‘The Beetle’ ‘Jonah’s Robot’ and ‘The Crime-Master’. These delights are supplemented by a page of original art from ASM #27.

Full of energy, verve, pathos and laughs, gloriously short of post-modern angst and breast-beating, these immortal epics are something no serous fan can be without, and will make an ideal gift for any curious newcomer or nostalgic aficionado.

Happy Unbirthday Spidey and many, many more please…
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Showcase Presents Doom Patrol volume 2


By Arnold Drake, Bruno Premiani, Bob Brown & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-85768-077-8 (TPB)

In 1963 DC/National Comics converted a venerable anthology-mystery title – My Greatest Adventure – into a fringe superhero team-book with #80, introducing a startling squad of champions with their thematic roots still firmly planted in the B-movie monster films of the era which had for so long informed the tone and timbre of the parent title.

That aesthetic subtly shaped the progression of the strip – which took control of the title within months, prompting a title change to The Doom Patrol with #86 – and throughout a 6-year run made the series one of the most eerily innovative and incessantly hip reads of that generation. Happy 60th Anniversary, you “Fabulous Freaks”!

No traditional team of masked adventurers, the cast comprised a robot, a mummy and a 50-foot woman in a mini-skirt, united with and guided by a brusque, domineering, crippled mad scientist, all equally determined to prove themselves by fighting injustice their way…

Two relatively recent compilations are still awaiting a third and final edition to complete the reprint run, and this monochrome tome from 2010 might have to do for some time yet.

Should you be afflicted with the curse of a completist nature, Doom Patrol: The Silver Age volume 1 spans June 1963 to May 1965, re-presenting in full colour My Greatest Adventure #80-85 and Doom Patrol #86-95, whilst Doom Patrol: The Silver Age volume 2 covers June 1965-November 1966 via Doom Patrol #96-107, The Brave and the Bold #65 and Challengers of the Unknown #48. They’re both available digitally, but should you want a comprehensive read-through, that’s going to take a little more effort than we spoiled 21st Centurians are used to…

Spanning March 1966 to their radically bold demise in the September/October 1968 final issue, this quirky monochrome compilation collects their last exploits as seen in Doom Patrol #102 to 121: a landmark run that truly deserves better dissemination…

These creepy Costumed Dramas were especially enhanced by the superb skills of Italian artist Giordano Bruno Premiani, whose comfortably detailed, subtly representational illustration style made even the strangest situation frighteningly authentic and grimly believable.

As such, he was the perfect vehicle to squeeze every nuance of comedy and pathos from the captivatingly involved and grimly light-hearted scripts by Arnold Drake who always proffered a tantalising believably world for the outcast heroes to strive in.

Those damaged champions comprised competitive car racer Cliff Steele, but only after he’d had “died” in a horrific crash, with his undamaged brain transplanted into a fantastic mechanical body – without his knowledge or permission…

Test pilot Larry Trainor was trapped in an experimental stratospheric plane and become permanently radioactive, with the dubious benefit of gaining a semi-sentient energy avatar which could escape his body to perform incredible stunts …for up to a minute at a time. To pass safely amongst men, Trainor had to be perpetually wrapped in radiation-proof bandages.

Former movie star Rita Farr was exposed to mysterious gases on location. These gave her the unpredictable, initially uncontrolled ability to shrink or grow – in part or wholly – to incredible sizes.

The outcasts were brought together by brilliant, enigmatic Renaissance Man Niles Caulder who, as The Chief, sought to mould the solitary misfits into a force for good. The wheelchair-bound savant directed the trio of solitary strangers in many terrifying missions as they slowly grew into a uniquely bonded family…

Here – now firmly established in the heroic pantheon – The Doom Patrol join fellow outsiders The Challengers of the Unknown in #102’s ‘8 Against Eternity!’: battling murderous shape-shifter Multi-Man and his robotic allies as they seek to unleash a horde of zombies from a lost world upon modern humanity

Meanwhile, super-rich Steve Dayton – who had created a psycho-kinetic superhero persona Mento solely to woo and wed Rita, met outrageous, obnoxious Gar Logan. It was disgust at first sight, but neither the ruthless, driven billionaire authority figure nor wildly rebellious Beast Boy realised how their lives would soon entwine…

Whilst a toddler in Africa, Logan had contracted a rare disease. Although his scientist parents’ experimental cure beat the contagion before they died, it left him the colour of cabbage and able to change shape at will. A protracted storyline commenced in #100 wherein the secretive, chameleonic kid revealed how he was now an abused orphan being swindled out of his inheritance by his unscrupulous guardian Nicholas Galtry. The greedy, conniving accountant had even leased his emerald-hued charge to rogue scientists…

Rita especially had empathised with Gar’s plight and resolved to free him from Galtry whatever the cost…

DP #103 held two tales, beginning with a tragedy ensuing after Professor Randolph Ormsby sought the team’s aid for a space shot. When the doddery savant mutates into flaming monster ‘The Meteor Man’ it takes the entire patrol plus Beast Boy and Mento to save the day.

‘No Home for a Robot’, continues unpacking the Mechanical Man’s early days following Caulder’s implantation of Cliff’s brain into an artificial body. The shock had seemingly driven the patient crazy as Steele went on a city-wide rampage, hunted and hounded by the police. Here, the ferrous fugitive finds brief respite with his brother Randy, before realising that trouble would trail him anywhere…

DP #104 astounded everyone as Rita abruptly stopped refusing loathsome Steve to become ‘The Bride of the Doom Patrol!’ However, her star-stuffed wedding day is almost ruined when alien arch-foe Garguax and The Brotherhood of Evil crash the party to murder the groom. So unhappy are Cliff and Larry with Rita’s “betrayal” that they almost let them…

Even whilst indulging her new bride status in #105, Rita can’t abandon the team and joins them in tackling old elemental enemy Mr. 103 during a ‘Honeymoon of Terror!’ before back-up yarn ‘The Robot-Maker Must Die’ concludes Cliff Steele’s origin as the renegade attempts to kill the mystery surgeon who had imprisoned him in a metal hell… finally giving Caulder a chance to fix a long-term malfunction in Steele’s systems…

‘Blood Brothers!’ in #106 introduces domestic disharmony as Rita steadfastly refuses to be a good trophy wife: resuming the hunt for Mr. 103 with the rest of the DP. Her separate lives continue to intersect, however, when Galtry hires that elemental assassin to wipe Gar and his freakish allies off the books…

The back-up section shifts focus onto ‘The Private World of Negative Man’: recapitulating Larry Trainor’s doomed flight and the radioactive close encounter that turned him into a walking mummy. However, even after being allowed to walk amongst men again, the gregarious pilot finds himself utterly isolated and alone…

Doom Patrol #107 began an epic story-arc concerning ‘The War over Beast Boy!’ as Rita and Steve open legal proceedings to get Gar and his money away from Galtry. The embezzler responds by commencing a criminal campaign to beggar Dayton which inadvertently aligns him with the team’s greatest foes. Already distracted by the depredations of marauding automaton Ultimax, the hard-pressed heroes swiftly fall to the murderous mechanoid as Rita is banished to a barbaric sub-atomic universe…

The secret history of Negative Man resumes with ‘The Race Against Dr. Death!’ when fellow self-imposed outcast Dr. Drew draws the pilot into a scheme to destroy the human species which had cruelly excluded them both, before Larry’s ebony energy being demonstrates the incredible power it possesses by saving the world from fiery doom.

In #108, ‘Kid Disaster!’ sees Mento diminished and despatched to rescue Rita whilst Galtry’s allies reveal their true nature before ambushing and killing the entire team…

…Almost.

Despite only Caulder and Beast Boy remaining, our exceedingly odd couple nevertheless pull off a major medical miracle: reviving the heroes in time to endure the incredible attack of alien colossus ‘Mandred the Executioner!’ whilst Larry’s ‘Flight into Fear’ at the comic’s rear proves that Drew hasn’t finished with the itinerant Negative Man yet…

DP #110 wonderfully wraps up the Beast Boy saga as Galtry, Mandred and the Brotherhood marshal one last futile attack before the ‘Trial by Terror!’ finally finds Logan legally adopted by newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Dayton. Sadly, it’s a prelude to a titanic extraterrestrial invasion in #111, which heralds the arrival of ‘Zarox-13, Emperor of the Cosmos!’

The awesome overlord and his vanguard Garguax make short work of the Fabulous Freaks and, with all Earth imperilled, an unbelievable alliance forms, but not before ‘Neg Man’s Last Road!’ ends Trainor’s tale as the alienated aviator again battles Dr. Death, before joining a band of fellow outcasts in a bold new team venture…

Unbelievably, the uneasy alliance of the DP with The Brain, Monsieur Mallah and Madame Rouge as ‘Brothers in Blood!’ in #112 results in no betrayals and the last-minute defeat of the invincible aliens.

Moreover, although no rivalries were reconciled, a hint of romance does develop between two of the sworn foes, whilst at the back, untold tales of Beast Boy begin as ‘Waif of the Wilderness’ introduces millionaire doctors Mark and Marie Logan whose passion for charity took them to deepest Africa and into the sights of native witch-man Mobu who saw his powerbase crumbling…

When their toddler Gar contracts dread disease Sakutia, the parents’ radical treatment saves their child and grants him metamorphic abilities, but as they subsequently lose their lives in a river accident, the baby boy cannot understand their plight and blithely watches them die.

Orphaned and lonely, he inadvertently saves the life of a local chief with his animal antics and is adopted, …making of Mobu an implacable, impatient enemy…

Doom Patrol #113 pits the team against a malevolent mechanoid one-man army in ‘Who Dares to Challenge the Arsenal?’ but the real drama manifests in a subplot showing Caulder seeking to seduce schizophrenic Rouge away from the lure of wickedness and malign influence of the Brotherhood of Evil.

The issue includes another Beast Boy short as ‘The Diamonds of Destiny!’ finds two thieves kidnapping the amazing boy, just as concerned executor Nicholas Galtry takes ship for the Dark Continent to find the heir to his deceased employer’s millions…

DP #114 opens with the team aiding Soviet asylum seeker Anton Koravyk and becoming embroiled in a time-twisting fight against incredible caveman ‘Kor – the Conqueror!’ whilst Beast Boy segment ‘The Kid who was King of Crooks!’ sees toddler Gar turned into a thief in Johannesburg… until his Fagin-ish abductors have a fatal falling out…

The next issue debuts ‘The Mutant Master!’: pitting the team against three hideous, incomprehensibly powerful atomic atrocities resolved to eradicate the world which had cruelly treated them. Things might have fared better had not the Chief neglected his comrades in his obsessive – and at last successful – pursuit of Madame Rouge…

Also included is ‘General Beast Boy – of the Ape Brigade!’, wherein a Nazi war criminal is accidentally foiled by lost wanderer Gar. The madman’s loss is Galtry’s gain, however, as his search ends with the crook “rescuing” Logan and taking him back to safe, secure America…

The mutant maelstrom concludes in #116 as ‘Two to Get Ready… and Three to Die!’ features Caulder saving Earth from mutant-triggered obliteration to reap his reward in a passionate fling with the cured – but still fragile – Rouge.

The wheelchair wonder seizes centre stage in #117 as his neglect drives the team away, leaving him vulnerable to attack from a mystery man with a big grudge in ‘The Black Vulture!’, before a reunited squad deals with grotesque madman ‘Videx, Monarch of Light!’ even as the Brain challenges Caulder to return his stolen chattel Rouge. Nobody thought to ask her what she wanted, though, and that’s a fatal oversight…

Tastes were changing in the turbulent late 1960s and the series was in trouble. Superheroes were about to plunge into mass decline, and the creators addressed the problem head-on in #119: embracing psychedelic counter culture in a clever tale of supernal power, brainwashing and behaviour modification leaving the DP cowering ‘In the Shadow of the Great Guru!’…

An issue later they faced a furious Luddite’s ‘Rage of the Wrecker!’ when a crazed scientist declares war on technology – including the assorted bodies keeping Cliff alive…

The then-unthinkable occurred next and the series spectacularly, abruptly ended with what we all believed at the time to be ‘The Death of the Doom Patrol!’…

Faced with cancellation, Editor Murray Boltinoff and creators Drake & Premiani wrapped up all the long-running plot threads as spurned Madame Rouge goes off the deep end and declares war on both the Brain and Caulder’s “children”…

Blowing up the Brotherhood, she attacks the city until the DP remove themselves to an isolated island fortress. Even there they are not safe and her forces ambush them…

Captured and facing death, Rouge offers mercy if they abandon their principles and allow her to destroy a village of 14 complete strangers in their stead…

At a time when comics came and went with no fanfare and cancelled titles seldom provided any closure, the sacrifice and death of the Doom Patrol was a shocking event for us youngsters. We wouldn’t see anything like it again for decades – and never again with such style and impact…

With the edge of time and experience on my side, it’s obvious just how incredibly mature Drake & Premiani’s take on superheroes was, and these superbly engaging, frenetically fun and breathtakingly beautiful stories rightfully rank amongst the very best Fights ‘n’ Tights tales ever told.

Even the mercilessly exploitative many returns of the team since can’t diminish that incredible impact, and no fan of the genre or comic dramas in general should consider their superhero education complete until they’ve seen these classics. Let’s hope DC wise up quickly and release that final volume soon…
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 2010 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Deadman: Book Two


By Arnold Drake, Jack Miller, Bob Haney, Dennis O’Neil, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, George Tuska, George Roussos & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3388-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

As the 1960s ended, a massive superhero boom became a slow but certain bust, with formerly major successes no longer able to find enough readers to keep them alive. The appetite for superheroes was paling in favour of resurgent traditional genres. One rational editorial response was to reshape costumed characters to fit evolving contemporary tastes.

Publishers swiftly changed gears with even staid, cautious DC reacting rapidly: making over masked adventurers to fit a new landscape. Newly revised, revived features included roving mystic troubleshooter The Phantom Stranger and Golden Age colossus The Spectre, whilst established genres spawned atrocity-faced WWII spy Unknown Soldier and bounty hunter Jonah Hex, western avenger El Diablo and game-changing monster hero Swamp Thing, the vanguard of a torrent of new formats, anthologies and concepts.

Moreover, supernatural themes were shoehorned into superhero titles weathering the trend-storm. Arguably, the moment of surrender and change had arrived with the creation of Boston Brand in the autumn of “The Summer of Love”, when venerable science fiction anthology Strange Adventures was abruptly retooled as the haunted home of an angry ghost…

Without fanfare or warning, Deadman debuted in #205 (cover-dated October 1967), with this second collection (of five) proving that changing times and tastes demanded different defenders. This was one champion who was infinitely adaptable…

The previous volume revealed how the ghostly grouch was born by assassination and how his picaresque journey was primary steered by youthful, idealistic iconoclast Neal Adams. He was born on June 15th 1941 at Governors Island, New York City. The family were career military and Neal grew up on bases across the world. In the late 1950s, he studied at the High School of Industrial Art in Manhattan, graduating in 1959.

As the turbulent, Sixties began, he was a budding illustrator working in advertising, ghosting newspaper strips and seeking to break into comics. Whilst pursuing a career in “real” and “commercial” art, he did pages for Joe Simon at Archie Comics (The Fly and that red-headed kid, too) before becoming one of the youngest artists to co-create/illustrate a major licensed newspaper strip (Ben Casey – based on a popular TV medical drama). The neophyte’s attempts to break in at DC were not so successful…

Comic book fascination never faded, and as the decade progressed, Adams drifted back to National/DC: creating covers as inker or penciller. His chance came via anthological war comics:,he eventually found himself at the vanguard of a revolution in pictorial storytelling…

He made such a mark that decades later, DC celebrated his contributions by reprinting every piece of work Adams ever did for them in commemorative collections. Sadly, we’re still awaiting a definitive book of his horror comics and covers, and will probably never see his sterling efforts on licensed titles like Hot Wheels, The Adventures of Bob Hope and The Adventures of Jerry Lewis. That’s a real shame: they all display his wry facility for gag staging and personal drama…

Moreover, Adams was a tireless campaigner for creators’ rights, whose efforts finally secured some long-ignored liberties and rewards for the formerly invisible stars of comic books…

Preceded by Adams’ introduction ‘Why I Chose Deadman as My Project on my Summer Vacation’ – detailing the transition from Carmine Infantino to Adams on the series and its abrupt cancellation – the afterlife of a reluctant and selfish spectral stalwart resumes with Brave & Bold #79 (August/September 1968): heralding Adams’ assumption of interior art duties on that title and launching a groundbreaking run rewriting the rulebook for strip illustration.

Written by Bob Haney, ‘The Track of the Hook’ paired the Gotham Guardian with a justice-obsessed ghost. Former trapeze artist Brand was hunting his own killer, and his earthy human tragedy elevated Batman’s costume theatrics into deeper, more mature realms of drama and action. It was probably mainstream superhero fandom’s first glimpse of the ghost…

During this period, Adams was writing and illustrating Brand’s solo stories in Strange Adventures and although his consultation of the World’s Greatest Detective bore little useful progress it had provided the lonely ghost with a true point of human contact…

As a living “Deadman”, Brand had been star attraction of Hills Circus: lover of its reluctant owner Lorna Carling, and a secret guardian for the misfits it employed. That makeshift “family” included simple-minded strongman Tiny and Asian mystic Vashnu, but also had a few bad eggs too…

One fateful night, as soon as he started his act – 40 feet up and without a net – someone put a rifle slug into Brand’s heart…

Despite being dead before he hit the ground, Brand was scared and furious. Nobody could see or hear him screaming, and Vashnu babbled on that he was the chosen of Rama Kushna – the spirit of the universe. The unbelievable hokum proved horribly true as the entity contacted him, telling Brand he would walk among men until he found his killer…

The sentence came with some advantages: he was invisible, untouchable, immune to the laws of physics and able to possess living bodies and drive them like a car. His only clue was that witnesses claimed that a man with a hook had shot him…

Outraged, still disbelieving and seemingly stuck forever in the ghastly make-up and outfit of his performing persona, Boston began a random investigation of everyone he could think of who might want him gone. Gradually, small petty miscreants and human-scaled sins gave way to a fantastic global conspiracy…

Early stories focused on people worn by Brand in episodic encounters mimicking the protagonist of contemporary TV series The Fugitive – and by extension, Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. That search for personal justice took him all across America to the benefit of many people in crisis but, as pieces fitted together, Brand learned he had been singled out for a dark destiny…

Back in Strange Adventures # 214 (cover-dated September/October 1968). Robert Kanigher scripted To Haunt a Killer’ as Brand is seduced by loneliness into sharing the romantic experiences of Phil and his lovely girlfriend Ruth. That salacious intrusion sours once Brand discovers his new meat suit is a hitman and his overreaction almost cost innocent Ruth everything…

When Adams returns to full control in #215, the narrative arc takes a huge leap forward as ‘A New Lease on Death’ accidentally drops his killer in his lap. Witnessing a murder, Deadman trails the shooter all the way to Hong Kong where he exposes an ancient, super-advanced League of Assassins and discovers the truly trivial reason for his own extinction…

Furiously questioning ‘Can Vengeance Be So Hollow?’, Brand meets for the first time killer mystic The Sensei – a master murderer who has dealt with ghosts before and experiences the end of the Hook…

When the sinister sage executes Boston’s death-long quarry, Rama Kushna asks if a balance has been struck before capitalising on Brand’s furious negative response. Boston demands true justice for everyone and inadvertently elects himself the agent of its enactment in ‘But I Still Exist’…

The drama opens Strange Adventures #216 (January/February 1969), as the grim ghost seeks to disrupt the Sensei’s next scheme: the violent erasure of a fanciful Tibetan Shangri La. Nanda Parbat is a sanctuary for the wicked where his murderous recruits and other fallen folk live in inexplicable peace, harmony and safety. Such a paradise is bad for the business of murder…

Deadman’s efforts to save the city from invasion initially falter when he flies in and suddenly becomes a living, breathing person again…

And that’s where the story ended as his Strange Adventures run ended without warning. The next issue began reprints of Adam Strange and The Atomic Knights as the title reverted to is sci fi roots…

Although his own series had stalled, Deadman stuck around as a perennial walk-on (float-on?) star in many titles, beginning with a return engagement with Batman as the year ended. The Brave & the Bold #86 (October/November 1969) found Boston Brand back in Gotham City, where a string of civilian strangers inexplicably targeted the Caped Crimebuster. The “World’s Greatest Detective” soon deduced that they were possessed by his former ally and that ‘You Can’t Hide from a Deadman!’

Scripted by Haney, the captivating epic of death, redemption and resurrection pulled together all the floating strands from Deadman’s anticlimactic last issue in a classic clash that became a cornerstone of Bat-mythology forever after. Here, Adams’ concepts and art revealed how Nanda Parbat was under attack by the Sensei’s forces, and how Brand had been briefly brainwashed to attack the Gotham Guardian, in advance of a last-ditch defence of the holy city by the Dark Knight and Deadman’s possessed twin brother Cleveland Brand…

Deadman rematerialized mere months later in a triptych of back-up tales interwoven into a larger but no-less-revolutionary Aquaman storyline (for the full story see Aquaman: Deadly Waters link please) wherein the Sea King is despatched to a Microverse by aliens working with super villain Ocean Master: a plot accidentally uncovered by Brand, when guilt drags him from a life of solid recuperation back to the intangible quest for cosmic justice…

Here, from Aquaman #50-52 (spanning March/April – July/August 1970), ‘Deadman Rides Again!’ in supplemental tales written and illustrated by Adams: a complex braided crossover as Aquaman endures bizarre threats and incomprehensible rituals in his exile realm, whilst Brand acts invisibly and intangibly to save the hero and prevent an alien invasion.

‘The World Cannot Wait for a Deadman’ sees the spirit flitting between dimensions with shapeshifting enigma Tatsinda, before parallel plots converge and complete when ‘Never Underestimate a Deadman’ sees the extraterrestrials beaten by the ghost and his new pal…

Deadman’s harrowing haunting dramas pause – for now – with another non-team-up from Challengers of the Unknown #74 (cover-dated June/July 1970). A far eerier affair tailored to the rise in supernatural terror tales, ‘To Call a Deadman’ is written by Dennis O’Neil, with George Tuska limning scenes featuring the still-breathing “Death-Cheaters”, whilst Adams illustrated those portions focussed on Brand as he imperceptibly aids them in thwarting an ethereal psychic kidnapper seeking to steal a little girl’s spirit. The chilling thriller also guest-stars hardboiled private eye Jonny Double and everyone is needed to defeat the ghastly menace…

With groundbreaking covers by Adams and Biographies of key ‘Contributors’ Adams, Haney, Kanigher, O’Neil and Tuska, this graphic grimoire perfectly captures the tone of an era in transition through a delirious run of comics masterpieces that no ardent art lover or fanatical fear aficionado can do without.
© 1968, 1969, 1970, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Question: Pipeline


By Greg Rucka, Cully Hamner, Laura Martin, Dave McCaig & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3041-8 (TPB)

As created by Steve Ditko, The Question was Vic Sage: a driven, obsessed journalist who sought out crime and corruption irrespective of the consequences. The Charlton Comics “Action-Hero” line was acquired by DC – along with a host of other cool and quirky outsiders – when the B-List company folded in 1983, and the ultimate loner became the template for the compulsive vigilante Rorschach when Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons first drafted the miniseries which would become Watchmen.

An ordinary man pushed to the edge by his upbringing and obsessions, Sage used his fists and a mask that made him look faceless to get answers (and, consequently, justice) whenever normal journalistic methods failed.

After a few minor successes around the DC universe Sage got a job in the town where he grew up. Hub City (purportedly based on East St. Louis) was a true urban hell-hole: the most corrupt and morally bankrupt municipality in America. When Sage started cleaning house as his faceless alter ego, he was promptly killed, rescued and resurrected by the inscrutable Shiva – “World’s Deadliest Assassin”.

Crippled, Sage journeyed into the wilderness to be healed and trained by Denny O’Neil’s other legendary martial arts creation, Richard Dragon.

Eventually, a new kind of hero resurfaced in Hub City, philosophically inquisitive rather than merely angry and frustrated, but still cursed with a drive to understand how and why things universally go bad. Aligning himself with his old intellectual mentor and ethical sounding board Professor Aristotle Rodor, Sage set about cleaning up “The Hub” and finally getting a few answers…

Spinning out of DC’s 52 (2006-2007) and Countdown to Final Crisis (2007-2008) mega-events, disgraced Gotham City cop Renee Montoya was selected and trained to take up the faceless mask and obsessions of the shadowy hero when Sage slowly succumbed to cancer.

First as his disciple and then as his heir (and after being masterfully schooled in martial arts by Dragon) she took up Sage’s quest. Montoya was soon drawn into a secret war with the passionate adherents of a malign “gospel of All Things Evil” alternatively known as the Books of Blood or the Crime Bible.

This legendary antithetical tract was said to counter all that is good in the world: justifying and codifying all that is wrong. Driven by a need to understand the evils she fights and stop the spread of this monstrous belief, the new Question hunted down the remaining copies of the book and the distinct factions which protected them and promoted the terrible teachings.

Her path eventually pitted her against the secret master of the “Dark Faith”: immortal Vandal Savage, who was believed by many to be the human species’ first murderer…

Collecting a stunning back-up series originally from Detective Comics #854-865 (August 2009 to July 2010), this globe-girdling saga of corruption and depravity is by writer Greg Rucka, illustrator Cully Hamner and colourists Laura Martin & Dave McCaig opens in the aftermath of that apocalyptic confrontation.

Montoya and inherited ally “Tot” Rodor are ensconced in their desolate lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, looking for a new case: sorting through emails from a “help-offered” website they’d set up…

Eventually, a particular message catches Renee’s eye. Hector Soliz is an illegal immigrant who has searched for his sister ever since she went missing. He foolishly trusted the “coyote” who originally smuggled him into America to do the same for Louisa, but never took into account that, for men like Varga, pretty young girls have a value far beyond simple cargo to be smuggled across a closed border…

Taking the case, Renee is soon breaking into the flesh peddler’s home and dealing harshly with Varga’s brutal thugs. There she finds a bed with chains and a camera set-up…

After undergoing some especially intense enquiries, the coyote gives up the name of the man he eventually sold Louisa to: millionaire shipping exporter Gordon Chandless.

Gettng into the businessman’s palatial HQ isn’t much harder, but overconfidence costs The Question dearly when she is surprised and overpowered by hulking bodyguard Mr. Bolt and his handy tasers…

Unable to pry any answers from his faceless captive, Chandless opts for her quiet removal, and by the time The Question escapes a watery death-trap and returns in a very bad mood, the wily trafficker is already gone…

Painfully aware that she’s tracking an evil enterprise of vast proportions, Renee uses Tot’s data-mining skills to track the mogul of misery to a luxury Hollywood lair: going in blazing, and utterly disdainful of his army of heavies. They might be unable to stop the implacable Question, but two of them are capable enough to kill their own boss at the clandestine command of his master…

Despite being back at square one in regard to the criminal hierarchy, Renee now has a location on a certain container vessel ready to ship out with a new cargo of slaves. Righteous indignation, cold fury and lucky intervention by the FBI soon sees all the victims safe and free – including little Louisa Soliz…

‘Pipeline: Chapter Two’ moves the story on as The Question continues her crusade to destroy the trafficking empire: slowly and violently working her way up a chain of scum and crushing individual enterprises whilst inexorably zeroing in on the major player behind the network of sin and misery…

Such costly interventions prompt the mystery leader to fight back hard, and during her raid on a top-of-the-range hot car franchise, bad guys retaliate with a devious and deadly ambush of their own. That’s when Montoya’s secret weapon makes her presence known and the crooks all end up maimed or worse at the hand of the relentless unforgiving Huntress…

Helena Bertinelli was mob royalty but, following the type of massacre considered an occupational hazard for “The Family”, she disappeared. The only survivor of a major hit, she trained: becoming a masked avenger mercilessly punishing all gangsters, whilst defending ordinary folk. She especially despises those who prey on children…

Huntress and The Question continue busting rackets across the world, methodically dismantling the network whilst climbing the ladder to the big boss. They finally provoke an overwhelming response in the form of super-assassin Zeiss.

It’s all part of a deeper plan conceived by the vengeful vigilantes, who promptly co-opt the mercenary killer to give up his unassailable paymaster. However, their tactics revolt Tot and the elderly scholar resigns.

Undeterred, but now deprived of crucial technical support, the determined duo head for Gotham City where Helena introduces The Question to the top-secret leader of the all-female super-team known as the Birds of Prey. Former GCPD detective Montoya cannot believe that Commissioner Gordon’s mousey dweeb daughter Barbara was once Batgirl and is now covert anti-crime mastermind Oracle…

Her irresistible cyber-probing soon has the duo invading an underworld server-farm in Odessa which – after a studied application of maximum force – provides a money trail to the Pipeline overlord. Sadly, when they sneak onto Oolong Island, they walk straight into a trap…

The rogue state is the ultimate expression of Capitalism. Populated by criminals and mad scientists of many nations, it maintains its precarious independence by selling proscribed technologies to anyone with money, proudly free from the annoying oversight of law or hindrance of morality…

President-for-Life Veronica Cale starts by torturing her captive heroes, but after debating with The Question, soon sees that the most profit doesn’t necessarily stem from staying bought…

Soon, Montoya and Bertinelli are on the final stretch: sneaking into Syria and invading the stronghold of the man who has turned humans into commodities and exported sin and horror on a global scale. Unfortunately, the wickedest man alive is ready and waiting for them…

The cataclysmic ultimate confrontation is as much theosophical debate as brutal beat-down, and in the final reckoning the allies must become enemies for the best possible reasons before finding anything approaching an acceptable answer to their dilemmas…

Moody, fast-paced, challenging and astoundingly action-packed, this stylish book also offers a hugely engaging ‘Sketchbook’ section from Cully Hamner, offering developmental glimpses into his evolution of the characters; a fascinating 8 pages of layouts and roughs and amazing set designs for story-locations which will delight and amaze all lovers of comic art.

Compelling and breathtaking, Pipeline exposes the dark underbelly of mainstream Fights ‘n’ Tights comics, proving that you don’t need graphic excess to tell hard-hitting tales.

© 2009, 2010, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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S.H.I.E.L.D. volume 1: Perfect Bullets


By Mark Waid, Carlo Pacheco, Humberto Ramos, Alan Davis, Chris Sprouse, Mike Choi, Chris Renaud & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9362-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Just as the 1960s espionage fad was taking off, inspired by the James Bond films and TV shows like Danger Man, war hero Nick Fury “re-debuted” in Fantastic Four #21 as a spy.

That was December 1963 – between issues #4 and 5 of his own blistering battle mag – where the perpetually grizzled warrior was re-imagined as a cunning CIA colonel lurking at the periphery of big adventures, craftily manipulating the First Family of Marvel superheroes into taking on a racist demagogue with a world-shattering secret…

Fury was already the star of the little company’s only war comic: Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, an improbable and decidedly over-the-top, wild WWII-situated series similar in tone to later movies like The Magnificent Seven, Wild Bunch and The Dirty Dozen.

With spy stories globally going gonzo in the wake of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the veteran’s elder iteration was given a second series (launching in Strange Tales #135, August 1965), set in the then-present. Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. combined Cold War tensions and sinister schemes of World Conquest by hidden, subversive all-encompassing enemy organisation Hydra, graphically gift-wrapped with captivating Kirby-designed super-science gadgets and explosive high energy. It was set solidly at the heart of the slowly burgeoning Marvel Universe…

Once iconic imagineer Jim Steranko took charge, layering in a sleek, ultra-sophisticated edge of trend-setting drama, the series became one of the best and most visually innovative strips in America, if not the world.

When the writer/artist Steranko left and the spy-fad faded, the whole concept simply withdrew into the background architecture of the Marvel Universe: occasionally resurfacing in new series but growing increasingly uncomfortable to read as the role of spooks “on our side” became ever more debased in a world where covert agencies were continually exposed as manipulative, out-of-control tools of subversion and oppression.

In 1989, a 6-issue prestige format limited series reinvigorated the concept. As a company targeting the youth-oriented markets, Marvel had experienced problems with their in-house clandestine organisation. In almost all of their other titles, US agents and “the Feds” were usually the bad guys. Author Bob Harras employed this theme as well as the oddly quirky self-referential fact that nobody aged in comic continuity to play games with the readers…

Here, Fury had discovered that everybody in his organisation had been “turned” and was now an actual threat to freedom and democracy. With his core beliefs and principle of leading “the Good Guys” betrayed and destroyed, he went on the run, hunted by Earth’s most powerful covert agency, but with all the resources he’d devised and utilised now turned against him.

Part of the resolution saw S.H.I.E.L.D. reinvented for the 1990s: a leaner, cleaner, organisation, notionally acting under UN mandate, and proactive throughout the Marvel Universe. Moreover, Fury’s taste of betrayal and well-planted seeds of doubt and mistrust never went away…

Following numerous global crises – including a superhero Civil War – Fury was replaced as director. His successor – Tony Stark – proved to be inadequate and a huge mistake. Following an alien invasion by Skrulls, the organisation was mothballed: replaced by the manically dynamic Norman Osborn and his fanatically loyal H.A.M.M.E.R. project. As America’s top Fed, he was specifically tasked with curbing the unchecked power and threat of the burgeoning metahuman community.

Osborn’s ascent was an even bigger error. As America’s Director of National Security, the former Green Goblin and not-really-recovering psychopath instituted a draconian “Dark Reign” of oppressive, aggressive policies which turned the nation into a paranoid tinderbox.

This spectacularly poor choice was, however, also directing a cabal of the world’s greatest criminals and conquerors intent on divvying up the planet between them. The repercussions of Osborn’s rise and fall were felt throughout and featured in many series and collections throughout the entire fictive continuity. His brief rule also drastically shook up the entrenched secret powers of the planet and his ultimate defeat destabilised many previously unassailable empires…

Fury, an old man driven by duty, fuelled by suspicion and powered by a serum which kept him vital far beyond his years, didn’t go away. He just went deep undercover to continue doing what he’d always done: save the world, one battle at a time. Even after Osborn was gone, Fury stayed buried, preferring to fight battles his way and with assets and resources he’d personally acquired and clandestinely built…

Since the concept became an integral part of Marvel’s cinematic and TV universe, the comics division has laboured to find a way to rationalise their two wildly dissimilar iterations of S.H.I.E.L.D. In 2015 scripter Mark Waid and a rotating squad of illustrators finally settled on a way to square that circle…

S.H.I.E.L.D. – now the acronym for Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division – is a major player in defending humanity from the unimaginable, but movie icon Phil Coulson, his core TV team of Melinda May, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, plus hybrid versions of print-turned-screen stars like Bobbi (Mockingbird) Morse have been deftly hived off into their own niche of comic book continuity. Here Coulson runs an official sub-agency where – supplemented by S.H.I.E.L.D. resources – his own geekishly vast and deep knowledge of metahuman trivia and contacts with the entire super-heroic community combine to tackle unnatural crises on a case-by-case basis…

The result is a fresh and supremely appetising blend of spies, sinister secret villains and super folk that is a joy to behold…

Collecting issues #1-6 of the breakthrough series (technically S.H.I.E.L.D. volume 3, spanning February to July 2015, if you’re keeping count) this tome commences with the eponymous ‘Perfect Bullets’ (illustrated by Carlos Pacheco, Mariano Taibo & Jason Paz, and Dono Sanchez Almara providing the colours) as S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Ops Supreme Commander Coulson rallies a barely wet-behind-the-ears unit to tackle a middle-eastern terrorist who has somehow latched onto a magic sword allowing him to summon all the monsters of mythology to batter the Earth.

As all the planet’s public superheroes wage a losing war against the invasion of gargantuan terrors, Coulson’s unit rapidly identifies the blade’s true owner before deploying the two ideal superheroes able to counter its threat…

Sadly, however, with the sword restored to its rightful place and wielder, a hidden extra-dimensional presence is unleashed, forcing Coulson to improvise a final solution…

Then, adding funny to the fast and furious, a brace of comedic shorts follows. Crafted by Joe Quesada and starring boy-genius Fitz and his digital avatar H.E.N.R.Y., these strips were originally concocted to amuse the cast and crew of the TV show…

The all-comic book action resumes with ‘The Animator’ (art by Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazabo & Edgar Delgado) as Xenobiology specialist Simmons is sent undercover to a High School in Jersey City to crack a smuggling ring. Of course, as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Ops mission, the contraband being sought is not drugs of guns or something equally mundane, but rather weapons and tech stolen from super-villains.

Everything instantly goes bad when a Wizard power-glove stashed in a locker spontaneously activates, causing a riot. Thankfully, fresh new Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan is a student at the beleaguered institution and steps up, impressing Coulson in the process…

Sadly, it’s not the only crisis on campus, as bio-plasm from genetic meddler Arnim Zola infects the cafeteria food, turning hungry kids into ravenous horrors.

With that catastrophe stomach-churningly averted, Fitz and H.E.N.R.Y. make another mirthful appearance before Alan Davis, Mark Farmer and colourist Matthew Wilson make the pictures for ‘Home Invasion’ as Coulson, Spider-Man and mystic parolee Mr. Rasputin break into the bewitched citadel of Doctor Strange, confronting mystic mercenaries hired to plunder the storehouse of its magical wonders.

The thieves think they have it covered but their meddling unleashes forces imperilling all of Earth. Moreover, in the aftermath, Coulson sees something which sets him thinking that one hand might be behind the many threats his team has recently tackled…

After another delightful Fitz and H.E.N.R.Y. escapade, Chris Sprouse, Carl Story & Almara illustrate a deeply disturbing tale as Invisible Woman Susan Richards is seconded to the Special Ops unit to save a reluctant Hydra informant from a radioactive prison five miles underground. Sadly, as ‘Fuel’ unfolds she discovers the truly vicious duplicity of her opponents and endures cruel whims of fate as the Mole Man attacks everybody and Coulson is forced to intervene before atomic Armageddon ensues…

The fifth instalment begins drawing disparate plot points together as Earth’s mystics and supernatural champions are systematically gunned down by an assassin firing purpose-built ‘Magic Bullets’ (with art by Mike Choi and colourist Rachelle Rosenberg)…

With his resources reduced to the Scarlet Witch and professional sceptics Fitz & Simmons, Coulson uncovers a connection to Asgard and a mystery magical mastermind, only to have his team supernaturally suborned as the hidden manipulator makes his long-anticipated move…

This immensely entertaining epic concludes as Earth is afflicted with an arcane plague transforming humanity into mindless monsters, compelling Coulson to assemble a squad of intellect-deficient atrocities – Zombie Simon Garth, The Living Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster and Man-Thing – into an all-new unit of Howling Commandos to invade the ‘Dark Dimensions’ (illustrated by Paul Renaud & Romulo Farjado, Jr.) to stop the contagion and its creator at the source.

…And, because he’s the sneaky bastard he is, Coulson also takes along a secret weapon: the last villain anyone might expect to save the universe…

Fast-paced, action-packed, imaginative, thrilling, funny and superbly illuminated throughout, Perfect Bullets offers fantastic enjoyment for any Fights ‘n’ Tights fan with a smattering of Marvel history in their heads, but will especially reward any TV devotee willing to peek into the convoluted comic book universe all modern movie Marvels sprang from.
© 2015 Marvel Characters. All rights reserved.

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Batman & Superman in World’s Finest Comics: The Silver Age volume 1


By Edmond Hamilton, Bill Finger, Alvin Schwartz, Curt Swan, Dick Sprang, Stan Kaye, John Fischetti, Charles Paris, Ray Burnley & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6833-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

Some things were just meant to be: Bacon & Eggs, Rhubarb & Custard, Chalk & Cheese…

For many years Superman and Batman worked together as the “World’s Finest team”. They were friends as well as colleagues and the pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes (in effect, the company’s only costumed superstars) could cross-pollinate and, more importantly, cross-sell their combined readerships.

This most inevitable of Paladin Pairings first occurred on the Superman radio show in the early 1940s, whereas in comics the pair had only briefly met whilst on a Justice Society of America adventure in All-Star Comics #36 (August-September 1947) – and perhaps even there, they missed each other in the gaudy hubbub…

Of course, they had shared the covers of World’s Finest Comics from the outset, despite never crossing paths inside: sticking firmly to their specified solo adventures within. For us pictorial continuity buffs, the climactic real first time was in the pages of Superman’s own bi-monthly comic (#76, May/June 1952).

That yarn kicks off this stunning compendium of Silver Age solid gold, accompanied here by the lead story from World’s Finest Comics #71 through 94; spanning July/August 1954 to May/June 1958.

Science fiction author Edmond Hamilton was tasked with revealing how Man of Steel and Caped Crusader first met – and accidentally uncovered each other’s identities – whilst sharing a cabin on an over-booked cruise liner. Although an average crime-stopper yarn, it was the start of a phenomenon. The art for ‘The Mightiest Team in the World’ was by the brilliant Curt Swan and inkers John Fischetti & Stan Kaye.

With dwindling page counts, rising costs but a proven readership and years of co-starring but never mingling, World’s Finest Comics #71 presented the Man of Tomorrow and Gotham Gangbuster in the first of their official shared cases wherein the Caped Crusader became ‘Batman – Double for Superman!’ (by Alvin Schwartz, with Swan & Kaye providing pictures) as the merely mortal hero trades identities to preserve his comrade’s alter ego and – latterly – his life…

‘Fort Crime!’ (Schwartz, Swan & Kaye) has them unite to crush a highly-organised mob with a seemingly impregnable hideout, after which Hamilton returned for ‘Superman and Batman, Swamis Inc.’, a sharp sting-operation that almost goes tragically awry. Next, an alien invader prompts insane rivalry resulting in ‘The Contest of Heroes’ (Bill Finger, Swan & Kaye, in WFC #74.

The same creative team produced ‘Superman and Robin!’ wherein a disabled Batman can only fret and fume as his erstwhile assistant seemingly dumps him for a better man, whilst ‘When Gotham City Challenged Metropolis’ (by Hamilton, Swan & Charles Paris) catches the champions at odds as their hometowns over-aggressively vie for a multi-million-dollar electronics convention.

A landmark tale by Hamilton, Swan & Kaye invented a new sub-genre when a mad scientist’s accident temporarily removes the Caped Kryptonian’s powers and creates ‘The Super Bat-Man!’ in #77. The theme would be revisited for decades to come…

Arguably Batman’s greatest illustrator joined the creative crew ‘When Superman’s Identity is Exposed!’ (by Hamilton, Dick Sprang & Kaye) as a mysterious source keeps revealing the Man of Steel’s greatest secret, only to be exposed as a well-intentioned disinformation stunt. The tone switches to high adventure as the trio become ‘The Three Musicians of Bagdad’ – a stunning time-travel romp from Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye – after which the Gotham Gazette faces closure days before a spectacular crime-expose, and Clark Kent and Lois Lane join dilettante Bruce Wayne as pinch-hitting reporters on ‘The Super-Newspaper of Gotham City’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Charles Paris). Then, ‘The True History of Superman and Batman’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye, #81) finds a future historian blackmailing the heroes into restaging their greatest exploits so his erroneous treatise on them will be accurate…

Hamilton also produced a magnificent and classy costumed drama when ‘The Three Super-Musketeers!’ visit 17th century France to solve the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask, whilst Finger wrote a brilliant and delightful caper-without-a-crime in ‘The Case of the Mother Goose Mystery!’ after which Hamilton provides insight on a much earlier meeting of the World’s Finest Team with ‘The Super-Mystery of Metropolis!’ in #84, all for Sprang & Kaye to enticingly illustrate.

Hamilton, Swan, Sprang & Kaye demonstrate how a comely Ruritanian Princess inadvertently turns the level-headed heroes into ‘The Super-Rivals (or does she?), before monolithic charity-event ‘The Super-Show of Gotham City’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) nearly turns into a mammoth pay-day for unscrupulous con-men.

‘The Reversed Heroes’ (Finger, Sprang & Ray Burnley) once again catches the costumed champions swapping roles after Batman and Robin gain powers thanks to Kryptonian pep-pills found by criminal Elton Craig, ironically just as Superman’s powers fade…

As conceived by Hamilton, Sprang, Kaye, World’s Finest #87 revealed ‘Superman and Batman’s Greatest Foes!’ with “reformed” villains Lex Luthor and The Joker ostensibly setting up in the commercial robot business – which nobody really believed – after which seminal sequel ‘The Club of Heroes’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) reprised a meeting of Batmen from many nations, but added an intriguing sub-plot of an amnesiac Superman and a brand-new costumed champion…

That originating tale appeared in Detective Comics #215, January 1955 becoming a key plank of Grant Morrison’s epic Batman: The Black Glove serial: you should read that one too…

That evergreen power-swap plot was revived in #90’s ‘The Super-Batwoman’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) when the “headstrong heroine” defies Batman to resume her costumed career and is quickly compelled to swallow Elton Craig’s last Krypton pill to prevent criminals getting it…

A stirring time-busting saga of ‘The Three Super-Sleepers’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) sees our heroes fall into a trap causing them to slumber for 1000 years and awaken in a fantastic world they can never escape, but of course they can and – once back where they belonged – ‘The Boy from Outer Space!’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) details how a super-powered amnesiac kid crashes to Earth and briefly becomes Superman’s sidekick Skyboy, even as ‘The Boss of Superman and Batman’ (author unknown, but impeccably illustrated as always by Sprang & Kaye) sees a brain-amplifying machine turn Robin into a super-genius more than qualified to lead the trio in their battle against insidious rogue scientist Victor Danning…

Wrapping up this initial compendium with comfortable circularity, the Man of Tomorrow replaces the Caped Crusader with a new partner and provokes a review of ‘The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team’ courtesy of Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye, suspending these supremely enticing Fights ‘n’ Tights triumphs on an epic high.

These are gloriously clever yet uncomplicated tales whose dazzling style has returned to inform if not dictate the form for much of DC’s modern television animation – especially the fabulous Batman: The Brave and the Bold series – and the contents of this titanic tome are a veritable feast of witty, charming thrillers packing as much punch and wonder now as they always have.
© 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Annihilation Classic


By Todd Dezago, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Marv Wolfman, Mark Gruenwald, Bill Mantlo, Doug Moench, Scott Edelman, Roy Thomas, Pat Broderick, Fred Hembeck, Derec Aucoin, Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Paul Ryan, Mike Mignola, Tom Sutton, Mike Zeck, Gil Kane & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3410-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

With the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie set to open on May 5th, here’s a brief reminder of what comics did to inspire the phenomenon: still a grand example of cosmic hero wonderment…

Annihilation was another of those company-wide publishing events that “Changed the Marvel Universe Forever” (and don’t they all?). which ran for most of 2006, involving most of the House of Ideas’ outer space outposts and cosmic characters. Among the stalwarts in play were Silver Surfer, Galactus, Firelord, Moondragon, Quasar, Star-Lord, Thanos, Super-Skrull, Gamora, Ronan the Accuser, Nova, Drax the Destroyer, The Watchers and a host of alien civilisations such as the Kree, Skrulls, Xandarians, Shi’ar, et al, all falling before an invasion of rapacious Negative Zone bugs and beasties unleashed by the insectoid horror Annihilus.

If you’re new to the Marvel universe and that bewildering list of daunting data didn’t leave you screaming in frustration, then please read on…

As is usual in these public herd-thinnings, a number of good guys and bad died and had their trademark assumed by newer, glitzier models whilst some moribund careers got a successful and overdue shot in the arm…

The event spawned a number of specials, miniseries and new titles (subsequently collected as three volumes plus this Annihilation Classic compilation reprinting key and origin appearances of some major players) and led to follow-up event Annihilation: Conquest. Of particular interest to fun-loving screen-watchers might be early appearances of Galaxy Guardians Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Starlord and Adam Warlock…

This sharp selection comprises of and contains pertinent material from Bug #1, (March 1997), Tales to Astonish #13, (December 1960), Nova #1, (September 1976), Quasar #1 (October 1989), Rocket Raccoon #1-4 (May-August 1995) ,Marvel Spotlight #6 (May 1980), Logan’s Run #6 (June 1977) and Marvel Premiere #1 (April 1972) and opens with the frenetic and light-hearted solo outing for Galactic Warrior Bug (originally a cheeky stalwart from the 1970’s toy-license phenomenon Micronauts)…

In ‘Apples and Oranges’ by Tod Dezago, Derec Aucoin, Rich Farber & Ralph Cabrera, the insectivorid from the Microverse accidentally clashes with all-consuming cosmic menace Annihilus and gets stuck in a time/space warp.

Bounced around the history of the Marvel Universe, the warring weirdoes reveal their unheralded contributions to the origin stories of a number of the company’s greatest stars before Bug finally triumphs…

With accompanying pinup by Pat Broderick and hilarious game pages by Fred Hembeck including ‘Bug’s Brain-Tik-lers’, ‘The Help Bug Right the Time/Space Continuum Board Game’, ‘What’s Wrong with This Picture?’ and ‘Bug’s Catch-All Activity Page’, this is a splendidly engaging and irreverent treat, followed by an absolute classic of the gloriously whacky “Kirby Kritter” genre as a humble biologist saved earth from a rapacious walking tree in ‘I Challenged Groot! The Monster from Planet X!’ (Tales to Astonish #13 by Stan Lee/Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers).

Next to grab the spotlight is The Man Called Nova who was in fact a boy named Richard Rider. A working-class nebbish in the tradition of Peter Parker – except he was good at sports and bad at learning – Rich attended Harry S. Truman High School, where his strict dad was the principal. His mom worked as a police dispatcher and he had a younger brother, Robert, who was a bit of a genius. Other superficial differences to the Spider-Man canon included girlfriend Ginger and best friends Bernie and Caps, but Rich did have his own school bully, Mike Burley…

An earlier version, “Black Nova” had apparently appeared in the author Marv Wolfman’s fan-mag Super Adventures in 1966 (produced with fellow writer Len Wein), but following a few revisions and artistic make-over by the legendary John Romita (Senior) the Human Rocket launched into the Marvel Universe in his own title, beginning in September 1976, ably supported by the illustration A-Team of John Buscema & Joe Sinnott.

‘Nova’ – borrowing heavily from DC’s Silver Age Green Lantern franchise as well as Spider-Man’s origin – is structured like a classic 4-chapter Lee/Kirby early Fantastic Four fable, and rapidly introduced its large cast before quickly zipping to the life-changing moment in Rider’s life when a star-ship with a dying alien aboard transferred to the lad all the mighty powers of an extraterrestrial peacekeeper and warrior.

Rhomann Dey tracked a deadly marauder to Earth. Zorr had already destroyed the idyllic world of Xandar, but the severely wounded vengeance-seeking Nova Prime was too near death and could not avenge the genocide. Trusting to fate, Dey beams his powers and abilities towards the planet below where Rider is struck by the energy bolt and plunged into a coma. On awakening the teen realises he has gained awesome powers …and the responsibilities of the last Nova Centurion…

Wendell Vaughn debuted in 1977 as S.H.I.E.L.D. super-agent Marvel Boy (Captain America #217), graduating and rebranding as Quasar during a stint as security chief of Project Pegasus during the early 1980s. He finally got an origin with his own title Quasar #1 (cover-dated October 1989).

He learned ‘The Price of Power!’ courtesy of Mark Gruenwald, Paul Ryan & Danny Bulanadi in a rousing romp wherein he washes out of agent training for lack of a killer instinct. Whilst acting in a security detail, Wendell dons alien quantum wrist-bands to stop them being stolen by AIM, even though they had vaporised every S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who had test-piloted them.

As well as not dying, he gained incredible quantum light powers and began a brief but glorious career as an Avenger and Protector of the Universe…

Rocket Raccoon was a minor character who appeared in brief backup sci fi serial ‘The Sword in the Star’ (specifically in Marvel Preview #7 in 1976). He won a larger role in Incredible Hulk #271 (May 1982), and like Wolverine years before, refused to go away quietly.

Reprinted here in its entirety is the 4-issue Rocket Raccoon miniseries (May to August 1985, as crafted by Bill Mantlo, Mike Mignola, Al Gordon & Al Milgrom): a bizarre, baroque sci-fi fantasy blending the edgy charm of Pogo with the biting social satire of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, all whilst ostensibly describing a battle between Good and Evil in a sector of space completely crazy even by comicbook standards.

Rocket was one of many talking animals populating the impenetrable, inescapable Keystone Quadrant; a Ranger in charge of keeping the peace as robots and anamorphic beasties went about their holy, ordained task of caring for the distinctly odd and carefree humans known as The Loonies on their idyllic, sybaritic planet Halfworld.

However when a brutal shooting war between voracious apex toymakers Judson Jakes and Lord Dyvyne led to Rocket’s girlfriend Lylla Otter being kidnapped, the planet went wild, or more accurately… ‘Animal Crackers’

In rescuing her, Rocket and his faithful deputy Wal Rus had to contend with a murderous army of mechanised Killer Clowns, face an horrific, all-consuming bio-weapon at ‘The Masque of the Red Breath’ and even team up with arch-foe and disreputable mercenary bunny Blackjack O’Hare before uncovering the horrendous truth behind the mad society he so tirelessly defended in ‘The Book of Revelations!’

The final chapter then shook everything up as ‘The Age of Enlightenment’ saw the end of The Loonies, allowing Rocket and his surviving companions to escape the confines of the eternally segregated Keystone Quadrant into the greater universe beyond…

Starlord (without the hyphen) premiered in 1976, headlining monochrome mature-reader magazine Marvel Preview # 4. He appeared thrice more – in #11, 14 and 15 – during the height of a Star Wars inspired Science Fiction boom.

Years previously, the warrior prince of an interstellar empire was shot down over Colorado and had a fling with solitary Earther Meredith Quill. Despite a desire to remain in idyllic isolation, duty called her starman back to battle and he left, leaving behind an unborn son and a unique weapon. A decade later, the troubled boy saw his mother assassinated by alien lizard men.

Peter Jason Quill vengefully slew the creatures with Meredith’s shotgun, before his home was explosively destroyed by a flying saucer.

The newly-minted orphan awoke in hospital, his only possession a “toy” ray-gun his mother had hidden from him his entire life. Years later his destiny found him, as the half-breed scion was elevated by the divinity dubbed the “Master of the Sun”, becoming StarLord. Rejecting both Earth and his missing father, Peter chose freedom, the pursuit of justice and the expanse of the cosmos…

Here, from Marvel Spotlight volume 2 #6, Doug Moench & Tom Sutton revisit and clarify that origin as the pacifistic Quill and his sentient starship return to Sol and discover the truth about his nativity and ascension as well as the true nature of The Master of the Sun…

Logan’s Run was a short-lived licensed property tie-in, and #6 incongruously featured a 5-page short starring mad Titan Thanos in battle against his precision-crafted nemesis Drax the Destroyer: a typically inconclusive, explosively violent out-world clash over ‘The Final Flower’ crafted by Scott Edelman & Mike Zeck.

This star-studded compilation then concludes with an allegorical masterpiece by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane & Dan Adkins from Marvel Premiere #1. During a time of tremendous social upheaval Thomas transubstantiated an old Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four throwaway foe into a potent political and religious metaphor. Debuting as a dreaded mystery menace, the character dubbed Him was re-imagined as a contemporary interpretation of the Christ myth and placed on a world far more like our own than the Earth of Marvel’s superhero-stuffed universe.

‘And Men Shall Call Him… Warlock!’ adroitly recapitulates the artificial man’s origins as a lab experiment concocted by rogue geneticists eager to create a superman they could control for conquest. After facing the FF, Him subsequently escaped to the stars and later initiated a naive clash with Thor over the rights to a mate before returning to his all-encompassing cocoon to evolve a little bit more.

Now that stellar shell is picked up by the moon-sized ship of self-created god The High Evolutionary who is obsessed with a bold new experiment. Our hand-made hero observes as the savant creates a duplicate Earth on the far side of the sun, fast-forwarding through billions of years of evolution in mere hours. The man-god’s intent is to create a civilisation without aggression or rancour, but the Evolutionary collapses from exhaustion just as proto-hominid becomes Homo Sapien and his greatest mistake takes instant advantage of his exhaustion to meddle with fate…

Years previously Man-Beast had been hyper-evolved from a wolf and instantly became his creator’s nemesis. Now he and his equally-debased minions invade the ship and interfere with the experiment: reintroducing evil to the perfect creatures below and, in fact, making them just like us. At incredible speed Earth’s history re-ran with the creature in the cocoon afforded a ring-side seat to humanity’s fall from grace…

When the High Evolutionary awakes to fight Man-Beast’s army, Him explodes from his shell to help rout the demons, who flee to despoiled Counter-Earth. With calm restored, the science-god prepares to sterilise his ruined experiment: a world now indistinguishable from our own. No superheroes; disease and poverty rampant; injustice in ascendance and moments away from nuclear Armageddon… but the cosmic newborn begs him not to.

He claims the evil tide can be turned and pleads for the Evolutionary to stay his hand. The grieving, despondent creator agreed… but only until the rechristened Adam Warlock should admit that humanity is beyond redemption…

This ends a magnificent compendium of genuine magical Marvel moments: an eclectic but hugely entertaining procession of thrills, spectacle and laughs no comic fan or interested neophyte could possibly resist. And when you’ve read all this, you’ll be properly primed for some wide screen wonders too…
© 2020 MARVEL.

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The Brave and the Bold volumes 1 & 2: The Lords of Luck and The Book of Destiny


The Lords of Luck By Mark Waid & George Pérez & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-649-8 (US HB) 978-1-84576-649-8 (TPB)

There are so many great graphic novels and compilations available these days that it’s always a shock when I realise how many more are still out of print. Here’s a classic example just begging for revival and digital editions…

The Brave and the Bold: The Lords of Luck collects the first 6 issues of another revival of a venerable DC title (technically volume 3 and spanning April -September 2007): returning it not only to the fitting team-up format we all enjoyed, but doing so with such style, enthusiasm and outright joy that I’m reduced to a gawping, drooling nine-year-old again.

Here Mark Waid, George Pérez and inkers Bob Wiacek & Scott Koblish crafted an intergalactic romp through time and nether dimensions, ripping across the DC Universe in a funny, thrilling and immensely satisfying murder-mystery-come-universal-conquest saga.

When Batman and Green Lantern (in part one ‘Roulette’ and concluding episode ‘The Girl Who Knew Too Much’) discover absolutely identical corpses hundreds of miles apart it sets them on the trail of probability-warping aliens and the missing Book of Destiny – a mystical chronicle of everything that ever was, is, and will be!

And yes, that makes this a notional tie-in to The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman and his coterie of classy creatives…

Each issue/chapter highlights a different team-up and eventually the hunt by Adam Strange, Blue Beetle (‘The Lord of Time’), Destiny (of the Endless, no less in chapter 4 ‘The Garden of Destiny’), the Legion of Super Heroes (‘The Batman of Tomorrow’), Lobo, Supergirl (‘Ventura’) and a mystery favourite from long-ago (you’ll thank me for not blowing the secret, honestly!) plus an incredible assortment of cameo stars coalesces into a fabulous free-for-all that affirms and reinforces all the reasons I love this medium.

With the value-added bonus of an annotated exploration of Waid & Pérez’s creative process to entrance the aspiring creator-of-tomorrow, this is a great story with great art, and is perfect for all ages to read and re-read over and over again. So let’s hope that happens soon…

© 2006, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

 

The Book of Destiny

By Mark Waid, George Pérez, Jerry Ordway, Bob Wiacek & Scott Koblish (DC Comics)

ISBN: 978-1-4012-1838-6 (HB) 978-1-4012-1861-4 (TPB)

The Book of Destiny is a mystical ledger which charts the history, progress and fate of all Reality and everything in it – except for the four mortals entrusted with its care at the end of The Brave and the Bold: The Lords of Luck. The death-defying Challengers of the Unknown – cool pilot Ace Morgan, indomitable strongman Rocky Davis, intellectual aquanaut Prof. Haley and daredevil acrobat Red Ryan – live on borrowed time and were bequeathed the terrifying tome by Destiny of the Endless since their lives are no longer included within its horrifying pages…

After the staggering spectacle of the previous Brave and the Bold story-arc, here Waid & Pérez, with inkers Bob Wiacek & Scott Koblish are joined by co-penciller Jerry Ordway for a stunning sequel featuring most of the DC universe…

This compilation collects issues #7-12 (volume 3 from December 2007-June 2008) of the high-energy, all-star revival of the venerable DC title: playing novel games with traditional team-up format as a mysterious mage begins manipulating heroes and villains in a diabolical alchemical scheme to transform the cosmos fundamentally and forever…

Beginning with ‘Scalpels and Chainsaws’ – wherein Wonder Woman and the ever-abrasive Power Girl rub each other the wrong way (oh please, what are you, ten!?) whilst tackling an undead invasion, the case takes a stranger turn and Kara-Zor-L accidentally discovers the Caped Kryptonian has been brainwashed into trying to murder her cousin Superman…

Their ill-tempered investigations lead to the fabled Lost Library of Alexandria and a disastrous confrontation with the deranged Dr. Alchemy, but he too is only a pre-programmed pawn – of a sinister presence called Megistus – who needs Power Girl to use the mystical artefact known as the Philosopher’s Stone to turn the Fortress of Solitude into pure Red Kryptonite…

Thanks to Wonder Woman’s battle savvy, the plot is frustrated and the stone thrown into the sun… just as Megistus intended…

All this has been perused in the mystic chronicle by the Challengers and their fifth member Dr. June Robbins – whose merely mortal existence and eventual doom are tragically recorded in the Book. They rush off to investigate a universe-rending menace even as ‘Wally’s Choice’ brings The Flash and his rapidly aging children Jai and Iris West into unwelcome contact with manipulative genius Niles Caulder and his valiant Doom Patrol. “The Chief” claims he can cure the twins’ hyper-velocity malady, but Caulder never does anything for selfless reasons…

With no other hope, Wally and wife Linda acquiescence to the mad genius’ scheme – which relies on using elemental hero Rex Mason to stabilise their kids’ critical conditions. It might have worked, had not Metamorpho been mystically abducted mid-process – consequently transforming the children into bizarre amalgams of Negative Man and Robot Man…

Worst of all, Flash is almost forced to choose which child to save and which should die…

Thinking faster than ever, the Scarlet Speedster beats the odds and pulls off a miracle but, in a distant place, the pages of the Book are suddenly possessed and abruptly attack the Challengers…

‘Changing Times’ features a triptych of short team-up tales which play out as the Men that History Forgot battle a monster made of Destiny’s pages, beginning as the robotic Metal Men joined forces with young Robby Reed who could become a legion of champions whenever he needs to Dial H for Hero.

Sadly not even genius Will Magnus could have predicted the unfortunate result when crushingly shy robot Tin stuck his shiny digit in the arcane Dial…

Next, during WWII the combative Boy Commandos are joined by The Blackhawks in battling animated mummies intent on purloining the immensely powerful Orb of Ra from a lost pyramid, after which perpetually reincarnating warrior Hawkman joined All-New Atom Ryan Choi in defending Palaeolithic star-charts from the marauding Warlock of Ys.

None of them are aware that they are doing the work of malignly omnipresent Megistus…

The fourth chapter paralleled the Challengers’ incredible victory over the parchment peril with a brace of tales seeing the Man of Steel travel to ancient Britain to join heroic squire Brian of Kent (secretly the oppression-crushing Silent Knight) in bombastic battle against a deadly dragon, whilst the Teen Titan’s untold second ever case finds Robin, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash in Atlantis for the marriage of Aquaman and Mera.

Unfortunately Megistus’ drone Oceanus crashes the party, intent on turning Aqualad into an enslaved route map to the future…

And in California, the Challengers attempted to save Green Lantern’s Power Battery from being stolen only to find it in the possession of an ensorcelled Metamorpho…

As the Element Man easily overwhelms Destiny’s Deputies, Jerry Ordway assumed the penciller’s role for issues #11-12.

‘Superman and Ultraman’ saw the natural enemies initially clash and then collaborate at the behest of an alternate universe’s Mr. Mixyezpitelik, who reveals the appalling scope and nature of Megistus’ supernal transformational ambitions, leading to a gathering of the heroic clans and a blistering Battle Royale in the roaring heart of the Sun…

With the fate of reality at stake and featuring a veritable army of guest stars ‘The Brave and the Bold’ concludes the saga with a terrible, tragic sacrifice from the noblest hero of all, whilst subtly setting the scene for the then-upcoming Final Crisis…

With fascinating designs and pencil drawings from Ordway to tantalise the art lovers, this second captivating collection superbly embodies all the bravura flash’n’dazzle thrills superhero comics so perfectly excel at. This is a gripping fanciful epic with many engaging strands perfectly coalescing into a frantic and fabulous free-for-all overflowing with all the style, enthusiasm and exuberant joy you’d expect from top costumed drama talents.

The Brave and the Bold: The Book of Destiny is another great story with great art, ideal for kids of all ages to read and re-read over and over again.
© 2007, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Yakari volume 20: The Cloud Maker


By Derib & Job, coloured by Dominique and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-80044-074-6 (Album PB/Digital edition)

In 1964 children’s magazine Le Crapaud à lunettes was founded by Swiss journalist André Jobin, who then wrote for it under the pseudonym Job. Three years later he hired fellow French-Swiss artist Claude de Ribaupierre AKA “Derib”. The illustrator had launched his own career as an assistant at Studio Peyo (home of Les Schtroumpfs): working on The Smurfs strips for venerable weekly Le Journal de Spirou.

Thereafter, together they created the splendid Adventures of the Owl Pythagore before striking pure comics gold a few years later with their next collaboration. Derib – equally au fait with enticing, comically dynamic “Marcinelle” cartoon style yarns and devastatingly compelling meta-realistic action illustrated action epics – went on to become one of the Continent’s most prolific and revered creators. It’s a crime that groundbreaking strips such as Buddy Longway, Celui-qui-est-nà-deux-fois, Jo (first comic to deal with AIDS), Pour toi, Sandra and La Grande Saga Indienne) haven’t been translated into English yet, but we still patiently wait in hope and anticipation…

Over the decades, much of Derib’s stunning works have featured his beloved Western themes: magnificent geographical backdrops and epic landscapes. Yakari is considered by fans and critics to be the strip which led him to his deserved mega-stardom.

Debuting in 1969, it traces the eventful, nomadic life of a young Oglala Lakota boy on the Great Plains – according to this tale, in the vicinity of the Great Lakes Basin. The stories are set sometime after the introduction of horses by the Conquistadores, but before the coming of modern Europeans.

The series – which also generated two separate animated TV series and a movie – is up to 42 albums thus far: a testament to its evergreen vitality and brilliance of its creators, even though originator Job moved on and Frenchman Joris Chamblain took on the writing in 2016.

Overflowing with gentle whimsy and heady compassion, little Yakari enjoys a largely bucolic existence: at one with nature and generally free from privation or strife. For the sake of our delectation, however, the ever-changing seasons are punctuated with the odd crisis, generally resolved without fuss, fame or fanfare by a little lad who is smart and brave – and can, thanks to a boon of his totem guide the Great Eagle, converse with all animals…

In 1995, Le souffleur de nuages was the 21st European album, but – as always with the best books – the content and set-up are both stunningly simple and sublimely accessible, affording new readers total enjoyment with a minimum of familiarity or foreknowledge required…

Here and now it is painfully topical as Yakari’s wandering people are stranded as springtime rains inundate the entire region. When the downpour finally stops, the land is devasted by flooding and the little wonder and his valiant pony decide to check on all their animal pals. Happily, Little Thunder is an excellent swimmer…

They don’t go far before meeting beaver patriarch Thousand-Mouths, whose frantic efforts to rally the clan for a major repair job to the lodge and dams is being hampered by bone idle slacker Wooden Bed. Just like any teenager, he just wants to sleep…

Water is everywhere, and the landscape is a sea broken by tiny islands. The prairie dog colony are marooned on one, waiting until it all recedes so they can clear out their great burrow. They are also nervously contemplating the ominously cloud-filled sky…

Pressing on, the horse and his boy reach a flooded forest and find raccoon Black Mask and his kin fractiously sharing a tree with grumpy owl. Nobody is happy, but all are resigned to waiting out the weather…

That night, back in camp and very much appreciating being warm and dry, Yakari has one of his special, prophetic dreams. It shows him more rains washing away his tipi (tent) until it is washed up onto a big white cloud…

Happily, morning brings better news. The waters have clearly receded, but – still perplexed by his vision – Yakari rides Little Thunder back along yesterday’s route just to check. Everywhere, industrious animals are clearing up and making good, and with so much to see and beasts to check on, the pair are far from home when the sun sets.

Bedding down under a large rock, they are later awakened by an odd cry coming from the river. Closer examination in the morning reveals the disturbance came from a pond linked to the swiftly flowing waters. Oddly, a small cloud is escaping from the turbulence. When Yakari dives in for a closer look, he is abruptly raised up into the air by a giant white fish surfacing under him!

The incredible snow-white monster turns out to be a chatty and gregarious beast calling itself a “white whale”. The curious Beluga had travelled along the swollen river from the “Great Water” Yakari had seen when travelling with spirit creature Nanabozho. Soon they are all trading life stories…

The boy names his new chum Peeleepee because of the cry it constantly utters, and discovers that despite living in the ocean, the newcomer needs air to live, water to support his weight and makes clouds from the top of his head…

In a remarkably short time they are all great friends and have learned lots of each other’s worlds. The boy and the beluga even trade tricks and acrobatic games, but the idyl is rudely shattered when a passing toad points out that, while they’ve been romping, the waters have further evaporated. The great white wonder is now trapped in an isolated pond far from the river it needs to live or get home by…

Snotty but smart, the amphibian then suggests a possible solution, but it takes all of Yakari’s friends working together, sheer luck, applied physics and the boy’s considerable negotiating skills to ensure the safety of the stranded newcomer before this ending turns out happy…

Yakari is one of the most unfailingly absorbing all-ages strips ever conceived and should be in every home, right beside Tintin, Uncle Scrooge, Asterix and The Moomins. It’s never too late to start reading something wonderful, so why not get back to nature as soon as you can?
Original edition © Derib + Job – Editions du Lombard (Dargaud – Lombard s. a.) – 2000. All rights reserved. English translation 2022 © Cinebook Ltd.

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Bizarro Comics! – The Deluxe Edition


By a big bunch of very funny people AKA Jessica Abel, Todd Alcott, Rick Altergott, Peter Bagge, Kyle Baker, Gregory Benton, Charles Berberian, Aaron Bergeron, Nick Bertozzi, Ariel Bordeaux, Rand & David Borden, Ivan Brunetti, Eddie Campbell, Jim Campbell, Dave Cooper, Leela Corman, Mark Crilley, Jef Czekaj, Farel Dalrymple, Brian David-Marshall, Paul Dini, Paul Di Filippo, D’Israeli, Evan Dorkin, Mike Doughty, Eric Drysdale, Ben Dunn, Philippe Dupuy, Sarah Dyer, Phil Elliott, Hunt Emerson, Maggie Estep, Bob Fingerman, Abe Foreu, Ellen Forney, Liz Glass, Paul Grist, Matt Groening, Tom Hart, Dean Haglund, Tomer & Asaf Hanuka, Dean Haspiel, Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Matt Hollingsworth, Paul Hornschemeier, Dylan Horrocks, Nathan Kane, John Kerschbaum, Chip Kidd, Derek Kirk Kim, James Kochalka, John Krewson, Michael Kupperbaum, Tim Lane, Roger Langridge, Carol Lay, Jason Little, Lee Loughridge, Matt Madden, Tom McCraw, Pat McEown, Andy Merrill, Scott Morse, Peter Murrietta, Tony Millionaire, Jason Paulos, Harvey Pekar, Will Pfeifer, Paul Pope, Patton Oswalt, Brian Ralph, Dave Roman, Johnny Ryan, Alvin Schwartz, Marie Severin, R. Sikoryak, Don Simpson, Jeff Smith, Jay Stephens, Rick Taylor, Raina Telgermeier, Craig Thompson, Jill Thompson, M. Wartella, Andi Watson, Steven Weissman, Mo Willems, Kurt Wolfgang, Bill Wray, Jason Yungbluth, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-1012-9 (HB/Digital)

Here am big, dull shopping list of top-ranking cartoonists from beginning of twenty-oneth century. Bunch of names not very entertaining, but what they draw and write am, especially when taking loving pot-shots at beloved DC Comics icons and moments…

I’ll happily go on record and say that practically all of the fun and true creativity in comics has come out of the ‘alternative’ or non-mainstream writers and artists these days. To prove my point I’d list a bunch of things, and very near the top of that list would be this book -actually two older, smaller books sensibly nailed together in 2021.

In its near 90 years of comics publishing, DC Comics has produced many of the most memorable, most engaging and most peculiar comic characters and concepts you could imagine. For all that, they also managed to stir echoes and forge a deep and abiding affection in the hearts and minds of some of the most creative people on the planet.

As I’ve already said, the material in this titanic tome of titters (sorry, apparently I’m channelling my inner Frankie Howerd today) first emerged in a brace of cartoon anthology volumes: Bizarro Comics and Bizarro World in 2001 and 2005, disrespectively.

They delivered fast and furious skits, sketches and gags by profoundly engaged – often deeply disturbed – fans turned pros. There was a heavy dependence on small-press and self-published creators all used to having complete control of their work…

It was all meant to make you laugh and feel longing for simpler whackier times, and the Introduction by Kyle Baker should be all you need to steer you through what follows.

If I were you, I’d stop here and just buy the book, but just in case you’re a stubborn holdout, I’m going to add to my editor and proof-reader’s many woes by listing exactly who is in the thing, what they did and even add a few critical comments, just to earn my keep.

Then I’ll make my poor staff read the book too, just to cheer them up after all my word salad…

Following Matt Groening’s Bizarro Comics cover (which you get here for free) lurks a hilarious framing sequence, as a monstrous unbeatable creature attempts to conquer Mr Mxyzptlk’s 5th dimensional home. Chris Duffy & Stephen DeStefano – aided by legendary cartoonist and colourist Marie Severin – tell a weird and wonderful tale of outlandish failed Superman clone Bizarro that begins in ‘Bizarre Wars Part One’ and diverges into a wonderland of individual battles against cosmic games player A.

As the appointed defender of the entire endangered dimension, Bizarro resorts to a heretofore unsuspected ultimate power: producing comic strips featuring unfamiliar adventures of DC’s most recognizable heroes that come to life …ish.

Cue a veritable Who’s Who of the cool and wonderful of modern comics creating a plethora of wacky, dreamy, funny, wistful and just plain un-put-downable strips that would delight any kid who read comics but then accidentally grew up.

In rapid rollercoaster fashion and Fighting the Goof Fight for reality come ‘Bizarro-X-Ray One’ by Gregory Benton, Bizarro-X-Ray Two’ by John Kerschbaum and Bizarro-X-Ray Three’ by Gilbert Hernandez – all coloured by Tom McCraw. Sam Henderson & Bob Fingerman reconvene the ‘Super-Pets’ whilst Duffy & Craig Thompson expose Green Lantern in ‘The Afterthoughts’. Chip Kidd & Tony Millionaire revisit early days of ‘The Bat-Man’ in stylish monochrome before Henderson, Dean Haspiel, Bill Oakley & Matt Madden recount the silly charm-packed saga of ‘Captain Marvel and the Sham Shazam’…

Baker & Elizabeth Glass test the mettle of ‘Letitia Lerner, Superman’s Babysitter!’ and Aquaman endures double trouble as Evan Dorkin, Brian David-Marshall, Bill Wray & Matt Hollingsworth draw attention to ‘Silence of the Fishes’ before Andy Merrill & Jason Little douse the Sea King in ‘Porcine Panic!’

Fingerman, Pat McEown, Oakley & Hollingsworth inflict ‘The Tinnocchio Syndrome’ on The Metal Men before Andi Watson, Mark Crilley & Lee Loughridge orchestrate ‘Wonder Girl vs Wonder Tot’ and James Kochalka, Dylan Horrocks & Abe Foreau pit Hawkman against ‘The Egg-Napper!’, even as ‘The GL Corps: The Few, The Proud’ glean more story glory courtesy due to Will Pfeifer, Jill Thompson, Clem Robins, Rick Taylor & Digital Chameleon.

Horrocks, Jessica Abel & Madden then see Supergirl and Mary Marvel have a moment in ‘The Clubhouse of Solitude’ whilst Nick Bertozzi & Tom Hart tune in to ‘Kamandi: The Last Band on Earth!’ before Jeff Smith, Paul Pope & Loughridge depict Bizarro demanding ‘Help! Superman!’ as Jef Czekaj & Brian Ralph confront Aquaman with ‘The Man Who Cried Fish!’ in advance of Wonder Woman pondering ‘One-Piece, Two-Piece, Red-Piece, Blue-Piece’ on a shopping trip organised by Fingerman & Dave Cooper.

Ellen Forney, Ariel Bordeaux & Madden probe a young girl’s ‘Bats Out of Heck’ and Eddie Campbell, Hunt Emerson, Rick Taylor & Digital Chameleon went full-on Batmaniacal in ‘Who Erased the Eraser’ before Crilley & Watson negotiate a shocking ‘First Contact’ with The Atom, after which The Batman invites us ‘Inside the Batcave’ with Pope & Jay Stephens as tour guides.

Dorkin, D’Israeli & Digital Chameleon expose ‘Solomon Grundy: Bored on a Monday’ before Alvin Schwartz, Roger Langridge & Loughridge debut ‘The Most Bizarre Bizarro of All’ and Ivan Brunetti, Dorkin & Sarah Dyer reveal ‘That’s Really Super, Superman!’ to The World’s Finest Team whilst Dorkin, Carol Lay, Tom McCraw & Digital Chameleon invite everyone to ‘The J’onn J’onzz Celebrity Roast’ before Bordeaux, Forney & Madden share ‘Wonder Woman’s Day Off’…

The initial volume and that framing Mxyzptlk yarn are coming to a close as Dorkin, Wray, John Costanza & Hollingsworth craft ‘Unknown Challenges of the Challengers of the Unknown’ and Dorkin, Steven Weissman & Dyer go to bat for all the forgotten creature sidekicks in ‘Without You, I’m Nothing’ before Duffy, DeStefano, Phil Felix, Severin & Digital C reunite for the climactic conclusion of ‘Bizarre Wars – Part Two’…

If you haven’t heard of anybody on that overwhelming list then get Googling. Then get this book and get enjoying.

No? that’s okay… There’s More…

The turn of this century was a particularly fraught time – aren’t they always? – and one of the best ways to combat the impending travail was to make people laugh. A follow up to the remarkably successful Bizarro Comics again invited a coterie of alternative comics creators (and guests!) to make sport of various hallowed DC icons. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and all the lesser gods were dragooned into more tales humorous, dolorous and just plain peculiar, drawn in an eye-wrenching range of styles. Many of those involved continued to display a disturbing knowledge of, if not respect for, the DC continuity of the 1960s whilst others seem to centre on the TV and Movie interpretations, but the fondness for times gone by was readily apparent throughout.

Behind a Bizarro World cover from Jaime Hernandez, Rian Hughes & Coco Shinomiya is unsurprisingly story ‘Bizarro World’ by Duffy, Scott Morse, Rob Leigh & Dave Stewart as a couple of unwary kids fall into a universe stuffed to overflowing with everyday super people…

Answers come from a crusty reporter with extensive files and notes from many stringers…

Kidd, Millionaire & Jim Campbell review ‘Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder’ and Merrill, Langridge & Madden get seasonally silly in ‘Jing Kal-El’, whilst Mo Willems, Forney & Madden reveal ‘The Wonder of it All’ for the youthful feminist before Foreu, Kochalka & Madden have shapeshifter Chameleon Boy ask ‘Where’s Proty?’

Nostalgia and childish wish-fulfilment masterfully merge in pants-wettingly funny ‘Batman Smells’ by American National Treasures Patton Oswalt, Fingerman & Stewart, whilst Duffy & Craig Thompson channel ‘The Spectre’ and Jasons Yungbluth & Paulos confirm with Hal Jordan that ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’ even as Aaron Bergeron & Kerschbaum revel in ‘The Power of Positive Batman’…

Mike Doughty & Danny Hellman’s Fish-out-of-water ‘Aquaman’ segues into another true Stand Out story: ‘Batman: Upgrade 5.0’ by Dean Haglund & Peter Murrieta, illustrated by Don Simpson, before comics bad boy John Ryan joins Dave Cooper to explore being ‘Super-Dumped’ via the sad story of Clark and Diana…

Elsewhere, Dorkin & M. Wartella retroactively introduce Batman to ‘Monkey, the Monkey Wonder’ whilst comics verité legends Harvey Pekar & Dean Haspiel declare ‘Bizarro Shmizarro’ just as Dylan Horrocks, Farel Dalrymple & Paul Hornschemeier proposition ‘Dear Superman’ on behalf of a youngster with a secret…

‘The Red Bee Returns’ courtesy of Peter Bagge, Gilbert Hernandez & Madden, after which Eric Drysdale, Tim Lane, Oakley & Madden organise ‘The Break’ for the JLA. Dorkin & Watson then find The Legion of Super-Heroes ‘Out with the In Crowd’ just as Todd Alcott, Michael Kupperman & Ken Lopez detail the ‘Ultimate Crisis of the Justice League’…

Tomer & Asaf Hanuka join Lopez & Campbell to define ‘Batman’ whilst Paul Dini & Carol Lay have the very last word on ‘Krypto the Superdog’ and Ariel Bordeaux & Rick Altergott unwisely launch ‘Legion.com’ before mercurial Harvey Dent enjoys a ‘Dinner for Two’ thanks to Dorkin & Iva Brunetti…

Maggie Estep & Horrocks take on ‘Supergirl’ and her horsey history before Leela Corman & Tom Hart steer a ‘Power Trip’ for Batgirl, Wonder Woman and the Girl of Steel, whilst Eddie Campbell, Paul Grist & Phil Elliott schedule ‘A Day in the Life in the Flash’ before hilariously reprising their manic madness via ‘The Batman Operetta’…

Bizarro returns in an activity page from his ‘Daily Htrae’ – by Dorkin & R. Sikoryak – and the GL Corps turn Japanese in ‘Lantern Sentai’ from Rand & David Borden of Studio Kaiju, manifested by multi-talented Benn Dunn. Philippe Dupuy & Charles Berberian then offer a continental touch in ‘Batman of Paris’, Kurt Wolfgang & Brian Ralph have fun with ‘The Demon’ and John Krewson, Dorkin & Dyer expose ‘Kamandi, The Laziest Boy on Earth’.

Despite all the craziness, the best has wisely been left until last and end begins with The Justice League of America regretting ‘Take Your Kids to Work Day’ (by Dave Roman & Raina Telgemeier) whilst ultimate manservant Alfred Pennyworth conducts his master’s business as a “Personal Shopper” thanks to Kyle Baker & Elizabeth Glass, before we finish with Deadman who learns with horror – from Paul Di Filippo & Derek Kirk Kim – that ‘Good Girls Go to Heaven. Bad Girls Go Everywhere’…

What do you get if you give a whole bunch of vets and alternative comics creators carte blanche and a broad brief? You should get this.
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