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Pet Peeves


By Nicole Goux (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-72-1 (PB)

Since college, Bobbie has just coasted. Saddled with massive debt, she lives with her lifelong friend and co Ohio U alumnus Clara. She pays her – far less than fair – share of the rent by tending bar in crappy booze-&-music dive The Pig’s Knuckles: beguiled by a lack of professional impetus, and the (constantly never-materialising) promise of a performance slot, someday. There’s late starts and free drinks to offset being harassed by the frat-boy clientele. At least there’s no pressure and plenty of time to work on her songs and it keeps her away from Clara’s ghastly cat Poptart and obnoxious new girlfriend…

Just getting by is bad enough, with manager Richard always stalling her and customers being jerks, but it all gets too much when her ex Carlos comes in with his new trophy trollop and deliberately tries to spoil Bobbie’s day. In response all she can do is drink on the job.

Too smashed to drive – or even hold her keys – Bobbie staggers home and is adopted by the ugliest dog she has ever seen…

She wakes up at home after the strangest dreams, with the mutt happily ensconced and already making trouble.

She calls him Barkley, and he’s an instant wedge between her and Clara, creating utter chaos and revolting messes, tormenting Poptart and somehow taking up so much time that Bobbie even stops writing music. At least he cares about her and always helps alleviate the drudgery and misery of her life…

What Bobbie doesn’t see is how that life is spiralling: slowly changing into something even more petty and desperate…

Eschewing her regular digital process, Eisner-award nominee Nicole Goux (for illustrating DC’s Shadow of the Batgirl) goes old-school and back to pen &-ink basics in Pet Peeves. Unleashing her own narrative notions in a boldly experimental, creepily compelling, itchily abrasive yet understated urban horror story trading marauding monsters for animosity, angst, disappointment and despair, the author presents here a youthful cast who aren’t shallow morons and slasher-fodder in a beastly fable where the protagonist is the victim and the secondary characters slowly turn on each other in a most engaging and appetising way because of an unwelcome new addition to the group…

Deploying imaginative page layouts reminiscent of Ditko’s Mr A and Avenging World, Goux (Forest Hills Bootleg Society, Everyone is Tulip, F*ck Off Squad at Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club) delivers a charming edgy fable about surrendering your dreams that conceals a wicked and chilling shock ending to die for…
© Nicole Goux, 2023. All rights reserved.

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Marvel Two-In-One Masterworks volume 6


By Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Jerry Bingham, Ron Wilson, George Pérez, Michael Netzer, Frank Springer, Gene Day, Pablo Marcos, Chic Stone & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3293-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing, or battling (often both) with less well-selling company characters – was not new when Marvel awarded their most popular hero the same deal DC had with Batman in The Brave and the Bold. Although confident in their new title, they wisely left options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in The Human Torch.

In those distant days, editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since superheroes were actually in a decline, they may well have been right.

Nevertheless, after the runaway success of Spider-Man’s guest vehicle Marvel Team-Up, the House of Ideas carried on the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm – the Fantastic Four’s most popular star. They began with a brace of test runs in Marvel Feature #11-12 before awarding him his own team-up title, with this sixth stirring selection gathering the contents of Marvel Two-In-One #61-74, covering March 1980-April 1981.

Preceded by a comprehensive and informative reverie in Ralph Macchio’s Introduction, the action resumes with the title continuing to rectify its greatest flaw. The innate problem with team-up tales was always a lack of continuity – something Marvel always prided itself upon. Writer/editor Marv Wolfman had sought to address this during his tenure through the simple expedient of having stories link-up through evolving, overarching plots which took Ben from place to place and from guest to guest. The trick was perfected in the vast-scaled, supremely convoluted saga known as The Project Pegasus Saga – as featured in the previous volume.

A stellar epic began in #61 with ‘The Coming of Her!’ (by Mark Gruenwald, Jerry Bingham & Gene Day) as time-travelling space god/31st century Guardian of the Galaxy Starhawk became embroiled in the birth of a female counterpart to artificial superman Adam Warlock.

The distaff genetic paragon awoke fully empowered and instantly began searching for her predecessor, dragging Ben Grimm’s girlfriend Alicia Masters and mind goddess Moondragon across the solar system, arriving where issue #62 observed ‘The Taking of Counter-Earth!’

Hot on their heels, The Thing and Starhawk catch Her just as the women encounter a severely wounded High Evolutionary, and discover the world so carefully built and casually discarded by that self-created science god has been stolen…

United in mystery, the strange grouping follow the planet’s trail out of the galaxy and uncover the incredible perpetrators but Her’s desperate quest to secure her predestined, purpose-grown mate ends in tragedy when she learns ‘Suffer Not a Warlock to Live!’

Clearly on a roll and dedicated to exploiting Marvel Two-in-One’s unofficial role as a clean-up vehicle for settling unresolved plotlines from cancelled series, Gruenwald & Macchio then dived into ‘The Serpent Crown Affair” in #64.

‘From the Depths’ (illustrated by Pérez & Day) sees sub-sea superhero Stingray approach FF boffin Reed Richards in search of a cure for humans who had been mutated into water-breathers by Sub-Mariner foe Doctor Hydro: a plotline begun in 1973 and left unresolved since the demise of the Atlantean prince’s own title.

Richards’ enquiries soon found the transformation had been caused by The Inhumans’ Terrigen Mist, but when he had Ben ferry the mermen’s leader Dr. Croft and Stingray to a meeting, the trip was cut short by a crisis on an off-shore oil rig, thanks to an ambush by a coalition of snake-themed villains.

The ‘Serpents from the Sea’ (art by Bingham & Day) were attempting to salvage dread mystic artefact the Serpent Crown, and would brook no interference, but luckily the Inhumans had sent out their seagoing stalwart Triton to meet the Thing…

Meanwhile, alternate-Earth “Femizon” Thundra had been seeking the men responsible for tricking her into attacking Project Pegasus but had fallen under the spell of sinister superman Hyperion – a pawn of corrupt oil conglomerate Roxxon. At that time, their CEO Hugh Jones possessed – or had been possessed by – the heinous helm…

With the situation escalating, Ben had no choice but to call in an expert and before long The Scarlet Witch joins the battle: her previous experience with the relic enabling the heroes to thwart the multi-dimensional threat of ‘A Congress of Crowns!’ (Pérez & Day) and a devastating incursion by diabolical primordial serpent god Set…

With Armageddon averted, Ben diverted to Pegasus to drop off the now-neutered crown in #67 and found old ally Bill Foster had been diagnosed with terminal radiation sickness due to his battle with atomic foundling Nuklo. Thundra, seduced by promises of being returned to her own reality, wises up in time to abscond from Roxxon in ‘Passport to Oblivion!’ (Gruenwald, Macchio, Ron Wilson, Day & friends), but hasn’t calculated on being hunted by Hyperion. Although outmatched, her frantic struggle does attract the chivalrous attentions of Ben and superhero-neophyte Quasar…

Marvel T-I-O #68 shifted gears with The Thing meeting former X-Man The Angel as they stumble into – and smash out of – a mechanise murder-world in ‘Discos and Dungeons!’ (art by Wilson & Day), after which ‘Homecoming!’ finds Ben contending with the time-lost Guardians of the Galaxy whilst striving to prevent the end of everything. The proximate cause is millennial man Vance Astro who risks all of reality to stop his younger self ever going into space…

Issue #70 offered a mystery guest team-up for ‘A Moving Experience’ (Gruenwald, Macchio, Mike Nasser/Netzer & Day) as Ben is again mercilessly pranked by old frenemies The Yancy Street Gang, and ambushed by genuine old foes when he helps Alicia move into new digs. Then, the so-long frustrated Hydromen finally get ‘The Cure!’ (Wilson & Day) after Ben and Reed travel to the Inhuman city of Attilan.

Sadly, a cure for the effects of Terrigen is also a perfect anti-Inhuman weapon, and when the process is stolen by a trio of freaks, the trail leads to a brutal clash with a deadly Inhuman renegade wielding ‘The Might of Maelstrom’ (Gruenwald, Macchio, Wilson & Chic Stone). The pariah is intent on eradicating every other member of his hidden race and just won’t stop until he’s done…

In Marvel Two-In-One #73, Macchio, Wilson & Stone tie up loose ends from the Pegasus epic as Ben and Quasar pursue Roxxon across dimensions to another Earth where the rapacious plunderers have enslaved a primitive population and begun sending their pillaged oil back here via a ‘Pipeline Through Infinity’ (#74), whilst Gruenwald, Frank Springer & Stone celebrate the festive season with ‘A Christmas Peril!’ as Ben and the Puppet Master are drawn into the Yuletide celebrations of brain-damaged, childlike, immensely powerful Modred the Mystic…

Fiercely tied to the minutia of Marvel continuity, these stories from Marvel’s Middle Period are certainly of variable quality, but whereas some might feel rushed and ill-considered they are balanced by some superb adventure romps still as captivating today as they ever were.

Bolstered by house ads and original art and covers by Bingham, Day & Pérez; with biographies for the legion of creators contained herein. Most fans of Costumed Dramas will find little to complain about and there’s lots of fun to be found for young and old readers.
© 2021 MARVEL.

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Superman: The Dailies 1939-1940


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster with Paul Cassidy (DC/Kitchen Sink Press)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-460-2 (TPB)

It’s indisputable that the American comic book industry – if it existed at all – would have been an utterly unrecognisable thing without Superman. Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s unprecedented invention was rapturously adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation, quite literally giving birth to a genre if not an actual art form.

Within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of breakneck, breathtaking action and wish-fulfilment that epitomised the early Man of Tomorrow spawned an impossible army of imitators. The original’s antics and variations grew to encompass cops-and-robbers crime-busting, socially reforming dramas, science fiction fantasies, and whimsical comedy. Once the war in Europe and the East ensnared America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters exploded: all dedicated to exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

In comic book terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming the shape of the fledgling funnybook industry, the Metropolis Marvel relentlessly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media. Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic invention as the epitome and acme of comicbook creation, the truth is that very soon after his debut in Action Comics #1, the Man of Steel became a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Popeye, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and Mickey Mouse.

We parochial and possessive comics fans too often regard our purest, most powerful icons in purely graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, The Avengers and their hyperkinetic kind long ago outgrew four-colour origins and are now fully mythologized media creatures instantly recognisable globally across all platforms and age ranges…

Far more people have seen or heard an actor as Superman than have ever read his comic books. The globally syndicated newspaper strips alone reached untold millions, and by the time his 20th anniversary rolled around, Superman was a thrice-weekly radio serial regular and starred in an astounding animated cartoon series, two films, on TV and a prose novel by George Lowther.

He was a perennial sure-fire success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers and had just ended that first smash live-action television presence. In his future were three more shows (Superboy, Lois & Clark and Smallville), a stage musical, a string of blockbuster movie franchises and an almost seamless succession of games, bubble gum cards and TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since. Even his super-dog Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for the majority of the last century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country – and often the planet – it was seen by millions, if not billions, of readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books. It also paid better.

And rightly so: some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were created to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them grew to be part of a global culture.

Mutt and Jeff, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more escaped their humble tawdry newsprint origins to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar. Most of them still do…

However it was considered something of a risky double-edged sword when a comicbook character became so popular that it swam against the tide (after all, weren’t the funny-books invented just to reprint the strips in cheap accessible form?) to become a genuinely mass-entertainment syndicated serial strip.

Superman was the first comic book star to make that leap – six months after exploding out of Action Comics – with only a few ever successfully following. Wonder Woman, Batman (eventually) and teen icon Archie Andrews made the jump in the 1940s with only a handful like Spider-Man, Howard the Duck and Conan the Barbarian doing so since.

The Superman daily newspaper strip launched on 16th January 1939, and was eventually supplemented by a full-colour Sunday page from November 5th of that so momentous year. Originally crafted by Siegel & Shuster – whose primary focus switched immediately from comic books to the more prestigious and lucrative tabloid iteration – and their hand-picked studio (including Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, Dennis Neville, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Paul J. Lauretta & Wayne Boring), the mammoth grind soon required the additional talents of Jack Burnley and even co-writers like Whitney Ellsworth, Jack Schiff & Alvin Schwartz.

This superb collection from 1999 – long overdue for re-release, especially in this anniversary year! – opens with an Introduction by James Vance, declaring ‘A Job for Superman’ before effusively recapping the overnight sensation conception, reviewing his antecedents and regaling us with the acts of his creators (and assistants like Cassidy).

Then we see the first 10 tales (nine and a half actually) of the primal powerhouse in all-action monochrome. Wisely and boldly, the first serial – ‘Superman Comes to Earth’ (16th – 28th January 1939) only depicts the Man of Tomorrow on the last of the 12 daily episodes. Instead, Siegel & Shuster took readers to doomed planet Krypton for the first time and revealed how desperate scientist Jor-L and wife Lora were thwarted in their attempts to save the population from their own indifference and ignorance and compelled in desperation to save their newborn son by sending him away in a prototype test rocket aimed at planet Earth. Almost as an afterthought, the last strip reveals how the infant was found, adopted, raised and now operates in secret as vigilante do-gooder Superman…

Whether in pamphlet or local periodical, these tales of the modern Hercules exploded into the consciousness of the world. No one had ever seen a fictionalised hero throw all the rules of physics away and burst into unstoppable, improbable action on every page and panel. In fact, editors and publishers’ greatest concern was that the implausible antics would turn off audiences. Clearly, they could not have been more wrong…

That’s only one reason why the indomitable champion confronted problems and issues every reader was familiar with. Second adventure ‘War on Crime’ (30th January – 18th February) combined social activism and civic corruption as the mighty Man of Tomorrow begins his crusading career by rescuing ten men trapped in a vault. In fact he only saves eight and realises that he needs to be in a place where information can reach him instantly. Thus Clark Kent applies for a job at The Daily Star and stumbles into a deadly case of graft, gangsterism and high-level corruption ferreted out by dynamic reporter Lois Lane. After Superman cleans up the racketeers, the shy unassuming new guy confirms his position by scooping Lois to the first interview with the mysterious costumed vigilante…

A boxing drama follows as the Man of Steel saves a derelict from suicide and uncovers a tragic case of match-fixing and shattered dreams. ‘The Comeback of Larry Trent’ (20th February – 18th March) begins with Superman masquerading as the supposedly finished former heavyweight champion in a whirlwind tour of spectacular bouts, whilst training and rehabilitating the stumblebum to reclaim his title personally in the big championship match. Of course, the Action Ace is on hand when Trent’s crooked manager tries to dope him a second time…

Lois begins her own rise to stardom when she’s relegated to the lonely hearts and lovelorn section, turning up a sinister case of a blackmailed husband entrapped by ‘Jewel Smugglers’ (20th March – April 1st) victimising refugees fleeing war in Europe. Naturally, Superman is lurking in the shadows, ready to handle any necessary roughness required…

A string of fatalities on a construction site takes the hero into the sordid depths of capitalism in ‘Skyscraper of Death’ (3rd – 29th April) as he tackles a saboteur and exposes a ruthless businessman happy to kill innocent workers to destroy a rival, after which ‘The Most Deadly Weapon’ (1st May – 10th June) reflects the tone of the times in a chilling tale of espionage and realpolitik. When Kent interviews Professor Runyan about his deadly new poison gas, the chemist is kidnapped and murdered by spies from a foreign nation. In hot pursuit, Kent discovers the plot was instigated by an arms dealer profiteering from an ongoing civil war and calls in his other – true – self to recover (and ultimately destroy) the formula, punish the perpetrators and even spectacularly force both sides to make peace…

Early episodes never stinted on action and increasingly ingenious ways of displaying Superman’s miraculous abilities. The plan was to simply establish the set-up of an Alien Wonder among us, masquerading as an extremely puny human at a “great metropolitan newspaper” when not crushing evil as his flamboyant alter-ego. These stories are all about constant action and escalating spectacle, displaying the incredible power of a bombastic, heroic man of the people…

Heralding longer stories and more evocative plots, Siegel returned to social crusading for ‘Superman and the Runaway’ (12th June – 22nd July), as the Man of Steel recues orphan Frankie Dennis from imminent destruction and discovers a tale of shocking corruption and abuse at the State Orphanage the boy would rather die than return to. Realising this is no job for Superman, Kent enlists Lois and Frankie to expose monstrous, murderous Superintendent Lyman, but severely underestimates the grafter’s ruthlessness…

Romance taints the air next as ‘Royal Deathplot’ (24th July – 11th November) finds Superman foiling a plan to literally torpedo the diplomatic mission of visiting dignitaries King Boru and Princess Tania of Rangoria. His epic and breathtaking sea battle against a submarine is only the tip of an iceberg of trouble as Superman – and even briefly Kent – find favour in the eyes of the princess, even as elements in the royals’ own embassage continually seek their destruction. Far from impressed, but hot on a scoop, Lois sticks close and plays fifth wheel and rival to super-smitten Tania until the Man of Steel can foil the plot, crush the sinister mad scientist behind it and stabilise the political situation at home and abroad…

Historians might be interested to know that during this yarn, the use of art assistant Cassidy became markedly more noticeable. Other than handling character faces himself, Shuster was happy for the other artists to express themselves in how Siegel’s scripts were interpreted…

Major events were in store both for the hero and the whole of humanity and ‘Underworld Politics’ (13th November – 16th December) signalled the closing of a chapter. Simple cathartic super-deeds would soon take a back seat to grander designs, but only after the tale of how Superman – and especially Lois – destroyed the seemingly impregnable party machine of crooked political boss Mike Hennessey. That well-connected unworthy thought he could terrorise and even murder a crusading new District Attorney, but he was so very wrong…

After his fall Lois thought she had the front page sewed up, but didn’t figure on World War being declared in Europe…

This initial volume of pioneering paper perils begins a saga of sabotage and ‘Unnatural Disasters’ (18th December 1939 – January 6th 1940) as a mysterious gang blow up a dam and then poison the reservoir. Moments too late in each instance, all Superman can do is save what lives he can and determine to avenge the dead…

To Be Continued…

Offering timeless wonders and mesmerising excitement for lovers of action and fantasy, the early Superman is beyond compare. If you love the era or just crave simpler stories from less angst-wracked times, these yarns are perfect comics reading, and this a book you simply must see.
Superman: The Dailies volume 1 copublished by DC Comics and Kitchen Sink Press. Covers, introduction and all related names, characters and elements are ™ & © DC Comics 1998, 1999. All Rights Reserved.

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Spinning


By Tillie Walden (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-62672-772-4 (HB/Digital edition)

Transitions are important. In fact, they are literally life changing. Here’s another one captured and shared by the amazing Tillie Walden…

We usually attribute wisdom and maturity in the creative arts to having lived a bit of life and getting some emotional grit in our wheels and sand in our faces, but that’s not the case for Texas-raised Tillie, whose incredible canon includes I Love this Part, On a Sunbeam, Are You Listening? and Clementine, not to mention award-winning debut graphic novel The End of Summer and the revelatory biography we’re discussing here today.

If you’re a completist, you’ll also want her picture book My Parents Won’t Stop Talking (created with Emma Hunsinger) and even her Cosmic Slumber Tarot set.

You don’t need a mask to have an origin story, and it’s a rare person – or perhaps indicative of self-deception or mental illness – who never ponders who they are or how they got to right here, right now. It’s a process that’s infinitely rewarding for creators and their readers. Spinning is a perfect example of an extremely talented person taking a basic human drive, exploiting it and turning it into magic. It’s a very personal origin story, which may have great relevance and meaning for many seeing it – and it’s got costumes too…

As previously stated, Walden has created a bunch of books and they mostly have little bios that say that she’s from Austin, Texas, as if that’s some kind of warning or character reference. Later ones say that she lives in Vermont with her wife and two cats and teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies. So how did that happen?

Intimate and revelatory, some of the story is here: concentrating on her middle school years, back when she was a competitive ice skater.

There’s something worrisome and uncomfortable about the kind of family that allows – or worse, pushes – a child into a punishing regime of intense training in pursuit of sporting (or any other kind of excellence with a monetary benefit attached). I’ve heard all the arguments for and frankly, I don’t care. I was in a choir from age 5 to the end of secondary school, and I know just when it stopped being fun and became a burden…

Tillie back then was a kid who had to get up hours before school, travelling mostly on her own to isolated rinks and push relentlessly just to be one of the few seeking to excel at figure and synchronised skating. There were countless hours of sleep deficit, cruelly screaming or smotheringly solicitous coaches, equally exhausted and brittle girls just as reluctant to be there and always perishing cold. And that’s only how each day started.

… And then the family abruptly upped sticks from New Jersey to resettle in Austin, Texas…

The next few years are revisited with punishing candour and beguiling charm, employing the conceit of specific moves in a skating program as indicators/chapter headings. We open with ‘Waltz Jump’, covering her East Coast life and cross-country transition to a whole new world as soon as 5th grade classes ended…

‘Scratch Spin’ sees scorching August heat as the new kid meets teammates and/or rivals Michaela, Jennifer, Rosalind, Dasha and Little Dasha: as Tillie quickly learns that nothing she knew before applies here. At least coach Caitlin seems supportive and not another screaming harpy…

To supplement the misery, boost her grades and ostensibly offset bullying, Tillie is enrolled in a private girls’ school and sent for private cello lessons, proving her parents knew nothing about girls or school. Even skating has changed. Now she must attend two different rinks at separate times of day, constantly test to qualify and of course, endure more new friends… and otherwise.

Although Carly, Trinity, Sarah and the rest are all nice enough, it somehow only reinforces Tillie’s feelings of isolation and discomfort…

‘Flip Jump’ features first crushes, new bestie Lindsay, scary moments with adored brother John and a creepy old guy, with Miss Walden triumphantly rejoining the traveling competition circuit, and ‘Axel’ celebrates her turning 12 and become bogged down in all the complex social interactions she just doesn’t understand but which increasingly obsess her class and teammates. There’s also a bitterly regretted missed chance to confront the bully who made her life hell for a year…

Increasingly aware that skating is now a chore not a choice, Tillie begins to ‘Spiral’ after a near fatal accident she refuses to tell anyone about, but which has lasting repercussions. There’s a life changing moment when she realises how much she enjoys drawing and how good she is at it, and a far happier discovery: classmate Rae likes her every bit as much as Tillie likes her – and in just the same way.

‘Spread Eagle’ sees that critical first love brutally end when her girlfriend’s parents find out and take preventative action: something Tillie would have far preferred to the understanding talk her own mother forces upon her, and which leads to the skater coming out to anyone who cares to listen…

As art grows to consume her, skating declines as an interest but paradoxically boosts her ability to win. Nevertheless, a crisis inevitably approaches and ‘Counter’ focuses on her at age 16, simultaneously seeking to bolster her skate ranking and planning on leaving Texas as soon as possible. SATs loomed large on everyone’s horizon and Tillie has to endure extra tutoring despite having no intention of going to college. The arrangement almost makes her another crime statistic, but the real result of her narrow escape is realisation that her entire life is all about being tested and narrowly passing or surviving…

Floating days go by in a non-involved haze, before she eventually wakes up and takes charge. ‘Lutz’ addresses all her biggest challenges coming at once, yet another near-death experience, a life-altering unburdening and a decision at last made, leading into the liberating whirl of ‘Twizzle’ to free herself from twelve years a slave to other people’s wishes and the beginning of her own life…

That’s further addressed in the biographical Author’s Note that closes this magnificent and moving memoir. I said earlier that this was a part of Tillie Walden’s story: for more – as much as she’s willing to share – you’ll need to read her other books, both the biographical and fully fictional ones. Get them, read them, tell a friend.
© 2017 Tillie Walden. All rights reserved.

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Secret Invasion


By Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu, Mark Morales & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3297-4 (TPB/Digital edition Marvel) 978-1-84653-405-8 (TPB Panini/Marvel UK)

The Skrulls are shape-shifting aliens who have threatened Earth since the second issue of Fantastic Four, and have long been a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. After decades of use and misuse the insidious invaders were made the stars of a colossal braided mega-crossover event beginning in April 2008 and running through all the company’s titles until Christmas. That landmark worlds-shaking epic has since been adapted to the company’s burgeoning, blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you were a real fan, you’d have already seen the first episode…

We, however, are all about the comics so let’s revisit the stunning and all-pervasive source material. The premise is simple enough: the everchanging, corruptive would-be conquerors have undergone a mass religious conversion and are now utterly, fanatically dedicated to taking Earth as their new homeworld. To this end they have replaced over an unspecified time a number of key Earth denizens – including many of the world’s superheroes.

When the lid is lifted on the simmering plot, no defender of the Earth truly knows who is on their side…

Moreover the cosmic charlatans have also unravelled the secrets of humanity’s magical and genetic superpowers, creating amped-up equivalents to Earth’s mightiest. They are now primed and able to destroy the heroic defenders in face-to-face confrontations.

With the conquest primed to launch, everything starts to unravel when Elektra dies in battle and is discovered to be an alien, not a ninja. Soon, two teams of Avengers (Iron Man, The Sentry, Wonder Man, Daredevil, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ronin, Echo, Cloak and Black Widow) and certain agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  are covertly investigating in discrete operations. All are painfully aware that they have no way of telling friend from foe…

Crisis and confusion are compounded when a Skrull ship crashes in the primordial Savage Land, releasing a band of missing heroes claiming to have been abducted and experimented on. Among them are another Spider-Man, Luke Cage, recently killed Captain America Steve Rogers, Phoenix/Jean Grey and Thor, plus other heroes believed gone forever. Some must be Skrull duplicates but are they the newcomers or the ones facing them…?

As the champions second guess each other, the second strand triggers. Earths space defence station S.W.O.R.D. is blown up and a virus rips through the internet shutting down crucial systems including the Starktech comprising the operating systems of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man’s armour…

Now all over Earth, Skrulls attack and heroes – and even villains such as Norman (Green Goblin) Osborn – respond and retaliate in a last ditch effort to survive: a war of survival that ends in shock, horror and unforeseen disaster…

Rather than give any more away, let me just say that if you like this sort of blockbuster saga you’ll be in seventh heaven, and a detailed familiarity is not vital to your understanding. However, for a fuller understanding, amongst the other Secret Invasion volumes accompanying this, you should particularly seek out Secret Invasion: the Infiltration, Secret War (2004), Avengers Disassembled, and Annihilation volumes 1-3, as well as the Avengers: Illuminati compilation.

This American volume contains all 8 issues of the core miniseries plus a monumental covers-&-variants gallery (31 in total) by Gabriele Dell’Otto, Steve McNiven, Leinil Yu, Mel Rubi, Frank Cho, Laura Martin and Greg Horn, and a series of chilling house ads imploring us to ‘Embrace Change’, but is just one of 22 volumes comprising the vast number of episodes in convergent storylines of the saga.

Fast-paced, complex, superbly illustrated and suitably spectacular, this twisty-turny tale and its long-term repercussions reshaped the Marvel Universe, heralding a “Dark Reign” that pushed all the envelopes. If you are a comics newcomer, and can find the British edition from Panini, it also includes one-shot spin-off Who Do You Trust? and illustrated data-book Skrulls which claims to provide a listing and biography for every shapeshifter yet encountered in the Marvel Universe (but if they left any out, could you tell?).
© 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Peach Slices


By Donna Barr (Aeon/Mu)
ISBN: 978-1-89225-325-5 (TPB Director’s Cut)

We can’t let another Pride Month go by without plugging again one of the earliest, best and most ingenious Gay comics icons ever conceived. Moreover, as he and his companions first appeared in 1988 (published by Thoughts and Images) we can wish him a resplendent 35th Anniversary too!

The Desert Peach is the supremely self-assured and eminently efficient gay brother of Erwin Rommel, the legendary German soldier universally hailed as “the Desert Fox”.

Set primarily in Africa during World War II, this priceless lost gem of a series effortlessly combines hilarity, absurdity, profound sensitivity and glittering spontaneity in stories describing the dalliances and daily tribulations of Oberst Manfred Pfirsich Marie Rommel. This younger sibling also dutifully served his fatherland, albeit as an unwilling and reluctant cog in the iniquitous German War Machine: one determined to remain a civilised gentleman under the most adverse and unkind conditions.

However, although in his own ways as formidable as his beloved brother, the caring, gracious and genteel Peach is a man who loathes causing harm or giving offence. Thus, he spends his service commanding the dregs of the military in the ghastly misshapes of the 469th Halftrack, Gravedigging & Support Unit of the Afrika Korps, always endeavouring to remain stylish, elegant, polite and ever-so-patient with and to the assorted waifs, wastrels and warriors on both sides of the unfortunate all-encompassing conflict.

It’s a thankless, endless task: the 469th harbours the absolute worst the Wehrmacht has ever conscripted, from malingerers and malcontents to useless wounded, shiftless conmen, screw-ups and outright maniacs.

Pfirsich unilaterally applies the same decorous courtesies to the sundry natives inhabiting the area as well as the rather tiresome British and Anzac forces – not all of whom are party to the clandestine non-aggression pact Pfirsich has covertly agreed with his opposite numbers in the amassed Allied Forces. In fact, the only people to truly annoy the peace-loving Peach are boors, bigots, bullies and card-carrying Blackshirts…

The romantic fool is also passionately in love with and engaged to Rosen Kavalier: handsome Aryan warrior and wildly manly Luftwaffe Ace, but arguably the true star of these fabulous frothy epics is the Peach’s long-suffering, unkempt, crafty, ill-mannered, bilious and lazily scrofulous orderly Udo Schmidt.

This is a man (we’re at least assured of that!) of many secrets, whose one redeeming virtue is his uncompromising loyalty and devotion to the only decent man and tolerable officer in the entire German army.

This eccentric aggregation of extras, excerpts and exotica was first released in 1993, collecting extraneous material from a variety of sources and covering the period 1987-1993: as much an affectionate art-book as delicious dose of non- or mis-canonical hi-jinks.

The entire package was subsequently re-released in 2006 in a Director’s Cut edition which added issue #25 of the sporadic series: a WWI Transylvanian Hammer-Horror pastiche entitled ‘Beautiful’ to the mix and includes reminiscences, background commentary and creator-kibitzing regarding all the esoteric tales and titbits.

The gloriously engaging affair begins with an Unused Pin Design and splendid Badge Design taken from the San Diego Comic-Con 1989, after which a quartet of stunning and bizarre Beer Labels (for ales created by micro brewer Wendell Joost in 1988) precedes ‘Peach on Earth’ (from A Very Mu Christmas 1992) – one of the very best Christmas stories ever produced in the notoriously twee and sentimental comics biz.

Set in the harsh December of 1945, it follows demobbed and repatriated Pfirsich as he wanders through his broken and occupied homeland: avoiding trouble and American troops but not the gnawing starvation and freezing snows which would kill so many returning, defeated German soldiers. On the verge of despair and death, the Peach is brusquely adopted by a strange, brittle and utterly fearless little boy who has only known the Fatherland in the throes of decline, but still looks eagerly to a brighter tomorrow…

This is followed by a rather risqué Rosen Kavalier pinup from 1991’s Paper Phantasies and an unused strip commissioned by Rip Off Press, after which ‘Whipping Boy’ offers a full-on adult escapade of unconventional lovers, as is ‘I Am What I Am… (I Think)’. This was a “Desert Peach Pitt Stop” that languished unpublished until this collection preserved it.

Bits ‘n’ Pieces was a short-lived self-published magazine the indefatigable author used to disseminate assorted works which never made it into the regular, normal-length Desert Peach title, and ‘The Veteran’ comes from the first issue in 1991. It returns focus to the motley cast of the hapless 469th for a pleasurably philosophical foray starring a most peculiar and innocent warrior named Thommi, whilst – following a frolicsome Desert Peach pinup from the 1989 Amazing Heroes Swimsuit Special – ‘Hindsight’ (Bits ‘n’ Pieces #1) dips into personal politics before ‘Reflections’ (BnP #3, 1991) offers a few New Year’s observations on the cast and stars from Barr herself.

1991 San Diego Comic-Con’s booklet provided another beguiling Pinup before ‘Udo and the Phoenix’ (Xenophon#1, 1992) relates another tale of the spirited Arab horse accidentally owned by Udo and cared for by the equally magnificent Pfirsich.

Next, ‘Reluctant Affections’ (BnP #1 before being redrawn as ‘Pigeonholed’ for Gay Comics #16) explores a tender, fragile moment and adorable chink in the macho armour of uber-Mensch Rosen…

‘The More Things Change’ comes from 1992 benefit book Choices, debating the abortion issue with characteristic abrasive aplomb, after which ‘Sweet Delusions’ (Wimmin’s Comix #16, 1991) gets down to the eye-watering nitty-gritty of Rosen & Pfirsich’s love life and ‘Wet Dream’ (Bits ‘n’ Pieces #3) follows up with more of the same in a hilariously wry maritime moment.

Barr’s creations are never far from always internally consistent flights of extreme fantasy, as observed in glorious diversion ‘The Oasis’ (Centaurs Gatherum 1990) with Pfirsich and brother Erwin finding a strategically priceless waterhole with a fantastic secret and forced to spend a truly outrageous time trapped as hybrid half horses…

This captivating chronicle concludes with a selection of ‘Peach Pits’ miscellanea: illustrations, roughs and small press items culled from the Desert Peach Musical books, T-shirts and posters. There’s some fascinating rough layouts from the aforementioned ‘Peach on Earth’, an unused page from DP #17 (the superb ‘Culture Shock’ as seen in The Desert Peach: Marriage & Mayhem and assorted stuff from Zine Zone #13, 1992. Even more extras include covers from Germanophilic Amateur Press Association magazine “Krauts”, and shirt designs before the whole outrageous escapade ends well with an implausibly “true tail” starring half-horse Stinz Löwhard, Pfirsich and Erwin in a ‘Character Revolt’ from 1987’s Fan-toons #19.

Desert Peach adventures are bawdy, raucous, satirical, authentically madcap and immensely engaging: bizarre (anti) war stories which rank amongst the very best comics of the 1990s. Even now they still pack a shattering comedic kick and – if you’re not quite braced – poignantly emotional charge.

The Desert Peach ran for 32 intermittent issues via a number of publishers and was collected as 8 graphic novel collections (1988-2005). A prose novel, Bread and Swans, a musical and an invitational collection by other artists (Ersatz Peach) were also created during the strip’s heyday. A larger compendium, Seven Peaches, collected issues #1-7 and Pfirsich’s further exploits, as part of the now much-missed Modern Tales webcomics collective.

Illustrated in Barr’s fluidly seductive wood-cut and loose-line style, this book is an absolute must-have item for lovers of wit, romance, slapstick, high drama and belly-laughs as well as grown-up comics in general.

All the collections are pretty hard to locate these days but if you have any facility with the digital world they can still be found. There’s also chatter that Robot Comics will be re-releasing the entire saga digitally sometime soon. Let’s hope so…
© 1987-1993 Donna Barr. All rights reserved. The Desert Peach is ™ Donna Barr.

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Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter


By Oscar Zárate (SelfMadeHero)
ISBN: 978-1-914224-07-2 (HB/Digital edition)

Oscar Zárate was born in Argentina in 1942. After studying architecture he worked in advertising until 1971, at which time, like so many other countrymen, he migrated to Europe. Restarting his life and career, his design and painting jobs were augmented from 1977 onwards by illustrating histories of scientific and political luminaries (the …For Beginners and Introducing… series). This led to his adapted literary graphic novels Othello (1983) and Dr. Faustus (1986). A year later he collaborated with Alexei Sayle on Geoffrey the Tube Train and the Fat Comedian and in 1991 the award-winning A Small Killing, written by Alan Moore. He also produced socially active comics strips for Fleetway’s Crisis magazine.

A creator of intellect, passion and sensitivity, Zárate has always delivered far more than expected and in his latest magnum opus advances the potential of graphic biography by combining the avowed popular rediscovery of outsider English Master Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter with a compelling (hopefully, largely fictionalised) drama. The players are three modern day artistic apprentices, devout and dedicated yet adrift and floundering in their own highly personalised searches for integrity and eternal truths. Ultimately, they all finally find ways forward by looking back to a rebel genius inexplicably sidelined by history…

Arturo, Sarah and Fred are all mature-student artists who meet up at a weekly life drawing class in London. Each is passionate about their pastime but cannot escape the crippling pressures their regular lives bring. Arturo is from Argentina and still carries self-inflicted scars of betrayal and failure, as well as the shame of having escaped terror at the cost of his family. It makes him seem gruff, distrusting, weary and cynical …

Architect and imminent grandmother-to-be Sarah is crippled by a different kind of guilt: perpetually wracked by how she is not good enough at anything she does. This recently remanifested when her greatest friend from art school reached out after decades of silence and separation. Back then, Sarah had abandoned and ghosted her on the cusp of success and greatness and has ever since writhed in the torment of debilitating guilt only Catholicism can (self) inflict.

Poor Fred is perhaps the most troubled: an honest, fair-minded worker who accidentally uncovered high levels of tax fraud at work. Even after losing his job because of it, he is still being pilloried: on one side pursued by a journalist who wants him to become a whistle-blower and on the other by a gang of heavies his former bosses hired to ensure his silence…

For nearly a year the trio have gradually become friends, discussing art in after-class pub sessions. Now Fred has become an impassioned zealot with a new love. He’s discovered an 18th century genius who changed the shape of English watercolour painting and then simply vanished from public view and memory.

It’s an injustice Fred is determined to set right…

The story of Thomas Girtin is woven throughout their cumulative tale. He is an intriguing mystery and shining exemplar whose gradually reconstructed history inspires each modern-day acolyte to change the course of their own life. Arturo finds strength from the tragically ill-starred artist’s resolve and courage at a time of widespread and earthshaking political unrest: an outright proudly rebel republican in an avidly monarchist nation, despising, decrying and working against the patronage system that supported his work and kept him in luxury.

Sarah finds inspiration in the driven quest for an almost-mystical connection to Nature and a higher truth. Young Girtin was a contemporary, rival and friend of latterday English icon JMW Turner, and at the turn of the 18th century was rapidly growing in renown. Already recognised as a groundbreaking pioneer outselling his old schoolmate in the cutthroat and exploitative art scene of the day, Girtin never rested, but continually strove to capture the fundamental revelations of reality.

That all ended with his early death in 1802, aged 27. Crucially for Sarah, in his search for the truth of time and the cosmos, Girtin martyred himself: dying due to his own obsessive compulsion to capture the elements in all their ferocious fury and restorative glories…

As for Fred, Girtin’s life increasingly becomes his own. Resurrecting and redeeming the lost painter’s reputation and sharing his mastery with the world becomes his reason for living, driving him to make a pilgrimage in Girtin’s footsteps and thereafter reorder the course of his own remaining years…

The twinned stories are subtly and smoothly presented by Zárate using two different styles of illustrative painting; mixing modern-day pastel tones with stark, sepia-tinted historical episodes that reveal – in his and his characters’ eyes at least – who Girtin was and how he lived, thrived and died.

As this monumental tome unfolds and tellingly argues for Girtin’s popular revival and reassessment, the most convincing asset in that campaign are the beautiful original Girtin works. The reproductions of his greatest triumphs – “View near Beddgelert”, “Estuary of the River Taw, Devon”, “Storiths Heights” and his undisputed masterpiece “The White House at Chelsea” – are judiciously folded into the text and include a selection of large gatefold images.

This is a book about Art and a story of artists, operating on the principle that what we see which moves us, we need to share. Once the story’s done here, that can be easily first facilitated by reading erudite and engaging endpiece ‘Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) An Afterword’ by Dr Greg Smith, (Senior Research Fellow, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) and the attendant Acknowledgements, Permissions, and copious Bibliography sections.

You can always check him out yourself. There are many places online to see Girtin’s work, and even a few museums, if you’re pushy. Then go tell a like-minded friend.
© Oscar Zárate 2023. All rights reserved.

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Big Ugly


By Ellice Weaver (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-66-0 (pocket HB)

We’ve all experienced something of an interpersonal revolution thanks to Covid-19 and the measures used to counter it, as well as the undeclared global depression and rising functional poverty in developed world that followed. However, it’s wise to remember that relationships between friends and especially family members are – and always have been – complex, varied and nothing like fiction would have us believe…

Most folk lead ordinary lives with forgettable days, minor affections and grudges and lots of tedium and bills. All days and everydays are not grand affairs and soaring missions undertaken by grand heroes and threatened by Machiavellian villains. Cradle to grave, it’s just carrying on until you finally stop. We grown-ups call it “life” and Mel is utterly mired in it.

Her existence is about plodding on, making ends meet, being underappreciated in her job and just getting by, but her mental and emotional loads take a big hit when brother Matt hits a pothole in his dreams and moves into her spare room.

Soon everything that was annoying and unsettling about their shared past together is slipping out, resurfacing and occupying her bandwidth: his unrealistic expectations, daft schemes, lack of attention and selfishness. It’s just like when they were kids all over again…

Mel might have been unhappy, but at least she was settled and now it’s all Upset, Change and Challenge, and Matt hasn’t let the passage of time mellow him at all. He’s no less obnoxious and pig-headed than when he first left home. Still, he has his good sides too, and it’s some comfort to feel kinship rekindled and re-share experiences. Some moments even afford a smattering of long-delayed clarity, but it’s obvious they have very different ways of being grown-ups.

They haven’t quite got to the stage where they can talk about Dad yet though, but it is good to have someone to share her decidedly rare medical condition – or perhaps rather unique kind of hypochondria? Above all, Mark is Family. Mel might be permanently peeved with him, but who else could she share such intimate concerns with. There’s certainly no one else ready to help the way Matt is…

… And thus the situation quietly slowly spirals, as Matt infuriatingly settles in, expecting and encouraging his sister to change whilst sinking back into his old selfish, foolishly ambitious patterns of behaviour and daydreams of creative superstardom. He even brings in his weird new girlfriend Jill – the one Mel technically introduced him to…

When he gets Mel to drive him and Jill across the country to a ridiculous podcast convention things get both painfully honest and truly revelatory…

Simultaneously placid and tense, painfully pedestrian and infuriatingly abstract, this darkly comedic interaction is a “Post Coming-of-Age” tale of ordinary people, afflicted like we all are with the binary condition most adults experience: the feeling that life’s leaving you behind whilst you are convincing yourself that you’ve never even caught up in the first place…

Born in Bath and based in Bristol, Ellice Weaver became a freelance illustrator after graduating from The University of West England and moving to Berlin. Past clients include The Guardian, Washington Post, New Yorker, The Times and Transport for London. A compulsive storyteller, her first graphic novel Something City was released in 2017 and awarded “Indie Comic of the Year”.

Her second full narrative outing, Big Ugly is a slyly entrancing, graphically compelling observational essay on expectation – familial, personal and professional – and how it can founder on the forge of humdrum subsistence, daily disappointment and diminishing dreams. It also reveals just how much early days and sibling support (or not) can shape and affirm, and at what price…
© Ellice Weaver, 2023. All rights reserved.

If you’re London based/adjacent – or just a bit keen – there’s a launch party for Big Ugly on 22nd June. It’s at Jam Bookshop in Hackney Rd E2 7NX and launches an art exhibition that will run until July 9th.

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The Left Bank Gang


By Jason, coloured by Hubert, translated by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-742-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

Jason is secretly John Arne Saeterrøy: born in Molde, Norway in 1965 and an overnight international cartoon superstar since 1995 when his first graphic novel Lomma full ay regn (Pocket Full of Rain) won that year’s Sproing Award (Norway’s biggest comics prize).

He won another Sproing in 2001 for the series Mjau Mjau and in 2002 turned almost exclusively to producing graphic novels. Now a global star among the cognoscenti he has won seven major awards from such disparate regions as France, Slovakia and the USA.

Now his latest novella is released, rife with his signature surreality: populated with cinematic, darkly comic anthropomorphs and featuring more bewitching ruminations on his favourite themes of relationships and loneliness, viewed as ever through a charmingly macabre cast of bestial movie archetypes and lost modern chumps.

In this full-colour tract – originally released in France as Hemingway – Jason sets his quirkily-informed imagination into literary overdrive: postulating what might have been at a moment of intense intellectual cross-pollination.

It’s Paris in the 1920s: émigrés F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway are all struggling to make their marks on the world – and most especially on the other artistic Men and Women of Destiny congregated in the enclave of creative excellence that has grown up around the Latin Quarter. Wannabe cartoonists, their own meagre efforts seem paltry and trivial in comparison to the masterful comic books produced by Faulkner or Dostoyevsky, whilst true artists such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Man Ray all seem to have no trouble with their medium or message…

Worst of all, Scott thinks something is bothering Zelda: she might even be cheating on him…

The disaffected Young Turks are uniformly plagued by nightmares of the past and frustrated dreams of mediocre futures with everyday life relentlessly coming at them demanding vile money just to stay alive and keep on fruitlessly toiling.

… And then Hemingway says it: why not just rob a bank?

Blending literary pretention and modern creative mythology with the iconography and ironic bombast of Reservoir Dogs is a stroke of genius no one else could pull off. As always, this visual/verbal bon mot unfolds via Jason’s beguiling, sparse-dialogued, pantomimic progressions with enchantingly formal page layouts rendered in the familiar, minimalist evolution of Hergé’s Claire Ligne style; solid blacks, thick lines and settings of seductive simplicity augmented here by a stunning palette of stark pastels and muted primary colours.

Jason’s work always jumps directly into the reader’s brain and heart, always probing the nature of “human-ness” by using the beastly and unnatural to ask persistent and pertinent questions. Although the clever sight-gags are less prominent here his repertory company of “funny-animal” characters still uncannily depict the subtlest emotions with devastating effect, proving again just how good a cartoonist he is.

This wry mis-history lesson is strongly suggested for adults but makes us all to look at the world through wide-open childish eyes. Jason is instantly addictive and a creator every serious fan of the art form should move to the top of the Must-Have list.
All characters, stories and artwork © 2007 Editions de Tournon-Carabas/Jason. All rights reserved.

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Moomin volume 7 – The Complete Lars Jansson Comic Strip


By Lars Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)
ISBN: 978-1-77046-062-1 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-77046-554-1

Tove Jansson was one of the greatest literary innovators and narrative pioneers of the 20th century: equally adept at shaping words and images to create worlds of wonder. She was especially expressive with basic components like pen and ink, manipulating slim economical lines and patterns to realise sublime realms of fascination, whilst her dexterity made simple forms into incredibly expressive and potent symbols and, as this collection shows, so was her brother…

Tove Marika Jansson was born into an artistic, intellectual, basically bohemian Swedish family in Helsinki, Finland on August 9th 1914. Father Viktor was a sculptor and mother Signe Hammarsten-Jansson a successful illustrator, graphic designer and commercial artist. Tove’s brothers Lars – AKA “Lasse” – and Per Olov became respectively an author/cartoonist and art photographer. The family and its close intellectual, eccentric circle of friends seems to have been cast rather than born, with a witty play or challenging sitcom as the piece they were all destined to inhabit.

After extensive and intensive study (from 1930-1938 at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm, the Graphic School of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and L’Ecole d’Adrien Holy and L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris), Tove became a successful exhibiting artist through the troubled period of the Second World War.

Brilliantly creative across many fields, she published the first fantastic Moomins adventure in 1945. Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Little Trolls and the Great Flood or latterly and more euphoniously The Moomins and the Great Flood) was a whimsical epic of gentle, inclusive, accepting, understanding, bohemian misfit trolls and their strange friends…

A youthful over-achiever, from 1930 to 1953 Tove worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for Swedish satirical magazine Garm: achieving some measure of notoriety with an infamous political sketch lampooning the Appeasement policies of European leaders by depicting Hitler in nappies. She was also highly in-demand for many magazines and children’s books, and had started selling comic strips as early as 1929.

Moomintroll was her signature character. Literally.

The lumpy, big-eyed, gently adventurous romantic goof began life as a spindly sigil next to her name in her political works. She called him “Snork” and claimed she had designed him in a fit of pique as a child – the ugliest thing a precocious little girl could imagine – as a response to losing an argument with her brother about Immanuel Kant.

The term “Moomin” came from her maternal uncle Einar Hammarsten who attempted to stop her pilfering food when she visited, warning her that a Moomintroll guarded the kitchen, creeping up on trespassers and breathing cold air down their necks. Snork/Moomin filled out, became timidly nicer – if a little clingy and insecure – acting as a placid therapy-tool to counteract the grimness of the post-war world.

Initially The Moomins and the Great Flood made little impact, but Jansson persisted – as much for her own edification as any other reason – and in 1946 Kometjakten (Comet in Moominland) was published. Many commentators regard the terrifying tale a skilfully compelling allegory of Nuclear Armageddon. You should read it now… while you still can…

When it and third illustrated novel Trollkarlens hatt (1948, Finn Family Moomintroll or occasionally The Happy Moomins) were translated into English in 1952, their instant success prompted British publishing giant Associated Press to commission a newspaper strip about her seductively sweet and sensibly surreal creations.

Jansson had no misgivings or prejudices regarding strip cartoons and had already adapted Comet in Moominland for Swedish/Finnish paper Ny Tid. Mumintrollet och jordens undergäng – Moomintrolls and the End of the World – was a popular feature, so she readily accepted the chance to extend her eclectic family across the world. In 1953, The London Evening News began the first of 21 Moomin strip serials to captivate readers of all ages.

Jansson’s involvement in the cartoon feature ended in 1959, a casualty of its own success and a punishing publication schedule. So great was the strain that towards the end she recruited brother Lars to help. He then took over, continuing the strip until 1975. His tenure as sole creator continues here…

Liberated from the strip’s pressures, Tove returned to painting, writing and other creative pursuits: making plays, murals, public art, stage designs, costumes for dramas and ballets, a Moomin opera and 9 more Moomin-related picture-books and novels, as well as 13 books and short-story collections strictly for grown-ups.

Tove Jansson died on June 27th 2001. Her awards are too numerous to mention, but just consider: how many modern artists get their faces on the national currency?

Lars Fredrik Jansson (October 8th 1926 – July 31st 2000) was just as amazing as his sister. Born into that astounding clan twelve years after Tove, at 16 he started writing – and selling – novels (nine in total). He also taught himself English because there weren’t enough Swedish-language translations of books available for his voracious reading appetite.

In 1956, he began co-scripting the Moomin newspaper strip at his sister’s request: injecting his own brand of witty whimsicality to ‘Moomin Goes Wild West’. He had been Tove’s translator from the start, seamlessly converting her Swedish text into English. When her contract with The London Evening News expired in 1959, Lars Jansson officially took over the feature, having spent the interim period learning to draw and perfectly mimic his sister’s cartooning style. He had done so in secret, with the assistance and tutelage of their mother Signe. From 1961 to the strip’s end in 1974, he was sole steersman of the newspaper iteration of trollish tails.

Lasse was a man of many parts: other careers including writer, translator, aerial photographer and professional gold miner. He was the basis and model for the cast’s cool kid Snufkin…

Lars’ Moomins was subtly sharper than his sister’s version and he was far more in tune with the quirky British sense of humour, but his whimsy and wry sense of wonder was every bit as compelling. In 1990, long after the original series, he began a new career, working with Dennis Livson (designer of Finland’s acclaimed theme park Moomin World) as producers of Japanese anime series The Moomins and – in 1993 with daughter Sophia – on new Moomin strips…

Moomintrolls are easy-going free spirits: natural bohemians untroubled by hidebound domestic mores and most societal pressures. Moominmama is warm, kindly tolerant and capable but perhaps overly concerned with propriety and appearances, whilst devoted spouse Moominpappa spends most of his time trying to rekindle his adventurous youth or dreaming of fantastic exploits.

Their son Moomin is a meek, dreamy boy with confusing ambitions. He adores their permanent houseguest the Snorkmaiden – although that impressionable, flighty gamin much prefers to play things slowly whilst hoping for somebody potentially better to come along…

The seventh oversized (310 x 221 mm) monochrome hardback compilation gathers serial strip sagas #26-29, and opens with Lars firmly in charge and puckishly re-exploring human frailties and foibles via a sophisticate poke at the shifting political climate…

Craftily casting cats among pigeons, 26th escapade ‘Moomin the Colonist’ finds armchair adventurer Moominpappa resenting the advent of the annual hibernation and rashly listening to his bookish boy, who has been reading about colonisation…

Soon he has packed up the family and a few close friends and set out to conquer fresh fields and pastures new. With Mymble and Little My, Mrs Fillyjonk, her daughters and a cow in tow, the eager expansionists head off across the frozen land and don’t stop until they reach a tropical desert island where they start setting up a new civilisation combining the best of the old world with lots of fresh ideas on how society should be run…

Sadly, their neighbours from back home have sneakily copied the Moomin movement and before long the new continent is embroiled in a passive-aggressive, slyly competitive struggle for control, with scurrilous reprobate Stinky and his pals playing the bad guys behind the Palm Tree Curtain…

Following the mutual collapse of colonialism, outrageous satire gives way to wicked sarcasm as ‘Moomin and the Scouts’ recounts how energetic Mr Brisk’s passion for the outdoor life, badges and bossing children envelopes the instinctively sedentary Moomins and unleashes all kinds of disruptive chaos. With scouts running wild amongst the trees it just seems easier to join them rather than seek to beat them and let nature disrupt the movement from within…especially after Moomin starts hanging around with Miss Brisk’s Girl Guides and the generally dismissive Snorkmaiden feels oddly conflicted…

The perils of property and stain of status upsets the orderly life of the clan when Moominpappa unexpectedly comes into a major inheritance in ‘Moomin and the Farm’. Grievously afflicted by a terrible case of noblesse oblige, the family uproot themselves and retire to stately Gobble Manor to perpetuate the line of landed gentry on a modern working arable and pastoral estate.

Adapting to wealth and property is one thing and even accommodating the legion of ancestral ghosts is but another strand of Duty, but the effort of taking on and even perpetuating centuries of unearned privilege proves far too weighty a burden for all concerned… before the increasingly untenable situation typically corrects itself…

Back in their beloved house and rearranging furniture, a dropped chest disgorges an ancient map and triggers another wild dreamers’ quest in ‘Moomin and the Gold-fields’…

Unable to refuse adventure when it’s dangled in front of their exuberant noses, father and son are soon trekking the wilds and digging random holes thanks to the supremely unclear chart, and before long the entire valley is afflicted with gold rush fever.

With law, common decency and even good manners abandoned to greed as the sedate dell becomes a boisterous and sordid boom town, all Moominmama can do is maintain her dignity and wait for the madness to pass…

This deceptively barbed and edgy compilation closes with ‘Lars Jansson: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get to Work’ by family biographer Juhani Tolvanen, extolling his many worthy attributes and more besides…

These are truly magical tales for the young, laced with the devastating observation and razor-sharp mature wit which enhances and elevates only the greatest kids’ stories into classics of literature. These volumes – both Tove and Lars’ – comprise an international treasure trove no fan of the medium – or carbon-based lifeform with even a hint of heart and soul – can afford to be without.
© 2012 Solo/Bulls except “Lars Jansson: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get to Work” © 2011, 2012 Juhani Tolvanen. All rights reserved.