May 2011 – Now Read This!

May 31, 2011May 30, 2011

Axa volumes 5 and 6

By Donne Avenell & Enrique Badia Romero (Ken Pierce Books)
Vol. 5 ISBN: 0-912277-21-1Â Â Vol. 6 no ISBN: 0-912277-22-X

Although the â€œSwinging Sixtiesâ€ is thought of as the moment when we all lost our prudish innocence, the real era of sexual liberation was the early 1970s. In that period of swiftly shifting social and cultural morÃ©s and rapidly evolving attitudes to adult behaviour British newspapers radically altered much of their traditional style and content in response to the seemingly inexorable wave of female social emancipation and reputed sexual equality.

All the same, this still allowed newspaper editors plenty of leeway to squeeze in oodles of undraped women, who finally escaped from the perfectly rendered comics strips and onto the regular pages (usually the third one), the centre-spreads, pop pages and fashion featuresâ€¦

However the only place where truly affirmative female role-models appeared to be taken seriously were the aforementioned cartoon sections, but even there the likes of Modesty Blaise, Danielle, Scarth, Amanda and all the other capable ladies who walked all over the oppressor gender, both humorously and in straight adventure scenarios, lost clothes and shed undies repeatedly, continuously, frivolously and in the manner they always hadâ€¦

Nobody complained (no one important or who was ever taken seriously): it was just tradition and the idiom of the mediumâ€¦ and besides, most artists have always liked to draw bare-naked ladies as much as blokes liked to see them and it was even educational for the kiddies – who could buy any newspaper in any shop without interference even if they couldn’t get into cinemas to view Flashdance, Trading Places or Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone without an accompanying adultâ€¦

Sales kept soaringâ€¦

Take-charge chicks were practically commonplace when the Star Wars phenomenon reinvigorated public interest in science fiction and the old standby of scantily-clad, curvy amazons and post-apocalyptic wonderlands regained their sales-appeal. Thus The Sun hired Enrique Badia Romero and Donne Avenell to produce just such an attention-getter for their already well-stacked cartoon section.

Romero had begun his career in Spain in 1953, producing everything from westerns, sports, war stories and trading cards, often in conjunction with his brother Jorge BadÃa Romero. He even formed his own publishing house. â€œEnricâ€ began working for the higher-paying UK market in the 1960s on strips such as ‘Cathy and Wendy’, ‘Isometrics’ and ‘Cassius Clay’ before successfully assuming the drawing duties on the high-profile Modesty Blaise strip in 1970 (see Modesty Blaise: The Hell Makers and Modesty Blaise: The Green Eyed Monster), only leaving when this enticing new prospect appeared.

In 1986 political and editorial intrigue saw Axa cancelled in the middle of a story and Romero returned to the bodacious Blaise until creator/writer Peter O’Donnell retired in 2001. Since then he has produced Modesty material for Scandinavia and a number of projects such as Durham Red for 2000AD.

Axa ran in The Sun Monday to Saturday from 1978 to her abrupt disappearance in 1986 and, other than these slim volumes from strip historian Ken Pierce, has never been graced with a definitive collection. It should be noted also that at the time of these books the strip was still being published to great acclaim.

In ‘Axa the Eager’ opens with the winsome wanderer and her current paramour Dirk drifting along barren coastlines until they encounter a bird-like man-creature and are drawn inescapably into a clash of ideologies between two factions of tree-dwelling humanoids.

One, led by the boisterous dreamer Zeph, wishes to remain in the safety of the canopies until they evolve into true fliers whilst his brother Galen wishes to return the Sky People to the Earth and the ways of technological progress. The division also splits Dirk and Axa and to complicate matters further the solid ground they’re all squawking about is surrounded by deadly mutated toad monstersâ€¦

Powerful and impressively philosophical, this tale of family discord could only end in tragedyâ€¦

‘Axa the Carefree’ finds the chastened explorers travelling inland to a new and desolate landscape concealing a sedate well-hidden village. Impossibly it seems to have escaped unscathed the horrors of the Great Contamination and investigating further Axa and Dirk discover a population of simple peasants blithely thriving, unaware of the horrors of the last hundred years. However, as always, things are not as they seem and the farmers are only a satellite branch of specialist technological guilds collectively dubbed â€œThe Artisansâ€.

Ever curious the nubile nomad sneaks into the mountain citadel of the Artisans to find a virtual paradise where her wild beauty captivates one too many of the masters of the Craft Guilds that run the place. She is also reunited with her lost companion Mark 10, a robotic servant she won and lost in Axa volume 3.

Tensions are already rising when the bored and enamoured Galen stumbles onto the scene and, as her very presence incites the normally-stable creative types into a kind of madness, there looks to be a revolution in the Artisans’ immediate future unless Axa can broker a return to productive rationalityâ€¦

Axa 6 dispenses with tedious text and dashes straight into the graphic action of ‘Axa the Dwarfed’ with the glorious gladiatrix and Mark 10 abandoning the Artisans to trek across a bleak wasteland until they stumble into an old government research facility where the flora and insect life has grown to immense proportions. Moreover, truly advanced and properly civilised scientists appear to be running the whole showâ€¦

Typically however, even this technological Garden of Eden has a serpent in the form of one boffin with a little too much ambition, so it’s a lucky thing old flame Matt has been tracking Axa for months and finally reunites with her just as the unscrupulous mastermind makes his moveâ€¦

‘Axa the Untamed’ finds the fiery fury dragging Matt and Mark 10 into a different kind of danger when the trio encounter a tribe of Gipsies who have proliferated into a modern horde of nomadic Mongol plainsmen, trading horses and other valuable commodities in a mad, macho wonderland of testosterone and arrogance.

Even Axa’s freedom-fuelled head is turned by the attentions of Gipsy Prince Django, much to Matt’s dismay, but it isn’t too long before the glamour fades and the worth of women in Django’s world leads her to reassess its value. It’s a lot harder to cure her love affair with his magnificent horses thoughâ€¦

These tales are superb examples of the uniquely British newspaper strip style: lavishly drawn, subversively written, expansive in scope and utterly enchanting in their basic simplicity – with lots of flashed flesh, emphatic action and sly, knowing humour. Eminently readable and re-readable (and there’s still that dwindling promise of a major motion picture) Axa is long overdue for a definitive collection. Here’s hoping there’s a bold publisher out there looking for the next big thingâ€¦
Â© 1984 Express Newspapers, Ltd.

May 30, 2011May 30, 2011

Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents Superman Team-Ups volume 1

By Martin Pasko, Paul Levitz, Denny O’Neil, JosÃ© Luis GarcÃa-LÃ³pez, Dick Dillin, Joe Staton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-471-8

From the moment a kid first sees his second superhero the only thing he/she wants is to see how the new gaudy gladiator stacks up against the first. From the earliest days of the funnybook industry (and according to DC Comics Presents editor Julie Schwartz it was the same with the pulps and dime novels that preceded it) we’ve wanted our idols to meet, associate, battle together – and if you follow the Timely/Marvel model, that means against each other – far more than we want to see them trounce their archenemies togetherâ€¦

The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with less well-selling company characters – was far from new when DC awarded their then biggest gun (it was the publicity drenched weeks before the release of Superman: the Movie, and Tim Burton’s Batman was over a decade away) a regular arena to have adventures with other stars of their firmament, just as Batman had been doing since the middle of the 1960s in the Brave and the Bold.

In truth the Man of Steel had already enjoyed the sharing experience once before when World’s Finest Comics briefly ejected the Caped Crusader and Superman battled beside a coterie of heroes including Flash, Robin, Teen Titans, Dr. Fate and others (issues #198-214 November 1970 to October/November 1972) before the immortal status quo was re-established.

This superbly economical monochrome collection re-presents the first twenty-six issues of the star-studded monthly and opens the show with a two-part thriller featuring Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash who had also been Superman’s first co-star in the aforementioned World’s Finest Comics run.

‘Chase to the End of Time!’ and ‘Race to the End of Time!’ debuted in DC Comics Presents #1-2, (July-August and September-October 1978) as scripter Marty Pasko and the utterly astounding JosÃ© Luis GarcÃa-LÃ³pez (inked by Dan Adkins) rather reprised the World’s Finest tale as warring alien races tricked Superman and Flash into speeding through the time-stream to prevent Earth’s history from being corrupted and destroyed. As if that wasn’t dangerous enough, nobody could predict the deadly intervention of the Scarlet Speedster’s most dangerous foe, Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flashâ€¦

David Michelinie wrote a tantalising pastiche of classic Adam Strange Mysteries in Space for GarcÃa-LÃ³pez to draw and ink in ‘The Riddle of Little Earth Lost’ wherein the Man of Two Worlds and Man of Steel foiled the cosmic scheme of a deranged genius to transpose, subjugate and/or destroy Earth and light-years distant planet Rann, and Len Wein scripted the superb ‘Sun-Stroke!’ wherein the Action Ace and the madly-malleable Metal Men joined forces to thwart solar-fuelled genius I.Q. and elemental menace Chemo as a ill-considered plan to enhance solar radiation provoked a catastrophic solar-flare.

Sea King Aquaman became embroiled in ‘The War of the Undersea Cities’ (by Wein, Paul Levitz & Murphy Anderson) when his subjects opened hostilities with the mer-folk of Tritonis, home of Superman’s old college girlfriend Lori Lemaris. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed when the deadly Ocean Master was revealed to be meddling in their sub-sea politics, after which ‘The Fantastic Fall of Green Lantern’ (Levitz, Curt Swan & Francisco Chiaramonte) saw the Man of Steel inherit the awesome power ring after Hal Jordan fell in battle with Star Sapphire.

Although triumphant against his female foe, Superman was ambushed by anti-matter warriors from Qward leading to ‘The Paralyzed Planet Peril!’ (#7, Levitz, Dick Dillin & Chiaramonte) wherein those aliens attempted to colonise Earth until the Red Tornado swept in to the rescue.

‘The Sixty Deaths of Solomon Grundy’ by Steve Englehart & Murphy Anderson featured Swamp Thing (at a time when the bog-beast still believed he was a transformed human and not an enhanced plant) searching the sewers of Metropolis for a cure to his condition, only to stumble onto a battle between the Man of Steel and the mystic zombie who was â€œborn on a Mondayâ€â€¦

Marty Pasko returned to script the Joe Staton & Jack Abel illustrated ‘Invasion of the Ice People!’ wherein Wonder Woman assisted in repelling an attack by malign disembodied intellects before another two-part tale began with ‘The Miracle Man of Easy Company’ (Cary Bates, Staton & Abel) as a super-bomb blasted Superman back to World War II and a meeting with Sgt. Rock, before returning home to battle a brainwashed and power-amplified Hawkman in ‘Murder by Starlight!’ (by Bates, Staton & Chiaramonte).

DCCP #12 featured a duel between the Action Ace and New God Mister Miracle in ‘Winner Take Metropolis’ by Englehart, Richard Buckler & Dick Giordano before Levitz returned to script an ambitious continued epic which began with ‘To Live in Peaceâ€¦ Nevermore!’ (art from Dillin & Giordano), wherein the Legion of Super-Heroes prevented Superman saving a little boy from alien abduction to preserve the integrity of the time-line. It didn’t help that the lad was Jon Ross, son of Clark Kent’s oldest friendâ€¦

Driven mad by loss Pete Ross risked the destruction of reality itself by enlisting the aid of Superboy to battle his older self in ‘Judge, Juryâ€¦ and No Justice!’ (Levitz, Dillin & Giordano) after which the Man of Steel helped scientist-hero Ray Palmer regain his size-changing powers in ‘The Plight of the Giant Atom!’ by Bates, Staton & Chiaramonte.

Issue #16 found Superman and Black Lightning battling a heartsick alien trapped on Earth in ‘The De-volver!’ (Denny O’Neil, Staton & Chiaramonte) after which Gerry Conway, GarcÃa-LÃ³pez & Steve Mitchell heralded the return of Firestorm in ‘The Ice Slaves of Killer Frost!’, a bombastic, saves-the-day epic which brought the Nuclear Man back into the active DC pantheon after a long hiatus.

Zatanna co-starred in the Conway, Dillin & Chiaramonte rollercoaster ride ‘The Night it Rained Magic!’, Batgirl helped solve the eerie mystery ‘Who Haunts This House?’ (O’Neil, Staton & Chiaramonte) and Green Arrow excelled in the gripping, big-business-busting eco-thriller ‘Inferno From the Sky!’ by O’Neil, GarcÃa-LÃ³pez & Joe Giella.

DCCP #21 found the eclectic detective Elongated Man as patient zero in ‘The Alien Epidemic’, a tense medical mystery by Conway, Staton & Chiaramonte, and Mike W. Barr wrote an effective science fiction doom-tale co-starring Captain Comet as the future-man endured ‘The Plight of the Human Comet!’ (art by Dillin & Frank McLaughlin).

‘The Curse Out of Time!’ (#23, O’Neil, Staton & Vince Colletta) affected two separate Earths, compelling Superman and Doctor Fate to defeat imps and ghosts before normality could be restored. The supernatural theme continued in the magnificent team-up with Deadman in #24 wherein Wein & GarcÃa-LÃ³pez revealed the tragic and chilling story of ‘The Man Who Was the World!’

The long unresolved fate of Jon Ross was happily concluded in the cunning and redemptive ‘Judgement Night’ with the enigmatic Phantom Stranger overcoming an insoluble, intolerable situation with Superman, courtesy of Levitz, Dillin & McLaughlin.

This stellar collection concludes with a spectacular return engagement for Green Lantern as Emerald Crusader and Man of Tomorrow battled each other and a trans-dimensional shape-shifter in ‘Between Friend and Foe!’ plotted and pencilled by Jim Starlin, scripted by Marv Wolfman and inked by Steve Mitchell.

These short, pithy adventures act as perfect shop window for DC’s fascinating catalogue of characters and creators; delivering a breadth and variety of self-contained, exciting and satisfying entertainments ranging from the merely excellent all the way to utterly unmissable. This book is the perfect introduction to the DC Universe for every kid of any age and a delightful slice of the ideal Costumed Dramas of a simpler more inviting timeâ€¦

May 29, 2011September 3, 2017

Valerian and Laureline book 1: The City of Shifting Waters

By J.-C. MÃ©ziÃ©res & P. Christin, with colours by E. TranlÃ© and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-038-2

ValÃ©rian is possibly the most influential science fiction series ever drawn – and yes, I am including both Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon in that expansive and undoubtedly contentious statement. Although to a large extent those venerable newspaper strips formed the medium itself, anybody who has seen a Star Wars movie has seen some of Jean-Claude MÃ©ziÃ©res & Pierre Christin’s brilliant imaginings which the filmic phenomenon has shamelessly plundered for decades: everything from the look of the Millennium Falcon to Leia’s Slave Girl outfitâ€¦

Simply put, more carbon-based lifeforms have experienced and marvelled at the uniquely innovative, grungy, lived-in tech realism and light-hearted swashbuckling rollercoasting of MÃ©ziÃ©res & Christin than any other cartoon spacer ever imagined possible.

ValÃ©rian: Spatio-Temporal Agent launched in the November 9^th, 1967 edition of Pilote (#420, running until February 15^th 1968) and was an instant hit. The graphic novel under discussion here ‘The City of Shifting Waters’ is actually the second chronological yarn.

The groundbreaking series followed a Franco-Belgian mini-boom in science fiction triggered by Jean-Claude Forest’s 1962 creation Barbarella.

Other notable successes of the era include Greg & Eddy Paape’s Luc Orient and Philippe Druillet’s Lone Sloane and, which all with ValÃ©rian‘s hot public reception led to the creation of dedicated fantasy masterpiece MÃ©tal Hurlant in 1977.

ValÃ©rian and Laureline (as the series eventually became) is a light-hearted, wildly imaginative time-travel adventure-romp (a bit like Dr. Who, but not really at allâ€¦), drenched in wry, satirical, humanist and political commentary, starring (at first) an affable, capable, unimaginative and by-the-book cop tasked with protecting the universal time-lines and counteracting paradoxes caused by casual time-travellers.

When ValÃ©rian travelled to 11^th century France in the first tale ‘Les Mauvais RÃªves (‘Bad Dreams’) he was rescued from a tricky situation by a fiery, capable young woman named Laureline and he brought her back with him to the 28^th super-citadel and administrative wonderland of Galaxity, capital of the Terran Empire. The indomitable girl trained as a Spatio-Temporal operative and by the time of this book was accompanying him on his missions throughout time and space.

Every subsequent ValÃ©rian adventure until the 13^th was first serialised weekly in Pilote until the conclusion of ‘The Rage of Hypsis’ (January 1^st – September 1^st 1985) after which the mind-bending sagas were published as all new complete graphic novels, until the magnificent opus concluded in 2010.

(One clarifying note: in the canon â€œHypsisâ€ is counted as the twelfth tale, due to the collected albums being numbered from ‘The City of Shifting Waters’ – the second story but the first to be released in collected book form. When ‘Bad Dreams’ was finally released in a collected edition in 1983 it was given the number #0.)

The City of Shifting Waters was originally published in two tranches; ‘La CitÃ© des Eaux Mouvantes’ (#455 25^th July to 468, 24^th October 1968) and ‘Terre en Flammes’ (‘Earth in Flames’, #492-505, 10^th April to 10^th July 1969), and opens here with the odd couple dispatched to 1986 – when civilisation on earth was destroyed due to ecological negligence and political chicanery – to recapture Xombul, a madman determined to undermine Galaxity and establish himself as Dictator of the Universe.

To attain his goal the renegade has travelled to New York after a nuclear accident has melted the ice caps and flooded the metropolis (and everywhere else), seeking hidden scientific secrets that would allow him to conquer the devastated planet and prevent the Terran Empire from ever formingâ€¦

Plunged back into an apocalyptic nightmare where Broadway and Wall Street are under water, jungle vines connect the deserted skyscrapers, Tsunamis are an hourly hazard and bold looters are snatching up the last golden treasures of a lost civilisation, the S-T agents find unique allies to preserve the proper past, survive even greater catastrophes such as the volcanic eruption of Yellowstone Park and frustrate the plans of the most ambitious mass killer in all of historyâ€¦

Visually spectacular, mind-bogglingly ingenious and steeped in delightful in-jokes (the utterly-mad-yet-brilliant boffin who helps them is a hilarious dead ringer for Jerry Lewis in the 1963 film â€œThe Nutty Professorâ€) this is still a timelessly perfect Science Fiction masterpiece every fan of the genre – in whatever medium – would be crazy to missâ€¦
Â© Dargaud Paris, 1976 Christin, MÃ©ziÃ©res & Tran-Lá»‡. All rights reserved. English translation Â© 2010 Cinebook Ltd.

May 28, 2011May 30, 2011

Essential Avengers volume 4

By Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Tom Palmer, Neal Adams, Barry Smith & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1485-7

The Avengers always proved that putting all one’s star eggs in on single basket paid off big-time; even when all Marvel’s all-stars such as Thor, Captain America and Iron Man were absent, it merely allowed the lesser lights of the team to shine more brightly.

Of course all the founding stars regularly featured due to the rotating, open door policy which meant that most issues included somebody’s fave-rave and the increasingly bold and impressive stories and artwork were no hindrance either.

This monolithic and monumental phonebook-sized fourth tome, collecting the absolute best of the Mighty Avengers‘ world-saving exploits (presenting in crisp, stylish black and white the astounding contents of issues #69-97 of their monthly comic book and the crossover Incredible Hulk #140), confirmed Roy Thomas as a major creative force in comics and consolidated John Buscema’s status as the foremost artist of Marvel’s second age.

These compelling yarns certainly enhanced the reputations of JB’s brother Sal and increased the high profile of the iconoclastic Neal Adams, whose brief stint here, on the X-Men and in a few other select places, set the industry ablaze and spawned a generation of avid artistic imitatorsâ€¦

Opening this epochal tome is ‘Let the Game Begin’ from Avengers #69, by writer Thomas (who wrote all the stories contained here) and illustrated by Sal Buscema & Sam Grainger, wherein the team – Captain America, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Goliath, Iron Man, Vision and Thor – were called to the hospital bedside of ailing Tony Stark just in time to prevent his abduction by the grotesque Growing Man. After battling boldly against the unbeatable homunculus the team were summarily and collectively snatched into the future by old enemy Kang the Conqueror who co-opted the team to act as pieces in a cosmic chess-game with an omnipotent alien called the Grandmaster.

If the Avengers failed the Earth would be eradicatedâ€¦

Issue #70 and 71 began a fertile period for writer Thomas as he introduced two new teams who would, in the fullness of time, star in their own stellar series: Squadron Supreme and The Invaders.

‘When Strikes the Squadron Sinister!’ saw the Avengers returned to their own time to battle a team of deadly villains (mischievously based on DC’s Justice League of America) and ‘Endgame!’, guest-starring the Black Knight, found the Vision, Black Panther and Yellowjacket dispatched to 1941 to clash with the WWII incarnations of the Sub-Mariner, Human Torch and Captain Americaâ€¦

After foiling Kang’s ambitions the team victoriously returned to the present where Avengers # 72 featured a guest-appearance from Captain Marvel and Rick Jones as ‘Did You Hear the One About Scorpio?’ introduced the menace of super-mob Zodiac, after which ‘The Sting of the Serpent’ (with art by Frank Giacoia & Grainger) pitted the Panther against seditious hate-mongers determined to set New York ablaze, leading to a spectacular and shocking clash between Avengers and Sons of the Serpent in ‘Pursue the Panther!’; the first in a string of glorious issues illustrated by the dream team of John Buscema & Tom Palmer.

The long-missing mutant Avengers Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch returned in #75, desperate to stave off an extra-dimensional invasion and nuclear Armageddon by Conan prototype Arkon the Magnificent in ‘The Warlord and the Witch!’ before the staggering threat was finally thwarted in ‘The Blaze of Battleâ€¦ the Flames of Love!’ after which a far more mundane and insidious menace manifested when billionaire financier Cornelius Van Lunt almost bankrupted Avengers sponsor Tony Stark, compelling the team to become his ‘Heroes for Hire!’

Sal Buscema popped in to pencil ‘The Man-Ape Always Strikes Twice!’ as the team were targeted by a coterie of vengeful villains competing to join a new league of evil, culminating in a grand clash with the aforementioned anthropoid, Swordsman, Power Man, Living Laser and Grim Reaper in ‘Lo! The Lethal Legion!’, which also heralded the artistic return of Big Brother John.

Marvel introduced its first Native American costumed hero in ‘The Coming of Red Wolf!’ as the Avengers were drawn into a highly personal and decidedly brutal clash between Cornelius Van Lunt and a tribe of Indians he was defrauding. The dramatic dilemma (heralding the team’s entry into the era of â€œRelevantâ€, socially conscious tales) divided the team and concluded with Vision, Scarlet Witch and Goliath aiding Red Wolf in ‘When Dies A Legend!’, whilst the remaining team pursued Zodiac.

Sadly the malevolent mob moved first and took the entire island of Manhattan ‘Hostage!’, leaving only the solitary vigilante Daredevil free to save the day, after which Militant Feminism raised its strident head as the Wasp, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Madame Medusa were seduced into joining a new team called the Lady Liberators (yes, I know, but the all-male creative team meant wellâ€¦). However, the Valkyrie who declared ‘Come on inâ€¦ the Revolution’s Fine!’ had her own sinister agenda that had nothing to do with justice or equalityâ€¦

Avengers #84 featured part-time paladin Black Knight who was becoming addicted to the bloodthirsty hunger of his Ebony Blade, resulting in an otherworldly confrontation with Arkon and the Enchantress in ‘The Sword and the Sorceress!’ which left half the team lost on a parallel world.

In ‘The World is Not For Burning!’ (inked by Giacoia), Vision, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver found themselves trapped on an Earth where the Squadron Supreme were the World’s Greatest heroes and a solar Armageddon was only hours awayâ€¦

‘Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Cameâ€¦!’ (art by Sal B & Jim Mooney) saw the extremely reluctant allies unite to save a very different world after which, back home, the Black Panther reprised his origin before taking leave of his comrades to assume the throne of his hidden African nation in ‘Look Homeward, Avenger’ (Giacoia & Sal B).

Novelist Harlan Ellison was a very vocal comics fan in the 1970s and occasionally collaborated on Marvel tales. Avengers #88 began a radical adaptation of one his best short stories, beginning with ‘The Summons of Psyklop’ (Ellison, Thomas, Sal Buscema & Mooney) wherein an experiment to cure the Hulk of his destructive nature led to the man-beast’s abduction by a preternatural entity. The saga concluded in The Incredible Hulk #140 (Ellison, Thomas, Herb Trimpe & Grainger) as ‘The Bruteâ€¦ That Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom!’ saw the Jade Goliath find love and peace in a sub-molecular paradise, only to lose it allâ€¦

Avengers #89 began perhaps the most ambitious saga in Marvel’s brief history: an astounding epic of tremendous scope which dumped Earth into a cosmic war the likes of which comics fans had never before seen and creating the template for all multi-part crossovers and publishing events ever since.

It all began relatively quietly as marooned Kree warrior Captain Marvel was finally freed from his prison in the Negative Zone in ‘The Only Good Alienâ€¦’ (art by Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger), inadvertently alerting the public to the panic-striking notion that extraterrestrials lurk among us, whilst awakening a long-dormant robotic Kree Sentry which promptly enacted a protocol to devolve humanity to the level of cavemen in ‘Judgment Day’.

Even with Kree heavyweight Ronan the Accuser taking personal charge the scheme was narrowly defeated in ‘Take One Giant Stepâ€¦ Backward!’, but the cat was out of the bag and public opinion had turned against the heroes for concealing the threat of alien incursions.

In a powerful allegory of the Communist Witch-hunts of the 1950s the epic expanded in #92 (Sal B & George Roussos) when ‘All Things Must End!’ saw riots in the streets and political demagogues capitalising on the crisis. Subpoenaed by the authorities, castigated by friends and public, the current team was ordered to disband by their founding fathers Thor, Iron Man and Captain America.

Or were theyâ€¦?

The plot thickened and the art quality took an exponential leap as Neal Adams and Tom Palmer assumed the chores with the giant-sized #93’s ‘This Beachhead Earth’ as the Vision was nigh-fatally attacked and those same founding fathers evinced no knowledge of having benched the regular team. With Ant-Man forced to undertake ‘A Journey to the Center of the Android!’ to save the Vision’s artificial life, the Avengers become aware of not one but two alien presences on Earth: bellicose Kree and sneaky shape-shifting Skrulls, beginning a ‘War of the Weirds!’ on our fragile globe. Acting too late they were unable to prevent the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Captain Marvel from being abducted by the Skrullsâ€¦

‘More than Inhuman!’ in issue #94 embroiled the hidden race of advanced beings called Inhumans in the mix, disclosing that their advanced science and super-powers were the result of genetic meddling by the Kree in the depths of prehistory. Now with their king Black Bolt missing and the nefarious Maximus in charge, the aliens were calling in their ancient markersâ€¦

The second chapter ‘1971: A Space Odyssey’ (pencilled by John Buscema) focused on Captain Marvel increasingly pressured to reveal military secrets to his shape-shifting captors as the Skrulls prepared to launch a final devastating attack on their eons-old rivals, whilst on Earth ‘Behold the Mandroids!’ saw the authorities attempt to arrest all costumed heroesâ€¦

Avengers #95 ‘Something Inhuman This Way Comeâ€¦!’ coalesced the disparate story strands as the aquatic Triton helped defeat the Mandroids before beseeching the beleaguered heroes to find his missing monarch and rescue his people from the press-ganging Kree. After so doing, with a solid victory under their belts the Avengers headed into space to liberate their kidnapped comrades and save Earth from becoming collateral damage in the impending Kree-Skrull Warâ€¦

‘The Andromeda Swarm!’ (with additional inking from Adams and Al Weiss) was perhaps the Avenger’s finest hour, as the small, brave band held off an immense armada of starships, losing one of their number in the conflict, whilst the Kree Supreme Intelligence was revealed to have been pursuing its own clandestine agenda all along and had snatched bewildered sidekick Rick Jones to clinch its terrifyingly ambitious plans.

The astounding final episode ‘Godhood’s End!’ brought the uncanny epic (and this volume) to a perfect end with a literal deus ex machina as the master-plan was finally revealed and the war ended in a costumed hero overload-extravaganza which has never been surpassed in the annals of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction.

Roy Thomas and John Buscema gloriously led Marvel’s second generation of creators who brilliantly built on and consolidated Lee, Kirby and Ditko’s initial burst of comics creativity: spearheading and constructing a logical, fully functioning wonder- machine of places and events that so many others were inspired by and could add to.

These terrific tales are perfect examples of superheroes done exactly right and also a pivotal step of the little company into the corporate colossus.

May 27, 2011May 25, 2011

Jak volume 15 (1983)

By Jak (Express Newspapers)
ISBN: 0-85079-133-2

The truly sad if not terrifying thing about rereading topical news cartoons this long after the fact is how distressingly familiar the subjects and hot topics still are.

For example this volume taken from 1983 features crass greed and duplicity amongst our financial elite, Prince Andrew starring in all the wrong sort of headlines, returning British soldiers, children easily subverting electronics systems designed to deny them access to things they shouldn’t see, all the wrong sorts of weather in the most inconvenient places, Sectarianism (Irish and otherwise), railways under-performing, overcharging and under the cosh, football violence and footballers peccadilloes (look it up if you must), Middle East madness, industrial action and business inaction, heat waves and water shortages, crises in Greece, controversies in definitions of rape, strangers making themselves at home in Buckingham Palace and a Tory Government that simply adored shooting off its collective mouth whilst simultaneously shooting itself in the footâ€¦

This compendium even closes with looming public cynicism about an impending global sporting eventâ€¦

Sometimes our industry is cruel and unjust. This collection of cartoons by Raymond Allen Jackson, who, as Jak, worked for thirty years as political cartoonist for London Evening Standard and its later incarnation The Standard – is one of many that celebrated his creativity, perspicacity and acumen as he drew pictures and scored points with and among the entire range of British Society.

His gags, produced daily to a punishing deadline as they had to be topical, were appreciated, if not feared, by toffs and plebs alike and were created with a degree of craft and diligence second to none. Even now, decades later, they are still shining examples of wit and talentâ€¦ and they’re still bitingly funny too.

Artists like Jak who were commenting on contemporary events are poorly served by posterity. This particular volume (re-presenting a selection of single panel-gags from September 15^th 1982 to August 12^th 1983), like all of these books, was packaged and released for that year’s Christmas market, with the topics still fresh in people’s minds.

Decades later the drawing is still superb and despite perhaps the wry minutiae escaping a few the trenchant wit, dry jabs and outraged passion which informed these visual ripostes are still powerfully effective. And obviously human nature never changes and there’s nothing new under the sunâ€¦

It’s a terrible shame that the vast body of graphic excellence which topical cartoonists produce has such a tenuous shelf-life. Perhaps some forward looking educational institution with a mind to beefing up the modern history or social studies curricula might like to step in and take charge of the tragically untapped and superbly polished catalogue of all our yesterdays.

Clearly they’re all short of a bob or two these days and I’m pretty sure these cartoon gems could find a willing market eager to invest in a few good laughsâ€¦
Â© 1983 Express Newspapers Limited.

May 26, 2011May 26, 2011

Captain America: Man out of Time

By Mark Waid, Jorge Molina, Karl Kesel & Scott Hanna (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-487-4

One of the pivotal moments in Marvel Comics history occurred when the Mighty Avengers recovered a tattered body floating in a block of ice (issue #4, March 1964) and resurrected the World War II hero Captain America. With this act bridging the years to Timely and Atlas Comics begun with the return of the Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four #4, Marvel confirmed and consolidated a solid, concrete, potential-packed history and created an enticing sense of mythic continuance for the fledgling company that instantly gave it the same cachet and enduring grandeur of market leader National/DC

In 2010, after years of conflicting continuity (and with a movie in the offing) Marvel tasked fan-favourite writer Mark Waid (see Captain America: Operation Rebirth) with updating those pivotal events and early future-shocked days in the contemporary world. Of course that modern milieu is the year 2000, not 1964â€¦

This captivating re-interpretation and updating (collecting the 5 issue miniseries Captain America: Man Out of Time from November 2010-April 2011) opens in the dying days of the war as Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are sent from the European frontline to England and an appointment with doom-laden destiny, before seamlessly segueing into the Sentinel of Liberty’s stunned awakening in tomorrow’s world and a meeting with the World’s Mightiest Heroes.

Waid, perfectly complimented by artists Jorge Molina, Karl Kesel & Scott Hanna, wisely leaves the classic adventures largely unchanged, to concentrate on the missing, contemplative moments and personal crises confronting the uncomprehending Steve Rogers, which means that readers completely unaware of the character’s history and exploits might experience a little confusion in places. However, the narrative, although superficially disjointed, is clear-cut enough to counter this and interested new fans can easily fill in the gaps by perusing one of the many available reprint collections, such as Essential Avengers volume 1, which covers the entire period featured hereâ€¦

In chapter 2 the reeling hero meets ex- Hulk sidekick Rick Jones (an absurdly close double for the departed Bucky), gets a rapid reality check on his new home and finally accepts that there’s no way home for this Old Soldierâ€¦

But that’s not strictly trueâ€¦

Among the many technological miracles his new allies introduce him to is the embryonic science of time-travel and even while battling such threats as the Lava Men and Masters of Evil the unhappy warrior can only think of returning to his proper place and saving his best friend from deathâ€¦

The old adage â€œbe careful what you wish forâ€ never proved more true than when the time-ravaging Kang the Conqueror attacks: utterly overwhelming the 21^st century heroes and casually dispatching Captain America back to 1945. However, his sense of duty, the threat to his new allies and the unpalatable things he had forgotten about â€œthe Good Old Daysâ€ prompt Cap into brilliantly escaping his honeyed time-trap and returning to the place where he is most needed before once more saving the dayâ€¦

Resolved and ready to tackle his Brave New World Captain America is now ready to carve out a whole new legendâ€¦

I’m generally less than sanguine about updates and reboots of classic comics material but I will admit that such things are a necessary evil as the years go by, so when the deed is done with sensitivity and imagination (not to mention dynamic, bravura flamboyance) I can only applaud and commend the effort.

Thrilling, superbly entertaining, compelling and genuinely moving Captain America: Man out of Time is a wonderful confection that will delight old aficionados, impress new readers and should serve to make many fresh fans for the immortal Star-Spangled Avenger.

May 25, 2011May 26, 2011

Showcase Presents Booster Gold

By Dan Jurgens & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-852-2

After the cosmos-crunching Crisis on Infinite Earths re-sculpted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, a host of characters got floor-up rebuilds for the tougher, no-nonsense, straight-shooting New American readership of the Reagan-era and a number of corporate buy-outs such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and The Question joined the DC roster with their own much-hyped solo titles. There were even a couple of all-new big launches for the altered sensibilities of the Decade of Excess such as Suicide Squad and a Shiny, Happy Hero named Booster Gold.

This economical black and white edition (released to coincide with the hero’s relaunch as a time-roving chronal cop) features the entire 25 issue run of Booster Gold volume 1 (from February 1986 to February 1988), plus a crossover appearance from Action Comics #594 and his redefined backstory from Secret Origins #35 (December 1988).

The blue and yellow paladin appeared amidst plenty of hoopla in his own title cover-dated February 1986 (the first post-Crisis premiere of the freshly integrated superhero line) and presented a wholly different approach to the traditional DC costumed boy-scout.Â Created, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens with inks by Mike DeCarlo ‘The Big Fall’ introduced a brash, cocky, mysterious metahuman golden-boy jock who had set up his stall as a superhero in Metropolis, actively seeking corporate sponsorships, selling endorsements and with a management team in place to maximise the profit potential of his crusading celebrity.

Accompanied everywhere by a sentient flying-football-shapedÂ robot Skeets, the glitzy showboat soon encountered high-tech criminal gang The 1000 and their super-enforcer Blackguard, earning the ire of sinister mastermind The Director and the shallow approbation of models, actresses, headline-hungry journalists, politicians and the ever fickle publicâ€¦

In issue #2’s ‘Cold Redemption’ Blackguard was assisted by thought-casting mercenary Mindancer as the Director’s campaign of malice led to another close call for Booster. Meanwhile his highly public private life took a tawdry turn in ‘The Night Has a Thousand Eyes’ when opportunistic starlet Monica Lake began briefing the media on her â€œrelationshipâ€ with the Man of Gold. He was unable to refute the claims since he was knee-deep in hired thugs and super-villains at the timeâ€¦

That cataclysmic combat in #4 resulted in a tremendous ‘Crash’ when urban vigilante The Thorn dropped in to help scuttle the 1000’s latest scheme, but once the dust settled Booster found himself in real trouble as business manager Dirk Davis was so busy licensing his boss for a comicbook that he failed to head off an IRS auditâ€¦

It appeared Booster Gold had no official record and had never paid a penny in taxesâ€¦

In ‘Face Off’, our hero saved an entire stadium of ice hockey fans from avaricious terrorist Mr. Twister, earning himself a reprieve from the Federal authorities, after which an alien refugee crashed in Metropolis’ Centennial Park in #6’s ‘To Cross the Rubicon’, just as Man of Gold met Man of Steel for the long-awaited origin saga.

Michael Jon â€œBoosterâ€ Carter was a rising sports star in the 25^th century who fell in with a gambling syndicate and began fixing games for cash pay-outs. When he was caught and banned from competition he could only find menial work as a night-watchman in The Space Museum. Whilst there he struck up a friendship with automated tour-guide and security-bot Skeets, embarking on a bold plan to redeem himself.

Stealing a mysterious flight ring and force-field belt plus energy-rods, an alien super-suit and wrist-blasters, Booster used the Museum’s prize exhibit, Rip Hunter’s time machine, to travel to 20^th Century Age of Heroes and earn all the fame and glory his mistakes had cost him in his own timeâ€¦

Superman, already antagonistic because of Booster’s attitude, is ready to arrest him for theft when the almost forgotten alien attacksâ€¦

They all awaken on a distant world embroiled in a vicious civil war and still at odds. As a result of ‘The Lesson’ and a vicious battle Superman and Booster Gold both learned some uncomfortable truths and agreed to tolerate each other when they returned home. Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, Dirk Davis and company PA Trixie Collins hired hotshot scientist Jack Soo to build a super-suit that would enable Booster to hire a camera-friendly, eye-candy, girly sidekickâ€¦

More questions were answered in the two-part ‘Time Bridge’ when the 30^th century Legion of Super-Heroes discovered evidence that their flight-rings and forcefield technology were being used by a temporal fugitive named Michael Carter. Dispatched to 1985 by the Time Institute, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy and Brainiac 5 arrived soon after the fugitive Carter and became involved in his very first case. The Director and shape-shifting assassin Chiller were planning to murder and replace Ronald Reagan but in the best superhero tradition Carter and the Legionnaires misunderstood each other’s intentions and butted headsâ€¦The plot might have succeeded had not Skeets intervened, allowing Carter to save the day and get official Presidential approval. Ronnie even got to name the new heroâ€¦

Back in 1986 the long-building final clash with the Director began in #10 with ‘Death Grip of the 1000’ when Dirk’s daughter was kidnapped and he was coerced into betraying Booster, just as the nefarious super-mob unleashed a horde of robotic terrors on Metropolis to wear out the Man of Gold and assess his weaknessesâ€¦

After Trixie was also abducted in ‘When Glass Houses Shatter’ the 1000 increased the pressure by setting blockbusting thug Shockwave on Booster, resulting in the utter destruction of the hero’s corporate headquarters and home before a frenzied and frenetic final clash in ‘War’â€¦

With the threat of the 1000 ended ‘The Tomorrow Run’ (inked by Gary Martin) found Booster at death’s door, not because of his numerous injuries but because his 25^th century body had succumbed to 20^th century diseases. Set during the Legends publishing event, which saw the public turn violently against costumed heroes, the dying Carter was rescued from a mob by Trixie wearing Jack Soo’s completed super-suit after which the cast resolve to take Michael back to the future where he can be properly treated, even though Booster’s offences carried a mandatory death penalty in his home eraâ€¦

Recruiting young Rip Hunter (destined to become the Master of Time) Trixie and Dr. Soo accompanied the distressed hero to a time where ruthless Darwinian capitalism ruled and everything Michael Carter once dreamed of had turned to bitter ashesâ€¦

‘A Future Lost’ (inked by DeCarlo) followed Booster and Trixie as they searched for a cure (and his missing twin sister Michelle) whilst Hunter and Soo attempted to find a way to return them all to 1986.

Booster’s illness was only cured after they were arrested: the authorities believing it barbaric to execute anybody too sick to stand up, before ‘Runback’ (inked by Bruce D. Patterson) concluded the saga in fine style with the missing Carter twin saving the day and retreating to the 20^th century with the time-lost travellers.

Booster Gold’s close call had a salutary effect on his attitudes and character. ‘Fresh Start’ (inked by Bob Lewis) saw a kinder, gentler corporate entrepreneur begin to re-establish his heroic credentials with the celebrity-crazed public of Metropolis, to the extent that Maxwell Lord even offered him membership in the newly re-formed Justice League, just as sultry assassin Cheshire began raiding a biotech company recently acquired by Booster Gold Internationalâ€¦

‘Dream of Terror’ (inked by Arne Starr) revealed all as new owner Booster discovered that his latest corporate asset had been making bio-toxins designed to eradicate all â€œundeservingâ€ individuals (for which read non-white and poor) and that its creator was currently loose in Mexico City with the lethal bug. Moreover, the deranged biochemist had bamboozled militant hero the Hawk into acting as bodyguard while his plans to â€œsave humanity from itselfâ€ took effectâ€¦

Decarlo returned to ink ‘Showdown’ in #18, as a relentless lawman from Booster’s home-time tracked him down through history, determined to render final judgement before ‘Revenge of the Rainbow Raider’ (inked by Al Vey) pitted the Man of Gold against the colour-blind and utterly demented Flash villain in a two-part revenge thriller that saw our hero rendered sightless and his future shocked sister go native amongst the 20^th century primitives.

The tale concluded with ‘The Colors of Justice’ as Dr. Soo came to Booster’s rescue whilst Michelle was being kidnapped by extra-dimensional invadersâ€¦

Up until this moment the art in this volume, whilst always competent, had been suffering an annoying hindrance, designed as it was for high quality, full-colour comicbooks, not stark, black and white reproduction. Although legible, discernable and adequate, much of the earlier art is fine-lined, lacking contrasting dark areas and often giving the impression that the illustrations lack solidity and definition.

With Booster Gold #21 the marvellous Ty Templeton became regular inker and his bold, luscious brush-strokes brought a reassuring firmness and texture to the proceedings. As if to affirm the artistic redirection the stories became a tad darker tooâ€¦

‘Invasion From Dimension X’ has Booster’s search for his missing sister impinge on a covert intrusion by belligerent aliens first encountered and defeated by the Teen Titans (see Showcase Presents Teen Titans volume 2). To make matters worse the extra-dimensionals are using Michelle as a power-source to fuel their invasion, resulting in ‘Tortured Options’ for Booster who had to decide between saving Michelle or the city of Minneapolis when the invaders opened their assault with a colossal monster attackâ€¦

Guest-starring Justice League International, the astounding battle climaxed in public triumph and personal tragedy after which the heart-broken, embittered Booster seemingly attacked Superman in ‘All That Glisters’ (Action Comics #594, November 1987, by John Byrne & Keith Williams); a terse, brutal confrontation that concluded in Booster Gold #23 and ‘Blind Obsession’ (Jurgens & Roy Richardson) as the real Man of Gold crushed a Kryptonite-powered facsimile android designed by the world’s most unscrupulous businessman to kill Superman and frame his closest commercial rivalâ€¦

If only they had known that at that very moment Booster Gold International was being bankrupted by a traitor at the heart of the companyâ€¦

After Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends, DC’s third company-wide crossover Millennium saw Steve Englehart describe how robotic peacekeepers called Manhunters had infiltrated Earth to abort the next stage in human evolution. Built by the Guardians of the Universe billions of years ago, the automated peacekeepers had rebelled against their creators and now planned to thwart their makers’ latest project, destroying or suborning Earth’s costumed defenders in the process.

In its original form each weekly instalment of Millennium acted as a catalyst for events which played out in the rest of the DC Universe’s comics. In addition to the miniseries itself, Millennium spread across 21 titles for two months – another 37 issues – for a grand total of 44 comic-books. Issues #24 and 25 of Booster Gold were two of them.

‘Betrayal’ revealed that one of Michael Carter’s inner circle had been a Manhunter agent all along and had bankrupted the hero at the most propitious moment simply so that the robots could buy his loyalty during their assault on humanityâ€¦

The series came to a shocking climax in ‘The End’ as the scheme worked and Booster actually switched sidesâ€¦ or did he?

After the surprisingly satisfying and upbeat denouement Booster became a perennial star of Justice League International where, with fellow homeless hero Blue Beetle, he became half of the one of funniest double-acts in comics. As â€œBlue and Goldâ€ the hapless, cash-strapped odd couple were always at the heart of the action – pecuniary or otherwise – and the final tale here ‘From the Depths’ (by Jurgens & Tim Dzon, originally presented in Secret Origins #35, December 1988) reprised the early tragic days of Michael Jon Carter in a brief and exceedingly impressive tale played as much to tug the heartstrings as tickle the funny-boneâ€¦

As a frontrunner of the new DC, Booster Gold was a radical experiment in character that didn’t always succeed, but which definitely and exponentially improved as the months rolled by. The early episodes are a necessary chore but by the time the volume ends it’s a real shame that the now thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable ride is over. Perhaps not to every Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s taste; these formative fictions are absolutely vital to your understanding of the later classics. Cheap and fun this book is worth the investment simply because of what follows in such comics gems as Justice League International volume 1 and 2 and Booster Gold: Blue and Gold.

May 24, 2011May 24, 2011

Marvel Platinum: The Definitive Thor

By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Walter Simonson, John Romita Jr., J. Michael Straczynski & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1- 84653-481-2

As the new Thor film screened across the world, Marvel quite understandably released a batch of tie-in books and trade paperback collections to maximise exposure and cater to movie fans wanting to follow up with a comics experience. Under the Marvel Platinum/Definitive Editions umbrella this treasury of tales reprints some obvious landmarks from Journey into Mystery #83, Thor #159, 200, 337-339, Thor Volume 2, # 1-2, 84-85 and Volume 3, #3 which, whilst not all being the absolute â€œdefinitiveâ€ sagas, do provide a snapshot of just how very well the hoary mere-mortal-into-godlike gladiator concept can work.

And just in case you think I’m kidding about the metamorphic riff, remember Billy Batson first became Captain Marvel in 1940, Tommy Preston regularly powered up into Golden Lad from 1945, Tommy Troy began changing into The Fly in 1959 and Nathaniel Adam initially transformed into Captain Atom in 1960 and that’s just the first few I could think ofâ€¦

In addition to a Stan Lee introduction, this compendium contains an extensive 23 page text features section detailing career overviews, secret origins and technical trivia, maps, and character profile pages culled from assorted issues of the encyclopaedic Marvel Universe Handbook.

The adventure begins with a modest little fantasy tale from one of the company’s ubiquitous mystery anthologies, where, in the summer of 1962 that tried-and-true comicbook concept (feeble mortal into God-like hero) was employed to add a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers.

Journey into Mystery #83 (cover-dated August 1962) featured the debut of crippled American doctor Donald Blake who took a vacation in Norway only to encounter the vanguard of an alien invasion. Fleeing in terror he was trapped in a cave where lay an old, gnarled walking stick. When in his frustration, he smashed the cane into a huge boulder obstructing his escape; his puny frame was transformed into the Norse God of Thunder, the Mighty Thor!

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Leiber and illustrated by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott ‘The Stone Men of Saturn’ is pure early Marvel; bombastic, fast-paced, gloriously illogical and captivatingly action-packed. The hugely under-appreciated Art Simek was the letterer and logo designer.

The character grew from that formulaic beginning into a vast, breathtaking cosmic playground for Kirby’s burgeoning imagination with Journey into Mystery inevitably becoming the Mighty Thor (with #126) but in this collection we skip to issue #159 (December 1968) where the peculiarities and inconsistencies of the Don Blake/Thor relationship were re-examined and finally clarified.

In the comic series it began with a framing sequence by Lee, Kirby & Colletta that book-ended a reprint of ‘The Stone Men of Saturn’ in #158, but here ‘The Answer at Last!’ alone suffices to explain how the immortal godling was locked within the frail body of Don Blake: an epic saga which took the immortal hero back to his long-distant youth and finally revealed that the mortal surgeon was no more than an Odinian construct designed to teach the Thunder God humility and compassionâ€¦

Next follows ‘Beware! If This beâ€¦ Ragnarok!’ (#200, June 1972) by Lee, John Buscema & JohnÂ Verpoorten, which interrupted an ongoing battle between Thor and Grecian death-god Pluto to adapt the classical Norse myth of the inevitable fall of the Aesir gods; a stunning graphic prophecy which would inform and shape the next few hundred issues of the series.

Thor settled into an uninspired creative lethargy after the departure of Kirby’s imaginative power and subsequently suffered a qualitative drop after Buscema moved on, leaving the series in the doldrums until a new visionary was found to expand the mythology once againâ€¦

Or, more accurately, returned as Walter Simonson had for a brief while been one of those artists slavishly soldiering to rekindle Kirby’s easy synthesis of mythology, science fiction and meta-humanist philosophy, but with as little success as any other.

When Simonson assumed the writing and drawing of the title in November1983 with issue #337 – deeply invested in Kirby’s exploratory, radical visionary process – free to let loose and brave enough to bring his own unique sensibilities to the character, the result was an enchanting and groundbreaking body of work (#337-382 plus the Balder the Brave miniseries) that actually moved beyond Kirby’s Canon and dragged the title out of a creative rut which allowed Simonson’s own successors to sunsequently introduce genuine change to a property that had stagnated for 13 years.

This first iconic story-arc ‘Doom!’, ‘A Fool and his Hammerâ€¦’ and ‘Something Old, Something Newâ€¦’from The Mighty Thor #337-339 shook everything up and made the Thunder God a collectible sensation for the first time in a decade. Moreover the entire tale is but the prologue to a stupendous larger epic which actively addressed the over-used dramatic device of the Doom of the Gods that had haunted this series since the mid-1960sâ€¦

The story evolves out of a spell inscribed on Thor’s hammer and seen in the character’s very first appearance. When crippled Don Blake was first transformed into the Thunder God he saw on the magic mallet Mjolnir the legend â€œWhosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thorâ€¦â€

The saga begins when Blake is asked by super-spy outfit S.H.I.E.L.D. to intercept an Earth-bound fleet of starships which refuel themselves by absorbing suns! Hurtling off into deep space the Storm God boarded one vessel only to be defeated in combat by its alien protector, an artificially augmented warrior named Beta Ray Bill. Moreover, as they crashed to Earth the alien somehow co-opted the mystic mallet’s magic and transformed himself into a warped duplicate of Thor, after which Odin mistook Bill for his son and heir, whisking him to Asgard to defend the Realm Eternal from another monstrous threat! And thenâ€¦

Enough tomfoolery: suffice to say that the action and surprises pile one upon another as the alien revealed that he was the appointed protector of his Korbinite race, the survivors of which are fleeing a horde of demons who destroyed their civilisation and are determined to hunt them to extinction.

And now they’re all heading towards Earthâ€¦

After the mandatory big fight Thor and Bill – each with his own hammer – teamed-up to investigate the demons, with confused love-interest Lady Sif along for the rollercoaster ride, discovering in the process a threat to the entire universe. That tale is not included here, resulting in a rather disappointing letdown as the narrative leaps ahead fifteen years to July 1998 and the relaunch of the thunder god in Mighty Thor Volume 2.

‘In Search of the Gods’ and its sequel ‘Deal with the Devil!’ (by Dan Jurgens, John Romita Jr. & Klaus Janson, Volume 2, #1-2) featured the return of Thor and the Avengers after more than a year way from the Marvel Universe, subcontracted out to Image creators Jim Lee and Rob Liefield in a desperate attempt to improve sales after the apocalyptic Onslaught publishing event.

In a spectacular and visually compelling two-parter, the Thunderer was reinstated into the â€œrealâ€ world just in time to fall in battle against the devastating Asgardian artefact known as the Destroyer. As the Avengers struggled on against the unstoppable creature, the godling’s spirit was melded with an innocent killed during the struggle, only to emerge once more with a human alter-ego and a new lease on lifeâ€¦

The second volume concluded with issues #84-85 (November-December 2004, written by Daniel Berman & Michael Avon Oeming, illustrated by Andrea Divito and colourist Laura Villari) which once and for all depicted the Really, Truly, We Mean It End of the Gods and Day of Ragnarok as Thor himself instigated the final fall to end an ceaseless cycle of suffering and destruction, ultimately defeating the ruthless beings who have manipulated the inhabitants of Asgard since time beganâ€¦

For the full story you’ll need to seek out Avengers Disassembled: Thor whereas this volume’s cosmic comic sagas conclude with the third issue of Thor Volume 3 and ‘Everything Old is New Again’ by J. Michael Straczynski, Olivier Coipel & Mark Morales (November 2007) with the Storm Lord back from the dead, conjoined once more with Don Blake and looking for the displaced citizens of a restored but empty Asgard, which now floats a few dozen feet above the barren flats of Brockton, Oklahoma.

This all-action tale details the clash between Thor and once best-friend Iron Man in a world that has radically changed since the new lord of Asgard’s demise and resurrectionâ€¦

As a primer or introductory collection for readers unfamiliar with the stentorian Thunderer this book has a lot to recommend it. I’m also keenly aware of the need for newcomers to have his centuries-long saga presented in some form of chronological order, but in all honesty the final result is a little choppy and very much a one-trick pony. With the staggering breadth of characters and variety of adventures that have been generated during Thor’s long career there’s an inescapable aura of missed opportunity to the tome in question.

However, I cannot deny that what does appear is of great quality and thematically an obvious and thoroughly entertaining accompaniment to the cinema spectacle. Most importantly this is a well-tailored device to turn curious movie-goers into fans of the comic incarnation too. If there’s a film sequel, let’s hope that Marvel has plans to include some of the great material by a vast range of creators omitted from this book in a second, more imaginative volumeâ€¦.

May 23, 2011June 7, 2011

Asterix the Gladiator, Asterix and the Banquet, Asterix and Cleopatra

By RenÃ© Goscinny & Albert Uderzo, translated by Anthea Bell & Derek Hockridge (Orion and others)
ISBNs: 978-0-7528-6611-6, 978-0-7528-6609-3 and 978-0-7528-6607-9

Asterix the Gaul is probably France’s greatest literary export: a wily wee warrior who resisted the iniquities, experienced the absurdities and observed the myriad wonders of Julius Caesar’s Roman Empire with brains, bravery and a magic potion which bestowed incredible strength, speed and vitality.

One of the most popular comics in the world, the chronicles have been translated into more than 100 languages; 8 animated and 3 live-action movies, assorted games and even into a theme park (Parc AstÃ©rix, near Paris). More than 325 million copies of 34 Asterix books have been sold worldwide, making Goscinny & Uderzo France’s bestselling international authors.

The diminutive, doughty hero was created as the transformative 1960s began by two of the art-form’s greatest masters, RenÃ© Goscinny & Albert Uderzo and even though their perfect partnership ended in 1977 the creative wonderment still continues – albeit at a slightly reduced rate of rapidity.

When Pilote launched in 1959 was Asterix was a massive hit from the start. For a while Uderzo continued working with Charlier on Michel Tanguy, (Les Aventures de Tanguy et Laverdure), but soon after the first epic escapade was collected as AstÃ©rix le gaulois in 1961 it became clear that the series would demand most of his time – especially as the incredible Goscinny never seemed to require rest or run out of ideas (after the writer’s death the publication rate dropped from two books per year to one volume every three to five).

By 1967 the strip occupied all Uderzo’s time and attention. In 1974 the partners formed IdÃ©fix Studios to fully exploit their inimitable creation and when Goscinny passed away three years later Uderzo was convinced to continue the adventures as writer and artist, producing a further ten volumes since then.

Like all great literary classics the premise works on two levels: for younger readers as an action-packed comedic romp of sneaky, bullying baddies regularly getting their just deserts and as a pun-filled, sly and witty satire for older, wiser heads, enhanced here by the brilliantly light touch of master translators Anthea Bell & Derek Hockridge who played no small part in making the indomitable Gaul so very palatable to the English tongue.

Launched in Pilote #1 (29^th October 1959, with the first page appearing a week earlier in a promotional issue #0, June 1^st 1959), the stories was set on the tip of Uderzo’s beloved Brittany coast in the year 50BC, where a small village of redoubtable warriors and their families resisted every effort of the all-conquering Roman Empire to complete their conquest of Gaul. Unable to defeat these Horatian hold-outs, the Empire resorted to a policy of containment and the little seaside hamlet is perpetually hemmed in by the heavily fortified garrisons of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium.

The Gauls don’t care: they daily defy the world’s greatest military machine by just going about their everyday affairs, protected by a magic potion provided by the resident druid and the shrewd wits of a rather diminutive dynamo and his simplistic best friendâ€¦

With these volumes a key pattern was established: the adventures would henceforth- like a football match – alternate between Home and Away, with each globe-trotting escapade balanced by an epic set in and around he happily beleaguered Gaulish village (if you’re counting, home tales were odd numbered volumes and travelling exploits even-numberedâ€¦)

Asterix the Gladiator debuted in Pilote #126-168 in 1963 and saw the canny rebel and his increasingly show-stealing pal Obelix (who had fallen into a vat of potion as a baby and was a genial, permanently superhuman, eternally hungry foil to the smart little hero) despatched to the heart of the Roman Empire on an ill-conceived mission of mercyâ€¦

When Prefect Odius Asparagus wanted to give Julius Caesar a unique gift he decided upon one of the indomitable Gauls who had been giving his occupying forces such a hard time.

Thus he had village Bard Cacofonix abducted and bundled off to Rome. Although in two minds about losing the raucous harpist, pride won out and the villagers mounted a rescue attempt, but after thrashing the Romans again they discovered that their lost comrade was already en route for the Eternal Cityâ€¦

Asterix and Obelix were despatched to retrieve the missing musician and hitched a ride on a Phoenician galley operated under a bold new business plan by captain/general manager Ekonomikrisis. On the way to Italy the heroes first encountered a band of pirates who would become frequent guest-stars and perennial gadflies.

The pirates were a creative in-joke between the close-knit comics creative community: Barbe-Rouge or Redbeard was a buccaneering strip created by Charlier and Victor Hubinon that also ran in Pilote at the time.

As Asterix and Obelix made friends among the cosmopolitan crowds of Rome, Caesar had already received his latest gift. Underwhelmed by his new Bard, the Emperor sent Cacofonix to the Circus Maximus to be thrown to the lions just as his chief of Gladiators Caius Fatuous was â€œtalent-spottingâ€ two incredibly tough strangers who would make ideal arena fightersâ€¦

Since it was the best way to get to Cacofonix our heroes joined the Imperial Gladiatorial school; promptly introducing a little Gallic intransigence to the tightly disciplined proceedings. When the great day arrived the lions had the shock of their lives and the entertainment-starved citizens of Rome got a show they would never forgetâ€¦

As always the good-natured, comedic situations and sheer finesse of the yarn rattles along, delivering barrages of puns, oodles of insane situations and loads of low-trauma slapstick action, marvellously rendered in Uderzo’s expansive, authentic and continually improving big-foot art-style.

Asterix and the Banquet originated in Pilote #172-213 (1963) and was inspired by the Tour de France cycle race.

After being continually humiliated by the intractable Gauls coming and going as they pleased, Roman Inspector General Overanxius instigated a policy of exclusion and built a huge wall around the little village, determined to shut them off from their country and the world.

Incensed, Asterix bet the smug Prefect that Gauls could go wherever they pleased and to prove it invited the Romans to a magnificent feast where they could sample the culinary delights of the various regions. Breaking out of the stockade and through the barricades, Asterix and Obelix went gathering produce from as far afield as Rotomagus (Rouen), Lutetia (Paris, where they also picked up a determined little mutt who would eventually become a star cast-member), Camaracum (Cambrai) and Durocortorum (Rheims), easily evading or overcoming the assembled patrols and legions of man-hunting soldiers. However, they didn’t reckon on the corrupting power of the huge – and growing – bounty on their headsâ€¦

Some Gauls were apparently more greedy than patriotic…

Even with Asterix held captive and all the might of the Empire ranged against them, Gaulish honour was upheld and Overanxius, after some spectacular fights, chases and close calls eventually was made to eat his words – and a few choice Gallic morsels – in this delightful, bombastic and exceedingly clever celebration of pride and whimsy.

Asterix and Cleopatra ran from 1963-1963 in issues #215-257 and although deriving its title from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, is actually a broad visual spoof of the 1963 movie blockbuster Cleopatra (the original collected album cover was patterned on the film poster).

Rome was a big empire to run but Caesar always had time to spare for the fascinating Queen of Egypt – even though she could be a little overbearing at times…

When Caesar called her people decadent, Cleopatra announced that her Egyptians would build a magnificent palace within three months to prove their continued ingenuity and vitality.

Her architect Edifis was less confidant and subcontracted the job, recruiting his old friend Getafix the Druid to help, with Asterix, Obelix and faithful pooch Dogmatix coming along to keep him out of troubleâ€¦

After another short, sharp visit with the pirates, the voyagers reached the Black Lands only to find the building site a shambles. Edifis’ arch rival Artifis had jealously stirred up unrest among the labourers and consequently sabotaged the supply-chain, entombed the visitors in a deadly tourist-trap and even framed Edifis by attempting to poison the Queen.

For all these tactics the ingenious Gauls had a ready solution and the Palace construction continued apace, but when Caesar, determined not to lose face to his tempestuous paramour, sent his Legions to destroy the almost-completed complex, it was up to the two smallest, smartest warriors to come up with a solution to save the day, the Palace and the pride of two nationsâ€¦

Outrageously fast-paced and funny and magnificently illustrated by a supreme artist at the very peak of his form, Asterix and Cleopatra is one of the very best epics from a series that has nothing but brilliant hits.

These albums are available in a wealth of differing formats and earlier editions going all the way back to the 1969 Brockhampton editions are still readily available from a variety of retail and internet vendors – or even your local charity shop and jumble sale.

Be warned though, that if pure continuity matters only Orion, the current British publisher, has released the nearly 40 albums in chronological order – and are in the process of re-releasing the tales in Omnibus editions; three tales per tome.

Also, on a purely aesthetic note some of the Hodder-Dargaud editions have a rather exuberant approach to colour that might require you to don sunglasses but could save you a fortune on lighting your houseâ€¦ and possibly heating it tooâ€¦

This is supremely enjoyable comics storytelling and if you’re still not au fait with these Village People you must be as Crazy as the Romans ever wereâ€¦

May 23, 2011May 21, 2011

Showcase Presents the Unknown Soldier volume 1

By Joe Kubert, Bob Haney, Archie Goodwin & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1090-2

After the death of EC Comics in the mid-1950’s and prior to the game-changing Blazing Combat, the only certain place to find powerful, controversial, challenging and entertaining American war comics was DC. In fact, even whilst Archie Goodwin’s stunning but tragically mis-marketed quartet of classics were waking up a generation, the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman was a veritable cornucopia of gritty, intriguing and beautifully illustrated battle tales presenting war on a variety of fronts and from many differing points of view .

After the Vietnam War escalated, 1960’s America entered a homefront death-struggle pitting deeply-ingrained establishment social attitudes against a youth-oriented generation with a radical new sensibility. In response DC’s (or rather National Periodical Publishing, as it then was) war books became even more bold and innovativeâ€¦

This stunning black and white compendium, collecting the lead feature from issues #151-188 (June-July 1970 to June 1975) of the truly venerable Star-Spangled War Stories anthology features one of the very best concepts ever devised for a war comic: a faceless, nameless hero perpetually in the right place at the right time, ready, willing and oh, so able to turn the tideâ€¦

The Unknown Soldier was actually a spin-off – having first appeared as a one-off in a Sgt Rock story in Our Army at War #168 (June 1966, by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert) – but in 1970 the artist had become editor of the company’s war division and was looking for a new (American) cover/lead character to follow the critically acclaimed â€œEnemy Aceâ€ (tales of a WWI German fighter pilot) who had been summarily bounced to the back of the book after issue #150).

Written and drawn by Kubert ‘They Came Back From Shangri-La!’ introduced a faceless super-spy and master-of-disguise whose forebears had fought and died in every American conflict since the birth of the nation. Here he took on the identity of B-25 pilot Capt. Shales in 1942 as he participated in vital, morale-building retaliatory bombing raids on Japanese cities. When their plane is shot down over occupied China, â€œShalesâ€ led his crew through enemy-infested territory to the safety of the Chinese resistance.

From this no-nonsense start the feature grew to be one of DC’s most popular and long-lived: Star-Spangled became The Unknown Soldier in 1977 with #205 and the comic only folded in 1982 with issue #268.

One intriguing factor in the tales is that there is very little internal chronology: the individual adventures take place anytime and anywhere between the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the surrender of Germany and later Japan. This picaresque approach adds a powerful sense of both timelessness and infallible, unflinching continuity.

The Unknown Soldier has always and will always be where he is most neededâ€¦

His second adventure ‘Instant Glory!’ found a US patrol captured by the SS as they entered a German city in 1944. An excoriating examination of brutality, heroism and philosophy, the story set the hard-bitten, bitter-edged tone for the rest of the series.

Always economy-conscious and clever with scissors and glue, DC reformatted a number of old stories at this time, particularly old westerns and mystery stories (and even the Phantom Stranger in his first appearances since the 1950s) so it should be no surprise that they would try the same thing with their newest star.

‘Everybody Dies’ was retooled into a new offering by a framing sequence by Kubert, but the body of the tale was originally seen as ‘A GI Passed Here’ (by Irv Novick in Star-Spangled War Stories #36). In its revamped form the saga recounted a grim day in the life of anonymous Eddie Gray as he survived just one more day in the deserts of Nazi-held Africa.

The Unknown Soldier got a full origin in #154’s ‘I’ll Never Die!’ recounting how two inseparable brothers joined up in the days before America was attacked and were posted to the Philippines just as the Japanese began their seemingly unstoppable Pacific Campaign. Overwhelmed by a tidal wave of enemy soldiers the brothers held their jungle posts to the last and when relief came only one had survived, his face a tattered mess of raw flesh and boneâ€¦

As the US forces retreated from the islands the indomitable survivor was evacuated to a state-side hospital. Refusing medals, honours and retirement the recuperating warrior dedicated his remaining years to his lost brother Harry and desperately retrained as a one man-army intelligence unit. His unsalvageable face swathed in bandages, the nameless fighter learned the arts of make-up, disguise and mimicry and offered himself to the State Department as an expendable resource that could go anywhere and do anythingâ€¦

All DC’s titles were actively tackling the issue of race at this time and #155’s ‘Invasion Game!’ (written by Bob Haney) saw the Soldier parachuted into France in Spring 1944 to connect with the Underground’s mysterious leader â€œChat Noirâ€. Sent to finalise the plans for D-Day he was horrified to discover the enigmatic commander was a disgraced black US Army sergeant with a grudge against his old country. Chat Noir was too good a character to waste and became a semi-regular cast memberâ€¦

Haney was on top form for the next epic too. ‘Assassination’ detailed the Immortal G.I.’s boldest mission and greatest failure as he impersonated but could not destroy Hitler himself, after which that aforementioned Sgt Rock classic by Kanigher & Kubert was recycled as an untitled but deeply moving yarn for Star-Spangled War Stories #157.

Haney & Kubert reunited for ‘Totentanz!’ as the faceless warrior broke into a top security concentration camp to rescue a captured resistance leader.

General Patton was the thinly-veiled subject of ‘Man of War’ as the Unknown Soldier was dispatched to investigate a charismatic general who had pushed his own troops to the brink of mutiny, whilst ‘Blood is the Code!’ found him captured and tortured by a Japanese Colonel until he broke to reveal every secret America wanted the enemy to knowâ€¦

Doug Wildey illustrated Haney’s superb ‘The Long Jump’ as the Soldier infiltrated occupied Holland only to meet more resistance from a stubborn, misguided Dutchman than all the Nazis hunting for the faceless spy, ‘Take My Coward’s Hand’ recycled the 1960 Sgt. Rock story ‘No Answer from Sarge’ (by Kanigher & Kubert from Our Army at War #91) and ‘Kill the General!’ by Haney & Dan Spiegle pitted the Man of a Thousand Faces against Nazi infiltrators determined to assassinate General Eisenhower at the height of the Battle of the Bulge.

‘Remittance Man!’ in #164 saw the anonymous hero replace a legendary spotter on an occupied Pacific island, directing Allied attacks on Japanese strongholds, after which Jack Sparling came aboard as artist in ‘Witness For a Coward’ as a US tank commander sentenced to death for desertion is saved by the testimony of a Nazi Officer – but only after he was abducted from his HQ by the immortal G.I. after which a debt of honour had to be repaidâ€¦

Bill Mauldin’s legendary wartime dogfaces â€œWillie and Joeâ€ (see the superb Up Front for further details) paid an unannounced visit in #166 ‘The True Glory’ as the Unknown Soldier travelled to Italy to find out what was holding up the advance in Haney’s last offering, after which Archie Goodwin steps in to script ‘Three Targets for the Viper!’ wherein the faceless man hunted an assassin set on killing Churchill, Roosevelt and De Gaulle during a conference in 1943 Morocco before jumping to France in 1944 and a close encounter with an American officer determined to make a name for himself at any cost in ‘The Glory Hound!’

Godwin’s tenure saw a stronger concentration on espionage drama, as with issue #169 which found the Immortal G.I. infiltrating the compound where Hitler’s latest secret weapon was being built in ‘Destroy the Devil’s Broomstick!’ after which the Soldier had to stand in for an irreplaceable Marine Major and capture an impregnable island fortress in ‘Legends Don’t Die!’

‘Appointment in Prague!’ offered a rare and tragic glimpse into the Unknown Soldier’s past as he followed the aged actor who taught him the mastery of make-up and impersonation into Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to rescue a grandson thought long dead, after which scripter Frank Robbins took over and moved the action to the Eastern Front in ‘A Cocktail For Molotov!’ where the Nazis pulled out all the stops to destroy Russia’s charismatic foreign Minister before he could conclude a treaty with the Allies.

Star-Spangled War Stories #173 saw the G.I. infiltrating a Japanese Submarine base disguised as a Nazi wrestler invited to an exhibition match against a Sumo master. Unfortunately ‘No Holds Barred!’ proved that although allies, Japanese and Germans weren’t exactly friendsâ€¦

‘Operation Snafu!’ began an extended storyline as it found him impersonating a German tank-commander and forced to sacrifice his own Resistance allies in order to complete a mission vital to the Allied advance, whilst ‘A Slow Burnâ€¦ From Both Ends!’ gave him the chance to make amends and #176’s ‘Target: the Unknown Soldier!’ ramped up the tension as the Nazis discovered a way to identify the faceless warrior no matter how he was disguisedâ€¦

With Von Sturm, his deadly Nazi counterpart, on his trail, the Unknown Soldier had stirred up ‘The Hornet’s Nest!’ and was hunted and hounded towards a concentration camp where inmates work as slaves to construct V1 rockets. Trapped, with the net closing around him, he replaced one of the jailers but Von Sturm was determined to deliver ‘The Sting of Death!’ in the spectacular climactic duel to the deathâ€¦

In Star-Spangled War Stories #179 in the aftermath of his close escape the Immortal G.I. stumbled into ‘A Town Called Hate!’ where racial tensions between white and black American soldiers had devolved into tit-for-tat murders. Unfortunately, whilst disguised as a member of an SS infiltration squad, the Soldier could only exacerbate the situation. With the Germans about to deliver a devastating counter-attack it was a good thing the long-missing Chat Noir was also on handâ€¦

‘The Doomsday Heroes!’ despatched the anonymous agent to the Leyte Gulf where Japanese suicide attacks had stopped the US advance. However before he could begin his mission he was shot down and forced to work with a failed Kamikaze pilot to survive the cruel Pacific seasâ€¦

After that tragedy of honour the mission continued with ‘One Guy in the Right Placeâ€¦’ as the Soldier linked up with natives fighting the Japanese invaders. Disturbingly they are led by an unseen American who sounded like the brother he had lost in the first days of the war. Could Harry have survived all those yearsâ€¦?

Robbins and Sparling bowed out with a classy mini-classic in Star-Spangled War Stories #182, set in Tunisia where ‘A Thirst for Death!’ set the Soldier and a crew of veterans on the sandy trail of Rommel’s hidden petrol reserves, after which new kids David Michelinie & Gerry Talaoc heralded a change of direction with ‘8,000 to One’.

The horror boom in comics was at its peak in 1974 and new editor Joe Orlando capitalised on that fascination with a few startling changes – the most controversial being to regularly reveal the Unknown Soldier’s grotesque, scar-ravaged face – presumably to draw in monster-hungry fear fansâ€¦

The story itself went back to the Immortal G.I.’s earliest days as an American agent and saw him sent to Denmark to rescue a ship full of Danish Jews destined for Hitler’s death camps. Disguised as SS Captain Max Shreik, the Soldier was forced to make an unconscionable choice to safeguard his mission. The degree and manner of graphic violence was also exponentially increased to accommodate the more mature readership as the Soldier took a very personal revenge…

‘A Sense of Obligation’ found the now cold, remorseless warrior in France tasked with infiltrating a Special Kommando Training Centre and destroying it from within. However, as with all undercover work, the risk of going too deep and making friends who you might have to kill later inevitably led to another tragic life or death decision for the increasingly grim and soulless Soldier, whilst ‘The Hero’ saw the faceless man invade neutral Switzerland to kidnap a British scientist held by the Nazis. This time his lethal final judgement cost him no sleep at allâ€¦

In ‘Man of Godâ€¦ Man of War’ (#186) a Catholic Priest duped into working with the Nazis in Italy became the Soldier’s latest target, but the plan was forestalled and the true situation revealed and rectified after ‘A Death in the Chapel’.

This imposing, impressive and thoroughly entertaining first volume concludes with Star-Spangled War Stories #188 and ‘Encounter’ as the Unknown Soldier strove to prevent the scuttling of a hospital ship by Nazis, unaware that his only ally was in love with the enemy commanderâ€¦

Dark, powerful, moving and overwhelmingly ingenious, The Unknown Soldier is a magnificent addition to the ranks of extraordinary mortal warriors in an industry far too heavy with implausible and incredible heroes. These tales will appeal to not just comics readers but all fans of action fiction.
Â© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2006 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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