Author: Now Read This

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Star Trek: The Next Generation — The Gorn Crisis

Star Trek: The Next Generation — The Gorn Crisis

By Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta & Igor Kordey (WildStorm)
ISBN 1-56389-754-7

The Star Trek franchise has had many comic book homes. This effort published by DC/WildStorm is set during the period when Deep Space 9 was being broadcast and tangentially informs the seasons-long storyline that featured an intergalactic war between the Federation and its Alpha Quadrant allies on one side and the J’em Haddar warriors of The Dominion on the other.

The Gorn are an aggressive civilisation of Reptiles who appeared in an episode of the original 1960s TV show. It was an adaptation of a classic SF short story by Fred Brown entitled “Arena”, in which Captain Kirk and his Gorn opposite number are selected by a super-advanced race to represent their species in a duel for galactic supremacy. The loser race would be curbed to avoid horrendous and bloody space-war.

A century later the Federation is at war with the Dominion and desperate for allies. Jean-Luc Picard has been dispatched to the Gorn planet to broker an alliance, but the USS Enterprise arrives just as the reptile’s Warrior Caste stages a bloody coup and launches an all-out attack on neighbouring worlds. The way in which Picard, Riker, and all the Next Generation stalwarts act to quell the uprising won’t just dictate how the humans and reptiles will co-exist in the future, it might well decide if they exist at all…

Although not to everybody’s taste, and despite a certain rough hesitancy in Igor Kordey’s fully painted artwork, not to mention a somewhat perfunctory script, this tale does rattle along in the manner Star Trek fans would hope for, and even casual readers will come away with a sense of expectation fulfilled.

© 2000 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

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How to Draw Superman

How to Draw Superman

By Ty Templeton, John Delaney and Ron Boyd (Walter Foster Publishing)
ISBN 978-1-5601-0327-1

Although the 1990s Superman cartoon show never got the airplay it deserved in Britain, it remains a highpoint in the character’s long, long animation history, second only to the astounding and groundbreaking seventeen shorts produced by the Max Fleischer Studio in the 1940s. These modern visualisations became the norm, extending to both the Justice League and Legion of Super Heroes animation series that followed.

The broad stylisation also worked in two dimensions in the spin-off comic-book produced by DC (itself a series well worthy of and long overdue for trade paperback release), so this lovely slim “How To” book from Ty Templeton, John Delaney and Ron Boyd is doubly a package to pore through and learn from.

Brilliant colour and clear concise instructions, covering the undeniable basics that every artist of any age will need to master, such as perspective and basic anatomy, plus a detailed step-by-step breakdown and model sheet for every major character and villain make this an indispensable aid and a fun read for the aspiring Artist of Tomorrow.

™ & © 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Hellblazer: Hard Time

Hellblazer: Hard Time

By Brian Azzarello & Richard Corben (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84023-255-2

John Constantine is many things: Magician, con-man, world-saver, hero, villain, thief. He’s a chain-smoker who’s tricked the doctors and the Devil, but can’t ever seem to keep a friend. Not as friends and usually not even alive. He’s walked through a world of death and horror, leaving a clear trail of bloody footprints.

So when he ends up in a grim high security jail in the USA, nobody’s surprised. But in a universe of deadly men and extreme factionalism nothing can cow him and nobody can divine his intentions.

The brutal cage-behaviour of deadly men with nothing to lose is as nothing to the subtle horror of John Constantine unleashed and teaching scum what intimidation and punishment really means…

Brian Azzarello and alternative comics legend Richard Corben plumb the darkest depths of humanity in this savage prison drama, blending mystery, thriller and horror genres and presenting a compelling example of just how nasty a comic-book can get.

Superb storytelling, but not for the faint-hearted, easily shocked or under-aged.

© 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Chronicles of Conan vol 2: Rogues in the House

Chronicles of Conan vol 2: Rogues in the House

By Roy Thomas & Barry Windsor-Smith (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 1-84023-785-6

The second Dark Horse collection of Marvel’s 1970’s Conan epics covers a period when the character had taken the comics world by storm, and features two creators riding the crest of a creative wave. Reprinting issues #9-13 and #16 of the monthly comic-book this volume opens with ‘Garden of Fear’, adapted by Thomas and Smith, with inks by Sal Buscema from the short story by Robert E. Howard, a battle with an antediluvian survivor in a lost valley.

Returning to the big city, our hero must ‘Beware the Wrath of Anu!’, another Howard tale, as is the eponymous ‘Rogues in the House’, an early masterpiece of action and intrigue. ‘Dweller in the Dark’ is an all original yarn of monsters and maidens, notable because artist Barry Smith inked his own pencils, and indications of his detailed fine-line illustrative style can be seen for the first time. Fantasy author John Jakes plotted ‘Web of the Spider-God’, a sardonic tale of the desert scripted by Thomas and inked by Buscema.

Chronologically, a two part team-up guest-starring Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné should follow but that’s held in abeyance and this book concludes with ‘The Frost Giant’s Daughter’, a haunting, racy tale written by Howard and originally adapted in black and white for Savage Tales #1.

This was an early attempt to enter the more adult magazine market, and when the story was reprinted in Conan #16, Smith’s art had to be censored to obscure some female body parts that youngsters might be corrupted by. Even so it’s still a beautiful pencil and ink job by Smith. It was also supposedly his last as he quit the series with that issue.

These re-mastered issues are a superb way to enjoy some of American comics’ most influential – and enjoyable moments. They should have a place on your bookshelf.

©1971-1972, 2003 Conan Properties International, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Captain Marvel: First Contact

Captain Marvel: First Contact

By Peter David, ChrissCross & various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN 0-7851-0791-6

This character has one of the most convoluted back stories in comics so if you are unfamiliar with him this might be a tad confusing for a first exposure, but light, fun super-hero comics are rare, so it is worth considering.

Captain Marvel was a soldier for a pan-galactic civilisation called the Kree. He was dispatched to Earth on a reconnaissance mission after the Fantastic Four destroyed a robotic Kree Sentinel left on Earth thousands of years previously. Adopting an Earth identity he spied on mankind but became increasingly disenchanted by Kree Imperialism and “went native”, becoming one of Earth’s greatest heroes.

Due to a cosmic accident his atoms were merged with professional sidekick Rick Jones. Only one of them could occupy space in our universe at a time, whilst the other was suspended in the anti-matter dimension called the Negative Zone. By striking together the “Nega” wristbands they each wore one could trade atoms with the other and live part of a single existence. Eventually they escaped their fate and separated. After saving the world and the universe a few times Captain Marvel died.

After his death his lover used his genetic material to create a son, named Genis (or sometimes Legacy) and he ultimately acquired the Negabands and inherited the title. He also found himself bonded to the cosmically unlucky Jones in the same situation his father had to endure – switching atoms and leading half a life. This incarnation devolves directly out of Avengers Forever (ISBN: 0-7851-0756-8) and reprints issues #0 and 1-6 of the third volume of the monthly comic – I said it was confusing, right? Now read on…

Bonded together, Jones and Genis are currently back on Earth and trying to reach an accommodation but the “Cosmically-Aware” hero is battling menaces and monsters that no-one can see, and the resultant collateral destruction is making the wrong sort of headlines. Either that or Genis is delusional and a menace himself…

There are guest appearances by The Hulk, Moondragon, Drax the Destroyer, and the Micronauts in a light-hearted and very funny string of adventures from Peter David, ChrissCross, Ron Lim, James Fry, Walden Wong, Mark McKenna and Nelson Decastro, and although this really is a treat for long-time fans with a good grounding in Marvel Minutiae, the determined neophyte might be rewarded with a hearty laugh and some angst-free thrills.

This volume includes a brief recap-cum-scorecard section so newbies might feel it’s worth a shot…

© 1999, 2000 2001 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Shield

AMERICA’S 1ST PATRIOTIC HERO

The Shield

By Irving Norvick, Harry Shorten & various (Archie Comics)
ISBN 1-879794-08-X

In the dawning days of the comic book business, just after Superman and Batman had ushered in a new genre of storytelling, many publishers jumped onto the bandwagon and made their own bids for cash and glory. Many thrived and many more didn’t, remembered only as trivia by sad blokes like me. Some few made it to an amorphous middle-ground: Not forgotten, but certainly not household names either…

The Shield was an FBI scientist named Joe Higgins who wore a suit which gave him enhanced strength, speed and durability, which he used to battle America’s enemies in the days before the USA entered World War II. Latterly he also devised a Shield Formula that increased his powers. Beginning with the first issue of Pep Comics (January 1940) he battled spies, saboteurs, subversive organisations and every threat to American security and well-being, and was a minor sensation. He is credited with being the industry’s very first Patriotic Hero, predating Marvel’s iconic Captain America in the “wearing the Flag” field.

Collected here in this Golden-Age fan-boy’s dream are the lead stories from Pep Comics #1-5 and the three adventures from the spin-off Shield-Wizard Comics #1 (Summer 1940). Raw, primitive and a little juvenile perhaps, but these are still unadorned, glorious romps from the industry’s exuberant, uncomplicated dawning days: Plain-and-simple fun-packed thrills from the gravely under-appreciated Irving Novick, Harry Shorten and others whose names are now lost to history.

Despite not being to everyone’s taste these guilty pleasures are worth a look for any dyed-in-the-woollen-tights super-hero freak and a rapturous tribute to a less complicated time.

© 1940, 2002 Archie Publications In. All Rights Reserved.

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William the Backwards Skunk

William the Backwards Skunk

By Chuck Jones (Crown Publishers Inc.)
ISBN: 0-517-56063-1

There have been a few modern geniuses who wield a pencil and paintbrush. We tend not to notice them in the world of comics, which I suppose would explain why so many of our contemporary artists work in animation these days. I don’t know if Charles Martin Jones ever worked in comics – or even if he ever wanted to – but as ‘Chuck’ he produced some of the greatest and funniest animated cartoons the world has ever seen.

During WWII he worked with Theodore Geisel – who left cartooning for a career in kid’s books and found fame as Dr. Seuss – on a series of educational cartoons for the US Army featuring ‘Private Snafu’. That relationship would eventually lead to the animated TV classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

And in 1986 Chuck Jones produced this picture-book for the very young. William is a skunk with a little problem. The Usual Skunk not only has that potent chemical weapon we all know and dread, but they also have a beautiful bold stripe on their backs so as to give any big animal sneaking up on them a fair chance to change their minds. Sadly, William’s stripe is on his front, which causes problems for every animal in the forest.

This charming little fable about cooperation is a sweet delight and the art is utterly joyous. This is a man who knows “Cute” and how to milk it, and more importantly, when to lampoon it. His critters positively drip with Attitude, and any child’s delight could only be marred if the adult reading this aloud is unable to stifle their own knowing chortles.

Jones’ work informed generations of kids and creators in comics as well as cartoons. His legacy can be found in titles as varied as Dell’s Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to the current Kids WB comic-books including the current incarnation of Looney Tunes.

Get this book and you could be carrying on that tradition to the next generation.

© 1986 Chuck Jones Enterprises. All rights reserved.

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Tom Strong Book 3

Tom Strong Book 3

By various (America’s Best Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-148-0

A light touch is something sadly scarce in super-hero comics these days, so the third compilation of Science’s Ultimate Hero (collecting issues # 15-19 of the monthly comic-book) is a welcome distraction as it features a few old friends and foes – and plots. ‘Ring of Fire’ by Moore and Sprouse with inking by Karl Story sees the living volcano-man Val Var Garm entice the strong Family into his under-Earth city before joining them on a more formal basis as Tesla’s live-in boyfriend (see Tom Strong Book 2 for more information and thrills).

A three eyed galactic drifter then turns up just ahead of a three part Alien Invasion in a tale first hinted at in ‘Lost Mesa’ (Book 2 again). Summoning all the help they can the heroes head for interplanetary space to destroy an armada of giant ants in ‘Some Call Him the Space Cowboy’ and ‘The Weird Rider: Gone to Croatoan’, ‘Ant Fugue’ and ‘The Last Round-up’ all by Moore, Sprouse and Story.

The follow-up was another short-stories issue with Howard Chaykin illustrating Moore’s adventure of Sexual Impolitics in ‘Electric Ladyland!’, Leah Moore, Shawn McManus and Steve Mitchell reviewed the last moments of arch-villain Paul Saveen in ‘Bad to the Bone’ and Alan, Chris and Karl close the book with surreal fourth-wall-ery as Tom and Tesla become trapped inside a comic-book in ‘The Hero-Hoard of Horatio Hogg!’

With an extended section of pin-ups, this knowing, clever pastiche of a simpler time in comics is a fine way to reminisce with some thing new.

© 2005 America’s Best Comics, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Simpsons Comics A Go-Go

Simpsons Comics A Go-Go

By Various (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84023-151-3

Here’s another knowing laugh-fest culled from the pages of the Simpsons comic book (featuring material originally printed in issues# 10 and #32-35). ‘Rhymes and Misdemeanours’ (by Jeff Rosenthal, Tim Bavington, Stephanie Gladden, Phil Ortiz, Bill Morrison, Jeannine Black and Nathan Kane) is a sly and sarcastic pastiche of Beat Poets and Young Love as Lisa and portly intellectual Martin Prince are gripped in a savage war of sonnets and odes when poetry becomes a spectator sport at McBeans Coffee House.

Scott M. Gimple scripts the wonderful alternate unreality tale ‘The Great Springfield Frink-Out’ as the outlandish Professor Frink screws up the multiverse in a tale drawn, inked, lettered and coloured by Ortiz, Bavington, Black and Kane. ‘Burnsie on Board’ by Rob Hammersley, Gladden, Eric Tran, Tim Harkins, Black and Kane reveals how the parsimonious Mr. Burns develops some sporting spirit when he buys the Winter Olympics, and ‘To Live and Diaper in Springfield’ is the saga of how the monumental “Krusty’s Kids DayKare” monopoly was challenged by Mrs. Simpson’s homely little “Marge’s Charges”. The reckless baby-endangerment gags are courtesy of Billy Rubenstein, Ortiz, Bavington, Black and Kane.

The last long story is a tasteless tale of smuggling, tax-evasion and cheap gratification as Homer and family “win” a holiday from Mr. Burns. ‘Fan-Tasty Island’ is by Rosenthal, Luis Escobar, Bavington, Morrison, Robert Kramer, David Mowry, Richard Starkings Comicraft, Nathan Kane and Electric Crayon. Also included are the short features ‘Principal Skinner’s Bottom 40’, ‘Tiger-Teen’ (a magazine feature on those Barbershop heavyweights the Be Sharps) and the ‘Simpsons Supporters’ Suggestion Spin Cycle’ with Ian Boothby, Dan Studley, Jim Lincoln and Chris Ungar accompanying previous culprits in the creative mayhem. As ever Matt Groening takes the final blame for all the hilarity and offence in this sharp, funny and thoroughly enjoyable spin-off book.

© 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 Bongo Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol 2: Learning Curve

Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol 2: Learning Curve

By Brian M. Bendis, Mark Bagley & Art Thibert (Marvel)
ISBN: 0-7851-0820-3

After Marvel’s problems of the mid 1990s, the company came back swinging, and one new concept was the remodelling and modernising of their core characters for the new youth culture. The ‘Ultimate’ imprint abandoned the monumental continuity that had been Marvel’s greatest asset and the company’s major characters were given a separate universe to play in and makeovers to appeal to a contemporary, 21st century audience.

Puberty is hard enough for anybody, but if you’re the high school science geek, every bully’s target of choice, suddenly the man-of-the-house and soon-to-be-breadwinner, life is horrible. Compound that with the suspicion that the Most Beautiful Girl in the World might have the hots for you – or might not – and that you’re a superhero driven by overwhelming guilt to risk your life fighting monsters and super-villains every chance you get, and what you have is the second collection of the other, newer Peter Parker: Spider-Man.

Highlights in this highly readable tome include Peter getting a job at the Daily Bugle, Aunt May’s attempt at the “Birds and Bees” talk with her hapless nephew, Mary Jane’s reaction to learning one of Peter’s secrets and of course the Die Hard-inspired assault on the overlord of crime’s skyscraper fortress as Spiderman tries to destroy the Kingpin of Crime.

The early incorporation of old Spidey foes such as The Enforcers and Kingpin into the new mythos was a canny move. Neither is as outlandish as many old villains and at the start establishing the hero as the most uncanny element was important. Even the inclusion of Electro was low key, and his costuming restrained. Using Crime rather than World Conquest kept the fantasy realism intact. But soon enough the baroque nature of superheroes will be straining at sensibilities and credibilities again…

This is a sharp, credible effort to make a teen icon relevant again and a funny, thrilling read for the old and jaundiced.

© 2000, 2001 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.