Author: NowReadThis

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Billie Holiday


By José Muñoz & Carlos Sampayo, translated by Katy MacRae, Robert Boyd & Kim Thompson (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-093-5 (HB)

Argentinian José Antonio Muñoz was born on July 10th 1942 in Buenos Aires and studied at the prestigious Escuela Panamericana de Arte de Buenos Aires, under comics geniuses Hugo Pratt and Alberto Breccia. He then joined the prolific and prestigious Francisco Solano Lopez studio at the age of 18. Soon his work was appearing in Hora Cero and Frontera Extra whilst he ghosted episodes of the legendary serial Ernie Pike for his old tutor Pratt.

Through the Argentine-based Solano Lopez outfit, he began working on material for British publishing giant Amalgamated Press/IPC, but had no real feeling for the material he was producing. Moreover, like so many others, he was increasingly uncomfortable living in his homeland. Eventually, he was compelled to leave Argentina (in December 1972) as the military junta tightened its totalitarian grip on the country and clamped down on free expression and the arts, as well as all forms of overt or covert dissent.

Moving to England, Spain and later Italy, Muñoz met again fellow émigré and creative soul-mate Carlos Sampayo in Barcelona in 1974 and convinced the poet, music critic, copywriter and author to try his hand at comics. The result was the stunning expressionistic noir Private Detective masterpiece of loss and regret Alack Sinner…

Born in 1943, the poet Sampayo grew up with all the same formative experiences as his artistic comrade and, after a similar dispiriting start (he’d tried writing and being a literary editor before resigning himself to work in advertising), moved to Spain in 1972.

The pair were first introduced in 1971 when mutual friend Oscar Zarate left Argentina in the forefront of the creative exodus sparked by the rise of “the Colonels”…

Urgently urged by mentor Hugo Pratt to “do something of your own”, the pair started producing the grimly gritty adventures of an ex-New York cop-turned-shamus haunting the shadows of the world’s greatest, darkest city, and encountering the bleak underbelly of the metropolis and all the outcasts, exiles and scum thrown together at its margins.

Alack Sinner debuted in experimental Italian anthology Alter Linus, was picked up by Belgian giant Casterman (for A Suivre) and compiled in a number of albums across the continent. The feature was set solidly in history, confronting issues of prejudice, bigotry and corruption head-on through shocking words and imagery. In one of their stories Sinner played merely a bit part as the pages examined the life and times and fate of one of the most ill-starred women in the history of Jazz and modern America.

And that’s where this powerfully moving biography finds us…

Originally translated and published by Fantagraphics in the early 1990s, NBM’s Billie Holiday takes us into the heart and soul of the doomed and self-destructive nightingale whose incredible voice was all-but-lost to the world for decades before kinder, more evolved ears of all colours rescued her works from oblivion…

This epic hardcover – and digital – volume examines her life and influence through the eyes of distant observers and opens with essay ‘Billie Holiday: Don’t Explain’ by Francis Marmande, which provides a fact and photo-packed biographical appreciation of the singer in her heyday.

Eleanora Holiday – also known as Billie and “Lady Day” – was born April 7th 1915, and died July 17th 1959. In between those dates she won many fans and earned tons of money, but it never bought her acceptance in a world where black skin provoked revulsion, cruelty and smug superiority. It didn’t even buy her protection from New York cops who considered her a prostitute made good, an uppity subhuman who never knew her place…

Billie lost money as quickly as she earned it: to unscrupulous friends and management, or corrupt officials, although most of it was frittered away by the succession of cheating, brutal men she was perpetually drawn to and whom she could never resist…

A short, stark story of graphic flair offering many powerful full-page images, the tale begins in 1989 as a journalist is assigned to write a feature piece commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of a Jazz singer. He’s never heard of Billie Holiday but is good at his job and starts digging.

He reads about a poor black girl raped as a child and forced into child prostitution who almost escaped that trap by singing. She became successful, but never dodged the traps and pitfalls of her life: booze, drugs, sleazy men, manipulative bosses and a seeming hunger for conflict. Even so, the way she sang was uniquely hers and changed lives forever. She called herself Billie and always performed with a flower in her hair…

For a while the great and good came to watch and hear her and other jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Lester Young, whose gifts gave them limited entry to the privileged life, but never acceptance.

This intensely personal interpretation is less a biography and more a heartfelt paean of appreciation, channelling and exploring the hard, harsh tone of those troubled times where talented, dogged souls fought for recognition and survival in a world determined to exploit and consume them. In that respect, no one was more exploited than Lady Day…

Also included here, ‘Jazz Sessions’ offers a stunning gallery of 12 stark, chiaroscuric and powerfully evocative images based on scenes from Holiday’s short, stark life and dedication to the freedom of the musical form of Blues and Jazz that she graced and transformed through her vocalisations.

Moving, angry and sad, this tale holds the singer up to the light and must be read. Just remember, there’s no Happy Ever After here…
© 1991 Casterman All rights reserved. © 2017 NBM for the English version

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Cancer Vixen


By Marisa Acocella Marchetto (Knopf Publishing/Pantheon)
ISBN: 978-0-30726-357-5 (US HB) 978-0-37571-474-0 (UK PB)

The comics medium is incredibly powerful and versatile: easily able to convey different levels of information and shades of meaning in a variety of highly individualistic and personal manners and styles and on any subject imaginable.

Although primarily used as a medium of entertainment, the sequential image is also a devastating tool for instruction and revelation as in this superb encapsulation of one woman’s knock-down drag-out tussle with the “Big C”…

Born in1962, Marisa Acocella studied painting at the Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts in New York City before becoming an Art Director for a major Madison Avenue ad agency. After a meteoric career in the field, in 1993 she turned to cartooning.

Acocella concocted the quasi-autobiographical fashion cartoon She which debuted in Mirabella Magazine before transferring to Elle in 1996. The feature was collected as Just Who the Hell Is She, Anyway? The Autobiography of She and the character was optioned for a show by HBO television.

The frenetic scribbler was subsequently head-hunted by Robert Mankoff – Cartoon Editor for iconic periodical The New Yorker – and soon after, with her work regularly appearing in Glamour (where she crafted the series Glamour Girls), Advertising Age, Talk, Modern Bride and ESPN magazine, she created ‘The Strip’ for the New York Times Sunday Styles section. It was that prestigious paper’s first ever continuing comics feature.

In 2004, at the top of her game and three weeks before her marriage to a dashing and highly successful restaurateur, seemingly with the world at her stylishly shod feet (there’s a great deal of attention paid to women’s shoes here, but at least it’s an apparently hereditary fetish: Marisa’s simply overwhelming mother Violetta Acocella was a designer for the Delman Shoe Company), the artist noticed a lump in her breast…

How the sometimes flighty, occasionally self-absorbed but ultimately tough and determinedly resolute Style-Zombie Fashionista cartoonist took control of her life and her situation to beat cancer makes for an utterly engrossing and ferociously vital read…

Told in overlapping flashbacks Cancer Vixen – because the artist loathed the term “Cancer Victim” – documents her emotional pilgrimage through denial, oppressive terror, turbulent anticipations, financial heebie-jeebies, desperate metaphysical bargaining, exploration of outrageous alternative therapies, grudging acceptance and onerous fight-back through her interactions with friends and family – especially that formidably overbearing ‘(S)Mother’ and man-in-a-billion husband-to-be Silvano Marchetto…

As Marisa reveals the day-by-day, moment-to-moment journey from suspicion to diagnosis, through surgery and the horrifying post-op chemo-therapy with profound passion, daunting honesty and beguiling self-deprecating humour, what strikes the reader most is the cruelly unnecessary extra anguish caused by a silly mistake which might have cost the artist her life…

Even though thoroughly in-touch, on the go and in command of her life, this modern Ms. had accidentally let her Health Insurance lapse…

Coming from a country where – despite the best efforts of our current government to gut and sell off the National Health Service and neuter the social support and benefits net – nobody has to die from insufficient funds or endure ill-health because of their bank balance, the most gob-smacking strand of this graphic reportage is the cost-counting exercise which periodically tots up the dollars spent at crucial stages of treatment and the realisation that many of her potential care-givers are actually bidding against each other rather than working together to treat their patients customers…

Thankfully Glamour magazine nobly commissioned Marisa to turn her regular strip into a cartoon account of her illness and recovery (with the strip Cancer Vixen launching as a 6-page strip in the April 2005 issue), whilst bravely marrying Silvano – in defiance of her very real dread that he might be a widower before their first anniversary – at least got Marisa belatedly onto his insurance policy…

As a result of her experiences, Marisa Acocella-Marchetto apportioned a percentage of the book’s profits to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and to underprivileged women at the St. Vincent’s Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center in Manhattan, where she also established The Cancer Vixen Fund, dedicated to help uninsured women get the best breast care available.

Delivered in a chatty, snazzy blend of styles and bright, bold colours, this relentlessly factual book – and thus truly scary because of it – combines a gripping true report of terror and resilience with a glorious love story and inspiring celebration of family and friendship under the worst of all circumstances.

Whilst not the escapist fantasy fiction which is our medium’s speciality, this human drama and faithfully impassioned but funny memoir – with a happy ending to boot – is the kind of comic to enthral and elate real-world fans and devotees of the medium; and indeed, everyone who reads it.
© 2006 Marisa Acocella Marchetto. All rights reserved.

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With Only Five Plums


By Terry Eisele & Jonathon Riddle (CreateSpace)
ISBNs: 978-1-48399-114-6 (TPB); 978-1-48399-123-8 (TPB) and 978-1-48399-127-6 (TPB)

As any long-time reader will attest, I’m a huge advocate of doing it yourself when it comes to making comics, and this collection – three books of an epic historical exposé of one of modern humanity’s greatest atrocities thus far – shows just why, as it spectacularly blends harsh fact with high drama to reveal the tragic story and eventual small triumph of Anna Nesporova whose family was targeted in error by the Nazis occupying Czechoslovakia…

Sadly unavailable in digital formats yet, but still readily available in trade paperbacks, the testament is divided into three quietly understated, deeply evocative volumes of ambitiously oversized monochrome memoirs, crafted by historian Terry Eisele & illustrator Jonathon Riddle from Nesporova’s own words, dramatizing the horrific story of the Nazi atrocity at Lidice in Czechoslovakia.

The memories are not merely those of a survivor but come from a woman whose entire family was intimately connected with the cause of the tragedy…

The history opens in With Only Five Plums: The Time Before as an elderly woman is encouraged by an interviewer to talk of times long past but never forgotten. She cautiously relates the idyllic life in the nondescript hamlet of Lidice before specifically concentrating on the expansive Horak family and her life as innocent, ordinary Anna Horakova during increasingly trying times.

Relating instances of village life, childhood experiences and the early days of her marriage, Anna’s story takes a dark turn when describing Christmas customs. In 1941, a cherished family meal tradition presaged disaster for the entire Horak clan…

In June 1938, European leaders trying to appease Hitler allowed Germany to annexe part of Czechoslovakia and, as a consequence, Anna’s brother Josef fled to Britain, joining the growing émigré/refugee population. He dutifully wrote home that he numbered amongst his new friends Edvard Benes and Jan Masaryk: the leaders of the government-in-exile…

The next stage in the tragedy came when Nazi aristocrat Reinhard Heydrich – a sadistic monster eagerly expediting Hitler’s pogrom against the Jews – was assassinated. The Horak family were mistakenly implicated in the plot.

Nazi retaliation was astoundingly disproportionate: the village where they lived – almost universally Christian – was eradicated from the Earth; the male population massacred and the women sent to concentration camps in a display of calculated butchery as bad as anything visited upon the Romani, Jews or any other ethnicity the Nazis deemed “subhuman”.

Heavily pregnant at the time, Anna – along with other expectant mothers – was separated from the rest. As the children were delivered, they were taken away. Those that passed certain tests were removed to be brought up German, whilst the mothers joined their sister villagers in packed cattle-cars at rail marshalling yards. The destination was Ravensbruck Concentration Camp…

The tale resumes in With Only Five Plums Book 2: This Dark Age where, following a brief recap, Anna details the appalling journey, paying especial detail to an elderly Jewish woman’s attempts to cheer up younger girls with the story of Rabbi Loew’s Golem. That fabulous avenger was created to protect the Jews of Prague during a previous wave of persecution…

After many days and hundreds of miles, the train arrives in Fürstenberg from where the survivors are force-marched to the camp. Anna’s record of daily humiliations and the slow, piecemeal destruction of bodies and spirits covers three years, but she considered herself lucky. At least she had a skill the Germans found useful (professional-standard sewing) and wasn’t part of a group considered genetically inferior such as the Roma “gypsies”.

Heartbreaking memories of Romani inmate Florica (and her folktale of the origins of blonde-haired people) poignantly counterpoints a diary of privation and desperation and serves to underline the horrific accounts of the scientist-torturers Ernst-Robert Grawitz and Ludwig Stumpfegger who used women as guinea pigs for their horrendous experiments…

The captivity suddenly ended in spring. The panicked Germans were in retreat: burning files and dismantling buildings. The women were led out of the gates with a few guards and ordered to march. They staggered through Germany and other countries shattered by bombs and, as the days passed, many died. Soon they were not enough soldiers and Anna and some other women slipped away, heading always towards a home that no longer existed.

Avoiding the “liberating” Russian soldiers, the group finally reached Czechoslovakia, battered but once more a free nation. Here Anna met Mrs. Kubrova; wife of her husband’s employer, who took her in and eventually drove her to Lidice… or at least where it had once been…

The chronicle concludes in With Only Five Plums Book 3: Life in the East is Worthless, which describes the aftermath of the war. Throughout all her trials and torments, Anna had been utterly oblivious to the fate of her family and her home. Now she learns that both had been eradicated with devastating efficiency. All that was left was the daughter taken from her at birth and lost seemingly forever somewhere in Germany…

From Kubrova, Anna discovers what the Nazis had done to turn a thriving, bustling village into a barren featureless field and of other survivors – mostly stolen children. These scenes are more harrowing in their understated simplicity than anything else in this grim graphic report…

However, there is a slight moral victory to be seen as aged Anna then relates how Lidice was rebuilt and repopulated (despite the Soviet Union’s absorbing the newly liberated nation into their Warsaw Pact-enforced alliance) before the saga concludes with an emotional Epilogue wherein Anna finally reveals the fate of her stolen daughter…

Slipping back and forth in time, conversationally adding depth and historical background to a remarkably restrained, tightly controlled and shatteringly effective examination of human nature at its worst and best, With Only Five Plums (a Czech expression akin to “with only the clothes on your back”) focuses on one of the most depraved and appalling acts in human history and manages to extract a message of hope and triumphant perseverance from the tragedy.

This triptych is a superb example of pictorial reportage and graphic memoir, with each big (280 x 216mm) book also offering poetry written about the atrocity (The Far-off Village by Mazo de la Roche, Lidice by C. Day Lewis and To Lidice by George England respectively); text features and extensive, fascinating excerpts from ‘Jonathon’s Sketchbook’.

Anna Nesporova passed away in 2006, before these books were completed, but the sense remains that the brooding, painfully oppressive and achingly moving story related would have made her proud. As with all accounts of Atrocity, the tale of Lidice needs to be told and retold, if there’s to be any hope of stopping such things from happening again and as always, such accounts work best when they come from the hearts and mouths of those who were there.

With Only Five Plums is a powerful story of inhumanity, stupidity and endurance that will certainly impress fans of war stories and devotees of fine storytelling, but hopefully it will most appeal to history teachers; professional and not…

© 2013 Terry Eisele. All rights reserved.
For more information and to obtain your own copies check out www.terryeisele.com

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Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary, 1852-1903


By Christian Perrissin & Matthieu Blanchin, translated by Diana Schutz & Brandon Kander (IDW Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-869-4 (HB)

Other people’s lives are fascinating. Just check out any TV schedule to affirm that watching what neighbours or strangers are have done, are doing or want to do is a major drive for us nosy hairless apes. And it’s even more enticing if we’re allowed a smidgen of comparison and an ounce of judgement, too.

One problem with famous dead people though is that we’re forced to make those assessments at a remove – because they’re dead – and only have records or, worse, myths and legends to construct our portrait from. Thankfully, we’re pretty imaginative monkeys too and have drama to help us fill in the gaps and flesh out the characters.

Those gifts proved immensely valuable to author Christian Perrissin and illustrator Matthieu Blanchin in the creation of a 3-volume graphic biography demythologising one of the Wild West’s most enigmatic icons. The result was the award-winning Martha Jane Cannary: La vie aventureuse de celle que l’on nommait Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Cannary: The Calamitous Life of Calamity Jane).

Perrissin studied Fine and Applied Arts before moving into Bande dessinée, and from 1987 to 1990 apprenticed with Yves Lavandier before going solo with his Hélène Cartier series (co-created with cartoonist Buche). He has since scripted TV shows and film, written epic sagas such as El Niño and Cape Horn and inherited the scripting of venerable comics classic Redbeard.

Co-creator Blanchin started out as a storyboard artist and illustrator at the turn of the century, before moving into comics, producing work for a host of companies and titles. Eventually he moved into historical and autobiographical material such as Blanche and Le Val des ânes and the Les années series. In 2002 he was hospitalised by a brain tumour and languished in a coma for ten days. After convalescence and relapse he ultimately (in 2015) turned the experience into the hugely influential and celebrated Quand vous pensiez que j’étais mort: Mon quotidien dans le coma (When You Thought I was Dead: My Daily Life in a Coma).

This monochrome, duo-toned hardback (and digital) translation offers their collaboration in one titanic tome, blending the often-sordid facts of outrageous adventures, unflagging spirit and astonishing determination into a tapestry that shows the underbelly of the American dream.

With great warmth and humour, they construct a true masterpiece of the very real and strong woman behind all the stories – many of them concocted by Martha Jane herself – as she survived against impossible odds, doing whatever was necessary to survive and protect her family.

The tale begins with a graphic note from the creators, citing their sources and contextualising her life and times in ‘The Mormon Trail…’, before the unforgettable life story begins in an overcrowded cabin in the desolate prairie region of Utah…

In her life, Martha Jane Cannary worked hard for little reward, met scoundrels and scalawags, gunslingers and heroes, lived on her wits and determination and was forced far too often to compromise her principles to preserve others as well as herself. She knew many famous men in many infamous places but I’m not naming them. This is her book, not theirs.

Calamity Jane was present throughout much of the most infamous moments of American history in the most iconic locations. She had far more enemies than friends and was more often despised and ostracised than honoured, but always carried on, living her life her way. It was often tainted by tragedy, but she also scored her share of triumphs and experienced joy and love – and always on her terms.

This is a compelling and utterly mesmerising chronicle of authentic western principles and achievement that will enthuse and enthral anyone with a love of history and appreciation of human strength and weakness.
Calamity Jane: The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary, 1852-1903 Translation and Art © 2017 IDW Publishing. Story © 2017 Futuropolis. All rights reserved.

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Marie Curie – The Radium Fairy


By Chantal Montellier & Renaud Huynh translated by Lara Vergnaud (Europe Comics)
No ISBN: digital-only publication

I’ve waited ages (well, since March 2017, but I’m old and my days are limited) for this superb book to be picked up by a print publisher, but now I’m just going to review it anyway and assume that as you’re reading this on a computer, you can make the leap to seeing comics that way too. And yes, I know all about the smell and feel of proper books. I feel that way too, but we’re killing more trees than we really need to, guys. Just think of it as portable fun you can’t fold, or tear…

Originally released across Europe in 2011, Marie Curie La Fée du Radium was produced in collaboration with the Curie Museum and the Cité des sciences et del ‘industrie (part of Universcience), with educator, illustrator and bande dessinée creator Chantal Montellier (Odile et les crocodiles, Les Damnés de Nantes) summarising and dramatizing in graphic narrative a most astounding life, after which research scientist, educator and museum curator Renaud Huynh (La fantastique histoire du radium) provides an extensive and copious Timeline, tracing the triumphs, tribulations and legacy of Marie Sklodowska-Curie (1867-1934): thus far, the only woman to ever be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

The crucial comics component kicks off in Stockholm on September 4th as aging Marie Curie works on a speech; preparing to receive that second cherished accolade…

Thinking back, she pictures her departed husband Pierre Curie. Their joint isolation of the element they named Polonium after her place of birth was a grand achievement but doesn’t make up for her years of struggle for acceptance or his tragic accidental death so early in their marriage…

And so, briefly, concisely and without fanfare unfolds a true epic of brilliance applied, adversity overcome and persistence rewarded. Today Curie is credited with adding two elements to the Periodic Table – Radium was the other one – and venerated for her researches. She was also the first woman allowed to teach at the prestigious Sorbonne, but for much of her life had to overcome entrenched patriarchal attitudes and oppression whilst being vilified in the media and by wider society for her “scandalous” personal life and generally just for being an uppity female who didn’t know her place. Isn’t it great how much everything has changed since then? (I am of course waiting for my own Nobel for the isolation of Sarcastium™…).

This small but powerful digital only tome concludes with a large and detailed Timeline. Huynh’s pictorial essay is packed with photographic illustrations, cartoons and clippings; encapsulating and clarifying Curie’s life and achievements and précised in chapters entitled ‘1867/1895 Warsaw-Paris’, ‘1896/1905 A Scientific Dream’, ‘1906/1911 Hardships and Success’, ‘1912/1921 The Radium Institute’ and ‘1922/1934 An International Figure’, and closes with an ‘Epilogue’ revealing how sixty years after her death, Marie Curie’s ashes were transferred to the Pantheon (resting place of the nation’s greatest citizens). She was the first woman to be accorded this honour based solely on her own merits…

Making learning fun, Marie Curie – The Radium Fairy is a potent and powerful inspiration, venerating one of histories most dedicated scientists, and one every youngster should read.
© 2016 – DUPUIS – Chantal Montellier & Renaud Huynh. All rights reserved.

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First Names: Malala Yousafzai


By Lisa Williamson & Mike Smith (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-047-8 (PB)

Since its premiere in 2012, The Phoenix has offered humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a traditional-seeming weekly comics anthology for girls and boys. The vibrant parade of cartoon fun, fact and fantasy has won praise from the Great and the Good, child literacy experts and the only people who really count – a dedicated legion of totally engaged kids and parents who read it avidly…

David Fickling Books provides other types of reading matter: novels, graphic novels and a newish imprint of cartoon and strip illustrated biographies highlighting historical and contemporary groundbreakers and earthshakers.

First Names introduces young readers to noteworthy achievers rightly deemed role models and adds now to its initial offerings (Emmeline Pankhurst, Elon Musk, Amelia Earhart and Harry Houdini) an utterly modern, indomitable young woman who has defied tyranny, defeated oppression and changed the lives of millions if not billions of young people.

Devised along the lines of the mega-successful, eternally-engaging Horrible Histories books, these prose paperbacks come with a superabundance of monochrome cartoon illustrations to keep the pace of learning fast and fact-packed, and are bright, breezy, easily-accessible hagiographies with the emphasis on graphics.

Written by Lisa Williamson, Malala Yousafzai presents a rather darker tale than we’re used to, as it details the astonishing accomplishments of a knowledge-hungry schoolgirl who stared death in the face, defying terrorists and religious bigotry to defend the rights of all girls to enjoy the fruits of proper education.

The amazing story begins with a moody ‘Introduction’ describing the events of 9th October 2012, when two deluded zealots boarded a school bus in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. They were hunting an outspoken advocate of female education who had defied the edicts of their leader for years. Finding teenager Malala Yousafzai, they opened fire…

Malala was born in 1997 and was blessed with amazingly brave and progressive parents. In ‘No Party for Malala’, we meet teacher Ziauddin Yousafzai and his wife Toor Pekai, who refused to consider their firstborn child a disappointment and financial burden simply because she was a girl. Their struggles against the wider family and the attitudes of the local community reveal the child to be precocious but decidedly everyday and straightforward… Except that she loved books and learning…

As the country descended into religious civil war, Ziauddin opened his own school and in ‘Malala Makes Some Decisions’ and ‘Malala Gets Angry’ the descent into chaos is detailed as his forthright daughter begins to show her true self: helping him, pushing herself and attempting to secure schooling for the poorest children and outcasts of her town…

The unrest was fomented by a self-appointed extremist spokesman named Maulana Fazlullah using local gangs and a pirate radio station. His arcane demands that people abandon all western trappings – such as televisions and radios – and live according to his interpretation of Islam spread fear and dissent far and wide. When he proclaimed that girls should not go to school Malala saw red and began speaking out…

The story unfolds in great but easily accessible detail in ‘Malala And the Taliban’, ‘Malala Spreads the Word’, ‘Malala On the Move’, before culminating in the horrific attack mentioned earlier.

Somehow, thanks to the efforts of surgeons in Pakistan, Malala did not die and the great and the good of the outside world – already listening to her brave stand – acted to remove her from the troubled region as expediently as possible. ‘Watch Out, Malala’, ‘Malala Loses a Week’, ‘Malala Wakes Up’ and ‘Malala Moves Out’ takes us from the battleground of the Swat Valley to her recuperation and rehabilitation in Britain, where she was – for a while – one more girl in the English school system.

As seen in ‘What Malala Did Next’, during that time of new friends and exams, she was also feted by kings and presidents and her outspoken criticism of those who oppress women and suppress universal education never faltered. Lauded (almost) everywhere, she eventually became the youngest ever recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize. She donated her prize money to rebuild bombed schools in Gaza…

A truly inspirational person, Malala’s story has barely begun, and this summation of it should affirm to kids everywhere that they have rights, a voice and power if they seek to use it. Moreover, in clear, simple terms, author Williamson has worked marvels in explaining complex issues and condensing critical history and context into a story that’s easy to read and impossible to forget.

Naturally, for such a scholarly endeavour, this book also contains fulsome Timeline, Glossary and Index appendices for those eager to check out the facts and educate themselves even further…

Aiding and abetting, illustrator Mike Smith tirelessly crafts engaging and contextualising pictorial aids and chats with Malala herself, whilst clarifying contexts and social technicalities, whilst putting faces to the names and places in smart cartoon collations such as ‘Pakistan in 1988 Explained’, ‘Toor Pekai’s First (and Last) Day at School’, ‘Schools in Pakistan Explained’, ‘The Pashtun People Explained’ and ‘The Taliban Explained’.

There’s also plenty of visual sidebars detailing the basics of ‘Sharia Law’, ‘Madrasas’, ‘Nobel Peace Prize’ and ‘Girl Power Goes Global’ as well as brief but comprehensive potted biographies of the demagogue ‘Fazlullah’, and Malala’s own inspiration idol ‘Benazir Bhutto’…

Working in tandem with delicate sensitivity, the creators have constructed a crucial appreciation to a young woman who has changed the world and proved to bigots and bullies that common decency will always triumph in the end.

First Names: Malala Yousafzai Text © Lisa Williamson 2019 and illustrations © Mike Smith 2019. All rights reserved.
First Names: Malala Yousafzai will be published on August 1st 2019 and is available for pre-order now.

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Tales of the Green Lantern Corps volume 1


By Len Wein, Mike W. Barr, Paul Kupperberg, Robyn Snyder, Todd Klein, Joe Staton, Don Newton, Carmine Infantino, Paris Cullins, Dave Gibbons & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2155-3 (TPB)

When mortally wounded alien cop Abin Sur crashed on Earth he commanded his power ring – a device which could materialise thoughts – to seek out a replacement officer, honest and without fear.

Scanning the planet, it selected brash young test pilot Hal Jordan in nearby Coast City, California and brought him to the crash site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, the lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his professional vocation to the astonished Earthman.

Over many traumatic years, Jordan grew into one of the greatest members of a serried band of law-enforcers. For billions of years, the Green Lantern Corps protected the cosmos from evil and disaster, policing countless numbers of sentient beings under the severe but benevolent auspices of immortal super-beings who deemed themselves Guardians of the Universe.

These undying patrons of Order were one of the first races to evolve and dwelt in sublime, emotionless security and tranquillity at the very centre of creation on the small world of Oa.

Green Lanterns are chosen for their capacity to overcome fear and are equipped with a ring that creates solid constructs out of emerald light. The miracle weapon is fuelled by the strength of the user’s willpower, making it one of the mightiest tools imaginable.

For eons, a single individual from each of the 3600 sectors of known space was selected to patrol his, her, their or its own beat. Being cautious and meticulous masters, the Guardians laid contingency plans and frequently appointed designated reserve officers and set up contingency plans for inheriting the office of their peacekeeping representatives.

Jordan’s substitute was a nice quiet (white) PE teacher named Guy Gardner, but when he was critically injured the Oans’ fallback option was a little worrying to staid, by-the-book Hal.

In Green Lantern/Green Arrow #87 (December 1971/January 1972) ‘Beware My Power!’ introduced a bold new character to the DCU. John Stewart was an unemployed architect and full-time radical activist: an angry black man always spoiling for a fight and prepared to take guff from no-one.

Jordan was convinced the Guardians had grievously erred when selecting rash, impetuous Stewart as Sector 2814’s official Green Lantern stand-in, but after seeing how his proposed pinch-hitter handled a white supremacist US presidential candidate trying to foment a race war, the Emerald Gladiator was delighted to change his tune…

As time progressed Jordan – and his occasional successors John Stewart and Guy Gardner – found reason to question the Guardians’ motives and ineffability: increasingly aware of issues that called into question the role of their masters. The same doubts also infected many of their once-devoted fellow operatives and peacekeepers. All too frequently, the grunts began seeing the formerly infallible little blue gods exposed as venal, ruthless, doctrinaire and even capricious…

However, before those issues boiled over during and after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a superb series of back-up yarns graced the pages of Green Lantern, dedicated to broadening the horizons of the readership with tales of the vast and varied membership of the Emerald Army…

This first Fight’s ‘n’ Tights trade paperback compilation – also available in eBook editions – gathers miniseries Tales of the Green Lantern Corps plus a string of back-up tales from Green Lantern #148, 152-154, 161, 162, and 164-167 (covering May 1981 through July 1983): a period of radical change and increasing cosmic calamity foreshadowing that aforementioned, reality-altering calamity that would irrevocably reshape the DCU…

The drama begins in a triptych miniseries conceived and detailed by Mike Barr & Len Wein, with art by Joe Staton & Frank McLaughlin that despatched the Emerald Gladiators against the ultimate threat…

The onslaught begins in ‘Challenge!’ after Jordan meets anxious new recruit Arisia of Graxos IV. The nervous neophyte has barely introduced herself to the star-spanning veteran when all 3600 officers are summoned to Oa, where the Guardians inform them of a universal existential threat.

Rogue Guardian Kronos has returned from the dead and again threatens to destroy the universe by uncovering its forbidden origins. His fresh attempts to roll back time are bolstered by an invader from beyond reality that has allied with the obsessed madman for its own reasons…

The first strike comes as amassed Green Warriors communally charge their power rings: an act which causes the Great Battery to explode in a horrific detonation that slaughters thousands of officers. Not only does this act deplete their ranks, but the destruction means the Corps has only 24 hours to solve the crisis before the green energy fades away forever…

By bringing Arisia up to speed on friends and foes alike throughout the chapters, Jordan provides a potted history for the readership as the legion of surviving heroes rally, but another blow comes as the Guardians themselves fall prey to the mysterious invader from beyond: a being who controls the dead and plans on destroying all life…

Things go from bad to worse in ‘Defeat!’ as the ranks of the fallen swell with valued former comrades and even immortal Oans. One glimmer of hope comes as one slave of death-lord Nekron switches sides, inspired by the valiant resistance of the green warriors…

With the stakes at their highest, the last remaining Lanterns go on the attack, invading the death dimension and ready to employ the most desperate tactic ever devised. The gambit of course succeeds and results in ‘Triumph!’…

The era of science fiction TV fed an appetite for alien characters, and with a ready-made legion of such ready and waiting further adventures of the Green Lantern Corps soon followed: both as back-ups in the regular GL magazine and in regular Annuals. The wonderment began with an untitled exploit by Paul Kupperberg, Don Newton & Dan Adkins from Green Lantern #148 wherein cute squirrel Ch’p proved looks were deceptive and feelings irrelevant when he was ordered to save the marauding inhabitants of Berrith.

It didn’t matter that the feral hunters had predated and consumed Ch’p’s people for centuries…

Carmine Infantino rendered the saga of Quarzz Teranh who proves his ‘E’Sprit de Corps’ after being ordered to destroy a black hole at the cost of his own life, and later returned to render a tale of ‘Paradise World!’ where confirmed pacifist Jeryll is faced with a moral dilemma after employing the violence her entire species has foresworn..

The answer came in the next issue as the troubled GL made ‘The Choice’ (Infantino inked by Frank Chiaramonte)…

Kupperberg’s final contribution was illustrated by Paris Cullins & Rodin Rodriguez as sentient vegetable GL Medphyl follows murderous raiders onto an inhospitable world to be challenged by ‘A Matter of Snow’ and the depths of sadistic villainy…

Issue #161 (February 1983) featured a tale from Robin Snyder and vanguard of the “British Invasion” Dave Gibbons. ‘Storm Brother’ saw retired Lantern Harvid hunted down by his greatest enemy, testing the bonds of family to the limits.

Todd Klein scripted the next few Gibbons vignettes, beginning with ‘Apprentice’ which finds a youthful protégé overstepping his bounds and playing with forbidden green fire, after which ‘Hero’ sees “the green man” fall foul of unflinching cultural rules when he tries to save a roving colony of space vagabonds. Some people just can’t be trusted…

‘Green Magic’ is 2-part tale from Klein & Gibbons fable that opens with a ‘Test of Will’ after reluctant Green Lantern Hollika Rahn suffers for her misguided interference in a global war between scientists and sorcerers. Thankfully, she has friends she doesn’t know working for her to ensure her eventual victory, before this initial compilation concludes with a battle among herd sentients to inherit the Green Power. Of course, the true ‘Successor’ is one nobody in the bellicose family ever expected…

Light, straightforward, done-in-one action-adventures that offer a brief moment of entertainment are in pretty short supply these days, but if that’s appealing to you, this is a book and series you should indulge yourself in at your earliest convenience.
© 1981-1983, 2009, 2018 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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JSA by Geoff Johns Book One


By Geoff Johns, James Robinson, David S. Goyer, Scott Benefiel, Stephen Sadowski, Derec Aucoin, Marcos Martin, Michael Bair, Buzz & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-7490-0 (TPB)

After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read the launch of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre, and indeed industry’s progress was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus, what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven – a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces and readerships. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick.

The Justice Society of America was created in the third issue of All-Star Comics (Winter 1940/1941), an anthology title featuring established characters from various All-American Comics publications, by the simple expedient of having the heroes gather around a table and tell each other their latest adventure. From this low-key collaboration, it wasn’t long before the guys – and they were all guys (except Red Tornado who only pretended to be one) until Wonder Woman premiered in the eighth issue – regularly joined forces to defeat the greatest villains and social ills of their generation.

Within months the concept had spread far and wide…

And so, the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comic books, and, when Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, a key moment would come with the inevitable teaming of the reconfigured mystery men into a Justice League of America.

From there it wasn’t long until the original and genuine returned. Since then there were many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both the highly successful revamping of the JLA by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter and the seminal but critically favoured new Starman by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a concept and fan-base big enough to support them.

It didn’t hurt that the writers – all with strong Hollywood connections – were both beloved of the original concept, but also knew what mass-market action audiences liked…

Officially concentrating on the efforts of current fan-fave Geoff Johns, this initial volume (available in trade paperback and digital formats) re-presents JSA #1-5, from August 1999 to October 2000, and also includes the conceptual works of his collaborators David S. Goyer & James Robinson which all germinated in a prequel tale from JSA: Secret Files #1.

The majestic drama opens sans fanfare with Robinson & Goyer’s ‘Gathering Storms’ – illustrated by Scott Benefiel & Mark Propst – from JSA: Secret Files: detailing with great style and remarkable facility (considering the incredibly convoluted continuity of the feature) how the last active survivors of the original team reconvened after losing most of their membership to old age, infirmity or enemy action. Veteran champions Wildcat, Flash and Green Lantern/Sentinel unite with youthful inheritors of the old team’s legacy to continue the tradition, train the next generation of heroes and battle one of the oldest evils in the universe…

It all begins with the death of the Sandman, octogenarian Wesley Dodds, who beats the odds one last time to thwart an unstoppable ancient foe and warn with his dying breath those surviving comrades of the immense peril to come…

The story resumes in the premiere JSA issue with ‘Justice Be Done’ by Robinson, Goyer, Stephen Sadowski & Michael Bair. At Dodds’ funeral, a horde of death-demons attack the mourners after the hero known as Fate is murdered, and the assembled mourners – legacy heroes Sand, Stargirl, Hourman, Atom Smasher, Starman and Obsidian, plus Black Canary, Wonder Woman (in actuality, her mother Hippolyta who was an active Nazi crusher during WWII) and the aforementioned trio are sent on a tripartite mission to rescue three babies; one of which is the new incarnation of the magical hero Doctor Fate.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all, a wild card has been introduced with the unexpected return of another departed comrade in the guise of a new and deeply troubled Hawkgirl…

Although deeply fixed in the vast backstory of the DC universe, the story is quite accessible for newcomers and continues in ‘The Wheel of Life’, as mystery hero Scarab offers his assistance as arcane forces hunt the imperilled newborns.

The heroes are all at odds with each other as the mystery villain behind everything comes out of the shadows, precipitating a chase across myriad times and dimensions and an offer of assistance from two long dead heroic ‘Old Souls’…

The resultant chaotic ultimate showdown in ‘Ouroboros’ then re-forges the multi-generational team into a force ready and willing to tackle anything. This is a fabulously engaging superhero-rebirth saga: wonderfully compelling with a frenetic pace that keeps the reader barrelling along. The struggle against the sinister big bad villain is pitched perfectly, with plenty of clues for old-timers and enough character illustration to educate and satisfy those who have never heard of “the Dark Lord…”

With the revival and reintroduction of new iterations of Hawkgirl and Doctor Fate achieved, the saga looks inward with ‘Grounded’ (illustrated by Derec Aucoin & Bair) focusing on the history and new powers of the latest Sandman whilst introducing a new Mister Terrific to the team, and casting plenty of foreshadowing of horrors yet to come…

Geoff Johns’ tenure begins as co-writer with Goyer and the official public relaunch of the JSA in ‘Justice. Like Lightning…’ (illustrated by Marcos Martin & Keith Champagne). As old guard Flash, Sentinel and Wildcat assume the role of mentors for both current and future champions, the ceremony is disrupted when they are attacked by a demented super-human named Black Adam (a magically empowered superman, usually harassing the agents of do-gooding wizard Shazam!).

The bombastic battle serves to introduce more very far-reaching plot threads as the new incarnations of Doctor Fate, Hourman and Hawkgirl thereafter journey to ancient Egypt to solve the mystery of the Black Marvel’s madness, before the second major story-arc of the series begins.

In ‘Darkness Falls’ (Sadowski & Bair), Sentinel’s troubled son Obsidian – haunted by his own powers – seemingly goes mad and attempts to drag the world into a supernatural realm of dark despondence. Naturally, there’s more to the mess that might first appear, and when a new Doctor Mid-Nite appears, it’s not long before the ebon tide begins to turn in a war for ‘Shadowland’…

The epic concludes in a savage battle for the ‘Black Planet’ after which Wildcat takes centre-stage for a magnificent solo duel against the entire Injustice Society in ‘Wild Hunt’ – the best Die Hard tribute ever seen in comics…

Beginning with ‘Split’ (illustrated by Bair & Buzz), the next extended saga pits the team simultaneously against serpentine super-terrorist Kobra and time-bending villain Extant (who killed many of the original JSA team in crossover crisis event Zero Hour). forcing the still largely untested new squad to divide its forces between a world in peril and a continuum in meltdown.

‘The Blood-Dimmed Tide’ (Goyer, Johns & Buzz) concentrates on the anti-Kobra contingent but their swift victory is spoiled when the sole survivor of the other team appears, repeatedly bringing them into battle against Extant in ‘Time’s Assassin’ and ‘Chaos Theory’ before a spectacular conclusion is won in ‘Crime and Punishment’, wherein reality is stretched beyond its limits, the gates of the afterlife are propped open and more than a few dead heroes return…

Complex and enthralling, these super shenanigans are the very best of their type: filled with wicked villains and shining, triumphant heroes, cosmic disaster and human tragedies, and always leavened by optimism and humour.

As such they’re simply not for every graphic novel reader, but if you can put yourself into the head and heart of a thrill-starved 10-year old and handle the burden of seven decades of history, these tales will supercharge your imagination and restore your faith in justice…
© 1999, 2000, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Flash: The Silver Age volume 4


By John Broome, Gardner Fox, Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8823-5 (TPB)

The second iteration of the Flash triggered the Silver Age of American comicbooks and – for the first ten years or so – in terms of creative quality and sheer originality, was always the book and hero to watch.

Following his meteoric launch in Showcase #4 (October 1956), police scientist Barry Allen – transformed by a lightning strike and accidental chemical bath into a human thunderbolt of unparalleled velocity and ingenuity – was uncharacteristically slow in winning his own title, but finally (after three more cautiously released trial issues) finally stood on his own wing-tipped feet in The Flash #105 (February-March 1959).

He never looked back, and by the time of this second commemorative compilation was very much the innovation mainstay of DC/National Comics’ burgeoning superhero universe. This fourth trade paperback (and digital) collection re-presents Flash #148-163 – spanning November 1964 through August 1966 – robustly confirming the Vizier of Velocity as the pivotal figure in the all-consuming renaissance of comicbook super-heroics.

Shepherding the Scarlet Speedster’s meteoric rise to prominence, the majority of stories are written by the brilliant John Broome and Gardner Fox with pencils from the infinitely impressive and constantly innovating Carmine Infantino. Their slickly polished, coolly sophisticated rapid-fire short stories set in a welcomingly suburbanite milieu – constantly threatened by super-thieves, sinister spies and marauding aliens – displayed our affable hero always triumphant whilst expanding and establishing the broad parameters of an increasingly cohesive narrative universe. The comicbook had gelled into a comfortable pattern of two short tales per issue leavened with semi-regular book-length thrillers, although in this period that format would slowly switch to longer complete tales.

By this time, it was clear that the biggest draw to the Flash was his mind-boggling array of costumed foes, but there was still time and space for straight adventure, complex quandaries and old-fashioned experimentation, as evidenced by the odd yarn that follows Broome’s Captain Boomerang tale in Flash #248.

‘The Day Flash Went into Orbit!’ (illustrated by Infantino & Murphy Anderson) sees the Monarch of Motion caught in the crossfire after the Ozzie felon becomes a helpless patsy for a nefarious hypnotist…

With the back-up tale in this issue Broome proved creative heart and soul still counted for much. Inked by Joe Giella, ‘The Doorway to the Unknown!’ is the moving story of an embezzler who returns from the grave to prevent his brother paying for his crimes: a ghost story penned at a time when such tales were all but banned and a pithy human drama of redemption and hope that deservedly won the Academy of Comic Book Arts Alley Award for Best Short Story of the year. It still brings a worthy tear to my eyes…

Broome also scripted #149’s ‘The Flash’s Sensational Risk!’: an alien invasion yarn co-starring the Vizier of Velocity’s speedy sidekick Kid Flash, whilst Fox penned the Anderson inked ‘Robberies by Magic!’ featuring another return engagement for future-born stage conjuror Abra Kadabra, before going on to produce #150’s lead tale of a bizarre robbery-spree ‘Captain Cold’s Polar Perils!’ Giella returned for Fox’s second yarn, another science mystery as ‘The Touch-and-Steal Bandits!’ somehow transform from simple thugs to telekinetic terrors…

Flash #151 was another sterling team-up epic co-starring the original Scarlet Speedster. Fox once more teamed his 1940’s (or retroactively, Earth-2) creation Jay Garrick with his contemporary counterpart, this time in a spectacular full-length battle against the black-hearted Shade in ‘Invader From the Dark Dimension’, whilst #152’s Infantino & Anderson double-header consisted of our hero stopping ‘The Trickster’s Toy Thefts’ after which Broome’s light-hearted thriller ‘The Case of the Explosive Vegetables!’ offered another engaging comedy of errors starring Barry Allen’s father-in-law to be: absent-minded Professor Ira West.

Giella settled in for a marathon inker stint as Flash #153 has Broome reprise the much-lauded ‘Our Enemy, the Flash!’ in new yarn ‘The Mightiest Punch of All Time!’

Here villainous Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash again attempts to corrupt reformed and cured Al Desmond – a multiple personality sufferer who was also Flash-Foes Mr. Element and Doctor Alchemy. The next issue then saw Fox’s medical mystery ‘The Day Flash Ran Away with Himself!’ and Broome’s old-fashioned crime caper ‘Gangster Masquerade!’ which brought back thespian Dexter Myles and made him custodian of an increasingly important Central City landmark: the Flash Museum.

It had to happen – and it finally did – in Flash #155: Broome teamed six of the Rogue’s Gallery into ‘The Gauntlet of Super-Villains!’, a bombastic Fights ‘n’ Tights extravaganza, but one with a hidden twist and a mystery foe concealed in the wings, whilst the following issue revealed Broome’s ‘The Super-Hero Who Betrayed the World!’: an engrossing and exciting invasion saga with the Flash a hunted man accused of treason against humanity…

Fox provided both stories in #157: ‘Who Stole the Flash’s Super-Speed?’ – a return visit for Doralla, the Girl from the Super-Fast Dimension – plus another titanic tussle with the nefarious Top in ‘The Day Flash Aged 100 Years!’ The scripter repeated the feat in #158, beginning with a rather ridiculous and somewhat gross alien encounter in ‘Battle Against the Breakaway Bandit!’ and far more appetising thriller ‘The One-Man Justice League!’, wherein Flash defeats the power-purloining plans of JLA nemesis Professor Ivo without even noticing…

The cover of Flash #159 features his empty uniform and a note saying the hero is quitting, in a tale entitled ‘The Flash’s Final Fling!’ It was written by Fox, and guest-starred Kid Flash and Earth-2 hero Dr. Mid-Nite in a time-busting battle against criminals from the future…

At that time, editors and creative staff usually designed covers that would grab potential readers’ attention and then produced stories to fit. For this issue Julie Schwartz tried something truly novel and commissioned Robert Kanigher (first scripter of the new Scarlet Speedster in Showcase #4) to write a different tale to fit the same eye-catching visual…

Scripted by Broome, ‘Big Blast in Rocket City!’ filled out #159 with another humorous Professor West espionage escapade after which Flash #160 is represented by its cover – highlighting an 80-Page Giant reprint edition.

The first story in issue #161 is where that novel experiment culminated with Kanigher’s gritty, terse and uniquely emotional interpretation in ‘The Case of the Curious Costume’ before the high-octane costumed madness continues with Fox, Infantino & Giella’s portentous Mirror Master mystery ‘The Mirror with 20-20 Vision!’

The tone of the times was gradually changing and scarier tales were sneaking into the bright and shiny Sci Fi world of super-heroics. Flash #162 featured a Fox-penned moody drama entitled ‘Who Haunts the Corridor of Chills?’ in which an apparently haunted fairground attraction opens the doors into an invasion-mystery millions of years old. The resultant clash stretches the Scarlet Speedster’s powers and imagination to the limit…

The next issue – the final entry of this collection – carries two tales by globe-trotting author Broome, beginning with ‘The Flash Stakes his Life – On – You!’ which takes a hallowed philosophical concept to its illogical but highly entertaining extreme after criminal scientist Ben Haddon makes the residents of Central City forget their champion ever existed. That has the incredible effect of making the Flash fade away… if not for the utter devotion of one hero-worshipping little girl who still believes…

By contrast ‘The Day Magic Exposed Flash’s Secret Identity!’ is a sharp non-nonsense duel with a dastardly villain after approbation-addicted illusionist Abra Kadabra again escapes prison and trades bodies with the 64th century cop sent to bring back to face future justice, leaving the Speedster with an impossible choice to make…

These tales were crucial to the development of modern comics and, more importantly, remain brilliant, awe-inspiring, beautifully realised thrillers to amuse, amaze and enthral both new readers and old lags. As always, the emphasis is on brains and learning, not gimmicks or abilities, which is why the stories still work more than half-a-century later.

This is a captivating snap-shot of when science was our friend and the universe(s) a place of infinite possibility. This wonderful compilation is another must-read item for anybody in love with the world of words-in-pictures.
© 1964, 1965, 1966, 2019 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents The Atom volume 2


By Gardner Fox, Frank Robbins, Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1848-5 (TPB)

There’s a glorious wealth of classic comics superhero material available for fans these days, but whether in archival volumes or digital editions, an inexplicable amount of classy material still languishes all unappreciated in limbo. One of the most cutting of omissions is the subject of today’s re-review: a veteran champion with an immaculate pedigree, a TV presence and sublime creative teams, who won’t win any new fans unless and until he gets his own revived archival editions. Until then, however…

Super-Editor Julius Schwartz famously ushered in the Silver Age of American Comics with his Showcase successes Flash, Adam Strange and Green Lantern, directly leading to the Justice League of America which in turn inspired Fantastic Four and the whole Marvel Empire and…

However, his fourth attempt to revitalize a “Golden Age Great” stalled when Hawkman (debuting in Brave and the Bold #34, February-March 1961) failed to find an immediate audience. Undeterred, Schwartz back-pedalled and resolutely persevered with the Winged Wonder, whilst moving forward with his next revival. Showcase #34 (September-October 1961) offered a space age reimagining of the pint-sized strongman of the 1940’s Justice Society of America: transformed into a fascinating super-science champion and seemingly eternal underdog by design.

Ray Palmer was a young physicist working on the compression of matter: a teaching Professor at Ivy Town University. He was wooing career girl Jean Loring, who wanted to make her name as a trial lawyer before settling down as Mrs. Palmer (yep, that’s what the 1960s were like for the fillies; years of striving and achievement followed by glorious, fulfilling days cooking meatloaf, changing nappies and gracefully dodging the more hands-on and persistent male neighbours…)

One evening Ray discovered an ultra-dense fragment of White Dwarf Star Matter, leading his research into a new direction. By converting some of that degenerate matter into a lens he could shrink objects, but frustratingly they always exploded when he attempted to restore them to their original state.

As fiercely competitive as his intended bride, Ray kept his progress secret until he could perfect the process. In the meantime, the couple took a group of youngsters on a science hike to Giant Caverns, where a cave-in trapped the entire party.

As they all lay entombed and dying, Ray secretly activated his reducing lens to shrink himself, using the diamond engagement ring he was carrying to carve a tiny fissure in the rock wall into an escape hole. Fully expecting to fatally detonate any second, he was astounded to discover that some peculiar combination of circumstances allowed to him to return to his normal six foot height with no ill effects. With his charges safe he returned to his lab to find that the process only worked on his own body; every other subject still catastrophically detonated.

Somewhat disheartened he pondered his situation – and his new-found abilities. Naturally, he became a superhero, fighting crime, injustice and monsters, but Ray also selfishly determined to clandestinely help Jean become successful as quickly as possible. To those ends he created a bodysuit from the White Dwarf material which could alter not only his height but also his weight and mass…

This second massive monochrome volume collects The Atom #18-38 (April/May 1965 to August/September 1968), the remainder of Palmer’s solo stories. Issue #39 saw the title merged with another struggling Schwartz title to become The Atom and Hawkman – an early casualty of declining interest in superhero comics at the end of the 1960s).

The Tiny Titan explodes into all-out action with the first of two short tales scripted as always by Gardner Fox, pencilled by Gil Kane and inked by Sid Greene in Atom #18. ‘The Hole-in-the-Wall Lawman!’ finds the hero tracking a safe-cracker who has inadvertently stolen a miniaturised thermonuclear bomb, after which ‘The Atomic Flea!’ sees him lose his memory while fighting thugs, wrongly deducing that he must be part of the flea circus where he regains consciousness…

Clever whimsy, scientific wonders, eye-popping action, perspective tricks and simply stunning long-shots, mid-shots and close-ups with glorious, balletic, full-body action poses are hallmarks of this dynamic series, but #19 brought a whole new edge and dynamic to the Atom when he becomes the second part of a bold experiment in continuity.

‘World of the Magic Atom!’ is a full-length epic featuring a fantasy adventure battling beside a sexy sorceress in a world where science held no sway. Her name is Zatanna…

The top-hatted, fish-netted, comely young conjuror appeared in a number of Schwartz-edited titles, hunting her long-missing father Zatarra: a magician-hero in the Mandrake mould who had fought evil in the pages of Action Comics for over a decade beginning with the very first issue.

In true Silver Age “refit” style, Fox conjured up an equally gifted daughter and popularised her by guest-teaming the neophyte with a selection of superheroes he was currently scripting. (If you’re counting, her quest began in Hawkman #4 and after this chapter moved on to Green Lantern #42; the Elongated Man back-up strip in Detective Comics #355 before concluding after the GL segment in Justice League of America #51. Through a very slick piece of back-writing, he even included a connection to the high-profile Caped Crusader via Detective #336 and ‘Batman’s Bewitched Nightmare’.)

Atom #20’s ‘Challenge of the Computer Crooks!’ finds the Mighty Mite again battling ingenious robbers attempting to use one of those new-fangled electronic brains to improve their heists, before impersonating a leprechaun to sway a reluctant witness to testify in court in ‘Night of the Little People!’.

A recurrent theme in the Tiny Titan’s career was Cold War Espionage. The American/Soviet arms-and-ideas race figured heavily in the life of physicist Palmer and in the collegiate circle of Ivy Town where even Jean’s father was a scientist carefully watched by both CIA and KGB.

Issue #21’s ‘Combat Under Glass!’ pits the Man of Many Sizes against commie spies and an enraged housecat, whilst ‘The Adventure of the Canceled Birthday’ offers another enchanting “Time-Pool” tale wherein the Atom travels to England in 1752. Here he meets Henry Fielding, helps to establish the Bow Street Runners, and solves the mystery of 11 days that dropped off the British calendar (for the answer to this mysterious true event look up the Julian Calendar on line – although buying this book would be far more entertaining and just as rewarding…)

Ray Palmer’s mentor and colleague Professor Alpheus Hyatt created a six-inch wide energy field that opened portals to other eras. Hyatt thought it an intriguing but useless scientific oddity, occasionally extracting perplexing items from it by blindly dropping a fishing line through. Little did he know his erstwhile student was secretly using it to experience rousing adventures in other times and locations. This charming, thrilling and unbelievably educational maguffin generated many of the Atom’s best and most well-loved exploits…

‘Bat Knights of Darkness!’ introduces the Elvarans, a subterranean race of 6-inch tall feudal warriors who had inhabited Giant Caverns since prehistoric times. When these savage, bat-riding berserkers fall under the mental sway of cheap thug Eddie Gordon, all of Ivy Town is endangered. This visual tour de force is a captivating early example of Gil Kane’s later swashbuckling fantasy epics and a real treat for anybody who loved Blackmark, Star Hawks or even the 1983 classic Sword of the Atom.

Issue #23 opens with a smart science-fiction teaser as the Mighty Mite plays a peculiar joke on the police in ‘The Riddle of the Far-Out Robbery!’ but it’s back to blockbusting basics when he stops the ‘Thief with the Tricky Toy!’ and even more so in #24 when he saves the entire planet from plant Master Jason Woodrue in feature-length thriller ‘The Atom-Destruction of Earth!’

The Camp/Superhero craze triggered by the Batman TV show infected many comicbooks at this time, and a lighter, punnier tone was creeping into a lot of otherwise sound series. ‘The Man in the Ion Mask!’ is far more entertaining than the woeful title might suggest: a solid heist-caper featuring another crook with a fancy gadget, and even espionage caper ‘The Spy Who Went Out for the Gold!’ is a smart, pacy rollercoaster ride of thrills and spills, but there’s really not much I can say to defend the ludicrous yarn introducing costumed nut the Bug-Eyed Bandit.

Feeble felon Bertram Larvan builds a robotic mini-beast to rob for him and despite some wonderful artwork from Kane and Greene ‘The Eye-Popping Perils of the Insect Bandit!’ in #26 remains an uncharacteristic blot on Gardner Fox’s generally pristine copy-book.

The art quality grew in leaps and bounds during this period, as seen in romantic tryst-come-slugfest ‘Beauty and the Beast-Gang!’, accompanied at the back by spectacular historical high-jinks as Atom uses the Time Pool to visit the Montgolfier Brothers in 1783 Paris, saving Benjamin Franklin’s life and becoming a ‘Stowaway on a Hot-Air Balloon!’

It’s non-stop costumed criminal action when super-thief Chronos returns in #28’s ‘Time-Standstill Thefts!’, with a side-order of scientific mystery as ordinary citizens began to change size in ‘The 100,000 “Atoms” of Ivy Town!’, before the sheer drama intensifies as the Mighty Mite teams up with the Earth-2 Atom for a cataclysmic clash against one of the worst villains of DC’s Golden Age in ‘The Thinker’s Earth-Shaking Robberies!’

Nasty thug Eddie Gordon returned in #30, which wouldn’t really have been a problem except he once more gains control of the diminutive flying berserkers in ‘Daze of the Bat-Knights!’ whilst old comrade Hawkman guest-stars #31’s ‘Good Man, Bad Man, Turnabout Thief!’

Here the heroes battle a phantom menace hidden within the brain of an innocent man, whilst issue #32 sees a most astounding episode in the Tiny Titan’s career as he becomes a giant invader of a sub-molecular universe in enthralling fantasy thriller ‘The Up and Down Dooms of the Atom!’

Bert Larvan inexplicably won a second appearance in ‘Amazing Arsenal of the Atom-Assassin!’ and it must be said, comes off as a far worthier opponent the second time around, whilst outlandish comedy-thriller ‘Little Man… You’ve Had a Big-Gang Day!’ produces the daftest assemblage of themed villains in DC history – each has a gimmick based on the word “big”. Led by Big Head, Big Bertha is strong, Big Wig uses weaponized toupees – and wait till you see what Big Cheese can do…

Despite all that, this lunacy is actually hugely enjoyable Big Fun!

Issue #35 leads with sterling crime-caper ‘Plight of the Pin-Up Atom’ and closes with the gripping ‘Col. Blood Steals the Crown Jewels!’, following the Mighty Mite into another Time Pool adventure in 1671 London.

Earth-2’s Atom returns for one of the very best team-up tales of the Silver Age in ‘Duel Between the Dual Atoms’ after a stellar radiation menace plays hob with victim’s ages on both worlds simultaneously, before the creative team signs off in mind-blowing style in #37, by adding a new ally to the Atom’s crime-fighting arsenal in ‘Meet Major Mynah!’

A trip to war-torn Cambodia results in the diminutive hero adopting a wounded Mynah bird who – with a few repairs and scientific upgrades from Hawkman – transforms the faithful talking bird into both alternative transport and strafing back-up for the Man of Many Sizes.

This volume concludes with a classy and extremely scary transitional tale from writer Frank Robbins and artists Mike Sekowsky & George Roussos. ‘Sinister Stopover… Earth!’ is an eerie alien invasion mystery perfectly in keeping with the grimmer sensibility gradually taking over the bright shiny world of comics at the time and still one of the spookiest tales of the Atom’s captivating run.

With the next issue, changing tastes and times forced The Atom and Hawkman titles to merge (for those tales you should see Showcase Presents: Hawkman volume 2), but even then the move only bought an extra year or so.

Superheroes were once more in decline and different genres were on the rise. The Atom was never a major name or colossal success, but a reading these witty, compelling tales by Fox, where Kane first mastered the fluid human dynamism that made him a legend, you’d be hard-pressed to understand why. This is sheer superhero perfection. Why not try a little Atomic Action… just a tiny bit?
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