Graphic Novels – Page 140

January 27, 2013January 25, 2013

The Incredible Hercules: the New Prince of Power

By Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Ariel Olivetti, Paul Tobin, Reilly Brown, Jason Paz, Terry Pallot, Zach Howard, Adam Archer & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4370-3

Comicbook Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas are serious business – but they don’t have to be.

There are too few light-hearted adventure comics around for my liking. Have readers become so sullen, depressed and angst-ridden that it takes nothing but oceans of blood and devastating cosmic trauma to rouse them?

Let’s hope not since we all adore a modicum of mirth with our mayhem, and let’s be honest, there are lashings of sheer comedic potential to play with when men-in-tights Â – or in the Lion of Olympus’ case, a very short skirt and leather bondage-leggings – start hitting each other with clubs and cars and buildings.

The contemporary Marvel iteration of Hercules first appeared in 1965’s Journey into Mystery Annual #1, wherein Thor, God of Thunder fell into the realm of the Greek Gods and ended up swapping bombastic blows with the happy-go-lucky but easily-riled Hellenic Prince of Power in the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby landmark ‘When Titans Clash! Thor Vs. Hercules!’

Since then the bombastic immortal warrior has bounced around the Marvel Universe seeking out other heroes and heated fisticuffs as an Avenger, Defender, Champion, Renegade, Hero for Hire and any other super-squad prepared to take the big lug and his constant, perpetual boozing, wenching, bragging and blathering about the â€œGood Old Daysâ€â€¦

In recent years Herc got a good deal more serious, becoming a far more conventionally po-faced world-saver and even found himself a protÃ©gÃ© – don’t call him â€œsidekickâ€ – in keen teen Amadeus Cho, notionally the Seventh Smartest Person on Earth.

This deliciously wicked and engaging collection, gathering often inappropriate and simultaneously stirring and uproarious contents of Hercules: Fall of an Avenger #1-2 and the follow-up 4-issue miniseries Heroic Age: Prince of Power from 2010, is actually the prequel to a larger epic event but self-contained enough and so entertaining that readers won’t mind or feel short-changed.

The drama unfolds in the aftermath of the mighty man-god’s apparent death with the aforementioned ‘Hercules: Fall of an Avenger’, by writers Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente with art by Ariel Olivetti, as many of the Gods and mortals touched by the life of the departed legend gather at the Parthenon for a wondrous wake to memorialise his passing.

Athena now rules the gods ofOlympus and turns up stylishly late as the gathering share personal tales of the departed legend.

Whilst the he-man heroes such as Thor, Bruce Banner, Skaar, Son of Hulk, the Warriors Three, Wolverine, Angel, and Sub-Mariner dwell on their comrade’s fighting spirit, the women such as Namora, Black Widow, Inuit goddess Snowbird and Alflyse, Queen of the Dark Elves prefer to share fond reminiscences of his other prowess – despite the blushes of the congregation.

However just as Cho prepares to speak his own thoughts, Athena and the remaining Hellenic Pantheon materialise and announce the boy is to be the new commander of the globe-spanning corporation known as the Olympus Group, becoming the next Prince of Power to act as the god’s representative on Earthâ€¦

Before Amadeus can react, Athena’s decree leads to a minor rebellion in her own ranks as Apollo challenges her and the assemblage degenerates into another epic brawl. Cho doesn’t care and uses the distraction to act on a suspicion that Hercules is not actually dead. His search of Hades, however, proves fruitlessâ€¦

One of the smartest humans alive, Amadeus acquiesces and takes control of the Olympus Group to further his own agenda, but makes no secret of his dislike and mistrust of Athenaâ€¦

Further repercussions of Hercules’ demise are seen when Namora and fellow Agent of Atlas Venus (a seductive Greek Siren, only recently promoted to actual love goddess) are dispatched by Athena to set the Man-God’s earthly affairs in order. Over the millennia the big-hearted, happy warrior accrued vast wealth and used it to set up businesses, trusts, foundations and charities, but now the Queen of Olympus wants to absorb the profitable ones and shut down the lame ducks.

As they track down his holdings and inform administrators of the situation, the grieving wonder women uncover an unsuspected ‘Greek Tragedy’ (by Paul Tobin, Reilly Brown & Jason Paz) on a lost Greek island – a cash-sucking black hole of an orphanage caring for children who just happen to be the innocent spawn of the many monsters Hercules slew in his voyages.

How then can Namora and Venus obey the dictates of the hard-hearted Athena and still honour the spirit of their soft-hearted former loverâ€¦?

‘Heroic Age: Prince of Power’ (Pak, Van Lente, Brown, Zach Howard, Adam Archer & Pallot) then occupies the major portion of this chronicle following the progress of Cho as he settles into the uncomfortable role of divine Prince of Power and mortal Chairman of the Board. His first order of business is to divert vast funds into searching the multiverse for Herculesâ€¦

Athena’s driving motivation for recruiting Amadeus is that an Age has passed on Earth: where once brute strength was the defining characteristic of the era, the Modern Age is subject to the force of intellect. The new Prince of Power must reflect the reliance on Reason and Intelligence, especially since a long-prophesied â€œGreat Chaosâ€ is comingâ€¦

A cosmic congress of pantheons convenes to select a mortal to lead the fight against the on-coming threat and, after much debate, Athena gets her way: clever kid Amadeus Cho is expected to save the entirety of creationâ€¦

On Earth the unsuspecting and intolerably obnoxious seventeen-year-old is dealing with lesser problems whilst working towards his own ultimate goal – rescuing Hercules from wherever he’s goneâ€¦

The most pressing of these daily duties is defeating mutated maniac the Griffin and saving an amusement park from becoming lunch, just the latest in a procession of monsters acting as vanguards for the approaching Chaos Kingâ€¦

Another problem is that he’s had to lock up his girlfriend Delphyne – Queen of the Gorgons – for trying to assassinate Athena, so when Vali Halfling (son of Asgardian god of Evil Loki) comes calling offering the secret of ultimate divine power, the distracted Cho is understandably intrigued, although not enough to fall for the trickster’s devious schemeâ€¦

The vile demigod wants to gather mystical elements from assorted pantheons (Greek, Norse, Egyptian and Hindu) to create a potion that will deliver ultimate divine power and enable the upstart kids to eliminate all other deities, but Cho isn’t fooled and rather than fall for a dishonest alliance he sets out to beat Vali to the ingredients – Hellenic Ambrosia, the Apples of Idunn, the Book of Thoth and Moon-cup of Dhanvantari. The race commences in ‘Blasphemy Can be Fun’ and, after pausing for ‘The Origin of Hercules’ by Van Lente, Ryan Stegman, Michael Babinski, continues with Cho’s one-man invasion of Asgard in ‘Valhalla Blues’.

The neophyte Prince of Power has no idea that he’s been played, and whilst clashing with former idol Thor for the Apples his rival already possesses, Halfling and his super-powered human Pantheon invades and seizes control of the Olympus Group headquarters to grab the Nectar of the Godsâ€¦

After a spectacularly pointless battle Thor and Cho unite to stop Vali, heading to the EgyptianLandof the Dead to grab the Book. Again they are too late and their outrageous clash with cat-goddess Sekhmet in ‘Our Lady of Slaughter’ only allows Halfling to come closer to his ultimate goal.

With the old gods on the back foot and Athena close to death, the fate of Cho’s people falls to the furious and lethally ticked off Delphyneâ€¦

It all comes to a shattering close in ‘Omnipotence for Dummies’ as Cho ultimately and brilliantly outwits everybody, wins ultimate power, retrieves Hercules from his uncanny fate and promptly surrenders all his divine might to the returned Man-god. He has to: the Chaos King has arrived to annihilate All Of Reality and the situation demands a real heroâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

With covers and variants by Olivetti, Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado, Khoi Pham, Carlo Pagulayan, Paz, Peter Steigerwald, Salva Espin & Beth Sotelo plus pages of character designs by Brown, this bombastic, action-packed thriller also offers scenes of genuine tear-jerking poignancy and hilarious moments of mirth (the tale is especially stuffed with saucy moments of the sort that make grandmothers smirk knowingly, and teenaged boys go as red as Captain America’s boots). An absolute joy for older fans, this epic is also a great example of self-contained Marvel Magic, funny, outrageous, charming and full of good-natured punch-ups.

This is a rare but welcome instance of the company using the continuity without unnecessarily exposing newcomers to the excess baggage which may deter some casual readers from approaching long-running comics material, and if you’re looking for something fresh but traditional, you couldn’t do better than this superb slice of modern mythology.
Â© 2010 Marvel Characters Inc. All rights reserved.

January 25, 2013January 24, 2013

Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign

By Jeff Parker, Carlo Pagulayan, Gabriel Hardman, Benton Jew, Leonard Kirk, Clayton Henry & various (Marvel)

ISBN: 978-0-7851-4126-6

After the unprecedented explosion of mystery men characters during American comics’ Golden Age, the end of the 1940s saw a gradual decimation of colourful costumed marvels and the rise of genre heroes in adventure, war, western, crime, science fiction and horror titles. Fighting a rising tide, Timely Comics struggled on with the mask-and-cape crowd for quite a while; even creating new characters such as Namora (Sub-Mariner’s sexy, super-powered cousin), immortal love-goddess Venus and juvenile outer space crusader Marvel Boy, but nothing really caught the public’s attention.

In the mid-1950s the company, now known as â€œAtlasâ€, tried to revive their ‘Big Three’ – and super-heroes in general – on the back of a proposed Sub-Mariner television series, hoping to cash in on the success of the monumentally successful Adventures of Superman TV show.

This led to some impressively entertaining tales, but no appreciable results as the Atlantean anti-hero, the Human Torch and Captain America briefly returnedâ€¦ and just as rapidly disappeared again when theHollywood deal fell through.

When this last gasp of super-heroic shenanigans failed, the publisher once again concentrated on humour, romance and more-or-less straight adventure anthologies with the accent strongly on weird monsters, invading aliens and robotic rogues. They never stopped exploring that fantasy hero niche however, and hooded, cloaked cowboys like Apache Kid, Black Rider or Outlaw Kid and mysterious masked warriors such as the Black Knight occasionally popped up to keep the flame alive. In 1957 the little company came closest to a full revival of flamboyantly garbed wonders by creating a full-on super-villain for genre G-Men to battle.

The best of the industry’s many knock-offs of Sax Rohmer’s legendary archetype of evil Fu Manchu, The Yellow Claw menaced Freedom and Democracy in the days of Commie technological supremacy and imminent invasion by Sputniks. He was regularly thwarted by the bold endeavours of Chinese American FBI agent Jimmy Woo but he too peaked and faded too soonâ€¦

Once DC’s Showcase unleashed the Flash and the Silver Age kicked off, the 1960s saw a resurgence in costumed characters and Marvel reinvented itself and finally brought back its Golden Trio in one form or anotherâ€¦

Then in June 1978 with a concrete character continuity fully established, avowed Fifties-ophile and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas retroactively introduced a team of heroes culled from those misfiring experiments in the alternate realities book What If?

Volume 1, #9 asked ‘What If The Avengers Had Fought Evil During the 1950s?’ (by Don Glut, Paul Kupperberg & Bill Black), and although non-canonical then, the concept slowly filtered into fans’ group consciousness and over the decades a team that never existed were gradually assimilated into mainstream Marvel Historyâ€¦

Now official canon, it was revealed that Woo and a scratch team of contemporary super-characters briefly and clandestinely clashed with the Claw and other unearthly menaces in 1958 before being shut down by the US government. Their heroics unsung and unremarked, the team broke up and was forgottenâ€¦

Retooled and updated for the more cynical modern audience the Agents of Atlas formally debuted in 2006 when Jimmy Woo, now an aging agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., began investigating the mysterious Atlas Foundation and found it was a front for his greatest and most unforgiving enemy. Through circumstances best left to another review, Jimmy was severely injured, but eventually revived and rejuvenated to the prime of life by his old comrades Namora, Venus, vintage wonder-robot M11, immortal anthropoid avenger Gorilla-Man and the deeply disturbing Marvel Boy from Uranus whose incredible science restored Jimmy to full vitality.

Together they defeated the Claw’s ultimate plans before assuming control of his organisation, planning to subvert the evil empire from the top down and use its awesome reputation to dismantle from within other covert threats to world peace and security â€¦

Before they could begin, however, they had to clean up the myriad messes and malevolences perpetrated by the Atlas Foundation and all without letting the public – and the burgeoning superhero community – that there had been any change in the criminal corporation’s goals or methodsâ€¦

This surreptitious sea-change had begun just as the Skrulls’ Secret Invasion culminated in a world-wide crisis, the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the rise to power of Norman Osborn who, as America’s new Chief of Homeland Security, instituted a Dark Reign of draconian oppression using co-opted super-villains and a new personally controlled paramilitary force dubbed H.A.M.M.E.R.â€¦

During his Dark Reign, the former Green Goblin and recovering madman – through means fair and foul – officially worked to curb the unchecked power and threat of meta-humanity, all whilst secretly operating a cabal of major super-villains and dictators intent on divvying up the planet between them. The repercussions of Osborn’s rise and fall were felt throughout and featured in many series and collections covering the entire fictive universe.

Scripted throughout by Jeff Parker this canny collection gathers Agents of Atlas #1-5, a previously electronic adventure of Wolverine: Agent of Atlas from Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited and material from Dark Reign: New Nation, Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?, and Giant-Size Marvel Adventures Avengers #1; tales spanning 2007 to 2008.

It begins with ‘The Heist’ illustrated by Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz & Jana Schirmer from Dark Reign: New Nation wherein the newly appointed Emperor Woo has his team raid Fort Knox to â€œreclaimâ€ billions in bullion with the simple intention of getting the attention of and proving their criminal credentials to Security Czar Osborn.

No one but Woo knew the former Goblin had planned to appropriate the gold himself to buy an illicit weapons system for his private useâ€¦

The full story commences in ‘First Contact’ as the Atlas agents step up the high profile pressure by stealing confiscated weapons from the ATF and forcing Osborn to deal with them personally – and by deal Woo means â€œcollaborateâ€â€¦

Even as the Security Supremo enters into an underworld alliance with Atlas, he’s looking to betray them, but Woo’s team are distracted by the politics of the evil empire they’ve secretly subverted when their long-term plans are threatened by the forced installation of a deputy leader who is still honestly dedicated to world domination.

The true power behind the globe-girdling organisation is an immortal, immensely powerful dragon named Lao, and so, with no other option, Woo’s crew cautiously welcome the Mandarin’s son Temugin to their inner circle, knowing that should he learn of their true goals the entire Atlas Empire will turn on them in a heartbeatâ€¦

Even whilst providing information and materiel to Osborn’s people the veteran heroes are uncovering more secrets about Atlas; such as how the organisation’s unique method of teleportation transport harks back to one of their most perplexing unsolved cases from 1958 in ‘The Sale/Dragon’s Corridor’ (with additional art by Gabriel Hardman, Elizabeth Dismang & Clayton Henry)â€¦

‘Interlude at Sea’ further unravels the ancient avengers’ occluded history as Osborn at last bites and agrees to fill all his armament requirements through the Atlas Foundation’s weapon makers. However as the mutually suspicious partners meet in a ship offshore, the meeting is crashed by a certain Star Spangled Sentinel of Liberty, who has his own memories of working with Gorilla-Man during WWII and ‘Inside America’â€¦

Woo’s subtle scheme to defang Osborn culminates in luring the Avengers (Captain America, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Ronin, Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man) into attacking Atlas’ weapons ship, capturing all the ordnance intended for the duplicitous top cop and hopefully exposing Osborn to public scrutiny whilst bolstering Woo’s own reputation as a major crime-lord. It worked too, but almost went completely awry when M-11, reacting to some long buried program, went berserk and inexplicably attacked the mutant Avengerâ€¦

The answer to the mystery came with the flashback feature ‘Wolverine: Agent of Atlas’ illustrated by Benton Jew & Dismang, which saw FBI operative Woo infiltrate Cuba in 1958 accompanied by the robot and Gorilla-Man only to encounter an alien invasion by parasitic mind-bending bugs. In stopping the infestation they were helped and hindered in equal measure by an implausible Canadian secret agent named Loganâ€¦

Next up here ‘The Resistance’ by Leonard Kirk, Karl Kesel & Michelle Madsen from Invasion: Who Do You Trust? revealed the key role played by the modern-day Agents of Atlas in repelling and overcoming the insidious occupation of the scurrilous shape-shifters who almost conquered our worldâ€¦

Inter-dimensional realm-hopping and terrifying time-warping were the order of the day in the team-up tale from Giant-Size Marvel Adventures Avengers #1 (Leonard Kirk & Val Staples) wherein 40^th century despot Kang attempted to destroy his greatest foes by altering history and having Woo, Venus, Marvel Boy, M-11, Namora and Gorilla-Man dig Captain America out of the ice in 1958, years before the Avengers were destined to rescue him.

In a desperate race against time itself Cap, Storm, Iron Man, Giant-Girl, Wolverine & Spider-Man had to work fast with the Atlas Agents’ contemporary selves before reality caught up with and overwrote them all in a rousing, light-hearted romp that ends this clever and enjoyable Fights ‘n’ Tights thriller on a delirious high note.

Augmenting the cunning Costumed Dramas area wealth of covers and variants by Kirk, Terry Pallot, Chris Sotomayor, Art Adams & Guru eFX, Greg Land & Justin Ponsor, Adi Granov, Stuart Immonen & John Rauch, Billy Tan & Frank D’Armata, Daniel AcuÃ±a, Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning & Christina Strain as well as a host of pencil sketches and roughs by Ed McGuiness, giving art lovers a delicious bonus every bit as absorbing as the splendid comics story magic that preceded them.

January 23, 2013January 22, 2013

Showcase Presents the Doom Patrol volume 2

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

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

That aesthetic subtly shaped the progression of the strip – which took control of the comic within months, prompting a title change to The Doom Patrol with #86 – and throughout a six-year run made the series one of the most eerily innovative and incessantly hip reads of that generation.

No traditional team of masked adventurers, the cast comprised a robot, a mummy and a 50-foot woman in a mini-skirt, who joined forces with and were guided by a brusque, domineering, crippled mad scientist, all equally determined to prove themselves by fighting injustice their wayâ€¦

Spanning March 1966 to their radically bold demise in the September/October 1968 final issue, this concluding quirky monochrome compilation collects the Fabulous Freaks’ last exploits from Doom Patrol #102 to 121.

The dramas were especially enhanced by the superb skills of Italian cartoonist and classicist artist Giordano Bruno Premiani, whose comfortably detailed, subtly representational illustration made even the strangest situation frighteningly authentic and grimly believable.

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

Those damaged champions comprised competitive car racer Cliff Steele, but only after he’d had â€œdiedâ€ in a horrific pile up, with his undamaged brain transplanted into a fantastic mechanical body – without his knowledge or permission…

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

Former movie star Rita Farr had been exposed to mysterious gases which gave her the unpredictable and, at first, uncontrolled ability to shrink or grow to incredible sizes.

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

Firmly established in the heroic pantheon, the Doom Patrol teamed with fellow outsiders The Challengers of the Unknown in #102, battling murderous shape-shifting maniac Multi-Man and his robotic allies as they planned to unleash a horde of zombies from a lost world upon modern humanity in ‘8 Against Eternity’.

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

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

Rita especially had empathised with Gar’s plight and resolved to free him from the unscrupulous Galtry whatever the costâ€¦

DP #103 offered two tales beginning with the tragedy which ensued when Professor Randolph Ormsby asked for the team’s aid in a space shot. When the doddery savant was transformed into a rampaging flaming monster dubbed ‘The Meteor Man’ it took the entire patrol as well as Beast Boy and Mento to secure a happy outcome.

‘No Home for a Robot’, however, continued to reveal the Mechanical Marvel’s early days following Caulder’s implantation of Cliff’s brain into an artificial body. The shock had seemingly driven the patient crazy and Steele subsequently went on a city-wide rampage, continuously hunted and hounded by the police. Here the ferrous fugitive found temporary respite with his brother Randy but quickly realised that trouble would trail him anywhereâ€¦

Issue #104 astounded everybody when Rita abruptly stopped refusing the loathed Steve and became ‘The Bride of the Doom Patrol’. However the guest star-stuffed wedding was almost spoiled when alien arch-foe Garguax and the Brotherhood of Evil attempted to crash the party and murder the groom. So unhappy were Cliff and Larry with Rita’s â€œbetrayalâ€ that they almost let themâ€¦

Even whilst indulging in her new bride status in issue #105, Rita couldn’t abandon the team and joined them in tackling old elemental enemy Mr. 103 during a ‘Honeymoon of Terror’ whilst the back-up yarn ‘The Robot-Maker Must Die’ concluded the origin of Cliff Steele as the renegade attempted to kill the Surgeon who had imprisoned him in a metal hellâ€¦ which finally give Caulder a chance to fix the malfunction in Steele’s systemsâ€¦

‘Blood Brothers’ in #106 introduced domestic disharmony as Rita steadfastly refused to be a good trophy wife and resumed the hunt for Mr. 103 with the rest of the Patrol. Her separate lives continued to intersect however when Galtry hired the elemental assassin to wipe Gar Logan and his freakish allies off the books.

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

Doom Patrol #107 began an epic story-arc which concerned ‘The War over Beast Boy’ as Rita and Steve started legal proceedings to get Gar and his money away from Galtry. The embezzler responded by opening a criminal campaign to beggar Dayton and inadvertently aligned himself with the Patrol’s greatest foes. Already distracted by the depredations of marauding automaton Ultimax, the hard-pressed heroes swiftly fell to the murderous mechanoid and Rita was dispatched to a barbaric sub-atomic universeâ€¦

Meanwhile the secret history of Negative Man continued with ‘The Race Against Dr. Death’ when fellow self-imposed outcast Dr. Drew tried to draw the pilot into a scheme to destroy the human species which had cruelly excluded them both, and the ebony energy being demonstrated the incredible power it possessed to save the world from fiery doom.

In #108 ‘Kid Disaster’ saw Mento diminished and despatched to rescue Rita whilst Galtry’s allies revealed their true nature before ambushing and killing the entire teamâ€¦

â€¦ Almost.

With only Caulder and Beast Boy remaining, the exceedingly odd couple nevertheless pulled a off a major medical miracle to revive the heroes in time to endure the incredible attack of alien colossus ‘Mandred the Executioner’ whilst Larry’s ‘Flight into Fear’ at the comic’s rear proved that Drew hadn’t finished with the itinerant Negative Man yetâ€¦

DP #110 wonderfully wrapped up the Beast Boy saga as Galtry, Mandred and the Brotherhood marshalled one last futile attack before the ‘Trial by Terror’ finally found Gar Logan legally adopted by the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Dayton, but that was mere prelude to a titanic extraterrestrial invasion which began in #111 with the arrival of ‘Zarox-13, Emperor of the Cosmos!’

The cosmic overlord and his vanguard Garguax made short work of the Fabulous Freaks and with all Earth imperilled an unbelievable alliance was formed, but nor before ‘Neg Man’s Last Road!’ ended the origin of Larry Trainor as the alienated aviator again battled Dr. Death before joining a band of fellow outcasts in a bold new team ventureâ€¦

Unbelievably, the uneasy alliance of the DP with The Brain, Monsieur Mallah and Madame Rouge as ‘Brothers in Blood!’ in #112 resulted in no betrayals and the last-minute defeat of the invincible aliens – and although no rivalries were reconciled, a hint of romance did develop between two of the sworn foes. At the back, untold tales of Beast Boy began as ‘Waif of the Wilderness’ introduced millionaire doctors Mark and Marie Logan, whose passion for charity took them to deepest Africa and into the sights of native witch-man Mobu who saw his powerbase crumbling.

When their toddler Gar contracted dreaded disease Sakutia, the parents’ radical treatment saved their child and gave him metamorphic abilities, but when they subsequently lost their lives in a river accident, the baby boy didn’t understand their plight and blithely watched them die.

Orphaned and lonely, the lad inadvertently saved the life of the local chief with his animal antics and was adoptedâ€¦ making of Mobu an implacable, but impatient enemyâ€¦

Doom Patrol #113 pitted the team against a malevolent mechanoid one-man army in ‘Who Dares to Challenge the Arsenal’ but the real drama was manifesting in a subplot which saw Caulder attempt to seduce the schizophrenic Rouge away from the lure of wickedness and malign influence of the Brotherhood of Evil. The issue also included another Beast Boy short as ‘The Diamonds of Destiny’ saw two thieves kidnap the amazing boy, just as concerned executor Nicholas Galtry took ship for the Dark Continent to find the heir to his deceased employers millionsâ€¦

Issue #114 opened with the team attempting to aid Soviet asylum seeker Anton Koravyk and becoming embroiled in a time-twisting fight against an incredible caveman called ‘Kor – the Conqueror’ whilst in the Beast Boy segment ‘The Kid who was King of Crooks’ saw young Gar turned into a thief in Johannesburg until his faginish abductors had a fatal falling out, after which #115’s ‘The Mutant Master’ pitted the Patrol against three hideous but incredibly powerful atomic atrocities determined to eradicate the world which had cruelly treated them. Things might have fared better had not the Chief neglected his comrades in his obsessive – and at last successful – pursuit of Madame Rougeâ€¦

The comic also included ‘General Beast Boy – of the Ape Brigade!’ wherein a Nazi war criminal was accidentally foiled by the lost wandering Gar. The madman’s loss was the Galtry’s gain however, as his persistent search ended with the crook â€œrescuingâ€ the boy and taking him back to safe, secure Americaâ€¦

The mutant maelstrom concluded in #116 as ‘Two to Get Readyâ€¦ and Three to Die!’ featured the ebullient Caulder save the world from mutant-created obliteration and reap his reward in a passionate fling with the cured but still fragile Rouge.

The wheelchair-bound genius took centre stage in #117 as his neglect drove the team away and left him vulnerable to attack from a mystery man with a big grudge in ‘The Black Vulture’, but it took the whole reunited squad to deal with the grotesque madman ‘Videx, Monarch of Light’ even as the Brain challenged Caulder to return his stolen chattel Rouge. Nobody asked her what she wanted, thoughâ€¦

Tastes and fashions were changing in those turbulent late 1960s and the series was in trouble. Superheroes were about to plunge into a huge decline, and the creators addressed the problem head-on in #119 by embracing the psychedelic culture with a clever tale of supernal power, brainwashing and behaviour modification as the DP found themselves cowering ‘In the Shadow of the Great Guru’â€¦

An issue later they faced the furious Luddite ‘Rage of the Wrecker’ when a crazed scientist declared war on all technology – including the assorted bodies which kept Cliff Steele alive – before the then-unthinkable occurred and the series spectacularly, abruptly ended with what we all believed at the time to be ‘The Death of the Doom Patrol!’

Faced with cancellation, Editor Murray Boltinoff and creators Drake & Premiani had wrapped up all the long-running plot threads as the spurned Madame Rouge went off the deep end and declared war on both the Brain and Caulder’s â€œchildrenâ€. Blowing up the Brotherhood, she then attacked the city until the Patrol removed themselves to an island fortress. Even there they were not safe and her forces ambushed them. Captured and facing death, she offered them mercy if they would abandon their principles and allow her to destroy a village of 14 complete strangers insteadâ€¦

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

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

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

January 18, 2013January 20, 2013

Batman: Battle for the Cowl

By Tony S. Daniel, Sandu Florea, Fabian Nicieza & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-4012-2417-2

I’m innately suspicious of and generally hostile to big, bombastic braided crossover events in comics.

Does any other popular art form use them yet, or are they too often simply an excuse to shear cash from hard-up fans?

(Coming Soon to Your Screen: CSIs Las Vegas, Miami, New York and Croydon must race both NCISs, all the various Law & Orders, The Bill and Inspector Montalbano to battle an international conspiracy and discover who ate all the pies on Man vs. Food, with sidebar stories on Holby City, Grey’s Anatomy and Body of Proof, whilst Cold Case investigates the connection to an unsolved Miss Marple poisoning before Dr. Who wraps it up in a time-spanning Christmas Specialâ€¦)

Undoubtedly in terms of mainstream superhero stories, with some key characters spread out over many titles, epochal continuity events can and should be reflected in all the various comicbooks, but the whipping up of buyer’s frenzy until readers don’t dare miss any mention or moment of an event has always struck me as cruel and unusual punishment directed towards the people who love you most – and that’s just abuse, plain and simpleâ€¦

That’s not to say that some pretty impressive yarns haven’t resulted from the practice and undoubtedly the modern wrinkle of producing discrete â€œNested Storylinesâ€ within the broader framework has eased the previously daunting burden somewhat – although that might be more a necessary function of the increasingly important trade paperback/graphic novel market: after all who could even lift a book containing every episode and instalment of Civil War or Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Even so, I prefer not to get caught up in the hype and furore if at all possible, and even re-reread such blockbusters before passing my own awesome, implacable Final Judgementâ€¦

Thus with all the fervour and kerfuffle surrounding the epic death and inevitable resurrection of Batman finally finished and forgotten, now seems the moment to take another look at one the critical elements of the positively vast Batman R.I.P./Final Crisis/Last Rites/Batman Reborn/Return of Bruce Wayne affair to see how it stands bereft of hysteriaâ€¦

Following a harrowing and sustained campaign of terror by insidious cabal The Black Hand, the mighty Batman was apparently killed by diabolical New God Darkseid during the â€œFinal Crisisâ€. Although the news was kept from the general public, the superhero community secretly mourned and a dedicated army of assistants, protÃ©gÃ©s and allies assembled through the years by the Dark Knight formed a â€œNetworkâ€ of champions to police Gotham City in the tumultuous days and weeks that followedâ€¦

This slim volume collects the contents of core miniseries Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1-3 plus themed anthology specials Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? #1 and Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive? #1 (March-July 2009) recounting how with the city descended into chaos as the hard-pressed Network strive against a three-way power struggle whilst hoping to keep their patriarch’s legacy aliveâ€¦

Most of the Batman-trained Network refuse to believe their inspirational mentor is dead and thus, believing him only lost, have urged Dick Grayson – first Robin , now Nightwing – to assume his teacher’s identity again (as he did post-KnightFall during the Batman: Prodigal storyline) until Bruce Wayne can find his way back to them. This, the bereaved junior hero has steadfastly refused to doâ€¦

Written and pencilled by Tony S. Daniel with inks from Sandu Florea, the epic opens during ‘A Hostile Takeover’ with third Robin Tim Drake and his British analogue The Squire valiantly battling a gang of killer clowns only to find their job finished for them by an unseen vigilante who deals out justice with extreme violence and leaves little love-notes declaring â€œI AM BATMANâ€â€¦

As an army of heroes – including The Knight, Wildcat, Birds of Prey, Outsiders and even a new Batwoman work with the police to maintain order, but as the Dark Knight hasn’t been seen for weeks Gotham’s criminal classes are beginning to suspect that something has happened to their greatest nemesisâ€¦

Already moving to consolidate power are The Penguin and Two-Face: each attempting to create an insurmountable powerbase and win complete control of the underworld by the time the Batman shows his face again, but unknown to each a third player has begun his own campaign.

Black Mask is a sadistic psychotic – but a methodical and strategically brilliant one. His first move is to free a busload of Batman’s most maniacal menaces being shipped back to Arkham Asylum and let them loose to add to the chaos and carnageâ€¦

Meanwhile Tim continually presses Nightwing to assume the mantle of the Bat, arguing that even a fake Caped Crusader will have a terrifying calming effect onGotham’s rampant rogues and robbers.

Moreover, it must be one of them, rather than allowing the increasingly out-of-control mystery impostor to steal the role and tarnish the legendâ€¦

Grayson again refuses before heading back to damage control leaving Tim to track the fake as he brutally demolishes and even murders malefactors throughout the city. With a chilling inkling as to the fraud’s identity, Drake himself puts on the cowl and costume to hunt the killer to his hidden lair beneath Gotham’s sewers, even as Bruce Wayne’s assassin-trained son Damian – continuing as the headstrong and potentially lethal latest iteration of Robin, the Boy Wonder – is attacked by liberated lunatics Poison Ivy and Killer Croc and a horde of lesser criminals.

Even after Nightwing swings in to assist, the odds seem hopeless â€¦until the Fake Knight bursts in, all guns blazingâ€¦

‘Army of One’ finds Nightwing battling the killer charlatan to a standstill amidst the bodies of his dead and dying attackers and reaching the same conclusion Tim had. The blood-hungry facsimile is Jason Todd â€¦

Another orphan taken in by Batman, Todd served valiantly as the second Boy Wonder but his psychological problems remained hidden and unresolved and the boy was murdered by the Joker. Subsequently resurrected by one of the frequent Cosmic Upheavals (Infinite Crisis if you’re interested, but it all happened off-camera and post hocâ€¦) that plague the DC Universe, the boy took on the identity of the Red Hood and began cleaning up Gotham his way; using his Bat-training and the merciless tactics of the villains he remorselessly stalked. Now with the role of Dark Knight vacant he intends to become theBatmanGothamCity always deservedâ€¦

Unable to defeat each other, the impasse between Nightwing and the killer Caped Crusader is broken when Birds of Prey Huntress and Black Canary arrive. Todd simply shoots Damian in the chest and escapes whilst the heroes rush to tend the boyâ€¦

Black Mask, meanwhile, is deploying more of the freed Arkham inmates; using them to covertly amp up the death-struggle between Two-Face and the Penguin. Deep below Gotham Tim, still dressed as his teacher, searches Todd’s hideout and encounters a far from friendly Catwomanâ€¦

As Grayson and Alfred doctor the wounded Damian in the Batcave, Black Mask’s sinister subordinates blow up Police Headquarters, whilst Catwoman and Tim search Todd’s files for clues. Her hostility had stemmed from the lad wearing her ex-lover’s clothes, but she’s a lot angrier when the impostor returns and attacksâ€¦

Leaving them both for dead, Todd then moves to his lethal endgame intent on being the ‘Last Man Standing’â€¦

As Nightwing gathers his Network to tackle the mounting chaos, Black Mask unobtrusively takes full control of the underworld and Grayson at last realises that only one man can be allowed to carry the burden of being Batman. All he has to do is beat Jason, who has brutally removed and almost murdered every other contender for the Cowlâ€¦

Book-ending the actual event, but safely tucked in at the back of this book, were a brace of anthology specials scripted by Fabian Nicieza and focussing on some of the supporting characters involved in the affair.

Thus Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? #1 introduces a new player in ‘The Veil’ – illustrated by Dustin Nguyen (who also provided covers for both comics) – an enigmatic figure hidden in shadows and cogently assessing the situation for both her and our benefit, after which disgraced reporter and ex-Wayne girlfriend ‘Vicki Vale’ begins to investigate her former beau in a tantalising teaser limned by Guillem March.

Temporary hero ‘Stephanie Brown’ (The Spoiler and, briefly, Robin Mark IV) returned to the city after being run out of town by Batman and soon stumbles back into her old ways after seeing her ex-boyfriend Tim Drake hunting the deliriously larcenous Nocturna (art from ChrisCross), whilst Bruce Wayne’s closest confidante and replacement mum ‘Leslie Thompkins’ also snuck back in, determined as ever to open a free clinic for the underprivileged.

Illustrated by Jamie McKelvie, the tale showed why Batman closed her down as she quickly began treating escaped lunatics like the Cavalier, regardless of how many innocents they had harmedâ€¦

The first collection closed with a glimpse at bad cop ‘Harvey Bullock’ (Alex Konat & Mark McKenna) given one more â€œlast chanceâ€ by Commissioner Gordon and determined to find a killer who beheaded his victimsâ€¦

Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive? #1 resumed all of these opened affairs with all the same creators finishing what they started.

‘The Veil’ at last reached her conclusions and passed judgement on the new Batman whilst ‘Harvey Bullock’ identified his mystery killer and opened the doors for a new Azrael to haunt the city’s criminals and ‘Leslie Thompkins’ proved that her help could provide redemption for even the most lost and depraved soulsâ€¦

‘Stephanie Brown’ then began her own road back by taking up her original costumed identity as ‘Vicki Vale’ began piecing together many threads to uncover absentee playboy Bruce’s darkest, most incredible secretâ€¦

This collection also offers the assorted covers and variants the comicbooks generated, dotted throughout the saga, and this tumultuous tome concludes with ‘Building the Network’ Â – a copious collection of pencilled cover art, story-pages and sketches by Daniel that will dazzle and delight those interested in the creative process.

So what’s the verdict? Actually, I’d go with a tentative â€œthumbs upâ€…

There’s not much plot to wrestle with, but the action and drama are kept to an angsty maximum and, even though not all the characters and backstory might be familiar to new or casual readers, the pace and delivery will carry fans of the genre along with suitable panache. Moreover it’s all very, very pretty to look at and even the freshest neophyte is well aware that it’s all just a prelude to the return of the real Dark Knightâ€¦

January 16, 2013January 20, 2013

Amazing Spider-Man: Grim Hunt

By Joe Kelly, Fred Van Lente, Zeb Wells, J.M. Dematteis, Phil Jimenez, Michael Lark, Marco Checchetto, Phillippe Briones, Max Fiumara & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4618-6

Outcast, geeky school kid Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, after seeking to cash-in on the astonishing abilities he’d developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy. His beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered and the traumatised boy determined henceforward to always use his powers to help those in dire need. For years the brilliant young hero suffered privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego endured public condemnation and mistrust as he valiantly battled all manner of threat and foeâ€¦

During this continuous war for the ordinary underdog, Parker has loved and lost many more close friends and familyâ€¦

Following a particularly hellish period when a multitude of disasters seemed to ride hard on his heels and a veritable army of old enemies simultaneously resurfaced to attack him (an overlapping series of stories comprising and defined as â€œThe Gauntletâ€), Parker’s tidal wave of woes was revealed to be the culmination of a sinister, slow-building scheme by the surviving family of one of his most implacable foes – and one who had long been despatched to his final reward.

Of course in comics death is far from The Endâ€¦

Collecting material in whole or in part from Amazing Spider-Man Extra! #3, Web of Spider-Man #7, Amazing Spider-Man #634-637 and the Grim Hunt Digital Prologue (cherry-picked from 2009-2011) this powerful and portentous tome opens with ‘Gauntlet Origins: Kraven – Bride of the Hunter’, written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Phillippe Briones, and reveals how decades ago, Russian Ã©migrÃ© Sergei KravinoffÂ – AKA Kraven the Hunter – met fellow refugee expatriate Aleksandra â€œSashaâ€ Nikolaevna and began a tempestuous relationship which took them together to the wildest corners of the earth. So drawn to each other were the bloodthirsty pair that not even inherited madness, paternal bonds and the laws of god or man could keep them apartâ€¦

‘Loose Ends’ (from Amazing Spider-Man Extra! #3 and by Phil Jimenez) is preceded by a text catch-up page revealing how years after the Russian’s’ death (See Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt), two successors and a third pretender to the name emerged. This latest was a psychotic 12-year old girl claiming to be the Hunter’s daughter and arguably the most dangerous creature the Wall-crawler had ever faced.

In a classic case of mistaken identity, Ana Kravinoff carefully trailed the Arachnid Avenger to his home but subsequently captured and tortured Parker’s roommate Vin Gonzales before escaping. Now, as Spider-Man finally finds her, the explosive, inconclusive confrontation results in more questions, extensive property damage but no real resolutionâ€¦

‘Grim Hunt Prologue’ (Joe Kelly, Michael Lark & Stefano Gaudiano) commences the main event as Ana and Sasha are revealed to behind the prolonged Gauntlet of foes Spider-Man had recently faced. Moreover the driven Kravinoffs have also been targeting other Arachnoid champions, kidnapping clairvoyant Madame Web and latest Spider-Woman Mattie Franklin. As the weakened, near-exhausted Parker enjoys a rare moment of relaxation in the park, he is assaulted and tormented by an impossible psychic vision of death and worse awaiting him and all he lovesâ€¦

The full drama unfolds next (from Amazing Spider-Man #634-637, crafted by Kelly, Zeb Wells, Michael Lark, Marco Checchetto & Stefano Gaudiano) – as secondÂ son Alyosha Kravinoff gloats over the grave of his dead brother Vladimir. There he is found and recruited by Sasha and Ana. They are planning something impossibly crazy in honour of the departed clan headâ€¦

Across town Peter is woken from a troubled sleep by the warped outlaw Kaine – a last surviving Spider-Man clone created by crazed geneticist Miles Warren from Parker’s stolen cells. The formidably terrifying former thug has been brutally beaten and warns Parker that something is hunting all the earthly avatars of the primal totemic Spider-force which actually gave the hero his powersâ€¦

Following explosions across town Spider-Man finds Julia Carpenter – the former Avenger dubbed Arachne – fighting for her life against Kravens Ana and Alyosha. Even acting in concert the web-slingers barely escape with their lives, since Parker is increasingly handicapped by psychic traumas and the incessant pounding of jungle drums only he can hearâ€¦

Whilst catching their collective breaths the heroes are approached by presumed-deceased Spider-Shaman Ezekiel Sims (see Amazing Spider-Man: Coming Home) who reveals the true nature of the peril they face. At the same time the debased Kravens mercilessly sacrifice one of their Spider captives to resurrect the dead brother Vladimir. However, although risen from the grave, he is no longer even remotely humanâ€¦

A dark interlude than takes us back for an untold story of Kraven as ‘Hunting the Hunter: Adrift’ (J.M. DeMatteis & Max Fiumara) found the world-weary stalker forced to work for a cheapChicago gangster until his honour could stand it no longer. When he quit in his own spectacular manner, the infuriated mobster hired a mercenary named Kaine to teach the Hunter a lessonâ€¦

The Grim Hunt continues as Ezekiel informs Spider-Man and Arachne that the Kravens are exterminating all avatars of The Spider and that teenager AÃ±ya Corazon – a neophyte crimebuster calling herself AraÃ±a – is next. Rushing toCentral Park, the delirious, exhausted Spider-Man and his allies find her and Kaine battling Ana and the bestial Vladimir. Diving in, the battered hero is ambushed by Alyoshaâ€¦

As Parker succumbs to some hidden hoodoo deployed by the hunters, the fiendish family flee with their new prizes AraÃ±a and Arachne whilst the wounded Kaine is barely able to contain the increasingly out-of-control and out-on-his-feet original Spider-Man.

When Ezekiel suggests recruiting the monstrous arachnoid avatars Venom and Anti-Venom, Kaine refuses to go along, leaving Parker to walk into a trap organised by Kravinoff allies Mysterio and the Chameleon. The subsequent hunt and calamitous conflict results in Spider-Man’s death and his life energies are used to achieve Sasha’s ultimate goal – the mystic resurrection of her husbandâ€¦

The next flashback ‘Hunting the Hunter’ interlude is ‘A Prophecy’ (from DeMatteis & Fiumara) as Kraven and Kaine’s first clash goes badly for the debased Spider-clone before the overarching epic resumes with the revived Kraven clearly unhappy at being brought back and extremely disappointed with his far-from beloved family. As unnatural tension grips the entire city and the curs of clan Kravinoff come to blows, Kraven turns to his latest bloody trophy and reveals that the body concealed under the uniform is not Spider-Manâ€¦

When Parker revives from a drugged sleep and finds the clone’s body it is mockingly draped in the old white-on-black Spider costume, and pinned to the chest is a taunting note â€œhunt me!â€â€¦

Before the fateful, game-changing conclusion, a third ‘Hunting the Hunter’ chapter by DeMatteis, Emma Rois & Fiumara describes the savage ‘War’ between Kraven and Kaine, after which part four of the Grim Hunt follows the revenge-obsessed black clad web-spinner as he finally, terrifyingly ends the threat of the Kravinoffs and rescues the captive Spider avatarsâ€¦ or at least the last two the crazed Sasha has left aliveâ€¦

As a new normal settles on the Spider survivors this tome uses the last ‘Hunting the Hunter’ chapter by DeMatteis & Fiumara to conclude the battle between Kaine and Kraven and offers a tantalising terrifying taste of the mystic power of the Spider force in the blistering ‘Burning Bright’â€¦

Nihilistic, dark and bloody, this tale is a far cry from the Wall-crawler’s usual fare – which is not a bad thing – but suffers here from a surfeit of unaddressed backstoryâ€¦ which actually is. Nonetheless, the tale is frequently compelling and beautifully illustrated throughout so art lovers and established fans have plenty to enjoy. Moreover, the bleak and occasionally confusing Fights ‘n’ Tights thriller is graced with an abundance of art extras, covers and variants by Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, Tom Coker, Michael Lark & Jodi Wynn, Mike Fyles, Joe Quinones, Leinil Francis Yu, Gabriele Dell’ Otto, Esad Ribic, Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales, Justin Ponsor, Michael Lark & Jodi Wynn and Marco Checchetto that will delight the eyes if not soothe those tired brain cells.

All in all, this is that oddest and most disappointing of ducks; a great story but an unsatisfactory bookâ€¦

January 13, 2013January 12, 2013

Amazing Spider-Man: Coming Home

By J Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr. & Scott Hanna (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-90415-900-1(TPB) Â Â Â Â Â Â : 978-1-90600-000-7 (HB)

Outcast, orphaned science-nerd schoolboy Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, after seeking to cash-in on the astonishing abilities he subsequently developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy. His beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered by a burglar Peter could have stopped but didn’t because he didn’t want to get involved.

Too late the traumatised boy determined to always use his powers to help those in dire need and for years the brilliant young hero endured privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego suffered public condemnation and mistrust as Spider-Man valiantly battled all manners of threat and foeâ€¦

During this perpetual war for the ordinary underdog Parker faced many uncanny, bizarre and inexplicable menaces but always clung doggedly to his scientific rationalistic view of reality, all whilst desperately trying to keep his driven double life concealed from his frail surviving guardian Aunt Mayâ€¦

Following a catastrophic bankruptcy scare – both money and ideas – in the late 1990s Marvel returned reinvigorated and began refitting/retooling all their core character properties. In 1999 the expansive Spider-Man franchise was trimmed down and relaunched as two new titles – Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: Spiderman and the constricting, fad-chasing policy of mindlessly chasing sales at any cost was replaced by a measured concentration on solid, character-based storytelling and strong art.

This particular collection, re-presenting Amazing Spider-Man volume 2, #30-35, (June â€“ November 2001) heralded the debut of J. Michael Straczynski as scripter and the return of fan-favourite John Romita Jr. – inked here by Scott Hanna – as well as a fundamental shift in the life of the harried hero.

The first of these issues also began the practice of double numbering: listing the issues from the beginning of Stan Lee & Steve Ditko’s original volume 1 series. Thus this book also or alternatively can be viewed as featuring issues #471-476. I’m sure that’s much clearer nowâ€¦

What you need to know: after all the turbulence and tragedy in Peter’s life, he married vivacious glamour girl Mary Jane Watson but their lives were continually blighted by terror and malice. After being kidnapped and held for months by a stalker who faked her death, Mary Jane was finally rescued by Spider-Man who had never given up hope. However the constant tension had finally proved too much and the restored Mrs. Parker left Peter for a life of relative normality inHollywoodâ€¦

The action begins with ‘Transformations: Literal & Otherwise’ as a bitter and shaken wall-crawler began acting out his frustrations and looking for ways to change his loser’s life. Aimlessly wandering he passes his old High School and sees how the once venerable edifice has become a grim and forbidding urban war-zone, offering not hope but brutality to all the kids trapped thereâ€¦

With much to ponder Spider-Man takes to the night streets and is startlingly accosted by a mysterious old man who seems to have similar powers. The enigmatic but oddly trustworthy Ezekiel also knows his preciously-guarded secret identity and whilst leading him a merry chase over the skyscrapers casts doubt on all the assumptions Peter has cherished regarding the origins of his powers and abilitiesâ€¦

Meanwhile down at the Docks, a monstrous withered creature has arrived. The man-shaped beast bids his unwilling servant make preparations for the next hunt, before finally consuming the last of the captured superhero who has sustained him in his tedious journey to theNew Worldâ€¦

The mystery deepens in ‘Coming Home’ as the perplexed Parker makes a momentous decision and applies to become a science teacher at his old school. He is painfully unaware that both Ezekiel and the horrifying Spider hunter are making their own plans for him.

Peter’s day is not without incident however as the school is attacked by a lone gunman, hunting the bullies who made his life a living hell.

In ‘The Long, Dark Pizza of the Soul’ the new teacher suddenly becomes the Principal’s Pet when Ezekiel donates a huge sum of money in Parker’s name, and begins explaining to the baffled boffin the true nature of the legacy of Spider-Man and the ancient totemic animal spirits which have forced or enabled the creation of so many champions and monsters throughout Earth’s long history.

He also warns of the ghastly thing which has preyed upon them for millennia: a beast that is now here for the latest iteration of the Spider force. The aged arachnoid savant then offers to share the high-tech hidey hole he has had constructed to wait out the predator’s passingâ€¦

Never one to hide from trouble Peter refuses and is soon drawn into catastrophic battle with the beast who, calling himself Morlun, begins a sadistic rampage through town, determined to draw out his prey by slaughtering the mortal innocents Spider-Man so slavishly protects. Fighting with all his skill and power in ‘All Fall Down’ the embattled hero barely survives the first clash and only survives the first feeding because his implacable nemesis wants to prolong the experience…

Reeling from the impossible assault of the mystical Morlun, Parker begs assistance from Ezekiel, who after decades of hiding from the unstoppable, insatiable beast, understandably refuses. ‘Meltdown’ finds the utterly outclassed and hopeless Web-spinner preparing for his inevitable demise and making his final goodbyes when the peckish predator again begins tormenting innocents to draw out his target. Forced to fight again Peter prepares for death when Ezekiel, shamed and inspired by the youngster, attacks Morlun.

And dies.

With nothing left to lose Peter returns to the science that has always been his greatest companion in the blistering finale ‘Coming Out’ and incomprehensibly scores his greatest, as ever, unsung victory.

Shattered and broken the victor staggers back to his apartment and collapses in the tattered shreds of his costumeâ€¦ just as Aunt May blithely lets herself in to do her meek, mild, little boy’s laundryâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

Stuffed with astounding action and with uproarious humour leavening the shocking tense suspense, this stellar tale of triumph and tragedy spectacularly repositioned Spider-Man for the next few years and kick-started a whole new kind of Arachnoid adventure, perfectly counterbalancing years of formulaic, hide-bound variations on a played out theme.

An extras-packed hardback re-issue of this tale was the first release in Panini’s ambitious Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection, and should you secure a copy of that you can also delight in a text history of Spider-Man in ‘Originsâ€¦’, biographies of Straczynski and John Romita Jr. and a thrilling artists Gallery with examples by many of the gifted creators who have limned the Wondrous Wall-crawler â€“ namely Steve Ditko, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane, John Byrne, John Romita Sr., Todd McFarlane & Mark Bagley.

Also included is a Rogues Gallery/Call of the Wild feature depicting some of the totemic and animalistic villains who have plagued the hero over the years (Chameleon, Vulture, Doctor Octopus, the Lizard, Scorpion, Rhino, Man-Wolf, Jackal, Tarantula, Black Cat and Puma), a Further Reading list of pertinent recommendations and a selection of sketches by original comicbook cover artist J. Scott Campbell.

January 12, 2013January 11, 2013

Anarchy Comics – The Complete Collection

By various, compiled and edited by Jay Kinney (PM Press)
ISBN: 978-1-60486-531-8

During the â€œanything goesâ€ 1960s and early1970s when issues of personal freedom, sexual liberation, mind-altering self-exploration, questioning of authority and a general rejection of the old ways gripped the young and terrified the establishment, artists and cartoonists began creating the kind of comics and art they wanted. The Underground Comix movement was at the forefront of the â€œradicalisationâ€ of many young intellectuals inAmericaand throughout the world, and consequently led to the establishment of the acceptance of comics narrative for adults.

Whenever anybody discusses the history and influence of the Underground and Counter-Culture movements, the focus is generally on the exuberant and often offensive expressions of comedic or violent excess – especially in regard to sex and drugs – but that’s a rather cruel oversimplification. The whole phenomena stemmed from rebellion and the exercise of new-found freedoms and equally apparent was a striving for new ways of living one’s life – and that’s politics, pure and simple.

By 1978 that unchecked artistic flourishing had died back in every sphere – especially the creation of comics – and the mainstream world, having assimilated what it liked of the explosively fresh thought and deeds, appropriated or adopted some of the tone and tenets of the movement before getting back to making money and suppressing the masses in a â€œnew normalâ€â€¦

However once creative passions have been aroused they are had to suppress. There is no more powerful medium of expression or tool of social change than graphic narrative – although music and poetry come close – and some kids found it harder to surrender their ideals than others.

In 1977, as Disco, indolence, hedonism and the pursuit of money obsessed both media and populace, a bunch of intellectual, left-leaning liberal cartoonists got together inSan Franciscoto create a comics anthology dedicated to propounding the ideals of willing co-operation, personal responsibility and a rejection of unwanted oppressive authority – governmental, religious or corporate. By entertaining and educating through cartoons they intended to highlight issues of inequality and iniquity: in short they went to bat for Anarchyâ€¦

Just as the global Punk movement began to take hold in the next generation of angry, powerless and disenfranchised Youth, in San Francisco cartoonist, satirist designer, editor, Socialist and political activist Jay Kinney – who had co-created the seminal underground title Young Lust (and yes that was a pun; sue meâ€¦) – got in touch with some like-minded old associates such as Paul Mavrides with the intention of creating an international comicbook to promulgate their world view.

Kinney had been corresponding with British Anarchist artist Clifford Harper (Class War Comics) and had similarly inclined West German cartoonist Gerhard Seyfried kipping on his floor at that time, so the idea of a forum for the graphic expression of political ideas must have seemed like a no-brainerâ€¦

Of course there’s no such thing as slavish doctrinaire consensus in Anarchist idealism – that’s pretty much the whole point – and the comic was envisioned more as a platform to present wide-ranging Left-Libertarian ideas through satire and historical reportage as a basis for further debate.

How the project developed from there and its ultimate effects and influence is fully described in author/historian Paul Buhle’s ‘Anarchy Comics Revisited’ and Kinney’s own expansive, evocative ‘Introduction’ before the entire 4-issue, nine-year run is re-presented in all its monochrome glory beginning with Anarchy Comics #1 from 1978, sporting a witty cover by Kinney and deliciously wry intro page Inside Cover by Kinney & Seyfried.

The editor then led off the attack with ‘Too Real’ using collaged images from comicbook ads to spoof the American Dream of prosperity and suburban bliss, after which counter-culture legend Spain Rodriguez recounted the story of ‘Nestor Makhno’ whose fight for independence led to his betrayal by his Soviet allies in the early days of the Revolution.

Kinney’s ‘Smarmy Comics’ presented a decade of strip spoofs dedicated to exposing ‘Fascism: the Power to Finance Capital Itself’ after which the amazing Melinda Gebbie constructed a strident feminist call to arms against female oppression in the educational diatribe ‘The Quilting Bee’ before Spain returned with a brutal true tale of the Spanish Civil War in ‘Blood and Sky’ and an Underground superstar offered a frightening prognostication in ‘Gilbert Shelton’s Advanced International Motoring Tips’â€¦

For someone with no appreciable budget or resources, Kinney was astonishingly successful in securing international contributions. From France’s L’echo Des Savannes #29 came a translated tale of more Bolshevik perfidy in ‘Liberty Through the Ages: Kronstadt’ by Yves FrÃ©mion AKA Ã‰pistolier & Volny (FranÃ§ois Dupuy) wherein a local dispute escalated into a horrific early instance of merciless repression in the People’s Paradise, and Bay area cartoonist John Burnham opted to challenge the future with his polemical ‘What’s the Difference?’

True Brit Clifford Harper produced a moving and witty account of grass roots resistance in the tale of ‘Owd Nancy’s Petticoat’ set in the aftermath of the Peterloo Massacre, after which Kinney offered wry Comic Strip parodies ‘Safehouse’, ‘On Contradiction’ and ‘Today’s Rhetoric’ – complete with faux ad – before Mavrides hilariously attacked the utopian/dystopian debate with ‘Some Straight Talk about Anarchy’.

The issue ended with a stylish ad for like-minded publications from Kinney & Seyfried, which last also crafted a humorous depiction of a mass anarchist demonstration in Tiananmen Square 11 years before the tragic, monstrous real thingâ€¦

Issue #2 didn’t appear until 1979 and opened with a photographic punk cover by Ruby Ray & Kinney, whilst the latter & Seyfried collaborated on another hilarious introductory page before the fireworks kicked off with Steve Stiles’ chilling account of his brush with Military Intelligence. Once the brass realised he might have had associations with turn-of-the-century Labour Movement the Industrial Workers of the World, the baffled soldier-boy found himself suspected of crimes he didn’t know existed. How the ‘Wobblies!’ could subvert a hapless GI in 1967 is still unclear to the author of this smart but scary taleâ€¦

‘Believe It!’ by Sharon Rudahl exposed true but crazy beliefs from history whilst

‘Kultur Dokuments’ (Kinney & Mavrides) brilliantly mixed styles and metaphors to harangue the working world in a clever tale that started as pictograms and ended with a vicious swipe at Archie Comicsâ€¦

Clifford Harper then powerfully adapted and co-opted â€œBertâ€ Brecht’s grim ballad ‘The Black Freighter’ (perhaps better known in English as â€œPirate Jennyâ€ from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera), Spain detailed the life of Civil War freedom-fighter Buenaventura ‘Durruti’ and Dutch artist Peter Pontiac exposed sexual fantasy and other anti-spontaneity heresies in ‘Romantic! Anarchy’ before Kinney dryly restored order with his spoof talk-show ‘Radical Reflections’.

Ã‰pistolier & Michel Trublin then related how radicals Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman changed the smugly complacent nature of Wall Street in ‘Liberty Through the Ages: The Yippies at the Exchange’ whilst Melinda Gebbie powerfully illustrated ‘Quotes from Red Emma’ (Goldman) after which ‘The Bizarre yet Familiar World of Commodity Fetishism!’ by Kinney embellished an Inside back-cover ad by Seyfried – and the glorious whole was finished off by a painted Black Velvet portrait of Chairman Mao by Mavrides.

Anarchy Comics #3 didn’t appear until 1981, sporting a traditional anarchic rampaging rogue by Pontiac & Guy Colwell and, after a clever introduction by Kinney & Mavrides followed up with the American Anarchist duo’s hilariously dark time-travel epic ‘No Exit’ which showed how even the perfect future can’t please some activists. Next is Ã‰pistolier & Trublin’s trenchant examination of Church repression of workers in ‘Anarchy in the Alsace: The Revolt of the Rustauds’ and a welcome appearance for Donald Rooum‘s iconic feline thought-experiment Wildcat.

Rooum is a spectacularly talented, gentle, fiercely pacifist freedom-fighter and educator who has contributed brilliant cartoons to British comics, magazines and the Anarchist press for over 60 years. His latest collection of Wildcat cartoons was released last year.

Here though, the merriment continues with ‘The Act of Creation According to Bakunin’ by Dutch cartoonist Albo Helm, giving the creation myth a thorough re-evaluation, after which Briton Clifford Harper interpreted French politician and philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s pointed ‘What is Government?’ with telling graphic savagery.

More of Kinney’s ‘Radical Reflections’ follow before Spain (with Adam Cornford & Kinney) examined the rise of the Red Brigade through Italian labour agitation and student unrest with ‘Roman Spring’, whilst Steve Laffler restored some much-needed absurdity through the deployment of rude, anti-Capitalist superhero the ‘Naked Avenger’.

Seyfried crated a superbly sharp display of police mentality in ‘Walkie Talkie’ whilst relative newcomer Gary Panter played with the traditional bomb-throwing view of anarchists in his vicious comedy ‘Awake, Purox, Awake!’, Gebbie & Cornford collaborated to produce a psychedelic tribute to ‘Benjamin Peret: Poet as Revolutionary’ and Rudahl returned with a slyly effective castigation of workers’ children-turned-capitalists in ‘The Treasure of Cabo Santiago’.

Comix iconoclast Greg Irons is represented here with moodily scary tale ‘Who’s in Charge Here?’ whilst Canadian cartoonist David Lester tackled sexual politics and the New Man in Men Strips: ‘Men March On’, ‘The Amazing Colossal Men’ and ‘The March of Men’ and Marian (now just brooke) Lydbrooke spoofed marital oppression in ‘At Home Withâ€¦’ and Kinney entered similar territory with ‘New Age Politics’.

Matt (Amazing Cynicalman) Feazell debuted here with an impressive bug-eyed view of class warfare and divisive manipulation by the bosses in the excellent ‘Pest Control’ before Kinney & Seyfried cobbled together an inside back-cover ‘Bulletin Board’ and the garrulous German ended the issue with a classy spoof ad touting ‘New! Improved! Anarchy’ to end all our global pest woesâ€¦

After the third issue Kinney’s time was increasingly taken up with other projects, and it wasn’t until 1987 that new editor Mavrides released Anarchy Comics #4, with both cover and introduction page the product of his sublimely prolific satirist’s pen.

He nonetheless collaborated again with Kinney on the apocalyptic parody on the End of Days ‘Armageddon Outahere!’ before the always challenging Harper contributed a terrifyingly true case regarding British poet Jimmy Heather-Hayes’ death in police custody at Ashford Prison, Kent ‘On the Night of March 3, 1982’.

Norman Dog crafted a choose-your-own-ending role-playing strip in ‘You Rule the World!’ and Spain detailed the fall of Emperor Napoleon III, the entire Franco-Prussian War and the meteoric coming and going of the Communards in ‘1871’ after which Melinda Gebbie detailed her own clash with British censorship in a magically metaphoric fable ‘Public Enemy’.

‘Mr. Helpful’ was a more traditional cartoon quandary posed by Norman Dog whilst S. Zorca’s prose vignette ‘Executive Terrorism’ took a welcome swipe at Presidential Privilege and â€œR. Diggsâ€ went for the jugular in his logical extension of economic Darwinism ‘Korporate-Rex’.

The last issue ended with Harry S. Robins tapped into his Church of the SubGenius roots to address the apparent dichotomy of the philosophy in ‘Anarchy = Panarchy’ before Byron Werner’s ‘One-page strip’ suggested the only way we could rationally deal with intelligent extraterrestrial life, Mavrides & Kinney clashed with the Military-Industrial Complex in ‘Cover-up Lowdown’ and the final Back Cover offered a photo of Hiroshima after all the dust settledâ€¦

As you’d expect, this fabulous collection doesn’t stick to tradition, and after the standard section of contributing Cartoonist Biographies, and a sumptuous colour section including all the covers, Outtakes, Sketches Roughs and a fulsome photographic Anarchy Comics Family Album, a New Comix addendum features a stunning new strip which would certainly have been in a fifth issues if there had been one.

‘The Amazing Tale of Victoria Woodhull’ by Sharon Rudahl depicts the life of the most incredible woman you’ve never heard of: a libertine, suffragette, opportunist and crusader for women’s rights and female emancipation who started out as an American white trash huckster and died the wife of a British aristocrat.

This is followed by Sketchbook Drawings and Outtakes from Kinney, revealing abortive ideas and graphic dead ends such as Anarchy Chic, Shoot-Out at the Circle A Ranch, Revolt, Sectarianism, Marx my Words, spoof political mags, the Amazing Rhetoric Translator and the marvellous Oppressive Dichotomies – all strips that might well have found fansâ€¦ ifâ€¦

A wonderful reminiscence of a time when we thought the world could still be changed and, hopefully, a stark example for the current generation of kids who just won’t take it anymore, Anarchy Comics is still, funny, powerful and inspirational.

January 4, 2013January 5, 2013

Batman: Streets of Gotham volume 1 – Hush Money

By Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-85768-853-8

With all the furore and hype surrounding the epic death and inevitable resurrection of Batman cunningly orchestrated by Grant Morrison, everybody seemed so concerned with what was going to happen next that they apparently ignored what was actually occurring in the monthly comicbooks in their hands. Now with the dust long settled let’s take a look at one of the better sidebar-series to come out of the braided Batman R.I.P./Final Crisis/Last Rites/Batman Reborn/Return of Bruce Wayne publishing eventsâ€¦

In the aftermath of the epochal loss of the Gotham Guardian, a sustained and epic Battle for the Cowl ensued amongst the fallen hero’s closest allies. Eventually Dick Grayson succeeded his lost mentor, carrying on the tradition of the Dark Knight with Bruce Wayne’s assassin-trained son Damian continuing as the headstrong and potentially lethal latest iteration of Robin, the Boy Wonderâ€¦

This volume collects the contents of Detective Comics #852, Batman #685 (both March 2009), before re-presenting the first four tension-drenched issues of Batman: Streets of Gotham spanning June to September of that portentous year, and deals with the strange fact that although most of the masked hero community knew the tragic truth, the general populace was blithely unaware that the true Batman had been replacedâ€¦

As if all that complex crossover-ry wasn’t enough, also working hard to ensure that no reader would dare miss a single issue was a project dubbed ‘Faces of Evil’ in which DC villains took centre stage in every comicbook that month. Thus, in the aforementioned Detective #852 and Batman #685, one of the hero’s most pernicious and obsessive foes reappeared to rebuild his empire of evil after the last crushing defeat at the gauntleted hands of Batmanâ€¦

Sublimely illustrated by Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs, the saga was another triumph for award-winning animator and director Paul Dini who once again proved himself the very best of contemporary Batman writers with a chilling, suspenseful epic of revenge and obsession featuring Bruce Wayne’s ultimate adversary Dr. Tommy Elliot, a beloved boyhood friend as warped by his own mother’s malign influence as the boy Bruce was transformed by the murder of his beloved parents Thomas and Martha Wayne.

Eminent surgeon Elliot became the twisted, sadistic and obsessive Hush to obtain vengeance on his only friend and childhood companion: one who had been perpetually held up to him as a perfect example of a son by Elliot’s disabled and deranged mother. Tommy even divined the billionaire’s greatest secret – the true identity of the Dark Knightâ€¦

After many deeply personal and lethally psychotic attacks on Wayne’s legacy and Batman’s friends, Hush took the ultimate step in his psychological war against his oldest pal by surgically transforming himself into Bruce’s doppelganger – attempting to entirely usurp his life.

After nearly killing Selina Kyle by literally stealing her heart, the faux-Bruce was only narrowly defeated and the captive Catwoman restored to some semblance of her former self (see Batman: Heart of Hush)â€¦

Now in ‘Reconstruction’ a broken Elliot wanders the snowy shady docks ofGotham before tumbling into the freezing river. Everything is over: his best efforts to destroy the Wayne myth have all failed and, in revenge for his attack on her, Catwoman has tracked down all his hidden bank accounts and stolen every penny he had – $200 million dollars – giving it all away to bleeding-heart charitiesâ€¦

Expecting to die, Elliot awakes on a boat, saved by hard-working stiffs who believe they’ve rescued wild-partying playboy Wayne from a drunken accident. Inspired, Elliot doesn’t disabuse them and begins to trade on his stolen looks to rebuild his fortune and take another stab at revengeâ€¦

Luck is with him: for some reason no one has seen either Bruce Wayne or Batman for weeks. Using the playboy’s reputation, Hush makes his way to the Caribbean, leaving a well-concealed trail of bodies and empty wallets behind him. By the time he reaches Australia he’s feeling pretty cocky but after being spotted by shapeshifting local hero Tasmanian Devil, Elliot heads for Vietnam, eager to put more miles and far less friendly borders between him and his inevitable pursuers. It’s a near-fatal mistakeâ€¦

The tale concludes in ‘Catspaw’ as â€œBruce Wayneâ€ is kidnapped by bandits from an animal poaching ring and finds himself face-to-stolen-face with Catwoman who has taken over the pet traders to actually save endangered species. Always willing to bear a grudge, she is delighted with the opportunity to put her former tormentor at the top of that listâ€¦

However the cat burglar has gotten in too deep and her greedily impatient gang are fed up with their animal-loving leader. Sensing a coup, Selina agrees to a truce with Elliot until they can escape the jungles and the bandits. To that end, she despatches her two most faithful henchmen to bring Hush to safety, but unfortunately nobody could leave a trail like Elliot’s and not be noticed by the well-schooled heirs of the World’s Greatest Detectiveâ€¦

Streets of Gotham debuted scant months later with Elliot an utterly isolated prisoner of the new Batman and Robinâ€¦

In ‘Ignition!’ a fresh era began with a reformed Harley Quinn making a nuisance of herself and distracting the Dark Dynamic Duo’s attention from a real threat. In the power vacuum following all the concatenating crises, many of Arkham Asylum’s inmates had absconded and were loose in the city, and flamboyant gangster Black Mask was celebrating his victory over rivals Two-Face and the Penguin – and subsequent elevation to supreme boss of the underworld – by recruiting the more biddable escaped maniacs to his teamâ€¦

With a mysterious new vigilante called Abuse adding to the general atmosphere of tension, one of Black Mask’s wildest employees finally slipped into total psychosis. Third-rate arsonist Garfield Lynns suddenly stopped torching buildings as Firefly and began turning random civilians into spontaneously combusting human torchesâ€¦

Taking full advantage of the situation in ‘City on Fire’, Hush then broke out of his velvet-lined cage whilst Batman and Robin tackled the utterly demented arsonist and again used his perfect imposture of Bruce Wayne to outmanoeuvre his foes.

Before Grayson, Damian and former Robin Tim Drake could react, Elliot made a very public appearance on TV and offered to bankrupt â€œhimselfâ€ to rebuild Gotham’s shattered infrastructure and decimated industriesâ€¦

The Batman Family had never accepted that their mentor was dead and all their actions were predicated upon the premise that he would eventually return to reclaim his mantle. Thus as ‘Hush Money’ opened, they were all forced to publicly accept and even join the returned â€œBruce Wayneâ€ as he effectively dismantled the lost hero’s life’s work to popular adulationâ€¦

Simultaneously in the city’s darkest nooks and crannies Black Mask’s disciples began to chafe under his increasingly oppressive and unpredictable yoke. The mobster’s most radical action was to give free rein to knife-wielding serial killer Victor Zsasz, offering to bankroll the butcher’s scheme to industrialise and mass-produce his particular brand of bloodlettingâ€¦

As the new Batman finally finds a way to neutralise Hush’s bold imposture, this initial volume concludes with a dark and nasty tale following Zsasz’s escalation of terror and slaughter by focussing on the tightrope-thin line career criminals must walk in Gotham. ‘Business’ invades the personal space of illicit fixer the Broker as the premier â€œgo-to guyâ€ in the city at last discovers to his surprise that there some things he won’t – can’t – do, no matter how big the pay-off might beâ€¦

With astounding covers by Andrew Robinson, Alex Ross, J. G. Jones & Dustin Nguyen, this visceral, imaginative and deliciously off-balance frantic psycho-thriller sets the scene for even darker strides down the darkest avenues in all of comicsâ€¦

January 3, 2013January 2, 2013

Cable volume 3: Stranded

By Duane Swierczynski, Paul Gulacy, Gabriel Guzman, Mariano Taibo & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 979-0-7851-4167-9

The son of X-Man Scott Summers and a clone of Jean Grey, Nathan Christopher Summers was infected with a techno-organic virus as a baby. He was only saved by being sent through time, subsequently spending his formative years in the far future where he became an unlikely and largely unwilling saviour of assorted humankinds against mutant overlord Apocalypse and his vile minions such as the clone-warrior Stryfe.

Afflicted with a stubborn certainty that he always knew best – probably due to his hard-earned foreknowledge and weary experience of how bad the days to come would be – Nathan evolved into time-travelling super-soldier Cable and gradually inserted himself into the lives of key figures in mutant history: figures such as Professor Charles Xavier and his own father Cyclops – the Moses and King David of mutant-kindâ€¦

Using his phenomenal psionic abilities to hold at bay the incurable, progressive condition inexorably consuming his flesh and only held in check by the victim’s indomitable force of will, the mysterious grizzled veteran slowly began interacting with and reshaping the pastâ€¦

Hope Spalding-Summers was the first Homo Superior born on Earth after M-Day, when the temporarily insane mutant Avenger Scarlet Witch used her reality-warping powers to eradicate almost all fellow members of her terrifying sub-species from existence.

Considered by many to be some sort of mutant messiah, the newborn girl was â€œappropriatedâ€ by militant warrior Cable – no stranger to the role of Sole Saviour – who raised her in the furious future, training her in all manner of lethal survival skills before she inevitably found her way back to the present where she was adopted by X-Men supremo Scott Summers AKA Cyclops.

Hers was a horrifically memorable childhood as this slim, satisfying collection (gathering issues #16-20 of the monthly Cable comicbook from July-November 2009) will surely attestâ€¦

From the start Hope had implacable foes hunting her. The most resourceful was another time-tossed former X-Man, Lucas Bishop, who was convinced the child would cause the diabolically dystopian alternate reality he originated in. To prevent such horror ever occurring, Bishop determined to kill her before she could become a mutant anti-Christ and not even Cable’s frequent temporal relocations would deter himâ€¦

With the entire time-busting saga scripted by Duane Swierczynski, the action here begins with the 2-part ‘Too Late for Tears’ – illustrated by legendary comics icon Paul Gulacy – as Cable and nine-year-old Hope prepare to again jump into the safely camouflaging corridors of chronality after a particularly contentious battle.

However, the increasingly rebellious girl strikes out at her protector during a fateful moment and the time-shift goes wrongâ€¦

Hope materialises in the same post-apocalyptic location but two years earlier in time and, with no further information to go on, endeavours to make herself secure until Cable finds her. Stuck in her future, Cable patiently waits for her to â€œcatch upâ€ but his techno-viral contagion flares up and threatens to end his appalling life before she gets thenâ€¦

And 127 years prior to Cable’s latest crisis Bishop activates his own time-machine and remorselessly continues his pursuit of Hopeâ€¦

Stuck, but not without resources, the girl explores a dying Earth where only two warring cities are still inhabited. Soon she is approached by a young boy named Emil who is instantly smitten by the lethally self-sufficient waifâ€¦

Just as Cable forces back his latest bout of all-consuming transmogrification by invasive code, Bishop arrives and a deadly destructive but ultimately inconclusive battle breaks out. The follower’s plan is obsessively simple: as soon as he sees Hope he will end her by detonating a nuclear device inside his body.

But she isn’t with Cable any longerâ€¦

In another era, Emil has gradually broken Hope’s wall of distrust but, just as she feels she can finally relax, the girl discovers that the revered spiritual head of the boy’s band of survivors is her very familiar foe. The â€œArch-Bishopâ€ has been so patiently waiting for his time-bending bÃªte-noir to resurfaceâ€¦

The seemingly benevolent holy man has no problems wiping out his entire flock to finish her for good but Hope perpetually avoids him and Bishop just can’t trigger the nuke until he’s absolutely certain.

And two long years later, Cable moves into one of the two cities, makings plans, winning allies and waiting, waiting, waitingâ€¦

When at last 11-year old Hope is reunited with Cable, it’s as both cities are on the verge of mutual destruction and the mutant has no time for her protests. He has spent his time constructing a working space ship and after forcibly dragging his furious charge aboard takes off for the safety of space leaving a heartbroken Emil behind. Happily for the lovesick lad the wonderful Archbishop can also construct star-craft. Very soon they will all be reunitedâ€¦

Artists Gabriel Guzman & Mariano Taibo take over for the eerie alien encounter ‘Brood’ beginning with ‘Bishop Takes Pawn’ wherein Bishop and Emil lead their people into a final battle with Cable’s ship and crew on the edges of the solar system. Thankfully the boy finds Hope before the mutant hunter does and she convinces her long-lost paramour of the deranged cleric’s true intentions before falling to Bishop’s murderous rage.

With nuclear obliteration seconds away events overtake all the manic participants as both ships – locked together in the vacuum of deep space – are invaded by creatures even more ferociously dangerousâ€¦

The Brood are ghastly alien parasites and rapacious intelligent body-stealers who lay eggs in hosts and use the victims’ genetic material to augment their unborn generations. For uncounted centuries they have greedily hungered for the exceptional advantages gained by infecting mutants and metahumansâ€¦

In ‘Queen Takes Bishop’ the disgusting matriarch of the invading beasts specifically targets Hope as her overwhelming spawn decimate the last remnants of humanity aboard both ships. However, the little lass has met Brood before and knows just how to deal with them. Elsewhere Bishop and Cable also manage to survive the appalling assault, both obsessed with finding Hope for their drastically opposing reasonsâ€¦

As an entire space fleet of the noxious beasts zero in on the last humans alive, Bishop utterly succumbs to his obsession by allying himself with the Brood Queen to ensure the final fate of Hope, but has completely underestimated the child’s resiliency, Cable’s compulsive dutiful determination, and the unmatchable power of young love in the blazing conclusion ‘Checkmate’â€¦

Time-travel tales often disappoint and frequently make people’s heads hurt, but this bombastic romp (augmented by covers and variants by Dave Wilkins & Rob Liefeld) manages to always stick to the point, offering sly tributes – and some not so much – to Les Miserables and Alien whilst following the pain-wracked consumption of Cable by of his own non-fleshly invaders through a clever and poignant Fights ‘n’ Tights sci fi horror drama that will impress and delight older fans of the genre(s).

December 30, 2012December 27, 2012

Golden Age Spectre Archives volume 1

By Jerry Siegel & Bernard Baily with various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-955-3

The Spectre is one of the oldest characters in DC’s vast stable of characters, created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily in 1940 and debuting with a 2-part origin epic in More Fun Comics #52 and 53 where he was the first superhero to star in the previously all-genres adventure anthology. For a few years the Ghostly Guardian reigned supreme in the title with flamboyant and eerily eccentric supernatural thrillers, but gradually slipped from popularity as firstly Dr. Fate and successively Johnny Quick, Aquaman, Green Arrow and finally Superboy turned up to steal the show. By the time of his last appearance the Spectre had been reduced to a foil for his own comedic sidekick Percival Popp, the Super-Copâ€¦

Just like Siegel’s other iconic creation, the Dark Man suffered from a basic design flaw: he was just too darn powerful. Unlike the vigorously vital and earthy early Superman however, the ethereal champion of justice was already dead, so he couldn’t be logically or dramatically imperilled. Of course in those far-off early days that wasn’t nearly as important as sheer spectacle: grabbing the reader’s utter attention and keeping it stoked to a fantastic fever pitch. This the Grim Ghost could do with ease and always-increasing intensity.

Re-presenting the first 19 eerie episodes and following a fulsome Foreword from pre-eminent Comics historian Dr. Jerry Bails, detailing the state of play within the budding marketplace during those last months of the 1930s, the arcane action commences in this stunning full-colour deluxe hardback with ‘The Spectre: Introduction’ from More Fun Comics #52 (February 1940).

This wasn’t the actual title: like so many strips of those early days, most stories didn’t have individual titles and many have been only retroactively designated for collections such as this.

The Ghostly Guardian was only barely glimpsed in this initial instalment. Instead the action rested upon Jim Corrigan, a hard-bitten police detective, who was about to marry rich heiress Clarice Winston when they were abducted by mobster Gat Benson. Stuffed into a barrel of cement and pitched off a pier, Corrigan died and went to his eternal reward. Almostâ€¦

Rather than finding Paradise and peace, Corrigan’s spirit was accosted by a glowing light and disembodied voice which, over his strident protests, ordered him return to Earth to fight crime and evil until all vestiges of them were goneâ€¦

Standing on the seabed and looking at his own corpse, Corrigan began his mission by going after his own killersâ€¦

In #53 ‘The Spectre Strikes’ found the furious revenant swiftly, mercilessly and horrifically ending his murderers and saving Clarice, before calling off the engagement and moving out of the digs he shared with fellow cop and best friend Wayne Grant. After all, a cold, dead man has no need for the livingâ€¦

The origin ends with Corrigan implausibly sewing himself a green and white costume and swearing to eradicate all crimeâ€¦

Splendidly daft, this two-part yarn is one of the darkest and most memorable origins in comicbook history and the feature only got better with each issue as the bitter, increasingly isolated lawman swiftly grew into most overwhelmingly powerful hero of the Golden Age.

In MFC #54 the Supernatural Sentinel tackled ‘The Spiritualist’, a murderous medium and unscrupulous charlatan who almost killed Clarice and forever ended the Spectre’s hopes for eternal rest, after which #55 introduced ‘Zor’: a ghost of far greater vintage and power, dedicated to promulgating evil on Earth. He too menaced Clarice and only the intervention of the Heavenly Voice and a quick upgrade in phantasmal power enabled The Spectre to overcome the malign menace.

More Fun Comics #56 was the first to feature Howard Sherman’s Dr. Fate on the cover but the Spectre was still the big attraction even ifÂ the merely mundane bandits and blackmailers instigating ‘Terror at Lytell’s’ were no match for the ever-inventive wrathful wraith. Far more serious was ‘The Return of Zor’ in #57, as the horrific haunt returned from beyond to frame Corrigan for murder and again endanger the girl Jim dared not loveâ€¦

An embezzler turned to murder as ‘The Arsonist’ in #58, but was no match for the cop – let alone his eldritch alter ego – whilst ‘The Fur Hi-Jackers’ actually succeeded in killing the cop yet were still brought to the Spectre’s unique brand of justice.

In #60 ‘The Menace of Xnon’ found a super-scientist using incredible inventions to frame the ghost and even menace his ethereal existence, prompting The Voice to again increase its servant’s power – this time by giving The Spectre the all-powerful Ring of Life – but not before the Ghostly Guardian had been branded Public Enemy No. 1.

With Corrigan now ordered to arrest his spectral other self on sight, #61 (another Dr. Fate cover) featured ‘The Golden Curse Deaths’ wherein prominent citizens were dying from a scientific terror with a deadly Midas Touch, after which ‘The Mad Creation of Professor Fenton’ pitted the Phantom Protector against a roving, ravaging disembodied mutant super-brainâ€¦

In #63 a kill-crazy racketeer got his just deserts in the electric chair only to return and personally execute ‘Trigger Daniels’ Death Curse’ on all who had opposed him in life. Happily The Spectre proved to be more than his match but ‘The Ghost of Elmer Watson’ was a far harder foe to face. Murdered by mobsters who had also nearly killed Corrigan’s only friend Wayne Grant, the remnant of the vengeful dead man refused to listen to The Spectre’s brand of reason and its dreadful depredations had to be dealt with in fearsome fashionâ€¦

‘Dr. Mephisto’ was a spiritualist who utilised an uncanny blue flame for crime in #65, after which the Ghostly Guardian battled horrendous monsters called forth from ‘The World Within the Paintings’ probably written by the series’ first guest writer – Gardner Fox – before Siegel returned with ‘The Incredible Robberies’ which found the phantom policeman battling deadly mystic Deeja Kathoon to the death and beyondâ€¦

With MFC #68 The Spectre finally lost his protracted cover battle to Dr. Fate even though, inside, the ‘Menace of the Dark Planet’ featured a fabulously telling tale of Earthbound Spirit against alien invasion by life-leeching Little Green Men, before in #69 ‘The Strangler’ murders led Corrigan into an improbable case with an impossible killerâ€¦

This first fearful tome terminates with issue #70 and ‘The Crimson Circle Mystery Society’ in which a sinister cult employed a merciless phantasmal psychic agent named Bandar to carry out its deadly schemesâ€¦

Still a mighty force of fun and fearful entertainment, The Spectre’s Glory Days – and Nights â€“ were waning and more credible champions were coming to the fore. He would be one of the first casualties of the post-War decline in mystery men and not be seen again until the Silver Age 1960’sâ€¦

Moreover, when he did return to comics, the previously omnipotent ghost was given strict limits and as he continued to evolve through various returns, refits and reboots The Spectre was finally transmogrified into a tormented mortal soul bonded inescapably to the actual embodiment of the biblical Wrath of God. Revamped and revived in perpetuity, revealed to be the Spirit of Vengeance wedded to a human conscience, Jim Corrigan was finally laid to rest in the 1990s and Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan replaced him. Returning to basics in recent years, the latest host is murdered Gotham City cop Crispus Allen.

They’re all worth tracking down and exhuming: spooky comic champions who have never failed to deliver an enthralling, haunted hero rollercoaster â€“ or is that Ghost Train? â€“ of thrills and chills.
Â© 1940, 1941, 2003 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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