Now Read This!

August 19, 2012August 18, 2012

Bone book 2: Chase that Cow

By Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books)
ISBN: 978-0-96366-9-095-4

Jeff Smith burst out of relative obscurity in 1991 and changed the comics-reading landscape with his enchanting all-ages comic-book Bone. The compelling black and white saga captivated the market and prospered at a time when an endless procession of angst-ridden, steroid-breathed super-vigilantes and implausibly clad â€œBad-Grrlsâ€ came and went with machine-gun rapidity.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Ohio, Smith avidly absorbed the works of Carl Barks, Charles Schultz and especially Walt Kelly from an early age, and purportedly first began producing the adventures of his Boneville creations at age ten.

Whilst attending Ohio State University he created a prototype strip for the College newspaper: ‘Thorn’ was another early incarnation of his personal universe and a valuable proving ground for many characters that would eventually appear in Bone. A high school classmate became a Disney animator and Smith subsequently gravitated to the field before striking out on his own, having mastered the graceful gentle slapstick timing and high finish style which typifies his art style.

He founded Cartoon Books to self-publish 55 delightful black and white issues: a fantasy-quest yarn that owed as much to Tex Avery as J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as his personal holy trinity, Barks, Schultz & Kelly. The thrilling and fantastically funny saga progressed at its own unique pace between 1991 and 2004 and since then has been collected into nine volumes from Cartoon Books (with two further collections of prequels and side tales), reissued in colour by Scholastic Books and even reprinted in Disney Adventures magazine.

At series’ end, Smith issued a monumental one volume compilation (more than 1300 black and white pages) which Time magazine dubbed â€œthe best all-ages graphic novel yet publishedâ€ and one of the â€œTop Ten Graphic Novels of All Time.â€

Smith has won many awards including 11 Harveys and 10 Eisners. In 2011, a spectacular 20^th anniversary full-colour edition of the Brobdingnagian single volume was released, stuffed with extras and premiums. If you’ve got the dough, that’s the book to shoot forâ€¦

As you can see there are plenty of versions to opt for but – purist that I am – I’ve plumped for the original Cartoon Books collection where the action commences in Out of Boneville, which re-presents the first six episodes.

Fone Bone is a strange, amorphous, yet affably decent little guy, a thematic blend of Mickey Mouse and Asterix who had been run out of the town of Boneville along with his tall and not-so-bright cousin Smiley Bone. Well to be exact they weren’t, but their dastardly, swindling cousin Phoncible P. â€œPhoneyâ€ Bone was, due to the sort of financial and political irregularities, misdemeanours and malfeasances that bring down presidents – and he only was running for Mayor at the timeâ€¦

After an incredibly journey the trio were separated and ended up in Lost Valley: an oasis of pastoral beauty hidden from the rest of the world. Along the way Bone was adopted by a dragon he doesn’t believe in, stalked by ghastly rat monsters and befriended by a talking leaf-insect (like a stick insect but flat, not long – and very, very chatty) called Ted.

After a harsh winter living wild in the deep forest he met the beauteous and oddly compelling human girl Thorn. It was Crush-at-First-Sight and he happily accepted an offer to stay with her and grandmother Rose Ben until he could find his lost cousins. He soon came to regret it when Phoney finally turned up and started his old tricks againâ€¦

Phoney’s insatiable drive to steal, cheat and fake a buck made life pretty uncomfortable for the besotted Fone Bone, but real trouble was actually brewing in the deep woods where an ancient evil had awoken, driving the stupid, stupid rat creatures who infested the place into a frenzy.

An incredibly old, cold war was heating up again and for the humans of nearby Barrelhaven village the stakes couldn’t be higher. The dark creatures and night-haunts were waiting for the advent of their prophesied one – a small bald creature with a star on its chest – remarkably similar to the one on Phoney’s shirtâ€¦

When the assembled horror-hordes attacked the cottage their putative chosen one was long goneâ€¦

Phoney had scented money and moved to the hamlet in search of easy marks and, as Thorn and Fone raced to warn the villagers that the beasts had risen, Gran’ma stayed behind to battle the rat things. When Bone’s â€œimaginaryâ€ dragon rescued the fleeing pair, they retraced their frantic steps to find the feisty old biddy had survived and overcome her attackers. Moreover, Rosie and the Dragon were old acquaintancesâ€¦

As the Dragon returned to the deep woods the humans (and Bone) leave the wrecked cottage and relocate to Barrelhaven, where they find Smiley has been all along, serving drinks in the local tavern. Phoney is there too – working off a tremendous bar-tab and looking to make some easy, preferably illicit cashâ€¦

This second stunning compilation collects issues #7-12 of the comicbook and also includes the contentsÂ of premium special Wizard Presents Bone #13Â½; opening with Thorn and Fone enjoying the bucolic delights of ‘The Spring Fair’.

Our diminutive love-struck hero is in heaven as he strolls with the oblivious Thorn but when her attention is diverted by hunky young travelling honey-seller Tom, Bone gets into a fight with the peddler and the girl, before storming off to find his own sticky treat by raiding a wild bee’s nest in the forest – with calamitous and hilariously painful results.

Phoney meanwhile is planning to fleece the villagers with a betting scam. For years the uncannily robust and unbeatable Gran’Ma has won the annual Great Cow Race (which seemingly consists of stampeding a herd and outrunning them to a finish line) and the riotous event has become her very own yearly moment of glory.

Now the wily rogue and his gullible patsy Smiley are taking bets against her, whilst disseminating disinformation that she is ailing and past her prime. All the smart money – chickens, goats, sheep etc. – is on a dark horse â€œMystery Cowâ€â€¦

And with the entire village constantly asking about her health, old Rose begins to worry and doubt herselfâ€¦

‘The Map’ finds Phoney’s betting booth doing a roaring trade with all bets on the as yet unseen Mystery Cow, when the battered, bruised and mightily stung Bone comes by. Appalled to see his cousin up to his old tricks, the honey-dipped hero confronts Phoney and discovers the whole plan: even though the entire village has put all their valuables on the outsider, Gran’Ma will easily win the Great Race since the enigmatic bovine challenger will be Smiley in a cow suitâ€¦

Thorn is dreaming, seeing again a time past when mysterious cloaked figures and dragons met in a cave and considered the inevitable return of a dark and deadly menace. Sharing the dream with Bone she remembers an old chart Bone found in the Great Desert and which first led him to safety in the valley … a map she drew whilst a toddler in that cave of dragonsâ€¦

‘The Mystery Cow’ opens on the day of the race, and tension in Barrelhaven is at a sullen fever pitch. Rose’s confidence is still fragile though and tavern owner Lucius – who is sweet on her – finally accedes to Phoney’s constant haranguing and agrees to bet the entire business on the race. The rest of the punters are nervous though. They’ve wagered all their worldly goods against Gran’Ma on a critter no one has ever seen and Lucius suggests that maybe they should check on itâ€¦

Given a noon deadline to produce the unbeatable cow for the town’s perusal, duplicitous, greedy Phoney is starting to see some flaws in his infallible plan and Thorn too gets a moment of cold realisation when Tom blows her off for a more pliable companionâ€¦

Downhearted, Bone has retired to the woods to read Moby Dick, but after a heart-to-heart with Ted, determines to bare his soul to Thorn in a love poem.

His mood is soon lost though when a couple of Rat Creatures turn up, wondering aloud if he is fair game or the â€œSmall Mammalâ€ they aren’t allowed to eat as elsewhere, with noon approaching, Phoney pulls a bold stunt and again fools the oafish villagers with the crazed, unbeatable ferocity of his Mystery Cowâ€¦

‘The Great Cow Race’ is about to start and udder-draped Smiley has his instructions to finish behind Gran’Ma, but Phoney’s greed gets the better of him when he circles back to his booth to find Lucius at last ready to bet the bar. Unfortunately the doughty old buzzard wants to place it on Rose to win – and the odds are now 100 to 1â€¦

With vivid memories of his last tar-and-feathering, the bovine bookmaker hurtles to intercept Smiley and tell him to win at all costs and as the herd thunders by with Rose in the lead, Bone appears, running his own desperate race. At his milky heels are the two starving and stupid, stupid Rat Creatures.

Sadly where there are a couple, inevitably the entire ravenous horde soon follows – and they do, perfectly and painfully intermingling with the frantic racers just as the finish line comes into sightâ€¦

‘Retribution’ opens with the victorious Gran’Ma, Lucius and Thorn riding a cartload of building supplies back to their devastated cottage. Hidden in the back are the Bone cousins, Phoney only gradually recovering from the rough-and-ready justice he has received from the incensed villagers.

With Smiley teasing Bone about the dragon only he has seen it’s a slow and anxious journey through the dark woods, since the Rat Creatures all vanished into the forest after the race melee ended. Indeed many ancient eyes, both friendly and inimically hostile, are following the party’s progressâ€¦

As the two starving rat things who started the debacle lay low and uproariously consider the upside of quiche as opposed to raw flesh, the repair squad arrives at the cottage and begins work, whilst in the background Lucius and Rose discuss the real importance of what’s been happening, especially for Thornâ€¦

Following a delightful poetic frolic from Bone’s frisky friends the possum kids, the book ends on a funny if foreboding note as the bombastic Lucius and ham-fisted, half-witted Smiley learn a little more about each other whilst painfully rebuilding Gran’Ma’s house ‘Up on the Roof’â€¦

I’ve talked a lot about the influences that informed this wonderful series and there’s one more that cannot be ignored: if you squint your eyes just right you can see the charm-adjacent convolutions of Bill Watterson’s Calvin (see The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. No, really. Do. It’s utterly wonderful and so are all the other collections) sneaking in to further flavour this astounding, raucous, beguiling, child-friendly extravaganzaâ€¦

Bone is a truly perfect comic tale and one that appeals to kids and adults equally. Already it is in the rarefied rank starring Tintin, Pogo, Rupert Bear, Little Nemo and the aforementioned and cherished works of Schultz, Kelly and Barks. It is only a matter of time before it breaks out of the comic club completely and becomes kin to the likes of Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, the Moomins and Oz.

If you have kids or can still think and feel like one you must have these booksâ€¦

August 18, 2012August 16, 2012

Star Comics All-Star Collection

By Lennie Herman, Sid Jacobson, Stan Kay, Bob Bolling, Warren Kremer, Howard Post & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4291-1

Once upon a time the American comicbook industry for younger readers was totally dominated by Gold Key with their TV and Disney licenses, and Harvey Comics who had switched from general genres to a wholesome, kid-friendly pantheon in the mid-1950s. They owned the pre-school sector until declining morals, television cartoon saturation and rising print costs finally forced them to bow out.

Gold Key suffered a slow erosion, gradually losing valuable major properties such as Popeye, Star Trek, assorted Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers cartoon stars and other treasures until parent company Western Publishing called it a day in 1984, whilst Harvey shut up shop in 1982 when company founder Alfred Harvey retired.

The latter’s vast archived artwork store was sold off and, with the properties and rights up for grabs, Marvel Comics (who had already secured those lost Star Trek and Hanna-Barbera rights) was frontrunner for licensing the family firm’s iconic characters, which included Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Sad Sack, Hot Stuff – the Little Devil, Wendy the Good Little Witch and many others.

When the bid failed, Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, knowing there was now a huge gap in the market, launched a cloned imprint of the Harvey stable (which would also encompass new TV and toy properties such as Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies and Fraggle Rock, Alf, Madballs, Care Bears, Thundercats, Ewoks and such like) to generate the next generation of worthy entry-level comics for entertainment-hungry young minds and concerned parents.

Marvel’s Star Comics line launched in 1985, edited by ex-Harvey head-honcho Sid Jacobson, with oddly familiar titles and an incontestably similar look and feel – achieved primarily by hiring unemployed Harvey stalwarts such as Jacobson, Lennie Herman, Warren Kremer, Howard Post and others. Millionaire prince and all-around good kid Royal Roy especially invoked the ire of the Harvey heirs who sued for copyright infringement of their astonishingly prolific Richie Rich who shone in more than 55 separate titles between his debut in 1953 and the bust of 1982.

Roy was cancelled after 6 issues – as were many Star series – in a brutal â€œSurvival of the Funnestâ€ publishing policy – and the suit was quietly dropped.

None of which affects the fact that those Eighties child stars were, in their own right, a superb agglomeration of all-ages fun, excitement and adventure happily recycled in this oversized digest collection from 2009.

This first volume collects that first wave of title introducing Planet Terry #1-2, Top Dog #1-3, Royal Roy #1-2 and Wally the Wizard #1-2 in a veritable nova of bubbly contagious thrills and frolics, opening with a star who was just a little lost boy in spaceâ€¦

Planet Terry was created by Lennie Herman (who passed away just before the big Star Comics launch) and the truly magnificent Warren Kremer – whose animation-based art style became the defining look of Harvey Comics during its happy heyday – and featured a young lad searching the universe for the parents he had never known.

Introduced in ‘The Search’ (Herman, Kremer & Vince Colletta), Planet Terry was something of a nuisance, periodically landing on alien worlds, pestering the inhabitants and asking â€œHas anyone seen my mother and father?â€ Found wandering in a life-pod which raised and educated him, the only clues Terry has to his past is a name bracelet and an empty picture frameâ€¦

However this time when he returns to the obnoxious planet Bznko Terry accidentally drives off a menace that bores folks to death with bad jokes and the inhabitants give him a junked lady robot as a reward. This proves to be a blessing in disguise as Robota inadvertently leads the lonely lad to ‘A Clue’ when they crash-land on a mining asteroid and meet aged Enoch Diggs who recognises the life-pod the infant Terry was found inâ€¦

‘Some Answers’ are forthcoming as the prospector reveals he once worked on a Confederation Cosmos Cruiser called the Space Warp where the captain’s wife was going to have a baby. Needing a sterile environment for the newborn infant, the crew placed him in the emergency life-boat, but his jubilant father accidentally triggered it whilst celebrating his son’s birth and the baby was rocketed into deep space.

Although they searched everywhere the heartbroken spacemen never located the pod and assumed Terry was lost foreverâ€¦

Although Enoch can’t remember the names of Terry’s parents he suggests that another old crewman might and the re-energised searchers rush to another asteroid to find him, but instead encounter ‘The Malt Shop Menace’ and recruit another voyager when Robota saves the brutish monster Omnus who gratefully joins their decidedly odd family. Little do they know that a sinister conspiracy is at work to keep the whereabouts and secret of the Space Warp lost foreverâ€¦

Issue #2 continues the quest as the family of outcasts encounter sabotage and opposition before landing their freshly repaired ship on the lost world of the Gorkels where the trio clumsily fulfil an ancient prophecy in ‘The Saga of Princess Ugly’ by Herman, Kremer & Jon D’Agostino.

In return for repairing Terry’s downed vessel, he, Robota and Omnus must rescue the kidnapped Princess battling hostile jungles, shape-shifting beasts, killer vines, a whirlpool and a volcano – all controlled by arch-villain Vermin the Vile in ‘Too Close (enough) for Comfort’ before saving the girl from ‘The Doom of the Domed City’ and discovering the final resting place of the elusive Space Warpâ€¦

Royal Roy debuted on his birthday in ‘The Mystery of the Missing Crown’ by Herman, Kremer & D’Agostino as the Prince of wealthy Ruritanian Cashalot discovers that the traditional, venerable Royal Highness Crown has gone missing on the day of his investiture. Whilst King Regal and Queen Regalia panic, super-cool bodyguard Ascot diligently investigates, and assorted resplendent relatives dither and interfere, Roy and his pet crocodile Gummy keep their heads by ‘Picking up the Scent’ and soon uncover a supernatural agency at work after ‘A Midnight Visit’ by ghostly ancestor William the Warhorseâ€¦ Topping off the first issue was a snappy, snazzy short fun yarn starring the reptilian Gummy in ‘Crocadog’.

‘The Grand Ball’, scripted by Stan Kay, occupied most of Roy’s attention in the second issue as the underage but still eligible Prince took a fancy to simple commoner Crystal Clear whilst ambitious and mean social climber Lorna Loot spent all her time and considerable cash unsuccessfully attempting to beguile the boy by turning herself into a modern-day Cinderella in ‘A Strange Stranger’â€¦

‘Maneuvers!’ saw Roy fulfil his hereditary duties by joining the Cashalot army on dawn exercises, but as ruler-in-waiting of a rich and peaceful nation, the plucky lad wasn’t too surprised to find that the entire armed forces consisted of one reluctant prince and a keen but aging generalâ€¦

Top Dog featured a far more contemporary and normal situation, depicting the lives of average American boy Joey Jordan and the mutt he brought home one day. ‘The Dog-Gone Beginning’ by Herman, Kremer & Jacqueline Roettcher, revealed how, whilst looking for a lost baseball, the kid had accidentally observed a dog reading the newspaper and talking to himself.Â Exposed, the canny canine begged the boy to keep his secret or all the four-footed wonder could expect was a short and painful life being poked, prodded and probed by scientistsâ€¦

When the lad promises to keep his secret Top Dog agrees to come live with Joey in ‘House About a Dog, Mom?’, and whilst the boy tries to teach the pooch to bark – one of the few languages he can’t speak! – his accommodating family gradually get used to the seemingly normal dog and his boy.

However when Mervin Megabucks – the richest and meanest kid in town – overhears the pair playing and conversing, the spoiled brat refuses to believe Joey is a ventriloquist. When the junior Jordan refuses to sell, Mervin steals Top Dog as the perfect addition to his palatial high-tech house.

Even torture won’t make the purloined pooch speak again however, and when Joey stages ‘The Big Breakout’ Mervin’s mega-robots prove no match for dogged determination and the plutocrat brat is left baffled, bamboozled and dog-lessâ€¦

Issue #2 exposed ‘Spies!’ when the restless dog of a thousand talents appeared to harbour a dark side. Going out on nightly jaunts, the marvellous mutt seemingly led a double life as a security guard in a Defence Plant, triple-crossing everybody by photographing military secrets for a foreign power. Of course it was really a diminutive enemy agent in a dog suit but Vladimir‘s handlers hadn’t reckoned on a real dog looking – and speaking – just like their hairy operative and they accidentally gave their purloined plans to the chatty all-American canineâ€¦

After spectacularly trapping the sinister spies without revealing his own incredible intelligence, Top Dog was framed in #3 by Joey’s best friend Larry who was feeling rejected and neglected since the Brilliant Bow-wow moved in.

With a feral hound dubbed ‘The Mad Biter’ on the prowl and attacking people it was simple to send the perspicacious pup to the Pound, where he encounters lots of bad dogs who probably deserve to be ‘Caged’, but faithful Joey hasn’t given up and after bailing his canine comrade out, the pair convinceÂ the guilt-ridden perjurer to see the light by treating him to an impromptu midnight ‘Ghost Story’â€¦

Even with Larry recanting his lies the neighbourhood families don’t trust Top Dog, but that all changes once the maligned mutt tracks down the real Biter and engages him in ‘A Fight to the Finish’â€¦

The final initial entry was written and illustrated by veteran Archie Comics artist Bob Bolling (probably most famous for creating and producing the first eight years’ worth of the award-winning Little Archie spin-off series), who concocted a fabulous medieval wonderland for Wally the Wizard to play in.

In #1’s ‘A Plague of Locust’ Merlin’s older, smarter brother Marlin is having trouble with his stubbornly inquisitive apprentice. Wally wants to know everything now, has no discipline and is full of foolish ideas and misconceptions. As a scientist, Marlin has no time for silly superstitions and when the lad accidentally releases a time-travelling demon from an age-old prison the mage refuses to believe him.

Gorg however swears faithfully to repay the favour before disappearingâ€¦

Despatched to deliver a potion to King Kodger, Wally also helps a dragon save his hatchling from a deep well, only just reaches the sovereign in time and has a feed on the Royal Barge where he again fails to impress the beauteous Princess Penelopeâ€¦

Meanwhile in distant Bloodmire Castle wicked plotters Vastar the Vile, his sister Sybilious the Bilious and wicked warlock Erasmo are conspiring to conquer the kingdom by unleashing a gigantic metal locust to consume all in its pathâ€¦

Even the noble knights led by invincible Sir Flauntaroy are helpless before the brazen beast and Wally realises only Marlin can save them. Unfortunately the boy gets lost on route but happily for everybody the dragon and demon which the sorcerer doesn’t believe in are ready to pay their debts to the apprenticeâ€¦

Sid Jacobson, Howard Post & Jon D’Agostino took over for the second issue as Wally enters the annual apprentice’s games with Marlin now suddenly transformed into a traditional magic-making mage. In fact Marlin, as a three-time champion of ‘The Magic-a-Thon!’ is secretly regretful that Wally is too inexperienced to compete, a fact his disciple discerns and tries to fixâ€¦

Desperately cramming for a week and eventually with the coaching of his proud master, Wally sets off to compete but a lovelorn barbarian accidentally cleaves the kid’s crib notes in twain, leaving the lad able to create only half-spells and materialise semi-monstersâ€¦

Undaunted Wally continues and – even after a huge storm deprives him of the demi-directions and his back-up pouch of herbs and potions – perseveres, determined to win using nothing but his wits, guts and unflagging optimismâ€¦

This clutch of classic children’s tales also includes the enchanting covers and the original house-ads that introduced the characters to the Kids in America and nearly three decades later is still a fabulous hit of intoxicating wonder and entertainment which readers of all ages cannot fail to loveâ€¦

With contemporary children’s comics all but extinct these days, it’s lucky we have such timeless classics to draw upon and draw kids in with, and compilations like this one belong on the shelves of every funnybook-loving parent and even those lonely couples with only a confirmed twinkle in their eyesâ€¦
Â© 1985 and 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

August 17, 2012August 14, 2012

Wolverine/Hercules: Myths Monsters & Mutants

By Frank Teiri, Juan Roman Cano Santacruz with Mary Jo Duffy, Ken Landgraf & George PÃ©rez (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4110-5

Ever since his glory days in the All–New, All Different X-Men, the mutant berserker known variously as Wolverine, Logan and latterly James Howlett has been a fan-favourite who appealed to the suppressed, put-upon, catharsis-craving comic fan by perpetually promising to cut loose and give bad guys the kind of final punishment we all know they deserve.

Always skirting the line between and blurring the definitions of indomitable hero and maniac murderer, Wolverine soldiered on, a tragic, brutal, misunderstood hero cloaked in mysteries and contradictions until society changed and, like ethically-challenged colleague the Punisher, final sanction and quick dispatch became acceptable and even preferred options for costumed crusaders.

Debuting as a foe for the Incredible Hulk in a tantalising teaser-glimpse at the end of issue #180 (October 1974) before indulging in a full-on scrap with the Green Goliath in the next issue, the semi-feral Canadian mutant with fearsome claws and killer attitude rode – and possibly caused – the meteoric rise of the reconstructed and rebooted X-Men before gaining his own series, super-star status and silver screen immortality.

He hasn’t looked back since.Â Short and feisty, Logan has always promised an explosion of visceral, vicarious ultra-violence and grim, gritty justice at every moment and in this slim and superb collection (gathering the 4-issue miniseries Wolverine/Hercules: Myths Monsters & Mutants from 2011 plus an earlier encounter from Marvel Treasury Edition #26, 1980), the panting public once again gets what it’s never stopped clamouring forâ€¦

Logan’s come a long way since then; barely surviving chronic over-exposure in the process but now a solid star of the Marvel firmament. However that status is not without its own peculiar pitfalls, as such A-List players constantly find themselves wrapped up in improbable team-ups â€¦

Himself no stranger to spectacular squabbles with the Jade Juggernaut, the 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 easy-going but easily-riled Hellenic Prince of Power in the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby landmark ‘When Titans Clash! Thor vs. Hercules!’

Since then the 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 tales of the â€œGood Old Daysâ€â€¦

Scripted by Frank Tieri and deliciously depicted by Juan Roman Cano Santacruz, the saga starts with just such a reminiscence as the Lion of Olympus reveals how he avoided Zeus’ prohibition to not get involved in World War II by impersonating the Sub-Mariner in 1940’s Paris to fellow booze-hound Wolverine, who tops the tall tale by revealing that he was there too – albeit on a much darker missionâ€¦

Since their first official meeting (reprinted at the back of his book), the pair have become occasional drinking buddies: just two feisty fighting guys who love girls and cannot dieâ€¦

The mood switches as Wolverine realises he will one day bury all his friends, and he remembers an appointmentâ€¦

Years previously Ninja Master Matsu’o Tsurayaba murdered Logan’s true love Mariko, and ever since on the anniversary Wolverine has hunted him down and lopped off another piece of the Assassin-lord’s body. Now the time has come again and the weary mutant has decided to finish the punishment once and for all.

The once-supreme ruler of The Hand has fallen on hard times, with the organisation ostracising and shunning him, except for his most devoted personal guards. With the always ready Hercules in tow, Wolverine sets off on his-self-appointed mission, ploughing through the hapless ninja hordes like chaff, but this year the rules have been surreptitiously changed on the bereft berserker since the outcast Tsurayaba, now more machine than man, has been visited by supernatural entities offering the bargain of a lifetimeâ€¦

Achelous is the bull headed Grecian god of rivers and his master the immortal – if bodiless – Eurytheus, beheaded by Hercules in pre-history but hungrier than ever for revenge. The perfidious pair are seeking an ally to unearth all their Weapons of Mythical Destruction as they prepare to unleash all the pent-up horrors of Hellenic hell on the Prince of Power, and aren’t too mean to share if it means the destruction of Wolverine and all the other superheroes who have replaced the gods and usurped the rightful worship of mortalsâ€¦

The first revived are the Nemean Lion and the Minotaur but they only make short work for the hard-hitting heroes, unlike the ninja-clad gorgon Medusa who promptly turns Wolverine to stoneâ€¦

Cunningly recruiting the most unexpected ally of all, Hercules soon cures his diminutive ally and the chase is on to stop the plotters and save the world from a terrifying return to the bad old daysâ€¦

Jam-packed with mighty monster mashing, sinister schemes and barbed one-liners, all while hilariously and continuously riffing off the Clash of the Titans movies (be honest, could you resist?), this magnificently tongue-in cheek action-romp still finds time and space to be chillingly dramatic, poignantly moving and even deliver a shocking twist or two. Moreover the entire epic carefully avoids the need for any detailed foreknowledge on the part of new readers.

Furious, frantic fun for one and all with the day saved, virtue triumphant and the wicked punished in the worst possible ways. Who could ask for more?

As I previously mentioned, the collection also includes the rarely seen and wonderfully light-hearted first furious clash between the off-duty, grouchy mutant Logan and the fun-loving, girl-chasing godling which originally appeared in Marvel Treasury Edition #26. ‘At the Sign of the Lion’ is by Mary Jo Duffy, Ken Landgraf and a young George PÃ©rez, and shows exactly why most pubs and bars reserve the right to refuse admission â€¦

As the pithy vignette is a thematic prelude to the main event here, even though it’s tucked incongruously away at the back, nobody will mind if you read it firstâ€¦
Â© 1980, 2011 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.

August 16, 2012August 15, 2012

Batman: KnightFall volume 1

By Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, Alan Grant, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Graham Nolan, Jim Balent, Bret Blevins, Klaus Janson, Mike Manley & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78116-094-7

The early 1990s were troubled times for the American comicbook industry with speculative collectors rather than fans driving the business. Many new companies had established themselves using attention-catching gimmicks augmented by new print technology and outright pandering to sex and violence and the tactics had worked, sparking a glossy, four-colour Gold-Rush amongst fans and, more importantly, previously disinterested outsiders.

With vapid ploys and fleeting trends fuelling mass-multiple purchases by buyers who were too scared to even open up the hundreds of polybagged, technologically-enhanced variant-covered issues they intended to pay for college and a condo with, the major publishers were driven to design boldly bonkers stunts just to keep the attention of their once-devoted readership. At least here, however, story-content still held some worth and valueâ€¦

In 1992 DC began their epic Death of Superman story-arc and clearly immediately afterward began preparing a similarly tradition-shaking, continuity-shattering epic for their other iconic household name property. Groundwork was already laid with the introduction of Jean-Paul Valley, a mild-mannered student utterly unaware that he had been programmed since birth by his father and an ancient warrior-cult to become an hereditary instrument of assassination (see Batman: Sword of Azrael) so all that was needed was to sort creative personnel and decide just how best to shake up the life of Gotham Guardianâ€¦

KnightFall and the subsequent KnightQuest and KnightsEnd, follow the tragic fall, replacement and inevitable return of Bruce Wayne as the indomitable, infallible Batman and was another, spectacular success from the old-guard which showed all the comicbook upstarts and Young Turks the true value of proper storytelling and the inescapable power of established characters, as the world was gripped by the Dark Knight’s horrific defeat at the hand’s of a superior foe.

The crossover publishing event impacted many comics outside the usual Batbook suspects, spawned a bunch of toys, three novelisations, many (necessarily incomplete) trade paperback collections and even jumped the pond to Britain’s staid BBC who turned it into a serialised audio-play on Radio Oneâ€¦

In 2012 DC finally began collecting the entire saga into three huge chronological compilations which, whilst still not truly complete, render the tale a far smoother readable experience for older fans and curious newcomersâ€¦

Batman: KnightFall volume 1, which could be best codified as and divided into ‘The Breaking of the Bat’ and ‘Who Rules the Night’, gathers the pertinent contents of Batman: Vengeance of Bane Special #1, Batman #491-500, Detective Comics #659-666, Showcase ’93 #7-8 & Batman: Shadow Of The Bat #16-18 – spanning January to October 1993 – and covers the most traumatic six months of Bruce Wayne’s adult life in instalments of a shared and progressing narrative alternating between Bat-titles.

What you won’t find out here: in the months preceding the start of KnightFall (roughly correlating to Batman issues #484-489 and Detective #654-658), a mysterious new criminal had covertly entered Gotham, discreetly observing the Caped Crimebuster at work as the hard-pressed hero tackled sinister crime-lord Black Mask, psycho-killer Metalhead and juvenile military genius The General, whilst foiling an assassination plot against Police Commissioner Jim Gordon.

On the edge of exhaustion, Wayne began seeing doctor and holistic therapist Shondra Kinsolving, whilst assigning Tim Drake – the third Robin – to training and monitoring Jean-Paul Valley, with the intention of turning the former Azrael‘s dark gifts to a beneficial purpose. Kinsolving was also treating Drake’s father, crippled after an attack by another of the City’s endless stream of criminal lunatics.

The cold observer Bane revealed himself and designed further tests for the depleted Dark Knight, challenging Batman for the right to rule Gotham, and manufacturing confrontations with Killer Croc and The Riddler, the latter augmented and driven crazy by a dose of deadly super-steroid Venomâ€¦

The action begins here with the origin of the challenger in ‘Vengeance of Bane’ by Chuck Dixon, Graham Nolan & Eduardo Barretto, wherein the hulking brute is fully revealed. Years ago on the Caribbean island of Santa Prisca, the ruling junta imprisoned the pregnant wife of a freedom fighter. When the baby was born he was sentenced in his father’s stead to life on the hellish prison rock of Pena Duro where he somehow thrived, touched by the horror and madness to become a terrifying, brilliant master of men.

Not merely surviving but educating himself and ultimately thriving on the hard medicine of life, the boy knew he had a destiny beyond those walls. Eventually he named himself Bane.

His only non-hostile contacts became his faithful lieutenants, Trogg, Zombie and the Americano Bird, whose tales of the Bat in Gotham City fired the eternal prisoner’s jealousy and imaginationâ€¦

Santa Prisca’s entire economy is based on drug smuggling and Bane’s moment came when one of his periodic rages crippled thirty inmates. After finally being subdued by an army of guards he was turned over to scientists testing a new iteration of the muscle and aggression-enhancing formulation Venom. The effects of the steroid had caused the death of all previous candidates, but Bane survived and the delighted technologists devised biological implants that would deliver doses of the drug directly into his brain, enabling him to swiftly multiply his strength and speed at the press of a buttonâ€¦

A plan formed and the patient faked his own death. Disposed of as trash, he returned, seizing the Venom supply, rescuing his comrades and indulging in a fearsome vengeance against his oppressors. Then he turned greedy eyes towards Gotham and the only rival he could imagineâ€¦

KnightFall proper begins after Bane’s challenge to the already on-the-ropes Gotham Gangbuster with Batman #491 as ‘The Freedom of Madness’ by Doug Moench & Jim Aparo sees the ambitious strategist steal National Guard armaments and use them to break free every insane super-criminal locked away in Arkham Asylum. Pushed almost beyond rationality, Batman orders Robin to stick with his mission to train and de-program Jean-Paul and sets out to recapture all his most dangerous enemies, whilst Bane sits back, watching and waitingâ€¦

Issue #492 sees the round-up start with the Mad Hatter in ‘Crossed Eyes and Dotty Teas’ (Moench & Norm Breyfogle) and proves that even Bane can make mistakes, for whilst Batman acts according to plan and scotches the Hatter’s main party, the Mad Cap Maniac has already despatched a mind-controlled Film Freak to track down their mysterious liberatorâ€¦

Detective Comics #659 opens with god-obsessed Maxie Zeus, innocuous Arnold Wesker and hyperthyroid brute Amygdala fleeing the broken Arkham in ‘Puppets’ (Dixon & Breyfogle) as Batman is called to the alley where the broken, lifeless body of Film Freak was found.

As The Ventriloquist, Wesker used the gangster doll Scarface to express his murderous schemes and with Amygdala now in tow has begun a lethal search to get back his old boss. The Dark Knight is obsessively locked on recapturing all his old enemies and ignores Robin’s pleas for rest and reason before tackling the hulking brute, but the confrontation does allow the cool-headed Boy Wonder to turn the tables on Bird, secretly following the Dynamic Duo for Bane.

However the Pena Duro inmate is too much for the apprentice adventurer and only Bane’s order stops Bird from killing the boy too soon. The chaos is building in Gotham and the master planner wants nothing to spoil his intricate schemesâ€¦

Moench & Breyfogle then contribute ‘Redslash’ in Batman #493 as knife-wielding maniac Victor Zsasz invades a girl’s school. The blood-soaked psycho marks each kill with a new scar on his own body and it’s been too long since his last, but by-the-book cop Lieutenant Stan Kitch‘s wait-and-see policy only results in two more deaths that Batman cannot scrub from his own over-worked conscience.

In the final confrontation patrolwoman Rene Montoya needs all her determination and utmost efforts to prevent the Dark Knight from beating Zsasz to deathâ€¦

The chaos growsâ€¦

When they last met, Bane nearly crippled Killer Croc and the diseased carnival freak goes looking for payback in Detective #660, but his ‘Crocodile Tears’ (by Dixon, Jim Balent & Scott Hanna) lead Robin, still craftily tracking Bird and Bane, into a deadly trap in the City’s sewers whilst Batman #494’s ‘Night Terrors’ (Moench, Aparo & Tom Mandrake) finally sees the re-emergence of the Joker, having fun his way whilst looking for a partner to play with.

A collapsed tunnel saves Robin, but Bruce Wayne seems hell-bent on self-destruction, unable to relax until the maniacs are back behind padded bars.

Ignoring all pleas from Alfred and Tim, he heads out into the night and narrowly prevents Jim Gordon’s murder at the hands of illusion-casting cannibal Cornelius Stirk, but is unaware that the Clown Prince has allied with the Scarecrow and kidnapped Gotham Mayor Armand Krolâ€¦

In Detective #661 the Arkham Alumni terrorise Krol, forcing him to sabotage the city through emergency edicts whilst pyromaniac Garfield Lynns sets the ‘City on Fire’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna). Having allowed Robin to tag along, Batman allows the Boy Wonder to tackle the Firefly whilst he searches for less predictable prey. Meanwhile Â Wesker is closing in on his Scarface and a recently de-venomed Riddler can’t pull off a robbery because there’s nobody around to answer his obsessively-constructed crime conundrumsâ€¦

Barely breaking stride to take out the Cavalier, the Caped Crusader stumbles across the Firefly and almost dies at the hands of the relative lightweight in ‘Strange Bedfellows’ (Batman #495,Â Moench, Aparo & Bob Wiacek) as, impatient to help, Jean-Paul takes to the streets on his own, eager to help in a makeshift masked identityâ€¦

Finally convinced to take a night off, Bruce attends a civic gala and is recognised by Bane just as Poison Ivy turns up to kidnap all of Gotham’s glitterati. As Batman fights floral-based zombies, Gordon and his top aide Bullock lead the GCPD into a perfect ambush set by Scarecrow and the Jokerâ€¦

Detective #662 sees Robin spectacularly if injudiciously tackle Riddler’s ‘Burning Questions’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as Batman at last ends Firefly’s horrific depredations, and unsanctioned vigilante The Huntress secretly joins the battle to stem the rising tide of chaos, after which Batman #496 begins the climactic clash between the completely exhausted Masked Manhunter and his maddest monsters in ‘Die Laughing’ (Moench, Aparo & Josef Rubinstein), as Scarecrow and Joker explosively seal off the Gotham River Tunnel with the broken Mayor at the bottom of it.

Only the detonation of the tunnel roof and a million gallons of ingressing river prevent Batman from beating the Harlequin of Hate to death, but Detective #663 proves there’s ‘No Rest for the Wicked’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as the hero frantically hauls Krol to safety, merely to fall victim to a concerted assault by Bane’s hit squad. Narrowly escaping, the harried hero heads home only to find Alfred unconscious and his home invaded by the orchestrator of all his woesâ€¦

Batman #497 presents the end of the road in ‘Broken Bat’ by Moench, Aparo & Dick Giordano as Bane finally attacks in person, mercilessly beating the exhausted but valiantly battling hero, ultimately breaking his spine in a savage demonstration of his physical and mental superiority.

Detective #664 sees the beginning of Bane’s Reign in ‘Who Rules the Night’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as the Scourge of Pena Duro drops the broken Batman’s body in the middle of Gotham and publicly declares himself the new boss. Even after Alfred and Robin intercept the ambulance carrying their shattered friend and mentor, saving his life proves a touch-and-go proposition and in the interval Joker and Scarecrow come to a parting of the ways and the Ventriloquist is reunited with his malevolent master Scarface. Gotham is a city at war and soon Boy Wonder and ex-Azrael are prowling the rooftops trying to stem the tideâ€¦

The tale diverges here to reveal the contents of Showcase ’93 #7 and 8, wherein Alfred, Robin and Jean-Paul restlessly wait by the comatose Wayne’s bedside, and traumatised Tim Drake recalls how mere days previously they thwarted the latest murder-spree of erstwhile Gotham DA Harvey Dent.

‘2-Face: Double Cross’ and the concluding ‘2-Face: Bad Judgment’ by Moench & Klaus Janson found the Double Desperado again challenging his one-time ally by setting up a hangman’s court in a confused and tragic attempt to convict Batman of causing all the former prosecutor’s problemsâ€¦

Batman #498’s ‘Knights in Darkness’ (Moench, Aparo & Rick Burchett) saw the shattered remnant of Bruce Wayne regain consciousness as a paralysed paraplegic wreck, only to reveal an even greater loss: his fighting spirit. Faking a road crash to explain his massive injuries, Tim and Alfred consult blithely oblivious Dr. Kinsolving in an attempt to restore the billionaire’s shattered spirit and broken body, whilst Bane goes wild in the city, brutally consolidating his hold on all the various gangs and rackets.

To further his schemes and swiftly counter any stubborn opposition, the King of Gotham then recruits Catwoman as his personal thief and retrieval serviceâ€¦

And in Wayne Mansion, as Shondra begins her course of therapy – knowing full well her patient’s injuries were not caused by pranging a Porsche – Tim Drake carries out Bruce’s wishes and offers Jean-Paul the role and Mantle of Batmanâ€¦

Gotham City is a criminal’s paradise with thugs big and small running riot now that the Dark Knight has been so publicly destroyed, but Detective #665 reveals ‘Lightning Changes’ (Dixon, Nolan & Giordano) as the new but still inexperienced Batman and Robin start wiping up the street scum and making them fear the night again, under strict instructions from Wayne to avoid major threats until they’re ready. Valley however, seems to be slowly coming unglued, happily using excessive force and chafing to test himself against Bane.

Meanwhile a demoralised and wheelchair-bound Bruce Wayne is becoming increasing dependent on Shondra. When he can’t find her, he wheels himself through the gardens to the adjoining house of Tim’s father Jack Drake in time to interrupt an abduction by masked gunmen. Despite his best efforts, he is unable to stop them taking Shondra and the elder Drake, whilst in Gotham the new Bat has overstepped his orders and determined to go after Bane – even if it means allying with gangsters and risking the lives of innocent childrenâ€¦

One final diversion comes next in a sidebar tale from Shadow of the Bat #16-18 wherein Alan Grant, Bret Blevins, Mike Manley & Steve George describe how the sinister Scarecrow returns to his old college life long enough to turn innocent students into his phobic slaves as part of a grandiose and clearly crazy plan to turn himself into ‘The God of Fear’â€¦

Juvenile ideologue and criminal genius Anarky escapes prison just in time to see â€œBatmanâ€ facing off against his first fully deranged super-villain and realises that the Dark Knight is a much a threat to the people as the Tatterdemalion of Terror. The young rebel decides that for the good of the common man he should take them both outâ€¦

It doesn’t quite work out that way, but after Scarecrow exposes Batman to his fear gas and it doesn’t work, they combine to vanquish the failed deity. Valley, in an increasingly rare moment of rationality, lets Anarky off with a pretty scary warning. The former Azrael muses on how his programming had made him immune to the fear chemicals, but he couldn’t be more wrongâ€¦

The Beginning of the End starts in Batman #499 with ‘The Venom Connection’ by Moench, Aparo & Hanna, as the replacement’s ruthless savagery and burgeoning paranoia drives a wedge between him and Robin, whilst oblivious to it all, the rededicated and driven Bruce Wayne uses the sleuthing skills of a lifetime to trace the kidnappers to Santa Priscaâ€¦

In the Batcave, Jean-Paul realises he is still subject to the deep programming that created Azrael when he falls into a trance and awakens to find he has designed deadly new high-tech gauntlets to augment his war on crime. Bane, meanwhile, ignores all entreaties to act, refusing to bother with a mere impostor.

In a blistering raid, Batman and Robin capture Bane’s lieutenants, although the Darker Knight coldly risks children’s lives to achieve victory. Alienated and deeply troubled, Tim determines to tell Bruce but finds the Mansion deserted, Bruce and Alfred having left for the Caribbean, unaware that they have a svelte stowaway in the form of Catwoman Selina Kyleâ€¦

Detective #666 pushes things to fever-pitch with ‘The Devil You Know’ (Dixon, Nolan & Hanna) as the augmented, ever-angry and clearly losing it Batman breaks Trogg, Bird and Zombie out of jail and follows them back to Bane, only to fall before the blockbusting power and ferocity of the Venom-addicted living juggernautâ€¦

Batman #500 is divided into a landmark two-part conclusion. ‘Dark Angel 1: the Fall’ by Moench, Aparo & Terry Austin, sees Batman frantically escape certain death at Bane’s hands and retreat to the Batcave where the Azrael’s submerged programming – dubbed â€œthe Systemâ€ – takes temporary control and devises a perfectly honed technological suit of armour that turns Batman into a human war-machine. Far more worrying is the rift that drives Robin, Nightwing and every other possible ally away as Valley prepares for his final confrontation with Baneâ€¦

The infuriated King of the City wants it too and challenges the impostor to a very visible duel in the centre of Gotham in ‘Dark Angel 2: the Descent’ (illustrated by Mike Manley), a blockbusting battle which comprehensively crushes Bane and publicly proclaims the return of a new, darker Champion of the Night. As Batman narrowly chooses to leave Bane a crushed and humiliated living trophy rather than dead example, Robin – who had to save a train full of innocent bystanders from becoming collateral casualties of Batman, not Bane – realises something very bad has come to Gothamâ€¦

To Be Continuedâ€¦

There’s something particularly enticing about these colossal mega-compilations (this one’s 640 pulse-pounding pages) that sheerly delights the 10-year old in me: proven, familiar favourite stories in a huge, wrist-numbing package offering a vast hit of full-colour funnybook action, suspense and solid entertainment. There’s also a superb gallery of covers from Glenn Fabry, Kelly Jones, Sam Kieth, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brian Stelfreeze, Joe Quesada & Kevin Nowlan and Mike Deodato Jr. and even tantalising ads for other books you just gotta have!

Just like this oneâ€¦
Â© 1993, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

August 15, 2012August 14, 2012

Captain America: Road to Reborn

By Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, Luke Ross, Gene Colan & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4175-4

The Star Spangled Avenger was created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby at the end of 1940 and launched in his own title (Captain America Comics, #1 cover-dated March 1941) with overwhelming success. He was the absolute and undisputed star of Timely (now Marvel) Comics’ â€œBig Threeâ€ – the other two being the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. He was also among the very first to fade at the end of the Golden Age.

When the Korean War and Communist aggression dominated the American psyche in the early 1950s he was briefly revived – with the Torch and Sub-Mariner – in 1953 before sinking once more into obscurity until a resurgent Marvel Comics once more brought him back in Avengers #4.

It was March 1964 and the Vietnam conflict was just beginning to pervade the minds of the American publicâ€¦

This time he stuck around. Whilst perpetually agonising over the death of his young sidekick (James Buchanan Barnes AKA Bucky) in the final days of the war, the resurrected Steve Rogers first stole the show in the Avengers, then promptly graduated to his own series and title as well. He waxed and waned through the most turbulent period of social change in US history, but always struggled to find an ideological niche and stable footing in the modern world.

Eventually, whilst another morally suspect war raged in the real world, during the Marvel event known as Civil War he became an anti-government rebel and was assassinated on the steps of a Federal Courthouse.

Over the course of three volumes he was replaced by that always assumed-dead sidekick. The truth was far more tragic. Bucky had been captured by the Russians and over decades had been brainwashed into becoming an infallible assassin before being turned loose as the lethal Soviet super-agent, The Winter Soldier.

Once rescued and cured of his unwanted enemy-agent role the artificially youthful and part-cyborg Barnes reluctantly stepped into his mentor’s big crimson bootsâ€¦

This powerful patriotic thriller, written as ever by Ed Brubaker, examines the nature and value of patriotism and collects Captain America issues #49-50 before returning to the original numbering for the anniversary #600 and follow-up #601.

After years of commercially advantageous restarts, volume 5 (#50 of the regular comicbook) was followed a month later by volume 1, #600, dated August 2008, setting in play characters and plot-threads which led up to the inevitable resurrection of the original Star-Spangled Avenger – details of which where subsequently revealed in Captain America Rebornâ€¦

The drama initially unfolds in ‘Sentinel of Liberty’ – illustrated by Marcos Martin – which recapitulates in graphic newsreel form the WWII careers of Captain America and Bucky from their origins to the formation of metahuman combat unit The Invaders and the tragic loss of the All-American Allies to the nefarious Baron Zemo. Picking up after Steve Rogers was revived by Sub-Mariner and the Mighty Avengers, the history lesson then follows his second glorious life until it was cut short on the steps of that infamous Courthouseâ€¦

‘The Daughter of Time’ finds Sharon Carter in her old Virginia home, recovering from her ordeal as a captive and puppet of the Red Skull, Arnim Zola and Dr. Faustus, and horribly traumatised by the knowledge that their programming forced her to shoot her beloved Steve Rogers. Seeking a less painful reality she visits the institutionalised Peggy Carter – who was Captain America’s lover during WWII – and shares again the stories and memories she first heard as an avid little girl. As she listens, she dreads the moment that Alzheimer’s finally takes her Aunt’s mind and life foreverâ€¦

Sam Wilson, the high-flying Falcon, is busy searching for William Burnside, a deranged duplicate who briefly played Captain America in the 1950s whilst the original languished in icy hibernation in the arctic.

As a student Burnside was obsessed with the Sentinel of Liberty and had diligently divined the hero’s true name, rediscovered most of the super-soldier serum which had created the Star-Spangled Avenger and even had his identity and features changed to perfectly mimic the Missing-In-Action Steve Rogers.

Volunteering his services to the FBI, then conducting a nationwide war on spies, subversives and suspected commies, Burnside and impressionable youngster Jack Monroe briefly became Captain America and Bucky; crushing every perceived threat to the nation.

Sadly it soon became apparent that their definition of such included not just criminals but also non-whites, independent women and anybody who disagreed with the governmentâ€¦

After a few short months the reactionary patriot had to be forcibly â€œretiredâ€ as the super-soldier serum he and Monroe used turned them into super-strong, raving, racist paranoids.

Years later when the fascistic facsimiles escaped their suspended animation in Federal prison they attacked the real Sentinel of Liberty only to be defeated by Cap, the Falcon and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter. Although Monroe was eventually cured, Burnside’s psychosis was too deeply rooted and he returned many times to tangle with the man he felt had betrayed the real America, most recently as an integral part of the Skull, Zola and Faustus’ plot to plant a Nazi stooge in the Oval Office.

When the scheme was foiled, the doppelganger Cap had escaped and disappeared into the nation’s heartlandâ€¦

Back in Virginia a chance meeting with an old friend of Steve’s leads to one more horrific discovery and more of Sharon’s occluded memories return. At last she recalls that during her domination by Dr. Faustus, she was knifed and lost the baby she was carrying: Steve Rogers’ unborn child and last legacyâ€¦

At the Larkmore Clinic Peggy is reliving old times and secrets with her lover. In her bewildered state of mind it’s still the 1940s and the sweet man beside her is Steve, not William Burnsideâ€¦

Back at the Carter residence Sharon awakens from another nightmare of recovered memories, but in these a mysteriously obscured figure is trying to make himself clear. Could the real Captain America still be alive?

‘Days Gone By’ (Ross & Magyar) focuses on Jim Barnes on his birthday, as the technically octogenarian replacement Cap recalls his early life and relives his glory days with Steve and the Invaders. Unbidden though, he also remembers the horrors of his life as a communist living weapon before his newfound Avenger comrades threw him the party of a lifetimeâ€¦

Captain America #600 opens with the two-page ‘Origin’ – a reprinted retelling from Alex Ross, Paul Dini & Todd Klein first seen in 2002’s Captain America: Red, White and Blue, after which Butch Guice, Howard Chaykin, Rafael Albuquerque, David Aja, Mitch Breitweiser, Frank D’Armata, Edgar Delgado & Matt Hollingsworth all collaborate on Brubaker’s ‘One Year Later’ in which a vigil on the Courthouse steps draws a number of seemingly unconnected characters into dramatic conflict.

In ‘Sharon Carter’s Lament’, impelled by her unveiled memories, the still-reeling ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent savagely tracks down the other participants in Cap’s shooting and uncovers the weapon she used on her lover. She is elated to discover it is not a normal gunâ€¦

A cunning fugitive travelling through the economically ravaged Middle America, Burnside –‘The Other Steve Rogers’ – reviews again his own origins. When an unwise thief tries to rob him, the â€œBad Capâ€ gets an inkling of how to turn his life aroundâ€¦

Before the Super-Soldier serum was used on Rogers it was shamefully pre-tested on Negro volunteers, leading to the very first Captain America being briefly a black soldier named Isaiah Bradley.

His life and sacrifice covered up for decades, Bradley was a forgotten hero but his grandson Elijah, afflicted with the same unflinching sense of right and wrong, has recently become a star-spangled vigilante codenamed the Patriot and worked as a Young Avenger. In ‘The Youth of Today’ he has a life changing encounter with Rikki Barnes, the dimensionally-displaced sidekick of an alternate universe Sentinel of Libertyâ€¦

‘Crossbones and Sin’ were lovers as well as being the Red Skull’s enforcer and daughter respectively. As back-up shooter for the Captain America hit, Crossbones had been a model prisoner at the H.A.M.M.E.R. Federal Holding Facility. Then some fool guard taunted him that Sin had also been captured and was badly wounded in the infirmaryâ€¦

‘The Avengers Dilemma’ is simple: Norman Osborn, Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. and de facto Federal overlord of American metahuman affairs, has declared the proposed candlelit vigil an illegal gathering. Barnes, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Luke Cage and the others are not going to let that stop themâ€¦

After an ironic interlude observing ‘The Red Skull’s Delerium’ whilst the malign disembodied intelligence is trapped in a mechanical corpse designed by Zola, ‘The Vigilant’ dramatically divulges the surprising confrontation between Cap’s many friends and mourners and Osborn’s deadly Dark Avengers with a despondent and defiant American public looking nervously onâ€¦

Also included in that memorable comicbook milestone were a number of shorts from past contributors to the ever-lasting legend beginning with ‘In Memoriam’ by Roger Stern, Kalman Andrasofszky & Marte Gracia, wherein old friend Josh Cooper and Steve’s one-time girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal get together to remember the man and the legend in their own way, whilst ‘The Persistence of Memorabilia’ by Mark Waid, Dale Eaglesham & Paul Mounts describes the hero’s legacy as Cap’s greatest fan liquidates his entire collection of keepsakes and mementoes to further the fallen hero’s work in his own inadequate wayâ€¦

Topping off the celebrations are a comedic tribute ‘Passing the Torch’ by Fred Hembeck and the prose reminiscence ‘My Bulletin Board’ from Cap’s co-creator Joe Simonâ€¦

A different kind of commemoration filled issues #601 (September 2009) as legendary artist and oft-time Cap illustrator Gene Colan (assisted by colour artist Dean White rendering moody hues over the master’s inimitable â€œpainting-with-pencil style) delivers one last impressive WWII yarn to close the comics part of this classic chronicle.

Scripted by Brubaker, the eerie epic reveals Captain America and Bucky’s determined and relentless pursuit of a sinister leech haunting the bloody Allied frontlines of Bastogne in 1945, mercilessly turning gallant G.I.’s into vile and vicious vampires in ‘Red, White and Blue-Blood’â€¦

The book is rounded out with a stirring tribute to Colan and gallery of cover reproductions from Marko Djurdjevic, Alex Ross, Colan and Steve Epting.

Despite being thoroughly mired in the minutia of the Star-Spangled Hero’s history, this thoroughly readable and exceedingly pretty collection is a fascinating examination of political idealism and personal loss and generally avoids the usual trap of depending too much upon a working knowledge of Marvel continuity.

Tried-and-True Fights ‘n’ Tights thrills, spills and chills that should serve to make a casual reader a die-hard devotee.
Â© 2009 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.

August 14, 2012August 13, 2012

Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai

By Stan Sakai (Dark Horse)
ISBN: 978-1-59582-362-5

One of the very best and most adaptable survivors of the 1980s black and white comicbook explosion/implosion is a truly bizarre and wonderful synthesis of historical Japanese samurai fiction and anthropomorphic animal adventure, as well as a perfect example of the versatility and strengths of a creator-owned character.

Usagi Yojimbo (which translates as â€œrabbit bodyguardâ€) first appeared as a background character in multi-talented creator Stan Sakai’s anthropomorphic peripatetic comedy feature The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy, which launched in furry ‘n’ fuzzy folk anthology Albedo Anthropomorphics #1 (1984) subsequently appearing there on his own terms as well as in Critters, Amazing Heroes, Furrlough and the Munden’s Bar back-up in Grimjack.

Sakai was born in 1953 in Kyoto, Japan before the family emigrated to Hawaii in 1955. He attended University of Hawaii, graduating with a BA in Fine Arts, and pursued further studies at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design after moving to California.

His first comics work was as a letterer, most famously for the incredible Groo the Wanderer, before his nimble pens and brushes, coupled with a love of Japanese history and legend and hearty interest in the filmic works of Akira Kurosawa and his peers, combined to turn a proposed story about a historical human hero into one of the most enticing and impressive â€“ and astoundingly authentic â€“ fantasy sagas of all time.

The deliciously rambling and expansive period fantasy series is nominally set in a world of sentient animals and specifically references the Edo Period of Feudal Japan (how did we cloth-eared Westerners ever get â€œJapanâ€ from Nihonâ€ anyway?) as well as classic cultural icons as varied as Lone Wolf and Cub, Zatoichi and even Godzilla whilst detailing the exploits of Miyamoto Usagi, a Ronin (masterless, wandering freelance Samurai) whose fate is to be drawn constantly into a plethora of incredible situations.

And yes, he’s a rabbit – a brave, sentimental, gentle, long-suffering, honourable, conscientious and heroic bunny who cannot turn down any request for helpâ€¦

The Lepine Legend appeared in Albedo #2-4, The Doomsday Squad #3 and seven issues of Critters (1, 3, 6-7, 10-11 and 14) before leaping into his own series which, as usual, I haven’t got around to yet, but really, really willâ€¦

The Sublime Swordsbun has changed publishers a few times but has been in continuous publication since 1987 – with over 25 graphic novel collections to date – and has guest-starred in numerous other series, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its TV incarnation – he even almost made it into his own small-screen show but there’s still time yet and fashions can revive as quickly as they die outâ€¦

There are high-end collectibles, art prints, computer games and RPGs, a spin-off sci fi comics serial and lots of toys.

Sakai and his creation have won numerous awards both within the Comics community and amongst the greater reading public and in 2009 current publisher Dark Horse Comics commissioned an all-new, fully painted anniversary tale which allowed the creator to hone his considerable skills with watercolours.

Yokai is a generic term that translates (as required) as ghosts, phantoms, spirits or even strange, otherworldly apparitions, all of whom hold a peculiarly eclectic place in Japanese folklore, being simultaneously mischievous and helpful, malevolent and miraculously beneficial. Generally they have animal heads or are amalgams of diverse objects or body partsâ€¦

This scintillating scary story occurs over one night – an Oborozuki-Yo (â€œNight of the Hazy Moonâ€) – when the assorted Yokai are particularly restless, and this is a tale that grippingly explores the Japanese equivalent of our Halloween as the noble, gloom-shrouded Ronin wanders lonely roads in search of a bite to eat and a place to sleep.

Seeing a light in the nearby woods, Miyamoto leaves the path hoping to find a welcoming peasant hearth for the evening but is harassed by a taunting Kitsune (trickster-fox spirit) and becomes lost. Soon however he hears sobbing and is drawn to a weeping noblewomanâ€¦

The lovely distressed lady is Fujimoto Harumi whose pilgrimage to a temple was disrupted when a Kitsune stole her young daughter Hanako away. Pleading with the wisely reluctant Ronin, the lady convinces the wayfarer to plunge deeper into the wild woods to rescue the lost girl, leading to an epic series of contests against a horde of fantastic hostile creatures. The valiant warrior almost succumbs until he is unexpectedly saved by an old comrade, the mystic demon-queller Sasukeâ€¦

It seems that this very evening is the dreaded Hyakki Yako, â€œNight Parade of a Hundred Demonsâ€, when the haunts and horrors of the netherworld form a procession into the world of people, seeking to subjugate all mortals. They simply need a living soul to lead them, a final sacrifice to light their way hereâ€¦

Terrified for the stolen waif, the Ronin and the devil-slayer engage with an army of horrific, shape-shifting, fire-spitting, tentacle-wielding monstrosities to save an innocent and the entire world, but there are forces in play the rapidly-tiring Miyamoto is painfully unaware of and, without the luck of the gods and the tragedy of an old friend, all will be inescapably lostâ€¦

Fast-paced yet lyrical, funny, thrilling and stuffed with spooky, all-ages action and excitement, Yokai is a magical tribute to and celebration of the long-lived Lepus’ nigh-universal irresistible appeal that will delight devotees and make converts of the most hardened hater of â€œfunny animalâ€ stories. This petite but power-packed chronicle also contains a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the artist created the stunning visuals in ‘The Real Magic Behind Yokai: an interview with Stan Sakai’ that will further beguile any prospective creators and cartooning hopefuls in the audience.

August 13, 2012August 10, 2012

X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back

By Kathryn Immonen & Sara Pichelli (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4676-6

Pixie is Megan Gwynn, a purportedly Welsh mutant with fairy wings, a sparkly dust which causes hallucinations, a talent for mass teleportation and an affinity for sorcery. In her earlier appearances she battled necromantic monster Belasco and former New Mutant Magik and gained an eldritch super-weapon called the Souldagger which usually reposes safely inside her chest.

Originally something of a minor pest and a perennial X-Man-in-training, she has become a key player in the fortunes of the World’s Most Harried sub-species, having survived the numerous slaughters which have decimated her classmates, perpetual mystic attacks from assorted devils and elder gods such as the N’Garai and repeated assaults by mutant-hunters of all description.

That’s pretty much all you need to know (although the rest of her immensely convoluted back-story does make for interesting and entertaining reading) to enjoy this delightful, game-changing tale – originally released as a 4-part miniseries in 2010 – which set up the elfin X-Man for a far bigger role in the madcap mutant multiverse.

Written by Kathryn Immonen in a breezy, sassy girl-power style and superbly illustrated by Sara Pichelli, the action kicks off with Megan and BFFs Ruth Aldine, Laura Kinney, Hisako Ichiki and Cessily Kincaid strutting their stuff as the most popular girls in High School – as usual.

Only thing is Pixie, Blindfold, X-23, Armor and Mercury aren’t simple spoiled human brats but mutant warriors in training, and none of them particularly like the fairy dust flinger anywayâ€¦

Megan is in some distress: the comforting reality of a normal – if appallingly obnoxious and privileged – life is constantly unravelling and revealing glimpses of demons, monsters and excessive violence. Why is she constantly seeing such things?

Meanwhile on Utopia Island, isolated enclave of Earth’s few remaining Homo Superior, Pixie’s mother – and a genuine Faerie elder – has come looking for her daughter with the news that her father wasn’t actually the man who sired herâ€¦

Moreover a headcount reveals Mercury, Armor, X-23 and Pixie are missing, leaving Blindfold and classmates Rockslide and Anole to reluctantly seek help from baffled and harassed teachers Psylocke and Nightcrawlerâ€¦

The missing girls have been abducted by an ambitious and overreaching demon dubbed Saturnine who is feeding them all tailored illusions powered by Megan’s own hallucinogenic dust. The foul hell-beast had a plan to achieve ultimate power by bringing Megan’s dark side out and capturing her Fey mother, but increasingly, Pixie is reshaping the unreal fantasy world to suit her own tastes and everything is slowly sliding out of his controlâ€¦

Back on Utopia, Nightcrawler and the kids have called in snarky headmistress Emma Frost, and the White Queen is extremely unhappy to be bothered with such trifles. Only when the precognitive Blindfold begins experiencing terrible future-flashes does Frost take executive action in her own draconian mannerâ€¦

In the otherworldly demon-dungeon Pixie is beginning to turn, attacking her friends with the eldritch Souldagger just as her still-searching mother tracks down Megan’s siblings: equally aberrant daughters of her beguiling mutant birth-father.

It appears Megan is the child of one of the X-Men’s most insidious enemiesâ€¦

In Saturnine’s lair things are not going well. Pixie’s resistance is threatening to overturn all his multifarious plans. Moreover, the mutant maid’s distress should have drawn her puissant mother into his trap but â€œMrs. Gwynnâ€ is still conspicuously absent. To cap it all, the X-Girls Pixie stabbed with her Souldagger have been cleansed of her mystic glamours and are attempting to break freeâ€¦

It all hits the fan at once as Pixie rejects Saturnine’s illusions just as X-23, Mercury and Armor bust loose at the very instant Mrs. Gwynn and Megan’s extremely wicked step-sisters arrive. Hard on their heels are an extremely upset Emma Frost with a squad of X-Men and the chaotic battle lines are drawn for apocalyptic confrontationâ€¦

His plans all in tatters and resorting to mindless violence at last, the demonic guardian of the Road of Lost Souls and his unholy hordes are astounded when Pixie seemingly turns on her rescuers and allies before giving Saturnine a mighty soulsword all of his own and the key to ultimate powerâ€¦

Fast-paced, action-packed but still laced with devilishly clever sharp-clawed humour, this is a uncomplicated Fights ‘n’ Tights thriller that should appeal as much to casual girl readers as died-in-the-spandex aging X-Fans.

August 12, 2012August 7, 2012

Sundiata, the Lion of Mali – A Legend of Africa

Retold by Will Eisner (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-56163-332-6 (hb), 978-1-56163-340-2 (pb)

It is pretty much accepted today that Will Eisner was one of the pivotal creators who shaped the American comicbook industry, with most of his works more or less permanently in print – as they should be. Active and compellingly creative until his death in 2005, Eisner was the consummate storysmith and although his true legacy is making comics acceptable fare for adult Americans, his mastery and appeal spanned the range of human age and he was always as adept at beguiling the young as he was enchanting their eldersâ€¦

William Erwin Eisner was born on March 6^th 1906 in Brooklyn and grew up in the ghettos. They never left him. After time served inventing much of the visual semantics, semiotics and syllabary of the medium he dubbed â€œSequential Artâ€ in strips, comicbooks, newspaper premiums and instructional comics, he then invented the mainstream graphic novel, bringing maturity, acceptability and public recognition to English language comics.

From 1936 to 1938 he worked as a jobbing cartoonist in the comics production hothouse known as the Eisner-Eiger Shop, creating strips for both domestic US and foreign markets. Using the pen-name Willis B. Rensie he created and drew opening instalments for a huge variety of characters ranging from funny animal to historical sagas,

Westerns, Detectives, aviation action thrillersâ€¦ and superheroes – lots of superheroes â€¦

In 1940 Everett â€œBusyâ€ Arnold, head honcho of the superbly impressive Quality Comics outfit, invited Eisner to take on a new challenge. The Register-Tribune newspaper syndicate wanted a 16-page weekly comicbook insert for the Sunday editions and Eisner jumped at the opportunity, creating three series which would initially be handled by him before two of them were delegated to supremely talented assistants. Bob Powell inherited Mr. Mystic and distaff detective Lady Luck fell into the capable hands of Nick Cardy (then still Nicholas Viscardi) and later the inimitable Klaus Nordling.

Eisner kept the lead feature for his own, and over the next twelve years The Spirit became the most impressive, innovative, imitated and talked-about strip in the business. However, by 1952 he had more or less abandoned it for more challenging and certainly more profitable commercial, instructional and educational strips, working extensively for the US military in manuals and magazines like Army Motors andÂ P*S, the Preventative Maintenance Monthly, generally leaving comicbooks behind.

After too long away from his natural story-telling arena Eisner creatively returned to the ghettos of Brooklyn where he was born and he capped a glittering career by inventing the mainstream graphic novel for America, bringing maturity, acceptability and public recognition to English language comics.

In 1978 a collection of four original short stories in strip form were released as a single book: A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories. All the tales centred around 55 Dropsie Avenue, a 1930’s Bronx tenement, housing poor Jewish and immigrant families. It changed the American perception of cartoon strips forever. Eisner wrote and drew a further 20 further masterpieces, opening the door for all other comics creators to escape the funnybook and anodyne strip ghettos of superheroes, funny animals, juvenilia and â€œfamily-friendlyâ€ entertainment. At one stroke comics grew up.

Eisner was constantly pushing the boundaries of his craft, honing his skills not just on the Spirit but with years of educational and promotional material. In A Contract With God he moved into unexplored territory with truly sophisticated, mature themes worthy of Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald, using pictorial fiction as documentary exploration of social experience.

If Jack Kirby was the American comicbook’s most influential artist, Will Eisner remains undoubtedly its most venerated and exceptional storyteller. Contemporaries originating from strikingly similar Jewish backgrounds, each used comic arts to escape from their own tenements, achieving varying degrees of acclaim and success, and eventually settling upon a theme to colour all their later works. For Kirby it was the Cosmos, what Man would find there, and how humanity would transcend its origins in The Ultimate Outward Escape. Will Eisner went Home, went Inward and went Back, concentrating on Man as he was and still isâ€¦

Naturally that would make him a brilliant choice to illustrate primal folktales and creation myths from our collective past and this stunning, slim yet over-sized tome (288 x 224mm) again proves his uncanny skill in exhibiting the basic drives and passions of humanity as he lyrically recounts a key myth of West Africa.

The historical Sundiata Keita brought the Mandinka People out of bondage and founded the Mali Empire in the 13^th century AD and is still celebrated as a staple of the oral tradition handed down by the tribal historians, bards and praise-singers known as â€œGriotsâ€.

Rendered in a moody, brooding wash of sullen reds, misty greys and dried out earth-tones, the tale begins; narrated by the Great Gray Rock, foundation stone of the world.

Once only the beasts were masters of Africa, but when people came they sought to rule the land instead. The consulted the ghosts of Good and soon became the masters of the beasts and the land.

However Evil ghosts also lurked and once ambitious and greedy Sumanguru, King of Sasso had conquered all he could see yet still seethed with dissatisfaction, the Gray Rock of Evil accosted himâ€¦

Sasso was a poor, arid country and when the wicked stone offered the king dark magical powers to conquer all the surrounding lands, Sumanguru eagerly accepted. Soon all the neighbouring nations were smouldering ruins as the Sasso warriors and their mad lord’s control of the elements demolished all resistance.

Still Sumanguru was not content and, when a trader brought news of a rich, fertile land settled by peaceful gentle people, the king wanted to rule them too. The unctuous merchant also related how Nare Famakan, wise king of Mali, had recently passed away, leaving eight youthful healthy sons and a ninth who was weak and lameâ€¦

Ignoring the rock of Evil’s advice to beware the â€œfrog Princeâ€, Sumanguru led his mighty armies against Mali, unaware that the double-dealing trader, denied a reward due to the mad king’s parsimony, had warned the nine princes that the warriors of Sasso were coming.

Lame little Sundiata also wished to defend his land, but his brothers laughed and told him to stay home, trusting to their superior tactics to repel the invasion. Indeed, their plans were effective and the battle seemed to go their way until Sumanguru summoned an eldritch wind to destroy the army of Mali and added the defeated land to his possessions.

Gloating, he mocked Sundiata but ignoring the advice of the Gray Rock of Evil allowed the frog prince to liveâ€¦

As the unstoppable, insatiable Sumanguru ravaged every tribe and nation, an aged shaman showed Sundiata how to overcome his physical shortcomings. Years passed and the boy learned the ways of the forests and grew tall and mighty. Now a man, he prepared for vengeance and when Sumanguru heard and tried to have him killed he fled and rallied an army of liberation.

On the eve of battle an uncle revealed Sumanguru’s one mystic weakness to Sundiata and the stage was set for a spectacular and climactic final confrontation before, as will always happen, Evil inevitably betrayed itselfâ€¦

Epic and intensely moving, this is a superb all-ages fable re-crafted by a master storyteller, well-versed in exploring the classic themes of literature and human endeavour, whilst always adding a sparkle and sheen of his own to the most ancient and familiar of tales.

August 11, 2012August 9, 2012

Arzach

By Moebius (Les Humanoides Associes)
No ISBN:

I’m breaking my own self-imposed rules today to present something just a little bit different and celebrate the talents of France’s most famous master of the comic arts.

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was born in the suburbs of Paris on May 8^th 1938 and raised by his grandparents after his mother and father divorced in 1941.

In 1955 he attended the Institut des Arts AppliquÃ©s where he became friends with Jean-Claude MÃ©ziÃ¨res who, at 17 was already selling strips and illustrations to magazines such as Coeurs Valliants, Fripounet et Marisette and Spirou. Giraud apparently spent most of his time drawing cowboy comics and left after a year.

In 1956 he travelled to Mexico, staying with his mother for eight months, before returning to France and a full-time career drawing comics, mostly westerns such as Frank et Jeremie for Far West and King of the Buffalo, A Giant with the Hurons and others for Coeurs Valliants in a style based on French comics legend Joseph â€œJijÃ©â€ Gillain.

Giraud spent his National Service in Algeria in 1959-1960, where he worked on military service magazine 5/5 Forces FranÃ§aises and on returning to civilian life became JijÃ©’s assistant in 1961, working on the master’s long-running (1954-1977) Western epic Jerry Spring.

A year later, Giraud and Belgian writer Jean-Michel Charlier launched the serial ‘Fort Navajo’ in Pilote #210, and soon its disreputable, anti-hero lead character Lieutenant Blueberry became one of the most popular European strips of modern times. In 1963-1964, Giraud produced a number of strips for satire periodical Hara-Kiri and, keen to distinguish and separate the material from his serious day job, first coined his pen-name â€œMoebiusâ€.

He didn’t use it again until 1975 when he joined Bernard Farkas, Jean-Pierre Dionnet and Philippe Druillet – all inspired science fiction fans – to become the founders of a revolution in narrative graphic arts as â€œLes Humanoides Associesâ€. Their groundbreaking adult fantasy magazine MÃ©tal Hurlant utterly enraptured the comics-buying public and Giraud again wanted to utilise a discreet creative persona for the lyrical, experimental, soul-searching material he was increasingly driven to produce: series such as The Airtight Garage, The Incal and the mystical, dreamy flights of sheer fantasy contained in Arzach…

To further separate his creative twins, Giraud worked inks with a brush whilst the futurist Moebius rendered with pensâ€¦

Generally I review material produced or translated into English and indeed Arzach did make it into the language of Shakespeare, Keats, Byron and Alan Moore in the 1987 Epic Comics/Titan Books Moebius volume 2 – Arzach & Other Fantasy Stories, but to really appreciate the magics and majesty you should try and get hold of the 1976 hardback album or any other early iteration where the tales can be appreciated and enjoyed in splendid isolation and consideration.

Produced utterly without words, the four episodes depict the lonely contemplative flights of a solitary explorer – some say warrior – observing an incredible world and its inhabitants from the lofty perch of a flying lizard.

The first strip ‘Arzach’ finds the silent skyglider passing between the spires of an incredible city, peeking into enticing windows until an angry citizen confronts him. Dealing summarily with his enraged antagonist, the voyeur returns for his seductive reward and gets a big surpriseâ€¦

In ‘Harzak’ the explorer mysteriously gains and swiftly loses a pack-pterodactyl to carnivorous plants. Woefully short on rations, he then encounters a colossal ape-like monster which reluctantly provides diversion, entertainment and eventually distraction for the cloud-voyager whilst in ‘Arzak’ a fusty old world technician motors across a blistering desert to a fantastic temple. Inside listless creatures mope dejectedly. Enduring physical assault, the sparks enters a bunker and sets about fixing things as, on a screen, the wind-rider paces in frustration, with his ungainly, featherless steed prone and unmoving. With the twist of a wrist a handy screwdriver sets the world to rightsâ€¦

‘Harzakc’ opens with the lizard rider again spying on a beautiful undraped woman before flying off into a succession of increasingly bewildering and astoundingly spectacular alien scenes ofâ€¦

Well, that’s for you to decide.

This work more than any other led to an outpouring of fanciful, lavish and enchanting fantasy creations from all over the world, inspiring movie, makers, writers and even comics creators as disparate and far-ranging as Stan Lee and Hayao Miyazaki. These apparently simplistic peregrinations are magnificent visual panoplies open to many interpretations, tapping into oneiric realms of the subconscious and woven with wry humour, but they are not stories in any traditional sense.

Think of them perhaps as staggeringly detailed goads to the imagination of the readerâ€¦

Moebius famously created these strips in reaction to his perceived predominance of American superhero comics and consciously stove to reinvigorate the genres and scenarios of the entire comics industry – with terrific results.

A sheer unadulterated dose of primal imaginary power and superlative skill and craft, Arzach is a tome that belongs on the bookshelf of every fan of the art of comics.

August 10, 2012August 9, 2012

The Moon Looked Down and Laughed – a Holy Cross graphic novel

By Malachy Coney & Paul J. Holden (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-263-7

The Irish have always rightly prided themselves on their ability to tell a tale and comics especially have long-benefited from that blessed gift. One writer especially gifted and yet inexplicably not world famous yet is Malachy Coney, who first started turning heads in Fleetway’s socially informed Crisis in 1989 when he was invited by Pat Mills to co-write a sequence of the controversial serial Third World War set in Ireland.

Coney was raised in the Ardoyne area of Belfast during the time of â€œThe Troublesâ€ and much of his work deals with the politics of the era and issues of gender and gay rights.

In 1993 he scripted the miniseries Holy Cross for Fantagraphics: three separate tales all linked by history, geography and incidental characters Jimmy and Davy – a local gay couple – illustrated respectively by Davy Francis, Chris Hogg and P. J. Holden. That lost delight happily led to the lovely book under discussion today.

Since then Coney, who is also a cartoonist and publisher, has written a number of Gay-themed superhero tales (Major Power and Spunky, The Dandy Lion, The Simply Incredible Hunk), socially aware material such as The Good Father and Catholic Lad, and worked with Garth Ennis on Top Cow’s The Darkness and Steven Grant on Vampirella.

Active in the arts in Northern Ireland, he has contributed to DNASwamp, Small Axe and Fortnight, produced material for the internet and self-publishes his own Good Craic Comics.

Paul Jason Holden is also from Belfast and, as well as working closely with Coney on the Holy Cross stories, The Dandy Lion and The Simply Incredible Hunk, has illustrated Mike Carey’s ‘Suicide Kings’ and worked for Warhammer Monthly, 2000AD, Judge Dredd Megazine, Image Comics, Garth Ennis’ Battlefields and Strip Magazine. He is also active in developing web- and app-based comicsâ€¦

Rendered in stark and seductive black and white, The Moon Looked Down and Laughed is again set in the Holy Cross district of Belfast and is narrated by hopeful writer Tommy Doherty, a decent and sentimental young man just starting to learn the way of the world.

He’s always got time to listen to his old dad’s stories about the bad days past, especially the one when he was a young man doing odd jobs for a mean, rich old sod named Burke. That privileged, demented swine used to work him like a slave every day and then set the dog on him if he stayed on his land one second after quitting-time. Sometimes Burke even deliberately kept him late just to see him runâ€¦

That all changed on the fateful day Pa Doherty’s watch stopped and the vicious landowner gloatingly watched as the manic canine brought him downâ€¦

Of course that was the day sheer terror made the worm turn and a scared lad learned another use for the hated shovel in his handsâ€¦

From that he learned a hard but necessary lesson: there are mad dogs everywhere and usually the shovel is the only way of dealing with themâ€¦

With thoughts of wildlife documentaries, carnivores and prey in his head, Tommy heads for the pub and a drink with his outrageous pals Jimmy and Davy and obliquely encounters the district’s apex predator when Francie O’Neill‘s gang of thugs and troublemakers harass him for hanging out with â€œfaggotsâ€â€¦

It had only been weeks since the pack of jackals had beaten up Jimmy and Davy in one more gay-bashing incident. O’Neill had been a bully since they were all at school but always managed to come off like some roguish golden boy. Nobody could understand why the loveliest girl in class had married him, especially Tommy, for whom Annie would always be â€œthe oneâ€, ever since that incident when they played â€œspin-the-bottleâ€ as nippersâ€¦

Now she was shackled to a possessive, brutal thug, permanently pregnant and with all the life leaching out of her.

Staggering away at closing time, Tommy and the boys spot Francie stalking the streets, looking for a fight to start and, not for the first time, the writer ponders the worth of pens against swords and why people like that are allowed to get away with so muchâ€¦

Pa Doherty’s pride and joy is his allotment garden and on the way there next day, father and son see an ambulance rushing away. It seems poor fat Big Junior has had a breakdown and harmed himself. The lad wasn’t the same since his ma died and the constant bullying and sadistic harassment by certain people has pushed him over the edgeâ€¦

As they watch Annie O’Neill and her two oldest pass by, Pa invites them to spend time in his garden. The kids have the best day of their life just playing and, with a bit of peace at last, Annie idly chats about the old days with Tommyâ€¦

The next day the writer answers a desperate call: his father is in a bad way. It seems someone has destroyed his precious beloved garden; razed it to rubble and ruinsâ€¦

Consoling the heartbroken and despondent elder, Tommy sees Francie’s unmistakable signature to the despicable act. Soon after, finding the psychotic lout terrorising his own wife and children, the frustrated scribe realises he has found his own mad dogâ€¦

Disposing of the body on the nearby railway tracks, the shell-shocked and traumatised writer is unaware that Jimmy and Davy have been witnesses to the whole thingâ€¦

And that’s just the start of Tommy Doherty’s road from boy to man in this superbly told tale, blending wry humour and bucolic Celtic charm with shatteringly personal conflicts that test the miraculous bonds of childhood loyalty and friendship, revealing not only the horrific acts good men can be pushed to but how deeds shape character and how little the universe caseâ€¦

Long overdue for re-issue preferably in a bumper edition collecting the three-issue Holy Cross miniseries and the fabled unpublished fourth issue as well, this is a wonderfully beguiling and incisive story of human life at its most vibrant and compellingâ€¦
Â© 1997 Malachy Coney & Paul J. Holden. This edition Â© 1997 Fantagraphic Books. All rights reserved.

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