Comics : Blake & Mortimer 21 : Plutarch's Staff

Yes comic reviews are back, i thought it was time seeing as this blog isn't just about music nowadays...

Lets start with the latest Blake & Mortimer which has been translated here into English mere months after the original French publication. "Plutarch's Staff" is a prequel of sorts, the events of the book deal with the end of WW2 and the start of WW3 which was covered in the Secret of the Swordfish saga (which began the Blake & Mortimer story back in the 1950s) so the strip can be considered as having travelled full circle.

Though to be honest i'm finding the current obsession with filling in gaps and continuity-porn a bit tiresome with this volume and the previous couple it would be nice for future volumes to explore new territory. "Plutarch's Staff" does cover some interesting origins though, especially for one of the series' major characters.

The criticisms aside the story is very good, and drawn beautifully of course. This story sees Blake more to the fore and so is less mystical and more action and intrigue based. At the risk of contradicting myself in the previous paragraph the events that lead up to Secret of the Swordfish are very interesting and fit in perfectly well with the later stories even though they were written by another author (the original master Edgar P. Jacobs of course) and over 60 years before. So a great addition to the Blake & Mortimer saga and very recommended, but lets hope we can explore something a little fresher next time.

Comics : Destination New York (Stratoship H.22 Part 2)

Tintin went to the Moon, Herge's other characters Jo, Zette and Jocko have to settle with the slightly less distant New York but its an epic journey none the same. At the end of part one the two children and their pet chimp were flying off in the experimental high-speed aircraft Stratoship H.22 - built to win a flying competition - to evade competitors bent on stopping them no matter the cost. In this concluding part of the story they end up first on a desert island and then in the Arctic.

Like the earlier volume the adventure runs at break neck speed with a heavy dose of luck and coincidence. The limitation of Jo and Zette of course was they were children not an enterprising adult like Tintin thus a lot of the time their fate is not in their hands but in adults who handily are around to save them at every turn. This does not detract too much from the story however. The plot is engaging and involves some intrigue, i think this is probably the best of the three Jo, Zette and Jocko volumes i have read to date.

It is beautifully drawn like part one, some of the best examples of ligne claire artwork i've seen and beautifully reproduced.

Comics : Mr Pump's Legacy (Stratoship H.22 Part 1)

Herge's Tintin is world famous of course and rightly so, especially with the new Hollywood movie now out (which is very good by the way) but Herge drew other comic strips too including Jo, Zette and Jocko. Jo and Zette are two children who get into adventures with their pet chimp Jocko, though usually by way of their engineer Father.

In this adventure they end up flying an advanced new aeroplane that is trying to win a prize by crossing the Atlantic in the fastest time yet.

The comic strip is truly beautifully drawn, and wonderfully reproduced here with some of the cleanest lines i've ever seen in a ligne claire strip. It is a true period piece set in the 1930s with a heavy dose of art deco, especially in the aeroplane the Stratoship H.22.

There is a good plot too with other powers trying to sabotage the record attempt. How the children manage to end up flying the plane is a bit contrived maybe but sets up part 2 of the story as they fly off lost...

The only criticism i have is that Jocko is a bit annoying though does provide some excellent comic relief at times. Its not Tintin but its an excellent comic adventure in its own right.

Comics : Blake & Mortimer 7 : The Affair of the Necklace

The Affair Of The Necklace, the 7th translated and released into English by Cinebook, is one of the books written and drawn by the creator of Blake & Mortimer Edgar P. Jacobs (the series being continues by other authors and artists after his death). This book stands out from much of the rest of the series by virtue of the fact the plot is rather mundane (by Blake & Mortimer standards).

There are no evil masterminds, no exotic death rays or retro-futurist science this time, instead the plot revolves around basic theft (of a necklace natch).

Much of the story does take on a fairly mysterious and fantastical air though in the catacombs below Paris but at its heart this is a basic crime and chase story and enjoyable it is too if a bit pedestrian compared to some of the other stories.

Its not the best Blake & Mortimer story in the series but still well worth a read.

Comics : Star Wars Omnibus - A Long Time Ago 1

Over the last few weeks and months i have been rereading my sole surviving Marvel Star Wars comic from the early 1980s and also buying another one on Ebay. I did ask if these had been republished in collected form and indeed they have so instead of wasting 5 pounds on a faded tatty comic why not spend just twice that on a big thick (oo-er) volume?

This collection begins with the Marvel comic adaptation of the film of course, but interesting as that is i was more interested in seeing how they continued the storyline after the destruction of the Death Star while waiting to adapt Empire Strikes Back a few years down the line. To be honest the original stories do not begin that well...

The first story is a retelling of the Magnificent Seven in all but name (at least that is kind of apt considering the Kurosawa influence on Star Wars in general) with Han Solo assembling a motley crew of mercenaries to fight off some alien hoards to defend some poor villagers. All seems fine though the story is very unlike Star Wars, apart from Solo and Chewie all the characters seem rather Marvel generic and it just doesn't feel Star Wars...

Things begin to improve later on when Darth Vader makes a reappearance and the Empire in general, an interesting new universe begins to emerge involving the Empire's allies the House of Tagge.

Of course the problem for the comic creators was that they only had the first film to play with for background, nowadays there is a much more expanded universe. Thus some events and characterizations in these stories are a bit off (yes Luke and Leia get lovey dovey a lot!)

Overall a great set of comics and well worth the money.

Comics : Blake & Mortimer (11) : The Gondwana Shrine

The latest Blake & Mortimer volume translated and published in English by Cinebook follows on from the excellent Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent two-parter (part 1, part 2), although it can't be considered "part 3" it does follow up quite a lot of the plot... though everything is recapped so you can read this on its own and understand whats going on!

At the heart of this story is that staple of books of Blake & Mortimer's ilk : lost civilisations. Though in the case of the Gondwana Shrine the civilisation is truly very ancient (as in millions of years) and that does stretch credibility a bit. Professor Mortimer takes the lead in this story though of course Blake is never far away and a certain persistent villain also makes a reappearance. To be honest though it would be nice for Blake & Mortimer to have some other enemies...

As with all Blake & Mortimer books its a dense storyline and full of intrigue and adventure, and of course very well drawn. However as the central concept of the story is a little too far-fetched it did detract from the story a little but still well worth your time.

Comics : Star Wars #42

I enjoyed reviewing the old Star Wars comic i found in my loft so much that i bought another of the Marvel comic series on Ebay. Number 42 this time, which i did have as a childhood as oddly i remember Han Solo's buff body in one scene as he is stripped to the waist and having steam or some kind of vapour blown over him. Er... yeah moving on...

Set in between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back this has the Rebel gang stuck on some kind of massive space station. Luke and Leia and the 2 droids are on the run from a Senator Greyshade meanwhile Darth Vader is searching for a cyborg rival. In the exciting cliffhanger Han Solo is forced into a gladiatorial combat where he is shocked to find out his opponent is Chewbacca!

The highlight of everything is the cover though, and boy does Darth Vader look angry! I suspect The Emperor erased all his unseen episodes of Masterchef off his Sky Plus.

Comics : Star Wars #54

Years ago (a lot of years ago) i used to get the Star Wars comic every week. We're talking back in the late 70s and early 80s here. Like much else from my childhood the comics have long gone as i didn't have the foresight to know that people would pay good money for such things on a global visual network yet to be created one day. However one comic did survive as it was left at my Grandmothers' house and years later i made sure i would keep this one...

Star Wars #54 then was released on Valentine's Day 1979 and includes a Star Wars comic strip and two other stories (The Micronauts and The Warlock which i wasn't that interested in back then and not so much now either). The Star Wars comic started off a weekly comic telling of the first Star Wars movie but once they blew up the Death Star and Darth Vader went spinning off into space they had to continue the comic with an early example of the Extended Universe at least until Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980.

The story here concerns Luke, Leia and Tagge who appears to be some kind of galactic mafia boss who hates Vader. Luke and Leia are trying to discover why and how Tagge can fly TIE fighters into the atmosphere of the gas giant Yavin while at the same time evading Tagge's TIE fighter patrols. Of course the story here was set between the two films and no one but George Lucas knew that Luke and Leia were siblings, so we get a little bit of mild incest.

The cliffhanger has their ship under attack by TIE fighters and the intriguing teaser that next week is called "R2 D2 Casualty Of War", as to what happened in Star Wars #55 i can't remember, but obviously R2 was fine as he made the next film OK. It would be great if these Marvel Star Wars stories were released in some kind of collected volume. I'm hoping someone will tell me they are...

Comics : The Empire Of A Thousand Planets

This is book 2 in the Valerian and Laureline series, they being a couple of chilled dudes from the future who work for the Spatio-Temporal Service of Earth. They travel through space and time having various adventures. I enjoyed the first book in the series and this one is pretty good too. Written in the early 1970s it has a kind of hippie sci-fi feel (think Dark Star) rather than the techno-fascist sci-fi horror that came later (think... well most other things).

Compared to the first book there is maybe a little less out-and-out adventure and action but a more involved storyline. The first book also took place on a ruined future (for us, past for them) Earth while this takes place in a remote corner of the galaxy. Its quite implausible, our heroes have amazing abilities and no doubt a lot of luck but also very enjoyable.

Great play is made by the publishers on the similarities between Valerian & Laureline and the later Star Wars epic of George Lucas. Did Lucas get some "inspiration" from this? Who knows it could all be a co-incidence but there do seem to be quite a lot of co-incidences...

Comics : Orbital (2) - Ruptures

This continues the story of the future galaxy diplomatic corp duo (who seem to combine quiet diplomacy with kick-ass action quite seamlessly) who at the end of volume 1 in the Orbital series were on a rain swept planet about to be overrun by multi-legged beasties. This volume concludes the story of Caleb and Mezoke trying to avert a war on a rather miserable little planet.

This well-drawn story is actually quite complicated and at times you do lose track a bit about what is going on, various competing factions in the foreground and background of the story do make it a bit confusing sometimes though you do manage to (more or less) work out what is going on by the end! I wonder if it would have been better to spread this story across 3 volumes and have a little more back-story and explanation about whats going on?

Its a well-drawn graphic novel and the artist has created a compelling and realistic future. The story is also complex and immersive, many things that still confuse will hopefully be explained later in the series...

Comics : The Golden Age Of DC Comics - 365 Days

If you are not familiar with these kinds of books, 365 Days volumes, they have an entry for every day of the year (natch) on a specific subject, the daily subject often having a tie in with what the relevant date is. The Golden Age of DC Comics: 365 Days is on DC comics, home of the iconic Superman, Batman and a galaxy of other heroes, this book covers DC from its pre-costumed hero days (when it literally was Detective Comics) to the post-war when westerns and sci-fi periodically knocked the men (and women) in tights off their perches.

Most people will have heard of the main characters like Superman of course and they feature heavily here, though what is particularly enjoyable is some of the lesser-known and maybe forgotten heroes like Air Wave who apparently combated villains by roller-skating along telegraph wires and Fatman who wore a lampshade as his mask. To be honest i think some of these guys would make for better films than some of the recent subjects like the Green Lantern (but considering the rate of which Hollywood is plundering the comics universe i suspect films about Air Wave and the like are probably only a few years off).

Each entry has a subject reproduction from an old DC comic and a brief accompanying paragraph of text. Some of the images are quite surreal, especially some of the pre-war ones with elements of Art Deco. I also really love the start of this horror story, i'd love to read the rest of this!

In fact that is the only criticism of this excellent volume, i wish there was an easy way to read the rest of some of the stories featured in here! Its a huge thick volume you will be dipping into all the time, superb piece of work!

Comics : Pandora's Box 3 - Gluttony

The unenlightened and sneering type often deride comics as being only for children only or comprise only space battles and school hi-jinks. I'm not sure how they could handle a comic story about Mad Cow disease and factory farming but hopefully it would dent their incorrect world view a tad.

Thats exactly what we have here in Pandora's Box Vol.3: Gluttony, volume 3 in the Pandora's Box series (obviously). Each volume features a story based around one of the seven deadly sins and drawing inspiration on Greek myth. This story is on gluttony and how better to illustrate that story with modern agribusiness?

This beautifully illustrated story really engages with you and packs a powerful political punch. It targets not only the greed of agribusiness but also the consumers who want ever greater quantities of cheap meat. What is the true cost though, it could be deadly as this story points out.

Really this story needs to be read by everyone, i think it could bring home the message of the dangers and immorality of the likes of battery hens and modern factory farming more than a hundred dry editorials and newspaper articles could. Cinebook can only be applauded for translating and publishing quality pieces of work from the Continent for the British market, long may they continue!

Comics : Blake & Mortimer 10 : The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent part 2

Blake & Mortimer books usually have sumptuous covers but they have really gone to town on this one, book 10 in the translated series released by Cinebook, is a classic of comic art. The ligne claire artwork inside is pretty good too, being to the usual B&M standard. Very well drawn accurate artwork depicting an idealised view of the world of the 1950s, beautifully coloured... and with plenty of words!

This story continues the one begun in part 1 obviously which involved a mysterious Indian living god launching an electrical attack on the Brussels Universal Exposition. In part 2 our heroes travel to Antarctica to track down the source of the attacks. If you like secret bases at the South Pole and mysterious retro-future technology then you will be sure to love this. It is packed full of action and weird science...

The best part of the story though, to me, is the backstory these 2 volumes have provided to Professor Mortimer. Part 1 showed us some of his adventures in India as a young man and this all comes to a conclusion here where his past and present collide.

Comics : Iznogoud - the Caliph's vacation

I'm still not 100% sold on Iznogoud yet, it has lots of trademark Goscinny humour, satire and charm and is well drawn by Tabary but the stories are all rather short and follow the same formula : Iznogoud wants to get rid of the Caliph but his schemes fail miserably.

Its all fine and often funny but compared to a comic series like Asterix with its full length stories it does tend to suffer in comparison. Although you could argue all Asterix stories are the same (the village or the 2 main characters face peril but the magic potion saves the day) the longer format allows for a greater variety of story whereas i find Iznogoud can get a little samey after awhile.

(Though in fact after Goscinny died Tabary took over the writing as well as the artwork (as Uderzo has done with Asterix) and moved Iznogoud to full-length stories so those will be interesting to see one day when Cinebook translate them.)

All this criticism may seem a bit unfair of course, most comic stories suffer in comparison to the indomitable Gaul and i am not saying Iznogoud is bad by any means. Its an enjoyable and often very funny read. But it just lacks that little something to yet make it one of my favourites. Yet!

This collection of stories, Iznogoud Vol.2: The Caliph's Vacation revolve around a holiday theme. Iznogoud sees holidays as very dangerous so naturally is keen to get the Caliph to collect his bucket and spade and don some flip-flops!

Comics : The Dragon Of Hong Kong

The latest Yoko Tsuno book sees her remain in the Far East and become involved in what seems like a story inspired by Godzilla! While in HK she comes across a huge sea going reptile which turns out to be an escaped example of accelerated growth experiments. There is another huge reptile however, this one mechanical and controlled by a mad man who wishes to make a movie...

The plot is a bit odd to be honest but the story remains engaging. There is a nice bit of detective work in between the segments of monster mayhem. As with most Yoko Tsuno books quite a bit of belief suspension is required, there is the usual dollop of "weird science". Yoko's companions make their usual cameo appearances and help (more or less).

In the end the two monsters battle, we would be rioting if that didn't happen of course. Yoko ends up being the guardian of a young orphaned girl, it will be interesting to see how that pans out in future. Overall its a decent read though i didn't think it was quite as good as the last few volumes.

The Wicked Wiles of Iznogoud

Even if you didn't know this was written by René Goscinny who also wrote Asterix you would feel there is something very familiar about Iznogoud. Like Asterix it is a cleverly written comic rammed full of madcap adventures, satire and puns and clever word play. Unlike Asterix however Iznogoud is no hero.

Instead, and rather refreshingly, Iznogoud is a villain. As Grand Vizer he is endlessly scheming to remove the Caliph in the ancient Baghdad in which they both live and rule himself ("become Caliph instead of the Caliph"). Unfortunately for himself (but fortunately for the rather useless Caliph) he is too evil for his own good and often gets carried away with his schemes. Thus his cunning plans always fail but that doesn't stop him trying again.

Reading Iznogoud made me laugh out loud several times, sometimes the puns and names are just to be believed and score highly on the cheese and corn-ometer (once i'm sure there was something about the Kurds being "a-whey"). However that just adds to the magic of Iznogoud itself. Its a great and funny read.

Orbital (1) - scars

Its always nice to discover a new comic series, "Scars" is volume 1 of the Orbital series which presents an intriguing future where Earth has joined the intergalactic confederation but humans are seen as still rather primitive and dangerous and are being held back by the other alien races.

In truth this is a similar idea to how humans were held back by the Vulcans in the 22nd century in the Star Trek universe though in Orbital humans are relegated to being bartenders and security guards until one finally makes the elite diplomatic corps who keep the peace. Such a selection is controversial, especially as his partner is from an alien race with whom the humans have already had a bloody war.

This is a well written and illustrated story and is very entertaining. The artwork really evoked an incredibly varied and impressive future galactic civilisation. There maybe isn't a huge amount of action but I feel that's because there is a lot of back story to establish. This book really set up the rest of the series for what looks to be a very interesting ride.

• Orbital Vol. 1: Scars (Amazon)

The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent - Part 1

I haven't done a comic review for a while, well lets put that right with what is a superb piece of work in many ways. "The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent - Part 1" is the latest Blake & Mortimer volume translated and released in English by Cinebook and like all the others is a very accomplished, if rather dense, graphic novel.

The first thing you have to say about this is that the cover artwork is beautiful and really draws you in. The actual story itself is also very well done in the clear line style. The story is of course fairly complicated and very wordy but if you have read a Blake & Mortimer story before you will expect that. To a new reader it may be a bit daunting but i urge people to stick with it. This isn't a comic you read quickly, its one you have to spend time with to get the best out of it.

The story again mixes elements of pre-war intrigue, mystery and the occult with post-war "flying saucer era" science fiction and early Cold War adventure. In this volume we also get to see a fair amount of Professor Mortimer's past too as a young man in India and how he met Francis Blake for the first time!

Can't wait for part 2 now!

• The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent - Part 1: Blake & Mortimer Vol. 9 (Amazon)

Century 21

Pure childhood nostalgia : the amazing TV series of Gerry Anderson like Thunderbirds and Stingray. TV21 was a comic off-shoot of the amazing universe his team created and this is the first collection of comic strips from that comic of the late 60s and early 70s which i personally never read before though i do have an old Thunderbirds annual somewhere...

The stories are fast paced and exciting though lack depth somewhat. The bad guys always seem to manage to pull out a secret underground base out of nowhere. The likeness of the characters also varies which makes it a bit confusing sometimes to tell who is who, though of course the characters were puppets. When an artist went too far to make their drawings match the puppet it looked a little odd. So basically you can't win. These are just minor niggles though, the stories are an amazing thrill ride. Just read them as you would when you were 12.

Freed of the restraints of puppets the comics show a lot more physical action by the characters than on TV of course. Characters get into fist fights, fall down mountains or even get tied to ballistic missiles as in the case of Lady Penelope (sure i dreamed of that once - when a boy i hasten to add). The futuristic toys are still there too of course and this is where the true nostalgia hits me. Nostalgia for an age when the future was impossibly exciting and positive. These are comics written before the Oil Shock of course.

The Century 21 future doesn't have economic and environmental collapse, religious fundamentalism or resource depletion. Instead it has hypersonic nuclear powered airliners, cities in the stars and Lady Penelope in her pink Rolls-Royce.

Cinebook Recounts 2 : The Falklands War

To someone like myself who remembers the Falklands War of 1982 very vividly (maybe the most abiding TV memory of my childhood) a graphic novel telling the story of that war at first appears very strange. But then again graphic novels of WW2 seem fine and for some people they were vivid memories too so why not?

And indeed this is a very beautiful piece of work with excellent artwork. To fit the whole conflict into the confines of one volume was difficult i bet and at times the story races along at breakneck speed and also puts somewhat odd speech into the "characters'" mouths in order to advance the narrative sufficiently. I did notice a couple of inaccuracies with the events portrayed here but something only a military or history geek would really pick up on.

This is a very good piece of work, it should be required reading for British children to see how a British colony was regained nearly 30 years ago despite great difficulties and great cost.

• The Falklands War: Cinebook Recounts Series (Amazon)