Colours:
Justin Ponsor, Caesar Rodriguez, Laura Martin. Letters: Troy Peteri.
Sojourn: The Warrior's Tale 2003 (SC TPB) 160 pages
Written by Ron Marz. Pencils by Greg Land, with Araon
Lopresti. Inks by Jay Leisten, Roland Paris.
Colours:
Justin Ponsor, Caesar Rodriguez, Laura Martin. Letters: Troy Peteri.
Reprinting: Sojourn #13-18
Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Additional notes: sketch gallery/pin-ups
Published by CrossGen Comics
Sojourn is a traditional High Fantasy saga set in a medieval-like world under the sway of an evil wizard, Mordath. The beautiful Arwyn is an archer who seeks to bring down the wizard, not the least because he killed her husband and child. With a fellow archer -- the roguish, free-wheeling Gareth -- and her dog, she seeks to assemble the parts of a mystical arrow that will destroy the wizard -- the parts being secreted in various lands, leading to assorted quests. All of this is, nicely and conveniently, recapped in an opening intro, so that a novice reader (like myself) won't feel left out.
This story arc (the third consecutive TPB collection) has Arwyn and Gareth arriving at Ankhara -- a city of mountain dwelling winged people who have been conquered and occupied by Mordath's troll army. Sneaking into the city, she and Gareth aid rebels in the city in their own quest for a powerful weapon, while also hoping to find a piece of the mystical arrow.
Sojourn: The Warrior's Tale is an enjoyable read, if perhaps a tad breezy.
Not the least of its striking aspects is the beautiful art by Greg Land which is detailed and realistic -- an idealized realism, that is. Looking at Arwyn, there's a nagging sense of familiarity, as if Land modelled her after a super-model, but I can't say who. In fact all the women are stunningly gorgeous, with plenty of bare midriffs (and Arwyn appears in a salacious scene -- albeit, it turns out to be Gareth's dream). In a break from traditional, Tolkien-esque European flavoured fantasy (which this series, one assumes, generally resembles), the cliff dwelling civilization of winged people is modelled after ancient Egypt, including sand stone buildings, hieroglyphs, and mummies. This adds an extra freshness to the familiar milieu, the visuals beautifully realized by Land's art and the warm, sun-drenched hues employed by the colourists. In fact, the colouring is a curiously effective technique, with backgrounds often seeming truly painted with coarsely mixed colours (though the characters are coloured in smooth, comicbook shades). Having flipped through the previous two Sojourn collections, I think Land's style may even have improved (though it was good from the beginning). In fact, the effectiveness of the art, the beauty and atmosphere -- and beauty of Arwyn -- can be a two-edged sword...because when Land is absent for an issue (Aaron Lopresti pinch hits an issue) my interest waned slightly. Lopresti is a perfectly good artist, but it's Land who makes the world breath.
Another break from traditional fantasy stories is that the Ankharans are black...a welcome pluralistic addition to a genre that typically tends to feature only white characters.
The plot itself is enjoyable enough, and moves along reasonably well. But like another fantasy-themed CrossGen TPB I read written by Ron Marz (Mystic: The Demon Queen), it can seem a bit...slight. For something that runs six issues, it's not especially complex in plot or character development. Well, actually, it's more like a five issue story, since the opening chapter is largely self-contained, focusing on the troll captain, Bohr, who has been pursuing our heroes (basically this series' Inspector Javert).
I don't mean that it's boring, or that there seems a lot of padding or extraneous scenes. I just mean that somehow, while still presenting an enjoyable enough romp, Marz manages to take a long time to do very little. Scenes may be a tad longer than they need...but not to the point of tedium. When you reach the end of the adventure, most of the challenges the heroes' faced were overcome fairly easily, and most of the plot twists weren't all that twisty.
An interesting side thought on gender and comic book sexism: here we have a story where the seeming principle character is the heroine -- and though she's certainly beautiful andd obviously meant to be eye candy, she is dressed respectably throughout (excepting the dream sequence to which I alluded earlier). So that even though one could argue there is a cheesecake aspect to Arwyn, it's not blatant. However, even though she is presented as the lead...reading the story itself it's not quite as clear. Gareth appears in as many scenes as she, is as likely to come up with the clever plan...and it's Gareth, not Arwyn, who narrates!
This TPB collects a story arc, with Arwyn freeing the Ankharans and winning yet another piece of her mystical arrow by the end, so that it can be read on its own. But there's an aspect that is left kind of dangling -- at least, so one assumes. A supporting character is killed off, which wouldn't seem like a "dangling" plot thread...except I'm guessing the character will return (the death scene seemed so perfunctory, and no body was recovered).
The Warrior's Tale is an enjoyable romp, full of beautiful scenery (and beautiful women), and the archer aspect was a nice touch, putting me in mind of Robin Hood stories (though the fact that Arwyn fires exploding arrows kind of loses the rustic elegance of the weapon!). For fans of High Fantasy, the chance to see such a milieu come to visual life is quite appealing (because it's not common in comics nor in movies, The Lord of the Rings notwithstanding). But though enjoyable, the characterization is slight and the story seems more like an episode of a TV series rather than a 132 page epic adventure.
Cover price: $__ CDN./ $15.95 USA.
Solar:
Alpha and Omega 1994 (SC TPB) 80
pages
a.k.a. Solar #0
Written by Jim Shooter (conceived by Shooter and Bob Layton).
Pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith. Inks by Bob Layton.
Colours: Janet Jackson. Letters: Jade Mode.
Reprinting: The back-up story serialized through Solar #1-10
Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Additional notes: intro by Bob Layton; covers.
Suggested for mature readers
Published by Valiant
I haven't bothered with a cover scan because the cover -- all black with an embossed title and a rradiation symbol -- probably wouldn't show up on my scanner.
This collected the Solar, Man of the Atom story that was originally run in short instalments in the back of the regular Solar comic. Solar started out as Doctor Solar in a 1960s Gold Key comic. When Valiant first began, they started out by acquiring the rights to a couple of pre-established properties -- Magnus and Solar -- in order to anchor what would be the Valiant Universe. Solar was actually a re-imagining of the property, rather than a direct sequel (I think this Solar had read the Doctor Solar comics when he was a kid).
Valiant was a company that arose in the 1990s and, for a time, looked as though it was going to be a major player in the biz...but it eventually went off the rails, was bought up and re-started by Acclaim, shut down again, and, today is, I believe, mainly a footnote in comics history. Reading some old Valiant comics and TPBs that I've come upon after the company's demise, I've been generally favourably impressed -- at least, regarding the early days of the company, when ex-Marvel boss, Jim Shooter, was head writer. The strange thing is that, although I haven't exactly loved what I've read, I've generally found them all to be of above average readability.
Which is what makes this book a bit of a disappointment.
Don't get me wrong. There's still an above average readability. The early Valiant comics could have plenty of action, but there was also an emphasis on talky bits and character stuff. Admittedly, there could be a certain cerebralness, where the scenes are brisk, sometimes intelligent and thoughtful, but oddly abstract, or cold -- relating to what I said about liking more than loving the comics . You can find yourself interested more than involved. And all that's here. There's also a decided brevity to the story, as it's being told in, generally, six page chapters. Though that can be its own appeal, keeping things tight and focused (like in Cyclops: Retribution).
The story concerns Phil Selesky, a physicist working on an experimental nuclear power plant who, when the generator goes critical, is bathed in radiation that seems to turn him into an almost God-like being who, as the story progresses, realizes there is very little limitation on his abilities. He is studied by well-meaning colleagues, pursues a romance, and eventually is deemed a threat by shadowy authorities when he starts using his abilities to arbitrarily do things he feels need doing (like shutting down unsafe nuclear reactors all over the world). There is some nicely subtle shadings of character that are quite impressive...like making us aware of Phil's interest in Gayle, not through anything overt, but simply because he notices her. Or the character of Erica Pierce (who would later be crucial to Valiant's cross company Unity epic) whose personal neuroses are more implied than explained.
At the same time, that can relate to my point about an aloofness. Barely do Phil and Gayle go on a date then, next chapter, they're living together. The relationship is progressed intellectually more than emotionally.
Valiant was not an especially artist-driven company, and many of the comics featured competent artists who could tell a tale cleanly and get the job done, but were not necessarily exciting or A-list names. The art here, though, is by fan-favourite Barry Windsor-Smith, who drew other stuff for Valiant, but nothing as sustained as this ten chapter serial. Windsor-Smith is a good artist, although, despite his creativity and talent, he kind of suits the Valiant flavour, in that his detailed art isn't really of an explosive, emotive style. But it's nice stuff, nonetheless.
Still, all this describes something that's still comfortably in that "above average readability" mode I was talking about. So where's the problem?
Well, taken in the context of years later, when Valiant is defunct and Solar has been cancelled, it's basically a prologue more than a stand alone introduction. For an origin story, it ends in such a way that, if you don't know what comes next, you might find yourself going, "Huh?" It's an oddly downbeat, abrupt resolution. Perhaps if you got it along with the other Solar TPB that collected the lead stories from the first four issues, they would work better. But on its own, it was interesting and eminently readable...but leaves you feeling a tad empty.
Although, to be fair, that may just be reading it a certain way. Perhaps a second reading, knowing how it resolves, will leave me with less ambivalence. But, at the moment, I'm posting this review after one reading.
Like a lot of smaller companies, Valiant chose to go it without Comics Code approval, which tended to result in stories that seemed unsure of what they could and couldn't do. In this case, the story is erratically gory and probably warrants a "mature readers" caution. As well, the book is mayhap a tad expensive for what it is, page count wise.
Another curious sidebar (similar to one I mentioned in the X-O: Manowar TPB) is the introduction. One of the founders of Valiant was Jim Shooter, a man whose talent isn't generally doubted, but who accrued his share of detractors, on a personal level, when he was Editor-in-Chief at Marvel. He wrote much of the early Valiant line, but was soon gone from that company too. This TPB collection was released after Shooter was gone, though features stories for which he is credited as the writer and co-creator, along with Bob Layton. Yet in Layton's introduction, nowhere is Shooter even mentioned. In fact, Layton claims almost complete credit for the series, despite only being credited as co-creator and inker. Perhaps Layton did do all the work, and Shooter stole credit. But it does seem a bit odd, when Shooter still has his name prominently on the credits' page, for Layton to not even acknowledge his existence, if only to say, "Shooter stole my by-line". It smacks a little of the old idea of Communist Russia re-writing history texts to eliminate someone's accomplishments if that person fell out of favour with the current administration.
Original cover price: $9.95/$13.45
Soul
Stealer 2008 (SC GN) 148 pages
Written by Michael Easton. Illustrated by Christopher
Shy.
Editor: Jason Park.
Rating: * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 2
Additional notes: intro by novelist Peter Straub
Suggested for mature readers
Published by DMF Comics
There have been a lot of people in comics in the last few years claiming that the old monthly comic is on the way out and the graphic novel is the future of the medium. That even though series are still published as monthly periodicals, their true destination is a collected edition down the line. It's also been pointed out that in Europe and Japan the graphic novel has long since replaced the thinner comic -- even when these "novels" are simply instalments in an on going series. .
And a book like Soul Stealer seems to be part of that movement. Because this is 148 page original graphic novel -- the contents not having first seen life as a serialized comic -- yet it is not a stand alone effort, but inside even bills itself as simply "Book One" of a proposed series.
Fully painted -- or photoshopped -- it's about Kalan, a man born thousands of years before but who currently wanders the streets of a near future New York pining for his lost true love who, like him, is timelost and somewhere out in the world. In it you can probably detects echoes of everything from The Highlander films to the Crow comics to the legend of Orpheus.
I mentioned that this is a whopping 140-some pages and sees itself as the beginning of something. That's important. Because, frankly, very little actually happens in these pages. Between writer (and actor and sometime poet) Michael Easton's vague, sometimes inarticulate story and artist Christopher Shy's out-of-focused images where the same faces are recycled panel after panel, reminiscent of Dave McKean (and not in a good way), even when something does occur -- it's often hard to know what, exactly. But even after a second reading, once I had a better grasp on what was supposed to be going on, one can't escape the feeling that the same material could've been squeezed into a regular comic -- or maybe two.
There are some sort of interesting, but only vaguely articulated ideas in Soul Stealer -- but ideas that in and of themselves aren't exactly that fresh or original. We get a flashback to Kalan's Iron Age origins, as he falls in battle to the demonic Apis Bull who kills both him and his lover, Oxania. And they are both resurrected, but separated -- apparently for millennia, partly due to the capricious whim of the Gods (borrowing names from the Egyptian pantheon, with a few nods to Judeo-Islamic-Christianity). But it's all kind of fuzzy why -- Kalan is both a favourite of the Gods, but also ticks them off. There's a lot in the book that is like that, either as if Easton hadn't really thought it through himself, or knew it so well he forget to explain it to us. At one point, toward the end, a woman confronts Kalan and says that a priest has warned her about him. But it's not clear how this priest would know anything about him. Heck -- even the reader still isn't really sure what his supernatural abilities are at that point or what he does with them. Midway through the book, he is summoned to a meeting by someone who wants his assistance...but that person never shows up so it doesn't really add to the story, or our understanding (you can learn more about the story reading the back cover blurb than reading the story itself!). So Kalan just mopes about, has a few flashbacks to his origin, and pines for the lost Oxania -- but doesn't really seem to have any plan on how to look for her. Eventually Apis Bull shows up again for a "climactic" battle...but again, with little logic for how or why (again, I suppose, it's put down to the unknowable whims of the Gods). .
There are even a few technical inconsistencies, like the whole book being narrated by Kalan in the first person -- except for one scene where Kalan leaves a room and the caption describes things he can't see. Easton is deliberately writing in a pretentious way -- the poet in him, I guess. So people say things like: "You're drunk with memory and there's darkness in your soul." Dialogue like that isn't very realistic...without being lyrical enough to work on a more heightened level.
And all this is compounded by Shy's art, which is supposed to be haunting and moody. And it is...sort of. It's also just kind of murky and repetitious and not really very good at storytelling. And let's face it, a comic book artist is first and foremost a storyteller. Instead, settings are often dark and blurred, while Shy just recycles the same faces over and over, so there are few changes of expression in the entire story, and he colours over the figures with lines and scratches so people often look like they're sporting Maori tattoos. A lot of the images look like he's playing with photographs, while occasionally borrowing poses from old Conan paperback novel covers by Frank Frazetta and Ken Kelley.
And perhaps writer and artist cancel each other out. Maybe Easton's airy script paired with rich and detailed images would've worked, or a textured and nuanced script coupled with Shy's vague, dream-like images could've been effective. But all it is is a vague script coupled with vague art.
There isn't a lot of action, per se -- despite my referring to fight scenes, there are only about two or three in the whole book (and are hard to make out). And other than Kalan, there isn't too much in the way of personalities, and even Kalan isn't really defined that much beyond his melancholy. It would be easier to get caught up in the tragedy of his starcrossed romance...if we cared about him more.
This bills itself as "Book One", and does indeed have the feel of a "pilot" -- just establishing the premise. But so little happens here, and there's so little indication where it would go or what it would do when it got there, that it's hard to get excited about a "Book Two".
Now, after that thoroughly negative review, let me point out an obvious point. I likened it to both The Highlander film and the visuals to Dave McKean of Arkham Asylum fame. Well, guess what? I didn't like Highlander and I didn't like Arkham Asylum. Soooo...if you did like those, you just might find something in this that I didn't.
And good luck to you.
Cover price: $19.99 USA
Starslammers
1983 (SC GN), 64 pgs
Written and drawn by Walter Simonson.
Colours: Louise Simonson, Deborah Pedler. Letters: John
Workman. Editors: Al Milgrom, Mary Jo Duffy.
Rating: * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 2
Published by Marvel Comics in over-sized tabloid format.
Space opera about a planet of elite inter-galactic mercenaries who had been an oppressed people, and now use their new calling (and the money and weapons they collect as payment) as preparation for going to war with the planet that had oppressed them.
If you ever thought "Star Wars" was too jingoistic and warlike, then you'll definitely hate The Starslammers. Walt Simonson, whether reflecting his own philosophy or just escapist entertainment, indulges in a kind of macho diatribe that, frankly, seems weird and even uncomfortable in the latter part of the 20th Century. The story's peopled by Macho-He-Men (and He-Women), talking about "true men", where human worth seems literally to be measured by an individual's fighting prowess. The "heroes" are mercenaries whose greatest dream is to commit genocide against their (admittedly sleazy) enemies.
The plot seems more of a build up to a story than the story itself. The characters aren't well defined, or even memorable, and the overall results cold. The story takes itself too seriously, lacking any kind of swashbuckling jauntiness that would, at least, make the Starslammers fun on a non-think level.
Still, if all that sounds like fun, Walt Simonson is certainly a fine artist and a competent, if unexceptional, dialogist. Simonson later returned to the premise a decade later with an (ultimately unfinished) mini-series set, apparently hundreds of years later (meaning it's not really a direct sequel).
The Starslammers was published in oversized, tabloid format as a Marvel Graphic Novel.
Original cover price: $6.96 CDN./$5.95 USA
The Steel Claw: The Vanishing Man 2005 (HC) 112 pages
Written by Ken Bulmer. Illustrated by Jesus Blasco.
black & white.
Reprinting: the serials "The Steel Claw", "The Steel Claw vs. Dr. Deutz", and "The Steel Claw vs. Sharkey", serialized in Valiant (1962-1963)
Additional notes: intro by Steve Holland; writer and artist bios; complete story checklist; published in an over-sized format.
Rating: * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Review posted Sept, 2011
Published by Titan Books
To most North Americans, British comics are largely defined by Judge Dredd, Captain Britain, and maybe a few Dr. Who comics, that nation not having quite developed a thriving comic book industry like America (and other countries) -- despite, ironically, producing some of the most influential American-published comic book writer and artists of the last few decades! Yet in the 1960s, inparticular, there was a bit of a boom in British comics. Though they were modelled more after the format of newspaper strips, the comics being anthologies of often only two or three page series serialized from issue to issue. There have been periodic attempts to revive the old characters, either as themselves, or as subtle homages, including the mini-series Albion. Albion I don't think proved as successful as was expected (given Alan Moore's name was attached to it) but it did lead to Britain's Titan Books releasing a few hardcover collections of some of the more fondly remembered old series, including Albion Origins (an anthology), The Spider, and this -- The Steel Claw.
The Steel Claw is about one Louis Crandell, a lab assistant with a steel hand (a result of a lab mishap). When he is electrified in another mishap (yeah -- maybe he should seek another line of work) he discovers that the temporary charge renders him invisible -- save for his steel hand. The initial premise deliberately harkens back to the seminal British SF novel, The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells -- particularly as Crandell is actually the villain, launching a crime spree and a wave of terror while his erstwhile employer, Prof. Barringer, seeks to rein him in. Another British comic from the time -- The Spider -- also featured an anti-hero/crook as a the title character. Except here, by the end of the first story it is -- retroactively -- explained that the accident unhinged Crandell, and that he's really a good guy, and he recovers his moral sense. Thus allowing him to act as a regular hero for the next two stories in this collection.
Well, in the next story he is a good guy -- but no one believes that, as a Jekyll/Hyde-type mad scientist frames him, so once again he is being hunted by police and Professor Barringer. But by the third story, his good guy credentials are unchallenged, and he ends up taking on modern day pirates on the high seas.
Being something of a pop culturalist and incurable nostalgist, when I learned of these old comics that I had never heard of, I became curious to see what the fuss was about. Unfortunately, the results tend to be rather mixed.
Obviously, some of that is simple context -- these were ultimately aimed at young, juvenile readers (much as American comics were at the same time) so obviously they are problematic for me, a modern adult. Particularly as I have no affectionate pre-disposition for them (the way I might reading a 1960s comics featuring a character I liked from later, more sophisticated comics). But the truth is, even by comics of the time, these can be a bit problematic. Part of that is the serialized format of two pages per instalment. It allows for a brisk tempo, keeping things moving fast, but it doesn't encourage much character development, or emotional undercurrent. As well, the plotting itself is fairly rudimentary -- the first two story lines inparticular just tend to involve a lot of running back and forth and repetition, as if the writer is more concerned with stretching the plot out over many weeks than telling an actual story.
The third story in this collection is a bit better, as there's at least more of a sense of a narrative progression -- but there's still not much in the way of emotion or characterization. Crandell himself is a fairly non-descript personality. Nor is there wit or humour to enliven the scenes.
What it does have going for it is beautiful, almost photo-realist art by Jesus Blasco, rendered in moody and shadowed black & white. Particularly compared to the average art in American comics at the time, it's stunning, detailed and sophisticated. However even here I might quibble. Blasco is an exceptional artist, there's no doubt about it. But there's perhaps nothing exceptional about his composition, or design. The pictures look good -- but it's fairly straightforward in terms of storytelling. Granted, the scripts don't maybe point the way to any obvious embellishments he could try.
The scripts were written by Ken Bulmer (though the character was created by an editor) -- who is actually better known as a respect science fiction novelist. Unfortunately, there's not too much in the way of literary finesse evident in his comic book scripts. As mentioned, the characterization is all but non-existent, and the plots are straight forward. Despite Professor Barringer being present in the first two stories, there's very little development of a relationship, or a sense of a supporting cast (and he's absent from the third story). Though it is interesting that in the second story, a featured character is the professor's niece, Terry -- who is one of the few people who believes in the now-reformed Crandell's innocence. It's interesting because I had noted that in a lot of the other British comics from that era women were conspicuously absent. I mean -- literally there were no women in the strips at all! Yet here there is a more American-style romantic undercurrent -- though it is just an undercurrent. Terry doesn't appear in the next story (nor do any women!), so I'm not sure if she was anything more than a one-time figure.
Another way these old British comics might differ from American ones -- other than most being in black & white, the newspaper serial format, and the general absence of love interests, is that they were published without any over seeing Comics Code Authority. Although they were still aimed at a family audience (there is crime, action, and sometimes murder -- but no "adult" subject matter) one can't help thinking eye brows might've been raised in the U.S. about a comic book series in which the hero deliberately goes around sticking his fingers into light sockets, or grabs live wires, in order to induce his invisibility!
The fact is, I have a fondness for newspaper adventure strip collections -- the tight, limited panel format allowing for a concise, efficient storytelling style. And I can also read a lot of old "juvenile" comics from the 1960s and enjoy them for their relative lack of pretention, and for the sometimes unexpected ambitions, in terms of character, emotional threads, clever plot twists, and witty dialogue and wisecracks. And I have enjoyed vintage British comics quite a bit (notably Dan Dare). But I'll confess -- The Steel Claw just didn't really work for me, read now, decades after the fact, suffering as it does from an uninvolving hero (despite his claw and invisibility) and bland plotting.
Cover price: $__ CDN.
Stickleback
Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
For my review at www.ugo.com, go here.
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