Dan Dare by Frank Hampson (Part Two)

Classic Dan Dare (Titan Reprints, Hardback)

Vol 4: Marooned on Mercury – ISBN: 184023847X

Vol 5: Operation Saturn pt.1 – ISBN: 1840238097

Vol 6: Operation Saturn pt.2 – ISBN: 1845760883

Vol 7: Prisoners of Space – ISBN: 1845761510

So, it’s been a while since my last post and in all honesty it has been several weeks since I read these Dan Dare stories. What I don’t intend to do is provide spoilers, because I envy the person that is reading these for the first time. What I will do, (memory permitting) is try to put a little bit of context to the stories.

Marooned on Mercury kicks of exactly where the previous story-arc (Red Moon Mystery) left us. We have most of the core group (that have been introduced so far), with the exception of Sir Hubert, thought dead, but they are in fact marooned on the so far unexplored planet of Mercury.

In terms of the greater Dan Dare Universe, Marooned on Mercury establishes a new race of technological sentients on Mercury. But, more importantly, the Mekon returns. So this is really the story that lets the reader know that the Mekon of Mekonta was not a one hit villain, but a recurring thorn in Dan’s side. In fact, it’s not just the Mekon, he has an entire army of Treen partisans still loyal to him, but more importantly, he has a plan. A plan to bring the Earth, and possibly the entire Sol system under his thrall. And that is where the action begins.

Dan and the gang are very much on there own for this adventure and whilst the struggle is epic, the action takes place in a relatively small geographical area. So the backgrounds don’t quite have the visual scope that we’ve seen in some of the earlier strips. Also, Frank Hampson was taken ill early on in the production of the strip and it was mostly drawn by Harold Johns, Frank’s assistant. To be fair to Harold, he really does do a fantastic job with the art, but what this strip is missing is the incredible sense of design that Hampson was able to bring to the drawing table, but more on that later.

The relatively local scale of Marooned on Mercury is totally abandoned in the next story. Operation Saturn, published in two volumes, really plays to the strengths of Hampson and the stable of artists that made up his studio. In Operation Saturn, Dan and friends journey not to Saturn itself, but to the various moons in orbit around the giant planet. So, as our heroes bounce from moon to moon the reader is treated to the spectacle of different cultures, flora & fauna and environment almost from page to page. From dense jungle to dessert wastes to gleaming technological cities and more, we see it all in this story arc. When you combine the stunning visuals with the story of an evil and oppressive ruling class who are looking to further their empire, this stands as one of the most satisfying and certainly visually engaging of all the Dan Dare collections.

The final volume for this post is Prisoners of Space. In terms of story I found this volume to be the blandest. There is plenty of action, but little adventure, we don’t see any planets or races that we haven’t seen before and the protagonists seem to skip from one threat to the next, sometimes without the reader knowing exactly how threat A was overcome before becoming entangled in threat B. There are two characters that are introduced in this story that bear further mention. Cadets Steve Valiant and “Flamer” Spry. After a few episodes of getting to know these characters, it seemed to me that Valiant was the obvious choice for a recurring cast member, but as any Dan Dare reader knows, it was Flamer who became part of the crew. Whilst I do very much enjoy Flamer’s role in this and later adventures, I think that the under use of Valiant was a loss to the strip. Or rather, the loss was in the potential mentoring that Dan could have invested in the character as he could easily have been recruited as Dan’s protégé. But it was not to be.

On a final note, I think it worth mentioning that even the Dare stories that fall short of the usual high standards are a pleasure to read and very enjoyable. I would without question, recommend the first twelve (or thirteen) volumes to anyone interested in either the history and evolution of comics, or just wanting a rip-roaring read.

Next post will be for volumes reprinting The Man From Nowhere, Rogue Planet and Reign of the Robots.

Mad Thinker.

Dan Dare by Frank Hampson (Part One)

Classic Dan Dare (Titan Reprints, Hardback)

Vol 1. Voyage to Venus Pt. 1 -ISBN 1840236442

Vol 2. Voyage to Venus Pt. 2 -ISBN 1840238410

Vol 3. The Red Moon Mystery -ISBN 1840236663

In this post I’ll be discussing the first two Dan Dare story lines, Voyage to Venus (sometimes referred to as Pilot of the Future) and Red Moon Mystery. In the Titan reprints the first story is split in to two volumes, so there are three volumes in total.

Voyage to Venus is the opening story of the Dan Dare epic. The first issue of Eagle, with the first appearance of Dan Dare, was released on 14th April 1950, and despite it’s high price, sold nearly a million copies.

Even to a modern reader, the quality of both writing and art is immediately obvious. I can’t imagine how impressive it would have been to a ten year old lad in 1950, who’s previous exposure to comics would have been limited to comparatively poorly reproduced strips from both UK and US publishers.

Voyage to Venus makes a concerted effort to establish the Dan Dare universe as quickly and concisely as possible, with only two pages of story a week, it was necessary to hook the reader with equal measures of exposition and action in as short a panel count as could be achieved. The genius of the Dan Dare team was that they were able to do so without sacrificing the continuity of the strip.

In the opening chapters the reader learns that by the in story date of the 1990’s a combination of over farming and over population of Earth has led to massive food shortages, with most people forced to survive on a diet of pricey, artificially produced, vitamin substitutes. Earth currently has a single ruling government, with a exploratory Interplanet Space Fleet, for whom Colonel Dan Dare is the chief pilot. Earth’s nearest neighbour, Mars has been partly colonised, but it’s lack of arable land means that it cannot be farmed to provide food for Earth. Space Fleet is charged with the task of exploring Venus in the hope that it could either be farmed, or to contact any intelligent life already there in order to establish trade. Space Fleet is desperate to discover as much about Venus as possible in order to satiate the need for real food, but there is one major setback, all previous missions to Venus have ended in inexplicable disaster whilst approaching the final stage of entry into the Venusian atmosphere. Don’t worry though, Colonel Dare has a plan, and he’s going to pilot the next mission himself so that no more of his men are lost to an unknown fate.

So from very early on in the strips history the reader is exposed to both a rip-roaring adventure and the moral ethics of it’s chief protagonist, which is exactly what Frank Hampson and Marcus Morris had hoped to achieve.

Later in the story, we are introduced to the various races of Venus, including an explanation of it’s long standing connection to Earth and Venus’ own geo-political situation. This is just one of the elements that is incredibly well thought out, with believable repercussions, especially when considering that the strip is aimed at pre-pubescent boys.



The first Dan Dare (faded in comparison to Titan reprint quality)



Dan, of course makes fast friends and deadly enemies, not necessarily in that order. He sees good men willingly sacrifice themselves for the greater good and convinces heads of state to take responsibility for the well being of all sentient life, rather than focus on their own people.

When all is said and done, the first Dan Dare epic is one of the strongest in the stable. In fact, if you were looking to dive in to Dan Dare with no previous knowledge, the two volume Voyage to Venus would be my recommendation as both an introduction to the Dan Dare universe and as possibly the most enjoyable story of the series. Indeed, this was my first exposure to Dare, I loaned the first volume from the library, and two days later, I was back there, hoping desperately that they had the next volume on the shelves so I could find out how it all worked out.

There are a few little subtleties along the way, which whilst adding little to the overall story in general, I felt were satisfying additions to the Dan Dare universe. One example being the fake newspaper articles included in the narrative, which hint at the corruption and price fixing of the conglomerate that provides the vitamin blocks to the populace. Also there are many small references to the economic and political situations in regard to various areas of Earth, which again imply a great depth of planning by the creators, perhaps used to whet the appetite of the reader in regard to the history of future Earth.

Voyage to Venus is highly recommended to anyone that has an interest in comics, and occupies a strange place somewhere between the Golden Age and Silver Age style of comic books.

In the second Dan Dare story there is a definite change of pace and style. Voyage to Venus offers a more traditional adventure, with lantern jawed heroes and dastardly villains. In The Red Moon Mystery the emphasise changes, there is in fact, no real villain to speak of and the style changes to more of a rescue mission by way of a mystery to be solved.

The essence of the story is the uncovering of an aeons old Martian historical document which refers to the destruction of the life bearing qualities of Mars, being utterly annihilated by the mysterious Red Moon. When the Red Moon reappears. Dan is involved in the evacuation of Mars, and later the investigation of both the origin and surface of the mysterious Moon.

Whilst lesser creators may have produced a less engaging narrative for a story with no antagonist, Hampson & co. create a genuine atmosphere of dread and mystery surrounding the Moon. The story in general seems very much ahead of it’s time, particularly for me as a modern reader, as it had the feel of some of the better disaster movies of the 1970’s. So in this regard, being able to compare this story to films made two decades later for an adult audience is certainly a compliment. Again, Prof. Peabody is portrayed as graceful, intelligent and resourceful. Which is a not often seen set of qualities in women characters appearing in boys comics in the 50’s. This is purely conjecture on my part, but the Hampson studio consisted of several women, who were part of a team producing the best selling British comic of the era. They were working in the top tier of an industry that had, and still has, a disproportionally low number of women involved in it, particularly from a creative perspective. I wonder how much of Peabody’s personality was influenced by the females on Hampson’s staff.

Without giving too much away, by the end of the Red Moon Mystery, the Red Moon itself still remains, at least partially, a mystery. Hampson made the bold choice of not making Dare’s mission a complete success, with many questions in regard to the Moon being left unanswered, and even most of the “answers” actually being informed supposition. But, most crucially of all, at the close of the Red Moon Mystery, it all goes terribly wrong for Dan and his crew, and through a series of disastrous events, Dan, Dig, Peabody, Sondar and Urb end up hopelessly Marooned on Mercury…..but that’s another adventure, another volume and another post.

Great Covers #4 – Batman 310 & 319 by Joe Kubert

Batman 310 cover

Batman 319 cover

I chose these two covers as a showcase of Joe Kubert’s art, well, frankly because they include Batman and Gentleman Ghost. There are a great many Kubert covers that show his ability, but these two just happen to include two of my favourite characters.

Kubert’s greatest strength is his ability to portray the human form naturally. If you have any doubt about this I’d direct you to pretty much any panel of Tarzan that Kubert drew, they are perfect representations.

In terms of the covers selected for this post, in the first, Batman 310, my attention is drawn more to the horses that the humans. Whilst Batman & GG are drawn dynamically enough, look at the emotion that Kubert has imbued into the horses. Kubert had a great deal of experience drawing animals, again in Tarzan, and it shows in this cover. The slightly ungainly but very natural spread of the animals legs, and of course those horses eyes are incredibly emotive, particularly the one visible eye of the leading horse. It may sound odd, but think about how many artists have difficultly rendering recognizable emotions on to human characters without the addition of dialogue boxes to help them along. Kubert can show you what a horse is thinking, let alone a human.

On the cover of Batman 319, it’s all about the Batman. It goes without saying that Kubert’s grasp of human anatomy is impeccable, but what I really like about this cover is Batman’s posture. At first glance his body seems to be relaxed, with his attention focused on to GG, but look at his legs, slightly splayed, and his arms too, again slightly bent at the elbows and maybe tipping his body weight over to his right. This is a guy that’s been drawn to look relaxed, but is really a loaded spring ready to explode at a moments notice. I hate to keep on mentioning this, but this is another recurring theme handed over from the Tarzan books.

So for anyone reading this and looking for Joe Kubert recommendations, top of the list for incredible art would be the Tarzan: the Joe Kubert Years, three volumes published by Dark Horse. But a very, very close second place would be the Enemy Ace stories, available as either a single Showcase Presents volume or two Archive Editions from DC.

Happy Reading,

Mad Thinker.

Batman # 515-552 by Doug Moench & Kelley Jones

Batman 530 & 546 covers by Kelley Jones

The nineties in comic land are not my favourite time by a sea mile. It seemed that the vast majority of comics, from publishers large and small, focused on the supposedly “Comics Aren’t Just For Kids Anymore” paradigm of violence and posturing equals intelligent and adult stories. But what do I know, it must have sold otherwise it wouldn’t have been on the stands, would it? And is there anyone as dark, gritty or posturing as the Dark Knight himself, the Batman, he’d certainly be an obvious choice for a nineties high octane re-vamp and indeed he was re-vamped with the Knightfall saga. But then, after Knightfall, DC did something very unexpected, instead of making Batman an Image or X-Book clone they took him in another direction entirely. Yes, there was still darkness blanketing the road ahead, but this was a different kind of darkness, not the brutal and weaponized slaughter doled out by the macho louts in multi-pocketed harnesses that featured in most of the “Hot Titles”. Oh no, this was a stygian darkness, gothic, forbidding and populated by ghouls, demons, mad men and sinister forces both supernatural and mundane. A shivering cold darkness, created in equal measure by writer and artist, few would describe it as definitive Batman, but by God, it worked a treat for me.

Love it or hate it (and most people do tend to have a strong reaction one way or the other) Batman # 515-552 are some of the most memorable comics ever produced. Ironically, I distinctly recall purchasing each issue as they were released and wishing desperately each month that Jones would be replaced by the next issue. Oh, the folly of youth, I was a teenager at the time and a three year run is a long time to read a comic that has an artist that you don’t appreciate working on it. But even with my limited budget I did continue to buy the book, month on month, without fail. Why on earth would I do this? It’s an easy question to answer in retrospect, they were bloody good comics. At the time I couldn’t reconcile my personal preference for “realistic” art (such as Jim Aparo and Graham Nolan) with how well Kelley Jones grotesque approach worked with Doug Moench’s writing. So whilst Jones’ style is not my preferred choice, it was so well executed that I couldn’t help but be absorbed into the twisted and gothic world that writer and artist created. But as a teen, all I could see was an artistic style that didn’t appeal whilst missing the point that it was intended to be monstrous and discomforting. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I’ve finally gotten around to re-reading these wonderful little gems again.

This run benefits greatly from not being involved in many multi-book crossover stories. Moench and Jones are generally allowed to carve their own little macabre niche into the broader DC Universe. What crossovers there are, are really only marginally connected to the bigger picture with the exception of a few issues that aren’t pencilled by Jones and therefore aren’t relevant to this post. This allows the creators to establish there own, more fluid continuity without being shackled to the ideas of others. I’ve never been too concerned about continuity and these issues show that with the right team, it can be ignored or incorporated into issues as needs be without any loss of artistic vision.

The opening issue of the run fails to set the tone for the comics that follow. Although, in defence of the creative team, I’ve read in interview that the story was written before Moench new that Jones would be pencilling it. It shows. It plays to none of the strengths of Jones and it’s part of a crossover with Detective Comics. It’s a relatively run-of-the-mill super-hero crime caper that doesn’t fit well with Jones gothic and grotesque style, it’s not the worst Batman story I’ve read, but it’s far from memorable, in fact I’d forgotten until I double checked that Jones had even been involved with the “Troika” storyline.

The next two-parter was definitely written to play to Jones strengths. Here we see the paranoid conspiracy theories and darker side of human nature that Moench excels in writing over the rest of the run, begin to emerge. This is where the book finds it’s feet and sets it’s tone. Spooky.

I was planning on writing a breakdown for each story arc, but after looking on the internet, there’s already an excellent one out there at

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/04/20/comics-you-should-own-flashback-batman-515-552/

And it is true, you should own them.

Moench had a little bit of negative response regarding his use of the supernatural in the mainstream Batman comic. It’s true that there is more use of the supernatural in these issues than there is in any other run on Batman but it’s woven into stories that feature long established mystical DC characters including the Spectre, Ragman, Deadman and Etrigan, with those last two guests warranting a special mention.



Example of text page.



Deadman appears in issues 530-532, a high point in the Moench/Jones run. Through a chance encounter, Batman is taken out of Gotham for an adventure with Deadman in Peru. It features Mummies, mercenaries and a wily old Shaman, all brilliantly scripted by Moench but also broadens the scope of Jones art to encompass lush jungle settings which he draws incredibly well, as prior to this, other than one issue taking place in a swamp, all of his backgrounds are the crumbling Victorian inspired Gotham buildings (which are still great to look at, but a change of environment now and again has never done Batman any harm). Jones Deadman is a freakish, skeletal husk who is mostly shown in contorted postures as though his muscles have shrunk and pulled his limbs into unnatural rigored positions. Again, spooky. The Deadman three-parter is also Moench’s first use of dialogue pages, where one page is given over almost entirely to text. I can only assume that this met with a positive reaction from readers as he uses it a few more times during his run. I found that it allowed a lot of narrative to be imparted to the reader without taking up pages and pages of head shots that slow down the visual story and art. Not something I’d wish to see in every issue, but Moench uses it sparingly and appropriately.



The other three-parter that is particularly enjoyable is the pairing of the Joker and Etrigan the Demon. Apart from all other aspects regarding the quality of Moench’s writing, what stood out was the research that he put in to this storyline. It’s not your average comic book magic that’s on show here, there are plenty of nods to real world demonology and persons associated with it, plus a bit of alchemy thrown in for good measure and of course, a healthy dose of rhyming verse. Ending with a little twist in the tale that puts the relationship between Joker, Etrigan and magic in the DC Universe in to a new light.

It would be remiss of me to write about this run without mentioning the supporting cast that is used so well. Mortimer Gunt, the coroner, has a recurring and often amusing role, unfortunately, I don’t think he’s been used much since Moench’s run ended. Bullock abounds, a character not created by Moench but used to great effect by him in both of his stints writing Batman. Moench is the one writer that has managed to imbue Bullock with a genuine personality outside of his immediate uses to the plot. There’s also Hardback, Montoya and a very believable relationship between James and Sarah Gordon that Moench fleshes out admirably.

Moench also spends time re-establishing Bruce Wayne as a character. His main device for doing so is the introduction of a romantic foil in Vesper Fairchild. Through Vesper, Bruce is able to establish himself as a person, or at least half a person rather than a mask that Batman wears for convenience. The initial coming together of the two does seem a little rushed, but it slows down shortly after and is well on it’s way to being a long term relationship, which is cut short by the untimely breaking of the Moench/Jones partnership.

Regarding the end of the run, from what I’ve read elsewhere, it appears that Moench and Jones felt they had at least another year of work together on Batman, but editorial policy called for the return of the multi-part epic crossover storylines that had been avoided by the creative team so successfully for the previous few of years. Jones at least felt that he was not the right artist to continue on the book as he would be obliged to root his vision into the larger Batman continuity, so he quit. Leaving one particular plot thread unresolved, we returned to a continuity heavy rendering of the Dark Knight’s continuing odyssey.

What plot thread? I hear you ask.

Well, several issues, both in the story pages and a few mentions in Doug’s replies to mail in the letter pages, refer to the shadowy Puppeteer character. He’s never referenced directly within the story, but there he is, often observing the Batman unnoticed, from the shadows. Always seen with one hand operating a Batman marionette. Jones has recently confirmed that had he not left the book, as part of their next years worth of stories together he and Moench intended to introduce the Puppeteer as a major villain to Batman. A villain that was fully aware of Bruce Wayne’s nocturnal activities. But alas, the big earthquake came along and ruined everything.

I wonder what could have been.

Unfortunately, the DC reprint policy says that issues from this era that are not part of a continuing story, don't get reprinted as collected editions. Hey, I'm ok, I've got the original issues. But this is a real shame. Some of the best Batman stories of the modern age won't be made available to the casual Amazon or book store browser. DC seem to have an unfathomable policy in regard to what the do and do not collect. (I'm not saying any nore about that. If I do decide to rant about it, it'll warrant a seperate post.) So if you want to read them, you'll have to get the floppy skinnies. Having said that, they're well worth the effort of tracking down.

Happy hunting.

Mad Thinker Reads………..

Batman from the nineties by Doug Moench & Kelley Jones.

M.T.

Batman Chronicles: Volume Five

Batman Chronicles: Volume Five

ISBN: 9781401216825

Writer: Bill Finger

Art: Jerry Robinson & Bob Kane

Collects Material From: Batman #8-9, Detective Comics #57-61, World’s Finest #4, from 1942.

So here’s my second review of a Batman Chronicles, which feature chronological reprints of all appearances of Batman. I probably mentioned it in my post regarding Vol. 4, but the DC Chronicles are a great, economical buy. As far as I know they are the best value for money Golden Age reprint series on the market and one of the very few that are printed on a regular schedule. I’m glad DC are exploiting their Golden Age heritage in this format, because all of the GA marvel reprints are expensive hard backs on a slightly more erratic print roster. Nice one DC.

This volume has been one of the most enjoyable to date. Volume Four I found a little lacklustre, but with Five, Mr. Finger is back on track and Mr. Robinson is as clear and iconic as ever.

Early in this volume we’re introduced to a brand new villain, the never before seen Penguin. One of the most interesting things about these reprints is that, when reading them, you can see just how little these incredible characters have had to be changed over the years. Yes, of course, some of Batman’s rogues gallery have been updated, the Joker in particular, but the Penguin is essentially the same character from his first appearance until now. Some of that is because he is at heart a crime boss rather than a psychopath, and crime always pays. But the timeless concept combined with Robinson’s strong visuals give us an idiosyncratic, reusable character, who unlike many other disposable criminals from this era, has stayed with us in the public imagination. I particularly enjoyed Finger’s opening description of Penguin as a funny little man with a benevolent face. It’s a pity that that benevolent face isn’t used more today as a way for Penguin to disarm potential competitors or victims, but he is more commonly imagined with sharp, hawkish features. He is one of the great Finger/Robinson creation.

A common approach to stories in this volume is the “Weird Mystery” tale. Examples are “The Four Fates” where we are left to wonder whether the deaths of a group of criminals are coincidence or the result of a curse (including a relatively sophisticated twist ending for a 1942 comic.) There’s also “Professor Radium” which deals with a scientist able to kill and apparently resurrect his victims with a touch, and “The Superstition Murders” about a murderer and stage play based around common superstitious beliefs (such as black cats, broken mirrors and walking under ladders.) Perhaps it’s this differing approach to the story telling formula which freshened up this volume in comparison to the previous, but either way these are interesting and original stories that fit in to the Batman Universe perfectly. As to whether the “Weird Mystery” leaning was an editorial decision or Finger’s own sense of the times, I don’t know, but previous volumes also include this kind of tale, just not to the extent that this volume exhibits.

Iconic cover of Batman #9. Reprinted in this
volume and used for the cover. By Jack Burnley.

There are a couple of Joker appearances peppered through the book, one of which stands out above the others, “The Cross Country Crimes” is the first anarchic scheme for the Joker. His previous crimes use gimmicks only as an assisting element to the crime itself, but in this story, the crimes themselves become the gimmicks as Joker is symbolically writing his name across the USA by committing robberies in specific locations. This is the first Joker escapade that hints at the deranged nature of his criminal activities, which unfortunately isn’t followed up in later Joker tales within this book, but I’m hoping it’s a precursor to lunacy in later volumes. It’s a tightly plotted tale, even if some of the clues are a little stretched and should be required reading for anyone interested in the history and evolution of this character.

Another Joker tale “The Case of the Costume Clad Killers” features one of my favourite splash pages ever. The story and art deliver in all the right places, it’s not however, a classic Joker story and doesn’t bear special mention in comparison to any other strip in this book. But that splash page is a classic. I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t get an image of it for this blog page, but if I do find one I promise I’ll add it. (OK, I’ve found an image and added it below, but unfortunately it's a low quality fiche scan, you can still see the general composition and layout though.)

Detective Comics #60 Splash Page. Art by Jerry Robinson (Fiche Scan)

We have an over-sized joker, with classic Robinson features, dressed as Napoleon, leering over a pint-sized Batman & Robin. The imagery is perfect and the composition leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. Robinson uses the angle of the Joker’s head, his line of sight and his pose to lead the audience’s eye from the main element of Joker in his Napoleonic uniform, down to the miniature figures in the foreground, which are structured into a triangle with the axe weilding thug at the apex, the triangle in turn, leads the eye back up to the Joker’s head. In other words, Robinson expertly forces a double take on to us. Genius. I may well be wrong about this, but I’ve never seen this image referenced in any later comics by other artists. Which is shame, because if Alex Ross had painted it, I’m sure it would be considered an iconic Joker piece.

Lastly on this volume I feel obliged to tell you that, if like me, you’ve always wanted to see Batman beat up Hobos or kill an evil and destructive giant white whale with a spear, well, this is the comic for you.

Mad Thinker Reads……….

Batman by Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson as much as humanly possible.

M.T.

The Creeper by Steve Ditko

The Creeper by Steve Ditko

Creators

Steve Ditko, Denny O’Neil and Various

Reprints

Showcase # 73

Beware the Creeper # 1-6

1^st Issue Special # 7

World’s Finest  # 249-255

Cancelled Comic Cavalcade # 2

DC Comics

Hardcover, 288 pages

ISBN- 9781401225919

Is this Blog turning into the Steve Ditko Show?

You’d be forgiven for asking that question. I do seem to have mentioned him more than any other creator over the short history of this enterprise. But don’t worry, I’ll be getting back to Jack Kirby again soon and maybe even Kurt Busiek or another Batman Chronicles review. Promise.

Now I’m not a gambling man, but were I obliged to place a bet on whether DC would release a Ditko collection featuring either The Creeper or Shade: The Changing Man, my money would have been firmly on Shade. Mostly because of the reasonably long running and re-imagined Vertigo series, that raised Shade’s profile. So I was a tad surprised when a collection of The Creeper was produced, with, as far as I’m aware, still no news on a Shade collection. But on reading the intro to the Creeper book, I think I know why. It turns out that there was a Creeper limited series a couple of years back written by Steve Niles (of 30 Days of Night fame), which I was entirely ignorant of. I do read modern comics, but I don’t tend to keep up with solicitations of new series, I just read whatever’s in my pull list and look for reprints of older work as a rule. No doubt that the Niles written series provided a huge boost to a character that would be largely unknown to a modern readership, raising the Creeper’s profile and paving the way, at least to some degree, for this reprint of Ditko illustrated strips.

Well, however this collection came about, I’m a happy chap.

What we’re given in this collection is a complete run of all stories featuring the Creeper that were pencilled by Steve Ditko. There are various other creators involved in either writing or inking, but with the exception of a few pages from one issue, every panel in this book was drawn by Ditko, with some of the stories written by him too.



Page from Beware the Creeper # 2. Note that the sound effects for the fight
panels are actually images from the billboard behind the subjects.

 It’s worth noting that this doesn’t provide a complete reprint of Creeper stories. There were various issues printed between the ones collected here that Ditko had no involvement with. You won’t find those comics here. If you’re interested in a complete chronological reprint for this character, you may wish to hold on for the Showcase Presents volume dedicated to the Creeper. It was announced, and should have seen print by now, but it hasn’t been published yet. As to why, well, your guess is as good as mine. Could it be because the hardcover didn’t sell as well as hoped, so DC doesn’t think there’s a market for the Showcase Presents? I don’t know.

So, as noted above, this is not a complete archive for the Creeper. But Ditko’s work on this character was done in chunks between the late sixties to the late seventies and it’s a credit to Ditko’s timeless and consistent approach, because it doesn’t feel bitty when read. Each Ditko chunk is a complete arc, covering from a six issue run down to a single eight page strip, with no loose ends left for completion by another penciller. So we aren’t left hanging due to Ditko not finishing any intermittent arcs, thankfully.

At the head of this post you see a list of the comics reprinted in this volume. They’re listed in the order that they were printed, therefore that’s the order that they’re re-printed in this volume. With that in mind, I’m sure it’s no surprise that Showcase # 73 features the first appearance and origin of Jack Ryder and his alter ego The Creeper. For anyone not familiar with the genesis of the character I don’t intend to give anything away, but really, how bizarre. Bizarre characters, bizarre names (Angel Deviln), bizarre body-modification (gizmo insertion to the abdomen), and of course, one of the most bizarre costumes ever created for the comic book page. It turns out that that weird mane thing across the Creepers shoulders is exactly what it looks like, a sheepskin rug, no joke, Ditko actually tells us so in the narrative. Don’t misunderstand me, this is visually, one of the most compelling reads ever, but it is odd and for this character it works, particularly when Ryder creates a screwball persona for the Creeper, to keep his enemies off-balance, and sells himself as some kind of super-natural being that refers to the gangsters as “Mortals”. It is a lot of fun, and I think that is the key to the Creeper, fun.

It’s one of, if not the most playful series that Ditko has been involved with since Spider-Man. It’s refreshing to read a Ditko main character crack wise and joke, granted it’s not all written by Ditko, but even the stories that are, show a lighter lead man in Jack Ryder than you could ever expect to see in Vic Sage (The Question) or even Ted Kord (Blue Beetle II). As an aside, in regard to any relationship between The Question and The Creeper, at the time that the Creeper was created, the Question was still very much owned by Charlton and would be for several years to come, there is however, a noticable similarity between the professions, uncompromising nature and certain elements of the origin stories of Creeper and Question. The significance of this, if any, is open to question. The overall quirkiness of the Creeper does seem to suggest that DC were looking for their own version of Spider-Man, and while there was a great writer assigned to the Creeper from his early appearances (Denny O’Neil) there was never quite enough substance to push him into the top tier with Spidey. The Creeper is a lot of fun, great to look at and an interesting protagonist for self contained stories and arcs such as this collection, but history shows us that there is not enough of the soap-opera in this character for a long term monthly title. But that’s fine, not every character needs to grind along ad-infinitum, sometimes you get more when you only see a guy once in a while.

By far the highlight of this collection is the six issue run of the Creepers own title “Beware the Creeper”. Every aspect peaks for these few issues. Ditko’s strong and self-assured pencils reach out to the reader, not necessarily in level of detail or showiness, but with pure storytelling ability and clarity. I was particularly amused by a page from Beware the Creeper # 2 (see image above), where sound effects for a fight scene are provided by a billboard in the background. Didn't I tell you that Ditko was playful for this one. Denny O’Neil’s writing on these few issues is the strongest of anyone’s in this collection, O’Neil takes Ditko’s loose ideas and processes them into a personality that you can believe in, not necessarily one you could understand and certainly not one that it's possible to identify with, but then as I said earlier, I don’t think that’s the point of the Creeper. The Creeper is a hypnotic flashing light show, that may or may not have artistic merit. But you can’t help enjoying it.

One area that detracts from the later stories (those after Beware the Creeper # 6), is the lack of a strong villain. Throughout the Ditko/O’Neil run on Beware, there is the presence of Proteus, a chameleon like character that is used to good paranoid effect. Ditko makes good use of his ability to portray fear and paranoia, with his recurring imagery of a figure surrounded by faces being particularly appropriate for this (see cover below). This strong villain adds to the readability of the issues, which makes it all the more noticeable when reading further into the book, that the villains are rather tame and boring, and when there is a character with a longer term potential, they seem all too easily defeated.



Cover from Beware the Creeper # 2. Recurring Ditko motif of subject surrounded by
heads. Note the mis-coloured boots, left as is for this collection.



What DC have provided with this volume is a well packaged hardcover collecting all of the Ditko drawn appearances of the Creeper, and as far as I’m concerned (no surprise here) the world is a better place for it, the original Creeper appearances are certainly out of my price range, so I’m grateful for this volume. By far the strongest parts of this book are the stories written by Denny O’Neil, but the good far outweighs the not so good and Ditko’s illustration is remarkable, concise and clear throughout.

I’d also like to mention that despite my previous post regarding black & white reprints of Ditko’s work sometimes being preferable, I don’t think that this is the case with the Creeper. As I said earlier, a large part of the Creepers appeal is the absolutely over-the-top visual nature of this particular character. There is a B&W reprint of an unpublished Ditko strip in this volume and the truth is that the creeper just isn’t as satisfying without the emerald hair, scarlet mane and jaundiced complexion. Make of that what you will.

Mad Thinker Reads……

Ditko. Always Steve Ditko.

M.T.

Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko

      
                           Strange & Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko

                                   Writer: Blake Bell

                                   Hardcover: 220 pages

                                   FANTAGRAPHICS; Reprint July 2008

                                   ISBN: 9781560979210

Enigmatic and reclusive. Two words that no one would deny apply to Steve Ditko.

I seem to have been waiting a very long time for someone to have written a sizable biography of  one of my favourite creators in any medium. Ditko of course, is most famous for his co-creation of Spider-Man, but as this biography takes a chronological look at his work and life we see just how much he has achieved. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is considerably more Ditko out there than I had supposed.

Written by Blake Bell, who is considered the pre-eminent Ditko scholar, a name that I first became familiar with from an introduction which he wrote for Action Heroes Archive vol. 1, released by DC. Bell’s linear approach is perfectly matched to Ditko’s career which went through distinct phases through the decades. Bell’s writing style is clear, open and frank and whilst he obviously holds Ditko in high regard, he doesn’t allow his reverence of the subject to obscure some of the harsher aspects of Ditko’s career or personal interactions.

As you would expect, all quotes are sourced and included in the sources are one or two anecdotes which were rightly kept separate from the main body of the work but when read at the end of each chapter add a great deal to the overall enjoyment of the book. One thing that is missing from this volume is an index. I was surprised that there was not one as other works of this nature have benefitted from the inclusion. I also found it annoying that printed in the book is an internet link to a Ditko bibliography which doesn’t work. I understand that the internet is not a solid state object and that often the loss of information is not the fault of the compiler of that information, but what I don’t understand is why, if the hard work of compiling a Ditko bibliography had already been done, it could not have been printed in this book.

One of Bell’s most interesting points is how early in Ditko’s career his Randian philosophical beliefs began to permeate his work. This was a surprise for me, but I will admit that I’m not particularly knowledgeable in regard to Randian Objectivism. But Bell clearly has a solid grounding in an area that has dictated Ditko’s choices for most of his life and convincingly shows the reader early examples of it in Ditko’s work, including his Spider-Man strips.

The physical quality of this volume can not be overstated. High quality paper and binding are very obvious as soon as you handle the book, but there are a few more subtle extras which betray the publishers (Fantagraphics Books) desire to create an above average package. If you remove the dust jacket, title and author are embossed on to the front cover and something that I didn’t notice at first, the entire hardback cover has Ditko drawn panels printed on it in a grey on grey colouring, only visible in the right light. I appreciate that this doesn’t raise the quality of the work itself, but, if it were not there I don’t believe that you would pay less for the book. Another added bonus is the opening few pages that reprint Ditko’s first comic sale, in full, with oversized reproduction of the highest quality. This acts as a sort of introduction to the subject and I believe it was well placed at the very start of the book, engaging the reader with Ditko’s work before looking at the man that created it.

The final pages of the book include a gallery of covers by Ditko. If memory serves, they are all public domain images from Charlton Comics publications, each is reproduced as a full page, oversized image and to my mind showcase some of the finest comics covers ever produced. In fact if you look at an earlier post on this blog, you’ll see that I chose an early Charlton cover by Ditko as one of my Great Covers posts. So perhaps I’m a little biased on this, but it seems Bell, at least, agrees with me.

After reading Strange & Stranger I believe that the only way will see a more concise presentation of the life and work of Steve Ditko is in the unlikely event that Ditko himself offers his services to someone like Bell. There are undoubtedly gaps in this biography, but that is to be expected when dealing with a subject that has guarded his personal life so closely as Ditko has. Bell has done an amazing job working with the restrictions imposed upon him.

Whilst Strange & Stranger is very much a biography, the amount of artwork included on every page allows it to be seen as an art book in it’s own right and as stated above, the quality of the reproduction is flawless, I particularly enjoyed seeing Ditko’s un-inked pencil work later in the book. There really is something here for everyone, whether you are an avid fan of Ditko already or have a broader interest in comics in general, you will not be disappointed by Strange and Stranger.

In closing I’d like to say that Strange & Stranger was my favourite Christmas present and I’d like to offer my thanks again to my partner and son for getting me a copy. Love to you both.

Mad Thinker

John Byrne’s Fantastic Four #232-295 (plus extras)

See the bottom of this post for info re: ISBN’s and Volume contents.

I would say that there are three outstanding and exceptional runs on the Fantastic Four comic, one of them, which I’ve mentioned in a previous post, was of course courtesy of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, another was by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo over forty years later. And sitting right in the middle of these two, is the work of John Byrne.

Strangely, the runs mentioned all began almost exactly twenty years apart, so if there is a twenty year cycle of excellence for the Fantastic Four, we should expect something very special in 2021. In fact, it’s my intention to be the FF scribe by that year.

Byrne’s run on the FF is the second longest of any creative team, only Stan and Jack produced more consecutive issues. It was considered at the time to be a return to a Golden Age for the team.

As far as Byrne’s concerned, he had an edge over most creative partnerships as he was the sole creator of the book. He has said in interview that a singular creative vision is able to produce a strip more closely resembling the creators intent. Well, yes, that makes sense, but it doesn’t count for much if the creators intent and vision is not to the buying public’s taste. However the sales of FF over the years of Byrne’s tenure as creator and the fact that he was the sole creator for such an extended time (five years) would suggest that his stories “worked”.



Cover from FF 252

  But as any comic reader will admit, the number of issues produced and the quantity of copies sold are not always directly proportionate to the quality of the product. Think of all of the X-Titles and Image craziness with incentive-multiple-cover-polybagged-trading-card-insert-limited to 200 copies per customer, in the 90’s.

But Byrne was working in an earlier time, when, frankly, shit did stink. So sales did count for something and Byrne’s work was well above average and a retrospective of this era in general could not be considered complete without mention of Byrne’s work across the medium and the FF in particular.

What we get over the course of the Byrne run is a sense of character and changing roles within the family unit. There’s nothing particularly new in the run but it is a return to the fundamentals of the team, indeed, the first issue that Byrne produced was titled “Back to Basics” which sets the tone for the next few years worth of stories.

That’s not to say that we have five years of  comics that simply maintain the status-quo. We see Johnny grow from a teen into a young man, particularly in regard to his romantic involvement with a long term supporting character. He still has his hot-headed and impetuous nature, but his wants, needs and desires grow up with him. We see Sue realise her potential with an increase in confidence and ability plus a fitting name change to Invisible Woman. Ben…..Hmmm, well the Thing angle is a bit of a disappointment for me, I’ll give you a bit of perspective.

In 1983 Byrne was commissioned to produce an ongoing Thing comic. He did, it was OK. So how do you go about creating a stand-alone comic for the Thing?

You estrange him from the other members of the FF.

Byrne writes the character of Ben Grimm with believability and depth, that’s not the problem. The problem is, for the reason mentioned above, there is a huge portion of the Byrne run devoid of the Ever-Lovin’ Blue Eyed Ben. It really is a great loss. I’ve always seen FF as a true family, it’s not like the Avengers with a rotational membership. The Fantastic Four is a single entity comprised of four particular individuals.




Panel from FF 284

  I have nothing against the character of She-Hulk, Ben’s replacement, but she ain’t him. And this is for a LOT of issues. This is the only major negative point in an otherwise memorable run, but I have to say, for me it’s a BIG one.

The stories themselves are exactly as they should be. High-Adventure, cosmic threats, explorative jaunts into the Negative Zone and nefarious plots from a certain dastardly European monarch. Two of the most memorable arcs are Doom epics. In one we have the team in a situation where they assist Doom in regaining his Latverian throne because of the chaos, terror and poverty caused by his overthrow. It’s a very well crafted tale that leaves both the reader and the FF with an ambiguous feeling in regard to the morality of their actions. Have they been expertly played by the conniving Doom? The other story transplants the four into surrogate bodies, sans powers, with Reed in particular mercilessly tortured by the atrocious but charismatic Doctor.

Good stuff.

This is not a particularly cheap run to get hold of  in either single issue or collected format. However, the trade paperbacks are printed on good quality paper, it’s glossy and I prefer matte, but that is a purely personal preference, based on the fact that the original art was produced for newsprint.



Panel from FF 262

 John Byrne’s Fantastic Four is well worth a read. It’s a high point in regard to both Byrne’s career and Fantastic Four history. It’s also a benchmark in the comic media of an era when comics had grown up in terms of character and story development, but hadn’t yet reached the “gritty” phase that firstly bolstered and later, nearly destroyed an industry that I love. The issues contain intelligent and well crafted stories, but with a sense of wonder, discovery and most importantly of all, adventure.

The entire run, including some worthy extra issues (and some not so worthy) has been collected in eight trade paperbacks, there is also a Volume 0, which collects some one off issues produced by Byrne before the main body of his run, but as I don’t have it, it’s not commented on in this post.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 1 – ISBN 9780785107798

Fantastic Four #232-240

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 2 – ISBN 9780785114642

Fantastic Four #241-250

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 3 – ISBN 9780785116790

Fantastic Four #251-257, Annual #17, Avengers #233, Thing #2

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 4 – ISBN 9780785117100

Fantastic Four #258-267, Alpha Flight #4, Thing #10

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 5 – ISBN 9780785118442

Fantastic Four #268-275, Annual #18, Thing #19

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 6 – ISBN 9780785121909

Fantastic Four #276-284, Secret Wars II #2, Thing #23

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 7 – ISBN 9780785127352

Fantastic Four #285-286, Annual #19, Avengers #263, Annual #14, X-Factor #1

Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne 8 – ISBN 9780785127369

Fantastic Four #287-295

Mad Thinker Reads- Fantastic Four by John Byrne


MT