Doom Patrol by Drake & Premiani

Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol
Arnold Drake: Writer
Bruno Premiani: Artist

Vol. 1 – ISBN: 1401221823
Collects My Greatest Adventure/Doom Patrol #80-101
1963–1966
520 pages

Vol. 2 – ISBN: 1401227708

Collects Doom Patrol #102-121

1966–1968

512 pages

Blame Grant Morrison. Morrison is the reason that in all my years of comic reading, only recently have I read the original DP stories by Drake & Premiani. After reading Morrison’s re-imagining of the DP from the late 80’s I wasn’t overly interested in catching up on the original version of the DP. That’s not to say that Morrison’s run wasn’t very good, but personally, I’ve always found Morrison’s writing to be in the incredibly wide range of the “average” comic. So, nothing to blog about frankly.

What changed? Well, by pure chance, I read a brief article regarding the life of Bruno Premiani (I forget where, maybe an old issue of Alter-Ego, but I’m not sure.) It isn’t within the scope of this article to enlighten you, dear reader, concerning Mr. Premiani’s fascinating life, but I would encourage you read what you can about him. He has surely lead one of the most interesting lives in comics, and he seems to be fearless in the face of fascist bullies.

The article mentioned Premiani’s work on Doom Patrol, which was practically every issue of the original run, some 40 comics, with the main writer for the run being Arnold Drake. So I took the plunge and bought both volumes of Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol, and there’s no hesitation when I tell you that it was a regret free purchase.

The Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol collect every issue of the original DP run from the 1960’s. One small quibble is that the single crossover issue with Challengers of the Unknown isn’t included. For the sake of a mere 23 pages in a volume that already contains over 500, it seems churlish not to include it as a little bonus. It’s relatively common to find similar issues collected in the Marvel Essential line (the inclusion of a single issue of Dr. Strange in Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 2 springs to mind.) so why not expect the same from DC.

The two volumes represent an absolute top line Silver-Age adventure, sci-fi and super-hero book. It’s as good as anything else that was being published in the mid to late sixties and does deserve to be read by a wider audience. So the question is, why isn’t it?

For my money, the answer is November 1961. The penultimate month of 1961 saw the release of Fantastic Four #1. A mere 18 months later Doom Patrol debuted, if you were a kid with a limited financial resource and these two books were an option, which would you go for? Both books had an aloof leader with little attachment to the mundane world, two bickering hot-heads one with great strength, the other with a flying, crackling alter-ego, and they both had a motherly, level headed female to keep the peace and remind them to eat meals between adventures.

But only one of them had Stan and Jack. Who’d get your money?

Doom Patrol is not an FF derivative. There are many original ideas employed by Arnold Drake, not least the inclusion of an outside love interest for Sue, I mean Rita, named Namor, I mean Mento. Oh well, I’ll give up with this paragraph.

Seriously, Doom Patrol is excellent, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite as fresh as it needed to be in the formative days of the Silver-Age. It was up against stiff competition. But in retrospect, it’s my favourite DC title from this period and it does attempt stories that you’ll not find elsewhere. Drake is an accomplished writer that offers us self contained issues but with over arching plot threads and character development, particularly with Rita Farr (Elasti-Girl) and Gar Logan (Beast Boy). Premiani is an excellent artist with a great deal of skill and ability at rendering figures, in dynamic but believable poses, also, he can draw a great gorilla, which is important when Monsieur Mallah appears in several story arcs.

Monsieur Mallah

As is true of any story, the heroes can only be as interesting as the villains they face, and that is where Doom Patrol really excels. With bad guys such as the Brain, Monsieur Mallah, General Immortus, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man and the tragic Madame Rouge, the only other comic that has as colourful a rouges gallery is Batman. Batman however, built up his rogues gallery over several decades and hundreds of issues, Doom Patrol does it in considerably less than a decade and in forty issues. There’s a lot going on in these comics.

DP 89, Cover by Bob Brown

As I mentioned earlier, I read these comics in the two Showcase Presents black and white volumes, that’s the equivalent of 40 comics for less than £20. If you chose to, you could buy the hardback colour reprints in Archive Edition for considerably more money, but in terms of reading pleasure the Showcase Presents are certainly a bargain, I guarantee that any reader that enjoys Silver-Age heroics won’t be disappointed.

Mad Thinker Reads………..

More comics by Arnold Drake & Bruno Premiani.

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.