Batman [1940] #308 - DC Comics

BATMAN [1940] No. 308, February 1979

Featuring a Mister Freeze bereft of the tragic pathos with which his Modern Age of Comics version receives on account of his revamped backstory “created by Paul Dini for [the] ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ television” programme in 1992, this twenty-three page periodical still depicts the super-villain as a chillingly cruel criminal mastermind, but one who is also blindingly love-struck for the attentions of his fickle female companion. In fact the entirety of Len Wein’s main plot is based upon the cryogenically-suited scientist’s endeavours to replicate the conditions of his ‘ice gun accident’ in order to bestow immortality upon his blonde-haired beloved; “Soon, Hildy my love, you will be able to join me in my sub-zero existence -- and your beauty shall endure forever!”

So simple a premise makes for an ideal single issue storyline and the Inkpot Award-winner wastes no time having Commissioner Gordon ‘summon’ “the dread avenger of the night” to the scene of Victor Fries’ latest cold-blooded killing, that “of the financier Jacob Riker”, and provide the Caped Crusader with enough clues as to identity of the “grisly murderer”. The American author even conveniently has “Benny the Buzz” inform “The World’s Greatest Detective” ‘off-screen’ as to which Gotham City building “Freeze secretly owns”, in order to both keep the narrative racing along, and allow this comic’s audience the opportunity to see Sheldon Moldoff’s co-creation inadvertently transform the hapless Mister McVee into “little more than a living zombie!”

Indeed the villain’s silently stalking “ice pack”, each equipped with a “jaw [which] feels like it’s made of solid ice” and “utterly incapable of feeling pain” are the surprise stars of “There’ll Be A Cold Time In The Old Town Tonight!” and these mindless minions more than make up for some of Wein’s writing weaknesses, such as having the “conniving, scheming unfaithful witch” Hildy foolishly tell Batman of her plans to kill “that abominable snowman” once she is “finally immortal” well within the rogue scientist’s earshot!?!

Illustrators John Calnan and Dick Giordano also perform admirably in their task to bring this tersely-told tale to life with Batman in particular being given plenty of dynamically charged panels within which to demonstrate his “wrath”. However the duo’s detailed design and pencilling of Mister Freeze’s aforementioned frozen “goons’ are particularly praiseworthy, right down to their split suits, emotionless facial expressions and lumbering bodily movements.

Writer: Len Wein, Illustrators: John Calnan & Dick Giordano, and Letterer: Ben Oda

Star Wars #13 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS No. 13, February 2016

For those bibliophiles either unwilling or unable to purchase the preceding instalments of the “Vader Down” cross-title multi-issue story-arc, the “opening crawl” to Issue Thirteen of “Star Wars” provides an invaluable recap of the events that have caused Luke Skywalker to crash land upon the planet Vrogas Vas and subsequently fall into the hands of the Sith Lord’s allies. However as informative as this succinct summary is, it still then actually requires Jason Aaron to then script several more pages of clumsily worded exposition for those readers ignorant of the “Darth Vader” characters Doctor Aphra, Bee-Tee and Triple-Zero to acquire a basic understanding as to where Kieron Gillen’s creations stand within the series’ official canon.

As a result this twenty-page periodical is arguably already close to being a third of the way through before its overriding story-arc actually proceeds further forward, and Han Solo starts a particularly enjoyable ‘stand-off’ with the “foremost raider of lost weapons in the galaxy.” Such a frustrating wait is though, well worth it once the bullets start flying and Chewbacca angrily tears the arm off of the female archaeologist’s homicidal silver-skinned protocol droid; “What have you done, you fur-brained amateur-dismemberer?! That was my best dissecting hand!”

In fact the interplay between George Lucas’ Rebels and Gillen’s latest inhabitants of a “galaxy far, far away” is superbly written with its dialogue being both dangerously sinister and disconcertingly deadly, as well as impishly sarcastic and ‘laugh-out-loud’ fun. Certainly few of this comic’s 139,918 owners wouldn’t have at least smiled broadly as the Millennium Falcon’s hairy co-pilot brutally beats down an indignant Triple-Zero with the robot’s own arm, or smirked at the Corellian smuggler’s misplaced roguish confidence when he believes his opponent has taken “cover right beneath a hive of wasp-worms”, little knowing that he has done precisely the same thing.  

Sadly Mike Deodata’s artwork does take a little getting used to on account of the Brazilian penciller’s wonderfully detailed yet somewhat sketchily styled illustrations. Admittedly his “more simplified, photo-realistic and sometimes moody” drawings of the “foul-mouthed little astromech” Artoo-Deetoo and heavily weaponed Bee-Tee are superbly rendered, especially when Vader’s gun-toting automaton launches an impressive barrage of missiles and warheads after a fleeing Skywalker and Solo. But the former “Wonder Woman” artist’s lack-lustre and awkward-looking panels featuring Princess Leia and Delta Squad disconcertingly leave a good deal to be desired.

The regular cover art of "STAR WARS" No. 13 by Mark Brooks

Captain Britain And The Mighty Defenders #2 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND THE MIGHTY DEFENDERS No. 2, October 2015

Doubtless disappointingly for Al Ewing, this concluding issue of “Captain Britain And The Mighty Defenders” is arguably a far cry from the “really fun, warm, beautiful book that hopefully Avengers’ fans - - as well as fans of everyone else involved - - will love.” In fact it is hard to see even the most dedicated of the British writer’s supporters taking much positivity from a nauseating narrative that twists former S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill into a mismatched gestalt of Thor, the Punisher and Mega-City One’s Chief Judge, and re-imagines “War Machine” as a giant tank which both looks and sounds remarkably similar to the “2000 A.D.” A.B.C. Robot Mek-Quak; “Yeah! ‘Cuz I’ll squoosh ya! An’ I will, too! Look at all my guns!”

Certainly it comes as no surprise that the twenty-page “Secret Wars" periodical sold a deflating seven thousand less copies than its predecessor when first published. Although quite how it still managed to outsell the likes of “Omega Men” (“DC Comics”) and “Fade Out” (“Image Comics”) by shifting 20,453 issues during August 2015 doubtless has more to do with Alan Davis' excellent artwork than its calamitous storyline.

Admittedly the "second ‘Mighty’ Marvel series from Ewing” does "spotlight" the 'popular' wielder of the sword Excalibur, Faiza Hussain; a version of Merlyn’s champion who was introduced by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk in “Captain Britain And MI:13”, and eventually donned the hero’s mantle during the "Pax Britannia" novelist's tenure on “Avengers Assemble”. But even the book's titular character isn’t actually given that many opportunities with which to demonstrate her extraordinary “control over living organisms” with and is instead limited to inexplicably reconfiguring Boss Dan [Luke] Cage’s “sentient torture chair” and an astonishingly short single-panel showdown with the “Baron and Thor of Mondo City”, Big Boss Hill.

What “…And Mine Is A Faith In My Fellow Man” does offer however is plenty of opportunity for Davis to demonstrate just why the English artist has remained a mainstay of American comic books since he was first hired by “DC Comics” to pencil their “Batman And The Outsiders” title in 1985. For whilst the Goodreads Choice Award-nominee’s source material is atrocious, and his design of Mondo City’s law enforcers questionably unoriginal, the illustrator’s rendering of the Defenders action-packed escape from Yinsen’s temporary detention zone is both splendidly detailed and dynamically drawn.

Writer: Al Ewing, Penciler: Alan Moore, and Inker: Mark Farmer

Batman #36 [The New 52] - DC Comics

BATMAN No. 36, January 2015

Initially dedicated to arguably “DC Comics” most requested confrontation before its narrative perceptibly darkens to depict the Caped Crusader at his deductive best, this second instalment of Scott Snyder’s “Endgame” genuinely seems to contain all the strengths of a “Batman” title and few of its weaknesses. For whilst it’s unclear just why a shockingly foul-mouthed Alfred is unwell and “not at full strength”, nor how Pennyworth happens to have come by an adolescent-looking daughter, this thirty-page periodical does contain the Dark Knight seriously smacking down Superman in a titanic tussle as well as the Joker at his most chillingly evil: “See Batssss, this time, no more games… No more jokes. I’m just here to close up shop!” In fact in many ways it is actually hard to understand just why so action-packed and sinisterly suspenseful a magazine didn’t manage to be the best-selling title of November 2014, at least according to “Diamond Comic Distributors”, and instead languished in third shifting 115,183 copies.

Admittedly few collectors could have anticipated the Goodreads Choice Award-nominee scripting such a scintillating scrap as the one Issue Thirty Six of “Batman” contains. The American author somehow manages to capture all the ingenuity and cunning of Bruce Wayne during his battle with Kal-El, as the Bat-Suit armoured vigilante repeatedly knocks his super-strong opponent to the ground courtesy of knuckles which contain “microscopic red suns”, counters the boy scout’s heat vision with “plasma shields” and finally overcomes Jerry Siegel’s co-creation due to “a butadiene-based synthetic rubber… laced with radioactive Kryptonian dust” which he simply spits in Superman’s eye.

Equally as enthralling however is the American author’s hauntingly claustrophobic portrayal of the titular character as he silently stalks Arkham Asylum “after the collapse” and discovers cell 0801 contains far more than fading memories, spider webs and entrapped flies. Indeed the New Yorker’s revelation that orderly “Mister Border” is actually the Clown Prince of Crime in disguise is extremely well-written and only spoilt by the fact that the Joker’s alter ego was already revealed in the “Arkham Manor” mini-series.

Disappointingly this comic’s secondary story “Saved” pales in comparison with such a cracking lead feature, especially as James Tynion IV and (legendary) artist Graham Nolan both fail to generate anything like the exhilaration of Snyder and Greg Capullo's masterpiece in the telling of their rather tired-looking eight-page tale. True, the Wisconsin-raised writer’s anecdote of a homicidal wife brutally murdering her family because she believed there was a chip “in their brains” is disconcertingly penned. But the artwork, whilst legible enough, simply doesn’t seem to suit so cheerlessly nefarious an adventure.

The variant cover art of "BATMAN" No. 36 by Andy Kubert

Uber #23 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 23, February 2015

Transporting its 5,747 strong readership to Antwerp, Bletchley Park, Kiev, and Moscow within the space of just a few pages, the narrative to Issue Twenty Three of “Uber” truly demonstrates just how far-ranging the breadth of Kieron Gillen’s “alternate World War Two” storyline really is. However having depicted the destruction of the Belgium city, and the subsequent “systematic annihilation of an entire country”, as well as Russian’s highly explosive blood test of Maria and the ‘evacuation’ of the British Superhuman Programme to a “location undisclosed” in England, the Cambridge-educated writer’s tale doesn’t stop its European excursions there and actually then whisks its audience off again in order to witness “one of the new destroyers” HMH Dunkirk in action just south of Brussels and ‘HMH Churchill being declared ready for deployment’ back in Blighty.

Such a flabberghastingly fast sequence of events, all of which potentially progress this title’s plot quite significantly, could easily become overwhelming to the uninitiated bibliophile, especially as the odd setting, such as Molotov’s meeting in Moscow with Stalin, last just a single sheet or two and yet still contain important insights as to the motivations of the main cast of characters. But such is the British author’s concise narration of events, coupled with plenty of explanatory dialogue that the majority of his scenes seem more like succinct easily understandable excerpts from a genuine historical text than panels belonging to a fictional comic book.   

Arguably the highlight of all this exposition though has to be the former music journalist’s creation of a British Uber created using “five activations physical, [and] one activation halo.” This masked “big guy” looks every bit the super-soldier the Allies had hoped HMH Colossus would become and his retrieval of “two of the 3:3 destroyers deployed” by “the core German firing line” in Brussels makes compelling reading; even if the Kerrang! Award-nominee’s use of ‘the worst kind of expletives’ is entirely unnecessary and unjustified.

Just as successful as Stephanie's creation of HMH Dunkirk is Daniel Gete’s artwork for an incredibly busy script. The Spaniard’s wonderfully clean pencilling of the German Battleships, Maria, Molotov, Montgomery and Stephanie, as well as Cohen and the rest of the British "enhanced humans" causes all these personalities to almost literally leap to life off the page. Whilst this magazine’s opening splash makes it crystal clear as to just why Gillen is “weirdly obsessed with how Daniel draws buildings” on account of it containing a phenomenally detailed rendering of a partially flattened Antwerp.

The regular cover art of "UBER" No. 23 by Daniel Gete

The Walking Dead #131 - Image Comics

THE WALKING DEAD No. 131, September 2014

Comprising of a narrative as uninspiring in its sedentary content as its cover illustration of Carl becoming a blacksmith is rather awkward-looking, it is genuinely hard to imagine many of this comic’s 69,810 buyers actually managing to acquire much in the way of excitement from Issue One Hundred and Thirty One of “The Walking Dead”. In fact it’s difficult to believe that many readers endured this twenty-two page passionless periodical in one sitting, as Robert Kirkman’s storyline aimlessly wanders from two adolescent bullies being beaten up by Sophia to a completely pointless “communal dinner at Alexandria”.

Only Dante’s countryside mission to find Ken provides any lasting suspense until this magazine’s cliff-hanger, and even that ends up rather distastefully dwelling upon the Hilltop colonist’s desire “of going to bed with the woman who bosses all of us around” as its “damn near the only thing keeping my blood pumping…” Admittedly the scene depicting the small party’s discovery of their injured objective’s clothes lying discarded in the barn where Marco left him passes pleasurably enough. But its abrupt conclusion, as the men “are ambushed by a group of roamers”, is disappointingly followed by another dialogue-heavy sequence where Rick Grimes and Maggie simply talk and talk; a painful series of panels whose monotonous dialogue recollecting just “how things were” swiftly destroys any lasting momentum the fleetingly brief appearance of some zombies had just created.

Fortuitously the American author’s storyline does finally produce a moment of tension when, on the very last page, Andrea returns home after speaking to Eugene about how much Rosita loves him and is “ambushed by Magna”. The Richmond survivor’s dramatic appearance provides this instalment with some much needed menace as she grimly informs Grimes’ partner that “she’ll be the one answering” the Virginian’s questions…

Just as off-putting as Kirkman’s ineffectual plot however is artist Charlie Adlard's attempt to correct his collaborator’s pacing issues by populating each sheet with plenty of small-sized pictures. Ordinarily the Shrewsbury-born illustrator would provide plenty of double splashes for so slow a script. Yet on this occasion conversational exchanges, such as Maggie ordering Dante to find Ken after he’s been already been hooch-tasting, are handled via a quick succession of short snappy panels within which his drawings’ consistency is disconcertingly questionable.

Writer: Robert Kirkman, Penciller: Charlie Adlard, and Inker: Stefano Gaudiano

All-New Wolverine #4 - Marvel Comics

ALL-NEW WOLVERINE No. 4, March 2016

Containing a somewhat surprisingly ‘out of place’ guest star appearance by Doctor Stephen Strange, this particular edition of “All-New Wolverine” undoubtedly provides something of a bizarre, albeit amusing, twist to Tom Taylor’s multi-issue depiction of Laura Kinney obsessively defending her clones from the questionable intentions of Alchemax Genetics’ security force. For having established a rather seriously-themed morally-fraught undertone to his lengthy story-arc concerning genetic experimentation, murder and Machiavellian manipulation, the Melbourne-born writer suddenly (and arguably inexplicably) transports X-23, Gabby, Zelda and Bellona into a fantastical adventure featuring a winking wardrobe, “a doorway to horrors” and an enormous gruesome-looking extra-dimensional monster.

Admittedly this somewhat tongue-in-cheek tale is initially fun to read, and doubtless many of this comic’s 49,978 owners in January 2016 enjoyed the presence of an axe-wielding Sorcerer Supreme who seems far more a man of action than his creator Steve Ditko ever envisaged. But “the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats” seems a rather unlikely bedfellow to so ferocious a living weapon as the Facility’s former assassin, and as such this team-up sadly smacks more of a desire to pair the titular character with one of the publisher’s more recognisably sellable heroes than anything which the comic’s ongoing narrative requires.

Blatant marketing concerns aside however, Doctor Strange’s involvement in Kinney’s search for a cure as to Zelda’s terminal condition does provide Wolverine with some ‘stand out’ moments, not least of which is her burying the Defender’s double-edged weapon into the skull of a huge Lovecraftian-inspired horror before it manages to eat several innocent bystanders stood outside the Sanctum Sanctorum. Indeed the entire plot darkens quite perceptibly when it becomes clear that the “Sorcerer Brain Surgeon” is unable to halt the “nanite technology” killing Gabby’s sister and he realises that his patient “is beyond my magic. And beyond my medicine.”

Slightly more upbeat is the quality of David Lopez and David Navarrot’s artwork, with the Spanish illustrator’s rendering of the Ancient One’s protégé proving especially impressive and well-drawn. Disappointingly though the same cannot be said for the creative team’s pencilling of Laura’s "not sisters" and it is little wonder that the sketcher has to “argue a lot about what shot works best and what’s the best way to show something or what’s the most important emotion we want to transmit in a specific panel” with their Assistant Editor, when his figures’ faces appear so amateurish.

The "Deadpool" variant cover art of "ALL-NEW WOLVERINE" No. 4 by Tom Raney