Uber #21 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 21, December 2014

Despite selling a disappointing 5,858 issues in January 2015, approximately five hundred copies less than its predecessor, creator Kieron Gillen need not have worried as to whether this comic book’s readers would find its narrative both “interesting and enjoyable.” For whilst the twenty-two page periodical surprisingly only dedicates less than half its contents upon Maria and Sieglinde’s “meet[ing] in Kiev for a strong exchange of words and/or blows”, this penultimate chapter in “The Shadow War” story-arc ‘packs plenty of additional punch’ by surrounding the “first duel between fully activated Ubermensch-class enhanced humans” with plenty of additional drama and action.

For starters the Stafford-born writer finally divulges “what’s going on with Hitler” by having Joseph Goebbels’ rather obvious Fuhrer clone obliterate the corpse of a medical experiment courtesy of a well-placed, and gratuitously illustrated, halo effect. Ever since “the apparent death” of Adolf “at the hands of Siegmund” it has always been evident to followers of this title that the Reich Minister of Propaganda had arranged for someone else to take over the leader’s identity. This scene however provides the first actual proof that the replica is an 'Uber' of some kind… and one which the German politician even considers to be a viable “suitor” for his own wife Magda!?!

Just as unforeseen is the British former music journalist’s revelation that “Mister long-suffering Tank-man bodyguard Conrad” is actually the “active” spy at Bletchley Park. Admittedly artist Daniel Gete’s overly graphic love-scene between the undercover Nazi agent and Stephanie may be a little lewd for some. But the Spaniard’s detailed panels depicting ‘heavy petting’, from a plot perspective at least, is understandably the key to the British scientist realising just who the top secret research department’s traitor is; “A Tank-Man wouldn’t sweat from sex.”

The highlight of this comic though is undoubtedly Katyusha’s pummelling of Battleship Sieglinde, and the subsequent understandable concern (and shock) etched upon the face of her colleague Siegfried when he himself observes the terrifyingly raw power of the Third Reich’s latest foe. “Capable of shaping the battlefield to her liking, [and] claiming the high ground…” Maria Andreevna’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated ‘fist-fight’ with Winston Churchill’s assassin is disconcertingly rather one-sided, despite the “blonde witch” almost catching the Soviet Forces off-guard at the start of the contest. Although the combat’s all-too early resolution, which sees Klaudia unceremoniously “propelled… into the Dnieper”, isn’t nearly as disappointing as some of Caanan White’s pencilling during the fracas.

The regular cover art of "UBER" No. 21 by Caanan White

Star Wars: Vader Down #1 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS: VADER DOWN No. 1, January 2016

Despite being depicted as a mysteriously all-powerful villain during the original "Star Wars" motion picture trilogy, Darth Vader was never arguably imbued with any especially 'mind-blowing' abilities except the occasional force choke and manipulation of inanimate objects, such as some pieces of Cloud City machinery in "The Empire Strikes Back". Indeed, whilst on the 'Silver Screen', even the Emperor Palpatine, a long-standing Sith Master, seems to have been limited to nothing greater than a talent for discharging deadly lightning bolts from his fingertips. However, this situation seems to have somewhat dramatically changed since "Marvel Worldwide" started publishing a flotilla of comics based upon George Lucas' "galaxy far, far away" in 2015, with the "enforcer of the Galactic Empire" apparently receiving an especially impressive ‘upgrade’ to the point where during Jason Aaron’s “Skywalker Strikes” story-arc the black-armoured warrior was shown to be capable of bringing all the dreadful might of a gigantic AT-AT walker to its knees purely through his manipulation of the dark side of the force.

Somewhat disconcertingly Issue One of “Star Wars: Vader Down”, the second-best selling comic book of November 2015 having sold an astonishing 384,969 issues upon its release, undoubtedly ramps up the Sith Lord’s powers even further and in many ways actually portrays a ludicrously omnipotent Anakin Skywalker, who not only single-handedly takes “out a whole [X-Wing] squadron without so much as a scratch on his TIE [Fighter]” but also casually challenges “an entire company” of mobilised Rebel troopers. Considering the American author’s script is set shortly after the Battle of Yavin, it is hard to imagine just how so invincible a titular character could have allowed the destruction of the (first) Death Star to occur, especially when the Alabama-born writer has Darth nonchalantly destroy the airborne Y-Wing bombers of Gray Squadron courtesy of some well-flung pieces of debris; “Mother of Moons! Aaaaaggghh!”

Aaron’s narrative also suffers on account of the contrived circumstances upon which his cross-title event’s basic premise is based. Having conveniently “received word of Luke’s location” Vader surprisingly abandons “his secret ally, Doctor Aphra” and the rest of his formidable Imperial resources and rather naively decides to visit “the former Jedi temple on the planet Vrogas Vas alone…” Why would “the most dangerous man in the galaxy” and a supposedly keen strategist do such a reckless thing when he knows that his prey is part of the Rebellion, and therefore will almost certainly be accompanied by Alliance forces?

Sadly Mike Deodata’s artwork is equally as ‘spotty’ as this giant-size comic’s storyline. There is no doubting that the Brazilian’s pencilling for Darth’s epic space battle against “three squadrons of Rebel starfighters” is dynamically detailed; especially the sequence's double-splash pages and additional panels depicting the various X-Wing pilots’ reactions to the utter carnage the Sith Lord’s enhanced TIE-fighter is causing. But as soon as the situation momentarily quietens, and the book’s focus turns to Skywalker’s friends on board the Rebel Fleet, then the former Nineties “Wonder Woman” artist seems to really struggle to draw his figures with any consistency.

The 'Retailer' variant cover art of "STAR WARS: VADER DOWN" No. 1

Daredevil [2016] #1 - Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL No. 1, February 2016

Having somehow placed “Matt Murdock mysteriously back in New York City, his secret identity once again intact and practicing law” Issue One of “Marvel’s All-New, All-Different” “Daredevil” undoubtedly proved a rather unsettling read to some of its 84,500 strong audience in December 2015. Indeed without any explanation whatsoever, except that Charles Soule’s infinitely more seriously-toned narrative is set “eight months after the events of Secret Wars”, this twenty-page periodical depicts a superhero utterly unrecognisable from the titular character who had made “a home for himself in the Golden Gate City” under the creative team of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee.

Such a dramatic change in direction for the ‘Man Without Fear’ doesn’t take too long to accept however, as the title’s new writer immediately throws the masked vigilante into a no holds barred fist-fight with a gang of ‘tooled-up’ criminal heavies, and simultaneously introduces the fact that ‘his’ version of Hornhead is accompanied by a new partner; the “illegal Chinese immigrant” Sam Chung, also known as Blindspot. This ability to merge pulse-pounding action with the Milwaukee-born author’s rather edgy alterations to Murdock’s mythos is undoubtedly one of Soule’s greatest strengths and even allows him to be forgiven for ‘reverting’ Foggy Nelson back into a rather tiresome, somewhat self-centred bore, who refuses to help Matt ‘ever again’ “just because you let me remember” who Daredevil really is…

Arguably though any storyline which crams so much drama into its first half, including a wonderfully tense underwater scene where the superhero uses a wrecked car littering “the bottom of the East River” to help his radar sense pinpoint a drowning criminal, was always going to struggle not to run out of steam... And sadly the “New York Times best-selling comic book” writer’s script falls into just such a trap, with a decidedly wordy final third which dwells far too long upon the blind lawyer’s new role as an assistant district attorney; “You might know me as Matt Murdock, Defence attorney, here to help. That guy’s gone. I’ve changed sides.”

Possibly just as difficult to become accustomed to as Soule’s changes to Daredevil’s circumstances is Ron Garney’s “very dark” highly-stylized artwork. Strangely reminiscent of some of Frank Miller’s drawings of Hornhead, the motion picture costume illustrator undoubtedly provides this magazine with a very unique-looking “Film Noir” style to its panels. But whilst this artistic panache definitely manages to imbue his fights scenes with raw dynamism, it does prove somewhat disappointingly bland when portraying the more sedentary aspects of the narrative, such as Murdock’s lengthy ‘office-bound’ conversation with Ellen King.

The 'Action Figure' variant cover art of "DAREDEVIL" No. 1 by John Tyler Christopher

Batman/Superman #1 [The New 52] - DC Comics

BATMAN/SUPERMAN No. 1, August 2013

Whilst admittedly bringing about the “return of a book featuring both [“DC Comics” biggest] characters is a no-brainer”, Issue One of “Batman/Superman” provides something of an interesting spin on events, by having Greg Pak’s narrative focus upon the pair’s “very first meeting and relationship” rather than simply a ‘run of the mill’ adventure which indolently relies upon “the star power” of the two superheroes. As a result, this twenty-five page periodical’s plot “takes place around the time” of Grant Morrison’s first edition of “The New 52” “Action Comics” and provides its 143,457 readers with both a “very young… cocky” Man of Steel who “sticks up for the underdog” and “a very early” Dark Knight who sees Clark Kent’s alter ego as “the most dangerous guy I’ve met in my life.”

Understandably such differing viewpoints almost immediately causes some ‘hostility’ between the two comic book legends, with an undercover Bruce in particular finding the meddlesome reporter’s “crusader” attitude one which will cause more harm than good; “Thanks to you, that bully’ll probably come back tomorrow and beat him up twice as hard.” However it isn’t until a possessed Catwoman appears in Metropolis, having apparently murdered three Wayne Enterprises employees that the Caped Crusader and Kal-El actually start to trade blows, and artist Jae Lee draws a genuinely exhilarating punch-up sequence between the ‘dynamic duo.’

Disappointingly though, this incredibly tense, highly stylised ‘fist-fight’ is brought to an all too abrupt end by the Dallas-born writer’s script suddenly having Superman mysteriously transported to Smallville in order to confront a ‘modern-day’ Batman who, quite understandably, knows Clark’s weakness and deploys a kryptonite “automatic defensive system” in order to ‘poison’ him. Such a sudden shift in plot is utterly mystifying, and made all the more jarring by Ben Oliver replacing Lee on pencils until the end of the comic.

Admittedly the former “Judge Dredd” artist still provides this book with plenty of competent panels. Indeed the British illustrator’s depiction of an enraged, albeit somewhat weakened, Big Blue Boy Scout brutally clobbering an off-guard Dark Knight is extremely well sketched. But Oliver’s style is so markedly different to that of Jae that all the wonderfully engaging, depressingly grim atmosphere created by this magazine’s opening eighteen pages is irrevocably undone by the simple turning of a page…

The regular cover art of "BATMAN/SUPERMAN" No. 1 by Jae Lee with June Chung

Captain Britain And The Mighty Defenders #1 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND THE MIGHTY DEFENDERS No. 1, September 2015

Based upon the premise that “years ago” it was actually Doctor Ho Yinsen who donned Iron Man’s first suit of armour rather than the playboy industrialist Tony Stark, this theatrically titled “Secret Wars” tie-in comic unconvincingly bands together some of the lesser known heroes of the “Marvel Universe” into “a very small [super] team” and then, simply upon the whim of the “omnipotent ruler of Battleworld”, forcibly pits them against the formidable military power of their principality’s neighbour, “the fascist futuropolis of Mondo City”. Somewhat perturbingly however, any of this book’s 27,618 readers in July 2015 who thought so ludicrously contrived a narrative couldn’t become any more bizarre were in for a serious shock when towards the comic’s end Al Ewing introduces the blatant Judge Dredd and Cassandra Anderson wannabes Boss [Luke] Cage and Boss [Emma] Frost; “Wake up, Creep. We’ve got you down for resisting arrest, illegal border crossing, and extremist ideology.”

In fact the “shop thy neighbour” lawmen are so similar in look and dialogue to John Wagner’s “2000 A.D.” co-creation that any potential buyer simply flicking through the back pages of this publication must doubtless have quickly double-checked the cover to make sure they hadn’t inadvertently picked up an issue about the Mega-City One street judge. Certainly it is clear, what with their over-sized shoulder-pads, bullet-shaped helmets and reference to perps, just why “Marvel Worldwide” Editor Tom Brevoort chose a British comics writer with a proven track record of writing "Future Shocks" to pen so blatantly unoriginal a script.

Admittedly this cheesy concoction does still somehow manage to provide some modicum of entertainment, especially when it quite cleverly connects to former major story-arcs such as the Spider-Verse by having Hobie Brown replace his world’s dead spider-man as Spider Hero, or a dying Brian Braddock handing the mantle of Captain Britain over to Doctor Faiza Hussain during the Age of Ultron. But sadly Ewing’s reimagining of She-Hulk as “the Thor for this domain”, a green giantess who walks around with the decidedly tiny “Gavel of Thor” strapped to her hip, is infinitely less successful an idea... 

Fortunately all of this magazine’s disconcerting nonsense is wonderfully illustrated by “Excalibur” artist Alan Davis. Indeed for many, “Theirs Is A Land With A Wall Around It…” may well be worth the price simply for its dramatically dynamic cover depicting the “London-based Muslim medical doctor” stoically leading the Defenders against an unknown foe. Whilst for others the Englishman’s pacey panelling provides Mondo City’s invasion of Yinsen’s barony, and otherwise dialogue-heavy storyline, with some much needed spectacle and tension.

The variant cover art of "CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND THE MIGHTY DEFENDERS" No. 1 by Frazer Irving

Uber #20 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 20, November 2014

Despite in many ways avoiding the gratuitously graphic grisliness of “dynamic artist” Caanan White’s usual warfare-based bodily mutilations, Issue Twenty of “Uber” must still have proved a rather unsettling experience for its 6,303 readers with its brief insight into the world of “the German propaganda cinema” machine and “dwelling on Josef Mengele”. Indeed, in his Afterword even creator Kieron Gillen admits a certain ‘trepidation’ in having such “a genuine monster of a human” as the Schutzstaffel officer being placed so prominently within his comic’s storyline and as a result ensures that even the Nazis who work alongside the physician are shown to be concerned as to the man’s questionable morals; “Sankt thought him a crank and a sadist. I do not think him a wise choice to run whatever you’re doing here…”

Any doubts or quibbles as to the anti-Semitic’s inclusion within this narrative however are swiftly set aside when it is revealed just what medicine is being practiced within the wards of Flakturme III in Berlin, where those enhanced humans unfortunate enough to require the services of a surgeon must withstand being ‘remade’ without anaesthetic and courtesy of an unpractised distortion field. As the Reich Minister Goebbels himself states who else but one who suffers “a complete lack of moral squeamishness” could be placed in charge of such a “delicate” project?

Just as impactive, though far less bloodily illustrated, is the Red Army’s “first deployment of Maria Andreevna’s Halo Effect in combat.” Gillen manages to wonderfully capture the Kremlin’s mixture of zeal and nervousness surrounding the Soviet sniper’s “total annihilation of the second Ubermensch army group” by allowing the audience to briefly ‘overhear’ a discussion between Zhukov and Stalin as to why the Russian General would send their “battleship-class ubermensch” south when “the northern [German] thrust is at Smolensk” and thus “barely 200 miles from Moscow.” Only then, when it is clear that Katyusha is fighting the Great Patriotic War on her terms, not her superiors, does the action finally turn to her formidably abrupt vaporisation of “upwards of 100 panzermensch deployed… primarily around the stronghold of Kursk.”

Frustratingly, such a dialogue-laden script does not arguably lend itself to the vibrant drawing style of Canaan White. The African-American lead artist is at his best “moving the position around” and “using radical panel shapes and breaking” in order to help tell the story. Unfortunately this book’s rather sedentary tale provides little opportunity for such fast-paced plotting and as a result, despite the penciller’s earnestness to “make sure I pump out high quality art”, causes many of his figures to appear rather roughly-hewn and awkward-looking.

The regular cover art of "UBER" No. 20 by Caanan White

'68 Jungle Jim: Guts 'N Glory One-Shot - Image Comics

'68 JUNGLE JIM: GUTS 'N GLORY ONE-SHOT, March 2015

“Once again helmed by the… creator of chaos, Mark Kidwell” this blood-soaked return to Vietnam and the exploits of Private Brian Curliss lives up to all its author’s pre-publication hype by depicting some horrifically gratuitous “gore and over-the-top action” right from the ‘get-go’ as a desperately bound, teary-eyed female US Peace Corps volunteer has her throat slashed wide open despite her pitiful pleas for mercy. Disconcertingly however, any ‘faint-hearted’ bibliophiles hoping that such a “hard to look at” sequence would be as repugnant as this twenty-four-page periodical could get would very quickly have any such allusion dispelled courtesy of the bamboo armoured titular character abruptly stepping out of the jungle’s undergrowth and directly decapitating “the sadistic guerrillas” responsible for the girl’s death with a double-sweep of his long knives…

Indeed barely a scene goes by within this one-shot’s narrative where “the master horror writer” doesn’t have some grotesque blood-curdling atrocity occur. For whether it be a party of “always hungry” “pus-bags” having their decaying limbs severed by the gas-mask wearing soldier’s razor-sharp blades, or a hapless member of the Kampuchea communist party being literally torn apart by a well-thrown hand-grenade as he’s cooking soup, exploding eyeballs, bodiless heads and pinkish-hued brain matter seemingly forever dominant the proceedings; “Jimmy’s got a snack for ya!”

Kidwell also manages to make good on his ‘marketing’ promise of “upping the ante with zombie kills” by having the book’s central “familiar friend” face “the biggest… ugliest thing I’ve ever seen” in the shape of a (un)dead G.I. Already battered and bruised from almost being a ravenous cadaver’s “pork-chop”, the fatigued Curliss has little choice but to dive for cover as his formidable blue-hued opposition rakes the surrounding foliage with light machinegun fire. But it isn’t long before the two combatants get up ‘close and personal’ and both ears and other decaying body parts start to once again spatter the panels with gore.

Much of this comic’s repulsiveness though is actually down to the “pen and inks” of Jeff Zornow, whose drawings of dismemberment and human mutilation are genuinely disturbing at times. In fact the “Godzilla: Rulers Of Earth” artist seems to take particular pleasure in depicting Brian’s foes being dispatched in as macabre a way as possible, and it therefore comes as something of a shock to the reader when mid-way through this grim book the horror genre enthusiast utilises four entire pages depicting “Jim” simply conversing with the blonde-haired Glory and eating chow.

The regular cover art of "'68 JUNGLE JIM: GUTS 'N GLORY ONE-SHOT" by Nat Jones and Jay Fotos