Books: Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles / A Study in Scarlet / The Sign of the Four / The Valley of Fear

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Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Edginton
Art by I. N. J. Culbard
2009




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Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Edginton
Art by I. N. J. Culbard
2009




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Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of the Four
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Edginton
Art by I. N. J. Culbard
2011




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Sherlock Holmes: The Valley of Fear
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Edginton
Art by I. N. J. Culbard
2011




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What other characters have permeated our culture as throughly as Sherlock Holmes? I mean - come on - it's basically between him and Jesus right? Not only is he the most portrayed fictional character of all time (with 238 screen apparences and counting) he basically single-handedly paved the way for police procedurals of all stripes - from CSI to From Murder She Wrote, from House to The Killing - not to mention the fact that he stars in the World's Second Most Funniest Joke [1]. I mean - at this point he's less a character - and more an archetype - something to be endlessly recycled and reinterpreted from now until the end of time. People say that Batman's the World's Greatest Detective - but stole all his moves from Sherlock and then just draped a scary looking cape over the top (and what's Robin but Dr Watson in a pair of tights? The audience surrogate: "But wait Batman - how the hell did you manage to figure out this one?" Cut to Batman holding a magnifying glass: "Elementary my boy wonder...") [2]  

There were actors who I remember from before this (I have an image of Rupert Everett [3] acting up a storm in some Christmas special from a whole lot of years ago - what was that called? The Silk Stocking or something?) but I guess now - like most of you - when I think of Sherlock Holmes I see the esteemable face of Mr Benedict Cumberbatch [4]. That's the suave handsome man with - yes - the ridiculously Englishly sounding name [5] who - as the star of the BBC’s 'Sherlock' - helped make that stodgy old bumbler in the deerstalker (yes - we all know that according to the books he never actually wore a deerstalker - but whatever) into a hip and modern and edgy concoction - who's much more rude and surly then your grandfather's version - with a slight touch of autism and an added dollop of sociopathic tendancies (a bit like Poochie from The Simpsons then). The only reason I bothered to tune in was because it had Steven Moffat's name attached to it - and in case you didn't know - I am a very big Steven Moffat fan because 1. Shut up. and 2. He's basically one of the best writers currently around - and I'm not just talking about tv and films (say what you want about the Tintin film - and oh ignore those last 5 clumsy hey-let's-set-the-sequel ending - the screenplay was total brilliance [6]): I'm talking that - if he ever wrote a book (or a comic) - I would be first in line - to - well - get the library a copy. So yeah.

But yeah: even tho I watched all the episodes (and will probably keep watching when it comes back) I will confess that I wasn't as blown away as I hoped I was. I mean - I have nothing against modernising characters or anything like that - it's just that - I dunno - every episode felt like it could have been better served by being 30 minutes shorter (but maybe that's just because I have Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!) and Sherlock-O-Vision or Sherlock-time or whatever you wanna call that thing when he does Tom Cruise Minority Report stuff with his hands was a little - well - lame. Or maybe the answers when the came were a little over-the-top and not really all that guessable (did you see the The Hound of the Baskervilles episode? Then you know what I'm talking about): but ok.

What it did do tho was leave me curious about what the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Not enough to actually go out and read the damn things - but enough to go on the internet and find out what were the similarities and what were the differences between the books and the stuff I saw on screen (was there really a storyline about someone's iPhone password? [7]). And now - hurrah - comes the perfect mid-way point between reading proper books and reading a synopsis: comic books!

I don't know if I'm the only who remembers this - but I remember back in the day there used to books of stuff like Shakespeare in comics form - which frankly - I didn't remember has being that good (think they had too much of a stink of learning about them - not that I have anything against learning per se (learning is cool and all that) but it's not really the thing that you want to hit you in the face when you pick up a comic book). The thing that's cool about these books - is that even tho they seem to be fairly true to the text (and I dunno - maybe they're not - maybe they diverge wildly) it doesn't really feel like they are: rather it all feels fresh and sprightly and easy to read [8].

All in all: pretty good.

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[1] Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: "Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see." Watson replied: "I see millions and millions of stars." Holmes said: "And what do you deduce from that?" Watson replied: "Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like Earth out there. And if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life." And Holmes said: "Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent." (See: here).

[2] I googled them both and round this.

[3] Star of one of my favourite little obscure zombie films ever: Cemetery Man (Italian title: Dellamorte Dellamore). Hailed by Martin Scorsese as "one of the best Italian films of the 1990s."

[4] And when I think of Watson I see Tim from The Office (aka "Bilbo Baggins").

[5] And here's where I'm gonna quote the majestic Sean O'Neil of the AV Club who describes Cumberbatch as "a shy hedgehog who stumbled into a grand adventure outside his garden one day."

[6] My favourite line was Mrs. Finch's "Not again!" But let's face it - the whole script was amazing.

[7] Answer: no.

[8] And the comic-book-based-on-famous-old-novels is obviously a freshly budding business seeing how Ian Edginton is also responsible for adaptations of War of the Worlds, Pride and Prejudice and I. N. J. Culbard having produced At The Mountains of Madness. I'm guessing it has something to do with them being famous classics available in the public domain? Which you know - easy money and all that seeing how parents want kids to read old books and kid's like reading things with pictures (and the rest of us kinda sit in-between with both urges mingled together). 

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Links: Forbidden Planet Blog Review The Hound of the Baskervilles / A Study in Scarlet / The Sign of the Four / The Valley of Fear. 

Further reading: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, Pride and Prejudice, Stickleback : England's Glory, Aetheric Mechanics, From Hell, Death Note, Don Quixote, Gotham Central.

All comments welcome.

Events: SWALC V

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Saturday 28 June / 1:00pm - 6:00pm
The Lord Clyde, 340 Essex Road, London N1 3PB

It's back! The shrunk down, mini-wrapped, Micro-Arts Festival that is SWALC. Writers, artists, musicians, poets, film makers, comedians, creatives of every medium and genre and the people who like them gathered together in the most sacred source of inspiration - the Great British Boozer.

No panels, no lectures, no talks, no formal signing tables - just come and hang out and chat with people about their work. Lots of live music, short films, a free book exchange, a not-so-free bookstall, an amazing raffle to win stuff you just can't get anywhere else... and of course great booze and food (including the best sausage rolls in the country).

And it's all absolutely free. Full details: HERE.

Events: Islington Comic Forum 2012/07

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The Islington Comic Forum is a big table full of comic books with a bunch of people seemingly selected from a United Colours of Benetton advert (there's no such thing as an average member) sitting around and discussing/arguing/sharing their thoughts and ideas about one of the most exciting and diverse mediums on the planet (nowadays if you're talking about something that's just "all about superheroes" my first guess is you're talking about films - but whatever). It's a little bit more chaotic than a book club but with the same sort of relaxed and open friendly atmosphere: all presided over by an excitable librarian (that would be me) who has pretty much read every comic book out there (even the terrible ones) and is willing to tell you where you're going wrong with whatever you're reading (and is most happy when people disagree with him). If you're curious as to what sort of books we discuss - then take a look around this blog - every book here has been included at one point or another. And if you want to know what sort of things we talk about: - well - it's never really that properly thought out but we touch upon everything from the best way to construct a story, to how far genre limits can go all the way to if Frank Miller was right about who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman. Oh (and I think this is the best bit) you can take all books home. 

There's also a book of the month (so that at least we can all talk about something we've all read). This month it's: Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol. If you get a chance please read it. You can reserve yourself a copy here. (For those of you that don't get the chance - don't worry - you can still come and join in with the discussions).

The next one is: Tuesday the 24th of July / 6:00pm to 7:30pm in the Upstairs Hall at North Library Manor Gardens N7 6JX. Here is a map. Come and join us. All welcome. 

For more information (or if you have any questions and/or would like to be added to our email list: we send out a reminder a week before with a list of the books that are going to be available) you can email us here. 

All comments welcome.

Authors/Artists: J. H. Williams III

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J. H. Williams III
18 December 1965
Roswell, New Mexico










James "Jim" H. Williams III is - in my humble opinion - one of the best artists working in comics. Hell - actually - scratch that - make that one of the best artists ever. Starting way in 1993 on a comic called Blood Syndicate (never heard of it) he has since gone to work with some of the best writers in the business (Alan Moore (=Promethea), Grant Morrison (=Seven Soliders of Victory and Batman: The Black Glove) and Warren Ellis (=Desolation Jones). That's like a comic book hat-trick!). Mixing up the beautifully fully painted Alex Ross look with crazy experimentalism and an uncanny ability to perfectly mimic a whole bunch of different styles (used to great effect in Promethea  and the first and last issues of Seven Soldiers of Victory) this guy is crazysupergood. He also writes! Batman: Snow (which is pretty good) and an issue of Hellboy: Weird Tales (which I haven't read). Random facts: he was born in Roswell (!) and his great-uncle was country music legend Hank Williams. So - basically: If you've never read one of his books then you've never lived. Dude's got talent spilling out his fingertips and if I could - I would eat his brain and steal his knowledge. What more do you need to know?  

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Links: Slush Factory Interview, Popimage Interview, Comic Book Resources Interview.

Selected works: Promethea, Batman: Snow, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Desolation Jones, Batman: The Black Glove, Batwoman: Elegy

All comments welcome.

Books: Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby

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Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby
Written by Stan Lee, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Art by Jack Kirby 
2004




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For a lot of people Jack "The King" Kirby is the most important name in superhero comic books. Loved and admired from everyone from Alan Moore to Grant Morrison (who described him as the "William Blake of comics") Kirby co-created many of comicdom's most famous characters including: Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and The X-Men and pioneered an dynamic cinematical art-style that is still regarded my many as one of the high-watermarks of comics history. "Genius" is a word that a lot people like to throw around - so let's just say that a lot of people have thrown it lots of times at Jack Kirby's direction. At this point he's almost a one man genre - in much the same way you can talk about something being "Kafkaesque", "Lovecraftian",  or "Orwellian" - if you describe something as "Kirbyesque" to a comic book fan then they'll understand exactly what you mean (even if it's one of those things that is kinda hard to put into words: let's just say it involves a mixture of science-fiction with age old legends, the use of powerful bold archetypes that manage to both symbolically stand for and embody whatever it is they're about (be it America, Rage, or Evil itself) and lots costumes and strange machinary with zig-zaggy lines and circles). Like the man himself said: "I think I have a highly unique and unusual style, and that’s the reason I never sign my drawings... Everybody could tell any of my covers a mile away on the newsstand, and that satisfied me."

So with all that in mind - why exactly am I only getting around to writing about him now?

At the risk of making myself into a comics leper - shunned from the rest of comicfandom: I'm not a Jack Kirby fan.

For me there's always been a distinction in my mind between old stuff that you can enjoy and old stuff that you can respect. So with films like The Third Man or Touch of Evil or North by Northwest there's not really any part of me that feels like I have to make allowances - I can just press play and then sit back and enjoy the film. And then there's other stuff like Seven Samurai (which I just watched this weekend) - which altho I can appreciate as being good and well crafted and beautifully shot and always clear and to the point - was something that I found myself having to respect rather than actually enjoying (plus - damn that film is long). And Jack Kirby - well - at best he's someone that I can only ever really respect (and that's me being nice).

See - part of me believes that a reason that Kirby gets so much love from so many folks is that for lots of them growing up - Kirby was the best there was. And the reason that in a lot of people's minds he's still top dog is because the things you love when you're young have a habit to stick with you. (But - then again - there's some people younger than me - who still really dig his stuff [1] so perhaps my theory isn't that watertight). Also - I've gotta say - and yeah so maybe this makes me a little bit of a "true comics" philistine - there's not really that much stuff created before the whole Watchmen era when comics started to "grow up" that really captures (or can sustain) my interest. What a lot of people might forget now - is that - although there's still an odor that hangs over the medium that says that it's still - "just for kids" - back in the day that was literally true. It wasn't just that the general public thought that comics were infantile.

Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby is a hodge-podge collection of various Jack Kirby stories spanning his entire career and includes selections from all the hits: Captain America, Thor, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, and The Inhumans (amongst others). I did try to read them all - but I will admit that the simplistic style and dated and stilted dialogue meant that after about 15 minutes I had to admit defeat. I tried skimming through and sampling bits from here and there but there was nothing to entice me - just - I dunno: just pictures of stuff. Old-fashioned superhero posing stuff. And yeah - ok - all the images are very dynamic and all the rest: but- it's the kinda of thing that made me feel tired as I was reading it and that's never a good sign.

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[1] Although I can't shake the feeling that Matt Seneca - as good as his writing can be - might be a little bit of a hipster (sorry Matt). But then I have a problem with people who think it's funny to BBQ books [2].

[2] And - ha! Thanks to 4th Letter I've learnt that this is something that actually got back to Grant Morrison: "“[The] guy that ate Supergods!” Morrison laughs. “Cooked it and ate it on the basis that it was my fault that people couldn't find alternative comics in their local comics stores. And I was standing in the way, pretending to be the face of alternative comics, and how I actually stood for corporate this or corporate ... you know, I’m the man – again as I say, I’m a freelance writer, I'm not on staff at any company. But this guy ate the book!”" (from this New Statesmen Article).

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Links: With Great Power Review.

Further reading: Kirby: King of Comics, The Bulletproof Coffin, Men Of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book. 

All comments welcome.

Books: The Exterminators

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The Exterminators
Vol 1: Bug Brothers
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2006



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The Exterminators
Vol 2: Insurgency
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2007



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The Exterminators
Vol 3: Lies of Our Fathers
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2007



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The Exterminators
Vol 4: Crossfire and Collateral
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2008



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The Exterminators
Vol 5: Bug Brothers Forever
Written by Simon Oliver
Art by Tony Moore
2007



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I tried reading all of this but I only got one and a half books through before I'd had enough. Sorry.

The pitch seems kinda cool: following around a bunch of - well - pest exterminators whose lives keep getting stranger and far out the more they see. But after a short while it just felt like it was going around the motions without actually doing anything new. And when I say around the motions - while there was a feeling that I had at the back of my mind that I couldn't quite put my finger on (the same kinda feeling I had when I was reading Wasteland actually) that all came together when I sneaked a peak at the wikipedia page and found out - oh right: when The Exterminators first started it wasn't a comic book at all: it was a TV show [1]. And when I read that everything just sorta fell into place. Because - yeah - as a pitch for a series - it's kinda perfect: if you wanna be (very) generous it's a bit like a cross between the gritty kitchen-sink life-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks realism of The Wire crossed with the oh-my-god-oh-my-god-oh-my-god mysterious ever so slightly paranormal (or is it just science-fiction) what's-in-the-box-ness of Lost and also - woo - evil cockroaches (because everyone loves evil cockroaches - am I right?). There's your down-on-his-lucky diamond in the rough anti-hero who has one last chance to get his life right, a rotating class of wacky side-kicks, a kooky love-interest and blah blah, blah. 

I dunno - it all just sorta feels so calculated. Not like it was someone who had a good story to tell - but rather a story that just ticked all the boxes. And while the artwork is solid (Tony Moore - who some of you may recognise as the guy who did the first two volumes of The Walking Dead before things apparently went sour between him and Robert Kirkman) it doesn't do much more than a camera would: and I like my comics to be a little more inventive and well comic-like than that. 

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[1] "The Exterminators initial incarnation was a TV pitch and pilot outline as writer Simon Oliver was working in the film industry at the time. After consideration Oliver realized the story wasn't really network material. Oliver then decided to pitch it to a comic book publisher. Luckily a film producer friend of Oliver had become good friends with Karen Berger of Vertigo Comics after they had discussed 100 Bullets. Through this friend the pitch of The Exterminators reached an interested publisher quickly. After some reworking with editor Jon Vankin the project was greenlit and the first issue was released January 2006."

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Links: Sean T Collins Review of Vol 1.

Further reading: Scalped, iZombie, Wasteland, 100 Bullets.

All comments welcome.

Books: Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson

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Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson
Written by Will Bingly
Art by Anthony Hope-Smith
2010




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Nope. I just don't think that I get the point of biographies. Every time I pick one there's a voice at the of my head that just screams out to me: "Why?" I mean - if I like an author, or artist, or musician, or director or whatever - then it's because of the work that they do: something they've created that they've then sent out into the world - and that something (whatever it is) is the thing that has all the goodness inside it - and that goodness isn't going to be any better if I find out that whoever it was who made eats their cornflakes in a strange way or used to be a crack-baby or whatever whatever. All that real life stuff - who said what, who kissed who, who got lucky how: that stuff all just seems besides the point. And the only real consequence that it would seem like it would ever have would be leaving you feeling disillusioned. I mean: the person who makes the stuff you really like is a nice person = yay! - but that doesn't really change anything. The only real change (well - the only big one) would be if you found out that the person who makes the stuff you really like  is actually a Neo-Nazi [1] and then you're like - oh. So now I have to throw all my CDs away. 

In comic circles I guess Hunter S. Thompson (from here on in let's just go with "HST") is best known as that guy that Warren Ellis stole his act from and (even more so) the guy that Spider Jerusalem is based on [2]. But before all that HST was best known as a crazy journalist who pretty much single-handedly invented "gonzo journalism" (from wikipedia: "a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative." - or - when you read a report of something factual but the author can't shut up giving their own point of view: which is basically what I've kinda mutated into doing this blog albeit in a much much more sloppy and unfocused way - which (damn) is reallt saying something) - not that you would really work that out from reading this... You see - there was once a point in my life when I didn't just read comic books all day - which means that - yes - I've read both Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (yes - that's the one with the film with Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro and "we can't stop here - this is bat country" and "the wave speech" which - yes - is actually pretty good [3]) and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (that's the one where he follows around the Democratic Party's primaries and gets into all the stuff around George McGovern who - no joke - was kinda the Obama of his day only a bit more of a hippy - he got tagged with the label: "amnesty, abortion and acid" which should give you some idea of what he was about): not that I was that much of fan - both books seemed like things that I should read rather than something that I could enjoy reading - and - yeah - they were both pretty major struggles that felt more like work than entertainment: oh well. My thoughts then is that when it comes to HST is that it's best to take him in small doses and a whole book is pushing it too far.

But - I'm not exaggerating that much when I say that you will probably learn more about HST reading the drivel I've written above (or is "drivel" too harsh? No? oh - ok then) than you can from reading this "Graphic Biography" (urg - I mean - I realise that it doesn't count as a "graphic novel" because it's non-fiction - but still - maybe they should have just left off giving it a subtitle altogether?). A bit like The Beats comic book history thing (some of whose characters briefly cross-over with Gonzo: only not in a Batman/Superman cross-over kinda way (which means that they don't have a fight in which no one wins - which is a shame - but that would have been cool)) this is a biography that kinda relies upon you already knowing the lifestory (and all the insa and outs) of HST's life before you can actually appreciate it - which if you ask me seems a little bit like putting the cart before the horse - but what do I know? Like (let me show you what I mean) - the best bit of the book is the introduction by HST's long-suffering editor Alan Rinzler who explains that the legend was a lot more fun than the reality (there's a bit where he says that HST used to come out with loads of anti-semitic volleys - which you can take both ways - ok: maybe it was all in jest and everything and the kinda joking you can only get away with when you have someone who's a close friend - but the way it comes across it seems more like the second thing - which is that HST was probably just a little bit of douchbag - sorry to say it - but we all probably knew that anyway - right?) and he goes into a little bit of detail about what kind of person HST was and the kinda stuff he got up to - including the fact that he retyped entirely of The Great Gatsby just so he could get the feeling what what it would be like to write a great novel (which - ok - is strange - but also kinda makes a certain sort of sense). Then - in the comic itself - there's a panel where you see a two copies of The Great Gatsby sitting next to other - but with no further explanation - so if you already know (me - from reading the introduction) you can go "ah! Of course!" - but if not - it's just a "well - what the hell does that mean?" and - brace yourself because this is my entire point - apart from those little mini-splotches of insight - the whole comic is just: "well - what the hell does that mean?"

So - one for hardcore HST fans only I think [4]. For the rest of us - well - go check out Transmetropolitan.

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[1] This is kinda why I don't understand why anyone could be a Smashing Pumpkins fan. Not that I think that Billy Corgan is a Neo-Nazi - but he is a massive douchebag (I would link here to an appropriate article - but damn it - there's just too many to choose from: so maybe just google "billy corgan douchebag" and find out for yourself). Also: I can't stand his nasally/whiny singing voice. So in conclusion: shut up Billy Corgan.

[2] Spider Jerusalem = the star of a comic book series called Transmetropolitan. And - as mean as this may sound to say: if you want to read a comic that tells you what HST was like - then you'd be much better off reading that than you would be reading Gonzo. In fact if you google (yes google again): "gonzo Hunter S. Thompson comic" the second thing that comes up is Transmetropolitan which just proves my point I think.

[3] It even has it's own section on the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas wikipedia page. If you're struggling to recall it's the bit that starts: "Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era—the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run… but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.…" 

[4] Oh (and with thanks to Tam - thanks Tam!): if you're looking for the modern heirs to HST's legacy of taking loads of drugs, acting outrageously and gonzo journalism blah blah blah then you may want to check out Matt Taibbi (who wrote a article called The 52 Funniest Things About The Upcoming Death of The Pope about a month before Pope John Paul II died) and Mark Ames (who when David Foster Wallace died (and I got this from my literary flatmate - thanks literary flatmate!) said: "I never read DFW — took one look at Infinite Jest, and got turned off by all those telegraphed literary allusions and zany typefaces — gave me a nauseous feeling, like reading it would take me back to some awful Comparative Lit class, and I was going to have to pin the allusion on the reference. I hate Pynchon and never liked Joyce, so there was nothing for me. That said, now that he’s killed himself, I can’t help but have a little respect for him."). Both of whom were responsible from an infamous Moscow-based English-language biweekly free tabloid newspaper called The eXile (whose editorial policy was summed up as "We shit on everybody equally."). If you'd like to know more I'd suggest this excellent Vanity Fair article which doesn't skimp on all the sordid details ("The pie was made with fresh vanilla cream, hand-puréed strawberry, and five ounces of horse semen."): happy reading! 

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Links: Shiny Shelf Review, Don't Panic Interview

Further reading: The Beats: A Graphic History, Transmetropolitan, Doktor Sleepless.

All comments welcome.

Books: Fantastic Four

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Fantastic Four
Vol 1
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Dale Eaglesham
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
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Fantastic Four
Vol 2
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Dale Eaglesham
2010



Available now from Islington Libraries
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Fantastic Four
Vol 3
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Dale Eaglesham
2011



Available now from Islington Libraries
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Fantastic Four
Vol 4
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Dale Eaglesham
2011



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If you're thinking of reading these books my advice to you is: don't bother.

It's strange that other than Batman (who's well in the lead with a comfortable fifteen entries) the Fantastic Four are the bunch of superheros that I've written about most on this blog so far (not including this I've written about them four (ha) times: Fantastic Four: 1234, Fantastic Four: First Family, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest / The Masters of Doom and Ultimate Fantastic Four). It speaks a lot to the slipshod nature of this series that they couldn't even be bothered to give it any kind of proper name - so I've had to enter it here as just "Fantastic Four" which I didn't really want to do because it might make it stand out from all the other entires - making it seem like the definite article - when in fact the opposite is true: this is a series that manages to exemplify (for me) all the worst qualities of mainstream superhero books - and in fact the only reason [1] I've bothering to write this is so I can get my rant on.
  
I don't take notes when I read the books that I write about here, but I feel like maybe I should, that maybe it would be helpful. But let me do my best to recreate the thoughts and feelings I had whilst I read the first volume of this series (and then skimmed my way through the rest of them): Please note that because I'm reading Stephen King (am currently on Book 3 of The Dark Tower! Go me!) I'm gonna crib his style and put my interior monologue in italics. Here goes:

Oh. Ok. Yeah. Ok. Oooh - I like these crazy ideas. And it has this kinda nice boldness to it too: "Idea 101: Solve Everything"- that's cool. That's something that you'd get in a good Grant Morrison comic: the kind of thing he writes that just sounds cool for the sake of it - like you could put it on a T-Shirt maybe. Oh - well - that ended abruptly (oh well). Hmmm. This art is kinda shabby here (is the art getting worse or is that just me? Why have they put in a whole page showing someone offering someone else a sandwich? In fact - why is the art so awfully bad? This person seems sad when it seems like they should be happy. And their body language makes them look like mannequins in a shop window. Damn it. Why do these stories keep ending in such an aburpt way? It reminds me a bit of Alan Moore's Tom Strong. But with Tom Strong even tho the stories at the start were all self-contained - they were still satisfying in and of themselves. This all just feel half-written - Reed Richards just walking out of a battle halfthrough through to deliver some trite Hallmark-style sentiment about how important family is: BLURG! Where's the rest of my story?? And - god - the more of this I read the more I just never want to read a comic book ever again. Oh - look - now they're referencing Mark Millar's and Bryan Hitch's World's Greatest / The Masters of Doom run - but - gah - it's just a reference - it just feels empty and pointless and continuity for the sake of continuity: look there was this thing before and now there's this thing now and - well - what's the point? What's the point? What's the point? What's the point? I hate superhero comics. This is why I never read superhero comics. It's just a never-ending story that doesn't have anything remotely human or real or anything inside it - it's treats it's characters more like action figures that can be posed in any which way rather than people - and from the other Fantastic Four books I've read (all of which - I'll say again: are better than this) I know that it is possible to make these characters feel realistic - it's just not happening here. And damnit Jonathan Hickman - after S.H.I.E.L.D. I trusted you - but after this I feel like I never want to read anything you ever write ever again - because this just feels like quicksand - feels like something that's slowly suffocating me and I feel like I'm reading something that is totally divorced from anything - like being stuck in a teenage boy's bedroom and being forced to read whatever ditherings he can come up with. I want out. My head can't take much more. Oh wait - yeah - this is the one where they kill off one of the major characters - but you know what - apart from enjoying the Wrath of Khan parallels (but then all that does is make me wish I was watching that than reading this) it's all just empty, meaningless and pointless. There is no point to reading this book. I should find something - anything - better. Yeah - think I'l read Fun Home again (just to wipe the taste away). 

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[1] Ok - so not the only reason: the other reason is that this I reckon for a few of you that this is the kinda thing that maybe you'll enjoy (?) and - hell - I reckon it's a good thing to publicize a new series that we have in stock - right? Ok - whatever.

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Links: Comics Alliance Interview with Jonathan Hickman.

Further reading: FF, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest / The Masters of Doom, Fantastic Four: First Family, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: 1234, Tom Strong, S.H.I.E.L.D..

All comments welcome.

Books: A Taste of Chlorine

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A Taste of Chlorine
By Bastien Vivès
2011





Available now from Islington Libraries
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Ok. So - a fact about me: I go swimming. My local swimming pool does this free swim Friday thing and seeing how it's supposed to be the exercise that's best for you (something about it being the only sport that requires you to use every part of your body or something?) and - ok I'm just gonna say it - I'm pretty good at it too - it's like some sorta strange natural affinity (I had a grandparent who was half fish - so I think that helps): it's the only real not-being-a-lazy-slob thing that I do [1]. 

So - going from that A Taste of Chlorine (a book that's all about - well) should be the ideal book for me - right? Swimming and comics - together at last! Yay.

There was this kinda strange - oh. Right that book - when I first got a copy of this in my hands. I have a bit of a habit when me and my girlfriend go and have little daytrips at musuems and exhibitions to go and have a look at whatever comics shelves they have. Like - we went to go and see that Brains exhibit (quick capsule review: meh) at the Wellcome Collection in Euston - which is where I think I first saw A Taste of Chlorine which had the effect of marking it out in my head as a classy kinda comic for people who mainly read stuff by - say - Zadie Smith [2]: you know stuff that's a little bit literary, a little bit social realism mixed with a little bit magical realism and a little bit nice and happy and people are fundamentally alright and everything is going to work out ok - or hell - just to sum that all up in two words: "middle-class." And for me - that's not normally the type of book or comic (or film) that I like. I prefer things with a few more sharp edges and something that can get stuck in your teeth rather than some kinda of mashmellow something. But yeah - I thought I'd read it anyway and do my Islington Comic Forum duty and all that and write something up on the blog.

So: well - it's a comic book about swimming (and a French comic book no less - and I don't know how you can get more classy than that) starring a gawky looking guy who - what's the best way to say this? - starts to perv on one of his fellow swimmers. Things I liked about it: the way it got the whole swimming ritual down in a way that made me nod my head: getting changed, having a shower, getting into the pool: it gets that all down just right: people of 1000 years in the future - you can read this book and know exactly what our swimming lives were like (and man - even that title: every time I read it I can just feel myself standing in a swimming pool - so that's good). Also (and I say this as someone who's now happily coupled off): that - for young single guys - it is definitely a big (should I say big? Maybe it would be better if I said small?) part of the swimming experience to find yourself looking at the girls in their swimming costumes (in fact - I'll even admit that way way way back - there was a girl who used to swim on the same day (back when I swam at Ironmorgers) as me - who wore an orange swim cap - that I never managed to build up enough nerve to speak to and - because - hey - let's face it - who wants to be chatted up in a swimming pool? It's kinda creepy). And - also also: I liked the way it got the whole slighly-sterile swimming pool atmosphere down on page (you can almost hear the words echoing off those big walls).

For those of you who don't swim: maybe you can appreciate the atmosphere (oh - so that's what it's like to go swimming ) and the slow building story that is perfectly happy to take it's time and do things like showing you what the ceiling looks like when you're doing a backstroke: but this is a book that didn't have much more to give me apart from that.

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[1] Because - let's face it - for those of us who were of the right impressionable age when it was on tv this is something that's always going to be at the back of our minds everytime we have a second round of pudding.

[2] Not that I have a problem with Zadie Smith. There's this article she wrote for the New York Review of Books thats all about libraries that I would recommend to everyone (go read it). That includes this nice line (which is basically the reason I like working in libraries): "the only thing left on the high street that doesn’t want either your soul or your wallet."

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Links: Guardian Review.

Further reading: Blue Pills, The Rabbi's Cat, The Arrival, Lost at Sea, Couch Fiction, Mezolith.   

All comments welcome. 

Books: Flex Mentallo

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Flex Mentallo
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely
2012




Available now from Islington Libraries
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Anyone remember when Clockwork Orange (the film) was banned? Of course I realise that for some of you this may be a little bit before your time: but there was a point back way back when it was first released that due to the insinuation of "copycat" crimes and that whole outrage from the tabloids kinda stuff that Stanley Kurbick decided to have to the film withdrawn from British distribution [1] and it was only after his death in 1999 that people were allowed to buy it legally on VHS (remember that?) and DVD.

The reason that I mention this is because for those 27 years that A Clockwork Orange had this sorta mystique surrounding it (no - not the blue X-man woman) which only comes from things that are off-limits and hard to get. I was lucky enough to have a crazy Spanish film student living next door (hi Alex!) who was well into crazy films and was prone to showing my slightly-more-innocent younger version of me crazy stuff like Kenneth Anger films (whose Filmography consists of such titles as (no - I'm not making these up): Lucifer Rising, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, Senators in Bondage and Don't Smoke That Cigarette!) and - most memorably - a 10 minute short film that consisted on nothing but a cow chewing on a piece of cud. He somehow managed to score a copy of Clockwork Orange on VHS (hey - this was the early 90s) and seeing how I was the type of precocious teenager who - when asked - would have said that his favourite film was 2001: A Space Odyssey and was all like - yeah man. Of course nowadays you can probably just torrent it, stream it or find the whole thing up on youtube: but then that's the future and every day brings us one step closer to living with Spider Jerusalem.

All of this is my roundabout introduction to Flex Mentallo which - for those to didn't know - was famous as Grant Morrison's "lost" work [2] - a book that your average fan had no way of getting to read - unless:

a) They had brought a copy when it first came out (back in 1996)

b) They were willing to spend big bucks on buying the back issues (current asking price on amazon: £115 for all 4 issues)

Or c) they wanted to illegally download it for read it on their computer [3]

The reason for this is not because of any copycat crimes (altho I'd like to image what a Flex Mentallo crime would involve) and due to any tabloid outrage - so don't get too overheated. Rather (as hard as this may be to believe): it was all down to the Charles Atlas Company (yep - that's the strongman in the leopard print leotard who was famous way back in the early 20th Century) getting upset over the fact that the entire Flex Mentallo concept is kinda a micky-take out of this old-timey advertisment ("Let me PROVE I can make YOU A NEW MAN") which lead to somesort of a lawsuit and kerfuffle and blahblahblah which basically all equalled to = no comic.   
That is: until now. 

And so now it's here - what have we got?

Well - it's Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely - described on the back cover by someone (sorry I didn't think to write it down) as the "Lennon and McCartney" of comics [4]. Which means that together they've created some of the best comics of the late 20th and early 21st Century including: JLA: Earth Two, (bits of) The New X-Men, (bits of) Batman and Robin, (the end of) The Invisibles, We3, All Star Superman [5] and this - where (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) their comic-book love-making first began.  

So what the hell is a "Flex Mentallo."? Well - first off you should realise that - regardless of how it sounds - it's one of the advanced positions from the Kama Sutra. Nope - he's a dude in a leopard print leotard who's cool, calm and collected in that same "no sweat - I can save the world" kinda way as Superman. He first appeared in the pages during Grant Morrison's run of the Doom Patrol - but don't worry - you don't have to have it that in order to make sense of this. (A poor choice of words maybe seeing how there will be a few of you who are going to struggling very hard in order to try and make sense of both of those without realising that neither of those books are open to "being made sense of" in the usual kind of way).

In some respects there's an argument to be made that Flex Mentallo is Grant Morrison's spin on Watchmen [6] although instead of following Watchmen's direction of taking the idea of superheroes and making them fit into "real life" - Flex (you don't mind if I call you "Flex" do you?) skews the opposite way and attempts to levitate real life into the marvelous and fantastical realm of the superheros: constantly asking - no wait - imploring - the reader: What if? What If? And then combines that with the doomsday clock countdown - but instead of having it stand for the whole world - it focuses it on one man - sitting in the gutter with a phone next to his ear. And - rather than being stuck in just one particular period - the 4 issues that combine to make the entirely of Flex Mentallo spans across the four main stages of comics history (check those covers!). The other Alan Moore connection for me is - strange as it may sound From Hell. There's a panel in that where one character tells the other that: "The one place in which gods and demons inarguably exist is in the human mind, where they are real in all their grandeur and monstrosity." Flex Mentallo is like that - but with "gods and demons" replaced with "superheros."

I've said something like this before but: my oh-so-delicate tastes have never been able to quite digest Morrison when he's given too much room to run around in - yeah there's bits of The Invisibles and Doom Patrol and his Batman run that I really like - but I any time I recommend them I always have to include my own reservations and a few disclaimers about how bits of it can seem like a bit of a mess (which is because it is). Which is why it's always a good idea - no wait - a great idea - to keep him reined in and bound within a single book (see: The Filth, We3, Joe the Barbarian): Flex Mentallo is one of the best examples because while things do get quite wild especially - and this will surprise no one who's been paying attention - towards the end. But the onslaught of ideas and the (relatively) linear narrative means that it feels more like lift-off than a car-crash. 

And it's nice also in the fact that altho it first came out in 1996 - it still feels fresh today: because depending on how you look at it (either he's gone corporate or he's working the machine from the inside) there's a certain degree of respectability that hangs over the Grant Morrison of today that can leave his output feeling somewhat calculated. And if nowadays his output is mainly a whole lot of sound and fury focused on the ins-and-outs of Batman and Batman and Batman - it's good to meet him at a point where you can at least pretend he's not just talking about superheroes for their own sake (and indulging in endless fan-wank continuity speculation - and I say that as a fan [7]) but maybe just using them as a stand-in for something else (the limitless power of human imagination maybe?) If you wanted to look at it in a Morrison-type-fashion it's almost as if his past version has left this book floating in the time stream as a distress beacon or a warning saying - I dunno - something strange and cool. And it's a blast seeing how certain motifs seem to pop up again and again and again (crosswords [8] (see: Seven Soldiers of Victory), miniaturisations (see: The Filth) and doomed pets (see: Animal Man, We3 and The Filth (again))) - as if his entire career is just the writing on one big hyper-comic - with every book connecting and combining like Power Rangers to form somesort of ultra-Morrison-whole [9].

There's so much that I want this book leaves me wanting to say - I really wanted to be able to read it a few more times through in order to properly assimilate everything it spits out. There's lots of little shout outs to Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel that kinda sneak in from the sides - there's this kinda epic dream-like feeling that floats over all of it (with the aliens and the childhood memories and especially that panel of the giant floating ship with the clouds reflected on it's underside which tickles my subconscious in a way I can't quite put my finger on) and there's that famous and fervent Morrison belief that - yes - one day the superheroes will save us all.

And - not to slip into my usual mistake of just talking about the writer, writer, writer - Frank Quitely is totally amazing. I mean - I know that one of the Comic Forum regulars (hi Will!) describes him as drawing "potato people" - but there's so many amazing panels in this book which all manage to choose just the right persepective and frame the action is just such a lovely and succinct way (and should I mention that establishing shot of Flex on page 3 that seems very - ahem - anatomically correct?) that it just makes reading the whole thing feel like such a fun exciting blast that you probably won't notice until you get to the end how insane the whole thing was (and god - just thinking of a Flex Mentallo drawn by a rubbish artist and thinking how awful it would be makes me realise just how much Quitely is needed - he is the glue that keeps the whole book hanging together and making even the most surreal and crazy scene seem - against the odds - grounded and believable: and if there's one thing that you need to do when you read this book it's this: you need to believe).

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[1] Although not before gifting the rest of us with this killer quote: "To try and fasten any responsibility on art as the cause of life seems to me to put the case the wrong way around. Art consists of reshaping life but it does not create life, nor cause life. Furthermore, to attribute powerful suggestive qualities to a film is at odds with the scientifically accepted view that, even after deep hypnosis, in a posthypnotic state, people cannot be made to do things which are at odds with their natures." So there.

[2] Along with Zenith - which he did for 2000AD which is based around the concept: "What it Morrissey was a superhero?" But that's another story.

[3] I hope it goes without saying - but I would never do something like this. Although I do have a friend who did.

[4] Which I'm sure is a description Grant Morrison would love seeing as he's the type of person who likes to claim stuff like: he was given a song by the spirit of John Lennon.

[5] And seeing how's it rare for any writer to work with another artist for more than one book you should realise that even if it doesn't look like much that's - like - a lot of books. Especially especially as Frank Quitely has a reputation for not being the speediest artist in the business (which is probably why - no duh - his artwork always looks so amazing and so detailed).

[6] Which just makes this interview extract even more spot on: QUESTION: "Is he a character that you would ever return to? Do you have other Flex Mentallo stories you want or need to tell?" MORRISON: "I am hoping DC does "Before Flex Mentallo." [Laughs] I suddenly realized that Flex is one of the characters that I really wanted to own but I didn't. And because he appeared in "Doom Patrol" first, which was a DC book, he kind of became a DC character even though every single character in the miniseries was basically created. It's kind of like a creator-owned book but it isn't. He could show up anywhere. Geoff [Johns] could put him in the Justice League. I have this strange fear that he is going to appear somewhere someday." (SEE? NO ONE IS SAFE!)

[7] Am I allowed to include an relevant Alan Moore quote here? "But at the end of the day, Watchmen was something to do with power, V for Vendetta was about fascism and anarchy, The Killing Joke was just about Batman and the Joker – and Batman and the Joker are not really symbols of anything that are real, in the real world, they’re just two comic book characters.”

[8] And I don't really know how to say this - as the idea is only half formed in my head - but toGrant Morrison is a crossword-kinda-writer. It's all about working out the cryptic clues, filling in the blanks and enjoying the way he lays different thing one on top of the other. In comparison: Warren Ellis is computer games, Mark Millar is soggy biscuit and Alan Moore is chess (wow - worst. metaphors. ever.).

[9] Not that I'm the first one to think of this.

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Links: Comic Book Resources Interview with Grant Morrison, Comic Booked Interview with Frank Quitely, Mindless Ones Article: Candyfloss Horizons Forever! / Mindless Ones Article: Whatever Happened to the Mentallium Man of Tomorrow?, Comics Alliance Article: Flex Mentallo and Final Crisis: Erasing the Lines Between You and the DCU, iFanboy Review, The Comics Journal Review.

Further reading: Doom Patrol, The Filth, The Bulletproof Coffin, Supreme, We3, The Invisibles, All Star Superman, Watchmen, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Joe the Barbarian, Seaguy, The Umbrella Academy, X-Men: New X-Men, Batman: Batman Incorporated.

Profiles: Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely.

All comments welcome.

Books: Richard Stark's Parker

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Richard Stark's Parker
Book One: The Hunter
By Darwyn Cooke
2009




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Richard Stark's Parker
Book Two: The Outfit
By Darwyn Cooke
2010




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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If Frank Miller's Sin City is crime comics as cheap gut-rot whiskey- filthy and dirty as the cracked glass it's poured into: bad news for your stomach lining but with one hell of a kick- then Parker (written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke) is an elegant and expensive martini - mixed with only the finest gin and vermouth available - served up in a fancy-looking glass and garnished with an olive skewered on a cocktail stick: yes both of contain enough alcohol to leave you completely discombobulated and both of them dwell with life on the underside of society and the unpleasantness that sort of thing entails (namely: violence, double-crossing and bending the truth until it snaps) but unlike the luggishness of Sin City - Parker does it all with a good suit, a neat haircut and a nifty sense of style.

Darwyn Cooke is a guy who's managed to build himself up a lot of love over his many years in the industry. If his bare-bones go-getting art style seems familiar then that might be because he was one of the storyboard artists for the Batman [1] and Superman The Animated Series and (altho this is a little bit after I stopped watching cartoons) he animated the main title design for Batman Beyond (which seems like the perfect thing for 12 year olds - Batman as a teenager in the future? Ha. Amazing). That animation work ended up with him creating Batman: Ego for DC Comics whose critical success acted as a springboard for a full-on comics career and lead to DC: The New Frontier which propelled him even further into dizzy heights of comics superstardom [2].

Now - when George Bush won the 2004 election he said: "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." And - hell - say what you like about George Bush (and lord knows I have) that sorta philosophy of using your gains in order to push things further is one that makes a lot of sense. Coming up in the comics industry the only way it seems to really get anywhere is to superhero stuff - but once you hit the top those who know tend to set their sights further afield and spend their amassed political capital- so: after Alan Moore hit it big with Watchmen he buggered off and wrote things like Big Numbers, A Small Killing and From Hell - and after everyone in the world brought The Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller let loose with Martha Washington, Hard Boiled and (hey - there it is again) Sin City. And at least for a while there [3] Darwyn Cooke did the same thing and took a bit of a leap into the unknown: stepping away from the men in tights and into the work of professional thievery (or - if you don't mind the awful wordplay: men with tights over their faces).

And that's Parker. Cooke at the top of his game - with nothing and everything to prove and going: hell - screw it: I'm going to adapt a cheap little low-down and nasty hard-boileded crime thriller from 1962 [4] and stylize it into a glamorous slice of sophistication and cool. The one description of Parker that keeps popping into my head is that he's like James Bond's dark twin: dangerous, single-minded and totally unscrupulous - only (unlike Bond) he's American and living way over on the other side of the law (in fact - from Parker's point of view - the law is just a dot on the horizon and living illegally is the only sensible life-choice going).

Over the span of these two books: Cooke does lots of showing off tasty ways to make a point. Never adverse to keeping things silent if the scene calls for it or breaking out the chunks of prose if it'll make a nice change of pace - if you like reading comics with a little savoir-vivre - then Parker is perfect company.

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[1] The Superman I don't think I ever actually watched but the Batman: The Animated Series? I think that might have been one of my favourites way back in the day (the kind of show that you'd wait to eat your cereal with - just to make it extra special). In fact I reckon that title sequence is forever etched into the deep recesses of my brain. (If you wanted to I could hum the whole song from start to end: but let's not).

[2] "In this country, you gotta make the comics first. Then when you get the comics, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women."

[3] Although since that point he has slipped a little in lots of people's estimation by deciding to take part in DC's "Before Watchmen" project and writing and drawing the Minutemen series because - hey - who cares about creators rights or respecting the integrity of blahblahblah when there's money to be made - right? My favourite fan response is the tumblr dedicated to taking quotes Cooke had previously given in interviews saying stuff like: “The work that excites me is by Bryan O’Malley. I’m dying to see Chester Brown’s new book, it’s going to be outrageous. This is the stuff to get excited about. This is where the industry is growing and making in roads back into mass culture. But most of your traditional mainstream American comic readers aren’t looking for something new. They’re just looking for something comfortable.” and “I want them to stop catering to the perverted needs of 45 year old men. […] I want to see new characters for a new time, and when the industry of superhero comics realigns its sights to the young people it was meant for, I’ll be there with both arms and feet.” and putting it below a picture of The Comedian (see here).

[4] One that had already been adapted into three (!) different films: Point Blank (1967) directed by John Boorman starring Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson; Full Contact (1992) directed by Ringo Lam starring Chow Yun-fat, Simon Yam, Anthony Wong, and Ann Bridgewater and Payback (1999) directed by Brian Helgeland and starring Mel Gibson. None of which I've (yet) seen.

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Links: Comics Alliance Interview with Darwyn Cooke, Comic Book Resources Interview with Darwyn Cooke, iFanboy Review of The Hunter, The Comics Journal Review of The Outfit, Grantland Article: The Many Lives of Donald Westlake.

Further reading: Red, Sin City, Button Man, DC: The New Frontier.

All comments welcome.

Books: 303

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303
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Jacen Burrows
2007




Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
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Garth Ennis - when he started out - was a bit of a joke.

I mean - (wait. Back up): I mean - he wasn't really someone whose writing people took that seriously - more a court jester type than a big proper serious "writer" (the kind of person - well - guy (it's always a guy) who smokes a pipe and furrows his brow and wears a jacket with patches on the elbows and only has his photo taken in black and white). His big breakthrough hit was Preacher (still the thing that most people seem to know him for) and although that it had a contemplative side (Jesse and Cassidy standing on top of the Empire State Building springs to mind) the things that lingered was the gross-out humour, juvenile delinquency and - well - the fact that one of the main supporting characters was a guy called "Arseface." Not the type of guy you want to let into the "Serious Writers" club then (because if you did - there's always a chance that he might take a dump on the floor because - hey - jokes and stuff - and nobody wants poos on the floor thank you very much).

But then - something happened - slowly, very slowly - Ennis started to mature and grow and evolve into comics version of - erm -who's a famous war novelist? (sorry war novels aren't really my strong point) - I'm thinking someone way more high brow than Andy McNab and more hard-bitten than Ernest Hemingway (lots of loving descriptions of guns and stuff like that): maybe I'm thinking of Sven Hassel? [1] I'm not that great on the chronology of when his stuff came out (one of the downsides of only knowing the books from the collections): but I guess it was around the time he started doing The Punisher MAX series (which is great and which you should seek out) and War Stories (also top banana) that it was first apparent that - hey - this is good stuff: all the childishness had kinda faded away and all that was left was the steel: the typcially male fasination with the military, the effects of violence and honour (that's very important apparently).  

303 [2] is all of that sort of stuff distilled into purest form and served neat. Best example of that: The title isn't a character name - it's the name of the gun that the main character carries. And I guess so that you know that this book means business. 

Teaming up with artist Jacen Burrows (who went on to work with Ennis on the mighty (altho often misunderstood) zombie epic Crossed) 303 opens up in Afghanistan during the heights of the War on Terror (wait - is that still a thing?) and manages to mix high-tension explosive gun fights with ruminations on how there's no good wars anymore and everything in the past was better and have you seen the price of cup of tea? (Oops - sorry Garth - it's actually kinda effective when you read it - it just sounds a little bit silly when you try and talk about it). I like the artist Burrows has turned into - but his stuff here is a little bit plump compared to the hard-edged thing it eventually turned into - and the computer generated colouring makes everything look a little bit too shiny - but once the story settled in - I kinda forgot all about it as I got jolted and chucked around by all the twists and turns.

I guess that some people might deride it for being a touch simplistic - but I think that would be missing the point: although it does seem slight - it covers a lot of ground - and isn't timid when it comes to edging ever so slightly into the poetic and making big points about stuffs. It's almost like some sort of strange modern fable - although good luck trying to condense it all down into one pithy maxim ("war is bad" maybe?)

If you're a fan of Ennis from way back - but haven't picked him up in a while because you thought you'd outgrown him - then I would recommend you giving this book a shot - because - you know what? - he's grown too - and he ain't a joke no more.

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[1] Hello wikipedia! "Hassel's view of war is brutal. In his books, soldiers fight only to survive, the Geneva Convention being a dead letter to all sides. People are killed by chance or with very little reason. Occasional pleasant events and peaceful meetings are brutally cut short. Unsympathetic Prussian officers constantly threaten their men with courts-martial and execute them with little provocation. Disgruntled soldiers occasionally kill their own officers to get rid of them. By graphically portraying war as violent and hopeless in such manner, Sven Hassel's books have been said to contain an anti-war message. His first book Legion of the Damned has been compared to a much grislier, darker more terrifying version of Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front." Book titles include (I love these): Wheels Of Terror, Reign of Hell, Blitzfreeze and (my personal favourite) The Bloody Road to Death: so yeah - that sounds about right. (And if you google "Garth Ennis" and "Sven Hassel" together you get this Newsarama interview that he did for his Battlefields series that include this line from Mr Ennis himself: "I read a lot of fiction. The genre of military fiction, particularly WWII fiction is one that’s almost passed from the earth. You do get the occasional novel coming out. When I was growing up again the seventies and early eighties there were a slew of paperbacks in any book store, the fiction section would have tons of material by, there were writers like Gunther Lutz and Sven Hassel and David Williams and they would be -- they were pulp fiction, but they were tremendously enjoyable too. Nowadays you just don’t get that, uh, so there’s one writer I would mention... a guy called Derek Robinson who’s written some absolutely tremendous books, I have to say if you think my humor’s black .you should try this guy. He wrote books called Goshawk Squadron, Piece of Cake, A Good Clean Fight... mostly deals with the war in the air and a great debunker of myths, but tremendously entertaining, quite violent, very funny, brilliant characters -- so he’s someone I would recommend to any fans of that kind of fiction."

[2] I'm going to admit now that it's no coincidence that I've selected this book as my 303th book post. Yes - I am that easily amused. And yes - I wish that I had held off writing about that Frank Miller book with that stuff about Sparta - but hey - you live and learn. (I did write about Ex Machina for my 100th post which tickled me - so whatever): let's move on.

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Links: Comic Book Resources Interview with Garth Ennis.

Further reading: Red, The Shadow, Crossed, War Stories, Battlefields, The Punisher: The Punisher MAX.

Profiles: Garth Ennis.

All comments welcome.