Books: The Complete Future Shocks

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The Complete Future Shocks
Written by Alan Moore
Art by Steve Dillon, Bryan Talbot, Ian Gibson, Alan Davis, Dave Gibbons, Mike White, Paul Neary, Brendan McCarthy, John Higgins, Garry Leach, et al
2007



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Everyone has to start somewhere. And - for the now-legendary beardy Northampton weirdo (and I say that with the greatest respect) and comic book writer extraordinar Alan Moore - that start was writing short 2 to 6 self-contained science-fiction short stories (or for those that speak the lingo: "future shocks") for the mainstay British comic anthology favourite 2000AD. If you're expecting non-stop genius - then you're going to be a tad disappointed - as there's a fair few duds that don't quite hit the mark: but to be fair they were all written between 1980 and 1983 where comics were still treated by their creators and fans as mindless entertainment for teenage boys. For those willing to take the rough with the smooth - there's some golden nuggets contained within that manage (and I hope this isn't too much hyperbole) to find a sweet spot between the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges and Philip K Dick.

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Links: The Comics Journal Review, Flames Rising Review.

Further reading: DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore, Tom Strong, Global Frequency, The Ballad of Halo Jones, D.R. and Quinch, Skizz.

Profiles: Alan Moore, Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome.

Authors/Artists: Bryan Talbot

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Bryan Talbot
July 21, 1952
Wigan, Lancashire









The grandmaster of British comic books whose epic parallel universe adventure serial The Adventures of Luther Arkwright basically invented the idea of the long form comic storyline (or if you prefer: "graphic novel"). As a writer and an artist in terms of accomplishment and range of talents he's basically the English Frank Miller - with preoccupations that range from talking animals to child abuse, from all sorts of sophisticated complexity to the pure joys of crash bang action. Responsible for some of the most daring comics out there with The Tale of One Bad Rat and Alice in Sunderland - both of which are the type of books hailed by people "who don't normally read that sort of thing" he's also worked with Neil Gaiman illustrating several Sandman stories (which can be found in the collections: A Game of You Fables, Reflections and Worlds' End). Constantly free-wheeling and always up for trying new things (even if it doesn't always work) - he's a accomplished craftsman and genuine national treasure.

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Links: Forbidden Planet Interview Part 1 / Part 2, Paul Gravett Article.

Selected works: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, The Tale of One Bad Rat, The Sandman, Heart of Empire: Or the Legacy of Luther Arkwright, Alice in Sunderland, Grandville.

All comments welcome.

Books: Heart of Empire or the Legacy of Luther Arkwright

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Heart of Empire or the Legacy of Luther Arkwright
By Bryan Talbot
2001





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In the seventies and eighties Bryan Talbot electrified the comic world with his magnum opus: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, an experimental science-fiction adventure that was one of the first, serious attempts at a long-form comic book (or as Bryan Talbot himself categorised it: a comic book that worked like a novel). Full of dynamite action, apocalyptic dread and fun knockabout humour with allusions to (mainly English) history, philosophy, poetry and other strange esoteric pursuits and ideas and starring a white-haired trans-dimensional secret agent known as Luther Arkwright - a cross between James Bond and Jesus Christ (with - I should point out - original inspiration from Jerry Cornelius: as you can see here) this was a comic book that reached further and wider than anything else before: and although it may have taken a while to get to grips with - touched readers in exciting strange new places. So why - in 1999 - twenty three years later after the completion of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright - would Talbot feel the need for a sequel and - more importantly - is it any good? Second question first: Yes. Yes and yes again. It's good. And (thankfully) unlike most sequels which suffer from rehashing what went before - Heart of Empire never feels beholden to it's predecessor instead striking out in fresh, new directions: ditching the brain-twisty structures for a streamlined, relentlessly linear ("Seven Days To Cataclysm") dynamic that pulls you along by the scruff of the neck, and replaces the grainy melancholy black and whites for bold, enlivening colours. If The Adventures of Luther Arkwright was the cerebral, jazz-influenced, ever so slightly stodgy (sorry Luther) older model - the Heart of Empire is the young, go-getting, high speed racing version with paint so fresh it's still wet to touch and go-faster strips everywhere. With resplendent artwork that captures perfectly the architectural marvels and delights of an empire at it's height and mixing a Victorian sensibility to science-fictional concepts: it's bizarre, alien and intoxicating in all the right ways. Splashed with copious amounts of sex and violence and a thoroughly English sensibility that soaks through it's very pores (when the bad guys toast to their victory - they do it with tea and biscuits). As to why it was needed: well - it nicely moves the world of the first book along and throws back the light on it in peculiar ways and (without spoiling things too much) showing that revolutions have a tendency to be co-opted. If you're one of the ones that thought that the first book was too much and too hard to get into - then I would recommend trying this out - and if you loved the first book then I would still recommend this as it contains many of the same pleasures (and a few welcome returns of favourite characters). Excellent.

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Links: The Comics Journal Review., Page 45 Review, I Am Not The Beastmaster Review.

Further reading: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Ministry of Space, The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century, The Filth.

Profiles: Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Sandman

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The Sandman
Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III
1989



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The Sandman
Vol 2: The Doll's House
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli and Steve Parkhouse
1990


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The Sandman
Vol 3: Dream Country
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran and Malcolm Jones III
1990



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The Sandman
Vol 4: Season of Mists
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Kelley Jones, Mike Dringenberg, Matt Wagner
1991



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The Sandman
Vol 5: A Game of You
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, George Pratt, Stan Woch, and Dick Giordano
1992


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The Sandman
Vol 6: Fables and Reflections
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by P. Craig Russell, Bryan Talbot, Shawn McManus, Jill Thompson
1992



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The Sandman
Vol 7: Brief Lives
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Jill Thompson and Vince Locke
1993



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The Sandman
Vol 8: World's End
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Michael Allred, Gary Amaro, Mark Buckingham, Dick Giordano
1993



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The Sandman
Vol 9: The Kindly Ones
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Marc Hempel, Richard Case, d'Israeli, Teddy Kristiansen, Glyn Dillon, Charles Vess, Dean Ormston, and Kevin Nowlan
1995


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The Sandman
Vol 10: The Wake
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth, and Charles Vess
1996



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Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns both broke new ground by showing mainstream western readers that comic books could be "taken seriously" and hit the same sorts of artistic sweet spots as other mediums (and find a few new sweet spots of it's very own) - but - ultimately both (by necessity) were still in thrall to superheroes - and however much deconstructing they did - they were still both about guys in costumes running around fighting evil. Neil Gaiman's The Sandman (and however great some of the artists who worked on this title may have been - The Sandman is very much Neil Gaiman's thing - hell - just compare and contrast his author photo to the main character) was the first and most notable major and successful series to show readers everywhere that comics could be "grown up" without the need for superheroes/superpowers/superstuff and that there was an audience out there ready and waiting for it. That's why it's "important."

But forget all that - and let me try and explain why it's very much worth reading: Firstly it's the first comic I read as a teenager with the "suggested for mature readers" tag which didn't leave me feeling bored and listless. And while maybe that's more about me than about The Sandman I'm going to use it to make the following point: it has got lots of 'clever-clever' stuff going on and plenty of hardcore references to classic tomes and legends and myths of old to send shivers of delight up the shine of English Literature students (which is a cool - and something I learnt to appreciate as I grew up): but it's still got enough drama and interest and - hell - cool things (off the top of the head: Gods bidding against each other for the key to Hell, a 14th Century solider who decides that he's not going to die and the (mostly true) history of Joshua Abraham Norton, first, last and only Emperor of the United States of America) to keep people unaware of all that stuff hooked on reading it (ie my sullen teenage self) - which is a roundabout way of saying that the one thing that The Sandman is and the thing it does best: is stories and the stories are good.

Which brings us to the second point - which is: not only are the stories good - but they're also wide and far-reaching. So you get stories from Africa, Arabia, The Far East, Legends, Shakespeare, Faerie, The World of The Dead, Cats, Cities, etc and so on - all combining together to form a patchwork that covers pretty much as much as you could hope for. With enough variety to make sure you're always freshly entranced and never giving you a chance to be - well - bored.

The third thing is what ties it altogether: as I realise that I haven't really said what The Sandman is 'about.' The central character, the Sandman himself: Dream, Lord Morpheus, Oneiroi etc - the (mostly) human personification of dreams and - yep - stories. Presiding over each instalment - sometimes as the guy leading the action and sometimes as a shadowy presence hovering at the edges. He's the one - along with his equally momentous brothers and sisters - who gives the series it's constant personality and while individual humans might flitter in and out and grab some time in the spotlight in the stories within The Sandman - the story of The Sandman is his. But it's only revealed slowly and in a way that means that - unlike most long-running comic series - there are plenty of books you can start from. If you want to be proper - you can start from the start and 'Preludes and Nocturnes.' You should know however that' it's the Pablo Honey of The Sandman books - in that it takes it's while to find it's feet - and features distracting cameos from some of the superbeings from the rest of the DC Universe (although that doesn't last for long). It does have some breakthrough hits in the shape of - "24 Hours" and "The Sound of Her Wings" (which is the point when the book finally comes into it's own). Better places to start - if you just want to try it out - are the anthology volumes: Dream Country, Fables and Reflections and Worlds' End. These books - whilst in some small subtle ways contribute to the overall arc - serve as short story collections that can be easily picked up and dipped into and feature the wide range of styles, moods and tones mentioned above. Then there are the Sandman stories that comprise the main meat of the epic: The Doll's House, Seasons of Mist and A Game of You. Each of these books contain their own big story - which can be enjoyed by themselves without any reference to the rest of the series - and can be pretty much read in any order (although they do have some tangential links). Brief Lives, The Kindly Ones and The Wake are the final stretch and really should be read in order (with World's End fitting in-between). Compulsory mention of the art (although the writing is really what it's about): it does vary quite a bit and the best thing to say about most of it is that it's functional. (Sorry people).

Summing up: I don't want to go overboard with the hyperbole because otherwises - if you're one of the ones approaching it for the first time - there's a risk it won't be able to live up to it. But - well - The Sandman is a magical series in all the best senses - it's heartfelt, wise and moving with a light touch that will slowly but surely break your heart and then fix it back together again. Recommended as much as I possibly can. The kind of book that (somehow) makes your life better just by the mere virtue of reading it. And (rubbish final sentence alert): it reads like a dream.

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Links: Grand Hotel Abyss Essay on The Sandman, Too Busy Thinking About My Comics Article Part 1 / Part 2, Comics Girl Revisiting The Sandman, NPR Dream Country Book Club Talk Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4, Weird Tales Sandman Article / Weird Tales Review Vol 1 / Vol 2 / Vol 3 / Vol 4 / Vol 5 / Vol 6 / Vol 7 / Vol 8 / Vol 9 / Vol 10, The M0vie Blog Review of Absolute Sandman Vol 1 / Vol 2 / Vol 3 / Vol 4, The Oncoming Hope: Re-Blogging The Sandman, The Hooded Utilitarian Sandman Articles, AV Club Back Issues Vol 1 / Vol 2 / Vol 3 / Vol 4 / Vol 5 / Vol 6 / Vol 7 / Vol 8 / Vol 9 / Vol 10.

Further reading: Death: The High Cost of Living, Death: The Time of Your Life, The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, The Sandman: Endless Nights, Cages, Habibi, Swamp Thing, Lucifer, Fables, Hellboy, I Kill Giants, Planetary, Watchmen, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. 

Profiles: Neil Gaiman, Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome.

Books: Alice in Sunderland

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Alice in Sunderland
By Bryan Talbot
2007





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"What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?" Indeed. Well... This is a book that's ambitious, accomplished and astounding in all sorts of clever ways - although it won't be everyone's cup of tea. But for Mackems, history buffs, fans of Iain Sinclair style "psycho-geography," Alice in Wonderland devotes (obviously) - and people curious to see just how far you can expand the limits of the kinds of things you do with comics - you're going to find plenty to fall in love with. Taking the form of a lecture delivered from the stage of Sunderland’s Empire Theatre it's a book without any sort of story - but more a lazy (but nonetheless immensely informative) dreamy amble around tit-bits of information about the life of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the gestation of the most famous children's story of all time and how it all relates to the magical city of Sunderland. Packed full to bursting with tit-bits of interesting facts and startling connections and the uniformly stunning artwork which is and utilizes a cut up effect that mixes black and white with colour reproductions of old documents and photos. I should say that for me - the effects were similar to climbing a mountain - which left me feeling like the whole thing was a chore - and the not the giddy delight that I was expecting (which maybe makes it my fault more than the book): but for those willing to scale it's daunting heights then there are lots of playful jokes and twisty diversions that will appeal to those with more cultured brains than my own (my poor head).

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Links: Down the Tubes Interview with Bryan Talbot, Gad, Sir! Comics! Review, Guardian Review, Boing Boing Review, Vector Review, Jog The Blog Review.

Further reading: Logicomix, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Don Quixote, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman, The Tale of One Bat Rat.

Profiles: Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome

Books: The Tale of One Bad Rat

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The Tale of One Bad Rat
By Bryan Talbot
1995





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Be warned right from the start: this is a harrowing book. That's not to say that the artwork isn't excellent (because it is: clean, detailed, evocative, perfect in it's use of colour and everything drawn to feel weighted and real): the characters are distinct and believable and the plot is simple but very effective: stomach-churning, tense and gripping right from the get go. That harrowing part comes from the subject-matter: Helen Potter is homeless - a teenage runaway living on the streets of London with a past that she has yet to come to grips to. Obsessed with Beatrix Potter and her only friend a small pet rat this comic follows her attempts to overcome and survive the things that have happened to her. A mini-masterpiece that will leave you emotionally drained but satisfied.

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Links: Good Ok Bad Review, Ninth Art Review.

Further reading: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, I Kill Giants, A Small Killing, Maus.

Profiles: Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome.

Books: Grandville

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Grandville
By Bryan Talbot
2009





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Apparently inspired by "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rupert Bear and Quentin Tarantino" - Grandville is a little bit of steam punk mixed with some furry fandom set in an alternative world where animals can walk, talk and engage in fights, shoot outs and all sorts of dirty political espionage. Starring Detective Inspector Archibald "Archie" LeBrock, (who's basically Sherlock Holmes if he was a large, heavily-built badger); and his assistant Detective Roderick Ratzi, (a dapper, monocle-wearing rat) - Grandville is a light-hearted romp that has all the hallmarks of your cheesy mystery: chases, sexy badger ladies, secret groups etc. Featuring a strange - slightly out of place 9/11 reference that you may want to ignore this is Bryan Talbot's lightest work yet - with computer generated colouring that makes everything feel a little bit - cheap. So maybe worth reading as a distraction - but sadly nothing more. I'd rather read The Adventures of Luther Arkwright again (which is much much better).

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Links: Savage Critics Review, SteamPunk Magazine Interview.

Further reading: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Blacksad: Somewhere Between The Shadows, Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites, Aetheric Mechanics.

Profiles: Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome.

Books: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright

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The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
By Bryan Talbot
1999





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With the power to move between parallel relaties by sheer force of will - Luther Arkwright is a hero that doesn't mess around. First seen in 1978 in an underground British comic called 'Near Myths' and then moving forward from there to 'pssst! magazine' and then into his own book in 1987 this is a powerful comic acclaimed from everyone from Michael Moorcock ("something far more original and idiosyncratic than anyone has attempted before") to Alan Moore ("A work ambitious in both scope and complexity that still stands unique upon the comics landscape") to Garth Ennis ("surely one of the all-time great epics of the medium"). Throwing new readers into the deep end right from the very first page with a story that operates in several worlds at once and is already unravelling before you've even begun. I got halfway to the middle before I decided to stop and start again - which helped a lot. If all of this is making it sound like somekind of evil tease that cares only about being dense and confusing - it's not. At it's heart the story is a simple tale of good versus evil and a brave hero taking on the forces of destruction - in fact in some senses - it's every story ever told about good versus evil combined into one ultra-story that stands above and beyond them all (that might make more sense once you've read it). With detailed black and white artwork with that uniquely British feel and a willingness to do whatever crazy shit springs into it's mind - Bryan Talbot knows how to entertain and push the sides of what a comic book can be and what it can do, he knows how to tell a story that will pull you in and refuse to let you go - and the guy sure knows how to draw too. Which is nice. So yeah: worth checking out. Plus: it has a sequel: Heart of Empire or the Legacy of Luther Arkwright which is every bit as good.

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Links: Warren Ellis Review on Art Bomb, I Am Not The Beastmaster Review, Brilliant Depravities: A personal view of the Adventures of Luther Arkwright by Harry Payne, A Trout in the Milk Article.

Further reading: Heart of Empire or the Legacy of Luther Arkwright, The Tale of One Bad Rat, The Filth, Grandville, From Hell, Aetheric Mechanics, The One, Alice In Sunderland, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier, A.B.C. Warriors: The Black Hole, Sebastian O.

Profiles: Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome.