Uncollected Editions #7: Deathstroke: Nuclear Winter #13-20 (DC Comics)

[Our latest installment of our "Uncollected Editions" series by Paul Hicks]

There’s nothing cohesive about Deathstroke #13–20, but it certainly has its moments. These issues came out in 1992 and reflect the movement of the day, when there was nothing cooler than making an established villain an anti-hero. If it was good enough for the Punisher and Venom, then it was certainly good enough for Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator.

Deathstroke had been a shades-of-grey villain introduced to great acclaim in New Teen Titans #2 back in 1982 at the start of the ground-breaking Wolfman/Perez series. Ten years later Marv Wolfman was again writing the character on a regular basis in his own series. The series had a single trade paperback, Full Circle, collecting issues #1–5, but for my money, the best of this run came in the second year and it was typically neglected by the DC collections department. The art ranges from adequate to great and is mostly by Steve Erwin and Will Blyberg. The great covers are by Mike Zeck.

At the start of “Terminator Hunt,” Deathstroke has been set up, his healing factor is on the fritz, he’s been on the run, and he’s had the misfortune of being involved in a Metropolis shoot-out that leaves “flight stewardess” (their words, not mine) Lucy Lane shot (as seen in Superman #68). Superman drops off Slade with the authorities, where he promptly escapes. The “Hunt” comes in because the mysterious skull-ring-wearing Agent Smith has some nefarious plan for Slade, and it’s obviously much easier to send wave after wave of assassins to capture him, and also frame him and involve the superhero community in his apprehension, than it is to, say, just hire him.

The word is out that Slade’s on the lam, and he’s now hunted by everyone from the odd Justice Leaguer to lame early Image wannabes: Hemp, Bear, Ninjato, Shuriken and Kitty Kat, to name a few. Deathstroke takes out the nobodies and in a very cool sequence outwits Hal Jordan and a very tough pre-hook Aquaman. A quick sidebar here -- Wolfman actually shows a lot of respect for Aquaman, making me wonder if he ever had a pitch in mind for the King of the Seas, particularly given that this was around two years before the Peter David series began. In a much less cool sequence, Slade also trips Wally West and makes his escape into issue #14.

Could things get any crazier? Why yes, they could, because part two of “Terminator Hunt” is also part one of the New Teen Titans/Team Titans crossover “Total Chaos.” Never was a crossover more aptly named. Issues #14 and #15 are mostly padding set amongst the events of the crossover; for some reason Wolfman decides to introduce a bewildering number of new teams: the mob from issue #13, sewer dudes, and finally a teen bag snatching crew. Slade is caught and escapes about three times in those issues. In the midst of it all, Slade tells his manservent Wintergreen about a mission in Cambodia that led him to meet a madam called Sweet Lili. This is aptly timely as he seeks shelter with her in her new base in New York. Notable in the long-term here is that this issue introduces Lili’s mysterious white-haired daughter Rose, who’ll one day become Ravager of the current Teen Titans. It’s done in a very “blink or you’ll miss it” fashion: Rose has no dialogue and she and Slade don’t even meet.

Issue #16 seems to get back on track, with “Total Chaos” hardly intruding in any obvious way. Slade’s escapes custody once again, steals a chopper and crashes on Titan’s Island. Wave after wave of armoured soldiers attack him and in a desperate burst of strength and a war cry of “I’m a goddamn killing machine!!!!” he guns down all his foes and succumbs to a heart attack. This is observed from a nearby submarine by a familiar face from the Titans rogues’ gallery, Mammoth of the Fearsome Five. So concludes “Terminator Hunt.”

Issues #17-20 tell the four-part story “The Nuclear Winter,” seemingly a homage to the late 1960s and ‘70s James Bond films. Slade’s body is delivered to an all-female submarine by the evil Agent Smith. We can tell how evil he is not only by his indiscriminate murder of military personnel, but by his sexist comments to female submariners. The submarine enters a massive hidden base in the Antarctic. What could be more James Bond than a hidden base? How about killing underlings for failing their mission! Agent Smith is immediately and brutally dispatched by Mammoth. Fellow Fearsome Fiver Shimmer shows up. Slade, we learn, isn’t really dead, but in a deep coma ready to be electrically revived by the organization’s leader, Cheshire!

Slade is soon up and running again, sporting a new costume, the way less fun blue and grey number sans the full face mask. After his brush with death, he’s come back better than ever and Cheshire intends to have him as a general in her organisation. No time for talk though, the base is under attack by mysterious white-clad soldiers. They appear to have the upper hand, when one of their own, carrying a crossbow, turns on them. And so Speedy aka Roy Harper joins the story. Cheshire has been allied with The Brain and Monsieur Mallah in forming a new Brotherhood of Evil, but having decided to keep her own franchise, she’s now their number one target. Good thing Roy still has an arrow in his quiver for her, and was happy to infiltrate the invading faction. The Brain has a plan to make his brotherhood a nuclear superpower, but Cheshire has plans of her own. [Fearsome Five? Cheshire? Deathstroke? This is a weird pastiche of New Titans supporting characters, sans the Titans; I bet Wolfman had fun writing it. -- ed]

The Cheshirehood of Evil are soon raiding Russian Nuclear silos and fighting Checkmate. Former Speedy (and not-yet-Arsenal) Roy Harper reveals himself as an agent of Checkmate, but he can’t stop Cheshire getting away with a few nukes. Cheshire plans to blackmail the world with the threat of the nuclear devices, and proves her intentions with the act that makes this hodge-podge of a story so memorable. The DC atlas loses its long-time Middle Eastern stand-in country Qurac, heavily featured in Suicide Squad, Checkmate and earlier issues of Deathstroke, It’s no understatement to say that this act has become a cornerstone for all characterizations of Cheshire since that point. [Further, I’d venture we haven’t seen such a dramatic change to the DC Comics physical landscape before or since, at least until the Cyborg Superman blew Coast City off the map. -- ed]

The story has dated pretty badly, but it still has a rigor to it that appeals to me. The hardest parts to cope with are the intruding crossover and a plot that gets more and more ridiculous when examined across several issues, but both of those traits are very much a symptom of 1990s storytelling that was all the rage. There’s a goofy emulation of early Image books (perhaps editorially mandated) in some of the one-off mercinaries, but when that gives way to the James Bondian hijinks the book becomes more comfortable in its own skin.

The milestones that this story delivered are the debut of Rose Wilson and the elevation of Cheshire from assassin to genocidal nutcase. Another minor point is you can see Roy Harper as a hero in transition from Speedy to becoming Arsenal, emphasized by his willingness to kill his enemies [as would Green Arrow on occasion, all conveniently forgotten now. -- ed]. Slade’s new costume introduced here lasted for a few years too, even featuring in other titles like the mega obscure Chain Gang War (a possible “Uncollected Edition” of the future). I can see why “Nuclear Winter” resists collection, because it has few logical points to break the story up neatly. Even this ending I’ve chosen has the dangling plot point of Wintergreen’s incarceration.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

New reviews later this week. See you then!

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Uncollected Editions #6: Keith Giffen's Vext (DC Comics)

[Welcome to this month's installment of our "Uncollected Editions" series by Paul Hicks]

When you stop and think about it, there sure are a lot of gods in superhero comics. You have the gods of Norse myth, the gods of ancient Greece, the New Gods of Jack Kirby, just to name the most obvious. What if there were more gods than that, not just the big and powerful guys, but gods who were just a bit more ordinary. Who would be the one to tell us about these gods? What would that tale be called? Could we see what it was like for one of these gods to walk among us? Could it be the basis for a very funny comic? Could it be set in the DC Universe? Would it last for more than six issues? The answers are Keith Giffen, Vext, yes, yes, yes and no.

The Jejune realm is not the home to major gods. You won't find the god of love, the god of thunder or the god of war lounging in that dimension. Rather, you can expect to find gods like Vext (no surname, like Madonna) the "patron deity of mishap and misfortune." What's it mean to be the patron deity of mishap and misfortune? It means that bad luck constantly befalls you, and often those who associate with you.

The first bit of mishap to befall Vext is the fact that the dimensional overlords in charge of the higher planes have declared the Jejune realm to be spiritually irrelevant. The realm is being shut down and there is a mass migration underway of minor deities to the other realms or planes of their choosing. Except for Vext, who never received his correct paperwork and after twenty-three years of re-queuing and a narrow escape from execution (sound effect = ZOF ZOF ZOF ZOF), he's randomly consigned to the plane that contains the DC universe. With some local currency, appropriate clothing, but entirely without any proper preparation he arrives in the DC locale of Delta City (from Giffen's Heckler series, but never heard of since).

From there the series settles into the very funny fish-out-of-water adventures of Vext acclimating to life in an American city. After finding an apartment and meeting his neighbor Colleen, we see Vext's attempts to cope with a toilet that won't stop flushing, a foldaway bed that's trying to kill him and a landlord who mishears every sentence spoken to him.

Having the appropriate spiritual warning systems in place, the JLA are alerted to his presence and pay a visit in the first issue, in the form of Superman and the angel Zauriel. They warn Vext that they are watching him, plus Superman offers some advice on the toilet problem -- "You've got to jiggle it a bit." Vext is completely unaware of who Superman is and Colleen assumes they are cosplayers until she sees them flying away.

Subsequent issues of the series give you amazingly convoluted plots like Vext furnishing his apartment; Vext trying to get his driver's license from the DMV, and so on. The issues work extremely well as standalone stories and each was very, very funny. One issue involves the microscopic assault on a sleazy burger joint by a sentient virus known as "The Strepto-Commandos of Company Q." With these set ups, I will unreservedly state for the record that Vext is the funniest Keith Giffen comic since his classic Justice League International in the late 1980s.

The sense of chaos extends to the editorial handling of the book. Issue #4 amusingly featured letters for a Scooby Doo comic, while the editor tries to give responses relevant to Vext.

There is an unresolved subplot that winds through the issues, involving a narcissistic archaeologist named Aaron Caldwell who is best described visually as a cross between Doc Savage and Tintin. He has two beautiful but ruthless assistants, who seem to be the understudies for the Body Doubles from the Resurrection Man comics. Caldwell is assembling artifacts of minor deities in order to gain the immortality of those gods. His first success in this endeavor is when he gains the powers of the "god of ill-timed flatulence," R'ypta G'dun. It seemed inevitable that the now lethally smelly Caldwell would cross paths with the clueless Vext, but sadly that never was to be.

The series started in March 1999 and although pitched as an ongoing it only lasted for a mere six issues. The cancellation was treated by all the creative crew as an inevitable manifestation of Vext's bad luck, giving it a good-humored send off.

For each of the six issues of Vext, you're treated to superbly detailed and confident art by the team of penciller Mike McKone and inker Mark McKenna, both of whom later went on to bigger things with Exiles and Geoff Johns' relaunch of Teen Titans. Since the plots are straight-forward, these issues are all worth picking up singly or as a set; the entertainment comes from Vext's passive bewilderment to some incredibly silly situations.

Giffen really brings the wacky with this one. At his best, he is the Aaron Sorkin of funny dialogue and Vext is definitely Giffen at his best.

Later this week ... the Collected Editions review of Superman: Secret Origin. Don't miss it!

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Uncollected Editions #5: Batman: Bane of the Demon

[Welcome to this month's installment of our "Uncollected Editions" series by Paul Hicks]

I’m concluding my look at the early adventures of the Bat-villain Bane, who will soon set the screen on fire when he appears in The Dark Knight Rises under the thespian guidance of Tom Hardy.

Batman: Bane of the Demon is a four-issue mini-series from 1998. It serves as a character bridge that prepares Bane for his major supporting role in the Ra’s al Ghul focused Batman: Legacy. The mini is again handled by the Vengeance of Bane creative team of writer Chuck Dixon and Graham Nolan and Eduardo Barreto.

Fresh from kicking his reliance on the Venom drug, Bane pops back to his Caribbean childhood hellhole prison of Santa Prisca to have a chat with an elderly monk. As covered in my previous post, Bane’s father was a revolutionary who failed to overthrow the reigning regime, and in his absence, his punishment was inherited by the unborn son. Bane knew his mother until she died when he was six, but he’s never known much about his father other than he was a foreigner. The monk is able to list four possible men who were in Santa Prisca at the time of his conception and Bane is determined to discover this missing piece of his own identity.

Bane thanks the old monk for this information by throwing him out of a high monastery window. This becomes an unhealthy pattern of behavior for Bane in this mini-series: find a source of knowledge, interrogate source of knowledge, eliminate source of knowledge, repeat. It happens so many times in the four issues that it’s almost comical. I’d recommend running for your life if Bane ever asks you the time, or if the special is any good today.

Bane goes on quite a tear investigating option one, if his dad is a mysterious Swiss gentleman who belongs to a mysterious order which is pretty un-mysterious to anyone who’s ever read an Azrael comic. His investigation is sidetracked when his latest target within the Order of St Dumas is attacked by a second group of killers led by Talia al Ghul.

[Interesting how this “following parental leads” plot echoes the plight of Jason Todd in A Death in the Family -- ed.]

This portrayal of Talia paints her as one very sick puppy. She takes an interest in Bane and takes him back to meet her father. The assassins under her command all commit suicide at her request, simply to make the return journey to her father’s base less crowded! When Bane reciprocates her initial attraction to him, they have a quick dalliance and then she decides it’s frosty time. I’m not sure if he was a dud in the sack or if she simply likes her men tall, dark and unattainable. Bane should have taken a leaf from Bruce’s book with Talia -- treat her mean, keep her keen.

Ra’s is interested in having Bane around as at least a new henchman or at best a suitable son-in-law. He and Talia have several increasingly silly conversations in obscure languages in clear earshot of Bane where they discuss their plans to manipulate him and to find the Wheel of Plagues (as seen in Batman: Contagion) which will launch their latest depopulation plans.

This series lacks the gravitas of the Vengeance of Bane specials and does not stand up well without the context of the Batman: Legacy story it leads into. While I was entertained by the ruthlessness of Bane in the series, he ultimately forgets about the search for his father to become involved in Ra’s latest hare-brained scheme.

There is a post-Legacy footnote story that appeared in a prestige format one-shot titled Batman: Bane. This was released to cash in on the character’s minor appearance in the uh, ahem, critically acclaimed and universally, um, beloved Batman and Robin movie (one of four matching one-shots that included Poison Ivy, Batgirl and Mr Freeze). This book shows Bane on a literally suicidal collision course with Gotham City as he commandeers a floating nuclear powered drilling platform. The story by Dixon is entertaining enough, but by this point a lot of the shine is coming off this villain. He no longer seems to be a major threat when Batman has defeated him so readily. But, like every good Bat-villain, Bane escapes to trouble Batman some more in the future. The last page shows him being washed out to sea on debris and remembering that he was doing something before he bumped into those crazy al Ghul’s – “Father!!!” he screams into the elements.

After a pivotal role in Batman: No Man’s Land, there are further significant Bane stories in Batman: Gotham Knights #33-36 and #47-49, but by then Chuck Dixon was off the Bat-wagon and his sometime co-writer Scott Beatty took the reins. Bane’s paternal mysteries are solved at that point, connecting him to another Chuck Dixon creation. I’ll leave you to hunt those down for yourselves if you’re still salivating for the taste of Bane.

[News to me! Now I will have to hunt these down -- ed.]

Bane is currently a member of the Secret Six and his character is in safe hands with Gail Simone. Under her pen, the character has been as well-written as he has been since Chuck Dixon’s early days. Gail has entertainingly played up his social awkwardness based on his highly unusual upbringing.

Thanks for listening everyone. I have many more books I’d like to feature, but I’m always happy to hear your suggestions for future Uncollected Editions.

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Uncollected Editions #4: Batman: Vengeance of Bane (DC Comics)

[Continuing our "Uncollected Editions" series by Paul Hicks]

With the recent buzz about the casting of Tom Hardy as Bane in the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, it’s timely to look back at the earliest of Bane’s greatest hits that have eluded collections (for now).

The first of these is Batman: Vengeance of Bane -- a 1993 64-page special that debuted the character. The Bat-office of the time had similarly introduced Azrael in the four-issue Batman: Sword of Azrael mini-series that appeared around the same time (with some “noob” called Quesada on art). This was cleverly done to get the major players on board in service of their starring roles in the imminent Knightfall epic.

Now let’s get one thing straight at the outset: Vengeance of Bane was an amazing debut adeptly handled by Chuck Dixon and artists Graham Nolan and Eduardo Barreto. Bane is often misremembered as a one-note muscle-headed character whose be-all-and-end-all was to snap Batman’s back. Reading this story it’s obvious that Bane had much more preplanned potential longevity than his fellow villain Doomsday (not that it hasn’t prevented “the big D” from coming back time and again).

Born in the ultimate version of underprivileged misery, Bane was a newborn sentenced to a South American prison, Pena Dura, for the insurgent crimes of his father. At the age of six his mother died and her body was thrown to the sharks that infest the waters of the desolate island prison. Without a mother, the boy was moved into general population, exposed to the thieves, murderers and other predators. The child quickly decides that he won’t be a victim and viciously takes his first life. His punishment is years in a cell that floods every evening, fighting to survive each day against rats and crabs. Bane uses the years productively, emerging from the cell as a beast of a man with a will as hard as his body.

Highly charismatic, Bane assembles a circle of operatives to educate him and assist him in his planning. Older inmates Trogg, Zombie and Bird are deadly criminals, each amusingly named after 1960s recording artists. They become devoted to him and his plans, recognizing someone who can lead them out of captivity.

Bane survives involuntary experiments with the Venom drug (introduced by Dennis O’Neil in the Legends of the Dark Knight story “Venom,” which is itself collected in trade paperback), escaping both mere humanity and the prison bars. Bane has heard tales of Gotham as the greatest city of the world and Batman as the man who stands against anyone wanting to control it; the imprisoned boy who has overcome every adversity in life sees overcoming Batman as the next stage of his fight for freedom.

To say Vengeance of Bane has aged well is unnecessary, because as a story it hasn’t aged a bit. It really is a pity that the appearance of Bane in the wrestler mask has led to many forgetting the mind behind the mask. Many depictions of Bane in both the comics and cartoons show a drug-frenzied rager, but the beauty of the Dixon/Moench/Nolan character is he would have been as big a threat even without the drug (something Gail Simone has explored through his membership in the Secret Six).

The second early book of note is (the imaginatively titled) Batman: Vengeance of Bane II: The Redemption from 1995 (I would have called it “Bane Again” myself). The story, produced by the exact same creative team, details Bane’s recovery from his defeat at the hands of Bat-understudy Azrael during Knightquest.

Again in prison (offshore Gotham locale – Blackgate), Bane must rebuild himself after his humiliation. The story parallels the earlier tale by showing the process of Bane building himself and refocusing his life. The Venom drug becomes symbolic of his weakness and he is motivated to destroy all his associations with it. Bane creates a network of minor Bat-villains to assist him in his plans, but this time they are mere pawns, unlike the acolytes he gathered in the first book.

After that first story, this is a more familiar tale, but no less enjoyable for it [indeed I think the parallels made the second book as good as it was -- ed.]. Nolan and Barreto’s art have gotten even better -- a splash page of Bane escaping the prison by diving off the cliff into the waters far below is utterly breath-taking.

There’s time for one more encounter with the Knightfall-recovered Batman, as Bane hunts drug-dealers who have been selling Venom to petty criminals. Batman fails to re-capture Bane, and Bane slips out of the city, alone and unbound, seeing himself as a truly free man for the first time in his life.

One of the most compelling things about Bane is the similarities and differences between him and Batman. Bruce Wayne was born into wealth and privilege -- Bane was born in poverty and oppression. Bruce’s parents were cruelly taken from him -- Bane never knew his father and his mother was a shell of a woman, waiting for death to end her misery. Bruce was cared for by Alfred in a mansion -- Bane was alone in a prison. Bruce travelled the world with endless resources at his disposal, learning all he could to prepare for his crusade-- Bane spent years alone, learning in his solitude about physical and mental strength.

Both rail against injustice, but Bruce is fighting against the indiscriminate injustice of crime while Bane’s crusade is about the discriminating injustice that targeted him personally. It’s heady stuff that’s hopefully going to be recognized in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises movie.

[Great point. Let’s not forget we already saw the Bane stereotype in Batman and Robin. Here’s hoping Christopher Nolan recognizes the intricacies of the Bane character in the upcoming movie, rather than just casting the villain as a background thug. -- ed.]

As with all good characters, Bane’s story continues elsewhere. I’ll be looking at the next two major stories in an upcoming Uncollected Editions.

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Uncollected Editions #3: Firearm by James Robinson (Malibu Comics)

[Continuing our "Uncollected Editions" series by Paul Hicks]

It was June 1993 and the comic industry thing to do was create a new shared universe. The guys at Malibu Comics called theirs the Ultraverse. From the get-go they did some smart things, engaging talented writers to structure the universe, create some history and texture, and then populate it with licensable characters. The writers included veterans such as Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, and Mike Barr as well as newer writers like James Hudnall, Gerard Jones, Len Strazewski and the mostly unknown pre-Starman James Robinson.

The Ultraverse launched, starting small with a handful of titles, introducing comic readers to names like Prime, Hardcase, Mantra and The Strangers. These books were pretty good superhero fare, each with a distinctive feel. The line slowly expanded and September 1993 saw the debut of something very special: James Robinson's Firearm.

It looked like a standard early '90s bad-ass big gun book. It wasn’t. It was in fact, a character-driven P.I. book, more in common with Powers than Punisher. Violent, but never mindless, it was a comic for reading and savouring.

The star of the series was Alec Swan, a rumpled and scarred ex-pat Brit living in Pasedena, LA. The high-concept: despite being a regular bloke he was always embroiled in cases with super-powered freaks, or Ultras as they’re known in this comic-book universe. The name "Firearm" was a leftover call-sign from his days with mysterious British spook outfit, the Lodge. It’s not a name Swan ever used in introduction, but one other people called him, much to his chagrin. It was accurately descriptive in that he did carry a big gun, but Robinson seemed to delight in making him constantly lose it in action, just when it would be most necessary. Swan was far more John MacLean than James Bond, more likely to be bloodied and desperate, than suavely using a gadget to save his skin. Robinson showed much of the flair that he applied in his next series, Starman. Both had extremely accessible lead characters with particular tastes and vulnerabilities.

The stories were full of action, with mysteries and shady character’s worthy of a classic P.I. novel. Another of the delights of this series was Alec Swan’s inner monologues. His running commentary was often witty, populated with cool cultural observations and slyly addressed to the readers. Swan’s tastes in films, food, cars, books and architecture were all covered, in a way that made you feel like you were getting to know a friend. He also constantly referred to earlier missions that sounded all the more alluring for never being related in full. After a few issues I would happily have read 22 pages of Swan buying groceries, as long as we got to hear his thoughts. An example from two pages of a shootout in issue # 9:

Pasadena.

Let me tell you about Pasadena. And if all you out there in Podunk, Middle America are asking why should you care about my town, I say . . .

. . . Hey, Droopy, where are your manners? I’d listen if you wanted to tell me about your one whore, one diner, one gas station dump you call home.

‘Sides you got another of my mindlessly violent exploits to look at, at the same time, so what’s your problem?

James Robinson was open in his influences on the series. He wanted to capture the energy of John Woo Hong Kong action films. Remember this was 1993 when Woo was a cult director famous for The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow II and especially Hard Boiled, and definitely not the disappointing American debut Hard Target. Robinson's used the Woo stock ingredient of spectacular gunfight mayhem and combined it with wry monologues. The concoction was unique at the time and is still compelling today.

Issues #1-4 made up the "American Pastimes" arc, a missing person case that leads Swan to a very nasty secret society of ultra-powered snobs. Issue #2 was a highlight with Swan having to deal with the lantern-jawed super-celebrity Hardcase. Their few pages together had the seeds of a great buddy movie scenario. Cully Hamner (Question co-features, Black Lightning: Year One) was the artist of the first story and he showed a great deal of flair in everything from his composition of a car chase/gun fight to character’s chatting in an art gallery. Howard Chaykin provided the covers in his appropriately chunky style. Another frequent cover artist of note was painter Dan Brereton.

Issue #5 was a simple, yet very important story as Swan talks to a suicidal young woman. It is small on action, but really shows the compassionate side of Swan. It’s similar to the Christmas issue of Starman, where the lead character takes the time to get involved in someone’s problems and try to help. It’s a type of real heroism that is far too rare in comics. Kirk Van Wormer provided the art. Hamner returned for issue #6, part of a crossover with Prime #10. Entertaining without the other issue, strangely enough the meeting of these two characters left far more impression on Prime in his Ultraverse flagship series, than it did on Firearm.

The next few issues were stand alone stories of different types of cases. They provide changes of locale for Swan as he got involved in a super-powered custody case, tracks a murderer into Sasquatch territory and gets stuck in a gunfight in a parade float warehouse. Worthwhile reads, all. Also of note is James Robinson’s very enjoyable personal handling of the letter column that began in issue #8. It became a forum to share recommendations of books and movies, not just discuss the series.

Issues #10 and #11 were a cyberpunk two-parter with the distinctive art of Gary Erskine. Set in England and a virtual Glasgow, Swan is blackmailed to return to his old employer, the brutal Lodge. We really see the crap that Swan left behind; the associations that make him dislike England, and especially why he changed occupations.

Issue #12 was a turning point in the series. It sets up the entire "Rafferty Saga" which ran from issue #13 through to #18. Rafferty is Swan’s Moriarty and Robinson sets the stakes high with his debut. Rafferty’s role as a non-powered serial killer of ultras is still novel today. He outwits Swan repeatedly, killing multiple targets under the hero’s watch. Within the "Rafferty Saga" there were an abundance of guest stars from other books, but Robinson had good reason for all of the inclusions and still kept a firm hand on the plot.

As much as I adore this series it did have some problems. The artists changed far too frequently, and while Cully Hamner did more than any others, he only pencilled six issues. Some of the other art teams provide strong work, but others appeared rushed.

Of special mention was the Firearm #0 special, a two-part tale told first in a live action video and concluded in a comic. This was a mixed bag, with the half-hour video clearly suffering from a low budget. Robinson has mentioned in interviews the director’s disdain for his input on casting, accents and story detail. The comic suffers from none of that and artist Mike Wieringo provides flair and spectacle that is sorely missing from the video. Even today, however, this still stands as an unparalleled effort in comic marketing.

Firearm came to a sad end in issue 18. This was when Marvel finalized their purchase of Malibu. Many of the other Ultraverse series limped along before being dissolved in an extremely messy frenzy of crossovers with Marvel Universe. James’ last contribution was a three-part backup tale in the thematically unrelated Codename: Firearm issues #0-2. This story was most likely issue #19, split into three parts, started by Cully Hamner and completed by Gary Erskine.

Robinson wisely got out of the Ultraverse, finishing his series in a satisfying conclusion to the "Rafferty Saga," and never beginning a run on the team book Ultraforce that he was linked to. Hero Illustrated Magazine (now there's a blast from the past! -- ed.) published details of an unfinished Firearm annual, again with Cully Hamner, which would have explored Swan’s Lodge days some more, and set up future plot lines.

Thematically the series was about maturity and moving beyond mayhem and violence for its own sake. The Alec Swan in issue #1 is not quite the same man in issue #18, he has different priorities and expectations from life. A similar theme was more overtly present in Robinson’s epic Starman, where maturity takes Jack Knight away from the heroic life. Perhaps a bit of meta-commentary on James’ part about outgrowing super-hero comics, if they purely exist for no good reason.

If you enjoyed Starman, Firearm will definitely give you the same satisfaction. Look for it in the back-issue bins, most likely to be cheap and neglected.

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Uncollected Editions #2 - Batman/Green Arrow: Brotherhood of the Fist (DC Comics)

[Continuing our "Uncollected Editions" series by Paul Hicks]

You know what I get sick of hearing? I get sick of hearing that in the 1990s, comics sucked. The comics YOU might have read in the 90s may have sucked, but I was mostly reading DC comics for that decade. Back then, DC wasn’t the creative wasteland that many like to characterize it as, it was actually a time of new ideas and exciting stories. Just consider these pieces of evidence:

* Mark Waid reinvigorated the Flash book turning Wally West from an also-ran into a fan favorite
* James Robinson’s Starman breaks new ground in character based story-telling and almost single handily revives interest in the JSA
* John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake shatter the pre-conception that no one can tell a long-form story about the Spectre
* Grant Morrison embraced the concept of widescreen story-telling and combined it with everything great about the Silver Age
* Chuck Dixon made the extended Bat-family his personal playground

So I really want to talk about Chuck Dixon today. Chuck Dixon became a central creator in the Bat-office in the 1990’s beginning around the time of Knightfall with his creation of Bane. From that time on he was incredibly prolific, simultaneously being the main writer behind Robin, creating and writing the Birds of Prey, handing the first seventy issues of the Nightwing solo book, having a few stints on Batgirl and Catwoman, becoming the regular Detective Comics writer and taking over Green Arrow after Mike Grell’s lengthy run.

He is undisputedly the benchmark writer for Tim Drake, Connor Hawke and Nightwing, to which all other writers will perpetually be compared when they tackle those characters. If you want to argue that point, then you haven’t read enough books. Gail Simone has possibly wrested Birds of Prey from Mr Dixon, but that’s the rare exception. It’s testament to how fondly these books are remembered that the trades that exist of his runs are mostly out of print, very pricey and highly sought after.

This brings me to the subject of the five part crossover “Brotherhood of the Fist” -- a white-hot pure distillation of everything great about Chuck Dixon’s DC work in the 90s. I’m calling it a Green Arrow trade that never was, but it could easily have been branded as a Batman, Nightwing or Robin book by the mere inclusion of an additional chapter. The story is told over these five issues:

Part 1 – Green Arrow #134
Part 2 – Detective Comics #723
Part 3 – Robin #55
Part 4 – Nightwing #23
Part 5 – Green Arrow #135

For those of you who have the DC trade paperback timeline tattooed on your back, this story falls after Cataclysm but before the debut of the Cassandra Cain Batgirl in No Man’s Land.

The back story of this crossover is that Connor Hawke has previously defeated and shamed a fighter called The Silver Monkey. Silver Monkey belongs to an order of martial artists The Brotherhood of the Fist who wish to avenge his impugned honor by declaring war on the new Green Arrow and every other distinguished hand to hand combatant in the world. That puts targets on the backs of everyone from Batman to the Question [Vic Sage is in this story? Cool; did not remember that. -- ed]. Game on.

The story opens with Connor encountering Batman in the Alaskan wilds on the trail of a Kobra terrorist cell. They’re not exactly buddies, as Batman puts Connor in his place with “Your saves with the JLA could have been flukes.” Pretty soon things are exploding and the major stirrings in the martial arts underworld are spilling everywhere.

The story whips around the globe showing us hordes of monkey-masked assassins attacking all the major and minor players, such as Katana, Black Canary, Bronze Tiger, Judomaster, Nightwing and Robin. This sets off a variety of missions and team ups as the heroes try to protect each other and shut down the cult at the source. There’s fun to be had as the cult is made up of different schools of martial arts, in various quantities with different skill levels -- jade, steel, bamboo and iron monkeys are all represented. The harder the style, the less proponents, and the thinking behind each is delightfully non-western as Connor observes “Ivory is strong but brittle, bamboo is strong but flexible.”

The story includes some nicely understated nods to continuity as Black Canary’s team up with Bronze Tiger prompts discussion of the mysterious Oracle who assisted the Suicide Squad on missions, and is now working with Black Canary (in the days before Black Canary knew Oracle's identity).

It’s not just all kung fu -- we also get to see some "gun fu" too as Connor’s ex-CIA sidekick Eddie Fyers [longtime Green Arrow Oliver Queen ally -- ed.] takes the fight to the Monkey’s hidden temple in Burma and finds himself up against a familiar one-eyed mercenary.

The story builds towards a Gotham City showdown in a sideways sky-scraper (thank you Cataclysm!) as Connor and the Bat-family find themselves outnumbered by hordes of fighters, and inevitably the always-deadly Lady Shiva appears. Faces are kicked, necks are snapped, respect is earned and debts are cashed in. The resolution returns things to relative normality for our heroes, but the martial arts pecking order has been re-sorted.

Art-wise, each title has its own artist, with pre-Daredevil’s Alex Maleev putting in a robust showing in Detective Comics, Will Rosado contributing strongly to Robin, Scott McDaniel providing his usual delightfully dynamic Nightwing art and the always reliable Doug Braithwaite providing the pencils for Green Arrow. All artists have a confident approach to story-telling and they each make the action clear and easy to follow.

While it’s not Watchmen, "Brotherhood of the Fist" is undiluted fun, with no slow or flat spots. It would have made a great little trade paperback, fitting snugly on the shelf amidst the Dixon Nightwing run. I recently saw a bundled set cheap in a local comic shop. You might also be as lucky in your country or through the magic of the internet.

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Uncollected Editions #1 - The Atlantis Chronicles

[The first in a new series of posts called "Uncollected Editions" by Paul "Hix" Hicks]
Welcome to "Uncollected Editions," the first of what I hope will be an infinite series (at least six or so) where I highlight the gold that has never made the leap from staples to spine. I might even highlight some of the more tarnished stuff too, as even ordinary stories can be significant.
Exactly twenty years ago there was a mini-series (or was it a semi-maxi-series?) called The Atlantis Chronicles. There were seven issues, all running around forty-four pages, very few ads on quality paper-stock. It was written by Peter David and featured the sublime work of a single artist, Spain’s Esteban Maroto.

This comic stood apart from almost all of DC’s output at the time and since, in that it was a multi-generational fantasy epic. The only comics I can think of that are remotely similar are Age of Bronze and Camelot 3000. The premise for the book is it is an adaptation of the archeologically recovered manuscripts written by the various royally appointed chroniclers of Atlantis. This book follows seven generations of Atlanteans and covers thousands of years.

The story begins with Atlanteans living on the surface, packing lasers while the rest of the planet has spears. Their superior technology is a major impetus for the series of tragedies to come, as the king, Orin want to share the benefits of their knowledge and resources. His blond-haired brother Shalako, an isolationist, has major issues with rational, technological ways and believes in the power of the gods. The book shows us, without a doubt, that the power of the gods is very real and this sets up one of the themes of the book -– faith versus science.

Orin is a very modern character with a single wife in contrast to Shalako and his harem. Both brothers are arrogant and their conflict starts from Orin’s contempt for religion and Shalako’s conviction that science offends his gods. A skull-shaped speck in the heavens is the first hint of impending doom for the peoples of Atlantis. The reader is left wondering if the rapidly growing meteor is coming because Orin has offended the gods, or because Shalako is demanding their punishment of the secular king. Shalako’s fanaticism leads to him taking the next big step and reaching out to the dark gods for assistance.

Trouble with the locals leads to Orin commissioning a protective dome over the main city of Atlantis -– Poseidonis. Shalako’s subsequent interference in a peace negotiation with the neighbouring tribes leads to the death of Orin’s most trusted advisor and to Orin's harsh retaliation against the natives. Here’s the big theme emerging -– brother against brother. While possibly highly offensive to the sky gods, this dome is to keep out the hostile tribes, but it also serves as Poeidonis’ salvation when the meteor hits the ocean and sinks the known world. I don’t want to keep telling you the plot, but I am especially impressed with the bleak picture Peter David paints of what it must be like to go from living in the sunshine, to suddenly being trapped in a dome at the bottom of the ocean surrounded by decimation.

There is a rotation of narrators as the Chroniclers live and die, and this provides contrasting voices to the narrative. The first Chronicler is a staunch supporter of the fanatical Shalako, the second is a wannabe poet, third is a young woman obsessed with the gossip of the court, and so on. Some are unreliable, some are biased and some are salacious.

In a wonderfully organic way, Peter David shows the development of Atlantis and the adaptation (some technological and some magical) required of the survivors
Along the way many of the frequently asked questions about Atlantis in the DC Universe get some natural answers:

* How did they come to breath underwater?
* What about the mermaid-type Atlanteans?
* How does this all fit in with DC’s earlier Arion stories of Atlantis?
* What about the Idyllists (Aqualad’s people)?
* Where does telepathic communication with sea-life come from?
* Why is it bad to have blond hair?

The book isn’t a dry (heh) and clinical work, however; it’s packed full of human foibles and epic drama; there’s nudity, rape, violence, murder, betrayal, redemption all on show, but never gratuitous. It’s like AMC meets Shakespeare.

Maroto just rocks on the art, as his characters are all easily recognisable, even as they grow from children to old men and women. His strength in making the character’s faces "act" sells every bit of drama that David is going for. His architecture, fashion, interiors and sea-life are all wonderfully done, making the book a fantasy that you can believe in.

The book takes era-sized leaps to show the Atlantean response to the surface world and their impact on ancient Greece and Egypt. Had this story been written today, I’m sure we would have seen cheesy cameos by Black Adam and Dr Fate, but this book shows that the expanse of history is far greater than just some touchstone moments with familiar characters. Eminently suited to being read in a single volume, Atlantis Chronicles had varying chapter lengths within the issues and stories ended at the right moment, rather than fitting the page count available.

The book ends with Peter David giving you everything you need to know about Arthur Curry’s parentage and the details of his abandonment on Mercy reef. This was setting up his Aquaman ongoing series, which commenced with the Aquaman: Time and Tide Year One-esque mini series. The brother vs. brother theme is one that works very effectively in Aquaman lore but don’t be put off by that continuation, as The Atlantis Chronicles can be enjoyed completely independently of what comes after. It is also clearly superior to David’s Aquaman work, and every other comic I’ve ever read by him (even Young Justice? -- ed.).

I don’t know Peter David personally; I know he’s prone to strong opinions but I don’t know if he’s prone to bitterness. If I was him I would be incredibly bitter that DC never collected this book. At the time it was probably seen as a huge risk to put out a 300-page book when the sales weren’t guaranteed. Now, any buzz about this title is long dead. Original series editor Bob Greenberger was long associated with DC’s collected editions area and I can’t imagine he didn’t try to get it collected. I’m certain DC has missed out on a lot of sales from this decision.

These issues are some of the first I grab when an outsider expresses an interest in comics, right up there with Batman: Year One and Watchmen. This book could have made David and Maroto names akin to Morrison and Quitely, Millar and Jansen, Moore and Gibbons even. DC should have been releasing the Twentieth Anniversary Absolute edition this year -- this book was meant to have a significant legacy and that was very sadly stillborn.

I highly recommend that you find these issues if you can. Read ‘em, share ‘em, pass ‘em to your children.

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