The Comics Rack

DAREDEVIL VISIONARIES: FRANK MILLER VOL. 2

   Superlatives are often the cliches of reviews. "The greatest," "without a doubt the best," "a must-have item," "if you only buy one book this year...", all have been used so often that we tend to ignore what is actually being said about the item in question because of the hype. Here in the Unabashed Plug Dept., I have been as guilty as anyone of going to extremes in pointing out the merits of all types of book collections and yes, using a large number of superlatives. The problem is that I review what I buy for myself and, since I like the items enough in the first place to put out money for them, they would, in most cases, get a positive review before they were even read. As a result, I may come off, at times, as a rabid fanboy, but rest assured that this is not the case. If I didn't like it enough to buy it, that in itself is a review of sorts. Having said that, it is with some trepidation that I enter into this review, since of the 20-30 books I have previously reviewed, this is by far the best.
   I remember waiting with anticipation for each issue of Daredevil in the early 80s. The reason? Frank Miller, at first with Roger Stern and then on his own, had taken an established character that was near cancellation and re-invented the character without destroying what had gone before. Daredevil was no longer a punching bag with the worst Rogues' Gallery in comics. He now gave as good as he got and the villains he fought were scary, because they were simply evil. Daredevil seemed younger in those issues. He was virile. He was in love. He came back after facing unreal odds. He seemed like someone you would want to have on your side.
   All of these feelings of excitement were brought back to me a couple of weeks ago when I read Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Vol. 2. This volume reprints Daredevil (First series) #168-182, a period when Miller was both writing and drawing the series and had hit his stride as a comics creator. These issues read well in this collected format and form a long story of gritty crime adventure. In this sequence, we are introduced to Elektra, the love of Daredevil's life. We find that Bullseye is not only insane, he is also a killer of the most psychotic sort, able to use any object as a weapon. Behind the scenes, we have the manipulations of Kingpin and his love for Vanessa. Added to this are a mixture of crime lords, street thugs and a hero who enjoys being a hero, regardless of the pain it causes him. The penultimate issue of the collection features a battle between Elektra and Bullseye that is superbly laid out and the final issue ties the entire sequence together. All in all, this was good when it came out, it was good when I re-read it about 15 years ago and it still holds together today.
   Within the issues presented here, Miller's art, with inks by Klaus Janson, is excellent, showing influences of Eisner, Ditko and Kirby, but managing to stay original. Combined with the writing, which has traces of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, a sense of film noir permeates these stories and no one, not even Miller, has managed to equal their quality.
   One issue in particular, #179, stands out among the rest. It is written from the point of view of reporter Ben Urich. Daredevil is the focus of the story, yet the main character is Urich. To tell you more would be giving away the plot, but suffice to say, others have tried this storytelling technique before and others have tried it since, but none have done this type of story as well as it is done here.
   In the opening paragraph, I warned you about superlatives and here they come. You should run out and buy this book. If you buy no other comic collection this year, it should be this one. If money is tight, don't buy any comics for a month and then buy this book. Superlative, superlative, ad nauseum.
   Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Vol. 2 retails for $24.95, can be found in the usual outlets, and for less on the Internet.

TOR VOL. 1

   Tor Vol. 1 by Joe Kubert (or The Joe Kubert Library Vol. 1) is up for review this time around and it is a pretty impressive package. It reprints the first appearances of Tor from One Million Years Ago Vol. 1 No. 1 (1953), 3-D Comics Vol. 1 No. 2 (1953) and 3-D Comics Vol. 1 No. 2 (1953) (Not a typo! There actually were two #2s!). This in itself is not so impressive, until you realize that both the 3-D books have been restored to regular line art and that some of the work appears in this volume in color for the first time.
   Tor, for those of you not familiar with the character, is Kubert's version of Tarzan. He lives 1,000,000 years ago in a savage world where man and dinosaur co-exist. From this basic premise, Kubert attempts to tell, in a series of vignettes rather than stories, about the life of one man who has compassion while those around him only express savagery. On the most part, Kubert succeeds, although reading the stories in the order they were originally printed, there are some continuity gaps.
   The biggest disappointment I have with the volume is in the lack of credits. We know from the introduction, and also from comic history, that Kubert created Tor with artist Norman Mauer (who is probably best known for his work on the Lev Gleason titles) and that they created the first 3-D comic ever published. Beyond that, it is anyone's guess as to who did what.
   The first issue opens with a Tor story by Kubert and then a story featuring "The Wizard of Ugghh", which is obviously a Maurer creation. The third story in the first issue, "Danny Dreams", is where the mystery begins. It looks to be a possible collaboration between Kubert (pencils) and Maurer (inks), but there is nothing to verify this supposition on my part and, it probably has more artistically in common with early Wally Wood than anything else. To add to the confusion, Kubert signs his work, Maurer doesn't and the "Danny Dreams" story is signed by Kubert, but doesn't look like his style.
   This art guessing game continues on into the 2 3-D issues. There are obviously other hands at work here, but outside of a couple of dinosaur drawings signed by Russ Heath, there is no indication of who worked on the comics. My guess would be that there were definitly others involved, since Kubert and Maurer were too busy with the problems involved with the 3-D process to do full work on any of the strips after the first issue. Overstreet lists credits for Bob Powell and Alex Toth in these issues, I just wish DC had done the same.
   Lack of credits aside, the book has some great work in it, particularly in the 3-D issues that have been turned into regular line work. The dinosaurs are large and menacing and many of the figures leap off the page even without the benifit of the 3-D process. There is a dynamic look to the figures and, if you enjoy dinosaurs, then you have definitely arrived at the right place. The story content is the weakest part of the volume. Tor's world is revealed to us in a series of incidents, as are Danny's dreams. It is as if Kubert, Maurer, and the other hands at work, want us to peek in on small bits of life, but that life is not really changed by the actions we have observed. "The Wizard of Ugghh" strip, while cartoonish, is probably the most well written of any of the strips in the collection.
   Eventually, DC hopes to reprint the rest of the Tor stories. Whether this will include the Marvel/Epic work is not known.
   Tor Vol. 1 should probably be on your bookshelf, though it has a steep price of $49.95, and the storytelling style used in the book is not going to be to everyone's liking.

ALL STAR ARCHIVES VOL. 5

   The effects of WWII were felt throughout the entire United States and the comics industry was no exception. By 1943, most of the younger talent had gone off to fight and it was often secondary, or new talent who were pushed to the forefront and kept producing the books. DC was not exception to this wartime turnover and it is very interesting to leaf through the volumes in the Archives series and see how the books changed through the war years.
   All Star Archives Vol. 5 reprints another group of war time stories and it is interesting to see how the art changes within each issue. Probably the most important story in the volume is the final (?) Simon and Kirby Sandman adventure, which originally appeared in issue 19. Kirby, as always, is on top of his game. The story reads as if it had been rewritten by the team and, except for one quick reference to Hawkman, the story could exist on its own, unlike many of the other chapters. Other interesting art bits are the Sheldon Moldoff and Bernard Baily chapters (Moldoff doing Hawkman in each issue) and in issue 21, the Dr. Fate story is done by Joe Kurbert in his first DC outing.
   Of greatest interest, however, is the bulk of the art in each issue, which is split between Stan Asch (Aschmeier) and Joe Gallagher. While both artists come off as rather incompetent at the beginning of the volume and have improved by the end, it is the chameleon-like changes in art style that they make within a single issue that makes this volume so much fun (I will go out on a limb here and guess that this was partly an editorial edict that the chapters within each JSA story should look as if they were drawn by different artists, since that was the way it was at the beginning).
   Of the two, Gallagher's work is the most fun to look, since he seems to be a cartoonist at heart, yet is able to draw in a realistic style when necessary. In one spot, he draws in a style reminiscent of the early work of Harvey Kurtzman, in another, like like Jack Burnley crossed with Aex Raymond and in another like early Jack Davis. Want Bernard Bailey's Spectre? No problem for Gallagher, provided you are willing to accept a lantern jaw and a few Lou Fine touches thrown in for good measure. The more I look at this work, the more astounded I am at the crudity crossed with versitility. It's really a shame that not more is known about Gallagher and that all DC could offer in the notes to this volume was that he had worked at various companies. Aschmeier, on the other hand, has a few tricks of his own. There is one story in the volume that looks like Alex Toth, while another that has the heavy, spotted blacks that one would associate with Milton Caniff. Again, his style is fun, but he does not have as large a bag of tricks as Gallagher.
   The stories in the volume are the usual JSA fare, with one issue devoted to a super-villain, another to the good that a super hero can make in the lives of an ordinary person. Of particular interest is the last story in the volume which introduces a major foe for the JSA, the Psycho-Pirate. The story from issue 22 also stikes a chord as the JSA learns about tolerance in all its forms.
   I think what I enjoy most about the Golden Age of comics is that not every villain had to be super powered and this volume, as with many of the others in the Archives series, definitely keeps me entertained. All Star Archives Vol. 5 reprints All Star Comics #19-23 and retails for $49.95, although you can find it cheaper on the web.

SUPERMAN: THE SUNDAY CLASSICS 1939 to 1943

   Just finished a marvelous volume entitled Superman: The Sunday Classics 1939 to 1943 and all I can say is "WOW!" As Tom has so eloquently pointed out on the message board, the adventures of the current Superman are pretty pathetic, so it is quite refreshing to be able to read the adventures of Superman when he was...well, super.
   In this volume, a joint venture between DC and the now defunct Kitchen Sink Press, we are presented with the adventures of Superman as he was originally conceived by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster: a man with extraordinary abilities who uses his powers to fight for what is right. Most of these stories center around this theme, and in these early adventures, Superman does not fight super villains, space aliens or steroid-pumped monstrosities. Gangsters, racketeers, counterfeiters, arsonists, spies and fifth-columnists are the enemy of the "man of steel." Granted, Lex Luthor makes and appearance early on, and there is an evil scientist who creates giant destructive robots, but the Superman of these early stories is the person who takes care of making life better for those around him by taking out the bad elements of society and standing up for the "little guy."
   There are some interesting sidelights to these stories. Superman's relationship to Lois Lane is defined as the stories move along, transforming Lois from the writer of the lonely hearts's page of the Planet, to and ace reporter. It is also amusing to see how Siegel handled the problem of Clark changing to Superman when Lois is about. In one early story, he hypnotizes her and leaves her in a speeding car, so he can perform a rescue (he later returns to save Lois in the nick of time). In another instance, a speeding taxicab looses its brakes with Lois and Clark as passengers. Lois is knocked unconscious, Clark rapidly changes to Superman and then steers the speeding taxi from behind and underneath. In both cases, he manages to keep his secret identity intact.
   Artwise, Superman has never faired better than in these early days. Superman is not muscle-bound in Shuster's early work, but just athletic. The Sunday strips do not seem to be a crudely drawn as their daily counterparts of the same vintage. Occassionally, Wayne Boring's distinctive style can be seen and Joe Shuster's inks are evident on the majority of the faces. Of great interest also is the "Fleischer" look that the Superman artists began to use as the cartoon shorts gained popularity.
   These are wonderful stories that deserve to be read and savored by all, beginning with Superman's arrival from Krypton and ending with the patriotic efforts to support of the war effort. 192 pages of fun for all.
   Superman: The Sunday Classics 1939 to 1943 should still be available from the usual outlets in a paperback edition that retails for $19.95.