The Comics Rack

THE BATMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 5

   With The Batman Archives Vol. 5, DC has reached the middle of the war years and we find that Batman and Robin did something different from all other super heroes during WWII: they simply went on with their adventures and ignored the war. Dennis O'Neil makes a point of this in his introduction to the volume and surmises that the editors at DC wanted to make the Batman stories a way to get away from the war. Considering that some of the other characters that appeared in Detective Comics during this time were deeply involved with the war effort, and that Batman continued to be published after the end of WWII, while many other heroes ceased to be, this is probably a safe assumption. Batman, after all, was created to fight crime and not the Axis.
   The Batman Archives Vol. 5 reprints the Batman stories from Detective Comics #103-119 and it is quite a mixed bag that I enjoyed, but, for some odd reason, felt rather let down while I was enjoying it.
   At first I thought it might be the art. The majority of the art is by Win Mortimer, who was one of DC's premiere artists at the time. Some of it looks rushed and cluttered, and, although some of this may be due to reproduction and, while still competent, pales behind the stories that he obviously had time to produce. Bob Kane surfaces for two stories (he was busy with Batman in both the newspaper incarnation and in Batman) and my favorite Batman artist, Dick Sprang, has only three stories. Probably the oddest duck of the bunch is the one story by Howard Sherman, who's rendition of the Joker is chilling, while the other characters around him are in their regular comic style (it just doesn't work). So, artistically, this volume is not quite what I was expecting, but was still acceptable.
   No, it was with the stories that I have to place the blame. Many of them are what one would expect from a Batman story: a crime is committed and baffles all the authorities, so Batman steps in and solves the mystery. This formula has always worked well for Batman and does so here, although it seems to be a bit tired at times. A couple of other stories involve Batman in a more human context as the Dynamic Duo help out people in need, one of the strongest plotlines used during the Golden Age for both Batman and Superman (among others). Bringing the super hero down to the realm of mortals has always been a favorite theme of mine and the stories where Batman involves himself in ordinary problems have always seemed special, especially when written by Bill Finger, like the "Crime on the Half-Shell!" story that appears here. The Joker also makes three appearances in this volume, all of them carefully spaced out so the character isn't over used, but none of them outstanding. So, what's not to like? Well, most everything. On completing this volume I got the feeling that the Batman writers were getting tired by this point. Not surprising, since, according to my calculations, Batman had appeared in 76 stories in Detective Comics alone, by this point and possibly another 100 or more in Batman. Maybe it was that it was in the middle of the WWII and no new blood was entering the comic field, or just the rigors of churning out a number of new stories each month was starting to tell on one and all, but I see these stories as a transitional period for Batman. The detective stories are pretty good, the human stories are excellent, but there is nothing really memorable or different about the vast majority of them. This volume also has two stories that suggest stories that were to come in the future: "The Batman Goes Broke!" and "The Rescue of Robin Hood", both examples of the gimmick stories that flooded Batman and Detective in the 50s.
   Not just for the completist, but not what I would recommend for the casual reader, The Batman Archives Vol. 5 retails for $49.95.

ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL. 1

   Ever want to read a huge chunk of a comic series that you missed the first time around? Of course, you do. That's why these reprint volumes keep on springing up: some better than others. In the case of Essential Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1, I wanted the chance to read the issues I had missed when they first came out, since I had started collecting the title with issue #11. At the time, the prices on the earlier issues, by the time I discovered the back issue market, were up in the stratosphere, since some of them featured the X-Men and, even in the early 70s, speculation was driving the price of back issues through the roof. Unfortunately for me, I should have kept wondering about most of these early issues and let them remain a mystery, since EMT-U Vol. 1 (title shortened for this time zone) was quite a disappointment.
   Just as DC had Batman team up with a guest star in the later issues of The Brave and the Bold, or Superman team up with whomever in DC Comics Presents, Marvel put out Marvel Team-Up as a vehicle to team Spider-Man with the other characters of the Marvel Universe. Of the first 10 issues, the strongest is the first, which is written by Roy Thomas, drawn by Ross Andru and features the Human Torch. All the elements are there to make the story special, including the friendship between the Torch and Spidey. From there, however, it's all downhill under the hands of writer Gerry Conway (forced plots and situations) and a passle of different artists that includes Gil Kane (during his ugly period), Ross Andru (with various inkers) and Jim Mooney (who doesn't look like Jim Mooney when he inks himself).
   With issue 11, the first I bought way back when, a change occurs for the better with Len Wein coming aboard as writer for the rest of the issues in the volume. Wein has never been one of my favorite writers, but reading these stories today, I find that he did have a knack for making somewhat plausible the teaming of Spider-Man with whatever guest star was on hand for each issue. From issue 11 to the final issue in the book, #24, Wein makes each story seem like an event without the forced quality that mars the first ten.
   Artwise the later stories are also an improvement, with Gil Kane being controlled by his inkers and the work of the man who would later become one of the Marvel mainstays:  Sal Buscema. Buscema is another of the under-rated artists of comics, whose story telling is clear and concise without a lot of flash, but also pleasant to look at. One oddity in the later issues is the inking of Wayne Howard on issue 14. Howard was an assistant to Wally Wood at one time in his career and mainly worked for Charlton doing horror and science fiction stories that were in Wood's style. Here, he smoothes out some of Kane's flaws, but for whatever reason, never surfaced at Marvel again.
   With some good stories, but a lot of clinkers, Essential Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1 reprints Marvel Team-Up #1-24, retails for $14.95 and is only for completists.

The Mighty Thor from Journey into Mystery #111-120 & Annual #1

   A volume with the unbelievably unwieldy name of The Mighty Thor from Journey into Mystery #111-120 & Annual #1 is up for review this time around and this is the last time you will see the entire name until the end of the review. Produced as one of the final volumes in the aborted Marvel Masterworks series, it reprints just what it says in the title.
   This is the third of the Thor volumes, and continues Kirby's vision of the Norse gods with the assistance of Stan Lee and a host of inkers. What is most interesting is the way Kirby's art changes depending on who inks him. The lead stories in #111-114 are inked by Chic Stone and have almost a cartoony quality to them, leading me to believe that Kirby may have been providing Stone with layouts, rather than full pencils. On the other hand, the back-up "Tales of Asgard" stories in these same issues are inked by Vince Colletta and look more like Kirby, but, in true Colletta style, there is very little detail left. Comparing the art makes one wonder if Stone were over-rendering the pencils and Colletta under-rendering them, or if Kirby gave the same work, either full pencils or layouts, to both and the results are what we see here. Issue 115 adds even more fuel to the fire, as Frank Giacoia (under the pseudonym of Frankie Ray) adds his inks for one lead story and produces what I believe looks very much like Kirby as he was drawing at the time. From 116 to the end of the book, Colletta does all the inking and, although there is a lack of detail, it looks fairly close to what Kirby would have pencilled at the time. Colletta has always taken flack for his inking approach to Kirby, yet a comparison of this book to say, Fantastic Four, shows that Colletta was inking in a style that was in keeping with the subject matter. Thor always had a gritty look as opposed to the sleek look of the FF, since Thor was about gods and nature, while the FF was about man and science.
   The early Thor stories have always been some of my favorites, as they were an odd collection of myth and science fiction. Thor has one foot firmly planted in Kirby and Lee's version of the Nose myths and the other foot planted among the mortals he is sworn to protect. The Asgardians posess weapons that would make S.H.I.E.L.D. sit up and take notice, yet they still depend on swords and spears and the like. There constant conflict between Thor and his father, Odin, his half-brother, Loki, which is consistent with Norse mythology, but the Thor of the comics freely interacts with humans, unlike the Thor of myth. Thor has a secret identity as Dr. Don Blake and through this human side, he is able to express the love he feels for the mortal woman, Jane Foster: a relationship that eventually tapped into the psyche of the times and the conflict between the older and younger generations. The stories in this volume touch all these bases, but it is where Thor interacts with mortals that the stories work the best. There may have been more science fiction in later issues and more of Asgard, but the delightful mix that exists in these early issues was never attained again.
   An aside: One of the oddities of this volume is that some pages appear to have been reproduced from uninked pencils. Marvel admitted at the time that this book was in preparation that they did not have clean copies of the needed artwork and put out a call for reproduceable black and white art. Where they found pencil art at this late date is unknown, but it makes an interesting treat for the eyes.
   The Mighty Thor from Journey into Mystery #111-120 & Annual #1 is still around, retails for $49.95, and will give you hours of reading pleasure.

Top 10 Book 1 & 2

   About 20 years ago, George R. R. Martin created a shared universe series for Bantam Books called Wild Cards. In the series, a virus spread by aliens causes people to develop super-human abilities: some useful (the Aces) and some worthless (the Jokers).
   Around the same time, NBC began airing a series called Hill Street Blues, which dealt with the men and women who worked in one particular police station.
   If you take both these concepts, mix them well and add a dash of Kurt Busiek's Astro City, you would have Top 10, the short-lived series by Alan Moore that is up for review this time around.
   Top 10 Book 1 & 2 is a two volume set that reprints the entire 12 issue series that was originally released by America's Best Comics between 1999 and 2001 and I wish I was a bit more enthralled with it than I am. Part of the problem, of course, is that I see the roots of this series, as mentioned in the opening paragraphs. I watched Hill Street Blues when it was on and still watch its offspring, NYPD Blue, so the concept of a group of cops and the problems they face is quite familiar. Similarly, I read all of Martin's Wild Cards series as they came out, read some of Astro City, so again, the concept of a world where everyone has super powers is like visiting an old friend. But, it is not familiarity with the concepts that gave me pause while I read the series. No, I think the major problem is that this just isn't a very good effort on the part of Moore.
   Granted there are numerous creative bits of business throughout the story that one has come to expect from Moore: ultra-mice, dogs with human exoskeletons, alternate worlds, and concepts that make you sit up and wonder why no one else had ever thought of this. All these concepts, however, are just window dressing for a group of characters that we never get to really know, a concept that we have seen before and a story that just gets started before rushing to a rather unsatisfactory, and hasty, conclusion.
   Another problem is that the art of Gene Ha and Zander Cannon is hard to follow at times. To their credit, there are nifty little things going on in the background from the 6th issue on (probably due to Moore) in which recognizable space ships, aircraft and comic characters start to turn up in the backgrounds (my personal favorite is a Charlie Brown figure wearing a Doctor Doom mask), along with a surprising number of anti-Marvel messages in the forms of marquees, posters and graphitti. The flow of art from panel to panel is poor, however, and I had the feeling that I was viewing a series of stills instead of reading a comic.
   Much as I hate to admit it, the flaws of this series far outweigh the good. I understand that sales on Top Ten weren't as high as expected and this may account for the truncated ending to the series, but poor sales can't explain poor art or a disappointing story. Whatever the reason, these books are only for the completist and you would be better pressed to spend your sheckels elsewhere.
   Top 10 Books 1& 2 retail for $14.95 and can be found at the usual outlets.

The Spirit Archives Vol. 7

   Those of you who have followed my rambling reviews here know that I enjoy The Spirit Archives and have not held back when I felt the stories, or DC's presentation of them, were sub-par. Fortunately, the 7^th volume of the series continues the upswing witnessed in volume 6 and, except for the highly speculative introduction by R. C. Harvey, serves up the stories that originally appeared from July 4 to December 26, 1943 in their well-deserved glory.
   In reading this volume, the phrase "they got it right" came to mind, for the melding of Lou Fine with writers Bill Woolfolk and Manly Wade Wellman works very well in this volume. The stories are complete and well paced, without the feeling that something was left out. The art does not seem as posed and stiff as the previous volume and, although there are signs of hands other than Fine at work in the early stories, Fine's presence becomes more pronounced about mid-way through the book.
   There is only one teensy problem, however. You see, these stories are about a character named The Spirit, but aren't really about Will Eisner's Spirit (maybe we should call him The Spirit of Earth X?). While these stories are well told and are nearly all enjoyable, the slight quirkiness that Eisner was able to give to the character isn't here. The supporting cast is all present, but there is a depth of characterization that only Eisner was able to bring to the strip. Eisner had the sense to use Ebony sparingly, whereas he is the star of way too many stories in this volume for my taste. Under Eisner, Commissioner Dolan was outsmarted by the Spirit, but there was a kind of wedge between them, the same as between Batman and Comissioner Gordon. Here, the two characters are just a bit too chummy. Etc...
   Whereas I could go on a great deal about this, I don't want to disuade you from getting this book, as the stories are well told and I think you would find the entire volume enjoyable, whether you are a fan of The Spirit or not. If notheing else, you can have fun flipping through the pages and seeing how many times the splash page is used as part of the story and how many times it just serves as a full page drawing (oddly enough, nobody during the war years really got the hang of incorporating the Spirit logo into the splash the way Eisner did).
   Definitely a volume you should have on your shelf, The Spirit Archives Vol. 7 has an SRP of $49.95, but if you shop around, you never know what you will find.