Saturday, March 31, 2012

Bitter Fruit#4: "Margo Lane's Honeymoon!"

Previously on "Bitter Fruit," we examined the first story in the Shadow#2. Although the cover promised the Shadow would don a super hero costume to save Margo Lane from Shiwan Khan, the first story continued the super-spy format from the 1st issue and had no Margo Lane. With this second story, there's a chance for redemption! Perhaps the Shadow's super hero costume will make its debut!

Or, perhaps not. On the other hand, we finally have an appearance by Margo Lane! The series' supporting cast seems to be comprised of just Shrevy, Weston and Margo Lane and so far all three have appeared in each issue. The introductory splash is one of those images frequently found in 60s comics, designed to make the reader wonder how this situation arose, such as that Superman cover where the hero is in a desert, taunting Jimmy Olsen with a canteen of water. Here, we see Margo and Lamont on their honeymoon, with Margo assuming the role of gun-toting hero instead of Lamont. It's a little early, but I'm pretty sure I can call shenanigans on this premise - I doubt Margo & Lamont are getting hitched in a mere back-up tale.

We open at Lamont Cranston's town house office, where Margo has just finished sending out some letters on behalf of her millionaire boss; she's happy to be paid on overtime, but Lamont tells Margo no amount of money equals her value as he kisses her on the cheek. Margo is surprised by this display of affection, telling Lamont "Maybe you don't realize how attractive you are!" Lamont is flustered by this and departs; strange how when Lamont was faced by an icy woman who wanted nothing to do with him he forced himself on her, but here a woman shows interest in him and he flees. Once he's gone, Margo reflects at how he's a "confirmed bachelor." As you can see above, she also uses the phrase "flicker of romance," even though comics of the 60s supposedly avoided using words like "flick." Margo rests her eyes and a moment later, Lamont is back and tells her after kissing her he realized there was no sense pretending any longer - he wants Margo to marry him!

I think we all know what's really going on, but let's take the story at its own pace. Before long, the duo are honeymooning on the beach in Waikiki, Hawaii. So we just skipped over the wedding? Lamont confides to Margo how dangerous his work is, but she promises to bring him good luck. However, a gang of three men spy on the couple from a cluster of nearby palm trees. That evening, a helicopter with no pilot comes flying directly at Lamont & Margo's honeymoon suite! It's like a stunt from Touch of Evil gone horribly wrong!

Lamont supposes the helicopter is full of TNT placed by his enemies so he and Margo leap from the suite into a swimming pool below. The helicopter smashes into the suite, exploding. Margo believes this affirms her status as "good luck," which is the optimistic way of viewing the affair. However, she does suggest they leave Hawaii to escape the killers, but Lamont wants to capture their enemies. The next day, Lamont goes to the beach alone while Margo arranges a new suite for them. However, the three spies from before appear and hold Lamont at gunpoint, identifying themselves as having masterminded the helicopter attack.

Before the spies can rub out Cranston, Margo approaches and throws a tear gas grenade, giving Lamont the chance he needs to attack them, while Margo captures one man with her gun. Lamont is pleased to see how Margo is a "fit wife" for him, but it's at this moment that Margo wakes up back in the town house. Yes, it was all a dream, as anyone might've guessed when Margo closed her eyes on page 2. Margo's disappointed to find she isn't in Hawaii on her honeymoon, but Lamont suggests maybe someday she will be, leaving her just a little hope. Poor Margo.

You can't say much about a 1960s imaginary-dream-hoax story, especially one as obvious and pedestrian as this. Still, it would be nice if the capable Margo Lane made a reappearance in this series, rather than playing the hostage as she did in the Shadow#1. Yet again, the Grand Comics Database credits this story to writer Robert Bernstein, but this time cover artist Paul Reinman handles the art.

This issue also contains the text story feature "the Adventures of the Shadow," continued from the previous issue. We resume the story of the Shadow's origin with Lamont Cranston in Cairo, Egypt, where he'd confronted a fakir who supposedly had hypnotic powers. The fakir attempts to hypnotize Lamont to prove his power, but somehow his hypnosis just reflects back at him; Lamont has the stronger willpower and he's startled to discover he can hypnotize men. No, Lamont doesn't learn hypnosis through any particular education, he just discovers he could always hypnotize people. He tests his powers out on a dog and sees how easy it is to make the dog see things which aren't there or to make the dog believe it's something else. So, Lamont's discovered his powers; will he use them responsibly? This feature will apparently continue in the Shadow#3.

Very well then; next time in "Bitter Fruit," we'll begin looking at the Shadow#3, which again promises to introduce the Shadow's super hero costume. Perhaps they'll finally make good!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Review: John Carter - the Gods of Mars#1

In my review of the graphic novel Tale of Sand, I wondered what the future held in store for artist Ramon K. Perez, feeling he was definitely a talent worth keeping track of. Now I have my answer: he's drawing the 5-issue mini-series John Carter: the Gods of Mars for Marvel Comics.

Not an entirely prestigious assignment, especially given how lackluster the John Carter movie has been performing at the box office, but no one give up on this book before cracking the cover. My scanner can't do this beautiful art proper justice:

The Gods of Mars is adapted by Sam Humphries from one of Edgar Rice Burroughs' original John Carter novels and follows on from A Princess of Mars, previously adapted for Marvel by Roger Langridge and Filipe Andrade. That series isn't recapped here, except for in a single-paragraph block of text. Reading A Princess of Mars or having a basic familiarity with the John Carter franchise might help a new reader, but I don't think it's strictly necessary. What we have here is simply a grand, high adventure science fiction tale. John Carter finds himself on Mars, as inexplicably as his first visit had begun and ended; he quickly meets up with his friend Tars Tarkas and is anxious to look up his wife, Dejah Thoris, but Carter and Tarkas are soon emeshed within local troubles when they find a group who have been claiming their land is the afterlife ("Mars is Heaven?"). It's a standard action-adventure tale, but it's all in the telling and Perez is quite capable in that department!

However you feel about John Carter, please consider giving this book a chance. It may be the most beautiful thing Marvel is currently publishing and I doubt many will even notice its coming or going.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The case for motion lines, exhibit a

From Ultimate Spider-Man#8, page 15, by Brian Michael Bendis & Sara Pichelli:

On this page, Spider-Man sees a number of metal rings in the air; in the fourth panel, he has to duck to avoid one of them. On the following page, we learn these rings are being hurled through the air by the Ringer.

The problem with this page is that there's no sense of what the rings are or what they're doing. Are they flying through the air? Are they falling from the sky? Are they hovering in place? The only panel where the rings' nature is established is panel 4, when Spider-Man ducks one of them. Here, Pichelli realizes she needs to add motion lines for the action to make sense (if Spider-Man were ducking a seemingly stationary object it would be confusing).

This fourth panel sums up exactly what the other four panels on the page are missing: motion lines. Without the motion lines, we don't understand where the rings are coming from, what path they're following as they travel or how quickly they're moving. Is Spider-Man in danger? Are the civilians in danger? We'd know if the motion lines had been used in panels 1-3 & 5. As it is, the rings appear as threatening as soap bubbles.

Comic book makers: don't be ashamed of motion lines! These, and other such tools belonging to the language of comic books, are in your toolbox for a reason - to be used! "They don't have motion lines in movies" is not a valid defense.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Bitter Fruit#3: "Shiwan Khan's Murderous Master-Plan!"

Welcome back to my continued feature on Archie Comics' 1964 series the Shadow. Previously, we were introduced to Archie's version of Lamont Cranston, wealthy playboy and super-spy who sometimes dons a cape to fight his enemies as the Shadow. We've reached the Shadow#2, which promises to transform our protagonist into a spandex-wearing super hero!

The cover depicts the Shadow with red hair rather than the blond hair from issue #1. His navy blue costume with green cape, boots, gloves and shorts is perfectly acceptable by the standards of 1960s super hero comics. However, it's a pretty lousy look for the Shadow, who looks eerie and intimidating as a man in a black coat and hat. Since issue #1 established this version of the Shadow can't cloud men's minds so they cannot see him, I wish him well as he tries to hide in the shadows whilst clad in bright green. Also, what exactly is he leaping from? He's in the middle of an airport tarmac, you don't find many high spots away from the planes and terminals! We see Shiwan Khan from issue #1's first story is back again and is menacing Margo Lane, whose hair is still black. Strange that only Lamont's hair has changed colour! The cover promises "the Triangle of Terror!" a "book length novel;" the length of this "book," maybe.

We open our story, "Shiwan Khan's Murderous Master-Plan!" and soon see... well, that today's story is not called "the Triangle of Terror!" Further, we see the Shadow is still a man in a blue suit with a cape. What gives? In the above image, Shiwan Khan is supposedly sitting at a desk in his headquarters, but with his desk upon the raised platform, he seems as though he's a judge in a courtroom.

We begin our story at a private airstrip outside New York City as Shrevy sees Lamont off for a flight on Cranston's private plane. Once the pilot has the plane in the air, Lamont takes over the controls for him so the pilot can have his dinner (there's no co-pilot, despite the size of the cabin). Just after Lamont returns the plane's controls to the pilot, the craft hits some air turbulence, caused by the mushroom cloud of an atomic explosion! Lamont heads to a communications station on the plane and contacts Weston at "a secret central office." Weston says the bomb was set off by Shiwan Khan, but Cranston should continue on course to Hong Kong and pretend to be on his business trip. However, his secret mission is to journey to a small town outside Peking and find a special agent using the password "free world."

Just as Weston's face fades from Cranston's video monitor, an aircraft opens fire on Cranston's plane. Cranston activates an air-to-air missile apparatus, firing a missile which is "impossible to escape." The aircraft being targeted is the same bomber which dropped the a-bomb and piloted by Shiwan Khan himself (how did Weston learn the bomber's identity within minutes of the blast?). Khan's co-pilot compares the pursuing missile to a "shadow," irking his superior. As you can see above, Shiwan Khan's dialogue balloon doesn't make the most economic use of its space; as well, note the use of commas around "shadow."

Shiwan Khan and his co-pilot bail out of the craft before the missile strikes it and they descend to a nearby submarine. Cranston is eager to capture them, intending at first to land via pontoons, but the duo reach their submarine first. Wait, pontoons? On a luxury-sized jet? Cranston looks at the fleeing men through his binoculars, recognizing Shiwan Khan, but when the pilot asks if he saw who they were, he claims he didn't get a good look. Why? If Cranston's status as a secret agent is known to Margo and Shrevy, why not the rest of his staff? Don't they think there's something odd about their millionaire playboy boss having secret video communications mid-flight, being attacked by enemy agents and shooting down said agents with a missile launcher? Is it seriously going to hurt Lamont's double (or triple) life to admit he recognized the internationally-famous master spy Shiwan Khan?

The next day in Hong Kong, Lamont instructs his pilot to drop him via parachute over Fouwong. His pilot surmises his boss isn't making a dangerous clandestine trip into Red China for business reasons, but Lamont can only offer a lame excuse to explain himself: "Call it... er... my passion for sight-seeing!" Lamont, you're consistently terrible at covering up your multiple identities; please, at least consider telling your staff what sort of danger you're bringing them into! Lamont parachutes out at night, wearing a snappy bright green jumpsuit to give the Chinese army a sporting chance at shooting him. Lamont decides he'd better become the Shadow so he can hide... can't he use his Shadow powers at any time, not just when his glasses are off and his cape is on?

Just look at this hopeless panel. Lamont is apparently hidden in the shadows, so his thought balloon emerges from one of the soldiers? Sloppy. Somehow, it works. The text is still very unclear about what exactly the Shadow's powers are, so perhaps he can cloud men's minds? Lamont claims the soldiers are confused at his "disappearance," even though there were no panels depicting him in the soldiers' line of sight. So I guess he did cloud their minds? Anyway, the Shadow shoots out the soldiers' radio, then hypnotizes them, making them think they're inside a cage and unable to call for help. As he does this he finally uses the "clouding men's minds." Aha! Heaven knows what someone who'd never heard of the Shadow would make of this sequence, but we're only three stories into the series and I'm starting to understand what the protagonist's abilities are!

Later, the Shadow knocks out another soldier on the road and steals his uniform and jeep for cover as he enters Fouwong. Why not simply use hypnosis to travel incognito through Fouwong? How likely is it that a blond-haired white man can pass for a soldier, even with the clothing? Lamont has no idea where to find his contact, so he goes to the Dragon's Lair cabaret, hoping he'll draw some attention. Here he finally acknowledges that yes, a white man wandering into a village in communist China is a little conspicuous. Lamont uses his perfect Chinese dialect to get a table near the cabaret singer; she notices him ("like all the rest of her breed." muses the suddenly-misogynist Lamont) and asks to join his table. However, as they share a drink, Lamont begins to feel woozy. The singer leads Cranston out of the cabaret to another location, where he passes out. When Lamont comes to, the singer uses the "free world" password, identifying herself as his contact.

We now begin chapter two of the story, "the Triangle of Terror!" Aha! So the cover didn't exactly lie! Perhaps we'll see Margo Lane and the blue-green spandex yet! The singer reveals she's a freelance agent who'll work for anyone, including Shiwan Khan. This time, she's been hired by the USSR. It seems Khan intends to blackmail China into making him their ruler under the threat of his atomic weapons; the USSR fears if Khan brings down China, they'll be next. Boy, if Khan has this many atomic weapons then stopping him from getting the plans to a US rocket plane (issue #1) seems a lot less important now. The cabaret singer says they need to find Khan's ultimate weapon.

Before they put their plan into motion, Lamont grabs the singer and kisses her. She tells him this is the last time she'll tolerate such behaviour; Lamont retorts "Okay! Next time you kiss me!" But she answers icily "Such a time will never come! I am not interested in romance!" This is the most James Bondian performance by Lamont thus far. The singer's fellow freelancers keep calling her "Princess," so I guess that's her codename?

Suddenly, Princess and her men act as though Lamont has disappeared, even though he's standing in plain sight. Y'know, over in 1964 issues of the Fantastic Four, Jack Kirby never made you wonder whether the Invisible Girl was invisible to her enemies or not, but the creators of the Shadow have no clue how to tell their audience when he's using his powers. Consequently, it's hysterical to see these scenes of Lamont "disappearing" in plain sight. Anyway, Lamont is suddenly wearing his cape and has lost his glasses, so he's the Shadow now. To cover his disappearance, he cries out as Lamont that the Shadow has captured him. This works, because Princess and her men know of the Shadow and that he's an enemy of Shiwan Khan. This from people living in a village in China, whereas in the previous issue, CIA agent Weston thought the Shadow was just a legend! The Shadow grabs Princess and covers her mouth, then hypnotizes her three henchmen so they think each other is Shiwan Khan, causing all three to knock each other unconscious (all three at once? that's some trick).

Now the Shadow turns on Princess to hypnotize her into assisting him with Shiwan Khan (even though she's already offered to help Lamont!). The Shadow forcibly hypnotizes her, theorizing Khan will be trapped by "the bait of [her] beauty!" So, the Shadow's opening salvo is to mind-rape her so Khan can take advantage of her? Pretty skeevy behaviour, Lamont. Now the Shadow just has to find Shiwan Khan! Stepping back into the streets of Fouwong, Lamont "mentally x-rays" passersby until he finds some who are working for Khan. That sounds like an involved task, but the first people he checks are Khan's men. The Shadow orders Princess to surrender to Khan's men and they carry her Khan's mansion, with the Shadow hiding on the rear fender. Why does the Shadow need this deception to find Khan's manor? Couldn't he force the information from the minds of Khan's men?

Princess is brought to Khan and she identifies herself as Princess Lua, hired by the USSR to stop him alongside Lamont Cranston, but she tells Khan the Shadow is present in Fouwong. Again, one wonders why Lamont keeps the Shadow as a separate identity! All of this is according to the Shadow's plan. Lua offers to join forces with Khan to stop the Shadow, plus offers herself as Khan's lover. Lua asks where his "X-bomb" is. So, I guess Khan's super weapon is called the "X-bomb." Khan doesn't actually want to set off the bomb, preferring to ransom the world instead, but Lua suggests he should direct his ultimatum to the Shadow, demanding the Shadow surrender or the X-bomb will explode. The Shadow spends the entire time eavesdropping on Shiwan Khan outside his window while this happens; here's an idea: try using your powers to sneak inside the room, beat up Khan, pull the X-Bomb's location from his mind, then erase his memories. It's nothing you haven't proven capable of doing so far!

Anyway, now that Khan has issued the ultimatum which Lua suggested (and which the Shadow forced her to suggest), he bursts into Khan's lair and begins defeating his henchmen. The Shadow pulls out a second cape and throws it over one of Khan's men, then throws him into Khan's room as a distraction. Khan is guarded by an agent armed with a machine gun. Aha, so that henchman is toast, right? No, he quickly explains the situation to his master and the real Shadow announces his presence. Uh, what was the point of that? And what was the point of the revised ultimatum? Now the Shadow uses his hypnosis to "be-cloud" Shiwan Khan's mind, causing him to forget where he hid the bomb, how he made it and forget everything else he knew about atomic weapons. Khan passes out from this strain, hitting an alarm with his hand. Consequently, the Shadow has to run with Princess Lua to avoid the rest of Khan's guards. What? Why didn't Khan sound the alarm when he knew the Shadow was in his base? And if the Shadow can conceal himself and Lua from detection, why not take Khan along as a hostage? Not that they were able to keep Khan in prison last issue, but he should at least make the effort.

Anyway, Shiwan Khan has lost all memory of his bomb. Princess Lua sees Lamont Cranston off at an airport as she notes Khan can't explode his own bomb. "Right! I took care of everything!" Wait, what? No one's supposed to know you're the Shadow, Lamont! You just took credit for stopping Shiwan Khan! Sigh. Lamont and Princess Lua have their parting of the ways as she warns they may meet as enemies next time "I adore enemies like you!" is Cranston's response. Considering Lua earlier claimed she didn't want romance, I don't think this change of attitude casts the Shadow in a good light.

This is... a pretty crummy story. The divide between Lamont Cranston, millionaire; Lamont Cranston, super-spy; and Lamont Cranston, the Shadow; remains ridiculous, as noted above. The man should have two identities, period. The Shadow's powers remain nebulous, ill-defined and poorly represented by the art. The Shadow using his powers to alter the mind of his own ally is also a very repellent development. I hope the super-spy version of Lamont Cranston is done away with quickly - at this point, I'm eager to see him become a super hero if only to avoid the complications from his being a secret agent. This is a sloppy comic book, muddled by the attempt to fuse a super-spy Bond rip-off into an existing detective super hero. Again, the series lacks tension because the Shadow's powers are so ill-defined and versatile one never believes he's in danger; sure enough, he spent most of this tale hypnotizing his enemies into obeying his will.

Once again, the Grand Comics Database credits the story to Robert Bernstein, the art to John Rosenberger and the cover to Paul Reinman. I don't know what to make of the cover. Clearly they already knew they were going to transition the Shadow into a spandex-clad super hero, but they ran it at least a month early. So, just as last issue's Reinman cover depicted a version of the Shadow who wasn't found in the interior, so does this issue follow suit. At least they didn't lie about Shiwan Khan being the villain! He's... their only villain, after all...

Well, the super hero costume never appeared, but that's the Shadow#2... No, wait, there's a second story in this issue. So much for the "book length" promised on the cover! Man! Okay, next time in "Bitter Fruit," we'll examine the 2nd story in Archie's the Shadow#2.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Bitter Fruit#2: "The Eyes of the Tiger!"

I didn't mean to continue the "Bitter Fruit" feature for a few more days, but because the second story in Shadow#1 is so brief, why not get it out of the way? I present to you the second stunning Shadow-as-super-spy tale, "the Eyes of the Tiger!" Rising up, back in the alley.

Although in the first story the title/splash page was where the narrative started, "the Eyes of the Tiger!" opens on a scene which won't come up until later in the tale as we see the Shadow attempting to hide from bullets in the shadows. Note in the above that Lamont is not relying on the shadows of any particular objects to shield him from the bullets, simply relying on the shade being cast by the building.

Lamont Cranston IS Mister Magoo.

Our story really begins at Pier 69 and the offices of Cranston Shipping Lines; Lamont has just finished work and Shrevy begins driving him back to his town house. En route, a man falls down in front of their Rolls Royce and Shrevy & Lamont exit the car to check on him, but Lamont is instantly suspicious when he sees the man is lying face-up with his legs under the car. Sure enough, the fallen man pulls out a gun and reveals he's a stuntman; two of his associates approach and knock out Shrevy, while the stuntman discards Lamont's glasses, thinking this will render him helpless.

Yeah, looking exactly like the Shadow isn't suspicious, but if they saw the costume they might begin to wonder.

Lamont notes he only pretends to be nearsighted, the glasses' true purpose is to maintain his secret identity as the Shadow. I don't believe a nearsighted person is "blind" without their glasses, but whatever, the criminals are seizing an advantage. The real question is, why don't they recognize him as the Shadow now? We already saw him fight crime in the previous story in a baby blue suit (sometime with cape, sometimes without). The three man gang load Lamont back inside his Rolls Royce and reveal their ploy: they're driving to a bank where Lamont will withdraw $1 million. Lamont protests he can't sign a check without his glasses so they pull under a streetlight (even though it appears to be noon outside). Lamont bolts from the car when it stops and runs into an alley, gleefully noting he has his Shadow costume hidden in his suit's lining. And by "costume" he means "cape." Yes, once you lace the cape around your neck you'll be a different person, by gum!

Did I say tiger? I meant kitten.

To maintain his advantage in the darkness of... noontime, Lamont throws bricks at his Rolls Royce, smashing the headlights. Lamont seems to be about 30 feet from the pursuing criminals, but they've lost sight of him and he's donned his cape. To frighten the criminals, Lamont pulls out a pen-size flashlight and holds it under his chin, scaring the criminals by using fireside tactics. They believe he has "the eyes of a wild animal! ...A TIGER!!!" Turning off the light and slipping through the shadows of the alley, the Shadow comes up on the criminals' right flank without them seeing. At this point, they really should allow Lamont to use his "cloud men's minds so they cannot see him" power from the radio, rather than portray his enemies as blind and dumb (full disclosure: Lamont claims he's performing hypnosis with the flashlight).

Yeah, it's hard to see outside when it's... noon.

The Shadow quickly knocks out all three criminals, who can only see the shadows, not him... even though the Shadow is standing in direct light in each panel as he hits them. Returning to the Rolls Royce, Lamont uses a radio transmitter in the backseat to contact police headquarters. Later, a policeman tells Lamont the criminals think a tiger came out of the shadows to maul them. Lamont replies "without glasses, the most I could see was A SHADOW!" And this brings our tale to a merciful end.

As before, the Grand Comics Database credits this tale to Robert Bernstein & John Rosenberger. This story doesn't touch on Lamont's status as a super-spy, instead playing off him as a millionaire playboy. This low-power version of the Shadow is howlingly bad, owing more to a Mad parody of the Shadow than the formidable character of the radio. I'm sure there's a brilliant comedy sketch to be had in the idea of the Shadow standing in direct sunlight while declaring "No one can see me! I'm concealed within the shadows of this nearby umbrella!" then waving around his flashlight and making eerie noises.

The Shadow#1 also contains a text story: "the Adventures of the Shadow, chapter one." I won't recap it in full, but it does some of the work the main feature didn't, relating details of the Shadow's origin. It relates how Lamont became a billionaire during his senior year at college when his parents died; despite his money and good looks, Lamont wanted more so on a whim, he journeyed to Cairo, Egypt. He met a hypnotist in Cairo and... there the story ends, supposedly to be continued in the Shadow#2. We'll see. I thought the Shadow gained his powers in "the Orient," not "the Middle East."

Later this week: the Shadow#2, in which our be-clouding hero discards his baby blue suit (and blond hair) for a mask and spandex! This could be painful.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Bitter Fruit#1: "the Shadow vs. the RXG Spymaster!!"

Welcome to the first installment of "Bitter Fruit," a new occasional feature where I'll be looking back at 1964's the Shadow, an Archie comic book based on the famous pulp/radio hero.

Archie's 1960s super hero revival is considered by many fans to be the worst super hero comics of the 1960s. And of these, Archie's 1964 version of the Shadow has been called the worst of the worst.

I've heard every surviving episode of the Shadow radio program, watched most of the motion pictures and read the 1970s DC comic book. However, I haven't read a single Shadow pulp story and I know the pulps did most of the work in establishing who he was and what he could do. As I journey through Archie's the Shadow, I'll be reading these comics for the first time as the blog posts are written. Perhaps I'll conclude Archie's Shadow is underrated; perhaps it's a camp classic waiting to be rediscovered; perhaps it's as bad as its reputation claims. Let's find out together! A misleading cover? Boy, I'm glad comics grew out of this behaviour.

The cover of the Shadow#1 depicts the Shadow in his traditional clothing, albeit lit so his garb appears green. This is the version of the Shadow I'm familiar with, so let's crack this puppy open! Jack the Ripper IS Quasimodo in the Phantom of Paris!

I won't be posting the entire issue, but I do think it's worthwhile to look at our title page: "the Shadow vs. the RXG Spymaster!!" It's 1961 and the Shadow is atop Notre Dame Cathedral with his enemy Khan (presumably Shiwan Khan, the villain in the Alec Baldwin Shadow movie - I understand he's from the pulps) closing in on him. The art isn't dynamic, but it's competent. 'I have bigger problems just now! The Devil has come for my soul!'

The Shadow's power is described as "ventriloquism" as he disorients Khan and his men by throwing his voice. He defeats Khan's henchmen, but Khan escapes with a smoke bomb. Strangely, the Shadow doesn't wear his hat or scarf in this encounter, exposing his face to Khan; when he goes back to being Lamont Cranston, he puts on glasses and takes off his cape. You call that a disguise? Practical joke in 3, 2, 1...

One year later, Lamont is in his New York City town house with Margo Lane, a familiar face from virtually every version of the Shadow. Lamont's mail includes a letter from "the Society for the Preservation of American Bald Eagles" bearing an upside-down stamp; placing the letter in a special solution, Lamont exposes a secret message on the stamp: "Tuesday... noon! Feed pigeons in Bryant Park, behind New York Public Library!" Lamont says this is a message from Weston (Weston? Commissioner Weston, the police official from the radio?). 'Which is why I borrow against my death for compound interest!'

We quickly learn Lamont's home is protected with closed circuit cameras, which he uses to contact his chauffeur. Margo is worried about Lamont, but he reminds her he and Harry (who? the chauffeur?) are agents in the US Secret Service assisting the FBI, CIA & NATO and Weston is his CIA liaison. It seems in this version of the Shadow, Lamont is the world's most famous secret agent. The Shadow meets James Bond? It's not the worst idea. Anyway, Margo worries a single stray bullet could kill Lamont, but he claims he's "immune to peril!" In this version, Margo doesn't know Lamont is the Shadow, so I suppose his claims of being invulnerable leave her searching for a good psychiatrist. 'Or his sister, Hiwan Khan?'

Lamont leaves his town house in a Rolls Royce driven by Shrevy (the chauffeur from before), who's been a taxi driver in every version of the Shadow I know. After arranging for Shrevy to return later, Lamont is followed on foot to the library by two men in gray suits... say, Khan and his men wore gray suits. Lamont joins Weston on a park bench and they discuss Shiwan Khan, whom Lamont identifies as leader of "the world's most effective spy-for-hire organization!" He's also descended from Genghis Khan, as you might expect. Weston says Khan has been hired to steal plans for the RXG experimental plane for "an Iron Curtain country." The plans are in three sets and Weston gives their locations to Lamont. And Steve McQueen is riding shotgun!

Lamont returns to his Rolls Royce, but Shrevy has been replaced by one of Khan's agents, who plans to seal Lamont within the back seat then flood it with gas! However, the car has a dual set of controls in the back seat and Lamont activates them, releasing a second steering wheel. He also sends an electric current through the front seat, stunning the driver unconscious. Lamont backseat drives to his town house and gets out of the Rolls Royce using an emergency release door. Removing his glasses and donning his cape, he becomes the Shadow! Wow, I make a terrific racket in shadows, always tripping over them.

We now begin part two of the story: "the Shadow's Doom!" Through a monitor in the garage, the Shadow sees Margo is being held by Khan and his men elsewhere in the town house. Khan's men enter the darkened garage, only for the Shadow to shoot out the garage monitor so Khan can't see them, then shoot their guns from the agents' hands and finally defeat them using karate. The Shadow opens a secret passage to his office, following a rope ladder which descends from the ceiling. Climbing to the top, he shuts off the lights in the office, grabs Khan's last agent and throws him back down the passage. And the bannister is the Mannister!

Shiwan Khan recognizes Lamont's voice in the dark, which raises some questions about the purpose of the Shadow. Khan holds a gun to Margo so he can escape the office; he tells the Shadow another of his men is going to kill Weston. As Khan backs down the town house staircase, the Shadow throws a switch which turns the stairs into a ramp; as Khan & Margo fall, the Shadow changes back into Lamont Cranston to protect his identity. Um, he's not going to check and see if Margo broke her neck in the fall? Or that Khan's gun didn't go off in Margo's back when they slipped? I agree, there's nothing legendary about THIS Shadow.

Khan exits the town house, vowing to settle accounts. After he leaves (for those keeping score, this is the second time Lamont has let Khan escape), Margo tells Lamont "they got Charley." Um, who's Charley? I still don't know who Harry is (is Shrevy's first name Charley? or Harry?)! Margo has also heard Khan reveal where he's hiding out. Lamont goes to his laboratory to contact Weston using a giant switchboard. By the time Lamont sends a radio message to warn Weston, Weston has already defeated Khan's agent. Lamont Cranson: master of timing! Lamont and Weston meet up near the George Washington Bridge and Lamont reveals Khan is staying at "Moody's Madness," an old ruined castle north of "Tarrytown." Weston wants to bring in the CIA, but Lamont says he's called in the Shadow to round up the mob. Weston is surprised, thinking the Shadow is "just a legend." Lamont stammers out a quick explanation, saying the Shadow takes assignments which are too dangerous for him. So, Lamont drives off alone to face Shiwan Khan. Not suspicious at all. I'm be-paying $8 for this?

At the castle, one of Khan's men reports seeing "a shadow, creeping over the wall into the courtyard!" They activate infra-red searchlights, even as the Shadow's laugh emerges from the darkness; Khan recognizes the laugh, having heard it "once before." Come to think of it, the Shadow didn't use his laugh in the opening sequence, so I guess Khan heard the laugh prior to the fight atop Notre Dame. Khan's infra-red lights don't seem to assist them - they wind up shooting down a scarecrow wearing the Shadow's cape. The real Shadow appears and uses hypnotism on Khan and his men, "be-clouding" their memories of Cranston & Weston's operations. To be-cloud or not to be-cloud?

When Weston arrives at the castle, he's met by Lamont, who shows him the inert Khan and his agents. Lamont explains the Shadow has "the power to be-cloud men's minds, a trick he learned in the Orient!" Wait, "be-cloud?" Weston doesn't find anything suspicious about this, instead suggesting the Shadow should do the same thing to the five men they've already caught. Weeks later, Weston & Cranston watch as the RXG goes on its test flight.

We've essentially got a reimagined version of the Shadow here - he's fighting Shiwan Khan for the first time, Weston doesn't know the Shadow, neither Shrevy nor Margo know who the Shadow is, and so forth. However, the series doesn't bother to explain who the Shadow is to the audience either, serving up a very different version of a potentially familiar character, but joining him in media res. And why is set in 1962, rather than present-day 1964?

I wonder if this comic was originally conceived of as a James Bond-esque super-spy comic, only to be reworked into a Shadow comic. The Shadow only wears his hat on the cover and seeing him represented as a fair-haired blond in a blue suit doesn't match any visual I ever entertained in my mind! Also, wouldn't an agent of the Secret Service be most concerned with President Kennedy's well-being, not going on missions with the FBI, CIA & NATO to protect secret plans?

The entire plot about the experimental plane is a wash; it's Chekov's gun, people - don't introduce the idea that the secret plans are in three hidden locations if we're never going to learn where those locations are. A better story would have raised the stakes by allowing Khan to obtain the list of locations, forcing Lamont to race against time to stop the theft. Instead we have Khan simply wandering away from Lamont's town house while our hero puts his glasses on - this does not communicate urgency! Khan is never allowed to be a competent villain because Lamont has a gadget (or scarecrow) ready for every contingency; even Khan's infra-red lights are worthless, with no explanation provided for how Cranston avoided them.

The Shadow/Lamont identity is pretty absurd here; Lamont is already known to be a secret agent by all of his enemies - why keep the Shadow as a separate identity? How is it Shiwan Khan can recognize Lamont's voice in the dark at one point, then recognize the Shadow's later yet not put two-and-two together? There no indication that Lamont's "Shadow" voice is different. And how could Weston possibly buy Lamont's lame explanation for involving the Shadow, then hear Lamont explain the Shadow's powers and origin without raising his suspicions? In the radio program, Lamont simply avoided talking about the Shadow around Weston and the Shadow communicated with Weston on his own behalf.

The Shadow's powers are barely explained; he has ventriloquism and he can "be-cloud" men's minds with hypnosis. He hides in the shadows, but it doesn't seem to be a supernatural power, he's just quite good at concealing his baby blue suit in the darkness.

According to the Grand Comics Database, this story was written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by John Rosenberger. I'm not familiar with Rosenberger, but Bernstein wrote a few early Marvel super hero comics in the 60s. The cover, by far my favourite thing so far, was drawn by Paul Reinman, a genuinely fine talent who'd been in comics since the 40s; he's best-remembered now as one of Jack Kirby's inkers in the 60s, but he was a great penciler in his own right.

There's a second story in this issue, but I'll cover it in the next installment of "Bitter Fruit." Anyway, we won't reach the supposedly very-awful stories until the Shadow#2, when we abruptly switch from super-spy to super-hero. Be there, or be-clouded!

...Say, who are Harry and Charley, anyway?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Review: G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero! Annual#1

Oh, for goodness sake... I'm a grown man! A grown man about to start talking about a comic book based on an old action figure! And yet, is G.I. Joe necessarily more shameful than the super hero genre? Nostalgia, continuity, aging fanbase... no, probably not.

I did play with G.I. Joe toys in my youth. Although I grew out of them, my fascination with Marvel's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero! persisted, thanks to the strong writing by Larry Hama, who seems to have done more for the franchise than any other individual. Hama draws from his own military career to give the outrageous world of G.I. Joe some plausbility; at the same time, he has a wild sense of humour which allowed him to embrace some of the more ridiculous aspects of the franchise and offer commentary on the world around him. A couple of years ago, IDW revived the series with Hama as its author, picking up directly from where the Marvel continuity ended 15 years earlier. Just he once commented on Reagan & Bush's USA, now Hama lives in Obama's USA; which brings us to G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero! Annual#1...

Our antagonist for this self-contained story is Ted Bergendorf, a Crimson Guardsman, one of Cobra's undercover operatives. After losing his day job at a factory because of the depressed economy, he becomes infuriated, laying the blame on immigrants (and Washington DC, of course). Pulling out his Cobra-issued credit card, he buys up some explosives then calls in his local Cobra buddies, declaring they'll launch their own unapproved terrorist attack! Cobra isn't pleased to have lost control over their agents (Cobra Commander is famously a terrorist who made his fortune through pyramid schemes - he hates being taken advantage of!), so Zartan and his Dreadnoks are sent to silence the rogue Guardsmen. Similarly, Scarlett, Gung-Ho, Mutt & Junkyard have been monitoring the situation and settle in to help stop the attack.

Art comes by way of some Marvel Comics veterans: Ron Frenz, Ron Wagner, Herb Trimpe and inker Sal Buscema. Frenz draws mainly the Crimson Guardsmen pages, while Wagner & Trimpe deal with most of the other pages, so the different styles are used to some advantage. Wagner & Trimpe have contributed to IDW's G.I. Joe before, but it feels a little odd to see Frenz & Buscema here; even though both men have worked for multiple publishers, they both honed their talents at Marvel, developing the "Marvel look." But with no monthly assignments now that their Spider-Girl is cancelled, they're back on the marketplace. If you've spent your whole career excelling at being a "Marvel look" artist, how do you find non-Marvel assignments? I suppose an ex-Marvel property like G.I. Joe is a pretty good place to start! There is one page where Mutt's mustache mysteriously vanishes, but otherwise it's a solid package; I love Frenz's take on the bulky Ted Bergendorf, who looks really off-model next to the typical Cobra troopers.

The climax takes place at an amusement park, the scene of the Crimson Guardsmen's attack; this leads to a familiar trope from Hama's stories where the Cobras and Joes wind up fighting in a public place where onlookers doubt the reality of what they're seeing (here, they assume the Cobras and Joes are performers, something the Crimson Guardsmen were actually banking on). It's both humourous and pathetic - Bergendorf's great plan is to destroy a small-scale mock-up of Ellis Island; even if he succeeded, that's not the same as destroying an actual US landmark!

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero! Annual#1 runs only 40 pages of story (about double a normal issue's size), yet costs $7.99 (double a normal issue's cost). Part of the cost is probably due to the "prestige" package - a heavy cardstock cover and thick spine instead of stapled binding. It's a lot to ask for a such a small package and I did consider leaving this annual on the shelf... but seeing a Tea Party-esque take on Cobra with Ron Frenz art sealed the deal!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Review: the Original Johnson volume one

As I mentioned in my review of African-American Classics, Trevor Von Eeden's biography mentioned he'd created a graphic novel about Jack Johnson, the first African-American to win boxing's heavyweight champion title. I was instantly fascinated to learn of 2009's the Original Johnson, which tells Johnson's life over the span of two volumes. I have a passing familiarity and interest in Johnson, having seen Ken Burns' 2004 documentary Unbearable Blackness.

The Original Johnson (yes, the book's title is a double entendre) volume one was the only half available at my local comic shop, but I hope to obtain volume two in the near future. Most of the text is spent detailing Johnson's early years, which, since Burns' movie skipped over that part of his life quickly, is mostly new information to me. However, by the end of the volume, Johnson's boxing career is only just on the rise, meaning the second volume must cover his entire quest for the heavyweight title, his retirement from boxing, his ultimately tragic return to boxing and loss of his title, then his death. At this pace, I think the story needs at least four volumes, not two!

The novel contains a few sex scenes, emphasizing how Johnson's unashamed virility - and frequent white female partners - would eventually earn him a lot of enemies (amongst both whites and blacks). I feel the sex scenes are more graphic than they have to be - this book should be on the shelves of high schools, but the graphic sex will restrict its distribution.

Von Eeden's art shifts in style during the book; in many scenes, his art is smooth and ground like Brent Anderson, but delves into dream sequences with brush-like strokes evocative of Gene Colan. The dream scenes also enable Von Eeden to break from reality and let his imagination take flight, as in a scene where Johnson dons golden armour, strikes down white men and takes their women.

Strangely, the narrative approaches Johnson's life in non-linear fashion, travelling back and forth within his own life and flashing back to the struggles of African-Americans in the days of slavery. For me, it interrupted the momentum of Johnson's life - it feels as though the story halts and starts over again about three times. However, overall it's a pretty satisfying volume, thanks to Von Eeden's outstanding layouts and I will add the second tome to my collection eventually.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Review: Tale of Sand

Of all the hurdles facing original graphic novels in terms of putting them before people's faces, I suppose familiarity is paramount. A familiar character will draw in an audience; so will a familiar creator. However, if audiences aren't interested in your characters, how will they survive long enough to become familiar? Subsequently, how will they become familiar with your work?

This is what occurred to me after reading Archaia's Tale of Sand, rendered by artist Ramon K. Perez. Perez has been published by the major super hero comic book makers, yet I can't say I'd previously taken notice of his work. Regardless, Tale of Sand is being recognized by the comics community because of who Perez collaborated with: Jim Henson.

What we have here is not exactly necromancy; in the 1960s, Henson and his lifelong collaborator Jerry Juhl wrote Tale of Sand as a prospective screenplay. They revised it a few times, as late as the early 1970s, but Henson & Juhl's success with the Muppets set Tale of Sand on the back burner, leaving it forgotten... until now. With the blessings of the Henson company (and Henson's daughter, who penned an afterward to the volume), Perez designed this graphic novel using the screenplay as his guide.

Tale of Sand is a dizzying series of outrageous sequences leading to further outrageous sequences. A usually-silent protagonist wanders through the desert, encountering various oddballs, most of whom are trying to kill him. He can't trust anyone, from Arab raiders to football players; all he'd really like is a little bit of peace... and a light for his cigarette.

Knowing this was originally intended as a short film, I can see how the surreal set pieces would have been appealing to a young filmmaker (though Henson never worked surreal out of his system). What makes this book stand out is, of course, Perez's artwork. Henson evidently wrote barely any dialogue in his script, leaving it to Perez to work most of the storytelling through visuals - he's well up to the challenge! Further, Perez seizes on advantages in storytelling which wouldn't have been available to a filmmaker. For instance, the story opens on Henson's script, which gradually fades into the background as Perez's pencils take over, visually representing the transfer of the story from Henson/Juhl to Perez. In one sequence with a talkative old man, to emphasize how loquacious the man is while the protagonist doesn't pay attention to him, Perez uses portions of the man's dialogue cut directly from the script, ably demonstrating how the man's dialogue drones on. My favourite piece of visual storytelling are the speech balloons used by the Arabs (who speak in an Arabic font) and the football players (who speak in football diagrams). Also, letterer Deron Bennett designed the font to resemble Henson's personal handwriting, which is a neat touch.

I actually laughed out loud at a few points during this book; it's a very quick read, owing to the sparse dialogue, but the beautiful, playful visuals are worth spending a bit of time to appreciate. I hope the attention this book has received will translate into a stronger following for Perez - I'm certainly going to pay more attention to his name in the future!