Markley’s Fevered Brain: Far and Abroad

Wayne Markley

Wayne Markley


by Wayne Markley

As we stroll thought the dog days of winter, I thought it would be a good time to suggest some good reading to get you through these gray days. These are a mix of things that I have ether read recently or have recently come out that are really good. It is a mix of genres and the source material comes from around the world even though the publishers are all American. As a bonus, this time I also want to mention a web site that I find every entertaining and want to share with all of you.

Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga

Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga


The first volume of Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga was just released from DC Comics. It is a strange book in that it was originally done in the 1960s, in Japan, for a Japanese market. Batman and Robin are the traditional ones you would be familiar with and the Batmobile is from the 1960s television show (which inspired the manga) but outside of that, it is very manga-esque. The art is clearly mid-sixties manga style; it reminds me a lot of Cyborg 009 or Tezuka’s work stylistically. The stories are fairly straight forward and mostly are three parts with the first two parts ending with a cliffhanger of sorts, mostly the villains getting away, not like the TV show were the dynamic duo were about to be killed or some damsel was in distress. The bad guys are not from the comics or the TV show, but are standard for manga of the time period; mad scientists, mutants (not the X-Men kind), scientific experiments gone wrong, etc. None of the foes would be recognized by American fans. This was an odd read in it was something very familiar, with Commissioner Gordon, and a variety of Bat-vehicles and gadgets, yet very unlike any Batman I have ever read. Kudos to editor Jim Chadwick for keeping the material in its original form, including sound effects and coloring (the sound effects are in Japanese with subtitles below the panel which there appear explaining what they mean) and for not “Westernizing” or modernizing the material. I thought a small dose of this goes a long way, as it tends to be a bit formulaic, yet it is a fascinating read, especially to see such an American icon as perceived by a different culture. My only complaint is I wish there was more historical information included in the book. There is a very good overview book of the Batman manga by Chip Kidd called Bat Manga: The Secret History of Batman in Japan which does have quite a bit of the history of the strip (and the Batman craze in Japan) if you are interested.

Teen Titans: Earth One

Teen Titans: Earth One


Teen Titans: Earth One is the newest volume of a series of hardcovers from DC where they re-imagine classic characters in the setting of the “real” world. In the past they have done this with Superman and Batman (there are two Superman volumes by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis and both are excellent). This time out they do the Teen Titans by Jeff Lemire and Terry Dodson. I found this to be the weakest of the three Earth One stories done so far. Lemire does a nice job of reimagining the classic Wolfman/Perez era Titans, minus any characters related to others heroes, such as Speedy/Arsenal, Robin, Wonder Girl, etc. He creates new and interesting origins and back stories for Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Jericho, and others. It was a good read, but it seemed to be missing something. I thought the Superman stories were well thought out and really took the character in a whole new direction. The Batman volume was not as creative as the Superman, but it still had a nice feel to it and had great art by Gary Frank. This volume has great art by Terry Dodson, but I found it to be a bit too cartoony for my taste, which I found distracting as this is supposed to be the characters in the real world which you and I live. It would have made a fine annual or What If? type story, but as a HC I was disappointed. I thought it strayed too far from what the concepts of the Earth One books were supposed to be, as the story is too far-fetched to be real (and I know Superman and Batman are not realistic ether). I also did not care for the end of the story which was a traditional comic book cliffhanger. The others left off with a clear end, and obviously a starting point for the next volume, but this one ends with “to be continued”. Overall a good book for what it is, but disappointing for what it was supposed to be.

Chilling Archives of Horror Comics: Howard Nostrand’s Nightmares

Chilling Archives of Horror Comics: Howard Nostrand’s Nightmares


I write a lot about Craig Yoe’s imprint at IDW books because he does such great and diverse stuff. He has offered everything from Carl Bark’s Barney Bear to Steve Ditko’s Monsters Gorgo/Konga to Alice in Wonderland (in her various comic adaptations and comic book appearances) to what I want to discuss this time, the latest volume in his Chilling Archives of Horror Comics: Howard Nostrand’s Nightmares. Howard Nostrand is not one of the best known comic book artists, even though he did quite a bit of work in from the 1940s through the 1960s (including the Bat Masterson newspaper strip where his assistant was a young Neal Adams). He is probably best known for his work in horror comics, mostly for Harvey but also for Fawcett and a few other companies of the time period. His influences were obviously Will Eisner (based on his design work) and his style, as Yoe puts it, “is a mash-up of Wally Wood and Jack Davis”, which is a very good description. His stories are not really all that scary and they do no reach the level of a Graham Ingels, but they are certainly fascinating to read and they really give you a feel for why horror comics caused such uproar in the 1950s. One thing I was surprised by in reading this book was the dramatic difference in Nostrand’s art when it was reprinted from the comics of the time (in color) and the stories reprinted from his original art (There are five stories reprinted from Nostrand’s original art). It is almost like night and day. The original color stories at times can be a little murky and dark looking. The stories shot from his originals show a fine line and draftsmanship that is somehow lost when the stories were colored, or perhaps it was a poor inker. His original art is beautiful and a true eye opener. Another reason I would recommend this book is Craig Yoe’s detailed history of Nostrand’s work and the stories in the collection. As always, Yoe’s passion for comics and their history shines through-out this book. I would recommend any of the volumes in this history of horror comics, be it Zombies to Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein to the Haunted Horror collections (in nice oversized hardcovers) to the Worst of Eerie Publications. Craig Yoe is a treasure to comics as his passion brings to light so many lost gems from the past that many of us would never have been aware of without him.

Hit: 1955

Hit: 1955


Hit: 1955 by Bryce Carson and Vanesa R. Del Rey and published by BOOM! Studios is both a typical crime book and something special and original. Harvey Slater is a Los Angeles police detective in the 1950s. He is in the tradition of the great hardboiled detectives who drink too much and smoked even more. When Harvey meets a blond bombshell, another detective cliché, he finds his life is turned inside out. Now it does not help that Harvey is part of an underground hit squad that, in the cover of darkness, goes around knocking off people who they deem worthy of death. These hit squads are all L.A. police detectives, not just Harvey, and to no surprise, not all of them are on the same page. While this book does sound like a typical pulp thriller it is able to rise above its peers by clever storytelling with lots of twists and turns and very nice art by Del Rey. It is as far as you can get from superhero material, but it is just as good as the best of the superhero books. The story is a perfect blueprint for a film, and I would not be surprised to see an adaptation of this book down the road. If you like crime fiction, check out this book.

Jonny Quest by Greg Schmitz

Jonny Quest by Greg Schmitz


Finally I would like to recommend something that has nothing to do with comics, at least in the printed form. It is one of my favorite web sites by an artist named Greg Schmitz. I find his work to have a sense of charm and whimsy you rarely see in comics, even though most of his work is comic book related. (I am surprised he has not been hired by one of the big three publishers yet.) I find it almost impossible to look at his work and not smile. I strongly encourage you to also check out his web site at here.  I love Greg’s work so much I have even commissioned pieces of work from him, as seen here, a great take on Jonny Quest. Check out his site and try not to smile and feel better about your day. You can’t!

Everything written here is my opinion and in no way reflects the thoughts or opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees. I welcome comments or suggestions at MFBWAY@aol.com where I am always open to lively discussion about a wide range of topics, including comic books.

Thank you.

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