Markley’s Fevered Brain: An Epic Blog Not About Epic Collections

Wayne Markley

Wayne Markley


by Wayne Markley

Within this blog you will find a mix of reviews of both old and new books. There is the third collection of Christopher Priest’s great run on the Black Panther. There is an amazing graphic novel by two newcomers to comics by the name of Mezolith: Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares (this might be a challenge to find), and I review two epic manga series that either just wrapped up, the Lone Wolf and Cub Omnibus, or I just finished reading them, 20th Century Boys.  Both of these mangas, while being very different from one another, are prime examples of how to tell a long form story, and both are excellent.  The one theme between all of these books is politics.  Each of these books has a political theme of some sort going through them, in some cases such as the Black Panther and Lone Wolf and Cub it is obvious and in Mezolith Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares is it much more subtle but it is still there.

Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Vol. 3

Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Vol. 3


Marvel just released volume three of four (I think) of Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection reprinting the run by Christopher Priests/Sal Valluto/Bob Almond (among others) on the title.  As with the first two volumes these are excellent stories and mostly politically driven plots with super-villains thrown in. The art ranges from great to good and I am never sure if the decline in the art is due to the coloring or the paper stock, but it does seem to vary from story to story. The main focus of this volume is Enemy of the State 2, another worldwide political thriller. The Enemy of the State storyline, and the following ones, guest-star a variety of Marvel heroes such as Wolverine, Iron Fist and the Human Torch. This follow up story brings back the original Back Panther and costume from Fantastic Four #55 besides the current Black Panther (yes, there are two Black Panthers) in long story with Black Panther vs. Iron Man over the wiretapping of Avengers Mansion. There is a lot of politics to this story that later ties into Civil War even though it is never spelled out here or even in Civil War.  This is laying the groundwork for that story. Black Panther outsmarts Iron Man in a very intriguing story. There’s a good Hulk story with Quinnie, Black Panther’s niece, manipulating the Hulk from Incredible Hulk #33 reprinted here, and of course it is written by Christopher Priest.

There is also a two part story set in Marvel’s old west with all of the usual Marvel Western characters such as Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, etc. What is interesting is this two-part story is a sequel to a story that originally appeared in Thor #370, also by Priest, but this time being told from a different perspective.  Fortunately, Thor #370 is included in this collection. Wrapping up this collection is a two part fill in Black Panther story by J. Torres and Ryan Bodenheim and Waldon Wong from Black Panther #57 and 58.  I found these stories a little puzzling as they skipped over Back Panther #50-56. I am assuming these stories will be in the next volume.  Plus there is a story from Marvel Double Feature with Doctor Doom which ties into the ongoing Black Panther stories. This story has painted art and the reproduction leaves a lot lacking and is hard to read in places.  All of the stories are tightly told stories filled with political intrigue and action.  The stories are complex but tie up nicely at the end. I really enjoy the mix of urban storytelling with the classic Black Panther super-villains thrown in. Once again this is a great collection of Black Panther stories that clearly follow-up on what Don McGregor did in Jungle Action and what is now being done in the new Black Panther comic that just came out.  A good read.

Mezolith Vol. 1

Mezolith Vol. 1


Mezolith: Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares is an absolutely beautiful book by writer and storyteller Ben Haggerty (an Englishman) and storyboard artist and designer Adam Brockbank (a Frenchman), who is best known for his designs of characters and landscapes in the Harry Potter movies and the upcoming Star Wars: Rogue One movie.  Together they have produced one of the most beautifuly told graphic novels by newcomers I have ever seen.  It is a mix of fairy tales, myths, survival, a tale of a boy growing up and all of it set in 10,000 B.C. The format is that of a European album with full color art and story in a hardcover.

The story is about a young boy names Poika who is a member of Kansa tribe in Stone Age Britain. Poika is a typical young boy who thinks he can do anything and this leads to a mixture of trouble and adventure.  The graphic novel is made up of short full color stories that range from eight to ten pages.  What is so beautiful here is how the words paint a picture while the art makes it seem so real.  Each adventure builds upon the prior and as we read along in this one album we learn about the perils of primitive life, the mythology of the people, how it shapes their daily lives, and how they live day to day and interact with other tribes.  It is both beautiful and at times painful to read. The stories are a mix of reality and dreams that intermix with the easiest of charm.  Each story, while short in length, are long in texture and richness. I cannot praise the art highly enough as it has the lush richness of John Bolton while the realism of a Doug Wildey.  It truly has to be seen to be believed.  This is listed as being the first volume and a second volume is advertised by their publisher, Archa1a, as coming soon. I sure hope so as this is one of the best mixes of art and storytelling I have seen in many years.

I recently wrapped up reading too long epic manga series, Lone Wolf and Cub, which originally ran 28 small volumes in America and recently was collected into 12 huge (700 plus pages) omnibus from Dark Horse Comics. I also finally (after years of reading them a bit at a time, it was so good I did not want it to end so I kept putting it aside) the 22 volumes of 20th Century Boys by Naoki (Monster, Pluto) Urasawa and Viz. I would consider both of these to be masterpieces of long form storytelling even though the two stories are vastly different in terms of story and art and approach to the storytelling. I am going to review both of these series briefly, but I will say up front that both of these are amazing pieces of work that deserve to be read by a wider audience.  These are great examples of how to tell a long story over time (over 8000 pages in Lone Wolf and Cub) and not to become boring or overly repetitive. These are both great examples for both Marvel and DC on how to do a long form crossover or story and not make the same mistakes they have made for the last twenty years that have made almost all of the crossover/events disappointments in the end.

Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus Vol. 1

Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus Vol. 1


Lone Wolf and Cub is written by Kazuo Koike and drawn by Goseki Kojima and tells the story of Ogami Itto and his son Daigoro. Itto is the Shogun’s executioner who is framed by the Yagyu clan who make false accusations against him and force Itto and his son to hit the road on the path of to clear his name.  Throughout each volume the story builds towards the final battle between Itto the Yagyu Clan leader but along the path it is filled with betrayal, fights, intimate moments, and logical storytelling.  Each chapter of the story builds the over arching story while telling small tales of people struggling to survive or the political intrigue and the behind the scenes mechanisms and the depths of deceptions that people will go to stay in power.  The story ends on a tear jerking conclusion that perfectly wraps up the storyline as every little piece of the epic falls into place.  It is amazing how everyone in the story from the littlest character such as a shop owner, to the Shogun himself all play a part of this epic and each player is fleshed out and their story plays into the grand finale.

There is no wasted space or words in this epic and the overall story is perfectly logical given the time and location the story takes place. I have read a complaint that at a few times the story feels a little padded and I can see why you might think this but it is rare. The storytelling varies as there are times where there are double page spreads of fields filled with a battle and at other times there are multiple panels telling a personal story.  I could see where you could find six pages of double page spreads of a battle as padding but I did not find that to be the case. The style is similar to other samurai epics such as Vagabond or Blade of the Immortal and looks sketchy in places, but I thought it worked perfectly for this story.

Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys

Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys


20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa is not quite as long as Lone Wolf and Cub but it is also an epic tale of a very different style and tone that is as good, if not slightly better, than Lone Wolf. Like Urasawa’s other epic Monster (which I also greatly enjoyed), 20th Century Boys takes place over a number of years. The basic story is about a young boy named Kenji Endo and his group of childhood friends who are convinced that a cult-leader known as the “The Friend” who wants to destroy the world, has something to do with their childhood. Over the 22 volumes, the story bounces around from the kid’s childhood to the present day as adults and adds characters to make a rich and complex story about politics, the power of a cult of personality, and music and manga (there are lots of references to 1960 and 1970s manga sprinkled through the story). As the story unfolds, you have everything from childhood games to aliens to giant robots to genocide.  There is also a lot of music involved with the story, as after all the book is named after the classic T-Rex song, 20th Century Boy (a great classic song).

The story tends to bop around with time as each chapter is set in the present or the future and that can be a bit disorienting at times.  The characters grow from children to adults and the art perfectly captures that as it is pretty obvious which kids are which adults. I loved how the characters come and go, as we are introduced to the main group of kids in the beginning and over time most of them come back to play major roles as adults.  I also really liked how very little if any of the surprises are expected and by the time you get to the big reveal at the end I was surprised, even though all of the clues were clearly spelled out. I may have picked up on them if I read the book all at once or over less that the five years it took me.

At the end there is a lot left unexplained.  The story just sort of ends. There are two follow up volumes called 21st Century Boys that wraps up all of the hanging details but I have not brought myself to read them yet and say good bye to the characters forever.  The storytelling is very straight forward and clean and almost western looking in terms of style. A complete opposite of the very “traditional” looking style in Lone Wolf and Cub.  The story moves at a very quick pace and is much faster paced than Monster, which I really enjoyed but seemed a bit plodding in places. My only complaint, and this is very minor, at times the characters could look a bit too much alike as other characters and I would get briefly confused. But again this may be due to the time I took to read all 22 volumes.  I enjoyed this series so much I am planning to sit down and reread the whole series at some point in the future.  I cannot recommend this series highly enough as it is a tour-de-force of storytelling with compelling characters, twists and turns, and a suspenseful conclusion that build with pin-point accuracy.  A great, great read.

This wraps it up for this time.  There is a mix of the continuing collection of the Black Panther epic by Christopher Priest, a stunning new album from first time comic creators, and two epic mange collections that finally reached their conclusions.  I would strongly recommended all of these books.  As in the past everything I have written in this blog is my opinion and not the opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees (I doubt anyone else would have read these books to be honest). I hope you try some of these books and please let me know what you think.  What have you read lately and really enjoyed? I’d love to know.  I can be reached at MFBWAY@AOL.COM or at Wayne Markley on Facebook.  As always…

Thank you.

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