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A real legend, a word that's over used but entirely fitting for a talent like John M Burns.

Thoughts and love to his family and friends.

Oh no that's devastating. The news that he'd only just retired to try to help with his health was bad enough but to here isn't not been able to enjoy a well earned retirement just breaks my heart.

Very few will leave a legacy of astonishing art and stroytelling the way John M Burn will. A truly fantastic talent. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. Legend is used all too often these days but in this instance I believe is well and truly deserved.

This will make that final story by him coming out in 2024 all the more a testament to him. 

Cool write up.

Covered in the lastest Mega City Book Club too which is a great listen as ever.

[Dredd]

Still as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.

Silvia's first Dredd was prog 2268 (Extraordinary Deaths), her next Dredd was a Cadet Dredd story prog 2306 (Undertow)
 

Nice one - my memory is getting shocking!

[Dredd]

Largely agree with Indigo Prime on this one, very odd feel for the first Prog of the year. Could we not have doubled up on Helium in the X-Mas Prog and got Thistlebone starting this week. They'll be reason but if that'd been possible would have aided this week so much.

Still as it is we get an excellent Dredd, all be it on fimilar ground. Is Silvia Califano new to us? Effective if not great art.

Helium. Well if you are leaving us like that you'd better bloody well be back quicker this time! Bit exposition heavy this week.

Devil's Railroad continues with its patomine fun. Enjoying this still.

Enemy Earth, well I might re-read it sometime...

Feral and Foe fun and good ending.

Decent Prog.

Interesting the picture from Close Encounters is by John Burns (or presumed so). I assume that's based on the Barney credits (or similar source). I wonder how the work was split its hard to tell from the rendering as it so tight to the photo.

Entirely based on the Barney credit, yes. That doesn't tell us much. I suppose for a lot of the early years, it's never entirely clear who's doing the coloring (either on the covers or on the center-spreads). I assumed that the Barney credit was referring to a splitting up of the line art.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Would be fascinating to know for sure.

Oh this is going to be fun.

Yep agree its very cool how embarrassed Visible Man is.

Interesting the picture from Close Encounters is by John Burns (or presumed so). I assume that's based on the Barney credits (or similar source). I wonder how the work was split its hard to tell from the rendering as it so tight to the photo.

How do people rate Proteus Vex and Survival Geeks?

Both really good. Proteus Vex is quite superb space opera stuff with astonishing art first by Henry Flint then Jake Lynch. Defo worth trying if you've not.

Survival Geeks goes from cute fun to really good and have to say improved no end when I last re-read. Art is lush too.

[Ducks]

Ducks by Kate Beaton. Heard so much about this at the end of last year I picked it up when noting the comics I've not read that I really should and since it had been niggling at me for the best part of a year that I need to read more 'real mainstream' comics when I spotted a gap on my Reading List (spreadsheet) this got a boost and I'm so glad it did.

It deserves all the praise it gets. An autobiography of Beaton's two years working on the Oil Sands in Canada its a superb piece of work and one that has made me think as much, or more than anything I have read for a LONG time. Its both quietly slice of life and horrifying big picture at the same time. Its at once deeply personal and astonishing universial. Its both pointedly targeted and open minded and forgiving. Most importantly the moment I finished it I instantly wanted to read it again, knowing that each time I read this I will see and learn more about myself and human nature.

Quite brilliant and I don't think I got more that 38% of what I can from it.m

I've got a number banked. Try to keep at least 10 ahead. Haven't written much at all over the holidays - other stuff keeping me busy - BUT had planned for this so still have a 10 entry (excluding the not on's) - though may do some this week as I miss writing them.

[Number 116 - Irredeemable]

In that Tween-mas (whatever its called I'm old) losing track of days thing BUT thinks its Thursday so...



Number 116 - Irredeemable

Keywords: Superheroes, deconstruction, brutal, Mark Waid, Superman

Creators:
Writer - Mark Waid
Art - Peter Krause and Diego Barreto
Colours - Andrew Dalhouse

Publisher: Boom! Studios

No. issues: 37
Date of Publication: 2009 - 2012

Last read: 2018

Irredeemable takes the trend in superhero deconstruction to its sadly logical conclusion of going full on breakdown into supervillainy. It makes for a hard hitting story that deftly manages to avoid falling into the trap of just being a Millareque 'LOOK HOW BRUTAL I CAN MAKE THIS' by moving things into some very interesting directions.


Copyright - them what created it...

Plutonian is Superman, but unlike Clark Kent, raised by loving adoptive parents in the good ol' US of A to live life right, Plutonium is raised by a damaged mother and comes from a broken home. Which gives this series its weakest point, which I will return to. So what if you had those incredible powers but in a human with all the weakness and frailty that us regular folks commonly have. Well eventually you snap. Something gives, the pressure, the adoration, the separation from humanity twist, turn and eventually break you. When Plutonium breaks bad, he breaks on a scale fitting of a creature with his massive power and after killing a few folks here and there he levels Sky City, the stories version of Metropolis.

He truly is irredeemable.


Copyright - them what created it...

Now so far this will all feel so familiar. There have been countless Superman analogues over the years, numerous tales of how Superman would have turned out if his origin had been different. We've seen superheroes break bad through the ages. There is nothing in that introduction that would make a reader think they are getting anything different. Yet you do. Mark Waid pulls off an incredible sleight of hand.

Firstly he's a bloody good writer and he delivers this tale as old as time, well as old as Superman at least, with the smart intelligence that his comics at their best offer. It's so well written you don't really feel that you've read it all before. At first he also does it with such gusto and commitment that he pulls you along. He takes that Mark Millar trick of throwing excess at a story and thinking his forced sense of scale will make it exciting and does what Millar so often fails to do and adds intelligence and character to the piece.

Plutonian is a terrible, broken person, and you feel that. You get a real sense of him and the extremes he knows he's fallen to and the pain that has driven him to this. His sense of power and inadequacy are laid bare. Yet he's made to feel real enough to be relatable... well as fair as that can go for a monster and you become invested in him, his story might be terrible but you engage with it and him. He's compelling.


Copyright - them what created it...

This is enhanced by a rich supporting cast. Initially focused on the heroes and villains who have the paths they have chosen shaken to their core by Plutonian's actions. In the main these are super-powered folk on the whole. Paradigm (what a great name for a superhero team!) serves the role of the Justice League. Those that survive Plutonian's initial onslaught are terrified and desperately try to formulate plans to stop him. Samsara fulfilling the sidekick role seems to have a privital part to play as well. Then there are the villains, and particularly Modeus who fills the Lex Luthor role as Plutonian's super intelligent arch nemesis. Others join as the series continues.

All these characters are so well realised and freshly drawn that though a cast of archetypes they feel new and different. Nothing here feels tired and old, even when it should. The world these characters have inhabited is turned on its head and so then is irtheir role in it. This is so well handled it's made believable and yet the supporting cast all retain a sense of who and what they are.


Copyright - them what created it...

Waid has another trick up his sleeve. He keeps things moving at a really brisk pace. There are twists and turns a plenty. The large cast offers all sorts of different avenues for the story to move down. More than that however Mark Waid takes you to places you just don't expect. Just as the series could move into territory that makes it feel as old as its premise suggests, Waid will jig to the left, spin to the right and grab your attention by moving things in a direction you simply don't expect. You simply don't get the chance to sit still long enough to doubt what you are reading. Not in a way that feels manufactured or forced, it all fits together quite organically, but sets Irredeemable apart from other stories of a similar nature. Character reveals feel earnt and make sense, or if they don't you don't get the chance to reflect on it too much before the next plot beat slaps you in the face to grab your attention. Its breathless stuff, but while it keeps you moving its energy and commitment to its themes and characters keep you moving along with it.

There's magical mystery supre powerful alien races, robotic duplicates, extra-dimensional super demons, every exciting superhero trope is thrown into the mix. And there are some new concepts as well to keep things fresh. Gehnom, an asylum in the heart of a sun created to imprison the most dastardly of evil entities, is my favourite and provides the best example of how the series goes to the most fascinating extremes.


Copyright - them what created it...

There are a few things I have problems with. Lots of folks seem to love Peter Krause and Diego Barreto's art across the series. I have to be honest, while it's always fine, it's never more than that. Its functional, tells the story perfectly well, but doesn't take it to vistas of wonder it might have done in braver hands. That might be entirely deliberate, the solid art keeping the astonishing concepts and power on display grounded, keeping things focused on the characters and their reactions to staggering events. A great artist could have balanced these two with more skill and daring. To be clear the art isn't bad at all, but it's just there and doesn't quite live up to the highs the story takes the reader to.

I also think it's a shame that Plutonians' upbring is so rough. It almost provides too much of an excuse for what he becomes, well excuse might not be the correct word, his actions are inexcusable, but makes the reason for his fall too easy. I feel it might have been better if his upbringing had been more normal, given him a solid foundation, the contrast with Superman would have been stronger. The idea that such immense power can corrupt even the most well balanced of people would have been much more interesting. It would have emphasised the ideas that only the most exceptional of people can handle the fact that with great power comes great responsibility.

Neither of these things take too much away from the series but do mean it's lower down the list than it might have been. 


Copyright - them what created it...

A few endnotes before I leave you. There is a twin series by Mark Waid, Incorruptible that started a few months after Irredeemable and takes an opposite view in examining what happens when a supervillain is forced to become heroic due to the actions of Plutonian. For reasons that escape me I've not read this one, though I fully intend to at some point, just too many comics out there. It ends in parallel with the ending of Irredeemable to after 30 issues.

Irredeemable is also in the zeitgeist at the moment. The series was meant to return in 2023, quite how escapes me given the magnificent ending of the series. But I've not heard more about that for a while now. This might relate to the fact that netflix is also apparently developing the story into a movie. It's gone quiet on that front, possibly due to the writers strike, who knows and maybe the comic returning is designed to be coordinated with the movie. Time will tell.

All that said, Irredeemable is a brilliant, hard, entirely satisfying self contained superhero story that really does take modern reimagining of the superheroes to its logical end point. If that tickles your fancy then this is the series for you.


Where to find it

There's a really good value complete collection if that works for you.

There are also two digital omnibuses if you don't like the idea of such a lump of a book!

Smaller trades and collections are also available in the aftermarket as well, though with all the attention this series has been getting of late the original floppies are beginning to get pricey.

I personally got these digitally via a Boom! Humble Bundle and it might well be worth taking a risk and waiting to see if there's another of those as they are always insanely good value, but I've no idea if one is planned anytime soon.


Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page is pretty damned comprehensive, but be warned if you are tempted it has a great plot breakdown with massive spoilers!

Boom! Studio page is pretty good two with links to digital versions of all this.

Omnidog's Vault has a very positive take on this video. Don't agree with some of that he says, but that's kinda the point. Does have some spoilers mind.

Quite like this short article from There will be games nice little comparison to event superheroics.

Frankly there's a lot out there, just do a search for Irredeemable (not sh*t Sherlock!) but add comics or whatever to the end and there's loads of reviews of the collections and what not. This one isn't too difficult to read up on despite being a little off the beaten track.

Yeah I have to admit I use Amazon more than I should and accept the risk of things changing therefore. The loss of Comixology was rubbish as the Kindle store is like 20% as good and all it really means is I buy a lot LOT less digital comics. Shame but there you go! I have quite enough to read... as do you!

I completely see that Eddie Campbell's art is an aquired taste, it absolutely works for me, but fair warning if you don't like Alex stuff (the character from Graffiti Kitchen) and the art is a part of that then alas the Bacchus / Deadface stuff might not be for you either.

Looking forward to get Within Our Reach all the more how!

Hope you had a fun, if varied, day!
 

[Number 117 - Hourman - Tom Peyer amd Rags Morales]

Well slight delay due to X-Mas but I'm nothing if not relentless so onwards with go with one I suspect would be quiet regardless of when I posted it!



Number 117 - Hourman - Tom Peyer amd Rags Morales

Keywords: Grant Morrison, hidden gem, mainstream, superheroes

Creators:
Writer - Tom Peyer
Art - Rags Morales (mainly a few fill ins here and there)
Colours - John Kalisz

Publisher: DC Comics

No. issues: 25
Date of Publication: 1999 - 2001

Last read: 2013

As the cliche goes, everyone has their 15 minutes of fame, so there's an opening for the fact that Hourman gets well... you can do that yourself... except it's barely true. This comic is the very definition of a hidden gem but one that's worth hunting for if you like leftfield superhero comics.


Copyright - DC Comics

In the late 90s Grant Morrison was a big name at DC, arguably the biggest and he created a new version of the classic hero Hourman during his JLA run. He wrote a short synopthesis for a possible ongoing series that was given to Tom Peyer who took that and exploded it into a magnificent, self contained 25 issue run.

The story focuses on Matthew Tyler the aforementioned new Hourman, an android from the 853rd Century cast back to the 20th (and then 21st, it was that time) century and his relationship with the world around him, legacy and time itself. He meets Snapper Carr - as Rick Jones is to the Avengers so Snapper Carr is to Justice League America... only less well remembered I think - at the Happy Harbor Coffeehouse. The two bond and together explore who and what they are. The events that have shaped them and the impacts those events have had on them emotionally, and in Snapper's case physically often. Oh but it's funny as well, very funny and it balances its different tones incredibly well, and naturally. Just like life at times it can be flippant and amusing, at times heartbreaking and sad. Just like life it always feels a bit of a roller coaster.


Copyright - DC Comics

When I reflect on this comic I really think about it being set so often in that small town coffee shop. I honestly don't think that happens all that often, the characters are cast through time and space, exploring many astonishing things and ideas, but it's indicative of the tone and feel of the comic. It feels grounded with real characters trying to deal with life and its consequences, just in hyper-realised superhero comic book ways. At one point (and it's been a while so excuse any errors in the specifics here) the Happy Harbour is literally attacked by demons haunting Snapper Carr.

In that sentence alone you get a good sense of how the series plays out. It could have been just an odd couple goof ball comic. Hourman is superhumanly intelligent, yet naive and childlike, lacking any experience to help him cope in the real world. Snapper has seen it all, lived a life and is now pretty broken, but worldly. Playing off those characters against the silver age fun and imagination that they encounter would have been fine and fun... but it's not that... well it is but it's much more.


Copyright - DC Comics

The idea of an android, or other form of artificial human or alien trying to learn how to cope in the 'real' world, teaming-up up for a world weary friend who guides them while smiling at their difficulty in ordering coffee is an old well worn path. Rarely though has the trope been handled with such aplomb and maybe even depth.

The story is as much about Snapper Carr's growth and 'journey' (yuck) as he copes with his guilt for past actions. He famously betrayed the Justice League back in the day when folks wanted to write him out of the series, he has a failed marriage - which we'll come back to. Snapper is damaged and even at times depressed and his struggles and the growth Hourman helps him with is actually more interesting. The two are an odd couple but it slides around the cliche and finds new territory to explore and ways to explore it. Tom Peyer crafts a fantastic tale of two people trying to adjust to their lives and find redemption.


Copyright - DC Comics

That might have been enough in itself to carry the series, but there is a cast of supporting characters that elevate things further. Bethany Snapper's ex-wife develops a romantic relationship with Hourman, and while she may be drawn as an example of 90s cheesecake, she is fantastic and adds so much to the series and has her own well developed 'story-arc' across the 25 issues. Legacy is explored with Rick Tyler, the original Hourman and his family as he nears the end of his life. Tomorrow Woman, another android, created to battle the Justice League, has a wonderful and powerful story. Even lesser characters who fill the pages feel complete and well developed and all add to the tapestry the series weaves.

Possibly most impressively is the way the villains, and don't lose sight of the fact this is a superhero comic with lots of that kinda things, super-villains that is, are brilliantly handled. Amazo, another android created to battle the Justice League (this time in the silver-age) is a recurring villain, but here he too is trying to discover himself and understand who and what they are beyond a construct designed to destroy. There is work with other classic villains as well. Professor Ivo, evil genius type who originally created Amazo and T.O. Morrow, the evil genius type who originally created Tomorrow Woman, all have the chance to shine and are used in a way that transcends the normal treatment of super-villains in the mainstream. There's even a demon who comes through in the attack on Happy Harbour and stays to become an endearing character (I really hope I'm not misremembering that... I can find no reference to this online, but sources are scant, you'll just have to read the comics to catch me out!).

All in all the cliche that this is a character driven story feels oh so true and the advantage here is there are just so many great characters driving the story.


Copyright - DC Comics

Then there's the art. Rag Morales does the majority of the art in the series and his art is fantastic, perfect for the tone of the comic, mainly inked by David Meikis, though others step in on occasion. His style here is slightly 'cartoony' figures and facial expressions just slightly contorted, not in a way that diminished a sense of well realised art, rather to add emphasis and expression. Everything is just a touch hyper-realised so as to add punch and impact. Both in action and emotion. This is a mainstream comic, the art has a mainstream edge to it, but just slightly off centre, slightly different, slightly leftfield. In perfect keeping with the series itself. This is DC comics as you know them, but not quite as you expect.

There are a few fill-ins and these get more frequent as the series goes on. As Rags Morales became a superstar, in large part I imagine due to his wonderful work on this series, I guess he was given other things to do? That's a shame as none of the artists who come onboard for an issue or two here and there aren't able to deliver quite the same feel nor capture that unique place this comic and Rags Morales' art holds so well. None of the fill-ins are horrible, none of them are great either though. The monthly cycle means the series isn't the artist triumph it would have been if this had come from a different publisher, one who was able to wait for the artist to complete every issue.


Copyright - DC Comics

The fact this isn't a superhero series from Image, Dark Horse or the like are this series biggest blessing and curse. The fact that something so unusual, yet in so many ways is firmly rooted in DC lore and history means it stands out as something different. The fact that it's wrapped in other ongoing mainstream series emphasises the unique things the story provides. It also means it's a little held back maybe, the art isn't quite what it might have been. Its came out as the original image guns and pouches period was coming to an end and just before mainstream comics dived into a gritty, harder period. It slips quietly between these two and so I suspect it gets largely forgotten.

Though it is a mainstream DC comic, told in shorter two, three issue chunks doesn't stop it being a really satisfying cohesive single story. The fact that Hourman is a legacy DC character and apparently goes on to make appearances here and there in the years that follow takes nothing away from this.

Even if you have no interest in mainstream DC comics. No knowledge or interest in the rich history and surrounding universe which frame the series, it doesn't matter. You can pick up (well see below) this series on its own and enjoy a really wonderful, whimsical and hard edged, humorous and serious and entirely satisfying story built not on that history or extended universe but on the characters you met and grew to love in Happy Habour.

Where to find it

These comics have never been collected to my knowledge. They are available digitally via what was Comixology (as of today as I type I'm having to move over to Amazon Kindle - wish me luck!)

Other than that your at the hands of the aftermarket, be patient and you'll get these for bobbins.

Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page except it's not really this is the page for Hourman the character, well characters, but since legacy plays such a big part in this series we'll go with it.

There is a Wikipedia entry for Matthew Tyler specifically as well.

Well at least someone cares Sequential Planet ran a review of the run to mark its 20th Anniversary.

After that I'm kinda scrapping. Good Reads has reviews of most the issues... other than that... well...

[Dredd]

Wow there seems to be divided opinions on this one and having saved it for X-Mas days as I do these days I have to say I got a right X-mas treat. Which is a nice surprise as this being a continuation of all but Dredd ran the risk of it not being special. Far from it in fact!

Dredd - I thought that this was a blinder. Neimand is my fav no Wagner Dredd and its episodes like this that make why completely clear. Still very much seated in Dreddverse, yet brilliantly refreshing and adding to things. Also this is setting up something big one feels. Tom Fosters art is of course superb, if some of the design, particularly of the perps as a little to clean and neat, but that's nit-picking.

Azimuth well if you're going to land us with what feels like a bit of a fan-service twisty introduction you can get away with it if you do it as well as this. Just superb.

It was always going to be hard to match an opening like those two but Anderson does its best, pretty decent story and lovely art BUT why oh why can't folks draw Cass as a mature woman as she is. Its pretty sad, especially when it lets down an otherwise great piece of art.

Fiends takes the quality right back up to top notch with a blinder with glorious evocative art.

Strontium Dog - damn that was so close to being great. Dan Cornwell was of course absolutely brilliant. That opening was fantastic, well crafted tale. Middle colour hallucination bit was unecessary, showed the inexperience of the writer in trying WAY to hard. Then the ending was fantastic and as good as the openning. A really good story with a bit of try to hard in the middle, but you can forgive that I guess.

Rogue Trooper solid story with great art.

Now thw biggest issue is the ongoing stories don't really hold up the quality we have had to this point.

Well okay Helium continues to be a delight and WOW that ending!

Enemy Earth, well ... its there.

Devil's Railroad I'll still stand up for this one. Fittingly pantomine fun for this time of year and I'm enjoying it.

Feral and Foe entertains.

Overall all I'm calling this one a big win. Do miss the fact we're not getting a new line-up to be excited about in the new year but that'll come when it comes and this one was a belter.