The Killing Joke!

Want to hear something funny? I've never read The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I'd never read it until just a few weeks ago when I was prepping this post. I have been a monster comic book fan my whole life. But somehow when The Killing Joke hit the bookshelves in 1988 my focus was elsewhere, on my family and beginning a new career. I was a devoted Marvel Comics fan at the time, limiting my focus to help save money for needed things for a wife and two young daughters. So, the changes at DC Comics largely passed me by. 

I ignored The Watchmen. I missed out on John Byrne's fresh take on Superman, I passed on reading Frank Miller's The Dark Knight, and I ignored the praise that The Killing Joke was getting. Later when I turned my attention back to DC, I just never got around to reading this classic. I knew of the consequences such as Barbara Gordon's baleful injuries, but I was never tempted to read the actual story itself. Maybe it was a bit of reverse snobbishness since the story seemed to garner such universal praise. Truth told I was late in the game to the whole Alan Moore phenomenon and his boorish attitudes about it later in life have not warmed me to him. I'm trying to fix that now. 

So, now that I've at long last read it. What's my opinion? It's a pretty fucking (pardon my curse but it felt appropriate) fantastic bit of storytelling that grabs a reader by the neck and lets the go only when that final chuckle has receded into the night. Brian Bolland's artwork (and coloring) is magnificent. Moore's script is clever and taught. The story cannot of course have the same effect on me that it did on readers decades ago because I to some little extent know some of the goriest details from other sources. That's not the fault of the creators. It's not their fault I dallied for over thirty-five years to give this infamous bit of comic book storytelling a go. But I can say the stuff holds up and that it doesn't age a smidge. Bolland creates a noir world which is simultaneously decades old and timelessly fresh. 

Having at long last read The Killing Joke, I turned my attention to the animated adaptation and doing that helped make better sense of the original. It does reproduce the story, but the adaptation falls short of its emotional impact for a number of reasons. The animation cannot really reproduce Bolland's remarkable artwork, a limitation of the form. But most importantly the creators felt the need to add a whole other story to the beginning which featured Batgirl in action. I understood the perceived need to establish her for folks not coming from the comics, but it seemed somewhat random. It undermined the main story and after she's shot there is actually very little about Barbara Gordon in the remainder of the film. And sadly, that's possibly the most tragic part of her role in this story. 

The creators of the cartoon were fooled into thinking the story was about her and what happens to her. It's not. She's sadly just collateral damage like so many of the tragic victims are in the eternal conflict between Batman and the Joker. That was Alan Moore's secret, he took a permanent character and treated her like an impermanent one. It rattled the comfort zone from which we read our little stories and suggested that all things might just be possible. 

So, in the final analysis, I heartily recommend The Killing Joke to any comics fan. What is that? You've already read it, a long time ago in fact. Well, as it turns out the joke is on me. 

Happy April Fool's Day to all. More Joker later today. 

Rip Off

The Mammoth Book Of Best Crime Comics!

The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics is a real feast. All in glorious black and white, this anthology brings together crime stories from across the globe and from many decades. I will admit that some of the experimental stories, such as two by Alan Moore that form a beginning and ending for this collection elude me somewhat, but the bulk of the material is totally accessible. The beauty of a collection like this is if you don't much like the story you're reading, you are confident that the next one will strike your fancy. 

Some of the highlights of the collection for me are Jack Cole's "Murder, Morphine and Me!", Will Eisner's "The Spirit: The Portier Fortune", Alex Toth's "The Crushed Gardenia", and Johnny Craig's "The Sewer". There is a large section of the book dedicated to Secret Agent X-9 by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond, and Ms.Tree story "Maternity Leave" by Max Allen Collins and Terry Beatty gets a large hunk as well. There are two stories featuring art by Bernie Krigstein, one dandy tale titled "Lily White Joe" and a later totally strange yarn form the 87th Precinct titled "Blind Man's Bluff". The notes indicated the sheer oddball nature of this yarn drove Krigstein away from comics for good.

Likewise, artist Ed Robbins left the field when his comic strip with Mickey Spillane "From the Files of Mike Hammer" was censored and ultimately cancelled for the bondage scene above. Sanchez Abuli and Jordi Bernet turn in a classic with a Torpedo 36 story called "The Switch". Neil Gaiman and Warren Piere create one of the most depraved comics I've ever read with "The Court". El Borbah created by Charles Burns is a ton of fun, weird and offbeat fun in the story "Love in Vein". Our old friends Joe Simon and Jack Kirby check in with "The Money-Making Machine Swindlers" and Bill Everett turns in a great artistic effort on "The Button". And I've always been a fan of Paul Grist's Kane series represented here with the story "Rat in the House". 

Below are some of the covers for the comics and such in which many of these stories originally appeared. As you can see, it's an eclectic gathering of artistic styles as are the stories themselves. At a cool twenty bucks (when I bought it anyway) this collection is an entertaining bargain.

Rip Off 

MiracleMan Book Three: Olympus!

In some way this third book of the Miracleman sage by Alan Moore and new artist John Totleben is the most elegant of the fractious run. The series was gifted from the start with wonderful artwork, but the stories which comprise this collection are so exceedingly fine that they feel more like art than artwork,if that makes any sense. The story of Miracleman has moved to its night ultimate phase, the threads of the story are drawing to a close in many ways. 

We meet the alien race which was the source of Miracleman's powers by dint of some of that species falling into the hands of mankind through accident. They are the "Qys", a race that changes forms at will, and with dramatic results. We encounter the gorgeous Miraclewoman, a creature like Miracleman but truth told more at ease with her powers. We follow the much put-upon Liz Moran who must leave to save her sanity after the birth of Winter, the child which she and Miracleman parented. Winter, a mere baby but full of self-awareness and great power too makes decisions which. We see the return of Kid Miracleman with ferocious results. The Warpsmiths are on hand to assist to the last with great cost. Even Michael Moran, Miracleman's other self makes a momentous decision. These are serious stories of a world transformed by the superhumans who inhabit it, both for ill and good. I'm sorry it took me so long to find these tales, but then maybe I only now ready to fully appreciate them. 

Below are the covers for the stories which appeared originally from Eclipse Comics. 

Above is the cover for the Eclipse collection of these stories. The cover is incredibly compelling. Below are the covers for the Marvel reprints of the series from several years ago. 

Rip Off

MiracleMan Book Two: The Red King Syndrome!

The Red King Syndrome is the title of the second "Book" of Miracleman stories and focuses on our hero's conflict with his creator Emil Gargunza. In the fanciful Marvelman comics of the 50's Gargunza was the Dr. Sivana figure, a gnomish scientist with everlasting evil intent, and in these new tales for a fresh audience in the 80's he's not changed all that much. His motivations have deepened, he's a product of the Fascist states and now has his own agenda to breed superhumans so that he somehow will be able to live forever. He is a ghastly and bloodthirsty figure as presented in these stories, a man utterly concerned with his own wants to the utter exclusion of all others. Not all our characters will survive this tribulation. 

While Miracleman is attempting to save his pregnant wife from the clutches of the mad doctor, Johnny Bates is dealing with his own demon, Kid Miracleman. We are privy to his mind as the two personalities vie for control. The extended story ends with a birth which is presented in quite graphic terms. Not unlike the exploitation movies of the 30's these scenes merely show the biological process, but nonetheless require a warning for readers who might be shocked by such imagery. 

The artwork in these stories is passed among several diverse hands. Alan Davis handles the thrust of the first several chapters, but he is replaced by Chuck Austen who is in turn supplanted by Rick Veitch. John Ridgeway also delivers a very winsome story starring the late Young Marvelman. 

The last Warrior magazine to feature "Marvelman" in a painting by Mick Austen. 

The series moves past its Warrior magazine origins and slips over to Eclipse Comics who reprint the earlier chapters before beginning new material changing the name to "Miracleman". These books feature cover art by Jim Starlin, Paul Gulacy, Tim Truman and John Totleben among others. 

The Red King Syndrom was collected in this handsome volume touting a John Bolton cover. 

Marvel reprinted the stories decades later with mostly Alan Davis covers thought others took part as well. These stories are for mature audiences for the graphic representation of both life and death. A comic book hovers dangerously close to real life, the fantasy becomes almost too potent for many. Good stuff indeed! 

Next time we visit Olympus!

Rip Off