DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told?

DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told is a collection which sadly does not live up to its name. But what we do have is a healthy sampling of stories from across the many decades giving a glimpse of what comics were like at various times. It's an eclectic collection with some pretty good stories, but not as many great ones as it should have. I do love that Mike Kaluta cover though. 

First up is a Slam Bradley story from the second issue of Detective Comics. Produced by the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster team, this is a rousing adventure with a nifty blend of two-fisted action and humor. Slam's partner Shorty is the source of the humor of course. I enjoyed this little tale immensely. 

The Sandman story "The Van Leew Emeralds" by Gardner Fox and artist Creig Flessel might me my favorite in this collection. This story from Adventure Comics #51 has got solid art and the Sandman slips in and out of his mask more than a few times. This is an excellent 1940 Golden Age yarn. 

Behind this Batman and Robin Detective Comics cover is an Elongated Man story titled "The Purple Pony". This is well drawn as usual by Carmine Infantino, but the 1964 story by Gardner Fox is not to my mind the best example of what Ralph and Sue Dibny have to offer the reader. It's fine, but nothing special. 

Perhaps my greatest disappointment was the expansive Lois Lane story which occupies nearly one hundred pages of the collection. The upside is the typically fine Gray Morrow artwork, but the story by Mindy Newell strives for realism at the cost of excitement. The prospective reader is warned that at no time does a scene like that picture on the cover of the second issue occur. This is grim tale about child abuse, kidnapping, and runaways. I admire the desire to focus attention on a problem, but it could've been done with a bit more verve. 

From the fiftieth anniversary issue of Detective Comics we get a darn good yarn. Mike Barr's story is divided into chapters with each drawn by specially selected artists. We begin with a Slam Bradley tale drawn by Alan Davis in which we learn that Shorty has been killed and Slam is drawn into a case when his prospective client is whisked away violently. A certain dynamic duo help. Then in a chapter drawn by Terry Beatty and Dick Giordano Slam seeks his lost client by trying to find a missing woman. This takes us to London where in a Carmine Infantino drawn tale Elongated Man seeks a long-lost document. That document proves to be a forgotten Sherlock Holmes story which we get to enjoy thanks to artist E. R. Cruz. Alan Davis returns to wrap things up as the collected heroes team up. It's a fun romp. 

From the pages of 1987's The Question #8 we get a grim story by Denny O'Neil and artists Denis Cowan and Rick Magyar which pits the faceless hero against a deadly and devious killer of criminals. 

The secret origin of Detective Chimp is brought to us by artist Mark Badger and writer Andy Helfer. It's a truly strange few pages from Secret Origins #40 which feature aliens from beyond the stars who find their way into a small and humble chimp. 

The collection wraps up with a back-up story from 1989's Batman #441 in which Tim Drake introduces himself to Dick Grayson and Alfred Pennyworth. Despite featuring some decent art by Jim Aparo we only get a few pages of this Marv Wolfman story. I'm not quite sure what was the intent here and it's the weakest part of the collection. 

I want to like this collection more than I do. Some of the choices seem odd. And the lack of creator credits in the table of contents is frustrating. I had to use the Grand Comics Database to fill in some gaps for this review. This collection does not live up to its grandiose title. But that is a great cover. 

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Captain Britian - Before Excalibur!

Captain Britain as first designed in the late 70's was not quite the hit Marvel hoped for. I personally always liked that original look, but it's safe to say that his original adventures despite some good talent were less than stellar. But the 80's changed all that. 

It began in a book called Daredevils where Alan Davis took hold of the character. Joined by writer Alan Moore and others he recreated Captain Britain, making him more physically imposing. While I like the original look, there's no doubt this revision is better, more powerful. The world in which Brian Braddock lived was also transformed, becoming less like a British version of Peter Parker's and into something and quite evocative. 

Following on after that shake up the Captain was given a slot in The Mighty World of Marvel for a short spell before getting his own title once again. Writer Jamie Delano came aboard and the Captain Britian stories bloomed into full flower. The tradition of weirdness which had marked the earlier efforts in Daredevils was continued in this new book and made even more so. Enemies spilled out from across multiple dimensions, bringing both life and death to those around the Braddock clan. We learn dark secrets that some of the family hold. Death is not an uncommon visitor in the book, which plays for high stakes all the time. The Brian Braddock gets a strange love interest in the werewoman Meagan, a strange creature who comes into her full powers as the series continues. We encounter other "Captains" from other places, some with murderous intent. Brian's sister Betsey even becomes Captain Britain for a short time. 

Below are the covers by Alan Davis for this potent run of the series. 

The series does find an ending with old foes finding some peace. New missions are given to those who have lost their way and Captain Britain seems for a brief time to have found some measure of contentment. 

This collection features the blurb "Before Excalibur" and while the issue above is not in the collection, it is clearly the purpose of the trade to put into readers' hands those Captain Britian stories which will impact the fledgling Brit X-team. It was a time when Marvel was all about all things X-Men, and squeezing Captain Britian into that frame was better than losing him all together. 

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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!

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MiracleMan Book One: A Dream Of Flying!

My first encounter with Alan Moore was his work on Miracleman and V for Vendetta in Warrior Magazine from Quality Publicatins. The latter I've discussed a few times, but Miracleman not so much. Let me correct that oversight. 

Miracleman began as Marvelman, a 1950's superhero meant to take the place of Fawcett's Captain Marvel, which had been summarily cancelled. The hero caught on and lasted into the early 60's. This fondly remembered hero was perfect fodder for Alan Moore's purposes, to take a classic hero and remake him for a leaner and meaner modern audience. The name change came at some point to avoid potential conflicts with Marvel Comics. Given the direction that Moore took the character "Miracleman" actually works better. 

Mickey Moran is a typical middle-aged reporter who is beginning to wonder about life despite being married to a very lovely woman named Liz. (I can relate.) He gets caught up in a terrorist event which causes him to suddenly transform into a superhuman. It seems he'd been Miracleman all along but had forgotten to transform. Moore makes Moran and Miracleman into two different personalities, the former filled with the weaknesses of normal folks, the latter a gleaming perfect specimen. Soon enough he has trouble when he remembers how he came to have amnesia and remembers what happened to his two colleagues Young Miracleman and Kid Miracleman. The former is apparently dead as a result of an atomic blast the trio confronted. Miracleman was struck with amnesia and Kid Miracleman has become a successful businessman. There is so much more to this story as we meet a mercenary named "Cream" who has sapphires for teeth and Miracleman learns that his whole life might just have been a lie. 

Great stuff, exceedingly well drawn by Garry Leach and later by Alan Davis. Miracleman had few cover appearances in Warrior, sharing that stage with many others, but here are the ones which are relevant to this collection. 

Later Eclipse Comics took on the character and published reprints of the Warrior stories. This time color was added. 

After years of confusion, the character was at long last revived by Marvel Comics and they too reprinted the Warrior material. 

Also included in this collection are two stories featuring the Warpsmiths, bizarre warriors who traverse time and space to uphold some sort of coherence and maintain some manner of order. These are exceedingly strange but magnificently wrought stories which do tie into the Miracleman saga. I won't pretend I grokked all the dialogue which is intentionally bizarre to effect the feeling of alieness. 

This is a stunning beginning to the Miracleman saga, which as we learn is only just beginning. The secrets of Miracleman's origins are coming back, the secrets revealing the truth about old enemies. More on that next week. 

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