And that’s all it took to have me right back in ’85, walking into Nostalgia & Comics for my once every two months visit. Mom and Dad would nick off somewhere and leave me in the store for a couple of hours. It was heaven. Aged 14, I was pretty much a Marvel all the way guy. But even though I wasn’t probably going to buy anything but Marvel I still loved my two hours wandering the store and working out what I could spend my saved pocket money on this time.

On one of the occasions, I spent my valuable comics money on this:

Doug Moench and some unknown called Mike Mignola doing Rocket Raccoon. I had no idea what it was about, but a quick flick through confirmed the clues on the cover.

It’s a Raccoon. In Space. With a rocket. And guns. Lots of guns.

How could you resist? No really, how could the 14 year old me resist?

My love for Rocket Raccoon has continued through the years, most probably because I have never, ever thought to go back and revisit the series. Sure, it was tempting at times… like when RR made a reappearance last year on Mignola’s variant of the Annihilators Variant cover:

Or when I realised that Marvel had released a bloody great Marvel Masterworks Hardback late in 2011. I resisted. I still am. But after seeing just that first trigger image, it’s a hard thing to resist.

On the one hand:

Variant covers are a stupid, ridiculous, destructive thing, responsible for no end of torment and financial troubles in the comics industry through the years (oh, alright, they may not have been the ONLY reason).

Marvel’s obsession with variant covers is now past even a sickness, we’re into obsessive compulsive behaviour here. The idea of putting variant covers onto comics seemingly at random, regardless of who is on the cover or inside the comic – that’s just sheer, absolute insanity. In the old days, DC used to do these sort of things as gallery comics, most often as I recall with the Vertigo stuff, in particular Gaiman’s Sandman. Marvel meanwhile just went straight for their readerships pubescent crotch with a swimsuit special. Now Marvel just slap them randomly on any comic they can find, regardless of any connection.

On the other:

These are VERY pretty. There are more, of course there are more – see Heidi for those,  But these are my favourites):

(Charles Paul Wilson III, after E.H. Shepard.)

(Steffi Schutzee, in the style of Al Hirschfeld)

(John Tyler Christopher – after Erté, I think, but can’t get the exact piece – anyone help out?)

(Michael Kaluta in the style of Winsor McCay)

“Sit tight. We’ll have some additional news soon.”

Yep, that’s as good a summary as you’ll find regarding Marvel and their plans to bring back the Marvelman stories written by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman.

It’s the final piece in a long, extensive, and informative round-up by Pádraig Ó Méalóid of everything that’s gone on over the last couple of years since Disney/Marvel obtained some of the rights to the Marvelman character.

Here’s how it starts:

“On Friday the 24th of July, 2009, Joe Quesada, then Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, accompanied by Dan Buckley, Marvel’s publisher, made an announcement at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, saying that Marvel Comics had bought the rights to Marvelman.

That’s now two and a half years ago (or a bit over 900 days, if you like), and we’re all more or less still waiting for them to announce what their actual plans are. Without attempting to draw any conclusions of my own here (because I’ll be doing that somewhere else, before the year is out), I thought I’d try to find out what theyhave said in those two and a half years.”

But if you’re in any way interested in the recent history of this long and tortuous saga, I definitely recommend you have a read at Pádraig’s blog.

Update: Andy Turnbull points out the Miracleman/Marvelman logo above isn’t actually from the comics as we thought, it’s from a really nice, crisp, clear experimental version he tried out himself.

Here’s the blurb:

“Welcome to the X-Men’s first year — hope you survive the experience! Professor Charles Xavier has recruited five of the most powerful mutants he’s ever seen to save a world that hates and fears them. But there’s only one problem: they’re teenagers who have to survive hormones and uncontrollable super-powers, all while fighting for their very lives. So right now’s the perfect time for Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants — along with the Sentinels, Unus the Untouchable and more — to make their bids for control of the world, right? The first class of X-Men are forged in the fires of combat in ways you’ve never seen before. You only think you know the story!

But I do know that whether I enjoy the book for it’s writing or not (by the unfortunately named Dennis Hopeless), X-Men: Season One will have one big thing tempting me to buy it…. Jamie McKelvie’s art.

Here’s the (relatively uninspiring) cover by Julian Totino Tedesco….

And far, far better, here’s a couple of McKelvie’s preview pages (courtesy Newsarama):

But better still, here’s a few of McKelvie’s panels he’s posted up on his Tumblr:

X-Men: Season One Hardcover ships in March.

Ultimate Comics:  Hawkeye #1 & 2

By Jonathan Hickman, Rafa Sandoval and Jordi Tarragona.

I just looked at the new Ultimates by Jonathan Hickman. In that we get a couple of scenes with Fury and Hawkeye talking about a situation in the far east. But obviously Hickman had a bigger idea for the story, one that wouldn’t really fit in the regular Ultimates title. So here we go, a mini-series running right alongside the events in that first Ultimates issue.

And it’s actually really good. It helps that I enjoyed the whole Ultimate Hawkeye character already… that mix of the main Marvel Universe’s Hawkeye and Bullseye, able to turn anything into a weapon, superhumanly accurate, a black-ops S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, footsoldier for Fury…. that works in so many silly cool ways.

And I think Hickman’s got a huge soft spot for Clint Barton as well. Which is why he’s sent him halfway round the world in something that very quickly begins to feel like a left-field James Bond movie… all secret bad guys, choreographed action sequences, secret bases, dastardly plans and the like. Throwaway, lightweight fluff perhaps. But enjoyable throwaway, lightweight stuff.

Hawkeye’s pretty much on his own, attempting to stop the spread of “The People”, a group of genetically engineered superhumans helping the government spread a new anti-mutant virus. Fury wants Barton to get him some of the virus and the serum that makes all these new super-types work. Piece of cake. Or maybe Hickman could just let Hawkeye tell you…

The art really looks like it’s done by two different, but very similar teams – issue 1 is tight, very Ultimate-lite style. Issue 2 much less so. I prefer issue 1, but hey, it’s not so bad in issue 2 that it takes any of the fun away.

It reads a little more satisfying than The Ultimates – it’s nowhere near as decompressed, and Hickman gets the most out of his artists, lots of panels, lots of talky stuff, lots of plot development. And yes, lots of big, daft action, that’s only going to get bigger and dafter in issue 3 when the Hulk comes in with the reinforcements. Should be fun.

But it happened last week, when I felt the need to balance a series of these new DC 52 reviews with at least one Marvel Comic. So I went for the familiar ground – Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie’s Secret Avengers, knowing I couldn’t really go wrong with these two.

But then the guilt hit again, and I felt the need to go Marvel again. Thing is, the only reason I’m venturing into the DC Universe is because of the New 52, and its promise of a completely new staus quo, a stripping out of continuity. So I was after a few Marvel comics with the same feel. First up, a return to Marvel’s Ultimate Universe.

So here we go, Make Mine (guiltly) Marvel eh?

The Ultimates #1

By Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic

This is volume…. I have no idea. I really don’t. I gave up on the title after Millar’s run. Although I did make the mistake of looking in on the series when it returned post Millar in Ultimates 3. Complete trainwreck. Horrible.

But that first and second Millar series lives long in my memory. And in everyone else’s it seems, since it seems the themes, and especially the style of that near decade old series is pretty much exactly the same now as it was then. And since it worked then, it should, possibly work now, right? Well, yes, it does, with reservations.

As I was expecting, I’m at a loss to what’s gone before, and screw it, I’m too tired to plow through Wikipedia to find out what is going on – the Assgardian Gods are on the Ultimate Earth now? And they’re causing trouble? No idea. Didn’t Marvel used to have those handy catch up intro pages in the Ultimate line prior to this? God, I could have done with that here. But thankfully Hickman is wise to this and does his own little catchup for us a few pages in….

Okay, got that? Good, because this whole issue pretty much plays around the idea of a team of Euro-heroes, with a very suave and dashing Jamie Braddock in the Captain Britain suit, squaring up to the Asgardians, Thor included.

Now, whilst the story is Millar through ans through, Hickman does it very well, capturing something of the spirit of what made it great. And although there’s always going to be something lacking for me in any Ultimates comic without Bryan Hitch on the art, Ribic does some very nice work throughout. Love the flight angles on the Asgardians and then the Euro-heroes in that page above for example. Very pretty.

And there’s a great setpiece later on, as those Euro-heroes head into Asgard, except S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t get audio feed from their hack of the Euro-heroes control (“….Belgians” is Fury’s reaction to that one). It leads to 4 pages of rather beautifully choreographed silence…… there are drinks spilled and we all know those Norse Gods don’t like that.

And back on Earth, pretty much everything goes wrong…. well, what else did you expect?

Almost despite myself, having at first found it simply frustrating, I’ve come round to this latest version of The Ultimates. But there’s no way I’m picking up issue 2.

Because I just don’t think this is a comic meant to be read like this. Super-decompressed stuff, 60 panels in 19 pages, and a lot of them wordless or nearly so. As a single issue it’s so fast, so cinematic, so bloody frustratingly fast. But in that frustration there’s also a begrudging enjoyment of this. I know I shouldn’t but it’s rather infectious, this filmic treatment that could never find its way up on the big screen. It makes for strange reading in comic form, and not one I’ll be repeating – but there’s enough interest and enough good writing in this first issue to mark it down as one to read in collection.

By Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie

Marvel Comics

Why?

Because I’m feeling slightly guilty over the amount of DC coverage we’ve been putting up recently.

Because it’s Warren Ellis writing and Jamie McKelvie drawing.

Because it’s got the Beast and Black Widow in.

Because I’ve always been a Marvel boy at heart (sorry DC), ever since my second exposure to superhero comics was via Hulk Weekly, Captain America Weekly and shortly after that Rampage Monthly, Marvel Superheroes Monthly and a lifelong love of Alan Moore courtesy of Captain Britain. Marvel UK (God rest it’s soul) brought me into comics, so Marvel always has that nostalgic edge.

Because seeing a cover on its side that way reminded me of my very first exposure to superhero comics, the Marvel UK Titans series.

Because I opened up the wrong file, meaning to review a DC #1 because I did promise myself and the FPI blog I’d at least casually mention all 52 of the new 52 and so far have managed, 12 days into September, just the one.

Because it’s 1:13am in the morning on a school night and I’ve just finished another G&T.

Or possibly all of the above.

I haven’t read a Marvel comic since SHIELD. I mean to, I really do. But I don’t get to comic shops much, and there’s honestly only so much you can review, and so damn much great stuff out there competing for my attention. But it’s also because at this stage in my life, I really just want an easy life. I don’t want to read a comic and then have to go to bloody wikipedia to find out the convoluted history and continuity of a series or character to put the 22 page comic I’ve just read into context.

But hey, here we go. Ellis and McKelvie on Secret Avengers. Reviewer on G&T. It’s 1:19am. I have to be up at 7am. Why the hell not.

McKelvie’s art is just gorgeous. Really, really. In an if McKelvie’s art were a woman she’d be the sort of woman you simply worship from afar. A Lauren Bacall of the comic world sort of gorgeous.

And I do enjoy a Warren Ellis comic. I enjoy all the clipped, snarky dialogue, the weird science references, the fact he’d always rather have his characters having a conversation than actually doing anything. And if he can’t have that, then a conversation whilst they’re doing stuff, even superhero-y action stuff will do just fine.

So here we have the Secret Avengers team of Steve Rogers (Captain America, but without the mask – I have no idea why, maybe I should read more Avengers comics?), Beast, Black Widow and Moon Knight attacking some secret underground base.

There’s action and fighting, there’s snarky dialogue, there’s Beast converting the atomic cadillac they find into a dirty fission bomb to stop the city being turned into a weapon using Von Doom radiation. And there’s talking. There’s lots of talking. Talking in the car, talking under fire, talking whilst fighting. And it is very good talking. And even on the pages where there is no talking the art by McKelvie is pretty. Did I mention how pretty I find McKelvie’s pictures already?

And that is it. It’s fast, it’s action packed, and it’s a damn enjoyable few minutes of my time. And well worth a few minutes of yours. Jamie McKelvie is doing the big “lets get our books into the Disney store since they own us now” X-Men Season One original graphic novel. It will look gorgeous.

I’m going to bed now.

And here’s Brandon Graham’s version:

Very, very cool. And then he lets slip that it’s not just a one off – as Graham points out in the comments:

“The guy that commisioned the FF page has been getting a whole issue redrawn by indy comics people. He’s got Chester brown, Jeffrey Brown and anders nilsen in it. I like the idea.”

Now that I would love to see. Anyone seen anything else on this anywhere online?

UPDATED – 13th Aug – Adam Cadwell points us in the direction of the FF9 Project Blog. Yes, I missed it. Yes, I realise I am an idiot.

Steve Bissette’s wise words on the recent jack Kirby issues (see here) are now leading to an exploration into what it means to be a creator or co-creator of a character.

Using the examples of the characters that were created for the Image 1963 series, where writer Alan Moore, and artists Rick Veitch, Bissette and others used the famous Marvel method, with the artist working from a story synopsis, not a full script. The artist delivers pages back to the writer, who then adds dialogue based on the artwork created. It’s a method that many feel (me included) really weights the creative aspect of the deal towards the artist, as it’s they that come up with the narrative flow of the story, the designs of the characters, and essentially create the comic, whilst the writer, at worst, comes up with a brief summary of what they want to happen in the comic. I’m simplifying horribly, I know, but do feel it’s a valid point.

Sadly, for Kirby’s estate, we’ll never really know the true basis of the weight of input Jack or Stan had in the creation of various iconic (and billion dollar generating) Marvel characters. But Bissette’s blog postings do give an insight into just how the whole process can work – It’s very difficult to pull a meaningful quote from the piece, as Bissette develops a long and well thought out argument, but try these:

“What goes into co-creating a character, when a writer and artist collaborate?”

“Now, I am not doing this (though I’ll no doubt be accused of doing so) to shamelessly promote my own work or characters amid this tragedy. I proffer these in this context because:

(a) we were consciously working in the classical so-called “Marvel Method,” primarily to save the writer time. Said writer/co-creator was in fact squeezing this planned 6-issue-plus-Giant-Annual project in between a crushing workload, and the “Marvel Method” indeed streamlines the timeframe so that the artist is dedicating more time and energy to the venture, freeing up the writer to work on multiple characters, titles, projects.

And, also because:

(b) with the exception of a single character—the Hypernaut—none of the characters we co-created ended up looking in any way like they had been described, unless you count “he should look good coming through a wall” a valid and cohesive verbal character design conception capable of being copyrighted, merchandized, and put to paper without input from another hand or two.”

Until and unless Marvel or Stan or somebody comes up with a Stan Lee sketch of the Marvel characters under dispute—one as fully realized as that the co-creator/writer of Hypernaut presented via FAX in 1992 to me, the co-creator and artist of Hypernaut—or so detailed a written description of all four characters that they would be drawn in the same way by more than one artist without significant deviation, I’m sorry, I just don’t buy the argument that Jack Kirby doesn’t have a legitimate co-creator claim, status, and moral, ethical, and legal claim to all that entails, which should also belong (by inheritance) to his rightful legal heirs.

Bissette goes on to talk of the issue of co-creation, using Steve Ditko as perhaps one of the most high profile examples of a Marvel co-creator asking the big question, and this is possibly one of the most convincing images for Ditko’s assertion of Spider-Man being a definite co-creation, published by Ditko in 1999 in his “Steve Ditko’s 32-Page Package“.

But it’s the Nick Fury that fascinates, taking the character and delivering something that looks and reads every bit a UK comic. This from Dez:

“Not only were super spies all the rage at the time, both in films and on TV, but Marvel’s very own top secret agent had a terrific US pedigree with the likes of artists Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko (above) laying the groundwork. And even better, he wasn’t a bloody super-hero, so I thought he’d be a perfect character for our new anthology weekly. Steve Moore took on the scripting duties and John Richardson the art for our first issue. But I found John’s work [detail left] looked more Frank Springer than Jim Steranko (sorry, John). So with the second issue young Steve Dillon became the regular weekly S.H.I.E.L.D. artist [detail above right]. Here’s Steve’s first complete strip [below]. If it still stands up OK today that may be because he’d had a birthday and reached the ripe old age of 17 by this stage!”

Here’s one of John Richardson’s pages from Hulk Comic #1:

And here’s the first complete Steve Dillon drawn episode from issue #2:

There’s another complete Dillon episode over at the British Comic Art blog. Anyone got access to any more?

And in light of the recent decision by the courts to uphold Marvel’s disgraceful treatment of Jack Kirby (see this from Bissette, and especially this comment) it’s a good time to remind you that Nick Fury, like so many other characters at Marvel, was at the very least co-created by Jack Kirby.