Batman Odyssey!

Batman rides a pterodactyl! Wow! What's not to like? Let me begin this by saying that I don't have the insatiable craving for Bat-stories that many in fandom seem to have. So, I haven't followed a regular Bat-book in decades. I say that to say that the continuity confusions which largely inform Batman Odyssey don't bother me in their own right maybe as much as they might someone more directly connected to the character. They still bother me, as much as I can detect them though. I bought this book because I'm a fan of Neal Adams and I like the way he draws the Batman. That said, this book is still a pretty big mess. But said I think there is a secret to reading it. More on that in a few moments. 

The decision to have Bruce Wayne/Batman narrate the story is a mistake despite the eventual and interesting reveal of who he is narrating the story to. It makes the Batman in these stories downright verbose, not the grim tight-lipped avenger of justice I expect. We also get a psychological play-by-play and that cuts across the impression Batman gives off that utter confidence might be his ultimate edge on criminals. Adams has attempted to humanize the Batman and it doesn't really work all that well. He mostly doesn't come off as competent and often seems merely cocky and often more than a bit dim. 

And then there's the plotting. Is it all a dream of some kind? A dream would explain some of the nonsensical twists and turns. I had a whale of time trying to stay on board as the story jackknifed all over the place. It was hard to follow in a trade and I can only imagine how difficult it was to keep track of month by month. Often, I didn't really know what I had read on some pages until I read the summary in the next installment.

All that said, there are some real virtues in this monstrous epic. Neal Adams is a damn fantastic artist, and it comes across here in spades. His Batman is powerful and exceedingly physical. There is almost a fetishistic concern with musculature at times, but it all works within the confines of the larger artwork. The action is detailed and at times seems specifically designed to demonstrate some particular tactic, and it often does it quite well.

The other thing I really liked was the extensive use of dinosaurs. I love dinosaurs and I love how Neal Adams draws dinosaurs, so it was a hoot to see this book full of people riding around on T-Rex broncos. In point of fact, it was these images which got me over on buying this one. I had to see how Batman came to be riding such an array of prehistoric monsters.

Now I've talked around it and criticized it, but I haven't really talked about the story. It's a tale that does live up to its name. Batman does indeed go on an odyssey. After much furious action atop trains and in the streets of Gotham where Bats battles gunmen and robbers and assassins he discovers that Arkham Asylum has secrets within secrets. The Sensei, leader of the League of Assassins, has taken control and there is a struggle between him and Ra's Al Ghul for vast resources found in a underground territory named "Underworld". Batman enters this Underworld accompanied not by Dick Grayson as Robin (yep) but by Bat-Man, a Neanderthal version of the Batman himself. There are also intelligent evolved dinosaurs and hideous trolls and such which this hidden land filled with giant bats and giant unevolved dinosaurs. This is a one wild ass roller coaster of a comic book yarn.

Many of the characters don't seem to behave as I'd expect, at least not as I sort of remember them. One example is Talia who goes from being a mysterious alluring and exotic but serious-minded vixen to a chatty and scatter-brained strumpet. Batman himself seems to lose control of himself and yell a lot. All of these things add up to some peculiar moments, which don't make sense overall nor inside the story itself. I did like the presence of Deadman who gets a surprising amount of action. Adams draws him very well and he looks good here. And talk, talk, talk. I complain that modern comics don't have enough words, and I stick by that. But this series, despite its bombastic visuals is also quite dense in words. The closest thing I can think of are Don McGregor's epics with Black Panther. 

It finally occurred to me that this was an elaborate rendition of a 1950's Batman story, one of those Dick Sprang classics filled with wacky sci-fi tropes but done in a modern style with overwrought characterization. On that level I can appreciate what Adams was trying to do, but sadly he just didn't demonstrate the writing chops to pull it off completely here. With a truly professional writer polishing this script and trimming it down in some places, this has the makings a really wild and wooly Bat-venture. But as it sits, it's a flawed and at times exhausting work for sure.

Below are the rather outstanding covers for this series. They are powerful!

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The Phantom Novels - Killer's Town!

Killer's Town is the ninth in the "The Story of The Phantom" adventure series from Avon Books way back in the 1970's. I've been reading the Hermes Press reprints and finding them great brisk reads. This was actually written by Lee Falk and not one of the several ghost writers such as Basil Copper and Ron Goulart who wrote many of these books. This particular novel is based on two series from the comic strip titled "Bullet's Town" and "The Killer" by Falk and artist Sy Barry. 

Killer's Town is a dandy adventure which leaps into action when a rundown and largely abandoned town is taken over by killers and criminals from the United States and elsewhere. The allure of the town called "Metropolis City" before its new "owner" a man gangster named Killer Koy took possession. An oddity of politics had somehow made this small territory into its own independent state, not unlike the Vatican or Monaco for instance. The shabby rundown ghost town became a haven for criminals of all sorts who found protection from the law for their crimes. 

The novel rumbles along quite nicely with a number of the thugs and hoods getting great descriptions. Some are thieves, some are corrupt lawyers, some are muscle, and at least two of them are psychopaths, not the least being Killer Koy himself and the other a handsome young murderer named Pretty. His representative and mouthpiece Eagle had purchased the town from its "Governor-Mayor" named Matthew Crumb for a case of beer. The local authorities, and especially the Jungle Patrol attempt to end the scourge but are stopped by legalities. Things really begin to heat up when the leader of the Jungle Patrol's daughter unknowingly enters Killer's Town and is taken hostage. That's when the call goes out to the Commander of the Patrol, the man we know as the Phantom. 

I love the hooligans in this yarn. Falk gives them great names such as Greasy, Gutsy, Fats, Sport, Banana, Scarface, Slim, Spaghetti, Frenchy, Ossie, Fingers, Pilot, and Moogar. Don't get me wrong, this is a foul bunch who deserve every skull mark on the chin they get and more, but there is also a gang-that-shoot-straight quality to these mopes. The murderous impulses and actions of Koy and Pretty help to temper the story and give it a real sense of danger, but overall, they seem a pretty ineffective mob. But of course, with the Ghost Who Walks on their collective tails how could it be otherwise. The story takes a dramatic turn in the last third of the saga. The focus is on Pretty and the native Moogar who find themselves on the run with the Phantom at their heels. 

After a few novels which had the Phantom operating in America and elsewhere, it's nice to have a story set squarely in jungle which is his home. Next time it's The Goggle-Eyed Pirates. But that will be in June. I am taking a break from Deep Woods doings for a month for something special. More details to come. 

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The Last Phantom!

Years ago, I was annoyed that Moonstone had lost the Phantom license, but I still wanted to read Dynamite's version of Lee Falk's classic hero The Phantom. I didn't get the issues as they arrived on the stands. But I did get hold of the trade paper reprints of these stories and I'm glad I did in the end. The two volumes are divided relating to storyline. In the first titled Ghostwalk, we meet a Phantom who has rejected his heritage for a seemingly better way to help and learns that he's not going to get away from his family work all that easily when his trust is betrayed. This is a story loaded with violence. In the second volume titled Jungle Rules the aftermath of the events of the first story continues to unfold, and we revisit the origin and move the plot threads from the first volume forward some. 

Actually, I have to say I was taken away by them. I get what purists object to in this much more violent version of the classic "Ghost Who Walks", but I did detect a clear knowledge of and a fundamental respect for the classic version. If this bloody Phantom was all I had, then I might sigh mightily and move on, but seen merely as a version of the classic, I was intrigued.

This Phantom might or might not be the twenty-first we all know and admire. The arrival of Diana Palmer at the end makes me think he must be. My initial impressions was that this was the twenty-second Phantom, the son of the classic we'd been following so long who was trying to find a Twenty-first Century solution to the Phantom mission, something other than shooting forty-fives and traipsing across the jungle saving folk who need saving. This is a good man who wanted to do good on a broader scale. But we soon find, as does he, that fate has other plans.

The death toll in this story is exceedingly high, and The Phantom is not shy about leaving those who deal death to a fatal reward. That's a definite shift in the nature of the heroics here. It's pretty high octane stuff in this story which never really stops. Thank goodness I waited to read the tale in its entirety. Following along month by month would've been far too tedious.

This Phantom is already married with a son, a wife and son who are killed when the worldwide network he has established for the betterment of the poor of the world is sabotaged by his second in command, a man named appropriately Quisling. Kit Walker must survive long enough to return to his roots as the "Ghost Who Walks" and bring hard justice to those who have killed so many innocents.

I liked how Scott Beatty's story reinterpreted so many of the classic tropes of the original tale, giving them a new and often darker spin. The addition of a stealth suit to the Phantom's arms was a nice idea, adding to the Phantom's power and living up to his name. Hero and Devil are both along for the ride, though the pair do prove nettlesome when it comes to intercontinental transport.

(Edwardo Ferrigato)

The artwork by Edwardo Ferrigato is still of the new school which usually leaves me a bit cold, but has enough classic touches that I can endure it. The Phantom doesn't look off model in most of the panels and the storytelling is sufficient. I would've preferred an artist with a bit more atmosphere, or perhaps a more detailed inker would've helped. The covers by Alex Ross and others are magnificent by and large, though as always with Dynamite they become a fetish with so many different versions being available. I'm happy to have them all in these trades where they can be savored.

The second story arc gives us a new version of the classic origin, a much bloodier retelling but one that still rings essentially true. The Phantom is a concept which is sturdy enough to handle these revisions, so I don't mind when writers try to bring a bit of a change to the details, as long as they don't tinker with the core.

Overall, I found myself swept along by the story which I will caution one and all does end abruptly. But not without a wink to the fans who know that the Phantom regardless of circumstances will always prevail. I will caution you that not all the plot threads are answered in this collection, and it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. The annual drawn by Johnny Desjardins tells a story of how the father of the current Phantom might have died. Despite the lack of a neat finale, these are still compelling reads. 

Here are the superb covers by Alex Ross with their logos for all twelve regular issues and the annual. 

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Batman - Tales Of The Demon!

A hero is often measured by the quality of his enemies, and few heroes have as varied and dangerous an array of foes in his or her rogues gallery than the Batman. Most were added to the roster in the Golden Age such as the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler and the Catwoman. These baddies and others bedeviled the Batman for decades, but in the early years of the Bronze Age of Comics a new name is added to the roster -- Ra's al Ghul, the Demon's Head. 

We first hear of the Demon's Head in in Detective Comics #411 the story "Into the Den of the Death-Dealers" by Denny O'Neil and artist Bob Brown and Dick Giordano. In that tale the Batman pursues a villain named Dr. Darrk who is accompanied by a beautiful young woman named Talia. The chase takes Batman to Asia where finds his prey on a train. A battle goes poorly for Batman and he ends up in a dungeon with Talia tending to him and who has taken off his mask. Talia has been kidnapped by Darrk and the Batman must fight a deadly battle to rescue the two of them. Talia tells Batman who she is and who her father is. Like any great villain we hear about him before he enters the stage. 

And then in a blockbuster titled "Daughter of the Demon" in Batman #232 we meet Ra's al Ghul for the first time in a story by O'Neil and artists Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. (Giordano's inks are to a great extent the glue that holds this epic together visually.) Robin is kidnapped and Ra's al Ghul appears to tell Batman (he knows he's Bruce Wayne) that Talia too has been taken. He wants to join forces with the great detective to save them both. The trail is a wild and dangerous one and takes them across the globe until they end up in the Himalayas. But ultimately Robin is rescued. and Batman learns the truth about Ra's al Ghul's motives, as well as those of Talia. She wants him for a husband. 

The cover for Batman #232 is one of best by Neal Adams and that's saying something. Above you can see how the great artist arranged to have Ra's al Ghul's face loom down on the Dynamic Duo. 

In the story "Swamp Sinister" in Batman #235 the Demon returns, this time seemingly having suffered a head wound when one of his scientists stole a chemical which if used improperly will cause a deadly plague. Talia is already in search of the scientist, but Ra's was unable to tell her all of the depth and complexity of the problem, so he comes to Batman with the additional information about the plague. O'Neil joins forces with Irv Novick and Dick Giordano to deliver this one. Adams and Giordano supply a great cover once again. 

Neal Adams and Dick Giordano are also the artists for the cover of Batman #240. The story in this one titled "Vengeance for a Dead Man" by O'Neil, Novick and Giordano once again. In this story a dead body of a scientist appears with its brain gone. Batman's search to get to the bottom of the crime leads brings him into conflict with Talia and Ra's al Ghul who also seek the man. But finding the killer doesn't answer the question about the brain. Batman has to solve that grisly mystery as well. 

Mike Kaluta is the artist for the cover of Batman #242. This kicks off a fantastic three-part tale that makes Ra's al Ghul an immortal...literally. The story in this one titled "Bruce Wayne - Rest in Peace" by writer O'Neil and artists Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. The story begins with news of Bruce Wayne's death in a plane wreck over a distant jungle. This frees Batman up to pursue Ra's al Ghul but not before he gathers a team to help him. He seeks a criminal named Matches Malone, a scientist named Doctor Harris Blaine, and Ling, a trained assassin who formerly worked for the Demon but becomes bound to Batman since the hero saved his life. 

The battle against Ra's al Ghul comes to a head in the second part in Batman #243, written by O'Neil and drawn by the Adams and Giordano team. The story titled "The Lazarus Pit" with the Batman's "team" heading to the Himalayas to confront Ra's al Ghul where they are joined by professional skier Molly Post. This group invades the headquarters of the Demon in a terrific battle, but they arrive to find that Ra's al Ghul is dead. Taking Talia into custody they depart, but then we see the Demon's body enter the Lazarus Pit for the first time and he is revived in a spectacular series of comic book pages. 

The story comes to its amazing conclusion in Batman #244 in the story "The Demon Lives Again". Ra's is super-powered when he confronts Batman and his squad and defeats them easily. Both Ling and Molly are injured. The Batman then alone follows the trail to the Arabian desert where he confronts Ra's al Ghul in a deadly swordfight. But nature and a scorpion intervene. And then love takes a hand. In one of the best climactic scenes, I've ever read, the Batman does prevail but at some cost. Of this entire run of stories, the only ones I happened to buy off the stands at the time was the very first issue of Detective Comics and this final issue of the confrontation with Ra's al Ghul. Even so this story's power was evident. Reading them through is as exciting for me as reading comic books gets. 

We skip ahead in time to 1978 and the DC Special Series which sports a lovely cover by Walt Simonson. Inside we get art by Michael Golden for a story written by Denny O'Neil titled "I Now Pronounce You Batman and Wife". In this one Batman gets knocked out and taken aboard Ra's al Ghul's yacht which goes into international waters where he presides over a makeshift wedding between Batman and Talia. (The groom does not have to agree for it to be legal apparently.) Ra's al Ghul's larger scheme is to use strange technology to make the citizens of Gotham sluggish and sleepy and then used large equipment to rob various vaults. 

Then Batman must get to the bottom of a tragic crime in Detective Comics issues #485, #489 and #490. That is the murder of Kathy Kane, the first Batwoman at the hands of the League of Assassins. Don Newton supplies the atmospheric artwork for these three stories which are featured on two of the three issues involved.  It seems Ra's al Ghul is trying to get control of the League of Assassins and suggested to the Sensei that Kathy Kane was a threat to the League in some way. He then warns Batman of the threat to Kane's life, but Batman is too late. He then seeks to solve the underlying crime and survive multiple attacks by the members of the League. These stories are also notable in that they feature the debut of the Bronze Tiger, formerly known as Ben Turner in the pages of Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter. 

The original early 1970's stories have been collected and recollected over the years by DC. Beginning in 1977 with a handsome Limited Collectors' Edition C-51 featuring the stories with Neal Adams artwork. 

Then the saga was collected again in 1988 in The Saga of Ra's al Ghul, a four-part prestige limited series which features new covers by Jerry Bingham and a brand-new cover by Neal Adams for the fourth installment. These comics also contain stories by Adams not connected to the Batman. 

A trade collection lands in Batman Tales of the Demon from 1991. This one sports a handsome cover by Brian Stelfreeze. 

In 2016 we get a Showcase Presents volume which offers up the stories on economical black and white. 

In more recent years, facsimile editions of key stories in the series have been published including most recently a juicy reprint of the Limited Collectors' Edition.  I'm sure I'm missing some, as this story is a hugely popular one and well worth the time of anyone who even once considered themselves a Batman fan. It's likely my favorite Batman story. 

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