Strip #2

...The Comic Grows Up!

03 Mar 1990. Cover price 95p.
40 pages. Colour contents.
Marvel Comics, Ltd.

Edited by Dan Abnett.

Cover by Don Lawrence.

Free pull-out Marshal Law poster.
r: Cover from Strip #01

Contents:

 2 Marvel Graphic Novels in-house advertisement.

 3 Contents illustration by Don Lawrence. / Indicia

 4 Marshal Law Stars and Strippers part two, w: Pat Mills; a: Kevin O'Neill, lettering by Phil Felix.

18 The Chronicles of Genghis Grimtoad part two, w: Alan Grant & John Wagner; a: Ian Gibson, lettering by Bambos Georgiou.

20 Storm The Pirates of Pandarve title page; illustration by Don Lawrence. / Credits

21 Storm The Pirates of Pandarve w: Martin Lodewuk; a: Don Lawrence, lettering by Helen Stone.

29 Davros Says Don't Buy It. (half page) in-house advertisement for Doctor Who Magazine. / Subscribe! (half page)

30 Before Excalibur There Was... Captain Britain in-house advertisement for Captain Britain trade paperback.

31 The Man from Cancer, part two, w: Glenn Dakin; a: Phil Elliott, lettering by Phil Elliott, colouring by Euan Peters.

39 Next Issue illustrations by Gary Erskine & Kevin O'Neill.

40 Get Doctor Who Magazine Now in-house advertisement.

A hefty second issue, thanks to the large poster bound in its centre pages, and with a fabulous Don Lawrence cover, there is much to be excited about in this issue. While there isn't an introduction, this issue's contents page displays how to present the material properly - where other titles often merely list the strips with a page number, there is enough information about what is happening in the strips to inform readers of what to expect. It is only by going back and forth through the series looking for specific stories that this becomes noticeable, and it is a detail which is appreciated.

At the bottom of the page is a rather nice note regarding the fold-out poster contained in the middle of the issue. As if the poster could possibly be missed... Gloriously large, it is the perfect free gift with which to showcase the character, relishing in Marshal Law's madness.

In Marshal Law it is possible to see Pat Mills' thoughts about the medium's most persistent hybrid-genre given life. Augmented by Kevin O'Neill's art, which continues to resist any pigeon-holing. Battling a group of former superheroes, Marshal Law in overpowered, his weapon taken from him in the fight, and his hunt for the killer known as Sleepman seems no closer than before. There are more details filling in the history of the war, with some telling details sprinkled through extensive text boxes. While I'm not particularly fond of this method of storytelling, it is an effective use of space.

From the Panama Canal Zone to the Amazon Jungle, it was known simply as "The Zone."

The war, as described, certainly sounds as it it sprawled over an impressive area, and given the abilities of those involved must have been more brutal than any conflict up to that point. While immense battles featuring numerous superheroes had, by the early nineties, already developed something of a reputation, this is unlike many depictions from the other side of the Atlantic.

Far more chilling, and a counterpoint to generally-bloodless superhero romps from the Big Two, is an account of an earthquake:

The official explanation for The Big One - the megaquake that took out San Francisco - was the Jupiter effect - the tidal pull of the planets on the San Andreas fault.

60,000 buildings were destroyed and 8 square miles of the city. The quake measured 9 on the Richter Scale, hitting the city with a force 300,000 times that of the Hiroshima bomb.

The tidal wave that followed hurled ships inland, leaving the U.S. aircraft carrier John Paul Jones straddling the freeways, then came the fire... and the death cloud from Diablo Canyon nuclear plant...

You couldn't measure the human misery...

The Chronicles of Ghengis Grimtoad continues to pose storytelling problems by introducing yet more characters, while refusing to propel the narrative forward more than absolutely necessary.

And the door of the great hall did open and the ladies of the court did avert their eyes. For therein towered the awesome figure of Quanah-

He, of the painted tribes of Torbeck - savages, untamed men who lived and died by the blade!

And who, unfortunately, appears to be made of pink bubblegum.

While the character designs are impressive (Ian Gibson is on top form here), at two pages of story every two weeks, this isn't going anywhere fast. There's a difference between developing back-story and showing one's work, and this feels (rightly or wrongly) as if it is a discarded Dungeons & Dragons proposal, dusted off and changed just enough so that nobody is going to raise an objection. I want to like this, as there are minor glimmers of what could be a rattlingly good story, but it is so slight in this form as to discourage interest.

The universe is infinitely more vast than the human mind can ever comprehend. Merely writing the light-years that separate Earth from the planet Pandarve would take a lifetime... But no matter how vast the distance may be, it is not unbridgeable...

...and it is Marduk, the theocrat of Pandarve, who intends to span the distance between his planet and Earth...

Affixing the Egg of Pandarve in place, a beam is shot across the galaxy to the planet Earth, millions of years in the future.

The tissue of space and time is disturbed by the sudden glare from Pandarve's Egg as it finds its way through bare and lifeless solar systems...

It passes dark planets. Spreading fear and awe among the followers of mysterious religions. Priests predict death and calamity, witnessing the dreadful omen in the sky...

Until the fateful moment when the beam from Pandarve reaches its goal... The anomaly!

Hmm. A mysterious, powerful red orb capable of miraculous events? Did J.J. Abrams read this story at some point? The depictions of the beam hitting Storm, and Ember's attempt to rescue him, are wonderful, as is the pair's arrival at Pandarve. Or, I should state, above the planet. Realising that their situation is relatively safe for a while, the possibility of burning up with friction as they descend occurs to Storm. Encountering a flying whale, Storm and Ember are separated.

It is impossible to pay too many compliments to Storm.

Mr. Crust Acean is placed in a coffin, and Mr. C. Urchin investigates his death - despite him being very much alive, and trapped inside the casket. It's the kind of story which you either instantly fall in love with, or which remains tantalisingly out of reach. I doubt I'm ever going to understand the intricacies, or have a strong interest in the series.

Liking two out of four strips in an anthology is, surely, not enough reason to consider the title a success, though others might disagree as to the value of The Chronicles of Genghis Grimtoad and The Man from Cancer.

#01

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