editorial
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ello and welcome to the first Tripwire digital edition. Inside this debut issue, you will find an exclusive interview with Grant Morrison and Alex Child on Boom’s new Proctor Valley Road series, British artist Mack Chater talking about how he works and how he approaches a work day and the debut of two review columns: the return of graphic novel, art book and collected edition roundup On The Shelf and Stephen Dalton’s Primal Screen, where he takes a look at the latest Blu-Rays and films streaming on demand. We also have a very big Captain America at 80 feature, looking at the character’s history and evolution, talking to three of his key writers over the years (Mark Waid, JM DeMatteis and Steve Englehart) and reviewing The Folio
Pages 4-5 Barbed Wire Missives The return of our letters page Pages 6-9 California Screaming Superstar Grant Morrison and Alex Child talk Boom’s Proctor Valley Road Pages 10-15 On The Shelf The return of Tripwire’s graphic novel, art book and collected edition review roundup Pages 17-19 The AfterShock Of The New Taking a look at the rise of US independent publisher AfterShock Pages 20-27 Primal Screen Stephen Dalton’s debut Blu-Ray and streaming review column roundup Pages 28-39 Celebrate Captain America’s 80th Birthday Taking a look at the character’s history, genesis and evolution
Society’s Captain America edition. We have also brought our letters page, Barbed Wire Missives, back and the letter of the issue gets a year’s subscription to the digital and a graphioc novel from those kind folks at Ace Comics. To cap it off, we also have a strip section featuring David Morris’ Baker Street Irregulars, Braden and Marlbrough’s Kent Menace and the debut story of Sherlock Holmes & The Empire Builders written by myself and drawn by Andy Bennett. These editions will be coming to you every two months so the next edition will be available from the middle of June. Thanks for reading Joel Meadows editor-in-chief TRIPWIRE
Pages 41-43 Watching The Detectives 35 Years of DC’s seminal Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns Pages 45-47 High Impact British comic artist and illustrator Mack Chater on his approach to his work and showing off his process as an artist Pages 48- 58 From The Archive Representing classic interviews with Philip Pullman, Chuck Palahniuk and Phil Hale Page 59-77 Stripwire Tripwire’s strip section rounds off the issue featuring David Morris, Scott Braden, Mike Marlbrough, Joel Meadows and Andy Bennett
Editor-in-chief: Joel Meadows Senior editor: Andrew Colman Consulting editor: Scott Braden Contributing writers: Scott Braden, David Morris Contributing Artists: Andy Bennett, Mike Marlbrough, David Morris, Design and layout: Joel Meadows Thanks to: Mark Chiarello for his advice and support, Steve Rotterdam at Aftershock, Kris Longo at Heavy Metal, Elise Windmill at Hachette, Ken Hooper at Cherish PR and The Folio Society, Jimmy Palmiotti, Mark Waid, Steve Englehart, JM DeMatteis, David Morris, Sally Oliphant at Abrams Chronicle, Biff at Ace Comics, Andy Bennett and anyone else we’ve forgotten Published digitally by Tripwire Magazine Limited April 2021. ©2021 Tripwire Magazine Limited. Cover image Captain America by John Cassaday. ©2021 Marvel. All Rights Reserved. No part or parts of this digital magazine may be reproduced on any media without the prior permission of the Publishers and infringements may result in prosecution. All characters and affilliated material©2021 their respective creators and copyright holders. TRIPWIRE digital 3
Barbed Wire Missives Tripwire’s letters page has returned and here’s our first round of emails responding to our first print issue in 10 years, the Tripwire Winter Special 2020/2021. Hey Joel, I really, really loved the new Tripwire magazine. In a lot of ways, it felt like you’d curated it just for me – every new feature I turned to had something appealing in it, and the mix of content was something I just haven’t seen in any other contemporary magazine for a long time. Looking forward to more of the same, hopefully soon, and for a long while to come. All the best, James A. Owen Dear Joel, Tripwire just got better! Always tapping into the very stuff We love! The diversity of subjects within the magazine guarantees the stories will provide something in equal parts mind blowing, mystical or straight out magical. Great stuff that one can become utterly fascinated in. To Joel and the Tripwire team, you’ve stayed true to your North Star and will continue to deliver issue after issue. Congratulations to all. Richard Taylor Weta Workshop I would like to thank TRIPWIRE Magazine and Scott Braden for his interview with Jimmy Palmiotti regarding the great late Darwyn Cooke. Much like Jimmy, I met Darwyn in a hotel bar, and that is fully thanks to 4 TRIPWIRE digital
Jimmy Palmiotti. I was working as an Associate Editor at Marvel at the time and wanted to go to San Diego Comic Con but couldn’t find a room. Jimmy and Amanda (Conner) offered their second bed to me, which I also shared with the great Zena Tsfarin. Rock on, Zena. Jimmy and Amanda took in us strays and God bless them because that was when I met Darwyn. As I said, I was in a hotel bar. Can’t tell you which one, but I was hanging out with Steve Dillon and John McCrea. And of course, I had my books on me. Anyone who has ever met me at a con knows that I carry my current titles on me, to show off to whoever wants to see and hopefully get freelancers excited to work with me. Darwyn just walked up and was immediately becomes part of the group. He is funny, charming, bold, he spoke his mind and I liked him instantly. Then I got to see his art and I’m BLOWN AWAY. I was the editor of X-Men Unlimited at the time and had changed the format to be an anthology. Three 12-page stories and 3 pinups per issue. It gave me the opportunity to give new talent a shot as well as getting top talent to create short stories. Brian Stelfreeze, Michael Golden, Jill Thompson, Bill Sienkiewicz all did stories and now Darwyn, after looking at my books, wanted to do a 12 pager too! I was, of course,
THRILLED! So, we kept in touch, over the next year he told me his ideas for a classic X-Men story, but sadly that never happened. The bat phone rang, and I answered it. Suddenly, I was working for DC Comics, in the Bat office and brought onto Catwoman. At last, I was working with Darwyn Cooke. Our friendship grew. He would tell me about his dog, Bud, and send me photos of where he lived in Canada. He had this great Black Canary drawing he did on his fridge that I loved and would comment on. At a Wizard Philadelphia convention, I can’t tell you the year, but they gave out these amazing Kermit the Frog toys in little Muppet lunchboxes. Totally awesome. Still have one.
At that con, I met up with Darwyn and he presented me with a copy of that same Black Canary that was on his refrigerator. He was just finishing it up and it smeared a bit. He cursed and promised me another one, but I didn’t care. It was perfect just as it was. When I left DC, I buried my
Darwyn came to visit me at DC. I think this is the last time I saw him. head in the sand for a bit and lost touch with everyone. It was through social media I happily learned Darwyn married and it was through social media I learned he went into hospice. I, as so many, were shocked and so terribly saddened to lose such a larger than life, insanely talented, way too young friend. I hadn’t seen him in years, but I always thought I would. In Jimmy’s words I got to see my old friend again. I got to fill in the time I didn’t get to share with him. It was nice to hear his voice and for that matter, Jimmy’s as well. So, I end as I began. Thank you, Tripwire, for bringing a spotlight to the great late Darwyn Cooke, may he be remembered forever. Lysa Hawkins Valiant Comics As VP of Marketing for WildStorm Productions through the ‘90s, pitching stories
“Maybe it has been the isolation of the past year due to the pandemic but reading the new issue of Tripwire was like hanging out with old friends.” – Mark Wheatley old friends. I mean, here is the heart of our industry, and a good many of the people. to Tripwire (and reading it I want to compliment everyone consistently) was one of the who worked on Tripwire for greatest parts of the job. hitting that sweet spot between Tripwire’s the greatest popclean journalism and a personal, culture magazine in history, and chatty style. Certainly, there is seeing the 2020 Winter Special brought that fact back home in a a huge amount of factual meat brilliant way. I’m looking forward on the Tripwire bones. But that subjective quality of “fun” is a to much more! strong ingredient of nearly every Jeff Mariotte article and feature. And with the interviews, I recognize the voices I finally got the winter edition of of my old friends, but I also feel tripwire in my mail and the only like I got to know a few new way I could be happier is if it was monthly. 4 times a year is too people as well. I enjoyed reading about the little. This issue was a monster Lost Tale of The Kingdom. in every way, so full of amazing It made me feel like I was in information, art and behind the good company, considering scenes content that the internet has given up creating. My favorite the number of my projects that articles besides me going on and got derailed at DC back in the 1990s. At least some form of The on how much I adored Darwyn Kingdom made it to print. Cooke was the top 40 power list, And I’ve been looking forward the effects of covid on comic to the new James Bond film. So, retailers and the Scott Dunbier interview talking about his artist’s your extensive feature gave me a chance to keep my interest up. editions, how he puts them Daniel Craig has managed an together and what is coming up. exceptional run as Bond, with an 140 pages of articles and even unusual consistently high-quality a cool comic strip at the end series of films. I have to believe makes this one of the best books we are in for a great send-off with about the love of comics a true No Time To Die. gift to collectors and fans alike. Stay Safe and Healthy! I will continue to support the Kickstarters till you guys get your Mark Wheatley own monthly publishing in order. Breathtaker Studios Send your brickbats and Fingers crossed. bouquets to editorial@ Jimmy Palmiotti tripwiremagazine.co.uk… Paperfilms letter of the issue gets Maybe it has been the isolation of a year’s subscription to the past year due to the pandemic, Tripwire Digital and a graphic novel courtesy of but reading the new issue of Tripwire was like hanging out with those fine folks at Ace Comics What a motley crew!
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California Screaming Legendary Scottish writer Grant Morrison has teamed up with British TV scriptwriter Alex Child to bring the ‘70s paranormal psychedelic ride that is the Proctor Valley Road comic book series from BOOM Studios, which launched in March. Tripwire’s Consulting Editor Scott Braden caught up with Morrison and Child to find out more
Grant Morrison at New York Comic Con back in 2017 pic: Joel Meadows
TRIPWIRE: Please tell us about the creation of Proctor Valley Road from concept to comic. What came first: the television property or the comic book? Grant Morrison: The whole idea came from Alex. I had never heard of Proctor Valley Road and I was certain he’d made it all up until I did some research! As far as I know, he’d pitched Proctor Valley as a TV series and UCP were interested. Our mutual friend, Bryan Crow, who’s a massive comic fan and was instrumental in bringing Happy! to the screen, saw a chance to fulfil one of his lifelong dreams by positioning the comic book version of Proctor as the first 6 TRIPWIRE digital
launch from a new graphic imprint that he could oversee. My old pals at BOOM! stepped in to do the heavy lifting on the publishing side and we were off… Alex Child: I first pitched the idea as a TV series before the notion of exploring it as a comic came about. I’d heard the campfire stories about the actual Proctor Valley Road and when I dug a little deeper I realised it would make a juicy precinct for a tale that combines supernatural elements against the backdrop of unforgettable real world events. And of the many musicians I never got to see live, Janis Joplin was high on the list, so I began wondering how a group of
Alex Child
diehard but broke schoolgirls in 1970s California might get their hands on such hot tickets. The spook tour idea soon clicked and the rest fell into place pretty quickly. TW: How did you two writers meet? Describe your writing process for this interesting new series. AC: We met through UCP and went for dinner in London and spent most the meal doing Withnail & I impressions at each other. From that moment I knew that Grant and I would get on! The process was very collaborative, we’d both write drafts and kick them back and forth, each adding layers until we were happy with how they were reading.
GM: Bryan Crow introduced us. When the idea to do the comic book version originally came up, Bryan suggested that I come onboard to ease Alex into the technical process of writing for the comics page, which he hadn’t done before. When I read the material, I was instantly attracted to the characters and agreed to work alongside Alex to pass on any useful tips and tricks I could. Crow and I were both in London for the first few days filming on Brave New World, so we met Alex there and hatched out plans over a delicious meal in a crowded restaurant of the kind that now exists only in pre-pandemic memories and confused dreams. The writing process is simple – Alex came in with a fully worked out series pitch, including episode breakdowns. The comic book has five 20-page issues to cover the same ground as potentially ten hours of TV drama, however, so the biggest job involved streamlining and compressing the storyline to fit the format. The TV version, which everyone hopes will come to pass in its own time, has space to go deeper
“We met through UCP and went for dinner in London and spent most the meal doing Withnail & I impressions at each other. From that moment I knew that Grant and I would get on!”–Alex Child on every aspect of the story and characters, so we wanted the comic to be its own thing and to play to the different strengths of the illustrated page. Working to Alex’s plot breakdown, I did a first draft on the first issue, which also functioned as a technical document explaining how page layouts worked, how much dialogue was too much, how scene transitions work, and how to compress information into a limited space while still maintaining flow… etc… This then went to Alex for his edits. Subsequent episodes have seen the process work in reverse, where Alex does the first draft and I’ll do a pass on dialogue or to correct any technical glitches. He adapted incredibly quickly to the challenges of doing comics, so my job has become much easier with each issue! TW: Grant, The Invisibles was considered your magnum
opus. What does that make Proctor Valley Road for BOOM! Studios? GM: Alex Child’s magnum opus! TW: Grant, You haven’t done much with horror previously, what was the appeal of the genre for this new project? GM: On previous approaches to horror genre, I’ve leaned towards the cosmic horror nihilistic existentialist end of the scary spectrum. This was an opportunity to do something that was more rooted in the ‘campfire’ tradition of American ghost stories and movies like Monster Squad or Nightmare on Elm Street. The young protagonists brought a flavour of Nancy Drew and Three Investigators, too, even a hint of Scooby Doo that really appealed to me! This is very much a monster comic of a kind I haven’t really done before. Having said that, it wasn’t so much the genre elements that got TRIPWIRE digital 7
more governed by multiple drafts and producer’s and director’s notes. Writing American comics is a faster, more fluid process aided by our brilliant editor Eric Harburn and his team at BOOM! TW: How close do you both collaborate in this series? GM: Living in our plague bubbles at opposite ends of the country, we collaborate via e-mail mostly. We did one Zoom call where I looked like one of those tabloid turnips with almost human features that someone had rolled through the grey shavings on a mortuary barber’s floor, while me most excited but the strength and appeal of the characters. They the formerly beardless Alex resembled one of the Vikings off came to life for me immediately The Vikings’on TV. The last time I and I couldn’t wait to hang out saw a face like that it was coming with them (my favourite being through the shattered vestry door the go-getting, and borderline in my previous brief life as an 8th sociopathic August)! The early ‘70s setting also enticed century Benedictine monk in a blazing Northumbrian monastery! me; locating these timeless tales I’d like readers to picture us a of highway terror in a period of Covid-era Galton and Simpson epic turmoil and social unrest added some real-world bite to the or Clement/LeFrenais, sitting in our separate rooms, framed by fantasy elements – and allowed us to indulge in long, engrossing bookshelves, with sleeves rolled periods of historical research (the up as we puff pipes, scribble on boards with sharpies and Janis Joplin concert the girls are trade potential punchlines until saving for actually happened on dinnertime, but the whole thing is that date and in that place, for way more informal and requires instance). TW: Alex, What is the difference for writing for British TV as opposed to writing for American comics? AC: Prior to Proctor Valley Road I’d never written a comic in my life and was lucky enough to be shown the ropes by Grant, which is a bit like being taught archery by Robin Hood. Once I had adjusted to the strict medium of pacing, panels and page turns, I soon found my rhythm and was off to the races. Writing for British TV is a process much 8 TRIPWIRE digital
“Living in our plague bubbles at opposite ends of the country, we collaborate via e-mail mostly. We did one Zoom call where I looked like one of those tabloid turnips with almost human features… while the formerly beardless Alex resembled one of the Vikings off The Vikings on TV.”– Grant Morrison only the most basic ‘keeping in touch’. TW: Alex and Grant, What was the inspiration behind Proctor Valley Road? GM: Alex will be able to pinpoint exactly the source of his inspiration and where he first discovered the legends of Proctor Valley Road. For me, I was delighted to discover that Proctor Valley Road is a real place and the entities depicted so incredibly by Naomi in our comic book have the weight of folk mythology behind them – making them as ‘real’ as any other entities which have managed to persist in the human imagination over time. AC: Aside from combining a fascinating and troubled era in American history with a real place steeped in urban legend, I wanted to see a more R Rated version of all those classic small town nostalgic BMX Backpack stories that we’ve dined on for years. Intrepid and whip-smart teenage girls who curse, steal and experiment with drugs are not what we’re used to seeing in these types of ragtag adventure stories so that felt like a fresh approach.
And fortunately, the women in my life are all full of wit, moxy and could out-curse a sailor so I didn’t have to look far for inspiration for the characters. TW: How daunting was it to collaborate with Morrison? AC: It was fun, exciting and a huge privilege. Given Grant is one of the greatest storytellers of our generation he is incredibly down to earth and easy going which made the process all the more enjoyable. TW: Grant, What does Alex bring to Proctor Valley Road as a writer? GM: As I hope I’ve made clear, Alex brings the entire concept and the characters! He IS the party! Without Alex, we wouldn’t have any of this rich, involving, fully realised world to roam around in and have weird adventures! Specifically, he brings a gift for tight and snappy dialogue, an ability to craft short punchy scenes to order, and a willingness to respond quickly, efficiently and without griping to script notes. Alex is the leader of this band; I’m more like Billy Preston playing keyboards on ‘Get Back’! TW: Alex and Grant: How did Naomi Franquiz get on board, and how do you both write to her strengths? AC: Naomi boarded the project after the first issue had been written. Her distinct character work and rich expressions allowed us to really mine the characters’ emotions as we knew she would bring them to life with her unique and sumptuous illustrations. Naomi’s ability to draw white knuckle action and give a real sense of time and place shows she really
has everything in her artistic wheelhouse. GM: BOOM! Studios brought a lot of great artists to the table – for me it’s been exciting to see work that derives from a different set of influences than the superhero stories I’m more wellknown for and I’m delighted to see a kind of fizzing confidence in the work of so many up-andcoming younger artists. We all agreed Naomi best captured what we were looking for, and when her finished pages started to come in, we knew we’d made the perfect choice. I’m in awe of her work – the way she effortlessly brings out character through posture, gesture and expression. The rumpled authenticity and sense of a lived-in world. The diversity and believability of different body
types and faces. Her depiction of place and evocation of atmosphere brings to Proctor the kind of immersive depth stories like this rely on. Combine Tamra’s colouring which evokes time and tone so thoughtfully and unobtrusively (we cut between scenes without ‘MEANWHILE…’ captions or timestamp chyrons and yet every transition is made clear by intelligent lighting decisions and palette choices) with Jim Campbell’s mood-sensitive lettering, and you have a book emitting a very distinct, fresh, and coherent energy of its own. TW: Alex and Grant: Is the story left open with any future adventures of the central protagonists? GM: Spoilers! I’ll let Alex answer that question – AC: Guess you’ll have to wait for Issue #5 and see for yourselves... Alex and Grant: Please describe Proctor Valley Road in one sentence. AC: A seventies psychedelic paranormal joyride with the volume turned up to the max. GM: ‘Death to tyrants, motherfuckers!’… Proctor Valley Road is out now https://www.boom-studios.com/ wordpress/
“Alex brings the entire concept and the characters! He IS the party! Without Alex, we wouldn’t have any of this fully realised world to roam around in… Alex is the leader of this band.” – Grant Morrison TRIPWIRE digital 9
On The Shelf
The return of Tripwire’s graphic novel, art book and collected edition column. Reviews by Joel Meadows First up is The Art Of Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Season One), written by Phil Szostak, Foreword by Doug Chiang, Abrams Books, £30). Disney Plus launched The Mandalorian in 2019 which changed the face of Star Wars forever. The critical reception to the three modern films that started with The Force Awakens in 2015 was mixed but Jon Favreau’s bold TV show starring the enigmatic eponymous figure was an instant hit with fans. Starting
©& ™ 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd.
with a foreword from Lucasfilm veteran Doug Chiang, who puts this expertly assembled behind the scenes book into context, the reader is taken on a visual, conceptual journey on how Favreau and his team of incredibly talented production wizards put their heart and soul into making The Mandalorian the best Star Wars adventure in many years. We get to hear how the programme makers channelled the likes of Koike and Kojima’s seminal manga Lone Wolf and Cub and even Leone’s spaghetti westerns to bring their vision to life on the small screen. As with all of these behind the scenes Star Wars books, it is hard to choose
©& ™ 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd.
the finest practitioners here. But if I had to pick a few standout artists, it would be Brian Martyas, Christian Alzmann and Nick Gindraux. Production as ever is exceptional with a few storyboards reproduced here and each episode of the show’s first season is well represented. From reading this book, it is obvious that The Mandalorian has in its showrunner Jon Favreau a passionate and intelligent advocate of making the newer iterations of the franchise work on TV. The Art Of Star Wars The Mandalorian (Season One) offers an incisive and intriguing peek behind the production curtain of one of genre TV’s most significant shows of the past couple of years. Much recommended for fans of the show and the Star Wars universe…
Next is The Sandman: The Deluxe Edition Volume One by Neil Gaiman, Matt Wagner, Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Steve Parkhouse and Teddy Kristiansen, DC/ Black Label. For many years, DC’s The Sandman was a regular fixture of its now defunct Vertigo imprint. Its distinctive Dave McKean covers were as much a part of it as whoever drew the interiors and this was reflected in the covers for its many trade paperbacks and hardcovers. With the end of Vertigo, DC made a decision to reprint the run in a series of brand new lavish hardcovers ‘The first few issues through its Black Label imprint. here feel like a more Interestingly though, rather than employ McKean to come up with conventional DC new covers, they have retained horror series’
©& ™ 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd.
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‘Manhunter is a masterclass in comic storytelling and this hardcover book, beautifully reproducing this series, should be on every comic aficionado’s bookshelf.’
veteran comic artist Mike Kaluta to create new wraparound covers for each. Using Kaluta offers a tip of the hat to the books that supporting characters Cain and Abel appeared in in the 1970s, like House of Mystery and House of Secrets. This first hefty volume reprints the first sixteen issues of The Sandman as well as the Sandman Midnight Theatre oneshot that saw Morpheus team up with DC’s Golden Age version of The Sandman. The first few issues recount Morpheus’ quest to regain his objects of power after many decades imprisoned by misguided necromancer Roderick Burgess. The first few issues reprinted here feel like a more conventional DC horror series with cameos from the likes of John Constantine and visits to hell. It didn’t really eel like Gaiman had put his own mark on the series until the two-part Doctor Dee story, (#5 and #6) which mixes dark fantasy with a mordant humour that has become his trademark. Gaiman has turned former Justice League Of America adversary Doctor Destiny into a particularly unhinged 12 TRIPWIRE digital
psychopath who intends to use the absence of Morpheus for his own diabolical ends. #7, The Sound Of His Wings, introduces us to Death and does so in a touching and warm tale which connects with the reader. The Doll’s House, which kicks off in #8 and runs until #16, is the first Sandman epic, a story that showcases Gaiman’s ambition as a writer which feels a lot more accomplished than the preceding issues. The story looks at the consequences for the world of Morpheus’ imprisonment and the creation of a dream vortex in the shape of Rose Walker, granddaughter of Unity Kincaid, a woman afflicted by the sleeping sickness that was brought about by the imprisonment of the Lord of Dreams. The Doll’s House is a dense, rich affair interspersed with a couple of interlude stories ‘Tale In The Sand’’ (#8) and ‘Men Of Good Fortune (#12) although
Tale In The Sand is definitely connected to the main story. #13, Collectors, which takes place in a serial killers’ convention in a hotel in the middle of nowhere in the US, is unquestionably a brilliantly over the top satire of the comic convention attending experience and here Gaiman really gets to as a writer. After The Doll’s House, the volume is bookended by Sandman Midnight Theatre, where co-writer Matt Wagner comes on board and we get to see Morpheus interact with the Justice Society’s Sandman, Wesley Dodds. Wagner’s script offers a refreshing change of pace here and Kristiansen’s art is wonderfully gothic. In fact every artist here brings something new to Gaiman’s scripts. He has always had exceptional taste in artistic collaborators and whether it’s Mike Dringenberg, the more cartoony Sam Kieth or even British veteran Steve Parkhouse and former Vertigo mainstay Chris Bachalo, the artists make his words jump off the page. Dave McKean’s covers still look groundbreaking and innovative too. Using glossy paper and a coated dustjacket cover, The Sandman Deluxe Edition Volume One is a beautiful new edition of a series that is still important just over thirty
‘Obviously [Monsters] is intended to be a modern day Frankenstein, critiquing the people who turned Bailey into a monster (WindsorSmith even throws Nazis in for good measure). But in terms of pacing, structurally it is all over the place’ Paul Kirk, a man manipulated by the sinister Council, who searches for closure and retribution. Simonson has always been known as the consummate storyteller years after its debut. Despite a but Manhunter was the series slightly clunky first few issues, it is a comic that really found its feet that first brought him to people’s offering something that no other attention. His sinewy artwork and contemporaneous series managed elegant panel composition brings something which is cinematic to pull off. but still very much playing to the strengths of the four-color page. Manhunter The Deluxe The volume ends with Manhunter Edition by Archie Goodwin The Final Chapter, a silent story and Walter Simonson, DC. that was published after Goodwin When this strip ran as a backup in 1973 in Detective Comics, the passed away and it is the perfect endcap to Paul Kirk’s journey. story goes, DC’s flagship title Archie Goodwin was an exceptional was in trouble. By the end of its seventh chapter, the issue-length writer and Simonson, even though his work was a little bit primitive Gotterdammerung, Goodwin here, brings considerable energy and Simonson had steadied the ship. Manhunter is an exercise in to every panel. Manhunter is a economy. Editor Archie Goodwin masterclass in comic storytelling and brought artist Walter Simonson, who was reasonably green at this time, to illustrate this sparse tale of intrigue. Manhunter took the DC character of the same name by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and refashioned him into a modern day adventurer complete with skills like no other hero. In eightpage installments, Goodwin and Simonson managed to pack more story into these segments than some creators do in a long run. Taking cues from Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise comic strip series, Manhunter doesn’t waste a panel in telling its story of
this hardcover book, beautifully reproducing this series, should be on every comic aficionado’s bookshelf. Next on our review list is Monsters, by Barry WindsorSmith, Jonathan Cape/ Fantagraphics Books. This is a book that has been decades in the making. It was originally intended to come out from DC back in the 1990s but production stalled. So this 365 page deluxe edition has eventually seen a release through Fantagraphics Books in the US and Jonathan Cape in the UK. Monsters tells the tale of orphan Bobby Bailey, who in 1964 is picked up by the US army to take part in an experimental procedure which doesn’t exactly go to plan. Monsters is a very frustrating read as sometimes it works but other times it misses the mark. Artistically it is all over the place too. Some panels and pages are well illustrated and as elegant as you’d expect from a creator of Windsor-Smith’s calibre. But others look rushed and some don’t even look like they were drawn by the same artist. In terms of its script, it seems as if it was too great a task for him. TRIPWIRE digital 13
Obviously this is intended to be a modern-day Frankenstein, critiquing the people who turned Bailey into a monster (WindsorSmith even throws Nazis in for good measure). But in terms of pacing, structurally it is all over the place. There is a sizeable flashback sequence which runs to around 140 pages which disrupts the flow of the story and would have been better served if it was weaved into the rest of the tale. Monsters would have been satisfying if Windsor-Smith had brought a writer on board as he has certainly worked with some very accomplished ones over the years. It is nice to see him back after quite a few years but Monsters doesn’t gel as a story. Mike Mignola: The Quarantine Sketchbook by Mike Mignola, Dark Horse Books. Mignola has one of the most distinctive styles of any comic artist to come to prominence in the last forty years and his Hellboy has changed the face of modern comics. This is a 215 page oversized hardcover featuring his sketches with the proceeds going to a very worthwhile cause, the World Central Kitchen. His pencil 14 TRIPWIRE digital
‘Mignola’s pencil sketches have a real immediacy to them and it is fun to see him draw other people’s characters like The Flintstones and Marvel’s Morbius and Sandman. Dark Horse as ever have pulled out all the stops to make this a beautiful piece.’
Ollie Masters, Rob Williams and Laurence Campbell and Grendel Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards are four miniseries from AWA which have now been collected. AWA launched at the start of the pandemic last year but they have adapted to the changing climate. It all kicks off with Bad Mother, which is a fast-moving crime story featuring April Walters, a housewife who is forced into action when her sketches have a real immediacy to teenage daughter is kidnapped them and it is fun to see him draw by the local crime cartel. She other people’s characters like The decides to go head to head with Flintstones and Marvel’s Morbius the matriarch at the head of the and Sandman. Dark Horse as syndicate to show them that she ever have pulled out all the stops isn’t someone to mess with. Faust to make this a beautiful piece and Mignola’s wife Christine’s introduction is a touching foreword to the book. It feels like this is a way for the artist and Dark Horse to put something back. The final books in this issue’s roundup are all published by AWA Studios, set up by former Marvel mainstays Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso. Bad Mother, by Christa Faust and Mike Deodato, Devils Highway by Benjamin Percy and Brent Schoonover, Old Haunts by
‘Old Haunts feels like it owes a debt to gangster films, but it manages to transcend its influences thanks partly to the metaphysical elements the writers weave into it. ’ than something that really utilises the strengths of the comic format. Moving onto Old Haunts, this tale of gangsters returning to the scene of their crimes in Las Vegas while seeking redemption is a far better story than Bad Mother or Devils Highway. Masters and Williams are a very skilled writing team and has a decent way with dialogue Campbell, who has collaborated and Deodato is an experienced with Williams extensively before, enough artist to hold the reader’s has a wonderfully cinematic attention. But it does feel a little and expressive art style which bit too much like it was designed moves the action along here with to be sold to Netflix. Devils expertise. Old Haunts feels like Highway tells the story of Sharon, it owes a debt to gangster films, a young woman on the trail of a but it manages to transcend its serial killer who gets embroiled in influences thanks partly to the a criminal network that spans the more metaphysical elements length and breadth of the US. Just the writers weave into the story. like Bad Mother, Devils Highway Finally Grendel Kentucky takes is OK, and a perfectly decent the old Anglo-Saxon myth and read. The art is very generic but updates it to the dirty hollows competent. But again it feels like of Kentucky in the middle of a comic property designed to be the U.S. A small town sacrifice sold on to TV or streaming rather their residents and whatever it will take to a mysterious monster living in an abandoned mine shaft. Lee Edwards has always been an exceptional artist and his decision to colour his own work here brings a rich palette to his pencils. He is also the perfect foil for McComsey’s gritty and accomplished script – Grendel Kentucky is a series that really could work as a TV show but still uses the language of comics to full effect. Of course we have
seen monster tales like this before but the creative team here offer a fun and immersive experience, making it feel fresh and classic at the same time. Grendel Kentucky taps into the work of Spielberg, JJ Abrams and Elmore Leonard. Highly recommended. Abrams And Chronicle Books DC Comics Vintage Books Fantagraphics Books Dark Horse Comics AWA Studios
‘Grendel Kentucky taps into the work of Spielberg, JJ Abrams and Elmore Leonard. Recommended. ’ TRIPWIRE digital 15
Founded just six years ago, Aftershock Comics, started by a couple of mainstream comic industry veterans, has already made a splash in the market. Tripwire’s contributing editor Scott Braden takes a look at what they have done so far and what’s next for them…
AfterShock editor-in-chief Mike Marts
C
omics and multimedia. Original content with dynamic creators. New ways of telling stories in a four-color world. Welcome to AfterShock Comics -- part of a new breed of
independent comic publishers that have arrived in the last decade. Founded by publisher/chief creative officer Joe Pruett and editor-in-chief Mike Marts, AfterShock has enlisted some of the top creators in the comic industry to tell stories that can’t be found anywhere else. These include: Garth Ennis, Bret Blevins, Graham Nolan, Phillip Hester, Sam Kieth, Mark Waid and others. Just consider their killer line up of titles and limited series: Animosity and Jimmy’s Bastards. Girls from Dimension 13. Eleanor and the Egret and Captain Kid. As the New X-Men once upon a time claimed, these books are “All-New, All-Different.” And we recommend you check them out for yourself. But with Marts and Pruett behind it, you wouldn’t expect anything different, right? A seasoned insider with over two decades of experience in the comic book and entertainment business, Marts has edited some of the most critically acclaimed and highest-selling series of the last 20 years, as well as spearheaded several
AfterShock publisher/ CCO Joe Pruett
of comicdom’s most popular franchises including: Batman, X-Men and the unfinished epic Unity 2000. “AfterShock is paving the way for the next evolutionary step
TRIPWIRE digital 17
‘The new company will focus on AfterShock’s library of properties — including The Kaiju Score and Undone by Blood, both of which are currently in development for the big and small screen, respectively.’
in comic books,” Marts stated in a press release. “Being part of this great team allows us to further foster relationships with not only the current generation of creators and writers, but also the next one.” and Pruett saying “Our entire team posses the highest level of experience within their respective fields. With the addition of Mike Marts, and his unparalleled skillset and instincts on what makes a great comic book story, our team just got even stronger.” Pruett, on the other hand, is a noted comic book editor, publisher, and writer with over a quarter century of experience, he has been nominated for
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numerous Eisner and Harvey awards for his work on such projects as Negative Burn at Caliber Comics. He is also known for his work at ther Hoous of Ideas on several X-books. Pruett also launched Desperado Publishing, which worked alongside the likes of Image Comics and IDW. And what of its future?The successful independent comics publisher is partnering with the television distributor to form AfterShock Media. AfterShock, the independent publisher behind such titles as Animosity, Babyteeth and Witch Hammer, recently announced a merger with television production and distribution company Rive Gauche, with the resultant combined entity called AfterShock Media. The new company will focus on AfterShock’s library of properties — including The Kaiju Score and Undone by Blood, both of which are currently in development for the big and small screen, respectively — with an eye to move them into new formats, including television, film, narrative podcasts and gaming. Rive Gauche CEO Jon Kramer will take the role of CEO
at AfterShock Media. “Today is a milestone day for both Rive Gauche and AfterShock Comics, two companies I’ve had the pleasure of building alongside amazing visionaries, colleagues and collaborators,” Kramer said in a statement. “The significance of this strategic union cannot be understated because our groundbreaking, diverse comic IP will now have a team to support and drive its growth into TV, film, gaming and podcasts, fueled by the development, production and distribution of both scripted and unscripted content. Rive Gauche and I were looking for a way to reenter the scripted space because we saw an insatiable appetite with the proliferation of channels.” AfterShock Comics will continue to be led by chief creative officer and publisher
‘Norman Reedus’ bigbaldhead productions is developing AfterShock’s metatextual western series Undone by Blood, which will make the jump to television.’
Joe Pruett, president Lee Kramer, and editor in chief Mike Marts. Lee Kramer will head up AfterShock’s film and television division. Marine Ksadzhikyan has been promoted inside Rive Gauche to the role of chief operating officer and EVP of sales, while also talking on the role of head of business development and strategy at AfterShock Media. At the same time, Norman Reedus’ bigbaldhead productions is developing AfterShock’s metatextual western series Undone by Blood, which will make the jump to television. “Undone by Blood was born from a place of pure passion, out of a love for Westerns, for myself and the entire creative team. At the outset, our goal was to tell a story that added to the genre by deconstructing its themes, and to make the best comic book we could,” series co-creator Lonnie Nadler told The Hollywood Reporter. “While having your book adapted is the ultimate dream for many creators, it was not for us. We wouldn’t be doing this unless we felt it was one-hundred-percent the right fit. And from our first discussion with Norman and his team at bigbaldhead, it was clear
that their passion for the project matched our own with genuine enthusiasm. They understood the nuances, the world, and the characters completely.” Nadler’s co-writer Zac Thompson added, “From day one of our conversations it was clear we were all drawn to the material for the same reasons. The western genre casts a long shadow over the American film industry and it’s so exciting to create a show that will explore the impact of that legacy while also paying tribute to it. The dual narrative structure of the story makes it perfect for the transition to television. Fans of classic Westerns will get their Sergio Leone tales of justice on the frontier. And fans of quirky Coen Brothers neo-westerns will get theirs too. It’s an embarrassment of genre riches.” Reedus, JoAnne Colonna and Amanda Verdon will executive produce the series for bigbaldhead, with Lee Kramer and Jon Kramer exec producing for AfterShock Comics, alongside Thompson and Nadler. Reedus is being eyed to star as the series’ Solomon Eaton, the fictional cowboy whose stories mirror the primary action in each tale.
“I’m not going to lie. The possibility of having Norman Reedus play the co-lead of your television show is mind-blowingly amazing, as he’s the perfect fit for a legendary pulp gunslinger like Solomon Eaton,” Thompson said. “Right from the jump, Norman understood Sol like he was an extension of himself. He saw all the things we saw in the character and to be honest, Norman’s basically already a badass cowboy. We couldn’t be more excited to see his take on Sol.” “Undone by Blood is a special book for us at AfterShock and we couldn’t be happier that we found the perfect creative partners in bigbaldhead productions,” Lee Kramer said. “Norman, JoAnne and Amanda’s creative sensibilities will only help to further enrich this already impactful tale for a television audience, and we cannot wait to get this exciting project underway.” Rive Gauche Television negotiated the deal on behalf of AfterShock Comics, with Thompson and Nadler represented by Jake Wagner from Alibi. Reedus who provided the foreword to the collection of the first Undone by Blood comic book series, Undone by Blood or the Shadow of a Wanted Man, writes that the series “excited me in a way that few comics have since The Walking Dead.” https://aftershockcomics.com/ TRIPWIRE digital 19
Primal Screen Tripwire’s new DVD, Blu Ray and streaming editor Stephen Dalton, formerly The Guardian and NME writer, takes a look at the latest releases…
VOD & DVD / BLU-RAY REVIEWS ture/urn:hbo:feature:GYDAnZgCFQ8IJpQEAAAAN https://www.sky.com/watch/ title/programme/862fcbed-6f2b-4d8f-8430-fa52fc7b2722
Zack Snyder’s Justice League Director: Zack Snyder Stars: Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa Warner Bros. Rebooted and restored thanks to a ferocious online fan campaign, Snyder’s four-hour edit of the DC superhero epic he left incomplete in 2017 was always guaranteed to divide opinion. With its drained colour scheme and relentlessly sombre mood, this bloated remix is every bit as ponderous and humourless as Snyder’s detractors claim. But judged on its own operatic terms, Justice League is also a grandly ambitious spectacle full of daring, surreal, eye-popping visual beauty. Stand-out restored scenes and additions include a dazzling slow-motion car-crash sequence featuring Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, future love interest of Ezra Miller’s Flash, and a 20 TRIPWIRE digital
dystopian alternative-timeline prophecy in which an embattled Batman enlists Jared Leto’s Joker to confront an evil Superman. Snyder’s bombastic, unwittingly camp, vaguely fascistic aesthetic is easy to mock, but at his best he creates visionary art-house cinema for a blockbuster audience. (Streaming now on Sky Cinema / Now TV/ HBO Max in the US) https://www.hbomax.com/fea-
Wonder Woman 1984 Director: Patty Jenkins Stars; Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal Warner Bros. After their hugely entertaining debut collaboration on Wonder Woman in 2017, Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins fail to lasso the target with this lacklustre sequel. Now working at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, Gadot’s undercover Amazonian superheroine Diana Prince is drawn into battle against evil tycoon Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) and shy work colleague Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), who transforms Wonder Woman 1984
into Wonder Woman’s archenemy Cheetah. In fairness, the Themyscira flashback scenes are spectacular, and the knowing nods to vintage 1980s Hollywood are good fun, but the overall package feels muddled and underpowered. A cheesy subplot involving the ghostly resurrection of Diana’s deceased ex-lover Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who takes control of another man’s body without his consent, is a contrived twist that even Jenkins acknowledged as problematic. A few enjoyable moments, but ultimately a patchy Amazon delivery. (Streaming now, also available to buy on DVD and BluRay) https://www.hbomax.com/ feature/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/ Wonder-Woman-1984-Gal-Gadot/ dp/B08SHFVX8B https://www.amazon.co.uk/ Wonder-Woman-1984-Blu-rayRegion/dp/B08TC3BQVC/
Willy’s Wonderland Director: Kevin Lewis Stars: Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant Screen Media Films Nicolas Cage does not utter a single word in Willy’s Wonderland, but still delivers a classic edge-of-mania performance that mostly involves beating giant puppet animals to pulp. Shot through with a streak of gleefully bad-taste humour that recalls Peter Jackson in his pre-blockbuster period, this knowingly ironic slashercomedy is essentially Nightmare on Sesame Street. Cage plays a modern-day cousin of Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name, an anonymous drifter tricked by the citizens of a remote Nevada town into spending the night inside a boarded-up
Willy’s Wonderland
Bobbie Brown, Rebecca Hall Warner Bros. The Batman Vs. Superman of monster movies is every bit the gloriously dumb blockbuster spectacle it should be, but less fun than it could be. Director Adam Wingard handles the epic CGI battles between ape and lizard with undeniable panache, especially when Mechagodzilla arrives in the third act to help pulverise Hong Kong. But the plot, involving a subterranean kingdom at the centre of the Earth, is beyond preposterous while normally respectable human actors like Stellan Skarsgard and Rebecca Hall are obliged to chew through some painfully awful dialogue. The sole Godzilla Vs. Kong refreshing touch here is Kong’s Director: Adam Wingard tender relationship with a deaf Stars: Alexander Skarsgard, Mille little girl, Jia, played by real-life family restaurant whose sinister menagerie of animatronic creatures are demonically possessed by the ghosts of bloodthirsty serial killers. Directed by Kevin Lewis, Willy’s Wonderland is a guilty pleasure, and easily the funniest thing Cage has done since dressing as a gorilla in that unintentionally hilarious Wicker Man remake. (Streaming now, also available on DVD and Blu-Ray from April 19) Amazon: https://amzn. to/378ALF3 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ gb/movie/willys-wonderland/ id1551380973 Amazon Blu-ray: https://amz. run/4II5
Godzilla vs Kong
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‘Rose: A Love Story is a little too thin on plot, but full of spooky twists and wintry atmosphere, with pleasing echoes of contemporary folkhorror classics like Let The Right One In.’
Rose: A Love Story
deaf actress Kaylee Hottle. Their sign-language conversations are a sweet twist, but sadly under-used in a boorish and barely coherent monster-mash smackdown. (Streaming now)
Rose: A Love Story Director: Jennifer Sheridan Stars: Sophie Rundle, Matt Stokoe A low-budget British suspense thriller that feels particularly timely in the current lockdown climate, director Jennifer Sheridan’s impressively eerie debut feature mostly takes place in a remote woodland cabin where two anguished young lovers, played by real-life couple Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders) and Matt Stokoe, are socially distancing themselves from the rest of humankind. Sam (Stokoe) is lover, carer and jailer to the sickly Rose (Rundle), who suffers from a mysterious medical condition that could prove lethal to more than just herself.
‘The handsome Hungarian locations look great and the mood is vintage Hammer Horror, but Marshall and Kirk dilute the suspense with hammy performances, clunky dialogue and tame scares’ 22 TRIPWIRE digital
Scripted by Stokoe himself, Rose: A Love Story is a little too thin on plot, but full of spooky twists and wintry atmosphere, with pleasing echoes of contemporary folkhorror classics like Let The Right One In. (Streaming now)
The Reckoning Director: Neil Marshall Stars: Charlotte Kirk, Steven Waddington, Sean Pertwee Vertigo Following his disappointing Hellboy reboot, director Neil Marshall returns to his indiehorror roots with The Reckoning, a bodice-ripping gothic thriller set in 17th century England. Marshall’s real-life fiancée Charlotte Kirk co-writes and stars as Grace Haverstock, a newly widowed young mother falsely branded a witch by her sleazy sociopath landlord (Steven Waddington) and a sadistic, power-drunk witchfinder (a sporting turn by Marshall regular
Sean Pertwee). The handsome Hungarian locations look great and the mood is vintage Hammer Horror, but Marshall and Kirk dilute the suspense with hammy performances, clunky dialogue and tame scares. More interesting than the film is its off-screen drama: in 2019 Kirk was revealed as the woman at the centre of a juicy sex scandal that culminated in several major Hollywood moguls losing their jobs. But even this teasing layer of #MeToo subtext cannot salvage Marshall’s creaky old-school shocker. The witchy antics in WandaVision were scarier. (Streaming now, also available on DVD and BluRay)
Synchronic Directors: Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead Stars: Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan XYZ Films Writer-director duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have built a
The Reckoning
Synchronic
‘With intriguing nods to Lynch and Cronenberg, Synchronic takes a visually dazzling, hallucinatory trip into the Twilight Zone. ’
cult reputation on the film festival circuit with classy, cerebral sci-fi horror yarns like The Endless. Graduating to larger budgets and bigger stars the pair edge closer to the mainstream with this mind-bending mystery, which costars Avengers regular Anthony Mackie and Fifty Shades franchise survivor Jamie Dornan as New Orleans paramedics investigating the lethal effects of a designer drug that sends its users back in time. The premise is preposterous and the final resolution a little too neat, but Benson and Moorhouse mostly find a fruitful balance between their art-house indie roots and more conventional thriller tropes. With pleasing nods to Lynch and Cronenberg, Synchronic takes a Promising Young Woman
visually dazzling, hallucinatory trip into the Twilight Zone. (Streaming now, also available on DVD and Blu-Ray) Amazon: https://amzn. to/3kXp8qp iTunes: https://itunes.apple. com/gb/movie/synchronic/ id1548981416
Promising Young Woman Director: Emerald Fennell Stars: Carey Mulligan Revenge is a dish best served with a sassy soundtrack and a splashy colour palette in this provocative, timely, darkly comic feature debut from writerdirector Emerald Fennell, former Killing Eve show-runner and screenwriter for the upcoming DC Comics adaptation Zatanna.
Carey Mulligan gives a great hot-mess performance as Cassie, a traumatised small-town loner whose high-stakes hobby involves pretending to get blind drunk in bars, going home with creepy men, and then confronting them with their borderline rapist behaviour. Mixing dark humour with bleak depictions of sexual assault is a risky tonal balancing act, and Fennell resorts to simplistic caricature at times, but she still manages to make challenging subject matter both stylish and funny. Produced by Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap company, Promising Young Woman is a strong contender for multiple Oscars later this month. (Streaming on Sky Cinema / Now TV from April 16)
‘Fennell resorts to simplistic caricature at times, but she still manages to make challenging subject matter stylish and funny. Produced by Margot Robbie, Promising Young Woman is a strong contender for multiple Oscars.’ TRIPWIRE digital 23
Primal Screen
DREAM PROJECT TERRY GILLIAM / HE DREAMS OF GIANTS Stephen Dalton reviews this documentary about Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
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hy does anyone create?” ponders visionary filmmaker and Monty Python veteran Terry Gilliam in He Dreams of Giants, the latest candid documentary from directing duo Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe. “Because we don’t have a choice...” A close-up portrait of artistic agony and ecstasy, He Dreams of Giants chronicles the making of Gilliam’s notoriously ill-fated passion project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which finally arrived in 2018 after three decades of false starts, setbacks and struggles. Fulton and Pepe’s film is partly an inspirational hymn to stubborn self-belief, but also a cautionary lesson in all-consuming obsession. “Only people who become that obsessed should try to do Quixote,” Gilliam told me a few years ago, “it has to be that kind of intensity.” Gilliam first attempted to film his time-jumping Spanish fantasy in late 2000, with Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort in the lead roles. The Spanish shoot collapsed after barely a week of Biblical rainstorms, production delays and medical problems, as chronicled in Fulton and Pepe’s previous documentary on this subject, the fantastic backstage disaster movie Lost in La Mancha (2002). “We crashed after five days,” Gilliam told me. “I should have learned my lesson the first time it crashed, but I didn’t. It is the un-making of a movie. Keith and Louis got a good movie out of it, and I’ve got a good memory – no, a bad memory, but at least I’ve got it on film. And I got star billing ahead of Johnny Depp. That’s all that counts.” Sixteen years later, following multiple attempts to revive the project with replacement stars including Ewan McGregor, John Hurt, James Franco, Michael Palin and Robert Duvall,
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Gilliam finally completed The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, with Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver in the headline roles. Once again, Fulton and Pepe were on set to document the bumpy journey from script to screen. But where Lost In La Mancha was a stirring tale of heroic failure, He Dreams Of Giants is more about bittersweet success. With Gilliam on the cusp of turning 80, his reputation waning and health problems mounting, this intimate backstage snapshot is as much an elegy for his past glories as a celebration of his latest film. Though The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is their focus, Pepe and Fulton also flash back through four decades of Gilliam’s rollercoaster career, from his fruitful early dealings with George Harrison’s Handmade Films to cult classics like Brazil and The Fisher King. “George always believed the spirit of the Beatles passed on into Python, and there’s a side of me that does as well,” Gilliam told me. “The same kind of anarchic, bouncy, silly, wonderful stuff. We started the year they collapsed. And thank God for that, because George was our number one fan. If it hadn’t been for George, there wouldn’t have been Life of Brian, there wouldn’t have been Time Bandits. It was absolutely critical. In a sense, it made Brazil and everything else possible.” There is a satisfying sense of closure in witnessing Gilliam finally realise his obsession in He Dreams of Giants, but the story leaves a melancholy aftertaste too. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote premiered in 2018, to a lukewarm critical and commercial reception. “I’m no longer an A-list director,” Gilliam concedes in the documentary. “I get the films made and then they don’t get seen.” As Pepe and Fulton demonstrate, getting what you want is not always the same as a happy ending. Keeping his creative vision alive made may be torture, Gillian concludes, but he is addicted to the challenge. “Without that,” he sighs, “I am a dead man.”
He Dreams Of Giants and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote are streaming now. Lost In La Mancha is also available on DVD
‘Where Lost in La Mancha was a stirring tale of heroic failure, He Dreams of Giants is more about bittersweet success. With Gilliam on the cusp of turning 80, his reputation waning and health problems mounting, this intimate backstage snapshot is as much an elegy for his past glories as a celebration of his latest film.’
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HITTING THE RIGHT MARK Primal Screen
Stephen Dalton takes a look at Arrow Films’ streaming channel
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consistently great distribution platform for offbeat cult classics and extreme genre movies over the last 30 years, Arrow Films launched its streaming channel for UK subscribers in February. A bargain fiver a month is pretty great value for Arrow’s unrivalled library of arthouse rarities and vintage video nasties, including work by major auteur directors like Godard, Fassbinder, Kieslowski, Altman, Dario Argento and Lars Von Trier. In the Arrow Player’s egalitarian videodrome, splatter-horror bloodbaths including Hellraiser and The Hills Have Eyes sit alongside critically acclaimed award-winners like David Cronenberg’s Crash, Deborah Granik’s Winter’s Bone and Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt. The channel also showcases original content including new indie features, director interviews and making-of documentaries. As Arrow subscriber Quentin Tarantino noted recently, this is “cool shit”. Here Tripwire recommends five of the best current and recent titles...
The Stylist (2020) Writer-director Jill Gevargizian expands her acclaimed 2016 short into this Arrow-exclusive horror thriller starring Najarra Townsend as a lonely hairdresser whose craving for companionship 26 TRIPWIRE digital
The Stylist
A Ghost Waits
Why Don’t You Just Die!
compels her to murder and scalp her clients. The set-up may sound like dark comedy but Gevargizian plays the material
with admirable sincerity and restraint, citing Stephen King’s Carrie as a key inspiration for her alienated, damaged anti-heroine.
Primal Screen
A Ghost Waits (2020) Director Adam Stovall’s deadpan paranormal rom-com stars cowriter MacLeod Andrews as Jack, a luckless handyman who falls in love with Natalie Walker’s ghostly visitor Muriel while fixing up an empty house for his landlord boss. Shot in handsome monochrome on a shoestring budget, this warm-hearted Arrowexclusive underdog yarn has pleasing echoes of early Tim Burton. Why Don’t You Just Die! 2018) A gory action comedy fuelled by nihilistic Russian humour, writer-director Kirill Sokolov’s gripping debut feature mostly takes place inside a single Moscow apartment. There are nods to early Quentin Tarantino, Danny Boyle and even Sam Peckinpah as Sokolov’s blackhearted chamber farce builds to an explosive crescendo of cartoonishly extreme violence. Hazagussa (2017) Berlin-based director Lukas Feigelfeld borrows an ancient curse once used to describe female demons for his visually striking debut feature, a deliciously eerie folk-horror shocker set in 15th century Austria. Aleksandra Cwen plays Aldbrun, a single mother in a remote alpine village who is ostracised as a witch by her cruel, superstitious neighbours. Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD (2014) Paul Goodwin’s suitably raw, boisterous documentary is a fanboy love letter to the hugely influential British comic born in 1977, at the height of punk rock. Most of the key 2000AD players are interviewed here including Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison,
Hazagussa
Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD
Future Shock! The Story Of 2000AD
Pat Mills, Carlos Ezquerra, John Wagner and Brian Bolland alongside famous fans like sci-fi screenwriter Alex Garland and
Dredd film star Karl Urban. Visit the Arrow streaming service online https://www.arrow-player.com/ TRIPWIRE digital 27
HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY
SENTINEL OF LIBERTY
ANDREW COLMAN takes a look back at 80 years of Marvel’s iconic Captain America while JOEL MEADOWS reviews The Folio Society’s Captain America limited slipcase edition and talks to three of Cap’s most influential writers: Steve Englehart, JM DeMatteis and Mark Waid.
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lthough not the first patriotic comic character by any means (that was MLJ’s The Shield), from his inception in Captain America Comics 1 in 1941, Cap was a cause celebre, a political entity and a star-spangled symbol of his country like no other. Even more significantly, Captain America was Marvel’s first genuine super-hero, a crusading, unalloyed icon unlike the anti-heroic Sub-Mariner and Human Torch. As Jim Steranko stated, more than any other, he was the quintessential heroic figure, and through him the comics had found a reason to exist. Furthermore, due to his phenomenal success (he was by far Timely Comics’ most popular star) the Americanization of the medium had begun. Everything about his persona appealed to the young comic reader – his explosive debut, delivering a knockout punch to Hitler (the scenario would be repeated with issue 2 and many others), his credible transformation from scrawny, 4F everyman to A1 majestic supersoldier, and his red, white and
blue uniform, complete with chain-mail, winged helmet, and the letter “A” emblazoned on his forehead. Not to mention the almost obligatory boy sidekick Bucky Barnes. This hero, like America, could not fail. Inevitably such a character immediately created controversy. His creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had deliberately forged a character that aggressively represented America, nine months before Pearl Harbor, when isolationists such as Joseph Kennedy, clearly unconcerned with the activities of the Nazis, had manipulated popular opinion into staying out of the conflict. The title was heavily propagandistic, reminding its readership of the horrors of the Nazi regime in no uncertain terms. Joe Simon received hate
‘Simon and Kirby’s tenure on Captain America Comics lasted only ten issues, but helped establish a new sub-genre of patriotic super-heroes, not to mention characters with the prefix “Captain” in their name.’
mail and death threats, but within eight months he would be vindicated. Simon and Kirby’s tenure on Captain America Comics lasted only ten issues, but helped establish a new sub-genre of patriotic super-heroes, not to mention characters with the prefix “Captain” in their name. There were probably more Cap imitators at the time than of Superman, much to Timely’s chagrin. Cap came to dominate the Timely imprint, appearing in Marvel Mystery, All-Select, All-Winners and U.S.A. Comics. Kirby’s innovation on this title should never be underestimated - his dynamic, flashy pencils, garish double-page spreads, lurid, grotesque villains and focus on action drew on the essence of the pulps and propelled the title to the top of the industry. He considered it his magnum opus, but within a year he had moved on, and wasn’t to draw the character for two decades. After Simon and Kirby’s departure, art chores were handled ably by Syd Shores and Al Avison, with scripts by none other than Stan Lee (he TRIPWIRE digital 29
‘After a decidedly odd tryout in Strange Tales 114, Lee and Kirby, in Avengers 4, discarded the interim ‘50s version of the character, by repositioning him as a man out of time, who had been frozen since the end of World War 2 in a block of Arctic ice.’
had had his first work published in issue 3), Otto Binder and Bill Finger. The villains, such as arch-foe the Red Skull, The Seven Sons of Satan, and The Mad Torso meant that the focus remained on battling the ever more caricatured Nazis and the Japanese. Coupled with the incredibly busy and garish covers of the great Alex Schomburg, Cap’s position as chief superpatriot in comics was maintained. And then the War ended. Although the art and scripts improved (due at least in part to artists and writers returning from active service) it didn’t take long for Cap to become incongruous and out of step with the prevailing mood of the postwar era. After attempting to retool the character with a new identity and sidekick (with Betty Ross as Golden Girl replacing Bucky) the series, like all the super-hero titles on the stands bar those featuring Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, came to a close, with issues 74 and 75 dominated by the burgeoning horror genre. Our hero appeared on the cover of issue 75, but in none of the stories – super-heroes were out, War, Western, Romance, Horror 30 TRIPWIRE digital
and Crime books were soon to be very in. As the American comic medium entered a new phase in its history (aficionados refer to this deregulated, hothouse period as The Dark Age or The Atomic Age), Cap, supreme as he had been a decade earlier, remained dormant. However the excessive, exploitative fervour of the publishers of that time was to lead to a Senate – enforced clampdown and a new Code. Atlas (as Timely was called in the 1950s) publisher Martin Goodman, sensing another seachange, brought back Captain America in Young Men 24, but it was an abortive revival. With a new rather tawdry tagline and enemy (“Captain America, Commie Smasher”) the humanity
of the Silver Age version was of course absent, and it was simply too soon after the first Hero Age for there to be any nostalgia for such a character. Despite the excellent pencils of future Marvel stalwart John Romita, Cap made just nine appearances (including three in his own title) before vanishing again. Nevertheless this version of Cap would prove significant much later in Marvel continuity when it turned out that he wasn’t the real Captain America at all. It was only after a sequence of events at Atlas that remarkably contrived to form Marvel that a proper, integrated return for Timely’s greatest creation was possible. With former colleagues Stan Lee and Jack Kirby at the helm, and with the Sub-Mariner reappearing two years earlier in Fantastic Four 4, it was only a matter of time before Cap was to make his comeback, and this time, it was for good. After a decidedly odd tryout in Strange Tales 114, Lee and Kirby, in Avengers 4, discarded the interim ‘50s version of the character, by repositioning him as a man out of time, who had been frozen since the end of World
War 2 in a block of Arctic ice. Within a few issues of the book, Captain America had become the mainstay, and within eight months of that he was already coheadlining with his own series in Tales of Suspense, with Iron Man. With Kirby, who had pencilled the first few issues of the Avengers, back in charge of his favourite creation, Cap’s time in the “split” title was characterized by his usual brash, expansive artwork, especially in the stories set during World War 2 (issues 63 – 71) which added depth and context to the franchise. And when Marvel finally broke free of the distribution deal with rivals DC in 1968, the expansion gave Cap his book back. Captain America as a character was to reach new heights now that he had his book again, although obviously as a focal point for socially aware stories where he was a symbol of a now divided, radically different country from the one he knew in comics’ golden age. Quite clearly here was a hero that had an extra dimension as a personification of an idealised America from a bygone era. After Kirby left to go
‘Englehart reached his zenith with issues 169 – 180, when Steve Rogers, wracked with uncertainty, confusion and anger, rejects his Captain America persona and becomes the Nomad..’
to DC, various artists and writers (notably the aforementioned Jim Steranko, who provided the most cinematic version of Cap in an iconic story about faking his own death) attempted to mould the character to the times – not least by introducing a strong African-American character, The Falcon, as his partner. However it was Steve Englehart, under the auspices of Gerry Conway, who succeeded. In a rare example of serendipity in comics, the return of the fascistic Captain America of the 1950s in issue 153 allowed the writer to correct a continuity
anomaly while redefining the genuine Cap for the title’s college readership. From now on, Captain America was a symbol of the times rather than a patriot. In another corrective to the Golden Age version, The Falcon got cobilling on the title’s masthead. Englehart reached his zenith with issues 169 – 180, when Steve Rogers, wracked with uncertainty, confusion and anger, rejects his Captain America persona and becomes the Nomad. As one of his supporting cast declaims in an attempt to change his mind – “Captain America. Captain America! Just think what those words mean!” After Englehart and regular artist Buscema’s departure, Jack Kirby returned for the final time to his beloved Super-Soldier, this time failing to re-energize the title with his
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by now rather dated stylings and cadences. From there, the title eventually passed to Roger Stern and John Byrne, who reproduced the highs, quality and themes of Englehart’s tenure, without the early ‘70s earnestness. Following this partnership, the equally capable Mike Zeck and J.M. DeMatteis assumed the mantle, bringing back Jack Monroe (the evil 1950s Bucky) as a hero, who like Steve Rogers before him, is a man out of time. After one final old-school run by Mark Gruenwald, which featured Steve Rogers being ousted from the Captain America role again, the title went through many directional changes and reboots, all of which (the Rob Liefeld run in Series Two in particular) grew more absurd and contrived. In recent years however, the character has received a boost in popularity under Waid and Garney, followed by John Ney Rieber and John Cassaday, who correctly parallel the Cap who faced the shock of Pearl Harbor with his 21st century self, dealing with the aftermath and fallout of 9/11. Towards the end of the noughties Ed Brubaker masterfully helmed 32 TRIPWIRE digital
‘Towards the end of the noughties Ed Brubaker masterfully helmed the series, turning The Sentinel of Liberty into a superspy, switching genres from super-hero to espionage. ’ the series, turning The Sentinel of Liberty into a superspy, switching genres from super-hero to espionage. His death in the event series Civil War certainly gave the character far greater exposure, and was done in a highly polished, filmic style.
Which brings us to Cap’s arrival in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With such a resonant, iconic character whose history and canon stretched back seventy years, it was inevitable that he would take his place alongside all the other key Marvel properties, and indeed, next to Iron Man, become the focal point of the developing series of movies that would reach their apogee with Avengers: Infinity War. In 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, director Joe Johnston’s origin tale, very much based on Simon and Kirby’s version, was a compelling and nostalgic exercise in retro stylization and period garishness, with lead actor Chris Evans providing exactly the right amount of vulnerability, self-doubt and magnetism to the role. His Cap was a paragon of wholesome decency yet possessed cynicism and nous. Following 2012’s watershed team movie Marvel’s The Avengers, Cap was an established property with audiences who were probably unaware of his importance in the four color medium. In his next two solo movies, 2014’s Captain America: Winter
Soldier and 2016’s Captain America; Civil War, his trajectory dovetailed with the ongoing Avengers movies. Winter Soldier was a reasonable attempt at paring down the super-heroism and replacing it with espionage and conspiracy tropes, and for the most part succeeded. However Civil War, which came after the sludgy incoherence of 2015’s overblown Age of Ultron (a missed opportunity in terms of capturing the spirit of the comics) was a tour de force of internecine warfare between the two rival camps in the super-
team. Despite the usual outsize pyrotechnics, big acting and sledgehammer action sequences, there was genuine depth in the characterisation, with Cap in particular proving to be more than just a walking patriotic symbol – while Evans’s nuanced performance was excellent. It also (along with several other lesser Marvel movies) created the springboard for the grand finale double feature of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Although the last two Avengers movies were an epic-length
tangle of myriad plot strands, time travel, alternate realities and endless disbelief suspension, they were hugely ambitious, with Infinity War possibly the best of all Marvel films in its effort to ape the magic of the source material. While Endgame, despite its apocalyptic and complex scenario, had time for humour and indeed closure, especially, as it turned out, with the Captain himself. After almost 80 years of existence, Captain America, together with Iron Man, had emerged from the ten cent four colour pamphlet as the lynchpin of a cinema franchise that is unsurpassed in movie history, even if there was the odd false start along the way (the somewhat forgotten 1990 low budget misfire). Regardless of being eclipsed by Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four in Marvel’s Silver Age, and despite not being as globally recognisable as Superman and Batman, Captain America has rightfully taken his place at the top table of superhero icons. And long of course may he stay there. TRIPWIRE digital 33
pic: Joel Meadows
JM DEMATTEIS
TRIPWIRE: What explains the longevity of Captain America? JM DEMATTEIS: I think it’s because, ultimately, Cap’s appeal isn’t limited to America—in the sense that he doesn’t represent the American reality, he represents the American dream. Steve Rogers is the embodiment of our highest ideals and aspirations, our best selves, and that’s something that has universal appeal. TW: How has the character adapted to and evolved with the times over the years? JMD: In his original incarnation, Cap was pretty much reflective of the war effort: the All-American tough guy, taking on the Nazis, fighting the good fight, during World War II. That was a simplified, but honest, reflection of the American psyche at the time. After Lee and Kirby resurrected him in the 60s, the stories began to reflect the more troubled and confused aspects
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of that psyche. That’s only intensified over the years. What I appreciate as a writer is that huge gap between the ideals that Cap represents—the simple human decency Steve Rogers embodies—and the American reality, which can be extremely bleak. It’s that gap, and our need to bridge it, that makes for great stories. TW: Why do you think he lends himself so well to appearances on the big screen although admittedly it took until the Marvel movies of the last decade or so to crack that? JMD: Sometimes it all comes down to casting—and Chris Evans really embodies the character. It’s as if Steve stepped right out of the comic books and onto the screen. And, of course, the character—who, given his origins and gaudy (even by comics standards) costume, could have easily turned into a joke—has been treated with real respect and understanding in the Marvel films.
When the first Cap movie came out, I was very reluctant to go see it—a WW II Cap movie seemed like a recipe for campy disaster—but it was so well done, so heartfelt and honest and genuinely entertaining, that it became, and remains, one of my alltime favorite superhero movies. TW: How is he is still relevant 80 years after he was first created? JMD: As long as Cap continues to reflect, and address, the realities and struggles of life in America (which themselves reflect the realities and struggles of the broader world), he’ll remain relevant. If he was just a throwback to WW II, mouthing 1940s platitudes, the character would have vanished into the mists long ago. But Cap’s creators, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, hit on something fundamental, something archetypal, with the character—and I suspect Captain America will be around for at least another 80 years.
TW: How has the character adapted to and evolved with the times over the years? MW: He’s certainly become more thoughtful and les jingoistic. In the 1940s, he would have been a New Deal Democrat. Today, as I write him, I’ve decided for myself that what he stands for and embodies isn’t necessarily the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, but the Bill of Rights. That’s his remit.
MARK WAID
TRIPWIRE: What explains the longevity of Captain America? MARK WAID: Regardless of the era from which he sprang, everyone knows what it’s like to feel powerless like pre-transformation Steve Rogers, and everyone at some point has the fantasy of having the power to put bullies in their place.
TW: Why do you think he lends himself so well to appearances on the big screen although admittedly it took until the Marvel movies of the last decade or so to crack that? MW: I go back to answer number one, adding that these last ten years or so in American history have been singularly inviting to a character who openly fights fascism.
examination, at the heart of it is the idea that we are a democracy where all are ideally supposed to be treated as equal. Captain America stands for that, unabashedly.
TW: How is he is still relevant 80 years after he was first created? MW: No matter how splintered this country becomes and how deservedly forced it is into self-
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pic: Joel Meadows
STEVE ENGLEHART
TRIPWIRE: What explains the longevity of Captain America? STEVE ENGLEHART: I have to blow my own horn on this. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created a symbol for America in World War II, and he was a hit for the duration, but then his run ended. Kirby and Stan Lee brought him back in the 60s, as the “living legend of World War II,” but by that time, America’s war in Vietnam had turned a lot of people against a symbol of America at war. Stan and later writers tried but couldn’t find any way to make him popular, and when I started writing the book it was close to cancellation, But I had the bright
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idea to have him stand for American ideals, not American hegemony, and that immediately made him Marvel’s #1 character. That characterization became the default in the comics, and now the films, and the reason it has thus lasted for fifty years is that American ideals never go out of style. Whether we always live up to those ideals is another matter, but the ideals themselves are uplifting and hopeful, which gives him an aura beyond his mere presence. TW: How has the character adapted to and evolved with the times over the years? SE: See above. In that regard, he hasn’t evolved since my time — he
always stands for American ideals. As times change and stories change, he holds to a steady place in the world, which is his point. TW:Why do you think he lends himself so well to appearances on the big screen although admittedly it took until the Marvel movies of the last decade or so to crack that? SE: (a) Everybody likes American ideals, (b) Everybody likes Chris Evans. TW: How is he is still relevant 80 years after he was first created? SE: He got recreated in 1972.
TWELVE ICONIC CAPTAIN AMERICA TALES Andrew Colman picks 12 classic Cap stories 1. Captain America Comics 1, March 1941. Origin and first appearance of Captain America, Bucky, and the Red Skull, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. One of the most important comics ever published, and although Cap wasn’t the first patriotic super-hero (that was MLJ’s Shield) he was certainly the most political, with the title focusing on him battling Hitler and all but predicting Pearl Harbor. 2. Captain America Comics 3, May 1941. Classic Red Skull cover and appearance, featuring the first ever comics work by some guy called Stan Lee. One of the great Timely books. 3. Captain America Comics 76, 1954. Not the real Cap as it turned out (in a later retcon, this anti-Communist Captain America was revealed to be Jack Monroe, who later became Nomad), but a brief sea change in the character in what was essentially a false start – super-heroes, particularly in companies such as Atlas, were not a big draw in the mid-1950s. 4. Avengers 4, March 1964. With the Marvel Age already beginning to take shape, fans were far more ready for the revival of Captain America than they had been in the Atom Age, and so Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, ignoring the abortive 50s series (and his post-war Timely adventures!), had him preserved in a block of ice that had miraculously kept him intact since 1945. Fans quickly took to the revised Cap, now refitted as a hero out of time. Within two years, he would be leading the super-team. 5. Captain America 100, April 1968. Due to distribution constraints, Ol’ Winghead had been given a shared title with Iron Man from Tales Of Suspense 59 (November 1964) onwards. By 1968, Marvel’s ascension was reaching critical mass, and the Explosion of that year allowed Cap to have his own proper title for the first time in decades, with Jack Kirby continuing to pencil the character he created 27 years earlier. 6. Captain America 117, September 1969. First appearance of Sam Wilson, The Falcon. Marvel’s move to modernize and update Cap continued apace with the arrival of an African-American partner who was very much a separate and autonomous entity, and who would remain his cohort for decades on. 7. Captain America 180, August 1974. Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema’s take on Cap revitalised the character, positioning him as an icon and representative of America rather than just a star-spangled crimefighter. In this classic issue, Steve Rogers, riven with self-doubt about being a patriotic symbol, sheds the chainmail stars and stripes for the first time, donning the guise of The Nomad. 8. Captain America 332, August 1987. Forced by the commission to work directly for the government, Steve Rogers decides once again to turn in his costume and walk away from his identity, rather than be a political shill. Gruenwald and Morgan’s storyline is handled with aplomb and assured context, with no certainty about Rogers regaining his position as Captain America. Mike Zeck’s iconic cover would prove to be a forerunner of many such stories to come. 9. Captain America Volume 5, 11, December 2005. Brubaker and Epting’s retrofit of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier proved to be a seismic shift in the canon, putting the ghost of kid sidekicks such as Barnes to rest, in what was an excellent series. 10. Captain America Volume 5, 25, January 2007. As part of the Civil War story arc, Cap was killed (temporarily, of course), in what was a moderately controversial move by Marvel. It meant that periodically at least, Bucky Barnes would assume the mantle of Captain America. 11. Captain America Reborn, (miniseries) September 2009. Steve Rogers, as it says on the tin, returns to the land of the living in a predictably convoluted manner. He then insists that Barnes continue as Captain America, even though he had no plans to retire. Eventually he resumes his career as Cap. 12. Steve Rogers: Captain America 1, December 2016. Writer Nick Spencer caused a bit of a stir when he made the Sentinel of Liberty an agent of Hydra but this subversive take offered a new direction for the character.
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MAKING COMIC HISTORY TRIPWIRE reviews The Folio Society’s lavish slipcase hardcover Captain America edition
The Folio Society edition of Captain America selected and introduced by Roy Thomas is available exclusivively at www.foliosociety.com ©Marvel 2021
©Marvel 2021
©Marvel 2021
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©Marvel 2021
Captain America Selected and introduced by Roy Thomas Writers: Stan Lee, Steve Englehart, Jack Kirby, Roger Stern, Mark Gruenwald, Ed Brubaker Artists: Al Avison, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko & Joe Sinnott, Sal Buscema & Frank McLaughlin, Kirby & Frank Giacoia, John Byrne, Tom Morgan & Bob McLeod, Gene Colan The Folio Society
T
here are a few comic characters who have transcended the newsprint page and have become iconic to the general public. DC has Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman and Marvel can count Spider-man, Fantastic Four and The Avengers. Marvel can also include the most prominent patriotic US comic creation: Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. This beautiful book, issued to commemorate Cap’s 80th birthday, begins with an introduction by former Marvel editorin-chief Roy Thomas. He sets everything in context here before we get to the Captain America tales that he has chosen to represent the character’s long and illustrious four color career. As well as the ten stories reprinted in the hardback, it also includes a reproduction of the character’s debut Captain America Comics#1 as a standalone comic. Again the Folio Society have taken real care and attention to detail when putting this together. Each story is printed on off-white paper to give readers the same flavour you would get if you were reading the comics themselves. You also get to see the development and evolution of the character over the decades and how he has grown to reflect society’s mores. The return of Captain America in Avengers 4 after a long absence is a deftly handled tale with Lee and Kirby on top form and each story here is worthy of inclusion. Other classic Bullpen alumni here include John Byrne, veteran Marvel artist Gene Colan, groundbreaking visionary Jim Steranko and innovative writers Steve Englehart and Ed Brubaker. Each writer has his own take on the Sentinel of Liberty as does each artist represented here, and it is genuinely interesting to contrast their approaches. Steranko offered a bolder, more dynamic Captain America than even Kirby, tapping into the world of cinema and espionage for inspiration. Kirby features more than once in the book, with his return to Marvel (after a spell at National) featured. Despite the fact that his creative powers had diminished a little after his hothouse period at DC, his later tale still exudes dynamism and the spirit of the character. Having a facsimile of the first appearance of Cap is also a fun extra here as it is as close as many of us are going to get in terms of holding the comic itself. It is thanks to the success of Captain America on the big screen, as portrayed by Chris Evans that he has become a household name, and this book will appeal to those people whose interest has been piqued by seeing him at the cinema. The Folio Society has built up its reputation for creating finely crafted limited edition books and Captain America is a wonderful addition to its burgeoning library of quality titles. Also unlike most of its books to date, this is not a prose book with illustrations but effectively a high-end graphic novel. However they have done the source material proud. JOEL MEADOWS https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/captain-america.html
©Marvel 2021
©Marvel 2021
©Marvel 2021
©Marvel 2021
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TEN MILESTONE TALES PLUS A REPLICA OF Captain America Comics #1 Selected and introduced by ROY THOMAS Binding design by MICHAEL CHO
80TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
exclusively available from © 2021 MARVEL
foliosociety.com/marvel
Watching The Detectives
2021 sees the 35th anniversary of DC’s iconic
Watchmen and The Dark
Knight Returns and here Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows who takes a look at their impact and legacy…
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atchmen #1, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, came out in May 1986 and The Dark Knight Returns Book One, by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson appeared in the following month. Watchmen was written and drawn by Moore and Gibbons, who had learnt their craft in UK publications such as Doctor Who, 2000AD and later on in books like DC’s Green Lantern and Superman. The Dark Knight Returns was written and penciled by a creator who had made a name for himself thanks to a feted run on Marvel’s Daredevil with collaborator Janson. Both books were instant hits and brought all four men to prominence in the comic
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‘Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns are very different properties but they do share some DNA. Both apply deconstructivism to super-heroes, adding a post-modern spin that was aimed at a more mature readership.” industry as well as the wider sphere. Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns are very different properties but they do share some DNA. Both apply deconstructivism to super-heroes, adding a post-modern spin that was aimed at a more mature readership. Moore’s Watchmen, initially designed as a refitted take on former DC competitor Charlton’s rather clunky and dated characters, took the idea of the superhero apart and asked the question of just what makes such characters. Gibbons’ disciplined, grid-bound story pages gave the series a sense of increasing visual urgency, incrementally counting down to the series’ cataclysmic conclusion. Moore drew on the likes of EC, the pulps and even sci-fi author Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five to create a world riven by conflict, where the heroes are flawed, damaged outsiders. It takes a deeply reactionary, if not psychopathic figure, antihero Rorschach, to redeem the world and save it. Comics had
never seen such an ambitious, multifaceted essay on the medium before, which inevitably founded a precedent - with DC returning to this well after Moore and Gibbons, with diminishing returns. The Dark Knight Returns sees Miller recast Bruce Wayne as the last good man in Gotham, fighting his final battle. Janson’s inks offer an elegance to Miller’s pencils while colourist Lynn
You can’t go home again: pages from The Dark Knight Returns (top left and centre) and the covers to DC/ Black Label’s Rorschach (top right, 2020) Varley adds a unique dimension to the artwork. Miller turned to cinema like the works of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone to find his tone and approach here. He also harks back to the Golden and Bronze age of Batman, with the Dark Knight Detective as an implacable force of nature. Batman’s Robin is teenage girl Carrie, ideally suited to operate as his sidekick in a world overtaken by the brutal mutant gangs and an escaped Joker. Miller packed so much into
‘It is impossible to recapture lightning in a bottle and so it does sometimes feel that DC, spotting that readers were still captivated by the ideas showcased by Miller, Moore and Gibbons, willfully continued to try and mine them long after the concepts had lost their lustre. ” a four book, 200 page epic with cinematic dialogue and sparse plotting, which illustrated why he was one of the most admired comic creators of his generation. As with Watchmen, DC regularly revisited Miller’s concepts without any real justification. It’s 35 years on and both books continue to cast a huge shadow over the comics industry. DC has published Before Watchmen, a series of prequels, and Doomsday Clock, a story where Geoff Johns and Gary Frank tried to weave the Watchmen concepts into the mainstream DC universe. DC’s Black Label has also just published Rorschach, a miniseries by former Batman writer Tom King and artist Jorge Fornes, which has also returned to Moore and Gibbons’ concepts.
In terms of The Dark Knight, DC has also published Dark Knight: The Master Race, with Miller as its plotter, and a couple of Dark Knight one shots, The Last Crusade and The Golden Child,
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written by Miller. It is impossible to recapture lightning in a bottle and so it does sometimes feel that DC, spotting that readers were still captivated by the ideas showcased by Miller, Moore and Gibbons, willfully continued to try and mine them long after the concepts had lost their lustre. This desire to turn Watchmen into a franchise led to writer Moore disowning everything to do with the
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property bar the original series. Watchmen got a new lease of life with HBO’s standalone TV show back in 2019, where former Lost writer Damon Lindelof took Moore and Gibbons’ ideas and sent them in a radically different direction. The Dark Knight Returns also acted as a partial inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s unsurpassed The Dark Knight film starring the late Heath Ledger in 2008.
So Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns have left a huge legacy, but it seems that the comics industry has failed to learn from these spinoffs, rather than applying the same creative process that the original writers and artists provided, which was to do something innovative and challenging with superhero comics rather than merely ape what was published 35 years ago.
High Impact
Mack Chater is a British illustrator with a CV that includes comics for publishers like Dark Horse Comics’ Briggs Land and Sword Daughter. Tripwire’s editor-in-chief JOEL MEADOWS caught up with him to talk about his work days, how he approaches drawing interiors and covers in our audio chat with him located below. We also show off his process from layouts to pencils to inks… https://soundcloud.com/tripwire-magazine/mack-chater-interview-march-2021
Aliens: Rescue black and white (left) and finished colour cover (right) TRIPWIRE digital 45
Page from Sword Daughter#2 from top to bottom: roughs, pencils and finished page
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Sword Daughter#8 cover from left to right: roughs, pencils and finished page
Sword Daughter#9 cover from left to right: roughs, pencils and finished page
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From The Archive
Tripwire has existed as a print magazine and as a website since 1992. So we thought it would be fun to dip into our extensive archive and offer readers a small taste of what has gone before both in print and online. First up is our Philip Pullman interview from 2016… 48 TRIPWIRE digital
A Thirst For Adventure Philip Pullman is one of the most successful authors of the past twenty years and here’s our exclusive chat with him which ran on tripwiremagazine.co.uk back in June 2016…
pic: Joel Meadows
Philip Pullman is one of the bestregarded modern English writers whose fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials is a multi-awardwinning book series. He has become known for a deep intelligence in his work and this year sees him writing John Blake, a comic strip that has been running in children’s anthology The Phoenix since May and will be collected in a single volume next year. We spoke exclusively to him recently about John Blake, His Dark Materials coming to television and writing the companion to His Dark Materials, The Book of Dust. Interview by JOEL MEADOWS… TW: Which comics did you enjoy reading as a kid? PHILIP PULLMAN: The Eagle, like every other boy of my age. The Beano, of course, and occasionally the Dandy, which I never found as good. The Wizard, Hotspur, the Lion. Everything that was available. But the Eagle was the standard by which I judge all the rest.
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“[I read] The Eagle, like every other boy of my age. The Beano, of course, and occasionally the Dandy, which I never found as good. The Wizard, Hotspur, the Lion. Everything that was available. But the Eagle was the standard by which I judge all the rest.” TW: Did spending some of your childhood in Australia give you an outsiders perspective on British comics? PP: Yes, certainly, because it was there where I first saw Superman and Batman, which I loved with a passion as soon as I set eyes on them. Also in Australia there was a newspaper that carried a strange little strip that I loved without understanding it, and it was only when thirty years later I came across George Herriman’s Krazy Kat that I realised what it was. Krazy Kat is sheer genius. No-one else has played so brilliantly with the comics form. TW: What can you do in comics that you are unable to achieve with prose? PP: Speed. Instantaneous undertanding of where we are and what’s happening. That’s the first thing. The second thing is counterpoint. We can see a character doing one thing, talking about something else, and thinking a third thing, and all the while know by means of the frame caption that this is a flashback. All those things at once. Prose finds that very hard to do, and only manages it fleetingly and partially. TW: With comics and graphic novels now a major part of mainstream culture, do you think there is less snobbery about them than there was a few years ago? PP: I hope so. I think so. They’re now being seriously reviewed in proper newspapers. There’s a body of critical expertise being built up. TW: How has John Blake changed since
“I think adventure always has appealed to people whose lives are not especially adventurous. There’s a sort of daydream quality to it.” 50 TRIPWIRE digital
you first created the series? PP: The story’s got a lot tighter. At first I was making it up as we went along, with no sense of where the ending might be or whether there would be an ending at all. Now the story is very tight and disciplined. TW: How did artist Fred Fordham come on board? PP: The good people at the Phoenix suggested him. He was already drawing a strip for them, which I liked, because he could obviously draw. TW: How closely have you collaborated with him?
“Speed in general is what I love about comics. Of course, the artist has to take time to draw the pictures, but when we read we take them in at once. ” PP: Not desperately closely. We’ve met once, and exchanged a number of emails and ideas as the story developed. But I trust him, and I know it’s in good hands. TW: The graphic novel is being serialised in The Phoenix from this month. What do you think this lends to John Blake that it would lack if it was just published as a graphic novel? PP: It would be nice if readers found themselves looking forward to the next episode. That’s all we can ask for, really. TW: You wrote a strip for The Phoenix’s predecessor the DFC. How did you find that? PP: I answered most of this in the question you asked about how Fred Fordham came on board. But just to add a little, although I enjoyed the sense of open-endedness, I’m fundamentally a novelist, and we do like a solid structure.
TW: In 2016, what is it about adventure stories that continue to appeal to readers? PP: I think adventure always has appealed to people whose lives are not especially adventurous. There’s a sort of daydream quality to it. TW: How would you describe The Adventures of John Blake to the reader? PP: Blimey. I’m a storyteller, not a publisher, or a critic, or a bookseller. I haven’t the faintest idea. It’s an adventure story. TW: You have a fascination with religion and religious zealotry. How does this feed
into John Blake? PP: Not at all. This story doesn’t touch on that subject. TW: What are the pros and cons of writing comics compared with writing prose? PP: It’s much quicker! Speed in general is what I love about comics. Of course, the artist has to take time to draw the pictures, but when we read we take them in at once. And all the writer has to do is put down the words ‘A storm is gathering on the horizon’ and the artist has to spend a long time with shapes and colours to make it look right. When you’re writing prose, you have to do all the picture-making yourself by choosing the right words and then (most important) knowing when to stop. TW: His Dark Materials is coming to television courtesy of the BBC. How closely involved have you been with this? PP: I’ve been closely involved from the beginning. It’s a much longer project than making a single movie. The producer consults me about a lot of things, especially the script, which the very talented Jack Thorne is writing. I’ve had a number of discussions with him and with the designer, too, because I’m keen to get a consistent look for the thing, so that we can see we’re in a different world—but not too different. When we start to discuss casting, I have a number of suggestions I’d like to make as well.
“I’ve been closely involved from the beginning [with His Dark Materials]. It’s a much longer project than making a single movie. The producer consults me about a lot of things, especially the script, which the very talented Jack Thorne
TW: You are working on the Book of Dust, a companion to His Dark Materials. How is that going? PP: It’s going fine. But it’s a long book, and I’m about two-thirds of the way through, so there’s quite a way to go yet.
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Broad Strokes
TRIPWIRE represents our interview with fine artist Phil Hale from TRIPWIRE Annual 2009, conducted by Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows. Photos: Joel Meadows
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hil Hale is not your usual interview subject. He is interested in comics but he hasn’t worked in them for many years and he did quite a lot of work as an illustrator but he has left that behind too, now making his name as a portrait painter and fine artist in the traditional sense. His work is in the permanent collection at the prestigious National Portrait Gallery in London, the House of Commons, Lord’s, and other collections across the UK. We interviewed Phil last back in 2003 in TRIPWIRE, when we published our shortlived monthly incarnation. In fact, his feature was called Studio Space and was a direct inspiration for the book that came out in 2008 of the same name. Hale is a man who would rather that his work speak for him, so he is a difficult interview subject. When I went to visit him this time around at his current studio off Mare Street in Hackney in London’s East End, I had forgotten this fact. So I arrived at the studio and he greeted me somewhat diffidently. We sat down and started chatting, trying to fill in some of the biographical information about what led him to this point. Hale is a tall ex-pat American with a soft Massachusetts accent, an accent that has been softened by over twenty-five years of living in England. He started his professional career as an assistant to artist Rick Berry in Boston and he worked in the same studio as another artist, Tom Canty. In fact, it was his association with Canty that led to his first significant work on a Stephen King book, as he revealed.
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We sat down and started chatting, trying to fill in some of the biographical information about what led him to this point. Hale is a tall ex-pat American with a soft Massachusetts accent, an accent that has been softened by over twenty-five years of living in England. He started his professional career as an assistant to artist Rick Berry in Boston and he worked in the same studio as another artist, Tom Canty. In fact, it was his association with Canty that led to his first significant work on a Stephen King book, as he revealed. “What happened is that I was sharing a studio with Rick Berry and Tom Canty in Boston above a used bookstore. They let me live there in the studio. I was 17, I moved out of my house and I was living there in this loft we built. Absurd. They were all working there and Tom was doing Stephen King books for Grant Books. He was designing them and he was sort of art directing them as well. Stephen King was doing a book, I can’t remember which one, I was 18 years old and somebody dropped out. They had about 10 different illustrators for The Talisman, I guess, and so they let me do it and so I had this job. It was a fluke that I was on this desirable commission, at that age. And King liked the piece. He gave me the entire next book.” It was the book project in a way that led Hale to the UK because, in his words, “Rick Berry was such a powerful influence that I couldn’t think straight. While he was there I didn’t need to or know how to. So I came over here.” It was the feeling of being an outsider that he liked, of being a foreigner here and this sense of alienation is something that has always existed in his work. “So I came over here, I didn’t think I was going to stay, and I did the Stephen King book. He gave me, incredibly, a percentage, and I did so well on that one book that I didn’t have to work for four years. He gave me such a fantastic percentage . . . I don’t think he ever did it again.” But the King project wasn’t the first professional work he did. In fact, piecing together his slightly rambling answers, it was actually a comic that predated the book project. “I was apprenticed to Rick Berry and he was going down to New York, looking for book cover work. I was probably sixteen or seventeen and because we were so poor, we used to get the midnight bus down to New York , we couldn’t afford a hotel. I saw Marvel and DC as well. I actually did a spec page for Swamp Thing. And Archie Goodwin at Epic was very kind to me, really, and trusted me a bit. I threw him some terrible ideas that I’m glad we didn’t do. And then, because Epic was winding down, they gave me the issue where I did the cover and something inside, because there was no real risk to them; they already knew it was going to close up shop. What’s surprising about that is that I’m still interested in that character because it’s such a basic, primal, ridiculous confrontation, and I
“I struggled for a while, I lived in my studio. My girlfriend and I were going to have a baby, what a classic. So I had to sort myself out and Rick Berry, and a woman called Maria Cabardo at DC, saved me, offered me jobs and I started making some money so I could find a flat to live in.” think that primal ridiculous things are often what make art good anyway. And I really love that friction between the low form and the high form, the idea that you could take something bankrupt and do something with it that’s really worthwhile, even though it seems so completely impotent. The artist has good memories of the late Goodwin, he recalls. “He was such a nice guy. I think the fact he was such a nice guy probably made his job hard. It’s difficult for me to remember in any kind of realistic way because I was so naïve back then. Everything he did, you couldn’t tell whether he was indulging you, or actually saw something real, whether you had any potential or if it just a kindness,” he admits honestly. Berry ended up over here while Hale was also living here and he got him intrigued in the idea of doing art by computer, something that was in its infancy at this time. “But while I was doing the book, Rick Berry had come over to England for half a year. He was very involved with computers and that was just when working with visual files was just starting, pre-Photoshop. He was really obsessed with it and I was interested. You could switch around, pump up, tune in the colours on a piece—now it’s nothing, but
back then it was mind-boggling. But I didn’t have to work for four years because of the money from the King book, so that was the end of my illustration career. Instead, I made music and built my own recording studio, back when that was really something.” It was a period in his life that he seems to look back on with some nostalgia. “I lived in the countryside and, I painted for myself. I found out what I was interested in again, which I hadn’t done since I was twelve,” he remembers. But it did have its downside in time, as he tells me. “And then when I ran out of money which was around 1990 or 1991, nobody would hire me any more, it had been such a big gap. All my connections had faded out. And I had changed my style and realistically, also, I think I probably had a slight air of desperation because I had let it go too long. It’s just never an attractive thing to deal with someone who appears to really really need the work. So I couldn’t get hired. In fact, rather than painting, I did photographic book covers for a little while here in London, because when I was in Stroud in Gloucestershire I had access to all these fantastic darkrooms. I did a lot of semi-experimental poking around. Solarisation, bleach on the prints, all sorts of analog ways to break down the image. But that was not really a money making thing. I struggled for a while, I lived in my studio. My girlfriend and I were going to have a baby, what a classic. So I had to sort myself out and Rick Berry, and a woman called Maria Cabardo at DC, saved me, offered me jobs and I started making some money so I could find a flat to live in. It was pretty urgent, I was pretty motivated. I did the illustration for four or five years, but didn’t really enjoy it. I just felt like I could produce better pieces, and become a better painter if
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“One of the things that happened off the back of the National Portrait Gallery was . . . there’s a group of 10 significant portrait painters and they’re often not the established ones. not yet. They’re invisible in a funny way. But they are the ones who are emerging, who will eventually become the doddering old men of portraiture.” I didn’t have to consider the feelings of the art director. Some people are very good at that but I just couldn’t do it. And I wanted to learn how to develop a piece, to bear down on something for more than a few weeks. Knowing the endpoint of the illustration work was just a killer.It stopped me before I had even started.” Despite the fact that he wasn’t suited to working in illustration, Hale did work on a regular basis for Playboy, an arrangement that suited him, he admits. “I kept going with Playboy for a while just because by then I didn’t even have to give them a sketch and they were nice to deal with. It was really funny because I was working with Tom Staebler, and when I used to nick copies of Playboy when I was 12, there he was on the masthead. His name was in there as the art director, so it was strange and familiar talking to him. But he would send me the manuscript, nicely, respectfully and you would say to him ‘What about this?’ And once he’d okayed it, you’d go through it. There was no fuss, and they weren’t paying me that much, so I didn’t have to worry so much about their feelings.” Working for Playboy was something that he found very useful. “It meant you could do something relatively quickly and be paid for it and then have some freedom. You’d really make your money from selling the original. And I always worked big; they were always three or four feet high. I wanted to learn how to paint; I couldn’t do that in a square foot. But I found the
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illustration tough. If you wanted to make something good, you just couldn’t. You have to stay inside the brief. And it’s not even that that’s always a problem, but even when you’re settling down to consider the possibilities, just having that as a filter stops you from pursuing other possibilities that might be perfectly acceptable to the client.” But he moved from illustration to the world of portraiture, something that he was a much more natural fit for his temperament as an artist, he readily admits to me. “Portraiture is what I’ve done for eight or nine years now. I painted a doctor—a psychiatrist—and he entered it into the National Portrait Gallery annual competition, and it came third, and suddenly the National Portrait Gallery was taking my work and showing it to people, it was close on having them as an agent.” It was being shown at the National Portrait Gallery that helped him reinvent himself as a portrait artist. “I did that one painting and then they asked me to paint the composer Thomas Ades for them, which was a terrific job because he was such a wonderful guy, he gave me a lot of time, which I needed. Then I did work for Lords Cricket Ground, which led to painting Tony Blair for the House of Commons.” The amazing thing about Hale’s transformation is that he has switched from drawing comic work for Epic Illustrated to painting for Playboy and
then being asked to paint someone who was the most powerful person in the country in quite a short space of time. It is a reflection of his talent and tenacity that this has occurred. He didn’t have the luxury of the former British Prime Minister sitting for him but nonetheless he managed to make it work. “There were no sittings. It wasn’t possible. There were two or three photo shoots. It was really quite peculiar because I had limited time by portrait standards, but ridiculous access by any other measure.” I asked him if he ever felt that the artifice of photographing people ever got in the way but he seemed to be quite philosophical about how one would deal with that “You have to accept that. You minimise it and in fact with this shoot because I had so little time I had to think quite carefully ahead of it. I had to know what kind of lighting there was going to be, that he was going to be sitting down. I needed to know that I wanted some kind of panel behind him. I didn’t want him floating in space. You try and contain it before you get there. That’s a really unusual one because normally you’d have seven or eight sittings and with that there was just nothing.” The Tony Blair painting is something that he is obviously pleased with as it was designed for a purpose that only a physical portrait could fulfill, as he explained to me. “It’s an anti-illustration, that one in particular. It’s designed to be seen in person, it’s not designed to be reproduced to a postage stamp, and when I see it reproduced it makes me feel slightly odd, gives me a headache. When I see the repro I feel a little flat about it. When I see the original it’s something different, better. 500 people will ever see the painting itself,” he says openly. Hale also found himself as part of a clique of fellow artists, thanks to his exposure at the NPG and in the runup to his work on the Blair portrait. “One of the things that happened off the back of the National Portrait Gallery was . . . there’s a group of 10 significant portrait painters and they’re often not the established ones. not yet. They’re invisible in a funny way. But they are the ones who are emerging, who will eventually become the doddering old men of portraiture. But they’re all smart and likable and talented, skilled in ways that are shocking and quite radical if you come from illustration,” he reveals sounding very animated. “So they were incredibly helpful, useful, very open as well. I thought they would be competitive and prickly. But they weren’t. I ended up grouped with them and once you’re known and in, the whole scene starts to link up.“ Working on the Blair portrait threw up a lot for the painter. “The key thing with the Blair portrait was that you could not make it exciting. You could not jump it up with an exciting composition or exciting colour or ask him
“I think [comics are] still at the centre of how I feel about art. I had forgotten how much they meant to me when I was ten. There is something primal about the stuff.” to do something. Because it’s fake, it’s an interference. It’s a fraud if you do that, and dilutes whatever is actually there. You have to paint exactly what’s in front of you. That’s the purest possible form and you’re denied anything except to reproduce what’s there, and anything else would distort and deform and misrepresent it. But in a way because those standards are so clear and you know when you’re stretching them; it’s clarifying, you are forced to deal with the real problems. You don’t get to load it with sugar and salt.” He is now well-regarded as a painter, but when he made the switch from illustration to portraiture, it wasn’t an easy process. Traditional painting did seem to have fallen out of favour, I argue, but he seems confident that the pendulum has swung back towards it in recent years. “It did. It’s back in now for some reason, I don’t know why. Certain elements of craft are coming back in as well. I’m sure it’s cyclical, people are going to tire of it at some point because they’ll be glutted. On a personal level, when I met those portrait painters and saw what they were considering when they painted, what their priorities were, how their approach worked. It was so different from illustration. It worked so well and it gave me a way forward. I had to learn how to paint over again. That was the biggest, most shocking thing and I had to be willing to do lousy paintings for a while, even now, until it became habitual; because you can’t be micromanaging every second of working with the brush, you have to ingrain it as a habit.” Even though he has embraced the portrait work, he has returned on occasion to his roots. In 2007, he was commissioned by Penguin Books in the UK to come up with new cover images to their series of classic Joseph Conrad novels. From his demeanour, it was a job that he really enjoyed. “Samantha Johnson at Penguin had the catalog to a show. She gave me a lot of leeway—they didn’t even see rough images or anything before I painted. She gave me complete freedom. I did a couple of images that didn’t go in. I did multiple paintings for some covers. I did three paintings for Nostromo and two for Heart of Darkness. I was able to carry over an approach, a development, from one piece to the next.” The Conrad images really gave him
something to sink his teeth into. “I did about 10 paintings. I found a fantastic scene in Heart of Darkness which I couldn’t believe hadn’t been done before. This is the scene where Kurtz escapes. He’s been under arrest in a steamer, and he escapes in the middle of the night. And he’s crawling on his hands and knees through the bush to get back to his hut and to the native encampment. It was such a fantastic image and nobody had done it, what a beautiful central image. That was the final cover. I did two versions of it but one was clearly better than the other.” As with any bigger project, there were some that he was less happy with. “The ones that were illustrational, like Secret Agent, worked less well. They were more like movie posters. But in the main, it was pretty good.” He found the fact that he had to do them all in one go advantageous for him as an artist, he admitted. “To do 10 images at once was much nicer because your consciousness can float around it. You can hit some kind of fluke with one and you realise you can extend that with the next. There were things that I wanted to do that I just couldn’t learn to do quickly enough. I actually wanted quite lurid colours that were then crushed and suppressed, forced down. I was thinking of Edvard Munch a little. But I had to learn how to do it. And it was too involved to work through in the time I had, the final pieces were much more monochromatic.” It wasn’t hard for him to get back into the habit of painting faster than he would have done with a portrait painting. “It wasn’t difficult because I had done a show the year before, a gallery show. Also, my natural mode, because I’m not really that patient, is to develop something fast, and have to have the speed of working it up be part of the force, keep it open. I’ve had to learn to refine for the portraiture. Very painful. I prefer doing things fast. In some ways the Conrad pieces were done very quickly but a lot of the thinking and the drafting, the drawings beforehand took quite a while. But the actual painting time was pretty short. By then you should know. I paint many things two or three times because you look at it as as a rehearsal, as a dry run and that’s partially so that when you go to paint it you already know it well enough to knock it in quickly so it
has some performance. You don’t want to be fiddling and fussing.” Even though Hale has no connection to comics anymore in his work these days, they do still influence him. When I arrived at his studio, he told me about a cache of old comics he’d unearthed. These were titles that he hadn’t owned in thirty years and he seemed to find it hard to contain his enthusiasm for comics still. “I think it’s still at the centre of how I feel about art. I had forgotten how much they meant to me when I was ten. There is something primal and direct about the stuff. It’s true. There’s that dynamism, outwardness and vitality.” It has a number of attractions for him, as he goes on to elaborate. “It also has a kind of naïve power. It makes me nervous to say that—it sounds terribly patronising to say. But it has the strength of a naïve artform. Remember, I’m talking about The Demon, not Maus. That’s part of what makes it efficient, strong and direct and unfiltered. I feel more engaged with it again. Jack Kirby!” Hale has managed to successfully remake himself as a portrait painter and fine artist, as he admits that any association with comics would have been a possible stumbling block. He is an old-fashioned artist because, although he uses technology for things like photographing his work to send to clients (when I was there, he was about to photograph a poster image he had painted for Lucca, the Italian comic festival held each October) but he is no lover of technology for its own sake. “I only like it for the efficiency. But I try to stay away. The older I get the more I see them as a problem, a cheapener. You have to make a commitment to something and I’d rather have the analogue with the problems than the digital with its perfect virtual nothingness. I can’t afford to tangle my mind by trying to work an allegiance to both things.” We talk about the increased reliance by people on technology and he is refreshingly honest. Perhaps his work has this raw power because he hasn’t embraced the same tools as every other artist currently working and maybe that’s why he sits more comfortably as a portrait artist than as an illustrator. The idea of nurturing new talent is something that has also crossed his mind as he runs a gallery on Vyner Street, round the corner from his studio, where it’ll be exhibiting work from a crosssection of different artists. Perhaps his encounter with the portraiturists before he painted Blair has made more of an impact on him than he realises. As we part company, he has warmed a little bit as an interview subject but there is still a distance and a reticence to talk about his work when it can just be shown. In a world where we are overwhelmed by exhibitionists and people desperate to show themselves off, the idea of an artist who would rather leave some mystique and let his work communicate with his audience is very appealing.
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“I did about 10 [ Conrad] paintings. I found a fantastic scene in Heart of Darkness which I couldn’t believe hadn’t been done before. This is the scene where Kurtz escapes. He’s been under arrest in a steamer, and he escapes in the middle of the night. And he’s crawling on his hands and knees through the bush to get back to his hut and to the native encampment. It was such a fantastic image and nobody had done it, what a beautiful central image. That was the final cover.” 56 TRIPWIRE digital
Return To The Fight Club Tripwire spoke to best-selling author Chuck Palahniuk back in December 2018 on tripwiremagazine.co.uk and here is that chat again… what has been his plan since the beginning of time? TW: This is the second sequel to Fight Club and once again it’s a comic series rather than a novel. What are the advantages for you as a writer to create this as a comic rather than as a prose novel?
Chuck Palahniuk photo© 2018 Allan Amato
Dark Horse Comics are releasing a second comic follow-up to Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club in January, Fight Club 3. Here, Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows spoke exclusively to Chuck Palahniuk about the new series, which will be drawn by Cameron Stewart again with covers by David Mack and others… TRIPWIRE: What is the one line elevator pitch for Fight Club 3? CHUCK PALAHNIUK: Who is Tyler Durden, really, and
CP: Both the novel and the film have established their audiences. They’d both be tough acts to follow, that’s why the third interpretation had to be as a comic. I’ve since fallen in love with the ordeal of writing a comic script, and the license it allows me. I can depict things that would be forbidden in film — the army of dying kids from FC2 — and depict things that would seem too unreal and phony if presented in just prose. It’s that ability to portray a Little Nemo in Dreamland fantasy that prompted me to do Fight Club 3. Picasso said something like Art is the lie that tells the truth better than the truth. I wanted to use comics to depict an Art Bell, Ground Zero, late nightradio type of story using
the established Fight Club characters. Our fantasies tell a greater truth about us. TW: You are teaming up with interior artist Cameron Stewart and cover artist David Mack again. What is it about working with them that continues to appeal to you as a writer? CP: Nobody in comics draws gesture and expression better than Cameron. His skill saves me from writing tons of expository dialog (my biggest gripe about many comics is their over-written dialog). And David, well, David’s TRIPWIRE digital 57
great at creating images that seem as if they’ve emerged from our dreams. Perfect for this series in particular. TW: How closely have you collaborated with Stewart on this series? CP: This go-round, not as closely as we collaborated in FC2. Truth be told I was a little shocked to see his early work for FC3, it was more realistic than anything I’d ever seen him draw. A mutual friend tells me Cameron’s begun painting, and that might be behind his new, more realistic work. Whatever the case his new style works for Fight Club 3 because much of the story is gritty and low-rent and those bits have to contrast with the
impossible fantasy elements. TW: As this is your second graphic novel series, has it become easier for you to write for the comics format? CP: It should be easier, but I’ve thrown more challenges into my own path. Now not only must I reinvent the characters, I’ve got to retain some of the conventions of FC2 — such as the “real” objects covering parts of the pages — but I also have to brainstorm new visual and formatting ideas that will give this next part of the story its own look. Why waste a chance to experiment? TW: This is the third tale of yours featuring Taylor Durden. What new facets of his personality are there to explore with him as a
character? CP: What would it be like to accept Tyler as an ally instead of an enemy? What if the enemy this time was something entirely NOT Tyler? TW: Marla Singer is the other main protagonist in the story. What was the appeal for you as a writer to feature a female protagonist in this third Fight Club story? CP: All kidding aside, I do not think of my characters as having a gender. Marla is just a strong, forceful, smart character, and who doesn’t want to have another such character in any story? TW: Are there plans for a Fight Club 4 comic? CP: I should live so long.
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stripwire tripwire Tripwire’s acclaimed strip section SCOTT BRADEN Having worked in the comics industry for more than a quarter century, Scott Braden has written articles about the four-color medium within the pages of Overstreet’s Fan, Tripwire: The Genre Magazine, Comic Book Marketplace, the legendary Comics Buyers Guide, among others. His first comic book writing appeared in 1999’s Galactica: The New Millennium for Realm Press – which was illustrated by Kent Menace co-creator Mike Malbrough. Besides focusing on chronicling the further adventures of Kent Menace, he also freelances for Gemstone Publishing, Tripwire and The Associated Press. MIKE MALBROUGH Ever since his first professional comics work on Galactica: The New Millennium for Realm Press, author and illustrator Mike Malbrough has continued to break new ground with his own work, including: Marigold Bakes A Cake (Philomel) and Marigold Finds The Magic Words (Philomel) along with some other children’s literature projects. The third book Malbrough will release with Philomel, Love Is Here, comes out next winter. Besides chronicling new adventures of Kent Menace with Scott Braden, Malbrough is also about to launch a new web comic. Folks can find out more at www.mikemalbrough.com and @studiomalbrough on all of the social media platforms. DAVID MORRIS David Morris is the writer and artist on S.O.E Baker Street Irregulars. He is also artist on Foxglove and the Flintlock series and Bomb Scares anthology for Time Bomb Comics and is the creator of the Norton the Dragon strip which runs in the Somerset literature and arts magazine Lamp. JOEL MEADOWS Joel Meadows is a journalist and writer with over three decades of experience on newspapers, magazines and books. His CV includes some of the most renowned publications in the world including Time Magazine, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian, Guinness World Records and The Observer. He has also written extensively about comics, film and TV for publications like Playboy, Time Magazine, Esquire, Variety, Empire, Big Issue In The North, Jewish Chronicle, Comic Scene and Comic Heroes. He is also the editor-in-chief of Tripwire. Sherlock Holmes & The Empire Builders marks his published comic writing debut. He lives in London. ANDY BENNETT Andy Bennett was born in southern Ohio. He is a graduate of Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, and The Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus. Today he serves as a digital media designer at Highlights for Children in Columbus, as well as offering freelance design and illustration work for a wide range of clients. He currently lives in Columbus with his wife Lisa. http://www.b3nn3tt.com/ STRIPWIRE digital 59
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Kent Menace ©2021 Scott Braden and Mike Marlbrough
Kent Menace ©2021 Scott Braden and Mike Marlbrough
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Kent Menace ©2021 Scott Braden and Mike Marlbrough
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www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk “Tripwire is research done right celebrating and investigating the love of comic books.” - Jimmy Palmiotti, writer, artist (Harley Quinn, Pop Kill) “Tripwire is a vibrant part of entertainment coverage - specifically comics and geek culture.” - Alex Segura, crime author (Pete Hernandez series) “Tripwire is always well researched and enthusiastic, by people who truly care about the importance of story. It’s analytical without losing heart.” – JH Williams III, (Promethea, Batwoman) “Tripwire covers such a wide variety of topics in the world of news, entertainment and the arts, and covers them so well, that it’s pretty much become my go-to source for what’s going on in media. I know if Tripwire is covering a subject, it’s not only interesting, fun and informative, it’s also legit.”– Blll Sienkiewicz, illustrator “If you’re a media fan, Tripwire has you covered. With articles and reviews full of insight covering the entire range of pop culture, and interviews with folks like Howard Chaykin, the Prince of Comics, Tripwire dissects, analyses, and reconstructs the world in which we all live.”–Walter Simonson, comics legend (Thor, Ragnarok, Manhunter) “In an industry and a world full of uncertainty, the constants that Tripwire offers in all its forms — great reporting, interesting information captivatingly presented, beautiful graphic design — are always a welcome thing. Joel Meadows and his team never fail to remind me why I love comics as much as I do, and why I feel the same about Tripwire, too.” – Chris Ryall, formerly of IDW ”Tripwire has been for nearly three decades the touchstone of comic book culture in the U.K and one of the leading periodicals dedicated to this narrative art form. Incisive, smart and always relevant.” – Guillermo del Toro (Oscar winning director, The Shape Of Water, Hellboy) “Still the coolest magazine on the planet, and helping young and old alike fritter away their lives with the best coverage of comics, film and TV.” – Ian Rankin, best-selling author (Rebus) “TRIPWIRE really is a breath of fresh air. Its layouts are superb, with great well-written features perfectly set off by the pictures, adding clarity and intelligence to every page. And it keeps on doing it. Amazing, gratifying. A pleasure to look at, a pleasure to read.”– fantasy grandmaster Michael Moorcock (Elric)
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