DOCTOR STRANGE: THE OATH
By Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin
There are few writers who are worth your time. Even fewer who make you want to run out and buy everything with their name attached. In the world of comics only two names really get me reaching for my wallet: Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. A third name is increasingly making demands on my hard-earned cash. Brian K. Vaughan first impressed me with his political superhero series “Ex Machina,” then knocked me off my feet with “Y: The Last Man,” which I rank up there with “The Watchmen,” “The Dark Knight Returns” and “The Sandman.” I hadn’t read any of his straight-ahead superhero stories, so I was definitely curious how he’d handle an established costumed hero.
“Doctor Strange: The Oath,” a five-issue series now collected in a trade paperback, gave me the perfect opportunity to find that out.
The story concerns a magical elixir that Doctor Strange needs in order to cure his faithful assistant Wong, who has an aggressive form of cancer. The elixir is stolen right out of the Sanctum Sanctorum (imagine that!) and Strange is shot in the process. Now, Strange and Wong, both at death’s door, must track down the potion and whoever’s behind the theft. Vaughan also weaves in much of Doctor Strange’s origin story, making “The Oath” a good introduction to the Sorcerer Supreme. As evidenced in “Y: The Last Man,” Vaughan is a master at characterization and entertaining dialogue. In “The Oath,” Vaughan lightens up the usually arrogant and aloof Doctor Strange — and makes him a charismatic and very human character. It’s an entertaining read, but this is BKV, so it’s smart, too. Marcos Martin‘s art is dazzling, and is perfectly suited to the fantastic world of Doctor Strange. And I’m thinking, Why doesn’t Doctor Strange have his own series?
So, now I have more Brian K. Vaughan books to buy. I’ll be checking out more Doctor Strange stories, too. Maybe Marvel will be smart and start up a Doctor Strange series. Or maybe that’s already in the works…
Real Name: Cosmo
First Appearance: Detective Comics #1 (1937)
Alias: Phantom of Disguise
Creator: Sven Elven
Lame Abilities: A gentleman adventurer, crime-fighter, master of disguise, and excellent piano player
Cosmo. Not a name that strikes fear into the hearts of evildoers. He’s British, too. Further making it difficult to strike fear into the hearts of evildoers. What Cosmo does do well is disguise himself and solve mysteries. As a master thespian and mimic, Cosmo can make you think he’s your own mother.
In “Detective Comics” #27 (1939), also notable for Batman’s debut, the Anglo-Saxon detective and aristocrat not only disguises himself as a Chinese man, but he does a great impersonation of a devout racist. Cosmo is asked to help the Immigration Department stop the “smuggling of Chinese to our shores.” He takes the assignment, saying, “Those Chinese are pretty slick customers.” But it seems the Phantom of Disguise is really the slick one. Cosmo enrolls at the Frisco School of Languages, where he masters Chinese in 30 days! He then disguises himself as a “Chinese” and soon infiltrates the Asian community, where he uses his newfound skills at the Chinese language. In his first attempt at befriending one of the foreigners, Cosmo approaches a “young Chinese” and says, “Velly nice day, fliend.” The young man answers the Phantom of Disguise, saying, in Chinese, of course: “Yes, velly nice.” Take that Berlitz! The young man is fooled by Cosmo’s mastery over the Chinese language!
It doesn’t take Cosmo long to weasel his way into the Chinese smuggling ring, and after he pledges his loyalty by saying, “Me no talkee, Kwan Joy Lo. You take me to good job, eh?” he is one step away from cracking the case.
Cosmo was created by writer-artist Sven Elven and debuted in “Detective Comics” #1 in 1937, a decade when, apparently, it was okay to be racist. It was also about two years before Batman’s debut and a year before Superman’s. So, technically, Cosmo isn’t a superhero. Though, technically, he isn’t a detective, either. Or even a hero. He was a snob and a racist, but one hell of a piano player. He was described as a gentleman detective, which meant he was British, educated, and pompous. He didn’t last long. His final appearance came in “Detective Comics #37,” only 10 issues after Batman’s first appearance. Think of Cosmo as Batman without the costume or the tolerance for foreigners.
THE EC ARCHIVES: TALES FROM THE CRYPT VOL. 1
By Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Wally Wood, Graham Ingels
Superheroes were in decline. Comic book publishers lazily copied the popular trends of the moment. The Comics Code hadn’t yet sanitized funny books. It was 1949 and EC publisher Bill Gaines and editor Al Feldstein had a new idea: a line of horror comics based on such radio dramas as “Inner Sanctum” and “Lights Out.” Thus was born “Tales From the Crypt.” For five glorious and short years, comics were mature, bloody, and terror-ific.
While most publishers followed trends, EC started the New Trend. “Tales From the Crypt” made its debut in early 1950 (though it was titled “The Crypt of Terror” for the first three issues) and quickly acquired thousands of loyal readers. EC did something else new: they wrote mature, unsanitized stories, and as a result had a large adult readership. The wonderful thing about EC’s horror yarns was that there was no mercy, no reprieve for the characters. People died. Villains went unpunished. These were unusual themes for comics of the ’50s, especially when Superman and Batman were fast becoming square boy scouts. But the party ended too soon. Prudes like Dr. Fredric Wertham criticized EC comics’ gore and violence and proclivity toward featuring corpses rising from the grave. In 1954 Bill Gaines was called to testify before the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. The Comics Code Authority was soon formed. And then it was a no-no to depict the walking dead, vampires, ghouls, torture, cannibalism, and the like in comics. Pretty much all the good stuff. EC stopped publishing “Tales From the Crypt” in 1955. The world mourned. But like many of the horror comics’ anti-heroes, “Tales From the Crypt” didn’t let death slow it down. The comic influenced such horror mavens as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter, and George Romero, and spawned several movies and a TV show. And, of course, it gave us the Crypt Keeper.
“Tales From the Crypt” has been resurrected yet again. And the corpse has been cleaned up real good this time. The horror comics, last available in a soft-cover collection about a decade ago, are being rolled out in beautiful hardcover volumes by Gemstone Publishing. Restored, re-colored and in a larger format, the EC comics never looked better. (more…)
Real Name: Keith Everet
First Appearance: Sensation Comics #1 (1942)
Aliases: The Ghost Who Walks, Earl of Strethmere, Charles Collins, The Ghost-Man
Creators: Gardner Fox, Howard Purcell
Lame Abilities: Can enter men’s body…without the use of lubrication, skilled with a sword, is light on his feet
Now for some cheap gay jokes… Perhaps when the word “gay” comes up you automatically start seeing innuendoes everywhere. But just a few panels into the Gay Ghost’s first appearance (in the very masculine “Sensation Comics,” home of Wonder Woman and Mr. Terrific) and you get a sense that maybe the name isn’t just a coincidence. Right off the bat, we’re told that the Gay Ghost’s adventures are “the queerest in all history.” Hmmm. The Gay Ghost, who is really the 18th century Earl of Strethmere of Ireland, is described as pretty and he’s killed as bandits steal his purse. Further hmmm. The Gay Ghost makes Tinky Winky and SpongeBob SquarePants look like raging macho men. Where was Jerry Falwell at the time? We’ll never know now. (Hmmm…I stroke my chin and wonder…Jerry Falwell dead? Gay Ghost revival? Someone call DC! I have a comic to write.)
But let’s back up and find out how pretty Keith Everet, the Earl of Strethmere, became a gay…sorry…the Gay Ghost.
As the Earl bestrides his stallion, on his way to ask the lovely Deborah Wallace for her hand in marriage, a gang of rogues sets him upon. The scallywags attempt to steal the earl’s purse. As he struggles with the scoundrels, he is shot, mortally. His spirit is lifted up to heavens, whereupon he is greeted by his ancestors. His caveman forbearer tells the late earl that his dead relations feel his pain and that he can return to the mortal plane if he vows to be an avenger for justice. But there’s a rub. He must wait for his love, Deborah Wallace, to return before he can begin his life anew. The problem is further complicated by the fact that when he returns to earth it is 80 years thence and Deborah is long dead. (more…)
HELMET OF FATE: DETECTIVE CHIMP #1
By Bill Willingham and Shawn McManus
Anyone who knows me knows I can’t resist a comic-book chimp (read my last chimp comic-book review here). Nevertheless, I kept passing up “Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp #1″ on the shelf each week in favor of more “important” comics. This week I finally gave in.
Detective Chimp goes back to 1952, when he appeared in “The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog.” He is a super investigator on the level of Batman and wears a deerstalker and houndstooth coat as a nod to Sherlock Holmes. In this DC story, “The Case of the Massively Magical Monkey Mage” (one of five one-shot comics in the “Helmet of Fate” series), the simian investigator has been entrusted with Doctor Fate’s helmet until a new Doctor is found. He decides to let fate decide who ends up with the helmet, so he has Captain Marvel toss it into space. In the meantime, Detective Chimp is called in to investigate the murders of four superheroes. He gets sidetracked, however, when the helmet returns to Earth and knocks him on the head. That’s when Detective Chimp dons the helmet and becomes Doctor Fate…but not for long.
It’s a fun story. Can you really resist a chimp in a deerstalker and houndstooth jacket? But writer Bill Willingham doesn’t know whether to go all-out for laughs or play it serious. You’d expect a talking chimp detective story to be light, but there are many sober moments and dialogue. Like when Detective Chimp first wears the Doctor Fate helmet: “I realize that stars are sentient and dream epic dreams — from the glorious, soaring imaginings of red giants, to the sullen, greedy ponderings of black holes!” Not any yucks there. Too often you’re waiting for a punch line that never appears. I prefer little, talking chimps in funny hats to be, well, funny. Shawn McManus does a great job with the artwork, though, as he strikes a fine balance between the comical and the serious side of the story.
Despite its flaws, I enjoyed “Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp #1″ and now further believe that apes and comics are a perfect match. Now let’s see a Detective Chimp series. Just work on the funny, Willingham!
