The Demon (1987) # 1-4

(I originally read these comics in early/mid December 2016)

I'm used to reading good comics by Matt Wagner. This belated continuation of Jack Kirby's Demon series (reviewed here) isn't one of them. It's crap.

Glenda Mark, lover of Gotham demonologist Jason Blood, tracks him down in Cornwall to investigate a possible connection between Blood's other half, Etrigan, and the demon Belial, to whom he bears a resemblance. In search of answers, Mark summons Etrigan, who sends the pair in search of a mystical tome that might provide answers and good God I'm getting bored just typing this. The first issue has to be one of the most off-putting openings ever, laden as it is with reams of dull conversation between two people whose history we're expected to be intimate with already. (Remember that, at the time, Kirby's original series was thirteen years in the past.) Things get even more laborious when Etrigan arrives on the scene, speaking only in page after page of forced rhyme. (Thank you Alan Moore for that ill-advised addition.) It wouldn't be so bad if the metre of his dialogue was consistent, but it changes from panel to panel, not allowing you to latch onto the rhythm before it changes completely.

I actually read this series twice because the first time I literally started to doze off every issue. Having a generally positive opinion of Matt Wagner's work, I figured the problem must be with me and so tackled it again just weeks later. However, the second time I couldn't even finish it. This is a dreadfully dull and interminable series and reading it is just too much of a chore. Never again. 

   

The Demon (1987) # 1-4 are collected in:

Softcover:

The Demon: From the Darkness (US)

The Demon: From the Darkness (UK)

The Huntress (1989) # 1-19, Justice League International Special (1990) # 2

(I originally read these comics in mid-late September 2016)

It's hard to imagine a time now when the Huntress wasn't closely interwoven with DC's Bat-titles. However, that's the case in this series by Joey Cavalieri and Joe Staton, which reinvents the character in DC's Post-Crisis universe. No longer is she Helena Wayne, offspring of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman; instead she's Helena Bertinelli, daughter of a New York mafia don. 

Her origin is recounted in the first issue as her family is targeted for assassination, with Helena being the sole survivor. Unlike real life where she'd spend years in therapy and as is the way with comics, this event prompts her to don a cape 'n' crossbow and seek vigilante justice. The first arc, up to issue # 6, has Helena avenging her family's murders. The second, from issues 7-12, has Helena come into possession of her dead father's ledger and it ending up in the hands of a Hannibal Lecter-like serial killer who then makes Helena his target. In subsequent issues, Helena finally gets around to visiting that psychotherapist while a new mob boss muscles in on her territory and her heroics spawn an imitator. Presumably as a last-ditch attempt to increase sales, Batman shows up in issues 17-19 as a drug dealer from Gotham unites warring New York street gangs and a casualty of the wars takes explosive revenge. Unfortunately cut short, the series' loose ends are satisfactorily tied up in 1991's Justice League International Special # 2.

This is a highly readable series of post-Miller crime stories and, based on it, writer Joey Cavalieri should be better known. Penciler Joe Staton turns in consistently fine work, staying just the right side of 'cartoony', his art embellished throughout with a distinctive duo shade look by inker Bob Smith that helps convey the gritty tone.

   

   

   

   

    

Harley Quinn (2000) # 1-19, Harley Quinn: Our Worlds at War # 1 (2001)

(I originally read these comics between late August/early September 2016)

I took two weeks reading these. Altogether too long. The series isn't unenjoyable, but it's the comics equivalent of eating candy floss. Once in a while is fine, but if that was all you were eating, it'd get old fast. This comic feels almost as sickly and insubstantial. 

Writer Karl Kesel has Harley Quinn forging her own way after breaking her "puddin'" out of (presumably) Arkham and the two have a falling out. The Joker doesn't appear again (at least as far as issue # 19 goes) and frankly, I don't think Harley's a strong enough character to carry her own book. (Of course, the success of her current title would prove me wrong.) As if to acknowledge this, Kesel has her form her own gang, the Quinntets, as of issue 4, after a failed attempt to join Two-Face's gang in (what else?) issue 2. Issue # 3 features a slumber party and gives Terry Dodson the opportunity to draw much in the way of bad girl T&A, a conspicuous and constant ingredient as long as he's around. The Harley/Poison Ivy friendship seems to have been established here and they make a good pair, at least until creepy fandom started 'shipping' them as lovers and DC began pandering to it. Ivy becomes a constant in the book after the pair up sticks to Metropolis in # 14, following a failed coup and the disintegration of the Quinntets in # 12. Harley masquerades as a Daily Planet agony aunt and Jimmy Olsen becomes her would-be paramour, the two having met previously in the 'Our Worlds at War' one-shot. That and the 'Last Laugh' tie-in in issue # 13 are mercifully self-contained. 

The series thus far maintains an upbeat, poppy tone with occasional, incongruent dips into darkness (such as in # 8, where Harley's background is expanded upon). Issue # 19 is Dodson's last and the issue with which I bailed during the series' original publication. His art was more a draw for me than the stories back then, but doesn't hold quite the same appeal now. However, I've since bought the rest of the series and will return to it. 

   

   

   

   

   

Harley Quinn (2000) # 1-7 are collected in: 

Hardcover:

Harley Quinn: Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes (US)

Harley Quinn: Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes (UK)

Softcover:

Harley Quinn: Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes (US)

Harley Quinn: Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes (UK)

Harley Quinn (2000) # 8-13/ Harley Quinn: Our Worlds at War (2001) # 1 are collected in:

Softcover:

Harley Quinn: Night and Day (US)

Harley Quinn: Night and Day (UK)

Harley Quinn (2000) # 14-19 are collected in: 

Softcover:

Harley Quinn: Welcome to Metropolis (US)

Harley Quinn: Welcome to Metropolis (UK)

The Demon (1972) # 1-16

(I originally read these comics in late July 2016)

I took a while reading these. They're consistently enjoyable, but a little undiluted Kirby goes a long way. Jack's prose sometimes flows like a pile of bricks and reads like a poor translation, ie, "TERROR IN TRANSYLVANIA IS A CONDITION AS ANCIENT AS THE STRANGE PRACTICES WHICH PRODUCE IT THERE!"

Come back, Stan...

The plot is as thus: In medieval times, as Camelot is under siege by the evil forces of Morgaine Le Fay, the wizard Merlin conjures up a demon called Etrigan as a last resort to turn the tide in Camelot's favour. But it's to no avail. As the court falls, a change comes over Etrigan and he assumes human guise. Centuries later in modern-day Gotham City, demonologist Jason Blood is about to discover his true nature as Morgaine Le Fay returns to plague the world again. 

That's it, really. Kirby displays his usual propensity for ripping off pop culture in 'The Phantom of the Sewers' in issues 8-10, which has big nods to the Phantom of the Opera, Mad Love and possibly the contemporaneous Dr. Phibes films. The subsequent tale in issues 11-13 introduces a 'Baron Von Evilstein' (groan), assisted by an 'Igor' modelled after Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein. Both stories are stretched out a bit far at three issues each.

The most memorable foes introduced here are Klarion the Witchboy, a malevolent and sorcerous teen, and his cat Teekl.

The problem with Kirby's post-Stan comics for me is that they're just slam-bang action with no quiet moments or respite. They're fun, but the lack of variation in pacing and tone can be wearing. 

   

   

   

   

(NB: I believe some of these cover reproductions may have been scanned from Kirby's original art and so may or may not always appear as originally published.)


As extras, here's the original art for the cover of The Demon # 1, pencils by Jack Kirby (left) and inks by Mike Royer (right).



 

The Demon (1972) # 1-16 are collected in:

Hardcover:

Jack Kirby's The Demon (US)

Jack Kirby's The Demon (UK)