Muthu Comics #312 – Mandrake | Aug ‘09

First of all, I should thank each and every one you who have visited and recorded your wishes on the Second year anniversary of our blog. Needless to say every message of it goes a long way in strengthening my commitment towards our unique hobby. Once again Thanks a Ton and let the Show roll on.

Muthu Comics #312 – Mandrake    2 Stories | 92 Pgs | INR 10 | B6 B/W | Laminated/Paperback

What we have for our current blog post, is the Second issue of Muthu Comics for the year 2009, which has finally been published this month, closely following the Lion #206, released last month. Editor S Vijayan of Prakash Publishers, continues to amaze with his continuous release of classic titles, which I believe he would have long made ready, just waiting to see the daylight. As advertised in Muthu #311, it features legendary American comics creator Lee Falk’s creation Mandrake the Magician, in a classic story from the 1940’s, where Mandrake goes toe-to-toe with one his fearsome foes, Ekardnam, from the world of Mirror People. The cover-art once again is a stunning piece of work, which is following the footsteps laid by the recent Lion Comics edition, by utilising the same layout and colour choices. Good to see that the well adorned format, is being retained, adding all the more oomph for the classic stories being featured offlate. Read on to have a preview of the original cover which inspired our Muthu edition, which will highlight the artistic talent of our locals.

Editor in his Comics Time, highlights the fact that this Mandrake Story was in their plans right from 1990. There was a widespread fan reaction, which was pretty mixed about the Mandrake stories, with some liking it and others despising its fantasy filled storylines. So, Editor’s apprehension about the future of the Mandrake in Muthu Comics, is understandable. Nevertheless, the story has finally been published after 19 long years, from the date it was originally advertised.

Mandrake the Magician is another creation by the legendary Lee Falk, who is more famous for his tryst with The Phantom. Know more about Lee Falk in our Phantom series, here. 

Mandrake was portrayed as a hypnotist, who used his powers to fight the criminals and enemies of his country, to mend the Wrongs to Rights. Mandrake is often touted as the first costumed superhero, even before Falk invented Phantom a couple of years later. The only reason why he wasn’t given that due credit, is because he wore a Magicians suite in his adventures, unlike other Superheroes who had a costume of their own.

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Lee Falk (1911-1999) had a childhood fascination towards Stage Magicians, and it wasn’t a surprise that he chose his first Comic character to be based out on one of them, in the form of Mandrake. It is said that Falk conceived the idea of Mandrake in his early age of 19; But only in 1934, he managed to appear for an audition with New York’s King Feature Syndicates, which eventually was his first trip out of his hometown, St.Louis.

His theatrical passion, and good looks (doesn’t he look like the Classic American movie hero of that time?) was instrumental in getting him an audition with the Editors, even though he went there without a prior-appointment, and he successfully brokered a deal to syndicate his first comic strip by the name of Mandrake the Magician, at the the tender age of 21. But at that age he had 2 more years to complete his college education, so he offloaded the artistic work to Phil Davis, an established artist who also lived in St.Louis.

Thus Mandrake the Magician arrived in 1934, the same year which also saw the debut of classic comic strip heroes, in the form of Flash Gordon and Secret Agent X-9 (aka Phil Corrigan). It took 2 more years before The Phantom joined them on the top list.

Philip ‘Phil’ Davis (1906-1964), had a fascination towards drawing right since he was 6 year old, and it went a long way in him joining Washington University Art School. Along with his studies, he also worked as part-time artist for a telephone company, where he had his first tryst with commercialising his work. By 1928, he had a full-time artist job, while he also started illustrating covers for some magazines.

He eventually met Lee Falk in 1933, and their friendship was instrumental in Falk handing over the art work of Mandrake in 1934 to him, when he was looking out for a replacement for himself. It should be noted that one of Davis’s assistant was Ray Moore, who later became the official artist for Falk’s another creation, The Phantom.

Together, Davis and Falk then started to build a whole new fantasy world filled with incredible characters for Mandrake.

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Mandrake was pictured as a Magician who learned his art from the College of Magic. He got a hi-fi home by the name of Xanadu, which was sophisticated with all the hi-tec gadgets and securities you can find in the world, with fortified gates, and video cameras all along.

He got a trusted ally, in the form of powerful Lothar, who was an African Prince who befriended Mandrake and decided to follow him in his crime fighting adventures. Lothar is often touted as the Strongest man in the world, with the only exception being Mandrake’s Chef and Secret head of International Crime fighting organization, Hojo, who is a renowned Martial fighter of his own.

It is said that Falk initially envisioned Lothar as the slave (or a little over slave) of Mandrake, but later changed that into friendship, due to the increased awareness being generated worldwide on Black welfare. Lothar can be safely considered as the first Afro-American to have got featured in a lengthy comic series so consistently.

Mandrake got a girlfriend, and later wife in the form of Narda, who is a Princess of her own for an European nation. Lothar’s girlfriend, Karma was also an African Princess, thus making Mandrake’s extended family a Royal one :).

Resemblance with Real-life Celebrity: It is often touted that Falk initially envisioned Mandrake’s appearance, keeping him as a role model, which Falk himself did admit in few interviews. But, it should be noted that he had lot in resemblance to then then famous Stage Magician, Leon Mandrake, who was often referred in full as Leon Mandrake the Magician.

He also was known for his top hat, scarlet lined cape, and boasted a pencil line moustache, which you can prominently find in the comics form Mandrake too. The real Mandrake was performing over 10 years before Falk envisioned his comic character. So, it is all likely that he would have taken some inspiration from him for his creation.

Though Falk never admitted this resemblance, the comic strip lead to a strong friendship between Phil Davis and Leon Mandrake, when they eventually met during one of Mandrake’s Magic show tours. They remained good friends throughout their entire life, ever since.

Davis and Falk continued to pen and draw the Mandrake stories, which were syndicated across the globe in newspaper dailies, Sunday colour comic strips, and Comic book formats.

The partnership was broken in 1964, when Davis died of a heart attack.

Falk then recruited Fred Fredericks, to don the artistic role, who continues even today, for the longest tenure spanning more than 45 years. When Lee Falk passed away in 1999, he also took over the writing for the Mandrake script.

Fredericks brought the modernization to Mandrake script, to base him more on the Science Fiction fantasy stories. It was during Fredericks tenure that Narda & Mandrake finally got married in 1997, during one the stories. Frederick also modernized the look of Lothar, into the modern day dress code, which even though retained the Panther texture, this time on a close fit shirt. Lothar was also shown to have got well-versed with the American lifestyle and command over English language.

If you want to follow the daily strip which Fredericks works on, follow this link to King Feature Syndicates, which is updated on a weekly basis with an archive from last month.

Here is a Preview of it, where Mandrake campaigns for Save Earth.

Fellow comic enthusiast, and one of Mandrake’s greatest fan, Sagnik, provided this TimesUnion website, where you could enjoy a month load of Mandrake archives, until today. Enjoy, and thanks to the Mandrake Dude. 

Overall, while Falk-Davis Mandrake stories were classic art of work, Falk-Fredericks duo made the series contemporary in style, making Mandrake fans to accept both forms of work as the true tribute to Falk’s legendary creations.

In India, Mandrake was published in multiple languages by erstwhile Indrajal Comics. In South India, it was published regularly by erstwhile Tamil Comics magazine Rani Comics in their line-up, and has been occasionally featured in the long running Tamil Comics magazine, Muthu Comics, one of which is the current month release.

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Muthu #312 - Nizhal Ethu? Nijam Ethu?
(நிழல் எது? நிஜம் எது?): Reality of Shadow

Have you ever wondered, what if everything we known all along as the Rights and Wrongs, were all false, and it is the other way around? No one would like to imagine that weird situation. But, Lee Falk dared to dream of a world mixed with different set down, in this Mandrake adventure.

The story starts with Narda having a strange incidence of seeing her mirror image behaving differently and talking to her in a strangely scripted language. The mirror image of her, named Adran (reverse of Narda) claims that they are the real people, and gets into a confrontation with her. The mirror image strangely seem to have powers to enter our world, and along with Erkandam (reverse of Mandrake), and Rathol (Lothar), they abduct Narda into their Mirror world.

What Narda witnesses there is a whole new world, where policemen do day-time robbery, dacoits help people, Army generals serve as Security Guard, and Lift Operators, and the military is run by Privates at the Office. Narda comes to know of a threatening plot in which the Mirror world is staging a plan to capture the real word across the mirror, with the help of a new discovery made by Erkandam.

How does Narda get saved in the end, and manage to save her world makes up the rest of the story, where more than Mandrake, Narda plays a huge roll. There are some interesting pieces where Erkandam and Adran always tries to run down the people they see on the road, and Narda intervening in their hideous stuff to save the passerby's.

We would have hoped to see a real showdown between Mandrake vs Erkandam, who is touted to have the same powers of Mandrake, only differing from the cause they use it for. But, the confrontation is cut short, in this episode prematurely, leading the readers to expect more on the Mirror People saga.

Editor S.Vijayan has tried his hands on a new model of utilising reverse texting, exactly as it appears in a mirror image, which is pretty different method from what was adopted in the original, which simple change the order of text. There was some difficulty in the method, where the names didn’t have a meaningful reverse order, where Editor chose to rename it to suit the language in which it has been translated to. For eg., Narda’s (நார்தா) mirror image is called Daarna (தார்நா) and Mandrake’s (மாண்ட்ரேக்) mirror image called as Greatnaam (க்ரேட்ணாம்). A great work, indeed.

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Original of Mirror Mystery: The weird world of Mirror People was originally published first in the 33rd episode of Mandrake strip, which ran from Oct 1944 to Dec 1944 for 10 weeks, under the partnership of Davis and Falk. It was later reprinted in full colour by Magic Comics (which is an imprint of King Features Syndicates, collecting their famous comic strips like Secret Agent X-9, Blondie, along with Mandrake), in a sequence of their titles. A soft copy of which you could obtain from a Mandrake fan’s comics blog, here.

It took another 2 decades, before the second episode of Mirror People appeared in the 126th episode of Mandrake Dailies, titled ‘The Return of Mirror People’, from Aug 1964 to Jan 1965, spreading over a lengthy 19 weeks. There was no further episodes of Mirror People then in the Davis-Falk partnership.

Our Muthu Comics (#312) edition of this current month, features this second story of Mirror People.

When Fredericks took over the mantle of Mandrake strip, he along with Falk brought back the Mirror People one final time, as the 210th Mandrake Daily strip, titled The Mirror Mystery, which ran for 22 long weeks between Nov 1991 to Apr 1992. Mandrake fans consider this as the best story of Mirror People so far, where Fredericks brought in a lot of change and innovation into the storyline envisioned by the former duo. Sadly, further episodes featuring Mirror People was never published.

Indrajal Comics, the most loyal publisher of Mandrake stories never managed to print any of Mirror People episodes. By the time the 3rd album was released in 1991, IJC had went out of business. (Thanks to Sagnik for the IJC info)

Diamond Comics of India, who had published most of the 1960-1992 Mandrake Daily strips in full colour, then published the 2nd and 3rd episodes of Mirror People during their run-up.

So, at present, Muthu Comics is the only publisher in India (and probably in the world) to have published a full fledged Mandrake story. Good to see the legend of Lee Falk’s living on.

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Muthu #312: Extra Features: This edition of Muthu Comics was not only a treat for Mandrake fans, but it also features a short story one of Lion Comics' evergreen superhero, Robot Archie.

It’s one of those short stories where Archie plays his typical saviour role, this time in the cause of Pearl divers, by diffusing the mystery of a strange sea animal, which is causing a havoc among the sailing community. It was originally featured in one of the Annual Specials of erstwhile UK based Lion Comics, from the Fleetway Company.

As per the tradition, the Issue also contains an advertisement about the next two forthcoming Muthu Comics editions, which features:  

• Yet another American classic comics hero from the stable of King Feature Syndicates, Johnny Hazard (who is christened in Tamil Comics as “Wing Commandar George”) in an issue titled ‘Vinnil Oru Kullanari’ (விண்ணில் ஒரு குள்ளநரி), meaning “A Fox in the Sky”; and
   
• Franco-Belgian comic star Ric Hochet (who is christened in Tamil Comics as “Super Reporter Johnny”), in a issue titled ‘Maranathin Nisaptham’ (மரணத்தின் நிசப்தம்), meaning “Silence of Death”

So, it’s going to be two more classic issues from the stable of Muthu Comics, which brings back the fan-favourites Hazard & Hochet from two different genres of comics world. I am eagerly looking forward for them.

The other advertisement is about the XIII Collector Special, which has become a prominent one to be featured in recent times. If you would have noticed these XIII advertisements in the past and present, you would see that Editor hasn’t used any of the images from the previous 10 albums of XIII, which were printed by them. Doesn’t it make for an interesting wait?

More than the other advertisements, I am more interested about the announcement of a Martin Mystery 2 part story which has been hinted in the Comics Time of Editor. When Muthu Comics #310 carrying Martin Mystery story was published, we had discussed the situation where Editor Vijayan had utilised all of the Martin stories which were released in English so far. So, we had even wondered whether he would now touch the Italian version of the same.

Even, during the Comics Time of Muthu Comics #311, Editor had hinted of the improbability of Martin appearing again in his future plans. But finally, he has decided to continue the much famous Italian comic hero, which is only good for all fans of Martin Mystery, including myself :)

The back cover of the Muthu Comics issue talks about the next Comics Classics edition, which once again features a golden oldie of Steel Claw, in his Superhero avatar. If you want to experience a dose of it, have a read on our last Comics Classics edition which featured him in his superhero form.

And as promised at the start of the post, here is the original cover upon which our present edition Muthu Comics cover was made-out. It was one of the covers from the 10 issue Mandrake series published by King Comics in United States.

Look at how the colour choices have been improved, even to the last minute detail of removing the sweat on the face of Mandrake from the original, which couldn’t go well with the Rose power makeup style of our Comics artists :). Also note the transformation of Lothar from a worried sober looking man, to a Bollywood sidekick, which comes with an added bonus of eye-brow makeover . Creativity on show. :) 

For buying this comic, contact Lion/Muthu Comics Office @ +91 (04562) 272649. or mail them on lion@vsnl.com

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Mandrake in other Media: It will be good that we end this Mandrake post, by looking at the other Media appearances of Mandrake.

Movie Serial: Flash Gordon and Secret Agent X-9 Comics strips, who debuted along with Mandrake in 1934, rose to immediate fame, and they had the Movie Serials made on them in 1936 and 1937 respectively. So Mandrake didn’t lag much, as he joined that elite  list, when Columbia Pictures made a 12 chapter movie serial in 1939, which was aired in consecutive weeks, made famous in first half of 20th century.

TV Series: In 1954, NBC made a TV series Mandrake, without further episodes. It was followed then by another TV movie in 1979.

Mandrake then had a major role in the newly formed Defenders of the Earth team, which was portrayed in animated series, which saw King Features prominent comic strip heroes, forming a group to defend earth from the mischief makers. The series was aired from 1986-87, and is still very popular on DVDs, among comics fans.

MandrakeSoft: In 1998, when I had started my career in the Information Technology, there was a huge euphoria around Linux based Operating Systems. Many a companies were formed, among which one company attracted my attention, due to its name.

It was a French company called MandrakeSoft, who had named their Linux version as Mandrake Linux. I used to wonder, whether they had sought necessary permission to use the comic character name, because their logo was clearly resembling the comic version. But I never bothered to check further details.

While working on this post, I came to know that in 2003, there was a legal suit launched by King Feature Syndicates on MandrakeSoft, alleging copyright infringement, which the later ultimately lost. The company then changed their name as as Mandriva, after the court ruling. Seems publishers aren’t budging even a bit on aspects, which may demean their command over the world famous comic brand names.

Feature Film: In 2007, it was announced that Omega Entertainment, had acquired the rights to make a new move on Mandrake the Magician, and it was touted to be a 2009 release. Jonathan Meyers was drafted in as the lead actor, while Chuck Russell has been given the directorial duties. The movie is currently on hold, and the reasons for them are unknown, but it might be linked to Meyers history of addiction to alcohol and his legal run-downs. Hopefully, the movie would come out as planned, and honour the legendary creation of Lee Falk, which has long been pending for a reasonable movie credits. Does anyone remember that pathetic Phantom movie?

 

And that brings us to the close of our lengthy Mandrake post. And before we close, I hope there are many of us who would have thought what would happen to our dear old comic characters, when they reach the old age (even though it would never happen as far as the fantasy world is considered)?

Well, here is a humorous take on our very own Mandrake & Lothar, by the cartoonist Donald Soffiritti. He has quite a few of those funnies on other comic characters on his weblog. Have a look, and laugh your guts out . Adios Amigos !

References: Mandrake’s Wikipedia Article | Lee Falk’s Wikipedia Article | Phil Davis Lambiek Profile | Leon Mandrake’s Angelfire Article | Deepwood’s Mandrake Daily Strip List

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Lion Comics #206 – Phil Corrigan | Jul ‘09

Lion Comics #206 – Phil Corrigan  2 Stories | 92 Pgs | INR 10 | B6 B/W | Laminated/Paperback

Lion Comics has finally made its way back, with their latest issue, the first in 2009. The title also marks the completion of the brands 25th Anniversary. Lion Comics #205, was released way back in November last year, so it was a pleasant surprise to see this latest title arrive home. As advertised it features two brand new adventures of Agent Phil Corrigan, carrying a stunning cover art, which should be rated as one of the best covers of Lion Comics in recent times. Offlate, there is an increased focus on the cover-art, where they seem to be using the latest technologies in photo editing to improve them tri-fold, from the originals which inspire them. Look at the burning fire at the background, and the Corrigan badge on the top-right, along with the stylist lettering used for the title. It’s so good to see the legendary Lion Comics utilising the tools available in the modern era, to keep them up with the international standards.

Editor in his Hotline, highlights the delay factor, (He also managed to find a link between that and the title of the present issue, in his typical humorous style) and cites the difficulty in the sales, and dealing with the news agents, as a backdrop for the long miss-out, yet again. But he also conveys that this will be a new innings for Lion Comics; and his intention to unveil a new plan, to reach the readers directly, instead of relying on the news-agents.

Let’s hope that as per his promise, we would get to see more regular issues, which will enthuse the readers to agree to his plans once he finds the right time to reveal it to all. Editor for instance has promised  Modesty, Chick Bill, and another 3-part Tex Willer story in his future line-up, and claims that we will be seeing a lot more Coming Soon advertisements in the forthcoming issues, just like the good old times.

Seems that the recent comics fanfare witnessed through the releases of Euro Books and CineBook in India, have really boosted Editor Mr.S Vijayan to jump-in on the bandwagon himself.

Editor also announces that the XIII Collector Edition is still hanging in balance, as the advanced booking has still not reached the magic number of 900. To keep up the tempo he has released the list off 100+ early-bid readers, who have booked their copy in advance. So, those who are staying back from booking your issue, the time is now, to see it in fruition by the year end. Somehow my name is missing out from the list, which looks like I would have to reconfirm, again :-(

For those who are waiting to pick up your copy at local bookshops, it’s time you start checking out for the issue. I will hold on the review of the stories at Comicology, so as to let other readers experience the issue first-up.

As a preview, here are the first-page of two Corrigan stories which decorates this month Lion issue.

The two stories are:

1. Maandavan Meendaan (மாண்டவன் மீண்டான்!), meaning ‘Dead springs back to Life’

2. Raajyathirku Oru Rani (ராஜ்ஜியத்திற்கு ஒரு ராணி!), meaning ‘A Queen for the Kingdom’

You could notice that the artwork for both the stories totally different, about which we will see more along with the background details about Phil Corrigan aka Super Agent X-9 comics series, when we go down reviewing this Lion comics title, in a couple of week’s time.

So, if your are not a subscriber, then don’t miss out from grabbing your copy, at your news-stands. :)

To wrap-up, here is the inner-cover, which once again features a teaser to the XIII Collector Special, while the second outer cover previews the upcoming Mandrake issue on Muthu Comics, titled Nizhal Ethu? Nijam Ethu? (நிழல் எது? நிஜம் எது?), which is a translated version of the original Mandrake adventure titled ‘Mirror People’. Makes for an interesting wait.

Updates to follow, meanwhile Happy Reading, Comikers !!

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Paradox - A History of Violence | 1997

All the election fever which was going around in the country for the last few months, have finally come to a sweet end, with India Inc. decisively voting in Elections 2009 for a stable government at the centre. Let’s hope that the momentum shows enough strength in revitalizing the economic fortunes of the country, which took a beating, undoubtedly, by the global financial slowdown.

At Comicology, our recent post on Iznogoud with a complete account of his Indian presence, has garnered enough interest among comikers. Being an Iznogoud fan myself, there is no joy abound then sharing all the info about one of the famous antagonists in Comics, with like minded people.

Rest assured that, with the list of Iznogoud titles published by Lion Comics, and the ones planned by
Euro Books and CineBook, may mean that this is only a start to the avalanche of posts reviewing the titles featuring this legendary Franco-Belgian comic character over here at Comicology. Stay Tuned, Comikers.

The topic for the current post, is a follow-up on the works of John Wagner, about whom we saw more during our Mehta Comics debut post, here.

Paradox – A History of Violence (1997) ISBN: 1-56389-367-3 | Pg:300 | TPB | Size: B6 $9.95 / INR 125 (in India on Back-Issue sale)

This time around it is about his first ever works in form of a Graphic Novel, as quoted in there. So without further adieu, let’s move on to this issue, Cover-art of which is sure to turn-on anyone towards exploring it. Life is moving at their slowest best, in one of the evening in a small town near down-town Michigan. Mild-mannered Tom McKenna appears serving his last regular customer, Bessy, at his soda-shop. The door bells cling, as the two disturbing figures enter the shop with a demonic freezed looks. The trouble makers were just shown leaving a blood trail on the way to the town, by killing two hitchhikers cold-bloodedly for money. So, their intentions were pre-told as they enter the unsuspecting town locality.

Without heeding to McKenna’s advice that he is closing, they demand their Coffee. The premonition of trouble, thrusts McKenna to wrap up his customers, and serve the duo before he brings down the shutters. McKenna was wise enough in deciding to send his daughter Ellie, to tag along with Bessy, for home bound.

Having cornered McKenna alone, the duo threaten to deprive him off his life and money. Just when they thought that they have managed to make some free-lunch, they are shocked by the swift attacks McKenna manages to throw, in the process killing one and brutally injuring other.

The next day, papers across country flash the news of the unlikely hero who courageously made his stand, helping to capture the mischief-makers. McKenna and his family suddenly receives huge fanfare and attraction. But McKenna is shown growing in concern, as he mysteriously starts fearing that the increased limelight may only bring more trouble.

His fear turns to reality as the incident draws three more strangers to the isolated town, one of them an elderly man named Johnny Torrino. Dressed in Gentleman suits, the trio starts stalking McKenna and his family.

Torrino, who sports scarred face with an missing eye, confronts McKenna in his shop, quizzing about a long-lost kid from New York, named Joey Muni, who had left something with him: A cut finger, which hangs in a capsule on the neck of Torrino. A sight of which brings shivers down McKenna’s whole body. McKenna’s wife Edie, comes to help, as she quickly pushes out the trio, warning them of police action if they every trouble them again.

Back at their hideout, the trio confronts between themselves, as the younger sect believe that they mistook McKenna for someone else. But, they are soon silenced by the raging Torrino, who seems to have more power than his deputy’s, even at his old age. Feared by his anger, the trio decide to follow McKenna, even setting aside the warning they get from the Sheriff of the locality.

After a lot of run-down of frequent visits, and anonymous telephone threats, Torrino, finally consoles himself that he may have a mistaken in identifying his man. But just as they were making it back out of the town, Torrino encounters McKenna’s younger son, Frank.

The resemblance of his face with his father’s, was enough for Torrino, to confirm his assumption, which sees him abducting Frank, and landing outside McKenna’s home. Torrino warns McKenna that he has finally found out his real identity, and it is time he comes out and gives himself up, or see his family massacred just before his eyes.

The resultant gun-shots and edge-of-the seat action, is sure to bring a chill running down your spine, as the Chapter 1: “A Small Town Killing” comes to a close on this Graphic Novel, which details how someone’s past life can come back to haunt him even if he desires to drive away from it. As they say, when you play and live life hard, then you have got to pay the price.

What did Joey do in his young age which has brought such hell to his new home, is detailed in the Chapter 2: “The Brooklyn Murders”, as it chronicles the life and trouble of two teenage friends, Joey and Richie who play hard, and use the shortcuts in life to earn quick money and fame, which sees them go separate ways.

After seeing that their is huge cash being circulated in the locality, Richie decides to steal some out from them, which was also to avenge his brother’s murder by the goons. Along with the reluctant Joey, the duo manage to make a run-down with local mobs, in a swift cloaked attack, and leave them bruised and killed, and having drained them of their booty, expectedly leaving them seeking for revenge.

But, Richie’s attitude of flashing his money all over, draws the attention of the mob leaders in the locality, who hand-pick him for slaughter. The trails leads up to Joey, as he makes a run for his life, followed closely by the underground mobs.

The scenes where he confronts Torrino, in an alley, and the resultant fight where he takes an eye-out of Torrino with a barb-wire, can’t be expressed in mere words. Incidentally, the talented artist did the same in those pages for us.

The life comes back to present day, as Joey now in his new life as Tom, tries to mend the evil seeds from his past, as he reappears in the city which changed his life for the worst, as Chapter 3: “With Evil Intent”, closes this 300 page epic Graphic Novel titled, aptly as A History of Violence, and carries the same weapons used significantly throughout the novel on its cover.

As witnessed throughout in the graphic novel, It has surprise twists at the end too, as Joey receives a chilling phone call from his supposedly murdered cohort Richie, and the last scenes where he encounters his worst nightmare, is one to take the readers to witness a whole new level of evil incarnation, which is an embodiment of a evil man’s inner self.

Overall, HOV is a Graphic Novel to remember for long, at least for me.

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John Wagner, who wrote “A History of Violence (HOV)” graphic novel, was eventually his first attempt to establish himself among the bigger league in American Comics Industry. He was ably assisted by Vince Locke, who with his unique line-artwork was able to recite the dark and noir nature of the graphic novel and its intrigued plot, a fact acknowledged by Wagner himself in his Preface on the Graphic Novel.

We have seen enough in detail about John Wagner, during our Monster review post over here, so let’s look briefly at the other creative genius behind this graphic novel, the American comic books artist, Vince Locke, whose expressive style of bringing the emotions of the characters in his artwork, formed a great combination along with Wagner’s writing style.

Locke came to in prominence in 1986 during his work as the artist for the underground hit series Deadworld, which was a zombie horror comic set in post-apocalyptic world. Though the series was short-lived due to frequent ownership changes, Locke was one of the main-stay, during which the series achieved a cult status.

Buoyed by the success, Locke, soon contributed as an artist for the some of the famous comic series, including The Sandman, American Freak, Batman, Witchcraft, and eventually tagging along with Wagner in this memorable graphic novel, HOV.

You could read more about Locke’s work on his official site, who is currently busy with his artwork contribution to many a Role Playing Games (RPGs), an area where he would flourish for his noir-touch mixed artwork style, and a taste towards using watercolours heavily in his art-frames. Some of the images in his site was as scarry as it can get, for which a sample is given over here. So, it is not for the light-hearted :).

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The idea of the Graphic Novel, HOV, came when Paradox Press Editor Andrew Helfer met Wagner in Scotland during a convention circa 1995. They have had prior stints of working together in various publications, before Helfer joined Paradox, which is a low-cost trade imprint of DC Comics, which was setup to concentrate on real-life stories, and drive away from the superhero theme adopted by DC.

So as per their established standard Helfer asked Wagner, to drive away from his Superhero works on 2000 AD series, and concentrate on providing something which involves Real stories with Real people. Wagner, accepted that challenge, and came up with an initial proposal which looked lot more similar to his other work on Button Man comic series. No need to say that Helfer rejected that concept, asking for more humanish characters.

After another two years of hard-work, Wagner finally came back with the story which eventually found its place in History of Violence graphic novel, making it one of the memorable novels to hit the stands under Paradox Press brand.

But, due to the low cost mantra, and content, Paradox never really achieved its due credit in the American market, which greatly affected the talented work of John Wagner to go places. Wagner is still restricted to his work on 2000 AD, with his works on his world famous creation, Judge Dredd.

But HOV, as stated before, was one of the best selling novels released by Paradox, so when Paradox was wounded up due to low sales, the series was reprinted in DC’s another trade imprint Vertigo. By this time, talks were on about making a movie based on the graphic novel, and when it was reprinted again, the covers widely published this news, as seen above. Also note the subtle change in the cover-art, to hide the suspense of the graphic novel, and leave it for the movie to open-up.

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A History of Violence (2005): It’s a premonition that not all great graphic novels get their due recognition, when adopted into mainstream movies, a fact agreed among many comics fans. But the 2005 movie, for which the central plot was adapted from the History of Violence graphic novel, sure deserves mention in our HOV review post here at Comicology.

The Movie was directed by David Cronenberg, and had a mega star cast like Viggo Mortensen (famous for his role as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings Trilogy, as Tom/Joey), Maria Bello (seen recently in Mummy 3, as Eddie),
Ed Harris (the multi-talented actor-director-writer as Torrino, or Carl Fogarty in the Movie), and William Hurt (as Richie), with all contributing equally to the success of the movie.

The Opening of the movie, with calmly looking duo, slowly moving past a Motel, leaving a blood trail, is sure to have caught the attention of all movie lovers. Especially considering that there was no background score for more than 5 minutes from the start during this scene enactment.

More importantly Ed Harris’s still and scary slow-paced acting (he was undoubtedly the perfect choice for graphic novel’s Torrino’s character), and Mortensen’s renditions of a frightened man trying to save his present being haunted by his past. Bello’s acting ably assists in bringing out the character of a worrying and supporting wife through his husband’s struggle to take control of his sagging life.

The scenes were Harris and his goons, stalk Mortensen’s family were shot with a unique blend of suspense and thrill, which is sure to bring many a comic fan’s dream of seeing a movie made out of a graphic novel with all its essence, maintained at the same level as the Original. Top of the pick is the shopping-mall and house invasion scenes.

Cronenberg was the right choice to direct this venture, as he has the speciality to make movies with themes ranging in the darker aspects of human emotions and behaviours (who can forget the Sci-Fi movie, The Fly), and the plot of HOV was virtually his playground. Josh Olsen who adapted the Screenplay based on the Novel, also contributed to twists and scenario changes to make the movie interesting and packed for the 80 Minutes run-time, meaning it was meant to cut the past reciting witnessed in Chapter 2 of the Graphic Novel.

It should not be forgotten, that the success of the movie also derives heavily from the reciting of Wagner and Locke in their graphic novel, which contributed heavily to the screenplay in many parts of the movie, which propelled it to a blockbuster of success, and landing William Hurt and Josh Olsen for Oscar award nominations as the Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively.

Eventhough, the movie at many its places moves through the mum-scene way of story-telling, there were instances of genius in dialogues, when an opportunity was available. Two of the areas, which I felt touched where:

When, confronting with his son, who just broke out of a fist-fight at school

Tom: In this family, we do not solve our problems by hitting people!
Jack: No, in this family, we shoot them!

When, an irate Eddie after knowing of Tom's past life, quizzes about the choice of his last name - Stall

Tony: It was available.
Eddie: I guess I was available, too.

The climax of the movie is altered from its Graphic Novel counterpart, as that scene was too a risky proposition to have passed through movie censorship (if at all, there is one such in United States :)). But, looking at it from the movie point of view, the climax looked like a better fit. The movie ends with a silent dinner scene involving Tom’s family, which leaves viewers to diffuse whether they stayed together or not, after all that has gone through. All credit goes to the director and screenplay writer, for delivering such a power-packed movie.

Apart from that, there were little-over dose of sexual romance scenes of Mortensen and Bello, which could have been avoided. But hey, aren’t we talking about a Hollywood movie? so it is well within expectations, as many would agree :). Not a movie to watch with your family for sure :).

Thus we come to the end of another review post, which featured one of the unique Graphic Novels I read in recent times. Thanks mainly to the Back-Issue title release, as a result of Paradox’s closure, through which this particular issue was available in India at a throw-away price. I wouldn’t have spent $10 to buy this comic for sure :).

Also to be noted here, that I should admit that, “Lover of Dreams” Shankar Visvalingam’s recent review post (in Tamil) on a graphic novel titled, From Hell, which was based on the notorious Jack the Ripper character; was instrumental in me getting down to read through this novel. The reason, I generally despise those comics, which have a noir style of artwork, but still doesn’t classify in the standards laid out in the present comics world.

But Shankar’s post made me realize that artwork has to more importantly resemble the plot for which it is drawn, yet maintaining a style of its own, and in that way A History of Violence was truly up-to-the mark.

With that note, I will conclude this post, and would be eager to read your comments on the graphic novel, and this review post in whole. And by the way, if you get a chance, to grab this copy, do not miss the opportunity to own an item which certainly deserves to be there in your collection. Have a Great and Enjoyable Weekend, Comikers.  Adios Amigos !

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