The Art of Carlos Ezquerra

 

 

Review By Luke Williams

Tied in with 45^th anniversary celebrations, so a year late, but only recently read by yours truly, The Art Of Carlos Ezquerra is almost 240 hardback pages of King Carlos.

Where other famed 2000AD artists have had Apex edition of their work either published or planned, to present their classic art, for Carlos Ezquerra, possibly the single most important artists in British comics over the last 50 years, they went a different route (I’d suggest he’s a good subject for an Apex, it’s not as if there isn’t enough material out there).

Arguably this is a far more fitting tribute. Whereas the subjects of the other work considered so far (Mike McMahon, Brian Bolland and soon the late great Kevin O’Neill)’s careers really took off in 2000 AD, Carlos was already well established as an artist in the UK, working on comics such as Victor, IPC stable mates like Battle and Action (for which he drew the inadvertently infamous comic neutering cover) before moving onto 2000 AD. It’s these latter comics, the rights to which are owned by Rebellion / Treasury of British Comics, publishers of this book, which are the focus for this volume.

 What is surprising is the variety of work that Carlos undertook in that lengthy career. Mainly known for his action, war and sci fi work this volume collates examples from each Carlos era; the early romance days, through to the intense war work on Battle, the dense and bizarre sci fiction work of early and “Strontium Dog”, to the looser style that developed during the 2000 AD run of that strip although it does side step the weird dayglo / Chernobyl computer colouring period around “Judge Dredd”. Carlos’ style is the very definition of “gritty” but such was his versatility that he mastered comedy as well, you only need look at “Tharg the Mighty” strips that have been included here  Carlos can do funny and wacky. And he was fast. Very fast. Perhaps the most glaring omission is his masterful and imaginative double page spreads, most notably from “Strontium Dog Journey into Hell”.

Tying it all together is Michael Molcher’s narrative providing an insight to the development of Carlos’ art and career, a fascinating insight into his background and features commentary and quotes from friends, colleagues, family and the great man himself.

As a collection of strips, it is a bit restricted, and collects one offs or perhaps the odd episode from a multi parter. The multi part epics is where is built up a head of steam and from your writer’s perspective the best example would be “Necropolis”. But there are some rare curios included, lots of one off Battle stories and representation from all the major characters he had a hand in Rat Pack, Major Easy, El Mestizo, Strontium Dog, Durham Red and at least a nod to Fiends of the Eastern Front, the most notable exception is his work on Third World War.

In terms of style, there still isn’t anyone like him. Famously, Mike McMahon was tasked with aping his style in the early days of the Prog’, but soon developed a very distinctive style (s) of his own, but he is probably the only one. Despite not having any obvious adopters of his very distinctive style, his influence and impact on British comics is immense.

It’s a fitting tribute to a supremely talented artist, character designer and creator.

Reviews & articles on Carlos’ work:

 

Bob The Galactic Bum 1-4 & Meg’ 266-273

Carlos Ezquerra

Just a Pilgrim & Just a Pilgrim : Garden Of Eden by Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra

The Stainless Steel Rat Deluxe Edition

 

Strontium Dog : Search & Destroy

 

Carlos Ezquerra: Long Live The King!

Nemesis The Warlock : The Final Heresies

 

Nemesis the Warlock:  The Final Heresies

Pat Mills, John Hicklenton, David Roach, Kevin O’Neill, Carl Critchlow, Paul Staples, Chris Weston, Clint Langley & Tony Skinner

Review by Luke Williams

So. Here we are, a year or so after release date. The third and final volume of the lovingly bound collections of Nemesis the Warlock. Handsome volumes that they are, these stories have been collected numerous times, so the question is does this add to the collections you may already have?

This final sequence, though stretched out over a period of 10 years or so, begins in a period of transition for the Prog’; the mid 500s – early 600s just before Slaine : The Horned God. We have Zenith and ABC Warriors “The Black Hole” (referenced here) but we also have Rogue Trooper : “The Hit”, significantly, it also saw the launch of Crisis Fleetway (2000 ADs then publishers) first move into “mature” comics, with a significant  contribution from Nemesis co creator Pat Mills on political strip Third World War.

As far as Nemesis is concerned, Bryan Talbot had already left, his startling and talented replacement John Hicklenton had made his bonkers and controversial debut on the strip with “The Two Torquemadas”. If the difference between O’Neill and Talbot was jarring; and the subsequent switch to Hicklenton fried your brain, then the shift from the LSD nightmare that was Hicklenton to the smooth, beautifully rendered and finely detailed art that is David Roach’s debut is instantly sobering.

Considering the subject of “Purity’s Story” Hicklenton could have been a poor fit. Roach’s work is far easier on the senses than the overload that is Hicklenton’s art, and, to be completely politically incorrect, Roach draws beautiful women. It’s Purity’s origin story; detailing from her perspective how she and Nemesis met, and her connection to Torquemada. It’s a breather in what had become a protracted and increasingly personal chase / battle sequence between the two mortal enemies. The inherent contradictions in Nemesis’ character are further explored and some home truths are explained to Purity as Mills and Co set up the series for its denouement.

John Hicklenton is back in the saddle for “Deathbringer”, book 9, where his craziness in the later episodes comes to the fore in character design and the fight sequences, it’s really quite disturbing. Its also here that there is a little bit of cross pollination between Mills’ strips – not directly, but definitely in tone. Mills buy now was writing Third World War in Crisis, the plot – such as it is; is that Nemesis & Purity have trailed the Grandmaster to an alternate 1989. Due to time dilation (or something) Torquemada has been in Britain for many years and now heads up a paramilitary police force and owns a chain of bed and breakfasts. After the inevitable fight, drawn in lovingly gory detail the relationship between Nemesis & Purity is forever changed. One things is for sure, Hicklenton could draw an incredibly grotesque Torquemada.

And then; in the Prog at least; nothing.

Not for years.

However, this volume collects the abortive attempts to build to what was inevitably going to be the climax of the strip. It seemed like either editorial or probably more likely Mills had lost interest, Slaine was riding high following the massive success of “The Horned God”; ABC Warriors with Bisley and SMS had been a hit with Kev Walker fully painting the next storyline (admittedly a few years away), Toxic was a twinkle in his and partners’ eye, and Mills and Kevin O’Neill had found cult success in the US with “Marshal Law”.

First off is the “Shape of Things to come” drawn by Paul “Finn” Staples from Prog 824, 4 years after the “Deathbringer”. “SOTTC” effectively resets the strip back to its roots, eschewing the development by Talbot, Hicklenton and Roach. Three parter series “Hammer of the Warlocks” drawn by a young and lurid Clint Langley, picks up the plot thread from “SOTTC” and… doesn’t do a lot with it.

The highlights from this period, included here as a coda rather than within the main storyline  are “The Tomb of Torquemada” – full colour Kev O’Neill originally published in the short lived series of Poster Progs. “The Bride of the Warlock” drawn by great “should have been” Nemesis artist Chris Weston – which sees Candida recovering from her breakdown and being wooed by the Warlock. It’s a bit silly, but has fantastic visuals by Weston.

On the other hand, possibly the most painful to read would be the single episode “Warlocks & Wizards” and the series “The Enigmass Variations”, both painted by Carl Critchlow, the latter co written by Mills’s then creative partner Tony Skinner. Both strips were hampered by poor printing technology making the art very dark, or as it has been described, like someone painted with mud, which unfairly reflects on Critchlow’s work. But more crucially, the stories are just hammy, painful dialogue and a silly plot.They aren’t part of the storyline proper, but they are probably the character’s nadir and presumably included for completeness.

The strip finally ends in 1999 with Book X, imaginatively titled “The Final Conflict”, drawn for the most part by genius Henry Flint – “the 2000 AD artist’s artist” –perfect for the strip and of all the artists who followed Kevin O’Neill on the strip, probably the one most in spirit with its co-creator. As you’d imagine, this is the final battle, were back in Termight, but this time it’s a three way fight, Purity, Torquemada and Nemesis, before a suitably appropriate fate befalls the mortal enemies, the final episode fittingly drawn by Kevin O’Neill for the first of the bumper end of year progs: Prog 2000, celebrating the new millennium.

Also in this collection is the pseudo sequel Deadlock starring the titular ABC Warrior, again drawn by Henry Flint, but this time chasing a serial killer and being tracked by President Purity Brown, who is finding life as a politician more It means the strip has gone full circle, as Mills & O’Neill had mooted the idea of Deadlock being the character zooming around Termight in the early days.

Finally, Mills and O’Neill returned to Nemesis and Torquemada one more time for Prog’ 2000, the 2000^th issue, which didn’t really add anything to the story, but is fittingly the final strip in this book and of course, sadly, it was the final Nemesis strip O’Neill drew.

And that… is that.

There are some extra bits and bobs in here that may be of interest. There’s a nice collection of covers and pin ups, including work from artists not usually associated with the strip, such as Garry Leach, Liam Sharp, Colin Wilson & Simon Bisley. The introduction from Pat Mills gives nods to his artistic collaborators and how Torquemada as a villain has influenced his other strips.

There’s no doubt that the strip had begun to lose its way from Book 6. Collected, readers new to the strip may not be able to see the effect that extended break had on the strip, or perhaps this long term reader is overplaying it. What is clear is that the one offs and short series between Books 9 & 10 indicate that Mills and editorial didn’t know how to wrap this up, or perhaps had just lost interest.

It’s a handsome, hardback and book ribboned; sitting attractively with the other two on the shelf if such things matter to you.  Better print quality, the reproduction of Carl Critchlow’s pages aside, and a more appropriate size tan the “phone books” volumes that previously collected the strip. Whether these volumes are the best reprints is another argument, if it wasn’t for the fact that the Titan volumes seemingly were designed to fall apart after 2 readings I’d say they were still the best.

Worth buying? Well, yes – if you are a Nemesis fan and have the other two it seems silly not to get the last one doesn’t it? Assuming of course you can get one, Rebellion says they were limited to 350.

It’s a beautiful package, only let down by some of the story content, and occasional poor colour reproduction.

Nemesis The Warlock : A Potted History. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4

Nemeis The Warlock : The Early Heresies The Latter Heresies

ABC Warriors : A Potted History. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Dredd Vs Death : Hiya Toys 1/18 Scale Action Figure Double Pack : Review

    

Review by Luke Williams

So, this is my 5th Judge Dredd figure and 4^th Judge Death. I’ve got the Citadel lead figures from the 80s (badly painted by yours truly), perhaps the most ambitious examples were from 3A  : 2 versions of Joe and one of Death, finally there is one of each from the 90s Re:Action line.

3As figures were prohibitively priced, had some weird choices of subject (Robo Hunter first? Really?) albeit beautifully made, not particularly robust and took forever to arrive. The Re:Action figures are kind of showing their age now, a little dated – technology, materials and detaileding has moved on. My patient Wife has allowed me to display them around the house; posed, they can be found on on shelves, by games consoles and on bookcases in the living room and landing they, where they gather dust and I occasionally look at them affectionately. So obviously I had to buy the Hiya Toys versions.

I’ve had these examples for a few months. As ever with action figures (or dolls as my Wife insists on calling them) they sat sealed in their pack for a few weeks as I deliberated over whether I should break that seal and inspect the contents. Inevitably, I succumbed, and was pleasantly surprised.

Standing around 10cm tall the figures themselves feel robust and well made, they are finely detailed with a  nice wash to make the clothing and accessories suitably weathered. Death is split between spirit and physical form, so only the top half of the figure is articulated. Old Stoney Face however, is articulated at the knees, hips, elbows, shoulders and neck has interchangebale hands, a lawgiver and daystick Personally, I can’t seem to pose them in anything other than going in looking like they are going in for a hug rather than being able to recreate a scene from one of their altercations, but perhaps that will come with practice; or will inspire a new Dredd / Death tale in the Prog’.

I’d already pre-ordered a lot of the rest of the line : Cal, Anderson, Mean Machine, Giant, Hershey Dredd (full colour) all four Dark Judges and most excitingly a Klegg!  : because I have more money than sense. After ordering the first few from a firm whose name begins with the letter Z and ends in Avvi and having a lot of communication apologising for delays, but no figures, despite me seeing them in the wild in Forbidden Planet in Cardiff I switched to another supplier. Time will tell whether I should have just waited and bought from Fleabay.

For £34.95 it’s a nice pack, good quality figures, catching the spirit of both characters well. Cynically, I wonder about them being  “limited to 3000 pieces but whether you are persuaded by advertising puff or not, can’t help yourself and like me have to buy different versions of the same figure you shouldn’t be disappointed with these and they bode well for the rest of the line : should they ever arrive.

Kevin O’Neill 1953-2022

By Luke Williams

There’s never been an artist like Kevin O’Neill. His characters are comic, grotesque, macabre, horrifying and hilarious all at once. His pages can be disturbing and contain boundless energy, marrying extreme violence with slapstick humour, his characters are horrifying and hilarious. His art is jagged, surreal, anarchic and euphorically visceral with an anarchic edge. His outlandish designs reveal a vivid and extraordinary imagination.

Kevin started as a junior on the IPC humour titles, describing himself as a “bodger”, whiting out artists names, cleaning up pages etc.  He found a dream job as assistant art editor on 2000AD.  It was here that he really started to spread his wings under the tutelage of art editor Jan Shepheard, later replacing her as art editor.

Heavily influenced by British humour comic great Ken Reid, and Mad magazine, it was Kev’ who was responsible for the adverts for “Flesh” and humour in the editorial illustrations in the early Progs of 2000AD. Famously he introduced creator credits early on in the Prog, a huge leap for comic creator recognition and creator rights in the UK.

He was also responsible for designing many early characters including Judge Dredd “Robot Wars” antagonist, Call Me Kenneth, and co-creating Starlord’s “Ro Busters”, along with humour strips “Bonjo Beyond The Stars”, “Dash Decent” one off story “Shok” (which later famously inspired the 90s sci fi film “Hardware”), a hand in the “ABC Warriors”

and a strip he and Pat Mills originally began working on to let their hair down “Comic Rock”, which metamorphosised into the gothic majesty of “Nemesis the Warlock”.

Moving to work in the US market and wider audience, no one could ever accuse O’Neill of toning his work down and comprising his style. Notoriously, he is the only artist ever to have his work rejected by the industry regulator the Comics Code Authority.

In the States he co created Marshal Law, producing savagely beautifully painted pages, the bizarre Metalzoic which allowed his robot design creativity to go wild, with Alan Grant he produced work on DC’s Lobo and a revival of post Crisis ignored Bat-Mite, collaboration with Pat Mills and Tony Skinner on a comic continuation of Roger Corman’s Death Race.

But perhaps most enduring and well known is his collaboration with Alan Moore The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, where he interpreted classic literary and more recent popular culture characters in his own inimitable fashion.

He did return to the Prog; most notably on covers (check out Prog 492), two memorable Judge Dredd strips, the infamous Prog 500, the occasional anniversary issue, a reprint of Metalzoic and to dip in and out of contributing to co creation “Nemesis the Warlock”, and drawing its capstone.

Most recently, despite rumours of his retirement he returned to British comics with a revival of the “Kids Rule OK” strip written by Garth Ennis and an upcoming “Bonjo Beyond the Stars”.

An idiosyncratic talent, he exemplified the early iconoclastic punk attitude of 2000AD in short, a genius. Rest in peace Mr. O’Neill, thanks for everything.

Hawk The Slayer 1-5 (JD Meg edition)

 

Hawk The Slayer

By

Garth Ennis & Henry Flint

 

Review By Luke Williams

In the realm of geekdom I think I may be in the minority,  I have never watched the “Hawk the Slayer”.

I remember loving the less fondly remembered “Krull” when I was 10 (not seen it since), another 80s fantasy film but released a few years later and also starring “we need to cast a giant”; “Ladyhawke” (1985) all the others completely passed me by. This kind of admission attracts sideways glances from friends, tuts and the risk of being shunned.

Garth Ennis, who seemingly has returned to the 2000AD stable with glee and given almost free reign to do whatever the hell he wants, is clearly a big fan of cheesy 80s fantasy films with weird soundtracks (or at last I’m told it has a weird soundtrack) and alongside the distillation of a 2000AD artdroid Henry Flint, in resurrecting Ennis’ childhood favourite “Hawk The Slayer”.

Handily Ennis and Flint provide a brief recap of the events of the previous film before getting into this, a direct sequel to the film. Hawk is out for vengeance against his brother the evil Voltan – who sought the Mindsword, a superpowerful weapon held by Hawk and inherited from their father, and killed his girlfriend.

Accompanied by a motley band, Hawk seemingly commits fratricide at the end of the film. He settles down – threat removed, a companion or two fewer.

Of course, you can’t keep a good baddie down and Ennis & Flint pick up the story : Voltan is back, belligerent and stubborn tyke that he is, and after the Mindsword. 

Hawk picks up what remains of his old gang plus some substitutes, including a Cacofonix like bard to provide light relief, he’s off again to settle Voltan’s hash.

The five issue series adopted a weird publishing model. Released as in the floppies of “Judge Dredd Megazine”, a welcome relief from some of the material that has been bundled with the Meg’. It’s a remarkable way to release the work of two incredibly popular creators, on an admittedly obscure cult  “intellectual property” ( sadly, everything is reduced to IP now isn’t it?), I don’t suppose there was a lot of competition for Rebellion’s bid to buy the rights?

If you haven’t picked it up with the Meg (which has consistently been at least a good read for a few years) then you could buy it in the comic shop as an “American market” title with beautiful covers by Greg Staples, though wildly different in style to Flint’s interiors.

 So, as it’s Ennis you can expect lots of manly posturing and bonding, occasional splashes of toilet humour and extreme violence. But this time, instead of guns and bombs – it’s swords and sorcery – not a genre he is usually associated with.  Henry Flint – GOD of art pulls out the stops with work that is slightly surreal, dynamic, occasionally grotesque, scratchy and beautifully rendered art.

What’s not to like? I still haven’t seen the film, I may find the time to do it, but you don’t need to watch it to enjoy this. Essential? Hell no. Fun? Crumbs, yes. If you can wait, there will be a trade paperback out in March.  More from Ennis and Flint please: War, fantasy, science fiction : whatever genre, I’m not fussy.

The Stainless Steel Rat Deluxe Edition

“Stainless Steel Rat”, “Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World” &  “Stainless Steel Rat For President”

By Harry Harrison, Kelvin Gosnell & Carlos Ezquerra

Review by Luke Williams

This handsome hardcover collection collects all 3 of 2000ADs adaptations written by former Tharg, Kelvin Gosnell and the legend that is Carlos Ezquerra.  For those of us who don’t know the Rat (prior to reading this book that your reviewer would fall into that category) the Stainless Steel rat is otherwise known as “Slippery” James Bolivar Di Griz.  In a far future where crime is almost a thing of the past, Jim is a rebel, kicking against authority until authority finally gets the better of him. He is press ganged by Galactic Law Enforcement, Jim is as good getting out of scrapes as he is getting into them, making him an ideal candidate for the “Special Corps”, specialising in high risk, time and space spanning missions.

Through the 3 stories we see Jim tackle interplanetary espionage, corruption, theft, time travelling tyrants, a little bit of politics and most notably the pulchritudinous but lethal Angelina.

Gosnell and Ezquerra, adapt a fun packed world, Jim Di Griz is loveable rogue. A modern comparison in the Prog’ would be Nikolai Dante; someone who is spends less time grimacing and more on wise cracking, robbing you blind with a twinkle in his eye.

Gosnell was 2000ADs second editor after (Uncle) Pat Mills, but by the time the Rat was published in the Prog’ he had gone freelance, writing Future Shocks Time Twisters and went onto write the Oliver Frey painted Terminal Man in legendary computer magazine Zzap64 (Has that ever been collected?)

Never stopping to draw breath, the plot is pacey, the script punchy and witty. Despite being classed as sci fi, this is basically a collection of caper strips with ray guns, space ships and time travel and it’s great  fun . Art wise this is classic period Carlos Ezquerra, Carlos’s curvy technology (and Angelina) dynamic layouts and some gorgeous double page spreads. Carlos again uses James Coburn as a template, Jim looking a bit like Major Eazy sans forage cap & cigar but avec cheesy grin.

Rebellion have reprinted colour pages from the centre spreads when the Prog was on toilet paper, but  occasionally they have an annoying break in the middle due to the binding process, but that’s a minor complaint. The version that is reviewed was the webshop exclusive version, with a “likely to get dirty quite quickly unless you’re careful” white cover.

If you are a bit sceptical of comic adaptations of novels, (what’s the point etc?), put that to one side. This is old school 2000AD fun, prior knowledge of the character unnecessary. A good fit for the Prog’ fast paced, lots of action and most importantly, humour.

The book is now out of print on the 200AD webstore, but still available digitally or via other online outlets (or so they say anyway).