In Review: Aldebaran - The Catastrophe

Created by a Brazilian and originally published in French, Aldebaran was never going to be that traditional a story for British bande dessinee publisher Cinebook to translate into English for the first time.

Set on the human colony world of Aldebaran 4 a century after it lost contact with Earth, it tells the story of 16-year-old Mark and 13-year-old Kim who are thrown together when their remote fishing village is destroyed by a strange catastrophe which appears to be associated with rumours of an unknown sea creature and the sea turning to jelly - hence the unusual cover of two people running on top of the water way from a sailing boat. Orphaned and friendless, Mark and Kim set out on the long journey to the capital Anatolia to seek work and a new life as well as some sort of explanation of the disaster, during which they run into a variety of strange people and dangerous situations.

Technology on Aldebaran has retreated to early 20th century standards with wooden vehicles and giant airships and this, coupled with the fantastical creatures the duo encounter and the quest nature of the storyline, gives the overall impression of a long languid fantasy novel rather than the short hard science-fiction stories of a bande dessinee series such as Sillage.

The book reprints the first two of the five Aldebaran albums, La Catastrophe and La Blonde which were originally published in 1994 and 1995. These are very much the first chapters of a much larger story, a story that took writer and artist Leo (Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira) five albums to tell and Cinebook plan to continue the Worlds Of Aldebaran sequence by reprinting the five albums of Aldebaran, as well as the five albums of the sequel series Betelgeuse, with each British book containing two of the original albums. Indeed this reprint book benefits from being a combination of the first two original albums since the lack of explanation of the events in The Catastrophe could have left the reader wondering whether there was any point in continuing with the story. The Blonde however moves the story on with the introduction of a dangerous government official and the suggestion that Alexa Komarova, the blonde woman of the title, is not entirely human.

Despite being listed by Cinebook as a 15+ age group book, a short sequence in The Blonde originally showing Alexa topless has been censored for British publication. The book notes that this was with the agreement of the creator and it is done so neatly that it has to be said that without that note the censorship would probably have passed unnoticed by most readers.

In the two albums Leo introduces the reader to a wide variety of characters, many of whom will presumably never be returned to, while leaving the background to The Catastrophe a mystery waiting to resolved. Although his art is detailed it all too often feels static which does detract from the action sequences but events in The Blonde bolster the story considerably and give the impression that a commitment to the ongoing story will reap benefits for the reader in the long run.

Comics Go to War!

Quickly following up on Tim Pilcher’s two Erotic Comics volumes and Steve Holland’s Sci-Fi Art, Ilex Press have released the fourth title in their Graphic History series. Comics International editor Mike Conroy has written War Comics: A Graphic History, which covers how comics have covered war in its many forms throughout the centuries.

The book is laid out in a chronological order, not for the comics as they were published but for the conflicts they covered, beginning, perhaps inevitably, with the Battle of Thermopylae in 480BC. While this is best known today through Frank Millar’s 300, the book also covers earlier comic versions of the same tale from from Dell Movie Classics to Blazing Combat.

Speaking to the American journal Kirkus Reviews, Mike said, “I decided that presenting the material in historical order made much more sense than working through it chronologically as it had been published, which is the standard approach with such comics histories. That method then became a way of focusing the content of each chapter.”

Those chapters continue through the battles of the French and British empires before the book moves on to the battles fought as America established itself as a country and into the Twentieth Century with the Great War.

While the book is aimed at an American audience with Americanised spelling throughout, the enormity of the Second World War is covered from the very different perspectives of both American and British comics. With contributions from Bear Alley’s Steve Holland, downthetube’s Jeremy Briggs and ex-Crikey! editor Brian M Clarke, the British comics section shows off the talent involved in such British war titles as Warlord, Battle and Commando to American readers much more familiar with titles such as Star Spangled War or Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos.

"I hope War Stories will show American readers that there’s more to comics than what’s published by DC, Marvel and other US publishers," Mike explains. "We Brits have also produced some great material as have writers and artists from around the globe.”

The chronological theme continues with Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands and the Northern Ireland Troubles before coming much more up-to-date with Yugoslavia, the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Overall, the book touches on all the conflicts covered by English language comics. “If I have one regret,” says Mike, “it’s that I could not include more material from outside the English-speaking world. Maybe there’s Volume 2 beckoning!!

With a foreword by writer Garth Ennis, who’s war titles are covered in the book in some depth, this is a well researched and heavily illustrated book that covers an all too often ignored area of comics history.

• Buy War Comics: A Graphic History from amazon.co.uk

Spaceship Away Back with More Dan Dare

The latest issue of British SF comics magazine Spaceship Away, on sale soon, continues to deliver a terrific mix of classic SF comics, including new Dan Dare adventures and more.

The magazine features three Dan Dare strips featuring the original version of the space hero from the 1950s Eagle comic, published under license from the Dan Dare Corporation - Green Nemesis by Rod Barzilay and Tim Booth, Rocket Pilot by Keith Page and The Gates of Eden by Tim Booth. Also included are re-presentations of other strips such as Journey into Space and Nick Hazard, the latter beautifully re-coloured by John Ridgway.

New, original strips for the magazine include Ex Astris, a CGI strip from Mike Nicoll, creator of the popular adult comic Saffyre Blue, which completes a three-part story this issue but will return later next year; plus a feature on 1960s Dan Dare comics, art by Ian Kennedy featuring Dan Dare's spaceship Anastasia, and more.

It looks like it's going to be an interesting year ahead for the title: in addition to continuing Dan Dare stories and more, Issue 19 will see the arrival of the Daily Mirror's classic strip Garth, coloured by John Ridgway - a story that has never been reprinted in the UK.

Talks are also going on with Sydney Jordan about completing the Dan Dare story he started
in the Planet on Sunday, and Keith Page tells downthetubes he'll be contributing what he hopes will be a fully painted steampunk story, Iron Moon, to the magazine.

While the magazine isn't cheap, the cost is down to the high quality printing and editor Rod Barzilay's determination that the creators receive payment for their work for the title, whose sales are steadily growing worldwide. We hope you'll give it your support!

• Spaceship Away Part 18 is being distributed to existing subscribers. For more about the issue, click here

• To order Spaceship Away, click here

In Review: The Sisterhood

British indie Timebomb Comics The Sisterhood: Morningstar is a gem of an indie title from this young Leicester-based UK publisher, who also brought us the time-bending Ragamuffins last year.

With art from newcomer Dan Barritt, The Sisterhood are dedicated to fighting the good fight in God's name. Sinners, it seems, are everywhere, blinded by Satan’s lure. Who else but women of faith, from all the known worlds, can thus help bring salvation to the lost souls of the galaxy and, in particular, to the backwater planet Morningstar that refuses to accept the message of the Church?

TimeBomb's first full-colour book, Steve Tanner delivers an acerbic script drawing, I'm assuming, on the Catholic Church's treatment of non-believers in the past (much in evidence in South America and Mexico during the destruction of indigenous civillisations in the quest for gold, for example): although of course there's plenty of modern-day evangelists of all Christian churches that continue to employ some appalling tactics in pursuit of converting the heathen. (The web site Religious Tolerance provides a starting point for examples...)

None though, measure up to the devastating tactics of the future See in The Sisterhood, wiping out entire planetary societies if they don't bend to the will of God. Steve's vicious and yet often funny script is actually given more menace through artist Dan Barritt's cartoony, manga-esque style: while anime and manga often use funny animals to deliver a satirical take on the world, Steve and Dan go for the jugular and bring deliver a cruel, savage take on future war, future religion with a cast of human characters.

While the title is not without fault -- with a fairly big cast for a one-shot title, more could have been done with character introduction for example, and the sheer chaos of the battle of Morningstar very occasionally leads to some confused storytelling -- any faults are more than made up for by Dan Barritt's stunning panoramic battlescapes and the delightful satire the script offers, easily on a par wit some of the best of the early 2000AD stories.

While I'd also argue the overall print quality of the title is a little dark, muting the quality of the art a tad, this is still a title well worth tracking down via TimeBomb themselves or other outlets.

• Buy The Sisterhood on the TimeBomb Comics web site
• Dan Barritt's official web site
• Short Fuses: The Official Time Bomb Comics Blog