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SUPERNATURAL HELLBOY: WAKE THE DEVIL/ CONOUEROR WORM
Mike Mignola (Dark Horse Titanl 00000 O...
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WAR! i'iii‘ DEV“
Yeah. OK. so the reissued Hel/boy series has been getting too much coverage in these pages. Why? Because Mignola's gargantuan creation is head and shoulders above just about anything else Out there (Wake the Dew/ even has a fonvard by Alan Moore — how cool is that’?i.
Anyway. this is the big one: the mysteries of Ragna Rok deepen as Our boy and his freak gang of investigators of the paranormal (a pyromaniac. a fish boy and a homunculuSl go after Dracula. Rasputin and a group of crazy Nazis. all housed in a castle in Romania. This is a vitally important episode in the series that opens as many
doors as it closes. and Mignola's rhythm as a stOiyteller and artist does not miss a beat. All good things must come to an end. however. and eventually HellbOy was bOLind to lash out at his benign captors employers. the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence. This stOry is directly linked to the earlier Seed of Destruction tale in that cirCLiitOus way that Mignola achieves with Such a deft touch. More Nazis. more mad monks. a weird genetic virus caDSLile bomb and the return of Hellboy's own childhood hero Lobster Johnson are the main events here. (Paul Dale‘i
SUPERHERO SUPERMAN/ TAHZAN: SONS OF THE JUNGLE Chuck Dixon and Carlos Meglia (Dark Horse DC Titanl 000
IiTPmMAN BBL/3E
Sow. .r “a Jungle
Superhero team-ups are nothing new. neither are publishing collaborations — the idea is novelty equates with sales. This tale combines Superman and Tarzan's not diSSimilar origins.
When Lord Grey/stoke narrowly escapes being marooned on a tropical island and growing up with apes (as he did in the Edgar Rice Burroughs adventurei. the Simians instead adopt a baby fallen from the stars — Kai-El. orphan of Krypton.
Grey/stoke becomes a wealthy wastrel. but eventually makes it back to the tropics with two women with him. Lois and Jane. Etc.
All very neatly scripted. and nicely drawn. tOO. but perhaps it's a little too neat. (Miles Fielderi
CRIME FANTASY LUCIFER: A DALLIANCE WITH THE DAMNED
Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly, Dean Ormston
(Vertigo DC Comics Titan) 0.
Based on characters created by Neil Gaiman (The Sand/ham. this collection from the LuCifer series tissues 14—20). follows the further adventures of the Prince of Darkness. as envisaged by writer Carey and illustrators Gross. Kelly and Ormston. In these episodes. Lucifer creates another cosmos for his own amusement. but while he OCCLipies himself eisewhere. the Lords of Hell scheme and plot rebellion.
Cool for school if yOLi've been following the story so far. but if not. the sharply rendered imageiy and astute turn of phrase is all yOu stand to appreciate. But Judging by the epic scale glimpsed in these pages alone. Lucrfer has the power to prove a rewarding read. (Catherine BFOlTlleyi
Hmmm. Crisps. Wanna read more? Contact the artist at malcyduff©hotmail.com
114 THE LIST Ti“ Oct-~13.
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music@list.co.uk
ALT. COUNTRY SMOG Accumulation: None (Hermanal O...
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The title of this collection of singles. radio sessions and previously unreleased songs is either extremely ironic Or exceedingly modest. Or both. The ten years of Bill Callahan‘s alt.country sounds (for want of a worse categOry clichei. from which this material is drawn. add up to
POP LEMON JELLY
Lost Horizons (XLl 0.00
‘a-wihlv "
For Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen it
anything but zero. Neither do Bill's bits and pieces make for a scrappily-compiled album. From the single ‘A Hit' (another ironic title — nowhere in this dirge. the chorus of which is: ‘lt's not gonna be a hit so why even bother with it'. is there a hook) to the solo. aCOListic ver8ion of faVOLirite 'Cold Blooded Old Times'. this is grade-A Smog. Shame there are only 12. not 24 tracks. (Miles Fielderl
RETRO ROCK THE VENUE Mmhm!
(Bella Unionl 000
There seems to be no danger of a Swedish
’s not just the music but the whole
band making some forward-thinking music. then. First the Hives were the Stooges. then the Soundtrack of Our Lives were the Doors and now the Venue are the Small Faces. Four tousle-haired fops and a bearded grandpa on drums. the Venue are a simple splash of mod- flavoured. beat combo jangle. and you can just imagine their heads wobbling. McCartney- style. in tracks such as ‘80 Much. Too Much' and ‘lnstant Pleasure‘.
“I: u I" wkhu W”! .11 ' Chow“
visual and aural concept that matters. But dispel thoughts of the heady aspirations of the prog rock age, this is ambition with style and skill at work here. The album sleeve for Lost Horizons is a fold out double gatefold, wordless except for a balloon sticker floating above a blocky, almost childlike landscape; peaceful, strange and really quite beautiful. Inside there’s a glowing nighttime townscape, full of mystery and positive potential. Never has an album been so deftly encapsulated on its cover
than here.
Deakin’s well-documented love of all things easy - he was the man behind Edinburgh’s original club for lounge lizards Going Places — is all apparent. Each track has a gentle, kittenish quality but it’s not all slack living, there’s also a sporadic sense of funky urgency dealt out through some frantic hip hop breaks countering the playful acoustic guitar and
bass plucks.
‘Closer' illustrates Lemon Jelly’s musical kinship with Daft Punk, substituting the French funk for some London swing and binding it up with elastic vocal loops, while the album highlight ‘Ramblin’ Man’ is a globetrotting tribute to Clarke Gable, summing up a sound so warm and comfortably familiar but inherently new. Easy does it. (Mark Robertson)