DMZ Book 9: M.I.A (#50-54) PART ONE

"If there is a Big Picture to be found here, I'm not seeing it.  Just a lot of smaller ones." - Matty Roth

Catch up time, in a noughties version of the USA a Second Civil War fought between the south-western Free States Army and the sitting U.S.Government came to a halt when mistakes made by U.S. soldiers during the occupation and battle for Manhattan caused the U.S government to negociate a ceasefire between them to the west and the FSA hanging round in New Jersey at the Lincoln Tunnel.  This ceasefire caused the Island of Manhattan to become a Demilitarised Zone and the people left trapped inside after a botched evacuation tried to carry on as best they could.  Reporter Matty Roth came to the DMZ by accident, but soon brok important stories about abuses going on in there. Then elections were held and helped along by a star struck Matty, the charismatic Parco Delgado was elected governor of Manhattan.  Immediately he bought a nuke which one group had hidden away, and when Matty broadcast this to the world things turned bad fast.  Matty had jettisoned his journalistic ideals and was running a death squad.  Then Parco disappeared as the U.S.army invaded to look for the nuke.  Matty was beaten up by soldiers and his attempts to have them killed want badly wrong as fourteen civilians were murdered by his goons instead.  Left alone, with not one person willing to take his calls, he wandered out onto the streets only to see a mushroom cloud billowing up from where the U.S. had bombed the defunct nuclear powerstation the nuke was being hidden in.  This volume "M.I.A" contains the one-shot "Notes From The Underground" and the four-parter "M.I.A".  Now although I said it was my policy to only split volumes when they exceeded seven chapters, "Notes From The Underground's" unique construction means It's the longest I have spent on one issue, I wanted to include a visual sample from every short in it and wrap things up in a conclusion seperately from the "M.I.A" arc.

Matty ponders his notes.

This was DMZ's 50th issue and to celebrate several artists illustrated some short stories and single-pagers all written by Wood.  The conceit is Matty, just before the tragic events of the end of the previous volume is sorting through his notes which cover all four years of his time in the DMZ, ones he hasn't for various reasons written publicly about.  So, enjoy some of Matty's unused stories in NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND.

NGO: Art by Rebekah Isaacs. In a taxi an excited man in the front finds Matty in the back.  He's off the clock, he sometimes comes for a ride with the driver because "sometimes shit just gets so fucking boring round here he comes and hangs out with me".  He has one rule in his taxi, "no jounalism".

The excited man fills Matty in on what he is there for, his investors see unlimited potential in providing progressive communication access to the citizens of the DMZ.  He hopes they can "liberate the masses through information technology".   Matty say their cellphones still work, "the telecoms saw to that.. no cost. It's not like they can send us the bill."

The excited man says his way would shine a light on the people and show them the world that's been passing them by all these years, "we can usher them back into the arms of society... we can free them.  Educate them." He wants to set up shop in New York for a new comms network and will donate free access to select Americans. The taxidriver asks "So wait... you hired me to drive you real estate shopping?"

Touring the DMZ.

The man says yes, many buildings are abandoned and can be purchased cheap.  The driver points out the buildings are under the control of militia and warlords.  The man says he's been authorised to buy the real estate from the squatters.  Matty says he hopes he bought lots of cash.  The man says he has vouchers.  Matty and the driver burst into laughter, the driver offers the man a beer then screeches to a halt.

They get out, the first stop on the man's real estate tour.  Right now Matty reckons they have less than a minute before a nasty guy calling his soldiers to the roof starts dropping grenades on them, "your future telecommunications HQ is a restricted area".   The driver tells him to hurry up with his beer, he has thirty seconds.  Then they return to the car and drive the hell away. Matty tells the man "Tell your investors you can't liberate us, educate us, or buy us.  You sad dumb tourist.  You don't know how lucky you are". End of short story.

MATTY+ZEE: Art by Jim Lee.  A single pager showing Matty taking shots of Zee searching through some rubble.  The text talks of their history although is dated to before she left him a couple of volumes ago.  Matty admits he has a hard time living up to her standards, "I cannot imagine living in this city without her, I cannot imagine this city existing without her".  Her leaving him can probably be said to have influenced his bitter spiral into violence in the previous book.

Zee remains the heart of the DMZ.

LITTLE PLASTIC TOY:  Art by Fabio Moon. A wordless story, a young boy finds a small cluster bomb and not realising what it is takes it home and sleeps with it under his pillow.  Next day he has wrapped a small red scarf round it, but one of the other kids recognises what it is and calls for help.  He doesn't want to hand it over until Zee intervenes and she is able to take it and hand it over for safe disposal.

He put a scarf on it! *sob*

LOOTED: Art by Ryan Kelly. We join Matty as a serious looking older man has him put gloves and booties on, then asks him "ready?"  Matty thinks about this story, a man scouring the city for works of art, paying the city warlords and mercnaries to help him and buy their silence.  He shows Matty his rooms full of artwork.  He then tells Matty he is dying "and I don't now what's going to happen to my babies when I'm gone".

He tells Matty that "patience and drive" amassed this collection, he loved money but loved art more.  Matty points at a Van Gogh and the man says has recovered 60% of MOMA's collection.  Matty thinks how there is billions worth here in tha townhouse.  The man says he's kept meticulous records "I claim no ownership, just the privilege of caretaker."  He needs Matty's help now.

An unsung hero.

He wants Matty to use his communications with the outside world and find the proper people to talk about this. His system of barters, payments, trusts, bribes and blackmail will breakdown once he is gone.  He leaves to Matty containing a list of the catalogue, missing pieces and repairs he made.  There are codes for the security system and secondary location as well as a Swiss bank account with money to help with restoring the museums after the war.  He tells Matty he is the first person he trusted, now he must go to the people he trusts. Matty can only leave in awe of what this man had done "something for humanity that I can barely wrap my mind around... much less put a price on".  And he leaves the man contemplating the art. End.

SNOOZER, THE GHOSTS: Art by Lee Bermejo.  It's a single pager about the ethos of the Ghosts of Central park and their mission to save trees and wildlife.  Soames told Matty one day that when the dust settles after the war, people will mourn the decimation o the parks and open spaces, the tainted water supplies, the poisoning of the air and destruction of historical spaces, "And, I firmly believe" said Soames "the first question we'll ask is 'Why didn't we do something when we had the chance?  Our excuses will ring hollow'".

Enviromental activism in the DMZ.

HEART OF NEW JERSEY.  Art by Riccardo Burcielli. This story starts with Matty being driven right out into a New Jersey forest to meet the Supreme Commander of the Free States of America.  When his blindfold is taken off, he is greeted by an unassuming man called Commander Townes standing outside a parked caravan.  They go inside and start to have a chat.

He tells him after some chit-chat that the first year of the war was hardest for them, the rise of the Free States wasn't just the rise of some predestined idea.  The second year was better:

Townes: "That was when we started buying mayors.  A couple of governors.  A couple of FBI field agents, too.... Okay I lied about the agents.  Some halfwit under my command shot them.  We just used their badges.  Opened a lot oof doors for us, literally.  Amouries, National Guard bases, banks even".

Matty asks more about the banks and Townes says the first secret is that the FSA is suprer rich like "own-the-country rich".  They are so rich they outright bought Chicago. They never made a move on it because the "famously neutral Chicago... is like a sleeper cell".  He makes a call and it goes hot, opening up a new front in the war.  They have no need for Texas, the power is in the East.  They'd love Florida, but in the end won't need Miami when they have New York.

The leader of the FSA in humble surroundings.

Another secret is they have four divisions coming down through Canada to assault New York from the north, straight down the Hudson valley. "Why are you telling me this?" asks Matty. First because the Federal army won't be able take on four divisions at least until New York State. And he is telling Matty because he knows he's conflicted and will take his time in sorting out "what's news and what's intelligence".

He tells Matty what he's going to take away from this interview, about the Redneck army who buy cities and governors, assissinate heads of state, field multiple divisions of troops and have brought the most powerful army to its knees.   He's had foreign heads of state sit where Matty is right now, "and knew they were looking at someone they can do business with".

Matty is left with much to mull over.

He tells Matty to hand over the tape recorder when he leaves, "I'm not going to make it that easy for you".  Next day Matty returns to the DMZ thinking they talked for ages more, got wasted and fired off some M-60's. It left a lot of stuff swirling in his head, and as he takes the memory card he had hidden in his mouth he thinks "Information that, even if I tried to bust it open, I'd not be able to verify.  Or so says that old hermit in the woods".  End story.

KELLY CONNOLLY:  Art by Philip Bond.  A one-pager of Matty's on-off girlfriend, a fellow reporter who helped him break a big story. Matty's "notes" on her here date to just before she committed suicide in the DMZ.

The late Kelly Connolly.

WILSON'S KITCHEN: Art John Paul Leon. Another early story for Matty, invited to the legendary kitchen of Wilson, the Triad boss who runs Chinatown now.  As he looks around he sees how the kitchen is two buildings basements worth.  He shows the bean curd fermenters at work and the fresh greens grown by hydroponics.  Matty watches in fascination, "He takes some of the bean curd and mashes it into peanut oil, chili, garlic, rice wine cut with a little water".

Wilson and Matty become friends.

The wok is heated and the mixture dumped in it, the greens are added and in thirty seconds cooking time he has a plate full of bean curd, soft not soggy greens and sauce.  As he eats with Wilson, he is told the make all the bean curd, "easy to make, down here". He says he'll show Matty the greenhouses after they finish.  The cooks hustle out, "It reminded me, quite pointedly, that this was Wilson's kitchen, and this was Wilson's Chinatown.  And it's the rest of the world's loss".  End story.

WILSON:  Art by Eduardo Risso. A one-pager that tells us under Wilson, Chinatown has not only kept its original character but more-or-less its original boundaries.  After a failed assassination attempt he became untouchable, "equal parts kind and cruel, and whatever power he uses to keep the glue of his dominion intact, it's practically invisible to outsiders".

Wilson, Kingpin of Chinatown.

DECADE LATER: Art by Dave Gibbons.  A final one-pager, Matty's notes tell us about the titular grafitti artist who had moved on into the realm of "Street Artist" working on fine and conceptual art. But also "he and others like him act as custodians of the soul of New York City, embodiments of hope against the forces arrayed against them. Their work should not just be preserved but celebrated".  And that brings this issue, "Notes From The Underground" to an end.

A respected street artist.

A great selection of shorts, we've got single-pagers whose out of date notes make for somewhat tragic reading when you compare what happened to them or how Matty's relationships imploded with them. "NGO" is a light-hearted story poking a little fun at the naivete of clueless outsiders who assume the DMZ's real estate is up for sale with reasonable people and which also shows how native Matty has gone by this point.  There might not be any words in "LITTLE PLASTIC TOY" but it paints a heart-breaking story of being a kid in a warzone, not only does he take a bomb home, he ties a little scarf round it as well, that detail just kills me everytime.  Says so much about the resilience of children even in a place like the DMZ.

"LOOTED" answers the question of what happened to the cultural treasures of the city.  One man who could have lived comfortably elsewhere risked life, limb and spent enormous amounts of cash to preserve as much as he could, for no other reason than because he loved art. Matty is suitably awed by him as am I. He reminds me of a man in the game Fallout 3 (game about people surviving a nuclear bomb ravanged Washington) who wants to keep history alive for the people in his free museum in one of the most successful communities in the Capitol Wasteland.  He uses his money and mercenaries to search for relics in museums and the National Archives.  In one you find the Declaration of Independence for him.  I like to think him and the man in this story would be exist in any place where there was great culture and history to be preserved.

"HEART OF NEW JERSEY" finally fills us in (or does it) as to how the FSA made such great strides as it did against the biggest and best equipped army in the world.  There's an interesting dynamic going on between Townes and Matty, how much is bullshittery, will Chicago flip to the FSA at the drop of a hat?  Are there four divisions on their way through Canada as they speak?  The Free States will be coming back into focus soon enough, maybe we'll find out then.  Finally "WILSON'S KITCHEN" gives Matty his first taste, literally of one of the ways Wilson has been able to keep the culture and character of Chinatown alive in the era of the DMZ. WILSON elaborates some more on Matty's feelings about him before they fell out and DECADE LATER shows that while DL might be gone from the DMZ now, he's left a lasting legacy like he wanted. With a line up of superb artists including legends like Jim Lee and Dave Gibbons, this was an excellent celebration of the further flung stories of the DMZ in a landmark issue.  Join me in a few days for the rest of this volume: "M.I.A."

War Stories Book 1 (#1-4)

"I think soldiers're always gonna be judged by folk don't know what they're talking about, sir. But it doesn't make a picka difference, we've a job to do an' that's all there is to it" - Sergeant Major Dunn [D-Day Dodgers]

Something a little different from Garth Ennis this month, the first volume in his 2001-2003 series of eight one-shots, War Stories.  One thing that has always impressed me about his writing is his level of research into armed conflict tackling everything from "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, to The Vietnam War and Iraq and here we have four stories set during the war he is most schooled in, World War 2.  Teaming up with some fantastic artistic talent, including Dave Gibbons and David Lloyd we get some haunting tales, two set amongst the British military, "D-Day Dodgers" taking place during the Italian campaign and "Nightingale" about the war at sea. One involving a renegade German tank crew, "Johann's Tiger" and one involving the remnants of a US company who have been gradually whittled away since they landed at Normandy - "Screaming Eagles". Ennis grew up avidly consuming British war comics and his deep interest in the Second World War especially goes someway to explaining why his ersatz Captain America suffered to many indignities during his series, "The Boys".  He said of Captain America that he found him "borderline offensive, because to me the reality of World War II was very human people, ordinary flesh-and-blood guys who slogged it out in miserable, flooded foxholes. So adding some fantasy superhero narrative, that has always annoyed me a little bit."  Well there are no superheroes on display here, just ordinary soldiers trying to survive best they can in stories told with passion and care and of course meticulous attention to detail.

JOHANN'S TIGER - The premise of this first story pencilled by Chris Weston and inked by Gary Erskine is that a Nazi officer Johann Kleist and his four German "orphan" soldiers, Fat Bob, Dolfo, Seigbert and Nicolas have gone AWOL in their tank "Max" the story's titular Tiger.  Johann is exhausted and no longer believes Germany can win the war nor does he believe it deserves to.  They are secretly travelling westwards back through Russia to find some American soldiers to safely surrender to knowing the Russians aren't going to look to kindly upon them.  Although Johann does not think he deserves to survive the war and once his charges are safe he intends to go out in a suicidal attack.

Johann contemplates "Max"

As the team take a break, eating cold rat and erstaz coffee, Johann thinks, "I would die for them."  He contemplates Big Max, "we have been together through two long years and Max has eaten well."  Two days ago they were in a tank battle with the "Ivan" (the Russians) which they and Max came out of alive.  Back in the present Johann notes how the Russians would send ten for every one of them killed.  "But we deserve it all.  We asked for it." So now they are on the run, although by rights they should be dead or prisoners of the Russians by now.

Johann: "I am their commander and I have been entrusted with their welfare.  We are comrades; we have saved each other a thousand times.  And I woud go to hell to stand and fight beside these men.  And they are mine."

He thinks about how he will deliver them safely to the Americans, but he is a "different story."  He remembers how he ordered the burning to the ground of whole villages, and the deaths of women and children there.  He recalls murdering P.O.W's, but then how "I woke up and realised my life was an atrocity."

Johann's guilt.

The guilt now stalks him and he believes the war can have him in the place of his orphans.  "The thought of it is bliss to me."  They arrive in a deserted village and hide Max in a barn.  Nicolas asks Johann if he remembers the crazy man in Stalingrad who said with glee at them that Berlin would suffer the same fate, before Johann shot him.

Then checking around further they find three German soldiers strung up in a tree, the work of "Fepos", the Field Police who "maintain the cohesion of the front by any means neccesary".  They were probably stragglers or deserters like us thinks Johann as he sits alone and contemplates events.

Then he hears an engine rev and he runs back into the village to find his four men with nooses round their necks about to be hanged when the truck they are on the back of drives off.  The Fepos have them.  An enraged Johann mows down the Fepos with a machine gun and they decide things are getting too "lively" around here and they take Max and leave.

Johann rescues his men from the Fepos.

Soon though they run into a column of Russian tanks and although they fight valiantly they are soon surrounded. Suddenly Dolfo grabs Johann and throws him clear.

Dolfo: "Not you, herr Oberstleutant.  We decided not you."

Johann hits the ground and ends up out cold.  When he revives, the Russians are gone and the burnt remains of his men have been laid out on the ground.  He staggers away and loses track of time, looking for anyone he can get to kill him.  He finally sees some Allied soldiers, Americans and pulls his gun.  He charges them but exhaustion makes him trip and fall at their feet.  One of them offers him a cigarette.  Sadly Johann reflects that his boys thought they were saving him, but they have "damned him to endless torment."

Johann: "And with poison churning in my belly.  With horror in my heart.  I face the future.  Every single day, I live with it."

The cruelty of mercy.

And that brings the story to an end.  It is a powerful reminder that the bonds of brotherhood and loyalty didn't just exist on the side of the "good guys" and that not every Nazi was evil beyond redemption. Johann facing the punishment of mercy is an ironic end to the tale when mercy was something he didn't show himself. 

D-DAY DODGERS -  Drawn by John Higgins, the setting for this tale is the Italian campaign.  A motly bunch of various nationalities make up the British led forces as they push the fascists back up and up the country.  The name of the story comes from a statement made by Lady Astor that implied those involved in the battle for Italy had it easy compared to those fighting from D-Day onwards in France and Germany.  A satirical song was composed by an unknown soldier because of this and closes out this story in devastating style.

Captain Lovatt.

It's september 1944.  A young Second Lieutenant called Ross arrives at the Italian front.  He finds their commander, a gruff man called Captain Lovatt in a ruined church taking potshots at the altar.  Ross introduces himself and Lovatt asks where he went to school.  "Harrow" says Ross, he was to go to Oxford but the war got in the way.  Lovatt says that in 1933 the Oxford union passed a motion that they wouldn't support a war for King and COuntry.

Lovatt: "That the sort of sneering, peacenik bollocks you got in for Ross?"

Ross protests he'd have been eight then.  Lovatt then asks if he is comfortable with the idea of command.  Ross says it makes him feel awkward and silly.  Lovatt says he should see how he feels after spending years sending men to their deaths.  Then he sends Ross away.

Ross joins the rest of the men, they aren't going to be in reserve much longer they are returning to the line the next day.  Ross asks Sergeant major Dunn about Lovatt, Dunn says he's the finest officer he has ever served under.

Later at night Lovatt decides to send out a patrol to see if the can "scare up a prisoner." Dunn is to lead, Ross is to go with him and learn.  The patrol sneaks out and they come across a nest of Nazis.  There is a short and bloody scuffle which the patrol wins and they keep one of the Nazis alive as ordered.  As they get ready to return, another German pops up and Ross shoots him on instinct, his first kill.

Ross's first kill.

They return and hand the German over to intelligence.  Later there is a meeting where the Colonel in charge shows them the battle plans they will be part of.  It will be a daylight attack so their air support can see who they are bombing.  He also decides to promote Captain Lovatt.  The meeting breaks up and Lovatt tells Ross this attack is taking place to placate the press back home, and make a substantial advance before Italy becomes a mudslide, "which means no advance, which means no progress, which means no headlines."

Because the Italian campaign is such a slog it "doesn't exactly make for riveting reading". They don't have enough support to properly mount the planned offensive which is being mounted to convince the powers that be to give them more resources.  "Can you spot the fatal error in all this, or am I going to fast for you?" says Lovatt to Ross.

Later that day news of Lady Astor's comments have reached the men.  Ross is told that some of them are feeling resentful towards him because he has the same background as Astor.  But "sure we're all dodging D-Day together."  Ross wonders if Lovatt has heard the comments.  "That stupid fucking BITCH!!" roars Lovatt as if on cue. That night Ross finds Lovatt drinking in another ruined church.

Lovatt: "How can I ask those men to follow me to war, when some silly bitch back home says things like that?"

Lovatt on those who would judge him.

He says for the people back home if they do too well they are butchers, if they mess up they are cowards.  As he gets drunker he rails against Jesus on the cross saying he doesn't want to face the nightmare, "so I don't have to lead those poor uncomplaining bastards into battle."

Lovatt: "But he just sits up there and watches and judges"

Ross: "I think that's sort of the point sir."

Lovatt and Ross stagger away from the church, Lovatt saying, "I bloody well knew you were in there somewhere".

And they all fall in battle...

Next day they get ready for the advance.  Ross forgot to draw himself a machine gun and Lovatt says he can't go into battle with just a revolver and forces his machine gun on Ross saying "it doesn't matter."  Ross realises Lovatt knows they are all going to die.  The advance begins and the story closes out with images of all the men dead or dying as the Ballad Of The D-Day Dodgers is captioned underneath.

The story ends with a note that over one hundred thousand Allied troops died in Italy and that Lady Astor denied ever making the comments.  Thus ends another wrenching tale of a neglected part of World War 2 and the heroism of the soldiers just doing what needed to be done in the face of dismissive attitudes by the people they are fighting for.

...every one of them.

SCREAMING EAGLES -  Drawn by Dave Gibbons, this takes a look at a fictious company of US soldiers in the 101st Airbourne Division.  All that are left of the one hundred and forty odd who parachuted in the day before D-Day are four men, and when they are sent to check out a building that might be usable as a base for the local US army, they find a virtual palace and spend two days living it up while the story is interpersed with pages showing how so many of their comrades met their deaths.

At a US army camp a Sergeant Brewer us sent with his remnants, More Liefeld and Engstrom, who are all that are left of who jumped in before Normandy, to investigate a nearby German country house called Grafrau, which should make a good headquarters for the soon to arrive General Bleddings.

After failing to get more food supplies, Brewer and his men set off.  On the way they nearly crash into a German officer fleeing in the opposite direction.  His car overturns and the Americans take him prisoner.  They arrive a Grafau to be greeted by a veritable palace. They check inside and find, food, treasure and lots and lots of wine.

Nice house.

They question the German and he says the place was used by High Command to stash loot.  He has arranged that if things went bad, he would meet his friend here and they'd take the stuff and leave.  But he is all that left so he took what he could and fled, hoping to get to Switzerland. "So near and yet so far" says Brewer laconically.

Brewer immediately decides they will spend a couple of days there.  He says they'll pretend they lost the jeep and shoots it's radio out for good measure.  They imprison the German, who is called Marcus Lench in the wine cellar and start cooking up some decent food.  Liebfield wants to smuggle out some of the treasure but his friends point out he'd have nowhere to hide it and no way of moving it.  They should just live like kings for two days and then go back to the war thankful for the break they had.

A brief taste of the good life.

Liebfeld keeps at it, saying luck like this doesn't come along more than once in a lifetime.

Brewer: "Sure it does.  You been with Easy of the six fifty fifth all the way from Normandy to here.  You ain't been wounded and you ain't been crippled.  You're the luckiest man on earth."

Liefeld gets the point.  They keep on boozing and Moore spots through a telescope a comely German wench.  He goes and introduces himself as the "official... army of occupation" at the big house.  She says her name is Heidi and she has three friends who would like to meet them.  They all return to Grafau and sexy times ensue.

Brewer: "Moore my friend.  I am gonna recommend you for promotion to General."

Down in the cellar Marcus is incredibly distressed at how they are treating the wine.  "We have been conquered by barbarians" he mutters as they open yet another bottle that should have been left to mature.  Liebfeld and Moore get an idea about the vintage cars outside which they manage to crash in a race against each other.

A little of Ennis's more slapstick humour gets a look in.

Brewer is in the bath with Heidi who is happy they are not Russians.  Then one of the men shouts up that they bet Engstrom he wouldn't run across the field naked, but he is actually doing it.  However it's a minefield and to add to his problems as he tries to get out is a large bull.  But the bull steps on a mine and is blasted to bits.  The others contemplate a barbecue.

Later that night, Moore finds Brewer alone in the kitchen.  He notes that Brewer looks beat.

Brewer: "I don't mind the war.  But I hate the fucking army, Tommy."

He hates all the petty rules and regulations.  He hates the officers who treat them like garbage.  He hates the fact the likes of General Bleddings "ain't shy about spending lives" but come nowhere near to risking their own.

He reflects on how they are the last remnants of the original Easy company and he remembers the deaths and injruies of all one hundred and thirty six they have lost.  He asks Moore why he joined the Airbourne.  More says because he wanted to be with the best and with people he could depend on.  Brewer says before the way he worked at a timber yard and spent most of his time "solving peoples stupid fucking problems."  And now in the military he is doing the same thing.

Brewer: "Because it's sergeants run the army.  Generals give the orders, but sergeants keep the fucking thing going."

His reverie is interrupted by the others coming in with the women.  Liefeld says he's going to get married.  Next day Moore wakes them up in a panic.  The general and his men have arrived early.  Brewer tells Heidi to take the other girls and slip out back when they can.

Sergeant Brewer has had enough.

Outside Brewer claims full responsibility for everything that happened.  The general chews Brewer out, asking him what gave him the right to ignore the authority of the military.

Brewer: "General, I don't think I can tell you anything. So why don't you stick your authority up your ass?"

Which brings this story to an end.  It's an interesting tale, the almost comedic antics of the men partying juxtaposed with the deaths of all their comrades keeps the story grounded in seriousness as well as showing just why they wanted to let of steam when given the opportunity.  Sergent Brewer also acts as a mouthpiece to Ennis's common military theme, that it's the common soldier that should be celebrated not the men who send them to their deaths from the comfort of a well defended base.

NIGHTINGALE -  This is a story about the British destroyer the Nightingale.  Operating in the Artic area protecting convoys to Russia David Lloyds's moody artwork suits the dark nature of the story perfectly.  You can almost feel the cold emnating from the pages.  The story begins with the thoughts of a dying crew member reflecting on how the Nightingale came to be sunk, so immediately we know that the ship and her crew are the dead walking as the story plays out in flashback.  The narrator is the ships Number One.

Narrator: "The sun was shining brightly on the day that I died.  It blazed from the heavens.  It sang from the skies. One a day the world seemed born again, H.M.S Nightingale met her end."

Stunning image of the Nightingale.

We then flashback to the Nightingale escorting merchant ships with supplies for the starving Russians.  There are many other ships protecting them too.  Christmas dawns as the crew keep busy breaking the ice forming on the decks.

The narrator notes that the Nightingale had kept them safe so far and "of course we loved her.  She was ours."

The convoy fends off a German U-boat attack, but later one of the other destroyers is sunk and another torpedoed.  The narrator notes that he "loathed the U-boats".

Narrator: "It was war.  They had a job to do.  The men who crewed them were in possession of bravery beyond description.  But still I despised them."

After a pitched battle, a U-boat surfaces and the Nightingale blasts it to pieces before i can fire on them.  They go on about their duties and "at six o'clock the gates of hell swung open."

A message is sent out to each ship in the convoy that they are to disperse.  A super U-boat called "The Tirpitz" is thought to be out and by scattering the convey they stand the most chance of getting the majority to the Russian ports.  The Nightingale is tasked with joining the cruiser squadron and it's job is to hunt the Tirpitz.

The massacre starts and they can do nothing about it.

So the normal U-boats start torpedoing the ships.  In the morning the German airforce join in.  So many boats are sunk.  Frustrated beyond all measure the captain of the Nightingale says:

Captain: "I'd have fought the bloody Tirpitz.  I'd have sunk her with torpedoes.  I'd have rammed the bitch before I let her touch those ships."

The narrator comforts the youthful Number Two who is crying.  The narrator says there was nothing they could do.  Number Two says "what d'you mean?  We're the Royal Navy...!"

When the Nightingale finally reaches port back in Glasgow they are told that the Tirpitz never put to sea.  It was a panicked decision and it ended up destroying relations between the Navy and the Nightingale in particular and the merchant seamen.  With morale gone to hell a man is killed on board when a steel cable snaps and bisects him.  The captain took full responsibility but on his two weeks leave "the kid" went home and hanged himself.

The narrator himself, also on leave has nightmares and when he returns to duty he finds the Nightingale's crew being shunned, not as cowards "but as the damned."  They join another convoy in the Mediterranean, harried by Stukas all the way to Malta.

Another ship is bombed and the Nightingale is goven orders to rescue the crew.  The tanker is vaporised and the sea set ablaze but there are still men in the water to save.  The Nightingale goes through the flames, "a tacit understanding.  A debt to be paid."  Things seem to be going well, but the narrator wonders if "some debts can only be paid in blood."

A huge Italian cruiser appears on the horizon.  They can't let it sneak up on the convoy's now unprotected flank.  It opens fire on them and the captain is badly wounded.  He orders them to retaliate.  They chase down the cruiser and fire at it, the men still in the water cheer them on, "that shout redeemed us.  I took it to my grave."

They keep chasing the cruiser and firing on it.  It turns away from the convoy and they briefly celebrate scaring off a ship twice their size.  Then the Nightingale is blasted to smithereens.  "All debts paid" muses the narrator as he drowns, briefly he wonders if he'll survive, "but it was not to be" and he dies sinking under what is left of the Nightingale.

Death of the Nightingale

This is definitely the darkest tale in the book.  The doom laden atmosphere brought forth by Lloyds thick dark linework.  He also captures beautifully the slow inevitability of the loss of the Nightingale as written by Ennis. Sea battles by their nature are slower and more ponderous than battles in the air or on dry land but Lloyd portrays them excitingly and Ennis captures the superstitious nature of sailors and the desperate need to pay for a sin that was not of their making extremely effectively.

Overall this is a wonderful set of stories.  This is Ennis at his most passionate, proving he is not just about comedy sodomy, sociopaths and buckets of foul language. He emphasises the bonds that form between men in the military, even the Germans have those same bonds. There are notes at the back of the collected volume describing some of the research he did and a bibliography of further reading for those interested.  The artists are all working at the top of their respective games and knowing Ennis he'd have made sure all the hardware and uniforms were drawn correctly so the whole thing has a powerful feeling of verisimilitude.  There are four more in this series, collected in a second volume and this led to his more story led war series Battlefields.  I shall be covering both in the months to come, but for now this is a superb set of storys that I think would appeal to anyone not usually taken by Ennis's style, that humanises the war without taking away the bravery and heroism of those that fought. Excellent stuff.

Alan Moore Obscurities - Tom Strong: Book 1 (#1-7)

"I have met the enemy. And she was beautiful" - Tom Strong

When Alan Moore was ensconced at Rob Liefeld's company Extreme in the late 90's he worked on several properties, but the longest and most acclaimed of his somewhat sub-par work for Liefeld was his reimagining of Liefeld's dickheaded killer Superman rip-off - Supreme.  His history was rebooted and the character became a much more well behaved sort, and there was a meta gimmick in that many issues saw him remembering his new history, which was drawn by the chameleonic artist Rick Veitch, as adventures in the style of the comics they would have been drawn as at that time.  When Jim Lee set up the ABC imprint for Moore in 1999, amongst the series he kicked off with (such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea and the wonderful Top Ten), he decided there was still mileage in the neo-Silver Age Superman idea and created Tom Strong, a superstrong scientific genius, with increased longevity whose lifetime has so far spanned the entire twentieth century.  The main stories were illustrated by Chris Sprouse to start with, and flashbacks by a variety of other artists (Arthur Adams, Gary Frank, Cam Smith, Dave Gibbons and Gerry Ordway), however the meta aspect that Supreme contained is no longer fully present.  Although the series was serialised rather than containing arcs, the first seven issues do form a loose arc storyline regarding Tom and ghosts from his past.  So lets have some light-hearted hijinks as a tribute to the Silver Age, a comicbook sci-fi fantasy age that in no way involved stories about rape.

The book begins with a text write-up that names Millenium City as the place where Tom Strong lives and protects.  It's based in the same US as Top Ten's Neopolis and Promethea's New York.  The background text names "Paul Saveen" as Tom's archenemy and how they clashed many times before Saveen's skeleton was found in a jeep in West Africa in 1992.  Tom Strong and his family are hugely popular in his home city and their story will be told in the next few issues.

Timmy gets his fan information.

The first chapter tells us about Tom Strong's upbringing.  It's framed around a story of a boy called Timmy who gets a Tom Strong fanclub magazine with all the info in it, "The Strongmen of America" pack.  We discover along with him the hero's background tale.  The boy also has the annoying catchphrase "Holy Socks!" which just makes me want someone to kick his teeth down his throat, but which was probably meant to be cute and whimsical (I hate whimsy unless it's done really, REALLY well).  There is the overdone joke of the boy being so engrossed in the comic about his idol, he doesn't realise he's in a situation where he's being saved by him. Hee-larious.  But anyway, Tom Strong's origins are told via the fanclub magazine which Tommy starts reading as he boards a cable car to school.

We see Tom's parents in 1899 on a boat piloted by the pidgin English speaking black man Tomas. Before he can be even more offensive, the boat crashes on Attabar Teru and Tomas is killed much to the distress of Susan Strong.  Her husband, Sinclair, sets up his artifically intelligent robot "the Pneumatic Man", who later is known as just "Pneuman".  The Peunmatic Man builds them a shelter while one of the natives watches from the shadows.

Tom's parents and Pneuman.

We move onto Tom's conception and birth.  The birth is a difficult one and Sinclair is out of his depth, but the natives approach them for the first time and one of the women delivers the baby boy safe and sound.  Asked what she wants to call it, an emotional Susan says "Tomas".

Tommy's cable car is attacked and Tom Strong flies to the rescue using a helipack.  Tommy doesn't notice the fight and continues reading.  The story jumps to 1903, and Sinclair has build a small scientific complex inside an extinct volcano using the latent heat as power.  Tom is being kept in a high pressure chamber to increase his strength.  Susan wants Tom to come out and play with some of the "Ozu" tribes children, now they are all on friendly terms.  Sinclair says not until Tom is eleven.

Susan: "I'd just like to feel his skin against my check Sinclair, just for a while."

Dressed in pressure suits, they give Tom a meal.  Susan asks why they feed him "Goloka Root", Sinclair replies that it "promotes longevity and higher cognative awareness".  Tom also starts speaking the "Ozu" language which he is learning via Pneuman.

Tom, orphaned.

We then jump to March 1908.  An earthquake has devastated their home.  Sinclair is dead and Susan dying.  Tom comes out of his chamber and holds his mum for the first time before she finally dies.  Then he carries their bodies to where the Ozu are and introduces himself as "Tom Strong".  The adventures of Tom growing up amongst the Ozu are collected in Tom Strong's Terrific Tales, which I'll get around to covering one day, probably.

In the present, Tom fends off the cable car hijacker, but Tommy doesn't notice still. We jump to Tom as a young adult in 1921.  Tom has built a new high tech complex in the volcano and says to Pneuman he wishes his parents had been alive to see it.  He then goes to see his adoptive family, the Ozu, to say farewell as he is leaving to explore the wider world. He has taught them English and Chief Kumba Omotu, reminds him to keep chewing the Goloka root and that his daughter Dhalua loves him.  Tom kisses her saying he loves her like a sister.  Tom says he shall dream of Attabar Teru, his home while he is away and sails off, while Dhalua stays and watches him disappear over the horizon.

We then get a quick fight between Tom and Paul Saveen atop Millenium City's "Statue Of Harmony".  Tom gets the better of him and then calls Pneuman, he wants to return to Attabar Teru. There he marries Dhalua (She's your "sister" Tom, gross!), and in the marital bed says to her he wants to bring some new sentient life into the world.  She thinks he's talking about having a child:

Tom: "I was thinking about performing innovative brain experiments on a monkey.. but I suppose we could have a baby as well."

He does indeed create an intelligent gorilla, "King Solomon".  The talking gorilla unfortunately has the voice and vocabulary of an upperclass Edwardian gentleman.  All "bally" this and "old chap" that and it's fantastically annoying. Now while I'd like to suggest another foot-to-teeth high speed interface scenario take place, gorilla's are superstrong and I only like to beat up children.

Tom, Dalua, Tesla, Solomon and Pneuman.

The magazine ends in 1999, with Tom and Dhalua still young looking thanks to the Goloka root and also with their daughter Tesla.  They turn and break the fourth wall by thanking the new member of Tom's fanclub and saying they can read about their adventures every month in Tom Strong's magazine.  Tommy exits the cable car, and walks past Tom Strong without noticing.  Tom says:

Tom: "Welcome to the club member 2059.  Glad I could help you get to school on time."

He then disappears and Tommy finally clocks what was going on, says his catchphrase and the issue ends.

Chapter Two starts with a flashback to 1987.  Tom, Solomon and Tesla are hunting something in a sewer.  The page and panel layout makes it look like something is remembering them doing it.  They are destroying devices Tom calls "mechanical parasites."  We then cut to an image of two nerds peering at it in the present day, having been rebuilt by them via a construction kit they ordered online.

Death and Rebirth of Modular Man.

The action cuts to Dhalua and Solomon saving a crashing plane from an engine fire.  With the situation in hand, Tesla goes to another distress call sent via Pneuman from the nerds. She wishes her dad would get home from Venus soon so they can stop deputising for him.  She arrives at the nerds building and it is entirely encased in metal plates.  She climbs up to them while they each blame the other for building what caused this.  She arrives in their flat and sees the mechanical parasites are back and calls Pnueman saying "we have a problem".

Dhalua and Solomon are being interviewed after saving the plane.  Then Pneuman informs them "Modular Man" is back and they rush off to help.  More buildings have been assimilated by the parasites and they start attacking Pneuman as well, Solomon unscrews his legs before they can reach his brain.  Dhalua looks up and sees the metal plates have formed a giant face which haltingly speaks.

Modular Man keeps on a'growing.

He's doubling in size every forty minutes and soon the entire city will be covered with metal plates.  Tesla is lowering the nerds to the ground and fills them in on Modular Man.  he was a scientist called "Temple Baldry" who discovered he was terminally ill, so he "broke his mind down into units of information, then designed a basic self replicating module."  When it reached a certain size, his personality would emerge.  She and her dad thought they destroyed him fourteen years ago, but obviously they were wrong.

Suddenly Tom's spaceship appears overhead.  Tom tells Tesla to get clear then uses his grapple gun to dive down into the middle of the Modular Man.  Modular Man asks if Tom is going to destroy him again, and Tom says yes he'll keep doing it until Modular Man gets bored.  Tom then reasons with him, saying what kind of existence is it to keep being created and destroyed, and Modular Man asks what he does he suggest?

Chris Sprouse's art really is Very Good.

We then cut to the outside where all the metal plates rise up off the buildings and attach themselves to Tom's spaceship.  Tom jumps down and says he offered Modular Man Venus.  As the spaceship leaves Tom says of Venus:

Tom: "It was silent.  Oh there were breathtaking vistas and beautiful sunsets, but it all went unoticed.  It's only life that gives meaning to the stars and worlds my sweet.  Life or something very much like it."

The next chapter introduces the "Aztech" civilisation.  A technologically advanced Aztec society, it still practices human sacrifice, using it to interact with "Quetzalcoatl-9", a fractal intelligence and tame God.  The Aztech's practice "lateral expansion".  They conquer parallel earths by assimilation.  The High Priest is called "Moctecuzuma" who initiates another annexation.

Introducing The Aztechs.

This takes them to Tom Strong's Earth and the first assimilation Pyramid appears in a local park.  Using a gizmo, Tom manages to gain entrance to the pyramid to investigate.  He wanders through the golden halls, guessing that "socially, I'd be surprised if I wasn't looking at some form of grandiose inflated facism".  Suddenly he is attacked by men on flying discs and electrocuted, knocking him out.

He wakes strapped to the sacrificially altar.  Moctecuzuma tells him he speaks English, French and Spanish, so speak to him:

Tom: "Aztecs arrive from a parallel world.  Incredible."

Moctecuzuma says it's not that unbelievable.  For their time the Aztechs were the most advanced race on Earth and have had more time to reach their technological peak.  On their home Earth when COrtez arrived, they dealt with him using machine guns.  Moctecuzuma says Tom is to be sacrificed as he has an above average intelligence so Quetzalcoatl-9 will assimilate him, "you will not survive the process".

A sticky situation for Tom.

Moctecuzuma goes to oversee the sacrifice and witnesses Tom being taken apart by lasers.  Their annexation of Tom's earth continues.  Tom is still alive however, Quetzalcoatl-9 projected an illusion of his death.  It wants Tom's help.  It wants it's freedom.  He wants Tom to release the restraints on it's program.

Tom: "You no longer want to be their God?"

Quetzalcoatl-9: "Oh, quite the contrary.  I want to remind them what a God really is."

Tom hijacks a flying disc and works his way past guards to "the palace of the sun".  Moctecuzuma follows him there, but is too late.  Tom has "broken the circle of data protection".  He tries to quickly reprogram but Quetzalcoatl-9 rises up and kills him.  Then it starts honoring his agreement with Tom and pulls back the annexing pyramids.

Quetzalcoatl-9: "The other 2057 worlds of my Empire I shall retain, ruled by benign theocracy.  Why?  What did you expect?"

Tom says on his earth, the serpent is the symbol of betrayal.  Quetzalcoatl-9 says they trusted each other, and that trust results in a better outcome than betrayal. "May you and your world go in peace" Quetzalcoatl-9 says, and Tom leaves the pyramid which disappears behind him and reunites with his family.

In Millenium City not long after, Solomon and Pneuman are sorting through Tom's post.  One is a mysterious package that Solomon takes to Tom who is still in bed with Dhalua.  It is a white rose with a note that says "Happy Anniversary" on it, no signature just a lipstick mark and a swastika.  Tom tries to remember what July 6th is an anniversay of, as several planes appear outside and start attacking.

Have I mentioned how much I like the art?

Hurridly Tom gets dressed and puts on his "heli-vest" and flies out to take on the planes.  He is more manuaverable than they are and managed to board one.  It is being piloted by a woman who speaks German.  Tom suddenly recognises her as "Gerda" and realises who must have sent the rose - "Ingrid Weiss".

We get a flashback to Tom in the ruins of Berlin in the final days of the European theatre of WW2.  He is trying to track Ingrid as she is a genetically engineered superwoman called "the Third Reich's secret weapon.  Their last hope".  She appears behind him, clad in black leather and with several female soldiers with her.  She insults Tom for marrying a "swartze girl", what a bitch.

The start of a beautiful friendship, not.

Tom goes to try and arrest her and she knocks him on his arse.  He gets up and punches her back, hurting his hand in the process.  Then the Nazi girls uses tranquiliser darts to knock him out.  He wakes later chained to a slab in an underground bunker.

Ingrid: "Ah, herr Strong.  You are awake.  You missed all the fun we've had while you were sleeping."

I... I don't like the sound of that. She explains her purpose is to regroup and when the time is right, restablish Nazi rule.  Tom says that she is crazy.  She laughs and said Himmler said the same thing but he's dead now so who cares?  She has in the bunker bombs to take out their enemies.  She wants Tom to join her, but he says the idea "makes me sick".  She says in that case, she has what she wanted from him so he can die now.

But Tom manages to break the chains holding him and attacks Ingrid, knocking her into a fire which sets the rest of the bunker on fire.  She tells her Nazi girls to escape while she and Tom fight.  The fire sets all the bombs off and there is a huge explosion.  Somehow Tom survives this and the flashback ends.

Ingrid in the present day.

Back in the present a huge flying hanger appears in the sky, Tom pilots Gerda's plane down on to it and is greeted by Ingrid who hasn't aged at all.  He is surprised she survived.  She says they both share the fact they are survivors.

Tom: "No.  I'm a survivor.  You're a relic of something that should have died some time ago."

She dodges his attacks and mocks his positive attributes, sneering that he is so "confident".  Then a trap door opens underneath and he falls into a pit.  It starts up humming and Tom recognises it as a time machine. "Give my regards to Pangaea" sys Ingrid and Tom is thrown far back in time.

Tom arrives on pre-historic earth, the air is toxic so he puts on a breathing mask.  He dictates to a diary about his observations and thoughts on the situation he is in.  He is not certain how he'll survive, low oxygen, no drinkable water, no food, he is screwed.  He has been to this time period before with Dhalua in the 1950's.  Cue flashback.

The slime beast attacks.

He and Dhalua were sent back in time by a "Professor Parallax" to explore Pangaea. The time machine is set to automatically return them within the hour.  While Tom is absorbed in studying some plant life, Dhalua wanders off.  Then she approaches him silently and makes romantic overtures.  As she and Tom hug, she suddenly turns into a slime beast.  It has the ability to mimic life and this was it's first opportunity to do so.  Tom says to the real Dhalua:

Tom: "This must be some sort of gigantic slime-mould... A collective organism made from billions of sub-microscopic lifeforms acting in unison."

The mould creature gets aggressive and Tom chucks a bomb at it.  It reforms and speaks to them saying "Pangaea is... not...your continent".  Tom says he and Dhalua are from the future where Pangaea no longer exists.  This upsets the mould but before it can attack them again, the time machine yanks Tom and Dhalua back to the 1950's.  End flashback.

Tom in the present muses on how they accidentally bought some of the slime creature back with them.  He imprisoned it and studied it, then to stop it escaping again decided to send it back in time in 1975 to rejoin the rest of itself.  In retrospect Tom thinks that might have been a mistake.

The slime creature then reveals itself to be the size of a mountain range now.  It forms a human shape to converse with Tom.  It tells Tom it has formed an alliance with Ingrid Weiss and her male cohort to provide a distraction for him while they prepare a surprise for Tom's one hundreth birthday.  The time machine to get back is a ways to the east.

Tom versus Mr. Mould.

However the mould has no intention of sending Tom back, it intends to send back a simulcrum of him which will kill Ingrid and then kill every living thing in 20th century earth and restablish Pagaea.  Tom has been fighting his way to the time machine as the slime creature rants and raves about its superiority.  When Tom reaches the machine he asks the slime creature if he realised that Ingrid and friend would expect treachery and have lured the slime creature to a certain spot.

Turns out it's the site of a heavy meteor shower destined to wipe the slime mould out.  As Tom fires up the time machine he departs to the sight of the enraged slime creature being devastated by meteors.  He arrives back in 1999 and in a strange set of rooms.  He explores and finds a huge model of Millenium City and a voice says "Tom.. at last."

Paul Saveen revealed.

The voice belongs to Paul Saveen, Tom's supposedly dead arch-enemy.  Saveen says he faked his death and now wants a final match with Tom.  Between him and Tom is a glass pane.  Saveen starts it up filling with water and leaves.  When the water reaches the ceiling Tom punches out the skylight and escapes.  He then has another flashback to the early twenties.

Tom is investigating the disappearance of reporter Greta Gabriel who has been investigating a spate of fires in the "Soup Bone" district.  He tracks her to some sewers but once inside he is taken prisoner by Saveen who he is meeting for the first time.  Saveen takes Tom and Greta to a room with a huge machine in it.  It creates something called "Phlogisten, the thermal liquid".

I'm beginning to think Tom likes being chained up.

Tom and Greta are chained up under the spigot and damn Tom gets captured and tied up more than a Doctor Who assisstant.  Saveen is about to flood the area with the liquid fire, but Tom breaks his chains and rescues Greta just in time, they swing to safety as the phlogisten starts to burn out of control and destroys the scaffolding Saveen is on. He starts to fall into the fire and it looks like he is dead.  Tom tells Greta the fire will burn away to nothing and thus endeth the flashback.

Back in the present, Tom continues looking for Saveen as he talks to him over an intercom.  Meanwhile Dhalua and Tesla are busy beating the shit out of the Nazi girls to find out what happened to Tom.  One of them spills the beans and Tesla calls Pneuman to bring them their "M.P.D Copters" and take the Nazi girls into custody.

Tom wanders through a museum dedicated to his life of fighting crime.  It has statues of all his arch-enemies including Ingrid.  Saveen says he has found a way "to really hurt you".

Saveen: "We know a way past that bullet proof triangle, Tom.  We know a way to your heart."

The Ingrid statue turns out to be Ingrid herself, and she and Tom fight.  He punches her through a wall an behind it Saveen is sitting relaxed in a chair.  He says they shouldn't keep Tom in suspense any longer and brings out a boy dressed in Nazi regalia.  Saveen says "Albrecht Strong...your son."

A shocking swerve!

ALAN!!!  You tried to sneak that one past me, but Tom Strong was raped by Ingrid wasn't he? Even though he was unconcious it was a horrible and traumatic thing that she did to him.  And will he react with the appropriate emotions at the revelation of the terrible violation that took place upon his person?  No, of course not.  This is an Alan Moore comic where being raped is apparently on a par with stubbing your toe when it comes to it's lasting effects. Fuck's sake.

Dhalua and Tesla, accompanied by Solomon fly to where they have detected somewhere high tech in the sewers so in they go.  Albrecht greets Tom and says he is glad he is not a Jew. Tom thinks this is a trick, but Ingrid explains how she "took" his genetic material when he was unconcious in the bunker.  She kept it on ice for nearly fifty years, when Paul Saveen found out in 1990 he supported her while she had the child.

Tom tried to reason the nazi ideology out of Albrecht, but gets punched for his troubles.  "Albrecht... your mother has filled you with poison" pleads Tom.  Albrecht punches his again for trying to turn him against her. Saveen says he's won, he's "poisoned your future".  Tom says well lets have a look at the future and turns on  future predicting machine that is in the museum.

Future Tom smacks down Future Albrecht.

Fifty years in the future, Tom is in a nutrient tank healing up.  Tesla is now the champion of Millenium City.  She battles with a grown up Albrecht as they trade insults, Tom appears and takes on Albrecht himself.

Tom: "It breaks my heart to say this Albrecht... but you're genuinely a despicable little bastard."

He and Tom fight and fall to the ground where some elderly "Strongmen of America" including Mr. Holy Socks (ugh) rush to protect Tom.  But Tom needs no help.  He calls Albrecht's Nazi ideals "infantile".  Then he says Saveen has been dead for nearly sixty years and despite Albrecht wielding his technology, Tom can still defeat Albrecht and he punches him unconcious.  Tom picks him up and says he might be rehabilitated and the flash forward ends.

Albrecht smashs the future predicting machine saying he will not be pitied by his father.  Tom points out that in the vision he said Saveen had been dead for nearly sixty years.  Then he questions Saveen as to how he created a skeleton with perfectly matched dental records.  He then reveals "Saveen" as a "Denby Quilks" aka "Charade" a gloopy man, like Batman's Clayface who can impersonate anyone.  Ingrid says if they are not working with the real Saveen they are leaving.

Dhalua is PISSED OFF.

But Dhalua appears flanked by Solomon and Tesla and has other ideas.  Armed with "Atomic Knuckles" she beats the hell out of Ingrid, and looks like she might kill her.  Ingrid pleads "n-not in front of my child".  And Dhalua lets her leave with Albrecht.  Tom is unsure if that was the correct thing to do.

Dhalua: "No I was looking in her eyes when her spirit shattered.  She will not be back."

A few months later it is New years Eve.  Tom and family are out celebrating an contemplating the soon to be over twentieth century.  As the fireworks start at the beginning of the twenty-first century Tom says:

Tom: "Happy New Year everyone.  I love you all."

So that's the first volume of Tom Strong.  I have to say that although it has it's positive points most of that being the wonderful art, I find it to be somewhat...boring.  Maybe because The Silver Age is my least favourite era in comic's history this neo-Silver Age stuff generally does nothing for me.  About the only one I like that I can think of is Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman, which imbued genuinely powerful emotion in his walk through what makes Superman the ultimate hero.  This feels somewhat flat and detached by comparison, it's saying all the right things, but the soul isn't present.  Tom himself was actually designed by Moore to be used by other writers and he quit the series at issue #22.  Unfortunately Tom Strong ran into the same problems the rest of the non-Moore ABC comics did, people simply weren't interested unless Moore was involved.  Moore came back and wrote issue #36, the final issue, which also functioned as a tie-in to his appearance in the apocalyptic events at the end of Promethea.  In some ways it's something of a shame Tom didn't last as a hero, having a black wife and mixed race daughter who both kicked ass as well, put right one of my main Silver Age related gripes, which was how male dominated and whitebread the era was. But it was not to be.  I'm not sure I'll be looking at further Tom Strong volumes apart from Terrific Tales, because the two other volumes he wrote are out of print and cost more than I am willing to pay for a character I am not that fussed about.  We shall see if my completionism gets the better of me...