Comic Review: Giant-Size Two-Fisted Manly Tales By Graham Nolan

In the mid-1980s, a periodical anthology magazine of black & white sequential art appeared on newsstands, in bookstores, drug stores, gas stations, etc. It assaulted readers via raw, take-no-prisoners storytelling without apologies. Savage Tales was published by Marvel, and you may recognize the names of some of the creators involved: Jim Shooter, Larry Hama, John Severin, Archie Goodwin, Denny O’Neil, John Buscema, and Chuck Dixon. They were two-fisted stories about outlaws, soldiers, cowboys, pilots, boxers, and a whole bunch of other badasses, so good that if you get your nose stuck in one while, say, researching for a review, you just have to read on to the finish.

Fans of that unfortunately-short-lived magazine, who heard about a crowdfunding graphic anthology called Two-Fisted Manly Tales, hoped the glory days were here again. It was a graphic anthology that promised “Action! Adventure! Ass-Kicking!” Though a full color one-off, the artwork being shared had the same vibe.

But that wasn’t the only vibe. The cover layout hearkens back to the old Marvel “Treasury Edition” anthologies from the ‘70s.

Two-fisted manly tales? Action? Adventure? Ass-kicking? With promises like that, how could a red-blooded American man not consider parting with $50-60 for his own hardbound copy?

Maybe even $100 for that and another hardbound with an alternate cover.

Just as Savage Tales had stories with highly detailed, brilliant, yet no-nonsense interior artwork, so does this book. Here’s a page from the first story, “Gurkha on a Train”:

The roster of talent includes some names you've probably heard of.

Here are the credits:

1. Gurkha on a Train written by Mike Baron; drawn by Butch Guice

2. Volsung written by Chuck Dixon; drawn by Bart Sears

3. True North written by Beau Smith/Tim Rozon; drawn by Andrew Paquette

4. I, Lycan written by Kevin Grevoix; drawn by Roberto Castro

5. Crossing the Rubicon written by Graham Nolan; drawn by Michael Golden

6. Nate Lemon written by Mike Baron; drawn by Dan Lawlis

7. Scab written by Chuck Dixon, drawn by Larry Stroman

8. Hope in Hell written by Beau Smith/Tim Rozon; drawn by Andy Kuhn

9. By the Sword written by Kevin Grevoix; drawn by Frank Fosco

10. Buck Thornton Always Gets His Man written by Graham Nolan; drawn by Kelsey Shannon

Honestly, the second story, “Volsung,” does have the feel of a Savage Tales story. And it should, since Chuck Dixon wrote both it, and so many stories in the vintage magazine.

There’s also a variety of badass characters in these stories. A soldier and a Viking, respectively, star in the first two tales. How about a hardboiled werewolf detective?

The best of the art is represented by these pages scans. On many pages, scenes or sequences within some stories are told with no dialog. This is a visual storytelling medium, after all. But it's not always completely obvious what exactly is happening. And sometimes a sequence will come off as disjointed. Scab, in particular, is a bit hard to follow because it's not clear in many panels what is happening or who is who--and the dialog doesn't help much.

Other comics have had this problem but I wasn't expecting it from the solid talent involved with this book.

But enough of that. How about a Cold War bush pilot in Alaska who tangles with Soviet spies and a grizzly bear?

Well represented in this anthology is, if not quite a genre, the Everyman vs. Different Flavors of Human Scum trope. In Graham Nolan’s “Crossing the Rubicon,” Everyman is a truck driver who just wants to eat some pie in peace.

Ultimately, this book suffers from an issue that is not uncommon in anthologies: there's not much meat to the stories. You’re introduced to the protagonist; he encounters the villain immediately; they fight; it’s over. Almost every story is over before the reader has much chance to invest in the plot or characters. They feel rushed, or perhaps the victims of overzealous editing.

Time is more valuable to me than money, up to a point. I would not feel cheated of my time if I read this while waiting in a barber shop or in a hospital waiting room. But I do regret paying for this book, and the time I spent reading it that I could have spent being productive at home.

If you've read this one and disagree, feel free to comment.

SPEAKING OF GRAPHIC NOVELS:

Here's an ad for Compass Comics with...ahem...a Big BLUE Cheese endorsement:

Ironic they should pay this homage to the original (and, for me, the only) Captain Marvel. Where's the irony? Let's start here:

I asked Luke Stone to pay homage to this classic, and this is the alternate cover which came out of what he drew:

Head over to Tales of the Earthbound for access to a preview of Threat Quotient--a 108-page graphic novel to be published in the near future. A new episode is uploaded every week and free for you to read.

NEXT: Rob Liefeld Lambasts Youngblood Fan Art Contest Winner After Failing To Give The Art A Promised Variant Cover