Just to be clear: Toomorrow is a 1970 film (featuring Olivia Newton John) in which a student band is abducted by aliens who are soothed by their early synth-pop. Twomorrows on the other hand is a North Carolina publishing company who produce wonderful magazines and books about Golden, Silver and Bronze Age comics.
In the last decade, a book from Twomorrows was a staple Xmas gift, ( in bold) with love to me from, er, me. So, in today's post ( what is the day after Boxing Day called, anyway?) we're going to revisit my favourites.
My first memories of the company's publications is the Jack Kirby Collector: my imagination was fired by a speculative article on possible directions for the Fourth World - if the comics hadn't been cancelled. It wasn't long before the Collector made the transition to Bronze Age Treasury size.
One of my most treasured possessions is Twomorrows' reproduction of the fabled Kirby Unleashed portfolio from 2004. But flashing back again, it was Roy Thomas' revived Alter Ego that rivalled the Collector for my attention- and developed my appreciation for the work of Alex Toth.
While Buckler reminds me of the early 80s All-Star Squadron, Toth's art has a timeless simplicity. In fact, Twomorrows encouraged my appreciation of many great cartoonists, both the more venerable and the more modern:
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I love the detail of Captain Britain's holed tights. Whatta maroon.
The most revisited of all the books in this series. Timm's depiction of DC and Marvel super -stars was a huge influence on me in the 90s.
The Ordway edition is possibly my second-favourite Modern Masters but I also re-read the Byrne and Perez books too.
As we'll see again later, Silver Age stars also received the spotlight. I now hold Tuska in a regard similar to Jim Aparo: sadly under-appreciated when I was a kid.
Gene Colan is the nonpareil when it comes to mood and mystery. How I would have loved his Frankenstein or Satana stories, if they had existed- or series for the Phantom Stranger and Deadman.
The Legion Companion was the first and best beloved of the Companion Series, followed in 2004 by the Best of the Legion Outpost (fanzine) . Both books feature pages of unseen or obscure art by Cockrum, Grell and Giffen. There are also tantalising snippets of info about Legionnaires who never were e.g. the speedster Allegra and Brotlbex, the Senses Stealer.
Of the four volumes of The All-Star Companion, these are my favourite covers. Carlos Pacheco captures the vibrancy of the Golden Age while it's always a pleasure to see Jerry Ordway's elegant extrapolation of those images, the super-yuppie Infinity Inc. (The Infinitors being to the 80s what the Forever People were to the 70s, dig?). These books exhaustively chronicle the history of the JSA and its associate groups, including the post-Crisis Young All-Stars.
The Krypton Companion cemented my admiration for Superman and the Weisinger Era of Kandor, the Phantom Zone and Lori Lemaris. It also re- introduced me to Keith Giffen's squinting, scrappy 40s-style Supes, channelling the spirit of the Fleisher cartoons.
The Silver Age Sci-Fi Companion is a slimmer volume than most but it gives a flavour of some of DC's lessser luminaries of the fabulous future: Space Ranger, Star Hawkins and the Star Rovers.
The most recent addition was this volume on Carmine Infantino: DC's legendary artist and publisher, best known for his airy, futurist Flash, Star Wars and the New Look Batman of the Sixties ( the first one I knew). I didn't care for Infantino's work on Nova and Spider-Woman for Marvel at the end of the Seventies but I liked him better when he returned to the Flash and Dial H for Hero.
I haven't purchased a Twomorrows book for a couple of years but one of the pleasures of this Christmas was the recent Back Issue special on tabloids and treasuries, adorned with this LSH repro cover by Alex Ross. Very timely since Materioptikon is entering its second year of reviewing that format! BI comes highly recommended
Coming soon: Miss Clara's Feeling for Snow
All images are presumed copyright of their respective owners
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