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Monday, April 27, 2015

Guest Reviews - Finding Gold (sort of) and High (yeah, I went there) Bronze in the Late Bronze Age: John Law, Shining Knight, and Darklon





Doug: Happy Monday, kids! Rainy Days and Mondays... you know what I'm saying! But today we have a gaggle of reviews from our resident Balkan. He quipped to us in an email that his intent was to write in the 100-Word Review format, but soon found the handcuffs to be a bit too tight. So today, with a little expansion, the musings of Edo Bosnar --


Edo Bosnar: The year 1983 was a good time for reprints, apparently, and here’s a review of three reprint books I have in my collection that all came out that year. The first two collect some classic material from the late ’40s and early ‘50s by industry legends Will Eisner and Frank Frazetta, while the last one contains some pretty obscure stories by the no less legendary Jim Starlin.

 



First up: John Law, Detective. Published by Eclipse, this book contains three stories done by Will Eisner in the late 1940s featuring a then new character he was trying to develop. No publishers were interested at the time, and he ended up redoing them for the Spirit newspaper sections, while these originals were put into an envelope and forgotten until Eclipse editor-in-chief cat yronwoode (that’s not a typo, she deliberately signed her name like that back then) found them in Eisner’s archives years later and had them published.


Visually, John Law is virtually indistinguishable from the Spirit – basically Eisner wanted a character who was a normal cop, not some guy pretending to be a ghost and wearing a domino mask (John Law wears an eye patch instead). The stories therefore match the style and tone of the popular Spirit shorts – there’s even a little boy sidekick, a shoeshine named Nubbin who is, thankfully, not a caricatured stereotype like the Spirit’s Ebony.


Of the three stories, the first, “Sand Saref” is the best – and probably familiar to those who’ve read Eisner’s Spirit stories, since Sand Saref was an occasionally recurring character in them. Basically, it’s the origin tale of Sand, a childhood friend of Law’s who went down a different path and eventually ended up leading a globe-trotting life, often engaged in none-too-legal activities, before coming back to their hometown. Like a lot of Eisner’s stories, it almost works as a storyboard treatment for what could be a good noir film.

 

The other two stories focus more on the Nubbin character, with John Law in a more supporting role, i.e., he sort of steps in and saves the day at the last moment. Again, these will be familiar to anyone who’s read Eisner’s Spirit strips that focus on any of his several boy sidekicks (not just the unfortunate Ebony). This book is definitely worth getting if you’re a fan of Eisner’s work (like I am), and I think it’s pretty easy to find for next to nothing (my copy carried the hefty price tag of 80 cents a few years back).







Next: Masterworks Series of Great Comic Book Artists, nos. 1-2, published by DC together with Sea Gate Distributors. These two books reprint the Shining Knight and other stories drawn by Frank Frazetta that originally appeared in Adventure Comics in 1050-51. I’m a fan of Frazetta’s art, so I really like these simply because they’re so nice to look at (by the way, someone posted a video on YouTube with a page-by-page overview of the first issue in case anyone’s interested).




The stories, however, are pretty average, and if the art wasn’t so nice they would be entirely forgettable. No writer credits are generally cited in the book, so I had to look it up on the GCD, and found that the Shining Knight stories were written by one Joseph Samachson, who was also the co-creator of the Martian Manhunter and otherwise a research chemist and university professor! None of that comes out in these stories, unfortunately, and they quite surprisingly contain much of the typical Golden/Silver Age wonky science among other things. A case in point, one story involves a con-man who sells what he claims is the Shining Knight’s winged horse – and he manages to fool his marks (mainly gullible rich guys) because he has very real-looking fake wings with small jet packs under them mounted on the horse, which allows it to glide for a short distance. Needless to say, the reader is left with the question that often arises with these criminal geniuses in comics: why doesn’t he just patent that impressive technology and make a fortune, instead of running scams or trying to take over  the world?


This brief review is going to run a little long, just because I have to highlight what is by far the best story in these two books. It’s an extra in the second issue, an SF tale written by Gardener Fox (who is credited). It starts with some mysterious spores from space falling to Earth and kick-starting a new ice age that devastates much of the planet.



Astronomers eventually learn that they came from the none other than the asteroid Ceres – I found this amusing as I was re-reading this just as the news broke that the Dawn spacecraft approaching Ceres had photographed what looked like lights on it. The story also has a very darkly ironic ending, as Earth’s scientists figure out that the spores are a source of infinite energy, and use it to power machinery that not only reverses the ice age but also helps rebuild human civilization – and propel a rocket that is launched to blow up Ceres. Afterward, they find out that the inhabitants of the asteroid actually sent the spores to Earth to keep us from using atomic energy and destroying ourselves. Definitely a twist worthy of the Twilight Zone.






 
And finally: Darklon the Mystic, published by Pacific Comics. This one collects five stories by Jim Starlin about a cosmic character called Darklon that originally appeared in various issues of Warren’s Eerie magazine from 1976 to 1979. As far as I know, these stories were originally black-and-white, so they were colored for this Pacific edition. The tale begins with the titular space-faring character tracking down a group of assassins who tried to kill him; he kills each one of them in turn, sparing the last one long enough to find out who sent them (spoiler: his father). So this is the kind of fare we’ve come to expect from the writer of those cosmic Warlock and Captain Marvel epics: a powerful and determined yet grim and troubled protagonist involved in a dark tale of  retribution and inevitable destiny with lots of cosmic magic thrown in (and it gets pretty dark, and also quite weird at a few places). Of these three titles that I’ve reviewed here, I have to say I like this one the best. It’s Starlin doing what he does best, and the story is engrossing, while the art is spectacular. By the way, I know many people don’t like it when black-and-white stories are later colored, but the coloring here was very nicely done and it really serves the story well.


I’m also happy that these reviews highlight some of the independent publishers that became quite active in the 1980s and gave started releasing a lot of creator-owned material. Pacific in particular did a few other books similar to Darklon, i.e., they collected and reprinted some of the more obscure comics work from the 1970s by popular artists like Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Bernie Wrightson and Arthur Suydam.

18 comments:

  1. Nice reviews Edo, that Eisner book looks interesting, never heard of it until today.

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  2. Another fine set of reviews, Edo! Like J.A., I was unfamiliar with John Law. It truly is a ringer for the Spirit. And interesting to see Sand Saref's appearance there.

    Also glad to learn about those Frazetta books. Leafing through the Overstreet Price Guide I would note the artwork credited in some of those old books, but could never hope to pick up any actual copies. Now I know where to look...

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  3. Count me as one of those who prefer Darklon in black and white, and at the original magazine size. Theres quite a loss of detail in the art, which was interesting because Starlin seemed to be experimenting with his inking - I think I've seen it suggested that he was impressed by Alex Nino's work at the time and trying for a similar effect.

    I guess colouring reprints is a whole subject in itself - I seem to recall the John Law book suffered from an approach that didn't really suit the material.

    Anyway, an interesting selection, Edo. Nice one.

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  4. Btw, all three parts of Darklon are posted at
    www.diversionsofthegroovykind.co.uk/2011/08/grooves-faves-duel-by-jim-starlin.html
    In the original black and white!

    -sean

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  5. Thanks for the reviews Edo. I have no knowledge of any of these, but you have piqued my interest in the Starlin work on Darklon. From the pages you shared, it seems to have a feel similar to Warlock. I will have to check it out.

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  6. Nice choices Edo, and good reviews! I'm glad you went over the 100 word limit.

    I remember liking this Darklon reprint when it came out, but I haven't read it since, so I'll track it down. Always good to see early Frazetta--what if he would've stayed as a comic artist? I've read some Spirit by Eisner, but not John Law. If they put THE SPIRIT on the cover, you might not notice the difference, or may think he just hurt his eye.

    This was a great time for reprints and independent comics, so thanks for highlighting these today!

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  7. Thanks for the comments, everyone.
    Sean, yeah, I'd almost forgotten that our good friend the Groovy Agent had posted the original b&w version a few years ago. I still insist that the color really takes nothing away - I think it actually looks better, in fact (sorry, Anon).

    Martinex, yes, I also had no knowledge of these when they were originally published - not even the Darklon book, although I was pretty regularly picking up various things being put out by Pacific at the time. I only found out about them once I started regularly reading comics-related blogs and other sites.
    And as far as I know, they're all still easy to find for really cheap. Redartz, if you're interested in other reprints of Frazetta material in this inexpensive format, later in the '80s Fantagraphic published two books collecting his stories from Thunda and his romance comics - they're called Thunda Tales and Untamed Love.

    Garett, like I said, John Law is almost identical to the Spirit, so this book is a bit of a curiosity for diehard Eisner fans, and also a cheaper way to get some of Eisner's classic stories if you don't have the coin for those various harbound or paperback Spirit collections.
    And for your question about Frazetta, I've often found myself musing about that. Just imagine if had had done some Conan stories for Marvel, either in the four-color series or Savage Sword? The mind boggles...

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  8. Oh, yeah. To Karen and/or Doug, I just noticed an error: at the very end of the text, the last word should be "Suydam" and not "Suyd."

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  9. Thanks for the additional information, Edo! Fantagraphics indeed produced some great reprint books; I have a collection of early Popeye strips by Segar they did back about 1985. Will have to pursue the Frazetta books...

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  10. I just fixed it, Edo. My fault -- I must not have drug the cursor far enough when I copied over your text.

    Doug

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  11. By the way, Doug, I like that you're playing around with the font color for these guest reviews. Even though I probably would have picked pine green if you asked, I'm really quite fond of the maroon...

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  12. Ha!

    If memory serves, when Kurt Busiek participated in our Vision retrospective we marked his text in maroon. So I guess whenever I've set up a post where the writer is someone other than Karen or I it's become the go-to guest color!

    Doug

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  13. Edo, the anon going on about the colour was me - forgot to sign that comment (doh)
    The colour isn't actually that bad - much better than the Marvel and DC "high quality" reprints from that period - but I do find it flattens the artwork quite a bit. And, as with Pacific's reprints of the Berni Wrightson Warren stuff, I miss the larger magazine size.
    But, you know, that's just down to personal taste, and it was great to be reminded of stuff I haven't read in ages; hope you've got more coming...

    -sean

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  14. Cool review, Edo! I always liked Starlin's writing (and art), but sometimes it's hard to figure out what he's trying to say. I'm not sure if that's because he's using symbolism and metaphor to be deliberately obtuse, or if I'm just too stupid to get it!

    Mike Wilson

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  15. Edo, great review.., I've always loved the 'look-and-feel' of these artists and concepts.

    They seem to be far from the 'then-two major players' DC and Marvel.., it was such a blessing for those artists to be afforded independent venues to fully explore concepts.

    Like Mike, I didn't always understand Starlin, but I loved the journey he'd exquisitely take me on all the same.

    Juuuuust sit back in your favorite comfy chair for an hour and enjoy. And if it was summer and you were a teen with no particular place to go.., you were afforded a nice long afternoon/evening to ponder the vastness....

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  16. I'll have to track down those Darklon books. Thanks for bringing them to my attention Edo, as I've never heard of them.

    In the days before trade paperbacks, I tracked down a lot of '80s reprints, mostly Marvel & DC. In the mid-'90s they were pretty cheap. I first read Deadman, the Wrightson Swamp Things, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, and Steranko's Caps in that format.

    I love having nearly everything I could want available in trades or online but I miss back issue hunting.

    - Mike Loughlin

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  17. Eclipse / Pacific / First did put out some great stuff at the tail end of the Bronze Age,reprints and new stuff for sure.
    I've always been a bit leery of John Law as I like the Spirit versions so much, especially the Sand Saref one as it has to be one the most iconic Spirit tales.
    Interesting thing about Darklon - After reading The Death Of Captain Marvel and seeing that Starlin admitted it was actually about the death of his father, I went back and reread the b/w Darklon's, and it seems obvious the whole strip is about Jim working out issues with his Pop. Read it that way, and it almost makes sense!

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  18. Pete, thanks much for the analysis about Starlin. Very revealing.

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