There is a bittersweetness to reading a comic by Bill Mantlo these days. After a heartbreaking plea from his brother, many became aware of Mr. Mantlo's tragic car accident 1992 and the difficulty he has endured ever since. His work is peppered throughout my collection, of course. He was one of Marvel's most prolific writers in the 70s and 80s, and scripted some well beloved comics. Today's offering is well outside of what I'm used to from a few of the creators on the cover, Mantlo included. I'm not sure if the mandate of the comic was to tell stories set in a specific historical period, but the three stories today all took place across the 19th century, and told interesting, and adventurous, historical tales.
Mr. Mantlo's tale in this issue involves a man who decides he's had enough of office life and packs up and heads West...with the front door of his former business in tow. And while this sounds faintly ridiculous, it's got the feel of a really well-crafted post-modern Western about it, in that the door, and so much of what happens in the story, is, really, much more metaphoric than comics usually tend to be. There's perhaps a bit too much of the colonial drive West about this story, but it's also doing a nice job of highlighting what is at once America's greatest and worst trait: its constant drive forward. The thing that concerns those of us outside is the direction the country decides to go.
Anyway, a cool little slice of obscure Marvel. All really great, and if this line-up is any indication, the rest of the series (1-3, 5) are probably just as impressive.
"Is there a golden eagle out there in the courtyard?"
Other Things You Might Like Reading
John Bolton gets creepy: The 40 Years of Comics Project - The Weekly Graphic Novel: Week 38 - Shame: Conception, 2011
More obscure Marvel from the 80s: The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 146: Yuppies From Hell, 1989 (Two Weeks From The Dollar Bin - Day 10)
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