The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1853: Fantastic Worlds #2, November 1995

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I rather enjoy the tradition through the 80s and 90s (and, honestly, to the present day) of doing comics in a flashback style. I was first introduced to the idea by Alan Moore's absolutely brilliant Supreme, followed by the old-timey stylings of Big Bang Comics. I think I appreciate them because they add a much more modern sensibility to the less-refined social mores of bygone eras.

Today's issue was pretty good, balancing between caveman, space patrol, and mystery man genres. The opening piece, by Sam Glanzman, is very well done, reminiscent of the various caveman series, mostly from DC, I think, that were prevalent in the 70s. The mystery man story, starring Red Vengeance, reminded me of Sandman Mystery Theatre, which was being published around the same time. But where SMT updates both aesthetic and social cues in from the Golden Age, "Red Vengeance" manages to keep the visual look of the older comics while, as I note above, adding something of a modern (or modernish, given the comics 25 years of age) feel to the action and narrative.

This is only one of 5 issues the publisher managed to get out in the mid-90s, which I can't imagine was a great time for nostalgia, not at the height of the Image revolution. As with so many anthology series, it's highly likely that none of these stories were continued, leaving poor Attu the caveman facing a giant Apatosaurus. But, as with anything from a smaller publisher, it gives us a brief glimpse into the passion that is associated with the medium of comics.

More to follow.