The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1948: Troll Halloween Special #1, 1994

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(Sorry, dropped the ball a bit. Last day of Pride Month, figure I should finish this up ;D)

 

 

 

 

 It betrays in me a prejudice that I was surprised to see a comic from early Extreme Studios that was written by a gay man. Then I really thought about the kind of spandex-clad hypermasculinity on display in a lot of these titles' art, and I thought about that time that Riptide scandalously posed for a porn magazine, and how similar, if not in execution then in stylization, a lot of this work is to Tom of Finland. (Definitely, absolutely 100% NSFW)

So there's that. Today's featured creator is Andy Mangels who, in his Wikipedia picture, has the most epic of mustaches. A quick poke about my collection reveals that he's the writer one of The Maxx's other appearances outside of his own title, which is an interesting niche for someone to inhabit. That story was in Gay Comics #24, which I reviewed a while back. Perhaps Maxx is one of those characters I'm going to have to track down a bit more. Anyway, a surreal little tale, as one might expect from a crossover of The Maxx with Extreme Studios' Wolverine clone. I'll admit, I come to like Troll later in his history. Alan Moore's re-writing, and then Brandon Graham's look at his future, all make these zany adventures from early Image slightly more sinister, and slightly more poignant.

That said, there's always going to be something sinister in a story that involves The Maxx and his cohorts. The Maxx, the series, is very dark, as was the super-awesome cartoon that used to air on MTV.

For Mr. Mangels, I am actually surprised that I haven't got more of his stuff in the collection - he seems much more familiar than just 2 issues in all these comics. I'm certain I'll run across more stuff as I fill in the gaps in my database information.

 

(Oh, and it's inked by Pedi, who did one of the best issues of the old Supreme series!)

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

If you like Troll, here's one of his few other solo comics, another seasonal outing!

And if you want to get an idea of what this character actually is, read the masterful future saga that is Prophet.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1028: Extreme Super Christmas Special #1, December 1994

What do I even say about something this ridiculous? Troll has to collect each of the groups mentioned in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" before Circe, of mythic fame, turns every man on the planet into a pig. It's typically silly early Image, and early Extreme/Maximum/Awesome Studios stuff - but actually sort of works a little better than most of that stuff because it's refusing to take itself seriously at all. Interestingly, what happens is that you now have a tenor that fits the vehicle, so to speak. The art has always been slightly ridiculous, but the stories have tried to be super serious and gritty. This one isn't. It's the early Image equivalent of yesterday's Archie Christmas special.

And it works really nicely.

The only thing that bothers me these days when I read this old Image stuff, and specifically the Extreme Studios stuff, is thinking about it in terms of the future presented for most of these characters in the recent Prophet series. Knowing how things turn out for Troll in the future makes today's comic a little strange. But not in a bad way.

To be continued.