The 40 Years of Comics Project Friday Magazine 29: Eerie #109, February 1980

Since I've been doing some investigation of pre-Code horror, I thought I'd have a look at some of the horror magazine I picked up back when I got my Heavy Metal collection. At the time I thought that the HMs and the undergrounds in that purchase were the real treasures, and treasures they certainly are. But my unfamiliarity with the Warren magazines led me to overlook them, and that's a mistake.

When thinking about the tradition of EC horror comics, it is a tradition on two fronts. The first, of course, is the stories. They are, for the most part, amazing - artists and writers at the top of their games. The second front is the role it played in the crackdowns on comics in the 50s - EC becomes a metonym for the lost potential of the genre after the creation of the Comics Code. When I read Bruce Jones' series Twisted Tales a while ago, I saw him as one carrying on the tradition of these experimental tales of fear. But I neglected to note at that time that the Warren magazines of the 60s and 70s were also bearers of that torch. Mr. Jones, of course, contributes to these magazines before taking his tales to Pacific. Though they lose something in the black and white format (I've never been one of those fans who prefers B&W over colour. They both have their pros and cons.), the style is there, as is the desire to shock and amuse.

This was one of the first Eeries I've ever read, and it was okay. None of the stories wowed me. But the quality was certainly high enough that I can see why these mags are so revered. One thing that they add to the tradition, and perhaps this is inherited by Bruce Jones' later series, is women in varying states of undress. The EC comics got away with a lot in terms of their portrayals of women, but at least the ladies were clothed. The Warren magazines seem to want to equate horror and nudity, which is a strange connection to make (Eros and Thanatos, perhaps?). The question, I suppose, is does the tradition benefit from this addition?

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1234: Giant-Size Man-Thing #4, May 1975

5 months later, Howard comes hurtling back to Earth, and lands in the American city that has most become associated with the foul-mouthed fowl: Cleveland, Ohio. A lot of strange, strange things are about to happen in Cleveland. But, as with the previous comic, today's comic is much more the Man-Thing's story. Howard sort of defeats a "Man-Frog" intent on destroying humanity. That's about it.

The Man-Thing story, however, reminded me why I've often seen Steve Gerber as both a man of his time and a man ahead of his time. Today's issue deals with Man-Thing being drawn to nearby Citrusville by the emotions surrounding the death of a local teen. At one point in the story, the boy's journal is made public. In the comic, rather than have copious text boxes over panels, the boy's story is told in a series of text pages, all illustrated with symbolic accountings of the story. It's a move I've seen Mr. Gerber use a couple of times, often to great effect. He pulls us out of the lull that can overcome a comics reader, in much the same way that coming across a series of comic pages in a novel might ask a reader to think more about the medium within which they're meshed.

The subject of the journal, as it turns out, is the boy's account of having been made to feel ashamed of his body since his earliest memories. Parents and family, teachers, classmates, all of these people end up being complicit in his death, their taunts driving him to find solace in food which, eventually, impedes the working of his heart so much that it one day stops. It's rare to find tales of male eating disorders, and given the era of this comic, it's downright miraculous. Except that Steve Gerber was both a writer of, and before, his time. When one mentions the series Man-Thing, the fact of the title is often met with disbelief and amusement. But Mr. Gerber's run on this series is one of the most astute and artfully-crafted comics I've read. I sometimes think if we just changed the name, people might pay more attention.

There is a part of me that wonders, too, if the body-shaming was in some ways standing in for another taboo societal issue that would certainly not have found its way into a mainstream comic. There are occasional references throughout Edmond Winshed's testament of behaviours that were discouraged by those around him. What one might call more effeminate behaviours, behaviours that would have been associated with homosexuality at the time (i.e., playing with a kitchen or dolls instead of guns). And even if that's simply me reading through my own lens, the mark of a great piece of writing is that is is open, and receptive, to many different interpretations.

Unwittingly, I think I've just discovered a new favourite comic. I'll add it to the ever-growing list! Wonderful, poignant, everything I look for in a Man-Thing story.

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1233: Fear #19, December 1973

We're going to start getting into one of my favourite characters, Howard the Duck, this week. But not til tomorrow - I'm off to a drag show tonight, and haven't the time to blog this right now.

But I'm super excited to read some Howard. I love him.

More to come...

(Edit a few days later: Here's the thing about this comic - it's important to me in that it's the first appearance of Howard the Duck, and it's in pretty great shape, which is always nice. But, really, it's a Man-Thing story. Howard's appearance in the issue is solely as a member of the swamp creature's retinue as he shamblingly saves the universe. In fact, in the next part of the story, Howard is unceremoniously dumped into infinite, interdimensional space. But don't worry. We'll catch up with him soon...)

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 850: Void Indigo #2, March 1985

So we return for the final issue of a comic deemed too violent and dark to exist.

In 1985.

*sigh*

The story continues to be really intriguing, the characters remarkably well-fleshed out, given the short amount of time we've spent with them, and the trouble of the reincarnated Dark Lords starting to look secondary to the resurgence of an actual demon on Earth that is gathering people and body parts as servitors.

There is a synopsis of what's going to happen in the story available here, if you're interested in seeing how the piece would have played out. It's a pity that Mr. Gerber never shared a similar plot outline for Omega the Unknown. I'd love to know where that story was going. Speaking of, I'm going to be reading the Gerber-penned issues of that series starting tomorrow. It's a weird little corner of the Marvel U, but that's where Gerber flourishes.

Okay, Void Indigo goes back into the collection, unfinished, but certainly appreciated, and a look at the kinds of comic that couldn't find a market back in the day. Which is strange, because it's very similar to most of the more mature output of publishers like First, or PC, or even some early Dark Horse.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 849: Void Indigo #1, November 1984

Let's pick up from where yesterday's graphic novel left off.

I've said it before, and will likely say it again: Steve Gerber's work was well ahead of its time. But also very completely off its time. Void Indigo was cancelled after only two issues due to very poor reviews, many apparently in reaction to the violence of the piece. Having read it this morning, I can say with certainty it's not even remotely as bad as some of the Vertigo stuff from the 90s, or some of the more mature content of the present. I can see that it might have irked some people in the early 80s when it was published, but it's really pretty tame by contemporary standards. It's a pity Gerber and Mayerik never got a chance to finish it. The first issue has pulled me in. Well, second issue, I suppose.

There's a lot of the trademarked Gerber weirdness in this comic, but it's presented without the usual comedic undertone that we might see blatantly in Howard, or more subtly in Man-Thing. There are some wonderfully hallucinatory scenes in the comic, and coupled with the brutality of the violence that frames them, I can see why comic shop owners, especially coming into the heyday of raids and censorship being carried out on a pretty large scale on stores suspected of "corrupting minors," might have a problem carrying it. Which is unfortunate, because I think there's a pretty great story going on here. While there are only the two issues and the GN extant, a copy of the prospectus for the series was leaked some time ago, so we do get a bit of closure for the series. I'll post a link to it in tomorrow's post on issue #2.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - The Weekly Graphic Novel: Week 49 - Marvel Graphic Novel #11: Void Indigo, 1984

This week's graphic novel marks the beginning of one of the many Steve Gerber series that did not get a chance to have a proper ending. Gerber's tempestuous relationship with his publishers, most especially Marvel, probably had something to do with Void Indigo, the comic series that continues the story begun in the graphic novel, only lasting 2 issues. The given reason was controversy over the violence of the series (which I'll comment on in the next couple of days), but given that Gerber had recently quit Marvel, there's a good chance he wasn't given a fair shake.

I'm also fascinated by the fact that, apparently, this was meant to be a reboot of Hawkman (which makes sense with the reincarnated hero searching for his love), and I kind of wish it had happened. It would have incorporated both the alien and ancient prince versions of the character quite nicely, with the added advantage of Gerber's trademark wit to keep things from getting too serious.

But let's think about the graphic novel for a moment - I had mentioned last week in my review of an issue of Heavy Metal that a complete graphic novel in that publication, due to its use of European output, was a bit different from the North American understanding of the term. I argued that a North American graphic novel tends to have a bit more of a focused and satisfying story arc, one in which the reader feels they've experienced a complete narrative. Of course, a scant week later, Void Indigo disproves my point. Though there is some narrative completion here, this volume really serves as a set up for the comic series. In fact, there's a flyer attached in the binding advertising the coming series. This being the case, today's graphic novel is really issue number one of the series, rather than a novel in its own right. And while the definition of the term "novel" might be a bit unclear itself, the implication in publishing something under this name is that there will be a satisfying narrative to be experienced. Such is not quite the case of Void Indigo.

That said, I'm interested to read the two issues of the series, since they're written by Mr. Gerber, who can do no (or little, at least) wrong in my books.

Onward.