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.