Eclipse Monthly, No.5

Story, Art and Cover by Doug Wildey

Eclipse Monthly is an anthology style comic printed in full colour by Eclipse Comics, Issue #5 was published in 1984 and features two stories; the first is 'The Masked Man' by Barney McAllister and the second (and the one I'm more interested in) is called 'Rio' by Doug Wildey.

Douglas S. Wildey was born in 1922 in New York. During World War 2 he was stationed in Hawaii, where he began his art career as a cartoonist for the base newspaper. Following the war he freelanced for the magazine and comic book company Street and Smith Publications. He then went on to draw mainly Western Stories including Buffalo Bill, Gunsmoke and Indian fighter; it seemed at this time, Wildey had produced work for almost every publisher except EC (the good one).

In 1952 Wildey and his family moved to Tucson, Arizona. In 1954 he began to produce work for Atlas Comics (a forerunner of Marvel Comics) which were mainly composed of Western stories. Around this time his work also began to appear in some Atlas horror-fantasy comics such as; Journey Into Unknown Worlds, Marvel Tales, Mystic, Uncanny Tales, Mystery Tales and Strange Tales.

In 1964 Doug Wildey became involved in the creation of the Hanna-Barbera animated series 'Jonny Quest' which ran for one series until 1965. Following this, Wildey returned to comics drawing mainly western stories for many more publishers, including the following story 'Rio' which is from 1984.

Miracleman, No.1

Written by - Alan Moore

Art by - Gary Leach

In 1939, writer Bill Parker and Artist C. C. Beck created the character Captain Marvel; he made his first appearance in Whiz Comics #2 (1940). Captain Marvel is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a young radio news reporter who was chosen by the wizard 'Shazam' to be a champion of good. By speaking the wizard's name, Billy is instantly changed into Captain Marvel by a bolt of lightning which gives him the power of six legendary figures. In Grant Morrison's book 'Supergods', Morrison states that, "If Superman was science fiction, and Batman was crime, Captain Marvel planted his flag in the wider territory of pure fantasy." he continues, "His origin story detailed an out-and-out shamanic experience of a kind familiar to any witch doctor, ritual magician, anthropologist, or alien abductee." (p.31)

Based on sales figures, Captain Marvel was the biggest selling superhero comic of the 1940's, out selling the likes of Superman and Batman by quite a margin. It was only in 1953 that publication ceased due to a copyright infringement suit by DC comics that Captain Marvel was in fact an illegal infringement of Superman. It is from this point onwards that the history of the original Captain Marvel became embroiled in lawsuits and litigation. 

Originally Len Miller & Son had been publishing reprints of the original Captain Marvel series in the UK. When the run came to an end following the first legal battle, they turned to Mick Anglo to continue the series in which he created the character Marvelman, which ran from 1954 until 1963.

Next to step up to the plate was Alan Moore in March 1982 which was published in Warrior magazine; a collection of stories by various authors which also featured Moore's 'V For Vendetta'. Marvelman continued up until issue #21, August 1984. Eclipse Comics then picked up the title in August 1985, reprinting just the Marvelman stories over 6 issues. However, the 'Marvel' trademark was now owned by 'Marvel Comics' and so when it came to reprinting said issues, the name had to be changed once again to Miracleman; each story having all it's titles and references changed to read correctly.

Following the reprints in issue #6, Moore wrote 10 further issues up to issue #16. Towards the end of the run the story heads into very dark territory, arguably some of Moore's darkest work. Following Alan Moore came Neil Gaiman's run which later fell into further legal disputes over ownership which went on for many years.

In the first issue of Alan Moore's Miracleman there are four stories entitled; 

Chapter 1: 1956, 

Chapter 2: 1982 Prologue - A Dream of Flying, 

Chapter 3,

Chapter 4: When Johnny Comes Marching Home

The first chapter is a retelling of an old story that features the Science Gestapo who travel back in time from the year 1981 to wreak havoc on the earth, and so Miracleman and Young Miracleman head into the future to the point just before the Science Gestapo travel back to stop them. The final page of this story features a quotation from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche which reads "Behold, I teach you the Superman: He is this lightning. He is this madness.", which is placed over an ominous zoom in to Miracleman's eye.

Chapter 2 starts in 1982 and Michael Moran no longer remembers who he once was but keeps having severe migraines and reoccurring dreams that frighten him but doesn't know what they mean. Whilst reporting on the opening of a new power-station in the Lake District, it is sabotaged by terrorists trying to steal plutonium. Michael's migraine worsens and is doubled-up on the floor; just then he sees the word atomic reflected in glass which reads 'cimota' (or kimota). It this word that brings it all back to him, he says it out loud and is instantly transformed into Miracleman.

Chapter 3 deals with Michael coming to terms with his forgotten history and trying to convince his girlfriend Liz that he's telling the truth.

In chapter 4, Michael realises that his old friend and sidekick Johnny Bates is still alive. They meet up and discuss the past, Michael finds it hard to believe how Johnny lost his powers and tests him which reveals Johnny was lying and he is still Kid Miracleman.

The Twisted Tales of Bruce Jones

Ahoy there readers.

Following on from my first post I'd like to present some work work by the artist Bruce Jones. The strip in question is taken from "The Twisted Tales of Bruce Jones" (part 1 of 2, Eclipse Comics, Feb 1986) and is entitled "The Princess and the Merman".

Although the cover states that this is part 1 of 2, this was later extended into a 4 issue series, making this part 1 of 4.

Here, yet again, is a great example of Bruce Jones' work. The quality of his writing is also a match for his detailed imagery. The story is based upon a lonely princess who one day discovers a Merman and instantly falls in love with him, but tragically, she never learnt to swim. The style and use of colour reminds me very much of Swamp Thing (which I will no doubt cover at some point). This strip is very fairy tale like, quite different from much of Bruce Jones' other work. In older work for the likes of Pacific and EC Comics, Bruce added large amounts of gratuitous violence and sexuality into the mix, warranting several issues to sport a "Recommended for Mature Readers" warning on the cover. I am a big fan of his earlier work also, but this example has a delicate feel that some of his previous work never had. Enjoy.

First things first.

New discoveries are afoot, readers. 

This is the first post of my new blog 'The Visual Exegesis', a blog designed to stimulate and provoke. It is within this digital landscape I aim to present my findings from the world around me. I present in this first post a somewhat appropriate image, I feel, that helps set the precedence for future posts. 

The image in question appears on the back cover of "The Twisted Tales of Bruce Jones" (part 2 of 4, Eclipse Comics, Feb 1986). I believe the drawing is by Bruce Jones himself (not of Coronation Street fame).

Another favourite comic book artist of mine is Bernie Wrightson; Jones and Wrightson were given their own comic to work on called 'Web of Horror'. Neither Wrightson nor Jones enquired to the amount of money they would be paid, their general feeling was "Wow! We got our own magazine! We're gonna take this in an all-new direction!". Unfortunately Bruce and Bernie, after a long journey across town, discovered the publisher's office empty and so lost any chance of being paid (or getting back any of the original art they had already turned in).

Here is a link to a Bernie Wrightson interview: http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/04wrightson.html

When I first started to collect comics I knew that I liked them but didn't know where to start. I read many modern comics but it was only when I was introduced to comics from the 70's that I started to find 'the good stuff'. I personally prefare my comics to be drawn in pencil, then ink and perhaps with some colour (but not essential). I find that modern technques to be too polished and predictable.

After devouring many 70's comics I started to look into some 80's era comics, the first thing I noticed was the improvement in the quality of the printing. Eclipse comics provide superb examples of this; sharper images, more vibrant colours and better quality paper. I wouldn't say that I prefer these 80's comics over older comics, they're just different and of the time. But open up any comic from the last 20 years plus and they all have the same thing in common. The smell. And what a fantastic smell it is.