Channel Surfing In The '80s

Maybe a nice dive into the Odd will help either shake things loose or tighten things up in the ol' noggin. 
Whichever it needs.

We may not have inter-dimensional cable, but we can maybe some inter-dementional video...

Yeah. I think that helped me.
How 'bout you?

page art by Michael T. Gilbert, Fred Hembeck, Dave Hunt, Walt Simonson, Trina Robbins, Jim Starlin, Jose Marzan, Kevin Maguire, Bill Wray, and Keith Giffen. With that many big name artists, you already know the book, right? (1988)

Vamping Without The Vamp

For today's Blue Monday post in our adult content back room, we've got a trio of tales from Vampirella magazine back in the '70s. We've got some folks you might not be used to seeing work together - like Jim Starlin & Alex Nino, and some you might not be used to seeing do 'blue' material at all - like Carmine Infantino (with inks by Alfredo Alcala). Those old Warren magazines hid a lot of odd little treasures like that for those who ventured off the path of the mainstream colour comics in those days.

To view the artwork, please follow the link to the full post on The Other Voice Of ODD!

Brother Hawk by Nicola Cuti, Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino for Vampirella #61, Wolf Hunt by Joe Wehrle & Esteban Maroto for Vampirella #74, The Service by Bruce Jones, Jim Starlin & Alfredo Alcala for Vampirella #78

Un-Teaser

I've come to the conclusion that we haven't run enough Un-Comics lately. (Un-Comics is what we call comics that come from sources other than comic books) Fortunately, we can do that and continue the teaser from the previous post.

Oh - before i forget, let's get this out of the way...

That'll answer questions that may arise further down the page.

So, anyway - this cool old paper i used to enjoy not only provided excellent posters, they also covered comics. In fact, occasionally the two overlapped, like with this centerfold poster -

Not only did they cover comics on a regular basis, they routinely ran their own short strips - usually two pagers. And they drew in some top talent along the way - note some of the names in the credits below - Brunner, Byrne, Starlin, and Wolfman, to name just a few...

So, the Kong pic at the top of page only kinda partially answers questions that might have arisen from the intro to The Sacrifice. Allow us to further elucidate...

Okay. I know Rip knows this old paper - how about the rest of you?
I promise - we'll actually name names next time.

comics by Dave Gibbons, John Byrne, Frank Brunner, Jim Starlin, Martin Pasko, Bruce Jones, Berni Wrightson, Greg Theakston, Marv Wolfman, David Izzo, Rich Buckler, John Simons, Steve Hickman, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, Roacho Rizzo, Tom Armstrong, and Dez Skinn (1971ish)

This Old Man Rambles On

If there can be said to have been a modern "Golden Age" of comics, it would have to have been the 1980s. While Miller and Moore and company were reshaping things at Marvel & DC, that's not at all related to my assertion. In fact, that's a half decade down the road yet.

I'm talking about the those glorious bright spots in the 80s expansion, before the 80s glut and the 80s collapse of the market. Printing tech had modernized and the new comics distribution network had developed to the point that it was suddenly feasible for small, independent publishers to make a fair go at putting out their own line. Independent vanguards like Dave Sim and Wendy and Richard Pini (WaRP) had proved it possible. A good number of people who truly loved comics decided it was their time, and they seized it with gusto. Many of my favorite comics of the time came from publishers like First, Pacific, Capital, Comico, Vortex, and -apropos to today's post - Eclipse. (I'm sure other excellent publishers from the time are being forgotten.)

After establishing their presence with a string of graphic novels, Eclipse launched their first ongoing title in 1981 with their eponymous anthology, Eclipse Magazine. Taking an obvious inspiration from Heavy Metal, their book pre-dated Marvel's similar Epic Magazine by a year. Though limited by black & white printing, they seemed unbounded in any other way. Talent was stellar - to kick off the premiere issue, they featured the above cover by Paul Gulacy, and stories by Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers, Jim Starlin, Howard Cruse, P. Craig Russell (raw pencils!), Marc Hempel, Chris Browne & Trina Robbins, and Max Allan Collins & Terry Beatty with the premiere of their long running Ms. Tree.

As for freedom to break from the superhero lock on the market at the time, and to explore new formats and try new things, how about Jim Starlin's take on the children's nursery rhyme, This Old Man...

...and from there bounce lightly to Howard Cruse pontificating on Death...

...

...and Marc Hempel having meta fun (back before 'meta' was really a concept) with the nature of reality in a comic book...

It was a glorious time when the rules were tested & broken,  new things were tried constantly, and one never knew what might be lurking in each week's shipment of comics. A couple of years later, Eclipse Magazine would be replaced by Eclipse Monthly, in traditional comicbook format as a launch point for their expanding line. One of my personal favorites, which was actually kinda-sorta superhero-y, in a timey-whimey kind of way, followed not too long after that...

Fine Times...

page art by Jim Starlin, Howard Cruse, and Marc (sans Mark) Hempel from Eclipse Magazine #1 (1981)