I Am Coyote Once Again!

If ever want to read something weird by two of best talents in comics then I recommend I Am Coyote by Steve Englehart and the late Marshall Rogers. It's full of enticing designs, offers a constantly twisting plot, and presents the world a character like few others its ever seen.

Coyote is an orphan, left in the desert by his parents for reasons we never learn and discovered by a geezer who claims to be a half-man, a creature of myth who lives in more than one dimension. Coyote is raised by the half-man and later gets a step-mother who claims to be a psychic vampire. His early life is a primitive one and he grows up a bit feral. He's at some point given access to some of the abilities of his adopted father though he himself is fully human (he says). He does this by means of Peyote. 

In this story which ran in serialized form in Eclipse Monthly (in black and white) the action starts immediately as Coyote runs afoul of what is called The Shadow Cabinet which has an underground bunker beneath Las Vegas and its suggested other places around the globe. Their mission to take control of the world's governments by covert means and present themselves as good guys but who have seen sunny words will not be enough to bring about the world they want. Their quick and casual use of murder undermines these claims.

Coyote infiltrates the base and meets Phyllida, a woman who leads the Shadow Cabinet but who seems to care for Coyote despite his penchant to adopt other people's faces. They go on the run from a deadly killer named "The Void" and Coyote is shocked to find someone else who can "dance" between dimensions as he does.

To say more would ruin the story and it's a pretty decent one. Once upon a time I had all the Eclipse Monthly numbers and originally read this story there. But more recently I located it in a trade which offers all of the Eclipse stories in a single narrative in color. The splash pages are included but the chapters actually flow together quite well. Marshall Rogers was a talented artist who had a knack for making pages which demanded you attention. He sometimes crafted some wonky and oddly stiff figures, but reading his stuff is generally pretty easy. I Am Coyote is a fascinating story.

It was continued by Englehart and other artists at Marvel in the early Epic line, but I only ever read a few of those and don't remember them fondly. But maybe some day I'll give them another tumble.

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