And The Rocketeer's Red Glare!

With the possible exception of Jack Kirby Fourth World saga, I likely more different versions of The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens than any other story. This is at once a delightful and evocative story which was told by Stevens in achingly slow chapters over the course of many years and at several different publishers.

It began at Pacific Comics in the back pages of Starslayer and then Pacific Presents before shifting over to Eclipse Comics and then Comico Comics and finally Dark Horse Comics. The current publisher of the full saga is IDW and I've just recently picked up the paperback trade version to add to my many other iterations of this beautiful story.

 Each time I read this raucous yarn, I'm transported back to an imaginary quasi-historical era of heroic adventure when the world was vast and the promise of youth was bountiful, not just in the setting of the story but in my own life as well. It's a time trip of the most invigorating kind.

Here are the covers of some of the versions I own in addition to the original Starslayers.

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The Slayer Of Stars!

Mike Grell's Starslayer is an important comic book series. When the Independent market developed, it needed talent and one of the first big names to cross over into this wild new frontier was Grell. He'd made a name for himself at DC on the Legion of Super-Heroes (where he'd replaced Dave Cockrum) and on Green Lantern and Green Arrow (where he'd followed Neal Adams, albeit after a many years hiatus). So he'd been trusted with big titles and had proven a solid talent. Now I have to confess that Grell in these years was not my favorite, his stiffness when dealing with anatomy weakened his efforts for me considerably, but there was no denying his skill at splendid finishes. 

Starslayer had a six-issue run with Pacific Comics alongside the pioneering Captain Victory by Jack Kirby. And it was in the back pages of Starslayer thatn Dave Stevens introduced the world to The Rocketeer. After the initial storyline though Grell took the project to First Comics where others worked on it with him overseeing the efforts while he focused on Jon Sable Freelance. And it was about this time, or little later that I left behind the Indy books to keep money and effort aside for a new family. I traded most of my Indy books away at some point, but the first two issues of Starslayer did not go because of The Rocketeer's appearance. (More on The Rocketeer tomorrow by the way.)

And before you knew it the 80's gave way to the 90's and Image and Valiant joined the comic book fray. I was hard into Valiant, but generally stayed away from their Windjammer brand which took material outside the exquisitely developed Valiant universe and offered it up to the folks at home.

One project was Mike Grell cracking out Starslayer again and revising   to suit his new attitudes, giving us a "Director's Cut".  Never read it, but recently I hankered to read Starslayer again and there was this collection which put the "Director's Cut" issues together. Despite warnings about printing woes I  chanced it and found the return to the Starslayer universe uneven.

The finisher on these pages are developed by some other artists, presumably under Grell's direction and the new pages don't really blend all that well with the original stuff and don't add at all to the fundamentals of the story.

Since I suspect few came to this without some prior knowledge of the character, the fact is the new material actually undermines some of the best moments such as the reveal at the end of the debut issue. We think we are following a Celtic warrior as he fights for his family and his tribe but in the last few moments we are jumped forward into a science fiction future with space ships and robots and all sorts of stuff. It was a  nifty twist all those many years ago and this telling makes that less effective by quite a bit.

The story of Starslayer is a pretty good one, a warrior catapulted into the future when Earth has colonies across the solar system, but a dark future since the Sun has turned into a red giant and consumed Mercury and devastated Venus. We meet humans of all kinds bred to be in tough environments but bringing customs from a recognizable human history.

Torin McQuillon the Starslayer and the woman who brought him into the future Tamra fight together aboard the Jolly Roger, a sleek and fast spaceship. Torin can function in this brave new world because of SAM, a robot that translates and does other things to make him suitable for this new environment. There are too many Bogie jokes for my tastes, but that seemed to be a theme Grell really wanted to fasten down.

The maguffins in this story are amulets given to each of the colonies which Tamra needs to help save Earth, or at least that's what we're led to believe. There are a few twists and turns, but that's fine by me. It's been long enough since I've read this that I was enjoying it quite well, that is when the artwork let me.

I cannot really recommend this collection because of the printing problems, but if the story seems appealing it might be an option, certainly a convenient one.

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Mr. Monster Mash!

The early 80's saw a burst of creativity when a generation of young and eager creators (and some not so young but still eager) had the chance to showcase their talents with the development of a new marketplace for comic books. The Independent market in new christened "comic shops" saw a batch of new publishers keen to find purchase there and hungry for talent to create product to make that possible, and on terms the talent couldn't resist. Lots of nifty new superhero types hit the stands such as Megaton Man, Flaming Carrot and Nexus. Alongside those would appear Michael T. Gilbert's Mr. Monster.

Mr. Monster began as a project for Pacific Comics, the little company that spearheaded the Indy market with titles such as Captain Victory by Jack Kirby and Starslayer by Mike Grell.

They were looking for material for Vanguard Illustrated, an anthology comic with a science fiction and fantasy twist that catered to up and coming talent. The first chapter of Mr. Monster debuted there, part of a three-part story about a "Reluctant Werewolf". But before the story could be continued Vanguard Illustrated was cancelled and Pacific Comics was defunct, among the first wave of victims in the new marketplace.

Gilbert's Mr. Monster has one of the more fascinating origins in comics lore. Mr. Monster was not so much"created" but "recreated" by Gilbert using an obscure Golden Age character who had only a few appearances, and only one in the distinctive costume above as drawn by Fred Kelly. This particular comic fell into the mitts of a young Michael Gilbert and he wondered what such a hero might really be all about. He twisted and reconfigured the character substantially and he became a burly monster hunter with a surly attitude toward his fellow men.

The complete story of the "reluctant werewolf" was showcased in Mr. Monster #1 from Eclipse Comics and the character was well and truly launched. A delightful Dave Stevens cover adorned the second issue,  which featured a story about an odd and innocent little fellow named "Hemo-Boy".

The third issue under a Stephen Bissette cover had Mr. Monster battle garbage made sentient and so even more dangerous to one and all than normal. This story was written by Alan Moore and drawn by Gilbert.

The fourth issue showcased a wonderful teaming as Gilbert used the talents of Jon Bonivert's unique art stylings to draw literally a distinction between two different universes in the story. It's a crafty and a well-crafted story for sure.

The first wave of Mr. Monster stories ends with an anthology of short stories in the fifth issue in which Mr. Monster fights a plague, a ghost and invaders from Mars. Wonderful fun all, and more evidence that no Mr. Monster story would ever be quite like the last one or the next one either. 

These first five issues were collected in Mr. Monster's Forbidden Book of Knowledge Volume One. Sadly no second volume came around to collect the next five Eclipse issues though collections of the latter days of Mr.Monster from Dark Horse do exist, though for a pretty penny these days. This is a hero desperately in need of a showcase, a chance to prove that wicked can be funny, very funny indeed. 

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