Throughout the intervening years, comics have morphed into various changes, altering size, price point, format, delivery methodology, and even ultimately jumping from the static page to TV, Film, and currently living on the internet. Still, for those of us who were first introduced to comics in their “All in color for a dime”, 32-page, episodic original incarnation; even those of us (your humble narrator included) who came of age during the second (third?) great age of comics; The Silver age which ran from 1956 through 1970[i].
Now some 80+ years later, Jesse Simon, the Grandson of Joe, along
with his father Jim (Jo’s son) have brought a new set of heroes into the fold, all
reminiscent of his grandfather’s greatest hero. ShieldMaster is a comicbook about
four teenagers from Montauk, NY just off the eastern end of Long Island. The
teens wander onto a decommissioned military base and come across a set of extra-dimensional
shields that imbue them with supra-normal powers and abilities, transforming
them into the incarnations of powerful warriors that once protected another
world in another dimension. The first two issues of ShieldMaster initially
appeared as an Illustrated graphic album entitled ShieldMaster Comics Phoenix
Project and was then continued as ShieldMaster Comics in
an anthology comic, packaged with The Fly in a new story by Jim Simon as well
as a Blue Bolt reprint by his grandfather, Joe.
One of the aspects of ShieldMaster (as well as
Golden Age) comics is the shear simplicity of the storytelling; heroes are good
guys because they do the right things, while villains are bad because they do
bad things. There was little if any subtility to the storytelling during that
era, some of which spilled over into the early days of the Silver Age with the appearance
of the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in X-Men #4 (March
1964), because truthfully, no real world organization would actually use the word
“evil” as part of their name. As the medium evolved, subtilty and layers of
storytelling were added to what was once believed to be solely a child’s
medium. Needless to say, this simpler, straightforward style of storytelling is
not entirely without its charm. Plus, for all of its layered subtility, a
simpler, more to-the-point style of telling a story is probably more effective
for a small publisher without a clear, regular publishing schedule.
In conclusion, we wish Jason and Jim all the best in their
noble endeavor to keep Joe’s legacy alive in the field that he help found.
For more information about ShieldMaster, check them out on Facebook, or Twitter.
[i] Stan Lee once stated that “comicbooks” should be written as one word because they are neither either “comical” or “books” but by combining them into a single word, they actually become an entirely new genre. Hence we have since referred to our medium of choice by the nomenclature that Stan laid on it.
[ii]
The accepted eras for comics are as follows:
1 Platinum Age (1842-1938)
2 Golden Age (1938- c. 1951)
3 Silver Age (1956 -c. 1970)
4 Bronze Age (c. 1970 – c. 1985)
5 Iron/Modern Age (c. 1985 -
present)
