I love comics, I really do. They
have—on some existential level—been the one constant in my life. I initially
discovered them in ’61 at the age of six, this after first discovering
syndicated comic strips in the daily newspaper (back when there still were
daily newspapers). The comicbooks were on the newsstand of my uncle’s
neighborhood grocery store. Back then I read the comics and put them back on
the shelf (hey, 12¢ was a lot of money for a six-year-old). Eventually, when I
got to high school, I actually started buying comics. In 1981 I wrote an
article that was published in a magazine about comicbooks (Amazing Heroes).
That kicked me off on a journey where for some two decades I worked as a
journalist in the field, writing for several magazines as well as producing
marketing and PR material for a number of comicbook publishers.
In 1983 I got a gig working as an
editor and writer for Videogaming Illustrated, in ‘84 I was
assigned to write the comic strip Video Victor that appeared in the
magazine. I wrote four episodes of that strip until the magazine itself was
canceled. Then in ‘86 I got the opportunity to create my first comic, (Agent
Unknown for Renegade Press). Unfortunately, it only lasted three issues
before the B&W crash of ’87 put an end to it. I didn’t return to creating
comics until 2006 when I created the Wülf Girlz for Psychosis #1. Between then
and now, I have created numerous comicbook stories for a number of indie
comicbook publishers. These days I also create and publish my own branded
comics.
All of this is preamble to what I want to write about today. I have been steeped in comicbooks since ’61, cementing my place in this industry in ’81 when I became a journalist in the field. Needless to say, even though I spent the majority of my life reading corporate comics (and still enjoy them) I truly enjoy Indie comics because not only are many of them written, illustrated, and produced by my friends, but as the are driven by story and not marketing, they are far and away more enjoyable for me.
Having said all that, let’s start
off with a pair of comics both titled The Clock Strikes by John
A. Short. The comics feature new stories about George Brenner's character, The
Clock who is widely recognized as the first fully masked vigilante in American
comic book history. The Clock made his debut in November of 1936. His first appearance
was in Funny Pages #6; roughly 18 months prior to Superman’s
debut in Action Comics #1. The Clock moved through a number of
companies before eventually entering the public domain and seeing references by
DC and other comic companies —including ourself, in a story I wrote for
InDELLible’s Popular Comics #7 (2023).
As stated, the Clock was the first
costumed crime fighter to appear in American comicbooks and could be considered
the “missing link” between pulp and comicbook heroes. He was the first attempt
to transpose a pulp magazine style “Mystery Man” into comics. John Short has
taken the now Public Domain Clock and is penning new stories with him as the
protagonist. First,
a little bit about the Clock, when not parading around in a three-piece suit,
fedora, and black curtain mask covering his entire face fighting crime, he was
Brian O'Brien, a wealthy member of high society. As the Clock, he demonstrated
mastery of disguise and used clever gadgets such as a cane whose head became a
projectile and a diamond stud that fired tear gas. He usually left behind a
calling card bearing the image of a clockface over a domino mask and the words “The
Clock Has Struck”
This first anthology opens up on a
team of cops entering an office only to discover several men who have been
gunned down and the words “The Clock has struck” etched on the wall of the
office. As the cops walk through the rooms, they discuss the Clock. From there
the story is really a fairly standard ‘50s noir crime drama with beautiful
dames, snitches, newsies, smokey bars, and all sorts of interesting characters.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a solid tale, told in the genre of dark, cynical
crime dramas that emerged in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. The second
comic, like the first, is rendered in B&W, but while the first was all
darkness and shadows, this one offers more open, white spaces, all wile still
delivering the same kind of pulp feel to the story.
Next up is War Lion
#s 1–3, from Onri Kompan, who has given us Marx: A Tale of Survival
and his Yi Soon Shin series. The story of War Lion follows
a hardened vigilante and former warrior who lives in a futuristic dystopian
region known as Sector 2687, controlled by an evil tyrant called the Overseer.
After his wife is brutally murdered, he slays her killer and goes into exile.
He later returns to the city with his daughter to pass on his legacy and settle
the score
This third comic in the series
serves as the epic conclusion to the epic miniseries. The story culminates in a
violent and emotional showdown. delivering unrelenting action as the old
warrior's quest for vengeance against the vicious tyrant who destroyed his life
reaches its breaking point. In this final chapter the protagonist and his
daughter settle the score in a bloody, high stakes battle to reclaim their
future and pass on his legacy.
Now we have a trio of books titled
Samson by Ben Lacy and published through Biting Comics dealing
with a pair of Jewish twin brothers who were taken prisoner during WWII and
experimented on by the Nazis. The brothers, Solomon and Samuel Zucker were each
injected with experimental serums and “stress-tested” to see how the formula
worked on them. Much to everyone’s surprise it worked all too well, granting
Samuel enormous strength, and Solomon the ability mind control so that he can
possess and influence others. The book jumps back and forth from the war to the
present day, where Samuel has become the costumed superhero Samson, while
Solomon has emigrated to Israel where he works with the government. Issue #1
starts off with the twins being experimented on in Auschwitz 1 and then jumps
to the present day where Samson confronts Oliver Dannekker, A German officer
who was also enhanced. Is still alive and living in Chicago. Samson tracks him
down and after a brutal fight, captures him with the intention to bring him
back to Israel for trial. In a parallel story, the twins escape from the camp
and make their way across Europe to freedom.
The second issue reveals some of
Samson’s history as a hero fighting various villains, his ex-wife and their
children, both of whom have suffered deformities due mostly to the chemicals
that had been injected into his system. Then we again move back into the past
to see how the twins evolved, only to return to the present to head off to
Israel for the trial of Dannekker. The issue winds up with Samsom heading to
Berlin to uncover some hidden documents, only to run afoul of a cadre of New
Reich enhanced villains.
Issue three gives us not only the
fight between the major characters as Samson attempts to recover the files he
was sent to find, but more backstory of the twins as they attempt to flee from
Germany while learning about their own powers. All three issues offer up
thrilling, engaging, and historically based fiction. The series delivers a
standout anti-fascist message as it re-writes WWII history to include
superheroes into the story of the Holocaust while giving us a new slate of
Jewish heroes.
Finally, we want to mention The
Asaniverse which serves more as an introduction to the cast of the
upcoming series, than an opening chapter as it endlessly lists one character
after another giving us little if any actual action. Personally, I’m reminded
about the joke where a student tells his teacher that he did his book report on
the Metropolitan Phone book by writing, “Not much of a plot, but boy what a
cast.” To be sure, the art on the comic is amazing, but I was a bit confused as
to why this particular approach was chosen to promote this new universe.
Still, we still are a huge fan of Indie
comics, and very often find new, different, and interesting comics on
crowdsourcing sites.
