CREEMEDIA

CREEMEDIA

KNIGHTS IN BLACK SATIN

by

Jeffrey Morgan

Just in case you didn’t know—and given the media’s continuing saturation of the topic, you’ve only yourself to blame if you don’t—comic books are back.

They never completely went away, of course, but by the time Spider-Man teamed up with Boy Howdy! for an all-night jam session on the cover of CREEM’s April 1973 issue, the genre was not only a spent force on the brink of aesthetic bankruptcy, but in dire need of a miracle to pull its comatose body out of the fresh grave it had steadfastly been digging for several years.

That miracle came in the form of the direct sales market, a system whereby— much in the same way that the introduction of record stores in the ’50s and ’60s superseded 5 & 10s and department stores as the consumers’ primary outlet for singles and albums—the retailing of comic books was taken, for the most part, out of the hands of the traditional mom-and-pop variety store and placed in the new realm of specialty shops expressly created for the sole purpose of selling comic books.

Recognizing that the audience frequenting these specialty shops has what appears to be an almost unlimited amount of disposable income, comic book pubUshers have accordingly upgraded the format and content (not to mention price) of selected titles in a bid to stay competitive and, of course, reap bigger profits.

Meanwhile, a number of comic book creators, for their part, have risen to the occasion by using this increase in production values as the latest step in their neverending battle to have comic books culturally accepted in North America on the same level of serious fine art—as they unlaughingly are in Europe.

Such acceptance, it goes without saying, will take years to achieve, if it ever happens.

If and when it does happen, however, you can safely bet that more than a few of the following graphic novels (or “big comics,” as artist Mike Kaluta calls them) released last year (and listed in no particular order) will have played no small part in the revolution.

Frank Miller’s presentation of the Batman as Dirty Harry may be too right wing for some tastes, but that doesn’t make Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Warner) any less of a tour-de-force.

Bad enough that the Mutants, a psycho gang of punks, holds Gotham City hostage on the eve of Commissioner Gordon’s retirement—but when civil libertarians release the schizoid Two-Face, Bruce Wayne brings out the Batman after a 10-year retirement to mop up.

This, in turn, prompts a new gang of psychos—The Sons Of The Batman—to start dispensing their own lethal brand of justice.

Then, the ACLU lets the homicidal Joker out...

If Eno published comic books, he’d’ve published The Return Of Mister X (Warner). Not only is it the world’s first ambient comic book, it’s the only one on the planet to feature a junkie as its main protagonist.

The co-designer of a city whose architecture now drives people nuts, Mister X (identity unknown) shoots up to stay awake 24 hours a day in an attempt to repair the damage.

The brainchild of Dean Motter, The Return Of Mister X is an intriguing blend of Metropolis and The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari that’s not to be missed.

Not since animator Ralph Bakshi unleashed Fritz The Cat, Heavy Traffic and Coonskin upon an unsuspecting world has one man caused so much outrage over the seemingly innocent pursuit of combining words and pictures.

The undisputed master of sex and violence in comic books, Howard Chaykin’s work on both Time2 (First) and The Shadow (Warner) is far too complex to be discussed in this short space—which is why we’ll be devoting a future space to it, including his recent DC series Blackhawk; his American Flagg! for First Comics; and his new series for Vortex, Black Kiss.

Suffice it to say that Time2 is a unique amalgamation of The Cotton Club and Angel Heart via Karel Capek’s R.U.R., while his reinterpretation of The Shadow was called “vile and detestable” by no less an arbiter of taste than Harlan Ellison—so you know it’s got to be good.

It’s the most outrageous solution ever proposed to end the arms race, cloaked as a whodunit (after the government outlaws superheroes, someone begins killing off the members of one former super group, one by one).

A mite long at 416 pages, The Watchmen (Warner) loses points for being, alternately, over-ambitious to the point of pretentiousness and, at times, reminiscent of Stephen King at his most rote banal. However, author Alan Moore somehow manages to pull it all off—thanks, in part, to the illuminating pseudo-Mobius illustrations of Dave Gibbons.

Bonus points for some of the greatest superhero names ever devised: Rorschach, the Comedian and Dr. Manhattan.

“A Catholic exploratory mission that encounters an alien race and is victimized by its own reaction to that race.” That’s how Mister X’s creator, Dean Motter, described what The Sacred And The Profane (Eclipse) is ail about; and he should know—after all, he’s the guy who wrote it.

The guy who illustrated it is none other than Ken Steacy, the modern master of the airbrush. Together they’ve presented a challenging, philosophical treatise unlike anything else the medium has to offer.

You’ll believe a church can fly.

In Elektra: Assassin (Epic), Dark Knight creator Frank Miller weaves a web of psychological imbalance that makes Frances Farmer’s ordeals look like a kindergarten nap. Ultimately, however, it’s artist Bill Sienkiewicz’s paintings which leave severe afterburn in the retinas and mind.

A visual hybrid of Jim Steranko’s stylish special effects and Ralph Steadman’s psychoneurosis, Sienkiewicz’s art not only qualifies Elektra: Assassin as the comic industry’s most visually beautiful read—but also as one of its most disturbing.

Of course, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s out there. From Art Spiegelman’s Maus to Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor to monthly reprints of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy and Will Eisner’s The Spirit, if you’ve been seeing more movies and listening to more records these days—and enjoying both less—do yourself a favor and visit your local comic book store.

And if by chance you find that you’re the youngest person there; well, like we said—comic books are back.