It's been a glorious Easter weekend so far. I went for a walk in the Quarrel Wood, on the western fringe of Elgin on Good Friday. I saw a young deer, at one point, only a few feet away.
For months, I planned a post on the comics work of Mike Grell. When I finally wrote it, I wasn't entirely happy with it; especially with regard to the early-80s series Starslayer. Today's post gives me the opportunity to redress the balance, perhaps.
Starslayer represents something of a space- opera spin on the sword and sorcery exploits seen in DC's The Warlord. Scythian outsider Torin MacQuillon is transported from a near-fatal encounter with Romans in ancient Britain to the deck of the starship Jolly Roger. In a far-distant future, Torn embarks on a quest with the scientist Tamra (sometimes Tamara) and the mobile microcomputer S.A.M whose speech patterns are based on the roles of Humphrey Bogart. ( References to classic Hollywood being very late-70s)
The one-and-only original issue I bought
Torin's interplanetary quest encompasses bar-room brawls in futuristic cantinas to the intrigues of
Berber-style brigands on Mars and a lost colony of Vikings on icebound Callisto. Ultimately, he learns he cannot return to the past without changing history since Tamara is the descendant of his lost wife.
I felt, reading the series this year, that it wasn't really fantastic enough for me. Historical adventures in the mould of Errol Flynn transposed into a post- Star Wars milieu wasn't bizarre enough for my tastes. What humour there was in this starchy serial wasn't particularly funny. The pictures were very pretty, however.
Recently, I've been interested in catching up with some of the creator-owned series that launched in the early 80s-particularly Marvel's Epic line - starting with Englehart's Coyote and Starlin's Dreadstar last summer ( when I was moving house- I am still thinking about what to do about storing comic boxes).
Before my walk yesterday, I read the 1984 Marvel graphic novel, Swords of the Swashbucklers by Bill Mantlo and Jackson Guice, Unlike Starslayer, which is very masculine, Swashbucklers has two female protagonists. Teenager Domino Drake has an encounter with an alien artefact which summons piratical rebels to Earth, in their vessel, the Starshadow. The inhabitants of the planet Haven are at war with the alien Colonizers ( sadly, not the Rigellian race from Thor)
Pirate queen Raader's crew includes the bestial Servitor and a creepy floating brain- entity called Spyeye. A giant preying mantis called Logik seems to have a traitor's role in the story. Domino discovers a family connection with Raader ,which reminded me of the relationship between Corsair of the Starjammers and the X-men's Cyclops.
The artwork by Mantlo's Micronauts collaborator Guice reminds me a little of 80s Barry Smith and while this is a pilot episode, really, for an ongoing series, it was more enjoyable- more comic-booky- than Starslayer.
Mantlo's tragic circumstances have been highlighted this week on Twitter, coincidentally. Brain-damaged in a hit and run accident in the early 90s, Mantlo's ongoing care has been supplied by his brother, who has been experiencing financial difficulties as a result. A compensation deal for the use of Rocket Raccoon, Cloak and Dagger and other creations enabled Michael Mantlo to begin to move his brother out of a care home but it hasn't proved sufficient.
Before I leave you today, then, I wanted to share some of the Bill Mantlo comics I've enjoyed. Mantlo's original villains were often grisly and tapped into the 80s trend for body horror- like the Dire Wraiths or Alpha Flight's Pestilence.
While I was still in school, Mantlo took over Tony Isabella's Champions title. One of my favourite issues also introduced me to the pencils of John Byrne. It featured guest appearances by Black Goliath, Hawkeye and the Two-Gun Kid!
As the scripter of Iron Man, Mantlo made his creation Jack of Hearts a supporting cast member. He also pitted the Golden Avenger against the aforementioned Rigellian Colonisers.
Before his space-faring miniseries of the early 80s, Jack of Hearts also faced off, solo, against the Corporation and Hemlock, an assassin surely inspired by The Eiger Sanction.
Mantlo also used one of his own creations in the pages of the short-lived Human Fly. I prefer the female incarnations of the White Tiger but I liked seeing pulp-inspired villain Copperhead in this story.
The incredible Hulk had numerous adventures under Mantlo's auspices, including the lengthy Crossroads of Reality sequence. I particularly enjoyed the Hulk's return to his desert habitat where Mantlo impishly continued the story of the Phoenix-entity.
Englehart made more use of the devout Firebird as La Esperita while rehabilitating Hank Pym. Later still, Fabian Nieceza divorced the Latina heroine definitively from the X-Men mythos with a alien fuel accident, implanted into for her origin
In licensed titles like the Micronauts and Rom, Mantlo created whole new universes of his own. I particularly enjoyed his collaboration with Pat Broderick which brought a flavour of Alex Raymond's Falsh Gordon to the Kirby-esque Microverse.
Rom had numerous Marvel Universe guest-stars but I especially liked this riff on Lovercraft's and Dunsany's Nitocris which also involved Britain's SI-6.
Mantlo made many significant changes to the roster of Byrne's Alpha Flight- most memorably perhaps Kara Killgrave, the Purple Girl. In addition to putting Heather in Mac's colours, He also gave Puck a surprising magical origin.
Which of Mantlo's creations did you enjoy reading about? Woodgod? Sabra? The Symbionic Man?
Coming soon: The Iron Legion
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