Deadline!

The Ms.Tree stories by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty in this collection are some of the earliest, from 1984 and 1985 when the series was picked up by Aardvark -Vanaheim and later Renegade Press. The printing is different than that from Eclipse since only two-colors are used, sometimes red tones and sometimes blue. This limited color might not have worked for all comics, but it served the noir world of Ms. Tree quite well. It should also be noted that Gary Kato is assisting on the artwork in these stories. 

The first four issues of this collection deal with a single story entitled "Deadline" which gave its name to the complete Titan collection as well. Ms. Tree is drawn into a string of serial murders which at first  appear to be random, but then relate to events which took place years before when Michael Tree (then named Friday) went to high school. Those events involved a gang rape. The killer is relentless and for a time seems connected to the Muerta mob as well. A reporter tries to get Ms. Tree to assist him on this case, but that turns out poorly. 

"Skin Deep" deals with a hot topic in those 80's years, a black beauty queen who had some nude pictures which might end up in a porn magazine. Ms. Tree is hired to investigate on the behalf of her friend and ally on the police force, Rafe Valer. His sister is the beauty queen in question. It's an interesting solution.  As it turns out, pornography will be an element of other stories in this collection. 

Aardvark-Vanaheim had been run by Dave Sim and his wife Deni Loubert (Sim as artist and owner and Loubert as publisher). When they divorced it created a schism which was reflected in the fact that both companies are named as publishers of this Ms.Tree story. This story titled "Runaway" deals with young kids who run away from home and find themselves swept up in all manner of dangerous situations. The problem is brought home to Ms.Tree when her stepson does indeed run away. A desperate search is made, and she meets other parents who have lost their kids. Eventually her search leads her to confront a murderous pedophile. 

We jump ahead a few years for the next story published by Renegade Press only. The artwork on these stories seems a little more refined in some ways, the two-color approach being used with some more subtlety. The story titled "Runaway II" deals again with kids who have left home but this time focuses on young women who get snapped up into pornography, both of the printed and cinematic kind. One young woman has seemingly killed herself and Ms. Tree is searching for another and finds her, but she seems to have found some measure of control in her life. There are many characters in this story who are neither good nor evil, but supremely human and at times exceedingly weak. That said, there is a real threat as Ms. Tree discovers when she finds herself trussed up with Christmas lights. 

The collection closes out with a story titled "Death, Danger, and Diamonds" which sees Ms. Tree and Mike Mist team up. They are up against a couple of thugs named Bert and Ernie who are not afraid to kill. The two along with a young woman who sought Mist's help would set up couples and rob them. When the girl is killed, Mist and Ms. Tree head to Honolulu to get to the bottom of this scandalous threat. This one is in black and white as it was originally produced for one of Renegade's 3-D books. 

All of these Ms. Tree stories are gritty and have a depth of character uncommon in many if not most comics of the era. Since these stories are in the tradition of Mike Hammer, Michael Tree is not shy about using her gun. It's hard to see how she doesn't get into more trouble with the police with the bodies she drops here and there and seemingly everywhere. But still it's great to have these stories in a highly readable format from Titan. 

The Ms. Tree saga reasserts its chronological order when it continues in the next volume titled Heroine Withdrawal. That's for day after tomorrow. 

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Dojo Classics - The Complete Normalman!

This is an exceedingly fun black and white comic book volume that likely needs to be in every true blue comic book fan's collection somewhere. For relatively small money you can own The Complete normalman by Jim Valentino. Valentino, one of the guys who would become part of the infamous Image group started his comics journey with this satire on the superhero comic which posited a "normal man" on a world overrun with supermen, superwomen, superteens, and such.

normalman began as a try-out back-up feature in Dave Sim's Cerebus, specifically issues fifty-six and fifty-seven. Then as quick as that it leaped into its own self-titled comic run from the Aardvark-Vanaheim brand. What we get is a romp of a soap opera with all manner of gags and comic book tropes getting trounced before our very eyes. It's a wild ride, but a familiar one to anyone who has  read as many classic comics as folks likely to frequent this blog have done.

The covers to the series are remarkable in that each is a spoof of a different genre and most feature a particularly famous classic comic book cover turned more than a bit sideways for our viewing pleasure. Here they are, many with their inspirations.

normalman even makes a guest appearance in Aardvark-Vanaheim's Journey series, a clever spin on the marketing the character often ridicules.

Then thee came a change, and this is where I left the series originally many moons ago. Aardvark-Vanaheim underwent a split as Dave Sim and his wife parted ways each taking some of the titles with them. normalman became part of the Renegade Press brand after one joint offering.

Renegade Press then went on to finish the original storyline.

The story wrapped up appropriately in the normalman 3-D annual in 1986.

Slave Labor Graphics collected the saga in 1987. And that was all she wrote for normalman and his pals for many years.

Then after the aforementioned Image brand was ignited Jim Valentino dusted off normalman for a one-off romp with Donald Simpson's Megaton Man as well as many other Indy stars of bygone eighties.

In 2004 normalman celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a new story, the last to date.

All this comics goodness can be found in glorious black and white in the pages of The Complete normalman.

Dig up a copy if you can, it's well worth the effort, especially for those who are tired of paying too much for too little entertainment.

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Dojo Classics - The Complete Wraith!

The Wraith is Michael T. Gilbert's 70's reinvention of the classic Eisner The Spirit. According to Gilbert he was casting about for work in those halcyon days when comics seemed to about to expel the last gasp just any minute and found work with Mike Friedrich's little Star*Reach outfit. Specifically in a short-lived comic dubbed Quack which hoped to reap some of the glamour stirred up by the out-of-nowhere ascendancy of Marvel's Howard the Duck. Suddenly the superhero was displaced and funny animals were on...if only briefly. 

Looking for inspiration, Gilbert was a fan of The Spirit and thought a funny animal version might just work. He produced seven stories featuring The Wraith, one each for the six issues of Quack and another for his later comic Strange Brew published by Aardvark-Vanaheim. And as far as I know that's all of the Wraith there is.

The Wraith begin as a slight homage to the classic Eisner hero and little else, saving a lady of the evening from her employers. Other stories have him battling mad scientists and even falling in love on an isolated island. The stories are in continuity, so despite their frolicsome nature what happens is remembered. That adds quite a bit to stories which by design are often quite slender, the whole perhaps greater than the sum of the parts. The one cover appearance for "The Reality Ray" really shows how offbeat and creative Gilbert was in trying to make the stories click.

The tome I read featured very detailed text pages by Gilbert about how The Wraith came to be and how his misadventures often reflected Gilbert's own personal life at the time. We also get a nifty explanation of some of the techniques Gilbert used. We are seeing an artist grow in real time with these stories and this background info helps to make sense of the style and thematic changes.

But Gilbert seemed all too ready to leave The Wraith, suggesting he'd done all he could do and it was time for other projects (such as his most famous creation Mr.Monster --more tomorrow on that). I doubt he thinks that still today and I wonder if and when we'll ever see another Wraith tale. I'd be interested.

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