Eternally Strange!

This striking cover for Doctor Strange #180 was one of those singular images that lingers in the memory -- the imposing figure of the enigmatic Eternity looming over a small Doc Strange and both of them suspended over a photographic New York City. What I didn't know then was that this cover was a true hodge-podge. The Doctor Strange figure was rendered by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, but the Eternity figure has a history.

Eternity here is a Steve Ditko image of the grand cosmic being lifted nearly complete (minus little Dormammu) from the pages of Strange Tales #146 in which the bizarre entity figured prominently.

Ironically that issue was Steve Ditko's last and the cover seems to be what Colan and the staffers were trying to evoke when the cobbled together the distinct elements to make a cover which made such an impression so many years ago.

I was reminded of all of this because Dave Sim seems likewise to have an affection for the vintage Doc Strange issue. Here he creates a clever homage with a difference for a recent Cerebus the Aardvark installment. Absurdity indeed!

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Friends Of Old Gerber!

Above is the envelope featuring the great artwork of Jack Kirby and Alfredo Alcala. This holds some dandy artwork. Here's a description from the website The Gerber Curse:

"In 1982, Dave and Deni Sim published a portfolio called "F.O.O.G.", which stood for "Friends Of Old Gerber," to help raise funds for Gerber's legal battle. The project, which was initiated without Gerber's knowledge (he says he hadn't even met Dave and Deni Sim), featured 10 black and white plates (11" x 14") by Bernie Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Charles Vess, Wendi Pini, Jeff Jones, Barry Smith, Marshall Rogers, Frank Thorne, Gene Colan, and Dave Sim, which came in a Duke "Destroyer" Duck envelope illustrated by Kirby and Alcala."

Here's a link to the website where you can read a great deal more about Gerber's career and his lawsuit against Marvel for the rights on Howard the Duck.

Below are some scans of that artwork. I am lucky to have one of these portfolios. It's a real bit of comics history. Note that the scans are pretty much as is, and do not expand much when you click on them. Sorry about that.


Dave Sim

Barry Windsor-Smith

Mike Kaluta

Gene Colan

Berni Wrightson

Marshall Rogers

Jeff Jones

Wendy Pini

Charles Vess

Frank Thorne
Hubba hubba!

Here's the cover of Destroyer Duck #1, the comic that paid for the lawsuit in some measure.


Here's a link to a Destroyer Duck cover gallery.

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Cerebus The Aardvark!

Cerebus the Aardvark is an amazing creation. I followed the decades-long saga off and on, getting on board in the early 80's, but eventually trading away all of those issues. I rejoined the saga in the early 90's and still have some of those around here. I had to abandoned the story because of finances and frankly a lack of patience with its then-pondering pace. Nonetheless, I marvel at Dave Sim's commitment and I celebrate the accomplishment.

But for all that, I've never read the earliest Cerebus stories, the ones which spoof the classic Thomas-Smith Conan stories. Now, the stories themselves are actually pretty funny. The Earth-Pig isn't a fully rendered character yet, but his irrascible nature is fully in view and his plain-spoken approach to worldly matters is entertaining. All in all a pretty spot-on lampoon of the classic Marvel barbarian comics. You can readily see which scenes from Barry Smith's early work are on display. Sim's art cleaves so closely to Smith's that its difficult to find him. But knowing that soon enough he will find his own voice, makes the sometimes painfully exact homages easier to digest.

The first story rips off the plot of "The Heart of the Elephant" and does a neat spin on it. The second takes a dive at "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" sort of, without the daughter, and the third one I've read so far, is the funniest yet with giving us the loquacious Red Sophia in all her well-rounded glory. Funny stuff. You can see the engine beginning to hum, though many stories remain. Elrod, Cockroach, Julius, they all are funny or perhaps humorous is a better word. I don't so much laugh as nod when the jokes come. I won't pretend to get all the jokes, but the stories are well crafted and you can see Sim's skills grow story by story in these early outings as his interests become less about creating a curious pastiche of Barry Windsor Smith and more about developing an intersting world for Cerebus to inhabit.

I doubt I go beyond the first volume. But that first one is pretty good.

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