"Son of a mutant general and a human mother, Hunter is a half-breed warrior who fights for survival on a weird, irradiated alternate Earth. Cursed to remain apart from humanity, Hunter still protects the defenseless with the hope that mankind will someday rise from barbarism and rule again! A perfect synthesis of fantasy and science-fiction storytelling."
That's the blurb that advertises Dark Horse's Eerie Presents Hunter which gathers together all the Hunter and Hunter II and Hunter III stories from the magazine.
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I really enjoyed that period when Warren's vintage hero series like Hunter, Hunter II, and Schreck appeared with regularity in the magazine. Eerie seemed to specialize in these types of characters. Dark Horse began to reprint some of these, beginning with Hunter and later El Cid. I'd have loved to see other collections of other such series. Most of these stories by Rich Margopoulos and Budd Lewis with Bill Dubay lending a hand. All of the stories were drawn by Brit Paul Neary, who displays a real energy and zest in the stories of this series. Alex Nino adds a story in a later stage of the character. The covers featuring the hero by Sanjulian and Ken Kelly are outstanding.
Hunter's post-Apocalyptic battles with snake-skinned mutants have a real grim and gritty taste when such things were relatively rare and fresh. Hunter is a half-breed, his mother raped by a Demon. He seeks vengeance for his mother and his own redemption. He is a man who is an outsider everywhere he treads. There's a real melancholy to the Hunter I stories, a true sense of impending doom. Hunter is a hard character who might actually find solace in death. There are other humans of course, but these are desperate communities for the most part. So, when Hunter sacrifices himself, we are not really sad, as he's at last found some measure of peace.
A generation later a young man named Karas is given Hunter's helmet. It has been repainted and a winged symbol is supposed to indicate the hero's rise like a Phoenix from the ashes. Where Damien Hunter had been a capable warrior, Karas is a novice and only survives when he encounters the robotic Exterminator. These two are able allies and the Exterminator becomes a mentor to the up-and-coming hero, who in truth is still confounded by his mission.
Karas battles Goblins instead of Demons, but they're pretty the same breed of critter. There's a lot of blather about time bubbles and such like, but really it all boils down to matter of fundamental trust. We follow Karas and the Exterminator to the end of their saga. Then we are treated to a parody of the two Hunter yarns in a story by Jim Stenstrum with lustrous art by Alex Nino. Hunter III is just a kid and the offbeat story is hoot. Budd Lewis and artis Moreno Casares bring back Hunter II in a story of a time long after his original saga. Sadly, this one is more confusing than entertaining. Hunter I is revived by magic at the hands of Darklon the Mystic in a story by Rich Margopulos and artist Al Sanchez. This story read more like a stunt than anything else.
Below are the covers on which the Hunter characters appeared.
There was a real tragedy to the original Hunter saga. Hunter II lacked some of that focus, but replaced it with a real camaraderie between Hunter and the Exterminator. Hunter III was always a joke. The other revivals were regrettable in that they undermined the endings of the original sagas. Some stories are told and that should be the end of them.