The debut issue of 1984, Warren Publishing's infamous adults-only sci-fi magazine!From what I've read, 1984 was meant as more of a creative outlet for Bill DuBay, with Jim Warren having less direct authority over the magazine.
By this time, running the company mostly by himself for decades had taken a toll on Warren, so it only made sense that he would start letting some of his trusted lieutenants take more control of the company's output.
And judging by this first issue, Bill DuBay certainly was putting his all into 1984--this debut issue contains no less than ten stories, and features no ads(save for two 1984-related ones). A promising start, no doubt.
On the inside cover is an editorial by DuBay, titled "Remember the Good Old Days? Who Would've Thought They'd Return...in 1984?" In it, he lays out a sort of Mission Statement for the magazine, talking about the pure thrill kids had reading the adventures of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and The Shadow, and how 1984 is an attempt to return to that kind of fun in comics, with a dollop of adult irreverence.
It all sounds so good, but then you get to this, the first word balloon on the first page of the first story, "Last of the Great Joy Juice", by DuBay and Jose Ortiz:
I don't mean to be too harsh, and the first story--about a group of space travelers protecting the universe's last amount of biological material needed to make babies--is fun. But it's full of really foul language, a lot of it gratuitous, and it seems to be in direct conflict with the tone established in the editorial.
Next is Nick Cuti and Esteban Maroto's "Saga of Honeydew Melons", about an enterprising inventor who comes up with the ultimate robot, a stripper who is sexier than any "real" woman. And Maroto certainly knows how to deliver sexy:
Definitely an adult story, but it has charm, snappy dialogue, and a few surprises. Honeydew Melons will not stop trying to entertain!
Next is "Once Upon Clarissa", by DuBay and Alex Nino, who of course delivers an astonishingly-detailed job, told entirely vertically. It's about an artificial woman named Clarissa, and how it doesn't stop men from being men.
Next is "Quick Cut" by Wally Wood, who also really delivers an amazing art job. I love this opening shot:
Next is "Faster Than Light" by the always-inventive Jim Stenstrum and Luis Bermejo, who also delivers a boffo splash page:
Next is "Once Upon Clarissa", by DuBay and Alex Nino, who of course delivers an astonishingly-detailed job, told entirely vertically. It's about an artificial woman named Clarissa, and how it doesn't stop men from being men.
Next is "Quick Cut" by Wally Wood, who also really delivers an amazing art job. I love this opening shot:
...it's a classic Woody mix of childlike characters, fantasy, sex, and violence. Nasty fun.
Following that is "Bugs", a short piece by DuBay and Joe Vaultz, about interstellar vermin, and then next is the color feature, "Mutant World" by Richard Corben. I find a lot of Corben's work depressing, because it so heavily concerns itself with death, decay, and malevolence, yet the execution is so well done that I always enjoy it...sort of.
Following that is "Bugs", a short piece by DuBay and Joe Vaultz, about interstellar vermin, and then next is the color feature, "Mutant World" by Richard Corben. I find a lot of Corben's work depressing, because it so heavily concerns itself with death, decay, and malevolence, yet the execution is so well done that I always enjoy it...sort of.
Next is "Faster Than Light" by the always-inventive Jim Stenstrum and Luis Bermejo, who also delivers a boffo splash page:
...it's about a Mister Zong and his attempts to run cruises around the galaxy, and all the problems you can run into, like being sucked out of air holes and giant space rats. Stenstrum's stories are always fun, brisk, full of irreverence yet have a light touch, and this one is no exception.
Next is "Angel!" by DuBay and Rudy Nebres, the first adventure of a gorgeous woman who learns to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Angel is certainly sexy, but at times Nebres' work is so dense I had a hard time figuring out what was looking at!
Last is "Momma, Can You Hear Me?", by Cuti and Nino, a really solid tale of a how a guy ended up as half-robot and his search for his past. Sad, but told with wit and featuring a more restrained but just as--if not more--effective art job by Nino.
A very solid start to the magazine--the sheer amount of material in this first issue is staggering--and most of the stories range from very good to superb. Whatever 1984(and then 1994) eventually turned into, it started off with a bang(several, actually).
Next is "Angel!" by DuBay and Rudy Nebres, the first adventure of a gorgeous woman who learns to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Angel is certainly sexy, but at times Nebres' work is so dense I had a hard time figuring out what was looking at!
Last is "Momma, Can You Hear Me?", by Cuti and Nino, a really solid tale of a how a guy ended up as half-robot and his search for his past. Sad, but told with wit and featuring a more restrained but just as--if not more--effective art job by Nino.
A very solid start to the magazine--the sheer amount of material in this first issue is staggering--and most of the stories range from very good to superb. Whatever 1984(and then 1994) eventually turned into, it started off with a bang(several, actually).
2 comments:
From what I've heard, Dubay made very significant edits to Wood's story, including splitting it in two and emphasizing sex scenes a lot more than had been Wood's original intent. Wood got so upset with him that he ended up quitting Warren altogether. An unfortunate exit from one of comic's greatest sci-fi artists of all time.
Unfortunately don't own a copy of this issue so that's all I have to say for now!
-Quiddity99
Here's the link to Richard Ardnt's comprehensive review of all fo Warren's comic mags.
http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/The%20Warren%20Magazines.htm
Find 1984 and read for yourself about the Wood/Dubay brouhaha.
Dubay may or may not have been a jerk. I heard Archie Goodwin had a bit of a hard time with Dubay when he came back to edit the Warren zines for a brief time in 1974.
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