August 1981 - I enjoyed Epic Illustrated #1(reviewed a few weeks ago) a lot more than I thought I would, so I was eager to pick up another issue.I would've preferred to go in order and get the second issue, but buying batches of mags on eBay sometimes doesn't allow for that; so here we are with the seventh issue.
We're off to a good start with this beautiful cover by Barry Windsor Smith, and the relative lack of cover copy cluttering it up. Marvel was obviously trying to take on Heavy Metal for the Adult Fantasy Magazine crowd, and they certainly did put together an attractive package.
The very first story is a swing for the fences--it's "Holocaust", written and drawn by Neal Adams. According to the editorial by Archie Goodwin, it was originally started as part of a record album project for Eric Burden, but never got finished, so Neal rewrote and pulled it together for Epic.
It's sort of a history of the last few decades of the world seen through the eyes of a young black man, but then takes off in a thousand directions. Adams' work is, as usual, top-notch in pure dynamic sequential storytelling:
I hope I don't sound mean towards this story--clearly, Adams was working with big BIG BIG themes, and while I didn't really get a lot of what was going on, it's always nice I think when someone could just make a fortune doing Batman pin-ups tries something really ambitious.
Next is "Epus" by Pepe Moreno, about a wounded, left-behind soldier in Vietnam, who finds himself transported back into an ancient, mythic past. Moreno's work is superb here, with a great, woodcut-y feel:
A grim, grim ending, but an effective tale.
Next is an interview with Windosr-Smith, featuring many color prints of his work, as well as a sample of the comic strip Mandro. Don't remember Windsor-Smith every drawing a daily newspaper strip?
That's because the strip only existed in the fictional world of the horror movie The Hand, featuring Michael Caine as a cartoonist with a rogue severed hand. It certainly looks like fun:
Next is another installment in Jim Starlin's "Metamorphosis Odyssey", fully painted by Starlin. If anything, Starlin's story is just as ambitious as "Holocaust", if with slightly more classic sci-fi characters and settings.
Next is the goofy "The Egg" by J.K.Potter and Tim Caldwell, a photo-realistic story of a guy who finds a creepy, malevolent egg in a trashcan. Oh, not that old plot again.
Steven Grant gives us an editorial on video games next, concentrating on the new game "Space Invaders", and then is "The Llehs", by Graham Marks and beautifully painted by John Bolton.
It's about an undersea world full of treachery and adventure, but it's nothing compared to the world above the water. Bolton's work is of course outstanding, full of imagination and wonder:
Next is an interview with Windosr-Smith, featuring many color prints of his work, as well as a sample of the comic strip Mandro. Don't remember Windsor-Smith every drawing a daily newspaper strip?
That's because the strip only existed in the fictional world of the horror movie The Hand, featuring Michael Caine as a cartoonist with a rogue severed hand. It certainly looks like fun:
Next is the goofy "The Egg" by J.K.Potter and Tim Caldwell, a photo-realistic story of a guy who finds a creepy, malevolent egg in a trashcan. Oh, not that old plot again.
Steven Grant gives us an editorial on video games next, concentrating on the new game "Space Invaders", and then is "The Llehs", by Graham Marks and beautifully painted by John Bolton.
It's about an undersea world full of treachery and adventure, but it's nothing compared to the world above the water. Bolton's work is of course outstanding, full of imagination and wonder:
Man, I wish Bolton had gotten a chance to do an Aquaman tale sometime, it would've been a wonder to behold.
Next is "UFO" by Tim Conrad, a tale that seems to be a crime story, except when some space aliens show up! Done entirely in black and white, as is the next story "The Comedy", by Dean Motter, featuring a mime in a gun duel.
The issue concludes with Adams' "Holocaust"(split between the the first and last few pages of the issue)...once you have a giant woman giving birth to planets, you pretty much need to wrap it up.
I think I've been able to pinpoint part of the reason fantasy stories never have appealed to me that much--I think they all use a sort of visual(or textual, in the case of prose) shorthand that all fantasy fans understand, but leave me bewildered. I like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent guy, but most of the stories left me with a "What was that about, exactly?" feeling, so I figure it must be me.
It reminds me a little bit of my love for the movies by Albert Brooks. He's only made a handful of films(Real Life, Defending Your Life, Lost in America, the masterpiece Modern Romance), but they reduce to me to tears, from laughing so hard. Yet when I've showed them to friends, frequently the reaction is a confused "Where are the jokes?"
Brooks uses a certain tone, a certain shorthand for how people interrelate, communicate(or, more frequently, don't communicate) and I think unless you're on his frequency, his work seems odd and distant.
So that might be my problem with fantasy stories. But I promise I won't give up on Epic Illustrated--the work in here is just too impressive, the magazine too important to the history of the comic magazine format, to pass up, even if half the time I have no idea what's going on.
Next is "UFO" by Tim Conrad, a tale that seems to be a crime story, except when some space aliens show up! Done entirely in black and white, as is the next story "The Comedy", by Dean Motter, featuring a mime in a gun duel.
The issue concludes with Adams' "Holocaust"(split between the the first and last few pages of the issue)...once you have a giant woman giving birth to planets, you pretty much need to wrap it up.
I think I've been able to pinpoint part of the reason fantasy stories never have appealed to me that much--I think they all use a sort of visual(or textual, in the case of prose) shorthand that all fantasy fans understand, but leave me bewildered. I like to think I'm a reasonably intelligent guy, but most of the stories left me with a "What was that about, exactly?" feeling, so I figure it must be me.
It reminds me a little bit of my love for the movies by Albert Brooks. He's only made a handful of films(Real Life, Defending Your Life, Lost in America, the masterpiece Modern Romance), but they reduce to me to tears, from laughing so hard. Yet when I've showed them to friends, frequently the reaction is a confused "Where are the jokes?"
Brooks uses a certain tone, a certain shorthand for how people interrelate, communicate(or, more frequently, don't communicate) and I think unless you're on his frequency, his work seems odd and distant.
So that might be my problem with fantasy stories. But I promise I won't give up on Epic Illustrated--the work in here is just too impressive, the magazine too important to the history of the comic magazine format, to pass up, even if half the time I have no idea what's going on.
1 comment:
Good stuff. Great memories.
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