Re:tro Re:view - The Herculoids #1!

The Herculoids return in Dynamite comics in The Herculoids #1 with sci fi villians, a jungle planet, and Kaiju defenders! The Herculoids (1967-1968) was a cartoon series created and designed by Alex Toth. Eleven episodes were made in 1981-1982. He was the comic master who could create images with the fewest lines and formed masterworks with his Zorro comics work. He did comics from hs work on the Super Friends animated series in Limited Collector’s Edition C-41 (1976) and also Superman Annual #9 (1983). There was a brief comic appearence in Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes #1 (1968). Cartoon Network Presents #5 (1997), #13 (1998), #17 (1999) had The Herculoids. The recent DC series, Future Quest by Jeff Parker and Evan Shaner featured The Herculoids joining the action heroes of Hanna Barbera in issue #10 (2017)!  

The regular cover by Francesco Mattina has the Herculoids on the rocky planet surrounded by giant, winged insects and pterandon-like creatures! The first issue is by writer Tom Sniegoski and artist Craig Rousseau. Sniegoski wrote The Shadow annual #1 (2012) for Dynamite Entertainment. Rousseau has experience drawing creatures with Perhapanauts for Image Comics. We see space filled with colorful stars. A glowing gate in space and out of it comes a box-like ship. We close in on the ship as the narration explains that there is secret planet that is “rich in resources” that would satisfy a galaxy. We are never told what are these resources. We see seven capsules whose mists hide shadowy figures. Amzot is known by many legendary, but the narrator notes that it might be best called paradise. 

One of the capsules has a vampire-like, greenish man. Quen-Tel is his name and he heard rumors until reaching a planet wth rains on a town, the world called Barbera 11, clever. He offers a bottle of drink to a grizzled alien with half of his face covered in cybernetics. Quen-Tel says he is the last survivor and his encounter with a black hole took him to a “special” planet. I like that Amzot is a place that is hidden from the rest of the galaxy. It felt remote from other planets, but invaded by pirates and other threats. He flashes back to his ship landing on the planet with others in suits and bubble helmets. The artwork is simple like the cartoon. They turn to see the shadows of The Herculods raging after them! The survivor says he was allowed to live as a warning. He says he knows how to navigate to Amzot, but is keeping it a secret with his life!

Quen-tel sticks a memory device on the survivor’s cyber skull, it makes me think of The Riddler’s device in Batman Forever (1995). He leaves with the coordinates and the capsules hiss open! Quen-tel says his “sponsors” are wealthy, they might be behind all of the invasions. The ship orbits Amzot, but the crew thinks of it as a legend. Five landing craft are launched to the planet’s surface. They are observed by the binoculars of Zandor. He looks like a barbarian or jungle hero, but with a metal headpiece, blue chestpiece, and tunic. Zandor brings out a horn to warn the others. The horn blast reaches the mountains that rouses the giant rock ape, Igoo. We have had King Kong and similar Kaiju, but having him made of rocks is fantastic, love the sound effects! The horn echoes and out of a cave is the laser-ray dragon, Zok, it has three horns, and a dragon body. 

In the forest, there are strange fruit knocked out of a tree and dropped with a thunderous noise. This is the food of Tundro, a heavy plated Kaijur with a rhino-like head and a horn that sends out projectiles! I wondered how those projectiles were explosive. Each one of the Herculoids is so creative, gotta have action figures! At another treetop, the young Dorno is reaching out for some blue eggs when the horn call startles him and he falls! Dorno has a blue collar and lioncloth like his father. He is saved by the protoplasmic Gleep with black eyes that forms into a slide. It speaks in a bubbling sound effect that is perfect. The yellow blob is like the Shmoo without the strange whiskers. Dorno wonders about the call and Gleep answers, so the boy must understand it. His mother, Tara, who is beautiful with long blonde hair, blue collar, and light blue dress, arrives on Gloop. I think the family is like Tarzan, Jane, and their son, Korak. 

Five Resources out of Five! 

#TheHerculoids, #AlexToth, #TomSniegoski, #CraigRousseau, #FrancescoMattina, #DynamiteEntertainment, #Zandor, #Tara, ##Dorno, #Igoo, #Tundro, #Zok, #Gleep, #Gloop, #Quentel

Re:tro Review - The Untamed: Sinner’s Prayer #1!

The Untamed: Sinner’s Prayer #1, the first issue of the World of Asunda, is a work of dark mythology and beauty! It introduces the character of Niobe who would later co-star in the limited series; The Untamed: Killing Floor, Niobe: She is Life, and Niobe: She is Death! The first issue has a cover by interior artist, Peter Berting with a coins falling and then a red ourtline of a clawed hand reaching down. Inside it is a gate and below it is the hooded fgiure of The Stranger with a sword. There is a map of Asunda and a two page frontpiece that has a white robed boatman with a long paddle like a staff and a passenger in black, moving through starry skies on a boat like a gnarled white tree. Then, there is a prologue by writer Sebastian A. Jones, this are all additions to the trade paperback. 

The Stranger has been searching ten years through a colorless hell to find her, whom he finds at a “mist-filled room”, she was married to this killer and her love is what cursed her. I’m fascinated by Dante’s Inferno part of the The Divine Comedy. It hasn’t been adapted to film and there is only a video game, Dante’s Inferno (2010), with a animated adaptation of the game, Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010). So this reminds me of Beatrice, the symbol of his love. She was attempting to save him in life, but was killed before the birth of her second child. He goes nameless until his redemptionWe  and her name is Jenna. Then, we get The Stranger’s theme composed by Jens Englebecht and Jones which was in the back of the comic book. A bittersweet beginning that really separates this work from other fantasy comic books. 

The story is by Jones with art by Peter Bergting and layouts by Darrell May. Bergting created his own fantasy comic with The Portent (2006). May is the layout artist for Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls. A splash page of a starry sky with the narration of The Stranger who says he’s going home. A cavern is lit by the ghostly boatman. The boatman is in flowing white robes asks him where he is going and The Stranger responds the town of Oasis. Then, they reach the shore, and he is asked how long was he given and The Stranger says seven days. I love mythology recast in new forms. In this case, Charon the Boatman from Greek myths, one of the most eerie depictions was in 1981’s Clash of the Titans. The Stranger walks into a ravine, flanked by cliffs with dark men with white banners, the Tribe of the Dying Tree. They watch “between two worlds”, guardians that must drive off the living trying to enter the underworld. We see their sacred tree, leafless. 

Then, The Stranger reaches the remains of a home in the desert, he opens the door, and sees the figurine of a girl and a tear falls. Powerful. It makes me think of the moment in John Carter (2012) when he finds his wife has died. A somber figure of The Stranger, he sees the names of his wife and daughter, Ashani. He walks on, there is a bird that flies overhead like it did at the ravine, and he reaches the town at night with a crescent moon. He stands with the gate bathed in red and he thinks the gates “pass judgement upon all who enter her haven.” He walks into Oassis in what is “Day One.” All of the windows and doors slam shut. Several villagde thugs face him at the town square with one figure digging the ground with a dagger. The moments glaring in red are like samurai manga. They pull out a boy whom they about hang! We see one of the brutes is a grachukk, bald with fangs like an orc. A girl runs out, but she is slapped by the grachukk! 

This is Niobe, whose story unfolds with the rest of the series, she asks The Stranger for help with the boy, but he only asks about the blacksmith. Niobe says that he is out of town. The Stranger thinks that the grachukk and the boy are out of his past. The girl, Niobe, is a “glowing light”, but too young to remember his past. The bloody of Oasis is replaced by the purples of sundown. The Stranger meets with the blacksmith, balded with a braided bearded, and wants him to work on his sword coverd in a cloth. The blacksmith recognizes the sword as one he forged. As he works at his forge, the blacksmith notes that it had belonged to the leader fo the Kraven. The blade begins to glow blue with runes. It is called by the blacksmith “Soul of ice.” The Stranger says it came from a dead man. Music is played and the blacksmith’s eye bulges as The Stranger lops his head off with a red splash panel!

The Stranger pays the promised two gold and notes that the bargain is seven days for seven souls! A bloody arrangement that makes me think of The Crow (1994) based on the comic book, revenge for the return to life! This is Niobe, whose story unfolds with the rest of the series, she asks The Stranger for help with the boy, but he only asks about the blacksmith. Niobe says that he is out of town. The Stranger thinks that the grachukk and the boy are out of his past. The girl, Niobe, is a “glowing light”, but too young to remember his past. The bloody of Oasis is replaced by the purples of sundown. The Stranger meets with the blacksmith, baldwith a braided bearded, and wants him to work on his sword covered in a cloth. 

The blacksmith recognizes the sword as one he forged. As he works at his forge, the blacksmith notes that it had belonged to the leader fo the Kraven. The blade begins to glow blue with runes. It is called by the blacksmith “Soul of ice.” The Stranger says it came from a dead man. Music is played and the blacksmith’s eye bulges as The Stranger lops his head off with a red splash panel. The Stranger pays the promised two gold and notes that the bargain is seven days for seven souls! A bloody arrangement that makes me think of The Crow (1994) based on the comic book, revenge for the return to life! The coins also have religious significance. The Stranger returns to Oasis to find Niobe working at an inn and she reminds him of his daughter. Itt is not just the seven days, Niobe may be his path to redemption! The Untamed: Sinner’s Prayer #1 is a promising beginning to Niobe and the dark World of Asunda! 

Five Gold Coins out of Five! 

#TheUntatmedSinnersPrayer, #SebastianAJones, #PeterBergting, #DarrellMay, #WorldOfAsunda, #StrangerComics, #TheStranger, Niobe