Definition of
bravura1 music : a musical passage requiring exceptional agility and technical skill in execution
2 : a florid brilliant style
3 : a show of daring or brillianceIn the wake of the launch of Image, other independent companies sought out superstar name talent to lend prestige and, possibly, huge sales to their line. The first of these to emerge was Legend, at Dark Horse. Frank Miller and John Byrne were already publishing there, with Sin City and Next Men (respectively). A group, unofficially known as Dinosaur, who shared the same business attorney, had been part of negotiations there. Some of them, particularly Walt Simonson, brought the group to Malibu, who launched the Bravura imprint.
The collective included Simonson, Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Marv Wolfman, Steven Grant, Gil Kane, Shawn McManus, Kevin Maguire, Norm Breyfogle, and Dan Brereton. Malibu garnered much attention, with the legendary Kane and the Bronze Age generation of Starlin, Chaykin and Simonson (old friends and studio mates), Wolfman and the younger crowd. This drew my attention, as these were my superstars, not Image (well, except Mike Grell, when he launched Shaman's Tears).
Breed is from Jim Starlin and follows on the themes he explored in his cosmic work at Marvel, and his creator-owned Dreadstar. The lead character, Raymond Stone, is a half-breed, human and demon, born to a pregnant woman, who was the only survivor of an attack on a small Texas town, in 1949. Stone was adopted by a soldier and later served in Vietnam, where a strange transformation saved him, in an ambush. He lives in New York City, oblivious to the past transformation, when he comes to know about another world, called "Elsewhere," where demons live and transforms again. He meets another 'breed, Rachel, who tells him they are the only two human-demon half-breeds not to be raised as slaves, by the demons. Together, they fight off a demon attack.
Starlin returned to artwork on this series, after a long absence and he was greatly missed. His skills were there, boosting the writing, working in a tighter synthesis. Breed was the lone Bravura title to run an extended length (2 6-issue series), before the Marvel buyout shuttered the line. Starlin had a third series in the works when the end came. He shopped it around with no takers, until Image published it, in 2011.
Power & Glory was from Howard Chaykin, combining his cynical attitude, with social and political satire not unlike hiw classic American Flagg. The book features a twist on the superhero, as the American Powerhouse, a hero created by the government, is launched in the public eye. He is stage managed by marketing types, while the actual heroics are carried out by a seasoned special operative, who was considered too short and ethnic to be the hero. The blond haired, blue-eyed hero is a bit of a dim bulb, who starts to believe his own publicity. Chaykin recaptured a bit of the magic he had in the early 80s. He had been in Hollywood, working on the Flash and Viper, with a few comic projects, mostly writing. here, he was doing story and art and was using his wise-ass style to deliver a little dose of commentary on 90s America, in the wake of the stage-managed Gulf War. Chaykin had previously produced a cynical riff on pulp adventure, in the spirit of the Phantom, at Epic, with Midnight Men (part of the Heavy Hitters brand revamp of Epic, under Carl Potts). Now, Chaykin was doing the same kind of thing with a superhero. The end result was fun, if not quite at American Flagg level, and lasted 4 issues (a 5th was solicited) and a Christmas special. Chaykin has not revisited the character, sadly. nor Midnight Men, which I also enjoyed.
Man Called A-X (A-Ten, though everyone called it Axe), was from Marv Wolfman and Shawn McManus. On the surface, it looked like the most commercially targeted of the line, as it features a hulking cyborg, with big guns. However, this was no Liefeld clone. A-X is a soldier with a mysterious past, who emerges from Bedlam Bay, by Mercy Island, and who proceeds to destroy the city's generators and launch an all-out war on the violent gangs that control the city. Meanwhile, Liz Watkins is a reporter, plagued by nightmares of a Marine helicopter crash, over Iraq. She is divorced and barred from contacting her son. She seeks the truth as to what happened in the crash, while A-X seeks to know his own identity. These parallel quests are what raises this above the average Image title , though not enough to make it more than an above average adventure title. Much of the ground in it had been covered before and Wolfman was not at the top of his game, though still better than a large swath of the field.
Edge was from Steven Grant and Gil Kane, who sought to tread in Watchmen territory, bu applying more "real world" thought to superheroes. A geneticist has determined that mankind is at an evolutionary wall and taps into a way to stimulate centers of the DNA to create superpowers. The result is a group, called the Ultimates (before the Marvel line came into existence), who dispense a brand of justice that isn't necessarily met with favor. The scientist realizes that the superheroes are the true evolutionary dead-end and his son sets out to destroy the Ultimates, as Edge, coming into battle with his own brother. Kane was in fine, if not perfect form, and Grant had a tight plot. However, only 3 issues were released before the end of Bravura and the work remains uncompleted.
Dreadstar was from Peter David and Ernie Colon, despite Jim Starlin's presence in Bravura. David had scripted the series at First Comics and continued from the end there. It is some years later and the Lord High Papal is training Vanth Dreadstar's daughter, Kalla. Vanth, himself appears in the series and life and death prove very fluid within. The series was fine work, with Colon getting to show off what he can do (as in Amethyst and some of his fantasy work, at DC and Marvel, when he was estranged from Harvey); however, you couldn't help but wish Starlin was handling things.
Star Slammers was a continuation of Walt Simonson's oldest work. The original was created when he was in college, as a combination school project and fan work, in conjunction with the World Science-Fiction Association. Simonson had published short adventures, which were printed on an old press. That work got him a gig at DC, leading to his first high-profile work, on Manhunter (in the pages of Detective Comics, which writer Archie Goodwin edited). At Marvel, Simonson created a sort of origin and adventure for the Star Slammers, which was published as part of the Marvel Graphic Novel line. In that work, we see three Slammers, inter-galactic mercenaries, take down an entire army, all by themselves. It is now centuries in the future and a team is attacking a target, led by Commander Rojas. They are picked apart and Rojas is captured, alive, which was unheard of. he is being transported back to the Empire, for trial, while kept under heavy sedation, with a psychic monitoring his brain, via a cybernetic link. He keeps replaying the battle over and over. A group conspires to disrupt the Empire, via his murder and a killer is standing over his slumbering form, when he awakes and kills it. he then proves that one lone Slammer is still beyond the might of the Empire.
Simonson is back at his roots, here, with action-packed sci-fi adventure, with liberal doses of humor and anarchy. Simonson demonstrates a maturity in his storytelling, as Rojas and the Slammers were shown to have grown complacent; but, He learns and proves shrewder than his enemies. Also seen is a female, Phaedra, who had been tasked to oversee his transport, who starts to question her own loyalties.
This was one of my favorites of the line, and it was great to see Simonson having this much fun, while also delivering a smart story. However, events interrupted it and it would take a little time for the ending to appear, as a Special, from Dark Horse.
Strikeback was the most frustrating of the Bravura titles. The story was from Jonathan Peterson and Kevin Maguire, who also drew and conceived the feature. It was, essentially, Maguire's take on superheroes, via Hong Kong action movies. Maguire hadn't worked on a regular project, since the partial work on Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty. His art was fantastic and the story was action-packed, with plenty of humor (if not quite the bwa-ha-ha type); but, Maguire was slow and the book had several delays. It was supposed to be six issues; but, Bravura only published 3. A special was solicited; but never released. If memory serves, it would either conclude the series, or reprint the earlier chapters, in anticipation of the conclusion. However, Bravura ended before it was ever published. The three issues were reprinted at Image, and the series was finally concluded.
Nocturnals was the sleeper hit of the line, featuring story and art, from Dan Brereton. Brereton had made a small name for himself, with the Black Terror, at Eclipse, and Psycho, at DC. He was known for his moody, painted artwork, which was mixed with pulp crime adventure. here, he took that and added a bit of horror and Halloween, resulting in a delightful mix of of the most original characters in comics. The team consists of Doc Horror, the pulp adventurer leader (sort of a paranormal Doc Savage) and his daughter Eve (aka Halloween Girl) who can conjure all sorts of things from her trick-or-treat pumpkin. They investigate weird happenings in Pacifici City. Joining them are a collection of outcasts, including Polychrome, a spectral apparition; female amphibian Starfish; Firelion, a pyro-kinetic; reptilian Komodo; Raccoon, animal mutation; and Gunwitch, a zombie gunfighter, controlled by Eve. Together, they battle the Crim, a parasitic group who devastated Doc and Eve's homeworld, forcing them to flee to Earth. The series was gonzo, pulpy fun, with a smart-alec sense of humor and an old school sensibility that was refreshing, in a world of derivative gun-titing psychopathic heroes, which typefied the 90s. This was Lovecraft, Lester Dent, Mickey Spillane, X-Men and Doom Patrol in a mixture that was more original than the sum of its inspirations. Brereton picked up a larger fan base, which led to bigger assignments on Batman: Thrillkiller, at DC, plus his own Giantkiller. meanwhile, he continued Nocturnals at Dark Horse and Oni Press, after Bravura closed up shop. Rob Zombie was a huge fan of the original work, leading to Brereton providing a couple of illustrations for the album Hellbilly Deluxe, Zombie's first solo project, after White Zombie broke up.
Alas, all good things must come to an end, especially in the chaotic 90s world of comics. Marvel's buyout of Malibu brought an end to Bravura. The terms at Bravura were far better for the creative personnel than Marvel's own Epic (which was all but dead, after Archie Goodwin's departure and the limp performance of Heavy Hitters) and Marvel had no intention of continuing something they didn't own. The creators moved on to other things, some finishing their work (as noted above), some never finishing. The final result on Bravura was a nice mix of comics; nothing really industry-changing; but, showing the Image crowd how it was done and earning some critical and fan attention along the way (Nocturnals was nominated for the Eisner Award). The biggest thing it showed was that good writing was central to any truly good comic story, regardless of how flashy the artwork.
Now, a few odds and ends...
Malibu picked up the comic license to Star Trek Deep Space Nine, to the consternation of DC, who had the Next Generation and TOS rights. However, they did have a crossover between the two companies, with Next Gen and DS9. Marvel picked up the license for this and other Star Trek comics, though their run was short-lived (again) after they decided the cost vs revenue (Paramount got a bigger cut) wasn't favorable enough and killed the line.
I wasn't a DS9 fan (really, most of the later Trek series never really grabbed me, the way the original did and I only watched Next Gen sporadically) and hated Voyager; so, I skipped this.
Speaking of Star Trek; cast member Walter Koenig wrote this sci-fi series, with art from Dan and David Day. The art wasn't so hot, and I didn't do more than skim it, at a comic shop.
Batman 2 had made Catwoman a hot item and everyone was jumping on the bandwagon, with Lorne_Harvey reprinting Lee Elias' old Black Cat, plus new adventures. Malibu snapped up the license for Tarpe Mills' Miss Fury, gave her a breast augmentation, and sent her out for 4 issues of mostly T & A. DC would follow suit, with the Jim Balent-drawn Catwoman, who should have had severe back pain, by the 6th issue. 90s comics were as much silicone-fuelled as steroid-fuelled, when it came to heroes and villains.
Direct-to-Video producers Full Moon Entertainment teamed up with Malibu for comics based on Dollman and Trancers (both featuring Tim Thomerson), and the horror series Puppet Master and Subspecies. Full Moon had other comic connections, with Peter David scripting a couple of features and Dr Mordrid, a rip-off of Dr Strange. Full Moon specialized in low-budget rip-offs (with some charm, thanks to people like Thomerson) and Malibu/Eternity was a good fit.
Malibu published comics based on video games, including Mortal Kombat, Paranoia, Rocket Ranger and Street Fighter. Rocket Ranger was a blatant swipe of The Rocketeer (which was inspired by the Republic serials, starting with King of the Rocket Men), even in game format. The comic was even more blatantly. The design of the character mixed the Rocketeer, with a helmet lifted from the Outer Limits episode, "The Soldier," by Harlan Ellison. That episode was one of two that inspired The Terminator, leading to Ellison's lawsuit (which Cameron settled, after being caught admitting he swiped it in an interview, with a journalist). Malibu published two Terminator series...
Malibu also adapted less-than-classic movies, like Plan 9 From Outer Space...
I don't know if they improved upon it or not.
Malibu also handled the anime series Project A-Ko, which had allusions to comics (A-Ko is essentially the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman).
The last Malibu item is a trade collection of Dave Cockrum's Futurians...
This was a reprint of the Lodestone stories that Cockrum did, before a falling out with publisher David M Singer (over non-payment and art theft). This reproduced those issues in black & white, in rather cheap printing and shoddy binding (my copy's cover came off 2 minutes into reading it!).
And, that is Malibu, from the highs to the lows and in between. Now, as previously promised, we will move on to Aardvark-Vanaheim and Cerebus, so come on back for comedy, marital strife, misogyny,and self-publishing, from one of the few who made it work.