Mangels lives here in Portland and I've met him a couple of times, but I've read very little of his work. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

So, I;ve talked about Innovation's licensed books, their literary adaptations, and the Hero Alliance, while previously talking about Justice Machine and Maze Agency; what else did they have? Well, they continued legends of the Stargrazers, which premiered a few years before In Vanguard Illustrated, at Pacific.



Do I really need to spell out the appeal of this series? The Adam Hughes covers were not matched with Hughes interiors, as he couldn't handle that much work (and he wasn't doing that much with Maze Agency, by that point). Actually, the stories weren't quite that blatantly titillating, though they weren't a massive improvement. Innovation was notorious for a lot of T & A, though nowhere near as bad as the Bad Girl fad that followed. Stragrazers did have some fun going on in the book; but, it came in a rather juvenile package.



Cyberpunk was from Scott Rockwell and Darryl Banks (initially, though others came onboard, later). It's pretty much what the name says, a typical cyberpunk story of a hacker, evil corporations, drugs, gangs, noirish settings. In other words, Blade Runner meets computer geek fantasies. Cyberpunk was hot, with the writings of William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and bruce Sterling. Quite frankly, most of that stuff bored the heck out of me. The relentless jargon never helped and the comic is filled with that. however, if you enjoyed those works, Cyberpunk might be up your alley. The art is pretty good, with a mixture of painted work and graphic design. There's a lot of stuff inside the gameworld that's all very Tron.



Power Factor was another superhero book carried over from Pied Piper/Wonder Color, like the Hero Alliance. It was also from Kevin Juaire, who developed Hero Alliance, though Bob Ingersoll (Wolf & Byrd) came on board to script it). It's pretty lightweight, with some amateurish art, and a surprising appearance by Carmine Infantino. Only for the curious.



Ack the barbarian is a Groo wannabe, from Mario Macari. That pretty much covers it. Need more? Well, the artwork looks like it came out of a high school notebook. "Nuff said!



Angry Shadows was a one-short horror anthology, with black & white interior. It wants to be Warren; but isn't the same level of craftsmanship. Stephen Niles has an early story and the cover is John Bolton, which probably sold more copies than anything else. Avenue X is kinky vampire stuff, ala Anne Rice and Laurel k Hamilton, based on (of all things) a radio drama. It's mostly an excuse for cheap T & A and girl-on-girl action.

Alex Nino's Nightmare is a fantasy/supernatural one-shot, from the master. It's more a visual exercise than anything else, which is mindboggling. Bruce Jone put out two one shots of material. It's pretty much the same kind of thing as Alien Worlds and Twisted Tales, except that it is Jones writing and drawing, not just collaborating. Some good stuff here.



Headman is a weird space opera tale of a man who is reduced to a disembodied head, a female doctor who loves him, and a rebellion. If that's not enough, there is a love scene between the woman and the head. No, I'm not going to touch that statement with a ten foot pole. It's not quite Futurama; but, it is goofy. Creator Matt Thompson also did art on Legend of the Stargrazers.



Bozo was a reprint of some old Bozo comics, though it isn't stated as such anywhere inside. However, everything looks like the 1940s. Innovation took some flack for reprints that weren't labelled as such, though that was more about some repackaged specials, where they slapped new covers on existing material. This looks like a straight-on reprint, with new coloring. I don't know who the market was for this, apart from the Boomer comic collectors or Bozo fans, who probably had the old comics. Bozo wasn't exactly a media sensation in 1992, though he was still on WGN, weekdays.



Torchy was reprints of old Bill Ward material, with new covers by Olivia de Berardinis and others. It was more T &A, from a company that had a rep for it. However, Torchy was pretty tame stuff, though some of the racier stuff Ward did in the Army was reprinted. Even that wasn't that racy.



Straw Men was a sci-fi/horror series, about atomic experiments and a community affected by it. it was black & white, with less than polished art. Quite frankly, it looked more like the sort of thing Malibu published, under its various imprints (Aircel, Eternity, etc...)



Timedrifter was from gerard Jones and featured a guy who feels out of time, longing to be part of the Golden Age of Hollywood and 1930s adventure. Well, with a bit of time travel, he gets his wish and ends up on a nostalgic joy ride. This is more black & white, with decent art, that gets by mostly on charm and some fun.



Celestial Mechanics isn't Love & Rockets. It's a bit of space opera T & A, in B & W.



Scaramouch has nothing to do with Raphael Sabatini or the Comedia del Arte; it's a bizarre punk story with zombies and Nazis and general weirdness. It was a little out of my zone.



Newstralia was created by Stephen Sullivan and Tim Truman (though Truman's involvement is extremely limited), featuring a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story, set in Australia. There are mutant kangaroos and the like, flying craft, guns and scantily clad women. It's about a C-level book, occasionally a B; but, Tank Girl it ain't (nor Mad Max).

Innovation had a few other books; but, I'm not as familiar with them. All things considered, Innovation was a decent little company, whose ambitions overtook their resources. They tried to innovate (pun intended) by creating comics on CD-Rom; but, the market wasn't there and development costs were high. They were also plagued with having to use young, under-developed artists, who moved on when their work improved enough to get a higher paying gig. They did have a pretty good line of licensed titles, paving the way for companies like Moonstone and Dynamite, who live on that stuff.

Well, that's the thing; you had a revolving door of creative teams.  hero Alliance was a little more consistent, since Dave Campiti had been involved since the start.  The Protectors was a nice concept; but, it seemed like they didn't have much of a story in mind.  It didn't help that the early covers and concept art, used to market the series, were done by Clarke Hawbaker and Jerry Bingham.  Then, when the series came out, you had a much less polished artist on the interior art.

I'm way behind of this excellent thread, but I liked a lot of Innovation, though they're not easy to find.

Eclipse had some different stuff, notably Marvelman / Miracleman.

One of my earliest indie purchases was the outstanding P. Craig Russell (need I say more ?) Night Music.

I'm sure that will be covered along with lots of other stuff.

You schooled me here codystarbuck, as I had no idea Eclipse started on the east coast.

Okay, set your wayback machine for 1985. Ronald Reagan has won a landslide re-election, Rambo is back and single-handedly wining the war in Vietnam (after the fact), Jerry Ahern's Survivalist book series is on the paperback racks, and post-apocalyptic visions are a favorite in sci-fi and film, especially things like Mad Max 2, aka The Road Warrior. Into this climate came a comic about a rogue soldier, in a fractured US, with ecological disaster, a fascist government, decay and corruption. Sounds pretty generic, right? Just another comic jumping on a trend. Except, Tim Truman isn't someone who just jumps on bandwagons. Said rogue soldier is an Apache, who has visions of the 4 Monsters of legend, and whose spirit guide is a chipmunk.



The series opens with a striking drawing of a cactus bloom and a skull, as excerpts from Rosana Winter's memoirs fill in the backhistory. The next few pages are like a Sergio leone western, if Clint Eastwood was a Native American. A pair of rednecks are sitting around a desert gas station when a lone man rides in on a motorcycle. We hear racist comments as the man fills up his tank, ignoring the owner telling him he has to pay in advance. One of the rednecks tries to press matters and the poncho clad figure, throws one end over his shoulder, revealing heavy duty firearms.



Pure Eastwood, pure Leone! Except this gunman kills a bear, lurking behind a screen door, mad with hunger. We have been introduced to Emanuel Santana, Scout.

Truman picks up the story in the desert, as Scout stops and undergoes rituals with peyote and has a vision of the Gahn, his spirit guide. He first appears as a katydid and spends more time mooching food off the rather POd Santana. Scout has been plagued by dreams and wants answers, and he gets it. he has been chosen by Usen, the great spirit, to slay the four monsters who plague humanity. Oh, and it isn't a job offer, it's his destiny. Scout ends up at a ranch, owned and operated by a pornographer and pimp, named Al. Scout makes his entry with a grenade and breaks up the party and faces Al, who he sees as the White Owl Giant. He kills the monster, rescuing a young girl named Missy, in the process, then sits waiting, with the gahn, now a chipmunk, eating again. His wait ends when the Secretary of Agriculture shows up to see who messed with the operation that served people of power and influence. Words are exchanged and a war begins. Santana rides off into the desert, with Missy and the Gahn.

That opening issue gives you everything: a Clint Eastwood heroe, mixed with Native American mythology. His artwork is sparse, but effective, matching the desert locales. There is a harsh beauty to the whole thing, a beauty marred with quick violence. Like Max, this is a warrior in search of a war and it has found him.

Truman was already making a name for himself on Grimjack and was one of the first batch of graduates from the Kubert School. His work had a gritty realism that spoke of the influence of Kubert and some of the other artist who taught at the school, as well as some of the classic illustrators. Scout let Truman show his writing chops, which were pretty strong, right from the start. Meanwhile, it's not all grim. Truman had a sense of humor and it filters through the series, especially in the scenes between the Gahn and Santana. The choice of a katydid as the first manifestation is likely deliberate, as Jiminy Cricket jokes abound in the series and later sights of Santana with a chipmunk on his shoulders, as he faces off against the White Owl Giant are rather comical, if not surreal. Later, we will get the awesome addition of Beau La Duke, though that is for another time.

The second issue sees Scout on the run from the Army, including (appropriately) Apache gunships, as Truman (via Santana's narration) brings up the history of the US wars against the Apache, where success came by setting other Apache to root out the rebels. Truman plays with a bit of metaphor for the then-ongoing war in Afghanistan (after the Soviet invasion), as Scout destroys a gunship with a rocket launcher. he and Missy and the Gahn set off for Houston and run into an agricultural station. Soil in the US is depleted and this farm is using chemicals to grow food, further polluting already vulnerable soil. Scout destroys the operation and kills the second monster, Ag Aec. Waltz, aka The Buffalo Monster. Meanwhile, Pres. Jerry Grail (ex-pro wrestler turned politician) consults with advisor Bill Loper (an African-American evangelist) about the situation and we are introduced to two Army Rangers, Sgts Rosanna Winter and Ray Vaughn. They know Santana from training and are tasked with hunting him down. Turns out, all were taken into the Army as teens, trained and indoctrinated and turned into soldiers/killers. Santana rebelled and went AWOL. Oh, and Rosanna had a relationship with him.



Truman further builds this world, showing the ecological disaster that has devastated the country and the corrupt nature of the government. The idea of a performer turned president echoes Reagan, replacing B-movie actor with professional wrestler (which was red hot, in 1985). Add an evangelist and you will get Truman's views on some of their ilk.

Issue 3 sees Scout and Missy entering Houston, a decayed city, plagued by gangs and violence. There, Scout meets Guitar Man, a Fender-toting gang member, who also carries a few guns. He also meets a preacher, Rev. CW Deluxe, who runs a camp for displaced people, who takes them in and feeds them. He is aided by a mentally handicapped boy, named Doody, who spouts a mixture of scripture and Tolkien. We also meet Vice President Laura Carver, a heroin addict who is being kept compliant and under wraps by Bill Loper. The Army moves in on the camp, led by Winter and Vaughn and Scout and Vaughn renew old hostilities, while Scout and Winter face off, leaving us to wonder if love is still there.

Issue 4 sees Scout fight the Eagle Monster, in the form of Energy Sec. Eagre. Eagre attacks Scout in a P-40M Kittyhawk III fighter (as the Gahn informs us) though some quick work by Santana and a motorcycle send it to its doom. meanwhile, Scout tells Rev. Deluxe that the power to defeat the monsters demands a sacrifice and someone will die. Rosanna Winter is blamed for the failure to catch Scout and is assigned as a bodyguard to Laura Carver. Vaughn, who is healing, is assigned to security. By the end, Vaughn has captured Doody and demands Scout come to him.

Issue 5 sees Scout, Missy and rev. Deluxe go after Doody, who is being tortured, including having his eyes cut out. Scout infiltrates the location and is able to get Doody out, at the cost of Deluxe's life. meanwhile, we learn about Laura Carver and Rosanna helps her find the strength she once had to try and fight against Grail and her keepers. This all builds to the climax, in issue 6.

Issue 6 sees Santana face the Antelope monster, the final of the four. Rosanna is forced to make a choice between helping Laura Carver and Scout or following orders, a choice that puts her at odds with Ray Vaughn. It's a powerful piece that brings an end to the first book, which is dedicated to John Ostrander.

Issue 7 acts as a coda to the saga of The Four Monsters. We learn about the pasts of Rosanna and Santana, how they met at Camp Falwell, as part of a group of poor teens (most minorities) who were rounded up to be re-educated and trained as soldiers. Santana and Rosanna become lovers; but, Santana rebels and decides to leave, with Ray Vaughn and Rosanna confronting him, while on guard duty. Rosanna lets him go, which informs her torn loyalties we saw in previous issues. The art is from friend Tom Yeates, a fellow Kubert School graduate.

All along the way we see Truman's mix of gritty urban fighting and western desert, a decaying land and a corrupt system. All of this had great resonance in the 80s, as the US was "covertly" backing wars in Central America and Afghanistan and confrontation felt inevitable. Much of the politics of the era inform the series, as well as the events and politics of the Vietnam era. We also see Truman's love of Blues music and rock 'n' roll. Santana is named for Carlos Santana and Ray Vaughn is named and modelled after Stevie Ray Vaughn. Guitar Man is a mix of Jimi Hendrix and Miami Steve Van Zandt. The issue titles were generally taken from old Blues songs. Ecology is a major theme throughout, as is corruption, oppression and rebellion. Artistically, Truman reads as a mix of an urban graffiti artist and western painter; kind of Banksy-meets-Remington, with more than a bit of Joe Kubert and Russ Heath thrown in.

The saga was collected into a trade by Eclipse and later reprinted by Dynamite, with new coloring. The artwork alone is something you rarely see in comics these days, as it is filled with classic techniques. Truman draws great desert vistas, dark urban environments, and everything in between. He is adept at facial expressions and body language and lets the art tell the story when it should, while adding personality and detain via the dialogue.

This was a fantastic start to one of the most intriguing and unsung series of the 80s (though it had some decent fan press, in the day). People now know Truman more for his work with Star Wars and Conan, as well as his DC work on Hawkworld and Jonah Hex. If you enjoy any of that, you really owe it to yourself to see Scout.

Next, we move onto Book 2, where Scout runs into an entirely different threat, one that hits close to home.

I really like Airboy... I have the recent collections.. it's very much a product of it's time, but that actually adds to the charm for me.

I read some Valkyrie and Airboy from Eclipse Comics and I find them to be adventurous, exciting, and dynamic and both of them provide me tons of entertainment value in the 70's and they were the only Eclipse Comics available to me at the time and I've foolishly gave them away after reading them 5-6 times before discarding them to my friends for peanuts!

Drats!