I'm not 100% certain; but, I think the Jiggs one was a reprint of some other comic or collection of material.  The strip was better known as Maggie & Jiggs, so that may factor into it.  I think there may have been a copyright issue with Krazy Kat, though I have nothing to support that.  I was always curious about the Ken Pierce books, whether those were bootlegged or done under a limited license.  I know there were a few things out there that were published for the Direct Market as limited printings.  The tip off, to me, was the Phantom one they did, as King Features controls the strip and they do protect their trademarks.

Most of the 80s independents stayed away from superheroes for the most part: Fantagraphics, Comico, First, Renegade... and they had a pretty good run of publishing good comics.

The big disappointment for me in the 90s was how they were buried by Marvel and DC "events," gimmicks, and just plain flooding the maerket + the second wave of independents like Image and Malibu that tried to be "edgy" Marvel and DC. Fantagraphics was able to weather the storm because they carved out a definite niche; Dark Horse seemed to make it through on licensed properties. But most of the others disappeared.

It's time to wind things down on Eclipse, so i will finish with two of their notable series, from very unique voices.



The history on this is fairly well know; but, a brief summary is probably in order. Gerber had been working for Marvel, where he created Howard the Duck. Gerber was one of several at Marvel known for pushing up against deadlines, which led to the often seen sudden fill in issues of Marvel books, in the 70s. Howard had proven a cult hit, in a period where comics were struggling, an element aided by speculation on the first issue, within the burgeoning Direct Market. A newspaper strip was spun-off, with Gerber and Gene Colan producing it. However, deadline issues caused problems with the newspaper syndicate (which lost papers over them) and the syndicate demanded Gerber be replaced. Gerber later remarked that part of the issue was that they received no money up front for their work; they were payed royalties after the fact, which were slow in coming. They had to do other things to pay the bills. Gerber was replaced by Marv Wolfman and similar things happened with the Howard comic. Marvel, at the same time was trying to license Howard for merchandise and films (We all know how that turned out!) and Gerber filed a lawsuit, claiming sole ownership.

Destroyer Duck was created to help raise funds for Gerber's lawsuit. Jack Kirby provided the art (he, too, was battling Marvel), with Alfredo Alcala doing the inks. The first issue was the main benefit issue, with all proceeds going to Gerber, for the lawsuit. The issue tells the story of Louis "Duke" Ducj, aka "Destroyer," a construction worker, who is drowning his sorrows in a bar.



His companion is The Little Guy, a sad duck who is the only one who can tolerate Duke. TLG suddenly disappears, which unnerves Duke...



Duke contemplates TLG's last words, about changing and bettering himself. He ends up a soldier, fighting in a war (that looks like Stan's idea of Vietnam), graduating college and conducting scientific research, and becoming a policeman. One night, TLG stumbles through his door, bleeding to death. He describes how he was taken to a world of pink, hairless apes, who used him and abused him for their amusement. He became the property of Godcorp, who owned his life and drained him of everything, giving him false promises. When he lost value as entertainment, he was shipped over to Medical Concepts (a subsidiary) for experiments.



Duke makes a vow and builds a rocketship that crosses dimensions and launches a war against the Godcorp and president Ned Packer.

Gerber creates his usual terrific characters, with Ned Packer a mixture of every sleazy corporate executive, a man with no skills, but a degree in management. He considers talent disposable and management as the pinacle. There is his secretary and assassin, Woblina Strangelegs, a sort of living doll. Packer's own mother, Vulpa, is his chief assassin, Battleaxe. Duke is aided by Freddie Holmes, TLG's lawyer, who wears a superhero costume and has a flying Ferrari.

The book is a complete satire of Gerber's battles and ideology, as well as the growing power of corporations. He hits consumerism and compares it to addiction, with corporate masters as pushers who feed the addiction, to keep their employees docile and obedient. Karl Mark would have been proud. Kirby's art is often overpowered by Alcala; but, I suspect that was due to Kirby's increasing health issues, which affected his line. Some parts seem very Kirby and others not as much. The staging is definitely his.

The book also featured the debut of Groo, a back-up tale by Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle, about a writer who cons a publisher into presenting him with $30,000 to get top name novelists to write comics for them, then the publisher find out all of the stories are written on the same typewriter. He eventually tracks down the writer, who had been jailed for fraud, then aids Native Americans in Utah, in a legal dispute, and is considered a hero to them. Marty Pasko & Joe Staton craft a piece about an eccentric editor who pushes an artist into dangling him out a window (based on tales of Alex Toth doing the same to Robert Kanigher, though Gil Kane has asserted it never happened). Shary Flenniken contributes a short piece, The Adv. of Thelma Ironthighs, about a heroine who throws a tantrum to stop a crook, until he gives in and surrenders.

Gerber and Kirby came back for a new story, with a new Godcorp assassin going after Duke, then a 3-issue tale of Godcorp exploiting pheromones given off by a pair of sisters to exploit in mass merchandising (parodying the Strawberry Shortcake fad). One of the sisters escaped and fights alongside Duke, as Cherries Jubilee, who looks rather like Ruby Thursday, of the Headmen, from Gerber's Defenders. The last two issues were written by Buzz Dixon, and feature a spoof of Gilligan's island, with STDs.

The real meat of the series is in that first issue and that is the one to get, with Destroyer Duck. The rest are good; but not quite at the same intensity.

Now, we come to, fittingly, Z, for Zot!



Before he was Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud was creating them; and, what he created was unlike anything on the stands. Unlike anything in the US, that is. The series was heavily influenced by Osamu Tezuka's Tetsuwam Atom, aka Astroboy, and the boundless optimism of that character and creator. The hero is Zachary T Paleozogt, aka Zot. He is a teenage hero from an alternate dimension, which is a 50s sci-fi utopia, with art deco cityscapes, floating cars, rocket boots and the like. Our other protagonist is Jenny Weaver, a teenage girl from our dimension, who has just moved to a new town. She feels alone and friendless in her new surroundings, while she is also tormented by her brother Butch. She goes for a walk and witnesses an opening between dimensions, as Zot comes through. She ends up in Zots adventure, as does Butch, who finds himself turned into a chimpanzee, in Zot's world.

I will be honest here; I have only just started reading the series. It was already in progress when I discovered Eclipse and issues weren't easy to come by. In recent years, I acquired scans of it; but, haven't gotten around to reading it. Skimming across issues, what is clear is the passion and exuberance of Scott McCloud. The series is fun, yet serious. It proves you can touch on deep topics, while letting your imagination run free and enjoying the process of telling a story. the characters are real people, with all that entails. The linework is deceptively simple, matching that of Tezuka and other masters of simple lines and complex stories, such as Charles Schulz and Herge. McCloud would later make a strong argument towards the idea of simplicity in storytelling carrying a power. He uses the necessary lines, something Toth achieved and people like Howard Chaykin have continually strived toward.

There is a charm to Zot! that is universal, much like those international influences and local greats. There is also the intelligence that would be put on greatest display in McCloud's seminal work on the storytelling mechanisms of comics, Understanding Comics. Zot! was a favorite of the critics and fan press and had a cult following that was rabid and loal; but, was never as large as it deserved.



Eclipse fought the good fight for some time. For their tenth anniversary, they published a series of ads, mostly used on their back covers, which grouped characters along themes (superheroes, humor, adventure, etc...) showcasing the diversity of their line. They also launched (as did many other) a company-wide crossover, in Total Eclipse.



The series was Eclipse's version of Crisis on Infinite Earths and features their various characters brought together to stop Zzed, an immortal born in an eclipse of the universe (a syzygy of the whole universe), who has grown tied of immortal life. His hired assassins can't kill him; but, he learns that the destruction of the universe would end his life, as well. This brings our heroes together with Misery, the antagonist of Airboy, a mystical being who collects the souls of dead aviators, in his Airtomb, and who once held Valkyrie as a prisoner.

The series was written by Marv Wolfman, who knew a thing or two about crossovers, with Bo Hampton on the art. Covers were provided by Bill Sienkiewicz. It sounded good on paper and it has moments; but, a lot of the characters don't work well within the series, especially ones like Miracleman, who was included. The Airfighters and similar pulpy characters, like Prowler and Aztec Ace, as well as Strike and Sgt Strike, work fairly well. The other superheroes, not as much. Issue 4 gave us Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham's first published Miracleman story, "Screaming," which was later reprinted in The Apocrypha (the story featuring Jason Oakey, describing his vacation at his aunt's, when MM fought Johnny Bates, in London). Obviously, that issue commands high prices.

One of the central points to the story was the continuation of the story of Strike and Sgt Strike. TE #1 picks up where the Strike! Special left off, with the returned Sgt Strike demanding the return of his power harness. Events overtake them and they are forced to work together, and young Strike ends up a casualty of the battle against Zzed, creating the only really poignant moment.

Eclipse's downfall was gradual. The flood of the Russian River in 1986 destroyed most of their back issue stock, in their warehouse. They depended on mail order sales of back issues for cash, which helped finance printing of new books. With that capital gone, they often had to wait for revenue to come in to pay for the next issue, which wasn't an instantaneous process. They were in debt to several printers and most wouldn't extend them credit; it was cash up front. They soldiered on and found some success with special trading card releases, with special focus. Several of these were politically oriented, such as The Bush League, featuring members of the Bush Administration and their involvement in various scandals and other shady dealings. They had sets devoted to the Savings and Loan Crisis, the AIDS Epidemic, the Mafia, and serial killers. The latter led to some legal threats, from victim's rights advocates. They also published a set of cards devoted to comic creators, including Todd McFarlane, who dreamed of having his own baseball card, as a failed professional athlete, and who would factor into the future of the company.

These cards weren't enough and the card market was soon to implode. Eclipse's releases became more sporadic. cat yronwode maintained a column in the Comic Buyer's Guide, pontificating on different subjects and promoting Eclipse releases that would often be re-solicited at least once, if not several times. The ads also promoted comics from Claypool Comics, through some sort of arrangement. Stories started flying about unpaid creators, while Eclipse attacked creators for not producing work. Neil Gaiman went public about Miracleman #25 delays, talking about the problems getting it printed and that they wouldn't produce and further work until they were paid for work already produced. Eclipse had entered into an arrangement with HarperCollins, to publish trade collections for the mass book retail market. This sounded like a great deal, on paper, as HC was a major publisher globally. However, they were also notorious for creative accounting and slow remittance of royalties. This further worsened Eclipse's cash woes.

Eclipse also lost a lawsuit filed by Studio Proteus. SP was the brainchild of Toren Smith, and was the first packager of manga translations for the American market. They had a co-publishing arrangement with Viz and Eclipse, which led to Eclipse producing Mai, Kamui, Are 88, Appleseed and a few others. Eclipse's financial woes meant that SP wasn't getting their cut of royalties and Smith filed suit. In the course of the legal actions, Eclipse had to turn over financial records and two sets of books were found, with differing figures. SP won a judgement and all publishing rights to the shared titles. This further hobbled Eclipse.

In her column, cat yronwode revealed that Dean Mullaney had left her for another woman and cleaned out the Eclipse bank accounts. She cited that as the reason for creators not getting paid. She aired personal pain and dirty laundry, while she attempted to keep up the appearance that Eclipse was still alive. Most of the talent had moved on and books ceased appearing at all in 1994. In 1995, the company declared bankruptcy. There were several offers on the table to acquire specific titles, including a substantial one from Canadian entrepreneur Roger Broughton, who had purchased material from Charlton and ACG, in the past. He especially sought Miracleman and offered much higher money than the ultimate settlement of the court. In the end, the court took Todd McFarlane's surprise offer for the entire line (minus creator-owned and licensed material), probably out of a desire to end things quickly and simply, despite the court's duty to secure the best deal for creditors. McFarlane made announcements that Miracleman and the Heap would appear in Hellspawn and that other characters would pop up. Beau Smith was working for McFarlane and there was talk of producing more of his Black Terror. Aside from a Miracleman statue and an appearance by Mike Moran in Hellspawn, as well as the Heap, nothing more came of it. Destroyer Duck was set to appear in Codename: Strykeforce, when Marc Silvestri changed his mind, leading to a last minute re-write. He later appeared with Savage Dragon. Some of the Eclipse material has been reprinted through other publishers; but, much has never been collected, leaving searching for the original comics the only avenue for collectors and curious readers (aside from bootleg scans).

Eclipse was one of the most diverse of all of the 80s and early 90s independent publishers. They had something for everyone and provided a venue for both established pros to stretch their creative wings and for young talent to strut their stuff. The cared about the medium and often put their money where their mouth was, via donating the publishing costs of Destroyer Duck, picking up titles from dying publishers, their PSAs about civil rights, and socially progressive messages in many of their comics. In many ways, they set the template for Dark Horse, though Mike Richardson had a better head for business. In the end, the penumbra stayed over Eclipse and their day ended. The creative people moved on and staffers went elsewhere. Beau Smith worked for Todd McFarlane for some years. cat yronwode eventually moved on from comics, using her background in publishing in other pursuits, as well as writing on a variety of pop culture topics. She has also been heavily involved in New Age mysticism. Dean Mullaney is now editor and packager for IDW, producing the Library of American Comics volumes, as well as overseeing their EuroComics line, which reprints Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese. Tim Truman, whose 4 Winds studio was like an imprint of Eclipse, spent more time writing, fro DC and Dark Horse, though he occasionally dabbled in art.  He also produced a series of comics adapting the songs of the Grateful Dead. Scott McCloud published Understanding Comics, via Kevin Eastman's Tundra Publishing (later picked up by HarperCollins) and set himself up as the academic ambassador of comics and graphic storytelling to a generation. Mark Evanier continued to split his time between writing and producing for Hollywood and in comics, with Groo and other works. Dan Spiegle retired from comics and spent the rest of his life painting, recently passing away. Pros like Mike Grell moved to other indie publishers to produce new comics, while returning to DC and Marvel to work on their material. Kurt Busiek followed up the Liberty Project with some minor work at DC and Marvel, then scored with Marvels, with Alex Ross. Ty Templeton moved on from New Wave and Stig's inferno to things like Justice League International, Elongated Man and Batman Adventures. Tom Yeates would dabble in comics and also work in book illustration, including gorgeous pieces for an omnibus edition of John Carter of Mars. Tom Lyle moved on to work on Starman (Will Payton) for DC, their Impact line (with Archie Comics) and Spider-Man, at Marvel.  He then went on to teach at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Bo Hampton created the Sequential Arts program there, before moving on to work in animation and advertising. Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman faded into obscurity.

Eclipse's legacy is showing the true potential of the medium, by showcasing just about every genre of storytelling imaginable. They told the world that comics could do anything and demonstrated it. If the media had locked onto them the way they did DC, in the same time period, things might have been different.

You are more than welcome.  As a kid, I read any comic that came my way.  That meant a lot of DC and Marvel; but, it also meant Gold Key, Charlton, Archie, Harvey and Atlas/Seaboard (Warren was a little too old for me and was gone by the time I was ready).  In my senior year of high school, I discovered the Direct Market, via a local bookstore that was getting their comics through Capital City distribution.  It was there I discovered Jon Sable,, American Flagg and Nexus, and it doesn't get more diverse than that.  The following year, at college, I walked into my first bona fide comic shop and saw all kinds of comics.  This was a childhood dream.  There were comics everywhere; big ones, digest, actual books, kids' comics, adult comics.  As can be seen in the 30 years Ago thread, I bought a lot of DC, as they were starting to go through a renaissance, post-Crisis, and one Marvel book (Classic X-Men); but, I started to at least check out some of the indies.  I picked up more First material and started to expand into Eclipse, then Dark Horse.  Kitchen Sink and Fantagraphics took longer.  Comico was at the end of my college days and the start of my naval days.  Innovation bridged between military and civilian.  I snickered at Image and then watched them grow beyond a vanity publisher. 

I love a lot of DC and Marvel books; but, those indie companies also gave me a lot of pleasure.  I was lucky to be around a few comic shops that weren't mainstream snobs, during my chief collecting days.  I have since acquired scans of a lot of other material, so I could economically sample other works.  To me, this is what comics are all about and what I also loved about bookselling; so many different ideas and stories, so many different storytelling methods.

I recall one of the last books Eclipse solicited was the Life Story Of George (Superman) Reeves. It might have had the title of "Who Killed Superman?" or something close to that. The solicits stated that it would reveal that it was not a suicide and would name the murderer. Unfortunately, it never came out

I wanted to take a break from exploring the 80s independent publishers and take a look at the world of self-publishing. With the rise of the Direct Market, in the late 70s, a new avenue for putting out comics emerged and several individuals, who saw no chance of publishing their work via DC or Marvel, or even Charlton or Gold Key, found that they could get their books out themselves. There were a few national distributors and a host of regional ones (yep, Diamond wasn't a monopoly, yet...). So, those enterprising folks put out their own comics; created, printed and marketed themselves. The earliest success stories were a Canadian, Dave Sim, and a pair of Americans, Wendy and Richard Pini. Dave Sim's Cerebus hit the racks in 1977 and never looked back. Inspired, somewhat, by the work of Steve Gerber, on Howard the Duck, and Barry Windsor-Smith's work on Conan, the barbarian aardvark began his adventures, which would eventually reach a self-imposed goal of 300 issues. Along the way, it went from pure parody to a true expression of whatever entered Dave Sim's head. Cerebus is well covered here, so I will skip that.



The Pini's launched their Elfquest in Fantasy Quarterly, in 1978. When the publisher folded, the Pinis, who felt that the previous 2 issues (FQ and Elfquest #1) had been rather poorly done and they could do better. They borrowed money and started WaRP Graphics (WaRP standing for Wendy and Richard Pini). They published Elquest from the second issue on, eventually reprinting the original series via Marvel's Epic imprint, and later licensing the series to DC, who put out 4 Elfquest Archive editions. In the 90s, Warp had turned into a little empire, with multiple series being produced, most from other creators (including Barry Blair, who had done his own elf-themed comics, previously). I wont be covering those, as I have never read the series. I know, shame, shame. I have looked at them, in the old color book collections, but never really connected with it. The series has won tons of awards and was beloved by readers. If you enjoy fantasy, seek it out. It's just not really my kind of fantasy material and I never really found an "in" to it. My loss, I suppose. Maybe someday.



Jack Katz and The First Kingdom was another early self-publisher. I saw ads for the series in First Comics, from either a store or distributor, which featured First Kingdom, cerebus, Elfquest, and some Frank Brunner portfolios. I eventually got the series and tried reading it. It was a blend of science fiction and fantasy and became Katz's life's work, after years of working in the industry (including Atlas/Marvel). Again, I didn't really warm to it, though I had barely started reading it. The sheer magnitude of the series was impressive; but, the writing just didn't click with me. I was young, then, so maybe I should look at it again. I've changed my mind about many things in the ensuing years. The series was eventually collected in some nice hardcover volumes, in recent years.



No, the one I want to talk about is Martin Wagner's Hepcats.



Hepcats is one of the best works that came out of the self-publishing movement that followed the debut of Cerebus and it is also the saddest. Not just the story itself; but, also its publishing history. It remains an unfinished masterpiece and represents the crushing world of publishing, in the 90s (and even today).

Martin Wagner started in his journey in 1985, while attending the University of Houston. He created a comic strip for the school newspaper, the Daily Cougar, called Shasta Says. The series featured anthropomorphic characters, based on the school's mascot, Shasta the Cougar. Wagner ended up transferring to the University of Texas, at Austin; but, continued the strip for another semester, with the paper paying for the work. The strip was so popular they made they unique offer. However, after a bout of censorship and butting heads with the newspaper's editor, Wagner stopped the strip.  He launched a new one on the Daily Texan, the newspaper of the Univ. of Texas. That paper had featured some illustrious people's work over the years:  Berke Breathed, Chris Ware, Robert Rodriguez, and Wagner. Hepcats launched as a daily humor strip, much in the style of Doonesbury and Bloom County. It was in the art style that it matched those strips, rather than political topics. Hepcats featured humorous events in daily college life.

The series starred Joey McLyon



a young college student, and a bit of a dim bulb. Oh, he isn't stupid; just a typical college age male, with a common sense deficiency and lack of maturity. We also see his parents and younger sister, through the course of the strip. His roommate is Gunther Rhino...



Gunther is more level-headed and a more serious student. He still likes to party; but, he's a bit more attentive to why he is in college.  He's also the go-to guy for his friends, when they need sensible advice. He and Joey eventually meet Arnie Coames...



Arnie is socially inept and a bit of a pain. At one point in the strip, he fakes a suicide attempt for attention. The story proved effective enough that several people contacted the newspaper about it, both worried about the character and about Wagner himself. Joey and Gunther end up as Arnie's best friends and help bring him out of his shell, which is further advanced when he meets a student/stripper, Erica Davis...



Erica works at a local strip club to help pay her way through school and Arnie ends up helping out at the club and becomes a favorite of the dancers. Through the course of the strip, Erica and Arnie are an item; but, Erica is mainly there to add a female, as the strip was very much a guys' story.

The strip was filled with great humor, with a typical gag-a-day format, but with continuing storylines. Some of it was collected in Yo---The First Hepcats Volume, published while Wagner was still at the Univ. of Texas. It was later collected in its entirety, along with Hepcats #1, as The Collegiate Hepcats.



In 1988, Wagner decided to persue publishing Hepcats as a self-published comic, under the company name Double Diamond Press. From the start, the influence of Cerebus was obvious...



In that first issue, we meet Joey, as he sits in a lecture, bored out of his mind. His focus wanders to a pretty young woman sitting in the lecture hall. he starts to fantasize about her (naked) and it turns into a Conan/Cerebus riff. He wakes up from the daydream to find the hall empty and goes off to meet Gunther.



Eventually, after a bit of comedy, Joey goes off to study and runs into the girl from the lecture, who says "Hi!"



The second issue (done in a "sideways" format, as in Cerebus) introduces Arnie and Erica, as the gang comes to New Orleans, for Mardi Gras. Erica came from New Orleans and is going to work in an old club, while they are there. the boys wander around and Arnie mopes. Erica seems to be hiding something from him and he knows little about her past life. She pretty much ditches him there. They stay with an old friend a painter, and then she hooks up with the manager of the club and her old dancer friends.  Meanwhile, Joey and Gunther look around the festivities and Gunther nominates Joey to wrestle a woman, at a carnival event site. The woman is challenging all comers and whooping the tar out of them. $25 is offered to anyone who can last a round. Needless to say, Joey doesn't get the money. Gunther consoles Arnie and he heads to the club to find Erica, whol belts a grabby customer. She calls it a night and collects her money and then takes the boys to dinner.

These first two issues are basically an extension of the college strip. It is less the gag format of the strip, which aped the pacing of Bloom County. This has more of that Cerebus influence, where jokes are built across the page and the issue, while getting deeper into the emotional content. Issue 2 especially goes for the emotional drama of the characters, as Arnie deals with Erica's secretive past and jealousy. All of this is to introduce the characters to a new audience and set up the first storyline, Snowblind.

Wagner structured Hepcats to follow the "phonebook" format of Cerebus, with each storyline fitting into a single volume. Snowblind was intended to cross over two volumes, covering issues 3- 20, with 3-10 forming Vol.1 and 11-20 Vol. 2. Issues 21-25 were to be called The Freshman Quintet, and would tell the rest of the college stories. it was to be more humor driven and sounded like it would be a reworking of the college strip. Issues 26-39 were to be more serious, called Glass Heartbeat, with the characters as adults, looking back on their post-college lives, from the present (our present). we would see their ups and downs and Wagner promised that things wouldn't necessarily turn out like we hoped. However, we never got to Snowblind, Vol. 2.

Snowblind, Vol. 1 is told in a backwards fashion, as we see Erica in the hospital, with Arnie waiting to see her. Joey and Gunther are there supporting their friend. Erica acts as a narrator, providing a running commentary about the events as they unfold.  It takes up to issue 10 to see everything; but, we start out with the knowledge that Erica was pulled out of the freezing waters of a lake, after what appears to be a suicide attempt. We don't see this part until later. At the start, we step back from the hospital and see that it is December. Arnie is going to be giving Erica a ring and wants Joey and Gunther to help him out. Gunther is to distract Erica on their shopping trip, while Joey and Arnie get the ring. There's plenty of character comedy and conversation while this happens. At the mall, Erica sees someone and faints. She is awakened and takes off to the restroom, and we see the guy chase after her. Gunther misses this, as do Arnie and Joey. Erica is awakened from a dream by a woman in the restroom and shrugs it off as a migraine, as she leaves the restroom, she sees the man again and faints. He takes her outside, in back of the mall. We are left to wonder who he is and why Erica is fainting. Arnie goes looking for her and is pointed to the parking lot. he finds the man and Erica arguing and attacks him, calling for someone to call the cops. The man escapes and Arnie chases him down. The man gets free and pulls out a knife, threatening Arnie. A delivery driver shows up and the man takes off. Arnie takes Erica to report this to the police, though she seems reluctant and gives a vague description. Arnie wonders what is going on. We go back and forth through this, from the hospital, back to the events that led to the suicide attempt. We see the man break into Erica's place and find out that she calls herself Erica, when he knows her as Kathryn. Eventually, he gets her on the phone and they meet and we find out he is Erica's brother. She is reminded of her past, with their abusive father, who was split from their mother. We learn from Kevin, the brother, that their father committed suicide, though he intended to kill the entire family. Kathryn disappeared, leaving only their little sister Anneke alone in the house, covered in blood. Anneke is now 13 and suffers from the trauma of what occurred. After Kevin is gone, we see Erica and Arnie join Joey and Gunther at Joey's parent's lake house and this is where Erica attempts suicide. The final two issues reveal what happened and why Erica ran away. I'll get to that in a moment.

The series was mature in every fashion. It features nudity; but that isn't a sign of maturity. The storytelling is. These are complex characters with real emotions and personalities; they do good and bad things. Life isn't an easy thing, there isn't a grand adventure, other than that of life itself and the people you meet along the way. As Erica's past unfolds, she goes beyond being Arnie's girlfriend, into both a tragic and heroic figure. Erica was originally conceived as a girlfriend for Arnie and her being a stripper was a joke, which took on its own life. It turned into a bizarre reality for Wagner, which he details in both an interview in The Comics Journal (issue 173) and in the introduction to the collected edition of Snowblind. Wagner found himself with fans at a local strip club, while doing the comic strip version at UT. he was introduced to a dancer, called Chelsea, whose real name was Tiffanie. He fell in love and they got married. It ended badly. Very badly. Tiffanie was very secretive about her past and claimed there was childhood abuse. Wagner said there was something odd about her father and he believed there was physical abuse; but, no one was ever quite sure about sexual abuse. They believed it was possible; but, Tiffanie turned out to have a wild inner fantasy life, that included a non-existent twin sister, Chelsea, and other mental issues. She is not Erica, but, Wagner's life with her informed the story. Arnie is not Wagner, but, he is informed by Wagner. Another woman, who worked on the Daily Texan, was also an inspiration for Erica. She had answered an ad for a photographer's assistant; not a model, an assistant. He took her to get some equipment from a hotel room and then restrained her and raped and terrorized her, before she was able to trick him into letting her use the bathroom and escape out a window, naked. Wagner had been talking to a colleague about the news story about the incident, when the female colleague, overhearing them, told him that she was the victim. Wagner said she was matter of fact about it and told how she escaped. he says she almost wore it like a badge of honor, that she survived this and would not let it control her life. These two different women inspired a curiosity that led to Erica's development as a character, which is the heart of Snowblind.

Wagner's art is amazing...



Now, I am sad to say, I didn't jump on this series right away. My comic reading habits were like many in 1988; I read a lot of superhero stuff. Mostly DC, and similar stuff from some of the indies. I read some adventure stuff from the indies, starting in 1984, with Jon Sable, and continuing to American Flagg and Lone Wolf & Cub. In 1987, I started branching out a little and even moreso in 1988. I dabbled more and more into the indies while I was serving in the Navy, from 1988 to 1992. That is when I first started reading Cerebus, after buying the first two phonebooks. I was maturing and so were my tastes. I started reading The Comics Journal and Comic Buyers Guide, with the occasional Comics Interview (mostly back issues) and Amazing Heroes. There were titles I kept hearing about, like Cerebus, Love & Rockets, Bone, Hate, and Hepcats. These series were in progress and back issues were hard to find, so I waited for collected editions. In 1993 I started working for Barnes & Noble and found my first issues of Love & Rockets, just before the finale at issue 50. I went back and read the collections. In the early to mid 90s, I was getting seriously into the indies, as I was fed up with DC and Marvel and the mess that the speculator boom brought to comics. The indies got a brief lift, as attention was focused on several, including Cerebus, Beanworld, Bone, Hepcats, A Distant Soil and Starchild. One of the factors that helped was that Dave Sim embarked on collective tours with the other self-publishers, making appearances together at stores and at conventions. I say a brief lift because the fallout of Marvel buying Heroes World Distribution led to a frenzy, as DC went exclusively with Diamond (and an option to buy them out) and Image and Dark Horse followed suit. Capital City, which was far more indie-friendly was left with few backers and eventually sold out to Diamond. Heroes World imploded and Marvel was back with Diamond. Diamond gave favored nation status to DC and Marvel, with lesser status to Image and Dark Horse. Everyone else was shoved into the back of previews. Comic shops who had been speculating and/or layed out large sums to order Marvel and DC, at levels beyond their sales (to get better discounts) found themselves with no cash and mounting debts. Many went under. Those that remained became extremely conservative in their ordering. Indie publishers struggled to stay alive. Most ended up forming relationships with a bigger publisher. Bone and A Distant Soil went to Image, though Bone ended up going back on its own, once the trades began selling in places other than comic shops. During this mini-boom, Wagner got out two more issues, #11 and 12. My first issue of Hepcats was number 11. Those of you who have seen it can understand how it hit me.

Hepcats 11 features an entirely silent story of what happened on that fateful day, the source of all of the pain that drove Erica to attempt suicide, whether she intended to go all in or just make a cry for help. We see Erica with her younger sister, Anneke, a cute little girl. They hear their father come home and rush downstairs to the kitchen and wash dishes. We see an angry man come in and drop mail on the table. Kevin comes in and we see the father point at his watch and appears to be yelling. Kevin flips him off and gets punched in the gut. He crawls out of the room and runs out of the house. Erica watches in silent horror. Little Anneke goes to the refrigerator and brings her father a beer and he hugs her. Erica, while doing laundry, is sent to get groceries, her little sister watching her as she leaves. The father sits at a table and we see bills, with final notices. There is a letter from a law office, which he opens and it infuriates him. We see him with his head buried in his arms, sobbing, a close-up on his wedding ring, suggesting it is related to the missing mother. We see Erica at the supermarket and a note being taped to a refrigerator, at home. The father sits down on the floor next to Anneke, who is watching tv. He touches her hair; but, we see in his eyes that something isn't right. Erica comes home and finds Anneke's glass lying on the floor. She picks it up and heads for the kitchen. We see an overturned chair and Erica rushes in. We see a collapsed table and Anneke unconscious, blood covering her pelvic area. Erica grabs towels and carries the little girl upstairs. We see rage in her eyes. The father is sitting out back, like a zombie. He is wearing a shirt and his boxer shorts and socks, but no pants. He has tears in his eyes as he looks at two fingers on his right hand, which are covered in blood. Suddenly, Erica strikes him with a fireplace poker. She stands there, not moving, when the father gets back up and attacks her, throwing her through the glass patio door. Time passes and we see her wake up in a pile of broken glass, with numerous lacerations. She gets to her knees and see her father sitting in a chair, holding a gun. We watch as he slowly thumbs back the hammer, then shoves it into his mouth. We see Erica go into the bathroom and vomit, then scream in agony. She goes and checks on Anneke, then the issue ends...



That was my intro to the series. Helluva start!

The next issue sees a recurring dream of Erica's, of her father in a tiled room, blood splatered behind him. She rushes to him, like everything before had been a dream, when he vomits blood and she wakes up. We see what happened next. She ran from home with only two dollars and hid in a shed, by a truck stop. She uses the restroom to clean up and sees the two dollars. Outside, a woman is on a pay phone (remember those?), her purse is visible through an open car window. Thanks to a distraction, Erica is able to grab her purse and run away. Inside is enough cash to get her a bus ticket to New Orleans, where Erica begins a new life, Kathryn having disappeared.

Unfortunately, the state of the market and personal turmoil dumped Martin Wagner deep into a financial hole. Things had improved as far as sales of the comic, doubling with issue 11 and the attention from Cerebus and the tours. However, expenses were draining cash. The publication of the Collegiate Hepcats helped, but, life issues put a drain on that. Wagner divorced his wife and his family helped bail him out of business debt. He made a deal with Antarctic Press to reprint the series and continue it; but, issue 13 never came. Wagner said initial orders were too low and he pulled the plug, though Antarctic said the orders were in line with previous issues and Wagner didn't deliver the artwork. Nothing more followed. An attempt to create a webcomic also ended quickly, with only 5 pages produced. Wagner had decided to get paying work and was working in commercials and advertising. he did some work for friend Robert Rodriguez, on Spy Kids, and also produced illustrations for some childrens books. he funded a documentary, via Kickstarter, called Bloody Work.  He also co-hosted the Atheist Experience webcast.

In doing these pieces, I often skim over issues, to refresh my memory. With Hepcats, I read them again; all of it.  The power of the story is tremendous and it saddens me that it was yet another victim of the comics industry of the 90s. So many companies and creators were squashed during this time. So many shops went out of business. In reading old interviews, it was funny to see Wagner reply to an online chat about working on setting up an e-mail; not a website, an e-mail! He talks of setting something up on Compuserve. Remember those days? The truly sad thing is that he could have probably made something of a web comic, 10 years later, if he had focused the same energy as when he launched the comic. We might be talking about Hepcats trade collections, a possible movie, or cable/internet tv series. Hepcats stands as a monument to unfulfilled dreams and potential.

Despite the sadness, we can still bask in the glory of the work that Wagner created. Hepcats is worth reading, even for the little story produced. The Double Diamond issues aren't easy or cheap to find, though the Antarctic issues are a little more available (relatively speaking). Collegiate Hepcats and Snowblind trades are out there, though Snowblind is a little pricier. You can read issues 1-10 here:

hepcats.comicgenesis.com/

The site was last updated in 2008 and issues 11 and 12 were never uploaded. There are scans out there.

I feel a bit of affinity with this book, as you can probably tell. Wagner and I are the same age. There are some parallels in our lives and I look at the time frame of the book, 1988 to about 1994, where the future seemed wide open. At 50, I've lived that future and it wasn't quite what I expected; not worse, but different. I wonder how Wagner looks back on his? More than Miracleman #25, I'd like to see Hepcats 13 and a completion of Snowblind, Vol. 2. I'd love to see the Freshman Quintet and Glass Heartbeats. I suspect Freshman Quintet would be different than conceived and Glass Heartbeats would also, though it sounds like, again, art presaged life. Here's hoping that Joey, Gunther, Arnie and Erica are well and happy, even if they aren't together; and, thank you to Martin Wagner, for the stories he did give us.