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Post by rberman on Nov 10, 2018 20:02:40 GMT -5
Twilight #1 “Last Frontier” (December 1990)
Frame Story: In the far future, aged blind journalist Homer Glint chases his Seeing Eye cat F’Tatateeta around the house. His fingers run across a blaster pistol, and he remembers…  The Story: In the future, Central America has suffered a nuclear catastrophe which has driven out humans. Now it’s populated mostly by robots and sentient beast-men. Into the jungle, seeking the peaceful surrender of a beast tribe, come our main characters: • Homer Glint, journalist and negotiator, in the prime of life, with a manly man’s waxed mustache; • John Starker, soldier of fortune • Karel Sorenson, Homer’s ex-wife, a living camera • Rick Purvis the Star Rover, Karel’s new partner, a Tony Stark-looking soldier of fortune with a temper. He kills the rebel beast-man leader in the middle of surrender negotiations, thus cementing ongoing inter-racial strife.  Much later, Glint and Sorenson cover a sporting event in which Purvis is competing, then they trade barbs with him over drinks.  On a battleship in space, we meet: • Tommy Tomorrow, sadistic and ambitious commander of the Planeteers’ vast space armada. • Brent Wood, Tommy’s noble lieutenant. Tommy is trying to track down an alien race, the Methuseloids, whom he believes hold the key to immortality. He and John Starker fought together in the First Alien War. Starker was drummed out of the service for having intimate relations with a robot. Later, John Starker is found at a robotic brothel by his younger brother Axel “ Star Hawkins” Starker, a bounty hunter. John and Axel travel to a space station to retrieve Ilda, his robot girlfriend. Ilda turns out to be in the company of Brenda Tomorrow, the former wife of Tommy, presumed incorrectly to have been killed in the First Alien War.  Tommy Tomorrow learns of the presence of his old buddy John Starker on the station and decides to pay him an unannounced visit. He’s shocked to find Brenda alive and present, and the two quarrel. Brenda brings news: She has found the Methuseloids and determined that the secret to eternal life is eating them, sentient though they are. Tommy and Brent arrive at the planet of the Methuseloids to find Homer, Karel, and Rick already there, negotiating with the li’l aliens to purchase a wooden space frigate. When Tommy attacks, the frigate explodes. Rick is killed; Homer is blinded. Karel absorbs the bodies of several Methuseloids, becoming a godlike figure of light. Tommy consumes the corpse of a Methuseloid, becoming a less grand immortal himself. Brent, horrified by the scene, transfers his allegiance from Tommy to Karel. (At the moment of Karel’s apotheosis, the Methuseloids look a lot like Howard the Duck, don't you think?)  My Two Cents: Watchmen and The Dark Knight encouraged Marvel and DC to allow authors to re-imagine existing characters to a level not seen since the 60s heyday of imaginary stories like the one in which Superman became Lord of the Ants. Plus, comic book readers have always loved seeing the heroes fight each other, right? Usually that takes the form of the “Misunderstanding Fight,” a brief, harmless dust-up that leads the heroes to understand that they should be working together against a true villain. But 80s/90s iterations following the model of Watchmen made the fights real. The nugget underneath Howard Chaykin’s Twilight could be quickly summarized as “Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers vs the Knights of the Galaxy.” The characters come from DC’s early 1960s space opera publications as follows: • Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers and his sidekick Captain Brent Wood are the oldest characters in the bunch, dating from 1947. These two confident men thought nothing of striding about the galaxy in matching purple shorts and kneesocks. Chaykin makes Tommy a vain megalomaniac and Brent a conflicted aide. As far as I know, Tommy’s ex-wife Brenda is not an homage to a classic character. Maybe her name is just a pun on feminizing "Brent." Anyone know more?  • Rick Purvis, Karel Sorenson, and Homer Gint came from the Star Rovers stories. Karel was the supermodel-with-a-sniper-rifle, and Purvis was the Howard Hughes stand-in, the rich, suave adventurer. Purvis disappears from the story after this issue, though. Gint has been renamed “Glint” here perhaps to make an “eye” pun since his character is blinded to match his epic poet namesake Homer. Like the epic poet, Glint has used his skill with writing to turn a dubious thug (in this case Tommy Tomorrow) into a hero. As we’ll see, Chaykin is doing the opposite, putting his own writing talents to use in a bit of character assassination on Tommy and others.  • John Starker is a later character, Manhunter 2070 (100 years after the comics were being published). His title pretty much says it all. Chaykin makes him a rugged adventurer gone to seed, indulging in his sexual attraction to robots. Wasn't that a theme of Chaykin's work in Star*Reach as well?  • Star Hawkins and Ilda the Robot were another early 60s space team. Ilda often did the crucial work to solve a situation, but Star got the credit, reflecting the gender dynamics of the era. In Chaykin’s version, Star is the nickname of John Starker’s kid brother Axel, and John longs for Ilda, while Ilda pines for Axel/Star.  Elements of the story were seemingly evolving in the telling; Homer’s cat is identified as “F’tatatita” in this issue, but that was apparently deemed insufficiently phonetic, since it’s “F’tatateeta” thereafter. “I am not an ape, I am a—“ cries one of the beast-men in a Planet of the Apes homage. Artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez imbues the whole scene with Moebius-level background detail. Spaceships can look rather phallic anyway, but this one seems more obvious than most.  “Magnus, Robot Fighter” is the name of a weapon, not a man, in this tale.  Chaykin squeezes in a reference to his own 1973 character Lord Ironwolf, who constructed spaceworthy galleons from anti-gravity wood. We’ll be talking more about him later, since Chaykin published a whole graphic novel describing Ironwolf's exploits in the world of Twilight. 
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 10, 2018 20:12:12 GMT -5
...amd the Magnus weapon goes “spa-fon” too!
I thought that series was brilliant, and to this day regret that I probably missed half of its references!
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 10, 2018 23:29:41 GMT -5
I haven't read Twilight since it first came out; but, i was not a fan of the cynical, grim & gritty take. I was already burnt out on that and we were still in the 80s! For me, at the time, the only saving grace was Jose Luis Garcia Lopez's (Praise Be His Name) artwork. I should probably try it again; but, Chaykin was at his most cynical, here. He lightened up a bit, when he came back from Hollywood (and got sober). I hadn't read the 50s and 60s stories, so I had no dog in that hunt. Just seemed a little too amoral and dark, for me. Flagg never felt that bad. I was also still kind of ticked about his Blackhawk, from a short while before, and felt that he was losing the thread of some of these characters, compared to his own, original material.
Now Iron Wolf, with Mignola, was fantastic. Picks up where the original left off (sort of), yet had grown in maturity.
Cody Starbuck had sex robots; but, Cody wasn't "attracted" to them, specifically (Chaykin's Cody. I haven't started talking in the third person......yet!)
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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 11, 2018 4:15:59 GMT -5
I count myself as a fan of Chaykin's work, either loving or liking very much most of what I've read, but I most definitely do not like Twilight - which I read the first time about a year ago. I would agree with your description of it as being too amoral and dark, and would also add bitter and mean-spirited (and like you, I have no real knowledge of nor sentimental attachment to the characters being used, as at best I think I've read a few Star Hawkins stories a long time ago).
The art, though, is naturally quite beautiful.
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Post by hondobrode on Nov 11, 2018 13:51:23 GMT -5
Like most, I have no attachment to the early Silver Age space characters here.
I've read a few reprints and barely know anything about these characters.
I remember liking it back in the day, and reiterate how beautifully Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez's art was here, and also missed tons of references as well.
Looking forward to re-reading it sometime.
Getting closer to getting new boxes for the collection and getting it sorted sometime.
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Post by rberman on Nov 11, 2018 23:26:51 GMT -5
Twilight #2 “Lords of the Long Shadow” (January 1991)
Frame Story: Elderly Homer Glint and his seeing-eye cat squabble further and look at his case full of trophies, which gets him thinking about the past again… The Story: A synthetic extract of Methuseloid tissue has given the human race immunity to death by old age. Karel Sorenson is now worshiped as a goddess and guarded by the Knights of the Galaxy, including Tommy Tomorrow’s former second-in-command, Brent Wood, who pines after Karel in a chivalrous fashion. Homer Glint plays a dual role as her publicist/historian and court jester, fully of constant snark. (He is clearly the Heinleinesque authorial stand-in character.) Immortality has allowed humanity to spread across the galaxy rapidly in the thousand years that elapsed since issue #1, but civil war rages between Karel’s knights and Tommy Tomorrow’s Planeteers.  Meanwhile, Star Hawkins is still working as a bounty hunter. He’s contractually forced to keep Ilda the robot by his side, but she keeps getting in his way, which is the opposite of how she was portrayed in her original appearances pre-Chaykin.  John Starker continues his millennium-long drunken binge, seeking cybernetic conversion to make himself more attractive to Ilda. He takes a job executing people who have become bored with immortality and wish to die. This is high irony for a man who as “Manhunter 2070” had to chase after his quarry.  Brenda Tomorrow is among those who believe that immortality has become a curse, turning bored humans into sadists. She takes a shine to Brent Wood, leading him to break his vow of chastity. She also offers to lead Karel’s fleet to the masters of the Methuseloids, who are said to be able to return all humans to mortality. But Tommy Tomorrow intercepts Karel’s fleet, explodes Karel’s flagship, kills her, and absorbs all of her godlike energy.  My Two Cents: The title of this issue refers to the effect of twilight on people; the low-hanging sun causes them to cast long shadows. "Twilight" within the story reflects the unnatural prolongation of life not at its peak, but rather arrested in a period of decay. The notion of immortality as a curse is ancient. Think of the Greek myth of the goddess Eos, who persuaded Zeus to grant immortality to her human lover; he kept growing old until he shrank into a cricket. The immortals in this story retain physical vitality but become paralyzed intellectually. It’s been said that scientific revolutions occur not when old scientists accept new ideas, but when old scientists are replaced by new scientists. If that’s so, then a culture in which old scientists (and politicians and janitors, etc.) never die is a culture which stultifies and fossilizes, ultimately becoming easy prey for whoever is willing to accept death as the price of societal progress. Star Hawkins and John Starker don’t do a whole lot this issue; their brief stories here are just placeholders so that we know who they are when they show up next issue. They also serve to flesh out the world of Twilight, which Chaykin will expand further in the Ironwolf graphic novel. For instance, Hawkins takes a job on a world with battling werewolves and vampires.  The main plot of this issue can be summarized as “Tommy and Karel face off, and Tommy wins.” There’s a cool double splash page of Tommy's flagship looking kind of like a giant mecha.  But some of the other tech is straight out of Star Wars: 
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Post by rberman on Nov 12, 2018 22:01:14 GMT -5
Twilight #3 “Blood on the Stars” (February 1991)Frame Story: Glint chases his cat while the cat chases a bird. The Story: Time has passed, and the uber-powered Tommy Tomorrow now rules most of the galaxy, with his bigotry against sentient robots and uplifted beast-men felt everywhere.  Silver Age character Space Cabbie gives Ace Hawkins and Ilda a lift to their next job. They rescue Ace’s drunken brother John Starker from a brawl at a cockfight. Ace convinces Ilda to allow elements of her body to be cybernetically engrafted into John, turning him into a killing machine to attack Tommy.  Brent Wood has spent untold years in all-out Launcelot mode, bemoaning how his tryst with Brenda Tomorrow and his abandonment of celibate devotion to Karel Sorenson came at the same moment that Tommy was killing Karel and absorbing her essence. Now when Brent looks at Brenda (or anybody, really), all he sees is Karel. Brenda exploits his madness, setting him on a course to assassinate Tommy.  Tommy attacks Earth, one of the few planets left under control of the Knights of the Galaxy, and captures Homer Glint to act as his propaganda agent once again. Tommy has needs lower on the Maslow hierarchy as well:  When Tommy appears to bask in the adulation of the conquered masses, he’s struck by simultaneous assassination attempts from Starker/Ilda and Brent, and the essence of Karel within Tommy re-asserts her personality, causing him to explode.  Brenda finds the masters of the Methuseloids, and with their help cures humanity of immortality. The aging process resumes, and human society resumes a healthier direction with death restored to its proper place in the grand order of things. My Two Cents: It’s all bombastic fun as long as you don’t mind grim-and-gritty versions of neglected Silver Age characters, especially this irredeemably evil version of Tommy Tomorrow. Karel-in-Tommy and Ilda-in-Starker make for contrasting gender-bending examples, but the action is moving so quickly that there’s little opportunity to slow down and explore the duality. Also, while Tommy is the clear villain, there's no clear hero for whom to cheer, just varying degrees of icky.  Chaykin would explore this world further in the Ironwolf: Fires of the Revolution graphic novel that I’ll talk about next time.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 13, 2018 12:43:51 GMT -5
I actually enjoyed the series, so long as I assumed it was not going to become the canonical versions of the characters (as in fact did not happen). I considered this the Earth-3 versions of them for the most part.
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Post by rberman on Nov 16, 2018 17:04:59 GMT -5
Weird Worlds #8 “Iron Wolf” (December 1973) The Story: Lord Ironwolf refuses the command of Empress Erika Klein-Hernandez that he share his forests of anti-gravity wood with ogre-like barbarians. After killing one of the brutes (check out the calligraphic arggh!), Ironwolf escapes to his ship the Limerick Rake with the help of an un-named space babe, who joins his crew for a time.  Ironwolf becomes a pirate, harrying the ships of the Empire Galaktika and the vampiric Blood Legion at every opportunity. At the behest of Empress Erika, the vampire Omikel travels to Ironwolf’s home planet of Ilium and twists the arm of his brother Tyrone with threats and promises of reward. But Tyrone’s attempt on his brother’s life fails, and Ironwolf burns the precious forests of anti-gravity trees to keep them out of Erika’s hands. Finally, Ironwolf encounters feisty lady pirate Shebaba O’Neil in a space junkyard. The two of them hit it off, defeating some of the space ogres, and Shebaba invites him to join a Rebellion against Empire Galaktica.  My Two Cents: Howard Chaykin provides both art and story to this tale, with editor Denny O’Neil scripting the dialogue and, surprisingly, Walt Simonson lettering. It feels like a Cliff’s Notes version of the story, beginning at the moment that an argument turns into an altercation, and zipping through several space locations with only a couple of pages on each. Chaykin sets us up to expect the female entertainer to become Ironwolf’s love interest, but despite hanging out in his cabin in one of his shirts, she seems forgotten by the end of the issue.  This story begins in the unspecified far future in good old Arizona, right here on Earth, and even features a trip to the Grand Canyon. Even so: A feisty politician lady convinces a space pirate to join the rebellion against the empire? I feel like I’ve heard this story before somewhere. Granted that Chaykin is working with “swords and spaceships” tropes that have been used many times. Still, is there any chance George Lucas didn’t read this story while writing “The Star Wars”?  Like Star Wars, Ironwolf must have gone over well. When this issue was published, the plan was to finish out one more and then shutter this failed title, which originated as a showcase for the similar space swashbuckler John Carter of Mars, courtesy of Len Wein and Alan Weiss. But its success allowed for a third issue in the series to belatedly see publication. Chaykin’s art is uneven. For the most part it’s fine, but occasionally his figures have Liefeldian tiny heads on super-elongated bodies.  There’s a cool panel in which Ironwolf talks about heading back into space, and his body becomes the expanse of space.  Empress Erika spends her time bathing, dressing in hilariously skimpy royal attire, and posing for photographs that aren’t being taken. Ah, the indolent life of the space queen. 
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 17, 2018 0:54:26 GMT -5
Chaykin was influenced by a few things. He had recently worked on Sword of Sorcery, with Denny O'Neil, which adapted the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories of Fritz Leiber. Fafhrd and Gray Mouser were scoundrels and rogues, who usually ended up on the side of angels. That very much influences Chaykin's take on his swashbuckling heroes. Another influence is Leigh Bracket, whose "planetary romances," mixed in a lot of swashbuckling action and romance, in otherworldly settings. There was also her husband, Edmond Hamilton, who wrote Captain Future and the Star Wolves series (basis for the Fugitive Alien tv series, seen on MST3k, edited into two movies). I suspect CL Moore (Catherine Lucille) and her Northwest Smith factored in there, as well.
Brackett, Hamilton and Moore were all definite influences on Lucas, as was EE "Doc" Smith and his Lensman Saga (the book The Galactic Patrol features an early scene where armored space pirates board a Patrol ship and fight it out and hero Kim Kinnison ejects in a lifeboat, with a wire recording of the pirates' advanced ship. The climax features an attack on their mobile base). So, I think you could argue that there was an intersection of influences between Lucas and Chaykin, rather than a direct swipe of Ironwolf. Northwest Smith was a major influence on Han Solo and both Ironwolf and (probably more so) on Cody Starbuck.
Cody pretty much reworks Ironwolf and Chaykin reused the name Erika Klein-Hernandez there and in American Flagg, while Flagg also featured a robot named Luther Ironheart and an advanced gunship, called the Ironwolf.
Simonson lettering is less surprising if you know that he and Chaykin shared a studio, for a while, Walt assisted on Fafhrd and Gray Mouser and is credited with art on stories in issues 4 and 5, while Jim Starlin did a story in 5 (he may have also shared studio space with Howie and Walt). Howie and Walt have been friends to this day.
Chaykin hates his art of this period and says it is horrible. I don't think it is that bad, especially relative to a lot that was out there, at the time; but, he was definitely still learning his craft. He would have that Kane/Adams look up through the 70s and didn't really start showing the Toth influence until around the time of the Cody Starbuck color special and his painted work, in that era (including the stuff for Heavy Metal and Byron preiss, where the painting shows influences of Robert Peake). You get glimpses of it in things like Dominic Fortune (more in the later color stories, in Rampaging Hulk).
Chaykin pretty much looked like Ironwolf, in the 70s (if Ironwolf wore glasses) and had those sideburns. Can't find a photo of him, from then, though. It's where he started using his own face for his heroes.
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Post by rberman on Nov 17, 2018 8:13:44 GMT -5
Weird Worlds #9 “Though This Be Madness…” (February 1974)
 The Story: Ironwolf and Missy (the entertainer lady from the last issue now has a name) intercept a ship carrying cryogenically suspended actors headed for Empress Erika’s birthday party. What a griefer! But since the two actors were going to play the roles of Ironwolf and Missy at the party, the real Ironwolf and Missy are easily able to assume their identities. On Earth, they are escorted to Erika’s palace by the lady vampire Warra.  Once there, Omikel sees through their disguise, allowing Erika to spring a trap in the middle of the planned performance of Hamlet. Missy dies from poison and Ironwolf is incapacitated. But just before his death a robot nearby “explodes, flinging forth a dozen drones programmed to attack vampires!” It probably would have been a good idea to activate those drones earlier in the duel between Omikel and Ironwolf.  Shebaba O'Neal bursts in, apparently having overcome all of the palace’s guards and security measures single-handedly, which inspires Erika and Omikel to flee, and both sides swear vengeance will be theirs on a future occasion.  My Two Cents: This issue seems like Silver Age silliness compared to the previous story. Chaykin leans heavily into Shakespearean tropes of mistaken identity leavened with plenty of the Bard’s dialogue. We are to believe that Ironwolf is an accomplished actor who has already memorized Hamlet before our story begins. How did the good guys plant anti-vampire drones in the palace robot? The art is cool, but the story is half-baked. But still, it’s an actual story, as opposed to the disjointed Cliff’s Notes of its predecessor, with some good fight scenes.  Ironwolf worries that Erika will “conquer the entire galaxy.” You might have thought that the ruler of the Empire Galaktika already ruled the entire galaxy, but apparently not. But his comment does show awareness of inhabited yet unconquered worlds beyond Erika’s reach. This point will get retconned down the line; watch for it. Shebaba is now second-in-command of the Limerick Rake. She seemed like a higher ranking Rebellion member in the previous issue. 
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 18, 2018 0:33:42 GMT -5
Omikel was a well designed and interesting character. Would have been interesting to see how Chaykin would have developed him (and Ironwolf) had the series continued. Omikel sort of gets a doppelganger in Cody Starbuck
Shebaba O'Neal sounds like a collision between Cyndi Lauper and the Who.
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Post by rberman on Nov 18, 2018 7:48:39 GMT -5
Weird Worlds #10 “Home World” (November 1974) The Story: The Limerick Rake visits backwater planet Rorvik for repairs, and Ironwolf visits a local lover who betrays him, taking him captive by leash. Once again Shebaba rescues Ironwolf. An Empire attack burns Rorvik’s spaceport and damages the Rake further. Our heroes limp to an inhabited moon where Shebaba’s Uncle Dwite takes them in. This whole Rorvik bit is essentially an unrelated story to what comes next.  Dwite claims that his famous son Janus has died, but after a little snooping around by Ironwolf, it’s apparent that Janus has been transformed into a monster who now lives in the cellar. Dwite also offers his servant Debrah to provide “companionship” for Ironwolf. But Debrah lets it slip that Dwite intends for Ironwolf to smuggle the drug Mikah to “the inner worlds.” But this is the drug that has turned Janus into a monster, so Ironwolf is appalled at being turned into a drug mule.  Just then Janus stumbles upstairs and, after a tussle with Ironwolf, is flung off of a convenient cliff. Ironwolf is disillusioned to find the rebels just as venal as the Empire, but Shebaba encourages him to hold on to his “dream of peace and decency.”  My Two Cents: In his foreword to the Ironwolf one-shot which DC published in 1986 to collect the three issues of Weird Worlds, Chaykin says that “Nearly every idea, attitude, theme, or obsession that makes up my recent work” was present in this early work as well. So what do we find? Where the previous story drew upon Shakespeare, this one has Jane Eyre overtones with a crazy relative secretly locked in the dungeon to threaten everyone.  This is also the second story we’ve had about drugs. The previous issue had Urchin’s Blood, which “drives men to insane courage.” This issue has Mikal, which basically turns them into the Incredible Hulk. Neither seems useful as a drug of abuse since the users don’t survive long enough to buy a second dose. Ironwolf says that Erika is “making the whole galaxy a garbage heap,” once again showing knowledge of many worlds beyond his own. Rorvik is said to be far from “the inner worlds.” Ironwolf is now using a .357 Magnum instead of a laser pistol, but it doesn’t impact the story. Dwite’s library is locked by a biometric device made by Ironwolf’s family, unlockable by anyone with Ironwolf genes. That’s a pretty big security hole!  Shebaba says that Rorvik’s moon is “a million miles” from the planet. This is about four times the distance from the Earth to the moon. Is it a plausible distance for a moon orbiting an Earth-sized planet? About as plausible as an Earth-like moon around an Earth-like planet, I suppose, which is to say not at all. In space opera, we just ignore these details. Shebaba’s cousin, Dwite’s son, is the famous Empire-fighter Janus Vanmeer. This sounds like a pun on Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter of the now-famous “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” I can't find any further connection between him and the story, though. The final page incorrectly gives Shebaba orange hair (the color of Debrah’s hair) instead of her usual red. See above.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 18, 2018 11:51:27 GMT -5
Uncle Dwite...  Janus.....  |
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Post by rberman on Nov 18, 2018 13:28:47 GMT -5
It all makes sense now. No one could really get rich on a beet farm!
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