So... What's new with me for this week out? I came within a hair's breadth of walking away from my job this past Thursday after a particularly stressful day. (Relax... I'm still there. I'll remain loyal and true until better horizons open up.) I cut my left hand in three separate places on my left hand... at aforementioned job. I also apparently caught a cold, recently... either due to one of my ill co-workers, or just from sheer physical and mental stress, at aforementioned job. BUT at least today I had a personal highlight that may help erase a level of tension I've been carrying with since late August. I also finally watched the first episode of CW's "The Flash". Comparing this to "Gotham" is like comparing a steak to a banana; they're two separate methods of delivering a comic-book universe. The MAIN difference is I WANT to return to the story of Barry Allen's adventures as the Flash, and I APPRECIATED the universal integration that's being played out in that series. Whereas with "Gotham", the interconnectivity of everything grated on me a little bit, and I cannot shake the impression that this series is trying TOO hard to not be a "comic book" in tone. But while you may disagree with my perspective, and I won't take offense if you do, we can at LEAST all agree that to live in a time where movies and television are giving comic book worlds a DECENT shake, and help share the love of the medium to people who haven't been reading the books in a solid capacity, it's pretty... COOL!
Today's blog entry was partly inspired by two key sources in my life:
- I'm just about halfway finished reading TwoMorrow Publishing's "Batcave Companion", written by Michael Eury and Michael Kronenberg, where today's creator gave a rather... interesting interview about his time working on the "Batman" titles of the 70's.
- Many of this company's books I've been finding access to in a comic store nearby my girlfriend's home in the $0.31 bin... arbitrary number, I know... making a complete run STILL a spotty mission, but giving me better access to reading those titles.
I speak of the well-respected artist... and sometimes writer... Neal Adams, and thusly finding his "Continuity Comics" imprint of books. To piece together the Wikipedia entry into a bite-sized version, Continuity Studios existed as early as the 1970's, where Adams and partners acted as a freelance art studio for various contracts. The company PROPER began life in 1984... even if some of the titles weren't published under the Continuity banner. (The article... and one of my issues... gives the example of "Ms. Mystic" being published by Pacific Comics, initially.) Neal Adams provided the "house style" of the books, and created the universe's characters. Some of the innovations of the Continuity Comics company was the creation of "Tyvek": an "indestructible" cover material. (So, blow 'dem comics up with a nuclear bomb, dunk them into a toxic waste dump, and throw them in the middle of a firefight, and they, will, Not, DIE!!!) They also were experts at milking both the gimmick cover and MASSIVE crossover fads of the 90's, before fading from existence in 1994. (Shame we never got that promised "Valeria the She-Bat VS Spawn" crossover. Yes... That WAS going to be a thing!) I want to now provide you with a road map of some of my stops in the Continuity Comics universe!
Megalith: Ms. Mystic may have been the "first", but Megalith was sort of the "corporate" spokesman of Continuity Comics. The best way to describe the character is he's kind of a mish-mash of Superman, a dash of Batman's tragedies, and a smidge of Wonder Man's "fame and fortune". Basically, an average young man is recruited by a covert government agency operating out of Munich... NOT tied to any Neo-Nazi scheming... to be trained to be mentally and physically superior. When he begins to question the authority, the authorities go WAY out of their way to teach him where his "proper place" is. Let's talk about the checklist:
- Threaten to kill his parents
- ACTUALLY kill the dog they provide him with
- Basically forbid him from leaving the training compound
But that's kind of hard to do with a man that's not only supposed to be the mental nadir, but ALSO can survive massive amounts of physical damage... and deal out his equal share. (If I'm vague about the character names and background, it's PRETTY hard to find information about the comic line online, so I'm going on memory, alone.) But if memory serves me right, Megalith's parents are eventually killed, BUT he is not left without "family": his first actual comics appearance was in "The Revengers #1", where he was part of a trifecta of heroes, including the speedster, Silver Streak, and this guy...
Armor: Take Venom's concept about living armor... but make it more knight suit-of-armor like, and make the owner a more glamorous Bruce Wayne playboy type, and you have the character of Armor! This may have been the most recent Continuity character I was exposed to from a recent read, which contained a RIDICULOUS story about a nuclear-powered "wizard" leading a group of cavern-dwelling mutants against demonic forces. ... Because that TOTALLY makes sense! I recall that Armor's costume gimmick was that he could summon his costume to life, and that it contained a sheer arsenal of items to battle the forces of evil with. And THIS is where the 80's/90's atmosphere of the comic sparks to glorious life. You want nunchucks? This character has them. Throwing stars? Armor has your back. KATANAS?!? ... C'mon, you didn't think Armor would let you down, would you? But I also recall that Silver Streak was actually his brother, so if you want an element of familial relations in your comics, you know where to turn to!
Ms. Mystic: Now SHE was technically the first "Continuity Comics" character. But she also tends to be the most confusing character for me. From what I can piece together from issues that NEVER can match up in a consecutive numbering, she's kind of like the Continuity universe's Wonder Woman, but with the "Earth Connection" element of Swamp Thing. (So... maybe a super-powered Wiccan? I'm only just throwing that connection against the wall?) A lot of her battles did take place against hyper-technological threats, which seems custom-made for a character that has such an elemental/mystical basis. I can even remember the VERY FIRST issue I bought of hers: it was part of the you're-VERY-lucky-if-you-read-it-all "Deathmate 2000" event, and it was a gimmick cover that featured Ms. Mystic battling not-Marvel's-Sauron, but her costume was printed in the 3D illusion gimmick that was probably most predominantly featured in Kevin Smith's "Mallrats". You know, the one that Ethan Suplee was having the WORST time trying to figure out.
CyberRAD!!!: What do you get when you cross over the concept of Replicants from "Blade Runner", and cybernetics, with the WAY LATE Punk Rock scene of the 80's? You get the story of an artificial life form that bonds with some proto-Punk/Hair Metal band, assuming the identity of their formerly missing lead singer, and is faced with an identity crisis... while also evading government forces who want to eliminate his very existence. ... Can we get Missing Persons to make this into a concept album back in 1980-something? I've only read one issue of this book, and REALLY can't say I am "dying" to find out how it concludes... if it even DOES... but that single issue left such a bizarro impression on me that I just HAD to include it into this article.
Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future: Neal Adams was not one to turn down licensing gigs when he could: later in the 90's, another Continuity concept that ONLY saw life in one graphic novel was given a brief life as an animated show/action figure line/video game. (... If you're not screaming it at the device you're reading this blog off of, the correct answer is "Bucky O'Hare", proving green rabbits with laser guns are NOT LAME! LAY OFF OF JAXXOR, ALREADY!) And while very ambitious... and probably EXCEEDINGLY expensive..., "Captain Power" was a much enjoyed series by yours truly that just died on the vine after a season of television existence. BUT it did manage to score some action figure fun, along with a 2-issue Continuity Comics run! Brief story: the Captain and his team of armored rebels battle against a cybernetic overlord, and his army of robots, for the freedom of humanity. Very fun stuff, and custom-fit for a comic book universe! A shame the license didn't continue into the comics realm, because I feel that if "Captain Power" was given a fair printed shake, it could've brought the series to a DEFINITIVE conclusion for us fans! Ah well... Maybe an aspiring creator will see this article, and the seed will be planted.
So, how does a comic company perish after 10 years of existence? Well... Neal Adams gave GREAT interviews promoting the company... along with his "interesting" perspectives on the industry as a whole. But not even that could save MASSIVE shipping delays in titles, or titles that were advertised... but just were never delivered upon, or EVEN existing in the comic book collecting GLUT of the early-to-mid 90's. (Even as a hardcore comic fan that appreciates the excesses of the 90's realizes a LOT of the decisions the companies made during that time were inspired by playing on pointless collecting mentalities.) With that in mind, could Continuity Comics have survived after the great collector collapse of the 90's? ... Maybe if the company was more TIMELY on delivering titles, it could have maintained a presence. But I also sometimes wonder if the lack of originality with a LOT of their characters, and some POOR editorial decisions, would've just killed them off, just the same. (Seriously: that aforementioned issue of "Armor" I mentioned had SO MANY spelling errors present in it, it made me wonder if Tommy Wiseau wrote their scripts!) But at least the company had their time to shine, and was poised for "greater things", and remains potentially one of those comic book "what if" stories that could be debated.
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