5: Space Cowboys

Marvel Premiere #54 (1980)

Pencils: Gene Day
Inks: Tony DeZuniga

"The coming of Caleb Hammer. Created and written by Peter Gillis" goes the byline. A 1890 priest turned Pinkerton law enforcer might seem an odd choice for his first published creation, although apparently Westerns (and the lack thereof) were a frequent discussion in the Marvel offices at the time. Contrary to the rootin tootin Cockrum cover, Hammer hated guns, blaming them for the death of his wife and brother. He took outlaws down with his fists, and the occasional well aimed bullet to the shoulder. I'm a sucker for a good old school Western, and this is an enjoyable and impressively constructed one, just lacking Gillis idiosyncrasies he developed over time. The underrated Gene Day does a lovely classic European style job on pencils. A Western at the start of the 80's was a risky prospect, so sadly no surprise that Hammer never received a second outing. He did pop up briefly in 2000's Wild West mashup Blaze of Glory.

Bizarre Adventures #30 (1982) - Silhouette

Art: Gene Day

In this rip roaring space adventure, the title proves slightly misleading, as the main character is actually devilish rogue trader Rorik Cross. Star Wars cast a long shadow across pulp space fiction at the time, and it's hard to deny the influence in the Han Solo style lead and Gene Day's beautifully detailed spaceships. At heart though, the plot is much more indebted to Casablanca, with star-crossed Cross and Silhouette ultimately joining forces to outwit controlling overlords, unusually represented here as Space Catholics rather than Space Nazis. I found this a dense struggle the first couple of reads, but have come to appreciate its rapid fire world building, helped by the lovely stark art. It's far from original, but could've gone places, if there had been a sequel.

The duo almost made a surprise comeback in a later Gillis book: 

"Somewhere along the line, hopefully in '85, the Micronauts will be meeting two characters I created in Bizarre Adventures: Captain Rorik Cross and Silhouette."

Presumably that plan was scuppered by the Micronauts cancellation. There's certainly a superficial resemblance between the scantily dressed Silhouette and Solitaire, who both appear to be trying out for the Hellfire Club.

Next: you say Inhumans, I say Eternals.