The Black Flame, according to Peter Gillis, arose from two impulses: he wanted to work again with one of his all time favourite artists, Tom Sutton; and Bruce Patterson suggested creating a Lovecraft inspired series. Gillis pointed out that Lovecraftian heroes tend to not survive for very long. However, his solution to this problem was simple: make the monster the hero.
Mars #2-8 (1984) - The Black Flame
Pencils: Tom Sutton, Don Lomax
Inks & Colours: Bruce Patterson
Imagine the realm of nightmares is real (not hard for Doctor Strange fans), where the Nightmare Lord trains and despatches boogeymen to torment children (not hard for, er, Monsters Inc. fans). One of these fear spreading boogeymen, The Black Flame, rebels and escapes to the mortal world to save children and romantics alike from the clutches of their nightmares. The Flame cuts an imposing figure, wielding a lance and riding a black nightmare steed, which can conveniently disguise itself as a motorcycle.
 |
| This isn't from the Mars issues, but it makes for a great introductory page. |
Over the course of these introductory chapters, The Flame slowly gathers a team of distinctly archetypal sidekicks: The Poet Michael Robartes, named after a Yeats poem, but patterned after Robert Graves. There's The Lover Judit, a romance struck widow who begins to fall for the Flame. The group is rounded out by The Child, Susie, orphaned by the Nightmare Lord who covets her unique snowflake soul.
As you may have gathered by now, this isn't your average superhero comic. Instead, Gillis established its key themes as love and fear. With a heady mix of horror, philosophy and fisticuffs, it's more akin to early Vertigo. The limitations of an 8 page count leave little time for self indulgence, although recapping is thankfully kept to a minimum.
The nightmare realms provide a perfect showcase for former Dr Strange artist Tom Sutton's baroque linework. Although I find his figures occasionally stiff and unappealing, the busy backgrounds are crammed with glorious detail and more tentacled eyeballs than you can shake a Cthulhu at.
These first 7 installments expertly set up the characters and wild premise. First then shuffled the strip over to the back of Starslayer. Mars only continued for another 4 issues.
Grimjack #7 (1985) - Munden's Bar
Art: Don Lomax
Munden's Bar was a backup where First characters popped in to this interdimensional establishment for a beer and a bar fight. Peter Gillis wrote two Munden's strips in all. The Black Flame makes for an unusual barfly, even if here he's hunting down a boogeywoman who is slowly imbibing a victim's soul. There's a humorous battle involving demon pretzels, although the lighter tone of this short throwaway seems at odds with the regular feature. BF fill in artist Lomax's pencils are a little cartoony and proportionally off for my taste, but as it soon transpired, his real strength lay in inking.
Comments
Post a Comment