17: Flame Off

The Black Flame - Starslayer #20-33 (1984-1985)

Pencils: Tom Sutton, Don Lomax
Inks: Don Lomax

"Who is The Black Flame?", the story arc title of the next chapters, reveals The Flame to be an 18th century German lad named Heinrich Von Ofterdingen, born to well to do parents. Ofterdingen is a town in southern Germany, so I wonder if Gillis chose it at random, or if there was some family connection. Heinrich was taken at a young age by the Nightmare Lord and reshaped into a boogeyman. It's a slight origin, yet weaving it into this middle storyline provides an effective introduction for many no doubt confused Starslayer readers. Archenemy and fellow boogey person Hellequin captures The Black Flame in her giant bosom (hey, it was the 80's) and drags him back to the Nightmare Lord for re-indoctrination. This spell is eventually broken by the Flame's trio of friends, who traverse the twisted nightmare realms to rescue him. 

The writing seems a lot sharper on the Starslayer issues, and so does the art: Sutton and Lomax separately are an acquired taste, yet put them together and you get something truly unique. Lomax's ultra fine busy linework really brings out the best in Sutton's detailed pencils, particularly in the beguiling backgrounds. Sutton shows a clever sense of design, in the ornate title pages and living panel borders. Figures and faces are still iffy in places, but the level of expression and all round storytelling makes up for it.

The third and final act takes the form of an old fashioned quest across the weird, freaky realms of the dreaming. It begins in #27, which bizarrely is a 28 page all Black Flame special, as the Starslayer team were running behind schedule. The extra running time gives the creative team more room to explore the characters and the bizarre and terrifying dream landscape they have created, even sneaking in a couple of splash pages. It's a reminder that title would've worked even better as a full length book, without the limiting constraints of 8-10 page chapters. Whether it could've sustained its own title is another matter.

The object of the quest is the heavenly Land Of Miracle, which Susie's snowflake shaped soul proves the key to unlocking. The friends are joined by newly reformed Hellequin, who literally sees the light, in the same fashion as Dr Strange in Gillis & Sutton's What If. For no discernible reason, Hellequin and Flame begin referring to themselves as the Nightmare Elite, which sounds far too super team for this wilfully offbeat title. You may notice the duo bear a superficial resemblance to Conan and Red Sonja, and to me their earnest warrior dialogue strikes an incongruous note with the more general intellectual tone. It's weird how tastes change as you get older. The first time I read Black Flame, I appreciated the melodrama but was put off by the level of pretension. These days it's definitely the other way around. 

Little Susie gets separated from her friends at the start of the quest and eventually rescued by the detective searching for her. This fairly clichéd battleworn detective gets his own lengthy subplot, which seems unnecessary, as once his role in finding Susie is complete, he's never seen again. The rest of the gang's bizarre travels culminate rather abruptly, with a semblance of a happy ending. It's possible Starslayer's impending cancellation meant they had to wrap up the story a chapter earlier than planned.

There is a two part epilogue however, centering on Susie, living a relatively normal existence 5 years later. Her night terrors now take on teenage forms, like first dates and high school proms, and apparently nakedness considering she spends much of this epilogue stripped bare by the Nightmare Lord. It's the kind of gratuitous nudity no one would bat an eyelid at in mid 80's comics, but long shots and lack of nipples can't disguise the wrong headed inappropriateness of it, especially considering she's supposed to be 15. That aside, it's a nice, satisfactory bookend to the saga, as she sets off to catch up with her old friends, leaving the potential of a sequel in the air.

With the completion of the main story arc and Starslayer cancelled the following issue, The Black Flame went on indefinite hiatus. The epilogue according to Gillis "sets the stage for the new storyline, which will appear somewhere, somehow". Prophetic words, considering the follow up graphic novel finally came out 32 years later, along with a 7 issue digitally recoloured collection of the original series as The Black Flame Archives. On the whole it's a unique and very underappreciated series that's well worth seeking out.

I'll discuss the graphic novel Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere towards the end of the blog. After the Christmas break, it's time to start the first of PBG's big four at Marvel...