It's not a good sign when an announced 6 issue miniseries only lasts two issues. In the early 80s, Archie tried to relaunch many of their superhero titles via the Red Circle imprint. Some were quite good (I thinking of The Fly), but this one was an utter disaster. The concept isn't bad - the Comet is struggling with the fact that he killed so many villains early in his career (with flashbacks to early issues of Pep Comics - showing just how brutal heroes could be back then), but all of the non-flashback action is simply the Comet and Shield talking nonstop while shirtless (huh?). Carmine Infantino's artwork is the real villain here: very loose, next to no detail and many panels are missing even the most basic of backgrounds. The second story is a nonsensical modern day Hangman story in which our reluctant hero is beat up by hoodlums in under a minute. I'm really not sure what the Archie folks were trying to accomplish with this title - but they obviously saw that it was crap immediately and pull the plug before wasting any more ink. Wednesday, December 10, 2008
You've Been Warned: The Comet #1
It's not a good sign when an announced 6 issue miniseries only lasts two issues. In the early 80s, Archie tried to relaunch many of their superhero titles via the Red Circle imprint. Some were quite good (I thinking of The Fly), but this one was an utter disaster. The concept isn't bad - the Comet is struggling with the fact that he killed so many villains early in his career (with flashbacks to early issues of Pep Comics - showing just how brutal heroes could be back then), but all of the non-flashback action is simply the Comet and Shield talking nonstop while shirtless (huh?). Carmine Infantino's artwork is the real villain here: very loose, next to no detail and many panels are missing even the most basic of backgrounds. The second story is a nonsensical modern day Hangman story in which our reluctant hero is beat up by hoodlums in under a minute. I'm really not sure what the Archie folks were trying to accomplish with this title - but they obviously saw that it was crap immediately and pull the plug before wasting any more ink. 
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4 comments:
This book was trying to provide some level of cohesiveness to The Comet's checkered career. It was written by Bill DuBay, who was more known for his Warren work than for costumed do-gooders! I have this issue, & I felt that it was a nice experiment from Archie.
J.A.P.
Jeremy
I agree that it was an experiment, but it just didn't work out for them. The difference in quality between this book and The Fly serious is significant.
Who did the cover. Surely not Infantino?
Could you review the second issue? I'm morbidly curious to find out if it was as bad as the first.
Neil Anderson
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