Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's a black and white mag you might've missed back in early 1979,
Jason Monarch #1. Published by an indy outfit called the Omnibus Publishing Company, this b&w one-shot was planned as a color mag but certain conflicts (most likely cash flow) forced them to put the mag out as a b&w. That was (and still is) par for the course for most small companies, so it really wasn't a problem. Omnibus did a good job of putting together a nice creative team, an unknown (to moi, at least) author by the name of Dave Lillard and sometime Atlas and Marvel artist Jim (
What If...?/Master of Kung Fu) Jim Craig.
Jason Monarch, obviously, didn't set the world on fire. It cashed in on the
Star Wars craze with nods to other sci-fi mags (like DC's
Star Hunters), but it was well-written and featured some of Craig's best art. In the early 80s it could'a been a contender, but in the late 70s, it was hard for a non-Marvel/DC mag to get noticed. Want a look at this forgotten diamond in the rough? You got it, baby!
Nice work.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
very cool. thanks for posting this. i like jim craig's art and i had never heard of this book. if you like stuff like this, check out a comic by a young tom grummet called PRIVATEERS. he made it before he worked for marvel or DC, and it's pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteKind of a sad news comment here. The writer of this book, David Liliard, passed away in November 2020 from pneumonia. He lived in the apartment building I did until I got married, and I used to buy comics off of him. I didn't realize he had written this until about a year before he passed away, but was very proud of this work. He will be missed
ReplyDeleteSad news, indeed, but thank you for sharing. So glad you got to know him!
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