Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Groove's Faves: "Duel" by Jim Starlin

There's no way we can have a week of Groove's Faves without including some Jim Starlin. For almost 40 years Ol' Groove has remained awestruck by his awesome artistry and ka-razee kosmik trippiness. (And oh, yeah, by the way, BREED III rocks! You are still the man, Jim!)  We've visited his Darklon the Mystic before, digging on the gut-wrenching, in-your-face, deeper than the ocean mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and semi-autobiographical comix here and here. Now it's time for Starlin's grand finale, the shocking end of Darklon from Eerie #100 (cover-dated March 1979). It's Judo Jim undergoing public therapy, dealing with his father-issues in a way only he can. Besides all of the expected Starlinesque flourishes like the cosmic setting, the face-to-face close-up/longshot, philosophical debate (complete with finger-pointing), a psychedelic battle, robed death, and the total destruction of an entire world, we also get lush wash/graytones, three-dimensional cross-hatching, Alex Nino-influenced inks, and even ties to his Warlock series (Barry Bauman, aka the Star-Thief and his "home", Wildwood Hospital in New England on the planet Tellus). Not to mention the ending. Oh, that ending!












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2 comments:

  1. DougAugust 24, 2011 at 9:10 PM

    Cool! This is the only issue of Eerie Magazine that I still own. And the only story that stuck in my head from that issue.

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  2. joe ackermanAugust 25, 2011 at 12:07 PM

    I am speechless. incredible stuff. I just spent last weekend re-reading Starlin's Warlock stories. I often wonder if today's writers and artists ever look at that/this stuff, and think to themselves, " oh, what's the bloody point? "

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