Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Black and White Wednesday: "Gladiators in the Crypt of Tomorrow" by Mantlo, Perez, and DeZuniga
Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Not only do we have a little-seen-yet-sensational Sons of the Tiger martial arts masterpiece, but we have the one and only time George Perez would be inked by Tony DeZuniga inside a comic mag! T'was quite an interesting mix, if ya ask Ol' Groove. DeZuniga's inks are powerful (and oftentimes overpowering), but even during this early phase, The Pace-setter's style was strong enough to handle it! It's cosmic kung-fu like you've never seen, baby! From Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #11 (March 1975), ya got a ring-side seat for..."Gladiators in the Crypt of Tomorrow"--written by Bill Mantlo, natch!
Regardless of whether the inks "overpowered" Perez's pencils, the art looks quite good. I agree with you, Groove, that Perez still put his stamp on this story, which was not at all obscured by De Zuniga. In fact, I wouldn't have minded seeing more collaborations between those two.
ReplyDeleteFor a while, until they settled upon Jack Abel as regular inker, they paired Perez with a different inker each issue. It was interesting to see the various combinations, particularly as the young artist was improving with each story. Perez/McLeod was especially good in # 7.
ReplyDeleteJack Abel was my favorite inker for Perez on this series. "Clean" lines over such extremely-detailed drawing. As with "MAN-WOLF", Perez took something mindless and turned it into something special. He always has a way of making ALMOST every writer he works with look like they know what they're doing. When he left "SONS OF THE TIGER", the series disintegrated into chaos.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree. Sons of the Tiger lost something when Perez left the series
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