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!














4 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. For 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.

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  3. Jack 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.

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    Replies
    1. I fully agree. Sons of the Tiger lost something when Perez left the series

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