Total Eclipse (comics)
Total Eclipse | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Eclipse Comics |
Format | Limited series |
Genre | |
Publication date | May 1988–April 1989 |
No. of issues | 5 |
Creative team | |
Written by | Marv Wolfman |
Penciller(s) | Bo Hampton |
Inker(s) | Will Blyberg (#1-2) Rick Bryant (#3-5) |
Letterer(s) | Bill Pearson |
Colorist(s) | Sam Parsons |
Editor(s) | Fred Burke |
Total Eclipse is an American
Creation
Eclipse commissioned Marv Wolfman to write the title; three years previously he had completed the acclaimed company-wide crossover series Crisis on Infinite Earths for DC Comics. The series was initially announced as being six issues, with Bo Hampton as main artist[2][3] and covers from Bill Sienkiewicz.[4] Eclipse editor-in-chief Catherine Yronwode claimed the series would have "a much more realistic threat than any of the other big series have had.". Len Wein was also initially planned to script from Wolfman's story but this did not eventuate.[5]
Due to Eclipse's
Each issue would feature a back-up 'interlude' strip by a selected character's regular creative team, and a text piece on Eclipse's history by publisher
Publishing history
An eight-page black-and-white preview was included in the second issue of Eclipse's promotional circular Sneak Preview.[10]
The mini-series would be plagued by delays,[11] and the five issues would take 11 months to appear. A one-shot called Total Eclipse - The Seraphim Objective, written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by James Fry, was published to tie-in with the series.[12] Beanish's role was also incorporated into the plot of Tales of the Beanworld #10-11.[13]
Plot summary
The immortal
The original Prowler also meets up with Airboy and his allies. Misery sends the Flying Dutchman to offer an alliance to the heroes, while Zzed recruits the Seraphim. In
Miracleman and Miraclewoman investigate the flames outside Olympus, finding them inexplicable. Meanwhile Nine-Crocodile reveals he has been manipulating Zzed all along from the Six World but - aware that his scheme has now attracted Aztec Ace's attention - sends his Nightgaunt and Ebonati minions after the time-traveller. Meanwhile above the planet the Total Eclipse is coming closer. At Sci-Plex 3, Airboy finally accepts Misery's help in order to save Skywolf's life, with the older Prowler travelling to the Air Tomb with Skywolf as protection while the rest head to a temple Mexico to try and stop the next part of Zzed's plan - unleashing the lens to trigger the Total Eclipse. Aztec Ace recruits Beanish, Destroyer Duck, Miracleman, and the Black Terror. Meanwhile the sky over Earth darkens as Airboy leads the army of heroes to Mexico, where Zzed waits for the beam of the Total Eclipse to pass through the lens and end his life; however, Tachyon blocks it and is seemingly destroyed, while the beam begins to mutate Zzed.[16]
The beam causes Zzed to turn into the benign Doctor Eclipse, who leads Miracleman, Avalon, Dot and the other flying heroes to tackle Nine-Crocodile's satellites while Airboy and others fight his minions on the ground as time anomalies grow. In response, Nine-Crocodile talks Misery into an alliance. Aztec Ace leads a contingent to Nine-Crocodile's core world, but Misery tries to lure the heroes into a trap on the Sixth World, the source of the anomalies. They are eventually able to destroy the attackers waiting for them, but Strike! is killed in the process.[17]
Airboy's force have also been led into a trap by Misery, though the arrival of the
Interludes
- The Prowler: by Timothy Truman and Brent Anderson.
- Aztec Ace: by Doug Moench and Tim Sale
- Tachyon: by Steve Gerber and Cynthia Martin
- Miracleman: by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham (their first work on the character[19]).
- The Air Fighters: by Chuck Dixon and Stan Woch
Characters
- From Airboy
- Airboy: leader of the Air Fighters, David Nelson III has taken up his father's legacy as a hero, and flies a custom aircraft called Birdie.[20]
- Valkyrie: a German aviatrix and former lover of David Nelson II, now in love with his son after spending 30 years trapped in Misery's Airtomb.[20]
- Skywolf: a former comrade-in-arms of David Nelson II, and now an ally of his son. A World War II veteran, he flies an Apache attack helicopter.[20]
- Misery: a villain who feeds on the spirits of lost aviators from his mobile Airtomb.[20]
- The Heap: formerly World War I pilot Baron Von Emmelman, who was turned into a swamp monster after his plane crashed in an enchanted bog.[21]
- The Flying Dutchman: a deceased pilot now in the thrall of Misery.[21]
- Black Angel: Holly McCovey, an ally of the Air Fighters since saving Valkyrie from the Soviet Union.[20]
- La Lupina: Marisa Ortega, a mute freedom fighter who fled from Bogantilla and works with the Airfighters in one of Skywolf's old helicopters.[22]
- Iron Eagle: the current identity of Air Fighter Ronald Britain, given a cyborg body by Nelson Aviation after a near-fatal crash.[22]
- Hiroto: an enemy of David Nelson II during the Pacific Theater of World War II but now a trusted mentor of the current Airboy.[22]
- Zzed: an immortal
- From Aztec Ace
- Aztec Ace: Caza, a hero based in the past who protects the future via his ACE (Azure Crosstime Express) time machine.[22]
- Bridget: Bridget Kronopoulos, a lady from 1940 in a relationship with Caza and sometime Queen of Egypt.[22]
- Head: Formerly Caza's assistant and now a disembodied head who controls the ACE.[22]
- Nine-Crocodile: Caza's mortal enemy, hell-bent on turning all of reality into limbo.[22]
- Aztec Ace: Caza, a hero based in the past who protects the future via his ACE (Azure Crosstime Express)
- From Miracleman
- Miracleman: a superhuman turned God-on-Earth.[22]
- Miraclewoman: Miracleman's lover.[23]
- From Strike!
- From The Prowler
- From The New Wave
- Avalon: high school student Elizabeth Lane has inherited druidic abilities.[24]
- Impulse: Daniel Barkin is a telekinetic, and Lane's partner.[24]
- Tachyon: a super-powered alien bought to Earth by Avalon's father Professor Holmes.[24]
- Dot: a former government agent who liberated The New Wave from the Corporation before joining the team.[24]
- Polestar: a former circus acrobat who joined The New Wave after meeting Dot.[24]
- Megabyte: the mind of a disabled boy put in a high-tech robotic body by the Corporation.[24]
- From The Liberty Project
- Burnout: teenage delinquent Beatrice Keogh is a powerful pyrokinetic.[24]
- Slick: greedy bank-robber Nicholas Walcek has the ability to remove friction.[24]
- Crackshot: scientific genius Lee Clayton has perfect aim, and greatly regrets his criminal past.[24]
- Cimarron: Rosalita Vasquez is superhumanly-strong and short-tempered.[24]
- From Tales of the Beanworld
- From Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters
- From other titles
- The Black Terror: Orrin Murphy, a crime-fighting vigilante.[22]
- Destroyer Duck: a foul-mouthed, short-tempered duck trying to get revenge on GodCorp.[21]
- Cameos
- The Masked Man and sidekick Barney from The Masked Man[23]
- Ms. Tree[23]
- Radio Boy[23]
- Mo and Max from California Girls[23]
- Doc Stearn...Mr. Monster[23]
- The
Reception
Andy Mangels of Amazing Heroes found the first issue to be well-written if underwhelming, and disliked the art - preferring The Prowler interlude over the first chapter of Total Eclipse itself.[25] Virginia Williams-Pennick reviewed the second issue, finding it rushed but enjoyable.[26] Writing in the
In a retrospective review for Major Spoilers, Matthew Peterson gave the final issue of Total Eclipse 2.5 stars out of 5, calling it "total chaos, but a fun kind of chaos".[28] Reviewing the comic as part of a re-read of Eclipse's output, Lars Ingebrigtsen noted that "nothing interesting happens in this book" and described Wolfman's attempts to mimic Alan Moore's style in Miracleman as having "er, not very convincing results".[29] Wolfman himself would note that the book "sold about two copies".[30]
Wolfman would later recall "When I took on Total Eclipse, which was Eclipse’s attempt at shoving their universe together, I did it as a favor. I didn’t know or care about the Eclipse universe (aside from selected books which I really did like) and I didn’t have a specific story to tell as I had with Crisis. But I was asked by people I couldn’t say no to, and I did the job. The book was, as is the cliché, a job of work."[30]
External links
References
- New Sunday Times. Malaysia.
- New Sunday Times. Malaysia.
- ^ Fantagraphics Books. February 15, 1988.
- ^ Fantagraphics Books. February 29, 1988.
- ^ Mangels, Andy (January 15, 1988). "Total Eclipse". Amazing Heroes. No. 133. Fantagraphics.
- Fantagraphics Books.
- Fantagraphics Books.
- Fantagraphics Books. April 1, 1988.
- Fantagraphics Books. April 15, 1988.
- Fantagraphics Books. June 1, 1988.
- ^ "Total Eclipse". Amazing Heroes. No. 157. Fantagraphics. January 19, 1989.
- Fantagraphics Books. June 15, 1988.
- Fantagraphics Books. July 1, 1988.
- ^ Wolfman, Marv (w), Hampton, Bo (p), Blyberg, Will (i). "Zzed" Total Eclipse, no. 1 (May 1988). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ Wolfman, Marv (w), Hampton, Bo (p), Blyberg, Will (i). "Nightmares" Total Eclipse, no. 2 (August 1988). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ Wolfman, Marv (w), Hampton, Bo (p), Rick Bryant (i). "Heroes and Villains" Total Eclipse, no. 3 (November 1988). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ Wolfman, Marv (w), Hampton, Bo (p), Rick Bryant (i). "Rebirth" Total Eclipse, no. 4 (January 1989). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ Wolfman, Marv (w), Hampton, Bo (p), Rick Bryant (i). "Finale!" Total Eclipse, no. 5 (April 1989). Eclipse Comics.
- ISBN 9781605490274.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Who's Who in Total Eclipse" Total Eclipse, no. 1 (May 1988). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Who's Who in Total Eclipse" Total Eclipse, no. 5 (April 1989). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Who's Who in Total Eclipse" Total Eclipse, no. 4 (January 1989). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Who's Who in Total Eclipse" Total Eclipse, no. 3 (November 1988). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Who's Who in Total Eclipse" Total Eclipse, no. 2 (August 1988). Eclipse Comics.
- ^ Mangels, Andy (August 1, 1988). "Comics in Review". Amazing Heroes. No. 146. Fantagraphics.
- ^ Williams-Pennick, Virginia (October 15, 1988). "Comics in Review". Amazing Heroes. No. 151. Fantagraphics.
- New Sunday Times. Malaysia.
- ^ "RETRO REVIEW: Total Eclipse #5 (April 1989)". Major Spoilers. September 13, 2010.
- ^ "1988: Total Eclipse". Total Eclipse. July 6, 2018.
- ^ a b "Speaking with... Kurt Busiek". marvwolfman.com.