Frank'sCuratedComics: Set Sale 2 - Starstruck/DragonRing/Elric

Get-ready-for-Christmas Sale

Starstruck/DragonRing/Elric set

I went to the secret comic book warehouse here in the wilds of western Pennsylvania and came back with quantity on a few choice sets and single issues.

I have TWO of these sets available. ALL SETS MAILED USPS PRIORITY.

Please email me capneasyATgmail to buy. I will send you PayPal address info.

25 bux postpaid gets you:

Starstruck six issue set - 1985

Elric three issue set - 1983
Dragon Ring two issue set - 1987

**orders to Canada are $35 postpaid. Overseas orders $50.

First up: Starstruck #1 thru 6. I did an interview a few years back with colorist Steve Oliff about his work on Starstruck. Check it out here. http://comicscomicsmag.com/2009/06/steve-oliff-riff.html

Starstruck has subsequently been republished and recolored. But I like the original coloring and format best. I think this is one of the most interesting comics of the 1980s. The artist Mike Kaluta may be the only American artist besides Geoff Darrow that can give Moebius a run for his money in terms of sheer detail and world building. Kaluta somehow manages to shoehorn entire universes into a comic book panel.

The story was originally an off Broadway play written by Elaine Lee. Kind of a futuristic new wave space opera with strong female lead characters. At times impossible to follow and understand - it is one of those comics that you have to own so that you can keep returning to it to see if it makes sense the tenth time you've tried to read it. But who cares because the art and the color are SO AMAZING - that you'll just busy yourself oogling Kaluta's art and Oliff's colors. Beautiful stuff. One of Bill Boichel's favorite comics. Also, a secret influence on Paul Pope's THB.

Next up: Dragon Ring #1 and #2 (below)

This is the second volume of Dragon Ring when they went all color. It's all AIRBRUSH color. The story is some nonsensical space alien revenge story. Which gives the artist Guang Yap every excuse to use the craziest airbrush effects ever to try and capture the appropriate feel of a space alien revenge story.

Another example of an indy publisher - this time Aircel - experimenting with affordable full color processes. It's full color on newsprint - so the bright colors bleed and fade in a really nice way that is different from a lot of comics of the era that were printed on glossy paper.

This comic is, IMHO, one of the most interestingly colored comics of the late 80s. There aren't many comics out there like this one. One of my favorite finds of the last few years while rediscovering this material.

And issue two has a back up by Guang Yap's younger brother that looks like it could be an small press art comic circa 2010. (below)

Issue one has a back up by Dave Cooper. (below)

Great wrap around cover for issue one. (below)

Next up: Elric (below). I've written about this comic before here. This is one of my favorite comics because of the color process used to create it. P.Craig Russell and Michael T. Gilbert used watercolor, airbrush, dyes, inks, and the kitchen sink to color this one.

This is one of those examples of a creative team working together and figuring it out as they go and you can see that figuring out right on the page. Each issue's art gets better and it's exciting to see the palette and the drawings change.

Read the linked to article about the color process above - just remember that this was a watershed moment in comics coloring. It was early in the development of making full color comics and printing them affordably.

Check out the vibrancy of the colors in these panels. This independent series from Pacific Comics was a minor big deal because it was the beginning of the indy publishers outdoing the big publishers with nice paper and fancy inks.