Captain Paragon: This is another great example of the greatness of early AC. This run lasted only four issues, but it was a great four-issue run, as we got a great four-part storyarc for the main feature, plus we got some interesting back-ups: The first two appearances of ‘Space Ark’ in issues #1 & #2, the first AC Comics appearace of Ms. Victory in issue #1, a Commando D back-up in issue #4 (You might have seen him in the back-up of ‘Americomics’ #5!), & even a Ken Mitchroney gag strip in issue #4 that makes fun of that issue’s mostly black-&-white-with-16-color-pages format! This is another great gem from AC’s early days!

There are more great runs soon!

J.A.P.

BTW, Wood God was one of my first comics. I’d like to see someone take another crack at the character.

Americomics: I read that you liked AC Comics, & there are some hidden gems from their earliest days that are definitely worth checking out: When Bill Black first started AC Comics in late 1982/early 1983, he slated this particular title to be AC’s flagship book. It was basically a try-out book (like “Showcase”), but it would feature two-to-four different heroes in each issue (which was mostly seen as team-ups & superteams in other try-out books, but ‘Americomics’ would have at least two stories per issue, so you got more solo stories, but there are some multi-hero stories as well: The Black Terror made his first AC Comics appearance as a guest-star in issue #2′s ‘The Shade’ story. Issue #3 had three Blue Beetles [This was produced prior to DC acquiring the Charlton heroes]. The final issue had a back-up involving both the Shade & Tara On Jungle Island!). Two future FemForcers (Dragonfly & the aforementioned Tara) made their AC Comics debuts in the pages of ‘Americomics’. In fact, Dragonfly was the successful non-FemForce book of AC’s early years, as her solo book lasted 8 issues! Of course, the book needs it’s equivalent to ‘Monark Starstalker’ or ‘Wood-God’: The answer was John Beatty’s ‘The Slayer’, who appeared in the first issue & never appeared again (It was a ‘relatively crude & oddly unfocused mishmash of incompatible comncepts’, to quote the only guy who commented about him in the book’s letter column, T.M. Maple!). The first two issues had four-page preview installments of new featues: Captain Freedom in #1 (who got the cover & lead feature in #5) & Tara in #2 (Who would mostly be relegated to guest show until becoming a FemForcer). Issue #3 debuted a letter column. Issue #4 would change the cover format so that the logo of the main feature would take most of the top portion of the cover. The final two issues would give the cover-featured stars longer stories! The book lasted only six issues, but they are a great run to accumilate!

I will give you more runs later!

J.A.P.

Considering that the title (a) features the likes of Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck & Gene Day at the tops of their considerable games, not to mention excellent Doug Moench scripts, & (b) isn’t likely to be reprinted anytime soon (if ever) because of copyright issues with the Sax Rohmer estate, it’s surprising just how easily & cheaply this one can be found.

I’ll definitely put another one of these together for a future installment.

If anyone has enjoyed a good sci-fi and / or group book, I paid full price but think it’s one of the best reads ever and I’ve seen it lots in quarter bins : L.E.G.I.O.N. and even the later R.E.B.E.L.S. wasn’t too bad. Woefully underrated !