Fantagraphics Books has launched a new line of non-superhero Marvel comic book compilations, "Lost Marvels," with the publication late last month of Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows, collecting the full 9-issue 1969-1970 run of the horror comic book series.
It's a hardcover book that reproduces the pages as they would have looked in the original comic book form, complete with "Ben-Day" dot coloring. And the series of comic books are not presented completely: reprints from other, earlier comic book series are omitted, as are two stories adapted from the work of H.P. Lovecraft, "due to legal questions."
Tower of Shadows is fascinating as a real showcase for the very best of Marvel's artists of the Silver Age. Not only are the artists often given a chance to script the stories as well as draw them — something Marvel rarely allowed at this time — but they even eventually draw themselves as the stories' narrators, after a letter to the editor complained about the corny, pun-slinging grave digger narrator of the early issues.
I think the standout is the very first story of the series, "At the Stroke of Midnight," written and drawn by the inventive and psychedelic artist Jim Steranko, whose short-lived stint at Marvel has become legendary.
In fact, it was Steranko's conflict with editor Stan Lee over this story that led to Steranko parting ways with Marvel, except for a brief return three years later to mostly contribute some cover work. Steranko had created a mod, monochrome cover for Tower of Shadows' first issue that Lee rejected (it's reproduced in the book), and Lee rejected Steranko's title for the story, "The Lurking Fear at Shadow House." The two also fought over Steranko's unusual panel design, and dialog.
The roster of artists includes the cream of Marvel's Silver Age bullpen, including Gene Colan, John Buscema, Marie Severin, and John Romita. Unfortunately, I found "One Hungers," the story written and drawn by Neal Adams, whose artwork I greatly admire, to be pretty much incomprehensible.
But artist Wally Wood, who was one of the founding artists of Mad, wrote and drew some very interesting sword and sorcery comics, before anyone had ever heard of Dungeons and Dragons.
And Barry Windsor-Smith, who contemporaneously was initiating his groundbreaking and hugely successful run on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian series, also contributed some great and imaginative artwork.
It's amazing to be able to see these stories, forgotten mostly because they don't feature the superheroes that have propelled Marvel to become one of the most profitable cultural brands in history. But this run of comic books features work by many of the talented writers and artists who were key contributors to that superhero mythos, freed from the narrow structure of that genre to create some fascinating and innovative horror and fantasy pieces.
You can purchase Lost Marvels No. 1: Tower of Shadows here.
