Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Black and White Wednesday: Jason Monarch by Lillard and Craig

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's a black and white mag you might've missed back in early 1979, Jason Monarch #1. Published by an indy outfit called the Omnibus Publishing Company, this b&w one-shot was planned as a color mag but certain conflicts (most likely cash flow) forced them to put the mag out as a b&w. That was (and still is) par for the course for most small companies, so it really wasn't a problem. Omnibus did a good job of putting together a nice creative team, an unknown (to moi, at least) author by the name of Dave Lillard and sometime Atlas and Marvel artist Jim (What If...?/Master of Kung Fu) Jim Craig.

Jason Monarch, obviously, didn't set the world on fire. It cashed in on the Star Wars craze with nods to other sci-fi mags (like DC's Star Hunters), but it was well-written and featured some of Craig's best art. In the early 80s it could'a been a contender, but in the late 70s, it was hard for a non-Marvel/DC mag to get noticed. Want a look at this forgotten diamond in the rough? You got it, baby!

4 comments:

  1. very cool. thanks for posting this. i like jim craig's art and i had never heard of this book. if you like stuff like this, check out a comic by a young tom grummet called PRIVATEERS. he made it before he worked for marvel or DC, and it's pretty cool.

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  2. Kind of a sad news comment here. The writer of this book, David Liliard, passed away in November 2020 from pneumonia. He lived in the apartment building I did until I got married, and I used to buy comics off of him. I didn't realize he had written this until about a year before he passed away, but was very proud of this work. He will be missed

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    Replies
    1. Sad news, indeed, but thank you for sharing. So glad you got to know him!

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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