"It was a very beautiful place and it was really green."
Tasteful and erotic. Awesome. I have the issue in my collection and I am very happy for it. But...Even Dark Horse, a publisher that is always top-notch, must submit to the wheels and gizmos of the world (America) and after releasing somewhere around 4000 copies of the beautiful nude cover that Tony intended they released this cover that would supplant the original:
Well. Shit looks doctored does it not? What a half-assed cover. I appreciate that it looks like Tony merely zapped a cheesy bikini pajama onto the woman's body. It looks totally last second and not just a little bit like a joke. I guess if you have to censor yourself you might as well have some fun with it. Anyhoo, the whole business is laughable. Maybe I am a pervert that regularly reads "Heavy Metal", but I think the nudity is tasteful and very pleasing. Yeah, I am a pervert that regularly reads "Heavy Metal", but according to Me there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think there ought to be more perverts that read "Heavy Metal". It is a really good magazine and Kevin Eastman can have my money any day of the week. I wonder what would have happened if Conan was sans pants in the original cover? That might have been an even more interesting scenario. I'll be in the back of class reading Richard Corben comics and eating mushrooms for the rest of the week. Enjoy.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/08/did_education_dept_help_kill_r.html
Shit was evil back in the 80's. Sleep lightly because Werewolf by Night is lurking behind the curtains. You can hear his claws on the wooden floorboards. Bill Sienkiewicz and Doug Moench had an unbelievable run on the much maligned series "Moon Knight" in the early 80's that yielded some of the most amazing covers in comics history. Sienkiewicz's pencils and Moench's writing are amazing as well. The whole series was way ahead of its time. Probably the reason it didn't last all that long. The more recent incarnations of "Moon Knight" have failed to grasp the intensity that these early issues possessed. I think the main reason for this is that Doug and Bill were (and continue to be) total fucking bad-asses. If you look at the other books that Marvel was publishing in 1980 (when this series launched), with perhaps the exception of "The Savage Sword of Conan" and maybe "Daredevil" (Miller had yet to truly kick things into overdrive in '80), it is hard to find anything that pushes the boundaries of accepted mainstream comic fare. It is hard to create something that feels truly edgy without turning it into either a parody of itself, giving into cliches, or relying heavily on hard-boiled tropes. This book does not do any of these things, and it is a silly superhero book. Too many times I have read hardcore comics that supposedly fall outside the mainstream and yet fall victim to all the pratfalls and gimmicks that hinder superhero books. Just enjoy good shit I suppose. If anyone is interested in seeing what happens when you fuck something like this up check out Charlie Huston and Brian Finch's run on the relaunch of "Moon Knight" from several years ago...edgy? No, just really embarrassing. Moench and Sienkiewicz got it right, let us enjoy it.
