Manhunter (Archie Goodwin & Walt Simonson)

[jaques]

Anybody else a fan of this Detective Comics backup feature from the early '70s? Terrific pulp hero nonsense with the perfect blend of melodrama and moody darkness.

I pulled out my copy of the reprint last night and was amazed all over again. There are pages where Simonson manages to fit, like 17 panels on a single page while still telling a clear visual story.



As a side note, I keep getting baffled that DC tries to reuse the name "Manhunter" without bringing back the fantastic costume this guy had. I think they've done this at least twice.

[Havokscry]

I could never get into Walt Simonson's art style. To me, it was rather sloppy. His run on Thor and X-Factor bugged me.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Jacques, I have that same reprint edition!
I've always been a fan. Good stuff.

I remember first discovering Manhunter in an issue of Secret Society of Super-Villains. I thought he was pretty cool although his costume was a bit flamboyant.

[jaques]

Originally Posted by Hex_Enduction_Hour

Jacques, I have that same reprint edition!
I've always been a fan. Good stuff.

I remember first discovering Manhunter in an issue of Secret Society of Super-Villains. I thought he was pretty cool although his costume was a bit flamboyant.

I guess I've never seen that appearance. When I was 7, I got the issue of Detective Comics that contained the full-length finale where Manhunter and Batman team up. Like most comics I got in those days, I had no idea what was going on, because I hadn't read any of the prior issues. But I thought Manhunter had the coolest costume I'd ever seen, and I pretty much still think that to this day!

There's a later reprint edition that includes a followup story Goodwin plotted before his death. Simonson drew it up as a wordless story, but I found it entirely anticlimactic. Once you know how the original story turned out, there's not much point to revisiting it. Also, they gave Simonson a lot more pages to work with than he used on the original backup stories, so the art doesn't have that same tight use of tiny panels.