For a year from 1973 to 1974 DC fans got to enjoy the exquisitely told adventures of Paul Mann, the resurrected Manhunter in the pages of Detective Comics. Written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Walt Simonson, this series told the tale of man raised from the dead by a super-scientific cult who cloned him and then tried to murder him repeatedly.
Manhunter hummed along in the back pages of Detective Comics, never getting a cover until his final installment when he joined forces with the lead character of the comic Batman to take on his evil masters and their schemes for world domination once and for all. It was indeed "the first--and last--time" for these heroes as Manhunter died in this story. In my imagination, he has remained dead, a phoenix of a hero who flashed onto the scene memorably and then returned to his grave a better man.
It's hard to believer that it's been well over thirty years since these classic tales, more time than between the Golden Age Manhunter and this refined revival. Time flies.
Here's a peek at the one and only cover featuring Manhunter, drawn by Jim Aparo then artist of the lead Batman feature. I love seeing how these old covers are constructed, various elements glued into place to create a lasting memory of noble heroes for fans across the world.
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The Goodwin/Simonson "Manhunter" series is among some of the best comics ever printed, period.
ReplyDeleteWe totally agree. The further in time I get from that series, the better it holds up. It truly is timeless in many ways.
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That was some wonderful work, I first encountered those stories in a reprint DC did in the 1980's sometime. I need to dig thing that up...
ReplyDeleteThat's the way I feel. It seems anytime I get to thinking about that series, I have an urge to dig out one of my collections and give it another read. It never seems to get old. Like the old Universal monster movies, I like to check it out at least every several years or so.
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