The Comics Rack

The Incredible Morphing Concept

   Many of you have probably seen the ads for a new series on ABC called Lost (or something close to that). The basic premise is that an airplane full of ordinary people crash on an island and have to survive. The commercials suggest something sinister may be afoot and one promo spot makes the show look like an extended version of The Most Dangerous Game. What made me sit up and take notice, however, was that the premise seemed familiar and that, in fact, there was once a comic book series that had a similar premise...at least when it was first proposed.
   Over 30 years ago, Marv Wolfman was one of the shining lights at Marvel Comics. His work on Tomb of Dracula had turned a mundane horror comic into a top seller. He proved time and again that he could write the other Marvel characters with equal skill and depth of characterization. So, it was no suprise that the fans in 1975 waited with anticipation when it was announced that Marv was hard at work on a new book that would star a new and original character, Skull the Slayer.
   From the first issue, however, Skull the Slayer proved itself to be a weak strip by anyone's estimation. On the cover we see the hero of the book attacking a dinosaur with a spear, a sword (or machete) hanging from his belt and the blazing copy of how he was a "fugitive from the concrete jungle." Art was by Phillipino artist Steve Gan and the whole look of the book made it a "B" title right off the bat. The basic premise: a group of people from modern day New York are transported into the age of the dinosaurs where they are protected by the "misfit"; a criminal type who becomes Skull. This anti-hero eventually encounters all sorts of creatures in the age of dinosaurs and buckles his swash in a fitting fashion to become a hero. Apparently, I was not alone in my negative feelings about the book, since the series only lasted 8 issues and Wolfman bailed on his creation after issue 3. Years later, however, Wolfman revealed in an interview that he didn't bail on Skull the Slayer, rather, he left in disgust, because his original premise for the series had little in common with the finished product.
   It seems that as originally conceived by Wolfman, the series that became STS had no hero as such. The original premise was for an entire apartment building from New York city to be transported back to the age of dinosaurs (don't remember how). As the series unfolded, the reader would see how each chaarcter, or group of characters, reacted to their life in the new environment. There would be no main character or hero, but a series of stories exploring the reactions of ordinary people in an extraordinary environment.
   Needless to say, the powers that be at Marvel balked at the project and, if you have read any of the series as it was published, you can see the final, truncated, product. It's really a shame, because the original concept sounded intriguing and far superior to the usual super-hero adventures that were being published at the time. Whether it would have flown, the comic buying public being rather fickle, is unknown, and whether Lost will turn out to be similar to this aborted project will be seen in the fall TV season.
   Wolfman did, however, get a chance to explore his premise in a different form later on. After moving to DC in the late 70s, Wolfman created a very good, but short-lived series with Gene Colan. Anybody remember Night Force?