Eclipse & Vega #1

Posted: Tuesday, July 29, 2003
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Eclipse & Vega #1 Writer(s): Saul Colt
Artist(s): Guy A Bergel (A), Greg Horn (cover)
Publishers: SSS Comics (Self Published)
From: Canada
Price: $2.95 (US)

Two university students are spending the day in the pool, lazing around in their bikini's doing a bit of study. Little did they know that some cliché meteorite has found its way into their pool. After a medial emergency where they are both in a coma for a couple of weeks, they start displaying strange powers. After a bit of flying around, they figure they need to get some mentoring from an ex superhero, Packaging-Man. He gives them some fight training and tight fitting costumes. Soon they pick up an arch nemesis and end up battling an army of brainwashed civilians.

From the first sight of Eclipse and Vega we get on the cover right through the book the main attribute these ladies have is revealing clothes. We get butt shots, cleavage, short skirts and anything Guy can get away with that isn't actually nudity. This proves rather distracting, as most times this usually signals that the creators can't get a storyline that operates above the waistline. Thankful there is a bit more to this book. It has a few nice touches of self referential humour, thought some of it is a bit laboured. The arch nemesis plot doesn't make for much more than a funny gag. The interaction between the two leads manages to convey the possibility of future conflict, as there ideas of what their powers mean are starting to diverge.

For bad girl superhero art Guy just might be.. your guy. The ladies and girls look great, and he can deal with the pretty much anything the plot requires. It's all stock superhero stuff, you've seen it drawn before and you’ve probably seen it drawn worse than here. At 37 pages you get a good value book that is easy on the eyes but slightly creaky in the story department. It relies too much on making fun of superhero conventions, instead of coming up with something new.

In a Word: Underdressed.



If you have a comment or question about Small Press then feel free to contact me