I wanted to finish off some of Matt Wagner’s works this month with high notes, but of course I realized that his entire work is almost possible. As we know, his contributions to indie comics were the basis of Artform. His work explores and transcends the roots of superhero pulp that incorporates it in an incredibly original way in modern incarnations. And he was even the cornerstone of another legacy that changed the industry of DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint.
Yes, sometimes I think people forget that. And that’s a shame. So I’m going to focus on one of the best superhero crime comics ever published.
“Sleep well, oh, evil.”
The series launched its first arc with “Talantula” by Wagner, Guy Davis, David Horn and John Costanza. It sets an interesting view of Wesley Dodds, abandoning the clever billionaire playboy from his previous continuation, making him a more dough-like book-like type. In 1938, he began building a complex supportive cast in New York, including Diane Belmont, the daughter of a district attorney. They throw them into the mystery of the temptation calling them the tarantula, who grabs one of Diane’s sociable friends. It weaves a rather disturbing story through criminals, law enforcement, and high society.
The art of Guy Davis and David Hornung was unique from the start. Davis’s line art captures the rich details of this era and presents a cast of characters that look like people. The various body types and character designs, scratches and textured shadows set them apart from more standard superhero art. Especially in the early 90s, major styles shifted further to the styles of the founders of the image. With a large emphasis on Hornung’s muted color scheme, spot colors, the black and white dream sequence further helped the visual sense of the grittier noir story.
In addition to this, the story also featured a letter from John Costanza. He shows me again why he is one of the best things to work for DC. It cleverly handles various streams of narration and dialogue provided by Wagner’s script, including Diane’s journaling, Wesley’s letters, unique, scratchy, harsh words balloons and fonts for Sandman himself.
“The nature of humanity is not twisted and strange. The dormant species of evil gestates in the soul over the years are through a generation of moral disintegration.”
Sandman Mystery Theatre: Wagner, Davis, Horn, and Tarantula from Costanza set up the instant hiber for the series. It took him to be a member of the Justice Society and really brought out elements inspired by pulp and noir. The opening salvo brought about a disturbing and complicated mystery that revealed the background of New York in the late 30s.
The second compilation was announced this August, collecting the second half of the series. Steven T. Seagle was part of the series as a co-writer of #13. In addition to Davis’s long-term share of his artistic duties, the series included many other notable artists, such as John Watkis, Vince Locke, Matthew Dow Smith and Warren Perry. While exploring the relationship between Wesley and Diane, we lay out the number of cases that will always rotate to resolve.
Classic comic big concept: Sandman Mystery Theater – Tarantula
Sandman Mystery Theatre: Tarantula
Author: Matt Wagner
Artist: Guy Davis
Colorist: David Horn
Letterer: John Costanza
Publisher: DC Comics – Vertigo
Release date: February 11th – May 20th, 1993 (original issue)
Collected at Sandman Mystery Theatre – Book One and Sandman Mystery Theatre Compuden
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