The Phenom!

Extreme comics, with their hallmark attributes of blood, long finger-knives, "grim" characters with names containing words like "Night" or "Blood" or "Slayer" (or all three), might have hit their stride in the Image Nineties, but their roots go much further back. Take, for example, this awesome costume from the pages of the indie comic "Nightslayer", circa 1983:

On the one hand, I love that someone took the "What if Olivia Newton John were a transgendered rock-and-roll super-hero" concept and ran with it. On the other hand, I have a hard time taking any character not named "Rambo" seriously who sports a headband and perm.

Also, who runs around with leg bands emblazoned with snack chips? Am I supposed to be intimidated that I might get "crunched" by Doritos?

Those of you too young to remember this sort of thing, count your blessings -- we old farts took a bullet for you.

(Image via the very cool "Power Comics" Tumblr site.)

16 Responses to The Phenom!

  1. Myro says:

    Alright, Albany, New York! Are you ready to rock? m/

    Unfortunately, my hair is much to short to make a credible 80s metal head.

  2. Dan says:

    Is it wrong that the second I saw this guy I started to hear Judas Priest in my head? And I think the weight of all that hairspray on his awesome mullet might have broken his neck.

  3. Frankie says:

    Why is John Rambo wearing Panthero’s spiked suspenders?

    And since I mentioned Panthero(my favorite Thunder Cat, I can’t believe the cut his arms off in this new series. Just great!(sarcastically spoken) I guess I know what’s to come–the Berbils will make him mechanical arms. Wow! Just lovely, Panthro with robotic arms. Just what I always wanted to see.(more sarcastic aspeech)

    Sorry about the rant folks, show’s over. Move along now. Nothing else to see here.

  4. Doornik1142 says:

    Eh, I don’t know. Cracking on indie comics feels like picking low-hanging fruit.

  5. Jeff Hebert says:

    I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t use the phrase “low-hanging fruit” while referencing someone in those pants.

  6. Nick Hentschel says:

    @Jeff: EWWWWWW!!!!!

    but back to your original post about the character’s violent names, I remember a mid-90’s comment in Wizard Magazine, one of their wishes for Xmas: “ONE character whose name does not include, ‘blood,’ ‘fire,’ ‘death,’ or ‘kill’.”

  7. maniacmick says:

    i just looked up “nightslayer 1983” and i know have another obscure character to try to replicate in heromachine

  8. AbecedariusRex says:

    This is Spinal Tap!

  9. punkjay says:

    Wow The Undertaker’s new outfit SUCKS!!!

  10. maniacmick says:

    oops meant nightslayer

    here’s a reference pic
    http://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/iss/600w/807/588071/3240661_1.jpg

  11. Johnny Gear says:

    Wow, maniacmick, thats nice. I like the blue outlined skin and the removal of the awkward over face mask/hood was a nice touch.

  12. TOOL says:

    Did Rambo and one of the old Legion of Doom wrestlers do like one of those Saiyan fusion techniques?

  13. P.F. Bruns says:

    It was comics like this that turned me into a lettering geek. Of all the very bad things in that panel above, the lettering is to me by far the worst. When I look at the stellar work done by folks like John Workman, Tom Orzechowski, and of course Richard Starkings (and many others too numerous to mention), and then back to crap like this…there IS an art to lettering. It will make a good comic better (or, in this case, a bad comic worse).

  14. MusicAddict says:

    Tool, I love you for saying that! It didn’t pop into my head originally, but now I can’t help but think of that when I look at this. Sadly, I can also picture the fusion itself.

    I haven’t watched Dragon Ball in years and can remember the Saiyan Fusion but can’t remember why I went into a room. Anyone else have a mind like that?