Out of the Vault - Revenge of the Prowler

Not much to say this week. I promised Revenge of the Prowler last week without reading it, and upon reading it, found that there wasn't much to say. But since I promised and put in the time to read the comics, I'll go ahead and write a quick entry. Or maybe not so quick, I dunno; it's the last weekend in March, and we're in the middle of a heavier snowstorm than I think we saw all winter, so my head's kind of in a mess right now trying to process that. I figure Al Gore must be holding some big global warming conference in Tulsa this weekend, since the blizzards seem to follow him wherever he goes.

Revenge of the Prowler picks up where the previous miniseries left off, with art student Scott Kida dealing with the emotional aftermath of the vampire slaughter in Prowler #4. He's obsessively painting gruesome images of slaughter while letting his personal life and relationships go to hell. He finally decides to tell Leo Kragg that he's done with the entire Prowler misadventure, but while he's talking to Leo, two of Leo's old acquaintances turn up, former U.S. Marines nicknamed the Devil Dogs (crossover characters from Strike!, another Eclipse series).

One of the Devil Dogs' granddaughters has run away, only to turn up in an underground kiddie porn magazine. So Leo and Scott go off with the two old Marines to rescue her from a heavily armed compound in northern Mexico, where heavy gunplay ensues. Kragg rides in on a vintage WWII bomber, dons a helicopter backpack to catch a speeding truck, then rides to the rescue on a motorcycle with guns blazing in each hand, just like John Wayne in True Grit, only with handlebars instead of reins in his teeth.


Meanwhile, in the back-up feature, we see an example of the Prowler newspaper strip, ostensibly from the 40's, as well as Kragg's continuing run-ins with vampires and zombies, with the trail leading once again to Murder Legendre.

As I was reading, I discovered that I had only three of four issues. As far as I know, there were only eight issues published of the Prowler's adventures. I quit before the final one came out. Unlike Dynamo Joe, though, I don't regret quitting. Revenge of the Prowler gets continuously seedier and more depressing, and we don't get to know the characters well enough to share any of their deep angst. And John K. Snyder's blobby artwork just adds to the seediness and emotional distance. I quit buying the book because it was obvious that it would never live up to the promise I saw in the premise.

And just to show you how little I cared about this book, issue 2 of Revenge of the Prowler came with a Flexidisc included. For those too young to remember, occasionally magazines or comics would include a little record of flexible plastic that you could play on your record player.

The first one I ever saw was a recording of whale songs in an issue of National Geographic. I had a couple of comics that included them, too. The original, magazine-sized Nexus included one in issue #3, and Tim Truman included a flexidisc of the blues songs (which he composed and recorded) played within the storyline of Scout #19.

I have both of those issues, and have pulled out and listened to both flexidiscs. It probably killed the collector's value of those issues, but I've never really cared about collector's value. I buy comics to read and enjoy, and liked both Scout and Nexus enough to be curious about the expanded experience the flexidiscs offered.

The flexidisc in Revenge of the Prowler #2 is still intact and unlistened to.

Out of the Vault - Prowler

Timothy Truman first made a splash as the artist on First's Grimjack, with writer John Ostrander. His next hit was Scout, from Eclipse, which he wrote as well as drew. And then, in 1987, he debuted a new character, this time as a writer only.

Prowler was a four-issue miniseries reminiscent of Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, with a retired man of mystery coming out of retirement to take on a new protege. In Truman's story, old man Leo Kragg takes an intense interest in young college student Scott Kida, whom he first sees practicing martial arts in the park, learning from a book.

Kragg apparently sees a kindred spirit in the boy's isolation and intensity, so he fakes a mugging to see if the kid has got the stuff. Scott proves worthy, and Kragg takes him under his wing, to train him in the skills necessary to fight for good.

Prowler was an odd series that never quite gelled. I loved the pulpy, Saturday-afternoon-serial feel of that first cover (a sensation heightened in the series itself by the idea that Kragg had produced a serial in the 30's based on his own adventures). The concept of the old mentor taking on a new apprentice was good; look how far Batman Beyond was able to take that idea. But Kragg was a really creepy character, and his relationship with Scott was sometimes painfully icky.


Plus, there was a haphazard, kitchen-sink feel to the whole thing. Kragg was once rich, but now has trouble paying his bills; however, that doesn't really come into play in the miniseries. Likewise with Scott's supporting cast of college friends; they appear and then disappear and play absolutely no meaningful role in the story. In issue two, we learn of the return of the Blood Cult, a vampire street gang, so Kragg recruits his old friend Van Helsing. In issue three, we learn that the leader of the cult is another public domain character, Murder Legendre (the zombie maker played by Bela Lugosi in the cult classic, "White Zombie").

The art was by John K. Snyder III. Unlike Truman's detailed, finicky renderings, Snyder's art was loose and sketchy. A little too sketchy for my tastes.

Prowler also carried a back-up feature, a recounting of the Prowler's origin, written by Michael H. Price (a film critic who has collaborated with my friend John Wooley on a few books).

The art for the back-up was by Graham Nolan, whose clean lines really helped sell the 30's timeframe. The story itself was goofy, with Leo Kragg as a young stockbroker who loses his parents' life savings in the crash of '29. Ashamed that his greed has hurt his family, Kragg decides to become a secret agent for his best friend, a union organizer. Adopting a mask to protect his identity, Kragg stumbles across a company importing zombie scabs from Haiti to break a strike, thus beginning the Prowler's feud with Murder Legendre.

The feud ended in the main feature with Prowler shooting Legendre and knocking him off the end of a dock. Kragg walks away, realizing that he never heard Legendre's body hit the water below.

It's not over.

Next week: Revenge of the Prowler.