Total Eclipse (2023)
Writers: Drury Moroz & Ronn Foss
Artists: Drury Moroz, Ronn Foss, Martin Greim & Gary Kato
Rating: 
This week, I’ll take a look at “Total Eclipse” a collection of vintage stories starring The Eclipse, whose adventures were featured in the Alter-Ego and Caped Crusaders fanzines from the 1960s/1970s. Created by Ronn Foss (Who collaborated with Drury Moroz for most of the stories collected here) presented a very unique hero for the Silver Age era since he was one of the few homage characters that inspired him; Turns out that both Foss and Moroz sought to do a revival of Dr. Mid-Nite (Of the Justice Society fame) but was turned down by Julius Schwartz mainly because they couldn’t use any of DC’s trademarked/copyrighted character, but if they gave the character his own name then they could publish his stories in homage, thus The Eclipse was born!
The stories presented here find our hero fending off low-level gangsters and diving into the occult (There’s an actual story that involves a satanic ritual – Nothing you would find in a Marvel or DC story); For the most part, The Eclipse is Batman and Daredevil rolled into one but he also comes off as a great street-level hero that never follows the Spider-Man blueprint of facing off against the typical superpowered villain but instead leans deep into the grittiness of the streets that gives off a 1930s noir vibe that meshes well with the 1960s atmosphere; Ronn Foss’ artwork has that Carmine Infantino influence to it but he also manages to have some bits of Gil Kane’s work added to the mix that feels so innovative and the stories written by Foss, Drury Moroz and Martin Greim (Who would later go on to create “Thunderbunny”) make good in highlighting the dramatic aspects of their stories that not only captives the readers but does a great job in letting The Eclipse grow on them.
The adventures of The Eclipse haven’t aged well as time went on but there’s no denying that many comic book fans will get a kick out of these stories if they encountered them for the first time and should be in anyone’s collection. I’m praying that the creative forces at G-Man Comics will one day bring this character back for a new generation after exploring the material in this compilation.
Well, that’s it for me. Thanks for sticking around and I will see you all next time.
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