Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Two Fists & 18 Karats*

(*Hey, I'm certainly not implying Mr. T's cheap, but 24 k gold is so damned soft,
the jewelry's not going to wear well unless there's something in there to toughen it up.)

With so many comics companies putting out such a range of material, Marvel and DC continuing to take up the lion's share of the market so that even well-established companies such as Image and Dark Horse have to fight for attention, smaller, newer companies have a vastly difficult job letting comics fans know these alternatives are out there.

One such company is operating out of the U.K.: AP Comics.

I was completely unaware of the company's existence until I recieved some mail from Chris Bunting, who is, among other things, the writer of the Mr. T comics series set to debut this May.

As I told Chris, much of the buzz surrounding Mr. T - the man & the image - missed me, or me it. My intense TV years were the '60s and much of the '70s, and Mr. T - from his big screen debut in 1982's Rocky III through the A-Team years - was primarily an 80's phenomenon -- not to suggest that he's faded away, but there's little denying that was his mainstream peak... at least so far.

Still, between dating, school and work I watched relatively little television during that decade, and the Rocky movies were items I'd given a miss, so I was largely unaware of Mr. T beyond the most superficial of impressions. However, there's no denying that Mr. T's a memorable guy. No one else looks like him nor sounds like him. I can only imagine how strong an impression he makes in person.

So, it's hardly a surprise that such an immediately recognizable, not-to-be-forgotten character should become the subject of an action comic series.

Chris Bunting is writing, with Neil Edwards doing the pencils and Randy Emberlin adding his inking polish to the mix.

At the moment, aside from the site links and the cover/promotional images seen here and on their "T" Total promotional page for the series, I know little more about the series than you do. The cover artwork looks like a fun, beefy action variety that reminds me a great deal of Jim Starlin with touches of Norm Breyfogle, but that may be my age showing a little. The thumbnails of the inner pages seen on the T Total page above have a different feel to them, which is to be expected from any competent storytellers. (Trying to maintain the exaggerations of a "grabber" cover on the inner pages was what made so many of the early Image comics - as opposed to the far superior material they've been producing in recent years - is a poor move. Most of what Image was initially based on had little to nothing to do with storytelling.)

I'm interested in seeing where Bunting, Edwards and Emberlin decide to take an already larger than life character within a format where they can do anything they can imagine. I know from a brief piece on Newsarama that Mr. T himself is the Creative Supervisor of the series, so I'll be all the more interested to see how rooted in the real world it will remain, and the nature of the moral conflicts Mr. T will allow himself to be be put into. The scattered appearances I've seen him make in the past 10 years or so gave me the impression that despite the tough exterior there's a clever, self-effacing sense of humor lurking behind his persona, and I'm hoping that the creative team getting to interact with him will allow some of that to show through.

So, if you're interested - either as an old fan of Mr. T, or someone who's intrigued by some aspect of this series - now's the time to let your comics shop know you'll be looking for a copy. There are so many comics coming out each month that the people ordering stock for stores need an extra nudge to order anything that's not already familiar or put out by one of the mainstream, sales-crowding companies. If you don't ask, you might never see it.

With that in mind, don't forget to poke around the AP Comics site to see the other titles they have, too. It's a surprisingly varied lot in terms of both themes and style; I'd be amazed if there isn't something there to pique the curiosity of a comics fan of almost any stripe.