Twilight Avenger Begins

There are certain potential problems when it comes to reading independent comics from several decades ago.  For one, the issues are hard to track down and, two, the nature of independent publishing is chaotic.  Publishers come and go as much as a volatile market allows.

But for creators, driven by the passion of their vision, the story must continue.  This rambling preamble is meant to explain how and why I'm reading the "Twilight Avenger" out of order. 

The last time I wrote about the pulp-inspired hero of Tulsa, he ran afoul of a zombie-creating mad scientist in a story published by Eternity Comics.  But the two issues I recently picked up on eBay seem to be the very first adventure of our boy and were published by Texas-based Elite Comics.

Issues 1 and 2 involve the origin of the Twilgiht Avenger as he investigates a kidnapping by the villainous "Centipede."  Like all classic heroes, he has a tragic moment that defines him and motivates his heroic career.

Yep, that's a wedding dress that goes flying after after that woman gets hit by a car.  What you're seeing above is college football star Reece Chambers' fiance tragically being put into a coma during yet another example of mob violence in 1930's Oklahoma.

Yeesh, just typing that makes me want to put on a costume myself and go on a one man crusade against crime!

And, with the help of his would-be father in law, that's essentially what Chambers does.  Thus, loaded up with tons of crime fighting gadgets, the Twilight Avenger is born!

One of my favorite things to do with Oklahoma movies and comics is to pick out the Okie locations used in the story.  Let's do that by checking in on Reece's comatose fiance, Dolores:

While a Saint Francis Hospital exists in real life, I've never been there so I'm not sure if they have a statue of the actual saint or if they ever did.  My policy is to only go to hospitals when I need to but I'll still have to go investigate when I get the time.

There's not too many other geographic points of interest in this or the second issue but the second issue does contain a few Easter Eggs in some newspaper headlines:

In addition to an article (with a New York byline indicating it was from a new service) about the corrupting dangers of "Swing Music," there's a headline about the Tulsa Oilers.  This is referring to the old minor league baseball team, not the current hockey team.

There's a mention of a "Fair" welcoming 30,000 school kids.  The timing of the story would indicate that this is when the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion was relatively new (but still well before the Petroleum Expo and our buddy, the Golden Driller) and there was probably still a lot of excitement bringing crowds to the Tulsa State Fair.

There's also mention of a "M'alester" prison riot.  I take this to refer to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.  Maybe the city was referred to as "M'alester" in that time period?  Maybe it still is?  There was a major riot there in the 70s but I can't find any info about one in the 30s.  Maybe it's a setup for a future story line.

I'll let you know if it's ever followed up on as soon as I track down more issue...to be continued...