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...

Homegrown Hero

Previously:  Why is Thor the State Avenger of Oklahoma

Tulsa might not exactly be Gotham City but that doesn't mean it can't have its own superhero.  And for awhile, it did...a homegrown hero for Oklahomans, by Oklahomans.  Say hello to the Twilight Avenger:

He was a tribute to old school pulp heroes and was a creation of Okie writer John Wooley and Okie artist Terry Tidwell and if you haven't heard of him it might be because his biggest enemy wasn't some mad scientist in a secret lab, it was the fickle nature of the comic book small press industry.

Our avenging hero began his crime busting career as a title published by "Elite Comics" in Midland, TX.  After two issues of dashing heroics, the publisher went out of business and our hero eventually ended up at Eternity Comics.  I was able to get my grubby mitts on (a not so mint copy of) the first issue of its short 1988 run.  And while I can't tell you too much about the character, I can confirm that the setting was 1930's Oklahoma:

It's not everyday you see the Oklahoma dust bowl as the backdrop for high adventure and super heroics but its a unique time and place that sets the Twilight Avenger apart from so many other mystery men.

The story follows our hero, college student Reece Chambers (the Twilight Avenger's secret identity), his comatose girlfriend's father and a plucky reporter as they track down some Oklahoma zombies...and these are the good old fashioned "voodoo zombies"...not so much the Walking Dead type zombies.

The creators were known for taking advantage of their hometown setting and throwing in Okie easter eggs whenever possible so I thought I'd see if I could find any in this issue.  For example, in this panel Professor Herth is reading a newspaper with a headline about a car crash on Highway 51:

Another one can be seen in the background of the lab of the evil, zombie-creating mad scientist.  If you can look past the chain smoking zombie pilot and the femme fatale wondering where her clothes went, you can see a Bank of Tulsa calendar on the wall.

This should not be interpreted as an endorsement of zombie-creating mad scientists by any particular bank in the greater Tulsa area.

And finally, we get another geography shout-out when Reece and Dr. Herth try to figure out the location of the zombie-making fiend and their plucky (and now disrobed) young friend:

While trying to triangulate their abducted friend's location, Dr. Herth speculates that she's on or near Peoria Avenue which we all know runs north and south in the great city of Tulsa:

You can also see in the Professor's map (and the map above) the Arkansas River which flows through Tulsa.  If his pencil compass is marking a search perimeter around Peoria Street then the placement of the river is off.  But, of course, we can forgive a little artistic license in a story where a masked vigilante is fighting zombies. 

The Twilight Avenger had to change publishers more than once but he did finally get a couple of trade paperback collections of old issues.  So now it's easy to get a hold of the adventures of an Oklahoma hero...and maybe spot some familiar locations.