Aztec Ace

Last updated
Aztec Ace
AztecAceNo1Cover.jpg
The cover to Aztec Ace #1 (March 1984), art by Michael Bair.
Publication information
Publisher Eclipse Comics
ScheduleIrregular
Format Ongoing series
Publication dateMarch 1984 - September 1985
No. of issues15
Main character(s)Ace (Caza)
Bridget
Head
Creative team
Created by Doug Moench
Written by Doug Moench
Penciller(s) Michael Bair (#1-2, #9)
Dan Day (#3-8, #10-13, #15)
Mike Harris (#14)
Inker(s) Nelson Redondo (#1-8)
Ron Harris (#9-11)
Mike Gustovich (#9-13, #15)
Art Nichols (#14)
Tom Yeates (#14)
Letterer(s) Adam Kubert (#1)
Esphid Mahilum (#2-6)
Pete Sullit (#3-6)
Peter Iro (#7-9)
Carrie Spiegle (#10-15)
Colorist(s) Philip DeWalt (#1-12)
Dennis McFarling (#1-5)
Steve Oliff (#12-15)
Sam Parsons (#14-15)
Editor(s) Cat Yronwode

Aztec Ace is an American creator-owned science fiction comic book formerly published by Eclipse Comics. Created by writer Doug Moench, 15 issues appeared from 1984 to 1985. [1] Amazing Heroes would describe the series as "a strange cross between Dr. Who and the Illuminati trilogy". [2]

Contents

Publication history

The series kept an irregular schedule due to main artist Dan Day's meticulous approach; by 1985 the book was aiming for a six-weekly schedule, with Eclipse editor-in-chief Cat Yronwode hoping for nine or ten issues a year. [3] Other contributors to Aztec Ace included Mike Harris and Mike Gustovich. [4] The Aztec Ace logo was created by Denis McFarling. [5]

Aztec Ace featured appearances from numerous historical figures, including Amelia Earhart, Glenn Miller and Ambrose Bierce. [3] The series ended abruptly, leaving several storylines unresolved. This was announced as being due to the difficulty in finding adequate fill-in artists. [6] In 1988, a copy of Aztec Ace #13 - featuring Bridget dressed as Cleopatra - was part of an Egyptology exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. [7]

For Eclipse's 10th anniversary in 1988, they commissioned the crossover mini-series Total Eclipse , and the creators of Aztec Ace gave permission for Marv Wolfman to use the characters in the series. [8] The characters had sizeable roles in the series, with Nine-Crocodile the overarching villain, while Moench contributed a short "Interlude" story centred on Aztec Ace for the second issue, with art by Tim Sale. [9] This led to the announcement of plans to collect the earlier material as a trade paperback [10] and to continue the story as a three-issue mini-series - tentatively titled Aztec Ace - Time Tripper - in 1992 with artist Doug Heinlein; [11] however, these plans would not come to fruition.

Synopsis

The story revolves around a time traveller named Ace (real name: Caza), whose goal is to save the timestream from unravelling through various intricate adventures. Ace is from the 23rd century, with his base in pre-contact Aztec Mexico; he often visits ancient Egypt.

Caza is aided by Head - formerly his assistant Tempus Fugit, reduced to a disembodied head after an accident - and Bridget Kronopoulous, Ace's girlfriend from 1940 who may or may not be the Queen of Egypt. They travel through time in a time machine called the ACE (Azure Crosstime Express, though the characters often call it 'the Egg' due to its distinctive shape), which Head controls.

Ace's main enemy is Nine-Crocodile, who creates time paradoxes in an attempt to save his own dimension at the expense of other realities - especially the modern day planet Earth; his minions include the Nightgaunt and the Ebonati.

Related Research Articles

<i>Amazing Heroes</i> Magazine about the comic book medium

Amazing Heroes was a magazine about the comic book medium published by American company Fantagraphics Books from 1981 to 1992. Unlike its companion title, The Comics Journal, Amazing Heroes was a hobbyist magazine rather than an analytical journal.

<i>Zot!</i> Comic book by Scott McCloud

Zot! is a comic book created by Scott McCloud in 1984 and published by Eclipse Comics until 1990 as a lighthearted alternative to the darker and more violent comics that dominated the industry during that period. There were a total of 36 issues, with the first ten in color and the remainder in black and white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airboy</span> Boy aviation comic character

Airboy is a fictional Golden Age aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II, before ending his initial run in 1953. The hero was the costumed identity of crack pilot Davy Nelson II, and created by writers Charles Biro and Dick Wood with artist Al Camy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eclipse Comics</span> American comic book publisher

Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was one of the first to offer royalties and creator ownership of rights.

<i>Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters</i>

Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters is a creator-owned American funny-animal parody comic book series created by Don Chin. It was one of a number of parodies of Mirage Studios' hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, itself a parody of popular eighties comics such as Frank Miller's Daredevil and Ronin; others included Naive Inter-Dimensional Commando Koalas and Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axel Pressbutton</span> Comics character

Axel Pressbutton is a fictional character appearing in comic books. A violent cyborg with the face of Ernest Borgnine, a button on his chest which delivers orgasmic pleasure when pressed, and a phobia about vegetation, he was created by Steve Moore and Alan Moore, under the pseudonym "Curt Vile".

<i>Scout</i> (comics) American comic book series

Scout is an American dystopian comic book series created and written by Timothy Truman, and first published by Eclipse Comics in 1985. The story stars a Native American Apache named Emanuel Santana. The setting of the series is a future United States which has become a Third World country.

<i>Alien Encounters</i> (comics)

Alien Encounters is an American science fiction anthology comic book published by FantaCo Enterprises and then Eclipse Comics. The comic debuted with FantaCo in 1981, and in 1985 was taken over by Eclipse.

<i>Tales of the Beanworld</i> Comic book series by Larry Marder

Tales of the Beanworld, also known as Larry Marder's Beanworld, is a creator-owned comic book created by Larry Marder. Beanworld features stories about the life and times of the Beans, minimalistic characters which Marder has been drawing since childhood. The stories borrow concepts from various world mythologies, popular concepts of ecology, and pop culture.

<i>The DNAgents</i> Comic book title published by Eclipse Comics.

The DNAgents is a comic-book series created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Will Meugniot and published by Eclipse Comics from 1983. The series centers on a team of superheroes created through genetic engineering by the Matrix Corporation to act as superhuman enforcers for the head of the company.

<i>The Masked Man</i> Comic book title published by Eclipse Comics.

The Masked Man is a fictional comic book crime-fighter created by B.C. Boyer and published by Eclipse Comics. His first appearance was in Eclipse #7, dated November 1982. The Masked Man is the alter ego of private eye Dick Carstairs, who takes on the identity of the Masked Man so that his friend Barney McAllister, a reporter, could grab headlines using tales of his crime-fighting adventures.

<i>Total Eclipse</i> (comics) American comic series

Total Eclipse is an American comic book limited series in five prestige format parts published by Eclipse Comics in 1988 to 1989. A cross-company crossover commemorating the company's tenth anniversary, Total Eclipse was intended to bring all of the company's characters together, no matter how obscure or bizarre. These included Airboy and the Air Fighters, Strike! and Sgt. Strike, Prowlers Leo Kragg and Tim Kida, Aztec Ace, The Liberty Project, Miracleman, The New Wave and Beanish.

<i>Twisted Tales</i> Horror comic anthology

Twisted Tales was a horror comics anthology published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. The title was edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell.

<i>Alien Worlds</i> Science Fiction comic anthology

Alien Worlds is an American science fiction anthology comic that was published by Pacific Comics and then Eclipse Comics between 1982 and 1985. It was edited by Bruce Jones and his partner April Campbell. It was a sister title to Jones' horror anthology Twisted Tales.

<i>Crossfire</i> (Eclipse Comics)

Crossfire is an American comic book series created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Dan Spiegle originally for Eclipse Comics. It was a spin-off from DNAgents, which was also written by Evanier. The series ran for 26 issues from May 1984 to October 1988.

<i>Doc Stearn...Mr. Monster</i> Comics character

Doc Stearn...Mr. Monster is a comic book featuring a superhero created by Michael T. Gilbert, most recently published by Dark Horse Comics.

<i>Night Music</i> (comic) American comic book series

Night Music is an American comic book anthology created by artist P. Craig Russell, published by Eclipse Comics. It consists of comic adaptations of operas, novels, classical music and poems, and followed an irregular publishing model that changed formats according to the needs of the material.

<i>California Girls</i> (comic) American comic book series

California Girls is a creator-owned American comedy-romance comic series created by Trina Robbins. Published by Eclipse Comics between 1987 and 1988, the series chronicled the adventures of identical twin high school students Max and Mo in the fictional Californian town of Hollyhock. It was one of the few comics aimed at a primarily female audience published at the time.

References

  1. ↑ McCulloch, Joe (March 22, 2011). "THIS WEEK IN COMICS! (3/23/11 – Multifarious Chills!)". The Comics Journal . Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  2. ↑ Bob Hughes (June 1, 1988). "Enlarging the Penumbra". Amazing Heroes . No. 142. Fantagraphics Books.
  3. 1 2 Heidi MacDonald (January 1, 1985). "Aztec Ace". Amazing Heroes . No. 62/1985 Preview Issue. Redbeard, Inc.
  4. ↑ "Newsflashes". Amazing Heroes . No. 66. Redbeard, Inc. March 1, 1985.
  5. ↑ "Aztec Ace". DenisMcFarling.com.
  6. ↑ "Newsflashes". Amazing Heroes . No. 80. Fantagraphics Books. October 1, 1985.
  7. ↑ "Top of the News (advertisement)". Amazing Heroes . No. 153. Fantagraphics Books. November 15, 1988.
  8. ↑ Andy Mangels (January 15, 1988). "Total Eclipse". Amazing Heroes . No. 133/Preview Special 6. Fantagraphics Books.
  9. ↑ "Top of the News (advertisement)". Amazing Heroes . No. 145/Preview Special 7. Fantagraphics Books. July 15, 1988.
  10. ↑ "Top of the News (advertisement)". Amazing Heroes . No. 147. Fantagraphics Books. August 15, 1988.
  11. ↑ "Newsline". Amazing Heroes . No. 194. Fantagraphics Books. September 1991.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.