TITLE: Morning Star Special Issue #1
YEAR: April 1990
COMPANY: Comico Comics
WRITER/ARTIST: Bill Willingham
LETTERER: Bob Pinaha
COLORIST: Julia Lacquement
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Shelly Roeberg
EDITOR: Michael Eury
Back in 1983, Bill Willingham’s superhero team Elementals made its debut in Texas Comics “Justice Machine Annual”.
The following year, “Elementals” would receive a 29-issue run from 1984-1988, a 26-issue run from 1989-1993 and a 3-issue run from 1995-1996. And a plethora of one-shots and mini-series.
As I mentioned in an earlier review of the “Elementals” TPB, Comico Comics were not easy to find, but for those who did, enjoyed this indie comic superhero title for its action and also the fact that it was targeted towards more mature readers.
The comics revolved around a centuries-old sorcerer named Lord Saker who had stolen the supernatural powers of the world through his machine, the Shadowspear. Now the most powerful being on Earth, Lord Saker now has concerns.
He feels a disturbance with the emergence of four individuals with supernatural powers and sends a woman known as Shapeshifter to investigate.
What was discovered is that four individuals who each have died, have been brought back alive.
- Morningstar (Jeanette Crane) – Jeanette is a Los Angeles homicide detective who went after a serial arsonist and was burned to death. She has reawakened with pyrokinesis and an immunity to fire.
- Vortex (Jeff Murphy) – Jeff is a Coast Guard pilot who was asphyxiated in a helicopter crash. He has awakened with various air-related abilities including flight and wind-blasts.
- Fathom (Becky Golden) – Becky is a debutante who fell off a boat and drowned. She has reawakened with water abilities and can convert her body into water and shoot high-pressure streams. But unlike the others, she came back with green skin and webbed fingers.
- Monolith (Tommy Czuchra) – A young boy who was raised by his archaeologist father and while going with him for an archaelogical find, he was crushed to death by a landslide. He comes back as an enormous stone/earth golem.
After Shapeshifter tests the four of them and returns to Lord Saker to give details about the Elementals, Saker sends Shapeshifter and the other five members of the team, The Destroyers which include Annihilator, Chrysalis, Behemoth, Ratman and Electrocutioner to kill the Elementals.
Throughout the comic book series, we saw Morningstar who happens to be a Dragonslayer, marrying Ambrose the Wizard. And now it’s the post-honeymoon, but in this case, it’s Morningstar and Fantasia (who were once enemies) going out on an adventure while Ambrose stayed home.
As the two flew with their special horses, they are unaware someone is following them.
The two end up flying over King Arthur’s tomb and while they went to search inside, they hear their flying horses screaming. When they come out they see their horses slaughtered and out came the son of the dragon Argaud. The son wants revenge against Morningstar for the death of his father. And because he’s a dragon, he happens to be tough… Very tough!
But can Morningstar and Fantasia take on someone so powerful?
While the storyline is pretty much a gimme… For a special issue, you kind of expected a story with more pages, double-sized or something. But the story is entertaining, despite the antagonist being a young boy who’s quite naive and not so bright.
While an entertaining story, it goes much too fast than I was hoping but at least “Elementals” fans got a Morningstar storyline worth checking out!