REVIEW: Secret Origins #5

Writers: Roy & Dann Thomas
Penciller: Gene Colan
Inker: Mike Gustovich
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: David Cody Weiss
Review: Will Dubbeld

The more things change...

Pulp, as you all know, is a favored genre of mine.
From The Spider to Burroughsian science fiction, Howard’s barbarian to Indiana Jones, Pulp heroes, villains, tropes, and even stereotypes run rampant through my imagination.

Comic books and Pulps share several strands of DNA, and unsurprisingly, many early comics were essentially Pulps in a different format.
Therein lies the Crimson Avenger.

Birthed in between The Shadow and Batman, DCs Crimson Avenger is your archetypal Pulp vigilante, complete with domino mask and an Asian chauffeur.
Despite holding the honor of DCs premier masked vigilante, the Crimson Avenger is heavily steeped in stereotypical story beats.
To be fair, he’s essentially the Green Hornet with a dash of The Shadow.

Without much in the way of backstory, Crimson Avenger was given the royal treatment via DCs Secret Origins.
Dann & Roy Thomas, both comic luminaries in their own respective rights, breathe some life into the otherwise bland story which was started in 1938s Detective Comics #20.
Unfortunately, they doubled down on the Green Hornet similarities and made Crimson Avenger’s civilian alter-ego a newspaper publisher.
So with that, the costume, Asian sidekick, and sweet car, he’s essentially Britt Reid.
Imitation is the highest form, though, right?

All in all we get a pretty good tale. I wouldn’t say it’s Thomas’ best work, but it adequately captures the spirit of those old Pulp comics.
Lee Travis is our aforementioned newspaper publisher and veteran of the Spanish Civil War and is a man possessed by the desire to to good things.
All it takes is a push from the Criminal Element to forge that desire into a vigilante crusade.
All Pulp, all the time.
In fact, the only detracting elements in the story are those story beats that now seem cliché.
The sweet irony here is when Crimson Avenger and his peers first appeared on the scene those beats weren’t cliché; they were new ideas, or at least old ideas through new lenses.

Although the story may have elements some find hokey, any sane individual won’t have detractions about the art.
Gene Colan is absolutely in top form here, bringing home the classic style of his ‘70s-‘80s work honed by decades of prior experience.
Gustovich likewise delivers in his inks, complimenting Gene’s pencils fantastically. It’s an artistic marriage which balances detailed craftsmanship and use of negative space.

At some point in the ‘90s it seems to me the medium shifted and over-detailed pages crammed with thousands of lines became the rule, not the exception.
Masters like Bernie Wrightson and George Perez are able to compose hyper-intricate comic art but it’s rare to find their equal. It’s a nice refresher to see an old book with compelling art prescribing to a ‘less is more’ æsthetic.