W. B. DuBay's The Rook Archives Vol 1 (Superhero)

By W.B. Du Bay & Luis Bermejo

Publisher: Dark Horse Books (May 9, 2017)

Hardcover 128 pages

Finished 2/21/18

Amazon Listing

          How about reading a pseudo-western time traveling story set in the America of 1977 where they’ve developed sentient robots and one man cracked the mysteries of temporal relocation. Then throw in aliens and a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Sounds insane correct? Well… it is, but in a good way. Welcome to The Rook, culled from the anthology series Eerie originally published by Warren Publications, now being redistributed in giant tomes by Dark Horse. These reprint the stories that appeared in issues 82 -85 & 87, but none of the issues of the famous magazine of the same name and starring the same protagonist.

          The main character is Restin Dane, self-proclaimed Master of Time, who builds the Time Castle, a machine in the shape of a Rook chess piece-, which is how he acquired his nickname. Highly educated with multiple degrees, he goes back in time to save his great-great grandfather at the Alamo. Failing that he inadvertently transports a killer to threaten the life of his great grandfather. Then is transported to a possible future to see the wreckage that humans will make of the planet.

          Time travel in this universe is interesting. It seems that time is broken into fragments, which the Rook, is able to latch onto with his Time Castle. The fragment is then dragged to the Castle, it and any occupants can only stay in the fragment for a small period of time before being ejected. Then the Castle (which in a sense never actually moved) returns to its base. This sounds good, but then several characters move from era to era and are not ejected. A villain and two love interests. So the writing is inconsistent on this aspect.

          The art is superb. Charcoal with brush to make heavy contrasts of black and white give it a unique flair. It has a very 70s feel in a style that has gone out of fashion, but is due for a revival. The dialogue can be a bit stilted in places. Lots of exposition. A few plot points that don’t make sense. Some robots are killed in one episode and are melted into slag, but reappear without explanation in the next. A few elements, such as an alien lair in the old West, are introduced then quickly tossed. But these problems were fairly common with the Eerie recurring characters and this one held together better than most.

          I’m not sure if the series would fly so high today. Restin Dane is a typical of many of the men’s (or boy’s) adventure characters of the 60s and 70s. He is brilliant at everything he does, he overcomes most of his problems by violence, he is singularly determined with no doubts as to the rightness of his mission, and women all swoon to him. Apart from the time travel aspect, he’s really not much different from James Bond, Mack Bolan “The Executioner”, Remo Williams “The Destroyer”, and so on. It simply took those elements and added a fantastical setting to it.

          The series was so popular it was eventually spun off into its own magazine, the only one of Eerie’s recurring characters to make the leap. Though the series only lasted fourteen issues, it didn’t end due to bad sales, but because the company itself went bankrupt. While it was out, The Rook was the best selling title of the company. Now Dark Horse has reprinted them all (at reasonable rates) over three volumes, joining the ranks of the El Cid and Hunter, though my favorite stories from the magazine, Night of the Jackass, has yet to be reprinted. Now that’s a graphic novel I would snap up immediately.

The one I'm really looking for! 

           For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.