One Mad Dog

This TPB contains all of the original 1970’s and 1980’s Marvel color comic books based upon Robert E. Howard’s puritan hero Solomon Kane. It features the stories “The Mark of Kane” and “Fangs of the Gorilla God”  and the entire Sword of Solomon Kane mini-series.

• “The Mark of Kane !” written by Roy Thomas with art by Howard Chaykin.
• “Fangs of the Gorilla God” written by Roy Thomas with art by Howard Chaykin.
• “Red Shadows” written by Ralph Macchio with art by Steve Carr and Bret Blevins.
• “And Faith, Undying” written by Ralph Macchio with art by Bret Blevins.
• “Blades Of  The Brotherhood” written by Ralph Macchio with art by Bret Blevins.
• “The Prophet !” written by Ralph Macchio with art by Mike Mignola.
• “Hills Of The Dead” written by Ralph Macchio with art by Jon Bogdanove.
• “Wings In The Night !”  written by Ralph Macchio with art by John Ridgeway.

The storyline  is a classic Solomon Kane where an innocent is wronged and Solomon pursues the perpetrators to the end of the earth. The first two stories definitely feel a bit dated  and are retold in “Red Shadows” by Ralph Macchio where they felt a bit fresher and benefited from improved art.  I seem to remember Solomon Kane was a good bit more puritan and unwielding in other stories that I have read but this book even had him using the forces of black magic and befriending a witchdoctor.

I didn’t like Howard Chaykin’s art in the first two stories which seemed to suffer from poor inking. The artwork in the rest of the book is pretty good featuring classic comic style art. Mike Mignola’s art was unlike his present style and actually looked very similar to the other artists. I enjoyed this collection and would recommend it to Robert E. Howard fans. [ISBN-13: 978-1595824103]. 7/10