Ever heard of Texas Comics? Not many have, or having heard of it,
remember. They only produced one issue, back in 1983, but that one issue
really stood out. It was the "first" JUSTICE MACHINE ANNUAL, in partnership
with Noble Comics. Texas Comics was supposed to take up publishing JUSTICE
MACHINE, after Noble went out of business, but this one annual was the only
book they ever produced. The JUSTICE MACHINE would be revived later, but it
was the backup story that caught everyone's attention (everyone I knew, at
any rate), Bill Willingham's ELEMENTALS.
Fortunately, Comico picked up the ELEMENTALS, so all was not lost.
Sure, they dressed in tights and fought super-villains (in their
first appearance, as the backup feature in the JUSTICE MACHINE ANNUAL, the
four were attacked in their home by the super-villain Shapeshifter), but the
ELEMENTALS were never depicted as "ordinary" super-heroes. First of all,
they're dead. Like Marvel's FANTASTIC FOUR, the ELEMENTALS received their
super powers at the same time, but unlike the FF, Jeanette Crane, Jeff
Murphy, Thomas Czuchra and Rebecca Golden were all in different part so of
the world, when they met their date with destiny. Also unlike the FF, the
ELEMENTALS did not survive.
Los Angeles police officer, Jeanette Crane died in burning building.
Jeff Murphy crashed into the ocean flying a Coast Guard helicopter. Tommy
Czuchra, a boy of fourteen, was buried alive in a cave-in while on a dig
with his father, an archaeologist, who also died in the accident. Rebecca
Crane drowned while boating in the area of Puget Sound. The manner of each
one's death linked them directly with the Powers which govern the natural
order, symbolized by the four elements of the universe, Fire, Air, Earth and
Water. These Powers, sensing a force capable of overturning the natural
order, decided to oppose it through avatars, Morningstar, Vortex, Monolith
and Fathom.
From the beginning, the characters seemed to have a depth that other
comic book heroes lacked. Maybe it was the price they paid for their power,
certainly it was the distinctive characterization of writer/artist Bill
Willingham. It is fairly rare to see a new hero bloodied and beaten in his
first appearance, but that's just what happened to Vortex, in his first
encounter with Shapeshifter, whose powers made her a match for the four, on
almost every level. Shapeshifter even managed to hurt the virtually
indestructible, Fathom, whose water-based powers and ability to liquify made
her one of the most powerful beings on earth. Even the towering Monolith was
unable to harm Shapeshifter and was knocked into the ocean. Only
Morningstar's flame actually managed to cause Shapeshifter sufficient pain
and injury that she was forced to flee the scene, making Morningstar and
Shapeshifter deadly enemies, ever after.
The ELEMENTALS were not your father's super-heroes.
Willingham's costume designs fascinated me, except for the first
Fathom costume, which he immediately changed, after this first appearance.
The mini-skirt was simply not fashionable, at the time.
Fathom was one of the earliest female characters to go barefoot, in
her second costume. With her power to manipulate and move through water at
will, a swimsuit makes perfect sense.
Monolith, being solid rock, needed no "costume", of course. From his
design, I have to assume that Willingham was a fan of Hanna-Barbera's
HERCULOIDS cartoons, since Monolith resembles the "rock-ape", Igoo. The
Cartoon Network has a great section on the HERCULOIDS with Alex Toth's
presentation art, among others. There's a great pic of Igoo at:
Morningstar's color scheme and assymetrical wraparound costume
design intrigued me. Willingham used white in costume designs more than any
other creator I can recall. Later, she would change to a more
traditional-looking super-hero costume, which never worked for me.
Vortex's original costume had the contrasting colors, dark blue and
white and bold symmetry that I always like in a costume design. The only
thing I never liked about it was the cowl.
As for the villains, Shapeshifter's boss was the undying sorcerer
called Saker. Most of the villains who appeared in the early issues of The
ELEMENTALS were characters Willingham had created while working on the
super-hero role-plying game, VILLAINS & VIGILANTES, which he made into
Saker's villain team, the Destroyers.
Saker himself was interesting. In a time when villains were
traditionally dressing in flashy, complex costumes, Saker appeared, first in
a simple black business suit. When engaged in battle, he wore a skin-tight
black bodysuit with a white hawk's head emblazoned on the left side.
Striking and simple, it really stood out. I wouldn't change a thing about
it.
As a series, The ELEMENTALS has had more incarnations than almost
any other super-team. From that first appearance as a backup to The JUSTICE
MACHINE, to three different series at Comico, they've gone through many
changes. During their second series at Comico, their costumes were changed,
as I mentioned, earlier in reference to Morningstar. Vortex's color scheme
was changed a bit, to a sky blue, and a "V" was incorporated into the
design. He also gained more interesting headgear, a white, plastic, padded
headpiece that I really liked. Fathom wore a white or light gray bodysuit
with a sweeping "waterspout" cut-out, curving from the top of her right
thigh in a kind of reverse "S", up over her left breast.
Because I liked Willingham's original designs so much, there was
very little that I wanted to change about them. I modified Vortex's bodysuit
a bit, flaring the white stripes on the shoulders more and giving him the
headgear from his later costume, adding blue-tinted goggles. Fathom's
bodysuit, I changed by cutting away the sleeves, and coloring the
"waterspout" a sea green, rather than making it the cut-out. With
Morningstar, I widened the monogram "tabard" so that it flares out past the
shoulders and I altered her boots and gloves. I wanted her to have boots
more like a combat boot, she was a cop, after all, and cops know that decent
footgear is crucial. Monolith needs no work, he's still a big rock guy, even
after Tommy Czuchra cast off the earth-elemental mantle, to save his life
and it was taken up by another man.
And here they are, all together, fighting Shapeshifter and their
arch-nemesis Saker.
While doing research for this article, I did a search for sites
about The ELEMENTALS and was surprised that I didn't find any. I guess if
you want to know more about them, you're going to have to do it the old
fashioned way, buy the back-issues!
And while you're looking for those back issues, here's something to
be looking out for. Bill Willingham created what is my favorite vampire
character, ever, in one of the best vampire stories in comics. He was fat
and repulsive and completely inarticulate, but in his own mind he moved with
the grace of a panther. He was...Captain Cadaver!
