Tomahawk #100

When I was a kid I spent every summer on my grandparents farm. I also had 6 uncles who were born between the 40s and the 60s, and they all bought comics. So I pretty much learned to read from an old box of comics that my uncles had collected over the last 30 years. There were superheroes of course, but there was also Richie Rich, Archies, Westerns, and a lot of sci-fi. That's where I first met Tomahawk and in another series his son Hawk. However as time went buy Hawk and Tomahawk retreated to the recesses of my mind until I thought I had imagined them. I mean a comic book about the Revolutionary War, that's crazy.


Then came Who's Who which was like a gold mine for comic lovers and it's where I became reacquainted with the likes of Hawk and Tomahawk (and Enemy Ace and many others). So when I saw this comic in the quarter bin of Snake Eyes comics I had to have it despite it's many flaws.


Let's start with the cover.  I mean look at this thing, who wouldn't want to buy this comic.  In a comic about the revolutionary war we have a giant water monster being blasted by a British canon while hoisting our heroes into the air.

The splash page cleverly sums up the entire story in one page.  "Blimey! It's Tomahawk! He-He's turned into a giant liquid-man!"

We then get to the story.  Tomahawk and his rangers have to intercept portions of a British super-canon.

The rangers set an ambush and with just a fife and drum convince the British they're surrounded.  FYI: Dan Hunter has recently been retconned to be related to Rip Hunter.

But the drum is magic and it's power reveals the rangers ruse to the Brits.  More importantly it transforms Tomahawk into water.  (Question #1 why was Tomahawk and not Dan Hunter transformed into water?)

Not freaked out about their leader being transformed into water, the rangers come up with a plan.  We'll lock Tomahawk in a barrel.  But he's still and ranger and determined to fulfill his mission.

The rangers attack again and this time Tomahawk uses his water powers to help.

But the British Iroquoi allies know how to deal with a water creature.  Fire!

To save their leader the rangers soak him up in some gun cotton.

And then we get to a condition issue. The center page is missing so four pages of story are missing.  SMASH CUT TO:

Tomahawk as a living water spout destroying the super canon.

Tomahawk then figures out how to communicate with Dan and is restored to humanity.

Hey Tomahawk how about a drink of water.  Classic.

The backup story is called the Ghost of Trigger Hill.

Kaintuck and Wildcat are sent on a mission to take an abandoned house now being used as a British observation point.

Of course Kaintuck is more worried about the ghost of the former owner.  As they approach the house a tree threatens to fall on Wildcat so Kaintuck does the logical thing and push him down a well.

The rangers dodge bullets to reach the house and immediately begin shooting up the place.

The Brits corner the rangers and the British commander decides to save ammo and run them through with an old sword but...

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Their mission accomplished the rangers kill the brits and return home.


So... here's the thing about Tomahawk #100.  There's a lot of story here.  Heck even the backup story is packed full of stuff.  And that's really the difference between old comics and today's decompressed writing style.  Too often today comics are written for trades and the art, it's almost like they're storyboarding instead of storytelling.  There's always been a high chaff to wheat ratio in the comics world but today you have to buy five issues to realize it's crap.

Like a lot of people I downloaded 700 free Marvel #1s from ComiXology.  And 90% of them were crap.  Even good stuff like Annihilation was spread out across too many issues and one-shots.  Comics is a business but it's a business that's suffering.  And it's suffering because the people who produce comics charge too much for too little, relying on gimmicks and one shots rather than producing quality stories at a reasonable price.

And speaking of price, there's no reason a digital version of a 20 year old comic should cost more than .99.  For that matter a new digital comic should not cost almost $4.  It's insane.

And that's my old man rant for today.

Bonus Tomahawk and his Rip-roaring Rangers.

Today the relationship Big Anvil and Brass Buttons would no doubt spawn a million slash fanfics.  There would be a lot of ripping and a lot of roaring.

See Lois Lane challenge her Rivals for Superman.  Trivia:Which one of these rival girl-friends is not like the other? (answer below)

Answer: Cleopatra because she's dead.

Next Time: A comic so full of awesomeness well you will just have to see it for yourself.