Two top guns bring you roaring adventure…
By PETER STONE
There are very few modern comic book pencillers who have received more love and accolades than Stuart Immonen.
The Canadian artist has done almost everything that a penciller can do in Canada and America. He’s drawn for Marvel and DC, had his own comics imprint, and has worked with some of the best writers of the past 20 years, including Warren Ellis, Brian K. Vaughan, and Mark Millar. He’s done events like The Final Night for DC and Fear Itself for Marvel. Superheroes, sci-fi, you name it. (Most of Stuart’s pencils were finished by his best inker, Wade von Grawbadger — always clean and clear. They were like a super-team.)
Fear Itself
Stuart seemed to emerge almost fully formed when he started working for Marvel and DC. His superhero stuff was absolutely stunning — the anatomy and dynamics were terrific. When Stuart was on a book, you knew you were going to get exactly what comics are supposed to be. Hulk, Captain America, Avengers, Secret Avengers, Thor, Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men for Marvel Comics. Superman, Legion of Super-Heroes, and more Superman for DC.
He was even excellent at drawing Brian Michael Bendis panels of the Avengers eating dinner — eight to 12 characters around a table having a conversation. Neal Adams said he did it once and it almost killed him… too many people. Stuart did it for many months.
In 2004, Kurt Busiek and Stuart created Superman: Secret Identity, an almost 200-page book about an alternate world’s origin of Superman. The art was done completely by Stuart and it’s one of the most beautiful Superman books I’ve seen since Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. I’m going to break my rule here and recommend a book that’s not a “buried” treasure: Superman: Secret Identity shouldn’t be hard to find.
So, let’s get to the main event! In 2000, Stuart, Mark Waid, Busiek and others formed an imprint called Gorilla Comics. Immonen and Busiek created a 6-issue series called Shockrockets, published through Image, that follows the adventures of a man named Cruz who desperately wants to be part of the eponymous high-tech futuristic strike team. You can almost hear the roar the engines and Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone! Along the way, he meets other members of the team, who fight Kaiju, hold off aliens and try to save the Earth. There’s romance, betrayal, and a lot of fear.
The fascinating aspect of Shockrockets is the history it ties into. Rereading it, the story reminded me of those wonderful World War II movies about the fighter pilots or bomber pilots. It also has the best parts of Top Gun, in which pilots squabble with each other but come together in the end to fight for the greater good. There’s always the lead character who is young and inexperienced; the rough, hardened veteran; the tough commander; and the rising danger that puts the entire team in peril.
The last two issues feel to me (maybe only to me) that Stuart was channeling Jack Kirby in a strange way. Wonderful, exciting double-page spreads of science fiction ships racing through the sky like angry birds with weapons, blowing holes in giant Shockrocket bases. Then the last two pilots have to rise to the occasion and prove that they are the capable of saving the planet.
The story is familiar — but isn’t that what we as comics readers often like to see? How many times has the Fantastic Four fought Dr. Doom or Namor or the Super-Skrull? We know what to expect. It’s comforting and pleasant. One of the great things about Shockrockets is that it IS familiar. However, it was drawn by one of the best artists working at the time. It’s exciting and full of twists and turns.
After Gorilla failed, the Shockrockets story languished until IDW picked it up as a hardcover and printed it in 2010. It’s a wonderful collection and I highly recommended it. The hardcover may be available through IDW but the individual issues are available through Amazon. If you can’t get Shockrockets, I recommend Stuart’s Star Wars hardcover. It has a double-page spread of Luke running across the rooftops of a city and Neal Adams used to carry it around for inspiration. I was always printing that out for him so he would have it.
In the 2000s, Neal was going to conventions almost every week, so he and his son Josh would take a break and wander through the art dealers, looking for Stuart Immonen art. As I understand it, Josh has a great collection of Stuart’s art. Nice…
In 2018, Stuart announced he would no longer be producing monthly comics, making people think he was retiring forever. NOT THE CASE. He’s just looking for good projects that appeal to him.
I, for one, would love to see more of his art.
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MORE
— BURIED TREASURE: Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz’s BROUGHT TO LIGHT. Click here.
— BURIED TREASURE: The Harsh, Unforgiving Worlds of JORGE ZAFFINO. Click here.
