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A 'Mazing Comic
posted Friday, 23 February 2007
They say that the Golden Age of Comics is whatever age you were when you first discovered them. In my case that's only partly true, as I am fully prepared to argue that the majority of comics I buy today are ultimately more satisfying than those created when I was ten years old. I realize this puts me in the minority amongst bloggers who occasionally delve into the four colour arts, but having recently started revisiting old comics, I find that even the best of them are clunky and over-written, while the most praise-worthy of current comic books have an elegance not found in the medium when I was 10 years-old.
With one major exception.
It occurred to me as I was brainstorming ideas for my next post that I've never seen anyone discuss my favourite comic book from my childhood--the one whose characters and subversion of the traditional superhero/funny animal archtypes influences me to this day, 21 years after its first issue was released. True, it is easy to understand why the book remains obscure, since it only lasted for 12 issues plus a handful of specials. And in the years that followed only its title character has ever seen print again and that was a silent cameo in a single panel featuring a half a dozen other characters, but their continued absence has done little to fade them from my memory, which I suppose makes me the right person to talk about them. That's why for the next few months I plan on discussing each issue of the comic, explaining why I believe it deserves to be remembered and perhaps even resurrected.
Of course, I'm talking about:
At its heart my affection for the series (which was created by writer Bob Rozakis and artist Stephen DeStefano) is based largely on how much I identify with its two main protagonists, Denton Fixx and Siegfried Horatio Hutch III (who is better known to the world as the heroic 'Mazing Man). In the very beginning I identified with them for the most obvious of reasons--they were both drawn as being significantly shorter than the rest of the folks in their world. Always the smallest kid in my class, it was easy for me to latch onto two characters who suffered my affliction without being presented as magical creatures like Smurfs or Santa's elves. But as I continued reading the series I found myself strongly identifying with the character of Denton, whose strange appearance made him just as much as an outsider as his quixotic best friend. One of my favourite passages in all of comics (and maybe even literature in general) occurs at the very beginning of the first issue's first story when Denton first introduces himself:
Even as ten year-old kid I saw the pathos inherent in Denton's situation--a man whose appearance blinds others to the person he really is inside--but as I grew older I found comfort in his declaration of his true identity. "I'm a writer..." he tells us, indicating that he defines himself not by what he looks like, but by what he does, no matter what the rest of the world thinks.
On that first page we are also introduced to the "hero" of our tale:
Over the course of the series Rozakis and DeStefano only briefly alluded to how Denton and Maze (as he is usually referred to by the other characters) came to be friends or what inspired the diminutive do-gooder to don his unique costume, but an origin was provided in his short Who's Who biography. There we learned that 'Mazing Man was once a patient at a mental hospital named Siegfried Horatio Hutch III, who took a liking to the dog-faced writer who moonlighted at the hospital as a night watchman. One night he decided to leave the hospital and followed Denton home to his apartment. Denton, feeling a strange connection with the tiny headcase, decided--with his stepsister's permission--to let Siegfried move in with them. Not long after that Siegfried found the strangely heroic helmet in a pile of garbage, put it on and 'Mazing Man was born.
What I like about this origin being out there, but never actually mentioned in the book is that it provides some depth to the character's idealistically innocent persona without it being too glaringly obvious. Because of it I've always seen the character as a broken figure who attempts to make his way through the world by vigilantly embracing optimism as his outlook. To my mind 'Mazing Man is not naive as much as his existence depends on the idea of there being goodness in this world. Having personally chosen to focus on the good in life, knowing full well about the bad, I find this far more admirable than insane.
This first story works hard to support my view. After Denton introduces us to himself and his best friend. we watch as Maze interacts with the folks in the neighborhood. He stops a toddler from eating a cigarette butt and briefly chats with the boy's mother and her friends. They talk about him when he's gone:
He then proceeds to stop a robbery in progress:
I love that Maze is that rarest of creatures, a liberal vigilante. He should team-up with Green Arrow.
Rather than thank Maze for his effort, the local beat cop turns to Denton and makes a suggestion:
But Maze's friend has the perfect comeback for the judgmental cop:
As they continue on their way, Denton becomes frustrated by his friends cheerful obliviousness to the way their neighbours treat him. Finally he can no longer keep his emotions to himself and he explodes:
Despite his friend's harsh words, Maze remains calm and answers Denton's question:
And he asks for some understanding:
But before Denton can say anything, a mother's scream jerks Maze into action:
Seeing his friend risk his life to save another, Denton realizes that he was wrong before:
Now, for the record, anyone who is currently thinking the words "corny", "sentimental" or "bullshit" is officially a bad person. I seriously suggest that you look into getting a heart now before it's too late.
So that's the first story of the 'Mazing Men. Sometime next week I'll take a look at this issue's second story, which introduces us to all of the other characters who make up the 'Mazing universe.
And just because I know someone out there on Google Image will appreciate it, here's an ad from the issue selling Elvira T-Shirts:
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