Be warned, there’s going to be some sopping Dysart-love in here.
The back of these comics say something about it being “Golden Age,” referring to the late 1930s and 1940s of comic book history. Except Vril isn’t even a “Golden Age” homage. It’s a story about a guy who’s alive during that period and having adventures and such, but it’s not homage. First of all, the lead is a black guy....
Vril mixes elements of The Rocketeer and the Indiana Jones movies, flying guy, Nazis, archeology, but into a fresh mix. The majority of that freshness comes from the lead, who isn’t self-assured and isn’t all-knowing. He fails a lot. He tries and things don’t work out. His romantic life is left open at the end of Vril and I can only hope that Dysart has a follow-up planned. Dysart is doing Swamp Thing right now at Vertigo and Vril couldn’t be farther from it in tone or setting. Sure, there’s the shared quality of writing, but Vril is a person growing into himself, coming to terms with the history that has made him who he is (I suppose Swamp Thing is doing this one too, actually). It’s also superhero adventure. I have a lot of specific requirements for something to be an adventure. It’s got to be exciting, the locales have to be exotic, and the hero can’t solve his problems by shooting the bad guy in the head. And there can’t be a time bomb or anything. The distinction between adventure and action is important, because there isn’t much in the way of adventure entertainment anymore.
Vril has some great art, by Sal Velluto, though I’m not sure why the girl on the covers is black and the one in the comics is olive at best (she’s supposed to be white). There are some confusing typos--the year the story takes place changes from issue to issue. It’s supposed to be ‘39. Otherwise, it’s a lovely book. The end of the first few issues has posters for Captain Gravity (not just a superhero, but also a serial star) adventures and interviews with the stars of the serials and that sort of thing.
I only hope Dysart gets to do another one (I think the first issue sold out, which is a good sign).
