Showcase Presents: Eclipso Vol. 1

Your wits will be no match for...Eclipso!

The only Eclipso volume available is rather short, clocking in just shy of 300 pages. But don't worry, it's just as entertaining as the other Silver Age superhero comics. Eclipso was a villain created by Bob Haney and Lee Elias. These stories are from House of Secrets #61 - 80, which run from July 1963 to October 1966. Bob Haney wrote all the stories. The art is basically a split between Alex Toth and Jack Sparling.

For those that don't know the character, Bruce Gordon was a famous scientist, exploring advances in solar energy. He was in the jungle, dismissing the locals' superstitions, when he was attacked by a tyrannical witch doctor. The witch doctor lunged too far, however, and threw himself over a cliff. During the struggle, Gordon was scratched by a mysterious black diamond.

The wound causes Gordon to morph into Eclipso, a villain hell-bent on nefarious schemes and treachery. However, he only morphs when exposed to an eclipse. In the earlier stories, the causes and effects of Eclipso are not very clear, but once Haney irons out the details, it breaks down like this:

• Artificial eclipses cause Gordon to morph temporarily into Eclipso
• Natural eclipses cause Eclipso to become a separate entity
• Harming one will harm the other
• The only way to force Eclipso back into Gordon is with a burst of light

I will point out that an "artificial eclipse" can be something as simple as someone walking in front of a light bulb, and a "burst of light" can be achieved in countless ways. Haney exploits both quite often. But then again, natural eclipses occur 2.4 times per year on average, so it's understandable. Yet even so, it seems like natural eclipses occur every few months according to these stories. Haney tries to justify it by having Gordon travel to different locations around the world, but even so, it's a laughable stretch. The origins and creation of the character are weird enough though, so it doesn't really bother me that much.

Wire.

Comet tail.

Dark lens.

Disc.

Another disc.

Sparks.

Light bomb.

A rock.

Flare.

Another disc.

Camera flash.

Light passing a window.

Fireworks.

Battery discharge.

Spotlight gun.

Searchlight.

Another light bomb.

Another light bomb.

Another light bomb.

As with every DC hero of the era, Gordon has a love interest. Her name is Mona Bennett, daughter of Gordon's mentor, Professor Bennett. Unfortunately, Gordon can't marry her because of...Eclipso! She and her father eventually discover Gordon's secret, and work with him to figure out a way to banish Eclipso forever.

Eclipso uses the powers of "black science" to perform his various deeds of villainy. He can hold the black diamond up to his eclipsed eye to shoot rays of black light, effectively blinding whoever is in the way. He can also hold it up to his non-eclipsed eye, which will shoot out bolts of pure energy. In later stories, he also gains the ability to levitate objects as well as use "spectrum powers," which shoot beams of light at different frequencies. These later powers are rarely used, though they would greatly assist Eclipso at nearly every turn. It also must be annoying to have to hold up that diamond every time Eclipso wants to do something, since it effectively means he can only have one arm open at all times. The fact that one eye is always closed means that Eclipso has absolutely no depth perception, which must also be a hinderance.

People are simply blinded, but they act like they've been physically hit.

Since Eclipso and Gordon are one and the same, Eclipso possesses Gordon's brilliance. This means that whenever Gordon lays out a plan to get rid of Eclipso, Eclipso himself knows the plan before he even materializes, and can therefore quickly stop it before it even starts. Sadly, Gordon, Mona and her father never seem to quite grasp this fact.

Some of these plans include locking Gordon in a secure chamber to prevent Eclipso from escaping (Eclipso simply altered the lock beforehand), or setting up a bright light right in front of Gordon before he transforms (Eclipso merely punches out the light). Eventually, Mona and Professor Bennett start carrying around "photon grenades," which emit burst of intense light, in order to stop Eclipso. Gordon himself is also working on an "ultraviolet gun," which will somehow cause Eclipso to be on the side of good instead of evil. It actually works eventually, effectively defeating the purpose of Eclipso existing. Oops.

Many times, Eclipso will release some dangerous threat, but then realize after the fact that if Gordon is killed, so too will Eclipso die. So he's forced to stop the danger he himself unleashed, usually being tricked back into Gordon at the end. For being so brilliant, both Gordon and Eclipso are pretty stupid.

So Eclipso's "plan" to avoid being tracked is 100% in opposition to his not being tracked.

Gordon and crew always keep track of when natural eclipses will occur, so that they can be prepared for Eclipso's imminent arrival. However, they nearly always forget until it's already too late.

I was surprised at how consistent and coherent all of the stories were. There's actual continuity throughout the whole thing, which is surprising since it's Bob Haney. After reading the first Brave and the Bold volume, I was expecting much of the same straight up wackiness.

Thankfully I wasn't completely let down.

The biggest thing that bothered me was that in nearly every instance, Gordon and Professor Bennett would walk into traps set by Eclipso. They would state that Eclipso must have planned and set up the trap during his last emergence from Gordon's body. However, the last time he appeared was in the previous story, and he definitely didn't have enough time to do any setting up of anything. Complex plots and tasks that would have taken weeks if not months are casually attributed to Eclipso. But Gordon knows and keeps track of exactly when Eclipso will and does appear. There's no way he would have had any time to perform these feats. They include traveling across the world to alter top-secret machines, creating and leading a criminal organization across an entire nation, building giant robots to destroy/enslave major cities, and the like.

"Yeah, I had a few minutes last time so I whipped this baby up."

It was just a glaring error across the whole thing. Eclipso doesn't have the power of flight or anything like that. Where is he getting the materials and financial resources for all of these elaborate (not to mention expensive) schemes? How does he have time to travel across the world all the time, especially to a country that Gordon will unknowingly be invited to weeks later?

The only other super-characters that appear are Helio and Prince Ra-Man, both characters that really don't have anything to contribute and quickly fade away.

Eclipso is referred to as, "the most daring character ever created in comics!" Which is kind of true, I guess, because it's kind of a ridiculous premise, especially when you look at the details of the characters' relationships. Hell, he was probably created on a dare, and the bet was they couldn't get it to work and no one would accept it. But if there's one man who would take that dare, it's Bob Haney.

Toth's and Sparling's artwork is good. Panel layouts are creative, character faces show lots of expression, artwork isn't recycled whatsoever, there's lot of cool perspective shots, and people actually look like individuals (as opposed to cookie cutter models). I liked it.

Recommended? Probably not. There are better things out there, and the stories eventually turn formulaic, and after Gordon effectively makes Eclipso a good guy, there's not really any reason to continue anyway. I'm not surprised the character never really made a name for himself. The 1990s re-imagining added a lot more to the character, so if you're really interested in Eclipso, that era would probably be more interesting.