Dark Horse Presents and Sub-Mariner

Back in the mid-1980s a certain little independent black and white comic book came out.

You might have heard of it: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It’s subsequent success created a firestorm of artists that hoped to cash in on the Black & White comic book success of  TMNT.

For a while dozens of titles premiered featuring everything from hamsters to Fish Police.

The period was dubbed The Great Black & White Glut.  It nearly destroyed the comic book industry.  Thankfully it did not last long.

Several small publishers surfaced during that period.  All disappeared-except one: Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse took a different approach.  It produced a bevy of titles that were unique, some were commercial tie-ins and successful.

One of the first titles produced by Dark Horse was Dark Horse Presents.

Throughout its impressive run a number of title of characters were introduced-many that went on to be huge successes-such as Sin City and Hellboy.

In issue #1 a unique creator-owned character was introduced that went on to achieve cult status.

Artist/writer Paul Chadwick had worked with Marvel Comics primarily on Marvel’s The Dazzler book.

Unhappy with the editorial and creative decisions at Marvel Paul struck out on his own.

He introduced Concrete, the story of a middle -age man who was abducted by aliens and who has his brain and mind transferred to a super strong and nearly indestructible creature aptly named Concrete.

Concrete offered stories not so much of the superhero genre but tales of human interaction, isolation and coping with often unsettling and bizarre situations.

Concrete would soon go on to star in his own ongoing series.

One of my all-time favorite super bad guy costumes was created for Tiger Shark who premiered in Marvel Comics' Prince Namor The Sub-Mariner #5.

It is a stunning and amazing design created by artist John Buscema.

One can really sense the menace and dangerous nature of the character as typified by his costume.

Tiger Shark was an Olympic swimmer who is injured and agrees to undergo an experimental procedure that turns him into the half man/half Tiger Shark villain.

Namor certainly had his hands full dealing with him.

Tiger Shark is still spotted occasionally in Marvel Comics with a slightly modified costume.