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A few more ads from Eclipse, from their earliest color comic, the SABRE comics series.
Issues 1 and 2 reprint the 1978 SABRE graphic novel, for the first time presented in 7 X 10" comic book size, and with color added.
This ad for the black and white
ECLIPSE magazine (1981-1982) that ran for 8 issues :
Up till SABRE comic series 1 and 2, Eclipse's publications had all been black and white 8 X 11" magazine-size graphic novels :
(1)
SABRE by McGregor and Gulacy, 40p, Aug 1978
(2)
NIGHT MUSIC by P.Craig Russell 48p, Nov 1979
(3)
DETECTIVES INC. by McGregor and Rogers 48p, May 1980
(4) STEWART THE RAT by Gerber and Colan/Palmer 64p, Nov 1980
(5)
THE PRICE by Starlin 46p, Oct 1981
Then they launched
ECLIPSE magazine (May 1981- Jan 1983), also in an 8 X 11" magazine size, but an anthology. It was kind of a hybrid, partly running 1970's underground type stuff by artists like Howard Cruse, George Metzger, and Trina Robbins. And in addition ran some of the artists and writers Eclipse came to be known for in the 1980's, such as Steve Englehart, Don McGregor, Craig Russell, Paul Gulacy, Marshall Rogers and John Bolton, and the first two stories in issues 7 and 8 by B.C.Boyer.
And then what as their first clor comic book series, SABRE, beginning in August 1982.
I also love the backup stories in 1 and 2, by Elaine Lee and Charles Vess, with colors by someone named Lynn Varley, when none of us knew who she was, that we all became very familiar with just a few years later wih THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.
"Starstruck" by Elaine Lee was being serialized in HEAVY METAL in 1981-1982, but I think most of us didn't really see it until Marvel collected the series as the STARSTRUCK graphic novel
I also like the "Eclipse bookshelf" ad, that promotes all these ttitles :
Plus other ads for MS TREE, DESTROYER DUCK, Don McGregor's own (I guess self-published) anthology books, and other budding projects.
And then when SABRE 3 came out (Dec 1982), the Eclipse back cover ad was slightly changed :
I like the subtle shift in the ad, but consistent with the
ECLIPSE magazine ad, transitioning to a full color comic size series as
ECLIPSE MONTHLY. And the cityscape the Foogle is flying over shifts to a rural lake surrounded by forest. Which could be seen as Eclipse subtly announcing they were moving from their initial offices in Staten Island, New York, to the West Coast in Geurneville, California.
I think Eclipse were half-moved for the better part of a year in 1983-1984, but the address officially changed in their books beginning in Oct 1984 to Guerneville, California. Which even now is still a tiny little rural commune outside of San Francisco, of less than 5,000 people.
And roughly a year later, there was a flood in Guerneville and the Eclipse offices lost a lot of their back-issue inventory in the flood. Somehow they later replaced their back-issue stock, by either buying stock from distributors or buying it from comic book stores.
I was surprised to read that Eclipse (around the time of
MIRACLEMAN,
SCOUT, and
AIRBOY ), was the third largest comics publisher in most of the 1980's.
In 1988-1989 they had a CRISIS-style crossover event called
TOTAL ECLIPSE that bombed badly, and they never quite got their mojo back afer that, and were after publishing on a smaller scale, and eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1994. But the last comics I recall from Eclipse that I have, such as LOST CONTINENT, were from 1992-1993. They were already long gone for a year or so when Eclipse's management filed the paperwork to finalize bankruptcy.
the full SABRE issues at :
https://readallcomics.com/sabre-01/https://readallcomics.com/sabre-02/https://readallcomics.com/sabre-03/I loved the stories and art in SABRE up through issue 3, but after that the series in both story and art declined. Beyond that point, up through issue 10, I was often buying the series more for the backups than the lead features. and after issue 10 I completely lost interest. But very good in the early issues. And I loved "The Incredible Seven" by B C Boyer in issues 4-6, and the Kent Williams and Michael Bair backup story material in 7-10.
And these ads got Eclipse in its early years off to a very fun but also elegant start.
