The Myth of 8-Opus: 8-Opus Wrecks
Published by: A-Okay Comics – 2008
Written and Illustrated by: Tom Scioli
As I stood in my local comic-book store leafing through The Myth of 8-Opus: 8-Opus Wrecks for the first time, I briefly wondered if I held in my hands some recently discovered, long lost, Jack “King” Kirby masterpiece. My decision to purchase it came like an involuntary muscle-spasm, accompanied by a few mental calculations to determine whether I could afford to buy both it and my other usual monthly titles—and which to sacrifice if I could not. I feared a moment’s hesitation might lead someone else to snatch it from my hands, causing me to miss my window of opportunity.
8-Opus Wrecks was initially serialized and self-published by creator/writer/artist Tom Scioli beginning in 2000 under the name The Myth of 8-Opus with money from a Xeric grant—a publishing grant founded by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird.
Scioli is probably best known from his art duties on the Image Comics series Godland, written by Joe Casey, which ran for thirty-seven issues, but, not recognizing his name at the time, I believed 8-Opus Wrecks must be by a different artist—both pretenders to Kirby’s throne, but in 8-Opus Wrecks I believed I had found a more suitable heir—due to the difference in the art’s quality between the two titles.
To describe Scioli—and Kirby, to whom Scioli owes an immeasurable debt—to a comic neophyte, one might use such terms as “art-deco” or “pop-art,” but without Kirby there would be no Roy Lichtenstein—pop-art stole from comics before comics stole from pop-art—and art-deco is more sterile than, not as organic as, the shapes that define and compose the naturalistic forms of Kirby’s, and Scioli’s, respective—at times, near-identical—styles.
By every artistic metric 8-Opus Wrecks surpasses Godland and Freedom Force—two of Scioli’s other works aping Kirby’s signature style. The inking in 8-Opus Wrecks is cleaner and more precise, the compositions in each panel—the placement of the camera and the arrangement of characters, props, backgrounds, speed-lines, and Kirby-dots—are more inventive and well thought-out, and the degree of detail and complexity is greater.
Scioli, however, has grown as an artist since his days as merely a Kirby-clone and has carved out his own niche in works like American Barbarian—where he moves away from the sloppy imprecision of Godland to surpass even the cleaner more sophisticated art of The Myth of 8-Opus—and Transformers vs. G. I. Joe—which features a significant departure into childlike pencils, eschewing inks entirely, colored in a manner reminiscent of colored pencils or crayons.
8-Opus Wrecks is rendered in stark black and white—except for issue three, which incorporates halftone greys. This lack of color heightens awareness of the inkwork’s subtleties.
In fact, 8-Opus Wrecks may actually be more enjoyable than if it had been rendered in color, though it should be mentioned that the colors in some of Scioli’s other work are impeccable and greatly enhance the reading experience—specifically Godland which features very vibrant modern computer-coloring, and Transformers vs. G. I. Joe which approximates a more faded, “retro,” almost natural-media, look.
I often find myself wondering if comic art requires a certain degree of familiarity with the tropes of the medium to truly understand and appreciate it as I do, but the degree of pleasure I derive from the heavy blacks, perfectly tapered ink-line brushstrokes, and panel compositions in 8-Opus Wrecks seems no less universal than the pleasure of paint on canvas.
If purchased solely for the art, 8-Opus Wrecks does not disappoint, but it should not be forgotten that it is also a narrative and, in fact, a good one.
The satisfying and inventive story first follows space-faring adventurers 8-Opus and his compatriot Daedalus as they explore a decaying world on the corpse of a sentient planet. That storyline spans the first three-and-a-half issues of the series and is followed by an adventure to the head of a serpent whose body somehow is the universe itself, and the eventual return to “Urdu,” the adventurers’ home planet, rounds out the graphic novel, ending on a cliffhanger that sets up the issues to come.
Scioli’s writing is stylistically competent but more engaging on the level of plot. The somewhat stilted language can, at first, seem amateurish or reminiscent of comics from a less sophisticated bygone era but, once one adjusts to it, creates a sort of formal and serious atmosphere to the proceedings—without becoming overly or unnecessarily dramatic. The plot, luckily, quickly steps in and grabs hold of, and propels, the reader through the rest of the comic, excusing any flaws or shortcomings in the language’s style.
8-Opus Wrecks is almost suitable for a general audience. The only even slightly objectionable scene involves (spoiler alert) monsters attempting to serve a live, gagged and bound, human to other humans as the main course during a feast. If not for the treatment of that single detail as less than comedic, 8-Opus Wrecks would have been suitable for essentially all ages, and, in fact, may still be insufficiently disturbing to warrant much parental interference for kids of most ages interested in reading 8-Opus Wrecks. There is no nudity, the violence is neither graphic nor realistic, and there is no profanity.
Recommendations:
While some series by Scioli—specifically American Barbarian, Transformers vs. G. I. Joe, and Godland—are definitely worth a look for both art and story, Freedom Force, on the other hand, is not required reading.
Any fan of 8-Opus Wrecks is automatically a fan of both Scioli and Kirby, and any fan of Kirby should check out Jim Steranko, and any fan of Scioli should check out Ed Piskor.
Kirby’s oeuvre is lengthy—spanning more than half a century—and includes work for the major publishers Marvel and DC as well as a prolific run on several titles published by Pacific Comics in the 1980s. The Fantastic Four, Captain America, The Eternals, Kamandi, Captain Victory, O.M.A.C., The Losers, Silver Star, Mister Miracle, Atlas, The Demon, The Sandman, Devil Dinosaur, and The Forever People all feature impeccable Kirby art, though his signature style was not cemented until the mid-1960’s and the quality of the rendering can vary from panel to panel, page to page, issue to issue, title to title.
Steranko is best known for his work during the late-1960s on Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.—which he both wrote and illustrated—and Strange Tales, both published by Marvel. He is considered among the most influential and innovative artists of his generation, leaving a profound mark on subsequent artists and the state of the medium itself.
Piskor is a contemporary of Scioli and features a retro style that calls to mind some of the quirks and idiosyncrasies of “ancient” comics artists—such as Basil Wolverton or Fletcher Hanks—mixed with more traditional old-school artists like Kirby and Steve Ditko and an indie-comic aesthetic. He is probably best known for the comics Hip-Hop Family Tree and X-Men: Grand Design.
Fans of the daring, never-say-die, space-faring adventures in 8-Opus Wrecks may find a similar appeal to the recent series published by Black Mask Studios, Space Riders, written by Fabian Rangel Jr. and illustrated by Alexis Ziritt. It follows Space Rider “Capitan Peligro,” his baboon-headed first-mate Mono, and the robot/droid Yara as they seek to redeem Peligro’s reputation, reestablish his position in the Space Riders—a sort of interplanetary police force—fight a horde of bad-guys led by head bad-guy Satanus, and confront Peligro’s former friend and current enemy Hammerhead, all while flying a spaceship shaped like a human skull. The art has an endearing indie-comic feel with loose brushwork-inks and a varied and intense color palette enhancing interesting characters, locations, and prop designs.
Brian Bigelow
September 19, 2018
