Review by Shade

Jeff Hawke: Overlord
Written by Willie Patterson
Illustrated by Sydney Jordan
Titan Books
Cover Price: $19.95; On-sale: Mar. 25, 2008

When I was first assigned Jeff Hawke: Overlord to review, I was very skeptical. I wondered how much I could enjoy a ‘futuristic’ tale told from a perspective that was fresh more than half a century ago. Yet, I allowed myself to become fully immersed in this collection of serial comic strips penned by Willie Patterson — 461 of them spanning four ‘chapters’ published between February 10, 1960 and August 2, 1961 to be precise. And as I began to read, I was literally thrown ‘Back to the Future.’

The first chapter opens with a UFO sighting followed by, as far as I know, first contact with an alien race (these strips go back six years before this particular collection). But before they can make friend or foe with this giant alien insect creature, a voice comes over the radio. Seemingly mechanical in nature the voice requests that everyone evacuate the area so that the alien insect, known as a Rymff, can be executed. Before this can take place the Rymff psychically informs one of the female officers — whom we learn are the only humans smart enough to receive their alien telepathy — of an alien war in this very solar system, taking place around the orbit of Jupiter. And it’s a war that will soon to carry over to the planet Earth.

Thus, a crew headed by Jeff Hawke is formed. Their mission: to find this warring alien fleet led by someone known only as the Executioner and parley with him. They soon find themselves surrounded by more alien races than you can shake a stick at, each more interesting than the next until finally a being named Chalcedon, sometimes referred to as the Overlord, emerges. He too has issues with the Executioner, as well as his own crew members, some of whom are less loyal than others.

What ensues afterward is truly amazing storytelling filled with questions and plot twists. After all of this, the most interesting characters for me are these two alien deities who appear in the prologue and epilogue of the chapters. They are the strewn in secrecy, one a devilish looking caped being and the other a seemingly subservient bat-like humanoid. These characters speak of these tales and travels… well, in all actuality the devilish one is the teller of these tales and the bat-like one is the avid listener. And like the lowly bat-creature, I feel I will not be satisfied until I have read all of these tales. And with fourteen years’ worth of strips following this collection, I have a lot of searching to do.