Alphabetically, first up is...
AZTEC ACE:
I didn't buy this Eclipse series when it first came out in 1984. Several years ago, however, I saw the entire series except for issue #1 for sale at Half Price Books. (That's pretty common at HPB. Either sellers hang on to first issues, or people go through the bins picking out all the #1s.) I wanted to make sure I could score a copy of the first before committing, so I went to my LCS. they had a copy in stock, I bought it, then returned to HPB but #2-15 were sold by then! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Now I had only #1 but no others.
Then, in 2022, Dark Horse released a hardcover collection of the whole series in a single volume. I bought, read and enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite what I expected. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that. It was pretty dense. Someday I plan to go back and re-read it, knowing exactly what to expect this time.
COYOTE:
Coyote is another series that got its start at Eclipse Comics. It got off to a great start with the I Am Coyote graphic novel by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, but I didn't know that at the time. I started with the first issue of the ongoing series, which was published by Marvel Comics, the second series to be released under their brand-spankin' new "Epic Comics" imprint following Dreadstar (which also wasn't the the first appearance of the character, which I also didn't know at the time). The Coyote series got off to something of a shakey start, with three artists in the first four issues. Also, three months passed between the second and the third issues, and four between the third and the fourth.
Steve Leialoha was the artist on the first two issues. It was the first time I had ever seen his work, and it was a bit jarring to me. Butch Guice was an improvement in the third, but he leasted for only that one issue. Chas Truog settled in as regular artist for the rest of the series (16 issues) with #4. This was Truog's first series. I think his only previously published work was a back-up series in Capital's (soon to be First's) Badger. His art didn't really appeal to me at the time, either, to be quite honest, but I was really diggin' the story. By the time he was doing Animal Man years later his work had improved significantly, which made me appreciate his early work more than I initially had.
I still remember the "next issue" blurn from #16, the last issue: "James Bond is problematical, but Coyote WILL Return!" Yeah, right. There have been eleven James Bond movies and I am still waiting for "Coyote #17." Which reminds me... I Am Coyote had originally been serialized in Eclipse monthly and was consistantly referred to as "Coyote #0." After that, "zero" issues came trickling in, but I am convinced Coyote started the trend.
SCOUT:
Of the five series covered in the post, Scout is by far my favorite. I follwoed Timothy Truman from Grimjack at First to Scout at Eclipse. The first Scout series (1985) took place in 1999 (#1-7) and 2002 (#8-24). The second Scout series, War Shamen (1988), took place in 2015 (with a framing device set in 2030) and ended with ɹǝʇɔɐɹɐɥɔ uᴉɐɯ ǝɥʇ ɟo ɥʇɐǝp ǝɥʇ. At that point, Timothy Truman planned a two-year break from Scout while he worked on other projects, but unfortunately Eclipse Comics went out of business before any new material could be published. Two other series, however, had been announced: Scout: Marauder and Scout: Blue Leader. A kickstarter campaign was launched in 2019 and the goal was reached, but the project has been delayed due to health issues. The last time I checked (just now), the most recent word was released in July 2024, that it would be releasaed by the end of the year. I suppose it's possible that it could have been completed and contributors' pre-paid orders fulfilled without updating the website, but I can't verify that.
SHAMAN'S TEARS:
I generally like Mike Grell's stuff but I was lukewarm about this one. In a world where science has begun using gene splicing to create animal/human hybrids, it is a cross between Sioux Indians and the X-Men, yet also derivative of A Man Called Horse. This 13-(including zero-)issue series even featured a four-part guest appearance by Jon Sable (which I definitely consider apocryphal). Still, I've read it only once, in monthly installments. Perhaps it would read better in one "satisfying chunk."
TIMESPIRITS:
By 1984 I had learned not to buy every "Epic Comics" title, and Timespirits, by Steve Perry and Tom Yeates, was one of the ones I skipped. Ten years after that, however, I thought better of it and bought the entire series at my L-at-the-time-CS's giant backroom quarter sale that I haven't mentioned in at least ten minutes. A couple of years ago I decided to launch a TIME TRAVEL COMICS discussion, but I didn't get far beyond the "aquisition" phase. (I'll get back to it "someday.") Currently Timespirits is filed under "Time Travel" rather than "Indiginous Peoples," but I know exactly where it is. Still haven't read it, but I have read the introductory editorial by Steve Perry titled "You Were Expecting Maybe Aztec Who?"
TUROK:
Turok, Son of Stone was launched by Dell Comics in Four Color #596 in 1954. Indians and dinosurs was s ure-fire mix, and the series ran for 26 years, 125 issues. Fifteen years after that, Jim Shooter brought the character into the Valiant universe for another successful run. In 2009, Dark Horse Comics began reprinting the original Dell comics from the beginning in the Turok, Son of Stone archives, which lasted ten volumes and reprinted through #67. The best of the Valiant series were, not unsurprisingly, the issues written by Timothy Truman.
I now open the floor to anyone withing to comment on these or any other comics/characters featuring Native Americans or indigious people.
Replies
"My people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back."
--Louis Riel
Earthdivers: Ice Age, written by a Blackfoot/ Siksikáí'tsitapi author, features a speculative but plausible depiction of paleo-Indians. There are others in the series.
Not the Marvel character, but the time-traveling adventure of a Métis girl:
She's wearing a Louis Riel t-shirt, representing the man who became Canada's only non-white Father of Confederation (and the only one to be executed, but that's a whole other story), a hero to many people:
I know the story of Helen Betty Osborne from the true crime book and the Canadian made-for-tv movie, and I will definitely be reading this account:
First Nation nerds!
I know of at least three volumes collecting Surviving the City:
History and related topics told in graphic novel form by Gord Hill (more on him later)
And supportive non-indigenous creators:
(the author whose work is being adapted may have some Cherokee ancestry, but she acknowledges that, even if that is so, she had no exposure to that hypothetical background and cannot really claim it)
A contemporary story of survival:
Quite famous and worth reading: the late Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip released an album based on a true story. Jeff Lemire illustrated the accompanying graphic novel. Profts go towards the Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at The University of Manitoba.
A much lighter tone: written and illustrated by First Nations creators, this series remains a more general and generally humorous look at the struggles of a millennial artist:
Mariko and Gillian Tamaki's tween-focused This One Summer isn't an indigenous book, but it features some indigenous characters in supporting roles:
Who else listened to Redbone in the 70s?
Written by Gord Hill, a Kwakwaka'wakw / Kwakiutl artist and writer, this has been expanded, though some may prefer the "Hitler being punched" cover of the original. I can't help but consider this timely:
The majority of these (and *many* more) can be found at this site, which includes a guide to the specific indigenous background of the creators (where applicable) and specific cultural groups depicted, age-suitability, and (since it's a Canadian site), whether or not it features Canadian content or creators.
THE KENTS:
Nathanial Kent's wife, Mary, is Native America. Her heritage is a key element of the story. Writer John Ostrander did reasearch on this story, but got an aspect of it wrong. Unfortunately, the mistake was related by the character herself. When Ostrander become aware of the error he had made, he incorporated it into the story, that the Indians were so poorly treated that even Mary was mistaken about her own heritage. I thihk the mistake (and its correction) made for a stronger story. I will deal with this im more depth at a later date in the Timothy Truman and Tom Mandrake threads.
And on the lighter side...