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SCAVENGERS OF THE SLAUGHTERED SACRIFICES(that’s a mouth full) is an original Spider tale in graphic novel format. I picked it up from the folks at The Vintage Library. Written by Don McGregor, well known for his work at Marvel on The Black Panther and Killraven, at DC, and Zorro for Topps Comics, the artwork is done by Gene Colan, the artist on Daredevil and Howard The Duck at Marvel and Batman for DC.
The story here is fine and the black and white art looks great. It has been many years since I read anything done by Colan, but that style I remember well. There’s almost as much prose as art in the panels. It all came together well.
That said, I did have one minor quibble. editor Rich Harvey explains they wanted an original Spider story and McGregor went about working on one. the publisher, Argosy, worried about a potential loss in sales, requested an adaptation of a Spider novel or an original story in today’s world. Richard Wentworth, Nita van Sloan, and Police Commissioner Stanley Kirkpatrick make the cut. Ronald Jackson and butler Jenkins have minor roles, but Ram Singh is nowhere in evidence. Ethnic sidekicks are a bit un-PC I guess.
Someone is murdering people in the same manner as victims on a TV series called Tiffany, The Werewolf Whacker and a senator named Sluggin’ Sammy Teton, along with his Chief of Staff, Ripper Law, are on the warpath to stop violent television. They’re hosting a fund raising event to which Richard and Nita are among the invitees. He’s even sponsored a bill to make any writer who’s work is copied to murder someone liable for the death penalty as well.
The Spider gets word that the pair are to be murdered that night by the villain, Slaughterhouse Skeleton, a name taken from the Werewolf Whacker show and he’s racing their to try to prevent it. There he runs into the creator of the series, a young Asian named Eric Joss(yea, I know) and they hook up with Nita to get the people out.
Great story, I just wish they’d done a “period” piece. The Spider belongs in that era. Still I enjoyed the read.