The 1990s are often called “The Dark Age of Comic Books”, mainly because it’s remembered as the era where the speculator market took a massive hit and nearly every superhero seemed to be a roided out, bloodthirsty menace to society. But it’s also the decade when Image Comics sprung fully into being – and it’s that era that Local Man: Gold #1 pays tribute to. Former superhero Jack Xavier, aka master marksman Crossjack, is once again swept up in a big crisis from his past. Quite literally, as he comes face to face with his younger self and a collection of other Image Comics heroes. They’re on a mission to straighten out their timeline and prevent oblivion…but not everything is as it seems.
Writers/artists/creators Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs have used the Local Man series as both a homage to the early Image books, and an introspective look about how life doesn’t always turn out the way you’d expect. In the case of Jack, he was one of the world’s biggest superheroes…now he’s back home with his parents, forbidden to use his Crossjack identity, and has become a pariah. To come face to face with his younger self, flaws, and all, is a harsh reminder of his fall from grace. Seeley and Fleecs’ script approaches the time travel concept as a way to interrogate the choices we make in life, and if we can learn from them or we’re doomed to fail over and over. Granted, this is the core concept of Local Man as a series, but here it feels more pointed and more personal than ever.
Both of them also embrace the Image “house style” with open arms. In the tradition of the ongoing series, Local Man: Gold is a flip book – half of the series takes place in the present day, illustrated by Fleecs, while the other half in the past with illustrations by Seeley. Each of them manages to capture the style of other Image creators, especially with the guest cast. Stryker from Cyberforce, Firebreather, and Scrap from Dynamo 5 all make an appearance, and they all look like they stepped out of the pages of their respective comics. In fact, there’s a massive two page spread featuring a bunch of characters that I don’t want to spoil – let’s just say that the creators must have had a blast playing with some of Image’s fan favorite and/or forgotten toys.
A key aspect in separating past from present is colorist Felipe Sobreiro. Sobreiro develops two distinct color schemes for each half of the book – the present features a more muted, realistic set of colors while the past is bright and eye popping in the way you’d expect a ’90s era comic to be. In fact, those styles of coloring collide, as the past Image heroes are colored brighter than the present-day people surrounding them. It’s especially evident in the scenes the two Jacks share, as the younger Crossjack is literally brighter and more energetic than his older self.
Local Man: Gold #1 is a blast from the past in every sense of the word, using time travel to craft a poignant story while also paying tribute to the early years of Image Comics. It’s also a great standalone story, to boot. Definitely pick this up if you’ve heard the positive buzz about Local Man, or if your inner ’90s kid wants a sophisticated comic book story that also happens to feature a dragon-powered superhero and a four-armed cyborg.
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