Eclipse Monthly #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeEclipse Monthly #3 marks a transitional hinge point in the anthology's brief run: it is the last of the three oversized 48-page issues before the title's page count was cut by roughly a third, meaning readers here got the fullest version of editor Dean Mullaney's original vision for the book. The issue also carries the announcement that Steve Ditko was departing the Static strip — a significant editorial event — while simultaneously welcoming the Ragamuffins feature (by Don McGregor and Gene Colan) into the Eclipse Monthly lineup for the first time in color. As part of a series where all contributors retained ownership of their work, the whole run stands as an early, concrete example of creator-rights publishing at the direct-market level, and this issue crystallizes exactly what was won and lost when that format could not be sustained.
In "Mission: Save Cap'n Quick!", writer Don McGregor and artist Gene Colan deliver a tense, character-driven tale set in a gritty urban landscape, where a boy's cruel act sets off a chain of escalating consequences. As Bobby and Randy flee from the furious boyfriend of the kitten's owner, they seek refuge beneath a crumbling railroad trestle—only to find themselves in deeper trouble than they bargained for. The story’s raw emotional stakes are rendered with striking precision, thanks to Colan’s expressive artwork and Klaus Janson’s bold inking and coloring, while Adam Kubert’s lettering adds urgency to every page. B. C. Boyer’s cover captures the moment’s high tension with a dynamic, moody composition.
In "Kittycats and Bogeymen," Bobby's cruel prank with a kitten takes a dark turn when the animal's owner's boyfriend tracks him and his friend Randy through the woods, forcing the boys to flee and hide beneath a rusted railroad trestle. The story unfolds with tense, grounded urgency, blending childhood recklessness with the sudden threat of real consequences.
In "Chapter Ten: The Song of Sin Sin Wa," Inspector Kerry finds himself trapped in a tense standoff with the enigmatic Sin Sin Wa, where a chilling confession reveals a deadly secret—Mrs. Wa admits to killing Lucy. As the past erupts in violence, the fate of her husband’s pet raven becomes a grim prelude to her own end, and the truth behind the murder begins to unravel.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Eclipse Monthly was edited by Dean Mullaney and cat yronwode as a full-color, standard-format successor to the company's earlier black-and-white anthology Eclipse, the Magazine, which had folded in January 1983. The new title carried forward creator-owned strips — The Masked Man, Ragamuffins, and Trina Robbins's adaptation of Sax Rohmer's Dope — from the old magazine, while adding Marshall Rogers's Cap'n Quick and a Foozle and Steve Ditko's Static as new features. Issue #3 bears a cover number of 3 but carries an indicia identical to issue #2 (including copyright dates), a production error confirmed by the Grand Comics Database; shipping delays further pushed the actual on-sale date from the intended October to December 1983, as noted in Amazing Heroes #38. The departure of Ditko from Static — reportedly stemming from a creative dispute with the editor over a page layout — is announced inside this issue, making #3 the last Static chapter in the anthology.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Eclipse Monthly #3 is the third and final 48-page issue of the anthology; from issue #4 onward the page count dropped to 36 pages and the number of features was reduced accordingly.
- The Masked Man (Dick Carstairs) and his reporter friend Barney McAllister are continuing characters created by writer-artist B.C. Boyer; their first appearance was in Eclipse, the Magazine #7 (November 1982), making all appearances in Eclipse Monthly continuations, not debuts.
- Klonsbon (the Foozle) first appeared in Marshall Rogers's Strange Portfolio (Pacific Comics, 1979); Cap'n Quick debuted in Eclipse Monthly #1 (August 1983) — both are continuing characters by issue #3, with Cap'n Quick being taken deeper into the strange land as the serial progresses.
- Issue #3 marks the first appearance of the Ragamuffins feature — written by Don McGregor and illustrated by Gene Colan (with Klaus Janson on color) — within Eclipse Monthly, though the strip itself originated in Eclipse, the Magazine #3 (November 1981).
- Steve Ditko's Static strip ends with this issue; the departure announcement inside the comic states 'Steve decided not to continue the series in these pages,' with contemporary commentary suggesting a creative disagreement over editorial changes to Ditko's pages as the catalyst.
- The issue's indicia is a known printing error — it reads Vol. 1, No. 2, Sept. 1983, identical to issue #2 — and actual distribution was delayed to December 1983 despite the cover carrying no month, as documented in Amazing Heroes #38.
- The Masked Man was the only feature to appear in all ten issues of Eclipse Monthly and was reported by the letters pages to be the anthology's most popular strip; Boyer's character subsequently graduated to its own ongoing 12-issue series beginning in December 1984.
- All creative work in Eclipse Monthly was creator-owned, a founding principle of Eclipse Comics under the Mullaney brothers, and the anthology was co-edited throughout by Dean Mullaney and cat yronwode.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Ditko's World Featuring Static #1 (1986), Steve Ditko's Static #[nn] (2000), Sax Rohmer's Dope #[nn] (2017)
Key issues in Eclipse Monthly
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