Aztec Ace

by Doug Moench

Aztec Ace was a comic title from the defunct independent publisher Eclipse Comics. Originally written by Doug Moench and pencilled by Dan Day, 15 issues appeared from 1984 to 1985. (The characters reappeared in the 1988 Total Eclipse comic series.) Other contributors to Aztec Ace were inker Nestor Redondo, inker Ron Harris, artist Mike Gustovich, artist Tom Yeates, colorist Philip DeWalt, colorist Steve Oliff, colorist Sam Parsons, letterer Carrie Spiegle, and Eclipse editor cat yronwode. The Aztec Ace logo was created by Denis McFarling.

The story revolved around a time traveller named Ace (real name: Caza), whose goal was to save the timestream from unraveling through various intricate adventures. Ace is from the 23rd Century, with his base in pre-contact Aztec Mexico; he often visited ancient Egypt. His main enemy is Nine-Crocodile, who creates time paradoxes in an attempt to save his own dimension at the expense of other realities, especially, the modern world as we know it.

Characteristics of the series were time travel, the use of cultural icons such as political figures, historical situations, songs, and cult movies in unexpected situations, and philosophical musing. Historical renderings of ancient cultures were detailed and imaginative. Careful reading, broad knowledge, and patience were required of the reader, as well as some understanding of the ongoing storyline, all of which possibly prevented it from gathering a large following.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2022

About the author

Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)

Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.

Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very odd and different comic series. But a good and interesting one also. Nice writing and art. Recommended

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

1980's Flashback: Aztec Ace

Move over Dr. Who...

Aztec Ace was written by Doug Moench and pencilled by Dan Day, originally published by Eclipse Comics, the series lasted for 15 issues between 1984 and 1985 (although the characters reappeared in the 1988 Total Eclipse mini-series).

The title chronicled the journey of a time traveller called Ace (his real name was actually "Caza"), whose goal was to save the time stream from unraveling through various intricate adventures. Ace was from the 23rd Century, yet he maintained his base of operations in pre-contact Aztec Mexico and he often visited ancient Egypt. His main enemy was Nine-Crocodile, who created time paradoxes in an attempt to save his own home dimension at the expense of other realities, especially, the modern world as we knew it.

The series played fast & loose with many facets of time travel including the use of cultural icons such as political figures, historical situations, songs, and cult movies in unexpected situations, and philosophical musing. Historical renderings of ancient cultures were often detailed and imaginative. Careful reading, broad knowledge, and patience were required of the reader, as well as some understanding of the ongoing storyline, all of which possibly prevented it from gathering a larger following.

Other contributors on Aztec Ace were inkers Nestor Redondo and Ron Harris & artists Michael Hernandez (Bair), Mike Gustovich and Tom Yeates. The first issue cover (pictured; left) is from July 1984.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 1 out of 5]

When a nude, saggy butt-cheeked Benjamin Franklin started waving a laser pistol around, I began to wonder what I was reading.

[Alex Sarll]

A comic of which I'd never heard until I happened across this complete collection in a phenomenally well-stocked library, but when Doug Moench wrote some of the earliest Marvel comics I actually like, of course I was going to check it out. It has many of the hallmarks I associate with that early eighties wave of creator-owned comics from people who came up on superheroes - freed of the corporate strictures they can run a little too self-indulgent, with long and purple captions not always making clear exactly what's going on, a somewhat adolescent idea of sexiness, and a tendency towards chapter title puns that really don't work ("Johnny Weissmuller Dived For Your Fins", indeed). What I didn't expect was that, despite the older property going unmentioned in the extensive bonus material explaining this series' creation and history, in many ways it feels like a weird simultaneous evolution of Doctor Who. Our hero is a maverick time-traveller, fighting ruthless forces who seek to undo the timeline by deliberately causing paradoxes. He picks up a plucky, pretty companion from one of the time zones he visits; even the ACE of the title stands for Azure Crosstime Express, which is a curious coincidence of colours (and yes, of course it's bigger on the inside). In terms of having an overall arc, adult elements, and the frequent opacity, it maybe feels more like picking up a book from the wilderness years than watching a random episode, but the kinship is still there, like those Sesame Street episodes where a muppet's foreign relative would visit and it was clearly the same character filtered through a different national stereotype.

But the remarkable/unfortunate thing is that while I'm of an age where I associate Eclipse comics with reading a random issue and being a bit confused - I think I get a mild Proustian rush of 'huh?' simply from seeing cat yronwode's name - in this instance I had every extant issue, plus explanatory material, and still couldn't always tell you the finer details of what was afoot. An afterword by hardcore fan David Allen makes no attempt to deny any of this, though does omit one thing that bugged me, namely the way that sometimes characters are drawn to look like famous actors because they are them (the final issue is set in Hollywood's heyday), but at other times it's just an in-joke (the Bogart-faced detective et al in the gangland story). Despite which, and the inconsistency of artists, and the wild array of settings, there's enough of a visual through-line that it all feels of a piece, and even when I didn't entirely follow what was going on, I still enjoyed looking at it, and often respected the ambition on display. As I respected Ace's; anyone who can't resist correcting the books on his shelves is someone with whom I sympathise. Did I actually like the series? I honestly don't know; for every John Crowley quote, there's an instance of that innfuriating trope where anyone from any time zone who hears any Beatles is wowed. But for all the Who echoes, and the other ways it's very much of its own time, I've never read anything quite like it. Besides, this was a perfect year in which to read it, with several references forward to 2023 scattered about: I can certainly believe Stim-Sting Cola as holding its own among our increasingly terrifying range of energy drinks.

[Patricia English · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really did not like this one. It was boring to me.

[J.R. Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun!! A doctor who that fucks.
Wish there had been more of these comics.

[Al Berry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Standard 80s art, no complaints, but the actual plot is just too bizarre and off the chain for my tastes, I can see others enjoying it however.