Void Indigo

Marvel Graphic Novel #11

by Steve Gerber, Val Mayerik (Illustrator)

In a savage era before the dawn of history, four sorcerers committed a heinous crime of torture and murder - and they thought they got away with it. They're about to find out they were wrong.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Fantasy, Fiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1984

About the author

Steve Gerber graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in communications and took a job in advertising. To keep himself sane, he wrote bizarre short stories such as "Elves Against Hitler," "Conversion in a Terminal Subway," and "...And the Birds Hummed Dirges!" He noticed acquaintance Roy Thomas working at Marvel, and Thomas sent him Marvel's standard writing test, dialoguing Daredevil art. He was soon made a regular on Daredevil and Sub-Mariner, and the newly created Man-Thing, the latter of which pegged him as having a strong personal style--intellectual, introspective, and literary. In one issue, he introduced an anthropomorphic duck into a horror fantasy, because he wanted something weird and incongruous, and Thomas made the character, named for Gerber's childhood friend Howard, fall to his apparent death in the following issue. Fans were outraged, and the character was revived in a new and deeply personal series. Gerber said in interview that the joke of Howard the Duck is that "there is no joke." The series was existential and dealt with the necessities of life, such as finding employment to pay the rent. Such unusual fare for comicbooks also informed his writing on The Defenders. Other works included Morbius, the Lving Vampire, The Son of Satan, Tales of the Zombie, The Living Mummy, Marvel Two-in-One, Guardians of the Galaxy, Shanna the She-Devil, and Crazy Magazine for Marvel, and Mister Miracle, Metal Men, The Phantom Zone , and The Immortal Doctor Fate for DC. Gerber eventually lost a lawsuit for control of Howard the Duck when he was defending artist Gene Colan's claim of delayed paychecks for the series, which was less important to him personally because he had a staff job and Colan did not.

He left comics for animation in the early 1980s, working mainly with Ruby-Spears, creating Thundarr the Barbarian with Alex Toth and Jack Kirby and episodes of The Puppy's Further Adventures, and Marvel Productions, where he was story editor on multiple Marvel series including Dungeons & Dragons, G.I. Joe, and The Transformers. He continued to dabble in comics, mainly for Eclipse, including the graphic novel Stewart the Rat, the two-part horror story "Role Model: Caring, Sharing, and Helping Others," and the seven-issue Destroyer Duck with Jack Kirby, which began as a fundraiser for Gerber's lawsuit.

In the early 1990s, he returned to Marvel with Foolkiller, a ten-issue limited series featuring a new version of a villain he had used in The Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown, who communicated with a previous version of the character through internet bulletin boards. An early internet adopter himself, he wrote two chapters of BBSs for Dummies with Beth Woods Slick, with whom he also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Contagion." During this period, he also wrote The Sensational She-Hulk and Cloak and Dagger for Marvel, Cybernary and WildC.A.T.s for Image, and Sludge and Exiles for the writer-driven Malibu Ultraverse, and Nevada for DC's mature readers Vertigo line.

In 2002, he returned to the Howard the Duck character for Marvel's mature readers MAX line, and for DC created Hard Time with Mary Skrenes, with whom he had co-created the cult hit Omega the Unknown for Marvel. Their ending for Omega the Unknown remains a secret that Skrenes plans to take to the grave if Marvel refuses to publish it. Suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ("idiopathic" meaning of unknown origin despite having been a heavy smoker much of his life), he was on a waiting list for a double lung transplant. His final work was the Doctor Fate story arc, "More Pain Comics," for DC Comics'

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

psychotropic sadomasochism. high fantasy meets Hellraiser or at least Saw. a strange being's strange journey across a strange planet... a planet called Earth! 4 villains, 1 barbarian, 1 concubine, 6 lives strewn across time to be reborn again and again. a very accepting young lady. an alien who looks like a red Riff Raff from Rocky Horror is transformed into a construction worker. all the visuals imaginable from all the Rush records. Steve Gerber created oddities such as Howard the Duck and Omega the Unknown; I should have guessed that those two creations only scratched the surface of his potential weirdness. well Void Indigo certainly fulfilled that potential! sorta. it was canceled after this introductory graphic novel and two issues. I guess it was all too weird, too sexual, too violent. reading this was like popping one-twentieth of a tab of acid, except I was fine with it ending after 30 minutes rather than frustrated at the brevity. those 30 minutes were pretty memorable and I don't think bad trips should last much longer than that.

[J.G. Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another psychologically complex, morally dark story by Steve Gerber that was shut down by the publisher right quick. Reading Gerber, one starts to get the impression that if he had only written everything five years later, we'd be talking about him alongside Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison.

Instead, he languished in debt and legal complications, seeing one book after another canceled by publishers who didn't know what to do with it. He may not have achieved wealth or noteriety, but Gerber was a font of inspiration who foresaw what the medium of comics could become and inspired numerous authors to challenge themselves and the industry.

I will admit that Void Indigo is even more audacious than Gerber's other work, leaping across thousands of years, through genres, dimensions, and reincarnated lives, and letting his gaze lay heavily on uncomfortable subjects, most notably torture and death.

Again, he's prescient, his mish-mash of pulp genres read like those seen in Tom Strong, Planetary, or Powers, and his 'adults only' space antihero vibe recollecting Lobo and other 'Dark Age' comics. But more than that, Void Indigo feels like the start of a serial out of Metal Hurlant, 2000AD, or Heavy Metal. In retrospect, it's surprising to me that Gerber didn't approach these publishers with his controversial stories.

I couldn't say why he didn't, but apparently he was just a talented, fearless author in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though not everyone appreciates this freewheeling, unapologetic blood and guts romp through aliens and sorcery, I certainly did.

My Suggested Reading In Comics

[Gary Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

To short for my all time book list (80 pgs minimum). This is an amazing book. A real lost treasure. Marvel should relaunch it under the MAX imprint.

[Alberto Martín de Hijas · Rating 2 out of 5]

El arranque de una serie de espada y brujería que quedó inconcluso. Prometía pero no llegó a más.

[James Oden · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what it is, it's pretty good. A psychic thriller tracing a horrible crime across many generations. A graphic novel living on the edge of pulp, very engaging artwork, and a fairly horrific story. Definitely not for the feint of heart. All those scenes that are normally just alluded to because they are so despicable and macabre are brutally laid out with out pretense or softening. Interestingly these scenes are not even treated as horrible just matter of factly portrayed. After our hero is finally destroyed the story line develops in an occultish manner with his spirit spanning multiple incarnations in order to ultimately enter the Void Indigo (spirit realm I guess) and seek his ultimate revenge. As you might imagine the graphics wax very trippy and psychedelic. Reminded me of old DC horror comics or even Conan at times.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a cool little thing.

Don’t let the three stars fool you; I’m glad I read this. The art was awesome, and it definitely captured a very exciting 80s feel.

However, stepping away from the glitter and glitz of 80s nostalgia and judging it objectively... it’s pretty thin, and I don’t just mean physically. There’s just not much here besides a very gory and convoluted first act, and a relatively uneventful second and third act. The dialogue is pretty 1D, and the female characters are lacking the whole character part. Kind of lame.

I love boobies and ultraviolence, and this has that in spades... but it’s not enough to make me love a comic. I need more, and this left me wanting.

All that aside, this is still cool as an old forgotten novelty (in a similar way that Beastmaster 2 is), and I don’t think you’d be wasting time by flipping through it.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Gerbert always seemed to get the short end of the stick; we was simply ahead of his time and as a result his career seems like so many false starts with glorious promise that eventually fizzled out or was cancelled when readers or publishers didn't know what to make of it.

Steve Gerber wrote well before my time but I knew him as the guy who did Howard the Duck (and it's itinerations), Omega: The Unknown (with a resurgence in popularity thanks to Jonathan Lethem) and the Defenders. So this is probably the first probably the most unrestrained work I've seen of his.

As such, Void Indigo in its place must have been mindlowing. It was a Marvel Comic for Pete's sake and it starts out with a psychedelic sadomasochistic murder ritual! It feels like pure Heavy Metal. It felt like Rush album and 20 painted vans lined up in a row. It's a mixup of genre fantasy that feels a little self-aware (Aliens, New Age, a modicum of BDSM!) it certainly earned its name as part of the "EPIC" line.

It's a love story that extends millenias, multiple lives and the reincarnation cycle itself.

He was just too early to hit the pantheon of the British Invasion. And it's really unfortunate. I'd have love to see an American reach across the aisle, when they came.

[Rockito · Rating 4 out of 5]

In anciente times, before the Moores and the Millers, there was a powerful barbarian called Steve Gerber who fought relentlessly against the forces of an evil publisher/sorcerer called Marvel. Although his ideal were good he lost every time.

Yeah, there's no happy ending sadly. This story looked promising, I know there was a six-parter planned after this Graphic Novel, but only two issues were released (which I haven't read) before it was cancelled for being too graphic or some bullshit.

[Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2/5

This was an okay start to a story that would never be finished. Certainly, this is grim stuff, and only the prologue, so not a whole lot of answers are provided for the questions this raises. Not that the story is all that complex; if anything, it's pretty simple, but it doesn't do a whole lot for me. It's an interesting read, with interesting art at times, but this feels more like an indie comic rather than something done with Marvel.

Oh well.

[Chuck Harp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a strange and wonderful tale of science fiction and fantasy, complimented by the amazing artwork. The only drawback (and the only reason I cannot give this a 5 out of 5) is that I wanted more. I have been left with a desire to feel as complete as "Mick" feels in the story. Like him I want to know more.
And maybe, because of that, I love it even more.
Void. Indigo. Forever.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Marvel was too into the cosmic thing in the early 80s. This is another of those weird cosmic stories, an uninteresting one at that.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, phantasmagoric, psychedelic gem. A shame that it's not given more room to breathe, but who can resist this break-neck mashup of Conan and Buck Rogers and, I don't know, Siddhartha?

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird, trippy and slightly disturbing comic from the days when the independent comic scene was becoming big and I was discovering there were stories beyond DC and marvel and stories that didn't involve super heroes.

Shame it was cut so short and Gerber never had a chance to bring it back and finish it.
Worth a look, but don't get too emotionally attached.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The synopsis apparently provided by goodreads for this graphic novel seems to be describing Starstruck by Lee and Kaluta. Wonderful piece of work, well worth reading. This book, Void Indigo was one of Marvel's early large size GN's and serves as a prequel to an unfinished mini-series published by Marvel's mature reader's imprint, Epic Comics. The story by Steve Gerber is so so, a kind of revenge fantasy loaded with violent imagery contrasted with a certain New Age sensibility. The artwork by Val Mayerik is beautiful mostly, tho' looking rushed in some places. His cover art is spectacular and quite outshines a lot of cover art on prose novels published at the same time (this being around 1984).

I've been given to understand that of the planned 6 issue mini-series that was to follow, only two issues were published. The first issue of the series was said to be so incredibly violent it drove consumers away from the book, so that sales of the second issue were too poor to justify continuing further. I can't help thinking that if Marvel had continued publishing Epic Illustrated, the magazine that inspired the title for their mature line, we would have had the entire story with no one batting an eye. Looking forward to finding those first two issues and seeing just how violent they really are.

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I hate giving Steve Gerber less than a four, There isn't much here. Certainly NOT a "graphic novel," despite what it says on the cover, more of a first chapter more of a prologue,
I remember there were two follow-up issues, but I don't remember where the story went.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

The BDSM alien torture comic book ...

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have forgotten all about Void Indigo, and, missing Gerber, would really like to reread this.

[Matt Piechocinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sword and sorcery 80s schlock, with Gerber's subtle jabs at American culture. Fun.

[Kamina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb.

[Little Timmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK comic story. Good art but not that great a plot. Not recommended

[Reyel2107 · Rating 4 out of 5]

so brutal !!!!!