Weird Heroes

WEIRD HEROES was an anthology series in the mid-late 1970s that sought to update the concept of "pulp" adventures from the 1930s. Most of the writers and artists in this series were strongly associated with mainstream comic books, with a few underground artists and science fiction writers. The highlight to Vol. 2 is "Cordwainer Bird," written by Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Neal Adams. Bird, an unlikely literary vigilante, is an exaggerated version of Ellison himself. There is also a second installment of "Greatheart Silver," an over-the-top spoof of classic pulp characters by Philip José Farmer, illustrated by Tom Sutton (Silver pops up in about half the volumes in the WEIRD HEROES series) and "Doc Phoenix," a Doc Savage-type character who can enter people's dreams, by Ted White and illustrator Steve Fabian. "Na and the Dredspore of Gruaga," a wordless story lushly illustrated by Alex Niño, is also featured, but not mentioned on the cover. Steve Englehart, at the peak of his considerable prominence as a Marvel Comics writer, contributed "Viva," a proto-cyberpunk story about a vigilante prostitute in Las Vegas, illustrated by Esteban Maroto. Englehart later wrote numerous science fiction novels like THE POINT MAN and *DNAgers,* but "Viva" was his first credited prose story. "SPV-166" is an adventure story by Elliot S. Maggin and NATIONAL LAMPOON cartoonist Ralph Reese, about a trio of zany female prison inmates who use a custom subway car to chase a thieving cyborg through the New York subway system (Think of it as a cheesecake TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3 pastiche). There's also a pseudo-cowboy story, "The Camden Kid," written by Charlie Swift (a radio comedy writer in the 70s) that's mostly notable for being illustrated by Jim Steranko. Steranko also painted the cover of volumes 1 and 2.