Keep your eye out for this one because an early and bizarre fandom superhero is back, and his name isn't Iris. Visually created in 1955 by Richard "Grass" Green and completely fleshed out by Biljo White in 1963, the Eye is a criminal executioner in blue britches, red shirt, white cape and boots, and a huge, well, eye for a head. Eye wouldn't kid you.

Enough puns. The Eye Collection presents about 30 percent new material and reprints the earliest and latest exploits of this odd and delightful character. There, I wrote it: The Eye is delightful. He is also inventive, entertaining and neither brooding or introspective. This is adventure for the sake of adventure and fun.

Especially excellent is "The Untold Origin of the Eye," which is of as high a quality of art and story as any origin story I have read. The twists added to cliches like "the child witnesses a parent's death and decides to fight crime" are wonderful. The plot is fast-paced and engrossing, dialogue is crisp and believable within the inner-logic of the series, and it is befuddling why Eye is not published by one of the big guns of comics, DC or Marvel. Special thanks to Bill Schelly for his scripting, and for his preservation of the early history of comic fandom.

And for those you think this collection has won a "highly recommended" because the Eye was co-created by my dear friend and collaborator "Grass" Green, well, you are right. It is also dang good.

- Rambles
written by Michael Vance
published 22 November 2003