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.
4 comments:
Wow! I remember reading this back in the day! I loved Doug Moench and Gene Day's (Dan's brother - who died tragically young) run on Marvel's Master of Kung Fu, so I bought every issue of Aztec Ace. I'll have to rummage through my comics boxes so I can re-read them. Thanks for the reminder, Chuck!
I have all but two issues of this still, it was good to see Doug Moench's fertile mind at work after MOKF was ended. Not to mention Gene Day's art!
Chuck: Eclipse really did some great stuff, didn't they? I have some Alien Worlds from that company that blow my socks off everytime I look at them.
If Aztec Ace is never going to appear in a bound volume, is there at least some hope of an electronic edition?
When I was forced by looming bankruptcy to sell my comics, our run of Aztec Ace was one of the very few that we retained. I'd love to be able to share it with a new audience.
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