Pirates are
popular!
Seems obvious now, with the success of the
Pirates of the Carribbean
series, but from the 1970s until recently, pirates (like cowboys) seemed to have hit a cultural dead-end.
But, back in the 1940s-50s though, they were
everywhere!
Captain Blood
and
The Sea Hawk
(both played by Errol Flynn) and
Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power) in
The Black Swan
typlified the swashbuckling heroic image of pirates on film.
There were, of course, pirate pulp magazines and comic books, as well!
Sci-fi / fantasy in particular, adapted the pirate concept in numerous incarnations, including
Star Pirate,
Captain Harlock,
and, most importantly to us,
Tara: Queen of the Space Pirates!
Tara, her second in command / boyfriend Robin (an Errol Flynn lookalike in green), and their engineer Malo, operated out of a base in the swamps of Venus, fighting the tyrannical government of Earth.
(Exactly
why they were doing this isn't known to me, as the complete run of
Tara's Wonder Comics appearances [#15-20] in my possession are all
slabbed!)
At any rate, it's typical fun pirate fare with electro-swords instead of cutlasses and spaceships in place of galleons, but with the added aspect of a strong woman in command!
And, yes, there's an "Avast, ye hearties" and "Keelhaul the space-dog" and other piratey-type phrases tossed in from time to time! (Some things
never change!)
That's why we've incorporated
Tara into our
Heroines™ collection with
her own section, featuring not
one, not
two, but
three cool cover designs on an assortment of kool kollectibles!
Just the things to add to your own Fantastic Femme's wardrobe or accessories!
BTW, in case you're wondering, these covers were
not inked line art with flat color separations like most comics covers, but airbrush over inked art!
The publisher wanted to stand out from the flood of titles on the newstands, and had his cover artist, Alex Schomburg (aka "Xela") try something different!
It gives them a nifty "storybook" look, eh?
FREE BONUSES:
1) From the amazing
Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blog,
Tara's second appearance from
Wonder Comics #16!
One interesting aspect is that the cover for that particular issue (The one at the very top of this blog) has
no relation to the story inside!
The cover for #17 (the middle one on this blog) goes with the story in #16! It's the villain and MacGuffin (the jewel she's holding) for that tale!
2) A
Gallery of "Xela" airbrush art comic covers, which also has links to other Alex Schomburg-oriented sites!
