Bill Willingham's Elementals - the out of print indy comics classic of the 80's

[@buckb6976]

Comico was amazing to me. I didn't read this title way back when, but Robotech, Grendel, Ginger Fox, Rocketeer, Space Ghost... Comico was great.

[@Rangersly]

I actually interviewed Bill Willingham when he came to a very small comic book convention in Montreal. It was during The ELEMENTALS first year of publication. He was very nice, and very observant of the then state of superheroes comic book. I loved Comico, at least in the early years, for the creativity. The independant publisher boom of the 1980's was interesting because the best ones (Pacific, Eclipse, First, Dark Horse, Comico and a few others) realized that, in order to attract readers, they had to offer something different than the Big Two (Marvel and DC). I feel that Matt Wagner's MAGE was maybe the best series they launched. I am happy to see you point out Mike W. Barr's MAZE AGENCY that is such an underrated series and not only for the Adam Hughes early art. The stories were fun and clever detective stories, outside the usual settings, characters, and clichés of the genre. You pointed out Dave Stevens ROCKETEER in a way that could be interpreted as if Comico had something to do with establishing the character. Pacific Comics was the original publisher of course, and when it folded Eclipse Comics took over. Comico was only the 3rd publisher, and they published only 2 issues of the Rocketeer Adventures Magazine before Dark Horse became the publisher to this day.

[@Toracube]

Someone else knows about the Elementals?!!!!! Ah, the 80s.... Up there with Grimjack, Nexus..... Something slightly different from the Marvel and DC fare... Loved the vid !! Just landed on the channel.

[@yippie6862]

Nexus! Yes. :)

[@messedcomics964]

@@yippie6862 Agreed! Nexus! Yes yes yes

[@rodinowright6591]

Wonder can yall help: There was a book about a teenage kid who was training for the Olympics but his parents were killed. So the kid trained t his full physical, mental abilities he becomes an 18 superhuman named Joe. Anyone remembers this comic book?

[@james.klknnklknnbsnell2868]

Was it called Magaleth sp ? From continuity comics - Neil Adams company I think.

[@UncleKeith567]

Elementals are my favourites, but I did have some Justice Machine issues. The one I love the most is when they are transported to our Earth, end up at a comic convention and beat up some cosplayers! The quick commentary Wolverine is something I've never forgotten.

[@terryyoungblood830]

I was introduced to the Elementals via a RPG. The comic was great

[@21Million]

This comic series is SOOOO undervalued IMHO.

[@T-RavisComics]

I was a huge fan of the Elementals when it came out originally. I remember starting with book 3 because you couldn’t find issues 1 & 2 where I live and they were a bit pricey back then. I now have a couple of Justice Machine annuals and a couple of #1’s which are hard to find in great shape with the white cover. Great stories

[@TheJohnnyCalifornia]

Michael Golden and Bernie Wrightson were major influences.

[@atilax6452]

One of the greatest comics ever put together. Period.

[@jugglenautics]

agreed!

[@kevindrane2919]

Best Comic EVER and this book helped make me who I am today as well.

[@Zartoo_3rd_Overlord_ofBlargon7]

This and John Byrne's Next Men were the two indie adult superhero comics that I enjoyed reading when I was younger.

[@jugglenautics]

Me too

[@RobertHotchkin]

I loved the Elementals. It was my favorite book back in the day. Would love to have a full run of the issues but they are so hard to find and even many comic stores I have gone to have not even heard of this book. Great to get so much info from you in your video. Thanks for sharing all of this. Have wondered why the IP has not been picked up or re-done or even re-printed in a full series of graphic novels.

[@guanoguy4800]

Just caught this older video. Nice job. One of the comics I saw but missed out on as a kid.

[@jugglenautics]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@johndaywalt7860]

Loved the Elementals great comic.

[@alexphillips4644]

It's back as a kickstarter comic book campaign as of now.

[@chazmania3644]

(Lord Saker wants to recruit the Elementals to his side. He explains his plan for world domination to Tommy...) Tommy (understands the implications of Saker's plan and is shocked): Millions will die! Lord Saker (correcting the error Tommy's statement): Billions.

[@Danner907]

I played V&V back in the day, still have the modules, “Death duel with the Destroyers” and “The Island is Doctor Apocalypse”. Have the Texas Comics, and all the original series. I actually have the TPB on my coffee table. My favorite comic. Loved Saker and Shapeshifter, and the Elementals were all written as in depth people. ❤️

[@jugglenautics]

I could not agree more, thanks for watching!

[@4waySaline]

This title remains one of my all-time faves. Back in the day, when peeps used to mail in reader comments that appeared in the back pages, I got one of mine printed and responded to, which is a "Hell, yeah" moment. Additional props for mentioning Mage, Grendel, and Maze Agency. But Elementals, yeah - in its heyday, it was phenomenal.

[@jugglenautics]

Thanks for the comment. Obviously, I agree with all points. Elementals was ahead of it's time, and still holds up to re-reading.

[@messedcomics964]

Thanks for covering Elementals. It was such an inspiring series for my early comic book reading!

[@jugglenautics]

You're so welcome. It's one of my all-time favorites, bar none!

[@alexphillips4644]

I was kinda hoping to see another Bill Willingham comic in this video: Pantheon from Lone Star Comics.

[@jugglenautics]

It's in there!

[@garyshaller8294]

Great stuff! Nicely done on this video!

[@jugglenautics]

Much appreciated!

[@gotohellaaron]

I only have Elementals Special but it's a pretty great comic and I love the art in it. They should rerelease these books. For a while I was looking for the Elementals Special book but I forgot what it was called so I kept asking people on youtube about it and they had no idea what I was talking about.

[@JK-nb1gc]

Wow! This topic was out of left field. Good call Dan, you made me want to read Elementals again. I found this comic very exciting when it came out and was amazed at how quickly Willingham's artwork improved to such a high level. In my comic reading experience, I always thought Fantastic Four was the first elemental superhero team: Thing - stone/earth, Human Torch - fire, Mr. Fantastic - water, and Invisible Girl - air.

[@yippie6862]

I don't know why they never become more popular? Do you think it will ever catch on? I was always hoping for a movie.

[@heruka369]

This was just the type of video on Elementals that I needed. Have you done one of these videos on the violent comic book series Faust?

[@rodthericancomics]

Kool video with some great info

[@saiberunato]

As a teen in the 80's, I too, loved the Elementals. I remember getting into a conversation with an older customer at Forbidden Planet in NYC who introduced me to Elementals. I heard about the title before, but didn't buy because of the (IMO) lackluster art. I was really surprised how good it was. Shame the property is sorta in limbo right now. I wish DC comics could acquire the rights so it can be brought back. And have Bill Willingham do the stories again (since he now works for DC anyway). I heard some rumor years ago that Jim Lee of DC Comics tried to acquire the rights to it, but was unsuccessful. Oh well... I also loved the independent stuff from the 80's like First, Eclipse, Pacific, Comico, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, WaRP/Apple, Eternity, NOW, Continuity, etc. I loved the first English adaptations of Japanese manga (by Viz, Studio Proteus, Epic). While I admit I started collecting comics as a kid thinking they might have $$ value someday, by the time I was a teenager, I bought them purely for enjoyment regardless of the titles' popularity or not. I bought some Marvel and DC because I was a fan of the artist (George Perez, Brian Bolland, Michael Golden, John Byrne, Frank Miller, Jim Lee, José Luis García-López, Keith Giffen, etc). I also religiously bought writer, Alan Moore's work from DC. But overall, the independent stuff was where it was at. And yes, like someone mentioned before, one of my absolute personal favorites was the much neglected MAZE Agency! Like Mike Grell's Jon Sable, it was a refreshing break from fantasy stuff, and set more in the "real world". The early issues featured the illustrious art of a young Adam Hughes. However that was not my first introduction to AH's art. It was actually in the first issue of Death Hawk (from Aircel/Adventure Comics which later folded into Eternity Comics). My exposure to AH's cool art made me a life long fan, and was the reason I picked up that first issue of MAZE agency. Glad I did! So anyway, thanks for giving a much needed shout-out for the Elementals. Really wish it would come back,

[@jugglenautics]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I want Elementals to come back too, but I'm not holding my breath!

[@saiberunato]

@@jugglenautics I heard the guy who currently own the rights is hard to locate and wants too much money for it. Ai, I wish Bill Willingham did not relinquish the rights to his creation!

[@jugglenautics]

@@saiberunato He actually called me out of the blue recently and we had a long and fascinating conversation all about that and many other things!

[@DWNicolo]

The Elementals were X-Men without the BS.

[@BradThomte]

He has a KZbin channel where he talks about his career and gives some specifics about the Elementals: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r33ZgaV4j5ijj68

[@DWNicolo]

Lazarus was Saker’s biblical name.

[@gotohellaaron]

The comic at 22:27 on the right is the one I have.

[@notjimmy6486]

"Elementals sex specials." So basically Rule 34 before it was a thing?

[@richardmohan6307]

I always thought it was funny that a character named Murphy had the worse luck of the four and kept going through horrifically violent "death" scenes though he can't die of course. Some of the relationship/romance stuff in the Sex spacials was actually kind of sweet-ish...I was a young man though and wasn't buying it for the romance honestly :) I loved some of the stuff they did like Captain Cadaver and Morningstar's nasty get back to the shapeshifter after the crap she had done to her. I do have some issues as the series went on which mainly went into Bill's hate of religion becoming more and more obvious. But aside from the agenda driven stuff going insane in later issues, there was a lot of really cool story here. I would love to see an HBO Elementals series.... And it was Lazerus not Methusalah lol His anti-religion got much worse than that though later in the series. But we know who the "Angelic" person turned out to be behind Rapture but I won't spoiler it.

[@jugglenautics]

Thanks for watching! Good to know there are some Elementals fans out there. I am convinced it would make an incredible TV series on something like HBO or Netflix, but I'm not holding my breath!

[@glennwatson3313]

The comic was great. What a terrible non-ending. I will never trust Willingham again.

[@ericw8478]

I was in my early 20's back then. I absolutely loved that era of comics,especially the sexually suggestive stuff. Got any copies of Evangeline laying around?

[@jugglenautics]

I'll see that Evangeline and raise you an Omaha the Cat Dancer!

[@BlazeInjun]

To me it was a superhero book using characters made up for the Villains & Vigilantes RPG. Edit: I just had to wait for it. Nice.