The True Story of the Nez Perce War

Relentless Pursuit #2 (Slave Labor, May 1989, $1.75)
"The Battle of White Bird Canyon" Writer and Artist: Jeff Kear, Letters: Kevin Cunningham, Publisher and Editor in Chief: Dan Vado, Art Director: Scott Saavedra.

What a strange little comic! It's especially strange that this was published by Slave Labor, which usually trafficked in cartoony humor books a la It's Science with Dr. Radium and Samurai Penguin. But it's an excellent experiment, and a stretch for Vado—"different from anything else I had ever published." It'd make a good companion read to William Messner-Loebs's Journey and Chester Brown's Louis Riel.



The miniseries told the "true story of the Nez Perce War of 1877," and this 24-page issue focuses on the battle of White Bird Canyon in Idaho Territory, which catalyzed the war on June 17, 1877. The comic vacillates between prose and illustration, and cartooning, and Kear's artwork is aptly realistic, wonderful for black and white.

The Nez Perce initially held the line, causing Captain Perry and his men to suffer losses—and to fall back to Mount Idaho. The Native Americans then moved to the far shore of the Salmon River, and one-armed General Howard returned with 400 soldiers and 100 volunteers. The soldiers took an entire day to cross the river, and Captain Whipple led a force to Looking Glass Village, which they destroyed.



The war is not a bright spot in American history. The Native Americans were fighting a forced removal that violated the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla. Kear's comic treats the subject with respect and seriousness, and it's wonderful that this was published in serial form; today it'd be a graphic novel.



Letterer Cunningham is not actually credited in the comic. But the copy I have was signed by Cunningham, who also penned in a lettering credit on the inside front cover. The illustrated prose portions are typeset, and the cartoon sections are lettered well. Kudos, Cunningham.

Availability: This series has not been collected. That should be remedied. We recommend William Messner-Loeb's Journey, available in two volumes, and Chester Brown's Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography.

An Extremely Silly Comic

Samurai Penguin #1 (Slave Labor, 1986, $1.50)
Writer and creator: Dan Vado, Artist and creator: Mark Buck.

I'm not sure if this is a parody of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or of the already cartoony and masterful Usagi Yojimbo, both of which were contemporaries, but thanks to the editorial, readers know there's no relation to the Samurai Penguin characters in Antarctic Press's Extremely Silly Comics.



Regardless, this comic book is extremely silly. Because the penguins in it are silly, except for the samurai. The penguins tumble into each other like dominoes, dive into cold water, provoke a shark, pester the seals, duel with the predatory skua, and otherwise attract the ire of Artimus Walrus—who plans to "eliminate the Samurai Penguin... and to enslave the entire penguin colony."

Heavy drama, indeed. Vado's writing goes for quick gags, visual and verbal, and Buck's artwork is cleanly cartoony, featuring some excellent use of Zip-A-Tone. The samurai is necessarily larger and more human-like than the standard penguins, and he looks like a bird in some panels.



The issue includes a couple house ads and "True Penguin Facts," which educates readers a little about the penguin and includes a caveat from Vado: "I will pull out my creative license. Settings will differ from what they are in nature; predators will do some unnatural things." A fun, throwaway read. The series lasted eight issues and was reportedly an early success for Slave Labor.

Availability: Samurai Penguin has not been collected. Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo and Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have.