Product Description

Over a thousand years ago, a gift from the stars dramatically changed the lives of an ancient people. Now it's 1938, and after being lost to history for a millennia, the mysterious element that helped build an entire civilization has been rediscovered. Joshua Jones, a young black man striving to make his way behind-the-scenes in late 1930s Hollywood, finds himself the protector of the mythical Element 115, an extraterrestrial element that gives the possessor the power to control gravity. With America on the threshold of WW II and the ability to shift the balance of world powers in his hands, Joshua must keep the Element out of the reach of the dreaded Nazis and those who would use it for evil. In a foreign land with danger all around him, Joshua must master his new found powers and save his friends, including a beautiful, young starlet named Chase, from the tightening grip of the Reich. Captain Gravity, The Collected Adventures combines the first four issues of the Captain Gravity comic series. Written by Stephen Vrattos the graphic novel features a painted cover by Mark Schultz. The book also ships with the one-shot, Captain Gravity, One True Hero.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1309275 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

Customer Reviews

The heyday of comics revisted
It's almost like picking up a comic from the medium's heyday. "Captain Gravity" is a pure pulp indulgence, freshly squeezed from the Golden Age of comics. There are tell-tale signs that give it away: Over-the-top dialogue. Exaggerated postures. Two-dimensional villains who are superstitious and easily fooled. (Better yet, they're Nazis -- and what better villains can there be?) There's a beautiful but steely heroine. And, of course, a hero who comes into power by accident, who is plagued with self-doubts but who always comes up with the right idea and the necessary courage -- or who stumbles luckily into the right place at the right time -- to come out on top. He even has an alliterative name: Joshua Jones.

The story features ancient cultures, alien visitors and a secret magic. Set in 1938 in the ruins of Chichen Itza, the Mayan center of Mexico, the story revolves around filmmakers, archeologists and, of course, Nazis, who seek a legendary power to lend oomph to der Fuehrer's assault on the world. Jones is an assistant to the director, and he's just where he needs to be when the mystical Element 115, with powers over gravity itself, is found and the Nazis reveal themselves and their plan.

It must be noted to that Jones is black, a character choice that would have been much more daring if written in the true Golden Age. As it is, writer Stephen Vrattos doesn't sidestep the racial issues that existed; rather, he confronts them head on, and you can guess from each meeting who the good guys and the bad guys will be -- because the good guys, of course, haven't a biased bone in their bodies, even decades before the advent of the Civil Rights movement. (Captain Gravity's costume, designed for the movie, reveals not an inch of skin to onlookers.)

Captain Gravity hearkens back to a simpler time in comics. The story is fun and never asks readers to think too hard -- and it's entertaining to boot.

By Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor