Evolving from stories in the late Star*Reach magazine in the 1970s, Mike Vosburg’s Lori Lovecraft has always been a character slightly out of time. Written with Pete Ventrella, her stories place the buxom redhead with one foot in classic Hollywood and one in the occult. Within the narrative her acting talent varies, but she’s always good at magic.
The two creators have put together a 25th anniversary omnibus, available on Vosburg’s website. Though always a strong artist, Vosburg’s style shifted with the times and with his collaborators. Thus the first two stories — arguably the best — clearly have an influence of Howard Chaykin’s storytelling; Vosburg had spent some time working with Chaykin on American Flagg. That style works in the stories’ favor, with clean layouts, bold leading men, and sexy ladies, shiny gloss over the evil undertones of a timeless Hollywood possibly in thrall to demons. And it’s all in black and white — which also works.
Ventrella’s writing style isn’t quite so timeless, and in the afterword he admits as much. Lori tends to overtalk to herself to relay key information to the reader. Though the art tells the story pretty smoothly, the scripting doesn’t quite trust that.
Neither creator quite trusts how far they should go with these stories. Definitely adult with the most accomplished coming at a time when even Penthouse was doing comics only magazines, they seem a little quaint now — almost burlesque. Even so, Vosburg’s layouts are gorgeous, and if others would have gone further at the time, I like that the storytelling takes precedence.
That, and the homages to old Hollywood. Even if the names are changed, it’s fun seeing Alfred Hitchcock get entangled in actual creeping evil, and it seems like the ghost of Dick Powell plays a major role. Or is he a ghost?
If you are one who just loves the art, and loves tracing an artist’s journey, the omnibus also includes throwbacks to those Star*Reach days, when Lori Lovecraft was Linda (a little more on the nose with the adult film parody, though the stories are a little tamer) and more closely attuned to the parody style of old MAD comics. With all the monsters running around, the humor really is in a jugular vein. Though barely more than rough pencils, the never-before-published final story involves Lori meeting a thinly veiled Cobra Command, as Vosburg spent some time working on Marvel’s G.I. Joe.
For whatever reason, Vosburg seems underappreciated in 2022. Picking up this omnibus is a chance to correct that, and wonder what might have been if major publishers had realized the talent they had — or indeed, if Vosburg wanted the recognition. Poke around his site a while, and you’ll see great prints for sale and acknowledge you’ve stumbled across a master you didn’t know before.
