BLASCO - THE STEEL CLAW 12/30/1967 -

STEEL CLAW (1962 – 1973)

Published in Valiant magazine, at the time of the first appearance Louis Crandell/Lewis Randell, alter ego of the Claw, was an inveterate criminal. Crandell is a young laboratory assistant who after an accident is forced to wear a steel prosthesis instead of his right hand. Following another incident, Crandell becomes completely invisible except for his claw. Instead of fighting crime he decides to rob a bank and plot to become the master of the world. Kenneth Bulmer, screenwriter of the series, takes his cue from Wells's "The Invisible Man." A year after the beginning of the series Bulmer is replaced by Tom Tully and the Claw turns into a more traditional hero who will face increasingly extravagant criminals. But the real strength of the comic is the hyperrealistic pages of Jesus Blasco, which give it a credibility not always deserved by the stories. In the late 1960s Blasco left the series, which worsened. His return in 1971 coincides with the happiest period in the comics. The Steel Claw was published throughout Europe, mainly due to Blasco's plates and the famous image of the bodyless hand.