Warp #9 p. 14 by Frank Brunner

Back in 2011, I talked Frank Brunner into drawing and inking a commission for my Shakespeare Project. I had him cast Zatara and Zatanna as Prospero and Miranda in "The Tempest". While this was great, it was still a goal to buy a page of original art from one of his key Marvel books. I came close to getting one a few times, but, when something I wanted and could afford was available, it always seemed like a bit of bad luck would come along and muck things up.

Recently, I saw this Brunner page from a series called Warp that had been added to Romitaman, and at a fraction of the price one of the aforementioned Marvel works would cost. I also had my eye on a Jeff Jones page that had been on Mike's site for a while, so I made a modest offer on both pages and took the counteroffer. And, no, of course, it is not the same as a prime Howard the Duck or Doctor Strange page, but, as compromises go, it is still pretty cool.

Warp was based on three 70s-era stage plays by Stuart Gordon (who would later go on to direct the movies, Re-Animator and From Beyond, amongst others) and Bury St.Edmund, and the comic adaptation was the first series published by First Comics. Neal Adams was the first person they asked to do the comic as he had been the art director for the plays, but he was busy with Ms. Mystic and his Continuity books, so the guys at First got Mr. Brunner to adapt the plays. The adaptation encompassed the first nine issues.

The plays were influenced by Marvel's Thor and Doctor Strange comics, and, for comic book fans, the influences are easy to spot. The plot is that a bank teller named David is suddenly transported from an annual employee-awards dinner to the mystical realm Fen-Ra, and finds that he is actually the host body for the reincarnation of Lord Cumulus (Thor), who has to battle for the destiny of the universe against his antagonist brother, Prince Chaos (Loki). In this world, he is aided by the sage Lugulbanda (Doctor Strange/the Ancient One), who sends him on his quest aided by the leather-clad Amazon warrior, Sargon. They battle Valaria, the insect sorceress, Xander the Unconquerable, and Symax, the henchman of, first, Chaos, and, later, Xander. There is also a horde of robots referred to as the Faceless Ones.

This page is from Brunner's final issue (Jerry Bingham took over the art duties with issue 10). In it, Cumulus and Chaos learn from their father, He Who Dreams (God/Odin), that they must merge into the female cosmic entity called Ego (the Vishanti), and take over the duties of He Who Dreams before he dies and the universe ends. It features Lugulbanda, the cosmic realm of Fen-Ra, Cumulus, Chaos, the dying He Who Dreams, and a whole lot of wonderful cosmic trippiness as only Brunner could draw it.