In which I obsess over James O’Barr’s Gothik, a comic that never was.
Caliber Press entered the comics market with Deadworld #10, dated November 1988. The previous nine issues were published by Arrow Comics, and after the first iteration of that company folded, artist Vince Locke brought Deadworld to Caliber. This issue is significant to James O’Barr collectors for a few reasons. First, the back cover is the true first appearance of The Crow. Second, O’Barr provided the “tame” cover (while the “graphic” cover was painted by Locke). Third, the 16-page main story, “Give Em’ Enough Rope,” was inked by O’Barr over Locke’s pencils, a rarity in O’Barr’s bibliography. Finally, O’Barr used the alias Jonny Zero for the cover painting and story. O’Barr went on to illustrate six more Deadworld covers, two using the alias. “Jonny Zero” also painted the cover of Silverfawn #1 over Mark Winfrey’s pencils.
Issue 14 cover by Locke and O’Barr.
On the heels of Deadworld #10 came Caliber Presents #1, dated January 1989. In addition to being the first full appearance of The Crow, the issue is also the first appearance of a terrifying cyborg named Dänzig. In a 12-page story titled “Io Part One: Silo,” Dänzig is shown as part of an American military unit fighting Russians on Io, one of Jupiter’s four moons. The story is credited to Barbed Wire Halo Studios, a collective effort of O’Barr, John Bergin, Guy Davis and Locke. Dänzig next appeared in Caliber Presents #3 in the 8-page conclusion, “Io Part 2: Fleshette” as well as appearing on the cover.
Signed by Vigil, O’Barr, Locke and Mark Bloodworth.
In 1990, after a proposed comics adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer stalled, O’Barr and Bergin began work on their own cyberpunk comic titled Black Glass (which was quickly changed to Black Chrome), to be published by Dark Horse. O’Barr would write and draw the main feature while Bergin would provide a back-up story set in the same world. Main characters included Johnny Zero (here rendered with an “h”) and Dänzig. You can view some rare images and read more about Black Chrome via Bergin’s Instagram.
Two years later, character Jonny Z made his first and only appearance in Dark Horse Presents #61, dated April 1992. In the 4-page story “Frame 137” we see Jonny carry out a contract killing against a child trafficker.
Also in 1992, after the collapse of Caliber and O’Barr’s move to Tundra with The Crow, Wizard #12 reported that O’Barr was working on a book called Chinese Bones. It was described as “The Wizard of Oz meets Blade Runner.” The not-dead-yet cyberpunk project had undergone yet another title change. It wouldn’t be the last.
In 1993, Dark Horse published San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, featuring a Gothik pinup. This issue also happens to be the first full appearance of Hellboy.
Also in 1993, Atomeka and Blackball Comics published Monster Massacre and Monster Massacre Special #1, respectively. The first featured a pinup by O’Barr titled “The Reptile House” while the second contained “Snake Dance,” a 14-page story in which Blixa kills some guys and fights the bio-engineered dragon from the pinup. Three original pieces that appear to be from this same era of Gothik can be viewed at Denis Kitchen’s website.
Around this time O’Barr began working with Bess Cutler Gallery. One of the Cutler prints produced was “Blixa,” the unpublished cover of Black Chrome #2. It featured Dänzig, here renamed to avoid confusion with Glenn Danzig, as the character was named after the German city, not the singer. Dike Blair interviewed O’Barr at the gallery in 1994 and spoke about The Crow and Gothik. Cutler spoke with Mark Lucas for Comics Interview #142 where Gothik is mentioned several times.
In a 1994 interview with Guitar International, O’Barr said Gothik would be a twelve issue series from Dark Horse and that he was working with the producers of The Crow on a film adaptation. Much to my dismay, neither the series nor film materialized.
In late 1996/early 1997 Caliber Comics published four issues of Golgothika, Bergin’s half of the Gothik project. A fifth issue was planned but Caliber canceled the title due to financial difficulties, an ironic mirror of The Crow‘s unpublished fifth Caliber issue seven years earlier.
In 1999, Canadian publisher Avalon Communications published two O’Barr reprint books under the ACG banner. Original Sins reprinted both parts of “Io,” and used the Black Chrome #2 / “Blixa” print as the cover. Tasty Bits reprinted “Frame 137” along with some other O’Barr rarities.
In 2001 and 2002, I commissioned three original Gothik pieces from O’Barr at the Motor City Comic Con. The first and third were obtained for a fellow O’Barr collector while the second piece resides in my collection. Note the variations in Jonny/Johnny spelling and the unique “Bonebreak” moniker for Blixa.
In 2009, Australian filmmaker Judd Tilyard shot an as yet unreleased short film based on “Frame 137” with plans to develop it into a feature. A teaser trailer was posted in 2010 and a website with concept material and Facebook page were launched. O’Barr filmed a short video for MotionWorks Entertainment discussing the project.
In 2011, Bergin remastered Io with a new original cover, new framing pages and full color.
2014 saw the release of Wednesday, the first new Blixa material in 21 years. Written by Bergin with art by Bergin and Alex Riegel, the story centers on Wednesday, Blixa’s daughter, and their adventures in a Mad Maxian world.
Both Io and Wednesday are available via ComiXology.
As of this writing, Bergin is working on Golgothika #6 and planning to reprint the complete series.
The James O’Barr Collector 
I worked with Jim at Southgate Ford in the parts department. He shared an apartment in Taylor with his wife at the time. He showed me a comic book one day with a strip of his showing him with his floppy eared dog joy riding around town. Jim drove a muscle car 1972 Baracuda at the time when it ran. Comic at back of book was about 16 pages. He told me it was his first paying comic and he got almost 3 months dealership pay for it which only took him a few days to draw. He told me his days at the dealership were numbered. I went back to college and saw him a few years later at the Crow movie premiere in a Tuxedo. Do you know name of comic book described ?
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Hi Mark! Thanks so much for sharing! The comic is “G” Forces, which was published in the April 1986 issue of Savage Tales. The printed version was 4 pages long, I’d love to see more pages if they still exist! As far as I know, it was James’ only published work with Marvel. A few years later he published The Crow with Caliber Press and the rest is history.
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