Updated 8/22/12: I've realized I have been neglecting the readers of the most popular post on this blog one thing -- more page scans of this awesome underground relic from the psychedelic era. So I am updating the post with just that -- several more pages to give you a better glimpse as to why Light earns a notch in the bedpost.
Light Comitragies easily wins the award for the most psychedelic comic I've ever read...or in this case, experienced. Published by Print Mint in 1971, the issue is drawn by famed 60's artist Greg Irons. Irons had a penchant for drawing heavy psychedelic art as tattoos, concert posters and underground comix, as well as working on the Beatles'
Yellow Submarine movie. And his artwork really shines here.
The story of Light is based off of Tom Veitch's "The Luis Armed Story", which centers around the witnessing of the end of the world. There is very little text in this comic book, and other than a few paragraphs at the beginning and end of the issue, the focus is primarily on Greg Iron's astounding psychedelic imagery.
And what imagery it is. This is the kind of comic you almost have to be on some kind of drug to understand, as it really requires a "third eye" to even begin to grasp what kind of story the images are telling you. It begins with lightning zapping a man's head, which grows into a woman with fiery blond hair. This kicks off the epic chain reaction of life, death and everything in between.
A skull slowly slips out beneath the man's face, and death also greets the woman above while a horse and serpent grow out of her arms.
From there, things get even more bleak as the serpent grows upon an eternal flame, and the flame grows into a huge Sun as the man's face is buried into the Earth.
The panels get darker and darker until all light is extinguished, with Adam and Eve floating in space underneath a giant scale made of skeleton.
Smothered within darkness, the skeleton explodes within the negative zone.
Then we are greeted by the Grim Reaper himself in a striking splash page of red death...
The second-half of Light takes us into the historical quest for power, and the thirst for violence that besieges it.
Next lies a green splash page of death, as the quest comes to an end.
And a lonely rose of hope rises from the corpse of a fallen soldier.
Light is one hell of a trip. The artwork is just amazing, and just like a good album cover...you might be caught looking at it's imagery over and over, while trying to figure out and discover their meanings. This is a true cult classic comic that I highly recommend. It is a timestamp for it's time, and where else can you go for an early seventies LSD trip on a post-apocalyptic world?
.jpg)
