As a comicbook fan, I enjoyed the expansion of the field in the 1980s when various independent publishers came into existence with different stories and characters than what the “Big 2” where doing.
One company that put out a lot of great stuff was Eclipse Comics, which lasted about 15 years. One character that had pulp elements was The Prowler (not to be confused with the Marvel character of the same name). He appeared in a couple of mini-series and a couple of one-shots. They even did a flex record with a Prowler song.
The Prowler was a 1930s/’40s-era character based on pulp and movie serials heroes, with an element of horror. We got some stories that told his background and origin, as well as stories set in modern times with him coming out of retirement to train a replacement. He had quit during the McCarthy era.
The Prowler appeared in the following:
- The Prowler (4 issues), 1987
- Airboy Meets The Prowler (one-shot), 1987
- Revenge of The Prowler (4 issues), 1988
- The Prowler in White Zombie (one-shot), 1988
Unfortunately, many of my comics are in storage, so I haven’t been able to re-read and review the series. Then I found out that a collection was put out of the five issues from 1987 as Leo Kragg: Prowler. This was put out by 4 Wind Studio and Cremo Studios in 2013. And a second collection came out in 2016, with the final five issues. My only issues with these collections is they reduced the size and reprinted the artwork in black and white, when it was originally in color. But this is balanced by the extras, such as text pieces on the character, and a new story in the second collection.
The character was created by Tim Truman, John K. Snyder III, and Michael H. Price. Truman and Price did the writing, with Snyder doing the art for the modern-day stories and Graham Nolan doing the stories set in the ’30s and ’40s.
Leon Cargstein changes his name to Leo Kragg to hide his Jewish heritage and becomes a stock broker. A crooked deal wipes out the investiment he made with his parent’s money and he is fired from his job, and his best friend is killed by union busters. He decides to create a masked alter ego, called “The Prowler” by others. He wears a suit with overcoat, hat, and a mask with eye and mouth holes cut out, and carries a pair of .45 automatics. He goes up against criminals and the dangerous Murder Legendre, who makes zombies! Interestingly, Leo Kragg would produce a movie through Monogram, a “poverty row” studio, about The Prowler.
In modern times, Leo has been long retired, but sees the potential in college student Scott Kidd and takes him on as an apprentice, in hopes of molding him into the new Prowler. But it doesn’t help that Scott is reluctant to kill, which Leo does often (though with good reason). They go up against street thugs, which leads him to a new group of followers of Murder Legendre!
In the final story in the first collection, Scott teams up with Airboy, a classic 1930s comicbook character from Hillman that Eclipse had revised, though The Prowler makes an apparence toward the end of the story.
In the second collection, which reprints the second mini-series and final one-shot, we learn more about Leo’s past as the Fighting Devil Dogs (the heroes of a movie serial), whom Leo had worked with during WWII come to him for help. The granddaughter of one has gotten involved with child pornographers, and he needs help rescuing her. Which Leo and Scott do, though at great risk to all of them.
In another storyline set in Leo’s past, he is dealing with Legendre and is in the storyline of the movie “White Zombie.”
It would be interesting to see new stories with this character, as there is a lot of potential for either stories set during his heyday, or modern ones with his apprentice, or even when his apprentice has taken over the mantle of The Prowler!
Great article