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-   -   DC's The Vigilante (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/comic-book-talk/650526-dcs-vigilante.html)

B5Erik 05-17-20 02:17 AM

DC's The Vigilante
 
By the time The Vigilante showed up in The New Teen Titans I had dropped out of that title. Why I stopped buying NTT I do not know (honestly, I can't remember).

But in reading the New Teen Titans Omnibuses I ran across the character and remembered that I bought issue #9 when it came out. The cover caught my eye and I thought I'd check out DC's answer to The Punisher. I liked the issue, but it was out of sight, out of mind after that and I never bought another issue again.

Reading the story in the New Teen Titans omnibus I found that I liked the character's backstory and liked him a lot (not surprising, given Marv Wolfman was the co-creator and writer of the character, and I'm a fan of Wolfman's stories/scripts). A District Attorney growing tired of seeing murderers get away with their crimes made sense. I liked that this wasn't just some ordinary guy, this was someone who had a certain level of prestige in the city, but that he was so infuriated by bad guys going free that he took action to mete out his own brand of justice. I had no idea that multiple people in the DC universe had taken on the persona of The Vigilante.

That changed when I bought the Deathstroke trades covering his original run (or part of it, anyway). In that one we had a new, female Vigilante and I LOVED that version of the character. Pat Trayce, a police detective who, much like the original Vigilante (Adrian Chase) became disgusted with the system, was just a badass who was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that justice was served.

Now, I have only read a handful of issues with The Vigilante (which means I know nothing about the other Vigilantes after Chase and Trayce), but I do have a TPB coming with the first dozen or so issues of the Vigilante comic coming soon. I'm looking forward to reading it.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xkfDsDt3e...lante1and2.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ux8Qckip5...lante5and9.jpg

TheDude 05-17-20 09:01 AM

Re: DC's The Vigilante
 
Good thread. I got the first (and only) Vigilante Trade several years ago, reprnting NTT Annual #2, as well as the first 11 issues of the regular series. As far as the specifics re: the Trade itself, this has a great presentation, and includes: a great new intro. by Marv Wolfman; all of the covers are included between the relevant issues; very good paper quality; and, there is a nice pin-up in the back (this was probably taken from one of the issues reprinted - I think).
Spoiler:
I remember getting many of these issues as they were released, and really enjoying the series. It was far more than just a "Punisher" copycat character, and many of the stories were far darker & more horrific than anything Marvel was coming up with at the time. That being said, I was a young teen when Vigilante was originally out, and, in all honesty, some of the storylines made me almost physically sick at the time.....really disturbing, heinous subject matter involving some really depraved, sick people - IIRC, in some cases these characters died horrible deaths, which were much deserved. That all being said, I do indeed applaud the book for not pulling any punches - though it was difficult to get through at times.


Spoiler:
Another element that separates this series from The Punisher: It's obvious that there is a "mystical" element to the character - i.e., Adrian Chase has some sort of "healing" power that was given to him by a group of mysterious individuals. Conversely, the Punisher is completely rooted in reality.


I hope that all 50 issues & the 2 Annuals from the first series are reprinted in forthcoming Trades, but I doubt that will ever happen - given that the first Trade came out several years ago & there's no news on any subsequent ones in the series.

Trevor 05-17-20 09:56 AM

Re: DC's The Vigilante
 
I really enjoyed the initial run, especially the Alan Moore issues, but stopped reading around issue 25 iirc.

Bronkster 05-17-20 11:23 AM

Re: DC's The Vigilante
 
Aw, I thought this was going to be about the Golden Age Vigilante. (the guy in the red mask, for you non-Golden Age people).

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...61634e1a9.jpeg

B5Erik 05-17-20 11:48 AM

Re: DC's The Vigilante
 

Originally Posted by TheDude (Post 13742634)
Good thread. I got the first (and only) Vigilante Trade several years ago, reprnting NTT Annual #2, as well as the first 11 issues of the regular series. As far as the specifics re: the Trade itself, this has a great presentation, and includes: a great new intro. by Marv Wolfman; all of the covers are included between the relevant issues; very good paper quality; and, there is a nice pin-up in the back (this was probably taken from one of the issues reprinted - I think).

Spoiler:
Another element that separates this series from The Punisher: It's obvious that there is a "mystical" element to the character - i.e., Adrian Chase has some sort of "healing" power that was given to him by a group of mysterious individuals. Conversely, the Punisher is completely rooted in reality.


I hope that all 50 issues & the 2 Annuals from the first series are reprinted in forthcoming Trades, but I doubt that will ever happen - given that the first Trade came out several years ago & there's no news on any subsequent ones in the series.

Yeah, while the inspiration was clearly The Punisher, Marv definitely took The Vigilante in a direction that separated the two characters.

And, as I just found out about this TPB I checked the publication date (2017) and came to the same conclusion as you - DC isn't likely to print the rest of the series in trades. I may actually have to buy the rest of the series in individual issues (which I rarely, RARELY do anymore - since I get almost everything in book form).

Have you read the Deathstroke issues with the (then) new, female Vigilante? She was awesome!

PhantomStranger 05-17-20 04:10 PM

Re: DC's The Vigilante
 
Doubt you'll ever see the remainder of the Vigilante series collected in trade form. That first volume ended up getting dumped in mass quantities at Ollie's very cheaply.

B5Erik 05-17-20 04:38 PM

Re: DC's The Vigilante
 

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger (Post 13742811)
Doubt you'll ever see the remainder of the Vigilante series collected in trade form. That first volume ended up getting dumped in mass quantities at Ollie's very cheaply.

Yeah, and that fits the impression I got. Since the first (and only) volume was printed 3 years ago and there has been nothing since then it seems likely that we won't see any further trades. The only chance of it happening would be a resurgence in popularity of the character in the near future.

It's a great character, so I wouldn't say it's impossible that he or she could catch on with a younger generation, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

At least I'll have the one TPB and the issues in the TPB's of Deathstroke featuring the later Vigilante.

Other than that I'll probably have to buy individual issues, even though I hate to do that (the paper yellows, color fades, etc).

TheDude 05-18-20 07:14 PM

Re: DC's The Vigilante
 
Re: this Vigilante series, I've thought about trying to buy the rest of the floppies (back issues) of these, since the Trade didn't reprint that many issues. However, it's going to be a hassle to search for these - especially since I don't go to LCS any more; plus, as was said I don't like the quality of floppies - especially ones this old. So, I may just settle on just having the one Trade & that's it.


Originally Posted by B5Erik (Post 13742700)
Have you read the Deathstroke issues with the (then) new, female Vigilante? She was awesome!

No, haven't read these - but may check them out.



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