mara 02 mara the shamaness
mara 02 mara the shamaness
Eros 1995
This ongoing series is the third for Mara, who first appeared in Eros Graphic Album #17, and later in the short-lived Mara of the Celts. The often-naked title character is a beautiful witch who works her magic on behalf of her tribe of Celts. As this latest series begins, she undergoes a “vision quest” through a bizarre dream world, which is her first step toward becoming a full-fledged shamaness.
an introduction” Dennis Cramer and the Meaning of Life
It was Frank Thome who began my association with Dennis Cramer and Christine Morris. The hvo were scheduled to stay at stately Thome manor at the same time that a family emergency placed several of Frank’s and Marilyn’s relatives in the rooms reserved for Dennis and Chris. Realizing that the not-quite-so-stately but still roomy Workman residence had been known to host journeying friends. visiting relatives, and incredibly knowledgeable French comic book aficionados, Frank picked up his phone and caused a little bell to ring repeatedly throughout the rooms of our place.
Before one could say Ohio and claim that they were speaking Japanese, Dennis and Chris had traversed the miles from that land (Ohio, not Japan) and were sitting in our TV room watching a rented tape of Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Of course, I’d been aware of Dennis Cramer and his work prior to the time when we Joined In laughter at the subtleties of the Python song, “Every Sperm is Sacred.. Frank Thorne had already introduced me to Mara. 1 was almost as impressed with Dennis’ work as Frank was, though I do remember a slight disagreement with Frank over the direction of our new compatriot’s art.
1 felt that the logical move, given Dennis’ liking for Mucha, had to be toward Moebius and some of the European comics artists and 1 urged him to make use of a stylistic bit wherein a figure or object, when placed against a solid black background, was outlined in a “halo” of white. Frank. perhaps anticipating Dennis’ coming infatuation with the brush, figured that I was wrong. Later, when he did master the sensuous subtlety of brush inking, there was no doubt that Dennis Cramer had exceeded my expectations by combining Alphonse Mucha with Alex Raymond, Al Williamson, and Frank Franzetta. No hard-edged stuff there. Just sweet, soft, natural lines that put to shame the tired, hard, mechanical inking of many artists who work for the “mainstream. companies.
Some of those guys even confessed to me their outright fear of a brush. 1 should add a word hereabout Dennis and his experiences with the “mainstream-comics publishers, though it’s necessary to qualify the word “mainstream.. This book is being published at a time when any comics publication created In someone’s bedroom and printed in someone’s basement can exist on the some level creatively, economically, and circulation-wise with any comic book put out by the shriveled ghosts of what used to be the big New York publishing companies.
The only real difference is that the “big guys” always pay, often quite well, because their pockets are deep and lined with money earned not from the books they produce, but from licensing fees involving the use of their characters in movies, on television , and as toys. Dennis, in trying to get work from one of the “big guys,” wound up inking for that company’s longtime competitor.
He did some beautiful work, adding considerably to the look of several publications that, otherwise, were nothing more than a sad waste of trees. Knowingly or instinctively, he was able to Ink for the type of printing that the art would undergo. There was nothing klunky or harsh about his lines, just as there was nothing wimpy or wispy about them. 1 remember being particularly Impressed by an issue of one book that was only partially inked by Dennis.
The dull, plodding nature of the whole thing was considerably brightened by Dennis’ contribution to the assembly-line process that yields the majority of comics coming from -mainstream. publishers. Mundane artwork that had been rushed to completion attained a sort of wondrous, magical life on those pages that had been touched by Dennis’ brush. The important thing was that doing inldng for a “big. company allowed Mara’s chronicler to make a few bucks, to reach about as big an audience as was then possible, and to still have the time to devote to his Celtic Shamaness.