Showcase Presents: Eclipso

   After being scratched by a mystical black diamond, scientist Bruce Gordon finds himself a man cursed. Every time there is an Eclipse of the moon, Gordon changes into the evil Eclipso. Capable of knowing Gordon's every move, this villain will do everything he can to prevent the allies of the beleaguered scientist from stopping his reigns of terror which can only be ceased by a blinding flash of light.

   Eclipso is what we call a gimmick character as he and his alter-ego are powered and hindered by certain factors that must occur in order for the villain to appear or be stopped. Usually, a gimmick character is pretty lame as those established hindrances are used as literary devices to push the plot along. Often these devices are done to death and it gets annoying quick. For example, the Marvel character of Sleepwalker could only fight crime on earth when his alter ego went to sleep. So, you could expect when the hero was close to catching the bad guy, his host would, unfortunately, wake up.

   That's exactly what happens here with Eclipso as first! Each and Every time an eclipse would occur, Bruce would run off and start his Jekyll and Hyde transformation in Eclipso. I had to admit, I wondered just how many eclipses occur on a yearly basis! I'm almost 40 and I can really only remember about a dozen ever occurring in my lifetime.

   This must have been an issue that plagued DC and thankfully, the writers and editorial staff decided to keep this series fresh. Eventually, Bruce and his counterpart could exist separate from each other from time to time. Then it was established that Eclipso could be summoned by artificial means. Add to the mix a good Eclipso, a giant version, a negative villain not affected by bright light, and the occasional begrudging team-up with his nemesis, this actually made for a great read.

   This collection of stories is amongst one of the smaller treasuries from the Showcase Presents line. As I got to the end of this book, I actually got a little sad that this archive was coming to an end. Also, this book doesn't bear a volume number  and it was released almost 8 years ago so further collections aren't likely. (I've even tried to find info on a complete listing of Eclipso tales and other than the 20 or so stories in this collection, I can't find anything else with the character until 1992's Eclipso: The Darkness Within miniseries. I refuse to believe that there wasn't a single appearance of Eclipso for almost 30 years.)

A great offering of tales from DC's House of Secrets very hard to find Pre-1970s period. It was fun, entertaining, and it restored my faith in the oft-criticized gimmick genre.

  Worth Consuming

  Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.