Eclipse Monthly was a full color comics anthology title published from 1983 to 1984 by Eclipse Comics. It was a successor to the company's previous anthology title Eclipse.
Publishing history
Unlike its predecessor, Eclipse Monthly had the same page format as a standard US comic, albeit consisting of 52 pages per issue; each edition was priced at US$2.00, a large price for a regular title at the time. It was also in full colour, and creators again retained ownership of their creations featured in the magazine. Three features - B.C. Boyer's The Masked Man, Ragamuffins by Don McGregor and Gene Colan and Trina Robbins' adaptation of Sax Rohmer's novelDope - continued from Eclipse. New additions included Steve Ditko's Static and Doug Wildey's WesternRio. Eclipse Monthly largely had a stable line-up, with most features recurring; however, from #4 it dropped to 36 pages and a $1.50 cover price, with the number of features reduced accordingly.[1]
After the title finished, The Masked Man would graduate to its own regular title.[2]
Reception
At Major Spoilers, Matthew Peterson enjoyed the anthology, especially the stories with the Masked Man.[3] Reviewing the final issue of the title, R.A. Jones of Amazing Heroes was unimpressed by Jetta; while he praised Wildey's art for Rio and Boyer's script for The Masked Man he was largely negative about the anthology, and was unsurprised it was ending. Jones speculated that the high cost of the format was a reason behind the book's cancellation.[4]
