The perfect comic for an eclipse?
Word Balloons #1210: Looking back at “Eclipso: The Darkness Within.”
This Monday, April 8, 2024, a solar eclipse will be visible in much of the United States. What better time to look back at DC Comics’ eclipse-themed villain?
Originally introduced in 1963’s House of Secrets #61, Eclipso began with a somewhat silly Silver Age origin – physicist Bruce Gordon is attacked by a sorcerer when Gordon is attempting to view an eclipse. After being scratched by a black diamond, Gordon turns into the evil Eclipso in the presence of any eclipse. This gave Gordon the somewhat clever idea of being his own archenemy – though many of the stories from this era are predictably wacky. The character was created by Bob Haney, who had his own peculiar style, along with artist Lee Elias.
In the 1990s, the character was brought back and powered up, in “Eclipso: The Darkness Within,” with script and co-plot by Robert Loren Fleming; co-plot and breakdowns by Keith Giffen; pencils by Bart Sears; inks by Randy Elliott and Mark Pennington.
In May of 1992, DC Comics released “Eclipso: The Darkness Within” #1. This two-part series would bookend a story that traveled through the DC Comics annuals of that year, as Eclipso possessed a variety of DC’s biggest superheroes in his plot to plunge the world into eternal darkness.
This is perhaps best-known in collector circles for having a plastic diamond shape glued to the cover representing Eclipso’s black diamond. Eclipso is powered up in this series, revealed to be a vengeance demon possessing Bruce Gordon. The small black diamond Gordon possessed was found to be part of a large black diamond, called the Heart of Darkness, which had been split into 1,000 pieces and scattered around the globe. The diamonds allow Eclipso to possess those who hold them.
Eclipso uses the diamonds to gather an army of superheroes as he rampages through DC’s annuals of the summer, before a final showdown in “Eclipso: The Darkness Within” #2. In the concluding issue, following 18 tie-in issues, Vril Dox, Hawkman, Aquaman and the remaining non-eclipsed heroes head to the moon to face down Eclipso and his legions. Check out the full reading list of annuals here, and check out 1992’s “Starman” 42-45 for more context.
In the aftermath of the event, Eclipso starred in his own ongoing series, which ran for 18 issues. The series “Valor” also spun out of this crossover.
The Eclipso character has since been part of the DC Universe with various hosts in the comics, including in “Justice League vs. Suicide Squad,” and appeared as the main antagonist on season two of the television series “Stargirl.”
So, as you enjoy the eclipse this Sunday, be wary of any black diamonds that suddenly appear—you never know when Eclipso might drop in! But if that diamond is on the cover of a comic from the 1990s, go ahead and give it a read—you might be pleasantly surprised!
Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.