Sabre issue 3

'Sabre' issue 3

Eclipse Comics, December 1982

The first issue of all-new content for 'Sabre' is a disappointment.

'An Exploitation of Everything Dear' opens with a hackneyed contrivance from writer Don McGregor: the phantasmagorical 'hallucinaton' sequence. This was over-used by McGregor when he wrote for Marvel's Killraven series. Here, it again seems like a contrivance, an excuse for a provocative cover: Sabre's girlfriend is trying to slice him up with a knife ? Wow....I need to purchase this comic book right away !

Paul Gulacy, who provided excellent artwork for the first two Sabre issues, is replaced by Bill Graham, whose artwork is mediocre, at best. Here's a three-page segment featuring the cowboy antics of Governor Slaughter....

 

The best part of issue three is not the Sabre component, but actually the 8-page 'backup' strip, featuring Sabre's sometime comrade-in-arms 'Blackstar Blood'. 

In this adventure, Blackstar winds up paying a gruesome price for being a lothario...the distorted artwork and cramped panel composition have a definite 'retro' feel to them, reminiscent of a comic book from the 40s......