Crossfire (Eclipse comics)
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Crossfire is a comic book series created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Dan Spiegle originally for Eclipse Comics. It was a spin off from DNAgents, which was also written by Evanier.
The series featured the adventures of a Los Angeles bail bondsman named Jay Endicott; Endicott assumed the identity of the original Crossfire, a notorious criminal, who was murdered in the midst of one of his crimes. Endicott decided to use the costume to fight crime as a superhero while impersonating the original to take advantage of his reputation to secure, and then hunt down, underworld contacts.
In an early adventure, he met the DNAgents and fell in love with their member, Rainbow. He was also seriously wounded and while in the care of the Agents' organization, he was given specific enhancements to his body such as replacing his blood with an artificial chemical that mimics the characteristics of blood more efficiently.
In addition to the superhero adventures, Evanier used his considerable experience in the Hollywood entertainment industry to feature secondary stories of characters trying to work and survive in that business. In addition, Evanier also contributed lengthy essays on the subject in each issue with illustrations by Sergio Aragones, a tradition continued in the later series, Hollywood Superstars for Epic Comics.
The series originally ran for 26 issues, but sold poorly. This prompted a change of format from color to black and white printing to reduce expense. In turn, the series took a more realistic tone to the stories such as Endicott having to make do with only his mask after he was forced to destroy the rest of his costume to escape police custody.
In 1994 Antarctic Press published a one shot flip book DNAgents Super Special that included a new Crossfire stort by Evanier and Spiegel. About Comics in 2004 released a black and white digest sized collection of the first six issues under the title Crossfire Volume 1: Hollywood Hero. The plans to produce further volumes were shelved due to unstable conditions in the comic book market at the time. [1]
The series is due for a return appearance in the first issue of Many Happy Returns from About Comics for March 2008.
