| Scarab | |
|---|---|
Cover of Scarab #1. Art by Glenn Fabry |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Vertigo |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | November 1993 – June 1994 |
| Number of issues | 8 |
| Main character(s) | Scarab (Louis Sendak) |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | John Smith |
| Penciller(s) | Scot Eaton |
| Inker(s) | Mike Barreiro |
| Letterer(s) | Clem Robins |
| Colorist(s) | Stuart Chaifetz |
| Editor(s) | Stuart Moore Julie Rottenberg |
Scarab is an American comic book limited series written by John Smith and published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, featuring a superhero called Scarab.
It ran for only eight issues between November 1993 and June 1994, although the character later reappeared in DC's Justice Society of America series.
Contents |
The series came about when Stuart Moore asked John Smith for his ideas about a possible revival of Doctor Fate. However, Smith's proposal was deemed "too extreme" for an established character and he was asked to rework the ideas for DC's Vertigo imprint, giving the line their interpretation of DC's Golden Age history and characters.[1] Scarab was subsequently cut down from an ongoing series to a limited series, which, with pencils by Scot Eaton and inks by Mike Barreiro, ran for eight issues between 1993-1994.
Two Indigo Prime agents, Dazzler and Creed, appear in Scarab #7. A lot of John Smith's stories are set in the Smithiverse and are usually part of a broader plan but the appearances in Scarab was more due to the problems that Smith had encountered with the series, "by that time I was probably just so sick of the thing I thought - 'Fuck it. I’ll rip off my own story' – and stuck in ‘Indigo Prime’ as a lazy way out.".[1]
In JSA Secret Files #1, the book that began the new JSA series in 1999, James Robinson and David S. Goyer refer to Sendak. Wesley Dodds asks the Gray Man to contact the old man in regards to finding the baby that will become the new Doctor Fate. In issue #1 of JSA he appears in uniform at the funeral of Wesley Dodds and later tells the JSA members some of his history, including that he "dropped out of sight after '44". The character has since appeared in JSA #16 and 18, in a storyline written by Goyer and Geoff Johns.
Louis Sendak is a 78-year-old man, and a retired superhero. A green door in his house leads to an other-worldly labyrinth where his father would often disappear during Louis' childhood to collect strange, alien items. One of these items was the Scarabaeus, which latched on to Louis in 1941 and transformed him, giving him mystical superpowers.