''Crossfire'' is an American

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series created by writer

Mark Evanier Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series '' Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book '' Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and ...

and artist Dan Spiegle originally for

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book store, comic book specialty stor ...

. It was a spin-off from '' DNAgents'', which was also written by Evanier. The series ran for 26 issues from May

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

to October 1988.

Publication history

The original Crossfire - Jeff Baker - first appeared in ''DNAgents'' #4. Jay Endicott, Crossfire for the solo series, first appeared in ''DNAgents'' #9. In 1985 Evanier would state "''Crossfire'' is the comic I enjoy the most out of anything I've written". The series originally ran for 26 issues, initially 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 The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

custody. In addition to the superhero adventures, Evanier used his considerable experience in the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

entertainment industry Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

to feature secondary stories of characters trying to work and survive in that business. Evanier also contributed lengthy

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

s on the subject in each issue with illustrations by Sergio Aragones - a tradition continued in Evanier's later series '' Hollywood Superstars''. Dave Stevens contributed the cover to ''Crossfire'' #12, and ''Crossfire'' #19 was announced as the 400th comic published by Eclipse. The character Jay Endicott was also the lead in a short-lived spin-off from Eclipse Comics, ''Whodunnit?''. Lasting for three issues, the book featured "fair play"

whodunit A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal ...

murder mystery tales solved by Crossfire's civil identity as a bailout officer and invited readers to submit their guesses for later publication and comment - a prize of $1000 was offered. Another spin-off was the four-issue limited series ''Crossfire and Rainbow'' in 1986.''Crossfire'' ended in May 1988, partly due to Spiegel landing work on

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'' series. In 1994 Antarctic Press published a one shot flip book '' DNAgents Super Special'' that included a new ''Crossfire'' story by Evanier and Spiegle.

Plot

The series featured the adventures of a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

bail bondsman A bail bondsman, bail bond agent or bond dealer is any person, agency or corporation that will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of a defendant in court. Bail bond agents are almost exclusively found in the ...

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 A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

while impersonating the original to take advantage of his reputation to meet underworld contacts - which the hero would then bring to justice. In an early adventure, Endicott met the DNAgents and fell in love with team-member Rainbow. He was also seriously wounded; while in the care of the Agents' organization, Crossfire was given specific enhancements to his body such as replacing his

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

with an artificial chemical that mimics the characteristics of blood more efficiently.

Collected editions

In 2004, About Comics released a black and white

digest size Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine, but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately . It is also a and format, similar to the size of a DVD case. These sizes evolved from the printing ...

collection of the first five issues (plus one issue of the tie-in series ''Whodunnit?'') 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.About About Comics - News From ME
/ref> The series later received a new 8-page story in the one-shot comic book ''Many Happy Returns'', also from About Comics, in March 2008.

References

External links

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{{Eclipse Comics 1984 comics debuts 1988 comics endings Comics publications Defunct American comics Eclipse Comics characters Eclipse Comics titles