Doing the happy dance for Eclipso

Showcase Presents: Eclipso just came out recently, and I was thrilled to pick it up since he is one of my favorite characters. It reprints (with the exception of a Brave and the Bold Batman crossover) all of his earliest appearances from House of Secrets# 61-#80. Eclipso started out as a kooky Silver Age supervillain take off on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The character got a kick ass ret-con, and regular series as a fallen angel of revenge in the 90's. Then Bart Sears left, the art went south, and the regular series limped along till it died. To make matters worse the latest continuity rewrite has Eclipso being a creation of Darkseid (repetitive simplistic plotting every bit the equal of having the Red Skull be behind every villain Captain America ever faced) and the Atom's crazy ex-wife got possessed. I think faux-Eclipso is back giving Bruce Gordon (his host for most of the characters appearances) hell, but the Darkseid connection turns everything in the here and now into shit. Which is why I turn back to the characters original run. I long ago gave up my hopes of a Eclipso DC archive edition, but black and white in Showcase at least is a collection. I own a lot of the original issues, but they don't travel for easy reading near as well as a reprint edition. Eclipso was the creation of writer Bob Haney, and artist Lee Elias who drew his earliest adventures. This edition also reprints Alex Toth's run on the title (House of Secrets #63-#67), which isn't that easy to track down in back issues. Artist Jack Sparling would come on to handle the rest of the run. Their is a lot of Silver Age goodness to be found in Showcase Presents: Eclipso for 10 bucks, not to mention Toth artwork! If you got the cash to spare you should give it a try.