No hero, no logo splash, no word balloon. Just half of a rusted circular saw blade on a white field, a tiny photo inset, and the word ASHES in stark white type. Ashes #3 from Caliber looks more like a record sleeve than a comic book, which makes sense once you know who made it.
The basics
- Title: Ashes #3
- Publisher: Caliber Press
- Released: 1990
- Cover price: $2.50 ($3.25 Canada)
- Created by: John Bergin
- Rating: “Mature audiences,” right on the cover
Who is John Bergin?
Bergin is a writer, artist, designer and musician, and his comics and his music have always bled into each other. According to Wikipedia, he wrote and illustrated Ashes for Caliber in 1990, a year before he was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best New Talent.
On the music side, he’s one half of the band Trust Obey, which recorded a soundtrack album for James O’Barr’s The Crow comic and later signed to Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records. In the mid-90s Bergin worked directly with O’Barr on The Crow and Bone Saw. These days he’s an art director at Lakeshore Records, designing soundtrack packaging for things like Stranger Things.
Lambiek’s Comiclopedia describes him as a comic artist and darkwave musician, which pretty much sums up this cover.
Caliber in 1990
Caliber was a young publisher at the time. Gary Reed founded it in 1989, and it’s also where The Crow first appeared, in Caliber Presents. Ashes fits right in next to it: dark, experimental and clearly not for kids.
That cover
It’s split down the middle. On the left, a photograph of a rusty, pitted saw blade cuts in from the edge against plain white. On the right, a solid black panel with ASHES in tall, thin white letters, a small inset photo of what looks like a knot in weathered wood, and the word “FOE” near the bottom. The Caliber logo and a “mature audiences” label run across the top.
It’s cold, minimal and a little menacing, and it stands out in a long box full of painted heroes.
Is it worth anything?
I couldn’t find tracked sales for this one. It’s an obscure early-90s indie, so it’s more of a find than an investment. If you’re into Bergin, The Crow or that whole era of dark Caliber books, it’s worth grabbing when you see it.
Where to find more Bergin
Bergin has reissued a lot of his comics and art through his own label, Stompbox13. His later books include From Inside, Bone Saw and Golgothika, which he also did with Caliber in 1996.