Espers (comics)

Espers was an independent comic book series created and written by James D. Hudnall. It centered on a disparate group of people with various psychic powers who are brought together under duress and later coalesce as a team. Espers was published intermittently in the 1980s and 1990s by four different companies, including Eclipse, Marvel, and Image, and was re-numbered from issue 1 again each time.

As the series evolved it was revealed that in the Espers' world people imbued with advanced psychic powers (known as 'espers') had been around for hundreds of years, but that their existence had been successfully kept from the general public by a secret conspiracy among a handful of powerful groups, including the Inner Circle, The Triad, and the S.E.A. (among others), all engaged in a generations-long war against one another in the shadows for power, control, and world domination. Events in the series, however, later make the existence of espers publicly known for the first time.

The first five issues in the series were published from 1986-1987 by Eclipse Comics. The first four issues were illustrated by David Lloyd, and the fifth by John Burns. The initial 4-issue story arc, later titled "Espers," introduced the main characters, including team leader Linda Williams, and told the story of their unsuccessful attempt to rescue her father (who had been taken hostage in Beirut by a front group for the Inner Circle). The fifth (and last) issue published by Eclipse was to be the first issue of the second story arc of the series, titled "The Liquidators." But the remaining issues in that story arc were never published by Eclipse, a decision that Hudnall himself attributed in print (in vol. 2, #1 from 1996) to disappointing sales and to an unspecified dispute between Eclipse and himself.

The series languished in limbo for the next couple of years. But it was ultimately moved to Marvel Comics' Epic imprint, where eight issues were published under the title "Interface" from 1989–1991. The first six issues of that series, featuring painted art by Paul Johnson, re-introduced the main characters and re-told the story from the original "Espers" 4-issue story arc in flashback form, before picking up the "Liquidators" story line that had begun in issue #5 from Eclipse. In these issues, the title characters come under simultaneous (but separate) attack from super- assassins hired by the Inner Circle and by the forces of mafia crime lord Benito Giovanetti. Giovanetti's background suggests a link between the Mob, the Inner Circle and the assassination of JFK. The Espers are aided by Alan Black, an assassin for the S.E.A. Issue 7 of this series was an epilogue to that second storyline, with painted art by Bill Koeb. And issue 8 (the last one from Epic) was a sort of dream issue featuring painted art by Dan Brereton. It details an encounter between the Espers and a Mind Dancer ("who tried to kill us with our own subconscious" Simon Ashley later recollects in vol. 3, issue 6), before they're aided by a mysterious 'Master' named Lori who taught them more about their powers before disappearing herself.

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