Book Review – Science Fiction and Alternate History: A Collection of Short Stories
September 4, 2009 at 8:19 am | In Book Reviews, Sam Christopher | 1 CommentTags: Science Fiction Books
By Sam Christopher
Another entry from the self-published authors that have contacted us, David Scholes lives in Australia and, it says on the back of this book, has published three books and is working on the fourth. Don’t know about the others but this one wasn’t too bad. My only real problem with it is that the stories are mostly too short, and some of them are continuations of others. The book is basically divided into four distinct subjects, any one of which could be explored more fully if put together and connected up. First, we have a world war, led in these stories by the Brits—and the author gives a very good explanation for this in one of the shorts—against an alien race called the Drell. These aliens sound like something akin to the aliens in the film Independence Day. There are only a couple stories of this resistance against the Drell but with the action of those stories and the background given I thought there was plenty of room for fleshing out.
The second section would be headed by the short, “Grey Power”, in which Scholes gives us a world where the only people with true political clout are the over 50 crowd. Here we see teens being put to death for “loitering within fifty meters of an aged persons’ retirement village and playing loud music”—and, mind you, this is a summary execution by the police on the spot. There are other stories set in this world, although they’re even more fragmentary than “Grey Power”. Again, this could all be tied together into a longer story, perhaps even a novel if done correctly.
The third section would be what I refer to as Twilight Zone material. Here we have a pilot in 1956 finding that history is slightly different from that which he remembers, leading to a conclusion in which things go very, very wrong for the world. There’s also a pair of stories starring someone called The Equalizer (and, no, it doesn’t appear to be the guy from the tv show of the 80’s), the first involving a planeload of people who land on an airstrip in a deserted location only to find the place completely deserted and the sky is the wrong color; the second story is just a fragment of a fragment really. Then we have the story of an alien who lands on Earth and uses his powers to aid the mother and daughter who have befriended him. There’s also another story, the longest of the book, concerning a woman trapped in an alternate dimension. Not sure that these should all be woven together into one larger story but it is a thought.
The fourth (and my favorite) section is a series of stories centering on Thor and Odin, two of the chief gods of Norse belief. There is a story of Thor’s return after long absence to the world of men, and one where Odin goes to speak with The One Above All. These characters are obviously based on the Marvel versions of the characters (not completely, mind you), with Thor flying through use of Mjolnir, his hammer, and Odin finding a way to reverse the judgment of the “Celestials” after having found a way to spare all of Earth from the Celestial wrath in the first place. These stories above all could easily be put together with others and made into a longer story.
This was a very short book of 72 pages for 14 stories (an average of just over 5 pp per). Not bad but not great. I enjoyed it mostly, although, again, it would have been a much better book if some of the ideas had been fleshed out more.
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Book Review – Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion
August 28, 2009 at 6:30 am | In Book Reviews, Sam Christopher, Star Trek | Leave a CommentTags: Star Trek
(Part of our ongoing series covering all aspects of the Star Trek franchise)
By Sam Christopher
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
In 1966, Gene Roddenberry’s singular vision of a (mostly) peaceful, (mostly) optimistic future for the human race hit the airwaves and began stoking the fires of imagination for coming generations of writers and sf fans. The show has been credited with helping many to aspire to their dreams, with the characters of Mr. Spock, Montgomery Scott, and Lt. Uhura (she had no first name on the show) most often cited as inspirations, and the half-Vulcan Spock having the widest appeal among the masses. A need was seen almost immediately for novelizations of episodes—and by “need” I mean an opportunity for profit—and a series of books by the well-regarded sf author James Blish began hitting the stores in January of ’67. These proved very popular, as did Blish’s original novel Spock Must Die, which was released in 1970. A few years later, though, came the real springboard for what was to follow, when Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath edited, at the behest of GR himself, an anthology of original Star Trek fiction by fans of the show called Star Trek: The New Voyages. The success of this book—along with the momentum of the entire Trek phenomenon—showed the amazing versatility and depth of thought this cancelled show could inspire in its devotees. This realization of profit potential by publishers has led to the publication of nearly 600 works of prose fiction since, and Voyages of Imagination, edited by Jeff Ayers, is a compilation of these titles along with interviews from many of the authors.
The first thing that intrigued me was how many of the authors who use just their initials are women. I remember reading about how Dorothy Fontana was DC Fontana for the credits on the tv show because of some prejudice against women by tv execs (note: I have never heard or read Ms. Fontana herself say that, just people around the show at the time) but I never thought of it in terms of prose publishing. But here we have JA Lawrence (James Blish’s wife Judith Ann with her maiden name), MS (Melinda) Murdock, JM (Jeanne) Dillard, AC (Ann) Crispin, VE (Vicki) Mitchell, to name a few. But I think the best use of initials—at least the most interesting to me—is LA Graf. This started out as four authors from a writers group getting together to do one ST novel. This group was pared to three by the time that novel (Ice Trap) was published, and further reduced when one of the remaining three (Melissa Crandall, who would author Shell Game on her own) moved away. The last two, Karen Rose Cercone and Julia Ecklar, have gone on to publish several works in different aspects of the STU. The name LA Graf comes from the name of their writers group, which was Let’s All Get Rich And Famous. Not to say that no woman uses her full name as author in Trek, just that the use of initials in lieu of a first name is virtually a completely female phenomenon that I never noticed before reading this book. I’m sure there are valid reasons for this—maybe there’s a little known psychological thing where women just like using initials more than men (and maybe there’s not)—but I found it interesting.
Beyond that, I really cannot do this work justice by covering even a smattering of it in this column. Mr. Ayers has done Trekkies everywhere an immense favor by compiling this list of books and interviewing as many of these authors as he could find and convince to talk to him—which is most of them. You have to remember that virtually all of the Trek writers were Trek fans first. The vast majority of them watched the shows in either first run or in the early waves of syndication, when despite the limited channels available Trek could be seen at least once a day every day. When these authors talk about the show, they are reminiscing about something they love. On the other hand, some of the authors’ comments, and lack of same, has me wondering. Ann Crispin, when asked about any future Trek projects, stated flatly that she would not be doing any. This could just mean she has enough going on in her own original fiction that she doesn’t have time to play in Roddenberry’s universe anymore—and I try not to read too much into things in print like this. But Vonda N. McIntyre, a great sf writer who handled the novelizations for ST II through ST IV and gave Sulu his canonical (is that really a word?) first name of Hikaru and about whom it is said that writing ST was a lifelong dream come true, refused to comment for the book at all. Again, this could just mean she was busy and didn’t have the time but I thought it strange. I have read a few interviews with Ms. McIntyre and she seems to be none too thrilled with the whole publishing community, so maybe that has something to do with it.
So, when you read this book, you’re probably going to think, “What the h-e-double-hockey-sticks kinda review was that?!?” Like I said, no matter what tack I took on this one it was going to be leaving out so much as to render what I wrote almost useless in conveying the true value of the book. All I can say is, if you’re a Trekkie like me you’ll love it and find it an invaluable resource for finding out about books you haven’t read, as well as communing (in a way) with other Trekkies through the authors comments. And if you’re not a Trekkie—well, you should be.
Buy Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion from Amazon.com
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Book Review – A Diary of Wasted Years
August 20, 2009 at 6:30 am | In Book Reviews, Sam Christopher | 1 CommentBy Sam Christopher
Another book by a new author who advertised in our Comments Section, A Diary of Wasted Years by Chris Kape is more in the line of psychological thriller with a twist of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. The author says he is an aspiring plastic surgeon and has been studying medicine for years while moving from country to country around the world and living what he describes as “a hard life” in which the nature of his work (as a medical professional) has led him to some pretty horrific scenes. This work and these scenes, he says, have informed and aided his writing, and in this book I can see where that would be true.
The story follows Eugene Forbes from early childhood to his rise as an underworld assassin to his promotion into other parts of “the rackets”. The product of a very dysfunctional family in which he saw his mother as a cowardly doormat for allowing his father all manner of infidelities and indiscretions, Eugene was small for his age and fairly intelligent as well, otherwise known as A Target. Picked on by older kids, and even by the bigger boys in his own class, Eugene became introverted, keeping his thoughts and emotions mainly to himself. Except for the times when he allowed his mouth to get him into trouble. And he did have friends, mainly two brothers, Andy and Nathan Simmons, who moved across town, too far to go to Eugene’s school but not too far for him to go see. The three boys eventually share the dream of making it big in organized crime, with the more cerebral Andy wanting to utilize his aptitude for chemistry in order to design the ultimate drug to enslave the world and Nathan wanting to follow the footsteps of Eugene into the more physical aspect of the business. Eugene will come to understand everything behind the business as it threatens to consume him.
Now, this book is a little more polished than was Long Journey to Rneadal (see prior review); as the author of this work explains in the foreword, he has shown it to and received criticism from various professional writers, taking their words to heart and revising his narrative accordingly. Also, this book is more stream-of-consciousness, and with a more down-to-earth subject matter (mostly), which makes it a little more accessible to most readers, I would think. The characters are fairly well-fleshed out and realistic, especially Eugene and even his mother Mary, who has far less “stage” time. One bad thing is that English almost seems to be a second language for the author, as he occasionally uses a word that’s “sort of close” to being the right word but isn’t. But that’s nothing awful and it’s never so far off as to render the sentence incomprehensible, although the dialogue can ring hollow in the reader’s ear. Also, sometimes he tells us things two or three times, so that the reader sometimes just skims through a couple pages—sometimes more—because the information has already been imparted.
The one really bad thing about the novel, and this may have been a conscious decision on the author’s part that just didn’t work for me, is that the big events—scenes this reader certainly would think are pivotal—are often skirted over too quickly, while in other places the reader is drowned in minutiae. We’ll read through three pages of someone ordering coffee, or of Eugene fighting with his parents for the umpteenth time, while an important turning point in the plot—a life-changing thing for Eugene—will get less than a page. Sometimes it seems that the entire point of the story is to catalogue human degradation—albeit with a fairly light hand—rather than to show the story of Eugene and his cohorts. There were simply times when this book committed the unpardonable sin of being boring. Again, this may have been an experimental thing on the part of the author but it just seemed to me that maybe the story should have been shorter so as to give more impact to the bigger events in the plot.
A Diary of Wasted Years is not a bad novel. It is mostly well-written with an eye toward detail and characterization. It does have its problems and those are mostly, I think, a product of the reader being given too much of the wrong kind of information and not enough attention being paid to what I thought was the meat of the story and really could be easily fixed with some solid editing.
Buy A Diary of Wasted Years from Amazon.com
The Kirby Files: From American Dream to American Dissolution, Part 2
July 31, 2009 at 7:20 am | In Book Reviews, John J. Joex, Kirby Files | Leave a CommentTags: Comics, Jack Kirby
By John J. Joex
Jack "The King" Kirby
American Dissolution: You might think that in 1965, Jack Kirby would have been on top of the world. By that time, a kid who had grown from a life of poverty in the New York streets dreaming of drawing comics had become one of the most recognized names in the industry. “The King”, as his credits on the Marvel pages he drew during the 60’s lauded, had gone from a boy who could barely afford paper to draw on to a man who had created or co-created some of the most memorable comics in history including Captain America, The Boy Commandos, Black Magic, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, and many more. However, despite his stature in the world of comics, Jack Kirby was not pleased with his situation.
Even though he had co-created much of the Marvel Universe with Stan Lee, he felt he did not receive the credit and compensation that he deserved from the titles he worked on. The “Marvel Process” of creating comics involved the writer and artist coming up with a basic story for an issue which the artist would then draw followed by the writer adding the dialogue. Since Stan Lee “wrote” almost every Marvel title during the 60’s, he took the writer credit while the penciller took the artist credit. Kirby, as with many other artists working for Marvel, felt he deserved to share in the credit as writer because he did much of the work of crafting and fleshing out the story. However, the company was not willing to extend him these credentials.
Kirby, along with others, began to feel like labor-for-hire as they watched Stan Lee bask in the glory of Marvel’s unlikely rise to fame and often receive the full credit for creations that he collaborated on with others. To make matters worse, Jack Kirby felt he had little job security as the contracts the artists were asked to sign treated them like contract workers and as an impending sale of the company loomed. He had already seen Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, depart from the company as the result of bad blood with Stan Lee. And Kirby had come up with an entire new line of characters that he preferred not to share with Marvel because he knew he would not have editorial control over their titles nor would he retain the rights to his creations (at that time, all characters created by artists and/or writers were owned by the companies they worked for).
So when an opportunity to jump ship to Marvel’s main competitor, DC, presented itself, Jack Kirby decided the time was right. Then editor-in-chief Carmine Infantino promised “The King” that he could work on whatever he wanted to at DC and that he would retain creative and editorial control over his books (though he still would not own the characters he created). With renewed enthusiasm for his craft, Kirby headed to DC at the beginning of the 70’s and created the Fourth World series (which introduced Darkseid and the New Gods) that would go on to become legendary in comics (more on that in a future column). However, the company that had made many promises to lure an industry icon to their fold started to have some buyer’s remorse. Some members of the DC editorial staff were not thrilled with Jack Kirby’s creations as they felt the new titles did not fit in well with the company’s stable of characters. Then, just as the Fourth World series was really picking up steam, DC cancelled it. Not because the sales of the titles were bad, but because a recent price-war with Marvel had caused a shake-up within the company, and the Fourth World comics had not sold well enough to justify their continuation in the mind of the DC executives.
After Kirby saw the creation that he had poured his heart and soul into cancelled by the company that had promised him so much, he swallowed his pride and worked on several more titles for them (one of which, Kamandi, is a personal favorite). But he became more and more disillusioned with his situation and eventually elected not to stay on with DC, but to return to the Marvel bullpen. While there in the mid to late 70’s he created and worked on several more titles, but his enthusiasm had waned. What was worse, he got into a tiff with Marvel over the return of his original artwork that would go on for years and would eventually become a renowned battle in the comics industry.
By the late 70’s, Jack Kirby, who had become in legend in comics, had been made to feel like a has-been by the industry in which he had played such a pivotal role. As he grew older, he looked at a future of demanding hours with inadequate compensation. It was only his chance move into the world of animation that made his twilight years (he passed in 1994) more bearable. He first ventured in that direction when assisting with the late-70’s Fantastic Four cartoon. He then went on to work on Thundarr the Barbarian and other shows and started to receive a salary much higher than what he had ever seen from his comic book work. He also finally received health insurance benefits, which was very important for him and his wife at their advanced age. He dabbled a bit more in comics in the early to mid 80’s with Pacific Comics and DC, but eventually turned away from the industry he helped make famous to focus primarily on animation in his later years.
As the independent publishers that rose in the 80’s like Pacific Comics and First Comics shepherded changes to the industry, artists and writers started receiving much larger compensation for their work (often tied closely to the sales of the books they worked on), and many companies started to allow them to keep the rights to the characters they created. Sadly, though, Jack Kirby participated only in the very beginning of this movement as by then he had already soured on the industry because of his experiences over the prior two decades. Kirby had experienced the American Dream by making is living drawing comics and becoming a legendary artist in that field. Then he suffered the American Dissolution as the corporate attitude that had developed a stranglehold on the industry treated him as a contract laborer and showed little respect for the creations he relished in producing. Still, he is well remembered by comic book fans for how he changed and revitalized the industry (time and time again), and he has left an extensive volume of work from which we can all revel in his memory.
Previous: Part 1 – American Dream
Mini-Review – Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
This book by Ronin Ro is ostensibly the story of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Joe Simon and their part in changing the comic book industry. However, he focuses primarily on Kirby with Lee and Simon taking second-banana roles. He keeps his sight on their professional careers, which ends up giving us a biography of sorts for Kirby because that period covered the majority of his living years. The book is not as comprehensive a look at Kirby’s life nor as well written as Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics (see review from the last column), and I do question some of Ro’s facts. It also lacks any pictures other than the cover (probably an issue of rights and the publisher not willing to shell out the money to include artwork). Still, it is a quick read and goes into more depth on Kirby’s partnerships with Stan Lee and Joe Simon. I picked it up at a bargain-bin price and was quite pleased with the book. If you want read about the life of “The King”, start with Evanier, but pick up this one as well for supplemental reading.
The Jack Kirby Store: Offering a comprehensive selection of compilations of The King’s work available on Amazon.com including the Fourth World, Fantastic Four, Kamandi, Thor, Captain America, The Eternals, and many more.
Book Review – Long Journey to Rneadal
July 30, 2009 at 7:00 am | In Book Reviews, Sam Christopher | 4 CommentsBy Sam Christopher
A little while ago a couple of authors came to this site and posted in our Comments section, taking the opportunity to also advertise their books. At first I thought it was cheesy but then I realized that it was pretty unobtrusive, and that this site is partially here for the purpose of adding to the interest in Science Fiction that all of our staffers and, presumably, our readers share. So I decided to go them a step further and offer them a review of their works, with the idea that (hopefully) more people would read a review than read the comments made in our blog entries. This is the first of those reviews looking at Long Journey to Rneadal by Sharon E. Dreyer. Now, I’ve decided to make these reviews without a rating because the authors are new and I’m assuming are working mostly alone without the benefit of an editor.
First, the positive. This book starts off pretty well. The opening is fairly straightforward and interesting, with an explanation of the Affiliation and Tricanorian Empire (the Tricks, as they are known in everyday Affiliation language) and their relationship and a good introduction to both the crew of the Star Cruiser RELENTLESS and Dr. J.L. Hunter. Some of the sections with the unidentified (at the time) woman having bad dreams are well done and build a sense of suspense that really has the reader wanting to know more. The first meeting between Captain Jake Granger of the RELENTLESS and Dr. Hunter is actually extremely well done and was fun to read as this mysterious woman just boards the ship, does whatever she feels like, and then leaves, all with ship’s security apparently hanging all over her. Sure, some of the dialogue was a little on the clunky side but I used to read critics saying the same thing about Babylon 5, and that was one of the two or three best running science fiction shows ever in my mind. And, speaking of dialogue, later in the book there is quite a bit of discussion between married couples and their close associates and some of that is positively Heinleinian as you read it, especially echoing some of his earlier novels. Also, the ostensible main story, that of Dr. Hunter having to travel to Rneadal (pronounced “Na-dal”, by the way), isn’t bad, either. It’s fairly classic sf, all about royal family obligations and the like, but it’s still not a bad idea if handled correctly.
Before we get to the negatives I’d like to take a brief intermission to say that I never really paid enough attention, I guess, to “Acknowledgements” in books. In there the authors almost invariably thank their editor. It really never occurred to me they were doing anything more than being nice. When it came to writing, I’ve read Isaac Asimov describe how he wrote, and Harlan Ellison write about how he writes all of the time. Asimov said once that he always thought he was the greatest thing ever because he wrote his stories out twice, the second time just to smooth out kinks he found in the first draft and correct spelling, until he boasted of that to Robert Heinlein, who, according to Asimov, wondered why Asimov couldn’t just get it right the first time. The point is, having never had anything published, it didn’t occur to me how valuable a good editor could be until I read this book.
So, now to the negatives. Whereas the aforementioned nightmare sequences are effective early on, there are entirely too many of them; they just wear the reader down after awhile. That, plus the fact there are no chapter breaks (plus something else we’ll get to in the next paragraph) just, as I said, wears the reader down over time. And then there’s the reason for the trip to Rneadal: it’s never really fleshed out why everyone around Dr. Hunter feels it’s so imperative she go. I understand why she thinks she needs to go, and I can make the leap as to why it’s so ingrained in her that she must, even though logically there is no reason she should feel so strongly about it. More, the action itself on Rneadal feels too short and vague and kind of lame for the amount of time it takes the reader to get there. It almost seems like the author spent so much energy on building up to the trip and its consequences that by the time the main event arrived she had nothing left to give.
But the real problem with the novel, to my mind, is that the author fell in love with the character of Dr. Jessica Layne Hunter. Jessi can simply do no wrong, other than push herself to work too hard. She’s telepathic, telekinetic, can tame any animal on sight, can tame any child on sight (a much harder feat from what I’ve seen). At the age of eight (or thereabouts) she was foiling Trick plans in the war between the Tricanorians and the Affiliation. She’s the greatest negotiator and gambler who’s ever lived, has several identities under which she works, is the most brilliant scientist in the Affiliation, and its richest person. There are just way too many times when everyone around her is “amazed” or “astounded by” or “marveled at” something she’s done or is doing. Basically, she’s Guinan from Star Trek: The Next Generation; with her along, why should anyone else be there and why should they do anything. Too many vignettes about how wonderful Jessi is drag out the novel way beyond where it should have ended, and this is where I believe a good editor would have come in most handy. A good editor could have curbed the author’s excesses here and made this a better story all the way around, giving the author more energy and space at the end to give the reader a more satisfying conclusion to what was supposed to be the main story.
When I asked for these works I braced for the worst. They were from unknowns, they were published by a so-called “vanity press”, but I found that, while this book had its problems, it was better than the TNG novel Grounded. Much better, in fact. It says on the back of this book that Ms. Dreyer has begun another novel, and I can honestly say I would give it a try.
The Kirby Files: From American Dream to American Dissolution, Part 1
July 24, 2009 at 7:23 am | In Book Reviews, John J. Joex, Kirby Files | Leave a CommentTags: Comics, Jack Kirby
By John J. Joex
American Dream: The story of Jack Kirby’s life starts out much like the stereotypical American Dream tale. He was born in 1917 to a family of immigrants who lived a life of subsistence in the rough, tenement districts of New York City. Jack did would he could, such as selling papers, to supplement his family’s meager income, but he longed to draw. He would scribble his creations, inspired by the works of Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, and Alex Raymond, on whatever scraps he could find and dreamed of one day making a living from his talent even though it promised only a barely livable wage.
Through his determination, he managed to do just what he wanted and landed a job with the Fleischer Studios where he drew “inbetweener” cells on the cartoons they produced like Popeye. He then graduated from this to the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate working on knock-off comic strips. Ultimately, by around 1940, he moved from this work to the then burgeoning industry of comic books. He produced a few strips on his own at first, but then he met up with Joe Simon and formed a partnership that would become legendary in comics (the first, in fact, of two such partnerships he would participate in).
Simon and Kirby actually produced the first issue of Captain Marvel Comics, though they did so uncredited. Shortly after that, though, they would sky-rocket into fame with the creation of Captain America, and while the Captain was not the first patriotic superhero, he quickly became the most popular and helped establish the creative duo as a valuable commodity. And when Simon and Kirby decided that Martin Goodman at Timely (later to become Marvel Comics) was not compensating them well enough, they jumped ship to D.C. where they worked on yet another line of popular titles including The Sandman, The Boy Commandos, and The Newsboy Legion. More importantly, their stature as hit-makers allowed them to negotiate for a percentage of the profits of their books, placing them among the better paid talent in the industry.
Both Simon and Kirby headed off to the war shortly after that, and when they returned home found that comics had changed once superheroes no longer had the Axis enemy to fight. Still the two carried on and took comics in new directions. They created romance comics with Young Romance, and worked on crime, horror, and western books in the days after superheroes had lost their luster. And all the while, the pair continued to receive a pretty decent salary for an industry notorious low wages. Ultimately, the team disbanded, though, when Joe Simon decided to leave comics for advertising after the industry nearly collapsed in the wake of the anti-comics crusade that arose from the notorious condemnations and unsubstantiated links to juvenile delinquency by such “experts” as Dr. Fredric Wertham.
Kirby soldiered on in the comics field though, working for various companies including D.C. in the later fifties before returning to Marvel (then known as Atlas) during a low point in that company’s history. Sales for Atlas’ books had dropped drastically and the company had let most of its staff go. But then editor-in-chief Stan Lee welcomed Kirby back and quickly put him to work on as many titles as possible. They mostly produced bland monster / sci fi throw-away stories that would not offend the newly created Comics Code which shepherded over the industry. But then, on one fateful day, company owner Martin Goodman asked Stan Lee to come up with a superhero team book that would compete with D.C.’s popular Justice League title. Lee sat down with Jack Kirby, and the partnership (which would soon become as famous as the Simon and Kirby team that preceded it) ushered in the Marvel Age and changed the comic book industry.
The Fantastic Four was a huge hit, and in no time Kirby found himself co-creating other titles such as Thor, The Hulk, The Avengers, The X-Men, the revived Captain America, and many more which would provide the foundation for the Marvel Universe.
Jack Kirby may have started out as a boy who could barely afford to pay for the paper to sketch his ideas on, but by the mid-60’s he had become the “King” and was known by practically every fan who bought comics on a regular basis. And while you may think this would have afforded him the carte blanche that he enjoyed with Joe Simon back in the heyday of their partnership, that’s far from the truth. In fact, within a few short years, Kirby would find himself at odds with Marvel and ready to defect to that company’s competitor.
Next: Part 2 – American Dissolution
Mini-Review – Kirby: King of Comics
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
I have only scraped the surface of the events of Jack Kirby’s life from his childhood to his participation in the birth of the Marvel Universe. You can find many sources with more information on the “King’s” life, but start with Mark Evanier’s Kirby: King of Comics. Evanier spent years as Kirby’s assistant and is the foremost scholar on his life and work. In this book, he gives a full retrospective of Jack Kirby’s life and career, written in an easy to follow, breezy style. The book is also loaded with samples of the “King’s” artwork, including many rare sketches that Kirby aficionados will devour. At full retail of $40, it is a bit pricey, but Amazon.com and other sellers usually have it a pretty deep discount somewhere in the $26 – $32 range. In any case, it is a must have for Kirby fans and a great read for anybody interested in a behind the scenes look at the comic book industry from its nascent years to the mid-80’s.
Previously from The Kirby Files: The Essential Jack Kirby
Quick Hits – Star Trek Novel, Amazing Spiderman Family #7, Captain Americ #600, Young Allies Anniversary Special, and More
June 20, 2009 at 9:30 am | In Book Reviews, Comic Book Reviews, Quick Hits, Sam Christopher | 8 CommentsTags: Batman, Comics, Star Trek, Superman
By Sam Christopher
First, before getting to comics, a novelization mini-review:
Star Trek (2009)
Rating: 1 Star out of 5 Stars
Irritatingly shallow, this is easily the worst thing I have ever read from Alan Dean Foster—which, along with the fact that the comic prequel Countdown was also based on the main story from Orci and Kurtzman and also sucked, tells me this has far more to do with that central story than with Foster’s writing. This is just a very straight-forward story without much character development and the novelization doesn’t give much more depth than what we saw on the screen. Indeed, it has less depth in many ways. Other than Scotty, I can think of no character I felt I knew better from this book than from the film itself. There is a lot more talk about the time paradox, and the bluntness with which they discuss the Romulan-Vulcan connection (in a time period where the Federation shouldn’t know that much about the Romulan Empire) is even more annoying here than as a non-sequitor in the film. I finished the book—Scotty nearly saved it—but it served more to remind me that this ST film is the polar opposite of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Whereas, ST: TMP was all thought and no action this film—and novelization—is virtually all action with no thought. I enjoyed watching it but reading it just didn’t make it for me.
On to comics…
We’ll begin in the Marvel Universe, with Amazing Spiderman Family #7, which is now officially on notice. I already don’t like having to pay 2 bucks more for a third less Spidergirl than I used to get, but then there’s nothing else in the book worth buying. This ish’s opener, “Just an Old Sweet Song…”, is nothing but a flashback masquerading as a new story. It’s not bad—it’s actually pretty good backstory—but it didn’t make me want to buy any of Spidey’s regular titles so it failed in its main task. In other words, I wouldn’t have bought it if they hadn’t placed it here. The last story, “Loa and Order”, a story of Peter Parker before becoming Spiderman by cartoonist Fred Hembeck (Green Lantern Secret Files, Fantastic Four Roast), is cute. Some of it, in fact, is very funny. But, again, I wouldn’t have bought it if it weren’t attached to a Spidergirl comic. But the worst of this comic is the Spidergirl story itself. I thought things would get interesting with Tombstone showing up but then this story happens. First, where has he been for the better part of the past twenty years (Marvel-time) considering he looks and acts just like he did before he ever left; was he freeze-dried and thawed ten minutes before May ran into him here? Second, when did he get this tough? I always thought of him as sort of a Mr. Hyde figure; just can’t see him taking Mayday that easily. Third—and this has nothing to do with Tombstone—does everything that ever happens anywhere in the Marvel Universe lead back to Norman Osborne? Even in the future when he’s dead? I’ll probably check in next month but without a drastic upgrade in story that just might be the end for me with this title.
Then there’s the two Captain America-centric specials this week. CA #600 was a comic I bought because I loved the Captain America comic until they brought back Bucky, which is when I stopped buying it, so I wanted to see where things stood with the characters now. But I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this and I don’t like the fact that they’re already resurrecting Steve Rogers. There was just so little in this book worth reading. The thing with Sharon Carter was lame, and the 50’s cap story was meh (although I do agree with him on some points). The story about Rikki Barnes was intriguing, and I would like to know more about her. “Crossbones and Sin” was unbelievably contrived and stupid; the Avengers, the Red Skull, all the Dark Avengers crap—none of that was very good. I liked the Bernie Rosenthal story all right, and the Mark Waid (Flash, Irredeemable) memorabilia story was fantastic. The Stan Lee (Journey into Mystery, Fantastic Four)-Al Avison (Blonde Phantom, USA Comics) reprint was cool, too, as was the cover gallery at the end, but nothing in this comic was better than Joe Simon’s (Marvel Mystery Comics, Captain America Comics) remembrance of working with Jack Kirby (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, The Eternals) on Cap and of the lawsuit MLJ Comics threatened Timely (Marvel Comics at that time) with for copyright infringement of MLJ’s The Shield. Always interesting to hear from someone who was there. And the part about Kirby not being able to remember how to draw Cap’s shield after they changed the shape to appease MLJ was very funny. The upshot of all this is that this one book, for me, epitomizes all that Marvel is at the moment: mostly trading on past greatness with occasional bursts of brilliance peaking all-too-briefly through dense grey clouds of mediocrity.
And speaking of bursts of brilliance, the Young Allies 70th Anniversary Special #1 definitely fits that bill. First, Roger Stern (Starman, X-Men) and Paolo Rivera (Books of Doom, The Twelve) create the touching “You Must Remember This…”, in which the aforementioned should-be-dead Bucky reminisces at Arlington National Cemetery. He finds Seargent Duffy’s grave and thinks back to when Duffy helped him become the tough kid who would be Cap’s partner, then moves on to thinking about how he met the four kids from the Sentinels of Liberty youth group and the Human Torch’s brash young partner, Toro, and with them form the Young Allies and do battle with the Red Skull. He discovers that two of the Young Allies (besides himself) are still alive and he finds them at the veteran’s hospital where “Knuckles” is on his deathbed and Wash is visiting. This is a very touching scene as the three friends sip brandy together and talk over old times. A very touching story about respect, honor, and friendship. Then there’s the prose reprints “The Young Allies Deal a Blow for Justice” and “Captain America and the Bomb Sight Thieves”, both by Stan Lee (Captain America, Tales to Astonish) and originally published in Captain America nos. 8 and 4, respectively. These two are sandwiched around the more traditional comics story “Terry Vance, The Schoolboy Sleuth” by Ray Gill (Superman, Kid Komics) and Bob Oksner (Adventures of Jerry Lewis, Son of Ambush Bug) from Marvel Mystery Comics #14. This last was really cool as it was about a character I’d never heard of. It was two boys, Deadline Dawson the Cub Reporter and the title character, with Vance’s pet monkey, Dr. Watson, saving a teenage movie starlet from being kidnapped. A wonderful, fun book with a great mix of the old and the new.
And, finally, we leave the Marvel Universe for the DCU and Batman: Streets of Gotham #1. Another chapter in the Batman: Reborn saga, this one centering a little more on other characters (like Jim Gordon) and the less public side of the new Batman and Robin. It begins with a police standoff at a department store. It seems that shopping is illegal in Gotham, if you’re Harley Quinn. All in all, a very funny scene with an interesting climax involving the Dynamic Duo. Then the story grows darker as the criminal Firefly decides to turn a whole slew of folks throughout the city into “human torches”. Pretty grisly stuff by Paul Dini (Madame Mirage, Bizarro World) and Dustin Nguyen (Jet, Robin). The second feature in this split-book is Manhunter. With the murder of Gotham City DA Linus Hampton, Kate Spencer is asked to come and replace him, her history of working with metahumans seen as a huge plus on her resume. She’s even welcomed rather warmly by Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle, which was not at all what she expected, and takes the job to much fanfare. Then we see Manhunter moving through the night in search of Hampton’s killer. Very good opening chap written by Marc Andreyko (Manhunter, The Supernatural), with Buffy the Vampire Slayer artist Georges Jeanty providing perfect art for this story (although he does make Babs look like Willow, not that there’s anything wrong with that). Very, very good first ish all the way around; I get more and more excited about this Batman revamp every week.
Other comics:
Action Comics Annual #12- The origin of Nightwing and Flamebird! And that really is all but it’s enough. I do have to say, though, that I liked the story of Kandor’s “theft” at the hands of Brainiac better in Kevin J. Anderson’s novel The Last Days of Krypton than this version. This one’s fine, don’t get me wrong, but that one was better.
Amber Atoms #4- Just not a very good story, sorry. Started out as very Star Wars-esque, which is not necessarily a good thing for me anyway, but it descended from there. Still, we should give Image credit for at least trying to give us something new.
Angel #22- I liked this storyline to start with but I’m growing more and more disenchanted with it now. Might have just been this ish.
The Brave and the Bold #24- Static and Black Lightning take on Holocaust. And if I could figure out anything more about it, I’d be glad to tell you.
Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #4- If this clown turns out to be the “real” Norman Osborne, and he stays in charge of anything at the end of this story… we’ll see. But I’m not happy with this.
Destroyer #3- Blood-soaked battle issue!!! And I do mean blood- soaked… and blood-coated… and just very good.
Marvel Pets Handbook- It’s an Official Marvel Index… to pets… in the Marvel Universe. Do I need to draw you a map? I like it.
Mighty Avengers #26- I hated it… then I loved it… then I hated it again. Then I just though it was dumb. But by the end I really liked it again and will be back for more next time.
Mysterius the Unfathomable #6- Orgies, daring escapes, and flesh-eating zombies! And that’s just the first five pages. Delfi saves Mysterius’s bacon one last time as Arian Rhode’s ascension to godhood nears.
Power Girl #2- Excellent second ish, with a JSA cameo and the Ultra-Humanite’s origin (have they ever shown that before?). Not too clear on why he wants Power Girl’s body; I know why I’d want it but I don’t think that’s it. Just a damn good story brewing here.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan #2- Still a pretty good adaptation, except for the art.
Supergirl #42- Kara confronts her most implacable foe yet—Lois Lane—then leaves the planet for New Krypton.
The Trial of Thor One-Shot- Not bad. Had the feeling of a Norse Myth in some ways, although Balder the Brave was a little too quick to blame Thor for me. The Warriors Three took a lot of evidence to be convinced, which made sense, and Odin’s reaction, both to the accusation and the “proof”, was perfect.
Vigilante #7- Vig goes after Tobias Whale as the Penguin tries to move in. My only question is: After the conclusion of the Deathtrap crossover, how is Vigilante not up to his mask in capes?
Previous Column:
June 15th – Batman, Red Robin, Buck Rogers, The Flash: Rebirth, and More
Classic Book Review – I Am Legend
June 19, 2009 at 8:08 am | In Book Reviews, John J. Joex | 7 CommentsTags: Zombies
By John J. Joex
Book Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
Audio Book Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
With all of Mr. Christopher’s reviews of Zombie books of late (Patient Zero, The Living Dead, History is Dead), I decided to go ahead and throw in my two cents worth seeing as I recently had an encounter with the seminal work in that literary sub-genre, I Am Legend. For those unfamiliar with the book, it came out in 1954 as one of Richard Matheson’s earliest works and it has had three film adaptations while it has also inspired a host of books, movies, comics, etc. in the Zombie genre.
The book centers around one man, Robert Neville, who survived a plague that has by all appearances wiped out humanity. This virus has turned all of the living humans into vampires and also caused many of the recently deceased to re-animate as zombie-vampires. Neville is immune to this virus, apparently because he was bitten by a bat that had the virus though he never succumbed to it. Now, he spends his days trying to wipe out as many vampires as possible, they are dormant when the sun is up, and his nights fighting back their siege on his fortress.
Even though this was one of Matheson’s earliest works, his writing is well developed and engages the reader. The book really is a page turner as we follow Neville’s battles with his vampire foes, while also fighting against his own internal demons and the apparent hopelessness of his predicament. To keep himself from going off the deep end, he decides to research the cause of the plague in an attempt to find a cure and save humanity. In so doing, Matheson presents a potential scientific explanation to vampirism and suggests that legends of vampires may have been based on actual cases of people infected with this disease.
The apocalyptic setting and sense of despair help set the tone of Matheson’s excellent book and have reverberated throughout the sub-genre that I Am Legend has helped inspire, most notably in George Romero’s Dead movies as well as more recent works like 28 Days Later. Some may quibble that this is more of a vampire novel as opposed to the zombie book, but don’t let that stop you from reading it. It has plenty of both vampires and zombies and you can easily see where many of the themes of the book carried over to the Zombie genre. And in any case, this truly ranks as a classic in Science Fiction / Horror literature.
I Am Legend has received three movie treatments. The first was the low-budget, yet mildly interesting The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price. The second was the well know 70’s movie Omega Man starring Charleton Heston which diverged significantly from the novel. The most recent was the big-budget Will Smith vehicle I Am Legend which I have yet to see.
Richard Matheson himself is somewhat of a legend in the Science Fiction and Fantasy field. In addition to this and several other short stories and novels in the genre, he contributed heavily to the original Twilight Zone and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. He also contributed to other Science Fiction and Fantasy television shows including the original Star Trek and Boris Karloff’s Thriller. He also wrote the screenplay, based on his own short story, to the television movie Duel which a young director named Steven Spielberg helmed as his first full length movie.
Buy the Audio Book from Amazon.com
As I have taken up the habit of listening to audio books while commuting to work, that is how I digested this book. It is available at a reasonable price (under $20 at Amazon.com vs. the $50+ price you usually see for books in this format), and narrator Robertson Dean does an excellent job of bringing the story to life.
So if you have never taken the opportunity to read I Am Legend or if it has just been awhile, I highly suggest picking it up. It’s a pretty quick read (or listen), and whether you are a fan of the Zombie genre or just a Science Fiction and/or Horror fan in general, this book really delivers.
Book Review – History is Dead: A Zombie Anthology
June 12, 2009 at 7:20 am | In Book Reviews, Sam Christopher | 2 CommentsTags: Zombies
By Sam Chrisopher
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Buy now from Amazon.com
I ran across this by accident a few months ago and finally got around to it in the last couple weeks. One thing I like about anthologies like this over novels is that, when I’m busy doing all the various things I have to do to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, short stories offer a smaller, more easily digested taste of the fantastic than a novel would. I love novels, too, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just can’t spend the time investing in a 400-page story (he says, knowing he’s about to start on the Star Trek novelization). That, and an anthology of shorts written by many different authors offers a variance in styles and story ideas so that there is almost always something I’ll like about the book. And, of course, an anthology like this one is sure to please. It has zombies and history, zombies in history. Zombies making history.
While shorter, with fewer stories than, say, The Living Dead—this is 20 stories to TLD’s 34—this is also an assemblage of new stories that follow the walking dead all through the ages, beginning in prehistory and taking us up to the time of Thomas Edison. And now I await the next volume; there has to be more recent zombie activity (just ask Max Brooks) for us to read about. Some of my favorites from this volume:
“The Reluctant Prometheus” by David Dunwoody: A tale of homo ergaster, a subspecies of homo erectus, that died out over a million years ago under mysterious circumstances. The hunt had gone well that day, a great mammoth felled with almost no resistance and everyone in the clan ate well that night except for Black Shoulder, a strong man who had been struck by a “dagger of light” from the sky, and Rock Biter, a young’un whose name came from his penchant for gnawing rocks while teething. Everyone else feasted, fell into a deep sleep, and awoke acting very strangely—and very hungry.
“The Barrow Maid” by Christine Morgan: “The saga of Sveinthor the Unkillable and the beautiful Hildirid, his beloved barrow maid.” This is a story of Viking draugr avenging their betrayal in a horrific way. It may have been my favorite story of the volume. A great warrior and many of his brethren are slain through subterfuge in their own camp, then buried with their property and women, anything they may need in the next world. Unfortunately for their betrayers, however, they’re not quite finished with this one.
“Theatre is Dead” by Raoul Wainscoting: Lieutenant Richard Litchfield of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy is part of a force that repels a zombie attack (they call them “postvitals”) and is then posted to advise on a play written by one of the survivors about it. Litchfield is there to make sure the postvitals and, more importantly, the methods of postvital destruction are accurate so the citizenry of London can be warned in case the zombie plague ever reaches the capital. Little does anyone connected with it know this play is going to be much more realistic than anyone would have thought. A very funny story.
“A Cure for All Ills” by Linda L. Donahue: A decidedly different story in which the dead rise and do pretty much what they’ve always done in life. But as time goes by—well, let’s just say that zombies will be zombies. This is the tale of a dead doctor trying to understand and treat what is happening, and is told entirely through his diary.
“Society and Sickness” by Leila Eadie: A serious story that’s actually very funny, if only because we all know people who would just be too stodgy to allow the end of the world to happen to them. Miss Katherine Alders has to survive the rising of the dead long enough to find a husband so her mother and father can hold their heads up again. Another top, top favorite.
“Junebug” by Rebecca Brock: The story that shows that even hillbillies living way yonder up in the hills can be plagued by the hungry dead. And, as with most really good “end of the world zombie stories”, the dead aren’t as much of a problem as the loony living people. A cool story even though the end is seen pretty early on.
“Pegleg and Paddy Save the World” by Jonathan Maberry: The Chicago Fire and zombies; do I really need to say anything more? Okay, one more thing: Lum and Abner couldn’t have done any better in this story.
“The Loaned Ranger” by John Peel: This is exactly what you would think it is from the title. A lone Indian scout watches from hiding while six Texas Rangers are gunned down in an ambush. He then rummages through the bullet-riddled dead, looking for a body intact enough to be raised through magic. A very good story with a satisfying ending that makes me want to read more of this incarnation of the man in the mask.
The above is a sample of my favorites from History is Dead, but there aren’t really any stories that I just didn’t like at all. There are several others I could have easily spotlighted, as well. Another fun walk through the whimsical world of dead people chewing through entrails and helping painters (from a story I didn’t mention) and scaring writers (from another story I didn’t mention).
Buy History is Dead now from Amazon.com
Other Zombie Book Reviews by Sam Christopher:
Book Review: The Living Dead
June 3, 2009 at 5:18 am | In Book Reviews, Sam Christopher | 1 CommentTags: Zombies
By Sam Christopher
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
First, the particulars: this is a collection of stories, 34 in all, by authors great and average—at least here. Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Joe Hill, Laurell K. Hamilton and even my favorite author, Harlan Ellison, all have contributions within these pages. With only one exception, every story within this book is a reprint but I found to my surprise I had only read two of them before—Clive Barker’s “Sex, Death, and Starshine”, which was originally in his magnificent Books of Blood, and the Ellison/Robert Silverberg creation “The Song the Zombie Sang”, which I have no idea where I saw it. There are zombies of all stripes here, from Voodoo-style dead things brought back for a specific purpose, to Romero-style zombies that hunger for warm human flesh to consume, to the dead that come back to just mill around make people nervous, to automatons who aren’t really dead but have no will of their own.
My favorite stories here include:
“This Year’s Class Picture” by Dan Simmons- A beautiful multiple-award winner about a schoolmarm who endeavors to continue her life’s work even in a world where the dead hunt the living for food. She watches for those zombies who were small children when they died and captures them for her school room. This is just a great, great story to start this anthology, touching, insane, and filled with just the right hint of menace all at the same time. The scariest part for me here is that I know a teacher and I could see her doing something like this.
“Malthusian’s Zombie” by Jeffrey Ford- An old man moves into a neighborhood and slowly makes friends with a guy down the block. Eventually, the old man explains that he has a problem: he used to work for a secret government organization and he stole something when he left. Something he now fears will fall into the wrong hands should anything happen to him. Health failing, he gives this as a present and a charge to his new friend. What a cool little story!
“Stockholm Syndrome” by David Tallerman- A neat little story which reminds me of something I might read on the Homepage of the Dead website. A lone survivor of the zombie infestation (Romero version) is hiding in a house across the street from a house where a family hides as well. Bored, he watches the Dead mill about aimlessly outside and wishes something interesting would happen. Then a zombie he names Billy (after his son) arrives and makes his wish come true. Sadly.
“Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead” by Joe Hill- I’d never read anything by Joe Hill before this story. I’d heard of him—I frequently hear how good the Locke & Key comic is, for instance, and then I hear—again—that he’s really Stephen King’s son who wanted to make it on his own. Blah, blah, blah. If this story is any indication I’m going to have to read more of his stuff. This is not technically about zombies. It’s a love story about two lovers from high school who both just happen to meet up on the set of Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead where they’re both appearing as extra zombies. A tremendous story, in my estimation one of the two or three best in the entire book.
“Those Who Seek Forgiveness” by Laurell K. Hamilton- This is the first appearance of this author’s wildly popular character, Anita Blake. And after reading it I can see why this series is so popular. Blake is a necromancer-for-hire whose latest client wants something she should never try and get. Very cool story.
“Meathouse Man” by George R. R. Martin- An excellent story which is a rewrite of a story Harlan Ellison rejected from The Last Dangerous Visions (which is a good thing since if it hadn’t been rejected we might never have gotten the chance to see it). HE evidently didn’t think Martin had gone far enough with the concept. Haven’t read the original, obviously, but this one hits the spot. A wailing cry of pain written as industrial zombie story.
“The Age of Sorrow” by Nancy Kilpatrick- The zombie plague told from a lone woman’s POV. The sadness, the loneliness, the emptiness of life in a world without joy is captured very well here by the author, and all without making the heroine a simpering whiner.
“Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last man” by Scott Edelman- What happens when a writer is trapped in a library as flesh-hungry zombies ravage civilization? A very good story that no one but us can read is what. This, like the final story below, is not something I want to say too much about. They should be savored with few, if any, preconceived notions.
“How the Day Runs Down” by John Langan- I’ll only say this: Take the Stage Manager from the play Our Town and put predatory zombies in the play. Enjoy!
The above are my favorites. There are several in here that I didn’t really care for—how could there not be with this many stories in this wide a spectrum?—and then there were a few that were celebrated that I just thought weren’t very good. The most notable of these latter stories was undoubtedly “Death and Suffrage” by Dale Bailey, which was transformed into naked propaganda by Joe Dante for Showtime’s Masters of Horror series. It’s very well-written—not taking anything away from Mr. Bailey skill-wise—but the notion that the Dead will return for the sole purpose of ensuring Democrats take power is as laughable as a story in which the Dead return for the sole purpose of ensuring Republicans take power. And the Dead are ALL pro-gun control?!? Even the former military? And the cops who had saved lives only because they had a weapon? Or the ordinary citizens who had saved their families from harm with a gun? Why aren’t the Dead here against those three-foot deep swimming pools where so many children drown? Or why don’t they stand in front of cars in which people aren’t buckled up and not allow them to move? Or… see, the tyranny of the Dead can go very far.
Bottom line here is that The Living Dead, edited by John Joseph Adams, is a fun anthology with many, many stories from a broad range. Not all apocalyptic, not all even horror, this book has something for everyone. Well, for everyone who likes to read about dead people walking around.
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