Vintage UK Sci-fi Ads and Stores

Vintage UK Sci-fi Ads and Stores

Everyone remembers the geek store(s) where they went to get their comics and sci-fi paperbacks when they were young and first discovering the genre. For me, growing up in Upstate New York, it was at first a mixture of various pharmacies and convenience stores, before graduating to regular trips to Gordon's Cigar Store and, in downtown Johnson City NY, 'Fat Cat Books'.

Below, I showcase some interesting blog posts looking at how sci-fi and fantasy media were marketed and sold in the UK back in the 1980s. As a smaller country, the UK tended to have a comparatively smaller number of retail stores, but these elicited lifelong feelings of fraternity on the part of their patrons.

The Vintage Toy Advertiser and Darkest London blogs have a nostalgic look back at the signal comic and book shops that were the places for sci-fi geeks to go, back 'in the day'.

According to the Darkest London post about the Forbidden Planet store at 23 Denmark Street:

I only have to see a glimpse of the Brian Bolland artwork which used to adorn the plastic bags (and the associated t-shirt my dad bought me on one trip) and I’m straight back to the uneven wooden floor, the smell of pulp paper, the shafts of light streaming through the dust which hung in the air, and the vague unease of my mum as the till rang through each 75p I’d spent on the recent releases.

The Forbidden Planet store at 23 Denmark seems to have been the place to go back in the early 80s if you were a sci-fi fan in the London metropolitan area. It certainly had some great advertising support, such as a photo essay in which Torquemada, the archvillain from the 2000 AD comic 'Nemesis the Warlock', makes an in-store appearance:

The 23 Denmark Street and New Oxford Street stores also had their share of celebrity visitors, including Mark Hamill, Stephen King, Stan Lee, and Nichelle Nichols, among others.

American expatriate Dan Slott, who resided in London as a kid, remembers how things were when he had to patronize the Newsagent's stall, before the advent of Forbidden Planet:

Beano? What is this, where's my Spider-Man, where's my Avengers, where's Batman, why am I only getting this Beano thing and this guy Judge Dredd is kind of cool….....the pages would be in black and white for no reason.....!

A video clip featuring Slott's reminiscences is available here.

A more expansive post at The Vintage Toy Advisor covers a range of UK and US shops, mail order firms, and advertisements from the 80s.

If this back cover advertisement from a 1986 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special is any guide, it appears that 'Forbidden Planet' had two retail outlets, with the one on Denmark Street devoted to sci-fi books and comics, while the St. Giles High Street retail outlet was devoted to cinema and television media.

Forbidden Planet has since moved to a larger and more presentable retail locale in Covent Garden. But it remains the 'go to' place in the London for sci-fi and comic fans. Maybe I'll travel there someday........

Book Review: White Trash

Book Review: 'White Trash' by Gordon Rennie (story) and Martin Emond (art)

Tundra, 1992

1 / 5 Stars

During the Great Comic Book Boom of the early 1990s all manner of independent publishers sprang up, their offerings available through the direct market of comic book stores then proliferating across the landscape. 

Among these indie publishers was Tundra, founded in 1991 by Kevin Eastman, the creator of the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' franchise and later, the owner of Heavy Metal magazine. The best known of Tundra's publications was the horror anthology 'Taboo'.

In 1992 Tundra released a four-issue series, titled 'White Trash',  by Scottish comic book writer Gordon Rennie and the New Zealand artist Martin Emond (1969 - 2004). The miniseries later was collected by Titan Books into a hardcover edition published in May, 2015.

The premise of 'White Trash' is simple: in exchange for being resurrected by the Devil, Elvis agrees to set off on a cross-country journey to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, there to give the greatest rock-and-roll concert in human history. Accompanying Elvis on his jaunt will be Guns n' Roses lead singer Axl Rose, referred to as 'Surfer Dude'.

The journey will not be a pleasant one, for a variety of malcontents are in hot pursuit of our rockin' duo. These malcontents include local law enforcement; the Ku Klux Klan; crazed Vietnam War veterans; inbred redneck psychopaths; and the FBI.

Will our heroes make it to Caesar's Palace in one piece ? And will Elvis wrangle his way out of his contract with the Devil and find freedom ? Will the witless, narcotized masses of the American public even care ?

'White Trash' was designed as the vehicle by which the Scottsman Rennie could make witty observations about life, and pop culture, in America, circa 1992. There's nothing inherently wrong with this; however, satire is always best when it is applied with subtlety. 

Unfortunately, Rennie doesn't know the meaning of subtlety. Within the first five pages his cliched, unimaginative approach to sarcasm set my eyes to glazing. Well before the book's halfway point things get relentlessly boring rather than humorous.

Emond's artwork is recognizably eccentric, but works best in small doses, as in (for example) the Lobo: In the Chair comic from DC in 1990. In the 126 pages of 'White Trash' it misfires. There are too many panels that are incomprehensible due to the overly sketchy, cramped nature of the artwork. And it doesn't help matters that the coloring in many panels is so dark and muddy that it's difficult to discern what is taking place.

The verdict ? 'White Trash' is a dud. The other writers at 2000 AD comics (where Rennie began working in 1993) such as Pat Mills, John Wagner, Alan Moore, and Alan Grant, all were more considerably more skilled at satire (including satire of American cultural and social mores) than Rennie. It's interesting to think what they could have done with the concept, had they been given the opportunity.

Book Review: Empire of the East

Book Review: 'Empire of the East' by Fred Saberhagen

5 / 5 Stars

‘Empire of the East’ (558 pp.) was published by Ace Books in July 1980. The rather mediocre cover illustration is by Enric.

A newer edition was published by Tor Books in 2003

Fred Saberhagen (1930 – 2007) produced a long list of novels and short stories in the genres of sci-fi and fantasy over an interval of more than 35 years, from the early 60s to the late 90s. His best known works – and the ones with which I was most familiar - are those in the ‘Berserker’ franchise.

Much like other writers of the same era, such as Harry Harrison, Mack Reynolds, Keith Laumer, Larry Niven, and David Drake, Saberhagen ‘wrote for a living’, supplying content for the sci-fi digest, and burgeoning paperback, marketplaces. 

While his writing career coincided with the heyday of the New Wave movement, Saberhagen was indifferent towards it, a stance which apparently was reciprocated by the movement’s foremost editors (Saberhagen never appeared in any of Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions anthologies, nor did he appear in any of the 21 volumes of Damon Knight’s Orbit series).  

 

‘Empire of the East’ is my first try at accessing the substantial body of fantasy literature that Saberhagen produced. It’s an omnibus edition containing heavily revised versions of three novels: ‘The Broken Lands’ (1968), ‘The Black Mountains’ (1971), and ‘Changeling Earth’ (1973; retitled ‘Ardneh’s World’ for this omnibus). 

[ Additional entries in the so-called ‘Earth’s End’ franchise include the ‘Book of Swords’ and ‘Book of Lost Swords’ novels and stories, which Saberhagen maintained into the early 1990s. ]

 

‘Empire’ is set in a future America, some 1,000 years after World War Three ended civilization. Magic now is the dominant force in the land, although the few surviving artifacts of the technological age are much prized by the inhabitants of the small settlements that constitute the population of the continent. 

All is not well in this future America. John Ominor, the malevolent Emperor of the East, is intent on conquering the communities of the West Coast and subsuming them into the eponymous Empire. From a redoubt in the Broken Mountains, Ominor's satrap Ekumen dispatches groups of soldiers to rape, pillage, murder, and enslave the free peoples. Unless a resistance can be mounted, the entire West will fall under the sway of the Empire. 

Rolf, a teenager from a small farm in what was California, has personally witnessed the depredations of the Empire of the East, and seeks vengeance. Allying himself with a group of rebels that includes Mewick, the master of combat; Gray and Loford, the most powerful mages of the West; and the single-minded generals Thomas and Duncan, Rolf will take the fight to the Broken Mountains…..the Black Mountains…..and beyond them, on into the East, and against John Ominor himself. 

In my opinion, ‘Empire’ is a five-star omnibus. I went through its 558 pages with unexpected ease. The fact that it was written in the late 60s – early 70s for the paperback sci-fi market means that it avoids the ponderous exposition and extravagant world-building that define modern-day fantasy novels (for example, 2007's The Lies of Locke Lamora, at 736 pages, is but the first of the three volumes, all over 700 pages each, comprising the 'Gentlemen Bastards' trilogy). 

With ‘Empire’, Saberhagen demonstrates that it’s possible to create memorable characters, involved in multiple plot threads, without needing to burden the reader with page after page of dense descriptive text. 

Saberhagen introduces continuous shifts and turns in the plot to keep the action moving. He also keeps the far-future setting of ‘Empire’, with its mixtures of magic and science, exotic and unconventional (for example, the latter chapters of ‘Ardneh’s World’ bring into play ‘cosmic’ entities that are derived from Lovecraftian themes). 

Summing up, ‘Empire of the East’ is an enjoyable example of a well-constructed fantasy adventure, written by an author skilled in storytelling and attuned to the commercial nature of paperback publishing. Not only do I recommend it, but I intend to investigate further the novels in the ‘Swords’ franchise. 

Predator Versus Magnus Robot Fighter

Predator Versus Magnus Robot Fighter

Dark Horse / Valiant Comics

1992

During the Great Comic Book Boom of the early 1990s crossover storylines between companies was a common practice. So it was that in November, 1992, Dark Horse comics, which owned the rights to produce comics based on the 20th Century Fox ‘Predator’ character, teamed up with Valiant comics, which owned rights to the 'Magnus, Robot Fighter' character originally published by Western / Gold Key, to produce a two-issue miniseries, ‘Predator Versus Magnus Robot Fighter’.

The series was written by the then-head of Valiant, former Marvel Comics editor in chief Jim Shooter, with assistance from John Ostrander. Art was provided by comics veteran Lee Weeks, with colors by Rachelle Menashe, and lettering by Pat Brosseau.

There was a considerable delay between the appearance of issue one and issue two (which didn't arrive on shelves until May, 1993) which likely was caused by the Shooter's dismissal from Valiant later in 1992. 

[ For an interesting account of the founding and dissolution of Valiant, from Shooter's point of view, readers are directed to this 1998 interview, conducted by Joe Petrilak. Much Corporate Sleaze going on.............! ]

As a mashup of two iconic pop culture franchises from the 1960s (Magnus first was published in 1963) and the 1980s (Predator), 'Predator Versus Magnus Robot Fighter' is an entertaining comic. Shooter was smart enough to know that a two-issue series lacked the space for the complicated plotting then commonplace in the comic book world, and focused on telling a simple and straightforward story that would be coherent to those readers who were well acquainted with the Predator franchise, but for whom Magnus was not a well-known character. 

Shooter's plot moves swiftly in terms of providing a backstory and setting up the confrontation between Magnus and the Predator, and throws in enough ancillary characters and action sequences to keep the comics from being just 48 pages of punch-trading between the two adversaries.

Where the books suffer is in the color scheme, which reflects the limitations of the color printing processes used for most comics in the early 1990s. There are some eye-straining magenta hues in the pages of 'Predator Versus Magnus Robot Fighter'...........

Summing up, if you're a Baby Boomer who remembers Magnus from the Gold Key days of the 1960s, or a fan of the Predator franchise, then you're going to want to get 'Predator Versus Magnus Robot Fighter'. While there is a trade paperback, published in 1994 by Dark Horse, that compiles both issues, copies in good condition have exorbitant asking prices from speculators (one guy at eBay is asking for $239). 

My advice is to pick up the original comics, which sell for under $5 each.

Mandy by John Workman

'Mandy'
by John Workman

This black-and-white one-pager is chock-full of meticulously rendered textures (including Zip-A-Tone), shadings, and cross-hatchings.

Book Review: Night of the Cooters

Book Review: 'Night of the Cooters' by Howard Waldrop 

1 / 5 Stars

'Night of the Cooters' first was published in hard cover by the small press publisher Ursus Imprints in 1990. This Ace Books paperback version (253 pp.) was issued in July 1993, and features cover art by Don Ivan Punchtaz.

This is one of only three novels / anthologies by Waldrop to see print by a major paperback publisher (the other titles being The Texas Israeli War, 1974, and Them Bones, 1984), as the bulk of Waldrop's fiction pieces have been issued by small press publishers.

[ Copies of 'Cooters', being long out of print, have steep asking prices. I was able to get a battered copy for about $10. ]

The stories in 'Night of the Cooters' saw print previously in magazines like Omni, or other anthologies, such as Wild Cards, over the interval from 1977 to 1990.

My capsule summaries of the contents:

Night of the Cooters (1987): Invading Martians discover: you don't mess with Texas.

French Scenes (1988): in the near future, film school students use special software to create mashups contrived from selected segments of classic films. 'Scenes' is designed more to impress the reader with Waldrop's encyclopedic knowledge of film, than to tell an engaging story..........

The Passing of the Western (1989): an alternate-world treatment of How the West Was Won: in this case, through itinerant rainmakers who made the deserts bloom. Waldrop's decision to present the narrative through snippets of faux film magazine / fanzine interviews, including in-jokes about Forry Ackerman (?!) signals that he was trying too hard, to be too clever.

The Adventure of the Grinder's Whistle (1977): a decent Sherlock Holmes pastiche.

Thirty Minutes Over Broadway (1987): this was an entry in George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards shared-world anthology. In New Jersey in 1946, an Airboy derivative, named Jetboy, contends with unscrupulous men who have come into possession of a remarkably lethal alien weapon. It's competent, if unremarkable, proto-Dieselpunk, from a time when the word had yet to be invented. 

The Annotated Jetboy (1986): an exhaustive listing, with definitions, of the cultural and technological allusions crammed into almost every paragraph of 'Thirty Minutes'. 

Hoover's Men (1988): in an alternate 1929, Herbert Hoover is the head of the federal radio and television authority. A mild example of proto-dieselpunk.

Do Ya, Do Ya, Wanna Dance ? (1988): Frank Bledsoe participates in his 1968 Austin, Texas 20-year high school reunion. This story isn't science fiction, or even speculative fiction. It's  a story about someone's high school reunion. I'm not impressed.

Wild, Wild Horses (1988): In Justinian-era Turkey, Renatus Vegetius strikes an unusual deal in order to get his hands on a most treasured book of knowledge. 

Fin de Cycle (1990): a novelette comprised of vignettes in which various historical personages interact with one another in 1898 Paris. One of the chapters is titled 'We Grow Bored', and thus says all that can be said about this story...........

The verdict ? There's only one good story in this anthology, and it's 'Night of the Cooters'. All the other tales are duds. I can't recommend this book to anyone other than Waldrop fanatics.

Thorgal: The Talisman

Thorgal: The Talisman

from Thorgal: Child of the Stars
Ink Publishing / The Donning Company, 1986

Another early Thorgal adventure, originally published by Lombard as Le Talisman in 1984 in the album de bande dessinee L'Enfant des étoiles. 

The Donning Company republished the story as 'The Talisman' in its English-language reprint volume, Thorgal: Child of the Stars (1986).

[ The initial story from Child of the Stars, 'The Lost Drakkar', is available here. ]

'Thorgal: The Talisman' sets a high bar for artist Grzegorz Rosinski, what with the storyline going from medieval woods to a wasteland to outer space, with some figurative sequences thrown in for good measure. Rosinski not only accomplishes these demands but as always takes care to render faces and expressions with fidelity. Those Eurocomic artists were skilled, no doubt about it........

The Last Wolf: Karl Edward Wagner

The Last Wolf: Karl Edward Wagner

Knight Visions / Yellow Rose, 2020

5 / 5 Stars

I don't usually review videos or movies about sci-fi, fantasy, or horror subjects because there are plenty of blogs that do that very well. 

However, I haven't seen this 2020 documentary (filmed over the space of three years for a cost of only $1,000) given much attention in the blogging sphere I inhabit, so I thought I'd give it some promotion. Because its subject, Karl Edward Wagner, certainly is germane to 'The PorPor Books' blog, which focuses on the field of horror and fantasy fiction produced during the interval from the late 60s to the late 80s.

As a horror and fantasy fan who grew up during the 1970s and 1980s I was well aware of Wagner (1945 - 1994), as both the author of the 'Kane' novels and stories, and as the editor of the DAW Books 'Year's Best Horror Stories' anthologies. But like most of the authors who worked in those genres during that time before the advent of the internet, information about him was not easy to come by, making him a somewhat obscure figure compared to (for example) Stephen King. 

Over its 1 hour and 41 minute running time, 'The Last Wolf' relies on interviews with family members, friends, confidants, his former wife, and well-known authors of horror fiction, to provide a overview of Wagner's life and work. It's consistently interesting and informative, particularly when it turns its attention to the transformation of horror and fantasy fiction from a niche genre in the early 70s to its current-day prominence. 

The documentary covers the advent of the 'Silver Age' of horror, and how Wagner and his fellow authors, such as Ramsey Campbell, Peter Straub, and Dennis Etchison, among others, witnessed - and in some instances benefitted from - this transformation.

A chapter in the documentary titled 'Undone By His Own Bad Habits' offers a straightforward look at the role alcoholism played in Wagner's downfall as a writer (he couldn't meet his contractual obligations), the dissolution of his marriage, and his (gruesome) demise in October 1994.

The closing chapter of the documentary covers the continuing presence of Wagner's works in Europe, even while the U.S. sees a dearth of new editions of his books. According to Wagner's family members, it is difficult to find publishers who are interested in issuing reprints of Wagner's titles, hence, accessing his material remains dependent on e-Books (or, for those with deep pockets, used copies).

I recommend 'The Last Wolf' to anyone who is partial to horror, fantasy, or sci-fi literature, particularly as it was practiced during the 70s and 80s. It can be rented (for 48 hours) from Vimeo for only $3, or purchased for $6.