Saturday, December 31, 2022

 50% Off at PM Press

As the year comes to a close, PM Press of Oakland is having a 50% off sale on much of its catalog. Use the coupon code GIFT at checkout. The offer expires on January 1, 2023, so don't dawdle.

If you haven't yet gotten any of the volumes pictured above, authored by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre, that deal with various genres of paperback books, then now is a good time to obtain them. 

PM also has a sizeable catalog of books in its 'Outspoken Authors' imprint, which is devoted to publishing ephemera from science fiction, horror, and crime novelists like Ursula Le Guin, Joe R. Lansdale, John Shirley, Elizabeth Hand, Michael Moorcock, and John Crowley, among others. Most hip, indeed............

Friday, December 30, 2022

Playboy December 1984

Playboy
December 1984
Let's go back in time 38 years, and celebrate December, 1984, along with Playboy magazine.

This is a prosperous time for the magazine; the December issue has a whopping 308 pages, crammed with ads for liquor, tobacco products, consumer electronics, clothing, and fitness gear. Anyone remember Jantzen sportwear....?!
Then there is something called the 'Aroma Disc' player - ?! Labeled a 'fragrance record diffuser', a kind of a cross between a Renuzit and a CD player, it sold very well when introduced in December 1983. 

You can find vintage units for sale at eBay.

As far as celebrity nudie action, the December 1984 issue featured Suzanne Somers, born in 1946 as Suzanna Mahoney. Somers was looking to raise her profile, having departed the hit TV series Three's Company in 1981. Somers plays it coy with the pictorial, keeping the action at an R-rated level, ostensibly because she had a 18 year-old son (who, according to the Wiki entry, saw the photos anyway).
Elsewhere in the December issue we get some additional 'celebrity skin' in the form of a 'Sex Stars of 1984' review:
There are the usual cartoons and, in 1984, the magazine had a section devoted to comic strips.
The fiction features in the magazine are high-powered, and include an excerpt from the 1984 novel by Mario Puzo, 'The Sicilian', which was set in the universe of the highly successful 'Godfather' franchise.
For nonfiction, we have another installment in the serialized version of the 1987 book by Michael Drosnin, 'Citizen Hughes', about the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes. Don Ivan Punchatz provides a great illustration:
There's an advertising / marketing section devoted to the magic of - robots ! Yes, in '84, robots were available, to do simple things. The Roomba was still 17 years in the future (the first robot vacuum was the Swedish-made Trilobite, in 2001). But in '84 you could spend quite a bit of money on a robot that transported your drinks.
That's how it was, at the tail of end of 1984. Who knew what 1985 would bring.........?

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

The Daily Dredds for 2023

The Daily Dredds Volumes One and Two
2000 AD, 2014
I so liked the Judge Dredd daily comic strips that are compiled in a trade paperback, 'The Judge Dredd Collection', that for Christmas I went and purchased the two hardcover books, 'The Daily Dredds', that collect the dailies that appeared in the UK paper The Star from 1981 to 1989. I was able to get these in Very Good condition for a little over $45 total. 

It's unclear if Rebellion (the current owner of the 2000 AD franchise) are going to issue the strips published in the Star after 1989. But as for these, they are thick bricks of books, and promise enjoyable reading well into the New Year 2023 ! 

Monday, December 26, 2022

Merry Christmas All the Salsoul Orchestra

Merry Christmas All
by the Salsoul Orchestra
Christmas time is here
It's a jolly good time of the year
People somehow know
The Christmas spirit they show

The Salsoul Orchestra recorded a number of albums from 1974 to 1982. Comprised of session musicians, some of whom had previously worked for the Gamble and Huff studio in Philadelphia, the Orchestra released a Christmas album in 1976. Christmas Jollies is an excellent melding of the mid-70s disco sound with Christmas favorites. 

One track, 'Merry Christmas All', an original contribution, was written by the Orchestra's founder, Vincent Montana Jr. with his daughter Denise Montana on lead vocals. 

A video, featuring Denise lip-synching to the song, is available here. Dig it ! They don't make 'em like that anymore !

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead

Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental
by Drew Friedman and Josh Alan Friedman
Fantagraphics Books, 1985
Drew Friedman (b. 1958) and his older brother Josh Alan Friedman (b. 1956) are the sons of Bruce Jay Friedman (1930 - 2020), who during the 1950s was a prominent house writer for Martin Goodman's Magazine Management publishing company, before embarking on a successful career as a novelist and playwright.
The Friedman boys grew up submerged in the sensibility of the darker side of urban, New York City, Jewish humor. Drew Friedman attended New York's School of Visual Arts from 1978 to 1981, where Harvey Kurtzman was one of his instructors. Kurtzman provides a brief Forward to 'Any Similarity':

Drew Friedman was one of my more memorable students. It was like if Hitler was one of my more memorable students. You get the idea.

In 1978 the brothers began publishing cartoons and illustrations, some of these in Screw magazine. These cartoons were written by Josh Alan Friedman and featured the meticulous stippling of Drew Friedman. The brother focused their attention on the imagined antics of a generation of prewar and postwar actors and showbiz personalities who, as of the 1970s, either were dead, or elderly, and slipping from the public consciousness.
After starting with Screw, during the early 1980s the Friedmans moved into supplying work for mainstream magazines like Heavy Metal (which is where I first became aware of their stuff) and High Times, eventually branching into Raw and the National Lampoon, among other venues. 
'Any Similarity to Persons' (84 pp.) collects black and white and graytone pieces from the Friedman brothers over the interval from 1978 to 1985. It's a large, 9 x 12" trade paperback that displays the artwork to good effect.
In interviews, Drew Friedman indicates that he was trying to reproduce the look of black-and-white photographs with his artwork and this is what makes his imagery so distinctive. He and Josh Alan Friedman depict the characters rendered in these comics with a mixture of affection, pathos, cruelty, and sardonic humor. 
The last page of 'Any Similarity to Persons' provides a Glossary of some of the people and caricatures presented in the pages of the book; this helps give context to personalities that were obscure even at the time the Friedmans included them in their cartoons. 
I did find myself Googling more than a few of the featured subjects. For example, I had no idea that comedian Lou Costello's year-old son, Lou Costello, Jr., had drowned in the family pool in November, 1943, after slipping out from the bars of his playpen. 
An argument could be made that if 'Any Similarity to Persons' is to retain any resonance among modern-day readers, a reprint will have feature annotations of a more comprehensive nature. This is because the personalities satirized in its pages have slipped so far into obscurity that readers under the age of 60 likely will find much of the book's content inscrutable.
Those with the memories and a fondness for the pop culture icons of the era depicted in 'Any Similarity to Persons' will find the book engrossing. Even those lacking in familiarity with the era still may enjoy the book for its meticulous artwork and potent atmosphere of mordant comedy. 

I would be remiss if not pointing out that Drew Friedman has released other collections of his artwork, and his 2007 trade paperback, 'The Fun Never Stops', which focuses on pop culture of the 80s and 90s, likely will find greater rapport with with a younger generation of readers.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Book Review: The War Hound and the World's Pain

Book Review: 'The War Hound and the World's Pain' by Michael Moorcock
 2 / 5 Stars

'The War Hound and the World's Pain' first was published in 1981 in the U.S. as a Timescape book (239 pp.) from Pocket Books, with cover art by Rowena Morrill. 

In August, 1983, the New English Library published a larger-size paperback version (198 pp.) for the U.K. market, with cover art by Chris Achilleos.

'War Hound' is the first volume in the so-called von Bek series, which concludes with 'The City in the Autumn Stars' (1986).

'War Hound' is set in Europe in the year 1631, in the midst of the Thirty Year's War. The protagonist, Captain Ulrich von Bek, is a soldier of fortune, serving various polities and religions depending who offers the most reliable pay. von Bek has no illusions about the sanctity of these religious wars, preferring to observe the mayhem with an attitude of calculated indifference. 

After participating in the notorious siege of the German city Magdeburg, von Bek finds his studied callousness disturbed by the atrocities visited upon the city's hapless people. He  decides to remove himself from the sphere of the War, and wanders into the deeper forests of Germany. There he comes across an unusually tranquil setting, a setting dominated by a resplendent castle.......with no living beings inside it. 

In due course an alluring woman named Sabrina arrives, attended by undead servants, and it becomes clear to von Bek that the castle and its environs are steeped in the supernatural. von Bek learns from Sabrina that the lord of the castle is none other than Lucifer himself. And Lucifer has a task for him..........a task that von Bek cannot refuse, on pain on being condemned forever to Hell.

Hoping to save his soul from Hell, and win the lady Sabrina, von Bek sets off across the known worlds and the world between the worlds. His journey will take him to the haunts of the Wild Hunt, encounters with a fanatical persecutor of heretics, and confrontations with demons and devils. For even though von Bek serves the aims of Lucifer, some of the creatures of Hell have their own reasons for wanting to see his quest fail...........

I found 'War Hound' to be a disappointment. 

Much of narrative (indeed, the first 50+ pages) is devoted to lengthy passages of dialogue in which the characters engage in philosophical discussions. The action sequences that are commonplace in Moorcock's older fantasy novels are effective, but reduced in number, in the pages of 'War Hound'. The only character with any sort of personality is one Philander Groot, who is an incarnation of Jerry Cornelius. 

It's not disclosing spoilers to say that Moorcock's aim with 'War Hound' is to compose a fantasy novel with a Message, the Message being that humanism is the only viable alternative to the dashed hopes that are integral to any religious belief. But the novel's approach to imparting this stance is overly labored, and, in the closing chapters, not very convincing. 

Each reader will of course have to draw his or her own conclusions as to whether they agree with Moorcock, but for me, the justification for replacing religion with humanism, as expounded in 'The War Hound and the World's Pain', seemed glib and facile. I finished the book content with providing a two-star Rating, and with no overwhelming desire to pursue the sequel. 

Sunday, December 18, 2022

Defeat Comics: National Lampoon August 1971

Defeat Comics
from National Lampoon, August 1971
The My Lai Massacre, which took place on March 16, 1968, and resulted in the deaths of some 504 South Vietnamese civilians, was very much in the news in 1971, when in March of that year a court-martial found Second Lieutenant William Laws Calley Jr. guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

Calley subsequently was freed in 1974, but the counterculture - of which National Lampoon was a part - used the My Lai massacre to heighten its condemnation of the Vietnam War.

The August, 1971 issue of the Lampoon went all-out with mordant, militant humor over the Vietnam War, with Frank Kelly Freas commissioned to provide a cover portrait of William Calley, as merged with 'Alfred E. Neumann' from Mad magazine.

Inside, writer Michael O'Donoghue provided 'Defeat Comics', a vicious satire of the war comics from Marvel, DC, and Charlton then circulating on newsstands. O'Donoghue teamed up with George Trow and artist 'Crag W. Granite', a pseudonym for the established comics artist Frank Springer. Heightening the comic's subversive sensibility was the fact that Springer did artwork for Marvel comics, including Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

With its depictions of all-American boys morphed into G.I.s who are war profiteers, junkies, stoners, and antiwar activists, 'Defeat Comics' encapsulated the counterculture's attitude towards the war.......... and was laugh-out-loud funny in the bargain. 

Although the faux advertisement for 'Lt. Calley's Kill the Children Foundation', and 'Madame Ky's Puzzle Page', are ghoulishly over-the-top.......

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Interview with Artist Jean Michel Nicollet

Interview with Artist Jean Michel Nicollet
VICE France, November 2019
Among the most memorable pieces to appear in Metal Hurlant and Heavy Metal during the late 1970s and early 1980s were those from the French artist Jean Michel Nicollet (b. 1944). 

Sadly, a book compiling Nicollet's artwork for French paperback publishers such as Neo, his work for magazines, and studio art pieces, remains to be published.

In November of 2019 the French version of the VICE website published an interview with Nicollet, conducted by FĂ©lix Macherez. The interview was done in French, but the Google Translate English version is quite comprehensible. It offers some interesting insights into the founding days of Metal Hurlant and the scope and scale of Nicollet's work for paperback publishers (for example, he made over 400 drawings, and 200 covers, for NEO). Well worth reading !

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Book Review: Dark Stars

Book Review: 'Dark Stars' by Thomas F. Monteleone
3 / 5 Stars

'Dark Stars and Other Illuminations' (181 pp.) was published by Doubleday / Science Fiction Book Club in April, 1981. As best as I can tell, no mass-market paperback edition ever was published.

Thomas F. Monteleone (b. 1946) began publishing sci-fi in 1975 when his novel 'Seeds of Change' was an entry in Harlequin Book's Laser Books imprint. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he produced novels and short stories in a variety of genres. In the 1990s he was the editor for the successful 'Borderlands' horror and dark fantasy anthologies. He remained active through the 2010s in specialty press and eBook publications.

'Dark Stars' collects shorts stories, novellas, and plays, all first seeing print in the 1970s and early 1980s in anthologies such as 'Chrysalis' (Zebra Books), 'Shadows', and 'New Voices'.

My capsule summaries of the contents:

Roger Zelazny provides the Introduction, and each piece in turn has a preface from Monteleone in which he gives insights into his progress as a writer, and the inspiration for the story.

The Star-Filled Sea Is Smooth Tonight (1977): a space pilot, traumatized by the removal of his Virtual Reality implants, searches for healing. Monteleone recycled this story, retitled 'Prodigal Son', as his contribution to the 1991 vampire anthology 'Under the Fang'.

The Curandeiro (1977): in Brazil, strange things are going on in the village where a 'faith healer' has set up shop. An imaginative story and one of the better ones in the anthology.

Present Perfect (1974) a humorous tale about the cruel reality of the Slush Pile.

Just in the Niche of Time (1978): Frank Vecchio is being squeezed by the Mob. He finds succor in a most unusual way. Another humorous tale.

Mister Magister (1978): in his preface to this story Monteleone states that it was an effort to emulate the tenor of the television show The Twilight Zone, as the piece was to be published in an anthology celebrating Rod Serling's production. Like too many episodes of the show, 'Magister' has a preachy, overwrought quality that doesn't appeal to me.

Mister Magister: A Play on One Act (1978): this is a stage / teleplay Monteleone wrote based on the abovementioned story.

Camera Obscura (1977): when an explosion deprives renowned photographer Fred Lieberman of his sight, he receives sophisticated implants that restore his vision.......but show him things he never before has seen. This story tries in a very earnest manner to say something profound about Art, Loss, and the Human Condition. 

Where All the Songs Are Sad (1978): vacationing with relatives in Sicily, Vincent Manzara learns about a troubling segment of the clan's history. A 'quiet' horror story that has sufficient punch in its closing pages to be successful.

The Dancer in the Darkness (1979): Paul, a slacker enjoying doing nothing of import while living in Cordoba, Spain, meets an alluring young woman named Lisa who is infatuated with flamenco dancing.

Like 'Where Are All the Songs Are Sad', this story is well-written and offers local color. But the melding of flamenco dancing and the supernatural is simply too mild a combination to make this tale a memorable treatment of the dark fantasy genre.

Taking the Night Train (1981): Ralphie Loggins is the club-footed barker for a strip bar on 42nd Street in New York City in the good, great days of the Sleazoid Express era. Riding the subway late at night, Ralphie sees something unusual......and decides to investigate......

This story starts off on a promising note, hinting at what might be a Clive Barker-ish journey into urban horror. But then, disappointingly, it goes off into retold Myth territory, in the same manner as Harlan Ellison did with his story 'On the Slab' (also which came out in 1981). 

For me, the best part of 'Taking the Night Train' is the preface, in which Monteleone relates his horror at the state of 42nd Street and Times Square when he visited the city in the early 1980s:

What I discovered was a shock to the precious memories of wide-eyed youth. The place was filthy with trash, human and otherwise. All the first-run movie theaters were still there, but they were being crowded by sleazy little shops, hawking everything from crappy New York souvenirs to the full range of dope paraphernalia......there were also packs of derelicts, greasy-looking teenagers, and other variations of bad dudes......Massage parlors, 'adult' bookstores, peep shows, and topless bars had proliferated over the place like flies. It was the old Sodom and Gomorrah shtick........

One wishes Monteleone had arranged to have Bill Landis and Josh Alan Friedman ('Tales of Times Square') along as tour guides ! 

Summing up, 'Dark Stars' reflect the state of science fiction during the New Wave era, and horror fiction, during the Quiet Horror era. Editors favored submissions that centered on mood, characterization, atmosphere, and setting. Plotting was subordinate, and depictions of explicit violence and horror discouraged. These pieces by Monteleone met those criteria. 

Although arguably there are more calories in a single page of a Joe Lansdale or William Gibson story than in any of the entire stories in 'Dark Stars', if you are someone who embraces the writing style of the New Wave and Quiet Horror eras, then you will find 'Dark Stars' worth searching out.

Thursday, December 8, 2022

The Judge Dredd Collection

The Judge Dredd Collection
IPC Magazines, Ltd., 1985
My local comic book store occasionally has some really off-the-wall items scattered around its shelves along with the inevitable X-Men and Superman and Dog Boy stuff.

So it was that recently, I picked up a trade paperback collection of Judge Dredd newspaper strips - ! 

In August 1981, the 2000 AD character had achieved sufficient recognition for the magazine's editors to arrange for a weekly Judge Dredd strip to run in the UK tabloid newspaper the Daily Star.

The Star was (and is) not an exemplar of 'journalism', but rather, an exemplar of Fleet Street. It ran (and continues to run) pictures of scantily-clad models, along with gossip and all manner of provocative articles (the kind that elicit libel lawsuits). So it was a natural home for Judge Dredd, and indeed, writer John Wagner did his best to make the strip reflect the irreverent, acidic tenor of the 2000 AD magazine, with no watering down of content. The strip was very successful, and ran until 1998.

There are five 'Judge Dredd Collection' trade paperbacks from IPC, which compile the comic strips originally appearing in the Star.

In 2014, Rebellion reissued the strips, packaged in two chunky, 350-page hardcovers, as Judge Dredd: The Daily Dredds, Volumes One and Two. 
I've posted scans of some selected strips from 'The Judge Dredd Collection'. 

One thing that is readily apparent to any U.S. reader is that the liberal editorial standards of the Star allow for the type of content that never would have been approved by the syndicates that provide comic strips to American newspapers. 

The facetiousness, and violent actions, of the Dredd dailies in the Star are much too coarse and transgressive for the delicate sensibilities of American readers.

It's also clear that Wagner understood the limitations of writing weekly strips, with a limit of 10 panels. His stories are cogent and effective and filled with a uniquely British sense of humor. 

And Ron Smith was a gifted artist who understood the need to keep his drawings legible, while at the same time, rendering faces and expressions with a brilliance akin to that of the golden age of newspaper strip artists such as Alex Raymond (Rip Kirby), Leonard Starr (Mary Perkins, On Stage), Dale Messick (Brenda Starr) and Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates).
If you can find affordable copies of the Judge Dredd Collection, get 'em. They are a lot of fun !