The Adventures of Luther Arkwright

'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright' 

by Bryan Talbot

Dark Horse comics, 1997

The Dark Horse Comics series, March 1990 - February 1991

 Graphic novel, Dark Horse, July 1997

'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright' has a complicated history.

Throughout the 1970s, British artist Bryan Talbot contributed material to various underground comix being published in the UK, among them Brainstorm Comix.

In 1976, as Talbot recounts in his history of the Arkwright canon, in an issue of Mixed Bunch Comix (a Brainstorm imprint) he drew a seven-page strip titled 'The Papist Affair'. This represented the first appearance of the Luther Arkwright character.

'The Papist Affair' was a humor strip, and in my opinion, it was mainly intended as an opportunity for Talbot  to draw the 'Leather Nun' archetype so fondly rendered in American underground comix.

Additional episodes of what was to become 'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright' ran in various short-lived, UK under- and above- ground comics in the late 70s - early 80s. 

Several trade paperback compilations of the Arkwright comics were released in the UK in the 80s, but it was not until 1987 that American indie comic publisher Valkyrie released the complete Arkwright comics as a 9-issue series.

The Valkyrie series was given an underwhelming reception in the US, an outcome that may have had something to do with the formatting of the comics; in a reaction to what he saw as the sterile, contrived nature of American comics, Talbot had drawn his Arkwright content without speech balloons, sound effects, whoosh marks, etc. 

Despite the disappointing reception of the Valkyrie imprint, Dark Horse Comics publisher Mike Richardson acquired the license to the series and decided to republish it, this time with changes to the formatting that Richardson felt would make the comic more palatable to the US readership, such as including speech balloons. 

Talbot agreed to provide all-new covers for the Dark Horse series, and each issue was to contain, in addition to the comic proper, ancillary features such as essays on the Luther Arkwright phenomenon, and previews of upcoming episodes.

Dark Horse published issue #1 in March, 1990, finishing up with issue #9 in February, 1991. In July 1997 the company released all 9 comics in a trade paperback compilation.

So.....what is 'Luther Arkwright' all about ?

The plot is heavily reliant on Michael Moorcock's 'multiverse' concept, in which what may be an infinite number of parallel worlds exist, simultaneously , alongside one another in the space-time continuum. This idea is not overly novel on Moorcock's part - in the 1950s, H. Beam Piper was among the first to make the concept an integral part of sf, and in the early 60s Keith Laumer based his 'Imperium' novels on the parallel worlds concept - but Moorcock's interpretation exerted much influence on British writers in the 60s and 70s.

The 'Arkwright' adventures take place on a number of parallel worlds, or 'paras'. These are at various stages of political and technological development. A shadowy force, composed of beings of  malevolent intent known as the 'Disruptors', seek to influence events on multiple paras. The ultimate goal of the Disruptors is unclear, but they are prepared to kill and maim in order to achieve it.

The most technologically advanced para, known as 'ZeroZero', watches events on the other paras with alarm, as the influence of the Disruptors grows.

In an effort to counter the influence of the Disruptors, ZeroZero decides to infiltrate the paras with its own agent for change: an agent named Luther Arkwright. Arkwright possesses esp and other paranormal abilities, which will serve him in good stead in his shadowy war against the Disruptors.

On one particular para, it's 1984, and in a London ruled by the descendent of Oliver Cromwell, the contest between the Disruptors and ZeroZero approaches critical mass. A rebellion by the remnants of the monarchy is about to emerge, even as the forces of Germany and Russia look on in anticipation of stepping in to subdue the exhausted victors and take Albion for their own.

All that stands between the Disruptors, and their takeover of the multiverse, is Luther Arkwright......

'Arkwright' is not the most accessible comic; as a product of the 70s, it's initial three issues are more of a display of the author's desire to showcase the experimental, avant-garde ethos of the underground comix movement than a coherent narrative. The storyline jumps about in time and space, and fails to provide the necessary exposition that might give the reader any orientation as to what is taking place.

Things improve from issue 4 on, as the central plot begins to take shape and a storyline emerges out of the confusion.

What gives 'Arkwright' its status as one of the great sf comics of the 20th century is not so much its plot - which could be classified as proto-steampunk -  as its artwork. Because the series unfolded over a protracted interval of time, Talbot had the opportunity to apply his meticulous, deliberate draftsmanship in every issue.

The result is an impressive display of black and white and graytone artwork. From page to page, panel to panel, Talbot displays his skills in chiaroscuro, pen-and-ink, ink wash, and other techniques: 

For example, the intricate Pre-Raphaelite motifs of the wallpaper behind Rose Wylde, in the panel below, showcase Talbot's attention to detail:

In the page below, the careful placement of the individual reaction shots of the characters, superimposed on the cataclysmic event taking place in the central illustration, with its penumbra rendered in staggered layers of shading, is also very well done:

This type of draftsmanship, the dedication to cross-hatching and shading, simply doesn't exist anymore in contemporary mainstream publisher comic books. And today's 'indie' comics, that have since supplanted the underground comics of the 60s and 70s, are marked by mediocre, amateurish artwork.

Summing up: if you're a fan of old school comics and graphic art, then you'll want to pick up 'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'.

But...... I suspect that anyone under 30 will find 'Arkwright' underwhelming, even over-rated. Compared to modern comics, the experimental nature of much of the Arkwright content will be a turn-off.....such as trying to read a page containing a block of stream-of-consciousness text set in 5-point font:

In 1999, Dark Horse Comics published a sequel to 'Arkwright', titled 'Heart of Empire'. 'Heart' ran to nine lengthy issues, from April 1999 - December 1999.

Printed on quality paper, with computer-generated coloring provided by Angus McKie, 'Heart' was much more user-friendly in its attitudes towards the modern comic book concept.

I recommend reading 'Luther Arkwright' prior to taking on 'Empire', as many aspects of the latter's narrative won't really make sense in the absence of familiarity with the preceding volume.

Complete sets of the Dark Horse series for 'Arkwright' and 'Empire' are available at the usual online outlets for reasonable prices, as are the two graphic novels that compile each of the series.

Talbot's online shop offers a variety of merchandise, including a CD that contains the complete 'Arkwright',  'Empire', plus a host of ancillary material, such as a commentary by Talbot, draft sketches, and essays. Talbot's shop also offers pages of original artwork, tee-shirts, and copies of his other graphic novels, such as the 'Grandville' books, 'The Tale of One Bad Rat', and 'Alice in Sunderland'.

Sex American Style

'Sex, American Style: An Illustrated Romp Through the Golden Age of Heterosexuality' by Jack Boulware

 

 

'Sex, American Style' (248 pp) was published in 1997 by Feral House. It's a large trade paperback, with a format in which copious black and white illustrations occupy the sidebars, and text, the center of the page.

If you grew up in the period from 1968 - 1980, like I did, then this book is a bizarre, but entertaining, trip back in time....to the era when everyone was focused on maintaining their body hair, not removing it.

When there was no internet, no AIDS, no Xanax, and the idea of buying jeans with holes already in them utterly incomprehensible.  

Hedonism and self-absorption were the proper attitudes to take in the face of a battered economy, gas shortages, widespread unemployment, and plenty of existential anomie.

Boulware divides the book into chapters dealing with various aspects of American culture. He leads off with movies, both Hollywood productions and hardcore (back in 1971, in order to see porn movies, you actually had to visit an adult theatre).

The next series of chapters explore 70s 'excess' in music....

...literature......

 ......television.....

 .....'how to' manuals........

 ....consumer products.....

....and the 'swinger' culture....

The verdict ? Having a copy of 'Sex, American Style' is an absolute requirement for anyone who grew up in the interval from 1968 - 1980.

'The Bus'

'The Bus' by Paul Kirchner

Book Review: '48

Book Review: '48 by James Herbert

2 / 5 Stars

’48 was published in hardcover in 1997; this Harper Prism paperback (435 pp) was released in 1998.

The novel takes place in an alternate England, which, in March 1945, is bombarded by Nazi V-2 rockets carrying a biowarfare agent called the ‘Blood Death’. The Blood Death causes a gruesome death by hemorrhage, and within a matter of weeks, all but a tiny fraction of the UK’s population has succumbed.

The survivors can be grouped into two cohorts: there are those who have a slight resistance to the Blood Death, and thus are the ‘slow dying’….getting a little sicker with each passing day, a little closer to bleeding out in a final spasm of agony.

Then there are those with blood type AB-negative, the truly immune.

As the novel opens, it’s the Summer of ’48, and the first-person narrator, an American fighter pilot named Eugene Nathaniel Hoke, is lounging in the empty hallways of the Savoy Hotel in London. With the good fortune to be an AB-negative and immune to the plague, when not enjoying having a five-star hotel to his disposal, Hole roams the silent streets of London, carefully ignoring the corpses inside the rusting cars and trucks, lying on the doorsteps of houses, or simply moldering as they lie on the sidewalks and the roadways.

Hoke doesn’t have it all easy, however. A band of slow dying fascists, wearing the uniforms of Britain’s Blackshirts, and led by a psychopath named Hubble, are intent on capturing him. Their goal: transfuse Hoke’s blood into Hubble, in a wild hope that this will arrest the disease, and let Hubble live to establish a fascist state in the ruins of England.

Needless to say, Hoke has no intention of letting himself be drained in order to prolong the life of Hubble, nor any other Blackshirt.

Complications arrive when Hoke discovers that there are other survivors in London….an upper-class society girl named Muriel, a working-class girl named Cissie, and a German POW named Stern. Muriel and Cissie seem like they can be trusted. But Stern may not be what he appears to be….but with Hubble and the Blackshirts right on his tail, Hoke will have to take chances if he is to live another day……..

James Herbert (1943 – 2013) wrote ’48 late in his career, and, rather than another of the horror novels for which he was well-known and highly successful, he was obviously trying to produce an action novel in the Robert Ludlum tradition. But for me, ‘48’ was a disappointment, mainly because it’s essentially one long ‘chase’ novel, and too much of a stretch for Herbert’s abilities.

The ‘Blood Death’ component of the backstory is an afterthought, more of a plot device to provide Herbert with a deserted, Omega Man – style London within which to set his action sequences. The novel also is devoid of any horror or supernatural overtones; unlike the ‘Lair’ series, this ruined metropolis contains no monsters or sci-fi anomalies.

In the absence of any horror or sf content, the reader is left with an increasingly tedious series of hairs-breadth escapes, last –minute reprieves, the just-in-time collapsing of ceilings, guns that happen to jam just when the holder intends to fire, etc., etc.

It doesn’t help things that Hoke is one of stupider characters I've encountered in a Herbert novel, nor that the brief sections of the narrative in which the chase is suspended, are given over to Herbert speechifying about the loathsome nature of Fascism and Bigotry.

The climax of ’48, and the final confrontation between Hoke and the Blackshirts, takes place amid some famous London landmarks. There is some inherent drama in such a setup, but unfortunately, this sequence is so over-written that by the time Herbert closed the novel, I was more than ready for the final paragraph to make its appearance. 

In summary, ’48 is for true Herbert aficionados only.

The Graveyard

'The Graveyard' by Patrick Woodroffe
from the book Mythopoeikon (1976)
intended as a cover for a book of ghost stories published by Fontana (UK).

Father Shandor: The Hordes of Hell from Warrior No. 7

'Father Shandor, Demon Stalker'
'The Hordes of Hell'
from Warrior (UK) No. 7, November, 1982

In this installment, Father Shandor - lately killed by the demon princess Jaramsheela - gets a new lease on life, as Jaramsheela discovers her brother's army is advancing on her realm. Shandor discovers that being brought back from the dead brings with it some striking new powers.....

Book Review: Lycanthia

Book Review: 'Lycanthia' by Tanith Lee

3 / 5 Stars

‘Lycanthia, or The Children of Wolves’ (220 pp) is DAW Book No. 429, and was published in April, 1981. The cover artwork is by Paul Chadwick.

‘Lycanthia’ is in many ways a forerunner of the highly successful genre of ‘supernatural’ romances (e.g., 'Twilight'), a genre that really didn’t exist back in 1981.

The novel is set in France during the 1920s or 1930s. Its protagonist is Christian Dorse, a young man utterly absorbed with himself, and the tuberculosis that slowly is killing him. 

As the novel opens, Dorse has the good luck to inherit a chateau in the remote countryside. Bored with city life, and conscious of his dwindling years, Dorse travels to the chateau, and the opening chapters introduce the reader to the melancholy rural landscape in Winter, the foreboding chateau, its eccentric servants, and the local village, with its ancient superstitions and rustic customs.

At first content to play the cynical aesthete, stylishly prostrated by his illness, Dorse learns that the chateau has a history of disturbing behaviors by its former seigneurs. There are intimations of crimes and atrocities, acts that may have links to the presence of the large black dogs haunting the chateau and the surrounding forests. 

Dorse soon finds himself walking the narrow trails in the woods with a rifle in his hands, seeking what may be man-killing wolves.But what he actually finds is something more complex than a simple folktale of loups-garoux. For the village, the chateau, and the rumored werewolves all are part of an ancient and enduring tragedy, a tragedy that he may unwittingly revive…..

As was the case with most of Tanith Lee’s output in the 70s and 80s, ‘Lycanthia’ relies heavily on an ornate prose style. Readers should prepare for sentences chock full of metaphors and similes, and detailed exposition on the mental and spiritual turmoil of a ‘decadent’ character.
 
Lee clearly is making a conscious effort to imbue her novel with the same themes and attitudes of J. K. Huysmans’ 1884 symbolist classic A Rebours (‘Against Nature’). Christian Dorse is at heart a more modern version of Huysmans’ Jean Des Esseintes, seeking stimulation of his jaded, world-weary palate from the customs and practices of the primitive, but virile, landscape of rural France.

For these reasons, I suspect that ‘Lycanthia’ will not be embraced by readers of modern urban fantasies, where a clean, clear prose style, and recurring casts of characters, are the status quo. But if you are adventurous in regard to supernatural romance literature, then you may find 'Lycanthia' rewarding.

Blood on Black Satin episode one

'Blood on Black Satin' episode one
by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy
Episode One (from Eerie #109, February 1980)

One of the most impressive strips ever to appear in a Warren magazine was the three-part 'Blood on Black Satin', written by Doug Moench, and gifted with outstanding artwork by Paul Gulacy. 

The inaugural installment appeared in Eerie 109 (February 1980) and parts two and three in issues 110 (April 1980) and 111 (June 1980).

Posted below is the first episode; the succeeding episodes will be posted in the future here at the PorPor Books blog.

These scans are taken from the original comic and done at 300 dpi, using the graytone setting on my Plustek book scanner. I then used Corel Photo-Paint to autoadjust the images for fading and sharpness, although this creates jpeg files each 18 - 22 MB in size - hopefully the web page won't crash when loading. 

For reasons that are unclear, some of the pages present with a sepia tint, despite being auto-adjusted; I suspect this is an issue with Blogger, as when I examine the images in Photo-Paint, they display no tinting.

I expect they will be as good as one can get, at least until Dark Horse / The New Comic Company produce all three episodes in an upcoming Eerie Presents hardbound volume....