Like to Get to Know You by Spanky and Our Gang

'Like to Get to Know You'
by Spanky and Our Gang, 1968

This (lip-synched) performance was taped for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on December 13 1968, and afterward aired on December 22.

Book Review: Sight of Proteus

Book Review: 'Sight of Proteus' by Charles Sheffield

3 / 5 Stars

‘Sight of Proteus’ (282 pp) was published by Ace Books in September 1978; the cover art is by Clyde Caldwell.

‘Sight’ was one of a number of novels that were released in the late 70s and constituted a sort of mini-renaissance in the genre of hard sf, at a time when the New Wave movement was starting to pall.

‘Sight’ was the first novel by Charles Sheffield (1935 – 2002), an English physicist and mathematician, who went on to become a prolific sf writer in the 80s and 90s. The succeeding volumes in the so-called ‘Behrooz Wolf’ trilogy are Proteus Unbound (1989) and Proteus in the Underworld (1995).

I remember reading ‘Sight’ back in 1978, and finding to a welcome alternative to the New Wave material then still dominating sf. I wondered how it would come across when perused nearly 40 years later……………..?

The novel is set in the 22nd century; earth is overpopulated, and in a constant state of economic and social crisis. The Moon has been colonized, as well as selected portions of the asteroid belt, but these off-world entities cannot relieve the stresses on the home planet.

Advances in biotechnology and physiology have led to the rise of ‘Form Changes’, a process by which people can dramatically modify their bodies to take on new forms and appearances. A benefit of Form Changing is the extension of the lifespan to 100 years or more; this, however, has served to exacerbate the effects of overpopulation and the conflict between those able to afford the process, and those who cannot.

To prevent misuse of the Form Change industry, the Biological Equipment Corporation (BEC) monitors the licensing and credentialing of clinics offering the process; lead character Behrooz Wolf is a leading investigator in the BEC’s Office of Form Control. As ‘Sight’ opens, Wolf stumbles across what seems to be a covert effort by parties unknown to alter an entry in the genetic records in the BEC database. When further investigation reveals a carefully crafted effort to avoid BEC jurisdiction, Wolf and co-worker John Larsen set out to question staff at the Central Hospital.

Realizing that they have uncovered the initial evidence of what may be a wide-reaching, clandestine machination to alter the future path of human biology, Wolf and Larsen set out to discover the person or persons at the center of the conspiracy. What they don’t know is that their investigations will take them off-Earth and into space…...and a confrontation with a genius who seeks to revive the science and technologies of a planet that was destroyed millions of years ago………

My second reading of ‘Sight of Proteus’ left me assigning it a 3 / 5 Stars score. The strengths of the novel are its fast pace, with chapters that are short and concise; dialogue that avoids artifice; and a constant string of 'gee whizz' moments and revelations that propel the narrative to the very last page. It also deserves mention for bringing in story and plot elements that would in time become touchstones for the Cyberpunks (such as monofilament line capable, with the slightest contact, of slicing off a finger......or even an entire limb).

'Sight' is not without its faults, however. The very presence of so many 'gee whizz' moments means that the plot gradually becomes more and more contrived, with major developments being brought up, and disposed of, within the span of a few pages, as if the author had a surfeit of interesting ideas and concepts and yet insufficient text with which to address them. 

Summing up, 'Sight of Proteus' is perhaps best regarded as a decent, if not overly remarkable, first novel, one that incorporated hard sf elements at a time when many publishers were still promoting the New Wave movement. Compared to the sometimes dull and unimaginative novels produced at the time by hard sf stalwarts like Asimov, Clarke, and Niven and Pournelle, it holds up reasonably well. I can't recommend it as a must-have, but if you see a copy on the shelf of your used bookstore, it might be worth picking up.

Kamandi issue one

Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth !
Issue 1, October 1972

Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth debuted in October 1972. The first 40 issues were drawn by Jack Kirby, after which he left DC to work again for Marvel. DC continued to publish the comic, ultimately reaching issue 59 in September - October 1978, when it ceased publication as a casualty of the memorable 'DC Implosion' of that year. The character still pops up in various DC titles every now and then.

I remember buying issues of Kamandi in 1972 and 1973 (along with Kirby's other great DC books, like The Demon). It was a great comic.

There's no denying it copied the theme of the Planet of the Apes franchise (as other comic books have done since, most notably 2000 AD with its early 80s series Meltdown Man), but Kirby was able to add his own sci-fi ideas to the mix, and his artwork, and Mike Royer's inks, were very good.

Original issues of Kamandi offered in good condition at eBay start at around $5 and can reach over $40 for copies in NM condition. Obviously, assembling a full set of even the first 20 issues will be expensive (I've seen a complete set of all 59 issues in near-mint condition up for bid, starting at $500).

These two-volume 'Archive Editions' hardcover volumes, released in 2005 and 2007, reprint the first 20 issues. While volume two is available for reasonable prices, volume one has ridiculously inflated asking prices of over $130.

In 2011 - 2012 DC released yet another two-volume set, titled Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth Omnibus. Buyers should be aware that this series has dimensions of 6.9 x 1.2 x 10.5 inches, which is a bit smaller than the original comic. Asking prices for volume one of this particular compilation also are exorbitant.

Complicating the picture even further, in Spring 2018, DC will be releasing a single-volume, 900-page compilation of all 20 issues; this Kamandi by Jack Kirby Omnibus apparently will have a cover price of $125.00.

Below, I've posted issue one of Kamandi, scanned from the pages of the Archive edition. Unfortunately, even when using my Plustek OpticBook scanner, the interior edges of some of the pages may be cut off.]

Kiss Kompendium

Kiss Kompendium
by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley
Collins Imprint, 2009

'Kiss Compendium' was published by Harper Design / Collins Imprint in December, 2009. At 1,280 pages,  8.5 x 3 x 13.25 inches, and 10.16 pounds, it is one of the biggest books I ever have owned. It's more appropriate to call it a 'tome' than a simple book.

It's so heavy I can't put it on my scanner. I had to lay it on my dining room table and photograph the contents. 

To read the Kompendium I also have to lay it on a table - you can't flop onto your couch or easy chair with something this massive.

Kiss Kompendium is an omnibus edition compiling Kiss comic books published in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s by Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse.

It leads off with the inaugural Marvel Super Special #1 from September, 1977, which is famous for having the blood of the band members mixed into the printing ink. A photoessay documenting the story of this unique marketing twist is included.

Then there's the Marvel Super Special #5 from October, 1978. Then there are some rather more obscure comics that Marvel included in special-issue magazines designed to coincide with tours or album releases: Kissnation (1995), and the autobiographical Kisstory. 

These comics, which see the band interacting with heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe, don't take themselves too seriously. The band members are depicted as superheroes in their own right, and their disagreements with the Marvel characters have a campy, facetious quality.

Impressed by the Image title Spawn, in the late 1990s Gene Simmons decided to break with Marvel and have Image do the next iteration of Kiss comics. Designed to promote the album of the same title, Kiss: Psycho Circus started in August 1997 and ran for 31 issues till June 2000. Image took the franchise seriously and gave it 'high production values', so to speak.

Circus took a darker, more mature tone than anything seen before, and didn't bother with adhering to the Comics Code. Written by Brian Hulguin, the series featured intricate, atmospheric artwork by Clayton Crain and Angel Medina and fine coloring by Brian Haberlin. 

It's not only one of the best comic book series to feature the band, it's also (arguably) one of the best comic book series of the 90s. All 31 issues are present and accounted for in this Kompendium.

Kiss: Kompendium closes out with the 13 issue series from Dark Horse comics, which ran from July 2002 to September 2003. Titled simply Kiss, these comics are underwhelming due to the 'cartoony' art style of Mel Rubi. 

The final pages of the Kompendium features a 'Behind the Scenes' photo gallery that spans the years from 1975 - 2009. Whether you like Kiss, or hate them, there's no denying the band's staying power.

Summing up, there is some good material here for nostalgia aficionados, fans of Kiss, fans of pop culture, or - certainly in the case of Psycho Circus - fans of good comics, period. 

Alas, the Kompendium, having been out of print for nearly 13 years now, doesn't come cheap. On eBay, used copies start at around $70, and on amazon, the speculators and bookjackers are advertising 'used' copies starting at $124, and 'new' copies at $277 on up.

Hopefully, Harper Collins will contemplate issuing a reprint of the Kompendium at some time in the future so more people an get access to this treasure trove of Kiss-ness.

As for the Kiss comics franchise........well, they continue to be issued, yet another indication of the staying power of the brand. The most recent iteration, 'Kiss: Phantom Obsession', was published by Dynamite in 2021 - 2022. I wouldn't be all that surprised if a second Kompendium winds up being issued in the next five years or so................

Kiss: A Day in the Life of a Town

Kiss

Paul Stanley at the 'Day in the Life of a Town' event, Cadillac, Michigan, October 9, 1975

Kiss met with elected officials – all donning face paint - and sat on bales of straw for the Homecoming parade along the renamed Kiss Boulevard through downtown. They threw chocolate Hersey kisses to fans.

Gene Simmons led the football team down a hallway and into the band room for a private meet and greet. From there it was off to the football field, where television crews and scores of print and magazine journalists awaited.

"They're running around the football field in knee-high platform boots, trying not to fall,'' Schemmel said. "They were playing catch with us and posing for pictures. When we came in from practice – they had crates of guitars in the locker room. I mean Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons in the locker room – it was crazy.''

From Cadillac's connection with Kiss endures 40 years later, Detroit Free Press, 8 October 2015

The Gryphon Trilogy

The Crystal Gryphon
Gryphon in Glory
Gryphon's Eyrie
'The Gryphon Trilogy'
by Andre Norton

3 / 5 Stars

The 'Gryphon' trilogy consists of The Crystal Gryphon (DAW Books No. 75, 192 pp, cover art by Jack Gaughan, October 1973), Gryphon in Glory (Ballantine Books, 213 pp, cover art by Laurence Schwinger, May 1983) and Gryphon's Eyrie (Tor Books, 248 pp, cover art by Boris Vallejo, March 1985). 

All three books are considered part of the 'Witch World' universe, a quasi-medieval landscape littered with magical artifacts of a bygone civilization. The artifacts, which are imbued with 'Power', often are teleportation devices or dimension gates capable of letting both malign, and beneficent, entities access to the world. The human residents of Witch World are not above entering into alliances with these entities, sometimes for evil purposes.

All three novels originally are aimed at what is nowadays termed the Young Adult readership, but back in the 70s and early 80s, they also were marketed to adults. DAW Books relied on many of Norton's novels to round out its catalog in its early years. 

All three novels in the trilogy share an unusual narrative format, in which chapters alternate between the first-person points of view of the two lead characters.

The Crystal Gryphon is set in the mountainous High Hallack region of Witch World. The lead characters are Kevron, son of Ulric, a lord of Ulmsdale Keep; and Joisan, the niece of the ruler of neighboring Ithdale Keep. Both are adolescents, and, as part of a childhood ceremony uniting the two Keeps, are expected to marry once reaching adulthood.

Kevron is presented as a something of an outcast, whose possession of traits of the Old Ones (i.e., the original inhabitants of the Witch World) means he has cloven-hoofed feet and eyes with horizontal pupils. Much of the narrative of The Crystal Gryphon revolves (or belabors, depending on your point of view) around Kevron's angst about his mutant heritage and its effect on his interactions with the 'normal' humans of High Hallack.

I won't disclose any spoilers, save to say that Kevron's ascension to the throne of Ulmsdale Keep is abandoned in the wake of an invasion of High Hallack by invaders from a far-off country. Kevron and Joisan find themselves struggling to  survive the depredations of the invaders, whose ultimate goal centers on accessing the Dark Powers lying in stasis in the Wastes outside of High Hallack. Kevron and Joisan must rely on their psychic links with the Powers of Light still extant in the Wastes in order to deter what could be the ruination of High Hallack, and perhaps the Witch World itself. 

In Gryphon in Glory, Kevron and Joisan journey deep into the Wastes, braving multiple dangers of both human and nonhuman origin, in an effort to defeat further revivals of Dark Powers. 

In Gryphon's Eyrie, set in Arvon, a territory adjoining High Hallack, Kevron and Joisan befriend a nomadic tribe of horsemen, and try to find domestic tranquility. Unfortunately, the advent of yet another manifestation of Dark Powers forces Kevron to access a mountain redoubt and its reincarnations of entities of the Light, setting up a final confrontation to determine whether Avron and High Hallack remain free of taint. 

After reading five (!) horror novels in order to post reviews for the month of October here at the PorPor Books blog, I was ready to take in some lighter, less oppressive material, hence my decision to read the Gryphon Trilogy. The first novel in the series is the best; it has a more downbeat, 'adult' sensibility and works well as both a coming-of-age novel and a fantasy novel. 

Its literary style does suffer from being written in the early 70s, when the genre of adult fantasy was in its infancy and Norton elected to use the type of stilted prose that presumably marked High Fantasy writing. Readers should be prepared for the use of 'nooning' to refer to lunch; people who are routinely 'ensorcelled'; and people who 'company' , instead of 'accompanying', one another.

The plot of Gryphon in Glory is mainly an extension of that of the first novel; the setting becomes less expansive, and the narrative focuses on the interactions of the two lead characters. The portents of the forthcoming clash of the Dark Powers and Light Powers reviving in the Wastes begin to get tedious after a while, and the denouement is somewhat underwhelming, but Glory is a serviceable sequel.

Somewhat inevitably, the third and final novel in the series shows signs of tiredness. It's not clear what Anne C. Crispin's contribution was to the novel (by the early 80s Andre Norton was in declining health), but it essentially recycles the plot structure of the first two entries.

Summing up, the 'Gryphon' trilogy offers readable narratives that center on the emotional and psychological interactions of the lead characters; action scenes are relatively few and bloodless. But the Witch World setting does not lend itself to the scope of traditional fantasy novels; readers looking for depictions of massive conflicts between warring armies, forbidding Keeps stuffed with snarling orcs, and aerial assaults by fire-breathing dragons will not find these in the pages of any Gryphon novel.

The Rook Archives Volume 2

The Rook Archives: Volume 2
Dark Horse Books, July 2017

‘William Dubay’s The Rook Archives: Volume 2’ is the second compilation of ‘Rook’ comics issued by Dark Horse. As with Volume 1, this is a quality hardbound book with heavy stock pages and print quality that is about as good as it gets considering that the source materials likely are not in that great a shape (during its bankruptcy proceedings in the early 80s, much of the original artwork in the Warren magazines inventory ‘disappeared’, so it’s unclear if the scans used in this book are from the original artwork or not).

The issues of Eerie compiled in this volume run from 89 (January 1978) to 95 (September 1978); it’s issue 95 that serves as the cover illustration to this book.

Also included is a Rook guest-star appearance from issue 70 (July, 1978) of Vampirella.

As with Volume 1, Bill Dubay’s nephew, Ben Dubay, provides a Forward; this one deals with Bill Dubay’s efforts to break into the comic book business as a young man.

As far as the ‘Rook’ episodes in this volume go, the one titled ‘What is the Color of Nothingness ?’ is the standout. Bill Dubay’s script goes for a ‘cosmic’ atmosphere, as our hero takes his spaceship out to the edge of the universe and there discovers some mind-blowing things afoot. Presented in the rarely-used ‘landscape’ format, what really makes ‘Color’ special is the amazing artwork by the talented Filipino artist Alex Nino. Nino meticulously incorporates various Zip-A-Tone effects into the larger panels to give his artwork a striking three-dimensional appearance.

All this was done in the days before PCs and Photoshop, too – Nino had to cut out the Zip-A-Tone with an X-Acto knife and paste the cutouts onto the artwork pages. You won’t see that dedication to the craft in most contemporary comics, that’s for sure.

The remaining seven stories in Volume 2 are competent enough Rook tales, if nothing really attention-getting. The fact that one episode is titled ‘The Incredible Sagas of Sludge the Unconquerable, Helga the Damned, and Marmadrake the Magnificent’ is a sure tipoff that DuBay was aiming in these episodes for campy humor, most of it centered on Bishop Dane, the irascible great-grandfather of the Rook, Restin Dane. Dubay’s wordiness means that Luis Bermuda’s artwork often has to labor in cramped conditions, sharing precious panel space with lots of speech balloons.

Vampirella and Pantha appear in a two-part story to lend some cheesecake to the goings-on. But’s it’s the Vampirella issue 70 guest appearance by the Rook, titled ‘Ghostly Granny Gearloose’ with some outstanding artwork by Spanish artist Gonzalo Mayo, where Vampirella really shines, so to speak.

As with Volume 1, the readership for this compilation is aimed at Baby Boomers over 50 who remember these comics from their youth. If you are a fan of the Rook, and the Warren magazines, from those long-ago days, then you’ll want Volume 2. 

And………. if you’re a comics fan under the age of 25, who just maybe, possibly, hypothetically, is a bit fed up with round after round of ‘Spiderverse’ and ‘Secret Wars’ and ‘Dark Knights: Metal’ comic book ‘events’, perhaps taking a look at ‘The Rook Archives’ just might be a gateway to the time when comics were a little less designed to be multi-level marketing packages designed to separate fans from their money, and maybe a little more fun to read…………..?!