The Dark Age of Comic Books (TV Tropes)

The Dark Age of Comic Books
from 'TV Tropes'

A very readable and entertaining essay about how the release of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen in 1986 ignited a trend towards darker, more violent stories in comic books from multiple U.S. publishers. 

(I can't find an author for the TV Tropes essay, nor a date of publication.)

An argument could be made that in the U.K., 2000 AD comics already had staked out its turf on the 'Dark Age', and that the U.S. comics industry simply was catching up. But maybe that's for another essay, at another time..................

Chopper: Song of the Surfer

Chopper: Song of the Surfer
by John Wagner (story) and Colin McNeil (art)
Fleetway / 2000 AD, 1990

'Chopper: Song of the Surfer' (96 pp) was published by Fleetway / 2000 AD in August, 1990. It's a large trade paperback, sized 9 x 11 1/2 inches.

Marlon 'Chopper' Shakespeare first appeared in 2000 AD comics in Prog #206 (April 1981) as a juvenile delinquent who specialized in scrawling graffiti on the most inaccessible places in Mega City One. Inevitably, Chopper wound up being jailed by Judge Dredd, but the latter retained a soft spot for the rebellious 'artist'. Since then, Chopper has appeared sporadically in various 2000 AD comics, most often as a 'skysurfer' who rides an anti-grav board and defies Authority Figures.

'Song of the Surfer' opens with our hero living in the Australian outback, receiving tutelage in the Songlines, and the Aborigine way of life, from a cantankerous elderly man named Smokie. When Chopper gets word that the Supersurf 11 contest is to be held in Los Angeles (aka Mega City Two), he decides it's time to come out of exile and re-establish himself as the greatest skysurfer of all. 

Welcomed in L.A. by friends and fellow competitors, Chopper prepares for the contest by invoking Aboriginal mysticism...and carefully surveying the course. But one thing the Supersurf 11 competitors haven't counted on is the greed of the event's sponsor, the amoral businessman Stig.

To drive viewership and bulk up ad revenue, Stig wants to turn Supersurf 11 into the equivalent of Death Race 2000. Snipers and gun turrets helmed by expert marksmen are to be stationed throughout the course, with orders to fire freely on the hapless skysurfers as they zoom past.

And at the end of the race, looms the Tunnel of Death: a narrow pipeline of metal........lined with spikes.......

Despite the suicidal nature of Supersurf 11, the competitors' outsized egos (and fear of being labeled cowards) won't let them back down. 

Chopper dons his racing outfit - designed to mimic a Judge's uniform - and joins the other 40 racers at the start line. 

Who will survive Supersurf 11.........and what will be left of them.........?!

'Chopper', like many 2000 AD comics, is leavened with lots of sarcastic humor and it makes for a fun read; some panels had me laughing out loud. Writer Wagner misses no opportunity to satirize consumer culture and what we in the U.S. call 'Sports Media'. At the same time, 'Chopper' has sufficient pathos and gore to keep it from becoming a purely comedic excursion.

Colin MacNeil's artwork isn't the book's strong suit; it's very 'Nineties' in style, and relies over-much on airbrushing and a color palette that isn't up to the task. At times, it's difficult to clearly make out what's happening in some panels.

Summing up, while I can't say that 'Chopper' is a must-have graphic novel from 2000 AD from the late 80s / early 90s, copies in good condition have reasonable asking prices, so if you see it lying around on a used bookstore shelf, it's worth picking up.

Book Review: Ta

Book Review: 'Ta' by John Robert Russell

4 / 5 Stars

John Robert Russell (1927 - 2007) published three sci-fi novels in the 1970s: 'Cabu' (1974), 'SAR' (1974), and 'Ta' (1975).

'Ta' (207 pp) was published by Pocket Books in April 1975 and features a cover illustration by Mike Gross.

On the planet Ta, things aren't going well for the aristocrats in the Northern cities. The supply of sap from the Takusa plant has been curtailed, with severe consequences for the economy, since the sap - a remarkable natural plastic - is processed for myriad uses, including building materials, textiles, and fuel.

Mako, the leader of the aristocrats, has decided on a drastic measure: dispatch a force of swordsmen to the Southern Marshes of Ta, where live the barbarians who harvest Takusa sap. Mako believes that some casual beheadings and mutilations of the barbarians will force them into increasing their exports of sap to the cities of the North. 

The only problem is that the aristocrats, although fond of boasting of past glories as fighters and heroes, lack anyone with sufficient bravery and martial spirit to lead the swordsmen.

Tanee, the seductive Priestess and ally of the aristocrats, offers a solution: using her ability to project her consciousness across the gulf of interstellar space, she will find a warrior and transfer his mind and soul into the body of a Ta swordsman named Kengee.

Kenneth O'Hara is just another New Yorker trying to make a comfortable living in the Big Apple. Although a veteran of the Vietnam War, O'Hara spent his service as far from the fighting as possible, in the rear echelon. He has subsequently earned a living as a thief, con man, and gigolo.

One day a bewildered O'Hara finds himself waking up in a cave on the planet Ta, in the body of the warrior Kengee. Tanee tells him he is forever stranded on Ta, so he might as well go about making himself useful if he is to continue living........and this means leading the expedition of swordsmen against the Southern Marshes.

Kenneth O'Hara soon discovers that Ta is the strangest place imaginable.......and strangest of all are the Takusa plants, who seem to be the botanical embodiment of Playboy Bunnies........?! 

Can O'Hara / Kengee please his aristocratic masters.....stay in the good graces of the Takusa plants.....and avoid death at the hands of the Caste of the Assassins ? Even for a gifted deal-maker and con man, it's a tall order.........

'Ta' is a comedic sf novel, akin to those many comedic sf novels written by Ron Goulart and Robert Sheckley during the 1970s. I've never been a big fan of comedic sf, but Russell's novel is markedly superior to those of Goulart and Sheckley. It's humor is uniquely sarcastic, genuinely funny, showcases Un-Woke attitudes of the 1970s, and often had me laughing out loud. The plot is fast-moving and never short of twists and turns.

The only reason I didn't give 'Ta' five stars is that the final chapters rely too much on last-second escapes and fortuitous coincidences, giving the narrative a contrived note. But if you are interested in a fun read, then 'Ta' has my recommendation.

RIP Juan Gimenez

R.I.P. Juan Gimenez
November 16 1943 - April 3 2020

Humanoids has issued a press release stating that the Argentinian artist Juan Gimenez has died at age 76 from coronavirus. He was hospitalized in Argentina on March 22 and never recovered.

Gimenez was one of the most skilled artists to be featured in Heavy Metal magazine during the 1980s. 'Timescooter' (October 1985), 'Primabel' (Fall 1986), and 'Garbage' (Spring, 1987) all were memorable, and counterbalanced the magazine's discouraging turn towards printing English translations of inane 'Atom Style' comics from the likes of Daniel Torres and Joost Swarte, or the crudely scrawled black-and-white comics of Peter Kuper.

He later gained fame for his illustrations for the comic book series The Metabarons and for his own sci-fi series, The Fourth Power. 

Below is 'A Matter of Time', from the October 1984 issue of Heavy Metal magazine.

Thorgal: The Lost Drakkar

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

In the mid-80s, the Norfolk, Virginia-based publisher The Donning Company released a set of English translations of selected Thorgal albums de bande dessines. 

At 9 x 11 1/2 inches, the Donning Company English translations adhered to the same dimensions of the original albums, and used glossy paper, making them superior to the Cinebook translations of the Thorgal series currently in print.

'Thorgal: Child of the Stars', first published in France in 1984 as L'enfant des étoiles, contained a trio of Thorgal origin stories; the lead story, 'The Lost Drakkar', is scanned here. The exceptional artistry of Grzegorz Rosiniski is very much evident in the scenes of the storm-lashed sea, and the stricken expressions of the hapless Viking sailors.......

Book Review: Drowning Towers

Book Review: 'Drowning Towers' by George Turner

1 / 5 Stars

George Turner (1916 - 1997) was an Australian author who published a number of scf-fi novels during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Many of these novels featured eco-catastrophe themes. 'Drowning' is the first Turner novel I've ever read.

I'm going to state up front: this book isn't very good. It was a chore to finish. 

First published in the UK in 1987, titled The Sea and Summer, this U.S. paperback version (387 pp.) was issued by AvoNova in December 1996. 

'Drowning' starts off on an awkward note by having an overly complicated narrative structure. It opens with a prologue set some 1,000 years in the future, a prologue intended to frame the main narrative (which is set in the mid-21st century). The prologue deals with the efforts of an actor named Andra to comprehend the lives of the residents of a since-submerged 'Towers' district of the city formerly known as Melbourne. Andra has ambitions to write, and perform in, a play based on the experiences of one particular Towers family.

Andra consults with an archeologist named Lenna, who in turn provides him with the draft of a novel she has written, a novel based on her retrieval of artifacts from said Towers. Andra and Lenna have philosophical discussions about the Fate of the Earth and the Role of Man in damaging the environment. Howevermuch author Turner intended these passages to adumbrate the major themes and concepts of the main narrative, they come across as overwritten and superfluous.

The narrative then moves to the primary plot, which relates the adventures of a group of Melbourne residents in AD 2041 (these are the people whose 'real life' records Lenna has used to compose her draft novel, which Andra is in turn using to write his play.......got it ?). We are introduced to the Conway family: Dad (his first name is never disclosed); Mum Alison; older son Teddy; and younger son Francis.

Global Warming has brought with it a rise in the sea levels and economic and ecological disaster. Australian society has been divided into two classes, the Haves (referred to as the 'Sweet') and the Have-Nots (the 'Swill'). The Sweet enjoy lives much like those of the middle class in the late 20th century, while the Swill are housed in 70-storey buildings - the Towers of the book's title - that make Chicago's infamous Cabrini-Green public housing projects look like paradise. The precarious socioeconomic structure of this dystopian Melbourne is governed by a secretive cabal of Sweet bureaucrats.

While the Conways have the good fortune to live as Sweet, fate is unkind, and soon they are forced to leave their comfortable existence among the Sweet and relocate to the Fringe, a slum district adjoining the Towers. There, they are forced into a partnership with one Billy Kovacs, the conniving, ruthless 'Boss' of Tower Twenty-three.

While the description of the downfall of the Conway family and their adjustment to their Reduced Circumstances has an engaging, Dickensian quality to it, the narrative then drops into stasis, and the novel transitions into a labored recounting of the maturation of Teddy and Francis and their efforts to reintegrate themselves into Sweet society. Additional characters and introduced, and their emotional and psychological interactions with the Conways are related using awkward descriptive prose and wooden dialogue. 

Layered onto these interactions are additional dialogue passages through which author Turner delivers lectures on the willful ignorance and arrogance of 20th century Man, and his role in bringing about the collapse of the ecosystem and thus, the cruel existence of the Swill. 

In the novel's closing chapters, the narrative finally resurfaces with the introduction of a Conspiracy against the Swill and the need for hard decisions on the part of Teddy, Francis, and their contacts among the bureaucracy of the Sweet. However, these closing chapters are just as overwritten as the preceding content, and I found the novel's denouement underwhelming.

The verdict ? In my opinion, the 'Drowning Towers' tries, but ultimately fails, in its intention to be an engaging eco-catastrophe novel. The plodding quality of its character-driven narrative requires too much patience on the part of the reader. The truth is, other writers have done this sub-genre of sf better, such as Trevor Hoyle with his 1983 novel 'The Last Gasp'.

Closing universities was a good idea

Why closing colleges and universities probably was a good idea
'Miss Manners' column, Washington Post, December 18, 2019

'Good Lord' from Bizarre Adventures issue No. 20

'Good Lord !'
by Marv Wolfman (story), Dave Cockrum and The Crusty Bunkers (art)
from Bizarre Adventures (Marvel / Curtis)  No. 20, Winter 1980

Writer Wolfman intended this neat little 8-page comic to be a homage to the sci-fi strips of EC Comics in the 1950 and I think it succeeds very well, thanks to some great artwork by Cockrum and The Crusty Bunkers (the artist cooperative founded and managed by Neal Adams).

Those Guys

Those Guys !
(Que Tipazos)
Metal Hurlant (Spanish edition) 1981

Ummmm.....yeah. It's a French thing, I guess.

As far as I can tell, this photo feature - also titled 'Strip tease of the Humanoids' - never appeared in Heavy Metal. But it did appear in the inaugural issue of Metal Hurlant in Spanish, published by Editorial Nueva Frontera in 1981.

Readers of Metal Hurlant / Heavy Metal from the late 70s and early 80s may well recognize (along with Moebius, of course) some of the major contributors to the magazine during that era. Jean-Claude Gal ('Conquering Armies') apparently was too shy to want to show his face........

Thorgal: Wolf Cub

Thorgal
Wolf Cub
by Grzegorz Rosinski (art) and Jean Van Hamme (writer)
Cinebook, 1990 / 2010

'Thorgal' is a very popular Franco-Belgian comic book (album de bande dessinee) that has, unfortunately, never gotten the exposure it deserves in the U.S.

Thorgal started as a serial in 1977 in Tintin magazine and graduated to its own album in 1980. As of 2019, 37 issues have been published (along with more than 10 spin-offs), and 27 have been translated into English.

In the U.S., the Thorgal comics are published by the British firm Cinebook, who are (at present) probably best-known for issuing the series of English-language compilations of the Valerian comic books. 

According to its website, Cinebook has published 22 Thorgal paperbacks since 2009, and while only a few of these are available for purchase in the U.S., all 22 are available from amazon in its Kindle format. ('Big Planet' comics, a comic book shop located in the greater Washington DC area, apparently is the sole U.S. brick-and-mortar retailer for Cinebook publications).

Several years ago I was fortunate enough to get a set of five of the Cinebook Thorgal graphic novels from eBay for a reasonable price, hence my review of 'Wolf Cub'. 

The Thorgal comics are set in the Middle Ages, mainly in Northern Europe (some stories take place in more exotic locales). Adopted as as infant by a Viking clan, and reared as one of their own, Thorgal is a less brawny, more intelligent version of Conan the Barbarian. His adventures often involve supernatural forces, of both good and evil origin.

Cinebook's format for the English translations has its problems. The most obvious is the size; most albums de bande dessinees are 12 x 9 inches in dimension, but inexplicably, Cinebook made its Thorgal lineup only 10 x 7 1/4 inches. It also put a $11.95 price tag on the books. This combination of small size and steep pricing have severely hampered the marketing of the Thorgal series in the U.S.

So we come to 'Wolf Cub' (48 pp), first published in France in November 1990 as Louve ('She-wolf'), with the Cinebook version issued in 2010.  

As 'Wolf Cub' opens, Thorgal is travelling for home aboard a Viking ship, accompanied by his pregnant wife Aaricia and son Jolan. Their ship is accosted by a psychotic Viking chieftain named Wor The Magnificent, who wants Thorgal to join him on a raid of a Saxon village. Thorgal is repulsed by Wor's lust for sluaghter and refuses to a join the raid. 

This refusal sets in motion a sequence of events that will see Thorgal's family endangered by the Wor's brutish followers. But Thorgal will have an ally.......a mysterious hunchback with supernatural powers, and a deep hatred for Wor........... 

One thing that is immediately apparent in any Thorgal comic book is the high quality of the artwork by Polish artist Rosinski. He is adept at depicting human faces / expressions, and in rendering medieval landscapes, villages, clothing, buildings, ships, and other objects with a high degree of accuracy and period authenticity.

Writer Van Hamme also deserves kudos for producing stories that are easy to follow while at the same time providing twists and turns that prevent them from becoming too formulaic. In an era in which so many U.S. comics are badly overwritten and over-plotted, it's refreshing to sit down with a comic writer who can craft a narrative that sits comfortably within the 48 page format. 

Summing up, 'Wolf Cub', like the other four Thorgal comics I have read, is a high-quality entry in the wider genre of sword-and-sorcery. Whether you come across the printed versions, or elect to acquire the digital versions, this is a series well worth looking out for.