'Master' by Jean-Michel Nicollet

'Master' by Jean-Michel Nicollet
from the November, 1977 issue of Heavy Metal

November, 1977, and on the radio, 'Love Is (Thicker Than Water)' by Andy Gibb, is in heavy rotation. It's lightweight, but well-crafted, pop, particularly superior to the then-number one hit by Debby Boone, 'You Light Up My Life'.  And  'Love Is' features a maddeningly catchy 'lah - lah - lah ' segment at its finish. And, believe it or not, apparently two of the members in the video of the live performance at the link, later went on to form 80s band 'Mr. Mister'....?!

Joining 'Love Is' in heavy rotation is 'Here You Come Again', the number one single on the country charts, from emerging star Dolly Parton. Dolly makes for a much more appealing picture than Debby Boone.....

The November issue of Heavy Metal is on the stands, featuring a fine cover illustration by George Proctor, and  a back cover by Tom Barber.

Within the pages of the November issue is another gem from the French artist Jean-Michel Nicollet: 'Master'. 

'Master' has a devastated, post-apocalyptic landscape; flying demons; deadly robot angels; a decadent aristocrat; and a great surprise ending......I've never seen anything quite like it since. 

Perhaps the most rewarding thing about 'Master' is the intensity and crispness of the colors, imparting a unique, surrealistic quality to the story. Print quality of this level, on 'slick' paper stock, simply didn't exist anywhere else in comics, one of the aspects of Heavy Metal's approach to publishing, that made the magazine so innovative.

Hunter episode 5 from Eerie No. 56

'Hunter' from Eerie magazine (Warren)
episode 5
from Eerie No. 56, April 1974

This episode, 'Blood Princess', begins the two-part, two-issue conclusion of the first appearance of the 'Hunter' character in Eerie.

This episode features a guest-star appearance by an elderly Schreck, another recurring Eerie character, whose adventures were set in an alternate, post-apocalyptic US.

As always, outstanding artwork by artist Paul Neary. 

 

Book Review: Haggopian and Other stories

Book Review: 'Haggopian and Other Stories' by Brian Lumley

2 / 5 Stars

At 606 pp., ‘Haggopian and Other Stories’ is a thick doorstop of a mass-market paperback, released in November of 2009 from UK publisher Solaris. The cover artist is Bob Eggleton.

Of the 24 stories in this short story compilation, all but two were first published during the interval from 1969 – 1989, mostly in editions from Arkham House or other specialty publishers.

Some of the stories (‘Cement Surroundings’) eventually were worked into the form of chapters in Lumley’s ‘Titus Crow’ novels, such as ‘The Burrowers Beneath’.

In his Introduction, and in the prefaces that accompany each story, author Lumley credits August Derleth with supporting his efforts at becoming a published writer. As well, Lumley defends Derleth from what the former feels are unjustifiable criticisms of Derleth’s handling of some elements of the Mythos, such as the imposition of a good/evil duality on the actions of the various Deities.

Rather than provide mini-reviews of each tale, which would be laborious, I will categorize the contents, and this, hopefully, should provide sufficient detail to allow readers to render a judgment on whether ‘Haggopian’ is the type of book they’re looking for.

The majority of the stories are ‘traditional’ Arkham House-style Mythos entries: in other words, they follow the paradigm in which Seekers of Eldritch Knowledge meddle with Forbidden Things, and wind up in direst difficulties. Such stories rely on atmosphere and setting, rather than employing graphic descriptions of horror, to unsettle the reader.

‘Cement Surroundings’, ‘The Night Sea-Maid Went Down’, ‘Recognition’, ‘Aunt Hester’, ‘The Kiss of Bugg-Shash’, ‘The Sister City’, ‘The Statement of Henry Worthy’, ‘Dagon’s Bell’, ‘The Mirror of Nitocris’, ‘The Second Wisk’, and ‘The Hymn’ all are competently-written stories, if not particularly original or imaginative in scope.

Titus Crow himself makes appearances in ‘The Caller of the Black’, ‘Name and Number’, ‘De Marigney’s Clock’, and ‘The Black Recalled’, often to provide succor to fumbling amateurs caught up in dangerous occult phenomena.

Other tales are set in the ancient days of Lumley’s ‘Primal Lands’ series, and / or the Dreamlands of Lovecraft’s ‘Randolph Carter’ character: ‘Mylakhrion the Immortal’, ‘Dylath-Leen’, and ‘The Sorcerer’s Dream’.  

The ‘Curse of the Golden Guardians’ feature’s Lumley’s Conan- modeled barbarian hero, Tara Khash. It’s one of the better entries in the anthology.

The best entries are those in which Lumley infuses his traditionalist tack with a greater helping of gruesomeness and gore. ‘Haggopian’, about a deep-sea explorer with an abnormal fondness for parasitic aquatic life, is genuinely creepy. ‘What Dark God’ features a nasty act of vampirism, and ‘The Thing from Blasted Heath’ introduces the carnivorous plant trope with greater effectiveness than the entirety of Scott Smith’s novel, ‘The Ruins’. ‘The House of Cthulhu’ echoes Lovecraft’s ‘Dagon’, and features the infliction of a loathsome fate upon those foolish enough to trespass on blasphemed ground.

‘Synchronicity or Something’ is a half-humorous look at the fanboy world associated with the Chaosium role-playing games.

The verdict ? Dedicated fans of Lumley and / or the Mythos will probably want to have this anthology on their shelves. However, I suspect that readers looking for entertaining horror fiction per se will find the packaging of 600+ pages with 24 stories, all with similar themes, too unvaried a diet to be truly engaging.

'If I Only Had A Heart'
(si al menos tuviera corazon)
by Eberoni and Frada
from the 'Robot Special' issue of Metal Hurlant Spanish-language edition, 1982

Warped (some might say sick) humor and brilliant artwork suffuse this little look at 'The Wizard of Oz'......with some of the most gruesomely realistic imagery I've ever seen in any incarnation of Heavy Metal / Metal Hurlant.

Just right for Halloween 2012  !

'Father Shandor, Demon Stalker'
'Spawn from Hell's Pit'
from Warrior No. 1 (UK) March, 1982

'Warrior' was a black-and-white comic book launched in the UK in March, 1982 by publisher Quality Comics. It ran for 26 issues before ceasing publication in January, 1985. 

Among its best-known contributors was Alan Moore, who, with artist David Lloyd, provided 'V for Vendetta', starting in issue 1.

'Warrior' was an anthology comic book, featuring 6 or more stories running in installments with each issue. The contents included superhero, sf, and fantasy tales.

All of the entries in 'Warrior' made up for its lack of color printing via finely detailed pen-and-ink work. As well, the reproduction and printing processes for 'Warrior' were considerably superior to those used by their full-color, American counterparts. 

Among the best strips to run in the early issues of the magazine was 'Father Shandor, Demon Stalker', written by Steve Moore, with outstanding artwork by John Bolton.

Here is the very first 'Father Shandor' tale, 'Spawn from Hell's Pit', from issue No. 1 of 'Warrior'.

'Homo Detritus' by Caza
from the August, 1981 issue of Heavy Metal

Brilliant artwork, and a good meshing of horror and humor...including booger-flinging !

Caza excels in this strip from 1981.

'The Kiss of Death', featuring Satana
from Vampire Tales (Marvel / Curtis)
No. 3, February, 1974

Never one to shy from exploiting a concept originating from a competing publisher, in the Fall of 1973, Stan Lee introduced Satana, 'The Devil's Daughter', in issue 2 of the Marvel / Curtis black and white comic magazine Vampire Tales. 

Satana was a rather blatant effort to appeal to the same reader demographic then being captured / massaged by Warren magazine's Vampirella. Indeed, in Satana's second appearance, in issue 3 of Vampire Tales (February 1974), Marvel even employed the skills of artist Esteban Maroto, a regular contributor to the Warren publications.

However derivative a character Satana was, Maroto's artwork holds up very well, nearly 40 years after the fact.

 

Starting in 2010, Marvel has been reprinting its Vampire Tales issues in paperback format, with three to four issues per volume, and ~ 200 pp per volume. Three volumes have been released to date, available at prices under $10 for good-condition, used, copies.

I haven't purchased any of these, but reviewers at amazon take pains to point out that these are not trade paperbacks in the 'Marvel Essentials' format, but are in fact sized closer to a mass-market paperback. 

I can't see the wisdom of getting excited over such a series, particularly in light of the fact that the various prose and photo essay pieces Marvel used to pad out their magazines' page count also are reproduced.....but then again, good-condition issues of the original Vampire Tales go for a pretty price at eBay. So if you're looking to recapture that 70s 'vampire nostalgia', these digest-size compilations are one way to do it.......

 

Book Review: 'Breakthrough' by Richard Cowper

1 / 5 Stars

‘Breakthrough’ was first published in 1967 in hardcover; this Ballantine paperback (218 pp.) was issued in July 1969. The oustanding cover illustration is by Steele Savage.

[‘Richard Cowper’ was the pseudonym of the British author John Middleton Murry, Jr.]

It’s the Summer of 1964, and on the campus of Hampton University in England, newly hired English professor Jimmy Haverill befriends a fellow professor, ‘Dumps’ Dumpkenhoffer.

An American, and something of an eccentric, Dumps runs the Parapsychology Research Department, a unit housed in an older building on the campus. Haverill visits the parapsychology laboratory and witnesses students engaged in experiments reminiscent of those conducted by J. B. Rhine at Duke University in the 1940s; i.e., students are asked to guess which of five symbols are printed on the face of 25 playing cards. Correctly guessing the identity of a certain percentage of the cards may be taken as an indicator of some form of ESP.

Only half-serious about the concept, Haverill has a go at the psy ability test, and to Dumps’s astonishment, performs unusually well. Does Haverill have genuine parapsychological powers ? Perhaps – but the plot deepens when an attractive coed, Rachel Bernstein, also displays considerable aptitude at the symbol-guessing test. It appears that there is some sort of ‘psychic’ link between Haverill and Bernstein.

In due course, the two test subjects progress from acquaintances to romantic partners. Along with this progression comes a realization that the two of them are capable of additional psychic powers, including out-of-body experiences, some of which involve mysterious dreamscapes, and the presence of entities from what may be another dimension.

As Rachel Bernstein becomes more engrossed in these strange phenomena, it’s up to Dumps to discover a way to understand the connection between the two worlds, before a psychic implosion threatens Rachel's sanity - and even her life.

‘Breakthrough’ was one of Cowper’s early novels, and as such, it’s unremarkable. It’s really more of a romance novel, than a sf novel.

The narrative moves at a very slow pace, and centers on the emotional interactions of the main characters, rather than the parapsychological phenomena which occupy the backstory.

Cowper devotes most of his narrative to conversational exchanges, which often feature first-person narrator Haverill using words and phrases from British slang that were painfully outdated even at the time of writing. (For example, readers will quickly tire of Haverill’s use of ‘old thing’ as a term of affection for his girlfriend).

These conversational exchanges are reasonably well-written, and signal that in this regard, Cowper is a capable author. But in the absence of a compelling plot, they alone cannot make up for the novel’s shortcomings.

In short, ‘Breakthrough’ is rather a dull and unimaginative novel, and even Cowper completists will find little to engage them here. Better things were to come from this author as his writing career progressed.