The Man with Legs

The Man with Legs
by Al Sarrantonio (story) and Doug Potter (art)
from Weird Business (1995), edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Richard Klaw

'The Man with Legs' is a short story by Al Sarrantonio that appeared in the anthology Shadows 6 (1983). A year later, it was included in The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XII (1984) which is where I remember first reading it.

Sarrantonio uses Upstate New York as a favorite location for some of his horror fiction, and this particular story also seems to be set in an industrial city in that region. 'Legs' does a very good job of evoking the atmosphere and sights of a Northeast city neighborhood on a cold Winter's day, and will undoubtedly bring back memories to Baby Boomers who grew up in those places.

This comic adaptation of 'The Man with Legs' appeared in the anthology Weird Business (Mojo Press, 1995). While I can't say that Doug Potter's artwork is all that memorable, it is serviceable for a story that stands on its own as a example of unique, creepy horror.

Red Shirt

Red Shirt
by Sam Shepard (story) and Laurent Theureau (art)
from Heavy Metal Winter 1987

On the Shores of Endless Worlds

On the Shores of Endless Worlds
cover art by Tony Roberts, Sphere Books, 1975

Andrew Tomas (also known as A. Boncza Tomaszewski;1906 - 2001) was a Russian-born author who arguably created the entire 'Ancient Astronauts' genre with his 1935 book The Planetary Doctrine. 

During the 70s, the success of Erich von Daniken's books motivated paperback publishers in the US and UK to release new books Tomas had written on the Ancient Astronauts theme. Among these was Sphere Book's release of On the Shores of Endless Worlds.

This striking painting is by UK artist Tony Roberts. 

Book Review: The Galactic Invaders

Book Review: 'The Galactic Invaders' by James R. Berry

2 / 5 Stars

'The Galactic Invaders' is Laser Book No. 31, published in June 1976. The cover artwork is by Frank Kelly Freas.

In 2375 AD, thanks to warp drive, Earth has seeded the farther reaches of the galaxy with colonies. But this effort has not gone unchallenged: in the past, a mysterious enemy known only as the 'Invaders' has mounted random attacks on spaceships and colonies, inflicting suffering and death before vanishing back into the depths of deep space.

As memories of these fatal encounters with the Invaders have faded, and the Federation's ability to communicate with its ever-distant outposts becomes more strained, a complacency has crept in.

As the novel opens, square-jawed spaceship captain Keith Cranston is taking a hovertaxi from the New York Citiplex spaceport to the office of Starfleet Commander Guy Ulmstead. En route, a carefully prepared ambush is unleashed on Cranston's vehicle in the lower streets of the Citiplex. 

Although bruised and battered, Cranston emerges victorious from the vicious, life-or-death struggle. Upon meeting with a worried Commander Ulmstead, Cranston learns the ominous truth that is being withheld from the Federation's citizens: a wide-ranging conspiracy to overthrow the Federation is being mounted by an enemy, or enemies, unknown.

Cranston's new mission: pilot his spaceship the Draco II to a remote outpost where a scientific project of utmost importance to the survival of the Federation is underway. A week has passed without any word from the outpost, a length of time that Commander Ulmstead finds alarming. For if the Federation's mysterious adversary has taken control of the project, then the Earth and all its colonies are in grave danger........

'The Galactic Invaders', although written in 1976, is very much a pulp sci-fi novel, one that could have appeared in any magazine or digest of the 50s and 60s.

The prose style is nothing fancy; characters bark, grit, bay, wrinkle, pucker, pant, and grunt. 

While some of the entries in the Laser Books catalog represent under-appreciated gems, 'The Galactic Invaders' is not one of them. But in the book's favor, it's a quick and effortless read if you're looking for something steeped in old school Space Opera flavor.

'Heavy Metal' Winter 1987

'Heavy Metal' magazine Winter 1987

February, 1987. On MTV, Wang Chung's video for the song 'Let's Go', released as a single at the end of January, is in heavy rotation.

The Winter issue of Heavy Metal magazine is out, with a cover illustration by Greg Hildebrandt (the brothers, having discontinued working together, are now pursuing independent paths in commercial art; Greg has chosen pinup art).

In her Editorial, Julie Simmons-Lynch cites the Spanish magazine Cimoc as a new source of material. This may be a likely explanation for the abundance of entries in Heavy Metal from Daniel Torres, whose 'Saxxon' comic takes up most of the space in this issue.

I can't say I'm all that impressed by the Torres features, which come to dominate much of the content of Heavy Metal during the mid-80s. 

Torres' decision to render his cartoony art in an Art Deco styling really doesn't measure up to the standards established in Heavy Metal in the 70s and early 80s. When you factor in the frequently inane plots of these Torres strips, it just furthers the sense that editor Simmons-Lynch has lost touch with the atmosphere of the magazine, and explains its decline at this point in its publishing history.

The jettisoning of the text columns from the magazine means there's only one short entry in this Winter '87, but it's worthwhile: an overview of the stars of Cyberpunk ! 

Complete with a portrait of these stars (although the painting unfortunately fails to indicate 'who's who'). Anyone who was unaware of the existence of the genre now had no excuse to remain ignorant - it had been referenced in Heavy Metal.

There is at least one worthwhile comic entry in this issue: 'Sensations' by Miguel Prado. 

The comic employs some impressive pen-and-ink linework, along with the sort of morbid humor that characterized the magazine back in the 70s. I've posted it in its entirety below.

The Dioxin War

Book Review: 'The Dioxin War' by Robert Allen

Although dioxin was a major cause of Toxic Disasters throughout the interval from the mid- 1960s to the mid-1980s, there is a surprising dearth of books on the topic that are aimed at a general audience.

'The Dioxin War' (201 pp), published in the UK in 2004 by Pluto Press, remains one of the few narratives about dioxin aimed at a lay readership (as opposed to a large volume of technical books on dioxin).

'The Dioxin War' is first and foremost a polemic, one aimed at Monsanto, Merck, Dow Chemical Company, Boehringer Ingelheim, and other chemical companies. The book also is withering in its criticism of agencies such as the US EPA, and the small but influential groups of scientists who ally with the chemical companies and work in concert with them to stymie efforts to impose stricter regulations against the dispersal of contaminants.

'The Dioxin War' is organized into chapter that cover - in loose chronological order - efforts by conscientious scientists, activists, and lawyers to expose the truth about the toxicity of dioxin in the face of determined campaigns by the chemical companies to have dioxin classified as a mild poison that causes, at most, acne.

Some of the more famous Toxic Disasters of the 70s and early 80s are covered here, including Seveso and Times Beach. But author Allen also mentions incidents that I was not aware of, such as the infamous Holmsburg prison experiments done in 1965 - 1966 (in exchange for a payment of $10,000, Albert Kligman, a physician hired by Dow Chemical, painted dioxin on the skin of inmates).

I also was not aware of the 1979 train derailment that took place outside the small Missouri town of Sturgeon; 20,000 gallons of a wood preservative - produced by Monsanto - spilled onto the ground. Monsanto representatives told the townspeople there was minimal health risks associated with the spill..........but the townspeople noticed that the EPA workers at the spill site were wearing spacesuits..........

Nor was I aware that - possibly for decades - Lysol disinfectant spray contained dioxin. Lysol was widely used in the decades before the advent of the birth control Pill for contraceptive and 'feminine hygiene' purposes..........

I also was unaware of a dioxin disaster that took place in County Tipperary, Ireland, in August 1978. John Hanrahan, a dairy farmer, noticed that a strange-smelling fog had formed on his land, and his animals were coughing and tearing. In 1980, many animals on the Hanrahan farm, and those of neighboring farms, were dying from wasting disease; many cows were delivering stillborn or malformed calves.

Hanrahan suspected that the Merck, Sharpe, and Dohme plant in nearby Ballydine was to blame; the factory, which had opened in 1976, was a major area employer and enjoyed good relations with county politicians and bureaucrats. 

In the early 80s, after Hanrahan filed a lawsuit against Merck, it was revealed that the factory's incinerator was improperly operated, and as a consequence, a variety of toxic halogenated compounds were being regularly discharged from the plant.Dioxin was detected in the milk from Hanrahan's cattle.

Hanrahan's litigation against Merck became one of the lengthiest and most expensive legal battle in Irish history. 

After finishing 'The Dioxin War' I had mixed feelings about its worthiness as an investigation into dioxin and its role in public health and environmental health. The book certainly contains ample documentation in the form of extensive Notes and references which take up about a fifth of its pages.

However, the narrative tends to awkwardly jump back and forth between topics and timelines, and regularly interrupts passages of straight reportage with lengthy segments that are editorial in nature.

Author Allen also displays more than a little naivety. In the chapter devoted to the contamination of Missouri in the 1970s through the actions of 'waste oil' applications by Russel Bliss, Allen too readily believes Bliss's contention that he was just a good 'ole boy who 'didn't know nothing' about 'chemistry'........despite the considerable evidence to the contrary.

It's also obvious that, with a 2004 publication date, 'The Dioxin War' lacks more timely coverage of events over the past 13 years.

When all is considered, however, despite its flaws, 'The Dioxin War' remains a reasonably good overview of a subject that is difficult to cover in terms of both technical and sociopolitical aspects. 

Metal Hurlant, Blade Runner, and French sci-fi comics

Metal Hurlant, Blade Runner, and French sci-fi comics

As the 40th (!) anniversary of Heavy Metal approaches, it's as good a time as any to think back on how that magazine changed the field of graphic art and science fiction.

Here is a link to a well written and informative article about the pop culture origins of Metal Hurlant and its influence on the sci-fi movies of the 70s and 80s.

2000 A.D.: Illustrations from the Golden Age of Science Fiction Pulps

2000 A.D.: Illustrations from the Golden Age of Science Fiction Pulps
by Jacque Sadoul

Jacque Sadoul (1934 – 2013) was a French author of many fiction and nonfiction books. He was also an avid collector of science fiction memorabilia, and in 1973, he published a book on the artwork in the sf pulps, titled Hier, l'an 2000: [i.e. deux mille]; l'illustration de science-fiction des annees 30. 

In 1975 US publisher Regnery released the book in English (176 pp) as '2000 A.D.: Illustrations from the Golden Age of the Science Fiction Pulps'.

In 1975 the Nostalgia Craze was well underway in the US, which may have explained why a English-language version of the book was published. But it was also significant in that, back in that long-ago era, some publishers were beginning to realize that a critical mass of sf fans was slowly building....... and these people were quite willing to obtain merchandise that fueled their 'fandom'.

'2000 A.D.: Illustrations from the Golden Age of the Science Fiction Pulps' is organized into sections covering Galactic Empires, Robots, Spaceships, Women of the Cosmos, Weapons, Monsters, Machines of the Future, and Cities of the Future.

The book's layout is reader friendly, with some full-page illustrations. There are a handful of color illustrations.

One thing '2000 A.D.' does well is to provide synopses of the story depicted in each of the illustrations. This allows the reader to better understand the context of the illustration, and provides insight into the artist decided to render the scene. I only wish other books on sf and fantasy illustration would adopt this approach.

As far as the artwork is concerned, needless to say, the 'greats' of the pulp era all are represented here: Virgil Finlay, H. W. Wesso, Elliot Dold, Leo Morey, Frank R. Paul, Alexander Leydenfrost, and Earl Bergey.

There are some surprises to be gained by perusing '2000 A.D.'. For me, it was the work of Lawrence Sterne Stevens (1886-1960) whose draftsmanship equaled that of Finlay. 

While there are some magazine covers that are badly underexposed when reproduced in black and white, overall, the quality of the reproductions appearing in '2000 A.D.' is high, particularly for a book published in 1973, when many of the original images were already several decades old, and there was no such thing as scanning originals at a high dpi index. 

One thing that struck me as I looked through the book is the artistic skill of the represented artists. The quality of the draftsmanship of illustrators like Stevens and Finlay is very impressive, employing a variety of stippling and shading techniques that are being forgotten by modern illustrators, as these methods are difficult to reproduce using computer-based drawing software.

The skills of these pulp-era artists are even more impressive when you consider that these illustrations were printed onto the cheapest grades of paper.

More than a few of these illustrations show a meticulous level of detail that - in my mind, at least - qualifies these pulp magazine artists as among the most accomplished artists in 20th century illustration.

While there are quite a few books available on illustration in the sf pulps, '2000 A.D.' is a worthy entry to the field despite its comparatively advanced age. Given that copies can be purchased from your usual online retailers for very reasonable prices, this is one book well worth picking up.