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…………..?!

Tales from the Doghouse

Tales from the Doghouse
(Strontium Dog)
from 2000 AD prog 612, February 4 1989

Strontium Dog, aka Johnny Alpha, was both a mutant outcast, and an intergalactic bounty hunter, whose adventures in the weekly UK comic book 2000 AD began in 1978, and continue to this day in one form or another.

This brief strip from a February, 1989 issue of 2000 AD doesn't feature Strontium Dog, but a fellow team of mutants out to grab a bounty. The distinctive artwork is by Simon Jacob, one of the more talented artists whose work as a penciller, inker, and colorist appeared more or less regularly in the pages of 2000 AD from 1989 to 1996.

Book Review: Sunburst

Book Review: 'Sunburst' by Phyllis Gotlieb

1 / 5 Stars

‘Sunburst’ (160 pp) first appeared as a serialized novel in ‘Amazing Stories’ in 1964, before being compiled into this paperback, published by Gold Medal books that same year. The cover artist is Richard Powers.

The story is set in 2024, some decades after a nuke plant meltdown spewed radiation into the Illinois city of Sorrel Park. The city is still recovering, with both military and civil authorities enforcing a harsh order on its run-down, garbage-strewn streets. The denizens of Sorrel Park are a population haunted by the consequences of the accident – namely, the birthing of mutant children with extraordinary powers.

As soon as a child displays extraordinary psychic and mental powers, he or she is forcibly taken from their parents and consigned to a high-security complex – known as the Dump - in the city center. An energy barrier, the so-called Marczinek Field, prevents the mutants from teleporting out of the Dump and wreaking havoc on the streets…….for as they mature in the confines of the Dump, these mutant kids transform not into the wholesome teens of the ‘X-Men’ comics, but physically and behaviorally warped individuals with a deep and abiding hatred for the world.

Shandy Johnson is a thirteen year-old orphan who has scratched out a semblance of a life on the streets of Sorrel Park. As the novel opens, Shandy is abducted off the city streets, and imprisoned by the military authorities in charge of the Dump. From her captors, Shandy learns that the inhabitants of the Dump – the so-called Dumplings – have honed their powers with the coming of adolescence, and the danger of a breakout has dramatically increased.

When events spin out of control, it will be up to Shandy, and a mutant named Jason Hemmer, to confront the enraged Dumplings……….and deter them from destroying not just Sorrel Park, but perhaps the entire country……if not the entire world………..

‘Sunburst’ was not a rewarding read. Despite its short length, it was a struggle to finish.

Most of the narrative consists of lengthy passages of dialogue between Shandy Johnson and the various military staffers in charge of security for the Dump and its inhabitants. Dialogue is not author Gotlieb’s strong suit; it is consistently stilted and wooden, with idioms and slang that seem contrived, and out of place, even by mid-60s standards.

Nothing of consequence really happens until the second half of the novel, and then it is so suffused with needless melodrama that the narrative barely maintains momentum en route to its rather predictable denouement.

The theme of mutant children endowed both with superpowers and anti-social attitudes is a well-worn trope in sf, and there is no shortage of short stories and novels that deal with the topic. That said, ‘Sunburst’ is one of the least impressive of these entries. Readers are better off sticking with Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos.

The Cars album advertisement

The Cars
Debut album advertisement
Heavy Metal magazine, November 1978

The New Wave Aesthetic epitomized...........

Moebius' Airtight Garage issue 4

The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius
by Moebius
Issue 4, October 1993
Epic Comics

issue 1 is here

issue 2 is here

issue 3 is here