Black Cross Part One

Black Cross
written and illustrated by Chris Warner
Dark Horse comics, January 1988
Part One

'Black Cross' debuted in the July, 1986 issue of Dark Horse Presents (DHP), the newly formed comic company's monthly 'sampler' title that provided serialized material from franchised (Aliens) and creator-owned (Concrete, Mr Monster, The Masque) properties. 

Succeeding installments in the series dribbled out over the course of ensuing issues, as Warner juggled efforts on the strip with his duties on other Dark Horse properties. In January 1988 Dark Horse took all the DHP material and packaged it into one black-and-white comic, titled 'Black Cross'.

Over the ensuing thirty -odd years, Mark Warner indicated that the title was (at one point in the late 80s) in development as a possible feature film. He also hinted at publishing a mini-series titled 'Black Cross: My War', but this never came to fruition. In 1997, Warner published a one-shot color comic, titled 'Black Cross: Dirty Work', that built off of yet more serialized material, but since then, the franchise has been defunct.

'Black Cross' is set in a near-future USA where the breakdown of the social and political orders has left the country divided into 'zones'; some of these are controlled by the authoritarian provisional government, and others are 'black' zones: free-for-all landscapes where anything goes, and life expectancy is severely curtailed. 

As the series opens, veteran NCO Sgt Conrad (his first name is not disclosed) is assigned to join a team of commandos on an excursion into a black zone. Troubled by the atrocities he has witnessed - and likely participated in - during combat in Honduras, Conrad finds himself forced to make difficult choices when the actions of the commando team cross the line between military operations and killing for the sake of killing.........

'Black Cross' features some very good black-and-white artwork. The plot is communicated through Warner's (admittedly) overly wordy speech balloons, these being necessary to keep the storyline coherent for a serialized presentation. The comic offers some genuine 80s nostalgia due to its being suffused with the kind of macho sensibility that permeated Arnold Schwarzenegger films like Commando and Predator.

I'm posting the complete comic in two consecutive parts. Part one is below.

Book Review: Hero and the Terror

Book Review: 'Hero and the Terror' by Michael Blodgett

3 / 5 Stars

‘Hero and the Terror’ (251 pp) first was published in 1982; this New English Library paperback was issued in 1988 as a tie-in with the Chuck Norris film released that year.

The novel (which differs quite a bit from the movie) is set in Los Angeles in the early 80s. The eponymous Hero is Herrero Fiddleman (!?), son of a Jewish father and Puerto Rican mother. Hero, who is in his mid thirties, has movie-star looks, drives a black 1967 Porsche convertible, owns a dachshund named Stretch, has a model named Kay for a girlfriend, and lives aboard a houseboat anchored at a marina near Venice Beach. Hero is revered by Los Angelenos for being the city’s top cop: tough, brave, and ready to put himself on the line to maintain law and order.

Hero is contemplating retiring from police work and moving with Kay to the countryside, but one loose end continues to occupy his mind: the apprehension of the brutal serial killer known as The Terror. After killing 22 young women in the Venice area throughout the 70s, in 1979 The Terror suddenly ceased his atrocities. Is The Terror truly gone………..or just biding his time before re-emerging to continue his atrocities ?

As the novel opens, another young woman is murdered, and the modus operandi is the same as that associated with the victims of The Terror’s previous depredations. It’s up to Hero to resume his investigation of the killer……….but this time, the urgency for capturing the murderer is even greater. For The Terror has laid his eyes on Kay……….and found her eminently desirable…….

‘Hero and the Terror’ contains a bit less porn and splatterpunk content than Blodgett’s earlier novel Captain Blood, presumably because it’s shorter in length. That said, what splatterpunk content is present in ‘Hero’ doesn’t shirk; for example, a brief segment describing a do-it-yourself hemorrhoidectomy will stay with me for a long, long time………..

The opening chapters of the book are the best, as Hero confronts a particularly loathsome and repulsive villain who is something of a brother to Baron Harkonnen from the novel Dune.

Unfortunately, the narrative starts to stall in its middle chapters, as author Blodgett uses seemingly unending flashback sequences and subplots to get the novel to its necessary word count prior to evolving to the grand finale involving the confrontation between Hero and The Terror. Said confrontation is overlong, and at times contrived, which is why I can't award the book more than three stars.

Summing up, as a uniquely deranged character, The Terror certainly delivers in the California Crazy department; it wouldn't surprise me if he was in some regard an inspiration for the character Daniel 'Chaingang' Bunkowski in Rex MIler's 1987 splatterpunk classic Slob. If those types of villains appeal to you, then getting a copy of 'Hero and the Terror' may be well worth your while.

Paloma Blanca by Georgie Dann

Georgie Dann
'Paloma Blanca'
1975

In 1975 a Dutch singer named George Baker released a single titled 'Paloma Blanca' (White Dove). The song became a worldwide hit, was covered by a large number of artists, and in the USA eventually reached # 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart early in 1976. 

I well remember hearing the song in heavy rotation on AM radio back in those days.

Georgie Dann (b. 1940) was born in France, but became a singing star in Spain during the 1970s. In 1975 he recorded his own version of the song. A segment of him lip-synching the song was aired for a Spanish TV station's 'New Years Eve 1975' extravaganza.

The video clip of Georgie Dann doing 'Paloma Blanca' is pure, unadulterated 70s gold. Featuring a team of male dancers who adopt 'flying dove' poses, and some fine-looking chicks singing backing vocals, it's something that you will want to bookmark for viewing on those days when you feel like you need a dose of something peppy and upbeat..............

Al Goldstein and Myron Fass

Al Goldstein and Myron Fass
photograph by Jeff Goodman

Al Goldstein (left) and Myron Fass (right)

Two titans of Schlock Publishing pose for a friendly photo.

For ten months in 1968, Al Goldstein (1936 - 2013) worked in the offices of Countrywide Publications, owned by Myron Fass (1926 - 2006). Countrywide was of course the home of Eerie Publications, which is memorable for publishing the schlock black-and-white comic magazines Horror Tales, Witche's Tales, Tales of Voodoo,Terror Tales, and Weird Worlds. Countrywide also churned out Official UFO magazine, a staple of every magazine stand in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Fass fired Goldstein when the latter asked for a raise in November of '68. By then, of course, Goldstein had published the first issues of Screw magazine, and was on his way to becoming - sporadically at least - a wealthy man. 

Despite the firing, both men remained on cordial terms and Goldstein was visiting with Fass when the above photograph was taken, sometime in the 1970s.

Book Review: Captain Blood

Book Review: 'Captain Blood' by Michael Blodgett

mass market paperback edition, Bantam Books, 1986

4 / 5 Stars

There's no better way to kick off 'California Crazies' month here at the PorPor Books Blog than to review what likely is the most deranged such novel in the genre: Michael Blodgett's Captain Blood.

This book has a complicated publishing history. Blodgett finished his manuscript in 1977, but its pornographic and splatterpunk content deterred many publishers from accepting the manuscript. Not until 1979 did Blodgett find a small press publisher, Stone Hill Publishing Co., willing to release a hardcover edition. 

hardbound edition, Stone Hill Publishing, 1979

A glowing blurb from Mario Puzo gave the novel enough attention to persuade Harmony Books to release a trade paperback version in 1982.

In March, 1986 Bantam Books released this mass market paperback version (358 pp). Blodgett made minor changes to this mass market edition (such as substituting a song that the lead character overhears from Queen’s ‘We Are the Champions’, to Madonna's song ‘Like A Virgin’).

trade paperback edition, Harmony Books, 1982

In 1981, the New English Library published the book in the UK.

mass market paperback edition, New English Library, 1981 (U.K.)

Being long out of print, and acquiring something of a cult reputation, copies of all versions of the book have steep prices. I was fortunate to acquire the Bantam edition from the bookstore in the LSU student union in 1986, and while at one time I almost tossed it into the book donations pile, for some reason I not only retained it, but went and got the hardback and trade paperback versions as well...............?!

Michael Blodgett (1939 - 2007) was an interesting individual. Born in Minneapolis, in the 60s he moved to California to pursue an acting career, which led to a breakout role as the gigolo Lance Rocke in the 1970 film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Blodgett regularly appeared in supporting roles in TV throughout the 70s, during which time he also took up writing novels and screenplays. Along with Captain Blood, his other two novels are Hero and the Terror (1982) and The White Raven (1986). 

In the 80s, his screenplays formed the basis for the films Rent A Cop (1987) and Turner and Hooch (1989). 

Blodgett died at age 68 of an apparent heart attack.

'Captain Blood' is set in Southern California in the mid-80s. The titular hero (or antihero, if you prefer) is a clean-cut young man who manages an apartment complex. Named by his brilliant, eccentric physician father for the lead character from the novel by Rafael Sabatini, Captain Blood’s outward normality conceals the fact that he is mentally ill. Profoundly mentally ill. Paranoid schizophrenia, mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcoholism, psychopathic tendencies....... you name it, Captain Blood suffers from it.

The opening chapters of the novel are plodding, as Captain decides to take one of his tenants, a middle-aged Jewish lady, out to his favorite fern bars where they commingle with the oddball Southern California personalities haunting said fern bars. There is a lot of dialogue, as well as inner monologue segments designed to apprise the reader of Captain Blood's erratic personality. 

Blodgett does insert a flashback sequence that touches on racial violence, and gives the narrative enough of a push to keep the reader moderately engaged.

At its midpoint, ‘Captain Blood’ transitions locales to a beachfront condo and introduces Captain’s lubricious sister Iris, and (in keeping with the idea that you can't have too many crazies in Southern California) Iris's psychotic lesbian lover Datchel. The pornographic and splatterpunk content kick into much higher gear. 

The plot then transitions into its ‘revenge’ component, as Captain is informed of a rebellious teen-aged girl who is in the grip of drug addiction, and prostituted by group of down and dirty Inland residents. 

The final third of the novel is the best, as Captain’s increasingly unhinged pursuit of the drug pushers brings out his lust for vigilante violence. The closing chapters offer genuine suspense, and a denouement that avoids contrivance.

The verdict ? For a first novel, ‘Captain Blood’ has its faults, but it does succeed in conveying a clear, and in many ways weirdly affectionate, portrayal of early-80s Southern California and its more crazed inhabitants. 

Blodgett regularly suspends his narrative to offer quasi-cinematic sequences that describe the often smogbound, but sometimes idyllic, landscape of the Southern California, as if to say that for all its craziness, there is no better place to be on a clear and sunny spring morning.

'Captain Blood' also stands as a definitive work of proto-splatterpunk, in many ways eclipsing many – if not all - of the novels referenced as touchstones of the genre in Paul M. Sammons’s 1991 anthology Splatterpunks: Extreme Horror.

If 'extreme' craziness literature appeals to you, then picking up a copy of ‘Captain Blood’ can be worthwhile.

March is 80s California Crazies Month

Here at the PorPor Books Blog, every once in a while we like to take a break from reading sci-fi, horror, and fantasy books from the interval from 1968 - 1988, and instead focus on books from another genre that were published during that era.

After a long, and at times unseasonably cold Winter 2018, I thought it would be nice to take in some vintage literature about California......and its crazier inhabitants. The state has always been known for craziness, and during the late 70s and early 80s a number of memorable novels were released that dealt with this side of California.

Crazed vigilantes, teenage deviants, serial killers, porn merchants, snuff film auteurs, sex cult aficionados..........and, of course, smog. Lots of smog !

They're all here in the pages of the five novels being reviewed this month !

To get you in the proper visual mood, I'm linking a site that offers photographs of LA in the late 70s and early 80s: 

Hollywood In Kodachrome: People Of LA 1979-1982

The Best of Bijou Funnies / The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics

The Best of Bijou Funnies / The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics
edited by Jay Lynch, Don Donahue, and Susan Goodrick
Quick Fox, 1981

At the time of its publication in 1981, this unusually formatted trade paperback - a dos a dos binding similar to that used for the famous 'Ace Doubles' sci-fi paperbacks - from Quick Fox books was one of the few graphic novels that featured underground comix. 

Indeed, back then, when even mainstream comics were just starting to get a foothold in the graphic novel format, the idea of showcasing underground comix from the 70s in a trade paperback format would have seemed an adventurous foray into the book market.

It's a melding of two separate volumes first published in 1974 (Apex) and 1975 (Bijou).

The Bijou section leads off with a concise history, illustrated by vintage photographs, of the profiled artists before segueing into strips- most of them one- to several- pages in length -  from Robert Crumb, Jay Lynch, Justin Green, Rory Hayes, Skip Williamson, and other major comix figures.

The Apex section is organized differently, as the content is divided into separate chapters by artist. Robert Crumb, Art Speigelman, Gilbert Shelton, Bill Griffith, and Kim Deitch are among the profiled artists.

As with any anthology of this type, an argument could be made over the selection of the material. Personally, I found that the volume as a whole could have done with less content from Jay Lynch - his 'Nard and Pat' strips really weren't all that memorable. Bobby London's satirical treatments of Disney comics, and his pastiches of George Herrimann's Krazy Kat comics from the the first half of the 20th century, also haven't aged that well.

That said, some of the material in this compilation is well worthwhile. The entries from Crumb, Green, and Shelton remain entertaining. It's also nice to see some of the less productive and less well-known artists of the underground era, like Jim Osborne and Rory Hayes, represented.

Additional worthy material comprises Spain's Lovecraftian horror, Trashman, and political comix:

Summing up, with these kinds of 'all-star' graphic novel anthologies of underground comix still somewhat rare, if you happen to see a copy of 'The Best of Bijou Funnies / The Apex Treasury of Underground Comics' on the shelf and it's reasonably priced, it just might be worth picking up.

I'm going to close with a classic 'Mr Natural' strip from the book...........enjoy !

Book Review: The War in 2020

Book Review: 'The War in 2020'
by Ralph Peters

3 / 5 Stars

‘The War in 2020’ first was published in hardback in 1991; this Pocket Books mass market paperback (607 pp) was published in January 1992.

I remember reading the paperback version when it first came out, and thinking that its scenario was quite reasonable for the times; how does the novel fare when re-read some 26 years later, just two years away from 2020 ?

The framework of the novel posits that, in 2020, the United States and the West are economically, politically, and militarily weakened from decades of combatting various Small Wars instigated by a resurgent Japan. As the novel opens, Japan, protected by an impregnable ‘Star Wars’ space defense system, is casting a covetous eye on the mineral wealth of Siberia. 

Rather than risk their own military in any adventurism, the Japanese have carefully co-opted the Iranians, the Arabs, and Central Asian states into forming an Islamic Coalition. The goal of the Coalition is simple: expel Russia from its Asian territories, preferably with as much bloodshed as possible. Once the Russians are eliminated, then all of the territory of the Soviet Union east of the Ural Mountains will be open to Japanese exploitation.

Author Peters’s central premise is that by 2020, Russia has continued the downward slide begun in the early 1990s, becoming an Orwellian nightmare of poverty and decay. The outgunned and outnumbered Russian ground forces still surviving in Central Asia are fighting a valiant, but ultimately hopeless, delaying action against this Muslim Coalition.

Despite the poor prognosis for Russia’s survival, the United States has decided to break with decades of hostility and suspicion towards its former rival in order to provide aid, in the form of the Seventh Cavalry and its new ‘wonder weapon’, the M-100 model tilt-rotor attack aircraft. Secreted in an abandoned factory complex in Omsk, the Seventh prepares for a massive surprise attack on the encroaching ground forces of the Muslim Coalition - and their Japanese advisors.

For Colonel George Taylor, commanding the Seventh, the forthcoming assault is not just an effort by the US to prop up Russia and prevent complete Japanese hegemony over global resources. It’s a chance for revenge: payback against his earlier defeat at the hands of Japanese proxies in southern Africa.

But as the Seventh goes into action, Taylor and his troops will discover that surprise attacks can be a two-way street……….and the loyalties of politicians and allies easily can be switched……….

Upon a second reading, ‘The War in 2020’ came across a mixed success. The combat sequences are the best thing about the novel: well-written, suspenseful, and with an authenticity superior to that of most techno-thriller novels. The depiction of the near-future World is a reasonable extrapolation from the state of affairs in 1991, and the military technologies outlined in the novel are not so far-fetched that they give the book a contrived atmosphere. Authors Peters, who is a former US Army Foreign Area Officer, is quite accurate with some of his geopolitical predictions, particularly those involving Islamic fundamentalism.

Unfortunately, author Peters intersperses his combat sequences with an equivalent number of lengthy ‘character development’ segments. These segments are overwritten, filled with metaphorical, often poetic language that is incongruous in a technothriller. The presence of these characterization segments routinely leeches momentum from the narrative; in fact, the Seventh Cavalry doesn’t fire a shot until page 341 out of 607: more than halfway through the book........... !

Summing up, ‘The War in 2020’ is a 600+ page novel with content divided equally between the genres of melodrama and technothriller. Make sure you have the patience for this type of construct before tackling this book.

The Jive Glossary

celebrating Black History Month 2018

The Jive Glossary
from Can You Dig It ? The 70s Soul Experience
Rhino Records Boxed CD set, October 2001

Back in the early 2000s, when Napster was just starting to gain traction and the idea of listening to - and trading - in digital music files hadn't yet become a phenomenon, it was not unusual for companies like Rhino Records to release elaborately packaged boxed sets of CDs containing compilations of singles from all types of musical genres.

In October 2001 Rhino released a six-CD boxed set titled Can You DIg It ? The 70s Soul Experience that featured a variety of songs that made it into the Billboard R & B charts during the interval from 1970 - 1977.

The nicely produced booklet included in the boxed set contained a two-page 'Jive Glossary' of 70s Black slang (to help Caucasian listeners, in particular, to get in the groove in a proper way). 

Some of the definitions are laugh-out-loud funny. I've posted scans of the Glossary below; clicking to maximum magnification should make these legible on a PC screen (less so on a smartphone screen...........? ).