At McKay's Books

 At McKay's Books

A couple of weeks ago, with sweltering conditions in Central Virginia, it was too hot and uncomfortable to do anything out of doors. So I thought I'd drive the 100 minutes to McKay's Used Books in Manassas and see what was on the shelves.

Of course, the never-ending construction work on repaving Route 28 in Manassas, from Route 619 to Godwin Drive, added another 15 minutes to the drive there (and 20 minutes to the drive back). So each way, it was closer to two hours of driving.

Crouching and squatting among the shelving at McKay's left me with a thin coating of sweat.....I can't figure out how the women patronizing McKay's wear long-sleeved tops because it's too 'cold' inside........ 

But my perspiration yielded rewards: I was able to find, nestled among copies of 'Bitch Planet' and 'Black Science' graphic novels, some rare, vintage Euro comics for reasonable prices (i.e., under $5 each):

XIII is a French-language adventure series that emerged as one of the more popular and celebrated bande dessinee of the 1980s. 

In the U.S., in 1989 - 1990, Catalan Communications released English versions of the first few volumes in the series.  

'Deep City' (1986) is another Catalan Communications English translation, this time of an Argentine noir comic, called Evaristo, from artist Francisco Solano Lopez and writer Carlos Sampayo. 

Lopez is best known in the U.S. for his work on the 1950s Argentine sci-fi comic strip El Eternauta, reprinted in English in 2016 by Fantagraphics as 'The Eternaut'.

Garth was a sci-fi comic strip that appeared in the U.K. newspaper The Daily Mirror from 1943 to 1997, with more sporadic appearances thereafter. This Titan Books compilation, published in 1984, features strips from 1971 and 1972, illustrated by the celebrated artist Frank Bellamy. 'The Cloud of Balthus' is one of only a few compilations of the Garth strips that have been released in the past five decades.

After completing my shopping at McKay's, I went next door to Ollie's Bargain Outlet, where the temperature inside was close to 80 degrees. I was soaked in sweat by the time I left, but I was able to score some exotic styles of cheese doodles and other treasures........although that might best be the topic of another posting........

Book Review: Bolo Brigade

Book Review: 'Bolo Brigade' by William H. Keith, Jr.

4 / 5 Stars

‘Bolo Brigade’ (376 pp.) was published in May, 1997 by Baen Books. The cover artwork is by C. W. Kelly.

Following his death in 1993, the ‘Bolo’ supertank franchise of Keith Laumer continued under the aegis of Baen Books, who issued reprints of Laumer’s stories and novels along with new entries in the franchise.

William H. Keith Jr. (b. 1950) is an American author with extensive short story and novel credits for a number of licensed properties, including ‘Cybernarc’ (as by ‘Robert Cain’), ‘Battletech’, ‘Doctor Who’, and ‘Buck Rogers’. During the 2010s Keith, Jr. has been active in writing entries for the ‘Star Carrier’ line of eBooks for the Harper Voyager imprint of Harper Collins.

‘Bolo Brigade’ is set on the planet Muir in the Strahan Cluster, a system located on the edge of the spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. As the novel opens, Lieutenant Donal Ragnor is taking command of the planet's major defense unit: the eponymous Bolo brigade. For Ragnor, whose checkered history includes a court-martial, the posting to Muir is a career dead-end, one designed to place him out of sight and out of mind.

Nonetheless, Ragnor remains dedicated to the military and his mission, and he promptly moves to discipline the lackadaisical soldiers who are responsible for the maintenance of the two Bolo tanks housed in the arms depot in the capital city of Kincaid.

What seems to be a backwater posting suddenly becomes something much more perilous, when an alien race known as the Malach emerge from the intergalactic void, intent on invading and exploiting the Terran colonies in the Strahan Cluster. The Malach, who field armies equipped with formidable technology, don’t observe the niceties that traditionally govern combat between humans………mass slaughter of the enemy is their one and overriding approach to every battle. Dissecting prisoners while they are still alive is a favored tactic for acquiring information.

The fate of the Terran civilization in the entire Cluster rests on the ability of Donal Ragnor and the two Bolos to defeat the Malach. But as Ragnor is to learn, it’s not just the aliens that the Bolos will have to overcome. For the imposition by the Terran High Command of ‘Rules of Engagement’ upon the AIs operating the supertanks means that the simplest of tasks are encumbered with all manner of strictures………strictures that can impose fatal acts of indecision on the battlefield..............

As military sci-fi novels go, ‘Bolo Brigade’ is a successful entry, one that adheres to the conventions of the genre while also necessarily staying true to the framework required by its participation in the Bolo franchise.

Readers fond of the Bolo novels will find much here that is familiar: the AIs operating the two supertanks, ‘Freddie’ and ‘Ferdie’, are given personalities (which emote in frequent passages of italicized text). The protagonist Donal Ragnor is the traditional Laumer-ian man of action, whose indifference to military protocol, and quiet self-confidence, turn out to be assets when the shooting starts. The Malach are suitably villainous (although the narrative tends to bog down when the author belabors their psychology and sociology). And, as is often the case in Bolo entries, their adversaries are unintentionally aided by the actions of scheming politicians and inept, desk-bound senior staff.

Summing up, readers fond of military sci-fi and the Bolo stories will find ‘Bolo Brigade’ to be a worthy entry in the genre. Those less familiar with the genre, but looking for a straightforward sci-fi action tale, also may be interested in this title.  

Two Enemies by Trillo and Salinas

'Two Enemies'
by Carlos Trillo (story) and Alberto Salinas (art)
from Merchants of Death No. 2, August 1988 (Eclipse)

I've previously posted another, two-part comic from this team, from issues 3 and 4 of Merchants of Death, Eclipse Comic's short-lived experiment in a magazine-sized anthology of adventure comics.

'Two Enemies' features amazing artwork from Argentinian artist Salinas (1932 - 2005). I couldn't find out where, in what Continental comic, this strip first appeared. 

I will say that personally, I would have pursued a different outcome to the story's end.........but then, I'm a reprobate............. 

The Inhumans graphic novel, 1988

The Inhumans

Marvel Graphic Novel, 1988 

'The Inhumans' is Marvel graphic novel No. 39, and was published in 1988. The story is by Anne Nocenti, with art by Bret Blevins, inks by Al Williamson, letters by Novak and Saladino, and colors by Michael Higgins.

'The Inhumans' opens with a tragedy taking place in the Inhuman's city of Attilan, on Earth's Moon. The reader learns that the judges of the Genetic Council have implemented a eugenics policy that dictates which members of the race can marry, and reproduce, with others. The justification for this policy is to avoid birthing individuals whose traits may - inadvertently or deliberately - lead to the death and destruction of the Inhumans. Needless to say, this draconian policy is the cause of much tension in Inhuman society.

We learn that Medusa, wife of Inhumans leader Black Bolt, is herself pregnant........and must present herself to the Council and accept their judgment as to whether she will be allowed to bear the child. 

Aware that Black Bolt is capable of destroying Attilan simply by speaking, the Elders decide that it is too risky to permit Medusa to give birth to the progeny of such a powerful being. This stance, of course, causes consternation among the Inhumans.

Determined to have the baby, Medusa uses Lockjaw to teleport herself to a wasteland in the Midwest, where she sets up in an abandoned house. The other Inhumans join her and agree to defend her from any who would try to enforce the Council's diktat.

However, Maximus, Black Bolt's psychopathic brother, has escaped his prison in Attilan and travels to Earth with unsavory designs on Medusa........and the terrain around her hideout has begun to display a disquieting tendency to act as if it is somehow sentient......and dangerous. Events soon are moving towards a crisis, one that jeopardizes not only the Inhumans, but perhaps their entire race as well...............

Marvel produced some pretty awful comics during the 1980s, but this is one of the worst. It's really, really bad. 

Sometimes superior art can salvage a bad story, but Bret Blevins's art has a hasty, half-finished quality, as shown in this panel where little effort was made to render recognizable human figures:

Nocenti's writing relies on a steady stream of melodramatic confrontations between the various Inhumans:

These are so pervasive that at some point Nocenti must have realized that any Fanboys who ventured to read 'The Inhumans' were going to be turned off, so she arranged for some cheesecake to hold their attention. 

Thus we have a shape-shifting girl, named Minxi, who wears the barest strips of black fabric; and some panels of Crystal, taking a bath:

The plot gets increasingly difficult to follow. Story beats are tossed in haphazardly, with little effort at coherence (for example, Triton periodically shows up in a parallel plot thread, says something angst-y, and then vanishes) and the corny, cliche-riddled dialogue fails to improve.

I won't divulge any spoilers, but I found the denouement to be underwhelming, so much so that it renders all of the Sturm und Drang in the preceding pages moot.

Summing up, 'The Inhumans' is an exemplar of what can go wrong when comics writers are given leeway to craft a narrative that serves as a conduit for their aspirations of being a Meaningful Writer. They may have intended to use the medium to say something Profound about society, kinship, responsibility, motherhood, etc., etc., but instead present a stream of theatrical posturings. Stay away from this one ! 

An actual issue of 2000 AD (Prog 449, December 1985)

An actual issue of 2000 AD
Prog 449, December 21, 1985

I've been reading and collecting content from 2000 AD and its sister titles since 1984, but always these were, and are, reprints of material packaged for US distribution. I never held an actual copy of 2000 AD in my hands.

I discovered that my local comic book shop recently had acquired a bunch of actual, vintage 2000 AD comics.......some adventurous American collector must have imported these comics from the UK back in the 1980s.

I picked up Prog 449, issued on December 21, 1985. Below is a photo showing how it compares in dimension to American comics from the same era (more or less):

One thing that is immediately apparent is that 2000 AD was printed on pretty flimsy paper stock. I mean, it's newsprint..........in its margins, you can see the little holes punched out by the apparatus responsible for folding the paper......... 

The newsprint used by publisher IPC for 2000 AD makes the production values of coeval U.S. comic magazines like Monsters Unleashed, Eerie, and The Rook look upscale. 

Considering the use of newsprint, the resolution of the artwork in the pages of 2000 AD is really quite good.

The resolution of text is less reader-friendly. Maybe it was clear to youthful eyes back in '85, but for me today, as someone over 60, it is hard to make out.

Times have changed considerably since 1985, and in the UK and the US attitudes towards comic books and their production values have been greatly altered, with the advent of newer printing technologies making for much more presentable appearance for the medium. 

And it's also true that the inflation-adjusted pricing for modern-day comic books in both countries is quite high (some might say too high), and back in '85, 24 pence was affordable for UK kids who were collecting 2000 AD on a weekly basis.

In that era, an increase in price in order to increase quality might well have been counterproductive...........but perhaps a UK reader can offer some perspective on what 24 pence meant as purchasing power in 1985 ?

Anyways, below I've posted 'I Am the Lurker', the Judge Dredd story from this prog. 

I've enhanced the contrast in my scans to minimize bleedthrough from the opposite side of each page. However you modify it, at its core, Ron Smith's artwork compares very well to anything being printed nowadays in any US comic books.............

Book Review: Sword of the Nurlingas

Book Review: 'Sword of the Nurlingas' by Gerald Earl Bailey

4 / 5 Stars

‘Sword of the Nurlingas’ (180 pp.) was published by Berkley Books in January 1979. The cover artist is uncredited, but likely Wayne Barlowe.

This is the first volume in the two-volume ‘Saga of Thorgrim’ series, with ‘Sword of Poyana’, also published in 1979, the second volume. Whether the series was intended to feature additional volumes is uncertain, as these two books are the totality of author Bailey's output.

‘Sword of the Nurlingas’ is set in the province of Bod Dagh, which is modeled on medieval Scandinavia. Our hero, the son of King Thorgill, is serving a stint as foster-son to an elderly couple at the farmstead of Gilistead. Preoccupied with learning the skills of a warrior, Thorgrim largely is sheltered from the political intrigue unfolding in Bodo Dagh, intrigue advanced by the increasing ambitions of Jomunrek, the illegitimate son of Thorgill. 

As the novel opens a witch-woman in Gilistead awakes with an alarming vision of fire and violence, a vision that portends a cruel fate for our hero should he be found by the forces of Jomunrek. Gisli, the bailiff of Gilistead, arranges for Thorgrim to flee to the city of Chiavo, where he can find passage to the Eastern Lands and a degree of safety as a future as a member of the royal guardsmen of Bayan. 

Gisli bestows upon Thorgrim the magic sword of Lark, and the story of a prophecy…..one that may involve Thorgrim and the Spaehelm, a lost artifact of great power, albeit one that brings a curse upon its wielder. 

And so Thorgrim, callow as he is, is forced out into the wide world, with all its perils and promises. But with Lark in his hand, Thorgrim is not one to be underestimated, as his enemies soon will learn…..

‘Sword of the Nurlingas’ was something of a surprise. It’s a cut above the standard-issue Conan pastiche, as good as, if not better, than (for example) the ‘Thongor’ stories produced by Lin Carter. 

Bailey is a competent writer who keeps his chapters short and to the point. The cast of characters is expansive, but not unwieldy, and the narrative moves with alacrity. For his part, Thorgrim is not invincible, thus victory is never foreordained. At the same time, his willingness to use strategy and cunning when the odds are against him keeps the plot from getting too predictable and sustains an interesting narrative.

I finished ‘Sword of the Nurlingas’ with an eye towards acquiring the sequel. This is a late 70s sword-and-sorcery tale that is worth picking up.