'Arzak' by Moebius
from the June 1977 issue of Heavy Metal On March 10, 2012, Jean 'Moebius' Giraud passed away at age 73.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Nick Fury Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.
(graphic novel) Marvel Comics 1989
This trade paperback compiles the six-issue limited miniseries 'Nick Fury Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.' that was published from July - November 1988. The miniseries was designed to generate advance interest among Marvel fans prior to the launch of a 'Nick Fury: Agent of Shield' monthly comic book.
[This is a thick chunk of a trade paperback. Copies in good condition are available online for less than 10 dollars, while a hardcover edition can be purchased for under 20 dollars.]
The series opens with Nick and a S.H.I.E.L.D. team engaged in a risky recovery mission aimed at retrieving the nuclear cores from the remains of the Helicarrier. No sooner has Nick successfully accomplished this task, then a regiment of Hydra assailants come swooping out of the skies. Needless to say, there is some frenetic action in place to kick off the first issue of the story arc.
True to form for a S.H.I.E.L.D. tale, the plot gets steadily more incoherent with each episode. By the time I finished issue 3, I had no idea what was going on, as the narrative had devolved into at least three separate conspiracy threads (that I could figure out)..........
If you approach it as an over-the-top exercise in crazed inspiration, 'Nick Fury Vs S.H.I.E.L.D.' is an enjoyable read. I won't divulge any spoilers, but writer Bob Harras clearly intended to shake up the SHIELD franchise with some of his plot developments.
The artwork by Paul Neary suffers to some degree from the less than crisp printing technology and coloration in use in comics in the late 80s, and more than a few of his panels have a washed-out appearance. But overall the artwork is serviceable, and occasionally even evokes the illustrative style of Sternako's classic work on this franchise.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Book Review: New Dimensions IV
Book Review: 'New Dimensions IV', edited by Robert Silverberg
‘New Dimensions’ was of course one of the two major, yearly sf anthologies that featured 'New Wave' content (the other being Damon Knight’s ‘Orbit’ series) during the movement’s heyday in the 70s.
‘New Dimensions IV’ was published as a Signet paperback in October 1974; the cover artist is uncredited.
In contrast to Damon Knight's policy in 'Orbit', editor Silverberg approached the New Dimensions imprint a bit more inclined to include traditionally structured stories, along with the obligatory ‘Speculative Fiction’ content. So it was with ‘New Dimensions IV’.
My thoughts on the entries:
Richard A. Lupoff’s ‘After the Dreamtime’ takes the traditional starship-as-a-sailing ship theme, and crews it with a spacefaring race of Australian Aborigines. Somewhat inevitably, a shipload of snobby white people is invoked to remind the reader of the racism and other tribulations visited upon our noble Aborigines. All else aside, 'Dreamtime' s clear writing and straightforward plotting make it one of the better stories in the collection.
Laurence M. Janifer’s ‘The Bible After Apocalypse’ is a vague tale of bewildered humans reacting, in half-hearted, existential fashion, to an alien invasion.
Felix C. Gotschalk contributes two stories. ‘Outer Concentric’ is a satirical look at old age, and retirement, in a dystopian future. ‘The Examination’ is an absurdist treatment of a test proctor who finds out that the little girl to whom he is administering an IQ exam may have more to her than is apparent to the eye. Both of these stories suffer from labored, overly wordy prose, and are stark examples of how poorly most New Wave fiction has aged in the years since it was first written.
Terry Carr’s ‘The Colors of Fear’ is another of the more accessible tales in the collection. ‘Colors’ features a decrepit Earth under siege by a race of nebulous aliens. The story’s imaginative quality, fused with uncontrived prose, gives it an offbeat edge otherwise absent in most New Wave treatments of this same theme.
Roger Elwood’s ‘Ariel’ is an awkward tale of a black astronaut and his efforts to escape bigotry in a dystopian, near-future US. The story, which consists of a linked series of short paragraphs, suffers from all sorts of New Wave contrivances: stream-of-consciousness musings on the part of the narrator, segments of vertically aligned ALL CAPS text, figurative descriptions of otherworldly vistas, etc., etc.
Three entries: ‘State of the Art’ by Barry Malzberg, ‘Among the Metal-and-People People’, by David R. Bunch, and ‘Animal Fair’, by R. A. Lafferty, vie for the dubious honor of being the worst in the anthology. Malzberg’s tale features famous authors arguing among themselves in some sort of ‘afterlife’ version of Paris. Bunch’s story deals with a military robot who makes an expedition to confront an adversary, while Lafferty’s tale deals with a suburban backyard that attracts a bevy of talking animals. All are overly-earnest efforts at crafting absurdist, 'Speculative Fiction' pieces.
At novelette length, Gardner Dozois’s ‘Strangers’ is easily the longest story in the collection. ‘Strangers’ features as its main character a Swiss citizen named Joseph Farber. Farber is a stolid, unimaginative man, one of a number of staffers of the Terran enclave on the planet Lisle, home to the feline, humanoid race known as the Cian.
Lonely, and alienated from his fellow Terrans, Farber begins a romance with a Cian female and eventually marries her, although with the realization that many aspects of their society are withheld from his knowledge. As he embarks on life as a stranger among the reticent, rather xenophobic Cian, Farber gradually learns some stark truths about marriage and family among his adopted culture.
‘Strangers’ is a slow-paced piece, filled with many descriptive passages and quasi-philosophical musings, and author Dozois is deliberate in unveiling revelations about Cian society to his readers. Much of the novelette’s air of increasing disquiet is the result of the limited intelligence and imagination of Farber, its Terran protagonist. Nonetheless, readers willing to shoulder a contemplative treatment of an alien society will find ‘Strangers’ to be another of the better entries in the anthology.
‘New Dimensions IV’ was published as a Signet paperback in October 1974; the cover artist is uncredited.
In contrast to Damon Knight's policy in 'Orbit', editor Silverberg approached the New Dimensions imprint a bit more inclined to include traditionally structured stories, along with the obligatory ‘Speculative Fiction’ content. So it was with ‘New Dimensions IV’.
My thoughts on the entries:
Richard A. Lupoff’s ‘After the Dreamtime’ takes the traditional starship-as-a-sailing ship theme, and crews it with a spacefaring race of Australian Aborigines. Somewhat inevitably, a shipload of snobby white people is invoked to remind the reader of the racism and other tribulations visited upon our noble Aborigines. All else aside, 'Dreamtime' s clear writing and straightforward plotting make it one of the better stories in the collection.
Laurence M. Janifer’s ‘The Bible After Apocalypse’ is a vague tale of bewildered humans reacting, in half-hearted, existential fashion, to an alien invasion.
Felix C. Gotschalk contributes two stories. ‘Outer Concentric’ is a satirical look at old age, and retirement, in a dystopian future. ‘The Examination’ is an absurdist treatment of a test proctor who finds out that the little girl to whom he is administering an IQ exam may have more to her than is apparent to the eye. Both of these stories suffer from labored, overly wordy prose, and are stark examples of how poorly most New Wave fiction has aged in the years since it was first written.
Terry Carr’s ‘The Colors of Fear’ is another of the more accessible tales in the collection. ‘Colors’ features a decrepit Earth under siege by a race of nebulous aliens. The story’s imaginative quality, fused with uncontrived prose, gives it an offbeat edge otherwise absent in most New Wave treatments of this same theme.
Roger Elwood’s ‘Ariel’ is an awkward tale of a black astronaut and his efforts to escape bigotry in a dystopian, near-future US. The story, which consists of a linked series of short paragraphs, suffers from all sorts of New Wave contrivances: stream-of-consciousness musings on the part of the narrator, segments of vertically aligned ALL CAPS text, figurative descriptions of otherworldly vistas, etc., etc.
Three entries: ‘State of the Art’ by Barry Malzberg, ‘Among the Metal-and-People People’, by David R. Bunch, and ‘Animal Fair’, by R. A. Lafferty, vie for the dubious honor of being the worst in the anthology. Malzberg’s tale features famous authors arguing among themselves in some sort of ‘afterlife’ version of Paris. Bunch’s story deals with a military robot who makes an expedition to confront an adversary, while Lafferty’s tale deals with a suburban backyard that attracts a bevy of talking animals. All are overly-earnest efforts at crafting absurdist, 'Speculative Fiction' pieces.
At novelette length, Gardner Dozois’s ‘Strangers’ is easily the longest story in the collection. ‘Strangers’ features as its main character a Swiss citizen named Joseph Farber. Farber is a stolid, unimaginative man, one of a number of staffers of the Terran enclave on the planet Lisle, home to the feline, humanoid race known as the Cian.
Lonely, and alienated from his fellow Terrans, Farber begins a romance with a Cian female and eventually marries her, although with the realization that many aspects of their society are withheld from his knowledge. As he embarks on life as a stranger among the reticent, rather xenophobic Cian, Farber gradually learns some stark truths about marriage and family among his adopted culture.
‘Strangers’ is a slow-paced piece, filled with many descriptive passages and quasi-philosophical musings, and author Dozois is deliberate in unveiling revelations about Cian society to his readers. Much of the novelette’s air of increasing disquiet is the result of the limited intelligence and imagination of Farber, its Terran protagonist. Nonetheless, readers willing to shoulder a contemplative treatment of an alien society will find ‘Strangers’ to be another of the better entries in the anthology.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
'An Unmarried Machine' by Jean-Michel Nicollet
'An Unmarried Machine' by Jean-Michel Nicollet
from the February 1982 issue of Heavy Metal
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Book Review: The Steel Tsar
Book Review: 'The Steel Tsar' by Michael Moorcock
3 / 5 Stars
‘The Steel Tsar’ (DAW Book No. 503, October 1981, 160 pp. cover art by Walter Velez) is the third and final volume in Michael Moorcock’s ‘The Nomad of Time’ trilogy, the first two volumes being ‘The Warlord of the Air’ and ‘The Land Leviathan’.
The first half of ‘Tsar’ is the best part of the novel. Residing in an alternate timeline in which Japan wages World War 2 in 1941 against Britain and Russia, our hero Oswald Bastable is witness to the firebombing of Singapore by the Japanese airship fleet. He experiences many dangers in fleeing the city and ultimately finds himself on a remote island, former outpost of a mining firm, where the remnants of the British Empire are swiftly crumbling as the natives grow restless, and the defeat of the White Man and his empire looms large.
Moorcock well captures the mixture of resignation, drunken apathy, and disorientation that gripped the world of the British Pacific colonies as the Japanese swept to victory in the early months of World War 2. It calls very much to mind nonfiction works such as Noel Barber’s ‘Sinister Twilight’.
In the second half of the novel Bastable makes his way to Russia, where the Cossacks are in revolt against the democratic government of Kerensky.
A Georgian, and former priest, named Djugashvili (i.e., Joseph Stalin) has assumed the leadership of the Cossack armies; he goes by the name of The Steel Tsar. Bastable realizes that underneath his rhetoric of liberation and emancipation of the oppressed, the Steel Tsar is a ruthless man who readily will employ violence to become the ruler of the world.
Will Bastable and a team of wary anarchists and rebels be able to thwart Djugashvili’s plans ? Or will the Steel Tsar emerge victorious against the Russian government, and then turn his eyes to the rest of the planet ?
Overall, ‘The Steel Tsar’ is a quick, and not altogether unrewarding, read. Moorcock spends a bit too much of the text having his characters engage in debates and conversations about Man’s Destiny, and whether any political system can fulfill the ambitions of such flawed creatures. The cameos by real world figures that gave ‘The Warlord of the Air’ a quirky originality are absent here, and Bastable is rendered more of a passive observer in momentous events, rather than a vital participant.
It’s clear that by the time it came to 'Tsar', Moorcock was running out of creative steam with the 'Nomad of Time' concept, but he did make an effort to wrap things up in a professional, if workmanlike, manner.
Overall, ‘The Steel Tsar’ is a quick, and not altogether unrewarding, read. Moorcock spends a bit too much of the text having his characters engage in debates and conversations about Man’s Destiny, and whether any political system can fulfill the ambitions of such flawed creatures. The cameos by real world figures that gave ‘The Warlord of the Air’ a quirky originality are absent here, and Bastable is rendered more of a passive observer in momentous events, rather than a vital participant.
It’s clear that by the time it came to 'Tsar', Moorcock was running out of creative steam with the 'Nomad of Time' concept, but he did make an effort to wrap things up in a professional, if workmanlike, manner.
Monday, February 20, 2012
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