Scarecrow by Charles Vess

Scarecrow
by Charles Vess
from Taboo No. 1, Fall 1988

With temperatures on the East Coast hitting the 90s during a massive heat wave, it's as good a time as any to provide a finely illustrated tale of the Midwest in Autumn, courtesy of Charles Vess and the Fall, 1988 issue of Taboo.

Book Review: Some Will Not Die

Book Review: 'Some Will Not Die' by Algis Budrys

2 / 5 Stars

'Some Will Not Die' (283 pp) was published by Dell in October 1979; the stirking cover art is by Maelo Cintron.

'Some' is an expansion of Budrys's first novel, 'False Night', published in 1954. The book's status as a fix-up may have much to do with its failings..............

The book's underlying premise is that in the near future a plague of unknown origin decimates most of the Earth's population. 

Among the empty streets and buildings of New York City, a young man named Matthew Garvin learns that humanity has sunk to the level of barbarism, and survival belongs to those willing to fight for it. Garvin eventually meets an older man named Gustav Berendtsen, and together the two form their own primitive government in Manhattan.

These early chapters are effective at portraying an abandoned New York City in the grip of anarchy, and the take-no-prisoners nature of the conflicts between the haves and have-nots.

Unfortunately, as 'Some' progresses, author Budrys focuses the narrative on the actions of the descendants of Garvin and Berendtsen and their efforts to expand the government created by their fathers; this expansion effort involves subjugating other groups in the Eastern U.S., and generates tensions among the Garvin and Berendtsen clans. 

Much of the narrative in these chapters is reliant on passages featuring lengthy conversations designed to address the deep political and moral questions raised by the cost of re-establishing civilization in a world that - in some quarters - does not relish the prospect of reviving the Old Order.

Confusing matters is a secondary, interwoven plotline, set further into the future, in which a team of militiamen wander the bleak, dangerous reaches of the Midwest, investigating the myth of a still-living Berendtsen.

The closing chapters of the book gradually lose cohesion and seem more like vignettes introduced for the purposes of lengthening the manuscript to a designated page count, rather than developments integral to the advancement of the story.

Summing up, like the other Budrys novels I have read (or attempted to read), 'Some Will Not Die' is yet another disappointing example of a worthwhile premise brought low by poor execution. I really can't recommend this novel to anyone save those who are devoted to Budrys's fiction.

Soldier of Fortune: The Liberators

Soldier of Fortune
'The Liberators'
by Alfredo Grassi (story) and Enrique Breccia (art)
from Merchants of Death No. 1, July 1988
Eclipse Comics

In 1988 indie comics publisher Eclipse decided to try out something new: a 40 page, magazine-sized comic book, printed on higher quality paper in color and black and white, that featured adventure tales written and illustrated by well-known Argentinian and North American talent.

Merchants of Death wasn't a major success, and the title folded after four issues. It does deserve mention as an effort to showcase South American comics to an American audience in a era when such an idea was not seen as overly marketable.

Issue one of Merchants of Death featured a story from two Argentinian comics figures: writer Alfredo Grassi and artist Enrique Breccia, with colors provided by Don Gidley. 

Set in what is apparently Bolivia, 'Soldier of Fortune: The Liberators' opening pages use some well-rendered scenes of desert terrain to lend an existential atmosphere to its cynical, and very much South American, treatment of the politics of the Right and Left. As well as some sharply drawn scenes of violence - definitely not Comics Code material ! 

Grassi and Breccia did additional episodes of 'Soldier of Fortune' for Merchants of Death. I'll be posting those if there is interest.

Susan George

Susan George
still from the 1974 movie Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry

Book Review: Staying Alive

Book Review: 'Staying Alive: The Disco Inferno of the Bee Gees'
by Simon Spence

4 / 5 Stars

Maurice had been drinking since breakfast and was unsteady on his feet during rehearsal in Batley. By show time he could barely stand. The crowd predictably responded badly to the group's newer material. The club was only half-full. From the stage, the band could hear the sound of the audience eating, chewing, broad Yorkshire accents chatting loudly and drink glasses chinking. All sense of hope began to drain from Barry. "It was the most horrible sinking feeling" he said.

As the above excerpt from Staying Alive shows, for the Bee Gees, April 1974 was the group's nadir. Badly needing income, they had been booked on a tour on the cabaret club circuit of Northern England. 

By 1974 the glory days of this circuit had long since passed; many (if not all) of the clubs were well into decline, their exteriors and interiors showing signs of wear and delayed maintenance. England was in the midst of another of the decade's myriad economic crises, and few people in the North Country had the disposable income for any cabaret-style entertainment. 

The fighting outside the Golden Garter stopped. Maurice was retching. He groaned, vomited, and sank to his knees before rolling onto the floor. It was dark and drunks staggered past, ignoring the once famous Bee Gee brothers.

While Maurice drank himself into oblivion to cope with the ignominy of the band's descent into the 'pop wilderness', and Robin, steeped in depression, stayed alone in his room between shows, older brother Barry tried imagine better times to come. The group was set to release a new album, titled Mr. Natural, later that Summer, and Barry hoped that by working with renowned producer Arif Marden, the band could undergo a musical revival and return to the charts.

Unfortunately for the band, upon its release in July 1974, Mr. Natural was a flop. The head of Atlantic Records (which distributed the Bee Gees records), Ahmet Ertegun, considered the band's career to be over, but their manager, Robert Stigwood, was willing to give the band one more chance to mount a comeback. 

During January and February 1975 the band recorded the album Main Course at Criteria Studios in Miami. The first single from the album, Jive Talkin', was released in May and became a hit...........and the rest is history...........

Staying Alive (286 pp., Jawbone Books, 2017) primarily focuses on the Bee Gees from 1974 - 1981: the years they emerged from the 'pop wilderness' to dominate the Top 10 charts in a way not seen since, before suffering from the fervid backlash against disco music that came with the beginning of the 80s. 

Also profiled in the pages of the book are the Gibbs' younger brother Andy; the Bee Gees manager, Robert Stigwood; actor John Travolta; and Nik Cohn, the Irish writer whose fictional account of dancers at the '2001 Odyssey' disco in Brooklyn, published in 1976 in New York magazine, kicked off the disco craze.

Author Spence fills the book with plenty of insider viewpoints, many of which subvert the carefully manicured history of the band presented in their 1979 'authorized' biography. 

The revelations of Andy Gibb's descent into self-destruction are particularly depressing, as are Spence's blunt dissections of the infighting among the three brothers.

I would give Staying Alive five stars but for the presence of numerous typos and factual errors throughout the book, errors that could have been easily corrected with a bit of googling (for example, Robin Gibb's solo single Boys Do Fall in Love charted in the US in 1984, not 1985). 

The verdict ? Despite its faults, Staying Alive is an engrossing read and anyone with an interest in the pop culture of the 70s and 80s, the Bee Gees, rock music, or disco, will likely want to sit down with a copy.

Untitled Story

'Untitled Story'
(Historia sin Titulo)
by Giovanni Degli Esposti Venturi
from Zona 84 issue 10, 1985

Spanish artist Giovanni Degli Esposti Venturi (1954 - 2016) mainly illustrated porno comics during his career, with a specialization in fetish and bondage themes. Very little of his work has been translated into English.

The contents page for issue 10 of Zona 84 describes this story as: pasión a sangre y fuego en las autopistas americanas una historia rescatada por su belleza plástica. 

This beautifully illustrated amalgamation of bikers, motorcycle cops, fetish gear, and highway violence is bets regarded as a sort of imaginative homage to the 1973 cult movie Electra Glide in Blue (poster appended). 

Book Review: Nova 2

Book Review: 'Nova 2' edited by Harry Harrison

3 / 5 Stars

‘Nova 2’ first was published in hardback in 1972; this Dell Books paperback (235 pp) was issued in April, 1974. The cover artist is uncredited.

All of the stories in ‘Nova 2’ were written specifically for the anthology.

The New Wave movement was firmly entrenched in 1972, although Harry Harrison was somewhat less enamored of ‘speculative fiction’ as compared to, say, Damon Knight. Thus, I was hoping that the entries in ‘Nova 2’ would avoid the worst excesses of the Movement. 

In his Introduction Harrison focuses primarily on the growth of the genre in non-Anglophone countries, growth which, according to Harrison, justifies the inclusion of a novelette by the Brazilian author Andre Carneiro in ‘Nova 2’.

Harrison also reveals that satirical treatments of classic sf tropes and themes have become very much in style, hence his decision to include seven stories ‘....sparked with wit’.

My capsule summaries of the contents of ‘Nova 2’:

Zirn Left Unguarded, the Jenghik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerly Dead, by Robert Sheckley: by 1972 the repackaging of Edgar Rice Burroughs ‘Mars’ and ‘Venus’ novels into paperbacks had become big business; accordingly, Sheckley seeks to satirize this genre. Why Harrison saw a story this lame as deserving of being included in ‘Nova 2’ is mystifying.

East Wind, West Wind, by Frank M. Robinson: a detective story set amidst a near-future Los Angeles in the grip of devastating air pollution. One of the more effective stories in the anthology, and a classic of the early seventies Eco-Disaster genre.

The Sumerian Oath, by Philip Jose Farmer: humorous tale of an oath all physicians take – in secret, of course.

Now + n Now – n, by Robert Silverberg: nothing screams ‘New Wave’ like this title. It’s actually the rather pedestrian tale of Aram Kevorkian, who is in regular, telepathic contact with his selves both 48 hours into the future, and 48 hours into the past (48 hours being the ‘n’ of the title). Kevorkian earns a comfortable living playing the stock market; that is, until the arrival of a Swell Dame brings complications.

Two Odysseys into the Center, by Barry M. Malzburg: Malzburg satirizes traditional sf tropes. Another ho-hum entry whose inclusion seems to have revolved more around editor Harrison’s whims than any quality intrinsic to the story.

Darkness, by Andre Carneiro: Brazilian sf author Carneiro contributed this tale of what happens to the world when all light and illumination gradually vanish, leaving everyone in darkness. It’s the best story in the anthology, using a straightforward narrative and carefully placed philosophical musings in a very capable manner; made all the more impressive when one considers that this is a translation from the original Portuguese.

On the Wheel, by Damon Knight: another satire of traditional sf, although better written, and more insightful, than the other examples in ‘Nova 2’.

Miss Omega Raven, by Naomi Mitchison: a female raven is a participant in an experiment designed to upset the pecking order. Mitchison’s prose is too overwritten to make the story effective.

The Poet in the Hologram in the Middle of Prime Time, by Edward Bryant: by 1972 the writings of Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan had a prominent place among intellectuals, and not surprisingly, more than a few sf writers used the themes of ‘the medium is the message’ and ‘the global village’ in their works.

In this story from Edward Bryant, a new form of 3D television, marketed by the UniComp corporation, threatens to debase Art. A poet named Ransom, who supports himself by writing scripts for UniComp, contemplates taking drastic action to subvert the process. 

This story is a textbook example of a New Wave tale: it features ALL CAPS narration designed to mimic the camera instructions for a TV script; snippets of blank verse poetry; and a narrative that moves in time and space in a nonlinear manner. All of which are reasons why it’s not a very good story..............

The Old Folks, by James Gunn: a young couple with children make a fateful decision to visit grandma and grandpa in their Seniors-Only Florida subdivision. The creepy tenor of this story gives it a ‘Twilight Zone’ flavor, and makes it another of the better entries in ‘Nova 2’.

The Steam-Driven Boy, by John Sladek: an android is sent back in time to change the politics of the United States. Sladek intends the story to be a comic one, but I found it to be unimpressive.

I Tell You, It’s True, by Poul Anderson: what if the U.S. developed a device capable of covertly influencing the thoughts and attitudes of foreign leaders ? Why, the only consequence can be World Peace, of course ! Although, is a World Peace on the basis of what is best for the U.S. truly a World Peace.……? A competent tale from veteran author Anderson.

And I Have Come Upon This Place by Lost Ways, by James Tiptree, Jr: in 1972 Harrison and other editors still believed the subterfuge that James Tiptree, Jr was a man (Tiptree, of course, was the pseudonym of Virginia writer Alice Sheldon). This tale is set in the far future, when scientists are a self-satisfied, princely caste who observe, but do not interact, with the world; it’s up to a lowly technician to investigate the mystery associated with the summit of a vast mountain on an alien planet. The story’s theme is certainly worthwhile, but unfortunately, Tiptree’s use of overly figurative prose make reading this entry cumbersome.

The Ergot Show, by Brian Aldiss: in the near future, reality TV merges with heightened consciousness to create a new kind of immersive media experience. Like Edward Bryant’s story above, this entry also tries to channel McLuhan-esque concepts. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, Aldiss tries yet again to imitate his hero, J. G. Ballard, and as a result, writes a story that is incoherent.

The verdict ? Like just about every other New Wave era sf anthology I have ever reviewed (after a while they all start to blur together), there are several worthwhile entries that struggle to overcome their placement among material of lesser quality. I can’t call this volume a must-have, but those dedicated to early 70s sf may want to get a copy.

Dessert by Spain

'Dessert' by Spain
from Young Lust No. 5, 1977
celebrating Pride Month 2018

Its content meant that this strip was not included in Spain's 2012 compilation Cruisin' with the Hound:The Life and Times of Fred Toote. 

In an interview published in that book, Spain alludes to violent encounters with closeted gays when he roamed the streets of Buffalo, New York as a teenaged hoodlum in the 50s. While only 14 years old at the time, Spain was a willing participant in the antics of his fellow gangsters, as depicted below.

The Bee Gees in Central Park, 1975

The Bee Gees 
Central Park, New York City
June 1975

Robin, Maurice, and Barry Gibb

Photo shoot prior to their concert at the park on June 17, 1975, as part of that year's 'Main Course' tour 

Grit newspaper advertisement parody

Grit newspaper advertisement parody
by Jay Kinney
from Young Lust No. 2, 1971

Grit was a weekly newspaper that began publishing in 1882 and is still in circulation - as a magazine - today (you can find a one-year subscription at amazon). Grit was designed for a rural readership, and from the 40s to the 70s it promoted 'paperboy' distribution by routinely featuring full-color advertisements on the back covers and interiors of comic books.

Underground comix legend Jay Kinney showed particular genius in putting together this loud-out-loud-funny parody for issue 2 of Young Lust.