The Science in Science Fiction

'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls

Australian author Peter Nicholls wrote several very good books on SF during the late 70s – early 80s: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (with John Clute) in 1979; The Science in Science Fiction in 1983; and The World of Fantastic Films in 1984. All are worth picking up even though they are dated.

The Science in Science Fiction is a large trade paperback with a suitably eye-catching cover illustration by Chris Foss. The book is organized into 12 chapters covering various topics dealt with in SF: ‘Journey into Space’, ‘Aliens’, ‘The Limits of the Possible’, ‘Powers of the Mind’, etc. The book is liberally illustrated with monochrome and full color diagrams, film and television stills, photographs, and illustrations taken from book and magazine covers. The text is written for the layman, rather providing more hardcore exposition; nonetheless more technically trained readers will find information of worth within the pages.

Not surprisingly some of the material is dated, but for many topics – the speed of light, gravity, time travel, etc., which have not seen any major revelations since 1983- the text remains relevant. Nicholls often refers to SF novels and short stories in his discussions of various phenomena, so you may get some leads in terms of looking for good SF of the era.

If you are wandering the aisles of a used bookshop and see a copy of Science it may be worth picking up, if only to see how science and SF were looking at things in the context of the publication date (for example, there is attention paid to Ronald Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ scheme; Uri Geller and his spoon-bending antics; the film Alien; and other science pop culture artifacts of the early 80s).

I've posted some scans of some pages below (while I could not scan the full page for fear of breaking the book's spine, the scans do give a sense of the book's interior).

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 28

Killraven: 'Amazing Adventures' No. 28 
(January 1975)

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‘Amazing Adventures featuring War of the Worlds’ No. 28 (January 1975) appeared on newsstands in the late Fall of 1974. 

This issue, ‘The Death Merchant’,  continues the ‘Death Breeders’ storyline started in the previous issue. The script is by Don McGregor and the art and colors by Craig Russel.

With new recruit Volcana (a female version of the Human Torch) in tow, Killraven and his crew make their way to the Martian redoubt of Chicago, where humans are kept as slaves. Any newly birthed offspring are consigned to a gruesome fate: as morsels for Martian palates (!) This was a rather shocking plot device for a CCA – approved comic in 1974.

As with previous issues of ‘Adventures’ only 15 pages are provided for the Killraven story, with a two-page reprint of an old Marvel comic serving as the backup feature. As a result, while Russel’s artwork is reasonably good, McGregor’s script tries to do too much in too few pages, and the plot suffers as a result. The narrative abruptly jumps from page to page without much in the way of transition, and the excessive text boxes and speech balloons littering almost every panel occlude the action.

The letters pages offer some interesting insight into Marvel’s economic and circulation issues as 1974 drew to a close: a Bullpen essay titled ‘War of the Ratings’ reveals that issue 25, ‘The Devil’s Marauder’, sold poorly enough to give the editorial staff pause. ‘Amazing Adventures’ readers are encouraged to write in with their critiques of the series so that the Marvel staff can improve the book and its circulation.

This sort of self-disclosure was quite rare for Marvel books. Unfortunately, the obvious choice for improving the title- increasing the main story's page count back to 20 pages, and hiring more artists to relieve the over-extended staff – seems to have been non-negotiable.

Below are two pages excerpted from the story, depicting some combat between Killraven and his team and the overseers of the Death Breeder facility.

 

Book Review: Technos / A Scatter of Stardust

Book Review: 'Technos' / 'A Scatter of Stardust' by E. C. Tubb

 2 / 5 Stars

‘Technos / A Scatter of Stardust’ is Ace Double No. 79975 (March 1972). The cover artist(s) are uncredited.

‘Technos’ is another installment in British author Edwin Charles Tubb’s ‘Dumarest of Terra’ series which, as of 2008, had reached 33 volumes. 

In this adventure Earl Dumarest, in quest as always for information about Terra, his birthplace, travels to the planet of Technos and its eponymous city-state. Technos is police state ruled by a paranoid  character named Leon Vargas, who shares power with a scheming, morally decayed group of councilors. It’s not too long after his arrival on Technos that Dumarest begins clashing with the authorities, but his resourceful ways attract the attention of councilor Mada Grist, who offers Dumarest passage off-planet…...in exchange for a minor act of assassination…...

As with the other entries in the ‘Dumarest’ series, ‘Technos’ is a competent, if not remarkably original, space-opera. Fans and followers of the series may want to have it in their collection.

‘A Scatter of Stardust’, the other half of the Double, is a collection of 8 of Tubb’s short stories, published from 1955 – 1966 in magazines such as New Worlds and Science Fantasy.

‘The Bells of Acheron’ deals with a forest of unique crystals located on the planet Acheron; the prospect of visiting the forest has the first-person narrator in a melancholy mood. With its rather florid prose, and emphasis on emotional responses to otherworldly spectacles, the story is very much of a pastiche of a Ray Bradbury tale.

‘Anne’ deals with the distraught survivor of a space battle.

‘Return Visit’ is a deal-with-the-devil story, in this case, the devil being a demon from another dimension; the human who has summoned the demon may be a little too cocky for his own good.

‘The Shrine’ is another Bradbury -inspired tale; in the far future, scattered Terrans come together for spiritual sustenance on a remote planet.

‘Survival Demands’ is about a telepath who knows too much about alien civilizations.

‘Little Girl Lost’ sees a young man obliged to befriend a scientist suffering from a dangerous delusion.

‘The Eyes of Silence’ deals with enforced isolation, and one man’s strategy for avoiding insanity.

In ‘Enchanter’s Encounter’ an arrogant psychologist confronts a would-be urban wizard; there is a clash between science and magic.

All in all, Tubb’s stories are competent, and were deemed perfectly acceptable for the era in which they saw publication. However, they make clear the rather staid, even insipid, character of SF short fiction in the years just prior to the advent of the New Wave movement. It may have been that Tubb was willing to write material with a more edgy tenor, but the editorial restrictions of the magazines of the late 50s and early 60s may have made selling such tales difficult, if not impossible.

Colorvision by Ron Cobb

'Colorvision' by Ron Cobb

 

The late Ron Cobb (1937 - 2020) was one of the more influential graphic artists of the postwar era. Sadly, for many years 'Colorvision', published in 1981 as a trade paperback by the Australian form Wild and Woolley, was the only compilation of his art. I was fortunate to purchase a copy for a modest price back then. The book's rarity means that at the moment, speculators and bookjackers are offering used copies for sale at amazon for exorbitant prices.

Some good news: a new book dedicated Cobb's work, titled 'The Art of Ron Cobb', by Jacob Johnston, will be released in August 2022 from Titan Books. It's preliminary pricing is $60 (but this is likely to go down once it's available at amazon).

Cobb grew up in Burbank, CA, and in the late 1950s worked as an animator for Disney. He served in Viet Nam in 1963. Upon his return to Hollywood in 1964 he became a freelance artist and designer and did covers for Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. He also did political cartoons for independent press outlets. In 1972 - 1973 Cobb toured Australia and liked the country so much he decided to settle there.

In the early 70s Cobb befriended Dan O'Bannon, then involved with the legendary low-budget SF film Dark Star, and designed the spaceship featured in the film. Cobb also did uncredited work on designing the cantina aliens for Star Wars. In the late 1970s Cobb joined up with O'Bannon as part of the production staff for the 20th Century Fox film Alien, with Cobb providing many the film's spaceship, interior, and set designs. Cobb's contributions to the film tended to be overlooked for the more bizarre and memorable designs of H. R. Giger.

Cobb used his Alien work to win further assignments in big budget SF film production, working on the first Conan film, and later Aliens, Leviathan, The Abyss and Total Recall, among others. He also contributed design and concept art for amusement rides and video games.

'Colorvision' focuses on Cobb's early freelance work, his  concept art for Alien and Conan, and impressive art for a John Milius film ('Half of the Sky') about mountain men, that never made it into production.

I've posted some scans of Cobb's art from the book.

Cobb's official website remains functional, and offers images for SF fans and art appreciators to enjoy. 

'Nightscape', late 50s, ink, oil, and colored pencil

'The Door', late 50s, pen and oil wash

 

concept art for Alien, mid-70s, acrylic (top) and ink and felt tip pen (bottom)

 

'Close Encounter', concept art for 'Half of the Sky', late 70s, acrylic

'Discovery of the South Pass', concept art for 'Half of the Sky', late 70s, acrylic

(this is one of the most brilliant landscape paintings I've ever seen) 

The Bus by Paul Kirchner

'The Bus' by Paul Kirchner

'Heavy Metal' magazine April 1980

The April 1980 issue of'Heavy Metal' features a cover illustration by Tony Roberts, titled ‘He Turned the Phindog to Stone’, with  ‘Perversity’, by Wotipka, on the back cover.

Much of this issue is taken up with Jeronatan’s ‘Champakou’, dealing with (‘frisky’) Central American Indians from ancient times, and a visitor from outer space. It’s well illustrated and written, and one of the better serial comics to appear in the early years of Heavy Metal. Also appearing were segments of Moebius’s ‘Airtight Garage’, Corben’s ‘The Beast of Wolfton’, and Caza’s ‘Suburban Scenes: November’.

Enki Bilal contributed a little four-page story, ‘Of Needle and Thread’, which I’ve excerpted here.

Book Review: Monster Brigade 3000

Book Review: 'Monster Brigade 3000', edited by Martin Greenberg and Charles Waugh

3 / 5 Stars

Yet another anthology edited by the indefatigable Martin H. Greenberg (here aided by co-editor Charles Waugh), ‘Monster Brigade 3000’ (215 pp) was published by Ace books in 1996. The cover illustration is by Gary L. Freeman.

This anthology’s theme is the use of altered humans in warfare; while this might seem like the perfect topic to generate some action-packed tales, unfortunately, many of the selections are predictable expositions on the Meaning of What It Is to be Human. While the majority of the entries appeared in the 90s, there are some golden oldies from the 50s added in to round out the collection.

The first story, William Tenn’s ‘Down Among the Dead Men’, appeared in Galaxy in 1954. It’s about a spaceship pilot who must command a crew composed of androids recycled from combat casualties. As is typical with a Tenn story, there is little action, and much philosophical musing about whether such creatures: Are Not Men ?

Brian Hodge contributes ‘A Loaf of Bread, A Jug of Wine’. It’s the Fall of 1942, and in a small French village, a young nun investigates the nocturnal visits of a mysterious stranger to the abbey stables. It turns out the visitor is a famous character from 18th century fiction; there are complications when a detachment of Nazis arrives to take control of the village. It’s a worthwhile premise, but the story suffers from the author’s overwrought efforts to be Profound.

‘The Monster’, by Joe Haldeman, deals with a Vietnam War veteran who witnessed a terrible atrocity while on a reconnaissance mission in enemy territory. Did the creature who committed the attack come from without…. or from within ?

‘The Eater of Filth’, by Gary A. Braunbeck, is really more of a zombie story than sf. Fallen soldiers from the Mexican American War arise in the night and lay siege to a village. Offbeat and original, coming across like something Joe R. Lansdale would write, this is one of the better stories in the collection.

‘Correspondence’, by Lawrence Schimel and Mark A. Garland, takes place on a future Earth in which the descendents of humans abducted by aliens, returned to their ancestral home, wage a race war with mutated strains of Homo sapiens. It’s a rather unremarkable treatment of the ‘we have met the enemy, and he is us’ theme.

Billie Sue Moisman’s ‘War, the Last’ presents Armageddon from the point of view of an angel participating on the side of Right. It’s an interesting mix of sf and ‘End Times’ biblical tropes, and another of the more interesting entries in this anthology.

Bruce Holland Roger’s story ‘In the Matter of the Ukdena’, despite its 1996 copyright, reads like a tale from the 70s New Wave era, what with its contrived mixup of italicized and varied- font paragraphs, the insertion of numerous stanzas of blank verse, and use of a prose style aimed at evoking the stilted nature of translated American Indian folk tales. Underneath its messy structure is something to do with an alternate history of the New World, in which Spirits in the air somehow prevented the subjugation of aboriginal societies at the hands of the invading Europeans. The inclusion of this tale in the anthology had me scratching my head in puzzlement.

‘A Zombie Named Fred’, by Jake Foster, is a readable, humorous treatment of the zombie-as-soldier theme.

‘Surface Tension’, by Peter Crowther, is a tongue-in-cheek story about explorers of an alien planet confronting the sudden arrival of an unusual breed of monsters. The story is meant as a sort of homage to those appearing in the pages of the EC science fiction comics of the 50s. My opinion ? ….meh.

Robert David Chase (a pen name used by Ed Gorman) contributes ‘The Monster Parade’, in which a US commando on covert assignment in Mexico investigates disturbing rumors about the Space Corps. Featuring some unexpected plot twists, this is another of the better stories in the anthology.

‘Grabow and Collicker and I’, by veteran writer Algis Budrys, is about rejuvenated soldiers fighting the Civil War.

Dan Perez provides ‘Behind Enemy Lines’, placed in a near-future setting in which vampires dominate the world and seek to snuff out armed resistance offered by the dwindling numbers of ‘daylighters’.

From The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1956, Poul Anderson’s ‘Operation Chaos’ rounds out the collection. Set in an alternate universe where magic and mythical creatures are as normal as science and technology in our own world, warring sides use dragons, basilisks, and spells in their contest to control the western United States.

The verdict ? ‘Monster Brigade 3000’ is, like the vast majority of the Greenberg anthologies, middle-of-the-pack in terms of quality. While I wouldn't say it's worth searching out, there are sufficient quality entries to make it worthwhile to pick up, if you see it on the shelf of a used bookstore.

Marvel Zombies 5: issue 2

 

The second issue of ‘Marvel Zombies 5’ is now out on the stands and, as hinted at the conclusion of the first issue, the action moves to the alternate earth depicted in the 70s ‘Amazing Adventures: War of the Worlds’ comics featuring the definitive PorPor character, Killraven.

Dispatched to try and recover blood samples harboring the zombie-causing virus from multiple worlds and realities, Howard the Duck, Machine Man, and the gun-wielding ‘Quick Draw’ Jacali Kane arrive on an earth subjugated by Martians, and quickly encounter Killraven, M’Shulla, and Old Skull:   

I won't reveal much more of the contents of the issue, save to say that it features the traditional copious gore and 'sick' humor that have been trademarks of the 'Zombies' books:

It looks like this will be the only installment of the 5th series that will feature the 'War of the Worlds' crew, so at most it's a short-lived guest appearance by Killraven and his gang. Fans of the 70s series will want to pick it up.

The Mental Wizard by James Bama

The Mental Wizard
from Doc Savage No. 53, 1970, painting by James Bama
(reproduced from Illustration magazine, vol. 4, issue 16, Spring 2006, p. 11) 

A Dead Man's Chest Part 2 of 2

A Dead Man's Chest

(Part 2 of 2)
(from 'Death Rattle' issue 3, volume 3, 1986)

'Death Rattle' issue 3, volume 3

‘Death Rattle’ first appeared in 1972 as an underground comix title from Kitchen Sink Press. Ultimately three volumes were published (each volume with its own issue No 1, issue No. 2, etc.) over the course of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Issues from the first volume fetch high prices on the comix collectibles market.

‘Rattle’ was devoted to horror and SF themes and echoed the work of the EC comic books of the 50s, as well as previous underground comix such as ‘Skull’ and  ‘Slow Death’.

The story I have excerpted here, 'A Dead Man's Chest', is from issue 3, volume 2 (February 1986). The story and art are by Doug Hansen.

A Dead Man's Chest

(Part 1 of 2)

 (to be continued)

Book Review: Earth Has Been Found

Book Review: 'Earth Has Been Found' by D. F. Jones

3 / 5 Stars

At first glance ‘Earth Has Been Found’ (Dell paperback, 1979, 267 pp., cover artist uncredited) seems like a schlocky effort to cash in on the popularity of the movie ‘Alien’, which was released in the same year. But ‘Earth’ is actually a pretty decent sci fi thriller in its own right.

The beginning of the novel reads like a UFO mystery, focusing on the mysterious disappearance, and reappearance in space and time, of military and civilian aircraft.

The first of these events takes place in April 1974, when a US Air Force F4 Phantom flying above California vanishes from the radar. The jet reappears in August, but this time near the Pacific island of Guam; the pilot is disoriented and winds up crashing and burning on the Guam airbase.

Then in March 1976 a Soviet transport plane disappears mid-air during a flight from Moscow to Irkutsk; it reappears in January 1977 over the Arctic Ocean. The pilots survive to land the aircraft but they are bewildered to learn that what to them was a momentary blackout has translated into the loss of nine months of time in the real world.

Air Force officer Frank Arcasso is asked to head a covert US government team, code-named ‘Icarus’, to investigate these disturbing phenomena.

When in September 1982 a Boeing 747 full of tourists from the upstate New York town of Abdera disappears en route from Paris to New York, all the Icarus team can do is wait in suspense. When the 747 re-materializes in the air over Des Moines in December, it is clear that an event of unprecedented magnitude has taken place. The travelers aboard the plane are confused but healthy. Have they been abducted by aliens ? Has the plane entered and departed a Time Warp of some sort ?

The truth, one could say, is in the very early stages of gestation...

I won’t spoil the read by divulging anything more about the plot, but suffice it to say that author D. F. Jones had written several novels prior to ‘Earth’ and he knew how to put together a readable thriller.

His writing is clear and straightforward in the ‘Michael Crichton’ model and the alien parasites, while not as impressive as those from the ‘Aliens’ franchise, are still formidable adversaries, with a biology based on that of Terran insects.

‘Earth Has Been Found’ is a good ‘alien infection’ novel, and it’s worth keeping an eye out for it on the used book shelves.

'Doc Savage' issue No. 1 ('First Wave', DC)

DC just launched the first issue of another of their ‘First Wave’ imprint titles, this time it’s a series devoted to the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage:

Things start off without much of a preamble as Doc, piloting his airship, encounters some deadly lightning attacks on his skyscraper in the heart of New York City:

I’m unsure about this latest series for Doc Savage. The placement of Doc in the modern era seems a little unconvincing despite the studied use of the Art Deco motifs to the illustrations. While the effort to start things off from page one with a great deal of action is understandable from a point-of-sale marketing standpoint, the book doesn’t do much to try and orient the reader as to exactly who Doc and the Fabulous Five are, settling for some dialogue-mediated self-disclosures by Doc, even as he’s plummeting down an elevator shaft with two kids in his arms. 

I’m concerned that for younger comics readers, who may have little in the way of advance knowledge of the Doc Savage canon, this series will come across as just another effort by DC to try and get something out the door before their licensing rights lapse.

The book also includes a supporting strip, ‘Justice Inc.’,  starring the other major Street and Smith character authored under the house name ‘Kenneth Robeson’: ‘The Avenger’. The artwork, atmosphere, and storyline for this supporting tale are well done, coming across as something from a Vertigo imprint title; this section of the book actually impressed me more than did the main feature.

Unfortunately, previous efforts over the past four decades at a successful Doc Savage comic, by a variety of publishers, were mixed financial successes. Hopefully this iteration by DC will break the trend, but it’s too soon to tell. I will go ahead and pick up the second issue of ‘Doc Savage’ and see if writer Paul Malmot can do something new and noteworthy with the franchise......

Book Review: Systems

Book Review: 'Systems' by W. T. Quick

3 / 5 Stars

William Thomas Quick is the author of nearly 30 novels, many of them ‘Clan of the Cave Bear’ – style romances written under the pseudonym Margaret Allan.

A second-generation cyberpunk author, Quick wrote a number of well-received novels during the late 80s and early 90s, with ‘Dreams of Flesh and Sand’ (1988) and ‘Dreams of Gods and Men’ (1989) his best-known efforts in the genre.
 

‘Systems’ (Signet, 251 pp, 1989, cover illustration uncredited) takes place in the San Francisco area early in the 2030s.  Josh Tower, formerly a covert operative in the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), now earns a living as a ‘datahunter’ for corporate clients. As he and his pregnant wife are returning from dining out, their air taxi suffers a malfunction and crashes to the ground. Tower endures a painful recovery from his injuries to find himself a widower.
 

Bereft and depressed, Tower tries to make sense of the disaster by looking into the online databases for clues to the nature of the accident; he soon discovers that the accident may have been deliberate. His inquiries lead him to a small, nondescript corporation called Condor Securities. His efforts to delve further into the nature of Condor Securities elicit a strong reaction from what seems to be a rogue element of the DIA. In short order Tower finds himself on the run from a squadron of killers, anxious to eliminate the one man who may know too much about a plot to undermine the world economy.
 

‘Systems’ is a near-future  thriller with some cyberpunk frosting, more like the novels of Dean Ing (whom Quick salutes in his Acknowledgement) than a novel akin to that authored by Gibson, Sterling, Shirley, or Jeter.
 

This is not a bad thing; with the exception of a few too many passages wherein various characters muse a little too long about the Meaning of It All, the narrative flows along at a good pace with plenty of gunplay and some rather gruesome scenes of violence. Tower is by no means a superman, and his escape from his pursuers never easy or taken for granted, and the clandestine organization devoted to snuffing him out sports a collection of suitably malevolent assassins. 

The technology of the 2030s is reasonably well extrapolated based on the state of computing technology at the time the book was written, and the plot machinations that Quick introduces later in the novel are unsurprising but never contrived.
 

Readers interested in a more action-oriented, early cyberpunk novel will want to give ‘Systems’ a look.

Preview: Killraven Meets 'Marvel Zombies' ?!

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The latest installment of the franchise, 'Marvel Zombies 5', picks up on the storyline used in Zombies 4, in which a reluctant Machine Man was drafted into action in order to eliminate a zombie infestation in yet another alternate Marvel Universe. 

The first issue of Zombies 5 takes place in the setting of the old Marvel western comics, and involves well-known characters like the 'Two-Gun Kid' and 'Kid Colt'. 

The issue ends with a one-page preview of the second issue of 'Zombies 5', showcasing none other than Killraven and the 'War of the Worlds' storyline - ! It will certainly be interesting to see one of the PorPor Blog's favorite 70s icons make the Zombie scene....