'Hunter II: Time in Expansion' from Eerie magazine issue No. 71 (January 1976)

In the third installment of the 'Hunter II' franchise, our hero, again teaming up with Eerie's ongoing 'Exterminator' character, confronts an attack by hordes of goblins (i.e., mutants). 

Things look pretty hopeless for Hunter and Exterminator.....but is there a last-minute intervention ?!

'The Bus' by Paul Kirchner

Heavy Metal magazine April 1977

'Heavy Metal' magazine, April 1977

April, 1977, and on the FM radio stations, David Soul is getting major airplay with 'Don't Give Up On Us'.

I didn't know it at the time, but the very first issue of Heavy Metal magazine was on the stands, and with it, a revolution in the way graphic art and comics were presented to readers in the US. 

Issued by National Lampoon publisher and owner Leonard Mogel, HM was the American incarnation of Metal Hurlant, a magazine Mogel had seen on newsstands in France.

The inaugural issue staff included Sean Kelly and Valerie Marchant as Editors and Julie Simmons (who would go on to be Editor herself in several years) as the Associate Editor.

The 'Origins' statement provided in the first issue lays out - in exaggerated 70s hipster style - how this all came to be....

I didn't buy an issue of HM until November 1978, mainly because I had limited money in my pocket (I was only 16 years old) and what money I did have was spent on sf and fantasy paperbacks.

 It's too bad I didn't pick up, and save for posterity, the first issue of HM; copies in good condition go for $50 on up to greater than $100 on eBay.

Issue 1 contained the opening episode of Corben's 'Den', an outstanding installment of Gal and Dionnet's 'Conquering Armies', an 'Arzach' episode by Moebius, and a first look at Terry Brooks's 'The Sword of Shannara', featuring illustrations by The Brothers Hildebrandt.

And, of course, a great comic from Sergio Macedo: 'Selenia', posted below. This is the kind of stuff late 70s stoners went goggle-eyed over, as they drew a toke on their joint or their bowl.....ray guns, spaceships, giant robots, and A NUDE CHICK !

All of this cripsly rendered in black and white / graytone on 'magazine stock', glossy paper....!

Unlike the non-Comics Code black and white magazines from Warren and Marvel / Curtis, HM was definitely European, and definitely adult, in content. During the first few years of its existence, it was mailed, in brown wrappers, to subscribers in some areas of the country. Since I was only 16 in April, 1977, I'm not sure if I actually could have purchased the inaugural issue of HM in those more innocent times.....

Book Review: 'Jack of Shadows' by Roger Zelazny

5 / 5 Stars

‘Jack of Shadows’ was first published in 1971; this Signet paperback (236 pp) was issued in August, 1972, with a cover illustration by Segrelles.

The story takes place in a future Earth where one side of the planet is perpetually in shadow, and the other side, in daylight. 

Jack the Thief, using magical powers that are activated whenever he is standing within shadows, employs his considerable skills to amass much wealth and treasure. As the novel opens, he is attending a fair in the Twilight realm of the world, and contemplating stealing a fabulous jewel called the Hellflame.

Things don’t go well for Jack, and soon he finds himself helpless and alone in the nether regions of the world, at the mercy of his enemies. Can Jack survive his trials and tribulations, and win through to vengeance and a return to power? Or will he find himself remade in ways he cannot have foreseen ? For as goes Jack, so goes the Darkside of his world……

‘Jack of Shadows’ is one of Zelazny’s better novels. Written at a time when the author was a dedicated follower of the New Wave approach to sf, ‘Jack’ nonetheless succeeds in avoiding the excesses of the movement, while yet retaining the imaginative approach to writing that the New Wave ethos engendered in its adherents.

The landscape through which Jack has his adventures is novel and offbeat, and nothing quite like it had been presented before in fiction representing the as-yet unnamed (in 1971) genre of ‘adult fantasy’. 

The twilight world of ‘Jack of Shadows’ has its monsters and demons, as well as its pacts and players. There are formidable foes, and the occasional ally, for our hero. Zelazny takes care to present Jack as a more complex individual, than the predictable New Wave-issued caricature of an anti-hero.

In terms of its world-building, and its deliberate ambiguity towards the moral themes of the traditional heroic fantasy, ‘Jack’ is very much the precursor to the contemporary ‘dark fantasy’ sub-genre.

And by introducing idea of the Thief as a hero, Zelazny was to exert considerable influence on the burgeoning field of fantasy pop culture, as can be witnessed by the deployment of the ‘thief’ character in the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, the ‘Thief’ series of video games, and more recently, the regular usage of thieves / assassins as lead characters in modern fantasy novels (‘The Night Angel’ trilogy, ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ series, ‘The Farseer Trilogy’, 'Prince of Thorns', and even the lead character in the recent Legendary Comic 'The Tower Chronicles: Geisthawk', etc., etc.). 

'Jack of Shadows' is required reading for any fan of sf and fantasy.

Eerie Presents: 'El Cid'

While it’s certainly true that Marvel’s Stan Lee was ever ready to publish imitations of James Warren’s line of black and white comic magazines, it’s also true that Warren, and Eerie editor Bill DuBay, were only happy to return the favor by cashing in on the success of some of Marvel’s properties, most notably ‘Conan the Barbarian’, which by the mid-70s was a resounding financial success, particularly when presented in the higher-priced, non-Comics Code regulated Curtis Publication magazines, like ‘Savage Sword of Conan’.

One of the Conan imitations / inspirations that appeared in Eerie was El Cid, written by Budd Lewis and illustrated by the Mexican artist Gonzalo Mayo. El Cid appeared in Eerie #65 (April 1975), #66 (June 1975), #70 (November 1975), and #71 (January 1976).

Now Dark Horse’s New Comics Company imprint provides all the El Cid stories in the latest of its hardbound ‘Eerie Presents’ volumes.

Like the proceeding volumes in the New Comics Company series (‘Eerie Presents: Hunter’, ‘Creepy: Berni Wrightson’, and ‘Creepy: Richard Corben’), this allows admirers of the old Warren books to get high-quality, but very affordable, reproductions of selected stories / creators, without having to invest substantial sums of money to purchase each $49.99 volume in the dedicated Creepy and Eerie hardcover 'Archives' volumes.

With El Cid, writer Lewis took a real-life historical personage from 11th century Spain, and placed him as a sword-and-sorcery hero in a heroic fantasy landscape akin to that afforded Conan or King Kull.

Mayo’s art had the florid style common to the Spanish and Filipino artists working for Warren in the 70s, and is very well reproduced here. 

In his Introduction to this volume, Dark Horse / New Comics editor Dan Braun relates an amusing anecdote: several years ago (before DuBay's death from colon cancer in April, 2010), he and an unidentified companion went to visit with former Warren magazines editor Bill DuBay in Portland, Oregon, as part of their ongoing 'Eerie Presents' projects  

(Braun leaves unsaid the implication that financial transactions of some sort, relating to the Warren properties, were going to be discussed at the meeting....a topic that brought some degree of contention between DuBay and the New Comics Company reps).

Arriving at the meeting place, Braun discovered that Budd Lewis had joined DuBay.

At the start of the meeting, Braun's companion uttered a laudatory remark about James Warren, a remark which elicited an immediate, obscenity-laced, fit of rage from Budd Lewis - !

"Buddy, any friend of Warren ain't no friend of mine !"

Lewis's rage may have been a side-effect of his unfortunate financial circumstances (at least, as of 2011), which saw him and his wife trying to earn a living operating a hot dog cart, while battling illness and the lack of a permanent home. Hopefully Budd's life has changed for the better as March, 2013 arrives.

Fans of worthy graphic art, and Warren’s output during the 70s, will want a copy of ‘Eerie Presents: El Cid’. Needless to say, although the cover price is $15.99, discounted copies are readily available at your obvious online retailer.

'1984' issue 2
Warren magazines, August, 1978

After observing the success of National Lampoon's Heavy Metal magazine, James Warren decided to have his own 'adult' sf magazine out on the stands.

Titled 1984, the magazine premiered in June, 1978. In 1980 it was retitled 1994 after legal action from author George Orwell's estate, and went on to issue 29 (February 1983) before ceasing publication when Warren went bankrupt.

Considering that editor Bill Dubay was also handling Warren's other publications (James Warren was too miserly to hire the necessary additional editorial staff), 1984 wasn't a bad magazine, but it never achieved the success of Heavy Metal, or its imitator from Marvel, Epic Illustrated.

Dubay's sought to lure a male, 15 - 25 year-old readership by supplying 1984 with sf comics based on the salacious themes used in the humor strips then appearing in Penthouse and Hustler. 

Indeed, 1984 was to be sold only to those over 18 years of age, although I suspect few store proprietors in those halcyon days of the late 70s would've turned away would-be purchasers.

Modern readers, accustomed to the access to universal porn provided by the internet, will no doubt find the content of 1984 rather tame, even insipid in its silliness.

Here's 'Scourge of the Spaceway', with story by Dubay and artwork by Esteban Maroto. The script has the smarmy, locker-room humor of many of 1984's stories.

Book Review: The Catalyst

Book Review: 'The Catalyst' by Charles L. Harness

3 / 5 Stars

‘The Catalyst’ (191 pp.) was published by Pocket Books in February 1980. The cover illustration is by Michael Whelan.

While the cover gives the impression that ‘Catalyst’ is a touchy-feely novel with strong mystical overtones, at heart, it’s a tale about a chemical company and its struggle to patent a method for synthesis of a new ‘wonder molecule’.

It’s 2006, and at the Ashkettles Chemical Corporation on Long Island, patent attorney Paul Blandford finds himself increasingly drawn into the work of the corporation’s Research Lab, where the charismatic organic chemist John Serane and his team are hard at work on an optimal synthesis for the compound ‘trialine’.

Knowledge that a competitor in Germany is also busily at work on an improved synthesis method lends an urgency to the Ashkettles team’s efforts.

Unfortunately for Blandford, Serane, and the research team, Ashkettles’ management has insisted on making the ultimate corporate sycophant their new Director of Research. 

Not only does Fred Kussman make the 'Pointy-Haired Boss' in the 'Dilbert' strips look like a paradigm of enlightened leadership, but his actions threaten the progress of the synthesis team.

Paul Blandford discovers that, despite being an attorney and not a scientist, his participation is key to any hope of success for the Research Lab…..and he’ll get help from a most unexpected source……

The central narrative of ‘Catalyst’, dealing with an insider’s view of how chemical companies convert their science achievements into patents and ultimately, commercial formulations, is an engaging and a worthwhile read.

However, author Harness also tries to infuse his novel with a sub-plot involving the spiritual manifestations of Blandford’s since-departed older brother, Billy.

Indeed, some of the same metaphysical elements Harness employs in other of his fiction works make their appearances in ‘Catalyst’. These attempts to infuse the book with a determinedly humanistic element, to balance the mercenary machinations of the corporate culture, seem an uneasy fit at times.

‘Catalyst’ is worth picking up, having as its subject matter a topic – organic chemistry - that rarely gets much coverage in the sf literature. However, you must be willing to tolerate the supernatural angle that periodically intrudes on the narrative.  

'Father Shandor, Demon Stalker'
'City of the Tombs'
from Warrior (UK) No. 4, Summer, 1982

The fourth installment of the 'Father Shandor' strip in Warrior saw the artist duties switch from John Bolton to David Jackson. Jackson's intricate pen-and-ink work is as noteworthy as that of Bolton.

 

'The Bus' by Paul Kirchner

Book Review: Omnivore

Book Review: 'Omnivore' by Piers Anthony

1 / 5 Stars

Since he published his first short story in 1963, and his first novel (‘Cthon’) in 1967, Piers Anthony (the pen name of English sf author Piers Anthony Jacob) has published nearly 150 books.

Obviously, some of this massive output is going to be mediocre, even awful, while some will be highly readable and engaging.

Unfortunately, ‘Omnivore’ falls into the ‘mediocre’ category.

Omnivore was first published in 1968; this Avon paperback (221 pp) was released in October, 1978, with a fine cover illustration by Ron Walotsky.

Succeeding volumes in the ‘Of Man and Manta’ trilogy include ‘Orn’ (1970), and ‘Ox’ (1976).

The plot of Omnivore is simple and straightforward: a federal agent named Subble, possessed of superhuman physical and mental attributes, is dispatched to interview / investigate three people who have recently returned from exploring the planet Nacre. 

These three individuals are Veg, a burly, extroverted vegetarian; Cal, a sickly scientific genius who can barely walk unassisted in normal-grav worlds; and Aquilon, a stunning blonde whose beauty masks an inner psychological turmoil.

With each interview, Subble learns more about what the trio experienced on the world of Nacre, where it seems that all of the larger, sentient animals – herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore – are descended from fungi.

It turns out that the trio have smuggled juvenile Nacrean carnivores – creatures referred to as ‘mantas’ – back to Earth. Having underestimated the intelligence and physical fortitude of the mantas, the trio have unwittingly exposed their home planet to an alien life form that could change the destiny of all life on Earth….and it’s up to Subble to figure out how to avert disaster……

By the standards of late 60s sf, Omnivore is no worse, and no better, in terms of plotting than other works of the time. But the prose is poorly executed.

The author is intent on making his novel ‘deep’ and loaded with profound insights into the nature of life, evolution, and destiny – in short, Anthony intended that Omnivore, while superficially an sf novel (a genre often assumed in the late 60s to be juvenile and amateurish in nature), transcends the boundaries of simple genre fiction, to stand as a work of literature.

The truth is, Anthony couldn’t pull it off; at the time he wrote Omnivore, his skills as a writer weren’t sufficiently developed to produce the novel he intended. 

As a result, the reader must prepare for lengthy conversations taking place among the protagonists, conversations filled with empty phrases and stilted dialogue. 

He or she also must prepare for sections of text in which the narrative gets placed on hold, while the author expounds on such topics as the role of fungi in Earth’s ecology; nemativorous fungi (?!); fungi and hallucinogens (there is a bizarre LSD ‘trip’ sequence in the novel); and industrial food animal production (?!).

As I waded through ‘Omnivore’ trying to digest these pedantic episodes, the overall momentum of the narrative gradually wilted away, until by the time the denouement shuffled into view, I simply wanted to end it all..... and get my review written up.

Needless to say, I’m not looking forward to tackling ‘Orn’ and ‘Ox’.

But, mindful that Anthony could produce some worthy sf –and here the ‘Battle Circle’ trilogy comes readily to mind – maybe I’ll forge ahead.

Maybe.