Dax the Damned The Paradise Tree

Dax the Damned
'The Paradise Tree'
by Esteban Maroto
from Eerie Issue 59 (August 1974)

'Dax the Damned' was the English-language adaptation of Esteban Maroto's strip Manly el Guerrero ('Manly the Warrior'), that originally was published in the early 70s in the comics section of the Spanish paper Pueblo.

The first episode of 'Dax' apeared in Eerie 39 (April 1972). Additional episodes ran until issue 52 (November 1973).

Never one to spoil a chance to repackage previously published material and foist it on the buying public, James Warren took all the Dax episodes and made them the content of Eerie issue 59, which billed itself as a 'Super Special Summer Giant !' 

Unfortunately, Eerie writer Budd Lewis couldn't help meddling with the speech balloons in these reprinted stories, making extensive changes to Maroto's original wording.

Maroto's exceptional draftsmanship was unlike anything yet seen in American comic art at the time. In 'Dax', he would craft myriad tiny details (like using a small piece of Zip-A-Tone to cast a shadow over one half of a female character's face) to give each page a highly ornate styling.

As for Maroto's plotting, he instilled the Dax adventures with a downbeat, existential tenor that contrasted sharply with the more ebullient atmosphere of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian comics.

Maroto also seems to have modeled the female leads of his 'Dax' strips on the beautiful Spanish actress Soledad Miranda (1943 - 1970), who looked really good in a metal bikini:

Posted below is the episode titled 'The Paradise Tree', scanned at 300 pdi from the original Eerie issue 59.

Groovy by Mark Voger

'Groovy: When Flower Power Bloomed in Pop Culture'
by Mark Voger
TwoMorrows Publishing, December 2017

TwoMorrows Publishing is a Raleigh, North Carolina company that publishes books on comic books, and comic book artists; it's now expanding into the broader field of pop culture with the release of Groovy (192 pp).

The Groovy Era spans the interval from the mid 60s to the mid 70s. Author Mark Voger (who previously published Monster Mash: The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America 1957-1972 with TwoMorrows in 2015) clearly knows what he is writing about. In his autobiographical Introduction, he recalls how it was to be 12 years old in 1970, and how revelatory it was to visit the head shop at a New Jersey shopping mall……ultimately decorating his bedroom with selected purchases: a skull ashtray, and a black-and-white poster of Raquel Welch in her animal-skin bikini from One Million Years BC. 

He also relates a July, 1969 encounter at the Moorestown Mall in New Jersey with Tiny Tim, who was on a tour to promote his book ‘Beautiful Thoughts’. Voger was a firsthand witness to Tim’s adroit handling of some dismissive ‘mall hoodlums’.

Any Baby Boomer reading Voger’s memories of adolescence during the Groovy Era will undoubtedly smile with their own recollections.

Groovy primarily focuses on music, but other aspects of the pop culture of the era are covered as well. Within its pages you will find informative articles about, and interviews with, The Turtles; The Rascals; Mickey Dolenz; Tiny Tim; The Doors; Wild in the Streets; Easy Rider; Steve Ditko; Peter Max; The Who; Wonder Woman; Jesus Christ Superstar; Maureen McCormick; the late David Cassidy; Teen Magazines; The Banana Splits; and H. R. Pufnstuf.

The book’s copious illustrations, color scheme, and formatting are designed to recall the bright colors and Pop Art presentations of the covered era.

Flipping through the pages of Groovy will reward the reader with all sorts of little revelations and discoveries………….for example, I had no idea that Barry White (?!) sang lead on a Banana Splits song. Or that The Jefferson Airplane tried to pay artist John Van Hamersveld half a kilo of pot for making the cover art for the ‘Crown of Creation’ album (Van Hamersveld had to go to the Airplane’s record company to recover his $9,000 fee). Or that Frank Zappa (?!) appeared on a 1968 episode of ‘The Monkees’, courtesy of an invitation from Michael Nesmith.

Don’t be surprised if reading Groovy sends you to Google and YouTube to look up long-forgotten cultural artifacts. For my own part, watching the Banana Splits do a dance number to the song 'Doin' the Banana Split' (sung by none other than Barry White ?!), accompanied by the Sour Grapes Bunch (a group of girls wearing pink miniskirts and black go-go boots) and 'trippy' special effects, is both sublime and surreal.......

As with any book of this nature, there is an element of subjectivity in deciding what material is worthy of content. An argument certainly could be made that a second volume of Groovy is necessary to adequately cover the spectrum of content associated with the covered era.

Summing up, Groovy primarily is aimed at a readership of Baby Boomers, who will find it indispensable. But younger readers may want to peruse a copy as well, if only to see how the pop culture of the Groovy era paved the way for many aspects of contemporary culture.

The Cars, New York City, 1978

The Cars
New York City, 1978

From left to right: Ric Ocasek, Ben Orr, David Robinson, Elliot Easton, and Greg Hawkes

Book Review: The Blood of the Lamb trilogy

Book Review: 'The Blood of the Lamb' trilogy
by Mark E. Rogers

4 / 5 Stars

Mark Rogers’s ‘The Blood of the Lamb’ trilogy comprises the novels The Expected One (230 pp., Ace Books, May 1991, cover artist Michael Racz); The Devouring Void (213 pp. Ace Books, November 1991, cover artist Alan Clark); and The Riddled Man (255 pp., Ace Books, October 1992, cover artist Den Beauvais).

The trilogy is a loose sequel to Rogers’s two previous novels: Zorachus (December 1986) and The Nightmare of God (July 1988), although it is not necessary to have read those books to understand the happenings in the ‘Lamb’ trilogy.

The ‘Lamb’ trilogy shares the setting of the Zorachus novels: the Kadjafi Lands, a fantasy counterpart to the Middle East. The Lands’ peoples have Arabic names, and a monotheistic religion overseen by the Sharajnaghim Order. In a manner akin to that of the Roman rule of Palestine in the era of Jesus Christ, the Kadjafi Lands are ruled by a tribe of Mongols called the Mirkuts. Although the Mirkuts are quick to violently suppress any efforts to overthrow their rule, they rarely interfere in any internal squabbles among the Kadjafi.

With the ‘Lamb’ trilogy, author Rogers implements one of the more imaginative approaches to the genre: the trilogy takes the New Testament gospel of Matthew, and places it in a ‘fantasy’ landscape where magic works.

The trilogy is composed of two major plots. In one plot, a trio of adepts from the Sharajnaghim Order investigate the rumored actions of a man named Essaj Ben Yussef, extraordinary actions that include the healing of the sick and injured, and even the raising of the dead. Could Essaj be a genuine holy man, perhaps even the Expected One of scripture……… or is he a heretic who wields black magic in the service of Tchernobog ?

Interwoven with the narrative of Essaj is the other plot, which deals with a violent assault on the Sharajnaghim Order. Powerful magic is being used to kill selected higher-ranking members of the Order; the identities of the assailants are a mystery. The order’s second in command, Khaddam Al-Ramnal, suspects that the Black Anarites – a death cult that worships Tchernobog – are the likeliest of culprits and urges the Order to mount an attack on the mountain redoubt of the Anarites.

Over the course of the trilogy, the true nature of Essaj and his ministry is revealed, as is the conspiracy to destroy the Sharanajghim Order. Both narratives eventually join in a world-altering confrontation between Good and Evil………with some characters destined for salvation, and others destined for damnation……….

I finished the ‘Lamb’ trilogy with mixed emotions. Its setting and premise certainly are imaginative, and it certainly succeeds in bringing something new and novel to the ‘fantasy’ genre.

As with Rogers’s ‘Zorachus’ books, the ‘Lamb’ trilogy works in abundant horror motifs – the headquarters of the Black Anarites, for example, is the setting for all manner of appalling atrocities. And, as with ‘Zorachus’, Rogers liberally applies splatterpunk imagery. A large catalog of grievous injuries are inflicted on the novels’ major and minor characters, and the battles between good and evil magicians feature the casting of spells and the conjuration of demons in the manner of a Dr. Strange comic, albeit battles with no shortage of limbs, heads, and torsos being severed, burned, or blasted into atoms………!

The third volume in the trilogy features some of the bloodiest battles, and some of the higher body counts, in any fantasy novel I’ve yet read. But these lend the narrative the drama and suspense that justify the necessarily involved world-building that occupies the first two volumes of the trilogy.

However, ‘The Blood of the Lamb’ has its faults. A major fault is the insistence of author Rogers on inserting lengthy epistemological discussions into the narrative; many of these passages have the awkward nature of a college student’s term paper on theology:

“The truth is, this notion that Essaj is God incarnate is hardly more palatable than the idea that God can die. As a matter of fact, the two are inextricably linked. If you assent to one, you assent to the other; and as we both know, God has become man. For the first time in all the worlds, transcendence has become immanence. The myth – the most potent myth of all – has instantiated itself. We have seen its adumbrations since God first summoned us from the slime; thousands of dreamers have been possessed – and destroyed – by it. But Essaj is no feverish vision, no truth glimpsed through a darkened glass. The Word Made Flesh is in our midst. He is one of us. His mature has fused – fused homeostatically – with ours.

“But flesh perishes, doesn’t it ? And what then is implied ? The syllogism’s quite elegant; all men are mortal, God has become mortal, therefore……….”

Erim shook his head. “God is eternal.”

Another weakness of the trilogy seems - on the surface - to be a minor one: its use of Arabic names. It’s understandable that, in light of the books’ Middle Eastern setting, that some degree of authenticity be employed when bestowing names on the large cast of characters. However, author Rogers has a habit of using similar-sounding titles, and over the course of three volumes, this becomes confusing…………for example, trying to keep ‘Ahwaz’ distinct from ‘Akram’, who is distinct from ‘Arghun Khan’, who in turn is distinct from secondary character ‘Anwar’, had me stopping at regular intervals to try and recall who-was-who.

Summing up, I gave ‘The Blood of the Lamb’ trilogy a four-star rating. Those looking for something a little more offbeat in the fantasy and horror genres will find it rewarding, while those who are at ease with the more traditional stylings of the ‘high fantasy’ genre, and less comfortable with in-your-face violent content, might not find it to their liking.

[If you do decide to acquire the ‘Lamb’ trilogy, be advised that, being long out of print, all three volumes are fetching increasingly steep prices in the used book markets.]

A Novel History of Spencer Gifts

A Novel History of Spencer Gifts

If you're a Baby Boomer, then you must remember Spencer Gifts. If you went to any shopping mall in the US during the 70s and 80s, you likely had a Spencer Gifts there, and you likely went in......you'd be hit with the overpowering smell of incense while you checked out the bongs and water pipes and bowls and pipes for sale, the tee shirts, the posters, the cheesy gag gifts, the even cheesier 'adult' gifts............ all the cheap crap that marked the pop culture of the time.

Over at the Mental Floss site, Jake Rossen has an interesting history of the chain (which persists nowadays simply as 'Spencers'). 

Older Woman by The Bugaloos

'Older Woman'
by The Bugaloos
1970

The Bugaloos was a live-action TV show produced by Sid and Marty Kroft; 17 shows were aired on Saturday mornings on NBC during the 1970 - 1971 season. 'Older Woman' was performed on the show's 7th episode, 'Lady, You Don't Look Eighty'.

The show took advantage of the co-opting of the hippy aesthetic by the popular culture in the late 60s and early 70s, when kids TV shows like The Banana Splits and H. R. Pufnstuf gleefully presented themselves as 'trippy' and 'psychedelic'.

The Bugaloos cast was made up of four British teens; Joy, who wore a pink tutu, was played by the 20 year-old UK actress Caroline Ellis. She sported a stunning 'shag' haircut.

Most of the episodes featured the Bugaloos singing (or, rather, lip-synching) to at least one pop song. A playlist of all the songs from the show can be found here.

The performance of the song 'Older Woman' can be found here. It's undeniably a catchy song, but it also has an........undertone.......... that, while perfectly acceptable back in 1970, may evoke vague feelings of...... creepiness............?   nowadays. Whether this segment would be allowed in any contemporary kid's TV show is open to debate.

But, watching Joy boppin' and groovin' while her three male co-stars revolve around her is a priceless moment of early 70s cheese.......it just didn't get any better for kiddie entertainment back then !