Monday, October 9, 2017

Book Review: 'Crucifax'

Book Review: 'Crucifax' by Ray Garton

2 / 5 Stars

Garton’s novel ‘Cruxifax Autumn’ was published in 1988 by Dark Harvest, a small press publisher. When Pocket Books released the novel as a mass market paperback titled ‘Crucifax’ (387 pp) in June, 1988, they obliged Garton to remove a scene featuring some particularly ‘gooshy’ action. 

[ I picked up the Pocket Books edition of 'Crucifax' at McKay's Used Books in Manassass, Virginia, for $3.25. According to Will Errickson at the Too Much Horror blog, finding an affordable copy of this book in good condition is not easy. ]

The missing segment later was included in Paul M. Sammons’ 1991 compilation Splatterpunks: Extreme Horror. From what I remember of reading that ‘missing’ segment over 25 years ago, its absence from ‘Crucifax’ doesn’t harm the novel.



‘Crucifax’ is set in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles county in the mid- to late- 80s. Think of the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and you get the necessary sense of place.

The lead character is teenager Jeff Carr, who lives with his Mom, and younger sister Mallory, in a modest apartment. As the novel opens, a Mysterious Storm rolls into the Valley just as Summer is coming to an end. This 
obviously is a Portent of Doom. 

Soon afterwards, a man named Mace becomes a regular fixture at the Mall and the other teen hangouts in the Valley. Mace looks like Billy Idol on steroids: tall, thin, with his long white hair in a mullet. He comes equipped with a long overcoat. Gold-flecked eyes, and an easy sarcasm. And mirrorshades ! 

No one knows where Mace comes from, or what he does for a living……….but he has a unique rapport with Troubled Youth, and soon kids are hanging out at the abandoned health club that Mace has turned into a clubhouse. Rumors soon fill the Valley of illicit goings-on in Mace's hangout.

As Mace lures more and more of the Valley’s teens into his sinister circle, Jeff becomes increasingly alarmed that Mallory may become a Mace convert. But confronting Mace is fraught with danger, because Mace knows and exploits a lot of deep, dark secrets, like Jeff’s well-hidden, incestuous infatuation with Mallory. And anyone who crosses Mace must deal with his demon familiars………nasty little creatures straight out of the movie Gremlins.

As Mace’s influence grows, his talk of taking everyone to a ‘better place’ takes on an ominous meaning. Can Jeff, and caring high school counselor J. R. Haskell, intervene in time to prevent a Teen Holocaust........... ? !

‘Crucifax’ is really not a horror novel, but rather, a Teen Melodrama sprinkled with splatterpunk segments here and there. The plot is set up in the first 75 pages, after which the narrative lumbers along with interminable dialogue passages dealing with teens conflicting with their parents; teens conflicting with authority figures; teens conflicting with Society; teens conflicting........with.........everything.


Slowing the narrative up even further are the musings of the adults; for example, a monologue of self-recrimination delivered by an evangelical pastor takes up over three pages. 

By the time ‘Crucifax’ finally reaches its denouement, the continuous vignettes of teen angst had become so tiresome that I was rooting for Mace.

It doesn’t help matters that author Garton tries to imbue his novel with Social Relevance, by regularly reminding the reader that Mace is able to corrupt his followers because the kids have been neglected by parents who are too consumed with self-interest, and lust for material possessions, to Really Care.

One thing 'Crucifax' does very well is recall the pop culture atmosphere of the mid 80s. The jukeboxes play Robert Palmer, there is reference to Twisted Sister, and malls are 'in' places to hang out, not the crumbling retail wastelands they are nowadays.


The verdict ? Those pursuing a copy of ‘Crucifax’ in the hopes of obtaining a splatterpunk classic are likely to be disappointed. It may offer some reward as a snapshot of 80s teen drama, for those so inclined. For anyone else, well, this book is for Garton completists only.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Autumn acquisitions

Autumn Acquisitions

Grady Hendrix's newly published celebration of 70s and 80s horror paperbacks, Paperbacks from Hell, certainly is an entertaining read.

However, every one of those schlock paperbacks appearing in the book is going to be snapped up soon by fans and speculators. Even the most cheeseball of the titles published by Zebra, Leisure, Signet, and Pocket during that era are going to see their asking prices double.......or triple. Or quadruple.

So, over the past two weeks, I've been making my own forays to grab those schlock horror stories while they still are affordable.......in other words, no more than $5.00 each or so.

I've done reasonably well (pictures below). My advice ? Now is as good a time as any to decide which books from Paperbacks from Hell deserve your attention, and act accordingly.....before the speculators start elbowing their way in...........







Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Paperbacks from Hell

Paperbacks from Hell
The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction
by Grady Hendrix
When - last Summer - Will Errickson at the Too Much Horror Fiction blog announced he was a contributing author to a coffee table - style book celebrating 70s and 80s horror paperbacks, I assigned it to my amazon.com Wish List. Having received the book just a few days after its September 19 release date, I've since been poring over it, and here's my take on the book.
Paperbacks from Hell is a thick, chunky, very well-made book. It's a trade paperback with glossy, thick-stock paper pages, and high-res reproductions of the covers of its collected paperbacks.

Author Hendrix's narrative is informed by his readings of over 200 of the horror paperbacks published during the two-decade interval covered in the book. His chapters are roughly chronological in order, starting with an overview of the paperback industry in the late 60s, when the publication of Rosemary's Baby kicked off what would come to be the 'horror boom'.

Hendrix's narrative then covers the 70s and 80s, and closes with the dying of the paperback horror genre with the coming of The Silence of the Lambs, and the transitioning of the publishing industry to the 'serial killer' fad of the early 90s.

Succeeding chapters cover the themes of 'Creepy Kids', 'When Animals Attack', 'Weird Science', and 'Inhumanoids', among others. Hendrix enlivens his discourses with frequently humorous observations on the social and pop culture phenomena underlying these topics. 

If you're at all acquainted with the subject matter, you're sure to see some of your favorites and even some long-lost forgotten treasures among the pages of Paperbacks from Hell........and thus get charged with nostalgia.

You're also sure to see more than a few paperbacks that you'd like to add to your collection. I did !
The closing pages of Paperbacks from Hell present a short Appendix of prominent artists and authors of the era. For his part, Errickson contributes an Afterward focusing on Recommended Reading.

Paperbacks from Hell does have one major problem: too often, Hendrix DISCLOSES SPOILERS. For example, he reveals the fate of the protagonist of Pierce Nace's gorehound abomination, Eat Them Alive. This is not right !

Author Hendrix doesn't hide the fact that many of the books profiled in Paperbacks from Hell are an acquired taste, and reading them likely will be unrewarding for all but the most ardent fans of the genre. But he also takes pains to point out that there are a good share of gems to be found amidst the dross. 

Summing up, if you're a Bay Boomer like me, then this book is going to bring back some great memories of a genre in its full flower.. 

If you're not a Baby Boomer, but a younger reader who finds that the stuff from the 70s and 80s has the kind of uniquely warped character that appeals to you, then Paperbacks from Hell also is just the ticket to satisfy your need for an informative catalog of what was done, and who did it.


So there you have it. Paperbacks from Hell..........out just in time for Halloween !


Saturday, September 30, 2017

Book Review: 'The Devil's Kiss'


September is Outbreak Month.......at the PorPor Books Blog !

Book Review: 'The Devil's Kiss' by John Hyde



3 / 5 Stars

'The Devil's Kiss' (160 pp) was published in the UK by the New English Library in August 1984. The striking cover art is provided by Les Edwards.

The novel is set in London in the early 1980s. As it opens, two laborers are investigating the breach of a sewer tunnel adjoining the Northern Line; when a wall collapses, it reveals a WWII-era command post that had been secreted under the grounds of Bunhill Fields cemetery.

As the laborers nervously explore the command post, one of them comes across a glass vial filled with an amber liquid......which he promptly breaks. When circumstances conspire to collapse the entire sewer line, a group of unwitting Londoners are exposed to the vial's sinister contents.

Andy Wise, a Detective-Sergeant with the city's Metropolitan Police, is ordered by his superiors to track down the exposed people. Wise soon discovers that something is going badly wrong, for the people exposed to the vial are finding themselves feverish, covered in weeping pustules, their skin turning black and blue. Complicating matters is that others exposed to the vial's contents find themselves subconsciously spurred to commit all manner of gruesome crimes, crimes which they completely forget having committed upon waking from their trance.

As Andy Wise and the Metro Police struggle to understand the burgeoning crisis emerging in London, figures in the highest levels of the British government are taking their own clandestine steps to stop a contamination event that threatens to turn the entire country into a graveyard..........

Not unsurprisingly, 'The Devil's Kiss', coming from the New English Library, is not so much an 'outbreak' novel, as it is a horror novel....... dealing with an outbreak. Author Hyde takes his inspiration from James Herbert's 1975 classic The Fog by having his infected people carrying out splatterpunk-style atrocities. 

Hyde also depicts high-ranking British politicians as perfectly willing to sacrifice the lives of London's citizenry, giving the novel a downbeat, paranoid flavor more in keeping with a novel from the 70s than from 1984.

Although 'The Devil's Kiss' is only 160 pages in length, Hyde writes with economy, and the plot takes more twists and turns that most contemporary horror novels negotiate with three times the page count. If you're a fan of the NEL horror novels, or simply looking for a low-maintenance thriller, this one is worth searching out.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

2000 AD Postergraphs

2000 AD Postergraphs
from Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth
Progs 61 - 85, May - October 1978 




Tuesday, September 26, 2017

The Reaper by Masse

'The Reaper' (El Segador) 
by Masse
from Metal Hurlant (Spanish-language edition), 1983

A hint of Bruegel, a hint of Durer, perhaps some Millet, too......this one-page comic delivers Old World Insight into the nature of things despite its brevity.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Sin or Salvation

'Sin or Salvation'
by Jay Kinney
from Young Lust Number 1, October 1970



Young Lust was founded by Bill Griffith (who went on to become a superstar of the comix movement with 'Zippy' the Pinhead) and Jay Kinney as a satire of the romance comics of the 50s.

Eight issues ultimately were published, most during the interval from 1970 - 1980. According to Kinney,

Forty years ago, DC and Marvel were still cranking out "romance comics" such as Young Love. Bill Griffith and I had the bright idea to create an "adults only" satire of the genre, Young Lust. It became one of the top three best-selling underground comix, along with Zap Comics and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. These were two of my best strips for the comic: my memoirs of Fifth Grade and a satire of the Maoist Cultural Revolution. 

'Sin or Salvation', in which a coed tries to decide between two suitors: a hippie, and a clean-cut ROTC cadet, with a surprise twist revealed in the last few panels, is one of the more amusing comics featured in issue one. It illuminates the culture wars taking place in the late 60s - early 70s.




Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Book Review: A War of Shadows


September is Outbreak Month.......at the PorPor Books Blog !

Book Review: 'A War of Shadows' by Jack L. Chalker


1 / 5 Stars

'A War of Shadows' (314 pp) was published by Ace Books in 1979. The outstanding cover illustration is by Luis Royo.

'Shadows' is set in the near future, i.e., the late 1980s. As the novel opens, a series of strange and terrible diseases are striking America's small towns. The symptoms vary from one locale to another, but include mass blindness, mass mental retardation, mass catatonia, and mass amnesia. The attacks display a peculiar pattern: after the initial wave of illness, no further cases are observed. Nothing overtly suspicious - the deaths of large numbers of animals, tainted drinking water, overflights by crop-duster planes - can be associated with the outbreaks.


The government tries to cover up the extent of the outbreaks, but it is increasingly clear that no ordinary infectious agent can be responsible, and that someone is waging Germ Warfare against the USA. Dr Sandra O'Connell and Dr Mark Spiegelman from the National Disease Control Center (NDCC) are assigned to assist with the government's investigations.

In due course, O'Connell and Speigelman are stationed at Fort Detrick, Maryland, given access to well-equipped laboratories, and tasked with finding out what type of organism could be causing the outbreaks. There they make a fateful discovery......and learn that they are fighting a war against a clever and resourceful enemy, one who hides within a complex web of conspiracies...........


'War of Shadows' was a real disappointment. Even making allowances for the fact that the book was published early in Chalker's career, it suffers from too many weaknesses to be a worthwhile read.

For one thing, although 'Shadows' presents itself as an 'outbreak' novel, after the first 70 pages the epidemic plot is abandoned, and the book turns into a 'thriller' involving a terrorist organization's efforts to seize control of the US. 

Having read no other of his novels, I am open to arguments that sf is Chalker's strong point; however, the thriller genre is not, and in 'Shadows', there are too many plot contrivances (a heroine is just thin enough to squeeze through a fence to escape her pursuers; a rescue team arrives just seconds before the villains are about to escape) to give the plot the necessary sense of realism. As well, Chalker frequently interrupts the narrative to provide political commentary via internal monologues and speeches given by his characters; this commentary, which invokes classic 70s Paranoia over the Growing Power of Those Who Govern, quickly becomes tedious.

Another weakness of the novel is the author's prose style, which frequently reads like a first draft that received little, if any, editorial oversight. Often, the syntax of many sentences is so unclear that I had to re-read them multiple times to finally grasp what Chalker was trying to communicate. Making things worse is the fact that dialogue passages suffer from what could politely be called 'wooden' writing. 

The verdict ? 'War of Shadows' is a dud...........this one is best avoided.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Michael Jackson, New York City, 1977

Michael Jackson
New York City, 1977

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Vermillion: the series

Vermillion: The Series
by Lucius Shepard (writer) and Al Davison, John Totleben, and Gary Erskine (art)
DC / Helix, 1996 - 1997


In 1996, DC launched a new imprint, called 'Helix', designed to showcase sf comics. It was an effort to try and capture an older, more discerning readership in the manner of the Vertigo line, which by '96 was well established and one of the more profitable enterprises in the DC lineup. 



Unfortunately, even though the Great Comic Book Crash of '93 was three years gone, the industry still was deep in the doldrums, and the Helix line was cancelled in 1998. It turned out that most sf readers weren't all that entranced with the Helix titles, and the regular comic book readership was not all that interested in the material, either. 

That said, one of the more intriguing titles in the Helix line was Vermillion, created in partnership with Lucius Shepard (1943 - 2014), one of the 'first generation' cyberpunk authors whose first novel Green Eyes (1984) was among the novels selected for the influential Ace Science Fiction Specials series of the mid-80s. 




Vermillion, with Shepard writing all episodes and art chores split between Alan Davison, John Totleben, and Gary Erskine, lasted for twelve issues (October 1996 - September 1997). Very fine cover art was provided by William Michael Kaluta.


Vermillion - the name refers to a city the size of the solar system, in which most of the story takes place - mixed sf and fantasy with the occasional horror segment. 

The lead character is one Jonathan Cave, an antihero. His origin is never explained, but he is presented as a self-centered, affectless individual who - as the narrative progresses - discovers he possesses unique abilities, among them the ability to recognize aliens masquerading as humans.



The series had two major story arcs; in the first arc, issue 1 - 7, Cave finds himself aboard a massive starship, whose crew seeks to remake the universe with the aid of a supercomputer. Issue 8 is a standalone episode, and issues 9 - 11 deal with Cave's interactions with one of the Ilumi' nati, the race of aliens who secretly control the workings of the universe. Issue 12 is a standalone wrapup for the series.




One of the things that Vermillion does right is to have talented artists on its roster; Davison, in particular, provides meticulous artwork that showcases all manner of atmospheric settings and intricate architectural details, as well as embellishing many panels with little in-jokes and easter eggs. Davison also is skilled at drawing monsters, varieties of which are plentiful in the initial story arc.


Where Vermillion falls short is the scripting; not surprisingly, Shepard has a tendency to overwrite..........and too often the plot is subordinated to lengthy passages of dialogue and introspection, which in turn crowd out the artwork with excessive speech balloons and text boxes. Add in Shepard's determination to give the proceedings a phantasmagorical, metaphysical atmosphere, and Vermillion frequently gets more than a little self-indulgent.


Despite the problems with the script, Vermillion has some strong moments, particularly in issue 7, in which Jonathan Cave, seeking vengeance, infiltrates the home ground of one of the more unpleasant Ilumi' nati. Shepard makes this episode a horror story rather than sf or fantasy, and Davison's artwork is more than up to the task.



Issue 8 - which I've posted in its entirety here - is another high point of the series.

Summing up, Vermillion has enough high points to make it one of the more interesting attempts by a sf author to write a comic book series. Fans of Lucius Shepard's work likely will want to get the series, and comic book readers willing to take a chance on a more offbeat title, one endowed with very good artwork, may find Vermillion rewarding as well. 

The series has not been collected into a graphic novel, but full sets can be obtained from eBay for about $20.