Soldier of Fortune: A Bump in the Road

Soldier of Fortune
'A Bump in the Road'
by Alfredo Grassi (story) and Enrique Breccia (art)
from Merchants of Death No. 4, November 1988
Eclipse Comics

This was the fourth and final issue of Eclipse Comics' exploration of a magazine-sized format for comics; sadly, Merchants of Death just wasn't getting sufficient readership to justify continuation.

Somehow the 'Soldier of Fortune' byline is missing from this installment of the series, and our 'gringo' hero had somehow regained his missing eye.......... and done away with his distinctive eyepatch. But he's still having to deal with treacherous bandidos...............that's life in the wilds of Bolivia in the early 20th century..........

The Bee Gees, Manchester, 1981

The Bee Gees
Manchester, 1981

L to R: Barry, Robin, and Maurice

Judge Dredd: The Beast in 24B

Judge Dredd
in 'The Beast in 24B'
from 2000AD Annual 1984
August 1983

Yet another laugh-out-loud take on modern life from the talented Brits at 2000 AD comics............

Book Review: Taurus Four

Book Review: 'Taurus Four' by Rena Vale

3 / 5 Stars

‘Taurus Four’ (156 pp) was published in January 1970 by the Paperback Library. The cover art likely is by Robert Foster.

Rena Vale (1898 – 1983) published two sci-fi novels for the Paperback Library in 1970, her other novel being ‘The Day After Doomsday’.

‘Taurus’ is set in the year 2270 AD. Dorian Frank, a sociologist by training, has been assigned to do a simple reconnoiter of the eponymous planet when his scout ship crash-lands on the surface, leaving him stranded for several months before an interstellar cruiser can return to pick him up.

Corpulent, fussy, and devoid of much in the way of self-confidence (a consequence of being reared on a regimented Earth dominated by females) Frank is forced to fend for himself in the dangerous terrain of Taurus Four. When he stumbles upon a tribe of hippies eking out an existence in a forested area of the planet, Frank is dumfounded: there aren’t any records of humans living on Taurus Four.

The hippies are led by a Charles Manson-like ‘chief’ named Pete, who – when not chewing stalks of marijuana – enforces his rule by demanding human sacrifices in order to appease a 'God' who dwells in a nearby geological formation.

When Teeda, the beautiful Hippy Chick who dwells in enforced isolation from the tribe, takes a liking to Dorian, complications ensue……because Pete has designs for Teeda, and he won’t hesitate to have Dorian Frank slaughtered if the stranded Earthman steps out of line……………

‘Taurus Four’ clearly uses the Hippy movement, which was of course in full swing at the time of the novel’s publication, as its inspiration. While superficially a standard ‘Stranded Earthman’ adventure tale, the book aims at satirical humor: the hippies are in danger of extinction due to their self-absorbed, ignorant lifestyle, but at the same time, they enjoy a sort of hedonistic freedom that Dorian Frank, as a member of the ‘establishment’, comes to appreciate.

The narrative moves along at a quick pace, aided by author Vale’s use of carefully calculated episodes of surprisingly nasty violence that give ‘Taurus Four’ an edge I was not expecting.

Summing up, while I can’t label ‘Taurus Four’ as a touchstone work of early 70s sci-fi, it certainly has aged better than many of the more heralded novels of its era. If you happen to see it on the shelves of your used bookstore, it is worth picking up.

Night Eyes from Creepy No. 102

Night Eyes
Story by Bruce Jones
Art by Alfredo Alcala
from Creepy No. 102, October 1978

On the stands in September, 1978, this issue of Creepy features an effective cover illustration by the UK artist Patrick Woodroffe.

Inside is a story by Bruce Jones, with - as always - outstanding artwork by Alfredo Alcala: 'Night Eyes'.

Book Review: Arcane

Book Review: 'Arcane' by Carl Sherrell

3 / 5 Stars

'Arcane' (320 pp) was published by Jove Books in August 1978. The cover art is by Boris Vallejo.

Carl Sherrell (1929 -1990) published several novels in the horror, fantasy, and sci-fi genres in the 70s and 80s.

In his Preface, the author states that he used the Tarot deck as the inspiration for this novel; each of its 22 chapters is inspired by a card randomly drawn from the deck. Accordingly, the book's opening chapter is titled The Fool, with succeeding chapters titled The High Priestess, The Magicians, The Tower, The Moon, etc. 

'Arcane' takes place in a bucolic, if generic, fantasy landscape where a tribe of people live simple, but rewarding, lives under their cantankerous leader, an elderly man named Niko. When Niko encounters a young man - the Fool of the chapter's title - coming down the trail from the mysterious heights of the Mountains, initially he is dismissive of this seeming simpleton.

However, the young man, whose name is Abeth, soon shows himself to be no simpleton, but a man gifted with a strong intellect, a man armed with powerful magic, including the ability to read minds and communicate telepathically. As Niko looks on in dismay, he is gradually ousted as the leader of Arcane, as Abeth's activities transform the land and its people into the residents of a powerful empire, one that uses new technologies and new ways of thinking to expand its territories at the expense of the neighboring tribes of wild men.

Even as Abeth's rule brings prosperity and power to Arcane, a disgruntled Niko schemes for ways to subvert Abeth's rule. The stage is set for a contest of wills to determine the future of the land and its people...........

I finished 'Arcane' with mixed emotions. The idea of having a random draw of the Tarot deck dictate the content of each chapter certainly is a novel one, and the lack of an overarching storyline means that the narrative is avoids being overly predictable.

At the same time, the author uses a prose style that is more in keeping with a hard-boiled detective novel than a fantasy novel. Sherrell keeps his prose spare and concise, and eschews completely the trappings of the 'standard' fantasy novel: there are no italicized words representing an Elvish Vocabulary, no glossary, no polysyllabic names for places, people, and things, no dwarves, no Dark Lords, no Towers of Doom, no goblins, orcs, or demons. (A dragon does make a brief appearance.)

However, the lack of an overarching plot means that at its midpoint the novel starts to lose momentum; the vagaries of each new chapter made it hard to feel all that invested in the setting and its characters. The book also suffers from closing chapters that seem unconvincing in terms of disclosing any Big Revelations about Abeth and his designs for Arcane.

The verdict ? 'Arcane' deserves some merit for author Sherrell's decision to let the Tarot govern his narrative. However, that decision also prevents the novel from being more than a straightforward tale of the rise and fall of a civilization. If you are someone with a strong yearning to read all of the fantasy novels of the late 70s then picking up 'Arcane' is justified, but all others likely can pass on this novel. 

Prison Ship by Esteban Maroto

Prison Ship
by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bruce Jones (story)
IDW, April 2018

Issue 24 of the Warren magazine 1994, with an April 1982 cover date, debuted a new series written by Bruce Jones and illustrated by Esteban Maroto, titled 'Diana Jacklighter, Manhuntress !' 

The plot was relatively simple: Diana (renamed Faye in the graphic novel) is an intergalactic bounty hunter, who has all manner of adventures on alien worlds as she sets forth to capture the escapees from the titular prison ship.

The series would go on for another four issues.

The story's cheesy title and concept were in keeping with the effort by 1994 editor Bill Dubay to lure the same readership of Heavy Metal magazine. The emphasis with 'Diana Jacklighter' was on fun, and T & A, rather than deep explorations of Weighty Themes. Needless to say, artist Maroto was quite capable of catering to the HM crowd with his choice depictions of Diana wearing little, if any, clothing:

As part of its efforts to compile classic comics from Esteban Maroto, publisher IDW has packaged the 1994 strips under the less..... exploitative...... title of Prison Ship. Like the other volume in this series, Lovecraft: The Myth of Cthulhu, this is a hardback graphic novel printed on a high grade of paper. 

It's unclear if the contents are scanned from the original artwork - in his Introduction to Prison Ship, Maroto states that many of the original art pages he sent to Warren 'disappeared under mysterious circumstances'. But the reproductions of scanned pages (if that's what they are) come across reasonably well here.

Maroto's artwork for 'Diana Jackson' / Prison Ship show him in top form. For all of its cheesy nature, I find it superior to many of the sci-fi comics (like the grossly overpraised Saga, as well as Black Science, Descender, and ODY-C) found nowadays on the store shelves. 

I've posted a scan of the initial episodes below. Whether you're a fan of Maroto's art, or the sci-fi comics of the early 80s, getting a copy of the book from your usual online vendors is recommended.