Book Review: Planet Run

Book Review: 'Planet Run' by Keith Laumer and Gordon R. Dickson

2 / 5 Stars

'Planet Run' first was published in 1967 in hardcover by Doubleday; this mass market paperback edition (143 pp.) was published by Berkley Books in July, 1968, and features a great cover illustration by Paul Lehr.

'Run' is set in the far future, when most habitable worlds within Federation space have been colonized and exploited. The one major exception is the planet of Corazon, which has been off-limits for decades. 

Grizzled spacer Captain Henry is 135 years old, and enjoying retirement in his estate on the planet Aldorado. Rumor has it that when he was younger, Captain Henry not only clandestinely explored Corazon, but found deposits of gemstones.........gemstones that have funded his comfortable lifestyle of nearly a century. Unsurprisingly, Captain Henry is tight-lipped about where and when he found the rumored gemstones. 

But when the Federation announces that Corazon is being opened for claim-staking, Senator Bartholomew of Aldorado makes Henry an offer he can't refuse: return to Corazon, stake a claim to the deposit of gemstones, and share the wealth with the Senator.

Captain Henry isn't happy with the situation, but the offer of a rejuvenation treatment sweetens the pot, as does carte blanche to use the Senator's bank account to outfit the expedition. In due course Henry, along with the Senator's jejune son Larry Bartholomew, is piloting the starship Deguello to Corazon. There's a new-model Bolo tank secured in the hold, the perfect vehicle for racing across the landscape of Corazon to stake a claim to the deposit that will make the Senator - and Henry - wealthy men.

There' s just one problem: the scum of the galaxy have gathered on Corazon, and they know that Captain Henry is on to something. When the gun goes off and the Run starts, they are only to happy to use murderous violence to make their own claim to the gemstones of Corazon...........

When I opened 'Planet Run' I did so with a tolerant attitude, because in terms of literary quality, the overwhelming majority of 1960s sf doesn't compare well to that produced in succeeding decades. Indeed, when it comes to 60s sf, I always am willing to give more credit for an engaging and entertaining plot than literary prowess. 

The first half of 'Run', which plainly was composed by Keith Laumer, is tolerable in this regard. The dialogue can be stilted, and plot developments predictable, but the narrative moves along at a good pace, and there is plenty of sarcastic humor.

Unfortunately, the second half of the novel sees the narrative taken over by co-author Dickson, who introduces the theme of Man struggling to overcome a series of physical and psychological traumas (a theme commonly used by Dickson in his fiction, which reflected his own personal struggles with asthma). 

Dickson's deployment of lengthy internal monologues, written in lumbering, figurative prose, introduces turgidity into what was essentially meant to be an action-driven 'Space Western'. 

The final chapters see Laumer resume control over the storyline, but his plot and prose have an awkward, perfunctory quality that demonstrates that he simply was going through the motions at this point in the novel's composition.......... 

The verdict ? Even by forgiving standards, 'Planet Run' is a mediocre example of 1960s action-adventure sci-fi. It didn't have to be so; Roger Zelazny's 1969 novel 'Damnation Alley' showed that it was possible to produce a high-quality entrant in this genre. However, at the time he co-wrote 'Planet Run', Keith Laumer plainly was uninterested in doing anything novel or imaginative with the genre, and was 'writing for revenue'. Accordingly, this book is for Laumer and Dickson completists only.

At the library sale, July 2021

At the Library Sale, July 2021

After being suspended for more than a year due to the covid-19 epidemic, last week the local library resumed its biannual Book Sale, holding it over a three-day interval in a normally vacant storefront in a nearby shopping center. 

It was well attended, with a nice selection of both paperback and hardback books at the sci-fi section. All of these were not much more than a dollar a piece. I came away with a nice collection of paperbacks from the 60s and 70s (above).

I also picked up vintage hardbound volumes of Silverberg's The World Inside, and Chayefsky's Altered States, issued by the Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club (above). 

And then there was a 1992 anthology of Weird Tales stories, all published from 1927 to 1953, that deal with vampires. I was motivated to pick up this 442-page tome mainly due to the favorable reviews of many old Weird Tales stories that have been posted by MPorcius at his blog.

There always is a good turnout of parents and kids at these sales, which feature a large selection of books for juveniles. I don't know if it's peculiar to the greater Charlottesville area, but it seems that reading remains a popular pastime for many families, even in a era that is increasingly post-literate. Hopefully these younger people will advance, in time, to reading Old School sci-fi........... and help keep this Blog relevant...................... 

Book Review: Cyborg

Book Review: 'Cyborg' by Martin Caidin

3 / 5 Stars

'Cyborg' first was published in April 1972 by Arbor House; this paperback edition (318 pp.) was issued by Warner Paperback Library in December 1972 (the cover artist is uncredited).

Both hardbound and paperback copies of 'Cyborg' have Bookjackers demanding steep prices at amazon and eBay. I was able to find a somewhat battered copy of the book at McKay's in Manassas for 65 cents.

'Cyborg' became the basis for the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man, which initially aired on ABC in 1973 as three episodes. Viewership was sufficiently high for the network to order five full seasons over 1974 - 1978. Capitalizing on the success of the TV show, Caidin wrote two more Steve Austin novels, 'High Crystal' (1974) and 'Cyborg IV' (1975).

A gallery of the various editions of Caidin's 'Cyborg' novels, including some impressive paintings by UK artist Richard Clifton-Dey, is available at the Dead Man's Brain blog.

'Cyborg' is set in the mid-70s and as it opens, 32 year-old Steve Austin, NASA's youngest astronaut and one of its best test pilots, is conducting a trial flight of the M2-F2 lifting body aircraft. Coming in for a landing, the aircraft goes out of control and crashes on the runway (footage of the actual crash of the M2-F2 on May 10, 1967, involving pilot Bruce Peterson, was used in the opening sequence of The Six Million Dollar Man).

Austin survives the crash, albeit with severe injuries. But physicians Rudy Wells and Michael Killian have a plan, one that will be funded - to the tune of 6 million dollars (a large sum by 1970s standards) - by Oscar Goldman, director of the federal government's clandestine Office of Special Operations (OSO).

Steve Austin will be the world's first Bionic Man........a cyborg whose body is a combination of the organic and inorganic. Rebuilding Austin will require the most advanced technologies yet known to man, and the path to recovery and functionality will be a long and arduous one. But if any one man can do it, it will be Steve Austin.

However, as Austin is to discover, when the OSO invests 6 million dollars in your rehabilitation, it's never done out of kindness. Oscar Goldman wants a return on his investment.........a return that involves a dangerous mission to covertly retrieve foreign technology. And what would be a suicide mission for an ordinary spy, may be entirely feasible for a bionic man............

The opening chapters of 'Cyborg' are engaging, as Caidin relates - in crisp prose - the execution of the ill-fated flight, the disastrous accident, and the desperate effort to salvage what's left of astronaut Austin.

The middle chapters see the narrative lose momentum, as Caidin belabors the psychological and emotional traumas that accompany Austin's efforts to adapt to his new existence as a bionic man. Needless to say, melodrama was not author Caidin's strong suit as a writer: the too-plentiful scenes in which Austin acts out in anger against his medical team, and wallows in self-pity, foster a contrived melodrama and (unintentionally, I'm guessing) permit the reader to readily conclude that Austin is a Prick. 

Steve Austin doesn't make the transition from experimental subject to a Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'superspy' until page 201, well into the novel. Things pick up plot-wise at this point, as Austin undertakes dangerous missions against the infrastructure of the Soviet Bloc, and the final third of the book is rewarding for those who like well-composed action sequences, particularly those featuring aeronautical derring-do, a subject with which Caidin was well acquainted. 

The closing chapters then shift the emphasis to a survival scenario, one of the best such sequences I've ever read.

It's worth noting that in 'Cyborg' Steve Austin has no scruples about using his superhuman powers to kill Commies, rape-hungry Arabs, and other 1970s 'undesirables'. These episodes of violence give the novel a harder edge that The Six Million Dollar Man (which aired in Prime Time) was not permitted.

[ I should alert potential readers under 30 that Caidin's depiction of women in the pages of 'Cyborg' is very un-Woke; however, those over 30 likely will be entertained by the chauvanistic sensibility that permeates the novel. ]

The verdict ? While I can't recommend that you spend considerable money to acquire a copy of 'Cyborg', if you can find it for a reasonable price, it's worth picking up. Overall, its melding of sci-fi and action  works well and retains that distinctive Old School, Macho-Man flavor that nowadays is fast fading into distant memory.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and the Mysterious Visitor

'The Fabulous Furry Freak Bothers and the Mysterious Visitor '
by Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan
from Thoroughly Ripped with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (Rip Off Press, 1978) 

Junk food from Ollie's

Junk Food from Ollie's

Ollie's Bargain Outlet is a chain of discount stores that started in central Pennsylvania in the 1980s, and now has stores in 25 states. They usually lease their stores in formerly prosperous shopping centers........what may have been a thriving PetCo, or Kmart, or Joann Fabrics in 2003, is now an Ollie's. 

Some of the parking lots where Ollie's are located require concentration and care to negotiate......I recently was at the Frederick, Maryland store (second from top, above) and while inside, a severe thunderstorm swept into the area. The rain was pounding on the store roof so hard I couldn't hear the music playing on the speaker system. When I had waited out the worst of the rain by standing under the storefront, I discovered that the parking lot had flooded, and I had to wade through ankle-deep water to my car.........

I periodically visit Ollie's for sundries. The chain advertises itself as 'Good stuff - cheap !' and that's true. Ollie's buys truckloads of surplus inventory and sells it at discounted prices, exclusively in its brick-and-mortar stores (the chain has no online sales portal). According to a 2019 article in Forbes, Ollie's is thriving at a time when many brick-and-mortar stores are not doing well. 

According to Forbes, Ollies customers '.....tend to be lower-middle class or poorer.......' Whether I qualify for this designation is open to contemplation, but I do find Ollie's a source for cheap junk food. Some brands that aren't available in other stores can be found at Ollie's; for example, while Mallow Cups from Boyer were plentiful in my youth during the 70s, I haven't seen them anywhere in the past 20 (30 ?!) years, but I found big packs of them at Ollies.

Some of the items available at Ollie's represent flavors that didn't survive the brutal competition on the shelves of major grocery stores. In that regard, perhaps it's for the best that 'S'mores' flavored snack balls, 'Orange Cream Pop' snack balls, and 'Dippin' Dots' snack balls have been expunged from the retail environment.

Entering Ollie's filled with the spirit of adventure, the Fair-mindedness of the Forager, can have value. Some snacks that seem of a questionable nature can turn out to be quite delectable. 'Frosted Chocolatey Churro' Pop Tarts are an example. I did not try the 'Pretzel Cinnamon Sugar' flavor Pop Tarts.

 And let's be fair. If a bag of chips is priced at $1.89, or a box of 16 exotically flavored Pop Tarts is only $2.59, you're not spending a whole lot of money to investigate, are you ?

So, if scoring discounted holiday candy, obscure flavors and sizings of snack foods (such as 2 lb bags of Herr's 'Jalapeno Poppers Flavor Cheese Curls'), $3 Gold Toe tee shirts, disinfecting wipes, or solar lamps for lawns is your thing, then visiting Ollie's can be a good idea.

 

Book Review: Thieves' World

Book Review: 'Thieves' World' edited by Robert Lynn Asprin

4 / 5 Stars

'Thieves' World' (308 pp.) was published by Ace Books in October, 1979. The cover art is by Walter Velez.

'Thieves' World' is one of the earliest and most successful Shared World series in sci-fi / fantasy publishing. As of 2012, there were 14 anthologies in the series, with at least 15 or more spinoff novels and short story collections. 

During the 1980s a rather mediocre line of black-and-white comics was issued by indie publisher Starblaze, along with several Thieves' World-branded board games and role-playing games from Chaosium and Mayfair Games.

I was aware of the franchise during the 1980s, as its volumes were ever-present on the shelves of the sci-fi section of Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Coles, Borders, etc. But I never picked up and read any title until just recently, when I sat down with the very first entrant in the series, 'Thieves' World'. 

Copies of the original paperback can be hard to find. An omnibus edition, published by the Science Fiction Book Club in 1982, and titled Sanctuary, contains 'Thieves' World', 'Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn' (1980) and 'Shadows of Sanctuary' (1981), and may be a more accessible way to gather the initial entries in the series.

In his Afterword to 'Thieves' World', titled 'The Making of Thieves' World', editor Asprin provides insight into how, in the Fall of 1978, he conceived of the idea of a shared world devoted to a fantasy theme, and set about recruiting sci-fi authors in his circle for contributions. The response to his pitch was so fulfilling that before the first volume in the series was printed, Asprin had sufficient tales for a second volume already assembled.

As for the stories in 'Thieves' World', they all are set in the decrepit city of Sanctuary, the most isolated metropolis in the Rankan Empire. Sanctuary's isolation has allowed it to become the Empire's preferred abode for would-be fortune-seekers, criminals, reprobates, and ne'er-do-wells. 

But as 'Thieves' World'  opens, the city's residents, long accustomed to (mis)governing themselves, learn that Prince Kadakithis has been appointed to govern Sanctuary. With Kadakathis comes change, for the Prince, a man of rectitude, has ambitions to turn Sanctuary into a respectable city.............one that generates considerable taxable income for the Rankan Empire...........

My capsule summaries of the contents:

Sentences of Death, by John Brunner: Jarveena the scribe comes into possession of a magic scroll, one that may offer leverage over the Guardsmen of the Governor's Mansion. But blackmail can be a dangerous enterprise in Sanctuary.......Brunner's prose is straightforward, but the story suffers from an underwhelming denouement.  

The Face of Chaos, by Lynn Abbey: Illyra the fortune-teller agrees to help a young woman who is destined to be sacrificed to one of the more odious of the Gods of Sanctuary. A competent tale.

The Gate of the Flying Knives, by Poul Anderson: Cappen Varra the bard learns that his love, Danlis, has - along with Lady Rosande - disappeared from the most secure tower in Sanctuary. Investigating the disappearance will mean crossing paths with entities best avoided. 

Anderson's use of straightforward prose and a well-composed plot makes this a rewarding entry.  

Shadowspawn, by Andrew Offutt: Shadowspawn the thief finds himself entangled in a plot to steal an valuable artifact from Prince Kadakithis......but trusting fellow thieves is never a good idea in Sanctuary..........

Offutt clearly wrote this lengthy story with an eye towards impressing his fellow contributors with his authorial elegance. Readers will encounter the words 'horripilation' (goose-pimples), 'falcate' (curved or hooked), and the phrase 'cupiditous concubine' (which sounds like a title for one of Offutt's sleaze novels). He lards the narrative with wordsmithings and turns of phrase designed to display his cleverness. 

Over-written and over-plotted, 'Shadowspawn' is not one of Offutt's better stories.

The Price of Doing Business, by Robert Lynn Asprin: Jubal, an ex-pit fighter and Sanctuary's most powerful crime lord, gets word that someone has information that would be of considerable value to him. But in Thieves' World, information always comes with a high price.......featuring a well-written segment of violent combat, this is another of the better tales in the anthology.

Blood Brothers, by Joe Haldeman: One-Thumb the tavern-owner seeks the culprit behind the theft of a brick of hashish. One-Thumb is never shy about using murderous violence to achieve his aims, but this time, has he met adversaries as ruthless as he is ?

Haldeman starts his story with three pages of conversational exchanges rendered in interposed italic and regular font text. There are no speakers identified, leaving it to the reader to gradually parse out who is saying what. This is a New Wave - era literary affectation that was trendy in the 1970s, but seems awkward and contrived nowadays. 

Anyways, once Haldeman adopts a more traditional diction, the story becomes more engaging and ends on an imaginative note. 

Myrtis, by Christine DeWees: Myrtis is the proprietress of Sanctuary's premiere brothel, Aphrodesia House. When Captain Zalbar, commander of the Royal Guard, demands a steep tax payment from Myrtis, she must use all her cunning and guile to find a resolution that lets the House stay in business. One of the better-plotted stories in the anthology. 

The Secret of the Blue Star, by Marion Zimmer Bradley: Lythande the mage, one of the more enigmatic and mysterious personages of Sanctuary, comes to the aid of a maltreated urchin. This story has a surprise ending that I at first found contrived, but when I went back and examined the story in detail, it was clear that Bradley had carefully crafted the ending's rationale. So informed, I then concluded that 'Blue Star' is the best entrant in the anthology.

Finishing 'Thieves' World', I thought it clear that Asprin had met his goal of freeing contributors from the need to labor on world-building in composing their entries, thus allowing them to focus solely on storytelling. As a result, all of the contributors successfully leveraged the grittier, even sordid atmosphere inherent in the 'Thieves' World' concept. Those who like late 70s - early 80s fantasy literature packaged into shorter, more digestible stories will find this anthology worth reading.

My Sweet Summer Suite

'My Sweet Summer Suite'
by Barry White and the Love Unlimited Orchestra

November, 1976

A track from the 1976 album of the same name, 'My Sweet Summer Suite' was released as a single in the Fall of 1976. On the Billboard R & B chart it reached a high of slot 43 in November. 

'Sweet Summer Suite' entered the Hot 100 pop chart in October, and maxed at position 81 on November 13.

Here is a link to the 12" version of the song. The song takes its time getting underway - the melody proper doesn't kick in till the 2:25 mark - but it's pure, undiluted 70s goodness. You can't ignore the 'burping Tupperware' notes, and the Fourth of July weekend looms. What more needs to be said ? 

Book Review: Earthblood and Other Stories

Book Review: 'Earthblood and Other Stories' by Keith Laumer and Rosel George Brown

edited by Eric Flint

3 / 5 Stars

‘Earthblood’ first was published as a serial in If magazine during 1966. That same year it was issued in hardback from Doubleday. 

This Baen Books paperback version (cover art by Bob Eggleton) issued in January 2008 is a hefty 703 pages in length, with 391 pages devoted to 'Earthblood' and the remaining pages devoted to short fiction from Laumer and Brown (rounding out the book is a 17-page preview of an awful David Webber novel from 2012). 

Needless to say, it took me a while to finish this book. 

I remember reading ‘Earthblood’ in the mid-70s and finding it quite entertaining. As an Old School space opera it offered something different, and in many ways refreshing, from the New Wave content that was then dominating sci-fi publishing: it was devoid of self-indulgent prose stylings, and featured a straightforward, plot-driven narrative. 

'Earthblood' is set far in the future, thousands of years after the Terran Empire has lost a war with the alien race known as the Niss. The fall of the Empire has left the myriad colony worlds to their own devices, and over the centuries knowledge of Terra, and its former glories, have faded into myth.

In the opening chapters we are introduced to our hero, Roan Corday, a genuinely ‘Terry’ child raised by a humanoid couple of limited means on the backwater planet of Tambool. Roan gradually becomes aware that he is an outcast among the races of aliens who dominate Tambool society, and that his Terry heritage marks him as a man destined for Bigger Things than can be found in the squalid slum district that is his home. In due course Roan finds himself travelling the galaxy in an increasingly fervid quest to find the fabled planet of Terra, defeat the remnants of the Niss, and restore the Terran Empire to its glory.

The fast pacing and plentiful action sequences that are Keith Laumer’s strong suit, and made me like ‘Earthblood’ nearly 50 years ago, remain engaging. But this time around I was more appreciative of the novel’s presentation of well-drawn human and alien characters, such as the erotic dancer Stellaraire, the stolidly noble Iron Robert, the pirate Henry Dread, and Roan’s sidekicks Skor and Sidis. 

Also worthy of note are the novel’s contemplative passages, which – presumably – were contributed by coauthor Brown. These passages, some of which deal with the discovery of long-abandoned Terran outposts, have an elegiac quality suffused with the sense of entropy that was becoming more and more prominent in the 1960s as the New Wave movement exerted its influence. It is the presence of these passages that give ‘Earthblood’ a depth not present in most (if not all) of the Space Opera fiction of the 1960s. 

‘Earthblood and Other Stories’ features three ‘Niss’ novelettes that Laumer published in sci-fi digests during 1963-1964. All reflect Laumer’s status as an author who wrote to earn a living: they are loosely plotted, and rely on all manner of contrived twists and revelations to keep the narratives rolling along (for example, a handgun is fired, but the villains in the adjacent chamber can’t hear it because ‘The Niss are totally deaf in our sound range without their hearing aids’). 

In ‘The Long Remembered Thunder’ an agent named Tremaine investigates the source of a mysterious, but powerful, radio signal. ‘The Other Sky’ is a rambling mishmash of sci-fi tropes such as time travel, portals to other dimensions, and alien overlords. Amidst all the frenetic action Laumer even works in a humorous take on ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, which gives the story the flavor of a Ron Goulart / Robert Sheckley composition. ‘The Soul Buyer’ sees tough guy Tony Adair tangle with city streets run by wise guys, some of whom are aliens; this story comes across as Laumer’s attempt to fuse sci-fi with the private eye theme.

Closing out the collection are six stories by Rosel George Brown (1926 – 1967), all first published in sci-fi digests during the interval from 1959 – 1962. These entries all are well-written, but basically apply a thin coating of sci-fi content to the sorts of wry domestic dramas that were representative of short fiction that, in the late 50s and early 60s, would have been at home in magazines like Women’s Day, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, etc. 

For example, ‘Flower Arrangement’ sees housewife Sally Jo Warner enter the neighborhood contest with an unusual arrangement based on twisting an aspidistra leaf into a Mobius strip. There is drama when scientists, startled by the seemingly impossible arrangement, become involved, but Sally Jo just wants to one-up the Queen Bee of the Dried Arrangements committee.  

A 1962 story, ‘And A Tooth’, adopts a darker tone with its portrayal of Margaret Tilden, a distraught housewife who undergoes brain surgery to revive her from a coma, only to discover that she has acquired a split personality. It turns out the other personality is determined to take control of the shared body. It was an interesting premise at the time the story was written, and modern critics might expound that 'And A Tooth' has merit as a proto-feministic exploration of a woman rebelling against the strictures the patriarchy imposes on women who don't meekly accept their roles in society. Or something like that.

The verdict ? I would recommend that curious readers acquire 'Earthblood' on its own, rather than this particular Baen Books expanded version. I can't say that the ancillary material from Laumer and Brown included in this 703 - page compilation is all that impressive, save for those with a deep and abiding interest in collecting the output of either writer. 

Robo Hunter: Verdus

Robo-Hunter: Verdus

by John Wagner, Ian Gibson, and Jose-Luis Ferrer

DC Comics, 2004

The 'Verdus' storyline of 'Robo-Hunter' initially appeared in 2000 AD from prog 76 (August 5, 1978) to Prog 112 (May 12, 1979) with scripting by John Wagner and illustrations by Ian Gibson (with the initial issues handled by Jose-Luis Ferrer). 

This 136 - page compilation of the complete 'Verdus' comics was issued by DC in 2004, part of a rather short-lived partnership with the UK's Rebellion publishing house to issue reprints of selected 2000 AD titles for the American comics market. 

'Robo-Hunter: Verdus' has the dimensions (7 1/ 2 x 10 1/4 inches) of the American graphic novel, which means it was reduced from the UK format (9 inches wide x 11 inches).

As framed by writer John Wagner, the late 70s incarnation of Robo-Hunter has a determinedly comic attitude, one I have commented upon in past postings. This probably was a sensible course of action for Wagner, as at the time, a darker, more violent treatment of the character likely would have been difficult to compete with fellow 2000 AD property Judge Dredd. 

The 'Verdus' storyline sees our hero, Sam Slade, aka Robo-Hunter, sent off on an interstellar voyage to investigate the fate of the eponymous colony world. The absence of any communications from the first batch of colonists to arrive at Verdus has raised fears that something has gone wrong.......perhaps involving the plentiful robots who have been responsible for preparing the world for its human inhabitants.

En route to Verdus, the spacecraft transporting Sam encounters a 'light barrier' that has the effect of reducing one's age by several decades. This is a boon to Sam......but a bane to the ship's pilot, Jim Kidd, who is converted into a foul-mouthed toddler.....

Without disclosing any spoilers, I'll reveal that Sam Slade and Jim Kidd make it to Verdus and discover that things have indeed gone very, very wrong. Correcting the situation will require the utmost effort from Sam Slade and his robot allies...........

Writer John Wagenr's scripting for Robo-Hunter is competent, if not particularly imaginative (but then, one must keep in mind that in the late 1970s Wagner was juggling multiple storylines for 2000 AD and didn't have the luxury of crafting the the intricate narratives that were commonplace in American comics of the same era).

Ian Gibson's artwork for Robo-Hunter: Verdus has a looser style, enhanced by the occasional use of more elaborate shading and cross-hatching techniques (some Zip-A-Tone also makes an appearance here and there). Gibson shows an ability to bring a necessary amount of detail to panels and splash pages designed to be reproduced on newsprint paper, while at the same time giving Robo-Hunter the distinctive visual 'look' that was needed to make it stand out in the crowded pages of 2000 AD.

When all is said and done, 'Verdus' is a serviceable, but not memorable, entry from the early days of the 2000 AD franchise. Given that reprints of the series from UK publishers (like Rebellion's 'Droid Files') are long out of print and have high asking prices, this US / DC compilation is probably the most affordable way to acquire the complete first appearance of the character.

The ruins of New York City from Planet of the Apes magazine No. 7

The Ruins of New York City
by Alfredo Alcala

from Planet of the Apes magazine (Marvel / Curtis) 

Issue 7 (April 1975)

With issue 7 of 'Planet of the Apes' magazine, Marvel began a serialized comic treatment of the 1970 movie Beneath the Planet of the Apes. 

Filipino artist Alfredo Alcala was assigned to the story and did amazing work, as evidenced by the above panel depicting the scene where astronaut Brent, accompanied by Nova, discovers that underneath the wastes of the Forbidden Zone are the ruins of what used to be New York City.......