Todd Klein's Blog, page 130

And Then I Read: IRONTOWN BLUES by John Varley

Cover art by Florian de Gesincourt

I’ve loved Varley’s work since first reading his short stories in the SF digest magazines in the 1970s. I think of him as a “Heinlein school” writer, and the inclination in his work to use the themes and settings of Robert A. Heinlein as stepping-off points or homages has grown over the years. As Heinlein is one of my favorite writers, I have no problem with this, and it’s not like he’s imitating or retreading, he goes his own way, but the love for RAH is evident and strong. This one is reminiscent of “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” taken further down the road, with other Heinlein novel elements in there too.

Chris Bach lives on Earth’s moon, but in his head he’s in 1930s film noir. He lives in an area where that era is recreated lovingly, and he works as a private detective, he and his partner Sherlock, a bloodhound. Sherlock is not an ordinary dog, he’s a CEC, Computer Enhanced Canine, with implanted links to the web and enhanced intelligence. Sherlock is a master of scents, of course, and he co-narrates the book with the help of a CEC communications expert who interprets his non-verbal language and translates it for us readers. Sherlock’s narration is often more interesting than Chris Bach’s.

As is expected for a private detective, Chris has a troubled past that we learn about in the story, he was part of a raid on some off-the-grid inhabitants of the Moon he thought was a simple clean-up operation, but it turned out to be much deadlier and more sinister. He barely survived.

Chris’s new client seems to want to drag him and Sherlock back to the place where it happened, Irontown. Chris is reluctant to go there for good reason. Sherlock wants only to protect Chris. Neither of them are going to get what they want or expect when they finally get to Irontown.

Great book, highly recommended!

And Then I Read: BATMAN, KINGS OF FEAR #1

Image © DC Comics. Written by Scott Peterson, art by Kelley Jones.

I decided to give this a try. The entire miniseries is already out, but I hadn’t looked at it yet.

I love Kelley Jones’ art, but I have to say it works best for me on characters that are already exaggerated caricatures of humanity. The villains, for instance. On Batman himself, Kelley’s distorted anatomy is sometimes distracting, but his art is full of love for the characters and the medium, and surely that’s a good thing. And how can you not love all the insane details?

Batman begins by taking down The Joker, whose dialogue by Scott Peterson is amusing and insightful. When Batman returns Joker to Arkham Asylum, he’s berated by a doctor there despite the fact that he’s helping. Suddenly the entire Batman roster of crazed villains are out of their cells, and Batman must take them on single-handed. I suspect Kelley Jones asked for that!

All this seems to be a prelude to the real threat, The Scarecrow, who has also escaped Arkham and whose fear toxins take Batman by surprise. The plot thickens.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: THE FLASH #59

Image © DC Comics. Written by Joshua Williamson, art by Rafa Sandoval, Jorndi Tarragona & Scott Hanna, colors by Tomeu Morey, letters by Steve Wands.

First, it seems to me that the cover art for issues 58 and 59 were switched. This one would have worked perfectly for issue 58, that issue’s cover for this one.

Gorilla Grodd and his secret African home of intelligent apes, Gorilla City were always fascinating to me as a child. Grodd is not here, but the issue takes place mostly in a devastated Gorilla City. Flash and Iris have arrived to find it mostly empty and spotted with gorilla corpses. A few scientists remain underground, and there they show Flash a hologram record from their former leader Solovar, now deceased, that begins to explain more about the four Forces Barry Allen and Iris West are trying to understand. Back in Central City, a future version of Captain Cold is holding the fort against super-villain Razer while helping them out with data location. I could wish for more gorilla adventures, but next Flash and Iris are off to investigate a new emergence of the Strength Force in Corto Maltese. Last issue’s villains, Gemini, are in Gorilla City, too, making things worse for the few survivors.

Recommended.

Incoming: PROMETHEA BOOK ONE DELUXE EDITION

Image © DC Comics.

This is the fourth version of the collected first twelve issues of PROMETHEA. First there were the original hardcovers, Books 1 and 2. Then there were the original trade paperbacks, Books 1 and 2. Then there was ABSOLUTE PROMETHEA BOOK ONE, now this Deluxe Edition.

As the designer of the original hardcovers and softcovers, I have to say I still prefer the design work on those, but since DC has decided to remove all traces of the America’s Best Comics brand, which I used throughout, I can see why they haven’t used my designs. Putting the first twelve issues into one book makes good sense, as was done for the Absolute editions, I like that. The Absolutes are much larger and on better paper, I can’t imagine how you could get better reproduction of the material, so that’s my favorite version, despite some redesigning inside. At least J.H. Williams III and I designed the covers and slipcases together.

The new hardcover is in the Deluxe format, meaning it’s larger than the original collections, but not by a lot, and definitely smaller than the Absolutes. The paper quality is better than the originals, very white, but not as thick as the Absolutes, and the book is glue-bound rather than sewn. It’s still a nice package, though I don’t like the design work much. At least they brought back the brief introductory poems/text that ran before each issue in the first versions. I wrote most of those. There’s even one on the back cover. The front cover looks pretty good to me, but it takes the art from the Book 2 softcover and changes it, something J.H. would probably not be happy with. The additional material includes Alan’s script for issue #3, which is something I’m sure he wouldn’t be happy with.

In all, I’m glad to see the material continue to be made available in a handsome edition. It’s a terrific series. Retail price is $49.99, hefty, but half that of the Absolute Edition, which is probably long out of print, so not a bad way to go if you missed that. Should be out soon, if it isn’t already.

And Then I Read: WONDER WOMAN #61

Image © DC Comics. Written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Xermanico, colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr., letters by Pat Brosseau, cover to Terry & Rachel Dodson.

This issue clicked for me, it’s my favorite so far of the story arc. “The Just War Part 4” takes us mostly out of the battle and into the presence of Aphrodite, who not only doesn’t know why she’s here on this war-torn island, she doesn’t even want to be the goddess of love anymore. Not where I expected G. Willow Wilson to go, and that makes it more interesting. She and Steve Trevor have a fascinating debate while she heals his wound, and elsewhere, Wonder Woman is saving the grandchildren of the Prime Minister. If she can get them all to an arranged meeting place, a truce may be possible…or maybe not.

Well done, liked the art and everything else too. Recommended.

And Then I Read: CAPTAIN GINGER #4

Image © Stuart Moore & June Brigman, main story written by Moore, art by Brigman & Roy Richardson, colors by Veronica Gandini, letters by Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt. Backup written by Tom Peyer, art by Randy Elliott, colors by Andy Troy, letters by Rob Steen.

Aw, is the first story arc over already? At last we get to meet one of the Feeders, or at least his hologram, and the many problems caused by overpopulation on the starship gains a solution from a super-evolved kitten. Captain Ginger’s scouting mission to find more intelligent cats does not succeed in the way expected, but they do find…something surprising! In the Hashtag: Danger backup, Desiree learns that big brains are not always best when her future bloodline comes back in time to visit. In all, a fun issue and recommended.

And Then I Read: MAKING MONEY by Terry Pratchett

Cover art by Scott McKowan.

This is the second Discworld book by Pratchett featuring Moist Von Lipwig. In the first, “Going Postal,” Lipwig is about to be executed for his life of crime as a con-man and thief when he’s offered another option by Vetinari, the ruler of Ankh-Morpork: take charge of the city postal system, which is is chaos, and put it right. In this book, after succeeding in that monumental task, Vetinari has a new task for Moist: do the same for the royal bank and mint, equally corrupt and dysfunctional.

While I enjoyed the book, and Moist’s clever and surprising path to success through a series of seemingly impossible obstacles, like the fact that the gold reserves of the bank are not at all what they seem, and the chairman is a small dog, the fact that this one followed a similar path to the first made it a bit less fun somehow. Instead of making stamps, Moist makes paper money, something unknown in Discworld. Problems with difficult employees, even more difficult enemies, death threats, arrest and imprisonment, public humiliation, an army of golems, and much more create situations that Pratchett juggles with skill and humor. Clever ideas, convincing lies and crafty manipulations are Moist’s stock in trade, and even when things look bleak, we can be pretty sure he’ll win through. Perhaps that’s part of my problem with the book. Once you make it a series, some of the potential failures seem less likely.

Still well worth reading, and at some point I will read the third Moist Von Lipwig book. Recommended.

And Then I Read: THE WRONG EARTH #6

Image © Ahoy Comics. Main story by Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Andy Troy and Rob Steen. Backup by Paul Constant, Gary Erskine, Troy and Steen. Text pieces by Carol Lay and others.

The concluding issue of the first season of THE WRONG EARTH shows that, while both heroes trapped unfamiliar worlds have adjusted to their new realities, both have also been changed by them. On Earth-Omega, Dragonflyman is willing to use bribery to keep his identity secret, as is Dragonfly on Earth-Alpha, for instance. Can Deuce of Earth Alpha really get away with her crimes? Will the corrupt police of Earth-Omega keep their promises? And what the heck is Earth-Zeta? A nice wrap-up until 2020 when the next season begins. The Dragonfly backup is interestingly amoral as well, and of the text pieces, the Carol Lay one is tops in my book.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: THE FLASH #58

Image © DC Comics. Written by Joshua Williamson, art by Rafa Sandoval & Jordi Tarragona, colors by Tomeu Morey, letters by Steve Wands.

I haven’t read FLASH for a while, so I’m backtracking a bit to the start of the “Force Quest” storyline. Barry and Iris are in the obviously-named Middle-eastern country of Badhnisia looking for information about the Strength Force, one of several new forces recently uncovered besides the Speed Force that give Flash his powers. After an entertaining pursuit by Barry of a purse-snatcher, they arrive at an old church, now apartments, to find the place they are looking for ransacked by costumed criminals, Gemini. The final scene, and only the final scene of the issue is in Gorilla City, more of a teaser than anything, despite the cover image.

This was a good read, I like the writing and art. Flash’s world was too complicated already even before new “forces” were introduced, but I’ll see how things go in this story.

Recommended.

And Then I Read: THE DON ROSA LIBRARY VOL. 7

Cover art by Don Rosa, published by Fantagraphic Books. Image © Disney.

I received this handsome hardcover of Don Rosa’s Disney duck comics (writer and artist) because I lettered one of the stories in it, “The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff,” which I didn’t reread. I’ve read some of the others, but not recently, and I enjoyed all of them. My favorite is nearly the shortest, “A Matter of Some Gravity.” Like some other Rosa stories, it takes one simple “what-if” idea and explores it thoroughly for all kinds of wonderful humor. In this case, Scrooge’s sorceress nemesis Magica de Spell has a new magic wand that can change the force of gravity. First she makes Scrooge and Donald’s center of gravity horizontal, so the walls are “down” for them. Later she makes it even worse when the ceiling is “down.” In both cases, the two ducks are pursuing Magica, who has stolen Scrooge’s highly valued First Dime, and that pursuit takes them outside! Talk about a long drop…

The longer epics have their points. “The Once and Future Duck” takes Scrooge and his cohorts to the time of King Arthur at Stonehenge. “Treasure of the Ten Avatars” is an Indiana Jones type artifact hunt in the jungles of India. “The Last Lord of Eldorado,” my favorite of the treasure tales, sends Scrooge on a search for the legendary Eldorado, City of Gold, in South America, with rival Flintheart Glomgold interfering in every way he can.

There are more, but you get the idea. Hours of fun reading here. Recommended.