John R. Fultz's Blog, page 62

The Summer of THOR

It’s the last day of my summer vacation. Yesterday I completed my epic THOR read-through, following the run of the immortal Big John Buscema on the title. It was quite a ride, and I’m left with an even greater appreciation for Buscema’s stellar talent.

Not only did Buscema live up to Jack Kirby’s impressive THOR legacy, but he also imprinted his own unique style on the character, one that would far outlast his own tenure on the title. Buscema practically redefined the complex and magical world that Kirby invented.

My journey started with THOR #178 and ended with THOR #247 (the last issue in THOR ESSENTIALS Vol. 6). Inkers came and went during this era (the early 70s), but the best inker of Buscema’s work (by far) was Joe Sinnott, who had just come off inking Kirby for years. By the time we get to the latter half of THOR ESSENTIALS Vol. 6, the Buscema/Sinnott team had merged to perfection.

My journey through the world of Buscema’s Thunder God doesn’t actually end here. It will resume in late October, when THOR ESSENTIALS Vol. 7 is released. That volume sees the departure of Sinnott and the arrival of new inker Tony DeZuniga, who would form an even tighter synergy of pencils/inks. The Buscema/DeZuniga team did some of the most legendary issues of SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN, but they also did a long run on THOR. I’ve read a few issues from this mid-70s run, but I’m looking forward to reading the entire thing.

Another run I look forward to reading in THOR ESSENTIALS Vol. 7 is when the great Walt Simonson replaced Buscema as penciler from #260 – 271. Simonson would come back to the title a few years later when he would both write and draw the title, changing its direction and creating one of THOR’s most popular eras. Yet this was Simonson’s first stab at the world of Thor and Asgard. The continued presence of DeZuniga on inks ensured a cohesive feel until Buscema returned in #272. (Presumably to be collected in THOR ESSENTIALS Vol. 8.)

At this point, Buscema would do nine more issues of THOR before dedicating himself almost exclusively to CONAN THE BARBARIAN and THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. His run illustrating the Cimmerian’s adventures is a legend all its own. Thankfully, both of those runs are collected in Dark Horse’s CONAN CHRONICLES and SAVAGE SWORD reprints series.

Up Next: KA-ZAR MASTERWORKS, featuring work by Jack Kirby, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, and the mighty Gil Kane. This is gonna be good.

Meanwhile, on the prose side I’ve started reading Guy Gavriel Kay’s UNDER HEAVEN. This is one of those authors who immediately has me asking: “Why haven’t I discovered this man’s work before now?” I’m only a few chapters in, and the book is already crazy good. Count me among the legions of fans who sing Kay’s praises.

The Elves Are Coming…

A new still from THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG features Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly). Each new image and promo reminds us that December is not so far away. The second installment of Peter Jackson’s 3-part Hobbit Tale promises to be even more fantastic than the first. I, for one, can hardly wait…

Four Months until SEVEN SORCERERS

The Shaper’s saga comes to its epic conclusion in 4 months…

(Pre-order your copy now)

Otherworld on SEVEN KINGS

A new review of SEVEN KINGS—here’s what Otherworld Book Review has to say about the Second Book of the Shaper: 

“What John R. Fultz has done with his heroes is basically turn their worlds upside down…I lost count of the times I uttered the words ‘I can’t believe you’ve just done that!’. And it’s not just physical tragedy that can sometimes inflict the suffering on the heroes, it’s the mental pain also that each has to go through, and as you read you feel their pain. You even start to grow to hate some of the heroes you loved in SEVEN PRINCES…John has turned everything upside-down and made you reassess your view on each of the heroes… The BOOKS OF THE SHAPER have set a new standard in ‘Epic’ fantasy on a monolithic scale…”

(Click here for the full review)

The Urbille Comes to Life in FUNGI #21

Front cover of FUNGI #21.

There’s a place called The Urbille that exists in some distant corner of the space/time continuum. It’s a time/place/city where fractured realities collide, where lost souls amble in prisons of rust or dance in clockwork bodies, and where human flesh is a weakness to be discarded and devoured.

I wrote two stories set in The Urbille. They are positively the WEIRDEST stories I’ve ever written, combining elements of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Now they’re being published together in the jumbo-sized 30th Anniversary Edition of FUNGI (#21).

The first Urbille story is called “The Key To Your Heart Is Made of Brass.” The second is “Flesh of the City, Bones of the World.” Both are epic journeys into strangeness, mystery, and horror.

FUNGI #21 is available now from Amazon.com and it’s 420 pages of fantastic weird fiction. In addition to my two Urbille tales, which bookend the issue, it includes tons of other stories and articles.

“The Sword of Thongor” is a new tale of Lin Carter’s barbarian hero by Robert M. Price. Weird fiction master Wilum H. Pugmire contributes a new novelette entitled “A Presence of Things Past.”

Additional contributors include:

The back cover of FUNGI #21.

David Daniel

H.P. Lovecraft

Thomas Ligotti

William F. Nolan

Richard F. Searight

William Hope Hodgson

Ann K. Schwader

Glynn Barrass

James Person, Jr.

Publisher/Editor Pierre Comtois says of the fully illustrated issue: “FUNGI #21 features a stellar lineup of the most incredible talent in the weird fiction field from contemporary hit makers to talented newcomers to yesteryear’s classic authors…including special spotlights on Richard F. Searight and West Coast authors Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan, Charles Beaumont and many others. It also features a new interview and fiction from Twilight Zone writer Earl Hamner, Jr.”

The cover painting is a classic piece from Murray Tinkelman, first seen on the cover of Ballantine Books’ edition of H.P. Lovecraft’s THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM in 1976. Another stellar Tinkelman piece graces the back cover, one Ballantine used as the cover of it’s ’76 edition of Lovecraft’s THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD.

To order a copy of FUNGI #21 click here.

Everything Comes from Nothing

Fascinating discussion where science meets spirit

and cosmic consciousness is the ground state of the universe.

HYPERBOREA: Deepest, Darkest Eden

Primeval worshippers bow before the great idol of Tsathoggua the Toad-God in primeval Hyperborea. (See full wrap-around cover at the end of this article.)

I’ve been waiting to announce this book for months and now I can shout it from the steaming top of Mount Voormithadreth…*

DEEPEST, DARKEST EDEN: New Tales of Hyperborea is a brand-new anthology from Miskatonic River Press, edited by the esteemed Cody Goodfellow. These 17 never-seen-before stories (and two poems) are all set in the ancient world of Hyperborea, as imagined by the great WEIRD TALES author Clark Ashton Smith. Contributors were invited to spin a yarn set in Smith’s prehistoric creation, and naturally I jumped at the chance. Smith is one of my favorite writers.

Most of Smith’s original Hyperborean tales ran in WEIRD TALES in the 1930s. They featured lost cities, haunted jungles, strange sorcery, and terrible demon-gods such as Tsathoggua and Abhoth. His entire cycle of these tales was gathered into a single volume first in 1971′s HYPERBOREA from Ballantine Books, then again in 1996 for THE BOOK OF HYPERBOREA from Necronomicon Press.

The Hyperborean cycle of tales, along with Smith’s ZOTHIQUE cycle, had a tremendous influence on my first story cycle THE REVELATIONS OF ZANG. Clark Ashton Smith wasn’t my only influence (there is also plenty of Howard, Vance, Dunsany, Lovecraft, Leiber, Schweitzer, and Lee to be found in those tales of Artifice and Taizo), but CAS’s stories always inspired me. Still do! His far-out fantasy creations, always laced with and undercurrent of cosmic horror, are told in hypnotic, lyrical prose that simply cannot be reproduced in this day and age.

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The cover to the 1971 collection of Smith’s Hyperborean cycle is based on the story “The Seven Geases.” (WEIRD TALES, 1934)

Smith’s Hyperborea wasn’t wholly his own creation, but his interpretation of an ancient Greek legend. ”In Greek mythology the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace…Hyperborea was an unspecified region in the northern lands that lay beyond the north wind. [It] was perfect, with the sun shining twenty-four hours a day.” (Wikipedia.org)

Smith took this ancient legend and brought it to life in all the brilliant, shimmering colors of his fantastic prose. And he introduced the idea that a terrible force of evil was slowly devouring the land with ice and cold, moving inexorably southward from the northern regions.

In “The Coming of the White Worm” Smith reveals that the icy doom is being caused by the alien entity Rlim Shaikorth, a vast white worm that the Warlock Evagh tries to stop. It is a true classic of the sword-and-sorcery genre that wasn’t published until 1941, and was a sequel of sorts to his two other “icy doom” stories “The Ice Demon” (1933) and “The White Sybil” (1934). My contribution to DEEPEST, DARKEST EDEN is a story called “Daughter of the Elk Goddess,” and it was partly inspired by my re-reading of “The Ice Demon” and “The Seven Geases.”

Smith could deliver sparkling fantasy adventure in the style of Robert E. Howard, but he avoided “happy endings,” usually preferring to have his “heroes” meet with horrible deaths at the end of their stories. This placed him closer to H. P. Lovecraft on the fiction scale, and indeed he stands right between Howard and Lovecraft when people talk about the “Big Three” WEIRD TALES writers.

The Hyperborean tales are also known for their sense of grotesque irony and dark humor. I’m sure we’ll see some of that in these New Tales of Hyperborea. This is going to be one of the year’s best anthologies, so be sure you don’t miss it.

Map of Hyperborea from the ’71 collection.

Here is the complete table of contents in order:

Nick Mamatas – “Hostage”

Joe Pulver – “To Walk Night…Alone”

Darrell Schweitzer – “In Old Commoriom”

Ann K. Schwader - ”Yhoundeh Fades” (poem)

Cody Goodfellow - ”Coil Of The Ouroboros”

John R. Fultz - ”Daughter Of The Elk Goddess”

Brian R. Sammons - ”The Darkness Below”

Dieter Meier - ”The Conquest Of Rhizopium”

Lisa Morton - ”Zolamin And The Mad God”

Brian Stableford - ”The Lost Archetype”

Ran Cartwright - ”One Last Task For Athammaus”

Don Webb - ”The Beauties Of Polarion”

Robert M. Price - ”The Debt Owed Abhoth”

Marc Laidlaw - ”The Frigid Ilk Of Sarn Kathool”

Charles Schneider - ”The Return Of The Crystal”

John Shirley - ”Rodney LaSalle Has A Job Waiting

in Commoriom“

Zak Jarvis - ”The Winter Of Atiradarinsept “

Jesse Bullington - ”The Door From Earth”

Ann K. Schwader - ”Weird Of The White Sybil” (poem)

DEEPEST, DARKEST EDEN: New Tales of Hyperborea should be available in late August or early September. I’ll be sure to announce it right here as soon as it arrives.

Not only am I honored to be among such splendid company and working with such legendary material, but I simply can’t wait to read the rest of  these stories. And what an amazing cover!

_____________________

* = Mount Voormithadreth is a four-coned extinct volcano in Hyperborea. It is the tallest peak in the Eiglophian mountains and the dwelling place of various horrors including the sub-human Voormi savages, Tsathoggua the Toad-God, and Atlach-Nacha the Spider-God (to name a few).

_____________________

Click to see the full-sized wrap-around cover in all its primordial glory!

SEVEN PRINCES Up for Two Gemmell Awards

The LEGEND Award

The MORNINGSTAR Award

I need your vote!

SEVEN PRINCES is on the “long list” for two David Gemmell awards:  

The LEGEND Award for Best Fantasy Release of the Year

-AND-

The MORNINGSTAR Award for Best Fantasy Debut

Please click the links above and vote for SEVEN PRINCES in both categories.

For more info on the David Gemmell Awards, you can visit www.GemmellAward.com

THANKS!!!!

SEVEN SORCERERS: Now available for pre-orders

Only five months until the BOOKS OF THE SHAPER Trilogy comes to its world-shattering climax in SEVEN SORCERERS.

The book is set for release on December 10, but Amazon is taking PRE-ORDERS right now.

As I’ve mentioned before, this is my favorite cover of the series. That is the Shaper himself in the foreground. SEVEN SORCERERS is also my favorite volume of the series. Seven years of story-time separated Books 1 and 2. Only seven DAYS of story-time separate Books 2 and 3.

The invasion of Zyung the Almighty and his Manslayer hordes is only days away. It’s up to Iardu the Shaper and Sharadza Vodsdaughter to revive, awaken, and assemble a group of sorcerers with enough to power withstand Zyung’s Legion of High Seraphim—a thousand fanatical wizards.

Vireon the Slayer and Tyro the Sword King lead Men and Giants to defend the free world. So begins the great slaughter of the age…

And that’s only a taste of what’s going on in this book. I haven’t even mentioned Khama the Feathered Serpent, Dahrima the Axe, the Twin Kings of Uurz, D’zan the Sun Bringer, the King On The Cliffs, Sungui the Venomous, or the return of Ianthe the Claw. Other secrets I’ll not mention by name…like the spells in a sorcerer’s book, they must be read to be realized.

Critics talked about the “epic” nature of SEVEN PRINCES. The stakes have only gotten higher, the battles larger, and the sorcery more fantastic in this third and final Book of the Shaper.

 

 

THE FUTURE OF COMICS: Six Non-Superhero Comic Books Sure To Rock Your World

Click any image to see a larger version

A lot of comics news has been breaking lately as the industry gears up for its yearly pilgrimage to the San Diego Comicon, the mother of all comics conventions (at least in terms of sheer size and high profile). Some of the best news involves a “rebirth” of DC’s VERTIGO imprint and a new slate of promising titles from IMAGE Comics.

Comics trends usually move in cycles. If what I’m seeing lately is any indication, we’re about to see a new age of non-superhero, creator-owned comics rise to make history. I still dig superhero comics (when they’re well done), but the comics that have always thrilled me the most, inspired me to the point of obsession, and drew me back to re-read them the most over the years are usually non-superhero books. Or, they’re books that have such a strange and skewed angle on their heroes that they break the mainstream mold of “hero comics.”

Not long ago VERTIGO founder Karen Berger left the company, turning over the Executive Editor reins to longtime editor Shelly Bond, who has been responsible for some amazing comics during her 20 years with the imprint: SHADE THE CHANGING MAN, THE INVISIBLES, HEAVY LIQUID, HELLBLAZER, HOUSE OF MYSTERY, FABLES, and many more.  (NOTE: Shelly was also the model for “U-Go Girl” in Mike Allred’s X-STATIX comic for Marvel.)

Now that Shelly Bond is in charge, VERTIGO seems to be revamping, redefining, and revitalizing itself with a slate of promising new (ongoing) titles. Here three of them that are sure to be can’t-miss books:

HINTERKIND – An epic fantasy adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world, HINTERKIND is written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Francesco Trifogli, and debuts this October. Decades after “The Blight” all but wiped out the human race, Mother Nature is taking back what’s hers and she’s not alone … all the creatures of myth and legend have returned and they’re not happy.

My thoughts: One look at the cover image and you can tell this is going to be a big, rollicking fantasy of the kind that VERTIGO does so well. The combination of the post-apocalyptic and epic fantasy genres is intriguing, and the art of Francesco Trifogli is a huge draw.

THE DISCIPLINE – Coming this December from writer Peter Milligan and artist Leo Fernandez, THE DISCIPLINE is a dark, erotic thriller about a privileged young woman named Melissa who is thrust into a centuries old battle between good and evil. She begins an affair with a mysterious man named Orlando who opens her eyes to a sexually sinister world she never knew existed.

My thoughts: Peter Milligan. ‘Nuff said. I first fell under his spell when I picked up issue #1 of his SHADE THE CHANGING MAN comic—with art by the young Chris Bachalo. I still have every single issue of this comic, which is one of my all-time favorite series. But Milligan has blown me away several other times during his long and storied career. Leo Fernandez caught my eye with his PUNISHER run at Marvel, and his noirish style sounds perfect for this concept.

SUICIDERS – Also in December is the great Lee Bermejo’s one-man-show SUICIDERS. Bermejo will both write and draw this series set in Los Angeles after “The Big One.” “Suiciders” is the wildly popular reality sport that contestants are literally dying to be a part of … and to be the best, you have to murder the best.

My thoughts: After reading Brian Azzarello’s graphic novel JOKER, with art by Bermejo, I was amazed at the artist’s versatility. Until then, I had thought of him only as “painter”–if he did comics they were painted comics, and therefore he would never do an ongoing series—too time consuming. However, JOKER proved that he had the chops to go the pencil-and-inks route, with gorgeous results. The concept behind this sci-fi story is basically “two futuristic boxers—one on top of the world, the other trying to fight (and kill) his way there. Sounds like a real knuckle-duster. I am so there.

For a complete list of VERTIGO’s new titles you can go here.

IMAGE Comics announced several new titles this week at its Image Expo event. Three of them, for various reasons, have me champing at the bit to read them. Here they are:

BLACK SCIENCE – Writer Rick Remender announced BLACK SCIENCE with artist Matteo Scalera, coming in November. The series is a “sequel” of sorts to Remender and Tony Moore’s FEAR AGENT, and was “inspired by the writer’s love of Frank Frazetta paintings and Al Williamson illustrations.” Scientist Grant McKay has finally done the impossible—deciphered Black Science and punched through the barriers of reality to ultimate chaos. “Now Grant and his team are lost, living ghosts shipwrecked on an infinite ocean of alien worlds, barreling through the dark realms, long forgotten, ancient and unimaginable.”

My thoughts: Wow—this sounds amazing. I was a big fan of Remender’s FEAR AGENT, but this sounds even better. First of all, Frank Frazetta is my favorite artist of all time (as well documented on this blog), and Al Williamson was one of the greatest science fiction illustrators in history. This is going to be pure, all-out sci-fi adventure at its best (just like FEAR AGENT). Also, with digital paints by Dean White (UNCANNY X-FORCE) it’s going to be gorgeous to look at. Let the trip begin!

VELVET – Ed Brubaker announced this new series with artist extraordinaire Steve Epting. It’s an “espionage-flavored” book similar to their work on CAPTAIN AMERICA, yet more “twisted.” Velvet Templeton has to leave a desk and go back into the field as a secret agent. Brubaker says the book will have a James Bond/Mission: Impossible vibe “mashed into a meta textual cold war scenario.”

My thoughts: Brubaker is the MAN. What can I say that hasn’t already been said about spectactular books like CRIMINAL, INCOGNITO, FATALE, SLEEPER, not to mention Bru’s many triumphs on Marvel books. Nobody does espionage/crime books as well as Ed Brubaker. And Steve Epting? Good lord, the man is talented. These two have a synergy that approaches sheer comics perfection. Check out any issue of their run on CAPTAIN AMERICA and you’ll see what I mean. My only worry here is that Epting will be leaving Jonathan Hickman’s NEW AVENGERS, where he has been blowing my mind lately on a monthly basis. I hope he stays, but I’m expecting he’ll need to focus on VELVET. As long as Epting keeps giving me monthly doses of his fine artwork, I’ll avoid withdrawal symptoms.

SOUTHERN BASTARDS – Jason Aaron announced this new crime series with artist Jason Latour. launching in early 2014. “People say write what you know…this is what I know,” said Aaron, who is from Alabama. “This is the book I was meant to write in a very sad, dark way.” Latour called the book “The Untouchables versus Boss Hog” or “The Dukes of Hazard by the Coen Brothers on meth.” The book is set in a fictional Alabama county “filled with lots of mean old bastards…”

My thoughts: Finally, the writer of VERTIGO’s superb SCALPED crime-noir series gets back to his roots. Jason Aaron has been doing mostly Marvel hero books (such as THOR) since he finished SCALPED. SOUTHERN BASTARDS sounds like a return to gritty, salt-of-the-earth crime noir fiction—or Aaron’s version of it anyway. Latour’s art speaks for itself, and seems to be the perfect match for the story Aaron wants to tell. SOUTHERN BASTARDS sounds like the perfect remedy for “superhero overdose.”

For info on more new IMAGE books in the works go here.

Well, there they are: Six new comics bound to drive the medium forward and provide some much-needed relief from the hero-glut of mainstream comics.

The next 12 months is going to be a great time for reading comic books.

In between great fantasy novels, of course….