Steven’s Comments (group member since Nov 30, 2019)

Steven’s comments from the Mount TBR 2020 group.

#56 - The Scrambled Yeggs by Richard S. Prather

A Shell Scott mystery, repurposed from an earlier novel called Pattern For Murder as by David Night (a Prather pseudonym.) Scott is hired to figure out who killed a man in a faked hit and run, and proceeds to unravel multiple mysteries in the process. It’s a labyrinthine story, with less of the usual humour than is usually in the Shell Scott novels.

#55 - The Black Monday Murders, Vol. 1: All Hail, God Mammon by Jonathan Hickman and Thom Coker

Imagine if the financial industry was the result of an actual blood pact between greedy, sociopathic humans and the actual god Mammon (or something representing itself as such.) Schools oof black magic are encapsulated as investment banks and Wall Street Firms and stock market crashes exact a blood price. Families *literally* eat their own.

All of this chaos is orchestrated by Hickman in a way that suggests he’s a frustrated games designer and an even more frustrated novelist — I think there’s more text pages here than art pages.

The story is intriguing thus far, if occasionally ridiculous. Plus it does jump into tinfoil hattery with the notion of “what if the Rothschilds and their ilk were in service to a demon?” The story, frankly, would have been served better as a novel.

#54 - Long Time No See by Ed McBain

A blind Viet Nam veteran is murdered after a day of panhandling. Then his wife is also murdered. Things get even more complex when another blind man is also murdered. In the case of the first two, the killer seems to have been searching for something, but what?

Carella is on the case (and stuck with the first victim’s service dog.) Unfortunately this was where McBain was given the chance to run longer, with the result that this rather thin story stretches twice the distance.

Slowpokin’ my way along here...but here goes a big, turgid one!

#53 - Thor Epic Collection Vol. 1: The God of Thunder by Stan Lee, Larry Lieberman, Richard Bernstein, Jack Kirby and others

Though the lead feature in Journey Into Mystery from #83 onwards was semi-exiled Norse Thunder God Thor, the book was treated somewhat as a lower-tier publication. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby launched it, but for more than a year the stories were written and drawn by others (though Lee did plot them all.) It was only when the “Tales Of Asgard” backup started that the sales started to public up, along with the quality of the stories — Lee and Kirby went big, finally, resulting in JIM (retitled Thor was #125) becoming Marvel’s top seller for a while.

This collection, though, is very rough in places, and the first half is a slog to get through. It’s still very earthbound at the end, but there have been interesting moments (and some tedium as a Thor loses his hammer and sixty seconds on turns back into Dr. Don Blake...a gag played half a dozen times.)

The character eventually does improve spectacularly, especially once the focus shifts more to the cosmic. He even cools his ardour towards mortal Jane Foster...but that’s a tale for another time.

Third peak achieved!

#52 - Atomic Marriage by Curtis Sittenfeld

Hollywood development managers Heather, unhappily married, sets out to convince the author of a marriage manual her company is adapting to a romantic comedy that he should allow inclusive casting. He isn’t convinced. When she gets back home she finds her musician husband reading the book. There it ends.

It’s not very long but it never really raised my interest.

Leslie wrote: "You have reached a third of your goal already! Great job!"

Thanks! Slow and steady wins the race, they say. Curiously I’d expected to have read more by now despite the stay at home thing not changing my life much.

#51 - Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers, Vol. 11 by Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Rich Buckler, Don Heck and others

Roy Thomas abruptly wrapped up his time on the series, handing over to Steve Englehart, more or less the new kid in town. Plot threads were flung around with glee, though sometimes incoherently — Quicksilver vanishes during a battle with Sentinels and shows up half dead in the Fantastic Four. The X-Men are devastated by Magneto and we find out then that the Avengers have little clue about the X-Men...yet Scarlet Witch is on the team, and knows Xavier’s lot *and* the mansion they live in.

Throughout it all Hawkeye is a major miserable pain in the ass and disgustingly stalkery over Black Widow and Scarlet Witch. On top of that, the art is inconsistent and sometimes painful to look at.

#50 - Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil, Vol. 11 by Steve Gerber, Bob Brown, Gene Colan, Chris Claremont, Tony Isabella, Gerry Conway, Sal Buscema, etc

Steve Gerber’s tenure comes and goes, Daredevil finally relocates back to New York City, and the Black Widow runs out of money. It’s okay on the whole, at least while Gerber is leading the charge, but tends more to the fantastic than perhaps it should.

#49 - So Long as You Both Shall Live by Ed McBain

One more 87th Precinct novel down. This one starts with Bert Kling marrying his long-time model girlfriend Augusta Blair, only for her yo be kidnapped from their wedding hotel by a crazy creep. What follows is a hazy mix of procedural (with extra Ollie Weeks and z surfeit of blind alleys) and the torment suffered by Augusta, which is handwaved at the end with a Kling and Augusta being put in a taxi and sent home — just the thing for a traumatized woman who’s recently been beaten and nearly raped.

Definitely not the best of the series.

Leslie wrote: "Congrats on reaching the peak of El Toro!"

Thanks!

#48 - Star Trek Archives Vol. 3: The Gary Seven Collection by Howard Weinstein, Michael Jan Friedman, et al

Stories from the DC comics era featuring the return of Gary Seven, first in a story where he tries to stop the use of a proto matter weapon and bring to heel a group of rebels in his own organization, and then in a TOS/TNG crossover featuring the Devidians.

#47 - James Bond: Kill Chain by Andy Diggle, Luca Casalanguida

Bond as blunt instrument, facing off against a revived SMERSH determined to set NATO into internal conflict and put the UK and US at odds with each other. It’s a story that needs more room that it gets, but it does a good job overall.

Leslie wrote: "I only noticed because I was surprised to see you at 41 - 46 is much more what I expected *smile*"

Too many time travel stories!

Leslie wrote: "Something screwy going on with your numbers Steven..."

Thank you! Fixed. I have no idea what was going on there....

#46 - Blood Relatives by Ed McBain

Two young women are walking home from a party, in torrential rain. One is horribly murdered, the other cut badly though she survives to run yo the 87th Precinct. Steve Carella catches the case, but it proves twisty...first he tries known sex offenders, booking one for new offenses but not murder. A line-up proves fruitless...and then the serving fifteen year old points the finger in an unexpected direction. The truth comes out...as ugly, and horrific as can be.

One of the 87th Precinct books that bothers me more than it perhaps should, possibly because of the bleak tone.

#45 - Batman: The Golden Age, Vol. 1 by Bill Finger, Gardner F. Fox, Whitney Ellsworth, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Sheldon Moldoff, George Roussos

Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the Batman, though rather a knockoff of pulp hero The Shadow, landed in comics with what seems to have been blockbuster impact. Though the art was rough and the storytelling raggedy, Batman stayed the course in Detective Comics and was soon granted his own quarterly title, as well as spots in the Worlds Fair comics, and World’s Best/World’s Finest, books shared with Superman and others (World’s Finest would, with #71, become a Superman and Batman team up book, later becoming a Superman team up book.)

The stories here are mostly goofy fun, though Batman does have a body count here. The rogues gallery arrives early on, with the Joker, The Cat, and Hugo Strange all putting in appearances. The writing quickly grows more assured, too, though the art remains rather unrefined and often rather ugly.

Overall, best taken in small doses, I think.

#44 - Bread by Ed McBain

Carella gets stuck with an arson investigation that turns out to be more complex than he figured...especially when the first dead body turns up. #29in the series, practically a straightforward procedural. This also seems to be where McBain started letting the books run a little longer.

#42 - Dalek Empire IV: The Fearless - Part 1
#43 - Dalek Empire IV: The Fearless - Part 2 both by Nicholas Briggs

Set off to the side during Dalek Empire I: Chapter One - Invasion of the Daleks this finds humans trying to fight back by whatever means they can...which includes creating a decoy battalion and manipulating Sarus Kade into fighting a war he never wanted to be part of. The Dalek are as shouty and perverse as always.

#41 - Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil, Vol. 10 by Steve Gerber and various

Gerry Conway moves on, and freshly minted Marvel Comics writer Steve Gerber, soon to create Howard The Duck, takes over the adventures of Daredevil and Black Widow, now living in San Francisco. While Gerber was still a bit rough around the edges early on, he soon found his footing...turning Daredevil into a bit if a psychedelic and cosmically aware book with slightly more complex characterization (though, like his colleagues, Gerber was terrible writing women.)