The Order of the Stones (Science Fiction)

by Pierre Christin  (Author), Jean-Claude Mézières (Artist)

Publisher : Cinebook, Ltd (March 7, 2018)

Softcover, 48 pages

Amazon Listing 

This is volume 20, the penultimate album, of the series Valerian & Laureline: Spatio-Temporal Agents. The Valerian series (for those who don’t know) is one of the longest running series ever in French-Belgium comic history. It started in 1967 and finished its final volume in 2010. This volume is probably not the best place to start as it references and has returning characters from most of the other volumes. Begin at volume 1 and take it from there. This particular story is the middle of a trilogy, so be aware.

Valerian and Laureline used to work for the Spatio-Temporal Service which protects the planets of the Terran Empire and its capital, Galaxity, in the 28th century. An event in 1986 where a disaster did or did not occur has wiped this timeline out of existence, displacing our two heroes in alternate time. They struggle to find what happened to their timeline and find that earth has been consumed by a region called the Great Void. In the previous volume our heroes have traveled to the Great Void and prepare to enter it with of day-dreaming explorers.

The heroes craft lands on a small planetoid, where they crew first encounter a group of massive sentient stones, called the Wolochs. These creatures' intentions are to destroy all possibly threatening civilizations. They are said to have no emotions and have waged war on all organic life in the galaxy, destroying several planets and allying themselves with all sorts of associates - a host of villains from Valerian and Laurline’s past. They discover their best hope is to use an ancient item called the Time Opener. They continue into the Great Void to find more.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

 

In Uncertain Times (Science Fiction)

 

by Pierre Christin (Author), Jean-Claude Mézières (Artist)

Publisher: Cinebook, Ltd (November 7, 2017)

Softcover, 64 pages

Amazon Listing 

This is volume 18 of the series Valerian & Laureline: Spatio-Temporal Agents. The Valerian series (for those who don’t know) is one of the longest running series ever in French-Belgium comic history. It started in 1967 and finished its final volume in 2010. This is not the place to begin reading the series, as it references at least 6 other volumes. However, for those who have read the series before, the art is above and beyond - it was always good, but this volume is better than most - and the story is fascinating.

Valerian and Laureline used to work for the Spatio-Temporal Service which protects the planets of the Terran Empire and its capital, Galaxity, in the 28th century. An event in 1986 where a disaster did or did not occur has wiped this timeline out of existence, stranding our two heroes in alternate time. They struggle to find what happened to their timeline and correct the fault.

In the 21st century a corporation is about to hit upon a discovery which would change mankind, absolute immortality. This attracts the gods of Hypsis who begin interfering with Human history. Tired of their lower status among their peers, the trinity in charge of planet Earth opens communications with megacorporation Vivaxis at the end of the 20th century – an occurrence Valerian and Laureline's allies report to the two ex-agents. Their struggles lead to valuable information on the Galaxity and set our heroes down the path of their final adventure.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

The Land Without Stars (Science Fiction)

 

by Pierre Christin  (Author), Jean-Claude Mezieres (Illustrator)

Publisher : Cinebook, Ltd (July 16, 2012)

Softcover, 48 pages

Amazon Listing

This is the third volume of the French science-fiction series, Valerian & Laureline: Spatio-Temporal Agents. This was originally published in issues 570-592 of the comic magazine Pilote from 1970-1971. The Valerian series (for those who don’t know) is one of the longest running series ever in French-Belgium comic history. It started in 1967 and finished its final volume in 2010. The series became more complex over time, but these early volumes are fresh, free of narrative encumberments. They are more along the lines of science-fantasy than science fiction. It is only later that the plots ramp up. In this case the story is fun and light. French sci-fi strips were something of a rarity when this was published, so you can see the creators having fun flexing their creative muscles.

Valerian and Laureline work for the Spatio-Temporal Service which protects the planets of the Terran Empire and guards against temporal paradoxes caused by rogue time-travelers. The capital of Earth, Galaxity, is the center of the vast Terran Galactic Empire in  the 28th century. Humanity has discovered the means of travelling instantaneously through time and space. Thus are heroes adventures can happen anytime and anywhere.

While assisting human colonists who have settled in a distant star system they discover a rogue planet is on a collision course with the planet. The pair jump to the planet and find it to be lifeless, but their curiosity is piqued by some phosphorescent lakes. Taking a launch from the astroship, they dive into one of the lakes and are astonished when they emerge on the other side – it is a hollow planet. Light is provided by the planet's core and there is a small rocky moon in orbit. Inside they find themselves in the middle of a war run by two cities, each attempting to prove the dominance of their specific sex. Our heroes must solve this problem before fixing the planet’s trajectory.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Clifton: Sir Jason (Action)

 

by Bob De Groot (Author), Turk (Artist)

Publisher: Cinebook, Ltd (September 7, 2018)

Softcover, 48 pages

Amazon Listing

This is a series which was originally published in French in the Tintin magazine. It has been around for close to fifty years, but only a handful of the twenty albums and assorted short stories have been published into English.  The series was created by Raymond Macherot, but by this time it was - the ninth album - the series was being written by Turk and drawn by de Groot. These two handled at least half of the series including this one from 1975. Thus the art style is a little childish, a little silly. And like Tintin, the story is meant for 6th grade readers. I’m sure I would have enjoyed this at a young age.

A British colonel, retired from MI5, though sometimes still active for the British government, Clifton functions as an amateur sleuth who lives in Puddington, near London, supported by housekeeper Miss Partridge, who makes a prize-winning goulash. Clifton drives a red MG TD from the early fifties, which gets mangled in most stories, but is repaired regardless of cost. Clifton's hobbies include Boy Scouting (he's a Boy Scoutmaster Singing Heron), cats, and collecting cigar wraps.

In this story, Clifton is forced to take on and train a new recruit, despite being semi-retired. He soon finds that the man is top on the marks in all the training modules, but when it comes to field work, he becomes paralyzed the moment action starts. Sir Jason comes from a noble house where a certain son is forced into espionage every generation, which is completely against Jason’s wishes. While training, the pair stumble into the usual smuggling operation (ala Tintin). There are attempted murders, chases galore, and a final fist fight. This leads Sir Jason up to make his final decision on whether to remain in the secret service.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

The Goblin # 1 (magazine) (Superhero)

by Bill DuBay & Timothy Moriarty (writers);  Michael Golden, Lee Elias, Abel Laxamana & Luis Bermejo (Artists)

 

Publisher: Warren Publishing (1982)

Magazine, 65 pages

My Comic Shop Listing

This is the last title attempted by Warren Publishing before they bid that final farewell and departed to wherever publishers go when the ink has run dry. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the publisher through its three successful magazines Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella. As well as their Famous Monsters of Filmland series and various other movie tie-in one-shot magazines. Plus their two honorable mention attempts: The Rook and 1984. All good things come to an end, and while they ruled the last half of the sixties and all throughout the 1970s (more or less), by the 1980s the well had run dry and here we are: The Goblin.

This was meant to be Warren’s attempt at breaking into the Superhero genre. Marvel and DC exploded in the 80s and Warren’s last gamble was to join in on the cash grab. Why not? Plenty of others were raking it in with direct market sales. So for their attempt at an outing Warren gave us the titular Goblin, a young black man in the gh-etto with the help of an elderly ghost, transforms into the Goblin to fight crime or in this case an mystic spell which transports WWII army troops and aliens. No origin story is given to the character.

Next is the Tin Man: A robot horde designed by a secret cabal inside of the United States to pretend to be alien invaders, who then threaten both sides of the US-Soviet Cold War conflict. This was meant to save the world from nuclear annihilation. Actually it sounds like a variation on the major plot from the original Watchmen.

Third is the color insert (a novelty for a black and white magazine) for Philo Photon and the Troll Patrol, a science fiction piece heavily riddled with puns and visual humor, but not much drama. It comes across a reject from 2000 AD. A lite version without the ultraviolence to make up for any silliness.

Fourth and fifth are the Micro-Buccaneers and Wormglow. The first is a pirate ship from an alien planet which is the size of …. Something small. The actual size of the ship seems to shift from panel to panel, however their come to earth for plunder and steal a few peanuts. Wormglow is about a wizard who saves the world from another wizard or something. I honestly just rushed through it. The art was great - as it was in all of the stories - but I just couldn’t take another “humorous” story written by someone to show off how “witty” they were.

Most of these were written by legendary writer and animator, Bill DuBay, who created my favorite Warren character The Rook. Unfortunately that style doesn’t come across in these pages. The problem is that these stories don’t know what they want to be. With the exception of Tin Man, all of the characters were written tongue-in-cheek, as if this was meant to be a parody of superheroes, or if this was the swinging 60s had come back and camp was all the rage again. There are too many puns, bad names, and “clever” attempts at humor - but these don’t make a good superhero comic.

Unfortunately, these characters were supposed to be on-going, sustainable one which a reader was supposed to become invested in. But that’s impossible if it's a parody. Like Cerebus, they had to change or die, but they never had the chance to grow. I can tell you that as a young collector at that age, I wanted my comic heroes to seem real and take their jobs seriously. It might have been different had the parody stuck to only one story, but four out of five was simply too much. And honestly, most did not seem like superheroes. They came across as leftover stories from the more successful magazines.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

But I had a lot of fun looking at the old advertisements 

Dotter of her Father's Eyes (Biography)

 

by Mary M. Talbot  (Author), Bryan Talbot (Artist)

Publisher: Dark Horse Books; 1St Edition edition (February 21, 2012)

Hardcover, 96 pages

Amazon Listing

This is a fascinating juxtaposition between memoir and biography as the author tells the story of her tempestuous relationship with her father, a scholar on James Joyce's writing, while simultaneously comparing it to Joyce's own relationship with his daughter, Lucia. 

While there are a few surface similarities, such as having the standard love/hate relationship with daddy dearest, there isn't much between that is the same. The author was encouraged by her father to get a career, while Joyce barely noticed his daughters. Mary Talbot went on to have university success in the groan-inducing field of gender studies, while Lucia Joyce spent most of hers in a mental institution, dying around 1982. Perhaps that is part of the point, the shifting dynamics in women's roles in society, but it isn't really presented as such. 

As it turns out, Lucia's is much more interesting. Well her story took place mostly in Paris during the 1920s, how could it not? However not enough of Lucia's mental condition is explained. Her first commitment is almost shown as being almost arbitrary, and that she was frustrated at not pursuing a career. A deeper look shows she is repeatedly diagnosed with schizophrenia, and she was as interested in a family as any woman of her generation. Only no one could measure up to her father. Still it was an interesting read. 

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society and its Future

 

by The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski (Author)

Publisher: WingSpan Classics (November 20, 2008)

Softcover, 100 pages

Amazon Listing

“Leftists tend to hate anything that has an image of being strong, good and successful. They hate America, they hate Western civilization, they hate white males, they hate rationality. The reasons the leftists give for hating the West clearly do not correspond with their real motives. They SAY they hate the West becuase it is warlike, imperialistic, sexist, ethnocentric, and so forth, but where these same faults appear in socialist countries or in primitive cultures, the leftist finds excuses for them, or at best he GRUDGINGLY admits that they exist; whereas he ENTHUSIASTICALLY points out (and often greatly exaggerates) these faults where they appear in Western civilization. Thus it is clear that these faults are not the leftist’s real motive for hating America and the West because they are strong and successful.”

This is the manifesto of the infamous Unabomber who went on a twenty year bombing spree between 1978 - 1995. He offered to desist from terrorism if various periodicals published this document. They agreed and Kaczynski's, recognizing the style of writing, ratted him out.

Kacynski writes in the third person and under the pseudonym FC (Freedom club) to, presumably, deceived the FBI into believing the manifesto is part of a larger organization and not just one man in a shack pounding away on his manual typewriter.

Ted Kaszcynski, Unabomber

Now that modern industrialized man has, by sheer routine, dealt with the basics of survival - food, water, shelter - he had become a lesser creature, perverted from his natural purpose. To that end he becomes wrapped up in the power process of modern industrial society- which is A) Identify goal, b) Make effort, C) Achieve goal. This process takes up most of our time, which we also supplement with surrogate activities.

The surrogate activities are one which are set up merely for the sake of having a goal to work towards. These give the person a sense of achievement without actually getting something substantive from the exercise of effort. This is often mostly seen in people’s hobbies, people obsessed with video games, or any sort of collection of non-essential goods.

Freedom is thus naturally suppressed by any industrialized system, since said system needs everyone involved to play their part as a cog. The only freedoms left untouched are the ones which don't matter. Religion, speech, entertainment types don't really matter as long as everyone goes to work the next day.

In the struggle between technology and freedom, technology will always win because we quickly become dependent on that new technology. Freedom will always be taken away under the guise of altruistic means. Ie. for child protections, social justice, national security, etc.. Thus it is impossible to balance technology against the individual. And the answer is to stop trying and dismantle (or escape from) said society.

Unabomber as a child. 

This is an individualistic call rather than a plan of action for a movement. He is stating his beliefs in form, but seems to have little delusions that his actions will have much of an effect on the greater society. As for what he wanted, as the author himself points out, societies cannot be planned but evolve naturally like species. As such, he states the only escape from the freedom crushing weight of any industrial country is to retreat into a naturalistic state.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson (History)

by Andro Linklater 

Publisher: Walker Books; 1 edition (September 29, 2009)

Softcover, 400 pages

Amazon Listing 

 “For his part, Wilkinson, who never remained faithful to any other superior, was always Jefferson’s man. He gave him the army’s loyalty, Burr’s conspiracy, Louisiana’s border. Long after he had damned every other statesman to perdition, he attempted to win Jefferson’s constantly withheld friendship. And the crux of his life proved to be the moment when he sacrificed a career of treachery to be steadfast not just to his nation but to his president.” 

Name one Revolutionary War hero who essentially betrayed everything for money whose name wasn't Benedict Arnold? Can't, can you? And why not? I have no idea. It wasn't until recently I came across the name James Wilkinson, General of the United States Army under the first four Presidents, and Agent 13 under pay to the Spanish Crown.

It's an interesting look at another side of American history. The same events occur, but the country looks so much more fragile than before. Wilkinson was a pompous, histrionic, arrogant man, but he knew his business. He first became a paid agent for the Spanish government in order to convince various peoples of Kentucky and various other territories to join allegiance to Spain, who still had sizeable holdings in North America at that time.

General James Wilkinson

The gambit failed and Wilkinson spent the rest of his life defending himself - successfully that is. He went up against three official court-martials and six inquiries, always getting away with it. The Presidents put up with him, because he knew how to handle an army and was, usually, victorious. The press eventually branded him a criminal and he published two books to defend himself - the cost of which are most of his savings.

Essentially this is a profile of an arrogant, but capable man, who lived well above his means, who believed in very little beyond his own glorification. A fascinating look at how fragile our country was at its beginnings and easily it could have gone another way.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

 

Just Tell me When to Cry: A Memoir

by Richard Fleischer

Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub; 1st Carroll & Graf ed edition (July 1, 1993)

Hardcover, 439 pages

Amazon Listing

“Movies are a funny business. For some reason it is almost impossible to tell a serious story about the film industry without everyone laughing. The worse the disaster, the more hilarious it becomes. You can tell of careers being ruined, fortunes being lost, people being injured, or worse, and the reaction is always laughter. The trouble, I suppose, is that while it’s a serious business, it seems too ridiculous to be taken seriously. After all, it’s only moving pictures on a silver screen.”

This is the memoir of director Richard Fleischer whose career spanned over four decades of Hollywood - a massive feat- and yet still his name remains relatively obscure. Sixty two credits to his name and a host of important critically acclaimed films such as: Soylent Green, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Dr. Dolittle (the original), Tora! Tora! Tora!, Fantastic Voyage, Compulsion, Conan the Destroyer, Red Sonja - the last two he doesn’t mention at all. All well-known films. Many of which still stand up, but still the name remained unknown.

I was more familiar with his father, Max Fleisher, the famous animator - who invented the rotoscope where a film and animation could overlap each other. The creator of Betty Boop. The early rival of Walt Disney, whose only feature film Gulliver’s Travels still stands up. And who was brought down by the heads of Paramount who couldn’t see innovation until it bit them in the ass. But enough of that.

This book is a collection of anecdotes about the authors four decade career and his dealings with various Hollywood talent. It isn’t a straight shot of his life, the author decides to pick out the best, juiciest morsels and give them to us. Who was the best to work with, Edward G. Robinson, and the worst, Charles Bronson, and everyone in-between - Kirk Douglass, Robert Mitchum, Charlatan Heston, Rex Harrison, Orson Welles, John Wayne, Howard Hughes, and so on.

The stories are fun and provide a glimpse into old Hollywood - minus the casting couch - and characters lurking behind the scenes. Truly what a weird, unique, and terrible world. My only consternation is that the best bits for all the films mentioned are already recorded in the trivia section on their respective IMDB pages. So you might as well go look at them rather than spend money here. My only other regret is that he doesn’t mention working with Schwarzenegger at all. You’d think that’d be worth one anecdote. Ah well.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Author Richard Fleischer

Three Thousand Days & Nights (Historical Fiction)

by Benjamin Farley (Author)

Publisher: Lydia Inglett; 1St Edition (2012)

Hardcover, 352 pages

Amazon Listing

“It was the 11th of May, 1753. All around the dogwoods had unfolded in full bloom, their petals white and centers yellow, crested with beads of red, but Francois was nowhere in sight. Of course, anything might have happened. Turtle Creek ran especially high. Its cold water cascaded blue and white before converging with the Mononghelia. He had selected a site for his camp, protected from the raw winds of the west, hidden from view, yet with a vista towards Ohio. Numerous circles of blackened rock bore witness to the countless travelers who had passed this way.”

Historical fiction can be a mixed bag. You will either love or hate it, depending mostly on what time period it's set in and how much you know about that era. I find the less you know about a historical setting, the more you will enjoy the fiction crafted about it. Otherwise, you’ll be scanning the pages just looking for inaccuracies and anachronisms. Well this story takes place during the French-Indian War some twenty years before our glorious Revolutionary War. In fact the taxation placed on the 13 Colonies by the British Crown were an attempt to recoup the losses faced during the French-Indian affair.

However much as I know about the results of the French-Indian War, I know very little about its specifics, so I enjoyed the book quite a bit. What little I do know is reflected well in the story. While, as far as I can tell, it is historically accurate, it’s pretty obvious that this is the first book published by the author. While primarily an adventure novel with some sizzling romance toss in, you don’t get much of a chance to see the characters or know them, before it all starts. Too many names pop in and too many extraneous details clog the flow of the story. But otherwise it is a fine novel and a fun look into the past.

  For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.

Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror (History)

by Jeffrey A. Sluka (Editor)

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (October 7, 1999)

Softcover, 264 pages

Amazon Listing

"In 1983, one year after the socialist electoral victory, the assassination of Basque radical nationalists began under the anagram of a new paramilitary organization that called itself GAL, or Antiterrorist Liberation Group. From 1983  to 1985, the new paramilitary squad claimed the assassinations of twenty five Basque people. Most of them were Basque refugees, active or retired members of the radical nationalist guerilla organization, ETA, who were living across the frontier in the French Basque Country".

This is an academic book, so it is written in such a way as to bore and exclude the average reader, so be warned. By academic, I mean they assume a certain level of knowledge is already possessed on the subject by the reader and that the reader is also willing to read above a twelfth grade level - which most people aren’t. So you’ve been warned twice.

While I found the individual chapters of the book to be interesting, the reader has to wade through forty some pages of an indulgent and idiotic introduction. Where the editor discusses the use of state-terror, but somehow never mentions its use in communist countries. Instead the author sucks the cock of Noam Chomsky and places all of the blame on Western Civilization in general and the USA in specific.

 

The introduction then discusses the use of anthropologist as activist to achieve "social justice" and point out wrongs in the world, stating that the world of anthropology needs to be "decolonized" - without explaining what that means. Then it justifies screwing the results to affect social change which invalidates most of the work everyone has done in the next several chapters. In my view, skip the introduction and dive into the meat of the matter.

The rest of the book however focuses on the meat of the matter without the interference of the editor. Each chapter discusses a different use of state terror in the Basque territories of post-Franco Spain; the Punjab and Kashmir regions of India; Argentina; Guatemala; Northern Ireland; The East Timor region within Indonesia; and against the Muslim separatist movements in the Philippians.

The variety of tactics are fascinating. Some operate openly, others “disappear” dissenters in the middle of the night. Many use “unofficial” paramilitary groups to do their dirty work, so that the respective governments can maintain plausible deniability while destroying their political enemies. The firsthand accounts and background material is first rate here, as is the research documentation. These chapters are what makes the book worthwhile. The introduction and conclusion can easily be excised.

 For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.