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Lone Sloane: Delirius

April 21, 2015, 2:17 pm
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Lone Sloane: Delirius
episode 1


This 1973 graphic novel compiles, in English, Druillet's Lone Sloane: Delirius comic, which first appeared in serial form in the French magazine Pilote from 1970 - 1971. 

[Copies are rare, and those in very good condition are expensive.]

The plot, as always, is not really very coherent, but the artwork more than makes up for it.










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Book Review: The Karma Corps

April 24, 2015, 4:08 pm
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Book Review: 'The Karma Corps' by Neil Barrett, Jr.


2 / 5 Stars

‘The Karma Corps’ (239 pp) is DAW Book No. 604, and was published in November, 1984. The striking cover illustration was done by Les Edwards.

‘Karma’ was the 10th sf novel published by Neil Barrett, Jr. (1929 – 2014). It’s set on a nameless planet where, two centuries ago, a colony ship crash-landed. Despite reverting to a medieval level of technology, the survivors have created a small civilization, with its own stone-walled Citadel.

Lars Haggart is the Captain of the eponymous Corps; like the 221 soldiers under his command, Lars has no real knowledge of his past, for he is the reincarnation of a deceased member of the colony. What makes Lars and his soldiers special is their ability to instantaneously teleport across small distances, a skill shared by the some of the Demons, a race of werebeasts who also inhabit the planet.

As the novel opens, the Churchers, the theocracy which governs society, are in desperate straits in their perpetual struggle to hold back the demon hordes, who – for reasons unknown- are seeking to expunge the Terrans from the planet.

Using elaborate fortifications and field tactics to counter the teleportation abilities of the the demon armies has bought the Church some time, but that time is running out. The Church hierarchy is looking to Lars and his Corps to use their unique powers to bring about a decisive victory against the enemy.

But as Lars is to discover, the demons seem to have an uncanny ability to know in advance where he and his soldiers are going to teleport. And far from being the ultimate weapon, the Corps may in fact be a liability. Lars discovers that he will have to act on his own to discover the truth about the reincarnation process, and the strange territories that are home to the disembodied souls from which the Corps is drawn. But asking those types of questions can trigger the wrath of the Churchers….and a further fragmentation of a society teetering on the brink of extinction………

‘Corps’ certainly has an interesting, offbeat premise, but I found the book to be a disappointment. Barrett’s narrative is plainly designed to keep the reader turning the pages in order to learn the Ultimate Revelation behind the existence of the demons, the Corps, and the causes of the war between the two races; this narrative tactic of guiding the reader to the ‘solution’ behind the ‘planetary mystery’ is one he employed in his 1974 sf novel Stress Pattern.

Unfortunately, too much of the narrative in ‘Corps’ revolves around the political and personal squabbles and rivalries between Lars (who is not particularly bright) and the Churchers. These conflicts are framed as confrontations between emerging humanism and self-awareness on the part of the Corps, versus the orthodoxy and blind obedience fomented by the Churchers. Practically every page is taken up with extended conversations documenting these conflicts, while the main plot thread – the threat to existence posed by the demons - makes sporadic appearances.

When the Final Revelation came in the latter chapters, I found it underwhelming and rather perfunctory, as if the author had run out of energy and was simply looking to wrap things up a conveniently as possible.

Summing up, I have to label ‘The Karma Corps’ a dud. Reader are urged to instead seek out Neil Barrett, Jr’s next novel after ‘Corps’, Through Darkest America (1987), which is much superior.
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Cody Starbuck 1974

April 27, 2015, 6:21 pm
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Cody Starbuck
by Howard Chaykin
Star*Reach Comics, Issue No. 1,1974


April, 1974. If your car radio, or your portable radio, or your clock radio, or the radio in your stereo was on, or if you were watching Soul Train, then you were hearing the song 'MFSB' (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother) by the band TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia). 

TSOP was comprised of the musicians in the Gamble and Huff studio in Philadelphia; the backing vocalists were the members of The Three Degrees.





Also in April of '74, the very first issue of a black and white comic book devoted to sf and fantasy is released. 'Star*Reach' was independently published by Mike Friedrich; eighteen issues were released from 1974 - 1979. 

It was a path-breaking endeavor on the part of Friedrich; he sought work from up-and-coming talent, offering them a forum to publish material without editorial constraints. The Star*Reach books thus occupied a sort of middle ground between the territory of the underground comix, and the mainstream publishers like DC and Marvel.



Since in the mid-70s there was no mechanism by which independent comic books could be included in the existing newsstand-based, 'rack jobber' distribution networks, Friedrich sold the books through the growing network of small 'direct sales' comic shops, who acquired their inventory from specialized distributors like Phil Seuling's Sea Gate Distributors.

This first issue of Star*Reach featured the debut of Howard Chaykin's 'Cody Starbuck' character, who would appear on a sporadic basis in later issues of Star*Reach, and then, in the 1980s, in Heavy Metal magazine.



Despite the underwhelming quality of the reproductions of Chaykin's artwork printed in black and white and graytone on mid-70s comic book paper stock, 'Starbuck' retains its imaginative visual qualities, including the unconventional arrangement and placing of panels, and the use of varied background textures and inking techniques to give the artwork a cutting-edge sensibility simply not present in mainstream comics until the advent of Jim Starlin.

Chaykin is also inventive in having a lead character who is hardly the square-jawed, morally upstanding hero of traditional sf comics. Instead, Cody Starbuck is a space pirate, cynical, self-serving, and not inclined to turn the other cheek when confronted. 



Taken as a whole, this inaugural episode of the Cody Starbuck franchise reflects an approach to visuals and plotting that belonged more in the camp of 70s Western European sf comics,  an approach that prefigured the works soon to be showcased in the French magazine Metal Hurlant. 

Summing up.....when I compare the sixteen pages of 'Cody Starbuck', which now are 41 years old (!) I find them more interesting and rewarding than much of what makes up contemporary sf comics: Manhattan Project, Saga, and Black Magic, among others. There is a visual flair, and a sense of fun, about 'Starbuck' that is entirely absent from these modern-day productions..........

















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Crisalida

April 30, 2015, 5:43 pm
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Crisalida
by Maroto
from the April, 1983 issue of Heavy Metal magazine

The cheesecake element obviously rules here, but still, an entertaining little strip for all that........

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May is British hooligans month

May 2, 2015, 9:29 am
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That's right ! For May, the PorPor Books Blog will be taking a brief vacation from covering the sf and fantasy genres. Instead, we'll be focusing on books - fiction and nonfiction- and comics devoted to that era in the 70s and 80s in UK history when hooligans were a pop culture phenomenon. 

Rioting Tottenham Hotspur fans tear down a section of iron railings in a bid to reach the Chelsea supporters before a Division One game at London’s Stamford Bridge ground, November 18, 1978

From the early 70s, with skinheads and droogs, moving on to the Bovver Boys, and then the arrival of the 80s and the 'Terrace Casuals' and the rise of the Firms, the mayhem and depravity will be in full force.


So.....get your boiled peas, your Chelsea jersey, your batteries, your cycle chain, and join the lads for the punch-up !


A great way to get in the mood for a bit of 'aggro' is to read the notorious 'Kids Rule OK' story in the September 18th, 1976 issue of the British comic book Action.

Action was an attempt by publisher IPC to produce a weekly comic book that was free of Comics Code-type restrictions on content. By featuring healthy doses of gore and violence, Action became an instant hit upon the release of the first issue in February 1976, but ultimately expired in October, after an intense lobbying campaign by the media, and a watchdog organization called the 'National Viewers' and Listeners' Association' who saw Action as contributing to a nationwide epidemic of juvenile delinquency and violence.

The 'Kids Rule OK' episodes were set in a near-future UK in which all adults have been eliminated by a plague, leaving the youngsters to their own devices. These resourceful youth weren't overly reliant on firearms to deal out the ultra-violence; as this panel shows, they were quite willing and able to not only use American implements, but American figures of speech as well !


The entire run of 'Kids Rule OK' comics is available here. Enjoy !
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Book Review: Rule of Night

May 4, 2015, 4:19 pm
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Book Review: 'Rule of Night' by Trevor Hoyle


5 / 5 Stars

‘Rule of Night’ first was published in paperback in the UK in 1975. This Pomona Books reissue (220 pp) was published in 2003, and features an Afterward by the author.

‘Rule’ takes place in the northern England city of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, ca. 1974. Nowadays Rochdale is notorious for having one of the largest populations of ‘asylum-seekers’ in the U.K., but in the early 70s, it was primarily white and working class, with Pakistani immigrants making up the biggest nonwhite ethnic group.

By the early 70s, the cotton mills that had made Rochdale prosperous in the 19th century had been shut down, and the city was fast decaying into another decrepit factory town.

The protagonist of ‘Rule’ is one Kenny Seddon, sixteen, no longer in school (in the UK you can drop out of school legally at 16), drifting from job to job, and of a sullen and truculent disposition. Along with his younger sister, mother, and father, Kenny lives in an apartment in the 'Ashfield Valley Estate', a public housing complex designed in a dehumanizing, Modernist style reminiscent of the French architect Le Corbusier. 


Kenny is straight out of the 1973 Elton John song ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting’):

I'm a juvenile product of the working class
Whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass

For Kenny and his mates - Andy, Skush, Crabby, and Fester – life is all about slogging through low-wage jobs during the week, and drinking it all away in the pubs on the weekends. Perhaps with a fight against Greasers, or Droogs, thrown in, too. 

Or petty crime. 

Or rolling a Paki.

Kenny is a ‘bovver boy’, a sub-species of skinhead. When out on the town, Kenny wears his hair cut short, jeans hemmed above the ankles, suspenders, and red work boots. This type of style is so utterly different from that of English society at large in 1974, that ‘regular’ people instinctively regard the bovver boy with alarm and apprehension. 

bovver boys 

Kenny and his friends listen to American Soul records, and Slade.

(The Punk Movement is still nearly two years in the future: in 1974, John Lydon is teaching woodwork to kids at Finsbury Park; Joe Strummer is busking on the streets of London; and the JoBoxers are in Secondary School [i.e., roughly equivalent to junior high school in the US]). 

Slade, mid-70s 

A break in the routine for Kenny and his mates is attending Spotland Stadium, home of The Dales, the local football team. If there is an opportunity for a bit of the Aggro, that’s all for the better:

We hate Nottingham Forest
We hate Liverpool too
We hate Man United
But Rochdale we love you !

‘Rule of Night’ relates the adventures of Kenny Seddon over a six-month interval, starting with the drizzle and chill of late Fall, through the snow and darkness of Winter, and the coming of early Spring.

Author Hoyle relates these adventures - many of which are calculated acts of violence -  in a simple, declarative prose style that makes ‘Rule’ a fast, and very engaging, read. Little of the narrative is devoted to deep analysis of Alienated Youth, Social Distortion, or the Plight of the Working Class. Hoyle does provide brief interludes in which the reader is given glimpses into the mind of Kenny Seddon and his dawning awareness that he is destined to be yet another semi-alcoholic member of the Lumpen Proletariat, and nothing more. But these introspective moments are not over-used and support, rather than distract, the narrative.

American readers are going to need to have Google at hand to translate some of the British idioms, slang, and figures of speech; but these of course lend authenticity to the novel and many are amusing as well as informative – for example, juvenile prison inmates from Liverspool use a language (‘Scouse’) that is unintelligible to other Brits…..but one is to be very careful of offending any inmate from Liverpool…..such offence can lead, in turn, to an unpleasant Prison Shower encounter…….. 

‘Rule of Night’ is a notable work of realistic fiction, and joins its American counterparts, such as Richard Price’s The Wanderers, Kem Nunn’s Tapping the Source, Warren Miller’s Cool World, and Hubert Selby Jr.’s Last Exit to Brooklyn, as a classic representative of the genre. 

For anyone fond of realistic fiction, or wanting to understand working-class life in the UK of the 70s, getting a copy of 'Rule of Night' is essential.
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Star Slammers

May 7, 2015, 7:19 pm
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Star Slammers
by Walter Simonson
Marvel graphic Novel No. 6, 1983



Walter Simonson began working on his own sci-fi comic as a college student in the early 70s, producing a self-assembled, black-and-white version of 'Star Slammers' in 1974. Nine years later, Simonson arranged with Marvel to publish a color version of the book, as Marvel Graphic Novel No. 6.


Succeeding issues of the series appeared in the mid-to-late 1990s under Malibu Comics and Dark Horse. 

In 2014, indie publisher IDW released all of the Star Slammers comics as 'remastered' issues, and in 2015, plans to publish a trade paperback compiling all of this material.

So.....how is the inaugural graphic novel, looking on it more than 30 years after it first appeared ?


As the novel opens, three Star Slammers - Jalaia, Ethon, and Sphere - are finishing up an assignment on warring planet; it transpires that the Slammers are the toughest, most effective mercenaries in the galaxy.

The inhabitants of the planet Orion see themselves as 'hunters', destined to hunt other humans for sport, part of a grand design by Providence to remove the more savage and violent races from known space.


Senator Krellik of Orion is an ardent Hunter, and a psychopath, to boot. A long-ago hunting expedition on Homeworld, the remote home planet of the Slammers, has left him with a desire for vengeance - a fixation calling for the deaths of not just a few Slammers, but their entire race. 


As Ethon, Jalaia, and Sphere travel back to Homeworld, they discover that they have been betrayed.....and that Homeworld is the target of a massive attack by the Orion fleet. The only hope for the Slammers is to learn how to leverage their innate telepathic abilities to form the 'Silvermind', a type of instantaneous gestalt consciousness among all the Slammers.


Can Ethon, Jalaia, and Sphere make it back to Homeworld to warn its inhabitants of the approaching Orion fleet ? And even if they can, will the Slammers be able to summon the Silvermind in time to unite their forces against overwhelming odds ?


Reading 'Star Slammers' brought a mixed reaction. Simonson's artwork for the book certainly has the distinctive style that he brought to his work on franchise properties for DC and Marvel. Many of the pages of 'Slammers' reflect his ability to simultaneously render myriad action sequences within a network of large and small panels, giving these action sequences a unique sort of visual energy.


Where 'Slammers' is a bit less impressive is in its writing. Although the Marvel Graphic Novel format was a maximum of only 64 pages, Simonson tries to fit too many sub-plots and flashback sequences into his storyline, and, when combined with the lack of any sort of external narration, it gives the overall narrative an awkward, disjointed quality. I found I had to read 'Slammers' twice in order to fully understand what, exactly, was going on.

Summing up, if you're a die-hard Simonson fan, then getting a copy of this graphic novel - copies of which are reasonably priced - is worthwhile. However, fans of sf comics in general are probably not going to find 'Star Slammers' to be a must-have.
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The Hacker Files issue 4

May 10, 2015, 8:37 am
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The Hacker Files
by Lewis Shiner (story) and Tom Sutton (art)
issue 4
DC Comics, November 1992

In this, the fourth and concluding installment of the 'Soft War' four-issue arc, Jack Marshall investigates the Pentagon's PC network; brings Fear to the Military Industrial Complex; and learns that being a hero sometimes brings with it a descent into depression.........
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Heavy Metal magazine May 1985

May 12, 2015, 6:35 pm
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'Heavy Metal' magazine May 1985



May, 1985. In heavy rotation on FM radio, and on MTV, is 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' by Simple Minds.

The latest issue of Heavy Metal magazine features a front cover by Liberatore, and a back cover by Michael Uman.

The Dossier section has a number of noteworthy columns. 

Leading off is a (disappointingly brief) interview with William Gibson, with a photograph of the author - at that time fast becoming a sf rock star - in which he looks very much like the British musician Thomas Dolby.....Gibson makes a remarkably accurate prediction in the final sentence of the interview.


 


Thomas Dolby




 Lou Stathis switches from 'rok' criticism to coverage of underground comix. But he stays as pretentious as ever.



The Video column features some films that are quite obscure.... I have never heard of any of these............'Fleshburn' ?! 'Night of the Bloody Apes' ?!


The remaining Dossier contents runs the gamut of sf and comic reviews, to an encounter with a Dominatrix (!) that in all likelihood was fabricated. But you be the judge.








Among the comic / graphic art content in this May issue of Heavy Metal : the next installment in Charles Burns's 'El Borbah: Bone Voyage' is posted below.....






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Book Review: Hoolies

May 14, 2015, 10:50 am
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Book Review: 'Hoolies' by Gary Bushell


4 / 5 Stars

‘Hoolies’ (289 pp) was published in 2010 by John Blake Publishing Ltd (UK).

Bushell (b. 1955) first began writing in the 1970s, for the ‘Socialist Worker’ newspaper, and the rock magazine ‘Sounds’, before branching out into multiple roles as a member of the punk band ‘Gonads’, a manager for the band ‘Cockney Rejects’, and stints as a late-night TV show host, newspaper columnist, and author of crime novels. A full listing of his endeavors can be accessed at his website.

‘Hoolies’ is misleadingly subtitled ‘True Stories of Britain’s Biggest Street Battles’. Only a fraction of the book’s content deals with actual battles involving ‘hooligans’; the bulk of ‘Hoolies’ is in fact a history of music, and pop culture, in Britain from the mid-70s to the early-90s.

The book’s chapters are organized in a loosely chronological order, and recount the rise of the ‘Teds’ in the 1950s, moving on to the Mods in the 60s, the Punks in the 70s, and New Romantics in the 80s. 

Like most rock critics of his era (i.e., the late 70s – early 80s), Bushell wrote not to inform readers about music, but rather, to impress them with his matchless erudition regarding obscure bands, obscure sub-sub-sub categories of music, and – last but not least – his Profound Observations On Society. 

I suspect most American readers of ‘Hoolies’ are going to be nonplussed by Bushell’s meticulous recitations of bands, music halls, fashion, and personalities…..all related in a sort of faux-UK Hipster argot that can make the book a real chore to wade through at times. 

Some idea of Bushell’s writing style is communicated in this (my own) pastiche:

Later that August, I caught the Snotty Youth’s first on-stage gig when they appeared at the Ridgely Pub, a dire hole in the East End. Showing up for support were members of the Hamish Street suedeheads, led by ‘Pilchard’ Watt-Evens, Micky G., Daft Donald, Jeff Symes, and the ever-beloved ‘Shrimps’ Comberly. Despite audio troubles, a truly hellish khazi, and continuous streams of remarks from some truculent Skinheads looking to start a ruck, the abrasive, withering music of the Youth left even the most dedicated, oh-so-bored posers impressed.

US readers also will have to endure Bushell's tendency throughout the text to continuously insert self - references to his status as a fighter against racism, fascism, an ardent supporter of the working class against rapacious capitalism, etc., etc. Whether Bushell's posturings reflect a deeply-held moral solidarity with the Oppressed Proletariat, or were simply contrived efforts at Radical Chic, will be up to the reader to determine.

Where ‘Hoolies’ will appeal to U.S. readers is in its 'insider', I-was-there coverage of the music movements of the 70s and 80. Where else will you learn that, if you went to the Blitz Club in Covent Garden in 1979, you would see among the patrons such future MTV stalwarts as: Helen Folasade Adu, aka Sade; the late Steve Strange of the group 'Visage'; Stuart Leslie Goddard, aka Adam Ant; Midge Ure of 'Ultravox'; 'Boy' George O’Dowd; and the members of (what would become) Spandau Ballet ?


‘Hoolies’ is also of value for providing information on a host of bands that are (likely) new and unexplored to U.S. readers. 

For example, I’d never heard of the punk band Sham69, but after listening to their great song ‘Hurry Up Harry’, I have begun searching out their other works. Throughout the pages of ‘Hoolies’, Bushell describes a whole ecology of underground bands from the late 70s to early 90s: Secret Affair, Purple Hearts, the Killermeters, Bad Manners, Selector, the Blood, Crass, Peter Hooton's 'Farm'….Not all are worth listening too, but one can spend hours looking up these bands on the web. 


The tales of street fighting, when they do make their rare appearances, are entertaining; possibly the best in the book is the ‘Battle of Waterloo’ brawl that took place in 1992 at the eponymous rail station. 

A coalition of communists and Marxists (or, as Bushell piously refers to them, ‘anti-fascists’), hoping to force the cancellation of a major skinhead concert, attacked and badly beat a smaller force of skinheads, after which the communists loitered around the station grounds in poses of triumph. 

But what the commies didn’t know was that the small force of bruised skinheads was but a sacrificial lure.....and trainloads of football hooligans would soon be arriving.........!


The penultimate chapter in 'Hoolies', titled 'Blowing in the Wind: Youth Cult Politics' is probably the best in the book. In this chapter, an older and wiser Bushell looks back on the youthful idealism that permeated many of the movements in fashion, music, and politics of the 70s and 80s, and comes to conclusions heavily tinged with cynicism.

Summing up, 'Hoolies', despite giving only marginal attention to street battles per se, is a worthwhile overview of a very creative and entertaining era in British popular culture. If you are over 40, and remember the 70s and 80s with fondness, then this book is worth getting.
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The Fix by Pepe Moreno

May 17, 2015, 1:14 pm
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'The Fix' by Pepe Moreno
Epic Illustrated No. 30, June 1985


Another offbeat tale from Pepe Moreno...this one features some black humor regarding the 'fix'.........








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Roy of the Rovers: The 1970s

May 20, 2015, 3:26 pm
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Roy of the Rovers: The 1970s
Titan Books (UK) June 2009






Leave it to the Brits to producea comic book about....soccer ?!

But a comic about soccer it was.....Roy of the Rovers began print in 1954 as a serial comic in the boy's magazine Tiger, before becoming its own comic book title in 1976. 

The series ceased publication in 2001, but it remains an indelible feature of British popular culture of the 19th century.

This large trade paperback from Titan Books compiles the two- to four- page episodes from the 'Roy of the Rovers' comic book, published by Fleetway on a weekly basis from the inaugural issue of September 25, 1976 to June 2, 1979. While credits are not printed in the strips nor in this compilation, the script apparently were written mainly by Tom Tully, and the art was done by David Sque.

[The book's content was derived from scans of those 1970s - era pages, so the reproduction of the comics is not hi-fidelity.]


Also reproduced are selected advertisements and articles appearing in the comic book.


For American readers, at least, some of these features border on the surreal....take for example this group photo of 'Elton's Lads', with Elton John and Rod Stewart posing in the front, and Bill Oddie - one of the cast in the great 70s UK TV comedy The Goodies - standing in the back....!



Roy Race played the striker position for the fictional team of Melchester. In addition to usual intense action on the soccer field, additional drama was generated from conflicts with referees, management, and teammates. 

Social issues also intruded into Roy's world of good sportmanship; several episodes dealt with the effects hooliganism was having on the action on and off the pitch:





Some stories can be seen as an acknowledgement of the increasingly fractious state of society throughout Europe; in one episode, bad behavior by a player from the Swedish 'Zalmo' squad trigger some 'aggro' on the pitch....... but Roy's innately British sense of fair play and sportsmanship defuse the situation, and draw grudging admiration from a disbelieving police:



All in all, even if you're not a particularly ardent fan of soccer / football, 'Roy of the Rovers: The 1970s' is an interesting look at the UK of that era....and for some Brits of certain age groups, I imagine the advertisements will bring on some degree of nostalgia......?!






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Book Review: Albion ! Albion !

May 23, 2015, 4:52 pm
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Book Review: 'Albion ! Albion !' by Dick Morland



3 / 5 Stars

'Dick Morland' was one of several pseudonyms used by the British author Reginald Hill (1936 – 2012). Hill was a prolific author of crime fiction, with his ‘Dalziel and Pascoe’ series of novels his best-known works. He did write novels in other genres, including thrillers, suspense, and sf – of which ‘Albion ! Albion !’ is an example.

‘Albion ! Albion !’ first was published in the UK in 1974; this Faber and Faber paperback (221 pp) was issued in 1986.

The novel is set in a near-future (i.e., the early 1990s) UK. Morland posits that the economic travails of the 70s have, in the 80s, led to further breakdown of the social order, leading to ever more violent battles between small armies of football hooligans, the retreat of law and order, and the rise of a new class of politicians whose allegiance is to the football Clubs of their districts. By the early 90s, England’s increasingly enfeebled legal and political systems have been entirely overthrown, and the nation is divided into four quadrants.

Each quadrant is governed by a different soccer Club: these are the United, City, Wanderers, and Athletic. Senior fans who came of age in the 70s and 80s are in charge of the Clubs, and rely on loose teams of hardcore hooligans, christened ‘Strikers’, to maintain order via brutal beatings..... and, frequently, murder........

Most of the cities of England are trash-strewn wastelands where no one ventures out after dark, save those with a penchant for mayhem. The rest of Europe has severed all ties with England, and, along with the US, look upon Britain as a sort of bizarre experiment in populism gone terribly wrong.

As ‘Albion ! Albion !’ opens, a young journalist named Whitey Singleton, who lives as a British expatriate in the US, is aboard a jet liner traveling from Tokyo to the Sudan. Singleton devotes many of his columns and essays to criticizing the state of affairs in his birthplace, hoping to persuade the US and the European Union to intervene and restore law and order to England.

Unfortunately for Whitey, his plane is hijacked and diverted to Heathrow. There he is recognized by the Athletic Strikers, who have little respect for his criticism of their social order. Whitey is placed under arrest, beaten up, and sent to prison.

With the realization that his American citizenship and journalist’s credentials do little to deter the actions of the Club, Whitey recognizes that he will have to act on his own to escape the prison and find some means of leaving England. This decision will force him to make alliances with the very people his columns have railed against. But as Whitey Singleton is to discover, his allies have their own plans for him……..and, as it turns out, the future of England………..

As a near-future sf novel with an offbeat, imaginative premise, by and large ‘Albion ! Albion !’ succeeds.

The initial chapters of the novel are the best, as the reader shares Whitey’s disbelief and bemusement in coming to grips with the bastardized, ‘hoolie-meets-droog ‘ civilization that rules England. Somewhat inevitably for a narrative written by a crime novelist, the middle chapters tend to belabor various political intrigues taking place among the Clubs, and there are quite a few contrived twists and turns and double-double-crosses. Things do regain potency in the final chapters, including some passages that prefigure the real-life disasters (i.e., Bradford and Hillsborough) that beset the UK soccer scene in the 80s.

Those with a fondness for ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and other visions of a dystopian future UK are going to want to have their copy of ‘Albion ! Albion !’.
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The Birth of Death by Jim Starlin

May 26, 2015, 8:23 am
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The Birth of Death
by Jim Starlin
from Star*Reach No. 1, April 1974


Although by 1974 he was regularly working for Marvel Comics, Jim Starlin nonetheless found time ro contribute a number of memorable black and white strips and color covers to the indie sf comic Star*Reach. 

This entry, from the inaugural issue of Star*Reach, is fully as 'cosmic' as any of Starlin's simultaneous work on Captain Marvel and Warlock for Marvel, as well as displaying an equally impressive level of draftsmanship.....for example, just how long did it take Starlin to draw each of the tiny outlined 'blebs' that make up the intricate stippling effect on the panel in the lower left-corner of page 4 ?!
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Book Review: Bovver

May 28, 2015, 5:43 pm
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Book Review: 'Bovver' by Chris Brown



5 / 5 Stars

Before I had a chance to weigh up the options he launched at me, charging down the terrace. I managed to land a punch before he could, straight in his beer-filled stomach, he doubled over, winded. Like a lot of fat bastards he was fit for fuck all. As his hulking mass almost engulfed me I gave him another whack in the face. He lurched over on to one side, his bloated body twisting at an acute angle from his tree-trunk-like legs. He crumpled to the concrete terrace and let out an almighty scream which almost drowned out the equally almighty crack as his leg snapped under him.

“Arrrghh ! I’ve broke my fucking leg !”

He lay there clutching his leg, which was now distorted and looking almost remote from his body.

'Bovver' (356 pp) was published (in the UK) in paperback by John Blake Publishing, Ltd. in 2002.

‘Bovver’ is Chris Brown’s memoir of growing up in Bristol, UK in the interval from 1970 – 1979. During that time he was an ardent supporter of the Rovers, one of the two football clubs in Bristol (the other club being Bristol City, the hated rivals).

Chris Brown (contemporary photo)

The book begins in the year 1970, when Brown was 14 years old, and embarking upon his career as a dedicated fan of the Rovers, taking up his place at the terraced portion of Eastville stadium in Bristol. Known as the Tote End, the terrace was where the dedicated Rover fans gathered to celebrate the feats of their team - and to engage in healthy amounts of aggro.

In those early days Brown was a skinhead, more precisely the quintessential ‘bovver’ boy, with a short haircut, suspenders, turned-up Levis, and hobnailed boots made just right for kicking. Brown and his mates eschewed rock and folk music in favor of reggae and Caribbean music. Among his favorite songs was the ‘Skinhead Anthem’, ‘Skinhead Moonstomp’ by Symarip, and ‘The Liquidator’ by the Harry J. All Stars

As for the aggro……despite his youth, Brown set out to be a valued member of the hard-core Rovers fans, standing beside them during confrontations in the street, and on the pitch, both Home, and Away. Even when they were outnumbered by rival supporters, the Rovers fans gave as good as they got, often coming away from combat clutching prized booty: the scarves in team colors carried by their victims. 

According to Brown, in the early '70s the police (‘Old Bill’, in the British vernacular) were poorly prepared to deter the massive brawls taking place in the stadiums, and by the time combat was forcibly halted,

The aftermath of battle lay all around: bloodied bodies, scarves, shoes and youngsters crying. Did I feel sorry for them …? Did I fuck, should have gone in the enclosure with your old man, shouldn’t you ? Besides, he’ll be doing the same to us in a few year’s time no doubt.

As Brown relates, he and his friends were ever-conscious of their personal clothing style, spending much of their hard-earned money in an effort to stay abreast of the latest fashions, some of which could changes within the span of just a few months (or less !).

One of the more entertaining features of ‘Bovver’ is its meticulous overview of the songs that served as the soundtrack to the activities of Brown and his friends during the decade. There are a host of bands and singles mentioned in the book that I was unfamiliar with, and some of these tracks deserve investigating.


The book’s high point – and arguably that of the teenaged years of Chris Brown – came November 5, 1977. The day started with Brown’s mate Iggy being injured by Millwall supporters (they struck his arm with a beer glass, and caused a laceration that sent Iggy to the hospital), putting the Tote End crew into the mood for vengeance as the match with Millwall unfolded. Iggy in fact came from the hospital just in time to join Brown and the other Rovers fans in battling an attempt by the MIllwall supporters to take the End. The Millwall supporters were repulsed, with the television cameras capturing their ignominious retreat back to their section of Eastville for all the UK to see.

That evening, at the Bristol Exhibition Centre, Brown and friends took in a great Punk / New Wave concert: opening acts Richard Hell and the Voidoids, followed by……the Clash ! Both bands put on great shows to the jam-packed mass within the Centre.

After the concert, on the street outside the Centre, Brown and the Rover fans found themselves facing off with a large contingent of Bristol City fans in the mood for violence. The opposing forces met in a melee that rapidly involved nearby pub-goers and concert attendees, and turned into, in Brown’s words, a ‘full-blown riot’.


The final chapters of the book take on a melancholy note, as the advent of 1978 saw the UK economy collapse even further, and the entropy-laden nature of life in Albion drove more and more of its populace – including Brown – into a sort of sustained depression that no amount of drink or violence or music could dissipate. A trip to the US, which Brown undertook with the goal of perhaps resettling in the States, turned out to be a disappointment, as Brown was unable to handle the insipid music landscape of the US, with its Grease soundtrack and disco over-exposure.

In 1979, Brown turned 23 and was gradually ageing out of the ‘hooligan’ life, although he remained a true follower of fashion, dyeing his hair blonde, wearing straight-legged denim jeans, and wearing white trainers, as per the style of the Police. But that year saw the fortunes of the Rovers fading fast, and their fans along with them. Chris Brown found himself in the unlikely role of the valiant, but overwhelmed, underdog in the face of the increasing domination of the Bristol football scene by the hated supporters of City.........

Summing up, 'Bovver' is a great read, even for those without a marked penchant for football fan memoirs. It's a great overview of popular culture in the UK in the 1970s, a valuable social analysis of that era, and a fond remembrance of the Rovers. 

This one is well worth picking up.
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Book Review: Who Wants It ?

May 31, 2015, 11:15 am
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Book Review: 'Who Wants It ? by Chris Henderson





3 / 5 Stars

Chris ‘Chubby’ Henderson (b. 1959) died in the Fall of 2013. He had been in ill health, and in dire financial straits, for some time, and expired while sleeping on the sofa of a friend’s house – some media reports and blog posts gave the location as London; others Thailand; and others, the Philippines.

‘Who Wants It ?’ (208 pp, Mainstream Publishing, UK, 2002) is a memoir of Henderson’s participating in hooliganism in the 1980s, primarily as a member of the ‘Chelsea Headhunters’ firm, a group that gained considerable notoriety in the UK press for allegedly perpetrating some of the more unpleasant acts of violence that occupied the UK football landscape of that era.

Chris Henderson

The book is not an easy read for Americans, or, presumably, for anyone not quite familiar with the football scene in the UK in the 80s. It badly needed professional editing before seeing print; as it stands, in the first two-thirds of the book, the narrative has more of a stream-of-consciousness character than that of a memoir per se. When combined with insufficient exposition to orient the reader as to the locations and backstories of the myriad confrontations Henderson documents, it makes the book difficult to follow.

Nonetheless, Henderson’s prose (which also reflects, presumably, the contributions of his co-author Colin Ward) succeeds in giving the reader a good, ‘you-are-there’ rendering of the atmosphere of the football hooliganism at the time. Here’s an excerpt of an October 11, 1986 street battle between the Headhunters and the other ‘hard’ firm in London in the 80s: West Ham. 

 As Henderson and the Chelsea contingent made their way to Upton Park (Boleyn Ground) they were confronted by a larger force of West Ham supporters:

Then it seemed like another mob was coming at us from nowhere….suddenly, someone was down and really copping it. Behind me a shout of ‘Chelsea scum’ and a knife sliced the air and then through flesh. The shout of someone realising that the air slash had sliced human flesh, his flesh. A scream of anguish and terror. The horrible sound of pain filled the air and I turned around to see Jock drop to his knees, his face contorted, pulling his shoulders back. I ran over and kung fu kicked the man with the Stanley blade and he bounced off the wall and retreated, coinciding with West Ham backing off across the road. The wail of sirens in the distance.

I looked at the wound in Jock’s back. It was a gaping slash wound, about ten inches long. Blood was pumping out of it and I held on to both sides to try and stop the bleeding.

Accompanying these recitations of battles and melees, Henderson provides spot-on descriptions of the wasted industrial and urban landscapes of rival cities and grounds throughout the England of the 80s, depressing, cheerless landscapes within which alienated youth looked to their clubs, and the accompanying weekend 'aggro', as one of their main sources of self-validation.

Henderson devotes a surprisingly small amount of his memoir to Combat 84, the skinhead band he founded in 1981 with other Headhunters. The band, which was musically underwhelming but provided its audience with a raw, unfiltered does of the skinhead ethos, saw several potential deals with major labels come to naught in the aftermath of a 1982 BBC documentary that portrayed Henderson as a racist, who used the band as a vehicle to foment violent confrontations in clubs and music halls.

Combat 84

Along with recounting the Headhunter’s activities in the UK, Henderson relates tales of the firm’s debauched forays into mayhem on the Continent, most notably a February, 1987 trip that saw the firm trigger fear and loathing throughout France and Spain.

‘Who Wants It ?’ concludes with Henderson’ account of his arrest and trial in 1987 and 1988, part of a clumsy effort by the UK police to thwart soccer violence by specifically targeting those considered the ringleaders. Following his acquittal, Henderson relocated to Thailand, where he ran a bar that catered to a unique clientele: UK expats with roots in hooliganism.


Summing up, despite its flaws, ‘Who Wants It ?’ is a worthwhile memoir. While readers should be mindful that what they are getting is Henderson’s filtering of events and times and places, and a desire to avoid self-incrimination flavors much of the narrative, there still is enough here to entertain Chelsea fans, and others interested in the football rivalries in the UK in the 80s.
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Blood and Iron by Les Edwards

June 3, 2015, 2:05 pm
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Blood and Iron
by Les Edwards
GW Books (UK) 1989



Les Edwards (b. 1949) is a UK illustrator and artist. He regularly produced artwork for the Games Workshop, including artwork for rule books and the magazine White Dwarf, in the 80s. He also provided cover artwork for both UK and US publishers for mass market paperbacks in the fantasy, sf, and horror genres. In the 90s, he expanded his repertoire to include artwork for comics, such as Eclipse Comic's series of graphic novels based on Clive Barker titles such as 'Rawhead Rex'. 




'Blood and Iron' (98 pp) remains the only book showcasing Edwards's artwork, and while its publication date of 1989 means that much of his catalog is not represented, it does provide some useful information about how the artist goes about working up an illustration, his techniques, and his perceptions of the commercial art world.





Many of the illustrations in Blood and Iron will be instantly recognizable to US readers, especially those who read DAW books in the late 80s, as Edwards contributed a number of cover paintings to The Year's Best Horror Stories. 




Other cover paintings that will be familiar to US readers include Edwards's work for the 'Cadre' trilogy by Robert O' Riordan, the cover painting for Frederik Pohl's novel Man Plus, and the cover painting for the Neil Barrett, Jr novel The Karma Corps.









It goes without saying that Edwards's work is some of the best to ever appear on fantastic literature book covers, and he stands alongside artists like Michael Whelan, Darrell K. Sweet, Jim Burns, Tim White, Paul Youll, David Mattingly, Paul Alexander, and other artists who adroitly combined a high degree of technical skill with an imaginative approach to their craft.








'Blood and Iron' is long out of print and copies in any condition are expensive. In the absence of any new compilation of Edwards's artwork, readers are directed to his website, which features an expansive collection of his older and newer commissions for book covers, private works, CD covers and sleeves, and advertising.









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Life and Death of a Robot

June 5, 2015, 5:13 pm
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Life and Death of a Robot
by Dumas
from Heavy Metal magazine, May 1984
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Ranxerox meets the Leathermen

June 6, 2015, 2:06 pm
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Ranxerox meets the Leathermen
excerpted from Heavy Metal magazine, February and March 1984

celebrating Pride Month 2015


In this excerpt from 'Ranxerox in New York', serialized in Heavy Metal in 1983 - 1984, our hero crashes a house party sponsored by one of New York's wealthiest and most decadent personalities, Enogabal. 

While stealing some heroin for his twelve year-old girlfriend Lubna (!) Ranxerox stuffs a red handkerchief into the back pocket of his jeans....which in turn attracts the attention of some Leathermen who are among the party guests........and this triggers a real misunderstanding......




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Book Review: The Religion

June 9, 2015, 3:47 pm
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Book Review: 'The Religion' by Nicholas Conde


3 / 5 Stars

‘The Religion’ was published in hardcover in 1982; this Signet paperback version (377 pp) was issued in March, 1983.

‘The Religion’ was made into the 1987 movie The Believers, starring Martin Sheen, and directed by John Schlesinger.


Nicholas Conde was the pseudonym used by Robert Rosenblum, who, along with Robert Nathan, wrote another novel that dealt with the confrontation between modern life and ancient religious customs, ‘The Legend’ (1984). ‘In the Deep Woods’ (1992) was suspense / crime novel.

As ‘Religion’ opens, Cal Jamison, an anthropology professor, has moved to New York City from Albuquerque, along with his 7 year –old son, Chris. Jamison is still recovering from the tragic death of his wife due to a household accident, and sees the move from New Mexico to the city as an effort to start anew.

While walking through Central Park on a Summer afternoon, Cal and Chris stumble upon a grisly scene of ritual sacrifice involving animals. His professional and personal curiosity piqued, Jamison begins to study the source of the sacrificial tableaux – the ancient religion of Santeria, imported into the environs of the Big Apple by Puerto Rican and Caribbean immigrants.

Jamison’s curiosity leads him into a new and disturbing direction when he chances upon a murder scene in a slum neighborhood. McTaggert, the jaded, cynical, world-weary cop investigating the murder, reveals to Jamison that it involved the ritual disembowelment of a young boy – and that five other such murders have taken place in various locations in the city.

Jamison is stunned to learn that a malevolent form of Santeria is being practiced in the modern metropolis. As he pursues his scholarly investigations into Santeria, he agrees to provide McTaggert with any information that might help illuminate the cultists behind the child murders.

As the narrative unfolds, Cal Jamison’s decision to learn more about Santeria gradually leads him to contact otherwise rational, cosmopolitan residents of the city who practice the religion as part of a clandestine ecology of Believers. These interactions, as well as the advent of supernatural events in his own life, erode Jamison’s skepticism and replace it with a vague, but growing, fear.

For there is to be a seventh and final sacrifice…and his son Chris may have been selected by the Gods to be the offering…….

As a modern horror novel, ‘The Religion’ does some things well. It’s an interesting portrait of New York City in the early 80s, as the Big Apple sank faster and further into decay. As Whitley Streiber did with his 1978 novel The Wolfen, Conde presents the urban wasteland of the South Bronx as an abnormal, cancerous territory embedded in the surrounding metropolis, its abandoned tenements the site of primitive customs and unholy acts carried out under the ignorant noses of the population of Manhattan.

The initial chapters of the novel are well-paced and allow the reader to share in Cal Jamison’s discoveries of Santeria and its customs, all the while gradually building an awareness that underneath the herbs, candles, charms, and artifacts is a real, and potentially deadly, supernatural power.

Unfortunately, the middle chapters of the novel are less engaging. Conde devotes too much of the narrative to belaboring the psychological trauma that grips Jamison, as he discovers his atheism crumbling in the face of the supernatural forces that are acting on him in accordance with the whims of the Gods from ancient Africa.

The narrative regains momentum in the final 75 pages, as the confrontation with the Believers grows in intensity and Jamison finds he must fight the occult with yet another form of the occult. The novel does end on an ambiguous note, but it is not contrived, and stays in keeping with the overall tenor of the story.

[I remember seeing The Believers back in the late 80s and thought it a good film, although it differs in some aspects from the novel.]

The verdict ? I doubt ‘The Religion’ will find many adherents among modern horror fans. As a novel from the early 80s, the book lacks the intensity and graphic violence that marks modern horror media like Saw, Hostel, The Walking Dead, and The Strain. But if you’re a more patient reader, who is willing to tolerate some degree of over-writing and melodrama, then ‘The Religion’ well may be worth investigating.
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