A Peek into the World's Strange Past

Planetary, vol. 3:Leaving the 20th Century

Warren Ellis and John Cassaday

Wildstorm (DC Comics)

Reviewed by: Terry 

5 out of 5 stars

 

In this third volume of Planetary stories we not only get to step back for a moment and have a bit of a look at the adventures of Elijah Snow in his century of existence trying to keep the world strange, but we also get more details on the Four and their intersection with the Planetary organization prior to the current story arc. Ellis is able to play in a lot of cool sandboxes as a result and the genre mashing continues much to my personal glee!

Issue 13 – “Century”: Just how did Elijah Snow form the Planetary organization and why did he do it? Well, not all of the answers will be provided here, but we get an intriguing glimpse at young Elijah Snow circa 1919 as he tracks down the members of a secret organization from the 19th century whose goal was to “better mankind” from behind the scenes. Elijah doesn’t like that kind of meddling, but he just might have something to learn from one member of the cabal at least. Really cool stuff involving Frankenstein’s Monster(s), Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and some shout-outs to other luminaries from the penny dreadfuls and pulp fiction of an earlier day. Cool stuff.

Issue 14 – “Zero Point”: A flashback story showing just why (and how) the Four were able to mind-wipe Elijah. We get to see just how dangerous an opponent Snow and his group can be as they handily take down two members of the Four before being overcome by the ridiculously superior firepower the Four can bring to bear. There is also a chilling opening sequence that pulls some cool references from both Marvel’s Thor comic book and Alan Moore’s more esoteric work in Miracleman that serves to once again highlight the utter evil bastard status of the Four and help explain Elijah’s driving desire to stop them at any cost.

Issue 15 – “Creation Songs”: Back in the present we join Elijah, Jakita, and Drummer as they attempt to intercept the Four who are analysing Ayers Rock for their own arcane purposes. This in turn leads to a flashback story where Snow explains the significance of the place and just how it ties in to the wider cosmology that Ellis has created for his multiverse.

Issue 16 – “Hark”: The mysterious figure of Anna Hark, with links to both Axel Brass’ former team of superhumans and the Four, is brought from out of the shadows to play a central role in this issue. Snow is working hard at consolidating his power and ensuring that his upcoming standoff with the Four is his final one. No mistakes this time. To that end he will need all the allies he can get. Will the enigmatic and unpredictable Anna Hark play ball? This issue also has a cool intro that brings the popular wuxia films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” to mind. It’s great to see how Snow is the kind of character who thinks out his moves and is playing the long game, he’s not just going to barge in and try to bash the villain’s head in (though of course if that’ll work he’s not averse to incorporating it into his plan).

Issue 17 – “Opak-Re”: Another flashback to Snow’s earlier journeys and discoveries when Planetary was still a relatively new organization and the fieldwork was primarily done by Elijah himself. Great homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Philip Jose Farmer, and the Indiana Jones films. We also get a tantalizing glimpse of Ellis’ Tarzan analogue Lord Blackstone and some significant revelations about Jakita and her very long relationship with Snow. Lots of fun.

Issue 18 – “The Gun Club”: Ellis takes nineteenth century space travel, Jules Verne, and a new plan by Snow to draw out members of the Four and deal with them individually and does his usual trick: incorporate cool ideas from across pop culture boundaries and not only use them to build a strange and wonderful world, but tie them in to an intriguing story of the battle of superhumans for control of the kind of world we live in.

What can I say? Still great stuff. Even when there are weaker issues they’re fun and everything contributes to the wider story arc and the further fleshing out of Ellis’ cool world. Also, Cassaday’s art remains consistently beautiful…this is really some of the best art I’ve seen in the comic book medium and it just makes Ellis’ ideas pop off the page that much more. If you want to see something new being done in comics (even though it ironically makes heavy use of what’s old) then go read it!

 

Also posted at Goodreads 

The Vice Begins to Close

The White-Luck Warrior

R. Scott Bakker

Penguin Books

Reviewed by: Terry

4  out of 5 stars

 

Beware, there are some spoilers for key plot points/character revelations below. 

So, volume two of the “Aspect Emperor” series has come to a close and so far R. Scott Bakker still proves that he has the chops to pull off a multi-volume epic fantasy that not only uses the standard tropes in new and interesting ways, but that gives his characters depth, darkness, and complexity and does so with prose that is always enjoyable and sometimes downright exhilarating to read. I don’t think that I really *like* any of his characters (though Achamian, and to a lesser extent Mimara and even Sorweel, come close), but I find them all thoroughly intriguing, even when they are frustrating or repellent…or perhaps it’s because they are. Kellhus is still a fascinating cypher: a saviour who is chillingly amoral and manipulative, but whose ultimate aims and decisions on how best to reach them seem maddeningly right. Achamian, the ostensible hero of the tale, comes across at best as a petty cuckold hazarding ridiculous risks (for himself and others) for the sake of ill-feelings and wounded pride, and at worst as a monomaniacal menace who is little more than a tool that could lead to the utter destruction of all mankind. Kosoter and his pack of Sranc scalpers (esp. the mysterious Nonman mage Cleric) are always an intriguing bunch and watching their inner dissolution on the trail to the Library of Sauglish as they become pared down to a nub, leaving only their most essential (and repellent) characteristics is fascinating. I have to admit that I found the struggle for power at the heart of Kellhus’ empire in Momemn a little less captivating (probably because I find Esmenet a less interesting character than some of the others), but the glimpses we get into the dysfunctional and super-powered Dûnyain family (from “Uncle Holy” Maithanet right on down to dear little psycho Kelmomas) is always a fun train wreck to watch. And Sorweel, Serwa and Moënghus? Let’s just say I’m intrigued to see where and how the heck they end up.

While much of the story is devoted to either having two of the main plot threads cover huge distances of geography (Kellhus & the Great Ordeal and Achamian & the Skin Eaters) or another main thread devoted to plunging into the labyrinthine intrigues of the slowly dissolving imperial court (with Esmenet, Maithanet, and Kelmomas taking centre stage) and thus at times it can seem that not a lot happens in a relatively large span of pages, there are some really exciting, edge-of-your-seat type moments on display. Whether it’s the kick-ass fight that Cleric and Achamian have with Wutteät, the seemingly undead Father of Dragons in the bowels of the Library of Sauglish, or the psycho machinations of ‘little’ Kelmomas in the hidden mazes of the Imperial Palace, or the endless sea of hording Sranc inundating a portion of the Great Ordeal in the midst of the ruins of mankind’s first great empire, or even the somewhat confusing but thoroughly intriguing mystery of the White-Luck Warrior and his seemingly time-warped journey through the Three Seas, there’s more than enough to maintain a reader’s interest.  The Cleric and Achamian thread was especially intriguing to me as the entire scenario seemed like some untold tale taken from _The Silmarillion_ and twisted in incomprehensible and often lurid ways. It was as-if  Gil-Galad went insane, lost his memory, and went adventuring with an even darker version of Túrin and his outlaw buddies and they just happened to stumble upon Ancalagon the Black or even Glaurung and had a magical slugfest in the heart of the ruins of Nargothrond.

Ultimately Bakker seems to strike a nice balance between moving the story forward and taking time to flesh out his characters and events. One could argue that some of the storylines don’t move forward (certainly geographically and sometimes plot-wise) as far, or as quickly, as one might wish, but ultimately I never felt bored with Bakker’s pace, or thought that he was sacrificing the story in the name of broadening his horizons or navel-gazing (I’m looking at you GRRM). Despite this nice balance, however, I still have a creeping fear that leads me to ask the question: Can Bakker wrap up this story in only one more volume given the relative leisure with which he has unfolded it to this point? As noted above I don’t in any way view his unhurried pace as a bad thing and I appreciated the way in which it allowed events to seemingly unfold organically and characters (even peripheral ones) to grow in interesting and realistic ways. It’s just that in looking back and seeing that approx. 2/3 of the apparent page count allocated for the story has been expended and then looking forward to see what he still needs to cover I really hope he isn’t forced to rush to the finish in order to reach the climax of the story in only one more volume. After all he is already working with a large cast, many with significant ties to the previous series who are still only beginning to be fully sketched out at this point. How will they develop? Should they have even been introduced? It's certainly nowhere near as bad as GRRM spinning out of control and adding viewpoint characters, locations, and subplots to an absurd degree, but is at least mildly analogous and makes me squirm a bit. Bakker’s also working with some pretty significant (and indeed numerous) plotlines that need to not only resolve, but also dovetail with each other to some extent, none of which seem to have their ultimate goal in sight yet. That being said, at the end of the day I have faith that he has the chops to pull it off...don’t let me down R. Scott Bakker!

 

Also posted at Goodreads

A World Teetering on the Edge of Apocalypse

The Judging Eye

R. Scott Bakker

Penguin Books

Reviewed by: Terry

4  out of 5 stars

 

Despite some trepidation with the thought I keep coming back to the idea that R. Scott Bakker’s ‘Prince of Nothing’ and ‘Aspect Emperor’ series are, if not the true inheritors of Tolkien’s legacy, at least  the most innovative step forward in the realm of epic fantasy that is consciously derived from the genre-changing (or creating) impact of JRRT. Most other fantasies that are obviously influenced by the Professor are at best re-treading the same, or similar, ground in fairly limited ways or, at worst, are nothing more than poorly written pastiches or bad copies with the serial numbers filed off. Bakker, on the other hand, doesn’t just reproduce Tolkien’s tropes as they ended up being presented in his Middle Earth books, instead he does what most other fantasy writers seem unable to do: examine the fundamentals that lie behind these tropes and reinterpret them in his own unique and (very) different ways. Thus we have the ‘Nonmen’, something analogous to Tolkien’s Elves, though re-imagined in a way that really points out their alien nature when compared to humanity. The Sranc and the No-God may have obvious similarities to Goblins/Orcs and the Dark Lord trope, but they are presented in such a visceral and, to me at least, different way that they really do bring something new to the party. Part of me is certain that Tolkien would be horrified at the idea of Bakker as his ‘true heir’ given the obvious darkness, one should probably even say cynicism or pessimism, of the secondary world that Bakker has created, but that is neither here nor there really. This tone is not even necessarily the point of greatest departure between them, since contrary to what many pundits assume there is actually a fair bit of darkness, even pessimism in Tolkien (especially if you have read The Silmarillion which I think for various reasons Bakker took as his primary model rather than the more famous The Lord of the Rings. The fact remains, though, that Tolkien’s works are coloured by his fundamentally Christian viewpoint that is tinged with the hope inherent in his belief in the eucatastrophic chance of salvation and this alone gives them a *very* different flavour from Bakker’s more ‘post-modern’ and secular perspective. I think it might also be the rape-aliens…but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here.

First off, while this may indeed be the first volume in the ‘Aspect Emperor’ series it is definitely not the place to start with Bakker since this series is actually the sequel to his ‘Prince of Nothing’ books which ultimately set up the main conflict that is to be the driving force of the new trilogy. Both series are set in the world of Eärwa and this new volume picks up twenty years after the close of the former following the lives of the same characters, so if you have not yet read the first set of books then most of the impact of the characters and plot will be diminished, if not utterly lost on you, so check them out first. Secondly, keep in mind that this is a dark book (one whose fantasy has moments that, for me at least, blend into the realms of horror). While it is certainly true that the bad guys are utterly despicable and even grotesque in their evil (see mention to rape-aliens above), even the ‘good guys’ (really there aren’t any) are so shaded into grey that one wonders whether or not they aren’t actually black. In many ways this ‘realism’ and darkness put Bakker in the same group as writers such as Joe Abercrombie and Steven Erikson who are considered proponents of a ‘new’ sub-genre in epic fantasy which owes as much to the pulp Sword and Sorcery stories of the 20’s and 30’s as it does to traditional epic fantasy and dwells more on moral relativism and a ‘gritty’ portrayal of violence that sometimes seems to be part of a consciously ‘anti-Tolkien’ movement. It’s interesting to see, though, the way in which Bakker seems to meld a ‘high fantasy derived from Tolkien’ approach with this ‘dark fantasy based on realism and violence’ in a way that shows they need not be purely antithetical.

The nub of the tale Bakker tells in The Judging Eye revolves around three main plotlines: the exiled wizard Drusas Achamian and his quest to uncover the truth behind the uncanny powers of former friend and pupil and now hated enemy and Aspect-Emperor Anasûrimbor Kellhus; the struggles of Varalt Sorweel titular King of Sakarpus and hostage of Kellhus as he follows in the train of said emperor’s incalculable army that is embarking upon ‘the Great Ordeal’ in an effort to traverse Eärwa and destroy the Consult (aka rape-aliens) and halt their attempts to invoke the Second Apocalypse by resurrecting the ‘No-God’ Mog-Pharau; and finally the trials of Empress Esmenet, Kellhus’ wife and Achamian’s former lover, as she attempts to maintain the reigns of power of her husband’s vast empire as the cracks are beginning to show. Each strand is connected to the others and it will be interesting to see how things come together in the end. For now, though, each of the main protagonists has their own journey to undertake and set of trials to overcome and by the end of the novel things still remain very much uncertain for all and sundry.

A few things that struck me upon reading: Kellhus’ kids are whacked-out scary (no surprise given the seemingly inhuman nature of their father) and I can totally see how comparisons to Dune and the model of the Kwisatz Haderach can be made; really cool to see more about the mysterious culture of the nearly extinct Nonmen and especially the taciturn Nonman scalper Cleric (heck the entire crew of the dirty, violent, and all-around scum-bag Skin Eaters and their imperious Captain Kosoter were pretty intriguing); the Consult was pretty quiet in this one…only a few skin-spies to be seen, but it was made up for by a veritable horde of Sranc and some other not-before-seen baddies; still it will be interesting to see how they plan to combat not only Kellhus and his Great Ordeal, but Achamian as both make their way to the blasted North. Bakker also manages to have an extended sequence that is a direct homage to an event in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings without in any way seeming derivative or unnecessary to the story that he wants to tell. Let’s just say that Frodo and company had it easy when they traversed the Mines of Moria…’nuff said.

These books do tend to make me uncomfortable, primarily because of the effective way in which Bakker portrays evil. I don’t think I have ever read any other fantasy where even the orc-analogue foot soldiers seemed so terrifying (and they do here, the Sranc are utterly bestial creatures of pure hatred, unending hunger, and violence), let alone the leaders of the forces of darkness whose evil runs the spectrum of world conquering hubris to the most petty evils and banal vices. No one’s motives are pure, even when their ends seem good, and the complexity of the characters is compelling. Add to that the fact that Bakker is a damn fine writer of prose and I think I’ll keep coming back to these books, even if they make me feel a little queasy sometimes. Recommended for those who enjoy epic fantasy and have read the previous series.

 

Also posted at Goodreads

The Plot Thickens

Planetary, vol. 2: The Fourth Man

Warren Ellis and John Cassaday

Wildstorm (DC Comics)

Reviewed by: Terry 

5 out of 5 stars

 

This volume of Planetary explores, and ultimately reveals, the secret of the mysterious Fourth Man of Planetary and also exposes the breathtaking scope and breadth of the crimes perpetrated by the Four upon the world in the name of their great game.

Issue 7 – “To be in England, in the Summertime”: Planetary attends the funeral of Jack Carter, the man everyone in the occult underworld was afraid of and owed favours to. Cute issue with plenty of nods to Alan Moore and the ‘dark and gritty’ world of magic and debased superheroes that the Vertigo line of comics, and esp. one of its hallmark titles “Hellblazer”, was known for. If you know the references you’ll get a chuckle, but otherwise a fairly unremarkable issue.

Issue 8 – “The Day the Earth Turned Slower”: Remember all of those crazy sci-fi B-movies from the olden days? Movies like “Them!”, “The Attack of the 50 ft. Woman”, and “The Incredible Shrinking Man”? What if they weren’t based on fiction? What if the government, or more accurately the Powers-that-Be, really did perform strange atomic experiments on animals and the wretched refuse of humanity that they deemed to be ‘unfit’ to live amongst right-thinking people? What if they created “Science Cities” in remote locations where these unfortunates could be put to ‘good use’, not in the name of building an army of super-soldiers or forwarding any grand plan, but simply because they could, merely to throw some science against the wall and see what sticks? Planetary's about to find out.

Issue 9 – “Planet Fiction”: This one is a flashback story where Ellis goes down a pretty weird rabbit hole. If comics look to fiction for many of their ideas for super-science why not blend fiction itself with scientific experimentation, really break the fourth wall? Why not create a "pretend" fictional world within your "real" fictional world of the comic book and then have an evil genius send a team of "fictionauts" inside it? What do you do if something comes back with them? This issue also deepens the mystery of the Fourth Man and introduces us to Ambrose Chase, the Third Man of the Planetary field team prior to the recruitment of Elijah Snow. He's a badass operator with a reality distortion field that allows him to speed up or slow down time and generally alter the physical laws in his close proximity. Think Neo from the Matrix with a brain.

Issue 10 – “Magic & Loss”: Planetary have set up a ‘dig’ in the laboratory of the Four that they found in issue 6. Their findings are not encouraging in what it reveals about the agenda and methodology of the Four. In going through some of the artefacts that are stored there we begin to glimpse the extent to which the Four have been able to control what has occurred on the planet and their utter ruthlessness in doing so. Think of the impact that three of the greatest heroes in the pantheon of comics: Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman have had on their fictional worlds. They are three whose power and outlook might have allowed them to save the world. What happens if the Four find them first?

Issue 11 – “Cold World”: Elijah’s suspicions about the actions and motivations of his colleagues grow, as does his concern with his spotty memory, so he decides to pay a call on an old friend for some advice and information. John Stone, agent of S.T.O.R.M., is the world’s greatest secret agent and if anyone can help Snow figure out who he is and what secret agenda the Four may have it’s got to be him. Memories are shaken loose and suspicions confirmed as Elijah tries to untangle the truth from the lies in the strange world he is uncovering.

Issue 12 – “Memory Cloud”: Snow confronts his Planetary colleagues with the results of his personal investigations and as his cloudy memory slowly comes back to him he reveals some of the secrets of his long life that others had wished would remain hidden. The Fourth man is revealed and a challenge is finally issued to the apparently unassailable Four in the names of all of their many victims.

All in all this was a very good volume in the continuing story of Planetary. Some of the one-off adventures were a bit weak, but the overall story arc shaped up very nicely as secrets and revelations about both Planetary and the Four are brought forward and the glimpses of the wider universe Ellis has created are tantalizing and a heck of a lot of fun. The gauntlet has been thrown and now things promise to gain momentum with every step. Lots of fun!

Also posted at Goodreads

It's a Strange World, and they Plan to Keep it that Way

Planetary, vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories

Warren Ellis and John Cassaday

Wildstorm (DC Comics)

Reviewed by: Terry 

5 out of 5 stars

 

Warning: there are spoilers for some issues in this review. You have been warned! 

I think the Planetary series by Ellis and Cassaday may be one of the most ambitious, and certainly most enjoyable, comics (excuse me, I mean graphic novels!) that I have ever read. It is yet another post-Watchmen, post-Dark Knight meta-textual exploration of the genre, but manages to be one that doesn’t lose its sense of humour or sense of wonder as it dissects some of the weird, wonderful, and even silly elements of the genre…no small feat! Also, Ellis does not restrict himself solely to an examination of the world of superheroes as it’s been portrayed in the funny books, but also includes a myriad of other pop culture genre tropes in a heady brew that’s chock-full of pulpy goodness! Conspiracy theories meet the world of metahumans, the science of the occult and the magic of super-science rub shoulders with genre standbys, and a world of strangeness and wonder slowly unfolds like a snowflake.

The premise is pretty simple, and kind of ingenious given Ellis’ aims: it’s a strange world, but the powers that be have been covering up every weird, wonderful, strange and scary thing that has reared its head in human history. Enter Planetary, an inter-continental organization of “archaeologists of the impossible” whose avowed goal is to unearth the secrets from which the enlightened ones would shield us and broadcast them in their yearly publication, kind of a Whole Earth Catalog of the weird and strange. The field team for Planetary is composed of three main agents: Elijah Snow is a gruff and taciturn leader who also sports the ability to generate cold on a superhuman level, Jakita Wagner the beautiful and nigh-invulnerable superwoman, and the Drummer, a prototypical slacker-geek whose ability to interface with anything electronic is truly extraordinary.  Oh, and since this is a graphic novel/comic book I should note that the art by John Cassaday is consistently extraordinary, some of the best I’ve ever seen, really! I’ll break down the individual issues below and try to avoid any heinous spoilers.

Issue 0 (Preview) - “Nuclear Spring”: A secret military base; a genius cold war scientist decades ahead of his time; a quantum bomb that is able to rewrite the nature of reality; a friend of the scientist’s caught in the blast zone during the final test. What mysteries will the Planetary team find when they crack open this decades-old secret of tragedy and transformation?

Issue 1 - “All Over the World”: Jakita Wagner recruits the misanthropic loner Elijah Snow to join a mysterious team called Planetary. Details on their operations and make-up are scarce. They have scads of cash, but all the field team seems to know is that they are funded, and ultimately directed, by a shadowy figure known only as “the Fourth Man”. The organization’s aim? To uncover the mysteries that the powers that be want kept secret. Despite his suspicions and doubts Elijah decides to come along for the ride (a paycheck of a million dollars a year doesn’t hurt either) and on his first mission witnesses the uncovering of a decades-old secret base of operations for a team of heroes the world didn’t even know existed. We have a literal round table of pulp hero analogues: newly minted characters who are stand-ins for Doc Savage, The Shadow, Tom Swift, Fu Manchu, Tarzan, Operator 5, and G-8. I love this stuff. Homages to the great icons of pulp and comic book heroes are the kind of thing I eat up with a spoon, primarily, I think, because while the ideas behind these icons are fantastic the execution of their stories often leaves something to be desired (often either because the company that owns the properties doesn’t want anything ‘bad’ (read interesting) done with them, or simply because they were written into formulaic and kind of crappy stories by mediocre writers). Those problems can be remedied in this kind of ‘elseworlds’ context and Ellis proceeds to do so both here and throughout the Planetary series with panache. Love it.

Issue 2 – “Island”: Welcome to Monster Island! (Well, Warren Ellis’ version of it anyway.) What do you get when you combine an isolated and remote island populated by creatures out of a Kaiju film, government cover-ups, and Japanese death cults? You get issue 2 of Planetary. Pretty good stuff that helps widen the lens beyond superheroes and show us just how strange Ellis’ secret history for his world really is.

Issue 3 – “Dead Gunfighters”: We continue our tour of Ellis’ strange world with another one-off tale centring around a ghostly cop in Hong Kong out for revenge and yet further hints about the ‘quantum reality matrix’, the snowflake, that underlies all of the strangeness being catalogued by Planetary. Think John Woo meets the X-Files.

Issue 4 – “Strange Harbours”: This, and issue 5, are where things really started to gel for me with Planetary; things began coming together and the “oh shit, that’s cool” moments were multiplying fast and furious. In this issue the team investigates the hole left after a single office building in the middle of a New York City block is vaporized. It seems as though something was unearthed by mysterious forces under the direction of people unknown and an investigator for the Hark corporation (the name will have meaning once you’ve read this far in the series) will be changed into something wonderful and strange. What does a homesick starship meant to fly between realities do when it’s been trapped under the earth for millennia? Recruit a new crew for starters. Captain Marvel (the Shazam version) meets Flash Gordon with a dash of the many worlds theory thrown in for good measure.

Issue 5 – “The Good Doctor”: Secret societies from the French Revolution with a breeding plan for superhumans, a Man of Brass (or is it bronze?) who devotes his life to saving a world that does not know he exists and collecting together similarly endowed individuals in the hopes that together they can solve the world’s ills, a pulp fiction extravaganza highlighting the glories and the dangers of thinking you can save the world. Elijah Snow’s suspicions have been accumulating since he joined Planetary and now he goes to talk with Doc Brass, saved in issue 1, to help clear his head. Things will start to roll from hereon in.

Issue 6 – “It’s a Strange World”: Now we get to the meat of it. What if the cold war space race was nothing more than a smoke screen for what was really happening behind the scenes? What if four astronauts (the number is important and the corollaries are very cool) were sent into the void and met up with forces unknown, forces that could transmute mere humanity into something more? What if they were the most evil sons of bitches you’re likely to meet and had both the will and the power to take the reins of the secret organization that had been keeping everything strange and wonderful from surfacing in the daylight world? What if Planetary finally found out about them? This issue single-handedly made the Fantastic Four a cool concept, something they hadn’t been, for me at least, well, um, ever. It also helped to answer the question that might nag any self-respecting comic book nerd who really thought about the whole concept behind the Fantastic Four (or science-based superheroes in general) as superhuman adventurers who discover the secrets of other worlds and realities: why doesn’t any of that gleaming gosh-wow tech ever filter down to the man on the street? Why don’t they have a cure for cancer? Where are the flying cars, dammit?! Well, it’s because the ‘superheroes’ are keeping it all for themselves, dumb-ass!

One thing that really worked well for me in this series overall was the way in which Ellis balanced between the self-contained one-off stories that were compelling in and of themselves with a greater story arc that made the journey all the more satisfying. He didn’t always manage to pull this balance off perfectly (sometimes the one-off tales seemed a little light, or the connections they had to the wider context weren’t sufficiently drawn, and occasionally the bigger story arc seemed a little bit rushed, especially at the very end), but overall he did a pretty exemplary job with this. Kudos! The sense of mysteries to be uncovered and of an answer greater than the sum of its parts (as gosh darn cool as those parts may be) was very well-played and, unlike some genre fiascos that have attempted the same trick (I’m looking at you X-Files and especially you Lost), Planetary mostly lived up to its potential in this regard.  It looks like Ellis had mapped out his ideas and goal from the beginning instead of just engaging in some half-assed attempt to retroactively join together the disparate elements that were all thrown into the soup willy-nilly at the last minute. I love, love, love this series…and there’s more to come! Can I squee? Well, I will anyway. Squeeee! 

Also posted at Goodreads

 

"But primal dreams have made me wise..."

The Emperor of Dreams

Clark Ashton Smith

Gollancz

Reviewed by: Terry 

4 out of 5 stars

Ah, Clark Ashton Smith. For those of you unfamiliar with this writer imagine someone with the fevered imagination of Lovecraft and the lyrical stylistic chops of Lord Dunsany and you'll get an idea of what you're in for. For my money Smith is perhaps the best of the "Weird Tales Triumvirate" of Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Ashton Smith. I would probably place Howard as a close second on that list...heresy I know, but for all of the coolness of Lovecraft's ideas he really was just a god-awful writer.
Take a dip into this tome and visit one of Smith's created worlds: medieval Averoigne, antediluvian Poseidonis, far future Zothique, or ancient Hyperborea, all tinged with the dark fantasy Cthulhoid elements borrowed from his friend Lovecraft and embellished with his delicious prose.
I'd heartily recommend the tales "The Double Shadow", "The Beast of Averoigne", "Mother of Toads", and the 'Malygris tales' "The Last Incantation" & "The Death of Malygris" as good starting points, though there are few places to go wrong here.

Also posted at Goodreads

The Way of the Assassin, the Way of the Warrior

Lone Wolf & Cub, vol. 3: The Flute of the Fallen Tiger

Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima

Dark Horse Comics

Reviewed by: Terry 

4 out of 5 stars

Volume three of “Lone Wolf and Cub” expands on Ogami Itto’s backstory quite a bit and finally shows us what led an upstanding samurai to abandon the world and embark on the path of the assassin. It also shows us that those who fear Lone Wolf and Cub do so not only because of the skill with which he wields his sword, but due to the knowledge of the ways and secrets of the Shogunate that he possesses. Criticism of the hypocritical nature of the way of the samurai continues to be voiced and it seems at times as though Ogami Itto is a corrective to the offenses of those that abuse their powers grown from their very ranks and using their own methods against them.

“The Flute of the Fallen Tiger”: Ogami must face three deadly fighters whose job it is to safely transport key witnesses in disputes between Hans to the court of the Shogun. Interestingly we start to see the mysterious assassin Lone Wolf and Cub starting to be identified as one and the same as Ogami Itto, one time executioner for the Shogun. Agents of the powers-that-be know that this deadly assassin is more than just a warrior to be reckoned with, he is one of their own whose inside knowledge might shake the place of the Shogunate itself.

“Half Mat, One Mat, A Fistful of Rice”: Merely stopping to watch an itinerant street performer leads Lone Wolf and Cub into a battle of life and death. This is another case where Ogami is recognized and must fight against a warrior of exceptional talent in order to continue on his quest. This time, though, his enemy takes up the sword not out of a wish to safeguard the powers-that-be from an enemy who knows their secrets, but rather through the fear of a compassionate man that the unchecked violence of Lone Wolf and Cub will lead to far too much suffering and death. So far in the series this tale is probably the most explicit in its criticisms of the bushido way and the imbalance and violence that it spawns in society.

“The White Path Between the Rivers”: At last we get to witness all of the events that led Ogami Itto, the Kogi Kaishakunin (the Shogun’s own executioner), to adopt the way of the assassin and take to the road of meifumado with his baby son. A tale of murder, political intrigue, and vengeance that doesn’t leave one too surprised at the ruthless determination that Ogami adopts, and we get our first glance at his true enemy, the wily and resourceful  Yagyu Retsudo, secret leader of the powerful Yagyu clan.

“The Virgin and the Whore”: A young woman sold into prostitution kills her procurer after he attempts to rape her and ends up running for protection to Lone Wolf and Cub. Uncharacteristically, Ogami decides to intervene in the affairs of the ‘real world’ and protects her in the face of the threat of death and torture at the hands of her Yakuza masters. What could possibly cause Ogami to abandon the heartless path of meifumado merely to protect a young girl in trouble? Does his compassion perhaps have some other motive more true to the ruthless assassin we have come to know?

“Close Quarters”: Once again we see that Ogami has to beware of not only his targets, but also his employers. Yet again putting his son in danger’s path and using him as a tool to fool his victims, Ogami infiltrates the hideout of a group of rebellious samurai in a bid to halt their attempt at coercing their Han Governor into giving up on a newly instituted lumber scheme. As is often the case Ogami’s clients aren’t always happy to let the assassin leave once he fulfills his contract.

Also posted at Goodreads

The Wonderful World of Illusion and Reality

World of Wonders

Robertson Davies

Penguin

Reviewed by: Terry  

5 out of 5 stars

 

 My 5 star rating of this book really reflects my feelings on how I think Davies masterfully wrapped up the Deptford trilogy than it does an individual rating for this volume itself (don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but I think Fifth Business is the strongest, and best, volume in the trilogy). I guess I’d say that the individual books themselves range from around 3.5 to 4.5 stars, but the series overall is a five star read. As with all of the Deptford books World of Wonders is a personal memoir that gives us further insight, from yet another angle, into the lives and motivations of the characters we met in earlier volumes, most of whom hailed from the small Ontario town of Deptford. The ‘problems’ of the memoir style itself (the inescapable desire to make oneself into the hero, the inability to really understand the motivations and actions of others from one's limited point of view, the unreliability of looking back onto the past from the vantage of the present) are perhaps brought even more to the fore in this volume than they were in the others as we sit back and listen to the harrowing tale of the life of the mysterious magus Magnus Eisengrim, né Paul Dempster.

Magnus, along with our old friends Dunstan Ramsay and Leisl Vitzliputzli, is in the midst of starring in a film in which he is portraying the legendary conjurer Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. During the course of filming, and in a completely characteristic attempt to demonstrate his own personal greatness and provide a ‘sub-text’ to the film, Eisengrim decides to reveal to his friends and the filmmaker’s entourage the details of his life that led to his becoming, in his own words, the greatest conjurer that has ever lived. It is certainly not a story that bears any resemblance to the romantic ‘biography’ fashioned by Ramsay as a piece of propaganda for Eisengrim’s Soiree of Illusions. What we are instead presented with is a tale of abuse, loneliness, and fortitude as we see young Paul Dempster kidnapped from his awful home in Deptford only to have it replaced by an awful purgatory in the travelling carnival Wanless' World of Wonders.

Eisengrim (only the last in a long line of many aliases) is truly a ‘self-made man’. As he himself mentions, the treatment and conditions under which he lived from the age of ten onwards were of a kind that would either have killed him early or strengthened him beyond expectation. Luckily for Paul Dempster the latter proved to be the case. We see how a lonely, frightened boy could be transformed into the monster of ego and talent that was Magnus Eisengrim, and once again observe how the ripples of effect from one small action (the throwing of that fateful snowball on a cold winter day in Deptford in 1908) helped shape yet another life. Eisengrim, for all of his suffering, is not a sympathetic hero (though hero he is, in all of his outsized grandeur) and once again it is fascinating to see the same characters and actions from the previous volumes of the trilogy as viewed through a completely different lens. Luckily (in my opinion at least) we once again have the voice of Dunstan Ramsay, that clever old schoolmaster and saint-hunter, though in a decidedly minor key. Eisengrim is certainly not going to let anyone interfere with his own personal hagiography, but Ramsay’s caustic tongue is given some range of expression and his scholar’s eye is always on the look-out for ‘the truth’ (at least inasmuch as he is able to perceive it).

We discover in this tale the final pieces of the puzzle in the coming together of Magnus, Leisl and Ramsay and the production of that great work of illusion and art, the life of Magnus Eisengrim (as depicted in his own Soiree of Illusions), but I will leave the details of Paul Dempster’s ‘hero’s journey’ to you. Rest assured that the culmination of it is a thoroughly entertaining, one might even say enlightening, tale that takes us very far indeed from the environs of little Deptford but still manages to come full circle and comment on the series that was born there as a whole. Boy Staunton, that unchallenged giant and yet largely obscure figure in the lives of others, makes his final appearance and we can now look back on the many stories of the Stauntons, the Ramsays and the Dempsters in order to get a much fuller (though still never really complete) picture of those intertwined lives that affected each other in such significant ways. So, I would guess, do all of our lives (knowingly or unknowingly) intertwine and create an inextricable web of story and interdependence, whether we realize it or not. 

 

 Also posted at Goodreads

It's All my Dad's Fault

The Manticore

Robertson Davies

Penguin

Reviewed by: Terry  

4 out of 5 stars

 

I wavered between demoting this to a 3 star (really 3.5) and keeping it at a 4, but I think it deserves a 4 even if it isn’t near my favourite of Davies’ work and is, I think, the weakest of the Deptford trilogy. We were first given an account of the small town of Deptford, and the players who would be the major cast of characters in the series, in Fifth Business under the guiding hand of Dunstan Ramsay. Now we see things from a different angle: David Staunton, the hard drinking criminal lawyer son of Deptford’s golden boy magnate Boyd Staunton, has come to a crisis. His father has just been found dead, possibly murdered, and this is the last straw of the many pressures on his life. After shouting out the query “Who killed Boy Staunton?!” in the theatre (at Magnus Eisengrim’s performance of the Brazen Head no less) he hurriedly bustles himself off to Zurich for psychoanalysis. From here we get his account of not only his own life but the lives of his father and Dunstan Ramsay (amongst others) as they intersected with his.

Perhaps it can be viewed as a strength, but in some ways I think Davies’ decision to couch this novel in the form of the psychoanalytical treatment undergone by David was perhaps more of a weakness. I think I prefer when his Jungian obsessions come in through the side door as it were, and this blatant explication of the Jungian method was perhaps a tad on the heavy-handed side. David is also no Dunstan Ramsay. Ramsay was certainly not always sympathetic, but David is downright unpleasant: a drunk with daddy issues whose many decisions in life seem to have all been calculated responses to the perceived slights visited upon him by others (especially his family). I’m being a bit harsh perhaps, but David certainly won’t be winning any personality contests. He is, it must be said, unwaveringly honest (with others and himself) and certainly he grows, as is the point of psychoanalysis, so he is far from an uninteresting character. Thus we are treated to a ring-side seat of David Staunton’s life. We see more of Boy Staunton than was the case in Ramsay’s reminiscences though even here he is more of an overarching shadow cast across David’s life than a fully realized person (indeed the more I think of it, the more Boy Staunton seems to hold a very special place in the Deptford trilogy: he is a central figure to the action who looms large in the lives of all of the other characters, but we never see things from his perspective or get a full picture of him as a real person as opposed to a foil for others). Ramsay is amusingly portrayed as the somewhat eccentric schoolmaster as seen by a child who may also share a deeper relationship with the child than either of them would want to admit. It is often a pleasure of serial works to be able to see the same characters and situations detailed in another work from a different perspective and that pleasure is on full display here. Characters from Deptford, both major and minor, are portrayed either with more or less detail than before, but certainly show other sides of themselves than we had previously been privy to. They in essence become more fully human, not to mention subtly transformed, from their first appearance to us.

I must admit that I by far enjoyed the final section of the book the most where we encounter old friends and some resolutions to outstanding questions are provided. This is not to say that David’s memoir of his life, as recounted to his analyst, is without interest, but he is certainly a character who lacks the flair and je ne sais quoi of Dunstan Ramsay. This book is a good read (I haven’t yet come across a dud by Davies) but even though Davies’ books can stand alone quite well I definitely recommend that you start your journey through the streets of Deptford (and Toronto) with Fifth Business.

Also posted at Goodreads

That Long & Winding Demon Road

Lone Wolf & Cub, vol. 2: The Gateless Barrier

Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima

Dark Horse Comics

Reviewed by: Terry 

4 out of 5 stars

 

 The second volume of Dark Horse’s reprinting of the saga of Lone Wolf and Cub provides plenty more action along with some deeper examinations of the politics, philosophies, and spirituality of 17th century Japan as we follow Ogami Ittō and his son Daigorō on their path along the assassin’s road. The assassin and his son gain some more depth as their story continues and we see some elements of the foundation of their odd (though obviously close) relationship, but for me it remains the secondary characters that really shine and bring life and breath to Koike and Kojima’s epic. Politics and personal scores prove to be the dominating motives for those who hire Lone Wolf and Cub and, as always, Ogami continues relentlessly on his path, fulfilling his missions to the letter regardless of the fallout he leaves behind. It’s interesting to see that at the same time that this series seems to glorify the samurai way and certainly indulges almost joyfully in the gory bloodshed of combat, there are many tacit and outright critiques of the samurai lifestyle which is founded on the Bushido warrior philosophy. The stories in this volume are:

“Red Cat”: Ogami infiltrates a prison in order to find an arsonist who burned down another prison in which he had previously been incarcerated and subsequently escaped, the result of which was the seppuku of its former warden. But is there some deeper mystery to the events behind the warden’s death?

“The Coming of the Cold”: If we weren’t quite sure of it already we get to see just how far Ogami is prepared to go along the path of meifumado even if it means endangering, or even sacrificing, Daigorō. Lone Wolf and Cub are hired to go into the snowy reaches of the mountains to assassinate a Daimyo who is willing to put his own desires ahead of the safety of his clan. As with many of the stories both already seen and yet to come in these volumes the intertwined elements of the Bushido way and the internecine politics of the Shogunate are deeply woven into the background of this story.

“Tragic O-Sue”: An interesting ‘solo-adventure’ for Daigorō in which the loveable scamp (he really does come across as an adorable little guy notwithstanding his utter strangeness) confronts a bully and proves that he is truly his father’s son. The effects of Ogami’s words and actions, all of which Daigorō has witnessed, have proven to have had a lasting effect on the child. Perhaps his father is right and even a three-year-old boy can walk the path of meifumado. Luckily for us Daigorō still exhibits some more human traits as we see his reaction to both the pity and the plight of the lowest of the low in a samurai household.

“The Gateless Barrier”: When politics and faith collide in an impoverished Han, where only the word of a holy man keeps the peasants from revolt and his demands on the nobles would mean their financial ruin and loss of face, the leaders see only one option, but can even an assassin as renowned as Lone Wolf and Cub kill a Buddha? In order to succeed Ogami must find the gateless barrier, the path that leads to his own perfection and thus reach a state along the assassin’s road analogous to the spiritual purity of a monk who may have attained Buddha-hood. This was an intriguing story delving into the concepts of mu (nothingness, negativity, nonbeing), the perfection of one’s path, and the oneness (or is it nothingness?) of all things.

“Winter Flower”: A police investigation into two mysterious deaths: one the peculiar suicide of a prostitute who seems to have been more than she appeared, the other an assassination of a couple making love at which a winter flower was left as a token ultimately leads the investigator to Lone Wolf and Cub. What connects these two deaths to each other and what, if anything, can save a police investigator and his men from the unerring sword of Lone Wolf and Cub? 

 

 Also posted at Goodreads

Have Sword, Will Travel

Lone Wolf & Cub, vol. 1: The Assassin's Road

Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima

Dark Horse Comics

Reviewed by: Terry 

4 out of 5 stars

A ground-breaking manga first published in Japan in 1970, Koike & Kojima’s “Lone Wolf & Cub” series follows the exploits of a laconic master assassin whose most defining characteristic, aside from his near unstoppable lethality and ingenious tactics, is probably the fact that he wanders Tokugawa- era Japan pushing a baby cart containing his three-year-old son Daigorō. As a result they are known throughout the country as Lone Wolf and Cub, a mysterious assassin ‘team’ who, for 500 ryu (gold pieces) will kill anyone so long as all details about the victim and circumstances are provided. The series became a pop-culture phenomenon in Japan, spawning six movies (they’re quite good), four plays (thanks Wikipedia!), a television series, and numerous rip-offs and homages. This volume is part of the reprint series published by Dark Horse comics starting in 2000 and contains nine of the adventures of Lone Wolf and Cub.

If you’re going to read this series you should be prepared for a few things: graphic violence involving samurai combat and assassinations is prevalent as is (usually violent) sex scenes and nudity…so not one for the kiddies. Also keep in mind that the basic premise behind each of the stories is usually a depiction of the various assassinations undertaken, and invariably completed, by Lone Wolf and Cub. There can, as a result, be an apparent sameness to many of the stories once the novelty of a new victim being dispatched in a unique way loses some of its shine. Keep in mind, however, that as the stories build we begin to get glimpses into the life and motives that drive Ogami Ittō (the eventually revealed name of the assassin) and each individual ‘adventure’ starts to tie in to the larger story arc of his tale of loss and vengeance. You will also be treated to some wonderful artwork and storytelling depicting both the stunning natural beauty and convincing historical details of 17th century Japan.

One thing to note is the way in which, while we come to learn a lot about both Ogami and Daigorō as the stories progress, in many ways it is the secondary characters who really shine in these stories. Even though they are usually people we will never see again, often because they don’t survive the issue, they really do come to life on the pages and often resonate far beyond the confines of their individual stories. Their diversity is also impressive as they exemplify a truly varied range of characters, lifestyles, and outlooks within the Tokugawa-era Japan that Koike & Kojima bring to such vivid life on the pages. One final element to note: Ogami is an assassin who has willingly ostracized himself from normal human society and he acts accordingly, thus we do not have the somewhat dubious paradox of the ‘good guy assassin’. Ogami is certainly often sympathetic, and when he is able to do so he is often more than willing to help those in need, but he is first and foremost an assassin with an agenda of his own that overrides all other concerns and thus he will always finish the job, whether we think his victim deserves their end or not.

“Son for Hire, Sword for Hire”: Koike & Kojima drop us in media res as we are observe a secret meeting between a nobleman and an unknown assassin. His assignment is to kill a high ranking noble who schemes to gain control of his Han as well as ‘the Guardian Eight of Mibu‘ who defend him. Ogami uses both his skill with weapons and tricky planning to earn his gold as he faces off against the group of famed warriors that guard his mark, a fairly typical scenario for LW&C. We see that Ogami plays the long game even in this very first story as he safeguards himself against not only his opponents, but also his employer.

“A Father Knows his Child’s Heart, as Only a Child Can Know his Father’s”: We learn that Ogami is truly single-minded in his devotion to his path of vengeance, even to the point of using his own son as a tool in his missions, whether that be as bait or in other ways. As far as Ogami is concerned both he and Daigorō truly are united in their endeavour and both father and son “walk the path of meifumado”, or Hell on Earth.

“From North to South, From West to East:” Ogami uses his martial skill to despatch many assailants, but proves that it is his strategic and tactical decisions that truly make him formidable. A child once again proves the key to Ogami completing his mission, though this time it isn't Daigorō.

“Baby Cart on the River Styx”: Ogami and Daigorō are caught between corrupt government officials, a shift in local power, double crosses, and an imminent gang war between rival Yakuza clans. I have to admit that I didn't fully follow the intricacies of the plot in this one, maybe they got the story from Raymond Chandler?

“Suiō School Zanbatō”: Ogami again uses Daigorō in his plans, this time to draw a samurai into a fight he can't win. When his victim’s friends look for vengeance Ogami utilizes the secret of his Suiō School Zanbatō technique to even the odds.

“Waiting for the Rains”: Ogami uses Daigorō as a way to secretly transport both instructions and payment from his current employer and then shows how his thorough research into both his victims and his employers leads him to success.  Even though only drawn with minimal strokes the background story of two of the secondary characters revolving around love deferred and promises kept even in the face of death was pretty striking.

“Eight Gates of Deceit”: Ogami proves his martial skill as he faces off against eight famed female assassins and then proves his superior strategy and forethought in the midst of a wily trap.

“Wings to the Bird, Fangs to the Beast”: Ogami and Daigorō come across a village famed for its hot springs spa that has become overrun by a gang of rōnin where they meet a hooker with the proverbial heart of gold. This seemed like a pretty light issue with not much to it aside from the proverbial fight and a partial reveal about Ogami’s background.

“The Assassin’s Road”: The final story of the volume gives us a flashback glimpse into the events that led both Ogami Ittō and his son Daigorō to choose the path of meifumado and head out on the ‘Demon’s Road’ of assassination. Schemes at the highest levels of government have targeted Ogami and his family and only his cleverness allows him to escape his most dangerous foes with his life.

What can I say? LW&C is truly a classic of the genre and as long as you can stomach some significant scenes of violence and a ‘hero’ whose gray shades significantly into black at times, then I highly recommend it. Especially excellent for its depiction of a historical era and society so different from what we know that still manages to bring the characters it presents to vivid life.


Also posted at Goodreads