Author: Barry Reese

THE ADVENTURES OF DOC SAVAGE
Radio Archives
2010
$24.98
ISBN 978-1610815000

A Week in Hell
Written by J. Walt Layne
ISBN 145647958X
113 pages

This was my introduction to the work of J. Walt Layne and it was an interesting experience. A Week in Hell is billed as the first book in the Champion City series and it stars a young cop named Dicke who quickly gets in over his head when he’s called out to the White Walls Tavern to investigate a bar brawl. He ends up getting involved with the saucy barmaid on duty and becomes the target for killers along the way. This is written in the hardboiled style, though the language is very contemporary and extremely adult.

The plot itself is fairly predictable fare but I’m okay with that — as a pulp fan, I understand the desire and need to incorporate certain tropes into the work. For me, it’s more about the presentation than the novelty. So how does this book fare in terms of presentation? Honestly, it’s a mixed bag. There are passages here that are absolutely wonderful, capturing the dirty, sweaty nature of the characters perfectly… but then there are phrases that fall past “hardboiled” and straight into “vulgar.”

Now, folks who know me are aware that I don’t mind extreme violence, profanity or sexual description (hell, I used all to the extremes in my slasher horror novel)… but there’s a way to do it that doesn’t descend into self-parody and there are times here when I feel the author goes a bit too far. For instance, this is how the female lead of the story is introduced to us:

“What’ll ya have,” she purred in a seductive voice that screamed p*$$y.

Note that I tried to avoid offending any sensibilities of the All Pulp crowd in the above sentence. I get what he was going for — he wanted us to know that she was seductive and maybe a little bit loose in her morals. But I think it could have been phrased in a way that would have been both “hardboiled” and not as crass. I read that sentence to my wife and she nearly went ballistic over it.

There are other examples that I could have used but that one was useful because it occurs on the second page of the story. It’s moments like that which stopped me cold as a reader and took me out of the narrative. Even though I’m a writer myself, I shouldn’t be constantly going over in my head different ways the author could have phrased things.

Despite that recurring problem with the book, I did find myself curious about what was happening and whether or not the two main characters would end up together. I won’t spoil the ending but it fits well with the hardboiled genre, though it wasn’t the ending I was hoping for.

Overall, I think that this author has tremendous talent and I am curious to see what comes next in the series. There is certainly room for growth, however, and I’m hopeful that Mr. Layne will take steps to improve on his weaknesses. From the news release I’ve seen, he has a previous novel to his credit (Frank Testimony) and I’m going to seek it out before passing final judgment on his ability.

3.0 stars out of 5.0

Battle for L.A.
By C.J. Henderson & Mark Sparacio
Moonstone Books
ISBN 978-1-933076-85-0
84 pages, $9.95

This is a key book for Moonstone, since it’s a major team-up between a handful of the “Return of the Originals” characters: G-8, The Phantom Detective, Domino Lady, The Black Bat and Secret Agent X. I’m pleased to say that overall it’s a success but there are several flaws that keep it from being a classic.

First of all, let’s address one thing: I don’t consider this a “graphic novel” despite what the back cover says. A better term might be “an illustrated novella” since this is not a novel in comic book form. This is text, with many black-and-white illustrations scattered throughout. There are not illustrations on every page and there is no panel-by-panel sequential storytelling. I don’t mind paying $9.95 for 84 pages of story and art in a graphic novel format but I’m not keen on paying $9.95 for what (at best) would be termed a novella.

The back cover trumpets that the events contained therein are “based on true historical events” that are only now being declassified. I was immediately confused since I assumed the “Battle for L.A.” was in reference to the Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942. But the back cover says the story is set in February 1945, so I guess it just took the 1942 incident as inspiration for this story?

Anyway, Secret Agent X is badly injured while investigating a threat of supernatural origins and in his stead a group consisting of The Black Bat, The Phantom Detective, The Domino Lady and G-8 are assembled to pick up the mystery and resolve it. The real star of the show is The Phantom Detective, who gets most of the best scenes and is crucial to the wrap-up of the whole affair. I really enjoyed how the character was written and it’s inspired me to seek out more stories featuring him. The Black Bat is consistent with the Moonstone version of the character but didn’t really feel like the original incarnation — which I’m sure was the point. The Domino Lady doesn’t get a whole lot to do, aside from looking ravishing, but she’s a pleasant character to add to the mix. G-8 felt superfluous to me.

The art varies from beautiful to “why in the world did they choose to depict *that* scene?”, with most of the pictures falling on the “beautiful” side of things.

My biggest complaint would be that the length of the story forced several things to be compressed. We have a lot of buildup to The Phantom Detective infiltrating a meeting but almost of the events are told to us in exposition after the fact — and the ending consists of a big battle with the monster, then a quick wrap up of the whole thing where we don’t even see the main characters.

Do I recommend it? Yes. But with just a few differences, it could have been great.

I give it 3 out of 5.

DRACULA LIVES by Joshua Reynolds
2010
ISBN 978-1452817453

This is one odd book — while the cover and title would lead you to assume you’re about to embark on a Hammer Horror-style vampire story, most of the book is actually an homage to classic spy novels. The main character, Mr. Cream, is hired to locate and acquire a casket that he eventually learns contains the remains of Dracula. I’ll be up front and say that espionage novels are not generally my cup of tea. I’ve read the original James Bond stories and found them to be a bore. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. does not intrigue me. So Josh was attempting to mesh a genre that I don’t care about (espionage) with one that I do (horror).

Cream comes across as a very vividly described character and the author does a tremendous job of conveying who this individual is and how he behaves. Cream is so well defined that the reader feels like they can predict how he will behave in different situations, which is a credit to the author.

The strength of the story — and the greatest weakness — comes from the fact that the book is dialogue driven. When this works, the playful back and forth between characters seems like an elaborate verbal dance. Unfortunately, there are times in the book where it feels like one talking heads piece after another, occasionally broken by someone getting shot. Even during some scenes that I was enjoying, it was in the back of my head that I was growing a bit weary of people sitting in chairs, facing one another, showing me how clever they can be.

This is the first book in a proposed trilogy and I found the first book interesting enough to be curious where it will go from here but I did find it a flawed work.

I give it a 3 out of 5.

This book is a bit of an odd beast. It’s set in between the first and second trilogies in the Sentinels series and is comprised of a couple of shorts from the creator (Van Allen Plexico), a bunch of short stories by other authors set in the Sentinels Universe, an essay on the origin and development of the series and an Official Handbook of sorts to the various characters. As with any anthology, there are stories that work better than others. I can honestly say that there are no absolute stinkers in the bunch, though there are certainly stories that didn’t really click with me for whatever reason. There is also art sprinkled throughout the book and the vast majority of it features Pulsar (which is fine with me, as she’s my favorite character in the Sentinels universe). The piece on page 41 by Gary Bedell is my favorite and I wish he’d contributed more than just that one image. My favorite stores in the book were: “Best Laid Plans” by Wayne Skiver, “The Camping Trip” by Ron Fortier, “The Road to Hell” by Bobby Nash and “The Adventures of Captain Cook” by David Wright. That last one is a really odd piece but I found myself quite interested in the “behind the scenes” storyline dealing with the Captain Cook series. As for Van’s two ‘official’ contributions, the second one was a lot of fun but the first one didn’t really impress me. There were some cute moments but it kind of felt like a “fill-in” or “inventory” story. I think I get what Van was going for — something lighter than the usual Sentinels fare but I thought some of the humorous moments missed the mark. “Future Shocked” was a major improvement, however. Actually, what I enjoyed more than anything was “The Making of the Sentinels” which summarizes how Van came up with the core concepts and developed them. I’ve always enjoyed those kinds of things and this piece was more than a little inspiring.

In summary, is this an essential piece of the Sentinels saga? Eh, I don’t know. It is fun, though and if you’re a fan of the Sentinels Universe, I’d recommend it. I would NOT recommend that anyone start their journey into the Sentinels universe with this book, however. Start with the original trilogy and if you enjoy that, try Alternate Visions.

THE SPIRIT: ANGEL SMERTI TP
Written by MARK SHULTZ & DAVID HINE
Art and cover by MORITAT
In this first collection of the new SPIRIT series, an international crime syndicate wants to help Central City’s villain, The Octopus, consolidate control over the underworld. They’ve offered The Octopus the services of one of their finest assassins to take The Spirit’s breath away for good. Collecting THE SPIRIT #1-7.
On sale MARCH 16 • 168 pg, FC, $17.99 US

DOC SAVAGE #11

Written by IVAN BRANDON & BRIAN AZZARELLO
Art by NIC KLEIN
Cover by J.G. JONES
Doc Savage’s adventure in the war-torn Zone races toward its unbelievable finish, as the secrets of the Two Who Are One – and Ronan McKenna’s disappearance five years ago – are revealed! But Doc’s discoveries may have set in motion a terrible fate for the Zone’s innocent inhabitants!
On sale FEBRUARY 9 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

THE SPIRIT #11
Written by DAVID HINE
Art by MORITAT
Cover by LADRÖNN
Has the Octopus gone soft? New York godfather Shonder Zeev thinks so, and he intends to cut in on Central City’s action and dismantle the truce the Octopus has with Commissioner Dolan – by sending an unlikely assassin to end Dolan himself!
On sale FEBRUARY 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Press Release from Wild Cat Books:

RABBIT HEART by Barry Reese shocked audiences upon its release in February 2010, mixing sex and violence in unpredictable fashion. The story of a young woman named Fiona Chapman and her descent into a world of madness and murder, RABBIT HEART has garnered praise from sources as varied as Ron Fortier and Percival Constantine.

And now comes word of not just one but two future sequels, one scheduled for a 2011 release and the other to follow in 2012. The second book is entitled KILLER SMILE and will feature a cover by noted artist Ed Mironiuk. Volume three is currently untitled but will feature a cover by Jason Levesque, who did RABBIT HEART’S haunting front image. All three books will eventually be collected into a giant omnibus edition.