Books and Comics I Read in May 2023

More comics than books this month.

In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes (New York Review of Books, 2017) Originally published in 1947.

Last month I read Karl Edward Wagner’s short story collection In a Lonely Place. In his afterword he mentions that one of the inspirations for the title came from the crime noir book by Dorothy B. Hughes. It’s been on my to-read list for a while, so I decided now was a good time to read it. 

Dix Steele is an ex-vet in post-World War II Los Angeles. He misses the war and likes to roam the city at night. He reconnects with Brub, an old friend from the service who is now a police detective investigating recent murders of women by strangulation. Dix is intelligent and can be charming, but he’s also impulsive, lies easily, and thinks very highly of himself. He believes he can get away with anything. 

I liked the writing from the beginning, but it took me a couple chapters to get into the story. The book is often described as a page turner and while I agree, I didn’t feel that way until I got further in. I sped through the last half. This book is dark, atmospheric, and tense, and I agree with the blurb on the back that describes it as “Written with controlled elegance…” 

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Everyman’s Library, 2018) Originally published in 1929.

“Young men of iron. Young? None of us is more than twenty. But young? Young men? That was a long time ago.” 

Based on the experiences of the author, this classic novel follows a German soldier during WWI as he faces the realities of war, not only in the trenches but also at home while on leave. There are so many moving passages. Beautifully written but heartbreaking. A masterpiece. 

Comics & Manga:

Free Comic Book Day: Conan the Barbarian by Jim Zub, Roberto de la Torre, and Jose Villarrubia (Titan, 2023)

A story told in the style of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant with fantastic art reminiscent of John Buscema. A great introduction to Conan the Barbarian. There’s also an essay which includes art by Rafael Kayanan depicting nineteen of Robert E. Howard’s characters. 

Immortal Hulk Vol. 10: Of Hell and Earth by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett (Marvel Comics, 2021)

This volume collects the concluding chapters of the Immortal Hulk run. Amazing art, superhero mayhem, and philosophical musings. 

What started out as a supernatural horror thriller in the earlier volumes ends up becoming a philosophical study on the meaning of life. I appreciate what the author was going for and as interesting as that sounds, it didn’t hold up. In the end it winds up suffering from the usual problem superhero comics have, things just get reset in the end.

It was a wild ride, but I think the first half of the run was much stronger. 

Jonah Hex Classic Tales: Welcome to Paradise by John Albano, Michael Fliesher, Tony DeZuniga, Doug Wildey, Noly Panaligan, George Moliterni, and José Luis Garcia-López (DC Comics, 2010)

“He was a hero to some, a villain to others… and wherever he rode people spoke his name in whispers. He had no friends, this Jonah Hex, but he did have two companions: one was the smell of gunsmoke…the other, death itself…”

This volume collects nine stories about bounty hunter Jonah Hex. The first three are written by co-creator John Albano. The rest are by Michael Fleisher who took over from Albano and wrote Jonah Hex for years. The Albano stories were okay but I really enjoyed the ones by Fleisher. He adds more depth to the characters and I found his stories more interesting.

Four of the stories are illustrated by co-creator Tony DeZuniga. His scratchy style fits well. Other stories are illustrated by Doug Wildey, Noly Panaligan, George (Jorge) Moliterni, and José Luis Garcia-López, who also provides the cover. Wildey is a favorite of mine and always does well with westerns. Panaligan and Moliterni are new to me. Their artwork is fantastic and fits really well. This was my first time reading a Garcia-López western. Until now I’ve only read his superhero work. He’s excellent as always, with dynamic figure work and detailed backgrounds. 

Overall, a great introduction to Jonah Hex.

Space Battleship Yamato: The Classic Collection by Leiji Matsumoto (Seven Seas, 2019)

This volume collects all of Leiji Matsumoto’s Space Battleship Yamato (known as Starblazers in the US) manga adaptations together. It’s an exciting space opera with beautiful artwork.

Part One:

Chapters 1 - 7 (243 pages): These chapters adapt the first TV series, The Quest for Iscandar.

In the year 2199 Earth has been attacked by planet Gamilas and mankind has moved underground. Earth’s only hope of survival is the Space Battleship Yamato, a ship equipped with advanced weapons and a faster than light drive. Its mission is to travel to Iscandar, obtain a device that can heal the Earth, and return before the Earth’s destruction. The story moves at breakneck speed and doesn’t follow the series exactly. It suffers a little from having events compressed or rushed at times. 

Part Two:

Chapters 8 - 20 (369 pages): These chapters adapt the beginning of the second storyline, The Comet Empire. 

As a new threat approaches Earth, the Yamato is decommissioned and scheduled to be scrapped. Matsumoto shines here. He takes his time telling the story and the artwork is gorgeous. The level of detail goes up and Matsumoto makes much more use of wider panels, full page panels, and double page spreads. They really help give the feeling of being in an enormous command center or in the sea of space. It’s all very cinematic. 

Unfortunately, this story is left unfinished as Matsumoto became too busy with his Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 manga. 

Part Three:

Eternal Story of Jura (35 pages): A side-story that takes place sometime during the mission to Iscandar. It was originally published between the first and second series adaptations. 

As much as I like this collection, I feel that there is something missing, and I don’t mean the never completed Comet Empire chapters. This collection would have benefited from an essay giving some history and background information about this manga and Leiji Matsumoto’s career. At the very least they could have included a paragraph explaining to readers why the Comet Empire storyline is left unfinished, but I feel an essay would have been best. 

Watching Starblazers is what got me into anime and manga, and the series is my favorite anime of all time. Although the Comet Empire story is incomplete, as a fan it’s nice to have all of Matsumoto’s Yamato work under one cover. 

On to June

I'm thinking of reading some westerns for Michael K. Vaughn's BookTube "June on the Range" reading event. We'll see.

Old Time Radio, Lights Out, and Arch Oboler

I’m reading Danse Macabre, Stephen King’s overview of horror fiction in various forms of media and I found the chapter on radio interesting. I like old time radio, but it’s been a while since I listened to anything. I’ve mostly listened to episodes of The Shadow, but also a few westerns like Gunsmoke with Robert Conrad, The Lone Ranger, and Have Gun Will Travel. 

The shows that King discusses sounded pretty interesting, so I decided to give them a listen. I was able to find them included in various Old Time Radio podcasts as well as on YouTube. The length varied from thirty minutes to just a few minutes. 

“You Died Last Night” from Suspense April 1, 1962

The narrator has to convince an alien not to destroy the Earth. Not bad. It reminded me of an old Jack Kirby story from one of Marvel’s monster reprint comics that I read like crazy as a kid. 

When King mentions this episode, he says, “...or the scream at the end of that classic Suspense episode, “You Died Last Night.” But when I listened to the episode, I discovered that it doesn't end with a scream. I believe he got that episode mixed up with one of the Lights Out episodes he mentions later in the chapter (discussed below) because one of those does end in a scream.

“Mars is Heaven” from Dimension X January 7, 1951

King said that he listened to this around age four and that it was his first experience with horror. When men from Earth land on Mars they are surprised to find a town from Earth inhabited by friends and family members who have passed away. Of course, things are not as they seem. It’s a well-done adaptation of the short story by Ray Bradbury.  

King spends the last part of the chapter discussing the work of Arch Oboler who took over the Lights Out radio show in 1936. He has this to say about Oboler:

“...but no discussion of the phenomenon of radio terror, no matter how brief, would be complete without some mention of the genre’s prime auteur — not Orson Welles, but Arch Oboler, the first playwright to have his own national radio series, the chilling Lights Out. 

I listened to the two episodes King reviews, “Chicken Heart” and “A Day at the Dentist” as well as two other episodes that I read were popular at the time. Wow. 

“Cat Wife” from Lights Out June 17, 1936

This episode stars Boris Karloff as a man with a cruel wife. After she tells him that she only married him for his money he accuses her of being a cat. A transformation occurs and he has to deal with the consequences. At thirty minutes it felt a little long (the others below are all much shorter) but it was so bizarre that it held my interest. From what I could find online it was voted as one of the most popular episodes and was often rebroadcast. 

"Chicken Heart” from Lights Out March 10, 1937

A chicken heart in a lab begins to grow with no end in sight. It’s like The Blob but done in about eight minutes with a darker ending. 

“A Day at the Dentist” from Lights Out March 10, 1937

A man with a toothache arrives at a dentist’s office but something isn’t as it seems. A dark story with some dark humor. This one was like a E.C horror comic

“The Dark” from Lights Out December 29, 1937

A policeman and a doctor are called to a house and find something horrific. This one was the spookiest and had a strong H. P. Lovecraft vibe to it.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed the heck out of Oboler’s Lights Out episodes. I think that the shorter episodes are stronger but all of them are a step up from other old radio programs. King points out:

“Because he rarely overdid the dialogue-as-description device (as did the creators of The Shadow and Inner Sanctum), Oboler was able to use the natural turn of the mind toward the morbid and the pessimistic to create some of the most outrageous effects ever paraded before the quaking ears of a mass audience.”

The show and the way it’s written and presented is still a product of its time but it's at a different level from that of the other shows. Also, the stories are so original and hold up pretty well (so far) considering that they were written in the late 1930s.  Oboler comes across as the Rod Serling of radio to me. I’m looking forward to listening to more episodes of Lights Out and anything else he’s written.