I'm going to take a break here from my reviews of Robert E. Howard stories, and off the Comics, and off movies, I'm going to take a break from aspects of this blog I enjoy, to dive back into my Screaming Ramble of the would've, should've, could've of space explorations.
I realize that is what this blog was supposed to be all about, but I found that ranting about why we haven't sent humans back to the moon and beyond and the politics around all of that, well, it was depressing me so I escaped back into stories and started reviewing them, don't worry I will be back to reviewing shortly, but I came across an item on io9 that got me back into my old habits.
As I mentioned in some of my early blogs I like Charles Bolden as the nominee for the next NASA administrator. I feel he has the technical background, political connections, and inspiring oratory skills needed to take NASA out of Low Earth Orbit and back into "Manned Space Exploration". What waits to be seen is if he has the vision to do this, or will he cater to the current administration and put all of the money and resources into studying global warming. As I have said before all the research into "global warming", or "climate change" ain't going to amount to crap when and asteroid plows through the atmosphere and unleashes a billion mega joules of energy that devastates the planet and destroys not only the humans that inhabit the Earth, but every other living thing. Hm, maybe if we had a permanent presence in space and had space ships that could have intercepted the asteroid and pushed it out of the way (or some other means) we would still be around.
We shall see if he has the vision needed.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Review | Conan The Cimmerian #2 Dark Horse Comics
Issue #2 of Conan The Cimmerian by Dark Horse Commics written by Timothy Truman, the artist is Tomas Giorello and Richard Corben, colorist Jose? Villarrubia, letterer Richard Starkings and Comicraft, cover artist this go around is Frank Cho, Dave Stewart as the cover colorist.
The story continues where issue #1 left off. Conan is listening to the tale of his grandfather, Connacht, as told by the hermit. The tale has Connacht taking care of the two boys he rescued, and stopping at a farm house during their travels. During the night the farmer questions Connacht at the end of a pitch fork, Connacht easily disarms the farmer, and agrees to help him look for his missing daughter.
Connacht finds the bloody remains of the farmer?s daughter and is attacked by a huge man like wolf, he fights with it, and is about ready to be killed by the beast when another one comes in and defends him but looses an eye in the fight. Connacht is able to get the better of the first wolf that attacked him and cuts the beast in half at the waist. The beast turns into one of the boys who Connacht had rescued the other wolf turns into the other boy, but is now missing an eye.
The story jumps back to Conan who takes the rapping from the hermits face and realizes he is the boy his grandfather rescued years ago. The hermit goes out to be with his brothers the wolves and leaves Conan looking out onto a frozen wind swept valley.
The story arc was ok. It gave some back story about Conan?s grandfather Connacht, showing that he has a heart for kids in harms way, and is a competent fighter. It also show that there are werewolves in Conan?s world. But overall the back story about Connacht tells us very little one how it makes Conan who he is.
The art work is truly the best part of this issue and the story arc in general. The vistas displayed are sparse, desolate, foreboding and cold, relaying the true experience of living in this world. Corben?s artwork is easily identified and gives the gritty look of history in the telling of Connacht.
All in all I would give this a 4.2 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale. I encourage anyone that hasn?t started reading this series to start, and to pick up the previous issues, particularly issue #0. The rolling banner overhead takes you to where you can order the issues through Amazon.
The story continues where issue #1 left off. Conan is listening to the tale of his grandfather, Connacht, as told by the hermit. The tale has Connacht taking care of the two boys he rescued, and stopping at a farm house during their travels. During the night the farmer questions Connacht at the end of a pitch fork, Connacht easily disarms the farmer, and agrees to help him look for his missing daughter.
Connacht finds the bloody remains of the farmer?s daughter and is attacked by a huge man like wolf, he fights with it, and is about ready to be killed by the beast when another one comes in and defends him but looses an eye in the fight. Connacht is able to get the better of the first wolf that attacked him and cuts the beast in half at the waist. The beast turns into one of the boys who Connacht had rescued the other wolf turns into the other boy, but is now missing an eye.
The story jumps back to Conan who takes the rapping from the hermits face and realizes he is the boy his grandfather rescued years ago. The hermit goes out to be with his brothers the wolves and leaves Conan looking out onto a frozen wind swept valley.
The story arc was ok. It gave some back story about Conan?s grandfather Connacht, showing that he has a heart for kids in harms way, and is a competent fighter. It also show that there are werewolves in Conan?s world. But overall the back story about Connacht tells us very little one how it makes Conan who he is.
The art work is truly the best part of this issue and the story arc in general. The vistas displayed are sparse, desolate, foreboding and cold, relaying the true experience of living in this world. Corben?s artwork is easily identified and gives the gritty look of history in the telling of Connacht.
All in all I would give this a 4.2 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale. I encourage anyone that hasn?t started reading this series to start, and to pick up the previous issues, particularly issue #0. The rolling banner overhead takes you to where you can order the issues through Amazon.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
News Flash ---- Alternative Coordinates Publishes Summer 2009 edition
Alternative Coordinates
Here is a quick blast to let you know that one of the best Science Fiction E-zines has published their second issue. Alternative Coordinates released Summer 2009 issue a few days ago. As I have said before and I will say again, this is the fertile ground which will produce the next generation of authors to go down in history. In these fledgling e-zines that take risks and are not biased towards publishing in large part, "established authors", will discover the next Robert E. Howard's, Heinleins, Asimov's and such.
Here is the list of who they have to offer this time;
Tomb by Z. S. Adani
The London Incident by Jennifer R. Povey
The Heart Of The Dragon by Brian Dolton
The Alien Embrace - part 1 by Frances Pauli
A Hissing Sound by Neil James Hudson
Atlantic in Shadow by Benjamin Farthing
A new aspect to the E-zine is that the editor Jeff Cochran has added the ability to download the issue in PDF format, I'm a huge fan of this and really enjoy the ability to print or not to print. Additionally the cover can be down loaded as wall paper, in several different formats.
I'll review as I get the chance to read.
Here is a quick blast to let you know that one of the best Science Fiction E-zines has published their second issue. Alternative Coordinates released Summer 2009 issue a few days ago. As I have said before and I will say again, this is the fertile ground which will produce the next generation of authors to go down in history. In these fledgling e-zines that take risks and are not biased towards publishing in large part, "established authors", will discover the next Robert E. Howard's, Heinleins, Asimov's and such.
Here is the list of who they have to offer this time;
Tomb by Z. S. Adani
The London Incident by Jennifer R. Povey
The Heart Of The Dragon by Brian Dolton
The Alien Embrace - part 1 by Frances Pauli
A Hissing Sound by Neil James Hudson
Atlantic in Shadow by Benjamin Farthing
A new aspect to the E-zine is that the editor Jeff Cochran has added the ability to download the issue in PDF format, I'm a huge fan of this and really enjoy the ability to print or not to print. Additionally the cover can be down loaded as wall paper, in several different formats.
I'll review as I get the chance to read.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Review | Conan The Cimmerian #1 Dark Horse Comics
Ok here is the real first issue, which is #1, not a psych of #0 but a real first issue of Conan The Cimmerian by Dark Horse Commics. It is written by Timothy Truman, the artist is Tomas Giorello and Richard Corben, colorist Jose? Villarrubia, letterer Richard Starkings and Comicraft, cover artist this go around is Dave Cho, Dave Stewart as the cover colorist, and if you happen to have the alternate cover the artist is Joe Kubert.
This starts up where the last issue ended. Conan is helped by an old hermit, and once in his cave he begins to the story of Conan?s grandfather. The story centers around two boys he rescues from being murdered by their tribe. In addition to the story of the two boys, the reader learns more about Conan?s grandfather, particularly that he was not from the North originally, but has wandered all around the world. His grandfather is a hunter, and a very adept hunter, but nothing on the level of Conan. The art work is good; I still don?t count it as being exceptional, but good none the less. The art sets the mood of the story very well; it is somber and depressing, like the land the story is taking place in. However; the art does not change when the mood of the story changes.
I give this issue a 4.2 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale.
This starts up where the last issue ended. Conan is helped by an old hermit, and once in his cave he begins to the story of Conan?s grandfather. The story centers around two boys he rescues from being murdered by their tribe. In addition to the story of the two boys, the reader learns more about Conan?s grandfather, particularly that he was not from the North originally, but has wandered all around the world. His grandfather is a hunter, and a very adept hunter, but nothing on the level of Conan. The art work is good; I still don?t count it as being exceptional, but good none the less. The art sets the mood of the story very well; it is somber and depressing, like the land the story is taking place in. However; the art does not change when the mood of the story changes.
I give this issue a 4.2 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Review | Conan The Cimmerian #0 Dark Horse Comics
The first issue, which is #0, of Conan The Cimmerian by Dark Horse Commics, is a special issue. It is written by Timothy Truman, the artist is Tomas Giorello (who also did the cover), colorist Jose? Villarrubia, letterer Richard Starkings and Comicraft, and Dave Stewart as the cover colorist.
I must say I really enjoyed this first special issue. Here come the spoilers, I?m going to tell you how the comic is set up and just about everything about, so if you just want to pick it up and read it, then stop reading this review. Otherwise read on.
The comic shows Conan returning to Cimmeria some years after he had left and traveled the south lands. He is attacked by a group of Vanir, and easily kills them. This would be an incredibly short story if not for one thing; the battle is played out with the back drop of Cimmeria being explained by the poem written by Robert E. Howard, ?Cimmeria.? Each page has a few words from the poem or large sections in entirety, the backdrop is somberly depicted to be harsh and cold, and a feeling of despair lurks on these pages. The artist changes style and color brightens when the poem tells of Conan?s travels, thereby changing the mood. I am very pleased that the authors and Dark Horse, preferred to bring Conan?s world to light by using the full text of his poem ?Cimmeria?, thereby rooting the series on Howards? model instead of just their own interpretation,.
To further link this comic to Howard, the first page of the comic shows a small room with a desk an old manual typewriter and a few issues of Weird Tales sitting on it. A few other items lead the reader to enter not Conan?s world but the world of Robert E. Howard. Boxing gloves hang on the wall; a book on the crusades sits on the desk. These are pieces of Howard?s life that made him who he was and coalesced in his mind that which would become the most famous Barbarian of all times, Conan. Once again at the end of the comic, the author and artist transitions from the world of Conan back to that of Howards Texas with a depiction of him writing the poem ?Cimmeria? on a wind swept Texas hill about Frederisksburg.
Lastly on the letters page is a short piece called ?The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob; True Stories from the Life of Robert E. Howard.? Here is text taken from Howard?s correspondence with Clark Ashton Smith, regarding the writing of Conan.
As I said I am pleased with this comic and the background it provides on Conan?s creator Robert E. Howard. The art and color are very much in keeping with the mood one gets in reading the words of ?Cimmeria?. If there is one complaint it is with the artists rendering of Conan himself, which to me looks to be to much caveman like and not enough intelligent barbarian. When I read the description of Conan I see some of the noble savage, but more to the point I see a very intelligent brooding fighting machine, of supreme confidence, neither arrogant nor whimsical. All in all I would give this a 5.0 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale.
I must say I really enjoyed this first special issue. Here come the spoilers, I?m going to tell you how the comic is set up and just about everything about, so if you just want to pick it up and read it, then stop reading this review. Otherwise read on.
The comic shows Conan returning to Cimmeria some years after he had left and traveled the south lands. He is attacked by a group of Vanir, and easily kills them. This would be an incredibly short story if not for one thing; the battle is played out with the back drop of Cimmeria being explained by the poem written by Robert E. Howard, ?Cimmeria.? Each page has a few words from the poem or large sections in entirety, the backdrop is somberly depicted to be harsh and cold, and a feeling of despair lurks on these pages. The artist changes style and color brightens when the poem tells of Conan?s travels, thereby changing the mood. I am very pleased that the authors and Dark Horse, preferred to bring Conan?s world to light by using the full text of his poem ?Cimmeria?, thereby rooting the series on Howards? model instead of just their own interpretation,.
To further link this comic to Howard, the first page of the comic shows a small room with a desk an old manual typewriter and a few issues of Weird Tales sitting on it. A few other items lead the reader to enter not Conan?s world but the world of Robert E. Howard. Boxing gloves hang on the wall; a book on the crusades sits on the desk. These are pieces of Howard?s life that made him who he was and coalesced in his mind that which would become the most famous Barbarian of all times, Conan. Once again at the end of the comic, the author and artist transitions from the world of Conan back to that of Howards Texas with a depiction of him writing the poem ?Cimmeria? on a wind swept Texas hill about Frederisksburg.
Lastly on the letters page is a short piece called ?The Adventures of Two-Gun Bob; True Stories from the Life of Robert E. Howard.? Here is text taken from Howard?s correspondence with Clark Ashton Smith, regarding the writing of Conan.
As I said I am pleased with this comic and the background it provides on Conan?s creator Robert E. Howard. The art and color are very much in keeping with the mood one gets in reading the words of ?Cimmeria?. If there is one complaint it is with the artists rendering of Conan himself, which to me looks to be to much caveman like and not enough intelligent barbarian. When I read the description of Conan I see some of the noble savage, but more to the point I see a very intelligent brooding fighting machine, of supreme confidence, neither arrogant nor whimsical. All in all I would give this a 5.0 out of 5.0 on my comic rating scale.
Adding a new review topic - Conan the Cimmerian Comics
In addition to reviewing the Conan Stories written by Robert E. Howard, I will also be reviewing Conan The Cimmerian comics produced by Dark Horse Comics. Some Robert E. Howard purist may find the comics distasteful and not worth the paper they?re printed on. For all I know that thought may be an accurate accounting for the comics, but I will read through them and give you my opinion, biased in one way or another, on what I think of the comics.
I hope you enjoy my reviews of the Conan The Cimmerian comics. Please feel free to leave comics, and let me know what you think, whether good or bad, or if you would like to like to add your two cents ? two dollars when corrected for inflation ? that is fine with me.
I hope you enjoy my reviews of the Conan The Cimmerian comics. Please feel free to leave comics, and let me know what you think, whether good or bad, or if you would like to like to add your two cents ? two dollars when corrected for inflation ? that is fine with me.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Review: Robert E. Howard's "The Frost-Giants Daughter (Gods of theNorth)"
This is a short tale, which takes up at the end of a battle between the wolves of Bragi and the Vanir on icy plains in the frozen Nordheim. After Conan kills the last enemy a woman, Atali, appears before him. She is nearly naked, covered only by a gossamer veil. She taunts him, whereby Conan chases after her. Conan is led into an ambush where Atali?s frost-giant brothers attack him. Conan defeats the frost-giants, after which Atali fleas in fright. Conan chases after her and finally catches her; she pleads for her father the Frost-Giant god Ymir, to saver her. Atali disappears in a pillar of blue flame, and Conan is rendered unconscious. Conan is awakened by allies who arrived at the battle site after the battle was over and tracked him across the frozen waste. One old fighter tells the tale of how the daughter of the Ymir haunts battle fields in order to lure men, weak from battle to be slain by her brothers, and their victim?s hearts given to their father as a sacrifice. The men don?t believe the old fighter, and believe Conan is suffering the effects of a blow to the head received during battle. But the story ends with Conan still holding the gossamer veil; he tore from Atali?s body before her father spirited her away.
This story is short and easy to read, and is largely derived from Greek mythology. It is one of the first stories written by Howard to chronicle Conan?s life. The story was not published in Howard?s life, but has appeared in different versions and in some times with different heroes since 1976.
What is Howard telling us about Conan in this story? Within the first few paragraphs Howard shows that Conan is by far the best warrior. After this Howard brings in Atalia, and shows Conan captivated by her beauty and taken over with desire to have her, all of the sudden the powerful warrior is subject to the charms of a woman. At this point Conan is depicted as supremely confident and powerful when in battle, but in affairs of the heart he is lead by his libido. At this point Atali clearly has the upper hand and is in control of the situation. When Conan meets the frost-giant brothers and defeats them in battle, Howard once again shows how ultimately superior Conan is on the battle field, but this is quickly negated when he runs after Atali heading to his libido. It can be argued here that Conan is more animalistic and less of a thinking human, but I would disagree since at this point there is alos a subtle change in Conan?s reason for chasing after Atali, lust is still a primary factor, but now it is tinged with revenge and retribution for being led into an ambush. When Conan proves that his constitution is superior to Atali, but chasing her across the frozen land and capturing her, she is left with only one means of escape, she calls on her father, Yamir. At this point Conan has his prize taken from him by divine intervention and is left unconscious. Howard shows us that Conan is a worthy opponent to godlike beings; yet, what is interesting here is that Conan does not even know himself that he is a worthy opponent. Although Conan doesn?t defeat Yamir in physical combat he defeats his champions, which in and of itself is worthy of legend.
A lot can be said on what this alludes to and questions that arise. If Atali is the daughter of a God, how is it that she is captured by Conan? If the brothers are sons of a God, how is it that Conan is able to kill them so easily? What is Howard trying to say about Conan? It almost appears as if Howard is implying that Conan is similar to Hercules who was the offspring of the union between a human and a God. As the history of Conan goes he does not bear Godly blood, even though time and again he battles superhuman beings and wins. I believe Howard was merely using these super beings as justifiable threats against Conan, and as a way of giving the character a mythical foundation of which to write further tales. Conan is the classic hero, and this story is an excellent portrait of what a hero should be. He is strong in battle against his enemies, yet he can be overcome, and in this case it is his desire for Atali that gets him in trouble.
The Frost-Giants Daughter is told with a fine mix of dialogue and narrative, allowing Howard to paint a very visual and detailed landscape for the reader to enter.
This story is short and easy to read, and is largely derived from Greek mythology. It is one of the first stories written by Howard to chronicle Conan?s life. The story was not published in Howard?s life, but has appeared in different versions and in some times with different heroes since 1976.
What is Howard telling us about Conan in this story? Within the first few paragraphs Howard shows that Conan is by far the best warrior. After this Howard brings in Atalia, and shows Conan captivated by her beauty and taken over with desire to have her, all of the sudden the powerful warrior is subject to the charms of a woman. At this point Conan is depicted as supremely confident and powerful when in battle, but in affairs of the heart he is lead by his libido. At this point Atali clearly has the upper hand and is in control of the situation. When Conan meets the frost-giant brothers and defeats them in battle, Howard once again shows how ultimately superior Conan is on the battle field, but this is quickly negated when he runs after Atali heading to his libido. It can be argued here that Conan is more animalistic and less of a thinking human, but I would disagree since at this point there is alos a subtle change in Conan?s reason for chasing after Atali, lust is still a primary factor, but now it is tinged with revenge and retribution for being led into an ambush. When Conan proves that his constitution is superior to Atali, but chasing her across the frozen land and capturing her, she is left with only one means of escape, she calls on her father, Yamir. At this point Conan has his prize taken from him by divine intervention and is left unconscious. Howard shows us that Conan is a worthy opponent to godlike beings; yet, what is interesting here is that Conan does not even know himself that he is a worthy opponent. Although Conan doesn?t defeat Yamir in physical combat he defeats his champions, which in and of itself is worthy of legend.
A lot can be said on what this alludes to and questions that arise. If Atali is the daughter of a God, how is it that she is captured by Conan? If the brothers are sons of a God, how is it that Conan is able to kill them so easily? What is Howard trying to say about Conan? It almost appears as if Howard is implying that Conan is similar to Hercules who was the offspring of the union between a human and a God. As the history of Conan goes he does not bear Godly blood, even though time and again he battles superhuman beings and wins. I believe Howard was merely using these super beings as justifiable threats against Conan, and as a way of giving the character a mythical foundation of which to write further tales. Conan is the classic hero, and this story is an excellent portrait of what a hero should be. He is strong in battle against his enemies, yet he can be overcome, and in this case it is his desire for Atali that gets him in trouble.
The Frost-Giants Daughter is told with a fine mix of dialogue and narrative, allowing Howard to paint a very visual and detailed landscape for the reader to enter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)