“The
Fire of Creation, Part Four”
[ previous issue ]
Aboard
a junk in Shanghai harbor – or possibly somewhere else on the
Yangtze River (I think) – , the Japanese criminal Kondo tells the
Chinese crime warlord Wong and a Chinese general the story of one
Kent Allard, basically the story of the origin of the Shadow without
intimate knowledge of the details of what happened to transform a
wastrel into a supernatural arch enemy of crime. Meanwhile, Lamont
Cranston and Margo Lane are accompanying a military expedition
searching for Kondo and Wong – and following the Shadow's wake of
destruction. Margo as well as a implicitly “invert” (Cranston's
term) British diplomat get a graphic introduction to the realities of
the atrocities the Japanese are inflicting on the Chinese, leading
Cranston to soliloquize to Margo on the evil that is growing in East
and West. Their boat catches up with their prey only to see it blown
up by a mine. I'm enjoying the pieces and parts of this story
without being able to really see the overall picture yet.
“7:
The New Guy / The Concrete Jungle 1 of 2” [
previous issue ]
This
is the first half of an apocryphal story occurring between Tarzan
of the Apes
and The
Return of Tarzan,
set in Baltimore where Tarzan is working manual labor to earn his way
back to Africa. He has by now become a minor media celebrity.
Inevitably he comes into conflict with the crime boss whom he's
already humiliated, Canler – and again humiliates him in front of
his men. Canler knows how he can strike back at Tarzan, though –
through Jane Porter. Not
a good idea, as I'm sure we'll find out along with him next time!
Canler is also involved in some plot with an unnamed Russian who's
obviously the villainous Rokoff of the next two novels. Tarzan's
unacknowledged – to say the least – cousin Cecil continues to
show himself an ass. Esmeralda continues to show herself more
perceptive than the white aristocratic Porters and Greystokes put
together. And Jane is obviously having second thoughts about the
choice she made. A good filler tale.
“Worms
of Mars, Part 2 of 2”
[ previous issue ]
This
completes the apocryphal bridging story between Gods
of Mars
and Warlord
of Mars
(ERB's novel). John Carter, Carthoris, and company, with the help of
the deceased “goddess” Issus' granddaughter Linea find and
destroy the anti-Atmosphere Plant, but Linea is fatally injured in a
fight with its guardian “worms of Mars” – really sea-serpents
called silians.
In the end, she professes regret for her haughty treatment of
Carthoris, who had so obviously fallen for her … despite her color.
That's an interesting, perhaps metatextual twist – John Carter,
the one-time Confederate officer, now married to an oviparous
non-human (strictly speaking), sees great advantage in a prospective
dynastic union of the royal houses of Helium and the Black Pirate
First Born of Barsoom in reply to a rather glum (having just again
been figuratively kicked in the balls by Linea) Carthoris' comment,
“But she's … you know, she's … / black...”.
Anyway, as she dies, Linea does also order the First Born, as the
last command of the last descendant of Issus, to make peace with the
red men. From John Carter's journal: “All First Born resistance
ceased shortly after the deactivation of the Doomsday Factory. / My
son never spoke of Linea again, but I do not think it was because he
wished to forget her –no. / It was because remembering was too
painful.”
 |
| 50% alternate cover (Somebody's getting poked!) |
[“The
Boora Witch, Part 4”]
[ previous issue ]
In
Helium, the possessed Dejah Thoris seems to triumph over her father
and grandfather, but at the moment she is about to execute them,
Kantos Kan returns. He had discovered the truth in the Toonolian
Marshes, bringing back the Boora Witch's body. “Dejah Thoris”
tries to bluff him, but he calls her on it – and beheads the body.
This destroys the witch and restores Dejah Thoris' soul to her own
body. The Boora Witch was originally an Orovar woman who obtained
forbidden knowledge to prolong her own life through possession of a
series of bodies. In the end, although nominally forgiven, Dejah
Thoris exiles herself from Helium. I'm not sure if the next issue
will be considered a continuation of this arc or the beginning of a
new arc – or a bridging story before a new arc takes up. In any
case, this has been the end of a very disappointing, very un-ERB-like
tale, and hopefully we can look forward to something better. ERB did
not write Swords and Sorcery
tales – at least in his Mars
series.
[“Gullivar
Jones and John Carter of Mars, Part 2”]
[ previous issue ]
Our
heroes make their way to the Thither People city in the southern
wastes of Barsoom, intent on rescuing the abducted Dejah Thoris. But
meanwhile Zar-Hap casts the princess of Helium into a pit to coerce
her into revealing the secret of Gullivar Jones' carpet. There Dejah
Thoris longs to see her deceased mother – and the carpet brings
Heru to her. When John Carter and Gullivar Jones attack, they are
all united and escape with Dejah Thoris commanding the carpet, which
now responds only to her. Gullivar Jones and Heru are reunited, but
she cannot stay. With his lost Barsoomian love fading back into the
dead, Gullivar Jones determines to see the future of Mars. Dejah
Thoris commands the carpet to respond to him … and he reappears one
thousand years later [caption] – on an ocean.
Besides the fact that this is all utterly uncanonical, it's not a
bad story this go'round. I've not been terribly impressed with the
past couple of issues, but this one was fine. One random comment:
John Carter on p. 3 looks so much like Russ Manning's image of Tarzan
that I did a double-take.
 |
| Russ Manning's Tarzan vs. Jack Jadson's John Carter |
Cheers!
– and Thanks for reading!
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