"'Repent Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman!" is maybe my favorite Harlan Ellison story. As a parable of the modern day this dystopic tale captures the soul-destroying incessant race to nowhere which typifies most of modern life it reminds us one and all that apple carts are made mostly to be upturned. It's the best way for any of us, all of us to find ourselves and others in a reality which seems increasingly bent on its own self immolation. I savor the jellybeans the Harlequin sends down in a rain of delirious nonsensical pointlessness save for the utter necessity of pointlessness itself. Jim Steranko caught some aspect of that always instant in time when he attempted to capture the sheer madness of the story and convert it images which made you feel the same sort of thing.
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The comics adaptation by Alex Nino was pretty good, too.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, it's crazier. I intended to put a link to that story but forgot at the last moment. Thanks for the reminder.
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