Beware The Mothman!

As the month reaches its end I wanted to share this tremendous Frank Frazetta image of the mysterious Mothman yet again. It was commissioned by the folks at High Times in 1980 for a special issue of their magazine. The article inside is by John Keel, who wrote The Mothman Prophecies. To find the article follow this link, but sadly it's behind a wall. 

As wonderful as this painting looks in its raw state, I think it's even more compelling as the actual cover for which it was intended. Frazetta's uncanny ability to extract drama was and is unmatched to my knowledge. Others paint as well technically as he did, but there's a certain unknown element which informs his best work that triggers the imagination like no one else. 

The Mothman statue in the small town of Point Pleasant West Virginia seems to be a very rough attempt to evoke the Frazetta painting. Sadly, the fluidity of the painting is lost in this startling but rather static piece of metallic statuary. 

And that puts a pin in the two-month "Summer of the Garuda" king-size special here at the Dojo. It was my trip to Point Pleasant and the Mothman Museum which inspired me to spend over two months this summer reading up on vintage UFOs and assorted paranormal critters, as well as revisiting some of my favorite UFO movies. There are still books on my nightstand to read on these subjects, but I think a break is in order. 

What's up next month? Hint: "I have heard the word -- it is battle!"

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The Shaver Mystery Book Eight!

The Shaver Mystery Book Eight wraps up my look at these bizarre tales by Richard S. Shaver from way back in the 40's and 50's. The stories have been bristling with imagination and while Shaver's writing style is bewildering at times, it's almost always filled with energy and momentum. I've been confused many times reading these stories, but rarely bored. Armchair fiction claims to have two more volumes of Shaver's work due out eventually. But this latest was released in 2020 and that seems a long time between volumes. 

"Witch of the Andes" kicks off this volume and it's a harrowing tale of an American agent who flies to the Amazon basin to check up on a scientist who has gone silent. He finds him deeply imbedded in his research which  has resulted in new life forms, including a twenty-foot woman of immense intellect. Other creatures are small flying men and other kinds of life. The scientist falls out of the narrative fairly quickly, but we learn his creations know his secrets and using them create life on a scale which comes to threaten the whole world. 

 

"The Crystal Sarcophagus" is a short story about a small town in which a scientist sets up shop and seems have discovered a very strange way to stop aging and so tap into mankind's amazing potential. This is a snappy little tale that gets right to its point. 

"The Sea People" is a sequel to an earlier Shaver story called "The Cult of the Witch Queen". The only problem is Armchair Fiction hasn't reprinted this story yet. So we begin in the middle of a truly strange tale a man is hiding from his past but finds himself in jail in Canada. He is taken from the security of his cell by a race of hostile Venusian mermen and merwomen who find themselves in conflict with a witch named Hecate. The man's earlier involvement with her makes them think he might prove useful as a hostage. But a mighty undersea battle results with devastating results and only this fellow holds the key to victory. What follows is grim stuff indeed. 

(Richard S. Shaver in the 70's)

These are pretty decent Shaver stories. While technically part of the Shaver Mystery series the first two feel they could've been told apart from that mythos while the third seems fresh as well. The notion of the ancients is kept at bay in all of these stories. Over the course of the last few months, I have found Shaver a fascinating writer and his stories are compelling if utterly bizarre. Many aspects of the stories put me in mind of the work of Jack Kirby to be honest. So much so that it inspired me to take a good long look at Kirby's masterpiece during his birthday month of August. More on this in a few days. 

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Frank R. Paul - Father Of Science Fiction Art!

Frank R. Paul is one of the most important artists in the history of science fiction. He was there almost from the outset of the genre as it took shape in the pages of Amazing Stories. His brilliantly colored covers defined the visual style of the genre as it moved from its infancy. He also was called upon to illustrate some of the classic science romances which predated and informed the upstart genre such as War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. You can see above how wonderfully Paul captured the terrible elegance of the Martian war machines. 

Most comic book fans will know Paul from the singularly significant cover he fashioned for the debut issue of Marvel Comics. The Human Torch visualized by Paul on that cover was nothing like the Carl Burgos version inside the comics. Paul's Torch is more demonic, look of devlish glee on his android face as he burns free of his prison. 

Marvel Tales was not the only comic book cover that Paul worked on. But comics were not his chosen arena. His art flourished on the fronts and backs of the science fiction pulps which gave rise to the comic books. Not only are his covers evocative, but his vivid imagination also was given free reign to showcase fantastic images from a speculative future. 

Paul was tapped also to give life and form to imaginary creatures who just might be inhabiting the sundry planets which fill up our solar system. Each of the creatures he dreamed up were singular but no less corporeal. They might not have breathed like we did but they were alive. Below is a gallery. 

By and large Paul's images of the other planets was a peaceful one, an idyllic strikingly colored dream of what might just be possible. These creatures couldn't live really anywhere but in our imaginations but it was Paul who put them there. 

Something as prosaic as ERB's John Carter was given the Paul charge on the cover which debuted new adventures on Barsoom.

There is a nigh endless array of imagery from Paul to fascinate and quicken the mind and imagination. Seek it out. You'll be pleased. 

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The Day The Earth Stood Still!

Movies don't get much better than The Day the Earth Stood Still. I thought for a moment I should qualify that statement with "Science Fiction movie", but I resist. This one is just that good. Unlike much of the sci-fi that followed this 1951 masterpiece, this movie is an "A" picture and was treated as such by the studio that made it. The cast is first rate and that of course includes Michael Rennie in his first significant role as the alien "Klaatu". Based on the Harry Bates short story "Farewell to the Master" this movie offers up a conundrum to its audience -- what if a flying saucer landed in the middle of Washington DC and a perfectly normal looking human walked off it. No little green men in this one. But as the movie demonstrates our response might not be any different as Klaatu is shot within minutes. 

That doesn't go down too well with Gort, the eight-foot tall robot who came to Earth with him and who we learn has the power and arguably the authority to destroy the Earth. Gort is a great creation, played in parts by a mannequin and a man named Lock Martin who was a fragile giant in real life. Patricia Neal is on board as a woman who is sympathetic to the alien and her son played by Billy Gray wants to be friends with him right away. This movie does a grand job of capturing the fear which drives and informs modern society, which always seems ready to fight and respond to some menace, even if there is not much menace. Sam Jaffe plays a scientist meant to be Einstein, who is eager to listen to the alien who can teach the Earth great things, mostly how to not kill ourselves off. 

The story is famous for its Christ allusions and they real. Klaatu goes by the name of "Carpenter" when he seeks to hide in plain sight among us. He descends from the heavens and ascends in the same manner. He is killed and brought back to life, all in an attempt to save mankind from its darker aspects. But these references don't hamper the film, but only add luster. 

They remade The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, and he does a dandy job. This one has amazing special effects, but for my money they can never top the 1951 classic which made us all look up with wonder. 

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The Thing From Another World!

In my opinion movies don't get better than The Thing from Another World! Based on John C. Campbell's novella "Who Goes There?"" (also released recently under the title The Frozen Hell) this epic 1951 B-movie tells of a group of stalwart soldiers and scientists at the top of the world in the frozen Arctic who repel a deadly invader from the depths of space. 

James Arness, who would go on to portray Marshall Matt Dillon for decades in the television show Gunsmoke plays the titular "Thing". Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, and Margaret Sheridan headline one of the strongest casts I've ever seen in a movie of this kind. Dewey Martin is ideal as an airman who despite not being an officer proves to be of great value to the defense effort. Douglas Spencer as an eager reporter adds just the right small smidge of light-heartedness to this spare story of death in the cold. So many good parts and great actors just slinking in the background of every scene. 

Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks create a spare movie without a single wasted frame. Every line communicates something necessary for the audience, speaking to story or character or both. The pace and momentum of the story is just right, no sense of panic or rushing, but good speed all along. The story never drags, even in the quietest moments. Dimitri Tiomkin's score is punchy and dark in all the right places, adding drama to an already drama-laden yarn. 

This movie is a wonderful depiction of the American ideal, men (and some few women I'll admit) of all stripes working in concert for a noble goal. This is a smart military unit, which values life though ready to take it if necessary. There's very little bitterness in this movie, which is filled with civility. When asked to identify my favorite movie the answer is either The Thing from Another World or The Maltese Falcon, another classic I love for almost all the same reasons. 

The story has been famously adapted to film on two other occasions, the first in 1981 by John Carpenter in which he cleaves a bit closer to John Campbell's original story with a shape-shifting monster from deep space. The other serves as a prequel of sorts to the Carpenter film and was made in 2011. These are wonderful flicks and do their job of scaring the viewer quite well, especially the Carpenter outing. But for me, I'll take the original The Thing from Another World in all its floral glory every time. 

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Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!

I'd rather forgotten what a scary ass movie the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers was. Kevin McCarthy as the raving man at the beginning sets a tone of upset which reminds a viewer of the set up to the classic Dr. Caligari's Cabinet. His story of alien invasion is one which in the real world we'd immediately consider the ravings of a man in need of no small amount of professional care. But as the viewer we know it's all probably true, at least today as you watch it. I've always wondered what the story would be like if I didn't already know if the aliens were really here. 

In the small town of Santa Mira a doctor returns from a trip to find many of his patients in distress. They seem to think that their closest relatives are not really who they purport to be. His loyal nurse seems fine as do colleagues who tell him they've encountered the same thing. He finds a woman he once loved has returned to town and they strike up the old flame just in time for the danger to reach to touch them when friends find a strange body. They get little help from the authorities and even his colleagues seem different. They find huge seed pods which generate bodies when a person is asleep and copy that person utterly. The threat is real and getting more widespread. Finally, only the doctor and his girlfriend are the only ones left with the entire town after them, and then only him. 

Great tale, a classic paranoic delusion. The movie benefits from the excellent work of Kevin McCarthy as the narrator and doctor and head psycho. Dana Wynter is pretty and does the girlfriend thing adequately, especially in the latter parts of the movie. This one has a sturdy and reliable cast of others who ground the movie in a nice classic cinematic reality. Don Seigel the director is ideal and never lets the fantastic overwhelm the normal save in key moments. 

Jack Finney's tale has been adapted to the screen several times. The best if the original but not far behind is the 1978 version with Brooke Adams, Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy. One thing that makes this yarn feel more real is that the invasion is that as far as we know is a natural process with seeds from space just finding the Earth and propagating as nature intends. This is a classic horror science fiction tale which when told with subtlety can be incredibly effective. But I always wonder, what if it really was real. 

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When Flying Saucers Attack!

What is one to do when flying saucers attack? The answer is given in some ways in Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, a Ray Harryhausen movie. Harryhausen's involvement means the visuals will be spectacular and they are. The movie embraces the UFO furor of the era and uses that to propel us into a tale about a young couple who having just gotten married suddenly find themselves in the middle of an interplanetary war. 

 

The movie advertises itself as based in part on Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Major Donald Keyhoe, one of the more UFO investigators of the era. Having never read Keyhoe's book, I cannot speak to how much or little is extracted from its pages, but I imagine only the bare concept of saucers from space come to Earth for mysterious purposes. 

The movie starts quickly with our newlyweds on their way back to a secret missile project where they work. Their satellites have been falling to Earth and they don't know why. It seems the Saucer people want to restrict Earth's entry into space and move to talk to us about it. That message is garbled and the result is a fracas which ends in the destruction of the base and that triggers an all-out war. Eventually events move to Washington DC just in time for the flying saucers to destroy many a recognizable building and monument. Our young scientist hero does develop a solution (no surprise) and a counterattack is arranged.

This black and white movie is a lot of fun to watch. Harryhausen's meticulous effects make for some astonishing screen images, stuff that won't be topped for decades. And even then his work has a charm which cannot be matched in any era. This one is a must-see movie. 

It's never been remade. The closest thing to a remake I can think of is Mars Attacks which does a lot of the same things, but with a much more humorous tone. Or perhaps Independence Day which elevates the threat. 

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The Shaver Mystery Book Seven!

The Shaver Mystery Book Seven from Armchair Fiction gives the reader another heady dose of those riotous Shaver stories. Some are directly connected to what has come before but others diverge quite a bit. All in all a decent batch. 

"Invasion of the Mirco-Men" is another tale of Mulan Muton, though truth told he and his lovely impish mate Arl are mostly observers in this strange story of a kingdom brough low by an invasion of microscopic people who invade the brain and drain the will. These microscopic men are part of vast sub-atomic cultures which develop at lightning rates. A servant race called the Jotunds use this nano menace to take over the city of Nor and pillage it. The Jotunds are too stupid to do much with their victory and we follow how it was mostly doomed from the start. 

"The Sea-Witch of Ether 18" is a tale of Nydia and Shaver himself, but once again they are in the role of observers. Apparently, it is possible to see other realities with the turn of a knob in these underground societies and Shaver does just that, turning to "18" and finding a vast undersea kingdom which has come under attack and depends on its queen who it turns out is a sorceress from another land. This is an unusually spiritual tale from Shaver, and a terribly tragic one as well. 

"The Tale of the The Red Dwarf Who Writes with His Tail" is a very different kind of Shaver yarn. This one seems less connected to the overall Shaver Mystery and is more of a fanciful fairy tale of its own. A purple-skinned man named Druga goes off in search of wisdom to soothe his beloved and seeks out the Red Dwarf who sends him on a wild odyssey which lasts years and has our hero snuggled up to several femme fatales. Some prove worthier than others, but after much suffering of sundry kinds he does indeed find wisdom where he least expected to find it. This one is a lark and a story you can wrap up in quite nicely. 

"A Dictionary of the Mantong Language" is exactly what it seems to be. I find little interest in Shaver's alphabet, though he and his editors seem fascinated. 

"A Witch in the Night" is something between a short story and an essay of reflection which purports to explain how Shaver came to be inspired to search by the poetry of Byron, which cause him to be able to conjur visions of reluctant women in the night. Not much here in terms of actual narrative. 

A wild hodge podge of material in this seventh volume, but fun. I read this one with a good deal of gusto. Only one more volume to go. 

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Wally Wood - Galaxy Art And Beyond!

Wally Wood is in the pantheon of the greatest and most influential comic book artists. He came into the field in time to make his mark at EC Comics and other assorted publishers, but then came the great comic scare of the 50's and EC mostly went out of business after trying in vain to replace their immensely popular horror comics. Wood continued to work for EC on MAD magazine but eventually that too came to an end. With comic book work hard to find, Wood sought out work in magazine illustration, but found that field crowded as well. 

Galaxy Science Fiction was a creation of the 50's. Most of the other venerated magazines were created in the 20's and 30's and had long pulp traditions. But with the pulps dying out, other formats were sought and entering that race was one Horace Gold. Gold had worked in lots of jobs and even had written comics for DC and Fawcett, as well as radio. Then he got the idea for a new more literate kind of science fiction magazine for a more adult, more discerning fan and so was born Galaxy and its companion If. The magazine paid more and so was able to get the big names. Eventually Gold had a hit on his hands and he found he needed good quality artwork. 

Wally Wood began contributing to the magazine and was winning accolades from fans and even from other pros. He was nominated for two Hugos but alas was beaten out both times by the likes of Kelly Freas and Ernie Emshwiller. With the help of his studio mates such as Dan Adkins, he produced gorgeous interior black and white illustrations for stories as well some of Galaxy's more memorable covers, both for the magazine and a line of novels they published. Sadly, Gold was stricken ill and passed away. His place at the successful Galaxy magazine was taken by Frederick Pohl. Wally Wood for his part returned to his first love comic books and proceeded to give his fans great work on comics such as Daredevil, the Man Without Fear for Marvel as well as his own creation for Tower Comics the THUNDER Agents. 

Wally Wood - Galaxy Art and Beyond from IDW Publishing gathers together ALL of his work for the magazine as well as some scrumptious material from some other sources. Roger Hill, who put together this tome tried to get access to as much original art as he could to present the most beautiful rendition of this sometimes, forgotten Wood work. This is a delightful addition to any Wood collection. 

Here are just a few examples of what is here. 

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