The Sandman: Worlds’ End by Neil Gaiman and various artists

(pb; 1994, 2012: graphic novel, collects issues 51-6 of the comic book The Sandman. “Introduction” by Stephen King. Ninth book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.)

 

Overall review:

Worlds’ End is a good, fun collection of characters (some of them previously seen in earlier Sandman stories) and variable tales they tell while they wait out a strange storm.

Again, the artists, letterers and colorists who bring Gaiman’s transcend-the-genre writing to vivid, distinctive representation. Worth owning, this. Followed by The Sandman: The Kindly Ones.

 

Review, issue by issue

“Worlds’ End: Sequences at the Inn” (#51): After a car crash in a winter storm, two motorists (Brant Tucker, Charlene Mooney) find themselves at a pub with strange-looking mythological storytellers. Each issue that follows revolves around a tale told by one of the inn guests.

 

“Cluracan’s Tale” (#52): The fairy, last seen in The Sandman: Season of Mists, speaks of what brought him here. In Cluracan’s narration, Queen Mab (of the fairy city Aurelia) sends him as envoy to a near-ruin human city to prevent a treacherous politician (Innocent XI, “Psychopomp of the Universal Aurelian Church”) from assuming more power and upsetting the balance between fairies and humans.

“Hob’s Leviathan” (#53): A young sailor (Jim) recounts his sailing adventures with Hob Gadling (The Sandman: Dream Country), rough men and wild-sized sea creatures.

 

“The Golden Boy” (#54): An older Asian man tells Brant a story about a fictional clock-fixing young man (Prez Rickard) who became a US President while being observed and possibly threatened by a creepy power broker of sorts (Boss Smiley).

 

“Cerements” (#55): A Necropolitan student of death rituals (Petrefax) tells a story about how he attended a ritual where others told curious stories about hangmen, a woman of mystical power (Mistress Veltis) as well as his own experiences within a necropolis while studying under his pale-pigment master (Kaproth), who’s also listening to Petrefax speak. Two family members of the Endless make an appearance in this issue.

 

“Worlds’ End” (#56):  The essence of the inn is revealed, as is the cause of the storm outside. Personal changes, pairings, and partings occur among some of guests.

The Pyx by John Buell

 

(hb; 1959)

From the inside cover

“This unusual novel is a study in evil. The surface events center around the death of Elizabeth Lucy, an attractive young woman whose body is found at the base of a penthouse apartment on a Montreal street. Elizabeth is part of a vice ring, described by Henderson of the homicide office as ‘a girl service which is no small time.’ The girls take their orders from Meg Latimer, and Meg takes hers from the top man, Mr. Keerson.

“Below the surface of the story run deeper sub-strata. Considering their profession, why are Elizabeth and hard-bitten Meg filled with a nameless, almost unreasonable fear at the ‘big assignment’ from Keerson? Why does it end in Elizabeth’s death? Is her fall from the penthouse suicide or murder? What is the meaning of the gold locket found on the street below? Why, when Keerson is finally cornered, does he shriek: ‘Stop calling me Keerson! It’s not my name at all’?”

 

Review

Buell deftly balances characters’ stream-of-consciousness monologue and madness with warm humanity and hardboiled dialogue in this entertaining, tightly written police procedural that alternates between chapters titled “The Present” and “The Past,” culminating in a confrontation that brings the no-nonsense Henderson face-to-face with a bizarre foe.

Everything works in Pyx─while its set-up is simple, its complex characters, their emotions and actions, and its varying edit-styles make for an ultimately colorful and touching read. Worth owning, this.

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The resulting film was released stateside in October 1973. Harvey Hart directed it, from Robert Schlitt’s screenplay.

Karen Black played Elizabeth Lucy. Christopher Plummer played Dt. Sgt. Jim Henderson. Donald Pilon played Dt. Sgt. Pierre Paquet. Louise Rinfret played Sandra. Terry Haig played Jimmy.

Yvette Brind’Amour played Meg Latimer. Lee Broker played Herbie Lefram. Robin Gammell played Worther. Jean-Louis Roux played Keerson.

The Sandman: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman and various artists

 

(pb; 1992-3, 2011: graphic novel, collects issues 41-9 of the comic book The Sandman. “Afterword” by Peter Straub. Eighth book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.)

Overall review:

Lives is one of the more focused Sandman story arcs, making it one of the best in its in graphic novel oeuvre. This is excellent and memorable, one worth owning.

Again, the artists, letterers and colorists who bring Gaiman’s transcend-the-genre writing to vivid, distinctive representation are top-notch and genre-defining. Worth owning, this. Followed by The Sandman: Worlds' End.

Review, issue by issue

Caveat: possible─if you prefer not to know anything about what you’re about to read─minor spoilers for those who have not read these Sandman comics.

“Brief Lives, Chapter 1” (#41): An old man (Andros), keeping with family tradition, helps guard the grave of Johanna Constantine (1760-1859, ancestor of John Constantine) and Orpheus’s living head.

Elsewhere, Delirium─sad, disturbed─looks for her eldest Endless brother.

 

“Brief Lives, Chapter 2” (#42): Delirium visits Morpheus in the Dreaming, asks him to aid her in her quest to find their eldest brother.

 

“Brief Lives, Chapter 3” (#43): Morpheus and Delirium make travel arrangements in the Waking World via Pharamond (a.k.a. Mr. Farrell), a Babylonian god-turned-businessman.

Etain, a young woman, barely escapes an early morning disaster in her apartment.

 

“Brief Lives, Chapter 4” (#44): Delirium, Morpheus and Ruby Elisabeth DeLonge (their human driver, in Mr. Farrell’s employ) try to visit a lawyer (Bernard Capax) who─for unexplained reasons─might know the whereabouts of the Endless sibling’s brother.

Also: Morpheus thinks about a meeting with the sibling they seek, a long-ago memory where the Corinthian is shown.

 

“Brief Lives, Chapter 5” (#45): Morpheus and Delirium, with Matthew’s help, locate the next person on Delirium’s list: a “dancing woman” (Ishtar, a.k.a. Astarte) and friend to fellow stripper, Tiffany.

Conversations, death and destruction ensue. Desire makes an important appearance in this issue.

 

“Brief Lives, Chapter 6” (#46): Delirium and Morpheus part ways for a time. Morpheus visits Lady Bast, whom he has not seen in two years. Death pays Morpheus a visit.

 

“Brief Lives, Chapter 7” (#47): Morpheus and Delirium resume their seeking of their eldest Endless brother, Destruction. Morpheus visits Orpheus. Delirium and Morpheus arrive at Destruction’s home, where he lives with a plain-spoken dog named Barnabus.

 

“Brief Lives, Chapter 8” (#48): Morpheus and Delirium attend a dinner with Destruction and Barnabus, speak of why Destruction has absented himself from his family, the world and his ex-lover (Ishtar).

 

Brief Lives, Chapter 9” (#49): Morpheus and Delirium speak with their sister, Despair. Morpheus visits Orpheus again and, in doing so, fulfills a wish Desire made regarding Morpheus. Many of the characters seen in this nine-issue story arc resume their lives, some of them with a different attitudes than they previously held.

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986 by Adam Rockoff

 

(oversized pb; 2002: cinema/nonfiction)

From the back cover

“The 1978 opening of John Carpenter’s Halloween was also the birth of horror cinema’s most successful offshoot: the slasher film. Loved by fans, reviled by critics, the new genre quickly became a pop culture phenomenon whose unconventional methods of distribution, exhibition, and marketing changed American cinema forever.

“Going to Pieces also tracks the slasher from its fledgling days through its heyday in the early 1980s to its decline after a glut of inferior sequels. With a wealth of photographs and in-depth discussions of each year’s significant films, this thorough dissection also reveals:

“The influence of Grand Guignol and pre-slasher films such as Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. . .

“. . . and much more! Interviews with directors including John Carpenter, Sean Cunningham, Armand Mastroianni, and Bill Lustig reveal startling behind-the-scenes stories of the legendary slasher films.”

 

Review

Going is a good overview of the Golden Age of the slasher genre, a mostly entertaining Stalk-and-Kill 101 book for those unfamiliar with its 1978-86 flicks as well as those who are nostalgic about the films and those connected with them.

I write “mostly entertaining” because Rockoff indulges in politically correct/moral handwringing over the value (or lack thereof) of films like Meir Zarchi’s 1978 rape-revenge thriller I Spit on Your Grave (and the unfortunate subgenre that followed), going so far as to insult those who disagree with him. Rockoff's distaste for Nazisploitation and the original Spit flick is understandable, but his outrage runs into insult territory, particularly regarding those who do not share his blustery outlook.

Aside from Rockoff’s Nazisploitation/Spit rant, Going is a fun, informative read, with enough behind-the-scenes details and box-office-analysis facts to make Going a worthwhile book for both the casual reader and those familiar with cinematic slice-and-dice.

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The resulting documentary of the same name was released stateside on October 13, 2006.

The Sandman: Fables & Reflections by Neil Gaiman and various artists

 

(pb; 1991-3, 2011: graphic novel, collects issues 29-31, 38-40, 50, Special #1 and Vertigo Preview #1 of the comic book The Sandman. “Introduction” by Gene Wolfe. Seventh book in the thirteen-book Sandman graphic novel series.

 

From the back cover

“[Fables]. . . follows the Lord of Dreams through nine remarkable tales as he touches lives from the mists of the past to the nightmares of the present. In these episodes, kings and spies, emperors and actors, ravens and werewolves all share their stories and their dreams─dreams of life and love, and of power and darkness.”

 

Overall review:

Fables is a solid collection of mostly side-stories revolving around the Sandman. A few issues, like “Soft Places” and “Parliament of Rooks,” are direct offshoot tales that fill in certain backstories of previously published stories and characters.

Again, the artists, letterers and colorists who bring Gaiman’s transcend-the-genre writing to vivid, distinctive representation are top-notch and genre-defining. Worth owning, this. Followed by The Sandman: Brief Lives.

 

Review, issue by issue

Caveat: possible─if you prefer not to know anything about what you’re about to read─minor spoilers for those who have not read these Sandman comics.

“Fear of Falling” (Vertigo Preview #1): Todd Faber, an insecure playwright, faces certain terrors.

 

“Three Septembers and a January” (#29): September 1889, Northern California. Despair, Morpheus’s sibling, challenges the Dream King to try and save a seriously depressed man (Joshua Norton), later the self-proclaimed “Emperor of the United States.” A young man named Samuel Clemens, as does Delirium, Desire and Death, makes an appearance in this issue.

 

“Thermidor” (#30): June 28, 1794, Wych Cross, England. Johanna Constantine, an adventurer who crossed paths with Morpheus five years prior, aids the Dream King during the Reign of Terror. Orpheus, the Dream King’s son, makes an appearance.

 

“The Hunt” (#31): An old man tells his snarky granddaughter an Old-World fable about a young man, his encounters with a gypsy as well as supernatural beings (including Lucien and his boss, the Dream King).

 

“August” (#38): In ancient Rome, the emperor Augustus pretends to be a beggar, with a dwarf actor by his side. This is an especially sad issue.

 

“Soft Places” (#39): 1273 AD. Marco Polo, crossing a desert, dreams and encounters friendly, odd people, including the recently freed Sandman (check out The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes).

 

“Orpheus” (Sandman Special #1): The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is told.

 

“Parliament of Rooks” (#40): A baby (Daniel) dreams of meeting Matthew (Morpheus’s blackbird), Abel and Cain (from the House of Mystery) and Eve (from a certain Garden). Daniel is told how the two Biblical brothers met Morpheus and Death. This is one of my favorite issues in this collection.

 

“Ramadan” (#50): In Baghdad, a merchant tells a story of how a long-ago Baghdad caliph (Haroun Al Rashid) tries to preserve the beauty of his city. This is one of my favorite issues in this collection.

Tawdry Tales and Confessions from Horror’s Boy Next Door by William Butler

(oversized pb; 2021: nonfiction/memoir)

From the back cover

“In the last forty years, actor, director and former effects artist William Butler has easily lived three lifetimes. From his early beginnings creating super-8 horror shorts and working the circus midway to a blissful existence as a producer-director living in the Hollywood hills, he’s seen it all, gained it all and lost it all.

“Tawdry Tales chronicles the jaw-dropping, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking life an industrious young artist who started out with an unflinching determination to work in film and who’s somehow became ‘Horror’s Boy Next Door,’ appearing in dozens of movies along the genre’s most legendary villains, including Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13^th, Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the George Romero zombies from Night of the Living Dead. Butler chalks it all up to having a face you just want to hit with a butch knife.

“Butler lovingly has transcribed thirty-five years’ worth of journals he kept into one fascinating and heartfelt memoir that follows his story around the world as he worked with and, in some cases, lived with some of Hollywood’s most beloved and ‘colorful’ personalities including Viggo Mortensen, Leslie Jordan, Tom Sizemore and the legendary Prince.”

 

Review

Tawdry is a fast-moving, heartfelt, funny, smart, and relatable tell-all book about how Butler went from making backyard films and FX with his small-town childhood friends (including John Vulich, who later went on to become a legendary FX artist) to becoming an FX artist himself, as well as a successful, LA-based writer and director, one who struggled with chemical addiction and his sexuality.

There’s a lot of great stories in this, from his chance meeting with film director Joe Dante, working with FX legends Tom Savini and John Carl Buechler, as well as actors Kane Hodder, Malcolm McDowell, Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs, Klaus Kinski, Royal Dano, Yvonne DeCarlo Christopher Reeve, Danny Trejo, and Madonna.

An excellent and hard-to-set-down read, this is worth owning, whether you’re a hardcore movie fan or a more casual reader who enjoys reading about celebrities and character actors.