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Weekly Book Buzz: R.A. Salvatore's New Fantasy
The Thin Black Line: Perspectives on Vince Colletta, Comics' Most Controversial Inker By
Tim Janson
August 16, 2010
The Bear (Saga of the First King) By R. A. Salvatore
© Wizards of the Coast
One big bit of news to start the week, Dorchester Publishing, who publishes the Leisure Horror titles has announced that they will cease publishing books in mass-market format to concentrate on trade editions and digital publishing. Citing a 25% drop in retail sales in 2009, Dorchester’s official statement is as follows:
Starting with September titles, we will be moving from mass-market to trade paperback format. This will delay new releases roughly 6-8 months, but it will also open many new and more efficient sales channels.
And we’re pleased to say all titles will be available in ebook format as originally scheduled. The substantial growth we’ve seen in the digital market in such a short period—combined with the decline of the mass-market business—convinced us that we needed to fully focus our resources in this segment sooner rather than later.
Dorchester has always been known as a company ahead of the curve and willing to take risks. As bookstores are allocating the bulk of their capital to the digital business, it only makes sense that we do the same. Everyone keeps hearing that the industry has to change if it’s going to survive. We’re excited to be at the forefront of that change and will continue to keep you posted on further developments.
This is yet another nail in the coffin for the publishing industry. I have nothing against e-books…but there’s something about having a book in your hand and having a library of your books. E-books just don’t have the same affect on the sense as a real book.
New In Fantasy
Prospero in Hell (Prospero's Daughter) L. Jagi Lamplighter [Tor Hardcover]
The search of a daughter for her father is but the beginning of this robust fantasy adventure. For five hundred years since the events of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Miranda has run Prospero, Inc., protecting an unknowing world from disasters both natural and man-made. Now her father has been taken prisoner of dark spirits in a place she could only guess. Piecing together clues about her father’s whereabouts and discovering secrets of her shrouded past, she comes to an inescapable conclusion she has dreaded since Prospero was lost.
Prospero has been imprisoned in Hell, kept there by demons who wish to extract a terrible price in exchange for his freedom. As the time of reckoning for Miranda draws near, she realizes that hundreds of years of their family’s magic may not be enough to free her once-powerful father from the curse that could destroy them...and the world.
Lord of the Silent Kingdom (Instrumentalities of the Night) Glen Cook [Tor TPB]
It’s cold. The wells of power are weakening and the forces of Night grow strong. The gods are real, and still have some power, mostly to do harm. The Instrumentalities of the Night are the worst of these.
Piper Hecht, born Else Tage, survived a battle with the Instrumentalities. Now he’s Captain-General of the armies fighting a crusade for Patriarch Sublime V. Intrigues swirl around the throne of the Grail Empire, as the imperial family’s enemy Anne of Menand raises money to help the perpetually indebted Patriarch finance his crusades. To reduce his own vulnerability, sickly young Emperor Lothar assigns his two half-sisters—his immediate heirs—to their own realms.
Now Piper Hecht learns that the legendary sorcerer Cloven Februaren, referred to as the Ninth Unknown, is still alive, more than 100 years old, and on Piper’s side. As the dynastic politics of the Empire become even more convoluted, it’s clear that while the old gods may be fading, they’re determined to do everything they can to bend the doings of men to their own advantage.
Sieges, explosions, betrayals, Anti-Patriarchs, and suspicious deaths will ensue as the great chess game plays itself out, with Piper Hecht at the center of it all…
The Bear (Saga of the First King) R. A. Salvatore [Tor Hardcover]
The war of Honce drags on, and the roads and seas are littered with bodies. To everyone’s stunned disbelief, Yeslnik the Fool has tipped the war’s scales in his favor. The reign of the newly self-appointed King Yeslnik is already distinguished as the most bloody and merciless in Honce history.
Trapped, Dame Gwydre and Father Artolivan concoct a desperate plot to join forces with Laird Ethelbert, the lesser of two vicious evils. But Ethelbert’s paid assassins slew Jameston Sequin and nearly did the same to Bransen.
Embittered by it all, Bransen seeks to extricate himself from the selfish goals of all of combatants. But in an odd twist of fate and crossed loyalties, Bransen sees in his old nemesis, Bannagran--the Bear of Honce and the man who slew his adoptive father - a darker image of his own heart. Allies and battle lines become tangled, motives indistinguishable as old friends become enemies and old enemies become allies.
New In Sci-Fi
Terminator Salvation: Trial by Fire Timothy Zahn [Titan Books]
Following the dramatic events of Terminator Salvation, a recovering John Connor grants Barnes permission to return to the destroyed VLA lab and bury his brother, killed in the explosive opening of the movie. At the ruins Barnes and Blair Williams hunt through the debris for the remains of their comrade but instead uncover a mysterious cable leading up into the mountains. The two Resistance fighters head into the wilderness to investigate.
What the pair discovers is an entire village that appears largely untouched by Judgment Day and its aftermath. Suspicious of the villagers, Barnes and Blair decide to dig deeper....
Stars and Gods Larry Niven [Tor Hardcover]
Niven returns with the sequel to his most recent collection, Scatterbrain, which gathers an equally engaging assortment of Niven's latest work, all in one captivating volume. Here are choice excerpts from his most recent novels, including Ringworld's Child, as well as short stories, non-fiction, interviews, editorials, collaborations, and correspondence. Stars and Gods roams all over a wide variety of fascinating topics, from space stations to conventional etiquette. Give yourself a treat, and feel free to pick the brain of one of modern science fiction's most fascinating thinkers
Judge Dredd: Megacity Masters 01 Brian Bolland [2000 AD Graphic Novel]
2000 AD is Britain ’s most celebrated sci-fi comic anthology, which has been at the cutting edge of contemporary pop culture since 1977. The longest running strip in 2000 AD is Judge Dredd and over the years many internationally renowned artists have contributed some stunning art to the Dredd legacy. This compilation features some of that artwork collected together for the first time.
After America John Birmingham [ Del Rey Hardcover]
March 14, 2003, was the day the world changed forever. A wave of energy slammed into North America and devastated the continent. The U.S. military, poised to invade Baghdad , was left without a commander in chief. Global order spiraled into chaos. Now, three years later, a skeleton U.S. government headquartered in Seattle directs the reconstruction of an entire nation—and the battle for New York City has begun.
Pirates and foreign militias are swarming the East Coast, taking everything they can. The president comes to the Declared Security Zone of New York and barely survives the visit. The enemy—whoever they are—controls Manhattan ’s concrete canyons and the abandoned flatlands of Long Island . The U.S. military, struggling with sketchy communications and a lack of supplies, is mired in a nightmare of urban combat.
Caught up in the violence is a Polish-born sergeant who watches the carnage through the eyes of an intellectual and with the heart of a warrior. Two smugglers, the highborn Lady Julianne Balwyn and her brawny partner Rhino, search for a treasure whose key lies inside an Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. Thousands of miles away, a rogue general leads the secession of Texas and a brutal campaign against immigrants, while Miguel Pieraro, a Mexican-born rancher, fights back. And in England , a U.S. special ops agent is called into a violent shadow war against an enemy that has come after her and her family.
The president is a stranger to the military mindset, but now this mild-mannered city engineer from the Pacific Northwest needs to make a soldier’s choice. With New York clutched in the grip of thousands of heavily armed predators, is an all-out attack on the city the only way to save it?
From the geopolitics of post-American dominance to the fallout of Israel’s nuclear strike, After America provides a gripping, intelligent, and harrowing chronicle of a world in the maw of chaos—and lives lived in the dangerous dawn of a strange new future.
Tomes of the Dead: Stronghold Paul Finch [Abaddon Books]
When King Edward I of England built Grogen Castle in Wales , he proclaimed it the strongest fortress in the British Isles ; impregnable to assault, armed with devices so fiendish that would-be attackers would die in multitutdes. But the Welsh have had enough of English tyranny. Armed with druidic magic and an ancient, mystical artefact, they summon an army to their banner even the most supersitious of Edward's soldiers could never have imagined. Soon, Grogen Castle finds itself beseiged by forces forged from splintered bone and rotten flesh. Just how long can this Stronghold hold out against the zombie horde?
Dark Echo F.G. Cottam [Thomas Dune Hardcover]
When businessman Magnus Stannard buys Dark Echo, a haunted yacht, at the start of Cottam's overstuffed occult thriller, it fulfills a dream from his impoverished childhood: to own the luxury boat he saw in one of his favorite books. But Dark Echo's American builder, WWI hero Harry Spalding, had an unsavory history of evil exploits, and everyone who's owned the ship since his suicide has suffered misfortune and a grim death. Magnus and his son, Martin, become the latest victims of the yacht's malignant legacy when, after setting out in it to cross the Atlantic, the ship reveals the malevolent mission it has chosen them to complete.
Reviews
The Thin Black Line: Perspectives on Vince Colletta, Comics' Most Controversial Inker Robert L. Bryant (TwoMorrows Publishing)
One of the things I love about TwoMorrows publishing is that they appeal to comic book fans rather than fan-boys. The difference being the fans are concerned with the history of comics books while fan-boys are only concerned with the present. No one else would publish a book like The Thin Black Line. If you’re a comic book fan under the age of 30 or 35, you likely are not familiar with the came of Vince Colletta. Vinnie was one of the early Marvel Bullpen artists, and inker who worked on just about every Marvel title during the 1960s. He had been with Marvel during the 1950s when it was known as Atlas Comics and then worked for DC during the 1970s.
Colletta (who passed away in 1991) has always been a polarizing figure in comics which is the theme behind Bryant’s book. Colletta is considered by many, including many professional comic artists, to be one of the worst inkers in history. At the same time, many defend Colletta as a guy who could be counted on to get the job done on time. Colletta was the guy that Stan Lee and other editors frequently called on to finish inking a book that was running late. Hence, this is where the controversy comes in…In order to get deadlines met, Colletta had to take certain shortcuts such as simplifying or even erasing backgrounds, often infuriating the book’s penciller. Colletta would also use assistants who had varying degrees of artistic skill.
Dozens of comic book professionals are called upon by Bryant to give their thoughts, negative or postive about Colleta’s work including Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Tony Isabella, Allan Kupperberg, Joe Sinnott, Jim Salicrup. Joe Kubert, Paul Levitz, Bob McLeod, Tom DeFalco, John Romita Sr., Carmine Infantino, and many more. Each has their own perspective on Colletta’s work…For editors like Lee and DeFalco, he was there “go to” guy. The one they could count on to pull an all-nighter and get the job done. Bryant points out an amusing story about Kubert coming into the DC offices in the morning and finding Vinnie asleep on the floor after working day and night.
On the other hand, many pencillers despised Vince and didn’t want him coming anywhere near their work. Artist Gil Kane once commented that Colletta was his second favorite inker. When asked who his favorite was he’d reply bluntly, “Anyone else!” Neal Adams was once so incensed over Colletta’s inks on a Brave and The Bold story that he re-inked them himself. Bryant provides a multitude of samples of the original penciled pages and Colletta’s finished ink pages so you can see the difference. An elaborately drawn building in the background would simply be replaced by a rectangle with criss-crossed lines. Background characters would often be inked over completely to create a silhouette. Worse yet was Colletta’s penchant for complete erasing the background characters or details leaving them blank.
One thing that many agree on is that Colletta could be a fine inker WHEN he wanted to be. His line work was very fine and detailed but Colletta is regarded as being more concerned with working as much as possible and making money than doing a good job. Honestly though, who can blame him. Artists in the 1960s were not the rock stars they are today. Comic books, especially freelance work did not pay all that well and one can’t blame Colletta for doing what he had to do to survive. Blame the system, not the man.
Bryant provides a fascinating look at the life and work of one of the most colorful figures of the Silver Age of comic books. He doesn’t judge but rather offers up evidence provided on all fronts from those who are critical, supportive, and neutral on his career. The analysis is fair and balanced. Grade A
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The thing about Vince Colletta is what this book missed altogether and that's his art. When given time, Colletta outshone every other inker on superheroes. Prior to that he drew hot romance stories that looked a lot more realistic than what other artists were doing. Just look at the cover of THOR #126 - could that finished product been equalled by anyone else. Even to this day, inkers use thick black lines that look almost measured as if by rulers and protractors. Colletta took pen in hand and illustrated, drawing shadows, depth and realism into his subjects.
I thought that The Thin Black Line was an extremely interesting read though. The kind of book that makes you wish you'd known the subject personally. Vince was certainly one of a kind.