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SYNOPSIS
The Reset is a culmination of worlds colliding, timelines interweaving, and relationships that seemed indestructible, reaching dire breaking points.
Vincent gets in the midst of an international political crisis forged by his adversary, Philip Nardin. As he tirelessly works to offset the impact, Philip kidnaps Nozomi, Vincent’s daughter. In an endgame decision, Vincent relinquishes his time-correcting powers to Philip while the world leaders launch a devastating arms race to weaponize Intreton—the purest energy source that can alter reality if mishandled. The two opponents, Vincent and Philip, unite against political and military forces to save reality from crumbling. Their plan reveals a mind-bending past and the identity of a time-twisted villain Philip calls the Lunatic. Such revelation leads to a dramatic conclusion and opens the possibility of a Reset. As someone close to Vincent shows their true self, Vincent discovers that Nozomi’s complex ties to Emika and Akane may hold the key to the Reset in this time-hopping clash of love, egos, and desires.
A story of love that transcends time and reality, and the sacrifices masquerading as selfish acts, the final book of the award-winning Time Corrector series is a whirlwind of unexpected events—many questions will finally be answered.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Dr. Vincent Abajian is a brilliant man who has a team of brilliant people around him. He’s been able to master Intreton, a substance that allows him to travel through time and even across realities. There are moments in his life we keep revisiting as readers but each time more complexities are revealed and we can see more of what each action means. The story is complex and intricate, much like a fine watch or brilliant piece of classical music can be. The third book in The Time Corrector series manages the nearly impossible by not only tying the first two books together perfectly and concluding in a satisfying manner, it still leaves the reader wishing for more.
If you had the power to change time, to change reality, to move the world in a more peaceful direction, what would you be willing to sacrifice? Would you be able to let go of ones you love in order to protect them? Can a selfish act mask one of kindness and love? These are some of the themes in The Reset. The book continues Avi Datta’s tradition of brilliant storytelling, non-linear plot making, and absolutely beautiful character development. Just when the reader thinks they have everything figured out, Datta will impress him or her with the most incredible twists and turns imaginable.
With each volume, this work becomes more and more brilliant. The intricate plot weaving is equal to the character development and as in the first two books, there are moments that completely change the reader’s perspective without feeling like a gimmick.
If there are any flaws in the series it may be that at times Dr. Abajian can occasionally be portrayed as too good and too brilliant but this is forgivable given the intricacies of the people surrounding him.
This is a series you must read from the beginning in order for it to make sense. If you have not already read The Winding and The Movement, do so before picking up the third volume.
If you enjoy expansive, non-linear storytelling, with a masterful plot and beautiful character development, this book is for you. If you just enjoy great books in general, this is a must read series.
Happy Friday folks! We don’t always know where inspiration comes from but sometimes we know the people who inspired us, even if they don’t know us. That’s what my story Inspiration is all about. I hope you enjoy it!
Inspiration by Adam wright
The store was poorly lit and Michael had to squint to see the titles on the graphic novels. He had walked past the aisles of men and women in capes, past the independent titles with questionable black and white art on the covers, and past the titles aimed at the really young kids littered with shiny ponies and round faced cartoon characters. He had made it to the bargain bins where you could get up to twenty comics for two dollars or fifty for five. The place where throw away stories went to die a quiet death but were afforded a last ditch opportunity to be discovered by someone who just needs one more issue to complete a collection. Michael wasn’t much of a fan of collectors.
When he was a kid, comics were seen as disposable. You read it, then you tossed it out, tore it up to line the bottom of a bird cage or used to wrap a gift. No one thought these things would ever be worth a damn. Hell, most of the people reading them didn’t think they were that spectacular to begin with. But time makes some things more valuable and some things less so. Michael, looking at his wrinkled hands as he thumbed through the pages and wondered which category he fell into. He decided it didn’t matter.
There was one good thing about the bargain bins. It meant that kids who had hardly any money could buy something to get themselves hooked on good stories. And Michael had to admit there were plenty of good stories out there. It was unpredictable what would hook a kid into loving a story. Sometimes it was as simple as a character that had a certain look, sometimes it was the drama of what happened in the story, or the nefarious villain that seemed so undefeatable to a young mind.
Michael spent a few minutes going through the bins when he discovered something he hadn’t expected. Right in front of him, in his hands, was an issue with his name on it. But not as the creator as he had expected. Michael thought about all those years with ink stained hands, painstakingly working at creating a picture. The pictures never quite looked like what he had in his head. Then came the dialogue. If the pictures were easy for him, it’s the words that killed him. He would spend hours sometimes just trying to make the ridiculous sound plausible. And finally the cover. That was the best part, the most fun part. He could do whatever he wanted and half the time it didn’t even have to relate to the story inside. The cover is what sold the thing.
This comic though, titled Michael Aarons: The Unsung Hero of Comics, had his own face on the cover. In it, he was standing next to a red brick wall. There was a street sign in the corner that marked the intersection of Cleveland St. and Grover Ave. It was where he spent most of his working life. He recognized it as a picture that was taken of him many years ago. The cover had a few things wrong. The wall was in a washed out sepia tone and he had one foot up, knee bent, his heel resting against the wall in a James Dean-like pose. That wall was always a bright and cheerful red, and Michael had never stood that way in his life. The artist must have altered the pose to “give it more action” as Michael himself used to say.
Michael took the comic out of the bin and pulled it out of the plastic in one quick movement. Collectors would have hated him if they had seen him do it. He opened the book, and licked his finger prior to flipping through the pages. Collectors would have hated that too.
Inside he found scenes from his own life. He saw his first wife and his second. The hair color on Gina was a deeper red than it should have been but it was close. He read how he was a pioneer in his field. Michael didn’t think that. They paid him to make funny books. That’s what they used to call them even when nothing was funny in them, and he did it for the pay. It didn’t amount to a lot of money but it was enough to buy a house with. It wasn’t enough to pay the alimony though, which is why he had to resort to some of the more questionable pulp novels he had cranked out. Those he never put his real name on but there were people who suspected it was him.
He didn’t really see much difference between the novels and the comics. Heroes sold and so did sex. If people wanted to buy it, all the better for Michael. He hadn’t ever thought of a biographical comic before. That was a new one to him. And one about his own life.
They put in all the things he had done professionally, like using the panels like a camera, doing an entire story from a first person point of view visually for the first time ever. They showed how he had intertwined his comics with other stories he had written, making them have what they called a shared universe. He just did it as a way to keep himself from getting bored.
What they left in was interesting but what they left out surprised him. There was no mention of his alcoholism. He didn’t see the years of himself drinking, virtually throwing away his relationship with his own son. Missing were the moments in his life where he had told fans that he couldn’t stand them. Missing was the lawsuit brought against him by his own publishers for not delivering on time. Missing was so much of his life but you could only fit a certain amount in the pages of a comic.
He stuffed the book back in its plastic, grabbed a stack of other books to buy without looking at them, then went up to the counter. The clerk was a young woman with purple hair wearing one of those air pod things in her ear. Michael assumed she was listening to music which was just fine with him. She barely looked up as she ran the issues through the scanner. Michael laid out his ten bucks, gave her a nod and went outside.
Just for an experiment, he leaned against the wall like the cover had him. It was awkward and uncomfortable and he hated it. There was a green trash can next to him. He tossed the comic of his life into it and walked away. He passed a young girl on the way, holding a crisp ten dollar bill in her hand.
Michael had long since driven away when the girl recognized his picture on the cover of a comic book.
She tucked it under her arm, hoping to find an incredible story. She wasn’t disappointed.
Tales to Astonish 44, Photo Credit: Marvel Writers: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, Artist: Jack Kirby
Up to this point in the Marvel 616 comics we’ve had plenty of stories staring Henry Pym, aka Ant-Man. For the most part these have been short stories featuring our hero taking on crime of one kind or another. Quite often he has faced off against communists. We know he is a brilliant scientist who does secretive work for the government but it would be false to say we’ve ever gotten a full understanding of his motivations. There haven’t been any stories which really dive into his background, he’s just kind of there.
This all starts to change when Henry Pym gets his partner in peril in Tales to Astonish 44. This is both his first full length story and introduces The Wasp to the 616 universe.
Technically Tales to Astonish is an anthology series and in this issue there is a backup story after the main story of Ant-Man but as far as I can tell it does not relate to the rest of the 616 continuity. But this is still the most amount of pages dedicated to Ant-Man we have seen in a single issue. And, truth be told, at this point it was Ant-Man who was selling the magazine.
The issue starts with a teaser page that looks a lot like the cover but basically acknowledges that we haven’t really had a back story for Hank Pym up to this point and promises us one here.
The story itself starts with Ant-Man coming back from some heroic mission to his lab where he tells his ants to return to nature and lets them know he will call them again when needed. Pym releases his growth gas and goes back to human size.
Ant-Man takes a break and laments how he must always be alone and can’t reveal his secret identity to anyone. And he mentions someone named Maria for the first time.
It turns out, Maria, was Henry’s wife. We see in flashback panels that Henry and Maria went to Hungary for their honeymoon where Maria and her father had once been political prisoners. Hank has some valid concerns about going there but Maria says they won’t know her since she is now Mrs. Pym rather than Maria Trovaya.
For a brief moment in time the two have a good time together and Hank wishes he could always be on vacation with Maria. She replies that he is becoming a lazy husband and tells him her father always used to say. “go to the ants, thou dullard!” I think that’s supposed to just be a way of saying don’t be lazy but it lays the groundwork for Henry’s future fascination with ants.
The bliss cannot last long as Maria is kidnapped at gunpoint. Although Hank tries to stop the men, he gets pistol whipped and goes to the American embassy. While he is there, the embassy receives a call. Maria’s body was found with a note which said, “This is what happens to those who attempt to escape from behind the iron curtain!”
Now all this communist hunting Ant-Man has done in previous issues makes a heck of a lot more sense. The dude is looking to even the score. But as if that were not bad enough, as they attacked Maria in Hungary, back in the states they also blew up the lab where Maria’s father worked.
Hank storms out of there furious and vowing revenge. But within a few days he ends up in jail,”on the verge of a mental and physical breakdown!”
Henry Pym was unable to track down and find the killers but the American embassy has arranged for him to be set free and sent back to America.
Not knowing what else to do, Hank thinks about the past and about his wife. And then he remembers what she said. The funny part of this is that he actually misquotes her from a few panels before as he quotes her as, “Go to the ants, thou sluggard!”
Henry then works tirelessly to invent his reducing gas, perfect his cybernetic helmet and become Ant-Man. It has a Batman feel to it as Henry is basically vowing to wipe out crime because someone he cared about was a victim of it. The difference though is that Henry takes a decidedly scientific approach to it.
Back in the present, Ant-Man decides doing this himself is not going to be enough. What he wants is a partner who can carry on his mission in the case of his death. But he doesn’t know anyone he can trust with his secret identity and who would have the attitude to take on the task.
Just in case he ever does meet this person, Dr. Pym studies wasps and realizes he can shrink a human and give them wasp-like wings and antennae.
At that very moment, fate steps in as his doorbell rings. A Dr. Vernon Van Dyne has come to see the famous Pym. Dr. Van Dyne is also a scientist and he has brought his daughter Janet with him. Hank lets them in and is struck by how much Janet looks like his dead wife. Although, he admits she is not much more than a child at this point. Janet, for her part thinks Henry is handsome but figures he’s a bore since he is a bookish scientist.
Interestingly, what Dr. Van Dyne wants sounds more like something that would be worked on by Dr. Bruce Banner. he is working on a gamma-ray beam to pierce space and detect signals from other planets. Henry admits he has heard of Van Dyne’s work but says his specialty is in molecular cell transition and cell specialization. Van Dyne wants the beam strengthened but leaves Dr. Pym alone.
Despite the lack of help, Dr. Van Dyne is able to get his beam to work. This turns out to be his demise. Some vast, shapeless, darkness comes at him and starts to take form. This alien thing comes into the lab and Van Dyne asks what it is.
It tells him, “I am from the planet Kosmos deep in space! We of Kosmos are a fluid form of life! I escaped down the path of your ray to this, your planet!”
Dr. Van Dyne keys in on the word escaped and the creature admits it is a criminal who nearly enslaved his whole society. And he figures if he failed there, maybe he can succeed here on Earth.
The alien commands the good doctor to look into its eyes. Van Dyne tries to resist but is unable to. The creature smashes the lab and Janet returns to find an awful mist and her father dead. Not knowing what else to do, Janet calls Henry Pym because she knows her father trusted the man.
At first Henry Pym doesn’t believe Janet and thinks she is just a, “bored society playgirl” who is trying to get her kicks by making up stories. But in short order, ants confirm the situation through Pym’s cybernetic helmet.
He goes into action as Ant-Man and shows up at Dr. Van Dyne’s lab where Janet is understandably upset. Ant-Man tells her he is there to help. She thought he was a myth, which is odd, since there have been literal newspaper stories about him in the past but we’ll let that slide for now. Janet explains the situation and Hank figures out right away it had to be some kind of alien force to have done the type of damage to the lab he sees.
And in what seems to be the first instance of an Avenger wanting to avenge something, Janet Van Dyne knows what she wants to do. She wants to avenge her father.
Hank tells Janet to call the F.B.I. and ask for Lee Kearns and tell him what happened. He then instructs her to go to the lab of Henry Pym. Janet agrees.
Oddly, the ants that accompanied Ant-Man have left him alone. He catches up to them and asks why they left. They tell him that whatever was in there secrets formic acid like the ants do but it is alien and they are afraid. Henry has them take him back to his lab and spread out to look for the monster and go to the F.B.I. headquarters to see what they find out there.
Hank grows back to human size and meets Janet at the door. He asks if Janet really would do anything to avenge her father’s death and risk anything for justice. She says not only that but she wishes she could help track down all criminals.
For the first time ever, Dr. Henry Pym reveals to someone else that he is Ant-Man and tells Janet he needs a partner. It’s quite a fateful moment in the history of the 616 because here we have the foundations for what will one day become The Avengers. We’ve been introduced to Thor, Iron-Man, Ant-Man, The Hulk, and now The Wasp. It will still take some time but these are all founding members of the super group and Janet Van Dyne should not be underestimated here.
Janet agrees to become Hank’s partner and The Wasp. Moments later, Dr. Pym has injected Janet with wasp cells, shrunken her down, given her an outfit which seems to perfectly fit her, and allowed her to grow wings and antennae which is only possible for her to have while she is small.
Meanwhile, Kosmos seems to be tearing up the city. He smashes the Van Dyne lab, destroys the docks and causes a general commotion.
Hank gets word of this from his ants and tells Janet to change into her new costume. We get confirmation for the first time that Ant-Man actually lives in New York as he sees Kosmos head towards the George Washington bridge and clearing out Manhattan.
Ant-Man gives some quick instructions to Janet on how to use the reducing and enlarging gas and how she can communicate with the insect world through her antennae. They launch themselves into the air with Ant-Man’s miniature cannon and immediately Janet is hooked on adventuring.
Not only that, she tells Hank, in case they are killed, that she is falling in love with him. For his part, Hank gives a pretty hard no here, although with his background we all know he can love someone. He says, “No! You mustn’t say that, Janet! You’re only a child! Let’s get this straight… I chose you as my partner simply because I thought you had a reason, as I have to fight for mankind! I never want to love again! I– I couldn’t bear it if I had to lose a loved one– twice!”
This basically sets up the relationship dynamic we’ll see with these two for years to come. It will come to be much worse than this sort of thing but we’ll review that when we get there.
Hank’s rebuke only makes Janet more determined to make him fall in love with her. And Hank realizes if he is not careful, he will fall in love with her.
Ant-Man then introduces his ants to The Wasp and the ants tell Henry they can’t confront Kosmos.
The military comes to try to stop Kosmos but they retreat in fear. Janet decides to tackle the problem head on herself. Janet seems to be drawn to the creature but Hank saves her. He realizes he can defeat this thing through science and the pair go back to the lab. Hank whips up the antidote to formic acid, realizing the creature is mostly made of formic acid. They become Ant-Man and The Wasp once more but this time they have the ants carry shotguns filled with pellets full of the antidote.
They make it up to a rooftop and fire the shotgun at the creature and luckily for humanity this does stop Kosmos. Janet cheers and puts her arm around Hank who tells her, “Er.. we— we’d better get back to the lab! And from now on you must not display such emotion! It– it isn’t proper!”
Janet seems to just be happy she made him blush. Back at the lab Henry calls Lee Kearns at the F.B.I. and tells him everything is okay. Kearns says he wants to meet Ant-Man because they share the same goals and Ant-Man can’t keep going it alone. Looking at Janet, Hank replies, “I’m not going it alone, Kearns… not anymore… not ever again!”
In her mind, Janet vows to always be beside Hank and make him love her but until that day she will be his partner as The Wasp. The issue ends here but we know we have a lot more in store for these two.
This is absolutely a landmark issue for 616. It introduces a backstory for Henry Pym, finally gives him some motivation for what he has been doing, and provides a love interest and important character in her own right. No matter the problematic nature of the relationship between these two, this is the most fleshed out, well rounded, and best Ant-Man story so far. It also starts to feel like the pieces are coming together to tell a much larger story, although at the time readers would not have known this.
This issue also finally puts Ant-Man in the same city as The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man so our heroes are beginning to gather.
Next up on the reading list we’ll be checking in with another character who has it out for communists as we read about Iron Man in the pages of Tales of Suspense #42!
Hi there horror fans! Slick Dungeon here back to review another staple in the annals of horror. One of the most notorious and brutal films of all time which does not bury the lead in the title, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This was a slasher before there were many slashers of note and is counted by some critics as the first actual slasher film ever made. I’m going to take a pretty deep dive into this series so if you have not seen the movie and don’t want any spoilers watch first and then come back to read the review where you will find out this movie is about a massacre with a chainsaw that takes place in Texas. Yes, I know it’s my keen and insightful analysis like that which brings you back to this blog over and over again. Anyway, if you don’t want spoilers from a 1974 film basically everyone knows about, watch the movie first!
Background
When I was a kid in the dark days before common use of the internet we liked to watch horror movies when we would have sleep overs at our friends’ houses. One of our favorite things to do at these sleepovers was to watch a super scary movie series and then stay awake all night from fear. Somehow, when I went to these sleepovers (or had them at my house) one film series that we never picked up was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I’m not exactly sure why this one never came up for me but I suspect it has to do with the background of the film.
The movie was released in 1974 and was produced, co-composed and directed by Tobe Hooper. This film was somewhat inspired by the crimes of an actual murderer named Ed Gein, although the plot is basically fiction. While that is the truth of how the movie came to be, the rumors about this movie were wild. Much in the same way The Blair Witch Project would later cause people to believe actual crimes were committed in the making of the movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was rumored to have used real skeletons, actually have killed people in the production and be based on real events. This lead to many of our parents banning the VHS copy of the film from ever being played at a sleepover.
Of course, the movie is just fiction, it was made on a low budget in Texas and by the standards of almost any horror movie today is fairly tame for a lot of it. That’s not to say there isn’t blood here or that it is not disturbing. It very much is, even now, but it’s really not much more over the top than any of the Halloween, Friday the 13th, or Scream films, with the notable exception that a chainsaw features prominently here. I should also point out that obviously no one was actually killed in the making of the movie.
Even before the film caught on, it had trouble getting distributed due to the violent nature of the content. Hooper had been hoping for a PG rating (remember this was before there was a PG-13 category) so he reduced the amount of blood shown. Still, this earned an R rating and it was tough to find a distributor willing to take it on. Eventually the Bryanston Distributing Company took on the challenge and in 1974 the film hit theaters in the United States and internationally. It was banned in several countries and even in the U.S. several theaters pulled it after audiences complained about the content of the movie.
Critics were basically mixed here at the opening but Hooper got the last laugh. The movie was made for $140,000 which would be just under about a million today if you adjust for inflation. The movie sold a whopping 16.5 million tickets earning over $30 Million in domestic box office alone. Thus Hooper proved for a low budget, with unknown actors, and plenty of scares and gore, audiences will come out to be scared. Not only that, they’ll keep coming back and love it. The slasher genre was truly born.
Sure, there had been a few movies one could argue would be slashers before this, Peeping Tom and Psycho being the most notable examples. But in those films, they were more psychological thrillers than anything else. While they had lots of shocking moments and a good amount of violence, that was never the point of those movies. But when you name a film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre there are three and only three things the audience demands to see. One, a massacre. Two, a chainsaw. And three the setting of Texas. Check, check and check. The fear is the point of this movie, no matter how you look at it.
This caused such a sensation that even if you didn’t watch it, you knew about the movie. It was not ashamed of what it was and made no apologies. The film inspired sequels, spin offs, books, comics, and video games as well. There are, in fact, nine films in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise with a tenth that was never released.
So the question is, how did a low budget movie featuring unknown actors and an unashamed acknowledgement of what it was right in the title spark an entire sub-genre and how does it hold up today?
Let’s dive in and find out!
Spoilers follow!
That’s an Odd Start
The beginning of the film starts with a text crawl and voice over. It talks about the tragedy which befalls five youths and in particular it mentions Sally Hardesty and her “invalid” brother. The voice over and text laments that these youths, even had they lived long lives could not have imagined nor wanted to see as much of the mad and macabre as they would that day. It mentions this was one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
This never says the film was based on true events or that the story was inspired by a particular news item but the implication is there. This gives the film more weight without actually lying about anything and it primes the audience for what will indeed be bizarre and macabre.
We then see a date on the screen, August 18, 1973. Again this gives an inference this is something that happened on a particular day. Much like Psycho the date is fairly meaningless so why would the filmmakers put it there unless something actually happened that day? It was a brilliant tactic when Psycho did this and I have to imagine Tobe Hooper was well aware of that when he decided to put a date at the start of this film. It makes you feel like you are peering into a window of time into something more akin to true crime than just a bloody horror film.
Next we hear the sound of digging, along with some grunting. There are camera flashes. It’s difficult at first to tell what is being lit up in the flashes but after a few times of this, it becomes clear we are looking at images of a rotting corpse, or perhaps corpses. The effects here don’t quite hold up to today’s standards but they are convincing enough to be off putting right from the start.
When we finally get a full picture, we see the face of the corpse as a news story plays in the background which talks about a grave robbing in the area of Newt, Muerto County Texas recently. Whoever dug up the graves also displayed the corpses on a monument in a grotesque manner. And as the camera pulls out to a wide shot, it is apparent that whoever they are talking about in the story has to be the one who was taking pictures. And we see the corpse we were looking at is set up in a strange manner so clearly this person has not been caught.
Road SAfety Tips
More news stories play in voice over as we watch the credits overlayed on images of red which could be just about anything but might possibly be blood or lava. Next we see a dead armadillo lying in the road. A van pulls over and we see the first of our living human characters get out.
The person gets out and lays a couple of sturdy boards out from the side door of the van. For those of us living in the current era this is pretty confusing but it makes sense once we see a man in a wheelchair being rolled out of the van on the boards. This was long before ADA compliance was a big thing and it’s a standard van so there is no ramp.
The person in the wheelchair is Franklin Hardesty and he is one of five people out on the trip here. He goes off to the side of the road to do what most men do when they pull over on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately for Franklin, he gets startled and rolls down the side of a hill. If only that would be the worst thing to happen to poor Franklin that day.
Back on the road, everyone is sweating in the van because, well, Texas in summer has a lot of heat. Franklin is complaining about the heat as a woman in the van talks about astrology.
The group gets out of the van a bit later and we get a glimpse of our full party here. This consists of Sally and Franklin Hardesty, Jerry, Kirk and Pam. Those last three don’t get last names. Apparently Sally is looking for the gravesite of her grandfather at a local cemetery. She goes off to find the sheriff but Franklin is left in the van.
An old man who is sitting on a tire lies back and looks up at Franklin and we get the first real feeling of something being wrong for this group. The man says to Franklin, “Things happen here abouts, they don’t tell about. I see things. You see, they say it’s just an old man. Talkin’. You laugh at an old man. There’s them that laughs and knows better.”
It’s not at all clear what this guy is talking about but it feels wrong. And it’s one of those tropes that ends up becoming adopted in so many slasher films. There is a warning before the group is truly in danger, often from someone who would be considered elderly or mentally ill or in some other way a person whose warnings could be easily dismissed or ignored by the rest of the community.
They get back on the road and Sally tells Franklin it didn’t look like their grandfather’s grave had been dug up. Soon everyone in the van starts complaining about a bad smell. Franklin points out this is where an old slaughterhouse was where their grandfather used to sell cattle.
And then Franklin goes into relentless detail about how the cows are killed, including descriptions of their heads being bashed in with a sledge hammer. And then he describes the modern way they kill the cows, still in graphic detail.
Someone in the van points out a hitchhiker and they decide to stop and pick him up.
Here’s a road safety tip from your old uncle Slick, don’t pick up hitchhikers! Seriously, it is a bad idea, so please do not do it. Trust me.
They even comment on how odd looking the guy is before they let him into the van. The guy talks about how his family worked in the slaughterhouse and he just gives off a real creepy vibe. The man also has a quite distinctive red mark on his face which could be a scar or blood or even a birthmark. Before you know it, this guy is doing really disturbing stuff. He’s handing out pictures of what look like polaroids of bloody masses of something. The characters in the van seem to take it to be cattle but it’s a little hard to tell what it is at all.
Then Franklin takes out a knife and starts playing with it. The hitchhiker takes the knife from Franklin and cuts deeply into his own palm with it. Road safety tip number two, if the hitchhiker you pick up seems a bit off, don’t flash a knife in front of him. Road safety trip number three, if the hitchhiker who you picked up seems a little off and he cuts into his own palm, make sure you let him out right then and there.
The hitchhiker then takes out a beat up old polaroid camera and takes a picture of Franklin. The hitchiker tells the group they could drop him off at his house up the road but the group says they are in a hurry. That’s the first smart move they’ve made so far here.
The hitchhiker even offers them dinner, saying his brother makes head cheese real good, but the group is not tempted. The guy then takes a picture of Franklin and demands two dollars for the picture. Franklin doesn’t want it so the guy takes the picture back, places it in foil, and lights it on fire. Everyone in the van starts to freak out but the hitchhiker grabs Franklin and cuts pretty deep into Franklin’s arm.
Only at this point do they finally kick the guy out of the van. The driver then says, “That’s the last goddamned hitchhiker I ever pick up.” One would hope so. Not that he’ll have much choice by the end of the movie here.
They patch Franklin up as Pam reads Franklin’s horoscope which seems like nothing but bad news.
We’ve now set up for a disturbing ride for the rest of the film and by the end, this group will be wishing they were just still on the road with an odd hitchhiker.
More Road Safety Tips
The van pulls up to a gas station. Everyone is a bit rattled from the day they’ve had. They are told the gas station has no gas, the tanks are all empty. This is odd but not impossible in a remote area like this. Franklin then asks about an old house they are looking for. The gas station attendant says they shouldn’t go poking around other people’s property because there are people who don’t like it and they’re willing to show you. In other words, poking around in deserted houses in the area is probably a bad idea. Franklin says it’s his father’s place though. The attendant offers them barbeque and says they should stick around a while and wait for the tanker to come fill up the gas tanks.
Another road safety tip here, if the gas station you pull up to has no gas, find the next one with gas as soon as humanly possible. Instead of go straight to the gas station, they drive out to Franklin’s grandfather’s place. This is a seriously bad idea.
Sally mentions the hitchhiker smeared blood all over the outside of the van.
They get over to the house they are trying to see, which is abandoned and look at the van to see that not only is there a blood smear, but it looks like a symbol of some kind.
Franklin seems rather paranoid about the hitchhiker following them and is real concerned about his knife.
There’s a pretty long sequence where the characters just kind of wander around the empty house for a bit as some ominous music plays.
Eventually Pam and Kirk decide they want to go swimming in a creek Franklin had mentioned and they take off. Franklin then notices some odd decorations made out of what look like bones.
That’s not a chainsaw
Kirk and Pam make it down the road and they see a house that seems to have a generator. Kirk figures he could go and get some gas if he leaves his guitar with these people as collateral until he can come back and pick it up. When they get close to the house there are a bunch of old broken down cars.
They wander around a bit and finally end up entering the house. This is when it starts to get real.
Kirk kicks a tooth on the ground and scares Pam with it. Rather than just leave, Kirk opens the unlocked door but Pam walks away. Kirk makes the mistake of walking in deeper and he starts to hear strange sounds like a person making pig noises.
We get our first view of Leatherface here as he pops out and bashes Kirk in the head with a sledgehammer. Wait, what? That’s not a chainsaw! Yep, that’s right, we’re saving that for later.
You’ve probably seen pictures of Leatherface before so I won’t go into too much detail but he wears a mask that is supposed to be made of human skin, and is wearing a butcher’s apron at this point in the movie.
Pam gives up waiting and goes to the door of the house and walks in after Kirk. She stumbles into a room just filled with bones. These are distinctly human bones and set up in all kinds of weird ways. Plus there is a chicken hanging in a cage for some reason. Pam starts freaking out and tries to leave. Leatherface pops out and grabs her.
He hangs her on a meathook as she is still screaming.
Oh, There is a Chainsaw
As poor Pam hangs there, Leatherface pulls out a chainsaw and starts to cut up Kirk’s body. We don’t really see too much blood here but the scene is still utterly disturbing.
Back at the van Franklin and Sally argue about who had his knife last. Jerry decides to go down to the creek and find Pam and Kirk.
Sally and Franklin continue to argue as Jerry goes to meet his doom.
Jerry finds the same house Pam and Jerry did and goes inside. He hears banging from a locked freezer and goes and opens it. A frozen Pam pops out for a minute.
Leatherface comes up from behind and guess what? Yep, sledge hammer to ol’ Jerry as well.
You really shoulda got that gas
By now it’s dark and Sally and Franklin are starting to wonder what has happened to their friends. There’s a bit of a long conversation where Franklin and Sally argue about whether they should go back to the gas station or go look for their friends. Turns out Jerry took the keys anyway so they can’t drive back to the gas station.
Finally the pair head down the path where their friends went and make all kinds of noise hollering for their friends.
When they are half way down the path they hear a noise and see a light at a house ahead of them. They go a bit farther and Leatherface shows up with his chainsaw. Franklin is no more but Sally runs away.
Leatherface runs through the forest after her swinging his chainsaw every which way. Sally makes it to the house where her friends died and runs up the stairs. She encounters an elderly man in a rocking chair. He looks like he might be dead but we’ll later find out this is the living grandfather of Leatherface. Sally runs down the hall.
Leatherface is close behind but Sally does what will become a signature move for her. She jumps out of the window to escape.
There is another chase through the forest until Sally finds herself all the way back at the gas station that had no gas.
I’ll pass on the Barbeque, thanks
In the gas station the attendant is there and he tries to calm Sally down. She tries to ask the guy to call the police but he says there is no phone. Again, odd but not impossible in those days. The guy says he’ll drive her over to the next town and leaves to get his truck.
And that’s when Sally notices the meat cooking in some kind of pit. That is definitely not beef. And another report about the desecration of graves plays in the background.
The gas station attendant comes back with a sack and Sally realizes she is still in some serious trouble. She tries to defend herself but gets beaten with a broom and knocked out. The attendant ties her up and gags her.
He tosses her in the truck and weirdly seems to be trying to reassure her that things will be okay as he keeps hitting her with the broomstick.
On the way, the gas station attendant picks up the hitchhiker from the beginning of the movie and yells at the guy. As if needed any more confirmation he tells the guy he was supposed to stay away from the graveyard. And we find out this guy is the brother of Leatherface.
The worst family dinner of all time
When Sally has the bag removed from her head, she sees the hitchhiker and she’s back in the house she escaped from. Things are not looking good.
Next, the gas station attendant tells the killers to go get their grandpa. He also tells Sally to take it easy and they’ll have something for her to eat right away.
Sure enough the guy in the chair from earlier is brought downstairs as Sally struggles the best she can to get away. Eventually she passes out and when she wakes up she’s at the family dinner table.
We also find out that the gas station attendant doesn’t like killing people and he lets the two brothers do all of that. Turns out the gas station attendant is, “just the cook.”
The whole room is decorated with bones and body parts and feels extremely uncomfortable to the viewer.
There’s kind of a long sequence here where they threaten and torture Sally and explain to her that their grandfather was the best killer they had ever seen. They make the mistake of trying to get Grandpa to kill Sally but he’s so old and weak that he keeps missing.
Fortunately for Sally she’s untied and able to escape the house. She once again jumps out of a window to get away. Leatherface and the hithchhiker run after Sally. Leatherface, of course, has his chainsaw with him.
Even More Road Safety Tips
Sally makes it to the road with the hitchhiker grabbing onto her. A semi-truck comes out of nowhere and basically flattens the hitchhiker. Look before you cross, people. And yeah, if you see a guy covered in blood grabbing a woman who is screaming for dear life as you drive your truck down the street, I can’t say I blame you if you hit the gas here.
The truck pulls over after this and the driver lets Sally into the cab of the truck. Leatherface comes with his chainsaw and saws the door a bit.
If I was the driver here, I woulda hit the gas so hard to get outta there but that’s not what he does. Instead, he and Sally run out the other side as Leatherface chases after them. But the driver grabbed a wrench on the way out and tosses it at Leatherface’s head. It connects and Leatherface falls, causing him to drop his chainsaw onto his own leg. It cuts him but it doesn’t sever the leg or anything.
A pickup truck comes by and pulls over. The driver of the semi-truck runs into the woods so who knows what happens to him? But Sally is able to get into the back of the pickup, she’s smeared in blood and laughing and screaming like she has lost her mind.
The film ends with a shot of Leatherface swinging his chainsaw around in the air as the sun rises behind him.
In Conclusion
There were a lot of factors that made this a successful horror film. One is the ominous soundtrack which plays in the background. The cinematography here is nothing special but it’s competent. The set design is completely off putting to the audience and with each watch through you are bound to notice yet another disturbing thing in the background you might have missed. Gunnar Hansen, who plays Leatherface is an imposing figure and you can’t take your eyes off of him whenever he is on screen.
But most importantly, this film was willing to cross boundaries and take risks where other horror films up to this point had not. There is not a larger story here other than people in danger and the end is not conclusive. The bad guys are not caught and punished for their misdeeds so one can presume they will be free to continue their horrific crimes into the future. The only one who seems like they might be out of the picture is the hitchhiker since he was hit by a truck.
It can’t be underestimated how influential this film is in the annals of horror. Most slasher films owe something to this one, whether it is a mysterious figure under a mask, a thoroughly creepy soundtrack, warnings from the community before the danger starts, or a collection of people going about everyday activities who find themselves confronted with a horror they can barely comprehend.
While there are definitely slasher films which I would say are better, this movie undoubtedly laid the groundwork for those. Since I have not yet seen all of the films in the franchise, I can’t say if the rest improve on the quality here but this first film is the one everyone knows about and for good reason.
Wishing all of you the happiest of Fridays! I wrote another short little story called Too Quiet. I hope you enjoy it!
Too Quiet by Adam Wright
The sky was an open blue expanse only marred by the occasional wisp of clouds. Brandon wiped the sweat from his brow. He gripped the hilt of his sword automatically, ready to draw at the first sign of trouble. His brother walked next to him, a soldier already tested in battle, James was a slayer of kings and often thirsted for blood.
“Keep your eyes sharp in your head, you never know what’ll come from man or heaven,” James said.
“You expect trouble?”
“Nothing we can’t handle. Still, I don’t like the look of the sky. Not enough there.”
Brandon had no idea what James meant by that so he kept walking. After an hour they crested a hill, the tall grass up to their knees billowing against them. James held his hands up and Brandon halted.
“Listen. Do you hear that?” James asked.
“I hear nothing.” Brandon gripped his sword once more all the same.
“Exactly. It’s too quiet. I don’t like it.”
They continued their march through the day only stopping for short breaks to eat a bit of dried fruit and cheese. Further on Brandon remembered some bread he had stuffed in his bag and ate greedily. James didn’t notice.
“There’s no wind,” James said.
“What’s your point?”
“Could be nothing. Keep your wits about you.”
Brandon nodded as if he knew exactly what his brother meant. His hand never left his sword.
They reached a creek bed with the water low and the soft sounds of waves hitting against rocks.
“Be careful as we cross,” James said.
“Will it be safe?”
“As long as you look out for danger.”
The brothers hiked up their pants, letting the cold water run across their ankles as they waded through. Just as they were about to reach the other side a creature that seemed to be all fangs and bright white fur snarled at them. Brandon had his sword out and made himself look as large as possible to scare the creature away. James was faster than Brandon and had already wrapped his arms around the creature’s neck.
Just as Brandon was about to leap onto its back and rescue his brother he heard the sound of a voice from behind. The only voice that could bring an end to their battle.
“Boys, what are you doing? Get out of the mud and would you let the dog go? Honestly, I don’t know why we let you run around with those toy swords of yours,” their mother said.
“But ma, we’re just foolin’ around.” James let go of the dog and Brandon did the same.
“Now that you’ve had your fun, it’s time to get inside and wash up for dinner. Get a move on.” She pointed toward the door, a sure sign that she meant business.
As the brothers sat at the table trying to mind their manners Brandon leaned over to his brother.
Strange Tales Issue 109, Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee & Robert Bernstein, Art: Jack Kirby
What would you do if you had the power of Pandora’s box? If you’re anything like The Sorcerer in Strange Tales #109, you’ll probably run around trying to steal stuff and attacking The Human Torch. The issue gets a bit weird as it dives into magic which is a newer threat for Johnny Storm.
The issue starts with a teaser page showing our hero threatened by a giant tidal wave. A man in a green robe is telling Torch that “Flood is the evil I’ve selected to destroy you!”
So, who is this guy and why does he have it out for ol’ flame head? Basically, it’s a kids get off my lawn story but let’s take a look at it anyway.
The story starts back at the Baxter building where three of the Fantastic Four are all gathered. Johnny flies in through the window and The Thing scolds Johnny for skipping school. But, of course, Johnny has done no such thing. His teachers are just having a conference so he got out early. Johnny was basically bored and missing his family so decided to drop on by. He complains a bit about school and then notices a map in the room and rightly realizes the rest of the team are planning a mission. Johnny wants to join but is told no because it has to happen the next day when Johnny is in school.
We don’t get any real information about the mission, other than the FF plans to “…make life a little tougher for the commies!” Which, yeah sounds about right for these comics at that time. Johnny complains about how boring it is being a full time student at boring Glenville. As Johnny flies off we get a rare glimpse of how Ben Grim actually feels about Johnny. He says he loves the hot-head like a brother.
On his way out, Torch sees a fire in a building and uses his powers to suck in all the flames and saves the people in the upper floors. Then he sees a flash flood which has washed out some train tracks. Luckily for the passengers, Johnny is able to convert the flood water into steam and the train passes by safely.
Yeah, sometimes the powers of The Human Torch are kind of silly and so are the random dangers he flies by. But his powers, especially at this time, are a bit flexible anyway.
The next disturbance Torch hears is some commotion at a place where he knows an “eccentric old hermit known as The Sorcerer lives!”
So what’s the big trouble about? Well, this dude is literally trying to get kids off of his lawn. But this time, with dogs. Dogs which are leashed I should mention. As far as I can tell, this guy isn’t actually breaking any kind of law, even if he is being rather unpleasant.
Not quite sure who voted The Human Torch the head of the neighborhood watch, but he decides to take things into his own hands. He puts a leash of flames around the dogs and basically yells at The Sorcerer for scaring the kids. Johnny tells the guy to put his dogs away or Johnny will take them to the dog pound. The Sorcerer puts the dogs away and asks Johnny to tell the kids to stay away from him and give him privacy. Johnny asks if The Sorcerer knows what he’s called around the neighborhood. The dude says yes and the name is well earned because he has studied black magic for years. Johnny then tells the guy if he wants privacy so bad, he’ll give it to him with a wall of flame around his house. The Sorcerer points out he won’t be able to come and go if there is a wall of flame there. Johnny responds he can’t have it both ways, “If you want freedom of movement, others must have it as well!” The Sorcerer gives in but tells Johnny he won’t forget it.
At this point, let’s sum up here. I’m not one to be on the side of a wealthy property owner or anything but in the last few minutes a guy who lives on private property tried to get kids off his lawn, with pets he legally owns and properly kennels, was called an eccentric by a super powered human, nearly had his dogs burnt by said super human, had his lawn burned by fire and was then told he had to let people just come onto his property. I think rather than threaten this guy, perhaps Johnny should have looked up real estate egress laws because, yeah, now this guy is going to go full villain.
Johnny doesn’t really think the guy has black magic so feels pretty safe leaving and taking the kids back to their home. But what Johnny does not know is that The Sorcerer is about to discover Pandora’s box. You know, the one from the myth where basically all bad things were let out into the world? Yeah that one. Which seems weird because if we believe the myth, the stuff in the box couldn’t be put back so how would owning it help? The only thing left inside was supposedly hope and we already have that too so, I think Pandora’s box is just a box at this point. Also, if we believe the myth it was a jar not a box but whatever.
Ah, but see, these are comics we’re reading so they have a ready excuse. The Sorcerer explains (to himself), “But what other experts on Greek legend don’t know is the Circe, the greatest sorceress of ancient times, used her fantastic magic to force all the evils to return to the box…” Circe then seals the box with a magic incantation. So there you have it, perfectly logically explained and we’re good to continue with the story.
If we are to believe The Sorcerer he got that very box “…unwittingly sent to him in a crate full of Greek artifacts by an expert from Athens!” If it was sent unwittingly, then this expert was not much of an expert. Or maybe they were looking for a jar not a box instead?
Anyway, The Sorcerer continues studying ancient texts and vowing revenge on The Human Torch. He also points out he can unleash and recapture all of the imps which are in the box through his magic.
Two weeks later he shows up at a bank holding a box. He is not taken seriously at first when he demands money from the bank and the security guards want to take him in to have his mental health checked. They don’t put it quite that nicely.
But the Sorcerer is prepared and unleashes the evil of hatred. Before you know it, everyone in the bank is fighting with one another over trivial stuff. The Sorcerer uses the opportunity to grab as much cash as he can and strolls out of the bank. He then recalls the imp of hatred and lets out the imp of… forgetfulness. I guess that’s a kind of evil in some cases? Anyway, it causes everyone there to forget what just happened. Johnny goes to investigate and realizes the people there are not lying, they’ve been manipulated somehow.
The Sorcerer goes on a bit of a crime spree, stealing jewels with the imp of… sleepiness, stealing art from a museum with the imp of… paralysis, and furs with the imp of… cold. And he covers his tracks in the same way after each one.
One night in Glenville the police hold a meeting where Johnny is present and one of the officers says it seems like the crook is some sort of wizard which makes Johnny think of The Sorcerer. The Human Torch rushes off to find the bad guy sorting his ill gotten gains. The Torch has the advantage of surprise but The Sorcerer unleashes disease from the box to sicken Johnny. This works for a moment until Johnny heats himself up enough to burn off any germs. So, instead The Sorcerer lets out the evil of a tidal wave like we were teased in the beginning.
Sure enough, Johnny is soaked and his flame goes out. The cops show up but The Sorcerer unleashes foolishness on the cops. But there are still more cops who are not affected yet and they fire shots at The Sorcerer. Good thing for him magic can apparently ignore the rules of physics completely because The Sorcerer unleashes… laziness… to slow down the bullets. Yeah, not kidding.
Johnny stalls for time by asking about the box, hoping he can dry out enough to flame on. And, as The Sorcerer thinks he has Johnny defeated, Johnny asks if he can choose the manner of his own death. The Sorcerer agrees and unleashes fire which, of course, only powers up our hero. Johnny grabs the box from The Sorcerer and welds it shut, saying he is going to take it to the ocean so it can’t be found again.
The Sorcerer is terrified when Johnny gets back. This is because, just before Johnny left, the imp of fear poked out of the box in the direction of The Sorcerer. This guy is probably going to be permanently scared of everything.
The last panel is Johnny reuniting with the rest of the FF who seem to have heard about Johnny’s exploits and all is well again.
There are a few interesting things about this issue. One, it firmly establishes magic as being a real and regular thing in the world of 616, thus truly paving the way for Dr. Strange to show up soon. Second, it separates Johnny Storm from the FF a bit so there is the possibility of splitting this group up into different adventures at any time.
Also, while I certainly don’t condone the behavior of The Sorcerer once he has Pandora’s box, Johnny sure seems bossy to random people in the neighborhood in this issue. This certainly doesn’t mean Johnny is bad or evil in any way but it would be easy to see how a super powered person could intimidate the heck out of someone for, you know, wanting kids not to hang around their lawn or whatever.
We’ve certainly not seen the last of Johnny Storm, or of magic in the 616 but it’s a long way from being fully explored just yet.
Next time we’re getting small again with Ant-Man but he’s going to bring along a new player in the 616 as we first meet The Wasp in Tales to Astonish #44!
Happy Friday folks! Here’s a little story I wrote, hope you enjoy it!
Handcuffs by Adam Wright
When the handcuffs clacked onto Thomas’s hands, the cold metal biting into his wrists, he knew he made a mistake. He must have been begging on the wrong corner. Some places it was ok to beg. Other places they made you move on.
The spotlight shone in his eyes, bright and unforgiving. The sea air whipped against his cheeks and he could taste the salt on his tongue. His clothes were old and torn, with brown smudges and stains on them. He was wearing four jackets and two pairs of jeans. The knit hat on his head had holes in places and was unraveling in others. The gloves he wore had holes where the fingertips should have been.
“What’d I do?” he asked the police officer.
“Thomas, I don’t know,” he motioned his head toward the squad car, “Feds tell me to put cuffs on, I put cuffs on, that’s it.”
Thomas looked back on the ground where his sketchpad and pencils lay. He never bought alcohol with the change he begged, but art supplies were expensive and hard to come by on the streets. On the paper was the beginning of his latest sketch, a building that not only scraped the sky but penetrated the clouds. It was an exact copy of an office building most people walked by without thinking about. Stock traders and big businessmen were the only ones who ever entered the place. Even they never paused to look at the structure. Thomas knew what it must have taken to make the building. The height alone was a challenge to the architect, but the way the walls creeped up into the air with such imposing dominance was perfection. He could tell without looking inside of the building exactly where the arch supports were, the floor plan on the inside, where the strongest and weakest points were located.
“Can I take my pad?” He looked hopefully at the officer.
“No. Get in the car.”
“That’s my livin’, my pad. It’s all I got.” He tried to move his shoulder toward the pad and the officer nudged him to the car.
Thomas sat down in the back of the car; the upholstery was cold and unforgiving. His hands were uncomfortable behind his back and the metal dug into him. He looked out of the window toward the crowd, if you could call it a crowd in a busy city like this, and saw a heavy dark boot step down and snap one of his pencils. The shards of fine lead scraped across the concrete as the foot moved away.
“Ohh,” he squeaked.
“What’s the matter, you hearin’ them voices again?” The cop turned his head toward the back of the car.
“No.”
“You know I told you about places that can help. I told you about them free doctors and clinics. If you woulda gone, maybe you wouldn’t be here.”
“I just wanna draw, don’t want no one tellin’ me I can’t draw or what I should draw. Them doctors do that to you, they do it all the time.” Thomas watched the buildings go by outside the car. He knew which ones were art deco, which were gothic or glass box style. He could name them all.
“Why didn’t you go to school, Thomas? I’ve seen your drawings, you coulda been an architect.” The officer kept his head straight forward looking at the road.
“I tried, sometimes I say stuff, talk to myself, can’t stop, said a bad word once, teacher thought I was cussin’ her. I was cussin’ them voices, they tell me I’m stupid, can’t do nothin’, won’t be nothin’, so I cuss ‘em. They kicked me out, I never tried again.”
Thomas and the officer were silent the rest of the way to the station. He loved the look of the station house. It had high curved arches, a large flight of concrete steps going up to the door, and big bright lamp posts that lit up the sidewalk. He had drawn that building too. In fact, he had drawn every building in the city at least once. From the coast to the business district, he sketched them all. The police station building was not a big seller on the streets. Most people wanted really tall buildings. Thomas could never get more than three dollars for the police station.
Inside the station, people were walking back and forth in a hurried fashion, ignoring each other. Phones rang and people shouted across the room. The officer led Thomas past the bustle and into a sterile, empty room with a table and two chairs. A man in a dark suit sat at the table and gestured for Thomas to sit down.
“Who’re you?” Thomas asked.
“Special Agent Fields, counter-terrorism division,” he replied as he pulled out a tape recorder and pressed record. The red light on it stared Thomas in the face. The agent was tall and thin and kept clicking the pen in his hand.
“Begin recording,” he said. “Interrogation of subject suspected of terrorist activities on February seventeenth. Subject’s name is?”
“I’m Thomas.”
“Do you know why you are here?”
Thomas looked at the man. He had no emotion in his face; he just stared in Thomas’s direction. Click, click, went the sound of the pen.
“I was at the wrong corner.”
“No, sir. You are accused of aiding an elite terrorist network with vital information about the design and structure of several buildings in the financial district. Do you draw buildings?” he asked, pausing long enough to cross his arms and sit back in his seat.
“It’s my livin’. And beggin’ but mostly I draw. Some people, they like it and want to buy ‘em.” Thomas moved his hands around as much as he could in the handcuffs.
“We have stopped an attack on the building you were outside of. One of their recon agents had piles of sketches in his briefcase detailing every inch of the building. They even knew delivery drop points and service entrances. How long did it take you to learn the layout, sir?” The agent clicked his pen again waiting for an answer.
Thomas looked down at the hard metal table and thought for a moment.
“I never been inside. I just know, I can feel the inside. It comes out when I draw. That’s when the voices stop, when I draw.” He rubbed his shoulder against his face to try to scratch the itch on his chin.
“Subject admits to knowing the inside of the building,” stated the agent.
“I never been inside,” said Thomas.
“Do you know what they do in that building?”
“No. People dressed all up in suits go there. They don’t give money even though they all dressed so nice. Some kinda office?”
“Yes. Some kind of office. It is the building that houses the nation’s foremost chemical weapons research lab. It is the most heavily funded lab on the west coast. You will be detained indefinitely, charges may or may not be pressed against you for your actions, you have been defined as a national threat, an aid to terror, and an enemy combatant. You should be happy. You won’t have to beg anymore for food, you will have a place to live and will be taken care of.” The agent set his pen down and pressed the stop button on the recorder.
“Can I draw?” Thomas asked.
“No. Never again, you are too dangerous to our security. Now let me remove those handcuffs.” The agent motioned to a police officer to take the cuffs off.
The key released the cold metal from Thomas’s hands.
“Now isn’t that better, sir?” asked the agent.
“Yes, sir, my hands feel much better now.” As Thomas rubbed his wrists trying to get the circulation back he knew that even if he was released he would not ever be free again. Not to draw was the same as cutting off his hands.
The Amazing Spider-Man Issue #3 Photo Credit: Marvel Written by Stan Lee, Art by Steve Ditko
Few heroes are as defined by their villains as Spider-Man is. Outside of Batman, Spidey has the most recognizable gallery of rogues in all of super hero comics. Undeniably one of the most infamous of those rogues is the one and only Dr. Octopus. He’ll have a huge and complicated influence on the life of Peter Parker and everyone around him. But he had to appear for the first time somewhere. For him it was the third issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. While his intro establishes a good number of the baselines of what we will come to know about the scientist turned villain, much of his origins will be revised and updated to become more intricate and complicated.
Yet, even at his debut, the cover of the issue promises something special with Dr. Octopus. He seems to be the first villain who can truly claim to have more power than Spider-Man. So who is he, where did he come from, and why does he have it out for Spider-Man? Let’s find out.
The first teaser page of the comic promises Doctor Octopus is the only enemy ever to defeat Spider-Man. This is a bold claim considering Spider-Man has been down a time or two but it does turn out to be the case, as Obi-Wan Kenobi would say, from a certain point of view. And we get the promise of a special appearance by the Human Torch. He’s already wrapped up in Spider-Man’s life but I find it intriguing every time Stan Lee brings on a guest in a comic because it helps to establish the shared universe of heroes each time it happens.
The story begins with a run of the mill bank robbery. The crooks think they’ll have an easy time of it until Spider-Man flashes his Spider signal at them and proceeds to knock the bad guys out with ease.
In fact, it’s so easy it leads Spidey to wish he had an opponent who would give him a run for his money. This kind of wish is a bit of a precursor to a running theme in Peter Parker’s life. Every time he thinks things are going well, or that he’s got his job as a superhero down pat, a huge threat will appear and often times come close to destroying him. As readers, we all know, if a hero is wishing for a bigger challenge, he or she won’t need to wait long.
The scene shifts to the generically named US Atomic Research Center where someone called Doctor Octopus is about to perform an experiment. We get our first glimpse of the doctor wearing his specially designed arms that become the defining physical feature of the bad guy.
What should be a tool of science will soon become the very thing which traps a decent man into doing evil things. The guards in the room observing Dr. Otto Octavius say he is the most brilliant atomic researcher in our country today. I’m not sure, but I would bet if Dr. Bruce Banner heard that, he’d disagree. And speaking of Dr. Bruce Banner, other than being brilliant scientists, they have something else in common. Failed science experiments. There is an accident involving radiation, although this issue doesn’t go into what the cause was, or how it happened. But, the end result is an explosion. Unfortunately, Dr. Octavius is caught in the heart of the blast. He survives but apparently absorbs an immense amount of radiation.
In the real world, an accident like this would without question kill the victim. But, in the world of Marvel comics in the 1960’s? Getting hit by radiation is virtually guaranteed to give you super powers. Quite frequently they turn out to be animal based super powers.
Sure enough, in the hospital the doctors know two things about Dr. Octopus. First, he is brain damaged. In other words, something has altered his mind, so even if he was a good and noble scientist at one time, there is no telling what he’ll be like now. Secondly, they cannot remove his artificial arms. It’s a bit unclear if doing so would actually kill Octavius or if they are simply fused into him and there’s not a clear way to remove them. This is something that will come up a lot in later stories involving Dr. Octopus.
When Dr. Octopus wakes up he insists to the doctor he must return to his work. I’m not sure if this was intentional or not but the doctor who is telling Octavius to stay put sure resembles one Dr. Donald Blake, and the nurse in the background looks a lot like Jane Foster. It’s never officially mentioned but it would be easy to assume Dr. Blake could have been asked to treat Dr. Octavius.
More importantly than who is in the background, this scene establishes how altered Dr. Octavius’ mind is. Rather than assume the medical doctor is acting in his best interest, Otto assumes people are jealous of him and want to keep him away from his work.
The window of the hospital room has bars on it, most likely to prevent accidents from a high floor, but Octavius thinks he is being kept prisoner. With a thought, his mechanical arms move and remove the bars for him and Dr. Otto Octavius officially becomes Dr. Octopus.
The Doc immediately uses his newfound power to intimidate others.
Meanwhile, J. Jonah Jameson wants pictures of the notable scientist at the hospital and one Peter Parker is more than happy to volunteer to be the one to get them. Peter figures that as Spider-Man, this will be as easy as taking out those bank robbers was. The hospital itself, known as Bliss Hospital seems a bit sketchy as it is fenced off and locked up when Spider-Man gets there. Spidey easily climbs the walls and wishes once again for a bit of real competition.
Be careful what you wish for, because as soon as he gets to the window, Spider-Man sees Doctor Octopus for the first time. Octavius has imprisoned the staff at the hospital and demanded they bring him equipment. He is refusing to let them go, even though they have given in to his demands.
When Dr. Octopus dangles someone out of a window, Spider-Man decides he has to launch into action and for the first time he takes on what will become one of his key villains. The artwork in this particular panel is notably exciting and I think one of the main reasons Doctor Octopus keeps coming back.
Peter doesn’t really know what he’s walking into here and Doctor Octopus wallops him with the mechanical arms hard enough to make Spider-Man think twice. Even though Spider-Man manages to web up a couple of the mechanical arms, Dr. Octopus snaps the webbing. This already puts Octavius in a stronger category than any other villain Peter has faced.
I’m not sure if this was a mistake, or a joke, or what but at one point Dr. Octopus refers to Spider-Man as Super-Man. Octavius also says his power is the energy of an atom, born of a nuclear accident. Pretty strong claims here. Dr. Octopus gets the upper hand and essentially tosses Peter right out of the window he came through.
Now, it must be said that although this only the third issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, there have been times when Spider-Man has lost a battle before. The Fantastic Four were able to subdue him, and the Vulture made a pretty good run at Peter. But, I would still say this is the first time Spider-Man was defeated. Why do I say that? Because that’s what Peter himself thinks. And Spider-Man is only truly defeated when he is doubting himself. This is the lowest point we’ve seen him anywhere so far.
Although Spider-Man was defeated here, he did win a small battle. The people who were being kept prisoner escaped during the fight, causing Dr. Octopus to realize he needed to flee.
But Octavius has a new plan and he heads right for the US Atomic Research Center. Dr. Octopus wants to destroy part of the nuclear plant to demonstrate his power and he lowers the lead shielding which was keeping the radiation at bay.
The authorities realize they are up against incredible odds and post sentries to keep anyone from going in or out of the research center.
At home, Peter is feeling pretty down after his defeat. He also has to tell J.J.J. that he can’t get the pictures of Doctor Octopus. But all is not lost. The Governor asks the Fantastic Four for help. Most of them are away on a different mission but the Human Torch has been asked to try and help out. Unfortunately the Torch is flamed out because he’s, “used my flame so much recently, I have to wait a few days to let it get strong again!”
And so, I guess, everyone thinks the best use of the Human Torch’s time is to go do an assembly at Midtown High where Peter Parker happens to be in the audience. Johnny Storm does a few fire based tricks but nothing major. Then he gives a bit of an inspirational speech where he talks about how the Fantastic Four have been discouraged before but it’s important to never give up.
Peter really takes this to heart. I find this super interesting because one of my favorite things about Spider-Man is how he refuses to give up the fight even when the odds are hopeless. Turns out, we have one of his contemporaries, Johnny Storm to thank for that.
After the speech, Peter thanks the Torch for the moving words but Johnny doesn’t seem to think much of it.
So, of course, Peter gets right back in the game and heads back to face Dr. Octopus. He’s able to use his spidey-sense to evade all the traps and security Octavius has set up.
And then, Peter does something else I love about this character. He uses his brains before his muscles. Instead of taking Dr. Octopus head on, he first makes his way to the chem lab.
We don’t know right away what he’s doing but it’s clearly risky and Peter has a plan in mind. He next goes to find Dr. Octopus and we learn that the chemicals Peter was messing around with were a chemical compound he made that would fuse Dr. Octopus’ metal arms together.
There is quite the fight but ultimately, Spider-Man prevails. Peter then decides to find The Human Torch to let him know Dr. Octopus is all taken care of and cryptically thanks him for saving Spider-Man.
The issue ends with Peter back in school watching Johnny do a demonstration in the sky as Flash Thompson tries to get under Peter’s skin.
There is a pin up page in this issue and for everyone who had an issue and cut that page out, well, ouch because this issue has at least once sold for $144,000.
This issue is a landmark issue for both Peter Parker and Dr. Otto Octavius which sets up stories for literally decades to come. It helps that the good Dr. got a full comic book length story for his debut and it sure didn’t hurt that The Human Torch showed up to help sales out a bit.
Next time we’ll be seeing more exploits of the one and only Human Torch as we catch up with him in the pages of Strange Tales #109!
Happy Friday everyone! Hope everyone’s 2024 is off to a good start so far. Here’s a little story I wrote called At the Crossroads. Hope you like it!
At the Crossroads by Adam Wright
It was midnight when Jasper McPheerson got to the crossroads, his guitar strapped across his back.
He had a bag of ingredients with him. The sack was small. It fit in the palm of his hand. He looked at the full moon.
Slowly, he untied the string on the bag. He picked up the feather and blew it into the wind. He pinched the strands of hair between his fingers and gently dropped them to the ground. With the pocket knife he sliced deep enough into his palm to draw a few drops of blood and placed his hand directly in the center of the crossroads. Finally, he lit a small candle with his Zippo lighter and sat cross legged.
Jasper closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He recited the chant. It had taken him months to learn enough Latin to be able to pronounce all the words. It had taken even longer to recite it from memory with no pauses, interruptions, or mistakes. Now he knew it as well as he knew the pledge of allegiance.
After the chant was finished, Jasper expected something to happen. He listened to the wind and waited. He heard the sound of crickets and waited. He smelled the fresh cut grass and the stench of residual oil hanging in the air and he continued to wait. Keeping his eyes closed, he fought to stay awake. His pulse slowed and he caught his head drooping a time or two.
The smells around him started to change. Instead of grass he smelled sulfur. Instead of crickets he heard the sound of crackling flames and felt the heat of a campfire all too close to him.
Jasper opened his eyes. Before him stood a man in a pair of old blue jeans, a dark leather overcoat, and a wide brimmed black hat. The man’s eyes glowed with a fiery red light. The man was thin and his face was gaunt. When he spoke to Jasper the voice sounded like the hum of electricity running through a high voltage wire.
“Not this horse shit again. I suppose you want something from me?”
Jasper found his mouth was dry and when he spoke it came out as a thin whisper.
“Yes, sir. I do.”
“On with it then, what do you want? You’ve got me trapped here until we make a deal. For both our sakes, and to keep me from boredom, make it a good one.”
“Famous. A famous musician. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
The man cocked his head to the side as if in thought. He scratched at his chin and Jasper saw razor sharp black nails.
“Fifteen thousand, four hundred and seven.” The man’s voice crackled once again.
“Excuse me?”
“That’s the exact number of times someone has asked me to make them a famous musician. You do a thing once and it never ends. I have immense power at my fingertips. Are you sure you don’t want something else? It’s not very original.”
Jasper stood up and stepped closer.
“Please, sir. Like I said, it’s all I’ve ever wanted. There’s nothing else for me.”
“Can’t you reconsider? I mean, you could be rich and not famous. Or, hell, here’s an idea, ask me to stop world hunger. You never know, maybe I could do it. No one’s asked. Maybe the reason you want fame is to meet women. I can do that for you also. But really, this whole devil down in Georgia at the crossroads thing is just a trope. Can’t you be more creative?”
Jasper took his guitar off his shoulder and grabbed a pick from his pocket. He started the first few notes of Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. The man grabbed Jasper’s wrist. His hand was like a hot coal on Jasper’s skin.
“No need for that, son. I’ve heard that song plenty. I can see your mind is made up. You know what you’ll owe me?”
Jasper swallowed.
“My soul.”
The man nodded. He then spit into his hand and extended it toward Jasper. Jasper did the same and they shook.
“Well, that’s it I guess. I’ll be seeing you soon. Enjoy your fame.”
The man faded into haze until Jasper saw a blinding white light. He heard the sound of a horn blaring. Before he knew what was happening, two tons of steel collided with Jasper and he was no more than a streak on the pavement.
The next day the headline that made Jasper famous read:
MUSICIAN STRUCK BY PRESIDENTIAL MOTORCADE AT MIDNIGHT IN GEORGIA
Hello book lovers! It’s 2024 and that means we’ve all got a fresh year full of reading to look forward to. But what is there to read? There’s millions of books out there and tons of blog lists recommending those books. So, I decided to come up with my own list of what I think might be worth reading this year. For the most part these will be fantasy or science fiction books but that’s just my taste. If you read anything this year and you like it, you win your year in reading. I’ll get into why I think the books below are worth reading but a lot of them have been around for a long time so it might be a re-read for you. Anyway, I hope you like the list!
The Dune Series
Dune by Frank Herbert
Dune is one of the most brilliant science fiction books of all time. It has an epic and sweeping story spanning entire planets but it focuses on a small group of characters in a desperate situation. You probably know there was a Dune movie released in 2021 and there will be a part two of that film released this year. Both films are based on the first book in the series. There are a total of 6 books in the series so if you enjoy the first one, there’s still plenty to read after that first book.
The Wheel of Time Series
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
No matter how you feel about the adaptation of the Wheel of Time series, the books written by Robert Jordan have been well loved for decades. There is good reason for this as the stories are immersive and sweeping and contain everything you would want in a fantasy series while providing incredible and unexpected twists. The book to start with is The Eye of the World but there are a whopping 14 books to read. The last three were written by Brandon Sanderson who we’ll be talking about later in this list but the rest were written by Jordan himself. If you haven’t started reading this series, 2024 is the perfect year to start. There have been 2 seasons of The Wheel of Time television show released with a third on the way.
The Time Corrector Series
The Winding by Avi Datta
In the past few years one of the most beautiful books I have read was The Winding by Avi Datta. This is the first part in the Time Corrector series. It’s full of interesting time travel concepts but also contains an incredible romance story. A third volume of the series is on the way and I’ll be reviewing that book in February. If you are looking for a great science fiction book, a great romance, or simply an amazing story, I can’t recommend this series enough. With there only being three books so far, it should be pretty quick to catch up and get a bit further on your reading challenges this year.
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Okay, I know, I know, every fantasy fan has probably already read this. But, if you are like me, you can never get enough of these books. It’s where a lot of western fantasy comes from and Tolkien’s genius is virtually unmatched in literature. If that weren’t enough, there is a re-release of the Lord of the Rings films in January and, believe it or not, another LOTR related movie is coming out in 2024. It’s called The War of the Rohirrim and is going to be an animated film starring the voice talents of some of the cast from the live action films. That makes 2024 the perfect year to revisit this series. (Well I think every year is the perfect year for that but at least I have an excuse now)
Literally anything by Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Who is the least adapted but most prolific fantasy author alive today? Hands down, Brandon Sanderson. To say he is prolific is truly an understatement, this guy writes volumes of books the way I consume popcorn. My personal favorite series of his is The Stormlight Archives but these books are all huge so I am plodding my way through them. He also has the notable and extremely enjoyable series Mistborn, a great single volume novel called Elantris and a series of Y.A. books called Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. A lot of his books tie together into a shared universe he calls the Cosmere which leads to plenty of fun and interesting easter eggs. I haven’t come across one of Sanderson’s books I don’t like, however, he writes an incredible amount of books so I have not nearly read them all. 2024 is a good year to start these books because, well, any year is a good year to start his stuff and he’s overdue for an adaptation of his work in film or television so you might as well get on the bandwagon where all the cool kids are now.
Conclusion
This is by no means an exhaustive list of great science fiction and fantasy books. Other great authors to consider include N. K. Jemisin with her Broken Earth series, The Binti series by Nnedi Okorafor, anything by Neil Gaiman, The Earthsea Cycles by Ursula K. Leguin and The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Put simply, there are too many books out there for me to read so I can’t tell you everything you should read but those are a few of my suggestions for the year.
What are you planning to read this year? I’m always looking for a good book recommendation, especially in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror categories so let me know in the comments!
Literally yours,
Slick Dungeon
(Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)
