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Graphic Novel Review: The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television by Koren Shadmi

The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television by Koren Shadmi

Life Drawn, 2019

ISBN-13: 9781643375717

Available:  Paperback, Kindle edition, comiXology

Koren Shadmi’s The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television is a graphic biography following Rod Serling’s time in the military as a paratrooper, his diagnosis of “shell shock” and the subsequent nightmares, his rise to fame during the Golden Age of Television, and his life and struggles after the end of The Twilight Zone. The book reads like an episode of  the iconic series. Each chapter is contained within conversations between Serling and an attractive airplane passenger while on a seemingly endless PanAm flight. For those readers familiar with the show, at any moment you expect to see the Gremlin on the wing…

Something that struck me while reading The Twilight Man was that control was a constant in Serling’s work. The entertainment industry deemed him the “Angry Young Man” of Hollywood as he challenged networks and viewers through his stories to show the consequences of war, to reject censorship and racism, and what it means to be human in a messed up world. Only when he wrote his stories in terms of aliens, monsters, and speculative fiction did his work become less threatening to censors and producers.

I would recommend this book to fans of Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone or anyone interested in graphic biographies. Shadmi weaves a great story about a complicated man. The artwork is crisp, and Shadmi captures everyone’s likenesses well. The color pallet changes between these snippets of conversation from blue to black and white when the focus is turned to Serling’s past.

Koren Shadmi, an award-winning illustrator and cartoonist, studied illustration at The School of Visual Arts in New York where he teaches currently. His graphic novels have been published in the US, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Korea, and Israel. If you like The Twilight Man, look for Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and The Creation of D&D created with writer David Kushner. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on December 8, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Scavenger Hunt by Michaelbrent Collings

Scavenger Hunt by Michaelbrent Collings

Written Insomnia Press, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-699207-49-9

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Five strangers wake up in a room, with no memory of how they got there.  They find out they are part of a game controlled by a sinister mastermind, who wears a mask and communicates through electronic means.  The mastermind expects them to do bad things.  That’s the plot of Michaelbrent Collings’s newest thriller, and it’s a plot you’ve seen before, many times.  Collings himself used it in his previous novel, Terminal, and many authors, from King to Koontz, have also recycled it.  Unlike certain purveyors of said plot (example: the SAW and CUBE film franchises) Collings actually knows how to make an old plot seem new and fresh, due to the speed of the writing and the unseen twists that pop up throughout the book.  Scavenger Hunt is a fast ride through a familiar plot, and is worth the time to read.

Aside from the basic plot, there are elements that you can guess will show up.  The obvious one is that all the strangers were chosen for a reason.  Even though they don’t know each other, their lives were all connected at some point in the past.  Collings wisely spaces interlude chapters throughout the book, one for each character.  Each chapter fills in the backstory of one character, and it helps you see how the plot slowly ties together.  Collings also has a variety of chapters detailing police online investigations throughout the book that don’t seem related to the plot, but are, although the reasons don’t become apparent until later.  The whole story works this way: the reader gets a clue at a time to figure out the puzzle, but it’s a very difficult one to figure out, as Collings doesn’t give away anything obvious.

Therein lies the strength of this novel.  Not everything is as it seems, and the perception of the characters changes throughout the book, turning the story into a maddeningly elliptical puzzle.

The protagonists and antagonists flip roles throughout the book, and even what seems like a sick game might be perceived as salvation by the end.  Collings does an excellent job confounding expectations with this commonly used plot.   A nice touch was the creative way to keep the game players from simply running away, once they are free to go out on the streets.  Each player has a collar and wristwatch fitted with explosives, giving the game’s mastermind the freedom to blow a limb-or head-off of any of the players whenever he sees fit.  This is also one of the few stories of this type where some of the players are actually given a chance to leave the game, if they are fine with abandoning the other players to their fate.  It’s the little things that make an old plotline seem new and exciting.

Overall, this is a well-written, fast-paced story that should please fans of horror or thriller novels.  It has elements of both, but doesn’t swing too strongly one way or the other.  If you want excitement, don’t miss this one.  Recommended.

 

Contains: violence, profanity

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on December 3, 2019 by , 1 comment

Book Review: Hellbender by Josh Craven

Hellbender by Josh Craven

Raygun Books, 2019

ISBN-13: 9781951494018

Available:  Paperback

It is the summer of 1946. Veterans are returning from the War. Bobby Graywood loves baseball, his job as batboy for the local team the Green Sox, and Addie Vogel, even though she doesn’t know it. He’s an ordinary, awkward teenager, other than his Affliction. Whenever he makes skin-to-skin contact with anyone, he experiences their memories, past or future. As a result, he wears his gloves as often as he can to avoid touching anyone. One fateful day, the new pastor in town, Newton Hellbender, asks that he helps with the laying on of hands, complete with speaking in tongues. He requests that Bobby remove his gloves to better aid in the blessing. He does so reluctantly, and accidentally makes contact with an elderly woman whose memory reveals Hellbender’s true nature. Suffice it to say he is not the Servant of the Lord he purports to be. There is plenty of voodoo, small town politics, intrigue, and baseball games that drive this story to its end.

I do need to make potential readers aware of sensitive topics that require a content warning. This also requires a spoiler warning, as some of this will give key parts of the plot away. Randall Goode, Hellbender’s assistant, is a child molester. We see this through Bobby’s Affliction, which is disturbing on multiple levels. Bobby experiences all of the things in his visions as the person he touches. In one case, he is inside Randall’s mind as he is violating a young boy. I very nearly stopped reading at this point. I had to put it away for a few days before I could pick it up again. Later, Bobby almost falls victim to this abhorrent character. Racism is another sensitive topic regarding Jubal Moss, a Cajun veteran who makes the Green Sox roster. Jubal speaks with a Louisiana Creole dialect, and faces bigots on and off the baseball team. I became frustrated when he, the central Black character, is killed by Hellbender. Another victim of rape in the story is Bobby’s unrequited love, Addie. We do not see her rape occur, but it is implied.

All that being said, it is not a bad story. It is fast-paced, and there is so much going on that keeps the reader interested. However, be warned if you pick this up.

Contains: body horror, child molestation, racial slurs, racism, rape

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 17, 2019 by , Reply
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