Having never before read fiction based on comic characters, I’ve always been leery of the genre. But for the good of the column, I decided to read three novels based on characters I read in illustrated form growing up.
JUDGE DREDD: DREDD VS. DEATH by Gordon Rennie – I grew up reading the weekly British comics anthology 2000 AD mainly for the adventures of a certain judge. For those unfamiliar with Judge Dredd – what, you didn’t see the bomb of a movie? – here’s a rundown: In the future, law enforcement is comprised of mobile, cop-like judges who carry out sentences right then and there. These judges are total badasses; I mean, if you jaywalk, expect to serve some serious time.
This 2003 book is pretty self-explanatory: Take one of the baddest villains in the whole run of Dredd and have him come back for revenge. Actually, this book was based on a video game that came out, but since I don’t own a console, I never got a chance to play it or even see it in action. But the story on its own holds up real well.
Sure, some of it reads like, “Oh, that must be a level in the game” type stuff. But don’t let that stop you from reading it, because the story is nonstop action in the Dredd mold, from references to old strips I remember as a kid to some of the cultural jokes it was always peppered with.
For fans of Dredd who feel leery about heading into a bookstore and plopping down money for this, don’t. It’s packed with more action than anything out there and keeps in line with the Judge Dredd history, so falling back into it is not a hassle. Even for those who have never even picked up an issue, you’ll delight in all of Dredd’s badassness.
STRONTIUM DOG: BAD TIMING (2004) by Rebecca Levene – Johnny Alpha is a Strontium Dog – a futuristic bounty hunter who also happens to be a mutant. In the future, there is a huge outbreak of mutants following a nuclear war. These mutants are treated like second-class citizens, even hunted down and killed … until the mutant rebellion, that is.
And there’s your backstory to most of the old “Strontium Dog” strip, also from 2000 AD. I don’t know what made me start reading it as a kid – maybe because it was usually featured after a Judge Dredd story. In a nutshell, it was a space opera/spaghetti Western.
BAD TIMING is the first of the novels based on Johnny Alpha’s adventures. Being the first in the series, of course, we’re introduced to a wide variety of other bounty hunters, many of them hired by a criminal named Don “Chick” Delater. He wants the Strontium Dogs to hunt down former associate Bad Boy O’Blarney, a mutant-killing robot hiding out on a planet nicknamed Speed, because time there is 400 times faster than anywhere else.
The book is fun, but it gets a bit bogged down with all the characters in the group. I understand they probably will pop up in the later novels. Hell, one of them even has her own series: DURHAM RED. On the whole, it fills my need for more stories of Johnny and crew, since the chances of getting 2000 AD reprints at a cheap price are nil. I’m not really into dropping close to $30 for an imported comic.
THE ISLAND OF DOGS by Warren Shanahan – A purple-suited crimefighter in the South Seas who seems to live forever. That’s The Phantom in a nutshell.
In this 1975 novel, there’s an island surrounded by an electrical fence and hiding a secret. There. Now you won’t have to read this bore fest. Even at its short length, this one could not hold my attention, plodding on like a comic strip dragged on way too long – which, from what I understand, was the original way the story was told.
We get a brief history of The Phantom at the start, yet he only appears in the story itself at key moments, when all of a sudden he appears to put some bad guys in their place. Meanwhile, the rest of the book is spent with the Jungle Patrol, whose members are unknowingly under The Phantom’s control.
I’m expecting to catch some flak for my reaction to this “hero,” but wow, is this book boring. The cover tells you everything you really need to know without even opening up to the inside. At least it’s not as crappy as that PHANTOM 2040 cartoon from the ’90s.
Next time: The greatest call to arms since “Avengers assemble!” –Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• DURHAM RED by Peter J. Evans
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