Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Black and White Wednesday: "The Horror Within and Without..." by Carr, Buckler, McNaughton, and Kaluta
Digging through old issues of Skywald's Psycho mag is always both daunting and delightful. Daunting 'cause they really pushed the ol' horror envelope and delightful 'cause you can often find some true gems within those pulpified pages. "The Horror Within and Without..." from Psycho #13 (cover-dated July 1973) is one such gem. Rich Buckler and Chuck McNaughton wrote and Mike Kaluta illustrated this adaptation of Terry Carr's 1967 short-story "City of Yesterday" for the never-published Science Fiction Odyssey #1. Psycho editor Al Hewetson was wise enough to snap it up for the comic-reading world to enjoy. And you, you lucky Groove-ophile--you get to dig it right now!
There was something very speical going on with black and white science fiction in teh Bronze Age. It had a unique voice and unique look, and, despite the diversity of writers and artists, a certain unity......
ReplyDeleteHere's a point: at the end of the story above, the computer tells the warrior his parents were most likely in the city that the warrior just helped destroy. I went round and round with the editors on this: in the Terry Carr original story, and in the script when drawn, the computer tells the warrior that his parents' RECORDS were in the city just destroyed, so, as far as the Computer was concerned, the warrior's parents, and all humans whose records were destroyed in the attack, were destroyed... Knowing that little twist, now the warrior's final bit of dialog will make sense... "you can't erase -- past like that... their names -- weren't -- the -- important..."
ReplyDeleteThank you for the additional info, Michael! Wow, what an honor to have you not only checking out the Diversions but commenting on and illuminating your classic work. Thank you so much!!
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