From the Inner Earth to Asgard: books read in various series

It took Edgar Rice Burroughs 15 years after Pellucidar to return to the hollow earth with TANAR OF PELLUCIDAR, which I presume means it didn’t sell as well as Barsoom or Tarzan; perhaps that explains why instead of focusing on David Innes, protagonist of the first two books, the central character is Tanar, an ordinary (for Pellucidar) young man in Innes’ inner-earth empire.

Like the previous book, this one has a great opening. Jason Gridley, a new resident in Burroughs’ suburban community of Tarzana (yes, it’s a real place), is a radio buff whose experimental radio frequency, the Gridley Wave, reaches Abner Perry in Pellucidar — a shock to Gridley, who’s been rolling his eyes at ERB’s insistence the stories of Pellucidar are true. This leads into Perry narrating the story of Tanar, captured by the piratical Korsars and undergoing the usual Burroughsian hairbreadth adventures, escapes and True Love. Pretty good, and some effective moments such as Pellucidarians freaking out when David leads them to the polar opening at the edge of the world — why doesn’t the horizon keep rising the way it does in Pellucidar? Contrary to my memory, it also mentions the Mahars, now even more beaten down by the attacks of the Korsars. This ends on a cliffhanger setting up a crossover with Tarzan in the next book.

GHOST DANCE JUDGMENT: A Novel of Golgotha by Rod Belcher returns to that weirdest of Weird Western towns after spending time in the wider world in Queen of Swords. In addition to the usual bizarre details such as a house that eats people, the residents, particularly the core cast, are caught between the ghost dance — a shamaness is literally raising a ghost army to massacre white settlers — and the Army showing up in force, intending to use the ghost dance as an excuse to go genocide.

Using the ghost-dance movement didn’t work for me. I’m not sure anyone could make it work because while Native Americans have grounds for an uprising against the US, I don’t want to see the white settlers butchered either; that’s a hard needle to thread. Plus we know the tribes aren’t going to win and the book’s efforts to end on a hopeful note didn’t satisfy me either. On the plus side, the usual weirdness of the series still works, as does the plot by Wyrm cultists to exploit the chaos and free their dark god. Overall I enjoyed even though it’s a mixed bag.

ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG: American Wasteland by Fred Van Lente and Pere Perez is chronologically the finish of the series, as the final volume consists of flashbacks (or so I understand). Searching for Archer’s birth mother, the heroes go up against the Church of Scientology (with the serial numbers filed off) who are apparently keeping her captive. It turns out that avatars of every iconic figure are also trapped in the church, from Elvis Presley to a legion of Lee Harvey Oswalds (one is a lone gunman, one’s a KGB assassin, one’s a CIA patsy). This ends on an ambivalent note about what’s coming next for the guys (“All I’m saying is, you’ve got to choose.”) but I think it sticks the landing.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THOR Vol. 5 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby continues their amazing mid-sixties run on the series. We open with Thor confronting the alien Colonizers who are about to add Earth to the possessions. When they realize Thor’s power, however, they strike a deal to spare Earth if Thor will battle Ego, the Living Planet, then we’re back on Earth where Jane has been captured by the High Evolutionary, then there’s a war with the trolls — and in the middle of all that, Jane Foster gets her chance to become a goddess of AsgardAs I noted at Atomic Junk Shop that issue stinks in several ways but clearly Lee and Kirby wanted to move on, leave Jane behind and bring in Sif as the new love interest. Overall, though, this is cool stuff.

#SFWApro. Art by Roy Krenkel, Michael Walsh and Jack Kirby (top to bottom), all rights to images remain with current holder.