Jaz cover issue low res - Flipbook - Page 21
Reviews
In some ways The Power reminded me of books like Margaret
Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale,
Joanna Russ’s The Female Man, of
John Wyndham’s The Trouble with
Lichen and Edmund Cooper’s
almost forgotten novel of the early
seventies, Who Needs Men or Gender Genocide as it was titled for its
US release - a dark tale of a future
societies extermination of men by
women. That said, The Power is
totally its own book, and a shockingly good one at that! One that not
only provokes, but whose story and
characters stay with you long after
the last page has been read and the
book finished, and I cannot recommended it highly enough. Fabulous!
The Power has now been
adapted for TV by Amazon
Prime with the first season starting March 2023.
Nigel Wingrove
The Bloodied #1
Written by Nathanael
Underwood / Flow Toulman
Art / Lettering by
Alan O’Neill / Zon
Published by Nightside Publishing November 2021
The Bloodied is from a small but
undeniably popular genre of comics
–Heavy Metal fantasy. Yes, we mean
the power of blast beats and tremolo picking! There is a tremendous
amount of crossover in the fantasy
fiction and heavy metal genres, including more out there created by
actual bands than you might think
– probably the most famous being
Armory Wars, the visual accompaniment to Coheed and Cambria’s
music. The Bloodied captures all
the elements of True Metal TM, as
well as nailing the tone of a solid,
occult fantasy comic series.
The art suggests influence from
Templesmith and Sienkiewicz, and
the opening page is an absolute
stunner – I may even go so far as
to say that image drew me in far
more than the cover. Only one part
failed to suspend my disbelief…
I’m sorry but no-one, and really
no-one, maintains such an officially
Health and Safety appropriate
straight back when humping amps
up flights of stairs – I found this
highly implausible. Although I do
enjoy mystery cabals who choose
their secret meeting locations
based on whether it’s “close to
your gaff ” or not; and maybe the
band are known for their exceptional posture whereas I’m just
heading for back injury.
The Bloodied follows band
Damim, who you may have caught
in real life last recently at The
Underworld as support for Napalm
Death, as they attempt to harness
the harmonic vibrations of heavy
metal to maintain the inter-dimensional barrier between us and some
nasty looking demons. We weren’t
in attendance at that gig, so cannot
speculate on whether or not these
pages have worked a kind of sigil
magic a la Grant Morrison’s Invisibles (which was a six-year long sigil
in the form of an occult adventure
story, and is a very interesting tale)
Will the band succeed in
striking the cryptochord of
transmogrification?
What is Shaman Juice?
Hopefully we’ll find out in issue
2… Although I’m not sure we want
to find out what Shaman Juice is.
Lou Hellbaby
LIVE – Zeal and Ardor,
with support Lake Malice
Electric Brixton,
13th November 2022
Perhaps the proximity to Hallowe’en, or the presence of ‘13’ in
the date of this gig should have
hinted at the fact it would be no
ordinary gig… The phenomenal
and ever-improving one-manband project turned Black Metal
crossover monolith that is Zeal
and Ardor were playing Electric
Brixton…
As we arrived reports were in:
the entire support band, Heriot,
were ill, as were approximately a
third of Z&A. Having apparently
been given the option to cancel, or
forge ahead regardless, the quietly
charming Manuel Gagneux chose
to play anyway. Support was found
last minute in Lake Malice, who not
only deserve a mention for being
ready to go at such short notice,
but because they were a genuinely
good surprise. They brought rock,
punk, and even electronic undercurrents to catchy metal riffs, high
energy levels, and a front woman
who owned the stage and the
crowd. Look out for them!
When they take the stage they
are a few bodies lighter than usual,
this shouldn’t really be a problem
for a band who began as Gagneux’s
personal solo project. However as
time has gone on, each tour and
album has solidified the band members into the form we know today.
The backing vocals may not be as
live as expected, but the crowd is
here for Manuel, and the atmosphere cannot entirely be diminished. Opening with Church Burns,
from self-titled, newest album, the
crowd is in awe from the moment
they take the stage. Surging bodies,
waves of hair, and hundreds of
voices chant along to Zeal and
Ardor’s unique blend of black
metal, rhythm, blues and workchants. It would appear that Zeal
and Ardor at less than full strength
will still blow you away. If Z&A
aren’t already on your radar, they
are now, so you’ve really no excuses.
Their rise from small, self-produced
project to selling out international
tours has been somewhat meteoric, and gigs as spellbinding as this
show you exactly why.
Lou Hellbaby
BOY PARTS
Eliza Clark
Faber & Faber
304 pages £9.99
With an anti-hero in the truest
sense of the word, Boy Parts is a
book that had me empathizing
with someone I had moments
ago hated, resenting people I had
moments ago felt sympathy for, and
generally was a journey with astonishingly regular pit stops to wonder
if my laughing at such a truly dark
thing made me an awful person or
not…. Because this book has some
hateful and pitiful characters, and
some truly dark things, and it will
still make you belly laugh and cheer
for one of the most disruptive, chaotic, and out of control protagonists
you’ve ever had the uncomfortable
pleasure of allowing into your
imagination.
A thrilling, chilling, and well…
blood-spilling tale of a narcissistic
fetish photographer with a spotty
past, exorcising her demons on the
unsuspecting souls who attempt
to show her compassion as she
spirals further out of control. We
eventually will discover the triggers
for this, but initially just strap in
and enjoy the crazy carnival ride.
You’ll meet the parents (which as
usual goes some way in explaining
the offspring), the long suffering
best friend (who would love to be
so much more, and will be manipulated accordingly), and the men
she lures to her photography studio
to be her subjects (more often
than not smashing through every
personal and professional boundary
there can be). Things come to a
head as the upcoming gallery show,
and relaunch of her career, finally
become present tense. As she crosses lines, burns bridges, and things
get more and more out of hand will
we be able to handle the rest of
what she has to show us?
Clarke’s deliciously deviant debut
novel is strong because she has created incredibly authentic, unique,
and realistic characters here, all
with a depth that belies what you
may assume would be a lack of
writing, and indeed life, experience
(this is her first novel, written at the
age of 25). She weaves her words so
that although what you are reading
is sometimes sickening, you are
under her spell, and seemingly
unable to stop.
Lou Hellbaby
Fight Girls1
Created / Written / Illustrated by
Frank Cho
Colours by Sabine Rich
Published AWA Upshot Studios
2022
Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows) has
made a living out of his genuine
love of the female form, that and
of course, his ability to draw it so
fantastically well. Although a large
swathe of comic book artists have
over the years been accused of
creating unrealistic female forms,
Cho actually draws fairly realistic,
albeit sumptuously curvy, fiercely
powerful women. And yes, he obviously has a type. This could be seen
as an entire vessel, created by Cho,
to give him a reason to just draw
what he likes. And when you are
this good at it, I don’t see why you
should have it any other way. Did
we mention he seems to quite like
drawing dinosaurs too?! However,
vanity project it may be, sub-standard it most definitely is not.
We are introduced to our new
setting quickly, without fuss. An
empty throne, a sad woman and
a newsfeed voiceover suggest a
decadent, yet mildly dystopian, scifi setting, with the kind of fantasy
undertones you’d expect when
finding out a Queen has abdicated due to a lack of ability to bear
children. So that’s why the ‘girls’ are
‘fighting’! In accordance with Royal
law the ancient contest of champions will take place to fill the vacant
Queen’s throne. And because it
would be absolutely no fun at all
to not have Cho draw a variety of
action poses, monsters, and more,
the contest will take the form of
several rounds… A race through
an untouched and primal jungle (I
thought they were extinct?!), a race
across desert (YEAAHHH... SANDWORMS!), a race across water (can
anyone say Megalodon?) and hand
to hand combat.
With the kind of expert pacing,
snappy dialogue, and general
campy comics style violence you’d
expect from someone with so many
years of success in the business,
and the large quantity of sparingly dressed, muscly women you’d
expect from Frank Cho, Fight
Girls may be almost ‘Frank Cho by
numbers’; but it’s just so deliciously
gorgeous, and genuinely entertaining (with a killer twist) that this
really isn’t a downside.
Lou Hellbaby
Lipstick and Dynamite,
Piss and Vinegar: The First
Ladies of Wrestling
Dir Ruth Leitman
Koch Lorber films - 2004
Starring The Fabulous Moolah,
Mae Young, Gladys ‘Kill ‘em’
Gillem, Ida Mae Martinez, Ella
Waldek, Penny Banner
Most of us are familiar with the
idea that during the Second World
War, women often took on roles
previously performed by men,
simply because there were no men
around to do them. This was such a
widespread effect it even wormed
its way into the most masculine of
strongholds… Wrestling. A gap in
the market arose, and the women
of this documentary filled it, despite
some fierce opposition to whether
they could wrestle, and whether it
was even appropriate for them to
try (women’s wrestling even being
banned in some states).
Focusing mainly on this period
of the ‘40s to ‘50s, “The Heyday of
Women’s Wrestling”, Leitman interviews the stars of this time, looking at stories of their fights in the
ring, financial exploitation by promoters, chaotic fans and relationships, and more. These interviews
are mixed with relevant archive
clips, of matches, TV appearances,
and bits of 1951 movie Racket Girls,
and eventually we find out what
each larger than life character is up
to now; and see them meet up at
The Gulf Coast Wrestlers Reunion.
Professions the ladies now find
themselves in include, but are not
limited to: lion-tamer, detective,
and yodeler.
Throughout the documentary
we can see how rivalries have
carried on through the years, and
in some cases are still as bitter as a
Campari Spritz with a Grapefruit
Negroni chaser. This is a wellmade look into a group of women,
who single handedly took their
place in a man’s world by force,
arguably paving the way for not
just the WWE Divas of today, but
almost certainly women of today
excelling in contact sports, and all
roles perceived as masculine.
These women’s heydays may be
long past, but they could still take
you on in the ring and win!.
Lou Hellbaby
The King of Nazi Paris
Christopher Othen
306 pages
Bite Back Publishing
Hardback £20.00
Paperback £9.99
When France surrendered to Nazi
Germany on the 10th May 1940,
the French people were demoralised and generally accepted
defeat, they expected England to
fall to the Germans as well, and
had thus reluctantly resigned
themselves to a new order. The resistance didn’t really kick off until
Germany attacked Russia in June
1941, up until then France’s many
communists and leftist sympathisers, felt that if Hitler was okay for
Stalin who had signed a peace pact
with Nazi Germany, then the Nazis
couldn’t be all bad. Hence what
little resistance there was, was
low-key and non violent.
For some the change to Nazi rule,
not only offered an opportunity to
make some money but to grab a
piece of the action and one man
who grabbed that chance with
both grubby hands was a 39-yearold petty thief and con man called
Henri Lafont.
Lafont, had been orphaned at 13
and had become something of a Parisian Artful Dodger running with
street gangs and surviving by his
wits. In and out of prison, he also
served time with France’s colonial
troops, before being convicted of
fraud. He was due to be deported to
the French penal colony of Guiana
(where the film Papillon is centred)
just as France fell to the Germans,
and so Lafont’s luck changed.
This a story of chancers, sleazy
nightclubs, gangsters, money, sex,
drugs, and lots and lots of violence.
It is also the story of a city; Paris,
and its people who were forced
to live and adapt to life under an
occupying force, an occupier who
would arrest and kill people for
transgressions against their rules.
It was also a city that suddenly
became awash with money as German soldiers enjoyed an almost
nonstop party in the city’s bars,
legal brothels, restaurants and
nightclubs. In amongst all this the
Germans sought order and saw
men like Lafont as useful fixers
and spies, someone who knew
Paris better than they did and who
had no loyalty to the old regime. Of
the Germans Lafont said, “...they
feed me, treat me with respect,
not like the French...I’d have to be
an idiot to refuse and I’m not the
King of idiots”.
Lafont was given the power to
spring people from prison and
soon surrounded himself with
cronies from his days inside,
assembling a colourful collection
of grotesques. Known as the ‘firm’
they included amongst others,
Pierrot le Fou (Mad Pete), Charlot le Fébrile (Feverish Charlie),
Abel Danos (Le Mammouth) and
Violette Morris, a former Olympic
weightlifter, trouser- wearing
lesbian and Nazi collaborator who
got off on seeing people in pain
which earned her the nickname,
The Hyena of the Gestapo.
Lafont and his cronies now did
odd bits of dirty work for the SS and
Gestapo, usually beating or killing
people, or locating members of the
resistance. In return, as long as
they didn’t steal or cross their German masters, Lafont and the firm
could pretty much do what they
liked. This included; looting Jewish
property, selling and trading on the
black market, rape, torture, extortion, running protection rackets,
stealing art and, for a price, making
Jews become non Jews. Lafont
also notoriously developed a taste
for champagne, foie gras, white
orchids and very glamorous women
including a top Chanel model and
a White Russian countess. He also
became a regular at Paris’s best
restaurants and befriended the
singer Maurice Chevalier, something Chevalier downplayed to
having “only met once”, by the time
Lafont was on trial.
In 1944 with the Germans
abandoning France the party came
to an abrupt end with Lafont, true
to form, saying before he faced the
firing squad on Boxing Day of that
year, “I lived the equivalent of ten
lives, the least I can do is give you
one of them”.
This an exceptional book about
some fairly ghastly men doing
extraordinarily bad things by virtue
of equally extraordinary circumstances. It reads like a TV series
and demands to be made into one.
I’ll leave the last word to a member
of the ‘firm’ - “If we’re getting rich,
I’m on board”
Nigel Wingrove
Salvation/19