Netflix sent me A Boy and His Dog a couple of weeks ago (this wasn't just a random event - I actually did have this movie in my queue). I'd heard, years ago, that a young Don Johnson (26 years old when the movie was shot) was the main character in the movie, so I thought it would be fun to watch for that reason, if for no other.

World War III lasted from 25 June 1950 when the Republic of Korea was invaded by 60,000 screaming North Korean troops spearheaded by something in excess of one hundred Russian-built tanks... to January 1993 when the Vatican Entente Cordiale was signed between the Eastern and Western blocs. World War III - hot and cold - lasted forty-three years, though nobody seemed smart enough to realize it was all one continuing conflict. But as the New Year dawned in 1993 it was all over; peace and tranquility reigned la-de-da

For two years and six months and three days

World War IV broke out on American Independence Day, 4 July 1995. World War IV lasted five days, until the few remaining missiles that had jammed in their release phase cleared the various silos beneth the Painted Desert and the Urals and the Gobi Altay; but by then there wasn't much of anything left to fight over. Five days

Then what was left belonged to anybody who wanted it, anybody with a taste for radiation and rubble. But it was a very different world the survivors claimed. The "good folks" sank their caisson cities, their sterile downunders, deep in the earth. And the snaggle-toothed remnants of the aboveground were abandoned to the new masters of desolation: vicious roverpaks of parentless young boys and their telepathic dogs.

From the History of the World, as Blood tells it.

I've never read the Harlan Ellison story that the film was based on, but I do have a comic book from 1987 called Vic and Blood that was illustrated by Richard Corben and consists of three short stories (Eggsucker, A Boy and His Dog. and Run Spot Run) that were adapted to the comic book format by Harlan Ellison. Each story is like a new chapter in the story.

The comic adaptation mirrors the film adaptation pretty closely, but it's not an exact match. This scene with Susanne Benton was one of the few that was exactly the same in both versions.

Speaking of Richard Corben, he's been working on quite a few mainstream projects recently. I've read most of them, but my favorites have been Dark Horse's Conan comic (the new Conan series, Conan the Cimmerian that just started), the recent Hellboy series, and H.P. Lovecraft's Haunt of Horror (published by Max Comics, a Marvel imprint). The limited 3 issue series Haunt comics are especially awesome. It reminds me of the old Poe adaptations Corben adapted so well.

As much as it hurts my nerd-pride, I have to admit that I've never read any of HP Lovecraft's stuff. Until now, that is. Each of the three stories in each issue of H.P. Lovecraft's Haunt of Horror is adapted (with varying accuracy) from a Lovecraft story or poem (the first comic story of each issue is from a story, the second and third in each are from poems). Being able to see the original prose that inspired the comic adaptation is really cool.

The Lovecraft stories in the comics are: (issue 1) The Scar, Recognition, A Memory, (issue 2) The Music of Erich Zann, The Canal, The Lamp and (issue 3) Arthur Jermyn, The Well, The Window.

��

I could probably ramble on about the Conan comics that that Richard Corben is doing or about his older stuff, but I'll spare you the torment and stop here.

Funny. I thought this was going to be a quick, short post.



Got something to say? Say it. (0 responses).

This page has been viewed

times since I started tracking hits.
(This is a rudimentary non-unique IP hit counter, so don't be too impressed)