THE MONSTER MEN #3

Isle of Terror Part 3″

Writer: Mike Wolfer

Artist: Roy Allan Martinez

Sing and Ju-Long have a discussion on how Ju-Long came to the island. Seems that the German scientist Vogel was working with Von Horn to steal Professor Maxon’s research. He doesn’t know how Arkwright got involved but managed to get a job as his right-hand man. They fight off some of Vogel’s creations and continue on to find Virginia. Virginia meanwhile gets rescued from her Dayak captor by Number Thirteen. Virginia gets reunited with Bulan and a British lieutenant. They also find Sing and Ju-Long. Together they find out that their ship was set on fire by the pirate Muda Saffir. Saffir also has captured Professor Vogel and his notes.

This was an enjoyable issue. We find out some backstory on Professor Vogel and Arkwright. It is tied in from the villain Von Horn from the original novel. They manage to get everyone together only to find the evil pirate has Vogel and his notes. Now they are trapped on the island and Vogel’s experiments may continue somewhere else.

They set it up for another mini-series. I do hope that one gets written. American Mythology has seemed to stop putting out ERB stories. That would be a shame as I really love Wolfer’s writing. Hopefully we will get continuing stories in the ERB universe.

THE MONSTER MEN #2

“Isle of Terror Part 2”

Writer: Mike Wolfer

Artist: Roy Alan Martinez

Townsend, Virginia, Sing and a Lascar are confronted by the creations of Professor Vogel. They run away to their ship which they find now in the hands of the pirate Muda Saffir. They escape back and run into the British soldiers of Arkwright. Meanwhile Vogel finds Number 13 and tells him that Arkwright is evil and they should find Virginia. Virginia gets kidnaped by one of the Dyak pirates as the monster men attack the British. Townsend goes after the kidnapped Virginia with a surviving British soldier. Sing confronts Arkwright’s assistant who we find out is Sing’s grandson.

This was a fast-paced story. It had plenty of action with the Monstermen, pirates and British soldiers. Vogel is concerned about his creations while his creations are struggling with their new freedom. A big reveal is Ju-Long the guy working for Arkwright is Sing’s grandson. A fun story that keeps the spirit of Burrough’s creation and expanding on it in a realistic way.

THE MONSTER MEN #1

“Isle of Terror Part 1”

Writer: Mike Wolfer

Artist: Roy Allan Martinez

Townsend and Virginia interrogate their British soldier prisoner. He is very uncooperative, and they decide to release him after telling him about the experiments. The two then discuss what to do with Number 13 when they find him. The escaped soldier runs into the other experiments in the jungle, and they are hungry. Townsend and Virginia’s party run into a group of Dayaks on their way back to their ship, unaware that pirates have taken it over. A fight starts with them beating the Dayak headhunters. Only now the other experiments arrive and are much impressed with all the fresh meat lying about.

A new installment in the Monster Men series. They gave a good summary of what happened in previous issues to jog the old memory. It has been a while since I read the last series and it did an excellent job. This one was a bit talky but did set up some exciting stuff for the next issue. Quite curious how they deal with these new escaped experiments and the Dayak pirates. Wolfer as always delivers a fun ERB story and show his knowledge and passion for the material.

BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR #4

“Warriors of Zandar”

Writers: Christopher Paul Carey and Mike Wolfer

Artist: Alessandro Ranaldi

Victory, Hucklebuck and Tii-laa get rescued by a male Ki-vaa. He is the protector and plans to deliver an ultimatum to the king of the Keelars. He won’t though free his people as that violates some sort of religious belief. Fortunately, Victory and Tii-aa have no qualms and break out her people. The pheromones that Tii-laa releases turn her people into protectors and they start to fight the Keelars. Victory goes to the throne room where Zo-vaa has come to deliver his ultimatum. Victory tries to bluff herself off as a higher being with her anti-grav boots, but the king is unmoved. His ego refuses to acknowledge that anyone can defeat him. Victory does and this demoralizes the Keelars. They need three kings and when one dies then they can’t function. The Ki-vaa are free and Victory will stay with them for a while.

The final issue comes to an interesting conclusion. The Ki-vaa are free and the Keelars defeated. We still don’t know anything about the ones that gave them the technology to suck life forces from the Ki-vaa. I like this new character that has been created. It has great potential and nice to see them explore an ERB creation that never was fully developed as it should be. I hope to see more of Victory Harbin in the future.

BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR #3

“Warriors of Zandar”

Writers: Christopher Paul Carey and Mike Wolfer

Artist: Alessandro Ranaldi

Victory Harbin’s friend Tii-Laa has come in killing the Keelars. The Keelars also turn on Victory when she sides with Tii-Laa. Hucklebuck grows to a huge size but gets bitten by a Frozah whose venom is deadly. Victory gets very aggressive and attacks but the Keelar numbers capture all three. Later they are taken to a dungeon and Victory finds out the Keelars are gathering life force for the Ones from Above. In return the Ones protect the Keelars from creatures from the Land of Terrible Fires. When the king leaves, Hucklebuck shrinks to a small size and escapes the cell. This also expels the venom in his system so he will not die. Hucklebuck finds and brings back another protector of the Kii-Vas.

This issue we find out some interesting stuff. Like that the Keelars are taking the life force for the Ones from Above. That Tii-Laa is a protector of her species. It also makes her an outcast of the pacifist Lii-Vas. Sounds like in the next issue we will get to see who these Ones from Above are. A strange issue but I am enjoying it.

BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR #2

“Warriors of Zandar”

Writers: Christopher Paul Carey and Mike Wolfer

Artist: Alessandro Ranaldi

Victory Harbin with her pet creature Hucklebuck and the alien Tii-laa have arrived at the Keelar city. Tii-Laa is impatient and jumps in the river to swim to the walled city. Victory instead crosses by having Hucklebuck grow to huge size and jump the bridge. She is met by the Keelars but her pistol scares them. They talk of someone from above and wonder if Victory is also from above. Victory plays along and convinces them she is this powerful being. She finds out this other visitor left a machine. A machine that sucks the lifeforce out of people. They are using it on peaceful Ki-vaas. Just then Ti-laa comes and fights her way into the room demanding that her people are freed.

So, there is some interesting developments in this issue. We find out that Victory has had an adventure with Tangor the Earthman from Poloda. We get a nice explanation about the system of Omos and its eleven planets. There is some other alien at work on the planet of Zandar from the planet of Banos. Tii-laa is a protector of her people and has some amazing physical strength. An enjoyable story so far and makes me want to read the novels.

BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR #1

“Warriors of Zandar”

Writers: Christopher Paul Carey and Mike Wolfer

Artist: Alessandro Ranaldi

The planet Zandar lies in the Olmos system some 450,000 light years from Earth. It is one of eleven planets that circle the sun equidistantly. Victory Harben comes on some strange creatures with their faces in their chests killing some blue people. She chases them off with her pistol. A blue woman comes and attacks thinking Victory killed her people. Victory manages to convince her otherwise. This woman named Tii-Laa is of the Go-Vass and the Keelars took some of the children. So, the two go off to rescue them. Along the way they are attacked by a Frozah but Victory has a creature friend called Huckleback who can grow to huge size. Huckleback saves them and Tii-Laa is a bit suspicious of Victory but allows her to accompany her. At the Keelar city they are already preparing captive Go-Vass for supper.

The first in an original series. Victory Harbin is the daughter of Gretchen Harben from the last Pellucidar series. She has her own series in the new novels that ERB Inc. is putting out. She was also in a short backup story from a previous series. Some stuff is a bit of a mystery to me. Which shows I should read the new books which someday I hope to do. The Olmos system was created by Burroughs in his one book Beyond the Farthest Star, but he sadly never got to explore the other planets of this system. Fortunately for us ERB Inc. is doing that. This story has some great potential and I look forward to finding out more.

PELLUCIDAR #4

“Across Savage Seas Part 4”

Writers: Christopher Paul Carey and Mike Wolfer

Artist: Miriana Puglia

Omlot who was set adrift on a raft is attacked by a beast. Nadok the guy who was taken by a pterosaur manages to free himself and drops on the beast and the two kill it. Omlot finds out that Nadok is not the bad guy but the one they trusted Toran is. The humans on the island are not slaves but voluntarily work for the crab-men in exchange for valuable powders.

Gretchen is captive of Toran who has been taken over by the Azlaks an octopoid race that takes over the bodies of humans. They attack the crab-men with many human bodies they managed to take over. Gretchen after escaping meets up with Omlot and Nadok to defeat the possessed Toran and the other Azlaks. Later the Flavonia finds her and rescues her. They also take Nadok who has fallen in love with Gretchen back to Sari. Twenty years later Gretchen finished narrating the story to their daughter Victory.

The final issue for this series comes to an exciting and satisfying conclusion. We find out a lot of stuff that wasn’t clear. That the humans and crab-men are allies. Toran managed to deceive Gretchen and Omlot about Nadok. I have to say the writers did an excellent job of misdirection. I thought the humans were slaves and Nadok the bad guy. Yet at the end he ends up marrying Gretchen. The crab-men are good and ends with introducing that Victory is Gretchen’s daughter. Which will take us into the next ERB story.

PELLUCIDAR #3

“Across Savage Seas Part 3”

Writers: Christopher Paul Carey and MIke Wolfer

Artist: Miriana Puglia

The crab-men are examining the pistol of Gretchen’s when it goes off and kill one of them. This frightens them and they order Toran the Tall to take the pistol and toss it into the sea. He leaves but not before recruiting other humans to go with him. Gretchen and Omlot are wandering around waiting for Toran. Instead Nadok finds them. They start to question him about the crab-men when a thipdar comes and carries him away. They later find Toran with his group and Gretchen goes to follow. Omlat takes a nap and wakes to find himself a prisoner of the crab-men. They set him on a raft. Gretchen follows Toran and finds that he has allied himself with some octopus creatures called Azlaks. They have taken over the minds of Toran and others to defeat the crab-men. Now they plan to take over Gretchen.

This was another exciting issue. We find out that Omlat ended up on the island because he was disillusioned with serving the Mahars after their defeat. He sympathizes with the enslaved humans which is why he agreed to help Gretchen. We also find out what these weird octopus’ creatures are. Ends with an exciting cliffhanger in the tradition of Burroughs.

PELLUCIDAR #2

“Across Savage Seas Part 2”

Writers: Christopher Paul Carey and Mike Wolfer

Artist: Miriana Puglia

Gretchen lands on a beach after parachuting out of the Flavonia. She is attacked by a giant crab but gets rescued by a Sagoth. She can understand the Sagoth whose name is Omlot. They dine one giant crab but are soon captured by crab men. They are taken to the crab men city for trial in the death of the giant crab. The Krataklaks as this race is called is using captured human slaves to dig their city. Surprisingly the Krataklaks decide to banish Gretchen and Omlot from the island. Gretchen though vows to stay and free the humans. One of them seems to be her friend while another an enemy. The friend though at the end has some type of dealings with aquatic creatures.

This was an enjoyable story. The Krataklaks are very much a Burrough’s type creature. Gretchen has made a friend in the Sagoth Omlot. She also seems to have one in the Gilak (Human) named Toran. She also seems to have an enemy in the Gilak Nadok. Yet I feel that there is something not revealed with either of these guys. So far loving this story.