Category: Science fiction

Posted on

Keith Laumer’s Retief!

Back in 1987, fresh of their acclaimed run on their original creation Dalgoda, Dennis Fujitake and Jan Strnad brought out another science fiction series, this one adapting Keith Laumer’s beloved Retief stories. These humorous tales focus on a Jame Retief, a dedicated member of the diplomatic corps who finds a way to success while navigating not only the strange habits and languages of alien species, but also the even stranger habits and language of bureaucracy. Wielding wit, charm, wisdom, and a strong right hook, Retief violates every rule in the book in his quest for peace and justice. Fujitake’s whimsical art creates a fully-realized version of not just Retief but the aliens and their habitats. The six issues that he drew, each adapting a single one of Laumer’s short stories were the first comics adaptation of these tales, and while others would come later, these are the ones that people remember. Now the full series is available in Keith Laumer’s Retief!. a new paperback edition just released by About Comics.
While the stories may be science fiction, its take on diplomatic bureaucracy is grounded very much in reality. Keith Laumer, who already had several years of US Air Force service under his belt, started his science fiction career while serving as a diplomat for the US Foreign Service, and brought his insider’s view of diplomacy, it’s struggles and its foibles. (Laumer would also create the influential Bolo and Imperium sagas—expansive futures exploring honor, duty, and the moral burdens of power.)
Fans of Fujitake’s art (and there are many) should take delight in the cover, a previously-unseen piece created during the original run of the series, intended for an issue that was never produced. Bedecked with a new logo designed by the mighty Steve Vance, it puts a strong front on a book of top-notch material. Following in the wake of last year’s release of The Dalgoda Omnibus, which was About Comics’ best-selling new book by a wide margin, expectations for this book run high.
This new edition has been produced under license from Sabrina Laumer and Dennis Fujitake,

  • 7″x10″ black-and-white, 188 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996913
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996913
  • Available through Amazon or your favorite online bookstore, or special-orderable through your favorite local book shop.
Posted on

Drift Marlo: The Space Race Comic Strip

 

Written by Phil Evans, drawn by Tom Cook, space consulting by I. M. Levitt

It’s 1961, and as human beings are reaching space for the first time, Drift Marlo sets down in America’s newspapers. Billed as the first authentic space adventure series, it is not filled with tales of galactic princesses and brutish Martians, but with tales of a space program just a few years more advanced than where we were then, grounded in the science, the goals, and the politics of the times.
Drift Marlo is head of security for America’s space base, charged with protecting the brave astronauts, dedicated scientists, and vital mission. He handles situations from dealing with protestors to sniffing out saboteurs. But this detective is also a mystery, with a past so obscure that even he doesn’t know what it is.
Collected here for the first time are the first four Drift Marlo adventures, built up over hundreds of individual daily newspaper strips

  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996883
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996883
  • Format ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 6 inches, 124 pages, black and white.

Order now from Amazon!

Posted on

The Dalgoda Omnibus

by Jan Strnad and Dennis Fujitake

Dalgoda is on a desperate mission to save his world from alien invaders. The planet Canida, where the dominant species evolved from canines, faces annihilation by the warlike Nimp unless Dal can muster Earth’s resources in Canida’s defense. Can he trust a race of erratic, violent beings evolved from apes? Dog may be Man’s best friend, but so far, Dal has met with bigotry, deceit, and attempted assassination…and that’s just Day One.

By turns light-hearted and dramatic, humorous and heartbreaking, Dalgoda tells the story of an unlikely hero with the weight of salvation on his shoulders.

The Dalgoda Omnibus collects all eight issues of Jan Strnad and Dennis Fujitake’s outstanding science fiction series, a series reviewers called one of the best and most original to emerge from the 1980s independent comics movement. In addition, the Omnibus includes the four-part Dalgoda miniseries Flesh & Bones and two bonus short stories, one illustrated by comics great Kevin Nowlan—in all, over 300 pages of extraordinary comic book storytelling—plus a gallery of Dalgoda conceptual and promotional artwork by Fujitake.

Jan Strnad is a writer of comic books, cartoons, novels, and short stories. He’s worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and independent comics (and comix) publishers, and for studios including Disney, Universal, Sony/Columbia and others. He and his wife Julie are ardent dog-lovers who have owned and fostered over a hundred dogs.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dennis Fujitake was reprimanded in kindergarten for using too much drawing paper. Undeterred, he continues to this day to use too much drawing paper—for which people have willingly paid him, much to his bafflement. Ever the optimist, Dennis looks forward to living another 75 years.

  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 359 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949996824
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996821
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.42 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.44 x 0.81 x 9.69 inches
  • Cover price: $29.99 US

Order from Amazon!