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Red - The Vermin Stars
Durham
Red - The Vermin Stars
by Dan
Abnett and Mark Harrison
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What to Expect:
the human/mutant space war continues. Oh, and Red gets naked a lot.
Review by Alex
Frith
19th January 06
The
Scarlet Cantos was, in some respects, a self-contained unit that could have paved
the way for small adventures in space featuring seemingly immortal vampire Durham
Red, cyborg human killfiend Matteus Godolkin and pious mutant scholar Judas Harrow.
Last seen flying into the lawless Vermin Stars sector, there was the promise of
Nikolai Dante-like carousing, theiving and frolicking.
Sadly,
'the Vermin Stars' picks up with a five years later tag, and we're right back
into the epic space-war business. I was somewhat mean in my review of 'the Scarlet
Cantos', describing the plot as Sci-Fi by numbers. I'm afraid this second volume
is even more guilty of this, including as it does a none-too-shocking twist ending.
Luckily, actually
reading the book is a pleasure, and most of the individual episodes are a riot
of laughter and mind-blowing visual after mind-blowing visual. It seems to me
that Abnett and Harrison are going for an all-out Sci-Fi action B Movie with this
series, so I can forgive various plot cliches. The point is to enjoy the eye-engorging
scenery, the lucid atmosphere and of course Abnett's trademark banter. As with
any good action film, certain basic story elements are present: we are taken through
a number of expositiory scenes and a handful of elaborate fight scenes, interspersed
with a few moments to make us laugh. We're given a villain to hate, a hero's motives
to second-guess at and, as mentioned, a twist ending. Oh, and there's a full-on
sex scene about half-way through. The scene in question is all very tasteful and
even makes sense, but perhaps more than any other cliche, it puts the story in
the realms of straight-to-80s-video delight.
There was a gap
of nearly two years between the publication of 'the Scarlet Cantos' and this volume.
Both creators have used their time to hone their skills - or at least to improve
some things I thought were wrong. Firstly, Abnett doesn't spend so much time trying
to create a new universe, instead he concentrates on the key players involved.
Harrow and Godolkin both end up more well-rounded than before, no longer just
people to explain everything to Durham Red. New villain Pierceheart gives the
series some focus; someone to hate, and someone to watch out for. Also, Red's
slightly odd behaviour keeps the reader intrigued - just who is she talking to
in that opening scene, and what is her agenda? It's the kind of thing that makes
you want to read on.
Secondly, Harrison
stops trying so hard to be grand, and has a little more fun with the art, especially
in trying to make Red look as naked as possible without becoming pornographic.
He also seems to have eschewed the photo-modelling for his faces, for which I
am grateful. And he's improved his ability to blend the computer generated spaceships
and scenery with the people walking through them (it still jars occasionally,
mind). The sound effects and continual chanting remain present and correct, still
working their magic to remind us that the far future is a noisy and mecahnical
place.
Story and art
aside, what this volume can be proudest of are its extras. Two cover pin-ups are
reprinted, worth a look because they're not by Harrison for a change. Chris Achilleos's
version of Harrison's Red is wonderfully intricate and vampiric. Next up, Harrison
provides a vast and exciting sketchbook featuring all manner of designs. Characters,
costumes, spaceships, artistic motifs, it's all here. We get to see a little bit
of how the CG imaging works: 3D models set up and moved around etc. I have to
say, though, his free pencil sketches of various characters and ships are so much
fun that it's a shame he decided to paint over everything in the actual series.
Oh, and there's a splendid caricature of the three heroes in the style of Mort
Drucker.
The extras are
rounded off with a look at the writer's perspective, as it turns out the moral
equivalent of deleted scenes and alternate endings on a DVD. First up is Abnett's
original pitch for the series. At four pages long it's pretty dense stuff - I
think it's safe to say that the series had already been commissioned, this looks
more like a writer's first pass for editorial comments. The main thing that stands
out is that the idea pitched is not the same as the story we get in the book.
Some of the scenes from this pitch do appear, but in a different order, or with
different details. Even though we don't get to read then-Tharg David Bishop's
comments, we can tell what they were because of what actually makes it into the
final story. So, the decision was taken to start the series with lots of pictures
of Durham Red, preferably naked, rather than mucking about with Harrow, for example.
But it's the ending that's most fascinating. Abnett's original idea makes a certain
sense, is poignant even - but it's not at all what we get. After the pitch we
get a full script for one of the episodes. This is less interesting, but it's
still nice to see. Abnett's style is fun in script form as well as on the page.
And of course, any wannabe writers will find it useful to see.
If you enjoyed 'the Scarlet
Cantos', you'll almost certainly like this book, too. If you haven't read that
volume, you can pick this one up pretty easily, but you won't get nearly as much
fun out of the character development that builds on Book 1. The only thing it
doesn't have is a complete story - by the time you get to the end you'll need
to read 'the Empty Suns' to get any closure.
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