Short Story Genre Survey, Part 5

 

Sports

Adventure

Mystery

Crime

Horror

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Western

War

I've added a category. Today, we'll be looking at a mystery that is a traditional whodunit. I realized that we also need a category for hard-boiled crime stories. Some of them do have a whodunit element, but its not a necessary component and I think you can consider traditional mysteries and noirish crime tales to be separate genres.

Anyway, as I said, we'll be looking at a traditional whodunit--this one by the Queen of Whodunits, Agatha Christie. Gee whiz, the woman was brilliant. Her mysteries are fair-play. The clues are always there for us to see. But they are so casually dropped into the story that we easily miss them.

"A Christmas Tragedy" (originally titled "The Hat and the Alibi") was published in the January 1930 issue of The Story-Teller. It's part of a series of stories in which the clever Miss Marple is at a gathering with friends. In each story, a friend tells of an experience that includes a mystery. Miss Marple, of course, inevitably figures out the mystery part of it.

This time, it's Miss Marple's turn to tell a tale. And it's a good one. She tells about a time that she realized a husband was planning to murder his wife and make it look like an accident. But she has no proof and knows the wife won't believe her.

Then the wife was murdered. But it's not an accident. It's obviously a murder. She was bashed over the head in her hotel room.

But the husband has a solid alibi. He couldn't have done it. It was, the police conclude, a burglar she caught in the room.

This doesn't sit well with Miss Marple. But she concedes that the husband does indeed have an alibi for the time his wife was murdered.

Or so it seems...

It's a story I can't summarzie any further without spoilers. The clues are there and the solution is clever and satsifying. This is the sort of puzzle that Christie did better than anyone else. I'm afraid I don't have a link to take you directly to the story this time, but its worth searching out. It's available in the anthologies The Thirteen Problems and The Complete Short Stories of Agatha Christie.

Yet Another Imperial Super Weapon!

 

cover art by Walt Simonson

After the release of The Empire Strikes Back, Marvel's Star Wars comic was in an interesting place. The writers would have no idea how the cliffhanger of Han being captured and frozen would play out. They had no idea what position either the Rebels or the Empire would be in when the next movie eventually came out. So the comic had to come up with good stories that didn't upset the overall continuity too much. Sadly, they had to also avoid using Han Solo. 

It's notable that they still succeeded in telling some good Star Wars stories. In Star Wars #51 (September 1981), writer David Michelinie and artist Walt Simonson give us the first half of a pretty nifty two-parter.

An X-Wing with a dead pilot reaches its base ship. The pilot had been on a spy mission and set the X-Wing's course before he died, knowing the information canister he had was vitally needed by the Rebellion.

What's in that canister? It's a minor irony of the comic that we find out the Empire isn't building a second Death Star (though we learn in the next movie that they were), but are taking the Death Star's planet-destroying laser and strapping engines and defensive systems to it. Same idea, but more compact and defensible. The new weapon is called the Tarkin. Though why you would name it after the ol' Grand Moff after the Death Star was destroyed on his watch is an open question.

If I might digress for a moment, the expanded Star Wars universe really did overdo the notion of the Empire continually building superweapons. The idea is revisited in a number of novels. If the sequel trilogy produced in the 2010s really existed (and we all know now that these films were a collective nightmare that DON'T REALLY EXIST), then we'd have to add the sun-destroying whatever-it-was from The Force Awakens to the list. But many of these stories were individually good, such as the one we are reviewing here.

It also gives Simonson a chance to draw a fantastic full-page panel image of the Tarkin. Simonson was the perfect artist for Star Wars. Or, for that matter, just about any science fiction comic. His imagination and artistry brings SF worlds to vivid life. 

It's decided that the rebels who escaped the Death Star were the perfect commandos to sneak about the Tarkin and somehow destroy it from within. Leia and Luke (each with one of the droids) are on separate missions to find a location for a new Rebel base after the evacuation of Hoth. Chewbacca is with Lando on the Millennium Falcon, searching for Boba Fett and Han. Each group has a mini-adventure of their own before being recalled for their new mission.

Lando is left behind, with a scene that tells us not everyone trusts him after his betrayal of Han on Bespin. The others travel to a spaceport from which workers are being transported to the Tarkin. They mug a couple of workers for uniforms and Luke uses the Force to convince a Stormtrooper they are all on the passenger manifest so they can board the next shuttle to the Tarkin.

But Vader is aboard the Tarkin as well and he senses Luke's presence. And, to add to the complexity of the situation, the issue ends with a panel that tells us a bunch of Imperial officers, sick of Vader's habit of killing anyone who makes a mistake, plan to assassinate the Sith Lord. 

It's a good story with a great setup for the next issue. Simonson's art is perfect. The mini-adventures might have existed because the page count would have been short otherwise, but they are fun in and of themselves. They also give each of the protagonists a chance to shine. Besides, in Star Wars, a hero really can't go anywhere without getting into some sort of adventure. It's that sort of galaxy.

It's a story set when the original SW heroes were still heroes, not grumpy, cynical old men. It's a story written during a time when Star Wars was still fun.

We'll look at Part 2 next week. 

Cover Cavalcade

  JUNE IS AVENGERS vs JLA MONTH!!!

From February 1974. The JLA cover is by Nick Cardy; the Avengers by Jim Starlin.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Suspense: "A Week Ago Wednesday" 11/29/45

A woman comes home to discover she's lost a week of her life--and according to the newspaper, she's been murdered by her husband.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Short Story Genre Survey, Part 4

 

This week, we look at a war story.

Sports

Adventure

Mystery

Horror

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Western

War

It is shameful that William Chamberlain's fiction (war-themed and Westerns) are out of print. The guy was good. A career military officer who retired as a general in 1946, he often wrote what he knew. Much of his military fiction is told from the point-of-view of an officer--usually a commanding officer--and dealt with matters of leadership and responsibility. At the same time, he didn't forget about the grunts, making sure he humanized the noncoms and privates as well.

"Hard-Luck Regiment" is a solid example of how good he is. Originally published in the September 22, 1951 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, it was later reprinted in the 1964's More Combat Stories of World War II and Korea, the second of two anthologies collecting Chamberlain's short fiction. This book was reprinted as a paperback in 1969 under the title The Zone of Sudden Death.

It's January 1945 and American troops are advancing into the Huertgen Forest, a real-life campaign that turned into a bloodbath. Maj. Clay Daggett--new to combat--has just become the executive officer of a battalion in the 26th Regiment, which has a reputation for hard luck.

The reputation seems to be well-earned. The regiment captures a couple of towns, but takes heavy losses and one of the towns is retaken. The regiment's commander, Dan Sharkey, wants to counterattack, figuring that this unexpected move and the morning fog will mean the Germans will be caught with their pants down.

Daggett, who now commands a battalion because the original C.O. was killed, thinks this plan is nuts. When orders arrive ordering the regiment to retreat and promoting Sharkey to general, Daggett is relieved. No suicide attack now.

But Sharkey has been with the regiment since the Great War. He knows what they can do. He knows the hard-luck reputation comes from the regiment getting hard missions--but also accomplishing those missions. Daggett thinks he's making a horrible decision, but he doesn't know the regiment like Sharkey.

It's a strong story, setting up the premise effectively, giving us supporting characters among the enlisted men so we never forget what's at stake, and introducing themes about inspirational leadership into the tale. The combat sequence is short, but effective. Not everyone we've met will be alive at the end and the success of the mission is very uncertain for a time, but we learn a thing or two about leading men from the front.

"Hard-Luck Regiment" is typical of the quality of Chamberlain's work. He really does need to be brought back into print.

Man-Wolf Goes to Space, Part 4

 

cover art by George Perez

Marvel Premiere #46 (February 1979) brings Man-Wolf's epic Space Opera adventure to a close. The script is still by David Kraft. For this final issue, George Perez does the breakdowns and Ricardo Villamonte does the finished art.

We left off last time with Man-Wolf and one companion (Gorjoon) seeking to rescue their companions from the palace of Tyrk, the ruthless dictator. 

The trouble is that Tyrk's palace floats in the air well above them.

But the moonstone is still increasing Man-Wolf's strength. Using this strength means that a rope tied to a spear will give them a way to climb up. 

There's some great dialogue between Man-Wolf and the scared but still determined Gorjoon during the sequence, adding a little bit of humor to the otherwise tense situation. But when they reach the palace, things get tense once again. His companions who were captured in the previous issue are chained and about to be tortured. Man-Wolf violently objects to this and soon, after freeing some other prisoners as well, he's leading the good guys in a charge towards Tyrk's throne room.

But the charge is stopped dead when they reach the throne room. Over the last few issues of this story, there's been a sub-plot set back on Earth in which someone has kidnapped John's girlfriend Kristine Saunders. Now we find out that it was Tyrk who did that kidnapping.

Man-Wolf has a choice. Surrender or watch the woman he loves die. (Tyrk, of course, is planning on killing her no matter what.)

Man-Wolf opts to take a third option--allowing himself to access the full god-powers of the stone. Soon, stuff starts exploding.

It turns out, though, that only the bad guys blew up. Kristine is safe and the dimension is free from its evil ruler. 

There's one more scare before the story ends. Kristine goes through a portal back to Earth. But before Man-Wolf can follow, a not-quite-dead Tyrk destroys the portal. At first, it seems John Jameson is getting the tragic ending that all werewolf characters seemed destined to get. But John is able to use the last of his god powers to force himself through the dimensional barrier to Earth.

Hey, a werewolf gets a happy ending! 

Kraft and the artists bring this epic to a satisfying conclusion. Villamonte does justice to Perez's breakdowns, bringing the well-written story to vivid life. And the happy ending fits. Not every werewolf story has to end tragically. This time, the happy ending is earned.

What'll we look at next week? Well, with Disney doing such a good job of destroying Star Wars in modern day, it might be nice to look back at a time when Star Wars was still fun. 

Cover Cavalcade

 JUNE IS AVENGERS vs JLA MONTH!!!

From February 1973: The JLA cover is by Nick Cardy and the Avengers by Rich Buckler. 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Escape: "Seven Hours to Freedom" 11/3/50

A commercial fishing boat is hijacked by escaping convicts. The two-man crew is given a choice: Die now, or take the convicts to Mexico and die later.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Cover Cavalcade

 JUNE IS AVENGERS vs. JLA MONTH!!!

Two Neal Adams covers, both in issues cover dated February 1972.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Screen Guild Theater: "Destry Rides Again" 2/2/41

Henry Fonda takes the role as the soft-spoken deputy tasked with cleaning up a lawless town.

Click HERE to download or listen.