A Boy and his Dog: a rather kinky tale of survival

Greetings Mutants,

As you may or may not know (or care!) I just recently aquired the graphic novelization of Vic and Blood by Harlan Ellison, with art by Richard Corban. It gets five mushroom clouds.

In 1975 they releised a film adaptation of the book and it had been almost two decades since I saw that one. To give you an idea, I first saw this movie on VHS tape. I only really remembered the freaky 70s kind of stuff with Jason Robards and co.

This one is directed and the screenplay written by L. Q. Jones. I cannot say that I have ever seen anything else he's done...that I know of. He did alright I guess. I have read that there are a lot of people who complain about an over all note of misogyny in the film and I can see that. The origenal story is not misogynistic, but as Mr. Ellison states...Misanthropic. The viewer can see a bit of this too.

In this adaptation, Vic is played by a very young Don Johnson and is said to be 18 in the movie. In the short stories Vic is 15 and although it does not seem that there would be much difference, I think that the dynamic between Vic and the world is different because of his age (in the short stories) because in our world a 15 year old is not really thought of as an adult. Mr. Johnson does a nice job playing Vic, who was portrayed as little more than a savage by Ellison.

They dog they got to play Blood was a nice choice. I was glad they did not get a breed of dog that is thought of as being martial in nature, like a German Sheperd or Mastiff or some such thing. Tim McIntyre did the voice acting for Blood and I thought it sounded about right. The maturity of the voice added a tone of wisdom to Blood that is there in the Novella.

Quilla June Holmes is played by Susanne Benton who was in Catch 22 and a bunch of TV shows. Ms. Benton was an attractive and rather innocent looking young woman who looks like she might be concealing a streak of naughty underneath. And, so she was! Ms. Benton really played up the ambitious and scheming nature of the Quilla June character and I think did quite well.

The sets were cool, lots of desert and abandoned industrial landscapes, but some of these were a bit too clean for my tastes. I understand why, this was not a film with a huge budget and they worked with what they had. I was sorry that they did not have the screamers in the film on screen...but they did at least imply them off camera and that was OK. I just would have liked to have seen some mutant screamers. You know me.

Over all I think that film was a good adaptation. As a side note, in the forward to the Vic and Blood graphic novel, Mr. Ellison states that he liked the movie except for the controversial last line. I do not believe in spoilers, so I am not gonna tell you what that line is. I will only reiterate what Ellison said of the line "VIC DIDN'T TOUCH THE MEAT!"

So, if you like you some Post Apoc cinema, pick this one up and take a look. Its dated to be sure, but it was made in the 70s. Also, Lord Humungous commands that you read the Graphic Novel or at least the Novella...because Harlan Ellison Rocks!

Appendex Gamma --- Vic and Blood

I had read the short stories in my youth, of course. They were both Post Apoc AND Harlan Ellison, how could I not have?! I also saw the film (more than 20 years ago) and I not sure I remember if I like it or not. I remember that there was some straying from the story (Bad Dog!) and some freakiness with Jason Robards...but I will have to view and review the film (a Boy and his Dog) for a separate entry.

For now, though, lets talk about a specific iteration of the Vic and Blood stories. That would be the comics (graphic novel if the word comic makes you nervous) adaptation by Richard Corben. I must preface my remarks about this to say that I am not exactly subjective when it comes to either Mr. Ellison or Mr. Corben...to my mind they are two men who stand out as paragons of their respective fields!

Having said that, I have to tell you guys about a really cool feature of the edition of Vic and Blood: the continuing adventures of a boy and his dog, that I picked up. I had been looking for one for a while and the subject came up amongst my pals from the Comic book store. My pal Max had a damaged one he said he would GIVE me! (thanks Max, or for this blog should I call you Mad Max?) Well, the edition looks like this...

It is a collection of the comics from the eighties and a neat feature of it is a revised timeline of the Apocalypse to include everything up to about 2002 or so. Even cooler is the forward by Mr. Ellison and the fact that this book alternates the comic and then even gives you the actual text of the short stories. Very cool. What you can see by this is how faithful to the text Mr. Corben remains.

Mr. Corben's art is not as stylized as it usually is. Sure, the women are voluptuous in the Corben style...but not as stylized...not as unearthly. I am sure this has a lot to do with the nature of the story. Heres a shot of one of the "centerfolds" from the comic

I love the way Corben does expressions...even the kinds of faces that normally would not show expressions at all, become open books at the pen of Mr. Corben. There is a picture of a mutant spider in this book, and his face has a kind of creepy expression...I know, I am probably projecting and I am not gonna tell you any more about this scene so you are gonna have to read it!

Another thing I really like about this book is the world. Its post apoc to be sure, but its a different kind of world. This is a world were before the "third war" scientists had tinkered with the physiology of dogs and bred a race of animals that eventually became not only intelligent but also telepathic. In the culture of this post apoc future bands of young men, known as Roverpaks, roam the countryside looking for the most rare of things...females. The dogs help them to track them. This is a future where most of the women were killed in the conflict and not many children are being born. Those that are born are either male or mutants. In all the earth there are a few places that there are some females, underground facilities...

Not gonna say anymore about this, you are going to have to go and read it for yourself. You can get the Vic and Blood stories collected on their own, but you will be in for a real treat if you get the version with the Corben art. Take me at my word, mutants.

One more thing about this work. The last chapter of the book is a sneak peek at a sequal to Vic and Blood, called "Blood's a Rover". Unfortuneatly this is all that has ever been published of these continuing stories. To my knowlege Mr. Ellison never published Blood's a Rover...although if I were to unearth a Djinn lamp that is one of the wishes I would make. I am not saying that these stories are not written, they are just not published. Too bad.

Not to be too much of a fan boy, but in case I have not already made this clear...I really fricking like this book and give it a five out of five mushroom clouds!