I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: FEU THÉRÈSE-Feu Thérèse [CST040] (2006).

Feu Thérèse is a band created because of the hiatus of Le Fly Pan Am.  They offer a melange of styles, as befits the visual arts origins of several of the members.  And yet, there is a solid rhythm section that grounds the band in a wonderful way.

“Ferrari en Feu” opens with 3 minutes of pulsing waves of synths and electronic bird-call-like sounds. It’s unclear exactly what you’re listening to and it seems like the whole album will be a kind of ambient collection.  Then a proper rock song kicks in with chords and notes and drums–it has a cool psychedelic vibe and feels very late 60s.  “Mademoiselle Gentleman” has pulsing bass notes and staccato guitars with a layers of distorted laughing throughout (there’s no “singing” on the first two songs). At around 4 minutes (out of 6) the feedback squalls too and a simple steady beat.

“Tu n’avais qu’une oreille” seems like a traditional song–with singing (in the Serge Gainsbourg, dirty old man style of whisper/singing) which has a middle section that is quite conventional (with ahh ahhs) but again at 4 minutes, the song shifts into a faster drumming section (with more spoken words).  But then a lengthy trippy guitar solo shatters the mellowness.  “L’homme avec couer avec elle” starts with what sounds like horns.  At around 4 minutes in turns into a kind of western but with a crazy clarinet solo accompanied by sped up noises that sound like Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma.  There’s more psychedelic Pink Floyd styles on the final track, “Ce n’est pas les jardins du Luxembourg.”  The song opens with “drips” that sound like “Echoes.”  And then there’s more Ummagumma birds/animals (possibly distorted seagulls?).   At (yes) 4 minutes it turns into a trippy psychedelic organ based song (with Indian music as well).  The song is 12 minutes and leaves no sound unheard.

The music is experimental but it is not terribly “difficult.”  It’s actually quite a fun album which demands multiple listens.

[READ: April 24, 2014] Half Past Danger

The tagline for this book (which is presented like a movie in a number of ways) is Dames. Dinosaurs. Danger.  And the cover features a giant Nazi flag in flames.  Sounds like pulp genius to me.

And so it is.  Stephen Mooney has been an artist for some great graphic novels over the years and this is his first book that he wrote on his own, based on a labor of love–having Nazis fight dinosaurs.  Like a dream come true.

So obviously, this is a story of an alternate past.  Set in 1943 in the South Pacific, an Army battalion is tracking an area when they discover a secret Nazi base.  There are not supposed to be any Nazis this far east, and yet there they are.   Sergeant Tommy “Irish” Flynn is surprised but he gets his team ready to take pictures and prepare a report.  But that loud rumble sounds like the biggest tank they have ever heard.  And then out steps a T-Rex (in a great reveal).  The T-Rex wipes out all of Irish’s company.  Irish escapes with a few photos and little else.

We jump cut to two months later where Irish is drinking in a bar in New York City.  In walks General Noble of the USMC and Elizabeth Huntington-Moss of British MI6.  They request his service.  He tells them to fuck off.  Actually no, he doesn’t.  This is a PG13 story, there’s a few “shite”s and an occasional “damn” but it is squarely in the realm of comics–implied sex, a lot of blood and a few mild words.  A brawl ensues, in which a Japanese fighter helps out Noble & Moss.  And soon Irish is recovering and being told what’s going on.  After some string reluctance, Irish agrees to go back to the island.

Noble proves to be a supremely tough and string fellow.  The Japanese soldier has defected to the U.S. after the non-respectful attack on Pearl Harbor.  And Moss is an enigma.  As they approach the island, there is plane trouble and a wonderfully cool scene in the water (which I won’t spoil but the art and graphics are terrifying and wonderfully drawn and colored–Mooney did the colors for the first chapter, while Jordie Bellaire did the other five). 

After regrouping on the island the team finds the Nazi camp (and the dinosaurs–there’s an amusing Deinonychus joke).  The rest of the book concerns them trying to remove the dinosaurs from the Nazis and ultimately escaping from the Nazis (preferably with the dinosaurs). It turns out that the Nazis are planning to ‘weaponize’ the dinosaurs, of course (the use of the word weaponize was completely anachronistic (the first use of the word was in 1957, which was much earlier than I imagined) , but otherwise the story was a decent period piece).

In addition to the major conflict, there is also the matter of a hostage, Greta an Austrian scientist who is not interested in the Nazis but is very interested in the safe passage of the dinosaurs–for studying.  She is also a little sweet on Irish who is the only one on the team who doesn’t treat her like a spy.

By the end of the story, which was quite exciting, full of double-crossing and triple-crossing, full of deaths and resurrections, full of great dinosaurs and huge explosions, the good guys have won, but there are so many things set up for the next series that the story can’t really be described as “over.”  And I look forward to that next installment.

The art is wonderfully done–very superhero-style but also with a nice noir-edge (and Mooney evidently did his research on clothing and weapons-although I’m not exactly sure how many British agents wore leather bodysuits).  Speaking of women, Elizabeth is certainly hot (Mooney clearly enjoyed drawing some scenes of her body–nothing even resembling nudity, just tight outfits) but there are other scenes where her face is cast is shadow where she looks downright terrifying, almost like a demented creature.  It’s a strange decision for a heroine to look so ugly and scary from time to time.  I didn’t initially like it but I think it’s put to good use in the long run–although it made Noble’s desire for her a little suspect.

The postscript of the book is quite interesting–this deluxe hardcover edition (I don’t know if there is any other edition) includes author commentary which explains how the book was created and a lot of details about it (the Jack Daniels comment is very funny).  The there’s alternate covers and a sketchbook–it’s quite a pretty collection.  And, as I said, I will certainly read the next one.

For ease of searching, I include: Feu Thérèse