When comics guys write “real” books: Stephen Englehart’s The Point Man
It’s always interesting to see a
“normal” book written by a comics writer, especially when it’s not just a
merchandising tie-in featuring superheroes or other characters from the comics.
Some efforts like this can be found in the Weird Heroes books (that I wrote a
post about not long ago), with, say, Archie Goodwin, Elliot Maggin and Stephen
Englehart writing short stories featuring original characters.
In The Point Man, Englehart introduces Max August, a Vietnam vet who
works as a popular radio DJ in San Francisco. His on-air persona – he goes
under a pseudonym, Barnaby Wilde – is sort of outsized and outgoing, while in
real life he’s more subdued, and, except for a friend or two, keeps mostly to
himself. It’s in the sanctuary of his home that he discovers his distinctive
lion statue is stolen and replaced by a virtually identical replica. It’s one
of his most beloved possessions as it was given to him when he was still a boy
by his uncle; unbeknownst to him, it’s also a magical talisman, which is why it
was stolen.
Rather quickly, August gets drawn
into a tangled situation in which an attempt is made on his life (a
mind-controlled out-of-towner shoots at him while he’s working his DJ gig in
one of those street-view radio studios), the FBI questions him because it’s
investigating the sexy yet mysterious new manager of his station, he meets an
apparently centenarian wizard (who’s also the manager of a popular singer, who
in turn eventually becomes his love interest) and he learns that it’s all part
of a plot to usher in a reign of chaos by another wizard named Wolf Messing
(who was actually a real person (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Messing),
although, obviously, not really a wizard – more like a charlatan – and already
dead for about 6 years when this novel was published). Max soon decides that he
has to become a wizard-in-training to best deal with the entire conundrum (and
just to pique everyone’s interest, I should note that part of the preparations
for the big showdown with the bad guy involves tantric sex).
The
Point Man is a pretty solid read all in all. It combines elements of suspense/espionage
thrillers with horror, and at a few places the story even evokes the X-files a
bit, because one of the FBI agents specializes in “weird cases” (although
unlike Mulder and Scully he’s rather unlikeable). Also, the magic, wizards and
August’s decision to learn the supernatural arts out of necessity are all quite
reminiscent of Dr. Strange. On a 5-star scale, I’d give it about a 3.5, mainly
because there are a few points at which the story drags a bit (mainly due to
overly lengthy exposition). Also, the use of US/Russian Cold War politics as a
plot device was a nice touch, but it also dates the story quite a bit, and may
throw some readers out of it … although just the fact that the protagonist is a
popular rock radio DJ sort of dates the story as well, I suppose.
I think fans of Englehart and/or
Dr. Strange and other magic-based heroes might get a kick out of this book.
Englehart fans might also be interested in knowing that more recently (starting
in 2009), he wrote several sequels: The
Long Man, The Plain Man and The Arena Man – which I have not read. (The Point Man was also reprinted, but I
snagged a copy of the original 1980 paperback, which has the awesome cover art
by Richard Corben).
I actually wanted to open the
discussion up to other, similar efforts by comics guys: I know that, for
example, Don McGregor, Mike Barr, John Byrne, Alan Moore, and, quite recently,
Irene Vartanoff, as well as comics writers who became well-known mostly after
the Bronze Age, like Chuck Dixon and Greg Rucka, wrote prose books. Has anyone
read any of these, and what are your thoughts?