The Lazarus Tree - Robert Richardson

Author Gus Maltravers is asked by an old friend to visit him in the village of Medmelton. The friend is concerned about his teenage stepdaughter. Specifically that whatever's going on with her is somehow related to the unsolved murder of a notable poet in the village over a year earlier.

So Gus solves the murder in the course of figuring out what the girl is up to and who is putting her up to it. Richardson doesn't waste time having Gus ask questions, only to be rebuffed by the locals who are suspicious of outsiders. He establishes that's what the police encountered when originally investigating the murder, and restricts Gus to mostly interacting with a couple of villagers who are willing to help. Notably, people who either left the village for a lengthy spell before returning, or moved there after retirement. The ones who lived their whole lives there wouldn't talk if you put them through the Inquisition.

Which means there isn't much of Gus drawing the wrong conclusions. The two locals give him enough inside dope to make some educated guesses/shots in the dark that land. That, in turn, provides enough for him to make his way to the next deduction. Richardson plays with the notion that several of the locals are hiding various secrets, and the way gossip is quickly blown out of proportion frightens them, but those are things we're aware of, not Gus. There's also never a point where Gus comes under attack by shadowy figures trying to drive him away. Richardson adds a hint of something supernatural at one point, but never really does anything further with it.

It's not a dull book; Richardson keeps the plot moving. He cuts to scenes with other characters that show glimpses into their lives that are mostly depressing, but might convince you they'd have motive. But there's not much suspense when your main character is never in any danger, and seems more concerned at the start with what a teenager is up to after hours than who killed a guy Gus, by his own admission, didn't like (the poet was an arrogant, underaged skirt-chasing drunk, so no great loss to the gene pool.)

'Maltravers noted the preferred adjective. Not tragic, not wicked, not mysterious, but embarrassing, as though Patrick Gabriel had committed a faux pas by inconsiderately being murdered in the village and giving Medmelton a bad name.'

What I Bought 3/14/2025 - Part 1

I only found half the books I was looking for last week, but three is better than zero, so we'll roll with what we've got. And today, what we've got is a pair of books on their second issues, one of which on much more solid ground with me than the other.

Bronze Faces #2, by Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tekenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - That does seem like good headgear to wear in a fistfight, provided you can see what you're doing. Or you're Daredevil.

In the 4 months since the heist in issue 1, Gbonka, Timi and Sango have expanded their operation, bringing in more people, including some with actual experience at stealing things. Smart, though it does feel like the sort of thing that opens more potential holes in their group. Especially now that there's a determined cop, Detective Lai, on their tails.

Still, those are problems for a future issue. For now, the goal is a heist on a train carrying a lot of stuff for an auction at the site of a famous horse race. Most of the issue, Shobo and Shof show us what's happening through Ev, some video streaming person with a rich dad, who can't resist showing off some antique horse that's passed to her, and records all the security measures and passcodes it took to get to it.

Tekengki puts a scrolling view of various comments when someone is looking into the phone, which vary from excitement at potential drama when Ev remarks she might try to hit with a suave gentleman who bumped into her (and copied her palm print), to someone asking if the thieves, who now call themselves "Ogiso", intend to put the art in another museum, just in Nigeria, lol. You know the type.

It is a little difficult for me to take anyone seriously if they start a statement with, "Hashtag," as the Ogiso do at the conclusion of their public statement. I initially thought that was Gbonka, because it seemed like the sort of thing an earnest, but painfully square, politician would do. But going by the masks, it was Timi. Ah, well, he's the hip young musician, and I'm a fuddy-duddy, so what do I know? Other than Sango is not happy about Timi and Gbonka making out, and the two ladies still don't seem to be seeing eye-to-eye. Tekengki is still setting it up so even when they do make eye contact, they're in separate panels and look as though they're looking away.

Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave #2, by Justin Jordan (writer), Chris Shehan (artist), Alessandro Santoro (color artist), Micah Myers (letterer) - That's what life in decaying, mining towns will do to you: You wind up with tapetum lucidum like a dang raccoon.

Harley left last issue's victim tied to the hood of a car with railroad spikes through his eyes (something about preventing the soul from escaping.) So the Weavers send more guys, who end up either shot or buried in a collapsed mine. The ringleader of the squad, to the extent he qualifies, at one point briefly sees Harley with a bunch of glowing eyed faces looming behind him. Not sure what the means. I was operating under the impression the Weavers knew the magic around here, but maybe Harley's got a little, too.

Preliminaries taken care of, Harley beats up a guy in a bar to learn how things stand, then starts destroying all their holdings, what there are of them. Mostly this involves burning down a huge warehouse full of pills, then hitching a ride on the underside of the lead goons SUV to get inside the Weaver's compound. 

And that's about it. Harley's hallucinations are getting worse, distracting him often enough he gets clipped by a few rounds. He comments at one point he has to live long enough for the curse to kill him, which might only be a day. I thought he had seven days, or does he mean something else? Either way, my new theory is the priest did it, as a way to use Harley to clean up the dying town. And there's a certain amusement in the man of God using heathen curses. I'm not sure if I'll stick around long enough to find out.

Burn Country (2016)

Osman's (Dominic Rains) trying to settle into a new life in California, having moved there after seeking asylum from Afghanistan. He's living with the mother of a journalist he worked with, and gets a $50/week job with the local paper, writing the police blotter. After some initial disappointment, Osman leans into the job, deciding to use it as a way to get to know the country and the people, a way to go out an investigate and observe.

After a rough first encounter, he strikes up a friendship with a local guy, Lindsay (James Franco), who promises to introduce him to people in the area, help him understand who the real criminal element is. Then a man turns up dead in the woods, and Lindsay goes missing.

People, at various points, ask Osman if he's glad to be away from Afghanistan, away from the danger. Or ask him what it was like. And Osman will explain, politely and earnestly, that, yes, there were some terrifying or surreal moments, but for a long time he wanted to move away simply because he thought that was what you had to do to grow. This is while there are corpses turning up in the woods, while Osman is getting chased through those same woods later and having to beat a guy with a rock to save his own life. No one he tells is too surprised by that, nor that the man apparently survived and left. The lady he's staying with, who is a local cop, assures him it was self-defense, so he's fine, completely missing that isn't really what Osman's freaked out about.

The movie cuts in a few conversations between Osman and Gabe, his journalist friend, who is still in Afghanistan working with a different, 'cultural translator', as one character describes it. We only see bits of what's going on; an overturned car in the road at night, Gabe standing on a mountain somewhere, no towns in sight. We don't know what's happening, but I think the implication is, if Osman was there, he would understand and fit back in perfectly. Where he is, though, is alien to him, and he doesn't really have a good cultural translator. Everyone is holding things back. (Gabe, for example, apparently has spoken with his mom in months, for reasons we and Osman don't learn.) Or it's that they know how things work here so intuitively, they don't recognize that there's anything to explain to Osman.

Rains shifts between striding with purpose to drifting through crowds of people gathered around a bonfire outside the house of some local Mister Big. He spends a lot of time tapping or pounding on doors, peering through windows, trying to get someone to open up, to let him in. Often he doesn't. Mom Cop may only roll the car window down enough to tell him to stay there. Lindsay's mother may open the door, but only enough to see there's a guy asleep on her bed while her son's whereabouts are unknown (unknown to Osman, at least.) He has moments of glee, and moments where he's so frustrated the polite exterior cracks and he loses his temper, unable to understand what people aren't saying or why.

I don't know that I entirely understand the whys and wherefores of the plot, which would be something Osman and I have in common then. Whether that's by design or because the movie was trying so hard to give us a sense of Osman's confusion that it overdid it, I'm not sure.

What I Bought 3/7/2025

OK, with books from previous months dispensed with, we move on to March comics. Well, one March comic at least. This month is one of those odd distributions. 2 books the first week, 5 the second, none this week, 3 the last week.

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #6, by Jed MacKay (writer), Domenico Carbone (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer) - Feel like Khonshu is warning Marc that he's not ready to handle everything Tigra's got in store for him. "Beware, my son, that backside is one moon I have no power over!"

Pretty basic set-up. Marc's more or less in a coma after getting his ass beat, and getting berated by Khonshu for acting like such a chump. Fairchild's smart enough to realize killing Moon Knight just means you've soon got a resurrected, even crazier Moon Knight on your ass, so he plans to keep M.K. under wraps like this for the foreseeable future.

Good thing Hunter's Moon can ask Khonshu - politely - where Marc is, so they can rescue him. Or Tigra can ask the same question, impolitely. Either way, Moon Knight's crew ambushes the vehicle carrying him, Fairchild's enforcer convinces him this is not the time to fight an entire team, and after some time in a good ol' Consecrated Sarcophagus, Marc's up on his feet, and ready to actually make a plan to attack Fairchild. I don't know, are plans allowed? Much better to charge in recklessly.

With Carbone's art, Marc looks kind of like some teen manga protagonist. Much younger than the other artists MacKay's worked with depict him (and much younger than Tigra, which at least sort of tracks with Marc somewhat admitting he's been acting like a dope.) I also don't remember Marc's hair poofing up that much in the front, either. Oh man, Fairchild must have beat him so badly he switched genres - and cultures - entirely.

Or maybe this is Into the Moon-Verse and we've swapped Moon Knights? Khonshu was griping about how if Marc would just die enough he was too crazy to use, Khonshu could get himself another one. Honestly, Khonshu's a real shit, always playing his kids against each other, withholding approval and affection in exchange for them jumping through his hoops. What a shitty god.

Sunday Splash Page #366

"Top Dog," in Moon Knight Annual (2022) #1, by Jed MacKay (writer), Federico Sabbatini (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer)

The only annual Moon Knight's had in the 3+ years MacKay's been writing the character, this one involves the Werewolf by Night, Jack Russell, trying to kill Khonshu. There's a prophecy that says it can be done, but only at a certain time, and in specific circumstances. Circumstances which apparently shouldn't exist, but do. Namely, that one of Khonshu's fists has a kid of their own.

Yeah, according to Hunter's Moon, Khonshu's fists can't have kids. I don't think is so much an edict Khonshu hands down as they are physically incapable of doing so. Maybe the idea is when Khonshu brings them back to life as his priest, he renders them sterile? Not sure, but either way, it didn't take with Marc, and Russell's kidnapped his and Marlene's daughter.

This story also marks the only time so far that either Marlene or Frenchie has appeared in MacKay's run. He writes Marlene as focused and distant. The only reason she's there is for their daughter, which she makes clear to Marc by telling him either come back with the girl or don't come back alive. She's learned her lesson about life close to Moon Knight, and isn't allowing herself the luxury of even considering trying again.

MacKay writes Russell as grimly determined to do something he doesn't like, because he's convinced it'll save lives. MacKay places werewolves as "berserkers" in Khonshu's forces, given that they gain their power under a full moon. If Russell can kill Khonshu, he thinks that will break the curse and there won't be anymore werewolves. My main issue with this is, I feel werewolves in the Marvel Universe are often portrayed as not discerning about who they attack, assuming they even retain any control of their actions. So doesn't that make them creatures who prey on those traveling at night? MacKay tries to square that with the notion that Khonshu's fists like Moon Knight or Hunter's Moon are the ones who keep the wolves in line and under control. I've not see much evidence of that, either.

We only get about two pages of Moon Knight vs. Werewolf. Most of the comic is focused on either Marlene's perspective on Moon Knight, or the conflict in Hunter's Moon between loyalty to Khonshu and protecting an innocent life. Sabbatini draws Khonshu as this shadow on the wall that whispers in the ear of Hunter's Moon. Nobody dies, but it's not what I'd call a happy ending for anyone, except maybe the kid, since she gets ice cream at the end.

Saturday Splash Page #168

"The Mud King," in Seven to Eternity #1, by Rick Remender (writer), Jerome Opena (artist), Matt Hollingsworth (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer)

Kelvin had mentioned this book in the comments of my Sunday Splash Page for Coda, as another book set in a world where the bad guy has already won. Beyond that, they're very different books. For one thing, it took five years for the 17 issues to come out. For another, here the Mud King has stuck around to rule, rather than depart for some other plane of existence. Which means there's still the option for resistance, but also the risk of reprisal.

Adam Osidis has spent his life living on the fringes. His father was friends with the Mud King when he was just Garlis Sulm, a couple of knights. But Garlis had a power to see through the eyes of anyone that would let him in. So all he had to do was offer them something they wanted badly enough. Adam's father held out, and got framed as a butcher and betrayer, retreating into the wilderness. But now he's dead, and Adam's dying, and the Mud King's found them.

What seems like a suicide run for Adam gets flipped on its head by the arrival of a small crew of resistance who capture the Mud King. They don't kill him, because supposedly every person who let him in will die, too, but there's a place they can take him that will break that connection. Then they can kill him. So Adam joins in, but that means there's opportunity to hear whispered offers.

Opena and Hollingsworth are an impressive art team, though. Opena creates a wide variety of characters, creatures and locales. Cities held aloft by balloons, massive reptilian behemoths with metal mouths that spit lightning. Spirits that burst from the barrel of a gun, or elongated serpents that rise at the playing of a flute. It makes Adam, as the closest thing to a regular human in the cast, seem that much more alone. There's no one around quite like him, no people that accept him willingly or without some condition. And that's how it's always felt to him.

One thing that comes up is the lies people tell themselves. The Mosak, the small squad that captures Garlis, I don't know how they know for sure executing Garlis will kill all the people who accepted his offers. Maybe they just tell themselves that as assurance that it was OK to take so long to make this move. They had to be sure, had to make a good plan because they have to take him alive. Definitely not hesitation over possibly getting killed themselves. (It turns out to be true, but I'm not inclined to give any character the benefit of the doubt as to their motives in this book.)

Some members of the Mosak look askance at Adam because of his last name, because of the lies the Mud King spread. They expect Adam to betray them because it's in his blood and aren't shy of expressing their contempt. Then they make the shocked Pikachu face when he decides to make his own play. "Self-fulfilling prophecy" is apparently not a term anyone in Zhal is familiar with. Adam's father no doubt had reasons for keeping the truth of things from his son for several years, then can't understand why a young Adam disobeys and talks to a girl that seems like she wants to make friends. He thought his son understood the danger, without ever explaining what the danger was.

Of course, Adam's lying to himself about why he's doing all this, too. If Coda had notions people could (with difficulty) pull themselves back together in the wake of catastrophe and build again, Seven to Eternity seems to say those efforts will always collapse in the face of individual desires. The best you can manage is to tear down whichever latest tinpot dictator has assumed control, but that does nothing to reverse the slow decay of your world.

What I Bought 3/5/2025 - Part 4

Hitting up the annual big used book sale for the county libraries today! Which means there'll probably be a lot of vaguely disappointed reviews of novels in the coming months! Hopefully I'll find at least a couple of interesting non-fiction books. In the meantime, here's the two first issues.

Bronze Faces #1, by Shobo and Shof (writers), Alexandre Tefenkgi (artist), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (letterer) - Very good, looking professional and stylish.

We've got Timi, Sango, and Gbonka (also called "Rose" in a couple of scenes.) Timi's father was an artist, sculptor of bronzes especially, who took in Sango and Gbonka under circumstances not entirely revealed yet, although it sounds like Sango's father is dead, and Gbonka's parents might not have been well off.

When Timi's father dies, all his works are sold to a British museum to pay off his debts. The three kids, now young adults, run into each other at an exhibition, catch up a little (and argue a little, as was apparently common.) Then Sango argues they should steal the art back. Timi's in, Gbonka's not initially, but saves their butts from a guard. Timi happened to grab a box that contains a list of every Benin Bronze taken from Nigeria, and their current locations, and the trio agree they're going to take them all back.

Shobo and Shof lay a lot out in this issue. The basic concept behind the story, these three deciding to retrieve cultural treasures, many taken under, shall we say, questionable circumstances. But also what each of them are doing currently, their financial situations, greater aspirations, and especially the dynamics between them. Timi's younger, and each of the girls seems to look after him in their own way, but Sango and Gbonka don't get along at all.

Sango seems to act on impulses and holds little back, while Gbonka is more cautious and thinking about consequences. Around each other they seem to bring out the knives in different ways. Sango mocks Gbonka's desire to become a senator or dismisses her from a discussion she calls a 'family matter.' Gbonka needles Sango about turning her back on her country, and questions her motives on everything. Tefenkgi often draws them talking without looking at each other. Backs turned or looking opposite directions, or we can only see the person speaking, so we don't see the reaction of the other. They both seem comfortable being close to Timi, supporting him or hanging off him, but they don't interact with each other that way.

And Timi clearly feels how he's caught in the middle and gets frustrated with it, but doesn't seem able to really stop it. I get a real sense he's kind of passive, especially as one of his first scenes as an adult is him surrounded by white guys making various sales pitches while he stands there looking, pleasantly neutral? Not saying anything, not leaning towards anyone, but not away from anyone, either.

We can see how their different skills could mesh beautifully for something like this, but also how easily they could self-destruct.

Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave #1, by Justin Jordan (writer), Chris Shehan (artist), Alessandro Santoro (colorist), Micah Myers (letterer) - Looking completely deranged, fairly concerning. 

Harley's out of prison and returning home. Not for long; just to dig up some money (and guns) he buried and to give the cash to his daughter, who wants nothing to do with him. Because he killed her mother, his wife. Although the circumstances are thus far vague, and the way Shehan draws the glimpses we get, mostly the victim on the ground bleeding from a gut wound, trying to tell Harley something, I suspect everything's not as it seems.

Either way, he kept the guns, which might be good, because Harley was in town longer than someone wanted him to be, and he gets cursed. Either he kills the one responsible in seven days, or he dies. He says there's only one person who could do it, but kills the schmoe he thinks laid the item/totem/whatever for the curse as a message. The whole scene leading up to the killing, as Jordan has Harley explain what he's about to do, and Shehan draws several close-ups on Harley's face, Santoro seems to keep coloring the pupils larger and darker, until, combined with how narrowed they are, Harley's eyes are basically voids. Contrasts nicely with the shots of his victim's eyes, which are wide and terrified, the whites clearly visible. At least, until they're obstructed.

There's a lot of ways this could play out. I half-suspect it was Harley's daughter that set the curse, even if her mother's side is the ones that know about that kind of stuff, and they apparently don't believe she's one of them. But I only have Harley's word on how many people could do this, and he's been in prison over a decade. Things change. Granted, it wouldn't be much tension if it was her, because I'm pretty sure Harley would just let himself die then. But if he doesn't figure that out until well into the bloody swath he clearly intends to cut, it may be too late to keep someone from trying for revenge by targeting his daughter.

After one issue, this doesn't interest me nearly as much as Bronze Faces. Probably because it seems like it's treading such familiar ground, and so far, it hasn't done anything particularly creative. But maybe with the stage set, issue 2 will do a little more to get my attention.