 
Review from Spectrum, Vol. 1, #18
June 1999
THE SAVAGE TALES Despite our society's becoming increasingly visually-oriented, new editions of illustrated books have become a rarity, and the ones that are published can usually be found in the children's section of the bookstore. Such was not always the case. During the "golden age" of illustration, around the turn of the century, numerous artists decorated a multitude of fine books. Probably the most famous of these are the Scribners editions (re-released beginning in the 1980s) illustrated by N.C. Wyeth: Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood, The Last of the Mohicans, and many others. But sharing the spotlight with Wyeth were such giants as Maxfield Parish, Frank Schoonover, Alphonse Parish Jessie Wilcox Smith, Arthur Kackham, Howard Chandler Christy, John R. Neill, and others. In recent years notable illustrated editions appeared from time to time: an occasional Stephen King novel (The Talisman, for instance); Berni Wrightson's Frankenstein: Alan Lee's The Mabinogion. Though art book collections have provided fans with an abundance of treats during the past twenty years (comprehensive-or nearly comprehensive-editions of everything from Michaelangelo and DaVinci to illustration giants such as J.C. Leyendecker, Alphonse Mucha, Norman Rockwell, and Maxfield Parrish to fantasy/ SF artists such as Frank Frazetta and Michael Whalen), these were not illustrated texts. In fact, about the only person to carry on the tradition of illustrated books in a substantial way is Barry Moser, the Massachusetts artists whose wood engravings have been much copied (the art you see on Barnes and Noble store sacks and in their stores is done by a Moser clone), but who also works in watercolors, pen and ink, and other media. Some of his editions are monumental: though the quality of John Tenniel's Alice in Wonderland is undeniable, for our money Moser's annotated edition (and the accompanying Alice Through the Looking Glass) stands as one of the greatest illustrated books ever. Nearly as excellent are his editions of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Recently, British publisher Wandering Star decided that Robert E. Howard's work deserved to be treated to a set of exquisite illustrated books. (During the sixties, seventies, and eighties, Donald Grant produced his own high-quality editions of Howard's work, including Conan, but these are out of print.) The first of Wandering Star's editions is now available, and The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane is everything that a book lover (and Robert E. Howard fan) could have hoped for. Chicago artist Gary Gianni spent a year producing over two hundred-- yes, two hundred illustrations for this book. Spectrum readers will remember him as our feature interview in issue 15 (September 1998). At the time, what we saw and h e a r d about the book certainly sounded impressive; but of Huckleberry Finn. course it's one thing to be dazzled by a handful of promotional illustrations, and quite another to be moved by the finished product. The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane is, quite simply, the finest illustrated book we've seen in a long, long time. The love for the material is obvious from both Gianni and the publisher. Kane (as, again, our readers may remember) is a sixteenth/seventeenth century wandering Puritan soldier who flees England to escape the persecution that Queen Elizabeth is inflicting upon his faith. At least that's what he tells himself; just as important is his innate restlessness. He refuses to sit idly by while evil takes hold in the world: he will take the battle to the enemy: "I work the will of God. While evil flourishes and wrongs grow rank, while men are persecuted and women wronged, while weak things, human or animal, are maltreated, there is no rest for me beneath the skies, nor peace at any board or bed." [For more details on the Solomon Kane stories, see our article in issue 15.) What Gianni has managed to do is capture the passion and intensity of the character and the stories and translate them into paintings and pen and ink drawings. The color work pays appropriate tribute to N.C. Wyeth, which is not a bad place to start. Perhaps what stands out most about these paintings is the extraordinary sense of design--elements aren't merely tossed haphazardly onto the canvas, but placed. One such work is deceptively simple: Kane stands over his vanquished, winged creature and looks skyward as more prepare to attack (this is the painting that was the model for the Randy Bowen Kane sculpture). One of the things that sets this apart from your run-of-the-mill sword and sorcery paperback cover is the care Gianni used to intertwine the two main characters. The monster is practically wrapped around Kane, creating a tension and menace that normally would not come from a dead body. It is as if the Khyber Rifles creature has Kane planted to the ground (the monster's arm covers both of Kane's feet), holding him until the winged demons in flight can attack and prevail upon the Puritan. Another intriguing work, from a formal standpoint, is a scene of Kane on some stairs facing off against a group of pirates below. No matter where the eye starts, Gianni makes sure it moves in a way that provides the viewer with all the information. For us for starting point always seems to be the side of the staircase because it's the brightest large area in the painting. From there the eye goes up the left side of the painting to the archway, where it crosses a second arch behind it. This leads down to the gun in Solomon Kane's right hand. The arm leads up to his face. From there, the painting has three parallel lines of action (the shadow of Kane's left arm on the wall: the arm itself holding the gun: and Kane's left leg pointing to the stairs), all leading to the man at the bottom of the stairs. From there the eye sweeps around the bottom of the painting to the mass of pirates holding the woman hostage, until you're back where you began. We don't mean to turn this review into a meticulous art appreciation course, but when an artist takes the effort to compose a picture instead of merely cranking it out, it deserves at least a slight pause to admire the work. And yet as good as the color plates are, they actually pale beside the black and white work. Gianni perfectly translates Howard's words into illustrations. In fact, considering the stories themselves, black and white is probably more appropriate for the artwork, anyway. (It's a testament to Gianni's ability that he can put splashes of bright color onto the paintings without ruining the mood established in the stories.) With the pen and ink drawings, it's easy to trace Gianni's lineage. Primary is Roy Krenkel, whose book The Sowers of the Thunder (Donald Grant, 1973; later reprinted in paperback by Zebra Books, 1975) provided the blueprint for the design of Savage Tales. Krenkel's scratchy pen drawings burst with energy, and his association with Frank Frazetta and Al Williamson provided EC comic book readers with some of the greatest comic art in history. Krenkel himself was an admirer of (among others) Franklin Booth, the influential and extraordinary turn-of-the-century illustrator who managed to create meticulous woodcut effects with pen and ink drawings. Krenkel also admired Booth's contemporary, Joseph Clement Coll, whose dazzling pen and ink work decorated numerous adventure stories. Gianni's comic book work owes an obvious debt to Michael Kaluta (himself a Krenkel Frazetta/Williamson fan), whose Shadow comics contain some of the best pulp-related illustrations ever. (Years later, Gianni would also draw Shadow comics.) Ironically, Kaluta himself illustrated a couple of Howard books The Lost Valley of Iskander: The Swords of Shahrazar; Fax Collector's Editions) in the mid-seventies. Gianni's Solomon Kane looks a lot like the Shadow, in fact, except for the large white collar: dressed all in black, with a large hat and sometimes a long coat, too. In many drawings the coat snaps about in the wind-- Gianni uses it to make the reader feel the windy African plains. Likewise the reader can feel the oppressive heat and dusty environs. The artist makes the land come alive, whether it's the ancient cities buried away in the jungles, the ruthless pirates, or the hideous monsters. If any complaint could be leveled at Gianni, it is that at times he put too much work into some of the drawings that appear too small for the reader to appreciate the abundance of detail. Crowd scenes, for instance, are rendered with such care that at times we wanted a quarter-page illustration to be given an entire page just so we could better appreciate Gianni's art. Of course, if every drawing were reproduced as large as we wished, the book's page count would explode and make the price prohibitive. Aside from the artwork, the quality of the book itself is phenomenal. The cloth cover and stitch binding should provide durability that will allow for numerous re-readings (and purchasers will want to re-read these stories). The gilt-edged top matches the gold-embossed front cover that includes the title of the book, a drawing of Solomon Kane, and a facsimile signature of Robert E. Howard's, (The gold looks beautiful set against the dark blue cloth.) The dust jacket cover reproduces another Gianni painting, and yet another painting appears on the embossed slipcase that holds the book. Production statistics aside, it's what's inside the book that counts, and here the publisher has carefully designed every aspect. Because of the number of illustrations that Gianni created, every double-page spread of text has at least one drawing, and often two (again, much like Krenkel's Sowers of the Thunder). Moreover, Gianni, like Krenkel, has designed an "icon" for each main story that appears throughout that story on the upper right hand page: a sword for "Red Shadows": a skeleton peeking from around a door for "Rattle of Bones": a sword, dagger, and pistol for "The Blue Flame of Vengeance"; Kane's famous "cat-head" staff for "The Hills of the Dead": and so on. Gianni has written a brief forward to the book introducing the reader to the material. Following that comes a short essay of appreciation for Howard by H.P. Lovecraft. After the stories, Rusty Burke has written a short biography of Howard, And the final section of the appendix contains an extravagance that perhaps only we at Spectrum can appreciate: a word-by-word comparison of the stories as they were originally published in Weird Tales (or elsewhere) versus Howard's manuscripts-- a comma removed here, a hyphen there, etc. It's not that we're going to compare all this, line by line, to the stories in this book. But it shows that Wandering Star was obsessive about being as faithful to Howard as possible. We like that. Finally, every book in the 1050-copy print run is numbered and signed by Gianni. A couple of bonuses are included in the volume. The first is a folder that includes an extra set of plates. It's a nice addition, though. we're not sure what to do with them except put them in the slipcase next to the book that reproduces the same art. Perhaps less fanatical collector-types would tack them to the wall or something. More extraordinary is a twelve-minute CD that includes a reading of Howard's Solomon Kane poems with a musical score. The reading is by Paul Blake, and the music by Paul and Michael Berrow, Peter Dale, Roger Taylor, and Jake Roberts. When we saw advance announcements listing the CD, we braced ourselves: just how much effort would be put into a limited pressing? Well, Blake's vocal rendering is marvelous, and it is complemented quite nicely by the music. The best is "Solomon Kane's Homecoming." Not only is it the best of Howard's Kane poems (and one of his best poems overall), but its alternating long, soaring high notes and low, metronomic rhythmic beats create a film score-worthy soundtrack that captures both Kane's glorious God-inspired victories and his treks through dark jungles in the heart of darkness. So is The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane the ultimate Kane book? Its competition are the editions of Red Shadows released by Donald Grant, a 1968 version (reprinted in 197 1) with magnificent illustrations by Jeff Jones, and a 1978 version with all-new Jones art. The first edition is primitive by Grant's later standards-- it is small (5" x 7.5") and contains only four interior paintings and two very small black and white illustrations. The '78 edition is a more elegant affair-the book is larger (6.5" x 9.5") and contains nine interior paintings, three drawings, plus new dust jacket art. Savage Tales does contain two pieces not in Red Shadows, the fragment "Death's Black Riders," and more importantly a variant version of "Solomon Kane's Homecoming." The design of the entire package-- from the number of illustrations to the slipcase-- also is first-rate. And if the artwork itself doesn't make us forget Jones's stunning earlier paintings, Gianni will surely forgive us, as Jones is one of America's greatest artists. Finally, there is good news ahead: Gianni is currently working on a follow-up for Wandering Star-- a deluxe edition of Robert E. Howard's Bran Mak Morn stories. The book retails for $150. Comic book shops may have copies in stock or be able to order through Diamond Distributors. Bud Plant, Inc. also has copies for sale (plus the Solomon Kane statue and portfolio). They can be reached at (800) 242-6642 or www.budplant.com. European customers may find it easier to order ($160 postpaid) from Conquistador, 158 Kent House Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1JY, England (tel. 01 l-44-o-181-659-9714) or www.solomonkane.com.
(If you've never heard of Solomon Kane before and don't want to spend $150 to find out if you like the stories, check out the 1995 Baen Books paperback, Solomon Kane. If your tastes are anything like ours, you'll soon want the Wandering Star hardcover as your permanent library edition.)
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