TAPPING THE VEIN Volume 2 Retro Review
The Second Volume of the Books of Blood Adaptation was first published in December 1989. I Remember my excitement when I first grabbed this particular volume, because it contained two of my favorite stories from the Books of Blood, “Skins of the Fathers”, and “In the Hills The Cities” Both stories were adapted by Chuck Wagner and Fred Burke, Whom we have already seen in last week’s post.
“Skins of the Fathers,” first appeared in The Books of Blood Volume 2. This adaptation was illustrated by Klaus Janson, who has drawn all the major characters from both Marvel and DC. This is the story of the demons/monsters that come out of the desert to reclaim one of their own. There is a lot about this story that is reminiscent of Nightbreed/Cabal. The rednecks rounding up ready to take the fight to the monsters seems very similar.
The reason I was looking forward to this adaptation was because of the visuals. The Infernal Parade, as it were, at the beginning of the story has the potential to be a feast for the eyes. With another artist, such as John Bolton, it could have been.
As much as I love this story, Klaus Janson’s work was a little on the disappointing side. Instead of really going crazy with monster design, something of a Lovecraftian style, Janson pretty much kept with insectoid looks. There is even one on the title page that looked like it was auditioning for Where the Wild Things Are.
With the human side of the story, Janson does a much better job. A lot of the expressions are really spot on. My favorite is a scene that show’s the absolute Joy in Aaron’s face, when his true fathers come to visit. Speaking of Aaron, another interesting parallel to Nightbreed is the name Aaron. In this story, Aaron, is the one who the Monsters come for, to take him home. In Nightbreed, Aaron Boone seeks out the monsters, and finds a new home in Midian, (even though he causes it’s destruction)
There is another scene in the story, that comes across visually very well. It is also reminiscent of another of Barker’s works, The Lord of Illusion. Remember the scene where everybody gets trapped in the mud, and then it hardens? Barker first explored that idea in this story.
It was a good adaption. It really did a good job of capturing the essence of this great story. My only complaint is that Janson had done a better job in his monster design.
“In the Hills, The Cities” first appeared in the first Volume of The Books of Blood. This is perhaps my favorite of the Books of Blood stories. I have read this adaptation more than any others, except for maybe Rawhead Rex. John Bolton returns as the artist, and I could not have picked a better artist for this task.
As with “Skins of the Fathers” The visual adaptation is what I was most excited for. This story draws on the imagination so much, to picture these city-giants in your head. The carnage that ensued when things went wrong. John Bolton delivers on an epic scale. For this I am just going to share with you some of the images from the comic. If you are not familiar with the story, this will get you anxious for more. If you are familiar with the story, but have not read the comic. It is time to compare your mental imagery of this masterpiece, with what John Bolton came up with!
The City Giants
The City screams in Pain and Sorrow
The Carnage when a City falls
This volume of Tapping the Vein Illustrates another aspect of Barker’s writing that I love so much. In both of these stories, ordinary people living ordinary lives suddenly have the extraordinary thrust upon them. The true joy of these stories is seeing how these people react to these situation.
Join me next time as I return to the world of the Cenobites with Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #2
