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Cometeers

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The sequel to "The Legion of Space" (one of the most popular serialized sci-fi novels of the 1930s), "The Cometeers," to author Jack Williamson's credit, is not only a better-written book, but does what all good sequels should: enlarge on the themes of the earlier piece and deepen the characterizations. First appearing in the May-August 1936 issues of "Astounding Stories" magazine (two years after "The Legion of Space" made its first appearance therein, and two years before "Astounding Stories" would morph into the renowned "Astounding Science-Fiction"), "The Cometeers" finally appeared in hardcover book form in 1950. Anyone familiar with the earlier novel (in what was to become a tetralogy of Legion books), which featured space battles, jellyfishlike aliens, nebula storms, assorted alien flora and fauna, and nonstop swashbuckling derring-do, will probably wonder if Williamson was capable of topping it in a sequel. After all, when a novel contains everything but the proverbial galactic kitchen sink, what else is left for the continuation? The answer, as it turns out, is plenty.

In "The Cometeers," we make further association with our old friends from the previous volume, only two decades later on. Jay Kalam, forever cool and resourceful, is now commander of the Legion; Hal Samdu, the redheaded giant, is still basically a rumbling nonentity; and Giles Habibula, the Falstaffian picklock, is still eating, guzzling and lovably complaining. John Star and Aladoree Anthar only make brief appearances in this book, but their son Bob, a recent graduate of the Legion Academy, takes a very central part in the action. The story this time concerns a 12,000,000-mile-long comet that has entered our solar system, behaving like no typical celestial body and pulling asteroids and even whole planets into its center. What is at the heart of this comet, and how our boys manage to fight their way to it, are surprises that this reader would never dream of revealing, but I can say that Williamson throws in some truly remarkable aliens, a very nicely executed fray at the south pole of Neptune, a visit to a very unusual asteroid, and a mind-bending conclusion. The character of Stephen Orco--a genius of unknown origin who was responsible for a psychologically damaging hazing of Bob Star back at the Academy, and who later betrays mankind to aid "the Cometeers"-- is a fascinating one, and the final revelation of his background is one that not many will anticipate. As in the first book, the action is relentless, and most readers will likely feel compelled to ingest the entire novel in a sitting or two (an easy-to-accomplish feat, as the book comes in at a compact 150 pages). The difference here is in the quality of the writing. Though still penned in the best pulp style, "The Cometeers" seems more polished than "The Legion of Space"; deeper and more concise. Despite the fantastical situations and way-out scenario, the action this time seems more plausible, more credible. Our returning characters appear wiser and more thoughtful after the 20-year gap between the incidents of the two books, and Bob Star, with his psychological problems and self-doubts, is a well-drawn and fully realized creation.

As in the first book, however, some problems in the writing DO become evident. Thus, Williamson, who had at this point only been a published author for eight years, is still capable of giving us such an unfortunate sentence as "The white floor was hard white metal," and of making a few goofs in his story. For example, Bob Star, at one point late in the tale, hears the noises of an opening hatch in the Cometeers' ship, and reflects that he had heard these same noises before. In truth, though, he never had; Giles had heard those strange noises, some 60 pages earlier, and had told the tale TO Bob Star. Still, these are minor matters. "The Cometeers" really is a smashing sequel, and one that all fans of Golden Age sci-fi should just love. It will surely make them want to seek out book 3 of the series, "One Against the Legion." Personally, I'm about to start it right now....

This book is a sequel to the author's book "The Legion of Space," and revisits three of the characters from that novel--The glutton locksmith Giles Habibula, the personality-free (and kind of wasted character of a)giant Hal Samsa, and the decisive and action-oriented leader Jay Kalam--as well as the son of the young John Star from the first book--Bob Star!
BOB STAR!
Bob Star.
The book was written in 1936--a year in America, and in New Mexico (Williamson's home state), very worthy of escapism, what with murder and economic depression and the Dust Bowl. It's very dated, but at least it's dated in a funny way. For instance, they have rockets and have harnessed the power of the sun for insanely fast acceleration (geodynes), yet the rocket captains keep track of the ship's records with fountain pens in ledgerbooks, and they listen to phonographs.
The story tells of a comet twelve-million-miles wide that comes to invade the solar system and use it up for food and fuel, several centuries in the future, and once again the Legion of Space is called to save the day, on orders from the Green Hall (a.k.a. Albuquerque).
It's not as funny as the first book, or as fun, but it's all right. There's a real innocent pleasure to be found in pulp science fiction such as this, and reading it will, at the very least, probably never feel like a chore.

In the 1940s, largely because of the editorship of John W. Campbell, Jr. at _Astounding_, American science fiction grew up. It became more mature, more sophisticated, less pulpish. Standards for story acceptance were tougher than before.

But what of the old guard of pulp writers from the twenties and thirties? Many (like Otis Adelbert Kline and Ralph Milne Farley) stopped writing. Others (like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Cummings, Stanton Coblentz, E.E. Smith, and David H. Keller) continued to write. But their stories of the forties and beyond were pretty much the same fare as what they wrote in the thirties.

A few (like Jack Williamson, Murray Leinster, Edmond Hamilton, Clifford D. Simak, and Raymond Z. Gallun) were talented and flexible enough to change with the times. Gallun is still best remembered for his work from the thirties. But the other four writers are best remembered for their later, more mature works.

Jack Williamson's _The Cometeers_ was written for Harry Bates, not John Campbell. It does not come from the days of the mature Williamson who wrote _The Humanoids_ or _Darker Than You Think_. It comes from the days when he was still experimenting with scientific adventures, weird horror tales, and space operas. It was serialized in _Astounding_ in 1936 and was first published in hardback in 1950. It is a sequel to his 1934 serial, _The Legion of Space_. The action takes place about twenty years later. Bob Star, son of John and Aladoree Star takes center stage. Returning are Legionaires Jay Kalam, Hal Samdu, and that loveable rascal, Giles Habibula-- always searching for food and drink:

"A platter of ham and steak and eggs, with hot brown bread, and a pot of coffee to wash them down. And then perhaps an apple pie. You got up too mortal early, dragging a poor old soldier out of his bed without a blessed bite to eat. Let's go back to breakfast!" (187)

As before, Giles is still moaning and complaining every step of the way:

"Ah, me!... If that last lock was difficult, this one is impossible. The masters of the comet couldn't open it themselves, with all their precious science, if ever they lost the combination. What a lock! You could try possible combinations at random till the universe runs down, and the odds are a million to one the door would still be closed." (314)

But it seems to me that there is a difference. In _The Legion of Space_, Giles makes complaints that are often whining and self-serving. Here, he tends to complain more about the latest cliff-hanging predicament our heroes are dealing with. It is consistent with his character, but it also forces the reader to ask: "How _will_ they get out of that scrape?" We feel sure that they will. But it isn't easy to guess how.

For villains, we have an alliance between a traitorous Earthman and gaseous alien slaveholders. The latter are residents of a giant green comet with a tail twelve million miles long. Wow! The former is a fellow named Stephen Orco, who cold-bloodedly tortured Bob Star in the Legion Academy. Bob is convinced that he could never stand up to Orco in a showdown.

Williamson's style is still a bit pulpish, still loaded with visual imagery of sharp shapes and solid colors. But it also seems to be a bit smoother than in _The Legion of Space_. There is more action, less description. And the dialogue is more natural and less stilted.

E.M. Forster (1927) notes that a story is necessary but not sufficient to make a great novel. That is, a great novel must be more than a good story. But it must _at least_ tell a good story. _The Cometeers_ is not a great novel. But it is a good story. It maintains suspense. It keeps the reader guessing: What will happen next? It invites the reader to keep turning the pages. It is a skill that goes back to prehistoric times. A story teller who did not maintain suspense was doubtless killed. In later writing, Williamson learned to do more. But here, perhaps, he did enough.

_Reference_: Forster, E.M. "The Story". In _Aspects of the Novel_. New York: Harvest/HBJ, 1927, 25-42.

This is a decent space opera, with bizarre aliens, rocket ships and ray pistols, treachery and revenge, and a large scope (entire planets are at the mercy of the invading aliens!) Jack Williamson is a solid pro, with a smooth writing style who includes a good amount of both psychological terror and comic relief without going overboard in either category.

I read the 1967 Pyramid paperback (x-1634) with the charming green Jack Gaughan cover. While the cover is easy on the eyes, the text is full of typos and printers' errors, which is pretty annoying. I have not looked at other editions since I was a kid, but I am going to guess that other editions will be less irritating to read.