Vic and Blood: The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and His Dog [Paperback]

Harlan Ellison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

The complete graphic novel cycle, with Ellison's short stories featuring illustrations by Corben. Beginning with Eggsucker, chronicling the early days between 14-year-old loner Vic and his brilliant, telepathic dog, Blood, the book continues and expands into A Boy and his Dog, showing how much smarter Blood is and how loyal Vic is. Each adaptation is followed by the actual Ellison short story, illustrated with previously unpublished art by Corben.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Admirers of Ellison's Nebula-winning novella A Boy and His Dog (which was the basis of the cult film of the same title) will undoubtedly embrace this perplexing look at the creative process. The author disavows the film's misogynistic conclusion, but he realizes the strength of its characters: teenaged Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, who are trying to survive in a post-WWIII wasteland. With this basis, Ellison wrote two more short stories about Vic and Blood (after A Boy and His Dog), explaining more of their prickly but trusting relationship, and showing the emotional consequences of Vic's actions in the original story. Now, Ellison says he's finished telling the overall story by writing Blood's a Rover as a screenplay that he'll later convert into a novel. In the meantime, this worthwhile book collects the texts of all three existing stories, along with some commentary. Unfortunately, a comics adaptation by Corben precedes each story, detracting from what Ellison is doing. Corben is best when depicting extremely grotesque situations, such as his version of Hodgson's The House on the Borderland. But that's only one aspect of Vic and Blood's world. When, for example, Vic is trapped in a "downunder"-one of the huge fallout shelters where WASP America has tried to preserve its way of life by severing ties to the survivors on the surface-he is nauseated by its banal wholesomeness, but Corben's inability to execute subtle exaggeration fails to suggest this. Still, an Ellison performance is always fascinating.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: ibooks (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596878436
• ISBN-13: 978-1596878433
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,785,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Corben back in print from iBooks as of June 2003, July 18, 2003

By 

Babytoxie (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vic and Blood: The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and His Dog : A Graphic Novel (Paperback)

Sure, Harlan Ellison wrote the classic stories, but my first exposure to the adventures of Vic and Blood came through Richard Corben's comic adaptations. I read Ellison's stories later and was happy to find that the comics were very faithful adaptations. It's good to see, therefore, that the iBooks paperback edition of VIC & BLOOD - THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF A BOY & HIS DOG gives you the chance to compare the comics with the original stories, all in one book! You get both comic and text versions of "Eggsucker", "A Boy and His Dog", and "Run Spot Run", and the texts are accompanied by a handfull of highly detailed Corben illustrations, along with sidebar quotes from Blood (The Wit and Wisdom of Blood). It's a very attractive package, led off with a humorous introduction by Ellison that touches on his supposed upcoming novel BLOOD'S A ROVER (will we ever see it? I can only hope). While this type of literature might not be everyone's cup of tea, I give this book 5 stars for presentation, as well as its appeal to fans of Ellison and Corben - they will love it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Ellison, September 26, 2005

By 

John Oconnor "Wrong Reverend Pope John the Me... (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vic and Blood: The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and His Dog : A Graphic Novel (Paperback)

If you love "A Boy and His Dog", you will LOVE this book. Great stories well done in a comic style. Most women hate this series for some reason :). A wonderful read. Ellison is at his dark, bitter best, and the drawings are great.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They get no better than this!, March 4, 2006

By 

Kgar "Kgar_Fiction" (SF, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vic and Blood: The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and His Dog : A Graphic Novel (Paperback)

For me Richard Corben is the most original artist in the field. While his older work is certainly inspired by the old EC horror and crime masters, his style and aesthetic became (during the late 70's) something completely unique. His style and skill allow him to slip from realistic to iconic (or cartoony) without any of it seeming out of place. His characters have a presence and weight to them that I have seen no other comic book artist achieve. The effect is sometimes unnerving and bizzare but always engrossing.

Harlan Ellison has a similiar ability with prose. He can go from comical to downright heartbreaking without missing a beat. A Boy and His Dog is a great showcase of Ellisons ability in this respect. The combination of he and Corben is perfectly suited for this story of humor and horror on a post apocalyptic landscape. An evironment Corben seems to have mastered (see his brilliant Mutant World, recent Punisher comic, or short story An Angel Shy of Hell for other examples).

In an industry full of cheesy clenched-teeth hunched-over superheroes, or generic drawn-from-digital-photos-of-artists-friends characters and Mike Mignola rip off's it's refreshing to look at a work of art done by two rebel/masters who made their own masterpiece on their own terms with their own aesthetic.