Description

Vic and Blood                               Limited Hardcover
The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and his Dog
Limited Edition Leather-Bound Hardcover that is numbered out of 1000 and signed by Harlan Ellison & Richard Corben
Writer: Harlan Ellison
Artist: Richard Corben
Inker: Richard Corben
Colorist: Richard Corben
Letterer: Diane Valentino
Editor: Jan Strnad
Cover by: Richard Corben

Noted fantasy and science fiction writer Harlan Ellison and Richard Corben (the Den series) form an ideally matched team in this forceful adaptation of Ellison’s novella A Boy and His Dog.

Limited-Edition Leather-Bound Hardcover of Harlan Ellison & Richard Corben’s Vic and Blood – The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and his Dog includes a special tipped in bookplate on the front free endpaper with a black & white illustration and is personally autographed by Harlan Ellison & Richard Corben. The special tipped in bookplate is limited and numbered out of 1000.

World War 3 lasted from 25 June 1950 to January 1993. On and off, it lasted 43 years, though nobody seemed smart enough to realize it was all one continuing conflict. But as the New Year dawned in 1993, it was all over; peace and tranquility reigned for the next two years and six months. World War 4 broke out on American Independence Day, 4 July 1995. World War 4 lasted five days, until the few remaining missiles that had jammed in their release phase cleared the various silos beneath the Painted Desert and the Urals and the Gobi Altay; but by then there wasn’t much of anything left to fight over. Five days.

Then what was left belonged to anybody who wanted it; anybody with a taste for radiation and rubble. But it was a very different world the survivors claimed. The “good folks” sank their caisson cities, their sterile downunders, deep in the earth. And the snaggle-toothed remnants of the aboveground were abandoned to the new masters of desolation: vicious roverpaks of parentless young boys… and their telepathic dogs.

Vic and Blood Hardcover contains:Vic and Blood Issue #1
“Eggsucker” 12 pages
The early years of the association between the young loner Vic and his brilliant, telepathic dog, Blood were filled with all sorts of trouble. In this instance, Blood is fed up with being insulted by members of a trade group that Vic is familiar with. Blood attacks one of the members and Vic has to save him. Blood faints from the encounter and awakens to Vic carrying him as he runs away from the group. The two decide to skip town and continue their journey elsewhere.

“A Boy and his Dog – Part One” 19 pages
Vic, aged 15, was born in and scavenges throughout the wasteland of the former southwestern United States. Vic is most concerned with food and sex. Having lost both of his parents, he has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. He is accompanied by a well-read, misanthropic, telepathic dog named Blood, who helps him locate women, in return for food. Blood cannot forage for himself, due to the same genetic engineering that granted him telepathy. The two steal for a living, evading “roverpaks” (gangs) and mutants. Blood and Vic have an occasionally antagonistic relationship, though they realize that they need each other.

At a movie house, Blood claims to smell a woman, and the pair track her to an abandoned YMCA building. There, they meet Quilla June Holmes, a teenaged girl from “Downunder”, a society located in a large underground nuclear vault. Before Vic can rape her, Blood informs the pair that a roverpak has tracked them to the building and they have to fight them off. After killing a number of them, the trio hides in a boiler and set the structure on fire.
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Vic and Blood Issue #2
“A Boy and his Dog – Part Two” 18 pages
Vic finally has sex with Quilla June, and though she protests at first, she begins to come on to him. Blood takes an instant disliking to her, but Vic ignores him. Vic and Quilla June have sex repeatedly but eventually she attacks him and takes off to return to her underground community. Vic, furious at her deception, follows her, despite Blood’s warnings. Blood remains at the portal on the surface.

Downunder has an artificial biosphere complete with forests and underground cities. One, named Topeka after the ruins of the city it lies beneath, is fashioned in a surreal mockery of 1950s rural innocence. Vic is captured by the ruling council (the Better Business Bureau). They confess that Quilla June was sent to the surface in order to lure a man to Downunder. The population of Topeka is becoming sterile, and the babies that are born are usually female. They feel that Vic, despite his crudeness and savage behavior, will be able to reinvigorate that male population. Vic is first elated to learn that he is to impregnate the female population, but he quickly grows jaded of his surroundings and plots his escape.

Quilla June is reunited with Vic and they plan to escape together. Vic uses the fact that Quilla June’s father secretly desires sex with her as a distraction, incapacitating him so that they can escape.

On the surface, Vic and Quilla June discover that Blood is starving and near death, having been attacked by radioactive insects and other “things”. Quilla June tries to get Vic to leave Blood and take off with her. Knowing he will never survive without Blood’s guidance and, more importantly, that Blood will not survive without care and food, Vic faces a difficult situation. It is implied that he kills his new love and cooks her flesh to save Blood’s life. The novella ends with Vic remembering her question as Blood eats: “Do you know what love is?” and he concludes, “Sure I know. A boy loves his dog.”

“Run, Spot, Run” 14 pages
Although Blood is now back on his feet, the pair’s situation deteriorates as Vic begins having guilt-ridden hallucinations as a result of an awakening of conscience following the death of Quilla June. Due to his preoccupation, Vic stumbles into a near-fatal encounter with a roving gang, resulting in his getting separated from Blood once again. After the two reunite, Blood finds Vic in a hopeless, almost catatonic state. Despite Blood’s appeals and attempts to reawaken Vic’s sanity, Vic allows himself to be captured by a giant mutated spider. Cocooned, poisoned by venom, and beyond any hope of saving, Vic accepts his fate as Blood is left to fend for himself and runs off.
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Hardcover reprints/collects: Vic and Blood (1987) Issues #1-2.  Mad Dog Graphics

Limited Hardcover is bagged and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

Limited to 1000
First Printing
Publisher: NBM
Publication Date: 1989
Format: FC, 64 pages, HC, 11.25″ x 8.75″
ISBN-10: 0312034717
ISBN-13: 9780312034719

Collectible Entertainment note: Limited Hardcover is in Very Fine + condition.  Beautiful!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Richard Corben collector and/or enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Very Highly Recommended.

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