AUTUMN ANGELS by Arthur Byron Cover

 

It’s way, WAY in the future, and the human race have more or less become gods. So much so that, in their infinite humility, they refer to themselves as ‘The God Like Men’ and spend their days taking whatever forms that please them and doing pretty much whatever they like, and things are great. They’re just GREAT.

EXCEPT…3 of these God-like men are bored. They are: The Lawyer (who is a lawyer with a sword cane and a bizarre hatred of pigs); The Fat Man (who is Fat and evil, sorta) and The Demon (who floats around naked making everything smelling of sulphur while playing with himself. A lot). THEY think that the God Like Men are wasting their potential. And what is the best way to motivate the God Like Men to expand their horizons? Depression, clearly. So our three heroes (?) decide to make the entire race depressed. Their first attempt, involving finding a crippled bird and building an entire theatrical experience around it crawling about, doesn’t go down so well. But they shan’t give up! No matter how many universes they must cross or inconveniences they endure, these 3 misfits shant stop until the entire world is plain miserable. What a great gang of guys.

So yeah, this book is odd. It was written in the 70s and really feels it, what with its bizarre sense of humour, rambling humour and love of eccentricity. By far the best thing about it are its 3 protagonists; while they sound like hastily sketched archetypes (and they certainly begin as that) there is actual depth here, as their trials and tribulations cause them to grow together, and become a surprisingly charming family of weirdos.

As for the rest of the book…a lot will depend on how far your love of outre humour almost entirely divorced from a compelling narrative takes you. There are TONS of odd characters here, for sure…though it has to be admitted that MOST of those characters are just barely redrawn versions of famous (and undoubtedly copyright protected) personages. Micky Mouse and Donald Duck are here, as well as Superman and Hawkman (who is RIGHT THERE ON THE COVER GUYS. Seriously, copyright lawyers must have all been high in the 70s). The Fat Man, I’m pretty sure, is just the villain from The Maltese Falcon while the lawyer is that dude from the Avengers, while the Demon…ok, the Demon is original. But I really wish he would leave his flaccid penis alone, the author REALLY spends too much time describing that.

So, yeah, if you like 70s-era satires like HOWARD THE DUCK you might get a kick out of this. For my part, I think Michael Moorcock did this sorta thing better in his DANCERS AT THE END OF TIME trilogy…but I gotta admit, our triumvirate of wacky protagonists IS one for the ages. Me like Books.