By Daniel Torres (Catalan Communications)
ISBN: 0-87416-025-1
Torres returns with another scrumptiously retro, tongue-in-cheek pastiche of fifties Americana and Space Opera that nevertheless is a thumping good tale of action and intrigue. In this absurdist and over-the-top blend of detective thriller, science-fiction and B-Movie melodrama, retired and incognito space hero Rocco Vargas is lured back from his sedentary role of author Armando Mistral.
Earth is sweltering under a global heat-wave. Water is scarce and dwindling daily but effete Mistral simply idles in ennui. When old comrade Doc Covalsky comes to him with a scheme to mine icebergs from the winter resort world of Triton he scarcely raises an eyebrow. But when Covalsky dies in mysterious circumstances his daughter becomes the trigger for the return of the legendary Rocco Vargas for one last splendid adventure. The plot rockets along blending corporate skulduggery, insidious interplanetary spies and a plan to bankrupt Earth in a breezy comedy-thriller that Hollywood just isn’t capable of making anymore.
Classic movie fashions, technology with Fins and Jazz-culture pace make Triton a graphic delight. Raucous, racy, outrageous and passionately reverential to a by-gone age, this is a sheer delight for comic fans and anybody who loves American films from the 1930s and 1940s. Clever yet daftly sophisticated, it blends the sensibilities of Hergé’s classic Tintin tales with the exuberance of Raul Walsh and the verve of Buster Crabb’s Flash Gordon serials.
Torres’ work is always a hoot and a treat. In recent years Dark Horse have reprinted a few of his tales and I sincerely recommend you go find some and get back to a much missed Future.
©1986 Daniel Torres, copyrights managed by Norma Agency, Barcelona.
English language edition ©1986 Catalan Communications. All Rights Reserved.