How little is too little information in a “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” mystery? Writers Joe Gentile and Mark Dawidziak struggle with that question in “Lambs to the Slaughter” (2003), the first of two stories in “Volume 3: Sound of Fear” (2008).
Not a lion of a story
Granted, if Kolchak puts the whole picture together and publishes the complete story, that shatters the saga’s whole premise of how the truth remains buried. Nonetheless it strikes me as weak that Carl never finds out why the villains are running dangerous cloning experiments.
Also, there’s a decreasing level in the art’s quality as these volumes go forward. (This is the last of the three numbered trade paperbacks.) Trevor von Eeden favors a messy brand of illustrations, and colorists Ken Wolak and Dawn Groszewski try (and mostly succeed) to make up for it with a dark Kolchakian mood.
“Kolchak: The Night Stalker” Volume 3: “Sound of Fear” (2008)
Collects: “Lambs to the Slaughter” (2003), “Eve of Terror” (2005)
Writers: Joe Gentile, Mark Dawidziak, Stephen Lord, Michael Kozoll
Artists: Trevor von Eeden, Ken Wolak, Dawn Groszewski, Walter Figueroa, Chad Hunt, Tricia Hale, Terri Boyle
Carl continues to have good luck with women in the Moonstone comics. “Lambs’ ” glasses-wearing redhead secretary is quite fetching.
We get some Vincenzo characterization when we learn his son disappeared in the past. But the dialog exchange is odd, as Kolchak apologizes for bringing up the subject. He’s writing a story about disappearing college kids; I don’t think an apology is needed.
“Lambs” loosely has elements of the Preston & Child novel “Relic,” as a beast with strange origins kills people. But the sense of fear just ain’t here.
Another unburied TV episode
“Eve of Terror” (2005) is significantly better as Gentile adapts and expands upon the unproduced teleplay by Stephen Lord and Michael Kozoll. (It’s one of three such teleplays. “Get of Belial” was also made into a comic, while “The Executioners” has not been.)
Penciler Walter Figueroa’s likenesses aren’t perfect, but his expressions on Carl’s face are entertaining. Also amusing is that Vincenzo sleeps on his office couch for literally five hours while Kolchak pursues and files a story – and Kolchak loves the peacefulness in the newsroom.
The volume’s overall title, “Sound of Fear,” would’ve been a better title for this individual yarn. It explores sound therapy. Delivered via a device that’s desired by interested parties, the sound can cure what ails a person – cancer, disease, and so forth.
Or it can go the other way: It can turn a person crazy, as happens to the experimenters who have the device turn on them.
Again, Kolchak interacts with a hot woman, although here she has a bias against reporters because of a previous date, good for some light comedy. She calls on Kolchak because her friend is among the victims and she desires answers.
Tyranny of the status quo
What clinches “Eve of Terror” as a solid story – where “Lambs to the Slaughter” fails – is the final page. This isn’t a standard yarn that warns us against cutting-edge tech. Rather, the device — if used properly and if it hadn’t been stolen – can be used safely and it would save and/or improve countless lives.
In fact, it had been around for 70 years but had always been covered up by interested parties who want to stifle scientific advancement. There’s money to be made by corporations, politicians, lobbyists and even study groups if big problems are not solved.
“Eve of Terror” doesn’t go into the scary side of sound as much as I might’ve hoped, but it makes a strong statement about the tyranny of the status quo.
As with all Moonstone stories, this adaptation takes place in the year of publication rather than in the TV series’ time. Fortunately for the story and unfortunately for those of us who live in reality, the theme Lord and Kozoll began to explore in the 1970s remains relevant in Gentile’s 2005 fleshing out of the story.
Click here to visit our “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” Zone.