The Rook - Volume 5

The Rook

by Barry Reese, Stacy Dooks, Anthony Castrillo (Illustrator)

The Claws of The Rook... A gathering of heroes. An ancient evil reborn. The time is the late 1940's. Nazi Germany has fallen. But the threat from the Third Reich is far from over. Powerful agents of super-scientific and occult destruction still plague the world of men. Max Davies, the fearless vigilante known as THE ROOK, enlists the aid of Earth's most powerful heroes to stem the tide of evil that threatens to bring about the End of Days... the maniacal schemes of an undead Adolph Hitler... an alien intelligence with a hideous form of immortality... the rise of the Great Old Ones... and the return of the king of vampires himself, Count Dracula! In four brand-new tales of blazing action, fan favorite Barry Reese (Rabbit Heart) expands the universe of THE ROOK into new realms of terror and adventure! Featuring Cover and Interior art by Anthony Castrillo, with a special pin-up page by the legendary Fred Hembeck! Also included - a special tale by new WCB author - Stacy Dooks!

316 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2010

About the author

Barry Reese is one of the leading authors in the modern pulp revival. A former writer for Marvel Comics, Reese is the author of The Rook series and many other novels. His work has appeared in books published by Marvel Comics, West End Games, Wild Cat Books, Moonstone Books and Pulpwork Press. Reese's newest book, RABBIT HEART, was published in February 2010 and features his first foray into the horror genre.

Reviews

[Emb021 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth collection of Rook stories by Barry Reese. For those who are familiar with the character (ie, you've read the previous 4 collections), there is no need for an introduction. For those new, The Rook is a pulp hero style character created by Barry Reese. The Rook fights crime and evil in the 30s and 40s (and later). Barry mixes in pulp hero, comic book & comic strip characters, along with occult horror/weird menace, and does a good job. The Rook goes up against traditional villians, pulp superfoes, and occult horrors, and has the assistance of characters based on pulp heroes and comic book/comic strip characters (some original, other done as pastiches or homages to other characters). This volume uses many of his originals, plus pastiches, as well as characters in public domain.

The Rook is also a generational story, as Barry usually gives a timeline of the Rook universe, showing that the Rook's son and daughter will later take up the mantle, as will another individual in the near future. It also helps those who want to know where the stories fit in this timeline. Sadly, this timeline was missing from this volume. Hopefully it will be restored and updated for the next volume.

In this volume, we get the introduction of the "Claws of the Rook", a team of Barry's original characters that he's created over the past few volumes who will work as a team with the Rook. So far, this group consists of Catalyst & Esper, his superhero couple from volume #3, Victor (the Frankenstein's Monster from v4), and The Revenant (his female Phantom from v4).

"The Diabolical Mr. Dee" introduced the Claws, and has them go up against Mr. Dee. Also introduced is a new villianess based on the golden age comic book character Valkyrie from Airboy comics.

"A Plague of Wicked Men" has the Claws, with the assistance of some other characters such as Ki-Gor (an old 'Tarzan' pastiche from the pulps that is now public domain, which some have been writing new stories of) and Prof. Stone (Wayne Skiver's Doc pastiche) goes up against a trio of evil: Professor Moriarity, Warlike Manchu and Dr. Satan. A new hero, Jackdaw, is also introduced, and a minor pulp hero is killed. Maybe he will join the Claws in future stories.

"Devil's Spear" is more a Rook story, tho has him helped by Leonid Kaslov (Barry's "russian Doc Savage" pastiche) and Jenny Everywhere (a new character in the public domain that anyone can use), with the Claws coming in later, going up against the evil of Count Dracula and another.

"The Ivory Machine" is another story of the Rook helped by the Claws, now joined by a quartet of pd comic book characters: The Black Terror & Tim, The Flame, and Ms Mask (these have been used by DC in the "Terra Incognito" series and by Dynamite in their Project: Superhero titles). A new nemesis is introduced for the Rook, with a connection to an old foe.

"Devil's Due" by Stacky Dooks, is set in the 1960s, and focuses on the son of the Rook, now operating as the new Rook. It also shows the return of an old foe of his father.

This volume is twice the size of previous volume. Dimentional-wise, it matches #4, so is smaller then the first 3 volumes. Artwork is by Anthony Castrillo, who did the cover and interior artwork in v3. I do like his work, as its very john byrneish, but do wish he'd do the Rook's mask correctly.

I look forward to v6.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great piece by Barry Reese. I'm going to be honest, I didn't actually read "The Rook - Volume 5." Instead, I read the stories that made up "The Rook - Volume 5" from "The Peregrine Omnibus, Volume Two." I just can't stand referring the Rook as the Peregrine. Nonetheless, these were great stories. Reese has a way of tying in multiple characters, many of whom are far-fetched and few of whom he created himself, into a well-woven, complex story brimming with action and adventure. I enjoyed meeting the Claws of Rook (or Peregrine, whatever) and seeing them in action next to the Max Davies. I loved how he teamed Hitler with Dracula. I enjoyed the Cthulhu plot line in "A Plague of Wicked Men." I've thought for a long time that whatever Barry Reese writes turns into New Pulp gold, and this compilation was no exception. I'm anxiously waiting for Reese's next work!