It’s been too long since I read and reviewed one of Barry Reese‘s works. But the wait has been worth it.
Gotterdammerung is the long-awaited teamup between his three main characters: The Rook, The Peregrine, Gravedigger, and Lazarus Gray. It’s also part of the Sovereign City Project.
Okay, for those not aware, a quick overview of the three characters:
The Peregrine is Reese’s longest running character, a 1930/’40s era pulp hero with some elements of the occult. He is a well-trained fighter who also carries an occult knife. He fights a variety of foes, some supernatural, and has even organized a team of other heroes to fight similar threat (though that happens after the events of this story).
Gravedigger is a sinner given a chance to redeem herself by fighting evil, one of the latest of a long line of Gravediggers, and the first female. At the end of three years she will be judged, and either be free of her obligations or be condemned to hell.
And Lazarus Gray is another crime-fighter (and occasional occult fighter) who has gathered a group of associates, similar to The Avenger‘s Justice Inc., called Assistance Unlimited.
Both Gravedigger and Lazarus Gray are set in Sovereign City, a shared location that several characters published by Pro Se Press are set in.
Here, the three team up to stop a new and dangerous threat from the Nazi’s Occult Forces Group, which The Peregrine and others will be dealing with in the coming years. They are also joined by several other characters, both public domain and created by Reese. We get The Black Bat, and The Black Terror (from Nedor Comics, which Barry recently revealed a different origin for).
For Reese’s characters, we have the current Catalyst (a new one will be emerging later in his timeline), Leonid Kaslov (a Russian Doc Savage pastiche that has appeared occasionally in his stories), The Darkling (a darker Shadow pastiche who has appeared in the Lazarus Gray series), and The Dark Gentleman (a Phantom Detective pastiche who also operates in Sovereign City). Sadly The Black Bat, The Black Terror, and Kaslov appeared only briefly, and had little impact on the main storyline.
The threat they face is nothing less than the possible end of the world brought about by Lovecraftian Old Ones of Reese’s creation. The group must actually contend against this threat in Berlin, Washington, D.C., and Sovereign City itself. It takes them a year to beat back the threat, and they must visit the legendary land of Hy-Brasil to do so.
The outcome of the novel was very unexpected. How unexpected you’ll have to read. Yes, some heroes die.
We are also introduced to some new characters in Reese’s “universe.” Nimrod, a “hero hunter,” shows up early on to cause problems for Peregrine. A dangerous new foe is released in Mr. Death, and The Heap, the old bog creature from Hillman Comics in the 1940s, appears toward the end. I suspect that we will be seeing some of these characters again.
Now, per Barry’s timeline in the book, we should be seeing the third (and final) Gravedigger book soon, as well as the sixth Lazarus Gray/Assistance Unlimited book, which is where some of these characters will next appear. When is unclear. It also seems that two Dark Gentleman books are coming as well. I look forward to all of these, but don’t know how long it will take to see them.
If you haven’t read Barry’s works, now is the chance. Pro Se Press has been re-issuing the Peregrine works in larger “omnibus” editions, as well as the earlier Lazarus Gray works. All are worth getting and reading.
