What happens when a character casts such a long shadow that pop culture can't entirely leave him behind, but at the same time that character is firmly rooted in a time and place from which pop culture has itself moved on? The somewhat less than reassuring answer can be found in the film "Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze" (1975), the TV series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979-81), and the TV series "Flash Gordon" (2007-08). In all cases, it's probably fair to say the Pulp Era characters in question simply didn't successfully transition to the modern era.
Even the cult film "Flash Gordon" (1980) produced by Dino De Laurentiis succeeded only insofar as it created an over-the-top campy and color-saturated reimagining. A lot of fun to watch? Absolutely. But it didn't result in a new iteration of Flash Gordon being a serious and credible late 20th century pop culture character in the same way that, for example, Han Solo from Star Wars was. Put simply, it's extremely difficult to reboot Pulp Era characters for contemporary pop cultural tastes.
It was with this in mind that I recently purchased "Avengers of the Moon," the new Captain Future novel by Allen Steele.
Captain Future is my favorite pulp character. The Captain's backstory is about as "pulp-y" as it gets. As a child, Curtis "Curt" Newton -- Captain Future's real name -- was orphaned when his parents were murdered by the malevolent Victor Corvo. Curt's father, Roger, was a brilliant scientist who had relocated to the Moon to work on his experiments. After his death, Curt was brought up by The Brain, the disembodied central nervous system of Roger's colleague Simon Wright; Otho, an android who was a master of disguise as well as an effective combatant; and Grag, a powerful and self-aware robot.
Captain Future was universally revered by the citizens of the solar system, a solar system it should be noted teeming with sentient alien life on several planets and moons. The Captain and his Futuremen worked closely with two members of the Planet Police, the solar system's interplanetary law enforcement agency: Marshal Ezra Gurney, a senior Planet Police official whose speech and personality seem better suited to the Old West than to outer space, and Joan Randall, an agent who had feelings for Curt although their relationship never developed into anything serious.
The stories were quite imaginative albeit formulaic. But there was just something about the chemistry of the characters that really worked, Curt Newton was the young, handsome space hero, as adept with his mind as with his fists or his proton pistol. Otho and Grag bickered and insulted each other constantly but cared deeply for each other. Simon "The Brain" Wright was the elder statesman. While not achieving the notoriety of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, Captain Future, created by Mort Weisinger and written primarily by Edmond Hamilton, still reigned from his secret base in Tycho Crater on the Moon over his pulp science fiction empire from 1940 to 1951.
Enter journalist and sci fi author Allen Steele. Steele previously dealt with Captain Future somewhat obliquely in his 1996 Hugo Award-winning novella "The Death of Captain Future" in which a fan of the pulp hero acts out a fantasy based on the exploits of the character. In "Avengers of the Moon," Steele attempts the impossible task of rebooting the Captain Future universe for modern sci fi fans.
The novel is set in the 24th century rather than the early 21st of the original pulp series but earlier in Curtis Newton's reimagined timeline: Newton is not yet Captain Future but a somewhat awkward youth, understandable given his limited contact with other humans and unique upbringing by his surrogate family. Early on in the novel, Newton learns of the murder of his parents by Senator Victor Corvo two decades earlier and plans revenge.
While Steele's Curtis Newton is credible as the man who is not quite yet the hero he will become, the Futuremen diverge to a greater degree from their pulp incarnations. Otho is harsher than the lovable rogue of the 1940s. At one point he actually threatens Simon Wright with death. An interesting plot change is that Otho was originally supposed to be the body for the brain of Simon Wright but because Otho's own brain developed sentience so rapidly, this plan was abandoned on ethical grounds. As a result, the Brain remains in a drone that flies using ducted fans rather than the force beams of the old sci fi magazines. Grag is more robotic in temperament. Ezra and Joan initially treat Curt with disdain and the very name "Captain Future" invites eye rolls and laughter rather than the awe and respect displayed from the very first pulp story, “Captain Future and the Space Emperor” (1940).
One of the saddest concessions to modernity is that Captain Future's spaceship, the Comet, is reduced to a 20 year old yacht that has to hitch a ride on a lightsail ship to travel from the Moon to Mars. This much diminished Comet even lacks the power to lift off from Mars' surface were it to land there. Thankfully, a worthier successor to the vessel is hinted at near the novel's end.
The solar system civilization from the pulps survives surprisingly intact with the assorted aliens of the worlds of the system being rebooted as human beings who have been genetically modified to accommodate failed or incomplete terraforming procedures on the various moons and planets.
I won't spoil the plot further except to say that not too surprisingly by the end of the novel, Curt Newton has accepted the mantle of Captain Future and the name now commands respect rather than prompts derision.
Anyone picking up "Avengers of the Moon" with the expectation that he or she will rediscover the magic of those old sci fi magazine stories will be disappointed, not because of any failing by the author but because that’s not the purpose of this book. Steele could have written a novel in direct continuity with the 1940s Captain Future universe but it would have been merely a pastiche. Instead, he chose the much more difficult task of trying to capture the soul of those wonderful old pulp characters and transplant them into a grittier and harder science fiction story to appeal to modern readers. In this all but unworkable endeavor, the author probably comes as close to success as is possible.
Reading "Avengers of the Moon" is like meeting some old friends for the first time in 20 years and discovering that they are now rather different people. And that's okay. It means you can both reminisce and get acquainted. This iteration of the pulp icon is clearly the product of a culture that is older, less confident, less optimistic, and more cynical than the culture that produced the original. But that's exactly the kind of culture that needs a hero like Captain Future.
Old School Science Fiction recommends adding Allen Steele's "Avengers of the Moon" to your summer reading list.
