Support Your Local Necromancer
One of our favorite shows here at JES Campbell is the Venture Bros. For the uninitiated, this is a cartoon that was on Adult Swim for quite a few years starting in 2004 until its cancellation in 2018. The show takes the form of the 1964 version of Johnny Quest , something that I looked forward to watching reruns of every Sunday growing up. Johnny Quest had that pop-culture, comic book, Indiana Jones meets the Creature of the Black Lagoon feel to it. I’d like to say that the Venture Bros. takes on a more real-world view than Johnny Quest, but it doesn’t; the show is about failure. Whether it be the failure of Dr. Venture , his bodyguard, the various antagonists, or the failures of the Venture family name. Heck, even Johnny (billed as “Action Johnny”) makes an appearance to poke fun at the sins of the father theme.
One of the antagonist’s henchmen, “21” ,makes an appearance in Season 4 Episode 1 , "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel", seeking Dr. Venture’s tenant Dr. Orpheus (a necromancer). As he approaches Venture, returning a stolen jet and accompanied by his LARP group, he calmly says “I seek an audience with your village necromancer.” Of course, Orpheus denies that he is a necromancer - it’s simply a title.
What a thought, though. A village necromancer. Can you imagine the duties involved if such a position existed ? Imagine if one was employed by CSI !
Then again, society’s rules about honoring the dead would trump the idea even if it was possible. Some really basic titles that go along with this theme are:
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1818), readers observe the creator responsibility for the creation, which is an animation from undeath.
H.P. Lovecraft’s Herbert West - Reanimator (1921-22), readers receive a cautionary tale about one’s ambition at the cost of not honoring life and death.
This was made into a movie in 1985 - Reanimator, which had a profound effect on the horror industry.
In the video game series The Elder Scrolls (notably Skyrim), the act of Necromancy is outlawed (even though you can get spells that allow animation of corpses) .
But as the RPG joke goes…
The Hero: I'm on a quest to avenge the death of my Father!
The Paladin: You have my sword!
The Elf: And my bow!
The Dwarf: And my axe!
The Necromancer: And your father!
Five Miles Downrange:
We are approaching our one year anniversary of our site. Thank you for your continued support. As a gift, we are offering a free promotion of Blue Summer ebook from 3/9-3/13.
Still working on the initial draft of our next Pair of Normal Girls Mystery - Angry Sun, Proper Moon. Stay tuned !
-”S”
