Sunday, October 17, 2010

Paperback 364: Cycle Fury / Reggie Car (Chevron 124)

Paperback 364: Chevron 124 (PBO, 1967)

Title: Cycle Fury
Author: Reggie Car
Cover artist: Uncredited

Yours for: $20

Chev124.Cycle

Best things about this cover:
  • They don't look very "frenzied." They look pretty laid back. I mean, that one dude us calmly enjoying a smoke. Also, it appears he bought his kelly green Nazi t-shirt at Old Navy. Old German Navy.
  • Take away the Nazi paraphernalia and the bike and put him next to Annie Lennox and the guy in the foreground really looks like Dave Stewart from Eurythmics.
  • That girl's outfit is kind of cute.
  • Is that a *black* Nazi biker in the background??? This must be from some future time when the Nazis get big into the idea of diversity.

Chev124bc.Cycle

Best things about this back cover:

  • Given the front cover, I would not have expected whatever kind of abstract painting is going on up top there on the back cover. The subtle interplays of blue and gray do not exactly scream "lust-crazed motorcycle gang!"
  • There's really no reason for type this tiny.
  • "Zipper Hardy" — is there a pun in there that I'm missing? Also, I think his description is missing a dash between "mob" and "and"...
  • "Ham!" That's the name of the "giant Negro!?" Oh, that's not racist at all.
  • If you merged "Cycle Fury" and the musical "Cats" into yet another musical, "Cycle Cats," I would be first in line to see it.
  • This back cover has the word "pedagogical" on it!!!!! I thought only academics who think the word "teaching" is too declassé used variations on the word "pedagogy." Now it appears those academics and trashy novels about Nazi bikers have something in common. Did Not see that coming.

Page 123~

Then she remembered the aphrodisiacally-centered cigarette she had shared with him.

I literally cannot pronounce "aphrodisiacally."

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

12 comments:

Michael5000 said...

Since the question has been raised, I think what happens when a gang of frenzied motorcycle outlaws takes over a small town is that the National Guard restores order in cooperation with state and local authorities.

DemetriosX said...

Now I was going to say that the guy in the foreground looked like Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes. "Enough with the negative waves, man!" And the back cover seems to confirm that the biker in the background is black.

I think the abstract art on the back is supposed to suggest "torn from the headlines", what with the first line of copy and all. And "Cycle Cats" sounds like an 80s cartoon to me.

Katie said...

What, no love for Terrible, Itchy, and Joe? I think they deserve their own spin-off.

Lola said...

The Nazi paraphernalia reminds me of the MST3K'd movie Wild Rebels, whose oh-so-tough bikers were also covered in swastikas and Iron Crosses.

Anonymous said...

Well, Katie, while there was love for Terrible and Itchy, poor Joe was left out in the cold when it came to gang nicknames.

On a side note, if you read that line too quickly and miss the "and" it sounds like poor Joe has a dandruff problem.

Deb said...

Forget that motorcycle gang, I want to know what the assistant principal is getting up to with school temptress Darcy!

Anonymous said...

ISTR that in the 60s the hells angels were actually wearing swastikas. At least the British ones were (saw this in some documentary about the Rolling Stones, who, for whatever reason, used them as security).

Anonymous said...

Why is Reggie Car writing a book about motorcycles ???

...okay, I'm leaving.

Cassie said...

Not just pedagogical, but also rapacious, frenzied, and depraved. It's like I won the multisyllabic lottery.

Kristen said...

Isn't Ham an allusion?

Anonymous said...

After everything else going on on the back of this cover, it's surprisingly easy to overlook the assistant principal lusting after his student.

Kyle Katz said...

It's Afro-Deez-ickly, obvs. ; )