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Black Hat Blues

By: Gene Kendall
Narrated by: Brian L. Knutson
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Summary

Meet Mr. Scratch. He's an evil sorcerer, ruthless CEO, and diabolical weapons manufacturer. Scratch exists as drawings on paper, but he's certain he's better than you.

Meet Mark. He created Mr. Scratch. Never thought he'd meet him one day. And Mark certainly never thought the fractured marriage of Jack and Gloria Power, fictional characters in his long-running comic book, would have dire consequences here in the real world.

In the 1970s, underground cartoonist Mark Lipscomb followed his muse and created, quite by accident, a merchandising phenomenon. The characters from his comic Power & Gloria penetrated the mainstream, becoming an action figure line, a syndicated action cartoon, and really anything else their images could be slapped upon.

Today, the audience is dwindling, and Mark's adjusting to life with the new corporate owners of his creations. Arthritis has severely hindered Mark's ability to draw, and his stories have a tendency to offend the modern tastemakers, generating a routine series of social media outrages.

He does have one defender, though. His own creation: the villainous Mr. Scratch, who’s escaped a dangling plot thread from Mark’s final issue. The ingenious rogue has traveled the multiverse and found himself in Mark’s backyard. Truly, they were fated to become fast friends. Except, Scratch isn’t as harmless in the real world as he is on the printed page.

As the days pass, Mark can no longer deny what he’s created. Macular degeneration and arthritic wrists don’t lend themselves to old-fashioned slugfests, so Mark must get creative if he wants to stop the bloodlust of his destructive id.

©2019 Gene Kendall (P)2020 Gene Kendall
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    4 out of 5 stars

“Let’s just give the book to the villain, huh?”

Really enjoyed this book. Reminds me a lot of the demon from the Dungeon Keeper game. Some great wit, snark and banter between the characters. The cover doesn’t do the book justice though, nor an idea of its content.
Great narration by Brian, who’s really well suited to this book. Ok, the female voices could be improved a little, but not enough to put anyone off.
Hopefully I’ll get to listen to more from this pairing.
This is my honest opinion on a free review copy.

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