Apr 13
Adam S Comments: Apparently “The Face” referenced in the title is my 75-year-old grandfather. As a side note, I don’t know many people that can rock a chastity belt like the dude about to bleed out all over the ground.
Published 1979
April 13th, 2011 at 11:07 am
The face… it’s our old friend Rondo Hatton, isn’t it?
April 13th, 2011 at 11:25 am
He’s probably looking for vengeance on whoever broke his nose.
April 13th, 2011 at 11:57 am
I’d be worried about a thong of that size, coming from the man who brought us the Wankh.
April 13th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
The face…. seems to be having eyebrow problems. He’s only had one side touched up!
April 13th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
If that cover was a Monty Python sketch, someone would start singing about how much gore there was on it, and how these Sword & Sorcery books are all about gore, gore, gore…
Gore! Gore! Gore! Gore!
Gore! Gore! Gore! Gore!
Lovely gore! Lovely gore…
April 13th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Nice, uh, hubcap…
The fifth book in the long-awaited Demon Princes series was “The Elbow.”
April 13th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
There’s too much violence and Rondo Hatton in the media.
April 13th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
That is some fake-looking blood. I guess they just didn’t have the special FX budget for… no, that doesn’t make sense.
I guess the artist spent all his time rendering that fine codpiece.
April 13th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Also, by sheer coincidence “War Thong” was the name of a hair metal band I played bass for in the 80’s.
April 13th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Tom> I really hope that’s true! In my mind… it’s awesome!
April 13th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
@Tom,
I can’t stop laughing … that would be awesome. “We’ve released our first LP since the drummer burst into flame on stage … Codpiece.” Did y’all open for David Bowie?
Also, I’m surprised that the guy in the wife beater was able to hit a trained gladiator (we know he is by his war thong) with such an ungainly swing.
April 13th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
“WHO DARES COME BEFORE THE GREAT AND POWERFUL RONDO?!?”
April 13th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
I wasn’t sure exactly what Rondo Hatton looked like, so I Googled him. And now I know: he looks just like THE FACE:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E5DuaDcuIoY/S6_ZzlYoW_I/AAAAAAAACFc/xuzGeq88-XU/s1600/RondoHatton.JPG
Now I wonder exactly how long people a-waited for this long awaited novel. I imagine they’re like buses. You wait ages for book 4, and then books 5-12 turn up at once.
April 14th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Confession: I never played bass for an 80’s hair band. But if I ever get the chance, you’d better believe we’ll be called War Thong.
@NGpm – I like the song title, but it needs a little something. How about RIGHTEOUS Codpiece?
April 15th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
This reminds me of that meme where the guys face is in the background of his family picture and says,” I must protect them. From myself.”
April 16th, 2011 at 4:21 am
I’ve just seen a face I can’t forget.
April 29th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
It is quite evident that jeans and a tanktop is the battle gear of the future. It certainly seems to be far superior to an armour-plated thong.
April 29th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
“The long-awaited fourth of the Demon Princes novels”
As the blurb clearly shows, passive-aggressive behavior plagues the publishing industry.
October 4th, 2013 at 9:49 pm
Perhaps we might need a meta-tag: Incomprehensible Wikipedia Article.
As proof: I think that’s meant to be Kirth Gersen playing Hadaul on Dar Sai on his way to Methel via Aloysius. In the background is Darsh Husse Bugold, AKA Lens Larque, the rachepol. And blah blah blah blah.
October 5th, 2013 at 4:45 am
@Dead Stuff. I’d support that- except I suspect that just about every book that shows up here would merit such a tag…
October 7th, 2013 at 6:14 am
@Dead Stuff—the writer of that Wikipedia article (which even the site warns might be “excessively detailed”) seems to have been a perhaps too eager fan of Breaking Bad.
August 5th, 2014 at 5:27 am
Swords-dude is quite the contortionist. I am impressed by the ease with which he is turning his torso orthagonal to his hips.
August 25th, 2015 at 3:34 am
It’s quite clear that Big Head is watching a space TV show involving inaccurate gladiatorial combat. And is displeased because Codpiece lost to Muscle Shirt. He was cheering for Codpiece.
October 15th, 2015 at 2:59 pm
War, warthong
War, warthong
War, warthong
War, warthong
I fought some dope, I feel so sick
It’s a sick world, sick, sick, sick
Doomsday visions of trousers and shirts
Artificial phonies, I hate it, hate it
Death, death, death it’s the price I pay
It’s a sick world, what can I say?
No such thing as an even break
It’s killing and looting, take, take, take
War, warthong
War, warthong
War, warthong
War, warthong
I wanna puke, I don’t feel well
He slit my throat and then I fell
It’s a sick world, sick, sick, sick
It’s a hopeless life, I hate it, hate it
It’s a joke, it’s a lie, it’s a rip-off, man
It’s a fighter’s life, we don’t wear pants
Doomsday visions of modernly dressed
Artificial phonies, I hate it, hate it
War, warthong
War, warthong
War, warthong
War, warthong
March 6th, 2016 at 8:23 pm
Presumably the other books in this series had similar names. The Hands… The Feet…
You really don’t want to see the cover for The Ass.
September 17th, 2020 at 4:15 am
Good job by the illustrator in pointing out how important it is to obsessively work out those core muscles, even in the far worlds of the Oikumene.
If my memory serves, this is a surprisingly accurate depiction of one scene in the book, except for the 70s-tastic muscle shirt in which the illustrator has enrobed protagonist Kirth Gersen.
Also, The Face that the title describes is a truly excellent, one might even say world-beating, practical joke. I read a couple of decades ago it on a flight from Taipei to Tokyo Narita without shame, and I proudly still own this same copy of the book. However, I have to say that of all Vance’s fantastical societies dreamed up and put on paper, this book has to contain the most socially unacceptable one from today’s point of view.
Sadly, the rest of the Demon Princes book titles are not anatomically related.