The funny thing is, it is a story that is absolutely nuts, and plays like nothing so much as a Doctor Who New Adventures novel, albeit with Casper in the role of The Doctor.
We start as Casper and his pals are kidnapped by a pink energy beam from space, and met by an Ambush Bug-looking dude:
And what is the yellow?
Ah, but what happens when they switch to green?
Hmmm, an entire planet that seems dedicated to serving consumer desires (and perhaps creating them). What could possibly go wrong?
Oh, dear.Well, Casper gets away and does some snooping:
Purple ray? Oh, no...Fortunately, Casper gets away, and encounters some of the actual denizens of this culture, who complain about the policy of their leader:
And how does he make an ennui-filled populace buy things?
Ahhh....Sadly, the purple ray catches up to Casper...
But, fortunately, Casper's friends come to the rescue!
Robots???Well, after a robust battle...
So, let me see if I have this straight. This culture somehow got taken over by robots who produce mass amounts of consumer goods. When the people can't afford the goods, the robots extend them easy credit. When consumers don't want anymore, the robots introduce "rays" that make then buy uncontrollably. And when, even then, the market is saturated, the start shanghaiing people from other galaxies so they can sell stuff to them??You know, I really didn't expect that much allegory in a Harvey story...
Anyway, we get a real Doctor Who ending:
Yay!! [Please don't ask an inconvenient questions about who built the robots, or what happened to them, or how the whole culture fell under their sway. There is no explanation.]
BONUS IRONY: This odd anti-capitalist screed (odd for a Harvey book in 1973, at least) appears in an issue chock full of ads for Casper bed sheets, Casper (and other Harvey characters) record albums, and other assorted merchandise. I'm just sayin.'
4 comments:
This was surprisingly deep. But I do have one question. The robot refers to Caspar as a "living one". Ummm...isn't he a ghost?
Oh, Sally, do be careful about opening up the metaphysics of Casper for discussion, because there's a big ol' frightening can of worms there. Pretty soon, we'll be sucked into the "Casper is the ghost of Richie Rich" argument...
Sally, I believe the identification of Casper as "a Living One" is an example of Comic Book Irony as a mechanism for social satire.
Or the writers are so steeped in the Casper scenario that they kind of forget that he's dead.
I am now dreadfully sorry I threw out all my Harveys when we moved house back when I was 12.
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