Death Quest

The comic nightmare continues in book six of Hubbard's 10-volume broadside, Mission Earth. Our Dudley Do-Right hero, Jettero Heller, is having trouble starting his Everglades launching pad for the spores that will clean up atmospheric pollution. To aid him, his fiancee, Countess Krak, fakes evidence certifying him as an illegitimate son of oil baron Delbert John Rockecenter, the world's wealthiest and most powerful man. Meanwhile, Heller's nemesis, the ineffectual spy chief Soltan Gris, makes another series of attempts to end Heller's good deeds. Gris first hires a hitmanwho is killed by his own mother. Next he has his PR man go in for character assassination, and finally he files false lawsuits and criminal charges against Heller, which sends the police after him. This is every bit as tedious and heavy-handed as the first five volumes but will no doubt join them on the bestseller list. (January 15)