tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77076895716227547502024-03-12T21:09:15.285-07:00Pulp ReaderReviewing Pulp novels, concentrating on the hero/character pulps such as the Shadow, Doc Savage, Phantom Detective, Secret Agent "X", Green Lamacash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-58152222991798313592014-01-28T12:34:00.002-08:002014-01-28T12:34:52.438-08:00Doc Savage: The Miracle Menace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Just finished the trade paperback of Will Murray's Doc Savage novel, "The Miracle Menace". The story definitely lives up to the blurb of "the <i>weird</i> adventures of Doc Savage". Most of the science fiction oriented Doc stories have one fantastic or inexplicable element outside of Doc's gadgets: invisibility, dinosaurs, a lost race of unique humans. This one has several, to the point that the book has footnotes explaining that Doc has come across something similar before. That alone is something the original books did not make much use of, referencing previous adventures when Doc and crew encountered something similar such as invisible crooks.<br />
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The structure of the novel is that of what could easily be two novels, but made to overlap and told in a parallel structure. Doc and his crew come to Missouri to investigate the reports of a Victorian era house in the middle of nowhere that disappears when approached, just leaving a concrete foundation behind.<br />
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Meanwhile, down-on-his-luck magician Gulliver Greene is working in a gas station in town nearby, waiting for news of a comeback gig. Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a mystery, framed for murder over a telegram that says Christopher Columbus is alive and well in the 20th Century and which seems to involve a group of tent evangelists of a sorts who claim to read minds, one of whom is a beautiful woman named Saint Pete. Luckily he has the inveterate liar Spook Davis, his assistant in better days, to help him out. When he's not panicking when he sees the sign of a gun.<br />
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The dual nature helps the story move quickly from event to event and mysteries getting more mysterious and the danger and efficiency of the villains growing as the story progresses. Gulliver Greene and Spook Davis feel like some of Dent's early non-Doc heroes, though the magic tricks echo some other pulp heroes and writers.<br />
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<b>The Monsters/The Whisker of Hercules:</b> From there I moved on to two recent reprints of the original pulps. I picked up this double in part because of the interview with James Bama talking about the bantam covers as well as a look at the 1940s comicbook Doc Savage. Because of them being still under copyright, information on characters from Street & Smith's comics can be a little difficult to come by. As these "reprints" include chapters that were edited out of the original stories, I decided to read them again.<br />
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I've read "The Monsters" paperback a couple of times. It was also adapted by Marvel Comics back in the 1970s. The menace of the monsters, the deadly efficiency of the bad guys, it all makes an exciting story. The female character is woefully under-utilized. She is interestingly described as having steel colored hair and eyes, serving as a counterpoint to Doc's own unique metallic looks. She is also a lion tamer and speaks an obscure language. As a character, I always thought she'd be an interesting one to have as a recurring character.<br />
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"The Whisker of Hercules" does a better job with the female character of Lee Mayland. She's characterized as nervy and a genius growing up in the town the action takes place and the bad guys seem to have a certain respect for her as well. At some point she made the acquaintance of Monk Mayfair, so when her brother is involved in some kind of criminal plot involving the myth of Hercules, she thinks of calling in Doc Savage. This has Doc and crew coming across villains who seem to have the ability to toss Renny fifteen feet into the air, pull a Superman, wreck their car by hand, and out maneuver Doc and steal a corpse out from under his nose. In this case, the person under-utilized is the probable bad guy Marvin Western. Designed along the lines of Charles Atlas, he keeps an estate built to glorify his physical perfection with sculptures and keeps hanger ons devoted to his ideas of physical culture. His cultish organization sounds like something that would pop up in the pages of The Shadow. Like Lee, there are some comparisons to Doc.Much is made of the power of his voice and his hair is described as silver. It ends there, as the man is full of his self importance contrasted with Doc's humility and he proves to be an abject coward. We never see how he would fare against Doc or even Renny or Monk. It is interesting to note that the surviving bad guys go to jail, not Doc's crime college. It is an enjoyable read, I enjoyed it more than when I first read it years ago.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-81746527303844728692013-08-20T14:08:00.000-07:002013-08-20T14:08:26.599-07:00Doc vs Kong and other storiesOne of the problems waiting for the Altus volumes of new Doc Savage novels to arrive at my local comic store is that it takes a while. Usually, I'm almost at the point of possibly just ordering it direct when it finally shows up. My joy was increased at a recent stop as not only did the latest Will Murray penned novel show up but the latest Sanctum volume, I had neither stories! I tackled the reprints first.<br />
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<b>The Invisible Box Murders</b> (November, 1941) is one of those Doc stories that concerns a mysterious, impossible murder. In this, deaths from an unknown source with a mysterious transparent box that later disappears from police custody. What's enjoyable in this story is Doc finds himself arrested and jailed, thus this becomes one of the few stories that we see Ham actually utilized for his legal knowledge. However, Dent's shortcoming in this area is also evident in that Ham doesn't really do anything that proves his reputation. One of the things often annoying in the Doc novels is how the other aides are often assigned tasks that one would expect to be assigned to Ham such as contacting foreign legal/diplomatic agencies. With Doc jailed, the aides get to show some individual action and initiative. The inclusion of a police officer to shadow them is not only a nice twist, but an interesting character in his own right and would be worthy to become a supporting character or another aide himself... if he's not the bad guy in his own right. Because, in a Doc story the bad guy is usually one of the people accompanying the crew. In this case, it's often difficult to really decide where the cop's allegiances truly align. An exciting story, though the resolution is not of the "box" and murders is a bit difficult to swallow in that even for that time, one would expect scientists/doctors examining the body would have quickly figured out a large part of how the people died.<br />
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<b>Target for Death </b>(January, 1947) is a post-War Doc by William Bogart and not Dent. Bogart actually wrote the second Doc Savage adventure I read, the first that I bought for myself: <b>The Flying Goblin</b>. As much as I enjoy Dent's writing, I credit with Bogart as being the writer that actually cemented my enjoyment of the Doc Savage novels. As a post-War Doc, the story is more mundane and realistic than fantastic. It concerns a young woman who is in Hawaii and on her way back to the States. She's given a letter from an Uncle to deliver and finds herself and her family embroiled in a mystery as people are after the letter. When opened, the letter is largely innocuous and certainly nothing obvious to kill over. Interesting that Bogart wrote this while Dent was off writing his novels, and there's a certain similarity in story styles between this and Dent's non-Doc novels of this time.Of particular interest that the first part of the novel focuses heavily on Pat and Renny and both get largely written out for the second half to focus on Doc, Monk and Ham. The solution is one that probably seemed a bit novel in the mid to late 1940s and young readers as opposed to readers today that will have it figured out early on. The fun part is watching the characters and story reach to the same conclusion.<br />
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<b>Skull Island </b>by Will Murray. I confess, I was not really looking forward to <b>Skull Island.</b> To be brutally honest, these new Doc novels are ok, but lacking on several fronts. As shown above, one of the strengths of the Doc novels is the sheer variety they allow. With his aides, the stories can be military thrillers, crime novels, mysterious but normal crimes, and science fiction adventures. Murray's focus on unused plots and fragments of Lester Dent makes the novels feel like pastiche, focusing largely on a certain type and style of story as opposed to the wider possibilities. Unfortunately, the lengths of the new format are also too long for the stories, they feel more bloated than epic. I realized with <b>The Infernal Buddha</b> which felt like two novels made into one, that the larger books allowed extra possibilities. Instead of one long story, two or three shorter ones, short stories featuring solo adventures by the aides are possible or even preferable. That's the problem with doing pastiche, it's about style and subject already explored. Instead of treating Doc as pastiche, treat him as a real character, do stories that Dent couldn't have done, such as short stories focusing on just one aide, or novels with different aide combinations, without Monk and Ham taking center stage. Or stories focusing on different types of villains that wouldn't have been thought of such as a slightly more realistic serial killer stalking New York or working to prove the innocence of a victim (or one of the aides framed for a murder, imagine a running subplot through the story being Ham defending Monk in a Court of Law). However, because Murray is trying to ape Lester Dent/Kenneth Robeson, the stories ultimately come across as somewhat bloated, luke-warm wannabes. They are ok, but at best equal to the mediocre stories of the past. This announcement comes across as moving from pastiche to the realm of fan-fiction, the type of story that fans love to speculate on, but is rarely successfully pulled off.<br />
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And, I was surprised. Because <b>Skull Island</b> proved to be what I was really looking for from Murray. Writing a story that Dent never could have written and freed from that constraint, Murray delivers a fun, hard to put down story that treats Doc and characters as characters and not character types. The danger to fall into fan-fiction is always there, especially as it is a continuity/archaeological story in that it explores in depth the untold history and background of Doc. Murray manages to pull it off, to go in directions not expected but fit what we know without ever feeling like it's just name-dropping or showing off his knowledge (such as every writer that delivers a Green Hornet story feels obligated to show that he knows that the Lone Ranger is related).<br />
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The plot concerns Doc and his crew coming home, early in their career, and finding the body of King Kong on their door-step. Doc reveals he has seen the creature before, that he has been on his island. The rest of the story is Doc relating the story, of how after WWI, he meets up with his father to go on a mission to follow up on clues to the location of Doc's grandfather. What follows is a great adventure story along the lines of Burroughs as they dodge and confront dinosaurs, head hunters and ultimately King Kong himself.<br />
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Murray uses the novel to explore various themes and father-son relationships and how they shape who the characters are. He gets mileage out of showing how they repeat themselves, that much of the conflict between Doc and his father are like that between his father and grandfather and just how much alike they really are.<br />
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Murray also takes delight in exploring the literary forebears of Doc and to the dismay Wold Newtonians, he establishes them as being just that, literary: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Nick Carter. Instead of coming across as simply name dropping, it's in the context of the relationships and history of the characters: the reading material the father would like his son to read vs the type of stuff he really liked to read and how that shaped him. And, then the father showing his own awareness of the material. I know I was surprised when I discovered as an adult my parents read the Phantom when young or had read part of "The Lord of the Rings" to make sure it was suitable. So, the scenes came across as being authentic.<br />
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Readers accustomed to the default "high adventure" Doc Savage might find the novel a little shocking. The first few Doc Savage novels are before Doc developed his non-killing rule and this story would pre-date even that. This is Doc right after World War I and before he finished medical school. Doc kills here. A lot. And, there's his trying to improve the machine gun. He is a young man, prone to brash actions, seeking to prove himself to his father, and possibly over confident in his own abilities and point of view.<br />
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And, despite being a continuity story, Murray doesn't get so caught up that he tries to explain or reconcile the discrepancies between the dinosaurs here that follow modern theory vs those he'd discover later. One would think that he might at least try to later lead Johnny to figuring out that some dinosaurs had feathers!<br />
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Other writers could take a few pointers from how Murray handles the team-up aspect. While the story reveals hidden or unknown information and speculates on what kind of creature Kong is, he delivers a story that doesn't outright contradict the characters or the stories this is taken from. What makes it work is the sense of fidelity to the source material. The changes are additive, not subtractive; not saying that the movie or the pulps got things wrong, but rejoices what they got right.<br />
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It'd be nice to see Murray follow this up with more stories of this type. Not team-ups and crossovers, but treating the characters as believable characters, fleshing them out and taking them into new types of stories, relationships and territory. And, to move away from the "sad" endings. More and more, the stories seem unable to give Doc clear cut victories, but end on serious and depressing notes.<br />
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Other stuff<br />
When not reading pulps, I tend to gravitate to fantasy novels and period mysteries. Recently discovered the books of Imogen Robertson, mystery novels set in England in the time of the American Revolution. As the "Forgotten Realms" novels have slowed to a trickle, I saw a "Pathfinder" novel by Richard Lee Byers, author of a series I enjoyed for FR.<br />
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<b>Called To Darkness</b> is a much more linear story than his Brotherhood of the Griffin series and with a smaller cast. It concerns Kagur, a woman in the tundra regions. Eovath is a frost giant that had been captured as a young boy years earlier by her father and the two were raised much as brother and sister. However, she discovers at a night of celebration that he seems to have gone insane and poisoned and hacked to death the members of her tribe and almost kill her. She embarks on a quest of vengeance along with a near blind shaman.<br />
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The story becomes a bit more on topic when they find an entrance to caverns that he took and start a trek under the earth that echoes a bit of Verne as they encounter various dangers and hostile environment with stone and tunnels pressing around. Then, into true Edgar Rice Burroughs when they come into an interior world that not only has orcs, but also tribes of stone-age men and familiar dinosaurs. And, in true David Innes, John Carter, Flash Gordon mode, Kagur finds she must unite disparate tribes and people to confront the villain that menaces them all.<br />
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It is somewhat disappointing that Byers doesn't do as Murray and modernize the concept of the dinosaurs any. However, Byers does a fine job in the action scenes and acknowledging the hypocrisies of the characters' points of view. Kagur has trouble in seeing how her wanting to take vengeance on Eovath is not that different than Eovath taking vengeance on the people that killed his family and took him into slavery. Instead of focusing on romance of a handsome adventurous man needing to rescue a beautiful princess, the princess is the hero of the story but one that has some growing to do, to come to terms how her life and world has changed and how to deal with that.<br />
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The parallels to Burroughs is intentional to boot. I recognized the vibe as reading the novel, and then at the end on the "About the Author" page, he acknowledges this was him trying to do just that. Interesting to read two action stories of people fighting dinosaurs, and both do them exceedingly well. <div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-17180234201051384052013-05-10T06:43:00.000-07:002013-05-10T06:57:36.051-07:00Doc Savage Movie!Hot off the success of <b>Iron Man 3</b>, Shane Black has been linked to the movie version of Doc Savage, moving this project ever so closely forward. Given Hollywood's excesses and arbitrary questionable decisions, part of me hopes this movie doesn't get made. Galactus as a giant cloud. Doctor Doom with magnetic superpowers gained in the same accident as the FF. Barely getting anything right with the X-Men movies including having about the tallest male actor of the main characters playing the shortest X-man. Racial blind casting ie casting African-American actors as caucasian characters: Alicia Masters, Electro, Heimdell, Perry White, Jasper Sitwell, Pete Ross, Kingpin. With Doc and his crew, I just see the potential to go off the rails multiplied several times over.<br />
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Thing is, I'm probably more willing than most to give some leaveway. Such as I don't believe it has to be a period piece. BBC's <b>Sherlock</b> shows that you can modernize and keep the spirit of the original alive. Very little of who the the characters are in the books are changed for that show (the same cannot be said for <b>Elementary</b>). I think part of the reason pulps are experiencing renewed interest is because history has come around to where they are relevant again. Wars in the recent past (how many of the pulp heroes were veterans), war and unrest overseas, distrust and gulf between the wealthy and the poor, fear and unease of crime and violence on our doorsteps... when you see the news of the latest mass shooting or terror attempt, it seems as if something ripped out of the pages of a Spider or Operator 5 novel. And, I think the need for heroes to believe in. To see pulp adventure played out on the screen in the modern age, one just needs to watch tv. Doc and the rest are in there almost every day of the week: NCIS LA, Bones, CSI, Person of Interest, Arrow, Hawaii 5-0. The Mission Impossible and James Bond movies all have the necessary elements of a good Doc Savage movie and even some of the right attitude.<br />
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And, I'm willing to concede that actor-wise, to allow the pulps their hyperbole in the character descriptions. You're not going to get someone that is going to look like most of the cast, they are of such unique and disproportionate attributes. And, everyone has their own unique version in their head. Such as Renny's huge hands. One thing I liked about the George Pal version was how in the first scene we see of Renny, he's wearing work gloves. I thought it was a clever bit, drawing attention to his hands even though they aren't noticeably large. However, I do think the cast of the five, as a whole they should be a unique looking group, easily able to tell one from the other and striking as a whole.<br />
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As much as the 1970s Doc Savage movie is panned, there is one scene where it got it right: the fight on the boat. From Long Tom having on his person a cigarette holder that's really a laser to Renny punching straight through a chair to the crook using it as a shield, that part really had me cheering. It would be kind of neat if we see some attention paid to the fact that each of the five has their own fighting style and not just a mindless choreographed scene where everyone fights the same. Another movie that I think got the right sensibility down at least in one scene is <b>Iron Man 2.</b> What almost stole this movie was Happy Hogan in that we see him as a capable character and hero in his own right. But, he's not a <i>super</i> hero. When we see him and the Black Widow go against some guards, he chivalrously leads the charge and ably fights the one guy, punching him out as a capable boxer would. However, while he's punching that one guy, we see the Black Widow moving quickly and taking out multiple guards as smooth as silk without breaking a sweat. Difficult to do, but that should be the difference between how Doc moves and fights and the rest of his crew.<br />
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From current Hollywood, my cast choices (I'll leave Doc for last):<br />
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<b>Renny:</b> Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother). I don't think you can really capture the large fists and I don't want to see cgi'ed or fake fists. Show him punching through a door and that's enough. However, he should be the Big Guy of the Five. If you're going to pick a fight with one of the Aides, he and Monk should have the physical presence that they are your last picks. By the same token, while tall, he shouldn't subtract from the classic looks and athleticism of Doc. While best known for comedy, he has shown remarkable range on <b>How I Met Your Mother</b> and is often the least caricatured over-the-top character. I think he could drop his voice an octave and get the necessary deep rumbling quality. Maybe a little make-up to get the mournful look but again, don't want to make him look cartoony. Over the years I've seen the faces that I thought would be perfect Renny, often attached to actors too old (Tommy Lee Jones) and/or too short (William H. Macy). But, I also think that quality can be achieved by being just a good actor.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nV8Aq738J3c/UYzp5_IFt1I/AAAAAAAABsI/D-bhI15mas0/s1600/matthew-gray-grubler.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nV8Aq738J3c/UYzp5_IFt1I/AAAAAAAABsI/D-bhI15mas0/s200/matthew-gray-grubler.jpg" width="136" /></a><b>Johnny: </b>Matthey Gray Grubler (Criminal Minds). You're not going to get the quite walking skeleton as described in the pulps, but you can get tall and thin which Grubler is. He also does smart very well as the genius Dr. Spencer Reed on <b>Criminal Minds</b>. He can rattle off those big words and make it seem like he knows what he's talking about. Maybe a beard to hide his somewhat boyish looks and to give him a professor quality (as well as someone who spends a lot of time in remote places where shaving daily would be a luxury).<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2tlOYJpCMFU/UYzp2NLvbII/AAAAAAAABsA/NArLIuvWx0Y/s1600/jonathon-young2.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2tlOYJpCMFU/UYzp2NLvbII/AAAAAAAABsA/NArLIuvWx0Y/s200/jonathon-young2.png" width="200" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s9U3MzotkA8/UYzp6yDajTI/AAAAAAAABsQ/MiFmqoWsdtk/s1600/jonathon-young.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s9U3MzotkA8/UYzp6yDajTI/AAAAAAAABsQ/MiFmqoWsdtk/s200/jonathon-young.png" width="200" /></a><b>Long Tom:</b> Jonathon Young (Sanctuary). When I saw Young playing Nikola Tesla on <b>Sactuary</b>, I thought what a good Long Tom he'd make. Then to discover he has also played Thomas Edison, and it's almost a required casting. He plays smart and arrogant well but not physically imposing. The problem with Long Tom is in reality, he's physically a bit similar to Johnny. Thin people tend to look frail as well as taller. And two remarkably thin actors are going to almost seem interchangeable. A little make-up can get across the pallor aspect and I think the basic different acting styles of Young and Grubler can carry the rest. Johnny will be more introspective, excitable only when something intrigues him or reminds him of history. Long Tom is more mercurial and temperous and excitable whenever he can show off his latest gadgets. Of the group, Long Tom is the one that's always looking to build something new, to apply technology and science to new uses and improve upon the things we already have.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JX1uV2UjbCk/UYzp7r5dd7I/AAAAAAAABsY/rm-BridrnF0/s1600/simon-baker.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JX1uV2UjbCk/UYzp7r5dd7I/AAAAAAAABsY/rm-BridrnF0/s200/simon-baker.jpg" width="136" /></a> <b>Ham:</b> Simon Baker (The Mentalist): As Patrick Jane on <b>The Mentalist</b>, Simon Baker shows that he can be clever, cuttingly witty, smarmy arrogant and a bit pretentious/metrosexual, all attributes that Ham has. He has that lean waisted and pretty boy looks. Of the Five, he's the only one that should be conventionally called handsome. And, he shows that he wears nice clothes well and looks completely comfortable and at ease in them despite no one else dressing as nicely as he does. Teach him to box some and fence and you've got a perfect Ham.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J4U4egvWmOs/UYzp9K5_lII/AAAAAAAABso/5Krv5oVVjpY/s1600/scott-caan.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J4U4egvWmOs/UYzp9K5_lII/AAAAAAAABso/5Krv5oVVjpY/s320/scott-caan.jpg" width="211" /></a><b>Monk:</b> Scott Caan (Hawaii 5-0). As with Renny, I think you have go for a baseline with Monk. Now, I happened to work with a guy that in his late 50s/early 60s, he was almost note-perfect for how you'd think Monk would look at that age: gristled and homely face, constantly smiling, barrell chested and large biceps showing that he obviously worked on upper body/arms more than anything else. He was the right age to have been perfect at the time Pal was filming his version. Barring that there's an unknown out there that's the right physical size and age and has a face ala Ron Perlman or Gary Busey, I think Scott is a good choice. A good actor and in good physical shape, he's only 5'6". A few prosthetics, to accentuate the brow and flatten the nose, to bulge out his chest and make his arms hang a bit to the sides and maybe some dentures to give him a rather toothy grin and then raise his voice a bit, but not so much he's talking in falsetto. The idea is to get the spirit of the character but not to veer into caricature. Oh, and dye his hair to a more reddish color. <br />
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<b>Doc:</b> Jason Momoa (Stargate: Atlantis, Game of Thrones). A lot of talk is given to the Rock and since I saw him in <b>The Rundown</b>, he can play an intelligent action hero quite well and he has a bit of range. Not a bad choice. Now, I've not see Momoa in a lot of stuff, but I think he is a better physical fit. He's tall and in good shape and as <b>Conan</b> shows, can push himself to even fit the more physically imposing role. He also has the certain chiseled looks that look like a compromise between pulp and Bama covers. The real question is can he believably pull off the charisma that seems to come naturally to the Rock and convincingly play smart or is akin to Denise Richards trying to make us believe she's a nuclear physicist? Plus he has the height and proportions. Where Segal looks like a tall, big guy, Momoa is the same height but more of the physical ideal.<br />
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Yes, I've left off Pat. Part of that is because Pat's casting really depends on who you get as Doc. I think she would probably be a relative unknown. Also, I'm not sure she's needed for the first movie. One of the problems the movies often make is they want to include everyone at once. If you're doing Sherlock Holmes, then Moriarty has to appear. The Fantastic Four, then Dr. Doom. Give the movies a little room to grow organically and find their voice. Maybe make a reference to Pat, but otherwise leave her out. Ditto for the pets. Johnny Sunlight, I'd leave completely out until the third movie if even then. And, don't try to redo the pulp novels. If you bring Sunlight in, make it a "third" appearance, that they'd faced off in the past. The pulp novels were their thing, the movies something else. Don't try adapting specific pulp novels, create new stories and new villains. The first movie doesn't have to be "Man of Bronze", just because the novels started there. Go back and read it, it's not an origin story. It details where his wealth came from and the death of his father, but Doc and his crew have been around before that novel. They have untold adventures behind them. They are a group of friends who work together. A montage of Doc's upbringing vs the others' in their civilian jobs during the opening credits is really as much an origin as you need.<br />
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Anyway those are my thoughts and choices. What's yours?<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-4995256067623836242013-03-22T07:30:00.000-07:002013-03-22T08:20:08.532-07:00Story Papers & Six Gun Gorilla<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_GJNiEVoRSE/UUxqKOOGNRI/AAAAAAAABi4/-4i_jhZ3RO4/s1600/tiger.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_GJNiEVoRSE/UUxqKOOGNRI/AAAAAAAABi4/-4i_jhZ3RO4/s320/tiger.jpg" width="223" /></a>I don't profess to be an expert on the British Story Papers. Existing around the same time as the pulp novels in America and with similar fiction, they were thinner than the pulps. Young fans of Harry Potter might find it interesting that their great grand-parents were also excited about reading about adventurous kids and cads in school, the boys of the Greyfriars school or the girls that formed their own masked group "The Secret Three". It's also interesting just how much of the pages were devoted to the American West or American detectives and gangs. Comic and pulp fans might find it interesting just how many masked men and villains populated these pages as well such as the Green Mask vs the Black Bat!<br />
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Under their pulp fiction banner, <a href="http://comicbookplus.com/" target="_blank">Comicbook Plus</a> has lately been adding of these books, including Wizard, Magnet and others.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMp67bIHBZc/UUxp-JL8zMI/AAAAAAAABio/HSwZ53Mr1K8/s1600/six-gun.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qMp67bIHBZc/UUxp-JL8zMI/AAAAAAAABio/HSwZ53Mr1K8/s320/six-gun.jpg" width="228" /></a>One of the stranger characters and strangest Wild West vigilantes to emerge from this site is the Six-Gun Gorilla. A serial telling the story of a gorilla trained in the use of pistols who goes on a mission of vengeance against the gang that killed its master, an old prospector. To give the writer credit, he manages to tell this story while maintaining a certain level of credibility to it. Intelligent and capable, SGG remains thoroughly an animal in its actions, motivations, and point of view. The whole story is collected <a href="http://jessnevins.com/sixgungorilla/tableofcontents.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Meanwhile, Si Spurrier is revamping Six Gun Gorilla for comics, the interview and details can be found <a href="http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?447808-Spurrier-Aims-for-Future-Western-Weirdness-With-quot-Six-Gun-Gorilla-quot" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b>What is Pulp?</b><br />
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Which leads into a whole 'nother discussion. The interview calls Six Gun Gorilla a "pulp" character. CBR interviewers and interviewees use this term indiscriminately. Three different interviews concerning Dynamite's upcoming Miss Fury comic and all three refer to her as being a pulp character. Talking about Captain Midnight, he's referred to as a "pulp" character. Because he fights Nazis, Captain America from the movie is referred to as being "pulp". I feel like I'm constantly repeating myself over there, "Not a Pulp!"
Can you imagine the next hot writer of Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman
calling the character a pulp character? It is akin to me calling Harry Potter a television character, which at least would have the validity of that being where I first encountered him, in a television airing of the first movie.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FRfVZJsuYrI/UUxqEiX0DKI/AAAAAAAABiw/_TBhX5nrz7g/s1600/black-bat.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FRfVZJsuYrI/UUxqEiX0DKI/AAAAAAAABiw/_TBhX5nrz7g/s320/black-bat.jpg" width="228" /></a>None of these characters ever appeared in the pulps. Captain Midnight in particular appeared almost everywhere but: Big Little Books, Radio, Movie Serial, Comicbooks. Miss Fury appeared in comicstrips and was reprinted in the comicbooks. Not to mention, most of your hero pulps... they rarely fought the Nazis. Out of the thousand and more adventures that make up the stories of Doc Savage, the Shadow, Avenger, Secret Agent "X", The Spider, Phantom Detective, Black Bat, Green Ghosts, Operator 5, less than 1% fought Nazis. G-8 fought the Germans, but that was WWI. It's narrowly pigeon-holing pulps while using it to describe things that don't fit. <br />
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Of course the interviews then frequently go from talking about the "pulp" character to how this character is NOT that character, and it's more about the changes they are making to the character, keeping just the name and sometimes look but little else.<br />
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Pulps were not just hard-boiled detectives as some fans are wont to refer to them nor campy masked Nazi-fighters. Sure, there's the likes of Dan Turner and Doc Savage. But, it's also John Carter, Tarzan, Conan, Solomon Kane. It's H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Dashiell Hammett.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VDs28Uym0RI/UUxqQb3WrQI/AAAAAAAABjA/HNc3whyg0zk/s1600/black-whip-ranger+45.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VDs28Uym0RI/UUxqQb3WrQI/AAAAAAAABjA/HNc3whyg0zk/s320/black-whip-ranger+45.jpg" width="196" /></a>And, I think we are still surrounded by the pulp mind-set today. Not in pastiches and period fiction though and not through their first successors, the comicbook superheroes. Stephen King if he was writing in the 30s and 40s would be in the pulps. And with King, there's Lee Child's Jack Reacher, the works of Preston and Lincoln Child, Clive Cussler and associates, the prolific Dean Koontz, Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden, books of the Forgotten Realms by writers like Mel Odom, R. A. Salvatore. There's television's Monk, Psych, Eureka, NCIS, Person of Interest, White Collar, Arrow (yes, based on the comicbook character, but owing quite a bit more to the likes of pulp era characters Green Hornet, the Green Archer and even older Count of Monte Cristo). It's genre fiction rooted in the realms of possibility and wonder as well as a look at the world around us. Escapist fiction simultaneously acknowledging what we are seeking to escape from or strive against. It speaks to our fears and righteous indignation while providing a light in the darkness. It's where modern comic books and their superheroes have lost their way, they have forgotten that relationship and instead have reversed them. Their backdrops and concerns are less real world and instead canabalistic. Superheroes instead of operating in the real world, operate primarily in worlds of other superheroes. Their supporting casts and love interests are increasingly other superheroes. And, heroes are regularly killed or made into killers or other questionable choices. The heroes themselves are given some kind of "realism", saddled with feet of clay and inadequacies and failures.<br />
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Which is why I think we're seeing a resurgence in pulp today. After all, even I who grew up reading Doc Savage, it was all second hand. I didn't read my first Spider, G-8 or Phantom Detective until my twenties. Only a few out there that discovered these characters when new. Part of it is the internet, making the stories and communication between fans easier, quicker, cheaper and more widespread. At no other time would I be able to easily come across a story as wild as the Six-Gun Gorilla. Or in the space of minutes, be able to call up and read Edgar Wallace's "The Green Archer" (an excellent story by the way). I also think that the stories themselves have renewed resonance. Events such as 9/11 make the stories of The Spider and Operator 5 speak to us in ways they wouldn't have before. Wars overseas, job scarcity, government corruption, casual bigotry... the events and characters that flit across those yellowed pages seem more relevant and familiar to us than ever before. It's why the Harry Potter books were such a huge success and Steam Punk is taking off (though having been around quite for some time, all the way back to the time periods these books are set in). <br />
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Oh well, that's my rant for today. <br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-52647998624962701872013-03-06T10:55:00.000-08:002013-03-08T22:30:25.706-08:00The White Moll<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-baADRwn08AQ/UTeQus47R4I/AAAAAAAABhA/8DhoB9jCjWw/s1600/white-moll.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-baADRwn08AQ/UTeQus47R4I/AAAAAAAABhA/8DhoB9jCjWw/s320/white-moll.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>Of the Frank Packard books I have, <b>The White Moll</b> is unique in that the lead character and focus is that of a woman. Otherwise, it follows a similar formula of the other novels. It has about the most convoluted of all set-ups and backdrops of any of them though, which is saying something.<br />
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Miss Rhoda Gray was raised by her father, a mining engineer, down in South America. He gets ill and comes to New York to see a specialist. He's wealthy enough for the trip and treatment, but it doesn't leave alot left over for niceties and they settle in the poorest and crime-ridden section of town. Through an act of charity towards a crook she earns her nickname the "White Moll". "White" as being slang for being honest, trustworthy, and above board. "Moll" as that for a young woman (this is the first I've heard it used as being generic for a young woman and not one specifically a girl-friend to a crook or crook herself). When her father dies, she is left with just enough of a stipend to live on, but not to move or better her situation. She uses her money then to engage in acts of charity amongst crookdom. By these acts of kindness and known not to be be a stool pigeon or preacher, she earns the goodwill and protection of both crooks and cops.<br />
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Her life significantly changes when she comes across the old beggar woman Gypsy Nan close to death. Gypsy Nan refuses to be taken to a cop or hospital, at least not until taken first to her room at the flop house. In the candle-lit room, she reveals to Rhoda a small hiding place with clothes and loot, it turns out that Gypsy Nan is in reality a much younger woman! Shorn of her disguise as an old woman that would've exposed her at the hospital, they leave the flop house so that no link between her and Nan can be made. Then Rhoda is able to summon a cop and ambulance to take her to the hospital.<br />
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However, for Gypsy Nan it's too late and knowing she is dying, she manages to get a promise from Rhoda. She knows of an impending crime but she won't squeal on her mates. Instead she implores from Rhoda that she commit the robbery beforehand and then return the loot afterwards. Thus, forestalling the crime but not getting anyone arrested. Rhoda agrees and Gypsy Nan passes from this world.<br />
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Rhoda commits the act of robbery but is seen and pursued by the police. Only through the seeming innocent intervention of a good looking young man is she able to make her escape. With only a little lead, she finds herself near Nan's apartment. She enters and quickly dashes her clothes and loot in the hideaway and disguises herself as Gypsy Nan! Thus, Miss Rhoda Gray aka the White Moll becomes wanted by the police!<br />
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The next day, still in the Gypsy Nan disguise, she is visited by the good looking young man. He identifies himself as The Adventurer, a gentleman thief and he's looking for the White Moll in order to team up with her. However, their conversation is cut short as with his phenomenally good hearing he hears other feet on the stairs, Gypsy Nan gets a second visitor. The second is Parson Dangler, crook and gang-leader. More than that, he knows that Nan is a false identity as he's the husband to the dead woman that wore it earlier! However, through low lighting and subterfuge, Rhoda is able to keep secret that she's not the original woman. Through him, she learns that the gang's carefully laid plans had been forestalled often of late. Until last night, they had no clue as to whom, but now Dangler is sure it's the White Moll that's been the source of all their troubles! Thus, the White Moll is also wanted by the crooks!<br />
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That is the set-up. Rhoda Gray aka the White Moll is wanted by police and the crooks for a bunch of crimes she didn't commit and the one she technically did. She maintains the Gypsy Nan identity as both a safe haven and to gain information on future crimes that she then stymies in her compromised identity of the White Moll, all the while trying to find evidence that will clear her name. She also fights the growing attraction she feels for that self-professed crook The Adventurer whose path she continually crosses and matches wits against. And, with the deceased woman who was Gypsy Nan being secretly married to the crook who heads the gang that Gypsy Nan runs with, it's not that safe an identity.<br />
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The book is only disappointing in that despite the colorful name, the White Moll moniker is simply a nickname based on slang. It's not a separate identity, she doesn't wear all white and a mask. Also, despite her tomboy upbringings in the wilds of South America, Rhoda is not capable of being able to out-run, out-fight, or out-shoot a reasonably fit man. She only has her daring and wits. She's a colorful and sympathetic heroine, but she doesn't take those extra steps to make her fully a mystery-woman. With a female protagonist, Packard saddles her with more conflicts with her emotions, fears and doubts than he does his male heroes. However, it ultimately works in her favor. She suffers from much of the same emotions that most of us, man or woman, would feel in such situations, as unmanly as it would seem to acknowledge that in heroic fiction. Yet, it doesn't paralyze Rhoda to inaction. She feels those feelings, acknowledges them, then gets up and does what needs doing.<br />
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There's a thrilling car chase near the climax of the book, the only such scene in any of these books. Again, it takes a little reminding, that a car going 35-45 mph was really booking in those days (1919) and almost all cars were convertibles!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-76416137425696528952012-11-14T07:37:00.002-08:002012-11-14T07:37:57.728-08:00Black Bat at Dynamite<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ibZjnof4IjU/UKO6BdAuvWI/AAAAAAAABY8/1EkZVYLnTHA/s1600/black-bat.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ibZjnof4IjU/UKO6BdAuvWI/AAAAAAAABY8/1EkZVYLnTHA/s320/black-bat.jpg" width="219" /></a>With the announcement of <b>Masks,</b> Dynamite hinted at some new characters in the works. <b>Masks</b> is to feature all their pulp heroes as well as a couple of pulp-ish comic heroes that they have published. But, also in the mix was the Black Bat and Miss Fury. So, it's no surprise really to see an announcement that Dynamite actually plans on publishing a Black Bat comic. Miss Fury is surely not too far behind.<br />
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This is yet another instance of Dynamite raiding another company for a character, and it's Moonstone again. The character's original stories are public domain so no problem there. But, as Moonstone featured the character and name in the titles and on the covers of several comics, there would be the trademark issue. Not like The Phantom that was a licensed property. We'll see how Moonstone responds to this.<br />
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Comicbookresources talked with the writer of the proposed series<a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=42171" target="_blank"> here.</a> No artwork, the writer of the series is Brian Buccellato whose work has been well received on <b>The Flash</b>. I don't really have a problem with updating the character to the present day. Unlike many of his contemporaries, and despite what Buccellato seems to imply here, the Black Bat's world isn't really as defined by the times as that of the Shadow or Doc Savage. Because he was written as more of a superhero to begin with, his milieu evolved and is just as accepted today as before. Because of the virtue that several of his elements were picked up by other characters and still presented today, the character should be able to be picked up completely whole and dropped into today's world with nary a blip. Part of the reason I think there's a resurgence in interest in the pulp characters today is that the shape of the world is very recognizable when we read those old stories: War overseas, veterans at home, gulf between the rich and the poor, corrupt business and civil leaders, racism and sexism. Some things have changed for the better, but some of those evils just resurface with new twists. Reading the pulps is seeing an allegory not only for Time Past but Time Now.<br />
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However, Buccatello talks about all the changes he's going to make. Because of the change in times and because so much of the character has been done by other characters since then. Can you imagine if he took this tact with the Flash? Let's see, there
are quite a few guys now that have super-speed so let's get rid of that.
Tights? Dime a dozen, so that's out. Powers from a freak scientific
accident? Gee, that's almost every character at that other company.
Blonde hair? How cliche.<br />
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It's funny that he sees the character being an attorney (and a blind
one, at that) as being a bit too much on the money of another hero and
he makes him a DEFENSE ATTORNEY? That's exactly what the other guy was.
If you read the pulps, he didn't really practice Law after the accident
anyways and was played as retired and being a bit of a consultant on
crime.<br />
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There's an irony that DC and Thrilling reached an agreement over Batman
and the Black Bat, and then DC pretty much ripped the character off any
chance they got. The fins on Batman's gloves. The accident (being the
origin of both Two-Face and Dr. Mid-Nite), the night-vision. I say, take
the opposite tact. Embrace the similarities and recognize it's the
aggregate of the character that makes him stand out. His willingness (not eagerness) to
kill those that beyond the reach of the Law, his aides that help him,
the loyal love interest, the cop out to expose him. The tv show ARROW
works as a template of what the Black Bat should be like. At least there's no talk about making actual psychological changes to the character, to making him hearing voices and execute every crook in sight. Kill in self-defense or defense of others, yes. But, his primary goal should be to get them jailed if possible. I think it's a difference that many modern writers don't quite get when approaching the pulp characters like the Shadow and the Spider. They killed when necessary. If the cops could apprehend the crooks, that was fine. Don't mistaken the fact that the intent of the writer was to build the story so that the hero was justified in gunning down the villain with it being the intent of the hero. It's a criticism I see leveled at so many heroes of the time.<br />
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It's interesting that as Batman has evolved over the last several years, first in films and now even in the comics to more of an all-black look, he looks less like Batman and how I would've envisioned a comic version of Black Bat to look in order to differentiate him from Batman. I don't know what they are going to come up with to make him look different from Batman AND Moonstone's Black Bat. Although I imagine something like <b>Arrow</b> or the movie <b>Daredevil</b>, only in black and with a cape.<br />
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Since the article made mention of the other Black Bat, wonder if they'll
bring him in as well. He struck me as an interesting if enigmatic
character. Then there's the Bat, whose inspiration for becoming a masked
hero is used almost verbatim for Batman's. Then there's the Mask, Thrilling's adaption of the character in comic form, or the idea for an opposite number villain, the Tiger (what was to be his name originally).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-71586872012221141222012-10-26T07:49:00.001-07:002012-10-26T07:54:20.384-07:00The Red Ledger - Frank Packard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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At 2 1/2 Dominic Court you will find one of the more eccentric detectives. Of course, finding Dominic Court itself presents a challenge. The local beat cop could probably give you directions, but even citizens and tourists that pride themselves on their knowledge of little known nooks and crannies of New York's canyoned streets walk past it without knowing. Yet, if you do find the alley passageway that leads between tall buildings, you will come out upon a small oasis from the bustle of the city. Four small old fashioned two-story houses built of wood in Dutch style, lawns neatly kept, fences and ivy wrapped fences: numbers 1, 1 1/2, 2 and 2 1/2. And, at 2 1/2 resides the older gentleman and scholar Henri Raoul Charlebois. Charlebois, a man of unusual intelligence and vast wealth. A man who is liable to size one up by first asking their favorite color. His own is red, neither hot nor cold as he puts it. He, in his red jacket and skull-cap with a tassel, sits at his study that is all done in red: red books, red desk, red shelves a red safe. And in that red safe is The Red Ledger, a book in which that he has kept account of the credits and debits of all who crossed his path some decades earlier when he was downtrodden, homeless, hungry and sickly. And, he has now built up a vast organization to balance the books.<br />
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This is the situation that young Ewan Stranway finds that fate has thrust him into. Ewan is a young man whose family is well off, so everyone thought. Until his parents are killed suddenly in a car crash and he finds that his father's business was in deep trouble. He uses the inheritance to pay off the debts and with just a couple hundred left, he starts searching for work. It is then he runs across an advertisement in the paper of someone looking for him and through mysterious directions finds himself in the study of Charlebois. Turns out his father is in that red ledger as one of the men who showed charity to Charlebois and gave him ten cents (a dime could buy you a meal in those days). At first Ewan just laughs as a dime will hardly help him in his current straits but it turns out Charlebois is actually offering him a job if he doesn't mind a little danger. It's a strange interview, first asking him his favorite color, then allowing him to be privy to a private argument between Charlebois and a beautiful young woman whom Charlebois "murders" before his eyes and then frantically trying to buy Stranway's silence. When Stranway refuses, it's revealed to be a ruse to test his honesty and character.<br />
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Stranway agrees and spends a month in training. From Pierre Verot he learns locks, skeleton keys and disguise make-up, Miss Priscilla Bates teaches him Morse code while Charlebois teaches him the secret codes of the organization. Amongst others of the organization are Flint the mechanic and driver and the beautiful and mysterious young woman known only as the Orchid. The four houses are all part of the organization: Mrs. Morrison, a middle-aged widow supposedly kept lodgers at #1, at 1 1/2 resided Verot and his wife and at #2 was the elderly Miss Bates. Stranway himself is given a nice apartment nearby on 6th Avenue. He is given access to Charlebois' safe and the vast sums of money and the ledger it contains. Indeed, his own position becomes that as Second in Command. After a month, he becomes an active agent.<br />
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Packard oversells the eccentricity of Charlebois at the beginning, to the point that he really comes off as a madman. It stretches credibility that a man would agree to work for him after that interview process. Ultimately, it works though. Charlebois is portrayed as charming, generous as well ruthless depending on which side of the book you fall. To those he helps, he quickly leaves as acts of gratitude seem to embarrass and discomfort him. Packard uses the limited 3rd Person Point of View to excellent effect, in a way that most nowadays are not able to pull off. The basic structure is not unusual for Victorian and Edwardian literature: the everyday man as the point of view reference, though many use 1st person narrative. Here, it allows Charlebois to stay in the background but still an active character. He's a master planner, manipulating the situation and persons as chess pieces while Stranway is often his main agent in the more dangerous cases. Stranway himself is quick-witted, capable and able to blend in most situations, even able to save the day through his own initiative. It wouldn't be a Packard novel without the one mystery-character, a woman with enigmatic name and character who is the object of the lead's infatuation. The novel never loses its point-of-view though. This allows characters like Charlebois and the Orchid to figure prominently but remain mysterious throughout. You're privy to Stranway's thoughts, hopes, opinions and surmises but not anyone else.<br />
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Charlebois is more of a driving force in the book than the super-detective of "Tiger Claws". Like a spider at the center of a web, everything centers around him and his ledger. This book focuses on Stranway, the cases he's involved in and his romance. They are the big story. But, the set-up suggests other stories. There are other active agents that have been with Charlebois for awhile. Other accounts are settled that Stranway has no part in, or laying the ground work for the big payoff.<br />
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The novel is otherwise a collection of short-stories that carry a narrative all the way through, reading almost like the climactic chapters of a half-dozen mystery novels. There are ruthless businessmen and stock manipulators, poisoners, suave con-men, a deadly smuggler and his gang. And, ultimately, the Versel-Thega, a secret society of crooks and assassins from a small principality in Europe called Karnavia and in the employ of Prince Stolbek. Through it all, are hints and reveals of Charlebois' mysterious past, how various characters came to be in his book; and the fruitless attempts of Stranway to get a few moments alone with the Orchid that aren't limited by the urgency of the missions.<br />
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One can see quite a bit of the structure to the Shadow novels, especially the first one focusing mainly on Harry Vincent's recruitment into the Shadow's service. The all red study vs Shadow's sanctum. The master planner behind the scenes, the vast organization with agents tracking down various leads around the globe. The chief difference is the structure of the novel focuses on Stranway and never deviates from that. There are no scenes of Charlebois when he's not in Stranway's presence. There's even a reference to one of a dozen unpublished cases as "Chen Yang and the Golden Joss".... doesn't that just leap off the page as a Shadow title?<br />
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A little research revealed that the opening in "Tiger Claws" is not as unusual as it seemed to me. As noted, it was the first <i>I've</i> read with the exotic South Seas locale, at least in the beginning. But, it seems that Packard wrote several other novels with that setting, one even filmed.<br />
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Next up, "The White Moll". In this story, Packard reverses his formula a bit as the lead character is a woman, Miss Rhoda Gray aka the White Moll. Through an act of charity, she finds herself wanted by the police, taking over a dead woman's identity (which in itself is a false identity), and fighting the plans of a ruthless gang of crooks in hopes to get the evidence and testimony to clear her name. On hand is a enigmatic mystery man this time.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-2821096031463532702012-10-17T13:05:00.000-07:002012-10-18T09:22:59.842-07:00Tiger Claws - Frank L. Packard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Reading an account of what inspirations Walter Gibson drew on in writing <b>The Shadow</b> magazine, he listed The Gray Seal stories by Frank L. Packard. For years I had only read one story of the Gray Seal and could see where he was clearly a precursor of the Johnston McCully rogue heroes, and there's quite a bit of the Green Lama in there as well. But, the Shadow? Not readily apparent.<br />
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A few years ago, browsing through an antique shop at the coast, I came across a set of hardbacks by Frank L. Packard. Yes, when I go to antique stores, I often look for comics, books and pulps, though very rarely finding anything of interest. In truth, even this time when I saw the name it rang a bell but I didn't immediately make the connection and assumed it was a name of a juvenile fiction author. But, then I noticed one of the books was titled "Jimmie Dale and the Blue Envelope Murder" and it clicked. I eagerly picked up one of the books. On the front cover it was labeled "The Gray Seal Edition". At five dollars apiece, I grabbed them all: The Red Ledger, The Wire Devils, The White Moll, Doors of the Night, and lastly, Tiger Claws.<br />
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Sad to say, I'm really only half-way through the books. Frankly, sometimes I forget they are there waiting to be read. I read the Jimmie Dale book first. Then <b>Wire Devils </b>where I discovered despite these being "The Gray Seal Edition" books, apparently, only Jimmie Dale actually features that proto-pulp hero. <b>Wire Devils </b>features a masked man called "the Hawk" who is horning in on the crimes of a syndicate out West involving the telegraph. Only in novels written over a hundred years ago will you find a story that's almost pure pulp presenting the telegraph as cutting edge technology! <br />
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Something drove me this past week to revisit the books and pick another off the shelf. I chose the interestingly titled <b>Tiger Claws</b>, and boy, am I glad I did. It starts off atypical of the other Packard novels I've read. Instead of crime in some city, the novel opens up in the seas of the Far East and spends some time sketching out the characters of brothers Allan and Keith Wharton. They are typical pulp hero men: tall, independent, gray-eyed and strong of mind, character and body. They run a small cargo shipping concern consisting of one wind-powered schooner, manned by them and several malays. They do well for themselves by being able to stop at smaller islands that the larger steam ships cannot go. But, they find a mystery when they stop at a previously deserted island to pick up castaways.<br />
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The action comes fast and furious and soon after a period of convalescence, Keith travels to New York on a mission of vengeance to pursue four murderers and the mystery of the mahogany box. In New York he renews the acquaintance of Secret Service Agent and deep under-cover operative Bob Clinton, and the two hide-out and seek clues as fugitives of justice Canary Jim (Bob) and Rookie Dykes (Keith). Adding to the mystery is that crimedom is also in an uproar by the return of the mysterious super-crook and assassin known only as Tiger Claws. During one escapade, Keith also encounters Doris Marsland, a woman with some connection to the mysterious goings on. As Keith tracks the whereabouts of each of the four crooks, he finds his present mystery involves more and more the concerns of Tiger Claws. The climactic resolution and revelations of the novel equal the best that I've read in any Shadow or Spider novel.<br />
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It is in this collection of novels where I see the influence on the Shadow. The squalor of criminal hideouts, the idea of a crime itself as its own society existing alongside a law-abiding society, with its own rules and boundaries. The people all have names like Canary Jim, Rookie Dykes, Whitie, Blackie, Weasel, Magpie, Bowery Sal and such. Physical attributes tend to mark them as grotesqueries, obviously of less than savory types. In this novel in particular, you have characters skulking and hiding in the shadows of streets and darkened corners of ill-lit rooms. Conversations overheard by the silently raising of a window. Even when colors are described, in my mind's eye, it's a world of black and white, filled with smoke and shadows. Unlike many of the hero pulp writers to come along later, Packard recognizes and includes the role of drugs, addiction, and poverty as going hand in hand with other crimes. The story itself seems to focus not on the super-detective, but what Gibson would call the proxy hero, Keith.<br />
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Although the initial description of Doris might make you think of another writer: Like bronze her hair was where it showed under her hat -- mingling gold and copper. It was an alluring face, piquant -- a little pale perhaps, a little wistful, but there was a self-reliance there and wholesomeness.<br />
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If the novel has a drawback, it's in the character of Bob Clinton. He's presented as being a bit of a super-detective and disguise artist, but the story is not about him. He's barely in it other than to help the plot along as need-be and serve as a handy deus-ex-machina. His other major function is to be a hurdle and not a help. He's deep under-cover as Canary Jim, an identity that took years to build. As such, Keith as Rookie Dykes operates under the hindrance of not being able to call the police or make his identity known to them. As he's vouched to crimedom through Canary Jim, he cannot run the risk of exposing Canary Jim as being anything other than a wanted crook. Once Clinton largely serves his purpose, he's sidelined for all of the climactic action and intrigue through a wounded arm. As he's the least developed character in the book, he's hardly missed. But, I found his mere presence in the book lessened the character of Keith somewhat. As the story isn't about him and he's hardly in it for reasons other than plot device, why make him this paragon of detection and disguise? Why wrap him in colorful superlatives that makes the lead character seem a bit second-rate? I found it difficult to not imagine what the novel would have been like if Packard had gone a little more Count of Monte Cristo (or Richard Henry Benson to keep in the purview of the blog) with the character of Keith Wharton. If the initial tragedies and deprivations at the beginning that put him on this mission had also helped turn him into more of a super-man, an inhuman instrument of vengeance, only to be brought back to humanity by the feelings of love for Doris. If Bob became less a super-detective to merely a competent one that serves as his confidante. Or written out altogether and expanding on the role of colorful and faithful Gur Singh who is sadly written out after the opening chapters.<br />
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Regardless, I found the writing style breezy and compelling. It's hard to imagine this being written decades earlier than the era of hero pulps. Some of the characteristics and attitudes towards race and sex may seem a bit dated, but the storytelling itself is not and is indeed better than much that came later. The story moves quickly, with many twists and turns and very little bloated purple over-wrought prose. The crook Tiger Claws who prowls on the periphery of almost the whole novel is all the stronger for it, coming across as a worthy adversary of any pulp hero.<br />
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The artwork here is not of the cover. None of the books came with dust-jackets, but somehow the title was evocative to my mind and this is what I came up with. If you can find this novel, I heartily recommend it.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-39471374279599678052012-09-19T09:47:00.004-07:002012-09-19T09:47:33.281-07:00Talk Like A Pirate Day!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rbuvnzVJMIo/UFny5mWZZ0I/AAAAAAAABQ4/oGwMVschpQk/s1600/docbuddha.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rbuvnzVJMIo/UFny5mWZZ0I/AAAAAAAABQ4/oGwMVschpQk/s320/docbuddha.jpg" width="213" /></a>Arghh, do you know what today is? Doc sure does as these covers attest!<br />
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Doc ran across his fair share of modern day pirates as well as a couple of masquerading as ghosts. More so than most pulp heroes I suppose. And, in Murray's recent book, The Infernal Buddha, Doc gets to impersonate one as well. It's a testament to the versatility of stories that the concept of Doc and his crew can be plugged into. The Shadow and his ilk always seemed a bit out of place when taken away from their urban streets of skyscrapers, high society swells and back-alley thugs. But, Doc's stage was the world, from lost societies to farthest arctic reaches to dense jungles and hidden tribes to the mines and ranches of the American West. Interestingly, the one place he didn't seem to appear to much in was in that staple of pulp fiction, Chinatown. Why settle for Chinatown when could go to the Far East itself?<br />
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Have to admit, I have a special fondness for the Bama cover of "The Pirate's Ghost". "Ghost Pirates from Beyond" from Marvel's b/w Doc Savage comic magazine is also one of his best outings in the comic book world.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-17046231449161129982012-09-10T11:22:00.001-07:002012-09-10T11:24:18.704-07:00Along Came A Spider<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M40V4o0QkTI/UE4t3Ww_YaI/AAAAAAAABPY/-cTTNohvwTY/s1600/doc-spider.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M40V4o0QkTI/UE4t3Ww_YaI/AAAAAAAABPY/-cTTNohvwTY/s400/doc-spider.jpg" width="238" /></a>To hold you over to the next review I hope to have finished written soon... searching the web can find some interesting things. Some creative people out there have taken various Bama Doc Savage covers and done mock-ups of crossovers with other prominent characters: Frankenstein, Buffy, Edward Hyde, etc in the Bantam paperback style.
But this one just looked too cool of a mock up. Especially since it's taking two covers to make one, both of which using the same model to portray the hero. It's Steve Holland and Steve Holland!<br />
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Part of me would like to read such a story, but another part recognizes the two characters exist in almost mutually exclusive relative realisms. To be completely faithful and be good would take one helluva writer because it would have to be more than just a synthesis of pulp and styles but a whole 'nother thing entirely. It would have to be a serious look at Doc's treatment of criminals. While I think of Wentworth as being a hero, I also think that his brand of justice and heroism could not be allowed to remain standing once Doc got involved. I could see Doc coming to an agreement of sorts with the Shadow as in the DC comic, but the Spider's methods are too extreme, too much bordering psychopathic behavior. The only way it would work would be as a "final" novel ending in either of the characters' deaths or the "curing" of Richard Wentworth.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-27435824908574102702012-07-19T16:19:00.000-07:002012-08-27T11:26:00.764-07:00Slaughter, Inc: The Last Spider Novel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In 1943, the publisher of The Spider commissioned from David Cormack to write a Spider novel. However, when the month came that the story would have been published, what hit the stands was a new novel by the series regular writer Norvell Page. There would be only a few more issues of the magazine, all with stories by Page. With the sudden death of his wife, Page would leave the magazine and character behind. The magazine folded and the story by Cormack sat in the drawers.<br />
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Several decades later, the story would somehow find itself published only with all the names changed, the Spider becoming Blue Steel, and the story edited to reflect early 1970s. The cover would be one that had been slated for the recently cancelled reprintings of Operator 5.<br />
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Moonstone has now published the original story with a new cover. Also included is a foreword by pulp historian that gives background and context to the circumstances that lead to Donald Cormack writing this story.<br />
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The production is the chief drawback to the book. The monotone cover is striking but it really doesn't hold a candle to the various pulp covers. Why is the Spider apparently firing his gun into a wall? The book itself is marred by bad line breaks, and typos such as "were" becoming "here" (which honestly may have been in the original text). Just when it looks like the bad line breaks were coming to an end, started seeing a couple of times where the first line of a paragraph has no spaces between the words making the line one long word.<br />
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The story is in many ways a good entry into the Spider mythos. The action is non-stop with Wentworth outnumbered and hampered by a wound while his compatriots are compromised. It's missing a little something, that real passion and fire, but for a first attempt at writing a Spider novel it's a fun read. It even works as being the "last" Spider novel.<br />
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It never pays to really think too much about Wentworth being suspected by Kirkpatrick but this otherwise capable cop can never get the needed evidence to prove he's the Spider. Here, there's a scene that really stretches that suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. Wentworth is accompanying Kirk on a mission to rescue Nita, only on the way there they find the police have cornered a fighting mad Ran Singh on the roof of a nearby building. Somehow, Wentworth slips away, becomes the Spider (though he rode there with Kirkpatrick), rescues his faithful servant.<br />
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There seems to be discrepancies in the ages of Richard Wentworth and Nita van Sloan and how long the career of the Spider has been going on. Frequently they are described as being young and treated as if they are in their twenties, despite Wentworth's history includes having been a Major in the War. Near the end of the story, the text actually mentions Kirkpatrick being suspicious of his friend being the Spider for "months"! A bit reminiscent of how the Avenger seemed to get younger in his series, instilling a vast back story of education and experience while still in his twenties. But, as the foreword mentions that the editor at the time was heavily editing the stories by Page, it made me wonder if he likewise edited this story and that was where some of these seeming discrepancies crept in.<br />
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The identity of the villain also doesn't work. There's really only one suspect so it's not much of a mystery, until he convincingly disguises himself as Wentworth... because our one suspect is noted as being tall and thin, suggesting a build that would be hard to disguise.<br />
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On the other hand, one of the joys of the story is where Jackson actually gets to take center stage and playing a solo hand as he attempts a rescue attempt. He proves to be amazingly effective and capable even when not everything goes according to plan. In this story, Jackson clearly knows Wentworth is the Spider, but I'm not sure if that's always the case in the stories.<br />
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Overall, it really is a fun Spider adventure. The writing is crisp and fast paced. I found myself quickly turning the pages, curious as to what was going to happen next.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-20296360679767321462012-07-16T13:24:00.000-07:002012-07-16T13:24:12.194-07:00Pulp heroes unite!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zE1cwB8qXCc/UAR3l72YKFI/AAAAAAAABNs/uo4NdACrqs0/s1600/ross-pulp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zE1cwB8qXCc/UAR3l72YKFI/AAAAAAAABNs/uo4NdACrqs0/s320/ross-pulp.jpg" width="210" /></a>Dynamite has recently released information that they will be doing a team-up of the pulp heroes including the Shadow, Spider, Green Hornet & Kato, a Zorro-esque hero, Miss Fury and the Black Bat. The mini-series will be written by Chris Roberson and the artwork for the first issue will at least be done by Alex Ross. <br />
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For once, there are few red flags raised in the interview with Roberson. The biggest one is the lack of commitment on who will be doing the artwork past the first issue. Dynamite has a bad track record art-wise. Many of the pencilers are sub-par and overpowering inking and coloring shore up short-comings. The various mini-series tying into their <b>Kirby: Genesis</b> mini seem to have different art from issue to issue. It's ridiculous that a mini-series cannot have the same creative team from beginning to end. And, come out on time (just don't solicit until it's ready).<br />
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When talking about the storyline, Roberson talks about his love for the pulps. In fact, this story is one that continuity buffs like Roy Thomas or Philip Jose Farmer would love. It will be taking a three-part Spider pulp story, where a fascist organization takes over, and the Spider becomes a freedom fighter and different sort of outlaw and then placing the other heroes into that story, what were they doing during this time.<br />
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Despite the fact their current series have the Spider in present day, Zorro and the Shadow in their proper though different time periods, and the Green Hornet is in present day, this series takes place in the original time period. When Dynamite launched the Green Hornet, they did so with several different books in different time periods. I don't know if the current series ever acknowledged the gangster era Green Hornet Year One series by Wagner, though Roberson refers that the Hornet seen here will be similar to that. Considering the costumes of the other characters, including Kato are from head to toe in black, the Hornet may stick out like a sore thumb. <br />
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The "Zorro" hero is not meant to be the original hero but someone like him. Considering Zorro's original milieu of being a rogue hero, fighting for the common man against an oppressive system, a hero along those lines works. There's actually a long-standing tradition of this in the films as Zorro's legacy would include Don Q, Son of Zorro, the Black Whip, and a Ghost of Zorro (played by pre-Lone Ranger Clayton Moore).<br />
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The big departure will be the Spider. himself. The current comic series takes place in modern day and takes so many liberties with the characters as to be a complete departure. The mini will have him in the serial inspired garb, but the interview makes no mention of whether any of the other changes that Liss has hoisted upon the characters will be evident.<br />
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This will be the first appearances of the Black Bat and Miss Fury at Dynamite and I'm curious as to how they will be treated. If you look closely, you can see the Bat overhead the other heroes but no Miss Fury.<br />
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It's almost a shame that Dynamite couldn't get the rights to the Whisperer as he'd fit right in in this crowd or the Avenger who would make an interesting juxtaposition to the others.<br />
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Pulp-wise, just got in Moonstone's <b>Slaughter, Inc</b>, the "last" Spider novel that went unpublished when the series ended in the early 1940s and was printed as a paperback with names changes and the Spider became Blue Steel (and the cover was of the publisher's version of Operator 5). Shaping up to be a fun novel, although could have used an editor to catch some of the typos and bad line breaks.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-33725639388494733042012-06-08T07:19:00.001-07:002012-06-08T07:25:15.890-07:00Thinking of BradburyRay Bradbury passed away this week. I talked a little bit about him on my other blog but I find myself continually thinking of him through this week.<br />
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It's funny. I can remember the gateway to many of my favorite authors, but I don't remember Bradbury. With Tolkien it was <b>The Hobbit</b> cartoon. With Heinlein it was the comic serialization of one of his novels in <b>Boys Life</b> magazine that lead me to seeking out the novel it was based on. Clifford Simak it was because I was interested in monsters and one of his novels was <b>The Werewolf Principle</b>. Not what I was expecting, but I was hooked. With the Doc Savage novels someone gave me as a gift the hardback edition of <b>The Sargasso Ogre</b>, I guess because I liked superheroes. My first Shadow was a beat up paperback I found at an antique store.<br />
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Bradbury, like Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, is a mystery though. I don't know where I first stumbled upon his stories or which one that made me a fan for life. I think my Dad's parents had a hardback edition of <b>The Illustrated Man</b> so maybe that was it. Or, it could have been an anthology of short-stories that would feature one of a dozen that seemed ubiquitous, that you never knew where it would pop up like "The Veldt", "The October Game", or "The Million Year Picnic".<br />
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Regardless, I sought out his books from used book stores, bought his new books when they came out. Didn't matter if they were his martian tales, his dark fantasy or terror stories, his stories about Ireland or even if it was non-fiction. Reading Bradbury and the way he put words together made you want to sit down and write too. It was like seeing into creation and wanting to be a part of it.<br />
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I remember an episode of the television series "Fame" where the students were going to put on a production of <b>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</b> but because it was deemed racist, it got pulled and banned. So, the assignment changed to <b>Fahrenheit 451</b>. I don't know if Bradbury's book ever was banned itself, but it's become almost the symbol of "Banned Book Month". Interestingly, Twain's classic was on banned lists twice for polar opposite reasons. The first time was because the fact that a white boy would actually be friends with and help an escaped slave and makes the conscientious decision that if helping his friend, an escaped slave, would send him to Hell, well, then he guessed he was going to Hell. But, he'd stand by his friend. Nowadays, it's because of the audacity of Twain to present a slave as someone who would be uneducated, superstitious, and talk in bad English. But, I digress. A television show about performing arts high school students seems like an odd place to find a reference to Bradbury, but there it is. Just as there's a shopping mall that was inspired by an essay. Or an earpiece that played music in <b>Fahrenheit 451</b> would inspire a man to invent the Walkman, the precursor to today's mobile music devices.<br />
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The ending to Orson Scott Card's short story "The Eumenides of the Fourth Floor Lavatory" is extremely reminiscent of Bradbury's "The October Game" where what happens immediately next is up to the imagination. It's hard to imagine Stephen King's works without Bradbury paving the way, showing magic, horror, fantasy, and heroism lurking in picturesque small town America and what really drives the story, what's really important are the relationships of the people. Bradbury was better at writing endings though.<br />
<br />
One of my favorite Bradbury short-stories takes place in the larger universe of his Martian stories, though it takes place on Earth. It's a future with imminently practical people with no imagination. Earth is overcrowded so a corporation has taken to buying up graveyards, exhuming the graves and cremating all the remains. However, this is something up with which one dead body will not put, so he gets up and wages a war of sabotage and destruction in revenge. He thinks it's perfect, because in this world of no imagination, who would even consider that a dead person would be walking around. Yet, it's that very fact that gets him found out as insanity has been cured, and no one living would commit these crimes or even have a reason to. Ergo, it must be a dead man as reasons two workers. After all, as the great detective once said, "Once you eliminate the impossible, what remains, no matter how improbable..."<br />
<br />
It's been a while since I've read any of his short-stories. While I'm at the old house this weekend, I think I'll pull down one of those old paperback anthologies from the bookshelf.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-19434770022213445832012-02-20T10:38:00.000-08:002012-02-20T10:38:28.680-08:00Doc Savage: The Desert Demons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NWleZfbT5ik/T0KD21xp3lI/AAAAAAAABHA/XzKZhbPeiB0/s1600/desertdemons_cvr.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NWleZfbT5ik/T0KD21xp3lI/AAAAAAAABHA/XzKZhbPeiB0/s320/desertdemons_cvr.png" width="217" /></a></div>I try to support my old comic shop haunts as much as possible. Mainly because he does order pulp stuff and I'd stand a good chance to never see many of the pulp reprints if not for him. However, some books like this one take some time to hit his solicitations and find it's way into my pull list. (Incidentally, the "it's" is not a typo. I think it's high time to call an end to this foolish spelling that trips people up. Use the apostrophe for both contraction and possessive form. Context is more than enough to show which it's for. So, I'll it's crusade here.)<br />
<br />
This is Doc Savage scholar Will Murray writing as Kenneth Robeson. Sadly, the last Doc book written before this was an adaptation of a non-Doc work by Lester Dent and thus did not feature his aides. Here, Will rectifies that by including all five aides, Pat Savage and even the two pets. There's no explanation as to the source of the story this go round, so while it's acknowledged this too is based on something written down by Dent, the extent of what is Murray and what is Dent is not clear. The names and types of the various suspects and secondary characters sound like Dent, but that could be Murray at his Dent impersonating best.<br />
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The basic plot is Doc and crew end up in Hollywood exploring two mysteries. One, a mysterious red cloud that descends from the sky and reduces everything to crumbly powder. Two, a woman named Doris Duff has disappeared, possible victim of the cloud and is obviously really Doc's cousin Pat Savage. Involved is a would-be movie mogul who shoots Westerns, his partner who is trying to strike it rich via oil wells, a weatherman scientist, and two galoots named Happy and Harry.<br />
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It didn't help my reading of this that I was in the middle of an Avenger story, "The Glass Mountain" that likewise involves oil wells and a mysterious cloud (this one's green) that comes out of clear skies, and seemingly pursues and kills with intent, though by lightning. Both have Native American shamans that seem able to summon the killer clouds as well.<br />
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While pulp writers are notoriously known for their purple prose because they were being paid by word, Murray's Doc books are significantly longer than any of the Kenneth Robesons before him. This one feels it as it tries to include all of the aides plus Pat and give them meaningful tasks. There's the oil wells, the Hollywood location as well as a ghost-town in the Florida Everglades, the Native American shaman and a trap with alligators, as well as the mysterious menace, and strange actions from a scientist that ultimately goes nowhere. There's enough material and ideas to fill three separate Doc novels. This all bogs the novel down as it seems that it cannot decide in what direction it really wants to go. <br />
<br />
The story is also hampered by the fact that while the strange death clouds are baffling and effective, the human crime element is sorely lacking in that regard. While there is a culprit behind the deaths, that at one point almost border the death rate in a Norvell Page Spider novel, there is no deadly efficient gang to pit physical challenges against Doc and his men. The ultimate plan of the bad guy when it stands revealed... well, when characters in your story even recognize the stupidity of the plan and just write the guy off as being crazy, it might be a sign that his motivation needs retooling. The climactic scene with the culprit behind it all, is anti-climactic as the larger threat is already explained and neutralized and he is more pathetic at this point.<br />
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This is not to say it's a bad book or a bad Doc Savage novel. It is better than some. Worse than others. It's crime seems to be one of trying to do and include too much as if it might be the last hurrah and as much as possible needed including. The various elements don't mesh together as well as intended. Simple refining such as leaving out a couple of the aides and the pets and even Pat Savage which would have allowed populating the book with more secondary characters to flesh out the world they were navigating and maybe bring the various elements together into a more cohesive whole. Thus, when the cloud starts killing wholesale, some of them are characters we already know and maybe even care about (or suspected as being behind it). But, it's good to have Doc back and, as always, I'm looking forward to the next one.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-51458380257883038842011-11-14T08:15:00.000-08:002011-11-14T08:31:52.086-08:00Doc Savage: Satan BlackThe bronze man finally found a piece of rope. He had a worse time locating one than he had expected and toward the last he searched with a haste that was near frenzy.<br />
<br />
The rope was three-quarter-inch stuff about fifteen feet long, and it smelled of the anti-rust off the tools and the pipe. He found it on the fourth pipe-truck which he searched, although he had supposed there would be rope on every truck. Rope and chain were necessities on the big multi-ton pipe-trucks, one would think.<br />
<br />
He clutched the rope, and he ran for the loaded pipe-truck that had broken an axle that afternoon. He ran desperately.<br />
<br />
Early summer darkness lay over Arkansas, warm and amiable, and there was enough breeze to bring a slight odor, but not an unpleasant one, of the slough to the south.<br />
<br />
The river was farther east. One couldn't say the river was a sound, but it was distinctly a presence and a fierce power. It wasn't a fierce-looking river. It was referred to more often as a ribbon of mud. Yet it was no ribbon, because a ribbon is something soft, something for a lady. This river was something for garfish that tasted of carrion, mud-cats, water-dogs; it was a repelling river, unlovely to look at and heart-breaking to deal with. It was a nasty, muddy, sulking presence in the eastern darkness.<br />
<br />
The bronze man with his rope reached the pipe-truck with the snapped axle. He crawled under it. He knew exactly the spot he wanted, not under the truck itself, but under the pipe-trailer, beneath the mighty lengths of twenty-four-inch oil pipeline river-casing.<br />
<br />
The bronze man made himself a sling under the pipe. A hammock, a tight, smug little place to lie supported by the rope he'd been in such a wild haste to find. When he was done, and hauled up snug in the sling-hammock, one could look under the truck and not see him.<br />
<br />
But if one happened to crawl under the truck, even partly under it, and poke around with a flashlight beam, he was sure to be seen. And once found, for a moment or two he would be helpless there. It was a good place to hide, but it wasn't a good place to be caught hiding. Not if one took into consideration the kind of a thing that was happening.<br />
<br />
The bronze man lay very still. He coiled the end of the rope on his stomach. He wouldn't, he thought, care for more than half an hour of hanging like this. But it shouldn't take that long.<br />
<br />
He listened to the night sounds, the crickets and the frogs and the owls, the rumbling of trucks in the distance, the heavy iron animal noises of bulldozers, the grinding of tripod-winches. The noises that go with the laying of a twenty-four-inch petroleum pipeline.<br />
<br />
The noises sounded sharp and hearty enough. There was nothing sick-sounding about them, nothing at all.<br />
<br />
There should have been.<br />
----------------------------------------<br />
<br />
This is the opening pages of the 1944 Doc Savage novel <b>Satan Black</b>. I think it encapsulates why of the many pulp heroes Doc Savage not only ran as long as it did, but until recently was really the only successful series to be reprinted. None of the Doc Savage imitators of the time were successful. The Shadow by dint of his radio show and catch phrases is more ingrained in pop culture, but Doc's stories survived and still thrived.<br />
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The secret ingredient is Lester Dent's writing. As noted, it's late 1944 when this was published. The Doc novels were less fantastic, less science-fiction. When people think of Doc Savage it's generally the earlier novels they look at with rose-colored glasses. However, by this point in time, Dent was not only a seasoned writer, his style had evolved and matured. The plots and characterizations may be a little dated and hokey by today's standards. But Dent's prose is slick and as thoroughly evocative of the American landscape and experience as any poet's. There's no reason for there to be the little excursion on the nature of the river and comparing/contrasting it to a ribbon for a woman's hair other to give the story a sense of place. His populating his opening paragraphs with little wry ironies of life draws you in, sets the story into a real location. Whatever fantastic thing that follows, the reader is hooked, convinced of the reality of the story.<br />
<br />
When and whatever Dent wrote, there is that feeling of authenticity to it, that it's all drawn from real experiences and observations. It may be why that despite Doc living and head-quartered in New York City, many of his stories took place in smaller towns and wide-open expanses of nature that still resisted modern man's push. And while Doc and his men were larger than life with grandiose jobs and military ranks, the stories are peopled with individuals with smaller lives and every-day concerns. Just like the little ironies and contrasts that Dent peppered his stories with.<br />
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Despite the little details that seem extraneous, Dent's writing has moved past the purple prose of earlier pulps. His stories don't seem to be padded, action often seem filled with frantic activity and immediate urgency. He knows when to be descriptive and when to deliver sentences in short quick frequency. The compression and decompression of the storytelling undulates fluidly, keeping you turning the pages.<br />
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Great stuff. Fun reading.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-25378365482543734642011-09-29T11:56:00.000-07:002011-09-29T11:56:31.478-07:00Staffel of Beasts<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DMeKDR8TtnE/ToS_NGzrNrI/AAAAAAAABF8/ICyz6undfUk/s1600/G8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DMeKDR8TtnE/ToS_NGzrNrI/AAAAAAAABF8/ICyz6undfUk/s400/G8.jpg" width="125" /></a><br />
<b>G-8 and his Battle Aces</b>: v6n4, September 1935.<br />
<b> Author:</b> Robert Hogan<br />
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After looking at some of Robert Hogan's other pulp works (Secret 6, Wu Fang), it's a joy to return to his longest lasting and best series: G-8. G-8 was an otherwise anonymous flying spy during the days of World War One and his Battle Aces were Bull Martin and Nippy Weston. Rounding out the group was the make-up whiz and cook extraordinaire but otherwise slow on the uptake servant Battle.<br />
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I don't know which came first, Hogan's ingenious plots or the covers, but one of the joys of the books that reprint the original covers is seeing the outlandish cover with it's purplish prose title and wondering just how Hogan is going to work it into the story. For unlike many pulps, the covers were illustrative and not merely symbolic if they applied at all. I wish I had a better scan of this one to share, but my scanner is out of whack. It features a tiger with a snarling but human looking face jumping from an enemy's plane onto presumably one piloted by G-8.<br />
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The storyline is long into getting to that point though. It mainly features G-8 going behind enemy lines investigating a mysterious hospital and why the Germans are requiring all cripples to report there for duty. Like many stories, the common people and the effects of war that makes enemies of brothers and the dehumanizing aspects of it are never too far from the surface. Hogan treats the average German and the various cripples with sympathy without losing the action and sense of high adventure. In the end, the story does deliver on the cover, but the title is misleading. While a tiger does make its appearance, one does not a staffel make.<br />
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Hogan got a lot of mileage out of G-8. While the lead is never given another name, he is humanized. He is capable but not superhuman so. Unlike other heroes, he needs help for his really convincing disguises. Each story often features at least one scene of the main characters sharing a meal or about to and joking and teasing each other. Against the horrors of War, we see them as normal people as well. While he is ostensibly an aviation hero in WWI, G-8 spends much of his adventures on the ground. Along with dogfights in the skies, there are often harrowing crossings back and forth through No Man's Land on the ground in various disguises, him infiltrating camps, secret labs, etc. More often than not, the plots themselves are pure pulp science fiction featuring lost races, super weapons and devices, seeming supernatural plots. This one is more prosaic than most but still one that almost could only happen within the pulp pages. Under Hogan's pen, one wouldn't have been surprised to see a whole staffel of beasts with human faces though.<br />
<br />
All in all, a fun read from beginning to end.<span id="goog_648015918"></span><span id="goog_648015919"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-34937452608434729332011-09-22T12:25:00.000-07:002011-09-22T12:25:18.484-07:00Lord of the Jungle<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WNVeWtmbdsE/TnuKJgbWADI/AAAAAAAABEM/GqZO9LpXXUo/s1600/tarzan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WNVeWtmbdsE/TnuKJgbWADI/AAAAAAAABEM/GqZO9LpXXUo/s400/tarzan2.jpg" width="267" /></a><br />
Should come as no surprise that Dynamite has announced that they are also adding Tarzan to their list of characters with multiple covers by the usual suspects Alex Ross, Ryan Sook and others. The surprise is that it took them this long after their start of chronicling the adventures of John Carter and family of Mars. Like the first Mars book, the first eight of the Tarzan novels are reportedly public domain. The estate owns the trademark rights to the Tarzan name thus the name of the comic not reflecting the jungle lord's name anywhere.<br />
<br />
The release is a little confusing as it seems to indicate that like most of Dynamite's books, it's going to be an origin tale, heavily relying on the story written for a medium other than comics. At least in this case it's Edgar Rice Burroughs' original "Tarzan of the Apes" tale and not a Kevin Smith movie treatment. However, since it is a modern comic book adaptation of a longer prose work, we can expect quite a bit of decompression with large chunks also left out. <br />
<br />
Yet, the writer/adapter Arvid Nelson says:<span id="intelliTXT">"Tarzan's DNA is in everything from super heroes to space epic. But I was surprised at how little I knew about him, because the many adaptations wander very far from the original character. His true story is so much deeper and more interesting -- that's we're trying to bring to life in Lord of the Jungle."</span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UyMI7-QVMTQ/TnuKJTX7whI/AAAAAAAABEE/TsIAAxZoQks/s1600/tarzan1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UyMI7-QVMTQ/TnuKJTX7whI/AAAAAAAABEE/TsIAAxZoQks/s400/tarzan1.jpg" width="267" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UyMI7-QVMTQ/TnuKJTX7whI/AAAAAAAABEE/TsIAAxZoQks/s1600/tarzan1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span id="intelliTXT">I don't really recall much in the terms of "super hero" or "space epic" in that first story. And, if the covers are any indication, I don't really picture Tarzan as wearing golden arm bands, bracers and necklaces. As the ultimate nature boy jungle man, I see him wearing little that's so purely ornamental, that he'd sooner wear leather made from a beast he killed and skinned. Maybe as a necklace a leather strap with the tooth of a fierce beast he found hard to kill. Still, I'd rather just see them to move beyond the books and the origin story. I've got those to read and the comic isn't going to top them. The real challenge is to take the character into the realm of comics, competing against the superheroes and find ways to make him work and stand out. He needs foes and stories that are equally larger than life with art that gets across the dynamism of the character. Frankly speaking, as far as the original stories go, while Tarzan is a great character and has that name recognition, Ki-Gor actually operated more in the super hero mold facing the likes of a race of intelligent gorillas bent on conquest. Reminds me, I do have a used paperback of "Tarzan Triumphant" which I've not read yet. So much to read, so little time.</span><br />
<span id="intelliTXT"><br />
</span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qSP84FwfmHk/TnuKJlCt9YI/AAAAAAAABEU/FPMErs88f0g/s1600/tarzan-adams.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qSP84FwfmHk/TnuKJlCt9YI/AAAAAAAABEU/FPMErs88f0g/s400/tarzan-adams.jpg" width="307" /></a><span id="intelliTXT">My view of Tarzan though will always be the Neal Adams paperback covers. No one else seemed to capture power, energy and savagery all at once. I love John Buscema and Russ Heath but there Tarzans always seemed a little too clean, Hogarth's looked a little too much like a flayed model.</span><br />
<span id="intelliTXT">Even so, it will hard to be resist the price of the first issue. They promise a full first issue for $1, that's roughly a third of the price of most comics. On that alone, I may have to give up a diet coke that day and buy myself a comic.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-21688986085901801252011-08-26T07:27:00.000-07:002011-08-26T07:27:00.662-07:00Flash Gordon Makes Three!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yQU9l2nhBj0/Tleq2UConnI/AAAAAAAABC8/YEae2Lg9_uU/s1600/flash.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yQU9l2nhBj0/Tleq2UConnI/AAAAAAAABC8/YEae2Lg9_uU/s400/flash.jpg" width="267" /></a>Dynamite followed up the announcements of procuring The Shadow and The Spider with the announcement that Flash Gordon will soon be published by them as well. For those keeping track, the list of pulp or pulp-ish characters that Dynamite has the license to include the above plus Buck Rogers, The Phantom, Green Hornet, Lone Ranger, John Carter of Mars and Zorro. I had to check this morning to see if possibly there were any new announcements of Dick Tracy, Prince Valiant, Tarzan or Mandrake the Magician.<br />
<br />
The press releases keep touting Dynamite's Project Superpowers as an example of the company's success, but when did the last issue of that come out? And, the few spin-offs it had have been cancelled. Likewise, the strong outing of Green Hornet titles has greatly diminished. Lone Ranger is ending. Buck Rogers has been gone for awhile. And, at least half of the titles feature strongly re-imagined versions of the characters. Green Hornet and the Bionic Man are based on film treatments. Their Zorro was largely an adaptation of Isabel Allende's novel. Couple that with their decompressed storytelling that takes several issues to deliver an origin and put the hero in costume. It's difficult to get too excited.<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HQxWcN19Z6c/Tleq2xdbQDI/AAAAAAAABDM/Qz---FkU7bA/s1600/flash3.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HQxWcN19Z6c/Tleq2xdbQDI/AAAAAAAABDM/Qz---FkU7bA/s400/flash3.jpg" width="267" /></a><br />
<br />
Of course Alex Ross is involved. He's obviously been a fan of Flash as he uses a Flash Gordon logo as part of his own logo (no trademark infringement there?). This announcement creates some bad blood between Dynamite and Arden who currently also publishes a Flash Gordon comic. Remember Dynamite pulling something similar with the Phantom? Appears that King Features is a little loose, they don't date exclusively. Of course, Arden didn't really impress me with their first issue as it set out to tell Flash's origin all over again, only with cartoony artwork and has a parachute pack just to seem to magically appear on his back when it's obvious he wasn't wearing one in preceding panels.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yQU9l2nhBj0/Tleq2UConnI/AAAAAAAABC8/YEae2Lg9_uU/s1600/flash.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Hey, Dynamite. We know most of the origin and backstory already of Flash, Phantom, Bionic Man, etc. Don't just simply retread the same storyline or retcon the stories written by the creators only spread out over six issues. Give a little recap and jump in and give us the stories featuring the characters we love. Bring in new stuff, but not at the expense of the old. We want to believe that this comic featuring the hero is featuring the same hero that was in the pulps, serials, comic strips etc, not that it's just another version.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rqa-saFM_Eg/Tleq3Il79zI/AAAAAAAABDU/dqPVLEKQYCc/s1600/flash4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rqa-saFM_Eg/Tleq3Il79zI/AAAAAAAABDU/dqPVLEKQYCc/s400/flash4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The art released has been interesting. The Doc Savage homage is definite with one. Once I saw that, I couldn't help but feel a John Carter vibe off another and a Star Wars vibe off a third. Of course, the pose in that one has been used in everything from Conan painting, movie posters for National Lampoon's Vacation, Army of Darkness, etc. Let you be the judge of that.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KKG5JgbmwsE/Tleq2obX5aI/AAAAAAAABDE/DcUuKkVQS4c/s1600/flash2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KKG5JgbmwsE/Tleq2obX5aI/AAAAAAAABDE/DcUuKkVQS4c/s400/flash2.jpg" width="267" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-39903827700904505682011-08-18T12:40:00.000-07:002011-08-18T12:40:49.275-07:00The Spider Too?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TbrZaJcOn0I/Tk1m5Gk6T5I/AAAAAAAABCk/R_zRyTHPF9A/s1600/spider1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TbrZaJcOn0I/Tk1m5Gk6T5I/AAAAAAAABCk/R_zRyTHPF9A/s400/spider1.jpg" width="285" /></a>Dynamite released the news that they are also doing a comic featuring the pulp hero the Spider! What this means for Moonstone who publishes various illustrated Spider stories, one can only guess. Dynamite made news when they announced they were doing the Phantom which was still being published by Moonstone at the time. It took about a year, but eventually the Phantom did end up at Moonstone. However, DC doing comics with the Street & Smith characters didn't impact Moonstone's prose projects with the characters and Moonstone did a Green Hornet prose book at the same time Dynamite was doing the comic. As most of their work with the Spider could hardly be considered actual comics, it's possible that we'll see one publisher reprinting the original pulps, one doing new prose short-stories and another doing a comic.<br />
<br />
Dynamite released a bit more news concerning the Spider comic which might give an inkling as to their approach with the Shadow. Starting with, the Spider is being redesigned by Alex Ross! It's not much of a redesign as it's basically tweaking his serial costume and it's not bad. And, it appears the Spider will be in the present day.<br />
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Neither of these is necessarily bad, but it does show yesterday's optimism to be a little misplaced. <br />
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I had hoped that maybe the company and creators might have learned something with <b>Kirby Genesis</b> where interviews are given to re-assure readers and fans that Kirby's designs would be left intact and effort would be made to keep to the spirit and characterization that he set forth with the characters. It seems strange to me that in today's market, that creators need to actually stress that when talking about a project, but it's the reality of the world we live in today. Where DC and other companies are trying so hard to get characters wrong and crowing about it as if that's a good thing, it's actually needs to be said that a book might be coming out with the characters looking and acting like they were envisioned by their creator.<br />
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Out of that content, these changes are not necessarily a bad thing though. In the comicbook mini-series <b>Mystery Men</b> written by David Liss, something that comes home is how much of today's world is like the world that the pulp heroes acted out of. I think much of what made the pulp crime-fighters like the Shadow and the Spider appealing, we have the same conditions today: racism and class inequality, the wealthy getting wealthier while the poor are getting poorer, wars and instability overseas, wealthy criminals getting off with slaps on the wrist. Handled correctly, I can easily see the likes of the Spider and the Shadow operating in the world of today. Doc Savage is the one that's harder to handle as so much of his world centered on super-science and unexplored places. Translated to today, a Doc Savage ongoing should be something akin to the television show <b>Fringe</b> coupled with <b>Eureka </b>and <b>Warehouse 13 </b>with clones, parallel worlds, insane experiments. But, the night avengers I can see as being just as relevant today as then (one of the things I liked about Nolan's Batman movies is that they would also be great Spider movies with hardly an adjustment, maybe even better).<br />
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The look as noted comes from the Spider's movie serials which is hardly how he looked in the pulps. The thing is, his look wasn't always consistent in the pulps either, sometimes he was just Wentworth for most of the story, with a few attempts at disguise as a crook or a simple mask. Sometimes he had a fright wig, fake fanged teeth and a hump! Sometimes he had the wig and teeth but no mention of a hump. The pulp covers were more consistent though a little more generic, but that's the way I often envisioned him, regardless of how he was described inside: black suit, cape, hat and mask and a gun in hand. However, this is a striking look that at least has precedent with the character and could serve the character well as a comicbook hero.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HIo6caLlRTE/Tk1m5QVEjaI/AAAAAAAABCs/d5_3dfPE50I/s1600/spider2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HIo6caLlRTE/Tk1m5QVEjaI/AAAAAAAABCs/d5_3dfPE50I/s400/spider2.jpg" width="400" /></a>David Liss of <b>Mystery Men</b> (the Marvel comic, not the movie) has been slated as the writer. He is a good writer and captures the pulp era well in his few comic credits at Marvel. The Spider is even trickier to capture correctly by modern writers than the Shadow though. Both seem to have the problem that modern writers cannot get past the violence and the Spider is even moreso than the Shadow. But, Norvell Page wrote the character of Wentworth and the Spider as one of intense passion in everything he did. It was his passion of empathy for his fellow man, for the endangered innocents and the hatred of the crooks that cops could not touch through their cleverness, audacity or just ability at working the system that drove him to meet steel with steel at great personal risk. He operates in a world where the common gangsters are along the lines of Hitler and Stalin and can be opposed by one man if he's daring enough. There seems to be an inability of many to really grasp that, only seeing the extreme violence and portray the character as being one of questionable sanity. Once you start questioning his sanity, you really lose what the character is supposed to be about. The Spider takes great gambles with life on the line, but he's always a sane man in an insane situation. He's no more nuts than John McClane in the movie <b>Die Hard</b>.<br />
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I have to admit, I'm not enamored of the interior artwork presented. The computerized coloring is very evident and makes everything look a bit too pristine and artificial looking without communicating any sense of mood or atmosphere. I had forgotten to list that yesterday of among the things I tend to not like of Dynamite's books. The coloring often obliterates the line work. Which is fine if your colorist is actually a painter and painting the books, but the coloring is often obviously done on a computer by a colorist that doesn't seem to understand using coloring to communicate mood, story or even how to facilitate "reading" the illustrations and stories that are being printed over reading the comic via computer monitor. Colors are often too dark or too saturated, everything is lit as if it is being lit in a studio with harsh lights producing bright highlights and shadows on every object. Every surface has an obvious gradient to it. Backgrounds and moving objects all are blurred, every light produces lens flares. The end result is not making the art look more realistic than the old coloring methods but just unrealistic in different ways. If anything, the use of filters and gradients in efforts to make the artwork look more photo-realistic often has the opposite effect by highlighting the unrealistic nature of the artwork. It's like watching David Boreanaz acting opposite cartoon Stewie Griffin.<br />
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Meanwhile, there's no sense of movement in the panels presented. The characters all look like they are posing for photo stills from a movie set traced over in photoshop judging by the cold unvarying line widths. A comic doesn't have actual movement, a single panel often needs to communicate three bits of time simultaneously: suggest the movement a second before, the present, as well as the result of a second after. There's zero movement, mood or passion in the pages presented. It looks "realistic" but in a very staid, antiseptic way. The exact opposite of the effect you want to go for with characters like these. Again, look to Marvel's <b>Mystery Men</b> to see it being done right.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-82501194764536235842011-08-17T13:11:00.000-07:002011-08-17T13:13:20.466-07:00The Shadow at Dynamite<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0FOsURDCYfQ/TkwfDzF8bPI/AAAAAAAABCc/qohCVLSTQoc/s1600/shadow3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0FOsURDCYfQ/TkwfDzF8bPI/AAAAAAAABCc/qohCVLSTQoc/s400/shadow3.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>Dynamite (the publisher of Zorro, Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Black Terror) has announced that it has acquired the rights to Street & Smith's pulp hero the Shadow. Dynamite as a company has a history of announcing things before they are finalized (The Fighting American, the Phantom), so here's hoping this one doesn't come back and bite them in the next few days.<br />
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No announcement of a set creative team but here's hoping it doesn't include Alex Ross (Other than covers of course) or Kevin Smith. The good news is the announcement talks about the history of the character but nothing about re-designs or working to make the character more palatable to today's audiences that generally pop up in their announcements and talks about classic characters. Maybe they learned something from DC's crash and burn with the pulp and Red Circle heroes. It's telling that when they talked about the Kirby heroes of <b>Kirby's Genesis</b> they talked about how they were keeping faithful to the designs and looks of the characters. So there's hope that they have learned something.<br />
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The biggest fear should probably be decompressed storytelling, first issues that don't have the hero in action at all. This has been part of Dynamite's general storytelling, long drawn out origin stories, writing for the trade market and not the monthly comicbook market. There should be action and mystery in the first issue.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hJphwPt2mLE/Tkwe2LxIW6I/AAAAAAAABCM/KE2vOytsF9w/s1600/shadow1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hJphwPt2mLE/Tkwe2LxIW6I/AAAAAAAABCM/KE2vOytsF9w/s400/shadow1.jpg" width="295" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1El6nIxTKbg/Tkwe9KVzkZI/AAAAAAAABCU/yrVLIas9TCw/s1600/shadow2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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Dynamite does have a good pool of writers and artists to draw from, but are any up to writing the character. Wagner from <b>Green Hornet: Year One</b> seems to have a grasp of the time period, and Francovilla has a good feel of mood and style that the title should call for. Maybe they could lure Gerard Jones and Eduardo Barreto back to comics and a character they did so well years ago.<br />
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Some wonderful preview images though.<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1El6nIxTKbg/Tkwe9KVzkZI/AAAAAAAABCU/yrVLIas9TCw/s1600/shadow2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1El6nIxTKbg/Tkwe9KVzkZI/AAAAAAAABCU/yrVLIas9TCw/s400/shadow2.jpg" width="267" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hJphwPt2mLE/Tkwe2LxIW6I/AAAAAAAABCM/KE2vOytsF9w/s1600/shadow1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-48490972153184032962011-06-15T15:16:00.000-07:002011-06-15T15:20:55.509-07:00Doc Savage Returns!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Eq_p2zvoYvM/TfktffaS4II/AAAAAAAABAk/rvOMAbYPgS4/s1600/desertdemons_cvr.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Eq_p2zvoYvM/TfktffaS4II/AAAAAAAABAk/rvOMAbYPgS4/s400/desertdemons_cvr.png" width="271" /></a><br />
Just got word that come July, Altus Press will release New Doc Savage novels written by pulp historian and writer Will Murray! The first book will be titled "Desert Demons" and include Doc's full crew as well as Pat Savage.<br />
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With DC's First Wave comics coming to an end and their mishandling of the various pulp characters, it's good news to hear that new books will be coming out. Murray has written several Doc novels under the old Kenneth Robeson byline. Making use of un-used Lester Dent outlines and plots, he penned novels that were longer than the old pulp novels but easily fitting in stylistically with the various ghosts Dent employed to toil under the Kenneth Robeson bylines. He achieved something almost impossible with the novels. He managed to tell stories that fit in stylistically and spiritually with the original stories and keep the characters in character and on model without actually coming off as parody or pastiche of another man's characters and style.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7o5vCcaPMk/TfktfZByOVI/AAAAAAAABAs/dEaxj9gNFS0/s1600/DocSavage.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R7o5vCcaPMk/TfktfZByOVI/AAAAAAAABAs/dEaxj9gNFS0/s400/DocSavage.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Murray's <b>White Eyes</b> stands out as a master crook organizes an underworld army and storms Doc's 86th Floor headquarters hoping to take out the hero and his crew. His<b> Forgotten Realm</b> is a wonderful lost race novel that has Doc investigating a mysterious man called X-Man. The story is a bit reminiscent of Kuttner's much shorter Thunder Jim Wade adventure "Waters of Death".<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rUqymrwEwkE/TfktgVfUeMI/AAAAAAAABA8/6nRf6XhEIps/s1600/white-eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
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DeVito will be the cover artist making use of photos of the late Steve Holland, model for Bama's and Larkin's Doc Savage covers for Bantam. Holland was also used as model for the Spider, Avenger, and many other paperback covers. He also starred as Flash Gordon in a short-lived tv series in the 1950s.<br />
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Several of the older Murray Doc novels are being released as audio books for those that like to listen vs reading.<br />
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Also on the docket, least last I heard, is a reprint of Marvel's excellent b/w Doc Savage comic series. Now, if someone could do a comic series in the spirit of that magazine, that managed to meet the demands of comics and visual storytelling with the spirit and characterization of the original characters and making each immediately recognizable from the pulp descriptions (in fact, that series is how I usually picture the characters when reading the comics). <br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xzTgXp5voL4/TfktgIbgx0I/AAAAAAAABA0/EUSd98ZJ9eE/s1600/docsavage1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xzTgXp5voL4/TfktgIbgx0I/AAAAAAAABA0/EUSd98ZJ9eE/s400/docsavage1.jpg" width="292" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-18653491619523456892011-04-13T16:57:00.000-07:002011-04-13T16:59:03.524-07:00The Spider copyrights?So, I was bumming around the internet and found a reference that claimed that the first year of the Spider pulps were not renewed, but were starting with issue 13 by Argosy. This sounded a little fishy, so I checked some of my pulp reprints which happened to have a few from the first year. Now, those reprints do list a renewal of them being done in 1961. Curious, I then checked one of my go-to resources for <a href="http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/index.html">copyright research online</a>. There, checking the renewal pages from the years 1960 and 1961 as well as their list of periodicals' first renewal dates, and they all bore out that the Spider was NOT renewed until the 1934 v4n1 issue (whereas the first Spider pulps were published in 1933). I wonder if the "v4n1" threw the reprinters into thinking those were the first issues? Or, is there a gap in the research? Someone's obviously making a mistake. Pity I don't have another trip to DC and the Library of Congress planned anytime soon.<br />
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Does have me interested in trying to read the Spiders reprinted so far in actual chronological order. I'm not even sure if I have read the first one or not.<br />
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However, my next review will either be the G-8 novel "The Beast Staffel" or the first two Avenger novels, all of which I've read in the last couple of weeks. Currently reading Secret Agent X adventure "The Curse of the Mandarin Fan" which has been highly enjoyable so far.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-3538313506287759942011-04-05T09:20:00.000-07:002011-04-05T09:25:50.002-07:00The Spider: In Comics & Pulps<h3 class="post-title">The Spider in Comics. </h3><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RMDjOW3qocg/TZe0Y1hGVzI/AAAAAAAAA-w/tJXUMCKBkj8/s1600/spider.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RMDjOW3qocg/TZe0Y1hGVzI/AAAAAAAAA-w/tJXUMCKBkj8/s400/spider.jpg" width="260" /></a> <b>The Spider</b> - Moonstone has recently released two different comics featuring the pulp hero, the Spider. I've not been enamored with their illustrated prose versions of the character. To be fair, the Spider is a difficult character to capture in comic form. He's violent in a similar way that the Shadow is violent. However, the worlds the two operate in are very different. The Shadow takes on gangs, his opponents are frequently the Al Capones of the world. In the Spider's world criminal empires are headed not merely by brutal and murderous men, but by socio-and psychopaths. They kill in fantastic and horrible ways, using terror and destruction of the social order in order to gain their goals of power and financial gain. Which is what trips most writers up, they see his over-the-top violent and insane world, his own passion and confuse the two. The violent insane style of the stories gets identified as part of the Spider's character. This shouldn't be the case. The Spider should be a passionate man and willing to kill, but he shouldn't seem to be any more insane than Willis' character in<b> Die Hard</b> or the Shadow in his stories.<br />
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The first issue of what I assume will be an ongoing comic with a cover by Dan Bereton and story by Martin Powell and Pablo Marcos really manages to deliver the goods. It pits the Spider against a mad surgeon and his Frankenstein-like monsters, showing an understanding of the secret of the Spider is he is normally pitted against extreme and monstrous foes, in this case quite literally. Several Spider stories deal with turning normal people into monstrous and mindless foes, so this seems a natural fit. Overall, the story seems almost a merging of classic DC horror/thriller stories from the 1970s with Batman, but not quite achieving the final polish to push it beyond being pretty good to truly memorable.<br />
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Part of it may be the length as the comic also features another pulp hero, Operator 5. A character I've not really gotten into in the pulps and the first chapter of the story here doesn't really grab me either.<br />
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Moonstone also is re-releasing Mark Wheatley's Spider comic story "Burning Lead for the Walking Dead" though with some slight tweaking. Like Powell's story, this one is a monster/horror story though more of the human variety, where a villain seeks to subvert and destroy the underpinning of human society and culture.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H3GHsxbCHCE/TZe0ZLS258I/AAAAAAAAA-4/bRWiqKrtXlc/s1600/spider_walkingdead.jpg" style="clear: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H3GHsxbCHCE/TZe0ZLS258I/AAAAAAAAA-4/bRWiqKrtXlc/s400/spider_walkingdead.jpg" width="200" /></a>Wheatley's comic is longer and is especially strong. His artwork at times reminds of the stylish Tim Sale. Out of his Spider garb and in tattered shirt, Wentworth looks like he could hold his own against Doc Savage. Many elements of the pulps find their way into the comic and as a stand-alone, it works as a very good comic pastiche of the pulp hero. We have Kirkpatrick suspicious but unable to prove Wentworth is the Spider, yet the villains having no trouble with piercing that veil, a very common theme. And, while Wentworth wears the Spider garb, for much of story he is forced into action as himself yet somehow able to preserve the fact that he and the Spider are two different people. As an added bonus, Wheatley talks in the back how the story came about and his love for the character and pulps (constrast that with how Azzarello talked about Doc Savage and the pulps).<br />
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Both comics feature the Spider as he's sometimes described in the pulps but seemingly at odds with how he appeared on the pulp covers. The pulps were never totally consistent with the Spider's guise which at times also included false fangs and hump. As I noted, many times he went into action in disguise or even as Wentworth, just leaving no survivors to tell the tale. Moonstone's version is a compromise between the descriptions in the story and the pulp covers by including a dark wig from the stories and the mask on the covers. Wheatley's original version of the comic was with gray/white hair and sans mask. In my own mind's eye, I tend to see him as the covers depict him, as those images were often powerful and iconic looking.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgzyqZRbsG4/TZs081fy29I/AAAAAAAAA_A/b2zzdC2qzns/s1600/the-spider-mayor-of-hell.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vgzyqZRbsG4/TZs081fy29I/AAAAAAAAA_A/b2zzdC2qzns/s400/the-spider-mayor-of-hell.jpg" width="225" /></a><b>The Mayor of Hell</b>: Girasol Collectibles does the "Pulp Doubles" reprints of the Spider and #15 delivers two powerful Spider tales with one of those wonderful covers I mentioned. What's especially great about this cover is that while it's actually to the second story and illustrates a scene from it, it also works thematically for the first story (and is a far more powerful cover than the actual cover for "The Mayor of Hell").<br />
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If I was giving a Spider pulp for someone to read as an introduction to the character, it wouldn't be "The Mayor of Hell" (#28, January, 1936). It takes many of the elements of the Spider character and cranks them all up several notches to the point that it's as comparable to many of the standard novels as the standard ones are to the Shadow novels. It is a rollercoaster of a read though and never is the character so hard-pressed against a criminal organization.<br />
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Girasol doesn't print these in order and my reading of them is not even in the order they print them so it is a surprise that Kirkpatrick here is not Commissioner, but Governor of the state! Although, this seems a status quo that the novel is setting out to rectify as he's impeached on trumped up charges and the current Commissioner seems a pawn of the villain.<br />
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The story starts off strong and never lets you go. Wentworth is at home relaxing and playing the violin when there is an assassination attempt on his life followed by cops come to take him for being the Spider, dead or alive. Beset by two groups of foes, each eager to kill him and trapped in his burning home becoming an inferno, there are pages of him and his men battling to stay alive. That the cops themselves seem murderous and corrupt, he's forced to go against his long-standing policy to not fight the police. It's pages of violent action that ends with his aides captured and he is badly wounded and believed to be dead!<br />
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Often the stories have him badly wounded but bravely fighting on, but here he is taken out of the action early on. Cared for by an elderly man, his daughter and ex-cop fiance, it is six weeks before he is lucid again. They don't know his identity, but are bitter at the police and at first seem just common crooks, an irony not lost on Wentworth. Overall, it's two months of him out of the action, rebuilding his strength while the Mayor of Hell takes over the city government, the police and the newspapers. With the Spider and Wentworth believed to be dead, he takes on a new identity, that of Corporal Death and with his new allies, tackles the corruption and men of the Mayor, actively warring on the police. His face bears the scars of his ordeal, to the point he's not readily identifiable as Richard Wentworth or the Spider.<br />
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The battle is a long and arduous one. His new allies are soon taken from him as well, a disgraced Kirkpatrick is on the verge of suicide and Wentworth must seek allies in the form of one brave small newspaper to ferment a revolution of the general populace to re-instate Kirkpatrick as Commissioner.<br />
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Even after the story ends, it doesn't resolve the dilemma of the Spider's death, his new identity or his facial scars, the old status quo has not been completely re-instated. A pity that the second story in the reprint is not the next issue.<br />
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<b>Fangs of the Dragon:</b> By comparison, "Fangs of the Dragon" (#107, August, 1942) is almost forgettable. The mystery is one that might confront Doc Savage or the Shadow as Richard Wentworth aka the Spider goes to the relatively small town of Bethbury to investigate what seems to be an outbreak of murderous criminal insanity among normal people. This disease of crime seems to be transmitted by flying glowing dragons.<br />
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What helps set it apart is the language and storytelling is top-notch, from the impending horror on what seems a normal every-day evening in an average to the description of the Spider swinging through the night sky with his cape billowing out behind him. Also on hand is Nita Van Sloan, always one of the more capable and brave of pulp heroes' love interests, in this case insisting on fully sharing the dangers and missions of Wentworth and showing herself of capably mimicking his disguised features. I've read other stories where she dons the garb to distract the police and criminals, this is written as if it's the first time she does so.<br />
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There's a great series of scenes that's pure pulp/movie serial genre as the Spider is pursuing a foe through the villain's headquarters and must pit himself against all sorts of outlandish death-traps. Who would design a building like this, that would almost surely kill you or your henchmen someday not to mention would actually hinder any kind of quick getaway? But, it makes for exciting reading as the hero must pit both body and mind to just trying to stay alive in a situation that he cannot solve by simply blasting away with his guns.<br />
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The story is thematic similar to the first one in that in both the Spider has to contend with the possibilities of corrupted city governments, that he must not merely fear the system doing its proper duty, but the turning of it into a nigh unstoppable criminal machine devoted to his destruction. And, both feature prominent to their plots, the death of Richard Wentworth!<br />
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Wonderful reads!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-60751657543325142882011-03-10T15:03:00.000-08:002011-04-02T15:27:20.976-07:00Lester Dent's Lee Nace, the Blond Adder<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TJWA3eorPeo/TXlTuVDDtjI/AAAAAAAAA-s/k4Ge27JtDts/s1600/lee_nace.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TJWA3eorPeo/TXlTuVDDtjI/AAAAAAAAA-s/k4Ge27JtDts/s320/lee_nace.jpg" width="212" /></a>Altus Press has recently published a nice paperback "reprinting" five of Lester Dent's Lee Nace aka the Blond Adder short-stories. Certain creators become associated with certain archetype characters. Johnston McCully of Zorro fame created many outlaw or rogue heroes along the lines of Frank Packard's Grey Seal character and others. Golden age comic artist Fred Guardineer would be known for his many magician heroes patterned mostly after Lee Falk's Mandrake. Will Everett will forever be linked to the underwater characters. For Lester Dent, it's gadget heroes, the ultimate example being Doc Savage.<br />
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Nace has a lot in common with Doc. While he is a private detective, he holds various degrees including Law and Medicine. He's famous for recently having consulted with Scotland Yard. Doesn't carry a gun but is a crack shot. He carries on his person various hidden gadgets and devices but is quick to make do with whatever's at hand. He's Doc's crew rolled into one. He is unusually tall , somewhat shaggy hair (to disguise a notched ear), fair complexion, described as being physically fit but thin and bony or knobby, and extremely capable in a fight. And, he's quick to notice the ladies and pursue them. He is set apart by the fact that he has a scar on his forehead in the shape of a coiled snake about to strike, a souvenir given to him by a Chinaman who threw a knife at him with a handle shaped in that fashion which struck him thus.<br />
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The Lee Nace stories appeared in<b> Ten Detective Aces</b> in 1933, during Doc Savage's first year of adventures at Street & Smith. This is important because Dent did not create Doc Savage from scratch, the basic outlines of the characters presented to him. In Nace, one can see Dent exploring similar themes and storytelling tricks that he'd use on Doc, showing exactly how much of his style and ideas ended up in the Doc Savage characters. Nace had some darts concealed in buttons and a single shot gun built into the heel of one of his shoes that he had practiced with until he was a crack shot. More familiar is Nace's habit of wearing a bullet-proof skull cap outfitted with a copy of his own somewhat shaggy hair. Then, there's his not carrying a gun, for the psychological reason that a man who carries one will become dependent on it and be helpless when it's taken from him. Nace also meets his extremely capable and beautiful female cousin Julia. Unlike Doc in this case, he takes her on as an assistant and makes capable use of her abilities.<br />
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The Lee Nace stories are interesting in another regard. A few years later, Dent would write a few stories for <b>Black Mask</b>, where he would refine his writing style that had grown a bit purple writing the Doc novels. In his Oscar Sail stories, he wrote very deliberate and plain sentences handed out with a staccato delivery. <span id="more-223"></span><br />
<blockquote>“Sail”</blockquote><blockquote>The fish shook its head as the knife cut off its head. Red ran out of the two parts and the fluid spread enough to cover the wet red mark where two human hands had failed to hold to the dock edge. </blockquote><blockquote>Oscar Sail wet the palms of his own left hand in the puddle. </blockquote><blockquote>The small policeman kept coming out on the dock, tramping in the rear edge of glare from his flashlight. </blockquote><blockquote>Sail split the fish belly, shook it over the edge of the yacht dock, and there were some splashes below in the water. The stuff from the fish made the red stain in the water a little larger. </blockquote><blockquote>When the small policeman reached Sail, he stopped and gave his cap a cock, he looked down at Sail’s feet and up at Sail’s head </blockquote><blockquote>The cop said, “Damned if you ain’t a long drink of water." </blockquote><blockquote>Sail said nothing. </blockquote><blockquote>The cop asked, “That you give that yell a minute ago?” </blockquote><blockquote>Sail showed plenty of teeth so that his grin would be seen in the moonlight. He picked up the fishhook and held it close to his red-wetted left palm. </blockquote><blockquote>“Little accident,” he said.</blockquote>(by Lester Dent; published in<b> Black Mask</b> in 1936)<br />
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Compare that with: <br />
<blockquote>She was tall, blonde, streamlined. The roadster was long, cream-colored, and also streamlined.</blockquote><blockquote>She was making motions at powdering her nose, using a pancake compact with a mirror fully four inches across She held it braced against the steering wheel.</blockquote><blockquote>Utter concentration rode her long, beautiful face. The big, flat powder puff dabbed the compact with strangely erratic frequency. It slapped only the mirror - never the powder cake.</blockquote><blockquote>Oklahoma sunlight, white and hot, sprayed blonde and roadster. To the right, it cooked evergreen stucco buildings of the Tulsa Municipal Airport. To the left, it toasted flat classroom and barrack structures of a school of aeronautics.<br />
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In spasms, the sun leaped from the blonde's compact mirror. Her powder puff whipping systematically, was dividing the beam into dots and dashes.<br />
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On hands and knees beside the airport waiting room, Lee Nace crawled. He was very long, bony, blue-eyed. He was gathering together the wind-scattered sheets of a letter. </blockquote>(<i>The Tank of Terror</i> - <b>Ten Detective Aces</b> 1933)<br />
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Nace is also more of a hard-boiled hero. He speaks in similar short, curt sentences, direct with everyone he meets. He's prone to anger and excitement, bringing out his scar in lurid detail. He carries and smokes a pipe and is constantly replacing the stems as he's prone to chewing or biting through them in quick succession. While the gadget-detective/adventurer seems a bit rooted in juvenile fiction, the style and humor here is more understated than the Doc novels, easily presaging his work at <b>Black Mask</b> and later suspense novels <b>Lady Afraid </b>and <b>Dead at the Takeoff</b>.<br />
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The stories are deemed of the "weird menace" variety of pulps. Meaning that there was a habit of corpses being found in strange positions or killed in bizarre but ultimately plausible ways. Only one story really veers into Doc Savage science-fiction territory and even then barely so. Of the lot, only one has a truly memorable villain though. In <i>The Tank of Terror</i>, we meet Robin Hood Lloyd, a bad guy with his own code of honor who is tied to the mystery in some way. Lloyd is based on gangster Pretty Boy Floyd (there's also a veiled reference to Al Capone). He comes across as an interesting character in his own right as he is quick on the draw and seems to have a favorite past-time in killing those he doesn't like. However, he has that code of honor that only allows him to shoot someone in a fair fight, if they have a gun. He desperately wants to kill Nace and makes many threats, if he could only catch him carrying a gun.<br />
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It's a nice looking paperback, and the first from Altus Press that I've received. As I was thinking about ordering another one of their books, it's good to get one to verify that it's slickly and professionally done. There's some cool added features such as Dent's notes describing the character of Lee Nace and a sample of the rough draft of one of the stories with notations of changes by Dent.<br />
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One thing that strikes me odd is that the five stories have passed into public domain, but all five have been re-copyrighted as of 2010 to the Estate of Norma Dent. While Altus is within their rights to copyright their book, the original stories themselves cannot be copyrighted again. Derivative works does allow for something that's been remastered or heavily re-edited to exist under a new copyright (hence Ted Turner is able to copyright colorized versions of public domain movies, companies cleaning up and re-presenting old b/w movies and old-time radio shows, and golden-age comic book reprints that have undergone re-coloring processes, all can be copyrighted under a new copyright). The foreword does state that four of the stories have been re-edited per notes left behind by Lester Dent, making these sort of a "Director's Cut" edition. By that standard, FOUR of the stories could be re-copyrighted, but according to the copyright notice, all FIVE of them have been. I find that strange if there's no other reasoning behind it.<br />
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It's just me, but I also want to know just in what form the re-editing took place. I like annotated books that explain some of the process. But, it's possible that difference between Dent's notes and the final published version could be nothing more than further changes he willingly and deliberately made when typing the final version, thus what we're getting here would be older drafts in places and not what he intended as the final story. Plus, I like comparing different versions, sometimes the writer's original vision is better, sometimes the editor's. <b>Bladerunner</b> is a better movie with the voice-over narration, it nails the film-noir atmosphere of the sci-fi story.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707689571622754750.post-73796649580563906802011-01-24T09:55:00.000-08:002011-01-24T09:55:18.817-08:00Calling, The Green Ghost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4i5wLMjzNM/TT28YFhypdI/AAAAAAAAA8I/_lWIz6z-0dE/s1600/green-ghost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4i5wLMjzNM/TT28YFhypdI/AAAAAAAAA8I/_lWIz6z-0dE/s400/green-ghost.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
"The Green Ghost"<br />
Author: Johnston McCulley<br />
Original Source: THRILLING DETECTIVE 03/34, Standard Magazines.<br />
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The more famous of the Green Ghosts is probably Standard's George Chance, magician turned pulp hero/detective who starred in his own pulp first as the Ghost and later as the Green Ghost. However, Chance wasn't the first character to call himself the Ghost nor the Green Ghost. There were at least two Green Ghosts that preceded him, one even published by the same company.<br />
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McCulley's Green Ghost was the second of the pulp heroes to call himself by that name. Danny Blaney was once an honest and good cop. When he's framed by crooks, even though there's not enough evidence to send him to trial, he's still believed to be guilty by his peers and loses his badge. Hating both crooks and the police, he embarks on a career as the Green Ghost, who steals from the crooks while also solving crimes in order to show up the police. As the Green Ghost, Danny wears a light green hood and gloves along with a non-descript black suit and dark shirt. He has no special skills other than being a clever detective and a good shot. He is prone to using a blackjack in order to subdue crooks, not relying on any special fighting skills or strength. He covers his ill-gotten income by claiming an inheritance from a distant relative and opens an all-hours cigar stand where has at least one staff member, a night clerk.<br />
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In his first story, we are nearing the end of an investigation. A jewel robbery has recently been done and he waylays two flunkies, "Snoopy" Carns and Bill Sorsten. He relieves them of most of their loot and then allows them to get away, to report to their chief, Max Ganler. Ganler specializes in ironclad alibis, built around the maxim that one person cannot be in two places at once. Claney is convinced that Max helped them with the robbery but the crook has an alibi as throwing a party for his best girl, Lily Ratch, that has lasted all night. As the Green Ghost he confronts Ganler before his witnesses and police detective Tim O'Ryan to show how it was done.<br />
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McCulley specialized in the rogue heroes, masked men that operated outside the law in order to bring about justice. His characters and style is in keeping with the works of Frank Packard and his big creation, the Grey Seal. With the Green Ghost there are some interesting choices such as Blaney is not bothered by suplementing his income with stolen goods as long as he can manage to embarrass both the crooks and the police. There's no greater good or social justice underpinning his actions as in the Moon Man stories. His disguise and abilities aren't all that great and the debut story is fairly prosaic. It's lacking the oomph to elevate it to the next level of being truly memorable.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Read more at <a href="http://pulpreader.blogspot.com/" title="Pulp Reader">Pulp Reader</a>.</div>cash_gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016914226368450646noreply@blogger.com0