Monthly Archive: November 2012

Mindy Newell: Frakkin’ Ho-Ho-Ho!

Well, I haven’t heard Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song yet – the Festival of Lights starts at sunset on Saturday, December 8th – but I did hear a rant about the War on Christmas on the radio the other day.

Yep, it’s that time of year again. Hallmark Channel has preempted Little House On The Prairie for sickly sweet (and cheaply made) movies with a Christmas theme. Wal-Mart and Target are pushing black Friday – great name for a villain, by the way – and have introduced something called pre-black Friday. Christmas catalogs have been smushed into my mailbox, and the department store halls are beginning to be decked with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la, la-la-la-la I’ve even caught some Christmas commercials on the TV (although the deluge is yet to come.)

So this year ye olde editor Mike Gold and Big Kahuna Glenn Hauman decided to get in on the act of Christmas before Thanksgiving and decreed that this week all of your ComicMix columnists offer their own catalogue of gifts – courtesy of that big Santa’s Workshop in the sky and on the web, Amazon – for the holidays. Which includes Chanukah, and don’t forget Kwanza!

So in no particular order, here we go:

1. Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan. Robin Maxwell. 2012 marks the centennial anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s greatest creation, and Ms. Maxwell, an award-winning historical fiction novelist, has done him proud. Written with the approbation of the Burroughs estate, this is the book for every woman who ever played at being Jane Porter and for every man who ever wanted to be the Tarzan with whom Jane falls in deep, instinctual, forever-and-a-day love. Maxwell’s Jane is no wallflower Edwardian ingénue. A medical student at Cambridge University and an amateur paleoanthropologist, Jane and her father join an expedition into West Africa, and…well, you’ll just have to read it. The novel has garnered praise from such notaries as Jane Goodall and Margaret George, and was featured in the Washington Post and the Huffington Post. Find it here.

2. Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray And DVD). Starring Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Michael Hogan, James Callis, Katie Sackoff, Tricia Helfer, Jamie Bamber, Grace Parks, and more. Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore. This ain’t your father’s Battlestar Galactica! Critically hailed, beloved by fans of science fiction and fans of great drama alike, Moore and his cast (Edward James Olmos as Commander/Admiral William Adama, Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin, Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh, Katie Sackoff as Lt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, Jamie Bamber as Captain Lee “Apollo” Adama, James Callis as Dr. Gaius Baltar, Grace Parks as Lt. Sharon “Boomer” Valerii/Sharon “Athena” Agathorn/Cylon Number 8, Aaron Douglas as Chief Galen Tyrol, Tahmoh Penikett as Lt. Karl “Helo” Agathorn, and Tricia Helfer as the enigmatic Cylon Number Six) weaved a truly epic saga of humanity struggling to survive after devastation. It’s political. It’s sociological. It’s personal and intimate, cosmic and theological. Love, hate, friendship, enmity, jealousy, revenge, forgiveness, life, death. It’s all there. So Say We All! Find it on Amazon.

3. Percy Jackson And The Olympians Hardcover Boxed Set. Rick Riordan. This recommendation comes from Isabel Newell, 12 years old, cellist, equestrienne, singer, and avid reader. Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he’s always getting into trouble…like once there was a snake in his bed and he had strangle it with his own hands! And then he was attacked at school by the Furies! Can he help that he always end up getting expelled from school? (And there have been a lot of schools!) Turns out Percy just happens to be the son of Poseidon, God of the Seas! Which just happens to make Percy not only a demi-god, but a child mentioned in the Great Prophecy! This amazing series gives Harry Potter a run for the money, and is for everybody of all ages who loves mythology and wonder and adventure! Find it on Amazon.

4. Casablanca. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Raines, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Conrad Veidt, and Dooley Wilson. Produced by Hal B. Wallis, Directed by Michael Curtiz, Screenplay by Julius and Philip Epstein and Howard Koch, with music by Max Steiner. Julie Schwartz once told me that there is only one story: Boy Meets Girl. Boy Loses Girl. Boy Gets Girl. This is the essence of what is probably the greatest movie every made by hook or by crook – did you know that pages were constantly rewritten even as filming went on, and that no one knew how it was going to end? Okay, Rick loses Ilsa, but he does get Louis. See, Julie was right! Find it here. Oh, and check out John Ostrander’s wonderful series of columns on Casablanca, right here at ComicMix.

Okay, time to toot my own horn. Mike asked us to recommend something we had written. Hmmmm….

I want to recommend Wonder Woman #86, Chalk Drawings by the great George Pérez, me, and the wondrous Ms. Jill Thompson. It is the story of the aftermath of Lucy Spear’s suicide; there are no easy answers to suicide and it was my decision to reflect that. I’m immensely proud of it and the work that we three did together, and I’ve always been sorry that it did not get the attention it deserved. Find it here.

Oh, and one more thing. Give a gift that really counts for something and truly reflects what the season is all about: donate to the Red Cross, or the Salvation Army, or any of the great charities helping people to recover from Sandy.

That’ll be your gift to me.

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis

 

PRO SE ANNOUNCES ‘WRITE TO THE COVER’ DIGEST AND WELCOMES NEW ARTIST!

  • News
  • November 18, 2012

Pro Se Productions, a publisher of Heroic Fiction and New Pulp, announces a different sort of project for 2013 as well as adding a new artist to its already top notch team of cover creators.

“It’s always great,” Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions, states, “when you come across tremendously talented people who not only are good at what they do, but have a passion for Pulp.   That’s Adam Shaw to a T.”
Shaw, an artist living in Memphis, Tennessee, met Hancock at Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention in early November and expressed an interest in providing covers for upcoming Pro Se titles.  “I was immediately impressed with his work,” Hancock stated, “and glad to be able to arrange for Adam to be a part of the great books Pro Se has coming up.  I was also quite taken with one particular image that Adam showed me from his portfolio.  An image that just screams for a story.”
With Shaw’s permission, Pro Se Productions announces what could be the first in a new series of imprints.  Tentatively under the title of ‘Write To The Cover’, the submission process for this digest anthology is simple enough.    
1.  The story must be based on the following image created by Adam Shaw.  This scene MUST be included in the story.
Property of Adam Shaw, 2012
2.  The story must be 5,000 minimum to 10,000 maximum words.  A 1-3 paragraph proposal must be submitted to Proseproductions@earthlink.net by December 10th, 2012 to be considered. 

3.  If accepted, submitted stories will be given a first come, first print deadline.  When a total of 30,000 words has been received, then the digest will go to publication.  Any other stories received after 30,000 words will go into a second digest, if required.  

4.  Pay for this anthology will be royalty based and percentages will be discussed with accepted writers.  Please note that Pro Se pays agreed upon percentages on every dollar made from the sale of its books.


Hancock points out that this idea was inspired by suggestions and comments made by several writers and players in the Pulp field, including Jeff Deischer, David White, and Derrick Ferguson.  One of those suggestions even inspired a completely different, yet similar project coming from Pro Se in 2013! 

Any questions or comments as well as proposals for the ‘Write To The Cover’ Digest based on the art work of Adam Shaw should be emailed to proseproductions@earthlink.net.  And stay tuned for further announcements very soon concerning books featuring Adam Shaw’s Pulp themed artwork.

REVIEW: Patton

In 1970, the Vietnam war was still raging, people were debating and protesting the Asian struggle and the Greatest generation was wondering what happened to duty, service, and love of country. After a period when World War II movies appeared to have exhausted their welcome at the movie theater, along came Patton with a riveting performance of a true American hero from George C. Scott. Few images that year surpassed the one of Patton on the stage, flanked by the largest American flag ever seen. It seared patriotism into our hearts and minds, reminding us all what it took to win a war.

It did not ignite a fresh wave of war films, but it did stand the test of time, often appearing on Best War Films of All Times lists and Scott will be forever connected with Patton. After all, the film earned seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (George C. Scott), Best Director (Franklin Schaffner), and Best Original Screenplay (Francis Ford Coppola). This 2:52 movie is an unsparing look at a controversial war hero given his rebellious nature, something military command usually frowns on.

The new Blu-ray release from 20th Century Home Entertainment is most welcome and a vast upgrade from the 2008 Blu-ray edition. That was an early conversion of an older film and it didn’t work terribly well, but this new release is fully restored and brings the grime and grit of the European Theater of War into sharp focus. The 65mm production has finally been brought to modern discs in a way that embraces the subject matter and makes for good viewing at home.

General George S. Patton Jr.  was a military genius and he was the first to admit it. He was a harsh, brutal megalomaniac who was also a brilliant strategist. He had the highest casualty count among generals in the field, but he was also the one the Nazi regime feared the most. There is a definite connection between the two facts and exploring that propels the film. Coppola’s script does a fine job exploring the contradictory nature of the man. Additionally, this is one of the first films to portray a less than idealized version of the Allied effort, showing rivalries between American generals and a less than stellar relationship between the British and American commands. Patton himself was driven and therefore drove his men beyond endurance. Nothing would stand in his way, be it shell-shocked soldiers (who deserved a slap in the face, not sympathy) or mules that blocked the road. He gets him comeuppance, though, sent by Dwight D. Eisenhower as a decoy to keep the Germans from stumbling over the Normandy invasion.

The original assortment of special features from the 2008 release are all here in standard definition and it’s fun to hear Coppola in the intro and commentary talk about these early days in his career. The highlight though is History Through the Lens: Patton: A Rebel Revisited (1:30), a feature-length documentary by Ken Burns on the real Patton. Additionally, there are Patton’s Ghost Corps (46:38), giving dozens of surviving veterans a chance to share their memories of serving under Patton; Michael Arick’s 1997 The Making of Patton (49:46), with Scott, Oliver Stone, Richard Zanuck, Jerry Goldsmith, and others talking about the production; Production Still Gallery (36:24); and a Behind the Scenes Gallery (53:19).

John Ostrander: The Bond Evolution

James Bond, as a movie franchise, has been around for fifty years and the franchise celebrates in magnificent fashion with the latest installment, Skyfall. For me, it’s definitely the best thus far of the Daniel Craig Bond movies and it may be my choice for the best of all the Bond movies. I know that “best” is, as often as not, a personal, subjective opinion rather than an objective choice. People can cite certain criteria as the basis of their opinions but who determines the criteria? For example, there are those who regard and will always regard Sean Connery as the best Bond and anything else is heresy.

Let’s look at Skyfall in context of the past fifty years of Bond films. On my list of the best Bond films are From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond, Casino Royale. As much as I really enjoyed the latter, Skyfall is superior.

To start off, we have an A list director in Academy Award winner Sam Mendes (for whom Craig played in Road to Perdition, made from Max Allan Collins’s graphic novel). Together with cinematographer Roger Deakin, there are some stunning visuals in the film. This is the best-looking Bond movie ever.

The action set pieces, including the opening, are breathtaking, as are the opening credits by Daniel Kleinman, who also did several other Bond films including Casino Royale. The visuals in the opening credits actually play into the story and what has just happened onscreen with a hallucinatory effect.

A Bond film also heavily depends on its villain and with Javier Bardem’s Silva we have one of the greats. You can detect a touch of Heath Ledger’s Joker in him but not blazingly so. He smiles, he laughs, he’s brilliant, he’s predatory and he lusts for Bond’s body. Bardem knows how to both underplay the character and take him over the top. Considering that the character doesn’t even appear for the first hour or so into the film, the impact is indelible.

A Bond story doesn’t always have to make sense; it often provides the framework for the derring-do and the action but this one actually digs a bit into both the character of Bond and of his boss, M, played by the stunning Judi Dench. She is so tough and no nonsense that she could have been a white, British Amanda Waller. The most important relationship in the film is between M and Bond and ultimately it’s very touching, very human. The story doesn’t just keep everything very status quo; the situation and the characters are challenged and there is change.

The movie lets Bond fail early on, lets him get seedy, lets him fall off the mark in his skills so that he has to work to reclaim them. It addresses the question of whether or not Bond and M are dinosaurs, are they truly needed in this age of computer wizardry. (Yes, they are.) It also addresses the fact that Craig, and Bond, are getting older. In the Roger Moore era, it was glossed over as they gave Moore turtlenecks to hide his wattle. Here, Bond looks older, more worn, and it is suggested to him that he has lost a step or two and maybe its time for him to retire.

The movie pays service to the Bond films of the past without being strictly tied to its continuity. It doesn’t reboot the franchise so much as evolves it. During much of the Moore era, the franchise just got silly and even later incarnations didn’t change things much. Then the Bourne movies came out and the status quo changed. Bond had to change as well and that started with Casino Royale but has found its culmination here. At the same time, the Bond franchise doesn’t shy away from its past; there is a suggestion that between the last film, Quantum of Solace, and now many of the previous Bond adventures may have taken place, specifically Goldfinger. It redefines Bond and his world so that they work for today.

Skyfall digs deeper, attempts more, looks better, and challenges both the characters and us, more so than any other Bond film. Yes, I’m including From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. That’s why I’m saying it is the best Bond film ever. And don’t we want it that way? The best is not the past; it’s now and, hopefully, in the future. When people ask me what is the best story I’ve written, I always say, “The next one.” I hope to go to my grave thinking that. Gives us something to work for and to look forward to. Me? I can’t wait. Bring on the next Bond!

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

 

FORTIER TAKES ON ‘THE BAT STAFFEL’ WITH G-8!

  • News
  • November 17, 2012

ALL PULP REVIEWS- by Ron Fortier
G-8 And His BATTLE ACES
THE BAT STAFFEL
By Robert J. Hogan
A Berkley Medallion Book
Cover by Jim Steranko
Dated 1969
142 pages
As most pulp fans know, back in the late 1960s and early 70s, many paperback publishers began reprinting the old classic pulp magazines.  The most popular of these reprint series were the Doc Savage books with the stylized James Bama covers and the Conan adventures as defined by master artist, Frank Frazetta.  Of course many other pulp heroes also received the paperback treatment as the fad caught on for several years introducing a whole new generation of readers to these classic figures.  Among some of the other heroes to find new life in the small softcover market were the Avenger, the Shadow, Operator 5 and the man known as the Flying Master Spy, G-8 And His Battle Aces.
Put out by Popular Publications, G-8 was one of many aviation heroes of the time to include Bill Barnes and Dusty Ayres amongst others.  Yet his magazine was the one with the longest run.  Debuting in October of 1933 it went to produce a whopping 110 issues; all of them written by Robert J. Hogan.  Another uniqueness with this title was the fact that Popular allowed Hogan’s name to be used. The habit of the pulps was to create a bogus house-name for a monthly series so that they could employ multiple writers, as most of them did, without the fans being any the wiser.  Not so with Hogan, who at the height of his career was writing three monthly books and numerous short stories to compile a staggering average of 200,000 words a month; a feat no other American writer has ever equaled. 
Robert Jasper Hogan was the son of a Dutch Reformer minister born in 1897 and raised in Buskirk, NY.  A graduate of St. Lawrence University, before turning to writing full time, he was a cowboy, a boxer, piano player, pilot and airplane salesman.  Thus his realistic descriptions of G-8’s aerial combats have a ring of authenticity to them.  Hogan became friends with many veteran airmen who had fought in World War One and he based a great deal of his adventures on them and their exploits while at the same adding a heavy dose of the macabre.  Each of his G-8 adventures were an efficient blend of spy thriller, aviation adventure and horror fantasy.
Although aware of the character, I’d never read a G-8 story before and decided to correct that while attending this year’s Pulp Fest in Columbus, Ohio.  Luckily, with the help of pulp fan David Walker, I managed to find three of those Berkley paperback reprints including the very first G-8 novel, THE BAT STAFFEL.  It is a solid, rousing debut of the series introducing us not only to the mysterious G-8, whose true identity we are never to learn, but his colorful supporting cast to include his British valet, Battle and his soon to be arch nemesis, Herr Doktor Krueger, the Kairser’s number one mad scientist.  Krueger has developed a deadly poison gas that, when inhaled, turns its victims into piles of ashes.  The German air corps has built half a dozen flying machines resembling giant bats and fitted them with tanks to carry the deadly fumes.
No sooner does G-8 discover this plot then the Bat Staffel attacks a small French town and completely decimates it.  Infuriated by this merciless savagery, G-8 flies off to combat these bat-planes single handedly and is almost done in.  Fortunately he is saved by two American pilots who come to his aid.  The first is the small, happy-go-lucky Nippy Weston who has a penchant for magic tricks and practical jokes and then there is the former college All American Half Back, Bull Martin is a giant of fellow with a granite-like jaw and the heart of a kitten.
Loyal to a fault, Nippy and Weston, upon discovering they have just saved the famous spy, G-8, enthusiastically sign on to be his wingmen in his campaign to foil the Bat Staffel.  From that point on the three of them escape one dangerous death-trap after another, each using his flying skills and other abilities to stay alive and defeat their enemies.  THE BAT STAFFEL is a fast paced, truly imaginative glimpse back into the heyday of the pulps and a fantastic introduction to one of pulpdom’s all time greatest heroes.  Next time you’re at a pulp convention, follow my lead and hunt up copies of G-8  And His Battle Aces.  You won’t be disappointed.

Marc Alan Fishman: Licensed to Bore

As a rule of thumb (the very same thumb I referenced not seven days ago), I stay away from licensed books. How did I come to that rule? It’s one engrained in my loathing of fan-fiction. Gasp! I’ve never, ever, (ever-ever) appreciated the world of fan-fiction. The whole notion that one’s love of a property goes so far they must appropriate the universe another writer created for their own nefarious purposes seems weak to me. Why limit oneself to the rules of another’s whims when the post-modern world allows for infinite homage, pastiche, and appropriation? Given the pre-sales of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (go Katie Cook!), I’m obviously in the wrong.

But Marc, you fickle bastard, you’ve just argued yourself into a corner! You, who have lamented on countless occasions how you’d love to write for Marvel and DC… don’t you realize if you were given a run on Green Lantern, Batman, or the Slingers, you would in essence be “limiting oneself to the rules of someone else’s whims?” Too true.

And when DC and Marvel hire me, you’re welcome to call me a hypocrite.

There’s nuance to this argument, and my greater point stands true. Writing for mainstream comics is its own beast, one I’m sure to tackle soon. For the time being, stay with me.

The fact is that amongst the small presses (still large enough to get rack space) are almost entirely engrained with this unyielding genre, save perhaps for Image or Valiant. Certainly we know why: licensed properties bring with them a given fan-base. For much of Dark Horse, IDW, Boom, and Dynamite’s catalogs are siphoning life-force from the lost and misspent youth of their target demographic. And since I’m no Bob Wayne, I simply don’t know how well it’s boding for any of them. The ideology that the comic buying audience at large is desperate to read more tales set inside the Hellraiser, Battlestar: Galatica, and the Ghostbusters seems legitimate, if only on paper (heh). But when I see the book on the shelf, it is truly taxing to find reason to open the gates again on properties built elsewhere.

Perhaps it’s my fear that licensed comics seem far from canon (that is to say that their contributions will hold true forever). Perhaps it’s my fear that adding to existing canon makes it harder to enjoy. I can’t tell you how many times my unshaven cohort Matt has given me the verbal Wikipedia entry on all that has gone down in Transformers extended properties (novels, comics, soft-core porn). And every time? My eyes glaze over, and I’m immediately reminded that I’m happy to have the G1 box set and Beast Wars and call it a day. It’s this fear of the overwrought rules and backstory one needs to know that stifles any anticipated joy in reading a licensed book.

But what if the teams involved are at the top of their game? Creative teams be damned. Truly, if you told me Alex Ross would paint over a Mark Waid script of G.I. Joe… and that it was the best work ever put out by either one of them… I’d still sooner spend my paycheck on a Grant Morrison Doom Patrol graphic novel or maybe some new socks.

Lest you think I’ve never even given a book like this a chance, allow me a simple anecdote. An amazing columnist for the Chicago Daily Red Eye (think hipster news for the daily commuter) Elliot Serrano had been given the opportunity to write a new Army of Darkness comic. Given that it was a slow week, I decided I should support my fellow indie creator (and he was nice enough to interview me for his blog twice) and give it a chance. I’d never purchased an Army of Darkness comic in the past. My knowledge of the source material was limited to the handful of viewings I’d had of Raimi’s film. And to his credit, Serrano’s pen wasn’t weighed down too heavily by the yoke of backstory that came with the property.

That being said, the book suffered terribly from Serrano having to forcefully hit the beats the license (and, no doubt, the legion of deadite fans) demanded. What we were left with? I quote myself from my MichaelDavisWorld review:

 “The book has moments of clarity, but they are dragged down by the wishy-washy plot and cardboard cutout of a protagonist. I think I’ll go put on my copy of the movie, and bury this necronomicon deep in a long box… in hopes that the evil spirits lurking within don’t wreck havoc on my soul.”

Given that I thought Elliot’s writing was better than what he’d showed on page only proved to me that the book was not intended for me. While fans of the AoD universe were heralding it as a success, I was left back in the starting blocks wondering why the book shifted tone more than Mitt Romney (ooooh, semi-late reference burn!).

Suffice to say, licensed books have their place. There’s been great examples of those who made great leaps of fiction balancing the properties’ beats while adding to the canon. John Ostrander’s run on Star Wars is still sold out at my local shop. And Joss Whedon’s continuation of the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer into a “9th season” via comics helped fans continue their love affair with the series. There is a place for these books, indeed. The fact is unless you yourself are a die-hard lover of the property in question, the book is wasted space on the rack. And for someone who is now actively seeking originality at the shop… no amount of lightsaber fun will turn me toward the dark side. Simply put? A licensed book is a license to limit your sales to those who are familiar. Everyone else? Find some place else to read.

I would like to note that if the powers that be would like to license Exo-Squad to Unshaven Comics, I will voluntarily lop off my left leg, and then proceed to write and draw the best damned Exo-Squad comic is history. And I can guarantee that it’ll be a top seller… to the 40 or so people who still love the property.

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

 

NEW ORIGINAL NIGHTBEAT COLLECTION FROM RADIO ARCHIVES! AND MORE!

  • News
  • November 16, 2012

RadioArchives.com Newsletter

 
November 16, 2012
 
 
 

“Hi, This is Randy Stone. I cover the Nightbeat for the Chicago Star. Stories start in many different ways…”
 
One of the more memorable openings from the days of old time Radio, these lines spoken by actor Frank Lovejoy opened each episode of Nightbeat. For over two years from February 1950 through September 1952, NBC played host to the adventures of Randy Stone, wisecracking, tough guy reporter with a heart of gold.
 
An actor of many talents, Lovejoy worked as an announcer and actor on radio, his first leading role being that of comic book super hero The Blue Beetle in the 1940s. His distinctive voice, however, can be heard in multiple shows, from Dragnet to Suspense. Lovejoy also made a career in films, establishing himself as a strong character actor. Lovejoy’s straight forward tough guy with a heart persona gave him a career well into the era of early television, including leads in two television series as well as multiple guest appearances on other programs until his death in 1962.
 
Frank Lovejoy brought a certain everyman edge to the role of Randy Stone, the after hours scribe scouring Chicago for the best and the worst the night had to offer. He also had just enough muscle and grit in his voice to let everyone know, both characters and listeners, that Randy Stone was a man of strength and morals, “someone who knew the city that he worked in like a lover.” Couple that with a thunderous opening fanfare, well crafted and tightly plotted stories, and a strong supporting cast of actors and Nightbeat clearly stands out as one of the best remembered shows from Radio’s Golden era, even though it only lasted 28 months in its initial run.
 
Nightbeat, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 now features a new wonderfully atmospheric cover by Douglas Klauba. Stone, looking remarkably like Lovejoy, is front and center in this piece as he is in each story, facing danger while taking care of others. Klauba’s cover captures the essence of each episode of Nightbeat and these three Radio Archives collections feature 20 episodes per volume restored to sparkling audio quality.
 
Nightbeat is not only a classic radio show, but a program that combines the best elements of storytelling together to make each episode stand out as a classic. Enjoy the newspaper adventures of Randy Stone for yourself with Nightbeat, Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Each collection contains Ten hours, Twenty shows of Nightbeat. $29.98 Audio CDs / $14.99 Download.
 
 
Spotlight on Artist, Douglas Klauba
 

Artist Douglas Klauba is no stranger to applying his artistic talents to classic characters of Pulp, Radio, and more. He brings his fantastic ability to Radio Archives once again with a cover that is featured both on an old time radio collection as well as products featuring new tales of a classic character.
 
Randy Stone, the Chicago Reporter in the radio program Nightbeat, is captured by Klauba in an action scene worthy of the show itself. Doug’s cover also fronts the Nightbeat: Night Stories audiobook and ebook, new tales of Randy Stone produced by Radio Archives.
 
Not only is he an artist known for bringing his talent to reviving concepts from the past, Doug is also a fan. “I grew up with a great bunch of friends that collected comic books, monster magazines, made Super 8 films, recorded our own amateur OTR dramas, and created and published our own fanzines. I drew all the time! Those interests led me toward art school and I am a graduate of the American Academy of Art in Chicago.”
 
His interests growing up definitely influenced Doug’s work. “There is a large part of me that has always had an interest in shadows and light playing its part in storytelling in cinema and art. I also get that same thrill with listening to OTR, since I have an active imagination. Pulp art and comic books! Golden age illustration, movie poster art and paperback covers! They have always been an influence on my drawings and paintings. It’s what interests me and I let it inspire my work.”
 
As for the Nightbeat artwork specifically, Doug stated, “It’s a straight forward film noir inspired, pulp cover composition. I took a bit of a chance and worked with a different color palette that I normally would have worked in – and different brand of paint. I also put myself into the mindset as a depression era illustrator working for the pulps. I worked on this project only at night, listening to hours of Frank Lovejoy’s thrilling stories set in Chicago. Plain and simple, I wanted it to look like a pulp magazine cover.”
 
Doug has a connection to Nightbeat that goes beyond an artist painting a picture. “Nightbeat is Frank Lovejoy in Chicago. I’m born and raised in Chicago. I’ve lived and worked in the city most of my life. I worked in an illustration studio that was in a building on Wabash Avenue right behind the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper building and pretty much right across the street from the Chicago Tribune building. My uncle worked for the Sun-Times and I saw newspapermen and women all the time. The memory of the city at night, with its lights and shadows, and nighttime noises of cars and people. I love the city and I love the Nightbeat stories. They capture the imagination that lurks in a big city without us knowing. It gives us the excitement of the good guys solving the crime and us being a part of it along the way.”
 
Thrill to the classic episodes of Nightbeat in Radio Archives’ three volume set as well as the new adventures featured in the Nightbeat: Night Stories audiobook and eBook, all featuring a wonderfully rendered cover by Douglas Klauba.
 

 
Spotlight on Designer, Russell Pierce
 
An integral part of every product produced by Radio Archives is the design work that goes into each radio set, audiobook cover, eBook cover, the website and more. Russell Pierce is the magician behind the design work done for Radio Archives and brings a wealth of experience with him.
 
“I studied graphic design and illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City,” said Russell, “and started my first design firm there after leaving school. This was before the advent of computers and I was well-versed in all the traditional production methods. When computers came into the industry I jumped into the digital world right away. I’ve always considered myself on the bleeding edge of technology and was constantly exploring and experimenting with different systems. Over the years I’ve had the privilege to work with many top brands including Hewlett-Packard, Yamaha, MTV, Sony-Columbia Tri-Star, Mattel, Pepsi and many others and have worked in every major category producing branding, advertising, packaging as well as interactive work that now includes mobile app design.”
 
Although he’s had a wide and varied career, Pierce looks at what he does for Radio Archives a bit differently. “I regard my work with Radio Archives as fun. I enjoy the category and have always been a fan of pulp artwork especially. When I first started working for Radio Archives, my goal was to establish a professional, cohesive brand for the entire line of products. I feel we’ve been very successful so far and I’m proud of everything we produce from the audiobooks, eBooks, etc. as well as all the various marketing materials we’re producing.”
 
When putting together packaging for Radio Archives products, Russell finds that, although different forms of art may be used, one fact remains true. “When you have a great piece of art to start with the job is relatively easy. Usually the art comes from a pulp cover that needs to have type and other graphics removed so it can work for our covers. Luckily the sophistication of the digital tools today makes it fairly easy to edit the art. Sometimes I also need to re-create the original logos so that we would have the flexibility to move it around on the artwork.”
 
In terms of the new designs for both existing and new Nightbeat related products, Russell Pierce is thankful for the artist involved. “Working with Doug has been great, he understands what our needs are. Doug makes my job easy. He doesn’t require a lot of art direction if any, he just hones in on the subject and goes for it. The best part is no digital retouching is needed and he gives me lots of room around the main subject to work with so that it will crop easily in various layouts. His work is great, it captures the essence of the old pulp art yet has a somewhat contemporary feel to it. Having custom illustration produced exclusively for Radio Archives brings a lot to our brand.” Russell Pierce himself also brings quite a bit to the look and brand of Radio Archives as well.

 

 
 

In 1950, NBC began broadcasting Nightbeat, considered one of the finest shows of its time. The show featured Randy Stone, a reporter who covered the night beat for the Chicago Star with a unique blend of wit, compassion and toughness. From murder to mystery, gunplay to climactic chases, from heartache to hardboiled, every night brought a new story to Randy Stone. Radio Archives invites you to listen to six brand new Nightbeat stories set on the streets of Randy Stone’s Chicago in Nightbeat: Night Stories.
 
Authors Howard Hopkins, Will Murray, Paul Bishop, Mark Squirek, Bobby Nash and Tommy Hancock breathe new life into Randy Stone, bringing the nostalgic noir feel of the radio series fans have enjoyed for over sixty years to newly written tales that capture the true essence of Nightbeat.
 
A mystery involving a puzzle. A mad killer strangling women. A young boy on the wrong road. An old flame threatening to burn again. Blood and conspiracy in the boxing ring. The murder of a reporter. And at the center of every tale, Randy Stone. This nostalgic collection of new tales for your listening pleasure comes alive courtesy of noted voice actor Michael C. Gwynne. Delivering each line with a mix of two fisted determination and humanity, Gwynne makes Randy Stone and his Chicago living, breathing realities for both Nightbeat fans and new listeners.
 
Listen as 1950s Chicago comes alive when the sun sets. Join Michael C. Gwynne as Randy Stone in Nightbeat: Night Stories. Features an original oil painting cover by Douglas Klauba.
 

This Collection includes:
Introduction by Tommy Hancock
Strangler by Howard Hopkins
The Chicago Punch by Paul Bishop
Puzzle in Purple by Will Murray
Down Addison Road by Mark Squirek
Lucky by Tommy Hancock
The One That Got Away by Bobby Nash
 
Step into the world that comes alive when the sun sets with Nightbeat: Night Stories. Six exciting hours. $23.98 Audio CDs / $12.99 Download.
 

Nightbeat Audiobook Reader, Michael C. Gwynne
 
Nightbeat: Night Stories comes to life as an original audiobook from Radio Archives, voiced by noted actor Michael C. Gwynne. A fan of old time radio, Gwynne counts Nightbeat among one of his favorite programs and found both enjoyment and value in being a part of Nightbeat: Night Stories.
 
“Good story writing,” says Gwynne in reference to both the classic Nightbeat and the new audiobook, “that’s the essence of real education. Learning about ourselves, learning about our behavior. We go to movies to see things blow up and everything like that, that’s fine, eyeball candy we call it, but there has to be a story and Randy Stone told stories. And thanks to the people at Radio Archives we have another outlet for stories. It doesn’t matter, they go on forever in any time zone, yesterday, tomorrow, today, it all works if you’ve got a tale to tell, a tale well calculated.”
 
Referring to storytelling as “magic”, Gwynne continues, “There must be something else in there about this kind of storytelling and I’m really thankful to Radio Archives for bringing them back out. There must be a huge audience of people who don’t know about Old Time Radio shows yet, so in some ways I’m honored to be part of something that gets it out there.”
 
Experience Nightbeat: Night Stories performed by Michael C. Gwynne today.
 

Tune in to a special Podcast episode of PULPED! Featuring the voice of the Nightbeat: Night Stories audiobook, Michael C. Gwynne!

 

 

In 1950, NBC began broadcasting Nightbeat, considered one of the finest shows of its time. The show featured Randy Stone, a reporter who covered the night beat for the Chicago Star with a unique blend of wit, compassion and toughness. From murder to mystery, gunplay to climactic chases, from heartache to hardboiled, every night brought a new story to Randy Stone and he would be drawn in, eager to see them, hear them, live them, and record them. Nightbeat was more than a crime drama. It was a human drama.
 
Radio Archives invites you to return to the streets of Randy Stone’s Chicago in Nightbeat: Night Stories. Six brand new Nightbeat stories are now available in this beautifully formatted eBook. Authors Howard Hopkins, Will Murray, Paul Bishop, Mark Squirek, Bobby Nash and Tommy Hancock breathe new life into Randy Stone, bringing the nostalgic noir feel of the radio series fans have enjoyed for over sixty years to newly written tales that capture the true essence of Nightbeat. A mystery involving a puzzle. A mad killer strangling women. A young boy on the wrong road. An old flame threatening to burn again. Blood and Conspiracy in the boxing ring. The murder of a reporter. And at the center of every tale, Randy Stone. This nostalgic newly written collection issued for your reading pleasure in electronic format also features a cover by Douglas Klauba.
 
This Collection includes:
Introduction by Tommy Hancock
Strangler by Howard Hopkins
The Chicago Punch by Paul Bishop
Puzzle in Purple by Will Murray
Down Addison Road by Mark Squirek
Lucky by Tommy Hancock
The One That Got Away by Bobby Nash
 
Step into the world that comes alive when the sun sets with Nightbeat: Night Stories. eBook only $4.99.

 
Spotlight on the Creators – Nightbeat: Night Stories
 
For over two years from February 1950 through September 1952, NBC played host to the adventures of Randy Stone, wisecracking, tough guy reporter with a heart of gold. Nightbeat clearly stands out as one of the best remembered shows from Radio’s Golden era, even though it only lasted 28 months in its initial run.
 

Nightbeat: Night Stories, a collection of new tales written about Randy Stone and his Chicago from Radio Archives welcomes readers into what was basically a dream project for its editor. A long time fan of Old Time Radio, Tommy Hancock, editor and a writer for the collection, wasn’t around when Nightbeat originally aired, but became a fan early on in his life.

 
“I was eight years old in a small Arkansas town,” Hancock says. “I’d found a station out of a college about 100 miles away that played the neatest stuff I’d yet to hear. Shows that were like television programs, but on the radio! My favorite hands down was Nightbeat.”
 
“There’s something basic that appeals to anyone familiar with Nightbeat,” explains Hancock. “Some stories are two fisted pulpy tales of action and crime, while others are really human interest tales dressed up in the ebony of the night.”
 
As he became a writer, publisher, editor, podcaster, and convention organizer, Hancock carried the memories of Nightbeat with him, always wanting an opportunity to put his own spin on the classic concept. “Nightbeat: Night Stories is the realization for me of not only telling those type of stories, but actually being involved in stories continuing the exploits of Randy Stone and his Chicago. Radio Archives recognizes the strength of the concept of the original show and the appeal that these types of stories carry for readers even still today.”
 
Nightbeat: Night Stories are all new tales written by a variety of talented modern writers, but set squarely in the 1950s Chicago Randy Stone called home. Paul Bishop, Will Murray, Mark Squirek, Bobby Nash, and Howard Hopkins, and Hancock bring Randy to life once more. And just as the show did, each story covers the spectrum, from true human drama to adrenaline filled action.
 
Will Murray is the uncrowned King of all Pulp, and heavy hangs the head of he who must write Doc Savage novels, co-edit the Sanctum Books reprints of Doc, The Shadow, and The Avenger, and helps oversee the Will Murray Pulp Classics line of audiobooks and eBooks produced by RadioArchives.com. Over fifty-plus novels, uncounted short stories, and innumerable articles, Murray has striven to be worthy to stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before him.
 
Murray’s story, Puzzle in Purple begins with jigsaw pieces that lead Randy to a greater mystery. “Although it stars a newspaper reporter, not a private eye,” says Murray, “Nightbeat: Night Stories is in the great trench-coated tradition of the hardboiled pulp writers who contributed to Black Mask magazine during its heyday when Carroll John Daly, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler were top contributors. I see Nightbeat as a 1950s incarnation of the great 1930s tough guys.”
 
Paul Bishop is a thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. Paul has had twelve novels published, including five novels in his L.A.P.D. Detective Fey Croaker series.
 
Paul has also written feature film scripts and numerous episodic scripts for television, including such shows as Diagnosis: Murder, LA Dragnet, The New Detectives, and Navy Seals: The Untold Stories. Paul is currently writing and editing the monthly Fight Card series, 25,000 word e-novels inspired by the fight pulps of the 1930s and ‘40s
 
The Chicago Punch, Bishop’s tale, reaches into Randy’s boxing past and brings a one-two punch to his present. Bishop states, “The Nightbeat stories originally spoke – literally – to a generation hungry for upstanding heroes. The Nightbeat stories thrill us because, while they entertain, they also inspire us to believe we can each make a difference.”
 
With an interest in multiple genres, Bobby Nash writes a little bit of everything. From his secret lair in the wilds of Bethlehem, Georgia, Bobby has penned novels, comic books, short prose, novellas, graphic novels, screenplays, media tie-ins , and even a little pulp fiction.
 
Nash’s story, The One That Got Away reunites Randy with an old flame that may burn him alive this time. “Randy Stone,” says Nash, “is one of those great pulpy noir characters that are so much fun to write. He’s more than just a rough and tumble guy. Stone’s a thinker. By it’s very format, Nightbeat allows writers to tell a variety of stories. Randy Stone’s job is anything but boring.”
 
Mark Squirek has published several short stories in the pulp fiction field. He has written for The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, Comic Book Marketplace, Comics and Games Weekly, Hogan’s Alley, and many other magazines. He is currently a staff reviewer for The New York Journal of Books. A half dozen of his plays have been produced in the Baltimore area over the last six years.
 
Down Addison Road, Squirek’s entry in the collection, follows Stone as he fights to keep a young boy off the wrong road. Squirek says, “Writing a Nightbeat story was a dream for me. I love Chicago. It is one of the greatest of all American Cities and I had the privilege of living there for a year while I was in school in the late eighties. The radio show is a classic and to listen to them again today with fresh ears was a joy.”
 
Howard Hopkins wrote 31 westerns under the pen name Lance Howard and horror stories under his own. Howard began his writing career in the late 1980s. His interest in pulp magazines led him to create a magazine of his own. He produced and edited Golden Perils, a journal for fans of the magazines, and went on to produce other fanzines as well and write modern Pulp stories for Moonstone Books. Howard passed away in January 2012. His story, Strangler pits Randy against a murderer of women who may add the reporter to the kill list.
 
Tommy Hancock, also a writer, contributed a tale to the collection. Lucky centers around the mystery of a reporter’s death, a reporter named Stone.
 
Nightbeat: Night Stories brings six stories from six talented writers together, but this eBook is really more than that. It is the continuation of the adventures of a truly iconic character for both longtime fans and new readers to enjoy.
 

Listen to a special Podcast episode of PULPED! Featuring the writers behind Nightbeat: Night Stories!

 

Spotlight on eBooks, John Olsen

 
Nightbeat: Night Stories, an original eBook produced by Radio Archives, features tales based on the classic radio program. Thanks to the design and format work of John Olsen, this collection of six stories is available to you in a beautifully crafted eBook, handled with the same care and precision Olsen handles all the eBooks from Radio Archives.
 
“I’ve been a fan of old radio all my life,” Olsen states, “especially The Shadow, but my interest in pulps began in late 1996 when I read my first Shadow pulp. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software was rather primitive at that time, but I wanted to see if I could digitize a pulp novel and successfully transfer it from the printed page to the digital medium. I succeeded, although it was a bit of a challenge, and I began regularly scanning pulps and OCRing them. In 2010 I began working with RadioArchives.com on their huge pulp preservation project. In the past year, I have worked on transitioning several hundred more pulps from old crumbling paper to digital medium.”
 
Olsen brings his experience to bear on bringing classic Pulp as well as this new collection to customers at Radio Archives and it is an extensive process. According to him, “You need a real mixed-bag of tricks to do this stuff. I don’t do all of the steps. We have a dedicated and tireless team of over thirty people, most who specialize in one or two of the below processes. My job is to coordinate all of them. One person scans the old pulp magazine. This gets a picture of the individual pages digitized and in the computer. Another person uses OCR software to convert those pictures into text that can be edited. Another person reads through the newly created text file and corrects the errors that the OCR software has made. Another person takes that word processor document and formats it, indenting messages, making chapter titles in bold print, adding the cover graphics, and creating the table of contents. The proofer proofreads the story, and reports any errors that have slipped through. For the ultimate in quality control, we then send the file to a second person for another proofreading, to fix any last little lingering errors. Then another person takes that word processor document and converts it into the eBook formats, epub and mobi. Liner notes are created, to describe the product on the web site. And finally, the finished files are submitted to Kindle, Nook, iTunes and RadioArchives.com.
 
One thing is certain. Olsen wants to be sure that readers have a unique experience when they read a Radio Archives eBook. We want our readers to enjoy a pulp-like experience when they read one of our pulp eBooks. And we want this to be attractive and easy on the eyes. We use a font that is the proper size so that it can be resized up or down by the device the reader is using, all to adjust to their personal taste.”
 
“It has been said,” comments Olsen, “that eBooks have made “reading” cool, again. I’m not sure that’s true. I think it’s always been cool. It’s just that in today’s busy world, it has become inconvenient. But with the advent of the mobile eBook reader, reading has once more become convenient. So people can now read on their iPhones, their Kindle Fires and other devices, because it’s so easy to take with them wherever they are. People have always wanted to read for enjoyment, and now they can find it easier to do just that!”
 
Enjoy the work of John Olsen and all those involved in the eBook process with Nightbeat: Night Stories.

 

 

The best of timeless Pulp now available as cutting edge eBooks! Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings the greatest heroes, awesome action, and two fisted thrills to your eReader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider and Operator #5 as well as wonderfully obscure characters like the Octopus and more, Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday’s Pulp today!
 

In amusement parks, restaurants and private homes people were dying, convulsed in the throes of a horrible death! Some were marked for endless torture — awaiting the will of the Doctor of Murder… Richard Wentworth’s own friend, Stanley Kirkpatrick, lay stricken with the drug of the living dead. Then — his beloved, Nita van Sloan, became a victim of the madman’s venom!… Faced with the bitter despair in his own heart and the blind apathy of a nation ensnared in a death trap, the Spider launches forth on one of the most pulse-quickening adventures of his career! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
 

The leprous hordes of the Eastern world descend like a blighting plague upon a terrified New York. The citadels of the natron’s commercial strongholds totter under a Juggernaut of crime. And Richard Wentworth, the one man able to cope with the menace, must offer himself, as a sacrifice to the pestilence! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.

 

It was a sultry day in August when the ghastly cold first came. Snow began to fall; ice formed, and in a brief hour, New York City was paralyzed. A new and deadly weapon had been directed at America by a ruthless, international syndicate, for, under cover of the sub-zero weather, barbarous, armored warriors swarmed into the United States, turning our country into a helpless colony to be exploited savagely. In quick succession, other cities — Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans — fell before the assault of the astute enemy and the marrow-chilling cold. Could Operator 5 of the disabled Secret Service — Jimmy Christopher to his friends — save our land from shameful slavery? With Tim Donovan, his father and his beloved Diane all in the bloody clutches of the invader, Jimmy Christopher gambled for the highest stakes in the world — America — with his own life only an extra counter! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.

 
Terror Tales Nat Schachner, Book 1

In 1934 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Terror Tales magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a collection of stories from the pages of Terror Tales magazine, all written by Nat Schachner, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.

 

In 1934 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Terror Tales magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a collection of stories from the pages of Terror Tales magazine, all written by Wayne Rogers, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 

Captain Future… the Ace of Space! Born and raised on the moon, Curt Newton survived the murder of his scientist parents to become the protector of the galaxy known as Captain Future. With his Futuremen, Grag the giant robot, Otho, the shape-shifting android and Simon Wright, the Living Brain, he patrols the solar system in the fastest space ship ever constructed, the Comet, pursuing human monsters and alien threats to Earth and her neighbor planets.
 
This is one of the infamous “final seven” Captain Future tales. After a run of twenty pulp issues, the quarterly magazine closed. But that was not the end of Captain Future. He returned in a series of short stories published in Startling Stories magazine, beginning with the January 1950 issue. Edmond Hamilton, creator of Captain Future and author of the majority of the full-length novels, returned to pen seven more Captain Future stories. His style had matured, as had his original audience, and these final seven Captain Future stories are considered to be some of his best. Captain Future left the pages of Startling Stories with the May 1951 issue, but editors left open the possibility that Captain Future might return some day. True fans are still waiting. Until then, Captain Future returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 

All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
 
Find these legendary Pulp tales and more in Will Murray’s Pulp Classics, now available in the Kindle store and the Barnes and Noble Nook store! and RadioArchives.com!

 

FREE Spider eBook!

Receive an exciting original Spider adventure for FREE! Part of the Will Murray Pulp Classics line, The Spider #11, Prince of the Red Looters first saw print in 1934 and features his momentous battle with The Fly and his armies of crazed criminal killers.
 
For those who have been unsure about digging into the wonderful world of pulps, this is a perfect opportunity to give one of these fantastic yarns a real test run. With a full introduction to the Spider written by famed pulp historian and author Will Murray, The Spider #11 was written by one of pulp’s most respected authors, Norvell W. Page. Writing as Grant Stockbridge, Page’s stories included some of the most bizarre and fun takes on heroes and crime fighting in the history of escapist fiction.
 
Even today Page’s scenarios and his edge-of-the-seat writing style are still thrilling both new and old fans everywhere. For those who have never read one of these rollercoaster adventures, you are in for a thrill. If you already know how much fun a classic pulp is, make sure you get a copy of this classic.
 

See what the Total Pulp Experience is for yourself. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
 
Send an eMail to eBooks@RadioArchives.com and start reading your FREE copy of  the Spider #11 within seconds! Experience The Best Pulps the Past has to offer in the most modern way possible!

 

 
One of the top crime-fighters from the golden age of pulp fiction, The Spider returns in two thrill-packed adventures written by Norvell Page under the pseudonym of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “The Spider and the Jewels Of Hell” (1940), Tough, dauntless miners, accustomed to hardship and danger, paled in helpless terror as their homes were destroyed, their loved ones slaughtered! No one was safe, above ground or below, when The Killer walked among them. Only the Spider dared challenge the strangle-hold of fear that held an entire town in its deadly grip! Then, in “Recruit For the Spider Legion” (1943), Staunch supporter of justice and champion of the law Stanley Kirkpatrick, finds himself about to gain unexpected insights into the workings of the system when he himself is faced with the electric chair! Can the very man who has forever branded the Spider a criminal for his vigilante efforts join with his old enemy to battle the forces of Kali? These two exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading and feature both of the original full color covers as well as interior illustrations that accompany each story. Buy it today for $14.95!
 
 

The Knight of Darkness crushes crime in the classic pulp novels that inspired Hollywood’s first two Shadow feature films! First, the bizarre terms of a dead man’s will lead to a series of murders that will condemn an innocent man unless The Shadow can unmask the true killer in Walter Gibson’s “The Ghost of the Manor,” the inspiration for the 1937 film, “The Shadow Strikes.” Then, the Dark Avenger hunts a sadistic blonde murderess and the masked supervillain known as “Foxhound” in Theodore Tinsley’s violent novel that was filmed in 1938 as “International Crime.” BONUS: Film historian Ed Hulse unearths rare secrets behind the making of the first Shadow feature films! This instant collector’s item showcases the original pulp covers by George Rozen and the classic interior illustrations by Tom Lovell, with historical commentary by Will Murray. Buy it today for $14.95.
 
The Pulps’ original “Man of Steel” returns in three action-packed tales by Paul Ernst and Emile Tepperman writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, The Avenger enters a “House of Death” to unravel the mysterious murders befalling the owners of strange gold medallions! Then, the fate of the nation hangs in the balance as Dick Benson attempts to prevent “The Hate Master” from winning the presidential election! Finally, a single misstep could result in “A Coffin for The Avenger” in an exciting novelette by Spider-wordsmith Emile Tepperman. BONUS: a Nick Carter mystery by Bruce Elliott! This classic pulp reprint leads off with a knockout color cover by Graves Gladney, and also features Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and commentary by pulp historian Will Murray. Buy it today for $14.95.
 
 
 

 
 

By Dr. Art Sippo

 

“Was Hercules real?” That was the question the beautiful Lee Mayland kept asking. She came to see Doc Savage to get the answer. But thugs intervened and kidnapped her before she could enlist the Bronze Man’s aid. But Doc and his Iron Crew are on the case and track her to a country home owned by a physical culture guru whose ads in the magazines promise to “make YOU into a Hercules.”
 
But when they arrive, Doc and his crew encounter strange doings. Objects appear and vanish as if by magic. Unparalleled criminal events occur that can be nothing less than feats of superhuman strength by an unseen party who tosses Doc and his men around like tenpins. And who is the elderly man who collapsed at the scene of the crime of apparent old age?
 
From the Old World, the legend of Hercules comes into modern New York. Has someone discovered the secret of Hercules’ legendary strength? Can even Doc Savage, the modern Galahad, fight the power of the ancient Greek Demigod?
 
The Whisker of Hercules is a pivotal Doc Savage story marking the transition from the adventurous editorship of John Nanovic to the more sedate story type that the new editors at Street and Smith wanted. Ironically, it was ten years to the month after the iconic 1934 story The Monsters which had been an all-time favorite Doc Savage Adventure. After this story, the editors wanted no more gadgets and no more fantastic plots. Doc Savage was to become a Science Detective to appeal to a different audience.
 
This was the last truly weird adventure Doc would have until Up From Earth’s Center in 1949 which ended the series. You don’t want to miss this one! Get Doc Savage, Volume 18 containing this story and another full length Doc Savage novel for only $12.95 from Radio Archives!

 

The shattering sequel to Fortress of Solitude.
 
The Doc Savage exploit that went untold for 74 years—Death’s Dark Domain!
 
In the aftermath of the evil John Sunlight’s pillaging of the secret Fortress of Solitude, a dreadful super-weapon has fallen the hands of a Balkan dictator intent upon seizing control of the vampire-haunted zone of desolation known as Ultra-Stygia. War is imminent. Monsters are loose in the disputed region. A strange darkness falls over the sinister landscape. Only Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, understands the terrible threat to humanity. And only he can prevent the terror from spreading…
 
There are unknown Things prowling the darkest patch of land on the planet. Haunted by creatures that might have emerged from the Hell’s lowest regions, ancient Ultra-Stygia has turned into a cauldron of conflict between rival countries. Monster bats careen through the night sky. Invisible Cyclopes patrol the scorched battleground. And a power beyond understanding robs men of their vision.
 
Can the 20th century’s premier scientist and superman untangle this Gordian knot of carnage before neighboring nations are drawn into an apocalyptic new world war? Or will the Man of Bronze succumb to an unstoppable power he himself has unleashed upon mankind?
 
From the frozen Arctic to the war-torn Balkans, Doc Savage and his fighting five follow a winding trail of terror to a blood-freezing climax.

 
Death’s Dark Domain features a fantastic cover painted by Joe DeVito! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.

 

Back in print after 20 years! The rare Lester Dent-Will Murray collaboration resurrecting the original pulp superman…

 
Also available is the first Altus Press edition of Will Murray’s 1993 Doc Savage adventure, The Forgotten Realm. Deep in the heart of the African Congo lies a secret unsuspected for thousands of years. Doc Savage and his men embark on a quest to discover the secret of the strange individual known only as X Man, X for unknown. Before they come to the end of the trail, they find themselves fighting for their lives like gladiators of old!
 
No one knows who—or what—the strange being who calls himself “X Man” truly is. He was found wandering the ruins of a crumbling Roman fort, dressed in a toga, speaking classical Latin—and clutching a handful of unearthly black seeds.
 
Declared insane, the X Man patiently tends his weird plants until the day, impelled by a nameless terror, he flees Wyndmoor Asylum to unleash a cyclone of violence that is destined to suck the mighty Man of Bronze into the blackest, most unbelievable mystery of his entire career. For far from Scotland lies a domain of death unknown to the world and called by the ancient Latin name of Novum Eboracum—New York!
 
From the wild Scottish moors to the unexplored heart of darkest Africa, Doc Savage and his indomitable men embarked upon a desperate quest for the Forgotten Realm….
 

The Forgotten Realm features a spectacular cover painted by Joe DeVito! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.

 

Comments From Our Customers!
 
Louis Hemmi writes:
I love what I bought, Fibber McGee and Molly, the Lost Episodes and the free Operator #5 – Masked Invasion CD. I’m getting ready to order something else, and really like your newsletter that shows a lot of effort, and a great result. Thanks very much,
 
John  Doyle writes:
Top notch quality! So appreciated. John Doyle Retired from WSB-TV, Channel 2, and The Weather Channel
 
James Felder writes:
Just finished the first volume of Wu Fang and enjoyed it.
 
Regina Zeyzus writes:
I’d love to try this eBook edition of Spider. You are very generous to offer this sample. Thank you very much.
 
Chad Wrataric writes:
I love The Spider pulps you guys have published as books and am excited to read another. Thank you very much for offering a free eBook edition!
 
Ted writes:
OTR books and audiobooks are helping me to lose weight because I used to get bored walking in the same areas all the time and seeing the same backgrounds. Now I can walk in the same areas and am never bored because of the entertaining images that continually come to mind while listening to OTR / audiobooks. People need to know about this technique for weight loss because it really works.

 

If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!

 
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
 
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The Point Radio: Marvel Recaptures The Comic Stores



DC’s dominance of sales in comic stores melted a bit in October as Marvel retook the top sales spots, plus a certain pesky Image comic had another good mo0nth as well. We analyze the numbers including revealing the WORST selling comic of the month. Plus we continue our look at BATTLESTAR:GALACTICA – BLOOD & CHROME including a visit with the new William Adama.

The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

“Doctor Who Christmas Special” features Sontarans, smowmen, snarling

  • News
  • November 16, 2012

Christmas TardisThe prequel and trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas Special has just been posted via the BBC, hot off its appearance on the Children In Need annual appeal.

As reported earlier in the week, the BBC continues its tradition of presenting an exclusive clip for the charity’s annual telethon.  The clips have varied from trailers, exclusive scenes, and special greetings from the cast.

This year’s trailer offers a few tidbits both new and confirmed, including the name of the new Companion (Clara, as was rumored), a look at this year’s holiday-themed monster (snowmen, tho not apparently the Abominable variety so many of us were hoping for) and a peek at returning aliens Strax the Sontaran nurse (Dan Starkey) and sword-wielding reptilian lesbian Vastra (Neve McIntosh), and the presumptive baddie, played by Richard E. Grant (Hudson Hawk, How to Get Ahead In Advertising).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G17_B4uACgg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3KVpvEUTns[/youtube]

Because producer Steven Moffat is evil and feeds on our tears, the intro also pays lip service to the swirling cloud of theories about Clara somehow being connected to Oswin Oswald, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman in the season opener, Asylum of the Daleks. Moffat has already said in an interview that “That’s exactly the question I want you asking”, so he’s clearly doing what he can to get that happening.

Donations to Children in Need can be made at their website.

 

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