This Week’s New Comics: August 22, 2012
This week’s list of new comics in stores is sponsored by Manhattan Comics and Comixology. Buy new comics now!
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Category: News
ABC Greenlights ‘S.H.I.E.L.D’ Marvel Pilot Co-Written by Joss Whedon
ABC has ordered a pilot for S.H.I.E.L.D, a live-action series from The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon, Marvel TV and ABC Studios. The project is based on Marvel’s peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D (which stands for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) found in both the Marvel comic book and feature film universes, including the blockbuster 2012 movie The Avengers, in which S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury, recruits Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and Thor to stop Thor’s adoptive brother Loki from subjugating Earth.
S.H.I.E.L.D. will be written by Whedon and frequent collaborators, his brother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss Whedon also is set to direct the pilot, schedule permitting. Production on the pilot, which marks the first live-action Marvel TV project to get a green light, will start immediately. Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Tancharoen executive produce with Jeffrey Bell and Marvel TV’s Jeph Loeb.
The project had been in the works at Marvel TV and ABC Studios for some time. Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that it had signed an exclusive film and TV deal with Joss Whedon, which included him writing and directing The Avengers sequel and develop a live-action series for Marvel TV and ABC, both owned by Disney.
This marks a return to series television for Joss Whedon, creator of cult favorites Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse. Husband and wife writing duo Jed Whedon and Tancharoen co-penned with Joss Whedon Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and also have worked on Dollhouse and Spartacus.
In addition to S.H.I.E.L.D, Marvel TV has a couple of other projects in development at ABC Studios, including a Hulk series.
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The Point Radio: Ashley Greene Beyond TWILIGHT
Fresh from TWILIGHT:BREAKING DAWN, Ashley Greene has stepped into a new type of role in THE APPARITION, but she tells us that she is determined NOT to be the usual “scream queen”. We’ve got more with Greg Daniels from THE OFFICE and the answer to the question everyone wants to know, is Steve Carrel coming back one more time – and fans are in mourning as Ed Brubaker says goodbye to Marvel.
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Dragnet, The Octopus, Operator Five, The Shadow, and More! ALL FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!
August 24, 2012
“The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”
These words were just the beginning of the authenticity of one of the best remembered radio programs of all time. Although not the first to base its stories on real cases, Dragnet most assuredly was best in assuring that each program was as realistic as possible, from the first step heard to the last word spoken. This is evident in every episode featured in Dragnet, Volume 5 from Radio Archives!
Dragnet creator and star Jack Webb insisted from the moment in 1948 he was inspired to create the program that it would be as true to life as possible. After recording an audition, Webb approached the Los Angeles Police Department for its approval, which was given under certain conditions. Webb agreed to each one, even carrying his desire for realism farther than the police demanded.
Dragnet portrayed each procedure followed by policemen accurately, but took this accuracy even further. If a policeman read a description from a report, then listeners heard a page flip as descriptions were beyond the first page in an actual report. Steps from one office to the other or up the front steps of the police station numbered exactly the same as they did in real life.
Each episode on Dragnet, Volume 5 rings with the realism Jack Webb demanded and is restored to sparkling audio quality. Get ‘Just The Facts’ with Dragnet, Volume 5 from Radio Archives! Ten hours, twenty shows are available now for only $29.98 on Audio CDs!
In the late 1940s, Jack Webb created “Dragnet”, a straightforward, non-nonsense documentary style look at crime in the big city. First aired on NBC Radio, the series quickly became a massive hit and, in 1952, Webb brought it to television. One of the earliest and longest running police dramas, “Dragnet” quickly became a regular viewing habit for millions of American families each week. This set includes three episodes originally aired in 1952 and 1953:
Based on real cases from police and FBI files, the docudrama “Gang Busters” first aired on NBC in 1952, alternating weeks with “Dragnet”. This crime series sprang from the successful radio series that ran from 1936-1957 and featured narration by Phillips H. Lord and Chester Morris. In this collection, you’ll enjoy three broadcasts from 1952:
Regularly priced at $9.98, get all six television episodes on two DVDs for only $4.99, a 50% savings, only for the next two weeks. A perfect addition to our new Dragnet Radio Collection.
Digital Download Special Price Offer Extended
Due to the huge interest shown in the last two weeks, we are extending the special price for another Two Weeks. You can get Digital Downloads of any of our Old Time Radio sets for 50% off the regular Audio CD version price! Digital Downloads from Radio Archives gives you the same sparkling high quality audio content as our compact disc collections at a reduced price, Delivery immediately upon payment, and the ability to play them on your phone, computer, or portable device! Purchase the audio collections you love and enjoy them in a whole new way!
Rapid Fire Radio
A Column by Tommy Hancock
Reviews!
The Big Show, Volume 1 – The Best Stars, including Danny Thomas, Fred Allen, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Joan Davis, Ed Wynn, and more! Music directed by the fantastic Meredith Willson and his inimitable orchestra! Opera, Comedy, Popular music, Movie Previews! Take all that and top it off with Tallulah Bankhead as the ideal audacious hostess and you have one of the most enjoyable variety shows to ever air, not only on radio, but anywhere! Find out for yourself for only $29.98 on Audio CDs from Radio Archives!
Box Thirteen, Volume 4 – “Adventure Wanted.” That’s how the ad ran by Dan Holiday, as portrayed by Alan Ladd, started, the ad that threw Holiday and listeners to ‘Box Thirteen’ into action and adventure every single week. This volume contains the final 12 episodes of the series and clearly are some of the best recorded. Ladd hit his stride with the character and the formula flowed like well placed rabbit punches, making each and every story one full of suspense, mystery, and just the right touch of humor. Box Thirteen, Volume 4 is audio mystery and character portrayal at its best and can be yours for $17.98! Send us a note if you would like to see more Box Thirteen stories from Radio Archives and we’ll see what we can do.
Claudia, Volume 1 – This volume is one of an entire collection that any fan who enjoys good storytelling, engaging characters, and daily slices of living made funny, endearing, and interesting should own. Claudia follows the escapades of newlyweds Claudia and David as they adjust not only to being newly married, but being new parents as well and to a move from the big city to the countryside. Filled with fully realized, quirky characters and delivered in well written, tightly plotted fifteen minute episodes, Claudia put quite simply is a joy to listen to. You can enjoy it as well for only $29.98 on Audio CDs!
Character Spotlight!
Nothing makes a great adventure like colorful characters, complex storylines, and enough high seas action and swashbuckling blade to keep any landlubber on the edge of his seat. Add the fact that the title character in Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 1 is actually based on a true historical personage, then you have a larger than life hero that takes adventure to a whole different level. Morgan is a grand, almost incredible central character, a pirate and gentleman knee deep in the intrigue and conspiracy of the 17th Century. As he makes his way through the twists and turns of the story, he comes to life and reminds one of the sort of characters made popular on screen by Errol Flynn. Get ‘Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 1’ and ride the foamy waves with a truly awesome Pirate. Only $17.98 on Audio CDs!
One of the most bizarre pulp magazines ever published was titled The Octopus.
Released in 1939 by Popular Publications, it turned the formula of The Spider on its head. Instead of centering on a fearless avenger of crime, it focused on the master criminal himself!
His true identity unknown, The Octopus is a denizen of the underworld, bent on bringing America’s greatest city to its knees through a campaign of terror and horror never before seen.
Writers Norvell W. Page of Spider fame, backed by Edith and Eljir Jakobsson produced this weird epic under the name of Randolph Craig. Evidently they were attempting to duplicate the success of The Spider—with a weird twist. But there was more to The Octopus than an archfiend who dressed like a cuttlefish. Just as no pulp series can last long without a worthy villain, they understood that without a formidable foe, The Octopus would flop. So they created a hero with three identities. Jeffrey Fairchild is a wealthy medico. By day, he masquerades as kindly old Dr. Skull, treater of the sick in New York’s East Side slums. But at night, he dons a more sinister guise and becomes the sworn foe of all crime—The Skull Killer! Branding his kills on the forehead like the Spider, The Skull Killer takes on The Octopus and his purple-eyed minions in the wildly over-the-top story, The City Condemned to Hell.
Backing up this masterpiece of weird menace are three novelettes torn from the pages of the only issue of The Octopus ever published. This audiobook is narrated by the talented brothers of Doug Stone and Glen Stone.
You can now download an exciting original Spider adventure for just one thin penny! 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. Their motto? Why “KILL THE SPIDER!” of course.
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 download this bargain.
All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you purchase this eBook from RadioArchives.com you receive all three formats in one ZIP file. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your Spider novels to your new device without the need to purchase anything new. Use the PDF version when reading on your PC or Mac computer. If you have a Kindle, the Mobi version is what you want. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, Sony eReader or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
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 E-Reader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider and Operator 5 as well as wonderfully obscure characters like Doctor Death and more, Will Murray’s Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday’s Pulp today!
Five new golden age Pulp tales exquisitely reformatted into visually stunning E-books!
In a hundred thousand homes, families sat down together at the supper table. A few hours later, those persons were dead — killed by poison in canned foods! Thousands of women used cosmetics, and acid made their faces forever hideously scarred. A master criminal, daring and clever, was ruthlessly slaughtering Americans to win immense illicit profits for himself. Only one man was powerful enough and wise enough to stop this wholesale murder — Richard Wentworth, champion of oppressed humanity, better known as the Spider. And the Spider was engaged in the bitterest battle of his career, fighting the Avenger, a false, wily crusader who was determined to destroy him! Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction: “Meet the Spider” especially for this series of eBooks.
Richard Wentworth was playing the most dangerous game in the world — a man-hunter outside the law; a righteous lone-wolf avenger of the weak; a scourge of the evil, the wicked and the corrupt! Loathed by the organized armies of the underworld, hunted ruthlessly by the forces of the law, he was ever between two raking cross-fires… Seldom, however, had the Spider, Master of men, faced the odds which challenged him when the man called Aronk Dong summoned all the underworld to serve him in the most ghastly campaign of rampant crime and wholesale slaughter this country had ever experienced. Armed with a weapon which struck through stone walls at victims sleeping peacefully in their beds, it was small wonder that criminals everywhere hailed the new leader — and flocked in evil glee to his dark banner! Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction: “Meet the Spider” especially for this series of eBooks.
Oil — black gold — the blood of Mother Earth! America had squandered its precious reserves and a syndicate of skilled saboteurs was destroying the remaining store! With all National defense rendered helpless for want of it, bitter despair gripped the hearts of the country’s millions. Pillage, slaughter, and slavery — misery and death — threatened each American! And Jimmy Christopher, Operator 5 of the United States Intelligence, was gambling his life recklessly in a valiant effort to save his native land from extinction!
Jimmy Christopher, clean-cut, square-jawed and clear-eyed, was the star of the most audacious pulp magazines ever conceived — Operator #5. Savage would-be conquerors, creepy cults, weird weather-controllers and famine-creating menaces to our mid-western breadbasket… these were but a few of the fiendish horrors that Jimmy Christopher was forced to confront. Operator #5 returns in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of Operator #5 eBooks.
From the archives of the mighty Ancients, Curt Newton brings back forgotten Denebian science to balk a greed-maddened schemer who seeks to loose unspeakable terror on the Universe! 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.
Giants shrivel to doll-size in Death’s most horrible scientific coup! Washington is about to collapse! Jimmy Holm uses the sinister scientist’s own gory weapons to battle the learned monster. This saturnalia of science is filled with bloodshed and terror.
The maddest of the Mad Scientists — Doctor Death — starred in his own bizarre pulp magazine in early 1935. He consorted with demons, elementals, zombies, disinterred mummies, and other unclean denizens of Hell. Standing against him were the Secret Twelve, a band of the top U. S. civil and business leaders, headed by Jimmy Holm, a millionaire criminologist and occultist. One of the rare unabashedly supernatural series the pulps ever produced.
When you purchase these beautifully reformatted eBooks from RadioArchives.com you receive all three formats in one ZIP file: PDF for PC or Mac computer; Mobi for Kindle and ePub for iPad/IPhone, Android, Sony eReader, and Nook. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook novels 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! The best Pulp eBooks now available for only $2.99 each from Radio Archives!
by Tommy Hancock
There is nothing Pulpier than a strange, initially unseen menace that consumes steel and iron, eats bridges and battleships like kids eats cookies. Except for maybe a hero who, after encountering corrosive wielding henchmen, bomb dropping pilots, armed fugitive chemists, and masked masterminds essentially single handedly defeats evil and save America. There’s this and much more in The Melting Death, a wonderfully designed and formatted eBook from Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line from Radio Archives.
Operator #5 was a superspy before Ian Fleming ever cast the mold for James Bond. Not only that, but Jimmy Christopher, the man unknown to the world as the title spy, actually is the son of the man who held the honor of being America’s best operative before Jimmy. That’s the beauty of this concept as a whole. Operator #5 is not just another cookie cutter Pulp hero. He has a family, interacts with a cast of characters who double as teammates and friends, and saves America from some diabolical attempt at invasion. And this happens in every single issue.
The Melting Death opens with Operator #5 already on the job, trying to find an evil agent in America’s midst. This leads him to be present at the dedication of a sparkling new supposedly nearly invincible bridge that has some bearing on America’s safety. While trying to save the country, Jimmy finds himself in the midst of hellish chaos as the bridge literally begins to turn to dust. As people scream and die all about him, Operator #5 saves those he cans while learning the source of this consuming evil.
And that’s just the first chapter!
The Melting Death is non-stop, breakneck fast, mind blowing Pulp. All of the right elements are included, from the dashing hero to the mysterious villain and everything in between. Not only that, but this has the one thing that every Operator #5 story must have – a threat that could very well destroy the United States. Combine that with the easy to read, simply elegant formatting of the eBook itself and Operator #5 The Melting Death is aces all around and can be yours for only $2.99 from Radio Archives!
The Knight of Darkness wages battles to the death with two of his greatest superfoes! First, The Shadow becomes “The Devil’s Paymaster” to end the sadistic reign of The Prince of Evil in the violent conclusion of Theodore Tinsley’s most acclaimed storyline. Then, Lamont Cranston must die to crush a superfiend’s evil plots when “The Wasp Returns” in an action-packed thriller by Walter B. Gibson. Foreword by Michael Uslan, executive producer of the Summer Bat-Blockbuster, “The Dark Knight Rises.” This instant collector’s item leads off with one of Graves Gladney’s greatest covers, and also showcases all the original interior illustrations by legendary illustrator Earl Mayan, with historical commentary by Will Murray and Anthony Tollin. BONUS: The Shadow tracks down “The Comic Strip Killer” in a classic adventure from the Golden Age of Radio. Buy it today for $14.95.
The Man of Bronze returns in two tales of super-science that inspired classic Superman stories. First, a silvery stratospheric craft showers vapors of death upon a Texas town, while Cosmic Rays alter Long Tom’s mental makeup. Doc and Patricia Savage attempt to thwart the deadly plots of a red-hooded mastermind in “He Could Stop the World,” a pulp classic by Laurence Donovan that inspired an early Superman story by Jerry Siegel. Then, “The Laugh of Death” could change the outcome of World War II, in a Lester Dent thriller that introduced Doc’s new Fortress of Solitude that inspired the Man of Steel’s glacier hideaway. This double-novel collector’s edition leads off with a knockout cover by legendary paperback artist James Bama. and also reprints both classic color pulp covers by Robert G. Harris and Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray. Priced at only $14.95.
The Man of Bronze returns in two tales of super-science that inspired classic Superman stories. First, a silvery stratospheric craft showers vapors of death upon a Texas town, while Cosmic Rays alter Long Tom’s mental makeup. Doc and Patricia Savage attempt to thwart the deadly plots of a red-hooded mastermind in “He Could Stop the World,” a pulp classic by Laurence Donovan that inspired an early Superman story by Jerry Siegel. Then, “The Laugh of Death” could change the outcome of World War II, in a Lester Dent thriller that introduced Doc’s new Fortress of Solitude that inspired the Man of Steel’s glacier hideaway. This double-novel collector’s edition features both classic color pulp covers by Robert G. Harris and Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of ten Doc Savage novels. Priced at only $14.95
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 “Laboratory Of The Damned” (1936), Poisoned! Struck down by a deadly assault from a mad murderer, the Spider finds his friend Stanley Kirkpatrick, Commissioner of Police, doomed to a stupor of living death. Nor is he the only victim… also stricken with the dread malady is Richard Wentworth’s fiancee, Nita van Sloan! The Spider battles both the Law and the Underworld to survive! Then, in “Hell’s Sales Manager” (1940), The Brand wields a weird new weapon that sucks everything in its path into a vortex of destruction! How can even the Master of Men fight an enemy that seems to simply vanish? While this reign of terror goes unchecked, the Spider finds his every effort hampered by a human bloodhound assigned to track down and eliminate him. 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. Available now for $14.95!
Altus Press is proud to announce the release of the third volume in its acclaimed Wild Adventures of Doc Savage series, written by Will Murray and Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson.
Set in the Fall of 1936, The Infernal Buddha tells the epic story of Doc Savage’s desperate quest to control the Buddha of Ice, a relic of unknown origin—and what may become the most dangerous object on Earth!
When a mummy arrives at Doc Savage’s New York headquarters wearing the clothes of his missing assistant, engineer Renny Renwick, Doc, Monk, and Ham rush to Singapore where they get on the trail of a swashbuckling pirate who calls himself the Scourge of the South China Sea, in whose hands a piece of the infernal Buddha has fallen. The trail leads to Pirate Island, the fate of Renny, and a mysterious box containing a terrible, unstoppable power.
But that is only the beginning of the quest into which the Man of Bronze plunges—one that will take him to the upper reaches of the Yellow Sea and a series a wild ocean battles against the vicious factions fighting for control on the infernal Buddha.
Before it is all over, every human life on Earth will tremble on the brink of eternity, and Doc Savage will face his greatest test.
“This may be my wildest Doc novel to date,” says author Will Murray. “The Infernal Buddha is a fantasy epic full of corsairs, criminals and other culprits. The menace is planetary. The threat, extinction. Doc Savage has a reputation for saving the world. This time he does it on the greatest scale possible. I began this book back in 1992, working from an opening situation Lester Dent started in 1935. Together, we have produced a true Doc Savage epic. And it only took about 75 years….”
The Infernal Buddha features a startling cover painted by Joe DeVito, depicting Doc Savage as the Buccaneer of Bronze! This cover was painted from a still taken in 1964 of legendary model Steve Holland, and is a variant pose shot for famed illustrator James Bama’s classic cover to The Man of Bronze. There has never been a Doc cover like it! Buy it today for only $24.95 from Radio Archives.
By John Olsen
The appearance of strange disks of grayish metal, upon which are engraved a queer Chinese character, marks the return of Diamond Bert Farwell. The Shadow will once again engage in a battle of wits and strength with this formidable foe from his past.
This story, set three years after Diamond Bert Farwell had been incarcerated, finds him preparing for parole. The Shadow has been picking up signs that Diamond Jim Farwell is up to something. To get details on Diamond Jim’s plans, The Shadow has his good friend Slade Farrow enter Sing Sing as a fellow prisoner. Slade Farrow is a criminologist who takes pride in reforming criminals who want a second chance. Two of those were Hawkeye and Tapper. They both appeared in the earlier novel-assisting Farrow. In this story, they join the ranks of The Shadow.
Three other agents are added to the growing assortment of agents of The Shadow in this tale. Pietro, the pushcart vendor was a minor agent who is drafted here. Jericho Druke appears here for the very first time. When we first meet Druke, the giant African is running an employment agency in Harlem. Taxicab driver Moe Shrevnitz was the final agent added to The Shadow’s band of aides in this story.
As for regular characters, Burbank and Clyde Burke make appearances. Rutledge Mann and Cliff Marsland get a few good scenes. So does chauffeur Stanley. Joe Cardona is an acting inspector in this story, and his boss is Police Commissioner Wainwright Barth. At police headquarters we also see Detective Sergeant Markham.
In this story, The Shadow uses his rubber suction cups to cling to sheer surfaces. We visit the small room that Burbank uses, although this time Burbank is off duty and Harry Vincent is on duty. And we visit Chinatown several times; once to visit with arbiter Yat Soon, the other to track down Diamond Jim’s associate Tam Sook.
This is one heck of a Shadow story. It adds five new agents and there are gun battles, death traps and a sinister organization based in Chinatown. The Shadow is at his peak of power in this 1934 story, and he’ll need all his strength to do battle with his old nemesis, Diamond Bert Farwell. Do yourself a favor and read this top-notch Shadow pulp mystery. This and another full length Shadow tale can be found in The Shadow, Volume 2 for only $12.95 from Radio Archives.
Comments From Our Customers!
Robert Anderson writes:
Thanks! As usual, the service at Radio Archives in exceptional!
Gil Miller writes:
Good companies create good customers. Thanks. Always a pleasure to shop here. Good stuff, good prices, good policies. You know I’ll be back.
Doctor Panic on Amazon writes:
I just finished reading the Kindle version of the Spider #22 Dragon Lord of the Underworld. I have read over twenty Spider stories and this was one of the best. The job that was done by Will Murray in the opening shows what great passion the guy has for not only his writing but the writing of other greats, and his thorough knowledge of such. His intro kick starts you before you even get to the first chapter The book was formatted with nice bold lettering that jumped off the pages and made it super easy reading. The way a book is lettered can add a lot to the reading experience, and this was accomplished well in this book, purposely using bold or italics, added a little something that the original pulps didn’t have. 5 happy stars, do yourself a favor and read this one!!
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: THE OFFICE Going Dark
This week, former show runner for THE OFFICE Greg Daniels returned and dropped the bomb that the upcoming ninth season would be the last. We cornered Greg with all the questions that came up at once – and he answers them all right here. Plus more on the second season of GRIMM, and SyFy brings back a beloved Brit TV legend.
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Don’t miss a minute of pop culture news – 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.
Josepha Sherman: 1946-2012
Josepha Sherman, folklorist, anthologist, and science fiction and fantasy author and editor, has died at the age of 65.
Josepha published many books over the years, know equally for her tie-in work on Star Trek, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Highlander, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, and Xena, her original fiction such as the Prince of the Sidhe series, her anthologies such as Rachel the Clever: And Other Jewish Folktales and Urban Nightmares (which happened to be where my first original short story, “Dark Of Night”, was published) and her academic and educational books.
Her last fiction book was Epiphany: Vulcan’s Soul Trilogy Book Three, co-written with Susan M. Shwartz. Her masterwork, the 904 page Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore which she edited and contributed to heavily, was published in 2008. With her focus on pop culture and folklore, collaborator Mercedes Lackey called Josepha “the common man’s Joseph Campbell”.
She was also a tremendous fan of the ponies, and she would invariably greet me whenever we met with, “So, who do you like in the (insert next big horse race here)?”
Funeral services will be held in Connecticut on Monday. Details to follow.
Our condolences to all her friends and fans.
Stan Lee’s Poetry – Soon For Posterity!
Way back in the early 1970s, Stan (The Man) Lee wrote… a whole lotta stuff. And among this stuff was a 167-line poem called God Woke.
Now, 40 years later, Stan is going into the studio to record his epic. There’s even better news: the profits will go to The Hero Initiative, a worthy cause if there ever was one.
Stan hasn’t recorded it as of yet, but we’ll keep you informed and advised. God Woke will be available on iTunes, and The Hero Initiative will get 35 cents from each sale.
Which, by the way, is about double cost of a Marvel Comic book around the time Stan wrote the poem.
Thanks and a tip of the brainpan to Denny O’Neil and Jim McLauchlin for the head’s up.
FORTIER TAKES ON ‘WRITTEN IN TIME’!
ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
WRITTEN IN TIME
By Jerry & Sharon Ahern
Baen Science Fiction
Trying to decide what book I wanted to take with me when traveling to the Pulp Fest Convention in Columbus, several weeks ago, I grabbed a paperback that had been sitting on my To-Read stack for a few months. It was “Written in Time,” by Jerry & Sharon Ahern and appeared to be an action-adventure science fiction novel dealing with time travel; a favorite sub-genre of mine. While packing the book away in my backpack, a niggling memory surfaced in my mind about a particular post I’d seen recently on Facebook concerning a writer’s recent passing. For whatever reason, Ahern’s name was the one I remembered. Sadly my memory proved to be working just fine because, after finishing this truly excellent novel, I discovered that Jerry Ahern, age 66, had indeed passed away only last month, 24th July, 2012.
From what I gathered, he and his wife were best known for their sci-fi series called, “The Survivalist,” about an American family surviving in a world ravaged by a nuclear war. One of the hallmarks of Ahern’s writing was his expert descriptions of hand weapons employed in his fiction as he was himself an authority on handguns and contributed to many well known magazines such as “Guns & Ammo.”
“Written In Time” mirrors the Aherns a great deal as the protagonists are Jack and Ellen Naile, a popular husband and wife sci-fi writing couple. One day they receive a photo in the mail sent to them from a fan in a small Nevada town. The picture, a clipping from the local newspaper dated 1904 shows Jack, Ellen, their daughter Elizabeth and son David all wearing western garb and standing before a general store bearing their name, “Jack Naile – General Merchandise.” After several tests the two come to believe that the photo in the clipping is authentic and not a hoax; meaning sometime in the near future some bizarre event is going to hurl them almost a hundred years into the past.
From this point forward, the Nailes set about planning for the event and doing their best to prepare themselves for their new life in the past. Eventually the freakish event occurs and our cast is sent back in time. There they slowly begin to adapt to turn of the century living and the challenges it presents them while being careful not to affect any changes that may alter the future itself.
Unfortunately the Nailes’ nephew, Clarence, having been told of their coming time travel adventure becomes obsessed with duplicating the phenomenon and joining them in the past. In the process of successfully achieving this goal, he inadvertently sets into motion actions that ultimately expose their experience to an unscrupulous businesswoman. Being immoral, she sees the potential for riches and power to be won by shaping time to her own will. When Jack and Ellen become aware of this new faction that is about to invade the past to control the future, they scramble to find allies to help them thwart her deranged plans and save history. The person they recruit to their cause is none other than Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt.
The true fun of this book is that it really is two books in one; a fantastical science fiction adventure and a bona fide western actioner. The Aherns pull this off seamlessly and after finishing the book, this reviewer had to wonder if in the writing, both of them saw it as a very special, intimate dream fulfillment to cap their writing careers. That it would be their last book together lends a poignant credibility to that idea.
Sixty-six in our age is not a long time and yet Jerry Ahern seems to have filled it to overflowing with living a life of love and creativity. After reading, “Written In Time,” it is clear we’ve lost a truly gifted and original voice. R.I.P. Jerry Ahern and thanks.
Taking Down “The Dark Knight Rises”
Ouch, ouch, and more ouch.
FADE IN:
EXT. AIRPLANE
After DC COMICS reminds everyone of their shitty new logo, HANS ZIMMER plucks a couple strings until HOODED TOM HARDY and nuclear scientist ALON ABOUTBOUL are taken on board CIA AGENT AIDAN GILLEN’S PLANE.
AIDAN GILLEN
We were only expecting the scientist, who the fuck are you?
TOM HARDY
(in 5.1 surround)Remember how the lasht villain was introduced in a full-head mashk, only revealing hish true face ash he pulled off an overly elaborate plan that involved shacrifiching hish own underlingsh?
(removes hood)
WE’RE DOING IT AGAIN, WITH NO SHURVIVORSH!
via If ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Was 10 Times Shorter and More Honest | Cracked.com.
And just for good measure, we have the folks at How It Should Have Ended weighing in:
Sadly, I can’t find much wrong with their critiques.
Then we have word that The Dark Knight Rises passes $900 Million in worldwide box office, while at the same time selling fewer tickets than Tim Burton’s Batman. Amazing, ain’t it?
This Week’s New Comics: August 22, 2012
This week’s list of new comics in stores is sponsored by Manhattan Comics and Comixology. Buy new comics now!
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