PULP HEROES – KHAN DYNASTY By Wayne Reinagel 566 pages Knightraven Studios
Calling this thick hunk of book the “Gone With The Wind” of pulps would be no exaggeration at all. Detailing, and intertwining the lives of dozens of heroes and villains from both the 19th and 20th centuries, Wayne Reinagel has delivered a book that is pure treasure chest of action and adventure delights.
With KHAN DYNASTY, Reinagel takes a jump backward in time to showcase the birth of America’s most famous pulp and comic book heroes of the 1930s. To do so he weaves such classic figures as Jekyll and Hyde, Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu together in an incredible globe spanning saga; although some have their names changed due to licensing restrictions. Still the acute pulp fan will easily identify such stalwarts as Doc Titan and his five loyal companions, the Darkness, the warrior who fights in the shadows and the deadly Scorpion, who’s automatics blaze a trail of death and destruction in meting justice to evil doers. These were the same characters we were first introduced to in PULP HEROES – MORE THAN MORTAL, his first entry in this mammoth trilogy; although it is the second chapter of the saga.
We personally wish he would have launched this Magnus Opus with this volume for several reasons. The obvious would have been the natural progression of the characters’ history would have made following events a whole lot easier. Secondly, as much as we enjoyed MORE THAN MORTAL, it had many narrative bumps. We were thrilled to see these gone in KHAN DYNASTY as Reinagel’s earlier amateurish style and awkward phrasing have been replaced by a smooth, easy and very professional writing competency. This bodes very well for his proposed third volume due out later this year.
No one does historical research better than Reinagel and his books are clearly the results of hours of meticulous study. Having embraced the late Philip Jose Farmer’s wonderful Wold Newton concept of classic heroes and villains being somehow related to each other via one amazing family tree, Reinagel takes that supposition one giant step further and details every single minutia on every single branch of that tree. Which is also the book’s clear weakness in that he is easily tempted by factual history and spends way too many pages relating little known historical data that have absolutely no relevancy on the book’s plot. This volume could have trimmed fifty pages of such fat and moved things along at a faster clip. But don’t get me wrong, there’s still tons of action and adventure packed into this story, more then enough for any ten regular pulp novels.
Clearly, books like KHAN DYNASTY are not for the casual reader just discovering pulps. Whereas, if you are a true fan who has rudimentary knowledge of this unique literary genre and its more famous characters, then it would behoove you to pick this up. It will provide you with a reading experience unlike any you’ve ever enjoyed before.
It’s not quite official, but it looks like the possibility of a 24 movie is pretty bleak. We have an updated plus more with comic fan Tom Wheeler, creator of NBC’s THE CAPE.
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Movies and television shows have been created after something has caught the public’s imaginations be it a Twitter feed, a commercial, or a persona. Perhaps the best of the lot, though, is [[[Machete]]], inspired by a fake movie trailer. The film, now out on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, came about when director Robert Rodríguez fashioned a B-film trailer as part of [[[Grindhouse]]], the homage to trashy films of the past, made with Quentin Tarantino. Machete, with Danny Trejo in the lead, captured imaginations so Rodriguez and his brother Alvaro wrote a film to do the trailer justice.
I cannot tell you the last time I saw such an entertaining B film, which made me laugh out loud more than once. The thing is, beyond the gratuitous nudity and over-the-top violence, the film actually addresses a few of the day’s hot button issues giving it more heft than the films it emulates.
Once a Federale in Mexico, Machete watched his wife be killed by a drug lord (Steven Segal) and was left for dead. Three years later, he resurfaces in Texas as a day laborer just trying to get along. As luck would have it, corrupt political operative Jeff Fahey hires him to assassinate Senator Robert DeNiro. Before he can fire, though, someone else shoots the senator and frames Machete, igniting racial tensions throughout the city. At the same time, an independent militia, led by Don Johnson, is in cahoots with the senator and both want to shut down an operation called The Network, which has been helping illegals cross the border and begin a new life. It’s led by one woman, Michelle Rodriguez, and is hunted by another, ICE officer Jessica Alba. The rest of the movie is filled with action and mayhem with a script that barely holds the threads together but has more gaping holes than the border between countries.
Alba looks great and handles her official role well but does so without the requisite gravitas. Rodriguez, though, shines and has never looked hotter, especially during the climactic action sequence. Still, the film is all Trejo’s and he does it with a grim faced countenance that shows he’s taking no joy in doing his job or enacting long-awaited vengeance.
The rest of the cast generally is playing against type and most don’t have a chance to play anything but two-dimension figures but boy are they having fun. Noteworthy is how understated Cheech Marin is as Trejo’s brother and how welcome it was to see FX makeup genius Tom Savini on screen again (although a quick glance at IMDB shows me how many films of his I’ve missed). Lindsay Lohan is here as Fahey’s daughter and she looks fabulous in everything from a nun’s habit to her birthday suit but her character is so poorly written that she has nothing to play and comes across more clueless than calculated.
There’s plenty of blood as Machete fights his way in and out of trouble but there’s one time when he escapes from a hospital that has him use the most imaginative device I’ve seen in years. It’s also been a while since a film was just so pure entertaining and a great way to pass a cold winter’s night.
The Blu-ray transfer looks and sounds just fine. The film comes with a small number of extras but most missed is a commentary track from Rodriguez. We do get the green and red-band trailers, 10 minutes of deleted scenes, and an audience reaction track that is fun but unnecessary. Interestingly, an entirely Alba-centric sub-plot has been excised from the film but preserved through these deletions and you understand why the thread was removed.
The film ends with a promise of Machete returning for two sequels and trust me, I’ll be among the first to line up to see them.
Before we kick off this Panel, let’s explain how this will work since we’ve changed the set up of the site! Any of the Spectacled Seven who respond to the panel will have to add their responses to this post or send them to allpulp@yahoo.com and Tommy will add them! Also, something new, if you are an ALL PULP follower and want to weigh in on the PANEL topic, then either email your comment to allpulp@yahoo.com or post it on the comments page and it too will be added to the PANEL topic! So…with that said…here is the ALL PULP PANEL for this week!!
The GREEN HORNET film is debuting on 1/14/11. This movie has stirred up a nest of something within the pulp community, many fans not looking forward to it at all. However, an argument is being made that even if THE GREEN HORNET is as bad as many believe it will be, at least it is still exposing the public to Pulp like characters and stories. and that is a good thing….But is it? Are there positives for Pulp when someone produces something in another medium that is…not good and maybe even downright awful for whatever reason?
Let the Paneling ensue….
Tommy-I’ll weigh in more later…but my initial response is no, a bad pulp movie isn’t a positive for pulp in general. Some might say any exposure is good, even negative exposure…but in a field that is still somewhat fighting for legitimacy and its place in society, one example of bad may do a ton of harm to all the multiple, less seen examples of good within Pulp.
From Hank Brown on ALL PULP’S comments page- Your Pulp Panel topic has touched on my own dilemma. While I think the characters are long overdue for a feature of their own and would love to see Kato thumping bad guys in 3D, I’m reluctant to waste a big chunk of change to watch a formulaic special effects extravaganza conceived by a bunch of beancounters and their yes-man director who have no respect or understanding of the source material or characters. I will probably wait for it to come to Redbox and watch it then with my 3-year-old. I might could handle it being a comedy, but from what I’ve seen so far, they’ve written the title character as a pathetic loser. I’m all for emphasizing what a badass Kato is, and for demonstrating he has brains as well as martial arts skills. But at the expense of making Britt Reid/the Green Hornet a hapless boob? Hey Hollywood: Your cognitive/creative limitations are showing again! Here’s a clip that demonstrates a creative effort respecting the characters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rjm53J1G4M
From Adam Garcia-
Everyday all pulp and comic book writers adapt and rework classic characters. Some of these changes are minor, some are major. Characters like the Shadow went through a variety of iterations, as did Batman or Superman. We can accept “Batman: the Brave and the Bold” in the era of “The Dark Knight;” I myself am writing a version of the Green Lama noticeably different than that of Jim Krueger or Mike Barr, or even, for that matter Kendell Foster Crossen.
The new Green Hornet film is only one of many interpretations of the character that has appeared over the years, from the original radio to TV Series to Ron Fortier’s fantastic work for Now Comics. In this interpretation, the creators choose to make a more comedic-action adventure, one that highlights Britt Reid’s arc from spoiled playboy to hero and his relationship with Kato. The notion that this is a “bad” film originates in the purist distaste for the interpretation, the leads, and tone; not in the quality of the film, which based on early reviews has been noted to be flawed but overly positive. While I am firmly in the camp supporting this film, (I am a fan of Seth Rogen and feel the character arc of slovenly playboy redeeming himself as hero makes for a better narrative) and plan on seeing it opening weekend with my father, himself an old school fan of the character, my defense the project originates from belief that we as pulp/comic writers constantly ask our readers to at least give our interpretations a chance and to hopefully accept them as legitimate adaptations. This negative wave against the film from the original fans — some of which are themselves creators — is at best hypocritical.
With public domain and licensed characters there is ultimately no “right” version; they are evolving, adapting, changing every year. That’s what keeps them alive. Why has Batman remained one of the top sellers for 72 years? Because various creators have been given the chance to give their interpretation that was appropriate for the time. Some were successful, some weren’t, but he remained in the public consciousness constantly since his inception. You don’t have to enjoy the film but you should at least respect the creator’s right to make it. Again the reviews are positive, and if that upsets purist fans, then that’s unfortunate, but in order for this character — and every character we write — to survive, they must be allowed to evolve and adapt or they will become stagnant and disappear from public consciousness like so many fantastic, but forgotten heroes.
And how bad can it be now that you can buy a Green Hornet costume for Halloween?
AP: Larry, ALL PULP appreciates you taking time to visit today! First, tell us a bit about yourself if you will?
LL: Like everybody else in this business, I grew up reading comics, and remember when the first Marvel titles came out. I can even tell you most of the stores where I bought the first issues of each one, though most of those stores are long gone. I was discouraged from pursuing art, so went into movies instead. I worked in television animation for 25 years, then came back to Oklahoma to help a friend with a low-budget live action film in 2001. After 9/11, everything was so shaky, I thought I would ride it out in Oklahoma, and have just never been able to leave.
I freelanced some, worked in theatre as both actor and set designer, but my basic skill set was not of much value here. I finally found a school, OSU Institute of Technology, that was trying to build up an animation department….and here I am. I teach Maya and Flash. I love it, plus it allows me to experiment and learn new technology.
AP: You’re currently producing an online comic entitled LOVECRAFT IS MISSING. In a nutshell, can you sum up for us what the comic is about?
LL: Not really. I originally conceived it as an animated project, and it was in development for a year or so at Film Roman in L.A. My first notion was that I wanted to try and make a truly ‘adult’ animated series, meaning complex story and characterization rather than T and A and profanity. I wanted to do a horror show, and I am a big Lovecraft fan, but I’ve never much cared for Lovecraft adaptations, be they film or comic book. I wanted to express what I got out of those stories, but I really didn’t want to adapt any of Lovecraft’s actual stories, so I came up with my own. There were a few clichés I really wanted to stomp on, like everybody in the universe having a copy of the Necronomicon. In my story, no one, at least of the good guys, have ever even heard of it. Same with Cthulhu. The magic and mystery of these things is that they are very, very obscure.
AP: The next obvious question is of course just where did you get the idea for this concept? Was it always planned to be a comic book?
LL: I answered part of this above. I didn’t decide to make it into a comic book until I realized it was never going to get made any other way.
AP: Why go web comic with LOVECRAFT IS MISSING? Do you have a preference of web over print? What do you see as the differences between the two?
LL: I made one attempt to get LIM before a real publisher, via Howard Chaykin. He showed it to DC, but they weren’t interested.
By that time, I’d realized that throughout my career, I had always been working with someone over my shoulder, telling me to add this or not do that. I wanted to do something that was wholly mine, be it good or bad. It’s not that all the input I got over the years was bad; some of it was great. But by and large, the people in the executive suites had no animation or creative experience and their input was either superfluous or stupid, often both. I was once told by an NBC exec that the secret to a good cartoon for children was a loud noise every few minutes.
I opted for webcomics because it gave me complete freedom. I don’t make any money, but that’s worth it to be able to say the strip is all mine. I’m glad people like it, but I worry about pleasing myself first.
AP: Let’s talk a little about subject matter. Are you a Lovecraft fan? What about Lovecraft and his life and/or entire mythos appeals to you?
LL: Yep, big Lovecraft fan since high school, though I’ve never been that active in fandom. I’ve read all his stories multiple times, all the bios, most of the letters, most of the marginalia. When his stories work (and they don’t all achieve that) they evoke the dark corners of this old earth. He manages to convey, for me anyway, the notion that while the rest of the world is going on about its business, there are these perverse, mysterious, profane things taking place in secluded places. That’s one of the many reasons I don’t like the near-universality of the Necronomicon, et al., in many pastiches and adaptations, and one of the reasons I don’t think Lovecraftian stories set in the present are very effective. There are secluded corners of the world still, but they are harder to access, and anybody with a cellphone or a laptop can be in touch with like-minded thinkers in literally seconds. In The Call of Cthulhu, it takes the narrator months to accumulate all his data.
AP: We’ve talked about you. Now let’s talk more globally. Why do you think HP Lovecraft has had the effect on the world of literature, pulp and beyond, that he has? What about his work resonates, especially with today’s readers?
LL: I don’t think I can add much to what’s already been said by others. Lovecraft almost singlehandedly moved the weird tale out of the swamp of traditional ghost and vampire stories, and into the cosmos. His personal beliefs wouldn’t have allowed him to dismiss a vampire with a crucifix or lay a spirit to rest with a common exorcism. Things don’t always have explanations, they don’t always turn out well, the universe is a cold and uncaring place.
As far as his life goes, I like eccentrics, and he was certainly that. His story is a sad one, but that is an outside perspective. He seems to have been relatively resigned to his fate and reasonably happy within those limits.
AP: Are there any other pulp concepts that you’d like to work with, to play with as a writer and/or artist? Any established public domain concepts or even, like Lovecraft, other writers you’d like to put your spin on in the future?
LL: Sure. I have an idea for a 30s science fiction comic/novel/whatever that would strive for the feeling John Howitt got in his covers for the Spider and Operator 5. I want to do some short stories for the Shadowmen series from Black Coat Press as soon as a moment frees up, and those will use established characters. And there’s a particular 19th century science fiction potboiler that I want to use as a springboard for a new sotry. But I don’t have any attraction to doing Robert E. Howard is Missing or Clark Ashton Smith on Mars.
AP: How about original concepts, all freshly created by Larry Latham himself? Anything you have in mind of the original character pulp variety?
LL: It depends on how you look at it, I suppose. I have no ideas that rehash Doc Savage or the Shadow or the Spider or hard-boiled detectives. Those were done right the first time. But the next idea I want to do, which I will probably start as part of my MFA in Creative Writing, is very pulpy in concept, and yet it is not something that would interest any of the new pulp publishers. I’m really excited by it and think it is a strikingly original idea, which means I am not going to say anymore about it.:-)
AP: Here’s an easy one to ask, not so easy to answer. Is pulp relevant today? If so or if not, why?
LL: How are we defining pulp? As a type of story that appeared in actual pulp magazines, or one that appeared in a sleazy 1950s paperback? Do you consider crime dramas like CSI pulp? Are serials pulp? For my money, pulp is very relevant today. 24 was pure pulp from start to finish. (It was also, interstingly, a serial within a serial: each season was a serial in itself, yet each season was a chapter in a larger, 8 season serial.) Fringe strikes me as pulp, though without as much action. Star Wars is pulp, series books are pulp, comics are largely pulp, even romance novels harken back to the love pulps. So yes, I do think it’s relevant today, and will remain so because mass-produced shallow entertainment is always appealing. I don’t mean shallow as a put down, but no one is ever going to mistake Doc Savage for Holden Caufield.
AP: You’re showing off your definite comic skills with LOVECRAFT. Do you write prose as well and if so, which do you prefer and why?
LL: I wrote a young adult novel of which I am very proud, but it was rejected by the two publishers I sent it to. It is an historical novel with no fantasy, and there isn’t much call for that right now. I am working on horror short stories, but frankly, I have barely enough time to deal with my daily life: full-time job, family, night school and the time I put in on LIM.
I don’t know that I prefer either one; some ideas fit one medium better than another.
AP: What work do you have coming up that would interest pulp fans in say, the next year? And feel free to drop any LOVECRAFT teasers you want to…
LL: Well, it’s taken two years and four months to get to the halfway point of the Lovecraft is Missing arc, so unless I want to piss off everybody who has followed the strip thus far, that’s all I’ll be working on for the foreseeable future. The current issue, #4, will end in the early spring –a 50+ page effort, I might add—and then I will have to take a few months off (as I’ve done between each issue) to get ahead on issue 5. I’ve been looking forward to issue 5 since I started, as that is where some of my favorite story points will take place. We’ll learn more about Walter Cow and Luther Fickes, meet a few new original characters and rope in some more of Lovecraft’s own characters as well. We’ll find out more about those missing photographic plates that kicked the whole story off, and more about the Santapau device. I have a chase scene in mind that I think is going to be a triple-ding-doozy, and we might—or might not, depending on space—learn the origin of Dr. Kartophilus.
AP: Larry, it‘s been great! Thanks for taking some time for ALL PULP!
INSPIRATION FOR AND ACTRESS THAT PLAYED MARGO LANE PASSES
Reposted from The New York Times article by Bruce Weber
Margot Stevenson, a stage actress for more than six decades who appeared on Broadway in Kaufman and Hart’s “You Can’t Take It With You” in the 1930s and opposite Orson Welles in the radio series “The Shadow,” died on Sunday at her home in Manhattan. She was 98.
The death was confirmed by her daughter, Margot Avery.
Ms. Stevenson was, in the archaic phrase, a lady of the theater. The daughter of an actor and the mother of an actress, she appeared in a handful of movies and television shows (including a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production of “Macbeth” in which she played Lady Macduff), but most of her career was spent on the stage.
A prolific performer in regional theater, on tour and in summer stock, she spent time in the 1950s in London, in the West End production of “The Seven Year Itch” as the wife of the wayward romantic. From the 1930s though the ’60s she appeared in more than a dozen Broadway shows.
They included a 1935 revival of “The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” the Rudolf Besier play about the poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, with Katharine Cornell; Robert E. Sherwood’s World War II drama “The Rugged Path,” directed by Garson Kanin and starring Spencer Tracy, in 1945; Ruth Gordon’s valentine to the theater, “The Leading Lady,” with John Carradine, Ossie Davis, Mildred Dunnock and Ms. Gordon, directed by Mr. Kanin, in 1948; and “Triple Play,” an evening of one-acts by Chekhov, Sean O’Casey and Tennessee Williams with a cast that included Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, in 1959.
In “You Can’t Take It With You,” a loopy and popular comedy that opened in December 1936 and won a Pulitzer Prize for George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, Ms. Stevenson played the presumably normal one in a family of happy eccentrics on the Upper West Side of Manhattan who is shown the error of her ways in her choice of a man. (The part was played by Jean Arthur in the Frank Capra film version.)
When she auditioned for the role, Ms. Stevenson was playing a small part in another Broadway comedy by Mr. Kaufman, “Stage Door” (which he wrote with Edna Ferber).
“They brought two girls in from Hollywood for the part I have,” Ms. Stevenson told The New York Daily Mirror toward the end of the run. “One was too snooty for what was to be a middle-class sort of girl. The other girl went to Philadelphia with the show for the opening. Mr. Kaufman called me down there for a reading, then sent me to walk around the park while they made up their minds. I got the job and they kept me in hiding in a hotel so the other girl wouldn’t know she had lost her job.”
Margaret Helen Stevenson was born in Manhattan on Feb. 8, 1912. Her father, Charles Alexander Stevenson, was an Irish-born actor who was 60 when Margaret was born, somewhat scandalously, to his 22-year-old second wife, Frances Riley. Margaret went to the Brearley School in Manhattan and was about to enter Bryn Mawr College when the Depression hit.
“So she went on the stage instead,” her daughter said.
In 1937 Ms. Stevenson was dating Clark Andrews, a radio producer working on “The Shadow,” an adaptation of pulp novels about a secret avenger. It was Mr. Andrews who introduced the character of Margot Lane (named after Ms. Stevenson) as the girlfriend of the hero, the man-about-town Lamont Cranston, played by Welles.
Mr. Andrews didn’t believe in nepotism, however, so he cast Agnes Moorehead as the original Margot. Ms. Stevenson played the part for 26 episodes in 1938, after another producer took over. (The name was spelled Margo when the character was later introduced into the novels.)
Her first two marriages ended in divorce. In 1953 she married the actor Val Avery, who died in 2009. Her daughter, Ms. Avery, who has appeared in Off and Off Off Broadway shows, appeared with her mother in the late 1990s in a Fringe Festival production of “The Bacchae.” By then blind from macular degeneration, Ms. Stevenson played Teiresias, the sightless seer, in the Euripides play. It was her final stage role.
Pulp, as we all know and as I’m known to say frequently, isn’t just found in the printed word or in the bottom of your orange juice glass. This area we so enjoy to read, write, draw, and create in has spread its Lovecraftian tentacles into all sorts of mediums, pretty much since pulp began. One arena that pulp took hold of early on and thankfully hasn’t let go of is that of the audio drama. Back before boobs sat before tubes with flickering lights and little colored dots, mystery, comedy, drama, talk shows, all that goodness existed somewhere else. Somewhere where the stage was in your mind and the doors inside were your ears.
Radio, my friends.
What we all now know as OTR (Old Time Radio) was simply the entertainment of the day at its peak. That was where most people were first introduced to the mysterious figure known as The Shadow…where that immortal phrase ‘Up, Up, and Away’ was first ever heard…where a single surviving Texas Ranger met his Indian companion and saved the west…and generations later where that ranger’s descendant rode into high octane action with his Oriental chauffeur at his side, both in masks…and those are just the characters most of you know about. A literal plethora of characters existed in the golden age of radio that could be considered pulp and they are in part the focus of this column.
The other part is what is referred to as modern audio drama. Many companies, individuals, and collectives have come together, especially with the advent of the internet, and began producing original audio works for the listening and podcasting audience. And these new pioneers of audio greatness have not forgotten their roots. Two fisted heroes, over the top villains, and wild plots abound. Pulp is still alive and has a strong voice in modern audio drama.
Lastly, this column will look at ways audio characters, both old and new, have transcended audio and either came from other works originally or have inspired new works in other mediums! Several comic and publishing companies today have mined the wealth of characters and tales found in audio drama and we’ll be discussing those.
This column will be at least weekly, hopefully twice a week. I have a great list of characters, shows, and companies I already plan to cover. Here’s just a taste-
YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR THE RED PANDA BROKEN SEA PRODUCTIONS THE BLUE BEETLE CHANDU THE MAGICIAN THE SHADOW BOSTON BLACKIE PENDANT AUDIO PRODUCTIONS MOONSTONE ENTERTAINMENT, INC. PHILLIP MARLOWE
Yes, there are many, many more….and of course, if you have suggestions, send ’em along to allpulp@yahoo.com. This column aims to make sure that another vital area of pulp, one of the reasons the genre even still has life, is made better known to pulp fans everywhere. So, be ready for the next time…pull your stool up close to the radio, turn the dial, and be ready to..TUNE INTO PULP!!!
From May 1940, this is a good, solid Avenger story in the classic tradition. If the solution to the weird Rain God murders seems a bit obvious, it’s probably because we’ve read so darn many pulp thrillers. To an imaginative young reader first discovering this type of adventure, THE GLASS MOUNTAIN is filled wtth dramatic cliffhangers and creepy events, and a cast of larger than life oddballs.
An ancient legend seems to be coming back to life in a remote area of Idaho, where a railroad construction project is beginning to blast a tunnel through the black basalt Mount Rainod (the ‘glass mountain’ of the title), and a wizened Pawnee elder named Yellow Moccasins is doing his best by terrorize the workers by telling them the recent deaths have been the work of the Rain God that dwells in the mountain. Now, if you’re a fan of the series, you’re likely to suspect a rational explanation for the shenanigans. But on the other hand, we do witness a mysterious green mist twenty feet high repeatedly appear out of nowhere and elecrocute people dead in their tracks.
Although Rosabel Newton doesn’t appear (and isn’t even mentioned as far as I can find), Josh gets a bigger share of the action than usual. In addition to punching and running and diving into subterranean water to rescue people, he grudgingly takes on the chore of being camp cook for sixty workers. (He does a good job, too, and everyone loves his cooking.) Josh’s deliberate ‘dumb Negro’ pantomime works effectively , as crooks underestimate him enough to give him an opening to attack them. But his most notable moment is when he’s jolted by the green mist and is literally killed by it. Benson does manage to revive his friend (with some impromptu methods) before a critical amount of time has passed but it’s a harrowing event. The fact that a similar fate strikes Mac almost immediately afterwards doesn’t help. (Rubber shoes do, though.)
When Smitty teases him about his experience, Josh shivers and says, “Don’t even joke about it.” The big guy asks if he had any visions and Josh replies no, it was just like being unconscious. A good many pulp heroes are pronounced clinically dead and revived (It happened to Monk and Ham in PIRATE OF THE PACIFIC) but they usually seem to forget about it immediately as if it’s no big deal, and it’s unsettling to see Josh brooding about the experience as a person actually would.
Smitty and Mac are their usual selves, but Nellie Gray doesn’t shine very well in this story. Although she doesn’t turn up until halfway through the book, she manages to get bludgeoned unconscious TWICE in quick succession. I hope her dainty little skull was thicker than it seemed, or she would end up later in the series going, “Doy… uhh, hi dere.”
For some reason, Benson himself seems much more accessible than usual this time. He explains what he’s thinking and reacts to events more openly than his normal secretive way. When he impersonates the shady old Yellow Moccasins, he finds out that someone else is doing the same thing and for a while, there are three wrinkled old guys running around (the crooks are confused enough without stuff like this).
One touch I liked about the early stories was that The Avenger would occasionally run into someone who hadn’t seen him since his tragedy. Here an old foreman of his says awkwardly but sympathetically, “You’ve had trouble. I heard about it. Your wife and the little girl–” But he’s cut off by a cold glare from those eyes. Part of Benson’s problem, if you ask me, is that he never talked about his loss and he gruffly rejects any compassionate overtures from his old friends. It’s part of what makes him such a dramatic, intense fgure but it would have done him a world of good to thank this man for his concern.
Several times, in fact, we’re told that Benson doesn’t want to heal and learn to live again. He never considers suicide, but it’s explicitly said that he’s waiting for his life to be over so he can be reunited with his wife and daughter in the next world. Whle the Avenger never quite puts himself in the path of certain destruction, he comes awful close with all his deliberate walking right into traps. “Death could come any time it liked. Life wasn’t too kind, with wife and daughter taken from him in a criminal plot.”
UPCOMING COVER FOR BARRY REESE NOVEL FROM WILD CAT BOOKS RELEASED!
Noted Pulp Author Barry Reese (Creator of THE ROOK, LAZARUS GRAY, and RABBIT HEART) released the above image of his upcoming novel, THE DAMNED THING, from Wild Cat Books.
This is a preliminary version of the fantastic cover by Jason Levesque. Reese stated that THE DAMNED THING will likely be available in the coming weeks!
MISS LAST WEEK’S BOOK CAVE? THEN LISTEN TO IT NOW!
George Lucas may never finish tinkering with his Star Wars series. At the Consumer Electronics Show today, the anticipated announcement was officially made that the six movies will be collected in a nine-disc box set. The original trilogy will be making their Blu-ray debut — but these are the special editions. Apparently, the original elements from the first releases are fragile and need to be recreated or cleaned to properly reproduce in high definition (yes, meaning another opportunity to sell us product).
All the usual websites are now taking pre-orders but the disc won’t be out for months. Here’s the formal release:
LAS VEGAS (Jan. 6, 2011) – The most anticipated Blu-ray release ever – the Star Wars™ Saga – emerges from light speed this September 2011. For the first time, all six of George Lucas’ epic films (Episodes I-VI) are united in one complete set. Fans worldwide are able to pre-order now with online retailers.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release Star Wars in three distinct sets to meet the needs of every Star Wars fan:
– Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray (9-disc Set includes all six films) – Star Wars: Prequel Blu-ray Trilogy (3-disc set includes Episodes I-III) – Star Wars: Original Blu-ray Trilogy (3-disc set includes Episodes IV-VI)
STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA ON BLU-RAY will feature all six live-action Star Wars feature films utilizing the highest possible picture and audio presentation, along with three additional discs and more than 30 hours of extensive special features including never-before-seen deleted and alternate scenes, an exploration of the exclusive Star Wars archives, and much more.
Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray will be available for $139.99 US/$179.99 CAN and the Star Wars: Trilogy Sets for $69.99 US/89.99 CAN. Pricing for each set will vary by international territory.
Flanked by a legion of his finest Imperial Stormtroopers, Darth Vader himself joined Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to announce the release, vowing “The forces of the Empire will be at your disposal to assure the success of this endeavor.’’
“The Star Wars Saga is the most anticipated Blu-ray collection since the launch of the high-def format,” Dunn said. “The epic franchise pioneered sound and visual presentation in theaters and is perfectly suited to do it again in the home, with a viewing experience only possible with Blu-ray.”
“With all six episodes available for the first time in one collection, this is a great way for families and home audiences to experience the complete Saga from start to finish,” said Doug Yates, Vice President of Marketing, Online, Distribution, Lucasfilm Ltd. “And with the quality of high-definition, Blu-ray provides the most immersive home experience possible.”
“The Star Wars franchise has been one of the most anticipated Blu-ray releases by Amazon’s customers,” said Bill Carr, Vice President of Music and Video at Amazon. “We think that Star Wars will be incredibly popular with our customers, and we expect pre-orders to be very strong.”
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Movies and television shows have been created after something has caught the public’s imaginations be it a Twitter feed, a commercial, or a persona. Perhaps the best of the lot, though, is [[[Machete]]], inspired by a fake movie trailer. The film, now out on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, came about when director Robert Rodríguez fashioned a B-film trailer as part of [[[Grindhouse]]], the homage to trashy films of the past, made with Quentin Tarantino. Machete, with Danny Trejo in the lead, captured imaginations so Rodriguez and his brother Alvaro wrote a film to do the trailer justice.
George Lucas may never finish tinkering with his Star Wars series. At the Consumer Electronics Show today, the anticipated announcement was officially made that the six movies will be collected in a nine-disc box set. The original trilogy will be making their Blu-ray debut — but these are the special editions. Apparently, the original elements from the first releases are fragile and need to be recreated or cleaned to properly reproduce in high definition (yes, meaning another opportunity to sell us product).
