One the most pleasant developments with Warner Premiere’s line of animated movies featuring DC Comics’ heroes has been the addition of [[[Showcase]]], shorts based on the lesser known characters from the countless characters lingering in the library. To date, we’ve been treated to [[[The Spectre]]],[[[ Jonah Hex]]], and[[[Green Arrow]]] with two of them proving more satisfying than the main features. Now, the three have been collected, along with a fourth, all-new feature in the just released [[[Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam]]].
Michael Jelenic, the mastermind behind [[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]], writes the screenplay and since this is based on now source material, it only vaguely resembles any of the origins for the World’s Mightiest Mortal. Yes, orphan Billy Batson is summoned by magical subway to stand before the wizard Shazam and be given the power of six gods to be a champion of justice. However, this is adjusted as a reaction to the return of Black Adam, the first such champion who was corrupted by absolute power and was banished from Earth to travel through the stars. His return brings him to Earth and directly to Billy, who he somehow sees as Shazam’s designee. And it just so happens this all happens when Metropolis reporter Clark Kent is interviewing Billy about being a child of the streets. The remainder of the 20 minute short is a slug fest and is way too short on characterization or rationale for why the story was told this way.
The character designs, other than Black Adam, seem slight and a little too Asian in influence. The vocal casting choices are adequate although James Garner’s Shazam is almost unrecognizable. Overall, it was entertaining but wastes its length and leaves me wishing for more.
On the other hand, more is not always better. The three previous shorts are here in “extended” form and you’re hard-pressed to find what’s been added. The good ones remain good and the weak offering, Green Arrow, remains wretched.
The disc is complemented with four episodes of various series featuring the spotlighted characters which show other approaches to interpreting the comic books. As a result, this is a solid collection but only if you do not have any of these in other form. The lead feature just isn’t strong enough to make it worth buying.
AP –Hi Bob, and thanks for joining us here at All Pulp HQ.I know you’ve got a fine military background and have done lots of writing in the pulp action field.Let’s get started with your telling us a little about yourself, background history, education etc.Where do you call home these days?
RK –I was born an Army Brat, but became a Charter Air Force Brat about six months later. At the time I was five my family settled in the St. Louis area. But, after college and the military, I ended up living here in Kansas City, Missouri for the past thrity-five years.
I got started loving adventures stories, and their heroes, even before I reached the Show-Me state. I listened to the radio versions of the Lone Ranger, Sgt. Preston, and Sky King in the evenings. Plus Big John & Sparky and Space Patrol on Saturday morning. The first movie I can remember seeing is Disney’s live-action Robin Hood staring Richard Todd. And the heroes weren’t all human. The first comic I really remember is my sister’s copy of Uncle Scrooge #1. Still love those Ducks! My family read to me things like Kipling’s The Jungle Books and Just So Stories and Swiss Family Robinson, and so much else.
I hold degrees in old fashioned paper drafting and Communication Studies.
About 1979 I got involved with Mystery Forum, a mystery book review group trying to get newspaper syndication. When that didn’t work out we produced a TV version on the Kansas City Public Access cable channel. Later some of us started the show Entertainment Spectrum that ran over 500 episodes. Until about 1997 all my creative energy and time went into those productions. When that dried up I got back into writing via Tom & Ginger Johnson’s Fading Shadows publications.
My wife and I are empty nesters who just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. We have two grown children, but no grandchildren, yet. Just a grand-cat.
AP –Before anything else, let me thank you for your service to your country.Tell us, when and how did you first get the writing bug?
RK –Like a large number of college gads of the late 1960’s I joined the Army at Draft-Point. (In fact I used my very negative experiences with my local Draft Board as the background for a Green Hornet story I have pending at Moonstone.) I don’t like to make all that much of my service. After all, in twenty-four years of full and part-time duty, I never spent a day in a combat zone. You (Ron Fortier) only did three years, but that included a tour in Viet Nam. At about the same time I spent a year twiddling my thumbs in Korea.
I’ve always leaned toward the creative side of things. Back in grade school I used old drop cloths and planks to turn the backyard swing set into a two level spaceship.
The ideas came easy. Getting the material on paper was a huge struggle. I tend to tweak and rearrange. Only since word processing came along have I been really comfortable writing. (And I just restructured that last paragraph.;^} )
AP – Now some AP investigating has turned up an interesting fact.You have an alias. Who exactly is Erwin K. Roberts and how did he appear on the scene.
RK –Just imagine: You are twelve years old. You live in a town that is composed of over 85% rabid Democratic Party families. You don’t fit in too well because you don’t like what “everybody” likes. And your name is George W. Bush.
Well, that’s sort of what happened to me. My given name is Robert Kennedy. And I was about twelve when JFK started running for the Presidency. Even then I was thinking about writing. Comic books, mostly. I decided I needed a pen-name. Erwin was my grandfather’s first name. So Erwin K. Roberts appeared. (Later, when RFK died I didn’t want to be seen as exploiting his name.)
I’ve used Erwin’s name on some letters-of-comment, in print for fact and fiction, and on cable TV here in the Kansas City area. The one place I was not allowed to use it was in Starlog. They had a no pen-name policy so I was credited as R. Erwin Kennedy.
When our family needed a second phone line I had it put under Erwin’s name. And he began to get credit card offers and other junk mail.
The second of my two “cousins” is Major A. D. Venture. The Major hosted the Action Theater movie show on the very short lived WBE-TV network.
AP – What was the first fiction you ever had published and where?
RK- Like most comics fans I had my own pantheon of super-hero creations. I wrote a couple of origin stories and shopped them to a fanzine or three. No luck there. I even entered a barely half decent Captain Atom script in the Charlton contest that Roy Thomas won.
I went to college at what is now called the University of Central Missouri. There was an off-campus magazine that wanted to break up all the very serious civil rights, Viet Nam, and students’ rights material. The editor liked the origin story of a super martial artist I’d written. He decided to run it as a serial. The first part appeared in about spring 1967. Then the magazine changed editors between issues and I never even got my copy of the manuscript back.
AP –In your career, you’ve created multiple pulp style heroes.Who are they and where did they appear?
RK –I picked up some hero pulps in high school and college. The Phantom Detective, The Masked Rider, a couple of Doc Savage digests early on. Then I began to buy first The Shadow, then The Spider and Captain Future at conventions. Plus the paperbacks featuring Doc, Secret Agent X, Operator 5, and The Phantom Detective. My own characters began to reflect those influences.
The Voice grew out of this. I first called him the Veil for the sniper’s veil combat mask he sometimes wears. He sort of floated around my head only partly formed. Then one day I sat in front of a desk with a nameplate. The name was very similar to that of an existing character. Suddenly things fell into place. That’s the instant the Voice became the son of a retired pulp hero. After I came up with his vocal implant that gives him Twilight Zone sounding speech I renamed him The Voice.
In 1979 my wife was pregnant with our second child. Most nights she went to bed very early. I used the late evenings to write the Voice novel “Plutonium Nightmare.” This was the time of the second wave of “let’s clone Mack Bolan” paperbacks. I wanted to break into that market. Didn’t happen. In 2003 the story was serialized in three issues of Fading Shadows’ “Double Danger Tales.” A few years back I self-published the book with a cover I created using Lightwave 3D.
Before this century I only wrote one short story of the Voice. Grand Opening – Under Fire first appeared in “Mystery Forum Magazine” in 1992. A slightly different version was in Double Danger Tales #57 in 2002.You can read the story at: http://www.planetarystories.com/VoiceGrand.htm
Two more Voice shorts appeared in Double Danger Tales before the title folded. One can be read at: http://www.planetarystories.com/voice.htm Recently new stories of the Voice have begun appearing in Pro Se’s “Masked Gun Mystery.” All together I’ve written nearly 100,000 words about him.
My other pulpish series is called The Journey of Freedom’s Spirit & Samuel. I’d been thinking about the old Quality Comics character Uncle Sam. Back around 1940 he was even more powerful than the Superman of that day. But the only non-white WASP characters were the Japanese villains. I decided there needed to be an inclusive series. Where every race/color/creed played a part.
I used the name of the man first referred to as Uncle Sam: Samuel Wilson. Then I decided that my Samuel -Adams- Wilson would just happen to look like a hardhat version of Uncle Sam. I gave him all white hair and van dyke beard. He generally wears blue jeans, with a red and white checked shirt, and a stars and stripes hard hat. And travels the country with a Bald Eagle. He is not a “crime fighter,” or even an adventure seeker. But he will not turn away when people need help.
The events of September 11th, 2001, catalyzed my ideas into final form. But Samuel does not go after the terrorists. He races to Ground Zero to be a part of the rescue effort. When he moves on from that his adventures really begin.
The Johnsons accepted the first two stories of the series, but only managed to publish one. Samuel appeared in Double Danger Tales #58, January 2003.
From that story came Argus – the Blue Eagle, a masked horseman from around 1860. The spirit of Argus now roams a region of southern California. His most recently recorded adventure can be found at: http://www.planetarystories.com/talons.htm
AP –It’s obvious with characters like the Voice and the others, you were heavily influenced by the pulps?Were you a pulp fan before you started reading and when did you first discover pulps?
RK –I think I covered the hero/character pulps above. But I read a lot of Burroughs and some other adventure writers and a ton of science fiction, plus many mysteries series, growing up. Being the type of person who reads copyright pages I understood that much/most of what I read first appeared in magazines.
Early comic fanzines would sometimes mention the pulps. And the first convention I went to, an S-F con with some comics, I was offered a copy of Captain Hazard #1 for the huge sum of five dollars. I opted instead for Ed April’s first volume of Buck Rogers strip reprints.
AP –What is it about writing pulps that appeals to you?
RK –While the pulps, as newsstand magazines, have vanished, the breakneck story telling of the pulps never does. It just finds other venues. Certain movies, TV shows, comics, and books are the pulp’s successors. How many out there read Clive Cussler? Or love Indiana Jones? While some of Indy’s roots are in movie serials, he is definitely very pulp.
Those are the kind of stories I like to watch and read. And they are generally the kind I want to write. Stories with heroes of one kind, or another. A hero doesn’t have to look like Jim Anthony. Or even Bruce Willis. Sometimes a hero doesn’t even realize he is a hero. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t. When my first child was born heroes were in very short supply. In film real heroes seemed limited to John Wayne and James Bond movies. Was I ever glad that things like Star Wars, the Dukes of Hazard, Knight Rider, and Duck Tales came along to entertain my kids. I like to hope that my adventure stories entertain. And just maybe help keep the idea ofthe hero in front of folks. If pulp can be said to have a mission, that’s it.
AP –Have you ever written established pulp characters and where did these stories appear?
RK –Earlier in this century I joined an on-line role playing game set in December 1939. For that I played MLJ Comics’ Bob Phantom. The only super-hero ever named Bob. I wrote him more pulp than costumed hero. That was the first time I wrote about somebody else’s character. That game gave me connections that helped get me on with Airship-27. (And got me the gig of writing up Bob Phantom’s history for the Mighty Crusader’s website.)
For Airship-27 I’ve written two stories of Jim Anthony. One appeared in the anthology Jim Anthony – Super Detective vol.1 The second will probably be in vol. 3. I’m also working with artist Pedro Cruz on the first ever Jim Anthony comic strip. Stories starring the Moon Man and the Masked Rider are also in the hopper at Airship-27.To fill what I humorously call my free time I’ve written the first ever solo story of the Masked Rider’s partner, Blue Hawk. Read it at: http://www.planetarystories.com/bluehawk.htm – And I put George Chance on a case before he ever became the Green Ghost.
http://www.planetarystories.com/unionStation.htm
AP – What else do you have coming out in the future?
RK –What’s got me on pins and needles waiting is “Dr. Watson’s American Adventure.” This short novel is due out in the near future from Airship-27. There the good doctor shares the action with Theodore Roosevelt.
AP –You recently became the editor of an e-pulp mag originally conceived by pulp fan supreme, Shelby Vick.Tell us about this gig and where can fans find it on-line?
RK – That’s overstating it a bit. I recently became an Assistant Editor to Shelby and longtime editor, anthologist, and writer Jerry Page. Those two were running the on-line pulps Planetary Stories and Wonderlust when I came across the site. http://www.planetarystories.com
Planetary Stories is a recreation, or homage, or something, to the old time space opera pulps like Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories. Wonderlust is a home for fantasy of all kinds.Planetary had a feature called Pulp Spirit. For it they ran a single story of some other pulpgenre. About the time I happened by stories for Wonderlust were getting scarce. Who knows why. So they decided to make Wonderlust a department of Planetary and launch Pulp Spirit as a new e-zine title covering any other kind of genre fiction. So long as there some action to it.
I offered them the Voice’s origin story that had appeared in Double Danger Tales. They liked it. Long story short, (no pun extended) various stories of mine have been in every issue of Pulp Spirit except #2. And I’ve appeared on Planetary once. Some stories were from deep in the Culture Vault(tm). And some I’d written with other venues in mind. Others have been shameless self-promotion. Like the self-contained excerpt from “Dr. Watson’s American Adventure.” ( http://www.planetarystories.com/watson.htm )
Anyway, Shelby and Jerry asked me to help out with proofing, checking how the HTML looks on different platforms and browsers, and giving my opinion on some of the stories. (BTW, Wonderlust now is sometimes a full blown magazine again, if enough good stories come in.)
AP –Have you any plans for attending any pulp cons next year?
RK –I’m signed up for Pulp-Ark. That’s a relatively easy drive. (Major Venture might just pop up there, too.) Depending on what gets into print, I’m looking at Kansas City’s Planet Comicon. Especially if Pedro Cruz’s & my Jim Anthony strip is out. Rob Davis usually makes that show, too. And, I’m open to suggestions.
AP –Last question.What major writing goal have you set for yourself in the coming year.Feel free to promote anything else you might have in the works as well.
RK –Goal? To finish things! I’ve got four projects I want to finish up.
In 2010 I completed two stories involving the Voice for Pro Se Productions. One of them had been gathering electronic dust for most of a decade. I currently have no unfinished Voice stories. But if you’ve read the Voice’s origin in Pulp Spirit you know there are three to five more tall tales to be spun to his nurse while he convalesces. One of those stories will feature a haunted house and an elderly Ravenwood. (Plot originally intended for Charlton Bulleye, just like Mr. Jigsaw was.) Another story will finally present the very first idea I ever had for the character that evolved into the Voice. It involves something halfway between a Burroughs planet adventure and flat out sword and sorcery. And a disbelieving Voice caught up in the action.Those stories will sit at the back of the cue.
For Airship-27 I need to get going on a 30,000 word story to fill out a Moon Man anthology. I’ve outlined the story a lot more thoroughly than I generally do. Some key scenes are done. Now I need to fill in the blanks. About 24,000 words to go.
Next I need to complete what has become something of a Frankin-Novel. Meaning built out of parts. Actually, it’s sort of a villain pulp. Various heroes all take on the same organization. “Sons Of Thor” features stories of 2nd Lieutenant Richard Curtis Van Loan fighting in the skies of World War One and as the Phantom Detective. Jim Anthony spans the 48 states to prevent germ warfare. Plus Jim and the Phantom join with the Black Bat for the rousing finale. All the stories have guest stars including a British pulp hero never before seen on this side of the pond. One set of guest stars were very real: The Men of Bronze. “Sons of Thor” looks like it will have about 75,000 words. That’s less than 10K to go.
Finally comes my 21st century series The Journey of Freedom’s Spirit & Samuel.With the finished third story I’ll have 60,000 words. Then I’ll try shopping it around to some of the new pulp publishers.Stuffed in the cracks should be something for the three new issues of Pulp Spirit.
AP –Thanks ever for your time.It was great getting to know you better and continued success in all your future pulp projects.
RK – Thanks. This was a bit different. For almost thirty years I’ve been on the other side of the interviews.
Moonstone Books and ALL PULP are glad to announce that starting today ALL PULP will be serializing classic Moonstone Pulp Fiction tales!! Plucked from the various anthologies already available via Moonstone, each Monday will see a new chapter premiere on ALL PULP of the currently featured story!!!!
Let ALL PULP know what you think of MOONSTONE CLIFFHANGER FICTION on the Comments Page!!!
Want more Moonstone??? http://www.moonstonebooks.com/ ! And stay tuned at the end of this week’s chapter for a link to purchase the collection this story is featured in!
THIS WEEK ON MOONSTONE CLIFFHANGER FICTION-
CITY OF THE MELTING DEAD
A STORY OF THE SPIDER
BY MARTIN POWELL
featured in THE SPIDER: CHRONICLES
from Moonstone Books
PART ONE
Human vermin swarmed out of a rain – slick alley, creeping like rats toward a rust-crusted manhole, melding with the midnight shadows.Their movements were precise and exact, resembling well-oiled soulless automatons. One by one, the gang labored with their weighted burden of ominous black metal boxes from the hidden supply truck, their booted feet ringing hollow chimes as they climbed down into the murk and slime of the sewer below.
A tall skeleton of a man descended last, the flickering of sputtering flares betraying the feverish madness in his eyes. His goons had worked rapidly in the fetid semi-darkness. The devices had been reconstructed even more quickly than during the hundred rehearsals of before. All was in readiness.
Commissioner Kirkpatrick and the Mayor had been stubborn to the end. The million dollar ransom remained unpaid. Now New York City was to pay a very different, devastating price.
“Masks,” he hissed.
The order was obeyed instantly with fidgeting fingers fumbling leather straps, and eleven pairs of yellow goggled eyes glowered from behind the gasmasks in anticipation of the next command. The cadaverous dictator secured his own protective respirator with a practiced ease. He cocked his head toward the leering lieutenants.
“They had their chance,” his voice, never quite normal, droned all the more weirdly through the muffling gasmask. “Do it quickly.”
They scuffled off, well-trained in exactly where to strategically plant the infernal gas bombs within the sewer system to filter their poison fog throughout the entire metropolis. No chances left. No mercy. Thousands would perish. Next time that damnable Kirkpatrick would have to give in. Yes, next time.
But wait. Where was Skaggs? He was to bring up the rear then turn east in the tunnel ahead toward upper Manhattan. Skaggs was nowhere to be seen. Supremely confident mere moments before, the skeletal commander felt an icy sweat crawl down his spine. He turned to bark an order to McQuade, and shuddered upon realizing he too had vanished. Something was very wrong.
“Oh Gawd!” a minion squawked around a curve in the tunnel. The commander splashed recklessly toward the cry, losing all stealth, his steely nerves melting like wax. The others gathered, drawn from their mission to the grotesque scene set before them deep in the arched underbelly of the city. For a full minute none said a word, not even their chief. They just stood there, knee deep in the filthy swill, staring at the horror suspended above.
Skaggs had been snagged and hanged by the neck, swaying like a puppet from an almost invisible silken cord. The crimson brand of a bristle-legged arachnid wetly embossed Skaggs’ forehead.
Each man moved as one, all drawing guns. Eyes bulged and throats grew dry. Outside the range of the sulfur-spattering flares the shadows themselves pulsed like something alive. Then, worse of all, came the laughter, a low mirthless reverberation that seemed to originate from everywhere.
“The Spider!” one of the gang cried fearfully.
“Shut up!” the skeletal commander barked. “Spider or not, he’s only one man.”
Instantly thunder erupted in the cavernous tunnel, the innumerable blasts echoing a deafening clamor as half the gang keeled and slumped into the reeking sewage. Six hardened killers were dead in less than as many heartbeats, each unerringly shot between the eyes.
Blind panic seized the surviving thugs. Rounds were fired as fast as triggers could be squeezed. More blasts answered from the blackness, finely tuned and finding their mark. Almost as abruptly as it had begun, it was over.
Only the gaunt and ghastly commander was still standing, his fist wetly melding with the pistol in his grip. He hadn’t yet felt the three forty-five caliber slugs that had ripped through his guts.
The faint wisp of a noise captured his gaze as a figure on a silken line floated like an inky ghost. From the flicker of the flares the descending creature appeared to possess multiple writhing arms, an illusion cast by the flapping of a billowing black cloak. A venomous, fanged mouth again uttered its hideous cackle.
“You were smarter than most.”
Oh God! The monster spoke!
The commander was more corpse-like than ever, his life pouring out in ruby driblets. The revolver weighed a ton, but still he tried to aim as the terrible hunched stalker crept nearer.
“Not smart enough to escape my web,” the cloaked thing laughed again.
Two big guns in each black-gloved fist bucked twice, exploding the silence. The Poison Fog was to menace the city no more.
The Spider surveyed his territory, satisfied with the scene before him.Human scum sprawled dead at his feet, each of them guilty of a dozen unsolved murders, each of them now with his eight-legged scarlet seal emblazoned on what was left of their foreheads.
The last Crime Ring. Finally. It was over. Kirkpatrick and his policemen could handle the petty crooks now.
At last, the Spider could rest.
***********
Bill Henry had a deadline.
The crusty old crime reporter, nowadays known as “Bourbon Bill”, had seen better days, but this story was special. This story would make all the difference. It was a fluke really, not at all like the way he did things in the old days. He just happened to be in the right place to overhear the right thing. Most people hardly noticed the derelict sleeping it off in dark alleyways where darker deeds dare to be discussed. But Bourbon Bill wasn’t sleeping this time. Scientist missing. No word of ransom, so a kidnapping was not taken
seriously. Sometimes eccentric egg-heads just disappear, the authorities said.But Bill knew better. He’d heard things right this time.
This was something big.
The grizzled journalist glanced around his shabby apartment, normally a depressing place, but then he smiled his jack o’lantern grin. Everything would change once he turned in this story. The city beat would be his again, that was a cinch. And he could afford good whisky again, not that bathtub gin he’d resorted to. Maybe Linda would even take him back. Yes, sir, what a story.Award-winning stuff, no doubt about it.
Bourbon Bill lifted the bottle to his dry, chapped lips. Maybe he should stop drinking? Yes, perhaps he should. Tomorrow he would stop for good. Everything would be different. Tomorrow.
In celebration, he sucked in a short swig from the bottle and promptly, painfully, spat it out with a hiss. The liquor was scalding hot, actually sizzling on his blistering tongue. That didn’t make sense. Mesmerized, he stared at the bottle as the liquid inside actually began to boil.
No…oh no.
They’d found out. They’d found him. Too late. Same old Bill Henry luck…bad as always.
His body was suddenly seized with thick sweat, wracked by a weird agony. They knew that he knew. And he didn’t have much time. Bourbon Bill felt his flesh dissolving, dripping away like candle wax. No. Not yet.Desperately, with his last effort, he clacked away at his typewriter, his fleshy finger-tips sticking to the keys leaving raw red-pink blobs. Had to leave a warning. He was the only one who could.
That done, a glorious leap out the window seemed the best solution to the torture. The cold wind whipped across his oozing face all the dizzying way down, and Bourbon Bill was at peace even before he hit the pavement, confident that his hastily typed warning would be heeded, and satisfied that the pain would stop at the swift end of his ten story fall.
Bourbon Bill Henry had made his deadline, after all.
END OF PART ONE
TUNE IN NEXT MONDAY FOR PART TWO OF CITY OF THE MELTING DEAD!!!
The newest original project from Moonstone Books is the re-imagined jungle girl genre project, Savage Beauty. Created by Mike Bullock, Ed Catto and Joe Ahearn, Savage Beauty chronicles the adventures of the Goddess Anaya as she metes out justice to those who would persecute the innocent. With artwork from veteran penciller Jose Massaroli, Savage Beauty slams onto the stands in February with an over sized, under priced debut issue.
Today on All-Pulp, we have the special pleasure of interviewing the Rae sisters, Lacy and Liv, co-stars of Savage Beauty.
All Pulp: Please tell our readers, who is Anaya?
Lacy – She’s one of the ancient gods, a protector of the righteous and punisher of the evil.
Liv – She’s definitely not someone you should mess with. All Pulp – In five sentences or less, Anaya’s origin
Lacy – You want to handle this one, Liv?
Liv- You’re the writer, Lacy, you do it.
Lacy – Alright, but don’t interrupt me. Anaya was born in fire, raised in-
Liv –A little melodramatic, don’t you think?
Lacy – Why? Why do you interrupt me? Didn’t I just tell you not to interrupt me?
Liv – Are you going to answer the question?
Lacy – Forget it. Next question. All Pulp – Anaya’s first appearance.
Liv – Savage Beauty #1. All Pulp – The 5 (at most) most important people in Anaya’s life.
Lacy – Dad, mom, Mr. Eden.
Liv – Not that guy you met on the flight?
Lacy – Who him? No way, he doesn’t even own his own plane.All Pulp – The 3 (at most) top villains Anaya has faced/will face.
Lacy – Lumus Okoye and the PLA. They’re going down!
AP: Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for us, Tommy. Can you explain exactly what your title is at Moonstone and what your job duties entail?
TH: Sure! I am Marketing and Promotions Coordinator and the title pretty much explains the job duties. I am the guy responsible for making sure the buying public knows what Moonstone produces and buys that product. I will be working on various ways to make sure that both that niche that already buys from Moonstone and that largely untouched ‘non pulp’ market as well get full exposure to the wonderful lineup that Moonstone carries. It’s a pretty big responsibility, being the town crier for guys like The Spider, Kolchak, Zorro, and so on.
Basically, I’ll handle both ‘in the box’ and ‘out of the box’ promotional and marketing plans. I’ll put together press releases, interviews, and various forms of information and make sure that every outlet I can get to has them. I will also be looking at past promotions as well as future possibilities for putting a twist on the Moonstone line, a hook to pull in everyone who isn’t reading our stuff and to keep those who are coming back.
AP: How did the opportunity to work for Moonstone come about?
TH: Actually, I have ALL PULP and my convention/conference, Pulp Ark, to thank for that. While getting ready for Pulp Ark, I met Mike Bullock. We are both members of The Pulp Factory, a yahoo group focused on pulp. Through my being one of the Spectacled Seven, I came into contact with several other Moonstone creators, such as Martin Powell, Win Eckert, and others. The support from those I have come to know contributed greatly to this opportunity. Gaining a familiarity with the content Moonstone puts together, I just started visiting with Bullock and talking about various ways ALL PULP could help Moonstone, which led to ALL PULP’s Moonstone Mondays. Those discussions continued and eventually Mike and I talked about me contributing some marketing assistance to Moonstone. He talked with Joe Gentile, Moonstone EIC about it. Well, by that time, my idea creatin’ brain had already spun out more than just a little help. Those discussions turned into Joe and I talking about what I could do as an active staffer. A phone conversation later, I was the Marketing and Promotions Coordinator.
AP: There’s kind of an unspoken fear amongst many of the small press pulp publishers that the bigger publishers might eventually “strike it rich” with the pulp characters and then drive the smaller presses out of business — how do you think the success of failure of ventures like The Return of the Originals or First Wave might impact smaller outfits like Pro Se Productions, Wild Cat Books, Black Coat Press, Airship 27, etc.?
TH: Although several of the smaller outfits are producing both original and public domain based content, I truly believe that there is room for everyone at this point. Now, Moonstone is positioned better than a lot of the smaller outfits, including Pro Se Productions, the outfit I’m a partner in. The field, though, is still open enough for all to make the big strike at some point or another. Sure, Moonstone may hit the right vein in the market, but Airship 27 could do the same thing. I personally feel like smaller publishers have a better chance of making it big pushing original creations. That’s why I’m handling the magazines at Pro Se the way I am. But, again, the market is wide open enough that I don’t think failure of the bigger companies in the Pulp arena will necessarily impact and success can only help us all.
AP: Anything else you’d like to add about your new position or Moonstone’s role in the pulp community?
TH: I hope that I can do my position justice, not just for Moonstone, but for the furtherance of the pulp genre as a whole because I really do believe, at this point, success for one company, big or little, means well for all of us with our hands deep in pulp!
Strange but true: one of Russell Crowe’s first acting jobs was playing Eddie and Dr. Scott in a touring production of The Rocky Horror Show back in the 80s. And thanks to the wonders of the Internet, we have footage:
DC Comics had grand plans for its 75th anniversary but most of them were shelved when the company evolved into DC Entertainment and the mandate was to look ahead, not back. Still, there’s the mammoth book coming from Taschen and this month we’re being treated to the documentary [[[Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics.]]] Narrated by next summer’s [[[Green Lantern]]], Ryan Reynolds, the 90 minute feature explores the company from beginning through today but given the wealth of subject matter, at best, this is a surface study.
The documentary makes good use of archival footage from creators no longer with us and mixes them in with fresh interviews so we hear from executives, writers, artists, and many of those who built the company. Among those you will see on screen include Neal Adams, Irwin Hasen, Marv Wolfman, Mark Waid, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee, Paul Levitz, Walter and Louise Simonson, Chip Kidd, Joe Kubert, Denny O’Neil, Mike Carlin, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Len Wein, Dwayne McDuffie, Geoff Johns, Karen Berger, Kyle Baker, Paul Pope, and Gerry Jones. Interestingly, Jenette Kahn, the architect for much of the company’s modern era, and current prez Diane Nelson do not appear.
This is a corporate history and as a result, it’s most famous black marks in its history, from the Fawcett law suit over Captain Marvel to the struggles of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to gain some recognition and cash for[[[ Superman]]], are entirely omitted. Similarly, other corporate facts are either blurred, such as the separate companies[Detective Comics, Inc. and All-American Comics before becoming National Comics or the acquisitions of Quality, Fawcett, and Charlton’s heroes as each company folded are missing.
The chronology is a bit jumbled now and then but overall, we go from [[[New Comics]]] in 1935 though the forthcoming DC Universe Online. We’re treated to clips from the animated shows, live-action films, and some nifty archival footage of the Superman Writers’ Summit where the team plotted the death of Superman. The movie serials are ignored which is a shame and not enough emphasis is given to the current era of animation which was kicked off in 1990 and hasn’t looked back, influencing the comics and other animators. (more…)
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews by Tommy Hancock The Devil’s Mouthpiece-A Tale of The Avenger Written by Martin Powell Published in THE AVENGER CHRONICLES, VOLUME 1-Moonstone Books
When you mention Pulp, all sorts of general images spring to mind. Blazing guns. Flying fists. Dastardly villains. Then there are the specific images that come to mind, three usually in particular. Sort of Pulp’s own unofficial Trinity. There’s the veritable superhuman hero, then the vigilante shrouded in darkness and mysticism, and then there’s…Richard Henry Benson. The Avenger.
It’s no secret to any of you who wait to see me Tip My Hat that I like Martin Powell’s work. He has a great grasp on the pulp style and shows an understanding of his characters like no other. This story, his contribution to the first volume of Moonstone’s AVENGER CHRONICLES is mostly no different.
The story opens with action and intrigue right off the bat, both characteristics of The Avenger and Powell’s work overall. We get to know who Benson is right away in a really cool way, through the eyes of a street thug. Then we move on at an almost breakneck speed to the offices of Justice, Inc, after a strange interlude involving a widow and a street beggar. Powell uses that fantastic skill of his in getting us comfortable with Benson’s team, giving us the feeling we’ve known them forever, even if the reader hasn’t. What unfolds from here is a tantalizing tale that gives hints into Benson’s past that possibly threaten his present and may mean no future for the Avenger.
Overall, the story was a fast paced, typical Powell pulp read. This tale, however, was a bit too stop-and-go at times. Not that I want my pulp laid out for me easy peasie from the beginning, but I felt a little confused even three quarters into the tale about how it would all tie together. Having said that, Powell ties it up all nicely with a blood red bow by the end and ‘THE DEVIL’S MOUTHPIECE’ as a whole is a good read for any Pulp fan.
Three out of Five Tips of Hancock’s Hat (Definitely a good Pulp read and worth the time.)
Interview with Martin Powell for THE SPIDER: Curse of the Unholy 3
AP: Martin, there’s wind of a new project you have with Moonstone Books. Can you share any information with ALL PULP on that?
POWELL: Absolutely. Moonstone just recently gave me permission to announce the deal. Along with the continuing bi-monthly SPIDERseries (to debut in January) I’m also writing THESPIDER Special # 1, “Curse of the Unholy 3”, illustrated by the impeccable Jay Piscopo. It’s sort of a SPIDER Annual issue, and will feature the first-ever team-up of THESPIDER, G-8, and OPERATOR 5.
AP: What were some of the influences for “Curse of the Unholy Three”?
POWELL: Jay and I were inspired by the classic Fleischer Studios’ SUPERMAN animated series, and great Saturday morning cartoons like JONNY QUEST and SPACE GHOST. We’re lending an animated style to the pulps, a natural approach, we think, which will give the genre an added dimension. Mainly, we’re dedicated to telling a very fun, fantastic story for pulp fans that’s also designed to snare non-pulp readers into our web.
AP: What’s the general storyline of the tale as you see it now? Are there any big picture statements to be made with this tale or is it just a good ol’ pulp romp?
POWELL: Teaming THE SPIDER, G-8, and OPERATOR 5, in one epic adventure, is cause enough for a historical celebration! I’ve always been amazed that no one has attempted to do this before. Three classic, very evil adversaries are returning, too. And that’s all I can tell you for now.
AP: Why these three heroes? What makes them special and especially important to this tale?
POWELL: THE SPIDER is one of the most popular pulp heroes of all time. His fans are legion. Since I became the regular SPIDER writer I’ve been amazed how many of his fans are out there—all over the world. There’s a great excitement brewing with the SPIDER’s return. G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES is a long-time favorite, as well, having starred in over one hundred novels, featuring the weirdest, most bizarre exploits the pulps ever produced. Yes, I’m serious. If you mixed the Golden Age of Aviation with THE X-FILES, that could be blended into G-8. Except G-8 is even stranger. Lastly, OPERATOR 5 was clearly an inspiration for super-spy James Bond. Jay and I just had to bring these guys together!
AP: Jay Piscopo is riding shotgun with you on this project. How did this partnership come about and what do you think Jay brings to the table?
POWELL: We actually met through mutual friends on Facebook, and I became a fan of Jay’s artwork the instant I saw it. He’s doing something in his CAP’N ELI, COMMANDER X, and SEA GHOST comics that the industry really needs right now, namely, he’s making comics fun again. I knew I wanted to work with this guy, and this is only the beginning of our collaboration. Also, I want to stress that “Curse of the Unholy 3” was Jay’s brainchild, right from the start. When he first pitched the idea of an “animated-style SPIDER adventure, co-starring G-8 and OPERATOR 5”, I was immediately hooked by the concept and knew I just had to write it. Luckily Moonstone was just as enthusiastic about our submission and it sold almost immediately. Far as this project is concerned—everybody wins.
One the most pleasant developments with Warner Premiere’s line of animated movies featuring DC Comics’ heroes has been the addition of [[[Showcase]]], shorts based on the lesser known characters from the countless characters lingering in the library. To date, we’ve been treated to [[[The Spectre]]],[[[ Jonah Hex]]], and[[[Green Arrow]]] with two of them proving more satisfying than the main features. Now, the three have been collected, along with a fourth, all-new feature in the just released [[[Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam]]].
DC Comics had grand plans for its 75th anniversary but most of them were shelved when the company evolved into DC Entertainment and the mandate was to look ahead, not back. Still, there’s the mammoth book coming from Taschen and this month we’re being treated to the documentary [[[Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics.]]] Narrated by next summer’s [[[Green Lantern]]], Ryan Reynolds, the 90 minute feature explores the company from beginning through today but given the wealth of subject matter, at best, this is a surface study.
