Saturday Morning Cartoons: Here to clean up Gotham City
Criminals are a superstitious, unsanitary lot…
Category: News
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND BULLDOG EDITION 2/25/11
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
2/25/11
WIN SCOTT ECKERT CROSSES OVER TO THE BOOK CAVE!
This week on the Book Cave-Win Eckert is back and we find out about Crossovers and more.
Win Scott Eckert
Home page: http://www.winscotteckert.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Win-Scott-Eckert/e/B002BM6T3W/
Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World 1 & 2 (Black Coat Press)
http://www.blackcoatpress.com/crossovers.htm
Tales of the Shadowmen series (Black Coat Press)
http://www.blackcoatpress.com/talesshadowmen.htm
Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook (Moonstone Books)
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/4uyylet
Meteor House (publisher of The Worlds of Philip José Farmer series)
http://meteorhousepress.com/books/
Moi, Tarzan
A French documentary about the origin and history of Tarzan, with three Tarzan experts. Made for French television, it was shown on the TV channel Arte in 1996 and 2007. Features Philip José Farmer discussing Tarzan as a real person. Video-on-demand: Online at http://www.documen.tv/asset/Tarzan.html – in English, for $4.99 [Full-screen on your computer. The French is subtitled in English.]
RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Store: http://www.cafepress.com/thebookcave
PayPal: RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Coming Attractions – http://members.cox.net/comingattractions/index.html
All Pulp – http://allpulp.blogspot.com/
LAST WEEK ON THE BOOK CAVE-
Art and Ric are joined once again with writer Barry Reese as they talk about his current novel “The Damned Thing” along with his other books. Tommy Hancock returns this week with the All Pulp news.
Barry Reese – http://www.barryreese.net
RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Store: http://www.cafepress.com/thebookcave
PayPal: RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Coming Attractions – http://members.cox.net/comingattractions/index.html
All Pulp – http://allpulp.blogspot.com/
Barry Reese – http://www.barryreese.net
RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Store: http://www.cafepress.com/thebookcave
PayPal: RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Coming Attractions – http://members.cox.net/comingattractions/index.html
All Pulp – http://allpulp.blogspot.com/
AND STILL MORE ON THE BOOK CAVE-
Ron Fortier and Rob Davis joins Art and Ric to talk about the second annual Pulp Factory Awards coming to Windy City. My recording program stopped close to the end and muted my mic. You aren’t missing much, just Ric yelling like a crazy nut trying to tell the others that he was no longer recording. I think it was a couple of minutes before they realized I was gone. ;-) no All Pulp news this week, Tommy Hancock couldn’t get the nurses to let him out of his room in the nursing home. Be sure and check out the All Pulp site to see what is going on for this week.
Ron Fortier –
Airship27.com
Mr.Jigsaw
GoPulpsInfo
Airship27Hangar.com
Rob Davis –
The pdf store is: airship27hangar.com.
The Print on Demand store with the 25% discount off retail is: gopulp.info.
robmdavis@mac.com
website: http://homepage.mac.com/robmdavis/
blog: http://homepage.mac.com/robmdavis/iblog/index.2.html
RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Store: http://www.cafepress.com/thebookcave
PayPal: RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Coming Attractions – http://members.cox.net/comingattractions/index.html
All Pulp – http://allpulp.blogspot.com/
Ron Fortier –
Airship27.com
Mr.Jigsaw
GoPulpsInfo
Airship27Hangar.com
Rob Davis –
The pdf store is: airship27hangar.com.
The Print on Demand store with the 25% discount off retail is: gopulp.info.
robmdavis@mac.com
website: http://homepage.mac.com/robmdavis/
blog: http://homepage.mac.com/robmdavis/iblog/index.2.html
RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Store: http://www.cafepress.com/thebookcave
PayPal: RJCroxton1@yahoo.com
Coming Attractions – http://members.cox.net/comingattractions/index.html
All Pulp – http://allpulp.blogspot.com/
NEWS FROM NOHO NOIR!!!
From Noho Noir-
That’s right…This week there are two NoHo Noir stories…
Published today, “Fools Rush In,” a cautionary tale about a gambler who doesn’t know when to fold ‘em and the consequences of that.
Check it out:
Also from last week- I think you’ll enjoy this episode. It’s a round-up of most of the characters.
In other news…
The webseries pilot is a go.
If you Facebook, please “like” the NoHo Noir web page. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/NoHo-Noir/111051172304683
It’s just been created so more functionality has to come.
If you need more coffee cups, check out the swag Mark Satchwill created in his zazzle store:
There are also t-shirts with some of the designs from episodes like “Cosmos” and “Blockbuster” and “Molecules.”
If you have time to sign up on the patch site, please do and comment. The sites are now being run by Ariana Huffington and our mandate is “interaction” with the readers. Hitting the “like” and “recommend” buttons is great; but actual comments are even better.
As always, thanks for your support.
ALL PULP PANEL-WHY THE FIRST WAVE ENDED??
Here’s a Panel Topic everyone should sound off on. We all know that DC announced this week that its FIRST WAVE line, the one that combined Batman, Doc Savage, the Spirit, and other Golden Age pulp and comic characters into one sort of ‘timeless’ universe where dirigibles and cell phones coexisted, is being cancelled. This extremely controversial line of comics, made so by the fact that many pulp fans saw the portrayals of their favorite characters as mishandled at best, blasphemous at worse, has definitely stirred up a lot of talk. Here’s the panel topic-Was DC’s First Wave as bad as all that? If so, why? What does the cancelling of this line mean for the future of pulp centered comics, if anything? Email your panel responses to allpulp@yahoo.com and they’ll be posted here!
*****
From Teel James Glenn, writer in the pulp tradition….
Why did the First Wave fail? the art wasn’t bad and even some of the ideas were interesting, but the basic premise seemed to be that even though pulp chracters have endured in their original form for 70 years the writers at DC knew how to ‘fix’ them. Why fix what isn’t broken? I doubt any of the writers actually read any of the books they were ‘improving’ by changing basic premises and characters. It is the same problem most movie adaptations have; everyone thinks they can violate the very core of the creations they SAY they are ‘reimagining. Bullflock!
Uncreative people feed off other people’s creations and bring the level down. You have to honor the work of those who came before and then you can prehaps–prehaps- move forward with new creations that can interact with them. Always look at the ‘character/series’ bible and honor it as if it was gospel–because it is.
If DC wanted to do pulps right they should have hired pulp writers not guys who said in interviews “I never read the books”–arrogance like that deserves to be discarded…
From Barry Reese, Member of the Spectacled Seven….
Where do I start? DC mismanaged the entire line, starting with a series of interviews from creators that alienated the hardcore fans and made newer fans wonder why they should try a bunch of characters that even the main writer talked about with disdain. Then go on to the launch miniseries, which still hasn’t finished… Here’s a clue: don’t launch a new line of books with a book that’s supposed to set up the whole thing but doesn’t come out on time. Makes the entire affair look half-assed and poorly planned. Then you have a book (Doc Savage) that after a mediocre beginning slides into outright crapitude with shifting writers and artists. And don’t get me started on The Avenger stuff, which was such an insult to the original characters that I wish DC had just renamed it.
They shouldn’t have solicited the kickoff mini until it was completed. They should have hired people who not only understood the characters but who genuinely loved them — you can update the characters and still maintain their core… but you have to *want* to do that. And why include Batman in this universe if his only appearances would be in a one-shot special and the mini? They should have had a Bat-Man series set in this universe that the other books could have orbited around — the Bat guy sells, you know.
Mishandled and poor creative decisions. I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did.
*********
From Tommy Hancock, another of the Spectacled Seven
Mine will be short. It will be short because I didn’t read anything but the first issue of the FIRST WAVE mini series and the first three issues of DOC SAVAGE. Well, I say the first three issues, I actually only read the full first issue because I couldn’t stomach anymore of what they jokingly referred to as THE AVENGER.
I am not a purist. I am also not a ‘we have to make changes to everything’ sort either. I like what I like and I like companies and writers to produce things I like. It helps when they are producing stuff I like based on other stuff I already like. What didn’t work in this regard is DC not only didn’t produce stuff that I liked based on characters I adore, but they ignored me. I didn’t want DC to ask me my opinion, well, maybe I wanted them to, but didn’t expect it. But I, being a pretty big pulp fan, was simply left out of the equation when DC got their hands on these great characters. My opinion, my interests, my desire to see these characters live again…didn’t matter at all. The bad part for DC was that these new readers I guess they were trying to appeal to…didn’t have any buy in at all to these concepts and saw them for what they were…poorly handled editorially misdirected imitations at best, toilet paper with pictures on it at worst. And me, my buy in…it went to Moonstone, Doc Savage reprints, and new pulp…
Just sayin’…
***********
From Derrick Ferguson, yet another of the Spectacled Seven
I read the first three issues of DOC SAVAGE (hey, there was no way I wasn’t going read it) and was unimpressed. I have to admit that the idea of all these classic pulp characters and certain DC characters like The Blackhawks and The Spirit, who in my mind are pulp characters, appealed to me. But the execution was, in a word, lousy.
Here’s what I can’t wrap my head around: why in the world would you hire writers who plainly have no love or liking for the characters they’re writing about? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to hire writers who actually know, love and have a true desire to write the best possible Doc Savage or Avenger stories they possibly could? Stories that would not only thrill and delight old time fans but make newer readers sit up and understand why these characters are cool and remain so after so many years?
And yeah, I agree with Barry: it didn’t help to have interviews with writers who I felt were giving me the digitus impudicus for loving pulp and had really snotty attitudes toward not only the work they were producing but who they were producing it for.
************
From Adam Garcia, Scribe of the Green Lama
I never read first Wave, but I think it’s fair to say it failed on execution rather than concept. While I advocate change, I don’t necessarily think you need to change everything, to make things effective. I’m more a believer that to keep things one specific way is a mistake and to open to adaptation. I’m 100% certain that First Wave would have been considered amazing if the story had been effective. Take the new Star Trek film as an example, a bottom to top reinvention that was overwhelmingly loved, or Batman: the Brave and the Bold or even the massive massive changes made to the Joker in Dark Knight. That’s what I’ve been arguing. Reinvention isn’t bad, it’s frankly the nature of pop culture, but refusing to accept it is.
You may not like the adaptation, that’s a fact of personal preference, but with licensed character adaptation is the only way the stay alive. So First Wave might have failed creatively, but I applaud the effort.
FORTIER’S ALL PULP REVIEWS GETS WESTERN AND MYSTICAL!
MERKABAH RIDER
By Edward M. Erdelac
Damnation Books LLC
278 pages
Dec. 2009
ISBN 10 – 161572060X
ISBN 13 – 978-1615720606
Although the straight forward, no frills western genre seems to exist only in today’s paperback market, the proliferation of the “weird” western tableau is visible everywhere. Comics and prose anthologies have been expanding this pulp theme strongly and recently Hollywood has joined in with films such as “Jonah Hex” (a cowboy who can speak to the dead), “The Warrior’s Way” (pitting Japanese Ninja’s against cowboys) and the soon to be released blockbuster, “Cowboys VS Aliens,” (the name says it all).
Up until a few weeks ago, I’d pretty much thought there was nothing else to be done with bizarre westerns. Happily Edward Erdelac has proven me wrong with his “Merkabah Rider – Tales of a High Planes Drifter.” The giveaway is in the spelling of the word planes. For you see, the hero of this book is a Hasidic Jew mystic known as a Merkabah Rider because of his ability to travel out of his body and explore the higher and lower realms of heaven and hell. In fact the Rider, as he prefers to be called, actually travels the post Civil War southwest on foot, pulling a dirty white onager behind. An onager is an Asiatic wild ass. I had to look that up too.
Through the four stories in this volume, we learn that the San Francisco born Rider interrupted his religious studies to serve in the Union Army during the war between the states; a decision that turned many of the elders of his order against him. He returns home to discover all the members of this enclave, known as the Sons of Essenes, have been murdered by his renegade teacher, a man known only as Adon. Feeling spiritually tarnished by his association with Adon, the Rider begins his quest to seek him out and exact vengeance. In the process he travels the globe until his quest brings him full circle back to American desert lands of the southwest.
Which is where this first book begins. In the quartet of adventures collected here, the Rider battles a foul Demon sacrificing children in an Arizona mining town, combats a dust devil that animates a hellish windmill in a Mexican border town, goes up against a cursed gunman who slaughters entire towns and confronts a powerful, alluring succubus said to be the first wife of Adam. Through these travails, the Rider learns that Adon is conspiring with the demon world to bring about an earthly holocaust which will herald the end of all mankind. Unless he, alone, can stop him.
“Merkabah Rider” is a terrific read that captivated me from the first page to the last. The exhilaration of discovering something new and vibrant in an old setting provided this reviewer with complete and unabashed entertainment. The Rider is the most original western hero since Clint Eastwood’s Man-With-No-Name and his background in the exotic magic of ancient Hebraic mysticism make him a character this reader will not forget any time soon.
Johnny Depp and the Marvel Universe
Did you ever wonder who might be Johnny Depp’s favorite super-hero? Probably not, but I’ll bet you can figure it out.
Yep. You guessed it. Johnny Depp’s favorite super-hero is Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Of course, Namor isn’t quite a super-hero, having been bridging the gap between hero and menace for 71 years. Which is why I’m not surprised he’s Depp’s favorite.
Now, let’s not go nuts here. Depp is not suggesting he’s going to play Namor in the Avengers movie or some other place, and he’s not even suggesting wants to play the part. Right now he’s in the middle of at least four movies, including the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean and the new Dark Shadows movie, where he plays Barnabas Collins.
Depp was a real Marvel Comics fan, showing preference for both Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four… although he didn’t care for Captain America, and this was long before we ever heard of Al Qaeda. Depp also liked Sgt. Rock. Depp told Hero Complex “The Sub-Mariner was the alternative one. The alt-superhero. He was the sort of Bohemian comic book. I like that.”
I know I said there was no movie involved, but if Depp were to give Subbie a go, maybe they could get Joaquin Phoenix to play the Human Torch.
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND BULLDOG EDITION, 2/24/11
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
2/24/11
ALL PULP WELCOMES 2 NEW STAFFERS!
ALL PULP is glad to announce today the addition of two new reporters/interviewers/reviewers to the ALL PULP family. In recent weeks, the Bespectacled Seven, the brain trust behind ALL PULP have been running notices on Facebook and ALL PULP seeking staff members to help meet the great need that you as readers and fans have caused there to be for Pulp News. ALL PULP is overwhelmed by the attention it has received and the fact that readers want more and more. With the Bespectacled Seven being busy writers and creators in their own rights, not to mention having other lives to lead, the decision was made to reach out and bring in ‘staffers’, people to work as reporters and reviewers and such, just to add to the wealth of news Pulpdom demands.
Chuck Miller, creator of the Black Centipede (covered in various articles on ALL PULP) and Suzanne Fuller, an aspiring writer, submitted samples of writing to ALL PULP and met not only the skill requirements, but also showed a passion for pulp and pulp fans necessary to be a part of ALL PULP’s family! Be on the lookout very soon for bylines from these two welcome additions!
Also, expect announcements about one-two more possible filled positions in the coming days, but if you are interested in one of these spots, just contact ALL PULP at allpulp@yahoo.com!
PULP ARK VOTING NEARING CLOSE!
WINNERS ANNOUNCED MARCH 1ST!
Tommy Hancock, Pulp Ark Coordinator, stated today that voting for the First Annual Pulp Ark Awards was nearing its close. Hancock reported that no votes would be taken after 11:59 PM CST Monday, February 28, 2011 and winners would be announce on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011. In order to be able to vote in the nine categories covered by the Pulp Ark Awards, interested parties had to nominate in at least one category during nomination time last year. Hancock says that although most have voted, some still have not turned in their ballot as of yet. Hancock and Pulp Ark extends their thanks and appreciation to all those who nominated, voted, and supported Pulp this year as well as to all the very worthy nominees!
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND-NIGHTHAWK EDITION, 2/23/11
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
NIGHTHAWK EDITION
2/23/11
THE LATEST FLYING GLORY UP AND FLYING!
from Kevin Paul Shaw Broden-
FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY
Things are getting out of hand… While Debra prepares to go to the dance after the battle is over, Elsie pays an old friend a visit. Find out who and what they talk about in the latest page of “Looking for a Love Song” at www.flying-glory.com
PRO SE ANSWERS FANS’ CONCERNS
from Tommy Hancock, EIC, Pro Se Productions
I’ve received several emails in the last two weeks about Pro Se putting out my new novel YESTERYEAR as well as the status of our latest magazine, MASKED GUN MYSTERY #3 which, based on our usual schedule is due out in February. There’s been some concern and confusion about whether or not the magazines would continue or if the novel would supercede the magazine this month, and such as that. Well, although neither of those are true, there’s a couple of things that have caused a hiccup in Pro Se’s putting the monthly back in Pulp this month.
One major factor has been my health. Since I am the author of YESTERYEAR as well as the EIC of Pro Se, I’ve had a double load this month. Whatever the bug of the month is that’s going around has waylaid me but good and due to other health issues, I’ve just had a rough go. So for that I apologize and trust me, this will not become a norm for me or Pro Se.
The other factor, though, that has had greater impact is that Pro Se is making a shift. We are in the process of going from using one Print on Demand publisher to another one. Ideally this would be an easy transition, but since all of the parties involved making it happen have unusually busy lives currently, we’ve been slowed a bit in this. Pure and simple, sometimes changes to improve saleability of product and improve quality of what our fans receive just force a change in schedule. That, along with me being sick as a whatever, is what’s happened here.
So, here’s the current plan. As of now, YESTERYEAR or MGM #3 still might make it out in February. They will both for sure be out as early in March as possible and at that point Pro Se will return to its regularly monthly schedule of great pulp guaranteed! And don’t forget that we are doing pulp almost daily at http://www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com/, Pro Se’s official blogsite! Thank you for your patience, understanding, and most of all your support of Pro Se and Pulp!
ANOTHER GUEST REVIEW THIS WEEK-HALEGUA LOOKS AT PLEXICO’S SENTINELS!
Review of Sentinels Vols. 1-3
by Mark S. Halegua
Intrigue, humor, paranormal humans, aliens, androids, paranormal aliens, robots, mystery, amnesia, other planets, other galaxies, other dimensions, betrayal, cosmic villains, and battles, battles, battles.
All of these are in Van Allen Plexico’s first trilogy of the Sentinels.
From the first book through the third in this trilogy I was enthralled. I had a hard time putting them down and after each ended I wanted to read more.
From the beginning this read very much like a Jim Starlin cosmic tale, with mostly earth bound super heroes facing off against villains, robots, and groups with multi-dimensional/universal goals of conquest and galactic power and abilities.
There’s no doubt Marvel comics and the Avengers were a large influence for the Sentinels, who are, or will, come together as a super-team on Earth. Its nascent members include a powerful, government authorized powerhouse, Ultraa, with a mysterious past – even to himself; a paranormal teenager with the power, more than even she knows, over electro-magnetic forces; a billionaire inventor with aspirations of wearing the armor he’s designing instead of giving it to the double agent the government has selected; a robot/android over 1,000 years old with memory issues – who is himself an agent of a galactic entity wanting the resources of the planet; an alien woman finding herself a slave then holder of unexpected powers and also an agent of yet another civilization which may be inimical to Earth; a man who allows an otherworldly material to attach to him symbiotically; and more.
The first three books of the series are titled “When Strikes the Warlord,” “A Distant Star,” and “Apocalypse Rising.” Each one raises the stakes and the threat to Earth, and each one adds a potential new member to the team taking shape.
The only issue I have with the books is the pace. It’s like riding a roller-coaster that never slows down, only going faster as it moves up down and around the track. Its pace is such the reader almost has no chance to breathe, and neither do the heroes.
Van Allen Plexico has created a world of continuing and mounting danger, of interesting people, and never-slowing-down action. I enjoyed them and still want more.
But first, a little time to breathe.
2010 Nebula Award Nominees Announced
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2010 Nebula Awards, including a nomination for ComicMix contributor Adam-Troy Castro for his short story “Arvies“.
The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of SFWA. The awards will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet on Saturday evening, May 21, 2011 in the Washington Hilton, in Washington, D.C.. Other awards to be presented are the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Science Fiction or Fantasy for Young Adults, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation and the Solstice Award for outstanding contribution to the field.
Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!
Dwayne McDuffie tributes
From all corners of the comics internet, the only word to describe the reaction to Dwayne McDuffie’s death has been shock… although dammit is running a very close second. His passing has become a trending topic on Twitter, which only partially shows how far his influence really was.
Andrew Pepoy sent the image above, which he inked over Glen Muramaki’s pencils. Dwayne liked it a lot and used it on his blog and Facebook page, it’s nice to see the original at a decent size.
From Peter David:
I will never forget sitting in his office as we worked out storylines. There was more than just his physical presence (he was well over six feet tall). He seemed to radiate confidence in his abilities, which was entirely warranted, and he was determined to roll with whatever curves Cartoon Network might throw his way and turn them into the best stories possible. He had boundless enthusiasm not only for his work, but for the sheer creative process. To say he will be missed is to understate it. I offer condolences not only to his family, but to the entirety of fandom for losing one of the great ones.
Geoffrey Thorne:
he was a great man. he was good friend to me. he was the only person in my life i’d refer to as a mentor. i can’t fucking believe it. i really am not a person right now.
