Via Chris Ryall at IDW Publishing, we have this drawing by John Byrne, featuring Popeye and an Uncanny X-team, too.
C’mon, you never once looked at those forearms and thought to yourself, “Stinkin’ mutie”? With forearms that big, to heck with retractable claws– he could have a whole retractable wolverine in there. Nevertheless, this is not how I imagined Byrne returning to the X-Men.
Colors by Leonard O’Grady.
DC released Young Romance this week, using the title of one of the overlooked and (imho) underappreciated gems of comics history, the seminal romance comic that was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and was published from 1947 to 1975. I’m old enough to remember many of the stories contained within those pages; they were attuned to the morals of the times, and regularly told tales of unrequited love, of compromised love, and of love triumphant.
The characters were easily identifiable: there was the bad girl, the bad boy, the good girl, and the good boy.
The bad girl (think Betty Rizzo in Grease) smoke and/or drank, wore too much makeup and perfume, wore incredibly slinky dress that didn’t leave much to the imagination, preyed on other women’s men, and was quite free with her, uh, favors. Not that anything was ever shown except for kisses, but somehow Simon and Kirby – especially Kirby with his magnificent art – definitely got the message across of what followed that forbidden kiss off-panel, even to a young and innocent girl like me.
I always rooted for the bad girl.
The bad boy (think Johnny Strabler in The Wild One) smoke and/or drank, rode a Harley or drove a wicked muscle car with fins, wore a leather jacket with a one-size-too-small undershirts and jeans, had a ducktail and a comb, dropped out of high school and worked at the gas station, and was always hot for the good girl.
I always wanted the bad boy.
The good girl was a secretary or a librarian or a nurse or a high school senior or a college freshman. She wore modest clothes and flats, pink lipstick, no jewelry except for her grandmother’s pearls, and never smoked or drank.
She was so boring.
The good boy was a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer or the BMOC (big man on campus) or the high school football team’s star quarterback. He wore a suit and tie or chinos and a windbreaker, never showed body hair, and always obeyed the speed limit in a Chevrolet or Oldsmobile – definitely your father’s car – and above all respected the good girl and would safely see her to the door after a date and say good night with a chaste kiss, saving “the act” for the marriage bed.
No thanks.
My preference for the “little bit of naughty” also made me veer towards those characters in the superhero world, caped and non-, that I imagined had some, uh, good times, when not saving the world.
I think Adam Strange’s relationship with Alanna moved quite quickly into intimacy, even before they were married. After all, Adam could not control when the Zeta-beam would either take him to the planet Rann or return him to Earth, so there was no time like the present, right? Though I do hope that that damn Zeta-beam didn’t snatch Adam away right at wrong time, if you know what I mean, for Alanna’s sake.
Certainly Sun Boy, a.k.a. Dirk Morgana, was an out-and-out roué: check out a little story called Triangle in Legion Of Super-Heroes #320, February 1985, a tale I dialogued over Paul Levitz’s plot, with artwork by penciler Dan Jurgens, inker Karl Kessel, letterer Adam Kubert, and colorist Shelly Eiber. But I always had a thing for Rokk Krin, a.k.a. Cosmic Boy. Maybe it was the black hair and the blue eyes, but there was just something about Rokk – I knew he was not above stopping by the 30th century’s version of the Bada Bing or hitting on the boss’s wife. And succeeding.
I know the newest couple in comicdom is Kal-El of Krypton and Diana of Themiscrya, but the pairing of these two, the classic “good boy” and “good girl” of DC, just doesn’t float my boat, y’know. Now Diana’s mother, Hippolyta… that’s a woman whom I suspect walked a bit on the wicked side in her youth. She just too worldly just knows life, with all its ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies, too well. It’s in the way she holds herself, the way she talks, the way she rules.
Lana Lang may have started as a “good girl” in Smallville, but I think once she left home she had some fun. Getting over Superman throwing her over for Lois, she let the “bad girl” come out in college, cutting classes, never missing a beer bash, smoking the ganja, and saying yes to whoever asked. As an adult she may be the “sadder-but-wiser-girl,” but damn, the woman knew how to party.
And of course there’s Selena Kyle, who brings home the bacon and fries it up in a pan. Hey, the lady knows what she wants. I’d like to see her paired up with Wolverine, the “bad boy” of comics. Hard-drinkin’, hard smokin’ Logan hooking up with Catwoman.
Oh, yeah…
TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten
TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis
New Pulp Author Bobby Nash announced three upcoming New Pulp projects on his website, www.bobbynash.com. The author will be penning a Domino lady novel and a Honey West/Domino Lady novel for Moonstone Books and a Fight Card novel for Fight Card Books.
From the author’s website:
Domino Lady “Strange Bedfellows”
A novel by Bobby Nash
Coming soon from Moonstone Books
Rob Wyatt is making a run for the Governor’s Mansion and Ellen Patrick , The Domino Lady, is doing everything in her power to keep him out of it. She knows that he is involved with organized crime, but finding proof of it has proven difficult.
Wyatt’s opponent is Douglas Hart. For all intents and purposes, he seems like the perfect candidate, if not a tad bit young for the job. Ellen throws her support behind Hart’s campaign, among other things. She finds Hart very attractive and starts up a hot and steamy romance. Could the Domino Lady finally have found a man to tame her?
Probably not. By night she continues her efforts to thwart Wyatt’s run for the Governor’s Mansion, which has brought he to the attention of the politician’s backers, the mob. They call in The Cleaner to put out a hit on both the Domino Lady and Douglas Hart.
Can Domino Lady stop Rob Wyatt and those backing him before it’s too late?
Honey West/Domino Lady
A novel by Bobby Nash
Coming soon from Moonstone Books
I will be writing a new novel that teams up famed private detective from TV and novels, HONEY WEST with the DOMINO LADY in a brand new thriller. The novel is still in the early plotting stages, but I’m having a blast looking ahead to Ellen Patrick’s future as an older Domino Lady continues her mission against corruption in the 1960s. As much fun as writing Domino Lady again has been, I’m over the Moon at the chance to write Honey West, a character I enjoyed in the short-lived television series starring the late Anne Francis.
Honey West will be the second character from television I’ve had the opportunity to write after two turns writing the adventures of the Green Hornet and Kato. It’s going to be fun.
Fight Card: Barefoot Bones
A novel by Bobby Nash
Coming soon from Fight Card Books
Coming later in the year will be my novel, Fight Card: “Barefoot Bones.” Although still in the early stages, the novel will tell the story of the man known as “Barefoot Bones” from his less than stellar beginnings in the deep south where he learned to fight out of necessity. Then came a fateful encounter with Father Tim at St. Vincent’s in Chicago taught him the sweet science of boxing. And from there to a battlefield in Korea where the stakes had never been higher. The one constant in Bones’ life has been fighting. Lucky for him, he’s good at it.
Keep watching www.bobbynash.com and All Pulp for more details on these projects as they become available.
New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert shared news on some upcoming Philip Jose Farmer releases from Titan Books.
COMING ON MARCH 12, 2013! Pre-order your copy now…
One man survived.
The great white whale with its strange passenger, and the strangled monomaniac its trailer, had dived deeply. The whaling ship was on its last, its vertical, voyage. Even the hand with the hammer and the hawk with its wing nailed to the mast were gone to the deeps, and the ocean had smoothed out the tracks of man with all the dexterity of billions of years of practice. The one man thrown from the boat swam about, knowing that he would soon go down to join his fellows.
And then the black bubble, the last gasp of the sinking ship, burst. out of the bubble the coffin-canoe of Queequeg soared, like a porpoise diving into the sky, and fell back, rolled, steadied, and then bobbed gently. The porpoise had become a black bottle containing a message of hope.
http://www.amazon.com/Wind-Whales-Ishmael-Philip-Farmer/dp/1781162972/
COMING ON JUNE 11, 2013! Now available for pre-order
Three figures moved in and out of the shadows of clouds and trees. The moon was riding high over the alpine mountain of Gramz in the Black Forest of southern Germany, only a few miles from the Swiss border. Long black clouds raced under it like lean wolves lashed by moonlight beams. Their shadow selves loped over the precipitous western side of Gramz Berg, bounding over the squat and massive stone pile of the castle on top of the mountain, writhing down the jagged slope toward the narrow sheen of the Toll River two thousand feet below.
The three figures were men toiling up the rock-strewn, pine-dotted slant. One was six feet seven inches high. He had the body of a Hercules. His bare head glinted dark-bronzish in the moonlight. If there had been more light, his eyes would have been a very light gray-green with many flecks of bright yellow.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mad-Goblin-Secrets-Nine/dp/1781162999/ref=pd_sim_b_1
TALES OF THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE, by Philip Jose Farmer and others, coming from Titan Books in October 2013!
http://www.winscotteckert.com/2013/02/countdown-to-new-philip-jose-farmer.html
Coming Soon.
On their Facebook page, Altus Press has teased their upcoming release of The Complete Tales of Doctor Satan by Paul Ernst. This edition features an introduction by John Pelan and will be available (hopefully) in time for the Windy City Pulp and Paper Con in April.
The complete series is finally collected in one edition! All eight installments of this classic series from Weird Tales by pulp master Paul Ernst finally sees republication.
Available soon from Altus Press in hard- and softcover.
Fight Card Books announces a new release coming this week.
Press Release:
COMING THIS WEEK…
FIGHT CARD: AGAINST THE ROPES
New York City – 1925
The boxing ring was the only world Terry Quinn had ever known. He’d entered the hallowed halls of St. Vincent’s Home for Boys in New York City as a fighter and left as a boxer. Years of training and honing his skills finally paid off as he fought his way to the top. Only one more fight stood between Quinn and shot at the heavyweight championship against Jack Dempsey. It was the glory he’d been waiting for all his life.
But things have never gone easy for Terry Quinn. As he starts training for the biggest fight of his career, a crew of Tammany thugs and fix-it men tell him to throw the fight or face dire consequences. Even before he has a chance to consider their offer, those dire consequences come home to roost when one of his long time corner men turns up dead.
The identity of the killer isn’t in question. The only question is what is Terry Quinn going to do about it.
Against The Ropes is a tough New York tale played out while the Roaring Twenties roared their loudest. Crooked cops, Tammany hacks, has-beens, and even the great Jack Johnson, all play a role in Quinn’s decision – is his quest for justice worth his future, and possibly … his life.
Like every other geek, I’ve seen the trailers for the next Star Trek movie, Star Trek Into Darkness. I even saw the extended preview when Mary and I went to see The Hobbit. I’ve seen J.J. Abrams relaunch of the Star Trek franchise and really enjoyed it. I’m a long time Star Trek fan although not to the degree many others are. For example, I have a nephew who groused that if he wanted to see Star WARS he would have watched Star Wars. And, of course, in about two years, he’ll be able to see J.J. Abrams actually directing a Star Wars film.
I’ve also read all the speculation about who the villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch (memorably Sherlock Holmes in Stephen Moffat’s TV version), will be. The top contender is that he is a new version of Khan Noonien Singh played by Ricardo Montalbán in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. That’s the movie that saved the Star Trek franchise after Star Trek: The Motionless Picture nearly ended it. Recently, Entertainment Weekly added to the fan frenzy by seeming to “leak” that Cumberbatch’s character is, indeed, Khan. Even that is disputed; Abrams has this thing about secrecy and is known to disseminate misinformation, leading the fans in one direction while he does something else.
The thing is – I hope it is misinformation. I don’t want or need a remake of ST:TWoK. Been there, saw that, thank you. I liked the first version just fine. Still works, as far as I’m concerned.
What I want is something new. The opening incantation of the original Star Trek series went as follows:
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Strange new worlds. New life. New civilizations. To boldly go where no man (now no one) has gone before. Key operative words: New. Boldly. That’s what I’m looking for from Star Trek. Not a rehash. Not a remake. Not another re-imagining. Something new. Abrams’ first Star Trek movie did a fine job, so far as I’m concerned, of re-inventing and re-imagining the characters and the franchise. It’s an alternate timeline where things may not be as they once were. That made it fresh and exciting for me. They destroyed Vulcan. Uhura and Spock have a romantic relationship. They need to boldly go with things like that.
Other things in the trailers that I saw also bothered me. The most recent one had a shot of the Enterprise holed, smoking and (apparently) starting to crash. Been there, seen that. The franchise has blown up so many versions of the Enterprise over the years that it has no more shock value. One of the pleasures of the last film was a spanking new original Enterprise. The shock value at this point would be if it survives.
Another shot seems to replicate the famous climax of ST:TWoK. Spock has sacrificed himself for the ship and the crew; he is dying. He and Kirk both have their hands up to the transparent barrier that separates them, a gesture that defines their friendship and creates a real moment of pathos. Spock dies. He is brought back in the next film and restored to himself in the film after that but I don’t see how that will be possible in this version. Again, been there, seen that.
I may be falling for J.J. Abrams’ misdirection and I hope I am. I think there’s a better than even chance of it. What I want is for him to give me something new. No retreads, please. Boldly go where no fan has gone before, Mr. Abrams. Live long and… ah, you know.
MONDAY: Mindy Newell
Dead Man Down, opening March 8, is an action thriller that stars Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace as two strangers whose mutual desire for revenge draws them together and triggers an escalating trail of mayhem. The film, which also stars Academy Award-nominee Terrence Howard and Dominic Cooper, marks the American theatrical debut of director Niels Arden Oplev (the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).
“Revenge. I’ve never thought about it before, but when I saw you, I knew I had my answer.”
– Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) in DEAD MAN DOWN
The only thing worse than a dead man down is a live man dissed. Been played by your girl, dissed by your boss or made a fool of by that guy? Thirsty for revenge? Now is your chance to get vengeance with help from Dead Man Down and platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated rapper Fabolous.
Tell the producers how you were betrayed for a chance to turn your tale into a rap song by Fab that will be performed live on BET’s 106 & Park.
HOW TO ENTER: To enter the “Dead Man Down Revenge Remix Ultimate Diss Contest,“ log on to www.complex.com/deadmandown to submit your story about how you were played and you just might be rewarded with your very own diss track from Fabolous – the ultimate revenge! The contest closes on February 15, 2013.
Check out Fabolous’ hit single “Breathe”:
How’s your day going?
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