On his blog, New Pulp Author Jim Beard shared a brief sneak peek from the upcoming SGT. JANUS RETURNS release from Airship 27 Productions.

You can read a short excerpt from “Dig Deep the Well,” the first story in SGT. JANUS RETURNS here.

Dark Horse Comics has offered a first look at Conan The Barbarian #12, available in comic shops on January 16th.

Conan The Barbarian #12
Written by: Brian Wood.
Art by: Declan Shalvey.
Cover by: Massimo Carnevale.

Unable to obtain a cure for the deadly illness afflicting Belit and the crew of the Tigress, Conan feels the fear of loss for the first time. With no hope and a broken heart, the Cimmerian is horrified at how appealing he finds Belit’s order to abandon the ship and his queen! The haunting conclusion of “The Death”!
Conan The Barbarian #12 is 32 pages for $3.50.

Click on images for a larger view.

So, a few weeks ago, I decided to give myself the night off. And in doing so, I granted myself the ability to indulge in a previously DVR’ed movie stolen during a free weekend some time ago. That movie was The Green Hornet by way of Seth Rogan. It was, to date, the worst adaptation I’d personally seen of a comic book(esque) character in a movie. The flick was so god awful, I spent the following evening searching for something to wash my mind out. And there, stuck in a marathon of its brethren, a movie I knew was a sure-thing.

The Wrath of Khan was to my knowledge a near-universally beloved film of nerdtopia. Furthermore, I’d never seen it. (Gasp). Surely this shining beacon of Trekkie culture would cure my explosion-riddled mind from the misadventures of Kato and Bro-Hornet. My fellow ComicMixers… set your phasers to stunned. I loved it.

I loved every minute of it. And truly, that is saying something. I am by all accounts not a Trekkie. That being said, I’m not completely ignorant of the brand either. In my short time on this blue ball, I’ve watched dozens of episodes of Next Generation, a handful of Voyagers, a pair of Deep Space Nines (and, heck, I actually saw the one with the Borgs), and the 2009 Abrams’ flick in theater. But the original crew? My only exposure prior to Wrath was an old X-Men/Star Trek crossover comic book from 1996, purchased mainly as a joke. I tried, once, to watch the original series on TV. I was aghast at the production values (forgive me, I was but a child of 24 or 25 at the time). So, to go into this movie as cold as a Bantha on Hoth (I bet that’s pissin’ a few of you off…), I had expected to hate the movie.

Yet something clicked. Immediately after absorbing the film, I went to YouTube to digest the original appearance of Khan in the episode Space Seed. I also set my DVR to record the once-a-week rerun of the retro-upgraded Original Series on cable. Subsequent discussion with actual Trekkies gave me insight as to why I’d suddenly become enthralled in the series. I discovered that one of the motifs of the show was the war of morals versus logic. Bones vs. Spock, with Captain Kirk in the middle. It’s a great concept, one that gave me perspective to enjoy what I previously thought was banal. Where I believe much of The Next Generation is rooted in the expanded (and better looking) aliens and psuedo-science driven plots (and again, I could be wrong, but this is based on the episodes I’ve seen…) the Original Series is more focused on the characters themselves. To be fair, each concept has merit, but it’s taken me until now to find the hook necessary to really sink my teeth into TOS.

And what of James T. Kirk? Removed from the stereotypes I was used to seeing in countless spoofs and parodies stood a Captain who was very much the product of a pulpier age. He fights. He makes love, apparently a lot. He battles his giant space ship with equal amounts of abandon and cool calculation. And in Wrath, it was a treat to see nearly all of these things happen. Suffice to say, without the prejudice of “He’s no Piccard,” I’m finding just why so many people are smitten by Shatner.

For what it’s worth? My money (and new found respect) is on Bones. Prior to my Trek-Immersion therapy, all I knew of the man was “Damnit Jim, I’m not a (insert something), I’m a doctor!” In a single scene during Space Seed, I found a character so compelling, I’m kvelling a little. In Seed, Khan awakes, steals a scalpel, and bates Bones to his bedside. He grasps his neck (with a strength supposedly five times a normal man) and puts the knife to it. Bones, without a flustered yelp to his name, suggests to Khan he should either choke him or just slit his throat, making sure to point out he should tighten his gasp a bit or slit right behind the ear to make it quick. Bones has balls. Amazing.

But let’s all be real; Wrath of Khan is all about Khan. The character himself is a brilliant trope – he’s a conqueror out of time. Following his first appearance via Space Seed, Wrath plays brilliantly. The fantastic turn that Kirk has in allowing Khan a planet to rule, was fascinating. And to use that as the catapult for the movie – where the best intentions are ruined by careless happenstance, and terrible luck –  breeds a villain that we can almost sympathize. Even in Seed, we get that air of mystery to the man. He’s a product of another age, superior physically and mentally… but he’s still fallible against a man three centuries ahead of him. And while Wrath of Khan did not allow for the titular terror to match his still-amazing pecs to Kirk’s greying temples, we’re still treated to what makes the Star Trek universe so appealing to me now: Stories are built around savory plots and moral ambiguity, not action sequences and special effects.

So, I am on the verge of a new thing. A respect, and genuine interest in something I truly was never before intrigued by. Something that allows me access to a new sub-culture to both explore and debate with. Something that might just make me boldly go where so many others have gone before. But what could be next? Doctor Who?

Not likely. But that my friends… is a topic for another week.

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

Coming February 2013

The movie poster

New Pulp Author Lee Goldberg has announced a new novella called FAST TRACK debuting in February.

The author offered a peek at the great cover from Jeroen ten Berge. The Fast Track novella is based on the movie Goldberg wrote and produced a few years back.

Learn more about Fast Track here.

Altus Press has released Deep Waters: The Complete Adventures of the Major, Volume 1 by L. Patrick Greene. This edition features an introduction by Ed Hulse and is available in paperback and limited edition hardcover.

About From Deep Waters: The Complete Adventures of the Major, Volume 1–
The long-running and much-beloved series from the pages of Short Stories is finally collected in order and with a plethora of bonus material. Join Aubrey St. John Major–AKA the Major–and his faithful companion, Jim the Hottentot, on their adventures across the diamond country of Africa. This collection includes the first 12 stories, uncut and with all the original illustrations, along with Greene’s correspondence, and an article by Archibald Bittner on the author. Capped with a career-spanning introduction by pulp historian Ed Hulse, this is a collection decades in the making.

The 320 Page Deep Waters: The Complete Adventures of the Major, Volume 1 contains the following stories:

No Evidence (Adventure, November 1, 1919)
Two of a Kind (Adventure, November 15, 1920)
Lines of Cleavage (Adventure, February 1, 1921)
Ivory (Adventure, March 1, 1921)
Amnesia (Adventure, April 1, 1921)
A Deal in Diamonds (Short Stories, May 1921)
Tools (Adventure, August 1, 1921)
Bitter Alum (Short Stories, August 1921)
The Seventh Plague (Short Stories, September 10, 1921)
Royal Game (Short Stories, November 10, 1921)
Kruger’s Gold (Short Stories, October 10, 1922)
From Deep Waters (Short Stories, November 25, 1922)

Dark Horse Comics has offered a first look at The Black Beetle: No way Out, Francesco Francavilla’s New Pulp comic book hero’s first issue, available in comic shops on January 16th.

About The Black Beetle: No Way Out–
Black Beetle’s investigation of two local mob bosses is interrupted when a mysterious explosion murders them and a pub full of gangsters — taking out most of Colt City’s organized crime in one fell swoop. Who could pull off such a coup, and what danger might that murderous bomber do to Colt City and Black Beetle?

The Black Beetle: No Way Out is 32 pages for $3.99.
Written and illustrated by Francesco Francavilla.

Click on images for a larger view.

Cold War Heroes wraparound book cover

Tom and Ginger Johnson chats with The Book Cave’s Ric Croxtin about Tom’s novel, Cold War Heroes, now available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook.

Listen to The Book Cave Episode 213: The Adventures of Tom and Ginger now at http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/the-book-cave-episode-213-the-adventures-of-tom

Getting a film like GANGSTER SQUAD into theaters has had it’s issues, and we bring in in actors Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling to talk about the challenges they faced, plus more on the new season of JUSTIFIED with Timothy Olyphant and goodbye to THE COMIC BUYERS GUIDE.

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