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  • February 15, 2012

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
BEEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS
Laurie R. King
Bantam Books (Random House)
It seems every company, large and small, comic and print, audio and video, so on and so forth, has a Holmes product these days.  Most of them deal with Sherlock directly, but many also veer off into Watson’s life, Mycroft’s adventures, and Moriarty’s machinations.   And amongst those varied adventures of truly the World’s Greatest Detective, many are good, but very few stand out as works that both honor what came originally and bring a whole new life to the concept.
Laurie R. King is known for doing just that probably as well as anyone has.
‘Beekeeping for Beginners’ gives readers the first meeting between Mary Russell, King’s very own character inserted into the life of, at the opening of this story, an extremely despondent Holmes.     Both new readers and long time followers of King’s Russell/Holmes series will find this story to be a true delight.  Questioning his very place in the world with the War to End All Wars in swing and seemingly the time for one such as him past, Holmes comes to a decision at the opening of this tale that, had a young brash girl not happened along, would have made for an extremely short story. 
What ensues after this rather spirited trip away from the melancholy is both a great adventure that revives Holmes and a fantastic character study that adds flesh to Mary Russell.   The pacing is brisk and the characterization crisp and quick as well.   Russell makes a formidable partner for Holmes, able to verbally spar with him, but also willing to learn and play student to the master.   What comes after this opening segue in the series makes perfect sense with this glimpse into their first meeting.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT- Some people bemoan when people go back and give ‘origins’.  In this case, King did nothing but add another great piece of literature to her already wonderful collection of tales.

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO BPRD: BEING HUMAN!

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  • February 15, 2012

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
BPRD: BEING HUMAN
Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Scott Allie, et al
Dark Horse Comics
I’m a Hellboy Fan.  Probably not as well read as most, but a fan nonetheless.   Hellboy is a kind of visual Pulp that excites the senses for a variety of Pulp fans-Horror, mystery, fantasy, adventure, and on and on and on.   Although the quality of stories has varied at times, one thing remains true.  A Hellboy related Tale is never ever without weirdness and adventure.  Never.
The same holds true for the stories found in ‘BPRD: Being Human.’  There’s haunted woods, zombie plantation owners, werewolves, spirit eating demons, and that’s just the bad guys.  Although Hellboy makes an appearance, this collection focuses on other members of the BPRD and each story ties very strongly into the title of the collection.
This book is about the aspects of humanity that some members of the BPRD feel like they don’t have, others feel like they don’t deserve them, and still others are desperate to have some sense of humanity.   In that, the book hits home.  Each story, there are four, clearly illustrates just how human the strange beings that work with or alongside the BPRD actually are and how maybe the humans around them could take lessons. 
The art is stunning as usual.  Creepy, under your skin, making you study the shadows to see what might jump out at you.   Overall, the collection is solid.  The werewolf story is probably my favorite as it conveys its point amongst a ton of action in a very few pages.  The  Roger the Homunculus story started off strong, but didn’t really have a resolution that lived up to the beginning.  The other two stories were usual fare from the Hellboy realm, which means they were pretty solid.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-  The book made its point.  And did it with spooky art and fairly strong storytelling.

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT….SLIGHTLY…TO ‘CALLER ID’

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  • February 14, 2012

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
CALLER ID
Rachelle J. Christensen
Cedar Fort
Sometimes the four lines describing something that has a cool cover are enough to pull someone into reading a book.  And sometimes, even for a fan of almost any even slightly Pulp hinting piece of prose like me, that handful of lines turns out to be the best part of the experience.
‘Caller ID’ is a story of a young lady who accidentally stumbles upon evidence of something going on out of the ordinary around her idyllic, wealthy home and lifestyle.   Literally into a marijuana field and accidentally onto a name on a Caller ID screen that is supposed to be the first step into the harrowing adventure ahead.
Kidnapped and held prisoner, our young heroine works fervently to piece the mystery around her together and to escape.  Meanwhile, her family brings in the FBI, including Agent Jason Edwards, who makes it his singular mission to rescue her and sort out all the details.
‘Caller ID’ has moments of suspense.  It has several scenes that can be described as tense and action filled.  There’s also an undercurrent of mystery and a countercurrent, it seems, of romance.   The author handles words well and there’s quite a bit of potential within this book, but it doesn’t ever make up its mind what sort of book it is.  Even if it is a suspense romance as its been billed, it doesn’t even clearly define itself that way.   The book opens with a promising build up of the heroine, then focus shifts to the possible villains, then back to her, then to the Agent and at that point, the narrative completely loses focus.  The resolution is telegraphed far too soon and that’s even not tied up well as there’s a last minute twist that lacks credulity. 
TWO OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-‘Caller ID’ could have been high octane, tense, and still developed a romance between clearly defined characters.  Instead it just sort of rambled without really going anywhere exciting.  

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO ‘WHAT IT WAS’!

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  • February 14, 2012

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT- Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
WHAT IT WAS
George Pelecanos
Little, Brown and Company
There are a few tricks to building a character that can maintain and entertain the full length of a novel.  Those and a few other skills come into play when developing a lead that will headline a series of books.   That sort of character requires layers, history, motivation, and secrets.   And best of all, handling by an author who knows when to show what cards and plays them with at just the right pace.
“What It Was” is the latest novel by George Pelecanos featuring Derek Strange, his well known former Washington DC cop turned Private Investigator.  With Strange today framing nearly the whole novel as if telling a story, Pelecanos takes the reader back to DC in 1972.  Strange has left the Police department and has recently started his private career.  He takes on a case that on the surface involves retrieving a ring stolen during the murder of a drug addict.   At the same time, Frank Vaughn, Strange’s mentor and former partner in the Department, draws the case of pursuing the murderer of the junkie, a favorite informant of Vaughn’s.  All of this is stirred by Red Fury, a mad villain who essentially starts a killing spree with the addict and has no fear of being killed, no respect for anything except his own needs, and every intent to add buckets to his growing bloody legend.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this book if you came to it looking for Pelecanos at the top of his game.  This is a fantastic noir pulpy type crime tale, giving equal focus to the work of the men both committing crimes and those tracking them down.  The action unfolds believably and almost cinematically on a canvas that is 1972.  The attention paid to the music, the cars, the clothes, and the way people in that era paid the utmost attention to all the above, weaving them into their lives as much as the food they ate, the hearts they broke, and the people they killed.
Pelecanos wastes no time with cardboard cutouts.  From the three leads of Strange, Fury, and Vaughn, all the way down to bit parts, he fleshes out every single character, bringing flesh and blood to them with wonderfully chosen words and excellently executed turns of phrase.  Also, he stamps this story with real life.  No one gets out unscathed.  The heroes are tarnished, the villains aren’t vanquished at every turn, and yet people go on, live, and grow, wounds, scars and all.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT- ‘What IT Was’ is raw, real, and unforgiving.  A fantastic piece of crime fiction.  Down, dirty, and determined.

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO THE DEBUT OF PI NICHOLAS COLT!

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  • February 14, 2012

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp By Tommy Hancock

POCKET 47

By Jude Hardin

OceanView Publishing

One of the best liked, most lampooned, often replicated, sometimes screwed up, extremely action packed, twisty and turny sub-genres of Pulp is the Private Eye tale.   Everything from Hard Boiled to Cozy to Armchair to Science Fiction to Western to on and on ad nauseum, the PI story has endured many a different take and new coat of paint and withstood rather well.  But sometimes the best way to treat a PI is straight ahead and direct, even if it’s a tale clothed in modern trappings.  There’s never anything better than a two fisted, guns blazing gonna do what he’s gotta do gumshoe.   And it’s even better when characterization rides alongside the plot like Tonto following The Lone Ranger.

That is ‘Pocket 47’.

Jude Hardin introduces PI Nicholas Colt in this novel and Colt comes in with a ton of tragic baggage and a moral code akin to Chandler’s Marlowe and Parker’s Spenser.  A former top selling blues guitarist in a band, Colt’s life took a horrible turn when a plane crash claimed his band and his wife and daughter, leaving him as the only survivor a different man.   Years later, Colt lives in an Airstream trailer in Florida, fishes when he wants to, doesn’t play the guitar, and works as a private eye with a reputation for working runaway cases.

A client enters into Colt’s life as the novel opens, a young nurse desperate to find her fifteen year old sister who she had rescued from foster care and who has now ran away.   What starts as a typical case of tracking the girl to her favorite haunts and hiding spots takes a turn when Colt finds her and she claims someone is trying to kill her.  What ensues is murder, kidnapping, fist fights, good and bad cops, a religious white supremacist leading an army of zealots, and most of all secrets.  Secrets surrounding the runaway.  Secrets that engulf almost everyone Colt meets along the way.  And most of all, secrets that may very well tie into the most horrible event in Nicholas’ Colt’s life. 

In ‘Pocket 47’, Hardin makes everything count and matter.  Including the cryptic title.  Colt is a solid entry into the hard boiled PI school, even though he may wear shorts and spend long days fishing.  He has a serious set of rules, so serious he often quotes them and lives by them, a tried and true proof that he’s cast in a classic light.  But he’s also not Superman.  The plane crash in his past, Colt encounters enough problems in his present life to send most men spiraling into a bottle never to float to the top again.  But he barrels on, putting clues together in a solid whydunit, and taking on the police, pimps, wealthy doctors, and a Nazi like religious group to boot. 

The only problem I had with ‘Pocket 47’ and it’s one that is minor overall, is that it really could have been two books.   There’s a point in the tale where for the most part all seems resolved and it could easily be the end of the tale and yet it’s not.  By the end of the book, it’s obvious how it all ties together, but it did get slightly disjointed before it roared on to its more than satisfying ending.

FOUR OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT- ‘Pocket 47’ is a welcome addition to my PI shelf and Nicholas Colt is definitely a character that needs to play his way into another novel….or five.


John Severin: 1921-2012

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  • February 14, 2012

john_severin-8632971John Severin, Eisner Hall of Fame winner and one of the last of the legendary EC artists, died Sunday in Denver, Colorado. He was 90.

Severin was among the greatest draftsmen of the EC crew. He was especially well known for his western comics and war comics, but worked across many genres, including a 45 year stint drawing for Cracked magazine, doing numerous parodies and creating the definitive version of the company mascot, janitor Sylvester P. Smythe.

In recent years he had continued to work, with his last new material coming from Dark Horse last year on Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder.

His family has released a statement:

Internationally acclaimed illustrator-­cartoonist, John Powers Severin (1921-­2012), passed away Sunday, February 12, 2012 at his home in Denver, Colorado with his family by his side.

He was 90 years old.

Throughout his sixty plus year career in comic illustration and cartooning, Severin gained world-­wide notoriety and is regarded by many fans, friends, historians, and colleagues as a truly distinctive and brilliant artist.

Long-time friend and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee states, “He had an art style that was uniquely and distinctly his own.The minute you looked at his artwork you knew you were looking at a John Severin illustration; it could be no one else. Besides his inimitable style, there was a feeling of total authenticity to whatever he drew, whether it was a Western, a crime story, a superhero saga or a science fiction yarn. Not only was his penciling the very finest, but his inking, too, had a distinctive Severin touch that made every strip he rendered stand out like a winner”.

(more…)

Mark of the Spider-Man Starts Sending Out Operatives…

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  • February 14, 2012

mark-of-the-spider-man-300x296-1541545The countdown clock has ticked down, and there’s a new message:

So, you’ve found us.

If you support us, if you support Spider-Man, now is your time.

Follow the Twitter accounts of our operatives in each of these cities. They’ll tell you where to go to uncover the next step. For this pursuit we ask that you please be over the age of 18.

Be safe, and good luck. We’re counting on you.

via Mark of the Spider-Man.

So far, @Nycwebslinger and @Caughtinatlweb have been revealed. Denver, Phoenix, Seattle and Los Angeles are still to come…

MICHAEL DAVIS: Tammy Brown

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  • February 14, 2012

davis-column-art-120214-6080326Officially, I’ve worked in comics since 1983. In all that time I think I’ve only met one black woman who was involved in comics in a decision-making capacity. I’ve known black woman receptionists and assistants but I can only think of one who had a job in which she was part of the comic book hierarchy.

Before I set the wrong tone, this is not a piece on how comics have discriminated against women of color. It just may be that African-American women don’t want to work in comic books, for whatever reason. I have no idea why there are not a lot of black women in comics and I’m not about to speculate. There may be dozens of black woman in the industry that I just haven’t met.

I doubt that, because as you know, all black people know each other. At least that’s what more than a few white people have said to me over my lifetime.

The following conversation from a woman I met at a club last week. A real pretty, but short white girl at the bar was having trouble getting the bartenders attention. I caught his eye and asked her what she wanted to drink.

“That’s so nice of you, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you know Leroy Washington?”

Really? I swear I almost asked her if she knew Bilbo Baggins. She was that short.

The one black woman I know who has worked in comics on the corporate level is Tammy Brown. I met Tammy sometime in the 80s (yes I was working in comics when I was in grade school, Jean) I don’t remember how we met or where we met. Most likely at DC where she worked.

I do remember that Tammy hated me. Tammy did not like me at all. I mean if looks could kill I’d be dead and random members of my family and my pets would be dead also.

It was not just her looks that clued me in to Tammy’s loathing of me. It was also how she spoke to me. Tammy would talk to me in short and to the point sentences like “I hate you Michael Davis.”

I never heard her say those exact words, but no matter what she said that’s what I heard.

She may not have really hated me but it sure felt that way.

I’m sure Tammy thought of me as a loud mouth, in your face, guy and she had no time for loud mouth in your face people. Tammy was all business and ultra professional.

Me?

I was a loud mouth, in your face, guy.

I know that…now.

I’ve mellowed out considerably since my loud mouth, in your face, days. You may not think so from some of the rants I write on my www.MichaelDavisWorld.com or some of my old ComicMix stuff but I’m so much calmer now.

I’ve always been up front with my readers when it comes to my considerable shortcomings, I admit freely I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career.

A lot.

That said, when it comes to business I’ve learned not to take anything personally. I categorically live by two set of rules the first is: “It’s not personal, it’s business;” the second is “Nothing too good to do for my friends, nothing to bad to do to my enemies.”

It was with that first rule in mine that Tammy’s name came up when I was looking for someone to run the day to day operations at Motown Film & Television where I was President and Chief Executive Officer.

She was on a very short list, and I had my Chief Operating Officer contact her. I thought she would be perfect for the gig and even if she still hated me Tammy was a no-joke professional so she would put any issues with me aside if she were interested in the position. After talking to Tammy my COO, told me she would not be a good fit. I never followed up or even called Tammy.

I realized just the other day that was a mistake.

Motown Records is the most famous record company in the world. Most music superstars are bigger brands than their record company. Motown had (has) some of the biggest superstar artists the world has ever known and they are still identified as Motown artists.

Don’t think so? Without Google tell me what record label Sting is on. Now, without Goggle tell me what record label Stevie Wonder is on.

Hell, name a record label besides Motown.

I’ll wait…

Motown was one of the greatest African-American business success stories. The company has a wonderful history of hiring African-Americans and has (yes, white people have always worked at Motown and still do) become the model for many companies of color even today.

I should have called Tammy.

There may have been something I could have said or found out what my COO’s issue with her was. Maybe there was a way around it. Maybe my COO was threatened by her. That may sound to you like paranoia but I assure you dear reader, paranoia runs wild in Hollywood and I’m not joking.

I’m convinced now; if we could have gotten Tammy to Motown I’m sure she would have been great.

A few days ago Tammy, who is always positive, posted on Facebook that she was having a bad day.

The moment I read that, it hit me like a brick what a terrible mistake I’d made more than a decade ago that I did not call Tammy. Over the last few years Tammy and I have become close. I have not seen her in, I don’t know how many years, but we reconnected on Facebook and I really value her friendship.

I have not thought about Tammy coming to Motown since it happened. Tammy and I have never even spoken about it but for some reason when I read she was having a bad day my mind went right there.

My mind went there and to the realization that there exist very few women of color in the comics industry.

Why I thought about Tammy and Motown now I have no idea. Why that led me to the lack of black women in the industry, again, no idea.

This I do know, having Tammy Brown run anything is a good idea. Having more black women in the industry is a good idea. If I ever get the chance to work with Tammy again I won’t make the same mistake twice.

As far as black women in the industry, I’m working on that. Why I haven’t been working on it before?

No idea.

Like I said, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career but seldom do I make the same mistake twice.

Tammy, I’m sorry you were having a bad day. I’m sorry someone caused that for you. I leave you with these words of wisdom:

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

– Noel Coward

You are the best Tammy. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold Goes Nuts Again

 

Private Practice star Tim Daly reprises role of Superman for JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM

  • Uncategorized
  • February 13, 2012

superman-martian-manhunter-300x168-9062550The quintessential voice of the Man of Steel – primetime television star Tim Daly – once again returns to his original animated role of Superman in JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies.

Daly set the standard as the voice behind the world’s ultimate super hero for Superman: The Animated Series as well as in several animated movies and video games. While fanboys hail his vocal performance as their point of recognition, the Emmy nominated actor is known well throughout the world for his primetime television series roles, including eight seasons on Wings, an intense recurring role on The Sopranos, a memorable turn on HBO’s landmark mini-series From The Earth To The Moon, and his current ABC hit series, Private Practice.

Daly has joined the festivities surrounding the West Coast Premiere of JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM on Thursday, February 16 at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. The actor will appear for red carpet interviews and take part in the panel discussion following the film – alongside his co-stars Phil Morris (Seinfeld, Smallville), Paul Blackthorne (The River), Oliva d’Abo (The Wonder Years) and Susan Eisenberg (Justice League, Justice League Unlimited). Also confirmed to attend is director Lauren Montgomery and dialogue/casting director Andrea Romano.

Warner Home Video will distribute JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM on Blu-Ray, DVD and for Download on February 28, 2012.

Daly took a few minutes to offer answers to some questions that haven’t been posed to him – lately.

QUESTION: What’s the crux of JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM from Superman’s perspective?

TIM DALY: Well, as usual, it’s all about saving the planet. But first, the Justice League has to save the Justice League. Batman disappoints his colleagues in the Justice League by having a plan to stop any rogue Justice League member, and by allowing those plans to be stolen. Superman understands Batman, though – he really has created these contingency plans for  a pretty noble reason.  He’s trying to protect the world by inserting some checks and balances into this system, realizing that the Justice League has an incredible amount of power, and he wants to make sure that they always use that power in a way that’s not destructive. (more…)

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