Today is Black Friday, the day when it is our patriotic duty as Americans to go into a spending frenzy. For all our talk about family values, we think it is more important to forgo the conviviality of the Thanksgiving table so that we can stand in line to buy things.

Originally I had thought to write a column full of gift suggestions for those of you who want to introduce your family and friends to the joys of graphic storytelling. There are terrific books for a variety or ages and tastes and interests. I have my favorites, but I don’t know the people on your list, so my recommendations may not apply. That’s what the comments section is for.

Instead, I want to talk about you, Constant Reader. You and your needs.

Some people like to shop. Some people like to shop in crowded chain stores, the kind you find in your local mall. I am not one of those people. I don’t like walking around with a list of names, trying to figure out what to get. I’d rather sit at home, and imagine people getting things for me.

Here are some things you, as a fan of comics, might not yet know you want. Feel free to print this up and leave it where your loved ones can find it.

For example, do you know that your love for the combination of words and images on paper makes you a connoisseur of fine art? This book showcases the career of Barbara Kruger, one of the most influential (and entertaining) of late twentieth century feminist artists. This book provokes me and makes me feel exalted, all at the same time. Would that all gifts were so accomplished.

Do you think you have the most embarrassing family in the world? Would you like to be shown otherwise? If so, I can’t recommend enough My Favorite Year, a fictional account of what it must have felt like to be Mel Brooks working as a writer for Sid Caesar. I love everything about this movie, including Bill Macy and, especially, Joseph Bologna.

You know how everyone says the best holiday gift is peace on earth? If you say this and you mean it, you should let everyone know you want this calendar from the War Resisters League. Bold graphics, good politics, and amusing history trivia make this a great deal for an even more great cause.

You’re welcome.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

Press Release:

Arctic Adventure! A Thunderbirds novel by Anthony Taylor is now available.

Brains is the genius behind International Rescue’s technology. Besides designing and upgrading all of their equipment, he constantly develops and tests new products and processes, sometimes in partnership with outside interests. Eager to try out a new stealth system of his invention, Brains teams up with Humboldt Aviation to install his system on their new aircraft, the V-17. On the first test flight, the V-17 is shot down over the arctic by agents of the outlaw state of Reznia. With the aircraft shattered and partly buried in the ice, Brains and the V-17’s pilot are injured and unable to free themselves. Although Brains is able to contact International Rescue for recovery, the Reznians are also converging on the crash site in order to claim the wreckage for their research. Can the rest of International Rescue find and retrieve Brains and the V-17 pilot before the Reznians can capture them and the crashed plane?

Ordering information for Thunderdirds Arctic Adventure novel can be found at http://shop.ftlpublications.com/product.sc?productId=21&categoryId=1

$10.00
SHIPS TO USA AND CANADA ONLY

Readers outside the USA and Canada can order via http://www.ftlpublications.com/ordering.htm.

Thunderbirds ™ and © ITC Entertainment Group Limited 1964, 1999 and 2011. Licensed by Granada Ventures Ltd. All rights reserved.

On Saturday, November 19, AudioComics Pulp history was made on Mission Street in San Francisco at Broken Radio Studios, site of the legendary Coast Recorders Studio. Ably engineered by Piper Payne, Craig Neibaur, Karen Stilwell, and the members of the Pulp Adventures Acting Company (Bill Chessman, Suzan Lorraine, Kevin Donnelly, Mandy Brown, Peter Carini, Peter Papadopoulos, and Perry Aliado) recorded the first of many Green Lama and Domino Lady audio movies (or in this case audio shorts).

Pete Carini said it best when it was all over: “about twenty minutes from now I’m going to have an adrenaline crash.”

You can view photos from the AudioComics Pulp session at http://audiocomics.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/audiocomics-pulp-in-san-francisco. The Green Lama and The Domino Lady AudioComic Pulp stories will be available for download February 2012.

For more on AudioComic Pulp, visit them at http://audiocomics.wordpress.com/.

You have to appreciate the efforts from MGM and Warner Bros., trolling through their film libraries and resurrecting titles that only a handful of videophiles might be interested in owning. After transferring these to disc, they are made available as manufactured to order, largely available only through websites. Warner has over 1000 such videos available in every genre imaginable while MGM is catching up quickly.  Among the recent releases is one curiosity worth noting for ComicMix readers.

While we are all familiar with Conde Naste’s The Shadow, few beyond Anthony Tollin may recall that there were three really low budget features produced in 1946 from Monogram, all starring Kane Richmond. The second of the trio, Behind the Mask, is now out and if you’re a big fan of the character, you might want to check this one out.

The stories are watered down crime adventures; missing the spark Walter Gibson (writing as Maxwell Grant) brought to the pulp magazine that debuted in 1931 and was still coming out twice-a-month but running out of steam by this point. Visually, the gun-toting vigilante wears a full black face mask rather than the red scarf covering the lower half of his face. The slouch hat and cloak are present along with familiar figures for the magazines and popular radio series.

The fairly pedestrian story, from Arthur Hoerl (Reefer Madness) and George Kallahan involves the murder of Daily Bulletin reporter Jeff Mann with people thinking it’s the Shadow when it’s actually an impostor, the Silhouette. While this is happening, Lamont Cranston is about to marry Margo Lane (Barbara Reed), something that was never going to happen. Oddly, despite being his confidante and agent for countless missions, she now wants him to hang up his .45s simply because they are to be married, as if his cause has become superfluous. Others from the mythos include Shrevvy (George Chandler), the faithful chauffeur.

The mystery is predictable but we take our time getting to the obvious, with comedic asides that do nothing to make the characters appealing or counterpoint the story. Richmond handles the comedic elements far better than he does portraying the cold, cruel crime fighter. The film was handled with a by-the-numbers approach by director Phil Karlson, who apparently never thought to make the low budget work in his favor with camera angles and lighting to create some sense of mood, the same mood so easily created on radio. Trust me, the earlier movie serials were better. As for the other two Monogram films, The Shadow Returns and The Missing Lady, last time I looked, both were available for instant streaming on Netflix.