Tarzan © ERB, Inc. Artwork Tim Burgard

Author Martin Powell recently announced that he is writing a graphic novel of TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE that will be illustrated by Tim Burgard, for Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics.

The Tarzan At The Earrth’s Core graphic novel is officially licensed and authorized by the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and will be published as a special edition in celebration of the ape-man’s 100th Anniversary in 2012. “Tarzan has always been at the top of my list for characters to write,” Powell said on his blog. “And this is possibly the biggest project of my twenty-five year career. I honestly never thought I’d get this chance. Very special thanks to ERB, Inc. and Michael Hudson for making this possible.”

For more on Martin Powell, visit http://martinpowell221bcom.blogspot.com/.
For more on Sequential Pulp Comics, visit http://www.sequentialpulpcomics.com/
For more on Dark Horse Comics, visit http://www.darkhorse.com/
For more on Tim Burgard, visit http://www.timburgardart.com/

I wrote a while back, lamenting over not writing much for or about Star Trek these days and it appeared that my involvement in the franchise was going to become a fading memory.

Perhaps I wrote too quickly.

Back in August, I was contacted by an editor at Voyageur Press on the recommendation of fellow Trek writer, and Voyageur employee, Scott Pearson. Grace LaBatt kindly asked if I was perhaps interested in tackling an Unauthorized History of Star Trek, tracing not only the TV series but the movies, the spinoffs, the merchandise and most importantly, the fan following that kept the dream alive.

(more…)

Walking home from food shopping, thinking about this week’s column. Thinking about all the “news that’s fit to print” (and some not) about the portrayal of women in comics. And I thought, has anyone written about the portrayal of men in comics? I’m talking down and dirty, hot stuff, glistening muscle, chest hair or no chest hair?, blue brown or green eyes, skin-tight costume, hunky super-duper M-E-N.

Distaff geeks unite!

I’ll start. Off the top of my head, and in no particular order:

• Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine. Chest hair. Goddamn, he’s sexy.
• Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Robin in New Teen Titans written by Marv Wolman and drawn by George Pérez. He looked like a guy I had a crush on in high school… and for years afterwards.
• Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman, drawn by Curt Swan, Jerry Ordway, John Byrne, and many others, up to and including Rags Morales and Jesus Marino.
• Hal Jordan, a.k.a. Green Lantern. Just read recently that Julie Schwartz wanted him to look like Paul Newman. Explains a lot.
• Scott Summers, a.k.a. Cyclops. Who’s behind those Foster Grants?
• Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man. It was Revenge of the Nerds, thanks to J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita, Jr!
• Adam Strange. Why can’t a Zeta-beam land him in my bedroom?

Now for the “live-action”:

• Christian Bale makes delicious eye candy and engenders dirty thoughts as Bruce Wayne/Batman. But isn’t it odd that the comic version doesn’t make my “off-the-of-my-head” list?
• Of course the true superhero, Christopher Reeve. “Easy, miss. I’ve got you.”
• And I have always, always, always had a thing for Robert Downey Jr. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched Iron Man. Even sat through Iron Man more than twice just to look at him. Special mention for Sherlock Holmes.
• Not so much for the blondes, generally. Though there is Chris Hemsworth as Thor. And Robert Redford (“See ya, Hubble”) in The Way We Were. And Jason Lewis as Jared Smith on Sex And The City – the scene where he shaves his signature long, blonde, thick hair in solidarity with Samantha as she loses her hair due to the chemotherapy, well, every man who has ever questioned why his girlfriend or wife left him should be chained to a chair ala Malcom McDowell in A Clockwork Orange and forced to watch that scene over and over and over until he screams Igetitigetitigetitigetit!

uh, sorry ‘bout that. where was i? she said sheepishly.

• John Wesley Shipp as The Flash on the too-soon cancelled TV series.

No quibbling allowed on the next four. I am the columnist. I am allowed my all things Buffy. Anyway, maybe they started out as live-action characters, but they all appear in comics now. And don’t give me any lip about any of them not technically being superheroes. I don’t see you fighting demons and vampires and saving the world over and over again.

• David Boreanaz as Angel, first on Buffy and then on the eponymous TV series. Broody, morose, dark and tragic. A vampire Hamlet.
• Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. I envy Alyson Hannigan.
• James Marsters as Spike, a.k.a. William the Bloody. Just for the record, I’m one of those who believe in Spike and Buffy 4 Ever. S.W.A.K.
• J. August Richards as Charles Gunn. He almost didn’t make the list, ‘cause his selfish actions led to the death of Fred, but I can’t deny that bod’!
• Anthony Stewart Head as Rupert Giles. Loved him ever since the Folger commercials. ‘Sides, I’m a sucker for British accents. Ask John Higgins.

What’cha think of my choices, fellow geek women? Who are yours? Martha, y’ wanna start?

TUESDAY: Michael Davis

Cover Art: Alex Ross

Dynamite’s Lord of the Jungle comic book series is set to expand on Edgar Rice Burroughs classic tale!

Cover: Paul Renaud

September 21, 2011, Runnemede, NJ – The original Lord of the Jungle returns! Dynamite is proud to announce the December release of Lord of the Jungle! Dynamite’s Lord of the Jungle is true to Edgar Rice Burroughs original tale, savage, violent, and uncensored for the first time in its 100 year history! We are so proud and excited about this book, that we are offering the first FULL issue for the introductory price of just $1.00!

Based on the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs adventure story, Tarzan of the Apes, the first of his famous series, which initially began publication in All Story Magazine in 1912. The saga of Greystoke begins in December, written by Arvid Nelson and illustrated by Roberto Castro, and featuring covers by Alex Ross, Lucio Parillo, Ryan Sook, and Paul Renaud!

Cover: Ryan Sook

“Tarzan’s DNA is in everything from super heroes to space epics,” says writer Arvid Nelson. “But I was surprised at how little I knew about him, because the many adaptations wander very far from the original character. His true story is so much deeper and more interesting — that’s we’re trying to bring to life in Lord of the Jungle.”

“To allow the series to be accessible to fans old and new, we are offering the first issue at the Introductory Price of $1.00 for the full ENTIRE 32 page comic, as well as dedicating both of the Dynamite front gate folds of the October shipping Previews Magazine to our launch,” says Dynamite Entertainment President and Publisher Nick Barrucci. “Get on board for the biggest comic book launch this December!”

For art and more information, please visit: www.dynamite.net

Cover: Lucio Parillo

About Dynamite Entertainment:

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including The Boys, Green Hornet, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars, Bionic Man, Game of Thrones and more!

In addition to their critically-acclaimed titles and best selling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Michael Avon Oeming, Mel Rubi, Marc Guggenheim, Stephen Sadowski, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner and a host of up and coming new talent!

Cover: Francesco Francavilla

DYNAMITE is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their titles – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s PROJECT SUPERPOWERS – have debuted in the Top Ten lists produced by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005 Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%). The company has also been nominated for several industry awards, including the prestigious Eisner Award.

Cover Art: Arthur Adams

Dynamite Entertainment has released the first issue of Warlord Of Mars: Dejah Thoris for free. This issue is part of the WARLORD OF MARS: DEJAH THORIS VOL. 1: COLOSSUS OF MARS Trade Paperback by Arvid Nelson and Carlos Rafael.

You can read the entire issue of Warlord Of Mars: Dejah Thoris #1 at http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/10/21/free-warlord-of-mars-dejah-thoris-1/ along with previews for the following upcoming titles from Synamite this week:

THE BIONIC MAN #3 by Kevin Smith, Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau.
THE BOYS: BUTCHER, BAKER, CANDLESTICKMAKER #4 (of 6) by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
WARLORD OF MARS #11 by Arvid Nelson and Stephen Sadowski
QUEEN SONJA #22­ by Luke Lieberman and Fritz Casas
ZORRO RIDES AGAIN #4 (of 12) by Matt Wagner and Esteve Polls.
SHERLOCK HOLMES: YEAR ONE TPB by Scott BEatty and Daniel Indro
WARLORD OF MARS: DEJAH THORIS VOL. 1: COLOSSUS OF MARS TPB by Arvid Nelson and Carlos Rafael
You can read the entire issue of Warlord Of Mars: Dejah Thoris #1 for free at http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/10/21/free-warlord-of-mars-dejah-thoris-1/ 

Nate Heller is back, and I’m a happy man.

For those of you who won’t have a clue to what I’m talking about, let me explain.. Nate Heller is a fictional private eye in a series of historical hardboiled detective novels and short stories written by the redoubtable Max Allan Collins. Some of you will know Max from his comic work on Ms.Tree and Wild Dog and more will know him from his graphic novel, Road to Perdition, which was made into a terrific movie by the same name which maybe even more people will know. (Actually, it’s fun to spring that on a lot of non-comics reading folks. The usual comic book movies – Superman, Batman, Iron Man, X-Men and so on – they know but lots of unsuspecting folks are stunned they when get told that Road to Perdition started as a graphic novel.)

What you should know Max for, though, is the Nate Heller series as well as the rest. A quick disclaimer – I know Max personally and like him but I got into the Heller novels before I met him and was a big fan of the series from the start. Heller is a private detective set largely in Chicago in the 1930s when the series begins and he gets neck deep in cases involving the famous, the infamous, and the scary from that time. Max, along with his research buddy George Hagenauer and, early in the series, Mike Gold, aids in the research on these cases and often comes up with interpretations and theories that I think are rock solid.

For example, in his Heller book on the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, Stolen Away, for which he won his second Shamus Award in 1992, Max posits that the “corpse” of the baby that was found could not have been the Lindbergh baby so convincingly that I think it should be in every history book.

Above all, what Collins does over and over again is take historical characters, people we know from histories or news reels or whatever, and make them real in ways that, perhaps, regular history can’t. They’re complicated, conflicted, contradictory human beings. Yes, Max makes up things for them to say and do but they are so close to what we know of their historical selves that it rings true to me, over and over again.

A case in point is the latest in the Heller series, and the first in nine long years, named “Bye Bye Baby.” It deals with the death of Marilyn Monroe and this is the place where you get the standard SPOILER WARNING. I may reveal things that are in the book and if you want to not take a chance I’ll spoil it for you, skip to where it says it’s okay to read again.

Heller, and Collins, make a strong argument that Marilyn Monroe did not commit suicide, so strong that its past arguing as far as I’m concerned. What’s more important is that Max fleshes out Marilyn as a person and a creative artist and not some poor bimbo who was a victim of her own success.

She’s not the only historical character Max brings to life in this book. Frank Sinatra, Sam Giancana, Jimmy Hoffa, Peter Lawford, Joe DiMaggio (in a not very flattering portrait), and especially Bobby Kennedy are all featured and really well drawn. While I’m not totally crazy about the solution to the mystery of Marilyn’s death, it plays and works within the context of the novel. I’d be really interested to talk to Max and find out who he really thinks was responsible but this is a mystery novel and something has to be worked out that is satisfying to the genre, the lead character, and ultimately the reader.

OKAY, IT’S SAFE TO COME BACK NOW. I’m recommending not just this latest addition to the Nate Heller series but all of the books which I believe have come back into print. Max himself suggests starting with his “Nitti trilogy” of True Detective, True Crime, and The Million Dollar Wound but it’s also true you can pick up just about any of the novels and start there. He also a collection of the Heller short stories out in paperback called Chicago Lightning. I haven’t read it yet but I’m going to and soon. Max says it’s also a good place to sample Nate Heller.

If you like a good hard boiled tale told well or just a chance to watch history really come alive on the page, give ‘em a try. You’ll come back and say, “Ostrander, I owe you one.” Glad to do it, my friend. Glad to do it.

MONDAY: Mindy Newell