Pulp Ark Coordinator Tommy Hancock notified ALL PULP today that the nomination period for the first annual Pulp Ark Awards ended on January 31st, 2011, and the final ballot formed from 66 nominations was released today! The awards for excellence in the Pulp field for 2010 cover nine categories and multiple authors, artists, publishers, and titles were represented in the nomination process. Each person who made a nomination received a ballot for voting. Hancock reported as of press time that more than half of the ballots had already been completed and returned. Voting is open until all 66 ballots are completed or February 28, 2011 at 11:59 PM, whichever comes first. Once the voting is complete, the winners will be announced and Hancock encourages all nominees and winners to attend PULP ARK May 13-15, 2011 in Batesville, AR.
The Nine Categories on the Ballot were Best Book, Best Short Story, Best Cover Art, Best Interior Art, Best Magazine, Best Pulp Revival, Best Comic, Best Author, Best New Writer.
If a television series lasts long enough, it will eventually get around to taking their turn at retelling Charles Dickens’ [[[A Christmas Carol]]] and after fifty years, it was finally the Doctor’s turn. For its annual Christmas special, Doctor Who offered up a strong hour’s entertainment despite the overly familiar premise. Unlike most other versions, this time the Doctor freely admits his inspiration and has great fun with it.
Scrooge in this case is Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), an elderly man on a world where his family has controlled the electrically-charged clouds that perpetually envelope the world. Using machinery that only responds to his touch, Sardick follows in his father’s footsteps, controlling the clouds and inhibiting the lives of the people he considers beneath him. In a typically odd Doctor touch, the electricity coursing through the air also allows the planet’s fish to fly through the air.
All of this becomes apparent when the spaceliner carrying newlywed Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) gets caught up in an electric discharge and need to be rescued by the Doctor (Matthew Smith) before the vessel crashes into the planet killed all 4003 passengers and crew.
When Sardick refuses to help, the Doctor visits the man’s past to explore how he grew so sour and in the process alters reality. A giant Shark has become their nemesis and can only be calmed by the singing of Abigail, who resides in frozen storage because her family owes Sardick money. She is promised that for every Christmas Eve Sardick and the Doctor will visit, which happens every year, slowly turning the curmudgeon into a softie. Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins makes her acting debut as Abigail and while her singing is heavenly, the lyrics leave something to be desired.
Steven Moffat has written a touching story mixed with the usual glib commentary from the Doctor so you laugh and your feel the tears well up every now and then. Gambon treads a fine line as Sardick and does a nice job while Amy and Rory are sadly left with far too little to do. Overall, though, the story is very entertaining and is a strong holiday entry. Fans seem to have been taken with Smith as the new Doctor as the 2010 special’s ratings rose over David Tennant’s final special.
The nice thing about the home video release, out this week, is that it is the complete and uncut BBC version as opposed to the BBC American retransmission. As has become custom, we also get the behind-the scenes [[[Doctor Who Confidential]]] and the annual concert,[[[ Doctor Who at the Proms]]]. I’ve come to greatly enjoy the Proms broadcasts because they are artfully presented and we get to focus on the strong music the series normally receives.
And we will have to make do with this before the first half of Smith’s second season arrives in the spring.
Bill Gladman, a writer/artist has been involved with comics most of his life. He recently helped form a local comics studio, Twilight Star Productions and last year they released twelve titles in their first year. Bill also ventured into the world of pulps for the first time ever when he contributed a story to RAVENWOOD – Stepson of Mystery from Airship 27 Productions. We caught up with this fellow in his home town of Springfield, Ohio and sat down to talk about his new pulp writing career.
AP – Bill, thanks for joining us today. Give us a short bio of yourself, age, where you were born, schooling, family etc.
BG –Born in Marysville, Ohio. About a half hour drive north of Springfield. In true dynamic fashion. In a middle of a thunderstorm, two minutes before midnight July 25th 1967, making me 44 years old this summer.
As far as schooling goes it seems I’ve learned all the important stuff by accident. I did graduate from Springfield North High School in 1985. I also went to Springfield Joint Vocational School during my junior and senior years of high school where I studied commercial art and girls. Unfortunately I didn’t get a certificate in art because I missed way too many days my senior year. I was sure the garage band I was in at the time was going to be world famous in six months and rock stars were too cool to go to school, right?
Currently married to my second wife and love of my life 13 years this April….between us and our previous marriages we have four kids and five grand kids.
AP – How old were you when you first became a comic book fan. What was the attraction?
BG – I was seven years old. My grandmother bought me a copy of Avengers #145 at the gift shop at one of the local hospitals. We were visiting my grandfather who had suffered the first of many strokes that would eventually claim his life a few years later and she wanted to keep my mind off things at the time so she bought me that comic. It all started then and there, so my grandmother gets all the credit, or blame. Depends on how you look at it I guess.
AP – Marvel or DC? Who was your favorite comic book superhero and why?
BG –Captain America. He’s the guy for me…..guess he always has been. He played a large role in that first Avengers story and although over the years when asked this question I may have said something along the lines of Daredevil or Batman, maybe even Dr. Strange…truthfully I guess it would really have to be Cap. The amount of Captain America comics in my collection would seem to only cement that train of thought.
AP – How did you come to write a Ravenwood story? Had you ever heard of the character before?
BG – I never heard of the character at all. I ran across a post on the Comic Related website made by Ron Fortier in which he was attempting to recruit fresh blood to write pulp stories for Airship 27. I’d never wrote a pulp story before, and never really read any either but I thought it would be a nice creative challenge so I e-mailed Ron to let him know I was interested. He sent me a list of characters that was available and that Airship 27 was interested in publishing stories about. Ravenwood was one of about three characters that seemed to appeal to me and the ball got rolling from there.
AP – What’s the name of your story in the Ravenwood collection? What appealed to you about this particular pulp hero?
BG –“When Death Calls”. After I received more background information about Ravenwood I felt there were elements of Dr. Strange, Bruce Wayne (both personas of that character), and Tony Stark (Iron Man) in the Ravenwood character. That allowed me to have a safety net of sorts. Plus there was just enough background info to get me interested in the character but I wasn’t smothered with details. There was a lot of room for me to breath as writer with this character.
AP – Was writing pulp easier or harder than your comics work? Elaborate, please.
BG –It was actually easier for me. It was exciting, new, and fresh. It was a great experience for me. I’m a big history buff as well so I enjoyed the research aspects of the story as well….what was the most popular film of 1938…how much did a pack of cigarettes cost 73 years ago. That type of thing. And I’m a very wordy writer. This story allowed me to express myself in a way that writing comics do not. I get grief from the artists I work with all the time about the amount of dialog in my stories. And in the end I still went over the word count for the story requirement. Go figure. Needles to say a good portion of it ended up on the editing floor.
AP – There seems to be a real renaissance of pulps today in both prose, comics and movies. Why do you think that is?
BG –I think it’s a couple of things, and this is just the opinion of some hack in Ohio so bare with me.
I think that pulps in prose and comic formats and hopefully film caters to the mature reading audience that actually collect comics and go to the movies. They’re action packed, entertaining, suspenseful, and fun. Mature doesn’t have to mean sex and violence. Mature can mean, wow that story made me think and I liked that.
Also I think the escape level in the pulp stuff is higher than your super-hero comics or horror comics. The time period that these stories take part in for the most part was less complicated and negative. At the same time the fiction is a little more realistic. I mean nobody is finding a baby from another planet in a rocket ship in a Ravenwood story.
AP – Will you ever do another Ravenwood story?
BG –Oh yeah. I loved working with this character and the cast of characters involved with this story. I already have ideas for a second and a third story.
AP – Is there any other pulp character you’d like to write some day?
BG –Possibly. I’m quite content writing Ravenwood for now but one of the other choices that appealed to me at first was Moon Man. He sounded like a fun character to write.
AP – Finally, what’s on the horizon for Bill Gladman and Twilight Star Productions?
BG –At times there’s so much stuff going on at Twilight Star Studios I can’t see the horizon! Seriously this studio has been very productive and although I have been involved in several different studios in the past there has not been an experience like this. One a personal note I’ll be involved with several of our books including Tales From The ‘Field which is our flag ship title and an anthology comic. I usually write short stories and even sometimes ink other short stories for this title. I write short stories for our horror anthology series Pandemonium Spotlight, write and draw Prodigy an on-going cosmic super hero tale, write and draw Jack the Rabbit an action/adventure/fantasy limited series. I also write and ink the Un-Naturals and recently co-wrote Hero Of The Day featuring the character Hero Montgomery created by a good friend of mine (Chad Strohl) as well as act as Executive Editor on all of our books. I also plan to re-release my first novel The Book Of Noheim through the studio. More novels will follow.
I also write two weekly web comics for the Comic Related web site (New Comic Day and Price For The Asking-with Ron Fortier) there is a third web comic about to launch on that site as well (The Bumtastic Four) I can also be found every other Monday co-hosting the RaynMan Power Podcast on that same site with Frank Raynor.
I have comic projects in the work with Penny Dreadful Press and Studio Akumakaze and a few other bigger companies which I’m not “allowed” to talk about at the moment.
AP – This has been fun and informative, Bill. Thanks and good luck with all your many projects.
BG –Thank you! It was a blast!!! Hope I didn’t bore you to death!!!
The Pulp Factory, an online mailing list founded and administered by Ron Fortier, noted comic and pulp author, announces its second year of voting for the PULP FACTORY AWARDS. These awards cover four categories and nominations are made by members of the Pulp Factory and those receiving the most votes make up the ballot. Factory members also vote on the ballot and voting will be open through March 31, 2011.
According to Fortier-
This year’s nominees represented twenty-eight writers, twenty-eight artists and a fifteen publishers. Ladies and gentlemen, the Pulp Renaissance is here. Good luck to all our nominees.
OFFICIAL BALLOT FOR THE 2010 PULP FACTORY AWARDS
PULP FACTORY MEMBER NAME __________________________________
Please vote for only one in each category by placing an X in the front of your
BEST PULP NOVEL ( ) Green Lama Unbound by Adam Lance Garcia ( ) Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann ( ) Pulp Heroes – Khan Dynasty by Wayne Reinagel ( ) Sun Koh – Heir of Atlantis by Art Sippo ( ) Robin Hood – King of Sherwood by Ian Watson
BEST PULP SHORT STORY ( ) The Red Flame of Death by Van Alan Plexico From “Van Allen Plexico presents Gideon Cain” ( ) Death Rides the Valkerie by Andrew Salmon From “Black Bat Mysery.” ( ) The Last Deposit by Ian Watson From “Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vol. Two” ( ) The Girl in the Glass Coffin by Ian Watson From “Van Allen Plexico presents Gideon Cain”
BEST PULP COVER ( ) Mike Fyles for “Green Lama Unbound” ( ) Ingrid Hardy for “Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vol. Two” ( ) Mark Maddox for “Black Bat Mystery” ( ) Mike Manley for “Robin Hood – King of Sherwood”
BEST PULP INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS ( ) Pedro Cruz for “Jim Anthony Super Detective – The Hunters” ( ) Rob Davis for “Van Alan Plexico presents Gideon Cain” ( ) Charles Fetherolf for “Ravenwood – Stepson of Mystery” ( ) Mike Fyles for “Green Lama Unbound”
Seven Realms Publishing is proud to announce the signing of NY Times Bestselling author David L. Golemon!
From Seven Realms Publishing-
It is with great pleasure that we introduce you to David L. Golemon, NY Times Bestselling author of EVENT, LEGEND, ANCIENTS, LEVIATHAN, and PRIMEVAL. David comes to us with a fantastic new tale of terror…The SUPERNATURALS…a classic ghost story that will chill you to the bone. I can honestly tell you…this is one book that will give you sleepless nights.
The SUPERNATURALS will be released in October 2011!
Here’s a quick synopsis of the book:
Summer Place—built at the turn of the twentieth century by one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. Tucked away in the pristine Pocono Mountains and used as a summer retreat for the rich and famous, Summer Place was the description of charm and beauty. Built to spec, the twenty-four bedrooms and manicured grounds sparkled. It was truly a home that was as warm and beautiful as any well-appointed resort.
For a retreat that boasted the most glamorous setting in all of America, the gable roofed mansion was the epitome of tranquility…until 1925 when something went horribly wrong. Once homey and inviting, Summer Place had now become a haven for evil incarnate. A dark presence came to the yellow and white trimmed mansion, and it was now collecting the souls it needed to survive and thrive amongst the mountains that surround it.
Closed down by the owners and not lived in since the start of World War II, Summer Place has been maintained in its pristine condition, waiting for the team of men and women to discover its dark secret. In a national television broadcast reminiscent of Orson Wells War of the Worlds broadcast of 1939, America will witness on live television the coming of true evil, and it will be up to Professor Gabriel Kennedy, a disgraced Psychologist who had once faced the evil inside of Summer Place and came away a true believer in its extraordinary power. Now, along with the paranormal ghost hunting team; The Supernaturals, Kennedy will draw out and try to end the haunting that has been going on at Summer Place for over a hundred years.
You are asked to bear witness to the battle of wills as the thing inside of Summer Place will not go down without a fight!
Here’s a brief BIO about David…
David L. Golemon was born and raised in Chino, California. He has raised three great children, Shaune, Brandon and Katie Anne, and has welcomed a new daughter-in-law to the family, Tram, and last year a brand new baby granddaughter named Kiera.
David spent many years in Loveland, Colorado. He now makes his home on Long Island, New York. He was taught at an early age to love books by his father who passed on his love of reading to his son after driving a tank across Europe in World War II. His influences include, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Larry Bond and the greatest character writer in history, Stephen King. He hopes you will find touches each of these authors in his work.
David is the New York Times bestselling author of Event, Legend, Ancients, Leviathan, and Primeval, and in 2011, Legacy, all available through Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press, whom David has been a part of since 2006 and where he will continue his tales of the Event Group. David is now thrilled to be a contributor to Seven Realms Publishing where he has another outlet for his wild imagination!
Please join me in welcoming David to our ranks! We couldn’t be more pleased and know that his woeful tale of horror will have you clambering for more. We’ll keep you posted!
INDIANA JONES AND THE DINOSAUR EGGS Written by Max McCoy Bantam Books (1996, reissued 2008) ISBN 978-0-553-56193-7
As a huge Indy fan, I’ve collected all the novels over the years and will periodically take them out for a spin. My favorites are the ones written by Rob MacGregor but this is the best of the Max McCoy ones. It does continue threads from previous McCoy books and some elements are obviously to be continued from here but for the most part, it’s a nice done-in-one and you won’t suffer too much from jumping into this one if you’re unfamiliar with the literary Indy.
In this story, Indy is contacted by a beautiful nun who tells him that her father has gone missing in Outer Mongolia. In her possession is a horn that appears to have come from a recently deceased triceratops. Indy, our lovely missionary and a rugged explorer named Granger set off in search of both the missing professor and the possibly living dinosaurs. Along the way, there’s a breathtaking action sequence in the American Museum of Natural History, a visit to a valley lost to time, Indy’s first meeting with Rene Belloq and the possibility that Indy is the reincarnation of Marco Polo.
My only real complaint is that the novel sometimes skips weeks in between chapters — as a result, the first half of the book chugs along at a steady pace and the second half feels like it’s jumping around through what should have been an even bigger adventure. It makes me wonder if there was an editorial decision to trim the novel to fit into a specific page count.
McCoy has been very vocal that a number of his attempts to write the books for adults were shot down by the editors but I still feel this one captures the feel of the Raiders of the Lost Ark Indy very well and it was a blast to revisit it. The MacGregor novels are set earlier in Indy’s timeline so this one is probably a nice one to pick up if you’re new to the literary trail since the presentation of Indy is very consistent with what we see in the first film. If you enjoy it, go back to the beginning of the novels and see what you’ve been missing — both the MacGregor and the McCoy runs are worthwhile and even the Martin Caidin books have their moments.
Los Angeles, CA February 1, 2011 – Today, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE) kicked off a 12-month marketing, promotions, publicity and media campaign, “A Year Of A Million Moments,” to celebrate its robust catalog of movies made memorable, quotable, and unforgettable by the people who watch and embrace them.
A YEAR OF A MILLION MOMENTS CAMPAIGN AND PRODUCT Fox’s yearlong celebration will include the release of seasonally timed Blu-ray Disc and DVD singles grouped thematically by month and distinguished by the “GREAT MOVIES. GREAT MOMENTS.” moniker. Each month Fox will spotlight films that reflect a specific theme with moments… to shine (January), you love (February), to laugh about (March), kids love (April), for mom (May), for heroes (June), to sing about (July), to remember (August), that are unforgettable (September), that terrify (October), that are classic (November) and holiday moments (December).
Product releases will be supported by publicity events, national advertising and retail specific promotions. Exact title configurations, packaging and release dates for “A Year Of A Million Moments” Blu-ray and DVD releases will be confirmed separately.
TCFHE has launched a dedicated Web site that will feature information about upcoming Blu-ray and DVD products and promotions tied to the million moments campaign.
Each month 16 films will face off for the title of “Best Movie Moment.” Consumers can vote each month for their favorite moment and enter for a chance to win a package of some of the most iconic and memorable movies from Fox.
What’s Your Movie Moment? Find out which movie moment you’re most like and become a part of it. Upload your photo and share with others in the gallery of movie moments.
Win $1 Million Fox is giving away $1 million in celebration of “A Year Of A Million Moments.” Codes found on specially marked Blu-ray and DVD product can be entered for a chance for one lucky consumer to become an instant millionaire.
How far would you go for a sibling? A lot of drama has been produced of late showing organ transplants and similar sacrifices but while major events, are relatively short-term activities. Imaging spending eighteen years working to help a brother in jail. [[[Conviction]]], a movie starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell as the siblings, takes an amazing true story and turns it into a compelling drama.
The children had a rough, lower socio-economic upbringing, relying on one another for companionship and protection. As adults, they married and lived near one another until Kenneth Waters was arrested and charged with murder. Betty Anne believed him to be innocent and after he was sentenced to life without parole, worked to overturn the conviction. The married mother of two, she chose to get her GED and then enroll at Roger Williams University to obtain her law degree. The dogged dedication cost her marriage and nearly her relationship with her sons, but she couldn’t rest with Kenny in jail.
The movie, which opened in the fall, comes to home video tomorrow in a stripped down Blu-ray or standard DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. As directed by Tony Goldwyn, the movie tightens its narrative focus to Betty Anne and her efforts to graduate pass the bar and find the evidence lost in storage so it could have modern-day forensic DNA testing performed to confirm his innocence. She finds herself befriended by Abra, another older law student played by Minnie Driver and both are joined by Barry Sheck (played by Peter Gallagher) of [[[the Innocence Project]]].
As a result of such telescoping, Betty Anne and Kenny’s older brothers vanish from the telling as does their mother, who is seen as ineffective resulting in the children spending some time in foster care. Events are compressed for more dramatic storytelling and turn Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley into a politically-motivated antagonist.
The film, instead, relies entirely on the performances of Swank and Rockwell. Neither resembles their real life counterparts but Swank’s steely performance is in line with her stellar work in [[[Million Dollar Baby]]] and [[[Iron Jawed Angels]]]. Rockwell, the real Betty Anne says on the disc, truly became the swaggering Kenny, who visibly ages and is frequently on the edge of despair during the nearly two decades he sits in jail. Supporting them are Driver and Melissa Leo, who is the cop who antagonizes Kenny throughout. Juliette Lewis once more plays white trash and delivers her usual fine work.
The movie ends with his freedom regained and we’re later told the murder remained unsolved and the state paid out for the wrongful imprisonment. What audiences don’t learn until the 10 minute featurette, a conversation between Betty Anne and director Tony Goldwyn, is that six months later, Kenny fell in an accident and died.
On disc, the movie looks and sounds fine. It’s a shame such a compelling tale is augmented by merely the one featurette, showing a lack of faith from the studio.
PHANTOM/CAPTAIN ACTION HC(can be found under “action”). Limted edition, will NOT ever be a softcover!
VOLTRON: the official Art Book and more!(“action”) for all the fans of the show, here’s to you!
The SPIDER & DOMINO LADY: (“action”)
The first meeting of these two! SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE INTERNET cover variant! Written by NY TIMES best selling author NANCY HOLDER!
CHICKS IN CAPES PROMOTIONAL INTERVIEW-Jennifer Fallon
AP: Jennifer, what is your writing background, some of the works you’ve published, and your major influences?
JF: My background lies in epic fantasy. I have 13 novels in print around the world, across three series (the six books of the Hythrun Chronicles, the Second Sons Trilogy and the Tide Lords quadrilogy) and a new book coming out in March 2011, which is the start of the Rift Runners trilogy. I have a novella featured in the Legends of Australian Fantasy anthology, edited by Jack Dann, and I have also co-authored a tie-in novel for Stargate SG1. I have contributed a story to the More Tales of Zorro anthology, the Baggage anthology and various other publications with the magic million books in sales looming on the horizon so they tell me. In my spare time, I run the Reynox International Writers’ Retreat near Christchurch, in New Zealand, mentor a number of writers online, work as a practice manager for my daughter’s veterinary practice, undertake public speaking engagements, and — so I found out this morning — I’m about to start a construction company.
My story-telling influences are old-school – Asimov, Clarke, H Beam Piper, Robert Forward, to name a few (note the lean towards sci-fi, rather than fantasy). I like that they wrote ripping yarns, first and foremost. If I had a chance to live my life over, I would be an astrophysicist, put in 20 years with NASA and then retire to write bestselling hard sci-fi. I would also arrange not to flunk math in high school, which I have long suspected is the reason I never became an astrophysicist in this life.
AP: You have a story featured in the Moonstone anthology, CHICKS IN CAPES. Can you give us a bit of a teaser of what readers can expect from your tale?
JF: Hopefully a smile and a bit of entertainment. When I was invited to contribute to the anthology, I jokingly suggested I should give my superhero the superpower I have, which is the ability to find a car park right where I want it, every single time. Imagine my surprise (and consternation) when they emailed me straight back with “Wow! What an awesome idea! Can’t wait to read the story!” Turned out to be a great challenge, but I love the end result. Long may the Violet Valet rule!
AP: What goes into building a heroic tale for you? What makes up a good heroic character?
JF: For me it was getting the tone right. Mine is an origin story so the arch-villain isn’t really the focus of the story. It’s more how the Violet Valet and her sidekick get together. I think what makes a good hero is one who is flawed in some way, but overcomes their flaws to do the right thing. I read somewhere that a fearless person can never be a hero, because there is nothing heroic about charging in when you’re not afraid of anything. The true hero is the one who does what they must, in spite of their fears. I tried to give my characters some flaws. The more super they are, oddly enough, the more human they need to be for the reader to identify with them.
AP: Do you feel like CHICKS IN CAPES is more than just a book about super heroines. Is there a greater statement to be made with this collection?
JF: I think it’s a timely reminder that superheroes are not just for boys. They come in all shapes and sizes. We should judge our superheroes by their deeds, not their gender. Just like real people.
ALL PULP’S A BOOK A DAY- A WHOLE LOT OF DOLLAR!
Over 1200 pages of Dollar!
From 1949 until the end of Radio drama in 1962, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar was a stalwart of radio drama. This book, “The Who is Johnny Dollar Matter” provides a different look at Johnny Dollar – as if he were a real investigator. “The Who is Johnny Dollar Matter” starts with a mini-biography and then provides a detailed recap of each YTJD program.
The detailed case analyses catalogs the details of each story, including cast, expenses, writers and directors, and cross-references to programs that used the same script with a different name and cast.
The detailed index catalogs each story, case location and the cast of each program. The books also contain a detailed listing of cases by insurance company and the expenses for each of the 6 Johnny Dollars updated to 21st century dollars. Also included are recaps of programs which only exist in the KNX collection of the Thousand Oaks, California library.
“The Who is Johnny Dollar Matter” is the definitive reference work for the cases handled by Johnny Dollar, both those currently available electronically, but also those available only in the KNX collection of the Thousand Oaks, California library.
Want to know how this book ties into Moonstone Monday?? go to http://www.moonstonebooks.com/ and type ‘Johnny Dollar” in the search bar..or better yet..read this next review!!
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Pulp Reviews by Tommy Hancock PARTNERS IN CRIME by CJ Henderson and Joe Gentile Published by Moonstone Books 2009, 187 pages
There are some wonderful things about pulp these days. One of those things is the opportunity to mix and match your favorite classic characters with modern original creations in all new tales. All the writers, artists, even publishing companies are having a grand ol’ time doing just that, spinning their own brainchildren in with the likes of the Black Bat, the Purple Scar, Moon Man, ad infinitem. What makes it even better is when someone not only has those two fields to play in, but they also hold certain licenses to more recent fan favorite characters and throw them into the mix as well. Yup, you heard me.
Moonstone does a pretty good job of that. One of the leading publishers of licensed characters as well as utilizing characters from the public domain, Moonstone has a little gem in its archive by the title of PARTNERS IN CRIME, written by CJ Henderson with an able assist by Moonstone CEO Joe Gentile. There is so much wound into this time spanning cosmic tale with ties into the seedier side of fiction that I’ll let the original copy for the book tell the tale-
An original novel, with spot illustrations, that teams up Kolchak, Johnny Dollar, Boston Blackie, Candy Matson, Pat Novak, Blackshirt, Lai Wan, and Jack Hagee, and Mr Keen all in one great adventure! In the final days of WW2, a sinister plan to defeat the allies using black sorcery orig price thwarted, only to be resurrected today in a form even more terrible than before. Now, over six turbulent decades, across multiple continents, and through the darkest alternate dimensions, a force of unimaginable power stands poised to subjugate all of mankind.
Yeah, you read that cast right..and that’s not even everyone you’d recognize!! Henderson and Gentile put together characters that many people would never think of tangling up and most of us fans would love to see together. And these interpretations stay true to the roots of most of them, even down to Blackie’s original addictions (yeah, if you haven’t read the original books or any of the Moonstone Boston Blackie stuff, you don’t know what I’m talkin’ about!). The plot is good, the interactions between the characters on target for the most part, and the twists and turns thrown in work overall. Henderson and Gentile lend a good voice to the work, making it cohesive even though it was sort of split into parts with ‘teams’ of characters working different angles.
One of the coolest parts of this book, however, is also its greatest weakness. The book, a fast paced action paced pulp thriller, creaks and groans at times under the weight of its sizable cast. Each character here, from Novak to Hagee to Kolchak to Dollar and beyond have carried their own stories previously and very well could carry this plot almost by themselves. Some of the players don’t get the due they should and in places where a couple do share center stage, they almost clash more than blend. The book ties up all the loose ends of the plot, but with so many fully fleshed out characters involved, it does leave one feeling a little untied still.
THREE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF HANCOCK’S HAT-Definitely worth a read if you like supernatural mixed with your pulp mixed with your action.
NO CLIFFHANGER FICTION TODAY DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES….WILL BE FEATURED AT SOME POINT THIS WEEK AS SOON AS THE SORT OF EIC CAN FIGURE OUT JUST HOW TO FIX THESE DIFFICULTIES HE REALLY DOESN’T UNDERSTAND….
MotherJones.com used this image to help illustrate and explain the current political unrest in Egypt.
It’s a Guy Fawkes mask, superimposed over the Sphinx. In the article, Mother Jones claims that the image of Guy Fawkes, the English Revolutionary, is from the movie, “V for Vendetta.” But clearly, it’s based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd that later “inspired” the motion picture.
![Review: ‘[[[Doctor Who A Christmas Carol]]]’](https://www.comicmix.com/wp-content/themes/enspire/img/thumb-medium.png)
If a television series lasts long enough, it will eventually get around to taking their turn at retelling Charles Dickens’ [[[A Christmas Carol]]] and after fifty years, it was finally the Doctor’s turn. For its annual Christmas special, Doctor Who offered up a strong hour’s entertainment despite the overly familiar premise. Unlike most other versions, this time the Doctor freely admits his inspiration and has great fun with it.
Los Angeles, CA February 1, 2011 – Today, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE) kicked off a 12-month marketing, promotions, publicity and media campaign, “A Year Of A Million Moments,” to celebrate its robust catalog of movies made memorable, quotable, and unforgettable by the people who watch and embrace them. 
How far would you go for a sibling? A lot of drama has been produced of late showing organ transplants and similar sacrifices but while major events, are relatively short-term activities. Imaging spending eighteen years working to help a brother in jail. [[[Conviction]]], a movie starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell as the siblings, takes an amazing true story and turns it into a compelling drama.
MotherJones.com
