Tagged: Jay Piscopo

THE AVENGER: ROARING HEART OF THE CRUCIBLE NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

  • News
  • November 3, 2012
theavengercovers1-5860646

Moonstone Books’ third anthology collection chronicling new tales of pulp hero, The Avenger is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Titled, THE AVENGER: ROARING HEART OF THE CRUCIBLE, the book is scheduled for release in April 2013 in both softcover trade paperback and limited edition hardcover.

The Avenger: Roaring Heart of the Crucible features stories by New Pulp Authors Matthew Baugh, James Chambers, Greg Cox, Win Scott Eckert, Joe Gentile, CJ Henderson, Nancy Holder, Michael May, Matthew Mayo, Will Murray, Bobby Nash, Barry Reese, Chris Sequeira, John Small, and David White. Edited by Nancy Holder and Joe Gentile. Cover art courtesy of E. M. Gist (softcover) and Jay Piscopo (hardcover).

The greatest crime-fighter of the 40’s returns in a third thrilling collection of original, action-packed tales of adventure, intrigue, and revenge. Life was bliss for millionaire adventurer Richard Henry Benson until that fateful day crime and greed took away his wife and young daughter… and turned him into something more than human. Driven by loss, compelled by grief, he becomes a chilled impersonal force of justice, more machine than man, dedicated to the destruction of evildoers everywhere. A figure of ice and steel, more pitiless than both, Benson has been forged into an avatar of vengeance, possessed of superhuman genius supernormal power. His frozen face and pale eyes, like a polar dawn, only hint at the terrible force the underworld heedlessly invoked upon itself the day they created… The Avenger!

Exclusive HC BONUS material: An Avenger timeline by Rick Lai, a story by John Small, plus solo tales of the Avenger’s aides by Howard Hopkins!

The Avenger: Roaring Heart of the Crucible will be in store April 2013 from Moonstone Books. You can order the softcover trade paperback and limited edition hardcover now.

MOONSTONE AND NEMO PUBLISHING BRING CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT AND COMMANDER X TOGETHER!

  • News
  • February 3, 2012

New Captain Midnight Comic Book Coming in 2012

Take to the Skies with Captain Midnight and Commander X: New Comic Book on the Horizon from Moonstone Books and Nemo Publishing

cmcx01-9674100At the end of this year, Nemo Publishing and Moonstone Books will publish a cross-over one shot comic book featuring the legendary Captain Midnight and Commander X from Nemo Publishing’s “The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli” graphic novel series. This 28 page, full-color book will be written by longtime DC Comics writer and editor Brian Augustyn. Artwork and co-plotting will be by Jay Piscopo, author and illustrator of “Capt’n Eli.”

“When real life casts long shadows over us and time seems to be running out, that’s the time to look to the skies for the antidote to modern worries,” said Augustyn. “I couldn’t be happier to be working with Moonstone, Nemo, and my great friend Jay Piscopo on this thrilling and timely project.”

This new book will feature guest stars from other Moonstone books, including Airboy and the Air Fighters, and will pay homage to the great heroes of yesteryear, particularly aviation heroes.

“I’m a huge fan of Captain Midnight and what Moonstone has done with the character. I see this as an opportunity to introduce new fans to this once very popular hero from American pop culture,” said Piscopo. “Working with a friend and a creator I admire so much and to team up with Moonstone is a dream come true.”

Captain Midnight is relevant today because he existed in a time similar to our own when the United States was in the midst of economic upheaval and the world was at war.

Augustyn noted “Captain Midnight has been a multimedia legend for 70 years and remains as vital today as when he first took wing. As ever, Cap delivers sky-high adventure and heroism in the classic style. Commander X is completely in sync with those ideals and will be the perfect partner in crime-fighting. Featuring the Air Fighters only makes it all that much more thrilling.”

Piscopo think it’s perfect timing to reawaken these WWII era characters and see what made them strong and interesting. “These characters stood for ideals; particularly the ideals of freedom, equality and fighting against fascism. The superhero genre blossomed during WWII because this is what they stood for.”

More about Moonstone Books: Moonstone publishes fine and distinct comic books, graphic novels, and prose featuring classic and new heroes in thrilling tales of adventure, mystery, and horror including wayward thriller-adventure heroes like Kolchak the Night Stalker, Buckaroo Banzai, Captain Action, The Green Hornet, The Avenger, The Spider, The Saint, The Justice Machine, Domino Lady, Zorro, The Phantom, Operator 5, G-8, The Green Lama, Honey West, Sherlock Holmes, Airboy, Zeroids, Secret Agent X, The Phantom Detective, and more. www.moonstonebooks.com

More about Brian Augustyn: Augustyn is an award-winning comic book editor and writer. He got his start in the industry in 1984 as an editor for Tru Studios’ “Trollords.” He then edited “Syphons” and “Speed Racer” for NOW Comics. In 1987, he joined DC Comics, starting out as a co-editor on “Action Comics” during its period as a weekly title. He then went on to edit “The Flash,” “Justice League” and the “Impact Comics” line of titles. Augustyn was recognized for his work in the industry with the Wizard Fan Award for Favorite Editor in 1994.

More about Jay Piscopo and Nemo Publishing: Piscopo is the author and illustrator of Nemo Publishing’s “The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli” graphic novel series and “The Sea Ghost #1: The Sea Ghost in the Machine” comic book. Captain Midnight and Commander X are similar and unique in that they both were created as a vehicle for advertising a product. In the case of Captain Midnight, it was Ovaltine in the 1940s. Commander X is part of the Capt’n Eli universe of characters tied to the Capt’n Eli’s line of hand-crafted sodas from Portland Maine. Capt’n Eli is the namesake of real-life World War II veteran Eli Forsley who was also the inspiration for Capt’n Eli’s soda. Read the story behind the story at this link. On the web atwww.captneli.com and www.theseaghost.com.

GUEST REVIEW-REVIEWER SAYS YES TO YESTERYEAR!

  • News
  • December 16, 2011
YESteryear

A Review of Tommy Hancock’s Yesteryear by Andrew Salmon

Disclaimer: Tommy Hancock is one of the creators of the New Pulp website.

One of New Pulp’s claims to fame is that time is no longer a factor when it comes to crafting pulp tales. Back in the Golden Age, writers typed until their fingers bled, racing the clock with deadlines looming. Today, New Pulp authors have the freedom to craft stories that are a little more complex than those written in a white heat and on the fly. There’s a chance to explore pulp worlds and characters and you’ll seldom find it done better than in Tommy Hancock’s YESTERYEAR.

The novel is a compelling read and one you won’t soon forget. Its episodic structure of pulp and superhero origin and adventure tales set around a unifying tell-all book makes the novel a standout in the burgeoning New Pulp field.

Yes, you heard that right, superheroes. Now some pulp fans might wonder what superheroes are doing in a pulp novel and while reading the book one might get the impression that this is more of a superhero prose work than a straight up pulp thriller. The point is a valid one but considering that the classic pulp characters of the Golden Age gave birth to the superheroes that came after, the novel’s historic sweep allows it to fall neatly into both categories, bridging the gap between pulp prose and comics.

As the novel deals with the main plot: the lengths some of these adventurers are willing to take to prevent the book’s publication, Hancock also treats us to numerous excerpts from the controversial work. Heroes rise and fall, alliances are formed and broken while drastic, deadly measures are taken to keep the manuscript from the public eye.

Some might find the jumping around from different time periods to the present day distracting or confusing but a careful read will smooth out these rough spots. Also, Hancock uses different fonts and writing styles to convey the shifts and this reader thought these worked very well. My only knock about this aspect of the novel is that there are a few too many time jumps and that some can be jarring. It’s a great narrative technique but occasionally it is overused here and the whole lacks an overlying cohesion. As this is Hancock’s first novel, one expects these odd rough spots, and occasional wordiness, will be smoothed out in future works.

While on the topic of criticism, this reader found the interior illustrations by Peter Cooper amateurish. With apologies to Mr. Cooper, the art is weak at best and does not measure up to the level of the writing. The cover by Jay Piscopo is striking although it, too, is out of place, seeming better suited to a graphic novel than a prose work, which could confuse readers new to the work.

Criticisms aside, YESTERYEAR is one of the best New Pulp releases of the year and I urge readers to give the book a try. It not only provides an atypical reading experience but also brings a fresh look at classic pulp fiction and superheroes. Hancock has crafted an engaging, refreshing work chock full of ideas, well drawn characters, and action galore. Pick it up, it is well worth your time.

All Pulp Interviews: Moonstone’s Return of the Monsters – Jay Piscopo

  • News
  • September 20, 2011
Cover: Dan Brereton

This Halloween, Moonstone heads back to their monstrous roots with the Return of the Monsters Event. Return of the Monsters features four stand-alone tales of pulp’s mightiest heroes facing off against some classic monsters. One of those titles called The Spider vs. The Werewolf by writer Martin Powell with art by Jay Piscopo. All Pulp sat down with Jay Piscopo about this upcoming book.

All Pulp: Tell us a little about yourself and your pulp interests.

Jay Piscopo: Well, I’ve been working as a commercial artist for over 20 years and I’m very engaged with my own company Nemo Publishing and The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli graphic novel series. As to pulp interests, I remember seeing Doc Savage paperback covers when I was little and when Marvel and DC created the comic adaptations of Doc, The Shadow and The Avenger I was hooked- and it prompted me to seek out the prose. I love the primal aspects of pulp heroes and created an homage character in Capt’n Eli named Commander X.

Art: Jay Piscopo

AP: You’re providing the art and tones for the Return of the Monsters Halloween event book, The Spider vs. The Werewolf. What can we expect from this titanic throw down

JP: As I mentioned before– the 70s pulp comic adaptations really hooked me- and finally to work on a pulp/comic was really a thrill. The Spider is primal, savage energy and The Werewolf is as well- Let’s just say when they clash, the fur is flying!

AP: The Spider Vs. The Werewolf has a pulp hero battling a classic monster, a combination that even though done in some regards hasn’t ever really been done the way Moonstone is doing it with the Return of the Monster event. What do these genres have in common and how do they differ in ways that complement each other?

Art: Jay Piscopo

JP: What is interesting to me is how The Spider is very much like a classic monster as well as a hero. The Werewolf and The Spider seem to be opposite sides of the same coin. Both are primal and savage, but the legend of the werewolf is rooted in tragedy, where The Spider always triumphs. And The Spider seems to be in control of his bloodlust and savage nature enough to focus it.

AP: The Return of the Monsters Halloween event brings back several classic monster archetypes to Moonstone’s lineup. How does this version of the werewolf compare and contrast to previous versions of the character?

JP: I think the writer, Martin Powell has added a new human element we haven’t seen before to the werewolf human host. I don’t want to spoil anything, but this werewolf is very much in the vein of other incarnations but has his own tragic twists.

Art: Jay Piscopo

AP: What appeals to you about pulp heroes battling classic monsters? What was it that excited you about visually pitting the Spider against a werewolf?

JP: To overuse a word, I’d have to say the characters are both primal.. Constantly in movement and unpredictable — pitting two characters like this against each other and drawing them in action is a dream.

AP: What, if any, existing pulp, monster, or comic book characters would you like to try your hand at drawing?

JP: I think like most pulp fans and creators- Doc Savage and The Shadow would be first choices-

Return of the Monsters Covers By Dan Brereton
Art: Jay Piscopo

AP: What does Jay Piscopo do when he’s not drawing?

JP: ah— i try to take a breath once in awhile.

AP: Where can readers find learn more about you and your work?

JP: www.captneli.com would be the best place and here’s a facebook link https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-Jay-Piscopo/112769612079000

AP: Any upcoming projects you would like to mention?

JP: Our 4th annual Commander Xmas free online book will be available this December at the Capt’n Eli website- featuring comic and new pulp creators-

And Ive got some new characters that are going to finally see print soon- as well as a third Capt’n Eli book on the way.

AP: Thanks, Jay.

JP: Thank You!

The Spider vs. The Werewolf is solicited in August Previews for an October in store release.

All Pulp Interviews: Moonstone’s Return of the Monsters – Martin Powell

  • News
  • September 18, 2011
Cover: Dan Brereton

This Halloween, Moonstone heads back to their monstrous roots with the Return of the Monsters Event. Return of the Monsters features four stand-alone tales of pulp’s mightiest heroes facing off against some classic monsters. One of those titles called The Spider vs. The Werewolf by writer Martin Powell with art by Jay Piscopo. All Pulp sat down with Martin Powell about this upcoming book.

All Pulp: Tell us a little about yourself and your pulp interests.

Martin Powell: I’ve been a professional writer for over twenty-five years, and although I’ve written everything from educational science books to children’s stories, my creative roots have always been firmly set in the pulps. A neighborhood friend introduced me to the Doc Savage paperbacks when I was about eleven years old, and James Bama’s fantastic ultra-realistic cover paintings really grabbed me. I just had to see what was going on inside those books.

Art: Jay Piscopo

Finally, I found the paperbacks at a nearby department store—there seemed to be a zillion of them. My pocket contained just enough spare change for one book—about sixty cents—and it was a tough decision. Ultimately, “Devil on the Moon” came home with me, mostly because I was keenly fascinated by the Apollo 11 moon landing, and that evening I read the novel cover to cover. I was hooked.

I knew nothing whatsoever about pulp magazines, had never even heard of them. Although I did notice on the inside of the book that it had originally appeared in “Doc Savage Magazine” in 1938. I was very intrigued. I visited the big library downtown in search of back issues. No luck. Happily, I returned to the department store with some birthday money and bought six more paperbacks, but I didn’t actually find and purchase my first authentic Doc Savage pulp magazine until about ten years later. Along the way I learned more about the pulps themselves, including other great characters like The Shadow, The Avenger, and especially The Spider, through the great books of Philip Jose Farmer.

Eventually I would collect the entire series of 182 Doc Savage paperback novels, and lots from the other characters, too, and today I have a nice collection of the original pulps which I’d never ever part with.

Art: Jay Piscopo

AP: Your story for the Return of the Monsters Halloween event is called The Spider Vs. The Werewolf. What can we expect from this titanic throw down?

MP: Actually, it’s called “The Werewolf War Massacres.” I couldn’t resist giving it a more Norvell Page-inspired title. Hopefully Moonstone will go for that on the inside front cover. No one could dream up pulp titles like Norvell, and I’ve always tried to mimic him as best I can. As for the story itself, it has more depth, is more action-packed, is more vicious, and has richer characterization that most of what I’ve gotten to write for the Spider in the past, thanks to its greater page length. I had a lot more space to work with, which was a luxury. It’s a horror story, to be sure, but it’s also about how the nightmare of war has changed two men.

AP: The Spider Vs. The Werewolf has a classic pulp hero battling a classic monster, a combination that even though done in some regards hasn’t ever really been done the way Moonstone is doing it with the Return of the Monsters event. What do these genres have in common and how do they differ in ways that complement each other?

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Return of the Monsters Cover Art By Dan Brereton

MP: Well, I’ve always thought of the Spider as a sort of werewolf himself, and I’ve written him that way, in that he seems to transform into an alternate personality. The real question in my Spider adventures is which is the true identity, Wentworth or his lethal alter-ego? Which one is wearing the mask? The Spider is sort of a composite of Count Dracula and Mr. Hyde. He’s one of the original monster-heroes, and can be genuinely terrifying. The major difference is the Spider actually cares about us. Sure, he’s crazy as Renfield at times, but he also has a conscience, a lot of heart, and something of a messiah complex. It was a very easy, compatible fit combining the Master of Men with a gothic supernatural element. They seemed made for each other.

Art: Jay Piscopo

AP: The Return of the Monsters Halloween event brings back several classic monster archetypes to Moonstone’s lineup. How does this version of the Werewolf compare and contrast to previous versions of the character?

MP: This mystery-adventure is set in 1937, so the public at that time weren’t very educated on exactly what werewolves were supposed to be. The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney, Jr. was still a few years away, so I based my monster mostly on lycanthrope mythology and folklore. Both the aspect of transforming under the full moon and being vulnerable only to silver weapons are Hollywood-created devices, so I ignored them. My werewolves change unpredictably, at any time, just like the creatures of legend. That makes them much more frightening and dangerous, and they are very tough to kill. However, I did strive to make the werewolf in this story ultimately a sympathetic character, which I think is very important. He’s a creature without any personal physical control. He can’t help himself.

AP: What appeals to you about pulp heroes battling classic monsters? What was it that excited you about pitting the Spider against a werewolf?

Art: Jay Piscopo

MP: I’m always excited about a new Spider story, especially getting to write an adventure of this length. Also, although “The Werewolf War Massacres” is not exactly an origin tale, it does provide us with a gruesome glimpse into Richard Wentworth’s past while he was a soldier in World War One. We get to see the Spider’s personae beginning to take form. The added excitement, for me, was finally getting to work with prolific artist Jay Piscopo, who understands and loves the 1930’s period pulp atmosphere as much as I do.

AP: You’ve been spearheading the Spider’s comic book adventures for Moonstone. What’s ahead for the book and character?

MP: That’s largely up to Moonstone. We have discussed a couple ideas, both dealing with larger formats which I’d really like to do. I have an especially massive apocalyptic epic in mind, with my regular Spider artist Hannibal King, which would resurrect one of the Spider’s classic and most deadly enemies. Also, Jay Piscopo and I have had a grand sweeping adventure planned which would team-up the Spider, Operator 5, and G-8 and His Battle Aces for the very first time.

AP: What, if any, existing pulp, monster, or comic book characters would you like to try your hand at writing?

Cover: Dan Brereton

MP: People who know me well realize that my favorite fictional worlds are the original 1933 King Kong, the classic Universal monster movies, the Hammer Studios horror films, and the Dark Shadows television series. So, I felt quite at home among the Spider and werewolves. I’ve written several Dracula stories over the past twenty-five years, and I just wrote a prose filmbook of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man for Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, which should be on sale before Halloween. I also have a new graphic novel reviving Dick Briefer’s classic pre-code Monster of Frankenstein horror series coming up, illustrated by Nik Poliwko, and will be published by Michael Hudson’s Sequential Pulp Comics, an imprint of Dark Horse. I have something in the works specifically for The Creature from the Black Lagoon with another publisher, too, but that’s all I can say for now. As for other pulp heroes, I’d love a shot at Doc Savage someday. The Shadow, too. And Tarzan most of all.

AP: What does Martin Powell do when he’s not writing?

MP: I’m a full-time writer, but I do have a lot of other interests. I haven’t watched commercial or cable television since 2004, and I fill some of that time with model kit building, collecting vintage books, and hunting for fossils. Some of my best times are spent playing with our beagle and three cats in our newly purchased 1925 bungalow, which we’re decorating in its proper 20s and 30s period. I suspect gardening will become another passion come next spring, now that we have our own yard. Among other things, I’m really looking forward to growing my own pumpkin patch. As Vincent Price once said, “There’s a whole world up on the stage and screen, but there’s a bigger world off of them. The person who limits their interests, limits their life.”

AP: Where can readers find learn more about you and your work?

MP: You can find me on Facebook and at my Blog.

https://www.facebook.com/martin.powell1
http://martinpowell221bcom.blogspot.com/

AP: Any upcoming projects you would like to mention?

MP: Yes! I’m very excited to be writing a number of graphic novels for Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics. Currently in the works are Martians, Go Home, The Hound of the Baskervilles, the Frankenstein book I already mentioned, plus a very cool upcoming werewolf project. Also, I’m writing several graphic novels based upon books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and licensed by his estate, including Caspak: The Land That Time Forgot, Number 13 (based on The Monster Men), and The Cave Girl, with more to come which I can’t talk about yet. All dream projects, to be sure. However, I’m most excited about the first graphic novel of my The Halloween Legion, from the same publisher. It’s a very exciting, very productive time for me. I’m very lucky.

AP: Thanks, Martin.

MP: It’s been fun. Thank you.

The Spider vs. The Werewolf is solicited in August Previews for an October in store release.

MORE HAT TIPPIN’ FROM HANCOCK TO CAPT’N ELI!!

  • News
  • March 11, 2011

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
THE UNDERSEA ADVENTURES OF CAPT’N ELI:VOLUME TWO
Created, Written, and Illustrated by Jay Piscopo
Cover by Joe Zierman
Nemo Publishing, 2008

The first issue/appearance/episode of anything is the best, right?  It’s a law, someone surely has said, that sequels and/or continuations cannot stand up to the first time whatever great awesome concept it is we’re encountering again made itself known.  It’s just not possible, right?

Well, maybe so…but that was all before Jay Piscopo released the second volume of THE UNDERSEA ADVENTURES OF CAPT’N ELI!

CAPT’N ELI is a story centered around a boy orphaned from one set of parents and found in the sea by a second set of parents and reared and raised with great values and a penchant for finding danger and adventure.  Along the way he picked up a dog he taught to tie knots, a parrot able to speak in complete sentences in around 70 languages, a mentor who was once a golden age hero turned villain, but is he?, a team of sea based researchers, some time travel, and an encounter with an undersea world made up of warring factions of seadwellers…oh…and dinosaurs….and robots, big and little, and…and…yeah, there’s lots more…

Just as in the previous volume, Jay Piscopo deftly captures a feel for old cartoons and comic books while at the same time crafting the images and the story in such a way that any modern reader would thoroughly enjoy the romp they were being taken on.    The art is fantastic and evocative of great Saturday morning adventures.  You can see the influence of Alex Toth especially throughout this volume, which continues THE MYSTERY OF THE SARGASSO SEA’ adventure started in the first volume.   I found myself seeing hints of all sorts of cartoon heroes I grew up with hidden..and sometimes not so hidden…in the faces of Eli and those around him.  

The pacing of this tale never lets up, but you don’t get lost in it.  The edutainment factor I found in the first volume is handled just as well in this story, teaching enough to move to the story along as buildings crumble and ships explode.  Something that is easier to say in a second volume than with a first can be said here as well.  The characters, good, bad, and otherwise, are likable and make the reader want to learn more about them, to see what happens to them.  And Jay gives hints and origins and background in a teasing sort of ‘here’s just enough for you to come back’ way, but it works…it makes the reader want to know more, yet still leaves the reader feeling like they know enough to like (or dislike) the character.

The only drawback to this volume may be that TOO much happens.  Pacing is excellent, but the inclusion of so many characters and events might boggle a reader not prepared for the sensory overload that this fantastically told tale is.

FIVE OUT FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-No doubt.  This middle chapter of this great adventure had everything the first part had and more.   If this were a movie, I’d be in line for VOLUME THREE now.

YESTERYEAR SNEAK PEEK FROM HANCOCK AND PRO SE!

  • News
  • February 22, 2011
From Author Tommy Hancock and Pro Se Productions…A Free Preview of his upcoming debut novel-
Cover by Jay Piscopo, Logos by Sean Ali

And trust us, folks…this is literally in so many ways….only the beginning…..
Note-This story was originally submitted as an installment of syndicated columnist/writer Ramsey Long’s column, “The Long of It” for the first week of April, 1955.  Of the over 500 papers that ran Long’s column, only one, The Missalou Missourian, Missalou, Missouri, ran it.  
Ramsey Long vanished the first week of April, 1955.
The offices of the Missalou Missourian burnt to the ground the day after this column ran.  All six staff members and two other individuals died in the blaze.  The former site of the newspaper office remains a vacant dirt lot today.

THE FIRST YESTERDAY
by Ramsey Long
It was a Tuesday. Two days before All Hallow’s Eve. People would say years and years afterward that no one saw it coming, that there were no warning signs, no tolling bells. Even those who should have known back then have been quoted as saying they were blindsided, no idea that a locomotive the entire world traveled on was threatening to derail at any time.
I never believed that, not for a moment.
I was there, in New York City, on that Tuesday. Had been for most of my life. People knew it was a different day, everyone from the newshawk on the street corner to the Chairman of the Board in any high rise in the skyline. They all knew it was a different sort of day, yet they all said they never saw it coming.
I still don’t know if they meant the Stock Market Crash that day in 1929 or the first time the world knew men could fly without metallic wings.
It was clear as chaos in Germany that the Crash was coming by October 29th, 1929, at least to anyone who knew how to read a ticker tape or a reporter hounding flustered businessmen for even the hint of a story. I was the latter, I hated the noise of that damned ticker tape machine too much to be the former. I didn’t much care for the nasal chatter of brokers or the frantic yelps of would-be tycoons on Wall Street, either. That’s why I was over on Broadway that Tuesday afternoon, thinking about how I was going to turn my escape from confused chaos into printable copy. Maybe ask the common man on the street what he thought about the economy of our country lying in its deathbed in New York City. I looked around me, not too many people out on the street that time of day, but there were a few likely candidates, men and women who looked like they could string words together into reasonable sentences. That was all I needed, I could weave loose threads into one doozy of a rug, I was sure. I was going to have to have something turned in by the evening edition, even if I had to strangle the streets to get it.
Then it happened. My story, up above me, on the tenth floor of the Flatiron Building on the ledge facing Broadway. The lead-in to my headline stepped out on the sill, his tie loosened from around his neck, his pudgy body trembling like a leaf lost in a cyclone. One of the first casualties of the Crash, one of those despondent businessmen that jumped to his death when he realized his life just went belly up with his company. Not nearly as many men died that Tuesday as American myth later said, just a handful dashed their hopes and their bodies on the streets below their lofty offices. And one member of that melancholy band tested the air above Broadway, sticking his foot out like he was at the shore testing how cold the water was. He didn’t jerk it back. Just right for a suicide dive.  I hated it, but there was my story.
A fencepost of a cop screamed from across the street. A woman struggled to hold on to her son’s arm, the boy scratching and fighting to watch the guy jump. The kid didn’t have to wait long. The man pulled his foot back slowly, hesitated, and for an instant, stood perfectly still. Then he pitched forward, a tubby scarecrow falling from its post, a shocking move even though we were all expecting it. I gasped as I ran for where he’d hit, knowing there’d be nothing I could do. But I ran anyway, my head down, racing the cop now in the middle of the street. All of that in a matter of three seconds.
The fourth second changed the world forever.
“What is that?”
I glanced up as I moved. The man plummeted at me, not like a rock freefalling from a cliffside, but gradually, at least in my eyes. I could almost see the pock marks left by youth on his face he fell so slowly. Then, just out of sight, tickling at the corner of my vision, I saw a blur. To the right of the jumper, now passing the fourth floor windows. It moved quickly over him. Not moved. Flew.
“It’s a man!”



cooperfirstone-7660985
Art by Peter Cooper


It was. A man chasing the falling executive toward the ground. Darting down the side of the triangle shaped FlatIron building behind him, his right arm extended, his left arm out slightly from his side, to steady him maybe, like a rudder. I stopped, the cop nearly bowling over me until he saw what everyone on the street, everyone at every window on Broadway was looking at. A blur of black and white. And he was flying, swooping under the would be suicide, catching him gently in a cradle of muscular arms just feet from the sidewalk.

“He’s no man! He’s a hero!”

The once desperate-to-die executive clung to his airborne savior as a baby latches to a mother’s chest, afraid he might get dropped. The man in black denim britches and a white shirt, no buttons, sleeves hemmed at the elbows, the collar up tight around his neck, flew up a few feet, shifting from a horizontal to a standing position, then lighted on the ground not five hundred feet from me. He dropped his left arm, then his right, but still his cargo held on, tears bubbling out and down his pudgy red cheeks. Smiling meekly, the man shrugged his broad shoulders once, shaking his passenger off his chest. People poured into the street, cabbies leaving their hacks abandoned, children deserting their mothers. Everyone wanting to touch the man who could fly.
None of them asked where he came from. None of them demanded to know how he flew. None of them noticed the mask he wore, a domino mask like the ones that come with masquerade costumes. They just wanted to be near him, brush his arm, stand in his shadow.
I didn’t ask any of those things, either. And the mask, it was just an interesting, quirky side note for me. I studied him, all 6’4″ of him. His brown hair glistened with sweat, his blue eyes wide at the attention he was getting. He just stood there, quietly letting those lucky few on Broadway stake their place in history. They were all among the first to see a real…well…person with powers. Not just any stiff with strange powers and good looks, but the first one. They all witnessed the dawn of a new age, the birth of Hero.
He was at his purest that first day. Before the red body suit and the cape, even before the silver H he’d wear as a belt buckle. To everyone on the street, to the entire country that would hear about him on the radio that night, he was just a guy like the rest of us. Some joe that got lucky and decided to share his luck by helping other unfortunates stuck in this crazy world. The value of paper money plummeting didn’t concern him, a falling man did. He didn’t worry about the hand basket the world was riding to Hell in, he was going to try to keep it out of there. He was just a good man in a mask.
At least that was what we all saw then.
I started to move closer to him, the crowd still gathering steam around me, but I decided I’d seen enough, words from him would come in a follow up piece. The throng of people pawing at him was a story in itself, so I stepped back to watch. Amused. Intrigued. A few minutes later, he turned his head, his eyes crossing mine, and he smiled. Then we both learned something. He’d just started a trip that would carry him places no one ever dreamed. And my by-line would haunt him every step of the way.
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