Tagged: review

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GUEST REVIEW-DOC HERMES REVIEWS THE MAN OF BRONZE!

  • News
  • March 4, 2012

 

Whew, finally. After years of pleasant labor, I’ve gotten through all 182 original Doc Savage stories (counting THE RED SPIDER) and here we are with the very first novel, from the March 1933 issue. This started the saga of the pulp’s greatest adventure hero, which ran for sixteen years and (beginning in 1964) was eventually completely reprinted by Bantam Books. 

The story itself is well enough known that I think we only need a brief summary. Clark Savage Senior has died of a mysterious ailment called the Red Death and his son Clark Jr (Doc) has returned to New York to summon his five best friends to both investigate the father’s death and to begin their lifelong crusade to travel the world, helping those in need and punishing those who deserve it. The six men end up in the Valley of the Vanished, in the Central American country of Hidalgo. Here a lost city of purebred Mayans still survives, guarding a legacy of an immense treasure of gold which Doc must earn to finance his life mission. During the course of the story, of course, there are plenty of spills and thrills, close calls and pitched battles, which will be Doc’s lifestyle until the last time we see him in 1949. 

Lester Dent does a fine job setting up the series without making it seem crowded or awkward. His style is already distinctive, but it doesn’t have the occasional whacky touches which will give the series some of its screwball charm. At times, Dent gets a wee bit TOO purple, and his writing is choppier than it will become, with many! exclamation! points! and one-sentence paragraphs. Still, a totally enjoyable read and a great start (although I think Dent and Doc both hit their peak in 1934). 

The Doc Savage series was worked out in meetings between Dent, editor John Nanovic and publisher Henry Ralston. It’s amazing how many details are here right in the first few pages that will continue until the end of the series. The appearance, personalties and mannerisms of all five aides are dead on target; Johnny doesn’t have his annoying habit of unreasonably obscure words yet, Monk and Ham are not as slapstick as they will become, yet all five are recognizable from the start. 

Doc’s strange upbringing and wide range of skills, his trilling, the mysterious Fortress of Solitude, the daily two-hour exercises, the Mayan gold with King Chaac and Princess Monja on hand, the headquarters on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building… all are right here. Some important things will be added in the next year or so. Pat Savage, the Crime College, the code against killing and the mercy bullets, the Hidalgo Trading Company, Habeas Corpus. All these will enrich the series immensely, of course, but the first story gets underway fine without them. 

There’s also the first of many masked super-villains, Kukulcan the Feathered Serpent. This is an outsider wearing a snake hood and outfit made from an actual boa constrictor (its tail dragging behind him) who gives the Mayan warrior sect their orders, and who is behind the hideous Red Death. 

Let’s check out a few annotations for the record. Doc is introduced in a wonderful piece of writing. A lurking assassin in another skyscraper sees what looks like a masterful bust of a handsome man carved in hard bronze. Then, “the bronze masterpiece opened its mouth, yawned – for it was no statue but a living man!” We get the familiar mantra that “the big bronze man is so well put together that the impression was not of size, but of power.” 

Doc is described as being six feet tall and weighing two hundred pounds (impressive enough for a guy in 1933). Yet this is immediately contradicted. Renny is said to be four inches over six feet tall, and when Doc stands next to him, he’s clearly taller and heavier. (“It was only then that one realized what a big man Doc was. Alongside Renny, Doc was like dynamite alongside gunpowder.”) 

Ham is mentioned as having “a distinguished shock of prematurely grey hair.” (Will Murray used this and few ambiguous remarks in the series to describe Ham as white-haired.) In nearly every description, though, our fighting lawyer is said to have jet-black hair, “straight as an Indian’s” and I can only conclude that Theodore Marley Brooks is not above liberal use of dye to look younger. The shameless old rogue! It’s also stated that not only did Monk frame his pal for stealing hams back in the war, but he was court-martialed and convicted. I always thought Ham managed an acquittal and it’s odd to think an officer could be convicted of stealing Army property and retain his rank… maybe it was during a tough period in the war where his services were considered so needed that the charges were somehow dismissed? 

Doc himself is much more relaxed and open with his feelings than the poker-faced stoic Mr Spock he will soon become. He grins, chuckles and tells his friends “Dry up, you gorillas!” then assigns Monk to join Ham since “You two love each other so.” The bronze man also has no compunction about taking life when necessary (“He did it – chopped a blow with the edge of his hand that snapped the Mayan’s neck instantly.”) Doc isn’t pulling his punches at this stage, and his fights leave as many enemy stone cold dead as they do stunned. (Ham also skewers a few foes with his sword cane, the anesthetic coating still in the future.) 

And if you had reservations about the way the bronze man killed a polar bear with his bare hands in THE POLAR TREASURE, check this out: 

“His left arm flipped with electric speed around the head of the thing, securing what a wrestler would call a stranglehold. Doc’s legs kicked powerfully. For a fractional moment he was able to lift the shark’s head out of the water. In that interval his free right fist found the one spot where his vast knowledge told him it was possible to stun the man-eater.” 

Yes. Doc Savage punches out a shark. If it wasn’t right there on the page in black and white, I don’t know if I’d believe it either. 

The bronze man has a remarkably fair-minded comment (for 1933) when his friends suggest that he owns the Valley legally and can just take it by force. “It’s a lousy trick for a government to take some poor savage’s land away from him and give it to a white man to exploit. Our own American Indians got that kind of a deal, you know.” (From Missouri, Lester Dent always showed respect and sympathy for Indians and almost always used individuals in his stories who were educated and shrewd.) 

There is also a brief comment that gives support to those who like to think Doc retired after 1949 to go live in the Valley of the Vanished permanently with Princess Monja as his wife. “It was with genuine unwillingness that he had resolved to depart at once. This Valley of the Vanished was an idyllic spot in which to tarry. One could not desire more comforts than it offered.” He tells King Chaac, “I would like to remain here – always.” But his life’s work has just begun and we, who would otherwise have been slaughtered by all the monsters, masterminds and mad scientists Doc defeated, should be grateful he decided so. 

I have always thought that Clark Savage Sr and his brother Alex brought back Mayan brides from their time in the valley, and this explained the distinctive bronze color of both Doc and Pat. (Growing up in Canada, Pat certainly wasn’t exposed to a “thousand tropical suns.”) If Doc was half-Mayan, it would explain why King Chaac would be so agreeable to supplying him with the tribe’s wealth and trusting him to defend the Mayans when needed. 

And it’s a pleasant thought that, nearing fifty and finally wearying of his mission, Doc returned to his spiritual homeland to find Monja still there and still unattached; and that somewhere in the Valley of the Vanished, the bronze man died a natural death at an advanced age and is buried peacefully beside his princess.

Guest Review-SALMON VISITS THE WORLD OF ‘THE BLACK STILETTO’

  • News
  • March 4, 2012

COMPLIMENTS OF THE BLACK STILETTO…

A Review of Raymond Benson’s THE BLACK STILETTO by Andrew Salmon
Raymond Benson’s The Black Stiletto (Oceanview Publishing) has a lot going for it but the sum is not quite equal to the parts that make up the novel.
The set up is an intriguing one. Judy Talbot is an elderly woman stricken with Alzheimer’s disease and slowing dying in a hospital. Her son, Martin, is given access to some of her personal effects as he awaits the inevitable end of the woman who raised him. Going through these papers he learns that his mother was a masked vigilante known as the Black Stiletto in the late 1950s and find diaries – the first of which relating her origin and early adventures.
The novel then branches off into three distinct storylines. We follow Martin as he uncovers his mother’s secret lair and costumes, reads the diary and gets bogged down in losing his job, hassles with his ex-wife and his own daughter who seems to have inherited her grandmother’s independent streak. Interspaced with this are the diary entries themselves as we see thirteen-year-old Judy suffer at the hands of her abusive stepfather, run away to New York and begin training as a fighter – picking up skills which will serve her well when the time comes to fight crime. The last storyline concerns the release of an ex-mobster who spent 50 years in prison courtesy of the Black Stiletto and is looking for a little payback in the modern day.
There’s a lot of material to work with here and most of it is interesting. However Martin’s job loss and trials with his daughter come across as needless padding. Judy’s story is where the book really shines although it is not without its shortcomings. There’s a heavy theme of chauvinism here and it’s a testament to her character that she is able to break down barriers, live and train in a all-male gymnasium and hold her head up in what was then a male-dominated world. She also gets a solid base of fight training which takes years and adds credibility to her decision to hit the streets and fight crime. She’s young and she stumbles out of the gate, falling for and eventually living with a mobster. When he is taken out, Judy is looking for revenge and the Black Stiletto is born. Media sensation, crime fighter hunted by the police, champion of the people… these elements are all present and the first person account of the birth of a costumed vigilante make for some interesting reading. When she tosses off a “courtesy of the Black Stiletto” you know the author is giving a nod to the Domino Lady.
It all sounds like fun stuff and, for the most part, it is, but the scenes from the 1950s rang utterly false to this reader. Aside from tossing in old song titles Judy hears constantly, the flashbacks read like modern day prose. I never felt like I was in the 50s reading these sections and that is a major failing of the book. Coupled with the padding I mentioned above and the novel, although short, begins to bog down. Also, as this is the first of a projected series, not a heck of a lot happens for the first 100 pages. This is no lean and mean pulp gripper but rather 266 meandering pages with occasional highlights.
Judy’s story is a compelling one. Watching the ruthless old ex-con drawing closer to a now helpless Black Stiletto in the modern day keeps you turning the pages. However a lack of pace and the author’s inability to capture the 50s authentically take away from what could have been a captivating take on the classic pulp hero.
I give The Black Stiletto a cautious recommendation as it pushes the New Pulp envelope. Hancock’s Yesteryear does it better but that doesn’t mean than Benson’s book shouldn’t find an audience. This reader found it an interesting read and others may find some of what I though detracted from the story riveting, which is why I recommend giving the novel a try. It’s no classic but it does come at the pulp hero from a different angle and there’s nothing wrong with that.

REVIEW: JLA: DOOM

justice-league-doom1-300x4021-2474974When Mark Waid joined the creative team on JLA, he told a pretty terrific story about Batman’s secret protocols for neutralizing the Justice League of America falling into Ra’s al Ghul’s hands. In the “Tower of Babel” story, he used it to take out the League in order to execute a plan for world domination.  It made for a fine story arc that allowed Batman to leave the team for time and resonated with fans given the weighty thematic material. It has endured in memory and prompted Warner Premiere to approve JLA: Doom, an adaptation as a part of their ongoing series of direct-to-DVD animated features

The resulting production, on sale tomorrow, is bittersweet because it marks the final script from the talented Dwayne MacDuffie. And it needed series editing which clearly was not done, making it a deeply flawed adaptation of the source material. The dramatic core is here, but given short shrift in two brief scenes while the remainder of the story is a series of chaotic and badly choreographed fights strung together. Any semblance of characterization for the heroes or villains is seemingly accidental as the story allowed the JLA to trade blows with a variety of familiar villains. (more…)

BOX 13, DAN FOWLER, OPERATOR 5, JACK BENNY, AND MORE! FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!

  • News
  • February 27, 2012

RadioArchives.com Newsletter

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February 24, 2012
 
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NEW Radio Set: Box Thirteen, Volume 4

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“Adventure wanted. Will go anyplace, do anything. Box Thirteen.” These words sent Dan Holiday, reporter turned author, into mystery and action for fifty-two episodes of ‘Box Thirteen’, a stand out radio program produced in 1948-49. Holiday, played by screen star Alan Ladd, checked his box at his paper, the Star-Times, each week and every single time launched himself into a brand new adventure.
 
The basic premise of the show is simple. Interested in writing the most successful and thrilling stories possible, Dan Holiday places an ad in the paper he works for – the Star-Times. Apparently prospering as a mystery writer, Holiday rarely charges a fee to any of the colorful clients that cross his path, most of whom need his assistance in one way or another.
 
“Box Thirteen” stood out amongst its contemporaries for more than one reason. The device Holiday uses to get his story ideas is one aspect of Box Thirteen that adds to its different flavor. Even though this technique, placing an ad in a paper advertising for adventure, was not a new one, actually present in at least one other old time radio show at the time, the way it was handled within this show was special. Holiday wasn’t a retired cop or a super secret agent with no war to fight. He was a guy who wanted to live the stories he wrote about so he’d write better books. He had no intention of making money directly off of helping someone out of a jam or being locked away in an asylum or any of the other calamities he intentionally encountered over fifty-two episodes. Thanks to Ladd’s portrayal, Holiday used the want-ad gimmick to better the lives of those he came into contact with in this unique way whenever he could.
 
Some sources cite that Alan Ladd played Dan Holiday as somewhat stiff and wooden in the early episodes of Box Thirteen. By the last episodes in the series, however, all agree that Ladd made the character and the show itself what it was always intended to be – a showpiece for what Alan Ladd could really do. Hang on tight and read over Dan Holiday’s shoulder as he learns what danger and death awaits him when he checks in at the Star-Times. All the mystery, suspense, and pure adventure you can handle await you in Box Thirteen, Volume 4, the last episodes in this classic program. This Six hour collection is available now on Audio CDs for $17.98 from Radio Archives!

 
This already fantastic collection of a Classic Adventures series also comes with incredible new artwork! Pulp Artist extraordinaire Doug Klauba brings Dan Holiday as played by Alan Ladd to visual life! A print of this great piece can be yours in one of the newest additions to the Pulp Book Store, The Art of Doug Klauba! Get this artwork as a poster in the new store featuring the varied and awesome work of Doug Klauba!
 

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Many works from the Golden Age of Radio had their origins in other mediums. A best selling book, a movie, a hit Broadway play. Some even went on to have their time in the spotlight on TV. One show to rise out or grow into all of these mediums and become a part of radio history as well was a stand out unique soap opera called “Claudia.”

“Claudia” was based on the literary works of Rose Franken, a writer, novelist, playwright, and theatrical director who had first written about the Naughton’s in the mid-1930s. By the end of the decade, the highly popular short stories had been brought together into a series of best-selling novels which, in 1941, were adapted by Franken into a Broadway play starring Donald Cook as David and a young actress named Dorothy McGuire in the title role. Claudia Naughton was a breakout role for McGuire; the sincerity, simplicity, and captivating charm which she brought to the part made the play a long-running hit and soon brought her to Hollywood to reprise the role in the 20th Century Fox film version, released in 1943 and co-starring Robert Young as David. Based on that film’s success, in 1945, RKO Pictures starred McGuire and Young in “The Enchanted Cottage” and 1946 found them together again in “Claudia and David,” a sequel to the earlier film.
 
Heard today, “Claudia” remains wonderful entertainment, notable for both its lighthearted tone and the believable interplay between its characters. Claudia, a bit younger than her years, is often impulsive, sometimes irresponsible, usually perky, and just a bit flighty. As she matures, she becomes a unique mixture of enthusiasm, incompetence and over-confidence — deeply in love with her somewhat older husband David, but frequently naive and too likely to trust in her insecurities rather than her instincts.
 
Claudia, Volume 9 continues Radio Archives’ collection of the complete run of this classic series. Restored to the best and clearest audio quality possible, these shows sparkle and are best heard in the way they were presented, in fifteen minute chapters every single day. Whether you enjoy them as they originally aired or can’t wait and sit through them all at once, Claudia, Volume 9 continues a wonderful episodic tale of a woman and the man she loves living life the way most of their listeners did and do. This volume can be yours today on Audio CDs for only $17.98.
 

by Tommy Hancock

 

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It’s often amazing and sometimes atrocious when a character begins in one medium and then is translated into other venues. Sometimes the essence of the original concept and story are maintained and fans simply get a different version of the tale they love. Other times, alterations made for whatever reason are so dramatic that whatever results from said changes is a pale imitation, if not something completely different than where the idea began. There is that rare instance, though, of something beginning one way, then being interpreted slightly differently through a different lens, so to speak.
 
Or in this case, through a radio speaker.
 
Casey, Crime Photographer, Volume 1 contains twenty episodes of good old-fashioned pulpy, fun, action packed newspaper mysteries that any fan would enjoy! Originally created for Black Mask magazine by writer George Harmon Coxe, the character that headlines this show was originally known as Flashgun Casey. And those original tales as well as the novels to follow were written in the trademark detective pulp style of two fisted hard boiled action made famous by Black Mask. Coxe imbued the initial version of his camera wielding newspaper photographer with a thirst for justice, a nose for news, and enough grit and iron to take on any thug or crime boss. Thankfully for fans of such stories, those aspects of Casey survived into the radio show, even though the sobriquet of ‘Flashgun’ didn’t for the most part.
 
Even though Casey can be heard doggedly pursuing right and wanting to spread wrongdoing all over the front page of the Morning Express, there was a not all that subtle shift in the character by the time he made it to radio. This was not uncommon in the days of radio, to take especially a rough-hewn hard boiled type and lighten him up a bit for his audio incarnation. There’s multiple examples of this attached to some pretty well known characters. Unfortunately, there’s usually something lost when this occurs, a particular aspect of the character that just doesn’t survive the translation. A prime example of this that comes to mind is the Wally Maher version of ‘Michael Shayne’ (The Jeff Chandler version, also available via Radio Archives, nails the character solidly by the way). Maybe the portrayal comes off as too soft or downright goofy or the stories get feathery. Not so with “Casey, Crime Photographer.”
 
One of the major appeals of this show is the fact that the writers and producers built a likable, interesting supporting cast around Casey. There’s Miss Anne Williams, Casey’s very own reporter and love interest; Captain Logan, the almost standard irascible police contact; and Ethelbert, the most enjoyable owner and bartender of Casey’s favorite watering hole, the Blue Note. Each of the episodes in this collection follow a standard formula for the show. Casey and Ethelbert embark upon banter that leads to Tony Marvin, the announcer, opening the show and hawking the sponsor, Anchor-Hocking Glass. Then oftentimes the mystery or crime that Casey and Anne have to track down for the paper is reported to them while sitting again at Ethelbert’s bar. From there, each show contains a good balance of humorous repartee, well paced action and twists, and Casey showing the flashbulb blazing heroic side of himself Coxe imbued him with while maintaining a likability that added to the mass audience appeal of the character.
 
Throw in the fact that two of the best possible voices for the two best characters in “Casey” are present in this collection and you can’t lose! Staats Cotsworth, although not the only actor to voice Casey, owned the role the longest and definitely left his mark on it with his jovial baritone voice. John Gibson’s high tenor portrayal of Ethelbert clearly stands out in every episode, making the role that Gibson played for the entire run of the radio show one of the favorites among fans.
 
Casey, Crime Photographer, Volume 1 is that rare case where listeners get both the original take on the character wrapped in new interpretations…and it works! Available from Radio Archives for $29.98 on Audio CDs, this is a series that needs to be yours today! Get the picture?

 
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In the flood of pulp magazines featuring the hard-hitting exploits of a single hero, only one magazine read as if its stories had been torn out of the headlines. That was G-Men, starring the closest equivalent to Eliot Ness and his Untouchables the pulps dared offer up.
 
The origins of this exemplary series are obscure. Leo Margulies, editor-in-chief of the Thrilling chain, may have been eyeing rival titles such as Secret Service Operator #5 and Secret Agent X, thinking there’s gold in fictionalizing the exploits of undercover men. Early in 1935, Margulies let it be known in the trade that he was planning to issue Secret Service Detective Stories—a bland and uninspiring title if one was ever floated.
 

But Secret Service Detective Stories never materialized. In April, James Cagney starred in a blockbuster film, G Men.  That July, a radio program by that same name debuted to strong ratings. It later became even more famous as Gang Busters. Pulp editors always looked to Hollywood and the headlines for inspiration. Margulies didn’t need to be hit over the head.  He scrapped the Secret Service concept and appropriated the popular title, which had been coined by gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly when, after being surrounded by armed F.B.I. agents in 1933, threw up his hands and cried, “Don’t shoot, G-Men! Don’t shoot, G-Men!” Or so the legend goes. G-Man stood for Government Men, specifically F.B.I. agents.

 
These were the days of iron-fisted Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover battling back the gangster tide that was overrunning major cities all across America. Seeing the local law-enforcement was outnumbered and outgunned—if not compromised—by organized crime he reorganized the old Bureau of Investigation into America’s first national police force—sanctioned to cross state lines in the pursuit of justice. In the pulps, the urban menace of mobster crime had given rise to The Shadow and all the superhuman crime-fighters who followed.
 
Five years into this ever-shifting reality, Margulies and his editors must have decided the reading public was ready for a crime-crusher who didn’t wear a black cape or a weird mask, and who operated within the law. They were ready for the real deal.
 
So they created Special Agent Daniel Fowler. Young but hardened, the product of the FBI’s new scientific investigation methods, Fowler and his aides, Larry Kendal and Sally Vane, formed a special roving unit of the Bureau, willing and able to rush to any state in the Union to combat counterfeiters, extortionists and sundry foreign spies.
 
To write the exploits of such a non-nonsense hero, they understood that they needed a writer of a different cut than the boys who were grinding out The Phantom Detective every month. Maybe they tried a few of their Phantom authors and they flopped. In any case, they called in George Fielding Eliot, a former major in U. S. intelligence.
 
Titled after an underworld slang term for kidnapping, with the Lindbergh baby kidnapping fresh in the public consciousness, and inspired by the notorious Purple Gang, the premier exploit of Dan Fowler and his team was called Snatch! It was an instant success among readers who had been reading daily newspaper accounts of the F. B. I.’s successful crusade against John Dillinger and “Baby Face” Nelson, and other otherwise-unstoppable Public Enemies. Their bodies were fast piling up—filled with government lead, with no sign of The Shadow or the Spider anywhere in real life.
 
Seared by crime, trained by Hoover, and motivated by a stern sense of justice, Special Agent Fowler went on to a long and successful career spanning nearly two decades, and a single 1937 film, Federal Bullets. Only the death of the pulp magazine industry put an end to his fame.
 
In order to do justice to this riveting hero, we’ve recruited the impeccable-voiced Richard Epcar to narrate Snatch! If you like Richard’s hard-hitting performance as much as we do, expect to hear a big announcement regarding Richard Epcar and Radio Archives next month. We can’t wait!
 
Available for only $14.98 on Audio CDs, 5 Hours of G-Man Action from Will Murray’s Pulp Classics and Radio Archives!

 
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The more audiobooks produced by Radio Archives that I listen to, the more impressed I am and the more I’m getting hooked on them. What I really enjoy first off is the mixture of music and sound effects that make the audiobooks a little closer to audio dramas than just a straight reading of the text. Which isn’t a bad thing, depending on who’s doing the reading. For White Eyes we’ve got Richard Epcar who has a clear, firm, muscular voice, which is just what you want for a Doc Savage adventure.
 
And what an adventure it is! In White Eyes, Doc Savage is up against one of the most formidable villains he’s ever faced. The mysterious White Eyes dresses entirely in white. His skin is the color of porcelain and his eyes have no pupils. He appears to have supernatural abilities such as his mastery of The Blind Death. A horrifying method of murder, it turns the eyes of its victims as blank and as white as cue balls.
 
There’s quite a lot of eccentric supporting characters running around here, including a goodly number of New York’s criminal element. These criminals are bonded together into an army by White Eyes to seize Doc’s source of wealth: the Mayan gold that was bequeathed to him by his father in The Man of Bronze, Doc’s first recorded adventure.
 
It’s an ambitious scheme and one I found highly intriguing as for a change, it’s the criminals who go on the offensive to challenge Doc and his crew.
 
As an added bonus, there are two interviews with Will Murray where he gives interesting and entertaining background information about Doc Savage and Lester Dent in general and White Eyes in particular. Being a writer myself, I’m always fascinated to hear how another writer goes about crafting his stories.
 
Out of the two highly excellent Doc Savage audiobooks I’ve listened to so far, I’d have to give White Eyes the edge. That’s not to say that Python Isle suffers at all. It’s an outstanding Doc Savage adventure and well worth your time and money. But I’d have to say that White Eyes is probably my favorite out of the two. Tell you what, why not go listen to both of ‘em then get back to me and we can argue about it, okay? Get your copy for $31.98 on Audio CDs from Radio Archives!

 
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The Best Pulp From Yesterday for Your Digital Reader Today! That’s what Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line of eBooks from Radio Archives brings you! Thrill to Heroic Tales of Pulp Icons like The Spider and Chill to the Machinations of Villains like Doctor Death! Two fisted action and high octane adventure written by the Authors who defined Pulp Fiction forever!
 
These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and feature the original full color cover. Will Murray’s Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s.
 
Two new eBooks starring the violent vigilante adventures of the Master of men! The Spider, America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s, erupts guns blazing in these two exquisitely reformatted classic tales!
 
Like the consuming flames of a prairie fire the dread news spread: “The Spider has gone mad! He will massacre us all!” But Richard Wentworth, never more sane, was even then gambling life itself in one desperate effort to save the city which cursed his name — from the awful ravages of man-spread plague!
 
 
When night falls you’ll think of Zara. You’ll see those eyes of his glowing with the very fires of hell — and you’ll be glad that the Spider prowls the night to help mankind. For Zara rose from Underworld filth… to enslave all peoples. And his crowning glory was saved for the Spider — Master of Men — whom he swore to make an idiot, the clowning jester of Zara’s court!
 
As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written “Meet the Spider” especially for this series of eBooks.
 
Joining the Spider are three names well known to Pulp Fans and characters full of intrigue, adventure, and excitement all their own!
 

by Frederick C. Davis writing as Curtis Steele
Invisible, secret, deadly, the masked empire wielded its dread power of darkness throughout the nation. Havoc and ruin followed the terror-torn thousands who fled the country to escape the Thirteenth Darkness. America, faced with certain disaster, placed her chance of survival in one man’s capable hands — and prayed that the warrior gods might smile once more upon the miracle man of her Secret Service — Jimmy Christopher! Jimmy Christopher, clean-cut, square-jawed and clear-eyed, was the star of the most audacious pulp magazines ever conceived — Operator #5. As a special Bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of Operator #5 eBooks.
 

by George Fielding Eliot writing as C.K.M. Scanlon
Into the arena of the endless war which society wages on the criminal has stepped a new and gallant warrior — G-Man Dan Fowler, special agent of the Department of Justice. In this classic tale, Fowler takes to the trail of the Grey Gang — that band of masked killers who laugh at the Law while committing every heinous crime known to humanity! Dan Fowler, special agent of the Department of Justice, appeared as a long-running series inside G-Men Detective magazine from 1935 to 1953. Join him as he battles the brutal instruments of crimedom in this fast-paced battle against the minions of the lawless.
 
by Harold Ward writing as Zorro
Who Is Doctor Death? A mad old wizard with the power to summon loathsome gray horrors from hell’s attic, decrees that the country’s 12 most famous men must die as carrion for his ghostly vultures. Only one man has a clue to the strange power of Doctor Death and that man faces torture and death to combat the master of carnage. The maddest of the Mad Scientists — Doctor Death — starred in his own bizarre pulp magazine in early 1935. Standing against him were the Secret Twelve, a band of the top U. S. civil and business leaders, headed by Jimmy Holm, a millionaire criminologist and occultist. One of the rare unabashedly supernatural series the pulps ever produced.
 
All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you purchase this eBook from RadioArchives.com you receive all three formats in one ZIP file: PDF for PC or Mac computer; Mobi for Kindle; and ePub for iPad/IPhone, Android, Sony eReader, and Nook. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook novels to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
 
Jump Feet First into Classic Pulp with eBooks for only $2.99 each! All Radio Archives eBooks are available at the Kindle Store.

 

 
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Radio Archives is proud to count the International Jack Benny Fan Club as one of the newest members of the Pulp Book Store! The Fan Club’s store features 39 Forever: Second Edition, Volume 3 written by Laura Leff and Martin Gostanian. This book is part of a series that focuses on Benny’s career and illustrates the impact that he had as a comedian and an individual on the entertainment industry and society at large. In the following interview, Laura and Martin discuss their personal interest in Jack Benny as well as the Fan Club itself and the importance of Jack Benny to fans, listeners, and Pop Culture Enthusiasts today.
 
Radio Archives: First, could you share something about yourself and how you developed your interest in Jack Benny?
 
jackbennypose-8445599Laura: The short version is that it all started for me with the 1958 Warner Brothers’ cartoon The Mouse That Jack Built. It portrayed many of the classic radio characters as mice, and included a rare live-action sequence with Jack at the end. Later, I was drawn to reruns of Jack’s programs on a Detroit station in the late 1970s, and then decided it was high time to start the Jack Benny Fan Club.
 
Martin: Along with family, friends and my mother’s cooking, my earliest memories starting in the early 1960s revolved around and were defined by television. To be sure, I loved to read and my interests were varied, from history to math. But when it came to TV, I was just simply obsessed by it, there’s no other way to put it. Through it all, my preferences always lead to comedy, physical as well as verbal and literate humor. My first memory of Jack Benny was his weekly TV series in 1963 when it was on Tuesday nights right after Petticoat Junction – that is why I usually watched it. I will admit I gravitated to whatever physical comedy and sight gags that Jack would either instigate or had become the butt of, but it wasn’t until I had become fascinated with what was dubbed “old-time radio” that was resurfacing on local radio stations in the late 1960s that I really first discovered who Jack Benny really was.
 
It was when I was becoming more mentally discerning that I had latched onto Jack’s deft comedic skills. I started to fathom his virtuosity and his escalated absurdist vision of the world he inhabited, which constantly plagued him and bordered on the surreal. This rewarded audiences with not only what he espoused but also how he expressed his finely calculated wit. Such was the sum total of his greatness as a communicator. I had grown to understand and cherish the subtleties as well as the broad mental conjuring that only Benny’s radio comedy could evoke so superbly and unfailingly – and which had been translated so organically and envisioned so imaginatively when adapted for television. As a writer, I also have a true reverence for the scribes Benny employed who helped shape, hone and perfect Jack’s peerless humor for the ear as well as the eye.
 
In adulthood, I appreciated most the genuineness and universality of his comedy that other more astute pundits and mavens of comedy have already attested more eloquently and precisely. After over 45 years, the more I listen and watch Mr. B, the more I am in sheer awe of his depth, influence and humanity.
 
Radio Archives: What is the background/history of the International Jack Benny Fan Club?
 
Laura: I started the club when I was 10, and have to credit Jay Hickerson for giving it the first boost of publicity. Once upon a time there was no Internet (*GASP!*), and you had to get the word out by connecting to other people and groups who were interested in the same kinds of things that you were! Through 32+ years of accumulating members, shows, information, technology…progressively everything comes together. Today we have an extensive Web site, monthly chats, a newsletter that is published three times per year, audio and video libraries, and lots of resources to help members connect with the things they love most about Jack Benny, his life, and his work.
 
Radio Archives: What do you think there is about the legacy and work Jack Benny has left behind that still makes him popular today?
 
Laura: The major factor is that his comedy was based on character, not topical humor. Everyone still knows someone who is cheap, who thinks they do something very well (like play the violin) when they really don’t, someone who is silly and naive (like Dennis), etc. The characters are people to whom you can relate immediately without running for Wikipedia (“Who was Wendell Wilkie again?”). I have had many members tell me how they enjoy listening to the shows with their children, and even use them as bedtime stories.
 
Martin: Jack’s esteem in the pantheon of American entertainment is celebrated to this day for a variety of reasons. First and foremost was his “everyman” character persona that was so empathetic, sincere and endearing to audiences. His comic logic of inflating his own sense of self and in reacting to the inanities of life that unmercifully and hilariously confronted him revealed his mastery of humor and his ingenuity in connecting with audiences. On a larger scale, Jack’s influence and legacy stemmed from the acknowledged achievements that he innovated or epitomized on radio: character-driven humor, the running gag and the ensemble comedy.
 
Admittedly, there are a good many people, mostly under thirty, who have never seen or even have heard of Jack Benny. However, when they delight in the uproarious antics of sitcom favorites such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends and 30 Rock, they indirectly know who Jack is because he set the standards for the character-driven, ensemble comedy. And when these same deprived viewers are treated for the first time to Jack’s unique brand of humor, whether from radio or TV, they most always are rewarded with belly laughs, a true sense of appreciation for such a comedic talent and an earnest desire for more Mr. B.
 
By far the greatest testament to Jack’s comedy legacy is readily apparent in late night network talk shows. As learned author and television scholar David Marc observed in his essay, “Lending Character to American Comedy,” hosts such as Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, David Letterman (and more recently Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien) are “heirs to the mechanics of the Benny inheritance.” He perceptively noted that these stars (and well as other post-primetime “desk-and-sofa” scions since Marc’s 1993 observations) have developed their own versions of the “Benny stare” to minimally express “their personal aggravation with onstage occurrences” and in beseeching viewer support, all while “creating identity with audiences and picking up laughs in the bargain.” In one regard they are like Benny in that each is an “everyman” who tries to make sense of the world around them, all while juggling the vainglorious as well as the self-deprecating within their comic repertoire. Carson was the most vocal on air about his love for Jack and the influence Benny’s comedy wielded in shaping Johnny’s own comic vision, which in turn still serves as the hallmark for any successful comedy-variety talk show on late night TV.
 
Radio Archives: Comedy is a slippery slope as far as timeliness. Does Benny’s work transcend that and if so, what about his work appeals to a modern audience?
 
Laura: Many things don’t age well because people simply don’t understand them any more, or can’t relate them to their own personal experience. For example, consider immigrant humor of the early 20th century. People understood it in the context of that society, and experiencing it today can provide a sociological study of how people were struggling to make the transition into American society. Yet the Irish washerwoman or the Yiddish peddler is largely an artifact of the past, inspiring question marks over the heads of most people who don’t have a first-hand memory of the Reagan administration (and many who do).
 
While you get the very occasional topical joke on Jack’s program, it’s in the larger context of character with which people can connect. Stinginess aside, who doesn’t laugh at Jack playing a broken-down Tarzan opposite Carol Burnett as his put-upon Jane? It’s still character-based, with the humor of a robust young couple growing older in amusing ways.
 
Martin: The timeliness of Jack’s comedy lies in the individuality of Jack’s persona and how he is simply trying to rationalize the world around him, regardless of the scenario. How Jack interprets and reacts to a situation or a condition under one pretense while cleverly revealing his true motivation or hidden agenda resonates with and relates to audiences across all generations because it speaks to our emotional make-up and traits in its many shades through the prism of human behavior.
 
On the whole, people aspire to the same things Jack does: we want to be loved, we want to excel, we want to be respected, we want to know the how and why of situations affecting us, etc. His comic slant is predicated on and motivated by these universal desires and goals. Moreover, Jack’s exaggerated and likeable comic outlook was tinged with self-deprecating humor, yet he carried the veneer of a vulnerable, genteel and harmless fussbudget. The dynamics of Benny’s outward appearance clashing but coexisting with his visceral inner agenda only enhanced the hilarity. Again, comedy emerging out of a well-developed character.
 
This contrasts to comedy that heavily relies on topical references that are soon dated and eventually rendered arcane or obtuse. True, Benny did use topical references and idioms of the day, but the contexts were so broadly used that latter-day audiences unfamiliar with such timely citations could usually get the gist of the joke or outrageous allegory regardless of the era when they first occurred or still had prominence in the then-current culture.
 
Jack Benny endures as an eloquent comic presence and influence who appeals to modern audiences because he was most human and humane of them all in the 20th century. And thanks to the wonders of digital entertainment and the internet, Jack will continue to attract, amuse and amaze legions of new fans in the generations ahead.
 
jack-benny-2963645Radio Archives: What is the goal and purpose of the Fan Club as well as your mission in terms of sharing Jack Benny with today’s listeners/readers/fans?
 
Laura: We are a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit, with the official purpose being to educate people about the life and work of Jack Benny and his associates. We do so by preserving and making material available through our libraries, online resources, and other publications. We also do ongoing research for books such as the 39 Forever series and the newsletter to provide a growing body of knowledge about Jack Benny, expanding the context of understanding who he was as a person, an artist, and one of the foremost comedians of the 20th century.
 
Learn about one of the greatest comedic talents in history by visiting the International Jack Benny Fan Club’s page in the Pulp Book Store!
 

 

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Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! The pulp era’s greatest crimebuster journeys to Maine on golden quests in two thrilling pulp novels by Walter Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, The Shadow and G-man Vic Marquette hunt enemy agents sabotaging maritime shipping from a mysterious Castle of Crime. Then, a sea captain’s dying words lead to serial slayings along the long-buried trail to a Dead Man’s Chest and Cuban gold! This instant collector’s item reprints the classic color cover paintings by George Rozen and Graves Gladney and the original interior illustrations by Edd Cartier and Paul Orban, with historical commentary by Will Murray. Yours for only $14.95!
 
The pulp era’s greatest superman returns in classic pulp thrillers by Laurence Donovan and Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc and Patricia Savage attempt to discover the secret behind the baffling series of “black spot murders” that confounds the law. Then, an auction gallery bidding war leads to the abduction of Monk Mayfair. Can the Man of Bronze uncover the sinister secret of The Terrible Stork in time to save his right-hand aide? This special collectors edition showcases the original color pulp covers by Walter M. Baumhofer and Modest Stein, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and a behind-the-scenes article by Will Murray, writer of nine Doc Savage novels. Yours for only $14.95!
 
The double life of Police Commissioner James Gordon is explored in a pair of two-fisted thrillers that inspired classic Batman stories! First, The Whisperer goes undercover to close down a “School for Murder” that prepares teenagers for criminal careers! Then, Wildcat Gordon investigates corruption in the trucking industry in “Murder on the Line.” BONUS: an adventure of Norgil the Magician by The Shadow’s Maxwell Grant! This historic collector’s item showcases both original color pulp covers by Spider artist John Newton Howitt, classic interior illustrations by Paul Orban and golden-age great Creig Flessel, and historical commentary by Will Murray and Anthony Tollin. Now at Radio Archives for $14.95!

Pulp fiction’s legendary Master of Men returns in two classic novels from the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, written by Norvell Page under the pseudonym of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “Overlord of the Damned” (October 1935), the Boss unleashes horrible death with his demonic acid guns… with a vat of the same deadly corrosive reserved for those who talk too much! With his beloved Nita van Sloan a hostage to a terrible doom, the Spider faces the soul-tearing prospect of planting the Spider seal on his friend Stanley Kirkpatrick, Commissioner of Police! Then, in “Dictator’s Death Merchants!” (July 1940), The jaws of death gape open when El Crocodilo feasts! With uncanny skill, he forestalls even the Spider’s best attempts to trap him. Striking without mercy, this menace from the past rises anew by demolishing a banking institution each night, in a mad scheme to take control of nothing less than all of America’s finances! This volume is available in two editions and features the original artwork from the October 1935 or the July 1940 edition of “The Spider” magazine. Both versions feature reformatted text and original interior illustrations to accompany each story. Available now for $14.95!
 

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Classic Reprints! New Pulp Tales! History, Pop Culture, and Much More! Where do you find the finest of these? In the Pulp Book Store! And in the Treasure Chest, you find unbelievable deals from the following Publishers!
 
The Lord of the Vampires Returns and you can get him for 20% off original price. Dracula Lives by Joshua Reynolds is a page turning chill ride and can be yours at a steal!
 
Puttin’ The Monthly Back into Pulp, Pro Se Productions offers the finest in modern Pulp Magazines! For the month of February, pick up any or all of the first three issues of Pro Se Presents at an amazing 25% off each copy!
 
The greatest Minds of the 19th Century go to battle with the most evil forces known to man! Buy Modern Marvels: Viktoriana by Wayne Reinagel and get 5% off the regular price for the entire month of February!
 
Just click on the Treasure Chest on the Pulp Book Store Page for these terrific offers! And enjoy the best that these companies and more have to offer in the Pulp Book Store!

 
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By Art Sippo

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Four scientists were stranded on Cormoral Island when the Kendall Foundation of St. Louis that funded their expedition went bust. They were rescued by a passing ship, the Meg Finegan. It should have been a coincidence, but one of the scientists KNEW it would find them. He also started knowing a lot of other things before they happened. Professor Macbeth Williams was a hydrologist and the heir to a 500 million dollar fortune. He had taken the job on the expedition to escape from the pressure of managing his family fortune. He did not think his judgment skills were up to par. Now he was literally predicting poker hands before they were dealt and showing keen insight into future events. But Professor Williams was a man of science and did not place any stock in such things as precognition. But even after landing in Miami, the prediction kept coming. His fellow stranded scientists see this as a good thing and they insist to Williams that maybe he does have enough in sight to manage his vast fortune. But he was frightened that he might be losing his mind. He needed to get professional help to set his mind at ease. So he decided to call on the greatest Psychiatrist of his time: Dr. Clark Savage Jr.
 
But as he attempted to make contact with Doc Savage, strange things start happening. The telegrapher who took his initial message was murdered. Thugs in New York attacked Doc at his headquarters to prevent him from going to Macbeth Williams’ aid. Doc Savage becomes intrigued. There is an enormous fortune at stake, and its unwilling heir suddenly manifests almost supernatural insight which he thinks is a sign of madness. Meanwhile nefarious influences are working to isolate this heir from Doc Savage’s help. Something does not add up.
 
Can Doc Savage figure out this puzzle? Is Macbeth Williams really a prophet? Why are criminal elements interested in him? Is this an elaborate scam to get access to the Williams family fortune?
 
This was the penultimate adventure of the original Doc Savage pulp series. The story harkens back to the heyday of the series with the literary polish that marked many of the later stories. Don’t miss this one! Get it and another Doc Classic today in Doc Savage #15 for $12.95 from Radio Archives!

 

Comments From Our Customers!
 

Dominick Cancilla:
Thanks again for the assistance and for the great customer service (as usual). I have a six-hour drive tomorrow for work and The Green Llama will be keeping me company. I will certainly continue to buy every pulp audiobook you put out.
 
Eugene Dungan:
I am getting ready to order The Green Lama audiobook. I have all of the audiobooks that you have published. I sure am enjoying all of the audiobooks that you have put out so far.
 
Bobby McGowen Jr.:
I have been getting all of The Spider ebooks and I love them.
 
Bryan Pears from the United Kingdom:
Do you have any Operator 5 eBooks available? I have just bought The Spider eBook “City of Flaming Shadows” and was really impressed.

 
If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!

 
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
 
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, or if this newsletter has been sent to you in error, please reply to this e-mail with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE and your name will immediately be removed from our mailing list.
 

MICHAEL DAVIS: Shit And The Comic Book Industry

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Please take a moment to look at the graphic that accompanies this article. Chances are you seen it before on the net or right here on ComicMix when Glenn posted it a few days ago.

Shit.

I’ll admit it’s clever as shit. It’s interesting as shit. It’s thought provoking as shit.

I came across this on Facebook and I must admit I was mad as shit when I read it. I was even madder when I saw it was a marketing ploy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great marketing ploy and I freely admit that shit.

I went to the website and the Facebook page of the person who put it up. After reading some of the stuff on the Facebook page I was disappointed that I was so upset. Why? Because this is the sort of person I should like. We share a great many thing with regards to politics and he seems like a great guy.

Really.

But I know a wee bit about the comic book industry and I know a wee bit more about building franchises and a wee bit more about mentoring talent.

I also know you do not do any of that shit with fear.

In any and I mean any part of the entertainment business you will find incredible success and dismal failure. That’s not the industry’s fault.  The industry was not set up for you to be either an incredible success or a dismal failure.

That shit is on you.

Are there barriers to entry?

Yes. Tell me, what profession does not have barriers to entry? There are barriers to entry for everything.

That’s what school is for. That’s what working on your craft is for. That’s what life experience is for. That’s what you go to comic conventions for.

If you want to work in comics, you go to comic book conventions to learn the industry not to hang out with your 20 friends in one hotel room with the sole intention of going to the Twilight panel to kiss the ass of the movie company so they will give you a glimpse of that bullshit movie which is the same movie as the previous 15 but “this time it’s personal.”

Yeah, I called the Twilight movies bullshit. That’s my opinion.

The Twilight franchise?

Brilliant.

I don’t have to love a thing to respect a thing and I respect the shit out of the Twilight franchise. When it comes to how they run that shit I’m Team Edward all the way.

Instead of going to a portfolio review or a small press panel the young creators who will fall for that “call me” ploy from the comic industry poster spend their time trying to catch a glimpse of Jim Lee at the DC Comics panel. Jim is not there to talk to you about getting into DC he’s there to sell you the books you are already buying.

So, how does any of the above help your career?

It doesn’t.

The graphic depicts the comic book industry as an industry of people who will try and stab you in the back. Really? You think Jim Lee wants to stab you in the back so he can steal your idea? That great idea that you drew with a ballpoint pen, inked with a magic marker, colored with Photoshop 0.1 in tones of nothing but blue?

No.

You know why Jim Lee does not want your great idea, which all your family and friends have convinced you will be bigger than Superman?

I’ll tell you why, because if you have been reading comics and using that as your only education and attending Twilight like and not career oriented panels at comics conventions then most likely your idea is shit.

Why would all your family and friends tell you had created the greatest thing since Star Wars? I’ll tell you why; your family and friends love you. They are bias as shit.

Think of what you say to that fat ass 300-pound girlfriend when she’s asking you if she looks fat in that dress.

Fat 300-pound girlfriend: Do I look fat in this dress?

You: No.

You lie. You lie because you want to tap some of that fat ass. Guess what? She knows you are lying. She’s 300 pounds, dude. She would look fat in stranded in the middle of the ocean.

Your family and friends are your family and friends; they are supposed to lie to you.  Your family and friends they don’t know shit about what makes a concept a good idea.

Secondly, your “bigger than Superman” concept was drawn with a ball point pen, inked with a magic marker, colored with Photoshop 0.1 in tones of nothing but blue and your can’t spell so your lettering sucks also.

Is the comic book industry fair?

No.

Does some projects that suck get published?

Yes.

Is there an “old boy” network at many publishers?

Yes.

Are there people who don’t want you to succeed?

Yes.

Welcome to Earth, motherfucker. Or more specifically, welcome to the real world of grown-up business.

In every single business on the planet there are unfair policies, projects that suck that get green lit, cliques of people who won’t let you in and people who do not want you to succeed.

Fuck that shit and fuck them.

Learn the game before you hook up with somebody who claims he can help you with your “franchise.”

Franchise?

Give me a fucking break. Learn to write, learn to draw. Ask Jim Lee for advice not an autograph. Stand in line to hear Marv Wolfman or Harlan Ellison talk about writing. Stop standing in line to see clips from a movie you are going to see anyway.

Comic creators like giving advice. You will be surprised to see how much you can learn from an conversation about that creators craft.  Set realistic goals for yourself. Seek criticism from people that know what they are talking about.

Here’s a hint. Make appointments with people you would like to talk to. All they can say is “no” but would not a “yes” make your day and help you?

Take classes, go to school make an effort to learn the industry.

Yes, think about your own Franchise!

Yes, build, your own Franchise!

But before you call someone to help you do something that they have not done, do the work that’s needed to achieve your goal. Yours – not someone else’s.

When you do all of that and more, when you have gotten to a place of excellence in your craft and still don’t succeed, try again and again and then again.

Frankly, if you are that good you won’t have to keep trying because you will succeed.

Anything less, anything quick, anything that does not involve the kind of commitment to your the craft is just bullshit.

WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold Gets Sentimental

Review: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Expanded Visual Dictionary

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Expanded Visual Dictionary
By Jason Fry
DK Publishing, 104 pages, $19.99

sw-phanto-menace-expanded-visual-dictionary-300x362-2777958Timed for the 3-D release of the most reviled movie in the six film set, it might be appropriate to take this opportunity to reassess the first installment in the modern era trilogy. Jason Fry, a DK veteran, updates and, well, expands the original edition of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary, originally written by David West Reynolds. Obviously, this edition can now put the characters and settings into context since the subsequent two films are now part of the public consciousness while the 1999 edition could only cover what was seen in this first part.

In keeping with the format, we get two page looks at people, places and things, providing details with large color pictures and cutaways. The opening spread sets the stage and explains what the Phantom Menace is, the galactic politics at the time and the threat posed by Darth Maul and his acolyte.

Of course, over the course of the four dozen entries, we get our favorite characters, droids, hardware, spacecraft, and other elements. It’s a feast for the eyes and the writing is clear and sharp, making it easily comprehendible for young readers on up.

It’s the visual designs that cause us to reconsider. Yes, the story was lacking, the acting flat, and Jar Jar Binks is just plain annoying. I’ll stipulate to all of that so we can note that George Lucas and his design team really took advantage to bring these alien worlds, races, and tools to life. Of late, Lucas has made much of the compromises he had to make on the initial movie where the budget and production realities of the mid-1970s couldn’t possibly bring his vision to reality.

The alien makeups and designs, such as Yarael Poof of the Jedi High Council, or even the winged Watto show a universe far more diverse than anything possible in the first movie. There’s a scope to Coruscant that couldn’t be found on Tatooine. Where Lucas may have gone too far was in high polished everything appears here compared with the more worn look of the worlds visited in the original (and still superior) trilogy.

Where this book could have been stronger was in its organization since there are no chapters or design elements, we go from a handful of Jedi to an invasion force to battle droids and so on. It therefore has a hodgepodge feel that takes away from the overall useful of the volume. As a result, any time you need an entry, you have to go back to the Table of Contents.

There’s just enough information and detail here to tell you what you really need to know and let the real diehard fans and researchers find more data in the various compendia from DelRey Books’ line. If you’re a longtime fan or are just discovering this far, far away galaxy, this is a great primer.

 

REVIEW: A Trio from Hitchcock — “Notorious”, “Spellbound”, and “Rebecca”

rebecca-4630180Alfred Hitchcock is today best known for his work in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to Universal and Warner Bros. steady stream of restored re-releases on Blu-ray but recently, 20th Century Home Entertainment reminded us that the master director wasn’t exactly idle in the years before. A trio of his 1940s works – Notorious, Spellbound, and Rebecca – are now out on Blu-ray for the first time and it begs a fresh look at his black and white thrillers.

Hitchcock began his stormy relationship with MGM producer David O. Selznick with 1940’s Rebecca, a psychological drama which is noteworthy as the director’s first American film. Adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s bestseller, it featured Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, and Judith Anderson. Being a gothic tale of loss, while gently questioning whether or not Olivier killed his first wife, it was a good fit for Hitchcock, introducing him to the American way of shooting a feature film. Clearly it worked since it went on to win a Best Picture Oscar. (more…)

ROUND TWO-Andrew Salmon Guest Reviews FELONY FISTS!

  • News
  • February 5, 2012

AN UPPERCUT ABOVE THE REST

A Review of Paul Bishop’s FELONY FISTS

by Andrew Salmon

Back in the day, sports pulps, including boxing pulps, were as common as Westerns or Romance magazines on newsstands everywhere. People thrilled to action-packed, fist-flying tales of fictional sports heroes in action. And anyone who knows their pulp history might tell you that those days are over.

Well, they haven’t read Paul Bishop’s Felony Fists!

Move over James Ellroy, there’s a new kid roaming the dark alleys of 1950s Los Angeles. Part of the Fight Card line from Fight Card Productions, Bishop’s Felony Fists, published under the byline Jack Tunney, tells the story of Patrick “Felony” Flynn a hardnosed police officer with the LAPD and boxer. Flynn can’t resist a good scrap and is trying to parlay his impressive arrest record into an invitation to the Hat Squad – the elite crew of detectives keeping La-La Land’s streets clean. So when Chief Parker wants to put a crimp in Mickey Cohen’s plans to take over the fight game, he turns to the best boxer on the squad. Flynn’s task is no piece of cake. He has to beat Cohen’s title contender and beat him soundly.

What follows is one delicious slice of bygone Los Angeles. Felony Fists is a winner on every level. The book is lean, mean and authentic and it’s one no fan of hardboiled fiction will want to miss. The boxing scenes are visceral, bloody and you feel like you’ve gone toe to toe with Flynn’s opponents by the time you’re through. Throw in some fine police work, corruption, intrigue, blackmail and deception and Felony Fists lays out an irresistible buffet.

Paul Bishop is the real deal, folks. If you’re a pulp fan, boxing fan or just love a hard-hitting, down and dirty mean streets pot-boiler, then Bishop has your poison. Without doubt one of the best New Pulp releases of 2011. This was my first Bishop work and it won’t be my last. I give Felony Fists my highest recommendation. Do not miss it!

REVIEW: “Bloom County: The Complete Library, Volume One: 1980-1982” by Berkley Breathed

bloom-county-vol-1-300x231-5139803The erstwhile “Berke” Breathed, who at some point in the last two decades learned what a “berk” was in British slang and decided to extend his professional name, presents one of the most interesting and stark success stories in the history of modern American strip comics: he lept to fame with Bloom County, almost from the moment it launched in 1980. [1] And then he ended that strip in mid-1989 (cementing its role as the quintessentially ’80s strip, for anyone with an axe to grind about that decade), partly for creative reasons and partly for overwork issues, to work on a spin-off, Outland, that never had the wide appeal or impact of its parent, even as it got more Bloom County-ish as it went along.

Every other major strip cartoonist before Breathed had a different reaction to success, creative unrest, and pressures of work: they all corporatized, bringing on gagmen and inkers and ghost pencilers to one degree or another, from the light end of G.B. Trudeau’s Doonesbury (inked by Don Carlton) to the high end of Jim Davis’s Paws, Inc. Garfield empire. But Breathed wanted to do it all all himself, and, if he couldn’t, he didn’t want anyone else to do do anything. So Bloom County remains entirely a product of the ’80s and of Breathed’s youth: exuberant, frenzied, full of more ideas and gags than it quite knows what to do with. (more…)

THE SPIDER GOES EBOOK! ALL OF ALTUS NOW AVAILABLE! DRAMA AND THE GREEN LAMA AND MORE!

  • News
  • January 27, 2012
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January 27, 2012
 
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NEW Radio Set: Claudia, Volume 7
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Soap Operas in the heyday of Radio were very similar to one another. For the most part, their content was predictable, but deeply engrossing. Soap operas played on the apparent human need for intrigue, insider knowledge, gossip, and the satisfaction that comes from knowing that, no matter how tedious or dull or awful your life is, someone out there has it much worse than you do.
 
But, in 1947, a new soap opera debuted that was far different – far more quiet and gentle and down-to-earth – than its strife-ridden forbears. This show brought listeners more than the ‘tune in tomorrow’ hooks its peers produced. Listeners tuned in day after day for the interesting, fully developed characters, the light-hearted banter between them, and the familiarity of their day-to-day situations. This soap opera, probably more of a light drama in modern terms, is “Claudia.”

“Claudia” told the tale of Claudia and David Naughton, newlyweds, just beginning their married life. Young, enthusiastic, and very much in love, they weren’t suffering from any medical maladies or suspicions of infidelity. Instead, they were simply facing the many challenges of any new marriage – finding an apartment, getting used to each other’s quirks, and learning to live together on a daily basis. Claudia, a bit younger than her years, is often impulsive, sometimes irresponsible, usually perky, and just a bit flighty. As she matures, she becomes a unique mixture of enthusiasm, incompetence and over-confidence — deeply in love with her somewhat older husband David but frequently naive and too likely to trust her insecurities rather than her instincts.
Heard today, “Claudia” remains wonderful entertainment, notable for both its lighthearted tone and the believable interplay between its characters. In a feat that is rare where old time radio is concerned, Radio Archives has been able to locate and preserve the entire eighteen-month run of “Claudia” – 390 episodes in all – with no missing shows, allowing you to enjoy the complete series on a day-by-day basis. This collection offers 24 episodes of “Claudia” and marks the midway point of the remaining volumes. Claudia, Volume 7 and the series as a whole are a real treasure for radio enthusiasts to enjoy for many years to come and are available today from Radio Archives! Six hours on Audio CDs for $17.98.

by Tommy Hancock
 

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Old Time Radio is responsible for at least the longevity of so many character types that the public have enjoyed for decades and still today. One of those is the brassy Brooklyn dame who while seeming ditzy to some, actually brings a bit of her own wisdom of the world to every predicament she finds herself in, of which there are many. If you haven’t guessed it, I’ve just described one Maisie Revere, often out of work entertainer and just as often consistent entertainment as the heroine of The Adventures of Maisie.
 
Portrayed by Ann Sothern, MGM starlet and the originator of the Maisie role in a series of high grade B movies for the studio, Maisie came to life on the radio waves in 1949. Although this is actually the second series to feature the character, it’s the only series of which any episodes are known to exist.
 
From the cracker jack opening of Maisie’s heels clicking, a man asking her “Hiya babe! Say, how ’bout-“ and a slap and Maisie saying, “Does that answer your question, buddy?” the stage is set in each episode for Sothern to play brassy and funny to the hilt. And she does this with a style and a sort of rough grace that adds credence to the character. Maisie sounds and moves within each episode as you would expect a girl from Brooklyn who finds herself in non-Brooklyn type situations constantly to sound and move. And although, by her own account, Maisie may not be the highest limb on the tree intellectually, her view of the world around her and how those she encounters mistakenly see things is simultaneously hilarious, refreshing, and enlightening.
 
On so many levels, “The Adventures of Maisie” is most definitely a comedy, leaning heavily toward screwball in a few of the episodes on this collection. But something else manifests from the crucible of mixing Sothern’s acting and dead on voice with the skill of the writers and the quirky plots of this show. Whether Maisie is having to work off rent as a hotel clerk and mistakenly rents a room to phony royalty or pretends to be a lady herself and almost nabs her a Lord all her own or rooks a snobby diva out of her stylish clothes by convincing her she’s a near dowager, there is something that comes out of each episode more than guffaws and giggles.
 
Played with that street rough, yet simplistic delivery Sothern brings to the role, Maisie Revere delivers quite a bit of Brooklyn spun philosophy as she stumbles in and out of trouble. You don’t have to listen hard to hear her ideas on rich people, authority, and even her own place in the crazy world she lives in. This adds a distinct appeal to the show as a whole, making it not only a solid old time radio comedy, but also something with a bit of insightful veritas to it as well.
 
The Adventures of Maisie, Volume 1 is definitely a comedy worth having in your collection and one that is one step above the ‘lighter fare’ of its audio peers. Available today from Radio Archives, 10 hours of Maisie on Audio CDs for $29.98.
 
 
Radio Archives always strives to be the best and continually improve our products. We embarked on a massive project two years ago to update the artwork for the 200 Old Time Radio CD sets available.
 
This project is now complete and all orders are now shipping with the newest artwork. Take a look at the Covers which we upgraded this week.
 
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Radio Archives wants to share its excitement with YOU! From now until February 29th, 2012, you can add any of the new artwork for Radio Archives sets you already own to your collection for absolutely FREE with your next order! Add to the experience of the programs you already enjoy with these creative pieces of art!
 
The process to upgrade your Radio Archives covers is simple! First, search the Radio Archives website to find the set you own. Then copy the Product Description. As an example, the Product Description would look like this:
Mystery Is My Hobby – 10 hours [Audio CDs] #RA132
 
You then paste the Product Descriptions of all the sets you want updated into the comments section of your next order. The artwork will be sent free of charge along with your order!
 
This offer expires on February 29th and artwork can only be provided for products currently offered on RadioArchives.com. Radio Archives appreciates your business and wants you to have the newest Cover Artwork so that you have the best quality product, both inside and out!
 
 
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A more unlikely multi-media success than the jade-robed Buddhist monk who fought crime under the nom de guerre of The Green Lama would be hard to imagine.
 
Conceived in 1939 at the behest of the editors of Munsey Publications to compete with the juggernaut that The Shadow had become in print, on radio and in film, The Green Lama was the creation of writer Kendall Foster Crossen, who was asked to think up a hero who could lure mystery-minded readers away from The Shadow’s loyal legion of followers. Inspired by a Columbia University student named Theos Casimir Barnard, who had journeyed to far-off Tibet to plumb the occult mysteries of Lamaism, Crossen concocted millionaire Jethro Dumont, who did the same.
 
It was an outlandish concept. While The Shadow possessed the power to cloud men’s minds after his time in the East, The Green Lama relied on other, even weirder, powers—including the ability to become radioactive and electrically shock opponents into submission! He carried a traditional scarf, which he employed to bind and befuddle opponents and possessed a knowledge of vulnerable nerve centers which he put to good use in hand-and-hand combat. Being a practicing Buddhist, it would not do to pack a pair of .45 automatics a la The Shadow!
 
Writing as Richard Foster, Crossen produced The Case of the Crimson Hand, which was published in the April, 1940 Double Detective under the equally colorful title, The Green Lama. That first installment raised the magazine’s circulation several notches. Amazingly, the Lama was a hit. Thirteen additional stories followed over the next four years, with provocative titles like The Case of the Hollywood Ghost and Babies for Sale. Assistants ranging from ordinary Manhattanites to a professional magician came and went with every adventure, which often involved emerging super-criminals and Fifth Column menaces.
 
RadioArchives.com has selected The Green Lama to be the first 2012 release in its acclaimed Will Murray Pulp Classics line of audiobooks. His first case and its sequel, Croesus of Murder, are presented in one set, voiced by the talented Michael McConnohie. Thus, the hero of a dozen different incarnations has found a new world to conquer! You’ll never encounter another hero anything like him. Om Mani Padme Hum! The Green Lama knows! Will Murray’s Audio Pulp Classics #5 The Green Lama is available now!
 
The Green Lama, by Kendell Foster Crossen, first appeared in the April 1940 issue of Double-Detective magazine. Copyright © 1940 by The Red Star News Company. Copyright renewed © 1968 and assigned to Argosy Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. “The Green Lama” is a trademark controlled by Argosy Communications, Inc. Produced by arrangement with Argosy Communications, Inc.
 
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Being both a Doc Savage fan from way back (I bought my first Doc Savage Bantam paperback back in the 1970’s) as well as a fan of Old Time Radio I was more than eager to check out the audiobook PYTHON ISLE. And I was not disappointed. Channeling the spirit of Lester Dent/Kenneth Robeson, Will Murray wonderfully captures the relentless sprint of headlong excitement that I feel is essential to a Doc Savage adventure.
 
PYTHON ISLE is based on an actual outline written by Lester Dent back in the 1930’s but rejected for reasons that are explained by Will Murray himself in one of two extra interviews where he explains how he found the outline and turned it into a finished novel. It’s an added bonus to an already entertaining package.
 
Like the best of any Doc Savage adventure, PYTHON ISLE begins with a situation that immediately promises this is going to be a humdinger of a supersaga. A gang of ruthless diamond smugglers catches sight of a plane crash landing into the water near their ship. At first fearing it’s the law, they quickly mount a rescue upon seeing that the plane has been repaired with gold plating. There are only two passengers aboard. A man carrying a bamboo tube sealed at both ends and an astoundingly beautiful woman who speaks no language anybody can understand. Both are dressed in clothes that haven’t been worn since Biblical times. The man has but a single objective in mind: find Doc Savage. And we need no more to get the adventure started.
 
As always, my opinion of an audiobook depends mainly on the voice I’m listening to. If the voice is boring and puts me to sleep, what difference does it make how terrific the story is? I’m delighted to say the voice of Michael McConnohie is anything but boring. He doesn’t just read the story, he performs it and I’m simply flabbergasted by the diversity and range of his voice. In passages where there are two or three different characters talking it actually sounds as if there are distinct and separate voices talking to each other. In addition, his straight reading of description sounds more like the narration of a genuine old time radio drama than just a reading of the text. It’s wonderful to listen to.
 
So should you listen to PYTHON ISLE? Absolutely. If you’re a Doc Savage fan there’s no way that you cannot have this in your collection. And if you have a friend you want to turn onto Doc Savage, pulp adventure or audiobooks, this is an excellent way to do so.
 
 
 
NEW Product Line: Pulp eBooks
 

A growing leader in providing Pulp Fiction in a variety of forms to modern fans, Radio Archives adds one more line to its ever growing number of Pulp Products! Will Murray’s Pulp Classics, already known for fantastic audio book versions of Classic Pulp tales now also features eBooks! Will Murray’s Pulp Classic eBook line will spotlight original Pulp characters in their original tales from the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction! This exciting new line debuts with four stories of Norvell Page’s Master of Men himself – The Spider!
 
Thanks to the modern technology of digital publishing and eBooks, collectors and fans can experience stories from the original Pulps of the early 20th Century in an easy, affordable fashion. Referred to by some as ‘today’s pulp,’ eBooks are similar to Pulp magazines in the sense that digital eBooks, like their Pulp counterparts were, can be easily and inexpensively produced and sold to customers! Add to that the absolute top quality production that Radio Archives brings to this project and Will Murray’s Pulp Classic eBooks are a must have for every fan from the novice to the hardcore Pulp Collector!
 
Will Murray’s Pulp Classic eBooks are available now for only $2.99! And not only do you get the eBook for that fantastic price, but you get it in THREE different formats. With the ever evolving technology of today, Radio Archives recognizes that readers may have different devices that read different eBook files and may change devices as well. To this end, each Will Murray Pulp Classic eBook will be delivered to you as a .mobi file, an .epub file, and a PDF, making the eBook readable on The Kindle, iPad, The Nook, and most e-readers, computers, and smart phones!
 

The four titles kicking off the eBook line feature The Spider, the vengeful vigilante from the past that lives as a Pulp icon today! Each eBook contains the tale as originally written when it appeared as well as an introduction from Will Murray to acquaint readers with the character they’re going to encounter as well as original cover art!
 
 

 
New Spider titles will be released every two weeks, as well as surprises yet to come!
 
With the addition of The Spider eBooks, The Pulp Book Store is quickly becoming the best place to find everything Spider. From audio books by Radio Archives to exquisite Pulp reprints and replicas from Girasol Collectables and new tales of the Spider from Moonstone Books, The Master of Men is alive and well in The Pulp Book Store!
 
Stay tuned, Pulp fans, for the best in Pulp eBooks from Will Murray’s Pulp Classics and Radio Archives!
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Horror in Gold, a brand new Doc Savage novel written by prolific pulp veteran Will Murray, has been released by Altus Press. Set in 1936 Manhattan, the story opens with an inexplicable wave of human detonations that brings legendary scientist-adventurer Doc Savage into the investigation to confront a strange new type of terrorism.
 
Murray, who won acclaim for his tenure ghostwriting Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir’s Destroyer action-adventure series and his works of original fiction and pop culture history, knows his subject well.
 
The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage is a continuation of the well-received novels he wrote for Bantam Books back in the 1990s, which he worked on with Doc Savage’s creator and original writer, the late Lester Dent.
 
These new posthumous collaborations will be published under the familiar pen name of Kenneth Robeson.
 
“Horror in Gold is a CSI-style Doc Savage story,” Murray said. “Most of the action takes place in and around Doc’s skyscraper headquarters, which we see in more detail than ever before. With ordinary Gothamites falling victim to the most grisly murder method ever recorded, Doc spends a lot of time in the city morgue and in his super-scientific laboratory assembling the pieces of the puzzle. In between, the action never stops, as Doc and his men race to prevent an escalating tragedy—culminating in an explosive climax around a dormant Alaskan volcano which shouldn’t be rumbling to life, but is!”
 
The author hasn’t strayed far from Dent for the basis of this new tale.
 
“This story is based on an unused Doc Savage plot Lester Dent wrote in 1935, but was considered too visceral to be published in the pages of Doc Savage Magazine back then. To live up to its potential, I wrote the most jaw-dropping opening chapter of my 50-novel career. I introduce one of the most vicious super-criminals in pulp history, The Alchemist, and a half-forgotten member of the original Doc Savage cast returns after an absence of almost 80 years,” he said. Buy this NEW 330 page Doc Savage novel in trade paperback today for only $24.95. The cover is a beautiful Doc Savage oil painting by the talented Joe DeVito.
 
 
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With the addition of 31 new titles from Altus Press, the prolific Pulp reprint publisher’s entire catalogue is now available from the Pulp Book Store.
 
One of the leaders in Pulp today, Altus Press provides the reading public with top of the line reprints as well as professionally designed collections, comprehensive Pulp academic works, and new material, including The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage written by author Will Murray.
 
From new adventures of Doc Savage to reprints of classic Pulp characters like the Black Bat and even more obscure creations such as Armless O’Neill and Senorita Scorpion, Altus Press has something to offer every Pulp reader!
 
Altus Press answers the needs of a growing fan base for Pulp, readers finding something in these classic stories that appeal to modern sensibilities. The company takes its overall mission very seriously-to produce the best quality product possible. And every single title, close to 100 top of the line collections, novels, and other works, from Altus Press is now featured in the Pulp Book Store!
 

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The Knight of Darkness battles evil supercriminals in two action-packed pulp novels by Walter Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, in a never-reprinted 1932 epic, The Shadow seeks to unmask The Five Chameleons, master villains whose uncanny ability to blend with their surroundings rivals his own. Then, the Dark Avenger feels the savage sting of The Wasp in his first confrontation with one of his deadliest foes. This double-novel reprints the classic cover paintings by George Rozen and Graves Gladney and the original interior illustrations by Tom Lovell and Earl Mayan, with historical articles by Will Murray. Get it now for $14.95!
 
The pulp era’s greatest superman returns in two classic pulp thrillers by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc and Patricia Savage enter an Arctic abyss where dinosaurs and prehistoric humans survive, and race against Japanese agents to uncover the secret of The Time Terror that could change the outcome of the war. Then, a series of crimes committed by “graduates” of the Man of Bronze’s Crime College threaten to destroy Doc’s reputation. What is the sinister secret of The Talking Devil? This special collectors edition showcases both color pulp covers by Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of eight Doc Savage novels. Yours for only $14.95!
 
 
The double life of Police Commissioner James Gordon is explored in a pair of two-fisted thrillers that inspired classic Batman stories! First, The Whisperer goes undercover to close down a “School for Murder” that prepares teenagers for criminal careers! Then, Wildcat Gordon investigates corruption in the trucking industry in “Murder on the Line.” BONUS: an adventure of Norgil the Magician by The Shadow’s Maxwell Grant! This historic collector’s item showcases both original color pulp covers by Spider artist John Newton Howitt, classic interior illustrations by Paul Orban and golden-age great Creig Flessel, and historical commentary by Will Murray and Anthony Tollin. Now at Radio Archives for $14.95!

Pulp fiction’s legendary Master of Men returns in two classic novels from the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction, written by Norvell Page under the pseudonym of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “Overlord of the Damned” (October 1935), the Boss unleashes horrible death with his demonic acid guns… with a vat of the same deadly corrosive reserved for those who talk too much! With his beloved Nita van Sloan a hostage to a terrible doom, the Spider faces the soul-tearing prospect of planting the Spider seal on his friend Stanley Kirkpatrick, Commissioner of Police! Then, in “Dictator’s Death Merchants!” (July 1940), The jaws of death gape open when El Crocodilo feasts! With uncanny skill, he forestalls even the Spider’s best attempts to trap him. Striking without mercy, this menace from the past rises anew by demolishing a banking institution each night, in a mad scheme to take control of nothing less than all of America’s finances! This volume is available in two editions and features the original artwork from the October 1935 or the July 1940 edition of “The Spider” magazine. Both versions feature reformatted text and original interior illustrations to accompany each story. Available now for $14.95!
 
 
 
 

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On the hunt for quality Pulp Fiction, both classic and new? In search of great prices? Then dig into the Treasure Chest, exclusively featuring products for the Pulp Book Store! Just click on the Treasure Chest on the Pulp Book Store Page and you’ll find fantastic monthly discounts on an everchanging variety of items from our various stores! From everyone from the avid Pulp Fan to the casual reader, the Treasure Chest offers great deals on wonderful products from The Pulp Book Store!
artsippo-2836781Review of “Brand of the Werewolf” from Doc Savage, Volume 13

By Dr Art Sippo

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Doc Savage and his crew travel to Canada to visit his only known living relatives: his Uncle Alex Savage and his cousin Patricia.
 
On the train, Doc receives a message from his uncle telling him to stay away. He leaves the cabin to investigate leaving his crew there. While he is gone, his men are stricken with unexplained unconsciousness. When Doc returns to the cabin he finds them and emblazoned on the wall is a hideous face that is a cross between a man and a wolf. The Brand of the Werewolf!
 
When they arrive at the Savage ranch they discover that Alex Savage has been murdered after the alleged message had been sent. The ranch is under attack by local thugs and mysterious forces that the local people attribute to the loup-garou a half-man/half-wolf monster. He moves among the inhabitance with impunity using his powers to subdue them and then kill them at will.
 
Meanwhile Patricia Savage has taken charge of the ranch. She is also guarding a mysterious Ivory cube that belonged to her father which the thugs have been trying to steal from her father and now from her. Pat is a tall striking woman with bronze colored hair like her cousin’s, who is mentally and physically strong enough to fight to defend her property. But as her superstitious ranch hands desert her, she cannot hold out against the enemies ranged against her.
 
Enter Doc Savage and his crew of adventurers. Now the odds are more even, but can even they defy the power of the Werewolf? With his entire physical and mental prowess, can Doc Savage defeat a supernatural monster?
 
This was the story that introduced Patricia Savage as a recurring character in the Doc Savage series. It was the most popular story in the original Bantam reprints form the 1960s and remains a fan favorite. This is a classic story from the golden age of the 1930s. And it along with another Doc Savage classic can be yours in Doc Savage Volume 13 for $12.95 from Radio Archives!
 
Comments From Our Customers!
 
Joseph (Joe) Cierniak

I have ordered from RadioArchives in the past and have nothing but praise the for merchandise’s quality and great customer service response. Ah, you guys do business just as it was done in my younger days. It was called trust. I’m not against (positive ) change but how many companies out there today would ship an item(s) and trust the purchaser to pay the bill. Not many. Thanks again. Received my order in today’s mail for Volume 2 of Suspense. Wow, what service!
 
Jim McCuaig:
Great quality, folks – a pleasure to be able to hear these shows like they sounded when they were new.
 
Tom C. Miller:
Just wanted to thank you for the prompt shipping of my last order. Your record time in attempting to ship same day as ordered is much appreciated..
 
If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!
 
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
 
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, or if this newsletter has been sent to you in error, please reply to this e-mail with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE and your name will immediately be removed from our mailing list.
 

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