Tagged: The Spider

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

  • News
  • September 18, 2011
Cover: Dan Brereton

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

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

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

Art: Jay Piscopo

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

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

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

Art: Jay Piscopo

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

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

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

allreturnofmonsters-1801952
Return of the Monsters Cover Art By Dan Brereton

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

Art: Jay Piscopo

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

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

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

Art: Jay Piscopo

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

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

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

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

Cover: Dan Brereton

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

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

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

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

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

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

AP: Any upcoming projects you would like to mention?

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

AP: Thanks, Martin.

MP: It’s been fun. Thank you.

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

Doing Double Duty?

  • Uncategorized
  • August 31, 2011

There’s an interesting article about shared properties like Flash Gordon, John Carter of Mars, and The Spider over at Robot 6. You can read it at http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2011/08/the-middle-ground-67-double-duty/

What do you think? Is having the same license and multiple publishers simultaneously a good or bad thing? Tell us what you think in the comments.

Reviews from the 86th Floor: Barry Reese Looks at The Black Bat Graphic Novel

  • News
  • August 18, 2011



The Black Bat

Written by Mike Bullock

Art by Michael Metcalf and Fernando Peniche

Letters by Josh Aitken

Moonstone Books

ISBN 978-1-933076-96-6

$8.99

Longtime readers of my review column know that I’m a big fan of Mike Bullock’s run on The Phantom. So when Moonstone announced their “Return of the Originals” projects, I was intrigued to see Bullock’s name on both a revival (The Black Bat) and a new creation (Death Angel). This collection collects stories of both characters, though the cover is a bit misleading — it prominently features The Black Bat, with a relatively small “Also Starring Death Angel” logo on the lower right. There aren’t enough Black Bat pages to make it a graphic novel on its own so I understand the inclusion of Death Angel but I would have preferred a title that made it clearer that this was, in fact, a book with equal amounts of both heroes.

The front and back covers are by Tom Grindberg and are absolutely gorgeous. I really, really liked both images and I think the cover will definitely help sell a few copies. Super stuff.

Inside the book we get alternating Black Bat & Death Angel stories (both comic and prose), with one short teaming the two. In both cases, the heroes are tracking down drug pushers and the like. I was a little confused about the era these stories were set in — some things in the Black Bat stories definitely made me think this was set in the 1930s (fashion, the language used, etc.) but Death Angel seemed more modern, both in design and in terms of her hi-tech nano-fiber tachyon-shooting power suit. The two characters interact, so obviously they are in the same era, whenever that may be.

Let’s tackle The Black Bat first. This is not your father’s Black Bat. As in the original stories, this is District Attorney Anthony Quinn. Blinded by a criminal’s attack, Quinn later gets his vision restored and takes to the night as a vigilante. But in this version, The Black Bat suffers from multiple personality disorder and is as bloodthirsty as The Spider. While interrogating criminals, he uses various legal terms to question them, all the while arguing with himself for leading the witness, etc. It’s an interesting take on the character but purists will feel that this is not The Black Bat and perhaps should have been a new character instead. I’m okay with updating characters and this one retains enough of the original for me to recognize him but his willingness to kill (and kill graphically) was shocking. I wish there had been more time to show The Black Bat in his civilian identity, though. The profile that’s included implies that he’s relatively normal in his day-to-day affairs and that it’s only as The Black Bat that his mental instability comes to light. I’m curious how that would have played out. There were places in the story – and I’m not sure if the fault lies with the script or the art, or both — where things felt very, very disjointed and the scene jumps made me pause and flip back a few page to see if I’d missed something. It kinda felt like I was reading the Cliff note’s version of much cooler stories.

From an art standpoint… Hmm. Michael Metcalf does all but one of the Black Bat stories (Fernando Peniche does the one that teams The Black Bat with Death Angel) and I have to admit… I did not like it. The art is far too scratchy and actually looked unfinished in places. It detracted from the story. There were individual panels that looked kind of cool but overall, the story was not served well by this. The Peniche art was a step up and I liked it much better.

Death Angel is a far stronger package overall — perhaps because the burdens of our past expectations are not challenged here. With The Black Bat, pulp fans are constantly comparing and contrasting this version to the original — but Death Angel is a new character and is free from that. Strangely, Michael Metcalf does the art on these sections, as well, but the art looks much, much better. I can only assume that Metcalf deliberately used a different style on The Black Bat stories — this artwork is much stronger.

As with The Black Bat, Death Angel is a vicious character. Her stories all revolve around two things: drugs and sexual abuse. This latter plays well off her origin but I would have liked to have seen a little more variety in the threats she faces here. I found the Death Angel stories to be more interesting and would definitely like to see more.

The overall package… I will say that taken as a whole, this is probably my least favorite of Bullock’s works to date. If I separated out the character arcs, I’d give much higher marks to the Death Angel portions of the book.

Do I think it’s worth your time and money? If you’re looking for the classic Black Bat or if you like your heroes to be of the “don’t kill, but bring the bad guys in for justice” variety… No. If you’re looking for bloodthirsty vigilante types or want to sample a genuinely interesting New Pulp hero in Death Angel, I’d say yes.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

THE SPIDER, DOC, CISCO KID, JOHNNY DOLLAR AND MORE FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!

  • News
  • July 15, 2011


July 15, 2011

The Latest News from RadioArchives.com!
* New Digital Downloads Now Available
* New Podcast Features the Creators of “Python Isle”* Coming Soon: Doc Savage in “White Eyes”
* Spotlight on The Spider

New Digital Downloads Now Available

For well over a decade, RadioArchives.com has been known for the amazing audio quality of our classic radio compact disc collections – and it’s no wonder. We insist upon finding the absolute best quality masters, then carefully restoring them so that they retain all of the audio luster of the original recordings with none of the crackle, pops, hiss, or muffling so often heard in radio shows from other sources.

So, when we decided to start offering digital downloads of these same collections, we knew that you’d accept nothing but the absolute best quality. That’s why every classic radio co llection you download from RadioArchives.com comes to you as a zip file containing each individual show, encoded as a mono 128 kpbs MP3 file with a sampling rate of 44,100.

If you often enjoy audio entertainment on your computer, your cell phone, or a portable device, you’ll be glad to hear that we’ve just added another sizable batch of selections to the digital downloads” page at RadioArchives.com. Included are such long-time customer favorites as the classic police drama “Calling All Cars”, the western adventure series “The Cisco Kid”, the high-flying adventures of America’s favorite free-lance insurance investigator “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar”, and many, many more!

Digital downloads from RadioArchives.com give you the best of everything. Top quality shows in sparkling audio fidelity, available to you for instant delivery around the clock – and, with digital downloads, you’ll pay no postage or delivery charges! Whether you live in Beijing, Basingstoke, or Bakersfield, just place your order and, within minutes, you’ll be enjoying some great entertainment.

Stop by RadioArchives.com often and see what’s new in our digital downloads section. Great shows, great sound, and great prices, too!

New Podcast Features the Creators of “Python Isle”
About a month ago, RadioArchives.com released “Python Isle”, the Doc Savage adventure that is the first in our new line of enhanced audiobooks. Your response to the set has been tremendous, with “Python Isle” quickly climbing to the top of the best-seller list on the Radio Archives website.

But the excitement about this engrossing and dramatic production has spread far beyond the customers of RadioArchives.com. Just this week, in fact, the creators of “Python Isle” were the guests of “Pulped!”, the new podcast hosted by Tommy Hancock and Derrick Ferguson. It was delightful fun to spend an hour with these two knowledgeable gentlemen discussing Doc Savage, audio production, and the details of how “Python Isle” came to be.

This new episode of “Pulped” can be heard in its entirety on our website at RadioArchives.com. Visit the Audiobook section and give it a listen! And if you haven’t yet purchased your copy of “Python Isle”, there’s still plenty of time to add it to your list of “gotta hear it” summer listening! Priced at just $25.98 for the 8 audio CD set or $17.98 for the digital download, this thrilling story of action and suspense is one that you’ll want to share with your whole family – and it’s only available from RadioArchives.com!

Coming Soon: Doc Savage in “White Eyes”

The place: New York City. During the depths of the Great Depression, in the shadow of streamlined skyscrapers, reporters scramble for clues about an insidious wave of bizarre deaths – everyday citizens struck dead, the eyes in their lifeless bodies turned a sightless and ghastly white. The Blind Death has the teeming city paralyzed with fear; in desperation, civic leaders turn to the one man who can discover who or what is behind this gruesome series of murders: Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze.

From his offices high above the city, Doc and his band of trusted colleagues soon uncover a terrifying scheme to gather together all of the city’s criminal elements as a single and seemingly undefeatable force. Their intent: to seize the wealth of the Man of Bronze and destroy him once and for all!

“White Eyes”, the second in a new line of audiobook adventures from RadioArchives.com, is an epic tale of crime from the pen of Will Murray, heir apparent to Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage. Featuring dramatic narration by Richard Epcar, “White Eyes” is a roller coaster ride of action and excitement that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Produced and directed by Roger Rittner, who joined with Will Murray to bring you both “The Adventures of Doc Savage” radio series and the thrilling audiobook “Python Isle”, “White Eyes” will bring you ten hours of engrossing entertainment. Soon to be available as both a ten audio compact disc collection and a ten hour digital download, this new release from RadioArchives.com will also feature evocative cover art by Joe DeVito and two fascinating and exclusive audio interviews with the author.

Join the Man of Bronze for a suspenseful tale of action and adventure in “White Eyes”, the new Doc Savage audiobook coming soon from RadioArchives.com! 

Spotlight on The Spider

His name is Richard Wentworth III. Man-about-town, dilettante of the arts, and engaged to the beautiful Nita Van Sloan, it would seem at first glance that he is nothing more than another non-productive member of the upper crust – a wealthy young man preoccupied with casual and frivolous pursuits. But, in reality, Richard Wentworth is completely devoted to the pursuit of justice for the downtrodden, no matter what the cost to himself or to his loved ones. Secretly donning a tattered black hat and cape, a wig of stringy hair, sinister face makeup, and strapping on a pair of .45 automatics, Wentworth prowls the streets of New York as The Spider, chasing down criminal masterminds bent on enslaving or destroying humanity.

The pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s produced a number of memorable heroes, but none were as action-packed or violent as The Spider. For neatly a decade, he was the self-proclaimed scourge of the Underworld, doling out his own particular brand of justice and imprinting his dreaded red Spider seal on the foreheads of those he killed for the good of mankind. Unlike Doc Savage, who radiated health and well being, or The Shadow, who worked covertly with the police to solve crimes, The Spider was an obsessed loner, imbued with the spirit and the lawlessness of a vigilante. Offering a less optimistic and more
defiant take on the challenges of the Great Depression, the villains in the novels of The Spider were equally obsessive, committing acts of destruction on a massive scale. Essentially terrorists, they thought nothing of sinking huge ocean liners, toppling skyscrapers, and wiping out entire towns with germ warfare – and their motivation for such acts was often nothing more than sheer evil for its own sake.


The stories of The Spider plunge you headfirst aboard an emotional roller coaster, with scarcely a moment’s pause for respite. Oriental death traps, treacherous and alluring women, and rabid, machine-gun toting gangsters are all part of a typical day for this beleaguered hero. And, to make things worse, Wentworth is frequently suspected of being the dreaded Spider, his home is periodically destroyed, and his servants and friends – particularly the long-suffering Nita Van Sloan – kidnapped, tied-up, and threatened with horrible torturous deaths.

If you’re only familiar with Doc Savage or The Shadow, The Spider offers a fascinating and, even today, often shocking alternative for those who are fascinated by the pleasures of pulp fiction. RadioArchives.com is excited to offer an ongoing series of double-novel reprints featuring the timeless tales of The Spider, complete with the original full-color covers and reformatted for easy reading. And, coming soon, new Spider audiobooks, too! Make RadioArchives.com your source for the best in classic pulp fiction entertainment!



Listen to this Newsletter!


Sit back, relax, and enjoy this newsletter as an Audio Podcast! Click anywhere in the colorful banner at the top and you’ll automatically hear the Radio Archives Newsletter, enhanced with narration, music, and clips from our latest collections! This audio version of our regular newsletter is a pleasant and convenient way to hear all about our latest products, as well as the newest pulp fiction reprints, special offers, and much, much more!

MOONSTONE MONDAY-CHILLS AND THRILLS IN OCTOBER!

  • News
  • June 13, 2011
OCT ’11 releases
RETURN OF THE MONSTERS: The Spider vs Werewolf
Story: Martin Powell
Art: Jay Piscopo
Cover: Dan Brereton
40pgs, grayscale, $3.99
A Return of the Originals event!
A seething, ferocious nightmare from the Spider’s dark past invades New York City, preying upon the innocent and the helpless. Mutilated victims are strewn in the blood-slick streets, and once normal men have become murderous monsters. The Master of Men must face the deadly demons alone. Not even his beloved Nita Van Sloan can be trusted when everyone—including the Spider himself—may not be what they seem.
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RETURN OF THE MONSTERS: BLACK BAT vs Dracula
Story: Mike Bullock
Art: Eric Johns
Cover: Dan Brereton
40pgs, grayscale, $3.99
A Return of the Originals event!
For the first time in history three eras collide in one place as Pulp Fiction’s newest heroine, Death Angel joins forces with Pulp’s enduring vigilante The Black Bat to battle the eternal face of horror, Dracula. Mike (The Phantom) Bullock and rising star Eric Johns bring this spine-tingling tale of darkness, lust and fear to you, wrapped in a visceral cover crafted by horror comic legend Dan Brereton.
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RETURN OF THE MONSTERS: DOMINO LADY vs Mummy
Story: Nancy Holder, Bobby Nash
Art: Rock Baker, Jeff Austin
Cover: Dan Brereton
40pgs, grayscale, $3.99
A Return of the Originals event!
The Egyptian sorceress Nephthys has promised to build her mummified mistress the perfect mate. Together, they cut a bloody swath across 1930’s Hollywood in search of the last few perfect bodies to harvest to complete the process. The last thing Nepthys or the mummy expected to run across was The Domino Lady, a perfect body that fights back.
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RETURN OF THE MONSTERS: PHANTOM DETECTIVE vs Frankenstein
Story: Aaron Shaps
Art: Andrew Froedge
Cover: Dan Brereton
40pgs, grayscale, $3.99
A Return of the Originals event!
“THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE: THE BLOOD OF FRANKENSTEIN”
One of the greatest crimefighters in pulp history crosses paths with the most iconic monster in all of pop culture! Frankenstein’s monster is on a rampage in New York, leaving a trail of destruction—and dead bodies—in his wake, but before the Phantom Detective can stop him, the World’s Greatest Sleuth must contend with the insidious, occult Nazi brotherhood known as the Order of the Black Sun!
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Justice Machine #2
Writer: Mark Ellis
Art: David Enebral/Mar Degano
Cover: Jeff Slemons
32 Pages, color, $3.99
The Justice Machine: Object of Power #2 (of 3)
DARKFORCE RISING!
As The Justice Machine battles to survive in a shocking new reality, they are torn by personal horrors and tragedies…but the countdown to enslave all of humanity has begun and the Machine must face their most implacable foe—Darkforce! Their demonic arch-enemy has returned for a deadly confrontation that will remake the Earth or ensure its final destruction!
The saga of the legendary super-team continues!
___________________________________________________
Airboy presents the Airfighters
Story: Jeff Limke
Art: Giovanni Timpano
Cover: Tom Grindberg
40pgs, grayscale, $3.99
Air Fighters: Insurrection.
Starring Airboy, Sky Wolf, Flying Dutchman, Black Angel, and Flying Fool!
A botched mission forces the Air Fighters into a standoff against
Vichy soldiers, leaving the fate of concentration camp prisoners
teetering in the balance.
______________________________________________________
ZOMBIES vs CHEERLEADERS #5
(W) Steven L Frank and Pals (A) Various
32pgs, color, $3.99
Each issue features killer stories by some of the top indie writers and artists out there. This anthology, and the awesome covers that showcase it, is a read not to be missed if you enjoy horror or humor, or both (humror?)! See what all the buzz is about in the pages of ZvC!
Bill McKay (50%) Ryan Kincaid/Jason Worthington (20%) Pasquale Qualano (20%) Ben Hansen (10%)
_____________________________________________
Vampire, PA: Pittsburgh Noir Limited HC
J.C. Vaughn, Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim
Full Color / 104 Pages / Hardcover, $34.95
ISBN: 978-1-936814-13-8
Vampires in suburbia? Dean Marklin didn’t believe in vampires until a beautiful one tried to kill him! Now he’s a vampire hunter trying to hold onto what’s left of normal life. How do you think that’s working out for him? This new limited edition hardcover collects Moonstone’s three-issue Vampire, PA mini-series, bonus story pages, and the prose short story that inspired it, from the writer of Zombie-Proof and Bedtime Stories for Impressionable Children. Visit Western Pennsylvania’s oddly vampire-rich environment! Cover by Mark Wheatley.
*Note: All copies ordered on initial orders come with a signed bookplate.
­­­­­­­­­­­­
CAPTAIN ACTION: Season 2 HC
Story: Steven Grant
Art: Reno Maniquis, Manual Martin
Cover: Art Thibert
120pgs, Color, 7” x 10”, HC, $36.95
978-1-936814-12-1
The new adventures of the original super-hero action figure continue as the original Captain Action, and his son Cole, the new Captain Action, face the insidious challenges of the Red Crawl. And along the way they encounter Lady Action, Patriot Power, Crescent and…Dr. Eville! The full story arc from “Season 2” including the epilogue is collected here.
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OMEGA PARADOX #1
(story) Ian Ng
(Art) Mark Sparacio
(Colors) Abe Melendez
32pgs, color, $2.99

Julian and Solarra face off against mercenaries to rescue a man from their grasp, leading to a tenuous partnership. The enigmatic man leads them into the bowels of antiquity in search of a fearful artifact.
Moonstone introduces a creator-owned effort from Mark
Sparacio (Captain Action, Jonah Hex) and newcomer Ian Ng, in full color.
Two Covers (75/25 split)

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Moonstone’s Modern Myths – The Blackest Terror #1
(W) Eric M Esquivel (A) Ander Sarabia
32pgs, B&W, $2.99
The Blackest Terror is a pioneer in what sociologists have dubbed “the super hero subculture”, a collection of racial and social minorities who feel underserved by the mainstream legal system and have decided to take matters into their own costumed hands.
How will the world react to these benevolent outlaws? Will they become celebrated symbols of humankind’s capacity for good or hated catalysts of a bloody revolution? This is a new breakout series not to be missed.

MOONSTONE MONDAY-WHAT’S COMIN’ IN SEPTEMBER!!!

MOONSTONE SEPT ’11 RELEASES
Moonstone Pulp Fiction Magazine #1
Story: CJ Henderson, Mike Bullock
Art: misc
Cover: Doug Klauba
96pgs, grayscale, 8” x 11.5”, $7.99
A “Return of the Originals” MEGA event!
New comic and prose stories, of classic pulp characters like The Spider, The Black Bat, The Phantom Detective, Secret Agent X, G8, and so many more!
*Plus a special new crime fiction prose story of the Green Hornet only available here!
———————————————————————-
Airboy/G8 Limited Edition HC
Story: Chuck Dixon
Art: Ken Hooper
Cover: Tom Grindberg
50pgs, grayscale, 7” x 10”, HC $14.99
ISBN: 978-1-936814-11-4
Join us for this very special “Return of the Originals” event!
A once in a lifetime aerial extravaganza!
Two high-flying ace legends meet for the very first time in a brand new all out adventure by action-master Chuck Dixon!
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Savage Beauty- limited Edition HC
Story: Mike Bullock
Art: Jose Massaroli
Colors: Bob Pedroza
Cover: Paul Gulacy
70pgs, color, 7” x 10”, $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-936814-09-1
Collecting issue #1 and the never-before-published issues #2 and #3!
Ripped from today’s world news comes a re-imagining of the classic jungle girl genre debuting a new hero for the modern age!
Join the Rae sisters, recent UCLA grads, as they travel across modern-day Africa finding their place and making a difference. Guided by the mysterious Mr. Eden, they assume the identity of a mythical goddess and reveal their Savage Beauty.
     Mike (The Phantom) Bullock presents a fresh new spin on the genre, featuring real-world conflicts in Africa and beyond.
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Buckaroo BANZAI #2
Story: Earl Mac Rauch/Paul D. Storrie
Art: David Daza
Colors: Patrick Williams
Covers: Malcolm McClinton, Kyle Henry
32pgs, color, $3.99
Rated: PG-13
The man, the marvel, the human achievement, is back!
From the cult movie starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, and Jeff Goldblum!
The creators/film makers are telling NEW stories!
Your favorite neurosurgeon/rock star/adventurer returns, along with his Hong Kong Cavaliers, in: TEARS of a CLONE!…where a Death’s Head tank squad lurks in suburbia, talking bouncer-robots attack, expensive love wants to erupt, and Lectroids run with scissors, and then… shotguns! The world may never be the same.
(————————————————————————-
The Spider: Satan’s Seven Swordsmen GN
Story: Norvell W. Page
Art: Gary Carbon
80pgs, 7” x 10”, grayscale, $9.95
ISBN: 978-1-936814-10-7
A Wide-Vision Graphic Novel!
The Spider—cloaked, fanged nightmare in black— delivers swift justice with a pair of .45 automatics! Set against a world at war, this epic adventure is laced with great over-the-top action foreshadowing James Bond!
The Spider battles the sinister Dr. Fuji and his deadly ring of assassins spearheading a large-scale terror attack on  America! 
——————————————————-
The Spider #3/4
Story: Martin Powell, Gary Phillips
Art: Hannibal King, Jay Piscopo
Cover: Dan Brereton
56pgs, grayscale, $5.99
The never-offered issue #3 and #4 together in one brand new book!
The Spider faces a monstrous flesh-eating evil that attacks invisibly from the
filthy shadows, leaving doomed New York City in a panic-stricken state of
hysteria and gruesome sudden death. None are immune to the plague of the
Creeping Hell, not even Nita Van Sloan, the Spider’s beloved.
PLUS: more Operator5
DOC SAVAGE: Python Isle – Unabridged Audiobook
Written by Will Murray, based on a concept by Lester Dent Narrated by Michael McConnohie Produced and Directed by Roger Rittner Cover Art by Joe DeVito
8 CD’s, $25.98
ISBN: 9781610814010
The greatest pulp fiction hero of the 1930s returns in the first of a new series of audiobooks! Doc Savage, the legendary Man of Bronze, captivated adventure readers of the 1930s and 1940s in his own pulp magazine and in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s in the million-selling paperback series for Bantam Books. In 1990, Will Murray, heir apparent to Doc Savage originator Lester Dent, revived the famous Street & Smith superhero in a new series of exploits based on Dent’s unfinished works. Writing as Kenneth Robeson, Murray brought Doc Savage back with “Python Isle”, a dramatic account of a long-lost pioneer flyer who returns to civilization with an exotic woman who speaks a lost tongue. From his towering skyscraper headquarters in New York, through a dangerous Zeppelin journey to Cape Town, climaxing on a serpent-haunted island in the forbidden reaches of the Indian Ocean, Doc and his iron comrades race to untangle a weird puzzle so deep the only clues can be found in the Bible!
——————————————————-
RES: Honey West #5
Story: Elaine Lee
Art: Ronn Sutton
Colors: Ken Wolak
Covers: Marat Mychaels
32pgs, color, $3.99
The ALL NEW adventures of the first female private eye continue!
Join Vertigo’s (“Vamps”) writer Elaine Lee for the conclusion of “Murder on Mars” as Honey goes undercover on the set of the sci-fi film Amazons of Mars to investigate the mysterious death of Zu Zu Varga, queen of the B-movies. It looks like murder, but who had motive? Was it the scheming ingénue, the down-on-his luck director, the jealous agent, or the ageing teen heartthrob? Robots, aliens and murder in 1960s CA!
————————————————————
RES: KOLCHAK: the Night Stalker Files #3
Story: Chris Mills
Art: Jaime Martinez
Cover: Woodrow Hinton III
32pgs, grayscale, $3.50
New format! Cheaper price!
Deep in the heart of the wild Everglades, a bloodthirsty swamp beast is on
the hunt for human prey. But, when reporter Carl Kolchak sets out with a
U.S. Marshall to find the creature, he learns – the hard way – that not all
monsters are what they seem to be.
————————————————––
RES: Airboy Presents: AIR VIXENS#1
Written by Mike Bullock
Art: Ben Hansen
Colors by: Bob Pedroza
Cover A : Ben Hansen
Cover B, C :Franchesco!
32pgs,grayscale, $3.50
More story pages than ever before!…new format, cheaper price!
From the pages of Air Fighters comes the first issue of Air Vixens starring Black Angel, Bald Eagle and Valkyrie.
     When Der Furher sent Valkyrie to smuggle secret weapons and intelligence across Europe in a zeppelin, he didn’t expect Black Angel and Bald Eagle to crash the party, and neither did they.
     Tune in for the first issue featuring the high flying femme fatales of the Air Fighters in this oversized, bombastic first issue!

SPIDER Comic Writer Offers Body Count Contest!!!

  • News
  • March 17, 2011

Martin Powell, writer of THE SPIDER comic series from Moonstone, offered readers and chance at an unique prize this week. This contest was set up in celebration of Moonstone’s THE SPIDER #1 hitting the stands this week. 

From Powell-

SPIDER Contest! Win an official SPIDER insignia ring! Okay, for all of you following my new SPIDER comic book series (first issue on sale today!), here is the challenge: Guess the body count! That’s right. Whichever reader comes the closest to numbering the SPIDER’s fallen prey–after issue # 6, concluding the first year’s storyline–will win this cool SPIDER insignia ring, polished up and packaged by Nita Van Sloan herself! So buy THE SPIDER # 1 and start paying attention to those falling, bleeding bad guys!

At the conclusion of THE SPIDER # 6, the body count should be sent to me on Facebook. Whoever comes closest to my own calculations wins the ring!

The evil attempts to make Spider-Man suck

  • News
  • June 18, 2009

And, y’know, this guy didn’t even mention One More Day or the Spider-clones.

Sam Raimi Discusses ‘Spider-Man’

  • News
  • October 18, 2008

Hold onto your web fluid capsules, Spidey fans. It’s gonna be a while before your friendly neighborhood wall crawler swings his way back onto the big screen.

Sam Raimi sat down with MTV to discuss his recently announced return to the Spider-Man franchise, and admitted that it could take some time for the sequel to get off the ground.

"I’m really excited about Spider-Man, and I’m hoping to direct it," he tells MTV. "I don’t have a script yet, but production would start probably by March 2010." That gives Raimi and his team plenty of time to sit down and figure out how to approach the franchise, especially in light of rumors that back-to-back sequels will be filmed.

"That had been talked about," admits Raimi. "[Shooting back-to-back] would be a real endurance test, probably only Peter Jackson knows how hard something like that would be."

"If Tobey and me, and all the producers, like the story for two pictures and [Sony co-chairman] Amy [Pascal] wanted to do it, then we would do it. [The script] just hasn’t been written yet."
  (more…)

Celldweller and Devil’s Due Remix ‘Halloween’

  • News
  • March 29, 2008

halloween-5514479

For those in search of some appropriate mood music to accompany Devil’s Due Publishing’s Halloween: Nightdance, it sounds like the crew at DDP has you covered.

The publisher recently posted a free download link for a techno/rock/orchestral remix of the original Halloween movie theme, courtesy of  the musician known as "Celldweller" — or maybe it’s courtesy of the artist formerly known as Klayton. I can’t be sure.

Either way, here’s the musician bio from the news section of the DDP site:

Celldweller – the versatile outlet of the artist, performer, producer, songwriter, programmer, and remixer Klayton, fuses the electronics of drum & bass and techno, with rock and orchestral elements, meshing the synthetic and the organic, darkness with beauty, into a cohesive blend entirely its own. Celldweller’s sound has captured the interest of the Film/TV/Video Game industry having licensed every track from the Debut Celldweller album, including credits in James Farr’s Xombified Online Series, recently adapted to comic form by Devil’s Due Publishing.

Credits include: “CSI” (Superbowl Spot), "Spider-man 2,” "Spider-man 3,” “Superman Returns,” “Silent Hill,” “Doom,” "The Last Legion,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Supercross,” “XXX: State of the Union,” “Constantine,” “Catwoman,” “Redline,” “The Punisher,” “Dirt,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Paycheck,” “Timeline,” “Mindhunters,” “National Security,” “Bad Boys 2,” “Crackdown” “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift,”  “Need For Speed: Most Wanted,” “Project Gotham Racing 3,” “Enter the Matrix” and “XGRA.”

You can download the track via the DDP site.

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