ALL PULP INTERVIEWS ANDREW SALMON ON iPULP RELEASE!
Andrew Salmon (on left) |
Andrew Salmon (on left) |
PULPED! is a Podcast dedicated to the creators and fans of New Pulp! New Pulp, heroic fiction by modern artists written with the sensibility and in the tradition of the Pulp genre! Pulp creators Barry Reese, Derrick Ferguson, Ron Fortier, and Tommy Hancock kick off this podcast dedicated to the promotion of The New Pulp Movement by explaining what the podcast is about, defining and discussing New Pulp, and letting know listeners what they’re in store for.
Then Tommy and Barry take off their hosts hats and climb in the guest spotlight to discuss Barry’s latest book, THE ROOK-VOLUME SIX, published by Hancock through the company he’s a partner in, Pro Se Productions. The origins of the Rook, Reese’s inspirations, and the logic behind Pro Se acquiring the Rook as well as future plans for the well known character are discussed in length. Following that, our intrepid co-hosts take on the PULPED! News. Each week, the co-hosts will bring one topic of New Pulp news to the table and they will discuss, analyze, explore, and debate it! If you like your fiction heroic, if you seek adventure and action in every word you read, then come on in, take a seat, and get PULPED!
PULPED! will post each Monday!
Check out PULPED! and the New Pulp Movement at www.newpulpfiction.com and at the New Pulp forum hosted by Comic Related at
http://www.comicrelated.com/forums/ under NEW PULP! Also, like New Pulp on Facebook!
Lew Sayre Schwartz, one of the lesser known Bob Kane ghosts on Batman, died on June 7 at age 84 after a fall according to his son, Andrew. Schwartz began working for Kane as a ghost in 1948 and remained the principal artist under Kane’s name on the Batman features in Batman and Detective Comics until 1953. Art historians believe he produced at least 120 stories during this period.
Kane signed a new deal with DC in 1948 and hired Schwartz to help handle the workload. Schwartz’s work began with penciling the stories, letting Kane do the actual Batman and Robin faces, then ink the lettered pages. Kane was understood to have made frequent changes to the artwork, altering the main heroic figures and secondary characters.
Without benefit of credits in the stories, art experts can usually identify Schwartz work given the detailed backgrounds and his frequent staging of the action that carried less impact than the ones Kane himself composed. Some, including Eddie Campbell, consider Schwartz one of the finest practitioners ever to work for Kane’s shop.
Schwartz toured Korea in the aftermath of the Korean War, visiting the troops and returned feeling he no longer wanted to draw comic book stories. After leaving Kane’s studio, Schwartz went on to teach at what is now known as the School for Visual Arts. During this period, he also did ghosting work on several comic strips such as Secret Agent X-9 spelling artist Mel Graff, as well as several weeks of The Saint.
In 1961, Schwartz helped form Ferro, Mogubgub and Schwartz which produced live and animated commercials, earning the company four Emmy Awards and six Clio Awards. Schwartz began drawing storyboards and expanded his creative role over time. They may be best remembered for their animated title design work on Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 masterpiece Dr. Strangelove. Schwartz even went on to direct a Barbra Streisand television special. (more…)
First, some housekeeping. Yes, it’s been a while since I debuted this column and due to a variety of reasons, this is the first one in awhile. Do not worry, pulpsters, there will be one a week after this ad infinitum! Audio Pulp is not only an important part of Pulp history that many are not aware of, but its a growing facet of the genre even today, as you will see in this column today and weeks to come.
You’ll notice an addition to our logo. Yes, its true, Radio Archives has stepped forward, noticing the trend toward Audio Pulp and entered into an arrangement with All Pulp to sponsor this column. RA produces top of the line audio material bringing old time classic radio of all varieties to a modern audience. Fantastic sound quality, tremendous effort to not only preserve material, but also provide new and interesting information on material, and awesome packaging make RA’s offerings top notch. RA as well is readying itself to be one of the leaders in New Audio Pulp with its foray into audiobooks based on Pulp characters starring in new stories, just like the one I’m about to leap into the middle of. I will continue to cover all aspects of New Pulp Audio, not simply RA’s contributions, but I do want to thank Harlan Zinck and RA for the support and material and willingness to see the importance of this column enough to sponsor it.
PYTHON ISLE-A Doc Savage Audiobook
Written by Will Murray based on a concept By Lester Dent
Narrated by Michael McConnohie
Directed and Produced by Roger Rittner
Published by Radio Archives (www.radioarchives.com)
Not only has Radio Archives decided to move into New Pulp audio, They have done it by taking giant steps. The first RA offering in their Pulp Audiobook lineup is not only no lightweight when it comes to Pulp, but instead it is probably the top of the heap, the primo of premium pulp. And, not to telegraph this review or anything, Radio Archives meets that challenge just the way Doc Savage would have.
PYTHON ISLE is an audiobook version of the novel written in 1991 by Will Murray, based on a concept by Lester Dent. Directed and produced by Roger Rittner for RA and narrated by Michael Mcconnohie. The story opens with diamond smugglers catching sight of a plane they believe to be the authorities. Once the plane is downed, the smugglers discover that not only are there two strangely garbed people aboard, but the plane, once damaged, had been patched and repaired with what appears to be soft, pure gold. One of the plane passengers, a man who can speak English, is desperate to protect a bamboo tube he has and to make contact with only one man-Doc Savage!
Author Will Murray |
What ensues from this tense, in your face opening is the stuff pulp dreams are made of. From fist fights and gun battles to harrowing chases in various locales all the way to a ride and epic conflict aboard a Zeppelin, PYTHON ISLE delivers all the thrills and chills anyone could want. Add into that that this is a Doc Savage tale complete with Doc’s stoic presence, supreme intelligence, and skills honed finer than any blade as well as three of the five aides in their finest form ever and what you have in PYTHON ISLE is more than a treat, better than a nice surprise. It is simply New Pulp storytelling at its best.
Narrator Michael McConnohie |
With material like this, one would think that it would be difficult for an audiobook version to add anything at all to it. Boy, one would be wrong. PYTHON ISLE from Radio Archives takes this story from the pinnacle it already reaches in prose to an unbelievable high mark as an audiobook. Michael McConnohie is more than the ‘reader’ or ‘narrator’ of this adventure. He brings the exact intensity and passion to this story that any well crafted Doc tale would command. His mastery of his own voice is phenomenal, switching back and forth from Monk’s high pitched affectation to Renny’s thunderous rumblings and then to Bull Pizano’s gravelly retort. McConnohie makes this feel like a full cast audio drama and that brings the listener completely into the folds of the story.
Director/Producer Roger Rittner |
One issue many audiobooks have, and this is in part due to the fact that they are based on written prose, not scripts, is pacing. At times, audiobooks lag in the middle and whatever gait had been set previously is lost. This is definitely an issue with Pulp stories due to the naturally frenetic pacing good Pulp should have. PYTHON ISLE does not fall victim to this. Due to McConnohie’s voicing as well as Roger Rittner’s directing, this tale moves along at a good clip from beginning to end. There are points that I, being both an avid Pulp reader and an audio fan, predicted were going to be those spots where things started to plod and slow down, but every single time due to either a musical sting or a change in inflection or even the speed at which the words were delivered, that plodding never came, nothing slowed down. Rittner produced a fine piece of roller coaster up and down drama, probably the finest I’ve ever listened to.
Could PYTHON ISLE be better? Usually I would say that any audiobook could be improved by adding voices and sound effects and changing the leopard’s spots, so to speak, from audiobook to full cast drama. And don’t get me wrong, I would love to hear this story given that treatment. Having said that, though, I think that in this case, it would not improve what has been done to make it a full cast drama. I feel like that this audiobook would sit on a shelf right alongside the best possible version of this story as a full drama and still hold its own. The feeling I got from listening to PYTHON ISLE was much akin to what it must have felt like sitting in a darkened theater in the 1940s waiting to see what Captain Marvel or Gene Autry would do in the next chapter of the latest serial. It was nail biting, cliff hanging, and inspiring.
Radio Archives has announced that this is only the first of their Pulp Audio books and that future volumes would not only include Doc, but cover other characters as well. If that’s the case, then I’m one heckuva happy Pulpster.
…less than three months until [[[Star Wars]]] comes out on Blu-Ray!
Why, what did you think I meant?
Hat tip: Geeks Are Sexy. Amen.
This weekend, Bleeding Cool found a potential slip by Geoff Johns that hinted the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning Vertigo comic [[[100 Bullets]]] by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso was coming to TV as a series.
Now Deadline reports that screenwriter and comic writer David S. Goyer (Blade, The Dark Knight) is going to write and executive produce the show for Showtime .
If you aren’t familiar with the series, here’s the setup: a man comes to you and gives you a briefcase with a gun, 100 untracable bullets, and proof incriminating the person who done you wrong– offering you a chance to exact justice for themselves with no danger of being caught. What do you do?
(Incidentally, I’m impressed with Deadline’s comment threads– more bile than Newsarama comments, possibly because much more money is discussed than what you usually see spent on comics.)
One of the earliest comics series I inherited as an editor was M.A.S.K., based on the toys and cartoon series. I have no recollection how or why DC Comics acquired the comics rights but it was handed to Mike Gold shortly after he arrived on staff. He tapped the versatile Mike Fleisher as the writer, helping burn off contractual obligations. Better, he assigned the artwork to Curt Swan who needed something regular to produce after losing the Superman assignments. Inking was Kurt Schaffenberger so at least it looked good. I helped Mike get the series up and running then edited it a few issues before I handed it off to Mike Carlin to wrap up.
I never played with the toys or watched the cartoon, but thanks to Shout! Factory that can be rectified as seen in the following press release:
This Summer, loyal fans and collectors can finally bring home one of the most enduring animated adventures from the 80’s when the long-awaited M.A.S.K.: The Complete Original Series DVD box set debuts nationwide on August 9, 2011 from Shout! Factory, incollaboration with FremantleMedia Enterprises. Poised to attract an audience of kids, young adults and parents who grew up with this animated series, this 12-DVD box set contains all 65 action-packed episodes – known to fans as the original series aired in 1985, as well as insightful bonus features. A must-have for collectors to complete their pop culture video library, M.A.S.K.: The Complete Original Series is available for pre-order now from Amazon.com and major retailers. (more…)
Mixing genres can be fun. Take a traditional western story and set it in outer space. Take a submarine thriller and set it during the Civil War. Transplant a samurai to the western frontier. Should work, right?
The Warrior’s Way, a modestly budgeted flop from last year, is such a collection of joyless clichés that a sure-fire gimmick fails to impress, let alone entertain. The film, coming out this week from 20th Century Home Entertainment, had the makings of something fun or compelling or something instead of arriving limp
Yang (Jang Dong Gun) is an assassin for a clan in blood feud with a rival group. Without expression, he slices and dices his way through the opponents, turning the Japanese roads red with spilled blood. All that now remains is an infant girl and rather than kill her, he takes the babe with him and heads east to America. Somehow, other members of his clan find out this innocent child remains breathing and fear a renewal of the rivalry if she’s allowed to live, so they sail in search of Yang.
The stoic Asian arrives in a late nineteenth century town to seek a friend, who has died. Encouraged by Lynne (Kate Bosworth) to reopen the laundry, she teaches him how to wash clothing and a bond slowly forms. The oddball town has the local drunk with a past, Ron (Geoffrey Rush), and a carnival in residence, its misfit performers led by Eight Ball (Tony Cox). Life settles down and Yang becomes part of the fabric, enjoying the simple things such as planting a garden and delighting in the baby’s development.
Lynne, though, is a tortured soul, having seen her family gunned down by the corrupt ex-Army colonel (Danny Huston) who tried to rape her a decade earlier. When the Colonel returns to town, Lynne tries to exact revenge but is endangered. Yang is then forced to unseal his katana and defend her. The act, though, lets the sword sing, a sound heard leagues away by his clan who come seeking the baby.
After that it gets messily predicable until the end credits. We’ve seen the archetype characters before, all better written and the American cast has certainly done better work in similar roles. Even the wire work felt familiar and uninspiring. There’s little wonder the $42 million film grossed barely over $11 million worldwide. Been there, done that and done far better. This is neither clever or original, funny or a touching homage to what’s come before. This is just a clear misfire from the first frame forward.
I will give the video transfer props for looking great and the score sounds lovely. There are scant extras: a two minute production montage and 12 minutes of mildly interesting deleted scenes.
Once one of the best kept secrets on the web, now Rob Corddry‘s CHILDRENS HOSPITAL is part of Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network and you need to be watching. If that doesn’t convince you, listen to cast regulars Ed Marino and Lake Bell plus guest start/writer Paul Scheer. Plus GREEN LANTERN gets sucked into the box office vortex.
Do you watch CHILDRENS HOSPITAL? Drop us a comment below!
Summer will be here before we know it. That means vacation and beach reading time! And what summer would be complete without a vampire to cozy up with? (We remind you that [[[True Blood]]] season 4 premieres on HBO June 26th.)
This summer, let me recommend that you bring along installments 1 & 2 of Lucienne Diver’s Vamped series (Vamped, [[[ReVamped]]]; installment #3, [[[Fangtastic]]], comes in January, but watch for her urban adult fantasy Bad Blood out June 28th). They’re upper-level Young Adult novels, but I say, why should the kids get all the goodies? And these vamps do not sparkle, as if, thank-you-very-much! These books are the paperback equivalent of umbrella drinks – sweet, tasty, gone before you know it, go to your head, and can’t drink just one!
So, y’see, there’s Gina Covello (Hey! Diver’s Italian from the ‘burbs—she writes what she knows and kicks it—y’got-a-problem-wit-dat?!), the snarky, high school fashionista and, well, she has a bad day and suddenly she is, indeed, a vamp. Now what?! No mirrors—how do you do hair and make-up?! OMG! ‘Cause it is All About Gina—only it’s not. After all, she’s got a posse—and an anti-posse of evil to defeat! She may be snarky, but she’s a righteous chick! And, of course, she’s got a heart-throb BF by the name of Bobby Delvecchio (“of the old ones”…nice pun, that!) and the road to romance and adventure is full of twists and turns and…stakes! ‘Cause who wants to spend eternity being bored?! A whole lotta vampy goodness goin’ on.