Author: Tommy Hancock

ANNOUNCING THE FIRST EVER ALL PULP Pulp Artist Weekend!!! Lead off interview-Tamas Jakab!

  • News
  • October 2, 2010
That’s right, Pulpsters!  In a last minute inspired decision ALL PULP is now dedicating weekends (as long as material and artist types last anyway) to that often unsung pulp creator, the ARTIST.  Each weekend, ALL PULP will endeavor to post interviews, columns, news, etc. that focuses on the work of artists of all types in bringing pulp to life!   

With the short notice of this (sorry, ALL PULP just works that way sometimes), if you have any art you’d like to share, make sure you have permission of the artist and send it on for the first ever ALL PULP P.A.W. Gallery to debut ON SUNDAY.  This will occur every weekend and will include art submitted for the Gallery each week!

First up for ALL PULP’s P.A.W., an interview with Tamas Jakab, artist and co-creator on EL GORGO!!!

TAMAS JAKAB, Artist/Letterer/Colorist/Co-Creator on El Gorgo!

AP: Who is Tamas Jakab?
TJ: Tamas Jakab is a person (presumably, though he may actually be a clone or a robot), who lives in Cleveland, Ohio with 2 cats, a dog and a girl. I had a brief career doing cover and design work for the late, great Frontier Publishing, as well as various freelance gigs. I am the co-creator, artist, letterer and colorist on EL GORGO! On the side I work a day job unrelated to comics.
AP: What are your artistic influences and aspirations?
TJ: From comics, Jack Kirby, because all superhero comics are Jack Kirby, whether they realize it or not. Also Grant Morrison, because he goes for the big, crazy ideas, and superhero comics work best when they’re big and crazy. Otherwise, the list could go on and on – Los Bros Hernandez, Darwyn Cooke, Steve Ditko, Mike Allred…
AP: What do your think your strengths as an artist are?
TJ: Certainly not inking. I think I’m barely adequate as an inker, which can be frustrating, because I really love the aesthetics of comic book inking. I do think I have a really good eye for color, design and typography though.
AP: What’s your dream project?
TJ: Currently, EL GORGO! I’m really not the type of person who just wants to draw BATMAN or SPIDER-MAN. I prefer working on original concepts where I’ve got a lot of creative freedom and can play with different styles and genres.
AP: How did you get involved with Mike McGee and end up co-creating EL GORGO! ?
TJ: I’ve known Mike since 1987. We first collaborated on an adaptation of one of his short stories for the FRONTIER PUBLISHING PRESENTS comic back in 2005, and we’d been trying to get a new project going for 2 years with little success. EL GORGO! was a happy accident that came from a proposal to do a throwaway story for a comics anthology. We pretty much had the basic character of El Gorgo worked out in about an hour. We quickly realized we had a really fun, high-concept character and kept at it after the anthology didn’t work out.
AP: Who is EL GORGO! ?
TJ: EL GORGO! is a super-intelligent luchador gorilla scientist who saves the world on several occasions, plays in the world’s greatest surf-rock band, Gorgo-A-Go-Go, and is an historical novelist on the side. He’s pretty much Reed Richards, Captain America, Indiana Jones and Doctor Who rolled into one.
AP: Where do you see EL GORGO! as a character and as a comic book going?
TJ: Optimally, EL GORGO! would be in the mind and heart of every living being on Earth. Right now we’re just getting issues out as we can, which isn’t as frequently as it should be, and I’d like to see us move away from print and entirely into digital publishing.
As a character, we’ve really just gotten started…
AP: What do you and Mike have planned for EL GORGO! ?
TJ: We have way more things planned out than we will probably ever get to. Currently we have the book plotted out to about issue 13 or so, which would run through the Secret Origin of El Gorgo. In between, there are still some major characters to introduce, but I can’t give spoilers. Should we ever get to it, we have a good idea what the last EL GORGO! story would be, and I know exactly what’s on the very last page.
In a perfect world, we’d find the time to go at least 40 issues, which seems to be the sweet spot for good comic runs.
AP: You did the cover for DILLON AND THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN BELL.  What was the concept for that cover?
It was based on a cover from DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE in 1933, “The Red Skull” by Walter Baumhofer, which is featured in the great collection PULP ART. Given Dillon’s pulp roots, particularly Doc Savage, I figured I’d go right back to the source for inspiration.
TJ: How did you achieve that aged look that makes the cover look like an old paperback?
Additionally, on the EL GORGO! back covers, I used halftone patterns to simulate old-school color separation by hand. I love the fact that I can use expensive modern technology to simulate cheap printing methods that were replaced by better technology.
AP: What’s your method of working? 
TJ: I work 100% digitally these days. I reached a point where it made no difference if I worked on paper or on the computer, except it’s easier to fix mistakes on the computer. I work primarily in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and I now use Manga Studio to draw and ink EL GORGO! The cover for DILLON AND THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN BELL was created in Corel Painter and then finished in Photoshop. 
AP:  What’s a typical Day In The Life of Tamas Jakab like?
TJ: Very hectic and yet unspectacular.
AP: Where should we go to see other examples of your work?
TJ: The covers for Frontier and some pre-EL GORGO art projects are still hosted on my old website, http://rednever.com. I’m no longer maintaining the site, and eventually the art projects will find a new home.
AP: Anything else we should know about you?
TJ: I haven’t forgotten about EL GORGO! issue #4! I have some other non-art projects I have to work on, but I’ll be back on it as soon as I can!

SKY CAPTAIN-REVIEWED BY DERRICK FERGUSON AT THE LONG MATINEE!

  • News
  • October 2, 2010

THE LONG MATINEE- Movie Reviews by Derrick Ferguson

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW

2004
Paramount

Produced by Jon Avnet
Written And Directed by Kerry Conran

In doing my research prior to writing this review I discovered that Kerry Conran originally wanted to do this movie with unknown actors and break it up into ‘chapters’ and present it as if it were a lost serial from the 1930’s that had recently been discovered. I would really have liked to see that version of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW since I think he could have pulled it off. As anybody who’s read my work knows, I’m a full out geek when it comes to the blood and thunder pulps of the 1930’s and 1940’s and Saturday morning serials and 90% of my work is written in the tradition of the pulps. As I watched SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW I realized that I had a spiritual brother in Kerry Conran. I don’t often recommend that people see a movie just for the way it looks but SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW is one of those movies. It’s an out-of-body experience that truly takes you into another world and despite what I think are some flaws that prevent it from being quite as good as such great pulp inspired films such as The Indiana Jones movies “The Rocketeer” “The Phantom” and “Buckaroo Banzai” it’s an astounding adventure movie that proves what I’ve been saying for years: pulp action adventure is alive and well and if presented in the right way, people will eat it up.

The look of the movie is achieved through the means of almost total CGI. Except for the actors, their costumes and some of the sets, nearly everything else is a digital creation and the results are simply astounding in evoking a 1939 that only existed in the pages of pulp magazines and serials and could only be realized now. There’s a certain irony in the fact that the best way to visualize a world of the past is by means of a futuristic technology but it works. Boy, does it ever work.

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW takes place in an alternate Earth where the Second World War has obviously never happened. We can tell that right from the beautiful opening sequence where The Hindenburg III docks at The Empire State Building. That huge tower on the top was designed exactly for that purpose in our reality but after it was built it was discovered that the high winds would make dirigibles move around too much and make it impossible for passengers to disembark. But in this world they’ve obviously overcome that problem. Aboard The Hindenburg is Dr. Vargas (Julian Curry) who is on the run from sinister forces who have been kidnapping the world’s leading scientists and he’s next on the list.

He’s come to New York to warn his colleague, Dr. Jennings (Trevor Baxter) who in turn contacts the crack reporter of The New York Chronicle, the wonderfully named Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) and informs her that he was once a member of a mysterious group known as Unit 11 who worked for a Doctor Totenkopf (Sir Laurence Oliver in archival footage) who worked on projects that were “too horrible to speak of” It’s during their meeting that New York is attacked by an army of giant flying robots that proceed to steal the city’s generators. There’s only one chance for the city to survive and the call goes out for Joe Sullivan aka Sky Captain (Jude Law) to come and save the day in his customized, pimped-out P-40 Warhawk which he does in a breathtaking sequence that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

Turns out that Sky Captain is the only hope to find out where these giant robots are coming from and why they’re attacking cities all over the entire world for their generators. Sky Captain is ably backed up by his own private army and his faithful sidekick, Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) who judging from his speech patterns and technological genius must be an ancestor of Star Trek’s Mr. Spock. Polly insists on going along the adventure and it turns out that she and Sky Captain had a wild romance in the past that resulted in her sabotaging his beloved plane.   That led to him being held in a prison for six months so there’s a certain amount of friction there that leads to some entertaining banter between the two as they go off on a world-wide quest for Tontenkopf’s secret base to stop his mad schemes. They’re followed by The Mysterious Woman (Bai Ling) who is Totenkopf’s enforcer and seeks to stop them. Along the way Sky Captain and Polly get the help of Franky (Angelina Jolie) the eye patch wearing commander of a fleet of aerial aircraft carriers and they assault Dr. Totenkopf’s island fortress in a last ditch effort to save the world.

SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW is a great movie for those of us who love the pulps and those of us who have no idea of what the pulps were and want to know. Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie do an absolutely bang-up job in their roles and considering they were working on sets where they had to imagine what they were seeing, they do a great job. I really liked Angelina Jolie’s work in this movie and I bet if you ask her she’d admit that she’s a fan of Jim Steranko’s “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” since her role is practically a 1930’s female version of that character. There’s a fantastic scene where she and her squadron of ace pilots dive into the ocean and we see that their planes can also become submarine fighters that had me jumping up and hollaring like a maniac. And I won’t even tell you the scene that happens after that when she has to take out a giant robotic crab monster protecting Totenkopf’s island.

But SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW does have some major flaws. First is that even though Sky Captain is the hero he never has a real enemy to face off with. Dr. Totenkopf is played by Sir Laurence Oliver who died before the movie was made and so only appears either in footage that has been CGI’ed. And The Mysterious Woman looks as if she might be a formidable enemy but she and Sky Captain never have a real emotional or physical conflict. Near the end of the movie, The Mysterious Woman and Sky Captain square off in a battle that looks as if we’re going to get some real ass-kicking action but it doesn’t happen. It’s resolved in a manner that had me saying; “That’s IT?!”

Another thing that had me puzzling over is that early in the movie it’s said that the nations of the world have to rely on Sky Captain and his private army to find Totenkopf since their armies are engaged in other conflicts. Well, if in this world there’s no World War II then what conflict is going on that would prevent the world powers from sending their armies after Totenkopf.  And I also didn’t like how near the end where Sky Captain and Polly have been busting their asses to save Dex for nearly 30 minutes of the movie’s running time Dex shows up to save them and he explains how he escaped in an unconvincing offhanded manner.

And the movie doesn’t have the headlong adrenaline rush of the Indiana Jones movies or “The Rocketeer” or “The Phantom”. It’s a good movie, don’t get me wrong…but it’s obvious that the director is more in love with getting the look and feel of the movie right more than the action elements. But you just can’t beat the scene in New York with Sky Captain fighting the robots and that simply incredible underwater scene with the amphibious planes. Stuff like that is what a pulp fan like me lives for and I certainly got it. But there’s a curious lack of headlong action that doesn’t carry you along in a rush that I attribute to the director. Kerry Conran is good, yeah, but he’s not a major action direction who could have torn up the screen with material like this.

The performances in the movie are also worth mentioning. SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW was part of the Jude Law Film Festival of 2004 where it seemed as if every other movie that hit the screens that year starred Jude Law. He’s really good in this one as he plays it absolutely straight. His daredevil pilot Joe Sullivan would have been right at home in a Howard Hawkes movie like “Only Angels Have Wings” and I loved how during the underwater fight scene Angelina Jolie was grinning like a kid on Christmas while wearing a helmet I’m positive was inspired by Wally Wood.

So should you see SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW? Without a doubt. It’s an excellent movie simply on a technical level in that it brings to life a world that I love with my whole heart and I try to recreate in my work. I would advise you to see The Indiana Jones movies or “The Rocketeer” or “The Phantom” if you want to know what the action and energy of the pulps and Saturday Morning serials felt like but see SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW if you want to know what the pulps and Saturday morning serials looked like.

106 minutes
Rated PG

PLANETARY STORIES REACHES 20TH ISSUE!!

  • News
  • October 1, 2010
From Publisher Shelby Vick-
“Jerry Page, Bob Kennedy and I tossed around the idea of having our October issue be a Special Holiday Issue — then decided, “Nah — we’ll just see what comes along.”
What came along was a great group of holiday stories!  More, in fact, than we had in our distant Holiday Issue.
In reverse order, we start with Eugie Foster’s classic story about the origin of Chinese New Year — well-illustrated by Roy Coker.  Then Rob Shelsky flabbergasted us with some Christmas humor that should become a classic on its own.

 Jim Griffin took an unusual step and wrote a short Christmas story about his Texas Ranger, Jim Blawcyzk.  To this point, the Ranger has only been in novels.

The Mountie is involved in a Christmas story, Erwin Roberts presents us with a Grant Rockwell story set in a past Thanksgiving, while the FutureTeam saves Thanksgiving turkeys for the universe, four burlesque girls who happen to be ghosts star in a Halloween trilogy, while the Diamondville Dolls are involved in their own trick’r’treating, and —
Well, I’m sure I’m missing some!
Some people might view “Cavern Wight” by Lane Harrison as revisiting a major controversy from the 1940s but the truth is, it’s just a lot of fun to read. It’s the first of a series and we hope you enjoy it.
We also have space opera!  Ron  Butler brings us another Rory Rammer story, Kirk Straughen gives us excitement, Richard Logan has his hero save a princess, Bob Brolin’s strange friend has an adventure — there’s even a Capt Puffin adventure.
Have fun!”

Spectacled 7 Author on Earth Station One Podcast!!!

  • News
  • October 1, 2010

Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/27uv44j

Earth Station One Episode 27 – I Think I’m A Clone Now, There’s always two of me just a hangin’ around.


This week on ESO, Mike, Dan and Mike are joined by comic book writer Bobby Nash to talk about his new trade paperback Yin Yang, and then we dive back into the world of Star Wars and talk about Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Also this week we try again at our new crew rant section “Crew Kudos“.


Join us for another fun filled podcast that we like to call Episode 27: I Think I’m A Clone Now, There’s always two of me just a hangin’ around.


Table of Contents
0:00:00 Intro / Welcome
0:02:26 Crew Kudos – Batman: The Cult / The Akinator / Superman – Batman: Apocalypse / Comic Book Prices
0:28:48 Bobby Nash Interview
0:53:32 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
1:29:13 Show Close

Pulp 2.0 Press Announces New Line of Pulp Graphic Novels for Digital and Print

  • News
  • October 1, 2010
Pulp Publisher Launching Line by Licensing Wooley and Tidwell’s 1980’s Indie Comic Serials
MIRACLE SQUAD and TWILIGHT AVENGER for 2011 Release



Los Angeles, CA – Pulp 2.0 Press CEO Bill Cunningham today announced that the company is launching a line of what he calls “pulp graphic novels” for digital and print distribution.  The company begins this new line of pulp entertainment media by licensing the publishing  and media rights to the 1980’s indie comic book serials THE MIRACLE SQUAD and THE TWILIGHT AVENGER created by writer John Wooley and artist Terry Tidwell.

THE MIRACLE SQUAD was originally published as two 4-issue miniseries by  Upshot Graphics  and later, Apple Comics.  The first serial chronicles the adventures of a team of 1936 movie studio professionals who take on the mob bent on ‘acquiring’ their poverty row studio as a means of money laundering.  The team uses their unique skills in props, stunts, makeup, escapology and acting to uncover the leader behind the ‘hostile takeover’ and give him his two-fisted comeuppance. Cunningham is quick to say that, “The Miracle Squad is akin to today’s A-TEAM only set in 1930’s poverty row Hollywood. It’s fun, outrageous and jam-packed with all sorts of pulpy goodness.”

The second Miracle Squad serial  BLOOD AND DUST features the adventures of the team when they tackle a group of land thieves capitalizing on the infamous ‘Dust Bowl’ crisis of the 1930’s.  Set against the backdrop of the Oklahoma range, the movie studio adventurers go head-to-head against poverty, exploitation and cross-burning klansmen.  

THE TWILIGHT AVENGER is the story of a college student Reece Chambers who uses an arsenal of super-scientific gadgets to seek revenge against the criminals who ran down his fiancee and left her in a coma.  Unknown to Chambers is the fact the criminals are led by a masked villain known only as The Centipede. Originally launched by Elite Comics, the series was later published by Eternity Comics and featured zombies, mad scientists and even time travel.

“Both titles reflect the action-packed pulps, cliffhanger serials and B-movies of the 1930’s — the era which also inspired retro movies like THE ROCKETEER and THE INDIANA JONES series,”  said Pulp 2.0 Press MPB (Mad Pulp Bastard),  Bill Cunningham.  “John Wooley and Terry Tidwell captured that dynamic era within the pages of their comic achieving the perfect blend of the heroic daring of the serials with the real-life drama of the 1930’s Depression.  I remember reading both comics in the 1980’s when they were first published, and after I began building Pulp 2.0, I sought John and Terry out to see if their work was available. Their retro-styled comics are a perfect fit for our readers.”  

After several emails and phone conversations, Cunningham licensed the rights to bring back the duo’s comic creations for both print and digital readers.  While the books design style is still in the beginning stages of development, the company is approaching both Miracle Squad and Twilight Avenger as ‘pulp properties that look appropriate to their source material.’  As Cunningham says, “Pulp isn’t a particular medium, it’s an attitude.”  Since both titles were obviously influenced by poverty row adventure cinema of the 1930’s it makes sense to keep and try to amplify that aesthetic.  Miracle Squad and Twilight Avenger  are both terrific stories and our audience deserves to read them in uniquely designed collected editions in whatever format they choose. This is the approach we have taken with our first book, BROTHER BLOOD by Donald F. Glut as well as our soon-to-be-released RADIO WESTERN ADVENTURES which features a ‘lost’ short stories by Glut and legendary DOC SAVAGE creator Lester Dent.”

To that end, Pulp 2.0 is digitally ‘cleaning up’ the original pages for both  Miracle Squad and Twilight Avenger and compiling many bonus “behind-the-scenes” features for the print editions. The bonus features will include design sketches, notes, script pages and essays. “We take our time in the design phase and try and come up with a few special surprises for our readers,” said Cunningham.  “Our goal is to create collectible editions that are easily available online.”

John Wooley, the writer / co-creator of Miracle Squad and Twilight Avenger had this to say: “No one loves pulps and the whole idea of classic pulp fiction more than I do, and our first  phone conversation made it clear to me that Bill Cunningham was a kindred soul who not only shared that love, but also knew exactly how to get the Twilight Avenger and the Miracle Squad to a wider audience than they were ever able to reach during their initial runs.  F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote that there were no second acts in American lives. Terry and I are so pleased that,  thanks to Pulp 2.0 Press,  our ’30s heroes and heroines are going to be an exception.”

Both ‘pulp graphic novels’ are scheduled to begin release in 1st quarter 2011.  More details will be made available as they develop. Please visit the Pulp 2.0 website at http://www.pulp2ohpress.com/.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Bill Cunningham at the information at the top of the page.

About Pulp 2.0:

Pulp 2.0 is a publishing and media company that creates and distributes quality pulp entertainment media in every manner possible for its audience all over the world to enjoy. The company licenses, redesigns and republishes classic pulp, exploitation paperbacks and magazines through a variety of print and digital media; breathing new life into many of these ‘lost’ properties.

The company also creates new pulp entertainment for its target audience including the original vampire blaxploitation novel BROTHER BLOOD by Donald F. Glut, an internet radio adventure serial THE KNIGHTMARE  “The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight”  (produced in association with Toronto’s  Decoder Ring Theater), and the upcoming book tribute to legendary radio adventure historian Jim Harmon, RADIO WESTERN ADVENTURES.  In addition, the company is developing the re-release of Glut’s widely acclaimed horror-adventure book series THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN in collectible editions for print and digital.

INTERVIEW-MATT MORING, PUBLISHER, ALTUS PRESS!!!

  • News
  • October 1, 2010

AP: Matt, thanks for taking the time out to visit with ALL PULP. To kick this off, can you share some personal/professional background about yourself?

MM: Sure, I’m a web/graphic designer who’s worked in publishing for a number of years. In the past, I’ve put this art background to use doing artwork reconstruction work for Marvel, DC, AC, Disney, etc., for their various golden- and silver-age reprints.

But I’ve always loved pulps and I thought I could do at least a serviceable job in making attractive pulp reprints that matched their “cousin” hardcover comic reprints that Marvel and DC are doing.

AP: You are the head man behind Altus Press. What is Altus Press in terms of what it produces and its mission and purpose?

MM: Honestly, it’s to produce the books that I’d like to personally have on my bookshelf. That doesn’t just mean producing a collection of, say all the Secret Agent X stories just because I want them, but making them the de facto place to get these classic stories. In this case, all the Secret Agent X stories have been reprinted in one place or another, in one format or another, over the course of nearly 50 years. So my hope is that my Secret Agent X volumes will allow fans to toss out all those mis-matched reprints they already have–whether they’re the 60s Corinth paperbacks, Hanos digests, Bill Blackbeard photocopies, PDFs, etc.
In addition, I want to share with as many people as are interested all the interesting pulp stories that I’ve encountered, and there seems to be an endless supply of such material. The more I learn, the less I know, as the saying goes.

AP: Altus Press is well known for its collections of reprinted material, a lot of it thought long lost to the public at large. Can you give us a list of what characters you’ve got in your stable of reprints?

MM: Certainly. I try to do a healthy mix of “done in one”-type collections as well as multi-volume series. Some of the characters include Ravenwood, Mr. Death, Diamondstone, Doctor Death, Johnny Saxon, Ka-Zar, Ki-Gor, Jim Anthony, Polaris, Secret Agent X, Armless O’Neil, Seekay, The Bat, The Black Bat, The Cobra, Sheena, Senorita Scorpion, The Griffon, The Crimson Mask, Red Finger, The Man in Purple, The Black Hood, The Secret 6, The Purple Scar, The Blond Adder, Thunder Jim Wade, and many, many more that are on their way.

AP: What is the process you went through to gather these stories? Is everything you’re reprinting public domain?

MM: No. I generally tried to focus on PD material when I started, but in recent years, I’d say it’s about 50% PD, 50% licenced.
The process on each title is different. Sometimes a final product is quite clear to me, such as my recent Diamondstone: Magician – Sleuth book. In that case, it was very straightforward: there were only six stories and together, they filled out a nice 250-page book. There weren’t any other related stories from the author, G.T. Felming-Roberts, that made sense to include. So that book only took a matter of weeks to finish.

Other books take much longer to complete. My recent Norvell Page detective anthology, When the Death-Bat Flies: The Detective Stories of Norvell Page, has taken over a year to finish. It collects over 30 stories, and I only owned two of them. So it took quite a while to track all those down at finish that 800-page book. And there are other books that I’ve started but am looking for additional pieces to add to flesh them out. Some of these have been in this state for several years.

AP: What about new stories based on existing characters? Is this an area Altus Press works in? What titles?

MM: We do some new material here and there, but since other publishers like Airship 27 do a lot of that, I’ve focused on mainly reprint material. But I will recommend everything that Tom Johnson has written for Altus Press… he’s a pro and everything is a solid read. He’d done full collections such as the book Pulp Detectives, and he’s filled the lion’s share of our semi-regular anthology, Triple Detective. He’s also done new stories to augment reprint material such as in The Hand of Red Finger and The Man in Purple. And he’s got more on the way!

I hope that we’ll also do new material by other authors in the future.

AP: In dealing with new stories based on old characters, what is your opinion on modernizing/changing them to possibly appeal to a broader readership?
MM:  Well, since I don’t do a lot of new material, I don’t have much to say on it. But a lot of these long-running characters, such as Doc Savage, The Black Bat, The Phantom Detective, etc., all changed and grew within their original pulp runs. If they were published non-stop from the 1930s to now, something tells me editorial & buying tastes would have changed these characters anyway. So as long as the changes don’t make the characters unrecognizable, I have no beef with updating things.

AP: How about all new original characters in the pulp vein? What original characters has Altus Press published?

MM: I’ll just say this: look for news on this in the future.

AP: Yet another line that Altus Press has is its pulp companions/histories. What is the importance of providing these published histories to the modern reader and overall, why is pulp history relevant?

MM: There’s a lot of pulp scholarship that was written in the 1970s-80s in fanzines such as Echoes, Pulp Vault, etc., which deserves to be made more available to the public. These are great fun to assemble, as they’re like a puzzle to put together… what articles & content could/should be collected under one cover on a certain topic? These are the books I’ll frequently pull out to browse through for enjoyment.

Pulp-reading is, by its nature, an insulated group. By that, I mean it’s tough for a person to learn about a character/topic/theme without having to refer to multiple sources to get a thorough history. We shouldn’t force people to do homework. So I think making my Companion books available is a solution for those fans who wish to learn more about a topic… after all, there’s not a top of information on most of these characters online.

Additionally, many of these books revolve around series which were written by multiple authors under a house name. A lot of time has been spent on attempting to identify writers, and I felt it was important to make that research available. The next generation that wants to dig deeper on IDing authors will appreciate having this information in easy-to-reference editions, I’d reckon.

AP: You’re a publisher and a lot of pulp publishers are also writers? What about you? Are you a writer and if so, what is your general interest as an author?

MM: No, I wish. I’m not a good writer, so I’ll leave that to the people who are.

AP: Altus Press obviously deals with multiple pulp characters. Are there any you haven’t worked with/researched enough/been involved with in some way that are on your to-do list?

MM: Not really. I’ve published Lester Dent which was a dream come true. If anything, it would be great to have a hand at publishing an authentic Doc Savage or Shadow original story and have it considered part of cannon.

AP: It obviously doesn’t seem like you or Altus Press have anytime soon to slow down. Any further projects you can discuss?

MM: There’s plenty in various stages of completion now. The Page Death-Bat book I mentioned earlier is almost done. That’ll make 1200 pages of Norvell Page that I’ve done in just a couple of months.

I’m just about finished with another companion book, this being The Dime Detective Companion, which reprints a pretty cool story: the fifth anniversary story (from 1936) “The Tongueless Men”. What makes it cool is that it’s written in round robin style, with five of Dime Detective’s most popular writers at the time–William E. Barrett, Carroll John Daly, Frederick C.Davis, T. T. Flynn and John Lawrence–writing a chapter apiece. And it’s up to the reader to figure out who wrote which chapter! It’s pretty fun and it’s never been reprinted before.
I’ve also got my reprinting of the complete series of The Green Lama coming out soon. While I’ve spaced out my previous multi-book series reprints, I’m going to be putting these out in succession, across three volumes. So Green Lama fans won’t have to wait too long for the next books.

I also have a pair of books collecting the adventures of The Suicide Squad coming… two books containing six stories each.

Several more Companion books from Tom Johnson, such as The Black Bat Companion and The Dan Fowler Companion, as well as another collection of Tom’s new stories.

Another multi-book reprint series starring Richard Knight by Donald Keyhoe.

A special Phantom Detective anthology… Doc Savage fans will really enjoy this one!

And last (but certainly not least) is a collection of Paul S. Powers western material, about half of which is comprised of unpublished manuscripts. It’s going to be a great book.

And that’s just the next few months! There’s plenty more down the road. And I’d like to add that these would be impossible to do without the help of so many kind people in the pulp community, among them Tom Johnson, Will Murray and Ray Riethmeier… without their help, our books would be much weaker products.

AP: We can’t thank you enough for being with ALL PULP today, Matt!

MM: Thanks for having me. I’m pleased to see so many regular updates on All Pulp; it makes for frequent visits!

NEWS RELEASE-CAPTAIN ACTION AT NYCC

  • News
  • September 30, 2010
Captain Action’s NYCC Exclusives    
Collectors’ specials offered only at convention

New York, NY September 30, 2010: Captain Action Enterprises, LLC announces limited edition New York Comic Con exclusives for sale at booth #2380.

  • Captain Action & Dr. Eville NYCC 8” Action Figures   


A Cast-A-Way exclusive, packaged in “retro” box style, reminiscent of the original Captain Action Ideal toys from the 60’s. $25.00 each.

  • Captain Action Exclusive NYCC Trading Card Set


Packaged in a unique CA triangle container (styled after the chest emblem) this fifty-card set also includes a unique 51st Chase Magnetic Card.   $50.00 each.
(Regular sets will be available for $25.00 each.)
  • Lady Action First Appearance & Special Collector’s Card   


Captain Action (Season 1) #3 includes a special trading card and NYCC sticker. Lady Action writer Tony Lee will be on hand for a signing, as will Lady Action. $5.00 each.
  • Savage Beauty Limited Edition Prints


Suitable for framing, these prints are $10.00 each. (Captain Action and Zeroids also available.)
Also available will be the two items from TwoMorrows:  “Carmine Infantino-Penciller, Publisher and Provocateur” by Jim Amash. This book will be offered in hardcover and softcover.  As a tie-in with the new Savage Beauty preview, Back Issue #43, showcasing Jungle girls, will also be on sale at this booth, #2380.

About Captain Action Enterprises

Captain Action Enterprises, LLC is dedicated to creating new character experiences for both the collectible/nostalgia market and passionate fans of adventure toys and fiction through licensing, re-creations and creative innovations.  More information is available at www.CaptainActionNow.com.

Captain Action, Lady Action, Savage Beauty and The Zeroids and related characters are ©2010 and ™ Captain Action Enterprises, LLC.


For all the latest on Captain Action visit www.CaptainActionNow.com and  www.MoonstoneBooks.com

PRESS RELEASE-GETTING WILD WITH SAVAGE BEAUTY

  • News
  • September 30, 2010

 

New Jungle Girl Series SNEAK PEEK at NYCC 
New York, NY October 1, 2010 Moonstone Books and CAE, LLC are pleased to announce their new series, Savage Beauty, a re-imagining of the jungle girl comic genre, with a modern twist.  
New York Comic Con will offer attendees a generous sneak peek as Moonstone invites readers to take a walk on the wild side with Savage Beauty. This new comic series tells the stories of sisters Lacy and Livvy Rae and their adventures traveling across modern-day Africa.
Savage Beauty will take readers on an exciting journey as the Rae sisters discover their purpose and strive to contribute and make a real difference in the world.
After graduating from a UCLA, a crisis in Kenya opens up their eyes to a world of problems and possibilities beyond the college life they so enjoyed.  Their “day job” is as reporters for African Adventures Online, but the Rae sisters are guided by the mysterious Mr. Eden to assume the identity of the mythical goddess Anaya. Disguised as this “Savage Beauty”, the two girls fight Somali pirates, Ugandan warlords, rebel armies, corrupt politicians, and various other real-world adversaries torn from today’s headlines.

And the comic book series intends to make a difference too – each issue will donate a full-color advertising page to partner causes such as Oxfam, Just A Drop, and Invisible Children, among others.

Writer and co-creator Mike Bullock says, “Savage Beauty allows me the opportunity to continue exploring the themes I worked with in the pages of The Phantom. Combine that with an opportunity to work with some really brilliant artists on a property I helped build from the ground up, and the appeal for this series is not only relevant, but personal.”
Artists Jose Massaroli (pencils and inks) and Bob Pedroza (colors) join Bullock to bring to life this on-going series. 
Savage Beauty #1, on sale February 2011, a 48-page over-sized debut issue, includes the first Savage Beauty adventure, a classic reprint of the original jungle girl, Sheena, and Special Features including lost promotional art to a 60’s Raquel Welch jungle girl movie pitch, and a golden age cover gallery.  All this for the retro-rollback price of only  $2.99!
“We’re really excited for this series –and we want to provide fans with a great value from the get-go. And with engaging covers, a killer story and cool extra features – we know retailers will love it”, said retropreneur and marketer Ed Catto.
“I’m amazed and thrilled at the positive feedback we’ve already been receiving on the Savage Beauty Facebook page. If this feedback is any indication, this book will have a bright future”, said CAE’s Joe Ahearn.
The first issue sports a “Movie Poster” cover by Thomas Yeates and two  “Welcome to the Jungle” variant covers spotlighting the girls, Lacy and Livvy, by fan favorite, Dave Hoover
Future covers boast strong talent, including Paul Gulacy, Mark Wheately and Newsweek’s Chris (Zeroids) Short. 
A special collectible ashcan of Savage Beauty #1 will be available at NYCC via the Captain Action’s booth #2380, specially priced for $1.00.
* * *
For all the latest on Savage Beauty and Captain Action, visit www.CaptainActionNow.com and become a fan on Facebook.
Information on Savage Beauty Comics can also be found at www.MoonstoneBooks.com
ALL PULP, THE PULP NEWS SITE, JOINS FORCES WITH THE PULP PODCAST!!

ALL PULP, THE PULP NEWS SITE, JOINS FORCES WITH THE PULP PODCAST!!

  • News
  • September 30, 2010

When the concept for doing ALL PULP was being formulated, an obvious aspect to consider was a podcast.  These modern takes on radio shows have proven beneficial to many fields, hobbies, and areas of interest.  The discussion was of course had about ALL PULP’s own Spectacled Seven putting together a podcast show of our own.  That discussion was a short one, though, as we already knew that a great Pulp Podcast already existed.  What? You haven’t heard of the excellent work being done by Ric Croxton and Art Sippo to bring Pulp goodness each and every week to the listening public?  Well, shame on you!  But don’t worry about it, because now that the Book Cave has graciously accepted the Seven’s request to serve as the official podcast for ALL PULP, you’ll hear plenty about the show, guaranteed!

Beginning with the 9/30/10 episode (#94) featuring an interview with Adam Garcia, author of the soon to be classic Airship 27/Cornerstone Publishers novel, GREEN LAMA UNBOUND, The Book Cave will be ALL PULP’s official Podcast.  What Ric and Art do week to week will not change in any way, but an addition to the show will be one of the Spectacled Seven joining the guys with a brief collection of news bits, soundbytes, and glimpses even further into the World of Pulp!  Derrick Ferguson kicks off this awesome period for ALL PULP on this episode, covering all the Pulp that is news!!   Watch this page for all the fun exciting information that will be pouring like bats on their way to a belfry out of the BOOK CAVE!!

Check out the debut of THE BOOK CAVE as ALL PULP’s official podcast here-
http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/  (And catch up on 93 other episodes of Pulpy goodness)!

INTERVIEW WITH SEA WITCH AUTHOR JOEL JENKINS!!!!

  • News
  • September 30, 2010

AP: Who is Joel Jenkins?

JJ: I’ll have a story addressing that question appearing in the upcoming The Gantlet Brother’s Greatest Hits book slated to be released next year through Pulp Work Press.  Some old enemies of Matthias Gantlet go gunning for him and they figure they can get to him through the writer that’s been chronicling his adventures. This story is inspired by a couple of real life occurrences.

AP: You’ve had a long love affair with Pulp.  How did it start?

JJ: When I was eight or nine I did janitorial work on Saturdays at a downtown office.  On lunch I’d go get a triple scoop ice cream cone for 65 cents and I’d finish it off while I was walking to the end of the town with the bookstores.  There was a new bookstore and a used bookstore within a couple blocks and I discovered Tarzan, Conan, Doc Savage and a myriad of other pulp era stories in those establishments.

AP: And how did that evolve into what you write today?

JJ: More than any other writing style, I enjoyed the fast-paced action and unfettered imagination that burst out of the pulp age.  I try to incorporate both of those things into my own work.  Character development and plot shouldn’t slow a story down, they should help move it along.

AP: And while we’re on the subject; what do you think about Pulp today?

In the 1930’s pulp fiction had a reputation for pushing the envelope, but most authors used some subtlety and restraint. Eighty years later almost anything goes and so some authors proclaiming to write pulp-style fiction lack the finesse (or the desire) to make their stories accessible and acceptable for reading by both youth and adults.  I started reading pulp stories at age eight and I sometimes have children between the age of eight and twelve approach me and tell me that they enjoyed one of my novels.  This being the case I prefer to leave some things as subtext so a more perceptive reader might pick up on them, but it won’t interfere with a youth’s enjoyment.

JJ: However, there is some great pulp being published today that it is accessible to both young and old.  A lot of the Clive Cussler stories fit into this category and he’s had great success, and Airship 27 puts out a great line of books reviving old and sometimes forgotten pulp characters with modern writers.  There are a number of other small presses putting out pulp-style books and Rage Machine puts out periodic issues of Dark Worlds magazine which focuses on pulp-style stories of all genres. 

AP: You ran a website for a long time devoted to Pulp called ELECTRONIC TALES.  Tell us about it.

JJ: I was one of the pioneers of the e-serial, where authors sent out stories a chunk at a time, via email, to a mailing list of readers.  Five times a week I sent out a page or two of story that usually ended in a cliffhanger of some sort.  At one point the mailing list was over 2,600 readers.

This was a lot of fun and forced me to get a lot of writing done.  However, like many companies in the internet boom there wasn’t enough revenue flow to keep it going indefinitely.  It did seem to make an impact, though, since one storyline was lifted wholesale and converted to be used in a major motion picture franchise—not that I ever saw a penny of royalty money.

AP: Tell us more about your Pulp inspired works.

JJ: One pulp-inspired fantasy series that doesn’t get as much play as some of my other works is the City of Bathos series, which includes Escape from Devil’s Head and Through the Groaning Earth. These draw from a Howardian influence, but really that’s just the starting point.  I mix in an unhealthy dose of well-founded paranoia and Lovecraftian elements, and tell the stories of various denizens of the city.  Mostly these arre just folks trying to survive the best they know how, but their agendas are much different and when their paths cross nasty things are bound to happen.

The first book is written from the perspective of insiders—people intimately familiar with the city of Bathos.  The second book, Through the Groaning Earth, focuses more on outsiders who have been shipwrecked on the reefs outside Bathos and on a handful of characters from the previous book that thought they had escaped Bathos’s pervasive influence and discover how wrong they are when the long-reaching hand of the Assassins Guild follows them to their haven.

AP: Before we get into THE SEA WITCH, tell us about Max Damage and Damage, Inc.

JJ: Olympic hopeful Max Damage inherits his father’s company, Damage Inc, when he receives news of his father’s untimely demise. He finds the books a horrible mess and begans secret compartments and secret company projects.  When a long-legged Russian woman breaks into the office one night looking for information on one of those projects Max realizes he’s in over his head. 

AP: What fascinates you about Max Damage?

Max is the anti-Doc Savage.  Doc Savage is the pinnacle of human mental and physical achievement.  Max has many amazing abilities but for every outstanding ability he has a drawback.  He possesses amazing strength and musculature but he has to eat like a horse to maintain his physique.  He has amazing eyesight but his ocular nerve is so sensitive that bright light effectively blinds him.  He can withstand extraordinary amounts of pain, but his sense of touch is blunted.  He has a photographic memory but is dyslexic.

AP: So why should we read THE SEA WITCH?

JJ: Primarily for an action-packed read with a trio of misfits as the heroes.  Secondarily, pulp fans might find Max Damage an interesting twist on the superhero archetype.  In no way, however, is this a parody of pulp.  I love the pulp esthetic and incorporate it into nearly everything that I write.

AP: How many stories have you written about Max Damage? What future stories have you got in mind for Max Damage and Damage, Inc.?

JJ: There is of course, the recently released Sea Witch novel.  I’ve also written a pair of novellas called The Sun Stealer and On Wings of Darkness.  Sometime in the next couple of years I hope to make that a trio of novellas and release them in a combined package.  The third story is tentatively titled The Madagascar Hole and will involve prehistoric fish and The Fountain of Life Foundation.  At some point there also may be a cross-over story with Derrick Ferguson’s Regency character.

AP: While we’re got you trapped, tell us about DIRE PLANET.

JJ: American astronaut Garvey Dire is marooned on Mars and while he is wounded and running out of oxygen he sees a repeating vision of a beautiful and strangely-alien woman crossing through a moss-covered structure.  When he interferes with the vision a time loop tosses him into the past and he finds himself in a Mars peopled by savage tribes, beautiful warrior woman, and dark-winged fiends that own the night skies.

This is my homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs, though it is not a pastiche in any way.  This Mars stands on its own and I’ve spent many hours developing its culture and etymology.  There are currently three published Dire Planet novels: Dire Planet, Exiles of the Dire Planet, and Into the Dire Planet.

Strange Gods of the Dire Planet is slated for a 2011 release and Lost Tribes of the Dire Planet is slated for a 2012 release.  I’ve currently finished a draft of Strange Gods and am about 85,000 words into Lost Tribes.


AP: What’s a typical Day In The Life Of Joel Jenkins like?

JJ: It starts at 5 AM and is very, very busy.

AP: What one thing of yours should we read right now?

JJ: Check out my blog at JoelJenkins.com or visit Amazon to pick up my novels in hardcopy and a number of them are also available in Kindle format. My stories are also available in a variety of electronic formats at Fictionwise.com.  Barnes and Noble also carries my books (It looks like they’ve currently got The Sea Witch at only $7.88, which is a 28% discount!) and many of the novels are available for the Nook.

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