Tagged: Death

JOHN OSTRANDER: Life and Death and Comics

As you all know, Steve Jobs died this last week. You also know, or should from everything that has been said about him since he died, that he co-founded Apple and was the visionary that brought us the iPhone, the iPad, the iPod and the computer on which I’m writing all this. Some have compared him to Einstein or Edison and, considering the influence he’s had or will continue to have, I think the comparison is apt.

Here’s some of what Steve Jobs said about death from his commencement address to Stamford University in 2005. He’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, had surgery, and hoped he had escaped it. Jobs was a reflective person, however, and talked about what the experience had taught him.

Death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new… Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

“And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

That’s profound advice for anyone who wants to be a writer, who wants to be any kind of artist. Jobs was an artist, in my opinion, and his medium was Apple.

This has had a special reverberation for me as well. I’ve been spending the week dealing with an irregular heartbeat. My heart sometimes goes ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. . . .ba-DUMP. We’ve all heard the phrase of how something or someone made your heart skip a beat. Well, mine has and I can tell you it’s not romantic; it’s a little scary.

Yes, I’ve been to the doctor(s) and there’s been a bunch of tests and there will be more to come. I’m told it’s not a heart attack. The initial diagnosis is palpitations. I’m one attack of the vapors from becoming a Southern Belle.

While this is something to pay attention to (and I am), it doesn’t appear to be dangerous at the moment. At the same time, it’s made me reflective of the fact that I am mortal and I will die. I’ve had a relationship with death all my life and I think it’s shaped me for the better. As a boy, any number of my relatives died by the time I was ten. I spent a lot of time at wakes and funerals. I saw dead people – ones I had known as living folks.

I lived across the street from our church and one bright summer morning I was on my bike in front of my house when a funeral cortege passed by heading to the front of the church. As I watched the hearse go by, I got the sense that someday the positions would be different. I would be in a hearse and some ten-year old kid would watch me pass by. As Jobs said, the old replaced by the new and that everything new eventually becomes old.

All those deaths – ones close to me like my father or my late wife, Kim, or of heroes like the Kennedys or John Lennon – have become part of me. It’s like the way artists use negative space to define objects. Death helps define life. Death has helped me define life for myself, it has entered into my writing and given it resonance.

Too often in comics we treat death as a plot device; the hero dies, the hero comes back. The grave has a revolving door. It’s a stunt to sell more books. I’ve done it myself. Some times it’s valid but it happens too often so that the death of a character really doesn’t mean anything anymore. Does that keep comics juvenile? Does it keep them from having any real resonance?

The medium itself is having death pangs in so many ways. Comic books shops are dying; print as a medium may be dying. Denny O’Neil once remarked to me that comics as a medium doesn’t have to exist; it can also be mortal. It can die.

Or it can change. The old parts die out and then get reborn. As Steve Jobs noted, death clears out the old to make way for the new. Maybe comics can benefit from a little death. It’s good to remember: nothing and no one lasts forever. That what gives life its poignancy and its value. Enjoy what you have while you have it. Love those you love while they’re here. Celebrate life; value death.

Life’s too short to read bad comics.

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

Vanguard Publishing announces Strange Worlds of Science Fiction – The Science Fiction Comics of Wally Wood

The Science Fiction Comics of Wally Wood

PRESS RELEASE:

Vanguard Publishing announces
Title: Strange Worlds of Science Fiction
Subtitle: The Science Fiction Comics of Wally Wood
Series: Vanguard Wally Wood Classics

Tales from the Crypt and Weird Science publisher Bill Gaines
called Daredevil, THUNDER Agents, and Mars Attacks co-creator,
Wally Wood “the greatest Science Fiction artist of all time.”
Strange Worlds collects rare 1950s Wood sci-fi comics Strange Worlds,
Space Detective, Capt. Science, Space Ace, and more. If you like Vanguard’s Frazetta Classics, try Vanguard’s Wood Classics.

Partial list of Contents:
The Flying Saucers,
An Earthman On Venus,
Spawn of Terror,
Winged Death On Venus,
The Monster God of Rogor,
The Martian Slayers,
The Insidious Doctor Khartoum,
Time Door of Throm,
Death in Deep Space,
Bandits of the Starways,
The Opium Smugglers of Venus,
Trail to the Asteroid Hideout,
The Weapon Out of Time,
Kenton of the Star Patrol,
Sirens of Space,
Rocky X: Operation Unknown

Author-Illustrator: Wallace Wood
Editor: J. David Spurlock
Cover: Steranko & Wood
Hardcover: 200 color 8.5 x 11 pages
HC Retail: $39.95
Publisher: Vanguard
Release: October 31, 2011
Language: English
HC ISBN-10: 1934331406
HC ISBN-13: 978-1934331408
Printed in: China
http://www.vanguardpublishing.com

MARTHA THOMASES: Comics, Quality and Obscenity

Inevitably, when discussing the best way to market comics to a larger, non-indoctrinated audience, someone will suggest “good writing and art” as the sure-fire remedy.

The mirror image of this is accusing publishers of employing “cheap publicity stunts.” I was on the receiving end of this charge from Gary Groth of The Comics Journal when he was questioned about the Death of Superman in USA Today. Naturally, I was miffed, because I thought my salary proved I was not cheap.

(I’m sure that’s the occasion when the most people ever thought about The Comics Journal.)

The premise, in any case, is incorrect. Or, rather, it should be. In publishing, the editorial department should decide what to acquire (or, in the case of comics and other work-for-hire situations, solicit) and the marketing departments (which include publicity) should promote this material to the people who would most enjoy it.

It never works like this. Publishers want to attract the largest possible audience, and they’ll instruct editors to jump on the latest trends, whether that’s sword and sorcery, black and white indies, steampunk, graphic novels, television and movie adaptions or whatever. You’ll notice that’s a jumble of genres and formats, not a single directive. That’s the kind of thing that makes editors lose their hair.

But wait! There’s more! Sometimes marketing people think they know more about what makes a book good than the editors. I’m thinking of one person at DC (now a vice-president) who boasted to retailers that he wouldn’t promote a book he didn’t like. I have no doubt that he thought this was the honorable thing to do, but it does a disservice to his employers and to the retailers. The marketplace is not made up of people with exactly the same taste as this vice-president. By limiting the options he offered to them, he limited their sales.

I didn’t like every book I promoted. However, I knew that there were potential readers for every book, people who would be entertained and amused and involved. I didn’t necessarily know these people, but I wanted them to be happy, so I wanted them to know about our comics.

It’s not a perfect system. At the time, DC published about 70 titles a month across all imprints. There weren’t enough mainstream media outlets to cover that much. I had to pick and choose what was most relevant to the media I was pitching. Again, trying to match the story to the potential audience was the key. I’m sure I made mistakes in my choices. I’m sure some worthy projects didn’t get their share of attention.

No one is going to argue against quality. It’s like arguing against apple pie and Mom. Maybe there’s an opposing side, but only opinionated and obnoxious people like Mike Gold and I like to argue for the sake of arguing. And because of our Talmudic tradition.

Unfortunately, when it comes to comics, quality is like obscenity – I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it. And what I see as quality you may not.

Lots of people enjoyed the Death of Superman storyline and its follow-ups, and lots of comics cognoscenti sneered at them for enjoying it. A lot of these people are preemptively sneering at the New 52. I hope they’re wrong. I hope it works.

I hope it brings happiness to millions.

Martha Thomases, Dominoed Dare-Doll, will spend next week looking for Spider-Man at Walt Disney World.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

NTD AND PULP LEGEND ANNOUNCE ‘PULP ECHOES!’

From Tom Johnson

Coming Soon From Tom Johnson And NTD!

PULP ECHOES presents seven new stories in the pulp tradition, both new and original characters: The Bat returns in “Blind As A Bat,” The Crimson Clown returns in “The Crimson Clown – Killer,” and Nibs Holloway battles Dr. Death in “Till Death Do Us Part.” The Black Ghost is back in “Carnival of Death,” Captain Anthony Adventure in “Terror In The North Country,” The Black Cat in “A Cat Among Dogs,” and Senora Scorpion in “Senora Scorpion.”
Tom Johnson

__._,_.___

ComicMix Six: Ends of the World

Good news, everyone: If you’re reading this, it’s just passed midnight in American Samoa, so it’s no longer May 21st anywhere on the planet– which means that the Rapture didn’t happen (yet), society hasn’t crumbled (yet), and there’s still a readership for comic books (for now).

That said, as far as ends of the world go, the Rapture lacks a certain panache. Comic book readers have been used to the idea of worlds ending in cataclysm for a long time. Over a near-infinite number of crises, comic books have always made sure it ends with all bang, no whimper – even if, sometimes, that bang is more figurative than literal. Here’s a look at six of the best ends-of-the-world that comics has yet come up with.

Krypton

The birth of superhero comics started with the death of a planet. We’re willing to wager it’s the best-known origin story in all of comics: desperate scientist Jor-El and wife Lara shoot their only son Kal-El away from the doomed planet Krypton towards Earth, where he’s adopted by the kindly Kent family. And in most versions of the Superman story, what took out Krypton? A nuclear chain reaction triggered by a loss of stability Krypton’s radioactive core, which also creates the only element that can kill the most powerful man on Earth.

Krypton: 1, Rapture: 0.

PULP ARK DAY THREE-THE FINAL ACT OF THE BLOODY PULP!

Sunday, May 15, 2011
The theater day opened at PULP ARK with a rousing fight scene involving most of the cast that took two of them literally tumbling down the stairs into the middle of a panel!  After that, the cast gathered and presented the third and final act of this fast paced, high adrenaline Pulp play like no other!  And without further adieu….

CAST-
Merlin Montgomery-Tommy Hancock
Benita Isadore Magready (Bim)-Shannon O’Cain
Newt the Newsboy-Alex Hancock
Simon Sanders, The Rogue-Brian Coltharp
Nikola Deveraux-Tanya McClure
August-Bo Elrod
Captain Mordechai Maelstrom-David Jones
Buster-Lucas Smith
Shevara/Penny Preston-Megan Smith
Little Sister-Mackenzie Haugh

ACT THREE
(Puff of smoke, SHEVARA appears)
Merlin Montgomery antagonizes Shevara
BLOODY PULP, ACT THREE
SHEVARA-I have fed on the horror and hatred of a world gone mad and power flows through my body once more!  Trapped far too long in one prison, then another cage, reduced to nothing but ink and words by a trifle of an insect! No More!  I reentered life here so from here death shall spread!  And upon the bodies, the bones, the charred remains of humanity I will build my throne…my castle…my universe…starting here!
MERLIN-(Steps out in front of Shevara) Sorry, but I’ll have to see your building permits.
SHEVARA-What?? 
MERLIN-Permits….To build a throne…not to mention the red tape you’ll get tangled in trying to build your own universe.
SHEVARA-You speak nonsense!  What do you think, that you alone can stop one that your insipid ancestors worshipped as their own Goddess?  You, one pitiful little girl…
MERLIN (As she talks, all the former cast members who weren’t killed start coming out, forming a circle around her, each of them holding some kind of weapon)  Been a long time since anyone’s called me little girl.  But only my Daddy could do that and you don’t even step close to my Daddy. 
SHEVARA-I own you, rodent!  You and all like you exist only to give me power, to feed me with all the sin and terror your kind produce! You cannot stand against me!
MERLIN-I’ve stood against bigger than you, supposed deities who have whole books written about them.  You barely rated a pulp magazine!
SHEVARA-YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST TO DIE, THE CORNERSTONE I WILL BUILD MY THRONE UPON! DIE!
(SHEVARA zaps, shoots, something and MERLIN goes down…SHEVARA laughs evilly but is surprised as MERLIN stands up, grasping her shoulder)
SHEVARA-What? NO! No human can challenge the magic of SHE WHOM ALL FEAR!!



Shevara faces off with Merlin Montgomery
BLOODY PULP, ACT THREE



MERLIN-I told you I’ve gone one on one with monsters that make you look like Little Bo Peep.  I’ve picked up a few things and skills along the way.  This is barely a flesh wound.
SHEVARA-WHAT???
MERLIN-School’s out, sweetheart! NOW!
(Coordinated fight scene between SHEVARA and everyone with a weapon, but BUSTER never gets quite close.   And each one is defeated, not killed, but laid low, hurt, etc.)
SHEVARA-SHE WHOM ALL FEAR RULES ALL!  SHEVARA STRIPS ALL HOPE FROM HUMANITY!
BIM-Okay, distract and sneak attack didn’t work…any other notions?
MERLIN-Givens said something, something about the stanza…it was the key to freeing Shevara…
ROGUE-But also the key to stopping her!
CAPT’N-But who remembers that chant?
PENNY-I do!  I made sure I listened closed when Nikola said, just so I could get the scoop on all the other papers!
“Death and hatred,  take you life!
Murder and sin, become flesh and bone!
Walk this earth and spread your strife!
‘less you are laid low by man crafted stone!’
MERLIN-That’s it!  Where’s Newt?  (bolts to find him) Have to find-
NIKOLA-You have to do nothing but die, like Shevara decrees, dear Merlin
MERLIN-Nikola, what are you doing? We have to stop her!
Cast of Bloody Pulp trying to decide what to do next
BLOODY PULP, ACT THREE
NIKOLA-No.  I have realized that even though I do not control her, her will and my plans are the same.  I have served her and not even known it.  And I will continue to do so….by killing you.
SHEVARA-OH LOOK!   THEY FIGHT BECAUSE OF SHEVARA! ONE EAGER TO DIE, THE OTHER EAGER TO FEED ME!  HATRED AND PAIN FOR SHE WHOM ALL FEAR!
(Fight scene with Nikola and Merlin, Nikola gets beaten, Merlin stands up) NEWT! Where are you?
NEWT-Here, Merlin! 
(Merlin starts to cross to Newt, who is close to Shevara, but Nikola rises, grabs her.  Newt sees this, runs for Merlin, runs in front of Shevara, who grabs him)
SHEVARA-Ah, even the tiny ones throw themselves at me to sate my appetite.  Mmmm..this one is thin, but so full of energy that I can turn to hatred!
NEWT-Let me go!! Leggo!
MERLIN-NEWT, YOUR NEWSBAG! HIT HER WITH YOUR NEWSBAG!!
(Newt does just  that, smacks Shevara hard with his newsbag.  She looks as if she’s been shot with a bullet..Pain on her face.  She lets Newt go and stumbles, very clearly dying…
SHEVARA-Man…crafted…stone…from…a child….(She collapses, smoke if possible.  Lights go out.  When they come back up, Nikola and August are gone.  Penny is standing up slowly)
PENNY-What-What happened?
LITTLE SISTER-PENNY!
BUSTER-One minute she was a reporter, next minute she’s a demon goddess…now that Shevara frail is gone..vanished ! POOF!
BIM-Yeah, and so are Nikola and her pet boy!
MERLIN-Not like we didn’t expect that! Or like we won’t see them again.
CAPT’N-What is suprisin’, though, is that this yellow sapsucker stayed.
ROGUE-With eveything that I am, I’m not a sneak away type.  Besides, I figure we’ll all make scarce soon enough.  No one wants to be here when badges and sunglasses come through the door.
PENNY-I have to go to, have to get this story in, though no one will believe it.  But I don’t understand what happened.  How did Newt’s bag get that out of me?  How did it kill a demon??
MERLIN-Show ‘em, Newt.  Show ‘em what’s in the bag.
NEWT-THIS! (holds up a brick)
MERLIN-The incantation warned Shevara that she may be ‘laid low by man crafted stone.’  It’s part of the binding.  Whoever originally came up with the way to trap her built into it a weakness she couldn’t escape.  Once she was captured the very first time, the weakness stayed with her.  And bricks are
EVERYONE-Man crafted stone.
BUSTER-So she’s dead?
CAPN’-Probably.  At least gone.  But just to be sure, we need to destroy the Bloody Pulp.
MERLIN- (walks up)  No, no you don’t.
CAP’N-Eh? Whattya mean?
MERLIN-When…whatever that thing was disappeared…the Bloody Pulp did, too. I recovered it after Nikola threw it down yesterday.   But it’s gone.  It and the parchment.   Up in a green cloud of smoke.  And now we have nothing to show…nothing to exhibit….
BIM-And I’ll bet you old Givens’ body, wherever it was restin’, is gone, too! It always goes like that!  We have nothing!
PENNY-And no one will believe me…
MERLIN-Well, you both have eyewitnesses and the participants in what just happened.  You know, those who saved the world.  We could tell the story for you.
ROGUE-And what of those authorities I mentioned, Merlin?
MERLIN-Like Bim said, Simon, there’s nothing.  No evidence.   Just great stories.
NEWT-EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT, CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP CLOSED! WORLD SAVED FROM DEMONIC DESTRUCTION! MERLIN MONTGOMERY AND  HIS COMPANY OF HEROES OF THE DAY! EXTRA! EXTRA!
THE END
Since the end of PULP ARK, there has been some clamoring for further adventures of this crew. I am already writing the sequel.  There has also been discussion of turning this play into a story and writing other stories with this cast.  If you’d like to see that, please let me know either through comments here or at proseproductions@earthlink.net – Tommy Hancock

PULP ARK-THE CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP ACT ONE!

4:30 PM, Friday, May 13th, 2011 PULP ARK

PULP ARK settled into a groove pretty quickly, everyone eager to meet fans, but visiting with each other and hammering out ideas and making suggestions as well. Then a newsboy walked in hollering ‘EXTRA! EXTRA! followed by two people who set up a magazine on a stand, and began going on about mystical happenings, disappeared authors, and things that go bump in the night.  A few minutes later, a black suave stranger with a gun strolls in followed soon by a black clad progeny of the Nazi party and her pet boy…Yup, you guessed it, the first act of Pulp Ark’s original Pulp Play THE CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP had begun!

THE CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP, written and directed by Tommy Hancock is a Pulp Play that went on throughout the entire convention in the midst of the regular flow of the event.  Although pictures were taken, none have surfaced at this time and will be posted when they do.  In lieu of that, however, I will be posting the acts of the play in the order they were performed right here!  So without further ado…

CAST-
Newt the Newsboy-Alex Hancock
Merlin Montgomery-Tommy Hancock
Benita Isadore Magready (Bim)-Shannon O’Cain
Simon Sanders, The Rogue-Brian Coltharp
J.C. Givens-David Jones
Nikola Deveraux-Tanya McClure
August-Bo Elrod

THE CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP
SCENE ONE
BIM AND MERLIN MONTGOMERY
BLOODY PULP, ACT ONE

(Scene opens with Newt the Newsboy walking around room, holding up papers, shouting)

NEWT:  Extra! Extra! Read All About It.  Famous Rare Pulp Magazine on Display at Pulp Ark today!  Explorer Merlin Montgomery does it again!  Bloody Pulp supposed to be cursed, here at Pulp Ark!  Extra! Extra!
(Scene shifts to focus on Merlin Montgomery, famed explorer and Benita Isadore Magredy, Bim to almost everyone standing near b getting ready for the display.)
MONTGOMERY-There, everyone should be able to get a good look at it as they walk by, but not touch or snatch it.   We’ve given the bloody pulp a nice bit of attention.
BIM-Too much attention if you were to ask me.  More than that bit of ink and paper deserves.
MERLIN (laughs) I understand, Bim, but this yellowing print and fading words is a piece of history.  Not only is it the only existing piece of the work of JC Givens left, there’s all the stories surrounding ir.
BIM-That’s for sure and certain what I mean! I’ve tagged along with you long enough to know that anything that is hexed, vexed, damned, or cursed should be destroyed, shredded, shot, and buried!  Like that little ugly statue we found in Georgia, you know, Merlin, in that abandoned sani-
MERLIN-BIM!  That’ll be enough.  I’m sure this won’t turn out to be that kind of fiasco. 
BIM AND MERLIN MONTGOMERY
BLOODY PULP ACTONE

MERLIN-You don’t know how this will be!  I mean you might know more than most since you are an expert in most forgotten languages, but that would mean you’d have to be able read it. Can  you?

MERLIN-Yes and I see where you’re going.  The stanza at the beginning of Given’s story.  The one that has the header-IF YOU CAN READ THESE FOUR LINES, THEN SHE WHOM ALL FEAR WILL ALLOW YOU THE REST OF THE STORY’.   And to answer your question, no, I can’t read them.
BIM-Well, who could for Queen’s sake?  Just a lot of gobbledy gook thrown together.
MERLIN-It has similarities to ancient Sumerian and a hint of Lemurian, but I can’t even begin to untangle what it says.  No one else can either.  I’ve had experts look at it after the experts you had look at it.  And, if legends to be believed, the secrets within the story hinge on reciting that stanza.  If you can’t, its just an averagely written story about a writer turned detective who gets into a scrape over an ancient manuscript.  
BIM-Except it isn’t!  You know the kind of busybodies and baddies that have been after this scrap of story, Merlin!
MERLIN Quiet, Bim!  It’s time to announce the display. 
(Merlin at this point calls attention, gets up in front of crowd and begins to give a speech concerning THE BLOODY PULP and explains the rumors behind its writing as well as the fact that its author JC Givens vanished the day it was submitted to be published and how the publishing house printed one copy and burnt to the ground.  Merlin’s speech will end…. With..)
MERLIN-And although we do have the single copy of the magazine containing ‘THE BLOODY PULP’ here on display for a limited time, author JC Givens disappeared 61 years ago and has not been since since-”
BIM, MERLIN MONTGOMERY, THE ROGUE
BLOODY PULP ACT ONE

ROGUE- UNTIL TODAY!

(Attention turns to Simon Sanders, also known as The Rogue, standing at the far side of the room from Montgomery, and Bim.  He is suave, debonair, not greasy and slimy, very much James Bond like, but of highly questionable morals)
BIM- Well, if it isn’t Lucifer’s stepson?  Let me at-”
MERLIN-Easy, Bim…not yet.   He’s not shown his cards in this hand yet and you know how The Rogue likes to hop fence.
BIM-Hop fence?  After what he did to you in Jamaica over this bloody book?
MERLIN-(As the Rogue steps up) Hello, Simon.
ROGUE-Ah, Merlin.  It’s so good to see that you escaped those fanatical snake worshippers and their pet in Jamaica.
BIM-And the zombies!  Don’t leave out the zombies! I oughtta-
ROGUE-Ah, yes, Miss Magredy.  I’d say it was good that you escaped as well, but I actually rather hoped that giant snake was picking its fangs with your bones.
(At that point, Bim breaks loose from Merlin and charges the Rogue…from out of nowhere, he pulls a gun that stops Bim in her tracks.  Merlin pulls the gun from her holster, both of them now pointing pieces, with Bim in the middle)
ROGUE-Ah, now my dear Benita, we both know that I won’t let you get close enough to me to do you any good.
BIM-Of course you won’t, not after the beatin’ I gave you in Timbuktu!
MERLIN-We also know, Simon, that I’m a better shot than you are.  Faster, too.
ROGUE-True, but your friend and confidant stand between us, Merlin.  We can’t shoot for risk of shooting her.
MERLIN-Speak for yourself.  Everyone’s got spots they can be shot that won’t kill them.  Thin, fleshy spots that won’t even barely slow down a bullet.
BIM-NOW JUST WAIT A BLOODY MINUTE!!
ROGUE-(laughing)  Do not worry your monkey like head, Bim.  As much as the world would thank me for ridding the world of a nuisance, I didn’t come all the way from Jamaica to Arkansas with a side trip to Turkey to shoot you. 
(While all this is going on,   Merlin is studying the older man behind The Rogue.  He walks up to him, looks him over and over, then steps back and at this point says
MERLIN-Well I’ll be Dented and Gibsoned!   It…it can’t be… Rogue, what is all this?
ROGUE-Oh, my friend here?  Why, he’s the reason I’m here.  As a matter of fact, Merlin, he’s the reason you and all these nice people are here.  Found him living in a cave system in Turkey with a bunch of monks.  (He turns, like a circus ringmaster and shouts) Ladies and gentlemen and those who think you are, allow me to introduce myself.  I am Simon Sanders, adventurer-
BIM-scoundrel
ROGUE-Explorer
BIM-Phony
ROGUE-And hero
BIM-For hire
ROGUE-I’m also known in many circles as THE ROGUE, an unfortunate epithet I assure you.  I am here today to bring you one of the greatest mysteries of the modern day, right here to your doorstep.  Yes, true believers and skeptics one and all, please welcome to speak about that rotting piece of periodical there that he himself wrote….looking just as spry as he did the day he vanished…JC GIVENS!!
J.C. GIVENS
BLOODY PULP, ACT ONE

JC GIVENS Uh…um…hello.   I…I have not left a cave in Turkey since I was spirited there by an order of ordained men dedicated to the safety of our world known only as THE MONKS in 1940.   I would not be here now, except that..The-  Mr. Sanders in his own way (The Rogue holds up the gun and smiles) spirited me away from there. 

 I know there are many questions and much confusion.  First, let me say I am…sorry.   I was a fool in years past, a man riding the wave of his own hubris and talent, believing that he could do anything he wished and daring anyone to tell him differently.   I dabbled and played with beings and powers that no one had any business even thinking of.  And I did more than think of them.

J.C. GIVENS, BIM, THE ROGUE
BLOODY PULP, ACT ONE

Everything this gentleman (pointing at Merlin) said about the story in this magazine is true.  It is more than just a made up tale.  It holds a great secret.  It is not simply fiction. It is a prison.  A genie’s bottle, if you would, holding something much more ominous, more evil than any imagined genie.  When I first wrote it, I hoped to capture this…thing…and use it for my own ends, to basically have anything I wanted.   But in the years I have been with The Monks, I have learned and been shown things that would melt most men’s eyes and I can tell you that the four line stanza, which holds the key to open the story up…can never be read by anyone who knows that language.  That stanza also holds the key to destroy the…evil that would be unleashed, but not even I can make sense of the antidote to this poison.   I began writing that story to be a God…I wrote the last word of it knowing that I would be a prison guard…hopefully keeping what lives within my words and thoughts trapped there forever.

That is why (he pulls out a lighter and lights it) that I must do this.  I must destroy the bloody pulp.
NIKOLA-One does not think so, my aging flower.
(GIVENS drops the lighter, falls forward, either after a shot or a knife in the back…and from behind him Nikola Deverueaux and her right hand man, August, step up.
BIM-Bloody Queen of crazy herself!
MERLIN-NIKOLA!
NIKOLA DEVERAUX, THE ROGUE, BIM, A DEAD J.C. GIVENS
BLOODY PULP, ACT ONE

ROGUE-Now, that wasn’t part of the plan, was it, dear?   You paid me more money than Midas to bring him to this backwater town to kill him?

MERLIN-Simon…you’re..working for Nikola Devereaux…I knew your morals were barely visible..but..she’s…pure evil.
ROGUE-And unbelievably filthy rich to boot.  Sorry, Merlin, but even I have to work where I can get it, economic downturn and all that.
NIKOLA-Yes, Merlin (she approaches Merlin) he is like all men…weak, drawn to money and desires, no different than any of their kind.  But you, in all the times we have met, you…still intrigue me like no other.
MERLIN-That’s funny, Nikola….because you disgust me..Even more than your insane father and twisted mother did.
NIKOLA-(SLAPS HIM HARD, then laughs) Ahhh, words of hate and spite are songs of life and love to my blackened soul.  Please, Merlin, say such things again.  Don’t tease a girl.
ROGUE-Nikola, you’ve put us in a spot here.  Backwoods or not, this burg has local authorities that will be here soon.  Bodies tend to draw them out, even the body of a man missing for sixty years.  But why kill him?  You needed him to read that stanza!
AUGUST, NIKOLA, MERLIN MONTGOMERY
BLOODY PULP, ACT ONE

NIKOLA-No, I do not.  Not if what August has told me is true.  August, come.

AUGUST-Yes, Madam?
NIKOLA-Tell me again what you have just learned. Speak, August, Speak.
AUGUST-Yes, Madam.   A piece of parchment has been discovered that can be used to decipher the stanza.  And because you control all you wish to, Madam, you have arranged for that parchment to arrive here tomorrow.
AUGUST-Good, August, good.   Now all we must do is be sure we have the pulp magazine in our hands. And wait.
BIM-Merlin, tell me you’ve got a plan.
MERLIN-You remember why I never lose at cards, Bim?
BIM-Because you’ve read the deck and the players before you sit down to the table.


AUGUST, NIKOLA, THE ROGUE, MERLIN  MONTGOMERY, BIM
BLOODY PULP, ACT ONE

 MERLIN-Right…and taken steps to insure I win before the first chip is thrown.  Just like today!  NEWT, go, kid. NOW!

(From a crouched position where he’s been the whole time near the magazine, Newt the Newsboy jumps up and snatched it just as NIKOLA is reaching for it.  He grabs it and runs from the building.)
NIKOLA-August! Go! FETCH THE BLOODY PULP! GO!
MERLIN-What about you, Simon?  Her purse strings are still tied around your neck.
ROGUE-I’ve got the money, she’ll have a deuce of a time getting it back.  Besides…I liked the old man.  Death doesn’t bother me, but I liked him.
NIKOLA-No matter.  August is well trained.  He will find that little urchin.
MERLIN-Don’t bet on it, Nikola.  Newt will blend in with any kid in a school yard, any dirty faced boy on a playground.  He’ll vanish. 
NIKOLA-No, passionate Merlin.  He will die.  And unfortunately, so will you if you do not stay out of my way!  (she leaves the building)
BIM-Well, let’s get after the lot of ‘em then! (And out she goes)
MERLIN-What about you, Simon?  Switching sides?
ROGUE-Not just yet.  Let’s say I’ll be Switzerland for a bit.  Find something to read here, maybe. 
END ACT ONE

MOONSTONE MONDAY-LATEST GREEN HORNET DETAILS ANNOUNCED!

Win Scott Eckert announces contents for THE GREEN HORNET CASEFILES

I’m pleased to announce the final contents Moonstone Books‘ second Green Hornet anthology,The Green Hornet Casefiles.
  • Edited by Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert
  • Cover Art (Limited Edition Hardcover): Rubén Procopio
  • Cover Art (Trade Edition Softcover): Michael Wm. Kaluta
  • 336pgs, b/w, Squarebound, 6”x9”
    Gh_casefiles_procopio_sm

    Gh_casefiles_kaluta_sm

Contents:

  • “The Outlaw Hero” – Introduction by Ron Fortier
  • “Sting of the Yellowjacket” by Howard Hopkins
  • “Lair of the Living Dead” by Joe McKinney
  • “Through a Green Haze” by Dan Wickline
  • “The Black Widow” by John Everson
  • “A Thing of Beauty” by Bobby Nash
  • “The Insincerest Form of Flattery” by Paul D. Storrie
  • “Bad Medicine” by Vito Delsante and Win Scott Eckert
  • “The Gray Line Between” by F.J. DeSanto, Michael Uslan and Joe Gentile
  • “Up in Smoke” by Deborah Chester
  • “The Worst Angels of Our Nature” by Paul Kupperberg
  • “Now That Would Be Telling” by Bradley H. Sinor
  • “Summer of Death” by Barry Reese
  • “The Wet and the Wicked” by David Boop
  • “The Carlossi Caper” by Arthur A. Lyon
  • “Soldanus, the Sultan of Crime” by Gary Phillips
  • “The Dangerous Game” by Eric Fein
  • “Beauty Is As Beauty Dies” by James Mullaney
  • “Auld Acquaintance” by Matthew Baugh
  • “Memories of My Grandfather, Raymond J. Meurer” – Afterword by Lisa Meurer Long
  • Bonus Story In Limited Edition: “If These Walls Could Buzz” by Tim Lasiuta and Rafael Nieves

Pre-order:

PULP ARK NOTE-RON FORTIER, BOBBY NASH, BARRY REESE, AND JOE GENTILE, CEO OF MOONSTONE WILL ALL BE IN ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST ANNUAL PULP ARK CONVENTION/CONFERENCE MAY 13-15TH IN BATESVILLE, AR!

Spider-Man The Musical Sneak Preview on GMA – UPDATED

Spider-Man The Musical Sneak Preview on GMA – UPDATED

Spidey-Fans, make sure you’re up Friday morning for a chance to sneak a peek at the upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on Good Morning America. The musical, which is rumored to be one of the priciest to swing into the Foxwoods Theatre, opens November 15. Lucky for all us musical theater geeks, director Julie Taymor and Spidey himself, Reeve Carney, will bring a solo song to GMA via a performance at the Hudson Theater, with fans invited to come down for the free show. We television viewers will enjoy a post-performance interview with the director and the authors of the music and lyrics, Bono and The Edge. Word has it that aside from this musical, both men dabble in rock and roll in a quartet by the name of U2.

While most comic fans are skeptical of their favorite web-spinning hero spinning songs and soliloquies on the Broadway stage, stranger things have become a success. Lest we forget, the Evil Dead Musical was damn good. So, before we light our torches, let’s give the ol’ webhead a chance to sing his spandex off.

UPDATE: So, we watched the telecast, action figure firmly placed in our palms, ready to watch our hero make his way to the stage. Would it be webtastic or a kill a little bit of our soul, like One More Day? Let’s let some pasty white people wax poetic first:

A “pop-up book” set? Those costumes? The Swiss Miss? Is this some kind of cruel joke? Is Norman Osbourne financing this play in hopes of murdering the wall-crawler on the stage? Our high hopes haven’t been crushed this hard since the dance sequence of Spider-Man 3: Attack of Emo Parker. And to put the final nail in the coffin? How about a song from the show:

Let’s be honest here. The song is actually catchy. And because it’s being performed with a rock band, with absolutely no context to the final play, we’ve no idea how terrible this will be once it’s sewn into the “pop-up book” scenery and gaudy costumes. Kudos to Bono and The Edge for writing a catchy rock song (a feat that shouldn’t be that hard, given their 20+ years doing it), but frankly we’re scared for the final product. A lanky rock singer running around in a body sock, whilst a cast of dancing, prancing chorusmen flail about over a rock-and-roll score? Someone give us a copy of the “Death of Gwen Stacy” so we can recall the last time Spider-Man was worth our fanfare.

Xeric Grant Winners Announced

Xeric Grant Winners Announced

The Spring 2010 Xeric Grant
winners have been announced. They are…

  • Margaret Ashford-Trotter (Thunder in the Building #2)
  • Jason Brubaker (reMIND)
  • Jonathon Dalton (Lords of Life and Death)
  • Wei Li (Lotus Root Children)
  • Jed McGowan (Lone Pine)
  • Ansis Purins (Zombre #2: The Magic Forest)
  • Brittney Sabo and Anna Bratton (Francis Sharp in the Grip of the Uncanny! Book 1)

A total of $32,761 was awarded to these seven projects.

The Xeric Grant was established in September 1992 by Peter Laird, co-creator of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. Over $2,400,000 have been awarded since then to committed, self-publishing comic book creators from the US and Canada and to qualified charities and non-profit organizations in western Massachusetts. Laird believed the Xeric Foundation’s grants were an appropriate way to give something extra to the world of comics. Over the past eighteen years, hundreds of projects have been honored with a Xeric Grant, including Adrian Tomine’s “Optic Nerve,” Dawn Brown’s “Little Red Hot,” Santiago Cohen’s “The Fifth Name,” and Toc Fetch’s “Kids of Lower Utopia.”

The grant is offered twice a year, and the next deadlines for upcoming grants are September 30, 2010 and November 1, 2010. After the Foundation’s panel, made of established members in the comics
industry, selects the finalists, Laird personally picks the winners.

Congratulations to the talented winners of the 2010 Spring Xeric Grants!