Today is Black Friday, the day when it is our patriotic duty as Americans to go into a spending frenzy. For all our talk about family values, we think it is more important to forgo the conviviality of the Thanksgiving table so that we can stand in line to buy things.
Originally I had thought to write a column full of gift suggestions for those of you who want to introduce your family and friends to the joys of graphic storytelling. There are terrificbooks for a variety or ages and tastes and interests. I have my favorites, but I don’t know the people on your list, so my recommendations may not apply. That’s what the comments section is for.
Instead, I want to talk about you, Constant Reader. You and your needs.
Some people like to shop. Some people like to shop in crowded chain stores, the kind you find in your local mall. I am not one of those people. I don’t like walking around with a list of names, trying to figure out what to get. I’d rather sit at home, and imagine people getting things for me.
Here are some things you, as a fan of comics, might not yet know you want. Feel free to print this up and leave it where your loved ones can find it.
For example, do you know that your love for the combination of words and images on paper makes you a connoisseur of fine art? This book showcases the career of Barbara Kruger, one of the most influential (and entertaining) of late twentieth century feminist artists. This book provokes me and makes me feel exalted, all at the same time. Would that all gifts were so accomplished.
Do you think you have the most embarrassing family in the world? Would you like to be shown otherwise? If so, I can’t recommend enough My Favorite Year, a fictional account of what it must have felt like to be Mel Brooks working as a writer for Sid Caesar. I love everything about this movie, including Bill Macy and, especially, Joseph Bologna.
You know how everyone says the best holiday gift is peace on earth? If you say this and you mean it, you should let everyone know you want this calendar from the War Resisters League. Bold graphics, good politics, and amusing history trivia make this a great deal for an even more great cause.
History And The High Seas Collide! If you’re looking for a good pulpy audio serial, the recipe is simple. Equal parts High Seas intrigue, colorful, exciting characters, and pulse pounding tales of pirates and buccaneers. Mix these together with the skills of a man who many consider a penultimate voice actor and a production genius behind the scenes. The result is a 52 episode Australian series in 1947 that can now be heard again in fifteen minute punches of action and adventure in Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2!
Afloat with Henry Morgan followed the adventures of the title character, a real life privateer for the Queen of England employed and licensed to fight the Spanish Armada. His mission, starting around 1655, quite simply was to fight Spanish fleets, scuttle and sink their crafts, and take whatever booty there might be on the ships he managed to attack as payment for his dedication to the English crown. For obvious reasons, Morgan is often portrayed as more pirate than English seaman.
The magical part, though, according to many, of this classic program was the man behind it. Well-known Australian radio personality George Edwards produced Afloat with Henry Morgan. The man behind other Australian series, such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Corsican Brothers, and Son of Porthos, Edwards lent not only his production skills to Afloat, but shared his amazing vocal talents as well. Known as “The Man with a Thousand Voices,” Edwards parlayed his ability to sound like a young child, any male he wanted to, nearly any nationality necessary, and even older women into a legendary career as a radio actor. The skill to do sometimes twelve different voices in a single episode definitely fit the needs of Afloat with Henry Morgan.
This program stands out due primarily to the intense pacing of the stories themselves as well as the historical component, the high quality production values, and the talented voice acting of Edwards and the rest of the cast.
The final 24 episodes of this cliffhanger non-stop serial are presented in Afloat with Henry Morgan, Volume 2! Restored to the finest sparkling quality possible, this collection brings you 6 hours of history, mystery, hard men, courageous women, and sea battles galore! Thrill as Morgan becomes involved in the theft of an Aztec artifact, plots are hatched and betrayed, raids are planned and double crossed, and a plethora of characters, many voiced by George Edwards, all come together to take you Afloat with Henry Morgan in this second volume of this classic show brought to you by Radio Archives! Available now on Audio CDs for $17.98 and digital download for $11.98!
Ask fans of Private Eye mysteries for a list of ‘classic operators’ and you’ll get a handful of names. There will be some, depending on the fan, that society at large may not recognize, but the standards will be there. Spade. Archer. Hammer. Wolfe. Shayne. Who? The last one? Shayne. Michael Shayne. Not familiar? Then do I have a way to introduce you to one of the best examples of the popular Private Investigator mystery genre, who is also sadly largely forgotten.
Introduced in a novel in 1939, Michael Shayne was the creation of author Davis Dresser. Ask a fan, however, who wrote Michael Shayne and you’ll be told that his creator was Brett Halliday, from his first adventure to his last in the mid 1980s. Halliday began life as Dresser’s pen name when he wrote Shayne tales and became a house name when Dresser moved on, opening up the chance for a multitude of writers to put Shayne through his paces.
The Michael Shayne you’ll encounter in The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, Volume 1 is by far my favorite interpretation of him and very close to the way later authors wrote the highly likable rough-hewn character. Largely the brainchild of Director William Rousseau, this audio version of Mike’s escapades, the second time Shayne came to radio, found our hero hawking his skills in New Orleans. Described in each episode as “that reckless, red-headed Irishman,” Shayne was portrayed by Jeff Chandler. An excellent actor who would become known for his stoic heroic presence in films, Chandler lends a wild abandon, a dangerous youthful sardonic edge to the character. Chandler’s strong sucker punch of a baritone keeps the listener engaged as Shayne weaves through the dark streets of the Big Easy.
There’s a roughness to not only Chandler’s portrayal, but to the entire show itself. I’m not necessarily referring to production quality, it’s top notch, but more to the attitude, the spirit of the program. Each show opens with Shayne narrating some suspenseful moment where he’s either about to be shot, stabbed, or somehow violently dispatched from this world and then, right after terse credits, rolls into the beginning of the case. There’s little time taken to set the scene, the assumption being the listener has some concept of New Orleans as well as some idea of the type of character Shayne is from the opening. The rhythm of each episode is hard and hammering, like the rat-a-tat of a Tommy gun. If you’re looking for sophistication and character and tension building in your program, this isn’t the show for you. This is delivered just like a sap to the back of the head. Quick, sudden, and a knock out every time.
The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, Volume 1 is not only the perfect introduction to a classic PI character, but it’s also a great gateway into the pulp mystery/crime side of OTR. Few better examples exist of fast paced, plot driven programs that are both clever and in your face simultaneously. Chandler as Shayne will not only be the voice you hear in your head if you ever pick up a tale of Halliday’s. It may very well be the voice you hear any time you read a hardboiled gumshoe from now on. See what I mean by getting The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, Volume 1 from Radio Archives today, $20.98 for 7 Audio CDs containing 14 episodes or $13.98 for digital download!
The history of the thriller is populated by striking supervillains—Doctor Nikola, Professor Moriarity, Fantomas, and perhaps the most diabolical of all, Doctor Fu Manchu. A variation on these evil geniuses was the Mad Scientist. And no fictional scientist was madder than the man who called himself Doctor Death.
The creation of a newspaperman and pulp writer named Harold Ward writing under the obscure pen name of Zorro, Doctor Death was the star of his own bizarre pulp magazine back in 1935. He was equal parts Doctor Frankenstein and Albert Einstein, with a dash of Fu Manchu and a dram of wormwood. In reality, a Yale psychologist with the improbable name of Rance Mandarin, Doctor Death was a scientist who wandered over to the dark side, consorting with demons, elementals, zombies, disinterred mummies, other unclean denizens of Hell.
His supreme goal in life was to crush civilization. Apparently, Mandarin practiced a strange brand of necromancy because he believed that the Almighty had commanded him to force modern man to abandon automation, quit the factories, cease inventing, and revert to a pre-industrial state. In the depths of the great Depression of the 1930s, this may have struck the American reading public as the height of horror.
A frightened nation responded to this challenge by organizing the Secret Twelve, a band of the top U. S. civil and business leaders, whose number included the President of the United States and the nation’s top gang leader! It was quite a group. The heroic head of that organization was the remarkable Jimmy Holm, a millionaire criminologist and occultist who joined New York’s Finest as a detective. Working under Inspector John Ricks, and sometimes allied with Mandarin’s mysterious assistant, the exotic Nina Fererra, Holm battled Doctor Death from Manhattan to Egypt and into the very bowels of Hell itself.
The series is one of the rare unabashedly supernatural series the pulps ever produced. When Jimmy Holm confronts the undead minions of Doctor Death, the mummies and zombies are the real deal. The explanation for that is very simple: Harold Ward was a frequent contributor to the legendary Weird Tales magazine…and that’s why Doctor Death is a classic of its type.
RadioArchives.com is resurrecting this wild and wonderful series by presenting Doctor Death’s first fatal foray into reversing mankind’s fortunes, 12 Must Die, in a audiobook voiced by the talented Joey D’Auria. Get yours today for $14.98 for Audio CDs and $9.98 for the Digital Download!
Radio Archives is the only place to find fast paced, high octane audio adventures of Pulp’s Greatest Heroes! Fans are flocking toRadioArchives.com to tune into to Audiobook tales of Doc Savage, The Spider, and more!
For over eighty years, the name Doc Savage has meant thrills and excitement to millions of readers worldwide. Now, the Man of Bronze comes to vivid life in a series of Audiobook adventures from Radio Archives!
In “Python Isle”, Doc Savage and his iron comrades race to untangle a weird puzzle so deep that the only clues can be found in the Bible!
Written by Will Murray and produced and directed by Roger Rittner,“Python Isle” features dramatic narration by Michael McConnohie, cover art by Joe DeVito, and more!
A new supercriminal emerges in “White Eyes”, the second Doc Savage audiobook from Radio Archives! From his skyscraper headquarters high above the streets of New York City to the sugarcane fields of Cuba, Doc Savage races to crush gangland’s latest uncrowned king!
Also written by Murray and produced and directed by Rittner, “White Eyes” features dramatic narration by Richard Epcar, cover art by Joe DeVito, plus fantastic extras!
Other characters also fight their way through evil and injustice making their way to Audibooks! In Will Murray’s Pulp Classics, classic heroes like The Spider and The Black Bat lead off the charge by appearing in the first audiobooks of this new line! These and other great creations have meant thrills and excitement to millions of readers worldwide. Now, these timeless heroes are brought to vivid life in a new series of audiobook adventures from RadioArchives.com and feature the talents of some of the most well-respected readers in the audiobook industry.
Hear the greatest Pulp you’ve ever read! Get a Radio Archives Pulp Audiobook today!
Like your action classic, full of hard-boiled heroes, dames, and scientists and their mad monsters? Do you prefer new adventures and exploits of masked men and women, bad guys and gals, and weather machines, six shooters, and death rays? Or do you like both and so much more! Then welcome to The Pulp Book Store! From classic Pulp reprints to New Pulp tales by modern writers, you can find the top publishers today right here in The Pulp Book Store!
With the advent of Pulp Publishers of all varieties in the last several years, some within the Pulp field have called this current trend a ‘Pulp Renaissance’ or at the very least a ‘Resurgence.’ This is due in part to fans of Pulp who also happen to be writers, creators, designers, and much more taking hold of their interest in this often overlooked art form and producing quality work. One of the leaders in this, providing the reading public with top of the line reprints as well as professionally designed collections and comprehensive Pulp academic works, is Altus Press.
“Altus Press,” according to its owner and publisher Matt Moring, “is a small-press publisher, primarily of pulp-related material. We typically focus on material published between 1920-55, though we do publish new material written in the pulp tradition featuring classic characters; Lost Race stories from the1880s-1920s; and pulp history books.” One of the most notable aspects of Altus Press’ current lineup is that the company is the Publisher of The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage as written by Author Will Murray. This line of new Doc Savage novels is the only new work licensed and sanctioned by the owners of the character, meaning Altus is currently the sole publisher of new Doc Savage material.
Five years ago, Moring took both his longtime love of Pulps and improvements in modern technology and, putting them together, began Altus. Circa 2005, print on demand technology–as well as several solid distribution methods–became available in an affordable way,” explained Moring. “As a designer who had worked in publishing for several years, I jumped at the opportunity to present forgotten material back into print. There’s a wealth of material out there that deserves to be presented in a fresh, polished, modern way.”
“I know, Matt continued, “how difficult it is for interested readers to track much of this material down. Our mission is to present complete series, uncut and in as an affordable package as possible. We’ve over 100 titles either available or nearly complete, with many more on the way.”
Moring also feels that Altus answers the needs of a growing fan base for Pulp, readers finding something in these classic stories that appeal to modern sensibilities. Moring stated, ” My feeling is there is so much of current popular culture that is based upon the foundations of the pulps: the characters, plots, pacing, etc. And due to advances in cheap reading (print on demand publishing and the popularity of tablets), there seems to be an upswing in interest in these old stories. Just because they’re decades old doesn’t mean they’re not solidly-written, entertaining tales.”
Most of all, Matt Moring takes his work and the overall mission of Altus Press very seriously, to produce the best quality possible. “There are some nice-looking pulp reprints out there, but we really strive to make the best product for your buck. This may mean getting new introductions written, historical notes, restoring cut passages from the copy, restoring the artwork, and the like. And we’re constantly revisiting our older titles: polishing up things as typos become apparent, tightening book layouts, etc. We’re appreciative of our customers and we put our best effort into each title.”
Even though he is Publisher at Altus, Matt is also, probably first and foremost a fan. And like most fans who end up in the business producing what they love, he has his favorites from the Altus catalogue. “In the pulp history category, I’d say The Phantom Detective Companion, as the overall package turned out to be such a solid overview of the character. For new material, I’d say Doc Savage: The Desert Demons turned out very well. As for classic pulp material–and this is a tough one–I’d say When the Death-Bat Flies: The Detective Stories of Norvell Page would probably be tops. It’s 800 pages long, contains 33 complete stories, and clocks in at nearly half a million words. You can’t go wrong with it if you’re a fan of detective stories or The Spider.”
Altus Press, a leader in Pulp Fiction Reprints and History and pioneer of the Pulp Renaissance, offers its massive, top quality books in The Pulp Book Store! Come see what you’ve been missing!
Striving to bring you the most and best Pulp available today, the Pulp Book Store is glad to announce the addition of new product and new stores to its lineup!
Known for excellent reproductions and great attention to detail, Girasol Collectables has added over 300 Pulp Replicas to their storefront! These fantastic books are authentic replicas of original pulp magazines, just as they appeared on newsstands when they were first issued. These editions are exact replicas of the original magazines, designed to give the reader an authentic taste of what a typical pulp was like when it was first issued. Thrill to authentically presented adventures of characters like The Spider and Operator 5 and read classic Pulp titles like Black Mask and Weird Tales! Exquisitely reproduced, these new replicas, more than 300 of them, are available now from Girasol Collectables and the Pulp Book Store!
The Pulp Book Store would also like to welcome three new publishers and their Pulp products to its ranks as well!
THE MURDER MASTER was originally published in the February 15, 1938 issue of The Shadow Magazine. He broadcast over a little-known radio station in New York. But he broadcast for an elite audience, among which was New York Police Commissioner Ralph Weston. His message was simple. Men would die during his broadcast. He knew the names, the times, the places and the methods. He was… the Murder Master!
As it happens, The Shadow had also been listening to the broadcast of The Murder Master. And while the broadcast was in progress, The Shadow had headed for the obscure radio station, WQJ. And so it was that The Shadow entered the broadcast building not knowing that his own name had been just uttered by the sinister Murder Master.
So far, this story has been a fast paced whirlwind of action and excitement, and we aren’t even past chapter four, yet. And it gets even better. This 1938 story is a slam-bang pulp adventure that will keep you turning the pages long into the night. Most of the story involves The Shadow in his usual cloaked guise of black. He makes a few other appearances as Kent Allard, his true identity. That was all explained in the pulps just six months earlier in “The Shadow Unmasks.” There’s no mention of Lamont Cranston. Apparently that angle was being played down at this point in time.
The Shadow receives a bit of assistance from his ever-faithful contact man Burbank, as well as underworld aides Cliff Marsland and Hawkeye. Other recurring characters are Commissioner Ralph Weston and Inspector Joe Cardona. It’s a pretty streamlined cast, but there’s no real need for more. Also, A few gadgets appear in this story. The Shadow’s amazing rubber discs that he uses as suction cups to scale smooth walls are mentioned.. And there’s a hidden recording device that The Shadow uses to record the voice of the unseen Murder Master.
For fans of old radio shows, this pulp story holds special interest. There’s the visit to the radio station and the broadcast booths. And let’s not forget the stacks of electrical transcriptions containing possibly an untold wealth of wonderful recordings. Author Walter Gibson had originally intended this story to be entitled “The Radio Crimes.” And it was a most appropriate title, because it all begins with a strange radio broadcast over station WQJ. And it includes an interesting visit to the radio station by The Shadow. But editors at Street & Smith decided, for some unknown reason, that “The Murder Master” was a more appropriate title. I think Gibson’s original instincts were more accurate.
This is another of those Shadow pulp novels that gets my hearty recommendation. As with so many of the stories from this era, it’s an enjoyable romp that will thrill you and chill you. Follow The Shadow on the trail of the Murder Master. You won’t regret it. Add it to your shopping cart today for $12.95 from Radio Archives!
High quality Audio, Pulp, and Classic DVDs! And at a fantastic price! That’s the Radio Archives Deal of the Day! The Deal of the Day is actually several great deals at all times. No limits! Simply Great Products at Unbelievable Prices!
Look for the yellow ‘Deal Of The Day’ price tag on the right side of the home page and click it for a great deal every Single Day from RadioArchives.com!
Comments From Our Customers!
Curtis Cobb:
I got Desert Demons yesterday and I’m already half way through the book. It is excellent! Thank you for the very Speedy shipment, I really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone at Radio Archives.
James Davis:
Thank you for the Doc Savage audiobooks!!!
Audiobooks/eBooks@suite101 Review:
Calling All Cars Volume 1 is available as a 10 Compact Disc set or alternatively a download direct from Radio Archives. Lasting for approximately, 10 hours, the episodes have an excellent reproduction on CD Players or alternatively to listen to on your personal iPod or MP3 player.
Barney McCasland:
These audio pulps are really great, and sounds like there are some very cool ones coming up. Keep the great audio pulps coming!
Steve Sher:
Of the companies from which I have ordered radio shows, Radio Archives reproductions and mastering have been the best by far! Given how old some of the shows are, many of them sound as if they were broadcast today. Last night, after arriving home after a very long day, at 12:45AM, I sat in my car, in the garage, because I needed to finish the last chapter of Johnny Dollar on the last disc of Volume 2. So, I sat in the car for the next 15 minutes, listening intently. The garage security guard came over to check out my car. When I rolled down the window, he was distracted from his inquiry by the show. Never having heard anything like this (he’s about 25), he stood and listened for the last 10 minutes, asking me for the contact information. So, you might get an order from him. Good night.
If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email toService@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you atRadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items atRadioArchives.com.
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Ask me to name my favorite cartoon shows growing up. Suffice to say, nearly every one I have feelings for was in some way, shape, or form was touched by the amazing Will Meugniot. That’s pronounced Min-EE-Oh, just in case you missed the boat yesterday. What’s that? You missed our last installment? Shame on you! For the rest who didn’t though, we pick up where I left off, as I casually shifted our conversation towards Will’s amazing career in animation! Roll the tape…
COMICMIX:: I’d be remiss if I didn’t start pelting you with questions on all the series you worked on that literally defined my childhood into early teens… Let’s start with my personal favorite…EXO SQUAD! Tell the fine ComicMixers out there what you did on the show.
WILL MEUGNIOT: Well, I’d been working on the first season of X-Men, but with the production delays on the show, no episodes had aired and no one knew for sure it was going to be a hit, and we were headed for a gap in the production schedule. Then I was offered a chance to work on a pilot by Universal Studios. At that time, the series was called Exo-Force. They already had a huge ‘bible’ (guidebook) written, and Playmates had already partnered with Universal to create the toys. Before I got there, Playmates did their proposed designs for J.T. Marsh, Alex De Leon and Phaeton’s e-frames and the studio went through a parallel design process which resulted in some very generic Syd Mead-style designs. After seeing both, my first decision was to push for the Playmates version of the key E-Frames. They reminded me of some of my favorite anime like Ideon and Dougram with that feeling of being real-looking, but funky hardware. I designed most of the actual human characters in the show, and really hit it off with Jeff Segal, who was running Universal’s TV animation division. Long story short, they let me make the pilot, which was a 45 second piece animated by my friends at Sunrise in Japan. By the time the film was delivered, Exo-Force’s title was changed to Exo-Squad.
COMICMIX: Oh to have been a fly on that wall, Will. I mean as a fly I’d be dead in 24 hours. But to have seen that show in it’s infancy? Worth it. Can you tell I loved the show a bit too much? One of my favorite things about the show was how it rooted itself in an amazing continuity and complex plot. It never shied away from being something above the standard toy-tie-in series. Do you think shows today are drawing inspiration from it?
WILL MEUGNIOT: Not so much. One of my real disappointments with the medium is that I felt through the 80’s and early 90s, many shows, like X-Men, Batman, and Phantom 2040 showed a new maturity, a real rising in their adult sensibilities and quality of animation. Today? I’m not seeing it so much. Today, I feel like the new shows are structured more like cartoons were back in the early 80’s or even late 70’s. Shows are really just one off stories. Not too much serialized continuity. And sadly, I think it’s going to be that way for a while longer.
COMICMIX: Geeky question: Which is your favorite Exo-Suit, and if you don’t say Wolf Bronsky’s, I’ll cry.
WILL MEUGNIOT: I designed Wolf’s, and I do like it. But my favorite? It’d be a later E-Frame which wasn’t assigned to a character, but which had a motor and could actually walk! I’m not an engineer mind you, but I’m such a fan of the Japanese toys, I figured out how it could walk with the body working like a weighted pendulum swinging on ratchet mechanisms in the shoulder joints. I did a sketch and Playmates took it from there, resulting in a walking toy which looked very much like the original sketch.
COMICMIX: Easily one of the deepest and most complex villains in the series was Phaeton. Was he inspired by similar villains at the time (like Megatron, or Cobra Commander) or something else?
WILL MEUGNIOT: He’s really more an original creation, I believe. Phaeton was already created as a written character when I came on board. Louis Williams and I designed him for animation. As a side note, it’s a common misconception that I “created” the show, when in fact there was plenty of development done by the time I signed on to do it. I helped to refine it, but the series’ actual creator is Jeff Segal. My contribution was in the designs of the characters, and helping to make them internally consistent as scripts came in. The concept of the show was tied largely to Jeff and my love of Japan, and the shows coming out of there. We’d both spent time in Tokyo, and felt like the time was right to bring an anime-like level of sophistication to the market in the states via Exosquad.
COMICMIX: The themes the show itself covered topics ranging from the horrors and loss in war, to politics and trade, and even class warfare. How exactly did you get a these things into a kid’s cartoon and not scare every suit tied to the project?
WILL MEUGNIOT: The show was picked up as a syndicated show. The only constraint we were ever given was to keep it “in good taste”, and ensure standards and practices didn’t have any issues with the final product. It was the blessing and curse of working with Universal. Nearly complete freedom from censorship, but the downside of that was because Exo was taken into syndication, we couldn’t get the show put in the time slot we’d hoped for… on after X-Men with Fox.
COMICMIX: That certainly would have affected the target audience! Since we’ve name dropped them a few dozen times already, let’s talk a bit about the X-Men, Shall we? You were integral to bringing the X-Men to the television with your work first on Pryde of the X-Men, and then the Fox Kids show, and finally X-Men: Evolution. Why do you think the X-Men have been such a TV staple?
WILL MEUGNIOT: If you use a sports term: I’d say it’s because the bench is so deep. Plenty of great characters, and plenty of great stories to mine from. I’m actually a bit surprised that Pryde of the X-Men didn’t take off when we put it out. Even though that wasn’t “quite right”, there was plenty to work with there. But I remember after we’d finished it, and I showed it to some network exec friends and they said “Who is Wolverine guy? What’s with him, and why is he so mean?” And before I forget — one of the things that drove all of us nuts: At the time we put Pryde out, Marvel was under the “New World” umbrella, and they were working on a Wolverine film treatment that moved the character to Australia, ergo the much-hated Australian accent.
COMICMIX: OK, you see, I always wondered by he sounded like he wanted to put another shrimp on the barbie… Now if we move to the Fox Kids show– I’m curious. Whose idea was it to put Morph into the show?
WILL MEUGNIOT: Actually? That was me! You see, originally I wanted to have Thunderbird be the pilot and have him die as in the comic book. This would make a contract with the audience that someone could die in the show. Now, as it turned out, during our production of the first episode, Marvel did a story in their short-lived ‘Super-Pro’ comic with a villain using a Native American symbol for evil, which created all sorts of public relations problems for Marvel. The network and Marvel were afraid that showing a Native American dying on the pilot might cause similar problems for the series. With that in mind, Eric Lewald and I created Morph, with the idea to make Morph the “designated die-er”. Of course standards and practices didn’t want him “dead-dead”. So we made the deal that the death wouldn’t be shown in a manner that prevented us from bringing him back later. And then, much to our surprise, Morph broke out as a character! Kids loved him.
COMICMIX: Well, without Morph, the only comic relief / tie to the kids who are watching would basically be just Jubilee…
WILL MEUGNIOT: I know. Sometimes you have to create a character to fit a need in the story. And as it turns out I prize my ‘Morph’ action figure. Who knew that he’d be so popular?
COMICMIX: Any regrets concerning X-Men?
WILL MEUGNIOT: I wish we could have had the production values of X-Men Evolution for our first X-Men series. That series by my friends the late Boyd Kirkland and Steve Gordon simply had better animation than we did. I always felt like we had better stories though.
COMICMIX: OK. Last geeky question (for now….). Who is your favorite X-Man to draw?
WILL MEUGNIOT: Well, I’ve always been drawn to Rogue. She has such a great unique look to her. And aside from the women, who I love to draw, I’m a fan of the bigger-than-normal-human-proportions guys. I’ve always been a fan of Beast.
Will Meugniot is a writer / artist / producer / director of countless shows, including Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters, Exo-Squad, Jem, Captain Planet, and several incarnations of the X-Men. He’s currently promoting his homage to the 60’s by way of the 40’s with the N.E.D.O.R. Agents! Do yourself a solid, and check out some great previews of the said book (from FemForce #157) on Comics Continuum on Comics Continuum.
Several years ago, writer Wayne Reinagle burst upon the pulp fiction world with a self published tome that was the pulp equivalent of “Gone With the Wind.” PULP HEROES – MORE THAN MORTAL was a giant white elephant of a clunker that was not well written and appeared to be stitched together by a fan boy who was irrevocably addicted to the classic pulp heroes of the 1930s & 40s. Still, as badly exceuted as that book was, the poor mechanics could not disguise the genuine love and enthusiasm Reinagel possessed for these iconic heroes and how much fun he had playing with them. You see, the audacity of the man is he put practically every single major ( & minor ) pulp hero in that one giant volume. Here were Doc Savage, the Shadow, the Spider, the Avenger etc.etc., albeit all with new names to avoid legal repercussions from the rights holders, though readers knew exactly who each was. Despite its literary flaws, the book is also important in that it was the beginning of Reinagel’s super saga that would invariably use every major literary hero and villain from both the 19th and 20th Centuries spread across an historical roadmap of herculean breath and girth.
Somewhere in all this Reinagel came to an unexplainable decision in regards to his pulp magnus opus; he’d inadvertently begun it in the middle. After the subsequent release of MORE THAN MORTALS, he was plagued with plot threads that could only be rationalized by going backwards in time, rather than forward. Thus the second book in the trilogy was actually the first chronologically: PULP HEROES – KHAN DYNASTY. It went back decades to give us the origins of the people who would ultimately sire the pulp heroes of the Great Depression. Asserting his genuine talent, Reinagel’s prose is much improved with this book though it still suffered the same affliction as its predecessor; massive dumps of historical data were dropped helter skelter through the narrative even in the middle of some balls-out action sequences. Again, Reinagel is not a man of moderations, he wants to give his readers ( & himself ) more and more. Some times to the detriment of his tale. Still KHAN DYNASTY was a major improvement and contained the portent of better things to come.
This reviewer is very happy to declare that literary promise has at long last been realized in Reinagel’s third book, MODERN MARVELS – VIKTORIANA. Clocking in at an impressive 440 pages, it adds proof that the guy simply cannot write a short piece but it also loudly proclaims his arrival as a sophisticated storyteller. This is the work of a craftsman who judiciously balances both action and characterizations and even though there are still many researched historical facts, they are kept concise and only used when propelling the action forward. That this is the writer’s fastest paced, most colorful and grandiose book is blatantly obvious from the first page to last.
Once again, the author propels us backward to lay the foundation of heroic fiction in a brilliant twist that is pure nectar of the gods to any reader who grew up enjoying the fantastic literature of the 19th Century. The heroes of this volume are the writers who produced those amazing works all of us encountered along the road to maturity and adulthood; the English classics with a few mongrel relatives thrown in for good measure.
The plot is simple enough. The planet’s are about to align in a unique positioning only witnessed every thousand years and two insidious fiends, Varney the Vampire and his stooge, a teenage Aleister Crowley, plan to use the stellar phenomenon to their own twisted ends. They wish to open a hole to another dimension; one filled with demons eager to crossover and destroy the earth. But to do so, Varney requires nine special magical tablets or else his insane plot will fail.
Guarding those arcane items are the most famous and courageous souls of their times; H.R. Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Nikola Tesla, and an aged Edgar Allen Poe accompanied by a teenage magician named Harry Houdini. They are led by an enigmatic, seemingly immortal beauty, Mary Shelly. Now if that isn’t a Who’s Who list of the most influential writers in English Literature during the late 19th Century, then I’d be at a loss to compile another. The exuberant bravado of Reinagel is his fearlessness in employing this stellar cast and bringing them to wonderful life in his glorious adventure. Their interaction amongst themselves, the romance between Haggard and the ever dangerous lovely Miss Shelley, the good-old-boys camaraderie between Doyle and Stoker is simply endearing and believable.
Wayne Reinagel clearly possesses one of the grandest imaginations ever unleashed on the printed page. His dreams and his fiction know no bounds when after adventure of the highest order and he delivers it beyond measure in this book. Every one of his books is an experience with so many surprises in store for the reader but none have so entertained and delighted this reviewer as MODERN MARVELS VIKTORIANA. Mark my words, pulp fans, your lives will be enriched for the better after reading this pure pulp odyssey by a truly one of a kind maser storyteller. Bravo, Wayne Reinagel, bravo!
Halloween doesn’t have to end! Author Katherine Tomlinson’s new fiction collection, Toxic Reality is now available in all formats on smashwords as well as in Amazon.com’s kindle store.
“From cyanide and cannibalism to thought-provoking and heartrending stories to Craig List-esque killers and their curious mates and just downright creepiness, if you weren’t a fan of Katherine Tomlinson’s writing before this collection, you will be very soon.”
–Christopher Grant, Editor/Publisher of A Twist Of Noir
“In Toxic Reality, Katherine Tomlinson proves that she’s an imaginative, masterful storyteller. She constructs realistic, likeable characters, drops them in desperate situations and watches them squirm. Her sharp sense of humor and gift for satisfying twist endings tie together this diverse and brilliant collection of crime tales.” – Chris Rhatigan, co-editor of the anthology Pulp Ink
Toxic Reality is the third collection of short fiction from Tomlinson, whose previous works include Just Another Day in Paradise, and L.A. Nocturne. Her work has been anthologized in Alt-Dead, Zombiefied, A Quiet Shelter There, and the upcoming Absolute Write speculative fiction collection.
A collection of 20 dark tales, Toxic Reality includes the Pushcart Prize nominee, “Water Sports” as well as stories that originally appeared in A Twist of Noir, Eaten Alive, Dark Valentine, and Clarity of Night.
I’ve never been very good at playing flight simulators. Invariably, I always end up crashing into the ground or a mountain as I’m trying to swing the camera around to follow the bogey on my six. However, the most recent entry in the Ace Combat series has made me a fan all over again, and its new cinematic approach is a good reason as to why. Taking cues from the Call of Duty series, as well as listening to critic and fan reviews of previous titles, [[[Ace Combat: Assault Horizon]]] is the most diverse and fun title I’ve played in the series yet.
The game starts you off in a dream sequence taking out enemy planes over Miami. It’s here that you’ll first utilize the game’s star feature, DFM, or Dog Fight Mode. When tailing an enemy, pressing both shoulder buttons locks you onto your target and gives you a cinematic behind-the-plane view with a focused targeting reticule on the ship in front of you. Since most enemies are fairly adept at maneuvering out of missile locks, this is the ideal way to lock-on to foes to take them out. While in a lock, you also have to watch out for foes putting a lock on you, and the dogfights can get pretty harried in the skies above. Luckily, there are awesome-looking counter attacks you can perform if locked on to, which has your plane looping around after lining up arrows on screen and pressing the appropriate buttons on the controller. However, there tends to be a LOT going on on screen, so attention to details is a must.
Amazing Stories Project Announces Editorial Advisory Board; Commissions Cover Art
Hillsboro, NH 10/21/11 – Steve Davidson (Crotchety Old Fan) who recently acquired the Trademarks for Amazing Stories, has announced the creation of an Editorial Advisory Board to assist in the re-launch of the world’s first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories.
Currently serving on the board in a voluntary capacity are four former editors of Amazing Stories – Barry Malzberg, Patrick L. Price, Ted White and Joseph Wrzos (who edited under the pen name Joseph Ross). Their tenures as editors of Amazing Stories spans nearly three decades and includes some of the most volatile, challenging and innovative periods in the magazine’s history.
Each of the board members has made important contributions to the genre, servingvariously as authors, agents, editors, collectors and historians. Their combined experience with the genre provides the Amazing Stories project with access to an unparalleled wealth of information.
Steve has also commissioned Frank Wu, multiple Hugo Award winning artist, to create a re-imagining of Frank R. Paul’s inaugural cover illustration for the magazine. The cover art will be made available on a variety of different media and will be used as a fund raising and promotional vehicle.
Additional details about the Amazing Stories project can be found in Steve Davidson’s monthly column on the review blog Grasping for the Wind (10/21/11)
Those interested in following the project can visit the magazine’s website atAmazing Stories Mag (sign up for a newsletter is available there) and on itsFacebook page.
Steve Davidson is a science fiction fan, blogger, curator of the Classic Science Fiction Channel website, author of several paintball books and currently edits the news and information website for paintball – 68Caliber. He made application for the Amazing Stories trademarks in 2008 and was granted the marks in September 2011.
BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES #1
Written by Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman
Drawn by Gabriel Hardman
SC, 32pgs, FC, SRP: $3.99
COVER A: Gabriel Hardman
COVER B: Dr. Zaius Photo Cover
COVER C: Mitch Gerads
COVER D: Tonci Zonjic
Diamond Code: SEP110880
Hot on the heels of BOOM!’s sold out, best selling PLANET OF THE APES ongoing series comes a brand new four issue mini co-written and drawn by Gabriel Hardman. Best known for his series-defining work on HULK and AGENTS OF ATLAS and his storyboard work on such hit films as Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION, Hardman and writer Corinna Sara Bechko (HEATHENTOWN, FEAR ITSELF: THE HOME FRONT) bring you PLANET OF THE APES: BETRAYAL! Taking place during the continuity of the original seminal fan favorite film, the feared and respected General Aleron finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could transform ape/human relations! Aleron’s journey puts him face to face with…Dr. Zaius!
Sometime in the late 1970s, there was a show in New York where DC Comics actually had a booth and I got to wander over as a fan and chat casually with president Sol Harrison. It was the earliest memory I had of a publishing taking booth space on the convention floor. Before then, the tables were given over to fanzine vendors, back issue and new release dealers and that was about it. Little in the way or merchandise and even less original art was being sold.
Fans and creators could mix in the aisles, chat in the lobby, and talk before and after panels. It was a far smaller, more collegial atmosphere and certainly formed relationships with people I still have today.
By the time I joined staff at DC in 1984, the major publishers had been taking booth space with increasing regularity at shows from coast to coast. These were standard trade show booth designs that were decorated with the company’s wares, maybe a TV monitor with a video tape playing but that was about it. Editors and creators sat at tables and signed comics, did sketches, and handed out sampler comics or buttons.
During the 1980s, things continued to grow and more customized booth set-ups were showing up but fans could still walk into a publisher’s booth and talk to editors and talent. That began to change in 1992-1993 when Image arrived with show biz razzle dazzle and DC, flush with Death of Superman profits, gave us a mammoth booth dubbed Wayne’s World, nicknamed after Bob Wayne. Since nature abhors a vacuum, this new space filled with a growing number of fans, but patient ones could still talk to staff and freelancers.
Today is Black Friday, the day when it is our patriotic duty as Americans to go into a spending frenzy. For all our talk about family values, we think it is more important to forgo the conviviality of the Thanksgiving table so that we can stand in line to buy things.
Ask me to name my favorite cartoon shows growing up. Suffice to say, nearly every one I have feelings for was in some way, shape, or form was touched by the amazing Will Meugniot. That’s pronounced Min-EE-Oh, just in case you missed the boat yesterday. What’s that? You missed our last installment? Shame on you! For the rest who didn’t though, we pick up where I left off, as I casually shifted our conversation towards Will’s amazing career in animation! Roll the tape…
COMICMIX: Any regrets concerning X-Men?
