Tagged: New York City

MARTHA THOMASES: Overrun By Comic Books!

It’s that time of year when my comics threaten to take over the apartment. As someone with a serious weekly habit (and no basement), there inevitably comes that moment when there is no more available shelf space. Or table space. Or floor space.

Back in the olden days, I didn’t want to get rid of my comics. Well, at least not all of them. When the stacks got high, I’d go through them, taking out the issues I thought I’d want to read again. I put those issues into long boxes (although not with bags and boards), and sent them away to storage. Then I would donate the remaining comics to the block association sidewalk sale. I felt great watching neighborhood kids ravage the boxes, looking for a something that was clutter to me but a treasure to them.

Once the trade paperback made its entry into the marketplace, I no longer felt it necessary to save my back issues. Almost everything I’d want to re-read would be collected at some point. This saved me a lot of time when it the sidewalk sale rolled around.

And then they changed the calendar, and the block association is much less convenient. I had to find another way to get rid of my stacks.

Luckily (<-sarcasm), we’re in the middle of a horrible recession. In my part of the country, there are all sorts of people selling stuff on the sidewalk. This being New York City, the center (but not the entirety) of the publishing industry, a lot of people sell books. Not only is there a market for books, but selling them on the street is protected by the First Amendment.

So, just as primitive man did before the invention of Ebay, there are tribes of people who look for reading material to sell. I found a lovely man, less than half a mile away, who has a table set up just outside Urban Outfitters (a chain I boycott because the founder donates to Rick Santorum), and he agreed to take my year’s worth of back issues.

I suppose I could just take my old comics down to the trash and let them be part of recycling. However, since I know most of my neighbors, and their kids, I worry that a child might get hold of a comic that is less than appropriate. I’m not a prude about sex, or language, or even necessarily violence, but I don’t want that sweet eight-year old in 5-C to be traumatized by an issue of Animal Man.

It might turn her off comics forever.

Instead, this is a win/win situation. I have a cleaner apartment, and the nice man in front of Urban Outfitters gets fresh merchandise. I feel like one of those job creators that the GOP are always praising.

I wonder what’s actually in my storage boxes. Perhaps, someday, I’ll have the space to unpack them.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

How Should Comic Shop Owners Deal With Digital Comics? Start Drinking. (Really.)

How Should Comic Shop Owners Deal With Digital Comics? Start Drinking. (Really.)

  • News
  • December 9, 2011
A Kranz (wreath) of Kölsch beer.

A lot of pixels have been spilled recently about Dark Horse going day-and-date digital at a cheaper price point than the print edition, with many retailers feeling undercut. Mark Millar has said we shouldn’t be doing day-and-date at all:

I really think day and date release is a disastrous idea and makes no economic sense at all to comics as a business. It’s potentially ruinous for comic stores, and in the long term it’s not going to do publishers any favors either.

Brian Wood has a more nuanced point of view:

No sane creator, or publisher, wants to see comic shops hurt. We all have emotional connections to them, to the idea of them, and we count owners and employees as personal friends. We aren’t looking for digital to steal customers away from shops, but rather to be an additive thing, to be an additional source of income. To simply switch a current print consumer to a digital consumer does not solve any problems! It benefits no one at all. It will not save us.

So what will save us? In the words of Bluto Blutarsky: “My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.”

If you’re in comics, you’ve spent time in bars. (Oh, don’t deny it, the photos are all up on Facebook.) But the question is: what kind of bars? Do you spend it in old man bars where the average age of the customers goes up by one each year? Are the places dimly lit and crowded, but it’s still happening– or have you not been in that dive since you graduated? Is it a friendly place where you and your friends can hang out? Is there a decent beer list, or do they only sell stuff from the big players, without a hint of imported beer or microbrews? Does the person behind the bar know how to make a decent Harbor Light?

And really, why are you spending time in bars anyway? You can get booze cheaper if you buy it and drink it at home. Much cheaper.

This is where we are now with comic book stores– compare them to your bar on the corner. Maybe it’s a place you’d rather not be at all. Maybe it’s okay for some people, but it’s not the kind of place you’d take your mom on her birthday. Maybe it’s a family place, maybe it’s sports only. And just as some bars die out for a variety of reasons, so too do comic stores.

There are great comic stores out there– Challengers in Chicago, The Secret Headquarters and Meltdown in LA, and New York City has a bunch like Midtown and Manhattan and St. Mark’s and Jim Hanley’s Universe. Each one has a different vibe and feel, but they all know how to reach their customers and they’re all places you want to spend some time in.

Is your store a place you really enjoy spending time in? Or is it a place that’s survived because it’s the only way to get your weekly fix?

There are comic stores that have taken these lessons to heart and made them places you want to go to and spend money, even though you can get stuff cheaper elesewhere.

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GUEST REVIEW-DOC SAVAGE’S LATEST BOOK ‘HORROR IN GOLD’ BY WILL MURRAY

  • News
  • December 8, 2011

ALL PULP GUEST REVIEWS-
HORROR IN GOLD
The Newest in The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage
by Will Murray
Coming Soon from Altus Press!
Review by Jim Beard
Amazing Alchemical Adventure
“Horror in Gold” – A Review

HORROR IN GOLD, the new Doc Savage novel from Will Murray and Altus Press, opens with one of the best Doc first chapters ever. It’s a real humdinger. The rest of the book’s not too bad, either.
Once I really got into the story, that old comforting feeling of visiting with Doc and his amazing aides swept over me. That’s one of the highest compliments that I can pay Murray; it’s like coming home to read one of his modern Doc tales. As many of you well know, it’s almost impossible to divine where Lester Dent ends and Will Murray begins, or vice versa. HORROR IN GOLD is no exception, and I believe it will please even the most discriminating Doc enthusiasts.
When I was give the advance pdf of the book to read, one of the things I hoped lurked within its pages was one of the great super villains of old – and, lo and behold, I got it. Complete with a so-called “infernal device,” the book’s villain is larger-than-life, an improvement on the adversaries who populated THE DESERT DEMONS, Murray’s previous Doc tome.
Special notice should also be given to the author’s use of Long Tom here, not exactly the most popular of the aides; just wait until you check out the specialized use for Long Tom’s false teeth. It sounds goofy on the surface, but its just one of many fun bits that Murray includes. Monk and Ham are, of course, predominant in HORROR IN GOLD and just when I thought I had had just a bit too much of their incessant bickering – Murray almost never lets up on the gas on that score – the two men have one of the very best scenes in the book, an atypical moment that sticks with me long after I finished the story. And you can’t beat Monk being compared to Alley Oop, either.
Doc Savage here is the classic Doc of legend and gets right in to the thick of the troubles almost immediately. I also have to not that the while THE DESERT DEMONS plunked itself down squarely on the west coast, HORROR IN GOLD is very much a New York City adventure and Doc’s fabulous headquarters is put to very good use. It becomes almost a real place through Murray’s many scenes set therein. There’s also a fantastic section with the “go-devil” car, as Monk calls it, and a very, very unfortunate criminal. Top-notch stuff.
One of the things I love most about the original pulps is there use of the language of their times – slang, to be precise. Murray creates a reasonable facsimile of that here, especially with what spills out of Monk’s mouth. One phrase in particular that’s used as an exclamation – “I’ll tell a man!” – fascinates me, as I had never heard it before. And then, of course, there are the archaic spellings, like “to-day” and the book’s illusion of the 1930s is complete.
Alas, Pat Savage has something akin to a brief cameo, but I thoroughly enjoyed Murray’s use of Lea Aster, Monk’s secretary. In fact, after this, I would be very eager to see here again and again in this new Doc era.
Are there any caveats to my enthusiasm for HORROR IN GOLD? Perhaps only that it breaks away a little too abruptly towards the end to a completely new location and characters that don’t populate the bulk of the narrative. But, Will Murray rolls out the pulp action so smoothly and so in line with Lester Dent’s sensibilities that any gripes become minor quibbles when the entire package is looked at as a whole.
In all, HORROR IN GOLD whets my appetite for more – which is a good thing.

JENKINS RELEASES A ‘GREATEST HITS’! AND IT’S ON SALE TODAY!

  • News
  • November 28, 2011

From Joel Jenkins-

One day only (that’s 11/28 until the morning of 11/29), get 30% off my just-released book, The Gantlet Brothers Greatest Hits. Normally,
you’re looking at $11.95 (still a bargain in my completely biased
estimation), but if you follow this link (
https://www.createspace.com/3621701 ) and use the discount code 5YRZ6A8W you get 30% off the cover price.

So what’s the book about? Here’s the back cover blurb:

“From the broken and dusty terrain of Egypt’s Qattara Depression to
the grimy underbelly of New York City, erstwhile rock musicians and
guns for hire, the Gantlet Brothers, use charm, blades, bullets, and
fists to plow a path through amorous starlets with ill intentions,
bounty hunters, a deranged serial killer and terrorists hell-bent on
bringing down nuclear annihilation.

These are the Gantlet Brothers’ greatest hits collected for the first
time and including two never before published stories.”

This book is just released so there are no reviews out yet. However,
the inestimable Ron Fortier wrote a piece on the previous Gantlet
Brother novel, The Nuclear Suitcase which you can still find at the
Pulp Fiction Review Website.
http://pulpfictionreviews.blogspot.com/2009/10/nuclear-suitcase.html

BIZARRO MINDY NEWELL #1: Me Praise

Me read Frank Miller’s blog and me think Miller is right. Me think all those people who am mad at Frank are dunderheads.

Me think protesters at Occupy Wall Street just don’t want to clean their own homes. It am easier to go live in a park in New York City and make a new mess there. After the protesters make the park is dirty Mayor Bloomberg is very nice. He send policemen to help protestors move to a new place.

Me heard that in Oakland the policemen did not think the place where the protestors were living wuz dirty enuf, so the policemen helped with tear gas. All the protestors am happy, they laugh and giggle and cry with joy.

Me saw students sitting on ground, me think they could not get up, like that nice lady in the TV ad. The nice policeman tried to help them by putting pepper spray in there faces so they wood sneeze, but me do not know how sneezing wood help the students get up. But at least the nice policeman try and help them.

Me heard a lady had a baby inside her and the policman hit her in the stomak to help the baby come out. Then the lady went to the doktor and the doktor said the baby am dead. The lady am very happy to not have a baby inside her any more.

Me think Amerika is a very noisy country. People yell and shout and march instead of going to their jobs. Me work hard. Me make lots of money and then I give it to the nice taxman. This am fair because if me not give money to taxman he will lose his job. Me not want nobody to lose there job.

Me heard there are some people who make so much money they are called the 1 per cent. Me heard me am part of the 99 per cent. Me not know what this means but the nice man with orange skin in the big house in Washingten must know because he said the 1 per cent does not need to give money to the taxman because they make jobs. Me not understand, because Mr. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital makes my job. Me not know any body at my job named Mister 1 per cent. Me will rite the nice man with the orange skin in Washingten and ask him who Mister 1 per cent is. He am very smart. Me sure he will know.

Me went to school and learnt about Amerika. A long time ago some bad men did not want to pay taxes to the king. They said “no taxation without representation.” Me not know what that means, but the bad men throw tea bags into the cold water. They are very stupid. If me am there me wood tell them u need hot water to make tea. Me make tea at home every morning.

The bad men said “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Me not know what that mean.

The bad men said “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of Amerika.”

Me not know what that mean, either. But silly bad men spelled Amerika wrong. Me fix it for them.

TUESDAY: Michael Davis

Review: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

taking123-original-300x385-7900940One of the joys of the current Blu-ray era is that studios have been delving into their libraries and restoring gems, releasing them with varying degrees of love and care. We’ve recently seen, for example, the arrival of musical greats West Side Story and My Fair Lady. But studios have also been working to bring back the really good films that have been somewhat forgotten. They may not get the deluxe restoration or bonus features, but it’s nice to have clean prints and high definition editions so we can still enjoy them at home. I’m reminded of all this because out now is the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. This film, starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, is based on a novel and was one of my favorite films of the 1970s. I was interested to see the Tony Scott remake a few years back but longed for the original which I finally tracked down. I watched it and felt incredibly nostalgic.

The film is far from perfect, but is an excellent time capsule of New York City in the mid-1970s, as crime was rampant, the city was dirty, and the public servants were rumpled and dogged. Four men with colorful pseudonyms — Mr. Green (Martin Balsam); Mr. Grey (Hector Elizondo); Mr. Brown (Earl Hindman); and Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw) — took possession of the subway designated Pelham One Two Three. They make demands of cash, threatening the passengers’ lives. On the other end is the MTA’s Lt. Zach Garber (Matthau), trying to determine how they could pull off the hijacking with such precision. It had to be an inside job and the hunt is on. Amusingly, a delegation from Japan is visiting the MTA control center just as all hell breaks loose and provides some stereotypical comic relief with a killer punchline. The film is filled with a wondefrul supporting cast, from Kenneth McMillan to Jerry Stiller.

A cash-strapped New York has one hour to assemble a million dollars cash and deliver it to the subway. Some of the most knowing sequences are set at the home of the mayor (Lee Wallace, who also was Gotham City’s Mayor in Batman), surrounding by his chief aide (Tony Roberts) and his wife (Doris Roberts).

As directed by Star Trek veteran Joseph Sargent, the film is tense and atmospheric, restrained in the action but with enough humor to make it feel real.

The transfer is solid without being perfect, the original’s graininess and subtle colors are nicely preserved. 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment has included the original trailer as the sole extra.

Seeing this film in comparison with the 2009 remake is a fasciating example of how our moviemaking has changed, along with audience expectations. Now we get a lot of crashes and cursing and time devoted to bringing the characters to an approximation of three-dimensions. Still, the original remains superior for the tension it creatres and the cold, calculating Shaw matching wits with Matthau, a far more interesting matchup than Denzel Washington and John Travolta.

Review: “Reed Gunther” Issues 1-5

Review: “Reed Gunther” Issues 1-5

by Brandon Beck

Before you open the first issue of Shane and Chris Houghton’s Reed Gunther, ask yourself the following question: “How awesome is a cowboy riding a bear and fighting monsters?” If your answer was “The most awesome” then you’re going to love this book. Even if that wasn’t your answer, you’re still going to love this book.

Reed Gunther focuses on the titular cowboy, his smarter-than-average bear Sterling and their adventures through an Old West filled with giant snakes, shark monsters and ancient totems. The central man/bear duo is incredibly charming, akin to a Wild West Wallace & Gromit. Reed’s overconfident, super-manly nature contrasts nicely with Sterling’s silent but expressive puppy-dog nature. Granted, Reed is also a bit of a coward and Sterling can be an absolute badass, which provides for some great character moments. There’s an hysterical joke about their somewhat one-sided communication in issue 4, which I won’t ruin, but was easily the biggest laugh in this first story arc, which is saying a lot as this book is often laugh out loud funny.

(more…)

Guest Review of the Week-ATOMIC ROBO REVIEWED!

  • News
  • November 1, 2011
ROBO POWER
A Review of Red 5 Comics’ Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science
by Andrew Salmon
“THIS ONE HAS GOT IT ALL!!”
Okay, we’ve all heard that before and, let’s face it, 99% of the time it turns out to be utterly false. But, oh, when a work falls into that precious, lofty, rare 1%, then you know you’ve found something truly special. One for the ages.
ATOMIC ROBO AND THE DEADLY ART OF SCIENCE belongs in that 1%!
Remember when comics were fun? That’s another one we hear a lot and I’m not knocking the good stuff being produced today. Grim and gritty is the way and when done well, it can truly entertain. The problem is that whenever someone makes a splash doing comics a certain way, everyone else follows suit and every comic you pick up begins to read and look the same. That can be a good thing if the quality of the work is on the page.
However too much of anything is not so good a thing and every now and then this reader likes to sit down and just get caught up in a story, be swept away in a yarn that has captivating characters, tons of action, laugh out loud humor and, because we’re talking comics, wondrous images.
This latest Atomic Robo collection is, in a word, fun. By that I’m don’t mean to say that it is merely light-hearted fluff but I am saying you won’t feel like you need a shower after reading it. This collection of the Deadly Art of Science arc contains the elements mentioned above. It does, in fact, have it all!
Also, unlike the previous four Robo collections, this one is pure pulp! Writer Brian Clevinger, artist Scott Wegener and crew have crafted a fantastic two-fisted wild ride set smack dab in the 1930s. And it is a hoot!
It’s about time we got to enjoy Atomic Robo’s origin as well. For those of you who don’t know Robo, he is the creation of Nikola Tesla and his time-spanning adventures have chronicled in the four previous collections – all of which I give my highest recommendation. If you want a preview of what his other adventures are like, the Free Comic Book Day Robo adventure, set in the present day, is included in the collection as a back-up feature and it’s indicative of what you’ve been missing if you’ve never gone adventuring with Robo before. But let’s focus on the Deadly Art of Science.
When we first encounter Robo, he is living with his creator in New York City, the year is 1930.  Robo is bored, seeking adventure – as any young robot would – but he is cooped up with his reclusive creator and can only dream of action and adventure until a run-in with pulp hero extraordinaire Jack Tarot opens the door for Robo’s adventurous life to come. Tarot is chasing down a gang bent on getting their grubby mitts on a crystal skull from Atlantis. I won’t tell you who is backing them!
Robo, finally getting this first taste of adventure, latches on to Tarot for the duration and the exchanges between the “gritty” vigilante and the wide-eyed Robo – especially when Tarot’s ace mechanic daughter takes a shine to Tesla’s creation – will have you on the floor laughing. But this beautifully crafted humor won’t take you out of the action.
Bungling, but eager, Robo tags along as Tarot and his daughter investigate the gang and Robo has to be careful Tesla doesn’t find out his creation has been sneaking out of the house… What’s that you say? A rollicking robot coming of age pulp adventure tale with gangsters, first love, humor, adventure, a giant robot with a bowler and action galore… Well, didn’t I tell you Atomic Robo belongs in that precious 1%? You’ll be on the edge of your seat, you’ll cheer, you’ll laugh your head off and you might even find a lump in your throat along the way. It really doesn’t get any better than this.
Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science is one of the best pulp releases this year, certainly the best pulp comic release of 2011. Period. I defy you to put it down once you’ve begun. I know I couldn’t. This one, folks, is an absolute gem.

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