Tagged: novel

FORTIER TAKES ON SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT-COLLINS STYLE!

  • News
  • December 9, 2012

ALL PULP REVIEWS-by Ron Fortier
SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT
By Max Allan Collins
Illustrations by Terry Beatty
Available 19 Feb. 2013
Hard Case Crime
260 pages
What better book to review following our look at a Modesty Blaise strip collection then one that uses the 1950s anti-comic book witch hunt as its thinly disguised narrative skeleton.  “Seduction of the Innocent,” is the third in a series starring former stripper and newspaper syndicate owner, Maggie Starr and her World War II veteran stepson, Jack Starr.  Both appeared in two earlier comics themed mysteries, “A Killing in Comics,” 2007 and “Strip for Murder,” 2008.  Now Collins wraps up the trilogy with a look at the events that nearly destroyed the American comics industry via the publication of the original, “Seduction of the Innocent,” by Dr. Fredric Wertham.
For the uninitiated, Wertham (March 20,1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German born American psychiatrist who made a name for himself by denouncing comics books as a corrupting influence on the children of that era.  Targeting such publishers as E.C. Comics, he posited the theory that the crime, sex and violence depicted in those comics were the principle cause of delinquency among juvenile boys.  Of course he failed to point out that the titles he singled out were clearly intended for an adult audience though no such labeling existed at the time.  His best known book was “Seduction of the Innocent,” and his criticisms of comic books launched a U.S. Congressional inquiry into the industry and the creation of the Comics Code.
Of course the book is a sham using only the most gruesome examples of graphic art to prove a theory that was never corroborated with traditional scientific sampling.  But the public, already molded by McCarthyism was only too eager to start comic book burning events in their noble defense of America’s naïve youth. 
Author Collins has no difficult task in imagining a scenario in which the hated fictional doctor is murdered and then he lines up a half dozen very plausible suspects, each based loosely on past comic industry personalities from publishers to writers and artists.  And therein lies the fun of this tale for any diehard comic book fan; guessing who it is Collins is rifting off of as Jack Starr investigates.  As ever, Collins plays fair and the clues are laid out within the context of the story for all to see and interpret, mystery fans; the challenge being can we solve it before Jack and Maggie do?
This new “Seduction of the Innocent,” is by far a whole lot more entertaining than its predecessors and has the distinction of being Hard Case Crime’s first ever illustrated novel.  Through out the book there are wonderful spot illustrations provided by the super talented Terry Beatty; all done in the marvelous retro golden age style of art.  They add a really nice visual element to what is already a fun read.  It is hoped that Collins’ legion of fans will demand yet more of these delicious murder mysteries starring Maggie & Jack Starr.  In a literary environment overly saturated with dark, somber and depressing cautionary tales these are truly a breath of fresh air.

TARZAN RELIVES THE RUSS MANNING YEARS

  • News
  • December 7, 2012
Art: Russ Manning

Just in time for Tarzan’s Centennial Celebration, Dark Horse Comics is releasing Tarzan: The Russ Manning Years Volume 1. The hardcover collection will arrive in comic shops on Wednesday, December 12.

Tarzan: The Russ Manning Years Volume 1 features stories by Gaylord DuBois (Writer) and Russ Manning (Artist).

Experience three of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan novels as drawn by Russ Manning, the most beloved comic-book interpreter of the lord of the jungle! Collecting Tarzan #155 – #161, #163, #164, #166, and #167, from the 1960s, this volume is an essential addition to any comics fan’s collection!

Tarzan: The Russ Manning Years Volume 1 is 288 pages and retails for $49.99.

Enjoy this preview.
Click on images for a larger view.

IRON SKY COMES TO IDW

  • Uncategorized
  • December 6, 2012
Comic Book Adaptation Cover

Movie Poster

IDW Publishing, along with comic production house Hazmat Studios and film production company Blind Spot Pictures, have announced an Iron Sky movie tie-in graphic novel in March.

Drawn and colored by the team of Gerry Kissell and Amin Amat, the artists behind IDW’s best selling graphic novel Code Word: Geronimo, and Xbox’s comic game tie-in Alan Wake. The book will also feature original pin-up art by Miguel Angel Abad and Darren Douglas, and chronicles the battle against the return of history’s most notoriously evil villains, the Nazis, who unbeknownst to us, escaped to the moon following their defeat in World War II.

Movie Poster

“The graphic novel is a prequel to the hit sci-fi action film Iron Sky produced by Blind Spot Pictures, and focuses on how the Nazis ended up on the moon, and how Udo Kier’s character, Wolfgang Kortzfleisch, became Der Uberfuhrer,” Kissell said. “Part steampunk and part comedy, the graphic novel was written masterfully by Alan Wake scribe, Mikko Rautalahti. who has a wicked sense of humor.”

The book will be 104 pages, with 67 pages of comic art with an additional 33 pages of production art, behind the scenes bonus material, and other exclusive material written by the film’s director, Timo Vuorensola.

Learn more about Iron Sky: the movie at www.ironsky.net.
Learn more about IDW and their books at www.idwpublishing.com.

GUEST REVIEW-SALMON GETS IN THE RING WITH GOLDEN GATE GLOVES!

  • News
  • December 6, 2012

A FIST Out Of Water Tale

A review of Robert Evans’s Golden Gate Gloves

by  Andrew Salmon

This installment in the great Fight Card series starts off in the reader’s comfort zone. As the goal of recreating the classic pulp fight fiction of yesteryear is the goal of Fight Card, having Golden Gate Gloves begin with part-time fighter, full-time dock worker, Conall O’Quinn working hard at the San Francisco docks is typical of the genre and any fan of this type of fiction could probably finish this story from there: fighting to prove who is the toughest on the dock, trouble with organized crime, a penultimate fight with everything on the line. These are the foundation posts of this type of fiction — any fan knows that going in — and it falls to the writer to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of the formula.


Although Robert Evans, writing as Jack Tunney, begins his tale in this tried and true tradition, with O’Quinn having to fight the dock boss’s son to prove he’s the toughest only to get fired when he meets the challenge, the story then takes a refreshing right hook to the country and the hunt for buried treasure. Yes, you read that right. O’Quinn, in fleeing crooked crime bosses and labor leaders, stumbles upon a treasure map pinpointing buried gold in the abandoned California gold mines.

Only the mines are not abandoned and we are soon treated to a fish (or should I say, fist?) out of water tale with O’Quinn and his partner searching for the lost gold while working for the current owners of the mine. It doesn’t take long for O’Quinn to fall in love with the mine boss’s daughter and it doesn’t take long for the trouble he left in San Francisco to catch up to him while he is left to battle for the hand of the woman he loves.


If it sounds like there’s a lot going on in this stiff jab of a tale, that’s because there is and Evans keeps the pace moving quickly as he introduces us to two distinct settings and casts of characters in 76 pages. The fight scenes are great and you feel every punch as O’Quinn is battling for his life against disreputable opponents. For $2.99 you get your money’s worth in this novella as there’s enough going on here to fill a good size novel. What Evans pulls off so well is to give his tale that full feeling without the needless padding so prevalent in today’s fiction.

Golden Gate Gloves delivers. Check it out.

LANSDALE’S DEAD AIM NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER

  • Uncategorized
  • December 5, 2012
Cover Art: Glen Orbik

Subterranean Press has announced that Author Joe R. Lansdale’s Dead Aim is now available for preorder before its official release in January 2013.

Press Release:

Dead Aim (preorder) by Joe R. Lansdale
ISBN: 978-1-59606-524-6
Length: 104 pages
(preorder—to be published in January 2013)

Dust jacket by Glen Orbik

Dead Aim marks the always welcome return of Joe R. Lansdale’s most enduring fictional creations: Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. The result is a spare, beautifully crafted novella in which Lansdale’s unique voice and inimitable narrative gifts are on full—and generous—display.

The story begins simply enough when the two agree to provide protection for a woman harassed by her violent, soon-to-be-ex husband. But, as readers of this series will already know, events in the lives of Hap and Leonard rarely stay simple for long. When a protracted stakeout ends in a lethal shooting and a pair of moldering corpses turn up in an otherwise deserted trailer, the nature of this “routine” assignment changes dramatically. The ensuing investigation unearths a complex web of lies, duplicity, and hidden agendas that leads from an upscale Texas law firm to the world of organized crime, culminating in the kind of explosive, anything-can-happen confrontation that only Joe Lansdale could create. Violent, profane, and often raucously funny, Dead Aim is a tautly written, hugely entertaining thriller and a triumph of the storyteller’s art.

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition
Limited: 400 signed numbered copies, bound in leather, with a different cover design than the trade hardcover.

Learn more about Dead Aim here.

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO ‘HUNT AT WORLD’S END’!

  • News
  • December 5, 2012

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
HUNT AT WORLD’S END
By Nicholas Kaufmann (writing as Gabriel Hunt)
Gabriel Hunt created by Charles Ardai
Published by Leisure Books, 2009
There’s something to be said for archetypes.   We enjoy them, we return to them, many sociologists and psychologists say that they are essential to our survival as individuals and a race.  And being a fan of Heroic Fiction and particularly of Pulp, I am darn glad that writers today believe in archetypes as well and don’t shy away from writing a story around a character who is like some previous creation or reminds readers of that guy in that movie.  Many good tales are written because writers, too, enjoy playing with archetypes.
Enter Gabriel Hunt. 
Created by Charles Ardai, the genius behind the Hard Case Crime books, Gabriel Hunt is one of two brothers whose parents mysteriously disappeared and are believed dead.   The brothers are now entrusted with the operation of the Hunt Foundation, which Gabriel leaves largely to his brother Michael while he travels the globe rescuing lost artifacts from the wrong hands in efforts to give them to museums and, if necessary, saving the world in the process.
Sound a tad familiar?  Yes, there are definite shades of Indiana Jones and other such fortune and glory for museums types in Hunt.  But in this tale that opens with a bar fight in an Explorer’s type club and involves chasing down three jewels and an ancient Hittite device, Hunt definitely steps out as his own character.  This is both a blessing and a curse for the story.
The action is well paced throughout HUNT AT THE WORLD’S END, the third novel in the series, and leaps off the page at the reader.  The characters are engaging, colorful, and run the gamut of beautiful I-Can-Take-Care-of-Myself damsel, over the top villain, and even an ancient cult of scaries with worldwide membership thrown in for good measure.   The build up of and resolution of the adventure is nearly flawless.  And Hunt himself provides a heroic figure that the book revolves around easily.
Mostly.
It seems that many writers feel the need to write characters in Heroic Fiction today that will hopefully have a broader market appeal than typical concepts of Heroes as we see them.  There have to be flaws, there must be angst, there have to be internal complications that give breadth, depth and color to the hero, even in some cases making him seem less than heroic.  This is supposed to, I think, make him appear more heroic when he works his hero mojo.
In HUNT AT THE WORLD’S END, all this sort of characterization, most of it done as internal narration, accomplished was to make Hunt seem insecure, arrogant, and whiny.  The middle of the novel is bogged down with Hunt’s concern over a particular cast member being involved in their hunt, his love or interest or whatever he has in the aforementioned damsel, and there’s even a hint of regret for his chosen life thrown in.  All of this is fine if it’s handled correctly, but the way it’s presented in this book makes Hunt’s subsequent heroic actions seem hollow, false.
Another point about this book- and this is more the writer in me, not the reviewer, complaining- is the fact that it is written under a house name of the lead character.  Gabriel Hunt wrote the book and yet it’s in third person.  It would have been much more affective to have this tale told in first person and would have made some of the above mentioned issues with whininess a little easier for the writer- and the reader- to deal with.
THREE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT- HUNT AT WORLD’S END is a great actioner, wonderfully paced with plenty of derring do and baddies for the good guys to contend with.  I just wish I liked the hero more than I did and that maybe in this instance, the author would have stuck a tad more to the archetype than trying to broaden his reader base (that he was doing that is only my assumption, but still…this is my review).

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