Alfred Hitchcock is today best known for his work in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to Universal and Warner Bros. steady stream of restored re-releases on Blu-ray but recently, 20th Century Home Entertainment reminded us that the master director wasn’t exactly idle in the years before. A trio of his 1940s works – Notorious, Spellbound, and Rebecca – are now out on Blu-ray for the first time and it begs a fresh look at his black and white thrillers.
Hitchcock began his stormy relationship with MGM producer David O. Selznick with 1940’s Rebecca, a psychological drama which is noteworthy as the director’s first American film. Adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s bestseller, it featured Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, and Judith Anderson. Being a gothic tale of loss, while gently questioning whether or not Olivier killed his first wife, it was a good fit for Hitchcock, introducing him to the American way of shooting a feature film. Clearly it worked since it went on to win a Best Picture Oscar. (more…)
REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST, the second novel by author Kevin Paul Shaw Broden, charted as high as #70 in the Hardboiled Detective Fiction list for Amazon UK on the day it was released. It remained in the top 100 for several hours.
In the novel, a vigilante stalks the streets of the 1930’s Manhattan, and Margaret Randolph is terrified that he will break into her home. Even though her husband Donald tries to reassure her that it won’t happen, the mystery man known as the Masked Ghost steps in from a stormy night and dies at her feet. What is the secret of the Masked Ghost? Why did he come to the penthouse home of the Randolphs? Do they go to the police, or must they solve his murder on their own? Must this young couple be forced to bring about the… REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST? Written in the style of the pulp novels of the 1930s, REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST is the tale of a man obsessed and what that obsession does to his family. Originally released in serialized blog form, this compiled edition includes new interior black and white illustrations along with a never before published SCARLET SPIRIT backup tale.
Kevin’s first novel CLOCKWORK GENIE – a blend of fantasy, romance, and murder mystery – is still available.
REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST can be found at the following:
Amazon:http://bit.ly/zg3PcN
Amazon UK:http://bit.ly/xhWpgy
Smashwords:http://bit.ly/xDv5pX
REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST is soon to be available at most other online distributors.
New Pulp Author Martin Powell sent us the following announcement. —
Okay. I’m spilling the news. Wild Cat Books has given me their official nod to announce that my THE HALLOWEEN LEGION will return in a brand new prose novel set for release before October 31, 2012.
A fresh new idea galloped into my brain yesterday while I was taking Trudaloo the beagle for her walk and by the time we got back home I’d thought the whole thing through. I can’t wait to start writing …the new book.
So, along with the graphic novel, already in progress, to be published by Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics, my little group of Trick ‘R Treatin’ weirdos will be returning in THE HALLOWEEN LEGION Book Two, “The Night of the Living Fossil”, from Wild Cat Books. I’m very thrilled that the cover and interior chapter headings will be illustrated by the multi-talented Ver Curtiss.
And don’t forget, my critically-acclaimed THE HALLOWEEN LEGION Book One has been nominated for three Pulp Ark Awards, including Best Novel, Best Author, and a much-deserved Best Cover nomination for the amazing Danny Kelly.
Available in print and Kindle editions. Order yours before the next full moon!
Fellow ComicMixer Bob Greenberger recently talked about To Kill A Mockingbirda couple days ago as he prepares to teach his class. To Kill A Mockingbird is, as I expect all of you to know, a masterpiece of American literature concerning the racial tensions and bigotries of a small town in Alabama during the Depression – but more important, it is a study of the nature of good and evil, of both the morality and immorality inherent in all of us.
Starring Gregory Peck as the lawyer Atticus Finch who defends the black man accused of raping a white woman, the movie is a landmark picture, and – in my opinion – a touchstone for how to adapt a brilliant novel to the screen. Also my opinion: Peck’s greatest role.
But don’t just watch the movie. Read the book itself. One of the things that just driiivvvess meeee crrrrrazzzzy is when I ask someone, “did you read….” and what I get back in response is, “I saw the movie.”
Aaaaaggghh!
Here’re some books that have been turned into movies. Some good, some bad, some just “eh.” But do yourself a favor – read the book. You might learn something.
Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind: Yes, it’s one of the greatest movies ever made. Yes, adjusted for inflation it’s made more than any other movie. Yes, Vivien Leigh, Olivia DeHavilland, Hattie MacDonald Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, are the living embodiments of Mitchell’s characters. In fact, it’s about the most perfect casting ever, in my opinion. But Scarlett is not just the selfish bitch that the movie portrays.
In fact, as you read Gone With The Wind, you realize that Scarlett Katie O’Hara embodies both the Old and New South, the gentry who will not dirty their hands and the hard-scrabbling immigrant who will. Even her mother and father represent this coming battle, with Ellen O’Hara a symbol of the old landed gentry who live by rituals and rules, and Gerald O’Hara the hard-scrabbling immigrant who will do anything to succeed. And her men are symbols, too, as she clings to Ashley as a representation of an idealized world of chivalry and manners, and of the pampered childhood she has lost, while simultaneously being drawn to Rhett, the realist, the adult, the symbol of the “New South” and the future. Every main character in Gone With The Wind are the embodiments of the Civil War, of the battle between yesterday and today, of what was and what can be. Melanie is not just the selfless and perfect Lady of the antebellum South. Rhett is more than a lusting hedonist who marries Scarlett because he can’t have any other way. Ashley is more than just a beaten Confederate. Mitchell’s characters within the book come alive because they are all, well, alive.
The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Okay, technically this wasn’t a movie; it was a mini-series on TNT starring Julianne Margulies and Angelica Huston. It was promoted as the story of Camelot from the “women’s side.” The mini-series was a disaster. I could understand if no one’s curiosity was piqued enough to read the book. But do it anyway. But it’s so much more.
It’s the story of the introduction of Christianity into Celtic Britain, of how one great religion was usurped and demonized by another. It’s a story, again, of the fall of one civilization and the rise of another. Of choices, of the roles between women and men, of what is good and what is evil and what is in-between. Of what is magic and what is faith, of what is real and what is not. All, as I said, set against the backdrop of one of the most romantic and glorious legend of all, King Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere, Morgan Le Fay, Mordred, Merlin, and the Round Table.
Giant, by Edna Ferber. Ferber was a brilliant novelist whose historical fictions also criticized the social mores and woes of America. Giant deals with the struggle for power between the great cattle barons and the growing oil industry in Texas from the 1920s to the 1950s. It’s the story of cultures at struggle against themselves and each other: Leslie Lynton Benedict, from the East, against her husband, Jordan “Bick” Benedict, born and bred in the Southwest. It’s about of racism and bigotry, of how both the cattle barons and the oil tycoons built their empires on the back of Mexican-Americans… sadly, still an incredibly relevant story today, as illegal immigration continues to be at the forefront of our politics. (Hello, Arizona!) It’s even about the role of women in a society, as Leslie, raised to think for herself, fights to retain her individuality in a society where women are sidelined and controlled by men. Most of all, it’s a story of generational war, as the old must give way to the young.
Okay, Kelly Clarkson just sang the Star Spangled Banner. I gotta go.
But just in case you think I’m a total book snob, there is one movie that totally exceeds its origins. That’s The Godfather, parts I and II. Read the book. It’s good…but the movies are better.
Kelly’s done. The game is on. Go Big Blue!
TUESDAY: Michael Davis… or Gold writes about hockey. One or the other.
Last year well known fantasy author Charles Saunders delighted the new pulp community by releasing his novel DAMBALLA, making it the very first pulp novel set in the 1930s to feature an African American hero.Just this week that same book has been nominated for the Pulp Factory Awards of 2011 for Best Pulp Novel.
Of course good ideas often emerge simultaneously amongst multiple creators and this was the case here.While DAMBALLA was making its big splash from its widely respected new pulp publisher, Airship 27 Productions, another hard hitting new pulp thriller was debuting from a little known outfit called Beating Windward Press.This one also featured an African American avenger operating in Harlem, only this one was set in 1926, the heart of the Roaring Twenties.Written by California based Dale Lucas, “Doc Voodoo” shares several iconic similarities with Damballa to be sure, yet there are also enough differences to define each hero as unique and original in the world of pulpdom.
The hero is a World War One veteran of the famous Harlem Hellfighters 369th Infantry Division named Booker Dubois Butler Corveaux, a practicing M.D. known in his community as Doc Dub Corveaux.Raised in Haiti andhaving traveled the globe during his service years, Doc Corveaux is well versed in the Voodoo Religion and has become the physical agent of threepowerful entities who, when possessing his physical body, imbue it with supernatural abilities that make him virtually indestructible.Thus in this state, he dons the garb of the Cemetery Man, black clothes, twin .45 automatics, magical clay bombs, a top hat and white painted face to resemble a skull. This frightening entity has assumed the mantle of Harlem’s protector and as we learn in this first book, she needs one desperately.
Two rival gangs are battle for control of the streets and the action is focused on a tough minded woman known as Queen Bee attempting to open a posh speakeasy called Aces & Eights.Her opponent is a sadistic gang lord called Papa House who will do anything to ruin her plans even if it means unleashing a terrifying magic to corrupt the entire neighborhood and bring about untold suffering and misery.Into this vicious contest comes the Cemetery Man, guns blazing, determined to thwart that black magic and save the innocent souls caught in the crossfire.
Dale Lucas is a superb writer with an eye for period detail. His research is meticulous and he knows New York from one end to the other, painting a virtual setting that is truly authentic for its period.His command of slang and mood of the times pulls the reader into a world in flux, a world caught between the past horrors of the first world conflict and the heady exuberance of a social order challenging the mores of the future.
And like any classic pulp tale, the pacing is fast, the characters brilliantly etched and the action non-stop.This is a true page-turner that will have you cheering with each new gun battle, from this new pulp hero’s first appearance to his last.And Lucas wisely leaves the finale open ended for many more sequels, all of which we eagerly await.
“Aces & Eights” is as good a pulp actioner as any other there on the market today.It’s one and only flaw is its packaging.Most new pulp publishers are aware of the demands of the genre in regards to marketing.True, one cannot judge the contents of a book by its cover, but then again, one can’t sell a good book with a bad cover.“Aces & Eights” isn’t so much a bad cover as a non-existent one.The tiny image of a white skull and a little color design manipulation do not make a great pulp cover.I would argue this book would have won lots more attention had it sported a traditional pulp painted front, visually debuting Doc Voodoo in full regalia, guns firing away.So please, Dale Lucas, if you do indeed have more of his wonderful adventures in store for us, give your packaging the extra attention it really deserves.
Take to the Skies with Captain Midnight and Commander X: New Comic Book on the Horizon from Moonstone Books and Nemo Publishing
At the end of this year, Nemo Publishing and Moonstone Books will publish a cross-over one shot comic book featuring the legendary Captain Midnight and Commander X from Nemo Publishing’s “The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli” graphic novel series. This 28 page, full-color book will be written by longtime DC Comics writer and editor Brian Augustyn. Artwork and co-plotting will be by Jay Piscopo, author and illustrator of “Capt’n Eli.”
“When real life casts long shadows over us and time seems to be running out, that’s the time to look to the skies for the antidote to modern worries,” said Augustyn. “I couldn’t be happier to be working with Moonstone, Nemo, and my great friend Jay Piscopo on this thrilling and timely project.”
This new book will feature guest stars from other Moonstone books, including Airboy and the Air Fighters, and will pay homage to the great heroes of yesteryear, particularly aviation heroes.
“I’m a huge fan of Captain Midnight and what Moonstone has done with the character. I see this as an opportunity to introduce new fans to this once very popular hero from American pop culture,” said Piscopo. “Working with a friend and a creator I admire so much and to team up with Moonstone is a dream come true.”
Captain Midnight is relevant today because he existed in a time similar to our own when the United States was in the midst of economic upheaval and the world was at war.
Augustyn noted “Captain Midnight has been a multimedia legend for 70 years and remains as vital today as when he first took wing. As ever, Cap delivers sky-high adventure and heroism in the classic style. Commander X is completely in sync with those ideals and will be the perfect partner in crime-fighting. Featuring the Air Fighters only makes it all that much more thrilling.”
Piscopo think it’s perfect timing to reawaken these WWII era characters and see what made them strong and interesting. “These characters stood for ideals; particularly the ideals of freedom, equality and fighting against fascism. The superhero genre blossomed during WWII because this is what they stood for.”
More about Moonstone Books: Moonstone publishes fine and distinct comic books, graphic novels, and prose featuring classic and new heroes in thrilling tales of adventure, mystery, and horror including wayward thriller-adventure heroes like Kolchak the Night Stalker, Buckaroo Banzai, Captain Action, The Green Hornet, The Avenger, The Spider, The Saint, The Justice Machine, Domino Lady, Zorro, The Phantom, Operator 5, G-8, The Green Lama, Honey West, Sherlock Holmes, Airboy, Zeroids, Secret Agent X, The Phantom Detective, and more. www.moonstonebooks.com
More about Brian Augustyn: Augustyn is an award-winning comic book editor and writer. He got his start in the industry in 1984 as an editor for Tru Studios’ “Trollords.” He then edited “Syphons” and “Speed Racer” for NOW Comics. In 1987, he joined DC Comics, starting out as a co-editor on “Action Comics” during its period as a weekly title. He then went on to edit “The Flash,” “Justice League” and the “Impact Comics” line of titles. Augustyn was recognized for his work in the industry with the Wizard Fan Award for Favorite Editor in 1994.
More about Jay Piscopo and Nemo Publishing: Piscopo is the author and illustrator of Nemo Publishing’s “The Undersea Adventures of Capt’n Eli” graphic novel series and “The Sea Ghost #1: The Sea Ghost in the Machine” comic book. Captain Midnight and Commander X are similar and unique in that they both were created as a vehicle for advertising a product. In the case of Captain Midnight, it was Ovaltine in the 1940s. Commander X is part of the Capt’n Eli universe of characters tied to the Capt’n Eli’s line of hand-crafted sodas from Portland Maine. Capt’n Eli is the namesake of real-life World War II veteran Eli Forsley who was also the inspiration for Capt’n Eli’s soda. Read the story behind the story at this link. On the web atwww.captneli.com and www.theseaghost.com.
This summer, DC Entertainment will publish all-new stories expanding on the acclaimed WATCHMEN universe. As highly anticipated as they are controversial, the seven inter-connected prequel mini-series will build on the foundation of the original WATCHMEN, the bestselling graphic novel of all time. BEFORE WATCHMEN will be the collective banner for all seven titles, from DC Comics.
“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”
Stepping up to the challenge is a group of the comic book industry’s most iconoclastic writers and artists – including Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL), Darwyn Cooke (JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER), John Higgins (WATCHMEN), Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN), J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS), Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK), Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL AND HYDE), J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Len Wein (SWAMP THING).
Disney announced today that they have collaborated with the NFL to give viewers an opportunity to enter “The Journey to the Super Bowl Sweepstakes” with an ad for “John Carter” that will run during the Super Bowl XLVI broadcast this Sunday. The Grand Prize winner will receive a trip for two to Super Bowl XLVII in 2013 in New Orleans.
Viewers who are interested in entering the sweepstakes should tune into the game and watch for the “John Carter” commercial. During the airing of the 30-second spot, a code will be revealed. Viewers can then go to NFL.com/JohnCarter and input the code to be entered. The Grand Prize is a trip for two to Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013. The trip includes a 5-day/4-night trip for the winner and guest to attend the game, two tickets to Super Bowl XLVII and access to Game Day hospitality at the stadium.
It’s been over four decades since BATMAN crashed into prime time TV. We edit down with Burt Ward (Robin), Julie Newmar (Catwoman) and Batman Adam West on what is was liked to be at the heart of the pop culture sensation. Plus TORCHWOOD isn’t quite dead and Walt Simonson grabs a shot at a new DC Universe graphic novel.
Arm back, arm forward, release the ball and…three it goes, down he lane, heading for the pocket and…Kerflunkl –
Strike!
But uh-oh. Look what happened. Somehow, instead of rolling a bowling ball we rolled our magic crystal ball and sure, we knocked down all the pins, but we also smashed the ball to smithereens. Dozens of shards scattered on the polished wood.
Well, we won’t be using that crystal ball to peer into the – or some – future and let the prophecies issuing therefrom provide fodder for this week’s blather. Nope. And there are things we’d like to know about the forthcoming comics world, like will DC be able to continue the success of its reworking of the superhero pantheon (lookin’ good so far, guys!) and just how damn digital will comics get and if they get any digitaler will the comic shops cope? Will their income really be seriously affected?
(I mean, they’re closing the Blockbuster I’ve been patronizing for the past dozen years or so. Nothing is sacred, or certain, and of course we know that, but it can still kick us in the shins.)
Where was I? Oh yeah. Things we’d like to know. On a personal note…will I finish the book I’ve been futzing with for…is it three years now? And will somebody publish it? (And if our crystal ball had a literary critic app, I’d ask just how smelly a garbage heap the book is, anyway.) And back to comics-related matters: Will the Batmovie really knock everyone’s socks off? (And hey, Warners – must I pay for my own ticket or will one of you folks be kind to the ancient, doddering, mostly-retired, septuagenarian funny book hack and put him on a screening list? And not one for a screening in Los Angeles, please. He’s already scheduled to get on more airplanes than he cares to this year.)
Maybe we could pick up a shard and catch a glimpse in it if what the crystal ball would have revealed if we hadn’t stupidly mistaken it for athletic equipment. But what good would that do? Without a context – without the big picture – what we glimpse in a shard wouldn’t provide much information. Come to think of it…the whole and uncompromised crystal ball, pre-bowling fiasco, wasn’t really all that useful, was it? Not for what counts, not for what we really want to know. (Mostly: will I get what I want? How will it all turn out? And oh yeah…will I get what I want?) That ball was always pretty murky, wasn’t it? The images it presented were fuzzy and soft-edged and weirdly distorted, the colors all wrong, the backgrounds bizarre, and when time had passed and we were existing in the reality of those images, they never meant what we thought they’d mean. There were also smells, which the ball couldn’t show.
Once, when I was interviewing the great Alfred Bester for a magazine piece, he showed me a statuette, a Hugo, the award bequeathed by science fiction fans for outstanding work – the first Hugo ever awarded for best novel of the year. He was using it as a doorstop because, he said, that’s what it’s good for.
Maybe crystal balls make good bowling balls.
RECOMMENDED READING: Alfred Bester received his Hugo for The Demolished Man in 1953. If you’d like to compare your preferences with those of readers of yore, you can probably find a copy of the novel.
Alfred Hitchcock is today best known for his work in the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to Universal and Warner Bros. steady stream of restored re-releases on Blu-ray but recently, 20th Century Home Entertainment reminded us that the master director wasn’t exactly idle in the years before. A trio of his 1940s works – Notorious, Spellbound, and Rebecca – are now out on Blu-ray for the first time and it begs a fresh look at his black and white thrillers.
