Tagged: United States

Watch the Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit trailer

JackRyan_Teaser_fin6 Online_ALT_TheatreCrop[2][1]Based on the character created by the late bestselling author Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan is a global action thriller set in the present day. This original story follow a young Jack (Chris Pine) as he uncovers a financial terrorist plot.

The story follows him from 9/11, through his tour of duty in Afghanistan, which scarred him forever, and into his early days in the Financial Intelligence Unit of the modern CIA where he becomes an analyst, under the guardianship of his handler, Harper (Kevin Costner). When Ryan believes he’s uncovered a Russian plot to collapse the United States economy, he goes from being an analyst to becoming a spy and must fight to save his own life and those of countless others, while also trying to protect the thing that’s more important to him than anything, his relationship with his fiancée Cathy (Keira Knightley).

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley and Kevin Costner
Written By: Adam Cozad and David Koepp

Coming in January

Win a Copy of Leverage Season Five!

leverage spine packshotLet there be little doubt that we here are ComicMix loved the Leverage television series. Heck, we still miss it. Our friends at 2oth Century Home Entertainment want to spread the love by letting us give away two sets of the fifth and final season of the TNT series.

Leverage focuses on a team led by former insurance investigator turned thief, Nate Ford (Timothy Hutton).  Together, they try to level the playing field for people whose lives have been destroyed by the rich and powerful.  In the final season, the team will be forced to face changing personal dynamics as the relationship between Parker (Beth Riesgraf) and Hardison

(Aldis Hodge) heats up, and Nate continues to struggle with inner demons.  Among their upcoming jobs, they will target a conniving shipping executive (guest star Cary Elwes); wealthy scientist; an ex-hockey-player-turned-team-owner (guest star Treat Williams); a corrupt restaurateur; and a corrupt businessman (guest star Matthew Lillard).  In addition, the team will once again face their nemesis, insurance-investigator-turned Interpol-agent Jim Sterling  (guest star Mark Sheppard).

To score your own copy of the DVD, answer this question:

What did Nate Ford do for a living prior to resorting to thievery?

  1. Banker
  2. Insurance Investigator
  3. Surfing Instructor
  4. Engineer

All submissions are due no later than 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, September 18. The decision of the ComicMix judges is final and the contest is open to United States and Canadian fans only.

Be sure to follow Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Twitter  @FoxHomeEnt for the latest Blu-ray & DVD releases.

WILD MARJORAM EPULP ARRIVES!

N.R. Grabe has released a new e-pulp called Wild Marjoram. Wild Marjoram is set in glorious Chicagoland in a world where The Great War has never ended and a mechanic gets caught in the underground world of crime, odd inventions and the mystery of the Slates.

The Vote is a tale of Marjoram and Jerry as they cruise into the lion’s den in The Broken Apple, what New York City is know called. But this journey turns into chaos for the couple, as they find themselves in the backroads of occupied America.

Learn more about Wild Marjoram here and here.

PRESS RELEASE:

This leading lady, doesn’t look for trouble, but she sure seems finds it…

Wild Marjoram is a blonde haired blue-eyed mechanic with a locket that holds the key to her past. This perfect Aryan specimen lives in hiding from the Nazi occupation of the United States of the 1930s. If they discovered her, she’ll be condemned to the fate of a broodmare. But she’s not the type of girl to give up without a fight.

In “Wild Marjoram: The Vote”, Marj and Jerry go on a road trip to hookup with members of the underground resistance. All seems fine until the rug is pulled out from under our heroes in a bait and switch move where allies turn enemies. The free spirited city girl becomes the prisoner of a country folk tribunal looking to punish an outsider’s sins. Majority rules in their life or death vote!

Wild Marjoram’s explosive recipe appeared in the dreams of N.R. Grabe. Its pulp lineage arrives from the likes of “Astounding Stories”, “Gangster Stories” and speculative-fiction descendants like “The Handmaids Tale“. N.R. has baked her if-it-had-happened-otherwise story with action, intrigue and a cavalcade of colorful characters. We hope you enjoy each bite.

Now, throw away your school books because this Alternate History is uncharted. Keep your eyes open and your head down. You’d better pack an extra drum for your Tommy gun, just in case…

“Wild Marjoram: The Vote” is currently available at your favorite eBookstores.
Download your free preview today!

Wild Marjoram EPulp Arrives!

N.R. Grabe has released a new e-pulp called Wild Marjoram. Wild Marjoram is set in glorious Chicagoland in a world where The Great War has never ended and a mechanic gets caught in the underground world of crime, odd inventions and the mystery of the Slates.

The Vote is a tale of Marjoram and Jerry as they cruise into the lion’s den in The Broken Apple, what New York City is know called. But this journey turns into chaos for the couple, as they find themselves in the backroads of occupied America.

Learn more about Wild Marjoram here and here.

PRESS RELEASE:

This leading lady, doesn’t look for trouble, but she sure seems finds it…

Wild Marjoram is a blonde haired blue-eyed mechanic with a locket that holds the key to her past. This perfect Aryan specimen lives in hiding from the Nazi occupation of the United States of the 1930s. If they discovered her, she’ll be condemned to the fate of a broodmare. But she’s not the type of girl to give up without a fight.

In “Wild Marjoram: The Vote”, Marj and Jerry go on a road trip to hookup with members of the underground resistance. All seems fine until the rug is pulled out from under our heroes in a bait and switch move where allies turn enemies. The free spirited city girl becomes the prisoner of a country folk tribunal looking to punish an outsider’s sins. Majority rules in their life or death vote!

Wild Marjoram’s explosive recipe appeared in the dreams of N.R. Grabe. Its pulp lineage arrives from the likes of “Astounding Stories”, “Gangster Stories” and speculative-fiction descendants like “The Handmaids Tale”. N.R. has baked her if-it-had-happened-otherwise story with action, intrigue and a cavalcade of colorful characters. We hope you enjoy each bite.

Now, throw away your school books because this Alternate History is uncharted. Keep your eyes open and your head down. You’d better pack an extra drum for your Tommy gun, just in case…

“Wild Marjoram: The Vote” is currently available at your favorite eBookstores.
Download your free preview today!

Interview With “Behold “The Night Wind'” Author Christopher Yates!

Another classic character returns to new life in ‘BEHOLD ‘THE NIGHT WIND”, a full length novel by Christopher Yates!  Recently Christopher sat down with All Pulp to discuss himself, the novel, and his interest in tales Heroic and Pulpy!
 
ALL PULP: First, tell our readers a bit about yourself? Personally and Professionally?
 
CHRISTOPHER YATES: I’m a husband, dad, and nephew.  I’m most proud of my “husband” and “dad” titles, but the “nephew” label is a good gig. When the U.S. government gets sued in a court (employment or immigration related matters usually) I argue to a federal judge and jury on behalf of my Uncle, Sam.
 
AP: Behold ‘The Night Wind’ is your first full length novel featuring this character. Give us a brief overview of what the book is about.
 
CY: Behold ‘The Night Wind’ is a heroic adventure tale set in United States history.  In the fall of 1920 membership in the KKK is at an all-time high, with some particularly nasty sects (as if the rest of them are fluffy kittens) headquartered in Indiana and Eastern Ohio.  Al Capone is a low-ranking foot soldier in the mafia, en route from the east coast to Chicago and just presented with his raison d’être – exploitation and control of the black market in alcohol.  Of course, in 1920 alcohol is only available through the black market, because the Anti-Saloon League, and their publishing arm, the American Issue Publishing Co. (headquartered in central Ohio), successfully spear-head the passage of the Constitutional Amendment that imposes prohibition.  Both the Governor and sitting Senator from Ohio are their parties’ nominees for President of the United States.  Senator Warren Harding is conducting his campaign from the front porch of his home in central Ohio.  National celebrities, and crowds in the thousands pour into Harding’s hometown in the last few months leading up to the November 1920 election.  Speak-easies in central Ohio are being burnt to the ground, and Mr. Capone is diverted from his trip to Chicago to restore the flow of alcohol.  The KKK sees fit to substitute the flow of alcohol with the flow of mafia blood by hunting and killing any and all purveyors of hooch.  The United States Secret Service finds this developing conflict to be somewhat problematic in their efforts to ensure the personal safety of both Presidential nominees and the voting public.  Enter Bingham Harvard alias, The Night Wind, his wife, a former police detective, and their valet.  Just after assigning a private detective and friend the mission of discovering the identities of Bing’s natural parents, the Harvard’s are enlisted to discover and stop the arsons, infiltrate the KKK, and beat the stuffing out of any and all Mafioso so as to accelerate Capone’s retreat from the forming battle lines (and away from the Presidential campaign).
 
AP: The Night Wind is a character from the early 1900s. Can you share a bit of his history, what he’s all about, etc.?
 
CY: The Night Wind first appeared in the novel Alias, the Night Wind, from the May 10, 1913 issue of The Cavalier.  We’re introduced to Bingham Harvard, foster son of a wealthy New York City bank president, who is framed by a NYC police officer of stealing substantial sums from his foster father’s bank.  Befriended by another (a female) police officer, shadowed by her personal valet, Mr. Harvard proceeds to pound the tobacco juice out of anyone attempting to apprehend him until the frame-up is exposed and his reputation restored.  He earns the alias, the Night Wind, from the NYC police for his strength, speed, and elusiveness.  In all of the successive titles, The Return of “The Night Wind, The Night Wind’s Promise, and Lady of the Night Wind, the Harvards (Bing + the befriending officer whom he quickly weds…and her valet) fend off extortionists and con-men who threaten them and their family.  The series is akin to Charles Bronson’s Deathwish movies…without the violence or steady pacing.  A fantastic wrinkle in this now commonplace plot device is that the leading man, Bingham, is exceedingly, physically strong.  In Alias he snaps and dislocates limbs of up to five armed police officers…at once.  The cover of the first installment of the Alias serial sports artwork by Martin Justice portraying Bingham throwing a police officer over his head.  In The Night Wind’s Promise, the title refers to Bingham’s commitment to his wife not to tear apart bad guys with his bare hands.  In Lady of the Night Wind, Bingham’s wife is so fearful of the villain’s fate at Bing’s hands that she won’t even tell her husband that she’s the target of physical threats and extortion.
 
AP: As a writer, what appeals to you about continuing the tales of an established character over creating your own character?
 
CY: One thing I had to admit to myself and the publisher, Wildside Press, was that Behold ‘The Night Wind’ would not gain traction by the fact that the Night Wind was an established character.  To be sure, the Night Wind got lead story and occasional cover art in dozens of pulp magazines churned out by the biggest fiction magazine publisher of the day, Munsey’s.  Four novels spawned from those magazine series, and even Hollywood scored a hit movie adapting the first title, Alias, the Night Wind.  But all of that happened over 90 years ago.  There isn’t a living soul on the planet that read a Night Wind story upon its original release, or viewed the movie in a theatre.  At the time I dusted off the Night Wind, not one of the titles had seen reprint.  Consequently, I agreed to locate and re-edit, and my publisher agreed to bankroll the re-release of the original four novels to perhaps re-establish Bing in the public consciousness. 
 
What I really enjoyed about picking up the reigns from Mr. Dey’s series was that he had created – knowingly, or unknowingly, I’m not sure – an exceedingly diverse, fantastic and quirky cast, and either failed to, or wasn’t given the opportunity – again I’m not sure which, if either – to add even one more dimension, or exploit their diversity, elements of fantasy, or quirkiness.  For example, Bingham had five times the strength of a normal man, but all he did was knock about a few cops and instill a fear amongst his own loved ones that he might one day erupt in a streak of destruction and violence.  That “eruption” never happened.  The reader was told that Bingham was a foster child – a condition rendering him more mysterious and suspect than it might have today.  But we’re never told anything about his true parentage, or heritage, let alone the source of his unusual physical prowess.  In an era when women don’t yet have the right to vote, let alone find even fictional portrayal as an empowered, strong willed hero, Mrs. Harvard is given top billing in her own series/novel – Lady of the Night Wind, also earning a beautiful portrait/cover art by Charles David Williams in the Oct. 5, 1918 issue of All-Story Weekly.  She’s a wealthy heiress who shuns her heritage and shelter in the Blue Hills of Kentucky to take on a false name and become an armed police detective in 1900’s New York City.  Mrs. Bingham Harvard also has an inexplicable penchant for mechanical devices of injury and capture.  She’s chaperoned by her family’s valet, of African origin, who, without explanation, abandons his own family and comfort to tag along with his otherwise full grown, independent charge.
 
Given these templates – a guy with untested super-strength and no back-story, a woman who prefers bullets to bonbons, and an older black man with an overactive paternal instinct – I’ve got a lot of room to exercise my own creativity.  Who knows, if Mr. Dey hadn’t given the world the cast of the Night Wind, I might have made them up myself.
 
AP: The Night Wind is at best an obscure hero from the past. What challenges does that present to you as an author and why does he specifically appeal to you?
 
CY: I guess I blew enough hot air in my last answer to cover most of this one.  The challenge I gave myself in picking-up a 90 year-old story line was to add the few missing elements of the archetypal “hero,” or even “superhero,” that Mr. Dey and his era hadn’t quite birthed.  Bingham was the wealthy man about town with the desire, money, and unusual physical strength to right wrongs.  What he lacked was the altruism to right wrongs for folks in need other than himself and his own loved ones.  What he needed was a means of discovering those people in need and perhaps some willing, capable aids.  I saw the Night Wind saga as a means of evolving a one-dimensional albeit unusual cast of characters from playing private parlor tricks to becoming crime fighting adventurers.
 
AP: With this being aimed at a modern readership, why do you think Behold ‘The Night Wind’ will appeal to today’s readers?
 
CY: Although I struggled mightily to maintain many elements of the original series, among other modifications, I ramped-up the pacing 100x.  For today’s readers I’ve added to this fifth, stand alone, Night Wind novel compelling subplots, one or two more dimensions to the characterization, more characters, more and bigger guns, and a body count that approaches – but does not exceed – the best of The Spider series.
 
Having edited the re-released original four Night Wind titles, I had the means to keep a religious adherence to grammar and spelling.  That said, the vernacular saddled on Julius, the African American valet, had to go.  It was almost as if some 19th century, white Columbia Law School graduate, turned fiction author, took a pot shot at poor black Kentucky dialect.  I stomached his dialogue through the four re-releases because A) It’s how Mr. Dey wrote it, and B) I chose not to whitewash obvious racial stereotypes of that era.  I wasn’t going to confuse “re-release” with “re-write,” or fail to let new readers know which was which.  However, Behold ‘The Night Wind’ is not a re-release.  For continuity sake, I couldn’t just re-introduce a character whose few monologues were linguistically inaccurate with dramatically new and improved diction.  Because Julius’ words read as if they were a really poor imitation of a stereotype, almost as if the speaker was making it up has he went along, that’s exactly how I chose to explain the change. 
 
Also, I hope I succeeded in sustaining the original period atmosphere.  I put in hours of historical research just to ensure, for example, that the referenced weaponry was contemporary and properly identified. 
 
Today’s readers will not abide slow narrative pacing.  Thank you gaming industry, rapid-cut filming and special effects.  Most, if not all of the four original Night Wind installments moved at the pace of a salted slug.  We all have fond memories of Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or Wells’, The Invisible Man.  Both represent very early commercially successful efforts at science fiction mystery.  However, today’s reader is profoundly irked to discover after reading a couple hundred pages that the climax, or hook, is merely that the guy has a split personality, or is invisible.  Behold ‘The Night Wind’ doesn’t hold its punches like Jekyll and Hyde or The Invisible Man.  You learn very early that Bing can pulp a man’s body just by pushing him to solid ground.  The Night Wind’s super strength isn’t the hook.  There is a lot going on in Behold ‘The Night Wind’ that the modern reader will abide:
 
1)      Solving the mystery of Bing’s parentage,
2)      Finding out if the heroes can avoid an all-out blood bath between the mafia and the KKK that would engulf and scandalize the 1920 Presidential election,
3)      Discovering the master mind of the saloon arsons,
4)      Answering the question of how many booby traps can be crammed into one house and which ones will cut a person in half like a mousetrap made with razor wire,
5)      Determining what happens to a living human body when you paste it with hot coal tar and cover it with goose down, and last but not least:
6)      Asking what’s with the valet’s grammar?
 
AP: What other projects are you currently working on?
 
CY: Although I outlined a sixth Night Wind novel just after completing the first draft of the fifth installment, I’m not yet feeling the same level of motivation to actually flesh-out that outline.  If I learned anything from this experience, it’s that “I’m going to write a novel” is way, way too easy to say.  I’m not prepared to say it again, just yet.
 
I am piecing together a reference book that I hope to market one day.  From the moment I caught the superhero prose bug, I’ve created and maintained an index of my own collection.  At 1,348 titles and counting, it includes superhero fiction from the pulp era (e.g. The ShadowDoc SavageThe SpiderGreen Lama, etc.), novelizations of other superhero media (e.g.  comic books, movie screenplays, t.v. screenplays, etc.), and of course, original superhero fiction (e.g. Wild Cards novel series, etc.).  An individual entry includes the usual data – title, author, publisher and date of release – but heaps on loads of extras.  For example, I document the provenance of the content of all my books through all other media.  A given novelization of a Green Hornet television episode might have been born a radio script, adapted to a comic book story, turned into a television script, and then novelized.  The novel may be a prequel to a story line that continues as a short story in a published Green Hornet anthology.  If I had to assign a “working title,” I’d dub this work in progress The Encyclopedia of Superhero Prose Fiction.
 
AP: Thanks for your time, Chris!
 
Behold ‘The Night Wind’ is available from Borgo Press at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Behold-Night-Wind-Christopher-Yates/dp/1479400270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376864950&sr=8-1&keywords=behold+the+night+wind 

Mindy Newell: Historical Fiction

Newell Art 130812History is important. Understanding the history of a subject leads to the understanding and interpretation of current events. Knowing where you were can help you in comprehending where you are now. For instance, want to understand the current Mideast conundrum? Learn about World War I and the break-up of the Ottoman Empire by the British Empire and its allies because that’s where our modern Middle East troubles really started.

“But history is so boring!” you say?

Then pick up a good book. I don’t mean a “bustier and boudoir” romance novel – I mean a novel that explores, through its characters and situations, the mores and creeds and ethos of its time. War And Peace, To Kill A Mockingbird, Marjorie Morningstar, Tales Of The South Pacific – well, okay, James Michener’s book is a collection of short stories – The Grapes Of Wrath; even Gone With The Wind will help you understand the South of today.

I bring this up because I’m currently reading Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon, a noted historical novelist who is also a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review.

Yes, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post wrote a wonderful non-fiction book about the botched break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex, and All The President’s Men was a brilliant movie starring Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein and Jason Robards as Washington Post Editor-in-Chief Ben Bradlee. I thought the book and the movie were the last words on the scandal, too.

But Mallon does a brilliant job in imagining the emotions, thoughts, and personal ambitions of those involved in what Vanity Fair called, in its review of the book, “the operatic drama of Watergate.”  The scandal was truly a Greek tragedy, a tale of moral bankruptcy and the corruption of leadership that still echoes in the hall of the United States government today, and not to the good.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, the Tea Party, the obstructionists, the corporatists, the Mitch McConnells, the Eric Kantors, the John Boehners, the Koch Brothers, the Dick Cheneys and their ilk took away from the Watergate scandal the wrong lessons.

As in: Be cleverer as you undermine the Constitution of the United States.

On July 21st, John Boehner sat with Bob Schieffer of Face The Nation and actually said that Congress passes too many laws and that it “ought to be judged on how many laws it repeals.” And what laws would those be, Mr. Speaker of the House? You mean Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act?

As in: Lie until people believe it.

Iraq.

As in: Don’t fight the media. Use the media.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Fox News.

As in: The right to work without a union.

Yes. The right to work for less pay, worse benefits, more hours, and less environmental protection.

As in: Corporations are people.

Citizens United.

The Washington Post, home to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the paper that took down a President and his cabal of co-conspirators, was sold this past week to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. Bezos hasn’t said anything about his plans for the Graham-owned icon.

But we all know how great Amazon has been for Barnes and Noble and Borders and the great publishing houses like Random House and Penguin and Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Watergate.

That was a great story, wasn’t it?

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis

 

Doctor Who 50th anniversary special to be simulcast globally

BOSJ6

Initially reported by UK tabloid The Sun and quickly verified by the BBC, the 50th anniversary special episode of Doctor Who will be broadcast simultaneously across the world, touted as the largest simulcast of a drama ever.

The special has been sold to approximately 200 countries, so the amount of timing and cooperation required will be quite high.  Sources say the move was done to eliminate any chance of spoilers for people in countries who traditionally receive the episodes after the initial broadcast in the UK.

This would put the broadcast spread across four hours of the early afternoon (depending on time zone) in the United States, and in the early hours of the 24th of November on the far side of the world like Australia and New Zealand.

The special will be broadcast in both 2D and 3D.  Complete details have not been released on which version will be broadcast in which markets.  The special features the return of David Tennant and Billie Piper as The Doctor and Rose Tyler, as well as classic villains The Daleks and Zygons.  At San Diego Comic-Con, showrunner Steven Moffat claims he’s been “lying through his teeth” about what and who is in the episode, resulting in the resurgence of rumors of other unreported cameos, including Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, making only one on-screen appearance, in the Fox-produced TV movie.

When the 20th anniversary episode The Five Doctors was produced in 1983, it did not receive a similarly-coordinated release.  Indeed, American fans got to see the special BEFORE the UK.  The network of public television stations who were broadcasting the series got permission to show the special on November 23 exactly, which was a Wednesday.  The BBC didn’t show it in the UK till that Saturday, the traditional day of broadcast for the series in England.  By  a wonderful coincidence, November 23rd falls on Saturday this year, allowing the anniversary to take place on the day it originally aired with no schedule-juggling.

This plan is not only a huge PR coup for the BBC, it’s also a wonderful example of life imitating art.  In Last of the Time Lords, Martha Jones walked the Earth for nearly a year, spreading the tale of The Doctor, in preparation for everyone on the planet to think about him and chant his name at a precise day and moment, the resulting wave of psychic energy intended to give the Time Lord the power to undo the actions of The Master and save the day.  With the BBC setting up to do the very same thing, one can only wonder what the real-world wave of power might do.

Personally, I’m hoping it’ll provide the power to jump-start the working TARDIS that the BBC Radiophonics Workshop has secretly been working on for years.

New Original Novel Featuring Classic Argosy Character Debuts!

 

From Borgo Press and Author Christopher Yates comes a new tale of adventure featuring the classic character from Argosy Magazine, THE NIGHT WIND!
 
Borgo Press previously reprinted four Night Wind novels, edited by Yates.  The fifth book, entitled Behold ‘The Night Wind’ is a newly written tale of adventure by Yates as the next book in the series.  The book also features exquisite cover and interior artwork by noted artist Mark Maddox!
 
In the latest adventure of this classic character, Bingham and Katherine Harvard are polite, New York society.  He is an Ivy League graduate, heir to his foster father’s fortune, and successor to the presidency of New York’s Centropolis Bank.  She is the daughter of a United States Senator, scion of the Maxwilton family, the political dynasty of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  Husband and wife reside at the sprawling Long Island estate, Myquest. 
 
The Harvards’ elevated status in the social register is not high enough to avoid the clutch of crime.  Years ago Bing earned an alias, The Night Wind, in a bare-fisted brawl with the law in an all-sweeping revenge against false witnesses.  With five times the strength of an average man, Bingham prevailed.  Lady Kate was a prisoner in her own home, but sprang self-made man-traps in a successful bid at freedom.  Using sleuthing skills attained as a New York City police detective was no small advantage during her plight.  Together they have resolved to take the battle to the villain instead of awaiting fate to drop yet another scoundrel on their doorstep.
 
Aided by the United States Secret Service, and their valet, Julius, the Harvards race headlong into Westerville, Ohio.  A town dubbed the Dry Capital of the World and home of the Anti-Saloon League, the principal proponent of the successful drive for national prohibition.  But a half dozen speakeasies go up in flames in nearby Columbus, drawing in organized crime from New York to protect their business…until they too go up in flames.
 
Amidst this turmoil, United States Senator Warren G. Harding is conducting his campaign for President of the United States from the front porch of his home in Marion, Ohio.  His challenger for the Oval Office is the Governor of the State of Ohio. 
 
History is being made in central Ohio this fall of 1920.  Will it be historically tragic or triumphant?
 
The ingredients for anarchy are in the bowl waiting to be stirred.
 
Be prepared to be blown away.  Behold, “The Night Wind!”
 
Available at Amazon!
 

Dennis O’Neil: Going Fourth

O'Neil Art 130704The mailbox is empty, Dad’s cleaning the grill, Mom’s making lemonade and the big flag is snapping and flapping in the wind. It’s a holiday, all right. The one that occurs in the middle of the hot weather – which one is that, again? Oh, sure – the Fourth. And what are we celebrating? Barbecued critter and socializing with the neighbors and, after dark, the big fireworks display down by the river? Well, no. Those are the ways we celebrate, not the reason. Then what? Something about the Declaration of Independence? Patriotism? Yeah, that’s it – patriotism!

Only problem with that is, exactly what does “patriotism” mean in a nation that’s as sadly divided as ours is, maybe more divided than at any time since the Civil War? Can a blue stater and a red stater stop bickering long enough to even agree on a definition of patriotism? Can we even agree on what questions to ask? Oh sure, the cable news channels will be full of marching bands and smiling politicians speaking words, but all that’s like the exploding rockets at the fireworks show, nothing more than flash and noise.

Maybe we should seek a reason for the celebration far, far back, before there was a United States of America, or governments, or what we call “civilization.” We’re patriotic for a reason and it’s not because we were taught that patriotism is a virtue.

No, we’ve got to blame it on evolution. Sorry, but we do. It’s really not too complicated: in the distant past, the prehumans who learned to live with others of their kind, to be mutually helpful, to cooperate, tended to stay off some beastie’s menu. The grouches didn’t last as long as the cooperators,who then had time to…you know – procreate. They had offspring who shared their sociability and pretty soon we had villages and tribes and maybe the beginnings of art and religion. But our early ancestors also learned to mistrust what they couldn’t recognize because their collective experience indicated that what they didn’t know might, in fact, hurt them. The result was us, who not only want to live in groups, but have a powerful tendency to identify with those groups. Cheering a local team, joining a lodge or a sodality or a political party or being proud of a certain citizenship – strip away rhetoric and rationalization and ego, get rid of the flash and noise, and you have a naked hominid suffering terror when he finds himself separated from his group.

Call it patriotism, and be proud of it. A cause for celebration? Sure.  But you might want to remember that it’s about cooperation more than mistrust. Red state, meet blue state, and pass the lemonade.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON: Martin Pasko

FRIDAY MORNING: Martha Thomases

 

One of the Earliest Anime in America, Marine Boy, comes to Home Video

600full-marine-boy-artworkAlongside the heralded Speed Racer and Kimba: The White Lion, MARINE BOY was one of the original handful of imported television series that captured youngsters’ imaginations and put Japanese anime in the stateside consciousness.

Now fans of the 1960s series, and an entire new generation of anime appreciators, can experience the undersea hero’s aquatic adventures as Warner Archive Collection distributes MARINE BOY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.

Produced in Japan but intended for first-run syndication in the United States during 1966-67, Marine Boy was one of the first color cartoons to come from Japan. A teenager with some amazing inventions at his disposal, Marine Boy battles evil on and under the seas on behalf of the Ocean Patrol, aided by his father, Dr. Mariner, and the brilliant Professor Fumble. Joining Marine Boy in his missions are his white dolphin, Splasher, young mermaid friend Neptina, and fellow Ocean Patrol agents Bullton and Piper.

The series even shared some pedigree with Speed Racer, most notably featuring several members of the rival series’ voice cast – like Corinne Orr, the voice of Marine Boy, Neptina and Clicli (as well as Trixie on Speed Racer); Peter Fernandez as Piper and Dr. Mariner (and the original voice of Speed Racer) and Jack Grimes as Professor Fumble and Splasher (Chim-Chim). Jack Curtis provided the voice of the narrator for both series.

If sea-faring adventure is your brand of fun, then Warner Archive Collection has a vault filled with entertainment made for you. From live-action thrillers like Man From Atlantis, City Beyond the Sea and Captain Nemo and the Underwater City to the animated dramas SeaLab 2020 and The Pirates of Dark Water to the silliness of Jabberjaw and Snorks, there’s something for every aquatic fan … including special discounts during the current “Harpoon Sale.” Dive into http://shop.warnerarchive.com/home.do today.