Book Review: Dick Tracy: The Secret Files

Book Review: Dick Tracy: The Secret Files edited by Max Allan Collins and Martin H. Greenberg In 1990, the venerable Dick Tracy comic strip got a movie adaptation, Dick Tracy, starring Warren Beatty and Madonna. To cash in on the publicity, the then-writer of the strip, Max Allan Collins, was asked to do both a… Continue reading Book Review: Dick Tracy: The Secret Files

Book Review: Enter the Jackal

Cover by Krocker Klaus

Book Review: Enter the Jackal by Jonathan W. Sweet As you may have noticed by now, I’m a fan of the pulps. But I’m certainly not the most enthusiastic one, or most knowledgeable. Some folks have made the pulp magazines their main focus. Jonathan W. Sweet runs a reprint press, Brick Pickle Pulp, and does… Continue reading Book Review: Enter the Jackal

Manga Review: Mars Red Vol. 1

Manga Review: Mars Red Vol. 1 Story by Bun-O Fujisawa, art by Karakara Kemuri It is 1924, and the Great Kanto Earthquake has hit Tokyo. In the ruins of a lavish performance hall, the star actor awaits death. A girl comes to rescue him, amusing to him as he is a vampire and she a… Continue reading Manga Review: Mars Red Vol. 1

Book Review: Galaxy Jane

Cover by Boris Vallejo, and it's probably a publicity still of the actress playing Jane.

Book Review: Galaxy Jane by Ron Goulart Galaxy Jane: adventurer, space pirate, freedom fighter, and one of the most interesting persons the Barnum System ever knew. A book about her would probably be awesome. But this isn’t that book. Instead it’s about NewzNet reporter Jack Summer, who’s ostensibly been assigned to write a story about… Continue reading Book Review: Galaxy Jane

Television Review: Scooby Doo!: Mystery Incorporated

The town is less than appreciative of its young mythbusters.

Television Review: Scooby Doo!: Mystery Incorporated Crystal Cove advertises itself as “the most hauntedest town on Earth” and it’s easy to see why. Its history is full of curses, ghosts, monsters and mysterious disappearances, starting with the Spanish conquistadors who founded the place. But if you dig a little deeper, you discover that many of… Continue reading Television Review: Scooby Doo!: Mystery Incorporated

Manhwa Review: Full House 1: Incompatible

Manhwa Review: Full House 1: Incompatible by Soo Yon Won Elle Gee is an aspiring scriptwriter who has spent the last ten days recovering from a breakup with her childhood sweetheart Felix by shutting out the outside world to concentrate on her debut script. Thus it’s a complete surprise to her to learn that Full… Continue reading Manhwa Review: Full House 1: Incompatible

Book Review: Whatever Became of…? Vol. III

Book Review: Whatever Became of…? Vol. III by Richard Lamparski The vast majority of my readers will have at some point encountered one of those clickbait articles titled something like “8 CW stars of the 1990s, what they’re doing now, #3 will shock you.” Nostalgia is a powerful force, and most humans have at least… Continue reading Book Review: Whatever Became of…? Vol. III

Comic Strip Review: Modesty Blaise: The Scarlet Maiden

Comic Strip Review: Modesty Blaise: The Scarlet Maiden Story by Peter O’Donnell, Art by Neville Colvin In 1945, an amnesiac little girl escaped from a Displaced Persons camp in Greece. After wandering around the post-war Mediterranean for a while, she was taken in by a Jewish Hungarian scholar named Lob, who gave her an education… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Modesty Blaise: The Scarlet Maiden

Magazine Review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May/June 2021

Magazine Review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May/June 2021 edited by Linda Landrigan In 1956, HSD Publications wanted to create a new mystery story magazine. To boost sales, they licensed the name of Alfred Hitchcock, a famous director who was then the host of a popular television show. While Mr. Hitchcock otherwise had nothing to do… Continue reading Magazine Review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May/June 2021

Comic Book Review: Judge Dredd Megazine #427

Cover by Nick Percival

Comic Book Review: Judge Dredd Megazine #427 edited by Matt Smith It’s time for another issue of this 2000 AD spinoff monthly. “He Sees You When You’re Sleeping” art by Agustin Padilla, script by Rory McConville, is a mainline Judge Dredd story. It parodies the “toy of the year” frenzy in which a hot new… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Judge Dredd Megazine #427