Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #497

Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #497 by Various Creators For a while in the early 1980s, Adventure Comics was turned into a digest format by DC Comics, with more pages but smaller ones, and multiple series represented, a mix of new and reprint stories. Let’s take a look at this typical installment. “All Together Now!”… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #497

Manga Review: The Crater

Manga Review: The Crater by Osamu Tezuka In the late 1960s, Osamu Tezuka’s career was facing a crisis. He was still popular, with publishers quite willing to buy more of the kid-friendly material he’d become famous for. But he wasn’t a trend-setter anymore. The new generation of manga creators was into gekiga, more serious and… Continue reading Manga Review: The Crater

Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories

Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories edited by Philip Van Doren Stern In his introduction, the editor talks about the thrill of adventure stories, how often they are churned out as cheap entertainment, and that he has selected twelve really good ones for the reader. This 1945 book was designed to be easily… Continue reading Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories

Manga Review: Tuxedo Gin Vol. 11

Manga Review: Tuxedo Gin Vol. 11 by Tokihiko Matsuura Things were looking up for Ginji Kusanagi. He’d just won his first professional boxing match at age seventeen and was finally going to have a date with his crush Minako Sasebo. Unfortunately, he’d also angered a gang, and was run over by a car. Dying, Ginji… Continue reading Manga Review: Tuxedo Gin Vol. 11

TV Review: The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu | Flash Gordon | Sheena , Queen of the Jungle | The Joe Palooka Story

Sheena teases Bob.

TV Review: The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu | Flash Gordon | Sheena, Queen of the Jungle | The Joe Palooka Story In my quest to watch all the DVDs I have purchased and never gotten around to, I have come to a collection of four random episodes from 1950s adventure television. Let’s see what… Continue reading TV Review: The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu | Flash Gordon | Sheena , Queen of the Jungle | The Joe Palooka Story

Book Review: The New Adventures of Ellery Queen

Book Review: The New Adventures of Ellery Queen by Ellery Queen Ellery Queen was the shared pen name of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, as well as the main character of the mystery stories they wrote. Starting with The Roman Hat Mystery in 1929, they wrote many novels and short stories about a brainy mystery writer solving crimes (and then writing about them in the third… Continue reading Book Review: The New Adventures of Ellery Queen

Book Review: The Black Bat #1: Brand of the Black Bat & Murder Calls the Black Bat

Book Review: The Black Bat #1: Brand of the Black Bat & Murder Calls the Black Bat by Norman Daniels (writing as G. Wayman Jones) Tony Quinn was a handsome, wealthy and highly competent district attorney until the day of Oliver Snate’s trial.  This time he had proof of the gangster’s illegal activities, actual recordings… Continue reading Book Review: The Black Bat #1: Brand of the Black Bat & Murder Calls the Black Bat

Comic Book Review: Vertigo CYMK

Comic Book Review: Vertigo CYMK edited by Scott Nybakken Disclaimer:  I received this volume from a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of writing this review.  No other compensation was offered or requested. I don’t talk a lot about colorists.  In most comics, they’re not noticed unless they really screw up, or there’s a particularly striking image.… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Vertigo CYMK

Magazine Review: Argosy October 8, 1938

Magazine Review: Argosy October 8, 1938 Argosy began its life as The Golden Argosy, a children’s weekly, in 1882.  By 1889 publisher Fred Munsey had discovered that the readers aged out too fast to keep the magazine viable, so he switched to fiction aimed at adult readers and shortened the title.  It’s considered one of the… Continue reading Magazine Review: Argosy October 8, 1938

Book Review: The Invisible

Book Review: The Invisible by Amelia Kahaney Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it.  My copy was an uncorrected proof, and there may be changes in the final product, due out 10/7/14. Spring has come to Bedlam City, and Anthem Fleet is beginning to recover… Continue reading Book Review: The Invisible