Book Review: Cooked to Death

Book Review: Cooked to Death edited by Rhonda Gilliland and Michael Allan Mallory Let’s return to the world of themed anthologies, a quick way to get a sample of various authors writing on a particular topic. In this case, it’s primarily Minnesota and other Midwestern writers doing crime and mystery short stories around the topic… Continue reading Book Review: Cooked to Death

Comic Strip Review: Jet Scott Volume 2

Comic Strip Review: Jet Scott Volume 2 Script by Sheldon Stark, Art by Jerry Robinson Quick recap: For a few years in the early 1950s (1953-1955) comics legends Sheldon Stark and Jerry Robinson tried their hands at a science fiction newspaper comic strip. The United States Government had a Department of Scientifact that investigated unusual… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Jet Scott Volume 2

Manga Review: Batman: Justice Buster Vol. 1

Manga Review: Batman: Justice Buster Vol. 1 by Eiichi Shimizu & Tomohiro Shimoguchi It’s been about three years since Bruce Wayne began his career as Batman, the mysterious masked vigilante operating in Gotham City. His war on crime has borne some fruit; the old, normal gangs have largely broken up as their members go to… Continue reading Manga Review: Batman: Justice Buster Vol. 1

Movie Review: Nevada Smith (1966)

Max enjoys the products of civilization: canned peaches and the McGuffey Reader.

Movie Review: Nevada Smith (1966) directed by Henry Hathaway Max Sand (Steve McQueen) is the son of a failed prospector and his wife, a woman of the Kiowa tribe. While he’s out doing chores some miles from their house, Max is approached by three men. We will come to know them as Jessie Coe (Martin Landau),… Continue reading Movie Review: Nevada Smith (1966)

Magazine Review: High Adventure #190: H. Bedford-Jones – Adventure

Magazine Review: High Adventure #190: H. Bedford-Jones – Adventure edited by John P. Gunnison This issue of the pulp reprint magazine collects three stories from the multiple typewriters of prolific author Henry James O’Brien Bedford-Jones (1887-1949). He was born in Canada, but moved to the United States in his teens and became a naturalized citizen… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #190: H. Bedford-Jones – Adventure

Magazine Review: Hooded Detective January 1942

Magazine Review: Hooded Detective January 1942 The Black Hood was one of the superheroes created for the MLJ (later Archie) Comics line, first appearing in Top-Notch Comics #9 in 1940. Matthew Kipling “Kip” Burland was originally a rookie cop who was framed for grand larceny and injured to near death by a criminal known as… Continue reading Magazine Review: Hooded Detective January 1942

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler While stories that could be considered “mysteries” in some sense have existed as long as writing, and perhaps a bit before, the short story mystery came into its own during the lifetime of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This volume collects forty-nine notable stories from… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Comic Book Review: DC Special No. 3: Justice Society

Comic Book Review: DC Special No. 3: Justice Society edited by Paul Levitz As discussed in previous reviews, the Justice Society of America was DC Comics’ first superhero team, designed to showcase their characters that didn’t have their own individual titles. Thus Superman and Batman weren’t members, but were “honorary”, and Green Lantern and the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: DC Special No. 3: Justice Society

Movie Review: The Batman Superman Movie: World’s Finest

Superman and Batman face off.

Movie Review: The Batman Superman Movie: World’s Finest (1997) directed by Toshihiko Masuda In Gotham City, the Joker (Mark Hamill) and Harley Quinn (Arlene Sorkin) steal a jade dragon. Based on fragments left behind, Batman suspects he knows where the Clown Prince of Crime is headed. As it so happens, Bruce Wayne has business in Metropolis;… Continue reading Movie Review: The Batman Superman Movie: World’s Finest

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