Book Review: The Best of Planet Stories #1 edited by Leigh Brackett Planet Stories was a pulp science fiction magazine that ran from 1939-1955. Its specialty was “space opera”, exciting tales of adventure set in the future and on other worlds, full of square-jawed heroes, scantily clad damsels and bug-eyed monsters. Not always the most… Continue reading Book Review: The Best of Planet Stories #1
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Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups, Volume 1
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups, Volume 1 Written by Bob Haney (mostly), Art by various The Brave and the Bold started its publication run in 1955 as an adventure anthology, featuring such characters as the Viking Prince and the Silent Knight. Around issue 25, it switched to a tryout… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups, Volume 1
Book Review: The Invisible Man
Book Review: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells The sleepy village of Iping doesn’t get many visitors in the middle of winter, so when Mrs. Hall gets a new customer (and one that pays on time!) for her boarding house, it’s not polite to look a gift horse in the mouth. It’s true the guest… Continue reading Book Review: The Invisible Man
Book Review: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard
Book Review: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard by Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (1925-2013) started his career as a professional writer by producing short Western stories for the pulp magazines. According to the introduction, Mr. Leonard’s first attempt was not very good and was rejected, whereupon he decided that next time he… Continue reading Book Review: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard
Comic Strip Review: The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies: Volume Two 1937-1939
Comic Strip Review: The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies: Volume Two 1937-1939 written by Lee Falk, art by Ray Moore Almost five hundred years ago, a sailor named Christopher Walker was accompanying his father on that man’s last voyage when they were attacked by the Singh Brotherhood, a bloodthirsty band of pirates. The pirates killed… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: The Phantom: The Complete Newspaper Dailies: Volume Two 1937-1939
Magazine Review: Short Stories May 25th, 1939
Magazine Review: Short Stories May 25th, 1939 Edited by Dorothy McIlwrath Short Stories started life in 1890 as a literary magazine, but switched to being a “quality pulp” in 1910, featuring stories of adventure and crime a cut above many of its competitors. Like many of the pulps, it lost sales badly after World War… Continue reading Magazine Review: Short Stories May 25th, 1939
Comic Book Review: Daring New Adventures of Supergirl Volume 1
Comic Book Review: Daring New Adventures of Supergirl Volume 1 written by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Carmen Infantino, inks by Bob Oksner In the late 1950s, DC Comics decided to protect its “super” trademark by creating a character named Supergirl. (“Superwoman” had been used in individual stories as Lois Lane’s codename when she temporarily gained… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Daring New Adventures of Supergirl Volume 1
Comic Book Review: The Superman Chronicles Volume One
Comic Book Review: The Superman Chronicles Volume One by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster While there were several precursors to Superman, he’s generally agreed to be the first full-fledged comic book superhero. Superhuman abilities, a distinctive costume, and a dual identity, he had them all. When Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938, the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Superman Chronicles Volume One
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: Blackhawk Volume 1
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: Blackhawk Volume 1 art by Dick Dillin and Charles Cuidero In September 1939, Poland was invaded by Germany and the Soviet Union. The valiant Polish people battled bravely against the two-pronged attack, but it was to no avail. One aviator was shot down, as it happens, near his family’s farm,… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: Blackhawk Volume 1
Magazine Review: Detective Fiction Weekly April 8 1939
Magazine Review: Detective Fiction Weekly April 8 1939 (Formerly Flynn’s) by various Detective Fiction Weekly started publication in 1924 as “Flynn’s”, after its first editor, William J. Flynn, who had previously been director of the Bureau of Investigation before it became the FBI. It ran regularly under various titles until 1942, when it became a… Continue reading Magazine Review: Detective Fiction Weekly April 8 1939