Manga Review: Gimmick! Story by Youzaburou Kanari, Art by Kuroko Yabuguchi Studio Gimmick doesn’t look like much from the outside–it’s a two-man operation by Kohei Nagase, special effects makeup expert, and his stuntman friend Kannazuki. But if you need their skills, and have nowhere else to turn, you may be able to hire them to help… Continue reading Manga Review: Gimmick!
Month: September 2015
Book Review: The Great Secret
Book Review: The Great Secret by L. Ron Hubbard This is another in the line of Galaxy Press reprints of L. Ron Hubbard’s pulp magazine stories. As always, the physical presentation is excellent. This time, we have four short science fiction stories. The cover doesn’t actually apply to any of them. “The Great Secret” is… Continue reading Book Review: The Great Secret
Book Review: Bring Back Yesterday|The Trouble with Tycho
Book Review: Bring Back Yesterday | The Trouble with Tycho by A. Bertram Chandler and Clifford Simak, respectively. This is another Ace Double, two short novels printed upside down from each other. Very nostalgic. Bring Back Yesterday stars John Petersen, a merchant ship’s second mate. Or he was, until he decided to have a night of… Continue reading Book Review: Bring Back Yesterday|The Trouble with Tycho
Manga Review: Captain Ken 1 &2
Manga Review: Captain Ken 1 & 2 by Osamu Tezuka Mamoru Hoshino lives on his family ranch on Mars near the town of Hedes. Life in a backwater frontier town can get a bit stale, so he’s excited when he learns a distant relative, Kenn Minakami, is coming from Earth to live with them. … Continue reading Manga Review: Captain Ken 1 &2
Book Review: Herblock’s Here and Now
Book Review: Herblock’s Here and Now by Herbert Block Shortly after reviewing Herblock at Large, I discovered this volume in the local used book store. It was published in 1955, and contains many of Mr. Block’s political cartoons from the early 1950s. This included his Pulitzer-winning Joseph McCarthy work; Herblock appears to have actually coined the… Continue reading Book Review: Herblock’s Here and Now
Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume
Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume edited by Judith Merril This 1957 volume contains speculative fiction stories from magazines published in roughly the previous year, hand-picked by the editor to represent the best the field had to offer at the time. (I’ve previously reviewed the fifth annual, which switched the… Continue reading Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume
Book Review: Demons of the Night and Other Early Tales
Book Review: Demons of the Night and Other Early Tales by Seabury Quinn Seabury Grandin Quinn (1889-1969) was a prolific pulp author, producing more than five hundred short stories. He’s best remembered for his Jules de Grandin stories appearing in Weird Tales, featuring a French-accented occult detective. This particular collection, however, is focused around his other early… Continue reading Book Review: Demons of the Night and Other Early Tales
Book Review: Strip for Murder
Book Review: Strip for Murder by Max Allan Collins Years ago, Sam Fizer hired young Hal Rapp as an art assistant on his comic strip Mug O’ Malley. At first, they were good friends, but when the ambitious Rapp struck out on his own with his new strip Tall Paul, Fizer felt betrayed. Especially as the characters… Continue reading Book Review: Strip for Murder
Comic Book Review: The Golden Age Starman Archives Volume 1
Comic Book Review: The Golden Age Starman Archives Volume 1 Written by Gardner Fox; Art by Jack Burnley Wealthy playboy Ted Knight has somehow harnessed the cosmic energy of the stars in his Gravity Rod. As the world moves to war, he decides that the best use of this technology is to become a costumed… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Golden Age Starman Archives Volume 1
Book Review: Second Street Station
Book Review: Second Street Station by Lawrence H. Levy The “historical mystery” sub-genre is the intersection of the mystery and historical fiction genres. Pick a time period in the past (there’s no minimum gap requirement, but it’s best to pick one far enough back that everyone involved is conveniently dead), research it, stir some… Continue reading Book Review: Second Street Station