Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #500

Cover by "Keith & Larry"

Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #500 edited by Nicola Cuti For this milestone issue of the anthology comic book in digest form, DC decided to go with the most popular feature, all Legion of Super-Heroes stories! “The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire” story by Jerry Siegel, art by John Forte, opens with a reminder that… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #500

Comic Book Review: Robot Archie and the Time Machine

Comic Book Review: Robot Archie and the Time Machine story by E. George Cowan, art by Ted Kearon Robot Archie was created in 1952 for Lion, a British weekly comic paper. Initially appearing in the serial “The Jungle Robot”, he was built by Professor C.R. Ritchie to help his nephew Ted Ritchie and Ted’s chum… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Robot Archie and the Time Machine

Manga Review: Happy Kanako’s Killer Life Volumes 1-4

Manga Review: Happy Kanako’s Killer LIfe Volumes 1-4 by Toshiya Wakabayashi Kanako NIshino has had a pretty miserable life until now. She was relentlessly bullied in school, and once she got a job as an office lady, harassed and belittled every day there. Kanako’s boss bullied her into quitting, and then mocked her for being… Continue reading Manga Review: Happy Kanako’s Killer Life Volumes 1-4

Comic Strip Review: Mad as a Hatter

Comic Strip Review: Mad as a Hatter by Sergio Aragonés Sergio Aragonés was born in Spain in 1937, but his family fled the Spanish Civil War, settling in Mexico when he was six. He had a talent for humor and cartooning, and was convinced to move to the big city of New York in 1962.… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Mad as a Hatter

Comic Book Review: DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #22: Secret Origins of Super-Heroes

Cover by Ross Andru & Mike DeCarlo

Comic Book Review: DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #22: Secret Origins of Super-Heroes edited by E. Nelson Bridwell “Secret origins” are a big part of the superhero genre. Since, back in the day, most superheroes had secret identities, just how exactly they’d come to gain powers or the motivation to fight crime was also a… Continue reading Comic Book Review: DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #22: Secret Origins of Super-Heroes

Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors

Cover by Don Ivan Punchatz

Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors edited by Groff Conklin and Noah D. Fabricant, M.D. While medical doctors are common and important in science fiction, stories directly about them or the field of medicine are a bit rarer. It was one magazine’s speculation that it would be difficult to fill an anthology with really… Continue reading Book Review: Great Science Fiction About Doctors

Book Review: Dangerous Visions and New Worlds

Book Review: Dangerous Visions and New Worlds edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre Subtitled “Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985” this book is a collection of essays about how science fiction (or perhaps “speculative fiction” is a better phrase) changed and adapted to reflect the changing issues and social concerns of the Cold War period, and… Continue reading Book Review: Dangerous Visions and New Worlds

Book Review: Paperbacks from Hell

Book Review: Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a big boom in paperback horror books, which was helped along by some truly lurid cover art that told the potential reader right up front that this was a book about, say, flesh-eating rabbits. Horror writer and vintage paperback… Continue reading Book Review: Paperbacks from Hell

Movie Review: Hollywood Safari

Hakim wrestles Clyde, which has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie.

Movie Review: Hollywood Safari (1997) directed by Henri Charr Two teenagers sneak away from a summer camp near Cedar Creek, California* to look at some better scenery. This is spoiled when one of them is mauled by a mountain lion. Two days later, a lioness named Kensho escapes from a poorly-secured trailer owned by “Hollywood Safari”,… Continue reading Movie Review: Hollywood Safari

Movie Review: Conquest (1983)

Ocron's dream.

Movie Review: Conquest (1983) directed by Lucio Fulci Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti) has come of a man’s age, so it is time for him to leave his peaceful homeland on his walkabout. To aid him on his quest, Ilias is given the bow of his ancestor Kronos, which can shoot arrows of light once the bearer reaches… Continue reading Movie Review: Conquest (1983)