Comic Book Review: Best of DC #20: World’s Finest

Art by Ross Andru & Dic Giordano

Comic Book Review: Best of DC #20: World’s Finest Art by Dick Dillin & Joe Giella For a few decades, World’s Finest Comics was by default the Superman/Batman team-up book, featuring DC Comics’ two top characters working together to handle various cases and crises. This 1982 reprint digest presents three of these stories from 1971-1972,… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Best of DC #20: World’s Finest

Magazine Review: Oriental Stories Winter 1932

Magazine Review: Oriental Stories Winter 1932 edited by Farnsworth Wright Oriental Stories was a mostly-quarterly pulp magazine published from 1930-1933, with a name change to The Treasure Chest Magazine for an additional year. Its remit, as you might have guessed from the title, was tales of the exotic, mysterious East, from Islamic North Africa through… Continue reading Magazine Review: Oriental Stories Winter 1932

Movie Review: Blood Brothers (1973)

Ma doesn't forget his friends, exactly...

Movie Review: Blood Brothers (1973) directed by Chang Cheh (original Chinese title “Ci Ma”, “The Blood Brothers” on the title card, aka “Dynasty of Blood.”) Ching (Qing) Dynasty government official Ma Hsin-yi (Lung Ti) has been assassinated. The assassin, Chang Wen-hsiang (David Chiang) has been arrested, but seems unusually calm and in good spirits. Hauled into… Continue reading Movie Review: Blood Brothers (1973)

Movie Review: Seven Samurai

Six of the seven.

Movie Review: Seven Samurai (1954) directed by Akira Kurosawa It is in the Warring Stages period of Japanese history, but between major battles, so many samurai and soldiers are at loose ends, and bandits roam the countryside. An isolated farm village learns that the local bandit gang that already took their rice harvest is coming back… Continue reading Movie Review: Seven Samurai

Book Review: Gabriel’s Road

Book Review: Gabriel’s Road by Laura Anne Gilman Gabriel Kasun was born in the Territory, gifted with the Touch in the form of water-sense. Not fully understanding what this meant, he went East and became a lawyer for a time, only to increasingly grow ill as the Territory called him back. Not content to settle,… Continue reading Book Review: Gabriel’s Road

Movie Review: Golden Swallow

Silver Roc leaves the neighborhood's newest abattoir.

Movie Review: Golden Swallow (1968) directed by Cheh Chang “Golden Swallow” Hsieh Wo Yeh (Pei-Pei Cheng) is happy living in an isolated valley with her new friend and protector “Iron Whip” Han Tao (Lieh Lo). One day they learn of a wandering warrior called “Silver Roc” (Jimmy Wang Yu) who ruthlessly exterminates criminals with his swooping… Continue reading Movie Review: Golden Swallow

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad edited by John P. Gunnison This time around, the focus is on the French Foreign Legion stories of Warren Hastings Miller originally published in Blue Book magazine back in the late 1920s. As I’ve discussed before, tales of the Legion were a popular subgenre of pulp… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #172: The Hell’s Angels Squad

Comic Book Review: Sword Princess Amaltea #1

Comic Book Review: Sword Princess Amaltea #1 by Natalia Batista Princess Amaltea of the Queendom of the Green Highlands has always been overshadowed by her elder sister, Princess Dorotea. Since their society practices primogeniture through the female line, Dorotea is the heir to Queen Galatea. If Amaltea wants a queendom, she must find a prince… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Sword Princess Amaltea #1

Book Review: If This Goes On

Gotta love this cover "old man yells at rocket."

Book Review: If This Goes On edited by Charles Nuetzel The “if this goes on” story is a staple of short science fiction. Pick a current trend like “women not wearing hats anymore” or “cat videos” and extend it out to an exaggerated conclusion. For example, the Robert Heinlein story of that name, which posits… Continue reading Book Review: If This Goes On

Movie Review: The Avenging Eagle

Chi Ming-Sing tries to sort out his feelings about Homeless.

Movie Review: The Avenging Eagle (1978) directed by Chung Sun Homeless (Sheng Fu) sees a man dying of thirst in the desert, and stops to give him water. This man, Rover (Ti Lung), repays Homeless by stealing his horse and supplies. Fortunately, it turns out there is an oasis not too far away, and when Homeless… Continue reading Movie Review: The Avenging Eagle