Book Review: Kaiju: Lords of the Earth edited by Essel Pratt Kaiju (“strange beast”) is primarily a subgenre of the monster movie that became codified in Japan. They’re mostly gigantic monsters that are nigh-unstoppable by conventional armaments, and run around destroying cities or fighting other giant monsters. The seeds of the story type were sown… Continue reading Book Review: Kaiju: Lords of the Earth
Tag: Chicago
Book Review: Superheroes
Book Review: Superheroes edited by Rich Horton Superheroes as we know them more or less started in the comic books of the late 1930s, with the most obvious first “true” superhero being Superman. And comic books have largely shaped our perceptions of costumed superheroes ever since. But sometimes prose is a perfectly acceptable way of… Continue reading Book Review: Superheroes
Magazine Review: The Saturday Evening Post 6/10/61
Magazine Review: The Saturday Evening Post 6/10/61 edited by Ben Hibbs The Saturday Evening Post ran weekly from 1897-1963; after several format changes, it is now published six times a year. The Post was well known for its lavish illustrations and a combination of current event articles and short stories by popular writers. I got… Continue reading Magazine Review: The Saturday Evening Post 6/10/61
Comic Strip Review: Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy Volume 14: 1951-1953
Comic Strip Review: Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy Volume 14: 1951-1953 by Chester Gould Another of the fine IDW reprints which are trying to cover the entire Chester Gould run of Dick Tracy, moving into the early 1950s. As mentioned in the Max Allan Collins introduction, the stories shifted focus a bit. Dick Tracy is a full… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy Volume 14: 1951-1953
Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 18: All We Cannot Alter
Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 18: All We Cannot Alter edited by Mary François Rockcastle. This is the latest volume of Hamline University’s annual literary magazine, which I picked up at the Rain Taxi Book Festival. The subtitle comes from one of the poems in this issue, “Is This What Poets Do?” by Elizabeth Oness.… Continue reading Magazine Review: Water~Stone Review Volume 18: All We Cannot Alter
Book Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Mad
Book Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Mad by E. Randall Floyd American history is full of offbeat people, some downright weird. The author was (like many a lad) fascinated by their stories when he was young. Then he got to interview Erich von Daeniken (Chariots of the Gods) and decided to make writing about… Continue reading Book Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Mad
Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: Spring 2015 Swindle & Fraud
Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: Spring 2015 Swindle & Fraud Edited by Lewis H. Lapham Mr. Lapham’s literary magazine is based on the principle that history has much to teach the present on many subjects, so presents excerpts from many famous (and not so famous) authors on a loose topic for the education and entertainment of… Continue reading Magazine Review: Lapham’s Quarterly: Spring 2015 Swindle & Fraud
Comic Book Review: Parallel Man: Invasion America
Comic Book Review: Parallel Man: Invasion America Written by Jeffrey Morris & Fredrick Haugen, Art by Christopher Jones During World War Two on an alternate Earth, the United States did not develop the atomic bomb. Instead, they developed the ability to travel to parallel timestreams, which they first used to win the war. Fair… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Parallel Man: Invasion America
Comic Book Review: Essential Rampaging Hulk, Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Essential Rampaging Hulk, Vol. 1 story by Doug Moench, art by various. Doctor Bruce Banner was one of the nation’s top physicists, and an expert in gamma radiation, when he was drafted into creating a new kind of nuclear weapon called a “gamma bomb.” Just before the device was about to go… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Essential Rampaging Hulk, Vol. 1
Book Review: The Jungle
Book Review: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Jurgis Rudkos is a Lithuanian immigrant who has come to America with his fiancee Ona and their families to seek the good jobs advertised in his poverty-stricken homeland. It’s tricky for people who don’t know English or the local customs to get around, but finally they make it… Continue reading Book Review: The Jungle