Anime Review: Bang Brave Bang Bravern!

Lewis Smith has always wanted to pilot a giant robot.

Anime Review: Bang Brave Bang Bravern! (Japanese title: Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern!“) In the not so distant future, the latest weapons development is combat mecha. These “Titanostriders” are a lot like more agile tanks, with all the strengths and weaknesses that implies. On Oahu, there’s a joint military exercise with the Americans, Japanese and Germans… Continue reading Anime Review: Bang Brave Bang Bravern!

Comic Book Review: The Complete Battlefields Volume One

Comic Book Review: The Complete Battlefields Volume One written by Garth Ennis, art by various. World War Two has been a favorite subject of comic books since the beginning of that conflict. Garth Ennis grew up on British war comics, and enjoys writing about the subject. So it’s not surprising that he did three miniseries… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Complete Battlefields Volume One

Book Review: The Saracen Blade

Cover by James Mooso

Book Review: The Saracen Blade by Frank Yerby The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was born in Jesi, Italy in 1194. But another child was born on that day in that place. Pietro, son of Donati the armorer and his lovely wife Maria, was delivered by one of the same midwives as she’d gone into… Continue reading Book Review: The Saracen Blade

Movie Review: Grand Hotel (1932)

Otto considers the short time he has left.

Movie Review: Grand Hotel (1932) directed by Edmund Goulding “People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.” So speaks Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone). long-time resident of the Grand Hotel in Berlin. But he spends much of his time in his cups to deal with the pain of the facial scarring he got in the Great War, and… Continue reading Movie Review: Grand Hotel (1932)

Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2

Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2 by Various Creators 2023 would have been Osamu Tezuka’s 95th birthday year, and in commemoration of the great manga and anime creator, this series was commissioned to show other artists’ take on his famous (and not so famous) works. For reasons, most of these were French and Spanish… Continue reading Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2

Anime Review: Pluto

Gesicht confronts the darkness in his own past.

Anime Review: Pluto On an alternate Earth where robotics technology is far more advanced than our own, self-aware robots have spread into almost every facet of society. Some are virtually indistinguishable from humans, and in recent years, robots have been granted at least some civil rights. But some robots are more powerful than others, with… Continue reading Anime Review: Pluto

Anime Review: Undead Girl Murder Farce

From left to right,: Tsugaru, Aya and Shizuku.

Anime Review: Undead Girl Murder Farce (also advertised as “Undead Murder Farce”) Aya Rindo was turned into an immortal being during the Heian Era of Japan, keeping the appearance of a young woman but gaining knowledge and perceptiveness according to her chronological age. About a year before the story begins during the Meiji Period (Victorian… Continue reading Anime Review: Undead Girl Murder Farce

Comic Book Review: Baltimore Omnibus Volume One

Comic Book Review: Baltimore Omnibus Volume One written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, art by Ben Stenbeck Lord Henry Baltimore was once a happily married man, wealthy enough and fairly privileged. But then World War One happened, and his country called. But this was not quite the WWI you may have read about in… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Baltimore Omnibus Volume One

Magazine Review: High Adventure #191: Action Special

This cover is unrelated to any of the stories within.

Magazine Review: High Adventure #191: Action Special edited by John P. Gunnison This issue of the pulp fiction reprint magazine has five stories from different action subgenres from five different magazines. Let’s see what’s in the grab bag! “The Jonah” by Bill Adams, first published in The Blue Book Magazine November 1935, is a sea… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #191: Action Special

Book Review: Subversive Sci-Fi: Reflections on Futuristic Films That Broke the Rules

Book Review: Subversive Sci-Fi: Reflections on Futuristic Films That Broke the Rules edited by Prof. Christopher McGothlin, M.Ed. Disclaimer: I contributed to the Kickstarter for this book. In over a century of movies that can be considered “science fiction” of one sort or another, there have been a number that challenged the status quo in… Continue reading Book Review: Subversive Sci-Fi: Reflections on Futuristic Films That Broke the Rules