Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus

Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus edited by John P. Gunnison The success of Sax Rohmer’s classic villain Fu Manchu led to other writers trying to create their own Yellow Peril master villains. A couple of them even got their own short-lived pulp magazines. This magazine reprints the stories from… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #47: The Case of the Black Lotus

Comic Book Review: Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 2

Comic Book Review: Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 2 by various creators. Carl Lucas, a juvenile delinquent, straightened himself out and was trying to become a respectable citizen when he was framed for heroin possession. An unruly prisoner, he eventually ended up at Seagate Prison, where he volunteered for medical experiments conducted by Dr.… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 2

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: Superman Smashes the Klan #3

Comic Book Review: Superman Smashes the Klan #3 story by Gene Luen Yang, art by Gurihiru Note: This review contains SPOILERS for the first two issues. Previously: The Lee family moved from Chinatown to Metropolis when Dr. Lee got a job with the city health department. Tommy Lee, a young baseball player, soon found his… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Superman Smashes the Klan #3

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

Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore

Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore edited by John P. Gunnison In this pulp reprint issue, we’re off to the exotic South Seas, in particular Malaysia. According to the introduction, although Frederick Moore’s byline listed him as “Captain”, there’s no record of him ever earning that title. “The Cloth of… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #171: Far East Fiction of Frederick Moore

Book Review: Lovecraft Country

Book Review: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff Atticus Turner knows about dangerous people. They’re everywhere, though some locations have more concentration of danger than others. If you go traveling, you have to bring a special map to show the safest places to eat and sleep. Of course, between those places the dangerous people could ambush… Continue reading Book Review: Lovecraft Country

Book Review: The Bamboo Bloodbath

Book Review: The Bamboo Bloodbath by Piers Anthony and Roberto Fuentes I’ve mentioned before that one of my guilty pleasures is the “men’s adventure” paperback series of the 1970s. Violence, sex, drugs and the particular cultural trends of the Seventies mixed with a macho writing style and pulpish sensibility. In the case of the Jason… Continue reading Book Review: The Bamboo Bloodbath

Movie Review: Zootopia

A city where dreams come true!

Movie Review: Zootopia (2016) directed by Byron Howard Once upon a time, the mammals of the world ran solely on instinct. Predators ate prey, and that was the way things were. But over time, evolution happened and now you no longer have to be defined by your species. Mammals live in peace with each other, and… Continue reading Movie Review: Zootopia

Book Review: Great Supernatural Stories: 101 Horrifying Tales

Book Review: Great Supernatural Stories: 101 Horrifying Tales compiled by Stefan Dziemianowicz This hefty volume collects a variety of public domain stories concerning the supernatural. While the majority fall roughly into the category of horror, some are more what we’d call “dark fantasy” and a handful are just “well, that’s a weird thing that happened.”… Continue reading Book Review: Great Supernatural Stories: 101 Horrifying Tales