Book Review: Subversive Sci-Fi Evolution

Cover Design by Hal Mangold

Book Review: Subversive Sci-Fi Evolution edited by Professor Christopher McGlothlin, M.Ed. Disclaimer: I contributed to the Kickstarter for this book. It’s time for another collection of essays about movies that “break the rules”, this time returning to the fertile field of speculative fiction films. There’s 41 essays for 40 movies (two people did A Boy… Continue reading Book Review: Subversive Sci-Fi Evolution

TV Review: Human Vapor

The Human Vapor takes on an entire Yakuza gang.

TV Review: Human Vapor (Japanese title “Gasu Ningen”) When Professor Sano is killed by a mysterious mist on live television, it’s a big case. So much so that police detective Kenji Okamoto (Shun Oguri) is pulled off suspension to lead the investigation. He has mixed feelings about running into Kyoko Kano (Yu Aoi), a television… Continue reading TV Review: Human Vapor

Comic Book Review: DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #4: Green Lantern

Cover by Dick Giordano

Comic Book Review: DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #4: Green Lantern edited by Jack C. Harris This volume contains six stories of the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, mostly about first appearances of certain concepts. “The Planet of Doomed Men” story by John Broome, art by Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson, was in Green… Continue reading Comic Book Review: DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #4: Green Lantern

Book Review: Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2026

Cover by Jeffrey Ray Hayes

Book Review: Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2026 edited by Robert Greenberger Disclaimer: I contributed to the Kickstarter for this book, and there’s an advertisement for this blog on page 44. It’s time for another annual installment of this pulp-style anthology! Some returning authors, some new ones, and some familiar characters to follow. This year, the genres… Continue reading Book Review: Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2026

Comic Book Review: Star Trek: Red Shirts

Comic Book Review: Star Trek: Red Shirts written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Megan Levens One of the running jokes among Star Trek fans, especially when talking about the original series, is the “redshirts”, characters whose only purpose in the story is to die to establish that the situation was dangerous and how the danger… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Star Trek: Red Shirts

Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #503

Main picture on cover by Ross Andru & Howard Bender, the border is by Joe Rubenstein & Pablo Marcos. The sticker is from Rainbow's End in Oxford, where I purchased this copy.

Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #503 edited by Nicola Cuti All good things must come to an end, they say, and this digest issue was the last one of the original Adventure Comics run. (It would be picked up again as a title 2009-11 before being cancelled for the New 52 reboot.) At the end… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #503

Book Review: Mayday Orbit | No Man’s World

This scene more or less happens in the story.

Book Review: Mayday Orbit | No Man’s World by Poul Anderson and Kenneth Bulmer, respectively. It’s time for another science fiction Ace Double, two books in one! It is the 31st Century, and the Terran Empire has passed its peak. Oh, to be sure it’s still very large and powerful and the vast majority of… Continue reading Book Review: Mayday Orbit | No Man’s World

Book Review: Great Science-Fiction

Cover by M. Seltler. I like this smug-looking cyborg/alien.

Book Review: Great Science-Fiction edited by Tony Licata This anthology was, Wikipedia says, originally intended to have the title “Bizarre”, but that might have drawn the wrong kind of attention, so the publisher gave it this much more generic title. “The Wind” by Ray Bradbury starts us off with a spooky tale of a man… Continue reading Book Review: Great Science-Fiction

Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction February 1956

Art by Kelly Freas; this is a symbolic cover showing the three sides of the protagonist.

Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction February 1956 edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. We begin this issue of the classic science fiction magazine with an editorial on “The Science of Psionics.” While the study of psychic phenomena is large discredited in the 21st Century, back in the 1950s it was still considered a serious if… Continue reading Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction February 1956

Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #501

Cover by Hannigan & Paris

Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #501 edited by Nicola Cuti After the all-Legion issue #500, the digest-sized Adventure Comics returned to featuring multiple characters. Let’s see what it has to offer! “Codename: Pinkeye!” story by Martin Pasko, art by Joe Staton & Bob Smith, picks up right after the killing of foreign agent Dmitri Dervish.… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Adventure Comics #501