Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The Army of the Apocalypse
This will be only of interest to pulps fans (and maybe not all of them). I love pulp fiction, and I love writing pulp fiction. It’s a need that’s encoded in my DNA.
Even when I’m writing other stuff, primarily horror, the pulp world isn’t far from my mind. Lately I’ve started playing with a novel I call The Army of the Apocalypse.
It teams up several up several of the pulp era’s greatest (public domain) heroes in a showdown with the ultimate evil. The story ranges from the old west to the eve of World War II and from the concrete jungles of Manhattan to the frozen arctic. It’s a colossal yarn that I would have loved when I first discovered Doc Savage and The Shadow. I’m having a blast with it.
I have no idea when it will be finished. I’m committed to writing two horror novels by October and to finishing the revisions to the sequel to Dead Earth: The Green Dawn with Dave Wilbanks. Plus there are other smaller projects that have to be done. But at the end of the day, when I have a spare half hour or so, I’m typing away at The Army of the Apocalypse. No deadlines, no editor looking over my shoulder. Just pure pulp fun.
Will it ever get published? I’m betting that it will, somewhere down the road. If you’re a fan of The Masked Rider, Dan Fowler, Secret Agent X, Ki-Gor, Jim Anthony and The Black Bat, stay tuned for the grandest pulp adventure of all time. Booyah!
Even when I’m writing other stuff, primarily horror, the pulp world isn’t far from my mind. Lately I’ve started playing with a novel I call The Army of the Apocalypse.
It teams up several up several of the pulp era’s greatest (public domain) heroes in a showdown with the ultimate evil. The story ranges from the old west to the eve of World War II and from the concrete jungles of Manhattan to the frozen arctic. It’s a colossal yarn that I would have loved when I first discovered Doc Savage and The Shadow. I’m having a blast with it.
I have no idea when it will be finished. I’m committed to writing two horror novels by October and to finishing the revisions to the sequel to Dead Earth: The Green Dawn with Dave Wilbanks. Plus there are other smaller projects that have to be done. But at the end of the day, when I have a spare half hour or so, I’m typing away at The Army of the Apocalypse. No deadlines, no editor looking over my shoulder. Just pure pulp fun.
Will it ever get published? I’m betting that it will, somewhere down the road. If you’re a fan of The Masked Rider, Dan Fowler, Secret Agent X, Ki-Gor, Jim Anthony and The Black Bat, stay tuned for the grandest pulp adventure of all time. Booyah!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
What I'm Reading
While I'm battling the flu, I'm digging in to the newly released Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace Volume One. This is 552 pages of the adventures of the German World War I ace, a reluctant warrior, expertly chronicled by writer Robert Kanigher and legendary artist Joe Kubert. A few other artists are featured as well, including John Severin and Howard Chaykin. A real delight for me was the inclusion of the Detective Comics story by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams that teamed the Hammer of Hell with Batman. This is highly recommended.Speaking of Enemy Ace, this DC mini-series, debuting in May, looks interesting. Good to see Neal Adams doing covers again.
THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #1
Written by Bruce Jones
Art by Al Barrionuevo & Jimmy Palmiotti
Cover by Neal Adams
A lone USAF pilot, about to warn his superiors of the attack on Pearl Harbor, finds his craft suddenly crash-landing on a mysterious island populated with prehistoric creatures and soldiers of wars of the past, present and future — including Tomahawk, Firehair, and Hans Von Hammer, the Enemy Ace! What bizarre force has compelled these military masters of every era to inhabit the same strange territory? Can they survive without killing each other or being devoured by dinosaurs?
Don’t miss this incredible miniseries by the team of writer Bruce Jones (Hulk) artists Al Barrionuevo (DETECTIVE COMICS) & Jimmy Palmiotti and legendary cover artist Neal Adams (BATMAN)!
On sale May 7 • 1 of 8 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Happy Birthday, Doc Savage
Doc Savage Magazine debuted on February 17, 1933, 75 years ago today. I debuted in September of 1959, so I wasn't aware of The Man of Bronze until my Uncle Bud gave me three of the Bantam paperback reprints in what must have been 1969.
At the time, I remember thinking that these were my first grown up books, since there were no pictures inside (which makes me wonder if the Bantam reprints have been more or less popular had they included the original interior illustrations, updated to include the James Bama version of Doc).
I read every spare moment until I finished The Other World, The Flaming Falcons and Dust of Death.
From that moment on, I was hooked on Doc. I think I got the Doc Savage fever at just the right age. A little younger, and the books would have been over my head. A little older, say sixteen, and I would have considered them too juvenile for a cool guys who was driving and checking out the ladies.I eventually collected all the Bantam Docs, though my enthusiasm died a bit when Bama stopped doing the covers. Sometimes the covers were the best part of the book.
I also became involved in Doc fandom. Through Weinberg books, I found pulp fanzines and reprints of other pulp characters like The Spider, The Skipper and Operator #5. In high school, a friend and I published one issue of a Doc Savage fanzine. I've been meaning to devote an essay to the fanzine, and one day I will.
I ended up with several original Doc pulps, but found out how difficult it is to read them when they fall apart in your hands. That's why I am so grateful for the new line of facsimile reprints from Nostalgia Ventures. I'm rediscovering my love for the Doc adventures (along with The Shadow) all over again.
Happy 75th, Doc. You look pretty good for your age.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Goodbye, Steve Gerber
This is a lousy day.
I had to drive in to work in the middle of the night through several inches of snow and ice, only to find the heat in the office was out. Again. Further work problems ensued, then I had to go to a funeral.
But that’s not what made today such a chunk of suck.
When I got up this morning, I found out via The Comics Reporter that Steve Gerber was dead.
His pal Mark Evanier memorializes Gerber here.
I didn’t know Gerber. I’d never met him or corresponded with him. I was just a fan.
He was the best writer at my favorite comics company during my favorite era in comics.
I was a Marvel boy, and the 70s were a good time to be a Marvel fan. Distribution limits had been lifted, and Marvel was expanding their line faster than George W. Bush can violate the constitution. As a result, there were too many books for The House of Idea’s small staff to oversee. By default, Marvel did something which would be unheard of in today’s comics world: they found writers they trusted, then turned the writers loose.
Nearly total freedom resulted in some of the most creative work in the history of the medium, stuff like Don MacGregor’s Black Panther and War of the Worlds, Doug Moench’s Master of Kung Fu, Moon Knight and Planet of the Apes, Marv Wolfman’s Dracula stuff (and, yes, even as a dumb kid I thought it was cool that Dracula was being written by a Wolfman) and Jim Starlin’s cosmic Warlord and Captain Marvel.
But nothing compared to the writing Gerber was doing. He didn’t create Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Man-Thing or The Defenders, but he made them his own, especially the last two. Gerber imbued them with absurdist hijinks and a rare-for-the-times sense of political relevance.
He did create Howard the Duck. The anthropomorphic fowl remains Gerber’s best known character. He also brought forth the tragically brief Void Indigo, a series that was decades ahead of its time. Too bad Vertigo didn’t exist in the 1970s.
Gerber eventually left Marvel on unfriendly terms, moving to other
companies and animation.
Though many of his colleagues are MIA (Moench, Engelhart), Gerber continued to turn out mainstream comics work. He was writing a Dr. Fate script for DC in the hospital in the days before his passing. He remained creatively and hilariously subversive right up to the end.
Kudos to Marvel for getting a lot of Gerber’s 70s stuff back in print. Tonight I’ll sit down with volumes of Essential Defenders and Essential Howard the Duck, and I’ll remember one of the best.
I had to drive in to work in the middle of the night through several inches of snow and ice, only to find the heat in the office was out. Again. Further work problems ensued, then I had to go to a funeral.
But that’s not what made today such a chunk of suck.
When I got up this morning, I found out via The Comics Reporter that Steve Gerber was dead.
His pal Mark Evanier memorializes Gerber here.
I didn’t know Gerber. I’d never met him or corresponded with him. I was just a fan.He was the best writer at my favorite comics company during my favorite era in comics.
I was a Marvel boy, and the 70s were a good time to be a Marvel fan. Distribution limits had been lifted, and Marvel was expanding their line faster than George W. Bush can violate the constitution. As a result, there were too many books for The House of Idea’s small staff to oversee. By default, Marvel did something which would be unheard of in today’s comics world: they found writers they trusted, then turned the writers loose.
Nearly total freedom resulted in some of the most creative work in the history of the medium, stuff like Don MacGregor’s Black Panther and War of the Worlds, Doug Moench’s Master of Kung Fu, Moon Knight and Planet of the Apes, Marv Wolfman’s Dracula stuff (and, yes, even as a dumb kid I thought it was cool that Dracula was being written by a Wolfman) and Jim Starlin’s cosmic Warlord and Captain Marvel.
But nothing compared to the writing Gerber was doing. He didn’t create Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Man-Thing or The Defenders, but he made them his own, especially the last two. Gerber imbued them with absurdist hijinks and a rare-for-the-times sense of political relevance.He did create Howard the Duck. The anthropomorphic fowl remains Gerber’s best known character. He also brought forth the tragically brief Void Indigo, a series that was decades ahead of its time. Too bad Vertigo didn’t exist in the 1970s.
Gerber eventually left Marvel on unfriendly terms, moving to other
companies and animation.Though many of his colleagues are MIA (Moench, Engelhart), Gerber continued to turn out mainstream comics work. He was writing a Dr. Fate script for DC in the hospital in the days before his passing. He remained creatively and hilariously subversive right up to the end.
Kudos to Marvel for getting a lot of Gerber’s 70s stuff back in print. Tonight I’ll sit down with volumes of Essential Defenders and Essential Howard the Duck, and I’ll remember one of the best.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
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