Comic Book Review: Avengers Season One

Comic Book Review: Avengers Season One written by Peter David, art by Various The Avengers exist because of Loki, the Norse god of trickery and sometimes evil. He had hoped to maneuver his brother Thor, god of thunder, into fighting the Hulk, the one man-monster perhaps capable of matching the Odinson’s strength. When Rick Jones… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Avengers Season One

Movie Review: The Return of the Five Deadly Venoms

Avengers Assemble!

Movie Review: The Return of the Five Deadly Venoms (1978) directed by Cheh Chang, aka Crippled Avengers Tao (Kuan Tai-Chen) once used his Tiger-style kung fu for good, clearing out bandits and such, and became prosperous as a result. Unfortunately a gang (coincidentally also called “Tigers”) decided to strike back at Tao, and when they found he… Continue reading Movie Review: The Return of the Five Deadly Venoms

Magazine Review: High Adventure #98: The Crimson Mask

Magazine Review: High Adventure #98: The Crimson Mask edited by John P. Gunnison When Robert Clarke was young, he watched his police officer father be gunned down by criminals. The image of his father’s blood-soaked face never left him. So after training himself in disguise, hand to hand combat, criminology, and becoming a PhG (Graduate… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #98: The Crimson Mask

Movie Review: The Amazing Transparent Man

The joke is that our title character isn't even in this shot!

Movie Review: The Amazing Transparent Man (1960) directed by Edgar G. Ulmer We open with the daring escape of notorious safecracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) from prison. We swiftly learn that his release has been sponsored by Major Paul Krenner (James Griffith), who received a medical discharge due to a shrapnel wound. (Joey snarks that it… Continue reading Movie Review: The Amazing Transparent Man

Book Review: Rod String Nail Cloth

Book Review: Rod String Nail Cloth by T. Aaron Cisco The subtitle of this book is “An Afrofuturist Mixtape.” You can read more about Afrofuturism at this Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrofuturism but for the purposes of this review, it’s the intersection of speculative fiction with the African Diaspora experience and cultures, and in particular the experience… Continue reading Book Review: Rod String Nail Cloth

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021

Cover by Brian Stauffer

Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021 edited by Janet Hutchings “The years keep coming and they just keep coming.” It seems like just a few months ago I reviewed a 75th anniversary issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, but in fact it was five years ago, and here’s the 80th anniversary issue. It’s… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine September/October 2021

Movie Review: Martial Angels

Zi-Yang and Cat reunite.

Movie Review: Martial Angels (2001) directed by Clarence Ford Cat (Shu Qi) grew up in an orphanage with seven other girls. As adults, they have become a heist gang known as the “Martial Angels.” Five years ago, Cat met international jewel thief Zi-Yang (Julian Cheung) when they were after the same target and the two fell… Continue reading Movie Review: Martial Angels

Movie Review: Golden Swallow

Silver Roc leaves the neighborhood's newest abattoir.

Movie Review: Golden Swallow (1968) directed by Cheh Chang “Golden Swallow” Hsieh Wo Yeh (Pei-Pei Cheng) is happy living in an isolated valley with her new friend and protector “Iron Whip” Han Tao (Lieh Lo). One day they learn of a wandering warrior called “Silver Roc” (Jimmy Wang Yu) who ruthlessly exterminates criminals with his swooping… Continue reading Movie Review: Golden Swallow

Movie Review: Volcano High

Our hero introduces himself to a very noisy class.

Volcano High (2001) dir. Tae-gyun Kim Kim Keyong-Su (Jang Hyuk) has been expelled from nine schools for trouble-making. It’s not so much that he goes looking for trouble, as that he’s always targeted by jerks who want to pick on him, and he winds up using his superhuman powers in response. Kim got them in an… Continue reading Movie Review: Volcano High

Book Review: Winged Mystery

Book Review: Winged Mystery by Alan Gregg The Conroy family has come into possession of a plot of land in Southern California, and they’ve decided to move there for Mrs. Conroy’s health. The three grown children of the Conroys, Mark, Alison and Reed (just out of high school) go out first to scout the place.… Continue reading Book Review: Winged Mystery