Book Review: Strip for Murder by Max Allan Collins Years ago, Sam Fizer hired young Hal Rapp as an art assistant on his comic strip Mug O’ Malley. At first, they were good friends, but when the ambitious Rapp struck out on his own with his new strip Tall Paul, Fizer felt betrayed. Especially as the characters… Continue reading Book Review: Strip for Murder
Tag: gangsters
Book Review: From Ghouls to Gangsters: The Career of Arthur B. Reeve Volume 1
Book Review: From Ghouls to Gangsters: The Career of Arthur B. Reeve Volume 1 edited by John Locke Arthur B. Reeve (1880-1936) was a newspaper reporter who decided to try his hand at writing fiction. As it happened, he turned out to be very good at it, making a huge hit with his most famous character,… Continue reading Book Review: From Ghouls to Gangsters: The Career of Arthur B. Reeve Volume 1
Comic Book Review: Bodies
Comic Book Review: Bodies written by Si Spencer; art by Dean Ormstom, Phil Winslade, Meghan Hetrick, & Tula Lotay. Disclaimer: I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. No other compensation was involved. A string of seemingly-identical murders baffles London detectives in four time periods. It can’t… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Bodies
Manga Review: Master Keaton, Volume 1
Manga Review: Master Keaton, Volume 1 art by Naoki Urasawa, story by Hokusei Katsushika & Takashi Nagasaki Taichi Hiraga Keaton is a mild-looking fellow with a bumbling exterior personality. You’d never guess that he’s a brilliant archaeologist, ex-SAS soldier and freelance insurance investigator. He often takes leave of his day job as a poorly paid… Continue reading Manga Review: Master Keaton, Volume 1
Book Review: Pearlhanger
Book Review: Pearlhanger by Jonathan Gash Lovejoy is a “divvy” (presumably from “diviner”), a person who can just feel if an antique is genuine by standing near it. This is a great help in his career as an antiques dealer. But just because he’s got a gift of his own doesn’t mean he believes in anything… Continue reading Book Review: Pearlhanger
Magazine Review: High Adventure #138 Battle Stories
Magazine Review: High Adventure #138 Battle Stories edited by John P. Gunnison By the mid-1920s, the Great War was far enough in the past for people in America to be nostalgic about it, and the pulp magazines noticed an increase of interest in stories about the war. So they started putting out magazines dedicated to… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #138 Battle Stories
Magazine Review: High Adventure #126 Adventure Fiction Spectacular
Magazine Review: High Adventure #126 Adventure Fiction Spectacular This issue of the pulp reprint magazine concentrates on stories of adventure around the world. Three of the stories are by “Major” George Fielding Eliot, who was born in Brooklyn, raised in Australia, fought at Gallipoli and was a Canadian Mountie before settling down in the U.S.… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #126 Adventure Fiction Spectacular
Magazine Review: Detective Yarns April 1939
Magazine Review: Detective Yarns April 1939 This is a facsimile reprint by Adventure House of a pulp magazine. Pulp magazines tended to stick to one genre, so you knew what you were getting from the beginning; in this case action-mystery. Great literature was rare, but they really got the blood pumping. And a dozen stories… Continue reading Magazine Review: Detective Yarns April 1939
Book Review: 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories
Book Review: 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories edited by Stefan Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg & Martin H. Greenberg This was my Halloween season read this year, an anthology commissioned for the Barnes & Noble stores in 1995. There are indeed one hundred stories in this hefty tome, averaging about six pages. They are not all about… Continue reading Book Review: 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories
Comic Book Review: The Shadow Hero
Comic Book Review: The Shadow Hero Story by Gene Luen Yang, Art by Sonny Liew It is the 1930s, and Hank Chu lives in the Chinatown neighborhood of San Incendio. He wants a simple, quiet life, working with his father in the family grocery store. Hank’s mother, on the other hand, has bigger plans. She’s… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Shadow Hero