Magazine Review: High Adventure #191: Action Special edited by John P. Gunnison This issue of the pulp fiction reprint magazine has five stories from different action subgenres from five different magazines. Let’s see what’s in the grab bag! “The Jonah” by Bill Adams, first published in The Blue Book Magazine November 1935, is a sea… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #191: Action Special
Tag: idols
Comic Book Review: Black Magic Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Black Magic Vol. 1 Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby The creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby tried many different ideas for comic books over the years. Some were successful, others flops. In 1950, they cashed in on the then hot horror genre with Black Magic, created for Prize… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Black Magic Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Forbidden Worlds Vol. 15
Comic Book Review: Forbidden Worlds Vol. 15 edited by Richard E. Hughes Forbidden Worlds started as a horror anthology comic book series from American Comics Group in 1951. In 1955, it ran foul of new restrictions on horror in comics, but soon retooled as “stories of strange adventure” which conformed with the Comics Code and… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Forbidden Worlds Vol. 15
Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories
Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories edited by Philip Van Doren Stern In his introduction, the editor talks about the thrill of adventure stories, how often they are churned out as cheap entertainment, and that he has selected twelve really good ones for the reader. This 1945 book was designed to be easily… Continue reading Book Review: The Pocket Book of Adventure Stories
TV Review: Flash Gordon #TV1-A
TV Review: Flash Gordon #TV1-A Digging through my pile of random DVDs, I have come across this set of three episodes of the 1950s German/American TV series of FLash Gordon starring Steve Holland. As previously mentioned, the three lead characters, Flash, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov, were played by American actors while almost everyone else… Continue reading TV Review: Flash Gordon #TV1-A
Movie Review: Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Movie Review: Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) directed by Peter Bogdanovich In the far future of 1998, a three-rocket expedition to the planet Venus begins. The first rocket hits a meteor and explodes. The second rocket carries Howard Sherman (Yuriy Sarantsev) and Alfred Kern (Georgiy Teykh) as well as Robot John, a mechanical… Continue reading Movie Review: Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952
Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952 edited by Ellery Queen This is the last issue of EQMM I have to hand, but someday I hope to get out to garage sales again…. “Homecoming” by Veronica Parker Johns was inspired, so the introduction says, by the Kefauver hearings and the author getting a much… Continue reading Magazine Review: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine June 1952
Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction July 1939
Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction July 1939 edited by John W. Campbell Astounding Science Fiction is now Analog, which is still being published; see earlier reviews on this blog. Today I’m looking at a key issue from the pulp days, July 1939. First, there’s this classic cover by Graves Gladney. Up front is “Addenda”, an… Continue reading Magazine Review: Astounding Science Fiction July 1939
Anime Review: In/Spectre
Anime Review: In/Spectre Kotoko Iwanaga is the Goddess of Wisdom. She’s not literally a god, that’s just the title the youkai gave her when she agreed to be their mediator to settle disputes between Japanese spirits and monsters. Iwanaga (she doesn’t like her personal name) gained certain abilities in exchange for her right eye and… Continue reading Anime Review: In/Spectre
Movie Review: Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
Movie Review: Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003) directed by Prachya Pinkaew Don (Wannakit Sirioput) had one job. Go to a remote village in Thailand, buy an ancient amulet at way below market price, and return it to mob boss Komtuan (Suchao Pongwilai) for sale on the black market. He failed because the village chief is saving… Continue reading Movie Review: Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior