Manga Review: Dream Fossil by Satoshi Kon Satoshi Kon (1963-2010) was an acclaimed anime director, making a handful of movies (including Paprika) and one television series, Paranoia Agent. His themes of confusion of dreams and reality, and madness lying just below the surface of society, made his works fascinating. He also spent some time as a… Continue reading Manga Review: Dream Fossil
Tag: monsters
Anime Review: One-Punch Man
Anime Review: One-Punch Man Saitama used to be an unemployed salaryman (white-collar worker) whose life was going nowhere. When a (relatively weak) monster attacked, Saitama remembered his boyhood dream of becoming a hero who could defeat any opponent with a single punch. He trained really hard, and became that hero…but if you can defeat any… Continue reading Anime Review: One-Punch Man
Manga Review: One-Punch Man 01
Manga Review: One-Punch Man 01 story by ONE, art by Yusuke Murata Saitama wanted to be a hero when he grew up, the sort of good guy who could beat any monster or villain with a single punch. Like many people, he forgot that dream as he prepared for a more realistic career as… Continue reading Manga Review: One-Punch Man 01
Book Review: Galaxy of Ghouls
Book Review: Galaxy of Ghouls edited by Judith Merril October is scary stuff season, so let’s look at a book of creepy tales. This collection of 16 “science-fantasy” stories is themed around various monsters, from the classic to the out-there. We open with “Wolves Don’t Cry” by Bruce Elliott, turning the traditional werewolf story upside… Continue reading Book Review: Galaxy of Ghouls
Book Review: The Great Secret
Book Review: The Great Secret by L. Ron Hubbard This is another in the line of Galaxy Press reprints of L. Ron Hubbard’s pulp magazine stories. As always, the physical presentation is excellent. This time, we have four short science fiction stories. The cover doesn’t actually apply to any of them. “The Great Secret” is… Continue reading Book Review: The Great Secret
Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume
Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume edited by Judith Merril This 1957 volume contains speculative fiction stories from magazines published in roughly the previous year, hand-picked by the editor to represent the best the field had to offer at the time. (I’ve previously reviewed the fifth annual, which switched the… Continue reading Book Review: The Year’s Greatest Science-Fiction and Fantasy Second Annual Volume
Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book
Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang Once upon a time, (1889 to be specific), British children did not have access to collections of fairy tales. Educators of the time thought fairy tales were too unrealistic and harmful to children, and beneath adults. Mr. Lang felt differently; he had delighted in such… Continue reading Book Review: The Blue Fairy Book
Comic Book Review: Essential Rampaging Hulk, Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Essential Rampaging Hulk, Vol. 1 story by Doug Moench, art by various. Doctor Bruce Banner was one of the nation’s top physicists, and an expert in gamma radiation, when he was drafted into creating a new kind of nuclear weapon called a “gamma bomb.” Just before the device was about to go… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Essential Rampaging Hulk, Vol. 1
Book Review: Creature from the Black Lagoon
Book Review: Creature from the Black Lagoon by Vargo Statten When marine paleontologist Dr. Carl Maia’s expedition into the Amazon rain forest discovers a unique fossil, which looks like a webbed hand, he asks for a full expedition to the area by his colleagues at the Morajo Institute of Marine Biology. He is joined by… Continue reading Book Review: Creature from the Black Lagoon
Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1 Comic books were still a very new thing in 1940, and the publishers were still trying to figure out what there was a market for. Science fiction themes seemed popular, so Fiction House created the pulp-inspired Planet Comics to appeal to fans of rockets and aliens.… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1