Comic Book Review: Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets

Comic Book Review: Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets edited by Matt Idelson Being a cop in Gotham City is rough. In addition to the long hours, hostile population and dangerous streets that come with the police officer’s job in any large city, Gotham City has one of the highest corruption rates of a police department in… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries edited by Otto Penzler While stories that could be considered “mysteries” in some sense have existed as long as writing, and perhaps a bit before, the short story mystery came into its own during the lifetime of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This volume collects forty-nine notable stories from… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries

Manga Review: Deserter

Manga Review: Deserter by Junji Ito This volume says that the contents are mostly from the early horror work of noted manga creator Junji Ito. There’s no initial publication dates in the indicia, but his debut was in 1987, so I’m guessing late Eighties to early Nineties. Let’s see what his stuff was like before… Continue reading Manga Review: Deserter

Movie Review: The Gorgon

Professor Meister has some sharp remarks for Doctor Namaroff.

Movie Review: The Gorgon (1964) directed by Terence Fisher It is 1908, and the police state of Van Dorf has had seven unsolved murders in five years. When painter Bruno Heizt’s (Jeremy Longhurst) model and lover turns up dead and himself hanged, the police, led by Inspector Kanof (Patrick Troughton), are quick to call it murder-suicide.… Continue reading Movie Review: The Gorgon

Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories

Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories edited by Rogers Terrill This collection of exciting tales of action and bravery plucked from the pages of Argosy, the long-running pulp magazine, is most notable for only choosing from those printed between 1946 and 1952, when the collection was published. Thus it had, at the time,… Continue reading Book Review: The Argosy Book of Adventure Stories

Movie Review: Oldboy (2003)

A central dilemma of the film.

Movie Review: Oldboy (2003) directed by Park Chan-wook On his daughter’s birthday, Dae-su Oh (Choi Min-sik) got stinking drunk and taken to the police station. He was still pretty drunk when he was picked up by his friend No Joo-hwan (Dae-han Ji). So when Dae-su vanished while No’s back was turned in a phone booth, at… Continue reading Movie Review: Oldboy (2003)

Movie Review: Easy Virtue (1928)

Movie Review: Easy Virtue (1928) directed by Alfred Hitchcock John Whittaker (Robin Irvine) returns from a Riviera vacation with a surprise bride. Larita (Isabel Jeans) is certainly pretty, and seems pleasant enough. But John’s mother (Violet Farebrother) can’t shake the feeling that she’s seen Larita before, and that the young woman is hiding something. Larita is… Continue reading Movie Review: Easy Virtue (1928)

Movie Review: Joe (2013)

Joe welcomes one of his crew back to the job.

Movie Review: Joe (2013) directed by David Gordon Green Joe Ransom (Nicolas Cage) is holding his life together…barely. He runs a small business that kills trees unsuitable for lumber for the local lumber company, employing a day worker crew that works hard for the cash money and appreciates that he doesn’t cheat them. Maybe he smokes… Continue reading Movie Review: Joe (2013)

Book Review: The Crystal Stopper

Book Review: The Crystal Stopper by Maurice Leblanc Arsène Lupin should probably have been more cautious when two members of his gang, Vaucheray and Gilbert, asked him to assist with the burglary of the Enghien country home of government deputy Daubrecq. But Vaucheray is experienced, and Lupin is impressed with Gilbert’s good character (for a… Continue reading Book Review: The Crystal Stopper

Book Review: Deck the Pulps

Book Review: Deck the Pulps published by Brick Pickle Media Pulp magazines, like most forms of media, liked to celebrate holidays. Such as, you know, Christmas. But being the pulps, they leavened the usual sentimentality of the season with more of their usual action and excitement. This set of nine tales covers a variety of… Continue reading Book Review: Deck the Pulps