Comic Book Review: The Best of Don Winslow of the Navy

Can you decipher the flags?

Comic Book Review: The Best of Don Winslow of the Navy edited by Craig Yoe Don Winslow of the Navy was created as a newspaper comic strip in 1934 by Lieutenant Commander Frank Victor Martinek, a Naval Reserve officer. He wanted to encourage enlistment in the U.S. Navy during a time of relative peace, especially… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Best of Don Winslow of the Navy

Book Review: Mister Roberts

Book Review: Mister Roberts by Thomas Heggen It is early spring, 1945, and World War Two rages on…somewhere else. Here in the backwaters of the Pacific Ocean, the Reluctant, an auxiliary cargo vessel of the United States Navy, sails from miserable coral island to miserable jungle island, delivering loads of non-urgent supplies. This old tub… Continue reading Book Review: Mister Roberts

Comic Book Review: The Army of Dr. Moreau

Comic Book Review: The Army of Dr. Moreau written by David F. Walker, art by Carl Sciacchitano, color by Sara Machajewski The year is 1939, and agents of the British and American governments have been sent to visit H.G. Wells, well-known author of utopian books. But it is not one of his utopian volumes they… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Army of Dr. Moreau

Book Review: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters

Book Review: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters edited by Tim Marquitz & N.X. Sharps Like many a Godzilla fan, I have a fondness for movies where gigantic monsters rampage across the landscape. The fandom has more or less adopted the Japanese term for such monsters, kaiju. While the big critters have been a staples of… Continue reading Book Review: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters

Book Review: Great Stories from the Saturday Evening Post

This cover is by Stevan Dohanos, who often did covers for the Post, and illustrates a conversation he had with a mailman. Note the two red stars on the sleeve for twenty years' service.

Book Review: Great Stories from the Saturday Evening Post edited by Ben Hibbs For many years, the Saturday Evening Post was one of America’s most popular magazines. Every week, it would show fascinating photographs, interesting non-fiction articles and a selection of short stories and serialized fiction. With more than 200 short stories being printed in… Continue reading Book Review: Great Stories from the Saturday Evening Post

Comic Book Review: Comic Book History of Comics: Birth of a Medium

Comic Book Review: Comic Book History of Comics: Birth of a Medium written by Fred van Lente, art by Ryan Dunlavey As a long-time comic book fan, I’ve been reading books and articles about the history of comic books since the early 1970s. It was inevitable that at some point there would be a comic… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Comic Book History of Comics: Birth of a Medium

Book Review: Farthing

Book Review: Farthing by Jo Walton England didn’t win World War Two. In fairness, they didn’t lose either. Thanks to a coalition of wealthy nobles and businessmen, Rudolph Hess’ mission was a success, and the Axis were able to negotiate a peace settlement with Great Britain. This is generally considered a great saving of British… Continue reading Book Review: Farthing

Movie Review: The Last Tycoon (2012)

The student has become the master.

Movie Review: The Last Tycoon (2012) directed by Jing Wong Back in the 1910s, when Chen Daqi (Chow-Yun Fat) was just a grocer’s assistant, he fell in love with aspiring actress Ye Zhiqiu (Quan Yuan). After Daqi was framed for murder, he had to flee to Shanghai, while Zhiqiu went to Beijing to join the Opera.… Continue reading Movie Review: The Last Tycoon (2012)

Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3

Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3 by Robert Bloch Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a prolific author of horror, science fiction and mystery works. (You may have seen, read or at least heard of Psycho.) This volume, originally “Selected Stories” and by no means complete, features 39 stories published between 1960 and… Continue reading Book Review: The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch Volume 3

Book Review: The Tirpitz

Book Review: The Tirpitz by David Woodward Subtitled “And the Battle for the North Atlantic”, this 1953 volume is a look at how the German battleship Tirpitz, the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy, managed to influence the entire shape of the European theater of World War Two, despite seeing almost no actual… Continue reading Book Review: The Tirpitz