August 22, 2007
Cities of the Fantastic: A Contemporary Series of Verne-inspired Graphic Novels
by Duane Spurlock. Jules Verne’s works continue to influence and inspire artists today. For contemporary examples, readers need only look at the graphic novels – or albums, to use the word typically given European works of this type – in the Cities of the Fantastic (Cités Obscures) series by Benoit Peeters and Francois Schuiten. Written by Peeters, who is French, and drawn by Schuiten, who is Belgian, the books in the series present a picture of the present or future as seen from the past – specifically, a future depicted according to a 19th Century extrapolation of mechanical science that is part steampunk, part world of marvels, part dystopia. The result is rather Vernian in its feel, thanks greatly to Schuiten’s art style, which suggests the engraving style used for reproducing illustrations in 19th and early 20th Century publications. Further, such consistently amazing architectural wonders haven’t been seen in the graphic storytelling form since the days of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo. - Read this articleMarch 10, 2007
Freebooters: A Pulp-Fiction Vision of Storytelling on the Comic Book Page
Barry Windsor-Smith came to comic book fame as the artist on Marvel’s Conan comic during the Robert E. Howard boom of the 1970s. A few years back he came up with a big (I mean big, as in oversize — approximately the height and width of an unfolded newspaper [a really big tabloid, like a real newspaper]) monthly comic that he wrote and drew titled Storytellers. Each issue featured one episode in each of three continuing series — “Young Gods,” a heroic fantasy series; “Timerider,” an SF series; and “Freebooters,” an S&S series. - Read this articleFebruary 03, 2007
Flaming London: Alternative Fictional History by Joe R. Lansdale
For those who like a tongue-in-cheek change of pace, Lansdale’s Flaming London may fit the bill. A sequel of sorts to his Zeppelins West (which featured, among others, Sitting Bull, Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill (his head, at least, which was floating in a jar of – well, I’ll leave that surprise to readers – atop a robot body), a zeppelin carrying his Wild West Show to Japan, samurai, Captain Nemo and his submersible -- the Naughty Lass (things are different in Lansdale’s world) -- Dr. Momo (better known as Dr. Moreau to us, thanks to H.G. Wells), an intelligent seal named Ned, and various others. - Read this articleFebruary 01, 2007
Joe Kubert's Ape Man: From Newsprint to Glossy Stock Hardcover
Dark Horse has done Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fans and Joe Kubert’s fans a great service by collecting these stories from the beginning of National Periodicals’ (DC Comics) run of Tarzan comics (issues 207 through 214, published in 1972). - Read this articleJanuary 30, 2007
Adventure! -- New Pulp with a Genuine Retro Heart
There’s some fun here, and quite a good portion of entertaining and enjoyable reading — all of it meeting the criteria for pulpish adventure fiction. - Read this articleMarch 03, 2006
Planetary: A Review
Planetary is introduced to the reader as a group of adventuring investigators who chart the "secret history of the world" – the behind-the-scenes, covert history that the mass public isn't aware of (for a pulp-world example, the sort of stuff that The Nine Unknown might have their hands in). The three members of the Planetary field team – Planetary is actually a globe-spanning organization, as befits its name – ring a mental echo of the late-1950s Jack Kirby comic book group, the Challengers of the Unknown, by darting around the Earth and investigating secrets and mysteries of an unearthly type. - Read this articleFebruary 10, 2006
Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow: A Review
A viewer doesn't have to watch the behind-the-scenes featurettes to know early on that Sky Captain is a labor of love -- specifically, a dream come true for director Kerry Conran and, by force of his enthusiasm avalanche, his brother Kevin (the production designer) and everyone else (all the techno-CGI-animation artists) who worked in post-production. - Read this articleMarch 01, 2005
Sgt. Rock: Now and Then
Sgt. Rock of Easy Co. was the only war comic character I really, really liked when I was a kid in the 1960s... - Read this articleNovember 27, 2002
Jonny Quest Comics
In the latter half of the 1980s, a gathering of writers and artists captured the spirit of TV's Jonny Quest in a comic book series. - Read this articleNovember 20, 2002
The Flesh & Blood of George G. Gilman
An appreciation of the series of anti-hero westerns written by Terry Harknett. - Read this articleOctober 21, 2002
Repairman Jack: The Tomb
Repairman Jack is an excellent updating of the pulp vigilante character. Like Andrew Vachss' series character Burke, Jack lives between the lines of the infrastructural grid that makes up modern life in these United States. - Read this articleOctober 14, 2002
Reviving Hammet's Flitcraft
When John Carroll Daly came along and shook up the mystery fiction field with "Three-Gun Terry" in the May 15, 1923 issue of Black Mask and with his series private eye, Race Williams, things changed quickly. Dashiell Hammett quickly followed... - Read this articleOctober 07, 2002
Mexico's Pulp Private Eye
You could easily move from the tired-but-tough detectives of the 1940s to this turn-of-the-millennium practitioner and still recognize the Tarnished P.I. Knight-Errant figure. Frontera Dreams is Paco Ignacio Taibo II's seventh story featuring Mexico City private eye Hector Belascoaran Shayne.... - Read this articleSeptember 18, 2002
Mike Mignola's Hellboy
Mike Mignola's Hellboy manages to capture the flavor, the fun, and the atmosphere of the pulps in its four-color, comic-paneled world. - Read this articleSeptember 17, 2002
F. Paul Wilson's The Keep
"The message is received from a Nazi commander stationed in a remote castle high in the Transylvanian alps: Something is murdering my men. - Read this articleSeptember 10, 2002
