WARRIOR OF LLARN by Gardner F. Fox

As a kid, I was a fan of both Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter of Mars books as well as Gardner F. Fox, who created the new takes on many of the Silver Age DC Comics heroes and wrote a fair share of fantasy novels as well as the Golden Age comics. I became aware […]

LEVERAGE: THE CON JOB by Matt Forbeck

The television show Leverage has been a staple around my house for the last five years. I can’t believe it’s been that long, and I can’t believe it won’t be back next summer. Learning that was a total bummer because I totally enjoyed the characters. When I learned that there would be some original novels […]

GUN MACHINE by Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis is an amazing comic book writer whose career has spanned DC Comics and the Marvel Universe and independent comics companies. He wrote Red, which became a hot Bruce Willis action/comedy movie so successful a sequel is coming out. He’s one of those writers whose every move is watched by comics fans and Hollywood […]

JOE GOLEM AND THE COPPER GIRL by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola

Joe Golem and the Copper Girl is a prequel of sorts to Joe Golem and the Drowning City. Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola have been having some real success in storytelling through comics, short stories, and illustrated graphic novels, and I’m having fun trying to keep up with all of them. Their Hellboy stuff and […]

THE LIVING SHADOW by Maxwell Grant

The Shadow is one of my favorite pulp characters, but more for the appearance and mythos than for reading pleasure, which is a backhanded compliment, I know. The simple translation is that I am enamored of the character, but I simply haven’t read as many of his books as I have Doc Savage or the […]

THROTTLE by Stephen King, Richard Matheson, Joe Hill and Adam Johnson

Throttle is the first fiction I’ve seen that was written by horror writer Joe Hill and his father, Stephen King. It’s an interesting bit of fiction because one of the primary issues in the story is the relationship between fathers and sons, and it was written for the newest venue in literary entertainment, the ebook. […]

THE MAN OF BRONZE by Kenneth Robeson

In my early teens, I grew up reading Doc Savage novels. I discovered them when I was in 7th grade, a very impressionable time for a boy. I didn’t know what “pulps” were back then, but I totally grooved on the action and adventure. That would have been in 1969 or 1970, the heyday of […]

THE AMULET #3: THE CLOUD SEARCHERS by Kazu Kibuishi

Every time I pick up one of Kazu Kibuishi’s graphic novels, I turn into a big kid again. I can’t help it. Kibiuishi is such a naturally gifted storyteller that I can’t help but get swept up in whatever adventure he’s spinning and get carried right along. I’m not sure if the sense of wonder […]

ARCHVILLAIN by Barry Lyga

These days superheroes are popping out everywhere in our media. We’ve got television shows like No Ordinary Family and the upcoming The Cape series, and 2011 will be a bumper crop of superheroes flying to the big screen. Personally, I can’t wait. So my Spidey senses have been more alert than usual, seeking out the […]

DARK RAIN by Mat Johnson and Simone Gane

When most people refer to noir storytelling, they’re usually referring to a specific time. The film style began in the German Expressionist movement in the 1940s but the stories were from the American crime pulps of the 1930s. The name “film noir” came from French critic Nino Frank when talking about Hollywood films. So, looking […]