Friday, June 30, 2023

Friday's Favorite OTR

 I Was a Communist for the FBI: "Double Exposure" 7/15/53



Matt is assigned by the Communists to recover film of political prisoners being held in Russia. He has to figure out a way to fail in this assignment while keeping his cover intact.


Click HERE to listen or download. 

Thursday, June 29, 2023

We Were There, Part 4

 


Of the four We Were There books dealing with the American Revolution, We Were There at the Battle of Lesxington and Concord (1958), by Felix Sutton, is my favorite. Of course, there's a nostalgia factor involved in that. Lexington and Concord was in my elementary school library. I read it and loved it as a second grader.


It holds up when re-reading it as an adult. As was standard with the series, the main character is a 15-year-old boy (this time named Rob Gordon) and a 13-year-old girl. Often, the two are siblings. In this case, Rob is the adopted son of a tavern keeper in Lexington (John Buckman--a real-life character) and Sary Williams is the daughter of Buckman's housekeeper. 


In one of the earlier entries on this series, I commented on how the We Were There books shied away from portraying young puppy love or crushes. Here, though, the book ends with a subtle and sweet implication that Rob and Sary might some day be married. I guess the authors weren't always worried about alienating their younger readers who might still think girls are yucky. Heck, I'm thinking that maybe I'll even stop giving myself anti-cootie shots after kissing my wife!


Anyway, the book begins with Rob and Sary sneaking a wagon-load of food into Boston, which is currently occupied by British troops following the Boston Tea Party. Before long, Rob overhears several British soldiers talking about a possible military expedition to arrest John Hancock and Sam Adams (currently hiding out in Lexington) and seizing weapons & gunpowder. 


The soldiers spot Rob, who has to lay one out with a fireplace poker before making a getaway. He and Sary barely manage to get out of Boston and warn Hancock. 


A few days later, Paul Revere makes his midnight ride to warn the Minute Men that the British are indeed coming. Rob participates in part of this ride, then he and Sary do some scouting for the Minute Men. When the Shot Heard Round the World is fired in Lexington, Rob is riding to Concord with a message. Sary, though, witnesses the battle. Afterwards, despite being horrified at the sight of dead and wounded, she pulls herself together and aids the wounded.


Rob joins the Minute Men at Concord, taking part in the charge at the Concord Bridge and participating in the exhausting day-long battle that ensues. Going into this, Rob sees the upcoming battle as a chance for glory. Instead, though he performs bravely, he learns that battle is terror, watching friends die and taking the lives of fellow human beings. 


This is what gives the book its strong backbone. The battle scenes are described vividly and with historical accuracy. The cause of liberty and the necessity of fighting for it are upheld. But the actually dirty business of fighting is not sanitized or glorified. Rob learns what war is, so when he continues to fight (joining the Continental Army at the book's conclusion) we see the bravery and determination behind that decision. 


It's still a young adult book, so the violence isn't overly graphic. But the author still brings across a sense of spilled blood and intense fear intermingled with true courage. It's a great book. 



Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Stretchy Powers and Magic Powers

 

cover art by Carmine Infantino

A back-up story in Detective Comics #355 (1966), written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Carmine Infantino, starred Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man.


Ralph is driving along one evening when he sees a strange sight--two men who just robbed a jewelry store are flying through the air over him.



Ralph grabs them. The crooks, terrified, confess to their crimes and explain that they have no idea what is pulling the through the air. Then that same force begins to make them fight back. Even after Ralph knocks them unconscious, they continue to throw punches, knocking out the hero. 



Ralph wakes up to see that they left their bag of loot behind. The pearls inside the bag are glowing with energy--perhaps, deduces Ralph--the same energy that was controlling the thieves. He uses one of the pearl as a direction finder to track them down.



The thieves have been brought to a prop store by Zatanna, who is looking for a tripod the two men had stolen at another time. The thieves hadn't known it, but the tripod is magical and Zatanna needs it in her continuing search to find her father.


The prop shop owner overhears this and, learning that the tripod is valuable, decides he wants to recover it from the thieves for himself. Also, he's carrying a book of black magic in his back pocket, which nullifies Zatanna's white magic. Usually, it's a bad idea to bring a gun to a magic fight, but it works out this time.



Well, it WOULD have worked out for him. Ralph shows up, disarmes the store owner and knocks out the thieves. Zatanna has a chance to toss the magic book into another room, allowing her to use her magic and subdue the store owner.



With the book and the tripod, Zatanna is now able to travel to the dimension where she believes her dad is being held. Ralph, in the meantime, buys the stolen pears and gives them to his wife.


Infantino's art is great, especially his use of long, vertical panels during the fight with the "flying" thieves. The story follows a thread of Comic Book Logic quite nicely, though it's a little exposition-heavy for its short length. Also, though I accept Zatanna bringing the thieves to her by magic, causing them to fight another superhero to clear the path for them seems a tad unethical. Even if this was a general part of the spell rather than a specific command to fight Ralph, it wasn't well-thought-out. 


But that's a nitpick. It is indeed a fun story.


Next week, we return to the Lonely War of Willy Schultz.

Monday, June 26, 2023

Cover Cavalcade

 


JUNE IS BATROC THE LEAPER MONTH!


Here's a 1976 cover by Al Milgrom.

Friday, June 23, 2023

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Dimension X: "Almost Human" 5/13/50



A criminal gains control of a powerful robot with a child-like mind. He teaches the robot to commit crimes, assuming that it will always follow orders without qualm. But the robot might be more human than anybody thinks.


Click HERE to listen or download. 

Thursday, June 22, 2023

The Bounty Hunter (1954)

 


Jim Kipp (Randolph Scott) is a ruthless bounty hunter and the titular character in 1954's The Bounty Hunter. One person he meets says his reputation is that he'd bring his own grandmother in for the reward. Kipp doesn't deny this, but what makes him an interesting protagonist are the hints that he's not completely ruthless. At one point during the movie, he's shot at by a young man who incorrectly thinks Kipp is after him. Kipp disarms the man, then lets him go.


Later, a woman with a shotgun threatens him, incorrectly thinking Kipp had killed her outlaw son. Kipp talks her down, shows compassion and, once again, lets her go. 


It's a bit of a stretch that two different people independantly jump to wrong conclusions about Kipp, but they are important scenes. Kipp does promote a ruthless veneer, so it's important to let us peek behind that veneer a few times.


Anyway, the main plot of the movie has Kipp chasing three outlaws who robbed a train of $100,000 a year earlier. There's no description of the outlaws available, but the serial numbers of the money are on record, so it's known they haven't yet spent the cash.



Kipp intelligently follows an old trail, discoveirng that the outlaws visited a remote trading post after the robbery, but only stocked up on a few days worth of water. That allows Kipp to narrow the search to the only nearby town.


Entering the town, he at first uses an alias, but his real identity soon becomes known. He's pretty certain the bad guys are living in town and that the money is hidden nearby. But he also knows the local doctor lied to him about whether he treated a wounded man a year earlier. He plays a psychological game, gradually making the townspeople nervous and hoping that one or more of the outlaws might give themselves away. Eventually, he runs a bluff to force the outlaws' hands.




All this makes for a strong story with some great characters thrown into the mix. There's also a great twist at the movie's violent climax regarding the identity of one of the outlaws. Several bursts of action throughout the film keep the pacing fast and Scott brings his usual sense of toughness and quiet authority to the role of the bounty hunter. 


I especially like a couple of instances where he's in a running gunfight with someone, cornering that person in an alley or other confined space, then firing a lot of near-misses to terrify his opponent into talking. I also like that he reloads frequently when doing this--The Bounty Hunter is one of those rare westerns that actually remembers a six-shooter carries six shots.


The Bounty Hunter isn't quite a classic, but it's a better-than-average Western.

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Fighting Vampires and... Children? Part 2

 

Depending on the source, this cover is credited to Gene Colan, Rich Buckler or John Buscema


Tomb of Dracula #8 (May 1973) starts with last issue's cliffhanger and breaks off into two seperate stories. Both stories are strong, with Gene Colan's excellent art giving life to tales that heavily center around death. Marv Wolfman is the writer.




The two storylines are intertwined throughout the issue, but we'll discuss them one at a time. The vampire hunters were trapped in the basement of Dracula's hideout, being attacked by knife-wielding children. The kids are under Dracula's mind control, so they are relentless in their efforts to slaughter the adults. 


It's a brilliant plot devise. The killers are children who aren't responsible for what they are doing. The idea of hurting or even killing them to stop them is in of itself as horrifying as being killed by them.







Quincy has radioed his daughter Edith for help. She shows up in the nick of time in a helicopter equipped with a sonic device that knocks out the kids. They'll wake up later with no memory of what happened to them. Quincy, it turns out, has a high-level contact in the House of Lords, giving him access to cool equipment when he needs it.




Dracula, in the meantime, has to deal with the poison dart that hit him at the end of the last issue. The nature of the poison isn't spelled out, but I suppose it could be garlic-based or maybe involves holy water. In any case, Drac is in pain. 

He visits a doctor who is himself a vampire, though the doc hides this condition from his family and patients.



The doctor gives Dracula a complete blood transfusion, curing him of the poison. But Dracula's not done with him yet. The doctor has also invented a projector that can raise the dead into an army of undead. Dracula plans to use this to create a world-conquering army.





This leads to a battle between the two as the doctor, horrified by Drac's intentions, finally breaks away from his control. The bat vs. bat aerial battle that follows is pretty cool, though it ends tragically with the doctor's death.


Wolfman's dialogue here is great, highlighting both Dracula's lust for power and the pathos of the doctor's situation. Colan's art is, of course, fantastic. Like the puppet-children story, this part of the issue involves someone forced to do evil. In this case, that person rejects the evil, even though it costs him his life.


So both storylines in this issue are wonderful, interlinked thematically but each telling a short but strong horror tale.


Next week, we'll jump to the DC Universe and visit with the Elongated Man.


Monday, June 19, 2023

Cover Cavalcade

 



JUNE IS BATROC THE LEAPER MONTH!

This 1972 cover was drawn by Gil Kane.

Friday, June 16, 2023

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Dragnet: "Big Pill" 10/19/52



A couple of Marines on leave are slipped a rather deadly mickey. Friday and Smith work to find out who did the slipping.


Click HERE to download or listen. 

Thursday, June 15, 2023

The Doomsday Affair

 


In the 1960s and '70s, novelizations of TV shows or tie-in novels (featuring original stories based on shows) were very popular. In a time before recording, streaming and DVD sets, this was the only way (outside of reruns) to visit with characters you liked after the episodes had aired. 


I don't know how publishers decided when to go with novelizations of episodes or when to commission original stories. Last year, I reviewed a couple of Starsky & Hutch novelizations, which featured stories adapting and expertly expanding hour-long episodes.


The Man from U.N.C.L.E. went with original stories. Different authors contributed to the 23 novels eventually published. Often, a common pseudonym would be used for each novel's byline. But in this case, each author is credited by his own name.



Apparently, the Man from U.N.C.L.E. books sold like hotcakes. Not many TV series, regardless of their popularity, racked up nearly two dozen tie-in novels. 


I think one reason they sold was quality. The second book in the series was The Doomsday Affair, written by the prolific Harry Whittington. Whittington churned out scores of paperback originals throughout his career. Most of them are good and a lot of them are great. He worked in a number of different genres, with his hard-boiled crime novels and his Westerns being among his best works. Desert Stake-Out (1961), for instance, is one of the best Westerns I've ever read. 


[SIDENOTE: The Doomsday Affair was one of the best-selling paperback originals of 1965-66 and went through multiple printings. Whittington was paid $1500 for the novel by the publishers and never saw a cent more. I'm very pro-capitalism and have no problem with a work-for-hire arrangements. But, for gosh sakes, if a book generates a fortune for your company, toss a nice bonus at the author!]


When he turned to U.N.C.L.E., he had Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin racing to save the world. A bad guy known only as Tixe Ylno is planning on setting off an atomic bomb, starting World War 3, and then rising from the ashes to take over whatever is left.


I doubt there is a connection, but this was published two years before Ernst Stravo Blofield tried the same thing in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice.


The action picks up in Hawaii and Whittington starts out the novel with one of the best opening lines ever: "An instant before, she had been alive."


Solo had made contact with a woman defected from THRUSH, the evil organization that Tixe Ylno works with. But before she can tell him anything, a small bomb hidden in the lei around her neck explodes, killing her.


Solo is soon tracking down the person who gave the now-dead woman the lei. Illya is there as well, but the bad guys manage to arrange for him to be suspected of the murder, necessitating a jail break and an escape from both the cops and from THRUSH assassins. 


Illya trails a villain to Mexico, while Solo tracks down a friend of the dead woman in San Francisco. Both end up getting captured. Illya's situation is particularly creepy. He's given a drug that causes him to move in spasmodic jerks and prevents him from speaking in anything other than inarticulate grunts. THRUSH agents walk him out of a hotel on the pretext that he's mentally disabled.


The climax of the book involves two failed attempts to escape from an insane asylum that's actually a THRUSH base, then one final effort to break out while the atom bomb is being loaded aboard a bomb. This last attempt is hampered by a fellow prisoner who has been brainwashed into killing Solo. 


Whittington's prose is clear and the action scenes are exciting. The villains do grab hold of the Idiot Ball a few times--their justification for not simply killing the U.N.C.L.E. agents after capturing them is a little weak.


But those villains are otherwise top-notch in their villainy. Tixe Ylno's insanity is downright frightening. His top henchman is a sadist who deludes himself into thinking he's a scholar and an idealist. Both are great characters and legitimately scary at times.


Whittington effectly injects a hard-boiled edge into a novel based on a relatively light-hearted TV series. It is one of the best tie-in novels I've ever read. 



Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Fighting Vampires and... Children?

 

cover art by Larry Lieber

Tomb of Dracula had an uneven start for its first few issues, but once Marv Wolfman settled in as the regular writer, the book really took off. Gene Colan's art was  perfect for the title and the individual stories were strong, but it was Wolfman who brought cohesion to Dracula's modern comic book mythos.


When he came aboard for Tomb of Dracula #7 (March 1973), the main protagonist was Frank Drake, a descendant of Dracula. He'd been joined by Rachel Van Helsing (the good professor's granddaughter) and the mute Indian strongman Taj Nital. With Wolfman's first issue, he added Quincy Harker, the son of Jonathan and Mina. It's a brilliant idea.




In 1973, Quincy would have been in his 70s, so it was plausible that he could still be around. We meet him right after Dracula, who is currently hiding out in London, attacks Quincy's daughter Edith. Edith was wearing a cross, so the vampire couldn't put the bite on her. He leaves her to be eaten by rats, but Quincy arrives in time to drive off the vermin. He's in a wheelchair, but he's still active and quick-thinking.


He contacts Frank, Rachel and Taj. All of them get together at Quincy's mansion, where he explains he's been fighting vampires his entire life. He's gone high-tech in his anti-vampire weaponry, demonstrating a device that fires a garlic-lined net.



But Dracula is already plotting against them. He hypnotises a group of children, turning them into his mindless slaves. Then, using rats and himself in bat-form, he pursues some poor sap through the streets of London. He drives the guy to Quincy's mansion before attacking him.








The good guys attack. After a brief tussle, Dracula flees, luring the vampire hunters to his current hideout.


They enter to stake him in his coffin, but the guy in that coffin is a random corpse dressed as Dracula. The vampire springs his trap, sending in his small army of children to attack the humans. The good guys either have to fight (and possibly kill) innocent children OR allow the children to kill them.


Dracula laughs and leaves them to their fate, though Quincy manages to wound him by firing a volley of wooden darts out of his wheelchair. But Dracula still escapes and the heroes seem doomed.


Are they doomed? We'll look at the next issue next week. 


This issue is great. I love the idea of Quincy Harker (the only character from the original novel who can believably still be alive) becoming a key protagonist in the series. Frank Drake is a good character in his own right, but by himself I don't think he would have been a strong enough hero to balance out Dracula. The Quincy/Rachel/Frank/Taj team (occasionally joined by Blade or other guest stars) gave the book more variety and more... well, more pure coolness. 




Monday, June 12, 2023

Cover Cavalcade

 


JUNE IS BATROC THE LEAPER MONTH!

A Marie Severin cover from 1970.

Friday, June 9, 2023

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Gunsmoke: "Claustrophobia" 6/26/54



Dillon and Chester discover a murdered man in a remote cabin. This event cascades into a situation involving more deaths and a singular tragedy.


Click HERE to listen or download. 

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Family Visit Break

 



I had family visiting lately. I'm afraid the result of this is that I need to skip a week. No Wednesday or Thursday posts this week. For those of you whose lives revolve around my blog--my apologies.

Monday, June 5, 2023

Cover Cavalcade

 


JUNE IS BATROC THE LEAPER MONTH!

A 1968 cover by Jack Kirby, with some alterations by John Romita.

Saturday, June 3, 2023

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode 33: The Cave Girl Part 2

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Episode 33: The Cave Girl Part 2: Scott, Jess and Tim discuss the second half of the novel "The Cave Girl." Click HERE for the audio version. Email us at: edgarsma...

Friday, June 2, 2023

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Abbott and Costello: "Lou the Fireman" 12/6/1945



Lou joins the fire department. That works out about as well as you would expect.


Click HERE to listen or download.


Thursday, June 1, 2023

The Captain Sails to Crazy Town

 


Richard Dix really should be better known as an actor. A few years ago, I reviewed a series of movies based on The Whistler radio show. All but one of these starred Dix as the main character--sometimes a good guy, sometimes a villain. And he was very effective in each of those roles.




In 1943, he starred in one of the series of superb horror movies produced by Val Lewton for RKO studios. In The Ghost Ship, his character is Will Stone, the captain of the merchant ship Altair, which sails to ports in the Caribbean. A newly-qualified young officer named Tom Merriam (Russell Wade) comes aboard and soon proves himself capable. 



In fact, when one of the crew suffers from appendicitis while the Altair is at sea, it's Merriam who performs a life-saving operation while instructions are sent by radio. This happens after Captain Stone tries to operate but freezes up. Merriam, concerned about hurting the captain's image with the crew, allows Stone to take the credit.


But, in the meanwhile, the movie begin to give us hints that all isn't well with Captain Stone. Aside from his self-serving explanation to Merriam about why he couldn't perform the operation, there are other indications that he might not always be rational. 


Then things come to a head. A sailor comes to the captain to complain about the crew being short-handed. The next day, the sailor dies in an "accident" in the ship's chain locker.




But Merriam knows it was no accident. When they reach their next port, he makes a public accusation against Stone. This doesn't go well. He has no proof and the crew thinks the captain bravely saved the sailor who had appendicitis. 

Merriam is out of a job and off the Altair. Before the ship leaves port, though, Merriam is knocked out in a fist fight and brought aboard by a sailor who didn't know he was no longer part of the crew. 

This leaves Merriam aboard a ship at sea, cut off from the rest of the world, with an insane captain who wants to kill him and a crew who won't believe him.

As I mentioned, Dix's performance is excellent--subtle when it needs to be and more overt when that is called for. He even generates a modicum of sympathy for himself when he talks to a lady friend, telling her of his fears that he is going insane without realizing that he's already there.

The direction (by Mark Robson) is sharp and the black-and-white cinematography (by Nicolas Musuraca) is downright beautiful. Most of the film is set aboard the ship and, of course, an old-school tramp merchantman is an inherently cool setting. The Ghost Ship is suspenseful and creepy, leading us forward to a brutal and superlative climax.