What Tim Read This Month: August 2025

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Lights Out: "The Author and the Thing" 9/9/36

Arch Oboler is trying to come up with one last Lights Out script and ends up inadvertantly creating a deadly monster that only he can see.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

"Northwest Passage" doesn't involve the Northwest Passage!

 

Robert Rogers led an adventurous life. Born in Massachusetts in 1731, he joined a local militia at age 15 to fight in King George's War. He continued to serve and--when the French and Indian War began--recruited his own band of rangers.

He fought for the British during the Revolution, moved to England when that didn't work out, and died a pauper in 1795.

There's no question that Rogers' was brave and had leadership ability. There is some question among historians over whether his own accounts of his wartime activities are always accurate. He could also be pretty ruthless, with accusations that his men often killed civilians during guerilla raids. (Though this was also an all-too-common practice with the French and their Native American allies.)  After the war, while as royal governor of a territory that would eventually become Michigan, he did send out expeditions to find the fabled Northwest Passage.

Let's now jump ahead to 1936. An historical novel titled Northwest Passage, by Kenneth Roberts is serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in that year and into 1937. It's published as a book in '37 and is a bestseller. The book follows Rogers and his rangers during an expedition to attack a hostile Indian tribe in 1759 and a later search for a Northwest Passage--a water route that would take merchants across North America. 

Roberts' historical fiction, including this book, was meant to reexamine historical figures who had become unpopular in America. So when MGM began to make a movie based on the novel in 1940, they had a protagonist who was being remodeled into a hero.

Despite the movie retaining Northwest Passage as its title, it adapts just the first part of the book--the raid on the Abenaki Indians living on a French outpost called St. Francis. Filtered through Roger's unreliable reports and then through a work of fiction, the movie is not historically accurate.

But looked at as a work of fiction, it's often magnificent. Directed by King Vidor on location in Idaho. Vidor makes beautiful use of the scenery, all the while emphasizing just how difficult the journey to AND from St. Francis was. Spencer Tracy brings charm and authority to his role as Rogers.

The journey there involves avoiding the French, portaging boats from one waterway to another, crossing rapids and eventually marching through hellishly difficult terrain. They are forced to leave the sick and injured behind and reach St. Francis with a significantly reduced force.

The attack on the fort--one of the best battle scenes ever put on film--is succesful. But Rogers was hoping to find food at the fort. There's none to be had and the long trip back to British territory is one of constant hunger, danger from the French and some of the men beginning to teeter on the brink of madness. 

It really is a great film--removed far enough from real history to be enjoyable as fiction. The acting is great (with Robert Young and Walter Brennan both giving strong supporting performances) and the entire movie looks fantastic in terms of scenery and cinematography.

How to Make a Hero into a Villain

 

cover art by John Buscema

Avengers #49 (Feb. 1968), was written by Roy Thomas. After an issue drawn by George Tuska, John Buscema has returned. Tuska is an excellent artist, but Buscema has always been in my Top Five list, so I see this as an art upgrade.

The issue effectively jumps back and forth between two plot lines and has a little character-driven drama, so I'm gonna simplify my review by covering each aspect of the story one at a time.

First, Goliath reveals to us (via a thought baloon, so no one else in-story knows) that his body can't take the strain of growing larger any longer, so he might be stuck with just being Ant Man. Hawkeye, in the meantime, wonders if the Avengers can survive with just three active members.

On Olympus, Hercules is confronted by the Titan named Typhon, who was banished by Zeus millennia ago. Typhon has returned and, by smashing the Fire of Prometheus, exiled all the denizens of Olympus to a shadow dimension. Buscema's art shines as Hercules and Typhon fight. Herc beats a monster that Typhon summons, but the Titan manages to zap the demi-god into the shadow dimension.

Meanwhile, Magneto has brought Pietro and Wanda to a remote island fortress, where he begins a plan to convince the twins to rejoin him. It's really a pretty clever plan, depending on a keen understanding of Pietro's personality.

He claims that he's given up fighting humanity. Taking the twins to the United Nations, he bursts into the General Assembly and proposes that a nation be created just for mutants. This is all being broadcast on live TV, so the Avengers see and come running.

Thomas' writing here is top notch. Magneto is still arrogant, which ironically makes his change of heart seem more likely to be legitimate. After all, if he suddenly become Mr. Nice Guy, Pietro would have to suspect something.

At the right moment, he uses his powers to pull the pistols of two security guards around to point at Wanda, then pulls the triggers. Wanda takes a grazing blow to the head, which predictably sets off Pietro's Berserk Button. The Avengers have shown up to rescue the twins, but end up fighting Pietro.

Magneto and the twins escape, with Wanda suffering from short-term memory loss from her injury and Pietro mad at humanity again. 

Hercules' story arc is getting interesting, but Thomas handles the Magneto arc brilliantly. The villain's plan really is clever and Pietro is manipulated in a way that fits his character to a tee.

I mentioned when I reviewed issue 47 that the Magneto story arc eventually becomes one of those annoying crossovers with another title. But, as I said, there's no sense in whining about that nearly 6 decades later. Next time, we'll look at X-Men #43 to see what happens to Magneto and his new superspeed ally. 

Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

We end the month with this 1965 Joe Kubert cover.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Frontier Gentleman: "Aces and Eights" 

“In a card game, Aces and Eights are known throughout the West as a dead man’s hand. There’s a good reason for it and this is the story of how the hand got its name.”

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Haldeman's Star Trek novels, Part 2

 

World Without End (1979) is the second of the two Star Trek novels written by noted SF author Joe Haldeman. I like both novels enormously.

In the forward, Haldeman admits he educated himself on the series mostly through James Blish's short story adaptations of the original series episodes. So he might not have been aware that, in very general terms, he was reusing a plot from a third season episode ("For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky") in which the inhabitants of a giant space ship do not know they are in a spaceship.

But other than that, Haldeman does original world-building. The inhabitants this time are very, very alien with a bizarre society.  I don't want to try to summarize it--it would make this review too long. But I think he creates a (as Spock would say) fascinating alien society.

He also involves the Klingons. Written at a time when the original series was the only source for Klingons, Haldeman takes them in a unique direction, creating a particularly brutal version of them (including a priest class on the ship that can demand limbs or even heads be taken in sacrifice from crewmembers). Then he adds a ship captain who might be a little too human in his attitudes towards throwing away the lives of his crew.

The main plot involves Kirk and a landing party getting stranded in the alien ship when they discover that the transporters work in only one direction, then starting a long journey to the spherical ship's pole, where the ruling "magicians" live, dealing with the gradual reduction of gravity as they near their goal. (The ship simulates gravity via rotation/centrifigal force.) In the meantime, the Enterprise is trapped near the alien ship, with its power being drained.

Haldeman catches the personalities of Kirk, Spock and the other Enterprise crew. I especially like the scenes with Scotty, who ends up alone on the Enterprise, unable to himself transport down after the crew has done so. As the ship loses power, Scott surviving on the emergency bridge via a camp fire, oxygen bottles and some brandy. 

Great moments include a scene in which the an alien asks one of the humans to demonstrate how a phaser kills by shooting one of the alien's bodyguard. "It's not a problem," says the alien, "they're only security"--which causes the two Red Shirts in the landing party to exchange glances. 

 Another fun moment is McCoy's annoyed explanation to an alien about the difference between men and women among humans--"Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, while boys are made of snakes and snails and puppy dog tales." 

There's several great action scenes and a bizarre yet satisfying resolution to the story. I love it. Star Trek has expanded into multiple TV series which, in general, don't feel very Star Trek-y to me (though, to be fair, I haven't watched a whole lot of the new stuff). Novels proliferate, with many of them excellent and many of them "meh." So I kinda miss the days when a new Star Trek story was a rare treat. There was something special about that. 

Snipers, Tattoos and Secret Caves

Dell Comics' Roy Rogers #3 (March 1948) was drawn by Al Micale and written by prolific scribe Gaylord Du Bois. Du Bois not only wrote around 3000 comic book and comic strip scripts over the years--I've only read a small fraction of them, but I have yet to run across a bad script. The man was amazing.

This time, he adds to the adventure canon of Roy Rogers. Roy is riding through Montana when he meets Nancy Kirkland and Andy Johnson, whose uncles both own nearby ranches. Roy soon gets a chance to.., well, to be Roy Rogers when he catches Nancy after she's knocked off her horse by several of the mean-spirited Roulette brothers. 

Andy gets to show his backbone as well when he slugs one of the brothers. Later, the three friends find evidence that the Roulettes are doing some rustling.

That's bad enough, but when they ride back to one of the ranches, three of the four local ranch owners (including Nancy's dad and Andy's dad) are shot by a sniper.

That means the only ranch owner left--and the one who will now inherent the surrounding land--is Pa Roulette. That seems suspicious, until it turns out Pa Roulette is also dead. He was killed in what his son's claim was an accident. 

But nothing can be proved about anything. One of the men shot along with Nancy's dad was the owner and his will left the land to the children of the other three now-dead men. Neither Nancy nor Andy had any siblings, so Pa Roulette's ten sons will now inherent most of the land.

But there's a hint of another later will. No one can find this, though Roy helps the sheriff find the rifle used in the triple murder stashed in a small cave. 

Remembering a tattoo needle found on one of the victims, Roy plays a hunch and gets a court order to dig up Pa Roulette. His sons show up to put a stop to this, but all but one of them are killed in the ensuing gun fight. Roy's hunch proves to be a good one--the new will (leaving the land to Nancy and Andy) is tattooed on Pay's back. 

That doesn't quite bring the story to a close. Roy still needs to rescue Nancy from the lone surviving Roulette brother. But Roy does stuff like this three times before breakfast and soon has the situation in hand.

It is a typically strong Du Bois script. The mystery is good, the action scenes help keep the pacing fast and everything flows along logically. And its all given visual backbone by Micale's strong art. 

Gee whiz, that Gaylord Du Bois guy knew how to WRITE!

You can read this comic yourself HERE.

Next week, we'll return to the Avengers and see how they are doing. 

Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

This Win Mortimer cover is from 1964.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Dragnet: "The Big Mailman" 5/24/51

Someone is stealing checks out of people's mailboxes.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Haldeman's Star Trek Novels, Part 1

 

Planet of Judgment is the first of two Trek novels written by noted SF author Joe Haldeman, back when Bantam Books had the franchise license and their occasional novels were the only new stories we poor Trekkies could get. 

I read this when it was first published in 1977, so I do have a nostalgic fondness for it. But even taking that into consideration, I think it's excellent--a strong story that also captures the personalities of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. What's interesting is that in the forward to his second Trek novel (World Without End), Haldeman writes that he was overseas in Vietnam when the series aired and his background information came largely from James Blish's short story adaptations of the episodes. A few elements from this novel also indicate that he was using the Star Fleet Technical Manual that was in print at the time. 

A favorite part--a character moment separate from the main plot--comes when Spock is discussing Nurse Chapel's crush on him with McCoy. Why, Spock asks, would Chapel pursue a relationship that would--because of Vulcan biology--be one of complete abstinence. Pon Farr only comes once every seven years. 

McCoy points out that Spock's own mother was human. "Mother and I have never discusses this frankly," says Spock.

"That's the most human thing I've ever heard you say," replies McCoy. 

It's a great moment. I believe it was later established in Star Trek that Vulcans can have relations outside of Pon Farr, but I never cared for that. The way Haldeman portrays them here is an effective reminder that they are not human beings with funny ears, but aliens who are fundamentally different from humans. 

The main plot involves a planet that seems to defy physics and a powerful alien race with enormous mental powers. Kirk and a number of his crew end up trapped on the planet and only gradually find out what the aliens have in mind. The intense climax has Kirk and Spock in mental duels with members of yet another powerful alien race. The duels involve illusions such as Kirk commanding a sailing ship fighting pirates or Spock swimming inside a sun with the purpose of causing it to go nova. It's all an illusion, but losing still means real-life death.

McCoy, who fights a preliminary duel with an alien, finds himself on a 19th-Century riverboat in a poker game that spirals into bizarre and lethal chaos.

The world-building and the purposes of the various aliens is excellent, with the relatively short novel moving the story along at a brisk pace. It all really does feel like Star Trek--capturing the camaraderie of the crew and the desire to explore strange new worlds. Its a novel I revisit from time to time as a way of spending time in one of my favorite fictional universes.

Heroes Meet and Have a Fight (So What Else is New?)

 

Cover art by George Tuska

I think it must be a federal law--whenever heroes in a comic book universe meet for the first time, there pretty much HAS to be a misunderstanding that leads to them fighting.

I don't mind this trope--it's an effective way of showing us a new heroes abilities and a good fight scene is always entertaining. In Avengers #48 (January 1968), Roy Thomas and George Tuska give us a pretty nifty fight scene.

How did we get to that fight, you ask? The issue picks up with Pietro and Wanda still prisoners of Magneto at Dane Whitman's castle. Pietro gets his hand loose from a manacle and manages to send a message to Avengers Mansion. Since Cap has left, Hawkeye is out brooding, and Goliath and Wasp are foiling a cheater in a casino, Jarvis has to take the message.

That's fine by itself, but Toad (who is being the annoying toady we know and love) spots the twins using a radio. He narcs them out to Magneto, who stops the message before Pietro can say WHERE the castle is located.

The main storyline pauses while we visit Hercules, who is still wondering why the heck Olympus is deserted and vowing to beat the snot out of whomever is responsible. This sets up a story line to be resolved in an upcoming issue.

Anyway, the Avengers finally hear Pietro's message, but are stumped on what to do next without a location for the castle. That's when Black Knight arrives.

We get another flashback, setting up Dane Whitman as the new Black Knight. The original villain was his uncle and Dane has resolved to make up for his relative's actions by becoming a hero. He gets out of the cell into which Magneto had locked him, puts on the Black Knight stuff and flys (via winged horse) to New York.

Where, of course, the Avengers mistake him for the original villain. To be fair, this is actually not an unreasonable assumption on their part, so the fight that follows does flow along a path solid with storytelling logic.

And its a cool fight, effectively choreographed and well-illustrated by Tuska. In the end, after Goliath has to save some civilians from falling concrete and the Black Knight has to save Goliath from falling to his death, everyone realizes they are on the same side. Dane leads the Avengers to the castle, only to find that Magneto has already fled with his hostages. 

The ending is a bit odd. Dane takes offence when the Avengers ask about his background--once again, understandable since Dane is using a former villain's costumed identity. He flies off and disappears from the storyline, not coming back for another six issues. It seems like an odd storytelling beat to take up much of the issue introducing a new character, then sidelining him until another story arc begins. 

But what the hey. The fight was a good one, the main story arc progresses a little bit and Dane is a cool addition to the Marvel Universe. A fun issue, even if it does through off the pacing of the overall Magneto arc.

Next week, we'll take a break from this to visit Roy Rogers. We'll return to the Avengers vs. Magneto in two weeks. 

Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

A 1964 cover by Carmine Infantino.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Inner Sanctum: "Dead Freight" 5/18/41

A hobo kills another hobo aboard a boxcar, then switches identities with the dead man. This leads to unexpected consequences.

Click HERE to listen or download.

Skip Week

 

At the risk of leaving Western Civilization feeling as forlorn as this poor girl obviously is, several writing assignments (including one about Jack Kirby that requires a lot of research) AND being asked to teach at my church next week has made it necessary for me to skip the Wednesday and Thursday posts this week. I should be back next week.

Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

A Curt Swan cover from 1964.

What I Read This Month

 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Shadow: "Death Triangle" 12/12/37

Three men are threatened with death by an escapee from Devil's Island. But the situation actually might be more complicated than it first appears to be.

Click HERE to listen or download.