Booktube video: My First Encounter with the Great Korak Time Paradox!

 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Night Beat: "Bomb on the Denver Plane" 9/4/52

Someone calls Randy with a tip that someone has planted a bomb aboard a passenger plane. The plane is evacuated before it blows up--leaving a piece of leather as the only clue to the bomber's identity. 

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Thanksgiving break

 

cover art by Irving Tripp

No Wednesday or Thursday posts this week, since blog hits traditionally drop during a big holiday. We'll be back next week. 

Cover Cavalcade

 NOVEMBER IS HUCKLEBERRY HOUND MONTH!!

Huckleberry Hound covers were a lonely business--this one is also uncredited. It's from 1968.

My Small, but still Cool, Sherlock Holmes collection

 

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Lone Ranger: "Train Wreck" 4/30/43

Sabotaging a train turns out to be the first step in a villain swindling another man out of a gold mine. But he doesn't count on the Lone Ranger looking into the matter.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

A Fencing Master who Isn't Quite a Fencing Master

 

cover at by Charles E Chambers

cover art by Sid Rosenbaum

"The Open Door," says the Castillian proverb, "will tempt a saint," which is only the Spanish way of saying that opportunity makes the thief."

Rafael Sabatini nearly always wrote great opening sentences. This one is from the short story "The Open Door," first published in the July 1935 issue of Redbook (which has the least swashbuckler-looking cover in the history of magazines, but what the hey). It was later republished in the December 1951 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. This was about a year after Sabatini's death, reprinted as a tribute to him.

The main character--a mediocre fencing master named Florimond--has set up a fencing school, claiming to be the student of the famous fencing master Guillaume Danet. But he loses most of his student quickly, as most of them quickly realize that Florimond is neither a good fencer nor a good teacher of fencing.

Florimond's Open Door to temptation comes when he ends up ticking off a traveler staying at the local inn. A duel is arranged for the next morning. But when the traveler learns the Florimond is supposedly a fencing master, he visits Florimond in the middle of the night and offers a bribe to be let out of the duel.

Florimond realizes he has stumbled upon a method to bring in a regular income, as long as he's not greedy and carefully picks his targets for luring into duels the victim will then pay money to get out of. For a time, his racket goes smoothly.

But of course he eventually gets greedy and challenges the wrong person to a duel. This leads to a plot twist that many readers will THINK they see coming, only for a second plot twist to turn this on its head. It's a great ending that highlights Sabatini's cynical take on artificial "Code of Honor" social mores.

It is a great story. You can read it yourself HERE. 

It Makes Perfect Sense to Me!!!!

 

cover art by Curt Swan

Action Comics #389 (June 1970), written by Leo Dorfman and Curt Swan, is a product of the then-fading Silver Age of Comics, taking a silly premise and treating that premise seriously.

And I, by golly, am fine with that. I think you can argue that Superman's plan to prevent an alien invasion in this story makes perfect sense in a Comic Book Universe.

What is that plan? Well, Superman announces that he's tired of the superhero business and is going to try his hands at sports. He tries out for baseball, hitting a ball into orbit and otherwise easily showing up the pro players. But a kid manages to strike him out and Superman peevishly throws the ball into orbit as well. He then says that baseball isn't for him and flies away.

He keeps trying other sports, each time knocking a ball or bag into orbit before he apparently gets bored with the sport or is told it is too dangerous to let him participate.

What's going on here? Well, it turns out there's an alien ship in orbit around Earth, getting ready to take atmosphere samples. If the air proves good for the aliens, then they are going to invade.

Superman had secretly filled every item he knocked into orbit with a mutation gas, designed only to affect life from the alien homeworld. All the sports items are now stuck on the end of the ship's probes, so it collects the gas rather than atmosphere samples.

That baseball with which the kid strikes out Superman was full of gas, but has a small rip. Not wanting to take a chance on the gas being harmful to Earth, he tossed that ball away as well.

So the ship flies to the alien homeworld and, when the aliens test the samples, they find out Earth's "atmosphere" would mutate them into horrible monsters. They call off the invasion.

I love Superman's plan. Yes, it is an example of Silver Age goofiness (which I consider a strength to the story), but it really does make sense. I've made a list:

1. Superman would use violence only as a last resort. This is a non-violent solution.

2. He could have threatened the aliens. ("I'm Superman and this is the Justice League. You don't stand a chance.") But the aliens might have a powerful armada and try anyway. Even if they are defeated, people could get hurt.

3. Why didn't he just fill bladders full of the mutation gas and attach them to the ship's probes? Thus saving him from having gone through the whole trying-out-for-sports rigamarole? Well, because... because... SHUT UP! The plan makes perfect sense, I tell you! So just shut up!

Well, maybe it doesn't make complete sense. But the goofy charm of the Silver Age (quickly dying away by the 1970s and probably finished off when Gwen Stacy died in 1973) cannot be denied. This is simply a fun story.

Next week, we'll pay a visit to Ben Bowie and His Mountain Men. 

Recommended World War 2 Novels

 

My Booktube channel

My impeccable taste in books really is the only hope for Western Civilization.

Cover Cavalcade

 NOVEMBER IS HUCKLEBERRY HOUND MONTH!

 Here's another uncredited cover--this one from 1967.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 You Are There: "The Battle of Hastings" 6/6/48

Other than inserting a fictional meeting between William and Harold just before the battle begins, this episode gives us a reasonably accurate account of the battle itself. I especially enjoy the news crew joining in William's troops in briefly (and mistakenly) believing that William had been killed and reporting this on the air.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Gun Fury (1953)

 

Gun Fury, made in 1953, is a solid, entertaining Western. Expertly directed by Raoul Walsh, it tells the story of a man (Rock Hudson) pursing the outlaws who have taken his gal.

Ben Warren is taking Jennifer (Donna Reed) to his California ranch to marry her and pretty much ignore the rest of the world while he works his land. A veteran of the Civil War, he's tired of killing and just wants to be left alone with his soon-to-be wife.

But the Slayton Gang has other plans. Slayton (Philip Carey) is a very, very unreconstructed Southerner. He and his partner Jess Burgess have a sort-of Jesse and Frank James vibe going on--bitter from the war and striking back at society by becoming outlaws.

Well, this goes for Slayton. Jess (Leo Gordon) is less brutal in his outlook. When a stagecoach robbery results in Jennifer being taken hostage, Jess insists the girl not be harmed and be left behind. This results in JESS being left behind, tied to a post for the vultures to eventually feast upon.

Warren saves Jess and the two team up. Soon, they are joined by an Indian named Johash, who wants vengeance for a sister than Slayton killed. 

So a good guy, a bad guy and a vengeful Indian take up the pursuit of Slayton and his gang as the outlaws ride for the Mexican border. Eventually, they are joined by a Mexican woman whom Slayton spurned.

Raoul Walsh always makes a movie look great. Gun Fury was originally released in 3D, so there's a few camera shots you can tell were there just for the 3D effect, but its not enough to be a distraction. 

And the story is great. There's tension involving the pursuit, while some members of Slayton's gang begin to wonder why Slayton is so determined to slow them down by bringing the woman along. And we gradually realized the Slayton has taken up permanent residence in Crazy Town--convinced that he and Jennifer can use stolen gold to recreate a Antebellum South home in Mexico and live as if the South did indeed rise again. There are shootouts, hostage negotiations, betrayals and some nifty sniper work by Johash.

Slayton's gang includes characters played by Lee Marvin (not yet a star) and Neville Brand. Along with Leo Gordon, that makes this movie a haven for tough guy character actors. Another blogger I ran across while researching this film joked "Where was Jack Elam when they cast this film?" I would add Lee Van Cleef to that list. But, heck, adding Elam and Van Cleef to the movie might have lead to Tough Guy Overload. Marvin and Brand were hard-core combat vets in real life, while Gordon did time in San Quentin before  straightening out his life and turning to acting. Those three alone bring the Tough Guy Rating to about 97 out of 100. 

Here's a clip:

Never Abuse a Toad!

 

cover art by John Buscema

Writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema bring the Quicksilver/Wanda story arc to a satisfying end in Avengers #53 (June 1968). Of course, we had to put up with cross-title shenanigans, with an important chunk of the story unfolding in X-Men rather than The Avengers. It would have been perfectly acceptable to simply have one team guest star in another team's book, Roy! It would have been! A shared universe doesn't mean forcing your poor readers to buy a book they might not otherwise want to buy!

But the story itself is very good and, as I believe I've mentioned in earlier posts, I suppose I should stop whining about this after nearly half a century has passed. But I still whine nonetheless. Whine, whine, whine.

Anyway, the Avengers show up just after Cyclops defeated Quicksilver (which happened at the conclusion of X-Men #45). Cyclops decides the Avengers might be imposters working for Magneto, and a brief fight follows until Cyclops runs away to free the other X-Men.

We then get a flashback, showing Angel arriving in New York to bring the Avengers back to Magneto's hide-out. But along the way, the Avengers find the bug that Magneto had planted on Angel before allowing the flying hero to escape.

Magneto's plan is to lure the Avengers to the island and then use a mind control ray to get the X-Men to attack them. BUT the Avengers have deduced that--at the very least--they are walking into a trap. So they leave Angel tied up very loosely and pertend to argue among themselves to convince Magneto they are completely unprepared. 

While the mind-controlled X-Men attack the Avengers, Angel gets loose, sneaks onto the island and sabotages Magneto's machinery.

Magneto decides its time to retreat, but not before abusing Toad one more time. This FINALLY pushes Toad over the limit, causing him set the island to self-destruct and then getting away with Wanda and Pietro. Magneto tries to bum a ride with them, but Toad does some finger-stomping, causing the Master of Magnitism to fall to his presumed death when the island explodes.

The Avengers and X-Men get away as well and call it a day. The Wanda/Pietro story arc comes to an end, with the siblings disappearing from continuity for a couple of years before returning to the Avengers. 

This last issue is fun, with several very effective plot twists. The story arc as a whole is good as well. Roy Thomas was able to set up conditions that made it believable for Pietro to consider returning to Magneto and still leaving it believable that he would eventually return to being a hero. A story arc like this makes one regret how badly the characters of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were assassinated by modern writers. It's one of many reasons why, in my personal Head Canon, the Marvel Universe ended around 1986. 

Next week, let's visit with Superman.

What Tim Read This Month: November, Part 1

 

Cover Cavalcade

 NOVEMBER IS HUCKLEBERRY HOUND MONTH!

This uncredited cover is from 1963.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Suspense: "Love, Honor and Murder" 6/29/50

A passenger in a cab leaves behind a wallet with a lot of money in it. The cab driver wants to return it, but his wife has a plan for keeping it... a plan that involves committing just one murder. 

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Who's the Werewolf?

 

cover art by Stan Zagorski

I was watching a Booktube channel recently in which the host was listing his Top Ten Sword and Sorcery stories. It was a good list and most of them I'd read. But he included one of Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories that I had not read. So, naturally, I read it.

"Reflections For the Winter of My Soul," was first published the 1973 anthology Death Angel's Shadow." The main character is Kane, who is cursed with immortality, has a degree of superstrength and is a cold-hearted killer. He's an interesting variation of the Sword and Sorcery hero, cursed with immortality by a mad god after he strangled his brother Abel to death. He's a sorcerer as well as a warrior and he's usually not that concerned with morality. He's devious and deadly. Wagner described him as a "gothic hero-villain from the tradition of the Gothic novels..."

This particular story is a "Who's the Werewolf" tale. Kane, fleeing some guys who want to kill him, takes refuge with a Baron in a manor in the frigid northlands. The Baron has a small retinue of soldiers, a son who is nuts, a daughter who is pretty, a minstrel who can sing songs in dead languages and a wizard who stinks at his job.

And one of them is a werewolf. And the werewolf isn't JUST the turn-into-a-monster variety. He or she can also control the wolves that hunt near the manor. In fact, a hunting party Kane takes part in is about to skin an elk they caught when---"At that moment, the wolves attack."

The important question is "Who is the werewolf?" The son who lives in Crazy Town is a prime suspect, but it really could be anyone. Whomever the werewolf may be, he or she manages to frame Kane for a killing at one point, getting the warrior tossed into the manor's dungeon. 

But then someone opens the manor to a pack of wolves. People and hunting dogs find themselves on the losing side of a battle. Kane is battering at the door to his cell, trying to get loose and join the fight. Eventually, he does end up in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with the werewolf. 

It's a violent and satisfying tale, combining the great action scenes with the nicely contructed mystery surrounding the werewolf's identity. I don't want to hint at that identity or the ending to the tale. If you are registered on the Internet Archive, you can read it for yourself HERE. 

Now I'm thinking of another "Who's the Werewolf" story--"There Shall Be No Darkness," by James Blish. I need to dig up a copy of that one somewhere.

Super Speed vs. Force Blast

 

cover art by John Buscema

X-Men #45 (June 1968) takes us back to Magneto's Island, where Cyclops gets worried that the Angel is taking too long and engineers his own escape.

Writer Gary Friedrich and artists Don Heck (layouts) and Werner Roth (finished pencils) give us a great scene here. A lead mask is blocking Scott's optic beams, but he decides to try concentrating those beams on one tiny part of that mask.

It really is a cool sequence, which will soon be followed by a cool fight scene.

It takes a few pages to get to those fight scenes, but it is time well spent. The story does switch back to Angel long enough for us to see he's reached New York and is only minutes away from Avengers Mansion. When Toad sees that Cyclops is free, he tells Magneto and a brief scene in which Magneto essentially tortures his annoying but loyal minion for allowing an escape reminds us that the man is simply evil. 

So when Pietro encounters Scott and tries to convince him that Magneto's plan for a mutant sanctuary is on the up-and-up, we know that Pietro is still fooled (or, by this time, simply fooling himself). Scott whill have none of it--he's been taught too well by Professor X to be fooled or to condemn all of humanity for the sins of a few.

So the two begin fighting. Magneto simply watches like a Darwinian judge, figuring if Quicksilver isn't skilled enough to win on his own, then he's no great loss if Scott beats him. (Yet another example of his ruthlessness.) Wanda watches as well, but is still confused by the effects of the bullet that grazed her head way back in Avengers #49. So she also just watches. 

It's a really neat fight scene, with both men using their powers in tactically intelligent ways. In the end, Quicksilver is taken down by a richocheting optic blast.

Naturally, the Avengers show up at just the right moment to misunderstand the situation. The story continues in Avengers #53, which we'll look at next week. At which time, I will undoubtably whine over a crossover story that FORCES people to buy a second title to get the entire story, rather than just have one team guest-star in the other team's book.

Memories of Where Eagles Dare

 

Cover Cavalcade

 NOVEMBER IS HUCKLEBERRY HOUND MONTH!!

A Harvey Eisenberg cover from 1959.