Friday's Favorite OTR

 Counterspy: "Washington Woman Spy" 6/8/42

David Harding recruits an Army officer to help trap a beautiful Gestapo spy. But he doesn't count on the officer falling in love with her.

Click HERE to listen or download.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Special Episode: A Star for ERB with Scott Tracy G...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Special Episode: A Star for ERB with Scott Tracy G...:   Tracy talks about his work to have Edgar Rice Burroughs awarded a star on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars. ERB has indeed been honored ...

Tramp in Armor

 

I first read Colin Forbes' 1969 novel Tramp in Armour two or three decades ago and loved it. I'm pretty sure I remember reading it a second time in 2005, on my first trip to South Sudan. In those pre-Kindle days and with a 30 pound limit on luggage (we fly into Sudan on a small putt-putt plane), I was only able to bring a few paperbacks for the trip and had to ration them carefully. 

Anyway, my paperback disappeared some time ago, but I recently ran across another copy and enjoyed reading it yet again.

In May 1940, a British tank is trapped in a railway tunnel in Belgium for several days right after the Germans attack. When they dig themselves out, they find themselves many miles behind enemy lines.

This is the basic premise of Tramp in Armour, an unlikely plot made possible because the German tanks blitzing across France have outrun their infantry and there are few actual occupation troops between "Bert" (the British tank) and the front lines near Dunkirk. Still, getting back to the Allied lines is not without danger. A series of mini-adventures keep the tension high and present us with a number of truly edge-of-your-seat action scenes. The tank has to hide under a bridge while a German armored column drives right over them; they have to deal with a "helpful" Belgium civilian who may not be who he claims to be; French looters take a potshot at them; a wounded crewman needs a doctor, and so on. Every time they fight or plan their way out of one dangerous situation, something else dangerous pops up almost immediately. The story's pace is one for which the word "breathless" was created.

It's great stuff, with the non-stop prose going fast enough to hide most of the more unrealistic parts. The main character--Sgt. Barnes--is an excellent soldier able to improvise constantly, but he's also very human, subject to exhaustion and mistakes. 

There are a series of coincidences near the end that might stretch credulity too far. First, they kill an officer in a staff car that just happens to carry vital information with him (though, to be fair, the author footnotes that something similar happened in real life.) Second, the crew is joined by a downed RAF pilot who happens to be an demolitions expert. Third, they just happened to find some abandoned explosives. 

But, since this leads to a fantastic final battle in which Barnes rigs the tank to become a bomb aimed at a vital German ammunition dump, I'm willing to forgive what might otherwise be one coincidence too many. Also, by this time, the crew has gone through so much and accomplished so much by the skin of their teeth, that (dramatically speaking) they have earned a little good luck.

Sadly, Tramp in Armour appears to be out-of-print at the moment. Keep an eye peeled for a used paperback. It'll be worth your money.

The Ghost of Redbeard

 

(NOTE: Two weeks ago, I wrote that I would begin a look at the Legion of Superheroes "Great Darkness Saga" today, but life is uncertain and confusing and that will actually begin next week.]

Gold Key's adaptation of Saturday morning's Scooby Doo... Where Are You? was a mixture of original stories and adaptations of the TV episodes. Scooby Doo #6 (June 1971), for instance, had one adaptation and one original story. In both instances, the writer or writers are unidentified and the art (both cover and interior) is by Warren Tufts.

Today, we'll look at "The Ghost of Redbeard," based on the episode "Go Away Ghost Ship." In two weeks, we'll examine this issue's completely original tale.

"Redbeard" is sometimes a beat-by-beat adapation of the orginal episode, though there are some interesting differences. The gang is at a malt shop when they hear news about ships (all belonging to the same guy) being hijacked by a pirate ghost. On TV, they read this in a newspaper. The comic book story changes this to listening to a radio report. It's a minor change, but it actually makes sense. Adding dialogue from the radio announcer conveys the same information, but makes the scene a little more dynamic (and adds a gag in which the announcer reacts directly to something Shaggy says).

The gang needs to pull off a wacky scheme to get past a creepy butler and talk to the shipping magnate, but this works. They learn that one of the magnate's ancestors captured Redbeard, so now the pirate's ghost has returned and is looking for revenge.

At one point, we see the creepy butler listening in. This is an effective red herring that also sets up a nice twist at the end when "Redbeard" is unmasked.

The gang head out in a motorboat, looking for the pirate ship. A mysterious fog rolls in, followed by the pirate ship. The gang's small boat is rammed and they all climb aboard the ship, though Shaggy and Scooby have been seperated from the others.

Slapstick shenanigans ensue. At one point, Velma thinks she's been shot after a door slams with a loud bang. This is another interesting change, as it's Shaggy that thinks he's been shot in the cartoon and a dramatic "death scene" is more fitting for his personality. It was suggested to me that the writer was working on an early version of the script and that at first made sense. But then I realized this issue was published well over a year after the episode aired. I suppose the writer liked the gag, but the flow of the story in a comic book format required changing it to Velma.

The action eventually moves to a large cave in which the loot from the various ships is stored. After some more slapstick shenanigans, the bad guys are captured and unmasked. Redbeard is really the shipping magnate, who needed the loot to pay off his gambling debts. In the cartoon, he was selling the loot for money he needed to save his company. Changing this to "gambling debts" was probably just to make his confession more concise and cut down on the number/size of word balloons. 

It's here that the comic book story adds a nice new twist to the story. At this point in the cartoon, the Coast Guard is called in to make the arrests. The butler is mentioned in passing as having been a suspect.

In the comic book story, the butler shows up again and turns out to be an insurance investigator who was also after the shipping magnate. I like this change a lot. It changes him from a throw-away red herring into a more interesting character.

Warren Tufts art work is dynamic and fun, as well as faithful to the look of the characters and the show. 

That's it for now. Next week, we begin our look at the "Great Darkness Saga." I promise for real this time. 

Cover Cavalcade

 

A wonderful Neal Adams cover from 1970.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 X Minus One: "Early Model" 7/11/57

A space explorer is given a new device designed to protect him from any danger. But when he tries to establish relations with a primitive alien culture, the device turns out to work TOO well!

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Pocast #59: The Lost World, Chapters 5 - 8

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Pocast #59: The Lost World, Chapters 5 - 8:   A discussion of Chapters 5 through 8 of The Lost World, by Arthur Conan Doyle.  We meet the remaining two main characters and travel to th...

Wedding Anniversary Break

 

1948: art by Jack Kirby

No Wednesday or Thursday posts this week as it is the week of my wife's birthday AND our wedding anniversary. I need to spend the time fending off her former suitors.

Wedding Anniversary Break

 

1975: Art by Gil Kane, with alterations by John Romita

No Wednesday or Thursday posts this week, as this week contains both my wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary.  We need to spend this time together protecting the Earth from Dormammu.

Cover Cavalcade

 

A 1962 reprint of the original Buck Rogers novel. (Though he wasn't nicknamed Buck until he spun off into a comic strip.)

Friday's Favorite OTR

Sam Spade: "Sam and Psyche" 8/2/46 

Sam's client is murdered. The key clue at first seems to involve when a certain character first enters stage in a production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream." But the real clue turns out to involve an aspect of Mosaic Law.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Beat a Guy Up, Then Save His Life

 

Read/Watch  'em In Order #132

Cap'n Bob is the newly minted commander of the whale ship Stormy Petrel and, by golly, if someone is going to talk smack about the whaling profession in a bar, the Captain is going to do something about it!

"A Cupid in Sea Boots," by James K. Waterman, is the next-to-last work of fiction in the May 1927 issue of Frontier Stories. And we meet Cap'n Bob just before he gets into a bar fight with a guy wearing unseasonally heavy sea boots. The guy has been demanding a whaler fight him. Cap'n Bob, after putting a bet down on himself, obliges. 

The ensuing fisticuffs happens off-screen, but Waterman handles this well and still makes it clear to the readers that it is an epic battle. Cap'n Bob is the victor, collecting his winnings and heading back to his ship to leave port before there's any legal trouble.

But his winnings include a watch. And when the lady Cap'n Bob wants to marry pays him a surprise visit (she just arrived from New Bedford on another ship), she recognizes that watch as belonging to her father.

Well, that puts a damper on Cap'n Bob's wedding plans.

In a predictable but still fun twist, Cap'n Bob does run into his perspective father-in-law once again during the middle of a whale hunt. And perhaps a chance to save the father's life might repair his relationship with the daughter.

It is indeed predictable, but the whale hunt is described in vivid prose and we can't help but feel sympathy for the put-upon Cap'n Bob. A likeable hero and some dangerous whales can make a contrived ending more palatable. 

If you'd like to read this one yourself, you can find it online HERE. 

How Does a Pterodactyl Tell Time?

 

If anyone ever asks you to define the term "goofy fun," just show them a copy of Hawkman #23 (Dec 1967/Jan. 1968). Writer Richard Hughes and artist Dick Dillon provide us with a perfect definition.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl are on patrol when they see a bank being attacked by a combined force of dinosaurs and cavemen. It's such an odd sight that even Hawkman--who is like most superheroes in that he's seen some pretty weird stuff during his career--gives us a "Holy Hawks! It's impossible!"

But this is a Comic Book Universe, in which very little is impossible. The Hawks battle the dinos and cave men for a few pages, at which point their opponents are swept away and then disappear.

A mortally wounded pterodactyl is left behind. Guessing that a bird-reptile will speak bird language, the Hawks seek out a death-bed confession.

The dying ptero explains that he's been brought out of the past, but dies before saying who is responsible. 

I wonder, though, how the ptero was able to explain so precisely that he came from 1,000,000 BC. How does he know the year according to modern reckoning? Heck, how does he understand the concept of time or calenders at all? Apparently, Pterodactyl School in the prehistoric past was very efficient!

A radiation trail leads them to a mad scientist lare, where Dr. Malevolo is using his time machine to bring creatures from the past to steal money. Probably to pay off the loans he took out to fund building a time machine, but that's just a guess.

When the machine is activated, Hawkman tosses Hawkgirl to safety, but he himself is sucked into the past.

He soon finds himself fighting a dragon-like monster, then later befriends a tribe of cavemen, teaching them to use fire and weapons. But when Dr. Malevolo brings some more perspective minions into the 20th Century, Hawkman is brought along.

The radiation used by the time machine wipes Hawkman's memory and makes him susceptible to Dr. Malevolo's orders. The bad guy sends him off to kill Hawkgirl. This obligates Hawkgirl to first fake her own death and then to lure Hawkman into a decontamination chamber.

This snaps Hawkman back to normal. The Hawks then attack Malevolo's lair once again and this time defeat him. The destruction of the time machine sends everyone and everything back to their proper times. Dr. Malevolo gets sentenced to some hard time and, I believe, is never seen again. 

That's understandable. Malevolo was just a generic mad scientist, without any sort of strong personality or traits that would lead a writer to bring him back for more shenanigans.

Otherwise, the story truly is goofy fun. It jumps around in an uninhibited way, tossing in stuff like a prehistoric dragon, a pterodactyl that can tell time, or teaching cavemen how to use bows and arrows in a willy-nilly fashion, whether or not any one of these elements advance the plot. In fact, teaching the cavemen stuff doesn't affect the story at all.

But it doesn't matter. Dick Dillon makes it all look cool and I wouldn't have left out any part of it. I normally enjoy strong story structure and a writer's ability to tie everything together. But there are moments when story structure must give way to pure fun. This is one of those occasions.

I wish I knew how that darn pterodactyl could tell time, though.

Next week is my wedding anniversary/wife's birthday break. In two weeks, we will take one of our occasional ventures into comics of the 1980s to begin a look at the Legion of Superheroes' "Great Darkness Saga."

Cover Cavalcade

 

A fun Bob Brown cover from 1967.

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #58: The Lost World, by Arthur Conan ...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Podcast #58: The Lost World, by Arthur Conan ...:   An analysis of the first four chapters of The Lost World, written in 1912 by Arthur Conan Doyle.   My apologies for a few audio glitches i...

Wonder magazine

 The greatest magazine of the 1990s makes a comeback! Recommended reading!

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Mysterious Traveler: "The Last Survivor" 10/11/49

The first manned mission to Mars returns to Earth only to find that things aren't going well at home.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Mixing Moby Dick Together with an Alien Planet, a Civil War and a Detective Story

 

Published in 1961, H. Beam Piper's short novel Four-Day Planet manages to combine several different genres and themes into one smoothly-told adventure story.

The person telling the story is 17-year-old Walt Boyd, who lives on the planet Fenris. The small population of Fenris live in an underground city, as the planet's slow rotation means the surface is deathly hot for several hundred hours and then deathly cold for several hundred hours.

The economy on Fenris depends on tallow-wax, which is recovered from the bodies of sea monsters hunted by the humans. Tallow-wax is made of very large molecules, which make it a perfect light-weight substance to protect against radiation and other dangers in space. It's therefore worth a lot of money.

But it is currently only selling for pennies a pound. Why? Well, it seems that the head of the Hunter's Cooperative is cheating the hunters, but also manages to fix elections so that he can't be voted out. On top of this, he has the small police force in his pocket.

Walt is the perfect person to follow along with events on Fenris. His father owns the only newspaper and Walt is the only reporter. So he tends to be on hand whenever something important happens. Since Walt is observant, smart and willing to help when he can, he makes an identifiable and likeable protagonist. 

And important stuff is indeed happening on Fenris. This includes the arrival of a representative from a company that wants to buy the wax at a fair price. This puts a target on the guy's back, with thugs working for the Hunter's Coop willing to pull the trigger on him. 

To avoid trouble, Walt and the rep go on a monster-hunting trip, which are carried out by crews aboard vessels that are combinations of submarines and aircarft. But Walt's trip ends when the vessel he is aboard is sabotaged.

My favorite part of the book is the few chapters in which the crew of that ship has to figure out how to survive, first aboard an enclosed boat with limited oxygen and no working radio. Later, they reach shore, but have to figure out how to survive in subzero temperatures. Sometimes, in fiction as in real life, it's nice to be surrounded by professionals. The crew share ideas while improvising and making use of available resources.

The sabotage sets events in motion back in the city, driving the various factions there towards open warfare.

So Four-Day Planet combines a "whale" hunt story with a survival story, a tale of possible civil war, and a crime story into an effective and very entertaining science fiction adventure. There's also a character in the form of the town drunk who (it is soon apparent) is more than what he appears to be on the surface, leading to a great plot twist at the end.

The novel is in the public domain now, so a free e-copy can be found HERE. 

Dweller in the Black Swamp!

 

Looking at monsters drawn by Jack Kirby never gets old.  It's been over six decades since the publicaion of Tales to Astonish #11 (September 1960), but "I found Monstrom, the Dweller in the Black Swamp!" is still fun to look at. 

The plot is tentatively credited to Stan Lee, with Larry Lieber just as tentatively credited with writing thre script. It's a story that has only 7 pages in which to tell its story, so it doesn't waste any time in getting to the good stuff.

A writer from the north is looking for atmosphere for his next novel, so he brings his wife and son to the Black Swamp. The locals are suspicious of these visiting Yankees, but that's not what causes trouble.

Trouble comes when the son is lost in the swamp. The writer finds him, but also discovers a large monster. The monster is immune to bullets (as most monsters are), but a fight with an alligator allows the man and boy to get away.

They grab the wife and drive to town, only to discover that the locals won't believe his story. Heck, he's a writer. He's probably just trying to generate publicity.

But their doubts are put to rest when the monster attacks the town. Nothing seems to be able to stop the creature until a lightning strike causes a fire and obviously frightens it. 

This, of course, is further evidence that the Universal Monster Movies from the '30s and '40s are mankind's most important achievement. If anyone in that town had ever watched Frankenstein or Bride of Frankenstein, they would have known to try fire right away.

The monster is driven back into the swamp and seems to sink to its doom in quicksand. But, we learn, it is actually just returning to its space ship, after learning that mankind was not yet advanced enough to help him repair the damaged vessel. He'll go back into suspended animation for a few eons and then try again.

It's a neat twist, though the story does have a couple of weak points. After clearly setting up that the locals don't trust the writer, this is resolved quickly without affecting the plot in any real way. And why the heck does the monster go on a rampage if it's looking for help? No matter how advanced or primitive mankind might be, shooting at something that's destroying a town is a reasonable reaction.

But it really doesn't matter. Jack Kirby gives us a great monster, a great looking swamp and outdoes himself with the oversize panel shown above in which the monster attacks the town.  I could look at that panel all day, by golly. 

So there are moments in a comic book story when visuals take precedent over sound story contruction. This is one of them. 

Next week, we'll see even MORE rampaging monsters as Hawkman fights dinosaurs and cavemen.

Cowboys and Dinosaurs

 Thank you to Paul Bishop for inviting me to guest-star in the Six-Gun Justice podcast, in which we talk about the fun sub-genre of Cowboys and Dinosaurs.

You can listen to it HERE.

Cover Cavalcade

 

An atmospheric cover from 1945.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Lone Ranger: "Two-Gun Marshal" 6/18/43

The Ranger starts with the fairly straightforward job of catching an escaped convict. But he soon finds himself both accused of murder and tasked with the job of stopping a major cattle rustling operation.

Click HERE to listen or download.