Cover Cavalcade

 

February is KILLER ROBOT MONTH!

This 1976 cover is by Bob Oksner.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Inner Sanctum: "Boomerang" 11/25/45

A man suspects his wife and his business partner of plotting to murder him. He decides to act preemptively.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

The Vultures of Wahpeton

 

cover art by Howard Sherman

"The Vultures of Wahpeton," a Western by Robert E. Howard, was first published in the December 1936 issue of Smashing Novels. It's actually a novella, but it is pretty smashing.

Wahpeton is a gold rush town. Many people have been getting rich, but an outlaw gang known as the Vultures keeps the town on lock-down, robbing claims and holding up every single stagecoach that attempts to transport gold out. The town and the surrounding area is crowded with men hoping to strike it rich, so no-one knows who is a Vulture and who isn't.

The protagonist is a Texas gunslinger named Corcoran, whose lightning fast draw gets him a job as deputy. This initially puts him on the side of the good guys. But he soon finds out that the sheriff is the leader of the Vultures. Corcoran's sense of personal honor doesn't allow him to kill in cold blood or rob someone innocent, but he doesn't object to robbing thieves.

While the sheriff is conning the town leaders into thinking he's on the level, he and Corcoran plan to eventually run for it with a fortune in stolen gold. Both men plan to double-cross the other after they get clear.

In fact, Chronic Back-stabbing Syndrome is rife throughout the story, with Corcoran going up against several Vultures at different times even while theoretically a part of the gang.

Things begin to go awry for Corcoran when he tells the saloon girl he's fallen about his plans. The girl had built Corcoran up in her mind as a virtuous hero, so discovering he's planning on running off with stolen gold crushes her. This, in turn, leads to her spilling too much information to the Vultures. The violent story quickly becomes more violent.

There's a little too much sameness to the action scenes, which mostly involve Corcoran outdrawing his opponents, but Howard overlays the tale with a lot of tension. The pacing is appropriately fast. Corcoran is an interesting protagonist, with flaws as well as virtues that drive the story along. Also, a member of the "Men's Adventure Paperbacks of the 20th Century" Facebook group referred to the story as "The beginning of the hardboiled Western... The Western was changing from mythic to hardboiled." "The Vultures of Wahpeton" can be seen as a signpost pointing the genre in that direction.

Interestingly, the original printing in Smashing Novels provided two different endings to the tale, with an editor writing: "Of course, giving a story two endings is sort of unorthodox. But Smashing Novels, ever since its first issue, hasn't been a particularly orthodox magazine. We've tried, and we are trying, to give you different stories with different slants, and we've been doing our darndest to give you the best stories possible."

One ending pulls out a happy ending for Corcoran. The other, which was used when the story was reprinting in a Howard anthology a few years ago, is more tragic. I think the happy ending is a little contrived, while the tragic ending is a better emotional fit for the story. But if want to decide for yourself, you can find the story (with both endings) HERE. 

Bullets and Blinding Mists

 

cover by Ray Harford

"The Case of the Purple Blackout" (writer and artist unknown) appeared in America's Greatest Comics #4 (Aug-Nov. 1942). Though dealing with home-grown gangsters and not mentioning the war, I have a vague theory that the idea for the tale might have arisen from war-imposed blackouts.

Whether I'm right about that, it's a fun story. A scientist invents a purple mist that blinds anyone caught up in it unless you are wearing special goggles. Immediately, a gangster named Honest John Black (he conveniently introduces himself during the robbery) steals both the mist and the goggles.

Soon, Honest John and his gang use the mist to pull off large-scale robberies. They are wearing the goggles. The cops--and eventually Bulletman and Bulletgirl--try to stop them but are stymied by the mist-induced blindness. 

It seems like the thing to do would be to go to the scientist who invented the mist and ask him to make a few more goggles. But they don't and, during a second robbery, Bulletgirl is captured.

Bulletman then draws on his own scientific abilities and whips up an anti-mist mist. The next time the gang strikes, the purple mist is counter-acted. With the good guys able to see, Bulletgirl gets free and the bad guys are quickly rounded up.

It's a fun yarn, with effective art that moves the story along quickly. There's a nice parallel between the brutality of the crooks and the determination of both the Bullets and the cops to protect the innocent. 

You can read this one online HERE.

Next week, we'll visit with Dullwit, a fox who definitely ISN'T as clever as a fox.

Cover Cavalcade

 

February is KILLER ROBOT MONTH!

This 1928 cover is by Frank R. Paul.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 X Minus One: "The Scapegoat" 8/8/57

Taking in an old man who had been beaten up seems like a generous thing to do. But if that old man is in obnoxious and amoral alien shape-changer, it's not a wise thing to do.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Apache Territory (1958)

 

Louis L'Amour's 1957 novel Last Stand at Papago Wells is a favorite of mine, since I'm a sucker for "last stand" stories. Wandering cowboy Logan Cates takes refuge at the titular water hole and soon finds himself in charge of several other groups of men and women trying to escape Apache warriors. The group finds themselves besieged.

Toss a shipment of gold into the midst of this and Logan finds that potential conflict among the whites can be as dangerous as the Apaches.

I didn't know until I recently ran across it on Crackle TV that this book had been made into a movie in 1958, with the title changed to Apache Territory. Rory Calhoun plays Logan Cates.

The movie is a reasonably faithful adaptation of the book, though the number of characters is reduced a little and some of their relationships are shifted about. But the main action beats are pretty much the same. The Apaches send fusilades of bullets and arrows into the defenders, but are never seen. Cates has to sneak out one night to hunt for food. Slowly, the defenders are picked off. There seems to be no escape.

It's a good Western that generates a tense atmosphere throughout. Calhoun is quite good as Cates and the supporting cast is fine. John Dehner (one of my favorite character actors) is especially good as a man you just KNOW will turn out to be rotten even before he does anything to show us he's rotten. When Dehner played bad guys, he had a subtle talent for making himself ooze just a touch of venom in everything he does or says.

As is usually the case, the movie isn't quite as good as the original book. But it's still good and worth watching. 

Alien Medical Care Ain't What It Used To Be!

 

cover art by George Perez

Justice League #202 (May 1982), written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Don Heck, is a fun issue that tells a well-constructed story, but I gotta pause to make fun of the first page before discussing the story itself.

This story is set in a time when the JLA all shared their secret identities with one another. Batman is in space, repairing a component of the JLA satellite. No one, other than Hawkman (who is also on satellite duty) can see him. WHY is he wearing his cowl in space? How much money did it cost to design and build a space helmet that would fit his cowl? Does he expect to run into a cowardly, superstitious space mugger who will be frightened by the Batman cowl? No one can see you in space, Bruce! Give yourself a break and take off the mask!

Of course, the reason is that he looks cooler with the mask on and readers will readily identify who he is. And this is appropriate. But I'm just not sure there's a good in-universe reason for it.

Anyway, something goes wrong with the repair. Batman is knocked out and flung into space.  A hole in the satellite means it begins to decompress inside.

Hawkman sends out an emergency signal. What follows are a few pages that I expect might have been added because the main story didn't fill 25 pages. But, if so, it's expertly done filler. We see what Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, Atom and Zatanna were doing just before responding to the signal. We also see why other JLA members don't respond--they are either too busy (Superman is chasing a comet; Aquaman is helping a damaged ship,etc) or don't hear the signal. Flash, for instance, was taking a shower. It's a nifty little sequence that helps add a little verisimilitude to the DC Universe.

Once aboard the satellite, the heroes plug up the hole. In the meantime, though, Batman's drifting body has disappeared from the scanners.

The heroes head out in a shuttle to search for the Caped Crusader. They pass through a barrier that takes them behind a cloaking field and discover a huge alien ship. The ship defenses activate and the heroes spend a few pages battling tentacles, lasers and missiles before getting inside.

Once inside, a robot tells them that the "doctor" is busy right now. The helpful robot also explains what's going on. 

200,000 years ago, an alien explorer--a bear-like being named Ursak--was travelling to different worlds. When he stops on a world inhabited by primitive cavemen, he's injured in an attack and his automatic medical equipment is damaged. So he puts himself in stasis and calls for help.

The hospital ships takes millennia to trace the signal and, when it arrives, mistakes Batman for Ursak. So the emergency medical treatmen Batman has been receiving turns him into a alien hybrid with super strength and an unstable outlook on life.

The JLA tries to subdue him, but get their butts handed to them. Soon, only Hawkman is still standing. But he's been studying the ship and is able to lure crazy-Batman into a trap, knocking him unconscious with an electrical surge that also disables the hospital ship.

So far, we've had a well-written and well-drawn science fiction adventure.  Gerry Conway then manages to give the tale a nicely ironic ending. The ship is reactivated and realizes its mistake. Batman is cured. AND we also learn that Ursak did not come to Earth, but to another planet. The signal sent back to his homeworld had been distorted and brought the hospital ship to the wrong place. It continues on its journey to find Ursak while the JLA members wonder how Ursak will feel when he learns he's been in suspended animation for 200,000 years.

It's a strong story from start to finish. The action scenes allow each JLA member to have their moments; Hawkman solves the problem with brains as well as brawn; and the saga of Ursak gives it all a strong science fiction feel that works very well.

Next week, we'll head back to 1942 and visit Bulletman.

Cover Cavalcade

 

February is KILLER ROBOT MONTH!

This Gil Kane cover is from 1951.

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—FARGO: HELL ON WHEELS

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—FARGO: HELL ON WHEELS: WESTERN NOVELS FARGO: HELL ON WHEELS JOHN BENTEEN REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST  This tale has the lowest body count of any Fargo novel I've ...

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Mystery is my Hobby: "Cinderella for the Day" (date unknown)

Drake is in the audience for a radio show titled "Cinderella for a Day" when that day's winning contestant is poisoned during the live broadcast.

Click HERE to download or listen.

Roadblock (1951)

 

As I've mentioned before (HERE & HERE), if it's an RKO film from the 1950s and drops Charles McGraw into a Film Noir setting, then its gonna be good.

Roadblock (1951) pulls off an unusual twist to the Femme Fatale formula. McGraw is an insurance investigator named Joe Peters. While wrapping up a case in the opening scenes, we find out up front that he's smart and capable. But when he meets Diane (Joan Dixon), his moral downfall begins. 

Diane wants money and isn't (at first) interested in a guy who makes an average middle-class salary. The typical Femme Fatale route here would be for her to vamp him into using his insurance connections (with inside knowledge to large cash shipments) to get enough money to keep her happy.

But she really falls for him and soon decides she's okay with less money as long as her man loves her. But Peters has jumped the gun. On his own initiative, he's sold information about a cash shipment to a known gangster. By the time he learns he doesn't have to do this, it's too late. Once he's in, he can't get out. Besides, how does he know Diane won't begin to miss her lavish lifestyle before long?

So a mail robbery that nets over a million dollars goes off. Peters, ironically, ends up investigating the crime along with his partner (Harry Miller) and a federal agent (Milburn Stone--a few years away from hanging out his medical shingle in Dodge City on Gunsmoke). 

The trouble is that there isn't a lot Peters can do to inhibit the investigation. Both his partner and the fed know what they're doing. One of the robbers is caught. Though this guy doesn't know about Peters' involvment, he's a link that could eventually lead to Peters. 

Desperate measures are needed to cover his tracks more thoroughly. But Peters' partner might already be suspicious.

A weak link in the movie is the lack of real chemistry between McGraw and Joan Dixon--there's no reason to believe they fall in love other than because the story requires them to do so. But the twist of McGraw going bad to get the girl when he doesn't need to adds some dark irony to the solidly told tale. And a final car chase along the semi-dry Los Angeles river bed is pretty nifty. Roadblock doesn't equal McGraw's Narrow Margin in quality, but it's still a film worth watching. 

Ben Has An Annoying Day.

 

cover art by Jim Starlin

Marvel Feature #12 (November 1973. Writer: Mike Friedrich. Pencils: Jim Starlin) picks up right where the previous issue left off, with Ben drudging through the desert after his fight with the Hulk. Ben is complaining about his lack of transportation when Iron Man suddenly flies by. Ben is momentarily happy, but though the Armored Avenger clearly sees his fellow hero, he doesn't stop to help. 

There's actually a good reason for this. Iron Man and other heroes have been getting pummelled by Thanos and Thanos' minions over in the pages of Captain Marvel. Iron Man is heading back to a secret base in the desert that Thanos once used, looking for useful clues to defeating the villain. He simply doesn't have time to stop.

But Ben is still ticked off, following Iron Man has quickly as he can with plans to do some clobberin' 

At the base, Iron Man soon encounters the Blood Brothers--super-strong alien vampires that Tony has fought before. They out-muscle him, but Iron Man manages to use some clever tactics to get some distance from them. Unfortunately, that distance takes him on a head-on collision with Ben.

The two heroes are stunned. Ben recovers in time to defend himself against the Blood Brothers. When Iron Man wakes up, they double-team the bad guys. This, along with a landslide started by the fight, help them win.

Thanos, who is monitoring the fight, dislikes failure. The Blood Brothers disappear, though Ben and Tony don't know if they were destroyed or teleported away. In either case, the good guys have won.

And Ben has a ride home now!

Or does he? Sadly, Iron Man doesn't have enough power left in his suit to carry his rather heavy ally. Ben is still stuck with walking out of the desert.

I like a number of things about this story. First, though it ties in closely with the events in Captain Marvel, it is an independent story that can be read on its own. Obviously, the story exists in part to advertise C.M., but you don't have to buy it if you don't want to do so. 

Second, Starlin's art is fantastic and the fight scene that is the meat of the story is more fun than a barrel of alien vampires.

Third, the framing gag about Ben NOT getting a ride from Iron Man and the middle-of-the-story gag about Iron Man colliding with Ben are funny. The humor fits Ben's personality to a T and the colliding gag is made an organic part of the overall fight.

These two issues of Marvel Feature were the last two of this anthology series. They demonstrate that Ben is indeed a character able to support a team-up book, so Marvel Two-in-One would soon be appearing on the newstands.

Next week, we'll jump over the DC Universe and visit with the Justice League of America.

Cover Cavalcade

 

February is KILLER ROBOT MONTH! This one is from 1955.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 The Shadow: "Ghost of the Stair" 12/29/40

Lamont and Margo are staying in a hotel that is apparently haunted. Soon, an actual murder occurs.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

Hok, Part 5

 

cover art by Malcolm Smith

Read/Watch 'em In Order #158

In "Hok Visits the Land of Legends," (Fantastic Adventures, April 1942) Manly Wade Wellman brings the pulp-era adventures of Hok to an end. We will be covering one last Hok story, published posthumously in 1986, but our caveman adventurer is about to take a four-decade break from adventuring.

In this story, Wellman also overtly identifies Hok as the source of the legends of Hercules. In fact, Hok is going to accomplish at least two of Herc's Labors in this story.

The story begins with Hok hunting a mammoth. He invents what is more or less a primitive ballista to injure the beast, then follows it. It is rumored that there is a mammoth graveyard--a place the creatures all go to die. Hok pursues the wounded mammoth through the snow for three exhausting days.

Finally, the mammoth tumbles into a verdant valley where the temperature is warm. Here, Hok finds the mammoth graveyard. He also encounters a tribe of people living in the trees. They live in the trees because there is danger both on the ground and in the air.

On the ground is a creature the locals call a rmanth. In a footnote, Wellman lets us know this is a dinoceras. 

In the air are pterodactyl-like creatures called Stymphs. Hok soon has his hands full in dealing with all this stuff. In addition to the dangerous fauna, he gets on the bad side of the tyrant who rules the tree people. So Hok has to arrange a coup to get rid of this guy while also taking care of the local monsters.

It's a great story, with Wellman expertly weaving together the various plot threads. It's in a footnote admidst all this that he tells us that Hok is indeed the origin of the Hercules myth. (I'm enough of an annoying traditionalist that I wish he had used the name "Heracles," but no one ever does. Sigh.) Between the Rmanth and the Stymphs, Hok gives the world the source of two of Hercules' Labors--the Stymphalian Birds and the Calydonian Boar.

As I said, this ends the pulp-era adventures of Hok and, with the overt parallels Wellman makes to Hercules, this would have been a solid ending for the series. But we will eventually get one more Hok tale. We'll talk about that one soon.

You can read this tale online HERE. 

Hulk, Thing, a Ghost Town and a Bomb

 

cover art by John Romita or Jim Starlin (credit uncertain), with inks by Romita

In 1973, Marvel Team-Up was selling well. So, according to Roy Thomas' introduction to the first Marvel Two-in-One Masterworks, Stan Lee wanted to try out another team-up book, this one featuring Ben Grimm.

The concept was tried out in two successive issues of Marvel Feature and proved to be viable. When written well, Ben might very well rival Peter Parker as the emotional heart of the Marvel Universe and his tendency to banter makes him a strong candidate to team up with other heroes.

Today, we'll look at Marvel Feature #11 (Sept. 1973), written by Len Wein and pencilled by Jim Starlin. Next week, we'll look at the next issue.

One element to this story that immediately makes it fun is bringing back a relatively obscure character who had one appearance a decade earlier. Kurrgo was the despotic ruler of Planet X and had a run in with the FF back in FF #7. He hadn't been seen since.

Now he's making a deal with the Leader. They each pick a champion and have them fight. The winner gets control of both champions and the scientific knowledge of the loser.

Kurrgo picks the Thing while the Leader--not surprisingly--picks the Hulk. Kurrgo claims that the Thing's intelligence and experience will give him an advantage over the stronger Hulk, but hedges his bets by secretly transmitting cosmic radiation to Ben, increasing the hero's strength.

Ben is teleported to an Old West ghost town and the situation is explained to him. To force him to fight, Ben is told he has to get past Hulk in time to deactivate a world-destroying bomb. 

Hulk is teleported in and he fights pretty much because he's annoyed and doesn't know what's going on. He even insults Ben's catch phrase, which I think is pretty low.

What follows is a fun battle, with Starlin's art capturing the power of the superstrength punches being thrown. Ben does try to explain about the bomb, but an angry Hulk is not known for his listening skills.

Ben does get to the bomb, only to find out its a fake. When the villains try to tractor-beam Hulk into their ship, Ben tags along. Leader finds out Kurrgo was cheating. The heroes make quick work of Kurrgo's robot, then jump to the ground before the ship explodes. Hulk jumps away and Ben is stuck alone in the desert. 

The story breaks no new ground--it's pretty much consists of establishing a reason for Hulk and Thing to fight, then showing us that fight. But it's succeeds in being a fun fight AND it does show us that Ben is a viable character to host a team-up book.

Next week, we'll confirm this conclusion by looking at the next issue of Marvel Feature.