Cover Cavalcade

A Dick Sprang cover from 1946. I believe this story gave us the second appearance of Professor Carter Nichols, who used a poorly-explained "time travel hypnosis" technique to send the Dynamic Duo back in time. But, though the method of time travel was poorly defined, the stories (and the covers) were always fun.

Friday's Favorite OTR

You Are There: "The Capture of John Wilkes Booth" 6/5/49


The Civil War on Old-Time Radio (Parts 14 of 17)

Booth did not long escape the consequences of his actions. Union troops ran him to ground on April 26, 1865.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

This is the 14th of 17 episodes from various series that will take us through the Civil War and its immediate post-war legacy. I'll be posting another Civil War episode every three or four weeks.

The Mirror Universe Perry Mason!

I have had occasion in the past to post information and reviews about both Erle Stanley Gardner's excellent Perry Mason novels AND about his excellent non-Perry Mason stories. Gee whiz, this guy was a prolific and superb storyteller. Mason deserves his success and his status as an iconic character, but it's too bad that many of his other characters have faded into Popular Culture Limbo. The Gardner Universe is a diverse and endlessly entertaining place.

District Attorney Doug Selby appeared in nine novels (most of them first serialized in magazines before being published as novels) between 1937 and 1949.  I've never gotten around to reading any of the Selby novels--Gardner was SO prolific it sometimes seems impossible to get caught up with all of his characters.

So The D.A. Takes a Chance, first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1948, is the first I've read, chosen because my local public library happened to have that one. It's the 8th in the series, but the stories are self-contained enough so that my usual obsession with reading things in "proper" order really didn't kick in.

It's a good, solid detective story that deals as much with Selby butting heads with obstructive politicians and a sleazy lawyer as with the crime. A woman is stabbed to death while recovering from a gunshot wound. Certain people with political pull want it declared a suicide. But Selby and county sheriff Rex Brandon don't buy this. Getting to the bottom of the case will inevitably mean stepping on a few toes. Selby had only recently been reelected after returning from service during the war, so a misstep could mean the end of his career as D.A.

But dogged investigations by himself, Brandon and lady report Sylvia Martin slowly uncovers interesting clues. Among these is a knife that wasn't the murder weapon having a fingerprint on it that should not be there. A box of chocolates laced with barbituates also play a key role in figuring out whodunit.

Selby, Brandon and Sylvia Martin form a dynamic very similar to the Perry Mason/Paul Drake/Della Street that is so key to the Mason novels, though Sylvia acts independantly of Selby more often than Della did with Perry. Another interesting element is the sleazy lawyer who causes Selby the most trouble during the novel. A.B. Carr (known as "old A B C") is a sort of Evil Perry Mason, clever and able to improvise plans on a moment's notice, but without the ethics and real concern for justice that was an inherent part of Mason's character. As I understand it, Carr is a regular nemesis in the series, which increases my desire to read more of the Selby books. He's an effective villain and nearly (though not quite) matches the protagonist in sheer cleverness.

So I can whole-heartedly recommend The D.A. Takes a Chance. I think Gardner's skills as a storyteller are high enough to take it on faith that the rest of the series is worth reading as well. I really which more of Gardner's stuff would get reprinted.

Super-Intelligent Pterodactyls!

Comic books MUST be telling us true stories. Because if we live in a universe in which a planet ruled by super-intelligent pterodactyls does not exist, then nothing makes sense.

We learn about this planet in Green Lantern #30 (July 1964), in which a story written by John Broome and drawn by Gil Kane furthers our education in this vital field of knowledge. Things start out with a bang when a Forest Ranger patrol plane spots an area of prehistoric terrain near Coast City and then barely manages to escape getting tagged by a pterodactyl.

Soon, there are pterodactyls swarming all over the city, ripping down buildings and bridges while proving to be immune to gunfire and explosives.

How is all this possible? Well, it seems that there is a planet out there somewhere ruled by intelligent pterodactyls with super-mental powers. During the Age of Dinosaurs, then fired a ray of "M-Energy" at Earth, hoping to give intelligence and mental powers to the primitive pterodactyls of our world.

But an ion cloud blocks their view of Earth and presumable blocks the M-ray as well. In modern times, they are finally able to observe the Earth again, only to discover that pterodactyls are extinct and we pesky humans have overrun the planet.

Well, the super-pteros won't stand for that! Their new, modified plan is to open a time portal, zap the pteros from the past with the M-Ray and loose them on the modern world. Their mental powers can be used to give them super-strength and invulnerability, so getting rid of humanity doesn't look like it will be a problem.

Green Lantern returns from a mission in space to find out about the pterodactyl-led shenanigans. He flies off to stop the creatures, only to discover that their powers give him immunity from his power ring. Hal barely escapes with his life.

This calls for a Plan B. And, by the rules of Comic Book Logic, it is a magnificent Plan B.

First, he uses a burst of super-bright light to dazzle the pterodactyls and get them all to chase him.

Second, he opens a time portal back to the Cretaceous Age. He is counting on the hereditory fears of creatures like the T-Rex to scare the metaphorical pants off the pteros, weakening their mental powers.

When this happens, Hal is able to take down the leader. This takes out the other pteros as well, since the leader's mental energies turn out to be controling the entire flock. The day is saved and the alien pteros wash their metaphorical hands of the whole thing, giving up on conquering Earth.

I really do love G.L.'s plan. Writer John Broome takes Comic Book Logic and runs with it, coming up with a clever and entertaining solution to a unique problem. And, of course, Gil Kane's art makes it all look magnificent.

So somewhere out there in the universe, there is a planet ruled by intelligent pterodactyls with super-mental powers. There is. There really is. How can there NOT be?

Next week, we'll jump back to the relatively mundane Wild West to visit once again with the Pony Express.

Cover Cavalcade

Great cover for an excellent Western. I'm afraid I'm not sure who the cover artist is.

Friday's Favorite OTR

Philo Vance: "The White Willow Murder Case" 3/22/49

A stock broker has given bad advice that leaves one man ruined and is fooling around with another man's girl. So when he's murdered, there is no shortage of suspects.

Click HERE to listen or download.

The Last of Elak

Read/Watch 'em In Order #103

There was a three year gap between Henry Kuttner's first three Elak of Atlantis stories and the last one. "Dragon Moon" is a novelette first published in the January 1941 issue of Weird Tales magazine. It scored a nifty if not entirely accurate cover illustration as well.


It was worth the wait. "Dragon Moon" is arguably the best of the four. In any case, I think it can be definitely said that the two longer stories--the first and the last ones--are superior to the shorter ones.


Also, I had been wondering about the internal chronology of the tales. The first ended with Elak saving his brother's throne and ending up with a lady who looked to be his One True Love. The two following stories, in my mind, seemed to take place before this, when Elak was wandering around having random adventures and meeting a different girl in each one. The internal chronology didn't really matter, but it's the sort of thing I'm required to think about by the National Geekiness Over-Analyzing Fiction Act of 1978, passed by Congress that year and signed into law by Jimmy Carter.

Anyway, this last story is clearly set after the first, since it references the events of that previous entry. But Elak's One True Love isn't around or even mentioned. In fact, the story begins with Elak getting into a brawl over a tavern maid.

So there's no denying it. Elak--the dog--is a love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. Oh, well. At least he's good with a sword and tends to defeat evil beings on a fairly regular basis.

Elak is saved from being skewered during the brawl by Dalan, a Druid wizard who was one of his allies in the early novelette. But Dalan isn't saving Elak just to be a nice guy. He has a job for the wandering swordsman.

Elak, remember, is royalty from the kingdom of Cyrene. But the king of a neighboring country has been possessed by a being of cosmic power--a creature beyond good and evil who is now using his puppet body to form an army and invade Cyrene. The creature tried to possess the king of Cyrene as well, but that king (Elak's brother) killed himself rather than allow this to happen.

The villian is very Lovecraftian, which is not surprising. Kuttner was a member of the Lovecraft Circle--those writers who corresponded with Lovecraft and often added stories to Lovecraft's Cthulu-verse. In fact, it is easy to consider the Elak stories as being set within Lovecraft's continuity, though I don't think there was a deliberate intention to do so.

So Elak is asked to head home and lead an army against the invaders. He doesn't want to and, in fact, refuses at first. But a barely thwarted attempt by the cosmic being to take over his mind convinces him to take action.

He and his perpetually drunken sidekick, Lycon, find a ship heading in the right direction. It might have been preferable, though, if the ship's captain had not been the guy Elak fought in the tavern brawl. He and Lycon soon find themselves working as galley slaves.

That situation requires an escape and incitement of rebellion among the other galleys slaves. Then a telepathic message from Dalan puts Elak on the track of the one person who can help them defeat the villain. That person is the villain's mom, who also happens to be the daughter of a god.

All of this leads to an epic battle and the requirement of a goddess to make a profound sacrifce in order to provide Elak with a particular talisman at just the right moment.

This last Elak tale is exciting, full of the vivid other-worldy imagery that was the main strength of the series. The plot is solid and internally logical and both Elak and Lycon are great characters. It's too bad Kuttner never returned to those characters. Elak and Lycon undoubtably had a lot of unrecorded adventures.

You can read "Dragon Moon" online HERE.

Tales of the Pony Express, Part 2

cover art by Sam Savitt

 Gee whiz, A Dell Comic makes an historical error in one of their Westerns? Say it ain't so, Joe! Say it ain't so!

But there is a slight historical glitch in the second story featuring Pony Express rider Craig Garrett. The story is set in the winter of 1861, so would be taking place a short time after the Pony Express had disbanded.

Oh, well. Not even the greatest comic book company that ever existed is perfect.

This is the second of the two Pony Express stories that appeared in Dell's Four Color #829 (August 1957). As with the first tale, the writer is uncredited and the art is by Dan Spiegle.

Titled "Storm Rider," it opens in the remote Nevada mining town of Drewsville , which is currently snowed in and running out of supplies. There is supposed to be a trainload of supplies coming, but the snow keeps any word of this from reaching them. The people are losing hope.

At a Pony Express station 90 miles away, Craig Garrett has decided to carry word to Drewsville that the train is on its way. But an old back injury acts up and sidelines him. So Drew's 11-year-old brother Davy volunteers to take on the job.

The station's manager refuses to allow Davy to go, but Craig insists the boy should be allowed to take on the dangerous job. I like this part of the story a lot, with Craig defending Davy's capabilities and taking note of the fact that in the West, a boy grows up fast. Craig doesn't see it has risking the life of a child. He sees it has allowing a boy who is growing into a man to be a man. It would be a fair counter-argument to make that, even in that time and place, 11 is too young an age for a dangerous job. But there's simply no one else around who can do it.

I do wish, though, that Davy's mission was something meatier that simply a message that someone else will eventually save the townspeople. I don't mean to downplay the idea that hope is important and the story handles this theme quite well by shifting back to the despairing townspeople during Davy's ride. But, on the other hand, it wasn't as if the townspeople were ready to commit mass suicide. The supply train would have eventually saved them whether Davy brought word or not.

But there's no denying that Davy's ride is an epic one, with Spiegle's strong art work allowing us to feel the biting cold and growing exhaustion along with the young rider. He gallops through a blizzard, crosses an iced-over river that may or may not hold his horse's weight, and tangles with a mountain lion.

He gets to Drewsville half-frozen and alive, bringing a message of hope to its citizens. I do believe the story would have worked better with a stronger motivation for the ride, but "Storm Rider" is still an exciting yarn.

You can read this issue online HERE.

That's it for now. There are still two more Craig Garrett stories to look at and we'll be doing that soon. But next week... well, I don't think I've ever reviewed a solo Green Lantern story. So what has inspired be to do so? A G.L. story with dinosaurs in it, of course!

A plug for a plug

The latest installment of the Mysterious Old-Radio Listening Society discusses an episode of Favorite Story that I recommended to them. The podcast hosts were kind enough to mention my book Radio by the Book several times. So I'm providing a link to this podcast because it's only fair to give them a plug in return for plugging my book.

The podcast is an excellent one and I recommend any episode of it highly to any OTR fan.

Cover Cavalcade

A downright adorable cover from 1969. The artist is Warren Kremer.