Wednesday Cover: Tarzan

My favorite movie ape man, Gordon Scott, graces this photo cover for Dell's Tarzan #92.

DVD "Buzz:" The Green Hornet Strikes!

VCI Entertainment has announced the DVD release of two long-anticipated serials: The Green Hornet (1940) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941). The 2-disc sets are due out on July 28th and feature liner notes, radio shows and a photo gallery. Retail for each is $29.99

I just received review copies of both serials, and I have to say that these are among the best transfers I have seen from VCI. For years, they've been pretty much the only mainstream outfit releasing classic cliffhangers regularly on DVD, but frequently the source material on these old chapterplays is in pretty rough shape. VCI usually makes a solid effort to make them presentable, but often the best material they have to work from are old, beat-up 16mm prints.

Both of these Green Hornet releases, however, were prepared with the cooperation of the original studio – Universal – who apparently provided high quality 35mm prints to VCI for the DVD remastering. There are still some specks here and there, but otherwise they look great, with solid contrast and no major print damage.

The Green Hornet (1940)
Originally created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker for an American radio program in the 1930s, the character appeared in two Universal serials. In the first 13 episode serial, the city is faced with rising crime and increased racketeering activity. In an effort to bring order to the chaos, intrepid newspaper editor Britt Reid (Gordon Jones) becomes the masked crime fighter called the Green Hornet. As far as the police are concerned, the Hornet is himself a criminal; this misunderstanding enables Reid to operate "outside the law" to battle criminals and racketeers. Working alongside the Hornet is the brilliant inventor/sidekick Kato (Keye Luke), the only living person who knows the true identity of the Hornet.

Bonus Features: Liner Notes by author Martin Grams Jr., Two Original Radio Episodes of THE GREEN HORNET, Photo Gallery, Trailers. Product Specs: 2-DVD9s; Dolby Digital 2.0; 258 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1940; SRP - $29.99.

The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
In this 15 episode follow-up, Britt Reid (Warren Hull) is enjoying a vacation in Hawaii. While he is away, he learns that a crime organization has extended its activities into virtually every industry in the city. Disguised as the Green Hornet, Britt makes forays against the underworld establishment, with each attack bringing him closer to the identity of the syndicate mastermind, an arch crook named Grogan.

Bonus Features: Episode Selection, Liner Notes by Martin Grams Jr., Two Radio Episodes of THE GREEN HORNET, Photo Gallery, Trailers. Product Specs: 2-DVD9s; Dolby Digital 2.0; 293 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1941; SRP - $29.99.

Since these particular serials were contractually obligated to get approvals on script and casting from the original radio creators, The Green Hornet serials are among the most faithful adaptations of a super hero from one medium to another. Individual chapters are frequently based directly on radio episodes, and in the first serial, radio star Al Hodges actually redubbed all of Gordon Jones' lines during the scenes where he wore the Hornet's mask.

I'll be writing a fuller review for my column next week, but if you collect old serials, or are a Green Hornet fan, I can recommend these DVDs without reservation.

Captain Midnight Preview

My gout is acting up (seriously, it's like I'm a 90 year-old) and I'm in horrible pain, so this will be a brief post, but since I hadn't been posting much here lately, I thought I'd try and make up for it and share with you folks a couple of pages by Rich Clark from our upcoming Captain Midnight one-shot for Moonstone. It's been a long time brewing, but it's finally coming together.

For the several weeks, I've been mostly working on the Captain Midnight prose anthology that I'm editing for the same publisher. The book features stories by Stephen Mertz, Howard Hopkins, Win Scott Eckert, and John J. Nance, among others. I've got a story in there, too, and I only finally got around to writing it last month. Here's an excerpt from that story, "Countdown to Midnight:"

The night sky was overcast, and only a thin sliver of moon occasionally showed itself through rare breaks in the dark gray firmament. Against that sky, the black Nightfires were nearly invisible. Shark would never see them coming.

They had reached the given coordinates, and Midnight reached forward to place a black-gloved hand reassuringly on his stepson’s shoulder. "Remember, Chuck, don’t break radio silence until after the fireworks start. Shark knows our frequencies and is certain to have them monitored."

Chuck struggled to keep his voice calm and his tone strictly professional. "Yes, sir."

"We’ve planned this the best we can. After I get away from there, I’ll try and find someplace for you two to pick me up. If enemy fighters get off the ground, I don’t want you to engage them. Bug out, you hear me?"

His adopted son, who had no intention of abandoning him, nonetheless said, "Yes, sir."

"Good man." Midnight rechecked his gear, and clutched the bulging demolition bag to his chest. With one finger, he toggled a switch, and the section of canopy above him smoothly slid back. The night wind howled deafeningly throughout the open cockpit, and Midnight took a deep, calming breath before hurling himself into the frigid air.

Bailing from the Nightfire fighters without using an ejector seat was always nerve-wracking. If one wasn’t able to propel themselves fully clear of the plane, they could find themselves swept back along the fuselage and into the blades of the propeller. But Captain Midnight had made many jumps from the aircraft he himself had designed, and sailed without difficulty into the darkness.

One hand tightly clutching the demo bag, he reached up with the other to adjust a small knob on the side of his goggles. Instantly, the mountaintops below snapped into clear focus, as the miraculous night-vision device created by Tut Jones was activated. He spread his arms then, deploying small "wings" of treated cloth. He called this his glider-chute, and the strong material stretched from his wrists to his hips, allowing him to guide and control his fall with surprising proficiency, despite the savage mountain air currents. Quickly checking the compass strapped to his wrist, he banked to the south, his crimson scarf snapping in the wind over his shoulder, and glided like a soaring bird of prey towards a particular peak.

I've also been trying to get ahead on scripts for Kolchak: The Night Stalker Files, but things – like this damned gout – keep coming up to keep me away from the keyboard. Well, at least I'm pretty much caught up with Captain Midnight... for now.

Wednesday Cover: Bloodthirst

This painting by Joel Adams (son of Neal Adams) graced the cover to the first issue of Bloodthirst: The Nightfall Conspiracy, a two-issue miniseries from 1994. As it happens, this was one of the first comic books I ever wrote. It featured a female vampire spy named Christine Bishop, who worked for a top secret organization known only as A.C.T.I.O.N. The interior art was by my pals Delfin Barral and Chuck Bordell.

By a strange coincidence (!) I happen to be giving away a free set of this two issue epic over on my Spy-Fi Channel blog. If you're interested in entering the drawing, click on over there and follow the directions in this post. You might want to hurry, though – the deadline for entries is midnight tonight!

New DVD Late Show @ FOG

A brand new DVD Late Show column has been posted at Forces of Geek.

This one includes a slightly revised version of my Outlander review (see below) along with looks at Blue Underground's new Blu-Ray release of the David Carradine martial arts classic, Circle of Iron, the new Children of the Corn Blu-Ray from Anchor Bay, the first season of the original G.I. JOE cartoon on DVD, and the latest "mockbuster" from The Asylum, Transmorphers: Fall of Man.

Check it out here.

Vikings and Aliens

Probably the most entertaining fantasy/sci-fi genre film I’ve seen in five years, Outlander, was handled most bafflingly by it’s distributors (The Weinstien Company), bypassing theaters almost entirely, and being dumped on home video without fanfare. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why. Seriously, it's got spaceships, Vikings, swordplay and a badass alien monster – who could ask for anything more in a movie?!

In 709 A.D., an alien spaceship crashes into a Norwegian lake, with two survivors – a humanoid space marine named Kainan (Jim Caviezel, The Passion of the Christ) and a bestial predator known as the Moorwen. The monster immediately sets out to prey on the local Vikings, while Kainan is first captured, then accepted by a tribe led by a warrior king named Rothgar (John Hurt). He falls in love with Rothgar’s daughter (Sophia Myles, Underworld 1 & 2, and Doctor Who's "Girl In The Fireplace"), and leads the Vikings in battle against the creature.

Beautifully shot and energetically paced by director Howard McCain, Outlander is a surprisingly satisfying genre gem. Even Caviezel’s bland performance can’t diminish the fun and excitement generated by the quality production values, solid cast (which includes the always welcome Ron Perlman as a rival Viking chief) and spectacularly effective special effects. The Canadian location work – augmented by digital matte paintings – is stunning, and the action scenes are handled with aplomb.

Genius Products’ DVD presents the film in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks perfect. Audio is a robust Dolby 5.1. Extra features include a commentary track by writer/director McCain, and producers Dirk Blackman, Chris Roberts and John Schimmel. There are a handful of deleted scenes, production design galleries, effects tests, animatics, and the theatrical trailer.

Highly recommended.

Happy Independence Day!

Captain America and I wish all my U.S. friends a very happy Fourth of July weekend, with lots of fireworks, food and freedom.

I know I haven't been posting much here over the last month or so, but I've been buried in writing and editing work. I'm putting the final touches on the Captain Midnight prose anthology – including writing my own 8,000 word short story – for Moonstone (we're shooting for a January/February '10 release), pulling together the Captain Midnight comic book one-shot (Richard Clark's art is looking great!), and trying to catch up and get ahead on Kolchak scripts.

I'm also attempting to stay on top of my DVD Late Show review column for Forces of Geek, which takes a lot of time, what with all the discs to watch. There should be a new column this Tuesday.

Then, beginning Wednesday, I'll be starting a big editing/design job. Somewhere in there, my wife and I plan on switching office spaces and setting up my new PC (bleah). Even with all that, I still hope to post here more often, too.

I have been posting a lot over on my Spy-Fi Channel blog (Of course, I posted a lot the first couple months of my Guns In the Gutters blog, too), however, so if you're at all interested in my geeky ramblings about espionage pulp and cheesy spy TV shows, you might want to check it out. Or not. Whatever.

Have a great holiday weekend, friends!

It can only be one thing – Prehistoric!

In the Seventies, producer John Dark and director Kevin Connor made a series of fantasy adventure movies based on and/or inspired by the works of pulp writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. These films (all starring beefy TV cowboy Doug McClure) were The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, At The Earth's Core and Warlords of Atlantis.

The other night, I re-watched The People That Time Forgot.

People, American International Pictures' sequel to the Amicus Studios-produced The Land That Time Forgot, was released in the Summer of 1977. A square-jawed aviator played by Patrick Wayne, son of John, and star of the same year's Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger, leads an expedition to the prehistoric island of Caprona in search of adventurer Doug McClure, still marooned there after the events of the previous film. The expedition consists of Wayne, his mechanic (Shane Rimmer; The Spy Who Loved Me), a female reporter (Sarah Douglas; Superman 2), and a paleontologist (character actor Thorley Walters). After their biplane is forced down by an attacking pterodactyl, the adventurers discover a beautiful cavegirl (the gorgeous Dana Gillespie, below) who eventually leads them to Skull Mountain and the evil, samurai-like Nagas who have McClure locked away in their skeleton-strewn dungeon.

People is a full-blooded, old-fashioned Saturday matinee adventure, with vicious cavemen, clunky dinosaurs, an evil Tor Johnson lookalike, volcanic eruptions, swordplay and plenty of heroic deering-do. As in Sinbad, Wayne makes an acceptable, if not particularly charismatic, hero, while Douglas, an underrated actress who's appeared in tons of fantasy films, makes the most of her spunky girl reporter role. Gillespie provides the eye-candy, and Walters and Rimmer provide solid support. McClure, who shows up late in the film, looks a little tired of these cut-rate lost world epics, but acquits himself adequately.

The production design and special effects have a charming, nostalgic cheesiness about them, with obvious matte paintings, miniatures and mechanical monsters adding to the cliffhanging fun. Although primitive by today's high-tech standards, I'll take this kind of hand-crafted filmmaking over today's CGI-dominated 3D toons any day. The photography is magnificent, making good use of the rugged, prehistoric-looking locations, and the score by John Scott is rousing, if a bit sparse.

The Land That Time Forgot and People That Time Forgot were released as a double feature DVD by MGM Home Video some years ago as part of their marvelous, consumer-friendly "Midnight Movies" line, and might still be available from some retailers. The disc is bare-bones – just the two movies and their theatrical trailers – but the widescreen transfers are beautiful.

Wednesday Cover: Planet Comics #14

New DVD Late Show Posted!

My latest DVD Late Show review column has been posted at Forces Of Geek. This week's installment covers a bunch of recent horror and B-films, including Nightmare Castle, The She Beast, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, The Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon, The Terminators and Burn Notice Season Two.

Here's the Direct Link to the column.

I neglected to post here when the previous column went up a couple weeks ago. But it's not too late to read my reviews of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Dragonquest, While She Was Out, Two Evil Eyes, Fast Company, and Never Say Never Again on Blu-Ray.

Here's that Direct Link.

I Like This Comic: Super Human Resources

I don't write about comic books (other than my own) here very often because I don't read many new comics. I can't afford to buy anything regularly, and there isn't a comic store nearby. I do read comics all the time, but they're usually older books from my collection.

Every once in a great while, though, one of my publishers will send me a few books to check out, and that happened last week. David Hedgecock at Ape Entertainment sent me a small CARE package of recent Ape titles, and while all of them were good and well-worth reading/buying, I was especially impressed by the Super Human Resources collection by writer Ken Marcus and artist Justin Bleep.

It can most easily be described as The Office with superheroes, but that does the book a bit of a disservice. It's actually considerably better than that.

Originally published as a four issue miniseries, SHR tells the story of Tim, a somewhat nerdy temp worker who is hired by Super Crises International (SCI), the corporate headquarters of a team of superheroes, to help out in their billing department. Basically, SCI's like any other big corporation, except that the receptionist is a zombie, the research department is run by a horny android, there's a mysterious caped crusader living in the basement, and the copy machine has just become sentient. Other than that, it's just like every office you've ever inhabited a cubicle in, with all the petty power struggles, surprise birthday parties, holiday gift exchanges, and monotonous paperwork that makes a job a sentence.

Super Human Resources is a lot of fun, and very funny.

You can read the entire first issue online here, for free, or you can check out the SHR website here.

Louisa Nadeau

My maternal grandmother, Louisa Nadeau, passed away late Monday night/early Tuesday morning. She slipped away peacefully, in the company of her children. She was nearly 94 years old.

She was the only one of my grandparents that I was ever truly close to. Her husband died when I was about five, and my father's parents were spending much of their time in Florida while I was growing up. A devout Catholic, French Canadian woman (who would frequently slip into French when excited or when her English vocabulary proved inadequate for the thought she was trying to express), she was always supportive of me and my creative efforts. We shared the same birthday. Every Christmas dinner was at her house. As a child, I spent many hours at her kitchen table tracing comic book panels and making up my own stories. I found my first Edgar Rice Burroughs novel in a box of paperbacks in her basement (I don't know who it belonged to originally – one of my uncles, perhaps – but she told me I could have it.), and when my sister and I would stay overnight on weekends that my folks were away on snowmobile trips or vacations, she always let me stay up as late as I wanted to watch the CBS Late Movie (which is where I first saw The Avengers and The Return of The Saint).

I never saw her angry. As far as I know, she was never anything but warm and loving, and I'm going to miss her – and the sparkle in her eye – terribly.

Rest in peace, Grammy.

Wednesday Cover: Superman

A marvelously well-drawn cover by the legendary Neal Adams graces this late Seventies issue of Superman, enticing the adolescent audience with a shocking scene designed to compel kids into shelling out their 30¢ to discover just why Kara would be doing such a heinous thing.

It worked on me.

I truly miss covers like this.

DVD Review: DragonQuest

The latest fantasy epic from director Mark Atkins (Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls) and The Asylum, is unfortunately not as entertaining as the director’s previous Merlin & The War of the Dragons, with an utterly predictable and sophomoric script, and a decidedly unexciting climax.

The story is one we’ve seen a thousand times – an evil wizard is threatening the countryside, a young apprentice is "the chosen one" to defeat him, but must go on a series of quests to acquire certain magical items – in this case, gems of virtue – before he can defeat the bad guy. As usual, he is provided with guides and protectors. Unfortunately, the script never adds anything new or interesting to this time-worn plot. Even the "quests" are boring – our hero just sets out in an apparently random direction, and each gem (with its accompanying lame "challenge") appear directly in his path, one after another, in order. This leads to one of those really boring sorcerer duels where two wizards stand about twenty feet apart and point their fingers at each other while animated lightning bolts leap back and forth between them.

Here’s a thought, guys: next time, why not have the wizards lob animated fireballs at each other like softballs, so that they have to dodge ‘em and avoid explosions going off around them. Put some movement and action in there. It’ll make your climax at least a little bit interesting.

The cast is generally wooden and uninteresting except for its top-billed and presumably better paid stars. Veteran heavy Brian Thompson (Cobra) is effective enough as the evil wizard, considering that his role is horribly underwritten. Of course, he can play these sort of parts in his sleep, and just may be doing that here. Jason Connery’s (Shanghai Noon) part is little more than an extended cameo, but he plays it okay. Marc Singer (The Beastmaster, V) hams it up outrageously in his role as a washed-up old warrior, but at least that makes him fun to watch and injects a bit of energy into the otherwise listless proceedings. As our young hero, Daniel Bonjour is boring as hell, though leading lady Jennifer Dorogi looks quite hot and handles her swordplay with some flair.

Production-wise, well, the CGI dragon effects by Tiny Juggernaut are fairly decent, but sparsely used. The setting is supposed to be another world, but there’s nothing particularly otherworldly about the way it’s shot. How much would it have cost to have digitally tossed in an extra moon in the sky, or for that matter, tint the sky a slightly different color? Make an effort, for goodness’ sake. This is a fantasy! The look of the film is pretty boring, too. The California locations are adequate, but they’re not nearly as visually appealing as the Welsh vistas used in Merlin.

On the plus side, composer Chris Ridenhour once again provides a superior score that almost seems too good for the film it accompanies.

Anyway, The Asylum DVD presents the feature in a sharp, anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.1 surround sound. The traditional extra features are there: a half-hearted "behind the scenes" documentary, blooper reel and selection of deleted scenes. And, of course, a selection of trailers for other current Asylum releases.

After enjoying Merlin And the War of the Dragons, I had high hopes for Dragonquest, but maybe that was the problem. Considering the budgets and speed with which The Asylum cranks these flicks out, it probably doesn’t pay to set your expectations too high. Fantasy fans might enjoy giving this disc a spin, but on the other hand, it might just be better to wait for it to hit the SciFi Channel.

David Carradine, R.I.P.

I never really watched Kung Fu. In fact, I've probably seen more episodes of the 90's syndicated sequel series, Kung Fu: the Legend Continues, and I only saw two or three of those. So, David Carradine wasn't "Grasshopper" to me.

No, I'm a B-movie junkie, so David Carradine was Frankenstein in Death Race 2000, Kaz Oshay in Deathsport, Coy "Cannonball" Buckman in Cannonball, hardboiled cop Shepherd in Q, Rawley Wilkes in Lone Wolf McQuade, Kain in The Warrior & The Sorceress, badass bartender Jim Roth in Armed Response, the two-gun Dracula of Sundown, and of course, four different characters in Circle of Iron.

And those are just the characters I remembered off the top of my head.

David Carradine died yesterday in Bangkok, Thailand. Apparently it was a suicide. I have a hard time reconciling that with confident, cocky, sometimes arrogant Carradine, but one never knows, I guess. He was 72.

Rest well.