Wednesday Cover: The Black Coat

One of my favorite adventure comics of the last few years is The Black Coat. Created by Ben Lichius and Francesco Francavilla, the Black Coat is a masked spy/adventurer operating during Revolutionary War, fighting the British - and the occasional supernatural menace. The character - a refreshing blend of classic pulp tropes with a unique setting and premise - has appeared in several comic book miniseries and specials from Ape Entertainment (coincidentally, the publisher of Femme Noir) illustrated by a number of extremely talented artists; this striking Gabriel Hardman cover is from a 2008 one-shot, and is probably my favorite.

Summer Reading

These are the two books that I got this week. What does that say about this 48 year-old man?

The Superman novel was recommended to me by my pal, Martin Powell, and the Jason Of Star Command book... well, c'mon. Once I knew it existed, I kinda HAD to have it, right...?

(Of course, if someone would let me, I'd happily WRITE Jason of Star Command novels forever. I've had an Ark II/Space Academy/Jason expanded universe and timeline mapped out in my head for years. If only...)

Not Your Grandfather's Captain Midnight....

I was bit disturbed when I popped over to Amazon to see if there had been any reviews posted for the new Captain Midnight Chroniclescollection and found a customer review by a Mister Stephen Kallis who seemed quite personally offended by our version of the character.

It's not that the review was a negative one that bugged me, but that his expectations of what the book was going to be were considerably different from what he got. I genuinely felt bad about that, and I didn't want anyone else to be caught off-guard by our "take" on the character, so I posted this over on the product page:

As the editor of the Captain Midnight Chronicles, and the author of the character "bible" that the contributing writers used in writing their stories, I would like to respond to the review written by Mr. Kallis, who was sorely disappointed that we did not provide him with the flight back to the days of the original Captain Midnight radio show - which he considers the "definitive" version of the character. The fact that our stories incorporated elements from later incarnations of the character seems deeply offensive to him, and I genuinely regret that. I understand his affection for the radio show; it was a classic.

But which radio show does he consider the "definitive" one, I wonder? The original Skelly Oil-sponsored series? Or the more well-known version of the program famously sponsored by Ovaltine? The two shows had some notable differences in the portrayal of the character and his supporting cast, after all.

The point I'm clumsily attempting to make is that for fans of any classic fictional character - especially one that has had as long and successful run as the dear Captain - the "definitive version" is usually the one a person is exposed to first. For some people, James Bond is Sean Connery, for others it's Daniel Craig. For me, it's the guy that Ian Fleming wrote about.

Whereas Mr. Kallis clearly first encountered the heroic aviator's adventures over the air, other fans first met the Captain in the comic book series published by Fawcett Comics in the early 1940's where he was portrayed as a scarlet-clad superhero who battled alien invaders like Yog from Saturn, or the 1942 Columbia movie serial starring Dave O'Brien. Many Captain Midnight fans - apparently a bit younger than our Mr. Kallis - know the character only from the early Fifties television series starring square-jawed Richard Webb, who piloted the sleek jet plane, the Silver Dart.

When we started the process of reviving this classic but long-dormant character, a great many creative and commercial choices needed to be made. If we stuck religiously to any one specific version of the character, we risked disappointing those who favored another. And as several decades had passed since the last time the Captain had taken flight in the public eye, we had to also acknowledge that a great many of today's readers had no idea whatsoever who Captain Midnight was. If we had decided to target, say, only the fans of the radio version (not a particularly large audience, these days, I'm afraid), it was unlikely that we would sell enough copies of the book to make the effort worthwhile. If bringing the character back was worth doing at all, we needed to at least try to make him appealing to as many readers as possible - young and old and in-between.

So, I tried to pick what I thought were the most interesting and unique elements of all of the character's various incarnations and created an amalgamated Captain Midnight. I listened to all the surviving radio episodes, read the comics, Big Little books and watched the serial and TV series. I consulted with several well-known Captain Midnight fans and started drinking Ovaltine. And, in the end, I put together a new version of the character that incorporated the best (I hope) elements of all his incarnations. It was suggested by several people that we simply update the character and bring him into the modern day, but being a fan of the Captain and his Secret Squadron myself, I rejected that idea outright. It may have been necessary to make some alterations to the concept to make it viable for contemporary audiences, but I didn't want us to lose the essence of the character.

I can't speak for every author who contributed to the book, but I wouldn't have spent - literally - the last five years of my life working on this volume if I didn't love and respect the character.

I'm posting this not solely to address Mr. Kallis' criticisms - he paid his money, and he's entitled to his opinion, after all - but to try and let other readers know exactly what the book contains, so that they can make their decisions about whether or not to buy the book based on what the book actually is, and not what their expectations might be. I am quite sincerely saddened that he could not enjoy our efforts, and would like to help make sure that no one else is taken by surprise by what we've done with the character.

The Captain Midnight Chronicles portrays a version of the classic aviation hero that, we hope, is recognizable to existing fans and also relevant for new, 21st Century readers who have never encountered him before. The stories are varied - some are gritty war stories, some are fantasies, some are two-fisted pulp adventures - but all of them feature a Captain Midnight of great personal strength, integrity, and idealism. He exists in a fictional universe where history is somewhat different from our own, a world where one man - and his Secret Squadron - can stand against the forces of global tyranny and injustice and keep the peace through the wise application of strength and intelligence.

I suppose one could say, "This isn't your grandfather's Captain Midnight!" - but I think he is. He dresses a little differently, his equipment, aircraft and relationships may be somewhat altered, but he's still a champion of peace and protector of freedom.

Those kinds of heroes are kinda hard to find these days... and we thought it was time to bring one back.

More evidence that I do, indeed, exist.

Captain Midnight Chronicles Takes Off

After several years, the long-awaited Captain Midnight Chronicles short story collection is - according to the publisher - back from the printer and now available to purchase.

Edited by yours truly, and based on my reimagined version of the character - which incorporates the best features of the radio, film, comic book and television incarnations of the character - the book features some thrilling adventure stories by a stellar line-up of talent.

Here's the contents of the volume: "Countdown to Midnight" By Christopher Mills, "Captain Midnight at Ultima Thule" By Win Scott Eckert, "The Black Dragon" By Mark Justice, "Shipwreck In The Sky" By Robert T. Jeschonek, "Death Master of The Secret Island" By Trina Robbins, "Wind & Rain" By Tim Lasiuta, "Cushy Job" By P.C. Hamerlinck, "Captain Midnight Meets Airboy" By Chuck Dixon, "Fantastic Island" By Robert Greenberger, "The Dark of Midnight" By Stephen Mertz, "Witch of The Waning Moon" By Howard Hopkins, and "A Mission In Time" By James J. Nance. The hardcover version includes a brief introduction to the character by P.C. Hamerlinck and an additional short story by yours truly, "The Mediterranean Intercept."

Both versions of the book can be ordered now directly from the publisher, Moonstone Books, or through Amazon.

Hopefully, I'll be getting my copies soon. I'm looking forward to finally holding it in my hands. Hopefully, it will sell well enough to allow for a second volume.

Still Alive...

...if not exactly "kickin'."

Sorry I haven't posted for a while (nearly a week!), but there hasn't been much going on around here, nor all that much interesting stuff (or what I consider "interesting") on my mind. I've been slogging away, trying to get a handle on my various freelance commitments, watching some TV with the wife in the evenings (we're in the midst of a How I Met Your Mother marathon on DVD), and reading a few books.

• I found a website called Book Closeouts which has great deals on brand-new remaindered books, and was able to pick up about eight hardcover novels for the price of about two and a half. I finally got a copy of The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril pulp homage novel by Paul Malmont, as well as several Max Allan Collins, Stuart Kaminsky and Bill Pronzini hardbacks that I had missed. These are three authors who, when I was financially solvent, I tried to keep up with and collect in hardcover, but as times grew leaner, I fell behind. Fortunately, I was able to find three of the last four Pronzini "Nameless Detective" novels on the site for only a few bucks each, so I'm nearly caught up with that series.

• Still haven't seen Hellboy II or The Dark Knight. So keep your spoilers to yourself.

• The second issue of Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries should be out in a week or two. I know that it's been shipped to the distributors, so the street date depends on how quickly they can process it and ship it out. My guess is that it'll be in stores on the 30th (but it might be the week after).

• Finally, we had a bad wind and rain squall here last Friday, and it knocked the hell out of a couple of our old trees. From the flattened grass in the field behind the house, it looks like a whirlwind touched down briefly. One of the trees split, dropping a heavy limb on the roof of our house. This mutha was huge, and it took my father and brother-in-law – along with several more family members – all day Saturday to cut it up and get it off the roof without damaging the building or hurting anyone.

More soon...

Mills on the Moon(stone): Kolchak & The Avenger

Okay, so yesterday I posted a picture of my cat. Yes, it was a lame way to avoid missing another day of blogging... but what the hell. She's a cute cat.

Anyway…

My long-gestating Kolchak miniseries for Moonstone has just been announced by the publisher over on their forums. It's scheduled to debut in March of '08. The art by Tim Hamilton is incredible, and Dave Akins' covers are pretty awesome, too.

Here's the solicitation copy:

KOLCHAK TALES: NIGHT STALKER OF THE LIVING DEAD #1 (of 3)
32 pages, color, $3.99

Written by: Christopher Mills
Art by: Tim Hamilton

ZOMBIES! Everybody hates them. But that appears to be exactly what Carl Kolchak finds to be stalking among the cornstalks in the small heartland town of Georges Corner, Nebraska. The simple task of covering just another festival pageant takes a dark turn... as it so often does in Kolchak's world... when people start disappearing, and the dead start walking! Watch out... they bite!

Covers by Twilight Creation’s board game "Zombies" artist Dave Akins!

Also scheduled for March is Moonstone’s latest pulp fiction anthology, which also includes a new short story by yours truly:

THE AVENGER CHRONICLES

Written by: Ron Goulart, Max McCoy, Robert Randisi, etc.
Interior Art: Andy Bennett & Dave Aikins
Cover Art: Peter Caras, Dave Dorman, Doug Klauba
Edited by: Joe Gentile
336pgs, b/w, Squarebound, 6"x9", $17.95
10 digit: 1-933076-32-1
13 digit: 978-1-933076-32-4

The Avenger…All-New Stories for the Next Generation!

Moonstone Books is proud to present this original anthology featuring eighteen never before seen tales of The Avenger, the first new Justice, Inc. fiction in more than thirty years! The Avenger Chronicles includes incredible, action-packed stories by some of today’s best writers in comics and fiction including:

Max McCoy, Robert Randisi, Ron Goulart, Tom DeFalco, Joe Gentile, Robert Greenberger, Clay and Susan Griffiths, CJ Henderson, Howard Hopkins, Paul Kupperberg, Christopher Mills, Will Murray, Mel Odom, Gary Phillips, Martin Powell, James Reasoner, Richard Dean Starr, and Dan Wickline.

In addition to this impressive lineup, The Avenger Chronicles includes stunning cover artwork by one of the original Avenger paperback cover artists, Peter Caras (creator of more than 1,700 cover paintings, & a student of Norman Rockwell), and original interior illustrations by Andy Bennett (Vampire: The Masquerade) and Dave Aikins (Zombie, the Board Game).

Out of Tragedy, a Hero Is Reborn…

In the roaring heart of the crucible, steel is made. In the raging flame of personal tragedy, men are sometimes forged into something more than human.

Wealthy and successful at an early age, Richard Benson was preparing to enjoy a long and happy life with his family when crime took away his wife and young daughter.

Once he was just a man, but now he is a machine of vengeance dedicated to the extermination of all crime. A figure of ice and steel, but more pitiless than both, Benson has become a symbol to crooks and killers--a terrible, almost impersonal force, masking cold genius and a nearly supernatural power behind a face as white and still as a dead man’s mask. Only pale eyes, like ice in a polar dawn, hint at what awaits criminals when they invoke the rage of millionaire adventurer Richard Benson -- The Avenger!

Now, for the first time in over 30 years, the fearless/expressionless crime fighter; the man with the moldable face, the man with the shock white hair and the pale grey eyes, is back in action in a stunning collection of stories featuring all the action, adventure, and revenge Avenger fans have come to expect! From noir adventure and two-fisted action, to emotional tales of inner demons, join The Avenger for an E-ticket thrill ride!

*Book Trade version/Cover A: by Peter Caras

*Direct Market Version/Cover B: by Dave Dorman

*Ltd Ed. Hardcover: (limit of 300) original cover art (not pictured) of the entire Justice Inc crew by Doug Klauba AND ALSO includes an exclusive to this hardcover special Avenger story by Chinese/Indonesian Martial Arts (KunTao Silat) master Joe Judt!

1-933076-33-x
978-1-933076-33-1
$44.00

Keep an eye out for both of these in Previews, and be sure to pre-order them from your local comic shop so you can be certain of getting your copies!

Oh, and I've been told that the Werewolves: Dead Moon Rising anthology, from the same publisher, should be hitting store shelves any day now. I'll keep you posted.

Deadly Beloved

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Max Allan Collins was kind enough to send me an ARC of Deadly Beloved, the forthcoming Ms. Tree novel from Hard Case Crime.

It's been a busy month, so it took me a while to get around to reading it, but once I did, I breezed right through it. Collins' first-person prose is, as always, honed to a razor sharpness; terse and taut, with a relentless, driving narrative thrust that sweeps you along and makes the book difficult to put down.

The novel essentially retells – and retcons – the first two Ms. Tree comics serials, originally published in the early 80's, which means that for long-time readers like myself, some "surprises," well, aren't all that surprising.

But Collins has wisely re-arranged the particulars, added some previously-untold elements, and changed enough details that the reading experience is still fresh and exciting. All the familiar supporting characters are there – Rafe Valer, Dan Green, Roger Freemont, Dominique Muerta – and all pretty much as we remember them. There are also a few new (and intriguing) characters added to the cast, and I hope Collins gets an opportunity to sequelize this someday, so we can learn more about them.

While I enjoyed the book a great deal, and admire Collins' deftly executed updating of the 80's "origin story" to the present day, I have to confess that I was a bit put-off by the main character's apparent obsession with repeatedly name-dropping famous clothing designers, and her new propensity for foul language. I'm not offended by swearing – I can toss off vulgar expletives with the best of them – but it did seem somewhat jarring coming from Michael Tree. Maybe it's the lingering awereness of her funnybook origins, but it just "sounded" odd.

But those are really minor quibbles. It's great to have Ms. Tree back in any form, and her return is certainly a triumphant one. I highly recommend Deadly Beloved. It's a top-notch mystery thriller, with a formidible female protagonist, and I suggest that every crime fiction fan – whether they're familiar with the original comic books or not – pick up a copy when the regular edition is published in November.

Hey, Kids! Comics!

After Seventeen years toiling away in the comics industry, struggling to make my mark as a writer, it's beginning to look like 2008 might be my biggest year yet in the biz.

Yeah, I know we're not even halfway through 2007 yet, but making indy comics takes a long time. As it stands, though, I have a bunch of projects moving along that should be out next year.

Of course, there are more than a few projects I've been involved with that I thought would be out long ago that never made it to the stands. And some of the projects I have on tap for '08 were originally intended to be finished years ago. But I'm reasonably confident that most of the projects I'm listing here will be out and in comic shops before the end of '08. They're all well-along, production-wise, and have strongly committed, established publishers – publishers that I have confidence will actually still be around when the books are ready to go next year.

Here's what we're looking forward to in '08:

Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries. Finally! The great folks at Ape Entertainment have picked up this long-gestating creator-owned 4-issue project, drawn by Joe Staton, based on our webcomic. Horacio Ottolini and Mark Stegbauer are slapping on the inks, while Melissa Kaercher colors.

Kolchak: Night Stalker of the Living Dead. A three-issue miniseries from Moonstone Books, based on the classic TV series. In this Tim Hamilton-drawn horror epic, I take the intrepid reporter/monster hunter and drop him down into the middle of a Dawn of the Dead/28 Days Later-styled zombie plague. Hey, everybody loves zombies, right? Covers by Dave Aikens.

Captain Midnight. Right now, this is a serialized back-up feature entitled "Assault on Midnight Mesa," made up of three 6-page installments, that I hope Moonstone will eventually collect as a one-shot. The artist is Rich Clark.

Perils on Planet X. I've just come to a verbal agreement (with contracts on the way) with a reputable publisher to bring to the market the long-in-the-works sci-fi swashbuckler illustrated by the talented Gene Gonzales. Three issues, color. Look for more details on this, soon.

And, finally, there's Gravedigger: Dangerous Prey, a new, hardboiled crime comics one-shot, pencilled by Rick Burchett and inked by Fred Harper. Of the projects on this list, it's the most tentative, but I'm hopeful that it will be out before the end of next year.

I also have a number of prose stories lined up for publication by Moonstone Books in '08, featuring characters like The Avenger, Captain Midnight and, possibly, The Spider again.

I'm the busiest I've been in years, and I'm having a blast working on these projects. Hopefully, they'll proceed without serious snags and make it to your local comics shop as planned. Keep your fingers crossed!

"The Beast of Bava Pass"

Here's Ken Wolak's illustration for my short story, "The Beast of Bava Pass," which is scheduled to appear in Moonstone Book's upcoming Werewolves: Dead Moon Rising prose anthology, edited by Dave Ulanski.

Except for the fact that the human character in the middle is supposed to have snow-white hair, it pretty well captures the mood of the story, which is my nod to the Universal/Hammer horror tradition, with a touch of Paul Naschy.

The book should be out this October, for Halloween.

Something I'm working on...

A Gravedigger short prose story for an upcoming anthology ...

When the door burst open, I put two 9mm slugs into the first man's chest. The guy behind him looked vaguely familiar, but I didn't have time to take a second look as he raised an ugly, efficient-looking machine pistol and sprayed the air with lead.

The slugs didn't come anywhere near me, but they ripped the hell out of the rented cabin. I waited on the floor behind the threadbare sofa, Beretta in my right hand, and when the guy with the squirtgun emptied his clip, I shot him in the head.

I moved carefully over to the two bodies and looked out through the open doorway at the glass-smooth lake. Pale moonlight and flickering stars were reflected in its mirrored surface, and an aluminum rowboat I hadn't seen before was tied to the short dock.

I had no concerns about the gunfire. The nearest neighboring cabin was a good half-mile away, and was, at present, unoccupied.

I pulled the bodies into the room where I could see them clearly. I had been right about the second man; I knew him. His name was Gibbs, a burly Australian I'd worked with a couple years back on a job in New Mexico. The other was unfamiliar, about twenty-five, with short, spiky hair and a bad complexion.

I searched their pockets. Gibbs carried I.D. in the form of a Jersey driver's license and a Visa card that said his name was Potter. The younger man had apparently been going under the name of Wyman. I took their I.D. and credit cards.

I wondered how they'd found me.

And why.

I'd been living in the cabin in Western Maine for three weeks. Not hiding out really, just resting between jobs. Once a week, I took the rented outboard across the lake, hiked a mile and a half to my car, and drove into town for supplies. The rest of the time, I sat on the porch, enjoying the solitude, smoking, and reading trash paperbacks, a habit I'd picked up during my one extended stay as a guest of the state.

I didn't think I was on anyone's shit list, but in my business you can never know for sure. Emotions can run hot when large amounts of cash are on the line, and those who make their living acquiring it at gunpoint tend not to be overly sensitive to other people's feelings.

I tried to think who might be carrying a grudge and who also knew Gibbs. The list was short.

Gavin.

What I want for Christmas...

Yes, I know it's not even April yet, but thanks to those amazing purveyors of hardboiled pulp over at Hard Case Crime, I already know at least two things I'll be groveling for, come November: the Hard Case paperbacks of Max Allan Collins' Deadly Beloved and Mickey Spillane's Dead Street.

Of course, HCC's got a lot of great stuff coming out before then, too. In fact, 2007 looks to be their best year yet from where I'm standing, with Gil Brewer's The Vengeful Virgin next month, David Goodis' The Wounded And The Slain coming out in May, George Axelrod's Blackmailer in June, and Richard Aleas' (HCC founder Charles Ardai) second John Blake private eye novel Songs of Innocence in July... etc. etc.

But it's the Collins and Spillane books that have me the most excited.

November's Dead Street is the first posthumous Spillane novel, edited and prepared for publication by Max Collins.

As a guy who considers himself a fan of and friend to both of those fine gentlemen by virtue of having worked with them for a couple of years on the mid-90's comic book series, Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger, I'm eager to get my grubby mitts on this novel. There are no crime fiction writers I admire and enjoy more than Spillane, and from the sample chapter on the HCC website, Dead Street looks to be something special.

As for December's Deadly Beloved – well, it's a book I've been waiting for since the early 1980s. You see, that's when Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty introduced the world to Ms. Michael Tree, comics' longest-running private eye character. I won't claim to have picked up her very first appearances in the B&W Eclipse Monthly magazine, but when she got her own color comic, Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Mysteries, I was there. And I faithfully followed her through four publishers and more than a decade of groundbreaking comic book thrillers.

Well, now, after teasing fans with a couple of short stories over the years, Collins has finally written a Ms. Tree novel, and it's Deadly Beloved. Beatty has provided a gorgeous cover painting, and I'm desperately hoping to find the book in my Christmas stocking.

After all, isn't that what the holiday season is all about? Murder, mayhem, mystery, Ms. Tree and... Mickey Spillane?

At Last – The Spider Returns!

My comp copies of Moonstone’s The Spider Chronicles showed up in the mail today. I'm told they'll be in comics shops on Wednesday.

This is a very big deal for me – I've had prose fiction published online and in a couple of (very) small press magazines, but this is the first appearance of a Christopher Mills short story in a bonafide, professional book; in many ways, it feels like my first real published story.

My one complaint (’cause you know I gotta have one): for some reason, someone made the decision to break 60 years of tradition and changed the traditional yellow and red logo to dark green and yellow. It just doesn't pop at all – and as far as I can tell, in the history of the character, it has NEVER been any colors other than yellow and red. Sigh.

Overall, though, it’s a very handsome volume with an impressive list of contributors (I'm in the same book as John Jakes, Bill Crider, Mort Castle, Chuck Dixon and Steve Englehart?!), and I’m proud to have been included... especially since, based on their reaction to this story, Moonstone's editors have subsequently asked me to contribute to no less than four more upcoming books! Cool, no?

In any case, it’s out now (finally!) and I encourage anyone who’s a fan of classic pulp characters – and The Spider, in particular, obviously – to pick it up.

Please, though, when you get to the sentence at the top of page 313 where I carelessly used the word "silently" twice – the second occurrence was supposed to have been changed to "soundlessly."

Had to get that off my chest. Thanks!

Resurrecting The Ghost

Yep – I've been roped into yet another pulp hero revival. Here's the official press release from Wild Cat Books:

The Ghost lives!

Wild Cat Books proudly announces The Ghost, an upcoming pulp anthology featuring brand new stories by some of today’s most acclaimed writers of mystery, horror, and science fiction. The Ghost, a fascinating, nearly forgotten pulp hero, is magician detective George Chance, (later known as the Green Ghost), whose thrilling adventures were originally written by G.T. Fleming-Roberts, pseudonym of George Thomas Roberts, a prolific contributor to pulp magazines. As The Ghost, chance adopts a terrifying disguise, using his superior skill as an illusionist and master escape artist, to battle the criminal underworld.

The Ghost resurrection is the collaborative brainchild of Wild Cat founder and publisher Ron Hanna, who has been printing new editions of pulp material for over a decade, and writer/editor Martin Powell, a contributor not only to moonstone’s eagerly awaited pulp anthologies reviving The Spider, The Phantom, The Avenger, and Captain Midnight, but was also a featured writer in Kolchak: The Night Stalker Chronicles, which earned a Bram Stoker nomination.

"About a year ago, publisher Ron Hanna approached me with the idea of doing something new with The Ghost, an old favorite character for both of us," Powell said. "He generously gave me the freedom to select my own writers and illustrator, and I immediately knew exactly who I wanted for the book. As busy as all of these guys are, I was genuinely surprised when every single writer that I’d hand-picked enthusiastically joined the project. Already this has been an awesome experience."

The featured "ghost writers" are an impressive group, including: James Chambers (The Midnight Hour), Win Scott Eckert (Tales of the Shadowmen Vol. 3), Mike Frigon (Doctor Satan), Joe Gentile (Kolchak The Night Stalker & Sherlock Holmes), Howard Hopkins (Night Demons), Christopher Mills (Femme Noir), and Powell himself. Larry Marshall (Flying Models) is on board as co-editor.

Thomas L. Floyd, creator of the web-comic strip, Captain Spectre, has also joined The Ghost, contributing a new painted cover and providing a series of b&w interior illustrations, as well.

Hanna and Powell also hint at a major surprise within the covers of The Ghost, yet to be announced, that they guarantee will give pulp fans a reason to celebrate.

The resurrection of the ghost promises to be as cool a pulp publishing "event" as anything that's come before!

So... let's see now. That makes three vintage pulp heroes I'm messing with: The Spider, The Avenger and The Ghost. Captain Midnight doesn't count – pulp magazines were just about the only medium the good Captain didn't appear in. Still, one of these days, I really should get back to writing about some characters of my own! :)

At least, The Ghost is more of a straight-forward detective (albeit one with a gimmick) so at least I'm moving back towards the genre of pure crime fiction... which, as we know, is where my heart really lies.

Midnight Strikes!

A few weeks back, as you might recall, I mentioned that I was going to be writing some Captain Midnight comics.

Well, big news, folks: at the request of Joe Gentile at Moonstone Books, I'm now the editor of the forthcoming Captain Midnight prose anthology, too.

Remember Captain Midnight? Well, even if you do, there's the matter of which Captain Midnight you remember.

There have been lots of very different versions of the Captain Midnight character over the years. First there was a weekly radio program broadcast from 1938 to 1949, then there was a movie serial from Columbia in '42, then a comic book from Fawcett, and finally, a TV show in the 50's. In each version the Captain was portrayed differently. On radio he was first an independent adventurer and then an airborne spy. In the comics, he was a crime-busting super-hero in red longjohns. On TV, he was a gadget-toting sci-fi crimefighter with a "Squadron" of Ovaltine-drinking children.

Rather than pick the radio, TV, comic book or serial version of the character to go with, I’ve tried to take the best and most interesting elements from each of those incarnations and create an amalgam Captain Midnight. Sort of like what the creators of the Batman animated series did with the Caped Crusader in the 90’s.

Anyway, as I was the one who suggested the property to Moonstone last year and I was the one writing the Moonstone CM "bible," I originally offered to be a consultant on the anthology. But since Joe and his staff are already handling so many projects, and I have some previous editorial experience, I was asked to take over the main editing chores on the book.

Now, I didn't go after the job – lord knows it doesn't pay, and I definitely don't need more non-paying work – but I couldn't bring myself to refuse, either... if only so that I could ensure that nothing in the anthology contradicted or undermined the Captain Midnight comics scripts I'm writing for the company.

As it stands, all the authors have already been chosen by Moonstone, so I have no say in that – unless someone drops out. If that should happen, I have several people in mind to recruit. The author list is a particularly strong one, though, so I have no complaints with their choices.

The authors that Joe lined up for this are: Martin Powell, Robert Jeschonek, Tim Lasiuta, Tom Defalco, Bob Greenberger, Win Eckert, Mark Justice, Max Allan Collins, Steve Mertz, Trina Robbins, Howard Hopkins, Joe Gentile and... me.

Pretty cool, no?

So, mix yourself an ice cold glass of rich, chocolately Ovaltine and get your Code-O-Graph decoder ready for future dispatches... Captain Midnight and the Secret Squadron flies again!

Richard Benson, The Avenger

In 1939, Street & Smith Publications, publishers of the legendary pulp magazine heroes Doc Savage and The Shadow, launched another crime-fighter onto the newstands and magazine racks of America. Allegedly written by Kenneth Robeson, the masterful scribe of Doc Savage's adventures (in fact, "Robeson" was a S&S "house" name), new hero Richard Benson, alias The Avenger, made his debut in a high-octane thriller entitled "Justice, Inc."

Never quite as popular as Savage or The Shadow, The Avenger nonetheless managed to secure a small cult following, and when the paperback reprints of Doc Savage became best-sellers in the 1970's, Warner Books reprinted the 24 Avenger adventures as well. Those sold so well that acclaimed sci-fi author Ron Goulart was commssioned to ghost write another dozen or so. There was even a very short-lived comic book from DC around that time, called Justice, Inc., after the character's debut story, drawn by the legendary Jack Kirby (the cover above is from that series, drawn by the equally-legendary Joe Kubert. Beautiful, isn't it?).

Richard Benson was a grim vigilante with a deathly gray, immobile, wax-like face, which he could reshape into various disguises simply through manipulation of his deft fingers. He had a few assistants (just like Doc and The Shadow), and carried a custom firearm he called "Mike" and a slim throwing knife named "Ike." The Avenger may not have been the most popular pulp hero, but damn, he was cool.

So what provoked this little informal history lesson? Just this: Moonstone Books, for whom I'm writing a Kolchak The Night Stalker comic book, and already wrote a Spider prose adventure, have landed the license to The Avenger and have asked me to contribute a short story to a new Avenger anthology. Reportedly, they've even persuaded the above-mentioned Ron Goulart to contribute a new story to the book. I also know that my pal Martin Powell – who previously contributed to The Spider, Kolchak and Phantom anthologies – is participating in this one, too. It should be a great book!

I always wanted to be a "pulp" writer – and now I am! And best of all, these are authorized, licensed projects, so I'm legitimately part of the characters' legacy. How cool is that?

More details when I can. Stay tuned!

The Spider's Justice...

Here's an excerpt – the opening paragraphs, in fact – of my contribution to Moonstone Books' The Spider Chronicles, a charming little potboiler of pulp pastiche and purple prose that I like to call (in the tradition of original Spider author Norvell Page), "The Spider and the Monster Makers"...

As Mickey "No-Nose" Norton plunged from the 31st floor of the Belmont Towers with the crimson likeness of an eight-limbed arachnid seared on his forehead, it was not his short, sordid, and utterly misspent life of petty larceny and craven violence that flashed before his gaping, mud-brown eyes.

No, in those last scant moments of awareness before his mortal existence came to an abrupt conclusion on the concrete sidewalk that bordered bustling Broad Street, all that occupied the pitiable hood's consciousness was the grotesque, leering face of the cloaked apparition known as the Spider. The blazing demonic eyes gleaming behind a black domino mask and grinning, fang-filled maw of the Master of Men filled Norton's brief final thoughts, dominating them completely.

Even the roaring wind in "No-Nose's" ears could not compete with the Spider's hellish laughter, a mirthless, soul-shattering cackle that drowned out Norton's own screams and echoed thunderingly within his skull.

The Spider perched precariously on the narrow ledge and watched with grim amusement as the flat-faced felon splattered scarlet on the sidewalk thirty-one floors below. Pulling his black cloak tightly around himself, he turned to the sheer brick face of the building and began to ascend as effortlessly as the arachnid that was his namesake, his strong, deft fingers snagging purchase in the slightest of recesses.

There was some irony, the darkling figure mused, in "No-Nose's" unfortunate plummet, as the case which currently consumed the Spider had begun with a different fatal plunge, just weeks before....

Want to read the rest? For ordering information, check out the previous post below.

Tom Floyd's Spider

The talented Tom Floyd, creator of the online adventure comic Captain Spectre and the Lightning Legion, is the interior illustrator for Moonstone's upcoming Spider anthology.

Over on his website, Tom's set up a Flash-animated slideshow which previews all the gorgeously grotesque illustrations that he's done for that forthcoming volume of blood & thunder fiction.

Now, I've been a fan of Tom's pulp-styled art for a few years now, but these marvelous drawings really blew me away, and made me very eager to read the stories that will accompany them. That one of them was written by yours truly makes it even more of a thrill.

Check it out for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

So Good... it's Criminal.

Been meaning to write about Hard Case Crime for a while now. If you're not familiar with HCC, it's a publishing imprint that's just about to go into its third year, offering top-quality hardboiled (mostly) crime fiction – both vintage reprints of rare pulp and old school-style originals – in paperback, with brand new painted covers and graphic design that evokes the era of the great PBO publishing houses like Gold Medal.

Among the authors in their stable are such names as Max Allan Collins, Lawrence Block, David Dodge, Cornell Woolrich, Richard S. Prather, Charles Williams, Ed McBain, Richard Powell, Ken Bruen, Jason Starr, Donald E. Westlake (and Richard Stark), and Stephen King, among many others. In fact, among them are line founders Charles Ardai and Max Phillips, who have both contributed their own books to the line; Ardai writing as "Richard Aleas." Authors announced for future volumes include Gil Brewer, David Goodis... and Mickey Spillane!

The cover illustrations are gorgeous. Artists include Richard B. Farrell, Michael Koelsch, Gregory Manchess, Chuck Pyle and Glen Orbik. Hard Case Crime has even managed to coax brand new paintings out of legendary paperback illustrator Robert McGinnis... and they've been among his best!

Unfortunately, finances have prohibited me being able to buy every title the line, which generally releases a book a month, but I've got probably two-thirds of the Hard Case library, and not one has been a disappointment.

Hell, I've even been published by Hard Case! Sorta. When HCC republished Donald Hamilton's Night Walker with a quote on the back culled from the Thrilling Detective Website – the quote was from an article I wrote! Too bad they didn't attribute it to me on the cover, but hey – it's there, it's mine, and as a huge fan of Hamilton, I'm appropriately... thrilled!

Speaking of Thrilling Detective, after a long hiatus, hardboiled webmonkey Kevin Burton Smith has just posted a new "issue" of his amazing and invaluable website, with a bunch of brand new short fiction and over 300 new or updated files added to its already extensive database of private eye characters, authors and scholarship.

I've been a fan of the site for years, and long ago, I had the honor of being among the first authors to have their P.I. fiction published on the site, with stories featuring my own P.I. character Matthew Dain. Surprisingly, even after all these years, I still occasionally get e-mails from folks saying kind things about my stories there.

Maybe it's time to write some new ones?

The Spider Strikes!

Solicitation Copy for January, 2007:

THE SPIDER Chronicles

The MASTER OF MEN Returns!

304pgs, 6 x 9, with illustrations
ISBN: 10 digit: 1-933076-18-6 13 digit: 978-1-933076-18-8

More just than the law, more dangerous than the Underworld... hated, feared, and wanted by both. One cloaked, fanged, border-line crazy denizen of the dark force-feeding hard justice with a pair of .45s!

Moonstone is proud to present 20 new short stories of SEARING WHITE HOT PROSE starring pulpdoms most violent and ruthless crime fighter ever: THE SPIDER!

Here you will find relentless, hard-fisted action that remains true in tone to his mythic-proportioned adventures. If you crave against-all-odds breathless thrill rides, seeing great evils smashed beyond recognition, and dangers met by true heroes at break-neck speed, then this book is the must-buy event of your entire freaking life!

Take a look at this great line up of authors: Stories by: John Jakes (North and South, Kent Family Chronicles), Mort Castle, Bill Crider, Shannon Denton, Chuck Dixon, Steve Englehart, Ron Fortier, Joe Gentile, Rich Harvey, John Helfers, CJ Henderson, Howard Hopkins, Anthony Kuhoric, Elizabeth Massie, Christopher Mills, Will Murray, Rafael Nieves, Ann Nocenti, Martin Powell, and Robert Weinberg.

Interior illustrations: Tom Floyd
Cover: Doug Klauba

Intro By Denny ONeil!

1. softcover = $16.95

2. DIAMOND EXCLUSIVE: LIMITED Hardcover edition= (limited to 300)
Comes signed by cover painter Doug Klauba and has a signed and numbered exclusive (to this edition) Spider Sketch tip sheet by Doug Klauba as well! $39.95 (signed copies limited to initial orders)