The Art of Jordi Bernet's Torpedo

Pretty much my favorite crime comic of all – based on the relative handful of stories I've been able to read – is E. Sanchez Abuli and Jordi Bernet's Torpedo. The beautifully-drawn European comic chronicles the "adventures" of Depression-era New York hitman Luca Tortelli, alias "Torpedo," probably the nastiest piece of work to ever headline his own strip.

Utterly ruthless and amoral, Torpedo makes my own criminal comics protagonist, "Gravedigger" McCrae, look like a boy scout. In one of the few stories I've managed to read, Torpedo shoots a priest in the back, in church, and then washes his face in holy water before smashing open the alms box to snag a twenty. In another, he wipes out a bunch of thugs who've been hassling a fishmonger, and then takes his payment by raping the seafood merchant's gorgeous wife.

The guy's no role model, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, the English versions of the graphic album collections are long out of print, hard to find, and expensive when you do, so I haven't got many. I do have the four Torpedo comic books that Fantagraphics put out in the early 90's (under the "Hardboiled Comic" imprint), but those only whetted my appetite.

It's genuinely hardboiled, uncompromising crime fiction with some of the most beautiful art I've ever seen. Both Alex Toth and Joe Kubert have sung Bernet's praises, and it's no wonder.

Here's hoping that I'll be able to track down more of these books, eventually, or that some other enterprising U.S. publisher will have the balls to reprint them in English again.

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!

R.I.P. Marshall Rogers

I hate this. Two obituaries on the same day. Two creative types, who – although as different from each other as night and day – both had a huge impact on me and influenced my own creative expression.

Sure, you can chuckle when you think of Andy Sidaris' T&A exploitation films as a "creative influence" – it's true, but I can't deny the humor of it – but no one can question the visceral impact of Marshall Rogers' comic book artwork on those of us who toil in the field.

From his career-making (and endlessly reprinted) Batman run in Detective Comics with writer Steve Englehart (which resulted in at least two bonafide Batman clasics: "The Laughing Fish" and "The Deadshot Richochet") to their recent reunion on the Dark Detective miniseries, from his unforgettable graphic novel adaptation of Harlan Ellison's Demon With A Glass Hand to his groundbreaking visuals on Don McGregor's seminal Detectives, Inc., Rogers brought his unique vision and undeniable sense of design and architecture to comics, forging a body of work that was ahead of its time and still impresses today.

Marshall Rogers has passed away. He was 57. The best I can say is that he drew a fantastic Batman. And his Dr. Strange was great, too. And so was his Mr. Miracle. And his Scorpio Rose. And his Cap'n Quick (and Foozle). And his...

Damn.

Rest in Peace, Marshall.

R.I.P Andy Sidaris

Andy Sidaris, the low budget auteur behind the late-night cable staples Hard Ticket To Hawaii, Picasso Trigger, Hard Hunted and the classic Savage Beach, the man who lived by the "Three B's" – Bullets, Bombs and Breasts – has passed away.

I cannot even begin to tell you how saddened I am by this.

Sure, other, less-innovative filmmakers will continue to attempt to emulate the Master's sure-fire formula of incoherent espionage plots, semi-exotic locations, buck naked Playboy and Penthouse models, soap opera studs, toy helicopters and Erik Estrada – but none of those pretenders will ever pull it off with the same panache.

And that is a tragedy for heterosexual male insomniacs everywhere.

And before anyone thinks I'm goofing on Sidaris or his films, I assure you that I am sincere in my appreciation for the man and his works. The guy was a genuine exploitation genius and a decent director, and I love his movies – especially Hard Ticket to Hawaii and Savage Beach (two of the best movie titles ever!).

I used to faithfully scour the cable guide for their Skinemax showings and now have the entire Sidaris canon on DVD.
Hell, I even have the two films his son, Christian, directed – mildly disappointing entries which proved that regardless of genetics or how carefully one followed the formula, it was the senior Sidaris who best knew how to wring the most entertainment value out of the "family recipe!"

My condolences go out to his family, especially his wife and producing partner Arlene. Rest in Peace, Andy. You'll be missed.

Bitching... in Brief

Well, the sciatica is still slowing me down. Had some osteopathic "manipulation" yesterday that helped – for about 20 minutes. Looks like I'm going to have to really consider having them do the MRI (even if it means a long, painful car ride to Timbuktu to find an MRI machine my tubby ass will fit into) to see if surgery will correct the problem, because, frankly, it's obvious that the symptoms are not going to go away by themselves – and I don't want to be sucking down vicodin for the rest of my life (especially since it doesn't appear to help much.).

In the meantime, I continue to plug away slowly, and work through the pain the best I can. What's really pissing me off, though, is that not only is this sciatica shit screwing with my productivity, it's really cutting into my movie watching too, since I cannot sit comfortably in a single chair in this house for 90 minutes.

Understand what I'm saying, man? It's screwing with my MOVIES!

This is intolerable.

I'm buying THIS...

...just as soon as I can scrape up the scratch.

I've only seen one Lloyd Nolan "Michael Shayne" movie, Dressed to Kill, and I absolutely loved it. And just look at that beautiful box!

The Casino Royale DVD

Well, I got my review copy of Casino Royale from Sony today, and managed, over the course of three physically painful sittings, to watch the movie again and look over the extra features.

First of all, I found I enjoyed the movie more this time than I did when I saw it in the theater. While I haven't changed most of my original opinions, the pacing didn't seem so "off" to me on this viewing, and I guess it was the difference in sound systems, but Craig didn't seem to be mumbling his lines so much this time around. Still not sure why Judi Dench was in there, but she was great in the role, as always. Also, I didn't really pay attention to the music when I saw this on the big screen, but I think it may be David Arnold's best Bond score to date, and I'll be ordering the CD as soon as I can afford it.

The DVD transfer is – as one might expect from a brand-new movie – beautiful to behold: a razor-sharp 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation to die for. The sound mix – even on my antiquated system – was perfectly balanced and robust. Nothing to complain about there.

The bonus features are a disgrace though, and absolutely scream that Sony intends to double-, triple- and re-dip this film over and over again forever. All you get two extremely light, superficial EPK*-styled featurettes, a music video (that relies heavily on film clips) and the Bond Girls Are Forever documentary from several years ago, which has been updated slightly with a couple minutes of new footage featuring the Casino Royale gals. There's also a slew of unrelated Sony trailers – but no trailers, TV spots or poster/photo galleries for Casino Royale itself. There's no director's commentary, no on-screen trivia tracks, no Daniel Craig screen tests – really nothing much of any note or extra value.

Compared to every other DVD presentation of a Bond film (with the understandable exception of MGM's bare bone Never Say Never Again disc), this 2-disc edition is a major disappointment. Even the DVD of 1967's farcical version of Casino Royale with Woody Allen and David Niven had better extras!

Sure, if they hadn't sent it to me, I would have bought it anyway, because I'm an incurable Bondophile. But I do strongly resent the blatantness of Sony's cynical marketing, and I recommend sticking with an overnight rental for pretty much anyone else.

Unless, of course, you're as nutty as I am about Her Majesty's Secret Servant... in which case you're going to buy it anyway. And I can't blame you for that!

*Electronic Press Kit, for the uninitiated.

Owww!!!

Had a bad day and night Sunday, sciatica-wise. Hurt almost as bad as it did the first day the symptoms occurred, more than two weeks ago now.

I have another appointment on Thursday with my osteopath, who's going to try some manual "manipulation" of the sciatic nerve, as the pain pills I've been given just don't cut it. In fact, I seem to have an unfortunately high tolerance to pain meds – when I was in the hospital, the doctors first said they would be able to make me "comfortable" with medication after my surgery. After the first 24 hours of failing at that, they said they would settle for "bearable." As far as I'm concerned, they never really managed that, either – I'd rate their success level at "almost tolerable."

My doctor acknowledges my resistance to pain meds – "Sucks to be you," were her exact words – so I'm hoping that her vaunted osteopathic treatment will accomplish what our best 21st Century wonder drugs apparently cannot, and ease the pain enough for me to get back to serious work.

Over the last two weeks, I've managed – most days anyway – to actually sit at my computer for some good long stretches. Doesn't mean that I'm comfortable, though, or that the pain is ever gone. I've managed some writing, but it has been very difficult to concentrate, and I've been continually frustrated in my attempts to make any headway with my assignments.

I'm so sick of being in pain. I'm so sick of being forced to make excuses for not being able to stick to my schedules. My wife pointed out today that I've been in pretty much constant pain of one sort or another since last July. Cripes. Eight friggin' months.

I guess my doctor's right.

It does suck to be me.

I Like This Comic: The Iron Ghost

Gotta give Chuck Dixon credit: in The Iron Ghost, he not only gives readers his usual rip-roaring, action-packed comic book thrill ride, but he also manages to find an utterly and astoundingly unique "take" on the slouch-hat/two-gun pulp vigilante. Instead of another blatant Shadow or Spider rip-off (like my own Brother Grim), The Iron Ghost only superficially resembles those characters. Okay, he also employs their brutal, ruthless methodology, but the character's motives and – more importantly – the environment in which he operates, is truly something different in the genre.

Structured as a mystery story, The Iron Ghost: Geist Reich, is set in Berlin, 1945, as World War II approaches its end and Germany's inevitable defeat. The city is in ruins, pounded day and night by Allied bombers. Fires burn, and the civilian citizens of the crumbling metropolis struggle just to survive, foraging for food and water amid the rubble.

Into this smoking hell on Earth comes a masked figure in a pea-green overcoat, wide-brimmed hat and Iron Cross medallion; an imposing apparition with one, blazing red eye and a pair of highly unusual Luger automatics. He is The Iron Ghost, and he's hunting down and murdering prominent members of the Nazi party. The solving of those murders falls to two civilian police detectives, Inspectors Tannhauser and Volz, and their questions – and those of the reader – are the same: who is The Iron Ghost, why is he killing these particular Nazis, and why do his German Lugers fire American .45 caliber bullets?

You all know that I'm a fan of Dixon's comics writing. His best work is unpretentious, visual, and story-driven, with strong enough characters that he doesn't find it necessary to bury the action in endless exposition. With The Iron Ghost, he's found a premise and setting uniquely suited to his strengths as a writer, and I can't imagine anyone else even coming up with the idea of this book, never mind writing it as well. From its intriguing opening chapter to its fiery climax, Geist Reich is one of the best graphic novels/miniseries I've read in the last three years.

Artist Sergio Cariello is a remarkable talent, a young artist with Old School sensibilities: an emphasis on clear storytelling, drawing fundamentals and research. There's no cheating here – the uniforms, clothing, weapons and vehicles are period-appropriate and look authentic to my untrained eye, lending the whole enterprise vital verisimilitude. Concepts and covers by Flint Henry are typically raw and striking and lead to my only complaint about the current trade paperback collection of this 6-issue miniseries from Image Comics: it does not include a gallery of Henry's astounding cover illustrations (like the one I posted above). Instead, they're reproduced thumbnail-sized on the back cover, which is a criminal treatment of Henry's detailed art.

Otherwise, though, the trade paperback is an attractive package for a powerful and damned entertaining pulp adventure. Obviously, I highly recommend The Iron Ghost: Geist Reich.

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.

Re-Animated Again

Thought you might like to see this (click on image for larger view).

Here's an advance look at the cover art to Anchor Bay's upcoming edition of the Stuart Gordon classic, H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator, starring Jeffrey Combs.

Now I absolutely love this movie – IMO, one of the top five horror flicks of the 80's – but I have to wonder how Anchor Bay can possibly improve upon the earlier Re-Animator special edition from Elite Entertainment, which is one of the single best, most-satisfyingly complete DVDs in my vast collection.

Okay, since technology keeps zooming ahead, I suppose it's possible that AB's actual transfer will be somewhat sharper and "better" than the Elite edition (although on my TV, will I notice?), but I can't imagine them improving on the extra features. (And doesn't the "Re-Animator" highlighter pen seem like a particularly cheesy gimmick?)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to comparing this new edition to the earlier one, and I'll definitely write up my observations for my DVD Late Show column... but damn it, where's From Beyond?!

Lost in "Space"

Okay, so first I signed up with MySpace. Heard it was a good networking tool, and a way to get your name out there, maybe promote your work. It was okay. It was fun to set up my own "MySpace page," personalizing it with music, an animated slideshow, a humongous list of favorite movies and stuff. It was even fun making new "friends." But while I did meet some kindred souls on there – and even re-hooked up with some old acquaintances – there was just too much adolescent bullshit to deal with.

I still check in every day, once or twice, but that's it.

Then ComicSpace came along. In function and purpose, pretty much the same as MySpace, but at least there everybody had at least one thing in common – they're into comics. I spend a fair amount of time over there, and one thing I've learned is that it's absolutely true that the only people reading comics are people who want to make them. No wonder sales are so dismal!

Now, I've been turned onto CrimeSpace, a social networking site aimed at crime fiction authors and fans. Since my leg's feeling a bit better tonight, I spent some time – after getting some writing done (yay!) – setting up a profile over there.

It's interesting. When I first got online a decade or so ago, I was very heavy into reading crime fiction, and belonged to a number of newsgroups and forums devoted to the genre, but I haven't been into that "scene" so much in the last few years. Mostly because I haven't been able to keep up with the genre like I used to when I could afford to buy a bunch of books every month.

But I've been making a point of reading more in the genre, and I'm itching to get back to writing the stuff again, too, so CrimeSpace looked like it might be a good place to hang out.

On the other hand, it might just turn into another time-sucking site I "have to" visit every day. :) We'll see.

If you're interested in checking out my "pages" on any of these "spaces," you'll find links over in the sidebar at right.

Well, hell.

My sciatica is still slowing me down, which really sucks. Not only do I have a lot of things to write, but I feel more like writing than I have in months.

(So why am I wasting time with a blog post? 'Cause I wanna. Deal.)

Unfortunately the pain in my leg still severely limits my writing time, and makes even goofing off uncomfortable. I'm seeing my doctor again tomorrow, and I'm hopeful that we can come up with some sort of effective treatment that doesn't involve going under the knife again.

If all goes well – and I haven't forgotten how to do the posting – there should be a new DVD Late Show column at Quick Stop Entertainment on Wednesday. (I have no idea when I'll get the actual DVD Late Show website updated – soon, I hope.) I've been working on it all week in fits and starts, and it's the longest one I've written yet. But then, I've got several months worth of discs to work through – especially if I want to keep receiving those complimentary review copies. ;)

Oh yeah – I ordered a few more graphic novels, too. Red Sonja/Claw: The Devil's Hand by John Layman and Andy Smith, Gotham Central: Unresolved Targets by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, & Stefano Gaudiano, and the new Jonah Hex: Face Full of Violence, collection by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti and Luke Ross. Hey, I said I wanted to read more comics this year. Next on my list is Fear Agent: Re-Ignition, by Rick Remender (even though I hated Sea of Red, I'm going to give the guy one more chance) and Huntress: Darknight Daughter, which reprints the earliest stories of the original, Earth-2 Huntress, by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton! I'm also open to suggestions, folks – trades only, though.

Anyway, I need to get back to work while I can still bear the pain. Just wanted to make a brief status report, and I've done that. Later, folks!

It's still a ways away...

... but I thought you might like to see the cover design/logo treatment I'm working on for the forthcoming Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries miniseries that Joe Staton and I are doing for Ape Entertainment (publishers of Athena Voltaire and The Black Coat).

I'm pretty proud of the layout. Even though Joe calls the series "retro-pastiche," I didn't want to go with a blatant 30's or 40's -styled cover treatment. Sure, the font is retro/deco, but I wanted a more contemporary "book" approach to the design rather than do an outright pulp magazine or Golden Age comic book homage.

The cover illustration above – which, yes, I've shown around before – was penciled by Joe Staton and then digitally painted by Alfredo Lopez, Jr. All four covers will be done in this manner.

Of course, being comics, we'll also have "variant" covers by guest artists, most of which we already have lined up (artists to be announced soon!). Still looking for a fourth "name" to fill out the roster, though.

I don't suppose anyone reading this has Bruce Timm's e-mail address?