Crossovers Expanded Volumes 1 & 2 (2016) by Sean Levin published Meteor House

A few years back Win Scott Eckert published Crossovers: A Secret History of the Universe which made connections to many different characters through the links of crossovers. 

I reviewed these back on the old blog (which will have to be reposted here soon)  and found them to be excellent works that were well researched.  However, by its very nature such a work is incomplete - new crossover stories are written all the time and older ones await rediscovery.  Win handed the title of Crossover Chronicler to Sean Levin who after several years of work has published these two new volumes.

Levin has taken Win's format and built two new volumes that have the same breadth and scope of history as Win's works.  Indeed if all four volumes were to reedited into one giant sized telephone sized work I may have some trouble identifying which entries were by which author but this is a good thing it makes Crossovers Expanded feel like an organic outgrowth of the original volumes.

 Looking through both volumes I was frequently surprised by crossovers I was unaware of and pleased to see some familiar authors and names appear in this book.  Full disclosure, several of my stories are referenced in this work and Sean has done a great job at spotting the connections I have sprinkled through my stories. 

I bow to Sean's knowledge of pulp and adventure fiction.  I must also compliment the artwork that littered the work that provided a visual link to the works.  Keith Howell has done a great job on the covers illustrating several heroic archetypes.

As a fan of pulp and adventure fiction these are invaluable reference works.

Carnifex (2016) by Matthew J. Hellscream

I'd really enjoyed Hellscream's first effort Metro 7 a sci-fi action horror novel and I was keen to see what he would do as a follow up.

Carnifex is a different book to Metro 7 but that shows just how versatile Hellscream is as a writer.  This more a nature run amok horror, with a dash of Wolf Creek, and is set here in Queensland in the fictional town of Kooyah in the present.   While Metro 7 was a "wham bam thank you ma'am", Carnifex is a slow burn ratcheting up the tension as characters realise just what is going on and are forced to fight their way out of this situation.

I really liked this approach, Kooyah is the type of town that I might drive through to visit family or go on holidays - although unlike many of those towns, Kooyah won't have won a friendly town award, as they have a secret, one they would kill to protect. 

The main characters Scott and Jessica felt like real people I might know and the fact that Hellscream takes his time to build and develop these characters meant that I cared about them as they were thrown into this situation.

There's a joke that in Australia every animal is out to get you and Carnifex offers another deadly Aussie creature that may have inspired at least one Australian folk tale.  

This was a great standalone novel but I wouldn't complain if Scott and Jessica were to appear in future works.

What I bought November 2016

Okay a couple of days late, but the order came in on 1 December.

Vigilante: Sounthland #2 by Gary Phillips & Elana Casagrande

After the first issue I was a bit hesitant to read this but this issue was definitely better and I followed it better.  We're still in the origin arc and it seems that there were other heroes who have operated here in the past including one who operated as The Eastsider.  I'm really starting to get into this story and I'm looking forward to the next issue.

Red One #3 by Xavier Dorison and Terry and Rachel Dodson

Colour me as sucker for female spies - Danger Girl, Black Widow, Modesty Blaise.  I was intrigued by this title produced for two issues a year.  I'd found issue 4 a couple of months ago and said lots of naughty words when no one had issue 3 - so I'm grateful to Secret Identity comics for ordering this in for me.  The idea of a Russian spy acting as an American superhero as a propaganda tool is unusual and I'm keen to see what next year's issues bring. 

Peepland #2 by Christa Faust and Gary Phillips and Andrea Camerini

A solid follow up to the first issue.  New characters and complications get added to the plot and I'm really enjoying this series.


James Bond: Eidolon #11 by Warren Ellis and Jason Masters

We're in the final stretch of this arc and Ellis is ramping up everything for a final confrontation.


20 Years of Tomb Raider by Meagan Marie

Wow it's been 20 years since the first Tomb Raider Game.  This is a beautiful overview everything Tomb Raider.  The Game not surprisingly take up half the book but Marie examine Books, Comics, novels, movies, cosplay, and the various fan activities such as Fan fic, fan art, fan films.  The various models, voices and musicians for the game are also looked at.

Even cooler is the fact that there is a flip book effect as various incarnation of Lara run,  jump and shoot as you flick though the book.

It's a big book and the type of companion that I love to have in my collection.

 

 

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS

Presents

THE RETURN OF THE DOMINO LADY

 

 

 

Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to announce that pulpdom’s sexiest masked adventure is back in a brand new collection of her sexy exploits.  From a gang of corrupt policemen to secret Nazis saboteurs out to destroy the Los Angeles Olympics, the beautiful and wily crime-fighter has her hands full in this new quartet of tales by Gene Moyers, Brad Mengel, Robert Ricci and Paul Findley. 

 

“Volume One of this series was a whopping success for us,” reports Airship 27 Productions’ Managing Editor Ron Fortier.  “We couldn’t keep copies on our tables at the pulp cons.  Our readers, both men and women, are extremely fascinated by this character as there were so few female pulp heroes back in the 30s and 40s.”

 

Airship 27 Productions was also thrilled to reassemble the art team that made Volume One so beautiful for the fans.  Under the helm of Art Director Rob Davis, artist James Lyle delivered another nine fantastic black and white interior illustrations while Canadian Ted Hammond offered his second Domino Lady cover; a stunning image that captures the allure and mystery inherent in this great character.

 

As always, lovely socialite Ellen Patrick weaves her way in and out of trouble, donning her black silk domino mask whenever injustice rears its ugly head. From the time of her father’s murder, Ellen has dedicated herself to righting wrongs.  She just does it in a most peculiar fashion becoming the pulps’ most alluring and deadly hero; the Domino Lady.

 

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

 

Available now from Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1946183016/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479751166&sr=1-5&keywords=Domino+Lady

The A-Team: The Mystery of Sue.

As a fan of 80s TV series I collect the UK annuals that came out over the years.  Recently I acquired the first annual for the A Team which is copyright 1984.



As you can see the full team are there Mr T as B.A. Dwight Shultz as Murdock, George Peppard as Hannibal, Dirk Benedict as Face and Melinda Culea as Amy.

Inside are five text stories, two comic strip stories, a profile of the four male members of the A Team, a Murdock Themed Plane Quiz (five planes are shown one is the product of Murdock's imagination which one, a "humour" page with B.A. at the Day Care centre.  Well I assume they were meant to be funny because they weren't.

So I read the first story Swamp Wreck, there's no Amy but there is a Sue who fills much the same role.  Sue appears in the next story the comic "Buried Alive."

The third story "When the War came back" had Zoe in the role.

Amy finally appears in "Seizure at Sneekerville".

Sue reappears in the comic "....Bring him back Alive." and the text story "The Scuzzball Diamond Set-To" .

In the final story "Hard Times in Hawaii" Ann is with the Team.

Lastly there is a board game "Get..The A-Team" where you have to collect the five members of the A Team Face, B.A, Murdock, Hannibal and Sue.  complete with pictures of the actors. 

Except Sue wasn't in the TV series

Who the hell is Sue? 

The picture isn't Melinda Culea, perhaps it was a guest star in the first season.  Looking through the cast lists for the season -Sue Beth appears in "The Rabbit who ate Los Vegas"  played by Michelle Avonne, an actress who appeared in five things and has no photos on the internet except this one



I watch the episode and she looks nothing like Sue from the Annual, nor does Katherine Moffatt who played Sue Beth's friend Darlene.  The episode isn't clear which character is which.

I show my wife and she points out that Sue looks a little like Patricia Richardson from Home Improvement.  I find a 1983 ad Patricia had done



Maybe  then I look at her filmography and in 1984 she did a show called Double Trouble

Where her hairdo looks a lot like that seen in the picture she appears at 0;32

 

 

I have no idea why they picked that photo of Patricia Richardson - she never appeared in the A-Team.  There were no characters called Sue in her filmography.

 

I have even less of a clue who Zoe and Amy are -  if I were to speculate there is a 10 year period while the A Team is on the run before they meet Amy Allen perhaps these women helped the team during that period.