Conan, the 20th Century Barbarian

$1 bin score last weekend.

Conan gets stranded in mid-1980s New York City when he misses his magical lightning bolt ride back home. He sets up shop as a petty thief around Times Square, and then builds his own criminal career with his own gang. Things are going criminally well until they rob a museum and attract the attention of Captain America. Then it is a shield vs. sword showdown!

Be sure, there are some laugh out loud moments in this one, though it is not played for laughs. I'll admit it was better than I expected. Conan stays fairly true to his Marvel comic character, though there are some misses in there.

Conan in a Scarface pimp suit?

It's in here!

Superman: Warrior of Mars!

If you've friended me on Facebook, you know I've been making some large scores on the comic $1 bin sales over the past month or so.

Finally time to start reading all those purchases!

Here's a fun concept. As a baby, Superman landed on Mars - not Earth. A sword-&-planet proper ER Burroughsian Mars, at that.

Great "what if" concept. Not so well executed, unfortunately. I would love to have read a full issue of Superman in John Carter mode. But, by the midpoint of the issue, the Martians are invading Earth and Superman goes undercover to learn what Earthlings are all about. Predictably, Earth feels more like home than Mars to the Kryptonian, so he sends his adopted brethren packing back to outer space and exiles himself to Earth.

Very nice nod in a panel on the first page, though. (even if it should be Warlord of Mars, not Warrior of Mars.)

Meeting Ken Kelly

This weekend there is a local pop culture catch-all convention, aptly named the Pop Culture Expo. It's extremely convenient. Only 5.1 miles from my house (according to Google Maps,) and about half the price to get in the door as the big upcoming Boston Comic Con will be this summer. (And that will be in the city proper, which isn't as convenient.)

I went with one goal - to meet and acquire an autographed print from Ken Kelly.

Ken is very amiable and he was a pleasure to meet. Unfortunately for me, he aimed his stock at the KISS fans (I can't blame him, everyone but me seemed to want the KISS stuff!) He was a little thin on his Robert E. Howard related stuff. So, I came out with smaller prints than I wanted, but that's okay. I was able to get 2, and that might even be easier to space out in the home office.

Here's Ken with the Kull print;

Hmmm. Maybe I should have asked about that Karloff Mummy painting, after all (Yes, that's an original painting, not a print.) Maybe next time.

I won't say I made his day, but I brought up the fact that the Baen book Eons of the Night got me started on sword-&-sorcery. "Marchers of Valhalla." He absolutely beamed with excitement! He reminisced how excited and happy he had been to get the Baen Robert E. Howard Library gig. It was his chance to "do it all again" after the Berkley covers in the 1970s. I think he even favors his work for Baen, because with the Berkleys he was still learning. Those Berkleys do feel heavily influenced by his Uncle Frank. His own style comes through much more distinctly on the Baen covers.

If he comes this close again next year, I might see about contacting him beforehand (if possible) for something specific. But I'm pretty happy with today's take.

$6 Million Christmas Easter Egg

A few years ago, Dynamite Entertainment (comics) revamped the classic Six Million Dollar Man as The Bionic Man, an updated story.

Now, Dynamite has gone back to roots by offering The Six Million Dollar Man - Season Six, which picks up on the original television series where it left off. 

I'm enjoying it, even if it is just the nostalgia talking.

The first issue not only brought back the android (later to be beefed up as the toy, "Maskatron") they also brought back Darren McGavin's character, Oliver Spencer, from the original t.v. pilot movie. He even wears an oversized Kolchak hat.

Spencer was a predecessor to Oscar Goldman, and much more of a callous boss. In fact, he suggested freezing Austin between missions. Hmm... bionic arm. Freezing between missions. Where have I heard that recently?

Anyway - that's a tangent. What I'm here to report is...-

Issue #2 has an A Christmas Story Easter egg.

Easter Egg spoiler, no plot spoiler, after the jump.

Complete Titus Crow - achievement unlocked!

When Subterranean Press announced they were reissuing The Compleat Crow by Brian Lumley, which collects the Titus Crow short stories, I debated whether to acquire the Crow novels as print or ebooks.

I went with the print omnibuses from TOR, because I wasn't sure when or if Subterranean Press would release an ebook.

I was surprised when the ebook of The Compleat Crow was available the same day, at a great price.

In fact, I did not pre-order the hardcover and Amazon was instantly out-of-stock.

So, I went with the ebook, and put in an order anyway, not certain if Amazon would be able to fulfill it.

Happy happy joy joy, the hardcover came in the mail yesterday!

It's a little thinner than I expected, but still very nice.

Now, to get around to reading them all!

The Return of Wagner's Kane (for real)

Not a tease, this time.

Chatting on Fb about Karl Edward Wagner, and the question came up about Kane being out-of-print again, and wondering when the Centipede editions might start to appear (if they are still happening,)
I poked my head in at Amazon.

Boy, was I surprised.

What you're seeing are the ebooks covers I pulled from Barnes & Noble, actually.  Amazon has the books listed, but they have incorrect covers. (and I mean incorrect - wrong book, wrong author.)

Not every Kane tale, of course, but it's great to see something available (or will be available tomorrow!)

Priced at $3.99 each, it's finally a chance for those who haven't experienced Kane to get in the door cheap!

More loot

I received a pile of loot that I had ordered from Amazon.

Scouring Amazon for various Mammoth titles, I came across The Mammoth Book of Sword and Honor. It occurred to me that aside from Ambrose Bierce's (American) Civil War Stories, I don't think I've really read historical/historical-military fiction in the short form. I was intrigued. I was extra intrigued because The Mammoth Book of Sword and Honor was in the Amazon Bargain Books, and they claimed to only have a few copies left.

So, we came blame most of this on that. ;) I didn't want to pay double the price just to ship it, so I piled on the other stuff to get free shipping.

At first, I wasn't sure about The Mammoth Book of Dracula. I have other vampire anthologies and Mammoth books and wasn't sure about an entire Mammoth book of stories directly related to Dracula. But, the authors in the table-of-contents finally swayed me to put the book on my wishlist. Amazon were down to their last copy, so I added it to my order.

Psycho Mania is a new book and according to the copyright page, not a reissue. But, for all intents & purposes, it is a Mammoth book.  It is edited by Stephen Jones and the layout is the same as a Mammoth tome.  If it had been published ten years ago or earlier, it would have been titled, The Mammoth Book of Psychos.

As a matter of personal taste, I am not one for slasher/demented-murderer horror. There is too much of that in the real world. I prefer my horror to have some supernatural element. But, the cover claims some of these tales do have a supernatural element. It contains the Bloch classic, "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" which I have never read and I have wanted to read for a long time. That is the main reason I bought the book.

Charles Rutledge was kind enough to send me some wilder, early 1960s Sexton Blake stories. (which I sheepishly admit I still need to read.) I thought I should educate myself on some classic Sexton Blake tales. I was surprised how thick this book is! Most of the other Wordsworth Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural are half this thick.

Finally, I wanted to complete my mini Tarzan movie collection with Tarzan the Magnificent. It features Gordon Scott's last outing as the Lord of the Jungle, and his second outing as an articulate, modern Tarzan. Looking forward to watching it soon.