THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES

"Nature has many secrets man mustn't disturb and this was one of them."

The best thing about THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES (1955) is the poster art pictured above. And it should be since this is one of those legendary title-and-artwork first, script-and-movie second quickies distributed by American Releasing before it morphed into American-International Pictures.

There were literally hundreds of science fiction films produced during the 1950s. Some of them are enduring classics, touchstones of the genre that still hold up more than sixty years later. Others are minor but fun and worth watching at least once. Many others are complete duds. Still, I continue to watch any and all of these types of films in the hopes that I might discover a diamond in the rough, an unheralded gem.

I'll have to keep on watching because PHANTOM is one truly terrible film. From a misleading title (there's no "phantom", only a third rate sea monster and the producers don't seem to realize that "leagues" is a term for distance traveled underwater, not depth), to a script by Lou Rusoff that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to a handful of cheap sets and Southern California beach locations, this one is a stinker from beginning to end.

The story revolves around an underwater uranium deposit off of the California coast that has become active. The deposit is guarded by the aforementioned monster who kills anyone who comes close to the glowing light. A mad oceanographer, Professor King (Michael Whalen), is intent on conducting experiments with the radiation to determine its' effects on the local sea life. This activity (and some murders) have caught the attention of government agent Grant (Rodney Bell) and another oceanographer, Dr. Ted Stevens (Kent Taylor, sporting a jet black widow's peak that would do Prince Namor proud).

While investigating, Stevens falls for King's daughter, Lois (the lovely Cathy Downs). King's secretary, Ethel (Vivi Janiss), is up to no good, as is his assistant, George (Philip Pine), who brandishes a spear gun for most of the film. George is in league with Wanda, a sexy Soviet spy played by Helene Stanton.

When a freighter passes over the uranium deposit and blows up (using footage from some other film), King feels guilty and decides to put an end to the underwater mayhem.

This is the kind of movie where men walk around on a beach at night (it's shot day-for-night but work with me here people), in coasts and ties and utter inane dialog that makes no sense either scientifically or dramatically.

Released as the bottom half of a double bill with DAY THE WORLD ENDED (a far better film), PHANTOM nevertheless turned out to be a profitable film for the dynamic film making duo of Dan (director) and Jack (producer) Milner.

They're the only people who benefited from this turkey.

CROSSFIRE

" The snakes are loose."


Back in the '70s, film director Edward Dmytryk did a one semester director in residency program at the University of Texas. In addition to working with film students he also did guest lectures and hosted screenings of several of his films. I was lucky enough to have Dmytryk speak to my film class one afternoon and I recall attending screenings of THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) and CROSSFIRE, his hard-hitting film noir from 1947. I watched this film the other day for the first time in almost forty years and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had forgotten just how good it is.

Adapted by John Paxton from Richard Brooks' 1945 novel THE BRICK FOXHOLE (note: Brooks would go on to a distinguished film directing career), CROSSFIRE deals with a group of World War II vets with time on their hands and, for one, insane hatred in his heart.

Several of the men, including Mitch (George Cooper), Montgomery (Robert Ryan) and Floyd (Steve Brodie), meet Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene) in a bar. They strike up a conversation and before you know it, Samuels has invited Mitch back to his apartment for more drinks and conversation. Montgomery and Floyd show up, Mitch leaves and eventually Samuels is murdered. Sergeant Keeley (Robert Mitchum) gets involved in the investigation spearheaded by Detective Finlay (Robert Young). Keeley believes Mitch is innocent and sets out to find him and clear his name over the course of one long night that is fraught with tension (and another murder).

Mitch makes for a very plausible suspect however. Clearing suffering from what we know now as PTSD (at the time, it was described as battle fatigue or combat shock), Mitch is a broken man, lost and confused who eventually turns to the arms of Ginny (Gloria Grahame), a B-girl floozy who takes sympathy on the wounded man and serves as a possible witness to clear his name.

Keeley and Finlay slowly piece together the puzzle and set a trap for their number one suspect. It's not a huge surprise as to the identity of the killer but what is interesting is the killer's motive. One of the men is a rampant anti-Semite whose hatred for Jews drives him to kill a man whom he believes sat out the war (Samuels is actually revealed to be a veteran himself). In the original novel, the killer hated homosexuals, a theme that just wouldn't have played in 1947 Hollywood. Anti-Semitism was raw enough and the subject is superbly handled by Dmytryk and a stellar cast.

CROSSFIRE was produced at RKO studios with a relatively small budget and short shooting schedule. Nevertheless, it managed to earn five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Ryan), Best Supporting Actress (Grahame) and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was unheard of at the time for a genre B picture to win this much acclaim. It lost the Best Picture Oscar to GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT, another film about anti-Semitism from major studio 20th Century Fox.

For my money, CROSSFIRE is the better film. Highly recommended.

THE THING: LIBERTY LEGION

I know I've mentioned here on my blog that Jack Kirby is my all time favorite comic book artist. And I'm pretty sure I've stated that Roy Thomas is my all time favorite comic book writer. If I haven't, consider it told here and now. Also among my favorite comic book characters are Ben Grimm, The Thing. I'm a huge fan of Thomas's wonderful mid-70s Marvel series, THE INVADERS, in which Captain America, Bucky, The Human Torch, Toro and Namor, the Sub-Mariner (along with other Golden Age stalwarts), fought Nazis and other menaces in World War I EuropeI. And boy, would I love to see an INVADERS movie on the big screen. It was established in the film CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER that the original android version of the Human Torch exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, there's two out of the big three characters you'd need to make this work. It'll probably never happen but this movie is very high on my wish list.

I'm also crazy about Golden Age comic book heroes in general and anything having to do with World War II. So you just know I had to love the handsome hardcover volume pictured above. I sat down and read this beauty yesterday and enjoyed every page of it. The volume collects a series of various issues of Bronze Age comics that, taken all together, tell one big, more or less, connected story. The narrative takes place in INVADERS #5 & 6, MARVEL PREMIERE #29 & 30, FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #11, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1 and MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #20.

The cast of characters include the already established Invaders and Marvel's royal family, the Fantastic Four and introduces to the world for the first time, the home front superhero team dubbed The Liberty Legion. Led by Captain America's junior partner, Bucky Barnes, the team consists of such Golden Age Timely Comics second bananas as The Patriot, Miss America, The Whizzer, Red Raven, The Thin Man, Jack Frost and The Blue Diamond.

Roy Thomas wrote each issue collected here and the artwork is provided by such stellar Marvel artistic talents as John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins and Don Heck.

Boy, is this one fun collection of WWII super heroic shenanigans!

THE HIGH SIDE

After reading BARBARIANS ON BIKES a couple of weeks ago (and posting a very positive review here on my blog), I had an urge to read a vintage motorcycle gang novel, a few of which I happened to have in my collection. I bought them years ago with the intention to get around to reading them "some day". Well, that "some day" came this week.

I grabbed THE HIGH SIDE by Max Ehrlich off of my shelf for my first foray into the world of biker fiction. I bought this book way back when primarily for the Frank Frazetta cover art and it was that art that caused me to pick this book.

THE HIGH SIDE is the story of one Cal McCue, a member of the Los Angeles based Satan's Outlaws, a notorious motorcycle gang full of violent misfits. Cal, a young man with no real purpose in life, is desperate to find a home, some place where he can fit in and be among like minded people who understand him. The only place he finds such comfort and acceptance is in the Outlaws.

Until he meets Marcy, a peace-love-and-understanding hippie chick who sees the tortured soul deep within Cal and falls deeply in love with him. Cal loves Marcy also. She's not like any of the other biker "mamas" and "old ladies" of the gang. But Cal is torn between his affection for Marcy and his loyalty to the gang.

When Marcy becomes pregnant, Cal finds himself on the horns of a moral dilemma. Leave the gang and try to live a life of responsibility and parenthood or bring Marcy into the gang and hope she can adapt to their violent ways.

To make matters even worse, Beautiful Brad, the white-haired, blue-eyed, incredibly charismatic leader of the Outlaws is also deeply in love with Cal, a strong strain of homo-eroticism that runs throughout the novel.

Things come to a head at a weekend orgy at a California lake where Cal, Brad, Marcy and a vengeful cop collide.

Published in 1970, THE HIGH SIDE is a Fawcett Gold Medal original that's part character study, part handbook/primer for biker culture. Author Ehrlich goes into great detail about the rules and rituals of the motorcycle gang. It's an odd mix of loyalty and perversity (golden showers, anyone?) with many scenes in the book easily adapted for the cover or interior illustrations of any men's adventure magazine published that year.

Ehrlich is a decent enough writer and keeps things moving for the novel's 192 pages. Ehrlich's biggest hit was THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD, published in 1974 and made into a film in 1975.

If you want to relive the glory days of Southern California biker gangs, check out THE HIGH SIDE. It's full of lurid sex, brutal violence and a look into a fascinating outsider culture.

I WATCHED THEM EAT ME ALIVE

I devoured I WATCHED THEM EAT ME ALIVE: KILLER CREATURES IN MEN'S ADVENTURE MAGAZINES last night in one sitting. The latest entry in the ambitious and much appreciated Men's Adventure Library, this slim volume packs a helluva punch in 103 pages. Edited by MAM masterminds Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle, this digest size/format book delivers vintage Men's Adventure Magazine covers along with five stories featuring animal attacks on humans. Deis and Doyle both provide interesting introductory material and then it's off to the land of killer crabs and vicious flying squirrels (among other dangers).

The stories feature the above mentioned crabs and squirrels as well as a randy gorilla, a mountain lion and a shitload of snakes (with a gator thrown in for good measure) as the final yarn. All of the stories follow a standard formula: start with an exciting action sequence in which the narrator is immediately imperiled, then flash back to explain how our protagonist got in this predicament, then back to present day for a thrilling climax. It's a great way to hook a casual reader from the get-go because if a reader was bored by any given story in a MAM, he'd merely flip the page and start reading the next story. This formula is a sure-fire method to keep male eyeballs glued to the adventure at hand.

The last two stories are the best. STRANGE REVENGE OF WYOMING'S MOST HUNTED GIANT PUMA is by MAM maestro, the late Robert F. Dorr and the tale vividly demonstrates why he was a master of this type of material. In this story, it's a man that's the bad guy while the mountain lion just does what mountain lions do. The Men's Adventure Library has previously published A HANDFULL OF HELL, a first rate collection of some of Dorr's best war and adventure stories and that volume comes highly recommended. You can order it at menspulpmags.com. Tell 'em I sent you and thank me later.

The grand finale, TRAPPED IN THE BAYOU'S PIT OF A MILLION SNAKES could just as easily have been dubbed the original "Snakes on a Plane", because that's exactly what happens in this totally gonzo story by the late Walter Kaylin, one of the best of all of the many MAM writers. This insane thriller pits a small plane, three men (the pilot, a prison official and a convicted killer) against a veritable army of cottonmouth snakes and a giant, snake eating alligator. Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? If this one doesn't make your pulse race, you're dead.

All in all, I WATCHED THEM EAT ME ALIVE just goes to prove the old adage about explosives coming in small packages. This one brings the dynamite in two fists along with a testosterone fuse of sweaty, desperate thrills as men battle killer animals to the death. Trust me, it doesn't get any better than this.

HULL ZERO THREE

Greg Bear's HULL ZERO THREE (2011) is one head-scratcher of a science fiction novel. I read all 307 pages of this trade paperback and I'm still not sure I understand exactly what this one is all about. Here are the basics.

The novel is narrated by an unnamed adult, human male known only as "Teacher". He was awakened/born/created aboard an enormous star ship heading beyond our galaxy to populate an alien planet. Teacher's memories as to what's going on aboard the ship are fuzzy, hazy things and what he does recall may be entirely false, fake memories about Earth that may have been implanted but by whom and for what purpose?

But Teacher doesn't have long to contemplate this mystery because he's too busy trying to stay alive in the deadly and perilous passageways of the badly damaged ship. It's apparent that something has gone drastically wrong with the mission but whether that error occurred due to some external threat or because of shipboard war between humans and monsters, is unclear.

The humans that Teacher meet are not normal. There are two identical little girls (more, many more, of them are actually on the ship), there's another Teacher (again with others in stasis tubes/birthing cradles), there are mutated humans, designed to survive and thrive in various planetary atmospheres and environments and there are monsters, creatures designed to scour the ship and remove waste, junk and debris, who are now preying on the various human survivors.

Teacher discovers that other Teachers who have gone before him have recorded their journeys within the ship in small books. He uses one of these books as a guide and eventually joins a small band of misfit survivors including another Teacher, the two girls, a woman who has an affinity for the ship's control system, a huge man and a shape-changing monster who is actually a navigator.

The team continues to explore the mysteries of the ship's three hulls and while they discover some pretty wild, amazing stuff, the full story is never entirely revealed. As I got closer to the end of the book, I kept expecting an info dump of some kind to explain everything. But that explanation does not exist.

Bear does manage to keep you turning the pages, with almost every chapter ending on an unresolved question. The whole idea is engaging but there's ultimately just not enough of a payoff to make the whole journey worth the trip. The characters, even Teacher, the narrator, are more vividly drawn in terms of their physical appearances and odd behaviors than any emotional depth. The visuals are spectacular and there's material here just waiting to be turned into a movie.

If so, I can only hope that the screenwriter does a better job of tying things together than Bear does here. If his goal was to leave us wondering, he certainly succeeded. But I prefer a little less ambiguity in my science fiction.

TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.

Director William Friedkin had one helluva career trifecta in the 1970s. First, there was THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) which scored eight Academy Award nominations winning five including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Gene Hackman), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Friedkin followed up that classic, gritty urban crime film with the landmark and groundbreaking horror film, THE EXORCIST (1973), which earned ten Academy Award nominations (a staggering number for a horror film), but won only two: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound Mixing. The third film, SORCERER (1977) was a remake of the French adventure thriller THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953). The film earned one Academy Award nomination (Best Sound) and although it met with tepid critical and commercial reception at the time, has since undergone a much needed critical reevaluation and reappraisal and is seen as one of Friedkin's best films.

Not so his next three pictures. THE BRINK'S JOB (1978), CRUISING (1980) and DEAL OF THE CENTURY (1983) were all misfires on various levels with CRUISING being perhaps the most egregious offender of the trio. So, by the middle of the 1980s, Friedkin was in need of a hit, something substantial and solid that would redeem his reputation as one of the best American directors to come out of the New Hollywood second golden age of the 1970s.

Friedkin found inspiration in the novel TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985), which was written by former U.S. Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich (who collaborated with Friedkin on the screenplay). TO LIVE was a throwback to THE FRENCH CONNECTION in many ways. But this time, instead of the mean streets of New York, Friedkin sets the action in the sun-drenched locale of Los Angeles. Like CONNECTION, TO LIVE features an obsessed cop, in this case, U.S. Treasury agent Richard Chance (William L. Petersen) whose partner is gunned down only two days before his retirement by master counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe). Chance swears to avenge his partner's death and bring down Masters by using any means necessary, even if that requires Chance and his new partner, John Vukovich (John Pankow) to break the law themselves.

And like CONNECTION, the set piece of TO LIVE is a hell-and-gone car chase in which Chance ends up furiously driving the wrong way into oncoming traffic on an LA freeway. While not quite as good as the CONNECTION chase, it's nonetheless a hair-raising, white-knuckle piece of bravura action film making.

Stylishly shot by cinematographer Robby Muller, and fully utilizing a myriad of Los Angeles locations, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is a first-rate neo noir that uncovers the darkness lurking in the shadows of the City of Angels, especially the darkness that festers in men's souls, blurring the line between heroes and villains.

My only complaint about the film is the musical score by Wang Chung. Heavy on the synthesizer, this uber-annoying sonic swill permeates almost every frame of the film. It's a sound that represents everything that was truly awful about the music of the 1980s, which was perhaps one of the worst decades for popular music in history. Truly terrible.

Bad music aside, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is still well-worth seeing. The performances are solid, the screenplay is first rate, the action and violence well staged and effective and Friedkin's stylish direction marks a return to his previous form.

Recommended.

BARBARIANS ON BIKES

For my birthday this year, my lovely wife Judy gave me two way cool books (along with other great stuff). The books are BARBARIANS ON BIKES and I WATCHED THEM EAT ME ALIVE. They're part of the ambitious Men's Adventure Library series, a line-up of quality books that reprint stories, art and covers from classic men's adventure magazines from the '50s to the '70s.

 A couple of years ago, Judy gifted me with a copy of A HANDFUL OF HELL by the late Robert F. Dorr. I posted a positive review of this two-fisted collection of classic war and adventure stories on this blog after I read it. I plan to start reading I WATCHED THEM EAT ME ALIVE later this evening. So, I have three of these incredible books in my collection with the following titles still to be acquired: WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH, HE-MEN, BAG MEN & NYMPHOS, CRYPTOZOOLOGY ANTHOLOGY and the upcoming CUBA: SUGAR, SEX, AND SLAUGHTER. Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle are the mad geniuses responsible for these instant classics and I tip my hat to these two men who are bringing so much terrific vintage material back to life in these handsome, absolutely must-have books. For more info, check out the website menspulpmags.com and tell 'em I sent you. You can thank me later.

I sat down and devoured BARBARIANS ON BIKES yesterday afternoon. It's a terrific look at the bygone days when outlaw motorcycle gangs captured the nation's collective imagination through books (fiction and non-fiction), films and men's adventure magazines in which biker exploits were brought to vivid, thrilling life through lurid text and eye-popping artwork. Deis and Doyle provide a nice historical overview in their introduction while former LAPD cop (and cyclist) Paul Bishop ices the cake with a nifty afterword. In between, it's page after page of classic biker related material from MAMS.

The format is a beauty. On the left hand side of each two page spread, is a reproduction of the first page of a magazine article while the right hand side features a full-color reproduction of various magazine covers. I would have loved to see some of these stories reprinted in their entirety rather than just given a tantalizing glimpse but that's a very minor quibble about what is in every way an outstanding package of salacious and forbidden thrills.

You know a book is a good one when you look at a full color magazine cover, reproduced in all it's psychotic glory and think, "this is my favorite!" only to turn the page, see another cover and think, "no, wait, THIS is my favorite". This process was repeated for each and every of the 112 pages contained here. I don't have any of the magazines depicted here in my collection (yet), but feasting my eyes on these beauties has only served to reinvigorate my ongoing, never-ending quest to continue to acquire vintage MAMS.

In the words of General George S. Patton: "God, I love it. God help me, I do love it so."

THREE BY FARMER

Philip Jose Farmer (January 26th, 1918-February 25th, 2009), was, in my estimation (along with many others), one of the great American science fiction writers of the twentieth-century. I recently read three of his novels and while none of them achieve any degree of greatness, they are all interesting works that are very much worth reading by both hardcore Farmer fans and neophytes.
HADON OF ANCIENT OPAR (1974), is an adventure novel set in prehistoric Africa about the warrior king Hadon, from the ancient city of Opar. Opar, you may recall, was the fabulous lost city full of treasure, brutish man-apes and the breathtakingly lovely La, that was discovered by Tarzan in his second adventure, THE RETURN OF TARZAN (1915). Farmer borrows the city from creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, sets the action thousands of years in the past (while doing a tremendous amount of world-building) and let's the narrative rip.

The title is a bit mis-leading. While Hadon is indeed a citizen of ancient Opar, almost none of the action takes place there. Instead, Hadon and a small army of athletes set out for another city to compete in a series of games and contests in which there can be only one victor. The games become deadly as they progress until the final two contestants must face each other in a sword-fight. Hadon wins (of course) but before he can claim his prize (the throne of the kingdom and the hand of a lovely princess), he is forced to embark on an epic quest to find some legendary beings who may or may not be gods. Hadon and his companions eventually find the beings (they're only mortals after all) and return to the city. But when they arrive, they find the evil king ruling with an iron fist and the princess (his daughter), imprisoned. Hadon and his mates are soon jailed themselves and they're forced to engineer a daring escape from prison before a volcano erupts and destroys the entire city.

HADON OF ANCIENT OPAR is a good adventure novel but Farmer fills a quarter of the pages of the book with time lines, glossaries and other elements of world building that I didn't bother to read. I would have much preferred to see those pages used to give us more of Hadon's adventures, but that would have to wait until the publication of FLIGHT TO OPAR (1976) Note: I have a copy of this book and will hopefully get around to reading it soon.

Next up is VENUS ON THE HALF SHELL (1975), a science fiction novel written by "Kilgore Trout". Trout is the fictional hack science fiction author that is referenced in the pages of Kurt Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (1969) as well as other Vonnegut novels. Farmer's chief conceit here is, just what would a science fiction novel "written" by Kilgore Trout actually look like? VENUS is the answer. The novel recalls GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (1726) and anticipates THE HITCH-HIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (1979) as it recounts the picaresque adventures of Simon Wagstaff, the sole survivor of the destruction of Earth, who journeys throughout the universe with this three companions, a beautiful alien robot, a dog and an owl, searching for the answer to the cosmic question: why are we born only to suffer and die?  VENUS riffs on a variety of sf tropes and achieves a degree of meta-fiction when Wagstaff recounts science fiction stories written by other fictional sf authors.

It's an uneven journey, with some of the satire and humor hitting the desired targets, while other bits of business simply fall flat. Ambitious and daring, VENUS ON THE HALF-SHELL caused quite a stir when it was originally published, with many readers and reviewers believing that "Kilgore Trout" was a real person until Farmer's ruse was eventually uncovered.

Finally, there's DARE (1965), which answers the eternal question: whatever happened to the lost colony of Roanoke, Virginia?. Turns out the inhabitants of that colony were captured by aliens and taken to another planet to live. The human descendants of the original colonists live in an uneasy truce with the natives of the planet, creatures that recall creatures from ancient Earth mythology and take the form of werewolves, dragons, satyrs and human/horse hybrids. The hero of the story, a young human male, finds himself in love with a beautiful alien woman, a love which is strictly forbidden. Before long the humans launch an all out war on the aliens only to be stymied in the third act by the deus ex machina of a star ship from Earth landing on the planet. DARE is nothing special but it's a good, quick read full of culture clashes, adventure, and undying love.

THE SHADOW: THE MURDER MASTER & THE HYDRA

I recently finished reading THE SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL #4 (Nostalgia Ventures, 2007) and it's a corker. This handsome trade paperback reprints two vintage Shadow pulp thrillers in their entirety, along with the original black and white interior illustrations, all beneath a gorgeous painted cover.

The two stories in this volume are THE MURDER MASTER (from February 15th, 1938) and THE HYDRA (from December 1st, 1942). Along with the pulp reprints, there's a foreword by noted cartoonist Gahan Wilson and informative articles by pulp scholars Anthony Tollin and Will Murray. No matter how you look at it, this is a can't-miss package of pure pulp magic.

THE MURDER MASTER is a mad fiend who uses the radio to broadcast a series of death threats against wealthy New York businessmen. All of the threats come true but before the Shadow can confront this mysterious foe, the radio station has been vacated, leaving the Shadow to deduce that the threats were actually pre-recorded on a vinyl disc, which leaves the criminal mastermind on the loose and ready to strike again. Another key plot element here is the idea of supposedly rehabilitated criminals being used as gang members for the Murder Master (this recalls Doc Savage's Crime College in upstate New York where Savage performed illegal lobotomies on many of his foes, rendering them incapable of further criminal action).

MURDER features a nifty escape from a venerable death trap (the walls of a room close in on The Shadow before he executes a death defying escape) and a truly bizarre scene in which The Shadow is viewed through the lens of a giant microscope, lending the viewer on the other end a cyclopean air. It's not hard to figure out who the real Murder Master is (Walter Gibson does throw us a red herring in the form of a wizened mad scientist) but that's a minor quibble in this otherwise first rate pulp thriller.

THE HYDRA starts with a bang. A fiery conflagration consumes a Long Island mansion as a means of covering up a massive theft of valuables from the home. All of this is orchestrated by the criminal organization known as The Hydra, a ruthless gang that features the old adage: when one member dies, two more take his place. Before you know it, Lamont Cranston uses an elephant gun to blow away a Hydra head in Cranston's home while The Shadow watches. What? The Shadow and Lamont Cranston in the same room? But aren't they one and the same? Not so fast dime novel breath. As THE HYDRA clearly demonstrates, there is a real Lamont Cranston who is definitely NOT The Shadow. However, The Shadow frequently "borrows" Cranston's identity for his own purposes, an appropriation that Cranston is clearly okay with. Plucky Margo Lane constantly suspects that Cranston is The Shadow but can never get any conclusive evidence to prove her theory.

HYDRA features some wild set pieces. In addition to the fiery action at the start, there's a crazy "fight" in a room full of deadly scientific marvels, machines which go out of control and menace The Shadow and a Hydra member. The climax finds multiple "Shadows" squaring off against multiple Hydras with only the real Shadow and the ultimate head of Hydra left standing for a battle to the death.

I have no proof of this and have never seen it speculated anywhere else but it seems to me highly likely that THE HYDRA was read by either Stan Lee or Jack Kirby (or perhaps both) in late 1942. Why? Because the motto for The Hydra and the hierarchical nature of the criminal empire are remarkably similar to that espoused by Hydra, the evil spy organization that Lee and Kirby introduced in the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. series in mid-'60s issues of STRANGE TALES. The comic book Hydra was headed by Baron Strucker (a Fury foe from WWII) and still figures prominently in both the cinematic and comic book versions of the current Marvel Universe. Coincidence? Tribute? Homage? Who knows (besides The Shadow), but my bet is that someone in the Marvel bullpen had to have read this Shadow novel.

All in all, two terrific Shadow adventures along with great historical information make this one a winner.

MOVIE MUSINGS

A few days ago, I selected at random one of my many long boxes full of back issue comics. The comics in the box were arranged in alphabetical order and this box happened to begin with "K" comics. First up, several issues of KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH.

KAMANDI was edited, written and drawn by the immortal Jack Kirby (have I mentioned here before that he's my all-time favorite comic book creator?). When Kirby's Fourth World magnum opus was canceled, Kirby was still contractually obligated to provide DC Comics with a certain number of pages per month. To make up for the loss of NEW GODS and FOREVER PEOPLE and the soon to be canceled MISTER MIRACLE, Kirby delivered two brand new series, KAMANDI and THE DEMON while taking over the long running LOSERS series in OUR FIGHTING FORCES.

KAMANDI, which debuted in 1972, ran for 59 issues, before cancellation in 1978. Kirby was in complete control of the book for the first 37 issues. He illustrated scripts written by Gerry Conway in issues 38-40 before bowing out of DC Comics and returning to Marvel.

KAMANDI, is at first glance, a comic book derivative of the then popular PLANET OF THE APES film series. Yes, there are intelligent, talking apes in the series and most of the humans that Kamandi meets in his adventures can barely speak. But there's much more to this exhilarating science fiction adventure series than a mere riff on POTA.

 In the world A.D. (After the Great Disaster), Kamandi emerges from the safety of the Command-D bunker in New York City to find a landscape populated with intelligent, talking animals of all species. Many of them are hostile towards the young adventurer, but Kamandi establishes friendships with some of the animals including Dr. Canus (a dog) and Prince Tuftan (a tiger). He also encounters Ben Boxer, a human mutant who can transmute his body into atomic powered steel. There's more, much more in this wild and woolly comic book series that gets my highest recommendation. If you're a Kirby fan, you already know about the wonder and awe contained within these pages. If you're wondering what all the fuss over Kirby is about, check it out. KAMANDI is available in hardcover collections from DC Comics.

I'd really like to see this material adapted to the big screen. It would work on so many levels. There's disaster porn, a bizarre post apocalyptic landscape to explore, plenty of opportunities for CGI wonders of all shapes and sizes, a plucky young hero and his brave companions and mysteries to be solved.

Granted, DC hasn't fared so well with their cinematic universe so far. With the exception of WONDER WOMAN, all of the other DC Comics films of the past few years have all been met with shrugs and a general "meh" attitude. Can anyone really claim that SUPERMAN RETURNS, CATWOMAN, JONAH HEX, GREEN LANTERN, MAN OF STEEL, BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, SUICIDE SQUAD and JUSTICE LEAGUE were good movies? Granted, only the last four have taken place in a shared cinematic universe but even the most die hard DC comics fan has to admit that the movies, especially compared to the Marvel films, have been disappointments. In fact, it's on the small screen where DC has done the best job of bringing their characters to life in the shared "Arrowverse" consisting of ARROW, THE FLASH, SUPERGIRL and LEGENDS OF TOMORROW. And, while not part of the "Arrowverse" the new BLACK LIGHTNING series shows promise.

I propose that DC roll the dice and produce a KAMANDI film that stands on it's own. It doesn't have to be shoe-horned into any existing cinematic continuity. Just tell a rock 'em, sock 'em big screen SF adventure film on a par with the recent PLANET OF THE APES series: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES. We know that talking, intelligent apes can be done with breathtaking accuracy and believability. Let's see what the digital demons can do with some of Jack Kirby's most entertaining material.