Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Reading Room G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES "Secret Weapon" Part 1

..let's parachute into the story!
Written by Leo Dorfman, penciled by George Evans, and inked by Mike Peppe, the opening chapter sets up G-8's cred as a master spy and tantalizes us with hints of the German plot!
But he's far more than that, as we shall see!
To Be Continued, Tomorrow at
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Monday, August 29, 2016

G-8 and His Battle Aces are coming...

One of the major pulp heroes of the 1930s-40s...
...Popular Publications' G-8 and His Battle Aces was a bit of an anachronism since the series was set during World War I!
While such titles about aviators from "The Great War" were not uncommon during the pre-World War II period, they were mostly typical wartime adventures.
But only G-8 featured a near-superhuman hero with a team of diversely-talented pilots and aides battling fantastic foes over the skies of Europe.
Running 110 issues from 1933 to 1944, all written by creator Robert J Hogan, the series had both sci-fi and horror-fantasy tales, mixing genres as the author saw fit!
In 1970, due to the success of Bantam Books' Doc Savage reprints, Berkley Books reprinted the first eight G-8 tales, with the first three reprints using new Jim Steranko art, which we're presenting here.
Unfortunately, G-8 met the fate so many other pulp reprint series (except for Doc and The Avenger) experienced during this period...cancellation!
The story we'll be running starting tomorrow was published before the paperback reprints hit the stands.
In the mid-1960s, Gold Key did a number of one-shots to "test the waters" for reviving classic properties.
Besides a Doc Savage comic adapting the pulp/paperback novel a proposed movie was based on, GK also did Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers...and G-8!
Written by Leo Dorfman, penciled by George Evans, and inked by Mike Peppe, with a kool painted cover by George Wilson featuring actor/model Steve (Doc Savage) Holland as G-8, the tale is AFAIK, an original story based on the characters...
Be Here Tomorrow as the Saga Begins!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Reading Room: THE SHADOW "Game of Death" Part 3

...lured into a trap when he tries to break up a staged "mugging", The Shadow is forced to run a gauntlet of fantastic foes while protecting the man who is actually the mastermind behind the situation!
He Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men defeats all who oppose him, until he faces the final foe...
Written by Jerry (Superman) Siegel and illustrated by Paul Reinman, this never-reprinted tale from Radio Comics' The Shadow #8 (1965) was part of an attempt to revive the Shadow in print after reruns of the radio show became a hit on local radio stations due to the early-60s pop-art and Marvel Comics crazes.
You can read some of those tales HERE!
Trivia: this final issue of the Radio Comics version of The Shadow is the only one to not feature the character's arch-foe, Shiwan Khan!
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Shadow: Beware!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Reading Room: THE SHADOW "Game of Death" Part 2

...lured into a trap when he tries to break up a false mugging, The Shadow is forced to run a gauntlet of fantastic foes while protecting the man who is actually the mastermind behind the situation!
Is this the End of The Shadow?
Same Shadow-Time!
Same Shadow-Blog!
Written by Jerry (Superman) Siegel and illustrated by Paul Reinman, this never-reprinted tale from Radio Comics' The Shadow #8 (1965) was part of an attempt to revive the Shadow in print after reruns of the radio show became a hit on local radio stations due to the early-60s pop-art and Marvel Comics crazes.
You can read some of those tales HERE!
Support Hero Histories!
Order this never-reprinted HTF 1960s Shadow novel from Amazon...

Monday, August 15, 2016

Reading Room: THE SHADOW "Game of Death" Part 1

In the 1960s, everybody donned a skin-tight costume...
..even characters who were never meant to do so...like The Shadow!
Be Here Tomorrow!
Same Shadow-Time!
Same Shadow-Blog!
Written by Jerry (Superman) Siegel and illustrated by Paul Reinman, this never-reprinted tale from Radio Comics' The Shadow #8 (1965) was part of an attempt to revive the character in print after reruns of the radio show became a hit on local radio stations due to the early-60s pop-art and Marvel Comics crazes.
(The Batman TV series hadn't yet debuted)
Besides the short-lived superhero comic, there was a series of 10 new paperback novels that placed the legendary pulp/radio character in the spy-mad present day (1960s).
Walter Gibson wrote the first one under his own name, with the remainder penned by Denys Linds under the classic "Maxwell Grant" pseudonym.
Unlike the pulp series, these 1960s titles have never been reprinted and are quite hard to find!
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Order this never-reprinted and HTF 1960s Shadow novel from Amazon...