Comic Gallery: Wally Wood on STRANGE WORLDS

1951

1951

1952, with Joe Orlando

Toy Soldier Saturday: ANDYGUARD CIVIL WAR (Part 2)

Today, for your toy soldiering pleasure, we present the rest of the Andyguard Civil Warriors (the first batch is HERE). Somebody sculpted a lot of attitude into these guys.

More miniature warriors HERE.

Forgotten Books: SHARPE'S WATERLOO by Bernard Cornwell (1990)

It's been a long, bloody, and bloody marvelous journey following Richard Sharpe from Sharpe's Tiger in 1799 India to this butt-kicking battle sixteen years later at Waterloo, and I enjoyed every second of it. (I'm now reading Sharpe's Devil, sort of a postscript to the series, which takes place five years after Waterloo, and when that's finished I'll probably read all 21 books--and three short stories--over again.)

Having heard the name Waterloo just about forever, I was amazed to discover just how little I really knew. I had no idea, for instance, that it was a tiny unknown village in the Netherlands--an area that would eventually become Belgium.

Like all of Cornwell's novels, this one lays out the battle so well I felt like I was right there, fighting alongside Sharpe and his longtime sidekick Patrick Harper. Cornwell himself described the book as having almost no plot, because all he had to do was tell the story of the battle, dropping Sharpe into the mix for flavor. It's true that Sharpe has less to do here than usual, and he is at the mercy of events rather than vice versa, but Cornwell's storytelling is so good, and the battle so fascinating that it doesn't matter.

I see that Cornwell has a new book out, titled simply Waterloo, presenting his own nonfiction study of the battle. I'm looking forward to that. It'll be interesting to see how it compliments and differs from this novel, written 25 years ago.

More Forgotten Books at pattinase (I think).

"Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" by Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Connie Stevens

Comic Gallery: Norman Saunders on WESTERN HERO (1949)

Overlooked Films: PHILIP MARLOWE, PRIVATE EYE meets "The King in Yellow"

A few weeks back we looked at "The Pencil," the premiere episode of the HBO series Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (HERE). We now present episode 2, coming to you direct from April 23, 1983.

"The King in Yellow" began life in the March 1938 issue of Dime Detective, featuring a hotel house dick named Steve Grayce. You can read the full text online HERE. This may have been one of several stories in which the detective was later changed to Marlowe for book publication, but the trail is twisty and - at the moment - I can't lay my hands on all my Chandler books.









I refer you to Sweet Freedom for the latest in fine Overlooked Films.

Cap Gun Monday: HUBLEY CHAMP

Anybody have one of these? The Champ, I'm told, was modeled after the 1911 Colt .45 semi-automatic designed by John Browning. It's a mice little handful of non-lethal steel. 

Click HERE for more Cap Guns.

Pulp Gallery: H.J. Ward on ARGOSY (1941-42)