Tag Archives: book reviews

CAPTAIN MORS THE AIR PIRATE (1908-1911) STORIES THIRTY-ONE TO THIRTY-FIVE

For Balladeer’s Blog’s overview of the entire Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat series click HERE

RIDDLE OF THE SULIOTEN MOUNTAIN – Kapitan Mors and his crew land their air ship on a mountain on a Greek island between Korfu and the Ionian Isles. A Suliot sponge diver sees the Luftschiff land and informs the villainous autocrat who imposes his own iron rule on the locals.

The despot plans to capture Mors and his crew for the enormous reward offered by the tycoons who want to stop our masked hero’s crusade of robbing from the rich in order to give to the poor. The villain’s plot fails, of course, PLUS Kapitan Mors at last perfects his spaceship the Meteor. Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Pulp Heroes

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS (1976) DARKSEID, MANHUNTER AND MORE

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist comic book post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the early stories of a 1970s DC Comics series.

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS Vol 1 #1 (Jun 1976)

Title: Attend – Or Die

Villain Roster: Captain Cold, Sinestro, Gorilla Grodd, Copperhead, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire II, the Wizard, Manhunter III, Shadow Thief and Captain Boomerang

Comment: “What are we, some kind of Secret Society of Super-Villains?” (Had to be said.)

Synopsis: Captain Cold and Mirror Master pull off a large jewel robbery and while dividing up their loot they get an invitation to join the title “Society” at a place called the Sinister Citadel in San Francisco.

Identical invitations are received by the supervillains called Gorilla Grodd, Copperhead, Sinestro and others. Everyone but Catwoman accepts. When they are all assembled in the aforementioned Citadel they meet the new woman using the Star Sapphire nom de guerre. They also meet their butler, Carstairs.

Suddenly, the Justice League members burst in and attack, but the villains fight and destroy what turn out to be robotic duplicates of the League. The costumed Manhunter III enters the room and tells the villains they passed their initiation by wiping out the robots. He calls himself a representative for their anonymous “host.”

NOTE: Their host is really Darkseid, as will be made clear soon. This third person using the Manhunter alias is one of the “evil” Paul Kirk clones whose organization the Council was thwarted by the lone “good” Paul Kirk clone, who also destroyed all the evil clones. (Paul Kirk was the original Manhunter from DC’s 1940s comic books.) Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under Superheroes

WONDERWORLDS (1911) ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

WONDERWORLDS (Wunderwelten) (1911) – Written by Friedrich W. Mader. This novel was published in its native German in 1911 but not translated into English until 1932 under the title Distant Worlds. Some sources mistakenly list 1932 as its original year of publication. 

Wonderworlds is basically what we today call Steampunk. Lord Charles Flitmore has had a spaceship constructed in the form of a large globe which works via antigravity.

Flitmore puts together an expedition to explore the solar system. Members of the expedition include his wife Lady Mietje Flitmore, biologist Professor Heinrich Schultze, Hans Friedung, Schultze’s protege, Johann Rieger, Flitmore’s manservant, and Captain Hugo von Munchhausen, a fat, boastful liar who is a comic relief figure in the mold of the fictional Baron Munchhausen.   

Flitmore’s spaceship, called the Sannah, takes off on its expedition, with two monkeys named Dick and Bobs along for the ride. The Sannah first visits the moon, where our explorers discover that the Dark Side is unexpectedly vibrant with life. There are lush forests and ample sources of water. Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under Ancient Science Fiction

CAPTAIN MORS THE AIR PIRATE (1908-1911) STORIES TWENTY-SIX TO THIRTY

For Balladeer’s Blog’s overview of the entire Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat series click HERE. For my look at the first five stories in the weekly text series click HERE.

THE GHOST RAILWAY BRIDGE ON THE SHAHO – Our masked hero and his crew on their Luftschiff are in the sky above the River Shaho. They observe the Russian and Japanese armies preparing for another monumental battle. NOTE: The Kapitan Mors tales are like the Sherlock Holmes stories in that they often jump around in time. This one is set during the Russo-Japanese War, so much earlier than most of the Mors stories.

To avoid the mass casualties of the previous battle at Shaho, Kapitan Mors and his men do a psy-op against his hated Russians. They stage seemingly supernatural events surrounding a “ghost railway” and push the Russian commander to the brink. Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under Pulp Heroes

ARKON AND XEMU VS THE FANTASTIC FOUR AND THE INHUMANS

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog will look at 6 issues in a row from a memorable Fantastic 4 run.

FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #158 (May 1975)

Title: Invasion from the Fifth Dimension

Villain: Xemu

Synopsis: Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and his wife Invisible Woman (Susan Storm-Richards) are debating the pluses and minuses of her rejoining the team full-time. Medusa from the Inhumans has been substituting for Sue during her and Reed’s son Franklin’s problems with his mutant powers. With Franklin now cured, Invisible Woman wants to come back.

The former Avenger Quicksilver, now a member of the Inhuman Royal Family through his marriage to Crystal (who had replaced Invisible Woman during her pregnancy with Franklin), uses his speed powers to break into the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four. The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), annoyed after striking out at a singles bar, arrives home and, encountering Quicksilver, attacks him. 

The pair fight it out, fueled largely by their former romantic rivalry for Crystal. The Thing (Ben Grimm) and his girlfriend – the blind sculptress Alicia Masters – arrive back from a night at the Metropolitan Opera and the Thing joins the Human Torch in attacking Quicksilver. Mr. Fantastic calls a halt to the fighting and asks Quicksilver why he invaded the Baxter Building.   

Pietro (Quicksilver) explains to the Fantastic Four, including Medusa and Invisible Woman (which makes 5) why he came. The Human Torch’s old foe Xemu, the ruler of the Fifth Dimension, led an interdimensional army in an invasion of Attilan, the Inhumans’ high-tech hidden city in the Himalayas. Continue reading

16 Comments

Filed under Superheroes

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: A TRIP TO THE MOON BY MR. MURTAGH MCDERMOT (1728)

A TRIP TO THE MOON BY MR. MURTAGH MCDERMOT, CONTAINING OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS MADE BY HIM (1728) – The real author of this is unknown, since it was published using the pen name Murtagh McDermot. Unless, of course, the writer used their real name for the main character.

McDermot, the story’s narrator, tells us he sailed from Dublin to the island of Tenerife. Once there he climbed to the top of Mount Teide where a massive windstorm carried him into outer space. He was able to breathe (hey, it’s 1728) but found himself trapped when he was equidistant from the Earth and the moon.

Murtagh tried maneuvering his body to break free but instead wound up moving a tiny bit closer to the moon, and the lunar gravity pulled him toward it. Luckily for him he landed in a lake on the moon, so he wasn’t killed.

Our narrator was rescued by an inhabitant of the moon, who was fishing at the lake. McDermot saw that the moon’s landscape was similar to that of the Earth and the beings who lived there, like his rescuer, were intelligent humanoid animals. Think Planet of the Apes if a variety of animals were featured, not just primates. Continue reading

22 Comments

Filed under Ancient Science Fiction

CAPTAIN MORS THE AIR PIRATE (1908-1911) STORIES TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-FIVE

For Balladeer’s Blog’s overview of the entire Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat series click HERE. For my look at the first five stories in the weekly text series click HERE.

THE PRISON ON DEVIL’S ISLAND – Near the mouth of the Orinoco River in French Guyana a huge deposit of diamonds has been discovered. Inmates of the notoriously hellish prison on nearby Devil’s Island have been making frenzied attempts at escape to go diamond hunting.

From around the world other people with a lust for diamonds are descending on the area. Our hero Kapitan Mors has also gotten word and has flown his air ship and its mixed European and Indian crew to grab their own share of precious gems to share with the world’s poor. The man running Devil’s Island uses the opportunity to try trapping Mors. Continue reading

14 Comments

Filed under Pulp Heroes

BRITISH SUPERHEROES OF THE 1960s

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of Great Britain’s homegrown superheroes from the 1960s. For their 1940s heroes click HERE.

GADGETMAN

Secret Identity: Burt Travis

Debuted: 1968

Origin: Burt Travis was the scientific genius who ran Travis Corporation. He used some of his inventions and the costumed identity of Gadgetman to fight criminals, aliens and other menaces. 

Powers: Burt Travis had a hidden teleportation device in his office. When he wanted to become Gadgetman he would teleport to his secret headquarters and go into action. This hero could fly via jet-shoes, shoot assorted ray-guns called Gadget Guns and release a substance from his costume that made him slick and impossible to hold onto.

Gadgetman also piloted a flying Gadgetcar and Gadgetcycle. Burt Travis’ lab apprentice Gary Stewart was really Gimmick-Kid, with a costume and gadgetry similar to Gadgetman.

CAT-GIRL

Secret Identity: Cathy Carter

Debuted: 1969

Origin: Cathy Carter was the daughter of a widower private investigator. In their home’s attic she found an old cat costume that was a gift from an African head of state her father had helped. Putting on the costume, she gained various powers and fought crime as Cat-Girl. 

Powers: Cat-Girl has greater than human strength, speed and incredible agility. She can see in the dark and gains magnified senses of smell and hearing. Her claws can cut through metal and other objects. In costume she can control the prehensile tail. Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Superheroes

CAPTAIN MORS THE AIR PIRATE (1908-1911) STORIES SIXTEEN TO TWENTY

For Balladeer’s Blog’s overview of the entire Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat series click HERE. For my look at the first five stories in the weekly text series click HERE.

CAPTAIN MORS IMPRISONED – Far above the ocean, Kapitan Mors commands his Luftschiff (Air Ship) on its latest voyage along with its part European and part Indian crew. A carrier pigeon brings our masked hero a distress call from Miss Else Martens. She is in the clutches of a tinpot dictator who wants to force her into a marriage.

Our main character and his men set out to free Else and loot the dictator’s riches. They will, as usual, share those riches with the suffering poor around the world. What they keep will go toward completing Mors’ spaceship. And speaking of that, this adventure introduces the Dutch astrophysicist Van Halen, who becomes vital to the captain’s outer space adventures. Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under Pulp Heroes

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: A STORY OF THE YEAR 2236 (1900)

Struggle for EmpireTHE STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE: A STORY OF THE YEAR 2236 (1900) – Written by Robert W Cole. I left out the first half of the title for the headline, since The Struggle For Empire sounds like a mundane history book. In reality this novel was a very, very early example of the Space Opera sub-genre.  

In 2236 A.D. Earth’s dominant geopolitical entity is the Anglo-Saxon Federal Union, consisting of Great Britain, the United States and Germany. This union of nations came about during a World War that was fought during the early Twentieth Century. That conflict pitted the Americans, British and Germans against the French and the Russians.

The Anglo-Saxon Federal Union emerged triumphant, with France carved up and lost to the mists of history. (The author was British.) London, now a megalopolis spreading out for hundreds of miles, is the Earth’s capital city. It also serves as the capital for the star-spanning empire which Earthlings have established.

Mascot sword and pistolInitially the Earth colonized and inhabited the planets and certain moons of our own solar system all the way out to Neptune. (Pluto was not discovered until 1930.) In a quaint quasi-Steam-Punk way, all of those planets and moons have Earth-like atmospheres and conditions.

The perfection of anti-gravity and other technology led to the construction of space ships that could fly at the speed of ten million miles per hour. Robert W Cole takes H.G. Wells’ colonialism analogy from War of the Worlds into space, as humanity is depicted settling and colonizing planets in multiple star systems.

Earthlings also stripped uninhabitable planets of all their minerals, precious metals and other natural resources. Power and greed rule the zeitgeist. Complications arise when humanity at last encounters another intelligent race in the 23rd Century.     Continue reading

12 Comments

Filed under Ancient Science Fiction