Tag Archives: book reviews

THE AURORAPHONE (1890) – ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

auroraphoneTHE AURORAPHONE (1890) – Written by Cyrus Cole. This fun piece of vintage or “ancient” science fiction features the character Gaston Lesage, an eccentric genius who moves to the mountains of Colorado to continue his pet experiments. Lesage is obsessed with perfecting transmission and reception of radio signals, especially regarding potential contact with other planets.  

The altitude of the Rocky Mountains made Colorado the ideal location for Lesage’s experiments and, together with his assistant – a freed black man named Pete King – he perfects a device he called the Auroraphone.

mascot sword and gun pic

BALLADEER’S BLOG

One day when Gaston and Pete are entertaining a pair of men prospecting for gold the Auroraphone picks up the first of a series of transmissions from intelligent life on the planet Saturn. In the days ahead Lesage learns a great deal about Saturnian history and science courtesy of his fellow “ham radio operator” Rulph Bozar, a denizen of the ringed planet.

The Saturnians are much more advanced than Earth and already have flying machines, electric automobiles and powerful sensors which let them watch and record events on Earth and other planets. They also have been using metal robots crafted to look just like the Saturnians themselves, who resemble Terrans in general physiology. Continue reading

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CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON: 1970s CLASSICS

Superhero-hungry readers have been letting me know they want more Marvel Comics blog posts. With my look at 1970s classics for the Avengers and Spider-Man completed this post starts a look at 70s classics for Captain America & the Falcon. 

ca f 153CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON Vol 1 #153 (September 1972)

Title: Captain America – Hero or Hoax?

Villains: The Captain America of the 1950s (William Burnside, one of the men whom the U.S. government had assume the role of Captain America while the real Cap was M.I.A. and presumed dead for decades.) and the Bucky of the 1950s (Jack Monroe, one of the young men the government assigned the “Bucky” identity during that same period.)

Synopsis: Captain America and the Falcon, in their secret identities of Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson, are with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter at the airport. Sam is seeing off Steve and Sharon as they fly to the Bahamas for a long vacation together (By this time Sharon knows that Captain America is really Steve Rogers.)

When the two lovebirds’ plane flies off, Sam Wilson returns to his life as a social worker in Harlem while also fighting crime there in his costumed identity of the Falcon. Because this is before the Falcon got his high-tech wings (that story is coming, too) back then he got around by the way his falconing glove shot a wire like Daredevil’s billy club did, too, so Falcon could swing around the city like DD and Spider-Man. Continue reading

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SPIDER-MAN: 1970s CLASSICS – THE FINALE

Here’s the sixteenth and final part of Balladeer’s Blog’s look at Spider-Man 1970s Classics. For Part One click HERE.

sm 149SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #149 (October 1975)

Title: Even if I Live, I Die

Villain: The Jackal

NOTE: Of these two final installments of the lengthy Jackal/ Gwen Stacy saga, this first one wraps up the main storyline and the second one (below) provides a necessary epilogue to tuck away a major loose end.

Synopsis: We pick up right where we left off, on the rooftop where Spider-Man just defeated Tarantula, the Jackal’s latest cat’s paw against our hero. With the Gwen Stacy clone and the ear-plugged & blind-folded Ned Leeds nearby, Spider-Man is lapsing into unconsciousness from the slash he received on the back of his head from the drugged talons of the Jackal.

splas 149At last revealing why he has always been undetectable by Spider-Man’s spider sense, the villain removed his mask to reveal that he is really Professor Miles Warren, Peter Parker’s fatherly mentor and academic advisor for years at Empire State University. (Professor Warren had been a supporting character in Spider-Man stories since 1965.)

Peter finally succumbs to unconsciousness, and when he comes to, he is in the basement of an abandoned tenement building in lower Manhattan. He is bound to a table by specially-constructed straps and is alone with the Jackal, who is sitting on a nearby stool. Continue reading

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SPIDER-MAN: 1970s CLASSICS 15 – THE JACKAL & TARANTULA

Here’s Part Fifteen of Spider-Man 1970s Classics. For Part One click HERE.

sm 147SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #147 (August 1975)

Title: The Tarantula is a Very Deadly Beast

Villains: The Jackal and the Tarantula

Synopsis: We pick up a few days after the end of our previous installment. Spider-Man swings his way to the Daily Bugle building, where he switches to Peter Parker and walks into the offices. After standard hostile byplay with J Jonah Jameson, Peter is called over to the desk of crime reporter Ned Leeds.

Ned is still investigating the Gwen Stacy clone and who might have made it. (Peter has not told anyone that he fears the Jackal made the clone since that villain has apparently figured out Spider-Man’s secret identity.)

splash page 147Leeds gives Peter copies of the long line of medical tests that the new Gwen has undergone in the past few days. Somehow the cloning process was accelerated, meaning she was created mere months ago, even though she is an adult as much as the real Gwen was when she was killed.

Meanwhile, the enigmatic villain the Jackal strikes again, busting Spider-Man’s old foe the Tarantula out of prison to use him as his latest operative against our hero as his plans approach fruition. Continue reading

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SPIDER-MAN: 1970s CLASSICS 14 – THE JACKAL AND THE SCORPION

Here’s Part Fourteen of Spider-Man 1970s Classics. For Part One click HERE.

sm 145SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #145 (June 1975)

Title: Gwen Stacy is Alive and Well?

Villains: The Jackal and the Scorpion

Synopsis: We pick up right where we left off in last issue’s cliffhanger: a woman who looks exactly like the late Gwen Stacy has shown up, causing Peter Parker’s Aunt May to have a heart attack and wind up in intensive care at the hospital.

145 splash pagePeter himself is in a state of shock, while the “new” Gwen, whose memories are months out of date, cries and pleads with him to help her understand what is going on. When Gwen tries to embrace him, Peter loses it, recoiling from her and screaming at her that she must be an impersonater.

He angrily tells her he’s not buying the con job and storms downstairs and out of his apartment building in Chelsea, telling Mary Jane’s Aunt Anna that this new Gwen has to be a fake. He says whoever’s behind it has a sick sense of humor and goes off to the hospital where Aunt May is.

Once out of sight of Anna Watson, he switches to Spider-Man and swings over to the hospital. Changing back into Peter Parker, he inquires about his aunt and then sits in the ICU waiting room to sweat out developments while his mind tries to deal with Aunt May possibly dying AND what may be up with this Gwen Stacy situation. Continue reading

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SPIDER-MAN: 1970s CLASSICS 13: PUNISHER, MOSES MAGNUM AND CYCLONE

Here’s Part Thirteen of Spider-Man 1970s Classics. For Part One click HERE.

spider man giant 4GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #4 (April 1975)

Title: To Sow the Seeds of Death’s Day

Villain: Moses Magnum (First Appearance)

Synopsis: We pick up an unknown amount of time after the previous story. J Jonah Jameson is still in Paris, using his lawyers to fight being brought back for questioning regarding the new Mysterio, whom he hired to kill Spider-Man last time around.

Peter Parker, in his Spider-Man costume, is web-slinging around New York City one night when he hears a woman scream “EEEE!”. (Or it could be Ned Beatty, I guess.) Following the sound to its source he sees four masked men kidnapping a nightie clad woman from her apartment.

deaths dayOur hero defeats three of the four and a bullet fired from a rooftop by the Punisher kills the fourth. The Punisher flees the scene while Spider-Man takes care of the still-frightened woman. An ambulance and some cop cars show up on the scene. The police insist Spider-Man must come in to answer questions regarding the deaths of Captain John Stacy and Norman Osborn, both of whom he is mistakenly suspected of killing.

Spider-Man gets away from the cops and swings off to the Punisher’s van, which he enters without the Punisher catching on. He rides along to the Punisher’s latest secret hideout and surprises his old enemy/ ally when he opens up the back door of the van. Continue reading

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SPIDER-MAN: 1970s CLASSICS 12 – FALCON AND MYSTERIO

Here’s Part Twelve of Spider-Man 1970s Classics. For Part One click HERE.

mtu 30MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #30 (February 1975)

Title: All That Glitters is Not Gold

Villain: Midas (NOT the same Midas as Iron Man’s foe)

Synopsis: This story picks up an unknown amount of time after the previous installment. Peter Parker is well settled in to his new apartment in Chelsea. When he sees his new neighbor, aspiring black model Gloria Grant (introduced last time around) being attacked by two men as she approaches the building, he takes action as Spider-Man.

After he subdues Gloria’s attackers, she pleads with him to carry them to her apartment rather than turning them over to the cops because one of them is her cousin, Ramon. (First appearance for Ramon, who, like Gloria, will be a supporting character in Spider-Man stories for decades to come.)

falcon and redwingOur hero complies, and is glad that he did when Ramon abruptly comes to and attacks again, letting Spider-Man and Gloria see that he is under some kind of trance. Spidey webs him to the furniture and he slowly comes out of his trance.

He tells Spider-Man and Gloria that he and his friend (who helped him attack Gloria just now) were at a club called the Hot Spot Disco (lol) when they were dragged before a man in golden armor calling himself Midas. He used drugs on them and Ramon doesn’t remember anything after that until coming to just now. Continue reading

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THE MACHINE TO KILL (1924) – FROM THE AUTHOR OF PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

machine to killGaston Leroux’s The Machine to Kill was written in NINETEEN TWENTY-FOUR. Many book sites list it as 1935, but that was just the year it was finally translated into English. 

Personally I would use the title The Clockwork Dead Man or The Clockwork Killer because for modern readers The Machine to Kill sounds like a traditional science fiction tale about technology run amok. 

In reality this neglected Gaston Leroux novel is a horror/sci fi hybrid about an android/ cyborg mix whose mechanized body has been outfitted with the brain, eyes and nervous system of a guillotined murderer. The robotic man – called Gabriel – was created by Dr Jacques Cotentin, who needed an absolutely fresh brain, hence having to settle for a just-executed criminal. Continue reading

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SPIDER-MAN: 1970s CLASSICS 11 – SHANG-CHI, GRIZZLY AND THE JACKAL

Here’s Part Eleven of Spider-Man 1970s Classics. For Part One click HERE.

gs spider man 2GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #2 (October 1974)

Title: Masterstroke 

Villain: Fu Manchu

NOTE: For anyone unfamiliar with the way Marvel licensed the rights to Fu Manchu and other Sax Rohmer characters and with the differences between the novels and Marvel’s use of Shang-Chi as the son of Fu Manchu I covered the first twelve issues HERE

Synopsis: Still rooming with Flash Thompson after the destruction of his and Harry Osborn’s old apartment, Spider-Man is swinging around New York City one night. He comes across a robbery at the Guggenheim Museum and attacks the robbers.

That gang of criminals are secretly operatives of Fu Manchu and use their martial arts skills and weaponry against Spider-Man. He overcomes them all and when he interrogates one of them about who they work for, the thief does as ordered by Fu Manchu and instead claims he works for Shang-Chi. (Part of Fu Manchu’s plan is to pit his son Shang-Chi against Spider-Man.) Continue reading

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THE LAST GENERATION (1908): ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

last generation coverTHE LAST GENERATION – A STORY OF THE FUTURE (1908) – Written by James Elroy Flecker. A poet longs to see beyond his own era and experiences. He is visited by a time-travel phenomenon which is similar to a wind. The Time Wind transports him to various periods in the future.

First the wind takes him to future Birmingham, England, where a mad fanatic named Joshua Harris and his co-conspirators are planning to launch their coup the next day. He and his followers aren’t motivated by pure politics but by their belief that all of life is nothing but misery and can be ended only by death. They plan to seize power and set the human race on the path to extinction. Continue reading

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