Paul Bishop's Blog, page 111
February 28, 2012
February 27, 2012
T.H.E. CAT GRAPHIC NOVEL!
T.H.E. CAT GRAPHIC NOVEL!ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS FROM THE '60s LOOKS TO BE GETTING THE GRAPHIC NOVEL TREATMENT FROM KEZ WILSON AND H. C. BRANDT. CAN'T FIND TOO MUCH OUT FROM THE PROJECT'S WEBSITE, BUT I'M UP FOR IT IF IT COMES TO FRUITION . . .
Out of the night comes a man who saves lives at the risk of his own. Once a circus performer, an aerialist who refused the net. Once a cat burglar, a master among jewel thieves. Now a professional bodyguard. Primitive… savage… in love with danger. The Cat!
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HAT TIP TO BRYAN HAYES
NOIR NOW: THE WICKED WIVES!
NOIR NOW: THE WICKED WIVES!AUTHOR GUS PELAGATTI GIVES US THE WORD . . .
When I was an eight year old boy I overheard adults in my South Philadelphia neighborhood discussing 17 disenchanted and unfaithful neighborhood wives who murdered their husbands for insurance money, love and lust. This was a fascinating topic for an eight year old boy eavesdropping on adult conversation. The adults were discussing the true story of Philadelphia's infamous 1938 murder scandals. My fascination led to obsession. I knew that I had to write about these wicked wives someday.
After I became a trial lawyer in 1964, I researched the poison murder cases in the law library and obtained newspaper accounts of the scandals dating back to October, 1938. Thereafter I conducted interviews with judges, lawyers, police, witnesses, sheriff deputies and neighbors who knew the defendants.
One of the chief conspirators was a tailor who seduced, then persuaded at least twelve wives to poison their husbands for insurance. The setting for his seductions was the couch in the rear of his tailor shop, located two blocks from our family home.
A fascinating conspiracy unfolded in these murder cases. The poison gang's colorful and hilarious characters helped to deep-six a minimum of 20 husbands. The supporting cast includes Giorgio, "The Don Juan of Passyunk Avenue. " Aside from scheming Lillian, "the society wife", the wives include Rose, the "Kiss of Death Widow, " Eva "the nymphomaniac" and the "hopelessly in love, " Joanna.
After many comical episodes, intriguing detective work and two suspense filled high profile trials, 12 wives plead or are found guilty of murdering their husbands. Two male conspirators were executed in the electric chair.
"The Wicked Wives" gleefully explores the sins of lust and greed, and the disappointments that love often brings. The characters, although they commit murder and adultery, are extremely likable, and often amusing. Writing "The Wicked Wives" was a true labor of love.
February 25, 2012
February 24, 2012
STEAMPUNK CORNER: LADY MECHANIKA!
STEAMPUNK CORNER: LADY MECHANIKA!PER COMICS FORGE . . .
Beneath this lengthy title lies a fantastic example of the slow seepage of the steampunk subgenre from genre lit into comics. Creator/ writer/ artist Joe Benitez has come a long way from his work on The Darkness and The Magdalena, both for Top Cow and both nicely illustrated. But Lady Mechanika is a quantum leap forward, art and design wise from those titles. The elegantly designed pages and linework are captivating from cover to cover.
Set in an alternate history England in 1878, the book's main character was attacked and ravaged by a serial killer. Her lost limbs and other body parts were replaced by mechanical parts, how and by whom she cannot recall. Most of her memory has been expunged, even that of her own real name. Now equipped with the requisite steampunk goggles atop her head, and fortified by mythical Victorian tech to be the proverbial "better faster stronger", she is Lady Mechanika, a private detective to be reckoned with.
Her outfit has the de riqeur corset, but flesh and cleavage is hidden beneath her costume to drive home the fact her body has been mangled. The shapely curves are still there as in all of Benitez's women, though. Mechanika's clothing, indeed, is skin tight with snug trousers (no dress for this adventuring lass)…
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