David Lee Summers's Blog, page 10

Buckaroo Banzai: The Prequel and Big Size

Welcome back for a look at three more Buckaroo Banzai comics from the early 2000s!

The Buckaroo Banzai Prequel comics were published in 2008. They are what the name says on the package, they give us a look at Buckaroo’s life before the movie, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension. In the story, Buckaroo and his band, the Hong Kong Cavaliers are on tour. However, in a fight, Buckaroo’s throat took a hit and his singing voice isn’t what it used to be. So, they hold a c...

Buckaroo Banzai: Return of the Screw

As I promised back when I reviewed the novel Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League Et Al: A Compendium of Evils, I am back to take a look at some of the Buckaroo Banzai comic books created by screenwriter Earl Mac Rauch. I’m starting with the miniseries Return of the Screw published in 2006. It was adapted from Rauch’s screenplay for a Buckaroo Banzai television pilot. The story opens when Mrs. Oh, the widow of a former Hong Kong Cavalier, the Illinois Mongoose, shows up on the Banzai I...

Heavy Metal Revisited

A little over a week ago, I shared a roundup of podcasts where I’ve been a guest. One of those was the “Making Pondo” podcast where I discussed my involvement in the films Revenge of Zoe and The Love Song of William H. Shaw produced by Pondo Enterprises. One of the features of those films is that they feature really awesome soundtracks with music by small indy bands. Because of that, one of the questions Marty Ketola and Clif Campbell asked me is about some of my favorite movies with awesome sou...

Ghosts, Demons, and Ancient Lore

I’ve been writing steampunk stories since before I knew the term “steampunk.” This came from being a fan of Victorian-era science fiction writers such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Plus, I’ve long been a fan of the TV series The Wild Wild West. These things have inspired me as they’ve inspired other steampunk authors. However, along the way, I’ve come to understand that “steampunk” is more than a sub-genre of science fiction or fantasy. It’s actually an aesthetic which can be applied to writing...

An Elegant Elephant in Oz

After delving into Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League Et Al, I needed a lighter book as something of a palette cleanser, so decided to move on to the next novel in the Oz series: Kabumpo in Oz. The novel, published in 1922, was the second Oz novel by Ruth Plumly Thompson and the sixteenth novel in the series.

L. Frank Baum imagined that Oz was divided into four main lands: Munchkinland, The Winkie Country, The Quadling Country, and the Gillikin Country. Many of those lands cont...

Podcast Roundup – Autumn 2024

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been asked to appear on a few podcasts promoting different projects I’ve been involved in. There’s quite a bit of content here, but I thought I’d collect these into a single post, which gives you the opportunity to decide which topics interest you the most.

Making Pondo

In the Making Pondo podcast, filmmakers Marty Ketola and Clif Campbell interview cast and crewmembers involved in the filming of movies produced by Pondo Enterprises. In this podcast, I ...

Crime Leagues and Alien Invasions

A little over a week ago, I took a look at the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension and that the movie promised a sequel called Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League. Two years ago, screenwriter Earl Mac Rauch released a novel through Dark Horse Books titled just that. Well, it actually has a somewhat longer title: Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League Et Al: A Compendium of Evils. I purchased the ebook and discovered that Amazon included an offe...

The 49th Key

This weekend finds me at TusCon in Tucson, Arizona, where my family and I are running a table in the vendor hall with all the books published by Hadrosaur Productions and I have a busy schedule speaking on panels. You can learn more about the convention and get the full schedule at https://tusconscificon.com

Back in 2017, I moderated a panel called “Building Alternate Worlds” at the Tucson Festival of Books. One of the panelists was Erika Lewis, who returned to town later that year for the 20...

TusCon 51

TusCon is an annual science fiction convention sponsored by the Baja Arizona Science Fiction Association (BASFA) and held in Tucson, Arizona at the Tucson Doubletree Airport Hotel. The primary focus of TusCon is literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but the convention also embraces art, animation, science, media and gaming to provide a well-rounded experience. The author guest of honor is Cory Doctorow. The artist guest of honor is Sarah Clemens. The filk guests of honor are Heather Dal...

Buckaroo Banzai

When people ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I often joke that I wanted to be Isaac Asimov, meaning that I wanted to have advanced degrees in science and I wanted to be known for my science fiction writing. That’s all true, but in some ways I also wanted to be Buckaroo Banzai, the title character of the film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension. The film came out right after I graduated from high school. I was washing cars for a Toyota dealership in Southern Cali...