New Pulp Compilation to Be Released by Hero Games

Fans of PULP ACTION have had much to celebrate in the past few years. There have been the very entertaining Shadowmen pastiches to French Pulp characters, which included DISContent's own Bill Cunningham as an author. There are the new Nostalgia Ventures editions of Doc Savage and The Shadow stories. Last year we were able to read The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril. And let us not forget the pulp inspired work of young Science Fiction authors like Chris Roberson whose Adventure compilation and Paragaea novel embodied the pulp spirit.

This year looks to continue the trend, giving pulp addicts more of what they desire. Even game publishers are jumping into the mix, and no I'm not talking about Tannhäuser (though it certainly deserves mentioning). According to gamingreport, HERO GAMES is releasing a compilation of pulp adventure stories in early April. In the press release below, you may notice three things. First, it contains a previously unpublished story by Doc Savage's own Lester Dent. Second, it contains an original story by Hugh B. Cave. But third, and most importantly, it features a story by William Messner-Loebs.

Why is Bill Messner-Loebs' inclusion the most important feature of the book? Thanks for asking. As you may or may not know, William Messner-Loebs is a pretty acclaimed comic book writer who for inexplicable reasons found himself without employment in the industry (and pretty much at all) from 2000 to 2005. During his period of unemployment, he lost his house and was forced to spend the next four years alternating between shelters and hotels for shelter. Please read the hyperlink above, it's a very moving story. Next time you think comic book creators are drinking mojitos in the Caribbean mocking fanboys, read this very sobering tale of how close some freelancers are to poverty.

Oh, and buy Bill Messner-Loeb books, he really is one of the better writers in the business. I loved what he did on The Flash and unlike Greg Rucka...Loeb's Wonder Woman was actually fun to read.

Hero Games' first foray into fiction will finally hit stores in early April. Lost jungle temples, mysterious crime-busters, gallant air aces, and unspeakable cosmic horrors share the spotlight in this anthology of all-original adventure, suspense, and horror tales by such masters of the fantastic as Robert Weinberg, Ed Greenwood, Robin D. Laws, Richard Dansky, and David Niall Wilson. Astounding Hero Tales also boasts a previously unpublished weird mystery by Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage, and a foreword and original dark crime yarn by legendary pulp veteran Hugh B. Cave.

ASTOUNDING HERO TALES
Edited by James Lowder
Hero Games
320 page trade paperback; $16.99
ISBN: 978-1-58366-060-7

Hugh B. Cave — Foreword
Lester Dent — “Death was Silent"
Will Murray — “The Mask of Kukulcan”
Steve Melisi — “Two-Fisted Crookback”
William Messner-Loebs — “Wolf Train West”
Steve Eller — “Godmother”
Richard Dansky — “Missing Pages”
John Helfers — “Running Thunder”
Patricia Lee Macomber — “Playback”
Darrell Schweitzer — “A Lost City of the Jungle”
Ed Greenwood — “It Came From the Swamp”
David Niall Wilson — “Slide Home”
John Pelan — “Out West”
Thomas M. Reid — “Bandit Gold”
Robert Weinberg — “Kiss Me Deadly”
Robin D. Laws — “The Forgotten Man”
Hugh B. Cave — “House of Shadows”

Award-winning author and editor James Lowder has helmed original fiction anthologies for TSR (Realms of Valor), Green Knight Publishing (The Doom of Camelot), Eden Studios (The Book of All Flesh), and Guardians of Order (Path of the Bold).

300: An Inspiring Orator's Tale

Imagine if you will the windswept plain of Plataea in 479 BC. Standing beside you are 5,000 of your fellow Spartiates, with accompanying perioeci and helots providing logistical support. You, along with the survivors of a sacked and burned Athens and soldiers from across Greece, a total force of 110,000 troops. 38,000 of these troops are the famous Greek hoplites named for the heavy bronze coated shield they wield in battle, the heavily armored hoplite is the ancient world's equivalent of a tank. Your army is led by Pausanias, regent of Sparta whose uncle died almost a year ago at the famous battle of Thermopylae. You face a force of 300,000 Persians. Your hoplites and the phalanx they fight in, even its pre-Epaminondas design, is the most efficient "heavy armor" strategy yet invented and a huge technological advantage against the Persians. This force, the largest organized Spartan army to date, has come to finally remove Xerxes from the lands of Greece and make it so that Persia will never again wage war on the West.

Two things weigh heavy upon your mind. First, you are outnumbered and your elite forces (which include Thespians) are few in number. Second, while Athens has burned to the ground, your 8,000 Athenian allies brag about their victory at Salamis where their oarsmen were responsible for the annihilation of Xerxes' fleet. They are the reason so "few" Persians stand on the field of battle to date. Sparta's only role in this Persian war so far has been defeat. You wonder if even you and your noble Spartiates can win the day.

A man steps forward, Dilios (historically Aristodemos), a survivor of Thermopylae. Dilios, a man who some say fled Thermopylae and others say was sent as a messenger by Leonidas, begins to weave his tale of the Battle of Thermopylae, a tale meant to inspire the demoralized Spartans. Spartans who have lost a king and witnessed their Greek rival achieve a huge victory. Spartans who need a legend to inspire them.

Thus begins Frank Miller's, and Zack Snyder's, 300, a graphic novel and movie portraying the fantastic tale that Dilios weaves for his fellow Spartiates as they prepare to battle at Plataea.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, in reviewing 300, criticizes both the look and the accuracy of the film, especially its dialogue.

About the costuming, which is very different than the bronze armored hoplites of history, he says that "'the fiercest soldiers the world has ever known' look like an especially fit group of Santa Monica lifeguards taking part in the Doo-Dah parade." In doing so, Turan demonstrates an ignorance of the inspiration for the look of the Spartans. Frank Miller, and Zack Snyder, based the appearance of the Spartan warriors on Jacques Louis David's portrait of Leonidas and not on Herodotus.



This was an intentional choice. It makes for a more cinematic tale, both for the viewing audience and Dilios' listening audience as Plataea. The figures move from the historical into the mythical.

The dialogue and portrayal of the combat are motivated by similar desires. The dialogue comes mostly from Plutarch, Herodotus, and Aeschylus. It may sound trite to a person who lacks thumos, as Turan most certainly does, to hear that Freedom "must be bought by blood." But to a culture based on Thumos, almost to the exclusion of other aspects of virtue, the words would be received naturally. As Victor Davis Hanson, classicist and author of The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece wrote, "If critics think that 300 reduces and simplifies the meaning of Thermopylae into freedom versus tyranny, they should reread carefully ancient accounts and then blame Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus — who long ago boasted that Greek freedom was on trial against Persian autocracy, free men in superior fashion dying for their liberty, their enslaved enemies being whipped to enslave others."

It is important to remember that this most recent telling of the Battle of Thermopylae is presented as a rallying speech by Dilios, and thus is a legendary representation of the battle. Gone are accurate depictions of the phalanx, which would be far more gruesome to watch than Snyder's cartoon version of the violence. In the film, it at least appears that the Persians' tactics had some effect against the Greek hoplite. The reality is far grimmer. Before Ephialtes revealed the goat track to the Persians and allowed them to surround the Greeks, the Persians were technologically outclassed. Especially when you consider the historic helot and perioeci support, with requisite bows and javelins, the phalanx would have behind them. Rooting for the Spartans represented realistically is like rooting for the Turkish machine gunners in the movie Gallipoli. There may be patriotic reasons to do so, but watching that kind of slaughter wouldn't be very satisfying.

One must also ask oneself when viewing the film, "what interest does Dilios have in discussing the Thebans and Thespians who supported the Spartans in defending Thermopylae?" Most certainly, he wants to mention the Arcadians who fled the battle. But the Thespians stayed for glory, and the Thebans might have been forced by Leonidas to stay. Discussing either the Thespians or the Thebans takes kudos away from the Spartiate warriors who died and thus makes for a less inspirational speech at Plataea, which is what the film narrative represents.

As a depiction of an inspirational speech preparing soldiers for battle, 300 is a wonderful film. It is filled with mythic beasts, unbeatable foes, and a 10 foot tall godlike enemy. As a representation of history, it is correct in tone but lacks verisimilitude. To once again quote Hanson, "purists must remember that 300 seeks to bring a comic book, not Herodotus, to the screen. Yet, despite the need to adhere to the conventions of Frank Miller’s graphics and plot — every bit as formalized as the protocols of classical Athenian drama or Japanese Kabuki theater — the main story from our ancient Greek historians is still there." The audience is meant to watch a myth and not a history.

Besides, as I mentioned above, a historical representation would be off putting to all but the most bloodthirsty among us. It is one thing to feed the primal spiritedness, thumos, of the everyman. It is quite another to revel in slaughter, and what the Spartans (and then the Persians) did was slaughter for as long as they could. Like the idea of watching a realistic depiction of Roman warfare, I'll leave realistic depictions of the phalanx to films that wish to discourage war rather than one meant to praise courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

300

I went to see 300 on opening night. It is a testosterone fest to be sure. Lots of action; however, if you are looking for historical accuracy look elsewhere. I did not read the graphic novel by Frank Miller of the same title and I am sure it is just as exciting and visually thrilling as the movie, but a lot of liberties are taken with the story. To be sure, I do not think the greek phalanx functioned in the way depicted in the movie - that being line up defensively until you engage the enemy and then spin and trash in circles. The Spartans wore a good deal of bronze armor and were not the naked guys with cloaks depicted in the movie. Also, the combined force was somewhere in around 3 to 4 thousand (300 were spartans). It was visually stimulating but probably not the way it happened.

That is really my only real complaint. If there was no real battle at Thermoplae in 480 B.C.E., I would have no complaints at all. It was a fun movie, lots of interesting soldiers, a goat smoking a pipe, body piercing Xerxes who was a bit of giant, archers that did in fact blot out the sun (a nice visual). It is a great underdog story, they are all killed to a man but it was the price of duty and honor. I still say see it, just forgive the historical short comings.

At the theatre I went to some folks were upset that Leonidas did not kill Xerxes in the end. I think that would have stretched history a bit too far.

Save the Cheerleader, Save Cinderella?

Okay, I admit it...I have recently acquired a huge crush on Hayden Panettiere. I had seen her in a couple of movies, Raising Helen and Remember the Titans, but she never really jumped off the screen at me. This is probably because she was pretty much an infant, in my eyes, in these films. But ever since I saw her on Heroes, I have been watching a lot of movies that I would otherwise avoid just to see her cute and quirky smile. I am not alone in my willingness to pursue Panettiere movies, my wife is more than happy to watch these odd pieces of entertainment. She likes Hayden in Heroes as well.

A couple of the movies have been surprisingly entertaining. I found out that I actually liked Ice Princess, I mean I liked it a lot. It pulled my heart strings. It's right up there with The Cutting Edge as an "ice skating movie I am willing to watch." I won't watch ice skating with you, but if you are in the mood for either of these movies and I am in. I won't watch NASCAR either, but will watch The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Racing Stripes wasn't that bad, and I already love the Seven Samurai-esque A Bug's Life.

Not all of the films have been fun though. Bring It On: All or Nothing was hard to slog through. I don't even know what I was watching. It was like watching three movies at the same time, jumbled together at random. It just freaked me out.

That said, I cannot believe just how much this young almost-woman (she is still 17) works. Now I find a Cinderella III video where she is singing! What is a poor boy to do?

Steve Austin vs. Bigfoot

Ah...Sweet nostalgia.

John Lasseter, 2D, and Glendalienism

Anne Thompson at the Hollywood Reporter, until tomorrow when she takes over Variety.com, has a link to a very good New York Times story about the future of Disney animation. The Times story is simultaneously informative about the "business" while highlighting the narrow-sighted ignorance of East Coast bias. As Kate at Fishbowl LA points out, New Yorkers don't often have the familiarity one would expect. Sometimes I think New Yorkers shouldn't be allowed to write about Los Angeles.

Below is the comment I wrote about the article, which mentions that Disney Animation is going to have offices in Glendale.

Overall, this is a very good article, which gives me yet another reason to love living in Glendale. It's great being a Glendalien.

On a side note though, it continually amazes me how articles point to 2002's Treasure Planet and its failure as a symptom of how audiences lost interest in 2D animation. Rarely is it mentioned that 2002's Lilo and Stitch was a significant success for the studio. It cost less to make ($80 million to over $120 million) and made considerably more in the box office ($145 million domestic to $38.1 domestic). Lilo and Stitch was not only 2D, but it featured beautiful watercolor background paintings. It was a true 2D experience, where Treasure Planet was more 2-1/2D with more computer modeling etc.

What is often lost in analysis is how Treasure Planet suffers from what I call, Titan A.E. syndrome (a 2000 box office flop). This syndrome is a combination of two things. First, forgetting just who the audience is for a typical (i.e. non-ultra-vi film as Alex might say) American animated film. Second, is the lack of a well written/conveyed narrative. Pixar films work because they are well written. Treasure Planet may have been Treasure Island, but it made the protagonist a whiner and added "extreme" sports elements in an attempt to attract 12-14 year old boys.

Rule #1 in animation/comics/entertainment is "if you want 12-14 year old boys to desire your product, make it for 18 year olds." Atlantis, which featured awe-inspiring designs by Mike Mignola, was a flop for the same reason. 12-14 year old boys want to watch Full Metal Alchemist, Heavy Metal, and Samurai Champloo, they don't want Treasure Planet or its ilk.

Pixar's movies tried to appeal to all audiences, either through humor, nostalgia, or pathos. The nostalgia of the collector (and its dark side) are a wonderful part of Toy Story 2. The pathos of "Kitty!" at the end of Monsters Inc. is heartbreaking, and the humorous adaptation of The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai that is A Bug's Life is wonderful.

It is the writing and quality that bring people to the theater again and again. I can only think of one well written animated film that failed and that was released with almost no fanfare, Iron Giant.

A Quick Glance Around the Geek-o-Sphere

According to Board Game News, Twilight Creations' Zombie Town has cleared customs and is ready to ship.

Twilight Creations is a company with a seemingly singular obsession with Zombies. I own quite a few of their games and am especially fond of When Darkness Comes which combines Board game quickness with some Roleplaying elements.

Steve Meretzky has an article up on what we can learn from board games.

The article is reminiscent of some of the comments in Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You and John Derbyshire's surprised comments regarding Age of Empires. I love it when curmudgeons find value in "pop" things.

Variety's Tom McLean gets ready for New York Comic Con. He also points out that "Graphic Novels" are the most popular format in the medium.

I don't always like the use of the term "graphic novel" to describe collections of the periodicals. To me Blankets was a graphic novel, Identity Crisis (DC Comics) is a collection of periodicals (a "trade" if you will), so is Watchmen for that matter.

SciFiChick has a list of SciFI "One Hit Wonders."

I may not agree that all of these are wonders, but it is a good list of thirteen shows that never got past season one.

In Tanzania a Bat Demon is blamed for sexual assaults.

Can I really add anything to that? Go Zotzilaha!