Empire of Doom

It began with the hijacking of a destroyer from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The stolen warship struck midtown Manhattan with its mighty guns, then vanished far out to sea.

         Who were the strange men wearing the golden uniforms of no known power who pulled off the daring highjacking? And who was their mysterious leader, a being of seemingly supernatural abilities?

         Doc Savage did not know. But The Shadow did! Combining forces, the Man of Bronze and the Dark Avenger follow the trail of a superfoe from The Shadow’s past.

But can they learn to trust one another?

         From fog-shrouded New York to a futuristic underground kingdom in the heart of Asia, the battle sprawls––with the world’s fate at stake!

Empire of Doom (Adventure)

“Wild Adventures of Doc Savage”

By Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray)

ALTUS PRESS www.altuspress.com

ISBN #978-1618272850

Price $24.95

460 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“A Classic Pulp Adventure.”

Shiwan Khan, The Golden Master, once thought dead after battling The Shadow in four pulp adventures, is back and gunning for The Shadow as he prepares to gather his Golden Horde for another try at world conquest. Stealing a destroyer  in the New York Navy Yard, he aims the big guns at a hotel in New York, hoping to destroy The Shadow while Kha Khan’s men steal scientific weapons The Shadow has stored in the Sanctum in the hotel basement. With these super weapons he then heads out to sea in his quest for Xanadu, his Mongol kingdom hidden beneath a mountain range in Asia. This time he believes himself unstoppable.

This novel starts off with action, bringing both The Shadow and Doc Savage into the fight from the start. The Shadow is driven with a passion to stop the self-claimed descendant of Ghanghis Khan before he can set up his kingdom and rule the world. Doc Savage just wants to stop the madman from killing more people. The trail leads Doc and his aides, Monk, Ham, Renny, and Long Tom on the trail of the stolen destroyer, while The Shadow is in hot pursuit of Shiwan Khan. Aiding The Shadow are Slade Farrow and Miles Crofton. Also present in the US is Senator Ross Releston and FBI agent, Vic Marquete. This was a highly action-packed novel featuring the two pulp heroes together for the second time, and I had the idea that Doc Savage wasn’t sure how to take The Shadow and his violent ways, but working together, Doc and The Shadow are also an awesome pair. A really fun story, but I am anxious for Will Murray to write a lone Shadow novel without Doc some day. Personally, I think he can do it with ease. Highly recommended

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

AGE OF THE UNICORN

AGE OF THE UNICORN #7, from 1980. Tom Johnson’s original publication of FROM SHADOW TO SUPERMAN, with a cover by Frank Hamilton. This was the first study done on Dennis Lynds and the BELMONT SHADOW series.

DOC SAVAGE: The Sinister Shadow

When millionaire Lamont Cranston and attorney Ham Brooks are kidnapped by gunmen driving a black hearse, it spells trouble for Doc Savage. Trouble with compound interest when Cranston’s personal lawyer is mysteriously murdered before he can consult with celebrated criminologist George Clarendon—who is secretly The Shadow! These strange events put the Man of Bronze and the Dark Avenger on a collision course that threatens to expose the deepest secrets of both supermen. The conflict intensifies when underworld figure Cliff Marsland is captured and shipped off to Doc’s secret Crime College! Will these legendary crimefighters join forces—or will the diabolical Funeral Director have the last laugh on Doc Savage and The Shadow?

“The Sinister Shadow” (Wild Adventures of Doc Savage)

By Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray)

ISBN #978-1618271983

ALTUS PRESS www.altuspress.com

Price $24.95

481 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Two of Pulps Greatest Heroes Finally Meet In Fantastic Adventure”

It’s Fall of 1933, and Lamont Cranston receives a threat for a quarter million dollars. If he doesn’t pay, the Funeral Director will murder him. Other millionaires have already died from mysterious heart attacks. Lamont makes an appointment to see Commissioner Weston, but when work keeps the police commissioner from their appointment at the Cobalt Club, Cranston seeks out Ham Brooks, a well-known attorney and asks for a meeting with Doc Savage, but the Funeral Director has them captured as they arrive on the street of Doc’s headquarters. This brings Doc Savage into the case, while The Shadow is already preparing to protect Cranston. Now, the two powerful forces are drawn together in the case; both seek the same ends, though through different means. Doc Savage prefers to solve cases through nonviolence, while The Shadow battles gangdom with blazing automatics and a taunting laugh. Can they set their differences aside long enough to save their people, or will war break out between these giants of pulpdom?

Fans have been waiting for this team-up between The Shadow and Doc Savage for a long time, and they won’t be disappointed in THE SINISTER SHADOW. Will Murray is the rightful heir to the Doc Savage adventures, and with this team-up of pulp heroes, it proves he is the likely choice to continue The Shadow series, as well. The 1933 setting was a perfect springboard to bring the two characters together. Doc Savage had begun in early 1933, several months before this novel takes place, and The Shadow had been around since 1931, but was still a mysterious crime fighter, his identity not known. The author brings back a super villain who escaped The Shadow twice before, but will he do so again? I hope we see more new Shadow novels under the pen of Will Murray in the future. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Tom's Infamous Wall of Heroes

Tom’s Infamous Wall of Heroes

For a change of pace, I thought I would share a couple of pictures with the Group. Above is my infamous wall of heroes. My first two heroes were Batman and Superman, comic book super heroes I discovered in 1947, at age seven. I guess I read comic books for 33 years, giving them up in 1980. I had discovered new heroes, not men wearing tights (LOL). In 1963 & ’64, I discovered Doc Savage and The Shadow, along with REH and ERB, while I was stationed in France with the US Army. From that time onward, my interest in comic books began diminishing, and a love for exciting pulp tales was escalating. On the wall below Superman and Batman you will see Doc Savage, The Shadow, and The Phantom Detective, three of my all-time favorite heroes from the pulp magazines – but certainly not the only ones. The picture below is my den; wall-to-wall pulps, paperbacks, and digest magazines surround the pool table.

My Infamous Wall of Heroes

Ginger had to buy a new digital camera for my book signing this weekend, so she checked the camera out by capturing my infamous wall of heroes in my bedroom. Of course, my very first heroes were Batman and Superman back in 1947 (at 7 years old). Later Doc Savage, The Shadow, and Phantom Detective joined them. Tiger guards my room as you can see.

Tom

After receiving - and reading - the long awaited 1st issue of the new Shadow series from Dynamite comics, I am again disappointed in the portrayal of Walter Gibson's creation. The comic book has a cover price of $3.99, and contains  36 pages counting front and back cover. There is 22 pages of Shadow story, plus the cover for a total of 23 pages, then 13 pages of advertisements for Dynamite's other comics. In fact, the center pages are devoted to a two-page advertisement for Dynamite's Prophesy. Again, the buyer should feel cheated that this wasn't a two-page spread for The Shadow instead! Seems to me the buyer is paying for their advertisements, and getting very little story for the price. The artwork is good, and The Shadow looks okay, but Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane do not capture the familiar images from the pulps. Nor does the dialog. Yes, The Shadow blurts "The Weed of Crime", etc., but his foolish dialog while shooting crooks is not like the character, but belongs to the modern sensibilities I suppose. Margo Lane seems to merely be a sexual companion for Lamont Cranston. Except for the costume and name, this could have been a modern comic book set in the 1930s or '40s. The cover of my copy is the one with bats in the background. I suppose to connect the image to Batman. My personal opinion? Forget this version of The Shadow. At the price, we deserve much more than this.

Tom

Bob Larkin Sketchbook

STARWARP CONCEPTS

P.O. BOX 4667 • SUNNYSIDE, NY 11104

www.starwarpconcepts.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 “THE BOB LARKIN SKETCHBOOK” DEBUTS

StarWarp Concepts Presents Legendary Artist’s First Pencil-Art Collection

He’s created some of comics’ most iconic images—a snarling Hulk raising a green-hued fist in anger, Conan the Barbarian strangling an enemy, even the disco-inspired first-issue cover for The Dazzler—and inspired some of the industry’s most popular artists.

From Doc Savage and Spider-Man to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock, from the Planet of the Apes to Babylon 5 and Star Wars, and from James Cameron’s low-budget epic Piranha II to William Shatner’s directorial turn on Star Trek V, there’s little that artist Bob Larkin hasn’t painted. But few of his fans have ever seen the incredible pencil drawings that begin these eye-catching pieces—until now.

Available exclusively from independent publishing house StarWarp Concepts, THE BOB LARKIN SKETCHBOOK is the acclaimed artist’s first collection of pencil art, featuring superheroes, wrestling stars, and pulp adventurers—including a pair of brand-new Doc Savage sketches exclusive to this volume! For more information, please visit www.StarwarpConcepts.com.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR BOB LARKIN:

“Nothing was more inspiring to me as a young wannabe comics artist than to become like Bob Larkin and try my best to breathe life into dreams like he did.”

—Alex Ross,

in The Savage Art of Bob Larkin (SQP Inc.)

“Larkin’s magazine and paperback covers are both legendary and iconic. There are few pop culture touchstones which this artist hasn’t depicted with his unique and powerful style of illustration.”

—Bud’s Art Books

“Long before Alex Ross, Bob Larkin became the first major painter to be known for superhero covers, thanks to his work on Marvel’s magazine covers.”

—ComicMix.com

“Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, if you saw Bob Larkin’s name on the cover to a magazine or comic, you simply had to have it…. This is a guy that’s never truly received the credit for being one of the best all-time cover artists.”

—Shotgun Reviews

“To try and deny the awesomeness of Bob Larkin’s art is to deny your very existence. It is impossible.”

—Marvel.com

About the Artist:

BOB LARKIN has provided cover artwork for every major U.S. book-publishing house, from Ace Books and Simon & Schuster to Random House and Penguin; movie posters for Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, and New Line Cinema; and comic book covers for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Warren Publishing. A highly praised successor to renowned painter James Bama as cover artist for Bantam Books’ Doc Savage pulp series, Larkin’s talents have been acclaimed by colleagues and art fans around the world.

About the Book:

The Bob Larkin Sketchbook

by Bob Larkin                                             

Published by StarWarp Concepts

24 pages, digest (5.5” x 8.5”)

Price: $12.00 U.S.

THE BOB LARKIN SKETCHBOOK™ and © 2011 Bob Larkin.

All rights reserved.

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