Author: jmstine

The Godmen and The Stars, My Brothers: two space epics from the Glory Days of the SF Pulps!

Dave Sim says: "A really nice piece of work ... accomplished ...tight... and sharp."

The crime rate is jumping in the small town of Magdalena, Indiana, and so is the number of people going to confession. Are the criminals feeling remorse, or is there some other connection that Detective Paul Stuart can't quite grasp the answer just yet? But he has an uneasy feeling the solution might be in the palm of his hand.

"Great dialogue pretty much the whole way through here, and those fat black shadows were perfect for the theme. Worth a look if you like the murder mystery/suspense type of stories." —Dave Sim at Optical Sloth

The original Phantom Lady in full color!

Created by the legendary Will Eisner, Phantom Lady was the first and longest-lived costumed heroine to grace the comic books (in a different form, she is still around today).

Phantom Lady made her entrance in 1941, the brainchild of Eisner and his then-partner Jerry Iger. Although she didn't have super powers, Phantom Lady, like Batman, had honed her physical and mental reactions far beyond those of most mortals, and in battle was more than a match for the average gang of miscreants. Also like Batman, she used science to give her an edge when fighting villains, ordinary or super—such as a futuristic gun that shot a wide beam of blackness, instead of light, completely blinding her enemies. In real life, Phantom Lady was Sandra Knight, the daughter of a U.S. senator who had grown bored with her privileged life and decided to use information that came to her as a Washington insider to help fight espionage and crime.

Phantom Lady reached her height at the hands of illustrator Matt Baker, fabled today as one of the kings of "good girl art" and the comic book industry's first successful African-American artist. Baker changed Phantom Lady's outfit to a revealing blue and red number that packed every frame with sexual overtones—so much so, in fact, that Baker's cover for Phantom Lady No. 17, featuring Sandra Knight attempting to free herself from ropes (reproduced on the cover of this omnibus), helped stimulate a congressional hearing on comic books, and was denounced by psychiatrist Frederic Wertham, who claimed Baker's cover aroused unhealthy "sexual stimulation by combining 'headlights' with the sadist's dream of tying up a woman." In his sixties, Wertham recanted his indictment of comic books and his claims that they were a harmful influence on the young. (You will find a gallery of Phantom Lady covers at the end of this omnibus and can make up your own mind about Baker's art.)

These stories from the Phantom Lady comic books are redolent of the values, concerns, fantasies, stereotypes, and events of their time, and many readers will find aspects of them problematic by today's standards. At the same time, within the context of its creation, Phantom Lady can also be seen as an early, and still compelling, portrayal of a strong, independent female figure in popular media, and one who, in her more recent incarnations, is still inspiring people today.

Straight from the pages of the 1940s leading science fiction comic book of the Golden Age, Planet Stories, comes the full-color, rocketing adventures of Gale Allen and her Girl Squadron! A Venusian princess and direct descendant of King Rogert, who was the first human to land on Venus, Gale Allen grows up to become the captain of the Universal Space Patrol. A skilled space pilot sporting a ray gun at her hip, Gale leads her Girl Squadron in the fight for galactic justice, encountering their fair share of madmen and monsters, around the year 1990 (when her adventures first begin) and proceeding well into the 21st century.

A break from the ubiquitous damsel-in-distress stories readers found in the comic books of the day, Fiction House's comic book division produced a unique line of heroines—Sheena, Queen of the Jungle; Senorita Rio; Firehair, Girl of the Golden West; Mysta of the Moon, and the star of this collection, the futuristic, space-rocketing Gale Allen and her Girl Squadron, who appeared in nearly every issue of Planet Comics between #4 and #42. Written by Douglas McKee, many of the Gale Allen tales (including most of the ones collected here) were illustrated by Fran Deitrick Hopper. In those days women who illustrated comics were a rare occurrence to be sure—everywhere but Fiction House.

In each of the stories in this collection you will find adventures from Venus to Pluto, a wide range of intriguing characters, and the resplendent art work of by Fran Deitrick Hopper. Get ready to delve deep into some of the most arresting comic fun you will ever come across with Gale Allen and her Girl Squadron.

Introduction by culture commentator Ralph Greco Jr. Stories include: Beast King of the Asteroid; Mad Master of Venus; Fire Eaters of Asteroid Z; War Maid of the Death World; Castaways of the Star Lanes, and others.

Ten action-packed adventures of the legendary goddess as she uses her bow to battle Nazi tanks, gat-toting mobsters—and more.

Diana the Huntress appeared as a backup feature in Yellowacket Comics, which ran ten issues in the mid-1940s. This graphic novel edition reprints all these adventures of Diana, the Greek goddess sent to Earth to help out mortals in their times of need.

Several online comic book sites share this description of the series: Diana the Huntress "…travels from her home on Mount Olympus under orders from her father Zeus to protect Greece from the Nazis. She could be summoned by anyone who found one of her arrows.  Her powers included flight, superhuman strength and agility. Diana also had a 'robe of concealment' allowing her to hide among mortals. She was a skilled archer and carried a magical bow and golden arrows.  She was assisted by her fellow Greek/Roman deities such as Apollo, Hercules, Zeus, Mercury and Discordia. Her enemies included Count Vesti."

But this description leaves out the fact that, as the war ends in mid-series, Diana ends up fighting a number of other fearsome threats such as criminal gangs, sorcery, and even the Titans before returning to Olympus as the series ended. Here again from the Golden Age of the Comic Books, with an informative introduction by classics scholar and comics fan, Wade Heaton, are all ten of Diana the Huntress' timeless exploits!

Return to the Golden Age of Comic Books with this first-ever, full-color omnibus reprinting seven classic adventures of Bulletman.

At first, he was a humble chemist and the son of a police officer—but when his father was was killed in the line of duty, Jim Barr became Bulletman and dedicated his life to fighting crime.

Bulletman's career as a chemist is far from over, even so; he'll need all his knowledge and equipment to develop his superpowers and special accoutrements—such as his Gravity Regulator Helmet (which is bullet-shaped, and thus the origin of his name) to deflect bullets, as well as greater muscle mass and brain power to battle criminals.

And Bulletman won't battle crime alone. Like most costumed superheroes (with the notable exception of Superman), he'll fight evil alongside a partner. Enter Bulletgirl.

In this new collection, Bulletman and Bulletgirl join forces to battle a headless ghost, the mysterious Mr. Who, the evil scientist Crackpot, and the well-dressed criminal known as The Dude—plus three more thrilling adventures. You'll also find an introduction which offers more vivid detail about Bulletman's origins.

Award-Winning Pulp Magazine Novel; First Time in Print!

What if you were actually asked to become the mother of a new race; to go to the rescue of another planet where all women had died and there were only men, doomed to extinction? Find out how one woman reacted in this the first-ever science fiction romance, written in 1956, winner of the Jules Verne Prize, never before reprinted.

Bonus feature: the author's only two short stories, including "A Woman is a Non-Mechanical Thing."

These Alien Musicians Played the Cosmic Beat—On Themselves!

Only Randall Garrett, creator of Lord Darcy, could have written this novelette of another investigator faced with a comic, cosmic problem.

A Galactic Observer is supposed to be all-knowing. But even the sharpest G. O. can hardly be faulted for being puzzled by the phenomenon of a jive trio in a beatnik hangout—especially when the instruments they play on are built-in!

Not available anywhere else. Reprinted from a 1962 issue of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination.

The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece and Rome had returned to Earth...

...with all their awesome powers intact, and Earth was transformed almost overnight.

War on any scale was outlawed, along with boom-and-bust economic cycles, and prudery—no change was more startling than the face of New York, where, for instance, the Empire State Building became the Tower of Zeus!

In this totally altered world, William Forrester was an acolyte of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, and therefore a teacher, while Maya Wilson, student and worshipper of Venus, evidently had a totally altered way of grading in mind. This was just the first of the many Trials of Forrester, every bit as mighty and perilous as the Labors of Hercules.

In love with Gerda Symes—who, like him, was a devotee of Athena; who, like him, was a frequenter of the great Temple of Pallas Athena (formerly known as the 42nd Street Library) and was dedicated to the pleasures of the mind—Forrester was nonetheless under the soft, compelling pressure of soft, compelling devotees of Venus, Bacchus and the like, and in need of all the strength that he and his Goddess, the beautiful and intellectual Athena, could muster to save him from the endless temptations of this new Earth.

And into this sensuous strife strode the Temple Myrmidons—religious cops sworn to obey orders without question or hesitation—with a pickup order for William Forrester. Where he was taken, what happened to him, the truly fantastic discoveries he made about himself and the Gods and Goddesses—here are the ingredients that make up this science fiction novel of suspense, intrigue, mystery and danger. For science fiction it is, with the supernatural making complete sense, and fun too, despite the Sword of Damocles hanging by a thread over Forrester's head!

Leland Hale thought the universe owed him a living—and he was collecting on the installment plan!

Here is master science fiction humorist Randall Garrett's rarest and never before reprinted series. Introducing Leland Hale, who will steal your heart—and all your money! Fraud, larceny and murder are all in the day's work for this master interstellar confidence man.

Hale is about to descend on the planet Cardigan's Green with a planetary scam designed to make him rich at the population's expense. What he doesn't know is that he is also about to become a savior! And if he survives this one, he has two more brilliant schemes in mind.

For the first time ever, here are all three Leland Hale capers in one volume. As a special bonus, this edition features the original magazine illustrations for the stories by the Hugo winning Artists: Ed Emsh, Virgil Finlay, and John Schoenherr.

Randall Garrett (1927-1987) worked as an industrial chemist before turning his hand to science fiction—a happy decision for everyone, as it turned out. During the 1950s and '60s he was a stalwart of the U.S. science fiction magazines, producing well over a hundred short stories and novelettes and writing for virtually every title on the stands, but primarily for Astounding (now Analog). A noted humorist, famed for his delightful Lord Darcy series, even Garrett's most serious works (Anything You Can Do, for example) contain comic or satirical undertones. He was one of the first writers to appreciate the importance of conventions and an ingratiating personality in building a strong fan base.

"[These] stories, which have never been reprinted since their one and only appearance on cheap pulpwood paper ... ensure that readers will remember his work at least a little longer. They will have an opportunity to encounter that sly sense of humor, those brilliant mystery and detective problems and that almost unmatched ability to work complex scientific principles into exciting stories." —Mark Cole, Internet Review of Science Fiction.