BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> From Bookgasm with Love

In the spirit of this time of year, this week’s column is slightly different, in that anyone who wants a copy of the books covered will be able to get them for themselves. See, I’m covering three old pulps that I got my hands on thanks to the world of BitTorrent. Just click the titles to download them. For those unfamiliar with .cbr files, just do a quick search for “cbr readers,” and you will be all set. For Mac people, I recommend using Jomic, which works perfectly.

BLACK BOOK DETECTIVE: JAN. 1941 — The Black Bat is a pulp hero who was blinded by acid while he was a former D.A. named Anthony Quinn. No, not that ZORBA THE GREEK fellow. He is given his sight back by the use of another man’s corneas. Take that with a grain of salt — it’s a pulp, folks.

Not only is his eyesight improved tenfold, but he can also see clear as a bell in the dark. In this issue — which has three stories, with the Black Bat story being the bulk — our hero goes up against an enemy called the Dragon, in “The Black Bat’s Dragon Trail.” As fun as this is to read, it does have moments of lagging and padding. No one is going to confuse this with Doc Savage or The Shadow. Surprisingly, for its time, it does not go for the super-cheap racist ideals that populate most pulps of the day.

This issue has two lesser short stories: “Mom Petrelli’s Boy” and “Eyes of the Magnate.” They are thankfully short and can be skipped. Also, you get ads upon old-school ads included in the pages.

G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: DEC. 1943 — Now this pulp is more like it: action after action, all taking place in the skies. Real simple: If you like comics like ENEMY ACE, you’re going to love the G-8 pulps, and this issue hasn’t yet been reprinted.

G-8, as he is only known, is a flying ace who fights battles that are way over-the-top. Take the story in this collection, where he has to fight a monstrous man with a claw for a hand. When you see the illustrations, it looks like one of those garden tools with three prongs. Hence the title, “The Wings of The Iron Claw.” It never takes itself seriously.

You are also treated to four other, shorter stories. In “Keep ‘Em Spying,” a trusted doctor falls head over heels for the wrong kind of woman: a German spy. There is also a Red Falcon adventure that is just more life-or-death action in the skies, in the aptly titled “Sky Trap for The Falcon.” Finally, there’s a hotshot newbie who thinks he is the bee’s knees, in “Thirty Minute Ace.” But what really made me laugh more than anything is the letters page; to say some readers have not changed in 60 years is an understatement.

2-GUN WESTERN: NOV. 1955 — As the final treat in a trio of pulps, we have the go to the type that was probably the biggest: Of course, I’m talking Westerns. As any one who reads this column knows, I still feel like that 7-year-old in a cowboy hat and cap gun when I read them. As I dug through the Western titles, I picked this one for two simple reasons: 15 stories, none of which are more than 10 pages. In other words, quick and easy reading that delivers.

Sadly, none are from Max Brand. Still, you get a group of tales that can be hit-or-miss, which is to be expected. We have stories that deal with a gun-toting — or should I say dynamite-toting — priest in “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” In “As Fast as They Came,” an old-timer will take on anyone, including a marauding party of Indians. Then there a hired killer who always seems to get the best of the men he comes across, in “Noon Tomorrow.”

“Dead Man’s Hand” is that typical “one man against a group of gunmen out for vengeance” tale. There’s an Indian uprising — is there any other kind in these pulps? — on a fort in “Rotten Belly’s Sad Siege,” an actual historical piece about the Colt and how it was designed first for the Army. “Two or Three Funerals” deals with the death of the Old West as civilization slowly works across the U.S. — something Sam Peckinpah would make a career out of in cinema.

Also included are five stories from this publication’s past which are all top-notch, with a sheriff who needs to clean up a town in “Blood and Sweat — or Bullets?” to a man hardened over time that he can’t change no matter how someone might try, in “Hardcase or Coward?” The only problem with this issue is that some stories you have to jump ahead to finish them, which, in the .cbr format, is a bit of a pain. I suggest using thumbnails to jump back and forth. Still, it will make for some darn tootin’ good reading on the old PC.

Next time: top picks of 2009. —Bruce Grossman

Buy them at Amazon.

Related posts:

1. BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Shelf-Clearing Shorts
2. BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Howard Be Thy Name
3. BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> One-Two-Three-Four
4. BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Precious Metals
5. BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Comic Relief

Tagged as: bullets & broads