The Comic Books of Patricia Highsmith
Before Patricia Highsmith became a bestselling Mystery writer, penning such classics as Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, she worked in comics. Read More
Link: A Bike on the Moon: The Science Fiction of Mickey Spillane
There was one job in comics that was lower than the guy who cleaned the ink pens. That poor fool was the one who had Read More
Link: The Trail of Lovecraft: Part Three: Clark Ashton Smith, The Great Thing
I saw something that bothered me the other day. A professional writer whom I admire said something to the effect that Clark Ashton Smith was Read More
The Thriller: Not Quite the Saint
Some writers become so identified with one character you don’t often think of other characters they created. Erle Stanley Gardner is a perfect example. Perry Read More
Link: The Trail of Lovecraft: Part Two: Recycling the Mythos
In my last column, I talked about how J. Sheridan Le Fanu influenced H.P. Lovecraft, even though he never read the Irish master’s many great Read More
The Strangest Northerns: Fawcett Style II
“Mary Marvel’s Rescue at the North Pole” (Mary Marvel #5, September 1946) saw two brothers work together on this strange tale of the North Pole. Read More
Spear and Fang: A Prehistoric Premiere
“Spear and Fang” (Weird Tales, July 1925) was Robert E. Howard’s premiere as an author. He was only nineteen when it appeared in Weird Tales. Read More
The Genuine Article: Detective Comics
Comics based on famous detective characters are not uncommon. Sherlock Holmes alone has dozens in many languages. But what is rarer, and the focus of Read More
Link: Skull the Slayer: Polemic or Pulp?
1975 saw two things happen almost simultaneously. Marv Wolfman came to Marvel comics and he created Skull the Slayer. Who? Yes, Skull was not the Read More
Link: The Trail of Lovecraft: Part One: J. Sheridan Le Fanu
H.P. Lovecraft was pretty thorough in his survey The Supernatural Horror in Literature, but he did not possess a crystal ball. He was limited to Read More