RON FORTIER'S DANGER: COAST TO COAST

Ron Fortier's "Danger: Coast to Coast", starring the Black Black (aka Tony Quinn) and Domino Lady (aka Ellen Patrick), springs from the marvelous Moonstone Books, with a breathtaking cover by Doug Klauba. This special-edition "graphic novel" contains new and previously released entries, including an eerie set from the super-charged "Guns of the Black Bat" saga.  

In truth, "Danger: Coast to Coast" includes four, blended and complementing chapters, with pages contributed by Mike Dorman, Vincenzo Sansone, Paul Delacroix, Silvestre Szilagyi, Dennis Calero, Michael Stribling and Mike Fyles. Their combined artistry invokes the excellence of cinematic noir.

To heighten the action, Fortier's sweeping scenarios open the door for familiar guests beyond the edition's eponymous protagonists, with Dan Fowler, G-Man assisting the Black Bat in a mystifying caper to squash a New York mobster. 

The luscious Domino Lady, meanwhile, teams with the scientific I.V. Frost to thwart a jewel thief and a dirty bureaucrat in Hollywood.

In the edition's capping, two-parter, the Black Bat discovers a perplexing, alien plague and to snuff it, Fortier enlists not only Domino Lady, but I.V. Frost; the Phantom Detective; Airboy; the Golden Amazon; Nighthawk; Moon Man; the Man Who Laughs; Jim Anthony, Super-Detective; and Ki-Gor, Jungle Lord. 

Part 1 of the infestation tale was co-conceived by Eric Esquivel and Part 2 by Aaron Shaps. Each writer helps fuel Fortier's action-bursting epic to the earth-rumbling max.

"Danger: Coast to Coast" is without question a must-have for all pulp-crossover and comic-book completists (and I might add, it would make one helluva gift for those who crave explosive derring-do). 

To purchase "Danger: Coast to Coast", visit your local comic shop or order at 

http://moonstonebooks.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1237

FILMFAX #157: A NEW FIVE OUNCE TON OF INTELLIGENT FUN!!!

Filmfax #157 hits the racks with a alien-dedicated issue, and to commemorate it, a vibrant, "This Island Earth"/Metaluna Mutant cover. Wow!

Issue #157 also features such dynamic content as "The Making of Son of Kong"; Dana Gould spoofing Dr. Zaius; old-time robots and spaceships; Karl Zeman's "Fabulous World of Jules Verne"; Arthur Raderbaugh's futuristic visions; and a neato retrospective on good ol' "Space Patrol". 

On all counts, this is an ideal issue for all discerning, eclectic tastes.

Pick up a copy of Filmfax #157 today at your favorite bookstore, newsstand or online shop. And for the record, faithful Creepy Classics also has copies for sale:

https://creepyclassics.com/product.sc?productId=15473

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: THE BIG RED CHEESE VS THE GILL-MAN (DAVE COCKBURN)

SCARY MONSTERS #119: BEHIND THE SCREAMS!!!

Scary Monsters #119 gives a hardy handful of behind-the-screams treasures from fan's favorite thrillers, just as Scott Jackson's cover-collage insinuates.

Inside there's superb stuffing on the Frankenstein Monster; Dracula; Imhotep; Kharis; the Gill-man; fantasy-film locales; sound effects; monster music; monster costumes; a character-actor queue; horror fiction; kaiju creepiness; and Dynamation wonderment, with such icons as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr, and Ray Harryhausen threaded throughout. Issue #119 also contains enriching, background stills and illustrations to honor them all. Hurrah!

Scary Monsters #119 is certain to fulfill those fans who fancy their reading rammed with historical reference.

Order #119 at 

https://www.mymoviemonsters.com/store.php/mymoviemonsters/pd9947519/scary-monsters-119-filmmaking-behind-the-screams-preorder-coming-late-nov

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP/PIN-UP TIME IMAGE: YVONNE CRAIG (BARBARA & BATGIRL)

R.I.P. BEN BOVA...

Your works were filled of imagination and style, and through them, you inspired generations to travel far beyond the norm.

You took your readers to "Mars"; "Venus"; "Saturn"; "Titan"; "Jupiter"; "Uranus"; "Orion"; and gave them the profound "Millennium" and "The Exiles Trilogy", along with the satirical disclosure, "The Starcrossed", sprung from the ill-fated, television series, "The Starlost".

With you "Starlost" pal, Harlan Ellison, you inspired "Future Cop" and even won a groundbreaking court battle to prove it.

Your contributions will continue to spur mental leaps, Mr. Bova, with astral paths destined to remain respected and unsurpassed. 

STRAY DOGS ARE SILENT THIS MIDNIGHT BY AIRKTOO THE (THA) DARKAR (DARCEST)

Airktoo the (tha) Darkar (darcest) creeps upon us again, with a release to spur the industrial chills, as well as a dark, symbolic (strikes-at-twelve) start for any calm-before-the-storm moment of any new phase. 

In stray dogs are silent this midnight, the artist specializes in audio versions of vices and upheavals: those meddling, clandestine interludes that we know will prove problematic, but we engage all the same. 

"Drink and drive" is perhaps as troubling as it gets, but its tonality isn't characterized by careening squeals or crashes, but rather raven-rapping doom. 

"Mental factory", its immediate sequel, is the enduring lament that later invades: a tinny, grinding landscape, where labored thoughts queue an assembly line of weighing woes.

"Metallic milk" is all that's left to consume in the bleak aftermath, with anguished swallowing and a lingering sting deep in the pit of one's throat.

"Bite this" is an ensuing f-this, where the composer constructs a prancing, upraised finger for those quick to condemn. Since forgiveness won't come, one might as well adapt a hardy, rebellious refrain.

If the latter constitutes a defiant assault, then "please, tell me thank you" is a response to those who've taken everything and yet have the audacity to request more. In so many ways, this track is Airktoo's crowning achievement, wracked with resignation, fury and cries of why-oh-why. 

"White brown" and "cheap potatoes" conclude the experimental sojourn, with goading gales and slammed, prison doors, and to mark the commemorating feast, an ongoing punishment of gravy-less meat. Alas, it's all one will ever have to eat.

Airktoo does, indeed, mount the melancholia for this journey, but one needn't be a masochist to favor it. If anything, the album's doleful noises constitute a compilation of despairing songs to match any irritating mishap for any lost soul.  

Try stray dogs... on for size. Its austerity could very well become one's most apt, audio perspective:  

https://adarcahianku.bandcamp.com/album/stray-dogs-are-silent-this-midnight?fbclid=IwAR0WXSGCOebc2odebAB2pgGQeLTbXJOj7tDig51XUv_8NKz6JXJyVt9E1HE