"Showdown at Shootout" in WH #2 is one of the wildest pastiches ever told featuring literally every major (and many minor) pulp heroes and villains in one climactic battle, somewhat hampered by the fact they're all well past mandatory retirement age! I freaked out people sitting near me on the subway when I read it while commuting and couldn't stop laughing!
The first two volumes are my faves for sure. The short story format was the best. The blend of art and story was something neatly done, a really refreshing change of pace in the 70's.
"Guts the Cosmic Greaser" and Elliot Maggin's glorious "SPV 166" were two of my favorite things ever. Without exaggeration, I read and reread those first two volumes until they were literally falling apart from overhandling. Sometime later I scored a copy of the Doc Phoenix followup, but I've never seen the rest of these.
They were notoriously hard to find as I recollect. Some of them I did not find until years later in used book stores. I've yet to read the Son of Sherlock Holmes story in the final Fiction Illustrated.
Some of it has been collected in paperback under the authors' names like the Orion stories by Ben Bova and the Greatheart Silver stuff by Phillip Farmer.
"Showdown at Shootout" in WH #2 is one of the wildest pastiches ever told featuring literally every major (and many minor) pulp heroes and villains in one climactic battle, somewhat hampered by the fact they're all well past mandatory retirement age!
ReplyDeleteI freaked out people sitting near me on the subway when I read it while commuting and couldn't stop laughing!
The first two volumes are my faves for sure. The short story format was the best. The blend of art and story was something neatly done, a really refreshing change of pace in the 70's.
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"Guts the Cosmic Greaser" and Elliot Maggin's glorious "SPV 166" were two of my favorite things ever. Without exaggeration, I read and reread those first two volumes until they were literally falling apart from overhandling. Sometime later I scored a copy of the Doc Phoenix followup, but I've never seen the rest of these.
ReplyDeleteThey were notoriously hard to find as I recollect. Some of them I did not find until years later in used book stores. I've yet to read the Son of Sherlock Holmes story in the final Fiction Illustrated.
ReplyDeleteSome of it has been collected in paperback under the authors' names like the Orion stories by Ben Bova and the Greatheart Silver stuff by Phillip Farmer.
Rip Off