Savage Tales: comics

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Pulp of the Week - Green Lama: Scions

The Green Lama: Scions by Adam Lance Garcia

Adam Garcia's third Green Lama tale is a terrific addition to the saga. Scions (and planned future books) are published by Moonstone Books and feature the mysterious Green Lama facing off against a bizarre, monsterous, foe.

The story begins with the crash of a passenger ship into Liberty Island. All on board are dead, save one. Dead long before the crash at their own hands. A bloodbath of unspeakable horror. A portent of Lovecraftian delights to follow in this and other adventures.

The Green Lama is joined in this adventure by Jean Farrell, Lt. Caraway, Ken Clayton, and Gary and Evangl Stewart-Brown all get involved, Jethro Dumont puts in an appearance or two as does reporter Betty Dale (from the Secret Agent X stories). She also refers to fellow reporter Din from the Planet (she is the reporter in the Foster Fade stories) and to the Spider. Adam seems to be having a ball with the references and I found it fun, too.

For those interested in such things, there is a handy timeline in the back of the book that shows where Scions fits into the Lamaverse. One of the nice things about the Green Lama saga is that were only around a dozen original stories published in the pulps of the 1930s (unlike the hundreds of Shadow and Doc Savage stories which gives Garcia much less existing canon a lot of space to work in.

I will close by saying that Adam Garcia has another fun pulp tale and really gets the Green Lama and his supporting cast. I eagerly await future volumes. Enjoy this little excerpt of reporter Betty Dale speaking to Dumont's manservant, Tsarong:

    "When are you expecting Dumont back?"
    "I couldn't say Miss Dale, I am not his keeper."
    "Guess we're just gonna have to wait, then." She dropped down into Jethro's desk chair. She waved at the rows and rows of books lining the walls. "Does he read all those?"
    "Not all at once, and usually one page at a time."
    "Now that's interesting," she said, ignoring Tsarong's quip. "By every account, our friend Dumont is little more than an immature womanizer who won't crack open anything that doesn't have two legs and here he is with more books than the Library of Alexandria."

I give "The Green Lama: Scions" a 9 out of 10 and the cover is an awesome painting of Adam by Doug Klauba.

You can buy Scions in print here
ebook here
4 wheels here

Thursday, October 18, 2012

New York Comic Con Saturday

On to Saturday... VERY crowded throughout the con. Artists Alley was very crowded, the IGN theater was always full, and the cosplay was over the top. They were everywhere, and it really helps make a con fun.

And the demographics - I think in 10 years I have watched cons have go from 90% male to (at least at NYCC) over half female. The cosplayers and steampunkers are all very much gender equal, if not leaning heavier to female. I like the trend and I hope that adding half the population as potential readers will help sustain the comics industry.

Twilight, Hunger Games, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter are major contributors to the gender balancing trend.And here are the pictures...

The Javits Convention Center in Manhatten

The calm before the Saturday onslaught.

The first panel of the day for me was for Sega's upcoming game for PS3 and X-Box 360 - Aliens: Colonial Marines - the authorized Alien universe sequel to James Cameron's Aliens. Fox considers the content of the game as part of the official canon of the Aliens universe. These fan Marines were ready and the man on the right had a fully articulated Smart Gun. Great stuff.

Lance Henriksen was a surprise guest. As you can see the fans were thrilled. He told lots of stories about Aliens and the game uses quite a few of the actors whose characters survived the events of Aliens. It was great to see him again since it had been so long since I edited him in Nature of the Beast. Lance is a great guy and a great actor.