MISS - Better Living Through Crime - a Humanoids Graphic Novel

As I get more and more tired of today's mainstream comics, I find myself more and more looking at a lot of the independent publishers out there, as they tend to put out some really great work that often goes unnoticed.  Most who know me and my love of comics know how much I enjoy the indy publishers (Eclipse, Pacific, First, Charlton, Dell, Gold Key, Whitman, Dynamite, IDW, Dark Horse, etc.), and I always find it a thrill to come across a new publisher (new to me, anyway).  The advertisement in Previews for this graphic novel collection sold me on the title and cover alone - a white woman in 1920s dress sitting next to a black man, and a simply title and tagline:  Miss - Better Living Through Crime.

Originally published in France back from 1999 to 2002, Miss was written by Phillippe Thirault and drawn by Marc Riou and Mark Vigouroux.  The comics tell the story of Nola and Slim - a poor white girl with a lot of grit and a black pimp who knows how to stay one step ahead of the law.  Circumstances bring these two together, and they become the most unlikely of partners in a continuing crime spree in New York during the 1920s.  They basically become hired hitmen (well, one man and one woman), willing to take out anyone if the price is right.  But neither of them are without conscience, and neither of them are without heart - which is what makes this book an extremely engaging and interesting read.

The graphic novel contains four, full-length stories that follow Nola and Slim from their initial meeting to the culmination of their growing friendship and partnership in crime.  The title, Miss, comes from the fact that Slim nearly always refers to Nola simply as "Miss."  The first story introduces readers to these two would-be assassins who grew up learning from the school of hard knocks.  Nola was the daughter of a whore and a drunk, whose brother got himself killed before he was even a teenager.  Slim was a wanna-be pimp with a penchant for owing a lot of people a lot of money.  Unfortunate circumstances bring them together, and because of Nola's accidental involvement with a hit-job, she and Slim discover they can make some money by taking jobs that fall way outside the law.  Their first job, however, does not go as planned when Nola discovers that their target is a child!  A double-cross of their boss leaves Nola wounded, and Slim has to reach out to the family that wants nothing to do with him in order to save her life!

The second story takes Nola and Slim on a yacht trip, where their job is to snuff out the husband of a woman ready to get her hands on her husband's money - the only thing is, the husband is already dying of cancer and planned to use the trip to "fall overboard" so that he did not die a slow, debilitating death.  Of course, Nola and Slim take the credit and the money.  That little adventure is nothing more than an introduction to a story that delves more into both Nola's and Slim's pasts, as Nola must confront her mother one last time and Slim must face his own pimping past...

The third tale presents some unexpected turns as Nola and Slim are hired to kill a black man, only to find themselves face-to-face with the fanatical KKK - and in the 1920s, there was no mercy!  Then they take on a different kind of case when an elderly woman asks them to rescue her grandson from a mental hospital, where her son's latest wife had contrived to have him committed so that her son would inherit the family fortune - but not everything is what it seems, and Nola and Slim quickly find out that looks can be deceiving and learn that they should learn more about their clients before they take a job!

The final story brings Nola and Slim's journey to a very satisfying conclusion.  With Nola's backstory resolved in the prior tales, this last one deals with some of Slim's relationships.  A corporate hit that doesn't go as planned and a spoiled actress who eventually gets what she deserves lead up to Nola dealing justice to the man whose life was so intertwined with Slim's that she has to tread carefully or risk losing her partner and friend forever!

Thirault creates a dark underworld of the 1920s, but at the same time, despite the darker nature of the characters and the world in which they live, also offers some hope.  The stories take place over a decade of time, and during that time, Nola and Slim grow in so many ways.  They become more confident as the stories progress; they become more skilled in their job; they become more adept at detecting the lies and betrayals; and probably most important, they become so much more than just working partners - they become friends...allies...and eventually, they become more to each other than they ever imagined when they first met.  This book is a story of more than just crime and hitmen in the '20s - it's about characters and emotions and pain and love and life itself.

While the topics may be quite mature and dark, the book is one I would highly recommend to not only comic book fans, but also to those who love to read a really good story with some depth to it.

RATING:  10 dropped tea trays out of 10 for proving that comics can be more than just superheroes and still tell an amazingly good story!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Invisible Scarlet O'Neil

The more I read of these "Mystery and Adventure Stories for Girls and Boys" published by Whitman Publishing Company back in the '40s and '50s, the more I am enjoying them.  I always thought of them as the "poor boy" version of regular series books, such as Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, etc.  But, in actuality, a lot of these stories are actually very well written and quite enjoyable.  This latest book is one I was searching for in good condition for quite a long time.  I had heard about the character (she was a comic strip character created by Russell Stamm back in 1940 for the Chicago Times, who also later appeared in her own comic book stories and in two Big Little Books), and I knew that Whitman had published a prose novel based on the character - but the books I found either were lacking the dust jacket or were in such poor condition, I was afraid they would fall apart if I touched them.  Having been published in 1943, I knew it would take me a while to find one in good enough condition to satisfy me.  And this year, that wait finally paid off!

I found a beautiful copy of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil at the antique mall in Mount Dora, Florida, with full dust jacket in tact and in great condition (meaning the pages were not coming detached from the spine, as many Whitman books have a tendency to do!).  And, since the price was more than reasonable, I picked it up.  Now, after months of sitting on my shelf waiting, I finally had the opportunity to read it.  It was not at all what I expected, but it was definitely a fun read that was well worth the time spent.  Most definitely it is a product of its time, with some of the stereotypes one would expect from a book written back in the 1940s, but some of Scarlet's characteristics - such as her desire to help others, her frustration with self-centered, selfish people, and her humility in refusing to let those she helps know just what she has done for them - most definitely stand the test of time.  We need more people like her in today's world!

 

The story itself is not typical of the book-length novels that most children's mysteries were in that day.  Instead, the book is made up of a number of smaller stories, which follow one another sequentially, almost as if they were adapted from stories in the daily newspaper strip.  Each tale takes up two or three chapters, with 21 illustrations throughout the book.  The first story involves a case of mistaken identity (or mistaken car, as the case may be), when Scarlet witnesses a man get struck by a vehicle, but the police arrest the wrong man who happens to have an identical vehicle.  Scarlet uses her power of invisibility to track down the real culprits and trick them into confessing to the crime.  The second tale finds Scarlet determined to rescue a small puppy that belonged to a wealthy socialite who has died and left her fortune to the puppy instead of a niece, who is bitter over the loss of the fortune.  When the niece kidnaps the puppy, Scarlet uses her powers to get the pup back to its caretaker and away from the vicious woman who cares more about the money than the dog!  

The third story involves a former boxer who is down on his luck and needs to find work to support his son after his wife dies.  He thinks his luck has finally turned when he gets the opportunity to box again, but Scarlet happens to overhear the men who have given him the opportunity and she knows they are running a scam that could permanently ruin his life - so it's up to her to save the day!  The fourth tale takes Scarlet to a prison where a man is about to be put to death for a crime he didn't commit.  Scarlet uses her wits (and her power of invisibility!) to uncover the true culprits and lead the cops to them just in the nick of time to save the innocent man's life!  The fifth adventure is one in which Scarlet must stop a ring of tire thieves, who are about to embark on their biggest score yet when they hijack the trucks from a tire factory nearby.

The sixth, and final, story is the longest in the book, lasting for several chapters.  In it, Scarlet stumbled upon a very poor boy who finds a small lamp that he pretends to be Aladdin's lamp.  When some bullies give him a hard time, Scarlet decides to use her power of invisibility to appear and be the "genie" the boy believes is in the lamp.  Through a series of adventures and wishes, which Scarlet tries desperately to fulfill, the boy ends up in Hollywood, where he has always dreamed of being an actor.  But there are people in Hollywood who have other plans - from a jealous woman who wants her son to be the lead in these movies to an underhanded man who thinks he can take the lamp for himself and gain quick riches.  Scarlet inadvertently puts the boy's life in danger, so she must work hard to not only save his life, but convince him that he no longer needs the lamp to fulfill his wishes for his life.

I could easily see all of these stories being laid out as a daily three or four-panel serial in a daily newspaper strip; but when I tried to find some Invisible Scarlet O'Neil strips online, or even just determine whether these stories are new tales or adapted from the strips, I was not able to confirm one way or the other.  It seems information about this book is just as invisible as the star herself!  I was not even able to get confirmation as to whether the character's creator, Russell Stamm, wrote the book for Whitman and/or provided the illustrations.  There is no credit given to author or illustrator in the book, but several places indicate the book is "Based Upon the Famous Newspaper Strip by Russell Stamm."

The books was certainly enjoyable, and it makes me hunger even more for other "Authorized Editions" by Whitman from back in the day.  Watch out eBay, here I come!

RATING:  9 notes written by a ghost out of 10 for crafting enjoyable little tales that bring this strip character to life in novel form!

Grave Consequences - the fifth Bay Island Psychic Mystery

Okay, so my question from the previous book about the prominence of the lighthouse in that book and on the cover of that book actually came to fruition in this fifth book in the Bay Island Psychic Mystery series by Lena Gregory.  This fifth book in the series has a mystery that centers around the Bay Island lighthouse!  It's always nice when a series like this uses a bit of foreshadowing for future mysteries, whether it is with characters, locales, or inanimate objects.  It gives the series a sense of grounding in reality, that the world that I immerse myself into each time I pick up the next book is more than just a fictional story - it's a real world with real people that I come to know and love (and none more so than Bee Maxwell!!!).

Grave Consequences finds its protagonist, Cass Donovan, fighting an internal battle against the voices from beyond the grave that are battling for her attention.  It seems ever since Cass came to terms with the fact that she really did have a gift for sensing and hearing things from the other side, everyone and their kid brother has shown up in her mind, trying to get her to do something for them!  She is battling to quiet those voices so she can sense the one thing that is most important at the moment - when and how her best friend Stephanie and her husband will find a child to adopt!  But instead of being able to help one of her best friends, she keeps getting bombarded by voices, one of which repeatedly mentions the lighthouse.  Deciding to heed the call (warning? cry for help?), Cass, Stephanie, and Bee had up to the Bay Island lighthouse to see what is going on.  Little do any of them know, there's a lot more going on than they could possibly suspect!

The lighthouse owner, Fred DiCarlo, is now running ghost tours, of which the lighthouse is a part of the tour.  It seems he discovered an old ghost story about a treasure hidden somewhere around the lighthouse and a pirate ghost who keeps watch over it.  His wife, Amelia, is none-too-keen on the idea, and Cass finds her to be unhappy with her husband for more than just the ghost tour.  Some subtle hints at infidelity have Bee all abuzz (yes, that pun was fully intended, thank you!) about finding out the full gossip - but before all the facts can be uncovered, Cass witnesses Fred falling from an upper story window down onto the rocky shore below!  Her mind had been barraged by voices at that time, and she thought she saw a shadow in the window - but was that really a person there or just her imagination working overtime?  By the time she, Stephanie, and Bee get back down from their climb up the lighthouse stairs, a crowd has gathered.  Cass tries CPR, but it is too late...

And thus, Cass gets drawn into yet another murder mystery, and this time, her psychic powers and intuition may not be enough to save her from a killer that thinks she has spoken to the victim and could reveal his or her identity!  But when a stranger comes to town and reveals herself to be a fellow psychic who can teach Cass how to block out the unwanted voices, Cass to decide whether Simone Carlson is truly on the up-and-up, particularly when she uncovers the fact that Simone has a history with the deceased and his wife.  Then there's the summer lifeguard who confronted Fred DiCarlo about trying to sleep with his girlfriend.  And there's the lighthouse maintenance man who seems awfully protective of Amelia DiCarlo.  And just what secrets could the journal of a long dead woman hold that could potentially unravel the entire mystery for Cass and her friends?

Gregory weaves plenty of lies, misdirections, betrayals, and danger into this one, and Cass's growing concern over Stephanie and her husband due to the visions she keeps having ultimately lead to a rather unexpected twist at the end - a very clever one that Gregory deserves huge kudos for writing!  Definitely did not see that one coming!  And Bee Maxwell shines brightly in this mystery - he is probably the most fun character in this series, with a personality that will make you smile, make you laugh, and make you cringe.  He's so over-the-top, yet utterly believable - leaving me to wonder if Gregory has a real-life friend upon whom she has modeled Bee.  I still wish we could see a stand-alone Bee Maxwell mystery (or even give him his own series! I would buy it in a heartbeat!!!).

I am so thrilled that Gregory has continued with this series, even though the original publisher did not pick up the books after the third one.  These characters, these mysteries - they are just too good not be read, and Gregory has a real talent for breathing life into fictional characters that make them feel like family and not just words on a page.  I cheer, I laugh, I cry, I hold my breath - everything thing Cass, Stephanie, and Bee experience, it's like I'm experiencing it right along with them.  Not many authors can make reading a book a true experience like that, but Gregory definitely can!  I already have the next book in the series and can't wait to read it!

RATING:  10 garnet-adorned dog collars out of 10 for mixing the right amount of ghosts, murder, and mystery to tell the perfect story!

How to Get Away with Myrtle - a Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery #2

Precocious young female detectives are always fun to read, and none more so than twelve-year old Myrtle Hardcastle.  Author Elizabeth C. Bunce has a wonderful creation on her hands, with characters that are fun, sometimes outlandish, perky, and without a doubt engaging from page one to the very last page of the story.  For those who read the first book in this series, you'll recall that young Myrtle Hardcastle, whose mother has died and her father is doing his best to care for her, along with the help of a young governess and a domineering aunt (remember, this series is set in England the late 1800s), becomes involved in solving the murder of her family's next door neighbor.  Everyone does their best to keep Myrtle out of the investigation, but her sense of right and wrong, her penchant for trouble, and her keen mind filled with facts, observational skills, and deductive reasoning keep Myrtle sticking her nose into the matter until she ultimately uncovers the truth and leads the police to the killer!  Well, now, her father has decided to send her on a vacation with her governess and aunt, to help keep her from being involved with the nasty business of solving murders.  Yeah, right, like that's gonna work...

How to Get Away with Myrtle finds Myrtle, her governess Miss Judson, and her Aunt Helena taking a luxury train ride to a new seaside resort for a vacation away from any kind of trouble.  Myrtle is hard-pressed to find anything enjoyable about the trip, but her Aunt Helena seems to become enthralled with the owner of the train, Sir Quentin Ballingall, and his daughter, Temperance.  But Myrtle is more interested in the rather strong-willed Mrs. Bloom, who is an insurance investigator taking this train ride to insure that the very expensive Northern Lights Tiara (commissioned to commemorate the royal wedding) is kept safe during the trip.  Myrtle never knew that women could be insurance investigators, and she is intrigued by this woman's fierce demeanor and admires her determination and backbone when faced with men who think they know better than her!  So, it's only natural that when Mrs. Bloom turns up dead, her body found by Myrtle and a young boy, Clive, who loves photography and whose father happens to be the manager at the hotel where Myrtle will be staying, that Myrtle would feel an obligation to solve her murder.  And it's a good thing too, since the constabulary in Fairhaven seem less than capable.  And when the rather rude Inspector Arkwright arrives on the scene, Myrtle is more determined than ever to get justice for poor Mrs. Bloom.

The question is - who killed her and why?  And just how did her Aunt Helena's golden scissors come to be sticking out of Mrs. Bloom's back?  Did her Aunt kill the insurance investigator?  Myrtle had noticed the tension between them, but she could not bring herself to imagine her aunt doing such a deed.  Was the murder connected to the theft of the Northern Lights Tiara that occurred on the train ride down to Fairhaven?  If so, then there were plenty of suspects.  The rather rough Mr. Coogan, a guard hired to serve on Ballingall's train who had a history of public drunkenness and violence.  The presumptuously pompous Quentin Ballingall, who could use the theft as a means to cash in on the insurance policy.  The unnaturally nervous Mr. Penrose, who seems to have more going on than just bringing his invalid daughter to the seaside for a holiday.  The anything-but-talented Temperance Ballingall, who was the last person to have the tiara when it disappeared from her head after the lights went out.  And while the two elderly ladies, Miss Causton and Miss Cabot, may seem innocent enough, Myrtle knows one can never assume anything,  And let's not forget that enigmatic Swedish gentleman, Mr. Strand, who is quiet and stays pretty much to himself the entire time.  Or the grim-faced Nurse Temby, who seems less-than-thrilled about constantly toting Miss Penrose everywhere.  And with Miss Judson telling her at every turn to stay out of it, Myrte must enlist the aid of young Clive to help her find out what really happened to Mrs. Bloom!

Bunce provides another intricately-woven tale, where the clues are there if you know where to look for them!  And this time around, there is so much more going on that what appears to the casual reader.  Not only do we have a thief and a murderer, but there are lies and secrets galore, a hidden love affair, and when Aunt Helena is arrested by Inspector Arkwright for the murder of Mrs. Bloom, Myrtle must work overtime to figure out Mrs. Bloom's coded journal and uncover the truth behind her investigation, her connection to the people in Fairhaven, and just why did someone want her out of the picture for good!  

This is an enjoyable series that I would highly recommend - a strong lead character, an excellent supporting cast, and some of the best-written mysteries around!

RATING:  10 tables filled with sandwiches, cakes, and dainties out of 10 for an excellent mix of mystery, humor, and drama that make for a fantastic read!

Short Lived Comic Series #19 - Doomsday +1 (Charlton Comics)

The more comics I read published by Charlton Comics back in the '60s and '70s, the more I am truly beginning to appreciate them.  When I saw them on the comic racks or magazine shelves as a kid, I would just pass them over, seeing them as nothing more than "poor man" comics for kids who could not afford "real" comics, like DC Comics or Marvel Comics.  Little did I realize what great material I was overlooking at the time!  Comics like E-Man, Bionic Woman, Vengeance Squad, Haunted Love, just to name a few.  A lot of their really good books did not seem to last very long, despite the great writing and very talented artists.  Such as that little-known artist back in the day by the name of John Byrne...

Now, comic fans of today immediately recognize the name John Byrne.  But back when Doomsday +1 came out from Charlton, Byrne was not the household name that it is today.  And while his art today certain has become more refined, this 12-issue series definitely showcases the talent he was, even back at the start of his career.  Some research online reveals that Byrne had not done a lot of work prior to this Charlton book, but he definitely went on to do some great thing after (including some work on a number of other Charlton books, such as Emergency!, The Flintstones, Space: 1999, Valley of the Dinosaurs, among others).  When I first picked up this series, I did not even know Byrne was the artist of the book - but when I opened to that first page, I could tell right away it was him.  The man definitely has a distinctive style all his own!

Doomsday +1 was co-created by Byrne and writer Joe Gill.  The story is an apocalyptic tale of the planet Earth after the nuclear missiles are launched and devastate the planet with their destructive force and radioactive fallout.  First published in 1975-76 (***more on that later), the story opens on April 7, 1996 (which, coincidentally enough, was my mom's 56th birthday!) as three astronauts prepare to head into space on an important mission:  Captain Boyd Ellis of the U.S. Air Force; NASA scientist and radiation expert Jill Malden (who also happens to be Boyd's fiance!); and Ikei Yasida, a young Japenese scientist.  As the three begin their mission in orbit around the world, they are unaware that a dictator in an underdeveloped country (conveniently not named) has decided that if he cannot be ruler, then no one will be - and he launches two nuclear missiles - one hits Moscow and the other New York City!  Russia and the United States act without thinking, believing the other had initiated the attack, and they retaliate.  Before you know it, Rome ... Paris ... London ... Berlin ... the entire world is gone, destroyed by man's own hand!!  And that's all just within the first six pages!  Can you imagine what the rest of that first issue holds in store for the reader?!

Gill and Byrne slow the story down a bit here, as Boyd, Jill, and Ikei remain in space as long as their rations hold out (the length of time is not stated, only that an indeterminate amount of time had passed), but eventually they have to return to Earth.  They manage to land their spacecraft in Greenland, in the hopes that the radiation levels will have dissipated from that area faster than others. It is there they begin to discover the changes to the world when not only do they find a perfectly preserved wooly mammoth, frozen in the ice glaciers - but they come face to face with a live one!  And that's not all - they also meet a primitive man by the name of Kuno who speaks an ancient Germanic tongue and who quickly becomes a member of the group, bringing the total number of survivors of this nuclear holocaust to four!  After another indeterminate time passes, the four find a ship and set sale for Canada, where they hope to find an airbase and perhaps other survivors.  The first issue ends with their arrival at the Canadian airbase - but only after they are attacked by a fighter plane, whose pilot is a mystery!

The remaining five issues in this series take a more sci-fi turn to them, as the four survivors face down an army of robots led by a man-turned-cyborg, alien being sent to cleanse the Earth, undersea creatures fighting a civil war, a group of military men who threaten the four survivors' existence, and finally, a civilization from an alternate reality who use others as their slaves in their own so-called utopia.  The stories are very fantastic in nature, and being written in the 1970s, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the creators viewed 1996 as such a "far-flung future."  A seventh issue was actually written and drawn by Byrne, but it was not published in this series (although it did appear later on in a two-part tale in a Charlton fan magazine). That seventh story would have dealt with a time-traveler who came back in time to revisit Earth during this period, and it certainly would have prompted some interesting ideas had the series continued. This sixth and final issue of new stories was published in 1976 - but two years later, the series returned with issue seven, which sported the same cover as issue one, albeit with different coloring.  Inside was a reprint of that first issue from back in 1975!  Issues eight through twelves republished the stories originally printed in issues two through six, some sporting new covers (utilizing scenes of interior art), while others had reprints of the original covers with differently colored art.  I don't really know why they reprinted the series with the continued numbering, but it apparently did not pick up enough interest to continue the series, as it once again ended with that sixth story, issue twelve being the final issue printed.  Research reveals that Tom Sutton did write and draw and 15-page story that was intended to run as issue 13, but since sales dwindled, that issue never saw print.  (NOTE - apparently Fantagraphic Books re-published the six-issue series, along with the seventh story, in a mini-series re-titled The Doomsday Squad, from 1986-87.)

Flash forward 34 years (yes, 34 years!!!!), and John Byrne, one of the original co-creators of the series, decided to take another stab at the concept.  Indy publisher IDW provided him the opportunity, and Doomsday.1 was published with a cover date of May 2013 (which was, literally, 34 years after the cover date of the issue 12 of the original Charlton series, which was May 1979).  This new series was not a continuation or a retelling of Doomsday +1, but rather, a re-imagining of the series.  This time, the survivors are men and women aboard a space station when a giant solar flare hits the Earth, causing planet-wide devastation.  The story is much less science-fiction and instead a much darker reality-based tale of what the world would face after a doomsday event like this.  The storytelling style is also much different - what only took 6 pages in the first issue of the original series to tell takes Byrne the entire first issue to tell (which only strengthens my argument that today's comics are more focused on large panels of art and slower story-telling methods for purposes of stretching out stories over a certain number of issues to fit into a trade paperback for bookstore shelves...).  The remaining three issues of this series (it's only four-issue mini-series, although it ends with an open door for more stories in the future if Byrne ever wanted to re-visit the idea) follow the group of survivors from the space station who come back planet-side and find other people who managed to survivor the solar devastation.  They begin picking up the pieces, much in the vein of Kirkman's The Walking Dead series, they try to rebuild a community and fight off other factions who think they should be in control of this new world order.  Some of the characters die along the way, but honestly, I didn't get the real sense of character development in this series as I did with Boyd, Jill, Ikei, and Kuno in the original series.  I wish Byrne had taken this chance to tell a sequel - either with these four characters years later, or even with the offspring of these characters decades letter in a world still reeling from the nuclear destruction.  But, alas, since it was his creation in the first place, he did what he wanted to with it.

Clearly, Doomsday +1 is a series/title that just doesn't seem to die.  From its original run, to its republished run two years later, to its reprint series in the next decade, to a re-imagining some thirty years later - Byrne clearly has a creation that resonates with readers.  Let's face it - there are tons of apocalyptic comic stories out there, but few are truly as character-driven, yet as fantastic and fun to read as the Charlton series.  This is definitely a title worth picking up if you find it!

RATING:  9 E-Man Lives! Wall Posters out of 10 for showcasing just how talented John Byrne is, from nearly 50 years ago to today!

The Pardy Boys and Nancy Screw Adventure Series - Adult Parodies of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

I'm always up for a good parody - especially if the books parody some of my favorite childhood series books.  Over the years, there have been plenty of parodies of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books - from books, to magazines, to comics, to stage plays, to burleque - you name it, and there is pretty much a sure bet that someone somewhere has created a parody of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys for that market.  From Nancy Clue to Susan Slutt to Nancy Keene, to "Confessions of a Teen Sleuth," to the Hardly Boys to the Hearty Boys, and so many more.  Some of them are funny, some of them are mildly amusing, and some of them are just okay.  But of all the ones I've read to date, I don't think any of them are as outright raunchy as the Pardy Boys and Nancy Screw books by "Whit Slorp" (an obvious pseudonym if I've ever seen one!) - and, sadly, not funny at all.

Peenocchio and the Wooden Circus Plot is "The Pardy Boys Gay Adventure Series" parody.  Obviously, from the title, it's pretty apparent the story is going to be sexual in nature.  I knew that going in (no pun intended!).  However, I had half-hoped there would be some kind of funny mystery or at least some great jokes that made fun of the clean-cut Frank and Joe Hardy.  Instead, the author basically provides a gay Pinocchio tale with tons of explicit sex scenes and very little of Brian and Joah Pardy (i.e. "Frank" and "Joe" Hardy).  The two step-brothers are more or less side-characters in their own story.  Sure, they are trying to help free Peenocchio from the grasp of the Vincenzo, the owner of a gay dance club who wants Peen to be his wooden dancer for the patrons, but the gist of the story is that Peen is wanting to become a real man so that he can better please his boyfriend, Gepetto, who created him out of his fetish with wooden dolls (don't ask!).  And the story is so focused on getting from one sex scene to the next, that the author can't even get his characters straight when writing non-sex scenes - for example, on page 27, Joah is trying various keys to unlock Peen's cage, but in the next paragraph, it is Brian who is trying to unlock the cage, then in the next, we're back to Joah.  Very sloppy writing and editing (although, let's face it, what can we expect from a basic porn story???).  Very, VERY disappointed with this one.  

 

Oh, and lest I forget, this book has some internal illustrations (I'm guessing as an homage to the internals of the original Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books back in the day), and they are not horribly drawn - certainly better than those "stick figure" drawings in the later years of the Nancy Drew books.  But as the story devolves into pure debauchery, the author (who also provides the drawings) ends up drawing a scene from one of the most depraved and grotesque parts of the story, and all I could do was shake my head when I saw it...

The Hidden Valley Ranch of Studs Mystery, which is "The Nancy Screw Adult Adventure Series" parody, is a few steps above the Pardy Boys - but not much.  At least in this short story, there is an actual mystery for Nancy to solve - and Nancy actually plays a role in the story, she is not simply a side character.  Nancy visits a tarot reader and receives a strange prediction that she can't seem to shake.  When she stumbles upon a woman wandering around the dark woods that everyone is warned to stay away from, she begins to suspect something is up.  Following her instincts, she follows the woman and discovers a burned down farm and a silo from which a young woman is being held prisoner!  SPOILER ALERT!!!!  It turns out the young woman is an orphan, her father having died in a crazy sexual incident at a male whorehouse called "The Hidden Valley Ranch of Studs," and the owner of the ranch took the baby from the mother (who she deemed to be out-of-her-mind) and hid her away to protect her.  Of course, it turns out the young woman is actually a man who wants to be a woman.  In any event, it is Nancy Screw who follows up on the clues she finds in the burned down farm, interrogating the owner of the Ranch, and taking the tarot reading seriously in order to free the kidnapped girl and uncover exactly what happened all those years ago when the girl's parents - the very pregnant mother dressed as Tinkerbell and her father dressed as Wendy - filmed an unbelievable encounter with a hired male escort they had dressed up as Peter Pan that ended tragically for Wendy and Peter....  And, oddly enough, that is exactly where the author chooses to end the book - with Nancy watching the end of the video ...

As with the Pardy Boys book, the Nancy Screw book seems to lack any real editing.  On page 12, when Nancy comes out from having her fortune told, her friends Hannah, Adam, and Derek are waiting for her.  But when Adam talks to her about the reading, suddenly an "Erica" pops in with comments about alleged psychic readings.  Who the heck is Erica and where did she come from?  At least the author tones down on the whole sex thing with this parody and focuses more on an actual story - which, honestly, if you take away the sex and the horrible names, the underlying plot itself would have made for a somewhat interesting Nancy Drew mystery - young child is taken away from her parents after a tragic accident; the captor keeps the child hidden away deep in the woods to keep her safe from the outside world; the woods in which the child is hidden are alleged to be haunted, so everyone stays away from them; Nancy happens upon someone going into the woods, and after a strange tarot reading, she decides to investigate.  

 

Oddly, the Nancy Screw story had no internal illustrations like the Pardy Boys did.  The Nancy Screw story is also 30 pages shorter than the Pardy Boys book.  Not sure if these were written at the same time, or if one was written before the other and that prompted the differences.  

Would I recommend these to anyone?  To read, definitely not.  They are not worth the read at all.  However, for collectors who want anything and everything Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, then these might be something to buy and simply stick on the shelf next to any other parodies you might have and then let them collect dust, because honestly - that's about all they are good for!

RATING:  2 marshmallows speared on long thin sticks out of 10 simply for being a parody of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys - because, really, there's not much else that I could say to support these books.

The Dark Deception - the second Daphne & Velma Mystery

Those meddling kids are back in a second mystery starring the two ladies of the group - Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley!  In the first book by author Josephine Ruby, Daphne and Velma had to work their way through their own personal issues to help out a friend who had vanished - and in doing so, they uncovered a number of their hometown's secrets.  But, as this second book shows, there are still many more secrets left to discover!  The last page of the previous book found Daphne and Velma receiving a cryptic message from the friend they had just saved - all it said was that Shaggy Rogers needed their help!  But what was his problem, and how could they help him?  Well, as this second book opens, that is what the two teen detectives are set to find out!

The Dark Deception is written by Morgan Baden, and honestly, it is clear that Baden has a better feel for the characters than Ruby did.  That is not to say Ruby did a bad job or anything - I actually enjoyed that first book.  But with this one, as I was reading the story, I could clearly hear in my head the voices of Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and even Fred (in the few instances where he appears).  No voice for Scooby, though, since these novels are set in the "real" world, and here, Scooby is just a typical dog.  The story opens not long after the end of the first book, and Velma and Daphne are tailing Shaggy, trying to figure out just how they are supposed to help him.  Shaggy is not one to just open up to others, and neither Velma nor Daphne know of any problems he has or trouble in which he may have found himself.  He still seems his normal self.  But the events of this day are about to change all of that...

Shaggy enters the jewelry store downtown, but never comes out.  When Velma and Daphne go in to find him, he is gone - and the owner of the store claims she never saw him!  The girls know the owners' daughter, who goes to school with them and is considered an outsider; but she seems to have taken a liking to Shaggy.  Before they can investigate further, however, the whole town is in an uproar, headed for the beach.  With some reluctance, Velma and Daphne head down there as well, where they are shocked to discover hundreds of jewels washing up to shore - diamonds, rubies, emeralds - every jewel imaginable!  The citizens of Crystal Cove believe they have struck it rich!  But Velma suspects something else is going on, as does Shaggy's mom, who happens to be the town sheriff.  And then there is the new reporter for the Crystal Cove Howler, Ramsay Hansen - a very good-looking, intelligent college student who Daphne just so happens to be crushing on!  Daphne is interning at the Howler, and she has been paired up to work with Ram.  But Ram seems less interested in getting to the facts of the story and more interested in stirring up headlines when he questions the Sheriff about whether these jewels are just another part of the town's curse!

Baden provides readers with a great mystery that incorporates a lot of spooky elements that fans of Scooby Doo have some to love over the years.  Creepy old houses, hidden passages, dark caves, haunted amusement parks, dark curses, and ancient legends.  Although it takes Velma and Daphne quite a bit of work to get to it, readers finally discover some of what is troubling Shaggy - but the big question is whether they will truly be able to help him, or if their desire to get to the truth about the jewels that washed up on shore will ultimately destroy Shaggy's family!  And when the infamous Crystal Cove Crystal is stolen from Shaggy's family home, it's up to Velma and Daphne to track it down - even if that means coming face to face with the Lady Vampire of the Bay!

I'm enjoying seeing the Scooby gang portrayed in a "real" way - with families, issues, secrets, and even the real-world trials and tribulations of school, homework, and deadlines.  A third book was solicited on Amazon, Buried Secrets, which was supposed to be released on June 1, 2021 - however, it was never released, and there doesn't seem to be any word on when it will come out.  Not sure what's up with that, but it will be very disappointing if they leave this story unresolved.  

One final note - the author, Morgan Baden, happens to be the wife of Barry Lyga, who has done an outstanding job with the Flash TV series tie-in books for young adults.  So, it's no surprise to me that this Daphne and Velma book is so well-written.  This husband/wife team certainly know how to write!

RATING:  9 facon, egg, cheese, and pickle sandwiches out of 10 for honoring the Scooby Doo gang with a fantastic tale of mystery, suspense, and spooky curses and legends!

Friday, Book One: The First Day of Christmas

I am very familiar with the name Ed Brubaker when it comes to comic books.  He is known for his crime story comics (such as Criminal, Fatale, etc.), but quite honestly, I've never read any of his work. I just recognize the name.  But when I saw this graphic novel solicited in Previews some months back, I didn't even pay attention to who was writing or drawing it.  I simply saw the description about a teenage girl who goes back to her hometown where she used to solve mysteries with her best friend, and I was hooked.  A sort-of "Nancy Drew grows up and goes back home" type of tale is something that's just too good for me to pass up.  So, I ordered it.

Friday, Book One: The First Day of Christmas collects the first three chapters of this story.  Friday Fitzhugh is an eighteen-year old college student with red hair (sound familiar?) and glasses who has returned to Kings Hill after completing her first semester of college.  Friday spent her teen years in Kings Hill, where she met her best friend, Lancelot Jones (a combination of "Lancelot" Link and Jupiter "Jones" perhaps?), and together the two of them solved a lot of mysteries, such as "The Case of the Magic Gauntlet," "The Legend of the Lime Cave," "The Secret Beneath Arcadian Hall," "The Revenge of the Sea Maiden," "Night of the Teenage Crime Wave," and "The Curse of the Viking Helm," to name a few.  And the manner in which Marcos Martin, the artist for this book, displays these past mysteries over two two-page spreads is magnificent!  Between the title themselves and the faux book covers, Brubaker and Martin pay beautiful homage to the children's mystery series of the '60s and '70s, and I would love more than anything to read these stories - and in case anyone was wondering, this takes place in the mid-'70s (as one of the panels from her senior prom shows a banner in the background that says "Class of '73").

But this story is not your standard teenage mystery.  Brubaker brings in not only some supernatural elements, but also some very human elements to give the story a very Gothic feel.  There are constant hints of supernatural, without being overtly so, and the emotional drama is sometimes more powerful than the creeps in the night.  For it seems that Friday left Kings Hill to go to college on a sour note.  Something happened between her and Lancelot, and try as she might upon her return, she can't seem to find a moment to talk to him about it.  As soon as she arrives in her old hometown, Lancelot and Sheriff Bixby (is his first name Bill?) pull her into the latest mystery.  The younger son of the town's richest family has stolen an ancient knife, and it has somehow affected his mind.  He has run off into the woods, muttering something about "the White Lady" and trying to carve symbols into a tree deep in the woods.  Lancelot and the Sheriff leave Friday at the hospital while they go to take care of something ... but Friday is left with the feeling that she should know what this "White Lady is" - but why can't she remember?

Shadowy figures in the woods.  Strange visions and haunting dreams.  Possessed men speaking in riddles.  Secrets kept from loved ones.  A town full of dark legends. And mysteries of the past coming back to create havoc in the present. Brubaker succeeds in creating a story that is "Gothic but grounded" as he says in the afterward at the end of the graphic novel.  And the ending of Chapter Three (which is where this novel leaves off) - wow!  A heart-wrenching cliffhanger that definitely leaves the reader wanting for more!  (I supposed I could go online and read Chapter Four, since this is a digital comic that is later collected, but why spoil the fun?  After all, anticipation of what is to come is half the fun!) 

A superbly written and drawn story that I would highly recommend!  I'm just left wondering how long it's going to be before Book Two of Friday comes out!

RATING:  10 classic ice-balls out of 10 for a surprising mix of mystery, supernatural, suspense, and emotion all rolled into one for a wonderful tale of a teen detective growing up!

Battle Ground - A Novel of the Dresden Files (Book 17)

What better way to celebrate my 600th blog posting than to review a book that has to one of the most exciting, heart-breaking, powerful, energy-filled, suspenseful, and outright FANTASTIC books that I have read in a while.  As I told a friend recently, reading this book was like watching the second half of the Avengers: Endgame movie.  When the blurb on the back of the book says that by the end of this novel, Harry, Chicago, and the whole world will be changed forever - it definitely means it!  I mean, quite literally, the only three words I can think to describe this book as I was reading it are:  OH MY GOD!

Battle Ground is the seventeenth novel of the Dresden Files, the series that stars Harry Dresden, a down-to-earth, every-day man who happens to be a wizard who lives in Chicago and puts his life on the line time and time again to save his family, his friends, and his city.  Jim Butcher went several years without a new Dresden Files novel, and book 16 (Peace Talks) and this book came out pretty much one right after another - and considering how interwoven they are, I can see why.  While Peace Talks was the set up and the warning of what was to come (much as Infinity War was for the Avengers), Battle Ground is, from page one, non-stop action.  Literally.  Picking up exactly where the previous book left off, Dresden, Murphy, Lara, and Freydis have left the island where Dresden buried his brother to protect (and hopefully one day save) him and are heading back to Chicago to prepare for the coming war with the Titan, Ethniu. And, as with everything else in Dresden's life, even that short trip across the lake can't be easy...

Butcher holds back no punches in this book.  Right off the bat, Dresden and gang find themselves fighting a kraken before they can even make it to the Chicago shore line.  Already weary and worn down, Dresden still fights with everything he has, alongside the vampire queen of the Red Court and the Valkyrie and the cop.  But just when all seems lost, unexpected help arrives from Dresden's own padawan - he has definitely taught her well!  Molly Carpenter my be the Winter Lady now, but she is still Dresden's friend first and foremost, so when he's in trouble, she'll be there!  And this first fight sets the stage for the 500+ pages of story to come, as all kinds of nightmarish creatures begin swarming the streets of Chicago.  So many, in fact, that the members of the Accord are not able to contain them and keep the regular humans from seeing what is going on.  Thus, change #1 - the mundane human world is about to discover the supernatural world exists right alongside them, and it will forever change the landscape of Chicago!

Amidst all of the fighting, though, Dresden begins to discover things about himself, as well as about the White Council.  There are still secrets, and Dresden does not like the idea that the Council is keeping things from him - particularly when it seems they are bound and determined to undermine his new role as the White Knight for Mab.  But Dresden does what Dresden always does - he looks out for his family and friends, and the for the city around him that cannot defend itself from the nightmare about to be unleashed by a destructive Titan, and the Council and their rules be damned.  Of course, Dresden has been gradually building up his own army who will stand with him no matter what - Murphy, who may be human, but she is one heck of a fighter; the werewolves, who call anytime they are needed; Butters, who now wields the Sword of Faith; Toot-Toot and his guard of little folk, who can be quite formidable when they need to be; and Michael Carpenter, who still believes in his friend and will stand by him to the very end.  But this Titan is something more powerful than any of them have ever faced, and with its coming comes change #2 - the city of Chicago is more than half demolished, as the Titan destroys building after building, reducing the city skyline with a mere thought!

One thing I definitely have to mention here - from the very beginning of the series, Dresden has had a little Volkswagon Beetle that he referred to as "Blue Beetle," which I always assumed was because it was painted blue.  I mean, let's face it - a big-time author like this could not be referring to the old Charlton/DC comic book hero, could he?  Well, in this book, Butcher answers that question once and for all.  When Murphy shows up to rescue a wounded Dresden, he climbs onto the back of her motorcycle and says, "This is Valkyrie.  I've got Booster Gold" (p. 207).  A simple, throw-away line, and yet those seven words (eight, if you count "I've" as "I have") answer everything!  Because as any DC Comics fan knows, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold are BFFs that were the comic relief of the Justice League for many years, and even today, they are the Laurel and Hardy of DC Comics.  So, for Butcher to finally acknowledge this comic book reference - well, it made the geek in me totally geek out and cheer when I read the line!

But the joy doesn't last long, as the battle gets more intense, more fierce, and more deadly - and one of Dresden's closest allies is taken out.  And when I say taken out, I don't mean knocked out, injured severely, or maimed.  I mean TAKEN OUT.  Someone dies.  Someone close to Dresden, someone I thought Butcher would never, ever write out of the series.  It's a meaningful death, as it very nearly breaks Dresden and opens him to the full fury of the Winter Knight burning with him.  But it's also a tragic death, as it is not a nightmarish creature of the Never-Never that kills this person.  No, it's another human that has become so unhinged by everything happening in Chicago right now that he can't make sense of anything and ends up shooting this person without warning.  So, yes, it is the villainous Titan and her group of baddies that cause the death, but the tool is a simply human being who is brought to madness by the sight of everything that is happening.  Which makes the death more real, more sad, and more devastating to Dresden and to the reader.  This is most definitely, without a doubt, one of the biggest changes in the series (we'll call it Change #3 with a capital "c").

Oh, but it doesn't end there.  The battle is huge, and the members of the Accord have a plan to stop the Titan before she can obliterate Chicago and move on to the world.  And wouldn't you know it, Harry Dresden is smack dab in the middle of that plan - in fact, the most important part of the plan.  Because he is the only one who can actually trap the Titan.  Because you can't actually kill the Titan (none of them have that kind of power, even combined), but the Titan can be contained.  And by the end of the battle, there are a number of revelations that come to light that basically show us change #4 as it relates to "Gentleman" John Marcone, change #5 as it pertains to the White Council's decision about Dresden after everything is over, and change #6 as it concerns Dresden's marital status (yeah, you don't really think I'm going to spoil THAT one, do you?).

There is so much that happens in this book, there is no possible way I could go into all of it.  I will say it was well worth the read and well worth the wait.  Now comes the impossible task of waiting for book 18 (tentatively titled Twelve Months) and book 19 (set to be called Mirror, Mirror).  Here's hoping there's not as much a delay here as there was between books 15 and 16!

 

EXTRA - this book also contained a short story at the end titled "Christmas Eve," which is clearly set after the events of this book.  It's a touching little story that reminds readers of exactly what, and who, Dresden is fighting for in his battle against the supernatural baddies!

RATING:  10 unassembled bicycles out of 10 for giving readers the payoff they deserve with this climactic battle that is unparalleled in scope and suspense!

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #5 - The Secret of Red Gate Farm

I have been holding off posting this one because I was waiting for our Central Florida Sleuths group to have its discussing meeting on this book.  We have had to reschedule a couple of times due to various issues, but we finally managed to hold a meeting and discuss the fifth Nancy Drew mystery!  And this time around, I was inspired by the articles Pam Hancock wrote for The Sleuth a couple of years ago digging into the history behind The Clue in the Jewel Box to actually do some digging into the history surrounding the book and the time period in which it was written, and it is utterly amazing how much one can discover about the elements of the story when you look into what was happening in the world at the time the book was written (and this likely applies to not just Nancy Drew books, but pretty much any book you pick up and read!).  The more I started looking into things I was reading in this book, the more excited I got and the more research I wanted to do.  And this, my friend, is one of the many things I absolutely love about reading!

The Secret of Red Gate Farm, the sixth Nancy Drew mystery story, was originally published in 1931.  The credit for the outline is given to Edna Stratemeyer Squier, while the book was actually ghostwritten by Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson.  The story was later revised by Lynn Ealer in 1961 during the period when the Stratemeyer Syndicate was revising all of the first 34 books, to shorten them from 25 to 20 chapters, heighten the action in the stories, and remove dated references and stereotypes.  The story centers around Nancy, Bess and George helping out a young woman and her mother save their farm, and along the way, they put a stop to a group of counterfeiters who are generating false bills on the woman's property (keeping their criminal activity a secret by pretending to be a nature cult).  The original story was actually pretty engaging, and Nancy's determination to not only help Millie Burd and her grandmother save their farm, but to also figure out just what that nature cult is up to, truly shines in the story.

It would be interesting to learn where Edna Squier came up with the plot for this mystery.  The Syndicate had previously used counterfeiters in one of the Hardy Boys' mysteries (The Secret of the Old Mill, written by Leslie McFarlane and published in 1927), and perhaps that inspired Edna with this plot.  What is coincidental is that in 1930 (likely the same year this book was plotted), an infamous counterfeiter, Victor Lustig, began counterfeiting hundreds of thousands of dollars in counterfeit notes, using associates to get the bills in circulation.  This is similar to the criminals in Red Gate Farm,who use their "nature cult" members to get the fake $20 bills into circulation.  Lustig was eventually caught when his love interest made an anonymous tip to the police, which led to Lustig being arrested in 1935.  Interestingly enough, in Red Gate Farm, it is the leader's wife who warns Nancy away and gives away the fact that something criminal is taking place near the farm.  While it is unlikely Lustig's story inspired Red Gate Farm (since he was not arrested until four years after the book came out), it is interesting to note the similarities in the criminal actions and ultimate outcomes!

 

Another interesting aspect of this book is the use of codes.  The Black Snake Colony (more on that later...) uses number codes to pass on information among its members.Nancy is able to copy down part of one of the codes in Chapter Three (00308 06420 23145 06548 30061), but try as she might, she is never able to decipher the code.  By Chapter Fifteen, having been unsuccessful at cracking the code, even with the help of a code book given her by her father, Nancy ultimately does something very uncharacteristic for her - she turns over the code to the authorities (pp. 133-35).  What is even more unusual for this book is the fact that the actual key to the code is never revealed!  While government agents tell Nancy they deciphered the message (a special meeting was to be held in a cave near Red Gate Farm - p. 197), they never actually say how the code worked.  So, the reader is left with a real mystery of how to unravel the code itself.  FUN FACT - the agents inform Nancy that the code she gave them was turned over to the "Bureau of Cryptography" (p. 196), who cracked then code.  This is likely a reference to the real cipher bureau created back in 1919 after World War I by Herbert O. Yardley, which agency was known as the Black Chamber, or sometimes as the Cipher Bureau.

 

Now, with respect to the name of that so-called nature cult in the book: The Black Snake Colony.  Where wold such a name come from?  One of my fellow book club enthusiasts suggested it might stem from a criminal organization at or around the time the book was plotted and written.  Some research reveals that it is possible the name could have come from a number of different places:  (1) perhaps from the snake-handling ministers who became popular in the 1920s and into the '30s, who garnered some large followings - with the "Black Snake" in the book a reference to the nefarious nature of the cult leaders; or (2) perhaps the Black Snake Affair from the 1800s, in which smugglers off the coast of Vermont used a ship named the Black Snake to conduct their criminal activities; or (3) perhaps from the nature cults that were becoming quite a major fad in California in the 1920s and into the '30s, with leaders who focused mainly on getting rich, with the "snake" reference in the name simply alluding to the fact that the leader of the cult was a "snake-in-the-grass."  Whatever the reason, there is no doubt that Maurice Hale and his cohorts were, indeed, "snakes" for the way they took advantage of and used their followers!

 

Moving on to a more surprising and funny element in the story ...  in Chapter Sixteen, George and Bess tease Nancy about the son of one of the other boarders at Red Gate Farm, who seems to have taken a shine to Nancy.  When George pokes fun at her, Nancy retorts with, "Oh, go climb a sour apple tree!" (p. 141).  This was a phrase I had never heard before, so I looked it up.  According to Robert Hendrickson in his book Talking Turkey: A Food Lover's Guide to the Origins of Culinary Words and Phrases, this particular phrase comes from the early 1900s (or possibly even before that) and means "go to blazes" (or "go to hell")!  I have to say, that's quite a strong phrase for Nancy Drew to be using, especially towards one of her best friends.  I'm guessing this would be like saying "darn" instead of "damn," or "heck" instead of "hell" - a more polite way of saying something that would otherwise be considered vulgar.  Which, thinking about it, actually fits with the original Nancy Drew as written by Mildred Wirt.  That original Nancy was very outspoken, super-determined, and not afraid to speak her mind to authority figures or anyone else.

 

Another humorous moment from the book is found in Chapter Ten.  When Bess tries to milk one of the cows at Red Gate Farm, she ends up trying to milk it from the "wrong" side.  Like Bess says in the book, "Whoever heard of a cow with a right or wrong side?" (p. 90). Well, color me surprised that this is an actual thing - although not exactly "wrong vs. right" as much as "left vs. right." According to a Norwegian author, Aslaug Engnaes:

According to Engnæs, you milk the cow from the right – simply because you always use your strongest arm on the teat farthest away from where you are sitting. This means that for a right-handed person, sitting on the right-hand side of the cow is the usual choice. But to follow her logic: a left-handed milkmaid should sit on the left.

 

The cow herself has no preference. For her, the key elements are kindness, regularity and the fact that the milkmaid knows what she is doing. Twice a day. Every day of the week.

(Thanks for Kevin Denis for providing the source:  Homestead - how to hand-milk the cow).  And this only goes to show - you're never too old to learn new things, even if it does come from a Nancy Drew book!

One last thing I want to mention is the timeline for this mystery.  In most cases, it seems Nancy and her friends manage to solve each mystery in a few days, or in some cases,  few weeks.  In this book, however, Nancy, Bess, and George basically spend all summer (or more!) at Red Gate Farm while solving this mystery.  By carefully following the days referenced in the book, it would seem the following is the timeline for Red Gate Farm:

 

DAY ONE - Chapters I - IV

DAY TWO - Chapter V

DAYS THREE & FOUR (Raining) - Chapter V

DAY FIVE - Chapter V

DAY SIX - Chapter VI (the girls leave for Red Gate Farm)

DAY SEVEN - Chapter IX (the girls wake up on their first day at Red Gate Farm)

DAY EIGHT - Chapter X (the other boarders arrive)

DAYS PASS - Chapter X ("the days at Red Gate Farm passed very pleasantly)

DAY (one day) - Chapter XI

DAYS PASS - Chapter XI (the girls "bide their time for a few days")

DAYS PASS - Chapter XII (the days "passed swiftly and were very pleasant ones...")

DAYS PASS - Chapter XIII (the "next few days at Red Gate Farm were quiet ones...")

DAY (one day) - Chapter XIV

DAY (one day) - Chapter XXIV

WEEKS PASS - Chapter XXV ("Nancy's weeks had stretched on and on...")

 

Thus, as it can be seen, it is likely that Nancy and her friends spent an entire summer, if not longer, at Red Gate Farm helping Millie and her grandmother save the farm and rid them of those pesky counterfeiters.  And, since they were paying the Burds to stay there, that would have been a considerable sum that the Drews, Marvins, and Faynes would have shelled out for the girls to remain at Red Gate Farm for three months or more.

Finally, let's talk about the cover art.  The original art was provided by Russell Tandy, who was not only painting the covers for the series, but he also provided the interior illustrations as well.  The original cover features Nancy hiding in some shrubs, watching a group of cult members perform some kind of ritual in the distance.  The cult members are wearing white robes and hoods, and in all honesty, the way they are depicted, they resemble the KKK more than anything else!  The hoods on the internal illustration are square, as if they were cut from pillow cases (which Nancy does at one point in the book); but on the cover, they are tall and pointy.  In 1931, when this book was published, the KKK had been using those infamous white robes and hoods for approximately 10 years, so perhaps Tandy had seen them and used them as reference for the ones in the book.  When the cover art was later updated by Bill Gillies, Nancy went from kneeling in shrubs to standing behind a tree, and the large group of cult members was reduced to just two, shown only from their back as they entered the cave, and their robes look more ghostly and less like the KKK.  Leads one to wonder if either Grosset & Dunlap and/or the Stratemeyer Syndicate realized the connection people were making and had Gillies change it so that people who saw the cover would not assume the KKK were involved in the story.  Gillies' cover is still used on this book today, being one of the few books that Rudy Nappi did not update when he was hired to do new covers for the series (The Clue in the Diary being the other book).

 

Overall, this book proved to be an interesting and entertaining read, with a story that holds up well even under today's standards.  I personally think this is one of the books in the series that is an example of why Nancy Drew has endured for nearly a century now and continues to inspire her readers, both male and female alike!

 

RATING:  10 postmarks from Round Valley out of 10 for proving once again that a female detective can be just as daring, just as determined, and just as delightful to read as any male detective!

Short Lived Comic Series #18 - Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter (Dell Comics)

One of the biggest reasons why I love comic conventions (particularly the smaller, local conventions) is that there are always plenty of back-issue comic book boxes to comb through.  Some dealers have their comics in alphabetical order, others have then categorized by theme, others by publisher, and still others simply throw out the comics with no order whatsoever, and you have to really dig to find some great treasures!  No matter which way I find them, it's always the thrill of the hunt that excites me and has me spending literally hours making my way through box after box after box, hoping to come across some obscure book that catches my eye.  And such is the case with this latest short-lived comic book series.

I discovered the first issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter a year or more ago (right before COVID hit) in a box full of old Dell / Gold Key comics that a dealer had set out.  The title of the comic, as well as the tagline - "A Daring Teenage Reporter Uncovers a Menacing Plot Against Wilton High School" - easily caught my attention.  The cover sported painted art of a young man lifting another young man, apparently about to throw him, while in the background, a number of young men and women watch with anticipation.  The title, the tagline, the cover - they all are very reminiscent of those series books of the '50s and '60s, so I splurged and bought the comic.

This issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter sports a cover date of Feb-Apr 1962, and it was numbered as No. 1302 (which number is apparently part of the "Four Color" comics numbering - which, it seems, a lot of Dell Comics followed that numbering, regardless of what the actual title to the book was).  There are absolutely no credits provided in the book, so the writer and artist(s) are unknown.  Online research shows that Don Ameson was the editor for the comic.  And upon further research, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was not a one-off comic (as Dell Comics was known to do quite a number of one-off stories).  A second issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter was also published later that same year with a cover date of June-Aug 1962.  Oddly enough, the second issue was numbered as No. 2 rather than whatever the next "Four Color" numbering would have been.  Perhaps Dell was hoping since the series spawned a second issue, it might actually spring into an ongoing series.  Sadly, though, that wasn't the case.

The first issue features a story titled "Johnny Goes Dancing" - not exactly the most thrilling title in the world, but it definitely tells the reader what to expect from the story!  Green City's leading newspaper has decided to start a column for, about, and by teenagers, and as you can probably guess, young Johnny Jason, who already edits his own school's newspaper, gets the job.  His first assignment is to cover a dance at Sheridan High (in the tough section of the city), where the students have gotten together to raise money for new equipment for their school basketball team.  When Jason and his girlfriend arrive, however, they discover the dance is a bust, thanks go a neighborhood gang who has threatened everyone away from the dance in order to take their money instead!  Jason and Sheridan High's gym teacher go to confront the gang, which results in a big fight!  As with the series books I enjoy, everything works out in the end - the kids all return to the dance, the money is turned over to the school for basketball equipment, and Jason gets a fantastic story for his first article.  A couple of interesting things I did note about the comic - first, I thought the cover depicted Johnny himself as a part of the scene taking place, but it turns out the scene is actually the gym teacher lifting up one of the gang members, as he prepares to throw him to the ground!  Odd that they would not include the title character on the cover.  Second, it is strange that Johnny himself does very little to solve the mystery or fight the gang members - he pretty much stands in the background and lets the gym teacher, Mr. Barker, take the lead.  Third, the tagline on the cover is misleading, as it claims there is a plot against Wilton High School (where Johnny goes to school), when, in the story itself, it is Sheridan High on the other side of town that is actually facing the menacing plot.

The second issue provides a bit more accuracy on the cover to match the story inside.  The painted art shows Jason carrying on unconscious girl away from the crashed plane, while two thugs are chasing them down.  The tagline reads, "A Death-Defying Plane Ride Leads Teen Reporter, Johnny Jason, and a Young Movie Star Into Terror and Trickery, as Treacherous Kidnappers Close in on Them..."  This pretty much sums up the adventure inside, which is simply titled "The Brat."  And let me tell you, the young movie star, Shelley Marks, is definitely a brat!  She is rude to everyone, including her parents, and very incorrigibly entitled.  The excitement begins on the very first page, when she is kidnapped!  Fortunately for her, the kidnappers blow a tire, and she is rescued while they escape.  Johnny is sent to get the story, spending the weekend at the Marks' family ranch outside of Green City.  He is somewhat awed by her stardom, but the ranch foreman, Chuck, is not thrilled with the attention Shelley is showing Jason.  Shelley decides to show off her flying skills by taking Johnny on an impromptu plane ride, which results in them crashing in the mountains nearby.  Before you know it, the kidnappers show up and take both Shelley and Johnny hostage in an isolated cabin.  But our young reporter manages to escape with the movie star in tow and are ultimately found by a search party.  Upon return to the Marks' ranch, Johnny shocks everyone by revealing the truth behind the kidnapping and unveiling the true mastermind behind the whole thing.  Shelley learns some humility, Chuck admits his feelings for Shelley, and Johnny once again walks away with a great story!

While neither story is "exciting" by today's standards, they both fit the standard formula for pre-teen series stories of that day.  A teenager has some great and sometimes threatening adventures while trying to help someone in need and ultimately stops the criminal and saves the day!  Both comics feature a full 32-pages of story and art with absolutely no ads.  As I don't have a lot of Dell Comics in my collection, I'm not sure if this was a standard for their comics of that day, but I definitely like the idea of getting my money's worth.  Even the inside front and back covers, as well as the back cover, feature one-page comic strips detailing some aspect of newspapers and reporting the news (the first issue showed how a newspaper is printed, what's in a newspaper, and the aspects of a newspaper reporter's life, while the second issue highlights the war correspondent, famous journalists, and the history of how news has been spread over the years).  Thus, back in 1962, for 15 cents, a comic fan got a quite a lot!

 

I really wish there was a way to find out not only the author of the stories, but the artists as well - both for the interior pages and for the covers!  It would be amazing to track down the original art for these two covers - truly a collector's dream to have something like that in his or her collection!

Overall, I enjoyed both issues and wish the series had continued.  While Johnny Jason never made any other appearances in Dell Comics, interestingly enough, he did appear again in 2018.  It seems Dark Horse Comics published a series of comics based on the successful Mystery Science Theater 3000 television show.  However, instead of dealing with cheesy movies, this time around, the comic book series dealt with what they deemed to be cheesy comics.  And, wouldn't you know it, the first comic they feature is our very own Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter!  I am in the process of tracking down these issues so I can add them to my collection with my Johnny Jason comics.  After all, I can't be a true collector unless I have everything, right?

RATING:  8 stolen cash boxes out of 10 for some great series book stories in comic book form!

Goldie Vance, Book Two - The Hocus-Pocus Hoax

BOOM! Studios' popular little sleuth is back in her second prose novel, once again written by Lilliam Rivera with illustrations by Elle Power and Mel Valentine Vargas.  The comic books published by BOOM! have been a lot of fun to read, and I am absolutely thrilled that they expanded the character from the comic page into full-length prose novels.  The first book, The Hotel Whodunnit, captured the spirit of Goldie Vance, and so I had no doubt this second novel would be just as good.  And I was right!

The Hocus-Pocus Hoax (they really like their "h" alliterations, don't they?) presents Goldie with a magical mystery.  The Crossed Palms Resort Hotel, where Goldie's father works as a manager and Goldie works as a valet and assistant hotel detective, is hosting the League of Magical Arts Convention!  The owner of the hotel, Mr. Maple, has worked very hard to convince the League to hold its convention at his hotel, and he's determined that absolutely nothing will go wrong while the guests are at his hotel!  This, of course, means that anything that can go wrong, will.  And, with Goldie Vance around, you can bet your bottom dollar that a mystery is bound to rear its ugly head.

It stars off with a simple silver ring (one of the magician's tricks) misplaced.  Then another magician's Chakra Cards are not where they are supposed to be.  Then some flash paper goes missing.  Then three rabbits mysteriously disappear!  What at first seemed to be forgetfulness turns into a full-fledged mystery that Goldie has to solve before the star attraction - Dr. Von Thurston, magician extraordinaire - suffers a set back of his own.  Of course, not only does Goldie have to contend with the fact that she must do her investigation on the "hush-hush," since the guests cannot find out crimes are being committed at the Crossed Palms, but she must also deal with the persistent interference of Von Thurston's son, Derek, who is a self-professed part-time detective.  Goldie actually gets a taste of her own medicine (just ask the hotel's real in-house detective, Walter Tooey!) as she struggles to find clues and stay one step ahead of the villain behind all of the missing items.

Is it a case of a jealous magician?  Or perhaps it's a case of a bitter assistant?  Or maybe even a sneaky competitor who wants to see the Crossed Palms lose business?  Goldie has more questions than answers - but she does have her usual crew to help her out - her best friend, Cheryl; her fellow valet, Rob; and her something special crush, Diane, with whom she continually has to postpone or interrupt their first date due to the unexpected mystery that has fallen in her lap.  Goldie and her crew set about to discover just who is sabotaging the magicians' acts and ruin the convention that they have worked so hard to make perfect.

Once again, Rivera manages to provide a story that would make Goldie Vance's creators proud!  The characterization is spot on, and the mystery is filled with plenty of misdirection, red herrings, and subtle clues to keep the reader engaged right up to the big reveal. Goldie has all of the enthusiasm, spunk, and smarts that make her a great detective and a fun read.  And while the inclusion of Derek Von Thurston at first is a bit annoying, it isn't long before the reader realizes that there is more to Derek than the one-dimensional bother he first appears to be.  The reader, right along with Goldie, begin to see Derek in a different light as the story progresses, and he actually turns out to be a valuable assistant (so would that make him an assistant assistant detective?).

The final eight pages of the story are in comic form, with the art by Mel Valentine Vargas.  While it is clear that Vargas attempted to keep the look of Goldie and her cast consistent with original Goldie artist Brittney Williams, unfortunately the art falls a bit short.  The characters look quite a bit older in Vargas' art, and they don't have that innocent appeal that Williams brought to them.  Elle Power, who provided the cover and the pattern illustrations throughout the book hits the mark a bit closer to Williams' style, and unsure why they did not use Power for the comic pages as they did in the first book.  (And, for that matter, I'm disappointed we only get one set of comic pages in this book, while we got two sets in the last one!)

 

One little editing snafu that I did have to mention, as it stood out so strikingly.  At the conclusion of the book, a server brings a vanilla cake to the table where Goldie and her friends are preparing to watch the big finale of the magic convention (p. 227).  Yet, on the very next page, Cheryl exclaims, "Chocolate cake!" (p. 228)  Not sure how this got through the editing process, or if perhaps it was a magic trick of a cake changing flavors (that would certainly fit with the story!), but in any event, it made me giggle and did not really detract from the enjoyment of the story.

Overall, the book is a winner, and I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed we will get more books in the future (even though there are none currently listed on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any other bookseller website).  It would be a shame to see this series come to an end, when Goldie Vance has so much potential and so many more opportunities for great stories to be told!

RATING:  9 abraca-yoga classes out of 10 for keeping the sunshiny world of Goldie Vance alive and providing readers with a truly enjoyable mystery worthy of the teen detective!