Coming from Marvel in April: Annihilation Conquest TPB!

I haven't worked for Marvel in over a decade but some of my books - like Annihilation Saga - keep being reprinted. I'm always happy to see it brought back; solicit below:

ANNIHILATION MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION: CONQUEST PROLOGUE TPB

Volume #3 in the Annihilation Modern Era Epic Collections

Writer(s): DAN ABNETT, ANDY LANNING, CHRISTOS GAGE, KEITH GIFFEN and MORE
Pencils: MICHAEL PERKINS, MIKE LILLY, TIMOTHY GREEN II and MORE
Cover Artist(s): GABRIELE DELL’OTTO
272 PGS./Rated T+ …$37.99
ISBN: 9781302967116
Trim size: 6-5/8 x 10-3/16

Setting the stage for a sci-fi epic that will rock Marvel’s cosmos!

In the grim aftermath of the Annihilation War, a devastated universe struggles to rebuild. Gripped by fear and paranoia, civilizations have collapsed, and entire worlds are now smoking ruins. What’s next for the battle-weary hero known as Nova? What are Ronan’s plans for the once-mighty Kree Empire? And now that Peter Quill is once again Star-Lord, which cosmic characters will join his ragtag crew to guard the galaxy? Meanwhile, the new Quasar – Phyla-Vell, daughter of Captain Marvel – embarks on an epic journey, but what has happened to her home world? What classic foe of the Avengers is now hunting her? And what is troubling her lover, Moondragon? All the while, a devastating threat looms that threatens conquest – and annihilation!

Collecting ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST PROLOGUE (2007) #1, ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST – QUASAR (2007) #1-4, ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST – STARLORD (2007) #1-4 and ANNIHILATION SAGA (2007).

Radio Recap: Easy Money

"The National Broadcasting Company presents a new series of programs transcribed to expose the inside secrets of gamblers, racketeers and con men; it's called: Easy Money."
"Easy money? There's no such thing as easy money."
"Mike Trent, famous rackets detective and ex-magician has an exciting story of an Easy Money swindle for you, and here he is, that super-sleuth who makes an honest living out of fraud, Mike Trent."

Easy Money was an NBC program that appears to have aired just one year, from October 3, 1954 to June 5, 1955. The series starred Larry Haines as Mike Trent, the series' protagonist. Bill McCoy was the program's announcer. In the series, Mike Trent would go up against professional criminals and use his knowledge of magic to either solve the manner in which the crimes were performed, or equip himself to bring down the criminals.

Larry Haines had an appealing voice; he starred in a lot of episodes of Inner Sanctum Mysteries and I've always found him easy to listen to. Otherwise, the cast was comprised of a lot of familiar NBC voices (many recognizable to listeners of the Adventures of the Falcon).

The use of stage magic to solve crimes makes this show interesting, even with a mere 4 episodes to choose from. I'd be happy to hear more of this show, should they turn up.

The Old Time Radio Researchers Library has 4 episodes of Easy Money, at this link.

2025 in Media

A brief look back at the best films, comics and books I encountered in 2025.

Films of 2025: I made it out to the theatre for just 3 new films in 2025: Captain America: Brave New World, Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning and Superman. I shared some thoughts about Superman here. For me, the latest Mission: Impossible was the best cinematic experience of the year, which would have surprised me years ago since I started out hating the franchise; I've really come around to it (it helps that the films have shown more respect for the TV series over time) and it's a great experience on a big screen. I also went to the theatre for a 100th anniversary re-release of the Phantom of the Opera which featured live organ music (especially composed for the event) and used an edit of the film assembled by the Calgary Cinematheque to more closely resemble the original theatrical release; it was a unique experience and the edit was the best version I've seen of the 1925 film. I also saw the 2025 films Sinners and Fantastic Four: First Steps at home; Sinners was a good time, I enjoyed its take on vampire mythos - though, frankly, the slaughter of the KKK at the climax of the film surpassed any of the previous action scenes.

Other films that I especially enjoyed were the horror film the Mist, the Holocaust drama Denial, the excellent retro action film Godzilla Minus One and the thriller the Falcon and the Snowman.

Comics of 2025: I continued following Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, which released the mini-series Ten Thousand Plums last year; I reviewed it here. I also reviewed the anthology comic Fantastic Four Fanfare. I'm still reading Larry Hama's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and I'm really enjoy Al Ewing's take on Thor, which is heavy on continuity and cosmic horror. I also read Al Ewing and Steve Lieber's Metamorpho, which was good fun. I'm also reading (and yet to finish) the mini-series Death of the Silver Surfer by Greg Pak and Sumit Kumar and Marvel Knights: The World to Come by Christopher Priest and Joe Quesada.

The only other comic book of note that I read in 2025 was Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn's Minor Threats, which I reviewed here.

Books of 2025: The only 2025 book I read was Future Boy by Michael J. Fox, his personal account of the making of the original Back to the Future film. The most interesting part of Fox's story were his personal memories of what it was like to be a struggling young actor - it was especially striking to hear about when he owned only three shirts.

I read an awful lot of other books in 2025 - the best works of fiction were the Magic Skin by Honore de Balzac, about a man whose life is mystically bound to a piece of leather; the Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I sought out because I saw it favorably compared to Columbo - I wouldn't make the comparison myself but it was an excellent thriller; I read the science fiction novel Existence by David K. Brin; Cornell Woolrich's Waltz into Darkness was an interesting piece about a man who falls in love with a criminal and tries to make their relationship work; The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen was an engaging mystery read; I read A. P. Herbert's the House by the River, which I'd seen in film form and enjoyed; finally, I started reading Stephen R. Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle, starting with Taliesin and Merlin.

Early on, I read Banned Books by Elizabeth Blakemore and sought out many of the titles listed there; many of them were books about Black people's existence. Those I enjoyed the most were Black Boy, Richard Wright's autobiography about how Communists are intolerable people to be around, even when you're a fellow Communist; Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds.

Having become interested in Dr. Seuss' early cartooning work in publications like Judge, I read Brian Jay Jones' biography of Seuss, Becoming Dr. Seuss. I read Tim Roby's Box Office Poison about movie flops. i read Gideon Defoe's An Atlas of Extinct Countries, which focused on the various reasons why certain nations ceased to exist. And I read about the conservatism of science fiction in Jordan S. Carroll's Speculative Whiteness.

I also read a few books about the present state of Christianity in the US, including The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory by Tim Alberta and The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon.

I also read a great book about Angola - Jess Auerbach's From Water to Wine, her perspective of what Angola's emerging middle class are like. Although she lived in a different part of Angola than where I lived, I appreciated and understood many of her insights.

Radio Recap: Anthology

Anthology was a half-hour program on NBC from February 28, 1954 to June 12, 1955. It featured readings of poetry, most of them culled from recording (occasionally they played snippets from plays such as the works of Shakespeare, although the emphasis remained on the poetic nature of the works). Some times the poems were read by the original poets; other recordings were read by well-known performers. Other times they featured interviews with poets who read from their recent publications.

Poets heard in recordings on Anthology included Elizabeth Bishop, Claire Bloom, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, Archibald MacLeish, Carl Sandburg and Edith Sitwell. Famous names heard reading poems on Anthology included John Carradine, Ronald Colman, George Coulouris, Bing Crosby, Jose Ferrer, Sir John Gielgud, Frank Lovejoy, Agnes Moorehead, Tyrone Power, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Orson Welles.

The series was hosted by Harry Fleetwood, produced by Steve Wright and directed by Draper Lewis. Obviously, if you don't like poetry you won't want to check out this series, but I think it's unusual enough that you should give it a chance. Some episodes feature seasonal themes such as Halloween and Christmas, which you might want to add to your own seasonal playlists.

Many of the recordings feature music behind the orator of the poems. I find it distracts from the poems and I wasn't alone - Fleetwood frequently read from listener mail in which listeners complained about the music and he discussed the matter with his guests, with opinions heard either side of the issue. Personally, I think music leading in and out is fine but when it plays under the spoken words it tends to interfere with the words' impact.

You can hear 57 episodes of Anthology at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.

Radio Recap: Great Plays

Great Plays was an hour-long program heard on NBC's Blue network, heard from February 26, 1938 til January 25, 1942. The series featured adaptations of popular plays from throughout history - not so much contemporary plays. There were plenty of radio programs which adapted plays, but they tended to feature either contemporary or beloved classics like Shakespeare. Great Plays features performances of many plays which I'd never heard of before.

Great Plays didn't feature famous names in the cast but the plays themselves were presented in an interesting manner - the first episode, adapting "The Birds" by Aristophanes, took the time to explain what the theater-going society in Greece of the time would have been like; that kind of context is lacking in other programs with famous plays.

The productions aren't all captivating, but a few stood out for me; George S. Kaufman's "Beggar on Horseback" (April 6, 1941) features a surreal dream sequence that required the program to be a bit more inventive in terms of musical cues and sound effects than their usual fare.

You can hear 46 episodes of the Great Plays at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.

Radio Recap: Michael Shayne

Michael Shayne was a detective hero created by Brett Halliday (aka Davis Dresser) who debuted in 1939; his publication, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine ran 1956-1985 and the character had movies from 1940-1947 and a TV series from 1960-1961. And for our purposes, he was featured in three very different radio programs: The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective (Mutual, 1946-1947); The New Adventures of Michael Shayne (syndicated, 1948-1949); and The Adventures of Michael Shayne (ABC, 1952-1953).

I was surprised how difficult it was to find an explanation of where the different series came from and who was responsible for them. Even the normally-reliable RadioGoldIndex is shaky when it comes to the New Adventures of Michael Shayne, which only lists a few of the many circulating episodes. The best resource I found was the sadly-missed Digital Deli, whose article on every version of the Adventures of Michael Shayne can still be read via the Wayback Machine.

Mutual's The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective was apparently the version most faithful to the print version of the character. It starred Wally Maher as Michael Shayne and Cathy Lewis as his secretary Phyllis Knight. Although Phyllis originated in the print version, it seems the radio adaptation pushed her pretty hard as Shayne's sidekick, to the point that the series was always announced as starring "Wally Maher and Cathy Lewis." Mutual didn't seem to have the budget for big name stars so it does seem significant that they put a lot of promotion around Maher and Lewis, who at that time were very busy on all the networks but it was only on Michael Shayne that they were introduced as stars!

The show's resident friend on the force was Lt. Farraday (Joe Forte), no relation to the Farraday of Boston Blackie, one assumes. Farraday was about the chummiest of all radio police lieutenants as never quibbled with Shayne taking over his investigations. Phyllis was always present to assist Shayne, but she was portrayed as an extremely jealous woman who seemed to resent whenever Shayne's investigation involved another woman, despite the fact that Shayne's relationship to Phyllis was nothing more than professional (obviously she wanted more but boy, she comes off as a shrew).

The strangest aspect of The Adventures of Michael Shayne, Private Detective to me is the music; it's a very pleasant orchestral score that sounds like it could have been used on a sitcom or a soap opera; it clashes with the tone of the series to hear such light music play after a dead body has been discovered.

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne, starring Jeff Chandler, is the version I first heard and which has been circulated pretty freely among collectors (too freely, as some have tried to pass off identical programs under different titles). Each episode began with director Bill Rousseau declaring:

"Another transcribed episode with Michael Shayne, that reckless, redheaded Irishman back in his old haunts in New Orleans."

Since this was my first exposure to the character, I assumed the character's print exploits were normally set in New Orleans-- but no, apparently the earlier series' setting of Florida was closer to Shayne's usual stomping grounds. I suppose Rousseau (who was also director Pat Novak, for Hire, The Amazing Mr. Malone, Dr. Kildare and Richard Diamond, Private Detective) based his series in New Orleans because it was a colorful environment. Indeed, some episodes feature people attempting French accents (not very good French accents, mind) and there's a Mardi Gras episode, which is required by law for any fictional story set in New Orleans.

Jeff Chandler is best-remembered as the bashful biologist Philip Boynton on Our Miss Brooks; it's a testament to his range that he could manage one career as a tough guy, the other as a milquetoast. The opening of "The Case of the Generous Killer" (September 4, 1948) is typical of the gaudy narration Chandler would read:

"It wasn't a pretty picture: His throat had been slit not more than a minute ago! I started around the corner of the warehouse after the killer! All of a sudden, I spread-eagled in the air and my head splattered on the pier and a million stars exploded in front of my eyes-- and then, all the lights went out!"

The 1948 series didn't credit its supporting players but I recognized familiar voices including Paul Frees, Virginia Gregg, Hans Conreid and Larry Dobkin among the cast. But the biggest name in the cast was Jack Webb in the recurring role of Lt. LeFevre, Shayne's friend on the force (no, Webb did not attempt a French accent). This was a year before Webb broke out big with Dragnet; in some episodes he played additional characters - in one, I heard him as two other characters besides LeFevre, using a different voice style for each one. Back in 1948, Webb wasn't a recognizable voice and could get away with it; today, it's wicked obvious when he turns up as additional characters!

Supernaturalism abounded on the show; "The Case of Anthony Carrell" (July 15, 1948) concerned voodoo and "The Case of the Bayou Monster" featured a supposed werewolf.

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne was easily as over-the-top as Rousseau's Pat Novak, for Hire but not as deliberately funny or quippy. Still, Chandler's commitment to the lurid dialogue grants it a strength rarely found outside of Gerald Mohr's performance in The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.

ABC's The Adventures of Michael Shayne is yet another ABC program with precious little of its content preserved. Donald Curtis played Shayne for just a few weeks before being replaced by Robert Sterling. A few weeks later, Sterling left and Vinton Hayworth became Shayne for the remaining months. We have just one episode from this version of Michael Shayne: "The Case of the Queen of Narcotics" (April 3, 1953), which features Hayworth. This is actually a pretty interesting program - there's a scene where a heroin addict goes into a monologue about his addiction and it's a very striking scene, maybe the best performance to be found in any version of Michael Shayne.

You can hear 71 episodes of Michael Shayne at the Old Time Radio Researchers' Library.

12 Days of Christmas Radio Shows, Part 12: "Berlin, 1945"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For this final day of Christmas I'm featuring a quiet drama from (what else) Quiet, Please. The story features a group of soldiers celebrating Christmas together in Berlin just after the end of World War II. As the soldiers yearn to be home and try to lighten their spirits, they're joined by a man who isn't a soldier, yet seems familiar to everyone in the room.

"Berlin, 1945" originally aired December 26, 1948 and was written by Quiet, Please's creator Wyllis Cooper. The man who spoke to you was Ernest Chappell.