Thursday, September 10, 2020

By the Wondrous Wands of Watoomb!


HIM: I am Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts!

HER: Oh, sorry, wrong door. I'm looking for the podiatrist's office.

MAN: He's in Suite 204. (HANDS CRACKLING WITH ELECTRICITY) I call upon the Ruby Rings of Raggadorr to heal this woman’s unsightly Plantar Wart! 

[KRA-KA-THOOM!] 

HER: Oh. Hey, thanks! Do you validate?

7 comments:

Li'l Innocent said...

It's been *AGES* since I've commented here Scott. But wonderful pulp art is a no-fail way to get me!

I have a fab book on the subject of pulp - great research, good writing and analysis, and as you'd expect, terrific illustrations - which goes into the pseudonyms used by various writers, some of whom went on to be big deals. Can you read the author's name at the bottom?

Scott said...

Li'l! So nice to hear from you. I actually can't read the author's name, dammit. Please tell me more about this book.

Kid Charlemagne said...

"I am Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts!"

"Oh, sorry about that. I was looking for the Argument Clinic."

"That's over in the next building. Go back out, take a left, and try the next building. Oh, and just be careful you don't go into the Being Hit on the Head Clinic instead."

"Thank you very much, Doctor."

"You're welcome."

(Strange muses--"Hmm, I wonder if I could trick Dormammu into going into that Being Hit On The Head Clinic--no, his head would just burn up the hammer or whatever they use. Might work on Baron Mordo or Nicholas Scratch, though. Maybe even Nightmare.")

Debbi said...

I think we need to revive Black Mask. :)

Li'l Innocent said...

Scott - I'll look the pulp fiction book up and get back to you later today. Sorry for inevitable TrumpPlague delay.

Scott said...

Thanks, Li'l!

Debbi, I agree, the time is ripe for a revival of hardboiled detective and Noir tropes. We just need to make sure that our readers take care to wear the Black Mask over their nose and mouth.

Li'l Innocent said...

OK, Scott, here ya go.
My copy is a large format paperback, title "Danger Is My Business", author is Lee Server, published in 1998 by Chronicle Books, San Francisco. The author is a New Yorker and film school grad who's done several books on the noir, tough-guy underworld strain in pop lit and movies, plus a successful bio of Ava Gardner (who I guess rubbed shoulders with more than one mobbed-up admirer). DIMB really is fascinating - in fact I wonder if you haven't already read it, it's so up your street! It can still be bought on Amazon for not too many simoleons, tho I don't know if it's actually in print.

Back during the impeachment hearings I kept having flashes of the whole cast of players, from Lev 'm' Igor right up to Peloei and Schiff, as classic pulp characters. Sleazy kingpins, oily henchmen, glamorous spy queens, the whole thing. I kept wanting Schiff to wear fedoras and take up smoking unfiltered Camels. From an artistic POV,I could never decide whether Trump was a Greenstreetish crime boss, sitting like an evil Nero Wolfe in a mansion somewhere, or a posturing catspaw whose downfall would reveal the true Red Menace behind the curtain.

Pretty thrilling stuff! Too bad about that dratted RL, eh? But now it's gotten even weirder.

Anyway, if you don't know the book already, I know you'll dig it.

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