Happy Birthday, Superman!

Superman can blow out all the birthday-cake candles in the world at the same time! Probably.

Most Popular Posts of 2020!

Looking back on Rusty Staples' most popular posts of 2020!

Noncomics: Superman – Last Son of Krypton

In the 1970s and early 1980s streaming a movie was called "reading the novelisation" (except in America, where they instead had novelizations, with a zed, which they pronounce as "zee"). Every major movie -- and an awful lot of minor ones -- was given a second life in the form of a prose adaptation. And …

Rusty’s Reviews Round-Up

To save you literally whiles of searching through this blog, here are all of Rusty's reviews in one place!

Noncomics: Superheroes, edited by Michel Parry

From a time before it was common to encounter superheroes in prose fiction comes this intriguing anthology of superhero-themed short stories. Editor Michel Parry introduces the book, and he does seem to know his stuff: he's dedicated it to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (creators of Superman) and Stan Lee (of whom I'm pretty sure …

Most Popular Posts of 2019!

I'm happy to announce that Rusty Staples' sophomore year ("sophomore" is American high-school slang for "second") was even more successful than its first, even despite the four-month drought in the summer when I was too busy to post anything (due to a heavy workload, a week's holiday in London, the World Science Fiction Convention in …

Noncomics: William Shatner – The Unauthorized Biography

Once again Uncle Rusty has delved into his Star Trek cabinet, and this time emerged with a rather odd publication indeed... This ain't no comic-book, folks, though it looks and feels very much like one at first glance and first touch. William Shatner - The Unauthorized Biography is one of many similar books published by …

Noncomics: Star Trek – Planet Ecnal’s Dilemma

From the distant past of 1979 comes a Star Trek colouring book -- but this is not just any old colouring book. This is no mere random collection of line-art images: every page in Star Trek - Planet Ecnal's Dilemma is actually a panel in a continuous story (or half a panel, for the two-page …

Noncomics: Judge Dredd Beginners’ Books

The 1995 Judge Dredd movie -- the one starring Sylvester Stallone -- is generally not highly regarded among Judge Dredd fans. While there are some who do really like it, they're outnumbered by those who dismiss it, or even despise it. And there are those who see it more as a misfire than anything else. …

Noncomics: Marvel Chillers – The Frightful Four

When the Fantastic Four's creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee were on top form -- specifically around the middle of their 102-issue run as a team -- the comic truly was spectacular stuff, with scenes and storylines that have rarely been surpassed since. Not that the rest of their time together was ever less than …