Viking Metal

Bathory - Hammerheart MP3






Twilight of the Gods Dept. I am just taking another brief musical break and this is the kind of music that can send chills up and down my spine. Wikipedia says the following: Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its galloping pace, keyboard-rich anthemic sound, bleakness and dramatic emphasis on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age.

Space: 1999 #1-7

Download Space: 1999 #1



Download Space: 1999 #2



Download Space: 1999 #3



Download Space: 1999 #4



Download Space: 1999 #5



Download Space: 1999 #6



Download Space: 1999 #7

Special surprise bonus treat: Space: 1999 article in Starlog #2.

Download Starlog #2





When it comes to Science Fiction, I cut my eyeteeth on Robert A. Heinlein novels, Star Trek reruns (including the very underrated novelized adaptations by James Blish) and comic books. However, when Space: 1999 hit the airwaves back in the 1970s, I watched every episode I could with rapt attention. After all, I was planning on still being alive in 1999 so this could affect me, or so I dreamed. We should have had a pioneering base on the moon by 1999 and our space program is woefully behind what 2001: A Space Odyssey predicted, but that's another subject I will go into in a future posting. Space: 1999's second season would go on to be hated as they apparently decided to go with B-movie monster schlock instead of hard science, but one good season is better than none at all. I was far more impressed with Charlton Comics' treatment of Space: 1999 than I was with ITC Entertainment's of their second season, but being the comic book fanatic I was back then I was, of course, biased.

The art quality went up and down in the magazine as the first two issues were drawn by Joe Staton, but then we are treated to John Byrne's fantastic interpretations in issues #3-#6 while Pat Boyette book-ended the final issue in #7. The very talented Nicola Cuti, who won this year's Inkpot Award, wrote issues #1-#5, John Byrne wrote #6 and Mike Pellowski wrote #7. While I prefer Byrne's art for the most part, I must say that Joe Staton provided the best-looking cover with issue #1. But enough reminiscing, please feel free to download all seven issues using the links provided below for your personal enjoyment.

Adventure Into Fear #22-24 With Steve Gerber

Stumbling across Fear #22 featuring Morbius, the Living Vampire, when I was in the fourth grade was certainly a fortuitous event for me as I ended up loving this storyline for years. I still recall that I traded one of my Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff comics for that issue with a buddy of mine in class, which annoyed our teacher to no end. I enjoyed the story so much that I watched the comic book rack at Rexall's Drug Store for all of the succeeding issues in order to see what happened next, which was unusual for me at the time as I was convinced that the companies that used cliffhangers were scamming us kids for our quarters. Sure, I had already read Steve Gerber's Man-Thing and loved it, but now here was Morbius. In truth, it wasn't even the character I liked, but Gerber's superb storytelling.

It is thanks to wonderful stories like this three-parter that I now understand why Steve Gerber has such a fiercely loyal cult following. The art by Rich Buckler was serviceable in #22, but P. Craig Russell's was outstanding, as you'll see in issues #23 and #24. Just wait until you see "I" and his demiurge in issues #23 and #24, but "I" was truly memorable. These also introduced me to Blade, the vampire slayer, whom went on to big screen fame. Anyway, please enjoy and the download links are below each cover.


Download Fear #22



Download Fear #23



Download Fear #24

Star Trek #33: "The Choice"

Download Star Trek #33



Where No Man Has Gone Before Dept. When I was a kid, I was able to pick up every single back issue of Gold Key Comics' interpretation of the Star Trek franchise through their large reprint volumes that they offered. Despite which, I managed to pick up some individual issues along the way, too. These old Star Trek comics lack sophistication to put it politely, but some of these date back to the late 1960s to early 1970s so I cut'em some serious slack. Still, issue #33 I found to be a jaw-dropping read as a kid and I still find the subject to be fascinating as hell. The Enterprise locates an area of space where the Big Bang took place, but they soon discover the universe will again shrink to the size of an atom, eventually explode again, and the process will repeat itself again and again and everyone leads the exact same life over and over for infinity.

Intrigued? Kirk has the opportunity to break this cycle of endless repetition, but I think you'll be surprised at how things wind up as this story truly surprised me. To top it all off, the art is especially good this issue.




























Download Starlog #01



Download Starlog #03



Special surprise bonus downloads: Now who can forget Starlog? This was the premiere science fiction fan magazine in its day, but I preferred their sister magazine Future Life to this one. Starlog recently ceased publishing this magazine, but it still maintains its Internet presence at starlog.com. It's worth seeking out the early back issues, if you can find them. Feel free to download their first issue at the download link provided.

Conan the Barbarian v1 #37: "The Curse of the Golden Skull!"

Download Conan The Barbarian #37




Mongol General: "Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?"
Mongol soldier: "The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair."
Mongol General: "Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?"
Conan: "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."
Mongol General: "...and?"
Conan: "And reading any comic book that is drawn by Neal Adams."
Mongol General: "That is good! That is good."