As a writer, Paul Kupperberg is quite well known in the comic book community as having written over 700 comic book stories for several companies, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Archie Comics, Bongo, Charlton and many others. Among his many stories are his own creations, Arion, Lord of Atlantis , Checkmate, and Takion. These days, he is very busy not only with several ebooks, but his on-going monthly comic magazine for Archie — Life with Archie, the Married Life , where he postulates what life in Riverdale would be like if the characters were allowed to age past High School. In the series, Kupperberg extrapolates what would Riverdale be like if Archie was married to first Veronica and then Betty in concurrently running but separate storylines.
Archie gets Married
The Veronica story has Archie and Veronica both working for Mr. Lodge, only they really aren’t on speaking terms these days, as Archie (correctly) suspects his father-in-law of some nasty business shenanigans in Riverdale, and Veronica (ever the dutiful daughter) will not believe ill of her beloved father. The Betty story again puts the very wealthy Mr. Lodge working a series of Machiavellian deals to crush Archie and Betty’s dreams simply because Archie picked the perky blonde cutie over his darling daughter. Still, this is Riverdale, and eventually everything turns out — if not ideal — (reasonably) happily ever after.
According to Kupperberg, he has received no interference from editorial as he works to deconstruct the rose-colored perfectness of Riverdale. In fact, he says that he has received nothing but support and encouragement from Archie Comics management, “The only change they’ve made,” Kupperberg said, “was when I introduced a young cousin of Veronica, and they said she already has a cousin, so I used that one instead.” All-in-all, the new series has been receiving rave reviews as well as much attention from the comicbook press as the effects of this new title riptide through the comicbook community.
Revisiting Atlantis’ Past
In addition to his work on the monthly Life with Archie: The Married Life, Kupperberg is venturing into ebook publishing. His initial foray into this field was entitled Two Tales of Atlantis (Buffalo Avenue Books) which picked up where his unfinished Arion, Lord of Atlantis series for DC Comicstale left off, some 15 years earlier. That series was about an immortal sorcerer who lived during the last days of the mythical continent of Atlantis. The series debuted as a back-up feature in the comic Warlord where it ran for seven issues (#s 55–62) before being launched into its own monthly title, which then ran for three years. Unfortunately for both Arion and Kupperberg the series was canceled before Kupperberg had the opportunity to wrap up the storyline.
Fortunately, Arion’s story didn’t quite end there, and Kupperberg wound up being able to finish it off, after a fashion, in a short story for Oceans of Magic, a sword & sorcery anthology that was edited by Brian Thomsen and Marty Greenberg. Kupperberg finally was able to achieve some closure with his comicbook tale, by writing the story, Walk Upon the Waters, wherein “Arion” (now named Thalis) encounters his ultimate fate and Atlantis finally falls. To be sure, the character's names were altered and the presentation of Atlantis is also slightly different, but according to Kupperberg, this is where Arion would have wound up, had his journey been allowed to have been completed.
The second story in this book is Passed Lives, which Kupperberg originally penned for another Sword and Sorcery anthology. In this story, Kupperberg’s immortal sorcerer is only a background character, with the starring role going to the then-latest incarnation of his warrior lover. Kupperberg recently decided to take both the revamped Arion ending, combine it with the unpublished Passed Lives and combine them into a single ebook. Each of the short stories is written in an easy style that makes reading both of them enjoyable and entertaining, even for someone who may not be familiar with the original work upon which it was based.
Hitler’s Bellhop and Other Shorts
His second ebook — a collection of short stories, appropriately enough entitled — In My Shorts, Hitler's Bellhop and Other Stories (also from Buffalo Avenue Books) - includes six shorts of varying length, which range from quite humorous (Hitler’s Bellhop: The Lost Screenplay), to very disturbing (The Zombie King), with side stops to sardonically entertaining (Man Bites Dog). Still, perhaps the most interesting is the lead story (Reflected Glory), which offers up an interesting view of the world’s first Superhero. To be sure, many folks have attempted to spin their own take on this particular genre, especially guys who used to write superheroes in comics, and well, let me tell you that this one is truly a different take.
In this tale, a lowbrow PR flack with less than pristine moral standards happens across the world’s first superhero and seeks to mine the hero’s celebrity for his own purposes to a truly novel conclusion. No, this story isn’t Kick-Ass, but well — as Kupperberg himself relates in the story’s intro, it just might have been Hancock (after it originally appeared in print, he was contacted by someone to inquire as to its availability, only there was no follow-up after the initial conversation, save for the appearance of the afore-mention Will Smith vehicle. Still there are substantial differences between the two stories, and (even though Kupperberg’s ending is more of a downer), this reviewer preferred his ending.
A Stone for the Grave of Mr. Aronson tells the story of a poor worthless slub who has made all the wrong decisions throughout the course of his life and is now facing his own imminent demise, while Man Bites Dog draws on Kupperberg’s own experience of having written for Weekly World News, as it follows a hapless reporter to the West Virginia on the trail of Vampires. What he finds there, and how the locals react to it, makes the reading of the story well worth it. Food for the Beast is something of a chilling tale of a writer who follows his muse to some devastating results. The Zombie King is a seriously morose and chilling view of religion as seen from someone outside that particular faith; something that makes it both deeply disturbing as well as gloriously entertaining.
By far the most off-beat story is the out-of-left-field Hitler’s Bellhop: The Lost Screenplay wherein Kupperberg extrapolates about the mythical existence of a fictional lost screenplay that was the pet project of comedic great, Jerry Lewis. According to the story (told mostly as if it were the recovered screenplay itself), Lewis wanted a film that would be his The Great Dictator. Lewis apparently felt that if Chaplain could spoof Hitler, why couldn’t he? And then went off to prove it. The script (something that Kupperberg himself admits is in supreme bad taste), reads just like classic Jerry Lewis, and well, just might have work had it actually existed and produced.
Jew-Jitsu: The Hebrew Hands of Fury
Just to prove that print (or “dead tree”) publishing isn’t completely gone a (printed) book that Kupperberg penned is Jew-Jitsu the Hebrew Hands of Fury, a sardonically written book about a faith-based martial arts which should be read with one’s tongue firmly planted in their cheek (that is ostensibly co-written by Rabbi Daniel Eliezer). In this very humorous book, readers learn that Jews are not wimps who don't know how to defend themselves, but are very clearly able to defend themselves. According to the book, after a couple of thousand years of persecution, being hounded by Egyptians, bashed by Bolsheviks, and generally slapped around by anyone with an ax to grind, the Chosen People decided to defend themselves, and fight back; thus, was born Jew-Jitsu.
According to the book, the fighting form is based on ancient Jewish principles and refined long ago in the Far East, and designed for “nudniks” (or nerds) who are tired of always living in fear of getting pantsed or stuffed inside their lockers. Readers are assured that by learning these moves they will be able to put fear into the hearts of anyone who tries to mess with the kosher kids!
As stated, the book is really a humorous tome and liberally seasoned with numerous Yidish references throughout. Still, Goyim (or “non-Jewish”) readers shouldn’t worry, as Kupperberg provides a Yiddish-to-English dictionary in the back of the book to assist in their understanding of what is being taught. Loaded with kick-by-kick photos illustrating each of the various prayer-to-fighting techniques, Jew-Jitsu provides readers with easy-to-follow steps so that they too can become supreme physical specimens and gain enough confidence to defend themselves from harm.
Delightful and entertaining the book would be a fun gift for all your Jewish family and friends.
All-in-all the shorts in Kupperberg’s ebook are all thoroughly entertaining and well worth the $8.99 investment. Kupperberg’s In My Shorts, Hitler's Bellhop and Other Stories ($8.99) is available as a download from Buffalo Books or at Smashwords, where readers can also download a second ebook by Kupperberg, Two Tales of Atlantis ($3.99). You can follow Paul both on his personal blog and on Facebook.
Life with Archie, the Married Life (Archie Comics: $3.99)
Two Tales of Atlantis (Buffalo Avenue Books: $3.99)
In My Shorts, Hitler's Bellhop and Other Stories (Buffalo Avenue Books: $8.99)
Jew-Jitsu the Hebrew Hands of Fury (Citadel Press Kensington $12.95)
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