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Today Dynamite Comics releases Masks, an eight-part mini-series teaming the company’s Pulp-era licensed characters for one epic battle. What menace could be big enough to draw together The Spider, The Shadow, The Green Hornet, Kato and Zorro? Writer Chris Roberson (iZombie, Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love) explains in an interview with Newsarama:

The genesis of the idea was a well-known storyline that ran in The Spider pulp magazines in the 1930s, over the course of three novels: The City That Paid To Die, The Spider At Bay, and Scourge of the Black Legions. In the original story, written by Norvell Page (as Grant Stockbridge), a political organization called the Party of Justice takes over New York State, and quickly institutes a fascist police state. It was an allegory for what was happening in Europe at the time, and saw the Spider go from being a vigilante who fought crime to being a full-blown freedom-fighter protecting the citizenry from an oppressive government.

Yes, the Spider’s “Black Police Trilogy,” which Age of Aces Books had the privilege of putting back into print (as The Spider Vs. The Empire State), is coming to comic shops! And the New York Rebellion of 1938 is bigger than ever: In addition to The Spider, The Green Hornet, The Shadow and (a 1930s-era) Zorro, the struggle against the Party of Justice will see the rise of “new” heroes too — The Black Bat, Miss Fury, Black Terror and The Green Lama. With so many 1930s vigilantes sharing the spotlight, the narrative necessarily deviates from Norvell Page’s 1938 tale, yet — judging from the capsule descriptions of future issues — The Spider thread of the story remains pretty much unchanged. As Roberson told Check Point Interviews:

The idea was that, while the Spider was off having his adventure, the other vigilante characters who were operating at the time would have also had to deal with this fascist police state.

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The latest volume of our Captain Philip Strange series collects the eight stories featuring Philip Strange’s strangest enemy—Fraulein Doktor. The good Doktor is Germany’s loveliest spy and an instructor of spies in Antwerp. But they had a history together—a history from before the war. For before she had become Fraulein Doktor, she was Karol von Marlow—a slender, dark-eyed girl on a small Mecklenberg estate on a fragrant June night where a young Philip Strange had been given refuge…

    Strange did not hear the rest. He was back in the year before the war—a frightened youngster, pursued from Berlin by a money-grubbing uncle. A scene in Mecklenburg, a hideout from the police inspired by the uncle’s posted reward. An injury to his ankle, and a German who had taken him in at his small estate. A kindly man, Herr von Marlow, and his lovely French wife. And there had been a daughter, a slender, dark-eyed girl, his one bright memory of those unhappy days.

    There had been a bond between them. She, too, spoke several languages, but it had been more than that, this bond. They had written frequently—and then the war had come. He had not forgotten. In his desk at his Chaumont retreat was a small picture of a dark-eyed girl, smiling. On the back, words had been written by a feminine hand:

    “To Philip, in memory of happy days—Karol von Marlow.”

    Fate had played them a scurvy trick. By a hideous mistake, the parents of Karol von Marlow had been shot as spies by the French. Fired by desire for vengeance, she had offered herself as an agent. The flame of revenge had died, he knew, but not until she had become the famous Fraulein Doktor, noted alike for her daring and her skill as a teacher of spies.

    That same mocking Fate had made him an enemy, cursed by the Boche as the “Brain-Devil of G-2,” with a price of twenty-five thousand gold marks upon his head.

Somehow the “Brain-Devil of G-2″ and Fraulein Doktor manage to help one another avoid death or capture and still fulfill their respective missions while keeping just this side of treason. In one of the stories, Strange is Court Martialed for his perceived assistance of the enemy! They both still hold their love for one another in their hearts, even though this may be in conflict with their loyalty to their countries.

    A bloody war lay between them—but some day, when it was over, they would meet again…

We’ll be debuting the second volume of our Captain Philip Strange series at PulpFest on Friday. So if you’re in attendance stop by our table and meet the Age of Aces crew and pick up a copy of Captain Philip Strange: Strange Enemies (and The Three Mosquitoes: The Thunderbolt Ace if you haven’t yet).

He hope to see you there!

Streaking swiftly through Hell skies, their three Hisso engines thundering, we find The Greatest Trio of Aces! The famous and inseparable “Three Mosquitoes,” the mightiest flying combination that had ever blazed its way through overwhelming odds and laughed to tell of it, take off in four more exciting adventures from the pages of Popular Publications! Yes, Kirby, impetuous young leader of the great trio, lanky Travis, eldest and wisest of the Mosquitoes, and the mild-eyed, corpulent little Mosquito—“Shorty” Carn are all back and ready for action. This time up we have two tales from 1932 issues of Dare-Devil Aces and two from 1933 that were published in Battle Birds. If you enjoyed the pride and glory of the 44th’s last two books then you’ll surely want to pick up this volume. And if you are new to The Adventures of The Three Mosquitoes, what better place to start than with The Thunderbolt Ace!

Yes, the first book in our new series, Captain Philip Strange: Strange War is here and just in time for the 80th Anniversary of the publication of his first appearance in Flying Aces Magazine in August of 1931!

We were at the PulpFest in Columbus, Ohio this weekend premiering our new book. Strange War has six exciting stories of “the Phantom Ace of G-2″ with an introduction by Sid Bradd and all beautifully wrapped up in an exciting new design by Chria Kalb. Keyhoe’s Brain-Devil takes on all manner of pterodactyls, flaming fire balls raining down from the sky and demon aces with the help of Tom and Noisy Jay—the twin aces of G-2 affectionately known as the Jay Birds.

The Captain Philip Strange stories ran for nine years—from 1931 through 1939—in the pages of Flying Aces magazine. And we’re already preparing the second volume which will collect the Fraulein Doktor stories—Strange’s former love, now nemesis due to circumstances brought about by the war. (This book will be out later this year.)

Strange War should be available at Amazon very soon—it sometimes takes a day or two for them to add the book to their system. And speaking of PulpFest, for those who couldn’t attend, here are some links to download the various flyers he had out for people to pick up:

• Our General Aviation Titles Flyer
• Captain Philip Strange: Strange War
• The Adventures of The Three Mosquitoes: The Thunderbolt Ace

Age of Aces will be at Pulpfest in Columbus next week where we will be unveiling our latest exciting book—Captain Philip Strange: Strange War by Donald E. Keyhoe.

In Donald E. Keyhoe’s imaginings, the stormy skies of World War I are filled with giant pterodactyls, mystic fireballs and demon aces. But America has it’s own unnatural secret weapon: Captain Philip Strange. A mental marvel from birth, he was so terrifyingly effective that the Allies referred to him as “The Phantom Ace of G-2.” But to the Germans he was “The Brain-Devil,” whose penetrating green eyes were both a legend and a nightmare.

Keyhoe’s Philip Strange stories ran for nine years—from 1931 through 1939—in the pages of Flying Aces magazine. This first volume in our new series contains six exciting tales of terror skies! It also features an introduction by Sid Bradd and is beautifully wrapped up in an exciting new design by Chris Kalb!

So stop by our table and meet the crew and check it out or pick up any of our other titles at special Pulpfest discounts. If you can’t make it—keep your eyes on ageofaces.net to find out more about our new book.

“The Spad was at two thousand feet when he became aware of a queer sensation. It was a feeling that he was not alone in those dark heavens. He jerked about in his cockpit. Something moved in the shadows above him, moved with an odd rushing sound like the beating of giant wings—a blurred something from the shadows hurtled steeply down toward the French drome. A hideous screech burst upon the air, a screech which all but chilled the marrow in his bones.
Then he saw it—and his heart stood still!”

Age of Aces will be at Pulpfest in Columbus in two weeks where we will be unvailing our latest exciting book! So stop by our table and meet the crew and check it out or pick up any of our other titles. If you can’t make it—keep your eyes on this space and check back to find out more about our new book.

“Nine Yank aces had gone forth to hunt that hidden base. And nine had returned—dying—their faces slashed and clawed—their lips muttering a single name, “Silver Face.” Who was this strange enemy? Why did he brand his victims in such a manner? The Allies wondered in terror as Dick Traine took up that grim hell trail—the trail of vanished men.”

Yes, Donald E. Keyhoe’s seven stories of The Vanished Legion from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces have been collected into one volume and is now available to order from Amazon. Surely you remember from History class reading about when the Germans found a way to turn Allied pilots into Dwarfs, in doing so, driving them mad and sending them back to attack their former squadrons or the grizzly green death—a gas that would render its victims dead in seconds, an unsettling learing grin upon their twisted faces or maybe you recall Germany’s plan to render the Allies defenceless with a ray that would block out all sight and sound. This is the history they don’t teach you about in school! So join Dick Train, Monte Prince, Bill Hammond and the rest of the Squadron of Forgotten Men as Colonel Meredith sends them out against some of the most bizarre schemes the Boche ever threw against the Allies in WWI!

Our latest book, Donald E. Keyhoe’s The Vanished Legion, will be coming out soon! The book collects all seven of Keyhoe’s tales of The Squadron of Forgotten Men from the pages of Dare-Devil Aces magazine.

The great thing about PulpFest, besides seeing all those gorgeous pulps in one place, is the people you meet. One such kindred spirit is Arlene Hilfer, an english professor at Hiram College in Ohio, who we first met at last year’s show. She had a keen interest in PulpFest 2009 (her first convention) having just taught a pulp class at her small college using Erin Smith’s Hard-Boiled and Otto Penzler’s The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps as the primary texts. Like a sponge, she soaked up everything the pulp collectors and publishers could throw at her in one Saturday afternoon — and that’s a lot. She listened to my breathless spiel about The Spider Vs. The Empire State and even ordered a copy. (We had sold out of it on Friday.) We heard from Arlene again after the show when she reported that her granddaughter’s boyfriend had scooped up her copy of Empire State, and she had to order another one. Love it!

We were back at PulpFest last weekend for the 2010 show, and so was Professor Hilfer. She reports that last year for her pulp class she added the infamous “Ku Klux Klan issue” of Black Mask to the syllabus, something that the Mecham brothers of Girasol Collectables had turned her on to at the convention. This fall, with Hiram suggesting the theme of “war” for the school year, she is planning to have her students read The Spider Vs. The Empire State as part of the class. Fantastic! Tom Krabacher, who wrote the introduction to the book was at the show too, and he, Arlene and I had a rousing discussion about The Spider, the Depression, and what she might do with her students this semester. Who knows, they may even have an assignment to contribute original content to FightTheEmpireState.com. Watch this space for developments!

Age of Aces is proud to announce the launch of FightTheEmpireState.com as an intriguing new promotional site for The Spider Vs. The Empire State.

What if our history was pulp history? This new site treats the central conflict of the Black Police Trilogy as if it were real, offering photographs and posters from the New York rebellion of 1938 to delight fans of the book and to hook non-fans into the crazy world of The Spider.

I’m something of a purist when it comes to the pulps, so the book I designed includes only what was in the magazines. I allowed myself to create my own cover, but otherwise it’s all Gould and Howitt visually. And yet as an artist there was so much more I was inspired to do with the world of this imaginative Norvell Page epic. That’s how the “movie poster” advertising image originally came about, which was similar to the cover in its composition, but didn’t fit visually with the book. But what about other “scenes” from the revolution? And shouldn’t the Black Police have a cool logo? You can now find these things at FightTheEmpireState.com.

We wanted to mark PulpFest 2010, the first anniversary of our  top-selling book, by giving something back to the fans who have made it a hit for us. Hopefully we can also capture the imagination of people not steeped in the pulps, and grow the audience for this remarkable story and for pulp fiction in general.

“From one end of the Allied line to the other, Hugh McQuillen was known as the Assassin. He had smashed his way to fame by refusing to believe that war was a game, for he fought to kill with all the cold hardness of a hurtling shell—and he was just as deadly. Many enemies he had made, and many men of his own squadron had defied him . . .”

William E. Barrett, better known for fare like The Left Hand of God and Lillies of The Field, cut his teeth on short stories in pulp fiction aviation and detective magazines. We had originally posted a few of these Iron Aces stories in our Age of Aces Presents section. They were so good we had to collect all nine Iron Ace stories and present them in one volume!

We will be debuting the hardboiled adventures of Hugh McQuillen at PulpFest this Friday. Stop by our table and meet the Age of Aces team and pick up a copy of The Iron Ace or any of our other titles at a special reduced PulpFest price. If you can’t make it, the book will be available to order through Amazon at the usual price.

We are proud to announce that The Spider Vs. The Empire State: The Complete Black Police Trilogy is the recipient of two National Indie Excellence® Awards for 2010! The Age of Aces release has been named the winner in both the Cover Fiction and Book Interior Design categories. See the full list of finalists and winners here.

As the designer of The Empire State, I wanted to bring a more mainstream sensibility to the “pulp reprint book” and it’s exciting to see this strategy rewarded with a little mainstream attention. The feedback we’ve gotten from pulp fans over the last nine months has been terrific, but it’s gratifying to see that the book holds up outside pulp’s mean streets as well. As reprint publishers I believe we should always have our eyes on expanding the market for the fiction we love, while pleasing the faithful. If you haven’t seen this (ahem) award-winning design, check out our Empire State gallery page.

But as proud as I am of the design, people really need to pick up this book for the epic fascist parable contained within. No doubt if these stories were new, Norvell Page would be racking up awards too. Well, he’ll have to settle for accolades, like this post from Greg Hatcher at Comic Book Resources:

The book’s still got all the things that made the Spider such a great pulp series — the action and the heroics and the hell-for-leather pacing are all there in spades, the suspense never lets up for a second — but this time, it feels important, it’s really about something this time. As a result, it’s easily the most compelling Spider story I’ve ever read. For that matter, I’d go so far as to say that it may be the most compelling piece of pulp fiction I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of it.

Agreed! The Spider Vs. The Empire State is available now at Amazon.com.

We have just posted three new galleries related to our latest release, The Spider Vs. The Empire State! The first gallery is for the pulp covers by John Newton Howitt, which we were not able to reproduce in color in the book. The second shows ALL of the interior illustrations by John Fleming Gould as they originally appeared in the three issues that were collected for the volume. This means, if you own a copy of Empire State, you can see how each image was filled out to make a complete two-page spread (strictly using Gould art, mind you). This gallery also includes the character portraits from each story which didn’t find a place in the book. The third gallery is actually photographs of the book, both inside and out. We opted to do this because so many people have said that, though the cover is stirring, when they saw the whole book in person they were even more impressed with the design. So, if you own a copy of Empire State, enjoy these “dvd extras” — and if you don’t, take a look and maybe you’ll be inspired to pick up a copy!

On August 5, 1938 a totally different kind of Spider story hit America’s newsstands. “The City That Paid To Die” was missing the usual oriental cults, pillaging beast-men or dissolving rays. In place of them, Norvell Page and the editors of The Spider magazine crafted a story that would bring home the day-to-day suffering of people in Europe at the hands of the Nazis. And as with the real fascist threat, it didn’t tie up neatly in one month. The incredible “Black Police Trilogy” devastated New York over the course of three issues (covering roughly seven months in story time). What is really unique about this saga is that in order for The Spider to take on an entire state, he must come out of the shadows and act as a leader — even a symbol — of the resistance movement. Age of Aces Books is proud to be offering, 71 years later, the first ever collection of these three stirring adventures of Richard Wentworth and his crew. Visit our The Spider Vs. The Empire State page for more details or to order from Amazon.