Geek Syndicate
COMIC REVIEW
Half Past Danger - Issue 001
pulp success or a cliff-hanger too far? Well if, like me, you were thinking “how could anything with a kick ass title like Half Past Danger be bad?” then rest easy friend as this is one hell of first issue. In the space of twenty five pages we are swept off to the exotic South Pacific and the mean streets of New York. In between we get secret Nazi bases, hard bitten GI’s, a damsel who is anything but in distress, a fast talking Tommy gun wielding hero, a bucket load of action oh and lets mention them again DINOSAURS! What’s great about Flynn is that while being gruff and a tad prickly, he’s a very likable character from the offset and you’re rooting him and his men before you now it. For you hard core pulp fans Flynn actually reminded me a little of Jake Cutter from the old Tales of the Gold Monkey television series, all Flynn needed was a seaplane and dog with one eye and he would have been all set. When I first started reading the first issue, it felt like a typical war story to begin with and given some of the stuff I had seen on Stephen’s site in the run up to the issue, I began to wonder if this was the comic I thought it would be. Its a great set up as it lulled me into a false sense of security which sat there right until our boys run across the aforementioned Nazi base and then we descend straight into a tale that feels straight out of a Republic serial. The first issue serves very much as a platform to introduce us to Flynn and some of the other main characters who were just as engaging in the limited time we spend with them. There still a huge veil of secrecy over what’s going on but that choice works well and really gives the story that cliff-hanger feel. Yes some of the dialogue and scenes you can see coming a mile off but for me that is the beauty of true pulp adventure in that it’s always giving you a knowing
Writer: Stephen Mooney Artist: Stephen Mooney Publisher: IDW Publishing
DAMES. DINOSAURS. DANGER. Summer, 1943, and in the midst of a war waged by monsters, Staff Sergeant Tommy ‘Irish’ Flynn never expected to encounter a real one. But on a remote island in the South Pacific, Flynn and his squad come face-to-fangedface with creatures long thought dead.
At the moment pulp is very much the in thing. Atomic Robo, The Black Beetle, Lobster Johnson and, most recently, the sell out hit from Image Comics’ Five Ghosts have very much shown that pulp is back with a vengeance. Joining those illustrious comics we have a new pulp adventure from Stephen Mooney: Half Past Danger and a new hero in Tommy “Irish” Flynn. So is Half Past Danger another
It’s clear from the first page that Mooney not only loves pulps but understands them. There is a certain rhythm and flow to telling this kind of tale and in issue one, Mooney is certainly the maestro. Tommy Flynn, aka “Irish”, i