Created by Marion Mainwaring (1922-2015) "You're so wonderful, Spike," she muttered, "All those ugly scars....your broken nose...and the ear that's chopped off...How could they do it, Spike? How could anyone bear to hurt you?" "The ones who did it are dead," I told her. "People who cross me usually end up that way." Murder in … Continue reading Spike Bludgeon
Tag: Mike Hammer
Liner Notes from John Zorn’s “Spillane”
“What is this shit?" John Zorn's 1987 album Spillane, a twenty-odd minute performance piece (some of it very odd), is an aural dumpster dive, full of jagged bits of jazz, spoken word, sound effects and who knows what else, inspired by pulp fiction and in particular the works of Mickey Spillane. It's the centerpiece of the album, … Continue reading Liner Notes from John Zorn’s “Spillane”
Mayk Hammer
Created by Mickey Spillane Re-created by F. M. İkinci (pseudonym of Kemal Tahir), Muzaffer Ulukaya (pseudonym of Afif Yesari) and others. Say what? We all know that MIKE HAMMER, arguably the world’s most famous hard-boiled private eye and star of pretty much all media, was created by Mickey Spillane. But then Jay Dobis dropped a big … Continue reading Mayk Hammer
Mickey Spillane: This Time It’s Personal
By Max Allan Collins EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece originally appeared, in a slightly different form, as the introduction to 2001 New American Library edition of The Mike Hammer Collection, which collected I, the Jury, My Gun Is Quick and Vengeance Is Mine. It is reprinted here with the kind permission of the author, Max Allan … Continue reading Mickey Spillane: This Time It’s Personal
Rocky Steele
Created by John B. West (1905-60) Perhaps not surprisingly, ALOYSIUS ALGERNON STEELE prefers to be called "ROCKY." Can you really blame him? After all, neither Aloysius nor Algernon is the kinda monicker any self-respecting hard-boiled P.I. wants to go by. And as a Lucky-smoking, cognac-swigging, ex-boxer and former commando (he saw action in the Pacific … Continue reading Rocky Steele
It’s Hammer Time!
Send-ups and Put-Downs of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer "I passed this kid sucking a lollipop. Don Brown dead, and him sucking a lollipop. I rammed it down his throat. I hate injustice." -- from "Don Brown's Body" by Jean Kerr As literary poobah Christopher La Farge pointed out in an article on the Mickey Spillane … Continue reading It’s Hammer Time!
Rod Riley (The Girl Hunt Ballet)
Created by Betty Comden and Adolph Green It's not the same old song-and-dance, my friend... ROD RILEY's something of a parody figure like Guy Noir, and he exists in only one extended dance sequence, but take it from me--he's wonderful. The number, which appears in the 1953 film musical The Band Wagon (probably best known … Continue reading Rod Riley (The Girl Hunt Ballet)
Peter Braid
Created by David J. Garrity Pseudonym of David J. Gerrity Other pseudonyms include Garrity, David J. Gerrity (1923-1984) "The first time the old bird tried to hire me was on the telephone, but he got too mouthy. I told him to go climb his thumb and stuck the receiver back in his face and thought … Continue reading Peter Braid
Race Williams
Created by Carroll John Daly (1889-1958) "Sometimes... one hunk of lead is worth all the thought in the world" -- from "Not My Corpse" "I have brains, I suppose." -- from "The Snarl of the Beast" New York City's RACE WILLIAMS is oftenconsidered to be the first "private eye," at least as we understand the … Continue reading Race Williams
It Wasn’t Easy
Mike Hammer Comes to Television "I said, 'This is ridiculous! I mean, you can't take this shit seriously.'" -- Darren McGavin How do you turn the darkly violent, psychologically bruising revenge fantasies of Mickey Spillane's bestselling Mike Hammer novels into a weekly television show? In the squeaky clean surface puritanism of the 1950s? You can't. … Continue reading It Wasn’t Easy