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» Legion World » LEGION CLUBHOUSE » Visionaries of Tomorrow » Edmond Hamilton and the Legion... (Page 2)

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Author Topic: Edmond Hamilton and the Legion...
Fat Cramer
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Why, Pollard, you old oyster - or something.

Looks like Sketchy was onto some early Hamilton when he drew this:

Click for fullsize image

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Holy Cats of Egypt!

From: Café Cramer | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Chemical King
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In Germany, Hamilton is most famous for his Captain Future series which was made into a groovy cartoon in the late 70s. This japanese cartoon was translated into German, given a whole new soundtrack which still sounds great today (and is sometimes even played in Clubs nearly 30 years later).

Kind of a "cult hit" for every boy growing up back then. Captain Futures adventures were a must-see - and nearly every 30 something can relate to it when you bring up the topic... so yes, Edmond Hamilton was one of the big ones! Try to get some of the original novels - they are kind of cool too!

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Eryk Davis Ester
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That's pretty cool. I knew about the Captain Future cartoon but wasn't really sure how popular it had been.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
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The novels are great! It's like reading comics in book form. The stories are reminiscent of Mystery in Space or Strange Adventures.

Some of his earlier novels are definitely passe now and may be a little silly (entire fleets of spaceships hurtling suns or comets against each other like playing a cosmic softball game) but they are enchanting nonetheless!

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Portfolio Boy
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quote:
Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester:
Recently I've been thinking about checking out some of Hamilton's sci-fi stories. I guess that one of things I'm interested in is whether there is anything that seems "relevant" to his Legion stories, maybe due to similar plots or sci-fi elements or something.

Ranging somewhat off Hamilton, but delving on to sci-fi antecedents of the Legion, I have seen an old Buck Rogers comic strip in which Buck and crew find their way blocked by a super-hard indestructable wall made of inertron.

I never did find out when the strip was originally published, but I suspect it was in the 1930s. Hamilton never wrote Buck, but his most celbrated creation, from the 1940s, is a similar character called Captain Future.

If you are going to research Hamilton, it might not be a bad idea to also look into the works of his wife, Leigh Brackett, who is largely credited with improving the overall quality of Hamilton's work after their nuptules.

You can probably score copies of the old Pulp magazine, Weird Tales, for not a lot of money on ebay. Hamilton wrote 79 stories for the mag between 1926 and 1948. That's probably the best place to find concepts later recycled for comics, considering Unca Mort's pencahnt for recycling ideas that, in theory, predated the average age of his readership. I would not be surprised to find that Hamilton canabalized many of his old pulp works. Probably less likely to find similar reuse in novels and short stories from collections that might have remained in print.

That said, Hamilton's "Superman under the Red Sun," from Action Comics #300 (1963) has been indentified as sharing many common elements with his 1951 novel, City At World's End. The character Chris KL-99, who appeared in Strange Adventures is said to have been based on Captain Future.

For his sci-fi pulp writing, the best souce is probably Wonder Stories, especially from the 1930s. Again, the pulps are cheap enough on ebay, mostly becasue pulp collectors have fastidiously resisted the publication of any kind of price guide for their hobby, for fear of Overstreet type impacts on their wallets.

His 1947 novel The Star Kings is said to be typical of his space opera stuff, although I've never read it.

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Eryk Davis Ester
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One of the cool things is Hamilton's ability to write widely different types of stories. This is exemplified by two stories I read this afternoon.

"Easy Money" is a comedy about about a former prizefighter who volunteers for a scientific experiment which teleports him to a faraway planet, which he thinks is Egypt. It features a gorilla with a mind-control helmet!

"He That Hath Wings" is a rather tragic tale about a mutant born with wings and the power of flight. Things are pretty cool until he falls in love with a woman who wants him to give up his wings in order to marry her. It's actually pretty heartbreaking.

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Eryk Davis Ester
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Just noticed this groovy collection!
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Eryk Davis Ester
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Check out the publisher, Haffner Press, who have already published three volumes of Hamilton's stuff, plus who are reprinting tons of other classic sci fi writers works!
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Fat Cramer
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Killing time in a bookstore the other day, I found a scrappy old paperback edition of The City at World's End - and, inspired by this thread, bought it.

A few Legion-y connections: a character named Lal'lor and the highly competent female Administrator, described as "an ice-cold blond".

The science was pretty dated - 1951 - but the question of whether humans are innately explorers of the new or clinging to the familiar old way of life was pretty interesting. The protagonist's girlfriend blames technology for all their problems; it struck me as unusual for someone to be questioning science back in the 50s. Unfortunately, Hamilton didn't explore that idea much; it was just an aspect of the girlfriend's old thinking.

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Holy Cats of Egypt!

From: Café Cramer | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Eryk Davis Ester
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My review of "City at World's End". I can't believe I missed the Lallor connection!

quote:
Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester:
And I just read City at World's End! This groovy story features ordinary twentieth century Americans flung a million years to a barren dead Earth, like where people in the Legion used to imprison space criminals! And it's got a blonde, man-stealing hussy of the future in a position of authority!


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Fat Cramer
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That Lal'lor character only appeared two or three times, and didn't really do anything.

I'd really like to read that Interstellar Patrol collection, since that sounds like an early Legion.

There are a few audio versions of Hamilton stories at
Librivox.

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Holy Cats of Egypt!

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Blue Tyson
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Interstellar Patrol not really like the legion, but you can have a look at Baen webscriptions for a taste.

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Eryk Davis Ester
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quote:
Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester:
Just noticed this groovy collection!

Two years later, I've finally ordered the first Hamilton collection!
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Eryk Davis Ester
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Re-read "The Monster God of Mamurth", which still seems to me like the setup for a much longer story.

Currently reading "Across Space", which features scientists racing to Easter Island to find a way to stop Mars, which has left its orbit and is on a collision course with Earth!

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Eryk Davis Ester
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"The Metal Giants" totally reads like an early version of "Computo the Conqueror!"
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