TALES FROM THE FLIP-SIDE: The Adventures of Big Daddy Cool & The Bombshell Kittens

TALES FROM THE FLIP-SIDE

The Adventures of Big Daddy Cool & The Bombshell Kittens

By John Pyka

Pros Se Press

169 pages

When our colleague and fellow reviewer, Tommy Hancock, handed us a copy of this book and said, “It has everything from Nazis vampires to flying cars!”  We knew instantly we were in for a real pulp treat.  And of course Tommy right. Enough so for that to have become an understatement.

New Pulp writer John Pyka’s adventure takes place in a glorious fun-house of an alternate world where the Earth was invaded by Martians; shades of H.G. Wells.  But thanks to scientist such as Tesla and Edison, we managed to beat the bug-eyed monsters and then pretty much stole their technology to create our own weapons; all to insure they would never try that invasion gig again.

Thus the world is filled with both new and alien inspired inventions.  Time passes and as the 1930s roll along, stirrings in Germany begin to make themselves known as an egomaniac named Adolf Hitler comes to power under the ministrations of Count Dracula.  See, we told you this one had everything a pulp reader would want.  Whereas these vampire Nazis pose a threat to our world, there is always the possibility of another attack form the stars.  Ergo the super heroes have divided themselves into two groups; the spacefaring Defenders of Earth and the earthbound superheroes that fight your assorted crime and evil masterminds.

Among the latter we found our protagonist, an ex-thug turned nightclub entertainer named Johnny Dellarocca better known as Big Daddy Cool.  Johnny’s powers are his ability to read minds…after he’s felt pain.  Sure it’s twisted.  Every time he needs to use his abilities, somebody else has to punch the hell out of him.  So let’s give Pyka a ton of credit here, these superheroes totally break the mold while being so much damn fun.

Johnny takes it upon himself to find other supers and recruits them in his battle against villainy.  Chief among these are the absolutely beautiful women he finds all over the country, each possessing a fantastic gift…and all of them eventually falling madly in love with their new boss.  These of course are The Bombshell Kittens as advertised in the sub-title.

“Tales From The Flip-Side: The Adventures of Big Daddy Cool & The Bombshell Kittens is easily one of the wildest rides this reviewer has ever been taken on and we loved every single minute of it.  Is it silly? Totally.  Is it wacky? That word doesn’t even come close.  But that’s what it is suppose to be and delivers far and beyond its initial promise.  If you are tired of the same old plots and heroes done by rote, then shake up your reading habit and dive into something so damn original it will leave you laughing for hours after you put it down.

This one is one of a kind.  And thanks, Tommy, we so owe you one big time.