What do you think?
Rate this book
Captain Action #1
Captain Action: Riddle of the Glowing Men
CAPTAIN ACTION – RIDDLE OF THE GLOWING MEN, the first ever Captain Action novel from Airship 27 Productions and Captain Action Enterprises, LLC is now on sale! Written by Jim Beard, the book features a stunning cover by Nick Runge with interior illustrations and design by Rob Davis.
Riddle of the Glowing Men, is set in the sixties where secret agent, Miles Drake, aka, Captain Action, is attacked at A.C.T.I.O.N. headquarters by several assassins whose green skin glows as if radiated. In the process of learning the identity of these killers and the reason behind their attack, Captain Action teams with a beautiful female Russian agent and their quest leads them to a hidden civilization under the frozen wasteland of Siberia. “Jim Beard has written a terrific, authentic Captain Action adventure,” applauds Airship 27 Productions Managing Editor Ron Fortier. “It perfectly captures the break-neck speed and thrills of the early pulps only with today’s modern sensibilities. This book is sure to appeal to both Captain Action fans and new pulp enthusiasts alike.”
Riddle of the Glowing Men, is set in the sixties where secret agent, Miles Drake, aka, Captain Action, is attacked at A.C.T.I.O.N. headquarters by several assassins whose green skin glows as if radiated. In the process of learning the identity of these killers and the reason behind their attack, Captain Action teams with a beautiful female Russian agent and their quest leads them to a hidden civilization under the frozen wasteland of Siberia. “Jim Beard has written a terrific, authentic Captain Action adventure,” applauds Airship 27 Productions Managing Editor Ron Fortier. “It perfectly captures the break-neck speed and thrills of the early pulps only with today’s modern sensibilities. This book is sure to appeal to both Captain Action fans and new pulp enthusiasts alike.”
194 pages, Paperback
First published July 18, 2012
2 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Jim Beard
93 books24 followersJim Beard became a published writer when he sold a story to DC Comics in 2002. Since that time he's written official Star Wars and Ghostbusters comic stories and contributed articles and essays to several volumes of comic book history. His prose work includes SPIDER-MAN: ENEMIES CLOSER, an original novel; co-editing and contributing a story to PLANET OF THE APES: TALES FROM THE FORBIDDEN ZONE; a story for X-FILES: SECRET AGENDAS; GOTHAM CITY 14 MILES, a book of essays on the 1966 Batman TV series; SGT. JANUS, SPIRIT-BREAKER, a collection of pulp ghost stories featuring an Edwardian occult detective; MONSTER EARTH, a shared-world giant monster anthology; and CAPTAIN ACTION: RIDDLE OF THE GLOWING MEN, the first pulp prose novel based on the classic 1960s action figure. Jim also currently provides regular content for Marvel.com, the official Marvel Comics website.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 24, 2019
This is very much a pulp like sci-fi/adventure story. I dont know what I was expecting since I didnt know much about the mythos associated with Captain Action. This story left me flat. I cant put my finger on it exactly, just lost interest about a quarter of the way into the story.
September 18, 2012
Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing men
By Jim Beard
Captain Action, for those not familiar with the character, was a toy line during the mid to late 1960's. The toy's niche was that the Captain was a master of disguise. One could purchase different costumes or disguises for him to wear, essentially becoming Batman, Superman, Spider-Man or Captain America (Which was a trick concerning the enmity between the two major comic book companies in those days.)
Flash forward forty plus years to today and Captain Action's first all new novel ever! With a relatively unknown commodity such as Captain Action, penning an adventure can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the author. Thankfully for Jim Beard it was the former.
Jim crafts a tale straight out of the cold war 1960's as the Captain, a super spy as well as super-Hero and super-adventurer is drawn immediately into a case involving foreign intrigue within soviet Russia.
The Captain is attacked by weirdly glowing men, one after another as the book opens, and the story only gets better from there. Charged with investigating where these 'Glowing Men' came from and why they attacked him by his superiors, Captain Action is teamed with a mysterious and gorgeous Russian defector who claims to come from the area where they suspect the glowing me originate from, but she has her own dark secrets and agenda, as the Captain will discover.
The two soon are thrust into an ever expanding web of mystery involving crashed UFO's, Russian spies named after Gods, and Captain Action's own dire nemesis, the mad and diabolical “Dr. Evil” (No relation to Austin Power's nemesis.)
Soon Cap and his female companion are captured and thrust beneath the Earth's surface where a battle will be fought t will decide the fate of the very world!
'Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing Men' is a GREAT rousing adventure that keeps you interested and is never dull. This is an excellent and fun read that did not disappoint at all. It borrowed heavily on the 1960's era mentality of spy movies and dime store paperbacks as well as the Super-Hero genre of both then and today. This is a highly recommended read for those that love adventure, science fiction and most especially, ACTION!
Merged review:
Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing men
By Jim Beard
Captain Action, for those not familiar with the character, was a toy line during the mid to late 1960's. The toy's niche was that the Captain was a master of disguise. One could purchase different costumes or disguises for him to wear, essentially becoming Batman, Superman, Spider-Man or Captain America (Which was a trick concerning the enmity between the two major comic book companies in those days.)
Flash forward forty plus years to today and Captain Action's first all new novel ever! With a relatively unknown commodity such as Captain Action, penning an adventure can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the author. Thankfully for Jim Beard it was the former.
Jim crafts a tale straight out of the cold war 1960's as the Captain, a super spy as well as super-Hero and super-adventurer is drawn immediately into a case involving foreign intrigue within soviet Russia.
The Captain is attacked by weirdly glowing men, one after another as the book opens, and the story only gets better from there. Charged with investigating where these 'Glowing Men' came from and why they attacked him by his superiors, Captain Action is teamed with a mysterious and gorgeous Russian defector who claims to come from the area where they suspect the glowing me originate from, but she has her own dark secrets and agenda, as the Captain will discover.
The two soon are thrust into an ever expanding web of mystery involving crashed UFO's, Russian spies named after Gods, and Captain Action's own dire nemesis, the mad and diabolical “Dr. Evil” (No relation to Austin Power's nemesis.)
Soon Cap and his female companion are captured and thrust beneath the Earth's surface where a battle will be fought t will decide the fate of the very world!
'Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing Men' is a GREAT rousing adventure that keeps you interested and is never dull. This is an excellent and fun read that did not disappoint at all. It borrowed heavily on the 1960's era mentality of spy movies and dime store paperbacks as well as the Super-Hero genre of both then and today. This is a highly recommended read for those that love adventure, science fiction and most especially, ACTION!
By Jim Beard
Captain Action, for those not familiar with the character, was a toy line during the mid to late 1960's. The toy's niche was that the Captain was a master of disguise. One could purchase different costumes or disguises for him to wear, essentially becoming Batman, Superman, Spider-Man or Captain America (Which was a trick concerning the enmity between the two major comic book companies in those days.)
Flash forward forty plus years to today and Captain Action's first all new novel ever! With a relatively unknown commodity such as Captain Action, penning an adventure can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the author. Thankfully for Jim Beard it was the former.
Jim crafts a tale straight out of the cold war 1960's as the Captain, a super spy as well as super-Hero and super-adventurer is drawn immediately into a case involving foreign intrigue within soviet Russia.
The Captain is attacked by weirdly glowing men, one after another as the book opens, and the story only gets better from there. Charged with investigating where these 'Glowing Men' came from and why they attacked him by his superiors, Captain Action is teamed with a mysterious and gorgeous Russian defector who claims to come from the area where they suspect the glowing me originate from, but she has her own dark secrets and agenda, as the Captain will discover.
The two soon are thrust into an ever expanding web of mystery involving crashed UFO's, Russian spies named after Gods, and Captain Action's own dire nemesis, the mad and diabolical “Dr. Evil” (No relation to Austin Power's nemesis.)
Soon Cap and his female companion are captured and thrust beneath the Earth's surface where a battle will be fought t will decide the fate of the very world!
'Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing Men' is a GREAT rousing adventure that keeps you interested and is never dull. This is an excellent and fun read that did not disappoint at all. It borrowed heavily on the 1960's era mentality of spy movies and dime store paperbacks as well as the Super-Hero genre of both then and today. This is a highly recommended read for those that love adventure, science fiction and most especially, ACTION!
Merged review:
Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing men
By Jim Beard
Captain Action, for those not familiar with the character, was a toy line during the mid to late 1960's. The toy's niche was that the Captain was a master of disguise. One could purchase different costumes or disguises for him to wear, essentially becoming Batman, Superman, Spider-Man or Captain America (Which was a trick concerning the enmity between the two major comic book companies in those days.)
Flash forward forty plus years to today and Captain Action's first all new novel ever! With a relatively unknown commodity such as Captain Action, penning an adventure can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the author. Thankfully for Jim Beard it was the former.
Jim crafts a tale straight out of the cold war 1960's as the Captain, a super spy as well as super-Hero and super-adventurer is drawn immediately into a case involving foreign intrigue within soviet Russia.
The Captain is attacked by weirdly glowing men, one after another as the book opens, and the story only gets better from there. Charged with investigating where these 'Glowing Men' came from and why they attacked him by his superiors, Captain Action is teamed with a mysterious and gorgeous Russian defector who claims to come from the area where they suspect the glowing me originate from, but she has her own dark secrets and agenda, as the Captain will discover.
The two soon are thrust into an ever expanding web of mystery involving crashed UFO's, Russian spies named after Gods, and Captain Action's own dire nemesis, the mad and diabolical “Dr. Evil” (No relation to Austin Power's nemesis.)
Soon Cap and his female companion are captured and thrust beneath the Earth's surface where a battle will be fought t will decide the fate of the very world!
'Captain Action and the Riddle of the Glowing Men' is a GREAT rousing adventure that keeps you interested and is never dull. This is an excellent and fun read that did not disappoint at all. It borrowed heavily on the 1960's era mentality of spy movies and dime store paperbacks as well as the Super-Hero genre of both then and today. This is a highly recommended read for those that love adventure, science fiction and most especially, ACTION!
March 12, 2016
Captain Action is a whole different type of superhero. Resurrected from the 1960's he doesn't have any special powers other than being a master of disguise and getting the job done and that is what he is going to do as he investigates the glowing man. His investigation takes him to Siberia were he encounters none other than Dr. Evil.
This was a great story and a even better audio which is how I had it. Fred Wolinski made this book really exciting, he had me holing my breath several times as the suspense got so thick, and oh my when the action was non stop it was had to turn it off when I got to work, I don't know how people did it back when they had to wait a week to find out what happened to their superhero's. So which ever medium you choose this is a awesome book, give it a try it won't disappoint.
This was a great story and a even better audio which is how I had it. Fred Wolinski made this book really exciting, he had me holing my breath several times as the suspense got so thick, and oh my when the action was non stop it was had to turn it off when I got to work, I don't know how people did it back when they had to wait a week to find out what happened to their superhero's. So which ever medium you choose this is a awesome book, give it a try it won't disappoint.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews