TITLE-Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #05
PUBLISHER-Archie Comics
After a way too long wait,I love most of the new stuff coming from Archie but am getting a bit sick of the constant late shipping on over half the titles,issue 5 of the not for kids Sabrina title is out. So was it worth the wait............. Yeah it was.
Sabrina has to face the Witch's Council cause of Harvey seeing her induction into the witch group. While on trial she has to face a few tests. Which she passes so she gets declaired innocent.
But it seems Sabrina had help passing the test. Ms Porter AKA Madam Satan made sure Sabrina passed. And now has recurited Betty and Veronica from Riverdale. Yep Betty and Veronica are part of a coven with Ms Grundy in Riverdale.
And with the help of the two ladies from out of town and Ms Porter,Sabrina casts a spell that will bring Harvey Kinkle back from the grave. She gets told it will take 3 days for him to come back.
3 days later we are in the Kinkle house. Ms Kinkle is still setting a place at the dinner table for Harvey,believing since his body hasn't been found he is still alive.Mr Kinkle is sure Harvey is dead. Harvey rises from the grave and makes his way home.
Once he gets there we see that his mother might have lost touch with reality in a major way. Then in the last few pages learn that while it is Harvey's body the mind controling it is someone from Sabrina's past.
The art is fucking stunning. I love the look of the coloring,looks a bit like chalk to me.And the story is not only well written,but also well researched. I hope there is no more huge ass delays on future issues.
Our lead Smokey is in Port Arthur Texas aka the armpit of Texas. But quickly makes his way across the gulf coast area of Louisiana before ending up in Gulfport Mississippi.
It is in this city where Smokey and his gang attack a Navy vessel off the coast. After gaining control of it,Smokey enlists the help of a sailor. And they head off to the Florida keys. An area that supposedly has a pair of female Crossed twins that are "smart" like Smokey.
Of course seeing mention of quite a few cities I goto often or lived in made me enjoy this issue a bit more than normal. Really my only complaint is the cover. It looks wonky.
This is one of the few VHS I got even though I have the DVD. Last year the local library started a year long sale. And one day while I was there I saw they had a stack of VHS up for sale. And mixed in with piles of Veggietales and Bibleman tapes was a copy of Kids.
Mostly known now as the film that launched the careers of Rosario Dawson and Chloe Sevigny. This was Larry Clarks first and best film. Set over on full day. It shows in graphic detail what happens to a group of street kids.
Now that I found my copy I might end up watching it soon. I know I threw it in when I bought it. Just to make sure it worked. But I doubt I have watched it fully on VHS since I first rented it years ago from Video Showboat.
The Making of Tremors 2 Aftershocks EPK
MCA Universal Home Video
??
Unrated
Got this Electronic Press Kit VHS in a trade a few years back. Tapes like this were sent around to video stores to help hype up the home video debuts of films.
I have no idea if what is on this tape has appeared anywhere's else. The only copies of the Tremors films I have on DVD are all bare bones.
Really there isn't much to say about this VHS. So if anyone reading this wants it,let me know. I am sure we can work out a deal.
New Kids on the Block Hangin' Tough
CMV Enterprises
30 mins
Unrated
I have noticed lots of music video based VHS never made the jump over to DVD. And knowing that even now the New Kids have a huge fan base,when I found this VHS I had to get it. Planning on quickly selling it. Which never happened. It got put away and forgotten.
The tape has 4 music videos. And mixed between them some BTS stuff on the New Kids.I doubt I ever watch this tape again. But I love that front cover.So this is gonna go on display on one of my many shelves.
TITLE-Dead of Night featuring Werewolf by Night #01
PUBLISHER-Marvel Max
After having enjoyed Duane Swierczynski's work on The Black Hood,I tracked down this mini series from a few years back. And he didn't disappoint me.
Jack is a werewolf. Since the month before he turned 18 every month during the full moon he becomes a killing machine. During his first transformation he killed his parents and went on the run.
Current Jack is living in Philidelphia with his fiance. Who is pregnant. Every month he tells her he has to go on a work trip,then locks himself inside a steel room.
At the end of the issue he returns home from one of his trips to the room,but finds his fiance dead,her stomach ripped open. And the message It was a girl written in blood on the wall.
Dead Of Night Featuring Werewolf by Night #01 gets a buy.
So once again we get a revamping of Marc Spector,and another Moon Knight #01. This time with Jeff Lemire handing the writing.
What I gathered from this issue Marc is in the nut house.And from what we are told all the previous Moon Knight adventures were just doodlings in Marc's journal.
Then one day in the rec room Marc sees a news report on Moon Knight. Who the night before,while Marc was getting electroshock treatment,was out fighting Stained Glass Scarlett.
That night Khonshu speaks to Marc. And he makes an escape attempt. But the last page just leads us the reader into thinking Marc is just flat out insane.
Yeah this has caught my attention enough I will read at least 2 or 3 more issues. Kind of wanting to see where Lemire takes this Marc is insane angle.
Under the Bill Maus cover is a horrid piece of shit. Seems Parody Press had all their 2099 parodies crossing over. And if you buy them all the covers form some kind of crappy image.
The story is shit. Pure shit. The art looks like stuff a bored 13 year old doodled in class. And charging $2.99 for this shit....WTF.
TITLE-Dark Knight III The Master Race #04
PUBLISHER-DC Comics
After a bit of a delay issue 4 is out. Most of the issue is Lara vs Superman. And once the Kandorians defeat Superman,they give an ultimatum,turn over Batman or they will wipe Gotham off the face of the Earth.
In the back up story,Carrie Kelly is now Batgirl. And is off on a mission Bruce sent her on. Lots of good fights scenes,then she gets rescued by Aquaman. And the dreaded to be continued appears.
This was decent. But I really am feeling like I should have just waited till it was over and grabbed a trade of it. Damn you Miller.BTW best of luck with your health issues sir.
Dark Knight III The Master Race #04 gets a borrow.
With the final issue of the pretty damn good KiD N Play comic we get a fun crossover with lots of the Marvel heroes.
Play has just lost his woman. So is staying in his room. Kid and another friend come over to cheer him up. And they brought a coupon for a free delivery pizza plus a stack of Marvel comics. Play tells them thanks but then asks them to leave.
A bit later Play is hungry so he orders the pizza. After pigging out on what looks like a great pizza Play falls asleep. And in his dreams is where the Marvel Heroes crossover starts.
First up Hulk knocks on Play's front door. Then punches Play so hard he flies way out of the city. And once Play gets out of the trench his body created on the landing,he runs into the early 90s X-men team.
Play gets away from them,but runs into Venom in the sewers.Who throws him away. He lands in another part of the sewers,where Wolverine,Punisher and Ghost Rider happen to be. The heroes fight over who gets to I guess kill Play,still not sure why the heroes all want to kill him.
Plays escapes the trio and makes it home. But pretty soon the Avengers,FF and X-factor surround his house. Using dream logic Play ends up in armor and armed with a lightsaber fighting himself.He wakes up from this dream and lets the readers know he is better now.
Kind of a neat but odd way to end this series. It reads a bit like the new Archie and Jughead comics read. In that it is written for a 14 year old or older,but can still be read by younger kids.
Seems we have skipped ahead at least a month or so. Logan has been living with the X-men,who now have the X-mansion in the Limbo dimension. He leaves and ends up in the Northwest territory area of Canada.
Then towards the end of the issue we learn not only what happened to Logan after he killed the X-men in his world,but also when he met the woman he ended up marrying.
Steve Rogers and Hawkeye take out Logan. And then take him to where the 616 Wolverine is buried. Thus proving to Logan that this isn't the past of his universe. And Logan goes off. Just drifting around. Until one night he runs into a Sentinal and two old friends.
This issue was good. But not as good as the previous 3. I knew that one day soon Logan would learn this isn't his universe. But didn't expect it to happen this soon.
So after a few months wait we get the conclusion to the current story in Southern Bastards. Seems Earl,the guy who died in the first story,had a daughter. Who is ex-military and has come home. Also forgot she is half-black. Which of course goes over big with the racist inbreds of the town.
Even though I had to wait a bit over 2 months to get this issue,fuck was it worth the wait. Aaron perfectly captures how it is to live in a small southern town. And what it is like if you are living there and not white/straight and Christian.
For the past 5 years NEC has put out one of the best of the Free Comic Book Day comics.So I never miss it.
This one is almost perfect. We get three stories.That all happen over the course of a day or so. Up first is one about how a bunch of alternate reality version of The Tick showing up. Plus a cameo from one of the best villian from the Tick cartoon. The second story answers the question "What do you do with a few hundred versions of the Tick".Then in the last Tick and Arthur find out they have a convention appearance. And we get to meet a great idea for a super villian.
I also love how inside the front cover NEC has a deal.All you gotta do is send a SASE with the proper amount of postage and they will mail you all the FCBD issues.
Well looks like I was wrong. After last issue I figured this one would go into the beginnings of the new Crossed we see in Crosse +100. Nope doesn't happen. Smokey gets double crossed by the traitor. And a bunch of Crossed get let loose in the hospital were Smokey has been keeping the pregnant humans.
I am assuming that the next 4 issues will all be one story. But who knows. With the series ending soon...hell it has been great. With so many standout moments.
TITLE-The Black Hood #10
PUBLISHER-Dark Circle/Archie Comics
Somehow I missed this one when it came out. But got it the other day.
Since the first issue Black Hood has been my favorite superhero comic in years. Hell I would say since the late 90s run of Astro City.
The Hood has been captured. And they know about his addictions. So they shoot him up with some kind of painkiller.
After escaping the Hood goes back and tells his partner everything. An convinces him to let him have one more mission as the Black Hood.
What can I say each issue of this series is as good as if not better than the last. Sure it is some times a bit late. But it is worth the wait. If you like the superhero genre of comics and are not reading this WTF go grab the trade of the first story.
Having recently found a second copy of issue #24 of this series I wanted to go back and start reading it again from the beginning. Sure I could read those nice new reprints from Marvel,which while very nice have way to high a cover price.But instead I dug out the old Eclipse run.
Coming out in the summer of 85 I was fairly young when Eclipse started publishing this UK series. Thankfully the comic shop I went to was run by a guy who had lived most of his life right outside Blackpool. So his shop always had copies of 2000 AD and even Warrior. Which back in the mid 80s wasn't that common.Around the time issue 3 hit the stands I was in the comic shop. I had 3 bucks left over after grabbing my normal monthly stack,and the owner handed me issues 1 and 2 of Miracleman. From then until it ended when Eclipse went under I read every issue.
Starting off with a reprinted 60s story of Mike Moran and the rest of the Miracle Family,by chapter 2 we are in 1983 England. Mike is a freelance reporter that is having the same dream over and over. After he is taken hostage by some terrorist at a nuclear plant,Mike remembers the magic word that turns him into Miracleman. And for the first time this world has a legit superhero.
Moore took a character that is basically the bastard grandson of Superman and made him into a much more nuanced and thought out person that Supers has ever been.And even in this first issue there are pieces of what Moore kept doing and brought to the forefront of the comic issues later. The idea that superhero comics are a very childish genre. And in the early 80s and hell even now most of the superhero comics published are written to appeal to kids/middle age man childs. These are reasons I think that some people hate this series. They can't accept that the genre they have loved since they were kids is at it's very core kind of silly and stupid. But being the great writer he is Moore manages to take this childish genre and by injecting a bit of realism make it into something that broke most of the genre rules. And by the end of his run a title that was more science fiction/religious based than just a silly comic with guys in colorful tights punching each other.
Right now is the best time since the early 90s to get into Miracleman. Marvel has reprinted most of the 24 issues Eclipse put out. And what isn't reprinted currently will be out soon. Plus finally Neil Gaiman,he took over the writing of the series after Moore left,will be able to finish his 2 and 3rd stories lines.
Yep the first comic book with a hologram on the cover. Coming out in 1986 with a $2.50 cover price I bet this didn't sell that well. And now after reading it I see why it is only remembered for it's cover gimmick.
The insides are your standard mid 80s B/W comic boom humor anthology shit. Nothing is really that funny. The art is kind of shit. And it really feels like they were sure the cover would sell this book.
Well they can't all be winners.And I got this for basically cover price. It is a neat piece of comic history to own. But nothing to go out of your way to get.
For right at 10 years now I have been finding packs of 2 or 3 comics plus some trading cards,all at Dollar stores. And all of the packs come from a Florida based company called Cardsone.
About a week ago I happened to be in a Dollar General I rarely goto. Saw they had a few of these packs. But at the time I had maybe 3 bucks on me. So I hid them behind some old issues US Weekly and hoped they would still be there in a few days.
A few days later I go back and there is 4 packs. So I grabbed them and checked out. As soon as I got out in the car I opened them up to see what I got. Normally I am use to finding these packs at Dollar Tree. Were on average I got 3 comics plus 1 random trading card. These packs were $4 each,had 2 comics,a few random trading cards,plus an unopened pack of trading cards.And every pack had the below.
Mostly it is a catalog for comic supplies from Cardsone. But it does give a few basic tips on collecting comics. Nothing major is revealed.
But onto the cards. Up first is the just random cards they throw in the packages.
So Lion King,Disney Premium,Batman TAS and some WWII card. The Disney Premium has this gold foil border. And the WWII card looks metallic.
Also got 4 Elvis trading cards. These seem to be from that 90s set.All 8 of these cards are just gonna end up being used as bookmarks.
As far as packs of cards. Got 3 packs of VR Troopers puzzle cards.And one pack of the first set of Mighty Morphin Power Ranger cards.
The above two are one of the puzzles. Seems each pack has a full puzzle. And each piece is double sided. I barely remember VR Troopers so have no clue who Ryan Steel is.
The other two packs contained the same puzzle pictured above.
The Rita card on the top left has a kind of foil process added to it. Back when this set was coming out I actually managed to collect a full set. But lost them years ago.
Now onto the comics. Gonna start with the two titles I had never heard of.
From Top Cow comics here is Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter #01.The only name I know is David Wohl. But the art looks decent. I have noticed that most Top Cow titles at least have decent art.
Hunter Killer #05 is next. Written by Mark Waid and penciled by Mark Silvestri. This looks pretty damn good.
American Entertainment Exclusive Edition Witchblade #02 Encore Edition.David Wohl writes this. And this is from back when Michael Turner was still drawing Witchblade.
The Darkness Level 3,I read a bit of Darkness back when Top Cow put one of it's trade on sale. David Wohl again is writing.
The Darkness vol 2 #14,pretty sure the Darkness trade I read was from volume 2.
Robotech The New Generation #11,I haven't read any of this Robotech series before. But the other ones from Comico have been really good.
Batman #446 has Marv Wolfman writing and the late Jim Aparo doing the art.
And saved for last Spawn/Batman by Frank Miller an Todd McFarlane. This is the only one of the comics I had read before getting these grab bags. I hated it back then. And rereading it the other day I still hate it. This was the comic that proved to me not everything Frank writes is amazing.
Overall it was kind of a bunch of crap. Sure all the Top Cow stuff looks decent. And the Batman comic should be fun. The Robotech comic,well the coloring on the inside looks wonky. And Spawn/Batman sucks ass. The trading cards are neat but like I said they are gonna become bookmarks. Overall these packs were not really worth the $4 I paid for each one. The 3 comics and a card for a buck packs from Dollar Tree are a much better deal.
Been forever since I did a 3 toys from the junkbox feature. Mostly cause while I am still cleaning,organizing and getting rid of pieces of my collections I haven't been finding any toys. Just recently though I opened up a box that was packed with VHS. Since about 2000 I have been collecting VHS off and on. If it is cheap and isn't on DVD/Blu Ray or I don't own it on either odds are good I will buy it.
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad The Glitch that stole Christmas
DIC Toon Time
44 mins
Unrated
I think this VHS predates when I actually started collecting them. All I really remember is I was in Dollar General looking for some last minute X-mas gifts and saw they had a stack of 10 or so copies of this for a buck.
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was a syndicated Power Rangers ripoff.Tim Curry and Matthew Lawrence are the only names in the cast. And it seems way cheaper than Power Rangers. With the 2 episodes on this tape having 3 locations tops. Speaking of the episodes,this tape has Do Not Reboot till Christmas and Kilokhan Is Coming To Town.
As far as I know this show isn't out on DVD or Blu Ray. So this is one of the few official ways to get episodes of this kind of forgotten piece of mid 90s television aimed at kids.
Knightriders
Best Film & Video Corp
147 mins
Rated R
I love that cover so much. Before getting this VHS I had seen Knightriders once late at night on TV. I was on lunch break from work and had stopped in at a pawn shop I went to fairly often. The owner would take in almost anything. So I was always finding good deals on books,comics and toys. You know things you never see at most pawn shops. Since this was around 2002 VHS was pretty much dead. And this was the only pawn shop in the area that would still let you pawn VHS. So it was always getting in all kinds of stuff.
Knightriders is one of Ed Harris and Patricia Tallman's earliest films. Ed is the head of a traveling RenFair group. Who joust on motorcycles. Yes it is as crazy as it sounds.
The only reason I have held onto this tape,since it has a great DVD release,is the cover. Pretty sure that was one of the theatrical release posters. And it is a very eye catching image.
Moontrap
SGE Home Video
96 minutes
Unrated
I found out about this late 80s sci fi film thanks to the comic book adaptation of it. Until just recently the only way to get this Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell film was VHS.I never saw this tape in any video store. So when at the annual library sale I found it I was pretty damn happy.
Recently a DVD of this film was released. But IIRC it was either a very limited edition or it got pulled early on. Whatever the case it isn't easy to get. But even if it was I would still keep this VHS all because of ....
Not sure how easy it is to read. But at the bottom of the back of the tape you will see this was a promotion copy that was sent out to Video Stores ahead of it's normal release. So this tape begins with the trailer then it has the film.
As with the 3 toys features I have no clue when the next of these will come out. But just from one box of the many I have,I have enough VHS for at least 4 or 5 more of these.
This issue came out sometime in the summer of 1985,it has a September cover date so that means it hit newstands in July or August.Under that great cover by Rick Veitch you get a story so good it made me a life long fan of the writer and of Swamp Thing. An issue so amazing that since I have read it I track down any artwork from Mr Veitch. Oh yeah forgot to mention this was written by a pre-Watchmen Alan Moore. During the rise of his fame while doing Swamp Thing,Moore and pretty much the entire current Swamp Thing creative team created this crossover with Superman. When this came out I was buying almost no DC. I had just recently found a semi local comic shop. So what money was left over each month after buying all the Marvel titles I read,was spent on various indy comics. It was right before school started that year. My parents had to go overnight somewhere,I can't remember anymore where they had to go or why,so I was stuck spending the night with my cousin.For years he was the only family I had living near me. So while I didn't like him,never really have,I ended up spending more time with him than I wish. I get dropped off at his house around 3 on a Sunday afternoon. I had barely walked into the house when his mother reminded me that we were leaving in a bit to goto church. I go back to my cousin's room. And he throws me a comic. "I bought this last week and it sucks. Superman never fights anyone. And the plant dude is crap. You can have it." I looked at the cover and I knew of Swamp Thing since I had seen the movie with him a few years before.Right before I could sit down and start reading the comic my aunt yells for us to get out to the car so we can goto church.I grabbed the comic thinking I should be able to read it all on the ride to church. By the time the 15 minute drive to church was over I was barely 10 pages into the comic and hooked.I thought I could sneak it in with me. So I put it under my shirt and went in. About halfway through the service,IIRC this Aunt was Southern Baptist so the services were much longer than what I was use too,I excused myself to the bathroom. And I sat on the toilet and started reading the comic. I was almost to the last page when my Uncle knocked on the door. Seems I had been gone for a long time. Before I could put the comic back under my shirt he had opened the door. The entire ride back my Aunt chewed me out about it. With my cousin egging her on.She had already taken the comic from me. And after she had said "I am so mad at you I have no idea how to punish you." my idiot cousin said "Why not rip up the comic book Mom?" So that is what she did. As soon as we got back to their home. She ripped it up to shreds in front of me. And I was pissed.Mostly cause I never got to finish it. Years later I did get another copy. Which sadly got burnt up in 96. Since then I had gotten the story reprinted at first in a trade collecting lots of oddball Alan Moore DC stuff.Then a few years ago got a DC's greatest team up stories hardback and this story was reprinted in it. Skip ahead to a few days back. I am killing time by digging thru the cheap bins at the local comic shop. Saw the issue pictured above and for the cheap price couldn't pass up owning it in this form again. The story is pretty simple. Superman gets infected with some Kryptonian virus. That causes him to lose control of his powers.So he rents a car and starts heading south. He ends up in Swamp Thing's swamp. And crazy from the virus has a run in with the protector of the green. DC Comics Presents #85 gets a BUY!
Saw the above flyer maybe 2 weeks before the show. Wasn't sure if I could manage to get a ride. Then found out that the head of Bodyslam Media Productions was going. So I arranged a ride with him.
Got up early,for me,the day of the show.Woke up around 12pm. Was suppose to meet up around 3pm to make the 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive to Richton. So went town for breakfast. Stopped an grabbed some cheap drinks and snacks.
Well it was also around this time that a horrible storm hit. Heavy and thick rain,along with decent wind. It was a bit after 3pm when Koby picked me up. An it took right at 2 1/2 hours to get to Richton. Mostly cause the entire trip we were in the heavy rain.
After getting there and setting up the table,Joe Kane came over and asked if he could put some stuff he had for sale on the table. I saw he had a big stack of wrestling books. And got the below from Mr Kane for a great deal.
Yep Tim Hornbaker's book on the NWA.Been wanting to read this since it came out what 10 years ago.But kind of balked at paying the slightly high cover price for what is just an oversized paperback. Started reading it the night I got it. But haven't gotten very far into it.
I see that two other tables are set up selling stuff. One of which I see a stack of DVDs and what I was pretty sure was a WCW VHS. Go over start looking at the VHS and the lady tells me she has a bunch more VHS in a tub. After going thru the tub I ended up with 8 WCW VHS for once again a really good deal. 2 of them were compilations of Ric Flair. But the rest are PPVs.
Found out after the show they were all gotten years ago when Blockbuster was clearing out all their VHS.
The promoter came over and thanked us for coming down and filming. And also invited us to come to any show he holds. So YAY more wrestling to goto.Ok one quick warning. The same lady selling the VHS and DVDs,also had a bunch of pump activated Airhorns. Which sold out and the kids kept blasting them thru out the entire show.
After a playing of the National Anthem we get the openign match.
Old School Steve Starr vs Black Ranger
I had never seen Steve Starr wrestle before. And had never heard of Black Ranger. But both guys did a good job of getting the crowd hyped up and into the match and the show.
Lukas Frost vs Nate Moss was the second match. In a really good,for me it was match of the night,teacher vs student match. Notice how great Frost is at interacting with the crowd. Also I love the superkick from Lukas that almost took Nate's head off.
Mountain Man vs The Assassin was the third match. I had never seen either guy.
After a most welcome intermission,I needed something to drink and a small break from the airhorns,we got a triple threat match. It was advertised as Krimsynn Matthews vs Monty Warbucks vs Blade Beaudreax. But Blade had something come up and he wasn't able to make it. So in his place was Lukas Frost. This was the first time I saw Monty Warbucks in person,after having heard about him for years now. And I was pretty damn impressed. Krimsynn and Frost also impressed me in this match.
Main Event
Sassy Vegas and the Prince of Pain Joe Kane vs Calvin Rose and The Son of JYD Mike Carter. By the time this match was about to start my feet and knee was hurting from standing still for a few hours now. So I started to wander around behind the crowd filming. Ended up staying mostly behind this one family that was very very vocal in their hatred of Sassy and Joe.
Once the match was over most of the crowd cleared out. A decent amount of the wrestlers were out signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. I headed back over to the table. Where Koby and I talked to Nate Moss for a long time. It was during this long talk that Koby remembered he had something for me. Something he got at Wrestlecon when he was there this year.
It is a May 1985 WCCW program. And it is signed by Bobby Fulton.
So we packed everything up. And got back on the road. The drive back was much quicker,since the rain had stopped. We got back to my town. Went to the Walmart I had parked my car at,then realized we hadn't ate anything in a long ass time. So off to Waffle House for a very late at night dinner. Then Koby headed off back home. I got home,unpacked my bag,got into bed and slept well.
Thanks to SWA Promotions and all the wrestlers and others for a really fun show. Gonna try my best to make it to the next show.
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