31 days of horror Year 3 day 30 comics 05

Curse of the Weird #3

First off I love this cover. The homage to Basil Wolverton caps off what is already an eye catching cover. This issue we get a total of 4 stories. First off is "The Return of the Brain" with pencils and inks by Russ Heath Jr. The brain of  a dead Nazi scientist goes around causing mayhem. Wacky idea that works pretty well. "The Hog" is next,with pencils and inks by the legendary Joe Kubert.Good story about a guy who is a road hog. Really if it wasn't for the Kubert artwork I doubt this story would have been reprinted. But the art is up to Joe usual standards. "Till Death do us part" with pencils and inks by Vic Carrabotta is the next one. Typical husband wants to kill wife story. Sadly nothing really made this stand out,and the artwork is the normal blah stuff from this era. "Where Monsters Dwell" which is written and drawn by the great ,and sadly kinda forgotten,Basil Wolverton. Scientist make a beam that allows them access to another dimension. And it is full of monsters. Lots of great Wolverton artwork that takes what is really a below average story and raises it up a few levels. We get another few pages telling us about the history of these stories and it is a nice piece giving some much needed context. Curse of the Weird #3 gets a A.

Deathmate Red

Deathmate Red

Considered to be the worst part of the worst big event crossover of the 90s. This came out like 3 months after it was suppose to. And by the time it did ship most people had given up on Deathmate. So this one has the lowest print run of any of the issues. This was the issue that was handled by Rob Liefeld and his crew of talent from Extreme studios. This is mainly various Extreme Studio heroes,IE Youngblood,Brigade,Bloodstrike and Prophet with Bloodshot from Valiant thrown in. Now I am a fan of Bloodshot and looking back the Extreme Studio stuff wasn't as bad as people make it out to be.Sure most of it was generic superhero stuff with not so good art. The storyline in this comic makes no sense and really is barely even connected to the overall Deathmate storyline. Now Rob Liefeld draws a great Bloodshot. And some of the art in this issue would have made great posters,but as a actual comic it fails on so many levels. Deathmate Red gets a F+.

Deathmate Blue

Deathmate Blue

Before this came out it was one of the most hyped and anticipated comic company cross overs in years. You have Image comics ,who were smoking hot at the time. And Valiant comics,who were at their peak artistically and storywise. And the basic idea wasn't bad. The two different universes merge and a small group of people are trying their best to correct this huge mistake. Well lets start off with the obvious mistakes,this was published in mid 1993 and had a cover price of $4.95. IIRC at this times most comics were at most $1.95. Sure the issue is over sized and the cover has a small amount of blue foil on it. But there is no way this should have been almost $5 an issue. Each of the four "color" issues of Deathmate were collections of some short stories. We start this one off with a story that has Magnus Robot Fighter and Brigade. Written by John Ostrander and art by Jim Calafiore,this is decent. But really this story,and most of the other ones in this entire crossover,feel like you have been dropped into part 20 of a 40 part storyline.The fight between Magnus and Battlestone is decent,and has the usual Valiant style of good art. Next story is one that pairs up Secret Weapons and Cyber Force. Secret Weapons as a title never really worked for me. And Cyber force always felt like a X-men spin off team that would have lasted 2 years at the most. Written by Joe St. Pierre and art by Sean Chen,this one is more interesting than the first story. There is an attempt on the President's life and the combined team of Secret Weapons and Cyber Force must stop it. The next one has people from Harbinger,Brigade and Cyber Force. The team from the last story has invaded the Harada HQ and it ends up with a big fight. The story by Maurice Fontenot and art by Howard Simpson are both flat and really drags the pace of the book down.Geoff the geomancer finally gets to meet up with Harada and the both of them get in touch with Solar. This sets up the storyline that will be continued in Deathmate Epilogue.Last story has Solar man of the Atom and Supreme. Written by Kevin Vanhook and art by Peter Grau. This has Solar and Supreme teaming up with Master Darque and Dr Eclipse to go find out what has caused the two universes to combined and what is causing they to be destroied.This is one of the better issues in the whole Deathmare shitfest. But even then it is barely worth 2 bucks much less the $5 it sold for. I do like how it took the storyline and continued it forward.Which is something other issues in this series didn't manage to do. Deathmate Blue gets a C.

Curse of the Weird #2

Curse of the Weird issue 2

Published back in the comic glut of 94,this 4 issue mini series was over looked by most of the comic fans. This is a series that reprinted "weird" tales from Marvel's Atlas era books. You get 5 stories. The first "The Ghost of Grismore Castle" has amazing artwork from the comic genius Steve Ditko. Kinda a normal ghost story,but it is elevated from an average story to a great story by art. Ditko has an energy and aura around his artwork that I can't really describe. Up next is "Bat's Tales' written by Stan Lee and pencils and inks by Russ Heath Jr. Passable vampire story with a predictable ending. "Innocent Bystander" is third,with pencils and inks by Dick Briefer. Never heard of Dick before but his artwork is a little below average for the time period. The story is like a 3rd rate "Crime Suspense Story". "The Unsolid Man" pencils and inks by the great Joe Orlando.Besides the art this one is not worth reading. And it isn't as good as Orlando's great stuff with EC. Wrapping up the comic is "No Sign of Life" written by Stan Lee and pencils and inks by Steve Ditko. Very cute Sci Fi story that doesn't over stay it's welcome. And beside the usual pages of ads,we get a few pages giving us some background on the stories,writers and artists that worked on this issue. I found this issue along with the following 2 at Coast Con last year. Got them outta the cheap bin and just the 2 stories with Ditko artwork are worth 10 times what I paid for them.

My love/hate relationship with Grant Morrison 01

The first thing I ever read from Mr Morrison was his Arkham Asylum story. And I enjoyed it very much. But since then I have found that with any work from Morrison I either love it or hate it,no middle ground at all. So when he started "Invisibles" I didn't bother with it. But just recently I got the above issue in a random lot I won off EBAY. Now I had read the first 5 or so issues of the first volume of Invisibles. And had heard that the later volumes get even weirder. So with this info I sat down to read the 5th issue of the the 3rd volume of Invisibles. And I loved it,sure it was very strange and IIRC Grant has mentioned in many interviews about how while he was writing most of the three volumes that make up the Invisible oeuvre he was on either LSD or magic mushrooms. And while it shows in the writing it is still well written enough for anyone willing to take the time to actually think while reading to understand it. First off the cover by Brian Bolland is just stunning,and I would love to have it reproduced as a poster. The interior artwork by Sean Philips is a perfect choice for this very trippy story. The inks by Jay Stephens help add to the lushness that is the art. The only minor drawback to this comic is now I have a strong urge to go out and either buy all the floppies of all 3 volumes or get the trades. Now I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that doesn't like having to "work" to understand their entertainment,but if you like something that challenges you while you are reading it Invisibles by Grant Morrison and the various artists has to be one of the best. Invisibles Volume 3 issue 5 gets a A-.

Strange find in the cheap bins-Jughead 's Soul Food

I got this recently in a box of comics from one of my cousins. It is from the short lived line of Archie comics published by Spire. Spire was a company that published Christian comics. The Archie titles they put out seem to be the most remembered and the easiest to find. The first story "A La Carte" is all about Jughead trying to bring in what seems to be a hot dog vendor's cart into the Riverdale high school cafeteria. Mr Weathersbee tells Jughead he can't bring the cart inside. And so Jughead takes it out side,and this not so good story ends with Mr Weathersbee getting a hot dog with lots of mustard from ole Juggy and praying. The second story doesn't seem to have a title,but it begins with Big Ethel and Betty Cooper outside Jughead's house. Ethel freaks out when she sees Jughead and what looks to be a girl sitting on his couch. She gets really pissed cause "He says he can't STAND girls!!!". So she goes and knocks on his door and confronts him. Jughead seems to be very confused by this. And in the final panel we see why. Turns out Jughead was sitting on the couch watching tv with his dog Hotdog. Next one get a one page gag story,in which Jughead is eating and sharing his food with Hotdog,and so in the last panel Hotdog brings over his bone to share with Jughead. Ok so far this comic has been bad,but hasn't had much Christian propaganda. "Calorie Gallery" is the next story. Jughead is excited to see a help wanted sign in the window of a local bakery. He gets the job,but in typical Jughead fashion fucks it all up by "taste testing" all the food. A really lame story with a lame gag to end it. There are a couple of more stories but truthfully they are all uniformly shitty. Then towards the end of the comic,we are "treated" to a Big Moose story. The Archie gang notices that both Big Moose and Jughead both have trays full of huge piles of food. Juggie ask Moose if they should pray for their food. Moose mentions that he never does that. And Jughead compares Moose to his dog,who also never prays for his food. Jughead goes on a long tirade about how God creates the food. And how Moose should be thankfull for having food. LAME LAME LAME. Next up we get "Jughead Prayer Page" which has various Archie charecters praying for various things. Finally this steaming pile of feces is wrapped up with a short story were Prof. Flutesnoot is educating the Archie gang on how to eat properly. But Betty and Archie have to interupt him to go into a two page speach about how God created our bodies and other such shit. OK I have read about 10 or so of these Spire Archie comics,and I consider myself to be agnostic/atheist. So I know these comics aren't aimed at me. But outta the ones I have read this has to be one of the worst. Jughead's Soul food earns a F-.

I love the cheap bins 02

Americomics #3

Published by AC comics

1983

The second and final appearance of one of the Charlton Action Heroes from AC comics. This issue contains 2 stories. The first one "Return from Pago Island" story/inks by Rik Levins edits/inks by Bill Black stars the Ted Kord Blue Beetle. While he is taking down a warehouse full of criminals,Ted is surprised by the original Beetle Dan Garrett busting through the wall. It seems that Dan is mad at Ted for abandoning him at Pago Island,and is back for revenge. After a fairly lengthily fight it turns out that the Dan Beetle is a robot that Ted's crazy uncle created. Ted manages to take it down and the story ends. The second story "The Blue Beetle to live again" Written by Leo J Laney and Neal Stannard,with art by Leo J Laney and Bill Black. Two very Kirbyish looking gods bring the 1940's Dan Garrett Beetle back to life. Some gangsters have kidnapped Ted Kord and Dan goes to save him. Using the powers granted to him by vitamin X,Dan manages to take out all the gangster fairly quick.At the end him and Ted shake hands and plan on teaming up again. This issue unlike the Sentinels of justice one isn't that great,the first story has good art and an ok story,but is nothing special. The second story has art that is a weird mix of Kirby and Ditko. The story is fairly cliched and not that good. Americomics #3 earns a 5.5. And that is mainly for the front and back covers.

I love the cheap bins 01

Americomics Special #1

Sentinels of Justice

published by AC Comics in 1983

Written by Dan Saint John

Art by Greg Guler

Backgrounds by Matt Feazell

This is one of two issues published by AC comics in the early 80's that features the old Charlton Action Heros. In this issue Blue Beetle,Ted Kord,Captain Atom,Nightshade and The Question are the super team Sentinels of Justice. They are called together to meet up with the police commissoner. He tells them about a rash of robberies that all involve alternate forms of energy. So he sends the four masked heroes to protect a new solar battery. Turns out a villian ,The Manipulator,is the mastermind behind these robberies. He has assembled a team consisding of Iron Arms,Fiery-Icer and "the lunatic terrorist group" The Madmen. The next day at Whittier Hall the battery is being shown to the public,Captain Atom and Nightshade are inside in their civilian identities. And Beetle and Question are outside keeping watch. Beetle spots a hovercar,and radios Question and they both head into the hall. An 8 page battle happens with the heroes taking out every villian but the Manipulator. But seems Manipulator has an ace up his sleeve. He presses a button on the cuff of his jacket and The Banshee flys in through a window grabs the Manipulator and flies off. The four heroes try to follow him,but it turns out that Iron Arms isnt as defeated as they thought he was. So they work together to take him out. On the final page we see Manipulator bragging about he has a spy inside the Sentinels of Justice team,and we see a shadowy figure who it turns out is the real lead villain. Sadly we will never find out who this shadowy man is. Since right after this book was finished the Charlton Action Heroes were sold to DC. This was a fun comic. It was the basic first story of a superteam that any comic fan has read many times,but you can see where it has plenty of pontential. The artwork while not the best is still nice and clean. I would have loved to see what AC had planned for futher issues of this title,but that never happened. But since I found this for $1,it is more than worth what I paid. If you are a fan of either the Charlton run of these four heroes,or the later DC run it is worth finding a copy. One thing I liked about it was it was printed on slick paper,but it wasn't the super shiny paper that is used a lot today. Americomics Special #1 gets a 7 outta 10.

31 daysof horror Day 20

Last House on dead end street

Source-OOP Barrel Entertainment DVD

I have no idea how to even begin reviewing this film. Up until I saw this I thought David Lynch was the only director capable of delivering the logic of nightmares to the big screen. Well now I know another man that can,Rodger Watkins. The only real way to describe this movie is someone managed to film a nightmare. What little plot there is is about a man,Terry,fresh outta jail. He decides to start making movies,and wanting to do something that hasn't been done before he starts making snuff movies. Watkins has admitted to being on amphetamines during the filming. And it shows. The movie jumps from one nightmarish scene to another. Very gory and very very disturbing,this is a movie that will stick in your mind for days after watching it. Sadly now that the DVD is outta print,and the VHS releases have always been hard to find,people will have to rely on either dvd-rs or bad bootleg VHS to watch it. I have been pondering in my mind what grade I would give it,and finally gave it a B-.

What were they smoking 01

When I received this issue in a lot I bought off E-bay, I had to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Written by Mike Baron of Badger fame and Alan Smithee of bad movie fame. Art is by Jeff Butler. The art is nice to look at but the story is a serious WTF moment. Barkley is in California doing a personal appearance. Godzilla shows up in the ocean off the coast. Some kid gives Barkley a lucky coin, that for some unknown reason causes Barkley to grow to Godzilla size. Charles leads Godzilla to a military base and proceeds to play basketball with him. No I ain't making this up. Barkley manages to win his game of one on one. Then flash foward some unknown amount of time and it shows Barkley still super sized. Going out into the desert where there is a huge basketball court built. And Godzilla is there waiting to play him again,and this time Zilla has on what looks to be some Air Jordan shoes. I really have no idea who Dark Horse was hoping to attract with what is one of the weirdest crossovers I have ever seen. 6 outta 10

Weird finds for under a buck 01

This was suppose to be a 3 issue limited series. But was switched to 1 issue. Based on the Topps trading card set,which was inspired by the classic "Mars Attacks" card set. Thanks to a scientist messing with time the earth is invaded by a huge amount of dinosaurs. This comic helps flesh out the back story,but sadly only covers about 1/3rd of the cards. Nowadays the card set and this comic are mostly forgotten. And you can get either cheap. I got the comic for a buck from an online retailer,and managed to snag a complete set of the cards plus the stickers,and an unopened waxbox off e-bay for around 10 bucks including postage. If you haven't read the card set I don't see this comic appealing to you,but if you have and loved it this comic is a must buy. 7 outta 10.