The Saga of the Victims TPB from Gwandanaland Comics

 

TITLE-The Saga of the Victims
SOURCE-Gwanadanaland Comics #2420

Off and on for the past 20 years I have heard about "The Saga of the Victims". This was a 6 chapter comic serial. Appearing in issues of Skywald Publishing's Scream horror magazine. Scream was a clone of Warren's better known Eerie and Creepy

 

Josey Foster and Anne Adams are college students. Going to a fancy private college. Then one night their dorm gets invaded by demonic looking beings from below the Earth's surface. They learn that the leader of these dwellers from below is the Head Mistress of their college. Using their brains and a bit of luck our two college ladies escape. But end chapter one in a room where a man with no skin has just walked in.

And with this first chapter ,running 20 pages of gorgeous B/w art from artist Suso,establishes the forumula we would get in the next 4 chapters. Each starts off with "the Victims" escaping a cliffhanger from the last chapter. They run into something even more odd and creepy. End up about to die and chapter ends.

Like how they end up on a pirate ship full of zombie pirates. Josey and Anne are made to walk the plank. They fall into a shark infest sea. But a giant squid grabs them and drags them deeper into the sea.

But wait that Giant Squid is actually a submarine. Captained by a midget Nazi,who goes around the world in his Squid-Sub terrorizing various seaside towns and cities.

Just when I thought the writer,Alan Neweteon,couldn't top a Midget Nazi who piloted a Squid-Sub he strands the Victims deep in the darkest jungle. Where they get captured by a tribe of cannbials lead by a giant man who got a masters in psyhcology from Harvard

In the final chapter in this trade,Chapter 5,our leads faced all kinds of insane deathtraps

Before being put into a odd looking spaceship. Being taken to a huge castle.

Which in the final panel takes off into space. All through out the 5 chapters we keep being told that someone/something is torturing the Victims and will keep doing it till they two ladies give up. In Chapter 5 they strongly suggest that in chapter 6 we will learn who/what this ringleader is. And why they chose Josey and Anne to be the Victims.

Now I have hinted that this TPB doesn't contain every chapter of this sadly forgotten batshit insane comic serial.And there is a major reason for that. See Scream was a magazine sized comic that got published by Skywald. Skywald never put a proper copyright notice in their comic mags. Which means they are all public domain now. The issue of Scream that Chapter 5 ,issue 11 aka the Winter of 75 special,was the last issue of Scream to be published.

So what about the final chapter? Well from what I can find it has been published 2 times now. Once was in a horror comic that was published in Spain. This version is of course in Spanish. Then in the early 2000s there was a small print run of a hardcover collection. This collection has ,IIRC in color,all 6 chapters of The Saga of the Victims in English. This hardcover is long out of print. I keep checking a few used book sites and never find a copy for less than 200 bucks.

Honestly even with the story being incomplete this collection is worth grabbing. All of Gwandanaland Comics can be found for sale on Amazon. Or you can buy direct from Lance,the guy who runs Gwandanaland. If you buy direct from him you can get the volumes a slight bit cheaper but have to pay for shipping. Either way you get them they are made by Amazon's print on demand service. I think for the cheap price this volume is worth it. 

Trouble by Mark Millar and Terry Dodson or Is it as bad as Fanboys have said it is?

 

Since about 2005,closing in on 20 years almost,I have been seeing fanboys online and in person bitch about how horrible Trouble from Marvel was. I figured it was a combo of how many hate Mark Millar now and well the plan to have this 5 issue mini series being a "origin" for Spider-Man,more than likely the Ultimate Universe version of Spidey.

I never saw the issues in the cheap bins and until 2011 there wasn't a hardcover release. Then last year at a Books a Million I found 3 of the 5 issues for a buck each. Figured what the hell and took a chance. Read the first issue and knew then I had to have a nice collection of this series.

Terry Dodson does some amazing art. While the style of the art is modern it fits into the late 60s/mid 70s era the comic is set in. If I recall correctly Dodson's first published artwork in comics was the Rod Stewart issue of Rock N Roll Comix.

Now onto the Mark Millar written story. Mary and May are two 17 year old friends who go to work at a resort in the Hamptons one summer. There they meet Ben,the older brother,and Richie. May is the wilder of the two young adult women and starts dating Ben. Mary is more reserved and ends up quickly in love with Richie. Many years ago a fortune teller told the two girls that "No one will call you Mom" directed at May and "If you sleep with a man before marriage you will be a mother before you are 20" directed at Mary. This more than likely pile of garbage causes the two women to act very differently.May ends up sleeping with Ben,while using protection each time. But Mary lets Richie know early on that she "isn't that type of girl". 

Richie is ok with this and the quieter slightly nerdy Ben is very happy with this. Then after some rich assholes treat May bad one day at work Richie and May have sex. Which turns into them having sex often. They don't really like each other,but they appear to enjoy having sex with each other.

May thinking she will never be a mother doesn't use protection when she is with Richie,and she turns up pregnant. She refuses to abort the child,she knows her father will be physically abusive to her and her mother if he learns. So May runs away. Ends up living with an abusive piece of trash. When May reveals to Ben she is pregnant he lets her know that he is sterile.

Skip ahead a bit. Mary and May get back in touch. And Mary offers a solution to all the mess.Mary will take the child and raise it with Richie. 

And so if you believe that May is the Aunt May of Spider-man fame well that means that Peter Parker's dear elderly Aunt May is really his birth mother. 

For me,well I like this reveal. Sure there is a few things in the comic and Spider-Man's continuity that makes this story not work fully. Like how in the 616 Marvel Universe Aunt May is suppose to be many many years older than Peter Parker's parents. But then in the 616 comics I seem to remember at least a few times it being said that Uncle Ben and Aunt May were not able to have children which is one of the reasons why they were so happy to raise lil Peter Parker. 

The story really reads like a modern take on one of Marvels many 60s thru early 70s romance comics. I have read at the most 10 issues of the old Marvel Romance comics and this really feels like a expanded version. Instead of 22 pages we got 5 times that much.

Dodson's art to me looks like classic Romita Sr romance comic art mixed with modern Adam Hughes. The colors are bright and look great on the high gloss paper used in the hardcover.

And how is the hardcover? It is nice. the dustjacket has some really nice Dodson art on front and back. The interior pages are the issues,plus all the covers. Including the second printing of issue 1's cover. Which has some great Frank Cho artwork.

Since it appears this hardcover had way more printed then there is demand for you can find new old stock copies for under 10 bucks with a bit of searching. I am very happy with what I paid for this.

Trouble Hardcover is a good read with nice art. So instead of just believing what a bunch of whiny fanboys wrote online,go grab a cheap copy and read it and make up your own mind.

Disney Frozen Issue 2

 

TITLE-Disney Frozen Issue 2

PUBLISHER-Peachtree Playthings

It was last year in the early spring that I discovered Disney had a line of 4 monthly comics. These comics were exculsive to the Dollar Tree chain of stores. Cost a buck an issue and have 22 pages of story. 

This second issue of the Frozen title contains 2 stories. "Just When You Weren't Looking" and "Travel Arendelle"Both stories are credited to Georgia Ball on the writing side and a combination of Benedettta Barone/Michela Cacciatore/Grafimated on the art side.

Heads up I have so far managed to not see either of the Frozen films. Not really avoiding them just haven't seen them.

The first story has two brothers who are cooks and feuding. So Elsa talks to the rest of the village to get the feud to stop. Nothing amazing storywise but the art and colors looks really nice.

Elsa,Anna and Olaf got camping and hiking in the second story. But a avalanche takes out their canoe and tent. So the three have to survive and make their way back home. This story was a bit better than the first one. And has the same nice art and coloring.

Now sure I'm not the target audience for this title. And even with that I still feel like I got my buck's worth of entertainement out of this title. 

Rock N Roll Comix Sex Pistols Issue Flipthru

Stack of Harvey Comics Showcase

House Party and how it became one of the pillars of New Line Cinema Part 1

 

Back in March of 1990 I was in my mid teens. Most weekends were spent goign to see movies at one of the many movie theaters near me. And at the time New Line Cinema was known for the Elm Street series of films and the TMNT film. I had seen trailers for a new comedy coming out from New Line. House Party was the title of the film. But the trailers looked like crap. I figured I would just wait for the movie to hit vhs and I would rent it.

Then the Monday after House Party came out everybody at school was talking about it. So that day after school was over I borrowed Dad's car and drove to the theater to see the movie. And damn when it was over I was hurting from laughing so much.

Now the plot is simple. Kid got into a fight at school,when some bullies called Kid's dead mother a hooker. And that night since Play's parents are out of town there is a big House Party at Play's place. So Kid is trying to make sure his Dad,the late Robin Harris,doesn't learn about the fight.

Kid ends up sneaking out of his house to got the party. Has a pile of adventures getting to the party. With one of the best moments being when Kid ends up at a snotty party with George Clinton spinning records. 

Once Kid arrives at the party we get a great set of dances. With Kid and Play having a dance off with Sydney and Charane. Seems both Kid and Play have the hots for Sydney and Charane. 

Kid's dad realizes Kid snuck out so is heading over to the party to find him. But thankfully Kid has already left to walk Sydney and Charane home.After walking both ladies home Kid has another run in with the bullies from school and this causes Kid and the bullies to end up in the local police station's lock up.

Kid uses his one phone call to call Play to come bail him out. Thankfully Play,Bilai and Sydney and Charane get to the police station before any of the inmates get a chance to rape Kid. Yep it is 1990 and the lead is in jail so gotta have  a rape joke.

After dropping the two ladies off at their homes Kid is offered the chance to come back to Plays and watch a movie. Or sneak back into his house and goto bed. Kid chooses to sneak back into his home. He is just laying down to sleep when his father catches him and the film rolls the credits as we hear Kid getting his ass whipped by his dad.

What makes this film stand out is the cast. Kid and Play were at the time a rising rap duo. And both of them are great in their parts. Pretty much playing themselves. With Kid as the more level headed guy. And Play is the girl chasing kinda sleazy dude. Martin Lawrence is great as their DJ Bilail.

Sydney is Tisha Campbell,who would go on to play Martin Lawrence's girlfriend on  the hit sitcom Martin. Tisha is really good as Sydney. Sydney is the kinda nice girl that we all knew back in high school. AJ Johnson is amazing as Sharane. Never seen her in anything before or after this. But she captures that vibe of the teen girl that grew up in the projects.

You got the three members of the rap group Full Force as the 3 bullies. Sure 2 of them appear to be 30 so look way too old to be high school students.The late John Witherspoon has a fun part as one of Play's neighbors. He is pretty much playing a prototype version of his character from the Friday series of films. 

Then you got Robin Harris. IIRC he died before this film came out. He was a stand up comedian best known for his Bebe's Kids bit. He is Kid's father. Harris manages to show you how much he cares about his son. But also is so damn funny. The scene were Harris is harassed by cops never fails too make me laugh.

So how is this film a pillar of New Line Cinema? Well the film cost 2.5 million. And made 26.4 million at box office. Plus who knows how much it has made off home video. When this came out New Line was known for the Elm Street films,which saved New Line in the mid 80s. And the first Ninja Turtles film. Both were huge hits and both made New Line a studio that horror fans and kids loved. House Party managed to get for New Line a new group of fans.  Pretty much every teen and young adult went to see House  Party and made the film a huge hit.

Night of the Living Dead Criterion Collection Blu Ray Showcase

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 31 Escape the Undertaker

 

TITLE-Escape the Undertaker

SOURCE-Netflix

A few years back Netflix introduced interactive movies and episodes of tv shows to their streaming service. The best one ended up being the interactive episode of Black Mirror. I heard that WWE Studios was working with Netflix on something. Then 5 weeks ago learned it was a interactive movie. Figured what the hell give it a watch.

The 3 members of the New Day Stable(Big E,Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) are trying to get inside of Undertaker's home. To get the urn of power. While Taker for the first half sits at a table typing out commands on a keyboard looking like a version of Jigsaw that grew up in rural Texas.

Nothing super scary. Some ok creepy moments. There was some neat ways they used old match footage and made it work in this movie.

And then there is the interactive part. Mostly it has you choosing to follow a member of the New Day. Most of the choices that don't hinge around splitting up the members have an obvious choice that will end in death/end of movie. Pretty sure I got the best ending already after 3 playthrus. And it is decent. 

Hope there is more stuff like this with WWE and Netflix.

Escape the Undertaker gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 30 Eyes of Laura Mars

 

TITLE-Eyes of Laura Mars

SOURCE-Mill Creek Blu ray

So yea I've been hearing about this late 70s film for what feels like all my life. Never saw it airing on tv,never saw it for rent in the VHS days. Then I found the Blu Ray,brand new,for 3 bucks so took a chance and bought it.And like most movies I buy it sat on the shelf for close to a year before I watched it tonight.

Faye Dunaway is a fashion photographer in NYC. She keeps having spells where she is seeing murders through the killer's eyes. And ends up recreating these kills in her various photo shoots. Tommy Lee Jones,looking so much like he does now but with more hair,is the cop assigned to protect Faye,who is the Laura Mars of the title.

Brad Dourif is pretty good as the ex con driver that Laura has. And of course he is one of the many red herrings in the film. And there is Rene Auberjonois as Laura's assistant. The hair and the clothes he is wearing makes he look like my elderly Aunt Dean. Finally we got Raul Julia as Laura's (ex)husband. He has a tiny part and still stands out.

The story feels like an Americanized Giallo film. Looked and turns out the original script,titled Eyes,was written by John Carpenter. And this of course came out the same year as Carpenter's Halloween. David Zelag Goodman took the short script Carpenter wrote and made it into the film. ANd Irvin Kershner directed it.

The film looks nice,the blu ray appears to have been given a great transfer of the film. The sound is decent,and the only extra is a commentary I haven't listened to yet.

But even with this being one of hte earliest US giallo inspired movies...it is just slow as fuck. Almost 2 hours long and there are scenes and one really bad earworm disco song that go on for WAY TO FUCKING LONG!!!

The kills are kinda bloodless. Not graphic in anyway. And seen thru the killers smeary blurry vision. Really the main reason the film got an R rating is the nudity,lots of the photoshoots are fashion shoots with topless models,and some foul language. Maybe if say 20 minutes was cut I wouldn't have checked the timer to see how much more the film had at the 1 hour 30 minute mark. 

I like the cast of just odd stars. Appears someone bought this script to have Barbara Streisand as the lead. She thought hte film was too sleazy so Faye Dunaway ,fresh off Network,got the lead. Dourif and Rene do a lot with what could be throwaway roles. Raul Julia I wish had a bigger part in the film,but of course he is another of the many red herrings in this film.

So yea the killer. I will admit I didn;t figure out who it was until 2 minutes before the reveal near the end. But honestly by that time I was just ready for this to end. 

SPOILERS KILLER REVEALED

Yea Tommy Lee Jones the cop is the killer. He slips up in front of Faye. Tries to kill her then has his multiple personalities fighting for control. Shoots a mirror,forgot to mention Faye's bedroom has mirrors over most of the walls in this oddly oval shaped room. And while Tommy Lee is distracted looking at the bullet hole in the mirror Faye kills him. And thankfully this slow slow slow burn of a film is over.

SPOILERS OVER

Yea for 3 bucks I'm glad I saw it. Looks and sounds good. Just way slower than what I was in the mood for today.

Eyes of Laura Mars gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 29 It Chapter One

 

TITLE-It Chapter One

SOURCE-Blu Ray

When I heard IT was being remade,and gonna be a 2 part film,I was not that happy. That old made for tv mini series was great. Sure parts of the book were left out. And the ending wasn't great. But I didn't expect much from this remake.

So I didn't bother watching IT. Then last year I was in a country pawn shop. And the guy at the counter had let me know if I was buying in bulk he would cut me a deal on prices. Saw they had IT Chapter One on Blu Ray and it ended up costing me a buck. But the Blu Ray sat on the shelf for a long time,like over a year.

Then a few months ago I spent most of one day just uploading a pile of videos I had made to one of my now 4 Youtube channels. So while I waited on the videos to upload I put in the IT Chapter One Blu Ray.

WOW! I was surprised at how good this was. For me the first half of the TV mini series,which deals with the kids fighting It,was the best part of that mini series. But the group of child actors/actress they got for this film was amazing.

Now it's been close to 12 years since I read the novel. But from what I can remember this version follows the novel fairly close. Sure the old mini series couldn't do some stuff,cause of it being made for broadcast tv. And yes the one scene everybody talks about from the first half of the novel of course isn't in the movie,and if you have read the novel you know what scene I'm talking about.

I was majorly surprised at how good the actor playing Pennywise was. Even the people that hated the old mini series will talk about how amazing Tim Curry was in the role. So going into this I wasn't expecting Bill Skarsgard to even come close to how good Curry was. But Bill is almost as good and his version of Pennywise is always terrifying. Where as Curry was at time pretty funny. But not scary the entire time.

At first I wasn't happy with how they had updated the part with the kids from the 60s to the 80s. But I guess that makes sense with them wanting to set Chapter Two in the modern era. 

And yes I have heard that Chapter Two isn't that good. But I heard people saying that about the second half of the old mini series. And while the second half of it isn't as good as the first half,it isn't bad.

It Chapter One gets a A.