2015 Reading Challenge Book 040 The Greatest Team Up Stories Ever Told

TITLE-The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$8

I have always like DC comics The Greatest FILL IN THE BLANK series of trades and hardcovers. Back when the first Burton Batman film came out I got the Batman and Joker trades from this line. And read each of them so many times they fell apart.

Back in 2008 I had a lot more disposable income. Was on Ebay looking for decently priced comic trades and hardcovers.I saw this collection. With the great artwork on the dust jacket catching my eye.I looked it up and scoped out what stories are reprinted in this collection. They looked to be a nice selection of both stuff I had read and hadn't read.It had 3 days to go in the auction.So I put in  a bid of $8,which was 25 cents more than the current highest bid. By the time I won the auction I had kind of forgot about bidding on it.

It came in and I filled up my glass with some cold sweet tea.Went out on my back porch. Spent the next 2 hours reading some really fun Golden age and Silver age stories with various DC heroes teaming up.

Oh yeah the stories.There are 15 stories total. 5 Golden age stories,with 3 of them teaming up Superman and some combination of Batman and/or Robin. These are decent. But nothing about them stands out that much.The other two stories team up Aquaman with Green Arrow and Speedy.These two are really fun. I like how Green Arrow has to change up his techniques because of him being underwater.And the Aquaman part of the story has beautiful Ramona Fredon artwork.

There are 6 Silver age stories. And there is much more variety in what heroes team up in these stories.Of course the classic team up stories of the 60s,Flash of Two World,Crisis on Earth-One and Crisis on Earth-two.The Hawkman/Adam Strange team up is a story I had never read or heard of.But after reading it I would rank it with the stories I mentioned a few sentences back.Gardner Fox is the author,with Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson doing the pencils.Mr Anderson pulls double duty by also doing the inks.The Atom/Flash team up....well it isn't anything special. The Alex Toth art is nice.But I have never been a big fan of Bob Haney's storytelling skills.Then the final story from the Silver age,another classic. From The Brave and the Bold #54 it is first appearance of the original Teen Titans.I had a reprint of this teaming of Robin,Kid Flash and Aqualad. But the reproduction of the artwork was really bad. Here it looks better than it ever has.I love the Bruno Premiani pencils. And the only drawback is the by the numbers Bob Haney story.

Finally we get 4 Bronze age/Modern age stories.Before getting this collection I had read 2 of them. The first is O'Neal & Adams Green Lantern #76 from Spring 1970. What can be said about this comic? Really it has been discussed indepth for over 40 years now. All I can say is that I do enjoy it,but feel that it feels a bit dated. Which isn't really a bad thing,the story is 44 years old. The next story is one I have never read.It is the story about how if Krypton hadn't explodes Kal-El would have been the greatest Green Lantern of all time. I have never been a Superman fan. There is at the most 10 or so Superman stories I even enjoy. This is not one of them.We jump ahead to the very early 80s. From Brave and the Bold #178,the Jim Aparo drawn team up of the Creeper and Batman. Kind of surprised I had not read this issue before getting this collection. From the very late 70s until the series ended I rarely missed an issue of Brave and the Bold. This was the title that not only made me a Batman fan,but also introduced me to so many DC heroes and villains.And when Jim Aparo was drawing it I tried my best to never miss an issue.I loved this issue so much. The Creeper is a low enough level super powered hero that he works very well with Batman.And finally not only the last issue in this great hardcover,but the best issue in it. As I said above I am not a Superman fan. But DC Comics Presents #85 is one of those 10 or so Superman stories I enjoy. The first time I read it was not long after it came out in the fall of 85.My cousin had bought the comic. We were 11 or 12,and had found out the local library had a comic book trade. He had bought the issue of DC comics presents cause he was a big Superman fan. And he did not like it. He hated it.Before we got into his mothers car to go trade comics he asked me if I might want it.I looked at it and saw Superman was teaming up with Swamp Thing. At the comic trade that summer I had gotten a few issues from the 70s Swamp Thing run.So I agreed to trade him one of my Gi Joe comics for the issue. It got buried in the pile of comics I got that day. And at least a week went by before I read it. Holy Hell what a great story. Wait I am just assuming people reading this know who wrote it and did the pencils. Alan Moore wrote the comic.Rick Veitch did the pencils. So you got the at the time current creative team on one of the best comics of the 80s. OK enough gushing. This is one of my favorite comics. And one I think every comic fan should read.

Lets see. This is a well made hardcover. Out of the 15 stories 9 of them are great. The other 6 suffer from either being very dated or starring heroes I have little interest in. But even the stories I have no interest in the artwork is reproducted so well.

The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told gets a 4.05 outta 5.

Bargain Store finds from early Feb 2015

This is another article I had half written when my main laptop shit the bed. I am still working on getting it working properly. But have managed to get all my stuff off of it. So here is a post that should have hit 20 days ago. Hope y'all enjoy.

Most months the first week of it I spend a few hours hitting all the bargain stores in my town. We have 5 Dollar Generals,a Family Dollar,Dollar Tree and Dirt Cheap. Been thinking about doing a post each month on the stuff I find. Cause everyone always tells me they love hearing about my finds. So this is the first of what I hope to be a monthly feature here.

DOLLAR TREE
Now for those that don't know,Dollar Tree is a nationwide chain. Where everything is a buck or cheaper. I mostly use it to buy super glue,AAA batteries for my remotes and other small gadgets and for cheap greeting cards. I hate how much a greeting card cost. So Dollar Tree having them for 50 cents is great. But onto what I bought.

 I was checking the toy aisle when I found this keychain TMNT Leonardo item. They had all four Turtles. And over the past 6 months I have gotten back into the TMNT franchise. Each of these keychains came with a pog and has something in the base that you use a smartphone with. Something about being able to fight your turtle online against others. I don't own or want a smartphone. But a well detailed Leo "statue" for a buck was worth it.

 I assume they made 2 figures for each Turtle.Because after seeing mine a friend went and got a Raphel one. But her's looks different from mine. I had planned on adding these to the dash of my car. But didn't right now they are on top of one of my many shelves.Kind of wondering how many people put these on their keychains. They are so big they wouldn't fit in most pants pockets.

But besides a soda and a bag of chips all I bought from Dollar Tree was the turtles. Dollar Tree is very hit or miss. This time it wasn't a hit or a miss.

DOLLAR GENERAL

I love Dollar General. I got one pretty close to my home. And almost everyday I stop there to grab a drink.I love how DG has lots of used DVDs cheap. But my favorite thing to look for at DG is books. Every DG I have been in has at least one spinner rack of cheap paperbacks.

Well I was in town and ran by a Dollar General I rarely go into. Mostly cause it is in a part of town I kind of avoid. I had been asked to go grab some sodas and since I was in DG I had to check the spinner rack of cheap paperbacks.

 After the Golden Age book review

I had never heard of this book or the author. The artwork on the cover caught my eye. I read the synopsis on the back and it sounded good. Plus it was only $2. My only small complaint about DG and their books is you never know what the price will be. Sometimes it is $3,sometimes it is $2 and sometimes it is $1. You don't know until the find the price sticker DG adds to the cover. Speaking of those stickers,I wish more stores used them. I have never had an issue removing that sticker. It never damages the cover. But if you don't feel like reading my review I will sum it up. If you like superheroes give this book a try,

Got this newer printing of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter for $2. What is strange is the sticker on the front said 3.But it rung up as 2. I haven't seen the film ,but have seen the Asylum ripoff Lincoln VS Zombies. Heard the book is good. Had been wanting to read it. So grabbed this cause of it being cheap.

FAMILY DOLLAR

I might hit Family Dollar maybe 5 times a year. It is rare they have any toys I want. Their DVDs are placed in a high traffic area,which makes it hard to dig through them to see what they got. And if they do get in books,it is mostly romance novels.I was with a friend who was telling me how Family Dollar has cheap and nice curtains. Plus they had their women's clothing on sale. While she looked at clothes I went to dig through the DVDs.

Yep the original release of the first TMNT film on DVD. I love this movie. And have been meaning to pick it up for years now. But never saw it for under 10 bucks. It was $3. I have been seeing a Blu Ray pack that has the first 3 live action TMNT films. I don't like the 2nd film and have never seen the 3rd. So thought grabbing the first film for $3 was a great deal. I was wrong. Later that night I threw in the DVD. Had popped some popcorn and was ready to enjoy a film I haven't seen in close to 20 years. Well guess what the DVD looks like total ass. To my eyes it looks like they took a well worn ex-rental VHS and made a capture of that.Way too much grain. The picture's contrast is way too high. I feel ripped off. Guess I am gonna buy that Blu Ray set soon.

The Super 6 was a Saturday Morning cartoon made by the Depatie-Freleng studios. Most people will know this animation studio from their many Pink Panther cartoons. This show aired from 1966 to 1969 on NBC. And was rerun in syndication for decades. I never saw it,but had heard about it. The Super 6 are a bunch of superheroes that all work for an agency. If someone needs a hero they call in and the cranky dispatcher sends out a hero that can handle the situation. Each episode has 3 cartoons. Our main heroes are.
Super Bwoing-He is extremely clumsy. And is the last hero the agency wants to send out. He flies through the air on his guitar. And reminds me a bit of Van Hallen from that superhero spoof cartoon that aired as part of Dextor's Lab.
Granite Man-A living statue who's sidekick is a pigeon who lives on him.
Magneto Man-A British hero who has the power of magnetism.
Elevator Man-Who can grow or shrink in size.He is the Super 6's detective and the most serious hero on the roster.
Super SCUBA-A water based hero. Who has a mermaid sidekick
Captain Whammo/Zammo-He started off as Whammo,but only used that name for 1 or 2 episodes.Before it was changed to Zammo. Maybe the Whammo company threatened a lawsuit. He is the Super 6's Superman like hero.
This set is 2 DVDs and contains every episode. It was $5 but worth that much to me. After finding it I am now seeing it pop up in the Walmart $5 bin. If you like superheroes and don't mind comedic versions of them grab this set.

And time for the final store.
DIRT CHEAP
I mention Dirt Cheap fairly often. Because I go there all the time.Recently my lady,I and some friends made a trip to Hattisburg MS. And what was our first stop? Dirt Cheap Treasure Hunt,which is a more upscale version of the normal Dirt Cheap store. If you haven't heard of Dirt Cheap it is a close out store like Biglots. But where as Biglots is organized,clean and smells good. Dirt Cheap is messy,kind of dirty and smells bad. Plus Dirt Cheap carries lots of clothing. Where as I have never seen much clothes in Biglots.

Let me mention two items I didn't get. I always look through the shirts at Dirt Cheap. Months back I got a great TMNT shirt for $3. I was looking through the shirts when I found a nice Johnny Cash one. It had a good picture of cash on the front and that was it. I loved the design of it  and it was in my size. But it didn't have a price sticker on it. So I grabbed it knowing that once I checked out they would call a manager over to figure out a price.

I also found a hat that said "100% weird" on the front. With me cutting my hair soon,I plan on starting to wear hats more often. My girl is always jokingly saying how weird I am. So I figured a hat that says that would make her laugh. After picking it up I noticed a weird stain on the inside. I looked closed and some kind of white substance was all over inside the hat. Not knowing what it was I wasn't going to buy  the hat.

While waiting on the others that had come shopping with me I walked up and down all the aisles. In the toy aisle I found some of those Imaginext blind buy bags. I like the concept of these blind buy bags. The figures that come in them are well made. But at normal stores they cost 3 or 4 bucks each. Which is more than I will pay not knowing what I am getting. But at Dirt Cheap this was 50 cents.

I am sure if I looked it up I could find out this alien's name. Because his brain is exposed I just named him Brain dude.His shoulders are the ball and socket joints. His hands spin. And his legs are articulated at the hips. Plus the staff can be removes from his hand. Along with his cape being removable. Like the TMNT statues I planned on adding Brain Dude to my ever growing collection of stuff glued to the dash of my car. But I actually got an idea for a new project and Brain Dude is gonna be used for that.

After looking at all the toys,and finding lots of Lego sets I would have bought it they were not opened and most likely missing pieces,I went over to see what electronics they had. The smaller electronics they keep behind a counter or in glass display cases. I saw nothing I liked. But behind the counter on the floor I saw what I was sure was a headset with built in mic. I got one of Dirt Cheap's staff to come get it for me. It is a 100 buck computer headset with mic. According to reviews I have read online this is one of the best headsets on the market. The sticker on the package said $100. But as with everything at Dirt Cheap they discount it a certain amount.I asked the staff helping me if they had any idea how much of a discount it had. "No idea sir but everything over here is at least 70% off" I thought about it. 70% off would make it 30 bucks. My last headset mic was 30 bucks and not as nice as this one. So I grabbed it.

Made my way to the checkout area.And  the people that had rode with me were also ready to check out. They had grabbed lots of 90% off Halloween and X-mas decorations. Plus one of them had found some really nice boots. Normally $120 at Dirt Cheap they were $30.

The cashier rang up the Imaginext toy.Then asked me if they had anymore. Seems her son loves the Imaginext stuff and collects them. I offered to not buy this one so her son could have it. But she told me that wasn't needed. When she saw the Johnny Cash shirt had no price and the Headset didn't have the discount percentage listed on it she called the manager. The manager came over."So no DVDs this time sir?" She has gotten to know me and is use to me buying a bunch of DVDs each time I come to the store. I told her how I had already gotten 2 DVDs that day. She then looked at the headset,looked at me and said "Does $15 sound fair to you?" Of course I said yes. "Well with t-shirts if it doesn't have a price it is $10." I told her for that price I didn't want the shirt. I had seen a similar one at Walmart for $7.

Well I hope yall enjoyed my trips to these bargain stores. I believe people do not realize what kinds of deals they can find if they are willing to spend a little time looking.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 039 Booker T From Prison to Promise

TITLE-Booker T From Prison to Promise

AUTHOR-Booker T Huffman & Andrew William Wright

FORMAT-Ebook

FIRST TIME READING-Yes

COST-$3

Caught this on sale a year or so back.But it has sat on a flash drive forgotten until last week.I was looking for something to read digitally.

I first saw Booker T wrestle when Harlem Heat showed up on the various WCW syndicated shows. Over the years I have tracked down a decent amount of his matches from Global. And had heard about his stint in prison. I even got to meet Booker T back in the early 2000s.We had went to a PPV in Houston. Ended up hanging around after the show and saw Booker T heading to his car. He was really nice. Signing stuff and thanking us for coming to the show.  It sucks I lost my autograph in a move.

Booker starts the novel with his birth and goes pretty much chronologically through his life.He ended up losing both his parents when he was very young. Got abandoned by the older brothers and sisters that had said they would help raise him and his little sister. Then ended up living in their parents house with no power,water,heat and very little food. Thankfully Booker got sorta of adopted by a family.

He was doing pretty good. But ended up as part of  a group that was robbing Wendy's fast food places all over the Houston area. They get caught and Booker is set to prison. He gets out on good behaviour after a bit over a year. After some minor stumbles,Booker ends up working for a storage rental place. Where through complete chance,his boss is a huge wrestling fan. This man ends up giving Booker the $1000 he needs to start at Ivan Putski's wrestling school.

So we got Booker and his brother,the future Stevie Ray,being trained by Ivan Putski and Scott Casey.With Casey really doing most of the training.Booker tells lots of funny stories about his run ins with older vets during this time. The story about Killer Tim Brooks was the best.

Then once again a chance meeting with someone gets Booker a shot in the Global Wrestling Fed.Back then Global had a show on ESPN. So while they only ran a tiny area,they had nationwide TV.Booker and Stevie Ray become a tag team. That according to Booker gets lots of racist catcalls during their early matches. But they quickly got the crowd behind them.Everything is going good.When Booker and Stevie get a call from Sid Vicious. He wants to bring them in WCW. Of course they want to go. And the book ends with them speeding off out of the Sportatorium parking lot on their way to Atlanta.

Going into this book I was most interested in reading about Booker's days on the various Texas indies. And what he had done to get sent to prison.So with the book just covering that era I was entertained. I would have liked to hear some about his early years in WCW. Booker does hint that there is going to be a second book. I really hope it happens.

Booker T From Prison to Promise gets a 3.95 outta 5

2015 Reading Challenge Book 038 The Boys Volume 1 The Name of the Game

TITLE-The Boys volume 1 The name of the game
AUTHOR-Garth Ennis
FORMAT-Trade  Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$10

Back around X-mas of 2008 my mother was asking me what I wanted for X-mas. Since I had no local comic shop I was craving comics.So she threw me her credit card and told me to place an order for $60 worth of comics.

I had heard of the Boys before then. And already being a big fan of Garth Ennis I had been wanting to read it. The series started off being published by DC under their Wildstorm imprint. But after the 6th issue DC canceled it. I have never heard why. I doubt it was cause of low sales.Maybe DC thought having a series that takes the piss out of superhero comics isn't a great idea when 80% of your comics are superhero stuff. Not long after being canceled Dynamite Entertainment picked up the series. Now I am glad a company picked it up. But I hate how Dynamite's comics always cost at least a buck more than comics from other companies. This trade reprints the first 6 issues and has a cover price of 17 bucks. Which to me is high for just 6 issues.

The Boys is set in a world where superheroes exist. And in this trade we find out why superheroes exist. A Nazi scientist created a compound that when given to someone causes them to develop superheroes. This compound is highly guarded and for good reasons. We start off over in the UK.Where Hughie is at a carnival with his girlfriend. They are having a great time when out of nowhere a super speed powered hero who is chasing a villain runs over Hughie's girl and kills her. This devastates Hughie. Since this superhero works for the US government Hughie gets offered a payoff. But that isn't what he wants.He wants revenge.

Some time later he meets up Billy Butcher. A former solider who know heads up a black ops superhero team. Who are known as the Boys. They police the superhero community.He offers Hughie a chance to get his revenge on the hero that killed his girl.

These six issues mostly deal with Hughie learning to cope with the death of his girl and,after getting shot up with the super power giving compound,learning how to deal with his new found powers.The issues also cover the first big assignment Hughie gets after joining the boys. Where they are sent out to make a point with this universes version of the New teen titans. Who are all boozing,drug addicted sex maniacs. Hughie accidentally kills one of these teen heroes. And a hamster crawls out of the dead "hero"'s anus. Like with every long running series Ennis has written,lots of minor things in this first collection are the start of major storylines later one. Like how right after moving to NYC Hughie meets a pretty young lady in the park and starts up a relationship with her. She is actually the newest member of this universe's version of the JLA or the Avengers. Or the aforementioned Hamster. Later on the dead hero shows back up looking for his "pet". Which Hughie has adopted.

A word of warning,like most stuff from Garth Ennis this book is packed with lots of foul language.violence and other not kid friendly elements. But if you do not mind that kinds of stuff and want a good and funny read give The Boys a shot.

The Boys Volume 1 The Name of the Game gets a 3.35 outta 5

2015 Reading Challenge Book 037 Ghoul by Brian Keene

TITLE-Ghoul
AUTHOR-Brian Keene
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$2

I discovered Brian Keene back in 2008. While shopping at a used bookstore I was needing 2 more books to get a nice discount. I had heard of Mr Keene before that day. And saw his novels were being published by Leisure Fiction.So I grabbed this book and another one from Mr Keene.

Set back in the early 80s during the summer,Ghoul is about 3 pre-teen boys. All three of them are fans of horror movies and comic books. They have been building an underground clubhouse out near the local graveyard.One of the boy's father is the groundskeeper of the graveyard. He is also a boozing abusive piece of shit. His son always wonder's where his dad keeps getting various pieces of jewelry. And late one night the son finds out where these ill gotten treasures come from.

There is a ghoul who lives under the cemetery. Since the drunken father is helping provide the ghoul with bodies to eat,the ghoul gives the piece of shit father rings,watches,necklaces and earrings he has found in the graves.

After the boys learn of the ghoul they start trying to figure out how to kill it. Of course the boys triumph over the undead beast. After this we fast forward about 15 years. The lead boy is a grown man and he comes back to the town. The groundskeeper's son is now in charge of the graveyard. We get to meet his son. And find out the cycle of abuse is continuing.

Pretty sure this is the first Keene novel I read. While reading it I kept thinking about Stephen King's book It. Now this book isn't as good as It. But it is a decent read. One drawback is it suffers from something that at least half the Keene novels I have read suffer from,in that it has a shitty ending. Keene keeps building to this great final fight between the boys and the Ghoul. When the ghoul is defeated it feels tacked on. Like Keene had no idea how to kill the ghoul. Then the epilogue is so paint by numbers that it hurts a pretty decent book.

Since I read this book the first time a movie came out based on the novel. It premiered on Chiller. And wasn't that bad. It stars the two young male teens from Modern Family. My main complaint was how shitty the Ghoul looked. And a badly tacked on explanation of the creature.

Ghoul by Brian Keene gets a 2.55 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 036 Death of WCW original edition

TITLE-Death of WCW
AUTHOR-R.D. Reynolds & Bryan Alvarez
FORMAT-Over sized trade paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$15

I first discovered the Wrestlecrap website about 3 weeks after it started. Yeah I was reading it back when it was R.D. and Merle writing the entries. And for many years every Friday when I got home first thing I would do is go read the new entries. So sometime in 2008 I ordered this book and the Wrestlecrap Book of Lists from Amazon.

As I said in the last paragraph R.D. is the owner of the Wrestlecrap website.And the other author is the lead writer of the Figure Four Weekly newsletter. Bryan Alvarez is a retired pro wrestler. Who  now works with the infamous Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer newsletter,radio show and website.So this book has a nice mixture of wrestling insider knowledge combined with a fan's perspective.

The book covers the entire length of the existence of World Championship Wrestling.WCW started when Ted Turner bought up the old Jim Crockett Promotions. And ended in 2001 when Time Warner got tired of WCW losing piles of money. They cancelled the two WCW TV shows and a piece of wrestling history ended.

The book details all the stupid decisions the various people in charge of WCW made. Like how they paid the wrestler formerly known as Nails for over 3 years,when he only ever had one match in WCW. Or how WCW paid the band Kiss a huge amount of money to get them to perform at an episode of WCW Nitro. As part of this contract with Kiss,WCW created a wrestler based around the Kiss Demon. But in the late 90s WCW had a habit of paying various celebrities way too much money to wrestle. Like Dennis Rodman,who on one PPV showed up so messed up it looked like he passed out while waiting to be tagged into the match. Or the time WCW paid Jay Leno a huge amount of money. For him to do a tag team match at the annual Hog Wild/Road Wild PPV. A PPV that is held at the annual Black Hills Biker rally. A show that was free to see live. So not only did WCW drop huge money on Jay Leno,but it was also at a show where they made no money off the gate.

Now I have heard lots of criticism about this book. With one wrestling forum seeming to have an abnormal amount of hate for this book. Sure there are parts of the book where R.D. and Bryan make mistakes. But from reading posts about the book,you would think 90% of the book is wrong.

I do enjoy this book. Having had read this book at least 5 times. Just recently a 10th anniversary edition was released. I got a copy and read it. Nothing of importance was added to it. And to me it feels like a cash grab by R.D. & Bryan. The one thing that they added that stood out was an epilogue about TNA wrestling. And really this wasn't needed. No matter what lots of fans seem to think TNA has nothing to do with WCW. And really neither fed have much in common. Just because both are/were badly run doesn't mean they are the same.

Death of WCW gets a 3.15 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 035 Horror Films

TITLE-Horror Films
AUTHOR-Rhoda Nottridge
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
COST-10 cents

Back when I started school at Orange Lake Elementary,RIP,my second day there I finished my school work really fast. So my teacher gave me a pass to goto the library and get some books.I found 5 books about horror movies. They had orange covers and were published by Crestwood House. During my 6 years at the school I must have checked out each of these books 10 times. I had forgotten about this great series of non-fiction horror books for kids. Then at a horror movie forum someone mentioned them. So since then anytime I am book hunting I look for copies. And until earlier in February this year I had never found one. I had thought the series ended in the 80s. But the copyright date on the one I found was 92.

It was the cover that caught my attention. I like how Freddy looks a bit sad on it. When I picked it up and saw it was from Crestwood House I knew I had to own it. This book is only 32 pages. Which isn't a big deal. Each chapter is 2 or 3 pages long. And each one sticks to a genre of horror. Like say Vampires,Werewolves,Frankenstein's Monster or zombies.Each chapter also has lots of great full color pictures.

What did surprise me is on the second page of the book they have a very gory picture from the original Hellraiser. With Kirsty facing off against her uncle. Who has no skin on his body. Kind of a bit graphic for a kids book. The Crestwood House books I read in school only covered up to the early 70s. Which is before the trend towards more explicit gore started. Of all the 80s films the Nightmare on Elm Street series is the only one to get an entire chapter about it. This might be why Freddy is on the cover.

After the final chapter,which is titled Is horror dead?,proving to me that horror fans have been saying the genre is dead since before I was born.We get a glossary.Then a list of books that have a similar theme.Then a short 2 page index.

I understand I am not the target audience for this book. And I did enjoy reading it. The main reasons I bought the book and have kept it are.

1.The cover,I love the color tone of the cover. And as I mentioned how Freddy looks a bit sad.
2.Since I was 6 I have wanted to own one of the Crestwood House horror books.
3.Seeing a kid's book full of pretty gory pictures is something you don't see often. And a fairly well respected company putting out a book like this marketed to kids appeals to me.

Horror Films by Rhoda Nottridge gets a 2.50 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 034 Obsessed with Marvel

TITLE-Obessessed with Marvel
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-YES
COST-$1


When I was a kid one of my favorite toys was Quiz Whizz.It looked like an oversized checkbook. You plugged carts into it. And answered multiple choice trivia questions. With the Quiz Whiz keeping track of your score.

Back last winter I was in my local Dollar Tree. And found this book in there. As you can see in the picture the bottom right hand corner has buttons and a LCD screen.

 I sat down about 5 weeks ago,planning on answering every question in the book. The questions cover the Marvel comics,cartoons and movies. It took me a bit over a month but I managed to answer every question. With me getting close to 80% of them right.

Not long after I got the book I was taking a short vacation to Biloxi MS. I brought the book with me. When I goto Biloxi I stay with my cousin and her family.Both her boys are huge into the various superhero movies. And the oldest one is getting into comics. So we played this book. With my cousin teaming up with both her boys and her husband. Even though it was 4 against 1 I still tripled their score. What can  I say my head is full of semi-worthless comic book trivia.

I have no idea what this book's normal price is. But if you find it for 10 bucks or under it is worth picking up.

Obessessed with Marvel gets a 4.05  outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 033 Old Flames by Jack Ketchum

TITLE-Old Flames
AUTHOR-Jack Ketchum
FORMAT-Paperback from Leisure Fiction
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$5

Pretty sure this was the 5th Ketchum novel I read. Again I found it at the shitty mall book store. Which is 60% Hallmark cards. And then the  books they do have are all cover price. So when I found this on the long discount table at the front I was damn excited. But after reading it my excitement had dimmed some.

What the novel actually is ,is two novellas. The first one is titled Old Flames. A late 30s woman keeps on thinking about an old boyfriend. Then she sees an advert for Flame Finders. A P.I. that specializes in finding old flames. She tracks down this ex. Finds out he is happily married. And proceeds to destroy his life.When I finished this novella I thought "Fuck this reads like a slight more violent than normal novelization of a Lifetime original movie." About a year later I was listening to a podcast with Mr Ketchum. Where he talked about how Old Flames started off as a script for a made for TV movie. When it didn't sell,which I figure is because first off it isn't that good.Plus it is way more violent than most Lifetime original movies are.He turned the screenplay into a novella.

So after being majorly disappointed in Old Flames I was hoping "Right to Life" would be better. And it was. Right to life is about a woman that is going to have an abortion. She gets kidnapped from in front of the abortion clinic. By a supporter of the Pro-life movement. Who then keeps her chained up in his basement. The plan is him and his wife can't have kids. So they are gonna keep her chained up until she has the kid. Then kill her and raise the kid themselves. Thinking that because she was gonna have an abortion that makes her evil. And they are not doing anything wrong,since their religion tells them that abortion is a horrible sin. Over the course of this fairly short novella,we get to see how mentally unstable the wife and husband are. And we get the normal Ketchum ultra violence. Right to life more than makes up for how bad Old Flames is.

I am tempted to give each novella a separate rating. But I won't. If it wasn't for Right to Life in this book I would have traded it in years ago.

Old Flames gets a 3.55 outta 5. And 3 of that 3.55 is because of Right to Life.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 032 She Wakes by Jack Ketchum

TITLE-She Wakes
AUTHOR-Jack Ketchum
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$5.98

This was the third novel I read from Mr Ketchum.I was wanting to read more Ketchum and with this being his only novel with supernatural elements I grabbed it while in the shitty ass bookstore in the nearby mall.

Set in modern day Greece. This is the story of some Americans over there. And how one of the guys runs into a gorgeous woman. Who we learn over the course of the novel might be the reincarnated version of an ancient Greek Goddess.

Normally when I read a new to me Ketchum novel I am expecting good writing and lots of gore and graphic violence. Plus plenty of shocking moments. Well She Wakes has violence and gore, But nothing shocking at all. The first time I read the book I kept putting it down cause I was bored with it.Before reading this book and after every other Ketchum book I have read I usually read in 2 or 3 days. This one took me over a week to read. And back then I was working a job where I had at least 8 hours each shift where I would read. On my second reading of the novel it took me almost 3 weeks to read this. I would read a chapter,think "Fuck this book isn't that good." then put it down and not pick it back up for a few days, As normal I give each book 2 chances. After the second chance if I am still not enjoying the book I sell/give away/trade in the book. I am tempted to do that with She Wakes.

She Wakes by Jack Ketchum gets a 1.25 outta 5.