2015 Reading Challenge Book 045 Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show

TITLE-Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show Hardcover
AUTHOR-Chris Ryall adapting the Clive Barker Novel
FORMAT-trade paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
COST-$8.50

Last year the Sci Fi Book club was clearing out a bunch of comic book hardcover and trades. I waited until they had a site wide sale going on and grabbed right at 100 bucks worth of comics for about 30 bucks with shipping. I had always heard good things about the comic adaptation of The Great and Secret show. Which is my favorite of Barker's full length novels.

I first read the novel back in 90 or 91. I was in my mid teens and I devoured the book in less than 4 days. By the second chapter I was hooked. And I would stay up until 2 am each night reading,which meant I ended up at school with 3 hours sleep.Hell during our daily 15 minute break between the first and second classes of the day I would sit out in the courtyard reading. Same with lunch. Which is why I am puzzled I waited so long to read this comic.

Chris Ryall does a really good job adapting the long and somewhat confusing book. It has been 4 or 5 years since I read the novel,but I didn't notice any major parts of it missing from the comic. Gabriel Rodriguez does something I haven't seen in many adaptations of novels into comics. He makes the various characters appear on the page very similar as they appeared in my head.

So what is the story. A postal worker gets assigned to the dead letter office in a central hub for the US Postal Service. His boss tells him to remove any money or jewelry from the packages and burn the rest. Jaffe,the postal worker,starts reading some of the letters and discovers a hidden society. Who practice what is called The Art. Using this they hope to break into the dream sea. Where all ideas and really every thing comes from. We learn that you will swim in the dream sea at least 2 times in your life. The first night you are alive,which of course you don't remember. And your final night alive. But there is a chance at a third visit. The first time you sleep beside your first true love you will visit it. Jaffe becomes consumed with using the Art to visit the dream sea Quiddity.

Thanks to a scientist,Jaffe manages to create a serum that evolves someone to godhood. Jaffe and Fletcher,the scientist,both evolve. And wage a decade long war. With Jaffe representing the dark side of humanity. And Fletcher representing the dreams and hopes of humanity.

Through a fairly involved sequence of events Jaffe and Fletcher end up having kids with some unsuspecting teens. Jaffe has a set of twins and Fletcher has a son.

By the time the kids are in their late teens,Fletcher's son comes to the town were he was conceived and this starts a chain reaction. Which might destroy all of existence.

I can't really say much more without spoiling a lot of the ending.I love how Barker leaves clues early on in the novel,that if you catch them will tell you vital information long before he straight up reveals it.

In the novels this is the first of "the Books of the Art" series. The second book came out in 94  or 95 and is titled Everville. But since then we haven't gotten another book. Both novels so far while leaving a few things left hanging,do have proper endings. I haven't even heard Barker talk about the Art series in a long time. When I met him almost 20 years ago I spaced out and didn't ask him about this series. I was just so happy that I was getting to meet one of my favorite authors.

Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show gets a 4.32 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 044 Cinema Serial Killers

TITLE-Cinema Serial Killers
AUTHOR-Paul B. Kidd
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
COST-$4

Grabbed this last month at Dirt Cheap. It is a collection of short reviews of about 20 serial killer films. Then if the film is based on a real case we get long articles on that.

Most of the entries are well written. But I was kind of shocked the author isn't a fan of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer. With him saying there was nothing entertaining about the film. Also since the author is from Australia there is piles of Australian slang. Most of which thankfully I can puzzle out from context.

Now thanks to the book I got a list of films I want to see. Like the Dahmer film with Jeremy Renner. I had no idea this film existed. Same thing with the H.H. Homes and Albert Fish films that are mentioned.

Cinema Serial Killers gets a 2.50 outta 5.

Library Booksale Haul March 2015

Dropped $4 this time. But grabbed 4 armfuls.

Another unofficial games strategy guide. Covering lots of SNES games. Each game gets at the most 3 sentences of strategies. So it isn't that helpful.

Read Lemons never lie late last year,it was written by Westlake under a pen name. I enjoyed it so figured for 10 cents I would take a chance on another book from him. Seems to be a comedy/mystery book.

Seems to be a horror/comedy novel. Never heard of the author,it would be cool if it was Mark Henry the pro wrestler. It had on the cover  Dollar General $1 price sticker. And later the day I bought this I saw copies at the run down Dollar General in the down town area.

The cover reminds me of the 5th Wild Cards novel. Hell when I saw it from a few shelves over I thought it was that book in hardcover. I was actually a fan of Clinton,but thought this would be a decent laugh.

And to counter balance the previous book I got this book.For various reasons I wasn't a fan of Mr Bush. I think the first time he ran I wrote in Jesse Ventura.Second time I wrote in Steve Rogers. Yep voted for a fictional character.

Thankfully I had a list of my dvds/blu rays with me. Checked it and I don't own Creepshow in any format. Haven't tried it out yet. But for 25 cents if it doesn't work I will display the box with the few other VHS I have held onto.

Yep 3rd month in a row I found a Buffy book. This is the first book of the series I got the last book of last month. I am hoping the second book in the series will show up. If not I will grab a used copy online.

Never seen the film,but I have enjoyed Priest's comic book work.

I love the movie. One thing I don't like about the book is it in in that over sized paperback form. Which makes shelving it a pain in the ass.

Been wanting to read more Thompson. Read Fear and loathing in Las Vegas years ago. But really don't remember much about it.

Remember in the early to mid 90s when Virtual Reality was the big thing various companies kept promising us? This appears to be the instruction book to a PC Virtual Reality headset. I haven't even looked to see if the discs mentioned on the upper right corner are in the book. And with how old this is I doubt they would work on any computer I have.

Years ago when I was working a job where they just needed a warm body sitting in a chair for 8 hour shifts I read at least 12 of the Cat Who mystery series. Until recently I had kind of forgotten about this series of fun books. This is as the cover states a guide to the series.It looked like someone gave the library an complete run of this series. Because besides this I found 20+ of the novels.

From the early 80s so I am sure it will be full of Cold War scare tactics.

When I saw this I thought Art was the guy who did Candid Camera. Turns out he did Kids say the darnest things. But I usually enjoy bios.

Sure I have read this before. But I don't own it. Grizzard was the last newspaper columnist I read. I was buying the Jackson county paper just to read his stuff. Once he passed I quit reading the newspaper.

A book about Hunter S THompson. So another Bio for cheap.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 043 Battlestar Galactica TPB from Maximum Press

TITLE -Battlestar Galactica

AUTHOR-Rob Liefeld & Robert Napton

FORMAT-Trade paperback

FIRST TIME READING-No

COST-$2

Being a young child when the first Star Wars film hit theaters I became a huge space opera fan. So when Battlestar Galactica started airing I had to see it each week.Even going as far as getting my parents to set the vcr to record the show.I managed to convince them to let me keep 3 tapes of BSG. Which was huge back then cause blank tapes were like $10 bucks each.So once we got a new vcr, a VHS model. That's right I was recording BSG on a Betamax vcr.But once we got the VHS my parents let me move the Betamax to my room. And for years I would watch those BSG tapes over and over. Even now that I got the entire series on DVD,I would love to still have those worn out old Betamax tapes.Just getting to see those old ass commercials again would be a time trip to my childhood.

In 98 I had found  a great comic shop. Was talking to the owner about BSG and he jokingly mentioned that Rob Liefeld had published a BSG comic. This sent me diving into his back issue bins to find the dozen of so BSG comics published by Maximum Press in the mid 90s. I found a couple of issues of the anthology title Asylum. Which had a 5 to 8 page black and white BSG story in each issue that I found. But what I really wanted was the first four issues from Maximum Press. I had seen a online review of those 4 issues.They seemed to provide a good resolution to the first season. And a good start to more stories. Sure I could have ordered them years ago from Mile High,Mycomicshop or one of the many other online shops. I am sure I could have gotten all the issues off Ebay fairly cheap. But I wanted to find the issues in a shop or at a con. I do enjoy the "hunt" for back issues. And keeping fairly cheap but not that common stuff on my want list makes sure that at almost any comic shop or con I can find 10 to 20 bucks worth of comics I don't own and want.

After close to a decades worth of searching all I had was an almost complete set of the Asylum comic. And 1 issue of a later series from Maximum Press.I was looking for the dvds of Galactica 1980,yeah I have finally seen this horrible series,and below it I saw a BSG trade published by Maximum Press.I clicked the thumbnail and found out it reprinted the first 4 issues that I had been searching for all these years.And it was $2. But I was conflicted. I really wanted to find this at a shop or a con.I thought about it for a bit.And decided that the price was better than I would more than likely ever get at a con or shop. Plus I had "hunted" for them for right at 10 years.

So after waiting all this time how  is the comic? Well the art is your normal mid 90s Liefeld hacked out clone art. I do not hate Liefeld art. Sure isn't amazing and more often than not has horrible layouts and anatomy. But it has a weird funky energy to it that reminds me of the energy Creeper era Steve Ditko artwork has.The art isn't good enough to add to the story. But also isn't bad enough to subtract from it either. Then there is the writing.I wonder how much of it is from Rob's mind and how much is Mr Napton. I have never heard of Napton before. Sadly like the art,the story isn't good or bad. It is just there. Was I entertained? Yeah,I was. But I am a huge original BSG fan and will read and be at least slightly entertained by any media that continues the story from that one single season.Well not any media, FUCK GALACTICA 1980!

Battlestar Galactica trade paperback from Maximum Press gets a 2.50 outta 5.

Dirt Cheap Haul late Feb 2014

Made my pretty much monthly trip to Dirt Cheap. Budgeted out 25 to 30 bucks. After looking at the furniture,where I found a dresser I wanted but it was about 100 bucks more than I want to spend I saw they had 3 shelves full of books. Dug around and noticed that instead of a percentage off the cover price all books were $4. Grabbed Cinema Serial Killers by Paul B. Kidd.

Flipped thru it earlier and I like the format. The author talks about films with serial killers,then if the killer is based on a real person you get a bio on that person. I got a feeling this is gonna move up to the top of my "read next" pile. And $4 for this was great cause it is originally $25

I am always looking for more lamps for my room. The I hate using my big light in the ceiling fan. So I keep lamps all over the room.Saw this and thought it will look good on my wall or on a shelftop.It was on a shelf that had the 80% off sign. I suck at figuring out percentages in my head. But since it was $14.99 I guesses it would be around $3. I was right it was $3.It is battery powered,using 3 AA batteries. Sadly since this is Dirt Cheap that means something might be missing and there is no returns. The sticker that makes it look like it is breaking thru the wall and the screws you mount it on are gone. No biggie on the screws I am sure I can find some in the workshop out back of the house. Really thinking about attaching this to the side of my big shelf.

I walked up and down the various house hold and other junk aisles. Seeing only a set of Simpsons tumbler that caught my interest. Priced at 20 bucks for 5 they were 20% off. Meh too high for what they are.I got to the back wall which is the toy section. The place was packed with kids. So trying to maneuver a cart around the kids playing with stuff wasn't easy. Squatted down to check the bottom shelf and found.

I love mini figures. For years I had 100s of loose full size,IE for my generation 3 to 5 inch,action figures. But displaying they eats up so much space. Mini figures eat up so little space I can have piles all over my shelves,tabletops and entertainment center. I had eyeballed this two pack of Playskool Heroes figures on a previous trip. But that trip the $11.99 figures were only 50% off. This time they were 80% off. Making them $2.40. They got way more articulation that I expected. Gonna have to see if they made a Captain America figure for this line.

Been wanting to get some board games. This seems to be a fast paced comedy themed game. It was 80% off of $12.99. Making it $2.60. I took a chance. Opened it up and checked out the rules and stuff. Should be fun.

I know I just said I don't have much room for bigger action figures. But this one looked too good and was too cheap for me to pass up. Plus I am converting half of my computer desk into a figure display area. The articulation is nothing special. The elbows,hips,waist and tail move. The paint job and sculpting are really good. I guess these came out to promote the newest Godzilla movie.And I wish I knew who this one is. But it was $10.99 at 80% off,so $2.20.

After looking at piles of opened then taped back shut lego sets and remote control helicopters and cars,all of which were marked way the hell down. But with each of the legos missing pieces and the RC stuff all missing wires or plugs,they aren't worth it even at the super low price.

Hey another figure from the Godzilla line. On this Godzilla the jaw,shoulders,elbows and hips move. Plus he has a button on his tail that makes him do a "attack" action.

Yeah lame as fuck isn't it. But I currently don't have a Godzilla figure,this one will look great fighting my Macross figure. What sucks is this one while having more points of articulation it isn’t  as posable as the other figure that has less points of articulation. The paint and sculpting jobs are as good as the other figure. I guess since this one has a amazing attack action feature they thought it should cost more. Originally $12.99 I got it for $2.60.

I was almost at the end of the toy section,which thankfully wasn't as crowded as the other end. Looked at the bottom shelf,piles of stained stuffed animals. And what do I see way at the back. A Tech Deck Darth Vader skateboard and quarterpipe playset. My first thought was to grab this as a birthday gift for my cousin's youngest son. He loves Star Wars.But the more I look at it the more I want to keep it. Anyways besides one none discounted item this cost me the most. Originally $14.99 I got it for $4.50.

So I spent $23.55. For what was originally $88.95. So my savings is $65.40

Now there is 4 items I bought I didn't include in these totals. 3 of them because I can't figure out what their original cost was. The other item wasn't discounted at all.

Dirt Cheap always has two big tables full of ex-Blockbuster rental copies in cardboard sleeves. What I dislike is the price is always changing. Sometimes they are a buck each. Sometimes $3. This time they were 75 cents. I grabbed .....

Tears of the Black Tiger-The artwork on the disc makes it out to be a Asian made and starring Western. I guess like Sukiyaki Django.

Stripped Naked-From Anchor Bay,no idea what this movie is. But the title sounded sleazy and with Exploited Cinema going soon to that Grindhouse in the sky I wanted to grab something sleazy to watch in tribute. My luck it will be some National Lampoon film that sucks.

Twin Peaks Complete series Disc 4-I have been trying to get cheaply Region 1 dvds of Twins peaks Pilot episode and season 1.Months back I got the Pilot from this same boxed set. I thought I grabbed a disc with episodes 4,5,6 of season 1.But it is 8,9,10 of season 2. So if anyone reading this needs Disc 4 of the Twin peaks gold box set let me know. It is free.

I was slowly making my way to the register to checkout,when someone threw something into my cart. "Newt you need this shirt!" I got told.

Yep they sell shirts with their logo on it. I wish they had one with the crackhead looking bird that is their mascot. But this one is good. I have been trying to get more non-black shirts. So a bright green shirt is a nice addition.This was also the most expensive item. But $5 isn't bad for a t-shirt.

              I doubt I hit Dirt Cheap again this month. Overall I got a good haul this time. 

Godzilla and the other monster are preparing to go attack my Macross figure,which is out of the shot to the right. I think Playskool Heroes Iron Man might be drunk.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 042 Carrie

TITLE-Carrie

AUTHOR-Stephen King

FORMAT-Paperback

FIRST TIME READING-Nope! I can not remember how many times I have read this book.

COST-10 cents

Right after I moved back to Mississippi the local library had it's 4 time a year book sale. They had 4 or 5 copies of Carrie. So instead of the normal 50 cents for a paperback,they were 10 cents. I had left most of my books out in Texas. And had no clue what all I owned. I figured if I bought it and already had a copy out in Texas I was out 10 cents. When I did get my stuff I had left 2 states to the west ,either I had not owned a copy of Carrie or someone had borrowed mine.

I feel like everyone reading this knows the story. They have either seen one if not all of the three film adaptations. I have only seen the original film and the made for TV remake.The original film is a decent adaptation of the novel. The main parts that are missing are medical reports that would have been hard to translate to the screen.

As for the novel. I choose to read it this time because I couldn't sleep. I thought reading something I have read many many times before would distract my brain long enough for me to get some much needed sleep. That didn't happen and in a little under 3 1/2 hours I read the entire book.

Hmmm.. what more can I say. I like this cover more than any other US printings cover. I wonder how many people before me owned and read this copy. I don't like Carrie enough to want to own it in hardcover.So this cheap kind of beat up paperback copy will do well.

Carrie gets a 2.85 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 041 America's Best Comics trade paperback

TITLE-Alan Moore's America's Best Comics

AUTHOR-Various writers plots assists by Alan Moore

FORMAT-Trade Paperback

FIRST TIME READING-No

COST-$3.33

Besides a Promethea cover collection,which I got cause it was extremely cheap and got me to the free shipping limit on the site,this is the only other things I have read from  the DC's ABC comic line.I was at my regular con. And a dealer had a spinner rack packed with overstock trades. They were $5 a piece or 3 for 10.I dropped around 90 bucks and he ended up letting me get 30 trades instead of 27.

The trade is a sampler of the America's Best Comics line.Reprinted is the ABC 64-Page Giant,The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong and the ABC Sketchbook.

The 64-page giant reminds me of the last year or so of DC's Adventure Comics. When it became a digest that was stuffed with reprints of a strange bag of heroes. I am assuming this comic was meant to be a jumping on point for new readers. The Promethea 30's style comic strip has nice artwork and is fairly well written.The handful of Jack B Quick one pagers is a nice homage to Golden age comics. With a very Tom Swiftian boy genius.The Top Ten story was decent,but I was expecting a lot more. I guess it was cause I had heard so much praise for Top 10.I am a huge Sergio Aragonnes fan and of course enjoyed his First American story.The best for art and story from this issue is the Splash Brannigan story written by Alan Moore. With Kylie Baker artwork.

The Tesla Strong story has so many artist working on it. With each of them doing a few pages. After having so many 4 or so page stories getting a nice long story was a refreshing change. All of the art is well done. The Peter Hogan and Alan Moore story is so good that I added every appearance of Tesla Strong to my want list.

The sketchbook has some interesting art. But it just made me want to read more stories with Splash Brannigan and/or The Greyshirt. The Greyshirt is a very Shadow like vigilante. And Splash has the powers of Spiderman's foe Hydroman,and the personality of the Golden Age Plastic Man.

To me the 64-page giant is worth the $3.33 I paid for this issue. Then you got the really really really good Tesla Strong story.And almost added bonus of a decent sketchbook.I need to find more comics from the defunct line soon.

Alan Moore's America's Best Comics Trade Paperback gets a 4.45 outta 5.

How come no one told me about these 001

Earlier this month I made a visit to Vendor's Emporium.While there I found 3 toys. 2 from the Frantics line and 1 from the Weird-ohs.

I know of the Weird-ohs cause of a documentary I watched on Big Daddy Roth last year. Pretty sure it was in the Weird-ohs model kits that Rat Fink first appeared. The Frantics I have never heard of.

But onto the toys.

  Each figure comes in a sealed clamshell like packaging. Above is the male Frantic Cat.I did some looking and these sold for $7 originally. Not a bad price for what you get. Now let see what is in the package.

Each figure comes with a pack of 5 trading cards. The two things to the right are pieces of cardboard that were in the packaging as decoration.

While opening the pack of cards I noticed how the wrapper didn't feel right. It looks just like the old wax packs baseball cards came in. But it is made of a different type of paper.As you can see in the picture one of the two pictured cards has the male Frantic Cat figure on it. The other card has what I assume is the Frantics drummer.

 And here is the other three cards.The first card has the other Frantic figure I own on it. After opening the other Frantic figure I learned there is only 5 trading cards total in the base set. There is randomly inserted chase cards. I didn't get any. The art on these cards looks like Jack Davis,of Mad Magazine fame,and Big Daddy Roth worked on them.

 And here is the figure. I wondered when looking at him in the packaging how he would be able to stand up. Turns out there is magnets in his feet and the base is metal.So getting him to stand up is easy.

To me in the face he looks a lot like Buddy Bradley from Hate.The paint job is well done. The sculpting is pretty good. Overall a decent figure and with the cards is worth the $2.50 I paid.

 Here is my other Frantic figure,Totally Fab.

Again it comes with a pack of 5 cards. Here is the pack along with the cardboard pieces from the packaging.

And the same five cards that came with the Frantic Cat figure.Might make this extra set into magnets or buttons.

Here is Totally Fab along with his base. I like the two records,which I figure are 45s,on the base.Thankfully they put magnets in his feet. Without them getting him to stand wouldn't be easy. I now want to find the other 3 Frantics from this series so I can have a complete set.  At least I assume there is only 3 more. The backing board in  the packages shows 5 total figures. But on the front Totally Fab is listed as #25. But I don' t know if that means there are 25 figures in the Frantics or 25 figures total in all of the lines of toys in this lineup. Also on the back it says there is 66 total Frantics cards. I could do some googling to find out.But I am being lazy.

Then there is the one Weird-Ohs figure I found.

Drag Hag is part of the Weird-Ohs. Pretty sure this is all connected to Rat Fink.The backing card says there is 130 cards total. So now I am really confused.

The little purple guy on the wrapper is Wade A Minut. He is another of the Weird-Ohs figures.

4 of the 5 cards in the pack have Drag Hag on them. And unlike the Frantics cards these are all high numbers. With the highest number being 56. The two cards pictured above have Drag Hag ,with a baby in her car.The one on the top is about her and the kid.The bottom one has her and the kid at a laundry mat.

The top left card has Drag Hag and her daughter again. The bottom left card is of Sarge Barge.Who isn't one of the figures pictured on the back of the packaging.Remember when I said there is random inserted chase cards. I spoke wrong when I said I didn't get one. The top right card is labeled as a "Treasure Hunt" on the back. And it has Drag Hag out grocery shopping.

And here is Drag Hag.Her arms are a bit moveable. And like the other two figures the paint job and sculpting are well done.

Here is Drag Hag with her Weird-Ohs skateboard. She attaches to the board with magnets. The board is made just like those finger skateboards that were popular years back.

I am always on the lookout for smaller figures with a unusual look to them. All three of these meet that criteria. Doing a quick google search it seems like these didn't sell well. And I am wondering where the owner of the booth I bought them from got them.If I could find more at say $3 or less I would buy them.

Well I hope yall enjoyed this.I had planned on posting it weeks ago. Then had my computer issues and it hit the back burner.But if you are reading this and have some Weird-Ohs or Frantics you want to sell let me know.