31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 06 Just Before Dawn

 

TITLE-Just Before Dawn

SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

Over the past 30+ years I would hear about this film. How it is a forgotten slasher and this great film that so few had seen. Somehow I have missed the multiple DVD releases of it.

A group of 5 young adults head up to the top of a mountain. One of these 5 has inherited some land at the top of the mountain. They get warned by George Kennedy to not got up there. Then we get the camp owner from Sleepaway Camp,in a Crazy Ralph role,telling these 5 to turn around and go home.

So why are they being told to leave....well that is cause there is a pair of killer twin inbred hillbillies on the mountain. And our gang of 5 is slowly killed off until all we have left is one couple.  After the final girl kills the last of the killers by shoving her fist down his throat the film ends.

There isn't much gore,the kills are ok at best and none of the characters are that fleshed out. But the film looks good. The setting of the deep woods is well used. 

If you just have to see every 80s slasher track this down. Hell sign up for a free trial of Shudder and watch it. Cause I doubt many people would like this enough to buy a copy.

Just Before Dawn gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 05 Leatherface(2017)

 

TITLE-Leatherface

SOURCE-Digital Copy on Vudu

First off thanks to Bat32 of Exploited Cinema and Weird World Publishing for hooking me up with the digital copy code for this film many years ago. I redeemed the code and then didn't bother watching the film for at least 2 years.

Now I love the original TCM film from 1974. And usually I end up enjoying the sequels to that film. Leatherface,and I hate how this has an almost indentical name to the third film in the franchise,is an odd piece of film from this franchise. It serves as a prequel to the original film. And it is in continuity with that film and Texas Chainsaw 3d.

After Texas Chainsaw 3d did fairly well in theaters Lionsgate quickly wanted to make another film. This prequel was supposed to be filmed in Louisiana,lots of films are made there cause the state provides film tv shows lots of tax breaks,and was gonna be an origin story for Leatherface. Instead for various reasons the film was made in Bulgaria. And cause of how long it took to be made the studio lost the rights to make future films in the series.

So how is the movie? Imagine if Natural Born Killers and the original TCM had a kid. But this kid got mostly the bad shit from each parent. After a start where we see Leatherface's family fighting  off some people we skip to a mental hospital. Where we know that the teen that will become Leatherface is. All the patients at this hospital are renamed. A young nurse is falling in love with a patient. Leatherface's mother shows up and is denied the right to see her son. She starts a riot and in this a few of the patients escape.

You go the young nurse,who is held hostage. A tall silent hulking guy. Who you look at and think that has to be Leatherface. And Jackson the guy the nurse was falling for. A fairly nice looking dude. Along with others from the hospital they all go on the run.

The cops are after them. And the cops quickly learn that Leatherface is one of the patients that escaped. Of course we are all thinking that Bud,the tall silent guy,is Leatherface. NOPE. There's a twist. Bud dies and Jackson gets a nasty face injury. Which isn't taken proper care of. And boom this is who becomes Leatherface.

Now until this movie I had always been able to see each TCM movie in a theater. Saw the original at a drive in when I was young in the mid 70s. Saw the unrated 2nd film at a theater thanks to one of my favorite uncles. I even saw the horrid part 4 ,sure I had to drive from near Houston TX to Austin to do this.  Sadly Leatherface got such a limited theatrical release there was no way I could see it in a theater.

While the gore in this is pretty good,the story is shit. I feels more like a cops chasing the evil killers movie than a TCM film.  And if Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation didn't exist this would be the worst film in the franchise. 

From what I can find this film was a huge bomb. And so disliked that it cause the next film in the series,which came out years later,to be another reboot of the series continutity.

Leatherface gets a D-

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 04 Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

 

TITLE-Texas Chainsaw Massacre(2022)

SOURCE-Netflix 

Yea figured yall would have to know I would review this one this October. The Chainsaw franchise has been a part of my life close to 45 years now. I heard sometime in 2021 that the newest TCM,which was filmed in Bulgaria in late summer 2020,was going straight to Netflix I was a bit worried. Before this entry the other two entries that got limited theatrical releases,Next Gen and Leatherface,are the two worst films in this franchise. But it is a chainsaw film and I must see every film in the series.

And a quick nitpick about this movie. How many fucking movies will we end up having in this franchise that are titled Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Sure I know the other two with a similar title do have the word THE at the front,and this one doesn't. But really who the hell calls the 1974 film THE Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Or the 2003 remake. 

Somehow I lost track of what day of the week it was. I got up thinking it was a Thursday,headed out to the living room and boom there was the new TCM playing on the living room TV. I quickly exited the room. Ate a fast breakfast in the kitchen. Then went to my room armed with a drink and a bowl of popcorn to sit back and hopefully enjoy a new adventure with Leatherface.

I did somewhat enjoy it. But also until today I didn't bother watching it again. The only times this has happened before was once again with Next Gen and Leatherface. But with TCM 2022 I can say that it is better than both of those films. Just for all it gets right,there is enough flaws that take away from the good stuff.

The plot ...set in the modern day a group of Influencers buy a small Texas town. This town is where the Leatherface house is. And he ain't happy with all these annoying young people running around. Then Sally from the original film returns and her and 2 of the influencers fight off Leatherface.

See it doesn't sound that bad. Add in it has decent gore and it appears to be a good TCM film. 

The flaws. The Leatherface mask in this film is horrible. I like how in most of the other films his mask looks like a patchwork flesh mask. In this film the mask appears to be one single piece of flesh. And it doesn't look like flesh. It looks like a latex or rubber mask. 

Another flaw is this is suppose to be a direct sequel to the original film from 1974. Anyone that has seen the original knows the home of the Family is way way way far from any town. In this movie the family home is right there by the town???? Now sure maybe in the almost 50 years since the orignal  happened a town might have grown in that area. 

Then the biggest flaw. The two female leads,two of the influencers,plus the actress they got to play Sally are HORRIBLE. Yea I know Marylyn Burns has passed. But they could have gotten someone that can act to play Sally. The other two,I just didn't give a fuck about them. So about halfway through the film I was cheering on Leatherface to kill them.

The good stuff in the film is mostly the gore and FX. I'm betting lots of it was practical FX work mixed with some CGI. The actor they got to play Leatherface is pretty good. He is tall and massive. Which is two things an actor must have to be a good Leatherface. 

Now my feelings on it might change after I watch it a few more times. But as of right now,after seeing it two times,I will put it above TCM part 4(next gen) and TCM Part 8 aka Leatherface. But belong every other TCM film.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 3 Night of the Demons

 

TITLE-Night of the Demons

SOURCE-Scream Factory Blu Ray

It was early 91 as was normal back then I couldn't sleep. Flipped through the TV guide,who remembers those?,and saw at 2am Showtime was airing  something  called Night of the Demons. I mistaked this for the early 80s killer bigfoot movie,which I had heard about in horror mags and through older friends. 

When the movie started and I saw it wasn' t the killer Bigfoot movie I almost turned it off. Then I saw in the credits that Linnea Quigley was in the cast. Yep  I am gonna watch this. About 90s minutes later the film was over and I was already looking to see when it was airing again. So I could record it and keep a copy.

Made in 1987 and released in 1988 Night of the Demons was a fairly low budget horror film. That got a rolling theatrical release. Which means only a few prints were made and the film would play one geographical region for say a month then move to another. Seems that most people did like I did and discovered this film that started a cult franchise from either seeing it late at night on cable or renting the VHS from the video store.

This movie was a big enough hit that 2 sequels were made. Then in  2009 a remake got released. Pretty sure in previous editions of 31 Days of Horror I have covered the third film and the remake.

The plot is fairly simple. A pile of high school kids are invited to a party on Halloween night. The party is held at an abandoned funeral home on the outskirts of town.

At the  start of the film,after some pretty good opening credits,we see an old man. Who has just bought a big bag of apples and a box of razor blades. Seems he is gonna stuff the apples with the razor blades and pass them out Halloween night. Then on the same street we meet our female lead Judy. She is dressed up as Alice,from Alice in Wonderland. And is going with her boyfriend,who refuses to wear a costume,and their friends. The friends are a couple the dude is dressed up like a doctor and the lady,who is played by Jill Terashita best known for playing Ahab in Sleepaway Camp 3,who I am guessing is suppose to be Peter Pan.

We then see what Angela and her best friend Suzanne are up to. SUzanne,played by Linna Quigley, is distracting the clerks in the gas station by bending over and showing her ass,while Angela is busy stealing beer and snacks. After Angela is out the door with a pillowcase stuffed full,Suzanne walks up to the cashier "Do you boys have sour balls?" she asks the two clerks. They reply with a loud yes. "Well I bet you don't get many blowjobs then!" 

Next we  meet up with 3 more of their friends when they get to the funeral home. You got Stooge,the typical fat asshole jock like dude,who is dressed up like a pig. Roger,the scared dude,who is I am guessing a pirate and finally Helen. Also Judy's ex Sal shows up. 

After the batteries in the radio die,which leads to Stooge bitching cause he just put the batteries in the radio that morning,Angela wants to have a seaunce. Helen sees what is actually a pretty well made demon puppet in this huge creepy mirror. This causes Helen to freak out. And the group splits up. 

A spirit comes out and possess Angela and now the movie is going into 4th gear. You have Judy finding out her boyfriend only came to have sex. And Judy gets trapped in a room with a door that won't open. Roger and Helen say fuck this and go to leave. But now the giant wall that surrounded the property has no gate. Nothing but a solid wall. Stooge watches the possessed Angela dance,to what I think is an old Bahaus song. Jay  pissed cause Judy refused to give him any ended up finding Suzanne in a room. Lipstick all over her face. And we get the scene that is the most remembered part of this film. Suzanne unbuttons her top. Exposes both her breasts then takes her lipstick and shoves it through her nipple into her breast. 

Stooge is now also possessed and he wanders off. Finding Frannie and Max,Peter Pan and the doc,fucking in a coffin. Frannie is on top. Stooge grabs her head and twists it around backwards. Then with Max's arm hanging outside the casket Stooge starts slamming the lid down until the arm falls off.

THe FX work in  most of the kills is pretty damn good. It is all practical FX work. And what surprised me is even now seeeing it on Blu Ray when Linnea as Suzanne shoved the lipstick thru her nipple into her breast it still looks real. I have seen Ms Quigley's breasts at least 50 times in various films. And the what has to be latex fake breasts in that scene look just like the real ones we have seen in  films like Return of the Living Dead.

By the last act of the film the only people left alive are Roger,who has spent a pile of the film hiding in a car,and Judy. They figure out that if they can make it past midnight and get over the wall they will be over. Something about a underground river running around the property,which the wall is built over. And how the spirits of the dead can't cross running water. This leads to a gruesome scene near the end were Roger and Judy climb the wall . Using the barbed wire that is attached to it.

Anyways Roger and Judy survive. And since the two cars are on the other side of the wall they walk home. As they are getting close to Judy's home the old man from the start of the film is out there getting his newspaper. He makes a snide remark about Roger and Judy. Then he goes inside. HIs wife brings him a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. He takes 2 big bites out of the pie then asks her about it. Since there was so many apples left over,She mentions how they didn't have many trick or treaters,she got up early and made a pie out of the leftover apples. Then a quick cut to a close up of the old man's throat as a full razor blade cuts through his throat from the inside....!!!

This release is loaded with extras. You get two commenatarys. Some interviews. Plus as you can see at the top as is custom with Scream Factory releases you get two covers. The drawn cover is new art Scream Factory had created for this release and the other is the movies original poster art. I prefer the poster art.

Sure this film is a bit cheesy. And some of hte acting is pretty rough,Linnea has this odd way of saying some of her lines that just stands out in a bad way. But I have had vhs and dvd releases of the film and never seen it look or sound this good. 

Night of the Demons gets a B.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 2 Chinese Speaking Vampires

 

TITLE-Chinese Speaking Vampires

SOURCE-Echo Bridge DVD

Back last year in  late September I was given this dvd. "Saw this and thought you might want to review it for you little Halloween horror movie reviews thing." I looked at the cover and title. Saw it was a fairly recent film and released by Echo Bridge and figured it would suck and stacked it into the "I might watch this one day pile".

Skip aheaad to today,there was nothing on DISH or the DVR. And I was uploading a video to one of my Youtube channels so I couldn't stream. Figured what the hell and threw in Chinese Speaking Vampires.

Davy Williams is our lead. He is a food delivery guy who is also a struggling actor. He goes to an audition but learns to get the role he needs to speak fluent Manderian. Knowing this movie might be his last chance to become a working actor he joins a local school to learn Manderian.

This school is ran by  Sean Eden Yi,who you will remember from piles of movies and tv shows. Yi also helped plan the stunts in this movie. Yi teaches Manderian at a night class. After signing up for these classes Davy goes out to have a few drinks with 2 buddies. At this club they meet up with 2 ladies that are also in the Manderian class Davy is in. 

Out of nowhere a bunch of CHINESE SPEAKING VAMPIRES invade the club. But thankfully a group of very Proud vampire killers,who are all mostly Boys enter the club. 

Seems a  Preacher knows that there is an invasion of Chinese Vampires and is trying to use his charisma to gather an army of vamprie hunters.

Over the next 30 minutes of the film Sean Eden Yi starts turning more and more of his students into Vampires. And one of the side effects of getting bitten by Yi is you can now speak fluent Manderian but also forget what ever langauge is your native tongue.

So your  basic plot Yi's students vs the very PROUD and BOYish Vampire hunters. 

Now the FX work goes from crappy CGI junk,like anytime a Vampire is stabbed with a wooden stake they become a PS1 era looking cloud of dust. But then there is a fight scene where our lead Davy punches one of the PROUD vampire hunters through the stomach and we get a legit well done practical FX work.

Acting wise the film is a mixed bag. Davy Williams is good as the lead,and he also produced and wrote the screen play. Daniella Brown on the other hand is wooden. She is Davy's romantic interest and is just bad.  Sean Eden Yi is great as the teacher/leader of the Chinese Speaking Vampires. He has a odd sense of humor that just cracks me up. The surprise in the cast is June Lee. That is her on the cover in the plaid skirt. She manages to blend comedy and dram well. Appears to be having so much fun making the movie. Richard Gavigan is really great as Davy's buddy and the love interest of June Lee.

This DVD is bare bones. No extras at all. No subtitles no trailer no nothing but the film.

Chinese Speaking Vampires gets a C-.

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 01 We summon the Darkness

 

TITLE-We Summon the Darkness

SOURCE-Netflix

So back in 2019 this horror film came out. I heard nothing about it till last year. Was late one night and I wanted something new to watch. Read the synopsis and thought this sounded decent. It is the late 80s and 3 teen girls have went to a metal band concert. Turns out someone has been killing people in a Satanic way. 

At the concert the girls meet three 80s era Metalheads with a van. Spend most of the concert with the guys. Then when it is over they invite the guys to come back to their place. 

Of course they want us the audience to assume these guys are gonna be evil and do something horrible to the young women. But nope. The girls spike the guys drinks. Then over the course of the film try to kill them.

One of the girl's dad's is a TV preacher. And a group the girls belong to has been doing these Satanic killings to boost the donations coming into the church. And that TV Preacher father is played by Johnny Knoxville. Who isn't in the film that much but stands out when he is on screen.

The only other member of the cast I knew was Alexandra Daddido. Seen her in TCM 3d and a few other movies. She really isn't given much to work with here sadly.

The FX work is decent. The script and acting is ok. But nothing about the movie makes it rise above the flood of horror you will find on Netflix.

We Summon the Darkness gets a C+.

WEHT Super Goof

 

Super Goof,not sure when I first saw a Super Goof comic. Betting it was mid to late 70s. But after I read one I was hooked. Already loved Goofy as a kid and making him a comedic super hero made this one of my favorite comics.

But what is Super Goof? It is a comic in which all your favorite Disney characters live in the same city. Goofy eats these super powered peanuts,that he calls GOOBERS,and he gains pretty much all the powers of Superman. These powers don't last that long. And Super Goof's costume is just a pair of red pajamas and a towel around his neck. So it looks like a superhero outfit some kid would come up with.

In the issue pictured above, which is Super Goof's only Dynabrite issue ,there is two stories. First is the one on the cover. Where Super Thief starts stealing various landmarks and buildings. Super Goof manages to bring back Big Ben and other things. But when the city bridge disappears he has no idea what to do. 

Thankfully Hewey Dewey and Louie appear and help Super Goof figure out what to do. Always loved the Junior Woodchucks. And can't forget how in this series Clarabell Cow is Goofy's girlfriend.

The second story has Super Goof and Mickey Mouse facing off against the Beagle Boys. Yep Disney most major character is a side kick to Goofy in this story.

When I got this comics I was wondering why now with superheroes being so big why hasn't Disney did anything with Super Goof since the comic ended in the early 80s?

Well turns out I was partially wrong. Sometime in the 2000s on the House of Mouse cartoon in one episode Super Goof appears. But outside of that since the comic ended it is like Disney forgot about Super Goof or is embarassed by it.

Imagine if in the next Avengers movie if Super Goof flies in to save the day. Or how about in the next Guardians of the Galaxy,we have Super Goof hopped up on Goobers,rushing in to rescue Gamorra.

From what I can find the Whitman Super Goof comics never got reprinted or put out in a trade paperback. And even back when they were coming out non of my friends read Super Goof.

Now look at that cover closely. This comic is from 1973. But see that cover price of 69 cents. Back in 73 average color comic was 25 cents IIRC. So why is this one almost 3 times more? That is cause of Dynabrite.

Ok smartass what is Dynabrite? It was a short lived attempt by Whitman to put out comics on much better paper. The paper looks feels and smells like Baxter paper. Which if you don't know is a really white paper that makes the colors pop. By the  mid 80s DC and Marvel put out a pile of comics on Baxter paper. And they would cost $1.25 when your normal comic on newsprint was 55 to 65 cents. From what I can find only 9 Dynabrite comics came out.Most of them being Uncle Scrooge or Donald Duck stuff. This is the only Dynabrite Super Goof comic.

Hey Disney superheroes are hotter now than they have been in the almost 50 years I have been alive. Why not make a Super Goof cartoon tv show or movie? If yall can bring back the Three Cabarellos,which was a great cartoon go watch it,why not at least give Super Goof a DTV movie.

Manifest Destiny Volume 1 Flora and Fauna TPB

Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna

Image Comics

Off and on for the past 5 years I have had people talk about how Manifest Desting from Image was a neat twist on a historical adventure comic.

Last year I was at the  nearest Books a Million and  found vol 1 on their used shelf. I think I paid 5 bucks,cover price is 10 bucks. Then it got put into the TPB/Hardcover/OGN read pile. 

And got forgotten about until today. Sure it is summer but there was enough breeze to make it bareably to sit out  on the pier. I brought a huge stack of comics with me and Manifest Destiny Vol 1 caught my eye. So put on some music and 30 minutes later I was looking to  see if the rest of the series is out in  tpbs and how much it is gonna cost me. Cause damn folks this is good.

Written by Chris DIngess with Matthew Roberts handling  pencils and  inks Manifest Destiny started at Image in 2014. In the series you are following  Lewis&Clark as they explode the mid west/western part of the  USA.

With in the first 3 pages we get hints that something isn't right. Cause while this comic is based on  actual history,they add a nice twist.

They dock their boat and head to a nearby fort. Which is the furthest west settlement in the US. Here is where Lewis and Clark are suppose to meet Sacagawea. 

On the land they get attacked by a creature that is part horse,part man and part buffalo. Yea not a minotaur not a centuar but some weird hybrid.

When they make it to the fort it appears to be abandoned. Until a few of the guys,while looking for supplies,discover that some of the  fort denizens are still around but now look like  Swamp Thing.

So now our group adventurers are stuck in the  fort,cause a pile of the Buffalo-taurs have surrounded it. And got a pile of these planet people in the  fort after them. Shooting the plant people does nothing. Cutting them up just makes the parts cut off come alive and attack. They figure out that fire works. And this is when a few of the survivors from the  Fort appear.

The survivors explain how some kind of infection hit and turns you inside and out into a plant based life form. Who all share one mind. 

The group is worried about how they will survive,cause while they  can handle the plant people in the fort. They doubt thhey can get around the Buffalo-taurs. And have a very limited amount of food left.

Our leads come up with a decent plan. Having 5 people sneak out and lead the buffalo-taurs one way while the rest run  for the ships.

They are about to execute the  plan when  Sacagawea shows up. She has killed all the Buffalo-taurs. And wow there is a great scene showing her killing them  looks like  something out of a John Woo Hong Kong  action movie.

After making  it back to the  boats. And digging out some greek fire from the ships storage,they  plan on going and burning all the plant people. To try to prevent this infection from  spreading. It  kind of reminds me of kudzu. 

Anyone that gets the  plant people liquid on them  will turn into one and it works the same on animals. So  you  get a scene with a plant possessed deer.

And a great scene where one of the  good guys meets a plant possessed skunk

Lewis and  Clark get captured by the big plant that is the  hive mind of the plant people. And it's plan is like the killer plant from that one Superman annual that Alan Moore wrote. IE give the victims their heart's desires while the plant feeds off their bodies.

Native American  Ninja Sacagawea comes and saves our leads. And this trade  ends with her joining the group as they plan  on  leaving the next morning to finish their expadittion.

Really Really hoping this series is either over or near ending. Cause I plan on ordering all the tpbs at once and spending say 4 days just reading this series.

Never heard of the writer or the artist on the series. But the writer has a good way with dialogue. And the artist makes all the scenes full of 100 shades of green be super interesting to stare at.

Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna gets a A.

                                                

Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna

Image Comics

Off and on for the past 5 years I have had people talk about how Manifest Desting from Image was a neat twist on a historical adventure comic.

Last year I was at the  nearest Books a Million and  found vol 1 on their used shelf. I think I paid 5 bucks,cover price is 10 bucks. Then it got put into the TPB/Hardcover/OGN read pile. 

And got forgotten about until today. Sure it is summer but there was enough breeze to make it bareably to sit out  on the pier. I brought a huge stack of comics with me and Manifest Destiny Vol 1 caught my eye. So put on some music and 30 minutes later I was looking to  see if the rest of the series is out in  tpbs and how much it is gonna cost me. Cause damn folks this is good.

Written by Chris DIngess with Matthew Roberts handling  pencils and  inks Manifest Destiny started at Image in 2014. In the series you are following  Lewis&Clark as they explode the mid west/western part of the  USA.

With in the first 3 pages we get hints that something isn't right. Cause while this comic is based on  actual history,they add a nice twist.

They dock their boat and head to a nearby fort. Which is the furthest west settlement in the US. Here is where Lewis and Clark are suppose to meet Sacagawea. 

On the land they get attacked by a creature that is part horse,part man and part buffalo. Yea not a minotaur not a centuar but some weird hybrid.

When they make it to the fort it appears to be abandoned. Until a few of the guys,while looking for supplies,discover that some of the  fort denizens are still around but now look like  Swamp Thing.

So now our group adventurers are stuck in the  fort,cause a pile of the Buffalo-taurs have surrounded it. And got a pile of these planet people in the  fort after them. Shooting the plant people does nothing. Cutting them up just makes the parts cut off come alive and attack. They figure out that fire works. And this is when a few of the survivors from the  Fort appear.

The survivors explain how some kind of infection hit and turns you inside and out into a plant based life form. Who all share one mind. 

The group is worried about how they will survive,cause while they  can handle the plant people in the fort. They doubt thhey can get around the Buffalo-taurs. And have a very limited amount of food left.

Our leads come up with a decent plan. Having 5 people sneak out and lead the buffalo-taurs one way while the rest run  for the ships.

They are about to execute the  plan when  Sacagawea shows up. She has killed all the Buffalo-taurs. And wow there is a great scene showing her killing them  looks like  something out of a John Woo Hong Kong  action movie.

After making  it back to the  boats. And digging out some greek fire from the ships storage,they  plan on going and burning all the plant people. To try to prevent this infection from  spreading. It  kind of reminds me of kudzu. 

Anyone that gets the  plant people liquid on them  will turn into one and it works the same on animals. So  you  get a scene with a plant possessed deer.

And a great scene where one of the  good guys meets a plant possessed skunk

Lewis and  Clark get captured by the big plant that is the  hive mind of the plant people. And it's plan is like the killer plant from that one Superman annual that Alan Moore wrote. IE give the victims their heart's desires while the plant feeds off their bodies.

Native American  Ninja Sacagawea comes and saves our leads. And this trade  ends with her joining the group as they plan  on  leaving the next morning to finish their expadittion.

Really Really hoping this series is either over or near ending. Cause I plan on ordering all the tpbs at once and spending say 4 days just reading this series.

Never heard of the writer or the artist on the series. But the writer has a good way with dialogue. And the artist makes all the scenes full of 100 shades of green be super interesting to stare at.

Manifest Destiny VOL 1 Flora & Fauna gets a A.

Deadpool Samurai Volumes 1&2 Manga

 Title-Deadpool Samurai Vols 1&2

Publisher-Viz Media

I had heard that Marvel was licensing out some of their caped heroes to a manga company in Japan. But never heard who it was or when it came out. Then early in summer I found these 2 volumes on sale. Want to say I paid 5 bucks each. Not bad.

VOL 1

Deadpool is in Japan and after running into what is basically Japan's version of Spider-man (Sakura Spider) he gets recruited to form an Avengers team in Japan. 

So you got Deadpool,Sakura Spider trying to find more members. No idea why none of the normal Marvel 616 Japan based heroes/heroines appeared. But we do get an Idol singer who just so happens to have a Symboite that she has control over. Yep a Japanese Venom... And Sakura Spider is a huge fan of the Idol Singer.

After setting up this 3 person team the rest of the volume is them facing Thanos. Yep Thanos... I know way to powerful to face this trio. But the writer makes it work.

Want to take a second to point out 2 things. One is that I have never given a shit about Deadpool. Read him when he first appeared and was just Marvel's clone of Slade Wilson. And read some of the later stuff that made Wade the 4th wall breaking Spider-man that kills. So  not really sure why I bought these two manga volumes about Deadpool. Might be that I will pick up any cheap comic I find locally hoping this will get the store to order more. Second thing is the writer of this manga is great at making Wade Wilson pointing out all the Manga Tropes.  Sure I haven't read much  Manga since the late 90s, but for about 8 years I wwwas reading piles of it. And even being disconnected from modern managa the tropes havent changed.

Overall this first volume was so  much fun. I started reading it  one night  while waiting on my sleep meds to kick in. Normally I can read for 10 to 20 minutes then get sleepy. Well I got sleepy but was so into this comic I had to finish  it. And it was hard to not just go ahead and read the second and final volume. 

The art is really well done.With Deadpool and the other Marvel properties appearing in  an art style that feels like a mixture of manga style plus that kind of IMAGE CLONE style Marvel was asking  artists to do back in 96.

Writing wise this was a fun fast read. Never did I have to go "wait what the fuck is he talking about". And besides the  normal getting use again to going from back to front,right to left,reading style manga uses this was a easy  read.

Also this volume 1  tpb contains a few pages that are exclusive to the tpb. 

Deadpool Samurai vol 2

Viz

Now Deadpool has his team,bootleg Venom and bootleg Spidey. They  won the  big fight in the first volume. But here in volume  2 they must face a villain so powerful that he caused the Avengers to form back in the 60s.

Yep Loki is the big bad guy in this volume. I love how Loki is drawn. Oddly unless I forgot I don't remember sseeing Thor show up in  this volume,not even near the end when the Avengers show up.

Not sure if the same artist/artists handled the pencils and inks on this volume. Because the art to me is more detailed and  has the appearance of thicker lines. 

Nothing really new in  this volume. Deadpool and his teammates face off againt a super powerful villain. And thanks to Deadpool's mouth they win. Yep Wade's smart aleck mouth defeats Loki.

Where as it took me close to 25 minutes to read vol 1 I got vol 2 read in like 15 minutes. But there was way  less writing and more battle scenes. Lots more 2 page spreads.

Seems these 2 volumes appeared in the weekly Shonen Jump comic. I  don't think this gets published physically anymore in the States,I did read it for close to a year in 2008. But I know it gets a digital release in the states. I do like how the art is bigger in  Shonen Jump,which is easier on my eyes. But It is way way cheaper to just buy the 2 volumes. And I never mentioned it but this series is only 2 volumes. Which is good. Most Manga seems to run FOREVER. So I hate starting in the middle of a series and  hate knowing the series might not get a proper ending. But with Deadpool Samurai you  got two volumess to buy.

Looked and these are $9.99 a volume. So 20 bucks to get the  full story,even though each of them can be read withut  reading the other. And keep in mind  I am not a fan of Deadpool and not  really that much into Manga.But if you  are a fan of either this is easily worth the cover price. And for someone that isn't,this is still good and if you can  find the two volume lot for say 13 bucks or less it is worth the cash.

Deadpool Samurai vol 1&2 Gets a B.

Penny Century Issue 5

 

Penny Century Issue 5

Published by Fantagraphics

So  while I have heard a pile about Los Bros Hernandez and Love and Rockets I have only read a small handfull of issues.

But over the past 15 years I am finding  piles of the Love&Rockets spinoffs in cheap bins. So if it is by any of the Los Bros Hernandez and  under 3 bucks an issue I will grab  it. Planning on  reading it fairly soon. No clue  when or where I got issue #5 of Penny Century. But after reading it a few hours ago I am glad I got it.

Hopey is working a polling station,and learned more about her friends.

This is  your normal L&V comic. Slice of life stories. With great art with dialogue that sounds like  it is coming  from real people.

So far I have read this issue and all of the Mechanics mini series,which  IIRC reprints in color for the first time a few stories from the early issues of volume 1 of Love and Rockets.

Penny Century #5 gets a Buy.