So it’s back to the funnybooks for Day 11 of the Countdown to Halloween, with a review of a comic that’s actually current…
Neonomicon #1 & 2
by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows
So, uhm… Wow. This book is pretty hardcore. I mean, it’s a horror comic, so I expected something scary or disturbing, but man! I’ve seldom felt more uncomfortable reading a funnybook as I did reading the second issue of this series. I’m getting way ahead of myself with this intro, but I thought I should get that out of the way up-front: there’s some disturbing content ahead. Lots of SPOILERS, too, so read on with that in mind…
Monday, October 11, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
13 Horror Comics in 13 Minutes
Hrm. Last time I tried this, my house caught on fire. Let’s hope I have better luck tonight…
I have to admit, I cheated horribly on this list: it took far longer than 13 minutes to compile. But that’s not because I tried to make the list perfect. It’s because I had a really hard time thinking of 13 horror comics I was willing to recommend. That shocked me a bit, because I feel like I’ve enjoyed horror comics my whole life. But when it came time to list them out… I realized there’ve been damn few of them that were really any good. Of course, I suppose I could have listed out the EC, DC, and Warren horror anthologies separately, but that just seemed… wrong, somehow.
At any rate. In no particular order, here’s my list of 13 Horror Comics in 13 Minutes…
1. Tales From the Crypt, by William M. Gaines, Jack Davis, “Ghastly” Graham Ingles, Joe Orlando, etc.
THE horror comic. I’ve always been struck by how… realistic? The stories in Tales From the Crypt (and the rest of the EC Comics horror line) were. I mean, sure, there were ghosts and zombies, and even the occasional vampire or werewolf. But they always played second-fiddle to the very grounded tales of vengeance, greed, and love-gone-wrong that were EC’s bread and butter. There was always a perfectly relatable motive behind all the gruesome shenanigans, written to a pitch-perfect tone for the audience of 10-year-olds that loved them.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention EC’s ground-breaking work in one of my personal favorite fields of pop culture ephemera: the horror host. Each of the EC horror titles had a host, a master of ceremonies who not only served as a continuing character for readers to latch onto, but also did some heavy lifting in the stories themselves, offering introductions that set the mood and sometimes established important plot points. Tales From the Crypt had the Crypt Keeper, of course (though he was a far cry from the emaciated corpse puppet that hosted the TV show). And as for the others…
If you want more: Luckily for you, the EC horror line was more or less interchangeable, except for the hosts. So if you like Tales From the Crypt, you’ll almost certainly also enjoy its sister series The Vault of Horror (hosted by the Vault-Keeper, who was sort of a cut-rate Crypt Keeper) and the Haunt of Fear (hosted by The Old Witch, drawn with aplomb by "Ghastly" Graham Ingles). All three are available in collected editions, sort of a “best of” for each series, and are well-worth a look.
I have to admit, I cheated horribly on this list: it took far longer than 13 minutes to compile. But that’s not because I tried to make the list perfect. It’s because I had a really hard time thinking of 13 horror comics I was willing to recommend. That shocked me a bit, because I feel like I’ve enjoyed horror comics my whole life. But when it came time to list them out… I realized there’ve been damn few of them that were really any good. Of course, I suppose I could have listed out the EC, DC, and Warren horror anthologies separately, but that just seemed… wrong, somehow.
At any rate. In no particular order, here’s my list of 13 Horror Comics in 13 Minutes…
1. Tales From the Crypt, by William M. Gaines, Jack Davis, “Ghastly” Graham Ingles, Joe Orlando, etc.
THE horror comic. I’ve always been struck by how… realistic? The stories in Tales From the Crypt (and the rest of the EC Comics horror line) were. I mean, sure, there were ghosts and zombies, and even the occasional vampire or werewolf. But they always played second-fiddle to the very grounded tales of vengeance, greed, and love-gone-wrong that were EC’s bread and butter. There was always a perfectly relatable motive behind all the gruesome shenanigans, written to a pitch-perfect tone for the audience of 10-year-olds that loved them.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention EC’s ground-breaking work in one of my personal favorite fields of pop culture ephemera: the horror host. Each of the EC horror titles had a host, a master of ceremonies who not only served as a continuing character for readers to latch onto, but also did some heavy lifting in the stories themselves, offering introductions that set the mood and sometimes established important plot points. Tales From the Crypt had the Crypt Keeper, of course (though he was a far cry from the emaciated corpse puppet that hosted the TV show). And as for the others…
If you want more: Luckily for you, the EC horror line was more or less interchangeable, except for the hosts. So if you like Tales From the Crypt, you’ll almost certainly also enjoy its sister series The Vault of Horror (hosted by the Vault-Keeper, who was sort of a cut-rate Crypt Keeper) and the Haunt of Fear (hosted by The Old Witch, drawn with aplomb by "Ghastly" Graham Ingles). All three are available in collected editions, sort of a “best of” for each series, and are well-worth a look.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thomas Edison's Frankenstein
So I've got a busy night ahead of me, making sure that the punkin patch is sincere enough to attract the attention of the Great Punkin at the end of the month. It's just a test-run, of course; we'll reach the height of sincerity come Halloween night. Still, I'm a little too busy for an in-depth post for Countdown to Halloween Day 8. But I'm hittin' you up with a good one...
It was 100 years ago that Thomas Edison made the first monster movie: a very short silent-film adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And it's available for viewing, in its entirety, via the magic of YouTube. The only available print is pretty badly damaged in places, but it's a piece of movie history you don't often see.
(Note: you may have to endure an annoying political ad before the movie begins. My apologies. But, hey. It's free.)
And if that's not enough streaming horror video for you tonight... In celebration of Edison's milestone film, the good folks at Fearwerx have launched 100 Years of Monster Movies. Every Friday night at 8 pm, they offer a monster movie double feature at http://www.100ymm.com/. You can watch full-screen, or join in a live chat with dozens of other horror dorks, all trying to play Mystery Science Theatre with the weekly offerings. It's a good time either way, and it starts in just a little over an hour...
It was 100 years ago that Thomas Edison made the first monster movie: a very short silent-film adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And it's available for viewing, in its entirety, via the magic of YouTube. The only available print is pretty badly damaged in places, but it's a piece of movie history you don't often see.
(Note: you may have to endure an annoying political ad before the movie begins. My apologies. But, hey. It's free.)
And if that's not enough streaming horror video for you tonight... In celebration of Edison's milestone film, the good folks at Fearwerx have launched 100 Years of Monster Movies. Every Friday night at 8 pm, they offer a monster movie double feature at http://www.100ymm.com/. You can watch full-screen, or join in a live chat with dozens of other horror dorks, all trying to play Mystery Science Theatre with the weekly offerings. It's a good time either way, and it starts in just a little over an hour...
Thursday, October 7, 2010
13 Horror Movies: the Trailers
So this is something I'd intended to include with my list of 13 Horror Movies in 13 Minutes: the trailers for each. The fire kind of kept that from happening, but tonight... since I'm down to a light campire sort of smell in the house now... I figured it was time. Hope you enjoy!
(Note: the first trailer doesn't seem to want to load on the main page here, but it's visible if you click through to the post itself. Sorry! Not sure what's up with that...)
1. Evil Dead II
(Note: the first trailer doesn't seem to want to load on the main page here, but it's visible if you click through to the post itself. Sorry! Not sure what's up with that...)
1. Evil Dead II
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
It's 12 O'Clock...
So the blood farming's got me a bit tuckered out tonight, and I'll just be posting some pretty pictures. But, hey! It's not all bad! 'Cause I'm turning the focus back to the funnybooks, and shining the Spooky Spotlight on the cover art brilliance of ... The Witching Hour!
Part of DC's classic horror comic line, The Witching Hour was the relative baby of the batch, not launching til 1969 in comparison to the 1950s debuts of the more venerable House of Mystery and House of Secrets. These anthology series were profitable "try-out" books for DC through the 60s and 70s; many artists (perhaps most notably Bernie Wrightson) got their first professional funnybook work through the horror titles, and the better talents were nurtured for eventual jobs on the higher-profile super hero books. But The Witching Hour launched big, with a series of really fantastic, eye-catching covers from Teen Titans artist Nick Cardy. Like this one, from the very first issue...
Love that cover! The vertiginous perspective, the eerie green, the pose on the witch, the way the title's worked into the image as a word balloon... That's some classic-ass funnybook cover design! And it continued...
Part of DC's classic horror comic line, The Witching Hour was the relative baby of the batch, not launching til 1969 in comparison to the 1950s debuts of the more venerable House of Mystery and House of Secrets. These anthology series were profitable "try-out" books for DC through the 60s and 70s; many artists (perhaps most notably Bernie Wrightson) got their first professional funnybook work through the horror titles, and the better talents were nurtured for eventual jobs on the higher-profile super hero books. But The Witching Hour launched big, with a series of really fantastic, eye-catching covers from Teen Titans artist Nick Cardy. Like this one, from the very first issue...
Love that cover! The vertiginous perspective, the eerie green, the pose on the witch, the way the title's worked into the image as a word balloon... That's some classic-ass funnybook cover design! And it continued...
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Madblood: The Doctor Is In
So here we are at day five of the Countdown to Halloween, and tonight I'm turning my focus back to the horror hosts. Following Vampira and Zacherley (who I discussed back on day one), local TV stations across America found that having a performer (usually station personnel pulling double-duty) host their weekly late-night horror movie broadcasts boosted ratings. At one time, there was a veritable parade of home-grown vampires, ghouls, and mad doctors out there, all with intensely loyal followings inside their home broadcast area. The shows were cheap affairs, generally, with very basic makeshift sets, and acting that could hardly be called professional. But audiences thrilled to the hosts' macabre puns and irreverent attitudes toward the schlocky movies they were showing each week. If you grew up anytime between the 50s and the 80s, you had a pretty good chance of seeing one of these guys.
I grew up watching a show called Dr. Madblood's Movie. Every Saturday night, I'd creep out of bed, turn the rotor box on my parents' rooftop antenna all the way around to tune in WAVY-TV 10 out of Tidewater, Virginia, and sit back back for the best two hours of my TV week. The premise was simple: Dr. Madblood was a mad scientist who'd retired to the swamps of Pungo, Virginia, to build monsters, conduct experiments, deal with a legion of whacky neighbors, and of course show movies that he tuned in via his Ethermorphic Receiver. Here's the good doctor with a couple of early supporting cast members:
That's Madblood in the middle, flanked by Queen Mumenkara and the lecherous vampire Count Lacudra (that's Dracula spelled sideways, as the Doc was fond of saying). The actor playing Lacudra was local radio personality Mike Arlo, who played a number of characters: Madblood's next door neighbor Dusty the Crop Duster, snooty French painter Tolouse Latrine, Drunken Dave, Lacudra, and (my personal favorite) Father Beerabelli, a punch-drunk priest known as Kid Exorcist. Arlo's a hoot; he can't be on-stage more than 30 seconds before I start laughing. Of course... I am, as I've said before, a very strange man.
I grew up watching a show called Dr. Madblood's Movie. Every Saturday night, I'd creep out of bed, turn the rotor box on my parents' rooftop antenna all the way around to tune in WAVY-TV 10 out of Tidewater, Virginia, and sit back back for the best two hours of my TV week. The premise was simple: Dr. Madblood was a mad scientist who'd retired to the swamps of Pungo, Virginia, to build monsters, conduct experiments, deal with a legion of whacky neighbors, and of course show movies that he tuned in via his Ethermorphic Receiver. Here's the good doctor with a couple of early supporting cast members:
That's Madblood in the middle, flanked by Queen Mumenkara and the lecherous vampire Count Lacudra (that's Dracula spelled sideways, as the Doc was fond of saying). The actor playing Lacudra was local radio personality Mike Arlo, who played a number of characters: Madblood's next door neighbor Dusty the Crop Duster, snooty French painter Tolouse Latrine, Drunken Dave, Lacudra, and (my personal favorite) Father Beerabelli, a punch-drunk priest known as Kid Exorcist. Arlo's a hoot; he can't be on-stage more than 30 seconds before I start laughing. Of course... I am, as I've said before, a very strange man.
More history, and a couple or three complete Madblood episodes, if you hit the link...
Monday, October 4, 2010
Frazer Irving's Crypt of Terror
So... Did I say that I would be missing a day on the Halloween Countdown due to fire? I did? Well, I guess I lied...
Taking the focus of the blog back to the funnybooks where it belongs, I give you today a series of images from funnybook artist extraordinaire Mr. Frazer Irving...
Taking the focus of the blog back to the funnybooks where it belongs, I give you today a series of images from funnybook artist extraordinaire Mr. Frazer Irving...
Your Standard-Issue Zombie Apocalypse
Click the link below for more Irving Terror!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
13 Horror Movies in 13 Minutes
So my intention to post a Halloween-related post every day in October will be getting sidetracked for a few days. I had a house fire earlier tonight, and it's going to take a while to clean up the mess. No one was hurt, thankfully, and the damage wound up not being too bad. But the clean-up's going to take a lot of my concentration for the next little bit. I had just finished writing today's entry when I smelled the smoke, though, and since I can't do any more cleaning tonight, I figured I might as well drown my sorrows by getting at least one thing taken care of. So here goes...
Based on a Facebook trope I’ve been tagged with more than once… It’s 13 Horror Movies in 13 Minutes! I’ve taken just 13 minutes (I promise!) to make a list of my 13 favorite horror flicks. Or at least the best ones I could think of within the time limit. The benefit of a list like this is that it’s quick and fun to construct. The drawback, of course, is that you’re always going to forget something. But that’s the way the casket crumbles.
Working well outside the 13-minute time limit, I’m also saying a few words about why each movie is on my list, and suggesting further viewing options for each. Because if there’s anything I love more than listing things, it’s listing things with annotations! (Sadly, I’m not really joking there.) I doubt there will be many surprises for the hard-core horror dorks among you, but maybe you’ll stumble across something you’ve never seen before. Or at least be reminded to screen an old favorite this year. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here’s my list of…
1. Evil Dead II
The best of the Evil Dead series, one of the best horror movies made in the 80s, and by far my favorite zombie movie. What puts this one over the top for me is that it’s simultaneously funny (often hysterically so) and at times genuinely scary. Sure, all the stuff with the hand is comedy gold. But, man. Henrietta in the trap door? The monster cam? Ash’s mirror image reaching out to grab him? That’s some scary shit!
If you want more: All three Evil Dead movies are Required Dork Viewing, of course, but you could also check out Peter Jackson’s excellent (and insanely gory) Dead Alive, Stuart Gordon’s Reanimator, or a Japanese rock n roll zombie flick called Wild Zero.
Based on a Facebook trope I’ve been tagged with more than once… It’s 13 Horror Movies in 13 Minutes! I’ve taken just 13 minutes (I promise!) to make a list of my 13 favorite horror flicks. Or at least the best ones I could think of within the time limit. The benefit of a list like this is that it’s quick and fun to construct. The drawback, of course, is that you’re always going to forget something. But that’s the way the casket crumbles.
Working well outside the 13-minute time limit, I’m also saying a few words about why each movie is on my list, and suggesting further viewing options for each. Because if there’s anything I love more than listing things, it’s listing things with annotations! (Sadly, I’m not really joking there.) I doubt there will be many surprises for the hard-core horror dorks among you, but maybe you’ll stumble across something you’ve never seen before. Or at least be reminded to screen an old favorite this year. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here’s my list of…
13 Horror Movies in 13 Minutes
1. Evil Dead II
The best of the Evil Dead series, one of the best horror movies made in the 80s, and by far my favorite zombie movie. What puts this one over the top for me is that it’s simultaneously funny (often hysterically so) and at times genuinely scary. Sure, all the stuff with the hand is comedy gold. But, man. Henrietta in the trap door? The monster cam? Ash’s mirror image reaching out to grab him? That’s some scary shit!
If you want more: All three Evil Dead movies are Required Dork Viewing, of course, but you could also check out Peter Jackson’s excellent (and insanely gory) Dead Alive, Stuart Gordon’s Reanimator, or a Japanese rock n roll zombie flick called Wild Zero.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Backstage With Frankie
So here we are again, with night two of the Countdown to Halloween. This time, I thought I'd share a few backstage pictures from the set of the 1931 Universal Pictures Frankenstein. I'm a huge fan of the Universal monster movies. I first saw most of them when I was still young enough for them to scare me, and as I grew up I came to appreciate them as the finely-crafted pieces of pop entertainment they are. Which brings me to my first picture for tonight...
That's Boris Karloff in the chair, of course, and the rather intense-looking dude on the left is Jack Pierce, the make-up genius behind most of the classic Universal monster make-ups. Pierce did amazing work, applying his monster make-up in pieces that took painstaking hours to apply, but that allowed his actors a full range of facial expression. His dedication to quality is one of the reasons the Universal monsters became so iconic, and why everyone thinks of the Frankenstein monster as a tall, gangly man with a flat head and bolts in his neck. Here's Pierce with Karloff again, looking even more intense...
Ugly Parlor
That's Boris Karloff in the chair, of course, and the rather intense-looking dude on the left is Jack Pierce, the make-up genius behind most of the classic Universal monster make-ups. Pierce did amazing work, applying his monster make-up in pieces that took painstaking hours to apply, but that allowed his actors a full range of facial expression. His dedication to quality is one of the reasons the Universal monsters became so iconic, and why everyone thinks of the Frankenstein monster as a tall, gangly man with a flat head and bolts in his neck. Here's Pierce with Karloff again, looking even more intense...
Friday, October 1, 2010
The King and Queen of Halloween
So there's one thing that everyone reading this really ought to understand: Halloween is the most important holiday we have out here on the Dork 40. It's like Christmas, Easter, July 4th, Waffle Day, and Jack the Ripper's Birthday all rolled up into one! We dude up the scarecrows in their scary best, harvest our punkins and carve them up in effigy, light bags of poo on fire, and then hunker down in the fields and await the arrival of the Great Pumpkin! I just know he'll come this year! I know it!
It's a busy time. But I'd feel like a poor host indeed if I didn't share the fun with you, my faithful readers. So I've decided to take part in the Countdown to Halloween, a crazy-ass blogging marathon in which I'll make a Halloween-related post each and every day in October, the bestest month of all. I'll review horror movies and horror comics, post Halloweenie videos and music, and on days when I'm feelin' real tuckered out from the blood farming, maybe just post up some scary pictures.
To start, I thought I'd talk a little bit about my hero and personal savior, Zacherley the Cool Ghoul.
It's a busy time. But I'd feel like a poor host indeed if I didn't share the fun with you, my faithful readers. So I've decided to take part in the Countdown to Halloween, a crazy-ass blogging marathon in which I'll make a Halloween-related post each and every day in October, the bestest month of all. I'll review horror movies and horror comics, post Halloweenie videos and music, and on days when I'm feelin' real tuckered out from the blood farming, maybe just post up some scary pictures.
To start, I thought I'd talk a little bit about my hero and personal savior, Zacherley the Cool Ghoul.
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