Rant Review: Batwoman #2, Demon Knights #2, Green Lantern #2, Batman & Robin #2, Batgirl #2, Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #2, Superboy #2

Here we go again with another round of second issues! Let's dive right in!

Batwoman #2
Written by J. H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman, art by Williams III
The long-awaited Batwoman #1 was the most gorgeous comic published last month, and it remains so with this issue. Agent Chase begins her search for Batwoman's true identity, and the Weeping Woman claims another victim. Meanwhile, Kate and Maggie finally have their first date, and Batwoman mulls over Batman's invitation to join his Batman Inc. initiative. Williams's amazing art and page layouts guide us through, and the issue is more than the sum of its parts. This is just a damn good comic. (And if you still haven't read Elegy yet, what the hell? You've had another whole month now! Get to it!)
My score:

Demon Knights #2
Written by Paul Cornell, Pencilled by Diogenes Neves, Inked by Oclair Albert
Rhyming demons! Knights in drag! Fire-breathing dinosaurs! Towering amazons! A guy who looks like a refugee from Assassin's Creed! Demon Knights has everything you could want from a Dark Ages adventure. This issue picks up right where we left off last month, with the tavern under attack by the wicked queen's dragons. A bloodbath ensues, accompanied by an appropriate amount of destruction. We're still only gradually getting to know many of the characters, as squeezing in a lot of characterization is tough so much is happening. This is a blazingly fun comic all the same. New readers might have to consult Wkipedia to sort out who all the characters are, but it's worth that bit of minor work.
My score: 

Green Lantern #2
Written by Geoff Johns, Pencilled by Doug Mahnke, Inked by Christian Alamy & Keith Champagne
As  hinted at the end of last issue, Sinestro offers to give Hal exactly what he wants... but there are some serious strings attached. This issue is a tour-de-force for Sinestro, and by the end of the issue, he prepares to deal with the consequences of leaving the depraved band of murderers he assembled into an army on his homeworld. Last issue was good, this one improves on it, and it looks as if things will only get better from here.
My score:

Batman & Robin #2
Written by Peter Tomasi, Pencilled by Patrick Gleason, Inked by Mick Gray
The action takes a backseat this issue, as we focus on the relationship between Bruce and Damian. It's clear that Tomasi has a very good handle on these characters, and we're reminded again of the kind of life Damian led before his father found out about his existence. The mysterious killer who murdered Batman's Russian operative last issue returns, and we get some tantalizing hints about exactly who he is. All this, and an addition to the Bat-family! This is a damn solid issue, and I can't wait to see where things go from here.
My score:

Batgirl #2
Written by Gail Simone, Pencilled by Ardian Syaf, Inked by Vicente Cifuentes

Maintaining last issue's momentum, Batgirl goes after the Mirror, and now has an angry cop bent on bringing her in after what happened in the hospital last issue. We get another cryptic hint about exactly how Barbara regained the use of her legs, and she discovers who the mirror actually is. This is a good issue, but it still feels as if this series hasn't quite hit its stride just yet. Hopefully things will "click" soon, but it's still enjoyable in the meantime.
My score: 

Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #2
Written by Jeff Lemire, Art by Alberto Ponticelli
This issue gives us the origin of Nina Mazursky, the Gill Woman, as Frankenstein and his team learn of the horrific past of the town that has become overrun by the extraterrestrial beasts. Although Nina is the only member of the team we're given any background on, they all seem pretty clearly defined characters; Lemire does a good job of exposing their personalities through their relatively small amount of dialogue. This issue is lots of fun, just like the debut issue. This is one of the new series that deserves a bigger audience; hopefully it'll be around for a long time to come.
My score:

Superboy #2
Written by Scott Lobdell, Pencilled by RE. B. Silva, Inked by Rob Lean
This issue sees Superboy sent on his first mission, accompanied by Rose Wilson as his handler. There's a lot of action and some explanation about one of Superboy's powers, and another hint about the full capabilities of his redheaded scientist friend. It's a decent issue, but I'm still not feeling any real urge to come back next month. This may be it for me with this series.
My score:

That's it for today! C'mon back tomorrow for the rest!

31 Days of Halloween: Monster Muumuu Heads!

One year ago: Freaks (1932)

The title may be a little perplexing to some of you, so let me clarify: those decorations you've probably seen in a few stores that are basically some sort of monster head on a line with a long piece of fabric hanging from it to give the illusion of a body? I call those monster muumuu heads. I've picked up a good many of them, and we'll be checking 'em out today!

This fella is probably my favorite of the bunch: the Gentleman Skeleton! I came across several pieces of mostly unrelated merchandise featuring this type of character all in the same week a few of years ago, and I got it all. for some reason, I was captivated by this character, though I think part of the fascination was the odd coincidence of finding basically the same character on different merchandise at different stores all around the same time. It's almost like I was meant to stumble across this character. The Gentleman Skeleton strikes me as a jaunty character who tries his best to put a jolly, positive face on being a psychopathic murdering ghoul. You gotta respect that, eh? You'll be seeing more of the Gentleman Skeleton later this month, don't worry!

I dubbed this clown Esteban de la Murderface, mostly because he's ugly enough that looking at him may well kill you. The split skull revealing his brain, the leathery skin, the jagged hillbilly teeth... what's not to love?

Killy McGee here is Esteban's partner and best buddy. Shockingly, both of these guys came from Walmart, the one year in recent memory when they bothered to have a decent Halloween section.

Zombie Robert Mitchum here stands out with his swanky red muumuu, which draws the undead babes like flies, I'm told.

This vampire was probably intended to be Dracula, but he's lacking that certain something that would make him believable. Therefore, I've decided that he must actually be Dracula's less successful brother, Dracularry. 'Larry, as we'll call him, is a much sloppier eater, more in the vein of Christopher Lee than Bela Lugosi. As a result, he is covetous of the bib that is possessed by the next one...

...Zombie Hulk! Yeah, I know this is probably supposed to be the Frankenstein Monster, but when I look at him, I see Zombie Hulk. He flaunts his bib in Dracularry's messy face without fear of reprisal, because Dracularry is the kind of vampire who doesn't like confrontations.

Even ghouls gotta have babes, and I guess this witch qualifies. I randomly started calling her Bernadeth, just because it seems like a good name for a witch. She has a hole in her hat, which I imagine pisses her off to no end, since her clothes seem pretty immaculate otherwise.

I figure this extra-desiccated Grim Reaper is probably one of the previous incarnations of death who is now kickin' it at the retirement home. He just doesn't look capable of carrying out death's duties anymore, know what I mean?


















These muumuu heads are cheap, fun ways to add to your Halloween display. I don't see them around as often anymore, but they can still be found if you're willing to look. That's it for today, see you back here tomorrow for more haunted Halloween happiness! (Remember, I love alliteration!)

31 Days of Halloween: Dracula: Prince of Darkness

One year ago: White Zombie (1932)

Although it is third in Hammer's Dracula film series, 1966's Dracula: Prince of Darkness is a direct follow-up to 1958's Horror of Dracula. (Dracula himself does not appear in 1960's Brides of Dracula, although Peter Cushing's Van Helsing does.) The prologue shows the final scenes of Horror, including Dracula's climactic showdown with Van Helsing, and his supposed demise.


From there, the film wastes little time in resurrecting the Count. Following the prologue, we meet Father Sandor(Andrew Keir), who foils the attempts of some superstitious villagers to desecrate a young woman's corpse, fearing she will return to plague them as a vampire. Later, at an inn, Sandor meets the Kents(Barbara Shelley,Suzan Farmer, Francis Matthews, and Charles Tingwell), a quartet of tourists from England. When Sandor learns of their plans to visit Carlsbad, he warns them that it should be avoided, but that they should keep away from the castle at all costs. Scoffing at local superstitions, the Kents head for Carlsbad anyway the following morning.

When their carriage breaks a wheel, the group falls several hours behind schedule. With night falling, the driver refuses to take them any further, and drops them off just outside Carlsbad, with the castle looming overhead. As they debate what to do, a carriage with no driver arrives. Although they are not all convinced it is the right course of action, they board the carriage, hoping to be able to drive it into Carlsbad. Heedless of their efforts, the horses pull the carriage straight to the castle. As soon as they disembark, the horses speed off.

Inside, they find that the table in the dining room has been set for the four of them, and their bags have been removed from the carriage and brought inside. A rather sinister man named Klove(Philip Latham) appears and proceeds to serve them dinner, remarking that his late master, the Count, left standing orders that his castle always be prepared to receive guests. Two of the Kents disappear during the night, and the remaining pair are at the mercy of the resurrected Count Dracula. As things escalate, Father Sandor is drawn in, seeking to destroy the vampire lord once more.

Notably, Christopher Lee's Dracula does not speak a single word in the entire film. The exact reason is unclear; Lee claims that he found the dialogue unsatisfactory and refused to speak it, while screenwriter Jimmy Sangster insists that he simply did not write any dialogue for the Count. Whatever the reason, Lee's silent Dracula nevertheless commands the rapt attention of the audience whenever he is onscreen. Even without the use of his resonant, iconic voice, Lee exudes a palpable sense of menace and raw, malevolent power. The entire cast does a good job, Keir's Father Sandor is particularly memorable, and makes enough of an impression that he is more than a mere stand-in for Van Helsing.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness is easily one of the better Hammer horror films, despite the rather unsatisfactory denouement. With so many Dracula films in the Hammer series, they had to reach further and further to come up with ways to supposedly destroy the Count at the end of each film. This one definitely contains one of the odder ones. One wonders how Dracula managed to survive his first 500 years at all! Despite that, this is a fun, satisfying horror film that any fan of the Hammer films, or of a more classic model of the vampire, should enjoy.

31 Days of Halloween: Batman-The Vampire Trilogy

One year ago: The Black Cat (1934)
Happy birthday to Ed Wood!

During the 1990s, writer Doug Moench, Penciller Kelley Jones, and inkers Malcom Jones III and John Beatty produced a series of graphic novels that have proved to be among the most popular Batman stories ever. They belonged to DC's Elseworlds line, which takes characters we know and places them in stories that exist outside of the continuity of the main DCU comics. Freed from those constraints, the creators are free to do as they wish, placing characters in stories that could not happen under normal circumstances, and often reinventing the characters from the ground up, retaining little more than their names.

The first of these, Red Rain, shows us what happens when the Batman's turf is encroached upon by Dracula himself. following a tense encounter that nearly leads to Batman's demise at the hands of the vampire lord-- which culminates in Batman using his own blood to hold Dracula at bay in a novel way-- Batman equips himself to deal with such a powerful adversary, as well as his growing spawn. Naturally, the Dark Knight triumphs in the end, destroying the vampire king for all time, but not without a heavy price: as the story ends, Batman has become a vampire himself.

Bloodstorm chronicles Batman's struggle to retain his humanity as his new vampiric nature threatens to obliterate the man he was. Adding a were-cat Selina Kyle and depraved vampiric Joker into the mix only complicates matters further.

The finale, Crimson Mist, presents us with a Dark Knight who is truly the stuff of nightmares. Driven by the unending craving for human blood, Batman is relentless and brutal in his dealings with his enemies, culminating in one horrific night during which he deals with the denizens of Arkham Asylum with grim finality. Batman's closest friends realize he has become a monster that is beyond saving, and must be stopped at all costs. Armed as best they can manage, they are forced to confront the vampiric Dark Knight in his lair...

Tossing Batman into a story with vampires seems a natural pairing; indeed, one of the earliest Batman stories involved his battle with a vampiric adversary. These tales take us to some dark places, but it never seems they are being sadistic for the sake of being sadistic; it always serves the story and raises the stakes for the characters. Moench's dialogue is rather clunky at times, but the overall story makes up for any deficiencies in the prose.

Kelley Jones's art is not for everyone, but it is perfectly suited to these stories. Many people focus almost exclusively on how he draws the characters, but his rendering of Gotham City is often ignored. The Gotham he creates here is rather different from what we're accustomed to, although it evokes a similar mood. This is a Gotham with cobblestone streets and an architectural style that is evocative of  19th century London. Much of the credit for the success of these stories must be given to the art team, and Jones's designs of Gotham are a large part of that. His character designs are memorable, including some truly nightmarish versions of classic villains such as the Riddler and the Scarecrow.

These macabre tales rank among the most beloved Batman stories of the past couple of decades, and they make for some excellent Halloween reading. DC released an awesome all-in-one-volume collection of these three graphic novels a couple of years ago, and it's pretty dang cheap. Check it out!

31 Days of Halloween: The Rattle of Bones

One year ago: The Comedy of Terrors
Happy birthday to John Lennon!

Author Robert E. Howard is best known for his creation of the heroic fantasy genre and its greatest hero, Conan the barbarian. However, he created dozens of characters in his short career, and one of the most beloved is Solomon Kane. Kane is a Puritan adventurer who traveled Europe and parts of Africa, rooting out evil and corruption, and meting out justice. He sees himself as doing god's will, eradicating the malevolent forces that inhabit the dark places of the world.

The volume The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane from Del Rey includes everything REH wrote of the character, including fragments and scraps of stories that he never finished. It's also got some great art from Gary Gianni. I've selected the short story The Rattle of Bones because it serves as an excellent entry point for new readers; it's short and concise, yet delivers a chilling adventure that presents a very accurate picture of what Solomon Kane stories are like.

The story begins as Kane arrives at a forbidding inn in the middle of a dark forest as night falls. Arriving with him is Gaston L'Armon, who he has met on the road. The malicious innkeeper lets them in, but only grudgingly agrees to let them stay the night. When shown to their room,  Kane remarks that he is sure he has seen his traveling companion somewhere before, but he can't place him just yet. The door and doorjamb have notches for a bar to secure the room, but there is no bar. They set out to explore a bit to find a bar or something similar to use; in the course of their exploration, they discover a dusty skeleton chained to the floor, its skull cleft by what must have been a very powerful blow. Things immediately get even more interesting...

REH's style of writing is energetic and fast-paced, and the man writes action scenes far better than anyone else whose work I've read. Although his work is from the 1920s and 1930s, his dynamic style of writing prevents his stories from feeling dated. A few of these Solomon Kane tales rank among his best work, and this volume is an excellent entry point to REH's body of work in general. As a neat bonus, the book also includes H.P. Lovecraft's tribute to the memory of his peer and friend. The Solomon Kane saga makes for very compelling reading, and it's suitable for your Halloween reading list, as well.

31 Days of Halloween(kinda sorta): The Birds at the Saenger tonight!

At 7:00 PM tonight, the Saenger theater downtown is showing Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds. I haven't watched it in years, so it'll be cool to see it again. Plus, we always love seeing classic movies in a theater, and it's a pretty rare event here. I'm looking forward to it; it promises to be lots of fun. I'm posting this mostly to let any local readers know about this, just in case anyone who would be interested is still unaware of it. Have fun if you go, and don't be afraid to say "hi" if you see us there!

31 Days of Halloween: Corpse Bride and the Hanged Man

One year ago: Frankenstein (1931)

It's decoration time again, and we're taking a look at two of my favorites! These two are basically just larger and more elaborate versions of the muumuu heads we'll be looking at next week, but they make for some fun and often genuinely creepy decorations under the right conditions.

The Hanged Man is a suitably gruesome creature, with gnarled hands, leathery sun-bleached flesh, and the rope that did him in still wound about him. He's even missing an eyeball for good measure! He certainly doesn't look too creepy in this photo-- hell, he even comes off a little goofy-- but coming across him in the dead of night with the lights out, he's capable of producing a couple of chills.

The Corpse Bride here is quite a bit cooler. She has some electronic features which include red eyes, moaning, and shuddering. (She's liable to make you nearly fall back out of the doorway if she greets you when you're walking into the house, as my niece discovered a couple of years ago.) Putting aside the very real possibility that she might climb into my bed and try to chew my face off while I sleep, I always hang her in front of the window in the corner of the bedroom.

When the sun is shining outside, she has a very cool and unsettling look, and her eyes light up as the dimmed light from outside shines through them. I tried to capture this in a photo, but without the flash, it's rather bad. I'm posting it anyway though, as you still get the general idea of the effect.

On that crappy photographic note, we're done for today! Creep on back by tomorrow for more Halloween goodness!

31 Days of Halloween: The Frankenstein Project

One year ago today: The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

It's Frankenstein Friday!  In recognition of that grand tradition, we're taking a look at something that makes my perpetually empty wallet ache even more: The 6.5 foot tall animatronic Frankenstein Monster! I was walking through the Spirit Halloween store with my girlfriend soon after the store opened for the year when we spotted this thing of horrific beauty.

 It was HUGE, and its eyes and the electrode in its neck light up as it raises its arms and grunts. It was awesome, and I had to have it! Unfortunately, the damn thing costs $300. It is officially licensed from Universal, and that surely adds to the price. Even so, that is, frankly, a ridiculously inflated price. The more I thought about it, the more flaws I began seeing in it. First of all, the Karloff likeness is not very strong. It looks only vaguely like him at best. Considering that it is actually called the "Life-sized Boris Karloff Frankenstein Animated Prop," one would expect a much stronger likeness to the actor. Second, the sounds of the monsters grunts and the voice crying "It's alive!" are not from any of the films. They're just generic monster grunts that sound nothing like Karloff's, and a generic mad scientist voice that sounds nothing like Colin Clive. Nitpicking? Maybe, if we weren't talking about a $300 item, but I expect near-perfection at that price. Third, the monster is lime green. This is common done in depictions of the Frankenstein Monster, and it generally doesn't bother me that it's become part of his accepted look. Again, however, we're not talking about a generic representation of the Monster, but something that is supposed to specifically represent Karloff's version. The Frankenstein Monster of the Universal films is not green. Green makeup was used, but that was so that the Monster's skin would appear dead white on the black-and-white film, which is how his skin is supposed to look.

That may seem like a lot of griping, but I reiterate: at $300, it needs to be damn near perfect. Plus, even for all its flaws, I still think the damn thing is awesome and I still want it, so focusing on its flaws makes it less frustrating that I can't afford the damn thing. But hope is not lost! I quickly resolved to build my own life-sized Frankenstein Monster, one that is more accurated to the classic Universal films. By building a wooden frame and padding it out to the appropriate girth, dressing it, and using a really good mask and some really good monster gloves, I think it will turn out pretty spectacular. A few minutes of searching turned up this mask:

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It even has the piece that covers the neck and all, that'll be a big help. Also note the dead-on likeness and appropriate skin tone. The Spirit store itself stocks these gloves, which will be just about perfect once I do a bit of detailing:

That's about $50 total, and the other stuff shouldn't be too expensive. It'll mainly be a matter of putting the work into it to make sure it turns out right, and I'm definitely willing. Unfortunately, I don't have much money to spare for the components at this time, so it likely won't be ready in time for Halloween. But I'll be working on it for the next little while, buying what I need when I can, and it should be ready by this time next year! If it turns out as well as I hope, I'll probably do a Lugosi-style Dracula next. In the meantime, by all means, go check this thing out if you have a Spirit store nearby. For all its flaws, it's still large and impressive in person, and I'd be tempted to buy it anyway if I had the money. You can find the nearest Spirit store here. And no, they're not paying me anything, although they probably should be, as much as I promote them and talk them up! ;)

Rant Review: Huntress #1, Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #1

The DC relaunch isn't just about those shiny new 52 series, as there are several more series launching this month. The first two are rooted in the Batman line, with the long-awaited The Shade maxi-series launching later in the month! You can bet your sweet ass I'll be reviewing that one when the time comes! For now, let's dive into these two!
The Huntress #1
Written by Paul Levitz, Pencilled by Marcus To, Inked by John Dell
First off, let me get this out: Thank Grodd they finally got rid of that horrific Jim Lee-designed stripper outfit the Huntress had been wearing for most of the past 6 years or so! She had also worn a slightly modified, far less ridiculous costume for part of her tenure in Birds of Prey, and the costume she's wearing in this series is much closer to that one.

Now that's out of the way. This new series is written by the Huntress's creator, Paul Levitz. As conceived back in the '70s, the Huntress was Helena Wayne, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman on Earth 2, one of many Earths in the multiverse. After DC streamlined its continuity and got rid of all but one earth-- temporarily, as it turned out-- she became Helena Bertinelli, the vengeful daughter of a former mafia boss who was murdered. This is apparently the same version of the character who exists in the new DCU, and that suits me just fine. (Anyway, for the Earth 2 Huntress fans, there's no reason that version can't still exist in the new Earth 2. This series just doesn't take place on Earth 2.) This issue is mostly setup, as Helena travels to Italy on the trail of large shipments of guns that are being smuggled into Gotham. She aims to cut them off at the source. She stumbles across a nastier aspect of the smuggling business as well, and gains the attention of the appropriately sleazy villain.
Levitz does a good job with the story, keeping things interesting, even though he's really only setting up the next five issues here. Marcus To's art is quite good overall, and there are some very interesting layouts here and there.This series is just revving up, and I intend to stick around for the ride.
My score:

Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #1
Written by Gregg Hurwitz, Art by Szymon Kudranski
It's been quite some time since Oswald Cobblepot had his own series/special/one shot/what have you, and it seems Hurwitz is certainly going to make this one worthwhile. Penguin's origin is retold, and longtime readers have seen much of it before. However, it's all in the presentation, and even the bits we've seen before are nicely fleshed out. There was one moment where a couple of characters seemed incredibly obtuse-- you'll probably know what scene I'm talking about when you get to it-- but it was incidental to the main plot, and doesn't hurt the comic. It just pulled me out of it for a moment.
Kudranski's art is dark and foreboding, and utterly appropriate for this tale. The posture and facial expressions of his characters are excellent, and his art provides very good storytelling all around. His rendition of Batman, in particular, reminds me of Lee Bermejo, and that's high praise indeed. This is a very nice debut issue, and I'm looking forward a great deal to the rest of this series.
My score:

It's about damn time! Island of Lost Souls is finally coming to DVD!

That's right, after a wait that has been nothing short of absolutely ludicrous, the 1932 classic Island of Lost Souls. is finally, finally, getting a DVD & Bluray release. The film stars Charles Laughton as Doctor Moreau and Bela Lugosi in a chilling supporting role as the half-human Sayer of the Law. This is one of the best films of the 1930s, so check it out when it's released on the 25th!