DC HORROR PRESENTS #1 DC COMICS
Tis the season for spooky tales and horrible horrors. And with an all star celebrity roster onboard including actor David Dastmalchian, fresh off his award winning preformance in Late Night With the Devil movie and the Dragula Boulet Brothers, you’d think it would be a take no prisoners scarefest. But truth be told, while the stories are entertaining, I wasn’t really all that scared. And while we’ve got zombie amazons and reanimated boyfriends, along with a few jumpscares, it didn’t give me the creeps. Now and arguement can be made that in today’s society, we have become numb to horror and I can’t argue that. I will admit that the Wonder Woman story did make me sad though. And, perhaps, a little annoyed as the villain behind it never gets caught or faces any punishment. Still, it’s always nice to see, celebrities making an effort in other media. 7 out of 10 Grahams.
HACK/SLASH BODY BAGS #1 IMAGE COMICS
Not being a regular reader of Body Bags, I was slightly confused at first but quickly caught up as I kept reading. Cassandra and Vlad have a history of teaming up with other horror characters, so this one is a no-brainer. Having the two enter into the town of Terminus to hunt down the slasher Edgelord makes perfect sense. And while Cassie is her usual annoyed self, Vlad notes … “it is city of the Body Baggers”. A nice start to the blending of character universes. 7 out of 10 Grahams.
GODZILLA’S MONSTERPIECE THEATRE #1 IDW COMICS
You know, I always get annoyed with IDW when they introduce a new Godzilla title that strays so far outside Toho’s Kaiju Universe. The King of the Monsters has been around since 1954 and he and the other inhabitants of the kaiju world deserve a little respect. Having Godzilla show up in stories featuring the Power Ranges or worse a gang of scateboarders really makes you wonder what was Toho thinking when they let IDW use the rights to the characters. IDW started out strong with several mini-series that stuck with stories from the good old days. So to see that not only is IDW messing with Godzilla but also with several noted works of fiction is really too much. And while writer/artist Tom Scioli does keep the initial Great Gatsby story somewhat close to the novel (except that Godzilla shows up and that Jay Gatsby is a member of G-Force) it cannot help but make me ask the question, Why? And while it does seem like an intriguing story exercise, I’m not seeing the value. 4 out of 10 Grahams.
HAWKMAN #4 FACSIMILE EDITION DC COMICS
Finally, a comic that I can thoroughly enjoy. Unfortunately, I had to go back 60 years to find it. But oh what a find! Murphy Anderson classic art and Gardner Fox behind the script, how could you lose? And more importantly, these were the halcyon days of DC Comics. Creativity just oozed out of every office and chances were be taken. Still coming up with modern versions of the great Golden Age heroes, the first story brings us the first appearance of the daughter of former Action Comics mainstay Zatara the Magician. And while she would magically vanish at the end of the story, Gardner Fox wasn’t done with his new creation. Zatanna would reappear in Atom #19, Green Lantern #42, and in a Elongated Man backup story in Detective Comics #355. And when the search for her father finally came to an end in Justice League of America #51, it was written in that she had also appeared with Batman in Detective Comics #336 even if no one knew it. A 6 part cross over story that no one realized was happening! Now that is genius! And it all started here! Simply amazing! 10 out of 10 Grahams.
