Old Head

After the death of his mother, a retired basketball player and his daughter return home to settle her estate. The owner of the creepy old castle up the road has wanted desperately for years to purchase the home. When the athlete goes to sell his childhood home, he learns that the residents of the citadel are a coven of vampires, led by the Lord of the bloodsuckers himself, Count Dracula! 

Kyle Starks wrote and illustrated this madcap tale that may look suitable for children. But it's anything but! Lots of swears. Tons of gratuitous talk about sexual depravity. Lots of blood and death. Some nudity; including an anus! What do you expect? It's rated mature!

My wife actually picked this book up for me. It states on the back cover that Dracula and his brood are preparing for their favorite holiday. Me being a fan of holiday comics and graphic novels, she thought that this was a Halloween set book. I must admit, from reading the description, I did too. But there's a saying, 'don't judge a book by its cover ' and that also applies to the back of the book as well as the front.

I also thought that the retired basketball star, nicknamed 'Old Head' by rookies, was going to battle the vampires in a game of basketball. It would have fit with the oddball nature of the book. Plus there's an image on the back cover of the protagonist dunking over someone outdoors, at night with a full moon out. Assumptions got me again.

Not a bad read for only $3. I won't keep it. But maybe I can get a keeper when I trade this in at a used book store somewhere. Expect the unexpected. Only not in terms of scares but Monty Python level comedic twists that definitely push the envelope over the edge and into the rubbish bin. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

When Tim Burton's Beetlejuice came out in 1988, I didn't really understand it. I liked the concept of a newly deceased couple navigating the afterlife as well as trying to extricate an annoying living family from their home. However, the movie was called Beetlejuice and the title character is only in the movie for 17 minutes! My 11 year old brain couldn't understand why Beetlejuice was so rarely in his own movie. So I ended up becoming a fan of the cartoon series as well as the action figures.  They were amazing sculpts! As I got older and became a fan of Tim Burton movies, I understood the reason behind the character's absence and it eventually became one of those movies I can't pass up if I see it while flipping channels.

We jump ahead to 36 years later and Beetlejuice returns to the screen after several decades of rumors of a sequel. While the main character still isn't in every scene, Beetlejuice is in enough of the movie that my younger self would have been satisfied. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice debuted last month, breaking records for films that opened in September. I kept wanting to go to the theaters but I was either too busy or not wanting to fight the crowds. At least my wait wasn't too long as it finally showed up on Amazon Prime and Youtube Premium for my bride and I do give it a Halloween time viewing from the comfort of home. 

In the time since the first film, Lydia Deetz has cashed in on her ability to see ghosts. After helping the Maitlands successfully cross over to the afterlife, Lydia could still see ghosts and became a psychic arbitrator between the living and the dead. Despite starring her own reality TV show, her teenage encounter with Beetlejuice has left Lydia a pill-popping neurotic wreck who has PTSD fears of being reunited with her one-time fiance poltergeist. A widow, Lydia is estranged from her daughter Astrid, who thinks Lydia is a fraud because she never can communicate with her dead husband. Living in New York City, Lydia and her daughter must return to Winter River after the tragic death of her father. However, as Lydia begins to clear the house of her father's possessions, the single mom begins to have horrifying visions of a ghost dressed in a black and white striped suit. With every passing moment, it becomes clear: Beetlejuice is nigh!

Almost the entire original cast returns for this film. Michael Keaton is a treasure! The only major exception is Jeffrey Jones, who played Lydia's father in the original film. However, his criminal past of possessing child pornography meant that his involvement in the film was not to be. Despite this, you do see photos of Jones as Lydia's father at the funeral and his voice is used in at least 1 scene.

There's a few new players to the Beetlejuice universe. Justin Theroux plays Lydia's manager and human fiance. I thought it was interesting having Theroux in this film as it was produced by Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment. Both Pitt and Theroux were married to Jennifer Aniston! Imagine the conversations between these two! Monica Bellucci plays Beetlejuice's vengeful wife, thus shedding some light on the main character's origins. Willem Dafoe is an afterlife detective trying to find Beetlejuice's former lover before she can send him to his final reward!

I liked being able to know when and where Beetlejuice came from. But I felt that Monica Bellucci's character was unnecessary. True, without her, that would make Dafoe's character also unneeded and he was some great comic relief. Still, I felt that her parts in this movie didn't really move the plot along other than telling us about the main characters life before the afterlife.

This has got to be one of the most Tim Burton movies filled with the most un-Burton like scenes and music. Thankfully, we get the great Danny Elfman doing the main score. There's stop motion. There's a slew of oddball dead characters. There's another dance scene. But it's no 'Banana Boat' scene. I'm guessing the Harry Belafonte estate wasn't willing to license out other songs of his. 

One thing that I just adored about this film is that it takes place during Halloween. It was seasonal to get to watch it here during the middle of October. Hopefully, it will become an annual favorite. I'd watch it again. It was a nostalgic sequel without being too repetitive of the original. If anything it felt more like a continuation of the Saturday morning cartoon series in which Beetlejuice and Lydia were good friends. Having a 600 year old plus ghost with the hots for a teenage girl is kinda icky. But as friends from differ sides of the doorway to the great beyond felt more comfortable for those of us who got up freakin' early every Saturday to watch a cartoon classic!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 of 10 stars.

Disney Gargoyles Halloween Special (Family Comic Friday)

Taking off from where the 1994 animated series left off, series creator Greg Weisman has been given the chance to continue the story of Disney's Gargoyles.

It's Halloween night and young Nashville wants to experience trick or treating for the very first time. As other Big Apple children are dressed as Gargoyles, Gnash, 'with a silent G', should blend in with the humans quite well. Why would Gnash need to blend in with other trick-or-treaters if his Gargoyle brethren have revealed themselves to the world? It's because there's a group of anti-Gargoyle sledgehammer welding militants called the Quarrymen who long for the old days when the demonic looking creatures were cursed to a millennial long slumber. As the Quarrymen have plans to disrupt a community festival between humans and Gargoyles, it's up to Gnash and his new friends to prevent this from becoming the worst All Hallows Eve ever in New York history.

I'm a little familiar with Gargoyles. My little sister watched them a little bit first run because the little boys across the street were obsessed with the syndicated cartoon. So I'm not sure how accurate to the flow of the original series this 2023 Halloween special is. Though I imagine with having the shows creator behind the new adventures to help keep things seamless. I appreciated that the saga of the New York Gargoyle clan is kept in the 90s making these comics a continuation and not a reboot.

There are some more modern ideals in this 90s set one-shot. But it's left up to the reader how to interpret. For instance, there's a character with the last name of Jones dressed as a witch. Jones later reveals that under the mask and dress, the character is a man. Is the character transgender? Homosexual? Just a dude dressed up for Halloween? It's never really revealed and since Gargoyles was originally an all-ages franchise, it's left innocuous in order to not be too controversial for families who might not feel the time is right to talk about gender norms or human sexuality.

The Quarrymen are some pretty nasty dudes who spew hate and bigotry. There's a couple of scenes of bullying, a big fight between Quarrymen and Gargoyles and two Gargoyle 'dogs' that look pretty intimidating. Not really unexpected for a book rated 'teen'.

If Gargoyles was a show you watched as a kid in the 90s and it's a legacy property you wish to share with your children or other young readers in your life, then this is a Halloween read that will be enjoyed by all. If Gargoyles is a property that is completely new to you, I recommend parents and guardians read it first to ensure it's age appropriateness. 

Back issues can be found on eBay and other comic book retail websites.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Lugosi: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood's Dracula

Witness the rise and fall of a Hollywood movie icon in Lugosi. If you thought you knew the whole story from Tim Burton's Ed Wood bio-pic, guess again! Creator Shadmi Koren dives right into Lugosi's early life in Romania, disappointing his high-brow successful parents with wild dreams of becoming an actor to becoming one of Budapest's greatest actors, only to flee for his life for his failed support of the Communist party. 

An exiled Bela will take the stage in London as Dracula, gaining notoriety before immigrating to the United States in hopes of becoming a star. Unfortunately, his thick accent and lack of mastery of the English language makes roles on Broadway few and far between. But when Bela moves to California to try his hand at Hollywood, the actor will be reunited with Count Dracula, beginning a lifelong connection with the Lord of Vampires that will wrongly typecast Lugosi as just another schlock horror movie actor. 

Shadmi Koren's artwork was fantastic. I felt like both Lugosi and cinematic rival Boris Karloff were alive and well right in front of me. I learned so much about early Hollywood horror and my respect for Ed Wood, based on how above and beyond he would go for his friends and family, has increased exponentially. And I was already a fan of his! Though I felt at times that Koren's personal commentary took over for what was supposed to be a passive narrative voice, I want to read more of his works- especially his graphic novel account of the life of Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling!

Want to capture the Halloween spirit of things without being too scared? The life and times of Bela Lugosi is one way to capture the magic of the season without having to sleep with the lights on!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

I Luv Halloween, Vol 1

A Halloween themed manga written by Keith Giffen. I couldn't pass it up. And yet like a driver who picks up the hitchhiker from Hell, I kinda wish that I had kept on driving. 

I Luv Halloween has got to be the must inappropriate, goriest romp starring kids that I have ever read. Imagine the movie Gummo, if it was set during Halloween. (I really want to compare this with the film Kids. However, there's nowhere as much animal murder and cruelty in that controversial film compared to Gummo.)

The book is about a group of 4 boys as they go trick-or-treating. After getting apples at their first couple of houses, the boys decide to break the curse by putting razor blades in one of the fruits and unleash the unmitigated fury of the law on one of their stingy neighbors. Meanwhile, one of the boy's sisters has broken free from the group and has begun a reign of unintentional terror, killing the neighborhood bully, bludgeoning a cheerleader and her boyfriend and much, much more unspeakable acts. 

If I thought Giffen was trying to do a straight out horror story on par with Children of the Corn, I'd probably not feel like I need to take a shower just for writing this review. But the kids in the book do most of their gruesome acts with a sense of innocence. It's almost like the worst Murphy's law bad luck of all time following these kids and they just go through life not understanding just how destructive they are. Remember how Steve Urkel would ask 'did I do that?', whenever something went wrong? Well, these kids, for the most part, don't even know that they are doing terrible things. Well, the sister might. There's definitely something not quite right about her...

The artwork is by Benjamin Roman. At the time this book was published, in 2005, he was a relative newcomer with this being his very first professionally published work. His art style is extremely exaggerated. Roman would fit in quite well at MAD Magazine. I wonder what became of him...

This one isn't a keeper for me. I wasn't a huge fan of it. There's a lot going on that I'm not even sure happened or not as several of kids are not very reliable narrators. And yet, there's 2 more volumes and I just need to find out what is true and what is the fever dreams of a group of horny preteens. Plus I just need to know what is wrong with the sister. She just not quite right in the head.

Not the coming of age tale you'd feel comfortable sharing with your kids or grand kids. I fact, if you didn't feel uncomfortable after reading this book I'd think something might be wrong with you...

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Zombies: The Complete Collection, Vol. 3

I can't tell you the number of times I've grabbed this book, only to put it right back down. That's because in this, the 3rd volume of collected Marvel Zombies tales, there's also a Halloween Special included. I've had this book for several years and always keep forgetting in October to read it. Well, not this year. I made sure that it was the first thing I grab for my 2024 Halloween reads! 

Before celebrating All Hallow's Eve with the undead heroes of the Marvel Universe, there's several minis and one-shots to experience. All of them bloody. All of them rated for mature audiences.

• The contagion finds its way to the universe of the Marvel Apes. According to a traveller from the future, the key to preventing the zombie virus from taking root in Earth-8101, a group of heroes led by the Iron Mandrill must protect that world's version of Doctor Doom!
• The source of the zombie infection is finally revealed.
• Howard the Duck and a Machine Man must travel through various time periods of several universes to collect samples of the zombie virus in hopes of irradiating the threat to Earth-616.
• Howard then returns with a squadron of some of the biggest oddball heroes of the multiverse, led by Dum Dum Dugan, to prevent a world in which a Third Reich of Zombie's won World War II from taking over Earth-616.
• A Special Forces team is sent to quell a zombie invasion begun at Project PAGASUS.
• Finally, a mysterious female survivor of the undead outbreak, teaches her son about Halloween.

Karl Kesel, Fred Van Lente, Frank Marraffino and Peter David are the writers who dreamed up this anthology of terror. It's artists such as Todd Nauck, Alessandro Vitti and Kano who brought these nightmares to vivid life. I used to joke how a single issue print run of Robert Kirkman's Invincible must have caused shortages of red ink because of all the blood. I've thinking that this book might have attempted to break that record.

I must have bought this book for the Halloween special. Completing a run of the Marvel Zombies books has never been one of my comic book collecting goals. I've read a couple of volumes previously and while it's a fun scare compared to some of the more secular Marvel Horror titles, there's still a lot of death and destruction. I think it's more shocking when the carnage is caused by or thrust upon beloved icons of your youth. It's definitely more disturbing. 

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Supercats: Halloween! (Family Comic Friday Comics)

I would have reviewed this 2023 Halloween special from Scout Comics last year. I had every intention of doing so. However there were some shipping delays at my favorite comic shop and I didn't get to pick it up until early November. 

Based on Scout's Supercats series, it's Halloween and the protectors of the neighborhood, the Supercats, are terrorizing all of the trick-or-treaters. Only it's really the Dirty Dogs of the Bad Bod Club in disguise as Supercats, looking to ruin their good guy reputation. Can Mewow and his sidekick Ohno save Halloween while restoring their good name?!

Supercats: Halloween! was Scout Comics' first foray of their Launch imprint of books. The idea behind launch is to introduce young new readers to comics. Launch does this by classifying their books in 3 levels. An almost total picture book comic is considered Level 1. This book with a promise of no more than 3 panels per page to help youngsters not get too lost in the action is a Level 3 book. (However on at least 1 pages, I counted 4 panels... Uh oh!)

The artwork is more primitive than other young reader graphic novels. But I think that rougher art style contributes to the alley cat persona of the Supercats and the junkyard dog manners of the Bad Dog Club. This was an adorable Halloween story by Caleb Thusat and Angela Odding and I just hope that the lateness of my review will help future sales for this comic and the other couple of books in the Supercats series, which can be bought at the Scout Comics web page.

My one complaint has nothing to do with the content. I think this is a book that parents and guardians will approve of 100%. It's wholesome and sweet and when Mewow and Ohno take on the Dirty Dogs, the level of superhero action is very mild. No, my issue was the format of the book. It's not rectangular like a comic book. Instead it's square; slightly larger than a Little Golden Book. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in my protective sleeves. Nor will it fit inside one of storage boxes. If it was a hard cover, I could place it safely on one of the shelves I use to store graphic novels. Supercats: Halloween! is too flimsy like a regular comic book that I'm concerned about getting it damaged. And if kids want to collect the books in this series, it's format will make storage even harder for them.

Just something to be aware of if you were like me as a kid, trying to keep your comics in as pristine condition as possible.

Worth Consuming!

Rating 9 out of 10 stars.