Slimer #1

I started this book over a month ago. I had gone to a local comic book store to stock up on some reads for my annual family vacation, which is where I came across this book. I was really excited to get it because I had seen it advertised on FB the week prior and was convinced that it was going to be sold before I got there. But it was my lucky day. 

Anyways I read the first half of the comic and then went on my vacation the next day and we'll, wouldn't you know it's the end of July before I remembered that I still had half of the book left to read. The comic, a spinoff of The Real Ghostbusters starred everyone's favorite ghost, Slimer. Published in 1989, the book had 2 stories, both written by Hilarie Staton. 

First, Slimer accidentally frees a ghost from a containment unit and the ghost could not be any more of a brat. Trying to get Slimer to embrace the mischief that comes with being a ghost, the new spook ends up continuously getting the green ghostie into trouble he didn't ask for. Then while seeking out a really large cake, Slimer unknowingly causes trouble for a hotel full of attendees of a plumbers convention.

In both stories, Slimer can speak full sentences. When did this happen? All I remember as a kid from the animated Ghostbusters cartoon was that Slimer mostly spoke gobbledygook with maybe a 2 year old's vocabulary.  So having him speak so eloquent in this book was a bit of a shock. 

At the beginning of this book, the editing team pat themselves on the back for finally earning the CCA stamp. Sadly, it's really too little, too late for NOW Comics as they'll be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in just a another year or so and both Ghostbusters comics will be cancelled! I understand that obtaining the stamp was done in order to make NOW Comics more marketable nationwide. But I would have appreciated it more if the folks at NOW would have spent all that time and effort instead on making the artwork look better. Okay. The artwork was spot on. But the coloring was atrocious. It looked like something my mom could have colored with her beloved markers instead of by a seasoned professional

Despite earning the stamp, I was very surprised of the content of the second story because the giant cake Slimer wants to eat will eventually contain a stripper, who shows up to the plumbers convention wearing nothing but a bikini and F-Me pumps. To be fair, the girl is never called a stripper and she never gets into the cake. But man, the Comic Code Authority really let just about anything pass during their waning years it seems.

Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez

Duke is a werewolf. Earl is a vampire. They're friends but they act like they hate each other. Since Earl is in a vulnerable state during daylight hours, Duke is his pal's protector. Imagine Lennie and George from Of Mice and Men. I picture Duke and Earl as the main characters from Tremors: rude, crude and a little dumb. But what they lack in book smarts, they make up for with rugged ingenuity and supernatural powers. While those characters were played by Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon, I don't really envision those actors as Duke and Earl. In terms of Duke, I picture Tyler Labine from Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil. But hairier. I couldn't picture anyone famous for Earl.

Okay, back to the story...

The two drifters wind up at an all-night greasy spoon looking for gas and grub. Instead, they wind up having to take on a legion of zombies. So begins a tale that I could see being a Netflix series or even a SyFy movie that takes the two characters and puts them against a young adult aspiring pagan priestess who wants to usher in the apocalypse. Turns out that the truck stop is situated on the nexus point that will open up the gates of the underworld and introduce ancient deities to the 21st century.

If you can get past the clunky first two chapters, you're in for a treat. It was almost like the author had a little trouble getting out of the starting gate. (This 2005 work from TOR Books was his first novel.) I find as a rule of thumb that anytime a character is described as wearing a T-shirt with a funny but also inappropriate saying on it, there's just something off about the storytelling. Heck, Stephen King and Douglas Adams were both guilty of this at times. But I am very glad that I pressed on with the book.

Gil's All Fright Diner does some really clever work re-adjusting the established rules behind traditional folk characters such as the Wolfman, vampires, zombies and especially ghosts. There's a whole dichotomy that makes ghosts more believable in this world than here in reality. And they're smartly written too.

I liked the universe that writer A. Lee Martinez created and I was actually disappointed to see this book end. It's not a world that I would want to live in. But it's definitely a place that I would like to visit again. Sadly, though Martinez has written other similar type works of horror/comedy/fantasy, it doesn't appear that Duke nor Earl return in any of them. That being said, I wouldn't mind giving another one of the author's works a try and he's got a couple that do look interesting.

We'll see...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Ghosts and Girls of Fiction House

This YOe Books/IDW Publishing collaboration seemed doomed almost from the start. 

Craig Yoe's forward that recounts how he was first introduced to Fiction House's massive anthology series Jumbo Comics was a brilliant piece. Then we get an introduction by noted comic book historian Michael H. Price. However, his look at Jumbo Comics is a rambling mess that leads the reader to believe that they'll be experiencing stories of jungle goddess Sheena, swashbuckling tales adapted from Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Mickey Mouse inspired funny animal yarns written and illustrated by comic book legends such as Al Feldstein, Bob Kane and Matt Baker. Yet all you get once you slough through about 50 pages of pre-code comics commentary,, that seems more like an commercial for the authority's other scholarly works, is a collection of spectral tales called The Ghost Gallery. 

Jumbo Comics had about a dozen regular features that appeared in the publication's 15 year history. The book was known for it's voluptuous dames, thanks in very large part to Feldstein, Baker and Maurice Whitman. Yet none of these artists worked on The Ghost Gallery. Or if they did, none of their efforts are presented in this 2015 hardcover, except for a few sketches and completed pieces. Instead, one should expect to view the efforts of Alex Blum, Bob Hebberd and the famed but more anonymous staff of the Iger Shop. That's right; a lot of the work in this book was considered so beneath the staff at Fiction House, that it was sourced out to an art house and the lack of creativity and love for the source material shows.

Officially, it was titled The Ghost Gallery by Drew Murdoch. Only there was no Drew Murdoch on the Fiction House staff. He's actually the main character. You might think that he's narrating each story. But aside from the first page (and maybe the very last panel) which would have Murdoch explaining his paranormal investigations to a cynical criminologist, the author of these mortifying myths takes a more active role in the story. 

The stories seemed rushed, which is how it was in the Golden Age of comics. The more pages turned out, the more money a writer, artist or inker could make. Artistically, the art isn't bad. But it doesn't stand out amongst the crowds either. Here, it's the writing which is not all that good. The plots have more holes than Swiss cheese, and there seems to be massive edits throughout the flow of the adventures. That leads me to believe that perhaps the writer had these vast plots that due to time or page allotments had to be trimmed - alot!

Thankfully, the stories get better towards the end. Sadly, the less we see of Drew Murdoch, the better the ghost tales got. Eventually, Murdoch became a phantom in his own series, though his name remained in the title. Eventually, Fiction House too gave up the ghost when the comics scare saw an end to all but a handful of publishers by the end of the 1950s.

I just wasn't a fan of this book. I tried to enjoy it and it did get better the last third of the book. But I really could have done without all of the extraneous information about both the publisher history and all the extra details on the other features that appeared in Jumbo Comics but not in this volume. It was almost like Michael H. Price wrote an essay about the entire company's publishing history in hopes that would be used in other future Yoe publications that feature the other stars of Jumbo Comics. A clever way to save money- sure. And maybe this generalized history was Craig Yoe's idea. Regardless, it is not a great way to introduce readers to what they might find inside, especially if they bought this book expecting to find works by the omitted artists praised in the prose section of the book.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Cryptid Club

I really enjoyed Sarah Andersen's Fangs; a modern day werewolf/vampire romance with a Sex and the City vibe added to the mix. So I was really excited when I found this book just recently at my local library. 

Like Fangs, Cryptid Club is a collection of hilarious vignettes done as a newspaper comic strip. Unlike Fangs, this book doesn't have a linear plot to it. Though a couple of vignettes, like a budding relationship between two characters, do reoccur showing how things are progressing. 

Most of the cryptid characters are based on long-established legends such as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. You've got some more modern monsters too like Mothman. I'll grant that characters such as Slender Man and Alarm Man, which were created by artists, have taken on a bit of mythical status. But I take umbrage at ghosts being considered cryptids. Things that go bump in the night? Surely. But they should be in a totally different category other than cryptid. I don't care how funny their exploits were.

And no, I didn't confuse ghosts with the creatures on the cover. Those glowing-in-the-dark things that look like strolling molars are NOT ghosts! They're a fairly new cryptid called a Fresno Nightcrawler. They're kinda strange in the book. But from what I can tell, they're kinda creepy in real too! 

Cryptid Club was very fun. I probably should have waited until Halloween to read this. There are several Halloween themed laughs inside! But considering that this book was from 2022 and this was the first time I ever saw it on the shelves after countless visits to my local library over the years. I didn't want to risk getting to October and having someone beat me to the punch. 

It's also a super fast read. So give yourself a good half hour during a dark and stormy night. It'll make you into a believer. Even if spirits are misclassified as cryptids...

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.cryp

Pseudoscience: An Amusing History of Crackpot Ideas and Why We Love Them by Lydia Kang, MD & Nate Pederson

Myths and legends. The unexplained. The macabre. The paranormal. These are all subjects that I like to read about. This book by Lydia Yang, MD and Nate Pederson looks at an assortment of strange and unusual phenomena and attempts to disprove it through scientific fact. Your usual suspects are explored here: UFOs, ghosts, cryptids and the Bermuda Triangle. Then you have your lesser known unsolved mysteries like spontaneous combustion and ley lines. Then you have things that even a lifelong lover of all things this side of Ripley's Believe It Or Not have never encountered such as the all but forgotten 20th century school of thought/cult of Lawsonism.

For the most part the writers are fair and even a touch open minded. Right off the bat, they promise to not disprove any mainstream religions. Things like Atlantis could be real and while the authors destroy the concept of astrology based on the fact that Pluto is no longer a major planet in our solar system, they admit to sometimes reading their horoscopes because 'its fun.'

One subject that I felt did show a bias was the chapter on climate deniers. Personally, I agree that something is wonky with our weather. But I don't blame it solely on the human race. I really think something is off with our planet's axis because I don't remember it still being sunlight at 9:30pm during the summer when I was a kid. Yet, while the authors expressed hopes that maybe there really is a Loch Ness Monster, they both seem to close the door on any other explanation to climate change than it's all because of fossil fuels and deforestation. I agree that has something to do with it. But I feel like there's an unspoken element out there that is also contributing to climate change and that it's being kept hush-hush.

The authors have a pair of similar books that I actually have been wanting to read for some time now. After reading this 2025 book, I am still open to getting those sister volumes. There is a light-hearted element to (most of) this book. Mostly, it's relegated to the captions for the photos and some were really funny. I liked how the majority of the chapters details events and happenings as factual before going back and tearing down the subject matter with a scientific approach. It helps to give this book a very open minded feel to it because who knows, maybe one day we will be visited by aliens flying around in a flying saucer. It's doubtful. But it's not a concept that has been 100% disproven yet.

If only the authors had kept this approach to every chapter. I wouldn't have felt like I was tricked into a promise of scientific exploration of the unknown and wound up attending a very fierce-toned TED talk on climate change.

Hearing Things (Family Comic Friday)

Tim and his sister are new in town. Tim likes to record interesting sounds he's encountered during his daily walks and incorporate them into his sister's music which is inspired by horror movies. However his sister is feeling uninspired and depressed. Martha has had trouble making friends since their move and is considering quitting music altogether.

Tim, joined by his cat, Frankie, decides to explore a creepy abandoned house in hopes of capturing some spooky sound effects that will bring Martha out of her depression. Yet when Tim and Frankie climb over the estate's stone fence they discover that the entire area is devoid of sound. How can Tim prevent his sister from quitting music, which is her passion, if he cannot record any scary sounds?

Hearing Things was an awesome read by newcomer Ben Spears. I thought it would be a quaint little read for the month of October. I wasn't aware of how explosive a read it was going to be. Tim's cat Frankie steals the show. Such a funny character with so much life and energy. I couldn't stop marveling at Frankie.

Not to ruin the surprise, but this book ends up being a ghost story with charm and decorum. The pair of spooks might look a little scary. But they're harmless. In fact, one of them gets startled by Frankie.

I hope this isn't the last we see of Tim and Frankie. I probably would be okay without a return of the ghosts, though they were great characters as well. I just think it would be wrong to never get more of the pantomimes of Frankie the Cat or another recording session of sounds with Tim. 

This 2024 book is part of the Toon Books series edited by Francoise Mouly. I've been a fan of these books which introduce readers to dynamic new creators as well as translated readers from across the globe that would have been ignored by American readers without the efforts of Mouly. 

Spooky. Charming. Funny. A read that might produce a few chills but has a heartwarming ending as well as some unforgettable characters. Hearing Things is a book perfect for this time of year and is sure to become an annual classic.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Dugout: The Zombie Steals Home (Family Comic Friday)

Gina and Stacy are twin sisters. They both love to play baseball. They're rivals in everything they do. Gina and Stacy might also be witches. Their grandma certainly is.

When sibling rivalry involves the sisters going through Meemaw's trove of enchanted ingredients and casting spells on each other, Gina and Stacy unearth a zombie in their hometown... literally.  

Dugout: The Zombie Steals Home was published in 2019 by Graphix. I thought with baseball being a summer pastime, that this book might be a fun late July read. And I was right! Written and illustrated by Scott Morse, this was one of the freshest, funniest, and freakiest books I have ever read. I did not want the adventures to end!

The dialogue is really what won me over. Stacy's baseball team, The Oakvale Rooks, was composed of 9 hilarious little leaguers. I felt like I was reading a book set in perhaps the funniest of all all-ages baseball universes: The Sandlot! The quick wit. The banter. The spoonerisms and malapropisms. It was brilliantly written.

The artwork took a little while to win me over. Once the characters went from static to frantic, the pace of the artwork zoomed into the stratosphere. Morse's work on this book reminded me a little of a cross between the master artists of EC Comics and the all-ages work of Eric Powell. 

As for age appropriateness. I would say readers 9 to 12 will really enjoy this book. There is some witchcraft, which I didn't expect as I neglected to read the back cover intro. (Yes- I only judged a book by it's cover and it's a good thing I did!) However, it was on the level of Bewitched instead of something like The Conjuring. The zombie main character does look a little bit like he came from a George Romero zombie flick and there is a poltergeist giving Gina fits throughout the second act of the book. So there is a bit of an element of fright.

I really felt like this was a flawless read. Perfect for the dog days of summer or for just when the major league regular season is dying down and the playoffs are starting to heat up. Really, the only issue I had with this book was the publication date!

I mentioned earlier that Dugout was published in 2019. That's 5 years for those of you keeping score. It also means, that this book, which was clearly intended to be the kickoff to a new series, didn't get the attention it so deserves! I really feel like if Netflix turned this book into a streaming movie (animated, of course), it would do so freakin' well. I consider this opener to be The Sandlot of this generation. It's that good.

A spooky, smart fun read with a lot of laughs, this is a book parents and guardians of young readers should jump on board with, as long as the subject matter is deemed appropriate in your household. Hopefully, if this book catches fire, it might encourage Graphix and Scott Morse to continue the misadventures of Gina, Stacy and the Rooks of Oakvale!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

I really enjoyed Ghostbusters: Afterlife. But I think I am more of a fan of the newest film in the series, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. For one thing, there is way more presence of the original Ghostbusters in this 2024 film. Sure, the ghost of Egon was a major character in Afterlife. But his spectral form was executed by body doubles, special effects tricks and CGI. In Afterlife, when it came to the still living cast of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson, you saw them on screen 4 to 5 minutes tops. With much expanded roles in this film, it really felt like a Ghostbuster movie. I just hope it's not the last one in the series.

Egon's daughter and grandchildren have been given the reins on the Ghostbuster empire by their benefactor, Winston Zeddmore. Along with Oklahoman science teacher Gary Grooberson, the Spenglers live in the old firehouse, chasing ghosts in the Ecto-1 with the same old aging equipment. Facing major backlash from former EPA inspector Walter Peck who is now the mayor of New York, young Phoebe Spengler must stop busting spirits until she turns 18 or the whole endeavor will be shut down.

Meanwhile, a young man clearing out his grandmother's apartment brings what he thinks is some old junk from her home country of India over to Ray's Occult Books. Hoping to make a few dollars, the man, played by Kumail Nanjiani, sells to Ray Stantz an orb made of brass that secretly imprisons a demigod from ancient times long before the birth of Christ.

For centuries, the orb had been housed safely away from the sounds of human voices. Now out in the open, the vibrations of the outside world are awakening the powerful god, who grows stronger with every sound the orb encounters. As this monster arises, the ghosts of the Big Apple are stirring, which causes the Ghostbusters original containment unit to start malfunctioning. The last time the unit shut down was in 1984 and it almost destroyed in entire city what with Gozer, people turning into demonic dogs and a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man terrorizing Manhattan. Only now, add to it a kingdom of ice that threatens to chill every last man, woman and child down to their very souls!

The weakest character in the movie was the precocious Phoebe played by McKenna Grace. Grace shined in the last movie. However, by putting her on the sidelines from active Ghostbusting, we get this typical teen angst trope that makes just about everything she does predictable. 

I was pleasantly surprised by Nanjiani. I usually can't stand him because every time I see him, he's got this disgusted look on his face like he just smelt a fart. However, he's got this loopiness that has been missing from the franchise since Rick Moranis' retirement from acting as the lovable loser Louis. Sigourney Weaver is also absent from this movie. But we get a big dose of Annie Potts' Jeanine this time around. Sadly, even though she finally dressed up as a Ghostbuster and even wears a modified blaster gauntlet, we never get to see her use the down thing. 

The last scene kinda sets up a 6th film. Fans have been talking about a proposed 'Ghostbusters International' film or cartoon series for a very long time. If what Winston hints at at the end of Frozen Empire is any hint, we might finally get to see what it's like taking down ghosts in places like Japan, England and maybe even Antarctica! Even if we don't get that premise, you can at least delight in a film that is probably about as close to a live-action version of Extreme Ghostbusters as we'll ever get. Only instead of Egon as the leader of the next gen of busters, it's Winston. And yet, it feels right. 

One More Movie! One More Movie! One More Movie!

Worth Consuming! 

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 

Marvel Ghost Stories

A celebration of nearly 40 years of Marvel inspired ghostly tales. This slightly larger than digest sized trade paper back features stories with the Silver Surfer, the West Coast Avengers, Damon Hellstrom, and many more.

My favorite tale was taken from an issue of Marvel's 1970s combat series War is Hell. The series' first non-reprint tale was from issue #9. It introduces us to John Kowalski, a former Marine ex-pat forced to live in 1930s Poland after being dishonorably discharged. Cursed by a member of the Polish resistance for not warning the American government of the Nazi invasion of Poland, Kowlaski is forced to wander the world as a specter to save others from the spoils of war. His first mission is to wrestle the life of a young girl from the literal grasp of the grim reaper. 

Fans of Ghost Rider get to encounter another character from the ill-fated War is Hell. The ghost of the World War I ace, the Phantom Eagle seeks revenge on the German general who killed him in combat.

There's a Halloween set story with Captain America summoned to the estate of the Red Skull. Set during one of several time periods when the Skull is dead, Cap encounters a variety of ghosts, both bad and evil in a holiday tale that morphs into All Saint's Day when the clock strikes midnight. 

My least favorite stories were the most modern tales. Both stars Damon Hellstrom, the son of Satan, who is just too demonic for my comfort. The West Coast Avengers story wouldn't have been so bad except for the prominent use of a pentagram and the revelation that the character of Mockingbird was drugged and raped by one of the incarnations of the Old West superhero, the Phantom Rider. That's really strong stuff for 1990s era Marvel.

The final story, which was taken from Hellstrom's short-lived series from the early 90s, was a great Exorcist kinda tale, if you like that kind of thing. I personally do not. 

I found this book for sale at a local coffee shop. You might be wondering why after hating the Hellstrom stuff did I buy this book. I think I was more enticed by the $5 price tag that I avoided noticing the big evil image of Hellstrom in his devilish garb. I should have paid more attention and I really do regret being impulsive and allowing myself to be open to such creepy material. The Silver Surfer two-parter starring Mephisto was also a read I did not favor.

This isn't a book I will keep. Nor is it a book I can resell. That's because of the really poor adhesive Marvel used for the cover. My copy's soft cover is barely hanging on to a thin strip of glue. If you happen to be at the Hillsborough Walmart recycling center on Monday, check out the free book shelf. My copy might still be there waiting for you...

Lastly, I want to implore Marvel to seriously consider producing a collection of the John Kolwalski stories. I really enjoyed that story and I much would have rather owned a copy of that book that doesn't exist than this collection. As for the Captain America Halloween story, I'll place it on my holiday wish list since I am not holding on to this book.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #34

The first comic book I remember getting to pick out and buy for myself was a horror comic produced by Charlton Comics. I loved it. As a result, any time I find a Charlton comic book that is all about the frights, I will buy it. 

In this issue, there are 3 stories. The first story has a couple running afoul of a trio of hooligans. Tragedy befalls the couple during their mugging. But for the murdering thieves, their damnation in close at hand...

Story number two involves an heiress who is currently on husband #3. I think... She's got plans to do away with her new beau and inherit the cash. Ah, true love.

The last story is the cover story. An eccentric inventor crafts the perfect haunted house for an amusement park. But his most brilliant haunt may be the one he executes in death!

The opening story was the best of the three. It had a twist ending (okay to be fair, don't they all?), that made me feel ill at ease. That second story wasn't scary at all. It was more appropriate for a crime comic than a horror title. The last story was a Steve Ditko classic. Unfortunately, the plot was so telegraphed that I knew how everything was going to end by the time I had completed the second page. 

I realize that I've read more than my fair share of horror comic books to be able to guess the twist ending of a story from time to time. Plus, this book is nearly 50 years old. I'm thinking Ditko either borrowed or reused the plot ending or somebody else used it in a later story. So, I won't take points off for the predictability of the cover story. But that middle story was such a stinker, I can't believe that Ditko had anything to do with it. That 'love story' was just unforgivable.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.

Deadman Tells the Spooky Tales (Family Comic Friday)

Created in 1967 by the legendary Neal Adams, Deadman was a circus performer who was assassinated while performing under the big top. Thanks to a Hindu deity called Rama Kushna, the spirit of Deadman was allowed to linger on Earth in order to discover the identity of his killer. By possessing the body of others, including many a member of the Justice League, Deadman was able to gather the clues to find the identity of the mysterious killer known only as 'The Hook.' But after his murderer was apprehended, for one reason or another, Deadman delayed crossing over to the afterlife to continue bringing evil to justice!

I've read my fair share of Deadman stories over the years. My father had a copy of his first appearance, in the pages of Strange Adventures #205. The visual appeal of a white ghostly face decked in a scarlet red circus performer unitard was enough to draw me in. Sure, with death and ghosts and vengeance, this probably wasn't the stuff for a lad of under the age of 10 to enjoy. But those Deadman stories of my dad's collection were some of my most favorite reads.

So when I learned that Deadman was going to host a graphic novel anthology of creepy tales for young readers, I immediately contacted my favorite LCS to reserve my copy! While over the past 55 years Deadman has teamed up with major characters from the DC Universe, solved some puzzling crimes and even come face-to-face with the creator of the universe himself, the supernatural character has never hosted his own horror title to my knowledge- until now!

Franco, the fan favorite co-creator of such all-ages properties as Tiny Titans and Itty Bitty Hellboy, pens 13 unlucky tales of terror. But as this book was aimed for readers aged 8-12 years old, was this collection of spooky tales all that scary?

The shortcut taken through 'The Cemetery' and the mall-themed story titled 'Mannequins' would qualify in my book as scary. The autumn leaves adventure called 'Fall' was eerie too; if only because two victims of the story's antagonist seem completely forgotten by our heroes. 

I loved 'On the Inside'. That psychological thriller was a tiny bit scary. What sold it for me was how it was directly tied into a character from the Batman family of villains. The movie themed 'Inattentive Blindness' and the sleepover at 'The House of Madame Pyka' also had some ties to the DCU and were entertaining scares. However, I would say that they gave me anything but the frights. "The Fisherman' was another story that was highly entertaining yet didn't scare me. However, it had an ending that left me demanding a sequel or a stand alone series!

Franco, especially when he is teamed with his main writing partner Art Baltazar, is known for his humorous stories. And the majority of the remaining stories are more for yuks that screams. However, the humor element is okay with me. Those classic DC horror titles from my youth such as House of Mystery and The Witching Hour were as renown for their bizarre comedy bits just as much as their horrifying stories of ghosts and ghouls.

I've got to confess however, that with both feline themed stories 'The Litterbox' and 'The Neighborhood Cats', I read ahead. Not because I was scared. It was because I didn't want to be shocked with any stories that involved dying or injured kitties. I am happy to say that no gatos were injured in the making of this graphic novel for kiddies!

The most terrifying aspect of this book was the running commentary of the Deadman throughout this anthology. He poses some eerie questions. However, it's the artwork by visual artist Sara Richard that puts the icing on the cake in terms of creepiness. Her images of skeletons and graveyards are chilling. But when she provides anatomy lessons of viscera and sinew as Deadman transports himself throughout the book, I get a tad spooked. 

A dozen other artists provide visuals for this book. Derek Charm (Star Wars Adventures) is another fan favorite of mine who contributes to this work. As is fellow North Carolinian, Thomas Boatwright, of whom the Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawmaker creator is one of which that I own actual original artwork of! However, I must say that I am a little perturbed that Franco's most famous creative partner, Art Baltazar, is nowhere to be found in this book! I hope the two didn't part ways as collaborators! I love those two when they get together and make comic book memories!

Deadman Tells the Spooky Tales (Another Great Pun Title!) was an entertaining read. I was scrambling to find something appropriate for younger readers to review this week in time for Halloween. I'm so glad my comics shop was able to get a copy yesterday! The horror element as well as Deadman's backstory that involves Eastern religion, including reincarnation might be a little to controversial for some. But if you were a parent, guardian or grandparent who grew up reading the adventures of Deadman, especially the vintages ones, the young readers in your life are going to thrill at this trip through DC's darkest corners.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

I waited like 2 years plus almost a whole week after it dropped in theaters to see this movie!

Ghostbusters: Afterlife completes the trilogy for the original Ghostbusters while opening the door for a new generation of Ghostbusters films. 

Egon Spangler has died in seclusion on his small dirt farm in Oklahoma. Inheriting the family plot is Egon's estranged daughter and two grandchildren. While rummaging around the house, granddaughter Phoebe uncovers one of Egon's old ghost traps. Not knowing what it was, Phoebe brings the trap to school in which her new science teacher accidentally unleashes something menacing.

Now after nearly 30 years without a ghost sighting, strange things are afoot in the small Midwestern town. It's up to Phoebe, her brother and their new friends to take up the mantle of Ghostbusters and save not only their new hometown but the entire world from a threat long forgotten- Gozer the Gozerian!

I loved this movie. Jason Reitman, son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, co-wrote and directed what could only be the perfect Ghostbusters film without the late Harold Ramis. Afterlife did a fantastic job addressing the loss of Egon with just a fair bit of movie magic. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of the original surviving Ghostbusters for my taste. But mark my words- despite the lack of Ray, Winston and Peter being on screen, this is a Ghostbusters movie!

Aside from getting to see the actors who we all wanted to see from the first two films,  Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a great balance of classic and modern franchise.  (And yes- I realize that this is really 'Ghostbusters 4', but the all-girl team is not even a blip on the radar in this movie.)

I'm not sure how the movie is doing in theaters. Basically, with  COVID, it's a crap shoot based on spikes and mandates. But I feel like if things worked out how they should, a 4th original franchise based film should be on the horizon. Which if we're talking Ghostbusters movies could be anywhere from another 5-30 years away. If Columbia Pictures and the powers that be were smart, they'd make a new animated series to continue the narrative because I really think there's a ton more of story left wanting to be told.

Oh and be sure to stay through the entire run of credits. There's an extra scene that only my wife and I got to see because everyone else left wayyyyyyy too soon!

Worth Consuming! 

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 

Vincent Price Presents #32

The concept behind this series is pretty simple. Legendary horror host Vincent Price regales readers with tales of terror and the strange. The concept for this issue might be a little complex. But it was executed nicely. 

A Richard Branson type adventurer awakens from a balloon crash in what appears to be the inside of a volcano. Only this inferno is less that from Hawaii and more from Dante's nightmares! Should the protagonist be caught by the minions of hell, that's were he'll end up for all eternity. But when the fella hears the prayers of his sister during his trek through purgatory, there's a slim chance that he might not actually be 100% dead. With the flames of hell licking his heels, this newest visitor to the afterlife will need all the prayers possible to make it back to the side of the living. 

These are some of my favorite types of ghost stories; someone's journey to the other side. I marvel at the level of imagination and symbolism used at these type of stories and this issue is bursting through with both. 

I wish I could say that the art work was just as good. It's not Rob Liefeld awful. It's just not polished. There's something off with the inking or shading that makes the artwork look 1-dimensional as opposed to 2 or even 3-D. I don't know if that's really a thing. But there was a lack of depth that I think more practice or better overall teamwork from the art department could fix. 

Vincent Price Presents was officially licensed by his estate. Running for 33 total issues (and a few specials thrown in), that's a big deal for a small publisher. I'm sure having Price's name on the cover helped with sales for a while. I am also sure little things like the flat artwork didn't help either. Thankfully, the writing saved this book to the point that I am willing to purchase more issues should I ever come across them for a deal. 

Not bad for a grab bag goodie.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Comics #673

As I'm wrapping up my Halloween reads, I go to another one of my favorite go-tos for safe spooks. Just about any comic book by Disney is a great read. But the collective works of masters such as Don Rosa, Carl Barks and Paul Murry are considered some of the best when they A) star Donald Duck or one of his Duckburg kin and B) take place during the holidays. This issue of Walt Disney's Comics has both!

William Van Horn returns to illustrate the issue's cover. It features a Donald classic by Van Horn called 'Kids Play' in which the duck takes one a job to paint a haunted house. Only Donald doesn't know about the house's history. So, as he's doing a great job, his nephews decide to put the scare onto him. Only, there might actually be a haunt in this haunted house whose out to spook Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

Then we've got Lady and the Tramp's l'il boy Scamp going to play hide and seek with some friends in a haunted house. In another classic, The Three Little Pigs inherit a broom factory in which the Old Witch from Snow White(?- that's what she looks like!); who really seems to have her eyes on what with the factories' precious inventory. And in a two-parter, Donald Duck has been assigned as a concierge at a hotel in Transylvania! And he's actually really good at it! Naturally, that success doesn't work out when his boss surprise visits in order inspect Donald's progress. 

Okay- none of these stories take place during Halloween. But with the inclusion of ghosts, witches and monster vacationers, this is a perfect read for a cool Halloween time night. But at least these stories are more suited for this time of year than the all-new two-parter that fills the rest of this 64-page beauty. 

'Dimes Are Forever' starring Uncle Scrooge and Donald and the Mickey and Goofy adventure 'A Kidnapping in Yubet' are two stand alone stories that make up the 7-part Orb Saga. I like that you could read the stories without really missing anything. And the presence of Magica De Spell and The Phantom Blot were classic touches. However, I don't think the pair do anything to read add to the Halloween ambiance that was established by the other reads. But that's okay as they were both really good stories. 

I had a lot of fun with this one. With a little something for everyone, this is spooky Disney fun for the whole family- without the nightmares!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Big Book of the Unexplained

Of the several editions of Big Books that I am reading during social distancing, The Big Book of the Unexplained was the one I was looking forward to the most. And it was the most disappointing. 

Written by the creator of Deathlok, Doug Moench, I was really excited to read this collection of accounts of the strange and unknown. I love UFOs, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and all that paranormal stuff that has us stymied. I'm the type of person that feels that there's got to big a hint of truth to these accounts. They may not be what we think they are or happened how we might recall the events occurred. But I am sure a lot of it was real events.

The host of this book is Charles Fort, a research of the paranormal and macabre around the turn of the 20th century. Had I not read within the past year or so a book about the Fortean Times, I probably wouldn't have any idea who he was. But I did and I appreciated his appearances throughout the book. Well, at first.

However, Moench keeps having Charles Fort talking about this cosmic trickster. And he keeps getting all whimsical and philosophical about this being. Maybe he's talking about God or gods. But that's beside the point. Moench devotes a lot of his time to this powerful being instead of focusing on what I was hoping for- lots and lots of accounts of the unexplained. 

While I appreciate the use of a narrator or host, they haven't seemed to really work in the Big Books. The 70s book had a host and it was the weakest part of that entire volume. I feel the same about Fort here. But unlike in the 70s book where the host was only at the beginning of each chapter, Charles Fort is at the beginning and ending of each section. Rod Sterling or even Jack Palance, he is not!

When it focuses on the unusual, it's good. But it goes off on tangents a lot!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Ghosts #1 (Family Comic Friday)

Take a chilling trek to the Old Country in the pages of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Ghosts #1

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Ghosts #1Written and Illustrated by Mark Laszlo
Published by Archaia
Retail: $3.99

Jim Henson studios, the company that brought you Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and Big Bird, embraces it’s dark side in this premier issue based on the British children’s series The Storyteller.

‘Ghosts’ is the seventh themed series in Archaia’s line of anthology comics based on global myths and legends. Over the course of 4 issues, fans of the Jim Henson property will be enticed by spooky stories of ghosts and phantoms from the 4 corners of the globe.

Issue #1 is based on a Scandanvian phantom called a myling. These are the vengeful spirits of infants. Mylings seek some sort of justice in order for their souls to finally be at peace. In this issue, an innocent man goes his entire life haunted by a myling. What is the sinister purpose behind this unwarranted harassment?

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Ghosts #1 was extremely eerie. The art of the baby spirit with the huge noggin’ was truly unnerving. There’s some gruesome images of the remains of a couple of characters. And the origin story of the myling was very sad.

So why in the world would I review this for a weekly column called Family Comic Friday? Because kids like to be scared! And I would much rather a young reader dive into something a tiny bit more targeted for young adults and teens than for them to get their hands on a copy of something truly upsetting like Harrow County or the deceptive chills of an Archie Horror title.

This debut issue reminded quite a bit of Alvin Schwartz’ Scary Stories. The illustrations are creepy and the tale itself is dark. But it’s a safer dark than what’s going on in our Covid-19 restricted world. If the young reader in your life is needing a fright, turn to this short story rather than turning on the evening news!

If your family is a fan of Jim Henson’s other maturely macabre properties such as The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Ghosts #1 is currently available in print and digital formats such as Comixology.

The Thrilling Adventure Hour #1

I read this issue a couple of months ago. I could have sworn that I had reviewed it back then as well. Yes after an exhaustive search, I cannot find evidence of ever have given my opinion on this first issue from Boom! Studios. So forgive me if I repeat myself. But hey,  just in time for Halloween, right?

The Thrilling Adventure Hour is about a married couple of semi-professional mediums/ghost hunters. Frank and Sadie Doyle seem better suited as mixologists than ghost busters. In fact, they don't even seem to fit this more modern time period.

Most modern comic book readers are not familiar with The Thin Man series of comedy mystery films. The Thin Man movies focused on Nick and Nora Charles; a wealthy couple who were amateur sleuths. They had this rapid fire dialogue thing going on that was absolutely brilliant. Plus with their smarmy attitude towards everyone and everything, you weren't quite sure if Nick and Nora thought that the world was their own private little sandbox.

When it comes to the Doyles, I have a theory. In this issue, Frank and Sadie agree to help an interracial couple whose new new home is supposedly haunted. Now you might be thinking as to why must I point out that the couple of different races. It's 2018, I should be agreeable to this sort of thing in American society. Well, I am. But the Doyles don't seem to be. In fact when Frank and Sadie first meet their new clients, they are taken aback by the mixed race couple. Thus I think the Doyles are ghosts!

Think about it. They can see and communicate with spirits. They appear more suited for the 1930s. And the Doyles don't understand social norms. It's just a crazy idea, but I think there's a Sixth Sense twist going on here.

A darling opening chapter in which I am eager to read the rest of the story. A comic/horror triumph by the writing/illustrating team of Ben Acker and Ben Blacker!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.