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.

The Theory of Everything Else: A Voyage into the World of the Weird by Dan Schreiber

Comedian and pod caster Dan Schreiber dips his toe into the water of conspiracy theories and strange phenomena. And by strange phenomena, we're talking things so goofy, even Fox Mulder is skeptical of them! Personally, I feel like Schreiber could have covered a lot more whack job ideas that are floating around out there. But I did think that the writer was very detailed about the theories he researched. Plus I liked that he covered a few subjects that even I, a long term and now repentant conspiracy theorist and devotee of the eccentric, outlandish and just plain odd, such as myself, weren't even aware of.

I also wouldn't categorize everything Schreiber features in this book to be a conspiracy theory. It's not entirely that type of book. Some topics are more based on fringe science and hobbies of nut jobs. Some of which just happens to be proven true. Case in point: the study that plants can communicate with each other. A former CIA interrogator supposedly hooked up his house plant to a lie detector and got some very unusual results. Eventually, the guy quits being a spook, starts up a research center to study plant and human behavior and publishes a couple of books on how plants talk to us that become oddball best sellers. Jump ahead to a couple of years ago and researchers reveal that there's indication of a worldwide network that plants use to communicate to other flora about droughts, floods, and other threats to wildlife.

Schreiber works rather blue. He likes to refer to many of the believers of these conspiracies and fringe ideas as bat CRAP crazy. Only the author doesn't use the family friendly word CRAP. The writer also seems a bit too preoccupied with crazy kinks. A bunch of pages are devoted to dolphin genitals, sex with ghosts and other X-rated situations. There's a few characters from the past 200 years who began cults and alternate religions that used their charisma to score with both male and female followers. I'm actually surprised how little the author focuses on some of those characters, especially Aleister Crowley.

Dan Schreiber also hosts a podcast called 'No Such Thing As A Fish' that delves into hoaxes. Fish and birds are amazingly left untouched in this book. Maybe due to some subjects being considering off-limits due to licensing or advertising agreements with the pod cast. If he's not restricted, I'd like to read a follow up of this book, because while he's a bit cheeky, Schreiber does tell some very good stories; both personally and of historic merit. 

Not a book for kids. But it's definitely a book that skirts upon a lot of the very strange theories being brought about by all sides of the political and public spectrum thanks to events like Brexit, the coming of COVID and January 6th election claims. The Theory of Everything Else may not have the answers you are looking for. However, it can definitely get you headed into the right direction for the origins of the world's most endearing and modern plots, dodges and cabals. And if that's not what you are looking for- Schreiber has plenty to say about ghosts, UFOs, time travel and other elements of the supernatural. Only he views such popular fringe and occult matters differently than most.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Plop! #14

1973-76's Plop! was a sister anthology series of DC titles such as House of Mystery, House of Secrets and Secrets of Sinister House. Even though Plop! was hosted by horror hosts Cain & Abel as well as the lesser known Eve, this series was not a horror title. Instead, Plop! was a title devoted to the oddball and weird. There was definitely an element of humor running throughout this book as the majority of the stories and one-page gags revolved around the use of the word 'plop' to end the tale or for the punchline.

With Sergio Aragones, Basil Wolverton and Wally Wood all working on this book, Plop! felt like MAD Magazine lite. The trio had all at one point or another worked on the definitive humor mag of the 20th century. Aragones is a living legend, one of the last bastions of the William Gaines era of MAD. Wolverton was renowned for his grotesque creators such as the 'World's Ugliest Woman', Lena the Hyena and the cult-classic sci-fi storyline, 'The Brain Bats of Venus'! But it's Wally Wood that interests me the most!

Wallace Wood was one of the superstars of EC Comics. Known for work on such titles as Weird Science and Weird Fantasy and developing fan favorites in the Comics Code era such as THUNDER Agents, Wally Wood's artistic talent was set at 11. A tragic figure in comics, Wood battled a number of unexplained health issues and alcoholism, while maintaining a portfolio of work unparalleled to most.

The subject matter of the two main stories is rather varied. In the first yarn, a pair of spinster sisters are visited by their long-lost brother who returns home seeking his share of the family fortune. The ladies claim that they're flat broke. However, with the mystery of a forbidden, locked door, the brother is convinced that his share of wealth lies on the other side. Story 2 is a Marv Wolfman/Wally Wood collaboration. It has an aspiring knight looking for his place at King Arthur's Round Table. If he can rescue a damsel in distress, it will surely cement this squire's reputation. In a nearby castle, the young man finds a woman being terrorized by demons. Eager to save her life, the knight is faced with a dilemma that could make him a hero but it would damn the world in return.

Both stories were very good. The medieval story bears that signature MAD Magazine touch of adding funny signs and Easter eggs throughout the background scenery. The inheritance tale had just enough mix of kook factor and suspense to make the tale weird but not scary enough to warrant a place in DC's pantheon of horror titles.

The one-page gags were all weird. You can see a production number in the bottom corner of most. The numbers vary in range. I'm wondering if these were gags that were considered too unusual for MAD and not spooky enough for the House of Mystery. 

A good read that lacks the satirical edge of MAD Magazine as well as the adult edginess of EC Comics. I blame the age in which this work was produced. The 70s was a time of relaxing the rules of the Comics Code. If Marvel had produced this book, some of the material would have pushed the envelope. With DC, they were willing to tackle the ghouls, demons and other monsters finally allowed by the CCA. But when it came to counterculture and anti-establishmentism, DC just didn't do enough to be edgy. It would take a few more years before the publisher would be truly willing to stick it to the man. And when they finally do, Plop! would be a cancelled memory.

Worth Consuming! 

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Strange Days: The Year in Weirdness (#1)

If you think 2020 is weird, well, you're probably right. It's extremely weird what with a pandemic and quarantines and massive loss of live, employment and livelihood. But 1995 was a pretty weird year. 

Published by the editors and writers of the Fortean Times, Strange Days: The Year of Weirdness chronicles the strange and unusual. From UFO sightings to ghosts, doppelgangers to astrological occurrences, animal attacks and strange creatures galore. If something didn't make sense with the normal way of life, it was covered by the Fortean. 

So what is the Fortean Times? Until a year ago, I didn't know anything really about it. And except for a very brief mention of it in a recent episode of Doctor Who, it's probably not a publication known by many. Since 1973, the Fortean Times has covered anomalous phenomenon through the use of the scientific method. Thus, the Fortean is the Fox News of all things bizarre- that is if Fox News was truly fair and balanced. 

I had bought this book at a yard sale early last year. I read some of it and then kinda filed it away. Why did I finish it now all of a sudden? It was all thanks to the pandemic. I finished the book for a couple of reasons. First, I hoped to possibly uncover a clue as to the origins of COVID. Then I wanted to read about read things that were really bizarre. That was to help make today's strange days a little less odd. It actually worked. 

It was refreshing to read a book about the odd, weird, and macabre without taking a side. Often these type of books veer off into either direction of Skepticsville or Conspiracy Theorist's Junction. This book really does just tow the straight and narrow by giving facts from reports and any sort of comment from the scientific community that may have investigated these incidents. 

Now if only the reports of this current crisis was reported the same way.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Weird Love, Volume 1: You Know You Want It

Commie bad boy hunks. Mentally unhinged debutantes. Free love hippies, mini skirts, and Ronald Reagan?! It's all found in this edition of Weird Love: You Know You Want It!

Weird Love is a comic anthology from IDW Publishing and Yoe Books. The collaboration reprints some of the wildest, weirdest and down right prudish stories taken from the romance comics of the 1950s, 60s and 70s! 

I'm a fan of comics of all eras but my heart is firmly rooted in the Silver Age of comics when the Comics Code was just taking affect. There were so many titles out there trying to be lurid without attracting attention from politicians and angry moms. It's rather funny in an uncomfortable way.

A lot of these stories are like B-movies. They're so bad, that they're good! Fans of MST3K, Svengoolie and Ed Wood will delight in these forgotten gems from yesterday.

My wife got me this for Christmas. I have no idea where she got it. She's pretty well okay with a lot of oddball comics I bring in, including kids stuff. But the romance stuff, she tends to find that laughable and a little silly for a grown man like myself to read. But my mother had a bunch of them from when she was a girl and I being hooked on anything comic book related, gobbled them up. So, for me, it's not odd for men to read romance comics. 

But still, I'm a little mystified that my wife got this for me. I'm wondering if some of my buddies at my favorite comic book shop made the recommendation, as they know I am a huge fan of any type of comic book from this era. I guess that's one mystery I've leave unsolved.

This book was a thrill to read. I wouldn't mind reading more in the series or some of the sister books like Haunted Horror. I've read several other collections from Yoe Books and they always seem to find some great stuff. This edition does disappoint!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Strange Sports Stories #2 (of 3)

Welcome back to the Museum of Sports History, Trivia, and Oddity with your host Hall O.Fame! First, thrill to the most bizarre team to ever take to the court as a high school basketball prodigy must win the most important win of his life when he is paired with the likes of Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr, and John Wayne, and Honest Abe against the galaxy's best!

 Then a young man with Olympic aspirations becomes the greatest athlete ever when he finds a magic medal. Lastly, with two outs and the championship on the line, a fledgling baseball team resorts to slapstick as their last hope for victory!     

The second of three issues of Adventure Comics' Strange Sports Stories was, well, strange. The opening story seemed to me like something I had read before in the pages of the Tick. In the first couple of issues of The Tick: Karma Tornado, the Tick has been whisked away to an intergalactic Goodwill Games in which he is the captain of a team of athletes comprised of Cleopatra, Booker T. Washington, and a T-Rex! That Karma Tornado story was published almost a year after this issue and I would hate for that awesome tale to have been a rip-off of the Strange Sports Stories opener here...
   

 The other two adventures in this comic were okay. They weren't quite as good as the opening yarn, nor were they of the caliber of the stories that comprised issue #1. But I still enjoyed reading them!

   Along with a couple of pages filled with strange but true stories from the wide world of earth sports, I enjoyed this book, though maybe not as much as the previous issue.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

The Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #60- PLOP!

Plop!- the short-lived companion piece to the House Of Secrets, the House Of Mystery, and The Witching Hour. It's true, as brother Cain and Abel and the Old Witch shared duties as the host to many of the stories contained within. It's moniker billed the comic as the “Magazine of Weird Humor” and boy does this collection not disappoint.

  This Blue Ribbon Digest was a much sought after gem that I stumbled across at a pop-up book sale. These digests, while completely filled with reprints, are holy grails to collectors such as myself who have found memories of these treasuries and actively seek them out and buy them with gusto. However, age has caught up with me as the tiny print was hard to read and I had to take frequent breaks least I end up with a headache. But that doesn't mean that I didn't have a ball reading this.

 Plop! featured the creative talents of Basil Wolverton, Wally Wood, Bernie Wrightson, and Sergio Aragones. It was like an old EC Comic was combined with Mad Magazine and had a baby… a very weird baby. Along with some silly fables, a Lord of the Rings parody, and a reprint of the award-winning story ‘ The Poster Plague’- a short tale from House Of Mystery that started it all. Why there's even a few Murphy Anderson penciled shorts that skewer some of you favorite heroes of the DC Universe.

I enjoyed this so much that if I ever come across further issues of PLOP! in my scourings of bargain bins, they will become a part of my collection! Without a doubt!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Attack of the Killer Facts by Eric Grzymkowski

   Killer Bacteria! Alien Abductions! Odd Laws! Paranormal Activity! Freaky Weather! Human Oddities! Filled with 1,001 weird and bizarre bits of trivia, Attack of the Killer Facts is the ultimate bathroom reader for fans of the strange and macabre.

    Written by budding Jeopardy contestant Eric Grzymkowski, Killer is Facts is just one of several books written by the gang at the Daily Bender; an informative blog created by Adams Media. Though these fact books are considered 'bathroom readers' you don't have to enjoy them on the porcelain throne. 

   I love reading about weird and odd things and with over 1000 crazy tidbits of subjects ranging from the search for Bigfoot to the odd collections of serial killers, there was tons of new stuff for me to learn. Some of these facts were completely new to me- so new, I couldn't believe them! But each fact comes complete with a list of references so you can further your research like I did when I looked up Lina Medina, who at 5 years old, was documented as the youngest female to ever give birth!

   One thing that each of these facts also contain are jokes and I could do without them. Grzymkowski seems to think he's better suited at comedy than fact finding as he includes an often inane quip at the end of every factoid he presents. 99% of these kneeslappers produced groans instead of gaffaws. Still, even with these stinkers, the amount of interestingly odd facts are enough for me to give another one of Adams Media's readers a try. I just probably will chose one of the publisher's other authors over another offering by MR. Grzymkowski.

    A fun read that suceeds at being a poor man's Ripley's but fails at being another '1,001 Gross Jokes...'

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.