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I found this lovely site the other day.  It seems to have much info about various comics and other forms of horror art.  It is at comicmonsters.com.  Go check it out.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the comic book shop.

The second issue of Dark Horse’s Creepy will be in stores on Wednesday.  This week.  Tomorrow.

Short notice? Yes.  If you want it you probably already knew that anyway.

I will get it.  I will read it. And I will be Writing about it on this very blog.  But I am not as hopeful about it as I was before I saw the first one.  And the letter I got from Dark Horse made it clear that they would not be following any of my suggestions.  So, barring miracles, it will probably suck.

I hope it is great.  I would certainly love to be pleasantly surprised.  We shall see.

It does take me time to read and then think and then get around to typing and uploading, So I would be amazed if there is anything about this mag on Wednesday.  But soon thereafter.

see y’all then

PS-And what of all the comics I mentioned in the last post that I would be writing about?  Keep your shorts on.  I’ll get to them when I get to them.  If you were all that excited abut it, you would be leaving mounds of comments.  Since you are not I need to assume that either I am posting for air, or that those who read this don’t care enough to comment.  Either way I don’t feel any great mandate to be vigilant.

PPS-I believe that the local fauna may be watching me.

PPPS-No, really.  For the past four days, every morning when I go out the front door, there is a squirrel sitting dead center on a fence across the street looking right at me.  After a few seconds of me staring back at him, he leaves nonchalantly.

Since the great day is so agonizingly close now, I thought I might throw my big hat into the “best movies of all time” ring. The ones I will be picking are personal choices.

I could research and do big important all time choices, but this is not that kind of article. This is about the best movies to watch when you want to really have fun with horror. Such as at a Halloween party or slumber party or, in my case, a Christmas Party.

I will list them in reverse awesomeness order, starting with number ten.

10 Ghost Story–It seems a bit dated now, but then it seemed dated when it was new. It’s just that kind of set up. This has some of the scariest moments of any film I have ever seen. It blew me away in the theatre. It also made me try to read Peter Straub’s books. I have yet to finish one. Though I keep being told they are wonderful.

9 Halloween-- The original John Carpenter film. It is not number one on the list but obviously it is a necessary part of any Halloween movie festivities. Not 2 or 4 or H2O or anything made by Rob Zombie.

8 This position is split. The film here is “Village of the Damned“, the original made in 1960 and starring George Sands. It was film noir style and had lots of dark undertones. It was about a village that fell unconscious one day and a few weeks later they discovered that all the proper aged women had become pregnant that same day. As the film continues there are reasons to expect that these are not normal children and they may not even be human. I loved it for years But then John Carpenter remade it in 1995. It was in color and starred Christopher Reeve (Superman). It was definitely a different feel but worked really well. So no matter which version you get your hands on it is a must see.

7 Frank Langella’s Dracula. I have nothing further to say about it.

6 Hocus Pocus- What do you mean it’s not horror!?! Up yours! This is my damn list. I like it. I said this list was about fun and Halloween. This movie delivers both. Not to mention that Alison looks really good in a sweater.

5 Sometimes a movie is made badly, with a weak script, and stiff (or no) acting and yet somehow is enjoyable. And on even rarer occasions becomes iconic. It transcends all normal ways of judging things and becomes a total classic despite its faults. Which brings me to Phantasm. OMG. It is just re-watchable. I can tell you a thousand reasons why it’s a shitty film, and yet I love it. And not in that “it’s so bad it’s good” way. But in a full-on this film is so cool that it would have to be far worse to even begin to be bad. (I really like Phantasm)

4 Curse of the Demon–Flat out demonic fun. It was made long before everything in it became cliche, therefore it pulls no punches. There are no stupid “explanations” or ambiguities. Based on the short story Casting the Runes by M. R. James and brilliantly directed by Jacques Tourneur, this thing sizzles. I have lost or worn out many copies and always buy a new one. The mood is perfect and there are some scenes that will blow you away, as Harlan Ellison has said.

3 Creepshow--This thing simply rocks. It is flat out the best anthology horror film ever made. It is so good that it makes me like it’s sequel brain-deadly named Creepshow 2. While not a bad movie in it’s own right, 2 gets a big interest bump just by being associated with the original.

2 The Exorcist–Come on! You knew it would be here somewhere. I am still undecided about the special edition. I would recommend the original. Although the extended version actually deepens the story, it also introduces superfluous elements that detract from the gestalt of the original. Go with the original if you can.

1 You may have noticed that all these films are fairly old (as I am as well). So you may be surprised to see that my top choice for best horror film (on this list anyway) is Constantine. It stars Keanu reeves as the cynical chain-smoking fighter of evil from the Hellblazers series of graphic stories. It is a complete joy from 30 seconds in and never farts around or gets boring or stupid at any point.

That’s all for today kiddies.  Check back soon for three wonderful new comic reviews.  ( One of them is a brand new series by Richard Corbin!)

Welcome back kiddies. Can you remember all the way back to the second or third article in this series, where I told you that when I got to the second last story. You have to remind me about something? Well this is it. This is the second last story. It’s also my second last article. The Horse at this point has been reduced almost to the point of a puddle. But I do have to get the last couple whacks in.

Then, I can finally get on to some more very interesting comic books that I found recently. The story I’m talking about today, is titled Loathsome Lore “Faustian deals”. It basically is a rambling narrative, which speculates about certain celebrities having been in league with the devil.

It’s interesting comic books stuff. The story is credited as “Haufner, Braun, and Gore. And the art is by Hilary Barta. As I said in a previous article, much of the writing in this particular piece seems to have been lifted from a 1974 issue of Hustler magazine. (That was the one in which they had the article, about Anton Szandor LaVey).

Now I have to complain about an editorial decision made in the magazine. As I said before, I had never heard of Robert Johnson before the story Hell Hound Blues. I naturally thought it was just made up for the story. That story was the second story in the magazine, Faustian deals was the second last. But in it it referenced the deal that Robert Johnson made with the devil.

I believe these two stories should have been switched in position, for two reasons. The first is that it would’ve allowed Loathsome Lore to introduce the concept of Robert Johnson’s deal with the devil before it was used in a story.

The second and possibly more important reason to switch these two stories is that Hell Hound Blues is the best story in the magazine. It should have been second last. Well, actually, it should’ve been last. But second last still would’ve been better.

As for the writing of this particular tale. It seems interesting enough. It is not however a story. I like it. But it really is not a story. The artwork is its saving grace and is unquestionably the best artwork in the entire magazine (not including the frontispiece by Bernie Wrightson).

Hallelujah! Although I’m not quite finished with this horse, yet. I feel are renewed vigor. I’m into the home stretch. There is only one more story to talk about and that one’s going to be pretty easy, because it’s a reprint. Yes kiddies, they didn’t even bother closing with something new.

The tale in question, Daddy And The Pie will have to wait for the next post. Only then will I be able to inflict the final whack.

Be careful driving home, and remember – time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.

I like to talk about comics here, but I rarely source them.  That is I don’t usually tell you where to get a copy.

This New blog I found seems to pretty weel just do that.  He includes reviews of actual customers of the works and it seems like a good place to find Horror Comics to buy.

Go there now and check it out.