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Post by commond on Oct 13, 2024 18:33:32 GMT -5
Finished another comic -- No Longer Human, Junji Ito's adaptation of the famous Osamu Dazai novel, considered a classic of post-war Japanese literature. I confess to having never read the novel (reading being a past time that I have regretfully neglected over the years.) My understanding is that Ito made changes to the novel to fit in his comic horror tropes and also tie-in the real life suicide of Dazai and his lover, Tomie Yamazaki. I have no idea whether it is a successful adaptation or not, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as a comic. It's bleak and depressing (in typical Japanese fashion), but I felt the literary influence made for a stronger story than many of Ito's self-penned serials, and the artwork, though restrained by Ito standards, was typically excellent. I have a strong desire to read the novel now, though I could do without the depression.
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Post by commond on Oct 16, 2024 8:04:23 GMT -5
Finished The Nice House on the Lake. Not sure why this was a horror recommendation as there's barely any horror in it. It started off with a great premise then devolved into a story about young people and their personal problems. That would have been all right if the payoff was worth it, but the final issue reveals it's simply the end of the "first cycle" paving the way for the current sequel, The Nice House by the Sea. I can't say I'm in any hurry to read the sequel. I can understand why the original series got plenty of hype as the initial concept was exciting, but they could have done so much the core idea. That said, I was committed to reading it the whole way through regardless of how annoying the characters were.
A series I'm much higher on is Ice Cream Man. I've only read a handful of issues but it's been brilliant so far.
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Oct 16, 2024 21:33:14 GMT -5
Haven't read much horror this month, just not in the mood, but I did finally sit down and read Houses of the Unholy by Brubaker and Phillips. Yes it's modern and not, classic, but I liked it. It was mid-tier Bru/Phillips, but that's still head and shoulders above a lot of stuff out there past and present. I'm not one of those readers who has much interest in the Satanic Panic of the 80s and 90s (lived through it, don't nee dot revisit it and don't enjoy doing so despite a lot of modern horror comic writers wanting to play in that sandbox-Bru here, Tynion in Dept. of Truth, Lemire touched on it in Gideon Falls too iirc, it just feels played out to me), so that worked against this one for me (and probably why it took me a few weeks to get to it after I bought it when usually Bru/Phillips OGN are appointment reading for me), but it was solid Brubaker/Phillips material, well written, well drawn with solid visual narrative storytelling, fleshed out characters and all the usual hallmarks of a Brubaker/Phillips project, it just didn't resonate with me as much as some of their other projects and I am glad it's a on off and not part of a series. I'd rank it with Pulp, Night Fever, Kill or Be Killed and Where the Body Was, not up with Fatale, Reckless, Criminal, Sleeper, etc. Solid, quality entertaining read, but not among the upper echelon of their stuff.
-M
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2024 22:24:29 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2024 22:28:20 GMT -5
And this is freaky. It's a hospital's POV of the first night of Night of the Living Dead....when the bodies come in and then suddenly re-animate and start walking around...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2024 22:31:55 GMT -5
And good old fashioned Hack Slash...
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Post by tonebone on Oct 17, 2024 13:10:02 GMT -5
I had never heard of this series, and took a chance on the compendium... glad I did... pretty spooky.  |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 27, 2024 12:42:42 GMT -5
O.k., I didn’t really feel like reading any horror comics, but in the spirit of this thread I pulled out a few of the Archie digests I had and read some of the ‘spooky’ and/or Halloween stories. So, from The Best of Archie Comics, Book Three (2013)...  I read “A Familiar Old Haunt” by writer Paul Castiglia and artists Fernando Ruiz (pencils) and Rich Koslowski (inks), which originally appeared in Archie’s Weird Mysteries #6 (2000). In it, Archie convinces Jughead, Betty and Veronica to go to “Paranormal Investigation Camp” run by two guys named Bo and Gus. So with Jughead’s pooch Hot Dog in tow, they all head off.  (That van’s familiar appearance is quite deliberate) Once they get to the camp, they bump into an eccentric forest hermit who resembles Bigfoot and warns them about some scary leaf creatures, which indeed show up. However, it all ends up being a ruse. This is obviously very much an homage to Scooby-Doo, down to the *spoiler alert* “we would have gotten away with it, too...” at the end. And then, from Archie Giant Comics 75th Anniversary Book (2016)...  I read two stories: “An Axe to Grind,” written and drawn by Dan Parent, and inked by Rich Koslowski, which was originally published in Betty & Veronica Spectacular #85 (2008). On Halloween, Betty and Veronica decide to stay in at the Lodge mansion to watch horror movies on DVD while her parents go to a costume party, and Archie, Jughead and Reggie want to come by and play scary pranks on them. Meanwhile, a rainstorm rolls in and Veronica’s truck driver aunt shows up at the mansion to take refuge – but then there is a power outage. A sort a comedy of errors ensues.  Next is “...Clothes Make the Monster,” written and drawn by Fernando Ruiz and inked by Mark McKenna, which originally appeared in Archie & Friends #135 (2009). Just ahead of Halloween, the whole gang goes to a new costume shop in downtown Riverdale, but it seems that the eccentric owner is a genuine sorceress, and they assume the personalities of their costumes. Dilton Doiley ends up being the story’s unlikely hero.  All in all, these are all typical Archie fare – you kind of know what to expect going into them. Of them all, I liked the last one the best, both the story and the art – I think Ruiz is my favorite of the new generation of Archie artists (although Parent is pretty solid). |
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Post by majestic on Oct 30, 2024 9:08:30 GMT -5
Wrath of the Spectre arc from Adventure Comics #431-440 by Fleisher and Aparo. Timeless classic that holds up to repeated readings.
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Post by commond on Nov 3, 2024 17:32:47 GMT -5
Last year for Halloween, I read Kazuo Umezu's The Drifting Classroom. This year, I read God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand, a collection of five tales centering around a young boy with psychic like powers. I'll tell you what, Junji Ito may be a genius, but Kazuo Umezu is the master. Easily the best of the Japanese horror mangakas, in my opinion.
I also sampled some of Gou Tanabe's Lovecraft adaptions, which are every bit as good as people say. Also on the Japanese front, I read Fraction by ero-guro master, Shintaro Kago. Probably not the best introduction to Kago's work as he uses the story to deconstruct the form a bit, but Kago is a sick puppy.
Plogg's Frankenstein was very good. A little confusing as I've never read the Shelly novel but the art was great. The book nosedived once Plogg left. I really hate the way they shuffled artists in the Roy Thomas era. The other artists struggled with how to draw the monster, and the stories were weak once they decided to move the monster to the modern day. I'd recommend the Plogg issues, though.
As far as modern horror comics go, Something is Killing the Children was hands down my favorite followed by Ice Cream Man and Harrow County. I tried to finish Locke & Key, but fell short. It was also solid.
The best graphic novel I read this October was The Squirrel Machine. That was a crazy, messed up trip. I loved every second of it. Charles Burns' The Hive and Sugar Skull were also good.
I didn't get very far in my EC reading, and there were a few other things like Dr. Spektor, I... Vampire, and Richard Corben and Tom Sutton's work that I only glanced at. Overall, I was happy with my Halloween reading even if I bit off more than I could chew. Some of it I need to finish and some things can wait until next October.
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Post by commond on Nov 5, 2024 5:32:43 GMT -5
Sadly, the news broke today that Umezu died last week -- link
One of the greats. |
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Post by Rob Allen on Nov 19, 2024 19:34:41 GMT -5
I've been away so I missed this thread. Now that I've read it, I'm a bit surprised that no one mentioned the publisher that was synonymous with horror for close to 20 years - Warren.
Are Creepy and Eerie forgotten these days?
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Nov 19, 2024 19:42:38 GMT -5
I've been away so I missed this thread. Now that I've read it, I'm a bit surprised that no one mentioned the publisher that was synonymous with horror for close to 20 years - Warren. Are Creepy and Eerie forgotten these days? I've been picking up the new paperback archive editions of both that Dark Horse has been putting out, but I just didn't get to read much horror at all during October, just wasn't in the right mood for it, but I do plan on reading through these volumes when the mood strikes. -M |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 19, 2024 20:38:32 GMT -5
I've been away so I missed this thread. Now that I've read it, I'm a bit surprised that no one mentioned the publisher that was synonymous with horror for close to 20 years - Warren. Are Creepy and Eerie forgotten these days? The what now? |
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Post by commond on Nov 20, 2024 3:28:02 GMT -5
I've been away so I missed this thread. Now that I've read it, I'm a bit surprised that no one mentioned the publisher that was synonymous with horror for close to 20 years - Warren. Are Creepy and Eerie forgotten these days? I started reading a collection of Corben's Creepy & Eerie work, but I didn't finish it. |
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