Violet
Another 5/5 for me. Conqueror Worm was just perfect, can't wait to start reading Lobster Johnson. The Third Wish was a little weak compared to the others but it's still better than most comics I've read. The Island might just be my new favorite Hellboy story. I'm such a sucker for esoteric lore and secret histories and this one is chock full of that. The panel after Hellboy drinks with some sailors and turns to find out they're skeletons is just quintessential Mignola.
Much closer to a 4.5/5. This is my first time reading one of these big DC events and I figured I'd start in somewhat familiar territory with Cosmic Odyssey's Mignola artwork. Further situated him as my favorite artist in the industry, even this early work is just packed with panels only he could realize.
Surprisingly long collection of issues from Zenescope's Grimm Tales of Terror series. This is my first time reading anything from them and it's clear what their MO is. I don't have an issue with fun raunchy horror but I can see this not working as well for others. It's definitely in the same vein as an EC or Warren comic but almost never hits the same level of quality in any of it's arenas. The writing, stories, and art is all very similar across the board, nothing groundbreaking at all.
Would still recommend this to those who enjoy anthology horror but there are plenty of better options out there. Won't stop me from reading the next 2 volumes though.
Found the Strawberry storyline to be a bit flat but certainly intriguing. Hopefully they follow up on it in later volumes. The anthology stories were all hits for me, art and story were both solid throughout.
Loved the final issue, a great fun Sandman reunion story. Loved seeing my absolute favorite librarian, Lucien himself.
And I'm in love.
I'm 100% in for the long haul here, Mignola is such a talented writer and a visionary artist. I'm diving head first into not just Hellboy but all of his work.
I didn't think anyone could write an anthology such as solid as this volume, every story is so strong in it's own way. A must-read for any horror fan.
I'm a big fan of the actual Ripley's Odditoriums so when I found out these comics existed I had to find out what they were like. This 2 issue mini-series contains a bundle of adapted true stories. If you're not familiar with Zenescope, they're what I would consider the Roger Corman of the comics industry. Cheap pulpy b-movie fun, perfect for Ripley's imo.
The art is generally nice, nothing groundbreaking. It doesn't try anything to out of the ordinary which I see as a missed opportunity for telling these kinds of stories.
The first volume of Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden's Baltimore has just about everything I could ask for in a solid Gothic romp. Really moody Seaside setting, Weird War stories, a uniquely Mignola take on Vampires, Fungus Zombies, Antique Diving-Suit Zombies, and beautifully plotted monster killing sequences. Literally what else could you ask for!
This review won't be as long as the last since I don't have as much to say. Continues everything I liked from the first volume and improves on the anthology format. I found the wraparound story to be pretty strong here if only a little long. Definitely a volume packed with reveals and new story threads, don't expect many answers if any.
While I'm still awaiting Cain's arrival, I lovedThe Caretakers. A story about Harry and Abel capturing stray Nightmares in the House. Another absolute standout was the short and sweet Gothic Romance drawn by one of my favorites Bernie Wrightson. A classic little story about a woman cursed with romances that end in monstrous circumstances. Really stunning art throughout, lovely tribute to both the Universal Classics and the later Hammer pictures.
Well this was better than I expected!
An βanthologyβ series with one hell of a wraparound. A college student finds herself trapped in her very own dream house, her House of Mystery. Inside she finds a small bundle of others also trapped, along with many guests visiting the house's bar. Through these guests we are told stories from different worlds, times, and perspectives. In any other series this would probably be the main focus with the House itself taking a backseat. Not here though, the serialized story usually takes up the majority of each issue.
To speak on those, as any anthology goes it's a mixed bag. I found the stories to mostly be short and sweet with none overstaying their welcome. The art was consistent from issue to issue with each anthology segment having it's own artist. Issue #4 had both mediocre art and a story with less substance than any other cheapie pulp trash I've read (and I tend to like said pulp trash).
The main attraction in my opinion is the serialized story though. With an interesting cast of characters I hope to see developed over House of Mysteryies 42 issue run. The character I found myself most intrigued by was the House itself. I'm such a sucker for eldritch locations of endless halls and strange plagued landscapes. Such poignant images are here of giant skeletons dotting vast fields, century old corpses and ancient artifacts just poking out from underneath the grounds.
The eponymous House of Mystery is the same one owned by Cain in the DC universe but he is not present in this volume except for the opening (although I expect his arrival soon). I rather liked the way this series has planted itself in the world of The Sandman while also leaving it so quickly. I'll leave this review with the hook in the very beginning of Issue #1, after killing Abel and enjoying some tea, Cain leaves his brothers home to find is own plot empty. Someone has stolen the House of Mystery.
Ugh. So this would've gotten a fairly decent review but it seems as if the people over at Heavy Metal have lost their damn minds. Among some real gems there is not only a fair bit of trash but also an article that goes against the very ethos of the magazine. Smack dab in the middle of this issue is an article with Keven Smith about his NFT movie. Not a movie about NFT's but a movie that IS an NFT. Not going to get into it, research it yourself if you'd like and you'll see the problem.
Not sure what if the editors at Heavy Metal have been replaced by pod people or not but christ, what a baffling decision. There are stories in this VERY issue that discuss Mankind's habit of destroying the planet...so here's an ad for something destroying the planet! Buy product, consume, ignore the planet I guess. Total trash.
Well if you're a fan of Moebius than this is the issue for you. 28 pages of his mad beauty. Approaching Centauri was the standout for me, Moebius at his absolute best imo. Another chapter in DEN, this one being a bit less interesting for me personally. Lots of exposition as the plot is ramping up, rather liked when it was more mysterious. World Apart is a new serial that started in the previous issue, It's already beginning to lose me. Way too masculine and angry for me personally. Nep Simo was almost offensive in it's unabashedly horny portrayal of women? I can't say I love all the nudity in this magazine but at least it usually feels a little more...subtle than this. The sad thing is this story features some really bizzaro fun clown action so I ended up enjoying it nonetheless.
Conquering Armies was boring this time around, felt less like The Twilight Zone and more like an EC story (and a mediocre one at that). I said I wasn't gonna bring it up anymore but Sunspot finally ended, thank the gods. As the final panel reads Sunspot is dead.. The Golden Queen featured some great art but not much substance.
Finally we get to my personal favorite story this issue, Crossroads of the Universe by new favorite Enki Bilal. Won't spoil the premise but it very much felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone meets Labyrinth. Great stuff. That being said, the issue then comes to a close after another short Moebius strip. Much better than the last two, only a couple stories I didn't care for, the grand majority ranging from good to great.
A definite improvement from the last! There were more hits than misses so still pretty good for an anthology.
Continuing Stories:
Conquering Armies - This one is short and arguably sweet. I love this series so I was a bit disappointed by the length, still a very nice EC-esque tale.
Sunspot - Not my taste, skipped yet again. Won't be bringing this one up after this issue as I don't want to keep repeating myself.
DEN - So GOOD. Look I love Corben's work with Warren but his surreal void of a fantasy landscape is beautiful. So many strange structures and characters. No there isn't much in character development past DEN himself because it's so focused in world-building.
Age of Ages - Continuing on in it's strange collage world of victoriana, spirtuality, and myth, Age of Ages is still my favorite serial of Heavy Metal thus far. It's not exactly subtle and it certainly doesn't make much sense but that's what I love about it.
Arzach - Well this one took an interesting turn. I'm gonna get the obvious out of the way, Moebius is such a visionary and I adore his art. I know I'm late to the party but WOW. Here he gives us another perfectly silent, wordless chapter in the story of Arzach. Taking a detour from it's previous fantasy background, here we see a new character in a slightly more technologically advanced world. Can't say I understand it yet but it's a joy to witness.
The Rest: Gonna be brief here. The Vessel was a short and okay horror/science fiction tale. Enjoyed the twist ending. Rockblitz was silly and definitely not for me. Fear of the Blue-Eyed Sloane was so very French and fantastic. Going to be checking out more of this writer/artist as soon as I can. Vengeance felt exactly like a Warren Mag, which by all means is not a bad thing. Last story I want to mention is the last of the issue, Shells. A neat little plot about a future in which humans wear full body metal Shells. A couple explores a wrecked landscape and decide to risk it and see each other's real body for the first time. Fun read with some strange art. Worth a read.
Overall this issue was pretty well-rounded and continued with all that I love about this Magazine.
Giving this the same rating as the previous issue even though I had MAJOR issues with this one. I'll be honest, I really only liked THE GRAVE FLIES and this issues chapter in DENAEUS. I found the other 2 to be dull and derivative. Now, the reason I'm rating it the same as the previous despite my issues is that Grave Flies is so far my absolute FAVORITE of this entire series. Such a classic gothic style segment. Worth a read just for that in my opinion.
I also really enjoyed this chapter in Denaeus, especially with it's added depth to it's main female character. Although technically a sequel to Corben's DEN it just doesn't have the visual flair or surreal qualities the original had.
Decided to start going through as much of Heavy Metal magazine I can take. This first issue at times is pretty great, mostly due to it being translated french work from their magazine Metal Hurlant. To get it out of the way, I will admit the outdated depictions of women can be tiring. I didn't find it to be particularly bad in this first issue but the signs are there.
The standouts here are DEN by Richard Corben, CONQUERING ARMIES by Jean-Pierre Dionnet and drawn by Jean-Claude Gal, ARZACH written and drawn by Moebius, and AGE OF AGE by Akbar Del Piombo.
The rest are either trashy fun or offensive and boring. TRAUMWACH and SUNSPOT especially were just so far from my taste that I skimmed through them. Oddly enough one of the stories, SPACE PUNKS, seemed like satire but by the end I wasn't sure. It's definitely an interesting read.
As it stands (being the only one I've read thus far) It's a 3 and a half stars. Depending on how good or bad future issues are, I'll update this rating.
Contrary to a lot of the reviews here, I think this is fantastic. Absolutely classic EC style horror with Corben's iconic visual flair. All the stories presented here are short and sweet, all with great crescendos of horror visuals. I even found the out of place serialized Greek epic to be intriguing, if only in that I don't know where it's going.
The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer is one of the oddest books I've read as of recent. Written in an Epistolary format, the book gives us a close and very personal look of the life of Laura Palmer.
The initial build up to her loss of innocence is done very well with disturbing metaphors and shocking imagery.
Sadly though, the shock wears off quite quickly.
The drug-filled, sex-driven, adventures of Laura Palmer drag on for far too long. The psychological aspects of the story are quite interesting and give much to those who'd like to theorize about her character. The added insight as to how she felt during the events leading up to Fire Walk With Me and eventually her death were very welcome.
In short, The Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer is an interesting expansion on the already fascinating lore of the world of Twin Peaks just without the compelling story and beautiful visuals of Fire Walk With Me.
Coming in to give this a five since it's criminally underrated on here.
I'm really surprised by all the reviews too since I feel like my opinion is backwards. The first issue here, #574, is a really sappy war story about Flash Thompson. Not my thing for numerous reasons.
Flashbacks (#575-576) by Joe Kelly and Chris Bachalo was a really great Hammerhead story. Aside from some distasteful jokes I thought the writing was very strong, especially for Spidey. Bachalo's art is gorgeous as always and the almost Black and White coloring really makes these issues standout.
Finally we have Old Huntin' Buddies (#577) by Zeb Wells and Paolo Rivera. Punisher stories told in the greater Marvel universe can feel censored and OOC but that was absolutely not the case here. Telling this kind of story in a more family oriented comic forced the art to represent violence in some really clever ways, while still giving us classic Punisher killings.
Speaking of the art, Rivera brings some of the best art thus far for the Brand New Day initiative. Evoking a real 1960's feel elevates this in such a great way. It makes sense given he had just done a Origin Retelling project for Marvel titled Mythos.In short, this is by far the strongest volume to come out since J.M's exit.
So this begins my 2021 Halloween Special Marathon. I'm reading each and every DC Halloween Special released and giving them a short review.
These are all Anthology works so quality varies heavily from story to story. Anthology Horror is quintessentially Halloween to me so I'm well used to the format. I'll just be pointing out the best stories here, the stories are SHORT so if you don't like one it'll soon be over.
Kcirt ro Taert - This short starring Zatanna is written by the legendary Paul Dini and drawn by a personal favorite of mine, Dustin Nguyen. I love Zatanna stories and this one was a bit more morbid than usual so obviously I loved it. Paul Dini excels in short stories.
Red Rain: Blood Lust - Regardless of public opinion, I LOVE Kelley Jones' artwork. He's one of my all time favorites and this story is no exception. The writing is fine but god is the gothic atmosphere just beautiful. The red sky and endless stone architecture of this Gotham speaks to me.
Strange Cargo - This one was my personal favorite of the bunch. I'm a sucker for weird Superman stories so one featuring Zombies was right up my alley. Accompanying Steve Niles' writing was Dean Ormston in a rare painted style. Really beautiful nonetheless.
Logging this partially because I only read the Donny Cates story. For a super short anthology segment it was kinda great? Cates clearly already has a good grasp on what makes a comic fun and gripping.
What can I say though, I'm a sucker for weird adventure stories.
Only a partial log because I just read the story by Donny Cates
Uhhh just had total whiplash because this was published only a few weeks after Cates first comic credit. Yet this one didn't really have any of the charm from that first story? Strange.
I believe this is the first time I've done a DNF review. I've generally enjoyed Tynion's Batman (it is nowhere near as good as his indie work, Department of Truth especially) but this one has completely lost me. Ghostmaker is simply a terrible character, he puts a damper on the entire mythology of Batman (at least the mythology I prefer).
His existence inserts itself so deeply inside Batman's history it makes suspension of disbelief impossible. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Hush, this character is basically a failed version of the same concept. The worst part about Ghostmaker isn't the fact that his personality is utterly boring and contrived, nor is it his mediocre design. It's the lack of having anything interesting to say about the psychology of Batman when that's supposed to be the ethos of his character.
Read this as a part of the Solo Omnibus but wanted to make note of it. This is quite possibly one of the best single issues DC has ever put out. I can't stress enough just how incredibly produced this is.
Cooke had such a master on form and aesthetic, one that has never been matched since. Every panel of every page tells you everything you need to know about his world. His voice and vision are perfected here.