10/16/07
Halloween Required Reading Material
It has been entirely too long since I've posted a column on the Pulp Fiction website. As our dear friend Mr. Lerner can attest, I actually have a reasonable explanation this time. Ever since June I've had the privilege of being a freelance writer for Wizard Online & Toyfare Magazine. I won't bore you with too many details, but I've been on their freelance e-mail database since 2005. I had an assignment for a sidebar article fall in my lap last June and then I pinch-hit on coverage for them at the San Diego Comic Con in July. Since then I've been taking on other assignments for them as they have come along.
Well, that's enough catching up, I think. Let's talk about Halloween. There are a lot of things about Halloween that everyone young & old can get behind. For the kids, it's the novelty of knocking on the door of a perfect stranger and if they answer they will give you candy. To quote John Pinette, "It doesn't work any other day of the year. Believe me, I've tried!" Speaking as an adult, I'm fonder of a quote from Jim Gaffigan: "I love Halloween. And not just because you ladies use it as an excuse to dress as prostitutes!"
Besides those purely selfish reasons, what I have always found admirable about Halloween is the fact that it celebrates something that we (as a country founded by Christians) are hardwired to fear, and that is the supernatural. Not that we need Halloween or the supernatural to enjoy a good fright, as the year-round success of horror movies and horror comics can attest.
Here are a few bits of suggested reading in order to get you boars & ghouls even more in the mood for Halloween:
Zombies, zombies & mo' zombies!
It seems like every other movie released in theaters recently has either zombies, or antagonists that have a medical condition with zombie-like symptoms. The trend is even more prevalent in comic books. Stories about zombies are spreading like the "rage" virus in "28 Days Later", and while some of them are pretty original, they are for the most part variation on a very familiar theme.
Out of the more traditional zombie comics, they don't get much better than The Walking Dead published by Image Comics. It is an ongoing series written by Robert Kirkman about the aftermath of a zombie outbreak. The story begins in a similar fashion to "28 Days Later", with protagonist Rick Grimes waking up from a coma to discover that zombies have overrun the hospital & the surrounding area. Despite the unoriginal beginning, this has proven to be one of the most well-written zombie tales ever written. The Walking Dead illustrates the long-term problems of surviving a zombie plague, and suffice it to say the survivors are more in danger of killing each other (intentionally or otherwise) than from the undead hordes.
Zombies: Eclipse of the Undead from IDW Publishing takes a similar (if more intense & brutal) tack, with a zombie outbreak hitting Los Angeles. In this limited series written by El Torres, normal citizens & chicano gangbangers are given the choice to overcome their baser natures or become a zombie smorgasbord. The results are not pretty. IDW seems to have made publishing zombie comics their specialty, as they also publish comics based on movies such as "Shaun of the Dead" & George Romero's "Land of the Dead".
One of the more original zombie stories to come out in a long time is Marvel Zombies from Marvel Comics. Written by Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman, this story is actually a continuation of a story started in the pages of Ultimate Fantastic Four, where Reed Richards discovers a reality where the Marvel Universe we know and love has been overtaken by zombies. The Avengers and other heroes, now zombies themselves, have to contend with a dwindling supply of food (read: normal humans), bodies that no longer behave normally & constant internal strife. In the middle of all this, the Silver Surfer & Galactus come to Earth. When I first heard about this story concept I shuddered. Kirkman, however, managed to turn what should have been a lame concept into comic book gold. The story was so well-received that it was recently used in a crossover mini-series with Army of Darkness and is about to be revisited in a sequel inspired by "Civil War".
For you children of the night…
There are very few horror concepts that have been tapped over the years quite as much as the vampire. From Dracula to Angel, we just can't hide our fascination with the blood sucking bastards. Of course, they have numerous comics based on both of those characters as well as others.
A story I always thought was underrated was Crimson, created by Humberto Ramos for the now-defunct Cliffhanger imprint of DC Comics. Alex Elder, a protagonist cut from the Luke Skywalker mold (read: whiny), is an angst-ridden teen that survives a vampire attack and becomes a vamp himself. Aided by vampire elder Ekimus & the free-spirited Native-American vamp Joe, Alex adjusts to his new reality while pining for the normal life that was stripped from him. The story also works the origins of Dragons & the creation of Adam & Eve into its mythology.
Of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention the vampire comic that everyone is buzzing about, 30 Days Of Night. Anyone that's seen the commercials for the upcoming movie based on the book know that it's a different take on vampires, but it is definitely one of the more innovative vampire stories that has been written. For those of you unfamiliar with the premise of the story written by Steve Niles, a horde of vampires descend on the town of Barrow, Alaska, just as winter comes and the sun has set and won't come up again for 30 days. The vampires see this as a chance to go hog wild without having to hide from the pesky sun for a full month. If you enjoy this title don't forget to check out the sequels 30 Days Of Night: Return to Barrow, 30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales & 30 Days of Night: Three Tales.
Don't go in that room!
For those of you that like to satisfy your horror fix with a nice dose of watching hapless teenagers get hacked up by supernatural (and often fugly) killers, there are comics out there for you as well. Comedian Pablo Francisco summed these teenaged victims up rather nicely: "The teenagers in these movies are so stupid you could strangle them with a cordless phone!"
Of course he's referring to the classic "Friday the 13th" franchise, which has been brought to comics by DC's Wildstorm imprint. Writers Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti should have been brought in to write the movies right after "Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter", just before they started to get ridiculous. They take a back-to-basics approach with the concept. Let's see, gratuitous sex & nudity? Check. Copious amounts of profanity? Check. Decapited & disemboweled victims? Check. And of course, there's the ever-present Jason Voorhees. Not only have they got the basics down, but they manage to craft a (somewhat) viable explanation about why Jason keeps coming back from the dead for more mayhem. Hell, they even throw in an explanation for why land developers keep getting suckered into buying the obviously cursed land that Camp Crystal Lake is situated on. Wildstorm has also been publishing comics based on other horror movies like "Nighmare on Elm Street" & "Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
For an interesting variation on this theme, check out Hack/Slash, published by Devil's Due Publishing. Scripted by Tim Seeley, the main character, Cassie Hack, is a teenage girl that makes it her mission to hunt down what she calls Slashers, which are basically supernaturally-powered killers that are hard to kill because they are too angry or too stupid to die (much like Jason Voorhies). Cassie's very first kill was her own mother, a killer called "The Lunch Lady", who killed kids that were unkind to her daughter and served them up as lunch the next day. Hack/Slash also features cameos from fellow comic book creators Robert Kirkman & Steve Niles as victims of one of Seeley's Slasher creations.
Witches, wizards, warlocks (What the…?)
For those of you that think magic & the occult are the pinnacle of creepiness, take a look at The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft. There are a variety of stories by creators like Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson, Mike Mignola and even an adapted work of William Shakespeare. It is mainly a series of cautionary tales on what happen to normal folks that become entangled in witchcraft, and includes an interview with Wiccan high priestess Phyllis Curott.
Speaking of Mike Mignola, his book Hellboy is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to the supernatural. The trade paperback Hellboy: The Chained Coffin and others has a series of stories recounting encounters with folk tale favorites such as The Wolves of St. August & The Baba Yaga.
Or there's always the same old, same old
Even the mainstream comics have great takes on Halloween on occasion. Batman: Haunted Knight collects all of the Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween specials created by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale in one volume. This duo can do no wrong when it comes to Batman stories, and these stories have Batman in the unusual situation of being the frightened instead of the one doing the frightening.
Even though it is not a Halloween story, the most frightening Batman story I have ever read was Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison & Dave McKean. Batman goes into Arkham Asylum to quell an inmate uprising and ends up confronting the demons within as well as the ones roaming the Arkham halls.
And last but not least…
Alright, this last one is not all that scary, but nevertheless The Goon by Erik Powell is one of the best comics out there period, and definitely one of the best horror-based comics. This book combines zombies & the supernatural with 30's & 40's gangster noir and a heaping helping of comedy. In a town inhabited by a deadbeat spider in debt, a nervous werewolf and an old gypsy woman that plays in mud puddles, The Nameless Priest is attempting to take over the city with an army of zombies. Unfortunately for him, the city is run by The Goon and his sidekick Franky, who think that the only good zombie is a dead zombie.
Well, that's my two cents (and then some). Until next time, gang.
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