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Decapitated Dan
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Horror Comic Roundup - 10/8/13
Horror Comic Roundup Image drawn by Travis Wayne Pursell, colors by Decapitated Dan
Welcome to the Horror Comic Roundup! Join Decapitated Dan, Billy Dunleavy, Denise Dutton and friends each week as they review new and old Horror Comics that you will either be dying to read or terrified to check out!
Decapitated Dan: Okay, now seriously, this is an issue of Crossed you have to read. I don’t know how well I will even be able to describe this issue, but I will try my best. The way that Spurrier wrote this issue was brilliant. You have your typical comic style word balloon dialogue, but then on top of that you have a narrative flowing through the black panel gutters. That little element to tell the story was what made this issue that much better. And it really wasn’t 100% necessary because the story was amazing all on its own. The artwork by Ortiz is GORE-Geous, but I think we can all just expect that at this point. Being a Deadworld fan, I do have a soft spot for bikers in horror comics, so the fact that in this book we have 2 people cruising around smashing the Crossed’s faces in just added to the appeal. This issue just comes across as very cinematic on both look and story. The new arc is off to a fantastic start, so do yourself a BIG favor and pick this one up. - Dying Breath 4.5 out of 5.0
Billy Dunleavy: This old school book contains three fantastic stories spotlighting Marvel’s giant swamp monster! The first story is one that gives you a good story, and has an ending that you’d expect. The action is great, and demons, sacrifice, and death, is always a solid step to a good story. The second tale pulls the rug right out from under you though, and you get completely set up by the first story, so kudos for that brilliance! Lastly, the third story is a typical Man-Thing story, in that you get an antagonist with a feud, and a huge bloody brawl in the swamps of Florida. Good action story to make the book go out with a bang! Definitely grab this back issue or even the Essential volumes for the entire series, because they can be found pretty cheap, and provide a few good hours of entertainment by some great creators. Rating 4/5
Decapitated Dan: I’m still not 100% sure I love this series. I think it is off to a good start, and it is really intriguing, but I think it’s trying to do too much to fast. Hickman and Costa are working with this awesome concept and I really like how it is playing out when the God’s are on the page, but when they aren’t that is when I think it loses a little bit. Just my own personal idea here of course, but I think it would have been a better approach to take the first 3 issues and build up how the Gods can’t be stopped before showing the human brain gang who is trying to figure out how to stop them. Art wise this book looks fantastic. Amorim has done an amazing job on the God designs. Overall I do like this book, but I think it just needs that one little thing to make me love it. - Dying Breath 4.0 out of 5.0
Decapitated Dan: The easiest thing to remember about this book is the word GRINDHOUSE is in the title. I think as long as you know what to expect, you will see how much fun this book is. The story by Alex De Campi has all the elements needed for a great B-Movie plot, but he also throws in that over the top bad ass looking tough gal, with the female cop. The dialogue is fantastic, and I can not get over how much I just loved this plot of killer bees. The artwork by Peterson is top notch. His style here oversells the sex, blood and intense action so well. And I have to give huge props for his GORE-Geous one page panel where the bees attack the cop. Overall this was just a great read, and it is so worth getting your hands on to check out. - Dying Breath 4.5 out of 5.0
Decapitated Dan: I am just going to assume that many people reading this review will know nothing about the Human Gargoyles, and that is okay. This was a story that ran in issues of Skywald’s titles in the 70’s and was later reprinted by Eternity in the 80’s. To make this issue even better, the man bringing it to you, George Warner, provides a fantastic recap, and explains why this book is now back again. It is not just another reprinting, but it also contains content new to what has come before. So with this issue the first 2 chapters are presented and good lord do they look good. Maelo Cintron (original artist) came back on to do the new pages and they are just as GORE-Geous as they were back then. This story, by the legendary Al Hewetson, proves that it can stand the test of time. And yes I do know that this is really just the introduction to the Sartyros family, but I know it is what is needed to get new readers interested. I don’t want to give too much away, but just picture 2 gargoyles mysteriously come to life, people are after them and Satan is involved. Needless to say, classic and new horror comic fans need to make sure that this book is in their collection. - Dying Breath 4.5 out of 5.0
Decapitated Dan: I don’t know what it is about this comic, but it is really entertaining. It is a wordy little horror book, but it is really good. I love this concept that we planned for the zombie outbreak based off of movies, and depending on how the outbreak is taking place, we know which movie to reference. Van Lente wrote in this issue one of the most obvious, yet overlooked things when it comes to zombies, and that is water won’t stop them. The bridge scene and how it all played out was hilarious. But don’t be fooled by all of the fun this book presents, it has a great serious tone to it as well. The artwork by Dunbar is top notch too. I really like how he draws his zombies and he is able to present the artwork with that same humor and serious tone of the story. Honestly I was not expecting this book to be as good of a read as it has been. So shame on me, and shame on you if you are not reading it too. - Dying Breath 4.5 out of 5.0
Decapitated Dan: WOW! Just. . . WOW! The collections is just GORE-Geous on all levels. How can that not be expected though, I mean look at the names associated with this book: Ian Edginton, Joe Simon, Mike Elliott, Ron Marz, Alex Horley, Arthur Suydam, D’Israeli, Dave Wilkins, Jack Kirby, Javier Aranda, Jerry Paris, Kendrick Lim, Steve White, Tom Raney, Vito Delsante, Andy Kuhn, Dave Dorman, Dave Elliott, and Mark A. Nelson. WHOA! Now here is what sucks about writing a review for an anthology book, I have to sum it all up and just tell you which stories I thought were the best of the bunch, but this was such an amazing bunch! However I will break it down and tell you that the 5 stories I really loved were “Ira Gershwin Monster Puncher”, “El Zombo”, “Monkey Business”, “Sharky” and “Pair of Rogues”. Art wise, I won’t even try to rate any of these stories because they all look amazing. I will just say I need Alex Horley to Dave Wilkins to start doing more because it looked so good. This book is easy to sum up with three letters B.O.T. You need to BUY this book, so you can be cool enough to say you OWN it, so you can TELL everyone else you know to B.O.T. as well. - Dying Breath 5.0 out of 5.0
Decapitated Dan: If I recall correctly the team behind the awesome Horror In the West Anthology is also the team behind this AGH-Mazing collection of 20, yeah I said 20, short horror goodies. Like most anthologies it is tough to tell you how great each and every story was, so let the final score I give reflect the whole of this book. The stories that stood out to me were “Hungry”, “Junk Food”, “Witch Grifter General”, “The Island”, “The Boggart”, and “Stones on the Shore”. “Hungry” to me was the highlight of the book. It was so solid on both artwork and story, and now I really want to see it continue into a full one shot or mini series. “Junk Food” was the perfect story to start this book off with, because it looked great and it was a fun read. “Witch Grifter General” was my secret love of this collection. The art and story reminded me so much of “George of the Jungle” or “ Dudley Do-Right”, it was all this fun filled great looking concept that came across so well. “The Island” was probably the best looking story in my opinion, and you can see that on the final page of the story when they get to the Temple of Dagon. “The Boggart” was one of the funniest stories in the book, and it look great too. Last but not least on my list is “Stones on the Shore” which was the most heart pulling story in the collection. Honestly, I could probably tell you why each and every one of these stories was so damn good, but I thin I gave you 6 reasons already. This is an Anthology that needs to be in your horror collection. - Dying Breath 5.0 out of 5.0
Decapitated Dan: I believe that I read that this series is going to be wrapping up soon, and for that I am sad. I think that Hine has crafted a great tale here, and this issue just adds more fuel to the fire as to why it should keep going. On the one hand you have our main cast and you know they are in for a world of trouble soon. Add to that the revelation of what we learned about 2 specific zombies an issue ago, and now top that all with this bus of hippies, and you got a lot of horror goodness happening page after page. The art by Aira is solid from start to finish. I think his style fits this story very well, but I do think the art is too dark at times (and yes I know that is more on the inks and colors team). It’s not too late to get on board and start enjoying this story, but it will be soon. Do yourself a favor and go get the all 11 issues, or the trade, because this one is well worth the read. - Dying Breath 4.5 out of 5.0
The Occultist #1 (Dark Horse)
Billy Dunleavy: In the second volume of this series, we catch up with Rob Bailey, and his adventures with his partner, Detective Melendez. The issue starts out with an awesome scene, where Rob must contend with some zombie babies, that are looking for a snack! After he gets out of that dilemma, he checks in with someone that he thinks is a mentor, but is keeping a dark secret from him. The story is pretty good, and the artwork by Mike Norton is great. Hopefully this series can keep the momentum going, because the last one seemed to lose steam quickly after the first couple of issues. Rating 4/5
Decapitated Dan: Oh Uber, how I love you so, let me count the ways. 1) Kieron Gillen - Your story is full of so much history and you twist it ever so slightly to make it fit into this universe of super soldiers. 2) Caanan White - Your artwork is GORE-Geous, from panel to panel, page after page, this is a jaw dropping work of art. With the first story arc now over, Gillen is taking a chance and jumping over to the other side of the world to cover the Pacific battles, and while I do think it is a risky move (he JUST introduced readers to this world in Europe) it works so damn well. I think if anything it just opens things up to show that the Axis has something going on that the Allies completely missed on. I also highly suggest that you read the letter from Gillen at the end too, because he goes into detail on the research he has done for this story, and I like to learn that kind of stuff. White’s artwork never misses a beat here. even in the scenes that are mellow and might just be people talking, it’s great to look at. But I will say it shines, and shines brightly in the action scenes. I know I sound like a broken record, but this series is so damn good. This issue is also a fresh start to pick this on up, since it doesn’t deal with anything other then the super soldiers that we learned about in the first 5 issues. Seriously. . . READ UBER! - Dying Breath 5.0 out of 5.0
Billy Dunleavy: No offense, but this was the most not scary witching hour I’ve ever experienced in my life. Out of the nine stories, maybe three of them were decent. The others were absolutely boring. The artwork ranged from serviceable to barely mediocre. The story “Legs” by Kelly Sue Deconnick & Ming Doyle was the best, and “Run Ragged” was OK. Most of the stories seemed more like they were trying to convince me of an opinion or agenda, then just tell a good story. Some books can get away with that, and certainly when something is advertised to be that can, but when you market a book towards a crowd that wants straight up horror and suspense, this book missed the mark. Rating 2/5
