Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson

“We should be out there snacking on bad guys!” 

Not every comic book movie needs to be a dark, dreary affair – sometimes they can just be fun and remind us why we ever gravitated to that 7-11 spinner rack in the first place. Like Andy Sirkis’ VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE which finds down-on-his-luck reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) looking to get back on top by getting a scoop on serial killer Cletus Kasaday (Woody Harrelson in a succession of bad hairpieces). 

After an encounter between Kasaday, Brock and Venom (Brock’s sentient alien symbiote) leads to the creation of an evil, red symbiote named Carnage, it’s up to the bickering Brock and Venom to take him down. Better than the original, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE is freed up from the weight of any dull origin story and treats the viewer to lots of big, dumb, loud fun. GRADE: B+.

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE is available from Redbox and via Amazon. – Dan Taylor

THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA (2005)

"Try as you may, you cannot 'out-bat' me!"

With all the attention being lavished upon the recent spate of DC Universe animated films – and rightly so as a number of them kick ass – I thought I'd circle back to an underrated favorite that's celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

Plus, Halloween is right around the corner so the timing couldn't be better.

Spun off from the Saturday morning animated series THE BATMAN (2004-2008), the feature-length THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA finds The Caped Crusader not only matching wits with re-designed but familiar foes like The Penguin and The Joker, but the titular King of the Undead (voiced by Peter Stormare) as well.

Fresh off an escape from Arkham Asylum, Joker and Penguin head for a cache of loot supposedly buried in Gotham Cemetery. While Bats engages Joker, Penguin inadvertently stumbles upon and re-animates Dracula, whose coffin was plopped on a boat and ended up in Gotham after the events depicted in Stoker's novel.

Brought back to "life" by Penguin's blood, Dracula becomes intrigued by tales of The Batman and the influence his legacy has had on the vigilante. (I'm not sure how but Dracula even has cable and a big-screen tv in his crypt.) With eyewitness reports flowing in of a bat-like creature kidnapping citizens, The Batman falls under suspicion for the disappearances and must deal with the Gotham PD in addition to his undead foe, whom The World's Greatest Detective has deduced is Dracula by writing down the alias ALUCARD and looking at it in the mirror.

Debuting about a decade after the conclusion of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (1992-1995), I always feel like THE BATMAN series gets overlooked. While nowhere near as dark, influential or artsy as its predecessor, THE BATMAN gets points for exploring the early days of the character – he's 26 in the first episode – and for bringing foes and supporting characters to life with a redesign that employs sharp angles and a more vibrant palette, courtesy of the folks behind THE JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES (which I may or may not have watched on a regular basis in the early part of this millennium).

Despite debuting on The Cartoon Network and sharing lineage with the Saturday morning show, the flick isn't for little kids. Animation screenwriting vet/JACKIE CHAN co-creator Duane Capizzi piles on the hoary old Dracula cliches (Vicki Vale resembles Drac's bride Carmilla for instance) but also tosses in shades of BATMAN: YEAR ONE and Tobe Hooper's LIFEFORCE to create a never dull mix of action and horror that keeps things moving at a nice clip. – Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is the editor and publisher of Exploitation Retrospect and The Hungover Gourmet. For more reviews check out our website and be sure to follow ER on Facebook and Twitter.

THE BATMAN VS. DRACULA is available from Amazon.

BACK ISSUE #52 to Explore World of Bronze Age Mystery/Horror Comics

I was turned on to the existence of BACK ISSUE magazine and other TwoMorrows Publishing ventures thanks to ER contributor and Tomb It May Concern editor/publisher David Zuzelo. He was kind enough to send some issues my way earlier this year, knowing full well that I couldn't live without reading issue #49's exhaustive look at the world of Planet of the Apes comics.

I'm currently reading issue #50 which is a full-color look at the Bronze Age adventures of Batman and I think I'll probably be pre-ordering #52, news of which just crossed my desk.

Here's a quick description from the publisher:

BACK ISSUE #52 (84 pages, FULL-COLOR, $8.95) spotlights Mystery Comics of the Bronze Age! All-new interviews with artists BERNIE WRIGHTSON, SERGIO ARAGONÉS, GERRY TALAOC, and DC mystery writer LORE SHOBERG—and MARK EVANIER and DAN SPIEGLE discuss Scooby-Doo (Zoinks!). Plus: DC’s Horror Hosts and Ghosts, Charlton Comics’ chiller anthologies, and damsels of darkness Black Orchid and Madame Xanadu. Featuring art and/or commentary by TONY DeZUNIGA, MICHAEL Wm. KALUTA, VAL MAYERIK, DAVID MICHELINIE, MATT WAGNER, and more, with a rarely seen House of Mystery painting by Wrightson as the cover! Now in FULL COLOR! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Zoinks, indeed!

For more info you can check out a PDF preview of the issue or go to the website and pre-order the print and/or digital edition.

31 Days of Fright!: FLESH & BLOOD Delivers an Epic Hammer-Inspired Monster Mash

A few years ago I sat down and watched Hammer's late 60s/early 70s run of Frankenstein films and found myself transfixed by just how great the series was. While the company's influential and fun Dracula flicks eventually felt dated, gimmicky and repetitive, their Frankenstein cycle continually reinvented itself and – in my mind – reached its pinnacle with FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969). Not just the best of an excellent series, DESTROYED is a fine example of just how smart, scary and great a horror film can be.

Though the good doctor still had some life in him, I was disappointed by how the series ended with DESTROYED's follow up, FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974). Peter Cushing's creator didn't go out with a bang but a whimper, still stuck in the asylum at film's end, though steadfast in his desire to keep on experimenting.

In a few years John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN (1978) would change the horror film landscape radically and though often cut from similar cloth, the hulking, revenge-driven monsters of the Frankenstein flicks would find themselves taking a backseat to their slasher film brethren.

Fast forward to 2011 and I may finally be getting my wish to see the ol' Baron go out on a high note. This time, though, his sequel isn't coming to the big screen but drenched in four-color fear courtesy of the new comic series FLESH & BLOOD.

Written by Robert Tinnell and illustrated by Neil Vokes, FLESH & BLOOD: Book One (available from recently-minted horror comic publisher Monsterverse) is like the fevered monster mash that many a Hammer-watcher craved. While Universal never missed an opportunity to pit their box-office baddies against one another, Hammer steadfastly kept their mummies, vampires, wolfmen and reanimated monsters on their own separate cinematic paths. And while that vision made for focused (if a smidge rigid) silver screen outings, FLESH & BLOOD shows just how much action-packed horror fun was to be had by letting loose with these characters.

Not to spoil much of the joy to be had in the opening installment's fast and furious pages but let's just say that there's a plan to spring the good Baron and his new cellmate to help thwart a vampire scourge, multiple attacks by various beasties and monsters, and some swashbuckling that brought to mind what may be my favorite Hammer film of them all, CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974).

Tinnell's story draws upon everything from monster lore to Hammer history (and I'd probably pick up even more of the references and sly nods were I better versed in both areas... damn you feeble brain!) while Vokes' panels seamlessly segue between sinister forces attacking pitchfork-wielding villagers, blood-soaked mayhem, two-fisted action and some of the most eye-poppingly eye-popping she-creatures to ever seduce a damsel.

As if this tale of mortals and monsters battling for our very existence wasn't enough, FLESH & BLOOD: Book One comes packed with an introduction from VIDEO WATCHDOG publisher Tim Lucas, a historical perspective on vampire cinema by Bruce Hallenback, an art gallery featuring work by Vokes, Adrian Salmon and Mike Oeming and even the first part of a Quatermass-esque tale called OPERATION SATAN (from Tinnell and artist Bob Hall). Whew!

Like previous collaborations with each other and others (THE BLACK FOREST, THE WICKED WEST, FACELESS, SIGHT UNSEEN, PARLIAMENT OF JUSTICE, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD), Tinnell and Vokes have delivered another blast of prose and graphics with pages that drip with their enthusiasm and love for all things horror. Not merely an homage to the days when the House of Hammer ruled the genre, FLESH & BLOOD is a fitting continuation of the sagas we never wanted to see end.

FLESH & BLOOD: Book One is available at Amazon.

We receive a small commission for purchases made through this blog. Thanks for your support!

Warren/Marvel Comics and MIDNIGHT MARQUEE Back Issues

Now that the summer is over we're back in auction mode in our attempt to clean house. Be sure to check out our current slate of auctions featuring:

• Warren Publishing's late-70s sci-fi/UFO/alien comics
• Marvel Previews MAN-GODS FROM BEYOND THE STARS
• Warren Publishing's adult fantasy comic '1984'
• Ten back issues of MIDNIGHT MARQUEE from fall 1983 through spring 1997

All auctions start at 99 cents and we gladly combine shipping for multiple items won.

The Dirty Dozen – Premiere Edition

Entertainment Weekly has their Must List.

Golf Magazine has the Front 9.

But what if you don't care about golf or what the cast of Glee is up to? What if you what you really want to know is what Eurotrash DVDs are coming out or what blogs you should be reading or bands you should be listening to in order to get your recommended daily dose of trash?

Well, fear not. ER is here with The Dirty Dozen, a new feature that will provide you with a look at the junk culture and fringe media stuff we love, Love, LOVE ... at the moment. Stop back every weekend for a new installment and be sure to drop me a line if you have something you feel is worthy of being in The Dirty Dozen. Got a mag, comic, zine, disc, movie or, well, anything you want us to check out? See the sidebar for our PO Box address.

Enough yakking. On to this week's list!

1. The Planet of the Apes Saga: Original Recipe – I don't know if RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is any good or not, though I was pleasantly surprised to see its rating on Rotten Tomatoes well past 80% when I got up this morning. But I do know that the new flick seems to have sparked renewed interest in the original five films which I love so much. Best of all, I got to watch all five flicks on the big screen last weekend thanks to the guys at Exhumed Films and believe it or not, I think I actually like the series more than I did about a week ago. Rather than simply make the same flick over and over again each film has its own unique take on the storyline, and, more importantly, the saga works as a great, epic tale. Sure, some of the effects are dated and the messages simplistic, but I'll go on the record as saying the STAR WARS flicks can't hold a candle to the APES saga.
2. TENEBRAE (DVD) – Though I've been spending a lot of time these last few months immersed in The Summer of ACTION! (with more posts to come soon, I promise), an ongoing side project has been a reassessment of the work of Dario Argento. I've always thought The Italian Hitchcock was a little overrated but felt like I should go back and give fresh watches to some of his classic – and not so classic – work to see if I was being fair. I was surprised by how much I loved the nightmarish INFERNO and how much the trashy, nutzoid PHENOMENA didn't click with me. But a recent viewing of the seemingly personal TENEBRAE reminded me that when he was firing on all cylinders there weren't many who could touch Argento's deft touch when it came to giallo. It's an entertaining, funny and well-acted mystery packed with iconic death scenes and a superb cast.
3. THE BASEMENT VHS Screener – As the DVD/Blu-Ray era closes in on the end of its second decade, one can be left wondering what's left to release? Thanks to the horror market's insatiable need to see anything and everything, no matter how poorly acted or cheaply made, it looks like shot-on-video and shot-on-super-8mm (!) features will ensure that horror fans have plenty to watch in the years to come. THE BASEMENT takes a page out of the SLEDGEHAMMER book by providing screeners on both DVD and VHS. THE VHS screener is a site to behold, an old school big box with colorful artwork of a buxom blonde being attached by nasty beasts from the titular basement. I don't know if the flick will even be watchable (though I was pleasantly surprised by SLEDGEHAMMER) but the screener brought a tear to my eye and reminded me of the good old days of turning those worn out cardboard boxes over and over in my hands.
4. Klaus Kinski's Directorial Debut (And Swan Song) Comes to US DVD – Regular readers know of my love for the irascible and outrageous European film star Klaus Kinski. I've long contended that no matter how brief his role, "The German Olivier" usually makes anything he's in worth watching. (A theory that was severaly put to the test by PSYCHOPATH.) Towards the end of his long and storied career, Kinski conspired to write and direct a biography of Niccolo Paganini, an Italian violinist and composer whose wild lifestyle and violent playing style led some to suggest that he'd made a deal with the devil (take THAT Robert Johnson!). The resulting film – KINSKI PAGANINI – has only been available on German VHS and DVD but good pal and Cinema Arcana honcho Bruce Holecheck recently informed me that Mya (who released the Turkish Kinski oddity EVIL FACE) will be putting the film out on US DVD in November. I'll provide more details about the disc as they become available and be sure to check out the Cinema Arcana Upcoming Release List!
5. NEVER SLEEP AGAIN: THE ELM STREET LEGACY (DVD) – I've always thought the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise should have ended after the third installment – DREAM WARRIORS directed by Chuck Russell. It made up for some of the glaring sins of ELM STREET 2, gave the series a nice sense of closure thanks to the presence of Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon, and would have been a good way to end things on a high note. Thanks to boffo box office we all know that's not how things played out and the more of an outrageous wise-cracker Freddy became the more my interest in the series waned. But I'm glad it went on as long as it did, because it gave filmmakers Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch the opportunity to create NEVER SLEEP AGAIN, an exhaustive, funny and informative look at the franchise, the people behind it, and how New Line really was "The House That Freddy Built". Who knew a four-hour ELM STREET doc would be my front-runner for my favorite film I've seen all year?!
6. The Stalkers: Yesterday is No Tomorrow (CD) – I caught this New York garage band a few weeks ago when they opened for The Dwarves here in Baltimore. The moment I saw them setting up on stage I had a feeling they'd be the kind of band I'd dig... the members looked like guys I hung out with in college and you could almost smell the Ramones/Thunders/Dictators vibe. Oddly enough, the dude I had pegged for their roadie – a burly biker type who looked like he might have kidnapped the rest of the band – was actually their lead singer, giving the garage-pop an interesting visual dynamic and gleefully sinister playfulness. The disc I picked up from their merch table after the show is four years old and doesn't really do them justice, but with great music in short supply these days I was happy to discover a band I'm anxious to hear more from.
7. Louis Fowler's Damaged Viewing (Podcast) – Longtime ER readers are certainly already familiar with Louis Fowler, a pop culture watchdog who has written some of my favorite reviews at the site. And when he's not telling everybody within earshot how great BATMAN & ROBIN is he's also a damn fine blogger, food writer (check out his work in our sister publication The Hungover Gourmet) and host of Damaged Hearing (available via iTunes). But I'm partial to Louis's latest venture – with frequent guest and card-carrying Man of ACTION! John Grace – a hysterical and interesting look at cinema called (what else?) Damaged Viewing. Louis and Co. jump in the studio after seeing such films as TRANSFORMERS 3, GREEN LANTERN and CAPTAIN AMERICA, only to find the conversation veering wildly off-topic before coming back around.
8. Black Dynamite: The Animated Series Premiere (TV) – I finally caught up with BLACK DYNAMITE at this year's ActionFest and busted a gut over Michael Jai White's dead-on paean to 70s blaxploitation cinema. With DYNAMITE already a full-fledged cult film hit, the character has his own comic book and is now set for his big TV debut. But first, this Monday, August 8th will see the premiere of BLACK DYNAMITE: THE ANIMATED SERIES on AdultSwim.com. The 11-minute pilot, featuring the voices of White, Tommy Davidson and others from the film, is just the start as Dynamite will be joining the Adult Swim lineup later this year.
9. First Photo of Henry Cavill as The Man of Steel – I was shocked when the first photo of Henry Cavill in the Superman costume from the upcoming THE MAN OF STEEL hit the internet and nerds began complaining. Oh no, wait, I wasn't shocked at all. In fact, I resisted the urge to look at the pic when the link first hit my mailbox because I wanted time for the ferocious idiocy to come to a rolling boil. Sure enough, comments sections on blogs, websites and social media sites were packed with complaints ranging from nitpicky (Why is the S so big? The cape looks like drapes.) to nitwitty (Bring back Brandon Routh! Where's the curled lock of hair?). Frankly, I'm not a huge Superman fan but even I was dismayed at Kal-El's last cinematic outing and had little interest in this new "reboot", even if I like some of Zack Snyder's work. But not only does the first look at Supes remind me of the George Reeves show that I grew up on but for the first time in a long time the Boy Scout looks like he's finally ready to kick some bad guy ass. (I was not similarly enthused about the first glimpse of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.)
   
10. Bruce Springsteen Auditions for PERFECT? (Viral) – There came a point in the 1980s where you had to make a music video. It didn't matter how big a star you were, music videos were a big promotional tool... even if they made you look like a tool. Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" was, I believe, The Boss's first music video and the one that aired ad nauseum on MTV is largely remembered for the scene at the end with a post-MISFITS OF SCIENCE/pre-FRIENDS Courtney Cox being pulled from the audience to "dance" with Bruce. (The moment was even referenced on Cox's underrated COUGAR TOWN last season.) As stiff and uncomfortable as that video is, it's like a Kubrick film in comparison to this early, original version that I stumbled across thanks to the great Butch Walker (whose new album hits later this month). For twelve painful minutes The Boss arthritically lurches through "dance moves", does some kinda weird lasso thing over his head and snaps his fingers to a non-existent beat that only he can hear. That'd be bad enough, but the black pants, wife-beater tee, suspenders and black headband make it look like he's trying out for a role in PERFECT. Hard to believe this is the guy who did "Candy's Room".
    
11. Kindle Bargains (eBooks) – After getting an iPad this summer I found myself blowing past the eBook apps because I couldn't imagine I'd ever curl up with the device to read a good book. I've always been a textural guy who likes the feel and smell of a used paperback or the ability to roll up a mag or zine and stuff it in my pocket. But I was won over by the Kindle app and the fact that Created, The Destroyer was available for the low, low price of 99 cents along with a ton of other Destroyer novels! (Hey, if you're going to take the plunge into a Summer of ACTION! you might as well read the first book in the most famous men's action series.) Then, while cruising around West Philly this past weekend, ER co-founder Lou Goncey informed me that the 25th anniversary edition of John Skipp & Craig Spector's groundbreaking splatterpunk horror novel Light at the End was available for less than the price of a cup of coffee. The eBook will never replace the fun of finding great, used trash at a flea market and I won't take my iPad into the can with me, but good bargains on great books will certainly keep me coming back for more.
    
12. JAWS Meets... Peanuts? – As a kid I loved anything and everything related to PLANET OF THE APES, KISS, and James Bond, just to name a few. Having older siblings meant that I also got my hands on passed-down volumes of classic Peanuts strips re-printed in paperbacks and had escorts who would take me to see JAWS, even when I wasn't supposed to. Given how much time I spent in the ocean you'd have thought the flick would have freaked me out, but I went the opposite direction and, for a brief period, embraced all things shark. My 9th birthday even had a bit of a JAWS theme, with me getting a huge towel featuring the iconic JAWS poster (wish I still had that) and a plastic Great White Shark bank. Never expected to see beloved childhood icons like Snoopy and JAWS mashed up, but, well, you just never know. (Link via Super Punch)
    

DAMNED TO DARKNESS: A Terry Sharp Blog

If you're reading this blog you should be well acquainted with Terry Sharp whose adventures are a cross between "The Saint and Curse of the Demon" in the words of co-creator Adrian Salmon.

Written by Robert Tinnell and illustrated by Salmon, Sharp's 2005 adventure THE FACELESS left this fan wanting more. Now you can follow the latest news as the duo prep Sharp's next adventure... just head on over to DAMNED TO DARKNESS for all the Terry Sharp news that's fit to print.

And if you don't already have a copy of THE FACELESS, well, shame on you and head to Amazon now!

Have Yourself a Trashy Little Xmas: Day 6/The Deadcoats Are Coming!

It does not take a Masters degree in popular culture to proclaim the obvious: Zombies are Hot. And not in the way that glittery, Volvo-driving vampires and iron-pumping werewolves are considered hot. I mean in a global, strike-while-the-iron-is sense.

Flawed as it may have been, AMC's The Walking Dead garnered plenty of eyeballs and will be back with a second season. My Netflix queue is clogged with so many zombie flicks I can barely keep up and more big-screen adaptations are on the way. There's even a zombie-centric zine and no less an outlet than "the gray lady" published an essay about life in a zombie world by Chuck Klosterman.

So you'd probably think that with this creative tsunami sweeping Zombie Nation that we'd have run out of ways to deal with the brain-eating, shuffling undead amongst us. Wrong!

When ZOMBIE TERRORS: VOL. 1, AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE UNDEAD (Asylum Press) landed in my hands the other day my reasons for excitement were largely due to seeing good pal David Zuzelo's story "Ascension of the Blind Dead" come to life via art by Billy George. Zuzelo has been a Eurotrash mentor for years and as a fellow card-carrying HorrorDad we have been known to share everything from trashy movie tips and recipes to tweets about NFL games and stories from the harried trenches of childcare.

But as I sat down that evening and hungrily consumed the entire volume in one sitting, I discovered that Z's tale of Templars and monstrous opponents was but one of the many goodies the volume had to offer.

Like most compilations of this type – be they music, comic, cinematic or prose – the contributions are hit or miss. Some tales go for the more obvious brain-splattering, flesh-ripping gross-out though there's certainly nothing wrong with that. I'm always up for a heaping helping of four-color splatter (especially when it evokes a favorite scene from Lucio Fulci's THE BEYOND).

Other tales take a more artistic or existential approach, dropping the zombies or survivors into mad landscapes where destruction is the only way to survive, no matter what side they're on. "Arena" by Asylum publisher Frank Forte certainly stands out among these tales and one could easily imagine the character Nightslice appearing in the pages of Heavy Metal or spinning off into a title of her (its?) own.

But my own particular taste in horror tends to follow a classically trashy course that begins with EC Comics, drifts through the terrors of Night Gallery and ends up in the aisles of broken-down cinemas screening dubbed imports and domestic splatter. So it's no surprise that my favorite tales involved culinary adventures gone wrong ("Feast"), nature run amok ("Creature Converts"), a Serling-esque tale that made my skin crawl ("The Jiang Shi"), Lovecraftian horrors ("Prey") and a tale of love and betrayal that would be right at home in the pages of EC, Creepy, or Eerie ("Allison").

As for Zuzelo and George's contribution? I'm admittedly biased but loved that the tale paid homage to the genre's less well-known Eurotrash roots and stood out as a truly unique entry in an anthology brimming with trashy goodness.

Also highlighting the volume are some fantastic pin-ups, especially from the mind of David Hartman. His two-page NIGHT OF THE CREEPS homage tickled me to no end and I'm determined to have it hang on the wall of my office some day.

For the zombie/comic/gore lover on your holiday list, ZOMBIE TERRORS VOL. 1 comes with our highest recommendation!

We receive a small referral commission for items purchased through our links. Thanks for your support.

ER Thanksgiving Comic & Movie Mag Auction

It's hard to believe that we're still finding things to auction off... I must have gone to more garage sales and flea markets than I remember!

Our Thanksgiving Comic & Movie Magazine Auction is underway at eBay and we have a bunch of great titles available, all starting at 99 cents with low Buy It Now prices. Auctions include Video Watchdog, Warren's action film mag Screen Thrills Illustrated, Famous Monsters of Filmland, several Marvel Preview titles, a trio of Creepy issues including one with a Frank Frazetta werewolf cover and more.

Highlights include a fine copy of Rampaging Hulk #2 in which the Hulk takes on The X-Men in the streets of Paris as well as the premiere issue of Spacemen, the science-fiction movie mag from James Warren and Forrest Ackerman, publisher/editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Another great item up for sale is a copy of the 1971 hardback comic collection Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder from the 30s to the 70s. This 1971 hardcover from Bonanza Books collects more than twenty-five stories and fifty original cover reproductions (including thirty-seven full-color covers) tracing the development of The Dark Knight from his days as a solo act to the introduction of Robin and Bat-Girl all the way up to the more mysterious and dark adventures of the 1970s. Includes adventures with The Joker, Riddler, Superman, Batwoman, Two-Face and many more plus a bibliography, guide to Batman in other media, and an introduction by E Nelson Bridwell, editor and writer of the Batman newspaper strip. This a hard-to-find and awesome collection that belongs on the shelf of any Batman fanatic.

New ER Page Launched at Facebook

I suppose it was inevitable.

Print zine.

Website.

Blog.

Twitter.

And now we have an ER Facebook page.

Come on by and join the fun!

The James Bond Omnibus: Volume 001

As a kid growing up in the 1970s my parents felt it necessary to put their collective feet down and stamp out (or at least attempt to stamp out) my love for all things KISS and PLANET OF THE APES. I was never really sure why, they just put the kibosh on both fascinations, driving my interests underground, a skill that would come in handy over the years to come.

But for some reason they never put the brakes on my love of James Bond. Frankly, I would think that the exploits of a horny, boozing super-spy with a literal license to kill his enemies might have been more damaging than gimmicky glam posing as metal-lite and a sci-fi series about talking apes but that's just me.

Though I initially discovered Bond through frequent ABC Movie of the Week airings of the flicks, I credit my brother-in-law for giving me a proper education in the character's history. Visits to see my sister and him would always end up with me hanging out in their living room, checking out his LPs (including the soundtrack to Jimmy Cliff's THE HARDER THEY COME) and perusing his collection of vintage Bond paperbacks.

Eventually he let me borrow the books, one at a time, and in the order they were written. Over the years I've probably read each of the novels three, maybe four times, with favorites like On Her Majesty's Secret Service and From Russia With Love closer to double figures.

Add in multiple viewings of all the Bond flicks, even the Moore and Brosnan outings I frequently found wretched, and you can imagine that it'd be tough to surprise me when it comes to 007.

Which is what made the arrival of The James Bond Omnibus: Volume 001 (Titan Books) such a treat. Based on the original Ian Fleming novels (and, in a few cases, short stories), the book collects Daily Express newspaper strips that ran from 1958-1962. Though I was vaguely familiar with the daily Bond comic, I'd never had the chance to read them until now.

Adapted in the same order as the novels were published, this 300+ page volume features Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger and Thunderball, as well as three short stories - "Risico", "From a View to a Kill" and "For Your Eyes Only" - that in some way inspired Bond's on-screen exploits.

Though it has been years since I picked up a Bond novel, becoming familiar with the source material again was like hanging out with an old friend. Because the first 007 film wouldn't come out until 1962, this volume is completely uncolored by the choices made by the producers or the casting of Sean Connery as Bond. In fact, the art by John McLusky portrays the suave super spy as older and more rugged than I pictured him. More than once I noted that the comic depiction looked like a cross between Ronald Reagan and Superman, complete with a curled lock of hair on his forehead. (Interestingly, Fleming's image of Bond used to aid the strip artists looks more like Peter Cushing!)

The adaptations, like Fleming's novels and the film series, are largely hit or miss. From Russia with Love, Goldfinger and Dr. No crackle with excitement and intrigue, even in the truncated daily strip format. Casino Royale sags under the weight of the baccarat sequences but regains its edge when Bond is kidnapped and tortured by the devious Le Chiffre.

On the other hand, it's easy to see why it took Hollywood so long to adapt dogs like Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker as well as why they jettisoned so much of the original story for the big screen. Thunderball, the book's closing tale, feels completely gutted and I kept going back to make sure I hadn't missed something. Then again, I always felt that the film adaptation of that story was where the series made the tragic mistake of settling for gadgets and gimmickry, paving the way for some unfortunate outings over the next four decades.

Even if you're a casual Bond fan the book is a must have, especially at an affordable $16.95 retail price. The pre-cinema 007 on display will connect you with the character's roots and remind you that at one time his legacy wasn't all ice hotels and defusing bombs dressed as a circus clown.

31 DAYS OF FRIGHT: Let No Good Deed Go Unpunished

I've long been a fan of the graphic novels from writers Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell. The pair, in tandem with illustrator Neil Vokes, created the magnificent and Rondo Award-winning THE BLACK FOREST and its sequel, plus a pair of old west horror volumes aptly titled THE WICKED WEST. (In the name of full disclosure I must admit that Livingston, Tinnell and Vokes are all pals of mine.) On his own, Tinnell wrote the charming FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES (a departure from his horror work but no less entertaining) and SIGHT UNSEEN, a tale of Lovecraftian horror that oozes the writer/director's love of classic horror and Eurotrash from every page.

Their 2005 collaboration with illustrator Micah Farritor THE LIVING AND THE DEAD was recently nabbed by director Brad Anderson (SESSION 9, THE MACHINIST) for a big screen adaptation and the news made me re-visit this page-turning tale of gothic mystery and monsters, both literal and figurative.

Drawing its inspiration from the reel horrors of the Universal and Hammer horror films of old and the real tales of the Theatre du Grand Guignol, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD is a horrific tale filled with dual identities, murder, mayhem, sadism, incest, lust and much more.

The noble and generous Dr. Hans Schmidt – who bears more than a passing resemblance to Herbert West as portrayed by Jeffrey Combs by way of Peter Cushing – runs a clinic in a small mill town. His happy existence with his wife and son is shattered when his cousin Bettina arrives on the scene and begs Hans to tend to her dying son Julian. His hand forced by a mother's blind devotion to her dying son, Hans dredges up some of his old black magic and restores Julian to health.

As is frequently the case with such resurrections the results are a mixed bag – at best – and filled with complicated side effects. Schmidt must decide whether he wants to risk it all to protect his family (and perhaps humanity) and seek aide from an unlikely ally.

To say much more about the story's twist and turns would ruin what is a page-turner of the highest order. Savvy readers might be able to see what's coming but Tinnell and Livingston pack the story with enough clever bits to keep even the most jaded horror fan intrigued and Farritor's sepia-toned panels are the perfect companion to this devilish tale.

31 Days of Fright: Poe, Poe Pitiful Me

Stuart Gordon's fifth feature film starts off well (and grimly) enough with the torturers of the Spanish Inquisition removing the skeletonized body of an accused heretic from the grave and giving it 20 lashes ... despite the fact that the body begins to fall apart about five lashes into the ordeal. As the corpse's wife and child look on in horror and disbelief you get the feeling that this flick is gonna have some spunk. After all, this is Gordon getting a chance to deal with history for the first time, and the film is less steeped in the "fantastic" than anything he'd done in his previous four films (RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, DOLLS and ROBOJOX). However, that feeling soon dissipates, leaving this viewer feeling disappointed and convinced that almost anyone could've directed this hodgepodge of historical fact, histrionic acting, and Shakespearean goofball asides.

THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM is based upon three Edgar Allan Poe short stories, namely the title story, "Premature Burial" and "The Cask of Amontialado" (though only the former is credited). Originally planned as major studio debut for Gordon starring Peter O'Toole as Tomas de Torquemada, the Spanish grand inquisitor, Sherilyn Fenn as the object of his desire, Billy Dee Williams (I'm assuming as some kind of suave black dude), and Gordon regular Jeffrey Combs as a scribe, the film went through several reported start-ups, delays, financial problems and more.

When the production finally did get rolling, O'Toole had been replaced by Lance Henriksen, Fenn by Rona De Ricci, and Williams by (again, I guess) Jonathan Fuller. Combs was the only major player to have remained from the original cast announcements. With a Dennis Paoli script, Poe's inspiration and Gordon's directorial hand, I felt the flick would be – at the very least – entertaining and filled with the kind of offbeat Gordon-isms that had populated all of his cinematic outings... at least up to this point. In reality, the only connection to his earlier work besides Combs seems to be another small role for Gordon's wife, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon.

After the grimly entertaining pre-credit sequence we're introduced to Maria (De Ricci) and Antonio (Fuller), newlywed bread bakers who know in their hearts and in their minds that what is taking place at the auto-da-fe is not right. Heavy-handed symbolism and sledgehammer dialogue abound, right up to the point when Maria prays for the souls of those being tortured, confiding to her husband that she feels their pain and suffering... like she herself was the one being tortured.

While selling bread to spectators on their way to the auto-da-fae, the two innocents are swept up in the crowd and prevented from leaving by armed guards, eventually leading to Maria's inevitable imprisonment for being a witch. At this point, PIT hits a serious treadmill: Torquemada accuses Maria; she denies it; Antonio tries to save her; Torquemada accuses Maria; she denies it; Antonio tries to save her; and so the story goes.

The basic problem with THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM seems to lie in the filmmakers' indecision. At times, the flick desperately wants to be an historical look at what really happened during the Inquisition: false accusations; sexual assault; murder; overzealous torture; the works. At other times, Gordon and Co. seem intent on making a horror film packed with the usual genre trappings: rats munching away on human flesh; bizarre torture devices; hot oil to the facial region; blood-spewing; and exploding witches. At still other times they feel compelled to throw in horribly stagey "action" scenes, as well as comedic asides that feel completely out of place. Surprisingly, the bits of the other Poe tales that Paoli works into the script come off better than the elements he uses from the "inspirational" source story. In fact, those scenes remain the most creepily effective in the entire film.

Sadly, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM only shines when either Henriksen or Combs is on screen, and even then Combs's role is a minor one.

It's unfortunate that PIT hit so many roadblocks on its way to the screen. One can only imagine how a Gordon/O'Toole collaboration would have turned out. All we're left with is one of the few instances in his career when a Gordon flick feels like it could have been directed by anyone.

Poe's work – along with Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera – again serves as a source of inspiration, this time for the 1997 Elseworlds tale BATMAN: MASQUE by Mike Grell. Elseworlds, for those unfamiliar with the term, is an imprint of DC Comics which allows comic writers and artists to flex their creative muscles by placing such characters as Superman, Flash and, in this case, Batman outside the DC Comics canon.

Set in a turn-of-the century Gotham City, MASQUE rounds up a number of familiar names and faces, all playing the same roles as their modern-day counterparts... Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, even Chief O'Hara makes an appearance (and comes across as comically worthless as the 1960s TV version). Another familiar face, or should I say "Two-Face"?, appears in the form of Harvey Dent, here a ballet star whose face is horribly scarred thanks to The Batman during a performance of Poe's Masque of the Red Death. Driven underground the masked Dent sets his sights on the performance's female understudy, Laura Avian, a ballerina whose boyfriend happens to be millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.

Filled with plenty of gothic trappings like candelabras, thunderstorms, flowing nightgowns and passionate – but tortured – embraces, I frankly felt a little embarrassed to be curled up in my easy chair with the book. All that was missing was some herbal tea and a shawl! But don't be fooled by the cover pic showing a touchy-feely Batman and the flowing script that adorns the back cover, MASQUE packs plenty of two-fisted action into its pages, not to mention Dent's scarred face, dancers hung from the rafters, explosions and even a bizarre brewery mishap.

I've been wading my way through a huge box of Bat-ness thanks to TOMB IT MAY CONCERN buddy David Zuzelo and I'll admit I stuck MASQUE on the bottom of my most recent pile of reads. And while it didn't quite reach the heights of the first Elseworld's tale – GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT in which The Batman matches wits with Jack the Ripper – MASQUE delivers an entertaining "what if" tale even the crustiest Bat-lover can enjoy.

WARRIORS Gets Graphically Remastered

When I look back on the cable flicks of the 1980s that forever altered my cinematic landscape I can pinpoint several landmarks, even almost 30 years later. It didn't matter if I saw them once or I saw them a hundred times, they were flicks that broadened my horizon and let me see past the safe, largely parentally-approved choices that I was familiar with to that point.

The warped DEATH GAME (1977) – in which hitchhikers Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp invade the home of Seymour Cassel with disastrous results – brought sex, nudity, crazy violence and a "what the f**k?!" attitude right into my suburban living room in the middle of the afternoon. Clearly, this new "cable" invention was going to offer more than I was seeing on the handful of over-the-air channels I was accustomed to.

Joe Sarno's LAURA'S TOYS (1975) was a memorably sleazy Eurotrash softcore sex romp of epic, earth-shattering proportions. Years later I still consider it the reason I have no particular affinity for hardcore porn. The flick's girl-next-door stars packed more erotic punch than any adult film goddess. Okay, except maybe for Seka.

The first two installments of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series were my introduction to the slasher/splatter genre that I love so much to this day, Werner Herzog's NOSFERATU: PHANTOM DER NACHT exposed me to the great Klaus Kinski (and we all know how that obsession turned out), and Albert Pyun's brilliant sword-and-sandal barbarian actioner THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER may have been my first guilty pleasure.

But I still can recall sitting and watching Walter Hill's THE WARRIORS with rapt attention. Over and over. The flick took my growing love of action films and mashed it up with the comic theatrics of bands like KISS (it's hard to look at The Baseball Furies and not see that band's influence) to produce a highly entertaining and action-packed pop culture epic.

Today, lines like "Can you dig it?!" and the mockingly brilliant "Waaaarrrrrriiiorsss, come out to pla-ay!" (uttered by David Patrick Kelly as he clinks his beer bottle-clad fingers together) have become etched in our collective pop culture psyche.

I've always thought the concept of THE WARRIORS could have been stretched beyond its cinematic outing and I know there was a video game a couple years back that gave Swan and Co. further adventures. Like THEY LIVE, I thought it was a film that could have easily translated to the small screen, giving us weekly fixes as the gang got into further dust-ups and adventures.

While it's not a weekly TV show, I am kinda tickled that THE WARRIORS is getting a "comic book remastering" as the flick celebrates its 30th anniversary. The book will debut at New York Comic-Con next week and while the initial storyline will be an adaptation of the original film, writer David Atchison says that plans are in place to publish further adventures of the gang. The comic arrives in stores on February 18 and you can check out a preview here.

Can I openly petition for a WARRIORS/EXTERMINATOR crossover in which Swan and his crew have to team up with flame-thrower-wielding vigilante John Eastland to take down a mob sleaze running a white slave trade that preys on teens?

"If youre lyin', I'll be back."

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD

My love for all things Batman pretty much knows no bounds and cuts across all eras of The Caped Crusader's career. So it was with great interest that I started watching BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD over at The Cartoon Network on Friday nights. Based on the classic DC superhero team-up title, each week finds Batman teaming with another hero to take down a supervillain.

My first reaction to news of the show was faint skepticism. As a child of the 70s I suffered through lots of SUPERFRIENDS episodes and other lame Batman cartoons just to see The Caped Crusader in action. My patience was finally rewarded with the excellent BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, still my favorite adaptation of Batman on-screen (big or little), but it has been off the air since the 1990s and succeeding incarnations of an animated Dark Knight Detective have been hit-or-miss (namely BATMAN BEYOND, THE JUSTICE LEAGUE and the recent THE BATMAN).

The new show show walks a pretty fine line between THE ANIMATED SERIES and SUPER-FRIENDS, though it hews closer to the former most of the time. Yes, the dialogue can be a bit hokey, the depiction of Batman gives the character strength that often seems superhuman, and there's a fair amount of gadgetry. But the overall feel of the show is such that I don't feel like a complete and total dork settling in to watch it on a Friday night while my daughter sleeps and the wife works late.

If you haven't seen the show yourself, try and catch this week's episode "Dawn of the Dead Man". This one is easily my favorite episode yet of this new Bats cartoon, this time with a very horror bent as Bats, Dead Man, Green Arrow and Speedy team up in the UK to battle Gentleman Ghost as he tries to raise an army of undead villains.

Packed with great horror imagery including a skeletal ghost horse and a mountain of skulls under a graveyard, the episode has a serious 70s/horror Batman vibe including one of those iconic teaser cover images with a tombstone reading 'Here Lies Batman' with his utility belt draped over the corner.

Check out the network's schedule to see when it re-airs and give this new twist on an old Bat a try.

And while you're at it, point your browser to Bat-Blog, a great blog about Batman shows, comics, movies, toys, characters and collectibles.

What's that Smell? UH, Oh, Might be THE SPIRIT...

I questioned the logic of a big-screen adaptation of Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT right off the bat. Whatever Eisner's cred with comic fans the character is largely unknown by the general public and I felt like producers were setting themselves up for a failure of epic proportions. Think THE PHANTOM and THE SHADOW.

Early teasers, clips and trailers did nothing to assuage those fears, with the flick coming off like a dumbed-down SIN CITY with Samuel L. Jackson in full-blown, scenery-chomping mode.

Well, the early reviews are starting to trickle in and even the fanboys over at Ain't It Cool News (whose views I usually take with a grain of salt) are pretty harsh in their assessment, calling it a "steaming pile of shit" that rivals John Travolta's BATTLEFIELD EARTH. Mainstream criticism is slightly more even-handed, though no less damning, with Variety labeling the flick as "Self-parody".

Ouch.

31 DAYS OF FRIGHT: Boogie Nights Meets Dawn of the Dead

While I was out in Seattle earlier this year for the Emerald City Comicon I had a chance to chat with writer Rick Remender, whose work includes the terrific vampirate tale SEA OF RED. While we were talking about that book and how much I thought it would make a great movie, Remender steered me towards the first four issues of his new book, CRAWLSPACE, which was in the vein of the old EC Comics like 'Tales from the Crypt' or 'Vault of Horror'.

Though CRAWLSPACE is devoted to a single story in each issue, the comparison to the old EC books is apt. If those comics kept parents awake at night wondering just what the HELL their kids were into, CRAWLSPACE's first mini-series would certainly give unsuspecting guardians a shock to the system.

Best described as BOOGIE NIGHTS MEETS DAWN OF THE DEAD, the four-issue mini-series XXXOMBIES delivers on the promise of its title. It's the summer of 1977 and a group of pornographers, sequestered away at a mansion in LA, are getting their latest skin flick in the can... blissfully unaware that an airline crash has unleashed a horrific zombie plague throughout the city. When the plague rears its ugly head in their midst all hell breaks loose as the smut peddlers and their cast of veterans and virgins fight to stay one step ahead of the zombies not to mention the mobsters looking to collect on an overdue loan to the brains of the production.

Complicating matters is the single-minded, vigilante-like pursuit of the blonde starlet's pistol-packing, truck-driving father.

Remender and Co. don't pull any punches with XXXOMBIES and fans of gore, smut and the walking dead will get a kick out of this fast-paced zombie yarn. There are a few moments that push the envelope waaaaaayyyy past anything that you could get away with on film and you'll want to keep your eyes peeled for the various thinly-veiled real-life characters that work their way into the story's background.

CRAWLSPACE: XXXOMBIES is now available as a trade paperback collecting all four issues.

Werewolf Women of the SS... The Comic!

According to a report over at /Film, they are planning to make a comic book series out of the exploits of the characters from the faux trailer for WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE SS as seen in GRINDHOUSE!

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT

With THE DARK KNIGHT a bit more than a week away I was chomping at the bit for a new dose of Bat-mania, this time in the form of BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT, a six-part animated film that bridges the gap between BATMAN BEGINS and the aforementioned TDK. Picking up after the events of BEGINS, GOTHAM KNIGHT finds Batman battling a variety of foes in a city that has improved since we last saw him, but not by much.

Criminals like Killer Croc (a massive former sideshow freak) and Scarecrow are roaming the streets (or sewers), rival gangs are blasting away at each other in public, and even homeless advocates aren't safe from the bullets of hired killers.

The six chapters in the film all work as stand-alone stories that illustrate part of Batman's training or his role within society – a gang of skateboarding kids relate tales that describe him as everything from a robot or a shadowy shape-shifter to a Man-bat, we see a young Bruce Wayne training to work through the inevitable pain (both physical and emotional) that comes with nocturnal crime-fighting, and we glimpse how he's viewed by various members of the once-dirty Gotham Police Department. And while the tales work well on their own, GOTHAM KNIGHT does succeed in weaving a complete story through its 75 minute running time.

Some folks have compared this release to a similar animated installment of THE MATRIX films, but I've never seen it so I'm not sure how accurate the comparison is. Each tale is done in its own unique style, with an emphasis on anime thanks to directors like Yasuhiro Aoki, Futoshi Higashide and Hiroshi Morioka. Surprisingly, the frequent change in visual styles isn't as jarring as I expected and the Japanese influence seemed fresh and provided some eye-opening takes on familiar characters like Batman (returning voice talent Kevin Conroy), James Gordon and Alfred (voiced by David McCallum).

Like any anthology with so many different cooks working the broth the results are a bit uneven. Frankly, some of the stories are a bit forgettable and the next day I'm struggling to remember what even happened in them. Others are good, but in at least one instance (the opening installment "Have I Got a Story For You") the segment seems remarkably similar to an episode of the late, great BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.

In the end, I'm a sucker for pretty much anything Batman, so I probably got more mileage out of this than the average viewer. It certainly won't make me forget the highpoints of the character's rich history but at least it's not laughably bad like some of The Caped Crusader's cinematic adventures.

Seattle Bound

I'm off to Seattle in the AM for the Emerald City Comicon and, more importantly, the annual gathering of my pals from the Eurotrash Paradise. Probably won't be posting much over the next couple days, though I'm guessing that Seattle does have an internet cafe or twenty. More next week...