This week’s selection of new stories features some really fun, delightful stuff from places that were rather unexpected, carrying with them a heavy Halloween theme.
Halloween Eve, written by Brandon Montclare with art by Amy Reeder, is a charming book, and the best of this bunch. A one shot from indie house Image Comics, Halloween Eve is the story of a rebellious young woman named Eve, slogging her way through her first job at a Halloween costume shop on the night before the big night. Eve, uninterested in wearing a costume herself, frustrated with her overbearing boss and clueless co-workers, and clearly unaware of the unrequited crush coming from one of them, ends up stuck working overtime in this little shop of wanna-be horrors. Soon, she’s whisked away into a magical reality that has her equal parts terrified and enchanted, and she learns some real lessons about “dressing up”, and the power of fantasy. This is an Alice in Wonderland for the modern era, a teenager’s dreamy self-realization, and a nifty little soft-horror comic all rolled into one Happy Halloween package. If you know a young girl who’s not quite sure yet who she is, or just what she wants to be for Halloween this year, this is highly recommended.
The Halloween theme continues this month with a spate of new horror comics, just in time for the big scare. Dynamite Comics gets heavily into From-the-depths-of-Hell genre (if that’s really a thing) with Evil Ernie #1, written by Jesse Blaze Snyder (great name!) and drawn by Jason Craig (two first names!). This is an unpredictable little number about a demonically possessed serial killer who’s out to deliver souls to the devil, even right from of the electric chair. The titular character, Ernie, turns out to be a psychopath who you really want to like, despite the fact that he poisoned his entire hometown and tried to kill his biker-gang-looking jerk of a father right in the prison visiting room. His demonic self, possibly possessing Ernie since birth and certainly raring to go at his state-ordered death, is strangely, hugely likable, right down to the demonic little smiley face button on his leather jacket. This book looks like a no-apologies gory fun-fest, and makes for light but entertaining Halloween fare. You know, with demonic slayings.
We all know it wouldn’t be Halloween without a vampire or two, and IDW brings us a whole world full of them with Transfusion #1. In this savagely painted book with art by MENTON3 and story by Steve Niles, the world has ended, and not at the hands of one evil, but two. Robots, programmed for some unknown reason to devour the blood of their human creators, and vampires roaming the earth in devious packs, all scheme and war for the last remaining drops of O-Positive out there. The art here is the real draw, in a visual style that’s both unique and haunting. While I doubt I’ll keep reading this title, it’s gorgeous to look at.
Black and White has won me over again, this time in a straight up Detective story, Point of Impact #1. When a woman’s body flies off a roof and lands on a parked car below, her journalist husband begins to learn that his wife is not all that she seemed to be. This one has the feel of a full on police procedural, with a few too many coincidences for fiction, leading to lots of foreshadowing and intrigue. The black and white art by Koray Kuranel is gripping, and its stark nature (this is true black and white, with no shades of grey as we have seen in some other Image offerings) provides a gritty realism that makes this thriller one to watch.
After DC’s onslaught last month they have a couple of super hero #1s on offer this week, but those are definitely playing second fiddle to the indies. DC’s latest, The Phantom Stranger #1, resurrects a tired old staple from their Universe, a cape clad immortal wanderer who brings good to the Universe as a whole, but doom, gloom, and betrayal to anyone he encounters while doing so. The character is more fleshed out here, but the attempt to humanize him as a family man, even hinting that’s he’s the lost soul of Judas Iscariot, doesn’t make The Phantom Stranger any more likable, or even all that interesting.
Marvel has been mostly launching their new Marvel NOW! line, and picking up the pieces from the latest massive Avengers vs. X-Men crossover event, starting with the biggest release this week, Uncanny Avengers #1. After Cyclops’ misguided attempts to use the Phoenix to resurrect Mutant kind by killing Charles Xavier (yeah, I didn’t get it either) Captain America has chosen Cyclops’ younger brother to lead a new united group of Avengers and X-men and inspire the world. The only really fun part of this was watching the Red Skull cut out Xavier’s brain! Speaking of fun, Marvel did a good job with it’s alternate universe title Marvel Universe vs. The Avengers #1. This is the third mini-series in Marvel’s strange Crossed-esque superhero apocalypse, but watching Hawkeye romp around in a world full of unhinged super heroes and cannibalistic Hulks both Red and Green, and seeing Captain America sacrifice himself to the Punisher’s wrath, was just too much fun. This is one you can read and enjoy if you don’t follow Marvel’s mainstream (re: super confusing) Universe titles.
Lastly, there were a few odds and ends to mop up. Zenescope is at it again with their unusually exploitative fairy tales reimagined. In Grimm Universe #1, Poseidon destroys the world and a Mjolnir-wielding, nearly naked angel comes to the rescue. IDW’s Yoe Books imprint put out a Halloween collection of classic Golden Age horror tales with Haunted Horror #1, which makes perfect October coffee table fare. And last, but certainly not least, someone somewhere still seems to care enough about the ‘80s that Image felt the need to bring us MacGyver: Fugitive Gauntlet #1. I swear to God, I bought it just for the cover of a young MacGyver using a spray can and a Bunsen burner as a flame thrower! Awesome. Happy reading everyone, enjoy!
