Thursday, January 28, 2016

Alpha Flight: The Complete Series by Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente

 My accursed backlog of comics!!! I bought this half-double-dip trade before I realized how awful the series was....

Monday, January 25, 2016

Freedom of the Mask, by Robert McCammon

 Robert McCammon's Matthew Corbett series continues with the sixth installment, FREEDOM OF THE MASK.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Red Sonja: The Black Tower

 Dynamite keeps the Red Sonja train chugging along with RED SONJA: THE BLACK TOWER, a twisty, episodic collection that spans decades.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Alpha Flight by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, Vol. 1

 I've been reading comics for most of my 45 years, and I've taken a lot of crap for reading them. I've also gone out of my way to defend them as literature and as a valid art form. Reading ALPHA FLIGHT BY GREG PAK AND FRED VAN LENTE, VOL. 1 was enough to make me think "Why did I bother....?"

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The Phantom of The Opera, by Philip J. Riley

 I grew up hearing endless stories from my grandfather about his childhood idol, Lon Chaney, or "The Man of 1,000 Faces" as gramps referred to him. It wasn't easy to find silent movies on broadcast TV in The Bronx back in the '70's, so I never had the pleasure of actually watching a Chaney film with my grandfather, but as I've grown older, mostly thanks to TCM, I've become quite a fan of the man and his films, especially THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Monday, January 11, 2016

The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story, by Bob Holly and Ross Williams

 As a longtime wrestling fan, I have fond memories of Bob "Hardcore" Holly, from making fun of him when he first debuted in The WWF as "Thurman "Sparky" Plugg", to marking out for him when he transformed into the badass "Hardcore" Holly. He was never a top guy in the promotion, but he often ended up delivering one of the best matches on cards that featured him. You could tell he was a legit tough-guy, and that he always gave 110% in his matches.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Monster Mash: The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze in America 1957-1972, by Mark Voger

 If you're my age (45), or close to it, and male, chances are you were crazy about monsters when you were a kid. You may or may not have gotten over that as you grew older......I didn't. Nothing stops my channel-surfing faster than stumbling across a monster movie. Good or bad, if it's got a monster in it, I'm there. Stop-motion, man-in-a-suit, CGI....whatever. Monsters = fun.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Night and The Enemy

 Dover reprints the classic Harlan Ellison/Ken Steacy collaboration NIGHT AND THE ENEMY, finally giving context to the weird story I read in EPIC ILLUSTRATED when I was a kid.....

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Andre The Giant: Closer To Heaven

 On the heels of Box Brown's excellent biographical graphic novel Andre The Giant: Life & Legend, IDW weighs in with another take on the story of Andre Rousimoff.