Mysta of the Moon - Chapter 22

Planet Comics #56 (September 1948) is a pulpy entry into the Mysta of the Moon serial. Veteran pulp artist Joe Doolin is credited with the cover and it really hearkens back to the style of the 20s and 30s speculative fiction magazines. The Mysta tale is penciled by Matt Baker and his signature style is pretty clear even with the 'good girl' aspect of his art not as evident. Baker may not be as suited to science fiction as he is to drama and intrigue tales yet he puts in a good showing.

As for this chapter of Mysta itself it is full of imagery familiar to fans of pulps. Robots, BEM's and the space ship wielding a giant spinning saw blade used to destroy buildings all evoke adventure mags of decades prior. The threat is from without this time and features what might be the first actual alien life form depicted in this series. It is never specifically identified as such but the villain of this tale is a colony creature suspended in fluid and may not be a genetically modified member of the human race used for labor as speculated in the other chapters.

The Safety Council and chairman Dirk Garro makes another showing and lends credence to the theory that the old government more friendly to Mysta and her decrees has been replaced. Domestic trouble at home is also on the horizon as the increasingly absent Mysta (who remains undercover with the Safety Council) causes Bron to become more dissatisfied with his role as her assistant and possible romantic interest. Mysta's robot is not utilized at all (except for perhaps a guard keeping an electric eye on Bron) and appears modified again to be more utilitarian, vastly different from the previous model of humanoid, transparent musculature before the appearance of Bron.

Quotable...

Brandon Graham is a fortune cookie factory of great quotes. I snagged this off a REALLY sweet interview he did with Comicz Quest. click here to read the interview. Also, here's a preview page of Brandon's upcoming post-apocalyptic Russian werewolf romance comic Multiple Warheads...

Thanks for stopping by...

-samax.

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The Shock Labyrinth

Roughly two and a half hours north of Tokyo, near the base of Mt. Fuji, you'll find an amusement park called Fuji-Q Highland. The big attraction there is the massive Haunted Hospital, the largest haunted house attraction in the world (according to Guinness). This is the setting for Takashi "Ju-on" Shimizu's first 3D effort, The Shock Labyrinth (2009). The 3D aspects of the production were lost on me -- more about that in a minute …

The Shock Labyrinth is one of those horror pictures that opens with a series of inexplicable images and then sets about explaining them. Slowly. Yes, this film is a slow burn, so much so that I had serious doubts until about 30 minutes in, when things finally started to gel. In the classic formula, there is a woman who has been grievously wronged (to death) and now seeks revenge. In this case, the female ghost in question died as a child, at the hands of one or more of her small coterie of friends, in the Haunted Hospital (they snuck in after hours, got lost, things went horribly wrong, etc.).

Ten years later, the surviving friends are all grown up and having a strange night, particularly due to the fact that the girl they all thought dead has shown up at their door. She's acting weird and soon has an episode that requires medical attention. The group drives her to a nearby hospital -- a hospital that bears an uncanny resemblance to … you see where this is going? Things go from strange to surreal. Are they all dead? Have they entered an alternate dimension? Is all this happening in the mind of one of them? You'll find out, eventually. It's almost as if The Shock Labyrinth was made for a second viewing -- it's so much better the second time around. It's as if you have to get the first viewing out of the way before you can really enjoy it!

Fans of art house auteur Hirokasu Kore-eda may recognize young actor Yuya Yagira from his devastating film debut in 2004's Nobody Knows. He plays the pivotal role of Ken in The Shock Labyrinth. Also on hand, portraying pretty blind girl Rin, is Ai Maeda, who was also in Battle Royale (she was Shiori, and her sister Aki was Noriko). And if you're very observant, you'll recognize Suzuki Matsuo from Ichi the Killer and the risible Robogeisha.

Oh, about the 3D: The DVD package comes in both standard and 3D editions. I tried the latter first, wearing the old-timey red/blue cardboard glasses supplied … for about 90 seconds or so, before ripping them from my face, tears running from my burning eyeballs. Nope, that didn't work for me. But then I'm not a big fan of the whole 3D thing, not even the new, high-tech version you get at the cineplex these days. I find it more a distraction than anything else, another run at the same old gimmick. I caught the end of Avatar the other day on my satellite dish at 1080p and it looked way better than it did in the theater with the friggin' glasses on. I'm guessing the same goes for The Shock Labyrinth. So to hell with the 3D, just sit back and enjoy this enigmatic, ultimately enjoyable J-horror creation in glorious, it-ain't-broke-so-don't-fix-it 2D.

Matt Kimble covers The Phantom Stranger 14

Original cover by Neal Adams; DC 1971. Matt Kimble's website is here.

Cage get the Money like...

I recently bought a copy of Essential Luke Cage Vol 1, mainly because I had a great article about Luke Cage's debut submitted for the GhettoManga Quarterly Luke Cage tribute issue, and I needed some scans to go with it. Not being familiar with those early Cage stories, I was surprised how good a read the book is...

I posted this sequence because the issue it comes from is a real high-water mark for the character, in a book full of what I consider great story. Not just the fact that he runs up on arguably Marvel's greatest villain, Doctor Doom, but he shows a similar lack of awe for the Fantastic Four.  While respecting Reed Richard's intelligence, he talks Marvel's premier super team into lending him a super-sonic jet so he can journey to Latveria and get the $200 that Doom (his former client) owed him for services rendered.

After assisting an alien-led robot uprising and beating Doom to a standstill, Luke manages to get the biggest tightwad on Earth to come up off the Benjamins so he can get back to the business of not getting assassinated and/or deposed by a mass of angry robots*.  Then to add insult to injury, when he returns the Fantastic Four's plane, he refuses to discuss his personal business with them, and heads to the crib to clean up, giving Ben Grimm the cold shoulder when he wants details on the robot coup.

Good stuff, for sure... anyways, like I said, there will be tons of great analysis of Cage in the new issue, which will be done soon. until then, if you see a copy of Essential Luke Cage Vol 1 in your comic shop, I suggest you cop it! It's great to see the old-school artwork and dense writing, not only from household names like Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin and John Romita, but also lots of great work by cats I wasn't at all familiar with. Since there probably won't be room for my review of this book in the tribute issue, I may post a few more nuggets of it here.

holla!

-samax.

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*yeah, that got the robophobic tag added to the post. If Doom can't hold the machines down, who CAN? 

Having an "Almost Neva Was" Kinda Day

hope you're having a good Sonday... as for me, I just put my daughter down for a nap, and I'm watching the OKC-Miami game, bumping that Almost Neva Was by the mighty Empress Stahhr...

nothing like dope rapping to help with my productivity! After mad time on the back burner, I'm back to work on the GhettoManga Quarterly Luke Cage tribute issue, and should be done soon. If y'all are good, I'll let you peep some pages later...

holla!

-samax.

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Lesson One

Teacher, Teacher performed by Rockpile (1980).

I don't know why but I feel that Katy Perry could do a good job covering this song. I've never heard more than a minute of anything she did but Teacher, Teacher sung by a woman would be cute and evoke enough sexual ambiguity for her to be far superior to the first shallow, calculated, PR firm-driven hit I Kissed A Girl.

Robert Love to drop new Sketchbook and debut his sci-fi comic "Number 13" in DHP!

Underground comics phemom Robert Love (Chocolate Thunder, Blind Monkey Style, Fierce) leaked the cover to his new sketchbook, The Hive...

Love will have the 52 page black and white sketchbooks available for just $6 at Emerald City Con, which takes place March 4th-6th in Seattle. If you still haven't bought Blind Monkey Style, I'm sure he'll have copies of that on hand as well. He is also working on a full color art book for the summer.

Now is definitely a good time to get in on the Love train, since it's been announced that Dark Horse will debut his creepy/ awesome/ futuristic sci-fi comic Number 13 in the second issue of its Dark Horse Presents relaunch. I can only hope this brings more fan attention to Love and his Number 13 and Blind Monkey collaborator David Walker (BadAzz Mofo). Here's some preview art from Number 13 I found on the internet...

anyways, I've been a fan of Robert Love for a long time, so it's good to see his hard work bearing fruit! For more of my writing about Robert's work, click here. You can also follow his blog here.
[EDIT:you can preorder that Sketchbook HERE for just $7!]

holla!

samax.

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Tracy Morgan + Live TV = NO!

Tracy Morgan's gives his fair and unbiased opinion of former half-term Alaskan governor and possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin on TNT's NBA Pregame Show...


I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to let Tracy Morgan come on and say something on live teevee... I would blame Charles Barkley, but honestly, Barkley is like a teenager. The show has producers and stuff who should have demanded that they shoot beforehand or do a tape delay or something. Tracy Morgan is nuts. That's his appeal. If you put a camera on him and ask a question, you should assume he will say something crazy. That said, this had me dying, obviously...
I mean, I know some people were offended, but it could'a been SO much worse! Imagine if your boy Ernie hadn't shut him down! It would'a got GRAPHIC!
By the way, that Heat v Kicks game was AWESOME!

holla!

-samax.

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Black Stormtrooper, Beyotch!

Donald Faison (Clueless, Scrubs) gets EPIC on your ass...


my internet brethren, stop motion animator Musa Booker, hipped me to this bit of youTube gold, written and directed by Faison. peep the new episode below...

holla!

-samax.

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Fred Hembeck covers Tales of the Unexpected 53

Original cover by Bob Brown; DC 1960. Fred Hembeck's website is here.

En Gaard

Among the sites I visit the alleged death of the Human Torch a.k.a. Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four #587 has been met with a collective yawn. I'm not sure if that response to the issue is comic book snobbery or not. I'm a fan and I'm not not one of those bored with the issue. It gave me the entertainment I expected. I generally liked the story (with the exception of the Super-Genius Babysitter's Club) but let's face it, is there any comic book fan who thinks Johnny being eaten to death by giant alien bugs is permanent? No one probably. As example, Bully highlights the many deaths of the Fantastic Four.

Like many fans I'm burnt out on the drama of character death because it hasn't been shown to have that much impact. It seems to occurs primarily in the run-up to a movie and the dead character will return just in time for the cinema release of the film.

In the past Reed, Ben and Sue all died and after a fashion all have returned. It was Johnny Storm's turn is all. The last time any comic book character's death had any real gravity for fans was Marvel's Phoenix and Captain Marvel and DC's CoIE Flash. I was excited to read those stories. Not because of the drama but because they gave a reader such as myself that there is a greater illusion of change than really existed in the format.

When last seen Johnny Storm was overwhelmed by the Annihilation Wave, an army of giant bugs bent on swarming into new territory. Readers see him get pulled under but don't really witness him killed. Who we kidding? The most obvious way out for the Torch is that he goes nova and wins the fight or at least maintains a stand off. If he survived, in all probability he is injured and is now trapped in the Negative Zone. Being who he is, he would either go off in search of a way home or remain defending the portal if it was still a threat to Earth.

I expect him to come back but maybe not as the Johnny we are all familiar with. Story-wise it would not do to have Reed open a portal and have Johnny step through, grin and ask where the babes are. Years spent killing monsters in between cat naps would change a person. Decades ago an alternate-earth Johnny Storm performed a similar function in Fantastic Four #162 (Sept 1975). Amnesiac and supplied with esoteric armor and tools alternate-Johnny Storm was posted in an other-dimensional realm guarding a nexus to various earths as the hockey-themed soldier, Gaard. Something similar on his eventual return could happen but it may be too obvious an attempt in mining the past. Johnny Storm's journey back home could provide the basic plot for a mini-series though.

How permanent is death supposed to be in comic books? Personally, if a character dies I'd expect a period of at least 5 years before they return without feeling ripped off emotionally. That gets a fan through the requisite few months of reminiscing, back-stories, drama with the replacement member of the affected group and even a period where the deceased character is not referenced at all. Then the triumphant return and a return to the status quo. Such a time line allows a whole new group of readers to discover the character and hopefully get hooked on reading the book and by extension, the entire line published by the company.

IN STORES NOW- PROOF: Endangered #1 & 2

You guys may remember how gonzo I was for the GhettoManga Award-winning Image comic PROOF, the story of secret agent John Prufrock, the world's best-dressed Sasquatch. Original creative team Alex Grecian and Riley Rossmo return with a new story arc that finds Proof alone and on the run, hunted by the very government he once worked for. As you'll see in the preview pages from issues 1 and 2 below, this series will delve deeper into Proof's past, which goes back to colonial times...

Due to freelancing-induced poverty, I got behind on the book, which apparently went on hiatus... but now it's back in the form of PROOF: Endangered, which looks extremely dope. The combination of rustic artwork and immaculate design makes for one of the most unique and appealing books on the stands. Alex Grecian's writing is also particularly gripping... This comic is a damn-near perfect blend of horror, witty comedy, and action. I'm looking forward to checking this new story arc out! PROOF: Endangered #1 & 2 are both in stores now! If you wanna go back to the beginning, get your hands on PROOF: Goatsucker which collects the story that earned them my Comic of the Year award a couple years back. Highly recommended!
holla!

-samax.

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