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Archive for the ‘Saturday Night Shivers’ Category

December 14th, 2019

REVIEW: A Woman, A Cat Burglar, And A Fiendish Plot

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Saturday Night Shivers, a feature at Paint Monk’s Library. In the spirit of Elvira, the Ghoul, and other horror movie hosts, we’ll be featuring a review of one classic horror comic each week. Most horror stories we review (with a few exceptions) are from books approved by the Comics Code Authority or from comics that were published before the code was enacted. This installment is written by Bob Freeman.)

This week, I turn my attention to another horror comic that falls outside of the Big Two, this time looking toward an imprint of Archie Comics called Red Circle and their title Chilling Adventures in Sorcery.

While short-lived, after Chilling Adventures ditched Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch as host, this became a solid comic in the vein of Tales from the Crypt and Creepy, made all the more impressive by Gray Morrow’s stunning illustrations.

Gray Morrow was simply a brilliant illustrator. While his stories tended to be wordy, his panel constructions were reminiscent of the works of legendary cartoonists Hal Foster and Alex Raymond. His comic work tended to read more like a Sunday Newspaper Strip than what comics had evolved into, and for me, as a fan of those early Prince Valiant and Flash Gordon strips, I was completely sold.

Morrow was a competent writer and editor, but as an artist, he was without question, one of the greats, even if, today, he is largely unsung. Issues #3-5 of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery are fine examples of Morrow’s brilliance and I invite you now to read my review of issue #3’s thrilling horror/heist yarn, “Cat!”

Review: Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3

Alden Brooks is a former cat-burglar, just returned to the world after a three year stint in prison. Brooks is looking for a big score to rebuild his confidence and travels to a plush Caribbean Resort to find his mark.

In the Resort Casino, Brooks sets his sights on Señor Atalan and his niece, Consuelo. Asking the beautiful young woman to dance, the thief easily lifts a valuable diamond bracelet off her wrist.

Sensing a bigger payday, Brooks pretends to find the bracelet on the floor, returning it to the young lady and delivering her to her uncle. Consuelo shares with her uncle the good fortune of Brooks “finding” her lost bracelet. To show his gratitude, Atalan invites Brooks to his castle and promises to show him his extensive collection of precious gems and jewelry.

After a tour of the castle, Brooks takes a walk with Consuelo who reveals she was aware of his ruse all along. It turns out she wants to escape her uncle, calling him a madman who believes he is a sorcerer and an alchemist. She encourages the cat-burglar to loot the castle, with her help and promises him his greatest desire. In exchange, all she wants is the Egyptian necklace her uncle wears around his neck. Brooks agrees.

Brooks scales the tower and slips into Atalan’s bedchamber which is filled with priceless artifacts. He steals the necklace from around the alchemist’s neck, but Atalan awakens and confronts the burglar.

Consuelo appears and transforms her “uncle” into a cobra, then turns herself into a mongoose. She kills the sorcerer and returns to human form. Brooks is stunned, but Consuelo agrees to keep her end of the bargain, giving the thief his greatest desire — and transforms him into a cat.

Alden Brooks, notorious cat-burglar, has become a cat for real and cursed to serve a witch as her familiar for all eternity.

CAPSULE REVIEW: “Cat” is a prime example of the kind of work you could expect from Gray Morrow. A consummate illustrator, “Cat” is stunning to look at. As far as plots go, Morrow had a tendency to put his own spin on what some would consider “tired tropes”, but considering the audience for comics in the sixties and seventies (predominately pre-teen boys) these were solid adventures that delivered the goods.

With “Cat” I believe you’ll find the brevity of the page count hurts the story as the end comes along too quickly. The story could have used a few more pages to flesh out what was really a classic heist tale with a clever pulp twist at the end. The climax is hindered by being squeezed in on a single page, lessening the impact of the witch’s double-cross.

Still, all-in-all, my fond memories of this tale from my childhood were not diluted by revisiting it now, some 45 or so years later.

Morrow was a masterful artist who should be spoken of in the same breath as the legends of comic creators. Sadly, this is just not the case. He should be heralded alongside those artists that he emulated — Foster, Raymond, Hogarth, and others.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue a 7.5. On eBay, this issue was available between $5-10.

December 7th, 2019

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REVIEW: Gideon Falls – A Dark Masterpiece in Progress?

After slowly absorbing the first issue of Gideon Falls from master storyteller Jeff Lemire, there is no question that I have just experienced something extremely rare. Lemire is joined by artist Andrea Sorrentino, with whom he collaborated on Marvel’s Old Man Logan and DC’s Green Arrow.

While working together on those titles, both were slowly developing Gideon Falls. Lemire reveals the origins of Falls in an essay at the end of issue one which struck a nerve so deep there is no doubt that I’d just been introduced to what will one day be considered a masterpiece.

This first issue sets the stage for Gideon Falls; an atmosphere of darkness, perpetually overcast and bleak seems to foreshadow an impending evil.

There are no explosive vibrant colors, with the exception being a recurring blood red that appears without warning. It gives the panels in which it appears the feeling of an open wound, where the reader expects them to open up and bleed out. The remainder of the panels are dark, grainy and only to serve to drive the nail deeper and furthering the foreshadowing of impending doom. The “Our Father” prayer closes out the prologue, and then the story begins.

The issue consists of two separate narratives, both expertly written and running parallel to each other. The reader meets Father Wilfred, who against his will is transferred to the town parish, replacing the former priest who had passed away.

The other narrative is that of Norton, a man who we learn is mentally ill – we see several sessions with his psychotherapist. She implies that Norton is sick. Recently released from inpatient treatment, Norton suffers from what appears to be a form of delusional OCD. He is almost always seen wearing a surgical mask and gloves, roaming the city and rummaging through the trash, searching for different items. He says these items are calling to him – as if he knows evil is coming. He doesn’t know the connection, but each of the pieces of garbage – a nail or large splinter of wood – needs to be collected and cataloged.

The slow burn of the narrative, the captivating artwork and the utterly compelling dialogue allow the story to sink its teeth in, dragging the reader further into the psychological thriller.

I don’t want to ruin Gideon Falls for any of you waiting to read the most intriguing title I’ve come across in years – but I’m already craving more and I do not want to stop reading. I will say there is an interesting turn of events for Father Wilfred on the first night in his new home, while the visions of an ominous barn all lead to a cliffhanger, revealed on the last page.

Gideon Falls is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. It is the detail, the dual narrative and the ominous sense of foreboding in each panel that makes this title groundbreaking, easily, in my opinion, the best release at the point it was published in 2018. Two protagonists – Wilfred, the Catholic priest suffering from wavering faith and Norton, the man whose reckless conviction keeps him searching for a truth he cannot grasp keep you hungry for more.

There are no “in your face” scares in this book, yet the tone set by Lemire in combination with Sorrentino’s artwork is visual storytelling at its best. It’ll send shivers racing down your spine.

All of this is masterfully executed, creating the grand mystery at the center of the story. Lemire breathes an entirely new life into the horror aesthetic…and as a writer and an avid reader, I implore you not to miss this title.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Paint Monk’s Library is open to exploring supernatural and horror stories, even those that have “Catholic” figures as central characters. However, the theology of this comic book does not necessarily reflect the theology of Wally Monk or any order or religious group with whom he may be affiliated.)

November 30th, 2019

By Bob Freeman, Reviews, Saturday Night Shivers

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REVIEW: A Tale of Horror, Conscience & John Constantine

I bill myself as The Occult Detective. I own the URL and everything. I’ve been a fan of the genre since I was a wee lad, growing up on a small farm outside of Nowheresville, Indiana. My first taste was probably The Sixth Sense, a TV series than ran in 1972, starring Gary Collins as parapsychologist Dr. Michael Rhodes.

As far as occult detectives go, it’s hard to do better than the Alan Moore-created John Constantine. Constantine’s a nasty bit of work. Don’t believe me? Just ask him, he’ll tell you straight. The fact that he might actually exist in some bloody way or another, based on the testimony of several creators who have worked on these comics is just icing on the cake.

Hellblazer works because when it’s bad it’s pretty good, but when it’s good it’s brilliant.

Take the issue I’m preparing to review for you, a floppy called “Hold Me”. Written by Neil Gaiman, with surreal artwork by Dave McKean, we are presented with more than just a ghost story. It has layers of social commentary littered throughout, some to the fore, some to the aft, and that’s something Hellblazer was very good at, mixing the real world and its foibles alongside the supernatural and strange.

A good occult detective traverses all these realms, for better or worse, and bloody well makes for a darn fine comic. Although iterations of Hellblazer and John Constantine still exist, it was that initial volume from Vertigo, all 300 of them, that sang the proper song. Here’s to hoping that magic can be recaptured at some point in the near future.

Review: Hellblazer #27

Our tale begins on a cold London night. Fat Ronnie and Sylvia, drunk and homeless, hunker down in a small flat, tearing down curtains to huddle beneath while they hold one another for warmth. They pay no mind to Jacko, who’s alone and curled up nearby.

The scene shifts to John Constantine hailing a cab. The cabbie is a National Front poster boy and John, hearing enough, decides to walk the rest of the way to a party thrown in the memory of Ray Monde. John arrives shortly and the host greets him and introduces him to a woman named Anthea, an old friend of Ray.

Elsewhere, a child calls out for her mother. Someone is in her room. The mother enters to discover Jacko. He is cold and wants to be held. He draws the woman close, sucking the heat and life out of her. Jacko leaves the mother dead on the floor, her child wondering why she has grown so cold.

Back at the party, John thinks Anthea is interested in him. The conversation gets rather personal then she asks him to walk her home. Constantine agrees. Arriving at the housing complex, John notices a terrible smell from inside. Anthea explains a homeless couple were found dead in an abandoned flat, huddled together under a curtain. They had been there for months before they were found and had to be carried out in multiple plastic bags.

Anthea invites John into her apartment and she begins trying to seduce him. She mentions her flatmate and he suddenly remembers why her name sounded familiar to him. Anthea is a lesbian that Ray Monde often spoke of. This entire seduction was a ruse. Anthea and her lover wanted a baby and Ray had always thought highly of John, so she had hoped to father a child by him. Angry at being duped, he leaves in a huff.

In the hall, John runs into Shona. She is worried about her mother who is lying cold on the floor of their room. John agrees to look in on her for the child, discovering the woman dead. He leaves the child with Anthea, then goes off to search for the spirit responsible.

Breaking into the flat where the couple had passed, John is approached by Jacko who is cold and wants someone to hold him. John embraces the spirit, giving the homeless man in death what he had wanted in life, someone to care about him. He passes on and John is overwhelmed with emotion.

Constantine returns to Anthea’s apartment and asks her to hold him.

CAPSULE REVIEW: This is a brilliant example of a well-written comic with a social conscience that delivers its message without being heavy-handed. The supernatural element underscores the plight of the homeless and mentally challenged. Gaiman delivered a Constantine slightly out of character, but well within the realm of the man we had come to know through his appearances in Swamp Thing and the first 26 issues of his own title.

As for McKean’s artwork, when I first read this nearly thirty years ago,
I was not a fan of the art style. I was into artists like Adams, Byrne, and Buscema. This sort of scratchy, surrealistic approach did not sit well with my sensibilities, but the writing kept me glued to the page. Now, I have a much greater appreciation for the artist’s approach and feel the mood it invokes is perfect for John Constantine. Where I had once felt a disconnect, I now resonate with McKean’s kinetic line work.

If you’ve never read a John Constantine tale, this is a great place to start. On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue a 9. On eBay, this issue can sell between $20-80, but it was a free Halloween giveaway last year from DC Comics and can be snagged for less than $3.

Alba Gu Brath – Bob Freeman (aka The Occult Detective)

November 24th, 2019

By Bob Freeman, Saturday Night Shivers

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REVIEW: A Family Member Sacrificed & Vampire vs. Ghost!

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Saturday Night Shivers, a feature at Paint Monk’s Library. In the spirit of Elvira, the Ghoul, and other horror movie hosts, we’ll be featuring a review of one classic horror comic each week. All horror stories we review are from books approved by the Comics Code Authority or from comics that were published before the code was enacted. This installment is written by Bob Freeman.)

I grew up on a farm in rural Indiana and was a voracious reader. This was long before the internet, of course, and television was limited to a couple of snowy channels on a black & white set. Books were my escape and read just about anything I could get my hands on.

I went through a period, around 1973-1975 when I devoured a bunch of “women running away from the castle” books. You know, gothic romances. I loved them, and why not? Dark Shadows trained me to appreciate the genre. Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt were my favorites.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered The Tomb of Dracula at Cain’s Sundries. The first issue that caught my eye was issue #23, which, naturally, had a woman running away from a shadowy Victorian mansion, an enlarged Count looming over the scene. I was enthralled and eagerly dropped my two-bits for the comic, discovering the wondrously dark and foreboding illustrations of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer inside.

I was smitten, becoming a lifelong fan of what is arguably the best horror comic ever written. Let’s have a look at what caught my eye, shall we?

Review: Tomb of Dracula #23

Picking up the action where Chillers #1 concluded, we find Count Dracula and Shiela Whittier standing over the corpse of Lord Henry, the British parliamentarian who had served the Count for years. In a recap, we discover that Henry betrayed the Count, arranging for him to take over Ms. Whittier’s Castle.

The Count learned that Shiela was being tormented and abused, and was under the impression that Henry was the culprit, but it was all some sort of trap, however, and Lord Henry committed suicide in Dracula’s presence even as a burst of ominous laughter filled the castle. Shiela is suddenly attacked by an unseen force, leaving her cut across the face. Dracula takes her to bed to rest, musing that she will be a useful servant to do his bidding.

He reflects on his encounter with his daughter Lilith, and of Shiela’s innocence, when he is interrupted by a knock at the door. He opens the door, finding no one there, but is suddenly grabbed by an invisible presence that pulls him out of the room.

Dracula is thrown over the balcony, but transforms into a bat. Hearing Shiela scream, he races back to the room to discover she has been roused by ghosts. She explains to Dracula that she is haunted by the ghost of her uncle, Alestar Dunwick.

After her aunt and uncle’s death, she was willed the house. She moved in with her boyfriend, but the young man was uneasy about the house, sensing a frightful presence. His fears were proved to be true when he was thrown down the stairs and killed by unseen forces. Dracula leaves her then to feed. He allows a motorist to run him over, then feeds on the driver when she advances to see if he was injured.

Meanwhile, Shiela explores the castle only to be confronted by the spirit of Alestar Dunwick. Alestar explains that he is not her uncle, but in reality her father.

He tells of how he was murdered by Shiela’s mother and that he returned, assuming the form of her lover and driving the woman to suicide and taking her money… money that had been his. He eventually remarried and spent the years keeping track of Shiela.

Dunwick reveals that he had sold his soul to Satan for earthly power and planned to sacrifice her soul to his infernal master. Dunwick takes her to the basement, to the altar of his Church of the Damned, where finds the bodies of those he had sacrificed before her in an attempt to reanimate himself once more.

Shiela tries to flee so Dunwick assaults her, using his unholy powers to animate the debris littering the estate and hurling it at her. Dracula arrives and fights his way through the phantasm’s attack, grabbing Dunwick’s mummified corpse and crushing it against a wall.

With the body destroyed, Dunwick’s soul is drawn down into Hell. “How could you end my life so… How could you?” Dunwick moaned. “You’re a Child of Hell as I am.”

“I am Dracula, ghost,” the Count replied, “and I am a greater Hell than you could ever imagine.”

CAPSULE REVIEW: Man, that was a lot of story crammed into 18 or so pages. Not only was all of Chillers #1 recapped, but a wealth of subplots and convoluted story points were juggled and deployed masterfully by Marv Wolfman.

This is an art form long lost on modern comic scribes, I’m afraid. In an age of decompressed stories, this one issue would surely have spanned a half-dozen modern comics.

Of course, Wolfman had two consummate draughtsmen in Gene Colan and Tom Palmer to deliver what had to be a maddening task to pull off, but that’s what made Tomb of Dracula so special. It was bold and fearless, delivering beautiful art and very adult themes with an edgy style that was unlike anything else at the time.

Dracula was brilliantly reimagined as both a hero and a villain in this title with his dashing, Jack Palance-like looks, his sense of honor, but more importantly, his hunger.

Colan and Palmer’s art style on this was truly remarkable, though, admittedly, I think it looked better in black and white. That’s not a dig at colorist Petra Goldberg (more commonly known as Petra Scotese). She did a masterful job of breathing life into the work, but the mood I think was better served in grayscale. I feel the same regarding Conan’s turn at Marvel, but I digress.

For my first foray into Tomb of Dracula, this issue was a mind-blowing, mind-altering experience. There was just so much to take in, so much backstory that somehow Marv Wolfman and company were able to translate in just a few pages. That’s a neat trick.

If you’ve never given Tomb of Dracula a look, you’re really missing out. While writers like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman get all the love for their adult and literary approach to comics, it was Wolfman who struck first and every bit as well.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue an 8. On eBay, Tomb of Dracula #23 was available between $6-15, but you can pick up the trade paperback of Tomb of Dracula Vol. 2 from Amazon, featuring issues #13-23, plus Werewolf by Night #15 and Giant-Size Chillers #1 for less than $10.

November 16th, 2019

By Wally Monk, Saturday Night Shivers

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REVIEW: “Tower of Shadows” Made To Compete With DC

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Saturday Night Shivers, a feature at Paint Monk’s Library. In the spirit of Elvira, the Ghoul, and other horror movie hosts, we’ll be featuring a review of one classic horror comic each week. All horror stories we review are from books approved by the Comics Code Authority or from comics that were published before the code was enacted. This installment is written by Wally Monk.)

**Welcome to *Saturday Night Shivers*, a weekly feature about horror comics.**

In the mid to late 1960s, DC Comics was experiencing huge success with a handful of horror titles. Their “leading” title in this genre was called House of Mystery, and it began in 1951 as an anthology of scary stories. It would run a whopping 321 issues and undergo several shifts in content until its cancellation in 1983.

At the height of DC’s success in the genre, Marvel wanted to get into the game and created Tower of Shadows, which debuted in 1969, and its sister title, Chamber of Darkness.

The lead story in the series’ premiere issue was “At the Stroke of Midnight!” which featured art by Jim Steranko – it would later win the 1969 Alley Award for best feature story.

After issue #9, Tower of Shadows became Creatures on the Loose, and the first issue under the new title featured the debut of Robert E. Howard’s King Kull in Marvel Comics. It was a story penned by Marvel’s own Bullpen barbarian writer Roy Thomas with art by the famous Bernie Wrightson.

Later issues in the series added more sword-and-sorcery than horror, including stories of Lin Carter’s Thongor the Barbarian. Creatures on the Loose was canceled with issue #37.

Review: Tower of Shadows #1

WARNING! SPOILERS FOLLOW

Story #1 – “At the Stroke of Midnight”

Story and Artwork By Jim Steranko

Look, it’s a narrator! Can anyone say Crypt Keeper? Opening the first page of Tower of Shadows, we see a lanky, pasty-faced skeleton of a man standing in a graveyard with a shovel firmly planted in the ground. Behind him stands a lone headstone. Bats flying from the background complete the scene. The reader can call him “Digger,” he says, in first person narrative – and the frightening figure believes the reader looks like someone who rushed past him just the other night…on their way to Shadow House.

Lou and Marie have just inherited to sinister Shadow House from Lou’s “favorite” uncle. As a child, Lou remembers just how scary the house was…full of dusty old antiques, candles everywhere…and he’s not excited about going inside. To make matters worse, it’s a dark night and they just climbed a massive stone staircase to reach the house on the hill.

Marie doesn’t like her husband – that’s evident from the beginning, with constant nagging like “You fool!” and “I could have married a man!” She gets even angrier when Lou says he hasn’t paid the electric bill, which means they’ll be rooting through the old house by candlelight. There’s treasure beyond imagining here, and Lou’s old occult-dabbling uncle has to have hid it somewhere.

It seems Lou’s uncle also dabbled in time-travel. When the duo finally stumbles across a room full of gold and jewels, their excitement lasts only momentarily – until they realize to whom the jewels belong.

Will Lou and Marie live happily ever after? Or is there something about these jewels and the previous owners they should know? There’s always a “catch” in these horror stories!

Story #2 – “From Beyond the Brink”

Story and artwork by Johnny Craig

Digger’s got another story for us – this time, it’s a tale called “From Beyond the Brink!” which was written and illustrated by Johnny Craig, born John Thomas Alexis Craig. This story was one of a handful Craig completed for Marvel, with the highlights of his career stemming from his days with EC Comics in the 1950s. Online sources claim the artwork was drastically refinished by John Romita Sr.

Hayden Hathaway is debunking phony spiritual mediums – he spends his time visiting self-proclaimed spiritualists and fortune tellers, and has put many of them out of business. A struggling writer named Arthur Watson has been working on a biography of Hathaway, but the missing piece has been the debunker’s motives for exposing these fake fortune tellers and their plans.

All comes clear one day when a spiritualist that Hathaway cannot debunk crosses his path. In a meeting with both Hathaway and Watson, Madame Angelica begins her seance. Hathaway appears impressed, as he sees members of his family from the past and impressive things are revealed, things that Madame Angelica never could have known.

Enraged, Hathaway suddenly starts tearing the room apart, declaring that she has to be a fake and that somehow, he will discover the source of her illusions.

Why is Hathaway so determined to find a real medium? Will Madame Angelica turn out to be a charlatan like all the rest? And what is the “motive” for Hayden Hathaway’s obsession?

Story #3 – “A Time to Die!”

Story Stan Lee / Artwork By John Buscema

Stan Lee’s ability to write really mean-spirited, frightening characters makes me wonder about the legendary mind behind the stories! In Chamber of Chills, he writes about a truly sadistic warden. Here, he’s writing about a twisted alchemist, who is determined to invent a potion that brings him eternal life.

The alchemist has an assistant, Arthur, who we learn is a convicted felon. The alchemist constantly berates the assistant, calling him everything from “witless assistant” to “weak-minded fool” and “toady.” The mad scientist even gloats that Arthur will tolerate any abuse he chooses to heap upon him – after all, who would help out a man with a horrific criminal past?

That past may come back to haunt the alchemist. Arthur knows he’ll get revenge for all the abuses heaped upon him – but hopefully not until the formula for eternal life is discovered.

What is the silent, vengeful Arthur planning? And will the potion that brings immorality ever be in the alchemist’s grasp?

CAPSULE REVIEW: Wow, this issue is dark. The stories, although produced under the watchful eye of the Comics Code Authority, are terrifying, even by today’s standards. It’s sad that this title lasted a mere 37 issues – and that the focus changed from horror to science fiction and fantasy. All three of the stories here focus on the darkness of human beings and their behavior, which is in many ways much more frightening than the “things that go bump in the night.”

The first story by Jim Steranko is hands-down the best, and its clear why he won his industry award. In a mere seven pages, the Marvel legend tells a horror story with an ending so unexpected that it leaves you wanting more. His artwork is typically excellent, and reminds me of the stories the DC competitors shared that Marvel was trying to emulate with this title.

The second story is perhaps the weakest, although I can’t wrap my head around why Marvel didn’t use Johnny Craig more often. His story was clear, well-told, and to the point. The artwork reminded me a lot of Mike Ploog’s work on Werewolf By Night. The third story was a good closer for a good book. No one can quibble with the pencils of John Buscema.

On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this issue an 7.9. On eBay, copies in ungraded condition could be purchased for $5 in lower grades with others priced between $10-15.. A CGC-certified copy graded at 9.2 was available with a Buy-It-Now of $121.60.

As always, I am – Wally (AKA Paint Monk)

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