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AWESOME-tober-fest 2016: Angel vs Frankenstein (2009)

Posted in comic books, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, horror, monsters, TV shows, vampires with tags Angel, AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2016, comic books, Frankenstein, Halloween, holiday, monsters, reviews, vampires on October 25, 2016 by Paxton

Back in 2011, when I did Dracula/vampires for my theme, I covered the appearance of Dracula in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This included several comic book appearances with Buffy and Spike. So, I thought I should next cover another Buffy character teaming up with another classic monster. Let’s see if this one fares any better.

In 2009, IDW released a one-shot called Angel vs Frankenstein. It was written and drawn by the great John Byrne.

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The story takes place after Mary Shelley’s novel, which we get a brief recap of in the comic. It also takes place before Angel is cursed by the gypsy to have a soul. So, after Frankenstein discovers Victor dead in the arctic at the end of Shelley’s novel, he decides to return to his home to claim the right as the last heir of Frankenstein. However, the monster realizes he can’t do it alone, so the monster hires Angelus to return to Castle Frankenstein with him to help. However, Angelus has different ideas and throws the monster out of the stagecoach and over a cliff. He then goes to the castle to claim the fortune for himself. But the monster didn’t die, and it makes its way back for his revenge. Queue Frankenstein vs Angelus fight.

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It’s a pretty good story. I like the setup. I love Byrne’s art. I enjoyed reading it. It’s only a one-shot, so it’s short, but Byrne makes the most of it.

Then in 2010, IDW released a sequel called, appropriately, Angel vs Frankenstein II. This one-shot was also written and drawn by John Byrne.

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This takes place many years after the first comic. Angelus is now just Angel. He’s in America and working as a janitor at a mental hospital. He discovers the monster bound up in a hidden set of rooms in the hospital. Angel tries to sort out the mystery of how the monster got there but when the monster sees Angel, he goes off on a rampage thinking it’s Angelus and Angel has to stop him from tearing apart the city. We also learn a few secrets about the nature of this Frankenstein monster.

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Again, this is a good, if a bit more understated comic story. It’s another one shot, but Byrne makes good use of the characters and his art is great. I like the wrap up of the Frankenstein monster here. I’d definitely recommend these comics to a fan of Angel.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2016: Cavalcade Comics #13 Halloween Edition!!

Posted in comic books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, vampires, werewolf, werewolves with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2016, Halloween, holiday, Vintage Comic Throwdowns on October 24, 2016 by Paxton

Here we are, the final week of AWESOME-tober-fest. It’s this week the last few years that I’ve started a tradition to diverge from my overall theme to do a sort of “greatest hits” of my previous topics. So instead of more mummies, I’m happily going to be doing other things like vampires, werewolves and movie maniacs.

Another sort of tradition I’ve started to debut during this week is a brand new Cavalcade Comics vintage throwdown cover. Last year I did the Dell Monster Squad featuring three of Dell Comics’ monster superheroes. I was actually pretty proud of that cover.

This year, I’m going a little bit more generic but still featuring 2 of those monsters in the form of Werewolf vs A Planet of Vampires!

It’s poetic that I’m debuting issue #13 of these covers during my Halloween celebration. I love that it worked out like that (no, I didn’t plan it that way). Also, this particular cover was actually developed very early on when I started this feature. It was probably the fourth or fifth cover I actually did but for some reason I just sat on it until I decided now is the time to reveal it.

The werewolf part of this cover in the background is taken from Werewolf by Night #19 (1974). One of my favorite covers from that series. The vampire and his victim in the foreground are from Atlas Comics’ Planet of Vampires #2 (1975). However, the Planet of Vampires logo is actually from issue #3.

I still have several other covers done that I haven’t released yet. One of them is actually the second cover I ever did and just never released it. We’ll see when, or if, that one ever comes up.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2016: Fangoria #182 (1999) – Mummy Mania issue

Posted in Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2016, Fangoria, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazines, monsters, movies, mummy, pop culture, reviews, The Mummy on October 21, 2016 by Paxton

Time to dip down into my stack of old Fangoria magazines to see if there are any cool mummy issues.

Oh look! Found one.

Check out Fangoria #182 from May 1999. It’s the Mummy Mania issue with a cover story about the new Stephen Sommers directed The Mummy remake.

The issue features lots of other mummy based articles. The one I want to look at today, though, is an in-depth blow by blow of the history of the mummy in cinema. It’s called “Show Me the Mummy”.

It’s a more straight forward historical account of the birth and proliferation of mummy movies than that Starlog invisible man article from last year that tried to write the history of the invisible man in popular culture into a weird, narrative story that presumes invisibility actually exists. Essentially turning movies and TV shows with invisible people into “historical documents”. This article, is a nicely researched account that doesn’t just list out mummy movies but gives some background info into some of the bigger releases.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2016: I Love Mummy (2002)

Posted in Halloween, holiday, monsters, mummy, nostalgia, pop culture, TV shows with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2016, Halloween, holiday, monsters, nostalgia, pop culture, The Mummy, TV shows on October 20, 2016 by Paxton

Okay, I went back and forth on several mummy TV shows to feature today, but I think I found a good one. And by “good one”, I mean it’s terrible. Let’s check out I Love Mummy, a UK-Canadian production from 2002.

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A family inherits an old house which inexplicable contains the sarcophagus of a 3000 year old Egyptian prince in the attic.

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The young son unwittingly opens the sarcophagus and out pops the wrapped up prince. And a chase around the kitchen table ensues.

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After lots of screaming and the aforementioned chase around the kitchen table, we find out the prince is sort of a spoiled royal brat. We even flashback to ancient Egypt to see proof of his bratty behavior.

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After he died while surfing down the exterior of the Sphinx, he became stuck in purgatory. He’ll have to stay stuck in purgatory until he completes a list (on a scroll, of course) of things he has to learn on his own. I wonder if this is where the idea for My Name is Earl came from.

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Obviously the family is reluctant to take this responsibility on, but the young son has become “attached”. So he doofuses his way into making the family “keep” the undead pharaoh. Because, let’s not forget, he is undead.

The show is, in a word, awful. I didn’t expect any better, to be honest. But there are two things that make this show interesting. First, the daughter, Stephy, played by Kelly Turner, is crazy hot.

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Second, the mummy, Nuff, is played by Elyes Gabel. You may not recognize that name, but he’s currently the star of that CBS show, Scorpion.

And after seeing both shows, I don’t think there’s that much a difference in quality between the two.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2016: Asher Cobb from The Sixth Gun

Posted in comic books, Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, monsters, mummy, pop culture, Western with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2016, comic books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, mummy, pop culture, reviews on October 19, 2016 by Paxton

Today I’m going to talk about a specific mummy character from one of my favorite comic series, The Sixth Gun, by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt.
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The comic is a horror western about six cursed pistols and the battle between good and evil to possess the guns and prevent them from destroying and remaking the world. There’s so much stuff running through this comic like gunfighters, undead Civil War generals, dark swamp gods, skinwalkers, black magic, ghosts and a 9 foot tall mummy. It really is worth a read and I can’t recommend it enough. The series as a whole ended this year with issue #50 and I recently did a re-read of the entire series from Book 1 up to the final issue and I loved every bit of it. The comic really gets deep into its own mythology and I really liked how it ended.

Anyway, the part of this comic I want to discuss today is the aforementioned 9 foot tall mummy. His name is Asher Cobb.

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Asher first shows up in the series in the collected edition Book 3: Bound. Specifically in the final page of issue #12.

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He shows up out of nowhere and steals the coffin containing the undead corpse of the evil General Hume. He fights spectacularly for the next issue and a half. Then, in issue #14, we finally get his origin as told to us by an old carnie.

Asher Cobb was born deformed. He was oversized, which made him an outcast. To add to that, he also received visions. Visions of the future. He was befriended only by a nice girl named Ruth who he fell in love with. One day he received a terrible vision of Ruth’s death. So to prevent the death of the girl he loved, he sought out some old witches and made a devil’s bargain to cheat death. But to do that, he had to endure death.

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Unfortunately Asher was not able to prevent Ruth’s death so he is constantly wandering, driven crazy by his unnaturally long life and the knowledge that he couldn’t prevent Ruth’s death. He is at first used by the forces of evil as a tool, but Asher would show up much later helping out the good guys and hoping that whomever acquired the guns and remade the world, would also bring back his beloved Ruth.

Asher is a pretty great character, both in the story but also visually. He is super strong, gets visions of the future and just looks awesome. He’s just one of the reasons I love this comic.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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