Pop Culture Nonsense: Contemporary Horror Comics

Growing up, I had a strong love for the genre of horror in comic books. Black and white Warren magazines like EERIE, CREEPY, and VAMPIRELLA. The horror-themed 1970s Marvel superhero books that fell under the umbrella I used to call "The Marvel Monsters"....GHOST RIDER, MAN-THING, TOMB OF DRACULA, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, SON OF SATAN, Morbius the Living Vampire in ADVENTURES INTO FEAR, etc., etc.,.... Len Wein and Berni Wrightson's SWAMP THING (and, later, Alan Moore's mind blowing work with the character....more about Moore in a minute).

So, a continued interest in all things scary in funnybooks seems to be a perpetual constant in my existence,  and recently I began thinking of putting together a list of some of the good stuff out there being published now....or at least within the last five or six years...that I'm really digging.

Hey, kids.....remember that wacky British Alan Moore fella?   Y'know,  that guy who kinda revolutionized comic books in the 1980s (in both the horror and superhero genres)?  Y'know. ...that guy....the one who wrote a celebrated run on SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING, WATCHMEN, FROM HELL, BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, V FOR VENDETTA, amongst other  things?  Yeah....that's him....the grumpy, seemingly pretentious one that keeps disowning the film adaptations of his work.  The one that's a practicing magician who believes in some sorta snake deity. 

Alan Moore: Grumpy.  Loveable.

Over the last decade or so, when he hasn't been demanding his name being taken off movies based on his work....which is a shame...V FOR VENDETTA and WATCHMEN are pretty spectacular attempts....LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, well...I'll give you that one....I'd distance myself from it like it was the plague...but, Moore in the meantime has been writing some really good horror comics, creator owned stuff for publisher Avatar Press in a low key, no fanfare kind way.....

NEONOMICON, PROVIDENCE, CINEMA PURGATORIO and FASHION BEAST
The Premise?   Alan Moore exploring Lovecraft through a contemporary lens, a decent multiple creator anthology book, and NEON DEMON....only co-written by Moore and the Sex Pistols manager.

Neonomicon follows a female federal agent (and recovering sex addict) and her partner's investigation of a murderer's mysterious disappearance (he literally disappears right in front of their eyes in a trippy kind of mind fuck scenario). A trail of clues lead them to a small town, in which the two agents go undercover as a married couple, and under this disguise they make the acquaintance of a kindly middle age couple who own a bizarre book/fetish/ head shop.  They soon discover the older couple belong to a weird,  tantric group of Dagon worshippers and things begin to grow even odder the deeper they infiltrate the group after being invited to join them.

Providence is Moore diving back into Lovecraftian waters, but this time at a more metatextual level.  A 1930s period piece, the plot revolves around a journalist delving into Lovecraft's life at some point a few years after his death.  As his investigation progresses, the stranger his immediate surroundings and the people become......until it seems that there's more truth than fiction in Lovecraft's work, and the newspaper man begins to believe he might be in the center of the deceased author's personal mythos.

Fashion Beast, a bizarre atmospheric story variation on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale based in London's fashion scene that reads,  as mentioned above, like the recent "art house" horror film THE NEON DEMON, only filtered through Alan Moore's unique lens.  It also possesses the literary pedigree of having been co-written by the late Malcolm McLaren, the eccentric clothes horse and former manager of the Sex Pistols.  The project originated as a proposed film written by Moore and McLaren in a producer's position that fell through in the 1980s,  and was finally adapted into a 10 issue comic book miniseries in 2012, about two years after McLaren's death.

Cinema Purgatorio is the most recent product from Moore, an anthology book headlined by his and frequent collaborator Kevin O'Neil (MARSHALL LAW, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN) "Cinema Purgatorio", a Hollywood Babylonish collection of film themed tales.  Another stand out serialized feature is Max Brooks' "A More Perfect Union", a surreal alternate history story in which the Union of the North doesn't battle their Southern brothers...but instead, an army of giant mutant insects.  Crazy stuff....

(To be continued)

Pop Culture Nonsense: DOCTOR STRANGE (Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying, and Am Going To Love The Film)

I recently had dinner with a good friend, and the topic of upcoming films came up, and she asked:  "So....anything on the horizon you're interested in seeing?"

Me:  "Oh.....DOCTOR STRANGE.  Definitely. "

Her:  "Oh yeah....I heard about that.  The new Marvel thing, right?   What's the story on that one, besides being a comic book movie? "

Me: "Well......imagine "Harry Potter".....with an adult cast.....and that guy from "Sherlock" in the lead that gals apparently think is dreamy."

Her: "Ohhhhh.....really....."

(Long pause.  Deadpan stare from yours truly.)

Me:  "You do realize that I can audibly hear your panties melting from here.  What is it about Cumberbatch?  Jeez...."

Mutual laughter.  End scene.

My fascination with Stephen Strange is driven by the character's connection to the works of his co-creator, reclusive artist Steve Ditko.  You may have heard of him or at least seen his work.  You've at least seen the influence his work has had over the course of the last half century, seeing as how his other significant co-creation with Marvel Comics writer/editor Stan Lee was a little thing called "Spider-Man".

But DOCTOR STRANGE is considered by many hardcore Marvel Comics fans, especially those like myself who fall in the camp labelled "Ditko Devotees", as the artist's peak achievement,  due to the amazing amount of pure imagination on display in the work.  It's been referred to as proto-psychedelia, which is appropriate seeing as how during the zenith of the character's popularity in the mid-1960s, the fledgling counter culture movement (and it's participating factions who endorsed the use of hallucinogenic substances) became the biggest fan base of the fictional magician and his weird pseudo Eastern philosophy driven "sorcery".

There's a few other factors that contribute to my love for the character beyond the Ditko connection,  though.  One being the general aesthetics of the adventures Strange goes on.  Imagine Mandrake the Magician....if he had to cope with Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.  The other being something that proves to be testament to the fact that I probably over scrutinize and analyze this type of nonsense: the back story leading to his fictional origin.

Let's examine the fledgling Marvel Universe created by Stan Lee along with artists like Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Larry (Stan's brother ) Leiber, Dick Ayers, and the aforementioned Mr. Ditko.  The one common factor is that it's populated by genuinely nice people who receive a sense of higher moral obligation via trauma or tragedy.  The Fantastic Four, prior to their space faring accident, were basically a warped model of the 1950s nuclear family.  Nice people.  Thor. while there was the pathos that came from Dr. Donald Blake being a person living with a disability,  that was quickly abandoned once he started hanging out in Asgard and shit started looking like a Wagner opera directed by Stanley Kubrick.  Nice guy.  The Hulk, a.k.a. Dr. Bruce Banner, is admittedly cowardly, book wormish,  nerdy and timid, but he's a nice guy who stands downwind from a thermonuclear blast and then his life becomes a combination of Stevenson's THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE and the plot of every really good terrible B sci-fi movie from the '50s.  Peter Parker, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, origin isn't really tragic or traumatic....that radioactive spider biting him was the best thing that ever happens in his shy, science geek existence. ...but, his youthful arrogance and short sighted perspective leads to the O. Henry twist that gives him the guilt filled knowledge that "with great power comes great responsibility ".  Again, nice guy.

But, then....there's Doctor Stephen Strange.

 Who, straight out of the gate in one of the first panels from his origin story as told in STRANGE TALES #115 (December 1963), we're shown is....pretty much a dickhead.

He's talented, rich, arrogant, driven by greed and vanity.  Just the type of guy you love to hate.  Even Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man,  who shares a lot of the same traits, is a sarcastic and likable kind of billionaire cut from the same cloth as a young quirky Howard Hughes. But not Strange.  He's a flawed, ugly on the inside kind of guy.  It isn't until he suffers a loss of everything he has that he gains the aptitude for selflessness.

Strange goes to dark places, needless to say, before choosing to seek enlightenment.....

The good doctor then embarks on his weird Eastern mysticism sabbatical, discovering the world is much bigger than himself in the process....and the rest is comic book history.

I dig Doctor Strange for the exact reasons outlined above: he's flawed,  all too human, and in the end, extremely identifiable. In a crowd of smiling faces, he's an asshole.   If Benedict Cumberbatch and the filmmakers behind the upcoming film capture half the character portrayed in those early Marvel comics, I'll be a satisfied fanboy who enjoys a little bit of rust in the cracks of his heroes' armor....

It might be because I'm a little bit of an asshole, too.  But, that's a discussion for another day.

ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNA GIRL (2016)

ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNA GIRL (2016)

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl are small time heroes working their way through their days hoping for a big time break, when it finally comes in the form of a lucrative  corporate contract that they're offered after a video of them goes viral.

Along the way, they learn that with great power comes great excess, most big time superheroes are pretty much dickheads whose sole superpower seems to be arrogance, and that truth and justice aren't really all that marketable.

When a powerful enemy reveals itself with connections to the female duo's past, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl must work past their differences and figure out that teamwork and friendship are the most powerful gadgets a superhero can have in their arsenal. 

Having been born in 1974, I actually have fairly vivid memories of Saturday mornings spent in front of the TV enjoying the deliciously trippy KROFTT SUPERSHOW, the original venue of the 1970s incarnation of ELECTRA WOMAN & DYNA GIRL (I must admit that I was more of a WONDER BUG fan at the time.  I mean, how do ya top a magic flying hot rod dune buggy?  I repeat: a fucking flying dune buggy.  I rest my case.)

I also seem to remember the weird nostalgia movement amongst members of my generation.....it's incredibly weird to refer to my peers and contemporaries as a past generation. ..but, anyways...certain members of Generation X embraced the Sid and Marty Kroftt stuff.  It always seemed to be said members who had crazy ideas about becoming nuevo hippies.  Y'know. ...the cats that decided to become Deadheads until Garcia died....then they just started following Phish. A lot of weird dudes and chicks wearing Sleestak t shirts at concerts and clubs.  You catch my drift.....

There was a previous attempt at reviving the property,  in the form of a busted TV pilot starring Markie Post (whom I always found adorable during her NIGHT COURT days) that was produced in 2001 (that's actually pretty funny, and available on YouTube for those wishing to seek it out).  It seems every few years someone is trying to inject new energy into the Kroftt shows, the terrible LAND OF THE LOST film from a few years ago being testament to that.

Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart turn in decent performances, but the plot is fairly hackneyed and formula and the humor comes off as stiff and slightly unfunny. It plays like a TV movie of the week, not a production geared toward reigniting interest in a 40 plus year old piece of pop culture nonsense.   For a better attempt at this kinda humor,  check out the live action THE TICK starring Patrick Warburton from around 2001 or the earlier busted pilot I mentioned above.

BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE ULTIMATE EDITION (2016)

 

  BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE ULTIMATE EDITION ( 2016 )

Rated	R   Restricted
Run time	3 hours and 2 minutes
Number of discs	3
Format	NTSC
Language	English
Actors	Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams,Jesse Eisenberg,Diane Lane

WARNING! SPOILERS!

(For those that care)

After the events of 2013's MAN OF STEEL, it appears that Batman a.k.a. billionaire crudmugeon Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) is pissed off at Space Jesus.....ahem, I mean Superman (Henry Cavill) for simply existing, or something.   It seems the incredibly rich and paranoid sociopath believes one day Superman might be a destructive tyranical influence on human culture.   He may have garnered this opinion by watching the last 20 minutes of MAN OF STEEL,  who knows?

Along the way, we are introduced to boy genius Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), who shares Bruce Wayne's xenophobia,  but is far less benevolent.   He's building an anti- Kryptonian deterrent that involves the dead body of General Zod (Michael Shannon) and a wrecked Kryptonian spaceship.  Oh, and a little bit of his own blood, because Lex is apparently batshit insane in a non-entertaining,  scary way.

This leads to Luthor manipulating events so that Superman and Batman have a reason to inevitably start kicking the shit outta each other, other than to lend legitimacy for the title of the movie.  To do so, Batman puts on a really cool robot suit, and decides Suoerman is a cool guy due to them having a maternal figure that shared the name "Martha".

Luthor unleashes his doomsday biological weapon, aptly named "Doomsday", and then Wonder Woman (Gal Godot) shows up to help the newly acquainted Super Buddies battle the monstrous scientific abomination, either due to a heightened sense of moral obligation. ...or, because she's on the posters for the movie, too.  I haven't decided which....

The trio then proceed to defeat the big, blurry CGI brute via a combination of Wonder Woman's rockin' new theme playing on the background score and Batman telling a bad joke.....oh, and Superman impaling the monster and himself on a giant spear made outta kryptonite.   Hell yeah!

Superman sacrifices himself , leaving the Caped Crusader and the Amazon Warrior Princess to stand around looking poignant while pondering the fate of the remaining future sequels and spin off films to the fledgling franchise.

THE END.

I'm a lifelong comic book and superhero aficionado....I began my crazy trek through fandom in 1979, and have never stopped.  I still read roughly 60 to 70 titles a month (depending upon what miniseries,  one shot, annual or graphic novel that comes down the pike at any given month).  I have an upstairs stacked to the brim with 35 years worth of long boxes, and a Silver and Bronze Age collection that's the envy of several local comic shop owners.  So, it's needless to say that whenever new multimedia adaptations of comic book source materials come along, I'm interested.   And, generally,  if it's a good film...I care.  Passionately.  Especially these days, when Hollywood special effects technology has finally caught up with the four colors comics page and we can actually see literal personification of funnybook heroes presented on screen.  I mean, you're talking to a guy who openly wept the first time he saw THE AVENGERS (2012) theatrically,  because he was finally seeing some of the shit he had mentally running around in his head since age 5 come to life.....and, every person that was surrounding me in that darkened theater that night was having the time of their lives and digging it, too.

I should have cared about BATMAN V. SUPERMAN....but, surprisingly,  I didn't.   It's not that it wasn't a good film.  The casting was superb, and performances were great.  I'm of the opinion that Cavill is striking as Clark Kent/Superman, and  Affleck as Batman (despite all the early naysayers) nailed the part.  Godot is surprisingly charming as Wonder Woman, despite the small amount she's given to do with her role in BVS.  I'm eager to see the upcoming solo WONDER WOMAN film because of this. I even dug Eiseberg's boy genius take on Lex Luthor,,even though at times in the theatrical cut of this film he seems way too manic and in danger of chewing scenery. 

I think my problems with this film lie within the theatrical cut of this movie, what with it's disjointed chaotic structure,  breakneck pacing and overwhelmingly confusing plot.  It suffers from feeling like you're watching five films at once, but only having the attention span to ingest one.  Certain characters motivations are unclear, or seem to change haphazardly.  I remember walking away from my first viewing of BVS wondering what exactly was Luthor's reasoning for any of his actions.....and, why the fuck was Batman so angry?

The ULTIMATE EDITION  fixes this with it's added footage which clarifies some confusing plot points.  Luthor's machinations and intentions are clearer, and some of the lingering questions about incidental characters are answered .  It's a better, less confusing film due to the new info brought to light.

Plus, the 3 hour plus runtime makes it a slight chore to sit still and watch.

I think my problems with this new cut now lie with it's general tone.  As I said, it's a good movie....but it's general tone and atmosphere are dark and earnest.  Earnest in a way that it constrasts with the fantastical elements of the story.  They don't gel as well as the earnest nature of the tone of, say, Nolan 's DARK KNIGHT trilogy did.  There's no joy in this film.  There's anger and violence, but no joy.  The heroes in BVS aren't ideals, they're expressions. Superman is a martyr, Batman is paranoid and angry, Wonder Woman is reactionary and protective.

I don't want to strive to be any of these heroes, not like I did with their comic book counterparts when I was a kid...I want to help these superheroes get some therapy.

BATMAN V. SUPERMAN:  DAWN OF JUSTICE ULTIMATE EDITION is entertaining, but while the casting and performances are commendable,  the feeling the tone of the film leaves viewers with is the cinematic equivalent of castor oil.  It'll probably help whatever ails ya, but it's a bitter pill to swallow.