Horror

Fatale #9

/ / Comics

fatale-9-coverAfter Suzy is captured and comes to an unfortunate (but not completely unexpected) end, Josephine and Miles come up with a new plan to use the film stolen from the cult to draw them out into the open.

Miles struggles with how different his life has become since meeting Josephine and his inability to fear or grieve for Suzy in the right way. Hansel’s displeasure grows at the death of Suzy and the end to his link to Josephine and his revenge. As Hansel prostrates himself for forgiveness from his god, Josephine and Miles attend a swank Hollywood party where they put their plan into play.

I expected the cult would be making their move in this issue, but even if writer Ed Brubaker has drawn out events a little longer than originally planned (the twelve issue series could now number more than twenty when all is said and done), the continued look at these characters, particularly Miles who has begun to question what is happening to him, is well done. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.50]

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Batman Adventures / Scooby Doo Halloween Fest

/ / Comics

bataman-scooby-halloween-freeOne of the free Halloween comics this year Batman Adventures / Scooby Doo Halloween Fest reprints stories from both comics. From Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #2 we get the Scooby Gang investigating the appearance of aliens at the Grand Canyon.

We also get a pair of short Batman stories from Batman Adventures #1 featuring a short origin of the hero and Batman taking down the Cavalier and Batman outwitting Hassan, a member of the League of Assassins, into revealing the location of Ra’s al Ghul from part of that story originally printed in Batman Adventures #4.

If you can still find this it’s worth picking up. The Batman stories work better for me than the Scooby-Doo one which feels a little forced with Velma’s lecturing about the importance of the Grand Canyon. However, I do give it credit for staying true to Scooby-Doo’s original premise that all bizarre happenings have a real-life (not alien or mystical) cause. Worth a look.

[DC, FREE]

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Disney Style

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
  • IMDB: link

“With a hip hip and a clippity clop, He’s out looking for a head to swap, But don’t try to figure out a plan, You can’t reason with a headless man.“

adventures-of-ichabod-and-mr-toadThere are numerous holiday specials, mostly Christmas inspired, but a small collection of really good Halloween cartoons. Many fondly remember It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown from their childhood, which I’ll admit also has a fond place in my heart, but my favorite Halloween cartoon was a Disney short that was inspired by Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

As our story opens the nerdy new school teacher, Ichabod Crane, arrives in the small New England town. Although Ichabod is soon popular with the ladies for his manners, training, and knowledge of books, even catching the eye of town beauty Katrina Van Tassel, he’s far less liked by the town’s rough-and-tumble man’s man Brom Bones. 

Not willing lose a girl like Katrina to a man like Ichabod Crane, Bones decides to prove Crane’s cowardice and scare him by telling the story of the Headless Horseman who haunts the local woods looking for a new head. Ichabod is thoroughly frightened and his night horse ride home has him seeing ghosts and specters at every bend and turn.

…

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #14

/ / Comics

btvs-season-nine-14-coverThe latest issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine isn’t what I expected. For one thing neither Buffy Summers nor any of the regular or new supporting players make an appearance.

Instead Jane Espenson, writer of some good (“Band Candy,” “Pangs,” “Checkpoint“) and not-so-good (“I Was Made to Love You,” “Doomed,” “The Harsh Light of Day“) episodes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s seven-year run on television, gives us a tale of a young gay teen named Billy who puts up with mean jocks and begins fighting zompires.

I understand what Espenson is doing here, but the story is pretty damn pat (he ends up having to stake and kill the football jock who has been harassing him). This kind of story would seem to fit much better in something like the Tales of Slayers anthology series than in the middle of an ongoing season arc. If I had found it there, or if was just a one-issue tale (I don’t need a second month of Billy’s misadventures), I might give it a pass, but 14 issues in, as the season is still trying to find its focus, it simply doesn’t work. Pass.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Fatale #8

/ / Comics

fatale-8-coverThe latest issue of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip’s Fatale gives us an interlude, a calm before the storm, and we catch up with Nicolas Lash who continues to run for his life.

Lash’s recent run-ins with the cult, his growing paranoia, and another attack on his life shake free cobwebs in his brain and the man remembers the first time he ever met Josephine which was far, far earlier than Dominic’s funeral. And a night of failed passion leaves him close to answers but also with a bump on the head and missing Dominic Hank Raines‘ stolen manuscript.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Josephine begins a relationship with B-movie star Miles against her better judgement and waits for the other shoe to drop now the cult knows she’s alive and where to find her as Mr. Bishop prepares to take his revenge. If you aren’t reading noir horror tale, you should be. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.50]

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