Book Review: THE ART OF HORROR

THE ART OF HORROR

Edited by:  Stephen Jones

Published by:  Applause Books

 

  

  If you are not familiar with Applause Books, here is a bit about them from their website:

Applause Theatre & Cinema Books

Now in its fourth decade, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books is America's foremost publisher of theatre, cinema, and TV books. Our books range from biographies of film and theatre luminaries to playscripts, librettos, monologue books, and explorations of film, TV, and theatre history. Applause is an imprint of Globe Pequot.

  I am a huge fan of horror art books, they are so much fun to look through and they contain the history of horror films right at your fingertips.   THE ART OF HORROR:  AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY is one of the best horror art books I have come across.  This beautiful coffee table sized book is a must have for all fans of the horror genre. 

 Here is more about this book, again from the Applause Books website:

The Art of Horror – a celebration of frightful images, compiled and presented by some of the genre's most respected names. While acknowledging the beginnings of horror-related art in legends and folk tales, the focus of the book is on how the genre has presented itself to the world since the creations of Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley first became part of the public consciousness in the 19th century. It's all here: from early engravings – via dust jackets, book illustrations, pulp magazines, movie posters, comic books, and paintings – to today's artists working entirely in the digital realm. Editor Stephen Jones and his stellar team of contributors have sourced visuals from archives and private collections (including their own) worldwide, ensuring an unprecedented selection that is accessible to those discovering the genre, while also including many images that will be rare and unfamiliar to even the most committed fan. From the shockingly lurid to the hauntingly beautiful – including images of vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, demons, serial killers, alien invaders, and more – every aspect of the genre is represented in ten themed chapters. Quotes from artists/illustrators, and a selection from writers and filmmakers, are featured throughout.

  I have read a few of these type books in the past, but this is one of the best ones by far!   While a lot of art books just show art and have a caption with a little description about it, this book goes way beyond that with in depth articles about the art, the actors, the films and the characters.  This is much more than just an art book, so by calling it that I feel I am doing it a little disservice.  

  This book doesn't just cover one aspect of horror, it covers it all!   From ancient Egyptian wall drawings found in pyramids representing horrors in real life, to the modern day slasher and monster films.   I like that it also doesn't just cover one type of media.   While there is a ton of horror film art, it also has the art from old comic books and horror magazines.

  THE ART OF HORROR is available now and should be in any horror fan's library!    Here are some pics of what the book looks like on the inside.    Do yourself a favor and grab this book while you can!

CLICK HERE to purchase the book from Amazon

Board Game Review: MONOPOLY: THE WALKING DEAD Survival Edition

 MONOPOLY:  THE WALKING DEAD Survival Edition

 I'm sure most everyone is familiar with the classic board game, MONOPOLY.  Most everyone knows how to play and has played some form of this game at some point in their lives.   The classic board game was fun, but I really like all the themed versions of the game that have come out over the years.  I, myself, was the proud owner of THE SIMPSONS Monopoly game.  That has been a lot of fun visiting all the familiar spots around Springfield.  Well, I thought I would never need another Monopoly game, but then this came out.  It is THE WALKING DEAD themed Monopoly!!  I shall never need to play THE SIMPSONS Monopoly again!

  This game is based more on the comic books than the TV show, but obviously most of the characters and locations are the same.  So, if you are a fan of the TV show but have never read the comics, you will still love this version of the game.  The rules are exactly the same as the original Monopoly, except all the property spaces are properties and locations from The Walking Dead comic/TV show.  For instance, you could land on "Downtown Atlanta", "Rick's Neighborhood", "Prison Courtyard", "Greene Family Farmhouse", or many different "Woodbury" locations, just to name a few.  The main properties in this game  (replacing "Boardwalk" and "Parkplace")  are "The Hilltop Colony" and "Alexandria Safe-Zone".  Readers of the comics will most certainly be familiar with these two locations! 

  Another change to this version of the game, are that Homes and Hotels are now replaced with Walls and Guard Towers!  Also replaced are the pieces each player uses to move.  Instead of the classic Top hat, Iron, dog, shoe, etc., you now can be Rick's hat, the RV, Michonne's katana sword, or a bucket of body parts, just to name a few!

This is a very fun game, fun for the whole family in fact.  There is nothing graphic or disturbing about the game, so while the box says the game is for ages 13 to adult, even younger kids can have fun surviving the zombie apocalypse!  Here is a picture of me and my twin 7 year old boys (and my wife, who took the photo), having an awesome family game night playing the new THE WALKING DEAD Monopoly game!

 













  If you have some extra Christmas money to spend, I highly recommend picking this game up.  This will provide years of fun for the entire family.

  You can find THE WALKING DEAD MONOPOLY game at your nearest comic book store.
To find out where the nearest comic book store is to you, check out this site:

www.comicshoplocator.com

Check out the HORROR ILLUSTRATED Blog!!

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Periodically, I like to point my readers to other cool Horror related sites on the net.  I have recently come across a great new site called the HORROR ILLUSTRATED blog!  Blog administrator Frank Forte has done a remarkable job putting together a great site dedicated to the art of Horror drawings, paintings, comic art, etc.  His site has tons of great pics, with lots of awesome pics of old Horror comic covers.  Mr. Forte has put in a remarkable amount of work getting all these great cover scans and comic page scans posted to his blog site.  Along with all the great pics, you will also find info and bios on lots of great Horror artists, both old and new.  If you are a fan of Horror art, esp that of the comic book form, you will definitely want to check out his site at:   http://horrorillustrated.blogspot.com/

Check out IDW's new Midnite Movie Comics -- MOTEL HELL

I recently discovered that IDW Publishing has recently put out a line of "Midnite Movies" comic books. These are series of comics based on cult horror movie favorites. The first up is MOTEL HELL, based on the 1980 film of the same name. For anyone who has not seen MOTEL HELL, do yourself a favor and go watch it asap! It is about a man named Farmer Vincent who kidnaps travelers and plants them in his garden, with only their heads exposed. He then feeds them slop until they are plump and ripe for the picking and he then turns them into his "Farmer Vincent Fritters"! A very crazy concept and a crazy film for sure. The comic takes this basic plot premise and runs wild with it and is a great read. Check out this 3 issue series if you are a fan of Horror comics!
Check your local comic book store for these cool comics, or order them directly from IDW by clicking HERE.

Comic review: BLOKE'S TOMB OF HORROR HALLOWEEN 2010 ANNUAL

A while back, I did a post and let you know about a great Horror comic book company called Virus Comix. One of the titles I reviewed was called Bloke's Tomb of Horror. Well, Virus Comix has recently just released it's latest edition of this comic, the awesome BLOKE'S TOMB OF HORROR HALLOWEEN 2010 ANNUAL! The huge comic (clocking in at 104 pages of pure horror!) contains 8 short stories, all written by Jason "Bloke" Crawley with each story illustrated by a different artist.

Story titles in the Halloween Annual include: My Forever Love, Invasion of the Slag Maggots, Teacher Doesn't Always Know Best, Till Death Do We Part, What's Buggin' Sarah Sitnam?, Portrait of Death, Do You Want Onions on That, and, The Bride of Bloke. The stories vary widely in topic giving you a nice variety of Horror sub-genres, including a story about Werewolves, Zombies, Aliens, and even Cannibals! There is something here every Horror fan will love. I have always enjoyed anthology comics like this. It is fun to get such a wider arrange of stories in one book. The stories are all well done, without a single "dud" in the group, something very rare among anthology comics such as this one. A lot of the stories in this anthology have a sense of humor to them as well, some more darker than others. This adds to the fun for sure, but don't worry, there is still plenty of gore for you gore fans out there, myself included! Having each story drawn by a different artist is very cool as well. It is really interesting to see such a wide variety of pencil and art styles associated with each different story.

Included at the end of the book is a pin-up gallery featuring 19 horrific images done by different artist who have worked on previous Virus Comix projects. This is a nice edition to the anthology and showcases some on the greatest art talent today in independent comics.

I highly recommend BLOKE'S TOMB OF HORROR HALLOWEEN 2010 ANNUAL for all fans of Horror comic books. This will be a nice addition to your comic collection.

CLICK HERE to purchase Bloke's Tomb of Horror Halloween 2010 Annual

Fanboy Comics Presents: SOMETHING ANIMAL

Fanboy Comics is a new independent comic book publishing company founded by Barbra Dillon, Bryant Dillon, and Sam Rhodes. Fanboy has some great projects lined up, but the biggest one is a joint-project consisting of an upcoming graphic novel and short film titled, SOMETHING ANIMAL. Here is the basic plot:

After witnessing his sister's brutal murder, Jack struggles to cope with the disturbing psychological aftermath. Tormented by images of the attack, Jack finds himself physically ill and unable to eat. Scared and alone, he is forced to confront a growing thirst for blood and the harsh reality that either his sanity is quickly crumbling or that he is turning into something else....something dark...something animal!

Those lucky enough to attend this years San Diego Comic Con had a chance to nab an exclusive Fanboy Comics DVD, which featured a preview of the SOMETHING ANIMAL graphic novel and 2 trailers for the upcoming short film. I got my hands on one of these DVD's and I am super excited about this project. The short film was produced by Barbra Dillon, written by Sam Rhodes and is directed by Bryant Dillon. The graphic novel was written by both Sam and Bryant based on a story by Ben Rhodes. The graphic novel features the artwork of Robert Burrows.

The trailers for the short film don't give much away, they are more of teasers if anything, but from the little we see, I can say I am super excited about seeing the full film. It looks to be super low budget, and looks to be a gritty tale of vampires. And you gore hounds should not be disappointed, as from the looks of the trailer, we are in store for plenty of bloodshed, as any good vampire film should have!

The graphic novel looks to be just as good if not even better than the film. The artwork by Robert Burrows is great. It is not clean and polished like some comic art, but that is a good thing here, and is a very fitting style for this type of dark story (think Templesmith's artwork for the 30 Days of Night comics).

I will keep you posted once I have seen a release date for both the short film and the graphic novel of SOMETHING ANIMAL!

CLICK HERE to visit the official website of SOMETHING ANIMAL

CLICK HERE to visit the official website of Fanboy Comics

Check out the awesome comic book company, VIRUS COMIX!!

I have been a fan of Horror comics for years, and while there are some great Horror titles out there, it seems there are more bad ones than good. This is why I am so excited to have run across a company called VIRUS COMIX. This small, 2 man company is run by Ju Gomez and Jason Crawley, although they do use outside talent for some of their comics. These comics are what most Horror fans are looking for in their Horror comics. The art is superb and the stories are nothing but fun and entertaining. Here are the titles I was able to get my hands on, with a brief synopsis of each title and then my thoughts on each:

SON OF 6 - This is a crossover that won't disappoint, with a surprise ending. Calavera and sonof6 must work together to destroy Megs' evil before it's too late! Calavera joins the hunt from Enrico Teodorani, famed Italian creator and us at Virus Comix! A tale before the mask, a new killer is in THE WARD...her name is CALAVERA and she is hunting the 2000 year old demon called Meg Deviantuan.

I started with this one because honestly, it was my least favorite title of the 3 I read. That is not to say I didn't enjoy it, but the story was a little confusing at times. Other than that it was a good read and I absolutely love the artwork. Simple, yet effective in a stark black and white format.

PSYCHO HUNTER VS. ZOMBIE COMMANDOS FROM HELL - The Blood Queen wishes rest for her and her chosen ones in The Ward following the Zombie War. Morgonna has her own plans! The Chosen Ones must destroy her devil - the killer demon known as Psycho Hunter. If they can do what no other creature has done before,they may stay. If not, hell has more to burn! The fight of the century is here! 10 years in the making! Ju Gomez's Psycho Hunter goes up against Steph Dumais's Zombie Commandos From Hell in this crossover from Virus Comix.

I loved this comic as soon as I read the title. And unlike some comics, the title lived up to its name, as the story shows you a non stop battle between a horde of zombies and a hellish demon. This is one-shot, which is perfect for those comic fans like me with a short attention span. The art from outside artist Steph Dumais is great, and while it is a little "cartoonish" for something as "serious" as a demon fighting Zombies, it seems to just add the fun of the book overall.

BLOKE'S TOMB OF HORROR -- Each book in this series is an anthology of short Horror stories. The short stories all showcase a variety of different

artist and writers.

This was by far my favorite books by Virus Comix. I got issue #1 and #2, and these comics were by far some of the best Horror comics that I have ever read! As stated above, I have a rather short attention span, so I love anthology books such as these. Issue 1 contains 4 stories, including stories about Vampires, Werewolves, and Demons. Each story was done by a different artist and it is very cool to see the different styles all together in one book. The story titled, Johnny Demonic: Curse of the Black Widow was drawn by Anthony Ruggiero, and contains some of the most impressive artwork I have seen in a comic. The detail in his drawings is amazing and worthy of a purchase of this title alone. Also equally impressive is the story DJustine: The Valley of Lost Time. The artist for this story goes by Manolo, and his drawings look more like paintings and even photographs in some scenes. Very impressive stuff!

Issue 2 is even bigger, containing 7 different short stories. A couple of highlight from this book include The Art of Dying, the story of a man who finds he has to power to kill people, simply by drawing how he wants them to die. Needless to say, his power overwhelms him and his last drawing ends up as a disaster for our powerful artist. The other highlight for me in this book, is a second DJustine story called DJustine Vs. Cemetery Jane. While the story is extremely short (only 2 pages), the artwork again steals the show, with some of the most beautiful images ever put on the pages of a comic book.

If you are a comic fan, I urge you to check out all the titles from Virus Comix. These are some of my favorite Horror comics to date, and I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

Here is a full list of Virus Comix's titles that are available for purchase at IndyPlanet.com

Tomb Of Bloke #1 Regular Cover $2.99 + shipping

Tomb Of Bloke #1 LIVE Cover Variant $2.99 + shipping

Blokes Tomb Of Horror #1 $3.99 + shipping

Blokes Tomb Of Horror #2 $4.99 + shipping

Blokes Tomb Of Horror #3 $4.99 + shipping

Blokes Tomb Of Horror #4 Cover A $4.99 + shipping

Blokes Tomb Of Horror #4 Cover B $4.99 + shipping

Psycho Hunter V Zombie Commandos From Hell $2.99 + shipping

The Horror #1 $2.99 + shipping

Son Of 6 #0 $2.99 + shipping

Son Of 6 #2 $2.99 + shipping

Comic fans...check out Robert Steven Rhine's SATAN'S 3-RING CIRCUS OF HELL

All you fans of Horror comics must do yourself a favor, and get your hands on a copy of SATAN'S 3-RING CIRCUS OF HELL by Robert Steven Rhine and over 40 of the worlds greatest artists! Some of you might know Mr. Rhine, or "Corpsy" as he is often referred to, as the creator and deaditor-in-chief of Girls and Corpses magazine! Mr. Rhine is a man of many talents and here he shows off his wonderful skill of story telling, through a series of short comics compiled together into this great volume of work. Every story in this book is written by Mr. Rhine and each one is illustrated by a different comic artist, each in their own unique style. You will see the work of over 40 artists such as William Stout, Tim Vigil, Frank Forte, Nenad Gucunja, Steph Dumais, Jacob Hair, John Cassaday, Hilary Barta, D.W. Frydendall and Kevin Golden just to name a few of my favorites.

This book contains a variety of different stories and topics, so every comic fan will find something they like. The book is packed with blood and gore, something that seems to be lacking from most "Horror" comics released today. It also contains plenty of Mr. Rhine's signature dark comedy undertones that you've come to expect if you are a regular reader of the horrifically funny Girls and Corpses magazine.

Some of my favorite stories in this books are:

THE ADVENTURES OF DR. NARCOLEPSY: A story that shows you why going to a doctor diagnosed with Narcolepsy is a bad idea!

EAT ME: The story of the newest reality show, a where contestants must actually eat parts of themselves in order to win the prize!
MAGICIAN FROM HELL: The story of a psycho magician, who's cutting a girl in half trick looks a little too realistic....

PARTY CLOWN: A story that teaches you that the best kind of clown to hire for your child's birthday party is not the one you pick up on the side of the road....

SEPARATION ANXIETY: A man tries to kill off his lover's Siamese "twin" with disastrous results!

Also included in this book, is Mr. Rhine's short story "Propeller Boy" which was the winner of the NYC World Horror Con Best Dark Fiction award!

This is a great collection of short comics that every fan of Horror comics should add to their collection!

CLICK HERE to go to the Girls and Corpses Store to order a copy of SATAN'S 3-RING CIRCUS OF HELL!