The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft #1 of 4

Writer: Mac Carter
Artist: Tony Salmons
Cover: Adam Byrne
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: April 2009

Taking authors and making them into a character within their own universe is fairly common these days. It has its pros and cons. If you're a big fan of the writer and familiar with their works, then its a match made in heaven. However, it can be infuriating because outsiders won't be able to pick up on all the nuances. Luckily for the creators of this comic, Lovecraft created such a rich and wonderful world, outsiders don't need to know every little detail to enjoy the story. For example, you don't necessarily need to know what the Necronomicon is, but just to know that it leads to bad stuff suffices. Which, by the way, it usually always does.


The Strange Adventures of HP Lovecraft opens with the origins of the Necronomicon. We are then introduced to the writer HP Lovecraft, who is struggling with writers block. After an unfortunate revelation regarding his love interest, Lovecraft is attacked by a couple sailors. Too bad for them, Lovecraft is the "key and the guardian of the gate." This statement doesn't make much sense on its own, but when the Necronomicon mystically pronounces you're the "key and the guardian of the gate," that's usually always bad.


I'm a big fan of Lovecraftian monsters. One of the reasons I love them is because of the visual possibilities they inspire. Lovecraftian monsters usually defy human comprehension, are huge, epic, impose madness, and destructive. Take for instance the scene in Hellboy where Hellboy releases the monsters from their prison, or the scene in the Mist when Tom Jayne's character is driving by towering monsters - awesome.

The Walking Dead # 3

Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Tony Moore
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: December 2003

What's Valentines Day without jealousy, envy, and feelings of murder and desperation?

Zombies have taken over the world. Everyday is a struggle to survive. All you want to do is carve out a life for you and the ones you care about; and the one you really care about is a wife with a MIA husband.

Too bad for you, her husband has waltzed back into the picture and has advised her everything is going to be alright.

But it's not.

Big Bang # 3

Writers: Gary Carlson, Bill Fugate
Artists: Jeff Weigel, Bill Fugate, Jim Valentino
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: July 1996

The Big Bang comic series are homages of old golden and silver age comics. The first half of this comic concerns Ultiman, (Superman), who battles a mad scientist by the name of Cortex. Cortex tricks Ultiman and creates a doorway which allows a reversed Ultiman to storm the city. Sound a little bizarro? The 'bad' Ultiman causes a ruckus so Knight Watchman (Batman) enters the scene to sort things out as only Bat - uh - Knight Watchman can...'cause that is what friends are for.

The second half is a homage to Mary Marvel. In this story, Thunder Girl is attacked by a duplicate of herself, Tornado Girl, where Tornado Girl is a common criminal suped up by the evil Dr. Binana (a evil monkey). Playing possum, Thunder Girl is able to easily defeat Dr. Binana and Tornado Girl.

Overall I was impressed by these two stories. When I first read them I thought, "this can't be right - these are blatent rip offs of DC heroes," but at the same time, they looked so true to the source material, I thought they might have been some old authentic knock offs. I guess that's just a testament to the talented folks at Image Comics.

Bodycount #3 of 4

Writer: Kevin Eastman
Artist: Simon Bisley
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: May 1996

I love the TMNT. Always have. Always will. So the day I read Bodycount by Bisley and Eastman, I must admit, I was a tad bit disappointed. The series is pretty much a blood splatter, balls-to-the-wall orgy of violence and chaos. There is a slight plot of crazy killer bad guys chasing Casey Jones and Raphael over something or other, but the main thing I got out of this series was "let's see how many things/people we can kill and make explode." Raphael is a nutcase, and Casey is a lesser degree of nutcase. Storywise I found it lacking, but then again, I'm picky with my TMNT stories. However, if you like things exploding, tough guy machoisms, big breasted ladies, pimps, drugs, guns - lots of guns, blood, and Raphael wearing blue jeans - then this is the series for you.

Raphael in blue jeans somehow works. Go green.

Paul Dini's Jingle Belle: Santa Claus v. Frankenstein

Writer: Paul Dini
Artist: Stephanie Gladden
Colorist: Felix Serrano
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: December 2008

Nigh on 9 days till X-MAS! Hard to believe eh?

Today's comic is basically Santa v. Frankenstein. Santa is being bashed by a politician. His loyal, but unreliable elf daughter (or employee - not sure) Jingle Belle, stumbles upon Frankenstein frozen a la Captain America style. She thaws him out, whereupon he begins making toys for the jolly old guy, and the issue ends with a public display of old red fat man having fisticuffs with the monster man. Doesn't get much more complicated than that. Really with a story called Santa v. Frankenstein, what did you think you'd get?

Notice how I abbreviated "versus" to v. and not vs.? That's because legal speak requires "versus" to be abbreviated to v., so yeah...who wudda tunk it that one class of Business Law would pay off down the road? Score one for the good guys!

Casual Heroes # 1

Writer/Artist: Kevin McCarthy
Colorist: Noelle Giddings
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: April 1996

C is for cool, conceited, casual.

Casual Heroes, based off my first reaction, is the precursor to the X-Statix. The emphasis is on heroes that are not really heroes. The characters are conceited, distracted, and depressing...which is good. If anything, it's a nice spin on the superhero ethic to do good.

Issue 1 has Red Saturn, THE superhero in this series, depressed and drinking in a bar, while his teammates are being beaten by some crazy monster. He's depressed, drinking, and tells a fan that the 'so called menaces' are timed to be near month end so as to sell more comics. The issue ends with Red Saturn breaking off his one night stand with the fan to finally face the big monster. Issue 2's cover is by Paul Pope, but it is near impossible to track this issue down. Too bad.

All in all the issue is pretty good, but missing something. The concept is great, since it did work for X-Statix, but it just doesn't click. I'm thinking it was ahead of its time. Like fish flavored ice cream. Ummm, ummm good.

Masters of the Universe # 3

Writer: Val Staples
Artist: Emiliano Santalucia
Publisher: Image Comics
Published: February 2003

I don't remember much about He-Man beyond Skeletor, the opening where He-Man held his sword high and spoke THE words, "I HAVE A HERNIA, uh - THE POWER!," and the crossover episode with He-Man and She-Ra. The only reason I remember the crossover episode was because when I was quite young my mom took me to see my cousins in Moose Jaw SK. I was a couple years older than them, and the oldest of the siblings was named T.J. I don't know what got into me, but for some reason I kept calling T.J., P.J. As in pyjamas. And I wouldn't stop calling him P.J. It got so bad that he ended up pleading to his mom and my mom to get me to stop. All the while during this excessive name abuse the He-Man/She-Ra crossover was on TV, and I think I ruined it for T.J.

Oh, well, it's a fact kids are cruel. Just hope that your kids are the ones dishing the shit and not shoveling it.

Issue 3 has the good guys and bad guys fighting over some crystal thing that holds the destruction of something or the other. It ends with He-Man being duped by Evil-Lyn, and then Evil-Lyn being duped by Skeletor. The only thing remarkable about this issue is the artwork, which is great. And Evil-Lyn. What a terrible name for a child, Evil-Lyn. I imagine when she was born her real name was Lyn and then, when she was older, everyone in Ahernia found out that she was the one responsible for all those highway kidnappings were the victims wake up in bathtubs full of ice and their kidneys missing, whereupon she then became Evil-Lyn. Or maybe it was because some older asshole cousin who she had never met came to visit and kept calling her Evil-Lyn instead of Lyn.

Nah...nobody is that much of a dick.