Tuesday, September 25, 2007

UnkieDev's Amazing Stuff

So funny, it's SCARY! So scary it's FUNNY! Welcome to UnkieDev's humor reviews spooktacular, presenting the latest and greatest creepy comics makin' with the monsters, mayhem and mirth.

Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #13 - Bongo Comics, Various. I have more fun reading these Simpson's horror/humor annuals then I do watching the specials! The Treehouse of Horror titles are a great opportunity for Bongo to bring top talent from inside and outside the industry to tell their twisted and macabre tales of Springfield's crazy creeps. This year we have such writers as Reno 911's Thomas Lennon and two of the Comedians of Comedy, Paton Oswald and Brian Posehn joining up with cartoonists extraordinaire Hilary Barta, Terry Austin and more.

Where the Simpsons show fails. this title always brings the goods. How? After 22 years the show can be stale. Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror is a creative free-for-all, with each new creator bringing crazy styles of art, jokes and story diversity hot from the oven. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of restriction, and you can imagine Bongo getting giddy over irreverent stabs at the beloved characters in a way Fox could never stand.

This book is always one of the highlights to the Halloween season and it drops this week from Bongo Comics. The $4.99 price tag gets you a big 64 pages of haunted ha-ha! If you didn't pick up the past offerings Forbidden Planet has Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror trades: "Fun Filled Fright-Fest" with Paul Dini, Mike Allred and more as well as "Spine Tingling Spooktacular" to satisfy your horror hankerings.

Showcase Presents: House of Mystery Volumes 1 and 2 - DC, Various. Unclassifiable yet frightening fun from comic legends set in the haunted house to end all haunted houses. DC's "House of Mystery" bounced from humor, horror and sci-fi genres like a mime falling down stairs. While an anthology title its characters and settings work their way into mainstream DC and Vertigo continuities. HOM is "can't be beat" creeps and treats!

Comic book greats such as Alex Toth and Bernie Wrightson rub elbows with Silver Age newcomer Sergio Aragones a.k.a. "That Mad Magazine guy." Sergio cut his teeth at DC drawing grisly stories, links, and hilarious pin-ups as funny as they are grisly. This book is can be another fine example of "funny off-purpose," with a handful of the stories being gassers due to their bizarre anti-humor. At $16.99 for 500 pages you'd have to be a Halloweiner to avoid "The House of Mystery." Comic connoisseurs should track down Sergio's return to the title in 1998's "Welcome Back to the House of Mystery," one of the flat out best horror/humor books ever. "Welcome Back" reprints 10 of the best HOM stories with new chapter links by Sergio and his pal Neil Gaiman... yes, THAT Neil Gaiman!

Scary Godmother - Jill Thompson, Various Publishers. Encompassing four beautifully illustrated children's books and three comic book trade paperbacks, Jill Thompson's Scary Godmother is the undoubted queen of comic book Halloween handing out charming characters and stories for all ages tricks and treats.

A young girl discovers she can travel to "The Fright Side," a haunted though friendly town of monsters, vampires and ghouls, by getting up on the wrong side of her bed. There she meets the Scary Godmother, Halloween's red-haired magical matron whose job is to bring Halloween to our world year after year.

Yeah, those ARE the same plots to Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" AND "Beetlejuice" cartoons but Thompson can be forgiven for cribbing. Younger audiences may prefer Thompson's colourful characters and endless enthusiasm to Burton's flat tones. For younger readers this is a Halloween must have!

THE END...?!

As the Count would say that's "THREE, THREE scary funny-books Ah-HA-HA!" [Cue thunder and lightning.] The Dark Horse "Books of Monsters, Hauntings, Witches and the Dead" as well as Marvel Monsters and Marvel Zombies are such good titles I've assumed you have them already... if you don't, then SHAME ON YOU!

COUNT VON COUNT: Vonderful! That makes NINE, NINE scary comics! Ah-HA-HA!
[Cue thunder and lightning}
UNKIEDEV: Count, please stop making it rain in the store. You're ruining all the books!
COUNT VON COUNT: ONE, ONE wet nerd! Ah-HA-HA!
UNKIEDEV: *Sigh* Happy Horrors everybody!
By Guest Contributor: UnkieDev

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