August 2006

Friday The 13th: Fearbook
Script: Mike Wolfer
Art: Sebastion Fiumara

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Hot on the heels of the Friday The 13th series, Bloodbath, comes the Fearbook sequel. Longtime fans of the franchise know that in the grand tradition of F13 part 2, the final girl had better run fast...and she still may not be safe.

Readers of the earlier series will remember Violet (with her purple hair, hence the name) and Rich survived a long night of being stalked not only by Jason Voorhees, but also learning that they were bait placed by a corporations private army. Of course that corporation wants Jason to sell to the highest bidder as a form of superweapon, and they are not going to let things lie, even if the body pile was stacked higher than five F13 sequels in the space of about 50 pages. After Rich just succumbs to his wounds (no fun there), Violet ends up smack dab in the hands of the soldiers of fortune one more time. They lock her up and the reader gets a peek at the group of idiots that really believe they can play with the man with the magic machete...and they don’t disappoint. After a little more of that mumbo jumbo, Violet plots her escape (and yes, it involves bare breasts), Jason returns, and the bodies get mangled quickly. Can Violet survive...well, I gave you a hint in the second sentence if you are a smart mark you know what happens.

Written by Mike Wolfer (of “Widow” fame – an excellent character and all of her adventures are highly recommended), this Fearbook is a fun short sequel that ties up the previous series and leaves any potential plot threads severely chopped to the bleeding stump. While not exactly intricate, Wolfer handles the dialogue better than frequent scripter for Avatar, Brian Pulido, has so far. Even with the short running time there is a bit of story amidst the madness. Interesting that Wolfer stepped into the writer box, since he drew Bloodbath. The artwork by Fiumara is excellent, a bit moodier than the look Wolfer goes for, and the story is very strong for it. Great color work enhances the menace of Jason and this is an excellent bit of work for all involved. Not a great starting point for new readers, but Bloodbath was good fun and featured Jason slicing up soldiers with a helicopter blade...so go get ‘em!

An excellent read for the F13 minded, and if you love the films and don’t read comics, you could do worse than reading these last two series.

          A          -David Zuzelo

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Grind
~ 3 Issue Mini-Series ~

Script: Brian Pulido
Art: Daniel HDR

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Leatherface...my favorite movie maniac! Unbridled Insanity! Cackling Dysfunctional Mayhem! The Saw IS The Law!

While the Texas Chainsaw Massacre One-Shot from Avatar Press fell far from my expectations (probably from being too damn short), The Grind starts strong and goes from wild to utterly fucking grotesque pretty quickly. And that is a compliment. Fast paced and without a break between panels for the reader to breath, this Chainsaw Massacre is revved up and ready to rend you apart from the start.

After a “pre-credits” black and white wind-up that goes a little too far in aping the style of the original film is done, we know our victims (urr... protagonists?) are a group of 6 choir singers along with their chaperone, a little girl and 1 early on dead bus driver. They aren’t the nicest batch of choir girls you’ll ever lay eyes on...that I can tell you.

Enter The Family, with the heavy focus on the father figure of The Cop from the recent remake of TCM. After the bus gets a flat tire (oh no), he shows up to harass and verbally abuse the girls before swiping them back to Casa Chainsaw for a few rounds of meet the Meatmaker. And said monster is referred to as “Thomas”? Well, we know him as Leatherface and that is his name in my book. With the upcoming TCM prologue film I assume that this is going to be the shape of things to come in this particular universe, but I won’t have it. His name is Leatherface. It may be of interest that most of the characters look very much as they did in the film, and we see an unmasked Leatherface in one sequence...perhaps this is a sneak peek for those awaiting the new film?

Anyway, the rest of The Family begins to appear and yelling and violence ensues. One particularly chilling fate is in store for the little girl accompanying the choir it seems, and here is where the book succeeds in not only being a sleazy shocker, but stays true to the original film where the audience dreads what is too happen as much as what we see. After the set up of the first issue the remainder of the pages focus on saw toothed action as the girls are chopped and tormented, with one particular family secret that may spell salvation for the choir girls...or a despicable twist of good fortune for The Family.

While short on plot, the dialogue is spot on for the most part, with a few strange bits that include an outburst of Oh-My-Stars-And-Garters for good measure. The characterization of each nutty Family member is well done. Not as easy as it would appear, the particular funk of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is on show with these characters sounding a lot like Hooper’s second film in some places. Scripter Brian Pulido does a good job at stretching the action out, and though he is hampered a bit by the mini-series format in that he can’t spend the first third of the tale giving the readers interesting characters-having to get straight into the mayhem to keep from losing readers - it works well.

The body count doesn’t start with scratches either, but MASSIVE gouts of gore splashed vividly across the pages by artist Daniel HDR with reckless and certain to be parentally frowned upon glee. This guy is good with the grue and his Leatherface is top notch. I do think that Avatar’s good production values helped immensely by printing this series in color however, the girls all look very similar with the typical big breasts and buxom backsides...so you can tell who is who by hair color alone. Probably not the best compliment to pay, but the focus is on the Saw here-and that work is beautifully done.

Oh My Saws n’ Gutpiles… we got us a screamy one here… Leatherface, look what ya' did to the damn door!

          B          -David Zuzelo

July 2006

CELL: A Novel
by Stephen King
Scribner

It’s been almost 30 years since Stephen King published The Stand, an epic work of fiction illustrating a post-apocalyptic America. Cell weaves a similar tale, but on a much smaller scale — and of course more contemporary.

It’s October 1, and Clay Riddell has just landed a lucrative publishing deal for his comic book. He’s feeling as good as he’s ever felt, buying an expensive gift on Boston’s Boylston Street for his long-suffering wife, and on his way to pick something up for his young son Johnny. That’s when everything changes, Stephen King-style.

A devastating phenomenon known as “The Pulse” sets the stage for Cell, which follows Clay, Tom McCourt, and Alice Maxwell as they make their way from Boston to Northern Maine in search of other survivors, including Clay’s son. What they’re surviving is civilization’s darkest age, as every cell phone in America (and beyond?) has delivered a madness-inducing “pulse” that reduces people to their basest nature.

On the surface, Cell appears to be yet another take on zombie tales, this time dressing itself as a mysterious terrorist attack or government experiment gone horribly wrong. But what makes Cell work is character development, the same thing that has helped many of King’s classic horror novels stand out. And what’s been missing from his recent work.

Does it compare to The Stand? Absolutely not. But then few novels in this genre can ever hope to. What it does do is resurrect what Stephen King fans have been longing for — a suspenseful page-turner with teeth, blood, and ragged flesh — for quite some time.

          B          -Dan McDermott