Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires by Richard Sala
Posted: May 7, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction, Uncategorized | Tags: Books, Comic, English, Horror, Richard Sala Leave a comment
Equally delicious as the original Peculia book, this story is a great homage to old time b&w horror, as well as the 60-70s b-movies, the majestic Count Dracula, Scooby Doo and the rest of the vampire horror fun.
Fast to read and very enjoyable! Mmmm
Peculia by Richard Sala
Posted: May 6, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, English, Horror, Richard Sala 2 Comments
Peculia, a black and white comic book by Richard Sala, is absolutely stunning. Barely one hundred pages, it contains less than a dozen short horror stories about a brave girl named Peculia, her perfect butler Ambrose, her adversary Justine and her secret admirer Obscrus – and many, many monsters. These tales are quite similar to my childhood horror stories – the crawling hands, big ugly creatures lurking in the dark, waiting to grab little kiddies and eat them.
This is like the best ironic comic book horror I've seen in a while – definitely better than the previous Sala's books I've tried.
Also, black and white with no coloring gives it a distinct, rather peculiar feel – which is only spoiled by colors. Mesmerizing. A tiny gem.
The Walking Dead: All Out War by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
Posted: May 4, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, English, Robert Kirkman, Zombie Leave a comment
In the past ten years I got so tired of reading The Walking Dead, I was truly bored with these twelve All Out War action-packed issues.
Gosh, ten years was too much – I need to give it up. Bury the dead, huh.
Violenzia by Richard Sala
Posted: May 2, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, English, Horror, Richard Sala Leave a comment
Yet another macabre short story by Richard Sala, a true master of gothic horror, cults, and scary tales in unique vivid colors.
Funny to read this as a continuation of the Fatale, to see the same ceremonial sacrifices with crooked daggers etc – but with much more irony around it.
A great short, all in all – but only for those of you who are sick enough to enjoy it.
Fatale. Book Four: Pray for Rain by Ed Brubacker and Sean Phillips
Posted: May 2, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, Ed Brubaker, English, Fatale, Horror, Sean Phillips Leave a comment
As much as I was dissatisfied with Fatale Books 2 & 3, I am equally pleased with Book Four: Pray for Rain (collects volumes 15 to 19). The change is drastic – as if Brubacker was completely out of ideas for his past several volumes, and had to fill them with crap in order to fulfill the publishers desires – and, suddenly, he found, I dunno, his own Fatale that gave his the inspiration back.
To my mind, this story arc is equal to a good, hard to take your eyes off the screen slasher movie, when you sit and enjoy the rollercoster. Nice.
And after that, an unfortunate pause. While volumes 20 & 21 are already available and in my iPad, Fatale the series will end in this July, when volume 24 hits the shelves – and I guess, I will have to wait for that – as I never liked reading small 30-page long volumes separately, as I don't really get to enjoy the storyline this way. Okey. Let's see what July brings.
Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground by Darwyn Cooke
Posted: May 2, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, Crime Fiction, Darwyn Cooke, Donald E. Westlake, English, Parker, Richard Stark 1 Comment
The 4th Parker book is as awesome as the first three. Undoubtedly, this the best crime fiction you can get in the moden world. Coupled with the comic book medium, it rocks.
Really, even if you don't like comic books and are afraid of the superhero-poisoned teenage subculture, try Parker. My bet, you won't be disappointed. If they ever publish that in Russian, I'm buying it for my pops on day one.
Aetheric Mechanics by Warren Ellis
Posted: May 1, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, English, Science Fiction, Warren Ellis Leave a comment
That story is extremely lame. Roger out.
Road to Perdition by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner
Posted: May 1, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, Crime Fiction, English, Max Allan Collins, Richad Piers Rayner 1 Comment
The original graphic novel behind a well-acclaimed Sam Mendez film was quite entertaining. To tell you the truth, when I took it off the shelf in a Nicosia comic book store (most likely though, English grammar requires me to say the Nicosia comic book store), I first thought it was a simulacrum, a cheap commercial spinoff from a Hollywood franchise (like a recent Game of Thrones comic series is) and not an original story. Well, I was wrong.
To sum it up briefly – either for those who didn’t see the movie, or, like yours truly, remember nothing of it – it’s a good true crime novel about gangster shootout in the 1930s Midwest. A classic story of a father travelling with a child – and guns. Reads fast, easy and is very likeable. Reminded me a bit about John Wagner’s and Vince Locke’s A History of Violence, also written in the late 90s.
The most unbelievable thing for me was a Mickey Spillane quote of praise on the front cover – I guess I was under the false impression that Spillane was more a sixties-seventies kinda guy. But naw, I now know the father of Mike Hammer went away in 2006, at the age of 88. You live and learn.
P.S. God gracious! I realized Darwyn Cooke published the 4th Parker book, called Slayground, and I missed it. Downloading already!
Fatale. Book Two: The Devil’s Business and Book Three: West of Hell by Ed Brubacker and Sean Phillips
Posted: April 29, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, Ed Brubaker, Fatale, Horror, Sean Phillips 2 Comments
The second book of Fatale (i.e. the story arc that contains volumes 6 to 10 of the comic series) was, sadly, quite inferior to the first. Still, I have to admit Brubaker and Phillips have a very unique style of their own, especially drawing wise.
Volumes 11 to 14 that followed were four short separate stories, not too full of value, I guess. I like the nazi one the most, if you ask me. They, as I later found out, were collected under the title Book Three: West of Hell.
Other than that, ummm, I would say, this is a huge comedown from the original first Fatale story arc. Sad.
The Last of the Innocent. A Criminal edition by Ed Brubacker and Sean Phillips
Posted: April 28, 2014 Filed under: Comic, Fiction | Tags: Books, Comic, Crime Fiction, Criminal, Ed Brubaker, English, Sean Phillips 1 Comment
To think about it, comic books are a perfect medium for noir crime stories, all those Dashiell Hammetts, James Hadley Chases and what not. All the messy bloody stuff that I loved to read in my early teens (alongside no less trashy horror stories, thank you, Mr. Hitchcock) are now in full profondo rosso colors spashed against the pages of a comic book.
And whilst Ed Brubacker‘s and Sean Phillips‘ Criminal series is of no match to, say, the Parker trilogy (and I hope for more of that as well), still, I found this story quite an entertaining read.
So I need to get some more, I guess. Both Criminal and Fatale (also written by the same duo), perfect pulp fiction, mmmm.
P.S. Sad but true – I need to stop buying comic books through comiXology. Yeah, it’s easier, and cheaper, and faster, and it lasts forever (kinda), but – there’s always but – you don’t get the same feeling when you hold a volume in your hands. Back to crazy Russian customs and amazon deliveries, and help me god.
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