[Comic Execution] 5/16 – ‘VINCENT PRICE: NIGHT TERROR’, ‘MARS ATTACKS: FIRST BORN’, ‘TALES FROM THE CON: YEAR ONE’

I think it’s high time we start putting a premium on subtitles. Not the subtitles that you see in foreign films. I’m talking about when a book or a movie or a video game has the main title and also a secondary title that is deemed necessary for dumb audiences to figure out that it’s different from the previous, identically titled thing. For example; is it really necessary for every iteration of Bluewater Productions’ ‘Vincent Price Presents’ series to have a different subtitle? Can’t they all just be called ‘Vincent Price Presents’? This week’s column title was nearly a third of the work I did getting this thing published!

Actually, you know what? I’ve changed my mind. From now on, every week, I’m going to give Comic Execution a new subtitle. Give ’em a taste of their own medicine. And you know what this week’s column is now officially named? “Comic Execution: Revenge of the Executioner.” Now someone hire me.

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VINCENT PRICE: NIGHT TERROR #1

Writer: Matt McLean
Artist: Tsubasa Yozora
Colors: Jeremy Kahn

Publisher: Bluewater Productions
Price: $3 (Digital)

Vincent Price is awesome. Exhibit A: The Haunted Palace. Not his best known film and that is a crime against cinema, because not only is it deliciously atmospheric and really lets Price stretch his acting muscles but it also HAS THE NECRONOMICON IN IT. Vincent Price (from Saint Louis where DESTROY THE BRAIN is based!) is so awesome he has a comic with his name and likeness on it! It actually debuted in 2008 but I’ve seen little of it on shelves until now, with this new series subtitled “NIGHT TERROR.” Let’s dig in, shall we?

The story is an original from a writer I’ve never heard of and doesn’t come up easily with a Google search, so… that’s kind of a surprise, because it’s surprisingly coherent, starting off by introducing us to a scummy antiques dealer who specializes in ripping off heirlooms from ill-fated aristocrats in dire need of funds. He’s a loathsome character but it’s hard to hate him because, after all, he’s just a businessman profiting off the rich and stupid. And maybe I’m just as twisted as he is but when he poisons doofus and his equally dumb crush, I respected his cleverness. The story moves quick and Vincent Price’s character arrives on the scene to make everything much more delightful as he turns the tables on the conman, essentially conniving him into what becomes a hilariously brutal and delightfully macabre spiral of malevolent mayhem, ending with that signature twist that, while I saw coming, was still lovably ironic.

Matt McLean’s writing is, for someone I’ve never heard of, solid as a rock and he absolutely knows his audience, relishing the campiness while keeping the pace refreshingly crisp. There’s a solid body count and each death is quite delightful, even when you see the coming from a mile away. McLean drops a very big nod to Lovecraft, even going so far as to have the conman exposit on the origins of the Necronomicon as he tries to pawn off his forgery of the book to Price’s character. I am definitely taken by McLean’s sharp, clever and reverent work here.

The art, by Tsubasa Yozora, a regular penciller for publisher Bluewater Productions, is also a surprise. Immediately, the visuals keenly evoke classic pulp horror comics with shadowed interiors draped in dark and surreal visuals like a massive portrait of a beautiful woman dominating the background. The death scenes have a bleak poetry to them; the panel of the poisoned couple lying on the balcony is beautifully dark. The panel work is controlled and restrained but adds just a touch of intrigue here and there, with arcing panel sequences building suspense, and as the main character’s dark ritual approaches its climax, the split page depicting his actions on either side, closing in a surreal abstraction of the rites, is incredible stuff.

Inker Keyton Kohl & colorist Jeremy Kahn deserve accolades for taking Yozora’s lines and generating a massively atmospheric, beautiful comic to look at. It’s not quite as lurid and dreamlike as I’d really want for this story but what’s delivered here is still remarkable; the death scene of the doomed couple is saturated in a shock of bright reds and oranges, accented with yellow slashes to enhance the terror, then followed by that breathtaking portrait of their moonlit corpses, rendered in perfect silver tones, their subtle crimson blood barely drawing the eye. When a certain fire is started, it’s a perfectly rendered inferno. Kahn, Kohl and Yozora all elevate the material beyond just witty and black horror into stuff that’s actually a blast to read.

I went into this with very low expectations and I was totally blown away by how good it was. I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who is a fan of Vincent Price’s work, or just enjoys campy, old-school horror in general. It’s available digitally for the dirt cheap price of $3 but even if the physical copy is $4, this is still worth it.

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MARS ATTACKS: FIRST BORN #1

Writer: Chris Ryall
Artist: Sam Kieth

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $4

You guys remember MARS ATTACKS, right? I don’t need to explain the premise. What, really? You’ve never seen the Tim Burton movie? Or even seen a trailer for it? What, are you living under the world’s most boring rock? Fine, yes, okay, I’ll give you a rundown: back in the sixties, when trading cards were still a thing, MARS ATTACKS was launched as an in-your-face sci-fi horror trading card set that was almost instantly controversial for its graphic depiction of Martian-on-human carnage. So naturally, in the eighties it made a big comeback as a comic book series that eventually led to a well-received movie that was more of a parody of the source material. But the comics, which are more faithful to the original Topps trading cards, has had a strong life, even if it also veers into parody territory.

This new MARS ATTACKS: FIRST BORN comic features some exciting names; Chris Ryall, best known for ‘Zombies vs Robots’ as well as being one of IDW Publishing’s head honchos, teams up with ‘The Maxx’ artist extraordinaire Sam Kieth for a more unusual take on the iconic ET bastards. Ryall and Kieth collaborated heavily on the story so I’ll be avoiding using particular names when talking about that part of the presentation.

The story revolves around the survivors of the invasion, and specifically a blind girl, her uncle, and their adoptive charge: a Martian toddler. Or is it? From page one, we’re never explicitly told whether this thing is an immature invader or something else; perhaps a mutant of some kind? That’s really the core mystery of the story but the writing is so well crafted you don’t really think much about it until the last few pages. Until that point, it’s the continued survival of Uncle Woody and his niece Clare that keeps our attention. Playing on the well-worn trope of a child’s life in the post-apocalypse, it’s her blissful unawareness of her unearthly companion that really sets the story apart.

But the prose itself is crafted with enough grace and emotional resonance to surpass the banal trappings. Uncle Woody’s character is a delicate but accurate portrayal of that one family member you know; the dreamer who never quite gets it right. It’s a huge relief that one of the protagonists is authentically relatable and what’s very promising is how well developed Clare is; it’s apparent that her attachment to the alien child, “Baby,” isn’t a maternal instinct so much as an instinct for what it means to do more than just survive in a destroyed world. Which is why what happens halfway through the issue is so upsetting. Ryall and Kieth really tug at the heartstrings in a moving and uncontrived way throughout, while using the constant threat of the Martians to amplify those attachments.

Kieth’s art is perfect for a serious ‘Mars Attacks’ story and he presents it with a level of dread and atmosphere that synchronizes perfectly with the heartbreaking tale. “Baby” is rendered with such unrelentingly saccharine cuteness that it makes the inevitable threat to her foster family that much more horrible because you know it’s her fault. There’s a bleakly, gut-wrenchingly comedic moment where Clare asks Baby “Who’s a pretty baby?” and Baby’s repulsively inhuman appearance drives home the sour note, amplified by the genuinely hilarious panels preceding it. Speaking of panels, Kieth is in top form with his dynamic visual storytelling, cutting panels up and layering them, rendering them like sheets of crumpled paper, slashing panels across the page diagonally, cutting the page in half, the evil aliens on one side and Clare on the other. The aliens are ominously present but never more than a lurking threat, their ships looming massively over the pathetic survivors. And, despite resembling a mean-spirited parody of classic extraterrestrials, Kieth makes his Martians genuinely frightening to look at, amping up their skeletal menace, their eyes piercingly mad. That alone is an impressive feat.

I never thought I would enjoy a ‘Mars Attacks’ story that took the source material seriously, but here I am, genuinely unsettled by Kieth and Ryall’s exploration of the aftermath of the invasion. The comic itself is a bit pricy at $4 for only 20 pages but it’s also really high quality stuff that’s worth it for any horror fan.

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TALES FROM THE CON: YEAR ONE #1

Writer: Brad Guigar
Artist: Chris Giarusso

Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3

How many comic book conventions have I been to? Two. Both small, local conventions with no celebrities, mostly just professional comic book writers and artists. I’ve never been to a “Comic-Con” proper. There’s nothing about those celebrity-driven affairs that appeal to me, other than the occasional exclusive appearance of an artist or writer who isn’t otherwise available. So naturally, I didn’t approach TALES FROM THE CON: YEAR ONE with the most optimistic mindset.

Interestingly, it would seem writer Brad Guigar shares my bleakly cynical outlook on Comic-Cons. Almost all of these strips are mocking the culture of those shows, the point of being abrasive: one strip features a line of well-endowed females behind booths who’ve apparently distracted a fanboy to the point where he’s repeatedly walked past one of his favorite creators. There’s another panel where two creators have arrived for their panel, surprised at how packed it is, only to realize that they’re the warm-up for a booth-babe panel. And then there’s the newly-wed wife who’s griping about how Stan Lee interrupted their “first night.”

Now, Brad might pick on the women a little, but he is even more cruel to the men; referring to all three of the above panels, the men are just as much at fault as the women. And in other strips, Guigar ruthlessly attacks fanboy body odor, incompetent con staff, obsessive commissioners, conniving comic merchants and cosplayers. Nobody escapes unscathed by this writer’s incisive venom. There’s a few misfires here and there, though. For example, in a few strips, I found myself actually laughing at some of the dialogue! For example, one talent scout is admiring a potential recruit’s portfolio but it turns out he’s not talking about the art but the actual carrying case itself! And some of the strips don’t even depict the horrors of a Comic-Con but appear to be cheekily skewering the pop culture itself, but these fall flat, as they come off more angry than funny.

Chris Giarusso’s art is perfect for these kind of bite-sized deconstructions of the worm-infested detritus that is a Comic-Con. The hyper-simplified cartoonishness of it provides the perfect juxtaposition of Guigar’s uncompromised fury.

I am so glad I read TALES FROM THE CON; I’d actually made plans to go to a “Comic-Con” next year! Thanks to Brad Guigar and Chris Giarusso, I’ve been reminded of why I absolutely loathe going to these things. And what’s even more impressive is how meta the comic is; it functions as an additional layer of commentary aimed at comic creators who go to these conventions despite hating them and then proceed to complain about how awful they are. Way to take those people down a peg, guys!

PS: In case you hadn’t picked up on it yet, this review is written in a sarcastic tone. To clarify; TALES FROM THE CON is exceptionally not funny, it is instead an annoying, demeaning example of what is wrong with the comic book industry. Namely; it is full of “creators” who should never have taken up writing or drawing comics in the first place.