Halloween Scene: A 70s Marvel 5-Pack!

Posted on by TJDietsch

Back in the day, I used to do recurring posts here on UM called The Box wherein I would grab some random comics from a huge box my inlaws gave me and give them a read. I thought it would be fun to do something similar, but with a somewhat narrower focus on horror comics from those same boxes (though now they have a special place on my comic shelves). As it turned out, I had a bunch of 70s Marvel horror comics, so I jumped right in with those! Horror had a nice resurgence at this time because the Comics Code loosened some of its restrictions. In these five comics I’ve got Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Son of Satan and all sorts of anthology tales!

Enter, if you dare…

Halloween Scene Trade Post: A Mike Mignola Trio

Posted on by TJDietsch

I’ve spilled a lot of digital ink this season talking about how much I love Kelley Jones’ work, especially on Batman (in posts here and here), but there’s another artist whose work is synonymous with horror in my mind: Mike Mignola. The genius behind Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. has done all sorts of work in the comics world and this post will give some love to a few of his other works that are lots of spooky fun! Here are some interesting comics you might want to check out if you don’t want to dive too deeply into those sprawling epics.

Enter, if you dare…

Halloween Scene Trade Poster: The Darkness

Posted on by TJDietsch

I can’t really understate how important Wizard magazine was to me during my formative comic-buying years in the 90s. I’d already become a die-hard DC fan before I discovered the magazine, but it became this window into a much larger comic landscape of companies ranging from Marvel and Dark Horse to those guys doing crazy things at Image (though this was admittedly a year or two after the initial boom). I still remember how much they hyped certain books, though, and The Darkness from Top Cow is one such example! I recently borrowed the first and second volumes of the Darkness Origins trades from Hoopla and had a fun time with them!

enter, if you dare…

Halloween Scene: Batman By Doug Moench & Kelley Jones Part 2

Posted on by TJDietsch

I’ve been having a great time watching connected films and a variety of horror books this season, but it’s very possible that re-visiting the Batman run by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones has been one of my favorite experiences so far. As I mentioned in the first part, these post-KnightFall books were bedrock-forming for my knowledge of not just the Dark Knight, but also the imagery of horror as put through Jones’ incredibly capable lens. As good as the Batman developments are in these issues as he regains his life after the Bane and Azrael incidents, it’s equally exciting to see these two creators work their magic on a variety of villains and co-stars.

Enter, if you dare…

Halloween Scene: My Horror Toys Part 2

Posted on by TJDietsch

Last week, I showed you all a detailed view of half of the mostly-monsters toys I lined up in my office this year to get into the Halloween spirit. The first batch included a Masters Of The Universe Classics giant, one of Jack Kirby’s hottest creations, Buffy, a trio of Stranger Things characters, my guy Beetlejuice, a pair of Hellboys and horror icons like Frankenstein’s Monster, Freddy Krueger and Pinhead! Want to see who else made the cut [cue cleaver chopping sound effect]?

Enter, if you dare…

Halloween Scene: The Supernaturals

Posted on by TJDietsch

I’m sure like me, a lot of my fellow comic fans out there love stumbling across a book you’ve never heard of, but that feels right up your alley. I had that when I saw a book from 1998-1999 called The Supernaturals. From the cover I could see that this four issue mini included some of Marvel’s great mystical characters like Brother Voodoo, Ghost Rider and Satana. Cool. I love those guys and gals. I’m in! So, on the MyComicShop wish list it went and recently I grabbed them. How’d it go? Hmm…let’s find out.

Entre, if you dare…

Halloween Scene: Astro City Confession

Posted on by TJDietsch

When I first began kicking around ideas for Halloween-y books to pull off my shelves and read this season, Astro City: Confession popped into my mind almost instantly. However, when I went to said shelf, I was surprised to see that this was one of two volumes from the series’ early run that I didn’t have. To Amazon I went and now I’ve got a nice hardcover version from DC’s sadly defunct Vertigo imprint. I’m not sure it’s possible to really talk about this book without getting into spoilers, so consider yourself warned and go out and read all of the Astro City you can find!

Continue reading Halloween Scene: Astro City Confession

Halloween Scene: My Horror Toys Part 1

Posted on by TJDietsch

To say that this Halloween season will be unlike any other is like saying that Leatherface has a unique take on cosmetics. My wife and I are still taking the pandemic seriously (it’s incredibly stupid that anyone has to say that, wear a damn mask) so trick or treating for the kids is all but cancelled. We’re trying to figure out a new way to celebrate, but we’ll see how that goes. Personally, this year will be very different for me because I’ve got a house full of people who want nothing to do with horror movies (or are too young to see them). So, I’m doing my best to squeeze them in where and when I can, but am also focusing on a lot of comics and books. But, I also decided to decorate the shelf in my office with a small army of fiends in action figure form that date all the way back to my childhood!

Continue reading Halloween Scene: My Horror Toys Part 1

Halloween Scene: George A. Romero Comics

Posted on by TJDietsch

A few years back I made a concerted effort to go back and watch George A. Romero’s last few films to celebrate him after he passed. It’s sad to me that George wasn’t able to make as many different kinds of films as he clearly wanted to, but he was a master of looking at the undead from different angles as you can see in films like Land, Diary and Survival Of The Dead. That mini marathon reminded me that Romero had a few comics that came out, one from DC and an extended Marvel series. Shortly after, I found myself with both Toe Tags and all three Empire Of The Dead volumes in my possession, but I waited until this fall to dig in!

Continue reading Halloween Scene: George A. Romero Comics

Halloween Scene: Out There

Posted on by TJDietsch

In addition to reading horror novels like Stage Fright (and many more to come) and falling down the It’s All Connected 2020 rabbit hole, I’m also doing my best to read through some of the spookier comics I have access to. I feel very lucky to have my entire comic collection all in one place, but also some nice shelves my dad and I built in thee garage so I can actually get to them! With that in mind and in the spirit of not going out because we’re in the middle of a pandemic, I’ve gone through my existing comics, my trade shelf and even my To Read boxes and pulled out a huge pile of comics I want to read! Let’s see how that goes!

Continue reading Halloween Scene: Out There