Entries Tagged 'Comics' ↓

a few of my favorite zombies


The recent passing of Clayton Hill ("Sweater Zombie" from George Romero's Dawn of the Dead) has got me thinking about all those undead folk who've made an impression over the years. They (usually) don't speak and they're often one of a thousand walking corpses trying to eat the ragtag group of survivors, but we remember them regardless. Actually, horror fans don't simply remember these zombies, we celebrate them. Be honest, horror nerds- if a woman were to come up to you on the street and say "I was Majorette Zombie!" you'd know exactly who she was, right? And you'd be psyched to meet her, you know it...although you'd wonder why she felt the need to approach you and boast of her claim to fame a propos of nothing.

Here are a few of my favorite American Rotties.

1. Nameless Zombie (Dawn of the Dead '04)

She died without a name, which is sad. Then she came back to life and hauled ass trying to put the bite on Sarah Polley, which is understandable but not very nice. I like to pretend it's actually Dame Edith Massey as a zombie, which is a dream of mine that sadly will never be- at least never in the fictional sense. I suppose if there should ever be a zombie apocalypse, then the late Massey will rise from the grave. I won't know how to feel.

2. Softball Zombie (Land of the Dead)

She seems kind of depressed and sort of nice, but in the end I doubt if she'd want to be friends.

3. Cirque du Zombay (Night of the Living Dead '90)

I wonder how that happened. To be frank, he's probably better off undead.

4. Graveyard Zombie (Night of the Living Dead '68)

The one that started it all, and one of my absolute most favoritest. The fact that he really was coming to get Barbra is what's known as ironicalosity.

5. Ghetto Zombie (Dawn of the Dead '78)

If only for the hair and laid-back attitude.

6. Dr. Tongue (Day of the Dead '85)

Total gross-out icon. Great title sequence. I love Day of the Dead.

7. Nurse Zombie & Sweater Zombie (Dawn of the Dead)

If you watch Dawn of the Dead and pay close attention, you'll see that Sweater Zombie really gets around- he's outside doing his thing, then he's taking a ride on the escalator, then he's back outside with his partner-in-crime (and off-screen wife) Nurse Zombie (Sharon Ceccatti). You have to admire his moxie and his sweater vest.

8. Toothy Zombie (Day of the Dead)

Toothy is one of the zombies corralled by the evil Army dudes so Dr. Logan can get his experimentation on- in other words, she's one of those zombies that gets the audience asking "OMG, who are the real monsters here? Is it us? I'm not sure. I mean, we're not trying to eat anybody, but on the other hand, we're jerks..." Her "every other chomper" look totally influenced the zombie designs in my comic They Won't Stay Dead!- those janky teefs are how you know they're zombies!

9. Bug Eating Zombie (Night of the Living Dead)

Proving that zombies are grosser than we'd initially realized, Bug Eating Zombie plucks a bug off a tree and gulps it down- as...you know...her name suggests. Did you know that Bug Eating Zombie is portrayed by hot piece Marilyn "Mrs. Cooper" Eastman? It's true. Dazzle your friends with trivia!

10. Bub (Day of the Dead)

Duh.

11. Silent Movie Zombie (Night of the Living Dead)

I. Love. Him. I love how he totally overacts when the fire is waved in his face...but what I love even more is that after he overcomes his fear of the flames, Silent Movie Zombie gets irritated by them. He RULES.

12. Nathan Grantham (Creepshow)

Nathan Grantham is an anomaly in the zombie world- he can talk! He has a motivation for killin' beyond simple hunger! Best of all, he rises from the grave- I really wish we'd see more of that in zombie cinema.

Something just occurred to me. Let's think about what Grantham did after he decapitated poor old Aunt Sylvia, shall we, because he did a lot: he put her head on a tray. He found the frosting, then went in the silverware drawer for a knife. He frosted her head very carefully, then went searching for candles. After cramming them into her head, somehow (let's be honest, it probably took a while to get them to stay standing), he got matches or a lighter and lit them all. And he had to time all of this very carefully in order to surprise Cass and Richard as they approached the door! What a go-getter.

So, who's the most memorable zombie to you? Machete Zombie? Naked Zombie? Your mom?

Ha ha, I made that last one up.

Or did I?

early bird

AMC ran my column early this week because it's a wee interview with Aaron Paul, the dude who stars on the AMC series Breaking Bad who's not the dad from Malcolm in the Middle. He also stars in the remake of The Last House on the Left, which opens this week. Now your Tuesday is like your Wednesday, which I know is going to throw you off-track. For this I apologize, but remember- what doesn't kill you generally makes you want to kill someone else.

In related news: who's going to see Last House?


In other related news, posting is going to be light this week because...well, because I'm busy. Maybe even biz-zay. But what's taking me away from movie watching and the such is actually stuff that I can share with you down the road, so it'll all work out in the end. You know that I do everything for you...but I won't do that! Or something.

In other other related news, I'm glad to see that the results of my Wendy Torrance poll are currently in her favor. It's good to see her get some love!


In other other other related news, Toosday Toons is up. Dare you step inside...The Last House on the Right?

In other other other other related news, here's a scene from Bug. I know you gaze lovingly at that little photo in my sidebar where the woman's hair is on fire...now you can watch the movie magic happen right before your very eyes!



If there's one day I don't want my hair to catch on fire, it's my birthday. Yes, that's the set from The Brady Bunch. I'd also like to point out that she decides to make "chicken mousse", which contains "jellied chicken". I'm sure there's something out there that's more repulsive than jellied chicken and chicken mousse, but whatever it is I'd rather not know about it. Let's distract ourselves from such grossness by re-reading my review of Bug. Sweet relief!

Trilogy of Terror 2, part three


Part one is here, part two is here!

Trilogy of Terror 2, part two

Part one is here!

Trilogy of Terror 2, part one

Something a wee bit different.

Tune in tomorrow for Part 2!

aaOOOO, werewolves of comics

How fortuitous! Just as I jump back into stick figure comics full force- like, I'm talking Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force full force here- my old pal Dirk Manning writes me to let me know that Shadowline web comics has just finished posting up our collaboration "Hungry Like the Wolf". Mayhaps you remember the 8-page comic from its original run at Dirk's Nightmare World. Mayhaps it's new to you. Mayhaps either way you should go check it out by clickening ze click click! "Hungry Like the Wolf" starts on page 82.

Shadowline is running thorough the entire Nightmare World series- all 52 stories- for your webcomics reading pleasure. There's goodness to be found in there, and it's all free free free. Read it- it's what all the cool kids are doing! They're also swearing, because swearing is cool.

more crap from me

If there's one thing you probably know about me by now it's that I love mint chocolate chip ice cream.

However, if you've really been paying attention then you may also know something else and that's that I can't seem to focus on any one thing forever before I get the urge to do something else. Creatively, anyway. I don't know if this is a good thing or not. Probably not. Eh, maybe I'll blame it on the fact that I'm a Gemini.

Having said that, I thought I should let you know that I've totally started making stick figure comics again- some of you may be wondering what "again" means. It means that I used to do it, then I stopped, then I got the urge to make more, and now I am. Toosday Toons is back, and it will be updated on...wait for it...Tuesdays. As I mentioned on another site where I was shamelessly pimping myself, if you read the first strip (posted today), you'll see why I had to start the comic again: obviously I have terribly important things to say. Check it out if you'd like.

All of this stick figuring got me digging through my old crap, and I found a bunch of stick figure sketchcards I'd made way back in the day. I made a Facebook album that features them and other stuff, if you're Facebookly inclined. In said digging I also found a box of blank sketchcards, so if anyone is sketchcardly inclined (stick figure or otherwise), then drop me a line. I heart commissions.

So yeah, comics. Updated Tuesdays. If I do any that are specifically horror-related, I'll post about 'em here. Otherwise there's a link in yon sidebar. I'll be doing them for a long time, I ho---ooh, what's that over there?

Heads You Die … Tails I Kill You!

Horror Roundtable newcomer Matt Maxwell is releasing his first original graphic novel, entitled Strangeways: Murder Moon. It’s 144 pages of Werewolves in the Old West, and you can preview the first chapter right here, if only to verify that the illustration accompanying this post has nothing to with Maxwell’s comic. I’ll take any [...]

Zombie Menace from the 1950’s

Recently dug up from the tombs of the Golden Age of Comics comes MENACE issue #5 released by Atlas in 1953. This issue is the first appearance of the character which would later be appropriated by Marvel Comics and become The Zombie, Simon Garth. Here for you can read the original comic that spawned the character, leading to the later Marvel titles Tales of the Zombie and its recent re-boot The Zombie, Simon Garth. Click on the images below to see the full size scans of each page.



Many thanks go out to Mr. Door Tree at Golden Age Comic Book Stories (a blog devoted to sharing great old comics of all types) for originally hosting this comic, and The Horrors of it All (a celebration and appreciation of 50's pre-code comic book horror) for bringing this to our attention.

Comic Review: Living With The Dead (Dark Horse)



While zombies may be all the rage right now in the comics world, ZNN is compelled to share reviews of those new books which deserve to be called "exceptional." Living with The Dead is not one of those books. While the premise of two best friends trying to survive in an undead city by dressing up like the undead is somewhat laughable, it is probably the most creative part of this book. This story is much more Archie and Jughead than anything envisioned by Romero or Fulci, a fact hinted at by the style of the art and made abundantly clear when the two guy friends find a girl survivor while out collecting supplies and quickly begin competing against each other for her attention. From this point the story devolves into a friend vs. friend prank battle occasionally punctuated by a horde of walking corpses.

While we prefer not to pan any well-intentioned piece of zombie media, you would probably get more for your money if you steered clear of Living with The Dead. Some titles we would suggest you check out instead:

Book Review: The Living and the Dead by Jason



We recently had the pleasure of passing around a copy of The Living and the Dead by Norweigian artist Jason. A graphic novel, published by Fantagraphics in 2006, The Living and the Dead is a story about a lonely dishwasher working and saving so he can afford a night with a working girl whom he fancies, only to be interrupted by a meteor-prompted rise of the living dead before he has the chance to collect his pay and proposition her. For those who have never read Jason's work, and especially those who are entertained by the undead, this book is a highly enjoyable piece which allows the reader to become familiar with Jason's silent-movie style and tounge-in-cheek humor without feeling too far out of their depth.



The Living and the Dead by Jason is available directly from Fantagraphics for under $10 (US). For those who enjoy this title or are thinking about placing an order, we at ZNN would also suggest I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason, the story of a hitman hired to go back in time to kill Hitler, but who fails and is stranded after Hitler steals his time machine.

Family Bones #5


Chapter 5 of Family Bones - the real story of the older serial killers couple of America (Ray and Faye Copeland) is now available for preview.

This fifth chapter begins Sean’s slide into madness. Beaten senseless by Ray, Sean’s only hope is the help of the neighbor farm girl, Wendy. But she can’t save him from the monsters when the lights go out under the patchwork quilt. By his fingernails Sean holds to the edge of his humanity while Ray continues to try and bring him deeper into the family.

They have dropped the price of the comics to only $2.75.
If you liked the other chapters, you can't miss this one.

Check out King Tractor Films' webpage to get some page samples: Family Bones #5: The Great Race.

The Darkness Compendium

"Mafia hit-man Jackie Estacado thought he had it all figured out. After he did his first "job" for the family at 16 years old he knew that, although short, his life would be filled with money, sex, and power. But on his 21st birthday, Jackie inherited the family secret?an unholy power known only as The Darkness--that would change his life forever. Now virtually unstoppable at night or in the shadows, he is master of his dark domain. Little does he know, that the Darkness now has plans of it's own for Jackie.


The Darkness is a bd novel by Top Cow Productions, Inc. created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis and David Whol.
Now they have made a Compendium out of it!

You can read/preview some of its pages here: The Darkness Compendium.

Graphically is very good and the story seems really good.

You can also buy the original issues here: The Darkness - Top Cow Productions.