Comic Book Review: Dark Mysteries Vol. 1 by Various Artists This is another of the PS Artbooks softcover collections of pre-Code horror comics, collecting the first five issues of Dark Mysteries from Master Comics, published in 1951-1952. These comic books may have been read by the youth, but the shaping underwear ads indicate an older… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Dark Mysteries Vol. 1
Tag: small towns
Book Review: Lost in Underspace
Book Review: Lost in Underspace by Kate Dane Kate Dane is a Minnesota speculative fiction author whose first novel is a romance between a lawyer and a werewolf. This is the second collection of her short stories. “The Interplanetary Olympics” starts us off with the story of Jackie, a world-class swimmer who’s trying to get… Continue reading Book Review: Lost in Underspace
Book Review: Dandelion Wine
Book Review: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury The time: Summer, 1928. The place: Green Town, a large rural town in Illinois. Douglas Spaulding has just turned twelve years old, and this will be a summer to remember, the moments captured in time like dandelion wine. This 1957 novel is a collection of vignettes, some previously… Continue reading Book Review: Dandelion Wine
Book Review: The Last Quarry
Book Review: The Last Quarry by Max Allan Collins Quarry is a professional killer, a hitman if you will. He was good at the job, too. He tried retiring once, only to have political enemies track him down and kill his wife. They’re very dead now. At loose ends, he accepted an old friend’s (from… Continue reading Book Review: The Last Quarry
Comic Book Review: Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 by various creators You may have heard a story like this before. A biochemist working for a secret agency develops a chemical that evil people want to steal. They come to his place in the swamp, and he winds up with the serum… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection Vol. 1
Movie Review: High Plains Drifter
Movie Review: High Plains Drifter (1973) directed by Clint Eastwood The people of Lago are in fear. And perhaps they have good reason for it. A year ago, three outlaws whipped the town marshal to death in the street of this tiny lakeside mining town. They were caught and imprisoned for an entirely different crime, vowing… Continue reading Movie Review: High Plains Drifter
Book Review: Wicked West
Book Review: Wicked West edited by Abigail Linhardt and J.H. Fleming The combination of Western and horror genres is a popular one; those wide open spaces in which people and entire towns can just disappear make for a setting that allows a lot of spookiness. This bespoke anthology has eleven stories in this subcategory. “The… Continue reading Book Review: Wicked West
Movie Review: Assassin of Youth
Movie Review: Assassin of Youth (1938) directed by Elmer Clifton Cub reporter Art Brighton (Arthur Gardner) is given his first big assignment. An elderly woman was mowed down by a drug-crazed teenager who’d lost control of his car. As it happens, the woman was quite wealthy, and her fortune is slated to go to her granddaughter… Continue reading Movie Review: Assassin of Youth
Comic Book Review: Space, MN
Comic Book Review: Space, MN writing and lettering by Shawn DePasquale, pencils by Bruno Oliveira, inking and colors by Chandran Ponnusamy. Space, population 502 (and falling) is a struggling small town within easy driving distance of Minneapolis in Minnesota. It used to have a higher population and prosperity but those days are long gone. Officer… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Space, MN
Movie Review: Never Take Candy from a Stranger
Movie Review: Never Take Candy from a Stranger (1960) directed by Cyril Frankel (aka “Never Take Sweets from a Stranger”) The Carter family, Peter (Patrick Allen), Sally (Gwen Watford), nine-year-old daughter Jean (Janina Faye) and Sally’s mother Martha (Alison Leggatt) have moved from Britain to Jamestown in Canada so that Peter can take up a job… Continue reading Movie Review: Never Take Candy from a Stranger