This weekthe comic book I am most excited to read is...
JL DARK & WONDER WOMAN THE WITCHING HOUR #1
The deadly finale of "The Witching Hour" arrives as Zatanna battles for Wonder Woman's soul-and the rest of the Justice League Dark battle for their lives! Hecate is more powerful than the Greek Gods...and no matter who wins, the Earth will lose its chance of surviving the war that's coming!
(W) James TynionIV (A) Jesus Merino (CA) David Yardin
It's that time of the week again here at 20 Years Before 2000...It's time for the THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK! These are the jams currently on my trusty Creative ZEN MP3 player and they encompass everything from Motown R&B classics to hip-hop and rap from the 90s! I would like to share them with you in the hopes that they can get you on your feet and bring back some sweet nostalgic memories! So throw on your Hockey Mask, cut your hair in the fresh Psycho style and slip on your knife fingered glove as we take you back! Without further ado, here is the Halloween Edition of the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Stevie Wonder
Song: Superstition
Album: Talking Book(Released 1972) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1
Bonus Fun Fact: This song was featured in the films The Thing in 1982 and A Vampire In Brooklyn in 1995! Jeff Beck came up with the drum beat for this song!
Tomorrow is Halloween Comicfest! Don't know what Halloween Comicfest is? Here is a quick rundown: In 2012 Diamond Distributors started the Halloween Comicfest event. This event is similar to Free Comic Book Day. Kids dress up in there costumes and are given free comics at their local comic shop. Even if you are not a kid trick or treating for comics is still allowed for the adult collectors. Each comic given away has some sort of Halloween twist to it and range in ratings from Mature to All-Ages. My kids and myself love this promotion, not only because it gives them an extra day to go out and show off their costumes but because it is FREE! My family will be attending and these are the comics I am most excited to pick up!
HELLBOY & THE BPRD 1953 PHANTOM HAND & THE KELPIE
Hellboy's first experiences with Bruttenholm in England involve the phantom hand of a murderer and a demonic water spirit in stories reminiscent of the early Mignola masterpiece "The Corpse."
(W) Mike Mignola (A) Ben Stenbeck (CA) Dave Steward
JOHNNY BOO & THE SPOOKY TREE
Are you scared of scary stuff? Don't worry, Johnny Boo will keep you safe with BOO POWER! Being scared can be really fun... when you're the best little ghost in the world! It's a brand-new spooky adventure from the Eisner-Award-winning mind of James Kochalka!
(W) James Kochalka (A/CA) James Kochalka
JUGHEAD THE HUNGER #1
Got an appetite for HORROR? Then this is the perfect book to kick off your Halloween celebrations! Jughead Jones is a werewolf, and Reggie Mantle has fallen victim to Jughead's monstrous ways. Now Betty Cooper: Werewolf Hunter along with Archie Andrews are hot on the trail of Jughead.
(W) Frank Tieri (A) Pat Kennedy, Tim Kennedy, Bob Smith (CA) Francesco Francavilla
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1
Doctor Octopus claims the ultimate victory over Spider-Man! After years of defeats at the wall-crawler's hands, Otto Octavius achieves the unthinkable-putting his mind in the body of Peter Parker! As one Amazing era ends, a new one begins for a smarter, stronger, Superior Spider-Man! Celebrate this OCKtober with this epic from Spider-Man legends Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman!
(W) Dan Slott (A/CA) Ryan Stegman
TMNT RISE OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reinvent the meaning of "fast food" as they chase after the diabolical Meat Sweats who has just stolen a pizza truck!
(W) Dale Malinowski (A) Andy Suriano, Ida Hem, Brandon Cuellar
A lot of comic shops go all out during this event and put on costume contests, invite special guests and giveaway fun prizes. My comic shop will just be giving away the comics, which is still okay by me. To see if your local comic shop is holding an event, check Halloween Comicfest news or see all of the comics being given away this year visit www.HalloweenComicfest.com!
This weekthe comic book I am most excited to read is...
MARS ATTACKS #1
Spencer hasn't finished a dang thing in his life. So when he goes to visit his dad to see if maybe he can borrow some money, the last thing on his mind is global survival. Now Spencer and his father are on the run, trying to avoid being spaceray'd by a bunch of destruction happy Martians, heck bent on zapping them dead! Writer Kyle Starks (Rick and Morty, Rock Candy Mountain) and artist Chris Schweizer (The Creeps, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) bring you the face melting experience of a lifetime with Mars Attacks for the first time at Dynamite!
(W) Kyle Starks (A) Chris Schweizer (CA) Tom Mandrake
It's that time of the week again here at 20 Years Before 2000...It's time for the THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK! These are the jams currently on my trusty Creative ZEN MP3 player and they encompass everything from Motown R&B classics to hip-hop and rap from the 90s! I would like to share them with you in the hopes that they can get you on your feet and bring back some sweet nostalgic memories! So throw on your Hockey Mask, cut your hair in the fresh Psycho style and slip on your knife fingered glove as we take you back! Without further ado, here is the Halloween Edition of the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Michael Jackson
Song: Threatened
Album: Invincible(Released 2001) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A
Bonus Fun Fact: This song features Rod Serling's opening narration from the Twilight Zone episode "The Good Life"!
The 80s were a great time to grow up! We had incredible toys, entertaining cartoons and some of the best movies ever were created during this time. Also, this was a time where studios could get away with marketing mass murderers, movie maniacs and nightmare creatures to kids under the age of 10! These horror icons were so well know on the schoolyard that you could just mention a first name and people instantly knew who you were talking about. Jason, Freddy, Egon. These were all popular figures of the time. With so much scary stuff integrated into an 80s child's life, you would think it would have desensitized us a little, right? Even though these characters lost their edge when they began to appear as dolls, yo-yos and even on their own records, there were still some things that scared the hell out of me when I was young. Here are 3 of those things that made it hard for me to sleep at night!
Stephen King & Berni Wrightson's Cycle of the Werewolf
My dad was a huge fan of Stephen King and anytime his books would come out, he would pick it up. The covers of the majority of these books were visually striking and I would look at them with wonder. Wondering what the story was about on the inside. I was still into books that contained lots of pictures in them, so a King novel with 300 pages of words didn't really interest me. Then my dad bought Cycle of the Werewolf!
This was a Stephen King book with freakin pictures! I did not have to wonder about what happened in this book because the beautifully horrific pictures by Wrightson told me all the gory details I needed to know. These pictures were terrifying to me. Never before had I seen so much horror in one image. It really stuck with me, but I never actually read the book. It is now on my must read list!
FLEER Grossville High Cards
These cards didn't really scare as much as gross me out as a kid. I really liked Garbage Pail Kids and collected the hell out of them when I was younger, but for some reason the grotesque artwork on these FLEER produced cards really creeped me out. I remember putting these stickers onto some of the things around mine and my brothers room when we got them just like we did with our GPK collection. Then one night I was tired of looking at them and got out of bed specifically to tear them off our stuff. I mean, these cards are no worse than GPK but the artwork just seems a little too out there for me. Check em' out for yourself and be the judge.
Pretty crazy right? Now when I look back at them they aren't really that terrible, but things look a lot different when you're 8 years old! There is a reason though, why Garbage Pail Kids are seen as great nostalgia and no one really remembers Grossville High.
The Taxi Driver Ghost from Ghostbusters
Iloved the Ghostbusters movie when it came out, but there was always one scene that made me close my eyes. That scene was with the Taxi Driver Ghost! For some reason, none of the other supernatural beings in this classic movie scared me at all. The drooling, snarling, sharp toothed terror dogs? Nope! The crazy, floating, purple Library Ghost? Nope! The freakin' taxi driver ghost that is on screen for about one second? YUP!
The Sea Snakes from Majora's Mask
This game came out in 2000. I was still a teenager and had played survival horror games like Resident Evil, Parasite Eve and Silent Hill by this time with no problems at all. I even enjoyed them, but there was something about these giant, glowing eyed sea snakes from Majora's Mask that gave me the chills. Maybe it is the dark underwater setting or maybe it's the way they jump out at you. Whatever it was it kept me from completing this classic entry in the Legend of Zelda library.
We all have differing opinions on what is scary, creepy or even terrifying. So, what kind of things scared you as a kid? Let me know in the comments below. And if you want some more creepy Halloween content, check out this post I wrote about a few more things that kept me from sleeping at night including Freddy, Aliens and that damn Tarman!
This weekthe comic book I am most excited to read is...
SIMPSONS COMICS #245
It's a Simpsons Comics send off! Join Bongo for the final issue of Simpsons Comics in a series finale that's been 25 years in the making! When Lisa brings home a lovable new pet from All Creatures Great and Small and Cheap, it seems like the perfect gift. But this new addition to the family turns out to be much more than anyone could have expected, and soon Springfield itself is in danger. Only one person can save the town from total disaster, but they're too busy taking a nap! It's a tale of twists, turns, irradiated missteps, and surprise cameos that will have your head spinning, bosom heaving, and wallet screaming to be emptied! A heartfelt series farewell from your pals at Bongo. We hate to say goodbye, so let's just leave it at "Smell ya later!"
(W) Nathan Kane (A) Rex Lindsey (CA) Jason Ho, Nathan Kane
