REVIEW: Charles Band’s Puppet Master: Curtain Call #2

Writer:  Shawn Gabborin
Artist:  Daniel J. Logan
Colorist:  Yann Perrelet
Review:  Art Bee

In 1989 there was a B-movie sensation that captured the imagination of my younger self, and its name was Puppet Master. I was a B-movie horror nut for a long time until it became a major fad in the mid-90s with an outpouring of plotless crap and gimmicky special effects. When the effects took the lead in the movie, my interest faded all together. A few months ago I caught word that a new big budget film was being made with the Puppet Master title in 2018, piquing my curiosity.

Puppet Master is a storyline centered on an ancient Egyptian spell which allows the caster to imbue an inanimate object with some of their own life force. In the movies, more than a dozen of them, the popular vessel used for this practice was marionette puppets, who were the true stars of the films. Each had their own personality and special ability. My personal favorite was Pinhead, with his tiny head and large arms and mitts, but all of them are well worth anyone’s affection.

Issue 2 starts out with a fight between the living puppets. Each one of them locked in heated combat (yeah, that is a pun since one of the puppets is a walking flamethrower) while their masters talk things over. The two in conversation are father and son, both unnamed in this issue. The father has apparently been given “near immortality” by the Egyptian god Anapas and that gift was conditional upon fathering a child.     

REVIEW: The Demon: Hell is Earth #1 (of 6)

Writer: Andrew Constant
Penciller: Brad Walker
Inker: Andrew Hennessy
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Review: Will Dubbeld

“Gone, gone, o’ form of man...”
With those words, Jason Blood transmogrifies into the demon, Etrigan.
Birthed by Jack Kirby in the ‘70s, The Demon tells the tale of medieval knight Jason Blood, bound by fel magic to the titular demon. Upon reciting an eldritch poem, Blood calls upon the rhyming demon and woe befalls those in his path.

Or that’s at least the gist as I remember. It very well could have changed 6 or 8 times (because DCs gonna DC), but we’ll run with what we know...

Jason Blood and Etrigan have run amok across the DCU for decades, meddling in affairs both superhero and supernatural. Currently, Jason appears to be keeping only tenuous control of Etrigan and has retreated to a shack in Death Valley.
A little too on-the-nose, but hey, comics...

Plagued by nightmares involving a little girl trapped in a hellscape, Blood seeks solace in liquor bottles until the military misfires a nuke into the desert.
By coincidence or prophecy, the little girl from Blood’s nightmare is tooling through Death Valley with her family.
The plot, she thickens...     

REVIEW: Batman Metal

Batman: The Red Death 

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Art: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Jason Fabok& Dean White

Batman: The Devastator

Plot: Frank Tieri
Words: James Tynion
Pencils: Tony S. Daniel
 Inks: Danny Mihi
Colors: Tomeu Morey
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson
Review: Madman

I am admittedly lost as to the goings-on with the Metal DC mega-event. After Marvel finished this year’s Civil War I decided I was done with the Big Twos mega events, and I wasn’t spending anymore of my hard earned money on them. I’m proud to say I’ve stuck by that…well, until now, but this shouldn’t count. I truthfully bought all of these Metal Dark Knights books solely for the ridiculously awesome covers, as they’re all just amazing.

That being said, the only DC comic I am currently following is Batman and only because, well, it’s Batman, and I love his villains. Truth be told I probably love Batman’s rogues’ gallery more than I love Batman…
That may be a sin, but I’m fully prepared to deal with the consequences. I also feel that the artwork in said title is always above par, no matter where the actual plot or writing falls, so it’s really win/win if you like fancy scribbles.

From what I gather, these two books involve crazy dark versions of Batman from the Dark Multiverse coming to the DC ‘verse proper and jacking stuff up. In The Red Death, Batman comes to play with the Flash in a not so friendly way. In fact, Batman steals the Speed Force from Barry in order to better “save the world”. The way he does it is kind of lame, though. Batman straps the Flash to the hood of the Batmobile, which has had its engine modified with the tech Barry uses in his cosmic treadmill, annnnd they go really fast. The Speed Force somehow merges Bruce and Barry into the same body, and we are gifted a super-fast red Batman who instead of lightning flashing in his wake leaves this weird trail of red bats, which is pretty neat. We are also graced with a cameo by Scarecrow, which made everything ok.   

Art Bee’s Friday Creep Double Feature

This week demands a double review. After reading these two books my left and right brains were about to reenact the entire Hatfield and McCoy feud inside my skull while trying to figure out which to review. At my LCS each issue gave me a bad first impression, but as you will read soon, each surprised me. I like surprises! Almost as much as I like Shineys!

Imaginary Fiends #1

Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Stephen Molnar
Colorist: Quinton Winter
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Review: Art Bee

The cover of Imaginary Fiends #1 demands the book be picked up and flipped through at the very least. It has a creepiness to it that festers in the back of the eyeballs and draws you in, much like a teenager in a horror movie is drawn to open a curtain concealing a mutilated body. There are two features on the cover that makes it very effective. The first is the word, “Imaginary”, looks out of focus while, “Fiends”, is in focus. This aids in building that creepiness as well as focusing a person’s eyes on the title. The second is the creepy face on the cover. It is simple yet effective. At first sight it gave me a slight chill at the back of my neck.

The plot of this series is very original and unique to the best of my knowledge. Those childhood imaginary friends could actually be fiendish extra-dimensional parasites praying on a child’s fears and affections. To me that sounds like an incredible and inexhaustible plotline. The potential for this series will be greater than The Real Ghostbusters cartoon from the late 80s.