Happy Halloween

Scares and Chills for all!

I never forgot this cover!

-Swinebread

Malibu's Imprint House Ads 1989-'90

Malibu Comics had several imprint lines based on comic companies it had acquired over its existence. The house ads here are from Aircel, Eternity, and Adventure

Malibu was eventually bought by Marvel

-Swimebread

House Ads for Pacific Comic 1983

From the short-lived but interesting publisher Pacific Comics

Some of Pacific Comics titles were picked up by Eclipse Comics after Pacific went bankrupt.

-Swinebread

Comic Acquisitions 6-12-11

-Swinebread

A Few Things

I’ve been watching SyFy’s (I F-ing hate the name change btw) new hit show Warehouse 13. Essentially it’s a show about that “secret government warehouse” you’ve been hearing about all these years. All kinds of supernatural relics or advanced artifacts are acquired and stored here so the general public is kept safe. Every episode usually revolves around the lead characters tracking down an object after some weird/supernatural occurrence happens. It’s not a perfect show as the investigations are laughable but it has a Buffy-esque charm that plays well. W13 could easily devolve into an artifact of the week akin to a monster of the week show but thankfully it’s mostly a character driven program with moments of humor. Probably the best things about the show (besides the excellent casting of Saul Rubinek) is that W13 is one of the best possible ways to do a “fantasy show” with a limited budget. It’s had a few hiccups but I feel it’s on good footing for a first season. It’s interesting to note that 50% of the audience for W13 is female which is a huge jump for the SyFy channel. The first season hasn’t even finished its run yet and a second season has already been green lit. On a comic book geek note CCH Pounder who plays the government agent Amanda Waller in Justice League Unlimited plays a similar role here as Warehouse 13’s Shadowy boss.

I’ve also been enjoying the BBC’s Being Human about a Vampire, Werewolf, and Ghost sharing a flat together. It sounds really corny and it kinda is but like Warehouse 13 I like that fact that there is almost no budget for the show consequently so much relies on the dialog and the personality of the characters. It rips off tons from the World of Darkness games (among other things) but BH has a certain charm. The first episode was confusing though because I felt that I had missed an episode and indeed I had. There was a pilot that had two of the three major characters cast with different actors and of course that pilot was not shown in the states. Check it out if you like “Thrift Store Horror.”

I tried to think of something fun to give my niece last month and for some reason Galaxy High School popped into my head. Why I thought a 23 year old Saturday morning cartoon would entertain a modern high schooler, I’ll never know. But my intuition was on the money as apparently she’s been watching the DVD set over and over like crazy. It’s too bad it only had one season.

I saw program about exoplanets over the weekend on the science channel. What the was really cool is that the show nicknamed planets that orbit pulsars as Zombie Planets because they are dead worlds created from the debris after the destruction of a whole system. Hmmm…


-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Crossed #3.


Dark Tower: Treachery #5, Marvel Comics

Conan the Cimmerian #7, Dark Horse Comics

She-Hulk #37, Marvel Comics

The War That Time Forgot #9, DC Comics

Xena/Army of Darkness: What Again? #4, Dynamite Entertainment

Terminator Revolution #2, Dynamite Entertainment

Northlanders #40, DC Comics




-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Army of Darkness #16.

Amazing Spiderman #583, Marvel Comics. 2nd Printing of the Obama issue. Marvel just flipped the image on the cover to make it fake new cover.

Army of Darkness #16, Dynamite Entertainment.

Conan the Cimmerian #7, Dark Horse Comics.


Trade Paperbacks:
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Volume 0, Marvel Comics.

Magazine:
Back Issue #36 TwoMorrows Publishing.


-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Cthulhu Tales #10.


Solomon Kane #4, Dark Horse Comics.

Terminator Salvation #1, IDW.

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Last Generation #3, IDW.

Fall OF Cthulhu #2, Boom Studios.

Cthulhu Tales #10, Boom Studios.

Dr. Who Classics Series 2 #2, IDW.


and no, I didn't get a copy of Amazing Spiderman #583 with Obama on the Cover but this guy did:



-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is The War that Time Forgot #8. Mother, Child… and Dinosaur!


She-Hulk #36, Marvel Comics.

Red Sonja #40, Dynamite Entertainment.

Northlanders #13, Vertigo/DC Comics.

Necronomicon #4, Boom Studios.

Huk #9, Marvel.

The Astounding Wolf-Man #11, Image Comics. Continued from Invincible 57! Ahhhh that would have been nice to know…

The War that Time Forgot #8, DC Comics.

Fall of Cthulhu: Apocalypse #1, Boom Studios.

Dark Tower: Treachery #4, Marvel Comics.


-Swinebread

My Sorta New Comics... Again

Here's the comics from two weeks ago. The comics from last week won't be at the shop until this week because of both the winter storm and Christmas.

Whatever week’s best cover is The Walking Dead #56.


Terminator: Revolution #1, Dynamite Entertainment.

Star Trek The Next Generation: The Last Generation #2, IDW. This is basically a "What If" for Star Trek. Part of the Myriad Universe line.

The Walking Dead #56, Image. Five Years!

Cthulhu Tales #9, Boom Studios.

The Age of the Sentry #4, Marvel Comics.

Conan the Cimmerian #6, Dark Horse Comics.


Trade Paperbacks:
Invaders Classic Vol 2 Marvel Comics. I was feeling a little blue about my friend Josh so I picked this up. There’s just something life affirming about Captain America and crew kicking Nazi butt.



-Swinebread

My Sorta New Comics

This is just a formality at this point.


Last week’s best cover is Action Comics #872. You Gotta’ Love the Return of the Creature Commandos.


Marvel Apes #0, Marvel Comics.

Army of Darkness #15, Dynamite Entertainment.

Action Comics #872, DC Comics.

Ambush Bug: Year None #5, DC Comics.

The Man with No Name #6, Dynamite Entertainment.

Secret Six #4, DC Comics.

Fall of Cthulhu: GodWar #4, Boom Studios.

Doctor Who Classics Series 2 #1, IDW.



Trade Paperbacks:
I also picked a trade of the first Marvel Zombies.



-Swinebread

Did Some Gaming

I got a chance to play Call of Cthulhu over this last holiday weekend with family and friends. Man… I can’t even remember that last time I had a chance to play… Overdroid was in town and so he had the Gamemaster responsibilities. This one-off session was alotta’ fun especially because we had some newbies. I own most of the Lovecraft County books that Chaosium has put out, so Overdroid opted for an adventure out of Secrets of Los Angeles. I went temporarily insane but survived so it was all-good.

My Wife is so cool, because she looked after our son while the rest of played...


-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is PistolFist #4.


Star Trek: Mirror Images #5, IDW.

The Dark Tower: Treachery #3, Marvel Comics.

Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar #3, Boom Studios.

PistolFist #4, Bluewater Comics.

Walking Dead #54, Image Comics.

The Last Reign #1, Boom Studios.

Cthulhu Tales #8, Boom Studios.

Trade Paperbacks:
The Chronicles of Conan # 16, Dark Horse. This one more pages then other editions of CoC.

JLA*Avengers Marvel.

Twisted Toyfare Theater # 9, Marvel. Oh Yeahhhhhh!


-Swinebread

Happy Halloween

Wacky Squirrel and Mr. Monster want you to have a spook-tacular holiday!



-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is The Astounding Wolf-Man #9.


The War That Time Forgot #6, DC.

Solomon Kane #2 Dark Horse Comics.

Guardians of the Galaxy #6, Marvel Comics.

Marvel Apes #4, Marvel Comics.

The Astounding Wolf-Man #9, Image Comics.

Northlanders #11, DC/Vertigo.

Cthulhu Tales #7, Boom Studios.

Red Sonja #38, Dynamite Entertainment.


-Swinebread

Jack-O'-Lanterns

I was planning on something more dramatic for our Halloween Jack-O’-Lanterns but with Swinebread Jr. down with a cold, I had to quickly carve out our pumpkins this year. The big one on the left was mildly influenced by the pic below of the Spiderman villain Jack-O’-Lantern. I realize now that it would have been fun to make it even more like the image. Plus, I couldn’t quite figure out how to have the flames burning on the outside. Oh well, I think my pumpkin has the right attitude though.

The next one is the traditional design, which the SO likes, and I picked up a tiny painted pumpkin for Swinebread Jr. as this is his first Halloween.




-Swinebread

Halloween Quizzes

You Are a Zombie

You're a pretty apathetic person, and you often feel like you're sleep walking through life. You don't necessarily have a case of the “blues”, but you do have a case of the “blahs.” It's hard for you to snap out of your boring every day routine. You're a bit burned out. The only thing you crave is the company of others. But you're not too nice to the people who do hang around you. Your greatest power: Your lack of a normal conscience Your greatest weakness: Your lack of most emotions You play well with: Aliens

Your Monster Profile

Behemoth Enigma You Feast On: Coffee You Lurk Around In: Public Restrooms You Especially Like to Torment: Hicks

What's Your Monster Name?

What Kind of Monster Are You?

What Your Love of Butterfinger Says About You

You are a smooth character. Your charm is legendary. You're the type of person who could get away with almost anything. People don't know much about you, except that you're complicated. You also tend to be flaky. You can't be trusted to always follow through, but people still crave your company.

What Does Your Favorite Candy Say About You?

They Still Live... We Still Sleep

I took some time out from carving my Jack-O-lantern last night to watch They Live. Great flick. I hadn't viewed it in a very long time but I really enjoyed it this time around. The perfect B-movie sci-fi comment on our times... still relevant 20 years after it was made. (20 years! sheesh!)



What's extra cool is that They Live adapted a comic book story from one of my all time favortie series Alien Encounters. It was a titled Nada and it appeared in issue #6. Nada adapted the earlier published short story 8 O'Clock in the Morning. John Carpenter secured the rights to both before making the film.

Here's the trailer:


Here's the scene where our hero, played by Rowdy Roddy Piper, discovers what the world is really like for the first time with the help of some special sun glasses.



Don't forget to stay asleep and Obey!




-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Hulk #7 Cho Variant.


Brothers in Arms #4, Dynamite Entertainment.

Xena/Army of Darkness: What… Again?! #1 Dynamite Entertainment.

Army of Darkness #14, Dynamite Entertainment.

Hulk #7, Marvel Comics.

She-Hulk #34, Marvel Comics.

Men of Mystery: the Flame and Flame Girl #74, AC Comics.



-Swinebread

Quick Comic Reviews

I’ve been very busy with the taking care of Swinebread Jr. – as if you couldn’t tell from my lack of responses to all of your wonderful comments but I’m going to do a few quick reviews of SOME of what I’ve had time to read the last two weeks.

Necronomicon #2
This continues to be a great mythos series. Longtime readers of Lovecraftian horror will really enjoy the various entities that make their cameos herein. The real origin of Abdul Alhazred is a sinister treat. Also, I love that Necronomicon is set in the 1920s and how Henry Said is socially corrupted by western ways just as he is spiritually corrupted by the Necronomicon itself. I’ll have to see were this mini-series ends up but this just might be the best Cthulhu Mythos storyline published by Boom yet.

The Twelve # 12
The Twelve continues after a break and the plot thickens but then it thickens every issue doesn’t it. Finally, there’s something for Electro to do and it seems the Blue Blade has discovered the robot’s secrets. Also, the Fiery Mask’s origin might be more than it seems… I feel a retcon coming on. I’m greatly pleased with the Twelve but if you’re looking for lots of superhero fistfights you might want to look elsewhere. Happily, interaction of the “out of time” heroes is exactly want I want. Plus, I think Dynamic Man may be a Red herring, Kid Miracle-Man.

Barack Obama #1
This title is little more than a recitation of facts but it’s a nice read for a quick bio on Obama. It’s actually interesting to see Obama’s life laid out in comic book form and the various players from the political sphere rendered as comic characters is a refreshing dose of non-escapism. Folks that have read his books and watched the news won’t find much new here but I did learn a few things about him that I didn’t know. This title does mention some of the controversies surrounding the candidate as well but without context it seems kinda strange.

The Crossed #1
Looking for a good post-apocalyptic horror title? Then look no further than Crossed by Garth Ennis. This title doesn’t pull any punches and is very graphic. Crossed is sure as hell scary. Apparently a mental plague or some sort that turns folks into psycho killers has infected the world. Not for the faint of heart as no one is spared.

Giant Size Red Sonja #2
It’s great to read Sonja stories by Roy Thomas, Clara Noto and Frank Thorne. Ah the good old days. Thorne’s “The Wizard and Red Sonja Show” is fun homage to the shows that Frank and the Red Sonja gals used to put on back in the 1970s. One of the Sonja’s even looks like Wendy Pini. Also, Red Sonya of Rogatino makes an appearance too. I guess Paradox Entertainment and Red Sonja LLC have worked out their differences.

Star Trek Mirror Images #4
A fun issue all around. Kirk’s plot to assassinate Pike hits a bump in the road but he turns it to his advantage. Hey IDW, more Mirror Universe comics.

Marvel Zombies 3 #1
I like the parallel monitoring agency and the idea that Machine Man has to be one of the guys to investigate the zombie-verse but I hate that fact that Machine Man has to be this Human looking Aaron Stack guy. I liked him better when he was more of a robot.

Savage Sword of Conan #4
I drop everything and read these collections when Dark Horse puts them out. I love 'em! I think I might have convinced Dear Wormer to pick them up.

The End League #5
I don't like the new artist's style... it's gone


-Swinebread