Category: Comics

Amish Otaku, Comics, DC, Features, Movies, Music

Bat-mania: The Batmobile Owner’s Manual

Flame on!
DK

Guest Post

“Batman, should I start the nuclear power for the Batmobile,” asks a husky voiced Robin played anonymously by one of Link Wray’s band members, The Wraymen.

“Right again, Robin,” replies Link with all of the cool confidence of Batman.

After all, he is Link Wray and in addition to writing the 1960’s Batman TV show theme song, he is the progenitor of the power chord which reinivented the rock and roll landscape in the 1960’s. Link favored the method in the late 1950’s all the while on the other side of the pond in England, a man in his 20’s by the name of John Mayall was playing old blues songs note for note and the UK would begin to export such bands as the Who and Cream, who were inspired by both of these great artists, and the rest is something that has been beaten to death by every other special edition issue of Rolling Stone. Hendrix. Zeppelin. The Stones. Etc.

Anyway this is not about how you should go out and buy a Link Wray CD, though you should; it is about the Batmobile, the greatest car in pop culture history. It is better than the General Lee even, something I cannot believe I have actually come to terms with and even blows KITT out of the water. No discussion about Batman is complete without talking about the Batmobile since it is such an important part of his mythology and for someone who spent his second consecutive birthday at a car show, it becomes even more impossible to ignore. Superman flies. Batman has badass wheels. Wonder Woman has an invisible plane. Led Zeppelin had The Starship and so on a so forth.

I was kind of mulling over how to approach talking about the Batmobile since a test drive is impossible, unless you are one of the lucky chaps on Top Gear as I recently read that Warner Bros gave them a Tumbler to wring out. But just yesterday I was at Barnes and Nobles running some errands when I came across a book I could not possibly pass up: The Batmobile Owner’s Manual. Having read about it on Batmobile History dot-com, one of the greatest websites in the history of existence, the more I read about the Batmobile that was created for the book, the more I felt polarized and intrigued and it became an impulse buy, but now that I have had time to read through it I am glad I did purchase it. At $19.99 I could have bought some important graphic novel featuring some great story in the Batman canon but this just looked like fun.

Continue reading “Bat-mania: The Batmobile Owner’s Manual”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, DC, Features, Movies, Music

Bat-mania: Batman Soundtrack

LP Promo!
Warner Bros

Guest Post

This is a little late, I know. But what you have here is the first ever AO review of a movie soundtrack, and of an LP. Yes. That is correct. LP as in long playing record album, the kind you find at Goodwill except that this is not a beat to death copy of Perry Como Christmas or one of 50 random Lawrence Welk albums.

You all must think that I am an extreme-league Bat-fan to have hunted down the Batman Soundtrack on LP, but for those of you out of touch with collecting vinyl these days, they are not all too hard to find, in South Central Pennsylvania at least. Every second Sunday of the month, the Keystone Record Collector’s club has a trade show in Lancaster, PA. It has become something I have frequented with less consistency as my disposable income has dwindled since I started visiting the show around ten years ago, but one thing is always constant no matter how little I spend. I always come out with a pirate’s booty of loot, and much of that value comes from what has always been the core of the show for me: The $1 bins!

I am not the kind of comic-book guy type record collector who has his records kept in a humidor, sealed until I can unload them on Ebay for a killing. I actually like listening to them! And finding them in the often abused condition appear in the $1 bins normally satisfies the value quotient and a good album. Scratch free listenability is a trait uncommon, but found on very rare occasions in these mysterious treasure troves. The Batman Soundtrack is the rare Jack of all trades, since I found it for a buck, it plays sublimely and cleanly on my mid 1960’s GE Trimline turntable, and its a horrifically entertaining listen. It actually made its value back at being Tim Burton Batman memorabilia but the extra pluses are always welcome. Additionally, it complements my John William’s ’78 Superman LP very nicely.

Continue reading “Bat-mania: Batman Soundtrack”

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Amish Otaku, Caught My Eye, Comics, Dark Horse

Caught My Eye: Indiana Jones Adventures Vol 1

Guest Post

I am a child of the 80’s, and like a good majority I grew up watching Raiders of the Last Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade. I watched those three movies so much that I wore out several VHS copies of them and had to bug my parents for replacements fairly often. It is a safe bet that Indiana Jones is my favorite fictional character of all time. When I was growing up, I often dreamed of fighting Nazis and discovering some lost relic with the aid of my trusty whip.

As most people know, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just came out. In preparation of the movie’s release, I decided to check out a new series of Indiana Jones comics that Dark Horse released. The comic in question is Indiana Jones Adventures Volume 1 and is geared more for younger readers who might be fans of the Clone Wars series Dark Horse puts out. I have yet to read a comic based on a live action character that made the transition perfectly, mainly due to clunky dialog and art not really looking like the actors. My imagination is just not wired that way. They usually look like stiff cardboard cutouts or absolutely nothing like the actors. The reason I decided to give this series a try is that it is more of a cartoon representation and I felt that would be different enough to ease me into the book. Continue reading “Caught My Eye: Indiana Jones Adventures Vol 1”

Clint Page
Amish Otaku, Comics, Viper

The Lost Books of Eve

Most of us in the Western world are familiar with the Biblical story of Genesis, in particular the story of Adam and Eve, but few people have heard of the ancient Jewish story of Lilith and there is no record in the accepted canon of Adam and Eve’s life together before their expulsion from the garden.

This is where The Lost Books of Eve come in. Josh Howard has drawn from classical religions and mythologies to populate his antediluvian Earth. The main player in this tale is of course Eve. After Adam goes missing from a sailing jaunt on the oceans of the Garden of Eden (ignore the fact Eden was bounded by four rivers and nary an ocean) it is up to Eve to find and rescue her husband.

Adam has been kidnapped by his first wife Lilith as part of her plans to spite the creator and free herself from the exile he has imposed upon her. Helping her during her journey is the cherubim tasked to guard the gates of Eden, Asherah (in ancient Israeli mythology the feminine counterpart to the masculine Yahweh) and Adam’s brother Melchizedek (rabbinical tradition holds that he is actually Shem, Noah’s son). Continue reading “The Lost Books of Eve”

Daniel Allen
Amish Otaku, Comics, Viper

The Rabid

After a brief two month delay, Viper Comic’s The Rabid is finally on store shelves. This is the latest from writer Jason M. Burns – known for A Dummy’s Guide to Danger and Gypsy Joe Jefferson among others – and the first full length graphic novel from artist Guy Lemay who’s also done work on A Dummy’s Guide to Danger as well as Sasquatch.

The story is about a small town that has become the epicenter for an outbreak of a virulent, mutated strain of rabies that seems to have been developed by the military. What starts as an airborne virus among dogs quickly spreads to the human population through vicious dog attacks. Once bitten the victims quickly begin to show aggressive, cannibalistic, zombie-like behavior and their skin takes on a sick, green palor.

Caught in the middle of this unfolding apocalypse is Sheriff Kevin Chase who will do whatever he can to protect his family and friends. But too many people are becoming infected. The infection is spreading too fast and for some reason all of their communications have been cut off. Trapped in a town that’s become a Romeroesque war zone Sheriff Chase leads a small group of survivors including his wife and son away from town only to be forced to confront the military who may be ultimately responsible for this tragedy. Continue reading “The Rabid”

Daniel Allen
Amish Otaku, Comics, DC, Features

Bat-mania: Batman: The Killing Joke

Guest Post

“We have to show him…we have to show him that our way works,” half demands and pleads a stark naked Commissioner Gordon out of Batman as the Dark Knight hunts the Joker. Gordon has had his daughter, the semi-retired Batgirl Barbara Gordon, shot and paralyzed in front of him, has been beaten up, has been subject to photos of Barbara’s naked, bloodied, body on giant screens and lastly, has been held captive by the Clown Prince of Crime, in a cage, in an attempt to drive the unwavering Commissioner insane.

Batman has a tough moral dilemma to deal with. He makes no assurances to Gordon as to whether or not he will take him in “by the book” and in the end no one is sure since the last frame is full simply of sirens. As this was initially a one-off our options are open. Batman could have snapped the Joker’s neck. The police could have shot the armor-less Batman. Intriguingly, the Joker even requests a vicious beating and based on the fact that Batman says that “he does not want to,” and that Batman is a trustworthy character, we can believe him.

I would have “kicked the hell” out of the Joker, as the Clown Prince actually asks, and then some. Strong reactions, I know and perhaps, as AO Editor Dan Allen had told me, this is what separates Batman, and by extension, Jim Gordon, from the rest of us, the Joker even, the fact that the two Lawmen have not, to our knowledge, succumbed to the brutality that has shrouded the cold-blooded act.

Continue reading “Bat-mania: Batman: The Killing Joke”

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Amish Otaku, DC, Features, Movies

Bat-mania: Batman Returns

Guest Post

Returns. From what? Taking that big fat check from the first movie to the Batbank with the Joker in tow and laughing the whole way of course. The Dark Knight has some new duds, a sewer-cruiser and a different house! Even Gotham is different! How does the less well received allegedly darker Burton sequel fare today?

Not so well. I wasn’t completely sold on it when I was a kid though either. It is true that I was really obsessed with it but it just never settled well with me for some reason. Though Batman mindlessly kills numerous of the Red Triangle Circus gang and the story centers around the attempted murder of numerous children, I did not find it as dark as Tim Burton’s original. I found it a little campy in fact, thanks to lines like “Thanks for the saving the day again Batman,” “I’m sorry I uh,” “It’s that mysterious penguin-person, no don’t hurt me,” but thankfully nowhere near as much as the rave inspired, nipple-clad Batblunders that followed it. Continue reading “Bat-mania: Batman Returns”

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Amish Otaku, DC, Features, Movies

Bat-mania: Batman Begins

Guest Post

While I have already declared my devotion to Tim Burton’s Batman, it was not that movie that specifically recharged my Bat-mania; it was my most recent viewing of Batman Begins, not any of the others, not even my initial screening. I don’t remember much during my first viewing of Begins, but I still enjoyed it the first time around.

Subsequent viewings afterwards had me not so thrilled, however. As the ingredient list on your box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the following is in order of most important to least. I saw Christian Bale as a Botox faced Jon Favreau. I hated the “Super Duty” Batmobile (as one of my friends accurately described it), aka the Tumbler. I hated the cowl which had as many surfaces as a soccer ball. I did like the costume other than that. The wide yellow-less bat insignia was nice. The gauntlets serving a function was great. Cillian Murphy was incredible as the Scarecrow, while Katie Holmes was terrible. Michael Caine was perfectly cast as Alfred and who can ever argue with the great Morgan Freeman as the perennial voice of wisdom, this time in the form of Lucius Fox. Lest we not forget Liam Neesom as a mythical and powerful Ra’s Al Ghul. Despite all of the decent to great performances, my favorite was Gary Oldman who not only looked like he jumped straight off the newsstand, but played a receptive and skeptical Jim Gordon. However, the train wreck ending capping off all of the generally good acting was stupid the first time and satisfactorily chaotic for this last time. Continue reading “Bat-mania: Batman Begins”

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Amish Otaku, Comics, Viper

Viper Launches Black Mamba Books Imprint

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Viper Comics announced that they will be launching their new imprint – Black Mamba Books – later this year. This new imprint will be dedicated to horror comics and will launch in October with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes “being adapted from the original film by Dale Mettam with artwork by Erich Owen and edits by Greg Blohm & Joe Bauer,” according to the press release.

The comic will proceed the release of the theatrical remake of the 1978 camp classic directed by John De Bello. The new movie will be adapted by Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine of Ask a Ninja fame. This will also be Nichols’ directorial debut.

Viper is also in negotiations with actors Tony Todd (Candy Man, Chuck, 24), Christa Campbell (Day of the Dead, The Wicker Man, 2001 Maniacs) as well as Jamison Newlander and Corey Feldman (The Frog Brothers from Lost Boys and Lost Boys: The Tribe) “to bring their original horror stories to Black Mamba Books.”

I’m curious to see what kind of stories these actors create for this new imprint. I’m also wondering if Viper’s newest horrorish comic, Wulf and Batsy, will move to this new imprint.

Viper’s “advance edition” of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes will be available at Comic-Con this July in limited numbers. Full body of the press release after the jump. Continue reading “Viper Launches Black Mamba Books Imprint”

Daniel Allen
Amish Otaku, Comics, Viper

Vendor

Ten years after the outbreak of Moss, humanity is pushed to the fringes in a struggle to stay a step ahead of a virulent pathogen that’s only lethal to humans. There is no cure for Moss, the only thing that can be done to stop the spread of the disease is to remove the infected limb. This is the world of John J. Vendor and he makes his living selling body parts back to the living.

Vendor, published by Viper Comics, is the first project from Keven Abrams and Adam Moore’s Fairtrade Films company. The company’s name gives away their professional background in the movie and television industries but both have backgrounds in scriptwriting and editing, both of which are vital skills for the “direction” of a graphic novel. Couple their professional writing and business experience with Nicc Balce’s art (more on him later) and you’ve got the potential for great comic.

Vendor himself is a very interesting character. He walks around with a box full of body parts wearing a trench coat that’s missing one sleeve. This arm he leaves bare in case he needs to cut it off and replace it with one more suited to his needs. He runs his business under the guise of a dating service and he also has a sort of death-sense which allows him to find the dying and buy their limbs from them. It’s a handy gift for someone who deals in both life and death. Continue reading “Vendor”

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