By Joe C.
I could’ve sworn that we just celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, yet this week’s Pull seems like it would be more at home around Halloween. We’ve got haunted castles, monsters, sinister groups, and voodoo all vying for attention.
This week Dark Horse gives us Ragemoor No. 1. Just read this description from the publisher: “Ragemoor! A living castle, nurtured on pagan blood, harborer to deadly monsters!” If there’s a sweeter string of words in the entirety of the English language I don’t know what it would be. Gothic architecture? Check. Monsters? Check. Terrible secret history? Check. Richard Corben on art? Big check. The book is being billed as a mix of Poe and Lovecraft, which seems a little hyperbolic, but it’s about an evil, living house that can change shape at will, so who cares? If it ends up being half as awesome as the premise makes it sound, I’ll be happy.
Continuing with the monster theme, I would urge everyone to check out Monster Dudes No. 1, written by Dave Scheidt and illustrated by Matt Fagan. And by “urge” I mean “go order this book right now or you’ll be sorry!” An indie title out of Chicago, Monster Dudes follows in the footsteps of The Munsters, Charles Addams and Gahan Wilson by placing monsters and other creepy creatures in everyday situations, with hilarity ensuing. We’ve got a Sasquatch that frequently flips out, buff Draculas competing American Gladiator style, an adolescent mummy forced into a minimum wage job and a host of other things that try, and often fail, to go bump in the night. If the creativity and sense of humor on display in this first issue are indicative of what’s to come, I will eagerly be back for more. Click HERE for more info. You can get a digital copy for less than $1, or you can up your street cred and order a hard copy for $3.99. Either way, just make sure you get it somehow.
Leaving the horror behind but jumping to something Sinister, Marvel gives us The Amazing Spider-Man No. 682, which kicks off the “Ends of the Earth” arc. Seeds of this arc have been planted for a while now in ASM, and if you’ve been reading the title with any frequency, you’ve already seen the current incarnation of the Sinister Six, including a pretty creepy Otto Octavius. Someone genuinely frightening has replaced the pudgy guy with metal arms and glasses. Toss in some guest stars and a new outfit for Spidey and it promises to be a good time. Dan Slott made “Spider Island”, one of the best events in recent memory, and I’m hopeful he can pull it off again. Speaking of things being pulled off again, just the cover of X-Factor No. 233 makes me giddy. Havoc and Polaris are finally back on the team, recreating most of the roster that Peter David made famous back in the ‘90s. Considering how much all of these characters have developed since then, I can’t wait to see what he does with them, and neither should you.
I may have told a slight lie earlier when I said we were done with horror. All month long DC has been launching new Vertigo titles, and this week we get Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child. According to the publisher, the book “is the story of a half-breed, outcast and heir to the Voodoo Queenship of New Orleans, if she can live long enough to claim her birthright.” So not only do we get voodoo and New Orleans, we get voodoo queens and voodoo political coups. Awesome. I’m a firm believer in the idea that you can never have enough voodoo stories. (Also, if you didn’t read the four-issue Image series Drums, you should make that a priority.) Besides, you can never have enough Vertigo books, so this looks to be a win-win.
