Corey's Comic Corner Week #6: This week I had a chance to read and review “3KEYS #1”, “Junkyard Joe #1”, “Sweetie: Candy Vigilante #1” and “Miracleman #0”.
/
We’re back with this week’s edition of Corey’s Comic Corner!
We’re about 10 days into October and I’ve been going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of Halloween. We’ll get right into our comic reviews in a moment but first some thoughts from my weekend!
My wife and daughter left town for Toronto to see Lizzo Over the weekend and I was also on call for my primary job. I had my first quiet evening in a while to sit down on the couch with the dog and just chill. I was able to check out the new “Hellraiser” on HULU as well as Marvel’s Disney + Halloween special “Werewolf by Night”.
“Hellraiser” was always one of my favorite horror movies when I was younger and the feature character/villain, Pinhead, to this day gives me shivers! I still remember this one line he speaks during a scene where he’s about to take his next victim. The victim in a last ditch effort, trying to escape and carrying on maniacally, shouts out crying. ”For God’s sake!!”…to which Pinhead replies, “Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?” I remember my jaw dropping and thinking “Wow! This is one evil and sadistic dude!” and I was right! He’s always symbolized the pure essence of evil. This is not a movie you can watch without feeling like you need to go to church or take a shower after. Doug Bradley was always fantastic in this role and the original will always hold a special place in my heart. The new movie is a reboot that features the first female Pinhead. She looks, sounds and acts the part fine. The Cenobites and the look of the film in general are spot on. I just felt the plot was lazy and rushed. Pinhead just didn’t have the kind of memorable dialogue that made the other movies and prior Pinhead a force to be reckoned with. Nonetheless It was fun to revisit that world and I hope we are not done with this series quite yet.
“Werewolf by Night” on the other hand had a completely different feel and tone altogether. It harkens back to the classic Universal horror movies of yesteryear. Black and white, grainy, and bouncy filming. B-movie dialogue and characters. A somewhat cheesy but interesting plot and some excellent practical effects. It’s dark but the mood is light. There’s a little gore and blood but it’s quick and to the point. It’s a fun, campy and action packed romp perfect for Halloween and as an introduction to a couple of our favorite Marvel monsters. It also introduces Elsa Bloodstone into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I just found it a joy to watch and while it’s just under an hour’s time in length it adds enough details, character depth and story to make it feel like a whole movie. Even the soundtrack is fantastic. This is a great throwback to those early horror movies and I can’t wait to watch it again. I wish Marvel would create more original and inventive one-shot stories like this!
Now on to our feature presentation!
Comic Reviews!
This week I had a chance to read and review “3KEYS #1”, “Junkyard Joe #1”, “Sweetie: Candy, Vigilante #1” and “Miracleman #0”.
3KEYS #1
Published by Image
Written by David Messina
Penciled by David Messina
Rated M for Mature
Available now!
3KEYS is a mix of Lovecraftian horror and retail sales mischief. It takes place initially both in a comic shop and around the city. It’s basically a story about 3 keys, 3 separate pieces of an ancient sword that have been entrusted to 3 different girls. All of whom are now on earth and have no insight or knowledge of each other. They are, however, each partnered with a cat-like warrior from a universe called the Dreamlands with whom only they can see and which acts as both a guide and spiritual protector of each girl. There’s been an increase in the monsters and demonic energy in NYC and these girls are basically the key to stopping some ancient otherworld gods from destroying humanity and the world. Will they learn about each other and come together to save NYC and all of existence? We’ll have to read more to find out!
This comic book was up and down for me and took a couple read throughs for me to truly appreciate what the writer Messina is trying to convey here. There is a small prologue that lays out the history of these three keys, how they came about and what their purpose is. It then moves to the present day in our world with a comedic scene and conversation about the laws of attraction in a comic shop with our first main character Noah Carter. During this scene they even take a swipe at comic geeks which I thought was funny but also an interesting position given we are the ones reading the comic. From there it jumps to a battle with a particularly unique giant monster baby with another of the keys, Dale. She is a badass, sword yielding, monster killing machine as it plays out in this scene. Now this is where it picked up for me. The art is very cool and I loved the battle and gore that was dealt out as part of this scene. I also found the main character Noah Carter Interesting. She’s a cool, 20 something punk type chick with some attitude and a sense of humor. She is all about dating, clubbing and simply enjoying life. It doesn’t seem like she takes her role as a key very seriously in this first issue and she’s set up instantly as the rebel in the series. It seems like Dale and Noah will be meeting very soon. By the end of the first issue Noah has missed her training with her mentor Theon and Dale has just stopped a monster and its seedlings from being hatched. We have one key left to meet and I’m curious to see what kind of personality and persona she has. Even though the comic was off to a slow and confusing start I’m intrigued to at least see what happens in the next issue. If you are a fan of Something is Killing the Children, Invincible and or Once and Future I feel like this book would be a fun read. It seems to share bits and pieces from each of those titles and it’s an interesting enough title in general to check out if you are looking for something new. Stop in POP ROC and inquire!
SWEETIE Candy Vigilante #1
Published by Dynamite
Written by Suzzane Cafiero
Pencils by Jeff Zornow
Rated M for Mature
Available in stores now!
Sweetie Candy Vigilante is as sweet as the Gingerbread man with the personality of Harley Quinn. She’s not happy with all the changes in her once vibrant and sugar filled city and she’s going to try her damndest to bring some old school love and lollipops back even if it means melting a few faces! Oh, and did I mention she’s supposed to be a relative of the Candyman?
She’s on the prowl for her good old friend the Ice Cream Bunny and what she finds in that old ice cream store in modern NYC is not exactly what she was expecting. I’m not sure it’s what the reader was expecting either! haha!
Wow! Let me say first off, when I was handed this comic to read and review I immediately thought it would be terrible. It definitely lived up to my expectations! Just not in the way you might think. There’s skimpy outfits, rednecks, dancing girls, booty grabbing, face melting pixie stix, torso’s being ripped out and bodies literally being sliced up by razor sharp licorice! Sweetie Candy looks playful and nice but she’s about to teach these redneck punks a thing or two about respecting women!
I have to admit I laughed out loud a few times and the kills are just wild! The plot is pretty simple and straight-forward. The writer relies more on the dark comedy, foul language and gore to sell this book and I have to say, against my better judgement, it works! I had a blast reading this and it almost ended too quickly. Cafiero has a hell of an imagination and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with for the next issue. Let’s just say this issue ends with Sweetie walking down a dark Alley with a brightly lit and alive Christmas tree and a giant walking and talking gummy bear! Who knows what’s next! If you like horror, fantasy, Dark comedies, etc. this is right up your alley. Check it out!
Miracleman #0
Published by Marvel
Written by various
Pencils by various
Rated T for Teen
Available now!
Marvel celebrates 40 years of Miracleman with an anthology of stories by some of today’s best writers and artists. Neil Gaiman who was an early writer of Miracleman is back helming the first story followed up by Jason Aaron, Ryan Stegman and Peach Momoko and many more. Weaved together with both modern and classical styles of comic art, Newspaper style comic strips and old timey Ad’s the rich history of both Miracleman and the comic industry is on full display.
I was super excited to read this comic. I love when any of the publishers bring us a singular issue full of short stories, from various writers/artists that all share a certain theme. It seems like an easy feat to write a short story. However, with the average length of a full comic being 20-25 pages, imagine trying to convey a complete self contained story in a few pages tops! Much like last month’s Marvel Voices Comunidades, Marvel pulls off this anthology with ease. Each of the story’s art is fantastic. Rich color, detailed capture of emotion and action and panels that speak on their own without even any dialogue. For instance, Peach Momoko’s story is like a high pitched fever dream with equal parts of mythology and inventive body horror. Quiet but telling. It appears to tell a sad story but finishes with a form of rebirth and renewal for Miracleman. I found it very interesting and really enjoyed her interpretation of this character. On the flip side Ryan Stegman’s story is big and bombastic. Big action scenes with a larger than life enemy and battle. Really driving home the strength and power of Miracleman and his persona. This was heavy on the colors and rugged like a battle as his art usually is. Both of these writers work best when they are also doing their own pencils and colors and that’s on full display here. I really enjoyed the full issue and it’s packed with reading for cost. I don’t know if this means more Miracleman is on the way but you never know what Marvel's plans are. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a precursor to the character potentially showing up in the MCU. Time will tell. If you like Anthology style books give this one a shot!
Junkyard Joe
Published by Image
Written by Goeff Johns
Pencils by Gary Frank
Rated M for mature
Available now!
Ripped from the page of one of my favorite recent comics Gieger, Junkyard Joe goes back to the early days of what appears to be a battle during Vietnam in 1972. A one shot story about a new army recruit who lands via helicopter and instantly creates a lot of curiosity and discomfort around the remaining troops. He is always off alone, doesn’t speak and basically watches over the perimeter much of the time. At times the other troops are not sure what side this new recruit is on but they brush this off as either being homesick or just a loner. Another soldier, who’s having issues fitting in, befriends this new recruit and they develop a sort of friendship like neither has had prior. The recruit ends up saving half of the crew when he dives on a grenade in battle. When the smoke clears, much to the team’s surprise we see a soldier skinned to the bone who appears to have an exoskeleton made of metal and thus the legend of Junkyard Joe is born. At least the story thus far…
Saving the best for last. I can’t say enough good things about this book. I’ve been waiting for more stories in the Geiger universe since it ended and a Junkyard Joe story set during the Vietnam war was the perfect medicine. While it’s not quite the origin story I was hoping for, it’s set well before the timeline of Geiger and gives you a lot of insight into the emotional and hefty beginnings of this character. Johns is at his best writing in this universe and with Gary Frank back with the pencils it’s really a can’t miss title and issue for me. This story looks and feels like it was ripped out of some of those early and epic Sgt Rock war stories from the comics when my dad was young. Just a joy to read and the finale, while loosely wrapped up, leads me to believe there will be more soon. We can only hope! The other awesome thing about this particular issue is that they created a special Veterans supported Black and White variant. All proceeds are being donated right back to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans in honor of GEOFF JOHNS grandfather and to Veterans Aid in honor of GARY FRANK’s grandparents. Pretty awesome if you ask me! Definitely worth a read in general but for that reason alone it’s worth a pick up!
Last but not least…. My second horror movie review/recommendation for the month of October.
Return of The Living Dead
Directed by Dan O’Bannon
Released in 1985
Rated R
The Ultimate B-movie zombie-punk movie! It’s Circa 1985 or 1986 and my buddy and I had just rented this movie from the local Your Video. We sat in awe of what we saw. A bunch of cool punk teenagers hanging out at a local cemetery drinking beers and acting crazy. Rebels without a cause! But that was just scratching the surface as in the next scene a large container of chemicals released a contagion into the air at the local morgue. Suddenly, science class specimens, various appendages and especially the dead are reanimated and that’s when the shit really hits the fan. Next thing you know these kids are trying to survive the night and learning a lesson the hard way. With plenty of practical gore effects and some wacky looking zombies we couldn’t take our eyes off the movie.
On top of all that, the movie had a killer punk soundtrack and one of the first pairs of boobies two young impressionable boys had ever seen. I became a fan of many things that day but most of all that was the day I officially became a zombie fan. It wasn’t meant to be scary and we were not scared. We laughed through much of the movie like it was a dark comedy. We must have watched that movie 2-3 times that weekend before we returned it and I usually watch it at least once every Halloween. It’s just a goofy, gory and ghastly good time and my childhood wouldn’t have been the same without it. Check it out if you haven’t seen it already and I’d love to hear your thoughts! Drop us a comment and tell us what you think!
That’s it for this week fellow pop culture people! I look forward to sharing more reviews and recommendations with you next week. Until then. Stay scary and don’t forget to stop in POP ROC for some of these great titles. There are a lot of options in the café and just about anything can be ordered!
Corey Newell
“Just a guy who loves comics”
⁃ Independent blogger, Dad, dork, comic nerd and pop culture lover hailing from Spencerport, NY