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Eerie Ed’s Haunted Top Ten Halloween Comic Book Reading List

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By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The Halloween Comicfest is now into its fifth year, and this milestone certainly needs to be recognised. Not only will a handful of major comic companies, like Marvel, will be contributing themed goodies that comic shops around the world will distribute but also there will be toys! Diamond Select‘s release is the most notable, with sculpts from Universal Monsters Select Figures line. This year will see The Wolfman, The Mummy and Lucy Westenra, Monster Hunter.

Among the most notable items that will see free distribution is Afterlife with Archie: Season Two (Archie Comics), Evil Dead 2: Beyond Dead (Space Goat Productions), Harrow County (Dark Horse Comics), The Haunted Mansion #1 (Marvel) and Scooby Apocalypse (DC Comics).

Mini-Comics offered include John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night: the Traveler’s Tale, Mickey’s Inferno and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Manga by Diamond Publications.

Please phone your local comic book outlet to see if they are participating in this program.

As for regular releases, the following are my picks of the season — but I must begin with a classic:

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A Fantastic Slug-Fest is Coming in Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens Starting Next Month! A Review

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By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

With the chilling words from a mutant from the Judge Dredd universe registering the imminent, “With the right DNA, Doctor Reinstöt can do almost anything,” I’m immediately captivated. This mad scientist recognizes the possibilities when playing god, and yes, he’s going to make an all-new Modern Prometheus if I’m correctly reading in-between the lines.

Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens is coming July 27th by Dark Horse Comics. If only I had a time machine to leap ahead so I can grab each issue right away, then I would know if my assumption is right or not. This epic story is written by Eisner Award–winning writer John Layman and wonderfully constructed by artist Chris Mooneyham. To add to this comic’s allure is the subtle film-like textures in the backgrounds by colourist Michael Atiyeh. If the fabulous covers drawn by Glenn Fabry are not enough to grab people’s attention at the comic book store, well… The way this team has worked together to make this comic a fun read can be felt on every page. Dredd is always moody (he has to be), and in what I appreciated looking at is in how easy this tale is to read.

While out in the Atomic Wasteland of Cursed Earth, this cop is searching for Archbishop Emoji. He does not realize a member of the Yautja is prowling about and when he does, I can not wait to see how he will react! That will not happen until issue two. In this multi-crossover debut, this Predator is not the hunter. He is prey, and the good doctor’s minions caught him ill-prepared; the targets he is after are perhaps even more resourceful. When these mutants stumble upon his ship and have found a certain “Alien” skull, that’s going to be trouble.

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[Editorial] First It Was Star Wars, and Now It’s Doctor Who Changing Ships …

Two grand comic book licenses are making a transition from one publishing company to another. On one side of the spectrum, most fans are lukewarm at the news of Star Wars moving from Dark Horse to Marvel Comics. On another front, most readers may well wonder about Doctor Who’s transition from IDW to Titan Comics.

In the business perspective, the publishers are cordially appreciative of the time they had to grow the licensed property into new territory. But as for what will happen next, with a different publisher, what will become of both relicensed products is anybody’s guess. Perhaps readers should consider the following:

In a galaxy far, far, away, in a saga that Marvel Comics ran from ’77 to ’86, long-time fans will recall that the comic book had a few bright moments, namely issue #52, “To Take the Tarkin.” If Marvel Comics can recreate some of that magic, then the transition is in capable hands. Sadly, with the fact that thirty years have passed and that tastes have changed, not everyone is enthused. There are three generations of fans to satisfy. Dark Horse Comics had a great start with Dark Empire (1991). Tales of the Jedi was even better when it segued to look at the history of the original Sith Lords. For later titles, fans had to invest a fair bit of money in order to keep up with all the multiple titles.

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A New “Evolution” for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters?

These characters are better off posed to appear in the movie than the Transformers Prime series.

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Just how many factions exist the Transformers universe? Originally, there were the Autobots and the Decepticons in a battle over which is the right way to herald a new Cybertron, but now with an ancient class of beasts resurrected, the Predacons might take center stage. That’s only if Megatron or Optimus Prime lets them.

In “Evolution,” Predaking shows that Darwin is right. The survival of the fittest is the only way to dominate, not rule. Megatron has lived by that adage for far too long. After Shockwave reveals the next stage of Project Predacon is well along the way, the Decepticon hierarchy fears reprisal when the dragon shows his true colours. The nameless dragon has finally taken a name, Predaking, much like how Megatron did in the Transformers: Exodus novel.

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“Thirst”-ing for more Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters

Watching this episode combines the best of several iconic films from this genre. Readers beware, spoilers are ahead.

Transformers Prime Logo Spoiler Alert

Not many Transformers Prime episodes are worth a full-on commentary after broadcast as the latest. “Thirst” brings back two favorites; one of them being Silus (voiced by Clancy Brown) who was unceremoniously dragged off to heaven knows where last season and presumably to be never mentioned again. Thankfully, the dangling plots are being addressed as this last season starts to wind down. As for this poor cybernaut, his transformation gets scarier and it harkens to many a product from horror movies.

Watching this episode combines the best of several iconic films from this genre. Readers beware, spoilers are ahead.

Continue reading ““Thirst”-ing for more Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters”