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Gou Tanabe’s Next Manga, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is on Trial!

Gou Tanabe’s adaptation of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has begun in Japan, but English-language readers may have a long wait ahead. Thankfully, several Lovecraft-inspired graphic novels are arriving soon to keep cosmic horror fans busy.

The news is real. Gou Tanabe is adapting The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and the first chapter is out in print! Although a translated release is likely years away, fans can either seek out the original or wait. The current release is seeing print through Kadokawa’s Comic Beam magazine. Fan translations may exist, but for now, that’s all readers are going to get. And considering this is one of Lovecraft’s longer works, don’t expect the story to wrap up for at least two years.

Tanabe tends to expand source material with sweeping vistas and densely detailed art. Like other artists invested in world-building, such as Mamoru Nagano and Gothicmade, formerly Five Star Stories, readers living abroad are at a disadvantage. By the time this adaptation reaches tankobon format, there may be two volumes.

While fans wait, the following are due out soon:

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Who’s the Boss? Can Lee Cronin’s The Mummy or Universal’s Sand the Test of Time?

When Lee Cronin’s The Mummy leaves theatres as fast at arrived, what’s presented is better off set to unwind as a pulp piece to put in the VCR.

Lee Cronin's The Mummy Movie Poster Lee Cronin‘s The Mummy sits in an unusual place. It isn’t wholly inspired by the mythology of Ancient Egypt, and that’s a problem. When the spirit that possesses Katie (Natalie Grace) does not hail from this world, this filmmaker misses what makes the very word meaningful. The word alone carries weight, and most people will connect it to legends of yore, ancient curses, and maybe hope Anubis makes a cameo to fix what’s wrong.

What this writer/director offers feels more in tune with Evil Dead Rise than a true reinvention of the genre. For fans of the Universal and Hammer cycles, these films usually centre on the resurrected’s longing for a reincarnated soul. This storyteller pivots entirely away from that romance because Blumhouse gives him complete creative freedom. Instead, the result is a mashup that blends The Exorcist with Evil Dead, with a dash of Hausu for good measure. When the action takes place in an enclosed space and gets almost comedically gross, that Japanese film came to mind.

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Film Masters Monster Mayhem Collection Shows What Happens on a Saturday Night…

A look at Film Masters’ Monster Mayhem Collection, from its restored B-movie horrors to the lingering charm of drive-in-era oddities, missing extras, and what may be coming next.

Film Masters

No B-Movie horror fan should ever rush through collections of forgotten movies of yore like they are peanut butter sandwiches. Although Film Masters Monster Mayhem Collection has been out for a month, to enjoy these restored works requires dedicating a Saturday night at the drive-in. Back then, during the 50s, that was when these movies were released, and whether couples were necking or actually watching what’s projected, I’d need a time machine to find out. The slang used is appropriate for the era as groovy, man, and I think that’s why this set appeals to me.

In this set, the works offered are Monster from Green Hell, The Brain from Planet Arous, Frankenstein’s Daughter, and Giant from the Unknown. This collective has chosen these works as the “first volume” of movies originally released by the Film Detective, and if the distributor labels seem confusing enough, you’re not alone!

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Lon Chaney’s A Blind Bargain is No Longer Lost. Instead This Movie is Remade!

Crispin Glover delivers the goods in A Blind Bargain, a resurrected piece of lost cinema where Lon Chaney was the star.

Opening May 8th at select theatres.
More screenings TBA. Please see below for locations:

Fans of Lon Chaney will most likely know about A Blind Bargain. It’s a film where the actor played two roles. Not only did he become a mad scientist chasing the fountain of youth, but he also played a hairy man ape! Sadly, no surviving print exists, and film historians must rely on stills and past reviews.

Based on those materials, many critics hail it as brilliant. Not every piece of horror cinema featuring the Man of a Thousand Faces can be deemed truly haunting, and when this work concerns mutating the human genome, anything can happen. Chaney played a “good doctor” whose experiments promised hope but delivered torture. That premise isn’t quite the same in the modern remake written by John Falotico and Bing Bailey and directed by Paul Bunnell, but the DNA is still there.

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Titan Manga’s Release of Toxic Super Beasts is Wild. The Story So Far….

Toxic Super Beasts blends kaiju action, dark science fiction, and mystery as genetically altered humans battle monstrous threats. With Toy(e)’s striking creature designs and Nykken’s growing conspiracy, this manga offers plenty for fans of disaster stories and Attack on Titan.

Toxic Super Beasts Vol 1 — **Order Volume Two oin Amazon USA**

Toxic Super Beasts asks just how some giant monsters are born, and when Earth’s original titans were dinosaurs, the kind some geneticists hope to harvest genes from, Jurassic World Rebirth comes to mind. When the harvesting grounds aren’t exactly safe, we need genetically engineered metahumans who can go toe to toe with these kaiju. And that’s what writer Nykken and artist Toy(e) are bringing to the page.

This manga tosses more than a few ideas into the melting pot. It is one part disaster story, another part Frankenstein, with perhaps Attack on Titan as the cherry on top. Kazuki Kisaragi leads a unit tasked with collecting monster DNA alongside Miko Mikoshiba, a woman who may not be what she seems. She’s a hybrid with minimal knowledge of her past.

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With Dark Horse in Charge of D&D Now, It’s Not Just Another Ravenloft Comic

Ravenloft Comic Dark Horse IDW Comics’ run with the Dungeons and Dragons license ended last year, and following the success of Dark Horse Comics’ work with Wizards of the Coast, their releases are doing a touch better and the consensus is that fans like it. Ravenloft is the next release. After the first issue of The Fallbacks and the delayed release of the second, there are a lot of titles being planned getting back on track.

The four-issue miniseries written by Bram Stoker Award-winning author Amy Chu (Red Sonja) examines why this particular world is crumbling. Nobody knows why. Fortunately, monster hunter Ez D’Avenir is on the case. She’s searching the frozen wasteland of Lamordia for an undead creature that may hold the key to this world’s fate. But when Darklord Viktra Mordenheim catches wind of her quest, Ez is suddenly the one being hunted. Just how deep this series will go into the lore depends on Chu’s research. It’s also known as The Mists, a more compelling and scary reference in par with Silent Hill.

The art is provided by Ariela Kristantina (Adora and the Distance), colours by Arif Prianto (Poison Ivy, Green Lantern Corps), and letters by Haley Rose-Lyon (BUMP: A Horror Anthology, Jill and the Killers). Issue #1 will feature cover art by Guillem March, Riley Rossmo, Francesco Francavilla, Todor Hristov, and Angela Wu.

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