Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Insane Tales From the Dead, Vol. 1 issue 2 edited by Doug Randazzo

(pb; October 2014: graphic novel - comic book. Published by Caustic Comics. “Introduction” by Mike Howlett )


Overall review

Insane is a good collection of illustrated, horror-centric works that recall the bump-in-the-night humor, gore and morality of EC/Creepy comics while updating those underground elements with fresh-twist terrors and raw, artist-varied artwork. Once again “hosted” by The Grim Faced Pale One (a.k.a. the Grim Reaper), Issue 2 is more mainstream and less sexually explicit than Insane’s first issue. Issue 2 is worth owning.

Review, story by story


 1.Call of the Wolf” – Silvano and Doug Randazzo: While driving back from a Halloween convention, a man’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. That proves to be the least of his problems when a monster shows up. Good, familiar read.


2.Sub Alien”– John Schumacher, Doug Randazzo and Micheal Joseph: Excellent, clever and funny story about two stoners who are visited by four aliens on a heavy metal mission.


3. Torture” – Doug Randazzo and Chris Laskowski: Visually- and grammatically-detailed vignette about a slow, sadistic killing, sans whos and whys. Solid exploration of its titular theme.


4.Who Gives a Nut?” – John Schumacher and Doug Randazzo: A suburban housewife feeds birds and squirrels in her backyard, unaware that a predator lurks nearby. I love the subtle, nature-based horror of this work, as well as how the visual aspects add plot details to it. Excellent piece.


5.Tales From the Cesspool – S**twrecked”– Mark K. Allen and Doug Randazzo: Gross, imaginative and ridiculous story about the aliens and the end of our world. This is a good, fun work, if you are not squicked out by fecal humor.

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