Skin Crawl magazine (issue 1) written and illustrated by Skinner

 

(pb; October 2021: first issue in the Skin Crawl illustrated magazine, created by artist/writer Skinner)

Overall review

This EC/Creepy-inspired horror magazine has entertaining illustrated tales whose art straddles the line between Old School horror-mag artwork and modern-technology glory and storylines that, familiarly moralistic, sport solid twists within their sometimes-rigid frameworks. This is a promising genre magazine, whose first issue is above average and worth owning. 

 

Review, story by story

The untitled origin of Rotten Rollie, Skin Crawl’s tale telling and face-in-its-hand-palm mascot, is up first: in 1692, a witch’s hand used in magickal cursing is severed and locked away. 300 years later, it is discovered, and free to tell the following moralistic and phantasmagoric microstories. . .

 

“Mother Earth”: Life-sucking aliens create an alien goddess to better harvest subjugated humans, without fully considering the consequences of their intentions.

 

“Homecoming”: A carnival appears in a dreary little town late one night, dramatically altering the fate of its inhabitants.

 

“Sight Unseen”: A town derelict (Meighan O’Connor) sees something not meant to be observed, and is perhaps driven made because of it.

 

“The Shed”: A cry-wolf tween boy (Danny) and his dog (Duke) encounter a terrifying, tentacular monster on the outskirts of their small town and try to destroy it.

 

“The Familiar”: A wizard’s black cat sets out to bring down a hellish kingdom run by an equally hellish monarch. (I especially enjoyed “Familiar.”)

The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen

 

(hb; 2013: fourth book in the Department Q series. Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitkin.)

 

From the inside flap

“In 1987, Nete Hermansen plans revenge on those who abused her in her youth, including Curt Wad, a charismatic surgeon who was part of a movement to sterilize wayward girls in 1950s Denmark.

“More than twenty years later, Detective Carl Mørck already has plenty on his mind when he is presented with the case of a brothel owner, a woman named Rita, who went missing in the eighties. New evidence has emerged in the case that destroyed the lives of his two partners─the case that sent Carl to Department Q.

“But when Carl’s assistants, Assad and Rose, learn that numerous other people disappeared around the same weekend as Rita, Carl takes notice. As they sift through the disappearances, they get closer and closer to Curt Wad, who is more determined than ever to see the vision of his youth take hold and whose brutal treatment of Nete and others like her is only one small part of his capacity for evil.”

 

Review

Purity, like its three prequels, is an entertaining, character-interesting, and slick police procedural that not only focuses on the main story (Storyline A) about a villain─or villains─that Carl Mørck and his associates are investigate, but also reveals more their personal-life mysteries and histories (the shooting involving Mørck’s two previous partners, Rose’s possible-alternate personality Yrsa, and Assad’s real home address). This one sports a wild twist near the end that turns Purity’s climax on its head. Worth reading and owning, this. Followed by The Marco Effect.

#

The resulting Danish film, retitled Journal 64, was released on October 24, 2018 in Denmark. Christoffer Boe directed it, from a screenplay by Nicolaj Arcel and Bo Hr. Hansen.

Nikolaj Lie Kaas reprised his role of Carl Mørck (from the first three Department Q films). Fares Fares reprised his role of Assad (from those same films). Johanne Louise Schmidt reprised her role of Rose Knudsen (from The Absent One and A Conspiracy of Faith). Søren Pilmark reprised his role of Marcus Jacobsen (from the first three films). Michael Brostup reprised his role of Børge Bak (from the first three films).

Fanny Bornedal, billed as Fanny Leander Bornedal, played a young Nete. Birthe Neumann played Nete as an older woman. Clare Rosager played Rita, Nete’s untrustworthy roommate. Luise Skov played Gitte Charles.

Elliot Crosset Hove played a young Curt Wad. Anders Hove (Full Moon Pictures's Subspecies franchise) played Curt Wad as an older man. Marianne Høgsbro played Beate Wad. Nicolas Bro played Brandt. Anders Juul played Gunnar.

 

Note: This is the final Department Q film to retain the cast of Journal and its three prequel films, since screen rights for the franchise are no longer owned by Zentropa, but Nordisk, the latter of whom released the fifth Department Q film (The Marco Effect) in Denmark on May 27, 2021.

Resident Alien: An Alien in New York by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse

 

(pb; 2018: graphic novel, collecting issues 1-4 of the Dark Horse miniseries. Volume 5 of the six-volume Resident Alien novel series, published by Dark Horse Comics.)

From the back cover

“A stranded alien visitor to Earth hides in plain sight in Patience, Washington, posing as the small town’s doctor. He has no intention of leaving─unless it’s to get back to his own planet! When a startling new mystery catches the odd-but-friendly Dr. Harry Vanderspiegle’s attention, he takes a trip to New York City with a close confidante and the hope of finally finding a way to communicate with his home world. Peter Hogan (2000 AD, Tom Strong) and Steve Parkhouse (Milkman Murders, Doctor Who) continue their unique, acclaimed science-fiction/murder-mystery series!”

 

Review

When Harry sees a symbol, an alien phone number, on a famous artist’s paintings, he dials it. An electronic voice tells him to head to New York City, prompting Harry and Dan (Asta’s father) to go there. Once there, they meet Violinda Darvell, agent to the artist (Raoul “Goliath” Benoit), where the mystery surrounding Benoit’s disappearance deepens.

New York is my favorite Resident Alien graphic novel thus far. Beautiful is a word I rarely apply to comic book collections, but New York fits the bill. Its theme of kindness, love, loss, immigration and hope is deftly and palpably written and illustrated, elevating Resident to another level, making this one of the best books I've read this year. New York is worth owning, like other previous entries in this standout hexalogy. Followed by Resident Alien: Your Ride’s Here.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. by Michael Avallone

 

(pb; 1965; a.k.a. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Thousand Coffins Affair: first book in the Man From U.N.C.L.E. series, based on the 1964-8 MGM Television/NBC show)

From the back cover

“In Utangaville, Africa, it took two days.

“In Spayerwood, Scotland, it happened overnight.

“In each town, the people suddenly turned into mindless, babbling creatures who thrashed about wildly, uttering weird, half-human cries─and died. Doctors were baffled as to the cause.  A sudden plague, some mysterious virus?

“But to the members of the United Force for Law and Enforcement, there could only be one answer: THRUSH had a deadly new weapon for world conquest.”

 

Review

After the horrible, mysterious death of a fellow U.N.C.L.E.* agent and friend (Stewart Fromes) and an outbreak of similar deaths in two obscure places, Napoleon Solo and U.S. government agent Geraldine “Jerry” Terry jet around the globe trying to stop the biological viral threat of the terrifyingly scarred villain Golgotha, a member of the worldwide terror group T.H.R.U.S.H. (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity). This leads Solo and Terry to the dangerous German village, Oberteisendorf, where Fromes, screaming and insane, expired. Meanwhile, fellow U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin and their commander Alexander Waverly work elsewhere to further prevent the culmination of Golgotha’s machinations.

Avallone’s U.N.C.L.E.─an often-wry spy spoof, like the 1964-8 television series that inspired his original, one-off book tie-in─is a tautly written, action-oriented and silly (Napoleon is catnip for all women) read, entertaining with its waste-no-words, swift pacing. This genre-true entry, worth owning, set the tone and pace of the twenty-three U.N.C.L.E. novels that followed (none of them penned by Avallone, who felt betrayed when the publisher, Ace Books, did not hire him to write follow-up books in the series).

[*U.N.C.L.E. = United Network Command for Law and Enforcement]

Next book: The Doomsday Affair by Harry Whittington.

The Hammer Horror Omnibus by John Burke

 

(pb; 1966: movie tie-in/novella collection)

From the back cover

“The Gorgon

“What is the terrible secret of the village of Vandorf, where a murderer’s victims turn to stone?”

 

“The Curse of Frankenstein

“Baron Victor Frankenstein creates a grotesque monster─and is himself condemned to death for the creature’s brutal killings.

 

“The Revenge of Frankenstein

“Escaping the guillotine Baron Frankenstein repays the dwarf who aids him─by giving him a new body! But his creation is a killer; worse─a cannibal.

 

“The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb

“From Egypt of 3000 B.C. to the London of 1912 comes the monster that would not die!”

 

Overall review

Hammer is an excellent quadrilogy of horror film-based novellas, with taut writing, succinct characterizations and descriptions, storylines that are mostly fresh takes and twists on familiar themes and tales. If you’re a Hammer film fan and a bibliophile, this out-of-print book is worth seeking out. Followed by John Burke’s The Second Hammer Horror Omnibus.

 

Review, novella by novella

The Gorgon: After his father and his brother die under mysterious circumstances, medical student Paul Heitz comes to the German town of Vandorf, where he─along with his mentor, Professor Meister─are caught between two dangers: the secretive, terrified and angry villagers, and a mythological, transformative beast that is stalking all of them.

In the ninety-page Gorgon, Burke’s prose is brisk, bare bones, and tight, with enough description and character development to give you the feel of an intense Hammer Film Productions tale and quick enough to focus mostly on the action, romance, and horror of Vandorf, a small village living in the shadow of the history- and dread-haunted Borski castle. Its ending is short, sharp, and startling, a fitting and memorable ending for a well-written and darkly entertaining work, which correctly identifies the Gorgon as Medusa, not Megaera (“jealousy,” one three Furies, sibling goddesses of revenge)─the film version calls her Megaera.

The counterpart film of the same name was released in England on August 21, 1964, half of a double bill with The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, also released in 1964. Terence Fisher directed Gorgon, from a screenplay by John Gilling, based on J.Llewellyn Devine’s original story.

Richard Pasco played the lovestruck Paul Heitz. Barbara Shelley played Carla Hoffman, the object of Paul’s affection. Christopher Lee played Professor Karl Meister. Prudence Hyman played Megaera, a.k.a. the Gorgon.

Peter Cushing played Dr. Namaroff. Jack Watson played Ratoff. Patrick Troughton played Inspector Kanof. Redmond Phillips played Hans.

Jeremy Longhurst played Bruno Heitz, Paul’s fanciful brother. Michael Goodliffe played Professor Jules Heitz, their father.

 

The Curse of Frankenstein: The aloof, unrepentant, and ambitious Baron Victor Frankenstein, awaiting state execution, narrates his journey from adolescent inheritor of his family’s Switzerland to adult scientist who has resurrected a dead, damaged brain in a patchwork-limb body─a brain accidentally scarred by his former tutor and assistant (Paul Krempe), who renounced Frankenstein’s experiment.

This new take on the iconic Frankenstein/created “monster” is a thrilling and adept reinvention, with the Baron as arrogant and forward-looking as ever (scientifically speaking), even in the face of certain, immediate death. Like the screenplay/film that birthed it, Burke’s writing, which adds a few non-filmic details here and there, is tight, fast-moving, and a clever re-working of the oft-replicated Frankenstein tale.

Excellent read, this.

The counterpart-source film was released of the same name was released in England on May 2, 1957. The film was directed by Terence Fisher, from a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster (who based his work on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus).

Peter Cushing played the adult Baron Victor Frankenstein. Christopher Lee played The Creature. Robert Urquhart played Paul Krempe. Hazel Court played Elizabeth Frankenstein.

Valerie Gaunt played Justine. Melvyn Hayes played “Young Victor” Frankenstein. Andrew Leigh played Burgomeister.

 

The Revenge of Frankenstein: Picking up immediately after the events of The Curse of Frankenstein, Baron Victor Frankenstein escapes the gallows, with help from a murderous dwarf and prison guard (Karl Werner)─the experimental scientist-now-prisoner Baron struck a deal with Werner to move the smaller man’s brain into a bigger, more healthy body.

Upon escaping, Frankenstein (now Victor Stein) relocates to the faraway town of Carlsbruck, where he uses his medical skills to help rich and poor (the latter in Workhouse Hospital) alike. Frankenstein gains an earnest young assistant (Hans Kleve), who blackmails the former Baron into letting Kleve work with him. Another complication appears in the form of Margaret Conrad (fetching and ambitious daughter of an important official), who insists on playing nurse to the poor in Workhouse Hospital.

Of course, repercussions of Werner’s brain-in-another-body transfer are largely catastrophic, between Karl’s health issues, Margaret’s good intentions, and her sway over Hans. The ending is shocking, tale- and character-true, and exciting in one of the best genre ways.

Like the two previous novellas in this collection, Revenge is a consistently taut, brisk,and vivid Frankenstein narrative (Frankenstein/Stein again tells the story), scuttling that franchise’s tropes with aplomb.

The counterpart-source film was released of the same name was released stateside on June 18, 1958. Terence Fisher directed it, from a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster, with additional dialogue provided by Hurford Janes and George Baxt.

Peter Cushing played Baron Victor Frankenstein, now going by the name of Victor Stein. Michael Gwynn played Karl Werner. Francis Matthews played Hans Kleve. Eunice Gayson played Margaret Conrad. Oscar Quitak played “Dwarf.” Marjory Gresley, billed as Margery Gresley, played Countess Barcynska. Anna Walmsley played Vera Gresley.

 

The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb: In the early 1900s, a group of archeologists unearth the tomb of an ancient Egyptian prince (Ra Antef) and, in doing so, awaken curse that immediately begins a cycle of murders committed by the resurrected mummy. Mummy’s is a waste-no-words tight and fast-moving (if largely genre-familiar) work, with a solid, effective twist, and an abrupt and memorable finish.

The counterpart-source film was released of the same name was released in England on October 18, 1964. Michael Carreras directed and wrote the screenplay for the film.

Dickie Owen played The Mummy (Ra-Antef). Jeanne Roland played Annette Dubois. Terence Morgan played Adam Beauchamp. Ronald Howard played John Bray. Jack Gwillim played Sir Giles Dalrymple. George Pastell played Hashmi Bey. Fred Clark played Alexander King.