Escape from New York: Volume Four by Christopher Sebela and various artists

 

(pb; 2017: fourth graphic novel in a series of four. Alternate title: Escape from New York: Escape from Cleveland. Collects issues #13-16 of the limited-run Escape from New York comic book. Publisher: Boom! Studios.)

 

From the back cover

“After Snake Plissken gave the President his comeuppance in incredibly public fashion, he retreated to a quiet life, away from the battlefield. That lasted for years, until Federal forces attempt to seize his land via eminent domain, which brings Snake once again at odds with his nemesis—the U.S.P.F. This time, Snake’s got a plan to strike back. . .”

 

Review

The fourth and final volume of Escape takes place fourteen years after the events of Volume 3. Snake has settled down in Ohio, with his faithful dog (affectionately called “Dummy”). But then the day he suspected would come: federal agents come for him after he repels two agents trying to foist an eminent domain order on him. Snake, with help from a few fellow bandits, embarks on a blitzkrieg cycle of robbery, death and other mayhem that leaves few in his sphere untouched.

As with the three previous Escape graphic novels, there’s plenty of humor, twists, explosions, dead people (many of them deserving of their fates) and Snake’s taciturn resistance to those “taking what they think is theirs.” The ending leaves Snake’s journey open to future adventures while providing a character- and story-true denouement of sorts. Excellent, fun wrap-up to a bang-up graphic novel/movie tie-in series.

Escape from New York: Volume Three by Christopher Sebela and various artists

 

(pb; 2017: third graphic novel in a series of four. Collects issues #9-12 of the limited-run Escape from New York comic book. Publisher: Boom! Studios.)

 

From the back cover

“As Snake Plisskin continues his quest for revenge, he leaves behind the frozen tundra of Siberia to enter the last place anyone, least of all those looking to kill him, would ever expect: Manhattan. Snake returns to the middle of New York city for one last word with The President!”

 

Review

The third volume of Escape, alternately titled Escape from New York: Escape to New York, finds Snake Plissken making his way back into that city prison so that he can kill the former U.S. President (from the original 1981 film and the first two Escape graphic novels). Seems that this President has been put in prison for his illicit activities during those earlier stories and is now touting himself a new version of the New York-ruling Duke, whom the former President killed at the end of the 1981 film—having succeeded in this “I’m the new A-number one!” role, it’s fallen to Snake to fell the man who initially set him on his current fight-and-pursuit situation. Not only that, Snake must (once he’s deposed the Duke) find a way out of New York, before the new U.S. President (President Sutter), who has reasons to hate the former President, bombs everyone in the citywide prison to hell.

Complicating matters are other, sometimes crazy characters. Fortunately for Snake, he has allies, some unexpected, e.g., the members of the Lenape [Native American] tribe, led by Lappawinsoe (aka Johnny), who control one of the World Trade Center towers. Can Snake get the former President, end his delusional reign, and leave New York, to finally live a quiet life?

The third volume maintains the same tone and elements that make its first two fun and tonally consistent with their source film and characters: wild-card characters, humor, well-timed and potent action, and overall good writing. For fans of the 1981 film and the first two graphic novel volumes, Volume Three may prove to be a worthwhile purchase. Followed by a fourth and final volume, Escape from New York: Escape from Cleveland.

Escape from New York: Volume Two by Christopher Sebela and various artists

 

(pb; 2016: second graphic novel in a series of four. Collects issues #5-8 of the limited-run Escape from New York comic book. Publisher: Boom! Studios.)

 

From the back cover

“After making it through the madhouse of Florida, Snake Plissken gets on a plane, only to be thrown out over Siberia, returning him to a battlefield he thought he left behind. Continuing the story that picks up right where the classic film left off, writer Christopher Sebela (High Crimes, Welcome Back) and artist Diego Barreto (Iredeemable) drop the classic antihero into the middle of a brand-new Cold War.”

 

 

Review

In the also titled Escape from New York: Escape from Siberia, Snake is dropped (with a parachute) into all-too-familiar, war-torn Leningrad, site of his previous, pre-crime military assignment. There he is forced to join a U.S. military unit led by Major King, an icy and sly woman who takes an instant dislike to Snake. Not only that, the helmeted and metal masked soldier known as Texas Thunder, with his spiked metal suit, is in the unit as well. Who is Texas Thunder? (Read and find out!).

When Snake winds up in Tunguska, site of a famous meteor crash, he and his reluctant and sociopathic scientist fellow traveler (Bulgarov) encounter a dangerous cult, whose goals and upcoming ceremony may prove fatal to Snake and Bulgarov.

Vol. Two/Siberia, like Vol. 1/Florida, is an excellent, tone- and character-true (thus far) follow-up to the original Escape (1981), with its wild characters, humor. The artwork is good as well. This is a fun, fast-moving and bursting-with-action read, one with a cliffhanger finish. Followed by Escape from New York: Escape to New York.

Escape From New York: Volume One by author Christopher Sebela and various artists

 

(pb; 2016: first graphic novel in a series of four. Collects issues #1-4 of the limited-run Escape from New York comic book. Publisher: Boom! Studios.)

 

From the back cover

“The name’s Plissken!

“Snake Plissken may have escaped from New York, but now he’s America’s most wanted outlaw. His only safe haven is the rogue state of Florida. But once he crosses the DMZ, his troubles continue. Florida’s mad dictators want the state to secede and they want Snake’s help. The man with no country is now caught between two.

“These are the new adventures of Snake Plissken, taking place directly after the 1981 classic film.”

 

Review

Also titled Escape from New York: Escape from Florida, this graphic novel begins with the last scenes of director/co-screenwriter John Carpenter’s 1981 film, with Snake walking away from the US President’s disastrous peace-plan announcement. Because of Snake’s switching of the tapes, the President’s men try to grab him but they fail, with much mayhem ensuing. Snake flees to the also-violent, chaotic “Free Republic of Florida” (FRF), the former state under the rule of two thirteen-year-old boys (the psycho-but-totally Remus and the completely psycho Romulus), watched over by a hulking former wrestler (Meemaw). What keeps the new President (Sutter)’s army from reclaiming the FRF is a line of nuclear warheads embedded along the U.S./Florida border, placed there by the eleven-year-old twins. (The former President was ousted after that disastrous press conference.)

Florida is an excellent, tone- and character-true (thus far) followup to the original Escape (1981), with its wild characters, humor (e.g., the news reporter acknowledging “General Michael Quay,” a reference to Mike McQuay, who penned the 1981 movie tie-in novel). The artwork is good as well. This is a fun, fast-moving and bursting-with-action read, one with a cliffhanger finish. Followed by Escape from New York: Escape from Siberia.

Jennifer Blood: Neither Tarnished Nor Afraid by Al Ewing and various artists

(pb; 2013: graphic novel, collecting issues #13-18 of the series.  Third entry in the Jennifer Blood graphic novel series.)


From the back cover:

"It looks like Jen's finally got everything she wants - her crusade against her murderous Uncles is over and done with and she's successfully fended off attacks by everyone from war profiteers to waffle salesmen.  There's just one tiny fly in the ointment: Detective Elaine Pruitt, Homicide.  Jennifer Blood killed her partner, but didn't quite manage to kill her.

"That was a mistake.

"Meanwhile, an old flame of Andy's re-enters his life.  For anyone else's family, it'd be the makings of a fairly standard suburban drama.

"But this is Jennifer Blood's family.

"And she'll do anything she thinks she has to in order to preserve it."


Review:

Jen's life spirals further out of control as the loose ends of her weeklong vendetta - a ticked-off cop, an unstable marriage and other elements - come back to haunt her in bleakly hilarious, bloody and super-violent fashion.  The ending is a logical yet radical turn story-wise, one that looks like it will lead to promising developments in the next collection, Jennifer Blood: The Trial of Jennifer Blood.

Jennifer Blood: Beautiful People by Al Ewing and various artists

(pb; 2012: graphic novel, collecting issues #7-12 of the series.  Second entry in the Jennifer Blood graphic novel series.)

From the back cover:

"Jen Fellows is a housewife with two kids, a devoted husband, a beautiful suburban home, two cars, a plasma TV, a Mk. 153 SMAW Launcher, an AK47, ten pounds of C4, a large number of grenades, several hundred rounds of hollow-point-point ammunition, a great big knife. . .

"Jen Fellows was also Jennifer Blood, a vengeance-fueled vigilante taking brutal vengeance on the five men who destroyed her parents.  But now that she's finished off the last of them, her mission is over at last.

". . . In a word. . . no.

"It turns out you can't murder the five heads of a crime family - plus various assorted bodyguards, associates, ninja schoolgirl assassins, etc. - without any consequences.  There are leftover weapons to dispose of, nosy neighbors who might know a little too much, kids getting too curious about the hidden armory in the basement, detectives picking up all the clues you forgot you dropped. . . and a consortium of rich and powerful people, with private armies of highly trained mercenaries at their command, who want a little revenge of their own."


Review:

More bloody and violent hilarity, suburban public kink-wear and surreal unintended consequences ensue as Jen/nifer's vendetta against her crime-family family winds down, and the relatives and associates of those she killed seek revenge while the cops seek answers regarding her previous slaughters.  Wildly entertaining stuff, this - worth owning.

Followed by Jennifer Blood: Neither Tarnished Nor Afraid.

Jennifer Blood: A Woman's Work is Never Done by Garth Ennis and various artists

(pb; 2012: graphic novel, collecting issue #1-6 of the series.  First entry in the Jennifer Blood graphic novel series.)

From the back cover:

"Meet Jen Fellows, your average suburban housewife.  Every day, she lives out your normal suburban life.  She makes breakfast, takes the kids to school, cleans the house, cooks dinner, kisses her husband and children goodnight, and hopes that the drugs she gives them in their dinner keeps them asleep until morning.

"Meet Jennifer Blood, ruthless vigilante.  Every night she stalks the underworld on a personal vendetta against organized crime, determined to obliterate the parasites and scum who run the city's rackets.

"But can she keep her dual lives separate?  Can she protect her family from the terrible world she now finds herself a part of?  And will the budget stretch to new cushion covers for the couch and six more cases of .45 hollow points?"



Review:

Jennifer Blood is a bloody, nasty, for-mature-audiences-only work, featuring writer Ennis' fast-moving, raunchy and black-as-frak wit.  The storyline is familiar (see the back cover description), but Ennis' action-lean writing, coupled with Jennifer's eye-popping illustrations and visual tones (courtesy of various artists, colorists and Rob Steen's lettering) make its plot-familiarity irrelevant.  This is not a graphic novel for readers put off by gore, nudity and ultra-dark - and effective - themes: worth owning, this, if the above description doesn't apply to you.

Followed by Jennifer Blood: Beautiful People.

The Hellbound Heart, by Clive Barker

(pb; 1986: novella)

From the back cover:

"Frank Cotton's insatiable appetite for the dark pleasures of pain led him to the puzzle of Lemarchand's box, and from there, to a death only a sick-minded soul could invent. But his brother's love-crazed wife, Julia, has discovered a way to bring Frank back - though the price will be bloody and terrible. . . and there will certainly be hell to pay."

Review:

The Hellbound Heart is an intense, excellent, horrific (in a good way) blast of a read. The story in this 164-page novella is notably different than that of the 1987 film (retitled Hellraiser) - e.g., in the book, The Engineer is the head Cenobite in the "Order of the Gash"; Pinhead doesn't exist. In the film, The Engineer was replaced by the physically dissimilar Pinhead. That said, both versions work.

Worth owning, this.

#

The resulting film, Hellraiser, was released stateside September 18, 1987.

Andrew Robinson played Larry Cotton ("Rory Cotton" in the novella). Claire Higgins played Julia Cotton. Ashley Laurence played Kirsty Cotton. Sean Chapman played Frank Cotton. Robert Hines played Steve. Oliver Smith played "Frank the Monster".

Doug Bradley played Pinhead/Captain Elliot Spenser. Nicholas Vince played "Chattering Cenobite". Simon Bamford played "Butterball Cenobite". Grace Kirby played "Female Cenobite".

Novella author Clive Barker directed and wrote the screenplay for the movie.

#

A theatrical remake has been greenlit, with Barker's vocal support, but filming hasn't begun on it.

#

Eight sequels, many of them direct-to-video, have followed the original film. The latest, Hellraiser: Revelations, is supposed to be coming out sometime this year. This ninth Hellraiser film, a DVD/Blu Ray release, will be the first where Doug Bradley doesn't play Pinhead. (This does not bode well for the film.)

#

In 1989, Epic Comics published an anthology comic book, Hellraiser, with various authors and illustrators - including Bernie Wrightson, John Bolton and Ted McKeever - creating their own short stories about the Cenobites, their victims and their universe(s). I don't know how long this series was published, but I know it ran for at least eighteen issues. (The first comic book image seen below is the cover of issue #1).



In 2011, Boom! Studios revived the series, with the same name (Hellraiser) with new Cenobite stories, written by different writers and artists - Clive Barker has been co-writing the series' ongoing storyline.

Seen below is one of the three alternate covers of issue #1, illustrated by Tim Bradstreet. Leonardo Manco provided the interior art.