Suggestions?

Now that Halloween has passed, I'm looking for suggestions/review items as to what you'd like to see covered. Right now, I'm working on some items for review, and I have a few news items I have neglected to post (if you sent something my way, I'm sorry if it didn't get noticed - I've been very busy), but I'm also in the mood for doing something for the audience I have.

What would you like to see?

Hopefully, a couple news items coming soon.

Manga Review - Ogre Hunting by Toshio Maeda

Ogre Hunting


I've been flying through horror manga lately, and my search has led me to Toshio Maeda's work with Ogre Hunting. Yes, this is the same man who brought the United States such "classic" anime works like La Blue Girl and Urotsukidoji, two series that deal with the sexual side of monsters. But Ogre Hunting is not as focused on nudity and porn as Maeda's other works, and at least there's more action here than anything else.

The title clearly defines what this manga is all about - a man hunts an ogre who has been summoned to kill a young woman. It's pretty simple, really, and throughout the 80 or so pages of the story, Maeda never really fleshes out the storyline any more than this. While it lets the reader jump right in without being bogged down by exposition, it also doesn't require a whole lot of thought while reading. One can breeze through this single volume in under 15 minutes as it consists more of action-sequenced drawings than much dialogue.

Obviously, with little dialogue, there's also not much room to develop character. I think we get more personality from the ogre than we do from anyone else. At least the ogre and the hero have motivations; the woman being targeted is a very weak character who can do nothing but run. In the audience's eyes, there's not much to root for here - it's not really a question of whether the hero will win or not, because we're already told that he is the famed ogre hunter, and though it is up in the air whether the girl will survive, it doesn't really matter at this point.

I'm also not a huge fan of Maeda's art style here. Some of the drawings are a bit muddled and it becomes hard to understand what exactly is going on in each panel. The action is good when we get a large focus on it. But when Maeda draws small but concise panels, everything gets blurry. The ogre is gruesome, but not as much so as other monsters he has drawn.

We must keep in mind, though, that Ogre Hunting is probably not meant to be applauded for its story; it is, more likely, a hero story meant as a fantasy for men, a tweaking of the knight-in-shining-armor motif. This it does well, though little else. It's fine while it lasts, but one will most likely not take up the hunt again, or even remember it after it's finished.

Manga Review - Lovesick Dead by Junji Ito

Lovesick Dead

Continuing my fascination with all things done by Junji ito is Lovesick Dead, or Undying Love as it is sometimes called. The story is a short, one-volume affair dealing with a teen who moves back to his foggy old Japanese town and finds that the inhabitants are obsessed with playing a game called "intersection fortune-telling." The game involves waiting at an intersection until someone passes by, and then asking the person a question where they can predict your future. It's supposed to be a spontaneous thing; you just say whatever comes to your mind. But a pretty boy has been seen walking along the intersections, saying terrible things to everyone who asks their fortune, and they generally end up killing themselves or messing up their life in some way.

Ito's reliance on human obsession is again seen in this manga, but it's a really original premise that continues to twist until the end. There are only four chapters, and they divide the manga into quarters. The first is the introduction of intersection fortune-telling and the pretty boy, which is grotesque and disturbing and gets the ball rolling with the themes of fascination. Every individual of the foggy town is somehow influenced very easily, except our protagonist Ryuusuke, who is thrown off by the similarities between the events of the present and a past experience. Ryuusuke is involved with one of his classmates, but is haunted by the fact that he feels like he killed her aunt in a chance encounter of intersection fortune-telling that ended in suicide.

Lovesick Dead continues to escalate with the ghosts of the suicide victims and weird encounters with obsessive girls who think Ryuusuke is the actual pretty boy. Toward the end of the manga, Ryuusuke is forced to find the pretty boy himself, and becomes addicted to it in that regard as well. Ito's art is terrifying, and the ghosts are drawn with such violent hatred that it creeps out the reader. Ito is very good at showing the dementia of the character through expression, and it comes through here as well.

The obsession of the town escalates, and it's really hard to trust anyone within the manga. This is a good thing - it leaves the reader hanging on, but with no ideas as to where the manga might be headed. However, the conclusion is a bit lackluster and anti-climactic. Ito's writing style is generally like this, though - he starts off with a very twisted idea, branches off of it with more intricate and complex storylines, and then finds he can't conclude them well. But this is alright for me - I'd rather Ito focus on the psychologies of fascination than have an unoriginal plot with a very succinct ending.

If you liked Uzumaki, you will most likely love this short volume. Where Uzumaki deals with obsession of a town, Lovesick Dead tends to look at people more individually and follow their breakdown to its end. Though its ending leaves something to be desired, Ito gives us more than enough eerie moments and interesting plot developments to keep us avidly reading until the grim end.

Man, it feels good to not have to post!

October killed me; with its flurry of leaves and crushing bulk of homework, I had barely enough time to squeeze in anything Halloween-related before the season ended. Now that Halloween has come and gone, I'm free to spend my time how I see fit - which generally means finishing up any homework and then relaxing for a change!

With the Halloween rush, I felt like I had to keep posting on the blog to keep up with the fantastic posts of other, more able bloggers. But I can slowly wind down, posting only when necessary or even when I feel like it, which is a great ease on the mind.

So if my posts are a bit helter-skelter, it's because I am calming my nerves a bit after a furiously tight October. Thanks to all who stick with me in my trials; I think I'll have a couple reviews for you tomorrow. And if anyone is looking to send some review items my way, I believe I just may have the time for them.

Comic Review - House of Mystery Halloween Annual

"That mask be creepy!"

House of Mystery

Vertigo Comics has been releasing new House of Mystery comics based on the 1950s series for some time now, and I just haven't been up on it. But you can imagine my surprise when I grab my mail and find a horrifying mask on the comic's cover. This Halloween special contains a creative team of writers and artists working together on Halloween stories that center around evil masks of some sort, with a framing story that ties all the shorts together.

Each short is drawn and written by different writers and artists, and each showcase a series within the DC Comics line-up. There's a Merv Pumpkinhead story, a Madame Xanadu short, a Hellblazer vignette, and even a peek at a new comic coming out called I, Zombie.

The framing story reminds a lot of that old Goosebumps book The Haunted Mask, where a girl tries on a creepy mask and cannot get it off. It seems as though she is "seeing" the stories that we read, which does a great job in tying all of the shorts into a cohesive whole. It's also drawn in that recognizable '50s style, that works as a throwback and homage to the original House of Mystery.

The great part about the shorts is that they give you a concise story that begin and end quickly. There's no unnecessary exposition, no cliffhangers, just all-out Halloween action. This is what I look for in a Halloween special; it shouldn't be a long, tedious endeavor that requires background knowledge of the comic, but a quick and entertaining treat, which is what House of Mystery does throughout. Also, if you don't like a story, it's over in a few pages.

But I can't imagine anyone not enjoying these rich plots. I think the Merv Pumpkinhead tale is my favorite, a light-hearted look at the lives of monsters on Halloween, and the problems with drinking and haunting. But all of the stories have some great aspects: Hellblazer for its ghastly demon, I, Zombie for its snarky narrator, and Madame Xanadu's mind-bending twists.

House of Mystery does everything well - an anthology series with a main theme wrapping it all together, allusions to horror comics of old, and gory, frightful stories fit for the gloomiest of Halloweens. Package that up with a star-studded group of creative individuals and you have yourself a comic that knows what its fans want - plus that mask is wicked creepy!

Halloween is officially dead

Unfortunately, that great day that horror bloggers await the whole year has gone again, and now everyone can go back to their normal, boring lives, including me. Christmas will soon perk my spirits up, but not right now. Halloween is now 365 days away again - boo!

So let's bid a fond farewell to this year's festivities - I imagine a film montage playing in your head right now with a sad string section sawing away - and get ready for next year! You can never start too early, right?

***

More sad news. You know Nostalgia November, the month-long blog special I've been planning? That is being postponed due to this blogger's heaping amount of work for college. It will be rescheduled, I just don't know when yet. That doesn't mean the blog will be going on hiatus; it just means I don't have enough time or energy to deliver all of what I promised for the special, and so I'm postponing it until I do have that time. So expect more news and reviews, but probably not as much as October brought, as I'm under a heavy workload.

Book Review - The Gates by John Connolly

The Gates

John Connolly's latest young adult thriller, The Gates, showcases a wit and an appreciation for both Halloween and horror that will keep the adults reading with the children. Just like with some of the more popular YA series like Harry Potter and (...) Twilight, there are enough facets of the novel that will appeal to adults with an appetite for clean, child-like easy reads.

The Gates centers around a small town during Halloween, and our protagonist is a quirky boy named Samuel with a dog that has just as much personality. Samuel's neighbors accidentally open a portal to Hell via an escaped particle from a scientific experiment, and demons start streaming through in the form of humans. Samuel knows what's up, but only his friends believe him. Most of the demons that come through are evil, and want Samuel dead before he can stop their plan to bring the Devil himself into the world to cause mass destruction and Hell on Earth. But one nice demon, Nurd, has also been transported to Earth, and he befriends Samuel in the hopes of protecting him from annihilation.

Connolly's writing is spot-on with humor, giving a great sense of zany commentary. He's able to add new style and texture to the young adult genre with his wacky descriptions and footnotes, which don't add a lot in terms of plot but give a good look at Connolly's different writing technique.

Samuel is well-liked, mostly because he is not the stock child that one reads about in multitudes of children's books. Samuel is thought of as weird by the adults, but the reader of the novel will find a different side of Samuel that they like a lot; this is because Connolly characterizes him as a unique individual with a lot of brains and a lot of heart. Samuel is a character one can't help but be attracted to immediately.

The same goes for Nurd, because though all of the characters have their own odd personalities, Nurd is similar to Samuel in that he is very underappreciated and misunderstood. A lot of Connolly's story seems to revolve around a subplot with themes about being different, or not having to succumb to the majority, which is a great message for kids and even those adults who forget who they are, or were.

The main attraction for me in The Gates is not the premise; it's pretty basic, but it comes together very well toward the end of the story. My love of Connolly's writing gets the best of me, and keeps me reading. It's his subtly comical wordings that grab me, and the footnotes were at first a little weird, but then became second nature. The only problem with this was that the footnotes make up a good deal of the beginning of the book, but they seem to drop out for the last half. The inconsistency here left me disappointed; the footnotes were both helpful and fun, and added to Connolly's stylistic leanings that make him stand out from other writers.

The Gates transcends the lackluster writing of most young adult books about teen romances or (gasp!) vampires with a lean and fast-paced novel containing likable characters and important themes for children. It may be a bit too mature for the tween crowd, but teens looking for a good, fun horror read would do well to pick this book up. Halloween is almost over, but it lives on in Connolly's work.

Five scenes I love from Ghost Ship

1. Wire death: This is an obvious one, but the wire slicing and dicing is probably one of the most memorable scenes ever for me. Though some of the effects may look a little fake, and are a little far-fetched, when I first saw the movie I was both sickened and delighted by bodies falling apart around the little girl. Now, I look back on it with fond memories and munch on popcorn as the Love Boat-esque ghost ship falls into chaos.



2. (At 5:45) Greer is seduced by an ample-bosomed ghost: Greer puts himself under the impression that since the Italian songstress is a ghost with supreme nipples, he's allowed to cheat on his fiancee. Well, even if that's a bit wrong, I can't help but laugh at the fact that he thinks it natural to bang her right by a deep shaft (pun? you decide). Ghosts can be flirty too.



3. (At 6 minutes) Epps jumps from the giant ghost ship into the briny deep: Slightly improbable? Of course. But Epps is a she-devil of a woman who will risk her life for others' sake. You'd never find me jumping off of a 50 foot deck into the ocean to save a guy who is probably already dead, but she does it, and with panache!



4. (At 2 minutes) Greer decks Munder: Holy crap does Greer have an arm on him! I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that punch. Munder looks pretty pained afterward too.



5. Techno-themed little girl's story: Unfortunately, I don't love this scene for the fact that it is well done and terrifying but because it is the exact opposite. All tension is taken out of the horrible story of the ship being attacked by vandals and the backstabbing that takes place afterward by the incredibly out of place techno-club music that plays in the background. This is also the case when Mudvayne's song shows up here and there throughout the movie. Whoever picked the soundtrack was severely deluded into thinking that heavy metal = scary movie.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Day! What we've all been waiting for! Have a great Halloween tonight, I'll be checking in continually with some review posts that I'm finishing up for the holiday.

Pray that it doesn't rain!

It's Halloween Eve...

and all through the house, everyone was stirring, even two chihuahuas. Yes, that's right, I'm home with my friends and we're having a little party watching horror movies in light of tomorrow's Halloween festivities! We can't watch tomorrow, because I will be busy scaring trick-or-treaters left and right, but tonight, we're getting our pizza and wings on and hitting the flicks.

Tonight, we've got a few goodies on the tube - Ghost Ship, for one, the original Night of the Living Dead, and we haven't decided the others yet. They may not be classics - I already watched Halloween the other night - but they sure will be fun on the night before the big day.

What are you up to?