Manga Review: Kitaro’s Yokai Battles

Manga Review: Kitaro’s Yokai Battles by Shigeru Mizuki Oh hey, I was missing one of the volumes of the Drawn & Quarterly Kitaro reprints! This one has an introduction that covers from 1966 to 1971. While the Hakaba no Kitaro series seemed like a good choice for animated adaptation, network executives thought it was too… Continue reading Manga Review: Kitaro’s Yokai Battles

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

The title Temple.

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) directed by Steven Spielberg Shanghai, 1935. Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones (Harrison Ford) is in town to swap the ashes of a Manchu emperor for a large diamond of historical and personal interest to him. Unfortunately, gang boss (and shipping magnate) Lao Che (Roy Chiao) wants to… Continue reading Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Book Review: Wicked West

Book Review: Wicked West edited by Abigail Linhardt and J.H. Fleming The combination of Western and horror genres is a popular one; those wide open spaces in which people and entire towns can just disappear make for a setting that allows a lot of spookiness. This bespoke anthology has eleven stories in this subcategory. “The… Continue reading Book Review: Wicked West

Manga Review: Deserter

Manga Review: Deserter by Junji Ito This volume says that the contents are mostly from the early horror work of noted manga creator Junji Ito. There’s no initial publication dates in the indicia, but his debut was in 1987, so I’m guessing late Eighties to early Nineties. Let’s see what his stuff was like before… Continue reading Manga Review: Deserter

Manga Review: The Crater

Manga Review: The Crater by Osamu Tezuka In the late 1960s, Osamu Tezuka’s career was facing a crisis. He was still popular, with publishers quite willing to buy more of the kid-friendly material he’d become famous for. But he wasn’t a trend-setter anymore. The new generation of manga creators was into gekiga, more serious and… Continue reading Manga Review: The Crater

Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II

Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II edited by Ross E. Lockhart It’s spooky stuff month again, so I sat down with this thick volume (24 stories) of tales inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft for a couple of weeks. This is a sequel to The Book of Cthulhu that I reviewed earlier on… Continue reading Book Review: The Book of Cthulhu II

Comic Book Review: The Chill

Comic Book Review: The Chill story by Jason Starr, art by Mick Bertilorenzi It’s 2009 in New York City and a series of bizarre ritual killings has hit the city. The obvious suspect is a woman named Ariana who’s been seen with more than one of the victims, but no one can agree on a… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Chill

Book Review: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 16

Book Review: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 16 edited by Stephen Jones Let’s go back to 2004 for what at least one editor considered excellent short horror fiction. As with the later volume I have reviewed, there’s a lot of ancillary material. It opens with an extended look at horror and horror-adjacent… Continue reading Book Review: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror Volume 16

Webtoon Review: Trese

Alexandra's cases tend to be gruesome.

Webtoon Review: Trese Alexandra Trese is a detective of sorts who deals with supernatural cases in the Philippines, primarily operating in the city of Manila. Like her father before her, Alexandra stands between the community of humans and that of paranormal creatures, trying to uphold the “accords” that keep balance. She’s aided by twin bodyguards,… Continue reading Webtoon Review: Trese

Comic Book Review: Swamp Thing Giant #3

Comic Book Review: Swamp Thing Giant #3 by various creators Scientist Alec Holland and his wife Linda were working on a plant-based bio-restorative formula in the Louisiana swamps when criminals set a bomb to sabotage the research and he was burned to death. A combination of the formula and other forces working within the swamp… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Swamp Thing Giant #3