Ghosts #100 (1981)

Ghosts #100 (May, 1981)
"The Ghost Gladiator: The Blackmailed Spirit"
"The Ghost Gladiator: Spectral Dream"
"The Ghost Gladiator: The Phantom's Final Debt"
"Hands from the Grave"
Writer - George Kashdan
Pencillers - Fred Carrillo & M.D. Bright
Inkers - Fred Carrillo & Vince Colletta
Letterers - Esphidym Mahilum & Shelly Leferman
Colorists - Jerry Serpe & Bob LeRose
Editor - Jack C. Harris
Cover Price: $0.50

Welcome to day three of the big October special.  I've taken to referring to it as "Boo, Haunted Blog!"... which, yeah... it's lame, but I kinda dig it.  Plus, it gives me a way to catalog all these scaaaary stories.  So, like... the next time you're huddled around a campfire, just pull out your tablet and click the #boohauntedblog tag.  Your friends will be sure to thank you... for the sleep-aid, if nothing else...

Anyhoo... onward and upward to our Ghostly tales...

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Heyyy... it's the one-hundredth issue of Ghosts... let's celebrate by checking out the covers of past landmark issues... and ask ourselves if we still believe.

Our first chapter this issue opens at an archaeological dig site.  Old coot and digmaster supreme, Sir Alex Quayle confides in his (relatively) young aide, Ernest Langford that he has been seeing ghosts.  Just then, he gets the bejeezus scared out of him by an apparition while Ernie can't seem to see it.  Sir Alex has himself a bit of an episode, and passes out.

Later that night, Alex wakes up.  He thinks to himself that what he saw couldn't have been a hallucination... and begins wandering around the site.  That's smart, right?  Anyhoo... he walks past Ernie's tent to hear him in the midst of an argument.  Alex throws open the flap, and finds that Ernie was arguing with the g-g-ghost... for, ya see... he wanted the ghost to scare poor Sir Alex into retirement so that he may take over the dig!  Good plan!

Sir Alex asks how Ernie was able to pull it off... rather than tell him, Langford pulls a gun on the oldster!  He takes him, by gunpoint to a building in a remote corner of the site, where through a window they find an ancient Pompeiian gladiator laying in perfect condition... preserved, and alive!  But how?  You may be asking... well, ya see when Vesuvius erupted, the lava coated this building and hardened... leaving it airtight!

The g-g-ghost is the Pompeiian gladiator, who only agreed to help Ernest if he would break the window and allow his body to die.  Now, however, Ernie has raised the stakes.  He will free the ghostiator only if it kills Sir Alex!  The ghost is all "screw that" and refuses.  Amid the quarrel, Alex picks up a stone and throws it right through the airtight window.  The apparition reenters his body... and finally dies.

Our second chapter opens during World War II in... you guessed it, Pompeii.  German Captain Lothar  Von Koenig notices that the Italian soldiers are surrendering in large number.  He decides to wait until the Americans arrive in Pompeii... and then blow the entire city up.  Dang... that's hardcore.

I guess I'm not the only one that thinks so, as a German soldier crosses enemy lines to tip off an American fleet to the boom-boom in Pom-Pom.  The Colonel ain't buying what ol' Himmel is selling, and decides that they'll proceed into Pompeii anyway.

Corporal Haskell pleads with the Colonel to heed the German's warning.  He states that he is, by profession, an archaeologist, and would hate to see so much history destroyed.  The Colonel gives Haskell one night to reconnoiter the terrain and report back.

Our man Haskell... ehh, he ain't no Solid Snake.  Just moments after entering Pompeii he is spotted by the German's.  They chase him into a house, and fire off a few shots... with one grazing his head.  He lay unconscious for a time, before waking up when a spear hits the wall by his head.  He finds himself in ancient Pompeii!  A Gladiator stands before him... like the one in Sir Alex Quayle's diary... hey, we know him!  The Gladiator shows him the secret passageway out.  In time, he really wakes up... and uses the passageway he learned about while out-cold.

Haskell reports back to camp, and tells the Colonel that he found underground passages they could use to get a jump on the Nazis.  The G.I.'s claim Pompeii, and everything's cool!  We close with Haskell showing the Colonel where he had his dream... and he finds that spear he dreamed about embedded in the wall... Whoa...

In our third chapter, we join a museum reenactment of Mount Vesuvius doin' it's thing all over Pompeii.  The attendees all comment on how realistic the exhibit looked.

We meet Walter B. Fraser, the man behind the exhibit.  He reveals that the entire works was done via holographic hooziwhatsits.  Later, he is met by his girlfriend Alexandra.  She is upset that he didn't mention that she helped him with much of the exhibit... and so she shoots him.  No wait a minute... somebody else shoots him... right in the back.  He collapses to the ground.

The man with the gun shows himself and demands Alexandra give him the key to a silverworks display.  Before she can act... the ghost of a gladiator appears!  He chases the gunmen, and he flees... up the phony Vesuvius?  Yeah, that's not smart.  Guess what... he falls in... and dies.  The woman?  Alexandra-- Quayle!  The Gladiator Ghost just payin' it forward.  The End.

Wait... there's another story in here?  It's a shorty... here goes... A man has his hands chopped off after slapping a Middle-Eastern Sheik.  He would then be executed... handless!

From that point on, the Sheik is haunted by terrifying nightmares consisting of... haunted hands... He imagines them choking him.  He struggles to remove them from around his throat... but to those around him, it just looks like he's choking himself... to death!  Now, that's impressive stamina!

We close out on the executed fellow in his casket... with both hands and a broad smile on his face.

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This wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it might be.  I was fully prepared to groan my way through this review portion... but, it was a pretty decent book.  The art was very nice all throughout, and the story/stories were pretty neat.  While I was reading through this, I wasn't paying attention to the story titles... I figure, this is an anthology book... and totally glossed over the fact that the first three stories were part of the same series.  When the Gladiator appeared to the American Soldier in Pompei, I was actually a bit surprised.  It totally enhanced the story for me... and had I been more vigilant in my "title reading" I don't think it would have had the same effect.

I will say... this issue did drag on a bit.  Once I finished with the Gladiator story, I was ready to put the book down... only to find that the Haunted Hand story was there.  I know it's ridiculous to complain about extra content... especially in the comics era we now live in, where certain companies have tried selling us 16 pages of story for upwards of four and five bucks, but I did find myself feeling a bit of morality-play-disguised-as-horror-story fatigue by then.

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Elvira's House of Mystery #9 (1986)

Elvira's House of Mystery #9 (November, 1986)

"Lost Souls"

"Drink Like a Fish!"

Writers - Darren Auck & Dennis Yee

Pencillers - Darren Auck & Graham Nolan

Inkers - Victor Laszlo & Reuben Pharms

Letterers - Kurt Hathaway & Duncan Andrews

Colorist - Liz Berube

Editor - Ed Hannigan

Cover Price: $0.75

Let's keep the October special rollin' with another spooooooooky book.  Of course, your mileage may vary on the spookiness therein.

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We open up with our framing sequence.  Elvira doing her best Svengoolie impression introducing us to our tales of terror.  There seems to be a subplot running through this series where Elvira has taken over the literal House of Mysteries in the DC Universe from its previous caretaker Cain.  Our Mistress of the Dark comes upon a portrait gallery featuring our former host... then settles in for tonight's double-feature.

Our first spine-tingling story is Lost Souls.  A Mister Jonathan Gray comes upon a secluded manor where he plans to write his soon-to-be best selling chiller novel.  As he approaches the structure, a beautiful young woman meets him.  She is Miss Underwood, and she is runs the joint.

She invites Gray inside and shows him to his room.  From the captions, this somehow takes an hour.  Once he's comfortably situated, she takes her leave.  She opens the door to the basement and greets the floating disembodied red head of her grandfather, who instructs her that Mr. Gray belongs to him.

That night, Mr. Gray retires to bed and falls asleep.  He dreams of a woman reading a book.  She calls for her daughter, who is playing with her creepy-looking doll in the basement.  The mother hears a scratching at the window, and when she goes to check on what it is... she finds the floating disembodied red head of whatsherface's grandfather.

Our man wakes up with the sweats... and begins hearing the same scratching that was in his dream.  He throws on his clothes and heads out to investigate.  What he finds is a room full of creepy dolls... including the one from his dream!

A voice booms out that it's coming to get him.  He rushes out of the room, and collapses in Miss Underwoods (cold) arms.  She returns him to his bed, and imagines what it would be like to drain him of his lifeforce.  Looks like we got us a succubus.

The red head of doom makes another appearance, and reminds Underwood that Mr. Gray is to be his meal.  He return to the dream world, where the young girl drops her creepy doll and runs upstairs.  Once there, she finds her mother kissing on her dad... and presumably sucking the lifeforce from him.  We then see the creepy doll come to life and climb up the stairs.  Our Mr. Gray, again wakes up with the sweats.

Well, this is all too much for our man, and he decides it's time to take his leave.  Miss Underwood appears before him, and uses her succubus powers to try and hypnotize him into staying with her... forever.  Well, evil red grandpa don't dig that scene... so he shows himself... as the creepy doll!  He causes his granddaughter to fall to the floor below, and approaches Mr. Gray... who, get this... punches the doll... then throws himself through the window.

Back inside, Miss Underwood... now being called Pamela, decides the burden of succubusing is just too much to bear... so she burns the house down... with her in it!

Mr. Gray gets back to his car and puts the pedal to the metal.  He thinks he's gotten away... however... there's a certain creepy doll in his backseat!  Dun dun dunnnn...

Our second feature is Drink Like A Fish! and we open on a young blonde man water skiing.  The folks in the speedboat are dazzled by his prowess, and one even says it's like Davey was "born in the water"... hope I didn't tip my hand a bit early there... ahem.

He continues to water ski as his pals all down some suds.  Later, they dock on the shore of an island and get down to... well, more drinking.  All of them are partaking... except buzzkill Davey.  He doesn't wanna drink because alcohol is a depressant and dehydrates the body.  His friends are kinda jerks... they keep tempting him.  I mean, wouldn't most people be relieved... like, woo-hoo, more for me?  Well, not these folks.

Well, our man sits and stews... and contemplates what harm a li'l drinky-drink would do him.  He also mentions that the doctors say he shouldn't have alcohol.  Well... he ultimately decides, screw the docs, it's time to drink.

Davey loosens up, starts dancing, singing... all that cliche "loosening up" schtick.  He suddenly and violently throws his empty can and rushes to the water.  Carol, who I think he's been digging on runs off after him, only to find... dun dun dunnnnn... he's... what the... he's a fish man?  Really?  That's what we're going with?  Okay.

Carol is frozen with fear... and Davey the fish man grabs her by the wrist.  He pulls her close and they gaze into each other's eyes.  Davey begins to cry... for he knows that his time among the land-people is over... and he will never know the love of a bemulleted woman named Carol.

We wrap up back in the House of Mysteries where our Hostess gets one more filmstrip... one featuring Cain... but that's for another time...

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Well, this was lackluster.  Two fairly boilerplate "horror" stories with fairly entertaining Elvira framing bits.  I find myself hoping for more Elvira pages... even as campy as they may be, they often get a chuckle... even if it's via a "wow, that was corny" reaction.

The stories themselves... well, they're just kind of "there".  Nothing to write home about, however, the art was nice all throughout... and how about that punk-rock cover... that one would definitely pop off the shelf at you.  

So, yeah... not a whole lot to say about this one... sadly.  It's a horror anthology, that doesn't bring the scary.  I will say that the first story with the succubus and killer doll was a ton better than the dumb fish-man-thing one... but, that's not really praise.  I mean, our fish-friend mentions that the doctors say he shouldn't drink... who are these doctors that are seeing fish-people?  Is that an insensitive question?

Again... I'll say the art for both features and the framing sequence is really nice.  There's some sketchiness in our fish story... but overall, not bad to look at.

As of this writing, my only exposure to Elvira's House of Mystery was the Christmas Special... wherein Elvira herself was much more prominent, and it had more of a humor feel to it.  This really didn't do anything for me.  During this October special, we just might have another visit or two to Elvira's House... hopefully those'll be more fun.

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Batman: Li'l Gotham Special Edition #1 (2013)

Batman: Li'l Gotham Special Edition #1 (December, 2013)
"Halloween/Thanksgiving"
Writers - Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs
Artist - Dustin Nguyen
Letterer - Saida Temofonte
Editor - Sarah Gaydos

Heyyy, it's October!  This is the month where Autumn hits full swing... except in Arizona, where it's known as the month where we might not break three-digit temperatures every day.  It's also the the month we celebrate Halloween!

Gonna try and stick to a primarily spooky theme this month, but I'm making no promises.  Just came into some odd wacky stuff I'm just itching to cover, that has nothing to do with horror... though, may be horrifically bad.  One'a my best blog buddies is also making an event of October.  Mike Carlyle over at the Crapbox of Son of Cthulhu is going DAILY all throughout this month, digging some real gems out of the deepest darkest corner of the ol' crapbox.  He always does great work, so definitely give him a visit!

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Our first (of two) chapters features Halloween in Li'l Gotham.  Batman and Robin are perched atop a building, and Batman mentions that Halloween is the one night that the Bat-Signal is on the entire night.  Robin spies what he believes to be criminals down on the street... and swoops down to kick some butt!  These are not bad guys, however... it is simply people dressed as Two-Face, the Joker and the Riddler.  I gotta say, that's kind of in poor taste, right?  It's like dressing as a serial killer... which, I know people sometimes do for Halloween... but it's still kinda weird, right?

We then go to an amazing page, where Batman shows Robin that on Halloween people dress up in costume.  Here we see kids dressed as all sorts of DC heroes and villains.  Really a pretty page!

Robin doesn't seem to get it, so Batman gives him the quick 'n dirty on the history of the holiday.  Sensing Robin's obvious disinterest, Batman sighs, and tells him it's all about dressing up and getting candy.  Now you're talkin', Bats.  Damien throws a batarang at a gumball machine... to which, Batman says "No."  He then trips a trick-or-treater, and steals his candy... again, Batman shakes his head.

Batman kneels down beside his son, and explains the concept of trick-or-treat.  Damien thinks it sounds stupid, but trudges up the walkway to a neighbor's house anyway.  He comes back completely annoyed... after all that work he comes away with... one piece of candy.

We shift scenes to an Italian restaurant where some real-deal Batman rogues-gallery members are dining.  In walks Batman and Robin, and it's like that moment where the needle skips on a record.  Batman orders two calzones for take-out... which is the same thing the wife and I order when we get Italian.  He then turns to the villains... and smiles.  He compliments them on their "costumes" and says dinner is on him.  To which the baddies cheer!

Outside the restaurant Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department are there to apprehend the villains.  Batman asks that they give them a few minutes to finish their meal before arresting them.

The next chapter has to do with my absolute favorite holiday... Thanksgiving!  We open on a scene where the Penguin is celebrating the big day with... well, a bunch of penguins... er, make that a "raft" of penguins... thanks, Google.

At Wayne Manor, Alfred is hard at work on Thanksgiving dinner while Bruce and Damien watch the big parade.  Both Batman and Robin are represented in the parade as balloons.  Damien laughs that Batman looks more like Fatman... but grumbles over the enormous size of the Robin balloon's head.  It's a very cute scene.

Suddenly, the Penguin... dressed as a Pilgrim hijacks the event.  He threatens to subject Gotham to "Turkey Wrath"... which is exactly what it sounds like.  Bruce and Damien spring into action.

A fight is on... Batman and the Penguin get down and dirty, while Robin gets tickled by the turkeys... until he spots a trumpet and pied-pipers the gobblers away.

The Penguin attempts to flee by popping open a hover-umbrella (?).  Thinking quickly, Batman throws a 'rang into the big Batman parade balloon... which comes down right atop the baddie.

That evening at Wayne Manor, the entire Bat-Family shows up for a Thanksgiving Feast.  Of particular interest, Barbara Gordon is in her wheelchair here.  Of further interest, nobody saved a seat for poor Jason Todd.  Ain't that always the way?

We wrap up our tale in prison, where inmate Cobblepot is led to the dining hall for his turkey dinner.  After the day he's had, the last thing he wants to see is turkey!

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Good God... how fun was this?!

I'm hard-pressed to think of a recent time where I've had so much fun reading a comic book.  I mean, I've read some great stuff of late, but this was just a hoot!  Had a stupid smile on my face the whole time I was reading it.  It's totally silly, sure... but a real treat.

The stories were just holiday-themed episodes, without a whole lot of consequence.  They were harmless, and wildly fun... jeez, I think I typed "fun" more times in these past two paragraphs (likely with more to come) than I have throughout my blogging career.

We're not going to worry about folks being "in character" here... that's really not the point of all this.  These are just cute throwaway stories... showing a lighter side of the brooding Batman (and company).  Watching Batman try to teach Robin about the history and customs of Halloween... man... amazing!  Seeing the whole Bat-Family gather at Thanksgiving table (except poor Jason, who never seems to get a seat) was wonderful.

The art here is amazing.  I've mentioned before that I'm not really a fan of the "animated series" style in comics.  I'm cool with it on the screen, but feel it doesn't really translate all that well.  This, cute watercolor deal absolutely works wonders in the book and absolutely pops off the page.  It's almost impossible not to want to read this after seeing it.

The good news is I had a great time reading and discussing this issue... the bad news is, now I gotta track down the rest of the Li'l Gotham run.  Most definitely recommended... put a smile on your face and grab this book if you can.  As luck would have it, the entire series is available digitally.

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