TOMORROW: Hammer Time!
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Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan
Another new book causing me go equally batty is Chip Kidd and Geoff Spear’s tremendous collection of 60’s Batman stories from Japan called Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan. Full of incredibly rare, entertaining, and fully translated stories (created by manga legend Jiro “8 Man” Kuwata), plus gorgeous full-color Japanese toy photos and other various J-Bat odds ‘n ends, this is an essential collection of total awesomeness.
I highly recommend this to fans of Batman and manga style comics, and of special note is the ultra wild, 2-part "Lord Death Man" story featuring one of the absolute coolest skeleton villain characters in comic book history (example below.) Don’t miss it!
Click HERE for more info and to order now!
Click HERE for more info and to order now!
Oh MY GOD!i had no idea Wertham dabbled in biology!(that is TOTALLY him,right down to the glasses).I agree,that ending is so insane it's almost anti-climatic,you should have an "insane endings" week here sometime(even though shocking twist endings is the whole point of these things,there are some that are decidedly crazier than others.).
ReplyDeleteWhat a great splashpage! And a crazy ending too. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteThis issue of Voodoo really has it all. Is the whole series that good?
Really. I've never read any of these Voodoo stories before, and so far they've been solid gold. These stories have just been brutal and unflinching, without all the petty moralizing of many pre-code anecdotes. These characters feel real, too. I love the panel where they've barricaded the house: he's stripped down to his A-shirt while she's taken the time to change back out of her nightgown. But both carry sharp weapons, and both are working hard as a team. After just a few panels, I've come to care about them. That's why I'm paying attention. So for once, when the end comes, it isn't in the form of a petty, instructive punchline. It actually contains some horror.
ReplyDelete2nd last panel of the story may be the greatest comics image ever!
ReplyDeleteHaha! I just knew what the responses to this one would be today. You definitely can't go wrong with a story where EVERYONE DIES at the end.
ReplyDeleteI believe tomorrow's story is probably my favorite from this issue though, because what Nightmare Island possesses in sheer lunatic violence, tomorrow's "Hammer of Evil" (men) will warm the cockles of your luridly depraved sexual fantasies.
"Oh oh! An enormous rat is after us!" "Hey, let's build an enormous rat-trap! I'm sure I saw an enormous spring somewhere!" I love people who think like that. :)
ReplyDeleteOMG THIS WAS GREAT! YOU CAN'T FIND AN ENDING LIKE THAT IN A HUNDRED PRE-CODE COMIC BOOKS. MY FAVORITE STORY OF 2008 SO FAR!
ReplyDeleteThey actually built a giant rat trap to kill the giant rat…
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm speechless right now. That has got to be the craziest thing I've seen on THoIA so far (and that's sayin' something!). I'm loving this Voodoo stuff!
For those interested, you can find 3 more great Ajax / Farrell VOODOO stories in my archives, just use the search engine at the top of my blog and search these titles:
ReplyDeleteThe Game Called Dying
Corpses Coast to Coast
Heads of Horror (funny note: the splash panel of this story was actually used as the cover art on the following issue of stories I'm posting here this week?!) Talk about confusing.
That really IS a wonderful splash! There was no way I was going to not read the story after that splash!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely checking out more stories from Voodoo. This one has a senseless kind of nihilism that actually almost lives up to Wertham's rants!
"Then one day, it wasn't Haloween anymore." -Glen Or Glenda
I've been reading The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics, and it's really good! I could've used a lot more pre-code and less recent stuff. But the quality of the reproductions is great, and there are quite a few classics in there! And, at eighteen bucks for 479 pages, it's crazy cheap!
Batmanga is incredible!!! Thanks for his suggestion. Now my THOIA omage, done for you, is published in "Ciccio Foca Comix", I will send you a copy.
ReplyDeleteKilled by his own ingenuity. Way to go, genius.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't the male lead be named "Desi Arnaz"? :)
ReplyDeleteThis was really grim and crazy, but a really good read.
killer story and thanks for the heads up about the bat manga book too, looks cool
ReplyDeleteHands up, who thought before the giant mousetrap idea that they'd try to scientifically create a giant cat to catch the giant rat? Or course, once that mission was accomplished they'd need a giant dog to catch the cat that caught the rat that...
ReplyDeletewas also going to say this reminded me of the killer shrews movie a little bit
ReplyDeleteOne of your GREATEST post ever !
ReplyDeleteThe "Bat-Manga" alone would deserve a special mention , but not only the story is incredible ; it has one of the best splash pages I've ever seen ; it woul've been perfect as a cover for a Black Flag record !
Thanks for sharing !
that page from the Bat-Manga gives me an idea...again!
ReplyDeleteKarswell, that skull villain in the Bat Manga book looks just like you in your Halloween photo!
ReplyDeleteFantastic story! I appreciate the fact that the writer was genuinely trying to imbue his text with a literary feel (certainly by comparison with the clumsy prose of the "Doomed" story. The phrase "suffered a nasty, but non-fatal accident" should become standard reporting lingo for the news networks! (I'd kind of deduced the "non-fatal" part from the fact they were talking to each other!) The other great phrase is "Hours later, after some desperate improvising..."
ReplyDeleteI like the fact, too, that there is no villain as such. The scientist is unfriendly but not evil, and the rat is just following its instincts. Mind, I'm not sure what freak of genetic manipulation makes the rat growl like a dog rather than squeak.
The classic moment has to be, however, when the husband remembers the latches of the basement windows were loose and says "we'd better check them" - then sends his wife off alone to do it while he stays in the safe room with the big rat trap!
Before you implement a mouse or rat control program, it's always best to know the signs of a rodent infestation. Seeing a mouse or rat run through your garbage is an obvious sign, but more telling signs you have a mouse or rat issue are rub marks along walls, strong urine odors, gnawing and droppings.
ReplyDelete