Category Archives: vampires
Fear Not The Sun With I, Vampire Vol. 2: Rise Of The Vampires On The Wednesday Run – March 13, 2013
Living in Canada’s largest city, my comic book loving pals and I are blessed with what seems like regular weekend occurrences of comic book conventions. Of course, they don’t happen every weekend. No, it only seems that way – especially as spring edges ever closer. Comic book conventions, you know, are a precursor to tulips.
Anyway, alongside this site’s Editor-In-Chief, Andy Burns, making out way through the aisles of long boxes, trades and hardcovers, t-shirts, toys and posters, I spied the trade paperback publication of volume one of DC Comics’ fantastic vampire tale, I, Vampire. It’s one of my favourite ongoing monthly reads right now. But like all good things, the series is about to come to an end. By next month, I, Vampire will be dead.
Today, with the publication of its second trade collection, I, Vampire is very much alive. Nay, it’s more than alive. Why, it’s very much transcendent!
And you need to discover why…
Werewolves, Twilight And Tainted Love
Okay, I don’t want to hear any groaning when I announce this bit of news… I’m a Twilight saga fan. Oh yea! I not only read the books, but also went to all of the midnight opening shows, and furthermore, I was “Team Edward.” Okay, okay, I’ll allow one loud groan for that part. When our illustrious leader, Andy Burns, asked us to post a story for Tainted Love February, I picked the Twilight Saga and my take on poor Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) the shape shifter and his on again/off again relationship with the ever fickle Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). Being a strong-willed Italian and a romantic at heart, I expect the lead female of any book or movie to know what she wants, but with the Twilight Saga, Bella and her relationship with Jacob goes through more dips and turns than a runaway roller coaster ride. If you think that Jacob was confused, well so was I. Meet me after the jump.
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Non-Sexy Vampires Haunt Marie Gilbert’s Review of The Strain
I love vampire books and movies and yes, I’m a sucker for the romantic sexy vampires like Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) and Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) in HBO’s True Blood. In fact, Eric can nibble on my neck anytime he wants. I didn’t always think of those pale blood suckers as sexy, heck no! My first encounter with a vampire was at the Saturday Double Creature Feature offered by our neighborhood movie theatre.
Bela Lugosi was downright scary in his portrayal of Dracula. How scary, you ask? My siblings and I took all the garlic from my father’s
grocery store and placed them around our beds. My father was not happy with his produce being used as a talisman against monsters. But as time went on, the vampires in books, movies and T.V. shows evolved into handsome, sexy men and women. They still sucked the life out of their victims, but did so in a more charming way. Yes, the sexy vamp was in…that is… until I read The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. This book, about an ancient vampire, brought back all my old fears. I couldn’t sleep after reading just a few chapters and would have brought some garlic to bed with me, but my husband nixed my plan. What was different about The Strain? Find out after the jump. Read the rest of this entry
Marie Gilbert’s Top Five TV Shows of 2012
I don’t watch a lot of TV and if I’m not with my grandchildren, I’m either ghost hunting or writing paranormal stories. When I do watch, I like stories that deal with the supernatural, science fiction, or horror, so it was really hard to come up with just five favorites. “The Walking Dead” is my #1 favorite and my reviews of this brilliant show can be found here at Biff Bam Pop! I’m also a fan of “Doctor Who” and “Firefly,” but I will save my reviews of these two for another time. So let’s begin with my Top Five after the jump.
Saturday at the Movies: Nosferatu 1922
During the month of October, many of the articles I contributed to the 31 Days of Horror here at Biff Bam Pop! were about movies that just scare the crap outta me. There’s stuff like Trilogy of Terror, White Zombie and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, but this one… this one not only won’t I watch it again, but I get scared just thinking about it. Read my thoughts on the original silent Nosferatu after the jump.
31 Days of Horror – The Tomb of Dracula
Marvel Comics’ The Tomb of Dracula, by writer Marv Wolfman, artist Gene Colan and inker Tom Palmer, was one of the more underrated, but still perhaps one of the best comic book series of the 1970s. Its mark in comics history goes far beyond an adaptation of everyone’s favorite king of the vampires, as it may have been a turning point for the industry itself when comes to horror, paving the way for the horror comics of today like The Walking Dead. Find out more after the jump.
31 Days of Horror – Cosmic Horror In The Buffyverse and Angel’s “A Hole in the World”
Joss Whedon’s triumphant summer of Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers follows a line of thought that leads all the way back to the good old “Buffyverse”. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is all about the inversion of horror conventions. A diminutive blonde cheerleader is chased down a dark alley by a monster… only to pause, turn, raise an eyebrow, pull out a sharp object, and invert the monster’s conventions directly. In that vein, Angel takes the question in another direction: he *is* the monster, fighting other monsters, trying to make up for more than a century of chasing blonde cheerleaders down dark alleys.
Obviously, Buffy isn’t invincible. Lots of things can challenge Buffy: high school politics, standardized tests, the Patriarchy as represented by the Watchers. Eventually, these are overcome by the use of force, the support of friends, and a firm belief in one’s self. Angel uses a similar approach, though he is also conveniently immortal, and consequently emotionally insulated by 200 years of insight into the human condition. What is horror to a vampire?
This is obviously a question Joss Whedon asked again and again, but in the fifteenth episode of season 5 of Angel, “A Hole in the World”, he may have found the definitive answer.
Find out more after the jump!
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Black Kiss 2 #1 Is Signed, Sealed And Hopefully Delivered On The Wednesday Run – August 1, 2012
When it comes to comic books and comic book stores, I have three distinct memories of the latter half of the 1980’s:
First, I remember buying multiple copies of the premiere issue of Justice League. The local comic book shop I frequented had a two-copy limit on purchases of it so I used my younger brother (who didn’t read comics) as an excuse to exceed that threshold. I cashed out with a part-timer, but the owner actually chased me into the parking lot to verify my story! Easily done when you have a bemused – and in on the game – Dad waiting for you in the car.
Secondly, I remember forlornly waiting for the last, delayed issue of Watchmen, every extra week, an eternity. “I did it thirty-five minutes ago” has an entirely different meaning in my world.
Lastly, I remember standing inside my local comic book shop in the summer of 1988 and looking up at the top shelf of the bookrack behind the cash register – the rack where many European comics were kept on display – wondering, “What’s in that sealed plastic bag?”
That, my comic book loving friends, was what the late 1980’s, had become. That was Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss #1.
