New comic book Wednesday has come and gone. The dust at your local comic shop has settled. An eerie silence descends as you finish reading your last superhero book of the week. Now it's time for something a little more sinister. Welcome to Bagged and Boarded: comic reviews of the sick, spooky, twisted and terrifying!
Ghosted No. 1Jackson T. Winters is a world famous criminal. He’s robbed the rich, the famous, and the powerful, and he was doing it well for most of his life... until he ended up in jail. Rotting away in a woeful spot seemed to be his only course of action until a stranger with a machine gun busted him out. Now he’s tasked by an eccentric millionaire with a strange new gig in exchange for his freedom. He’s got to break into a historically haunted and occult-centric mansion and steal a ghost. Sounds easy, right?
Bag it or board it up? The tagline for this comic reads, “A horror/crime mashup that’s equal parts Ocean’s 11 and The Shining” and, so far, they’re right! This is a vulgar, very adult, gleefully inappropriate combination of heist and haunted house that will definitely keep me coming back for more. Dig into this comic from the ground up with issue one.
The Walking Dead No. 112The saga of our hero Rick versus the world’s most vile villain ever, Negan, continues. Rick comes knocking to his captors and in the process brutally murders one of Rick’s gang. Rick flips his lid (as he should) and plans an attack on the unassuming Negan. But will his rash actions get his whole crew in trouble again?
Bag it or board it up? The Walking Dead, where bad things happen to good people, where bad things happen to bad people, and where good things happen to... pretty much no one. This is as bleak an issue as any we’ve seen of late, but this time there’s plenty of action packed into a short, compact little comic. If you’re following along so far you know what to expect, and this issue doesn’t disappoint.
Breath of Bones No. 2
Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) brings the second installment (out of three) in his retelling of a classic folkloric tradition. The tale of the clay golem, so intrinsic in Jewish folklore, gets a handsome treatment in this comic book. We follow the story of a small village in Europe during World War II. Life in the town, already tense with tales of atrocity outside their borders, is shaken up when an allied fighter jet crashes in their field. Now, hiding the pilot, the town must decided whether to hand him in or wait it out. Or they could go for a more... monstrous route.
Bag it or board it up? Two issues in and we’re expecting to see the golem, but we’re seeing the tension of the axis powers encroaching on a small village. Niles and artist Dave Watcher create a palpable sense of tension and fear in this quiet, beautiful black and white comic. I have a feeling that the payoff in the final issue will be so monumental and epic that this series will go down in history. Here’s hoping!
Eerie Comics No. 3Eerie Comics returns with another issue of mini-comics of the supernatural and scientific bent. Watch out for giant babies floating around Saturn. Beware the hunger that will turn you into a ravenous monster. And, of course, steer clear of the Man Hunters. These short little stories drip with nostalgia for a time when you could buy a giant rubber Frankenstein mask from the back of your Spider-Man comic.
Bag it or board it up? Of all the horror serials, I think Eerie Comics may be my favorite. Why? Well, it says it right there on the cover. It’s “Science Horror.” That means, I think, that they offer up the finest short comics about science-fiction/horror. I love spaceships. I love monsters. Why wouldn’t I love everything that ships out from this comic? Well, this issue held some real treats, especially the one about the killer star children. Dave’s revenge, know what I mean?