I was going to blog an actual horror comic, from a series we had seen a few times before, but looking it up the issue in-hand was the last issue; so that has to wait for the end of the year! So, we'll try another issue of this! From 1988, Time Twisters #5, cover by Bil Maher.

The credit box for "Bad Maxwell!" has "J. Roberts" on art, but it's obviously Brendan McCarthy, on the first of four shorts this issue from Peter Milligan. Maxwell Mills was experimenting with improving the teleporter--mainly, in keeping just any yahoo with a teleporter from popping into your house--by keying it to his own molecular structure. Instead, he goes to a post-apocalyptic alternate earth, where a lone band of survivors was surrounded by horrible "waste-mutants!" Maxwell swindles the survivors out of their gold and leaves, knowing they wouldn't be able to follow unless they matched his molecular pattern. Like a mutant Maxwell Mills! Who shouldn't be able to match that, but hey, we only had four pages.

"Extra! Extra!" features a future where the computer-generated newspaper the World doesn't report what happened yesterday, but what was going to happen today. Computer genius J.B. Ropey is one of the few people in the world that could maybe affect the World, which is why today's headline was about his upcoming death: can he avoid it? Maybe for four pages! (Written by Peter Milligan, art by Jose Casanovas.) "Slashman, Kolwalski, and Rat" follows a three-person hit squad: but the main hitter may not be who you would expect. (Written by Steve Moore, art by Mike White.)

Milligan again for "But is it Art?" wherein an art thief and his trainee figure the most well-protected painting in a gallery would be the most valuable, right? Unless there was another reason for it to be locked up...(Art by Eric Bradbury.) And one more Milligan, in "The Snikker Snack!" A murderous smuggler loses a shape-changing snikker on his ship, but figures he can seal it off and the client can find it later. Unless the snikker makes a bad choice to hide as...(Art by Jeff Anderson.)

"The Collector" is a brief air-fighter number set in the Vietnam War (written by Kelvin Gosnell, art by Ian Kennedy) then in "The Mousetrap" a lunatic with a shotgun claims to be stopping an alien invasion, aided and abetted by mice; and like many lunatics in Future-Shocks he might be right! (Written by Alan Hebden, art by Massimo Belardinelli; as was the final story.)

Finally, in "Bad Vibrations" a galactic survey vessel tries to figure out what killed the colonists on a distant world. The captain is a Native American, which is mildly noteworthy; also, this is like the second 2000 AD story I've seen with plot points bearing a passing resemblance to M.Night Shyamalan's the Happening. What a twist! Read more!

This isn't a horror comic either, but it had it's moments.

I mean, the cover of this one has the Dire Wraiths Smallville'ing a kid and Rom choking a Wraith so hard it melts, so...from 1982, Rom: Spaceknight #36, "The Sign of the Victim is...Scarecrow!" Written by Bill Mantlo, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey.

Rom leaves a Dire Wraith-mutated girl in the care of Namor and Atlantis (which probably means, we never see her again) then uses his translator to listen to some whales singing. He's come to love earth; some of its inhabitants more than others. Case in point: at Clairton Cemetary, Brandy Clark visits the grave of the Spaceknight Starshine and pines for Rom. Brandy wishes she had died instead of Starshine, then maybe Rom could've been happy with Starshine, since they could never be together because she wasn't a Spaceknight...cue violins, except this time we get Starshine's ghost! Not it a spooky way, a friendly ghost who gives Brandy her power, since they both loved Rom. (There may be something else happening there; check later issues!)

Rom eventually hits land, scenic Wales! Where he finds a kid hung up like a scarecrow. Rom gets him down, and the kid explains, he was chosen, as an offering to "keep the evil away from Gwillyn Dale!" (Hill n' Dale?) It's a Welsh village that looks like it's still in the 18th century, which is about par for Marvel at the time: you never see cars in those German villages chasing Nightcrawler, either. The Dire Wraiths had taken a bunch of the village's children, and demanded another sacrifice every full moon. The townspeople don't think they have a choice, because if they fight, they'll lose the kids they already lost, so they keep sacrificing kids...then profit? I don't know what their strategy is here. The kid, Stephen, had prayed for a protector to help, and now he had one. Rom gets attacked by the Dire Wraiths, in one of their typical chatty fights: even through Rom had beat two "High Wraith Witches" in as many days, this one explains the stars were in her favor, as earth was lined up with the Black Sun of their Dark Nebula. They were going to turn the captured kids into weapons, since they knew bleeding-heart Rom wouldn't be able to turn his neutralizer on them.

Stephen gets dragged away into a mystic portal, and Rom is too late to give chase before it closes. Furious, Rom fights hand-to-hand with the Wraiths, and chokes one to death: as it crumbles to ashes, Rom is momentarily furious that he had murdered, even though in the previous panel it kinda looked like he had just punched one so hard its head exploded. Rom recovers his neutralizer from the fight, and gives the remaining Wraiths the choice between banishment or death: they go down shooting, and get banished. Still, Rom swears not to rest until the children are saved... 

Rom is such a fun series, but I think narratively, it was kind of sewn together on the fly? Was there an in-story reason why Rom had the (usually) non-lethal neutralizer to banish Wraiths rather than killing them, while other Spaceknights had more superhero-y traditional murder powers? This issue would've been about the three-year mark, but in-story Rom would've been fighting the Wraiths for much, much longer; and it might be unusual he hadn't killed before then. I've read a lot of the series, but not all of it. By the way, if the long-awaited Marvel Legends Rom only includes his neutralizer and doesn't have his analyzer or translator, you have my permission to riot.

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Another Twilight Zone comic? Just pretend I planned this or something.

From 1974, The Twilight Zone #59, cover (probably) by Joe Certa.

The cover story, "The Plague!" could easily have been an episode: Astronaut Strethers was returning to earth after ten years in deep space. That is, ten years for him, but thanks to relativistic speeds, five centuries had passed on earth. While there didn't appear to be any current conflicts, there was evidence of past nuclear wars; and Strethers straps on a sidearm, not knowing what to expect. Upon landing, the people greet him warmly at first, but then turn on him as a "plague carrier." Strethers flees into the forest, but chased by the villagers, he hides in a cave, where he eventually finds a computer complex. The computer had information about the plague: after a nuclear war, the second generation of survivors had almost a phobia of weapons, and gathered them up to be destroyed. Strethers realizes he won't need his gun and leaves it, rejoining the human race.

"The Stand-In" features a member of the idle rich, that maybe wishes he could be idler: because of his "social station" he was obligated to throw the occasional party, which he always found boring as hell. But, the next day, he sees an ad in the paper for "General Simulacrum," which promises a life-like mechanical substitute. He purchases a simulacrum, which proves a perfect stand-in at his next party. Free of his dull guests, he heads to a nearby bar to celebrate, but sees a couple that was at his party--they had sent their own simulacrums to the party, and so had everyone else, for like the last year or so. Hashtag first world problems.

In "Shock Treatment," a condemned prisoner volunteers for a scientist's "transition shock therapy" program, which does seem to change him for the better: he saves the warden from some other prisoners' escape attempt. But, they weren't able to commute his sentence, so he still gets the chair; but that's just another shock to him now. Finally, "the Golden Glove," wherein a greedy baron stops wringing gold out of the peasants, to get it from an alchemist. He spies on the alchemist to learn the secret, but doesn't use it carefully. This one ends, with a really off-model Rod Serling in a minstrel's outfit, if that does anything for you.

No Hostess ad this time? Feels like I've been robbed. Read more!

This also isn't strictly a horror comic, but maybe close.

From 1994, Punisher War Zone Annual #2, "Hurt So Good" Written by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Dale Eaglesham, inks by Al Williamson. 

I had to look part of this up, since it's been forever since I've read the first few issues of Punisher War Zone, although you can probably picture that cover there! Mickey Fandozzi and "Johnny Tower" were supposed to "take care of" Carbone family second-in-command Sal, but lost him: Sal tried to escape across a frozen river but fell in, and Mickey and "Johnny" figured he was done for. (Johnny was of course really the Punisher, infiltrating the crime family.) Sal survived but maybe wasn't living his best life: he managed to get out of the ice, but lost his memory from oxygen starvation. He remembered the faces of the guys that brought him to that, but not a ton else. This issue opens with the amnesiac "Thorn" interrupting a gun deal, killing everyone there and helping himself to their stuff and ride, as he makes his way to this place he vaguely recalls, "New York." Which kind of seems like it would be a nightmare to deal with, in his condition? A lot going on and moving fast, while Thorn seemed to move like a zombie with frostbite. 

Seemingly by instinct, Thorn drives around the streets that no longer mean anything to him, until he happens to hear Mickey's voice talking to a worker. Before he can circle back to get him, he gets accosted by the gunrunner's crew, and coolly guns them down. The shooting should have given Mickey a head's up, but he's like yeah, I know, tough neighborhood, whatever; until Thorn starts shooting up his place. Mickey barely escapes, but that's all part of Thorn's plan: he could follow him, to the other one, "the one with the face of stone." Sure enough, Mickey runs crying to Frank; and a long shootout ensues: the gunrunners try to take Thorn in the middle of it, and get chewed up by both sides. Frank plays dead at one point, which leaves Thorn wondering, what was left for him? While he's mulling that over, Frank throws his ass off of an overpass, but Thorn lands on the roof of a semi, virtually unscathed; but he sees Frank looking down on him again, like before beneath the ice. Thorn ends up on the streets of Newark, seemingly without much left in the tank. 

Also this issue: some two-fisted action in "Second Chance," as Frank faces an old foe, Roc, again. Their fight had been interrupted before, but Frank thinks he can take him hand-to-hand: eventually, sure, but it wasn't a picnic. (Written by Ralph Macchio, pencils by David Ross, inks by Tim Dzon.) Then, in "Domino Theory" a gangster's girl plots to take over, and it goes really well! Right up to the point where Frank shoots her. (Written by Steven Grant, art by Alberto Saichann.)

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"Seasonal."

A longer one this time!

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This might not seem like a horror book; and it's not!

Really could've been, though. From 1990, Uncanny X-Men #260, "Star 90" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Marc Silvestri, inks by Dan Green.

When this came out, I would've maybe read like one issue of Dazzler's solo book off of the spinner racks; but her former agent Eric Beale had appeared before, although not as a drooling psychotic. Well, cocaine is a helluva drug, although it's not pictured, and described as "primo snow serious buzz" with some monstrous sound FX for sniffing. So, Marvel won't show drug use, but a ton of simulated violence against women, that's just fine. Cool, cool. Anyway, Eric's lost the reality knob, and plots to murder the recently returned Alison Blaire, who at the moment, was not that far away in Malibu. After going through the Siege Perilous, she was back, but without a lot of her memories, which she seems to see as baggage she was better off without. She was currently staying at one of Lila Cheney's houses, with her old friend Fred Stanachek and Lila's bodyguard Guido Carosella, the future Strong Guy.

Fred is not only crushing super-hard on Alison; he also had found maybe the only surviving print of the Dazzler movie. After a screening, Guido admits it ain't bad; but Alison has no interest in promoting it or becoming a star: that was another woman, another life. She opts out of the conversation in possibly the most dramatic way, by stripping down to a swimsuit, grabbing a board, and hitting the beach for night surfing. This gives Eric a chance to shoot at her: he misses his first shot, then clips her surfboard. Ali zaps his gun, but Eric gets away as Fred and Guido pull her out of the water. Still, this gives her something to do: promote the movie, to draw out her potential killer.

Next, hey, more violence against women! Who would usually do a better job taking care of themselves, even. Colossus, also having gone through the plot device Siege Perilous, didn't have his memory and was fixated on a beautiful woman he had seen but kept disappearing on him. He gets another chance, as she's attacked by an X-Men themed gang, while wearing what appears to be a prom dress. Peter steps in, and also does a crap job, but is saved by Genoshan mutate Jenny Ransome. The woman disappears again, though: she was really Callisto; her old face taken away by Masque. Usually she'd have been able to slaughter that gang with one arm tied behind her back, but maybe the dress was a hindrance.

Fred gets Alison a meeting with a movie studio, that she doesn't seem particularly invested in; telling the exec she wasn't Dazzler, but her "evil twin, Skippy." This leads to a couple pages of makeovers, interspersed with Eric's slapstick attempt to murder her, that gets interrupted by his own forced makeover. Then, three more subplot pages, as Forge and Banshee are on their way to Muir Island, to see what was going on there. They are sidetracked, first by the new issue of People with Alison on the cover (artwork, she still didn't show on film!) then by the plane they would've been on getting shot down by Fenris! Who, like typical rich kids, halfass their job and don't even bother leaving their yacht to make sure they got Banshee: they had got a tip-off from someone; I suspect Moira/the Shadow King, or whatever. Banshee flies off with Forge, taking a page from the X-Men's book: let everyone think they were dead.

On the beach at Malibu, Alison's all dressed up for her movie's premiere, but still doesn't really care. She misses it anyway, as Eric...sneaks up on her with a three-wheeler, disguised as a cop, and bops her with a nightstick? Unless her powers were working overtime, she should've heard that blocks away! Back at his house, Eric changes Alison's outfit to her classic Dazzler spandex, but with a bag tied over her head. She's able to blast eyeholes through it with a photon blast, but her hands were still tied and she was in roller-skates, and she was running out of options: even if she had the juice for a laser, that would be a fatal response...which Eric probably deserves. Instead, she cranks up the lightshow to hypnotise him, mellowing his buzz out to the point he was harmless.

And, I think that's a wrap for Alison in this run of Uncanny: pretty sure Guido would appear again before she would. This issue takes its title from the Dorothy Stratten biopic Star 80 but instead plays the stalker mostly for laughs: I don't know if Claremont wasn't interested in going harder with that, or if he had been limited editorially. Despite the overwhelming magenta hue, the Jim Lee cover makes it seem like it was going to be a much darker story, although Alison's powers do maybe keep her out of a lot of danger. This also feels like a missed opportunity, to maybe toss out some problematic aspects of her continuity--some stuff from the Dazzler graphic novel is deeply skeevy, but Jim Shooter also gets a cameo here, so mixed messages? Read more!

We mentioned this show at the start of last year, and I don't know if we'll have a scanproof book every Monday this month, but this is a good start: from 2002, Kolchak: the Night Stalker, written by Jeff Rice, pencils by Gordon Purcell, inks by Terry Pallot. 

This was an adaptation of the first Carl Kolchak story, which was a 1972 movie: it was based on a then-unpublished novel by Rice, and adapted by horror legend Richard Matheson. Abrasive reporter Kolchak doggedly pursues the story of the "Night Stalker" murders, which appear to be the work of a vampire, or someone that thinks they're a vampire. No, they're definitely a vampire. The cops are useless except for getting thrown around by the vampire, then planting evidence after Kolchak takes care of things himself. It's a frustrating end, as Kolchak gets his Vegas privileges removed; but only slightly more annoying that his usual cases. On the brighter side, I'm always glad to see Gordon Purcell art! He did a ton of DC's Star Trek.

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