The opening track from, in my opinion, the best album Black Sabbath ever recorded. Not only does all the music knock it out of the park, but Sabotage is easily the best collection of lyrics the band ever produced, highlights being "Meglomania," "Thrill Of It All" and "The Writ" (on an album where nearly every song has deep, introspective and philosophical lyrics, most of which were written by Geezer Butler).
NCBD:
Cannot wait for this issue. You'll Do Bad Things is proving to be a bizarre, Slasher/Giallo tribute that has me questioning everything I've seen in its pages so far. Look at that cover!
WTFPFH?'s current solicitations end with this issue, so I'm not sure where we are in the story. Also, because of the recent gap, I just feel lost again. I'll probably wait to start a re-read until I know when this is returning again. I did, however, sign up for Matthew Rosenberg's free Substack newsletter HERE just to see if I can get any updates. Looking at his page, it seems like all the focus is on a book I totally missed called, We're Taking Everyone Down With Us. I love Rosenberg's writing, but with how WTFPFH? has languished for so long, not sure I'm down with jumping on anything new from him yet.
Garth Ennis and Becky Cloonan? Goddamn right I'm picking this up. I'm so happy to see Boom! still doing so well. Not sure how many issues this is going to run, but I'm in just based on the creators alone. I can't remember the last title I read that Ms. Cloonan drew.
Mike Shinabarger and I covered News From the Fallout issue one on Drinking with Comics a few weeks ago, and both of us quite liked it. Looking forward to issue 2. Jeffrey Alan Love's art really makes an impression and seems ideally suited to the story.
The more I hear about Mark Spears' Monsters, the more I realize this is a career-making book for Mr. Spears. I think that's awesome. I also think the book is slowly getting better, uncoiling into something I don't think any of us can anticipate. Spears is drawing from such a broad swathe of comic book character iconography - Universal Monsters, Spy Stories, Grindhouse, and now... Superheroes?
I'm still holding onto Lazarus Fallen issue #1 as I finish a rather large spate of current readings and prepare to deep-dive the original two series, Lazarus and Lazarus Risen, again. I can't believe this book is back and coming out monthly like clockwork! Not a knock on the creators; I've just gone without for so long. And talk about a timely return. A not-so-distant future where wealth is politics? Sound familiar?
Watch:
Last night, K and I saw Michael Shanks' debut film Together, where real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie play a married couple going through issues who encounter an alien substance that begins to fuse them into a single form.
This one is getting A LOT of traction, and it's well deserved. I love that Body Horror has become something of a household word post-The Substance, and Together will likely continue that. And while I'm not the biggest fan of the two leads, both do a fantastic job, as does Damon Harriman, who most will know as Dewey Crow from Justified.
I can't wait to see what Michael Shanks does next!
Playlist:
Faetooth - Hole (pre-release single)
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
Ghost - Meliora
Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel
Shellac - At Action Park
Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me
Windhand - Eternal Return
Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Black Pyramid - The Paths of Time are Vast
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Page of Wands
• Eight of Pentacles
• XV: The Devil
Baggage. All the fiery energy of the Knight of Wands, but held back by over-analysis or indecision. Concentration can help. However, it's often difficult to know how to begin that, as concentration is itself a product of Will.
All this seems to shore up this idea I have in my head that I need to take a reboot day and really dig in and clean up a bunch of the unfinished shit in my head to make room for a new concetration generator.
Probably my second favorite Ozzy track, "Shot in the Dark" is the final track on 1986's The Ultimate Sin. I knew this song from its inception as a single, and it wasn't until the early 90s that I heard the entire album from which it hails. At that time, I wasn't a fan of the album, just the song, which seemed like a moody anomaly on an otherwise, at-first-glance collection of so-so 80s hard rock (It didn't help that my high school girlfriend and her two older sisters played Ozzy non-stop for the three years we dated. Forced familiarity can indeed breed contempt, a lesson we could have applied to our relationship, as well).
Maybe ten years ago or so, I gave The Ultimate Spin another chance, and found that, not only did I remember a lot of the tracks, but I remembered them kindly. Excitedly, even. Since then, this has become a go-to Ozzy record for me. As much as I love and respect the man, I don't gel with a lot of his solo work. Riding high off No More Tears, I was ready to embrace Ozzmosis when it landed in 1995, but the lead single, "Perry Mason," just seemed like such a ridiculous song. Like Ozzy had somehow gone all the way around the bend into self-parody. The album didn't sit much better with me, and that was the last of his solo work I paid attention to until Mr. Brown got me into 2020's Ordinary Man circa 2021. Producer Andrew Watt ended up being the best thing to happen to the Ozzman in decades, as I'd rank Ordinary Man and Patient No. 9 as instant classics. Both records are of a caliber that, while the early stuff is still untouchable, hold their own.
I've made it my mission to comb through his catalogue and see if I missed anything.
NCBD:
Great pull list this week. Let's go!
Void Rivals has been picking up steam as we move toward the Quintesson War's start in upcoming issue 25. We have an army of Skuxxoids, Hot Rod and Springer, the Quintessons, Zerta, and Cobra La. That's A LOT of tension points for a story, and somehow, Kirkman balances them all perfectly, letting out little bits of steam here and there so we know that in a couple of issues, things are going to go OFF!
Zander Cannon's Sleep is the, ah, sleeper hit of 2025. Seriously, this book is fantastic! When I first picked up issue one, I thought the art would be a tonal aberration I wouldn't be able to get over. Turns out, it's the exact opposite. Cannon's style belies a dark underbelly that froths with blood and bad things.
Minor Arcana quickly proved itself as another burgeoning Jeff Lemire masterpiece, a la Fishflies. This time, however, there's a long run and a more involved plot. The sleepy seaside small town setting and exploration of a failed fortune teller are masks for something bigger and much more malevolent, and the reveals come slow and steady, once again showcasing the deep-seated influence of David Lynch in this man's storytelling.
Almost as if the Universe sent this cover to pay homage to Ozzy's passing. I have no idea what this book is about, but when I saw the title/cover combo, I knew I'd have to track it down.
James Tynion & Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses continues barreling along its destructive path and you're damn straight I'll once again have a front row seat! I have a feeling this book is going to really surprise us along the way. Not everything is as straightforward as it seems.
Watch:
For reasons I simply cannot fathom, about two years ago I walked away from HBOs Doom Patrol series and never came back. This wasn't intentional; I'm not really sure how I got like this, but I tend to leave shows - even shows I adore - hanging. Something kicked in again last week, and I rewatched the entire second season and am now perched atop the first episode of Season Three, which is unfamiliar ground for me.
I can't stress how much I love this show. It's absurd, moving, and outright bat shit. The look of it is among my favorite looks to any show or film - the lighting is soft, dark, but still colorful. The set design is symmetrical, cohesive and downright creepy A.F., when it needs to be. And the original, Dada-esque undertones Grant Morrison so lovingly wove through his run on the book in the 80s are always ever-present. These elements would be disparate and jarring in the hands of most, but this show blends them all perfectly.
Playlist:
Deee-Lite - Dewdrops in the Garden
Deee-Lite - World Clique
Primus - Antipop
Hot Stove Jimmy - It's a System...
Lard - The Last Temptation of Reid
Meat Puppets - Dusty Notes
Deadfly Buchowski - Russian Doll E.P.
Zombi - 2020
Zombi - Direct Inject
Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came
Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
Ozzy Osbourne - Perry Mason (single)
Ozzy Osbourne - Down to Earth
Ozzy Osbourne - No Rest for the Wicked
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Page of Wands
• Two of Cups
• Four of Wands
Creative emotional support is needed to reclaim a regular sense of balance, i.e. in this case, duty. I remain in a non-writing paradigm. I did begin re-reading Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie, a much-needed and until now shirked necessity for, you know, working on the sequel. That's a major step for me, but I need to get back to a regular routine and it just seems to be drifting further and further away. A day stolen here or there just doesn't amount to much, and I think the cards are telling me that I need to ask K for help.
From the LONG-AWAITED album Private Music, out August 22nd. Order HERE. Easily one of my most anticipated albums of the last five years, I'm absolutely stoked we're getting this next month. I cannot wait to put on headphones, smoke some pot (increasingly rare) and listen to this record from start to finish.
NCBD:
HUGE haul today. Let's dive in:
Oni's resurrection of EC comics continues to evolve. No sooner did Epitaphs From the Abyss end, than the the Grave Digger has passed the proverbial Horror mic to his cohort, The Tormentor, for the new series Catacomb of Torment.
New Z News! I still have barely scratched the surface of the backlog of issues I picked up in Chicago last month, but good to no it's still going.
Has this series had the best covers of 2025? Maybe. I'm still loving that this is bi-monthly and wondering how we lucked into that? Reminds me of the old 80s Turtles, when it would come out bi-monthly or... maybe later. Either way, it's been very cool to see Jason Aaron come on board with the brothers completely pulled apart and slowly... oh so slowly... put them back together.
Oh man. Crisis time - Phantom Road's current arc, The Horror Men, ends next issue and the solicitations on League of Comic Book Geeks ends there, so that means, with Lemire having all the irons in the fire he does, this series is about to go back on hiatus.
One of my most anticipated books when it's dropping, it's hard to imagine going another couple of months without Phantom Road. But I guess we do what we have to do.
I have been waiting for Imperial issue 2 for what feels like months! I loved the first issue, and cannot wait to jump back in, especially with Hulk's proclamation of "War" at the end of the first issue!
This whole "Baroness as a Joe" scenario continues despite the hope last issue's cover instilled in me. Oh well, I'll just shut my mouth because at this point, there's probably no way I'm not going to continue this series. The one silver lining is the burgeoning friendship between Clutch and Hound. LOVE that development A LOT! Hear Mike Shin and I talk about this on the new episode of Drinking with Comics, HERE.
\Speaking of the latest episode of Drinking with Comics, I convinced my cohost, Mike Shin, to read Ben Winters and Leomacs' Philip K. Dick amalgamation, Benjamin, and he loved it! What's not to love? PKD lived an absolutely fascinating life, and, in retrospect, it blows my mind that it took this long for someone to use that life as fodder for a fictional story! Issue two drops tomorrow, and I cannot wait!!!
Two episodes from the finale and I have to say, Ian Carpenter and Aaron Martin's Hell Motel (i.e. Slasher, season six) might just be the Horror Event of 2025! Every episode has been fantastic, but this week's? Chef's fucking kiss!
This show is so expertly plotted. A perfectly maddening Whodunit? combined with all the beautifully brutal flourishes Slasher is known for, the combination just works so goddamn well! Also, while I gave props to Martin and Carpenter up front as the creators, lest it not be forgotten that the inimitable Adam MacDonald directed all of these nasty little fuckers.
Playlist:
Ty Segall - Possession
Deftones - White Pony
Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
Deftones - Eponymous
dan le sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles
Drug Church - Prude
Hangman's Chair - Saddiction
YUNGBLUD - Idols
Horrendous - Ontological Mysterium
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9
Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order (Vol. 1)
Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell
Reggie Watts - Fuck Shit Stack (single)
Jogger - Nephicide (single)
Mi Loco Tango - Rocco and His Brothers (single)
Abby Sage - Smoke Break (single)
Abby Sage - The Rot
Crystal Castles - II
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Nine of Swords
• IX: The Hermit
• Nine of Wands
Two nines? Not sure this has occurred for me before. Climax and accomplishment? That combined with the Hermit actually lead me to believe this is a direct acknowledgement by the cosmos (ie my inner self) that I've earned the break I've taken, through the accomplishment of finishing my book and the culmination of Sweetie's existence. But it's almost time to really tune back in,.
Blackbraid III will be released independently on August 8th, and you can pre-order directly from the artist HERE.
I'll tell you, I have no problem spending whatever an artist wants to sell their physical media for in 2025 because they need to recoup the cost of services like spotify raping them (while pouring their profits in to the AI arms race). This Blackbraid merchandise looks fantastic - I had to restrain the impulse to buy one of the bundles with the shirt and hoodie - and this is easily the best-looking vinyl release I've seen all year.
NCBD:
A pretty robust haul this week. Let's go!
This time, it's all about the "B" cover! LOVE this! Those shadowy Decepticon images amidst fire and ruin, with Only two issues left with DWJ. I haven't seen who is taking over, but it looks like it's just in time for Quintesson War, which starts in Void Rivals 25 and, I'd imagine, will at the very least echo through this book.
My first issue of Savage Sword as a now monthly subscriber and I'm psyched! I owe a huge debt to my good friend Grimm for turning me onto this book.
I have been looking forward to Planet Death number one since stumbling on issue 0 last month. If you want to know more, check out the Drinking with Comics Mike Shinabarger and I did on this one HERE.
Dark Regrets is turning out to be insanely fun and pretty damn funny to boot! As much as I love Black Metal and (most) of its aesthetic, you have to admit, there's a lot there to make fun of.
Look at that cover by Miguel Mercado! And inside, Andrea Sorrentino's art adds an extra punch to the first mini-series spin-off from the anthology Epitaphs From the Abyss. Not sure if there are any more coming after this wraps up with issue number 4, but hopefully. That's the awesome thing about running an anthology - you can always mine the stories therein for longer ones down the road.
The penultimate issue of Dark Pattern's Case 03: Pareidolia. Can't wait to see where this is going. I've sampled a handful of Batman books over the last year - the first book* to feature the dark detective that I've read in years - and this? This has been one of my favorites (but nothing beats Gargoyle of Gotham!)
* Not entirely true; there was that Maxx/Batman book a few years ago. I didn't buy that for Batman, though.
Watch:
A few days ago, I mentioned my Criterion Sale items, Repo Man and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure. Since I spoke a bit about Repo Man the other day, I wanted to talk now about Cure.
I've heard about this one for years, but somehow never got around to it until now. Wow. Talk about atmospheric! There is a beautiful pall that hangs over this film, and while it grinds the characters to dust, it creates a singular cinematic experience for the viewer. The tension is so quiet! That's gotta be hard to do, because no one does it. At least, not like Kurosawa does here.
For years, one of the things I always saw referenced about this film was how it was the start of the Japanese Horror movement of the late 90s/early 00s. That was an immediate turn-off, because with few exceptions, I'm not really a fan of that era of Japanese Horror. I see now that both the inclusion of Cure in with films like Ringu and Juwon is a false relation, and my own preconceived notions about Japanese Horror from that era are wrong. I wouldn't call either a sweeping generalization, but it's close. It's also a great reminder to draw my own conclusions. Sometimes, certain cinematics feel akin to a quagmire, and I after a small sampling, I run for the hills. Best not to do that, and Cure is the, well, cure?
I loved this film and am happy to have it on my shelf. Further study is on the horizon.
Playlist:
Stephen Sanchez - Angel Face
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Arcade Fire - Everything Now
Shellac - 1000 Hurts
The Reverend Horton Heat - Liquor in the Front
Sonic Youth - Dirty
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
bunsenburner - Reverie
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
Ike Reilly - Salesmen and Racists
Muggs - Dust
Blackbraid - The Dying Breath of the Stag (pre-release single)
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality*
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9
* Read a fantastic article about a girl who owns 54 different vinyl pressings of Master of Reality HERE.
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Queen of Cups
• Eight of Pentacles
• Four of Wands
Queen of Cups again - as I write this on Tuesday afternoon, Sweetie has returned from surgery. A section of her intestines is enlarged, and - tests pending - it's likely lymphoma. We have been instructed to begin administering Prednisone today, which the Vet says should help hold it at bay and make her feel better. Once the lab results come back and we know for sure what we're dealing with, we can proceed. It's not the best result, but for now, I will take it and lavish her with Queen of Cups-sized emotion.
Eight of Pentacles - dedication.
Four of Swords - two interpretations that I can see lining up from those in the Grimoire. The first is completion and balance. The second is, "recognize completion and channel it into the next phase." These would seem to be offering two separate wisps of advice, because, of course, I'm interpreting this all about Sweetie. It's not an easy thing to let a loved one suffer, and that is definitely not our intention. So the idea is we treat it best we can. If it's lymphoma, we'll do chemo, which for cats isn't the same as it is for people. We're talking about a pill. I don't know, I have to do a lot more research. First things first, though. We need those results.
Another new song from Wake the Devil, featuring former members of The Thirsty Crows! Hell yeah!
NCBD:
Small Pull this week. After the last few and my trip to Amazing Fantasy in Chicago last weekend, my wallet thanks me!
Crap! Didn't realize Plague House was only going four issues! This saddens me a bit, however, Oni Press's strength this year has been precision. Michael W. Conrad and Dave Chisholm's super violent spin on the haunted house/ghost hunter trope is another in what is becoming a sizable line of quality mini-series for the company in 2025, and I'm hoping that leads to another round of the same in 2026.
With my shop in the process of integrating a new, post-Diamond POS and Pull system, G.I. JOE ARAH is going down as a pull. I've been reading it since Skybound and Image brought Hama and crew back last year, but never put it down on my actual list simply because, after not reading it since issue 116 or something, I had missed A LOT. Also, not sure I'll ever feel compelled to fill in that gap. But when Skybound said, "Issue 300 is a great jumping-on point for new or returning readers," they were not kidding. There have been a lot of changes in the book I've watched from afar for years (Lady Snake Eyes?), but as I should have expected, Hama handles it all with deft plotting and fantastic character development, and I am really enjoying this run.
Watch:
I had a BLAST taking part in the June Dread Broadcast Horror Discussion Panel!
Tim and John are really curating something special, with an emphasis on community. So many great recommendations! Talk about overwhelming. If you're on IG, follow all these folks!
A couple things I added to my list thanks to the other panelists that I'm most excited about are:
Bark, a 2023 film from Director Marc Schölermann and writer Steve Fauquier:
Brian McAuley's 2022 Slasher-adjacent novel Curse of the Reaper:
And Criterion's release of the Criterion release of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1932 atmospheric film Vampyr (currently $19.99 during Barnes and Noble's Criterion sale):
And really, this is only scratching the surface! I love the focus on media and community that The Dread Broadcast are applying to the show and cannot recommend this one enough!
Playlist:
Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell
Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came
Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services
The Jesus Lizard - Liar
Young Widows - Power Sucker
Melvins - Thunderball
Christopher Young - Sinister OST
Perturbator - Age of Aquarius (pre-release singles)
Hangman's Chair - Saddiction
Ty Segall - Possession
Wake the Devil - Snake Eyes (single)
Wake the Devil - Eternally Under Your Spell (single)
Dávila 666 - Eponymous EP
Melvins - Tarantula Heart
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Botch - We Are the Romans
Greg Puciato - Fc5n EP
Ruin of Romantics - Velvet Dawn
Dreamkid - Daggers
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XVII: The Star
• Knight of Swords
• King of Swords
Conflict leads to enlightenment. And isn't that the way conflict should work? I mean, as humans, there's always going to be conflict. Paths converge, and not always in a complementary fashion. But what should occur in the wake of that is conversation, growth, enlightenment, empathy and understanding.
That's not usually what happens in 2025 though, on either a macro or micro scale (because as we know from the Gnostics, the one reflects the other). A reminder then, to greet adversity with a smile and an open mind. Yeah, that sounds a bit unrealistic or woo woo, but it's true.
From JD McPherson's excellent 2024 album Nite Owls. I gave this one a spin a few times last year, but on the way back from Chicago over the weekend, Mr. Brown threw me a burned copy and I stepped into its sonic beauty early yesterday and just couldn't get out. Fabulous, and one of those that should have made my "Best of" list last year (there are always regrets).
You can snag a copy of Nite Owls from New West Records HERE and it's available on every streaming platform. Especially with the heat we're experiencing in the MidWest/South right now, the guitar on this track is like a cool drink of minty water. Love it!
NCBD:
This week's Pull has a couple of new number ones I'm absolutely ecstatic about. Let's get into it:
The penultimate issue of Tyler Boss & Adriano Turtulici's You'll Do Bad Things. I LOVE this book. The Giallo description is spot on - there have been a few moments that remind of lesser-known Gialli - and Turtulici's art is perfect for that particular genre-tone.
Man, after last month's issue 19 of Void Rivals, I am ready for more total expanded Transformers Universe action! This book continues to impress the hell out of me. And now we have Solilia and Darak in opposition again??? This year's Energon Special sets us up for The Quintesson War, starting in issue 25 - that's five issues to go! In the interim, a lot of pieces are moving around Kirkman's cosmic board, and it's nothing short of thrilling watching elements of Cobra-La, the Transformers, the Great Ring, and the Quints make moves on one another.
I picked up the first issue of Zander Cannon's Sleep last week based on my constant impulse to find the next book that will blow me away. At first glance, I didn't think it was going to be for me, as the art style took a little getting used to. By the end of the issue, however, I recognized Cannon's art as a
A new book from That Texas Blood author Chris Condon, so I am in! I have not read the solicitation and I'm unfamiliar with artist Jeffrey Alan Love, so I'm going in totally blind. Best possible way to experience anything, especially a writer as cinematic as Condon!
Building up to a reread on this one. I love the worlds that Lemire creates and the textures he creates them with when he writes and draws.
It has been SO Long since Lazarus graced comic shop shelves. Not a complaint, but in the intervening years, I've come to reference this book to anyone I talk politically/socially to, because it's undeniable - the future Rucka and Lark set out in this series is our future. Chilling.
Watch:
Monday night K and I saw Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's 28 Years Later, and today as I'm typing this, I'm not really sure how I feel about it.
Let me say this up front - 28 Years Later is not a bad film. Anything I didn't like about it is, in my mind at this time, suspect, because it's all due to the unique approach to pretty much everything that Boyle took.
It's already become common knowledge that Boyle used iPhones for some of the filming. In fact, an article I read on Wire discussed how he used specially built rigs that held 20 iPhones, allowing them to film the action from slightly different angles and cut between them. I think the result of this "poor man's bullet time" as he called it created a different and jarring visual experience. It's not bad at all, but it really helped the film usurp pretty much all of my expectations.
There are a lot of other off-putting textures here as well: old movie footage sewn in periodically as a kind of juxtaposition between the world as they know it and the world as it used to be. A heightened sense of motion that made me wonder if there was a different frame rate involved. All of this combined to make for such a startlingly different cinematic experience than I've ever had before.
And then there were the track suits. But I'm leaving that out for now, as ultimately, I think 28 Years Later is going to remain slightly uncemented in my mind until I see the sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (or whatever the second in the new trilogy's title ends up being).
Playlist:
Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came
Low Cut Connie - Art Dealer
YUNGBLUD - Idols
Dan Le Sac Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill (single)
Ren - Sick Boi
Drug Church - Prude
Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services
Frank Black and the Catholics - One More Road For the Hit
Childish Gambino - Because the Internet
Cocksure - K.K.E.P.
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
JD McPherson - Nite Owls
Amigo the Devil - Vol. 1
Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell
The Reverend Horton Heat - Space Heater
Meat Puppets - Dusty Notes
What's the Furthest Place From Here? 7" Series - Chapter 006
What's the Furthest Place From Here? 7" Series - Chapter 004
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - White People and the Damage Done
Primus - Frizzle Fry
The Cult - Electric
Ween - Painting the Town Brown
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XIX: The Sun
• Six of Cups
• Ace of Cups
Open your eyes!!! Six of Cups indicates speaking directly to the "Godhead," which I'll interpret here as the sub or superconscious. GNOSIS is the breakthrough the Ace of Cups suggests.
Specifically vague? Yes and no. I, of course, interpret this as having something to do with writing, which I started on full-bore again yesterday. I think there's an inkling here that the story I'm trying to tell is inside my mind, it just keeps getting blocked up on its way out, so that a ton of extra ideas end up bogging it down, i.e. capricious ideas that catch my fancy like the jingle of keys in front of a cat. I've said this here before and never follow up, but I need to begin meditating. No cleaner way to start a conversation with the deeper well inside.
As the wait for the next Perturbator album announcement languishes on into June, I find myself drawing even more inspiration from his previous albums than previously. Which is really saying something because since discovering James Kent's music circa 2015, thanks to Bloody Disgusting, Perturbator and all of his side projects have become integral to my own creative process.
In particular, 2019's Lustful Sacraments continue to fascinate and inspire me. There's such an amazing evolution here; not content to remain defined by a genre he helped popularize the modern version of, Kent has moved away from the sound of his earlier records and really begun incorporating new elements into his compositions. My two favorites of Kent's records so far remain this one and his 2022 collaboration with Cult of Luna's Johannes Persson (Final Light). Where I'd consider Dangerous Days and The Uncanny Valley to be the two best examples of modern "Synthwave," I'd say Kent's newer work is unlike anything I've heard prior. Oh the places these records take me!
NCBD:
Here's this week's pull, with a side note that I'll be stopping at my shop in Chicago to grab some stuff as well.
The final issue of the gloriously resurrected EC's Horror Anthology series Epitaphs From the Abyss doesn't sting so much now that I've read Blood Type and realize Oni will be continuing this brand with full-issue mini-series anthologies, as well as the new anthology Catacombs of Torment, out July 16th.
Life is good for Horror fans. It's good for comic fans. And it's especially good for Horror comic fans!!!
The first issue of James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses was kind of a cross between Rob Zombie's 31 and
Judging by this cover, one of the plot points of this book that has kind of irked me may finally be resolved with this issue.
"The Horror Men" has proven a fantastic arc for the overall Phantom Road mythology. I love seeing some of this world's history, especially because it feels like learning about the start of this weird in-between place will carry over to big things when we move back to the current timeline with Dom and Bev.
I should finally be picking up my Z-News backlog this weekend when I'm in Chicago. Can't wait!
Another new book from Oni Press, this one sounds as though it's modeled after Phillip K. Dick's life, so I'm definitely giving it a try. Here's the solicitation from League of Comic Geeks:
"More than just a writer, more than just a science-fiction icon, Benjamin J. Carp was a cultural revolutionary. Across 44 novels and hundreds of short stories-including the counterculture classic The Man They Couldn't Erase-Carp pushed the boundaries of literary respectability for the sci-fi genre and his readers' perception of reality itself . . . until decades of amphetamine abuse and Southern California excess finally ended a mind-bending career that always just escaped mainstream success. He died in 1982.
Until 2025 . . . when Benjamin J. Carp awakens, alive, in a burned-out motel on the fringes of Los Angeles. He remembers dying. He knows he shouldn't exist. Is he a dream? A robot? A ghost? A clone? A simulation? In his own time, Carp pondered all of these scenarios intensely through his fiction-and, now, as he treks from Studio City to Venice Beach and onward into the paranoid sprawl of 21st-century Los Angeles, he will be called to investigate his greatest mystery yet: himself.
In the tradition of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly and Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice comes a uniquely fascinating and hilariously deranged excursion into the metatextual nexus where existence and oblivion, past and future, genius and madness, and glitter and grim reality all meet just beyond Hollywood Boulevard . . ."
Watch:
Aaron Martin and Ian Carpenter's new series Hell Motel premiered on Shudder with two episodes yesterday and I have to say, so far, I love it! The setting, lighting and camera work are top-notch, as is the writing. There are some very intriguing plotting mechanisms at work here, and they made for a pretty thrilling two-episode premiere. We're going to be covering this weekly on The Horror Vision - first episode will drop next Monday, then every Wednesday thereafter (the show airs on Tuesdays).
From what I've seen of the two creators' other series, the anthology Slasher, it appears to be a bit of a mixed bag. That said, I've only watched Flesh & Blood and two episodes of Ripper. I loved the former but did not care for the latter. I dig these guys' style overall, though; there's something of a Channel Zero-meets-AHS, with the influence of AHS being more dominant but little flourishes here and there that make me think of Zero.
Top all this off with the fact that Adam MacDonald looks to be the series Director (he did the first two episodes but is listed as "Director" on the series' main IMDB page) and you've got a great schematic. And they deliver, big time. I watched episodes one and two TWICE today and found I liked it more the second time around.
Playlist:
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu
Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja
Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST
Tangerine Dream - Sorceror OST
Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell
Hangman's Chair - Saddiction
Young Widows - Power Sucker
NIN - Pretty Hate Machine
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Nine of Swords
• Ace of Pentacles
• Eight of Cups
The Nine of Cups can denote Cruelty, Bad Dreams and/or Violence. Ace of Pentacles is a breakthrough in Earthly concerns, nad Eight of Cups is poison. Sounds to me like the Earthly breakthrough - i.e. success - may be arrived at through violence or poison. That's a scary sentiment; I've long held people who use violence or hurtful machinations as a way to get what they want are the definition of evil. I realize while typing this that this Pull is a reminder to tread lightly with certain people at work, as I deal with a lot of "Corporate People" and those are often the people who operate in this capacity.
From Ganser's new album, Animal Hospital, out August 29th on the always wonderful Felte Records. Pre-order HERE.
NCBD:
I've kind of unofficially switched to a M-W-F posting schedule here for the time being, and I'm still getting used to that. I'll use this as the reason I somehow forgot to feature my NCBD pulls in Wednesday's post - when I'm working on these a day or two out, it's easy to forget what day you're aiming for. Anyway, This week's pull ended up being considerable, so in this case, hindsight helps condense what otherwise would have been two consecutive posts.
Turns out, Batman: Dark Patterns is going even longer than I originally thought. This is the most consecutive months I've read a Batman book since Grant Morrison's run ended!
Already read this one - dark times for the Autobots, man. And more Bruticus! In fact, we have an all-out combiner battle with Bruticus and Devastator versus Superion! I can't even believe how this book taps into all my childhood play fantasies about the Transformers.
More dark times for heroes. It's definitely in the air - I mean, art reflects life and looks at the world we live in. Some really interesting developments in this issue, and the bi-monthly release schedule is still really working for me, partly as a respite for the old wallet and partly as a suspense builder.
This issue of SIKTC features some of the best trademark James Tyion IV dialogue. From the two clerks talking about mustache-shaving daydreams to the Jaws discussion, this one's all set, but holy cow - things are going to go off next issue!
The first issue was so-so for me, but I'm looking forward to sticking around and seeing where this pretty deft send-up of Black Metal culture goes.
Once again - Oni for the win! A new Horror Anthology featuring Andrea Sorrentino? You don't need to say another word.
But wait - there's MORE!!!
Earlier in the week, my good friend and frequent collaborator Grimm pointed me to the fact that Titan Books has been publishing a new Savage Sword of Conan magazine-sized book for eight issues now. I'm not a card-carrying Conan fan, per se, but back shortly after I discovered H.P. Lovecraft, I picked up a mass-market paperback copy of Howard's Tales from the Cthulhu Mythos and have long thought it one of the best I cut my Robert E. Howard
Looks more like "Savage Sword of Danzig" to me!
This issue of The Savage Sword of Conan features six tales that all revolve around Howard's The Black Stone. THIS is my REH wheelhouse - The Black Stone is probably the short story that left the deepest impression on me from that Mythos paperback, and I think it's fantastic that writer Jim Zub is using it as a jumping-off point to weave the Black Stone through a myriad of Howard's characters - from the Cimmerian to El Borak to Soloman Kane. Granted, these stories just made me spring for a set of the spin-off Black Stone series on eBay, but that's fine. Just like so many other power-mad sorcerers, I'm willing to pay for more exposure to the titular monument.
Issue eight was really what sparked my interest, as Grimm sent his joyous accolades for this series along with a picture from issue 8's The Wuthering:
'Nuff said! Seriously though, this entire book is gorgeous, and it was a real treat to discover the first story herein was drawn by Jason "Nameless" Burnham!
Playlist:
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicentre
Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God - Chapter 1
Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power
Melvins - (A) Senile Animal
Thou - Summit
Deee-Lite - Dewdrops in the Garden
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Big Black - The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape
Rapeman - Two Nuns and a Pack Mule/Budd E.P.
Killdozer - God Hears the Pleas of the Innocent
The High Confessions - Turning Lead Into Gold with the High Confessions
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Page of Wands
• Two of Pentacles
• Three of Pentacles
Decisions about Earthly matters should be made from a place of strong support. What the hell does that mean, exactly? I'm far too tired to figure this out at the time of typing this, so I'll be staring at these cards all day on my desk.
I hate when the pull interpretation comes out sounding like an exaggerated fortune cookie!!!
