Released 9 years ago today. It was a Friday, and no one realized that in three days David Bowie would be called back to his ancestors in the cold, black void of space. I'm wondering if this video is modeled after his home planet?
NCBD:
Oh man, I am psyched for this week's books! Let's get into it!!
Back in November, the first issue of David Ian and Rebekah McKendry's Barstow took me by surprise and blew me away! The desert can certainly be a creepy place, and Barstow leans into that all the way. Can't wait to see where this goes!
Bruticus vs. Devastator? 'Nuff said! This has me twitching with anticipation that HasbroPulse might be gearing up to release a Combaticons set similar to the Constructicons one they did last year. I could let Devastator lads pass me by, but Swindle, Vortex and their crew are probably the only merger set I would love to own. The original versions just never did the character designs on the cartoon and comic book justice. To have a Swindle or Onslaught that actually look like the characters... that would be amazing.
I read the first issue of Dan Watters' Batman: Dark Patterns last month and really liked it. Watters has become go-to writer for me; I won't read everything he does for the big two, but I think I'm 100% up on everything he's released that's creator-owned. I'm digging these one-off Bat-series, though, so I'm back on Patterns this month for another round.
This book is just f*ckin' nuts! I don't know where we're going or how we ended up where we are (what a fantastic final page last ish!), but I'm hooked once again. Boss and Rosenberg have a punk rock dystopian epic on their hands.
Watch:
Rejoice! Vinegar Syndrome announced the Blue Ray for Ryan Kruger's Street Trash!
I pre-ordered mine as soon as I saw the announcement; this SEQUEL to the 1987 original came in at number six on my Top Ten Favorite Horror Films of 2024, which can be heard over on the latest episode of The Horror Vision.
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Chrystabell & David Lynch - Cellophane Memories
David Bowie - Heathen
David Bowie - Black Star
The Jesus Lizard - Rack
Hall and Oats - Greatest Hits
Card:
Today's card is the Knight of Wands:
The Firey aspect of Fire, or the Willful aspect of the Will, which feels convoluted or redundant. What does A.C. say about this one in his Book of Thoth?
"The moral qualities appropriate to this figure are activity, generosity, fierceness, impetuosity, pride, impulsiveness, swiftness in unpredictable actions."
This card implies a quickening and might warn about going off half-cocked. Things have to get done, but be careful how to do them. Impetuous actions don't often work out well, and impulsiveness can be a good thing, but it can also lead to a bad end.
You can grab this and a bunch of other Ten Athlone goodness directly from their site HERE.
From the Street Trash E.P. by Ten Athlone.
Watch:
Ryan Kruger's Street Trash is, indeed, fantastic. In fact, it's jumped the top ten line and landed somewhere in the center. It's goopy, gory, bombastic and a lot of fun. Also, the characters are fantastic!
I really can't say enough good things about this one. It's true to the 80s Exploitation roots, not over-done production-wise, walking a line between bare bones and full-bore, which is great. It leads to fantastic practical FX right in line with the original and a very DIY underbelly that endears the film and its characters to you even more.
Ryan Kruger's Street Trash is a $4.99 rental on Prime at the moment. If you're a fan of Pschyo Goreman and/or Hobo with a Shotgun, definitely give it a try. If you don't know either of those films but you want to get your weird on, this will do nicely.
Read:
My reading has been sporadic at best of late, but I've failed to post about it here. After blowing through Laird Barron's new collection, Not A Speck of Light (from Badhand Books HERE), I side-stepped directly back into his previous collection, 2016's Swift to Chase.
Barron's work brings out the obsessive in me, and I'm reading these stories with the Laird Barron Mapping Project never more than a click or swipe away. There are all kinds of weird connections I've felt the edges of previously but not fully grasped. Also, somehow I never really understood the concept that some of the stories take place in what is called Barron's Antiquity Universe, so I'm gearing up to read all of those in a row soon. But first...
As I finish the last few pages of Swift's final story Tomahawk Park Survivors Raffle, I'm also about halfway through Ivy Tholen's new Slasher novel Mother Dear:
Once again taking place in the town of Belldam, Texas, Mother Dear is rife with the kind of under-the-radar social commentary I've come to expect from Ivy's books. The characters - while unlikeable - are so perfectly engineered that they feel like archetypes and actual people I know all at the same time. The opening death is magnificent, and the insidious manner these spoiled, rich folks burrow into my brain via their "first world, 1% problems" reminds me a bit of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho in approach, if not actual execution.
Playlist:
John Carpenter - Lost Themes IV: Noir
Ghostland Observatory - Sad Sad City (single)
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Sumerlands - Dreamkiller
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
Card:
Today's card is XII: The Hanged Man.
My big take away with this card has always been Four points over one, or reason triumphs over spirituality. Dark ages begin or dreams tripped up by rational thought. This doesn't have to be a bad thing, and I think this card is especially dependent on those around it in a pull.
In his The Book of Thoth, Crowley writes extensively about this card. A lot of it is the usual impenetrable associations to Elemental forces, initiation, and Astrological forces. One idea that stands out is sacrifice, but not just standard sacrifice. Sacrifice as a form of Baptism or Death. This is, after all, the card of the "Dying God."
It'd been a while since I'd seen a clip of Ghostland Observatory playing in the drums/guitar combination; thought I'd share, seeing as their music has slipped back into my rotation.
NCBD:
Let's talk about yesterday's pull. Started out, I thought this would be a light week. As often occurs, though, I came home with more than I bargained for:
GIJOE: ARAH has the oddest publication schedule! Every so many months, it takes an extra month off between issues. Not really a complaint so much as an observation; I still haven't actually put this on my pull list, so my interest buoys at best. Still, with Larry Hama at the helm, despite the 200 issues I missed, I'm enjoying reconnecting with this one, especially in the midst of this "Battle for Springfield" total clusterfuck storyline. Allegiances shift, enemies become allies, and this issue set us up for a Destro vs. Serpentor Khan mano y mano next issue - bring it on!
First issue picking Oni Press's EC Comics Epitaphs From the Abyss up monthly. Loved the series so far, figured I'd stay on for a while. Another I haven't actually added to my Pull, so I might have to do that tonight.
Loved the first issue of this. Notice how Batman on the cover looks an awful lot like Keaton's Batman from 1989. Interesting. I've talked about this one a bit on Drinking with Comics and The Horror Vision - maybe my cohost is just rubbing off on me, but it's so nice to have short, left-of-center Batman stories to read here and there. Also, I'm sure at some point Bruce has squared off with some kind of Lycanthrope before, but this is the first time I've seen it and so far, kinda fantastic.
Speaking of the Dark Knight...
I finally got my hands on a copy of Dan Jurgens, Mike Perkins and Mike Spicer's The Bat-Man in First Knight issue #2. I had grabbed the first off the shelf back in March and dug it, however, this one slid right off my radar after that and it wasn't until last month when I visited my Chicago shop that I located issue three. But what the hell can you do with the first and last of a three-issue series? So it was with great excitement I saw issue 2 on the shelf at Rick's yesterday. Can't wait to read this entire series. Batman in the 30s, no tech, pure detective. Very cool.
Next, and I had no idea this was a thing until I saw it on the stands...
Rebekah and David Ian McKendry have a comic from Dark Horse? I grabbed this after seeing their names and I can tell you, this might be my favorite first issue of the year. Really cool story that has all the markings of a great cult film but in comic form. Here's the solicitation blurb from League of Comic Geeks:
"At the center of the Mojave Desert, at the crossroads between hell and gone, lies Barstow.
Agent Miranda Diaz is in this godforsaken land on the trail of a missing agent. He's a man she's never met, and yet her name was the only clue he left behind. Something dark... something demonic... lurks beneath this oddball town, but can Miranda unravel the mystery before all hell breaks loose?"
As good as that sounds, I don't think it quite does the book justice. This reminds me a bit of David Lapham's Lodger and a bit of Alex Cox's Repo Man construction-wise. Really interesting, and I'm dying to see where it goes.
Finally, I'd forgotten about Mark Spear's Monsters entirely until I saw issue two on the shelf last night:
I haven't had a chance to read this one yet, and honestly, the first issue came out back in September, so I should probably one-two them, however, the art continues to baffle and astound me.
Watch:
Not sure how I neglected to post this one here yet, but I am really looking forward to Ryan Kruger's Street Trash!
This is up as a rental on Prime for $4.99, and I'm aiming to sit down with it before the week's out. One of my most eagerly anticipated films this year.
Playlist:
Ghostland Observatory - Paparazzi Lightning
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Drug Church - Prude
Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
Sepultura - Lookaway (single)
60 Songs That Explain the 90s - "What's Up" 4 Non Blondes
4 Non Blondes - Bigger, Better, Faster, More!
Zombi - Shape Shift
Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone
Opeth - My Arms Your Hearse
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
