White Hex - Sisters

 

From White Hex's 2014 album Gold Nights, released by the always lovely folks at Felte Records. This is an old favorite, part of the music that helped me rise from the ashes of my old life. Unfortunately, this Australian duo retired in 2015, so we only have the two albums, only one of which I am familiar with, the aforementioned Gold Nights. While I'm thinking about it, time to check out 2012's Heat, which you can listen to on any of the music streamers, or, at the group's Bandcamp, which thankfully is still up. Highly recommended.

---

---

---

NCBD:

I'm excited to read a couple of the titles in this week's pull. Let's go!

Last month's #25 was Robert Kirkman and Dan Mora's first issue taking the reins on the title from Daniel Warren Johnson and Jorge Corona and they did an outstanding job! Really set the tone for what is to come, while building on all the little threads woven throughout the book so far. I think Mr. Corona's visual style was the perfect accompaniment for DWJ's narrative; Dan Mora's style feels super slick in comparison - not a bad thing! Look at this cover - it looks a bit more like the Transformers titles Dreamwave or IDW used to put out. That said, there's definitely room to bring the 'bots out of the wreckage they've all languished in thus far, and this could be the perfect way to do that. 

We covered this recently on Drinking with Comics, but I'll reiterate here that my favorite thing about reading my first Spider-Man: Noir series is that all the character's dialogue is in Nick Cage's voice in my head!

Event Horizon: Dark Descent is still shaping up, so I'm not entirely certain how I feel about it. That said, last issue's inclusion and specific naming of the Demon Paimon really surprised me, so I'm here for whatever Hell Dimension madness Christian Ward and Tristan Jones are serving up as we go deeper into the events that set up the film Event Horizon!

The final issue of Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman's brilliant Batman: Dark Patterns! I've loved this series, but it's time to let ol' Bats go for a while. going out on a high note with this one, though. 

The solicitation promises, "... a return to the Terror Drome..." and I am all about that. Kind of a bucket list toy I never procured as a child and I'd be hesitant to invest in if Classified did it now - which they won't - the Terror Drome always felt like the coolest thing in Cobra's arsenal when I was a kid. The way Larry Hama's run depicted Cobra mass-manufacturing them as arms to be sold to any country or mercenary that would pay their price - I loved it so much. It's been a minute since I've even thought about this thing, so let's take a moment and check out the old school toy commercial to cap off today's NCBD!

Man! That takes me back something fierce. 

---

---

---

Watch:

Noirvember continues with Roy William Neil's 1946 Black Angel. 

I knew nothing about this film before K and I stumbled across it on the Criterion Channel a couple of nights ago. Honestly, I don't even really remember the description, just "staring Peter Lorre can often be enough to get me to press play. And this one did not disappoint. 

Pretty conventional to start, there's a drunk on a bender, a couple shady dudes with hats, and a dead woman. Where this one makes its mark is the fact that it incorporates musical elements and then gets really freakin' dark at the end.

If you're looking for a Noir that does a little something different, this one's worth your time. And hey - Peter Lorre, right?

---

---

---

Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy and Stigg OST

Coleman Hawkins - Wrapped Tight

Pepper Adams - Encounter!

White Hex - Gold Nights

Ritual Howls - Their Body EP

Melvins - Thunderball

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Dance with the Dead - Psycho Disco (single)

The Wraith - Gloom Ballet

Odonis Odonis - Eponymous (pre-release singles)

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Two of Pentacles

• Eight of Wands

• Eight of Cups

Successful partnership requires a sublimation of the Will to allow for Emotion. 

That's kind of a surface level, even shit reading, but it actually holds meaning for me at the moment. Really, that's all I'm looking for with these. 

Lankum - Ghost Town

I was first turned onto Dublin's Lankum when we interviewed All You Need Is Death director Paul Duane last year. Ian Lynch - who did the brilliant soundtrack for that film - counts his time as a member of this group, and that's really all I needed to know. 

From their 12" of the same name, which you can buy HERE.

---

---

---

Noirvember:

I blew through a rewatch of NWR's Copenhagen Cowboy over the last few days. I am in love with this man's approach to Cinema all over again. 

I've never seen anything like this. It's Noir, Gothic, Modern, Horror, Fairytale... 

..

1) Too Old To Die Young

2) Mona Lisa

3) Thief

4) Copenhagen Cowboy

5) Black Angel

---

---

---

Playlist:

Ritual Howls - Their Body E.P.

Drain - ... Is Your Friend

Steven Moore - Jimmy and Stiggs OST

Etta James - Third Album

Creeper - Sanguivore

Various - Copenhagen Cowboy OST

Wake the Devil - Singles Playlist

The Leather Nun - F.F.A. (single)

lords. - bleeding out

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Six of Cups

• Nine of Wands

• XX: Judgement

Nostalgia works against perseverance. Judge past loyalties accordingly.

Ashes and Diamonds!!!

 

Daniel Ash's new project, Ashes and Diamonds, harkens back to his Coming Down and Foolish Thing Called Desire albums from the early 90s, only overlaid with new elements that really make this record shine. Ash has brought along Bruce Smith (Public Image Ltd/The Pop Group) and Paul Spencer Denman (Sade/Sweetback) for the ride, and the three hit on all cylinders. A great listen from start to finish, Are Forever is available from Cleopatra Records. You can order the album HERE. 

Coming out of October and the customary Bauhaus, Tones on Tail jag that always ensures, it feels great to have a new Ash project to get to know. 

---

---

---

Read:

I am proud to finally announce that my new novel, Black Gloves & Broken Hearts, is now on sale at Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, Bezos Utani, or anywhere else you buy your books. 

Here's my solicitation blurb, which really tells you all you need to know:

"When incoming High School Senior Lisa McCready's boyfriend and classmates are brutally murdered at a party in the woods, the quiet suburban community of Sundown Hills transforms into a paranoid nightmare. Betrayal, corruption and dark family secrets push Lisa dead center into a burgeoning class war, where rival millionaires plot to steer the town's future between reliance on big oil and the incoming age of legalized weed, electric cars and social conscience. As she struggles for answers, the killings continue and Lisa finds the world she knew is little more than a lie to placate the masses and keep a Satanic 1% in power."

I'm super proud of this one. Previously, I'd have told you Murder Virus was the best thing I'd ever written. This takes that crown and runs with it.

---

---

---

Watch:

limage/textsdd I was originally going to post about Predator: Badlands, however, I'd rather talk about something that inspired excitement as opposed to disdain. Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani are back with a new film and it looks INSANE. Of course it does - that's what they do!

Coming December 5th to Shudder. This just looks like Mario Bava on ten gallons of LSD. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Cristobal Tapia De Veer - Smile OST

Secret Chiefs 2 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi

Ritual Howls - Their Body E.P.

Ashes and Diamonds - Are Forever

Slow Crush - Aurora

The Damned - A Night of a Thousand Vampires

The Damned - Fiendish Shadows

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

Sharon Tandy - The Best of Sharon Tandy

lords. - bleeding out (single)

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Page of Swords

• Five of Cups

• Three of Cups

Disappointment leads to impetuousness. To find out way back to Harmony, I drew a fourth card and was told to take a journey. Anyone know where I can get some mushrooms?

New Music From Dreamkid

 

You know, Dreamkid's seriously 80s affectations prevented me from adding 2024's Daggers to my top ten list, but looking back on 2025, I've probably listened to that record way more than some of those that made the list. I really root for Dreamkid, and even if he sometimes leaves me a little cold at first, I overall really love his music. 

This track's gonna have to grow on me, but one thing that definitely made my ears perk up is the brief spoken word part near the end - total M83 influence there! Very cool. 

---

---

---

NCBD:

Big week. Let's go!

This one leads into big things, as issue 23 saw some crazy shit happen on the Great Ring, and 25 is due to kick off the Quintesson War. Huh - weird that, as we'll see below, this month's GI JOE kicks off the "Dreadnok War." Lots of war in Kirkman's Energon Universe these days, but that's to be expected with all the giant robots and laser weapons.

 

James Stokoe's second volume of Orphan and the Five Beasts promises more of Stokoe's insane art and probably even more insane martial arts action! Love this series. Just look at the cover art - how many hours could that have taken? The detail is insane, and when you figure that every page of the interior is of the same caliber, well, breathtaking. That's all I can say.

This entire issue is a Liam Sharpe opus, and I cannot wait! 

Planet Death! I almost forgot about this book. Still pumping out those old school, mid-80s Dark Horse vibes, for sure. 

Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana returns and I have to confess - I'm considering stepping off this monthly and buying the Hardcovers when they come out. But then I'd have to wait and... I just don't know if I can do that. 

Talk about first-world problems. 

Here it is, folks - the aforementioned Dreadnok War! I love the Dreadnoks and can't wait to see how this is going to go down. Reading between the lines, I think they'll be a body count here. 

Okay, I know I pop in and out of Amazing Spider-Man, so this isn't that weird, right? I think I do it because I need one title that I engage with the way I did as a kid on an allowance, in and out, based on what interests me. This cover? This interests me because that looks an awful lot like Warlock from the New Mutants. I know it's not Warlock, but if it's a Phalanx, this could be very interesting (as long as it doesn't even remotely resemble Phalanx Covenant). 

---

---

---

Watch:

Saturday, November 1st, I kicked off Noirvember by watching something like nine hours of Nicolas Winding Refn and Ed Brubaker's 2019 series Too Old To Die Young. I finished it Sunday and now I have a great big Refn-sized hole in my life.

This is Refn's version of what David Lynch did with Twin Peaks: The Return, a 13-hour-long movie cut into episodes, or 'volumes' in this case. 

Total. 

Fucking. 

Masterpiece. 

Not going to be for everyone. Hell, it took me three attempts and six years to finally do the entire thing. 

Refn likes to create gorgeous images with ugly content (see Vol. 5: The Fool), and he really wants to punish his audience at times. This is nothing new; you see increments of this in Only God Forgives, Neon Demon and I'm sure some of his other work I'm not familiar with (Pusher alienated me within minutes and I've never gone back). That penchant for beautiful ugliness, combined with his “painting” style will test a lot of people’s patience. n my opinion? It’s 100% worth it. Especially if you’re a Lynch fan, because although his influence is always apparent in NWR’s work, this feels like a love letter to him.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy and Stiggs OST

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

The Cramps - Date with Elvis

Dreamkid - Apocalyptic Love Song (single)

The Leather Nun - Primemover/FFA (single)

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons (pre-release singles)

Blut Aus Nord - 777: The Desanctification

Ritual Howls - Ruin

White Hex - Gold Nights

The Damned - Night of a Thousand Vampires

Opeth - Still Life

The Damned - Darkadelic

Testament - Para Bellum

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Slow Crush - Thirst

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• XIX: The Sun

• Four of Cups

• Eight of Cups

The Triumphant of the Spirit. I like the sound of that. The cards on either side of XIX seem to be telling me to pick up both the bass and the guitar again, something I have ideas for throughout the week during my daily life, and then go blank at night when I have time to actually work on something. Four of Cups is an emotional powerbase, and Eight of Cups is a little bit like that pays off, so I'm thinking I might find it rewarding to put a period at the end of this sentence and then plug in a guitar for a little while, even if I don't have any ideas in my head at the moment. 

November Begins with a Dirge

As is my custom to close out October and hail in the winter, here's Opeth's Dirge for November. From their masterpiece (well, one of their masterpieces, anyway), Blackwater Park. 

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

Now that 31 Days of Halloween is over, it's straight into finishing our Stranger Things rewatch (we're on season four) and plunging into the murky depths of Noirvember. I have a lot of plans for this, so although I don't intend to do a movie-a-day, I'll keep a running list here just like I did for 31.

My favorite watch this year? Well, the old standards always feel great, and there were quite a few of them I didn't get to, so I'll have to work on my timing next year. However, I can honestly say that rewatching GDT's Crimson Peak was a 'peak' moment this year. It'd been so long since I'd seen it, and I really didn't remember it at all. 

Just a gorgeous film from start to finish, with all Del Toro's trappings and a healthy dose of the Modern Gothic. Gonna have to pick this one up on BR eventually.

..

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow/// The Taking of Deborah Logan

20) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (theatrical screening)///Cellar Dweller

21) The Black Phone///"Dream Kill" (segment in V/H/S85

22) The Transfiguration///Black Phone 2

23) Shelby Oaks

24) Clown in a Cornfield/// Jack-O (The Last Drive-In Splatterween double feature)

25) Ken Russell's Gothic/// Inferno/// Lords of Salem

26) Night of the Living Dead 1990/// Night of the Demons

27) Final Destination 3/// Jimmy & Stiggs

28) Trick r' Treat

29) Crimson Peak

30) GDT's Frankenstein/// Arsenic and Old Lace/// Satan's Playground/// Rob Zombie's 31

31) Halloween (Last Drive-In Halloween Hootnanny)/// Night of the Living Dead

---

---

---

Read:

I spent my Halloween morning re-reading James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses. The first volume is now collected and readily available and I can't recommend this one enough. Here's the solicitation for issue number one from League of Comic Geeks:

"Every five years on Halloween, the wealthiest families in America play a game. Twelve of the deadliest people in the world are dropped into a small town with just one goal: last killer standing wins. For the citizens of Oak Valley, Maine — this year's unlucky arena — the goal is much simpler. They must survive the night."

Sounds a bit like Rob Zombie's 31, no? Well, there's definitely a comparison to made, but it's a surface-level comparison. When you go deeper, not only do you get some of those great James Tynion IV insights into the world, you also get context for the twelve killers loosed upon an unsuspecting town. Here's the context on the twelve killers, straight from the mouth of one of the characters in issue #1:

"In 1775, the thirteen richest families in America took the reins of power from their counterparts across the Atlantic. They have ruled this country from the shadows ever since. What you know as history is a fiction performed for the masses. Ruling didn't come easy. It took nearly a century of bickering and warfare to figure out which family rules over the rest. So every five years, we play a game on Halloween. It starts the year before, each competing family draws one of the twelve cards, representing a weapon used in every game since the first... 

The ruling family's job is to find a small town in some lonely corner of America and seal it off from the rest of the world. The killers are dropped into the battlefield on Halloween night, and they must hunt and kill each other until there is a single survivor. The family whose killer survives to the end rules America until the next game."

So far, while we've been given glimpses of the power brokers in charge, we've mainly been boots on the ground with the killers and the 'collateral damage' - the innocent inhabitants of the town besieged by killers (did I forget to mention there's a large contingent of the competing families that just make side bets on how many innocents their killers can claim?). This has made for some very effective storytelling, seeing killers who maybe want something more than what they are, maybe don't and ordinary people fighting for their lives in extraordinary circumstances. We're not reinventing the wheel here, but rather upgrading its dynamics.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy and Stiggs OST

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk edition)

Ritual Howls - Ruin

Various - Return of the Living Dead OST

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

John Brennan and the Bigfeet - The Last Drive-In w/ Joe Bob Briggs OST, Vol. 1

M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Opeth - Deliverance

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Four of Pentacles

• Six of Wands

• Eight of Pentacles

Happy Halloween!!!

Like Clockwork, here's the greatest Halloween song ever recorded!

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

GDT's Frankenstein is not what I expected at all, but it's definitely 100% Del Toro's vision of a classic. Kind of splits the difference between Mary Shelley’s novel, which I am currently rereading and have adored forever, and James Whale’s film, which I was obsessed with as a child. 

Gorgeous beyond words, with performances that are out of this world, if you can see this on the big screen, that's where and how it was made to be viewed.

...

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow/// The Taking of Deborah Logan

20) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (theatrical screening)///Cellar Dweller

21) The Black Phone///"Dream Kill" (segment in V/H/S85

22) The Transfiguration///Black Phone 2

23) Shelby Oaks

24) Clown in a Cornfield/// Jack-O (The Last Drive-In Splatterween double feature)

25) Ken Russell's Gothic/// Inferno/// Lords of Salem

26) Night of the Living Dead 1990/// Night of the Demons

27) Final Destination 3/// Jimmy & Stiggs

28) Trick r' Treat

29) Crimson Peak

30) GDT's Frankenstein/// Arsenic and Old Lace/// Satan's Playground/// Rob Zombie's 31

---

---

---

Playlist:

Steeve Moore - Jimmy and Stiggs OST

Ritual Howls - Ruin

Ritual Howls - Their Body E.P.

Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor

Bauhaus - Burning from the Inside

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

Secret Chiefs 2 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer.

White Zombie - La Sexorcist: Devil Music, Vol. 1

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Saigon Blue Rain - Oko

Skinny Puppy - Last Rights

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• X: Wheel of Fortune

• Four of Wands

• XII: The Hanged Man

Stable Will creates a power base from which the luxury of assessing change can be anticipated and pursued.

The Cramps - Surfin' Dead Live!!!

Howzabout one of my favorite tracks by The Cramps to kick off Monday? I'm off Thursday and Friday this week, and you can betcher arse I'm going to be listening to more of these guys! Originally published on - get this - their Gravest Hits album, which came out before their debut full-length, Songs the Lord Taught Us. Think of it the same way Joy Division's Substance Collection is a collection of early singles that predate the recording of their two studio albums. Either way, Surfin' Dead blew up when it was included on the soundtrack for Dan O'Bannon's 1987 Return of the Living Dead. This particular version is from the Smell of Female live album.

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

I hate that we're not even a week out from the end of October! I'll be cruising directly into Noirvember again this year, and plan to try Dreamcember after that, but 31 Days of Horror is my favorite. 

I must say, for a film I did not care much for upon first seeing, Rob Zombie's Argento-esque Lords of Salem has become a favorite of mine. This film is so insanely blasphemous that it sometimes feels dangerous. Now that's a feat of no small measure. 

Mr. Zombie really created something special with this one. I like most of his films to varying degrees, but there's usually something I roll my eyes at in each one. Not here. This is dead serious in the way it handles its subject matter. That attitude, combined with the stunning setting, cinematography, and John 5's score, really make this a must-watch every year. Hard to believe I lived so long without it.

...

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow///The Taking of Deborah Logan

20) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (theatrical screening)///Cellar Dweller

21) The Black Phone///"Dream Kill" (segment in V/H/S85

22) The Transfiguration///Black Phone 2

23) Shelby Oaks

24) Clown in a Cornfield/// Jack-O (The Last Drive-In Splatterween double feature)

25) Ken Russell's Gothic/// Inferno/// Lords of Salem

26) Night of the Living Dead 1990/// Night of the Demons

---

---

---

Read:

Persistence paid off this week. Previously, I'd cursed Netflix for a seemingly small theatrical opening for Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein. I'd just about given up hope of seeing such a clearly cinematic film on the big screen when, lo and behold, our local arthouse theatre, The Belcourt, added screenings to their website. I procured passes for this coming Thursday, and in the interest of freshening up my recall on Mary Shelley's original novel, I began an impromptu re-read. 

Some readers may recall from previous posts I did a few years back that I have in my possession the hardback edition illustrated by Bernie Wrightson. This one is on display with several other key pieces of Frankenstein memorabilia, so I tend to eye it every day and briefly flirt with the idea of revisiting it. Now is the perfect time.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

Lebanon Hanover - Let Them Be Alien

Bauhaus - Burning From the Inside

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

The Cure - Pornography

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Beastmilk - Climax

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk edition)

Various - Return of the Living Dead OST

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is live for just a handful more hours! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• XII: Hanged Man

• Five of Pentacles

• Page of Swords

Decisions will need to be made that might result in a conflict over money. Stay firm and prepare to be combative. Hold your ground and you will persevere.

Perfect timing. Waging a bit of a war with payroll at the moment. 

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - These Remains

From their self-titled, 1988 debut full-length album. This always sets the Halloween mood for me. 

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow///The Taking of Deborah Logan

20) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (theatrical screening)///Cellar Dweller

21) The Black Phone///"Dream Kill" (segment in V/H/S85

22) The Transfiguration///Black Phone 2

23) Shelby Oaks

---

---

---

Playlist:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk edition)

Pilot Priest & Electric Youth - Come True OST

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Bauhaus - Gotham (Disk 1)

Ain Soph - Rituals

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits

Miranda Sex Garden - Iris

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is now live! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• Two of Cups

• VIII: Strength

• Seven of Wands

I've been thinking about Type O Negative and Peter Steele all day, and that came out in the cards. But what does that mean? What nuance does that add to the Pull? I think it says it right there on VIII - Strength. Peter was strong, or at least, he seemed strong. At the end? Maybe not so much. How does that factor into the rest of the sentiment expressed across these three Jungian Archetypal images?

Connections based on courage. Unified front; stand your ground and you will receive assistance, not necessarily from an outer source, but rather, an inner one.

Total work reference. I'm feeling burned out and emotionally spent from, well, living inside a corporate organism. I need to stand up for myself more. 

New Music from Blut Aus Nord!!!

 

The second track released from the upcoming album Ethereal Horizons, out November 28th on Debemur Morti Records. Pre-order HERE.

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

I was 100% unfamiliar with John Buechler's 1987 film Cellar Dweller before two nights ago. I'd heard of it, but knew nothing about it. After stumbling across it on Prime the other night, I'd have to say this fits right in there with 976-Evil and The Dead Pit as a lost 80s classic Video Store Horror gem!

Not a 'great' flick by any stretch, but FUN! I've grown to recognize seeing Buechler's name attached to a film as an exciting thing, and this only reinforces that assessment. 

...

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) The Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow///The Taking of Deborah Logan

20) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (theatrical screening)///Cellar Dweller

21) The Black Phone///"Dream Kill" (segment in V/H/S85

---

---

---

NCBD:

Just four titles this week (I think), so let's talk about the big one first.

Jason Aaron's run is already over? Weird - I don't feel like this book really did what I thought it would do. That's not good or bad, just... I don't even know. Maybe it's the bi-monthly thing that has me feeling so removed from it. Certainly there appear to have been some big changes on the surface, and I did really enjoy the way Aaron took the brothers apart and reintroduced them as a team that is more dysfunctional than we've ever seen before. We'll see how this transitions to the new creative team starting with issue 13.

After finally catching up and reading the first four issues of Chris Condone and Jeffrey Alan Love's News From the Fall Out recently, I have to say, this is the first book I've contemplated dumping before it finishes in quite some time, There was one whole issue spent with people arguing in a diner. I mean, if felt like that "Put on the glasses" scene in They Live, and while I love that film and that scene is hysterically iconic, it's best left not repeating it, because it still tests my patience when Carpenter did it! I don't know - I'm feeling like there's not enough of the story here to go a full six issues so things got stretched out in a way that really killed the momentum, but we'll see. I'm sticking it out until it wraps with issue six. Condone has never disappointed me before, so I owe the man the benefit of the doubt. 

At a glance, this cover gives me all kinds of Uncanny Valley weirdness. 

I've had this book on my mind after watching the 2024 film Stream recently, which was enjoyable, but didn't quite have the scope Walsh and Tynion present in Exquisite Corpses. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk edition)

John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST

Testament - Para Bellum

Misfits - Earth A.D. 

Saigon Blue Rain - Oko

Black Tape for a Blue Girl - Remnants of a Deeper Purity

Various - Lords of Salem OST

Count Gorgann - Corpse Eater: Satanic Misery Live for the Dead

77s - All Fall Down

Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is now live! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• Six of Cups

• Queen of Pentacles

• Nine of Cups

The ache of memory can cloud the mind, emotion overwhelming the faculties that make the day-to-day decisions. This is how I feel I live sometimes. Is this a good thing? It can be, but here's an instance where I'll actually use the specific image on Grimm's card to help understand what the cards are saying: intoxication. I'm overflowing with emotional bias and it probably is responsible for regularly made bad decisions. Not like, hookers and blow bad decision, but like, I don't need to buy everything that looks like it will make me happy. 

New Music From Odonis Odonis!!!

From the upcoming self-titled album, due out November 14th on Royal Mountain Records. Pre-order HERE.

Honestly, a lot of what these guys have done since 2016's Post Plague hasn't really stood the test of time with me. Post Plague is just so good that it generated some serious fan inertia. This, however. Wow. I love both tracks the band has released from this forthcoming album, and can't wait to hear the entire thing.

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

 

I received my copy of Joe Bob Briggs' The Last Drive-In Blu-ray this weekend, and quickly set about watching the first of the two features included. I'd seen Joe Lynch's Mayhem once before - when Joe Bob did it during season one of the show - and rewatching it, I loved it even more. I need to procure a copy of the Steve Moore score, too. 

.....

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) The Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow/// The Taking of Deborah Logan

---

---

---

Read:

Inspired by the seasonal shift in the weather and my corresponding temperament, last Wednesday night I fired up Type O Negative's October Rust and dug Joseph Michael Linsner's Dawn: Lucifer's Halo from my short boxes. 

Originally published in 1997 as a six-issue monthly mini-series through Sirius, at first glance at this book on the shelves, I wrongly assumed this was another in the late 90s spate of T&A books that flooded the shelves of comic book shops. Then, a few months into the run, while hanging out at a friend's house, I saw the series sitting on his coffee table and picked up one of the issues and began to flip through the pages. 

I was floored. 

I sat there and read the first two issues, then drove to the comic shop later that week and grabbed what they had on the shelf. To this day I'm still missing issue #1, but I bought everything Linsner did under the Dawn character after that: Three Tiers, the NY book in '01, Return of the Goddess, etc.  

Dawn is a singular concept. Utilizing religious themes, flourishes of High Fantasy, Horror, and eroticism, this book is visually stunning and intellectually fascinating. There's a tenderness to the romantic elements of the story that really makes me feel for the characters, particularly Darrian Ashoka, who is hopelessly in love with a Goddess and awash in a reality that suddenly includes Angels and Demons of a most violent sort. There's brutality to the violence, and a grandeur to the philosophical elements that really posit Linsner's writing as the product of deep thought and intense introspection, not just directed inward, but outward toward the goal of understanding our rich and tempestuous existence.

And then there's the Art. Nothing I could post here does it justice. Yes, a large part of the art is Dawn herself, but beyond that, JML really breathes life into the Metaphysical realms with a unique and lavish style unlike anything else out there. 

Time to track down that first issue on eBay. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk version)

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

My Live with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself

Carpenter Brut - Leather Teeth

Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria

Netherlands - Vapors

Asaf Avidan - Live at the Acropolis

Noga Erez - RADAR Reworked 

Slayer - Live Undead/Haunting the Chapel

John Brennan and the Bigfeet - The Last Drive-In w/ Joe Bob Briggs OST Vol. 1

Various - Return of the Living Dead OST

The Damned - Night of 1000 Vampires

Goblin - Suspiria OST

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is now live! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• Page of Cups

• X: Wheel of Fortune

• XXI: The World

Intuit change and stay ahead of it. That's the only way to survive the world as we know it today.

Again, I know that's pretty generic, but I'm running on fumes at the moment, so I'll be leaving the cards out on my desk to ponder in the morning.

77s - You Don't Scare Me

Full disclosure - adding this song from the 77s' 1984 album All Fall Down was an eleventh-hour switcheroo. In truth, I don't recall ever hearing of the 77s before last night, when this song played over the closing credits of Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill and Joe Hill's Black Phone 2. 

F*#king track made an impression, to say the least.

I drove home on the 24 with both windows down, around 11:00 PM, blaring this track, and it felt GOOD. About as good as blasting "Rock You Like A Hurricane" felt leaving my first theatrical viewing of Ti West's Maxxxine* last July. Something about an awesome, swanky rock song pumping out the windows into the night air.

---

I know that song's not actually in Maxxxine, but it fit the mood of the moment just fine.

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

There's a lot of trepidation surrounding Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill's Black Phone 2. The trailer looks fantastic, but A) like all goddamn Bluhouse trailers, it shows too much, and B) how do you follow that first film? 

I've been a fan of these two since Sinister. I stand by that one, regardless of that unneeded final scene. The atmosphere is so... heightened. I don't know that the film scares me, but I know it scares the characters. That's something I'm not sure I've ever put into words before, but it's accurate. The success of that first Black Phone film - what these two did with Joe Hill's wonderful but curt short story, it just seemed impossible to follow through on. Not the case. 

As annoyed as I've become seeing this trailer before every movie for the last month or two, somehow, it doesn't actually give that much away. That said, I'm posting this here for posterity's sake; if you haven't seen the film yet, don't watch it. The less you see, the better. Why? Because Black Phone 2 is visually and sonically STUNNING.

That should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Derrickson's career. The two standout additions here are the use of grainy, 16mm film stock that signifies an altered state of awareness and Atticus Derrickson's score.

Both the 16mm technique and Atticus Derrickson carry over from the duo's "Dream Killer" in V/H/S/85. I'm not the biggest fan of that particular franchise; however, seeing that segment on the big screen two years ago is something I reflect on quite a bit. The visual textures Derrickson creates, and the way they're accentuated by the score (and a cameo by Throbbing Gristles' Hamburger Lady) make such a strong sense impression... It's unlike most cinematic things. Same too with Black Phone 2. I'm not saying it's the best thing since The Shining, but this style is unlike anything else I've seen. There's a nostalgic element, but I think that's the atmosphere, not the actual technique. 

Either way, if you dug the first one, Black Phone 2 is well worth your time.

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy/The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)/All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining/The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey/John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) The Black Phone 2

---

---

---

Playlist:

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

Odonis Odonis - Eponymous (pre-release singles)

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

Dream Division - The Devil Rides Out

Goblin - Phenomenon OST (Wax Work Edition)

Ghost - Infestissumam

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Cursed Moon - Rite of Darkness

Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem

Bauhaus - Burning From the Inside

77s - All Fall Down

Beastmilk - Climax

Throbbing Gristle - Hamburger Lady (single)

Throbbing Gristle - Slut Bait (Live at the I.C.A. London single)

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is now live! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• Nine of Swords

• VII: The Chariot

• Eight of Wands

Anxiety, Willpower and Action. Meaning, I have to do something about the anxiety currently haunting me. That's pretty vague, but I don't have a lot of gumption in me at the moment, so leaving this here to possibly decode later. 

In Praise of Bacchus

Can you feel it? October is in full dying mode. The plants K and I worked so hard to keep alive all summer long through the heat are succumbing to the dying time. So am I, sonically speaking. So yeah, here's one of my all-time favorite tracks from one of my all-time favorite bands, so perfect for Autumn. I think that, after I post this, I'll get high, open another beer and read Dawn: Lucifer's Halo. Just list those autumns so long ago.

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

I had the really cool experience of finally seeing George A. Romero and Stephen King's original Creepshow on the big screen last night. Regal is doing a Horror movie a day in October, and this week is the big week for me: Creepshow last night, John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness tonight (never thought I'd have a chance to see this one at a theatre) and The Black Phone 2 on Thursday. Black Phone is not part of this month-long repertory stint; I'll be back at that next week. 

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy/The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)/All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining/The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982)

---

---

---

NCBD:

Tomorrow's Pull at Rick's Comic City, Clarksville. 

LOVE this cover. I'm getting Shockwaves vibes from the thing in the background. Very cool.

As usual, it'll be a minute before I get my hands on the last couple Z News, but I always love to look at the covers and wonder what bizarre copy Mr. Zdarksy and crew will throw at us on any particular topic. 

So, The War turns out to only be 3 issues? The solicitation on League of Comic Geeks starts with, "the stunning conclusion...".  I'm both bummed and relieved. Even though the second issue of this series didn't hit me as hard as the first did, this is all so relatable it's insane. Ennis and Cloonan should collaborate more often - I definitely think she captures the darker aspects of his characters. 

I'll always support the Laphams, and after only one issue of Good As Dead, my doing so is rewarded. This book feels like it's going to be a wild ride. Nobody does crime comics like the Laphams. Sure, Brubaker and Phillips are at the top of their game, but this is something else entirely. There's always an element of low-key magical realism in the Laphams' work, and it often just springs out of nowhere. 

Another Night Force issue. Cool. I'm looking forward to how the two teams play out. G.I. Joe still feels like the Energon Universe book with the most to prove, and I'm hoping something big will come into play soon. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Black Tape for a Blue Girl - Remnants of a Deeper Purity

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods - The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One Believes me

Testament - Para Bellum

Tool - Aenima

Tear for Fears - The Hurting

The Damned - Evil Spirits

The Damned - Night of 1000 Vampires

sunn O))) - Eternity's Pillars b/w Raise the Chalice & Reverential EP

Saigon Blue Rain - Oko

Type O Negative - October Rust

Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Skinny Puppy - Mind: the Perpetual Intercourse

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is now live! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• Five of Wands

• Six of Swords

• Four of Pentacles

Conflict, Science (skill) and a base of power. Sounds like it's time to circle the wagons.