Monday, March 21, 2011

Reviews: Eerie Archives Vol. 3; Black Summer; Magic Jake & The Power Crystals

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 3 (Dark Horse, 2010; Hardcover)
Collects Eerie Nos. 11-15 (cover dates September, 1967- June, 1968)
Another stellar collection of black and white old school Horror comics by the all-time greats. Too numerous to name, suffice it to say that I have named them all in previous reviews of the Creepy and Eerie Archives. I am thrilled to death (pun intended) that Dark Horse keeps cranking these deluxe hardcover editions out. My wallet (and my bookshelves...and my wife) are quite terrified by the number of these that have been released in such a short period of time. Boo! These puns are getting downright scary.
I hope that once the dust settles and the entire series has been reprinted that Dark Horse sees it fit to re-release these in a series of affordable phone books for the masses.

BLACK SUMMER (Avatar, 2008; softcover)
Collects Black Summer Nos. 0-7 (cover dates May, 2007- July, 2008)
If it has the Avatar Press logo on it, you can rest assured that the comic book will meet the following criteria: Adult-oriented topics with excessively high levels of violence and high quality writing, artwork and coloring. Black Summer follows suit and is a fun read for those looking for a 'real world' take on superheroes a la Watchmen. I myself would totally sell out and cash in if I had super powers.
The artwork by Juan Rose Ryp is just fantastic, and the coloring by Mark Sweeney and Greg Waller is equally stunning. There is so much going on in each and every panel, a real eye candy feast here. Warren Ellis always has characters smoking cigarettes and dropping F-bombs in his stories. I have no idea why. This story was obviously very topical during the George W. Bush administration but holds up well. Recommended reading for those that like their comics with "Mature Readers Only" labels on them.

Magic Jake and the Power Crystals/ Magic Jake and the Power Crystals (Burger Records)
All Rock and all fun, Magic Jake & The Power Crystals waste no time. There are no lengthy guitar solos, no slow songs, and no filler. This is all meat kids, and it's well done. Bobby Harlow's vocals sound like he was inhaling helium while recording them, and I mean that as a compliment. I have always been a sucker for higher register vocals (i.e. Robert Plant, Rob Halford, etc.) Loving Knife is pure Rock 'N' Roll and is my favorite of favorites on the album. These songs are very punchy and very catchy, and there isn't a second wasted on the entire album. Normally when I listen to music I dissect songs, thinking "oh, that wasn't necessary" or "that section was a total Prog-Rock waste of time" or "they should've chopped that in half and made two songs out of it". I didn't do that once here. My opinion of albums being over 40-45 minutes are a waste of time still stands. My only gripe is that there is no CD available, only vinyl and limited edition cassette (mine was 205 out of 250, hand numbered). Maybe someday...

No comments:

Post a Comment