Recommended Reading for 10/9: The Halloween Legion- The Great Goblin Invasion

Here's a funny little process story for this blog, because I know everyone loves blog process stories! I read and really enjoyed The Halloween Legion back in October of 2013, which if you go back and look, was the low ebb of my writing here, as I was in the process of moving. I really wanted to write this up as a Halloween season recommended reading, but I just didn't have the time. And last year, well, it slipped under the mental radar. But this week, I was looking over my shelves, trying to find something appropriately Halloween for today, and this bright yellow binding popped out at me, and I remembered how great this book was, and so... process story done, and recommendation begins here.

When talking about Coraline, Neil Gaiman has commented that kids can take the scary stuff better than adults can, and I think I may have made a comment similar somewhere on here at one point or another. Kids are mentally resilient, which is why kids horror like Goosebumps is a genre that is not going away. Today's recommended reading, The Halloween Legion, is another all ages monster comic, a hardcover graphic novel released by Dark Horse from writer Martin Powell (who wrote the classic Sherlock Holmes/Dracula comic Scarlet in Gaslight) and artists Diana Leto and Thomas Boatwright, with some legitimate scares and some heavier themes, where a team of monstrous heroes face down an invasion of goblins in flying saucers. And if that sentence doesn't at least pique your interest, I'm not doing my job right.

The opening page of the book gives a quick rundown of the team of monster heroes who defend the own of Woodland, a place where spooky stuff clearly happens regularly: The Devil, aka Molly Aldrich, who is a local girl who happens to be a fire elemental; The Skeleton, and immortal giant; The Witch Grimalkin, whose ugly exterior hides an internal beauty; Freddy, the ghost of a boy who now has amazing ghost powers; and Autumn, who is addressed as "THE black cat," with powers and who always knows what must be done. They're all very distinct character types, working together is a classic team dynamic: Molly is impetuous (hot-headed you might say), The Skeleton is somber, Grimalkin is motherly, Freddy is wide eyed innocent, and Autumn is, well, a cat. The fact that they click so well as a team immediately gets the readers to like them and let's their best traits shine through.

The story starts out with the team assembled and clearly having been working together for some time. Everyone has an established backstory that becomes apparent to the readers over the course of the beginning of the book. While a bit of internet research revealed that Powell has written a Halloween Legion novel that the comic serves as a sequel to, I never felt lost. Powell does a good job of establishing who everyone is and what their stories are without a ton of exposition, which is one of the signs of a strong writer.

The plot of the book sees a mysterious solar eclipse hit the town of Woodland, which it is quickly revealed is caused by goblins in flying saucers. Whether they're strictly alien, or some manner of supernatural and alien combined isn't made clear and doesn't really matter, as they begin to abduct townsfolk. The Halloween Legion springs into action, but he goblins not only have overwhelming numbers on their side, but science weapons that seem to counter many supernatural powers. The stakes are immediately established by having a little girl named Alexandria become the face of the people, as her mother is abducted and the Legion has to protect her. There's a reason why the waif in danger is a trope, as it gives immediate buy-in for a reader to hope she's protected, and to have her be a former classmate of ghost Freddy adds a layer to his character, letting him interact with someone his own age and learn a bit more about how he feels about being a ghost.

One of the major beats of the graphic novel involves the gremlins having technology that shuts down the Witch's powers, leaving her free of the curse that makes her appear as a witch and shows her true beautiful appearance, but leaves her unable to help in the battle. The only way to restore her power is for The Skeleton to transfer his life force to her, which might be the one death he will not return from. There's a lot of pathos in that situation, but I love the nobility of both characters, with the Witch willing to sacrifice her chance to not be a monster and The Skeleton willing to give his life with nary a second thought. We also get to go into The Skeleton's lab and meet his assistant, Huston the rag golem, who has a really great design.

The art in the book is stellar. Thomas Boatwright does the pencils, with design direction from Halloween Legion co-creator Diana Leto. The cover has a pull quote from Mike Mignola, and I can see an influence there, with some of the big, blocky characters and creepy atmosphere. But his humans have more realistic faces, which helps especially with Molly, who is a teenage girl, and needs that level of expression to show everything she's going through, especially as he reader's "in" to the world. I absolutely love the look of the goblins, and the scenes of them appearing en masse are absolutely creepy. Boatwright is listed as artist, so he colored his own work, and I was really impressed by the colors after the sun is blotted out and the alien crafts arrive. The weird, ugly green they shine from their ships is a perfect color choice, unnatural and otherworldly.

The book also has a fun little back-up story, "Once Upon a Halloween," which Powell says is a creepy experience he had on a Halloween as a kid that led to his creation of The Halloween Legion. Whether or not that's true, I don't know, but it's a neat story with art by Diana Leto, and a nice cap to the book.

I can see a lot of set up for future adventures, including Freddy's growing powers and he townsfolk distrust of the Halloween Legion, not to mention Molly's high school adventures, but as far as I can tell, there haven't been any other adventures for the Halloween Legion. I'd love to see some more spooky, exciting, and fun adventures from this team in the future, as either comics or novels.

The Halloween Legion graphic novel is sill in print and available at comic book shops and bookstores everywhere.

Recommended Reading for 10/24: Colder

It's October, and I usually spend my favorite month doing recommended readings for one of my favorite genres: horror comics. I've fallen behind on that this month, but I'm hoping to remedy that today.

"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad," wrote Lewis Carroll in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This quote could be attributed as accurately to Colder, the horror series written by Paul Tobin and drawn by Juan Ferreyra. It's a tale of madness, compassion, love, hunger, and cold.

When I first read solicitation copy for Colder, I was surprised. I really like Paul Tobin as a writer, but I was familiar with his writing almost exclusively as all ages work, including the Eisner nominated Bandette, the charming Banana Sunday, both with Colleen Coover, and Marvel's late and lamented all ages "Marvel Adventures" line. But if Mark Millar's best work can be on Superman Adventures, than a writer known for all ages comics can write horror. And mixing in the lavish and horrific art from Juan Ferreyra, it seemed a no brainer to sample it, and it was well worth it.

One of the thing that immediately grabbed my attention about Colder was the fact that it's a horror comic that isn't depending on any of the classic monster tropes. I don't have anything against classic monsters; far from it. I love The Walking Dead, Tomb of Dracula, and any number of other monster themed comics. But I'm impressed when someone thinks outside the box. The monster that Paul Tobin creates for this series is Nimble Jack, who is an invisible psychic vampire of sorts. He feeds off of, and inspires, insanity. So not only do we have a monster who can move hidden through the world and views people as just food, but one who can do one of the things that any thinking person dreads; he can push you to lose your mind. There's something terrifying about being lost in your own mind, and Tobin played with that fear in a way that made my skin crawl.

A great villain/monster isn't the heart of a horror comic, though. If you don't have leads that you care about, then the comic is nothing more than an exercise in how much gore or terror you can squeeze between the pages (there is also the Tales from the Crypt model, where you often are looking for the lead to get their comeuppance, but those work best in short pieces, I find). The people who are the heart of the story are Declan and Reece. The first issue opens in an asylum in 1941, some seventy years earlier than the rest of the story, and we see Declan infected with... something by Jack as the asylum burns around them. Flash forward to the present, where Reece is a nurse who is taking care of mysterious patient, Declan, who has been in a waking coma for as long as anyone can remember. After the care facility he was in closed, Reece actually took Declan in, a Declan who does not seem to have aged a day since the 40s, and one whose body temperature is preternaturally cold.

Reece is tough, resourceful, and has her feet planted firmly in a rational world. All that changes when Jack returns, speaks briefly to Declan and leaves. Declan then speaks to Reece for the first time, which is understandably shocking to Reece. Declan takes her out, and tries to explain everything that has happened to him that he can remember, but is disturbed by Jack, who he knows he must avoid. because Jack has been basically aging Declan like a fine wine for eighty years, waiting for the feats of all feasts. To escape, Declan takes Reece into another world, or gives her a new perspective on this world, the one shared by those who aren't in touch with reality as we all understand it. One way or the other, it's a dark world full of monsters and weirdness, and Reece does not take well to it. Now both Reece and Declan smell of insanity, a smell that attracts Jack, and it's a race against time to save Reece before Declan's body temperature drops even lower and kills him.

The coldness that the title refers to is Declan's, but it's more than just a way to preserve Declan. Declan's memory of his time before Jack infected him is limited, and he doesn't want to remember, because he's fairly sure that he did horrible things. He also has a gift, sort of the mirror image of Jack's. While Jack feeds on madness, driving people insane and eventually to suicide, Declan can reverse madness as well as increase it, but only at the cost of precious degrees of body temperature. Every time he steps into the realm of madness or helps someone,it moves him closer to death or to being Jack's frozen prey. It's a great set up, since there's now a ticking clock on top of the supernatural predator hunting our heroes and Reece's own increasing separation from reality.

Tobin ratchets the tension up throughout the series using all these elements, building to a battle between Declan and Jack for Reece. And it's a deeply personal battle for Declan, as it's fairly clear that he has fallen in love with Reece during his time with her. He's been aware of everything that happened to him, and he sees what a good person Reece is. The addition of the love story might seem like a bit too much, but it folds so nicely into everything else going on. The fact that Reece is completely unsure of what to make of Declan and isn't sure what she feels about him adds a dimension to the relationship, making it not a simple girl-meets-boy-with-a-supernatural-affliction and falls in love with him story, which let's be fair, is a genre trope that has been done a lot in recent years as well.

The series has an air of mystery to it that adds to the sense of unease. Exactly what Jack is and how he feeds is parsed out gradually, and I haven't revealed all the details of that. And Declan's mysterious past, exactly why he was in the asylum, what the doctors there were doing to him and the other patients, and what exactly his capabilities are, is teased out, keeping the reader on their toes and just a bit off balance, not letting him or her get comfortable enough to settle in. That's what the best horror stories do, keep you looking over your shoulder, metaphorically and, let's be frank, sometimes literally.

I don't want to talk details about how the series ends, but I do want to say just how perfectly in tone the ending is. The best kind of horror stories, ones like The Exorcist and The Stand, end with at least a touch of ambiguity. It might be a black and white world, with monsters in it, but even when white wins, black is still out there and it's fingers are still creeping into the world. The release of a sequel tells you at least one of the protagonists survives, but the condition either of them might be in? Well read the book and find out.

The series would have been a good read with any artist, but artist Juan Ferreyra takes the work up to an entirely different level. I love an artist who can draw very expressive and distinctive faces, and Ferreyra hits that one out of the park. The various looks of madness and hunger in Jack, the confusion in Reece, and the lost looks of Declan are perfect. And the way he draws Jack's body, contorting in unnatural ways adds to the wrongness of everything about him.

Those skills are important for any artist, but for an artist on a horror comic, there's a skill that is just as important: monsters. And Ferreyra shines there even brighter. The time spent in the world of the insane is a time filled with monsters. Flayed giants, hellhounds, things made of bones, and the deformed perceptions of the mad as to what they look like themselves ooze all over the page. The world itself is a rundown, haunted looking city that feels like menace waits around every corner, and it does.

I've heard it said about colorists that if you notice their work, they're doing something wrong, which is a statement I couldn't disagree with more, and I want to draw special attention to Ferreyra and Eduardo Ferreyra and Laura Binaghi, who are credited with color assist on the series. The difference in colors between the real world and the world of the insane is part of what makes that world so disturbing. And the slow shift in Declan's color, as he gets colder, is a great visual cue to his state; without it, the pressure of Declan's situation would not be as palpable.

Horror is a genre that is well suited to comics. It combines the visceral, of the still panel and the image, with the imagination, as you craft the flow of the action. A well done horror comic will draw you in and leave you unsettled. Colder is one such comic, one that leaves you wondering just how tenuous our hold on the world is, and what exactly might be waiting in the dark corners of our own minds. It's a great read, but if I might make one suggestion before you pick it up: Make sure you have a warm blanket to curl up under once you start. You'll need it.

Oh, and in case you needed any other incentive, in one panel, Jack turns into a werewolf, and Declan punches him out.

Pretty sweet, huh?

Colder is available in a trade paperback from Dark Horse Comics at comic shops and on-line. The first issue of the sequel, Colder: The Bad Seed, was released this past Wednesday. The creators are also currently collaborating on Prometheus: Fire & Stone, part of the Prometheus/Aliens/Predator crossover, also from Dark Horse.

Trick-or-Treating in Gotham- Batman: Haunted Knight

We hear at The Matt Signal (and by we, I mean, well, me) love October, and especially Halloween; candy, monsters, and something spooky around every corner. I imagine this is surprising to anyone who has never read this blog before and has no idea about my love of Batman and horror comics, but we're all old friends here, so let's gather round the fire and I'm going to tell you about some of my favorite Halloween themed Batman comics.

When most readers think about Batman related Halloween comics, the stories that spring to mind are Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's two maxi-series, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. And can I blame them? Heck, no. Frankly, The Long Halloween is one of, if not my all time, favorite Batman stories, even if the ending isn't perfect. I remember reading the series as it came out, issue by issue, piecing together the mystery of who is Holiday. But Loeb and Sale had a history with Batman before that.

For three Halloweens before those series, Loeb and Sale created prestige format Halloween specials, under the banner of Legends of the Dark Knight, the title that was being released at the time that was a creator showcase for Batman stories that were out of continuity or tales set in the past. Over the course of the three specials, they touched on many of the great Batman villains, as well as his allies, and fleshed out the early years of Batman. These stories were collected in the trade, Haunted Knight, and I think they don't get as much credit as they're due. So here's a little discussion of each of them.

Choices (or alternately Fears) is a story featuring the perfect Batman villain for Halloween, the Scarecrow, the master of fear. On one of his early rampages, Batman is pursuing the Scarecrow, while Bruce Wayne has a new love interest. While Batman duels with Scarecrow, the slowly revealed revelation of the black widow planning to take everything from Bruce makes for a great parallel. There are some amazing visuals in this story, especially as Batman attempts to find his way through a maze of thorny hedges poisoned with Scarecrow's fear toxin. Fear is central in all Scarecrow stories, but this one really uses the idea that as terrifying as Scarecrow is, it's Batman who is the truly frightening one, and that Scarecrow has something to fear when he confronts Batman. Jillian Maxwell, the black widow killer, has her own fears, and the final page is a great moment showing exactly how far the fear of the Dark Knight can reach.

The second special, Madness, is my favorite of the three stories. A story of not only Batman, but of Jim and Barbara Gordon, this is set firmly in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity where Barbara was Jim's adopted daughter, the biological daughter of Jim's brother. Shortly after Barbara is adopted it's Halloween in Gotham, and the two fight over whether Barbara can go out on her own, and the teenage Barbara storms out, only to be abducted by the Mad Hatter, making her his most recent Alice. Batman pursues the Hatter, as does Jim, and the two rescue Barbara. I love how spunky and tough young Barbara is, foreshadowing her time as Batgirl. I also have to give Loeb credit for writing a creepy Mad Hatter story. The Hatter is often portrayed as just another villain with a weird fetish (I mean that in the obsession sense, not in the sexual one, although Gail Simone portrayed it as such to wonderfully disturbing effect in Secret Six) for hats. This is one of the first stories that really plays up the Alice in Wonderland themes and the creepy child abduction angle. It has a happy ending, naturally, but it probably the most spine-chilling of the stories here.

Ghosts, the final of the three Halloween specials, takes the classic A Christmas Carol and sets it instead at Halloween, with Batman in the Scrooge roll. It's a natural fit, and isn't the only Batman/A Christmas Carol mash up in the history of the character, but is my favorite. Thomas Wayne takes the roll of Jacob Marley, and Poisons Ivy, the Joker, and a skeletal Bruce in a Bat costume are the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, respectively. I like the little redemptive moment at the end of the issue, where Bruce learns his lesson, like Scrooge, that one cannot be separate from people and cannot be just Batman, because that way lies despair and loneliness.

Loeb's stories are solid here, and are early work in his career, and while they're good reads, the star is often Tim Sale's art. His versions of Batman and his enemies are distinct and not realistic in a traditional sense, with his Mad Hatter and Penguin being oddly dwarfish, his Joker snaggle toothed with a strangely distended jaw, and his Scarecrow seeming to be more his namesake than a human being in a costume. Sale is one of my favorite artists in all of comics, and his Batman work is the best of that.

Haunted Knight is in print as a trade, with new cover dress a few years ago to make it fit with the current printings of The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. If you have read and enjoyed either of those stories, or just enjoy a good Batman story, this is a trade well worth picking up, and perfect for those long nights when the wind makes the eves creak and you might just be hearing the sound of a madman laugh somewhere out there...