INTRODUCING ZOMBZANY THE NECROMANCER - PART THREE

In part three of Introducing Zombzany the Necromancer, Zombzany is presenting his second film of the night, Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein. Despite the corrective lenses, Zombzany can’t seem to keep from burying his head in his script. Still, he seems to be at least feigning enthusiasm for a film that I’m sure he would consider beneath him. Bill E. Bones is still hanging around and attempting some comedic relief, but his verbal repertoire at this stage in his early resurrection seems to be awfully limited.  I hope you enjoy Part Three of Introducing Zombzany the Necromancer.

COMIC BOOK DAY!

Every six weeks I take the long drive in my rickety Freakenstein monster-mobile to my favorite comic book specialty shop: New England Comics. I have frequented the Quincy store for over 25 years and I have remained a loyal customer all this time. Because of the nasty New England snow storms we’ve been having this winter; it has been eight weeks since I picked up the comics on my subscription – or pull list as you young punks like to call it. I’ve mentioned in this blog that I read a lot of comics, but I thought I’d list all the comics that I bought in this eight week period to give you an idea of what genre and type of wicked cool comics that I’m currently reading.

DECEMBER 8TH

B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth: New World #5 - This is the last issue of this story arc of the Hellboy spin off series.

Mystery Society #5 – This is the last issue of the first series of stories about the occult group written by Steve Niles with cool anime-style artwork by Fiona Staples.

Spike #3 – Spike finally got his own regular spin off series from Angel and it’s a good one!

DECEMBER 15TH

Angel #40 – IDW’s Angel has gone downhill even further with deplorable art by Jason Armstrong.

Conan: The Road of Kings #1 – This latest new start to the Conan monthly by Dark Horse has the triumphant return of Roy Thomas to the scripting chores!

Doc Macabre #1 – A crank spin off of the Niles-Wrightson IDW title The Ghoul!

The Occultist one shot – An interesting and more realistic look at what happens when an ordinary joe becomes possessed by a powerful book of spells.

Time Bomb #3 – The final issue of the time travel sci-fi spy comic from the writing team of Palmiotti-Gray and the masterful artwork of Paul Gulacy.

DECEMBER 29TH

Hellboy: Sleeping & Dead #1 – A new Hellboy miniseries written by creator Mike Mignola and first time Hellboy artist Scott Hampton.

JANUARY 5TH

Edge of Doom #3 – Another horror story in this horror anthology comic by Steve Niles and Kelly Jones.

I, Zombie #9 – The continuing story of the zombie Gwen Dylan and her weird friends.

Doc Macabre #2

JANUARY 12TH

BPRD: Hell on Earth: Gods #1 – A new series with the same great writer-artist team of Mignola-Arcudi and Davis.

Spike #4

JANUARY 19TH

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #40 – The final issue of “season eight” of Buffy, written by creator Joss Whedon with (unfortunately) artwork by George Jeanty. For fans of the TV show like myself, this comic has been very inconsistent. But when it has been good, it has compared favorably with the TV series.

JANUARY 26TH

Angel #41

Conan: The Road of Kings #2

Angel Illyria #3 – Another Angel spin off and a fair look at the daemon Illyria.

As you can see I read numerous horror comics, with a sprinkling of sf and fantasy comics. I would read more sf comics, but there are not as many published currently as horror comics. I’d read even more fantasy comics, but they don’t seem to publish the type of sword and sorcery or urban fantasy that I prefer. I’ll try to keep up to date on my comics purchases and point out my favorites when they come out. Do yourself a favor and take a trip to your own local comics shop and tell them “Doc” Freakenstein sent ya!

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD - 2010 - SUPER-OIR SATIRE

I was reluctant to watch this movie based on two things: I never read the comic and I am really getting tired of the superhero genre in general. I do read contemporary comics, but I stopped reading superhero titles many years ago; even the satirical ones. That and the fact that the artwork for the comic Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is very much in the Manga “big-eye” style kept me from even trying to read it. The last superhero film with a similar contemporary feel that was also based on a comic that I watched was Kick-Ass. I didn’t enjoy that mostly due to its use of realistic violence while it still attempted to generate humor. There is no comparing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World to Kick-Ass, because the two films are completely different in tone.

If you are not familiar with the comic (I’ve read that it is a fair adaptation of the source material) and you are expecting a superhero action flick with perhaps a touch of hip humor, then you are in for a surprise. The surprise will be either an unpleasant or pleasant one depending on your ability to adapt to director Edgar Wright’s somewhat unorthodox pacing and scene transitions. For once I’m glad I didn’t do my homework on this film, because I would have discovered that Edgar Wright directed both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, neither of which I thought was funny in the least. Luckily for me, after adjusting to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’s unique visual style and directing, I found myself completely wrapped up in the story of a lovable loser who falls in love with the girl of his dreams, who just happens to have seven ex-boyfriends that are inexplicably super-powered and ready to fight our nebbish hero “to the death."

The cast of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World really helps to bring to life the somewhat one-dimensional characters. Michael Cera plays the lead Scott Pilgrim with just enough sincerity that you find yourself rooting for him in his seemingly impossible quest to get and keep the girl of his dreams. Mary Elizibeth Winstead plays said girl-of-Scott’s-dreams Ramona Flowers with a bored and reserved air that inexplicabley makes her character even more likable and attractive (despite the awful multi-colored wigs she wears throughout the film). There are so many great young actors in this film that you’ll find yourself looking them all up because so many of them are recognizable to us genre fans!

Another thing that makes Scott Pilgrim vs. The World a unique visual as well as auditory experience is the music! Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck, Metric, Broken Social Scene, Cornelius, Dan the Automator, Kid Koala, and David Campbell all contributed to the film's soundtrack. Beck composed the music played by Sex Bob-omb in the film, which is the band that Scott Pilgrim plays in. Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene wrote all the songs for Crash and the Boys, which is a rival band in the film. Metric are the influence of the band Clash at Demonhead in the film and contributed the song "Black Sheep" to the film, which is the song Scott’s ex-girlfriend’s band plays in the film. All the music is loud, raw and has a very mod-punk garage feel to it!

One last word of warning to superhero fan purists: this film never gives any rational explanation for why almost every character in this film has some sort of super powers! Only the villains – The League of Evil Exes – are given any kind of back story as to how they arrived at their super powers and this is done mostly for humor. If you can deal with this one major incongruity then you’ll be able to enjoy the rest of the movie. This odd blend of super-heroics, comedy and romance is definitely not for everyone. But, if you are tired of the more traditional superhero films that have been released in the last few years, then treat yourself to the oddly comic romantic heroics of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Please vote in the poll at the bottom of our blog page!

INTRODUCING ZOMBZANY THE NECROMANCER - PART TWO

In this second clip of Zombzany’s first recorded horror hosting job, he begins by asking for a script from one his zombie servants, Sebastian. Evidently, Zombzany hadn’t yet perfected his ability to memories a script and perhaps his poor vision (note the glasses) made him unable to read a cue card. The first film he introduces is actually a 12-part chapter serial titled Panther Girl of the Congo. Zombzany’s description of this serial indicates he is less than thrilled with the film. The Myron that Zombzany speaks to is one of his more intelligent zombies slaves, who I believe is working the camera. Bill E. Bones finally does something other than spew canned laughter in this one.

Enjoy Part Two of Introducing Zombzany the Necromancer!

INTRODUCING ZOMBZANY THE NECROMANCER - PART ONE

Zombzany the Necromancer is my neighbor. About ten years ago I inherited this house I currently live in from a distant relative. It came with a laboratory filled with all kinds of gadgets and devises of which some of them I doubt I’ll ever figure out. When I first moved into my new laboratory around which the rest of the house is built, I didn’t notice that at the farthest edge of my property was an old overgrown cemetery. I found out several months later, during an experiment with a temperamental transformer that caused a blackout throughout the neighborhood, that within one of the tombs of the cemetery resided the self-described King of the Zombies – Zombzany the Necromancer; or Necromaniac, as he sometimes misguidedly refers to his vocation. It seems Zombzany’s tomb was illegally tapped into the grid to provide power for his minor comforts, which included an old black and white television set on which he watched his favorite classic horror films. I was spared Zombzany’s wrath that evening by installing a new circuit breaker panel in his tomb, so that his flow of illicit power wouldn’t be interrupted by any future experiments of mine. From then until fairly recently, Zombzany and I exchanged pleasantries and occasional video tapes of his favorite horror films.

One of many reasons that my undead neighbor – did I mention that Zombzany is a zombie himself? – are currently at odds is that I came into possession dozens of old video tapes of Zombzany's past television appearances. Apparently, Zombzany fancies himself to be a bit of a thespian and has worked for several different local TV stations and cable networks over the years. Zombzany has made appearances as himself, hosting his favorite horror films like White Zombie, but has even stooped to hosting scf-fi films as well. Even more unbelievably, Zombzany has worked under a plethora of aliases, evidently in a vain hope of cashing in on whatever the latest craze in television is. Since most of Zombzany’s “work” has been lost to the annals of time, I felt it was my duty to as an aficionado of popular culture to post some of Zombzany’s televised masterpieces on our blog for the entire Internet community. Okay! I’ll admit it. I just want to piss the old bloated windbag off! Of course, Zombzany has to be hooked up to the World Wide Web to find out and as far as I know he doesn’t even own a computer, let alone have an Internet connection.

Here is the first appearance, as far I can piece together, of Zombzany hosting a horror film marathon on some long forgotten UHF station. This is also the first appearance of Zombzany’s boney sidekick, Bill E. Bones. I’ve broken up this program into several smaller parts, so please enjoy part one of the Introduction of Zombzany the Necromancer!

WELCOME TO MORE OF THE WICKED GOOD!

It has been nearly a year since I “welcomed you to the wicked good”! Guardians of the Genre! was created by me and my good friend, Phileas Photon, as an outlet for us to express our opinions on the many and varied forms of entertainment within our three favorites genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. I also have used GotG to feature some of my more obscure interests, such as horror hosts and monster heavy metal. I never intended this blog to be focused on any one of my (or my friends) many interests and this may be why I don’t seem to get as many responses to my posts as other bloggers that I follow do. If you are looking to Guardians of the Genre for any one thing (Horror movies reviews as an example) than you probably get frustrated because I don’t feature that many of them here; despite the fact that I watch at least a couple dozen horror films a year. I want to continue to use this blog as a forum for sharing with you my passion and enjoyment of movies, TV, books, comics, music, Internet sites, and just about any other form of medium that you can think of. That is why, for the most part, you will rarely read negative reviews of any one of these things here, because I think it is much more fun to write about things that I like, than things that I don’t like.

One new feature that I hope to be bringing to Guardians of the Genre soon, is video shorts featuring the past misadventures of my fellow genre guardians. I’ve been poring over years of accumulated video tapes and will be endeavoring to transfer them to a digital format, so that I can share with you some of the highlights and lowlights of the television careers of Zombzany, Major Mac Maniac, Bill E. Bones and even your favorite freak, Fritz Freakenstein!

In the meantime, please do fill out the poll at the bottom of the blog, as it will help me to decide which films that I should see at the theater this year, so that I can share with you my opinions of them! I look forward to another year in 2011 of welcoming you to more of the wicked good!