You know what really has struck a nerve this week (this is already a better intro if you’re a regular regular), I’ll tell you what: Chinese Vampires! What is the deal with them? Here I am, playing the classic Sega game Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle that I downloaded on the Wii, then suddenly out of no where, blamo, Chinese Vampire, all up in my cyber-grill! Unappreciated China! Keep your vampires to yourself, cause they’re not like our cool European vampires! No! Your vampires hop around and smell bad! We only want three things from you: Panda Kitchen (not real Chinese food), the Journey To The West myth (you cannot beat anything with the Monkey King in it), and Kung-Fu cinema (like Kid With The Golden Arm, best kung-fu movie ever). And with that I welcome you to another week’s edition of From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays!
Out On Stands: Uncle Scrooge #400
Written by: Rudy Salvagnini, Byron Erickson, and Carl Barks
Art By: Giorgio Cavazzano, Daan Jippes, and Carl Barks
Uncle Scrooge hits a milestone over at Boom! this week with issue #400. Boom! has rolled out the treatment for our favorite miser, with a double sized issue and three different covers to choose from, including one painted by Scrooge-all time-fave Carl Barks. This issue contains two tales, the first a new tale about the classic Uncle Scrooge artist Carl Barks himself. It shows Barks as he reflects on his years drawing Uncle Scrooge comics, but he reveals the true story, which is that Carl has been following around Uncle Scrooge, Donald, and the whole gang, from Duckburg to their globe-trotting adventures and back (with their permission of course, especially after Uncle Scrooge started getting fan letters). The story is fun and a fresh twist for an Uncle Scrooge tale, filled with humor, nostalgia, and the perfect ending for a Disney comic. The second tale is a classic reprint of the story “Obsession,” printed here in the U.S. for the first time, that spins the tale of Magica de Spell’s pursuit to seek revenge on Uncle Scrooge by finally getting the Midas touch. The story is fun and in line with other classic Uncle Scrooge tales, but the real gem about this one is that classic looking Disney comic book art by Daan Jippes on this one. Finally we get a few classic one pagers by Carl Barks himself that appeared originally in the very first issue of Uncle Scrooge, making us crack a smile and snicker with every page. Once again, Boom! has done a fantastic job putting together Uncle Scrooge‘s 400th issue, fitting right in line with the rest of their issues they are rolling out right now celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Walt Disney Comics. Don’t miss out and pick it up on stands today.
Something To Watch: Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare
So let’s say when Dracula (a real vampire, not like those Chinese ones) came to the States, Big Foot and a bunch of other North American mythical monsters got pissed off and decided to team up and beat the crap out of Dracula. Now transfer it to a Japanese setting. In the 1968 film Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, an ancient Babylonian vampire named Daimon awakens, and after taking a break on a tarde ship, ends up in Japan! Now Daimon has an agenda of his own, and starts draining blood and impersonating the head of the local government, which is cool until he pisses off a Kappa (mythical Japanese water demon) who sleeps in the house’s pond. Kappa gathers all the mythical monsters of Japan, and after a talk they decide Daimon must go, which is easier said than done. A great battle ensues between the local Japanese monsters and Daimon, leading to a really fun and slightly trippy epic battle sequence at the end of the film. Originally titled Big Monster War, it was created by Daiei Studios, the minds behind monster heroes Gamera and Daimajin. The film was so popular it spawned two sequels, and years later in 2005 a multi-million dollar remake, directed by cult director Takashi Miike. Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare is a lot of fun. You get to see a ton of cool mythical Japanese monsters trying to save the day, samurai swordplay, and a great epic battle at the end. There is no reason why you shouldn’t pick up and love this film this weekend. Check out these monster heroes in the trailer for the film right here!
Purchase Of The Week: Daimon figure
Straight off the Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare film comes this little figurine of the villain Daimon! Daimon was part of a series that came out in Japan this past year from Bandai of several of Daiei’s monster heroes (the collection also included several versions of Gamera and Daimajin). So swank!
Well that’s it for this week comic-fans! Until next, and remember, Guiron loves you!
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
That film actually sounds pretty cool. 😀
The whole trilogy is a lot of fun, although this first is the best, the other two are more monster versus humans. The 2005 version by Takashi Miike is a ton of fun and has some solid Japanese actors like the girl who played Go-go in Kill Bill and Bunta Sugiwara (famous for doing Yakuza films in Japan) but still doesn’t captue the magic of this first.
Alex Kidd has been unemployed for a while I wonder if Sonic has kicked him down a little bit of change to get through these hard times.