“Best of April” Picks from The Ghastly Awards

It’s about that time.  Okay, it’s a little past that time, but it took me awhile to get through the cornucopia of coolness that was this year’s Free Comic Book Day giveaways.  (More on those later.)  So here’s a look at my pick for April’s “Best of” for The Ghastly Awards.

As always, click the hyperlinked title for the original piece, and to check out more info on The Ghastly Awards and how to nominate!

Ghastly Awards — April 2013 Update

Horror comics are becoming more and more frequent in our reading culture, and the Ghastly Awards are here to recognize, through Horror Comic submissions, those that shine the brightest. We encourage all Comic Creators to take the time to head over to www.ghastlyawards.com and submit your work for 2013 Ghastly Award Nomination consideration.

Creators please remember that you can submit your Horror Comic work through out the calendar year! For the month of April 2013 the judges are recommending you take a look at: 

Bedlam #6 (Image Comics) – Through this comics past 5 issues it has presented more questions than answers, but this issue will help to answer some of those, but of course will leave you with more. Nick Spencer still keeps these characters insanely interesting with not giving everything away. This comic balances so many different themes from crime, psychology, religion and still begs you to answer is evil just something you are or something you do? – Spaced (http://www.facebook.com/NerdGirlsEyeView)

Dark Shadows Year One #1 (Dynamite) - Those familiar with the origin of vampire Barnabas Collins will be treading on familiar ground here, still writer Marc Andreyko throws in a few touches to make it different enough from the television version for long-time fans to check out. For the rest of you who do want to wade through hundreds of episodes of the TV show – or worse, the atrocious Tim Burton movie – but nevertheless want to know how a 19th century gentleman became one of the most famous bloodsuckers, here’s your chance. The characters’ look and sound are incredibly faithful to the source yet adapt well to the comic format. A great companion to the excellent monthly Dark Shadows comic.  – Pedro Cabezuelo (http://www.rue-morgue.com/)

Constantine #2 (DC) -Everybody knows that John Constantine is a jerk.  He keeps himself as obnoxious as possible because he fears the harm that will come to anyone close to him (“Magic is costly you take what you didn’t earn, but you pay for it.  You want to trust me on that.”)  With the reboot of Constantine folded into DC’s The New 52, it’s no surprise that in this issue our favorite cigarette addict gets a comeuppance from The Spectre.  But it’s not all crossover love, there’s some interesting build-up and one of the four sorcerers that John has come up against has a “special horror” in store.  If the gorgeous artwork by Renato Guides is any indication, Constantine #3: London Wants Me Dead looks very tasty indeed.  – Denise Dutton (atomicfangirl.com)

Miniature Jesus #1 (Image) - I’m insanely excited for this series. There is so much potential here. It’s just the right amount of weird for me. Being the first issue, we don’t get a ton of information… just a bunch of teasers of what’s to come. The story starts with a rugged, rough around the edges, recovering alcoholic who talks to a mummified cat and has to battle his (personified–demonified?) desire to drink. We then switch over to another storyline (which will no doubt converge with our alcoholic in the next issue) about a crazed, overzealous pastor who has a very strange experience with his small Jesus on a cross figurine. Like I said, I’m really excited for this series because the horror of it all is in the bizarreness. We tend to feel fear at the things we don’t understand and I think Miniature Jesus will walk that line quite nicely. The writing is solid but the art is really the highlight for me. This comic is definitely not to be missed.  – Bree Ogden (agentbree.wordpress.com)

Abe Sapien #1: Dark and Terrible (Dark Horse) – The world is overrun with monsters of all shapes and sizes (mostly of the big ‘n scary type), meanwhile, the B.P.R.D. are still hunting for their MIA agent– Abe Sapien! Mignola and Allie propel this anticipated creature infested feature into ominous high gear, the first of a 3 issue horror adventure mini-series, with eerie artwork by Sebastian Fiumara and creeptacular colors by Dave Stewart. – Steve Banes (http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/)

Killogy #4 (IDW) -  Alan Robert brings his latest zombie adventure to a close, and what a fantastic final issue. Robert manages to blend together elements of grindhouse horror, dark comedy, and gritty crime all while managing an all-star cast of unlikely heroes. For those of you familiar with Robert’s previous work, he changes up his art style with Killogy and it works wonders. This is just a damn fun book. I wish there was more. – Lonnie Nadler (www.Bloody-Disgusting.com)

Godzilla: The Half Century War #5 (IDW) - James Stokoe’s epic Kaiju drama continues into the new millennium and his storytelling is, as always, top-notch! But the real draw here (pun intended) is Stokoe’s lovingly detailed and thrilling artwork. Gigan, Ghidorah and Mecha-Godzilla duke it out with everybody’s favorite ‘Zilla in page after page of relentless monster assault! Quite an apocalyptic tale here… could it be the end? Well… there’s supposed to be one more episode, and I can’t wait for it! This mini-series is the best Kaiju-Komic I’ve ever enjoyed… Stokoe is doing something completely original yet wonderfully familiar with his labor of love. Highly recommended. – Mike Howlett (http://eeriepublications.blogspot.com/) 

’68: Jungle Jim #1 (Image): What do you get when you mix awesome with awesomer and then top it all off with a good helping of awesomest? You get ’68: Jungle Jim #1 of course! The zombie infestation meets the Vietnam War is back, and it blows your eyes out within the first few pages, thanks to the GORE-Geous artwork of Jeff Zornow. The story by Kidwell moves at a fantastic pace, and it’s just an all around fantastic first issue. I can not wait for more of this series. I love every single MOTHER F’*&#’ING PAGE!  – Decapitated Dan (www.decapitateddan.com) 

Haunted Horror #4 (IDW): I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. I think that Yoe, Gussoni and our very own Steve Banes, do an amazing job choosing stories that all work very well together. As odd as it sounds to call old reprints fresh, this book really is a breath of fresh “old” air. The amount of story you used to get for cover price is amazing compared to today’s standards, and this comic will show you why. My favorite story was probably the final story “Terror on the TV”. It might look like a simple concept today, but place yourself in 1954 and think about it, yeah, you crapped your pants. I love this title, I love what it is bringing to the comic public, and all I can say is read it, you will be glad you did.  – Decapitated Dan (www.decapitateddan.com)