[I wanted to write something about my favorite kid friendly horror comic for Halloween, so I did.]
Writer/artist/publisher Eric Powell is probably best known for his action/horror
comic book ‘The Goon’, in which thuggish anti-hero The Goon and his diminutive sidekick
Franky battle zombies, witches, and other forces of evil. That book is on
hiatus at the moment, but you should definitely check out the collected trade
paperbacks. They’re a lot of fun.
At the moment Powell’s primary focus is another action/horror
book called ‘Hillbilly’, but he’s also found time to do something that is all
too rare these days. His Albatross comics company has given a home to ‘Spook
House’, a horror anthology miniseries of “scary stories fit for kids.”
That there could be horror comics appropriate for all ages
was nothing unusual when I was growing up in the seventies. At the time DC
comics still published all-ages horror titles like ‘Ghosts’, ‘Weird War Tales’,
‘Plop!’, ‘House of Secrets’, ‘House of Mystery’, and of course, the original
incarnation of ‘Swamp Thing’. And Marvel had ‘Man-Thing’, ‘Tomb of Dracula’,
and ‘Ghost Rider’. These days, though, most horror titles are aimed at the mature
readers market, leaving younger fright fans out in the cold. So ‘Spook House’
is truly a welcome title, at least in my house.
The first incarnation of ‘Spook House’ ran for 5 erratically
published issues between October 2016 and June 2017. It was a real blast to
have a comic that both I and my young son (5/6 at the time) could enjoy equally.
Now Powell has brought the title back for a 4-issue weekly run in October as ‘Spook
House 2’, and the first issue is everything I hoped it might be.
The first story is “Disgusting Monsters From Planet Glorgorf”.
It’s an origin story for a horror hero called Zombie Grrl, whose name pretty
much says it all. She rises from the grave to do battle with some baddie named
Dr. Skull who is responsible for summoning the alien menace of the story’s title.
Not bad, but definitely the weakest story in the issue.
Things get much better in the second story, “Christina”.
This is a parody of Stephen King’s ‘Christine’ with kids and a go-kart instead
of teens and a beat up classic car. Grown ups familiar with the original story
will enjoy it on that level, while kids can take it at face value and still
have a perfectly satisfying read. The scares are kept pretty tame, and there
are plenty of kid appropriate laughs. Powell writes and Jake Smith provides the
art.
Next up is my favorite story by far, “The Crud Kid”. This
one is an absolutely beautiful tribute to Len Wein and Berni Wrightson, the
creators of ‘Swamp Thing’, both of whom sadly passed away last year. And
goddamn, does artist Kyle Hotz do an absolutely amazing job of capturing the
essence of Wrightson’s art style. Fans of the seventies version of Swampy may
well feel tears welling up when reading this. But again, like “Christina”, it
works just fine on its own. Again, not too scary, and the humor is kid
appropriate without feeling watered down.
Last but not least, Powell writes and draws “Our Big Sister
is the Devil”, a parody of THE EXORCIST
in which the cranky adolescence of Peg-Sue-Sue (get it?) is the result of
Satanic possession. Thankfully her little brothers know where to get the
answers they need to save her: Youtube. My son definitely related to that part.
He also liked the fart jokes in this one, which is to be expected.
While part of me wishes Powell had illustrated the whole
book, I can’t complain given the caliber of artists he works with here.
Honestly, my only complaint is that ‘Spook House’ isn’t a regular monthly
title. I read a fair number of kid friendly comics with my son, and most of
them are licensed properties. For what they are, they aren’t bad, but there’s
always a subtle corporate vibe to them. ‘Spook House’ feels like creators
making fun, family friendly stories they feel something for. At least I’ve got
three more issues to look forward to for now.
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