From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Rage (2007)

Posted on August 14, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to The Valley Of The Rage…oh wait, I mean Rotten Ink and for this “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update we will be taking a look at the 2007 indie horror film The Rage that was created by FX man Robert Kurtzman and the Fangoria Comics series based around it. The Rage is one of those films that often gets over looked when it comes to direct to video horror films from this era as it slipped under the cracks, but it’s very cool that it ended up getting the comic book treatment and it’s about time it also gets the Rotten Ink treatment. So if you are ready, let’s dive into The Rage and see what this creepy infected humans undead twisted zombie film is all about!

Let’s start by taking a look at Dr. Viktor Vasilienko, a mad scientist that is working with The Rage Virus that turns people living and dead into deformed maniacs that have a lust for violence. He created the virus after he created a cure for cancer that was hidden away by his home country and never used by America who bought it as they wanted treatments not a cure, and this drove him into a madness. Dr. Vasilienko is from Russia and is a man who does not value human life any more, as he would rather take a life than save a life at this time all in his quest to control the virus he created as a plague. His lab is in the woods among a junkyard of cars, and he not only has his lab equipment but also his experiments that are infected people with the virus. When a normal person, he is not very threatening looking as he appears to be a very normal person, but when he is infected by The Rage virus, his appearance is ghastly as he gets bumps, sores and all his skin gets misshapen and gross looking causing his appearance to scare those who see him. Even when infected by The Rage Virus, good old Dr. Vasilienko retains his smarts and skills as his goal is to find a full cure for the virus, but he also has an idea to create a new race of people infected to make the world a different place. The infected Dr. Vasilienko is very strong and can toss a normal person around like a rag doll, he also can with stand lots of damage as being stabbed and burnt does not seem to bother him at all. He also can bite a person and in turn infect them with The Rage virus making this sickness spread. He also has minions that are like him, infected and very mean and dangerous with one being Gor, a massive blind flesh eater. The other is the little person The Misfit who sometimes dresses like a woman and loves to torture and kill his prey. Dr. Vasilienko also seems to love dealing out pain to his victims as well as his helpers as he is truly a madman now. But while the infected Dr. Vasilienko is strong, he still can be killed as if you destroy his brain he can no longer function and so ends his reign of terror. While Dr. Vasilienko and his Rage infected minions might not be the most dangerous villains we have ever covered, they still are very much dangerous as they love to kill and can infected the world with their bites.

Now that we have talked about Dr. Vasilienko and his infected minions, we should take a look at the film they are from and that of course is The Rage. Like always, I will be taking the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and after that I will be writing about the film’s production and then about my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s dodge the infected vultures flying around and see what terrors await us in The Rage!

The Rage (2007)

“A crazed scientist experiments with a rage virus on innocent victims in a laboratory in the woods. When his monstrous subjects escape and vultures devour their remains, they became mutations seeking to feed on humans.”

The Rage is an indie horror film that was from the mind of FX Master Robert Kurtzman, who not only directed the film but also co-wrote the script with John Bisson that takes place in a small town in Ohio and a mad scientist that has raged filled experiments running wild all cause of a rage virus. The film had a low budget with it rumored to be around $200 thousand, and when casting such names as Erin Brown, Andrew Divoff, Reggie Bannister, Ryan Hooks, Rachel Scheer and Alan Tuskes being some of the leads. The film focused lots of its budget on practical effects as they created zombie people and animals and lots of blood was used. Once the film was done and ready for music, the score was done by The Midnight Syndicate and the band Mushroomhead did a few songs for the film. Screen Media would pick up the film for distribution, and it would be released on home media and would show at many Horror Conventions and Screenings. The film was making a small buzz among horror fans as the effects as well as Erin Brown were a draw for them to give it a view. But once released fully, it was met with very mixed reviews from both critics and fans who seemed to not like the film’s plot and found it to be messy. But over the years, the film has gained a cult following thanks mostly to the film being viewed with more modern eyes and it being enjoyed for it’s more over the top parts. The film in 2007 was released alongside such other horror films as 28 Weeks Later, P2, Trick ‘r Treat, I Am Legend, Paranormal Activity, Wrong Turn 2, Hills Have Eyes 2, Halloween, Teenape Goes To Camp and Inside, to name a few.

The film is one that I seen when released on DVD, and it was on my radar for a while thanks to the Fangoria Comic series, the fact that I would see the band The Midnight Syndicate all the time at Cinema Wasteland Convention as well as the fact I was a big fan of Erin Brown aka Misty Mundae…plus you can never go wrong with a strange undead creature feature that was said to be a bloodbath! After watching the film I was not disappointed as I found it to be a very fun ride that was filled with very cool zombie like creatures as well as some very solid practical effects. The one downside was some of the digital effects looked really cheesy, but to be fair in 2007 they still were being perfected in smaller budget films. Seeing actor Andrew Divoff in another role besides The Wishmaster was very cool as he played another messed up creature this time a mad scientist who is hell bent on destroying the world after they would not allow him to save it, as I am sure you guessed it, he plays Dr. Viktor Vasilienko and does a great job in the role. My favorite bad guy character is The Misfit who is a very strange character that dresses like a woman, talks weird, is very mean, likes to use knives and is one violent little person! I also like Gor, a massive blind raged filled infected person who wants to eat human flesh and make people dead! Sure some of the acting is also a little cheesy, but I for one think that it is very fitting for this film’s plot and helps add to the classic cult film feel. After all these years and watching this film again in 2023 for this review I still found myself a fan and wished that it would have gotten a sequel as it would have been cool to see the return of Dr. Viktor Vasilienko and see where the story would go next. While The Rage might not be for everyone, if you enjoy the 2000’s direct to video indie horror films, this is one you might find yourself enjoying like I do. I mean, who doesn’t love seeing zombie vultures attacking zombie humans?!

The Rage might not be a household name when it comes to horror films, but it is a very cool cult film that brings lots of splatter and some cool zombie effects and as zombie vultures attacking zombie people! We are now at the point of this update that I will review the comics based on the film, and in this case it was Fangoria Comics that made the comic series back when the film was released. I would like to thank Mavericks Cards And Comics for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to thank Fangoria Magazine for making a comic branch that sadly they folded up way to soon due to poor management. And lastly I would like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head to the lab of Dr. Vasilienko and see who or what he has infected this time around. And on a side note, it has been a very long time since I first read these comics so it will be nice to revisit to see how I feel about them now.

Beneath The Rage # 1 ***
Released in 2007 Cover Price $3.99 Fangoria # 1 of 4

At an insane asylum in Guatemala, doctors and Agent Sadko watch as a man who has been infected by The Rage virus dies before their eyes in a very gruesome way. The man was Sadko’s husband and she would like to talk to the creator of the virus who is also an inmate named Dr. Viktor Vasilienko. Once in the room with Dr. Vasilienko who is chained up and in a straight jacket, she asks him to tell her about the virus, and he says if he tells her, it will cost her life. She blows off his threat and starts from the beginning. Dr. Vasilienko explains that at a young age both of his parents passed away from cancer and as he grew up he himself found a cure for it, but it was stolen by his home country and sold to pharmaceutical companies to buried it as he himself was locked away in a asylum. He escaped and later when messing with two cops sent to arrest him, he stumbled on a street that housed a place that showcased Circus Freaks and inside he meets Misfit a little person with ghastly features and learns from him that a witch cause him to be this way, and when a cop finds Dr. Vasilienko, it’s Misfit who saves him from being arrested by stabbing the cop in the back. Meanwhile the other cop who is looking through Dr. Vasilienko’s room triggers a trap that explodes and kills him. And then both Dr. Vasilienko and Misfit escape into the night and a twisted friendship is born.

This is such a fun issue as it really does a great job of going into the backstory of Dr. Vasilienko as well as shows his first meeting with his friend Misfit, not to even mention it starts off with a bang as we see a man vomit and poop out his insides all because of the Rage virus. The plot has an agent visiting the asylum that houses Dr. Vasilienko to learn about the virus he created and why he created something that if set loose would kill so many people very painfully, and he is willing to tell his tale. Dr. Vasilienko is a man who really just wanted to help save lives who turns bitter and cold when his country and the medical world turn on him for finding a cure for cancer, as they want to treat it to make more money. And with his Rage virus, he thinks that he is showing mankind his anger and this is his revenge on everyone who he thinks wronged him as well as stolen from him. Misfit is a foul person who has been cursed by a witch, is locked up and used in a sideshow due to his gross appearance and who is very blood thirsty and mean. Agent Sadko is there to do a job and needs to find out what she can about the Rage Virus, but she also really wants to kill Dr. Vasilienko as the man she watched die horribly was her husband…but she has a job to do and is trying to remain calm. I really like that this comic shows just how Dr. Vasilienko and Misfit meet as the two are a very odd couple together, but we all also know that the two will go on to do some pretty twisted stuff. The issue is packed with blood, guts and gore and holds true to the feel of the film it’s a prequel to. The cover is very eye catching and is done in the style of an old circus sideshow banner that would be in front of a tent. The interior art is done by Stephen Thompson and is really great stuff as the way he draws the gore is top notch. Plus he does a great job of making the characters look like the actors who played them. The first issue really held up for me, and I am very much looking forward to re-reading the second issue and see if it does as well.

Beneath The Rage # 2 ***
Released in 2007 Cover Price $3.99 Fangoria # 2 of 4

As they are walking, Dr. Vasilienko is getting more information from Misfit about the witch that placed this curse on him as her name is Solia The Eternal Queen and she lives in the jungle that is called The Valley Of Rage. But Dr. Vasilienko gets upset at Misfit after he kills a streetwalker for no reason, and makes Misfit promise to be his servant if he ever wants to be cured. The next day they go to a man named Gor, who sets them up to travel to the valley and their guide is a scumbag named Dirty Sanchez as he is the only one willing to take the gig. But Gor has set up Dr. Vasilienko, Misfit and Sanchez as he and the men he sends with them are all connected to Solia and he wants the three men to never make it out of the jungle…and the orders are understood. Once in the jungle, the group stumbles on a bunch of infected people on crosses, placed as a warning to those entering the valley and by mistake Sanchez shoots one in the head and this alerts the tribe that strangers are near. And worse, the group get captured when Gor’s man on the inside brings to life flesh eating zombies! While Gor himself is being forced to go to the jungle by Agent Sadko and Ivan, her husband, who are tracking down Dr. Vasilienko to bring him back to the asylum to face justice. As Dr. Vasilienko wakes up, he learns that Misfit has set him up as he is working with the Queen as she promised to cure him if he brought her a man of smarts.

The second issue is just as entertaining as the first and the plot thickens as Dr. Vasilienko and his band of weirdoes head into The Valley Of The Rage in order to find out the secrets of the virus. The Queen of a tribe created to make people into mindless monsters. But Dr. Vasilienko soon also finds out that he cannot trust his own “friends” as Misfit is working along side the Queen and lured him into the jungle. Dr. Vasilienko is driven by his quest for revenge as well as studding this new unknown virus, and he will kill and set up whoever stands in his way. Misfit is a crude man who loves killing and as well set up a group of people with the hopes of getting a cure for his illness from the person who cursed him. Meanwhile Gor is learning that while he was trying to do right by the Queen, he soon will find himself being tested as he is being forced back to the jungle by the Russian agents that are after the Doctor. What is bad for Dirty Sanchez as well is that he and other men are being used as pawns in this sick game of power as many of them are losing their lives for other people’s gains. The big plot details in this issue that come to light is that Misfit was ordered by The Queen to bring her a smart person and that Gor and his right hand man are working for The Queen as well. The issue has lots of death that includes blood, guts and gore and will please horror comic readers who love the red stuff all over the panels. The cover is pretty great and has Dr. Vasilienko, Misfit and Dirty Sanchez surrounded by rage-infected zombies. The interior artwork by Stephen Thompson is great stuff again, and truly he understands the mood and nature of the characters as well as the world of The Rage. Over all another solid issue that brings scares and gore to horror readers who enjoy the film The Rage.

Beneath The Rage # 3 ***
Released in 2007 Cover Price $3.99 Fangoria # 3 of 4

Dr. Vasilienko and his men as prisoners head deep into the cave kingdom and witness a man’s soul being taken as a tribute to allow them inside and closer to the Queen. Dr. Vasilienko also notices that there are some members of this tribe who are more mutated and are begging for death as they have all become immortal but the mushroom that helps them has been less affective on some and that is why he has been called on as they hope he can find a way to help these more mutated men and women. In a short time Dr. Vasilienko, along with Misfit and Dirty Sanchez, are brought to see Solia The Eternal Queen who rejects them all as she says they are insane and would poison their god with their madness if he were to drain their knowledge. She does however vomit into the mouth of Dr. Vasilienko given him some of her knowledge so he can understand the virus and how its made and effects. Later Dirty Sanchez is chosen to make love to the Queen as behind her back some of her men are going to allow their God to take the thoughts and knowledge of Dr. Vasilienko, but things go wrong as Dr. Vasilienko’s madness effects the God that shakes and causes the cave to crumble. Meanwhile Gor has been taken by the rage and is attacking and killing the Russians that have entered the jungle with him.

Sadly this third issue was the final issue released in print as Fangoria Comics would close up for the first time and that made this story end on a cliffhanger and for us horror comic readers to not know how the story ends. In this issue, Dr. Vasilienko is taken to see the Queen and shares his knowledge and madness and in turn gets his own reward of getting knowledge passed into him. And while Dr. Vasilienko is a bad guy who has allowed his anger to take over his want to help the world, he still is clearly a man of science as he wants to understand this virus and get a cure for it…but still has ideas to use it against his enemies once he can master it. Misfit as well is a true scumbag who plays both sides of the fence and will take a life and do horrible things to the body afterwards. Dirty Sanchez is just a dirt bag that treats ladies poorly and took this guide gig of taking Dr. Vasilienko into the jungle for money. Agent Sadko, Ivan and the Russian soldiers are also dangerous, but they are on a mission to stop Dr. Vasilienko as they know that his madness could do the world harm. But the true evil of this issue is Solia The Eternal Queen and all her followers as they are all killers, cannibals, zombies, infected and all take lives with zero remorse, and worse they are immortal and some are in constant pain…they are just terrible people who only care about themselves. The fact that they are cannibals and love the taste of flesh and enjoy chopping up people makes them truly scary monsters. The issue has lots of splatter like the past two issues and this is a great thing for fans of the film, as truly I think this comic does justice to the film it’s based on and the creators involved all did great work. It’s a true shame that Fangoria at the time could not get their act together and pulled the plug before almost any of their comic series were finished, and I truly think that it would be awesome of the new owners of the classic Horror Magazine would reopen the comic branch as well. The cover for this issue is pretty creepy and has Dr. Vasilienko in a room surrounded by weird rage filled infants as a soul is being dangled in front of him. Like with the other two issues, artist Stephen Thompson did the interiors and does a fantastic job as I really do like the way he draws the gore an the characters like Misfit and Gor once he rages out…and yes, I get the vibe Gor when normal was based off Tor Johnson. Over all Beneath The Valley Of The Rage was a great comic series based around the indie horror film The Rage as it helped flush out the backstories for many of the film’s bad guy characters, it really is a shame that Fangoria Comics dropped the ball by not finishing all their comics before closing up shop and its even more a shame that Scream Factory would release the final issue as a digital release only in the day when like .1% of comic readers bought digital. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Stephen Thompson in this series.

As I was saying above, Fangoria Comics would close shop in 2007 and would do so in the middle of their mini series never giving readers the stories conclusions…this reminds me of Star Comics the kid branch of Marvel Comics that use to cancel series with no warning. And while it was cool that Scream Factory did release the missing issue digitally, it would have been nice to have print copies as I have stated back most comic readers did not read digital at this time and most horror comic readers enjoy their comics physical. But sadly so much time as passed and with Fangoria changing ownership hands many times over the years and with no sign that Fangoria Comics will every make a return, I fear that the time to get a printed version of Beneath The Valley Of The Rage # 4 has long passed and with no digital versions floating around the internet, this one is just lost to time. However here is a look at what the cover looked like for the Scream Factory release.

The Rage was truly a great pick for Fangoria to give the comic book treatment as the characters from the film had such weird personalities that needed to be explored, and this comic did just that by showcasing their backstories. I truly miss Fangoria Comics as they along with companies like Topps Comics, Dead Dog Comics and IDW is what made me fall in love with reading comics again back in the 90’s and early 2000’s. And in these modern times I hope that Blood Scream Comics is a publisher that has made it a fun and spooky for some of you. But our time with Dr. Vasilienko and his Rage Virus has come to an end, so I think that its time for me to tell you all that our next update will be about the slasher film The Tripper that was directed by David Arquette. So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update for a killer good time with a psycho wearing a Ronald Reagan mask!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Humanoids From The Deep (1980)

Posted on August 4, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. This update is going to take us to the depths of the deep waters where humanoids dwell just looking to kill men and take the woman…and of course I am talking about the 1980 film “Humanoids From The Deep” that was a sleazy creature feature that was made for Roger Corman’s then owned New World Pictures. In 2010, this film got the comic book treatment from a strange indie publisher and fans were delighted to get more slime and creepiness from their Humanoids. And for me Humanoids From The Deep makes for the perfect “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update and is one that had been a very long time coming. So let’s get to the boat and hit the blue waters looking not only for genetically enhanced salmon but also mutant humanoid fish creatures!

Let’s start off by taking a look at The Humanoids from this film and their ways of killing humans. The Humanoids are fish creatures that were created when a company called Canco by accident let out a batch of salmon that had been given an experimental growth hormone that caused the bigger fish that ate them to become these creatures, and they are bloodthirsty and have a lust for human women. They are very monstrous in appearance and look like green fish men with oversized heads, sharp teeth, have tails and are slimy covered with muck from the water and this alone drives people into pure madness. They are big in size as well and this makes them very intimidating as their look and size is a combo for terror. The Humanoids are very strong and can kill a person or animal with their bare hands as well as toss them around like a rag doll. The Humanoids also will attack solo as well as in packs and can do so both in water as well as land making them even more dangerous. The Humanoids have giant webbed clawed hands that they use to rip apart flesh and most of the time when using their claws they can remove large parts of flesh down to the bone. They also will pull you into bodies of water where they can attack faster than you can defend yourself and this could lead to your drowning. They also have massive razor sharp teeth that they can use to also rip away at your flesh and cause you to die of blood loss or instant death depending on what artery is munched on during the attack. They are very violent and have a goal to make men dead and ladies to carry their offspring. While The Humanoids are very dangerous, they are living creatures and can die as they can be killed by multiple gunshots, being stabbed, bashed in the head and they truly hate fire. They are also very much driven to attack and mate and this leads them to make mistakes and be taken out. The Humanoids are very dangerous and are creatures with no remorse and only live for their own purpose.

Now that we have taken a look at The Humanoids and their ways of dealing death, I think that it’s time now that we take a look at the film they are from and that is “Humanoids From The Deep”! Like always, I will be getting the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts of the film. So if you are ready, let’s at least get near the water and see if we can spot any Humanoids!

Humanoids From The Deep (1980)

“Humanoid sea creatures start killing a fishing town’s residents, and raping their women. It’s up to the townsfolk and a visiting biologist to fight back and fend them off.”

Humanoids From The Deep was a film that was made for Roger Corman’s company New World Pictures in 1980 as the master of the B-Movies was looking to beef up his company’s horror releases. The film’s script was written by Frederick James and originally Corman wanted Joe Dante to be the director, but he turned it down so Barbara Peeters was hired instead. When casting the film, such names as Vic Morrow, Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Anthony Pena, Lynn Schiller and Denise Galik were brought in with filming starting in late 1979. The film has a budget of around $2.5 million dollars with a big part going to the creature effects that was created by Rob Bottin. As it was filming, it seemed like Roger Corman and Barbara Peeters started to kind of clash as they both clearly had different visions of what the films violence and sleazy parts needed to be. Peeters would focus on the bloody attacks on the male characters, but would not showcase the more sleazy attacks on the females that Corman wanted as he thought would bring people to the theaters to see it, so she would be let go. This also caused Jimmy T. Murakami to step in to film some scenes as well as second unit director James Sbardellati filming the more sleazy attacks from the monsters on the women. The film was shot in California and once done James Horner would do the score. The film would be released on May 16, 1980 and would be met with negative reviews from critics. Most fans of horror seemed to enjoy it as it did make money at the box office. But the film’s two biggest haters were director Barbara Peeters (who was let go before the re-shoots) and main actress Ann Turkel as they hated the added in nudity and attacks on the females, plus the names change as when filming was going on the title was “Beneath The Darkness”. The film when then build a bigger cult following once it was released on home media and continues to build on its legacy. The film would get a remake in 1996 that was made for the paid cable station Showtime and would also get a home media release. The film in 1980 was released alongside such other horror films as Friday The 13th, The Shining, The Fog, Maniac, Motel Hell, Mother’s Day, The Gates Of Hell, Cannibal Holocaust, Antropophagus, Nightmare City, Hell Of The Living Dead, The Children, Prom Night, Toxic Zombies, Alien Dead, Terror Train, Mama Dracula, Fiend and Doctor Butcher M.D. to name a very few showing that 1980 was a great year for horror movies!

Humanoids From The Deep is one of those films I first saw on VHS when my brother and I rented it on one of the weekend horror movie marathons we used to always have when we moved to a new town and school and good old spooky movies were old friends that were always around and filled that void until we both made new friends. I can remember liking the film as who doesn’t love strange humanoid creatures coming out of the water and attacking anyone in their way all in a quest to get the ladies of the surface world. The Humanoid creatures were very cool and weird looking and with the tapes grain they looked even more creepy and them attacking for me was like a mix of those beach party horror films as well as a dash of classic Universal Monster flick Creature From The Black Lagoon! The film also had many lovely ladies in the cast, but I will say that I am not a fan of all the sexual assault stuff in the film. The film has a charm for me because it was part of the early days of New World Pictures, a movie company that was created by Roger Corman and his wife that delivered so many amazing horror films to over its life, heck after Corman sold the company it would go on to even own Marvel Comics for a time! Humanoids From The Deep is a film that I learned about thanks to the books The Gore Score by Chas Balun and The Splatter Guide Movie Guide by John McCarty and their write ups made me have to see it, and like I said when I finally did I was not disappointed as it was a very fun creature feature! And for those wondering, the late great Chas Balun gave it an 8 on the Gore Score. If you have not seen Humanoids From The Deep but like sleaze in your horror, make sure to give it a watch.

So now that we have covered The Humanoids and their film, I think that its time that we take a look at the comic based on it that was released by Bluewater Comics, an indie publisher who for a while was making some great comics based on some horror and sci-fi films that should have gotten the adaptation treatment back when they were originally released. Sadly now Bluewater is called Tidal Wave and pretty much only do online comics based around celebrities. I would like to thank Bell Book And Comic for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So with that, I think it’s time that we spend some time with these blood thirsty humanoids of the deep in this blue water.

The Humanoids # 1 ***
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 Bluewater # 1 of 1

After the attacks of 1980, Canco was sued out of business or so the world thought as they really just changed their name to NACO and set up shop in Canada where they still experiment with the DNA growth hormone as well as research the Humanoids it created, and they have made progress as one they have named Graham can now talk! But an accident at the plant lets all the Humanoids free and they kill everyone in sight, but Graham is not like the others and is upset over the killings and the others do not expect this more advanced species of themselves. Meanwhile on a small island, a party is going on and friends Ann and Cindy are attending, but things get really bad when The Humanoids crash the party and start attacking killing the men and grabbing the ladies. Ann armed with a hatchet and Cindy armed with a rock make a stand against The Humanoids killing as many as they can as well as try and save people being attacked, and as the two friends get separated and things look grim for Cindy she is saved by Graham who rips apart her attacking Humanoid! Cindy thanks Graham for saving her and he tells her to run, but sadly is shot and killed by the arriving police…and as Cindy looks around she is the only one left alive on the little island as even her friend Ann is gone.

This comic is a very quick read and does the film its based on justice, but also adds more to the lore as I love the idea of a smart Humanoid who knows the difference between right and wrong and has got a friendship with humans and does not wish to slaughter and mate with them like the others of his species. The plot is very basic and has Humanoids escaping from a lab after an accident, and they attack a high school island party with two friends being our heroes and wanting to stop this attack and try and save lives. Cindy and Ann are those friends who are attending the party, and when the attack starts, they decide to fight back and do a great job of doing so as they kill many of The Humanoids as they were smart and armed themselves. Ann is almost assaulted by one of them so she makes it her mission to save any of her fellow classmates that are about to be mated with as Cindy just swings her hatchet and tries to kill as many as she can…sadly Cindy is the lone survivor of this massacre. Graham The Humanoid is also a hero as he arrives just in time to save Cindy from being attacked, and he is such a kind creature that is why when he is shot and gunned down it kind of hits you in the gut. The Humanoids are as dangerous and mean as ever as they truly just want to kill and mate and go after anyone they see on this island. One of the cool aspects of this issue is that they do tie it into the 1980 film and while none of those characters appear, you know that they are out there still. I also like that we get to see a Humanoid fight as watching Graham rip apart one of his fellow Humanoids in a fight to the death is pretty badass. The comic has lots of blood and gore with lots of blood and goo splattering all over. The comic does not have any nudity and truly focuses on the slaughter. The cover is pretty cool and shows a Humanoid with a woman in his arms, so people who knows this film it would be very eye-catching for. The interior art is really cool and done by Benjamin Hall as I really like the way he draws The Humanoids as well as all the gore. While not as sleazy as moments of the film are, this comic is a great way to keep The Humanoids From The Deep alive in media and delivered a entertaining read to all us horror comic readers. Check out the artwork below to see the style of Hall used in this comic.

Humanoids From The Deep is one of those cult classic films that was a perfect fit for comic books and I have to say that Benjamin Hall and Bluewater Comics did a great job here, and to be honest I wish this had been more than just a one shot. In fact I wish that Roger Corman’s very short-lived comic publisher company he owned called Cosmic Comics had lasted longer as many of this films he was producing or even had made would have made for great comics. But as you can see, this update is coming to an end and that means we will be leaving The Humanoids behind as the next update will take us to The Valley Of The Rage as we take a look at the indie horror movie The Rage and the Fangoria Comics based on it. So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror comic or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update as we RAGE!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter (1974)

Posted on July 25, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink, and our “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” updates continue for 2026 with this one being based on a true cult classic from Hammer Films called Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter that is considered by many to be their final great film before they would first go out of business in 1979. That is the thing about Hammer, they really loved making films about vampires as moviegoers at the time really did enjoy films about these blood drinkers. And when wanting to cover Captain Kronos I decided to choose the Titan Comics four issue mini series instead of making a custom comic of the adaptation by Top Sellers LTD. that that they did for an issue of their Hammer House Of Horror Magazine. So if you are ready, let’s grab some silver and stay away from the Durward estate and see what spooky adventures Captain Kronos has planed for us!

Let’s start by taking a look at Lady Durward and Hagen Durward, a vampire couple who enjoys dealing death to the living and striking fear into the hearts of the innocent. Lady Durward is a female vampire who is very old in appearance and the sight of her startles those who end up seeing her as she has long grey hair and a wrinkled pale face and wears a black hooded cloak when hunting her human prey. She is also very powerful as she is able to walk during the day and in the sun, she also is not scared of or hurt by crosses. She has sharp vampire teeth, and she mostly preys on young women as she drains them of their youth to make her young again and allow her to be more powerful in her vampire ways. Lady Durward when youthful is very charming and can trick those people she is hunting to trust her and fall under her charming spell. She also has two children Paul and Sara Durward that keep her safe and watch after her when she is in her old state. They are unaware that she is a vampire. Lady Durward also seems to get joy in her attacks on the youthful girls and even attacks one family killing every daughter a man has. She also has a stare that hypnotizes her victims and wears a mask to cover up her youthful look around her children and others. Her husband Hagan Durward passed away from the plague and was brought back to life by his wife. He suffers the scars of the disease that killed him but is still very skilled with a sword and has sharp teeth to kill his victims with. While the Durwards are vampire who can walk in the sunlight as well as avoid being hurt by the cross, they can still be killed with a sword blade that is made from holy metal and has been blessed, and once stabbed with the sword they shrivel up, turn into skeletons and die. While Lady Durward and Hagen Durward are not the deadliest or most powerful vampires we have covered here on a From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update, they still are dangerous and know how to deal death to the living.

Now that we have taken a look at The Durwards and their ways of drinking blood and stealing youth, I think we should now take a look at the film they are from Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter! And like always, I will be taking the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and then after that I will write about the film’s production and then my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s hunt some vampires with one of the worlds best vampire hunters.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter (1974)

“Vampire hunter and expert swordsman Kronos finds himself in a small village where several of the local young women have been found in an advanced state of age, their youth drained from them by a vampire’s kiss. Kronos’ search leads him to the Durward estate where he is met by the effete children of the apparently aged and sick Lady Durward.”

In the 1970’s Hammer Films was having issues as many of their films were not doing as well in the theaters and some bad money decisions left them in a bad way. They needed a big hit, something that could spark sequels like Horror Of Dracula and Curse Of Frankenstein had for them many years before. Enter Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, a character and film idea from Brian Clemens who had the idea to make this into the company’s next major franchise as he has a series of films in mind. Brian would not only write the script but would also produce and direct it with this being his first and only feature film. Hammer Films was behind this project as they were hoping that this adventure horror film would be the big hit they needed and it was given a budget of around £160,000. Horst Janson was hired to play Captain Kronos, and John Cater and Caroline Munro would be casted as the sidekick characters Grost and Carla. Other names joining the cast include Wanda Ventham, John Carson, Shane Briant, Lois Daine, Ian Hendry, William Hobbs and Lisa Collings among many others. The film would be shot in England and would try to not only cash in on the horror film craze but also that of the swashbuckling action genre. The film when released was met with mostly positive reviews and would be released by Paramount Pictures in America. The film’s soundtrack score was done by Laurie Johnson, and the film would be released in UK theaters on April 7, 1974. Over the years the film has gained a cult following, and to this day I have many friends who rank this high on their favorite Hammer Horror film lists. The film in 1974 was released alongside such other horror films as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Black Christmas, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Phantom Of The Paradise, Horror High, The Ghost Galleon, Young Frankenstein, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell, It’s Alive, Killdozer, Beyond The Door, Sugar Hill, Scream Of The Wolf, The Bat People, The Night Of The Witches and many more, as 1974 was a great year for horror.

I first saw Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter on an episode of Commander USA’s Groovie Movies when I was a kid and found it to be a very fun action horror film and what is not to like about a skilled swordsman vampire hunter who is all business and will also defend his friends from not only bloodsuckers but also from rude people who want to do them harm. And the part is perfectly played by actor Horst Janson who had the look but had to be dubbed by Julian Holloway due to his thick German accent. And let’s be honest, every male my age who was a horror fan was taken by the beauty of actress Caroline Munro who played Carla and she was a true Hammer starlet and a great actress. One part that always creeped me out about this film is the look of Lady Durward when she was wearing her old woman mask as well as when she turned old as it was very weird looking. I also liked how the film had a twist as they make you think the vampire attacking young ladies is one character when it turns out to be another that for the most part you think is too old to even move out of bed. And I am happy to say that I even seen the film on the big screen thanks to a Horrorama event at a local cinema, and seeing it on the big screen was a really cool experience. And of course I had the film on VHS when I was building my horror movie collection and would later get the DVD for free from Paramount Pictures back in the day when they sent me films for review on a website I wrote for. In my opinion, the reason the film is such a cult classic and respected by fans is that it does a fantastic job of blending both swashbuckling action with horror and even has a dash of mystery to it that makes it very fun for viewers. And I feel if you want to see a vampire hunter sword fight a plagued infected vampire in a mansion castle, make sure to give this film a watch.

Now that we have taken a look at both the film and character Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, we should now take a look at the comic series based around it that was released by Titan Comics starting in 2017. And no joke when Titan Comics announced that they were teaming with Hammer Films, I was really excited as the possibilities was endless on great series that could have been made that they acted like would be a Halloween yearly thing that readers would get into their hands. The first two released where comics based on Captain Kronos and The Mummy, and after those two series ended no more ever were released and this was a total bummer. But while Titan Comics might have let me down on not releasing any more comics based on Hammer Films, the fine folks at Mavericks Cards And Comics did not as they pulled these comics for me when released and made this update possible. I would also like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So with that, let’s go vamp hunting with Captain Kronos and his friends!

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter # 1 ***
Released in 2017 Cover Price $3.99 Titan Comics # 1 of 4

Captain Kronos has hunted down the vampire named Porphyr and the two are in a battle to the death as the vampire calls in his goons that he has hypnotized to attack the hunter who in turn calls on his friends Professor Grost, an older man with a wooden leg and female hunter Carla, who is new to killing vampires, but is skilled in this trade. The three end up killing all the vampire using all the tools of the trade, and they even take down Porphyer with a well placed sword. After the carnage is over, the local law shows up and are about to arrest the three for murder, but once they figure out that Captain Kronos is a vampire hunter they take them to the small town of Sepechurch to meet Ermine who tells them of Slake, a vampire that has been tormenting them and that they need destroyed, and over breakfast they all speak on the details. Kronos learns that Slake appeared during a dark time when the plague broke out in the town and over the years as created his own clan of bloodsuckers that have over powered all attempts by the town to stop them. The town has gated off the part of the city that the vampires are in and Captain Kronos heads to the gate and with his sword carves a cross in the wood and this angers Slake who swears to his vampire clan that a war is coming.

This first issue is really great and does its job of hooking you into wanting to see how this series plays out as the war between Captain Kronos with his crew and Slake plus his vampire clan you know will be a bloody battle that will see lots of death and blood splatter. The plot for this issue has Captain Kronos killing a vampire that he has been tracking only to be hired by a small town to help them get rid of their vampire problem that seems to be more powerful than anyone is thinking. Captain Kronos is a skilled fighter and hunter who is very short with his words but his actions say much as he has sworn to kill all and every vampire that he crosses the path of. He also clearly has no fear as he is willing to go after a vampire and his clan that he knows nothing about, as his hatred for them runs that deep. Poor Carla is always being looked down on by not only the vampires she hunts, but also the people who hire them to rid the world of the vamps, as they misjudge her because she is female and are unaware that she is now a skilled fighter and hunter. While Professor Grost might have a wooden leg and a hunched back, he is a good fighter and his knowledge of vampires is priceless. As for the vampire called Slake, we know very little about him besides he showed up during the plague and that he has grown his vampire clan to army size and is ready for a war with Captain Kronos. The issue’s horror truly comes from the vampires as well as the very gloom feeling of the setting and mood of the story. And the issue has some blood being spilt but nothing major, but I would guess more will be splattered as we get further in this series. I am really liking the set up this far as a strange vampire that has no legend and backstory who seems to have taken over part of a town and who knows and does not fear Kronos is very interesting and makes me as the reader want to see how it all plays out. I would also say that thus far Titan and the creators of this comic have done a pretty good job of keeping true to the film and are doing it justice. The cover is pretty cool and has Kronos being surrounded by female vampires making it eye catching for horror comic readers. The interior art for the issue is done by Tom Mandrake and is solid stuff, but I will say that the characters only slightly look like the actors who played them but it works and his vampires look mean and badass. Over all a great first issue, and I am looking forward to reading the second issue.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter # 2 ***
Released in 2017 Cover Price $3.99 Titan Comics # 2 of 4

In the town of Sepechurch in a shelter Captain Kronos, Professor Grost and Carla are getting ready for battle as Grost checks the books, Carla gathers the supplies and Kronos heads out to survey the area as the hunter is getting antsy and is wanting to do battle with the undead. As Carla and Grost chat, she informs him that she is happy that they have trained her to become a vampire hunter as it has given her something more in life, and as Captain Kronos jumps the fence into the land of Slake, his friend Grost is looking into the town’s history as well as telling the townspeople how great Carla has been as a hunter and they still doubt this as she is a female. Meanwhile Kronos comes across a vampire who is walking during the day, silver has no effect on him and only by cutting it’s head off does it die, but his day just got worse as he finds himself surrounded by the vampires. Meanwhile Carla is gathering the supplies and has to put one of his military guards in check who is being perverted with her. Meanwhile Captain Kronos fights for his life as he finds that these vampires also can not be hurt by cross nor fire as they just keep on attacking him as he swings his sword at them cutting off body parts and keeping them at bay, and finds shelter to get out of the heart of battle only to find that he is now in the home of Slake who welcomes the hunter into his home.

The danger for Captain Kronos and his friends is amped up as Slake and his vampire clan has way more powerful than they could imagine as they cannot be hurt by silver, crosses, fire nor sunlight and they can only be stopped by having their heads removed. Slake also seems to be enjoying that Kronos is coming for him and it’s clear that he has lots of stuff planed when it comes to facing this hunter in a showdown in this small rundown town. And while professor Grost is spending his time trying to learn all he can about the town as well as dig up any and all information on the vampire Slake, poor Carla is once more being looked down on as only eye candy and people are doubting her skill when it comes to killing vampires…and she keeps proving them wrong. The vampires also seem to be very bloodthirsty and are hunting Kronos in a pack as they clearly were pushing him towards their master’s home, and he falls for it and the issue ends with that big cliffhanger. This is a very cool issue as it showcases the rash and careless way that Captain Kronos is now hunting vampires as he foolishly rushes in to the unknown and quickly finds that he was not prepared for them, and it’s clear that Carla is going to be the big hero here as she is showing that she is skilled and even Grost is backing her and seeing that she could become the best hunter of vampires in the world. I also don’t trust the townspeople of Sepechurch as I think they are hiding something and know what Slake really is, and they might just be as evil as the vampires…but that’s just a theory that I have right now. The issue also amps up the blood and the scares are coming from the vampires that are very creepy in appearance and are clearly blood thirsty and looking to kill. I am really interested to see how Captain Kronos is going to get away from Slake as he is stuck in a small home with him while outside is a horde of vampires. The cover showcases all three of our heroes standing around the bodies of dead vampires, and it is really cool and great stuff. Tom Mandrake did the interior art again, and it’s really great stuff as it has a true comic book feel to it, and again while the characters don’t look like the actors fully they have a charm to them that you know who they are. I am ready for issue 3 as I really want to see how this very bad situation plays out for Captain Kronos.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter # 3 ***
Released in 2017 Cover Price $3.99 Titan Comics # 3 of 4

Slake attacks Kronos as the home also starts to fill with other vampires all looking to end this hunters life, and during the start of the fight Kronos learns that the cross does hurt Slake. Professor Grost and Carla see smoke and hear the fighting and go past the gate in order to help Kronos in this fight and are shocked to see so many vampires walking around in the daylight. But with the numbers stacked against him, Captain Kronos dives out of the window and jumps onto the wagon being driven by Grost and Carla and they escape this part of the town, the hunters were defeated and forces to retreat by Slake and his vampires. Back at their base Grost goes off on Kronos for being sloppy and not only putting his life in danger but also that of his and Carla’s, but after the harsh words break they three head back into the bad part of the town this time via the sewer and they all have the goal to kill Slake and end his curse over this town. And while in the sewer tunnels they are talking about plans, but soon find themselves surrounded by vampires.

In this issue Captain Kronos finds that he has gotten himself into a very bad situation as he is being attacked not only by vampires that have no weakness but also Slake, their master who wants to take the hunters’ lives and is almost joyful in this battle they are having. And because of Kronos’s careless behavior, he has put the lives of his friend in danger when they have to go into the danger zone in order to rescue him. And because Captain Kronos is driven by his hate for vampires, he ends up going back to fight Slake after having harsh words with Grost over his behavior. And its clear at this point that something is truly bothers Kronos as he has become more reckless in his hunting and even seems to be brooding more often, but he still is very confidante in his hunting skills. Carla who is being trained by Kronos is staying loyal to him even though its clear that she knows that he has became a little careless with his safety. And 100% Grost is mad at his friend as he is pissed that his friend is playing with his life as well as the lives of others. And while Kronos and his friends are defeated in this first battle they are able to kill a few of the vampires as well as learn about the weakness that Slake has when it comes to the cross burning his skin and hurting him, plus it gives Kronos a chance to bust out his metal cross sword for the next fight. The issue has lots of vampire body parts being cut off and that is causing the blood to spill, and the fight that has Kronos having to fight for his life is very extricating and really draws you into the story and makes you want to see what the final showdown between Kronos and Slake will be like. Once more it’s clear that the writers of this series is pushing for Carla to be the new vampire hunter hero as she seems to have her act together and is having the backing of Grost who sees it in her to be a big hero hunter. The vampires are clearly just following the orders of Slake as they attack in waves and seem to almost guide you to a location that they want you to be in. The cover for this issue has Captain Kronos and Slake showing your readers what this demonic looking vampire looks like, and yep Tom Mandrake does the art once more for the interior and its good stuff like before. And with that, let’s see what the next issue that is the final issue in the series has in store for us and how this vampire hunting tale comes to an end.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter # 4 ***
Released in 2018 Cover Price $3.99 Titan Comics # 4 of 4

While in the sewer surrounded by vampires Captain Kronos, Carla and Grost fight hard and remove the heads of the vampires as they try and attack and are able to get to the trap door leading to Slake’s den and block it keeping the vampire horde at bay. And after looking around his den and calling him out Slake appears and attack Kronos who uses his cross sword to stab at the vampire leader and this kills him, but to their shock the vampires are still around and killing their master did nothing to slow them down. But back in the town of Sepechurch the town’s elders during dinner get the message that Slake has been killed and then enter Captain Kronos, Carla and Grost who front out the elders as they themselves are vampires and wanted them to kill one of their own that had gone mad with power and blood drinking. The elders deny the allegations for as long as they can until their dinner is shown to be blood and then they turn into their vampire appearance and know that they must kill these hunters before they are killed themselves. Kronos and the others make short work of the elders as some are killed with swords and later they all die when Grost blows up the town hall and the elders are all caught on fire ending them as well as the vampire curse of Sepechurch. But as Kronos, Carla and Grost are leaving the town they learn that the townspeople are not happy about the death of the elders as they felt these vampires had kept them safe, and in the end our heroes ride off leaving this town behind and the world with less vampires in it.

In this final issue of Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter by Titan Comics, we get the final battle between Kronos and Slake that ends with the vampire being taken out pretty easily, as our hero learns that he has been played all along as the elders of the town he is protecting are vampires and just sent him in to kill one of their own that has went rogue. And even after he kills all the vampires in the town of Sepechurch, he gets no thanks from the town people who are mad that they no longer live under the protection of the undead. Captain Kronos while always rushing into battle still proves that he is very skilled at vampire hunting and is prepared almost for every situation as he is able to slay as well survive a massive vampire attack. And it appears that his sword skills are sharp as is his detective skills and he figures out and kills the elders who have been the real terrors of the town. And by the end of the issue both Professor Grost and Carla put more trust and stand behind Kronos even if they are frustrated with his sometimes reckless behavior. They both also prove that they are very helpful and are skilled vampire hunters as they do their share of slaying vamps as well as putting together a plan for to bring down the Elders. Poor Slake as well as the elders while strong are no match for our vampire hunters and all of them end up meeting their maker and their terror being stopped once and for all. The great thing about this comic series is that if truly feels like a new adventure of Captain Kronos like a sequel that we never got. The action is high in the series as the hunters clash with the vampires many times and the horror comes of course with the vampires as well as just the over all dark mood of the story. This issues as well has blood being spilt, and I really do think that fans of the film will really enjoy reading this comic. The cover for this issue is cool as it showcases our three heroes looking ready for battle, and I do like the art style of interior artist Tom Mandrake as his style captures the feel of the film as well really has a horror comic art look. If you are a fan of this film, make sure to track down this series and give it a read as I am sure you will enjoy it. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Tom Mandrake for this comic series.

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter is one of those Hammer Horror characters that is perfect to make the leap into comic books as you can do lots with him and have him battle many different types of vampires all over England, and it’s a shame that Titan Comics pulled the plug of working with Hammer after only releasing two series in the line…I truly feel they have dropped the ball with us horror comic readers. But who knows what the future holds for Hammer Horror when it comes to comic books as I would like to see American Mythology or even Eibon Press take a crack at making Hammer Film comics as imagine a series based on Dracula that looks like Christopher Lee or a Frankenstein one were the mad doctor looks like Peter Cushing! But our time with Captain Kronos has come to an end, but do not fear our time with horror comics based on films has not as our next update will take us to the scary open waters as we try and avoid The Humanoids From The Deep! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update for a rampage of humanoids roaming the waterways and terrorizing the beaches.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: King Kong (1933)

Posted on July 14, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. For this one we will be heading to the uncharted island of Skull Island as well as to New York City as we will be talking about one of cinema’s most iconic, if not the most iconic giant monsters of all time, the one and only King Kong! And for this one we will be talking about the 1933 version as this one has yet to get this update theme treatment and that’s crazy to think as he is truly one of the biggest and most legendary monsters of horror cinema and one of my favorite horror monsters of all time. We will be taking a look not only at the film but the adaptation series that was released by Monster Comics in the early 90’s as this was the series I had as a kid and are the ones I want to cover here in order to give Kong the respect he deserves. So if you are ready, let’s climb aboard The S.S Venture as this ship is heading for Skull Island and that means that it’s the homeland of The 8^th Wonder Of The World, King Kong and it’s our chance to chat about Kong and his legacy in horror cinema as well as in my life.

Let’s start off by taking a look at King Kong and his ways of dealing death to mankind and those who enter his land or try and mess with his love Ann Darrow. King Kong is a massive 33 feet tall gorilla who lives on Skull Island where he rules over the other creatures that live there and is worshipped by the tribal people who offer him sacrifices of beautiful women to please him. King Kong has black fur and his size and appearance scare those who see him almost to death, as he is very massive and intimidating looking. King Kong has massive power and strength and can lift heavy items as well as crush both people and other massive creatures with his bare hands. King Kong is also a skilled fighter and can not only use his hands but also things around him like trees in his combat against other creatures that he will ram down throats if need be to win the fight. Kong is also pretty smart and understands the basic ways of survival as well as protecting himself as well as those in his protection. King Kong has a fearsome roar that also can scare a person half to death as it’s loud and lets everything know that he is in charge as he pounds his chest. Kong also has the killer instinct, as he will kill any person or creature that challenges him and will dispatch them in very violent ways from squashing to breaking jaws in two. Due to his massive size King Kong has also been known to step on people to end their lives, and with sharp teeth he also has eaten people making them die a very painful death. Due to his size and power as well King Kong can take a beating and while it hurts, he still fights on, as his pride and ego will not let him stay down and out of a fight. But while King Kong is a massive beast, he still is a living thing and this means he can be hurt and killed as one way for sure that he can be killed is by massive gunfire from multiple machine guns that cause massive wounds and bleeding. He can also be killed by a big fall from something high up. Kong is also very easily distracted by human women with blonde hair that he has claimed as his own and this causes him to rage and leave himself open for mistakes and attacks. While King Kong from 1933 might not be the biggest giant monster (Kaiju) we have ever covered, he still is very dangerous and a truly iconic monster of cinema.

Now that we have talked about King Kong and his ways of dealing death to those foolish enough to challenge his rule, I think we should now take a look at the 1933 film that he starred in and is the one that started it all for the Kong franchise. Like always I will be taking the film’s write up from our good friends at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production and then my thoughts on the film. So if you’re ready, lets’ travel deeper into Skull Island and see what King Kong is unleashing on those who live there under his rule.

King Kong (1933)

“A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.”

In the 1930’s films about primates and most notably gorillas were doing well at the box office so that is when producer Ernest B. Schoedsack and RKO Radio Pictures decided to work together on a picture about a beautiful woman and a massive ape. The film’s story came from Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace with Ruth Rose and James Creelman, and when it comes down to it Merian C. Cooper was the main creator of King Kong alongside stop motion effects master Willis O’Brien who did the film’s effects as well as created the look and characteristics of Kong. I also want to say that Buzz Gibson was O’Brien’s assistant on the effects, and he as well did a fantastic job helping bring Kong and all the other creatures that lived on Skull Island to life. The film had a budget of over $672 thousand and when casting such names as Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot, Robert Armstrong, Frank Reicher, Sam Hardy and Victor Wong made up the main cast. Fay Wray’s beauty made her the perfect actress to play Ann Darrow, the beauty that ends up helping kill the beast, and Wray to me is truly cinema’s first scream queen as she would also appear in such other horror films as Doctor X (1932), The Most Dangerous Game (1932), The Vampire Bat (1933), Mystery Of The Wax Museum (1933) and Black Moon (1934). The film would be a production that was very innovative as new camera techniques were used to showcases visual effects as well as special effects, and it pushed all the actors to put on topnotch performances. Once the film was completed Max Steiner would do the soundtrack score, and it would be released to theaters on April 7, 1933 and was a massive hit with moviegoers as well as critics and would go on to make $5.3 million at the box office making it a major hit for the studio. The film also made New York City’s The Empire State Building an attraction for movie buffs as to this day fans of King Kong visit the site of his death…spoiler, Kong dies when he is gunned down while on top of the building and falls to his death. The film would spawn a sequel the same year in “Son Of Kong” and over the years has been remade several times, colorized and Kong as even fought fellow Kaiju icon Godzilla a couple of times. King Kong has also graced comic books, video games, novels, cartoons and toys as the films legacy is still very strong to this day. The film in 1933 was released alongside such other horror films as Son Of Kong, The Invisible Man, The Ghoul, Murders In The Zoo, The Monkey’s Paw, The Vampire Bat, La Llorona, The Mystery Of The Wax Museum and Terror Aboard to name a few. This was just a crash course of the making of King Kong, and I suggest that you track down one of the many books written about the film as they dive deeper into the film’s production and are worth a read. I also really do want to say 1933 was the year of Fay Wray for fans of horror and sci-fi films.

King Kong is one of the greatest films of all time and is hands down my favorite giant monster or kaiju film of all time as it really is a thrill ride that is filled with scares, thrills, chills and adventure. Something about King Kong has always drawn me in. Even as a young kid I was glued to watching this film as I saw it around the age of 7-8 via a VHS rental from the local library. I can remember my mom telling me stories of how the film scared her as a young child, it scared her so badly that she hid behind the couch while it was on. And that is the power of a great horror film, it was able to capture her imagination as well as scare her silly! I can remember the first time I saw it, King Kong himself was what interested me as watching him fight dinosaurs as well as rampage around was just magical. The film’s effects were amazing for 1933 and this to me is a film that should be shown in film school as it’s a perfect film to learn by as the story is classic and the pacing is top notch, and I know that James Rolfe aka The Angry Video Game Nerd agrees with this statement as he has said very similar stuff. King Kong has always been a big part of my childhood as growing up I had the Imperial King Kong figure, I had the classic paperback novel written by Delos W. Lovelace, I owned the Crestwood Monster Book of Kong and even as a youngster had the film’s score on CD. I can also remember drawing King Kong in school for art class, and he was always a topic when my friends and I would talk about classic monster movies as the debut of who would win or who is better between he and Godzilla was always a hot topic on the playground…and for those wondering I have always been team Kong…but don’t get me wrong I love Godzilla as well. Plus Fay Wray was one of horror cinema’s first true beauties as she is such a stunningly beautiful woman and a great actress. I am also going to admit it, as a kid when King Kong was shot and died I cried both in the 1933 version as well as the 1976 one…but give me some slack, I was a kid when I saw them and had a true bond with Kong as he truly was a sad case of a creature out of its element and being murdered by those who took him away from his home to make money on him as well as just make an attraction out of him. One thing that I have always regretted not doing as it’s too late now was going to Universal Studios in Florida to ride Kongfrontation where you got to interact with a giant animatronic King Kong who had banana smelling breath! Sadly the ride is no longer around as it was removed from the park. I truly can’t say just how important this film is to me and just how much I love the character of King Kong and next to a small handful of other classic monsters, this is one icon that I feel that everyone in the world should watch at least once and should enjoy all the sequels, remakes and reboots that have been made keeping his legacy alive.

With 2026 being the year of “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” updates, I had to cover King Kong as what would a celebration of horror be without him! I have been wanting to cover the Monster Comics adaptation of the film that were released in the 1990’s for a while now as these comics are ones I grew up reading as I found the issues at Mavericks Cards and Comics when I was a kid and remember really enjoying them as it brought Kong to the pages of comics. I have not read them in a few decades, so I cannot wait to see if they hold up still. I would like to thank Bell Book And Comic, Game Swap Kettering and Lone Star Comics for having these issues in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s take a look at Monster Comics’ six-issue adaptation of the classic 1933 film King Kong and see what horrors and thrills await us.

King Kong # 1 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $2.50 Monster Comics # 1 of 6

Captain Englehorn and his first mate Jack Driscoll are waiting on ship for film director Carl Denham who has hired them to take him out to sea and to an uncharted island as he wants to make his next big jungle picture, but he has also gotten the ship in trouble with the amount of explosions on board. While walking around the streets of New York looking for an actress to appear in his film, Denham ends up meeting Ann Darrow who is down on her luck and was caught stealing fruit from a stand, but after paying for what she stole, he hires her over a quick lunch as he is taken by her beauty. The next morning they all set sail for the island and over the next few days Ann and Jack seem to be getting closer and all the crew start watching out for her, but Denham tries to warn Jack to not fall in love with Ann as he is picking up the tension between the two. After shooting some test footage of Ann on the deck Denham heads to Englehorn’s quarters, and he tells him and Jack about the island they are heading to called Skull Island that is surrounded by a giant man made wall and in the jungle lives a primitive tribe of people. He then tells them of Kong, something massive that lives on the island and he wants to be the first person to ever film it. And as time passes, the ship goes through a thick fog and they find themselves at Skull Island where they hear tribal drums being played. Once on the island they stumble on the tribe who is sacrificing a woman to Kong, but spot that they are being watched and want Ann as the sacrifice instead…and thanks to the fast thinking of Englehorn, they are able to get Ann off the island and everyone back safe on the ship. That night the native sneak aboard the ship and kidnap Ann and end up taking her beyond the great wall to be taken by Kong a giant gorilla that takes her into his massive hand, just as Jack and the crew arrive and are powerless to help her.

The classic 1933 film comes alive on these pages and this first issue is a set up for our cast of characters. The plot has a ship filled to the brim with crew on a big job to get a film director and his assistant and actress to a uncharted island that is filled with lots of mysteries things like a skull shaped mountain, a giant wall, a tribe that worships something called Kong…that turns out to be a massive gorilla! Ann Darrow is a beautiful woman who is hired to star in a new jungle film, as she is down on her luck and was having to try and steal food just to eat. But once on the ship bound for the jungle, she finds love in first mate Jack Driscoll and as well becomes the obsession of the island’s tribe due to her blonde hair and them wanting to give her to their “God” Kong! Jack Driscoll is tough as nails but quickly falls head over heels for Ann, who he does not like is being put in danger all over filming a movie…he is also the first one to rush back to the island when he finds that she has been kidnapped by the tribe. Captain Englehorn is a very wise man who is allowing money to be his driving factor, but is also the one who can speak to the tribe. The rest of the crew including Lumpy and his pet monkey Iggy (who are was made up for the comic taking the place of Charlie) are all willing to help protect as well as get Ann back from the danger she is in. Carl Denham is a film director who is driven by making a great jungle picture and seems to not be bothered about putting peoples lives in danger as long as he can get the shots he needs to make the greatest jungle film ever made, and this is who he is and while the crew are his friends you can tell they are truly getting annoyed by him with Jack being the one who is the most angered by his actions. And as for Kong we only get a glimpse of him as he comes through the jungle in order to grab Ann who has been given to him by the island tribe that worship him. There are changes from the film to this comic as one of the biggest being that Charlie, the ship’s chef is missing, and we instead are given a weird looking crew member named Lumpy who has a pet monkey named Iggy, another big one is that the island tribe is more flushed out in their ceremonies, Carl Denham is more cold and we start off by meeting Jack and The Captain first…and that is just some of the changes. The comic is bloodless and the horror comes from the unknown of the island as well as the appearance of Kong who is massive in size and seems very annoyed when he appears. The cover for this issue is great and is iconic to me as I can remember the first time I saw it was when I bought the issue from Mavericks Cards and Comics when I was a kid. It shows Kong holding Ann and if you’re a fan of the film, this is very eye catching. The comics interior art as well as the adaptation story is done by Donald Simpson and is lots of fun as he has a cartoonish style to his art, and while the character’s look nothing like the actors who play them I really dig the way he draws them as well as Kong. Over all this first issue is a great read but is a little slow as it truly is the build to getting to know the characters as well as get them all to Skull Island in order to come across King Kong! So with that, let’s see what issue two has in store for us!

King Kong # 2 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.95 Monster Comics # 2 of 6

Jack Driscoll leads a group into the jungle to try and save Ann from Kong and with him is Carl Denham, who has also brought his gas bombs just in case. The other half of the crew stay near the gate with Captain Englehorn to make sure the tribe does not close the gate and leave them stuck inside. While following the trail of Kong, the heroes discover that the jungle is filled with dinosaurs, and they use some of the gas bombs to bring down as Stegosaurus before shooting it in the head to kill it. And as they get deeper into the jungle, Jack and the crew have to make a raft to get across a river only to be once more attacked this time by a Brontosaurus that kills some of the crew and as well makes them lose their guns and gas bombs they brought with them, but Jack makes them push forward as they need to save Ann. Meanwhile Kong himself is fighting off dinosaurs that are attacking him in order to protect Ann as the giant beast has fallen in love with her. He drives off the dinosaurs who end up stampeding and killing more of the ship’s crew who must flee across a nature made bridge that goes across a massive drop. But unknown to Jack and the others, they are rushing towards Kong who decides to shake the bridge and causes all the crew to fall into the abyss with some even falling into giant spider webs to become the lunch for the giant insects. Jack is the only one to make it off the bridge as he jumps onto a vine and holds on for dear life. And we are not sure what has happed to Denham just yet.

The adventure starts as Jack Driscoll leads a group into the jungle in order to save the life of Ann who has been taken by Kong, but they all soon learn that its very dangerous as the land is filled with dinosaurs, giant insects, dangerous nature and of course Kong who has taken a true liking to his gift from the tribe that worships him. And by the end of the issue most if not all of the crew is dead and Jack must find a way to save Ann from the massive grip of Kong who is willing to fight and kill to protect her. This is a very fun issue as we get to see any instances of man fighting dinosaur with the later almost always coming out on top, and because of these deaths the issue does have blood as people are eaten and impaled on a horn! Truly in this issue we find that Jack Driscoll is a man on a mission to save the woman he has just meet and fallen for as he risks not only his life but that of most of the ship’s crew in order to get her back, and if his crew show any fear or question what the heck they are doing, he quickly puts them in his place…so in other words, her life is more important than anyone else on the ship in his eyes. Carl Denham even while in the jungle is thinking about his movie as well as money as it’s clear he would capture all the dinosaurs if he could to make quick cash off them, he also seems less stressed about getting Ann back as when the tree bridge is shaken by Kong I am not even sure where this film director is! Kong is also not messing around in this issue as he holds off a group of dinosaurs as well as keeps Jack and the crew at bay as he truly has claimed Ann as his own! The horror comes from not only Kong and the jungle but all the blood thirsty dinosaurs that are roaming around on Skull Island! The adventure elements of the film are present in this issue and gives you as a reader a build as we are along for the ride as Jack and the others are hunting down Kong in order to save their friend, and we are also seeing that while Kong is big, scary and protective he is also gentle when it comes to Ann. The cover is awesome for this issue and has Kong shaking the tree bridge and the art for it is really great stuff. The interior art is again done by Donald Simpson and is really fun as his cartoonish style really starts to grow on you more and more as you flip through the pages. Another great issue and once more makes some changes but still holds true to the film it’s based on.

King Kong # 3 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.95 Monster Comics # 3 of 6

Jack Driscoll watches as his friends and crew fall to their deaths while others are being eaten alive by giant spiders, and he knows that he alone now must save Ann from the grip of Kong. Jack uses a knife to stab Kong in the hand and as this is going down a T-Rex called Meat-Eater notices Ann and goes after her but he screams bring Kong who starts to fight with the dinosaur, as Carl Denham comes from out of weeds as he hid during the dinosaur stampede and this is what saved his life. The fight between Kong and Man-Eater is very violent as both are fighting for survival now and it’s Kong that wins as he breaks the jaw of Man-Eater leaving him dead. Kong grabs Ann once more and heads deeper in the jungle, Jack and Denham then meet back up and they come up with a plan that will have Jack continue to follow Kong as Denham goes back for more men and gas bombs in order to fight Kong who they have both just witness kill a meat eating dinosaur with his bare hands. Jack follows Kong to the skull mountain cave and watches as a giant snake attacks him and he hopes that he puts Ann down so that they can get back to the boat and to freedom away from this cursed island.

The adventure and horror continues as Kong with Ann in hand heads deeper into the jungle and he protects her from all that he thinks is a threat and that includes a killer T-Rex as well as a massive snake! We also see that Carl Denham survived, as he was lucky enough to find safety in some weeds and brush from the dinosaur stampede and was not on the tree bridge that was destroyed by Kong! Also Jack continues is tracking of Kong while Denham returns to the gate with orders to get more gas bombs to use this time against Kong in order to stop him and get Ann back safe and sound. Jack Driscoll truly loves Ann as he keeps going forward even as death is all around him and the odds of survival is slim, while it’s clear that watching his friends and fellow crew member die bothered him its almost like it helps drive him to be a hero to make their deaths mean something. Carl Denham even after witnessing people dying and two giant creatures fighting only thinks about his movie as well as his own hide, but you do have to give him credit as he is going to journey back to the gate alone in order to get help. Poor Ann is being carried around and finds herself in danger as she is not only being dragged around by Kong but also finds herself on the menu for a very hungry T-Rex! And speaking of that T-Rex who is called Meat-Eater he is one of those true iconic characters from King Kong and I am glad to see him make it to this comic and have one epic fight with Kong as this fight is the true highlight of the issue! Watching Kong and Meat-Eater duke it out over Ann is fantastic and while Meat-Eater dies by getting his jaw broken in two he still puts up a good fight! Kong once more proves why he is the King of Skull Island as he takes on all comers and wins every fight he is in against both man and beast this far. The Horror elements of this issue are still Kong as well as Skull Island in general but also you have to say Meat-Eater is also part of the chills. The issue does have some bloodshed with most of that coming from the fight between Kong and Meat-Eater as the jaw break has the red stuff shown. The issue also ends on a big cliffhanger as Kong is being attacked by a giant snake with Ann still in his hand while Jack is in the shadows waiting for his moment to save her from this crazy island. The cover is really cool and has Kong fighting Man-Eater, and you guessed it, Donald Simpson did the interior art and it is as good and cartoonish as past issues. So with that, let’s see what the next issue has in store for us and if Jack is able to save Ann from this giant ape and get her back to the ship and safely to New York.

King Kong # 4 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.95 Monster Comics # 4 of 6

Jack watches on as the snake tries its best to kill Kong who sets Ann down but way out of the reach of him, and they both watch as Kong ends up bashing the skull of the snake on rocks killing it before grabbing Ann once more and continuing to his home cave, while Jack still follows. Meanwhile Carl Denham makes it back to the gate and tells Captain Englehorn of the fate of the crew and how Ann and Jack are the only ones alive, he also begs for them to get the gas bombs so that they can go back and save them from Kong as well as all the creatures that are in the jungle as he warns them its very dangerous. Kong is very curious about Ann and is studying her when Kong is distracted by Jack who makes a noise and this allows a Pterodactyl to swoop in and grab Ann, but the dinosaur does not get far as Kong grabs it and rips it into pieces! But this allows Jack to also grab Ann and they to hug before rushing off to escape. But the two don’t get very far before Kong is on their trail as he wants Ann back!

In this issue Kong makes it home but has to fight and kill a giant snake as well as a Pterodactyl all on order to keep Ann safe, but all along Jack is right behind waiting for his time to rescue and save his love and when he finally does so this makes Kong very angry and Jack is on his kill list! We also find that Carl Denham as made it back safe and is alerting the Captain and crew of the horrors beyond the gate and that they must go in and save Ann and Jack. In this issue Jack is tired and hurt but still keeps pushing forward as his only goal in life right now is to save Ann and he has almost forgotten about his own safety. Ann at this point as been carried around by Kong and has been on the dinner menu for many dinosaurs that live on Skull Island, and even at one point Kong kind of goes perverted on her as he removes her dress! Kong is a fighter and is killing all that challenge him or try and take Ann away from him. Carl Denham shows that while he is a director who is obsessed with filming his movies, he can be a hero as he makes it back to the gate alone and tries to get the others to go back in and help Jack and Ann. The scares and horror come from Kong as well as the other creatures he has to battle in this issue as what is more scary than giant monsters on a rampage! Plus the issue does have blood being spilt with Kong going brutal on both the snake and Pterodactyl and ending them both in very bloody ways. The cover for this one is also very cool and had Kong fighting the Pterodactyl, and I have to say I love the way they drew King Kong as he looks badass. Yep, Donald Simpson is on interior art again and it’s great and cartoonish, and I love the way he draws Kong and the other creatures. Another great issue that makes you look forward to reading the next.

King Kong # 5 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $2.25 Monster Comics # 5 of 6

Jack and Ann make it back to the gate, and they are tired and want to make it to the ship to get away from the island and rest. As the gates are opened, the crew are happy to see them both, but Denham is also hoping to see Kong as he wants to use the gas bombs to knock him out and bring him back to New York in order to make lots of money off him and he wants to use Ann as bait, Jack is furious over this but has no time to act as Kong has arrived and is very pissed off! Kong breaks down the gate as Jack and the others rush to the beach and their ship, Kong meanwhile kills many of the tribe natives as he is in full rage mode and only has two things on his mind death and Ann. From the broken down gate also comes many other dinosaurs that attack and kill the tribe members, as Denham has truly caused the death of many people all over wanting to make a film. Once on the beach Denham and the crew use the gas bombs that end up knocking out Kong as well as the dinosaurs saving them all from being crushed and eaten. They all watch as Kong goes down and the whole time he is looking at Ann while Denham is calling orders for the crew to get supplies to capture Kong and bring him back to New York.

In this issue Jack is able to rescue Ann and get her to the gate and with the crew, but they are not safe as Kong arrives and crashes through the gate and the dinosaurs follow. The poor tribe is almost all killed in Kong’s rampage, and he is only brought down thanks to the gas bombs that Carl Denham brought on board. And after Kong is knocked out the film director’s main goal is to capture the great ape and put in on display in New York in order to make lots of money. Carl Denham takes two steps back as just when you thought he was going to be a hero he shows that money and fame is truly what drives him, and when you think about it his greed and lack of caring has coasted many people their lives. In other words Denham is a true scumbag! Jack Driscoll is the true hero as he is the one who risked it all in order to save Ann and even is the one who has called out Denham all along for his terrible behavior and lack of caring for peoples safety, now don’t get me wrong Jack has done some bad things as well that has helped lead to people dying with his main focus being to save the woman he loves. Ann is so worn down by the time she gets to the gate that Jack has to carry her, as she really has had a very stressful day and I am sure all she wants to do is get back to New York and live her life. Kong is very upset in losing Ann as once she is taken away from him his rage takes control and he goes nuts and even kills the tribe the worship him as he eats some of them and steps on others. And poor Kong even when he is passing out just wants to see Ann, and little does he know what fate awaits him once he wakes up from his slumber. One thing that I really life in this issue is that when Kong escapes the wall so does all the dinosaurs who also want to rampage through the village, it’s a nice touch. The issue has lots of death and some blood as the frightening moments come from Kong and the dinosaurs escape and rampage as they brutalize the poor natives. The cover for this one is cool like all the others in this series and features Kong fighting the giant snake as Jack looks on. And do I need to say more about who does the interior art and how cool and cartoonish it is, I think not. Well the next issue is the final issue, and with that, let’s take a look and see what awaits not just us but Kong.

King Kong # 6 ***
Released in 1992 Cover Price $2.50 Monster Comics # 6 of 6

In New York City Carl Denham has a sold out show for people to see King Kong, The 8^th Wonder Of The World, and the place is packed. On hand are both Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll as after this premiere the two plan on getting married. The press enter behind the scenes and talk with Denham and Jack and as the story is being told, and the director turned promoter brags that Kong was captured all because of Ann, she feels sad for the events that took place that caused this massive beast to be captured and treated like a sideshow freak. As the attraction opens and Denham gives his speech he shows Kong to the audience who are scared of this massive beast, who gets more angry when Ann and Jack are brought out followed by news paper photographers who’s flashing lights end up making Kong rage and break free from the chains that hold him as he thinks people are harming Ann! Kong breaks loose out of the theater and hits the streets of New York on a rampage and looking for Ann, and finds her and Jack in a hotel room hiding he crashes his massive fist through the building and once more has Ann is his hands and makes his way to the Empire State Building and starts climbing it as the near by Air Force gets the orders to fly to the building and combat the giant ape. As Kong makes it to the top of the building Jack rushes to the top as well in order to try and save his fiancé from the grip of Kong once more. Kong on top of the building feels like he is once more the King of this new land, but then the fighter planes appear and start their attack and at first Kong is standing his ground and even knocking some of them out of the sky. But after a short time and many machine gun bullets later, the mighty King Kong is bleeding and falls off the Empire State Building to his death as Ann watches on in sadness as she understands that the giant ape was truly just scared, lonely and in a place he didn’t belong. While Jack makes it to Ann and holds her as she cries, on the street below Kong is dead and Denham tells the newspapers that it was Beauty that killed the Beast.

In the final issue of this adaptation Kong finds himself in New York City as a prisoner of a con-man film director who looks at the great beast as a paycheck and not as a living creature, and when Kong breaks free to once more have Ann by his massive side he is gunned down by machine gun fire from planes that have been sent out to kill him once the beast climbed the famous Empire State Building. And I have to first say Carl Denham is a complete scumbag as he seems to once more not care that he has put peoples lives in danger and even when Kong escapes he seems to not be bothered by this destruction and is clearly just driven by money. And as Kong is dead in front of him Denham seems to still be working the press, just a terrible person. Jack and Ann just want to live their lives together and are once more tangled into the crappy world of Denham, and Ann really does seem sad for her part in the taking of Kong as well as his death. Kong is a protective creature and when he thinks that the press are doing harm to Ann he escapes from his chains and does what he can to protect her, and sadly this rampage of protecting leaves him open to being killed by gunfire. Kong really is just a beast who does not understand his new surroundings and really just wants to live his life and protect Ann who he has fallen in love with. Its truly sad when he is shot and falls to his death as Kong really is a great beast who cares about Ann who he has taken as his own. The climax of this story both in the film as well as the comic truly hits you as it’s sad to see Kong die and all cause of love and people fearing things that are unknown, while I get that he is a “monster” by all accounts he still had a life and should have been left on Skull Island and not exploited my modern people. The comic does make changes from the film, and while some are very odd and even big changes, the comic does do the film justice and really held up for me after all these years as it was a great read then and a great read now. One character I would have like to have seen was Charlie the ship’s cook as he was a big character in the film and even came into play in the sequel “Son Of Kong” and he should have been in this comic. The issue does have blood spilled as when Kong is being shot he bleeds, and of course the Horror comes from Kong and his rampage through the Big Apple. The cover for this issue has Kong fighting off the planes and is very eye catching as the border is a bright yellow. Donald Simpson’s art throughout this series was very solid work, and he has a very cartoonish style that brings a fun approach to the comics When I was younger I was a little more harsh on the art as I wanted Kong to be more scary, but looking at it now with adult eyes I find it very charming. While this series is great I still would say that the Gold Key Comic adaptation that I covered HERE is the better of the two, but believe me, I am not downplaying this series as I really do like it lots and think that if you are a King Kong fan, you should own and read these comics. Check out the artwork below to see the style of Donald Simpson used in this series.

King Kong is truly one of those films as well as characters that was made for not only being in films but also in comic books, and I am glad that he still makes his appearances in mini series from time to time over the years as it gives horror comic readers like myself something to read. And for those who want to read more about King Kong in the From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update theme, you can also check out my updates for King Kong (2005) here, Kong Skull Island (2017) here and lastly Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) here…so as you can see you can get a full course of King Kong here at Rotten Ink. And with that, it seem that our time with King Kong is coming to an end but do not worry as our next update will still keep us in the realm of horror film inspired comics as I will be taking a look at the Hammer Horror Film Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter and the Titan Comic mini series based around it. So until then, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local horror host! See you next update as we hunt down some bloodsuckers with The Captain!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Posted on July 4, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Happy 4^th Of July, and welcome back to Rotten Ink and to a very special American Hero update as it’s connected to the “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” theme as for this Independence Day. We are going to be talking about a hero from New Jersey who is a hideously deformed creature of super-human size and strength that helps the good people of Tromaville and who has faced all types of criminals from killers to the corrupt. Of course I am talking about The Toxic Avenger, the cult classic hero that was created by Lloyd Kauffman and Troma Entertainment! That’s right, nothing says American hero in entertainment like a mop swinging monstrous hero that brutally murders evildoers. I mean Hell, he even defeated the Devil and an evil version of himself! So while the food is cooking on the grill and the fireworks are being prepped for the evening light show, let’s head to Tromaville, New Jersey and talk about The Toxic Avenger!

So let’s first start off by taking a look at The Toxic Avenger and his way of dealing with evildoers! The Toxic Avenger was originally Melvin Junko, a 98 pound weakling who worked as a janitor at a health club and was mocked and cruelly hazed by the members. One prank went terribly wrong, and Melvin fell into a barrel of toxic waste turning him into The Toxic Avenger, a hideously deformed creature of super-human size and strength! The Toxic Avenger is very gross in appearance as his skin is melted and even has one droopy eye, and this alone strikes fear into the heart of his enemies. Toxie also smells really bad, and the stench of him can repulse and burn the eyes of those in his way. The Toxic Avenger also has Tromatons, a chemical reaction in his body that alerts him when evil is around, and also when they go off it sets him off in a rage to destroy the evil that is around him in a violent way. Toxie is also very strong and can over power any man that he goes up against as he is also a skilled fighter. The strength of The Toxic Avenger allows him to break bones and remove limbs and guts from the baddies of the world, and this makes for a very gruesome scene. Toxie also uses a mop to beat the Hell out of evildoers, and this becomes his key weapon over the years of being a monster hero and early on his crime fighting ways he would ram mops down the throats of his victims. Toxie can also be around toxic waste as it no longer effects him, as his whole body has been changed by it. But while The Toxic Avenger is a powerful monster hero, he does have some flaws and weaknesses that can lead to his defeat. Toxie’s appearance leaves him at odds with the small people of Tromaville as they fear him and this makes it easy for criminals to set him up to look like a monster on the loose. Toxie can also doubt himself and get his feeling hurt and this can lead him on being on the losing side of a fight. He also loves his blind girlfriend Sara or is that Claire who can be used against him. But as of this update there is not clear way to defeat The Toxic Avenger, and thank goodness he is on our side.

So as you can see, The Toxic Avenger truly is a hideously deformed creature of super-human size and strength that keeps Tromaville safe and clean of evil! But now I think that it’s time we talk about his film that was released by Troma in 1984 and became a massive cult classic over the years! So like always, I will be taking the film’s write up from our good pals at IMDB, and then I will write about the film’s production and then my thoughts of the film. So with the hamburgers on the grill sizzling like Melvin Junko after falling into toxic waste, I think that it’s time to take a look at this truly fun horror film featuring a monster hero from New Jersey.

The Toxic Avengers (1984)

“Tromaville has a monstrous new hero. The Toxic Avenger is born when meek mop boy Melvin falls into a vat of toxic waste. Now evildoers will have a lot to lose.”

Llyod Kaufman & Michael Herz were the creators of Troma Entertainment that at the time was making and releasing mostly comedy films to theaters, but with the horror genre being blasted by mainstream media and critics, the pair decided to make a hybrid film a horror comedy that would be called The Toxic Avenger! Lloyd got the idea early on about setting a horror film in a spa when he was working on the set of Rocky (1976) and after a trip to the Cannes Film Festival in France is when the film truly came together. The original title was going to be “Health Club Horror” and was more of a spoof film, before turning into the cult classic film we all know and love. Writer Joe Ritter took the story by Kaufman and turned it into a script, and Stuart Strutin came on to produce along side Kaufman and Herz with the film having a budget of around $500 thousand. When casting the film actor Mitch Cohen would play The Toxic Avenger with Kenneth Kessler doing the character’s voice, and Melvin Junko, the nerd who falls into the toxic waste to become the hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength, was played by actor Mark Torgl who had worked on Troma films of the past. Other names in the cast include Andree Maranda, Gary Schneider, Robert Prichard, Cindy Manion, Jennifer Babtist, Pat Ryan Jr. and Dick Martinsen to name a few, but one fun fact is that in the directors cut of the film, a young Marisa Tomei was one of the people at the spa. The film would mostly be shot in New Jersey and some in New York and once done it would be released to theaters on April 11, 1986 and was met with mixed reviews from critics, but viewers loved it and sparked it into a true cult classic that would spawn three sequels, a cartoon series as well as a remake film from Legendary Pictures. The Toxic Avenger was released in 1984 alongside such other horror films as A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13^th: The Final Chapter, Gremlins, C.H.U.D., Hills Haves Eyes Part 2, Ghostbusters, The Terminator, Splatter University, Rocktober Blood, Razorback and Monster Dog. Truly Toxie is the character that built Troma into one of the biggest independent film studios in the world.

The Toxic Avenger is a film that I have a very funny story about as when growing up my brother and I were always into horror movies and creature features and one we watched all the time when it was on TV was the Wes Craven film Swamp Thing based on the DC Comic series. So one evening at the video rental store my Dad saw the cover for The Toxic Avenger and thought that it would be like Swamp Thing, and after showing the box to us, that was one of the rental choices that night. With popcorn in hand, we prepared for the film to start, and then when it did and it was packed with nudity at the start, my Dad quickly stopped it and that ended movie night. It was a funny moment in my life as he truly thought it was going to be like Swamp Thing and not your typical Troma film. I would finally see the film sometime later as it was shown on USA Up All Night, and then I would end up buying on VHS when I found it at a second hand media store. The film just worked as it truly was a fun film that blended horror, comedy and superhero elements all together and added in some great kills like when Toxie makes a milkshake out of a guy’s head! In fact my brother one year got me The Toxic Avenger II on VHS for Christmas! It’s weird as looking back on it all The Toxic Avenger has been a big part of my youth not just for the films but also the Marvel Comic series, the cartoon Toxic Crusaders and the toys based on the toon were all big parts of my childhood. And as a kid The Toxic Avenger was a big hero, no different than Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and Captain America as he was a good guy who protected people and while he was more violent than them, he still fought for truth and justice. In art class in school I also use to draw The Toxic Avenger and would get good grades for it, so thanks, Toxie, for helping me get good grades in class! While The Toxic Avenger film series is not for kids, the character himself was very iconic for kids of my era and his legacy will live on forever as he is that iconic to fans of horror films.

So now that we have chatted about The Toxic Avenger the character as well as the film, I think that it’s time that we take a look at the comic series based on him! And I had a few to choose from as Troma Comics as well as Fester Comics both did comics based on him, but for me the Marvel Comics were the must as it was the first series to be made and are the ones I grew up reading! That is right when a youngster, The Toxic Avenger was a comic series I would read as I would find issues at both Mavericks Cards And Comics as well as Bookie Parlor, so a big thanks goes to both those comic shops for introducing me to the series based on a film I knew and finally saw thanks to USA Up All Night. And no joke I was a big fan of this comic series and can remember reading the issues several times as well as telling my friends at school about it. I would like to thank Lone Star Comics, Bell Book And Comic and Game Swap Kettering for having these issues in stock and making this update possible. I would also like to thank Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz for being the creators behind not only The Toxic Avenger but Troma Entertainment, one of the worlds best indie film studios. And like always, I would like to remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s enter Tromaville and see what Marvel Comics and The Toxic Avenger has in store for us.

The Toxic Avengers # 1 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 1 of 11

The Toxic Avengers is in the junkyard and he is very confused, but his body aka Tromatons alert him of trouble as three punks are near by and rush with guns in hand to his sounds with the intention to kill whatever made them. Toxic Avenger with his mop quickly kills to of the punks by blowing one up and the other melts in battery acid! The third punk runs away and speeds off in his car, Toxic Avengers follows in a cab when the driver gives it to him when he sees and smells him! A high speed chase takes place, and Toxie ends up crashing and having to chase after his attacker on foot all the while the people of Tromaville are scared of this monster hero who is confused about why he is this way. Meanwhile Ms. Mephi is trying to buy Pleasantview Haven Home For The Blind from its owner as she wants to use the land as a toxic dump site, and when he refuses she has her men cover the place with gas and burn it to the ground, and they have orders to shoot anyone who makes it out alive! But lucky for the blind people Toxie is running by and ends up doing what he can to save many of them and that means smashing the bad guys, but while doing this he meets Claire and falls for her beauty at first sight, but the two must run away when the citizens show up and blame Toxie for the fire. The two make it back to the junkyard where Toxie starts building them a house to live in, and after getting a kiss from Claire, he gets him memory back and remembers that he is Melvin Junko, a nerd that use to work for the towns health club, but was set up by his boss Mr. Ahriman and Linda, a woman who worked out there in a cruel prank that left him humiliated and falling into toxic waste an becoming The Toxic Avenger! We also learn that Apocalypse Inc. is moving into Tromaville and its Chairman is also coming and working for him is his nephew Mr. Ahriman, Ms. Mephi, a ton of punks and Eboni who acts as the general of the area as she is now given orders for her punks to go and get The Toxic Avenger!

The Toxic Avenger in his first Marvel Comic was a fantastic read as in this issue we get a backstory of how geek Melvin Junko fell into toxic waste and became the hero The Toxic Avenger and how he meets his blind girlfriend Claire and becomes the target of a corrupt toxic company Apocalypse Inc.! And man is The Toxic Avenger a hero as he brutally kills evildoers in the small town of Tromaville and even saves blind people from arson, but he is still very much feared by the townspeople as he looks like a monster and smells like a backed up sewer. And while at the start of the issue Toxic Avenger is confused, he soon remembers his past as a cleanup boy and knows that with these new powers he must help people. Claire is his blonde, blind and accordion playing girlfriend who falls madly in love with him once he saves her from the fire and being shot by a punk and says very nice things to her. The enemies of this issue are Apocalypse Inc. a corrupt group that hides toxic waste in small towns and seem to want to destroy the environment and turn America into a toxic dumpsite. And who knows how evil The Chairman is going to be as it’s clear everyone who works for him is very much scared of him as he sounds very cruel. The comic is lots of fun and The Toxic Avenger was a perfect superhero for the 90’s as Marvel Comics was doing really well with Spider-Man and X-Men comics, and this Troma Movie hero fit right in the mix. While this issue does not have blood, it does have its share of very gruesome deaths as Toxie punches a mans face in as well as tosses one into acid and pulls out his bones that still has some hair and flesh left…pretty gross stuff for a Marvel Comic. The story so far is also pretty cool as it’s the build of Toxic Avenger having to go up against Apocalypse Inc. in his own hometown, and you know that this hero is not going to go down without a major fight. The cover for this issue is very iconic for me, and if you’re a fan of The Toxic Avenger, I am sure you agree with me. The comic’s interior art is done by Rod Ramos and is really great stuff as I think he captures all the elements of the character as its party scary and part silly. Over all this is a great start to the series and truly held up for me after all these years. So let’s see if issue two does as well…shall we?

The Toxic Avengers # 2 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 2 of 11

A tank comes busting into the newly made home of The Toxic Avenger and his lady Claire, but with his mop, Toxie is able to blow up the tank when the mop plugs up the cannon right as they fire. Meanwhile The Chairman has arrived in Tromaville with his assistant Darkella, and he is happy with the new home base but is very mad over the setbacks and mistakes with the biggest being the creation of Toxie as each member has to tell of what operation they were doing and how he stopped them and even killed members in the process. The Chairman is not pleased as he angrily yells at his people and starts to almost turn into something demonic and hatred is in his eyes, as he wants to corrupt this city with no fight back. After killing the punk who got away from Toxie in the junkyard, he sets out his Red Team to start to work on bringing down the city from the inside and they are Demos, Luci, Asmo, Drekko and Astarte, and they all have their assignments to get those with local power to fall in line. The Chairman then orders another hit team to go after The Toxic Avenger and then sends more out to torment the people of the city. And oddly enough The Punks are not joined by mutated people who are monstrous in appearance as it’s clear that they have been around the toxic waste. Meanwhile Toxie takes Claire to meet his mom and it does not go well as she runs away from fear as his looks made her freak out. Aat the school’s gym, a group of mutants bust in to attack the cheerleaders as well as the jocks that don’t stand a chance against their power and strength. The Toxic Avenger shows up and makes short work of these mutants, but the cheerleaders still run from him think he is a monster! Once Toxie leaves, he is followed by the hit team and even saves an old human from more punks but again is called a monster! Toxie ends up going to the old gym he worked for as Melvin for a safe place to hide but finds that all the muscle heads have been turned into slime covered monsters thanks to the waste that was dumped in the pool by Mr. Ahriman. As the monstrous muscle heads go after Toxie, we see that The Chairman is getting news that the powerful people of the city are falling in line.

The cruel people of Apocalypse Inc. are truly taking over the town of Tromaville as they are bribing the town’s mayor, police chief and more with money, and they are sending out punks and mutants to torment the innocent people. All the while they have the goal of also killing off The Toxic Avenger as he has been a thorn in their side by beating them up at every evil attempt in town. And we also see that The Chairman is really The Devil as when he gets mad, his true appearance starts to show through and he even has small demons living inside him. He is all about destroying and killing. Plus it’s cool to see that he is the same character that was showcased in the films Toxic Avenger 2 and 3, as was Apocalypse Inc., but here they are done slightly differently to fit in the Marvel Universe and make them evil but slightly less crude evil. The Toxic Avenger is once more the monster hero we all know and love as he rushes around town and stops criminals, all the while he is being feared by all those he is saving and protecting…you have to feel bad for him as he is treated so poorly by everyone besides Claire who truly has fallen in love with him. The creators of this comic are doing a great job of capturing the heroic and yet sweet side of The Toxic Avenger and shows that no matter how bad he is treated he keeps trying to do the right thing and protect people. I myself cannot wait until we get the showdown between The Chairman and The Toxic Avenger, but first this issue ends on a cliffhanger as Toxie is surrounded by mutated meatheads as a punk hit squad is waiting in the shadows. So in other words, he will have one battle after another. And for those wondering about Claire, she was left at Toxies mom’s home so she is safe for now from all this madness. The cover for this issue is another great one and has Toxic Avenger fighting off mutants, and you guessed it, the comics interior art was done by Rod Ramos again and is solid stuff. Over all another great issue that makes you want to read the next to see how Toxie is going to get out of the mess he finds himself in.

The Toxic Avengers # 3 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 3 of 11

The Hit Squad doesn’t want to wait so they use a bazooka to try and blast Toxie, but they miss and hit the health club blowing it up and sending green meathead zombies all over the place as they fall from the sky. Toxie, meanwhile, dodges the explosion and takes the bazooka and bends it to make a double cannon blast and then uses his mop to take out the hit squad. As Toxie wonders what just happened, the people of Tromaville are running away from the meathead zombies as Mr. Ahriman exits the burning health club building and heads back to the Apocalypse Inc. headquarters. Downtown Tromaville is in a panic, and the police chief shows up and is taken back by all the destruction as back home Claire talks with Mom Junko about her son and tells her of the accident, and this causes her to kind of understand her son’s new monster like appearance. The Toxic Avenger returns to his mom’s home at early dawn he is a defeated hero as he never thinks the world will accept him as hero cause of his looks, and as his mother and girlfriend sleep he heads to his room for some shuteye. Meanwhile The Chairman is annoyed that Toxie has not been defeated yet as more of his Red Team get people of power on board for the destruction of Tormaville as they are being tricked into agreeing. And worse for Toxie, a tabloid magazine is now in town trying to get a picture to make him the next Bigfoot to sell papers, and he runs into their reporter on his way out to stop the meathead zombies after a quick nap. She of course screams and passes out. Toxie finds the zombies at the town’s lovers lane and saves the day by beating up the zombies and trapping them under a large fallen tree, but of course the lovers he saves are scared of him and hit him with their car and this angers him as it’s clear Toxie has hit his anger point.

In this issue poor Toxie finds himself the target of everyone in town as Apocalypse Inc. wants him dead, the meathead zombies want him dead, the people of Tromaville are chasing after him and even his own mother peaced out when she saw his face! And this whole time being hunted, feared and despised he still keeps on being a hero, that is until the end of this issue when he is hit by a car driven by people he saved and dragged around on the hood and then flung off while being insulted about his smell…then we start to see that he is cracking from all the fighting and lack of respect he is getting from those he saves. The Chairman himself also seems to be having his own personal war as the two little demons who live inside him keep telling him to do the opposite of the other, and this of course is making him even more cranky and wanting destruction. And you have to give Claire lots of credit as she is able to talk to Mom Junko and get her to see that Toxie is really her son Melvin and while he might look different, that good person is still there. The fight is fun and silly between Toxie and the meathead zombies and them attacking at a lovers’ lane truly reminded me of a drive-in B-movie, and that a great thing as it added to my enjoyment of this issue. That is one thing that is really great about this series is that from the start we get lots of Toxie fighting action and each of the baddies he is beating up all look different and weird making it really feel like a Troma film. This issue has lots of fighting but not as much death, but the more silly aspects of the character are at play here as I love that he ends up going home to take a nap before fighting the zombies that are loose in town, just really fun stuff. The cover for this issue is a little of a letdown as it’s just a still from the second film, but the Rod Ramos interior art makes up for the weak cover. Over all another great issue, and let’s see what Toxie does next as he is mad as Hell and might stop helping the people of Tromaville over the way they are treating him.

The Toxic Avengers # 4 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 4 of 11

The Toxic Avenger gets all the meathead zombies in a net and brings them back to Tromaville, and he is fuming over the way he has been treated. Meanwhile at his house, the tabloid reporter Miss Creach is having cake with Mom Junko and Claire as they talk about Toxie with his lady now being the only one taking up for him as the other two cannot get past his looks, and they end up calling him “Sludgeface” in the paper and do not want to report that he is a hero. Meanwhile Toxie brings the zombies to the police station and tells them what to do to lock them up and then is super firm with them that he is a hero and they better not call him a monster! But Police Chief Hoag busts out of his office along with Red Team member Luci and calls Toxie and monster and when he sees them, his Tromatons go crazy and the police freak out and starting shooting him. But the bullets do not hurt Toxie, and he shrugs them off and leaves knowing that he needs to be the town’s hero. Meanwhile Luci rushes back to Apocalypse Inc. in order to report her finding that Toxie is bullet proof as Miss Creach enters the police station to look for more information on “Sludgeface”. Meanwhile The Chairman gets the news about Toxie, and they also have the Linda Zombie that they plan to use against him; since she helped turn Melvin into Toxie, maybe she can help destroy him. On his way home Toxie gets his picture taken by Miss Creach who runs off and once more this makes him feel terrible, but once home he chats with his mother and Claire, and they make him feel a little better as does a phone call inviting him to a party at the mansion on top of the hill…the caller is Zombie Linda! As Toxie heads out of the house he finds himself surrounded by the police who open fire once more, annoyed Toxie walks past them all and heads to the mansion. Once inside Toxie finds Linda, but of course this is a trap and a steel cage falls on him and tons of punks, freaks and mutants appear with guns and all shoot into the cage and into Toxie…but our hero breaks free and starts massacring his enemies all the while The Chairman watches in amazement at the power of Toxie. As the fight is being lost, The Chairman and the rest of his goons leave the mansion and even possibly Tromaville as two toxic sludges mix and cause the mansion to explode! But Toxie is able to save Zombie Linda after he uppercuts her through the roof for breaking his mop and the catches her after the explosion and takes her to the police station to get help. Once home Toxic Avenger tells Claire that he thinks that the evil threat of Apocalypse Inc. is over as Mom Junko shows him the headline of the tabloid paper calling him Sludgeface and saying he is a terror to the city.

In this issue The Toxic Avenger has a showdown with Apocalypse Inc. at their own mansion base and shows them why he is a hero as he brings them all down and even causes The Chairman to flee the area with the thoughts of being defeated, but also with the idea of trying to get Toxie on their side. And of course as this is going on, Toxie is also dealing with the tabloid paper saying he is a monster and the local police force keep trying to shoot him every time they see him…but during all this Toxie finds his inner strength and sticks up for himself against foe and friend. And that is the thing, Toxie so far in the series has truly grown as a person and a hero and the creators of the comic are staying true to his nature, even if they sometimes add some truly cheesy jokes. Claire is also a hero as she is the only one who stands up for Toxie as she knows that he is a hero and not the monster the others are making him out to be, but it looks like Mom Junko is coming around as she likes that her son is becoming famous even if she faints when she looks at him. It is very interesting that The Chairman gave up his fight with Toxie so soon, but I am sure he and Apocalypse Inc. will return very soon to try and take over Tormaville. I also like that The Toxic Avenger is like Superman as they shoot him several times with many different guns and he is able to shake it off and beat up the bad guys. And we all know that the tabloid paper will I am sure give Toxie trouble as people will fear him and others might come to hunt him, so Toxie will have to use all his powers to survive what ever and who ever is thrown at him. The issue has lots of death as once more Toxie makes quick work out of many henchmen from punching into their skulls to even twisting a neck all away around, Toxie don’t mess around when it comes to stopping crime. The cover for this issue is great and has Apocalypse Inc. attacking The Toxic Avenger and like a broken record already the interior artwork by artist Rod Ramos is great stuff as I like how he draws Toxie. Once more a great issue that is doing justice to the film it’s based on with the only things lacking being lots of blood, nudity, crude humor and cussing…but what do you expect from a Marvel Comic.

The Toxic Avengers # 5 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 5 of 11

The Toxic Avenger has rebuilt the shack home for him and Claire to live in the junkyard as he needed to get away from his mother who is still hanging around Miss Creach who is writing more false articles about him being a terrible monster. And when the meathead zombies start dying after being treated, Chief Hoag wants The Toxic Avenger arrested for their deaths. As the cops go to arrest him, he tries to clear his name but they once more try and shoot him…but when that fails, they agree to give him 48 hrs to clear his name and show who did this to them and why they are all dying. Meanwhile Apocalypse Inc. has moved to a new office and The Chairman has gotten mad scientist Dr. Chemo who has created a brain that has the worst parts of some of history’s worst killers, madmen and warriors and he is going to use the body parts of the newly dead meathead zombies to build the brain a body in order to fight The Toxic Avenger, and they head to the cemetery to get the parts needed. And Dr. Chemo brings life to his monster and names it Biohazard, and as Toxie gets to the cemetery his sees the black truck and knows that something is wrong and when he finds the open graves as well as mutant Demos of Red Team who attacks our hero and the two battle in the cemetery. After Toxie beats Demos, the trucks back doors open and out comes Biohazard who is looking to do one thing and that kill Toxie!

The Toxic Avenger thinks that Tromaville is safe now that he defeated Apocalypse Inc., but little does he know that they just moved and are still coming up with ideas on how to take over the city as well as kill The Toxic Avenger as they have two plans going. One is to frame him with the police as all the meathead zombies are dying and he is being blamed for infecting them with his toxic touch, and the second is they are building a Frankenstein’s Monster Creature called Biohazard that is built from the body parts of the meatheads and has only one mission and that is to kill Toxie. But our hero only has 48hrs to prove that he is innocent before he is arrested for crimes he did not commit. And that is the thing about Toxie in this issue he is now becoming a clue hunter and is getting very antsy to find the answers and it is going on a late night walk that he finds the answer he is looking for and that’s Apocalypse Inc. is back and is building a monster in the local cemetery, and this monster looks big and mean and it might just give Toxie a run for his money. The fight between Toxie and Demos is really cool as they really beat the heck out of each other, and it takes a tombstone over the head to knockout out the mutant pig man. Plus who knows if Dr. Chemo has any fighting skills as he as well is around in the cemetery and might just help in the fight that is coming in the next issue. And it’s a shame that the cops as well as the tabloids just will not leave The Toxic Avenger alone and they are both causing him lots of issues. This issue is clearly a build to the return of Apocalypse Inc. as well as the showdown between Toxie and Biohazard, and it works really well. The interior art is done by Rod Ramos like before and the cover for this issue is cool and has Toxie being shot by the cops. Marvel Comics and Troma made a great team here, and man I have really enjoyed rereading these again as they have all held up this far, so let’s see what the next issue has in store for us.

The Toxic Avengers # 6 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 6 of 11

Biohazard attacks The Toxic Avenger and this created life made of the corpses of the dead health club meatheads is tough as his punches pack a blast of electricity, and he is truly hurting Toxie and even knocks him down. But Dr. Chemo forgot one major thing and that’s the remote to control Biohazard who is now roaming out of the cemetery and into Tromaville! Meanwhile The Chairman has decided to also try and corrupt New York at the same time as Tromaville and also has decided to kick out the two little demons that live in his body from coming back inside him. Meanwhile Tromaville is having a flower show and all the big people in town are there including Mr. Ahriman, Mom Junko, Claire and Chief Hoag, and a big topic is Toxie as well as the destruction and deaths at the health club. But as people are enjoying the flowers, Biohazard shows up and Toxic Avenger is right behind him trying his best to keep the people safe and they are noticing, as they watch on in shock and even some start to cheer him on. And as they fight, Toxie uses wires from a generator to slam into Biohazard and causes the monster to fall into pieces, and with that, the town looks at Toxie as a hero. And after the fanfare is over Toxic Avenger finds Dr. Chemo and makes the mad scientist tell him where Apocalypse Inc.’s new headquarters is and for this information Toxie then smashes him into a wall, and thinks about heading there to once more kick some evildoer butt.

This is a monster fight issue as we have The Toxic Avenger fighting with the undead creature Biohazard in both the local cemetery as well as at the town’s flower show! And this issue also shows that while Toxie is super strong, he can be hurt by other monsters who can match him in power. Plus we also get to see the people of Tromaville start to understand that he is a hero and not a monster! And Toxie in this issue shows that he cares about the environment and also has a “don’t stay down” attitude when it comes to being beat up in a fight. In this issue, we also find that The Chairman is mad at the little demons who use to live inside him and has banned them from his body, and he wants to try and takeover New York and his first strike is buying up the corner food carts and having them mixed now with toxic sludge. Also Claire and Mom Junko are standing with Toxie and are helping the people to accept him as part of their city. And while it’s not said, I am going to guess that Dr. Chemo is dead as his head is rammed into a wall and is stuck in it, so yeah, I would guess he is dead and that makes one less baddie for Toxie to have to worry about. Now while this is a fun issue as who don’t like to monsters fighting, but I will also say that I wish that the fight would have been a little more epic…but a cool finish as I like that Biohazard falls apart due to a massive shock. One more thing I have to say is that the people of Tromaville are also turning on the people of power like the police chief and mayor as they can see that they are not doing anything about the rise in crime and monsters showing up. It’s a little bummer that Biohazard is dead as it would have been cool to see him return and have another fight with Toxie, but it’s clear that each of these issues wants to introduce or even have Toxie fighting someone different. The cover of this issue is my second favorite of the series only behind the first issue, and it has The Toxic Avenger standing in in the cemetery with the massive Biohazard lurking behind him. The interior art was done by Rod Ramos and while his work is good, I will say that I feel that his art in this issue seemed a little rushed and not as grimy as the past issues. Over all another great issue and if you like monsters fighting or just want to see Toxie become the hero in the eyes of the people, then make sure to give this issue a read.

The Toxic Avengers # 7 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 7 of 11

The Toxic Avenger has made his way to New York as he is looking for The Chairman as he wants to stop him and his evil company Apocalypse Inc. once and for all, and he also notices that the New Yorkers seem to pay him no attention and don’t scream “Monster” at him. Meanwhile the food carts now owned by The Chairman are making food that causes some people to act weird and rush to hide in the sewers, as the food is changing them into something weird. Meanwhile The Chairman in his office is mistreating the two mini demons and is getting an update on his evil food plan and learns that those who are eating it are turning into weird creatures in the sewer that lose parts of their flesh that when in the nasty water can cause fires! He also learns that some of them will come together to create twisted creatures while others will come out of the sewer to eat and steal the flesh of the normal people. And best of all for The Chairman is that he will be the only one who has a cure for this sickness and this will cause a bidding war that he planes on making lots of money on. Meanwhile on the streets of New York, The Toxic Avenger is roaming around and comes across one of the meat eating infected who is trying to bite and attack the regular people, and with one punch Toxie knocks all the flesh off the poor soul and then realizes that something foul is happing in the sewers and heads down to check it out. Once down there, Toxie wanders around until he runs into the massive collected form of the infected that is calling it’s self The Gather Mass as well as a bunch of the ones that are turning into human meat eaters! They all attack, and Toxie does his best to defend himself but the odds are against him and he ends up being stuck in the mass of flesh and is dragged out of the sewer and to the Statue Of Liberty!

In this issue The Toxic Avenger arrives in New York in order to try and bring down The Chairman, but before he can find the new headquarters of Apocalypse Inc. he finds himself having to fight for his life against flesh eaters and a mass of human flesh that of course was created by the evil scheme of The Chairman and his goons. The Toxic Avenger in this issue goes to the Big Apple and finds that they people don’t fear him nor run away from him and this gives him more confidence in order to try and fight evil. And to prove that Toxie is a true hero, he is willing to go into the sewers of New York to look for the dwellers that are roaming around looking to munch on some human meat as well as squash together to become a massive being called The Gather Mass that is very creepy looking and wants all the infected people to join inside its mass. Think about the fact that these infected people who ate some food from the food cart as flesh that when falls off turns into fire…their flesh burns! And one has to wonder if these New York flesh eaters were based on the monsters from the 1984 film C.H.U.D., I think that they were! The Chairman is very angry ,and he really wants to destroy and bring down New York as well as he really hates The Toxic Avenger and wants him dead! And he is such a jerk as he is getting joy out of beating up the tiny demons as well as threatening and acting like a bully to those who work for him. I like the fact that Toxie is in New York, and I almost wish we would have had a Spider-Man or at least Peter Parker cameo in this issue as what an awesome team up that would be. The cover for this one is cool and has Toxie being attacked by The Gather Mass, and we have a new artist doing the interior artwork and that’s Val Mayerik. His style works pretty well for this series, and I will say I like it. Man, this series is holding up for me as I really am enjoying reading these again and I am looking forward to the next issue.

The Toxic Avengers # 8 ***
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 8 of 11

The Gather Mass is climbing up the Statue Of Liberty, and The Toxic Avenger is inside this mass slightly losing touch of reality and who he is while across town The Chairman watches as the infected meat eaters are roaming the streets and causing panic in their quest for human flesh. Meanwhile Demos calls in and tells them of the failure in Tromaville and the deaths of Dr. Chemo and Biohazard, and The Chairman is really pissed off and orders Demos to bring in the body of Dr. Chemo. While back at the Statue Of Liberty attack helicopters are sent in to deal with The Gather Mass, and as they start shooting at it, the bullet holes allow fresh air in and this snaps Toxie out of his sluggish trance and he busts out and uses his mop to try and fight off The Gather Mass who is nearing the top of the statue, but it loses its grip and falls and lurks back into the waters heading deeper in as Toxie keeps trying to fight with it. Meanwhile back in Tromaville, Dr. Chemo is alive and being cut out of the wall when Demo in the van shows up and the two get away heading to New York. The Gather Mass has moved into Manhattan and is ramping up as Toxie armed with his mop is trying his best to bring down the beast, as The Chairman and his goons watch on the massive mass roams around and even Miss Creach is there to take pictures of it for her tabloid paper. But as Dr. Chemo arrives at the office of The Chairman, they make the mistake of trying to keep The Gather Mass from their building by using a device that ends up drawing the massive mass to them and as it busts out the windows it knocks over chemicals that end up melting it away. And as the NYPD attack our hero Toxie who as saved the day for the Big Apple, he starts walking back to Tromaville as The Chairman and his people are arrested, causing the little demons to have to follow and think of a way to break them all loose.

The Toxic Avenger does it again…or is that toxic chemicals does it again? As The Gather Mass is taken down when it attacks the new base of Apocalypse Inc. and chemicals spill on it and that melts it away into a pile of goo! But while it was around, The Gather Mass really was a massive mess of skin that was stomping around New York causing panic and distress, and it looked like neither Toxie and his mop nor the attack helicopters were going to be able to stop it from its rampage. And let’s also not forget that the streets were also being infected by the meat eating people who made the mistake of eating from the Apocalypse Inc. owned food carts, so terror was all around New York. The Chairman in this issue loses his temper and then loses his freedom as he and his crew are arrested, and you know this Hellspawn is not happy about this! We also learn that Dr. Chemo is still alive even after getting is face rammed through a wall, but little does it do him any good as he is arrested alongside many others in New York after the defeat of The Gather Mass. The two little demons who are named Rahd and Bahd are being tormented by The Chairman who in this issues even has them by the neck on a string wearing them like a necklace, but even after all this cruel torture, they still at the end of the issue want to find a way to free The Chairman and the others from jail. One thing that I have noticed is that as this series goes on the more grimy and brutal elements are being phased out and they are going more in a silly route as it’s clear they started to get cold feet when it came to killing off punks and evildoers. Plus I miss the interior art style of Rod Ramos as he had more of a darker style, and Val Mayerik has more of a comedic, but I want to stress that Mayerik’s work is good stuff. The cover for this issue is cool and has Toxie fighting The Gather Mass on the Statue Of Liberty and its fun, silly and best of all eye catching. Over all a good issue that allows Toxie to once more defeat The Chairman and even takes our hero out of New Jersey and into the streets of New York. Let’s see what the next issue has is store for us.

The Toxic Avengers # 9 **
Released in 1991 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 9 of 11

The Toxic Avenger along with Mom Junko and Claire are rapping in the junkyard as Toxie is telling a story of how after a bad stomachache, he was adducted by aliens. Toxie is on the UFO that heads into space and this is when our hero decides to attack and with his mop he fights with the aliens who are no match for his superhuman size and strength. After defeating them and not knowing how to fly the UFO, it lands on a strange planet where Toxie is attacked by different aliens who seem very mean, and once more with his mop he starts butt kicking and once done more aliens appear and this time he understands that they brought him to this planet to help them repair their nuclear plant that as sprung a leak and is releasing harmful radiation into the air. Toxie tries his best to help and even eats the radiation core but this backfires as when he passes the radiation out, it infects the aliens and turns them into mutants who once more attack our hero who all of a sudden wakes up in his bed but looks over head and sees a UFO flying off as it appears this was no dream and for some reason they brought him back to Earth where he decides to hold this rap concert.

This is a very silly and goofy issue that I am not really a fan of as it’s all done in rap rhymes that are sometimes eye rolling bad and the action is really just Toxie beating up some small aliens that are really no threat, even when they are mutated. Toxie in the issue finds himself in space thanks to some aliens who bring them to their home world in order to help with a leak at their nuclear power planet only for Toxie to kind of fail to help and be brought back to Earth where all of a sudden he wants to rap for the people of Tromaville…and yeah, that’s the story for this issue….and the only major change that happens is that he raps….just bad stuff here. The issue truly feels like a novelty and is out of place in the story arc as well as in tone and mood, and this issue truly jumps the shark. While reading this issue I found myself laughing about just how weird and silly it was and that is the only reason I am giving it two stars as it did make me chuckle, otherwise this would have gotten one and a half stars. The cover is goofy and has Toxie dressed like an early 90’s pop rap star. The interior art is done by Rod Ramos, and it’s good, but man, I wish his return to this series was not the worst issue. Not much more to say besides I disliked this issue when I was young and still am not a fan as an adult, so let’s just get to the next issue. Man this one is just so silly and truly a product of its time.

The Toxic Avengers # 10 ***
Released in 1992 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 10 of 11

The Chairman in a New York jail cell is very upset and is yelling at his people all the while the little demons Rahd and Bahd have arrived and have an idea how to get their fellow evildoers and with the help of matches and some bullets, they are able to get the cell keys and set everyone free. They even are allowed to go back inside the stomach of The Chairman who says that Apocalypse Inc. is going legit in Tromaville now! The Toxic Avenger and his lady Claire decide to take a three week vacation as Tromaville is very peaceful now that Apocalypse Inc. is gone and the townspeople are planting trees and picking up trash. but once Toxie’s vacation is over, he returns home to find it a mess as traffic is bad and big business has moved in and the people of the town have turned into yuppies who only care about money and expansion. Toxie has seen enough and heads to have a chat with the city council and after roughing up the mayor, the beans are spilled that Mr. Ahriman is behind this change in Tromaville and that he even rebuilt the health club, and with this news Toxie heads out to pay him a visit. And after beating up some goons and meatheads, he makes his way to the office of Mr. Ahriman and threatens him just as the police come in and arrest Toxie as he has broken many laws in a matter of minutes and committed crimes against people who have done nothing illegal and even Claire alerts him that he is in the wrong. And the handcuffs are placed on his wrists and Toxie is taken in.

In this issue The Chairman and the rest of Apocalypse Inc. have been set free from jail and have a new idea on how to corrupt Tromaville, and they will go about it the legal way and with the help of Mr. Ahriman, they do just that as the turn the small town into a cesspool of greed and companies and the people forget all about the beauty of nature as they want money in their pockets. And during all this terrible change Toxie and Claire just wanted to enjoy a few weeks away at the beach, but return to find their hometown is now a terrible place to live. And with his town turning to big business and once more all the people of power taking money, The Toxic Avenger snaps and wants answers and roughs a few people up and this is not good as our hero is now breaking the law as the ones he has attacked have not done anything wrong! And what a great way to bring Apocalypse Inc. back by having them be as scummy as ever but play by the rules in order to get those changes done that will ruin Tromaville. Mr. Ahriman is the nephew of The Chairman, who is calling the shots once more from the shadows. Toxie’s rampage to get answers also makes Claire see him in a different light as she knows her hero boyfriend is going out fighting this change all the wrong way. And we all know that Mr. Ahriman and the others are doing illegal things but the people and the law of the town don’t know that. And now that Apocalypse Inc. has once more decided to focus on Tromaville you know that the people, the environment and The Toxic Avenger are all in deep trouble as The Chairman really just wants to bring chaos, pain and sadness. And it’s crazy that we only have one issue left in this series as Toxie is under arrest and Tromaville is changing for the worse. So it makes you as a reader wonder how they are going to wrap this all up. Like before I really enjoyed reading this comic again after all these years, and it was great to have the series back on track after the last issue being such a disappointment. The cover for this issue is kind of weak as once more it’s just a still from the movie, the third one to be exact. The art by Rod Ramos for the interiors is really good like always, and with that let’s head to the final issue in The Toxic Avengers run at Marvel Comics.

The Toxic Avengers # 11 ***
Released in 1992 Cover Price $1.50 Marvel # 11 of 11

The Toxic Avenger is arrested and found guilty in the court of law and must be humiliated at the town square for 90 days in order to shame him and warn others not to break the law in Tromaville. Meanwhile The Chairman gets word of Toxie’s arrest and is cheerful in his enemy’s shame and when talking to his nephew Mr. Ahriman he tells him that the major change from the townspeople came from help of a chemical that he placed in the water that makes people more greedy. And then later The Chairman gives a speech to his workers about taking over Tromaville, and it’s over heard by some hippies who go to the junkyard and find Claire and together they all go to Toxie who is bound in town square and talk him into breaking free to try and stop The Chairman from poisoning the water and land anymore. Toxie breaks free and first stops the polluting of the water, and then breaks up a beer drinking contest set up by the Mayor before heading to The Chairman’s mansion and turns the whole home over on its side and then enters the mansion and beats the heck out of all the workers of Apocalypse Inc. and then punches The Chairman so hard that he lands in the some waste and he then opens the jaw of The Chairman wide and pours down his throat toxic waste and then tosses in a lit match that causes his mouth to be on fire and then the earth opens up and The Chairman, the mansion and all his goons fall into the hole that is filled with flames and then seals up. In the end the people of Tramaville go back to normal but do miss their money and stuff as Toxie and Claire confess their true love for one another.

In the final issue The Toxic Avenger finds himself being convicted of all the crimes he did that including assault and destruction of property and is placed in towns square bound so that the people can mock him for his crimes, but once he finds out that The Chairman and his goons are the ones truly behind the big change in his home town he breaks himself free and heads to The Chairman’s mansion and kicks some major butt! And that is the thing, The Chairman was not ready for the full on attack from The Toxic Avenger who makes quick work of all his goons and beats them up very badly, before he basically murders The Chairman and sends him and all his people back to Hell. I like that Toxie once the chains come off and his Tromatons go wild, he goes crazy for justice and rampages through the evildoers mansion. The Toxic Avenger really is a big hero and a protector of the innocent people and will do whatever he can in order to keep them safe. And thanks to Claire and the hippie protesters they give Toxie the will to break free from his punishment for “breaking the law” by smashing some bad people’s property. The Chairman really thinks that he and the rest of Apocalypse Inc. have won, as they have fully curropted Tromaville and also got Toxie arrested and convicted of crimes, but instead he finds himself with a mouthful of toxic waste that gets lit on fire and a one way ticket back to Hell. And man the final fight between Toxie and The Chairman is one sided as our hero truly beats the heck out of him! It’s a shame that Marvel Comics cancelled this series as it really was a great one and better than most of their other series running at the time. It was said that Marvel Comics and Troma were planning to bring back The Toxic Avenger comic, but Marvel ended up not coming through with it breaking the contract and from what is said had to pay Troma money by doing so. The cover for this issue is fun and has a still photo of Toxie with a mushroom cloud going off behind him. It’s eye-catching for fans of Toxie for sure. The interior art for this final issue is done by Rod Ramos and is good for the most part, but some panels to seem a little rushed. Over all The Toxic Avenger from Marvel Comics is a great series and is a great mix of horror, comedy, superhero action and for the most part does justice to The Toxic Avenger film series just a little more “Marvel” friendly as the gore and blood is cut down as is the sex and nudity. Checkout the artwork below to see some of the style used in this comic series.

See I told you, The Toxic Avenger is a true American Hero and was the prefect topic for this holiday update, and Toxie’s Tromatons are much like the fireworks on the fourth of July! And it really was a missed opportunity from Marvel to have Toxie crossover with New York superheroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage and The Fantastic Four to name a few. And like always, thanks for spending a small part of your holiday with me here at Rotten Ink as I am sure you are like me and are looking forward to eating some hamburgers off the grill and maybe a hot dog or two all while getting ready to watch the fireworks in the sky. But don’t worry, our next update will keep us in the word of horror comics based on horror films as it will be all about the 1933 film King Kong! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host! See you next update for a spooky trip to Skull Island, the home of Kong! Also hope you had a great July 4^th!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Abomination (1986)

Posted on June 23, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to yet another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. This one will be a truly blood splattered one as we will be talking about the 1986 Super 8 shoot beastly creature feature The Abomination and the 12-page comic adaptation that came inside the Blu-Ray release of the film done by Visual Vengeance! This is one that I have wanted to cover since it was released in 2023 but waited as it is a perfect fit for our themed year! I am also hoping that this update will not only make fans of the film happy but will also introduce more horror fans to it, as we all know that many of you readers love the horror flicks of the 1980’s and this is one that is often over looked. So if you are ready, let’s dive into the blood splattered world of The Abomination and see what gore awaits us.

Let’s start off by taking a look at The Abomination itself! The Abomination is a parasitic demon that grows in a person’s body as a tumor and once vomited out it grows into a massive creature that wants to destroy all of mankind. As the tumor it smells horrible, pumps like a heart and can slide to move to enter a person’s body once more. Once grown The Abomination is red in color with a big mouth filled with razor sharp pointed teeth…and its appearance is truly horrific and can frighten a person into hysterics or even death. The Abomination will control its host to commit murder as it feeds on human meat, flesh and blood and will drive the person crazy as well as into fits of rage making them act out towards their family and friends. The Abomination also reproduces inside its human host causing it to have offspring that will grow to be just as vile as it, and that will also want to consume human flesh and with this offspring it becomes even more deadly for anyone that is in its path. The Abomination also has its human host that is willing to kill for it as well as feed it whenever it gets hungry, making a poor soul its mind controlled murderous minion. It also has tentacle arms that it can use to pull victims into its mouth making them food to try and stop its hunger. And that is the thing about The Abomination and its offspring, it seems to have no weakness as when it starts growing, reproducing and feeding it looks as if it cannot be stopped! It’s a safe thing to say that The Abomination could be one of the most dangerous and deadliest demonic parasite creatures we have ever covered here on Rotten Ink. That is if you think this creature is real, and not just in the mind of Cody who is being investigated for murder.

Now that we have taken a look at The Abomination and its way of killing and eating humans, I think that we should now take a look at the film he is from and that of course is also called The Abomination and was released in 1986 to the home video market. Like always, I will be getting the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s see what terror awaits us.

The Abomination (1986)

“An old woman coughs up what she believes to be a tumor. While asleep, the thing crawls inside of her son and reproduces inside him, then causes him to go on a killing spree to feed it.”

In the 1980’s the video rental business was booming and many directors were making horror films to get onto the shelves and into the hands of viewers as horror was a big part of the boom and fans were always looking for the next big scare to watch over the weekend with friends and family. Enter Bret McCormick, a young director and producer. He had a vision and a dream, and that was the film Abomination that was released on video in 1986, McCormick was a longtime horror fan who even made his own films as a child using a Super 8 camera. The film was shot in Texas and his father was the one who put up most of the film’s budget, as McCormick was told that distributors wanted gory horror films and he being a fan of that genre he wanted to make it and get the VHS out into the rental stores. Also during this time McCormick had a filmmaking partner in Matt Devlen who was developing a movie called “Ozone: The Attack Of The Redneck Mutants” that also has budget money provided by McCormick’s father. When casting the film actors like Scott Davis, Blue Thompson, Jude Johnson, Rex Morton, Suzy Meyer and Brad McCormick were brought in to be apart of the main cast. The film was shot in a short amount of time and spent lots of time in the editing processes before being finished and then struggling to find a distributor, and later would finally find a small distribution company to release it and it would gain a cult following thanks to being found in rental stores. Over the years, this splatter flick would become a very underground cult film with copies of the VHS selling for hundreds of dollars and being talked about in many cult magazines. The film in 1986 was released with such other horror films as Chopping Mall, Zombie Nightmare, RawHead Rex, Night Of The Creeps, Spookies, Deadtime Stories, Slaughter High, Class Of Nuke’em High, Street Trash, Neon Maniacs, Sorority House Massacre, King Kong Lives, Blood Hook, Demons 2, Psycho III, Friday The 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives, Troll, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, Little Shop Of Horrors, Gothic and From Beyond, to name a few. And for those wondering, Bret McCormick would go on to make other horror films as Highway To Hell, Children Of Dracula, Bio-Tech Warrior and Repligator.

The Abomination is one of those films that I can remember seeing in the pages of the horror magazines and fanzines that my brother would buy and it always being talked about for its gross nature and special effects…but of course with the VHS being rare, it would be a very long time before I got to finally watch it. It would be via the gray market that I would finally get to see this film as my friend and film mentor Andy Copp hand it via his Nightcrew Video label, and it was a very fun watch and helped fuel my fire in making indie films with my friends via Independent B Movie. The film, for its small budget level, had great special gore effects and one great looking creature, and really the gore in this film is that of a Herschell Gordon Lewis film. Plus for this level, the acting is also not that bad and I have to say that actress Blue Thompson should have been in way more horror films through the 80s and early 90s as she truly had a great look to her suited for the genre. And while I enjoyed this film back then and even now, I will say that it is not for everyone as it has a weird pacing, some scenes go on for way to long and at times it kind of makes no sense…so I think that horror fans that don’t like the more backyard and DIY style productions might not enjoy it as much. This is a film that I am shocked never got a sequel after it gained its cult following as it is one that could have easily became a franchise. In fact when watching the film in 2023 working on this update, it came to me that the film would really go well showing alongside films like Basket Case, Street Trash, Slime City, Deadly Spawn, C.H.U.D. and Video Violence at a horror movie marathon. If you have not seen this film, make sure to get yourself a copy of the Visual Vengeance Blu-Ray as they packed it with extras and it’s the best this film has looked in decades. And spoiler, I was not that down with the idea that The Abomination was only in the head of Cody who is the true killer of all the victims as he is just insane.

Well I think now that we have talked about the film The Abomination as well as the parasite meat-eating creature from it, we should now review the mini promo comic that came with this great Blu-Ray release of the film. And I have to say that while I really do dig the idea of mini promo comics inside DVDs and Blu-Ray cases based on the film it is an extra for, but I do wish that this would have been a full sized comic as it would have been great to see Visual Vengeance/Wild Eye Releasing just open up a comic publishing branch as so many of the films they release would make for great adaptation comics. I would like to thank Diabolik DVD for having this Blu-Ray with Promo Comic in stock and making this update possible. And while I did slightly help on the making of this comic as I helped with some of the dialogue, I would like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head out to Texas and see what The Abomination has on the menu to eat.

The Abomination # 1 ***
Released in 2023 Cover Price $0.00 Visual Vengeance # 1 of 1

Cody’s mother is sick with a tumor and she is obsessed with an evangelist named Brother Fogg who is on TV preaching and trying to get his followers to send him money. And as Cody goes on a date with his girlfriend Kelly, his mother ends up puking up the tumor that she gives credit to Brother Fogg and his healing words. That night as Cody gets home and falls asleep he thinks he has a nightmare as the tumor crawls into his mouth and makes him wake up scared, shaken and before breakfast, he coughs it out and places the tumor under his bed and heads to eat breakfast. Later that day Cody feels off and drives around only to end up at his friends house where he kills her with a camping knife and then takes her corpse home and as well hides it under his bed, and learns that the tumor is growing into a Abomination (a creature with a big mouth filled with sharp teeth) and ate the flesh and meat of his dead friend. His mother goes to Brother Fogg for help as her son is acting so weird and she thinks he might need an exorcism. He agrees to it, and they make an appointment. But Cody is angered by this and feeds his mother to The Abomination and also gets Brother Fogg at his office and then kills a few more people to feed this carnivorous creature. But Cody meets his maker when his girlfriend Kelly shows up and uses a pitchfork to end his life, but she soon is grabbed by The Abomination and becomes more meat for the beast.

This is a very cool adaptation promo comic for a very underrated 80s fright flick, and while I wish it would have gotten a full size comic and more than 12 pages to tell its story in…it does do a good job of getting the story in the short page count. The plot is about Cody, a man who ends up having a demonic, human eating tumor creature growing and taking over his mind causing him to kill people in order to feed it. Cody starts off as a normal guy who worries about his mom, dislikes the fake religious figure on TV and enjoys spending his time with his girlfriend Kelly, but once The Abomination enters his body, he becomes a killer driven by the beast to kill as it needs to feed on human meat and flesh. Poor Cody also stops caring about his family and friends and even feeds his own mother to The Abomination! Cody’s Mother and his girlfriend Kelly care about him and want to get him help when is attitude changes, but they both end up finding hell in the belly of the beast. Brother Fogg is a TV Preacher who is truly a fraud and only does his healing and preaching for money, and he as well gets what’s coming to him when he becomes eaten by this tumorous creature when he is sitting on the toilet. The Abomination is a disgusting demon tumor creature that loves to control, infest, kill and eat humans and has the large teeth and massive mouth to do so. With this comic only being 12 pages some of the films plot, kills and oddness had to be cut, but the creators behind it do a good job of trying to make it all fit and feel like the film on the pages. The comic is packed with lots of blood as well as gory kills and the horror truly is The Abomination as that thing is creepy and brings the scares to the readers. I really do wish that Visual Vengeance/Wild Eye Releasing would think beyond just making 12 page promo comics for Blu-Ray releases, as it would be great to have many full size adaptations of not only this film but many others of their releases…but sadly I don’t think they will do this and it’s a shame. The cover for this mini comic is really cool and eye catching and of course the interior artwork done by my friend Marc Gras is fantastic stuff. I dig the way he draws The Abomination, and he does do a great job of making the characters look like the actors who played them! To sum it up, this is a very cool comic that is a must have for fans of this 1986 film as who would ever think this comic would have been made! Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Marc in this promo comic.

As you can see, The Abomination really is a very underrated 80’s direct to video film as it is packed with so much bizarre moments, a creepy creature, lots of gore and should have way more fanfare than it gets, and I am glad that it got this promo comic as it allowed me to cover it here on Rotten Ink on a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. And do not worry, I will cover the other promo comics that they released as those films as well deserve to be talked about and given The Rotten Ink treatment. Our next update will keep us in the world of horror comics based on horror films, and we will also be celebrating July 4^th as we take a heroic splattastic journey with The Toxic Avenger and his Marvel Comic adventures. So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update as I think The Toxic Avenger is the perfect American hero to cover for this From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update marathon.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Farmer Joe (2003)

Posted on June 13, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another spooky “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update that will this time take us to the world of shot-on-video horror and the haunted barn and cursed land of Farmer Joe, a classic cult short film that is from Ohio that was released in 2003 on VHS and entertained and spooked viewers around the state of Ohio. In the late 90’s, a group of friends created a film production group called Independent B Movie and made horror, action and dark comedy films and did so for many years and released many amazing films like Werewolf Of Ohio, Who Keeps Feeding Grandpa, Teen Suicide, One Second To Late and Farmer Joe, to name a few. And with this update we will be talking about Farmer Joe and the Blood Scream Comic based on it, and like always due to my connection with both Blood Scream Comics and Farmer Joe I will not be giving this comic a star rating, as that would just be silly. So if you are ready, let’s make our way to the cursed land and barn of Farmer Joe and see what horrors await us.

Before we head too far into this update we need to take a look at the evil killing spirit of Farmer Joe, a farmer who was sold bad seeds that ruined his crop and poisoned his land and then who slaughtered his own cattle in a fit of rage before mysteriously dying and placing a curse on the land and those who trespass on it. Farmer Joe was a normal man who was sold bad seeds by a dealer that made his land toxic, and this made him snap and kill all his cattle and placed a curse on his farm, barn and land. Once dead, he became an urban legend in his small town and his evil ghostly spirit now wonders his curse land looking to kill, torture and haunt those living people that wonder on his land and scream his name and promise new seeds for him. Farmer Joe’s massive appearance as well as his booming voice puts fear into the hearts of his victims and cause them to panic and leave themselves open for the kill. He also has control of the weather around his land making night time sunny and even creating storms if he chooses. His main means of dealing death is his hoe that he swings into the skulls of his victims causing them a very quick, bloody and painful death. Being a ghost, Farmer Joe does not have many weaknesses as its only rumored that he will break his curse on you if you make a deal and plant seeds that come from the relatives of the dealer who sold him the toxic ones. The one main weakness for Farmer Joe is that he is stuck roaming his land and cannot leave it making it hard for him to rack up a body count as he has to wait for people that are foolish enough to enter his land. Over all while Farmer Joe might not be the deadliest killer ghost spirit we have covered here on a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update, he still is one mean and evil being that loves to kill.

Now that we have chatted about the sinister Ghost of Farmer Joe, I think it is time we take a look at the shot on video short film he is from! And like always I will be getting the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and after that I will write about the film’s production and then will also write a little about my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s grab some seeds for Joe the plant and chat about this cult SOV film from Ohio.

Farmer Joe (2003)

“Danny is a young boy who is looking to fit in and the local bullies dare him to go to the haunted farm of Farmer Joe and call on his evil spirit in order to join their gang, but what was suppose to be a prank goes wrong when the spirit of the killer farmer comes back from the grave and is looking for blood and revenge on those who did him wrong and spoke his name. Now Danny’s Dad must find a way to save his son and the bullies from becoming victims to the curse of Farmer Joe.”

Farmer Joe was a short horror film from 2003 that was the brain child of writer Mike Ritchie who wrote a short story about a haunted farm and a murderous farmer after being inspired when reading books like “Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark & “Haunted Ohio” and a short time latter Mike would start developing the story to be made into a film and would do so with Independent B Movie, a small production company based out of Dayton, Ohio under the Dark Soul Productions banner that had released the Werewolf Of Ohio films as well as Wolf Hunter. The film went from being a short story to a script in a very short amount of time and then location scouting started to take place with Beavercreek, Ohio being the main location for the run down barn and haunted field that sat beside a church, and other shots being filmed around the Kettering and Dayton area. When casting the film names like Henrique Couto, Matt Hoffman, Josh Weinberg, Misty Altick and Zac Prater were brought on and John Phaneuf would be hired to play the part of Farmer Joe. The film would take around a month to film as this was the first film Mike ever directed so some issues would come up on set with one actor even leaving the production over Mike’s inexperience. The film would be released on VHS in 2003 and make its debut at the October Cinema Wasteland Convention and would be a good seller for Independent B Movie at the time as Mike Ritchie and Misty Altick were on hand to sign copies. The short film would make it rounds at several conventions over the years both being sold on physical media as well as being shown in screenings. It would later also be released on DVD by both Independent B Movie and later SOV Horror and its mirco-cult statues is still growing to this day. The film would also get a comic book in 2017 and would be hosted by both Baron Von Porkchop and The Creeper on their shows respectively. The short film was meet with mixed reviews from critics and fans with most of the reviews being positive, but the one thing people would say is that they wanted more Farmer Joe and wanted more kills from him. The film in 2003 was released alongside such other films as Bloody Giblets: The Legend Of Lady Vandalay, Mummy Sleepover Massacre, Escape From The Dead, The Bonesetter, Black Sun, Hatchetman, Killer Rats, Beyond Re-Animator and Darkness Falls to name a few.

Farmer Joe is one of those short horror films that I was involved in that was a nightmare while filming and acting in as Mike was very new to film and was making many mistakes and causing delay, but once done became one of my favorites as I have lots of great memories of hanging with the cast and crew who were all my friends with one of them even being my fiancé at the time as she played the first victim in the film. And I can remember the world premiere of the film being done at a big meeting that was being held at a friend’s house and we had many friends over to check it out as later the film was slated to play at some conventions. I have always been a fan of this film from the old Independent B Movie days as while it has lots of flaws, it has a spooky charm that takes me back to the old days of telling ghost stories with friends late nights as well as the stories of ghosts, killers and monsters that were spoken about in the small village I am from. What also works for this film is that actor Matt Hoffman was known for playing two types of rolls in these indie films at the time with one being Matt a bullied kid who was beat up all the time and even when trying to fight back still was on the losing end of life and the other was The Wolf Hunter a macho hero who hunted and killed werewolves…so he had the two extremes a weak hero to a macho hero. But Hoffman’s role in Farmer Joe allowed him to be Bart a snarky leader of a gang who used his standing in the small town to push around those he looked at as weaker than him, and I have to say Hoffman really shines in the role. The other standout would be John Phaneuf who played Farmer Joe as his voice was booming and he looked like a crazy man as we filmed his rage scene. Farmer Joe was slated to get a sequel and had many different scripts and started filming twice, but always seemed to get cancelled by Mike Ritchie who had lots of going on in his personal life at the times. The sequels would have seen names like Plexi Starr and Bob Hinton (A. Ghastlee Ghoul) joining the cast with names like Matt Hoffman, Henrique Couto, Zach Prater and Josh Weinberg returning from the original. While Farmer Joe us a very small micro budgeted film that is mostly known for being a cult short film in Ohio it has made it mark on horror Ohio cinema.

I am sure many of you readers have never heard of Farmer Joe, but I do hope that this update has made you want to see it as if you like micro budget backyard style horror films with some actors that went on to star, direct and produce bigger well known films and shows this is one for you. And now we are at the part of the update that we talk about the comic book and like others that we have covered that were released by Blood Scream Comics we will not be doing any kind of star rating do to my connection to that publisher as well as my connection to the film Farmer Joe, so keep that in mind no stars will be given. I would like to thank Blood Scream Comics as well as the creative team of Juliet Fromholt, Jeff Potter and Jason Gilmore who made this comic and update possible. I would like to also thank Mike Ritchie for being the creator, director, writer and actor in the film Farmer Joe that this comic is based off of. So with that, let’s head into the barn of Farmer Joe and see what terrors he has in store for us.

Farmer Joe # 0
Released in 2017 Cover Price $1.99 Blood Scream # 0 of 0

Danny’s Dad is speaking into an old tape recorder as he is driving to a cursed barn alongside two of his sons bullies about the legend of Farmer Joe that had him being sold bad seeds that ruined his crops and drove him mad as he slaughtered all his livestock, plus even in death as his evil spirit haunts his old land and how he was after his son Danny and his bullies Bart, Gunner and Sam after they taunted the spirit of Joe on his own land. He tells of how the bully Bart has been chosen by Farmer Joe to help spread his curse outside his land and sends him to kidnap Danny and his mother, bringing them to Farmer Joe to lure Danny’s Dad to them. And that is why now Danny’s Dad is with Gunner and Sam heading toward the cursed barn in order to get them back. But as they get there and close to the barn Gunner is killed by a ghost bull that gores him with its massive horns and once inside they find the dead and rotted body of Bart as Farmer Joe had no need for him now! Sam is killed next as Farmer Joe uses his hoe to take off his head, and Danny’s Dad soon is shocked when he finds the bodies of his wife and son as they have as well be murdered! And after falling down in fright and shock he himself is killed and Farmer Joe has now got his revenge on them all and yet his evil spirit wants more bloodshed as he drags the body of Danny’s Dad away.

I first have to say that Farmer Joe makes for a very spooky horror comic book and this 12-page comic is able to bring the reader a quick look at the events from the short film and them bring its own twisted tale of supernatural murder and mayhem. The plot has Farmer Joe luring a father to his cursed barn by taking his wife and son hostage, only for the father to find it was a trap all along and that he and his family have been selected to be slaughtered for daring to cross the path of the evil spirit of Farmer Joe and his cursed land. Our hero of the comic is Danny’s Dad, a father who loves his family and who is willing to once more cross into the unknown in order to save the lives of his family and hopeful end the curse once and for all. But while Danny’s Dad is a hero, he also makes big mistakes as he allow his anger and fear to cause himself to rush in and find himself just another number in the body count of Farmer Joe. Danny himself is defenseless in this one as he finds himself being kidnapped and done away with all caused by a dare he took years back. The Bullies as well this time do not do well as Bart is used and then slaughtered and Sam and Gunner who are forced to return to the barn get their lives snuffed out. The evil spirit of Farmer Joe showcases why he and his cursed land are feared as he seems to truly have control over the land and the weather around it, has a heard of ghost cattle protecting his land and like always has his trusty hoe in order to end lives and send souls to the great beyond. And it’s clear that Farmer Joe is taking great pleasure in this issue of killing people as well as ending his feud with Danny’s family once and for all. The comic is filled with lots of spooky atmosphere as well as has its share of blood, gore and violence with the best kill for me being the death of Gunner as being killed by a ghost bull is pretty cool. The cover is very cool and super eye catching for fans of Indie Horror Comics as it shows a woman on the ground as coming out of the barn doors is Farmer Joe with his hoe in hand, and I have to say I think Jason Gilmore did a great job on the colors and making it pop. The interior artwork was done by Jeff Potter and is really cool as the characters look like the actors who played them and he truly captures the nature of the short film its based on. This issue zero of Farmer Joe is a really fun read and fans of the short horror film will truly enjoy this one as it feels like an urban legend story mixed with a slasher film wrapped together to deliver one heck of a spooky read. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Jeff Potter for this comic.

I truly think that Farmer Joe made for a great comic book series and that creators Juliet and Potter did a great job of bringing horror comic readers a very spooky and bloody good read. And a few things I need to also say is that Farmer Joe was part of a fan vote event that Blood Scream Comics held in 2017 where three issue 0 comics were made by different creators all based around the Horror Movies of Independent B Movie and Farmer Joe was one of them as was the werewolf Scars from Bark At The Moon: Scars and The Sadness Killer from The Sadness who ended up winning the vote. And for those also wondering, the haunted barn location from the film has been torn down many, many years ago, making it impossible to revisit the filming location for those of you interested in doing so. And speaking of old barns I think out time here with Farmer Joe is over and with all that said, it’s time for this update to come to an end and for me to say that our next update of course will be another From Horror Movie To Horror Comic one as we take a look at the 1986 film The Abomination and the promo comic adaptation. So until next time, read a horror comic of three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update for a gross blood splattered good time.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Demons (1985)

Posted on June 3, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. For this one I will be talking about one of my favorite horror films as well as the comic book released by a U.K. record company based around it…and this film is the 1985 creepy classic Demons (or Demoni) and that record company is Rustblade Records. This is one I am very much looking forward to doing as Demons was one of those films I saw as a young teenager, and from the start it became one of my favorite fright films of all time as it’s up there with Tombs Of The Blind Dead, Halloween and Day Of The Dead for me. I see a strange man with a half metal mask handing out free movie tickets at the train station, so let’s grab our tickets and see what Rustblade and Demons has in store for us all, as I am sure it’s going to be a bloody good time.

Let’s start by taking a look at The Demons and their ways of dealing death to their victims as well as spreading their evil worldwide. The Demons are an ancient evil that will make cemeteries their cathedrals and the cities will be your tombs, and their reign of terror was even predicted by Nostradamus. The 1985 outbreak started inside a movie theater when the Man In Mask gave out free tickets to a screening at the train station to random people. Once inside the theater, the movie is a horror film about Demons and it along with a scratch to one of the guests caused by a Demon mask used as a promotional item starts the outbreak that quickly spreads throughout the theater via a bite or scratch from a Demon. When a person becomes infected, it’s very painful as they transform from being a human into a Demon and that means their teeth fall out, their nails fall off and turn into sharp fangs and long sharp nails. The Demons have a monstrous appearance that includes glowing eyes as well as green foam that pours from their mouths, and the site of them terrifies their victims. They are very violent and fast moving; they will kill their prey in packs and singly and are very dangerous as their main ways of killing is via their sharp teeth or their claws that shred flesh of their prey. They also seem to have the help of supernatural powers as once the outbreak starts the location’s exits disappear trapping the people inside and making it easier for them to be hunted down and slaughtered. The fact that they can infect people makes them much like zombies as their numbers can grow their threat level grows even higher for mankind. While The Demons are very dangerous and deadly, they can be stopped as they can be killed by being shot or slashed by a knife or even sword. The Demons are very deadly and while they can be destroyed they will truly bring Hell to Earth in their quest for chaos and death.

Now that we have talked about the Demons and their ways of killing as well as spreading their own kind, we should now take a look at the 80’s film they are from. And like always, I will be getting the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and then I will be writing about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, lets’ head to the theater and see what film is going to grace the screen on this invite only screening.

Demons (1985)

“A group of random people are invited to a screening of a mysterious movie, only to find themselves trapped in the theater with ravenous demons.”

Lamberto Bava, the son of the great Mario Bava, was also making a name for himself in the world of horror cinema as he had made the films The House Of Exorcism (1975), Shock (1977), Macabre (1980), A Blade In The Dark (1983) and Devil Fish (1984) when he had an idea to make a horror anthology film that would be about demons. He then would change it up to a trilogy of films that would have the same spooky structure of Demons, but they would only loosely tie together. So what was slated to be one of the short segments in the anthology film would be developed into a feature film with the screenplay being written by not only Bava but also Dardano Sacchetti, Franco Ferrini and Dario Argento with Argento also coming on as producer. It is said that during the writing of the film, there was a little tension regarding the changes that Argento and Ferrini wanted to make to the story. The film would be shot in both Germany and Italy for nine weeks and Sergio Stivaletti would handle the film’s effects that would also go on to team with Argento on other projects. When it came to casting they would bring in such actors as Natasha Hovey, Paola Cozzo, Nicoletta Elmi, Bobby Rhodes, Geretta Giancario, Michele Soavi, Lino Salemme, Fabiola Toledo, Fiore Argento to name a few. The film would be released in theaters in Italy on October 4, 1985 and would be a hit at the box office. When the film would be released on home media in America it would gain a cult following. Demons would get a sequel in 1986 and was supposed to get a third film that would have taken place on airplane or a church in later ideas that would be scrapped and production would instead go to working on the film The Church from 1989. There are some unofficial Demons 3 films that are The Ogre (1989) and Black Demons (1991), both films have nothing to do with the series but got the title slapped on it. And as the years pass, it looks like we will never get a official Demons 3 as it’s said that Dario Argento and Franco Ferrini don’t think anyone wants to see one…and I say they are wrong. In 1985 Demons was released alongside such other horror films as Friday The 13^th Part 5: New Beginning, A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Day Of The Dead, Fright Night, Howling II, House, Hard Rock Zombies, Ghoulies, Silver Bullet, The Stuff, The Bride, Blood Cult, Teen Wolf, Igor And The Lunatics, Night Train To Terror, Once Bitten, Cat’s Eye and Lifeforce, to name a few.

Demons is one of my favorite horror films of all time and is one that I watch several times a year since I first saw it as a teenager when my brother and I rented it from a Blockbuster Video during one of our iconic weekend long horror movie marathons. Demons is a film that I think packs in very scary bloody moments as the Demons themselves are brutal in their killing ways and it as well has a great score by Claudio Simonetti and a soundtrack that featured some of my favorite musical acts like Billy Idol and Motely Crue that just helped add to the dark and sinister events that are taking place in that movie theater as well as outside it. The look of the Demons in this film is pure nightmare fuel as the one that always stands out to me is the one that crawls out of the back of the character Kathy after she has been possessed. Something about that weird demon has always made my skill crawl, and that same Demon is on the cover for the VHS release put out by New World Video and was also on my phone case for many years. What works well for this film is that a group of mostly strangers are stuck inside a movie theater and are being chased around and slaughtered by Demons whose numbers keep growing the more they kill. Just imagine yourself in this situation: the fear, the dread and the pure terror that would be running through your body and soul as you try and survive. At my work many people ask me what horror movie should they watch that is not mainstream, and I always suggest Demons, and every time I see them again they tell me how much they loved it! I am very much a fan of Demons 2 as well because it holds the same raw and terrifying mood of the first and instead of a movie theater our characters are trapped inside a high-rise apartment building. Bava and Argento should have teamed up to make a third film in the series as the horror fans would have loved to seen another, as I myself have even thought of several locations that could be the place were the outbreak happens and the characters are trapped in like a soccer stadium, a in door mall or an amusement park. One other thing I have to point out is that actress Fabiola Toledo who plays Carmen is one good-looking lady! Demons really is like a zombie film as it’s about an outbreak of killing monsters attacking people and turning them into one of their own, but what sets The Demons apart from the undead is that they kill in order to end a life and not to feed. If you have never seen Demons and like your horror films filled with lots of blood, creepy villains, awesome music and a fast pace, make sure to give this film a watch.

So now that we have taken a look at Demons, both the film and the killing creatures, I think that it is now time for us to review the comic based on the film and its sequel. When it came to choosing which Demons comic series to do, I ended up picking the Rustblade one over the two issue Arrow mini comic series as this one just seemed like the right choice, and keep in mind at some point I will also more than likely cover the Arrow ones as well on a future update. I would like to thank Rustblade for having this comic in stock on their website and making this update possible, and on a side not the comic also came with the Claudio Simonetti score plus a print of the film’s movie poster. And I would like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. Let’s see if this comic can capture the creepy mood, bloody kills and over all downbeat dread that the film had.

Demons # 1 ***
Released in 2019 Cover Price $8.00 Rustblade # 1 of 1

Ingrid Haller has been plagued of a vision of her parents being killed by Demons and finding herself trapped in a car that is surrounded by them, and she has turned these nightmares into a book about a Kingdom Of Darkness and the demons that roam around it looking for ways to enter our world. After having a Q&A with readers, she heads home by taking the subway were she meets another woman named Ingrid who is selling items at the train station and the woman ends up giving her the silver demon mask for free before disappearing. Once on the train Ingrid finds that she has been followed by Bloom, Eric and Carl who rob her of her purse…but also on the train is George and Hannah with the young lady having a nasty looking wound and is feeling really sick as while Bloom keeps bullying Ingrid, Hannah turns into a Demon and starts to attack! The Punks attack the Demon Hannah but from her body comes a little Demon that kills George just as Ingrid and the Punks get off the train that was being driven by The Man In The Mask as they look for safety but find themselves in the Kingdom Of Darkness surrounded by a wasteland filled with people in cages and demons all around, while there they run into pimp Bob and his two ladies Rosemary and Carmen and he tells them that they all need to work together in order to get out of his Hell and they all agree and Bloom informs Ingrid that she know who she really is and the book she has written and is pissed when she finds the Demon mask hidden in her purse as she thinks this is the cause of all this nightmares going on around them. Things get worse when Bloom who has been cut has her blood drip onto the body of a Demon that wakes it up and it bites Rosemary turning her into a Demon who then attacks Bobby who then gets Carmen and down the line the survivors Carmen, Bloom, Carl and Eric become Demons leaving Ingrid all by herself surrounded by them as the Man In Mask appears and tells her that all hope is lost that is until movie theater Ingrid shows up holding the hand of the child version Ingrid Haller and makes her remember back to being trapped in that car surrounded by Demons after watching her parents and neighbors being killed and with this adult Ingrid Haller grabs the sword that is attached to a statue and starts slaying Demons, but soon she finds that she is in the hospital waking from a coma surrounded by Demons as her death is being shown on the big screen at the Metropol theater.

Well this was a fantastic read that for the most part did justice to the film series its based on as while at times it can get a little confusing in plot details it still did a great job of bringing the frights of the Demons as well as the dark mood set in the films. The plot has Ingrid Haller, a survivor of a Demon outbreak becoming a writer and finding herself in the mix of another that ends up taking her into the Kingdom Of Darkness and having to face the true nature of the attack she went through as a child. What is great is that characters from both Demons and Demons 2 appear in this comic as from the first film we see The Man In The Mask, Carmen, Rosemary, George, Hannah, Ingrid and Bob who is called Tony in the movie and from Demons 2 we have our main star Ingrid Haller who was a kid in the film and is an adult here…sort of as the younger version also appears. And besides the characters landmarks from the film also appear like the train, movie theater, demon mask, statue on motorbike, the apartment parking garage to name a few. Our main character Ingrid Haller was from Demons 2 and was played by Asia Argento, and her she finds herself in a strange reality that has her as a book writer but also being the target of the Man In Mask who is once more trying to usher in another Demon outbreak, and while at first she is scared of the demons and even bullied by some street punks by the end she finds her inner strength and armed with a sword sets to defended herself as well as try and protect the world. She also learns that the life she is living could not be a real one and she as well as all the other victims of the Demons outbreak is stuck in a world of damnation. There are other characters in this issue with the punks lead by Bloom being the only other ones who find them selves being attacked, killed and turned into Demons. The comic has its share of blood, nudity and violence as the Demons bite and claw their victims causing lots of the red stuff to splatter. There are also lots of throwbacks to the film series such as the couple who are choked to death in the theater with the red rope while making out, giving it that nostalgic feel for fans of the films…also giving us an almost hunt on each panel to see clues or parts taken from the films to spot. The cover for this comic is very eye catching as it shows Ingrid Haller holding the silver demons mask with demons all around her and if you are a fan of these films this cover with the films title logo in yellow is truly awesome. The interior artwork is done by the super talented Simona Simone who is truly one of the best artists in the Horror Comic world going as she does a top notch job of making characters look like actors as well as the way she draws the Demons themselves is spooky good. She is also the same artist who did the comic from Mardi Gras Massacre for Severin that you can read about here. This comic is also larger in size and is not your normal American standard as it’s taller and wider, so to bag and board it you will need a larger size than Golden or Magazine. If you like your horror comics based off cult films of the 80s filled with terror and blood, or like your horror mixed with a dream like fever feel than make sure to get this comic and give it a read. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Simone in this comic.

And as you can see, Demons is one of those horror films that could easily be made into a great horror comic or series and I would love to see a publisher like Eibon Press tackle doing so. I also wish that Rustblade Records would make more comics as they could truly be a powerhouse in the world of horror comics based on films, plus I wonder why they never did an issue # 2 for Demons? Well out time at the Metropol is coming to an end but do not fear our time with spooky hhorror comics based on frightful horror films is still going strong, as our next update will be about the 2003 short horror film called Farmer Joe that was released Independent B Movie and got the comic book treatment from Blood Scream Comics. So until next time, make sure to read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. So make sure for the next update you have some seeds ready for Farmer Joe as he is looking for a new crop to grow and a few heads to roll.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Turistas (2006)

Posted on May 22, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. This time around we will be talking about the 2006 film Turistas, a horror thriller that deals with the horrors of human organ trafficking and the scares one could get when in a foreign country where you are the target of a group of people who want to do you harm. And what is very cool about this film is that the fine folks at IDW Comics gave it the comic book treatment, and like always, I wish more movie companies would team with comic book publishers to make this happen more often. So if you are ready, let’s head to Brazil and see what Dr. Zamora and his internal organ harvesters have in store for us as they slice and dice not only on film but also on the pages of a comic book! And before we move on, I want to also say that I truly do enjoy doing these From Horror Movie To Horror Comic updates as they are a great way to talk about two things I love: horror movies and horror comics. Plus I have always been a fan of comics that are based off films and will always try an cover as many as I can here on my blog.

Let’s start by taking a look at Dr. Zamora, the ruthless killer of the film Turistas, and his ways of dealing death to those who cross his path and don’t follow his orders. Dr. Zamora is a normal man who lives in a small village in Brazil and who takes care of the kids in the village with shots and healthcare, but is using stolen drugs from his victims to do so. Dr. Zamora has an army of armed men that do as he orders as many of them he pays well in drugs and cash making them very loyal to him and not minding taking the lives of others or bringing him tourists to do what he wants with. You see, Zamora is a doctor who steals the organs of tourists after he has his followers drug and take them back to his lab in the middle of the jungle so that he can harvest their livers and kidneys to give to the local hospital to save his people’s lives. He is skilled at cutting up bodies and taking the body parts he needs, but he is also very cruel in nature as he gets pleasure in killing the tourists as he truly hates them and everything they stand for. He is also very cruel to his own followers as he has no issues killing them if he feels they let him down, and uses their death to make sure others fear him. One of his major tools is fear as those who know him, serve him and are targets of his all fear him and his cruel ways. Dr. Zamora will end a person’s life not only with a scalpel but also will use guns in order to make his victims meet a bloody and painful end. He also will use sharp objects like a stick to jab into a person’s eye and into their brain showing how little he cares for life that he feels is below him. But while Dr. Zamora is very mean and evil he is just a man and can be killed like any normal person from beating, stabbing, drowning, burnt, shot and everything else that a person could die from. While he is not the most unstoppable nor brutal killer we have looked at, he is one of the top when it comes to medically killing you to steal your internal organs.

So now that we have taken a look at Dr. Zamora and his was of not only killing you but also stealing your kidneys, I think that it is time we take a look at the film he is from and that is Turistas from 2006. And like before I will be getting the film’s write up from our pals at IMDB and then will write a little about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s dive into the water and swim around the waterfalls and hidden caves as we try and keep our guts in our own bodies were they belong.

Turistas (2006)

“A group of young backpackers’ vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them marooned in a remote Brazilian rural area that holds an ominous secret.”

Turistas was written by Michael Arien Ross and was his first screenplay, but he was not stranger to horror films as he was the editor on such films as Wrong Turn (2003) and 2001 Maniacs (2005). Director John Stockwell was no stranger to shooting films that are set on islands, tropical and beaches and had done such films as Blue Crush (2002) and Into The Blue (2005) and took the directing duty after it reminded him of being robbed by a gang of glue huffing teenagers in Peru and how the police did nothing about it, well they did offer him a chance to kill the kids for $300.00! The film would be distributed by 20^th Century Fox and would get a budget of around $10 million. It would be filmed in Brazil to capture the beauty of that country, and when casting they would hire such names as Olivia Wilde, Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Beau Garrett, Desmond Askew and Miguel Lunardi would be hired to play Dr. Zamora the films main villain. The film was shot very barebones with not a lot of crew and the insects were very bad during filming. The underwater stunts in the caves were the actors, and many times during the shoot Olivia Wilde would have some scary issues in the water. Once the film was done Paul Haslinger would score it and 20^th Century Fox would release it under their Fox Atomic label to theaters on December 1, 2006 and it would do ok for them bringing in $14.7 million. The film would be called Paradise Lost in the U.K and Ireland, and this was the first film to be released under the Fox Atomic label. The film would only last around 8 weeks at the first run theaters and was met with mostly negative reviews from critics, with Fangoria Magazine at least being a fan of it. The film was also meet with protests due to the negative image it shows of Brazil, and this hurt the film’s run in South America as it was blamed for trying to scare tourist away from visiting. The film would be released on home media in 2007 and found a bigger audience when the DVD would feature both the theatrical and unrated editions of the film for viewers to see as well as tons of extras including deleted scenes and director commentary. The film in 2006 was released with such other films as An America Haunting, Creepshow 3, Evil Bong, Final Destination 3, The Grudge 2, Hatchet, The Hills Have Eyes, Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes, Saw III, See No Evil, Silent Hill, Slither, Snakes Of A Plane and Underworld: Evolution to name a few.

Turistas is a film that I can remember when it was released to theaters as well as Home Media, but it took me all the way until 2023 to watch it even though I had both the film and comic for a long while…and I am not sure why it took me that long in order to watch it as it has a interesting plot and truly I am shocked I didn’t see in theaters to be honest. When Turistas was released, it was during the start of what critics called “torture porn horror” that was started by Saw in 2004 as well as Hostel in 2005, and while this was very bloody, when it comes to the scenes of stealing the organs, it in my opinion is not in the same league as those films in the bloody violent department and is more of a solid horror thriller that has some gruesome moments. What makes this film standout is that they really did film in Brazil, and this made the scenery very beautiful and 100% the film’s standout actor was Olivia Wilde who played Bea, one of the poor vacationers that is kidnapped and captured for organ harvesting. And as you know, Olivia has gone on to be in many horror and sci-fi films over the years including Alpha Dog (2006), Tron:Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), The Lazarus Effect (2015), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and was not only one of the lead actresses but also the director of “Don’t Worry Darling (2022)! Another standout in this film was Miguel Lunardi, who played the lead killer Dr. Zamora, and he is fantastic as he looks crazy and also careless when he takes live, a very solid performance. It also very cool that Fox Atomic understood that making comic books to help promote their films was a good idea to draw in more fans to the theater and also it brings moviegoers to comic shops to get a copy of the comic they have just seen. The film’s gore effects work really well with some of the surgery shots being real as they filmed a real doctor at work! Turistas is a film that I did enjoy when I finally watched it, but also I feel has been lost in the shuffle over time as this era for horror films was a mixed bag of theater hits, direct to DVD duds and everything in-between. But if you like horror thrillers about tourists in deep trouble, give this one a watch.

Now that we have talked about Turistas as well as its main villain Dr. Zamora we should get to the comic book based on this film that was release by IDW to help promote the film as well as deliver another horror comic into the hands of readers. And first I would like to thank an Amazon Seller for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. And what is cool with this one is just like with the movie, this will be a first time read for me, and much like the movie, I am not sure why it took me so long to give it a read. But if you are ready, I am ready to see what Horrors that Turistas has in store for us.

Turistas # 0 **1/2
Released in 2006 Cover Price $3.99 IDW # 1 of 1

Buck Mercer is a tourist who lands in Cambodia as in America he strikes out with the ladies, and he hopes to find some cheap thrills with the prostitutes in this foreign land. Once there he finds a young woman but as they are walking back to a hotel room, Buck is robbed and breaks down as all of his money is gone that he brought. But the woman tells him that it is ok, she works on credit and the two head back and have sex. Buck gets money wired to him from his bank and he spends a week with the woman who still will not take any money saying she works on credit, all the while the woman is also taking to someone on a cellphone. One night the woman drugs Buck, and he wakes up in a bathtub filled with ice feeling terrible, bloody and his organs have been stolen! We then join Don and Kym Axelrod who are in a more remote part of Cambodia to visit small villages and try and help the people, and they are joined by a guided named Pham who warns the couple not to take any pictures of the kids as they have been having issues with human trafficking. But of course Kym breaks the rules and the villagers turn on her and Don who are told to run by Pham as the men of the village gear up to attack! Don is knocked out and wakes up in the jungle seeing a chopped off human hand holding one of Kyms earrings and he sets out to rescue her. Don fights off and kills some of the villagers only to find that Pham has set them up all along as he is going to sell Kym to the slave market and then plans on eating the heart of Don!

This is a very strange comic tie in to a film as it does not feature Dr. Zamora nor does it even take place in Brazil instead it features two different stories with two different styles of baddies with one being a prostitute who steals organs from visiting tourist and the other is a guide who along with a village human traffics tourist and even eats the organs of others! The first story is about a chubby loser type guy who has no game with women. While on vacation he falls in love with a lady of the night only to wake up in a bathtub of ice with only one kidney. The other story has a couple who travel to a village to help the people who have been dealing with human trafficking only to find themselves the ones who are in need of help from being trafficked. The kidney-stealing prostitute is smooth in her operations as she uses her good looks and her skills in bed to rope in a dope and then once she has gotten a buyer uses drugs to knock them out and then steal and sell their organs on the black market. While Pham and the villagers almost seem to have a fun time messing with the tourist before they sell them or in the male tourists case eat their hearts, to Pham and his people its clear that life is cheap as they seemingly sacrifice their own people in order to toy with Don who is trying to rescue his wife. And while these stories are pretty well done and creepy, I really did wish it would have been about Dr. Zamora and his ways of stealing organs and killing those who got in his way. Out of the two stories as well I would have to say they are both very much even in the entertainment factor as both have their own sinister charm. The comic is does have bloody parts and does have some gory violent moments that should please the horror comic reader who loves the splatter. The cover for this comic is pretty much the theatrical poster making it eye catching for the fans of the film, but not so much for those who are unaware of the film as its just a close up of a woman’s face. The interior artwork was done by Fabian Slongo, and is pretty good stuff as he captures the rawness of the violence and the style of art that IDW had during this time. Over all while this ties into the theme of the film Turistas, it does not fully feel like a movie tie in comic as the main characters and place of this film are not showcased here, but with that said, it still was a entertaining read and fans of this fight flick should still check it out. Speaking of checking out, take a look at the artwork below to see the style of Slongo used in this comic release.

Well it seems like this vacation is over and it looks like the good old organs are still intact, so that means we must have stayed clear of Dr. Zamora! On a side note I wish that both IDW and Fox Atomic would have remained teaming up as there could have been some cool and interesting horror movie comics released! I should also point out that Fox Atomic did break off and have their own very short lived publishing company and even did a graphic novel based on the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (but that’s for a future update).Well before we go our separate ways until the next update, I should let you know that our next one will take us to the world of Italian horror as I will be covering Demons and a comic released by a record label! So until next time, make sure to read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update for a spooky, creepy good time!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

Posted on May 12, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. For this “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update we will be talking about a 2014 film that was spawned from a short film and would become a super popular indie horror film that is talked about to this day and respected by those viewers who like a little art in their spooky films. That film is A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night! This comic is very cool as most comics based on horror films that are about vampires are tied into Dracula and this one is not as it showcases a female vampire simply known as The Girl. This has been a update I have wanted to do for a while now and with this year being all about the From Horror Movie To Horror Comic, the time has come for it to finally get the Rotten Ink treatment. So if you are ready, let’s grab our skateboard and head into Bad City and see what horrors await us.

Let’s first take a look at The Girl and her ways of dealing death to humans that become her targets and victims. The Girl is an attractive Middle Eastern female vampire who has the charm to draw people in with her looks as her beauty gives them a security of no harming falling on them by such a woman. She is very quiet and watches and stalks her prey without them even catching on that their time on Earth is coming to an end by her hands. She is seductive and cold and has eyes that will both make you call in love as well as fill your heart full of fright. The Girl is a music lover, skateboarder as well as likes to dance and this keeps her in touch with her human side and allows her to somewhat bond with humans. She is strong and fast and can uses these skills to rip apart a human to get what she craves and that’s blood. Being a vampire her main way to kill is her razor sharp teeth that she plunges into skin to drink blood and rip apart flesh. She also has a way of attracting the scum of city the ones who wish to do harm to the weaker people of the city. When she speaks her words can be very fearsome and scary and this as well helps her strike total fear into her victims. Being a vampire, she does have weaknesses with he major one being sunlight that will kill her, she also has a weakness as she is looking for love and her own place in this twisted world. The Girl is very dangerous as she is a vampire who kills for blood to feed as well as sport when it comes to ridding her city of scumbags. The Girl is very deadly and can kill a person very fast making her truly a dangerous being.

Now that we have taken a look at The Girl, I think that its time that we take a look at the film she is from, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night that was released in 2014 and was a hit among indie horror fans. Like always, our friends at IMDB will supply the films plot and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts about the film. So with that, let’s head deeper into Bad City and see what this film is all about.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

“In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.”

In 2011, Ana Lily Amirpour made a short film called “A Girl Walks Home Along At Night,” and it was a big success as it was traveling festivals and winning awards. In 2012 a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo was launched as Amirpour had an idea to turn her short film into a feature, and she ended up getting over what she needed to get this film off the ground. The film would bring in such actors as Arash Maradni, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains and Sheila Vand would play the vampire The Girl. The film would be filmed in twenty-four days in California as it was cheaper and had fewer obstacles to over come if it was shot in Iran where the story takes place. Once the film was done, Bei Ru would score it and it would be released by Vice Films and Kino Lorber and would have a limited run in the theater released on November 21, 2014 and would bring in around $491,910.00 in America. The film would be well liked by both critics and fans and would gain even more praise and fans when released on home media. The film would be released alongside such other horror films as Tusk, As Above So Below, IT Follows, The Pyramid, Last Shift, Purge Anarachy, Annabelle, The Quit Ones, The Babaook and many more. Sadly this is one I did not get to see in the theater as I am not sure if any of the local theaters showed it.

The vampire genre in horror cinema has so many interesting films and one of the more artistic and well done in recent years is A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night as it brought the vampire into western cinema with an Iranian legend touch. The thing that made me very interested in this film, besides that fact it was in the horror genre, was The Girl, a vampire who tries to be like Dexter (from the Showtime TV show) and only deal death to those who are bad. Plus it is cool that she is a skateboarder in Iran who skates around at night looking for her next meal. I really enjoyed this film that I would end up having to watch on DVD as it reminded me slightly of one of my favorite Universal Monster films “Dracula’s Daughter” that was released in 1936, and by that I mean the atmosphere and beauty of the female vampire lead. The acting in the film is really good with Sheila Vand who plays The Girl really stealing the film as her performance is what makes it all work so well as I found The Girl to be haunting, scary, sympathetic, sad and stunning and that is perfect as that what a well played vampire should be like. The film does not rely on gore to bring the scares but more the fact that the world at times can be a very sad and depressing place and in the end all we want is to find our own happiness and place. The film also made the right choice of being shot in black and white as it truly adds to the films mood and feeling and brings out the city as well as the citizens that live in it. The film is slow paced and subtitled and that might scare away some viewers as will the fact that its very Indie, but if you like vampire films, I say that you should give this one a watch as you might just find yourself really into it…and I wish I would have gotten to see this one on the big screen.

So now that we have talked about The Girl as well as the film she is from A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, I think that it is time that we take a look at the comic book based on the film that was released by Behemoth Comics! This was original released as a graphic novel, but a few years later was released as two issue and those floppy issues are what we will be reviewing for this update. I would like to thank both Mavericks Cards And Comics and Bell Book And Comic for having these issues in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s walk together this night and see what The Girl and her vampire bite has in store for us.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night # 1 ***
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Behemoth Comics # 1 of 2

The Girl is soaking in the bathtub thinking about Bad City and how every night is the same for her as she heads into the night looking for a person to drain of their blood, and sadly this city is filled with bad people who she can pray on. The Girl also at night meets street cats as well as skateboards around in the darkness. She finds a young kid up late at night watching TV, but chooses not to take his blood as he is yet to show if he is a good or bad person…but she will wait and see where is life takes him and she will be waiting. A gay man is hanging around a fence putting on lipstick as a man filled with hate attacks him with the idea of doing him physical harm when The Girl arrives and drains him of his blood an stills his ring and ditches the body in a massive pile along with her past victims. We then join The Girl back in the tub as she is thinking about the sins of those lives she has taken as next to the tub is a large basket packed with all the rings of her victims.

I truly feel that this comic does justice to the film it’s based on as the plot of the comic is about The Girl, a female vampire skateboarder who lives in a rundown city in Iran who looks for victims by taking a look at their dark secrets they have, and she chooses those who have or are doing horrible things to become her next meal. The Girl is clearly a vampire who tries to live by her own code as she knows that she must feed on human blood, she tries her best not to hurt those who are innocent and only select those who are evil and just foul people. She is also very torn in nature as you can tell she enjoys aspects of her “life” but also very much loathes other parts of it as she is looking for something or even someone more…she is lonely. The Girl is almost like a protector of the innocent and weak in her own ways as she roams the streets saving people from the evil that mankind does. Her victim in this issue is a very nasty man who is homophobic and is walking the streets at night just looking for trouble, and he finds it when he messes with a gay man and ends up having his life taken by the fangs of The Girl who witnesses the attack. The comics horror comes from the mood and atmosphere of a rundown city that is filled with the down and out as well as criminals, and of course the main comes from the fact a vampire is loose on the streets. The comic does have some blood spilled but is by no means a blood bath, but for those looking for the red stuff via vampire bites will not be disappointed. The cover for this issue is very cool and eye catching and the interior art is really good and done by Michael DeWeese. And I have to say that this first issue is very well done and does justice to the film it’s based on and is making me look forward to reading issue two so let’s get to it.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night # 2 ***
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Behemoth Comics # 2 of 2

The Girl is in the desert buried under the sand she came there to die via the sun, but fear and instinct causes her to always hide right before the sun rays hit her undead skin. At night she rises and looks around at the skulls and bones of her past victims including a couple that were making love and she enters their room and slaughters them. The Girl wonders what her “life” is really about and even takes the life of a spider just cause she can and needed to feed, but her hunger is strong and she heads toward Bad City in order to find a life to take, and as she makes her way toward the city she remembers all the different countries she has been in and all the blood she has taken. And at the end she hits the city limits of Bad City and her hunt is about to start.

The second issue is just as good as the first issue and this time around The Girl is hiding out in the hot desert being upset over her own thoughts as she is conflicted about being a vampire as she both enjoys and hates the fact that she must kill a person for their blood in order to survive. And at times it seems like The Girl is looking for love and when seeing humans in love makes her more angry and makes their deaths more gruesome and painful. We also see that she will kill insects as in the first issue she shows that she cares about felines as she pets the animal instead of taking its life and here she chomps down on a big spider. This issue almost feels like the start of the story as well as it kind of has that vibe that this was her first time entering Bad City that she would end up making her “home” and hunting ground for some time. With this second issue it also is a very fast read with most of it being visual and very little dialogue, but this works so well for this issue as I feel this one is about finding oneself and coming to terms on who you are and what you have done. This issue as well has more blood and gore with the couples death aftermath being pretty gruesome as The Girl has their insides ripped out and even has removed heads! I really do think that this comic series did the film it is based on justice and I really do with that more Indie Comic Publishers would team up with Indie Horror Filmmakers and make comics like this more often. The Girl is a very interesting vampire and this issue really adds a new level to her as she is very torn about her existence but also loves her powers. The cover for issue two is also very cool and eye catching and has The Girls hand coming out of the sand, and like before the interior art is done by Michael DeWeese and his art style is really great and I love the way he draws The Girl as it looks mostly like the actress who played her. This was a very cool and entertaining series based on a very cool cult Indie Horror film that if you enjoyed you really should track down these comics as I think they will deliver some fright. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by DeWeese as his style is really spooky and truly captures the nature of the film and characters.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is clearly not a film nor comic that is for everyone as they both are a little artsy and having many hidden messages and meanings behind them, but I do think that fans of horror films from companies like A24 and IFC will truly enjoy it. And as you can see, our update and time with the vampire called The Girl has came to an end and with that I think we should take our leave from Bad City, but don’t worry our next update will have us remaining in the world of horror as we will find ourselves this time a tourist in the world of Turistas a 2006 gut stealing Horror Film that got the comic book treatment thanks to IDW. So until next time read a Horror Comic of three, watch a Horror Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. I wander what a kidney goes for now and days?