Will Pfeifer's Blog, page 18

Movies I Watched in September, Part 2

OK, kids, let's get through this quickly. October is almost over, and we're still wrapping up September...


Upon careful review (meaning I watched it again recently), I'd say this holds up better than any of the teen movies I saw back in the 1980s, with the possible exception of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." It's snappy, suspenseful and clever, and Matthew Broderick is a lot more likable here than he would be as Ferris Bueller a couple of years later. I remember when this movie arrived originally, and the very idea that you could connect to another computer and make it do something it wasn't supposed to do was a very novel idea indeed. What's more, the plot, where our hero almost triggers a nuclear war, fit right in with the general 1980s outlook that we'd all be enjoying a nuclear conflict sooner or later, and "Wargames" builds surprising (and welcome) tension by delivering a double climax, with potential war looming not once but twice. Besides Broderick, the cast includes the great Dabney Coleman, Barry Corbin, Ally Sheedy (a few years before "The Breakfast Club") and, in the opening scene, John Spencer and Michael Madsen as the guys in the missile silo. If you haven't seen this one in a while, definitely give it another look -- it's a lot better than I remembered. (By the way, you can hear us discuss "Wargames" on our Out of Theaters podcast by clicking here .)


This drama about the very, very deadly Everest expedition of 1996 isn't a bad movie by any means -- it's beautifully shot, well cast and emotionally powerful -- but it never quite hits the heights (sorry) that I was hoping for. I'm not quite sure why it didn't impress me more -- in many ways, it's a noteworthy achievement, taking you to the top of the world and showing you why (a) too many people are going and (b) why you should never, never try it, but I just didn't connect with it, and in the end, it felt like a handful of strong scenes that never quite coalesced into a complete motion picture experience. Still, if the topic interests you, by all means check it out. Your mileage may vary dramatically.


Is it weird (and/or is it wrong) for me to admit how much I enjoyed (re)watching this grueling horror classic? Sure, it's defiantly unpleasant for much of its (short but effective) running time, and the nightmarish dinner scene that makes up the last chunk of the movie takes audience endurance to new heights (or depths, as the case may be), but director Tobe Hooper and company managed to craft a genuine terror masterpiece here, and it's a real (though strange) pleasure seeing how he puts the screws to the audience. The first half of the movie is almost completely devoted to winding that spring until it's so tight you're sure it's going to burst, then from the moment poor Kirk wanders into the worst house on Earth and takes a hammer to the head from Leatherface, it's no-holds-barred horror until the credits roll. And unlike the endless idiotic slasher movies it inspired, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is a genuinely rich and rewarding experience, with memorable characters, imaginative sets and a distinct lack of gore (though there's enough in all the right places). One of the things that struck me this time around was how Leatherface is one of the most terrifying characters in movie history one minute, then a pathetic figure of comedic proportions the next, whether he's bumbling around, trying to figure out how these stupid kids got into his house (without any dialogue, mind you) or putting on a female face (complete with makeup) for the big dinner party. You'll hear some critics describe this movie as a dark comedy, which it is, sort of, but it's very, very dark indeed. I know its title alone turns most people off, and its reputation takes care of the other potential viewers, but if you're a horror fan and you've never seen it, you owe it to yourself to try it  -- at least once.

By the way, you can listen to us discuss "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" on Out of Theaters by clicking here (I think it might be our best episode -- really!) and you can read more of my thoughts on the movie here and its memorable poster here .

Movies I Watched in September, Part 1

"The Bank Dick" is my favorite W.C. Fields movie (read my thoughts on it here), but "It's a Gift" is great, too. Even more so than "The Bank Dick," this movie puts our hero in a world where EVERYTHING is working against him, from the blind man wrecking his grocery store to the man who interrupts his sleep looking for a man named Carl LaFong ("Capital C, Small A,  small R, small L, capital L, small A, capital F, small O, small N, small G") to his wife, who questions and/or criticizes every single thing he does (in one of my favorite bits, she accuses him of telling "ribald stories" with an insurance salesman he just met.) It all reverses in the penultimate scene, when fate finally smiles on Fields and he achieves his dream, but even that bit of last-minute success is funny because it's so out of left field. Much of this movie was based on sketches Fields did onstage and in earlier shorts, which gives "The Bank Dick" an oddly episodic feel, but that's OK -- no reason to cram some elaborate plot on a comedy that clearly doesn't need it. Watched this one for our Out of Theaters podcast (listen to the episode here), and though I've seen it before, I was taken aback by how jaw-droppingly cynical and even downright cruel the reporters are in this story. The gang hanging out in the press room at the prison verbally tortures the woman who befriended the killer (and that's all she did, despite their insinuations), and it's not even played for comedy -- it's just a scene of a group of guys driving a woman to a suicide attempt. What's more, even Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell, playing the most likable character in the film) is perfectly happy to sweet talk the murderer and promise him all sorts of things she can't deliver just to get a story. Cary Grant, of course, is off-the-charts as her editor, breaking all sorts of laws and moral codes to land a scoop. There's even a scene where he's downright gleeful at the thought that his rival's mother might have been killed in a car accident. (Spoiler alert: She wasn't.) Don't get me wrong, though -- all this cynicism and dark humor makes the movie better, richer and, yes, funnier. It's a classic for a reason.
This is part of Criterion's excellent double-feature disc of "The Killers," which collects both the original 1946 version (with Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner and William Conrad) and this 1964 version, which was original made for TV but deemed too violent and instead screened in theaters. Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager play the killers this time around, trying to learn why the mob wanted ex-race car driver John Cassavetes dead. It's a good flick, full of stylish violence and grounded in Marvin's typically excellent portrayal of a cold-blooded criminal. "The Killers" is most notorious as being Ronald Reagan's last movie as well as the only one where he played a villain, and the scene where he brutally backhands Angie Dickinson is even more startling now than it was in 1964, when his years as governor, president and beloved conservative icon were still ahead of him. 
Another one we watched for Out of Theaters (listen to the episode here). "Death Wish" is one of those movies that was a huge hit (spawning a slew of sequels and ripoffs) and a big cultural deal (inspiring public debate, criticism and praise) despite the fact that it's not very good. The story -- liberal architect turns gun-toting avenger after his wife and daughter are attacked -- is so simple (even primal) that director Michael Winner sees no reason to do anything to make it interesting. Aside from it being a 1970s cultural touchstone, the only reason reason to watch "Death Wish" these days is to catch the big actors in small roles: Jeff Goldblum notoriously had his first movie role as "Freak #1," and Christopher Guest, years before "Spinal Tap" or "Best in Show," plays a uniformed cop. Paul Dooley, Olympia Dukakis and Len Lesser (Uncle Leo from "Seinfeld") are supposedly somewhere in the police precinct scenes, and TV actors Lawrence Hilton Jacobs (Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington from "Welcome Back, Kotter") and Sonia Manzano (Maria from "Sesame Street") play a criminal and a store clerk, respectively. One of the strangest things about the movie (and either the laziest or most realistic, depending on your view) is the fact that after Goldblum and his fellow freaks attack Bronson's family (killing his wife and raping his daughter into catatonia), they're never seen again. You'd think a movie like "Death Wish" would build to a final confrontation between Bronson and the men who destroyed his family, but nope -- they get away scot free.

Coming up next: Hackers, mountain climbers and family fun -- Texas style!

Movies I Watched in August, Part 2

Still holds up beautifully, with enough small touches and big themes to make a rewatch more than worthwhile. And for those of you still debating whether or not DiCaprio's final scene was part of a dream or not, it's not. Christopher Nolan has said so, and it doesn't make any emotional sense for his victory not to be real. By the way, the best pop culture reference to this movie arrived on "30 Rock" when Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) said he didn't sleep on airplanes because he was afraid of being incepted. I'd heard about this one for a while in cult movie circles. It was a long-forgotten, seemingly long-lost no-budget martial arts epic made (and barely released) in 1987, then re-discovered by Zack Carlson, a programmer at the legendary Alamo Drafthouse, who bought a print for $35 (!) After contacting producer/star/co-director/writer Y.K. Kim, Carlson and Co. re-released "Miami Connection" to receptive audiences who loved the movie's crazy storyline, determinedly decent morality and creative use of music and tae kwon do (Kim owned a chain of martial arts schools). In other words, I had pretty high hopes for a movie with a pedigree this strange, and I was not disappointed. It's Ed Wood-like in the fact that both the seams holding the movie together (barely) and the dedication to getting it made shine through in every frame. I can honestly say I didn't know where the plot was going at any given moment, and Kim's creative use of locale landmarks makes "Miami Connection" very different from every other generic '80s action movie. (For one thing, it takes place in Orland, not Miami.) I caught this on TCM, where it airs every so often in the wee hours of the weekend. If this description piques your interest (and it should), I urge you to tune in. You will not be disappointed. After years of mysterious apathy, Allie has now officially entered her Obsessive Phase with regards to Mr. Harry Potter. That means she's plowing through the books. ("Prisoner of Azkaban" finished last night, "Goblet of Fire" started this morning.) It also means we're working our way through the movies, carefully scheduling them so as not to spoil any of the surprises before she reads the books. That also means we're re-watching the movies in order (Amy and I saw them all before Allie was old enough), with the worst two up first in the lineup. That's why this is on the list. I have nothing more to say about it, except for the fact that I'm glad "Azkaban" is up next -- now that's a good movie. A very funny movie with some great action set pieces ("Serpentine! Serpentine!") that's still at its absolute best when it just lets neurotic dentist Alan Arkin and unflappable secret agent Peter Falk bounce off each other. Falks description of tse-tse flies the size of eagles is brilliant enough, but it's Arkin's incredulous reactions that save the day. Skip the Albert Brooks/Michael Douglas remake and watch this instead. You'll thank me later.

RIP, Our Gang star Dickie Moore

When I was a kid, the local Cleveland station used to run Our Gang shorts every day after school. Everyone in the neighborhood watched them religiously, not realizing that by the mid 1970s, those former kids were all middle-aged -- at least. It didn't matter, because the Our Gangers seemed like such down-to-earth, natural children that we could identify with them and laugh along with them like they were the same age as us.

Spanky and Alfalfa were the most well-known of the bunch, of course, but I grew to realize that the best Our Gang shorts, the ones with the most imagination, the most laughs and the most pure heart, were the one that preceded the Alfalfa era, when Spanky himself was only about three years old. That was the era that lasted only a couple of years, from 1932 to 1933, and featured such classic Rascals as Spanky, Stymie, Brisbane, Wheezer (at the tail end of his Rascal career) and the man who died today at the age of 89, Dickie Moore.
Dickie wasn't as big a laugh-getter as Spanky (who was, amazingly, at his best when he was a mere three or four years old!) or Stymie (possibly my favorite of all the Our Gang kids), but he appeared in the very best shorts, comedies with the perfect mix of wordplay, physical comedy, crazy gadgets, wild slapstick and just the right touch of honest-to-goodness sentiment. He often played Spanky's big brother, like in "Birthday Blues" where the boys teamed up with Stymie to bake a monstrous cake, or "Hook and Ladder," where Fire Chief Dickie was constantly frustrated that he had to take care of his baby brother, and when his crew called for him, he yelled "I have to put the assistant chief's pants on!" But he also was great in "Free Wheeling," playing a rich kid whose overprotective mom wouldn't let him have fun with the regular kids who were running their own hilarious (and jaw-droppingly dangerous) private taxi company.
As he says in Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann's invaluable book, "The Little Rascals: The Life and Time of Our Gang," Dickie was brought in by Our Gang maestro Hal Roach to "hypo the gang a bit, because there'd been a big turnover," and his contract wasn't renewed after that brief run. It was too bad for Our Gang fans, but not much of a setback for Dickie, who had already been acting for years before joining the series and had one of the most successful post-Our Gang careers of them all, appearing in such classic films as "Blonde Venus," "Gabriel Over the White House," "Three on a Match," "Sergeant York" and the film noir masterpiece "Out of the Past." He gave Shirley Temple her first grown-up onscreen kiss in 1942's "Miss Annie Rooney," and had been married to actor/dancer Jane Powell since 1988.

Moore's career with the Our Gang ended way back in 1933, but those are the films he'll be remembered for, and for good reason. He was always a solid, natural screen presence, and he's very good in "Out of the Past," but it was playing a normal, everyday, likable kid where he really excelled. In those Our Gang shorts, Dickie Moore just seemed like the sort of boy you'd like to hang around with -- funny, clever and willing to stick by his pals when trouble arrived (which, in the Our Gang shorts, it inevitably did.) If you didn't grow up watching the Little Rascals, it's hard to convey how entertaining they were -- seemingly effortless portraits of a childhood that was just a little bit more interesting -- and a little bit more fun -- than the one you happened to be having. Dickie Moore, and his effortless sense of good-natured fun, was a big reason the ones he co-starred in are among the very best.

Movies I Watched in August, Part 1

How about this? We're only a week into September and I've already got the first installment of the August movie recap up! Will wonders never cease? Solid, smart action movie with a clever script (courtesy of writer/director Christopher McQuarrie) and just the right sprinkling of jaw-dropping stunts. (I was a little surprised they led with Tom Cruise dangling from the plane, but I guess that's following in the grand tradition of the James Bond films, which these are definitely the 21st century offspring of.) Cruise somehow shows his age a bit in the face (I thought that might never happen), but he never slows down for a second, and it's nice to see Simon Pegg get bumped up to full sidekick status this time around. Two more things I liked: 1. The female lead (Rebecca Ferguson) was genuinely compelling and mysterious (and named after Ingrid Bergman's character in "Casablanca") without any romantic subplot being forced upon her. 2. Spoilers: It was refreshing to see our heroes defeat the badguy and then NOT kill him -- just take him into custody while savoring their victory. Nicely done, team. Decided to show Allie this classic, and though her attention wavered at times (I coaxed her into sticking with it with the promise that Scout dressed up like a ham at the end), I thought it still hung together beautifully. Admittedly, it covers a lot of ground, with the family drama, the evocation of childhood, the depiction of racial tension and the threat of looming violence, but it never feels draggy or overblown, mostly thanks to the low-key script (by Harper Lee and Horton Foote) and the grounded performances of Gregory Peck and Mary Badham (as Atticus and Scout). The scene that got me -- and always gets me -- is the one at the end when we finally meet the mysterious Boo Radley (Robert Duvall in his film debut) and Atticus, showing the same respect he shows everyone, introduces him as "Mr. Arthur Radley." It's a small touch that speaks volumes. (By the way, how do you like the way one of the greatest movies ever made about children says right on its poster that it's NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?) Amy and I actually saw the notoriously bad 1996 movie "The Island of Dr. Moreau" in the theater, so we were curious to watch this documentary that charts the descent into madness of the entire production from the perspective of the film's first director, Richard Stanley, who was arguably the first one to leap into the abyss. It's a fascinating story, to be sure, but the doc itself was merely so-so, never seeming to reach the potential of the story it was telling. (This was a movie, after all, where Marlon Brando invited the smallest man in the world to be his co-star, Val Kilmer played his part as a Brando imitator and Fairuza Balk had to be dragged back to the set when she wanted to flee the production.) In other words, it's no "Hearts of Darkness" -- but it's still probably worth a look. I'd never heard of this 1950 Humphrey Bogart movie, but when it turned up on TCM (where else?), I gave it a look and was glad I did. Bogey plays a test pilot working in the post World War II era who risks his life to prove that maybe having an ejection seat in a jet isn't a bad idea. The film plays like an off-brand "Casablanca" at times, with Bogart romancing a woman in Europe during the war then being reassigned to duty stateside before they can get married, only to have her turn up again with another man. (It all works out happily, unlike in "Casablanca.") As a bonus, you get Raymond Massey playing one of his typically gruff (but admirable) Raymond Massey rich guys along with some fun flying sequences -- both actual footage (from World War II) and wonderfully dated effects work (from Bogey's test pilot days). It's no classic, but it is a great example of how enjoyable your average "old movie" could be.

A Few Words About Tim Corrigan, Small Press Comics Inspiration

I saw the news on cartoonist John MacLeod's Facebook page this week that Tim Corrigan, cartoonist, self-publisher and comics advocate, died Saturday, Aug. 22. I didn't know Tim well. In fact, I never met him, and I didn't even know he was on Facebook. But when you get right down to it, he's one of the people responsible for my comic book career.
Back in the 1980s, Tim published SMALL PRESS COMICS EXPLOSION, a magazine devoted to the low-budget, low-tech mini-comics movement of the era. Each issue contained articles about self-publishing, news releases, ads (for the whopping price of $1 per 2" x 4" block), reviews and more. It was all put together by Tim in the days before the desktop publishing revolution, so it had a funky, handmade feel with typewriter body copy and rub-on headlines. That slightly grubby aesthetic was just right for SPCE, which more than anything was an advocate for the glories of the small press. Tim wanted everyone to join in the fun, and even the crudest mini-comic got at least a few words of encouragement in his short (but enthusiastic) reviews. Here, for example, is Tim's take on  the early work of a college-age cartoonist with rudimentary skills:

Will Pfeifer has produced a couple of winners with SLICE O' LIFE FUNNIES #1 and VIOLENT MAN #1, both minis for 25 cents and a stamp each. These are poignant, piercing bits of satire from a sharp mini. VIOLENT MAN, a shot at Rambomania, is especially funny. I'm looking forward to great things from Will.

Now, if you've seen the first issues either SLICE O' LIFE FUNNIES or VIOLENT MAN, you know Tim was being more than a little generous calling them "poignant, piercing bits of satire." But the thing is, this was the first time I'd ever had any feedback on my work from someone I didn't know, and Tim's enthusiasm and encouragement told me that I was at least in the vicinity of the right path. I kept at it, turning out a few more issues of SLICE O' LIFE and several more issues of VIOLENT MAN, getting a little bit better with each one and starting to hone the writing skills I'm still using today.
The inspiration of Tim's work went beyond his reviews. I learned the mechanics of producing a mini-comic from an article Matt Feazell wrote for SPCE #6 (the first issue I bought), and I met dozens of fellow cartoonists through the mail and at comic book shows, all prompted by connections made through the pages of Tim's mag. I also got my very first paying comic book gig from Tim when he commissioned a four-page Violent Man story for LEGIONS OF LUDICROUS HEROES, an anthology he put together in 1987. The idea that someone might actually give me money ($20 a page, if I remember correctly) to create comics made the concept of a career in the funnybook biz seem slightly less than impossible. (Of course, Tim's the only one who paid me to draw the comics -- later publishers wisely focused on my writing abilities.) I may be writing TEEN TITANS now, but it all started with those four pages of VIOLENT MAN.

So thanks, Tim, for everything. It's hard to imagine what my life would be like if I had never picked up that issue of SMALL PRESS COMICS EXPLOSION almost 30 years ago. Maybe everything would have gone according to plan, but somehow, I doubt it. Sometimes, even an enthusiastic creator needs a little inspiration, a little instruction and a check for $80.

Buy My Comics, Make Me Rich: TEEN TITANS #11

New issue of TEEN TITANS arrives in stores this week, featuring part 3 of the "Rogue Targets" storyline, wherein our young heroes try to help their accused murderer friend Superboy by doing the only logical thing and breaking in a maximum-security, supervillain-packed prison.

Here's the cover by Bengal...
And here's the Bombshell Variant version by Ant Lucia, featuring a somewhat different look for goth gal Raven... Inside, the creative team includes yours truly (script), Ricken (art), Dan Brown (colors), John J. Hill (letters) and editing by Paul Kaminski, Mike Cotton and Eddie Berganza. Want to see a preview of the first several pages, including an amazing (and vertigo-inducing) splash page by Ricken? Head on over to this sneak peek at Comics Alliance.

Movies I Watched in July, Part 2

With the end of August looming, I figured I'd better finish off the July movie recap, or things were going to get really confusing around here. So ...
Watched this one for an episode of the Out of Theaters podcast (listen to us discuss it here ), and I don't think I'd seen it since catching it in theaters back in the 1980s (during my college days). It feels very much like a 1980s artifact, from the fashions ( dig Holly Hunter's formal outfit -- this isn't supposed to be some sort of visual joke, believe it or not) to the hand-wringing over William Hurt's ethical lapse. Still, it's a solid comedy-drama, with Albert Brooks (of course) getting all the best lines. What did ring true, mostly because I've been through it in my actual journalism career, is the scene where most of the staff is fired due to budget issues. That was suitably brutal.
Pretty solid Marvel super-hero movie that worked because it scaled things back and wasn't worried about saving the entire world. Paul Rudd is completely likable, of course, and Michael Douglas makes a good previous-generation hero. Best special effect? Taking Douglas back to a "Wall St." era look in the opening scenes. Man, it's scary how seamless that can be.
Intense little drama, part of TCM's excellent film noir series that ran this summer. Host (and noir expert) Eddie Mueller apparently spent years working to get this 1949 film restored, because it had slipped into the public domain and increasingly poor prints (with no financial incentive to improve the quality) kept pushing it closer and closer to "lost" territory. Thankfully it's in fine shape now, with a few scratches and glitches to remind viewers of the rough road it took to get to their TV screens. The story itself concerns a couple who finds some (obviously tainted) money, and though the husband wants to return it, the wife (played very well by noir icon Lizabeth Scott) becomes more and more obsessed with keeping it. Dan Duryea (star of classic noirs "Scarlet Street" and "The Woman in the Window") adds to the fun, and the movie keeps surprising you by zigzagging into surprising (and dark) directions you just don't expect. If you're a noir fan, be sure to catch it. In the meantime, you can read more about it here .
It's great, obviously. In fact, I'd argue it's one of the all-time greatest American films. We talk about it on our podcast here , and if you go here , you can read why, unlike everyone else, I actually like the concluding explanation by the pompous psychiatrist.
In case you're wondering how boring a movie about the early days of rock 'n' roll can be, even when it includes performances by some vintage acts, look no further than this 1956 chestnut. Though Bill Haley and His Comets are featured prominently on that poster, the real star of this show is Johnny Johnston (hell, even his name is boring!) as Steve Hollis, a big band promoter who stumbles onto Haley's group and figures they're the next big thing. Alongside a few musical numbers (including Haley performing "Rock Around the Clock" three times), there's the typically inane love story involving Hollis and a fetching young dancer who performs the dances that go with Haley's songs. That plot also includes a female record mogul so obsessed with Hollis that she vows to destroy him, and more bland parties than any movie needs. And if you tune in for Alan Freed, look fast -- he's only in one scene. The brief relief comes when the The Platters take the stage, but of course no one was going to make a whole movie about a black musical group in 1956. According to news reports, crazed teens tore up the theaters when they heard the "rock" music in this movie. Wow.

Movies I Watched in July, Part 1

Given that August is half over and my week of vacation is almost completely over, I suppose it's high time I returned to this sadly neglected blog and shared my cinema viewing for the month of July. Let's make this quick, shall we?
One of my all-time favorites, rewatched for an episode of our Out of Theaters podcast . Great, gritty 1970s movie full of big laughs and small touches, the rare comedy that really creates a whole, believable world to showcase the jokes (and, given that this is a film about a dying hockey team in a dying steel town, more dramatic moments as well.) It's also arguably Paul Newman's greatest movie performance -- and it was his personal favorite, too. Listen to the podcast here and read way more about my thoughts on "Slap Shot" here .

Following up June's viewing of "The Guest," Amy and I checked out this smart little thriller, the previous film from writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard. Essentially a twist on the (excellent) 2008 horror movie "The Strangers," "You're Next" also takes place at an out-of-the-way residence where a gang of killers in creepy masks start murdering everyone. One of the twists in this movie is that Erin (Sharni Vinson), who's been invited to the anniversary party of her boyfriend's rich parents, is the only one who's able to handle things when the blood begins to spatter. The other twist I won't reveal, except to say that it all makes perfect sense and provides just the sort of third act jolt a movie like this needs. Bonus points for casting '80s horror icon Barbara Crampton ("Re-Animator," "From Beyond") as the mom.

Watched this one for a "family movie night," chosen mainly because, given Allie's love of sea creatures, she'd appreciate the whale angle of the plot. She was entertained, to be sure, but I think she got as much a kick out of the comedy stylings of William Shatner as she did from the whales. It's a very 1980s movie, but it holds up pretty well, though the damned story takes forever to get started. I do like the fact that, for once, the alien in a "Star Trek" movie (or, really, any science fiction movie) is genuinely alien -- we don't know what they look like, what they think like or even really what they're trying to do -- hence the need to travel back in time and snag some humpback whales.

This was an odd one, to be sure. For one thing, it was obviously a vehicle to launch the comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney, a sub-Abbott and Costello duo that lacks much in the field of personality, laughs or talent. To make things even stranger, the plot involves those guys traveling to a Caribbean Island to find a zombie, just so ominous nightclub owner Sheldon Leonard (who would play Nick in "It's a Wonderful Life" in a couple of years) can have a genuine zombie at his new club and not look the fool in front of a vindictive columnist. (This is the most far-fetched columnist-driven plot since "The Fountainhead.") Plus, the doctor on the island creating those zombies is played by none other than Bela Lugosi. And, topping off all that strangeness, as columnist Glenn Erickson points out over at his DVD Savant review , because the movie co-stars actor/musician Sir Lancelot  and Darby Jones AND uses bits of the score from Val Lewton's classic "I Walked with a Zombie," (plus the same song sung by Sir Lancelot) it's actually a semi-official RKO spin-off of that very serious and somber movie. It's no "I Walked with a Zombie," of course, but I have to admit, I enjoyed it, for all the reasons listed above plus the use of pop-out eyes when our comedic heroes get turned into zombies. Comedy!

Coming up next: An acclaimed romantic comedy about the news biz, a big-budget super-hero movie, a classic thriller and a really dull rock and roll movie.

Buy My Comics, Make Me Rich: TEEN TITANS: BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

My first seven issues of TEEN TITANS get collected in the just-released TEEN TITANS: BLINDED BY THE LIGHT trade, which hits comic book stores today, Aug. 4, and arrives in bookstores and on Amazon next Wednesday. So really, you've got no excuse for not picking it up, right? Kenneth Rocafort handles most of the art duties, with Scott Hepburn taking over for issues five and six. There's thrill, chills and spills, plus plenty of jokes and a dash of teen angst. As a bonus, the trade paperback collects the various variant covers that adorned the original issues (featuring art by Darwyn Cooke, Gene Ha, Cliff Chiang, Cameron Stewart, Mike Allred and other notables) and several character concept sketches by Kenneth Rocafort. In other words, how can you not have this on your shelf?