If you’re a big Buffy fan but have lost track of the current Dark Horse series of what is essentially season eight (like this scribe has), issue #34 is going to be something quite surprising. In a universe filled to the brim with every kind of creature there is, and even with the scope of the mythology considerably widened by the final televised season and the beginning of this comics run, I still found myself dumbfounded at the direction the current arc BUFFY is headed in as it’s simply put, “out of this world."

Remember the animated Disney movie ALADDIN? OK, now totally forget about it. Radical Comics’ ALADDIN: LEGACY OF THE LOST is a reinterpretation of “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,” a story from that incredibly influential collection of Middle Eastern/South Asian stories and folklore tales, ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. But rest assured, this isn’t your daddy’s Aladdin…

Greetings, boils and ghouls! Today’s repulsive review is of the gruesome graphic novel MORBID MYTHS VOLUME 1: THE COLLECTION, which follows the EC Comics formula of such fright-filled classic titles as TALES FROM THE CRYPT, THE VAULT OF HORROR and THE HAUNT OF FEAR. I hope you like your meat a little rotten!

Aside from being a serious fanatic for all things horror, I’m also a rather big comic-book enthusiast (as I’m sure you can imagine, the combined interest makes me quite a hit with the ladies). My afternoons are often spent at my local comics shop, sifting out the gory gems from the garbage all too happy to slap Poe or Lovecraft’s name on stories that would likely cause the late authors to spin in their graves. It’s often hard to distinguish, at first glance, the worthwhile titles from the monotonous, mass-produced muck. J. Morvay’s BIBLE BLACK, from Gauntlet Press, lies lovingly with the gems, black indeed as this particular gem may be.

KING OF THE FLIES VOL. 1: HALLORAVE (Fantagraphics), written by Michel Prius and illustrated by Pascal (Mezzo) Mesenburg, is a dark tale that takes place in the subtitular town, where the suburban mundane is just a cover for the depravity, drug culture and sex that occurs daily. The story is told from the perspectives of many of the main characters, but the story mostly centers around Eric, who calls himself the King of the Flies (and wears a fly mask to make that point clear), and is not a wholesome citizen.

SAND & FURY: A SCREAM QUEEN ADVENTURE is an erotic thriller riddled with flashbacks and hallucinations. Author Ho Che Anderson has fabricated a stylish, minimalist narrative about sex, blood and death.

Radical Comics’ FVZA: FEDERAL VAMPIRE ZOMBIE AGENCY (based on a parody website created by Richard S. Dargan) is a recounting of the zombie and vampire attacks that have plagued humanity since 1868, and the federal agency force that served to diminish their numbers. Since the vampire and zombie populations have eventually been cured over the ensuing years, the FVZA has been disbanded since the 1970s.