A QUICK 'VERSE OVERVIEW

If you've always wanted a quick snapshot of the 'Verse titles, or ever wondered what the differences are between them, then this just went up.

Thanx to Ica, for helping get the word out.

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2016

Candidate #8

KRAMPUS

(November 2015)

"Twisted fairy tale horsesh!t!"

I've talked about this ‘round these parts before, that it’s always a good thing to have go-to holiday movies.

And while there are certain go-to Christmas titles (like Go or Tokyo Godfathers), there aren’t as many go-to Christmas horror titles, except, say, Gremlins, and--but this is a stretch, as far as the horror part is concerned--The Nightmare Before Christmas.

So, thank sweet baby Jeebus for Michael Dougherty’s Krampus!

Right from the slo-mo Mucho Mart opening sequence (orchestrated to Bing Crosby’s “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas”), Krampus is a holiday horror delight, as Max (Emjay Anthony) inadvertently calls down the “shadow of Saint Nicholas,” the titular Krampus, who comes “… not to reward, but to punish.”

After giving us the ¡Qué horror! 2010 title, Trick ‘r Treat--which is, as indicated by its title, all about Halloween horror--Dougherty takes very nearly the same general approach, but this time, tipping his horror hat to Christmas, and focusing on a single story.

And while titles like Sheitan and À l'intérieur (Inside) and Calvaire all sport Christmas-set horrors, they’re also definitely not my idea of “fun” holiday horror viewing.

Krampus is.*

And really, how can you resist a movie that has a dog named Thor playing one named Rosie?

“Yeah, but Ben Kuklinski is always ragging on Christmas. He even told the first graders that Santa was just a cheap marketing ploy invented to sell Pepsi.”

“Coke.”

“You know what I mean.”

“But not why you care.”

“Well, someone’s gotta…”

* Having labeled it “‘fun’ holiday horror viewing,” I feel though that I should point out that this one still gets pretty dark in a number of strategic places…

(Krampus OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

POST-SUMMER KOMIKON POST!

Still deep in Recovery Mode from a long day at this year's Summer Komikon, but I'd just like to convey my deepest gratitude to all you mighty, mighty fine folk who passed by the table and picked up some 'Verse, or had your books (whether pre-bought copies of the LOST JOURNAL or SEROKS) signed, or helped to sell out the LOST JOURNAL stocks at the NBS booth and picked up some UNDERPASS.
Huzzah!

For everyone who asked after the possibility of a Volume 2, well, let your voices be heard by Summit, and get your friends and family to pick up their own copies!
And, you know, do the Facebook thing at the Summit FB page.

And if you still don't have a copy of the LOST JOURNAL in your hands, check out the images below for its availability.

THE LOST JOURNAL OF ALEJANDRO PARDO: Creatures & Beasts of Philippine Folklore is now out (P295).

For those outside of the Philippines, it's available as a PDF from the Buqo Bookstore.

Once again, thanx for all the enthusiasm and support, and please feel free to spread the word and the love…

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

THE LOST JOURNAL OF ALEJANDRO PARDO
(At 2016 Summer Komikon!)

The clock continues to tick down to April 16, Saturday, for this year's Summer Komikon, and as I mentioned before, there will indeed be a LOST JOURNAL presence there.

So, yeah, books for sale, some of the creative team present for putting their grubby paws and deathless scrawl on your personal copies...
The usual Summer Kon madness...

As I mentioned before, The 'Verse will be at Summer Kon with some new releases (full details here), so if you're at Bayanihan early, then track down the Alamat table...

... where I shall be stationed.
Pick up some 'Verse, or have your copies of THE LOST JOURNAL signed early. (Or, better yet, both!)

To the best of my knowledge, Mervin should also be lurking at the Visprint tables (to the right of the Alamat table, where copies of the SEROKS collections should also be available), so you can get him to sign your copy too!

Once again, thanx to all you mighty fine folk for the enthusiasm and the support.
Hope to see you at Summer Kon!

THE LOST JOURNAL OF ALEJANDRO PARDO: Creatures & Beasts of Philippine Folklore is now out (P295).

For those outside of the Philippines, it's available as a PDF from the Buqo Bookstore.

Please feel free to spread the word and the love…

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

THE LOST JOURNAL OF ALEJANDRO PARDO
(Interviews!)

The mighty fine Jordan Clark of The Aswang Project interviewed THE LOST JOURNAL team, and the interviews have just gone live!

Click here for the Writers interview, and here for the Artists Interview.

Thanx to Jordan, for helping get the word out!

THE LOST JOURNAL OF ALEJANDRO PARDO: Creatures & Beasts of Philippine Folklore is now out (P295).

For those outside of the Philippines, it's available as a PDF from the Buqo Bookstore.

Once again, thanx to all you mighty fine folk for the enthusiasm and support.

Please feel free to spread the word and the love…

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2016

Candidate #7

THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS

(September 2015)

"I'll tell you what it is, kids.

“It’s that every f*cker in the country thinks they’re a photographer now, okay? And everyone can share an image, and it’s awful. It’s awful because it makes everything just like watery piss.

“Then you have this guy who creates an image that you actually can’t f*ck with, that you actually can’t ignore…”

Serial killers are like zombies and vampires; you need to look really long and really hard to find films about them that are actually worth your time and your attention.

Nick Simon’s The Girl in the Photographs is definitely worth your time, not just because it’s an excellent (and at times, frankly brutal) serial killer thriller, but it’s also one of the last things the late, great, and sorely missed Wes Craven worked on. (At the very top of the end credits roll, the dedication, “For Wes.”)

So if you feel any allegiance at all to the late Mr. Craven, then the least you can do is check out the film that he believed in enough to Executive Produce, before he had to so abruptly leave us…

And while that should be enough reason, if you find that you still need some more motivation, then Kal Penn’s total douchebag fashion photog Peter Hemmings is one of the definite draws of the film.

There’s also Mitch Pileggi, effectively de-Skinner-izing himself as the ineffectual Sheriff Porter, and Katharine Isabelle--late of the equally sorely missed Hannibal--in a brief role.

Plus, the D.P is Dean Cundey! Halloween! The Thing! And if your cinematic tastes lean more towards big-a$$ Hollywood productions, Jurassic Park! The Back to the Future trilogy! Cundey also shot the brilliant Psycho II, which leads us to one other notable…

The film’s screenplay is credited to Osgood Perkins, Rob Morast, and Simon.

So, yeah. Psycho. Perkins.

Osgood happens to be the son of Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins. (And he actually played “Young Norman” in Psycho II.) Osgood also happens to be making a name for himself as a director as well, and I’ve been chomping at the bit to see his directorial debut, February (reportedly retitled The Blackcoat’s Daughter).

If this film’s screenplay is anything to go by, then I’m even more pumped to see February-or-whatever-it’s-being-called-now.

So, yes, The Girl in the Photographs.

If you want a bit of brutality in your ¡Qué horror! viewing…

“This guy knows I’m from Spearfish. He’s doing this… this photography thing with his victims as… as… as an homage, as a… as a nod, a nod to me, Spearfish’s most famous citizen and only known living artist.

“Frankly, I’m flattered.”

(The Girl in the Photographs OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2016

Candidate #6

BASKIN

(September 2015)

"You carry Hell with you at all times...”

Shot over 28 nights (there were reportedly no day shots), Baskin follows five police officers on a hallucinatory and harrowing journey as they answer a call for backup, and things go sideways in the most “Oh, sh!t, we’re screwed” horror film fashion.

Following the widespread acclaim for his original 11-minute short, Istanbul-born Can Evrenol expanded it to feature length, and has given us a deeply unsettling work that relies as much on tone and mood as it does on repulsive and gory imagery.

Crediting Eli Roth for the decision to expand to feature length (after seeing the short at the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya--aka Sitges--Roth reportedly asked if there was a feature script version of it), Evrenol himself describes it as both “… a micro-budget arthouse shocker” and “… a glamorous, surreal, and very dark movie.”

Whatever it is, it’s disturbing and compelling and f*cked up, and eminently deserving of some ¡Qué horror! love.

(Baskin OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

2016 SUMMER KOMIKON RELEASES

Yes, after its marked absence last year, Summer Kon is back, and will be held on April 16 at the Bayanihan Center on Pioneer, just in time for.

Five!

New!

Issues!

The ‘Verse will be attending, and we sure hope to see all you mighty fine folk there…

Debuting at this year’s Summer Kon:

DAKILA: Metronom

Issues 2 & 3 (of 3)

By David Hontiveros and Romnick Magbanua

Before anything else…

First DAKILA story arc to reach completion!

Yay, us!

Now, on to the road to compilation…

Ahem.

Your name is Brandon Ramirez and you’ve been a geek your whole life: comics, movies, RPGs, cosplay.

And now you’re officially the world’s first superhero, as evidenced by the cape, the mask, the totally ripped physique, and those crazy-awesome powers.

Higher agencies seem to have conspired to steer you right into that skintight outfit.

We have only one question: How’s that working out for you?

There’s been an angel murder, and an attempted angel murder.

Who’s on the case?

Gil Grissom? Mac Taylor? Or (Heaven help us!) Horatio Caine?

Nuh-uh!

Dakila’s on the case!

Featuring three characters previously seen in Tatsulok: A Vision of Dust (though probably not the three you’re thinking of, plus one of them looks a whole lot different now).

Dakila. 18 years old. Cosmic champion.

All of a sudden, acne and getting a driver’s license are so not a big deal anymore.

DAKILA: Makadaot

Issue 1 (of 3)

By David Hontiveros and Carl Corilla

Fatima helps Demetrio out, and they both run into some trouble in Perdida.

Oh, and Dakila shows up!

Wait.

Was that a spoiler?

URIEL: Hekhalot

Issue 3B (of 4)

By David Hontiveros and Michael Urbano

Uriel is a mighty arel, held in reverence and awe by his fellow arelim, feared and despised by the shedim hordes.

And right now, his fate and existence lie in the hands of his seven-year-old mortal charge, Maleck de los Santos.

Uriel has a throwdown with Malael in the diabul, while, back in the oikoumene, the good Doctor Perez goes totally nutballs!

PLUS!

For some extra-‘Verse action…

BATHALA: Apokalypsis

Issue 6B (of 7)

By David Hontiveros and Ace Enriquez

What if there was only one superhuman in the whole world?

What if the world was about to end as predicted in the Book of Revelation?

What can one superman do to hold back the hand of the Almighty?

Bathala faces the savage baalim, and the cracks in the UP’s New World Order gradually become visible.

Plus, a new power! And (Gasp!) a new weakness!

PLUS PLUS!

I’ve received intel that there will also be a LOST JOURNAL presence at the Summer Kon, so keep your eyes peeled for that, too. (Hopefully, you guys can stretch your budgets so you can pick up some ‘Verse stuff and the LOST JOURNAL…)

And there you go.

Hope to see all you mighty fine folk at the Summer Kon!

And send some good karma our way to help with the Metronom compilation, which will be (as all ‘Verse compilations are meant to be) remastered for a bigger page size, and should include some fresh backmatter!

you can’t drink just six,

Dave