Hey everyone, thanks for coming back. This update’s going to be a short one, and we will be taking a look at IDW’s “IT! THE TERROR FROM BETOND SPACE,” a 3 issue mini series based on the old 1958 black and white Sci-Fi film that has been released on DVD and VHS via MGM’s Midnight Movie line. MGM’s Midnight Movie line was a great way to own and re-watch classic films, and with the mass amount of this type of horror and sci-fi films in their vault, this was the perfect way to get them out, but like all good things, the label came to an end when MGM started to have major money issue that almost led to them being closed down for good. And that’s a shame; this DVD line had so much potential and made cult genre fans very happy.
Some of the best films to come out from this line besides IT! Terror from Beyond Space include The Return of Dracula, Motel Hell, The Angry Red Planet, The Raven, The Vampire Lovers, The Beast Within, Theater of Blood, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again!, Reptilicus, Konga, Countess Dracula, Count Yorga Vampire, Deranged and so many more amazing films. MGM, if you’re reading this, please bring the line back and get films like The Town That Dreaded Sundown on DVD!
Has anyone else noticed the huge boom in very attractive girls loving nerdy stuff? I work part time in a comic store and more and more, you see these amazing girl next-door types buying comics and Magic The Gathering cards and don’t seem to be ashamed of the fact they are. Plus I have been seeing and hearing more and more about cosplay becoming super popular with women who want to dress up as their favorite game/comic/movie character, and I for one am okay with this trend! It’s nice to see people not hiding what they like and coming right out and showing fellow fans how much they do as well. Say what you will, but my hat is off to you women of the world who embrace your nerdy ways! When I was a teen, my best friend was a girl and she used to say if I bought her a Wonder Woman costume she would have worn it. Looking back, I should have bought that costume. And just for fun here’s some women who dress like their favorite heroes, enjoy!
And how about some more!! I mean you can never have to many pictures of attractive girls dressed as your favorite fantasy characters.
And hell, why not a few more. The first girl is Ivy Doomkitty, my favorite of all the cosplay girls and she can truly pull off the Mrs. Marvel look, don’t you think?
IT! Terror From Beyond Space is a 1958 black and white Sci-Fi film directed by Edward L. Cahn and was distributed by United Artist. The story has a group on a rescue mission to Mars. They find only one survivor who they think killed his crewmates in order to survive. The journey home turns into a nightmare as an alien is aboard the ship and looking to kill them all. The film starred Marshall Thompson, Ray Corrigan, Shirley Patterson and Kim Spalding and is considered a cult classic. The film also inspired Ridley Scott’s classic 1979 film, Alien. The first time I saw this film was on a cruddy beat up VHS tape. It was late at night. I used to put horror films on before I would go to bed and fall asleep to them, but for some reason I was glued to this film and spent the whole time watching before I fell asleep. I remember loving the look of the creature and thinking they should have made a sequel. The film has been released on DVD and VHS, and has had a model kit made of the alien as well as a different comic book back in 1993. IT! The Terror From Beyond Space is a must see film for fans of Alien, The Thing From Another World, Mars Attacks or even War of the Worlds.
Now that we all have IT! on the brain, let’s get down to looking at IDW’s take on the classic Sci-Fi film. Remember I grade these on a standard 1-4 star rating and base it on entertainment value, quality of the story, the art and how true it stays to the source martial. So, onto the reviews.
IT! Terror From Beyond Space # 1 ***
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW Comics #1 of 3
The year is 1973, and spaceship Challenge 141 has gone missing on the planet Mars. Challenge 142 has been sent on a rescue mission to save any survivors if found. This rescue mission is run by Colonel Van Heusen and his team that consists of Ann Anderson his one time lover and scientist, security officer James Colder, husband and wife Eric and Mary Royce (he’s the fixer, she’s a doctor) and last is young rookie Joe who is the cleaner. But when they get to Mars, they find the missing ship destroyed and only one survivor Colonel Edward Caruthers. Things point to foul play as gun shots and skulls are found with bullet holes. The crew takes off, as Van wants to get Caruthers to trial for murder, all the while Caruthers is speaking of an IT that killed his crew. But something is on the ship brought on by Colder, and whatever it is gets Joe as issue one comes to an end.
This first issue is a fun sci-fi adventure that sets the story up and gets us closer to the characters on this doomed ship. While not much action happens here, it’s the slow build up and the flashback of Caruthers story that makes the atmosphere spooky and cheesy. Van Heusen comes off as a self-centered jackass who is more into himself then really trying to find out what happened to the “missing”/”dead” crew. Plus it’s clear he likes to still push Ann’s buttons. Ann seems to be the one more into facts and finding the truth about the accident and Mars. Also, not much is shown to why Colder brought the frozen alien on board that kills Joe in the end, making for some mystery. The other side storyline that comes to an end in this issue is the affair Mary is having with Joe, making you look down on each. See that’s the best part about this issue, each character has something about them that draws you in. While this is not a comic book version of the film, it’s a nice take on the film’s universe that shows what happened several years after, keeping the story alive. The alien at the end is puzzling though and looks nothing like the film’s IT. Over all this has a solid plot, good classic style art and characters that have depth. I can’t wait to read issue 2!
IT! Terror From Beyond Space # 2 ***
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW Comics #2 of 3
Caruthers has a bad feeling, and he and Van go to the lower level of the ship and find Joe’s body and a very pissed off alien who wants them dead. With the help of Colder, they manage to retrieve Joe’s body and escape and capture IT below. Van and Crew now all believe Caruthers and come up with a plan to use poison gas on IT, hoping to kill it once and for all. Mary meanwhile is heart broken over the death of her secret lover and finds out his body has been drained of all moisture, making her an emotional mess. The poison gas plan backfires, and Van is seriously injured during the attempt. They pull back again and come up with a new plan and to get Van medical help. In the end it’s shown that Colder brought IT aboard unknowingly via orders from the Pentagon, and this makes Mary very upset and she pulls a gun on Colder. And this ends issue 2, let’s see how the pay off comes in issue 3.
This issue makes all look grim as Van could be dying, Mary might blow Colder’s head off and IT is still on the ship looking to kill. This comic series feels like a classic film serial and is delivering on a fast paced fun ride and ending on cliffhangers that I am sure made classic Sci-Fi fans happy. But fans of the film might be a little annoyed with IT who looks 100% nothing like he does in the film. It’s clear in this issue that Ann and Caruthers are going to have to be the ones who save themselves and the crew from IT, as Van bull headedly rushed into his plan that left him with a cut to the guts. The panels of them trying to use the poison gas against IT are well done and show how bad ass the creature is as the gas doesn’t even phase him nor do their shock guns. Action, suspense and drama are here as this issue brings us one step closer to finding out if the crew or IT is going to win. Once more the plot, art and entertainment are here and make for a very good read. So let’s not waste any time and jump into issue 3!
IT! Terror From Beyond Space # 3 ***
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW Comics #3 of 3
All Hell breaks loose in this issue as Mary fires and misses Colder, and then they all must patch things up and forgive and forget to work together to try and stop IT from killing them all. The plan goes wrong as Van awakens in a fever fury and Ann must stop him for good before he kills them all, and Colder and Eric become IT food! Mary figures out the monsters weakness and alongside Ann and Caruthers they set IT up to overdose on water, its only true weakness. But like all plans, one of the crew members as well dies as Mary becomes the bait. In the end Caruthers and Ann must travel home with an unbelievable story and face the government for killing its creature.
Issue 3 brings the story home and is a pure blood bath as IT seems to want to feed on all the humans aboard the ship. The not so shocking yet effective thing in this issue is the fact only two of the characters survive and fall in love. They also step up the blood in this one as people are killed in brutal ways, as IT seems to want to feed on the human bodies’ moisture. By the end you feel bad for all those who lost their lives and find that Mary, while a dirty cheater, was still a great person with a sense of loyalty and love. This is a nice fast paced way to end this mini series and has enough horror, action and drama to please fans of horror comics. This is something I love to see, a great mini series with not a weak issue present.
While it takes names and places from the source material (in this case the film), the makers of the comic retold it and changed things to make it their own, and it works very well! The way the twist and turns happen in the comic help add to the suspense and changing the creature’s weakness from none to water was also a nice move and fans of the movie SIGNS should take a liking to it. IT’s look in the film is better than in the comic as for some reason the comic version reminded me of a giant frog with teeth, making it not as scary as it should be. I give credit to IDW for making this line of comics based on MGM’s Midnight Movies, and while so far only Motel Hell has joined IT, I still find the idea to be one that I hope gets further explored. Over all IT! Terror From Beyond Space is a fun mini series that was worth checking out for an old Horror/Sci-Fi fan like myself. I got these issues from the artist and writers direct at the comic convention called The Gem City Comic Con at Wright State University.
So now for a bonus I want to throw in a review for an old Gold Key comic based on the WB Looney Tune characters Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat. The best thing about this is the fact Sylvester is my second favorite Looney Tune character, and Tweety is my least favorite. Growing up Looney Tunes was super popular, and I can’t count the times I rented old VHS tapes from the local library to watch. My Brother and I both would watch it on TV when ever it was on. Sylvester always peeked my interest because I think he is a huge underdog who just wants to eat an annoying bird that torments and hurts him any chance he can. Tweety is a pompous ego manic who hides behind his high childish voice, and oh so sweet nature to be a complete A-Hole! I despise Tweety and everything he stands for, but I have noticed something about him and that’s girls seem to love that yellow bird. Many, many years back I had a girlfriend that was 19, who was cutesy and she loved Tweety bird, not sure why but she did, she even talked about at one time getting a Tweety Tramp Stamp (Lower Back Tattoo)! I think I would have had to leave her if she got that….I hate that bird!
But with that let’s get into this short review for issue # 43, and remember I grade these on a scale of 1-4 and base it on entertainment value, plot, how true it is to the source material and art. Thanks to Game Swap Kettering for this issue!
Tweety and Sylvester # 43 **
Released in 1975 Cover Price .25 Gold Key Comics #43 of 102
This issue is cut up into 4 short stories, and the first is “Back To Nature” with Sylvester wanting to go back to his roots. He and Tweety go to the jungle only for him to realize that he misses TV and air conditioning. 2nd is “Food for Thought” and has Sylvester pretending to be a vegetarian even going to meetings, but his cover is blown while at the meeting Tweety crawls in between pieces of bread tempting him and showing him as a liar. “Photo Finish” is the 3rd story and has Sylvester taking pictures of Tweety to win $10.00 from a newspaper photo contest. He wins and wants to buy his own bird to eat but the shop owner has a dog who wants to meet him in the ally. The final story is “Tat Trouble” has Sylvester trying to capture a burglar, but before he captures him, he also captures the Milk Man, Newspaper boy and many others!
This issue is a little boring and each story follows the same format. While that’s just like the cartoon, I feel it’s more fun to watch then it is to read. Three out of the four stories also have Tweety and Sylvester almost being friends and having mini little adventures with each other. To me, this takes it away from the source material and makes it feel like a fan made comic series. If I had to choose out of the 4 stories, my favorite would have to be“Food for Thought,” just for the clever use of vegetables, nuts and an AA style meeting. The cover is pretty classic slapstick stuff, and while generic, the stories are fun and goofy. I will say the art is pretty bad and Sylvester looks like a fat imitation who has blue eyes in some sections. Plus why does Sylvester talk normal without his lisp? Over all I am sure for the time this was a fun way for kids to have extra adventures of Tweety, but by today’s standards this is a cheap cash in that has only a base of the source material and just didn’t deliver, nor did it make for some fun retro style reading.
So in this update we learned about MGM’s Midnight Movies, took a look at IDW’s IT mini series, drooled over cute nerd chicks, looked at Sylvester and Tweety and you got to know a little more about my weird boring life. Next update, we should take a look at IDW’s 3 issue mini-series based on the farmer slasher film MOTEL HELL! So get your beef jerky ready, and fire up your chainsaw ’cause we are going to go down to the farm!
Rotten Ink 