Summer of Screams: Man-Thing (Fear #10-19)

Man-Thing (Adventures into Fear #10-19)
Written by Gerry Conway (10), Steve Gerber (11-19)
Drawn by Harry Chaykin (10), Rich Buckler (11), Jim Starlin (12), Val Mayerik (13-19)
Published by Marvel
Released 1972

Man-Thing is a character I wasn't too familiar with. Sure I knew that which knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing, but beyond that I wasn't too familiar with the big slimy oaf. First appearing in Adventures into Fear, which started out as just Fear for the first nine issues (which look to be just reprints of older stories), the book started focusing on Man-Thing with issue ten. There were still a couple back up stories, mostly fairly lame horror stories, but wound up phasing them out completely by issue fifteen. For ten issues Man-Thing carried the book, setting up the character rather effectively. The real main character though has to be the narration, Man-Thing doesn't think in a traditional manner of speaking, and these narrations boxes drive that point home really well.

Summer of Screams: Salad Fingers Where's May Gone Act 1

Salad Fingers Where's May Gone - Act 1
Point and Click Adventure
1 Player
System: PC
Developer: Geg Games
Year of Release: 2015
Available Here

Salad Fingers is an incredibly odd phenomenon. My group of friend stumbled upon in him back in early high school, and it's quirky style was right up our mostly demented alley. David Firth is the man behind Salad Fingers, and while Salad Fingers and his lust for rust is thoroughly entertaining, he has done some other really great, creepy, off the wall short cartoons that I truly adore. You can find it all on his website, Fat-Pie. Sadly I'm not here to talk about David Firth and all of his off beat creations. I'm here to talk about a very strange, seemingly fan, effort to turn Salad Fingers into a video game. On the one hand I'm certainly not against the idea, especially not in the form of a point and click adventure game, but from the get go things seem amateurish.

Summer of Screams: Wanpaku Graffiti - Splatterhouse

Wanpaku Graffiti - Splatterhouse
Horror 'Em Up
1 Player
System: Famicom
Developer: Namcot
Year of Release: 1989
Beaten: July 4th, 2015
Translation: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/212/

Splatterhouse, a horror beat 'em up series, is a series I didn't get into until it was all over actually, a new one came out for the PS3/360 several years after the entry prior to that and sadly it seems like it didn't sell well enough for Namco to keep the series going. A damn shame, but like the terror mask itself, the series could see another resurrection someday. The PS3 entry is the one that I first played, and I absolutely loved it. There were some frustrating moments, but for the most part the game was delightful. Odd use of the word I suppose. The first three games in the series were all collected on the new version which is amazing, so I was able to play almost the entire series. Wanpaku Graffiti is a Famicom exclusive game with a strange "SD" take on the franchise. "SD" meaning super-deformed, basically chibi. If it's all gobbledegook to you, it just means it's a cutesy take on the series, a well established horror series. The result is surprisingly great.

Summer of Screams: Luigi's Mansion

Luigi's Mansion
Who Ya Gunna Call Action
1 Player
System: Gamecube
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Year of Release: 2001
Beaten: A while back

As a launch title, and the first "real" game starring Luigi (Mario is Missing! preceded it, but I'm not sure if Nintendo really recognizes that game) Luigi's Mansion was honestly a bit of a let down. I wish I could say I saw past the weird premise and was looking forward to the game, but worse than any negative feelings towards the game I was wholly apathetic. Eventually I wound up playing a friend's copy and realized just what a pleasant game awaited. Years later, and out of seemingly nowhere, a sequel came out for the 3DS. While it changed the overall game progression a bit the same ghost vacuuming action was left intact.

Summer of Screams: Through the Woods

Through the Woods
Written and Drawn by Emily Carroll
Published by Independent
Released 2014

Fun fact, I've had a fully written and edited blog entry for a non-WTF comic book finished since March. I haven't posted it for some fairly idiotic reasoning revolving around how I want the picture of the cover to look. Needless to say I am throwing all that concern out the window to write about this comic. I'd never really heard of Emily Carroll before I discovered this delightful little bundle of stories. Apparently she makes creepy comics and posts them all the time on her website. If you're interested, check it out.

Summer of Screams: It Follows

It Follows
Directed by: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto
Released: 2014 (Cannes)/2015

Like any good horror story, I can't really recall where I heard about this movie from. After looking it up on Rotten Tomatoes my interest was split, while it had high ratings, the description was a little iffy. "After a strange sexual encounter, a teenager finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something is after her." I'm so glad I decided to give it a go. It seems a little odd to say, but this awkward little movie is a contender among my top favorite horror movies.

Summer of Screams

Hullo all, after a month away I'm ready to get back into this blog. I finished up another term of school, and have just been relaxing since. Unless a job opportunity presents itself I'm looking at a couple of months of free time, and that will hopefully show here. Weirdly, I've been really in the mood for some spooky scary skeleton type of stuff, horror films, comics, games, whatever. Usually I like to wait until October to celebrate Halloween with spooky stuff, but at this point I'm beyond human reason. So through August expect sporadic posts about spooky scary skeletal horror material that sends shivers down your spine.

As per usual I don't have too strict of a plan heading into this, but I'm going to post normal blogs alongside any Summer of Screams entries. Like I said, I could talk about just about anything if it's spooky scary at all, and I have something to say about it. I already have a few really good ideas in mind as I just watched and read some pretty spooky things. If anyone happens to read this and knows of some good horror stuff I'd love to hear about it! If it's really unknown I'm more likely to write about it, but I'm sure there are plenty of more mainstream horror goodness I've managed to avoid somehow.

Thank you so much to anyone who reads and enjoys this blog! I hope you enjoy my romp down horror lane, hopefully we survive the trip!
-Adam