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.

Road to Justice: Batman '66

Batman
Directed by: Leslie H. Martinson
Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin
Released: 1966
Watched: August 24th, 2015

Thoughts Before: I haven't seen this one, though I do have a basic familiarity with the most common tropes of this show. Knowing that there is going to be an overdose of cheese I think it should be easier to take. Still expecting to groan more than anything though.

Road to Justice

I know I'm still in the middle of Summer of Screams, which I hope to still get a few more entries in even if it slips a bit into September, but time is of the essence. On March 28th, 2016 Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice is coming to theaters, and on that day we will be ready. This is the Road to Justice.

Road to Justice Schedule

For no good reason a friend and I have planned out a thirty one week long movie marathon, to watch every single DC related movie before Dawn of Justice comes out. Our schedule will bring us right up to the week of release. There's a lot of garbage to trudge through, and sadly a lot of garbage I had hoped to keep out of my life forever, but we're committed. I've decided to write my thoughts on these movies, as what would be a better time to do so? Expect one movie a week.

These blogs will probably be pretty short in general, I plan to briefly talk about my thoughts going into the film, whether I've seen it or not and what I'm expecting. Then a bit about my thoughts on the movie having freshly seen it. I've also looked into a lot of bonus material to watch alongside these movies (old serials, old cartoons, fan films, cartoon shorts, etc.) and I'll talk about them as well (didn't watch anything along with the first movie though sadly). To finish each one off I'll write about the best part of the movie or the worst part of the movie, depending on what stands out more.

As always, a sincere thank you to anyone who visits here regularly, or even just stumbles on this and gives it a serious look through. Refer to the schedule for the movies here, or above, if you want to watch along, or just want to see when I'll get around to talking about specific movies. We did have to drop a few, and a few are technically TV pilots, but I wanted to include as much stuff as possible. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I'm sure too! And yes, I did plan out a Marvel movie marathon, but that won't come around until early 2018.

-Adam

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.

Freemium Perdition: Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light

Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light
Super Light RPG
1 Player
System: Android
Developer: Square Enix
Year of Release: 2015

I should not be able to play this game. It was released in Singapore, meaning it has a full English translation, but isn't officially released. Of course it is free to play, and if you can find the apk files for it you can easily install it on your android device and give it a shot. It's a strange feeling getting to play a new Dragon Quest in English, especially when even with a full English translation they still don't give it to us. Square Enix, you guys are scum bags. I speak for the entire West when I ask that you stop holding Dragon Quest games hostage, but of course you won't listen. Damn.

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.

Farewell Iwata: Balloon Fight

Balloon Fight
Balloon Arena Fighter
1-2 Players
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Year of Release: 1985
Beaten: Years ago on Animal Crossing!

On July 11th, 2015, Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, passed away suddenly. He contributed to several quality games early in his career and rose through the ranks quickly from programmer, to president of HAL Labs, to president of Nintendo. I can't find many games that he was the lead programmer of, as he mostly helped solve complex problems with other games. The earliest game I could find that he was mostly responsible for is Balloon Fight, a quirky game that always stuck out to me for some reason.

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.

Games I Beat: Gun

Gun
Mostly Open World Western
1 Player
System: Playstation 2
Developer: Neversoft
Year of Release: 2005
Beaten: July 5th, 2015

With Red Dead Redemption being one of my favorite games of all time, and Red Dead Revolver not quite living up to it's sequel, it's a damn shame I've waited so long to play Gun. While limited in scope due to the year it came out, the game still manages to feel mostly like an accurate depiction of the Old West. There are many tropes in the genre, and many of them show up here. Vengeance, corrupt lawmen, working alongside "savages" to take them down, storming a fort with cannons, a past that reflects the heroes eventual destiny, it's all here. I understand many don't enjoy the genre, and for those people I highly doubt this will win them over, but for fans, this game is a special treat well worth hunting down.