Halloween Countdown 2009 Day 28: The Witching #2, #3 and #4

The Witching was a Vertigo series about the Triple Goddess and witchcraft that lasted for ten issues with Tara McPherson doing all the covers. Jonathan Vankin wrote all the stories and Leigh Gallagher did the pencils. I only have #2 (September 2004) titled "Earth Oddity", #3 (October 2004) titled "Who Let the Cats Out?" and #4 (November 2004) titled "All These Friends and Lovers". The Witching #2 did contain a collectible Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" poster (#3 of 6).

Halloween Countdown 2009 Day 15: The House of Secrets #147 and House of Secrets #3

Gray Morrow did the cover for The House of Secrets #147 (August/September 1977) for DC Comics. Abel the caretaker tries his hand at fixing the roof while vultures watch. The chilling tales include "A Gift of Evil" and "The See-Through Thief". "Abel's Fables" is a one page feature that gives a twist on the princess kissing a frog. Interesting ads includes three free baseball cards on Hostess treats, Daisy BB rifle, the Official Star Trek Poster Magazine, Crazy Crabs, the new Doom Patrol appearing in Showcase #94, a half page subscription ad, a half page Swamp Thing Saga ad, Five Star Superhero Spectacular (featuring Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Atom), one hundred toy soldier set in footlocker for only $1.75 and Sea World (featuring Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin on waterskis). This issue also features rules on entering the Great Superman Movie Contest. "The House of Secrets Speaks" is one page full of letters. The "Daily Planet" featured is volume 77, issue 20 with "Metal Men Vs. Dr. Strangeglove" as the main headline.


The House of Secrets #3 (December 1996) is the reboot of the series from Vertigo and features the third part of "Foundation". I am not too crazy about the art by Teddy Kristiansen, who also did the cover. Interesting ads include Mythos: The Final Tour, Preacher Special: The Story of You-Know-You and Millenium tv series.

Thrift Store Finds: Bat Masterson And Constantine

I found two books at a local thrift store this morning that I just could not pass up. The first was Bat Masterson by Wayne C. Lee with illustrations by Adam Szwejkowski that was published by Whitman in 1960. This was an authorized edition based on the television series starring Gene Barry. This is in better shape than the Annie Oakley in Danger at Diablo book that I found a few weeks ago at another thrift store for three dollars. The price of Bat Masterson only set me back a dollar.

The second book was Constantine by John Shirley published by Pocket Books in 2005. This is the novelization of the movie based on the Hellblazer comic book published by DC Comics under the Vertigo imprint. I actually enjoyed the movie but maybe it is because I have only read a handful of the comics. Constantine was also a dollar.

No Preacher For HBO

Comics Continuum reports MARK STEVEN JOHNSON: NO PREACHER ON HBO, which is a shame for I believe that the Vertigo comic series would make an interesting tv series. He refused to water down the content for the network. There is a rumor that someone is trying to get the rights to make a movie.

I have only read a few issues of Preacher and I liked it. My favorite character is Cassidy the vampire.