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Tag: horror comics
Motor City Nightmares – Why You Should Attend
When you saw this headline, you might have wondered if I was veering from the usual type of article by promoting the Motor City Nightmares horror convention. This could not be further from the truth. Not only are the convention and convention promoters friends of the store, the show has something to offer even to comic book collectors who are not die-hard horror fans. As you read on, you will understand why you should hear about Motor City Nightmares on a comic book site and why I would be suggesting you give it a shot.
Never cut in line at Motor City Nightmares
Motor City Nightmares
Motor City Nightmares 2013 will be held at Sheraton Detroit Novi Hotel (in Novi) from April 26-28 and it is both a horror convention and film festival. I covered the event in 2011 for another site and had a blast as it is one of the best horror convention to attend. Lucky for us, Motor City Nightmares is a Detroit area horror convention so we do not have far to go. I would be attending this year if it were not for the fact I will be out of town on those dates.
Who’s Coming?
Danielle Harris – ‘Nuff said
There will be over two dozen celebrities signing autographs and mingling with fans throughout the weekend. Some of the highlights include Michael Rooker (Merle from The Walking Dead), Doug Bradley (Pinhead) James Russo (who is making his first horror con appearance), Kane Hodder (Jason), Sid Haig, Danielle Harris, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Ken Foree, Dee Wallace, Michael Berryman, and John Russo.
The Parties
A definite highlight of the Motor City Nightmares horror convention weekend would have to be the parties. You will have the chance to share a drink next to (or with) celebrities attending the show. This is a unique opportunity to see the celebrities with their hair down. There will also be performances by such bans as First Jason, The Gutter Ghouls, and The Casket Bastards. The Casket Bastards are led by my buddy Davey Taylor who used to be known as Ded Dave (see shirt I occasionally wear in the store). The Casket Bastards are awesome live.
Yes, I am getting choked out by Kane Hodder at Motor City Nightmare
The Vendors
The convention hall at the Sheraton Novi is filled with vendors selling all types of wares during Motor City Nightmares. If you are a collector who like to find deals on horror comics (like myself), this is the place to be. I added many issues to my collection when I attended a few years ago. Don’t worry, there are also tons of vendors selling non-comic items if you are looking for the right horror movie toy or memento.
The Film Festival
Part of the floor at Motor City Nightmares
The Motor City Nightmares Film Festival is a great way to break up your convention day and check out films from up-and-comers or from smaller production houses. As of this writing, the listing of films was not up yet, but should be soon. Many of the films show at multiple times in multiple auditoriums on the property, so you might not end up having to miss one for another.
Your Option
If you are looking for something to do during the days of April 26-28, I suggest checking out Motor City Nightmares. Even if you are not a die-hard fan of horror, you are going to find something to spike your interest. If you are a die-hard horror movie fan who is going to be in town during the event, I suggest attending. You can thank me later.
For more information, check out the Motor City Nightmares site by following this link.
Horror Comics: Why We Need Them
Horror comics made a huge impact on the comic book culture in the 1950s until Congress and religious shop owners began to believe these mags were contributing to the delinquency of minors. Horror went out of the limelight for many years until Marvel and DC began to explore the subgenre once again. There are benefits to having horror in comics outside of simple sales.
Tales From the Crypt
When discussing horror comics, the first area we need to look at is the benefit for the reader. The essence of horror is to take a common fear and exploit it. Death, the most common fear, has been exploited in horror comics since their inception. We worry about what will happen to us when we die and we worry about painful deaths. These issues are explored en masse in the printed pages of scary comic books.
By reading stories which exploit our fears, we are able to collectively face them. If you pick up an old copy of EC, chances are going to be good that you will come across a fear you either deal with on a daily basis or one stuck in your subconscious. The brain is able to bring these fears up to the surface and deal with them which can help you overcome at least some of your fears eventually.
Say you are afraid of rats, for example, but you try to keep this fear surprised as much as possible. A short story horror comic on the H.P. Lovecraft tale “The Rats in the Walls” might bring these fears to light in your mind. When you realize the horrors facing the Last de La Poer in the story are simply made for the story, you might realize how silly your fear of rats has become over the years.
Horror comics are often black and white so comic book publishers do not have to hire an inker for the title and can save a little money on ink when printing each copy. Of course, the publishers still charge the same cover price as the full-color titles in their lineups, so a few cents might be saved per issue. If a publisher is able to keep decent profits coming in, it stays strong and is able to stay around for many years to come.
Comic book publishers can push the envelope further in horror comics than in superhero titles. When Michonne attacked The Governor in The Walking Dead, most readers saw graphic displays of violence they had never seen in comics. Since TWD is a horror comic by nature, it is more fitting to see a stressed woman torture the man who raped her than it would be to see Peter Parker torture one of his adversaries.
By pushing the envelope in horror comics, publishers can gauge what level of violence they can place in other titles. In the early to mid-1970s when Marvel began to produce titles such as Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf By Night, the publisher filled the pages with more graphic content than seen in The Incredible Hulk or Daredevil. The other superhero titles began to tilt slightly up in violent content as readers became accustomed to seeing death in the horror titles. I am a firm believer that we would have never seen Electra graphically killed in Daredevil had the envelope not been pushed by the horror comics.
Horror comics benefit the reader, the publishers, and the market as well. They have helped us to deal with our fears, helped publishers keep some costs down, and allowed publishers to make their titles more realistic over the years. Celebrate horror comics as they are an important part of the base which the comic book industry was built upon.
