Well, Fantastic Fest has a way of changing my life completely in the months of September and October; I am completely focused on the films and then I work for 500 days to pay for that week off. Catching up is quite a chore (but a fun one) and, sure enough, there were huge piles of awesome waiting for me and I’ve diligently been plowing through the mass as quickly as possible. Besides the joy of discovery (or re-discovery) it also means I’ve got enough stuff to do another one of these articles so enough of this badinage and on with the comic-book heavy show!

WDTV: Thanks to Byron Kelly I am now in possession of one of the coolest devices ever invented for television. Basically a codec box with 2 USB slots and an HDMI port, this box will play anything from a hard drive (thanks Magnificent Bastard) on your HDTV. I believe we’ve all been around long enough to know what this is all about but this thing is scary in it’s capability and I look forward to many, many months of testing the capabilities of this wondrous marvel of technology. Let me just say that Escape from New York(1981) and The Day the Earth Stood Still(1951) in 1080p have never looked so good!

Cthulhu Heroclix: I also had a birthday at the end of September and good old Mexomorph took my love of Cthulhu and completely raised the bar. I have a lot of Lovecraftian paraphernalia (all of it awesome) but never got around to getting a physical representation (read: toy) of the Great Master. That has now changed. 16″ of cosmic hate, The Great Cthulhu is stepping forward, ready to reclaim what is his, tentacles flailing and open sores all over his amorphous frame. I don’t care one whit about the game, this is one hell of an intricately sculpted figure and one of the more bad-ass things I’ve ever received. Right now he is positioned on top of the Blu-Ray player, ready to impose his will in high definition. Sacrifices to it have already occurred and if I could find my copy of the Necronomicon life would sure take a different turn for everyone.

Nathan Hamilton: I normally don’t pick people but Mr. Hamilton goes overboard every gift-giving opportunity and I would be remiss if I did not, with humble gratitude, give him a shout-out. Among other amazing things, Mr. Hamilton wowed me by exploiting my weakness: comics. I received the brilliant and highly recommend Sting of the Black Widow Hardcover, reprinting Marvel Comics super-spy’s first appearance, first modern costume, Amazing Adventures 1-8 (her first solo adventures) and the first Daredevil team-up; a copy of Devil Dinosaur #1, the oddly brilliant Jack Kirby series about a red tyrannosaurus rex and his human companion Moon Boy as they adventure in”Dinosaur World,” a parallel universe where dinosaurs and humans co-exist – chock full of roaring and stomping the hell out of stuff; as well as a copy of Adventure into Fear #19, the first appearance of Howard the Duck!! Not only completing chunks of my collection but quite the cost-prohibitive presents. Muchas gracias, Mr. Hamilton.

Rug Cop(2006): One of the best films of Fantastic Fest 2007, Rug Cop is a brilliant parody of 1970s cop shows. Terrorists have stolen some uranium and demand a huge amount of cash for it’s return. It’s up to detective Genda and his crack team of operatives to solve the crime armed with their own unique talents and the awesome power of Genda’s projectile toupee! Any comedy that packs this much action and tops it all off with a super-powered hairpiece should automatically head your viewing list. Available now on special edition DVD and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

“Rug Cop” trailer

Dominic Fortune: Howard Chaykin returns to the character he made famous in the 1980s and he, if it’s even possible, has gotten better. Chaykin continues to blow me away with his unique page layouts, keen eye for fashion and innovative storytelling techniques. Dominic Fortune is a 1930s era swashbuckler/mercenary/stuntman who’s job, as Chaykin himself has stated, is to “baby sit three hell-raising Hollywood stars on a junket from Los Angeles to New York to the Berlin Olympics. Along the way, he uncovers a sinister international conspiracy.” Really that’s all you need to know. Chock full of sex, cultural pot-shots and relentless action, coupled with Chaykin’s mastery of the comic book form solidifies it’s place next to American Flagg on the bookshelf of groundbreaking graphic storytelling… and issue 3 hits this month! Chaykin is so good that during Austin Books’ Labor Day Sale I flirted with financial ruin by acquiring the Hulk Magazine issues Chaykin painted in the 80s and they are equally as brilliant, fully painted and even more innovative for the time. Anything by Chaykin is must-buy so what are you waiting for? Get to the comic store, pronto!

The Children: England does it again with this wicked little tale about children who catch a virus and become murderous killing machines, turning on their parents in a hugely violent manner. Very unsettling and creepy with a relentless pace and some extremely clever camera shots, The Children elevates itself from being a mere Village of the Damned(1960) or Omen(1976) rip-off due to the terrific casting, smart script and a brilliantly relentless pace. Though there is some gore, and flat-out dead kids (another taboo shattered), the film prefers to build tension and suspense as the main method of delivering horror. The movie defies expectations at every turn and stands as one of the freshest horror films to come out in the last few years. See this Movie!!

“The Children” trailer