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With Further Ado #234: The Next Time I Die – Review

With Further Ado #234: The Next Time I Die – Review

Posted on by Ed Catto

Before we “cut the cord” for TV, we really enjoyed spending a chunk of New Year’s Day watching The Twilight Zone Marathon on the SyFy channel. They show episode after episode. There’s something special about being immersed in Rod Serling’s alternate realities for more than just the usual ½ hour episode. There’s a creepiness, and a paranoia and sense of reflection that ensnarls your brain. You begin to look at the world a little differently.

If you are like me, you almost expect Rod Serling to be standing off to one side, in your living room or kitchen, smoking a cigarette, and intoning some clever little summary that usually ends with the phrase “The Twilight Zone”.

Reading Jason Starr’s thriller, The Next Time I Die, is like spending a few hours in the Twilight Zone. It’s compelling, thought-provoking, more-than-a-little creepy and wickedly delicious.

As this thriller is published by one of my favorite imprints, Hard Case Crime, it’s more mystery/noir than science fiction. And that works fine. Like the best Film Noir thrillers, there is a sense that you, as the reader, are plunged into a nearly out-of-control situation and you’re hurtling along at 100 mph. Continue reading “With Further Ado #234: The Next Time I Die – Review” →

With Further Ado #187: A Trick of the Light – Review

With Further Ado #187: A Trick of the Light – Review

Posted on by Ed Catto

I don’t think I even know about the genre that Aly Fell’s A Trick of the Light pays homage to. Nonetheless, I was impressed by this book just the same.  This gorgeous 40-page comic is inspired by British Girl Comics of the 1960s and 1970s.

This story tells the tale of two Brit school teachers on a sunny day. They are off to have a romantic dalliance, but all isn’t quite what it seems.  Fell’s phenomenal art is breathtakingly brilliant – sweet and soaring while grounded in solid storytelling. His skill at depicting figures, emotions, automobiles, and landscapes is even more engaging when coupled by his clever compositions and cinematic sense of storytelling.

I stumbled across Fell’s artwork a while back. About a dozen years ago, Asylum Press had sent copies of their books to our consulting firm, Bonfire Agency.  Fell’s covers stood out.  They were designed to stop readers in their tracks – gorgeous women in macabre situations with masterful painting and colors.

Not long after, Fell’s The Shadow Glass was published by IDW in 2017. This was a creepy story mixing occultists with a bit of Three Musketeers vibe.  A real treat to view and a master class for any artist who read it.

In my faculty role at Ithaca College’s School of Business, I often think about the undisputedly historical coolest faculty member of this college: Rod Serling. In fact, I was just teaching a class on Serling – trumpeting his creativity and spirit of entrepreneurism.  I realized that one of the reasons I like A Trick of the Light so much is that it has a “Twilight Zone” feel to it all.

Trick of the Light is (mostly) in glorious black and white and set in the 60s, like The Twilight Zone’s episodes. The creepy, not-fully explained story could easily have fit into an episode. In fact, I can almost hear Rod Serling teasing that “Maltson Secondary Modern school’s art teacher, Ruth Linwood, isn’t just going for a walking in the countryside, she is about to enter…. The Twilight Zone” if he had made one of his signature introductions to this story.

I backed this project from Fell’s Kickstarter. It exceeded all its goals (rightfully so). I’m glad I did.

Editor’s Note: This project was highlighted by PCS as a Kickstarter You Should Be Backing in November.

A Trick of the Light is available in a hard cover and softcover version, and I highly recommend you seek it out.

A Trick of the Light
by Aly Fell
Khabs in the Khu Press
IBSN: 978-0-9356746-6-4

With Further Ado #169: The Vast of Night

With Further Ado #169: The Vast of Night

Posted on by Ed Catto

Halloween is time for scary movies. That’s part of the fun. My utopian Halloween would consist of kids trick or treating, going to a killer (not literally) Halloween Party, and then settling in with a classic monster movie, preferably something from Hammer or Universal’s heyday.

And while we “meant” to watch a lot more movies during the recent Covid-19 lockdown times, we really didn’t, just a few here and there. I’m a little disappointed in myself, if I am to be honest with you.

Having shared that confession, it makes sense we missed The Vast of Night at first. I’m elated we finally stumbled across it. This is a brilliant indie film set in the 1950s at the pinnacle of the scary “Flying Saucer craze”.  It’s both creepy and gorgeous, a tribute to both small town Americana and the fears that bubble up from rural communities.

The heroes are an unlikely pair: a plucky teenager with a part time job, played by former Disney Channel actress Sierra McCormick, and a cool-cat radio DJ, played by Jake Horowitz. These two are actors to watch.

I’ve been learning about Rod Serling and enjoy teaching a bit about him.  Nick Parisi’s brilliant book, Rod Serling: His Life, Work and Imagination provided me with a such a rich background and dialing into Tom Elliot’s The Twilight Zone Podcast adds to my Serling knowledge.  Even so, I was really surprised to find that The Vast of Night takes place in a small town called Cayuga, New Mexico.  As you might know, Serling grew up and eventually returned to the Cayuga Lake area. He even taught classes at Ithaca College, far above Cayuga’s waters. Continue reading “With Further Ado #169: The Vast of Night” →

Brainiac On Banjo #085: Crossing The Stream

Brainiac On Banjo #085: Crossing The Stream

Posted on by Mike Gold

Star Wars! / Give me those Star Wars! / Nothing but… Star Wars / Don’t let them end — written by Nick Winters, 1977

With all the streaming at our fingertips, the entertainment business is making a lot of headlines promoting what they’re going to do once Earthlings return to mobility. But don’t get excited just yet: the only cameras operating right now are working Zoom and not Studio Binder. When Keith Richards self-quarantines, everyone should self-quarantine.

Next week’s launch of HBO Max has turned up the heat. Clearly, studios are concerned about competing for subscribers with promises of new content, which, at best, won’t appear until after the winter solstice. My take on HBO Max is simple: it’s goddamn expensive, and right now they’re running little but reruns. It’ll probably work out because they’re not promoting that fact. But reasonable bean-counters understand that few people are going to maintain subscriptions to HBO Max, Disney+, AppleTV, CBS All Access, Peacock Premium, and Amazon Prime – to name but a very few – all at once. That’s a lot of money, and it’s also more programming than one can handle. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo #085: Crossing The Stream” →

With Further Ado #075: Wake Up!

With Further Ado #075: Wake Up!

Posted on by Ed Catto

How’d it all go last night? Did you dance and party your brains out at the greatest event of the year? I hope there was a passionate midnight kiss involved.   Or are you one of those folks who leaves “Amateur Night” to others and got cozy on your couch watching episodes of The Twilight Zone?  I’m not judgey – both plans sound  pretty great to me.

Either way, you probably need a little coffee to get going today, and that’s the focus of this week’s column.

Death Wish Coffee Co. is a small business from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., one of my favorite places in the world. Founder Mike Brown has been on a mission to create the world’s strongest coffee and to fuel coffee drinkers not only each morning, but wherever they go. You might think that the coffee market is oversaturated, or dominated by big companies. It might seem like there’s no room for new ideas, but this is innovative company has been rocking it.  When they won Intuit’s “Small Business Big Game” competition in 2015, they were awarded a 30 second spot on the SuperBowl.

Brown and his team make a solid product with pride and strong ethics, and obviously have fun along the way.  In my classes, I teach college students how magical things happen at the intersection of entrepreneurism and creativity. And that’s the case here.

By Odin, ‘tis Glorious!

One of the things Death Wish Coffee did was create a comic book. It’s called Odinforce and now it’s become a series. Deathwish is just about to publish the third issue!  Continue reading “With Further Ado #075: Wake Up!” →

With Further Ado #037: Stepping into the Twilight Zone with Nick Parisi

With Further Ado #037: Stepping into the Twilight Zone with Nick Parisi

Posted on by Ed Catto

In one of those summers of my youth, my buddies and I would always wrap up our nightly mischief so that we could get home in time to watch The Twilight Zone reruns at 11 pm. The next day, my buddy David Locastro and I would eagerly ask one another, “Did you see that one last night?”  With our utmost fanboy authority, we’d begin to dissect the most recent episode.

Fast forward to late March when the 44th Annual Ithacon hosted Twilight Zone expert and Serling aficionado Nick Parisi. His recent book, Serling, His Life, Work and Imagination is a fascinating and engaging work. As Rod Serling was a professor at Ithaca College and Ithacon was exhibiting treasures from the Serling Archives this year, it made perfect sense to invite Parisi as a guest.

The show was great fun but, as all shows are, it was also a blur of activities. So, it was after Ithacon that I caught up with Nick to speak more about this book.

Ed Catto: So many of us grew up with The Twilight Zone and we all have our stories.  For me, I have fond memories of watching it on WPIX out of New York City. What was your interaction and how did you become so much of fan that you’re now an author and expert?

Nick Parisi: Ed, I have similar memories of WPIX. I started watching TZ on WPIX when I was nine or ten years old and I still remember the nightly schedule: The Odd Couple at 11, The Honeymooners at 11:30, Star Trek at midnight, and The Twilight Zone at 1 am. I would do my best to stay awake and I would usually make it! The show mesmerized me pretty much immediately and I became a fanatic for it pretty quickly. Then Marc Zicree’s Twilight Zone Companion came out and it kicked my fanaticism into another gear. That was a truly revolutionary book.  Continue reading “With Further Ado #037: Stepping into the Twilight Zone with Nick Parisi” →

ITHACON 44 celebrates Rod Serling & The Twilight Zone

ITHACON 44 celebrates Rod Serling & The Twilight Zone

Posted on by PCS Staff

Ithaca, N.Y. (March 14, 2019): The Comic Book Club of Ithaca is preparing for the 44th annual ITHACON, to be held Saturday, March 23rd and Sunday, March 24th at Ithaca College’s Emerson Suites.   To prepare for the 60th Anniversary of The Twilight Zone, and to celebrate the life of Finger Lakes native, Rod Serling, ITHACON is developing several special events for this year’s comic convention, including:

  • Twilight Zone Crossover & Mini-Marathon: Ithaca College’s Park School students honor the legacy of The Twilight Zone by creating their own short films based on minor characters in episodes from the original series. The four original Twilight Zone episodes used for inspiration will also be screened: “A Stop at Willoughby”, “The Silence”, “I Shot an Arrow into the Air” and “Penny for Your Thoughts”.
  • Serling Archives Display – Several rare items from the Serling Archives will be on loan and on display for attendees to view, celebrating the incredible creativity and fascinating life of Rod Serling.
  • Twilight Zone Mockulogues Contest – In honor of Rod Serling’s genius and the 60th anniversary of the Twilight Zone, attendees are invited to create their own Rod Serling inspired monologues. Contestants will be given time to prep and present their creation. Monologues will be judged based on various categories, including creativity. Prizes will be awarded. This event will be held at IC Square at Campus Center starting at 6:00 pm.
  • Nick Parisi, author of Rod Serling: His Life, Work and Imagination will be a featured guest. He will also be interviewed during an ITHACON Author’s Panel on Sunday at 1:00pm in the Taughannouck Falls room near the Emerson Suites Exhibition Hall.

As is tradition, ITHACON also provides a strong line-up of comic industry professionals, guests, including Walter Simonson, Louise Simonson, Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Bill Schanes, Craig Yoe and Sid Friedfertig. ITHACON is proud to host award-winning authors including Tamora Pierce and David Gerrold.

More information on ITHACON can be found on the official site (ithacon.org) and the facebook page Admission and parking are free for this event.

 

Pop Culture Squad member & columnist Ed Catto

With Further Ado #030: Twilight Zone Comics – Part 2

With Further Ado #030: Twilight Zone Comics – Part 2

Posted on by Ed Catto

There’s that old saying about imitation as the sincerest form of flattery.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the Twilight Zone, and I am focusing on that show, and Rod Serling, as it will all be a part of the 44 annual Ithaca Comic Convention.  My focus has expanded, and now I’m even taking a look at competitive, and or derivative, properties.

In the world of this particular niche – Twilight Zone type comics – I’m finding that imitation goes hand-in-hand with the notion of copy degradation. There’s less use of the actual Xerox machines today, but you understand the concept: every time you make a copy of a copy it tends to lose something. That’s exactly what I’m finding with comics series similar to Twilight Zone comics – copies of copies tend to lose something.

The Outer Limits was a science fiction anthology show from the Golden Age of Television. It was ushered in right about the time that The Twilight Zone was being ushered out by CBS. Despite scripts by top-notch writers (Harlan Ellison, Robert Towne, Joseph Stefano, etc.) and some great acting (Robert Culp, Jill Haworth, etc.), this series is often remembered as an also-ran to The Twilight Zone.  Continue reading “With Further Ado #030: Twilight Zone Comics – Part 2” →

With Further Ado #028: Submitted for Approval

With Further Ado #028: Submitted for Approval

Posted on by Ed Catto

Imagine a place and time where experts share their love and knowledge of every pop culture topic dear to them.  Now imagine you couldn’t find an expert on that one corner of pop culture you need to learn more about. There’s a signpost up ahead – next stop, the Twilight Zone.

That’s only fitting.  I’ve been trying to find an expert on Twilight Zone comics, and I keep coming up empty-handed.

It’s important for this big project I’m working on. This March 23 and 24th at ITHACON (the Ithaca Comic Convention), we’ll be celebrating the life and works of Rod Serling. You probably know him as the creator and host of the Twilight Zone, but he’s so much more. And he was a professor at Ithaca College, where they maintain his archives.  We’re going to display these amazing treasures for fans at ITHACON.  That will be a special treat as we also celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Twilight Zone.

There’s a lot of Twilight Zone authors and experts, but everyone seems to ignore the comics. 

Continue reading “With Further Ado #028: Submitted for Approval” →