Cassie Hack and her large hulking friend Vlad hunt Slashers – think Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers.  This series is awesome.  It started as a bunch of mini-series and one shots (get the trades!) and is now an ongoing series.  And as you will see mentioned on the cover of every issue  Soon to be a Major Motion Picture.  God I hope they don’t screw it up.  I hope it’s more in vein with Batman Begins than the Fantastic Four movie or heaven forbid the Hulk.

The Walking Dead (Image – Robert Kirkman)

What happens when the Zombie hordes rise?  We go on living as best we can.  In this title we follow Rick and a group of survivors as they journey on to find  safe place to live.  A safe place where the zombies can’t get them.  The zombies are not the main focus in this book.  The people are.  It delves into just what something like this happening will do to them.  It messes with all of them to one degree or another and Kirkman does not shy away from the gruesome or grotesque.  Whether it is a zombie feeding or a person gone off the deep end doing insane crap.  7 Trades of this are out now.  I highly recommend picking them up at Amazon (check out my store link :)) or InStockTrades.com

Thirteen Steps (Desperado)

Justin has a problem.  He is a werewolf and he hunts.  Hunts for the whatever prey he can find.  Usually people unless he can lock himself up or get to a remote wooded area in time.  Knowing of the guilt he carries around, his ex-girlfriend – a succubus – gives him a place and time to go.  Turns out the monsters have a support group for those among them having trouble dealing with their lot in life…er…undeath…etc.  I love the quirky characters in this title.

Necessary Evil (Desperado)

Jacob and his twin brother discover their single mother’s secret job in the worst possible way – seeing her death portrayed on the evening news. Turns out their mother was a Super Villain. After 10 years bouncing through the foster system, they receive a note and map. The map leads to a top secret Super Villain school. This title is simply amazing. I love the concept and how they setup the initial dynamic between the two brothers and their future classmates.

The Astounding Wolf-Man (Image – Robert Kirkman)

Mixing the horror genre and superhero genre, Kirkman gives us a werewolf super hero with a vampire as his mentor! :)  There is nothing scarier than a spandex wearing 7 foot tall werewolf bearing down on you.  This title appears to be set in the Invincible universe – the Tailor fashions his costume for him.  The title is Bi-Monthly, but well worth the wait.

Honorable Mention: 

Steve Niles’ Strange Cases (Image)

It was a toss up between this title and the Astounding Wolf-Man.  A group of paranormal hunters are gathered in a large mansion and offered a job – clean up Chapel city.  A nice monster hunt through the mansion ensues when it turns out one of the paranormal hunters is really a demonic assassin targeting their host.  In the end they agree to stay and free Chapel city of the things that go bump in the night.

Jacob and his twin brother discover their single mother’s secret job in the worst possible way – seeing her death portrayed on the evening news. Turns out their mother was a Super Villain. After 10 years bouncing through the foster system, they receive a note and map. The map leads to a top secret Super Villain school. This title is simply amazing. I love the concept and how they setup the initial dynamic between the two brothers and their future classmates.

Nova #7 (Marvel)

The Annihilation: Conquest prelude continues to build as Richard begins to fight the effects of the transmode virus. I will not go into too much of the lot here – but we do get to see Drax the Destroyer again.

Green Lantern #24 (DC)

The Sinestro War marches on towards its conclusion. Thanks to Countdown, we already know that Kyle is freed from Parralax – this is the issue that does it. The Sinestro Corps has brought the war to earth: You have Superboy Prime (or whatever he is legally called now), Hank Henshaw (the Cyborg Superman), Sinestro, and the entire Sinestro Corp, plus the Manhunters. We see the Justice League dealing with the Manhunters as the 3 human Green Lanterns work to free Kyle and stop Parralax. They free him with seconds to spare as the bulk of the Sinestro Corps reaches earth. And coming with them – the AntiMonitor. This storyline has been amazing. Exactly what I hoped for from countdown. Geoff Johns should be writing the entire DC universe…or maybe he should be EIC.

Booster Gold #3 (DC)

Another title written by Geoff Johns. We have more time travel fun. This time Booster travels back in time to make sure that Superman does not die in the current timeline. He heads into the Old West to talk to Jonah Hex. How is that – when Jonah Hex will kill you as soon as look at you if you disturb him? Buy him drinks and match him shot for shot. Hilarious issue. I love the Quantum Leap aspect of the show – Booster has to travel thru time fixing issues, never able to let people know that he is the one doing it.

Friday the 13th: How I Spent My Summer #2 of 2 (Wildstorm/DC)

This issue concludes the tale of Davie Falkner’s ordeal in the woods with Jason. I wish the Friday the 13th ongoing series had not been shut down with the Texas Chainsaw and Nightmare on Elm Street series. It was going along great. This miniseries keeps up that tradition with a story that starts out horror and turns into a buddy movie before jumping back to horror.

Invincible [Image]
written by Robert Kirkman
This is the absolute best superhero comic being published today. Mark Davis discovers that he has super powers one day. His reaction. “Finally” See, Mark’s father is the world’s number one hero – Omni-man. A visitor from another world. I know, you’re thinking Super-Man. But you couldn’t be more wrong. We follow Mark as he progresses in his hero career. This series is worth picking up single issues and picking up the hardback collections.

Walking Dead [Image]
written by Robert Kirkman
Zombies. I could stop there. This title isn’t so much about zombies as the people who are trying to survive this zombie outbreak. Kirkman makes zero attempts to explain why the zombies are walking the earth. They just are. This is another title nor for kids. Especially after the most recent issue published.

Teen Titans [DC]
written by Geoff Johns
I love this series. The New Teen Titans with Wolfman and Perez got my into DC comics back in the day. Geoff Johns has done a consistent job telling good stories.

Ultimate Spider-Man [Marvel]
written by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Mark Bagley
A Re-telling of Spidey’s life with a modern twist. This is a teenaged Spidey. His identity is not public knowledge. In many ways, just better Spidey stories than in regular continuity.

Honorable Mentions

52 [DC]
This is a weekly comic detailing the year in the DC universe after Infinite Crisis Learn more about Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, Steel, Question, etc.

Justice Society of America [DC]
written by Geoff Johns
One issue andthis title has me hooked. If I had had more than one issue to base it on, JSA would probably have bumped someone from my top 5

3. Dog Soldiers (2002) imdb link
A British Squad is sent on a training mission in the Highlands of Scotland against Special Operations squad. Ignoring the childish “campfire” stories heard about the area, they continue with their mission and come across the bloody remains of the Special Ops Squad, and a fierce howling is pitching the night sky… With two mortally wounded men, they make an escape, running into a zoologist by the name of Megan – who knows exactly what hunts them. What began as what they thought was a training mission turns into a battle for their lives against the most unlikely enemies they would have expected – werewolves.

4. Ginger Snaps (2000) imdb link
Is becoming a woman analogous, in some deep psychological way, to becoming a werewolf? Ginger is 16, edgy, tough, and, with her younger sister, into staging and photographing scenes of death. They’ve made a pact about dying together. In early October, on the night she has her first period, which is also the night of a full moon, a werewolf bites Ginger. Within a few days, some serious changes happen to her body and her temperament. Her sister Brigitte, 15, tries to find a cure with the help of Sam, a local doper. As Brigitte races against the clock, Halloween and another full moon approach, Ginger gets scarier, and it isn’t just local dogs that begin to die.

5. Teen Wolf (1985) imdb link
Teen discovers that puberty for him means he turns into a werewolf. One of the beneficial side effects is that it also turns him into a top-notch basketball player. But will his notoriety cost him his friends and can he find true love?

*. Howling 5: The Rebirth (1989) imdb link
When a group of people from different walks of life converge on a Romanian castle sealed for 500 years, they bring with them a werewolf which slowly begins to cut their numbers down. The movie is The Howling a la Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians.

* – Honorable Mention

This amazing series chronicled Eric Cord’s search for a cure to Lycanthopy. He must find the head of the bloodline and kill him/her. He is hunting for an older werewolf played by Chuck Connors. He is himself being hunted by a bounty hunter. Each episode was only 30 minutes and it only lasted one season, but this series had the best Werewolf creature effects I had seen before or since (Dog Soldiers does come close). You can find all the information you need at this site www.WerewolfTV.com. This is a flash based site.

2) Friday the 13th the series imdb link

This was a slightly cheesy show about a pair of cousins who inherit a curio shop. Apparently, their uncle had made a deal with the devil and sold cursed items out of the shop. Near the end of his life, he had a change of heart and worked to recollect the items. In their initial ownership of the shop, Niki and Ryan had a big sale of the type everything must go. And of course they sold all the cursed items back out. After they discover their error, they spend the series working to get back the cursed items. You can find more info on the show at this site: http://www.hwmusic.com/f13/

3) Happy Days Season 2 and beyond imdb link

We got season one. Now where are the rest? I’m not going to waste time giving you a synopsis on this one. You know it. :) If you want the first season,

4) Tremors the series imdb link

I love the Tremors series. From discovering the first one at a local video rental shop to the subsequent releases. I loved it. I loved the series on the Sci-Fi channel. Unfortunately, Sci-Fi does what Sci-Fi always does … it cancels shows ahead of its time. This is my biggest complaint about this channel. We lose Farscape, Tremors, Invisible Man, G vs. E, and this is the final season of Stargate SG-1. But anyway. This series details all sorts of wierd things that happen in Perfection, either because of el Blancho (an albino worm left in the town after the 3rd movie) or to…other reasons. :) Best place for Tremors info is Stampede Entertainment the company behind all things Tremors. You can also pick up the moves from,

5) Invisible Man the series imdb link

This series lasted two seasons on the Sci-Fi channel and both blasted seasons are released on DVD overseas…just not here. Same with G vs. E (aka Good vs. Evil). Fawkes is a criminal who gets a gland inserted into him as a means to lessen his sentence. This gland releases a chemical dubbed "Quicksilver" that coats the subject and renders him invisible. There is a drawback – too much quicksilver exposure can make one…homicidically insane. Better info can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Man_(2000_series)