yendi

I read The Shazam Archives Vol. 2 last night before bed. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love C.C. Beck's art. I truly think he's the best of the Golden Age artists. This volume is particularly amazing, as half is illustrated by Beck, the other half by an up-and-coming kid named Jack Kirby (working with Captain America partner Joe Simon on the stories). And yes, Beck is better (although by the time the Silver Age rolled around, Kirby was the Master). I'm not a huge fan of many Golden Age artists, but Beck was a genius. The stories are also nifty. One thing that I'd like to see Geoff Johns work with is the idea that Billy Batson was never really comfortable giving up his body, and would switch back to human form whenever possible (although one reason for that is, presumably, to increase the risk). Now, he seems to spend way too much time as The Big Red Cheese.

Today's film was Die, Monster, Die!, which is that rarest of film experiences: an enjoyable Lovecraft adaptation. It takes "The Colour out of Space," moves it to England for no good reason, and still makes for a fun movie. Boris Karloff makes any movie worthwhile, of course. This movie also had a moderate influence on one of the shorts in Creepshow. Good fun stuff, although with the same baggage as almost any older horror flick. Surprisingly, it was on Encore: Mystery, instead of one of the channels that I'd associate with true horror.

I then flipped over to the Sci-Fi Channel, where
The Screaming Skull was playing. This was not nearly as good a movie. In fact, without the MST3K guys, it's pretty much unwatchable. That said, as always, Mike and company can take a bad film, and make it all worthwhile.

Now, I'm off to Dim Sum with