#IReadsYou Review: BUBBA HO-TEP and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #5

BUBBA HO-TEP AND THE COSMIC BLOODSUCKERS No. 5
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Joshua Jabcuga (based on the novel by Joe R. Lansdale) – @jabcuga @joelansdale
ART: Horacio Domingues
COLORS: Ryan Hill
LETTERS: Tom B. Long
EDITOR: Chase Marotz
COVER: Baldemar Rivas
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Horacio Domingues with Ryan Hill; Baldemar Rivas
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2018 / in shops January 9, 2019)

Joe R. Lansdale's 2017 novel, Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers, initially received some kind of limited release. The novel is a prequel to Lansdale's 1994 novella, “Bubba Ho-Tep,” which filmmaker Don Coscarelli (Phantasm) adapted into a beloved, comic horror film of the same name that was released in 2002.  The novel is receiving a wider release in February 2019.

In the meantime, dear readers, you can enjoy the comic book, Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers.  This 2018 comic book adaptation is written Joshua Jabcuga; drawn by Tadd Galusha; colored by Ryan Hill; and lettered by Tom B. Long, with covers drawn by Baldemar Rivas.  The comic book follows a fictional version of legendary rock 'n' roll singer and performer, and American icon, Elvis Presley.  The King of Rock 'n' Roll works for a secret government organization (which might by named the “Hidden Agenda”).  Elvis' manager, “The Colonel” (based on the real-world Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker), is his handler, as Presley and a team of operatives fight supernatural enemies that threaten the world.

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #5 is the final issue of the adaptation, and Horacio Domingues replaces Todd Galusha as artist for this final issue.  The issue opens at the safe house, an abandoned plantation manor, from where Elvis and his team have plotted to stop a blood-sucking threat against Earth from another dimension.  Contemplating the nature and process of social wasps and their nest building, Elvis discovers something about the nature of their enemy – something that can help Elvis and company defeat them.  But the end may be bigger than Elvis and his team can imagine.

Without spoiling this issue, I can say that the resolution offered in Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #5 may have been hinted at since the first or second issue.  I did think there was some oddity in the way the adversarial monsters acted, as if they never fully employed the power they seemed to have.

This final issue is also kind of melancholy.  It seems as if circumstances, duty, and fate conspire to strip away characters' dignity to the point that one must give up so much to have a little peace of mind and self-determination.  For the sake of continuity (more or less), this ending does explain, to an extent, the state in which we find Elvis in “Bubba Ho-Tep.”

The change in artist does not hurt the story in a major way.  Considering the end, Horacio Domingues seems to be an appropriate off-beat note, and Ryan Hill's garish colors keep things as funky and as surreal as he did in the earlier issues.  I hope to see this creative team again.  I hope Joe R. Lansdale transfers the moniker, Bubba Ho-Tep, to Elvis, making it a battle name for the King of Rock 'n' Roll in a new future of monster fighting.  I hope...

8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: BUBBA HO-TEP and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #3

BUBBA HO-TEP AND THE COSMIC BLOODSUCKERS No. 3
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Joshua Jabcuga (based on the novel by Joe R. Lansdale) – @jabcuga @joelansdale
ART: Tadd Galusha – @TaddGalusha
COLORS: Ryan Hill
LETTERS: Tom B. Long
EDITOR: Joe Hughes
COVER: Baldemar Rivas
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Baldemar Rivas; Tadd Galusha
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (May 2018)

There is a kind of flavorful, pop culture horror, a “McHorror,” if you will, like the tasty treats that are tricks from McDonald's.  In McHorror, pluck, grit, and a few Latin phrases will banish the fiercest denizens of Hades.  An example of this is The Conjuring scary movie franchise.  Then, there is another kind of horror storytelling.  In this horror, pithy quotes and declarations from the sacred texts and languages of Western religious faith cannot and will not stop two serial killers from enjoying Friday night cadaver poon at the local drive-in.

The latter is exemplified by author Joe R. Lansdale, whose bibliography is a journey through the dark corpus of America – from the rooter to the tooter.  IDW Publishing's current comic book miniseries, Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers, is adapted from a 2017 novel by Lansdale.  That novel is a prequel to a Lansdale novella, “Bubba Ho-Tep” (which was adapted into film by another purveyor of non-McHorror storytelling, Don Coscarelli).

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers the comic book is adapted by writer Joshua Jabcuga; drawn by Tadd Galusha; colored by Ryan Hill; and lettered by Tom B. Long, with covers drawn by Baldemar Rivas.  The comic book follows a fictional version of legendary rock 'n' roll singer and performer, and American icon, Elvis Presley.  The King of Rock 'n' Roll works for a secret government organization (which might by named the “Hidden Agenda”).  Elvis' manager, “The Colonel” (based on the real-world Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker), is his handler, as Presley and a team of operatives fight supernatural threats to the world

As Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #3 opens, Elvis and company remain secure in an abandoned plantation manor protected by the craziest barriers, spells, and wards.  The team awaits an attack while Elvis gets his ashes hauled by some fine-ass spectral bouté, who will lend her powers to the cause.  An attack will come, but nothing about it will be what it appears to be.  And Elvis might have to fight the invaders while in a state of butt-ass nakedness!

I gave the first two issues of Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers each a glowing review.  I love this comic book, and IDW can't get new issues to me fast enough to sate my outer-dimensional-vampire-like blood lust for it.  I was not going to review this third issue, but Tadd Galusha's art and storytelling is just too outrageous to ignore.

I enjoy Joe R. Lansdale's writing, and I am clearly enjoying Joshua Jabcuga's adaptation of Lansdale here.  As comic books rely on illustrations to tell much of the story, I have to notice artist Tadd Galusha.  He has to deliver, and he does in a way that matches the wildness and weirdness of the source and its adaptation.  Galusha impressive drawings include a naked, ghostly broad; a multi-headed thing connected to an oil slick-like monstrosity; and an army of the dead to rival Army of the Dead.  All of it is visually and graphically striking, obviously, but it exists to tell the story, which it truly does.  And well, Galusha draws an impressive naked Elvis.

Ryan Hill colors Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers as if he is battling for his place in the hoary American comic book horror hall of fame.  He uses shades of orange, brown, blue, and green to create horror comic porn, and I'm aroused.

As Tom B. Long's spot-on lettering and fonts chase me with the simulated sound effects of funky phantom invasion, I await more.  And I wonder... what Mr. Lansdale might imagine Elvis doing off-camera when not racing cars in Viva Las Vegas.

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.


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Review: BUBBA HO-TEP and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #2

BUBBA HO-TEP AND THE COSMIC BLOODSUCKERS No. 2
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Joshua Jabcuga (based on the novel by Joe R. Lansdale) – @jabcuga @joelansdale
ART: Tadd Galusha – @TaddGalusha
COLORS: Ryan Hill
LETTERS: Tom B. Long
EDITOR: Joe Hughes
COVER: Baldemar Rivas
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Baldemar Rivas; Tadd Galusha
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2018)

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers is a current comic book miniseries adaptation of author Joe R. Lansdale's 2017 novel, Bubba and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers (Subterranean Press).  The novel is a prequel of sorts to Lansdale's 1994 alternative history and dark fantasy novella, “Bubba Ho-Tep.”

Lansdale is a prolific writer of novels and short stories and has also written numerous comic books, including three Jonah Hex miniseries for DC Comics and the graphic novel, Red Range.  SundanceTV's recent series, “Hap and Leonard,” is based on Lansdale's long-running “Hap (Collins) and Leonard (Pine)” series of novels, novellas, and short stories.

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers the comic book is adapted by writer Joshua Jabcuga; drawn by Tadd Galusha; colored by Ryan Hill; and lettered by Tom B. Long, with covers drawn by Baldemar Rivas.  The comic book follows a fictional version of legendary rock 'n' roll singer and performer, Elvis Presley.  The King of Rock 'n' Roll works for a secret government organization, in which his manager, “The Colonel” (based on the real-world Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker), is his handler, as Presley and a team of operatives fight supernatural threats to the world

As Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #2 opens, the blind seer, “Blind Man,” leads Elvis and company to an abandoned plantation manor.  He declares that it will be the base of operations from which The Colonel and Elvis and his four-man team will face a monstrous alien threat.  First, however, The Colonel and the Blind Man have a lot of information and mythology to share with the team.  Plus, Elvis learns that he has to pay “the price” and that the current circumstances are all his hip-swiveling and charismatic self's fault.

In my review of Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #1, I wrote that although the first issue was only 20 pages long (in terms of actual comics), it read like a 32-page tale.  Issue #2 is also 20 pages long and it reads like one of those double-sized comic book annuals that Marvel and DC Comics used to do so well.  Reading this second issue felt like reading 40+ pages tense drama with a generous helping of riveting back story and kooky mythology.

The television series, “The X-Files,” has regular, monster-of-the-week episodes in which Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder have to unravel the mystery of some monster, creature, or human with dangerous supernatural powers.  The series also offers mythology episodes which addresses or focus on the series' overall story arc concerning government conspiracies involving UFOs and the abduction of humans by beings from other worlds.

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #2 is the mythology issue of this miniseries.  I have not (yet) read the novel upon which this comic book is based, but I have read some of Lansdale's other stories.  Series writer Joshua Jabcuga and artist/illustrator take the essence of Lansdale's weird “Bubba” cosmology and distill it into a single comic book.  Now, readers know who, what, where (for the most part) and can prepare themselves for the battles ahead.  I call this a “bible” of Bubba-verse, and this chapter is layered and detailed, yet with simplicity manages to prod our superstitions and fears of things that want to eat and drink us.

It is not giving Jabcuga and Galusha too much credit to say that they have taken a previously published work from another medium and transformed it into something exceptional in a different medium.  Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #2 convinces me that this series is a dark, nasty, evolved mutant child of classic scary comic books of the past.  This includes titles published by EC Comics and Warren Publications and the Joe Orlando-edited dark fantasy comic books of the late 1960s and 1970s.

Colorist Ryan Hill attacks Tadd Galusha's illustrations and graphical storytelling with angry, red hues.  I would rather believe that Hill painted this comic from a bucket of blood and offal rather than by using a digital palette.  Hill is definitely a co-storyteller along with Lansdale, Jabcuga, and Galusha.  And finally, veteran letterer Tom B. Long fills his word balloons and caption boxes with fonts and text that crawl towards the readers to deliver the gradually building sense of mystery, suspense, and dread of this truly fun to read second issue.

I highly recommend Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #2, as I did with the first issue.  Honestly, Baldemar Rivas' cover art for this issue alone is worth the cover price.

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: BUBBA HO-TEP AND THE COSMIC BLOODSUCKERS #1

BUBBA HO-TEP AND THE COSMIC BLOODSUCKERS No. 1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Joshua Jabcuga (based on the novel by Joe R. Lansdale)
ART: Tadd Galusha
COLORS: Ryan Hill
LETTERS: Tom B. Long
EDITOR: Joe Hughes
COVER: Baldemar Rivas
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Tim Truman; Baldemar Rivas; Tadd Galusha
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (March 2018)

“Bubba Ho-Tep” is a 1994 novella written by short story author, novelist, and comic book writer, Joe R. Lansdale.  An “alternate history” tale, “Bubba Ho-Tep” was first published in, The King is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem, an Elvis Presley themed anthology.

Filmmaker Don Coscarelli (Phantasm) wrote and directed a film adaptation of the novella, which earned a cult following.  Also entitled Bubba Ho-Tep, the film starred Bruce Campbell as Elvis and the late Ossie Davis as “Jack,” a black man who claimed to be the President John F. Kennedy.

Lansdale wrote a novel, Bubba and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers (2017, Subterranean Press), that was a prequel or background story to “Bubba Ho-Tep.”  IDW Publishing is currently publishing a comic book adaptation of the 2017 novel.  Entitled Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers, the comic book is adapted by writer Joshua Jabcuga; drawn by Tadd Galusha; colored by Ryan Hill; and lettered by Tom B. Long.  The comic book follows Elvis who works for a secret government organization, fighting monsters along with a team of operatives.

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #1 opens in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas Hotel.  It introduces Johnny Smack, a bodyguard for Elvis Presley.  Smack narrates the story, claiming that Elvis retired from being a recording artist and music performer.  An “Elvis impersonator” now pretends to be the “real Elvis,” while the real Elvis pretends to be one of many Elvis impersonators.

Elvis works for a secret government agency, with his activities overseen by his manager, “The Colonel” (based on the real-world Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker).  President Richard Nixon calls “The Colonel” into his secret lair where he informs him about an alien threat that must be stopped.  However, this threat is unlike anything Elvis and company have ever faced.

Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #1 is one of the best first issues that I have read this year.  It is already one of my favorite comic books of the last several years, so I hope that this first issue is not a fluke.  A blend of B-movies, weird fiction, Southern Gothic, monster movies, horror, and Elvis Presley subculture, Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #1 offers a lot of background information and action for a first issue, especially since so many current first issue comic books amount to teaser trailers or vague prologues.  Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #1 is only 20 pages long, but it reads like a 32-page tale.

I have not read Lansdale's original novel, but Joshua Jabcuga's adaptation delivers a superb first issue.  He made me immediately want to read the second issue.  Tadd Galusha's art has a funky vibe that reminds me of the art in alt-comics and Underground Comix that were homages to classic EC Comics.  Think the late Rand Holmes and underrated genius, Rick Altergott.  Ryan Hill's garish, day-glo and back-lit colors are perfect for the Bubba Ho-Tep concept.  Tom B. Long packs the thick dialogue and heavy exposition into neat boxes and balloons in a way that helps the weirdness of this comic book go down smoothly with southern fried aftertaste.

I highly recommend Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Bloodsuckers #1.  I already hope that this team produces more Bubba Ho-Tep comic books series.

9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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