Horror

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Disney Style

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
  • IMDB: link

“With a hip hip and a clippity clop, He’s out looking for a head to swap, But don’t try to figure out a plan, You can’t reason with a headless man.“

adventures-of-ichabod-and-mr-toadThere are numerous holiday specials, mostly Christmas inspired, but a small collection of really good Halloween cartoons. Many fondly remember It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown from their childhood, which I’ll admit also has a fond place in my heart, but my favorite Halloween cartoon was a Disney short that was inspired by Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

As our story opens the nerdy new school teacher, Ichabod Crane, arrives in the small New England town. Although Ichabod is soon popular with the ladies for his manners, training, and knowledge of books, even catching the eye of town beauty Katrina Van Tassel, he’s far less liked by the town’s rough-and-tumble man’s man Brom Bones. 

Not willing lose a girl like Katrina to a man like Ichabod Crane, Bones decides to prove Crane’s cowardice and scare him by telling the story of the Headless Horseman who haunts the local woods looking for a new head. Ichabod is thoroughly frightened and his night horse ride home has him seeing ghosts and specters at every bend and turn.

…

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #14

/ / Comics

btvs-season-nine-14-coverThe latest issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine isn’t what I expected. For one thing neither Buffy Summers nor any of the regular or new supporting players make an appearance.

Instead Jane Espenson, writer of some good (“Band Candy,” “Pangs,” “Checkpoint“) and not-so-good (“I Was Made to Love You,” “Doomed,” “The Harsh Light of Day“) episodes from Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s seven-year run on television, gives us a tale of a young gay teen named Billy who puts up with mean jocks and begins fighting zompires.

I understand what Espenson is doing here, but the story is pretty damn pat (he ends up having to stake and kill the football jock who has been harassing him). This kind of story would seem to fit much better in something like the Tales of Slayers anthology series than in the middle of an ongoing season arc. If I had found it there, or if was just a one-issue tale (I don’t need a second month of Billy’s misadventures), I might give it a pass, but 14 issues in, as the season is still trying to find its focus, it simply doesn’t work. Pass.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Fatale #8

/ / Comics

fatale-8-coverThe latest issue of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip’s Fatale gives us an interlude, a calm before the storm, and we catch up with Nicolas Lash who continues to run for his life.

Lash’s recent run-ins with the cult, his growing paranoia, and another attack on his life shake free cobwebs in his brain and the man remembers the first time he ever met Josephine which was far, far earlier than Dominic’s funeral. And a night of failed passion leaves him close to answers but also with a bump on the head and missing Dominic Hank Raines‘ stolen manuscript.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Josephine begins a relationship with B-movie star Miles against her better judgement and waits for the other shoe to drop now the cult knows she’s alive and where to find her as Mr. Bishop prepares to take his revenge. If you aren’t reading noir horror tale, you should be. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.50]

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #13

/ / Comics

btvs-season-nine-13-cover“Guarded” comes to an end as Buffy has to save the life of her client from the demon she brought in as added muscle and destroy TINCAN, the Senior Partners sole connection to Earth. Oh, and she punches out her boss, too.

There’s plenty of action, and the arc is wrapped up satisfactorily. However, I am disappointed (though far from surprised) by the story’s epilogue. For a show, and now comic, about a character growing up and changing Buffy sure seems to be stuck in neutral as she chooses martyrdom and over the lucrative offer Kennedy offers her (which would also allow her to continue using her gifts to save people in need), even after the black eye Buffy gave her.

I know the point of the season is to return the character back to basics, and her decision sure wants to be profound, but it simply doesn’t come off that way. Instead it feels far too much like the old self-centered Buffy long before she learned to rely on others to help her with her calling. Hit-and-Miss.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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Fatale #7

/ / Comics

fatale-7-coverNicolas Lash and his ongoing obsession with Josephine is put on hold as the storyline involving the new characters introduced last month, the a B-movie star named Miles and the girl nearly sacrificed by the Method Church, continues as Josephine and Miles find themselves in a cemetery under a full moon just as everything goes to hell.

We get plenty of Josephine, including her suspicions and horror at learning the creatures she believed were dead are still around, hunting for Suzy and the film, and now that they know Josephine is in Los Angeles – her. However, Miles is the main focus of the issue. We witness his selfishness and greed in his attempt to sell the film to his ex-girlfriend’s creepy producer as well as his confusion over his sudden bravery and need to help and protect Josephine.

Although most of this issue is set-up, with the blind Hansel knowing that Josephine is in Los Angeles and Miles now bent to Josephine’s will things should get interesting very quickly beginning next month. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.50]

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