Rob Zombie Presents the Haunted World of El Superbeasto: Volume 1
On the eve of release of Rob Zombie’s horror anthology comic SPOOKSHOW INTERNATIONAL in 2003, anticipation was high. Then when the first issue actually came out, disappointment matched – primarily because it was more comic than horror, and because no story stood alone, but frustratingly as part of a continuing series.
Not surprisingly, the title died quickly and the publisher went of business before the planned trade paperback saw life. Several years later, Image has sought to correct that with ROB ZOMBIE PRESENTS THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO: VOLUME 1. As the title suggests, it focuses on collecting a complete story arc of one of SPOOKSHOW’s characters: the masked wrestler known as El Superbeasto.
In his 12-part story, the wrassler is talking up chicks at a strip club when a busty clothes-peeler named Miss Velvet von Black is kidnapped by a cigar-chomping gorilla and taken to the lair of the evil Dr. Satan. It’s El Superbeasto to the rescue, of course, and he and his shapely secret-agent sister – eyepatch-sporting Suzi-X – must pummel monster after monster to free her.
It’s all very jokey in a harmless, “Monster Mash” style, but good enough fun. At least as long as Kieron Dwyer is handling art, that is, as he has just the right style to keep the silliness in rein and still remain cool. But halfway through, E.J. Su takes over and the art goes to shit. I hate the manga look as is, and he turns the characters into something out of STAR BLAZERS.
But El Superbeasto isn’t the only feature in this collection. Next up is a seven-parter that puts Suzi-X in charge, not to mention frequently – read: mostly – naked. It borders on misogyny, but more offensive is its juvenile story of Suzi-X getting mixed up with giant robots and some werewolves who talk annoyingly in CLOCKWORK ORANGE-speak, made nearly unbearable by Pat Boutin’s lazy art, which makes its starlet look literally like a blow-up doll.
Even more crude in subject matter is a five-part adventure of Simon Marsh, Monster Hunter. He’s an elderly Van Helsing type, here trying to save his daughter from doing a porno movie with a Black Lagoon-esque creature. It gets fairly explicit, but at least Fabio Laguna’s drawings are so outrageously cartoonish that they let you know it’s all in fun, whereas Su and Boutin seemed more intent on making whack material for an issue of Heavy Metal.
This volume comes equipped with numerous extras, including a cover gallery of the entire SPOOKSHOW run and several “Ghoularama” pages that offer El Superbeasto’s pickup tips, some nonsensical horoscopes and ape-themed DVD reviews. It should be noted that other features in SPOOKSHOW were less goofy and more hard-edged, including material based directly off Zombie’s HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES film. That’s the stuff I’d like to see Image collect; if you want the same, you should support this book, even if it’s only 50 percent good. –Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BIGFOOT by Steve Niles, Rob Zombie and Richard Corben
• THE DEVIL’S REJECTS by Rob Zombie
• THE NAIL by Rob Zombie, Steve Niles and Nat Jones
Spookshow has the type of humor that only appeals to some. It can get annoying sometimes but mostly because it seems repetitive in a 200-page volume. The sexist jokes come with the territory and I wouldn’t go as far as say it “borders on misogyny.” I think the outrageousness of the characters is the whole point. I tend to like Rob Zombie’s brand of humor but I believe it works better when it’s reined in by other story elements like in his two movies. I seem to remember that the stories based on the characters from “The Devil’s Rejects” came out in a separate publication but I might be wrong.
I have the first issue of the original SPOOKSHOW comic, and it has stories featuring the characters of Dr. Satan, Otis and Baby Firefly. Having said that, IDW put out a one-shot DEVIL’S REJECTS anthology (that you can find free with the DVD if you’re lucky) and was reviewed by us, too, linked above.
Bah! I still haven’t seen a single piece of Rob Zombie entertainment that I actually enjoyed. That goes for his movies too.
Gal
At the time, having known Zombie only through his music, I expected to hate HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, but loved it. I think it’s really underrated and exhibits a true love of horror movies. THE DEVIL’S REJECTS is great, too, partly because it is like a 180˚ from the original, despite being a sequel. How could you hate his GRINDHOUSE trailer? And I look forward to HALLOWEEN, too.
I enjoyed Devil Rejects cause it was a total throw back to old school 70’s flicks. But I did think his trailer was look at all the cool friends I have.