Happy Halloween !

Welcome my fellow ghouls, werewolves, vampires and other monsters. Happy Halloween to all fiends and horror fans celebrating today. I wish all witches a happy Samhain.


Praised be the goddess and all hail to the green king and all things fertile and growing. To all my goth readers praised be the dark gods in their dark dimensions. I hope you have everything ready for the big sacrifice to your pagan gods.

Yesterday when I was at the train station the new issue of HORRORSCHOCKER ( Germany´s best and only horror anthology ) had finally arrived in Ludwigsburg. Just in time for Halloween. I haven´t read it as I´m writing it but from what I´ve seen it keeps the quality level of previous issues. There are few comics I buy without checking the interior but HORRORSCHOCKER is one of them. And so far I´ve never been disappointed. But I´m going to leave the reviews for when I´ve actually read the issue since I think I also have to write about the previous issue 13.


I don´t know the whole week seems to be one big countdown to Halloween. On Monday the SCREAM award show was on pro 7 but every clip from a horror movie that was shown illustrated the fact that you have to buy ( or watch ) this kind of movies in Spain. You can´t get these movies in Germany uncut which in my opinion has something to do with the cultural effects of Nazi Germany. You just can´t explain to germans that censorship is bad even if it´s done by the government. Especially if it´s done by the government.

For this special day I thought about doing a special about horrorcomics but there are not so much horrorcomics I do read. And with most like HELLBOY or WALKING DEAD I read the german hardcover collections ( in the smaller format ) so I´m not up to date on current storylines. So instead I opted to write a little about the ladies of horror. Somehow horror and sex have always been linked for various reasons. Both are forbidden for kids till a certain age and both get you exited and sweaty - if it´s done right. Ah, the golden days of my horror youth when girls in horror movies were not killed before you had seen them naked and an axe on the movie poster was a sign of quality. As a thumb rule : if there was an axe on the cover you didn´t have to think twice about renting it or not. I already wrote a little about the horror hotties in my 100th post which was mostly about ELVIRA, mistress of the dark, the first lady and queen of horror who really deserves a post all of her own.

link to post 100

Today we take a look at the rest of the horror hotties. Like in all previous installments of comicbabe battle this list doesn´t claim to include all the women of comicdoms horror comics or that are involved with what could be classified as the horror theme. Like there may be some you may not know there are ( of course ) some that I never heard of. And like in previous installments I will include all I´m aware of even if there is not much I know about them. This time the top five were real easy because after putting all the ones I don´t know much about or the ones I don´t like that much aside there were only five left. So who are the one who didn´t make the cut ?

Darkchylde


I encounterd this particular horror comic in it´s german translation. At that time I had more money than today and I was reading many books on the side especially german publications. The german single issues market was booming and the german publishers were throwing books out like there´s no tomorrow. Naturally there was an implosion soon afterwards but during that time I tried many new series like PAINKILLER JANE or DARKCHYLDE by Randy Queen.


I had read some articles about this series which was mainly known for flooding the market with variant reprints of sold out issues. One of the reasons why this book was so popular was the main character and Randy Queen´s ability for depicting the female figure. What was hurting the series was that Randy´s output reached image - levels and the wait between issues was extremely long. Which was one of the reasosn I read the german version - by that time there was already so much material out there that the german publisher could publish them in a regular manner.


The positive thing was that you could see Randy Green´s evolution as an artist the longer the series went. At the moment I don´t know how the series ended. Storywise it was more of a one trick pony and the only thing I heard about after the german publication was cancelled was that it was relaunched as a manga series with a superdeformed kid version of Ariel Chylde.

Scarlet


The next contestant is Scarlet from Humberto Ramos image series CRIMSON were the scantily clad vampire hunting redhead made her debut. When the CLIFFHANGER line from image comics debuted Humberto Ramos looked like the odd man out to me. Joe Madureiras was the superstar who had just finished his stellar run on the most successful book ever - the X - Men. Everyone thoguht he was crazy to do a fantasy book but at least you knew everyone would be buying it. Jeff Scott Campell was following his huge success of GEN 13 ( back when the book was good ) with a high spy action series called DANGER GIRL. And since the main characters were absolute babes the success of this series seemed also guaranteed.


The only comic that wasn´t anticipated that much was CRIMSON by some less know artist by the name of Humberto Ramos. Besides the fact that he had worked on DCs IMPULSE series I didn´t know much about him and like most comicfans I was not sure if he could keep up with the more seasoned pros. In the end his book was the only one that came out on a regular basis. Talk about a turn of events.

Sadly there has been no follow up to the CRIMSON series so the only appearances of the bodacious slayer are the ones in the pages of that series. Which may be the reason that I could not find so many pics of her. And some are not real comic pics like this one which is of the action figure of which I´m a proud owner.


I bought it as a birthday present for my brother but he didn´t like it. So it sits on my desktop now.

Witchblade


Sara Pezzini is not so high on my list because not only is this book on my brother´s pull list but I also see it more as a mystery / crime / superhero series. There is a horror motif but the series has more elements of superhero or crime stories. That´s the reason why I will be putting her in the Wildstorm section of the independent comicbabe battle. And I have to deduct points because they changed her costume ( or the lack of a costume ) in the tv series. Shame on you, slimy money grubbing tv producers.

Magdalena


The same goes for Magdalena ( seen in this group shot with the aforementioned Witchblade and top three finalist Vampirella ) from who I´ve read no comics. I only know of her from her appearances in DARKNESS. And her costume is just hell to draw.

X - STATIX´ Dead Girl


X - Factor´s ( and later X - Statix´) morbid goth chick is the last one of the contestants who didn´t make it into the countdown who I know anything about them. As a rolemodel for all young teenagers with suicidal tendencies she did not only appear in the regular books but she also had her own miniseries that I can really support. If you liked Pete Milligan´s previous mutant work you will also like this mini. Here´s a link to a previous entry of my blog if you want to read more about the series.

link to my own review of the book

Like the previous horror hotties I see her more of a superhero girl than a horror girl. At the moment I´m rereading the whole book ( because my comic shop has only gotten scattered comics the last six weeks ) and while there are some really creepy and horrifying moments it´s definitely a superhero book and not a horror book.

Hellgirl


And with this we´re coming to unchartered territory as far as I´m concerned. Most of the following comic centerfolds are operating outside of my awareness.


I´ve seen a few pics of this female version of HELLBOY but I´m not sure if so far there are plans for a female spin off of Mike Mignola´s megahuge success. I guess comic pros and comic fans like to draw her.


But I wouldn´t bet any money on seeing a comic book with her as a main character. Not that it wouldn´t sell.



?????


No idea. I don´t know who she is.....in which comic she appeared or if she has anything to do with horror comics at all. Judging from the sado - maso - spandex outfit I guess she is from a horror book but maybe I´m wrong and she´s from a comedy book like FRESHMEN.

Morrigan


The sexy demon from Darkstalkers is another one who operates outside my comic book knowledge. I know that she´s from the computer game DARKSTALKERS and I have read the Darkstalkers series that came out from the same publisher that put out STREET FIGHTER ( I don´t remember the name at the moment ) but that´s all. And since she´s from a computer game she will be in the game category....if I ever come to that section of comicbabe battle.

Satana


She´s hot. She´s bad. She´s from Marvel and Greg Land did this cover for Legion of Monsters. Other than that your guess is as good as mine.

Bloodrayne


It´s a computer game. It´s a movie. It´s a comic book. It´s nothing that I have read or seen or played. I never played the game as unbelievable as that may seem. There are not a lot of games I have played in the last years and I don´t even know if my brother has this one. To give you an idea : I still haven´t played SILENT HILL 2 + 3. I know....scary. Anyway, I also haven´t seen the movie which may be a good thing according to my brothers. But I guess they only say that so that I don´t get to see Kristianna Loken naked. Damn.

the girl from HACK SLASH


Yup, I don´t even know her name. HACK SLASH is one series that has been under my radar so far. I´ve heard good things about it but I´ve only seen one trade so far and I wasn´t sure if it was the first so I didn´t buy it. Maybe I will get to read it soon now that crosscult is going to publish the series in Germany.

Razor


The sexy girl with the spiky things attached to her arm is in the comic business longer than Hack Slash.


Nonetheless I can say I never read a comic with her.


What I know is that she had some crossovers with THE CROW by James O. Barr ( which I also never read ) and that she wears black leather.


Too much of it for my tastes but it´s a start.


And that´s all for today. Next time we will get to the sexy scream queens who DID make it into the top five. Happy Halloween, a nice Samhain...in short a blessed All Hallow´s Eve to all. Keep your crosses near and your stakes ready.


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Comicbabe battle Round 4 - Spiderbabe Winner - Part 3 ( or the lives and times of Felicia Hardy )

I know I just finished my post about the Black Cat but no post on comicbabe battle would be really complete without an indepth look at the history and evolution of the hot ladies who manage to get a spot in the countdown. Especially when there´s so much to comment on like in this case.


Also I want to rectify something I wrote in my last post. Firstly that it´s impossible to find a picture of the Black Cat drawn by Mark Bagley featuring her in her " holy cleavage I can see her belly - piercing " outfit. You just can´t find any that´s better than these two.




Secondly it seems that the fact that Felicia Hardy is bisexual was mentioned in the Kevin Smith penned THE EVIL THAT MEN DO miniseries. Okay, I´m just trying to forget that mini, dammit. According to Marvel it´s part of continuity now but that doesn´t mean I have to like it.

Black Cat and the worst retcon ever


When Kevin Smith started with the mini I had so high hopes for the story even if there were words used like LEBENGEBROCHENENNACHT that make no sense whatsoever in german. To americans it may sound cool but for germans it´s just awful. That´s what you get when you use a translation programm instead of asking somebody who knows both languages. You know what ? Next time you need something in german ( or spanish ) just drop me a line, Mr. Smith. The same goes to you Mr. Morrison, Mr. Johns or Mr. Waid. I´ll even do it without charging. If you want you can send me some comp copies.


Anyway, the series was on a good course with nice art by Terry Dodson ( who somehow ends up in all the worst written Spider - Man series of them all ) but halfway through the story it seems he hit a creative wall. And it took a year ( if not more ) before the series continued. And that´s when a shift happened. It was almost like reading two different series. The one that had started and the one that had ended.


The first one was action - packed, fun, intruiging and mysterious. You know in which direction the plot was going. Then came the gap and in this gap came - DC´s megaselling series IDENTITY CRISIS. Now it´s a common fact that Identity Crisis had a huge impact on the continuity of DC´s comics not only for cementing the Silver Age stories and making them more believable but also for laying the groundwork for INFINITE CRISIS. What´s not so much known is how much influence it had on Marvel´s continuity especially the THE EVIL THAT MEN DO miniseries.


When the series continued not only one but two characters had their history retconned and the focus of the whole series shifted. Now that Identity Crisis had come out rape was the big thing and it was now not only added to the Black Cat´s origin but also to one of the villains. People say it´s pure coincidence but to me it seems that Kevin Smith was trying to outdo Identity Crisis shock values.


I´m not a big fan of the retcon Marvel did on Red Sonya and I don´t like the one they did on the Black Cat. I know rape is an important issue but I don´t think it helps to include it in the origin story of every superheroine. That´s just pandering to a cliche - and not even a very good one.

As you may have noticed I´m not too thrilled with this miniseries. To say the truth I felt ripped off. I had to wait for a year and just when I thought that the series would be left openended that was what I got for my money. So my advice is : if you buy it for the gorgeous Terry Dodson art that´s okay but the story is just weird.


But let´s not dwell to long on that and take a look at the history of the Black Cat in the comics as it happened. The real history. When Spider - Mam and the Black Cat first met she was a catburglar ( if I remember correctly ) who used her womanly powers to confuse Spidey. During a few encounters she began to find him more and more interesting till they began a relationship. Peter even went so far as to reveal his secret identity to Felicia. Who wasn´t that thrilled to find out that the big and mysterious Spider - Man was just some ordinary Joe Schmoe under the mask who wanted to lead a normal life. That was just too weird for the adventure seeking Black Cat who never wanted to have a civilian life.


That almost was the end of it but since it was the first time Peter didn´t have to lie about his dual identity he swallowed the fact that his new girlfriend had a costume fetish. During this time the first SECRET WAR happened which led to a really stupid storyline about the Black Cat.

Black Cat and the worst storyline ever


After a near - death experience the Black Cat feared that Peter might become overprotective of her because of her lack of superpowers thus putting himself in harms way. So what did she do ? She invented some superpowers for herself. Hey, that were the 80s so don´t expect the women in comics to stray too far from their cliches. No, the Black Cat just PRETENDED to have superpowers which in this case meant having " bad luck powers ". Through weel placed traps and stunts it seemed that accidents happened to people crossing her path.


Which would include Peter himself since he crossed her path more often than anybody else. But I guess his blood was not in his brain at that moment. Now of course Marvel does not encourage it´s readers to fake superpowers. That´s dangerous. Just think of what would have happened if Spidey would have said : " Okay, Black Cat, I have to turn of the oven while you take care of Rhino, the Scorpion and the Lizard with your superpowers. " Thankfully that never happened.


What did happen was that while Spider - Man was away on the Beyonder´s little all expenses paid save the universe trip the Black Cat gained real bad luck superpowers through the machinations of the Kingpin. Readers of the spidertitles may remember the issue in which she defeated Sabretooth with her bad luck powers. Which to this day makes me cringe when I read it.

Now it´s always lame to " upgrade " a character by having him beat someone who´s so totally out of his league that it´s ridiculous. First you don´t really upgrade him if it´s not believable. Suspension of disbelief can only go so far.


And second if it happens too often and it´s always the same opponent than you have the opposite effect and the villain is depowered. I think if you go through the Marvel comics of that time everybody and his brother was suddenly winning against Sabretooth who had gone from mutant psychopath serial killer to lame - o toothless pussycat.


It became so bad that Marvel needed an X - Men Special to turn Sabretooth into a real danger for superheroes again and going so far as to eviscerating and almost killing Psylocke in what may well be the best X - Men comic ever. I know I have read ( and bought ) this issue by Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureiras more often than any other X - Men comic I own and I think it´s because of Sabretooth´s return to his badass roots.


So if someone asks me the Black Cat never defeated the real Sabretooth. If there ever was a clone in the Marvel universe this was him. A Sabretooth clone built by Weapon X who was fieldtested against the Black Cat and got his ass handed to him. That´s my story and I´m going to stick with it.

Black Cat and the break up


I don´t know what happened then exactly only that Felicia and Pete broke up and that her powers were changed. They seperated than got togehther again till Pete found out that it was all a ploy by the Black Cat to destroy his life ( together with some guy called the Foreigner ) because she never forgave him for breaking up with her. In the end she realized she still loved Peter and helped him defeat the bad guy. She then went to Europe ( you can read all in more detail on wikipedia ) came back to find Peter married and started to stalk and harrass Mary Jane. She even went out with Flash Thompson to get Peter jealous. Man, Marvel really is the soap opera of comics.


As to current developments Felicia is good friends with Peter and Mary Jane....or better a good friend of Peter who always ends up thinking : " Why did I marry that other woman.....what was her name again.....something with M I think. " or something along the lines. And a not so good friend of " plain Jane " as she calls MJ who knows that Pete still has feelings for her and sees her as a rival waiting in the wings. Ahh, the joys of married life. But who knows ? After ONE MORE DAY it might be a whole new ball game. Currently the Black Cat was a member of HEROES FOR HIRE but who knows were she really stands since she helped Peter during CIVIL WAR.

Black Cat and worst costume ever

Now while Marvel´s curviest catburglar had a few costumes over the years which ranged from basic black to black with window to black with zipper that´s more or less open depending on the artistic ability of the current artist.




But I think the worst was a hideous thing that looked like a pirate outfit. Maybe the guy guy who invented it thought that Marvel was doing pirate comics and that the Black Cat was the female captain of a pirate ship. Anyway, the less said about it the better. Harrr, harr.



Final comments

So like many of the finalists the Black Cat had to endure ridiculous storylines, senseless retcons and garish costumes. She still has managed to rank as the hottest spiderbabe ever mainly for two things :

Firstly of course the costume. The design is simple but with a name like Black Cat you shouldn´t overcomplicate matters. And a bit of distraction always helps. Hey, it worked with Spider - Man.


Secondly because if I was Spider - Man I would have stayed with Felicia. Come on, aside from the obvious reasons she knows how it is to live with the costume. She understands things about Peter Mary Jane just can´t comprehend.


So : advantage Black Cat.

Black Cat in real life


In one comment to my last post about the Black Cat I was asked who I think looks like the Black Cat in real life. I have to say I haven´t given much thought to it. I mean there are a lot of stunning celebrities but who would fit the role. Katie Price maybe.


Although I see her more as a Power Girl type of girl. The same goes for Pamela Anderson.



She surely can make that black leather work like in Barb Wire but I think she´s definitely Power Girl material.

Another contender could be pornstar Jenna Jameson. She looks even more like the Felicia in the comics.



Who also could fit the role are Jennifer Ellison


and Tara Conner


who would be more of a younger version of the Black Cat. But who knows with the trend Hollywood´s in right now maybe that´s what we have to expect in the next Spidey movie.

Okay, I know. So far I´ve only said who I think is not the Black Cat in real life or who almost could be the Black Cat. I don´t want to beat around the bush anymore. Yesterday while I was on the internet searching for other stuff ( I´ll get to that in a moment ) I found some pictures of Gemma Atkinson who would make a dead - on Black Cat. What do you think ?





Quite the " seperated at birth " look. So that´s all for the Black Cat. It´s gone longer than I thought and I didn´t get to post all the pics I wanted but maybe next time.

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