Spookshow International, Issue 1

In October 2003, Rob Zombie's much anticipated comic book, Spookshow International, became a reality. Containing two tales related to the characters/themes in Zombie's music and two tales related to his film The House of 1000 Corpses (not to mention a short 5th segment containing humorously captioned behind-the-scenes photos from the film and a little bonus where Rob answers questions from the fans), the comic book will likely be of most interest to fans of Rob Zombie's other work. In many ways, Spookshow International is exactly what you'd expect from a comic book created by Rob Zombie. It's full of demented monsters, scantily clad women, dark humor, and more-than-slightly twisted stories that reflect Rob's well-documented interest in cult horror and psychedelia.

The first tale, The Return of Screaming Lord Zombie, is a short and fairly uneventful offering about a circus sideshow. The second, The Fall and Rise of Dr. Satan, will give House of 1000 Corpses fans a better glimpse into the history of Dr. Satan and The Professor. The Haunted World of El Superbeasto Episode #1: Monkey See, Monkey Kill! is a campy story that mostly involves our "protagonist" hitting on girls at a strip club for monsters. The final chapter, Captain Spaulding Presents Hit Squad for God, is a tale told by Captain Spaulding about the righteous Baby being captured by a cult that attacks presumed sinners. Note that just about all of these, in true comic book fashion, are short tales that are "to be continued".

While the tales are often quite cheesy and fairly minimal, they're also usually at least somewhat entertaining (with, perhaps, the exception of the rather bland opening chapter). I'm not exactly an avid comic book reader myself (note: that should be read "I've maybe briefly glanced at half a dozen comic books in my entire life"), but I enjoyed getting a bit of background on the characters from House of 1000 Corpses. Still, the comic book was a bit sparse, average, and disappointing overall. While fans of House of 1000 Corpses and/or Zombie's music will likely want to check it out, it's probably not something that would be of interest to all horror or comic book fans.