Baron von Shock #1 - Second-Printing

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Rob Zombie Returns to Image, Still Owes Me $5 for '1000 Corpses'

Berkeley, CA - 15 March 2010 - Is there anything ROB ZOMBIE can't do? [See House of 1000 Corpses - well, better yet, don't! - ed.] From music to television to movies, Zombie has proven himself to be a boundary-jumping entertainment juggernaut. In May, he returns to conquer comics with ROB ZOMBIE PRESENTS: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK? Zombie has concocted a delightfully depressing tale about the seduction of celebrity culture and its pitfalls. BARON VON SHOCK is illustrated by DONNY HADIWIDJAJA and VAL STAPLES, and published by Image Comics.

"This comic venture is very, very different in tone for me. Instead of a crazy over-the-top monster-fest like El Superbeasto, I wanted to create something that works more on a slice-of-life human level." states Zombie, "After El Superbeasto became a movie, I felt I had taken that style as far as I could. So, I really needed Baron Von Shock to be something fresh in writing and in art."

"After publishing THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO, we jumped at the chance to work with Rob again on BARON VON SHOCK," says Image Publisher, Eric Stephenson. "Baron Von Shock is darkly humorous, thrilling, and uncompromising - everything fans expect a Rob Zombie story to be."

In BARON VON SHOCK, Rob Zombie returns to comics with a dark dramedy describing the fantastic rise, and spiraling decent, of celebrity. Being in the right place at the right time isn't always a good thing, as Leon Stokes, aka Baron Von Shock, finds out first-hand. His sudden rise to fame as a local television horror host meets with unexpected results. BARON VON SHOCK proves to be a roller coaster of emotion only Rob Zombie can deliver.

BARON VON SHOCK #1 (MAR100391), a 32-page full color comic book for $3.99, will be in stores May 26, 2010. Also available: ROB ZOMIE PRESENTS THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO (MAR071825).

© C Harris Lynn, 2010

Halloween Breaks Records

What is it with this summer? I mean, every time a movie's been released this year, it has broken some kind of record! Several of them have been pretty obscure, but still... I know this has been Hollywood's best summer ever, with over $4 billion in box office revenue, and there were a slew of blockbuster movies and all that, but come on!

Halloween broke records for a movie released on Labor Day weekend, taking in an estimated $30 million over the four-day weekend. It knocked comedy, Superbad, out of top place (into second), with comedy, Balls of Fury, landing at #3 with Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3 rounding out the top five.

Rob Zombie, director of the Halloween remake, said that while the franchise started off as a "terrifying concept," it became watered-down over the years. "All it needed was someone to come in and to take a totally different approach to make it scary again."

Tonight's TCM Underground

I finally figured out how to work my cable remote control. My folks had DirecTV and I got to know the ins and outs of that whole thing so well that neighbors would call me over to their houses to fix theirs when they wanted something set or the electricity went out and screwed up their settings, or whatever. DirecTV here would cost about $10.00 more than local cable and I'm not sure it's worth it, so I went this route.

Anyway, I figured out a lot of this system here by poking and playing around, but a few weeks back, the services went out for about a day and a half all over town. When the cable came back on, everything was fine and I thought little more about it until a few hours later, when my Guide had completely changed. Even the settings and how you access them are different, so I've had to go back through and reset all my reminders, preferences, and all that.

Anyways, I finally figured out how to check the schedules in advance. And tonight on TCM's Underground (hosted by Rob Zombie) is a Tod Browning double-feature. Browning is the one who made the cult classic Freaks, which is the first feature; Mark of the Vampire is the second one. I'm pretty sure I've seen Mark of the Vampire, but I don't recall any details off-hand. Freaks, OTOH, I've seen many times, and it is an absolute must-see for horror-loving freaks of any stripe! One of the few aptly titled movies that lives up to its name.