31 Days of Horror at Biff Bam Pop!

If you've been to the Biff Bam Pop! website, you know that other than the regular pop culture features, we're all big horror fans there. As always, special for the month of October, and culminating today on Halloween is 31 Days of Horror.

31 Days of Horror takes a look at the past and present in horror movies, television, horror television, horror comics, and even horror animation.

This year we had guest blogger Monica S. Kuebler write about Midnight Son; Loretta Sisco gave us a peek at her Halloween playlist, as well as her regular column, True Crime Corner, and her reviews of the television series Outlander; and Robin Renee gave us a tour of Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion.

Newcomer to the site from over at the late great Popshifter, but terrific writer and whirlwind of terror, Tim Murr gave us looks at Red Christmas, Halloween III, the brilliant Psycho documentary 78/52, Pumpkinhead, Mike Thorn's Darkest Hours, and the latest album by Werewolves in Siberia, as well as his music column Let Us Now Praise Noise. Also from Popshifter, and a terrific comics reviewer, E.A. Henson brought us Alien Toilet Monsters and the seven essential Halloween specials you MUST WATCH this year.

As well as her awesome column Creations of Chaos, about animation and anime films, Sarah Hawkins-Miduski gave us her thoughts on Neil Gaiman's Coraline, Edgar Allan Poe's Mystery Dinner Party, and four creepy animated shorts. JP Fallavollita took us on a tour of the Tomb of Dracula, and also featured horror in ever October edition of his comics column The Wednesday Run. Jim Knipp gave us a look at the deadly dollies of horror films, and Marie Gilbert served up some Soylent Green for the Halloween holiday dinner.

Co-editor-in-chief and founder of Popshifter, the amazing Less Lee Moore gave us reviews of Alone in the Dark, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and The Asphyx, as well as her regular columns, Pump Up the Jam and Now Streaming on Shudder.

Founder and publisher Andy Burns provided insights on Stephen King and Owen King's recent appearance in Toronto, the Creepshow graphic novel and The Dark Tower: The Art of the Film, the games Resident Evil: Biohazard and Outlast Trinity, as well as his popular weekly Box Office Predictions and awesomely on-topiv column The Week in Horror.

Besides my regular reviews of the television series The Flash, and infusing the 31 Days of Horror theme into my comics review column Heroes and Villains, I got my grubby little hands in there too, writing about the classic rat movies Willard and Ben, fellow Biff Bam Popper Lucas Mangum's Engines of Ruin, The Car, Beware the Slenderman, and Halloween in the Marvel Animated Universe.

Don't forget about the other regular columns at Biff Bam Pop! like The Ten Percent by K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey, and By the Book by Jim Knipp, and our other great staff writers like Luke Sneyd, Richard Kirwin, Mat Langford, and David Ward.

Clicky-clicky, come on by Biff Bam Pop! and check out 31 Days of Horror. It's the best way to celebrate Halloween!

Biff Bam Pop! Celebrates 100 Years of Jack Kirby

Legendary American comic book writer, artist and innovator Jack Kirby would have celebrated his 100th birthday on August 28th.  To celebrate the life and work of Kirby, pop culture website Biff Bam Pop! will spend the summer featuring many of Kirby’s greatest character creations, books and publications, artistry and influence. Titled #Kirby100: Biff Bam Pop! Celebrates 100 Years of Jack Kirby, readers can look forward to a summer-long celebration of one of the most innovative creators of our time.

“Without Jack Kirby, comic books and pop culture wouldn’t be what we know them to be today,” says Biff Bam Pop! Publisher/Founder Andy Burns. “This is your invitation to join the Biff Bam Pop! editorial team and site contributors for a summer-long #Kirby100 party!”

If you can scan the litany of comic book characters that Kirby created or co-created you’d be certain to find dozens of your favourites. From the globally renowned Captain America, Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men series of characters, to the populace’s burgeoning awareness of Darkseid and Black Panther, to the more niche creations of Kamandi, Etrigan the Demon and Destroyer Duck. With Kirby, the list of great characters is unparalleled. 

Born in New York City in 1917 to poor, working class immigrant parents, Jack Kirby liked to draw from an early age. Self-taught, his art led him to the comic book industry in his late teens from which there was no turning back. The companies that Kirby helped immortalize between the 1940s-1970s included Fox Feature Syndicate, Timely Comics (later Marvel Comics), National Comics Publications (later DC Comics), Harvey Comics, Eclipse Comics, and many others. He even worked alongside two of the other greatest creators to ever be immortalized in comic book lore: Joe Simon and Stan Lee, and it was with them that Kirby created his most recognized works of comic book pop culture.

“For the decades that encompassed the Golden Age, the Silver Age, and the Bronze Age of comic book publishing, Jack Kirby, the King, was at the heart of it all. As an artist and writer, he instructed, he nurtured, and, most importantly, he entertained,” says Biff Bam Pop! Consulting Editor, Jean-Paul Fallavollita.

 #Kirby100: Biff Bam Pop Celebrates 100 Years of Jack Kirby kicks of today right here and runs all summer long at Biff Bam Pop!

Also don't forget to check out our regular columns:

The Wednesday Run on comics by Jean-Paul Fallavollita

The Ten Percent on film by K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey

Creations of Chaos on animation by Sarah Hawkins Miduski

Pump Up the Jam on music by Less Lee Moore

True Crime Corner on serial killers by Loretta Sisco

By the Book on adaptations by James Knipp

Box Office Predictions by Andy Burns

Heroes and Villains on comics by Glenn Walker

Biff Bam Pop! was established in August 2008, Biff Bam Pop! is a website devoted to the world of pop culture, from comic books and video games, to movies, books, and music. Come check it out and stay a while at Biff Bam Pop!.

Remembering Adam West

This one hit me hard, folks, and I learned about it much the same way I had heard that John Lennon was dead. I awoke the next morning to my radio playing Beatles song after Beatles song, thinking what a great way to start the morning, with Beatles music.

For Adam West, it was similar, happy to sad. I had just spent a terrific day with The Bride at EPCOT, we were getting on the bus, and I checked my phone, hitting Facebook. I saw a really cool picture I'd seen before - my good friend Andy Burns, our friend JP Fallavollita, and Andy's daughter (in fierce Wonder Woman cosplay) standing in front of the Batmobile (the real Batmobile) with, you guessed it, Adam West and Burt Ward. I was jealous the first time I saw the picture, and jealous this time, so I posted as much. I was in a good mood, and then I saw other Facebook posts on my feed… Adam West had passed away at the age of 88. I was crushed. It was if my childhood had dropped out from under me. I was staggered by this for a couple days. It couldn't be true.

My earliest memory regards an incident in my family first house.  I was around two and stepped on a heating grate burning my foot.  I don't remember any of that, but what I vividly do recall is my brother giving me a toy Batmobile to get me to stop crying.  At our second house shortly after that the room I shared with my big brother had only two things on the walls: a Detroit Lions pennant and a picture of Batman.  I have talked before about the 1966-69 "Batman" TV series starring Adam West being the gateway drug to comics for not only myself, but for an entire generation.  In many ways, my childhood has taken a hell of a hit. 

Adam West as Batman affects me to this day.  This past weekend I thought of him on three different occasions before learning of his passing.  Andy's photo on Facebook was one.  I saw Return of the Caped Crusaders on Blu-Ray in a store and I thought I needed to own it sooner or later.  And at EPCOT on the Test Track ride, I deliberately tried to design a car just like the Batmobile. 

Other than his wild global success as Batman, Adam West had a pretty rough life, battling depression, alcoholism, and typecasting.  It wasn't until he came to terms with always being remembered as Batman that things turned around for him. Gone were the days of getting shot out of a cannon and doing terrible pilots like "The Precinct."  Batman could overcome anything.  His unique deadpan camp humor even found a home on "Family Guy," conquering a whole new television generation. I even met him once, great guy.

Adam got the Batman gig after producers saw him playing a James Bond parody for Nestle Quik commercials.  Ironically he would be considered for the role of the real Bond years later.  He beat Lyle Waggoner for the title role on "Batman," who probably would not have been able to pull it off.  Batman would take over the world – Adam West himself has been quoted as saying that the sixties were all about the three Bs - Beatles, Bond, and Batman - and it's true.  And "Batman" would not have worked without West.  He was the only choice. 

West had done other things, movies like Mara of the Wilderness, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and Poor Devil all of which I loved, and are recommended, but he always returned to Batman, whether it was on "Superfriends," the 1970s Filmation "Batman," as the Grey Ghost, Back to the Batcave, or the aforementioned Return of the Caped Crusaders. 

Adam West passed away on Saturday after a short battle with leukemia, he was 88.  In my mind and in my heart, he will live forever as the only Batman that counts.  We have lost a true legend, and the Bat-Signal burns for you, my friend. 

Lost Hits of the New Wave #39

Substance by New Order

Of the New Wave era, greatest hits collections tended to be rare. Oh sure, afterward, they were plentiful, but very few stand out during the day. Among them were Standing on the Beach by The Cure, Eponymous by REM, and this one - Substance by New Order.

Similar to The Cure's greatest hits package, Substance, or Substance 1987 as it's known in some circles, not only contains the 'greatest hits,' but also their B-sides, and just as with Standing on the Beach, the B-sides are also just as cool. And after all, some of these A-sides and B-sides match up wonderfully, so this is a terrific collection. This is one of those CDs/cassettes (I've worn out both) that I used to listen to over and over again.



The only thing missing is my favorite Joy Division song, "Love Will Tear Me Apart," so I would invariably tape the album and add that one. I love all these songs, but I have to single out favorites "The Perfect Kiss," "Confusion," "Shellshock," "Ceremony," even the overplayed but still much-loved "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Blue Monday," and the new song, "True Faith."



And if you'd like to hear about how this album changed the life of my friend and fellow Biff Bam Pop! writer JP Fallavollita, check out this excellent article here.

Avengers Assembled

If you're not tired of me talking about the Avengers, at the end of this post, you just might be.

I'm talking about the film Avengers: Age of Ultron in two places this week. First you can find me and The Bride discussing the film in the Disney-focused Make Mine Magic Podcast right here, and then if you want see me as well as hear me, I am joined by Biff Bam Pop! staffers J.P. Fallavollita, Jason Shayer, and Jim Knipp talking about the movie on the latest episode of the Biff Bam Popcast! that you can check out right here.

Of course you read my review of the film here, my hopes for it here, my reviews of the first Avengers movie then and now, and if you don't know who (or what) Ultron is, I tell you here.

And as sidebars to the film, my reviews of "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD" are here and "Marvel's Agent Carter" here. And if that's not enough, my reviews of Disney XD's animated series "Marvel's Avengers Assemble" are here. And if you want to discuss anything Avengers-related, check out the Avengers Forever group on Facebook here.

On… Biff Bam Pop!

Each week, one of Biff Bam Pop’s illustrious writers will delve into one of their favorite things. Perhaps it’s a movie or album they’ve carried with them for years. Maybe it’s something new that moved them and they think might move you too. Each week, a new subject, a new voice writing on… something they love.

The above is the official introduction, and the premise, of our newest column at Biff Bam Pop! called On.... Each week we spotlight one of our writers, and a subject they love, and let them go to town with it. The schedule so far has been:

Andy Burns On... Jodorowsky's Dune

Leiki Veskimets On... The Fight Club DVD Commentary

Glenn Walker On… Firefly

Amanda Blue On... The Crow

JP Fallavollita On... Star Blazers

Robin Renee On… Gary Wilson's You Think You Really Know Me

Jim Knipp On... Rankin Bass

Loretta Sisco On... My Bloody Valentine

And this Friday, Marie Gilbert will be writing On... Alien, so be sure to check it out.

Don't forget our other columns - Blue on Black by Amanda Blue every Saturday afternoon, The Wednesday Run by JP Fallavollita every Wednesday morning, The Ten Percent by K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey every other week, our weekly TV reviews, and our Box Office Predictions every Friday and Sunday, all at Biff Bam Pop!.

And don't forget to 'Like' the Facebook page, and Follow the Twitter!

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S02 E05: "A Hen in the Wolf House"

What I have always said about "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," even during the dark days when no one was watching it, was that it was great espionage television, and it's been a long time since we've had such a thing. This week's episode was full of all the things the genre cool - enemy agents, independent agents, and double agents.

Palicki in the costume that debuts tonight.

And speaking of double agents, this episode features the debut of Bobbi Morse, as played by Adrianne Palicki, who was previously Wonder Woman in the unaired pilot by David E. Kelley. In the comics she's better known as Mockingbird. If you're looking for a blonde double agent with an attraction to archers, and you can't afford the Black Widow, and don't own Black Canary, Mockingbird is the next best thing.

Her codename is never mentioned, her hair is not blonde (although it's later referenced that it once was), and her outfit looks like she raided the leftover Cylon reject wardrobe of "Battlestar Galactica," but she is still kicking ass and taking names with her trademark battle staves. There's no mention of on again/off again husband Hawkeye, but she's mercenary Lance Hunter's ex-wife.

Bobbi saves Jemma Simmons from the clutches of Hydra when her cover is blown. Hopefully her time with the enemy will provide valuable information, and her presence help balance her old partner Fitz. I'm also glad to see Bobbi join the team, but hope her super-badassery will not dilute Agent May's only human badassery.

Skye almost gets to meet her dad, and it seems as we've been told, he's an alien monster in human form, killing indiscriminately. Kyle MacLachlan plays this to the hilt with appropriate weirdness. The bad news is that he's aligned himself with Kraken and Hydra. Dear old Dad also says the Obelisk is called The Diviner in its native language.

Speaking of which, Skye also has made progress translating the alien language. She says it's a map. A map perhaps to the Kree homeworld Hala? Time will tell.

In the meantime, please don't forget to check out my friend and fellow Biff Bam Pop! columnist J.P. Fallavollita for his review of this episode along with a few of his theories on the alien language, and my regular reviews of the "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." series here. Thanks again, J.P.!

Godzilla 2014

You know me, I am a hardcore Godzilla fan, and earlier this week, thanks to friend Skott Stotland of The Nerd Signal, I got to see an early showing of the new American Godzilla film.

You can read my spoiler-filled review of the movie over at Biff Bam Pop!, click here. I've got a lot to say.

And while you're in the monster mood, please check out Skott Stotland's review of Godzilla here, fellow Biff Bam Pop! staff writer J.P. Fallavollita on Gareth Edwards' Monsters here (and my review of that film as well), and good friend and fellow writer Becca Butcher's rebuttal to my review here.

February Faves at Biff Bam Pop!

For the past month at Biff Bam Pop!, we've been running a theme called "February Faves" where we've been asking our staff and regular contributors to list their favorites in a variety of orthodox and sometimes unorthodox set of categories.

So far we've had Favorite 1980s Songs, Television Villains, Single Issue Comic Books, Recipes Made for Your Soul, Sci-Fi Shows, Break-Up Songs, X-Men, Wicked Women, Movie Marathons, Performances by Seth Green, Performances by Comedians in Serious Roles, Musicians in Movies, Winter Blues Songs, Pop Culture Massacres, and Early Performances You May Have Missed.

And my contributions to February Faves included my Favorite Reboots, Superhero Sidekicks, Favorite Avengers, Cover Songs Better than the Originals, and tomorrow I will be closing out the month with my favorite Avengers stories, look for it!

If you'd like to see everything Biff Bam Pop! has offered for February Faves, you can click here. Thanks for clicking, and reading, Happy February!

Halloween at Biff Bam Pop!

All through October, Biff Bam Pop! has been celebrating 31 Days of Horror, special articles and reviews in the genre of horror.

Go on over to the Biff Bam Pop! website, your online home for comics, movies, music, television, video games, and more, and check it out. This month, you can check out articles about Carrie both old and new, John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, Nothing Left to Fear, Metallica: Through the Never, and even The Human Centipede.

This month there is also an interview with Slash, terrific guest blogs by Alyssa Lobit, Liisa Ladouceur, Robin Renee, Justin McConnell, Jim Knipp, and great horror themed comics reviews from JP Fallavollita and Jason Shayer. And don't forget the television reviews from Marie Gilbert of "American Horror Story: Coven," "Sleepy Hollow," NBC's new "Dracula," and "The Walking Dead."

Some guy named Glenn Walker even wrote a few things over there, like stuff about The Monsters of Doctor Who, The Atlas Comics Monsters, Solomon Kane, and The Bride of Frankenstein

Please check it out, and Happy Halloween!