Dark Horse Comics released Hellboy in Love: Black Eyes one-shot last week. The cover is by Alex Nieto and the script is by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. Here is the official summary:
"A cozy visit with retired B.P.R.D agents Archie and Margaret takes a chilly turn when Hellboy and Anastasia investigate the local ghost, whose once only legendary wails have been disturbing their quaint village with more and more urgency."
I'm kicking off this year's Countdown to Valentine's Day with Archie's Valentine's Spectacular #1 that Archie Comics released on January 21, 2026. The cover features Archie and Sabrina hugging at the top with Dalton and Reggie watching Sabrina, Betty, Veronica and Josie singing on stage as the Spirit Slayers. There is also an alternate cover with Betty and Veronica kissing Archie's cheeks.
Here is the official summary:
"The OFFICIAL COMIC BOOK OF VALENTINE’S DAY returns with a BRAND NEW STORY! A-POP is a vibrant world fueled by music and love—and when Sabrina, Betty, Veronica, and Josie form a band (managed by Archie!) to spread joy and compassion, they catch the eye of a dark spirit that’s threatened by their positivity. Can they rise above his dark influence? Find out in this fun KPOP DEMON HUNTERS-style story, along with even more romance-filled tales than ever!"
Dark Horse Comics is celebrating 40 years and released Touched by a Demon #1 last week. The cover features Bifrons and Zuzu. The story is a interesting mix of humor, horror and drama. Here is the official summary:
"Bifrons, a washed-up demon stuck in Hell, misses the good old days when he lived in Heaven. Looking for a shot at redemption, he sets up shop on Earth as a life coach for mortals, determined to rack up enough good deeds to earn his way back upstairs. With help from his loyal assistant Zuzu and a soul named Elaine, he tries to guide humans toward salvation. But the big question remains: can a creature of pure evil really change — or is he doomed to fail?"
This week's Superhero Sunday post has been switched with a Supervillain Sunday post. The cover of Superman #33 from DC Comics does not feature the main superhero. Instead it features Lex Luthor vs the Demon since it's a DC K.O. tie-in. Superman himself does not appear in this issue but Superboy Prime, Lois Lane and a Superman robot does.
This week's T-shirt Thursday spotlight is the Stranger Things Hellfire Club Holiday T-shirt that features a demon wearing Santa's hat. The Hellfire Club is the high school's Dungeons & Dragon's club on the Netflix series. While there was a gentlemen's club in the 18th Century with the same name, Marvel's Hellfire Club debuted in The Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980). You can purchase a Stranger Things Hellfire Club Holiday T-shirt at Amazon here. (This is a sponsored post).
Ghost Writer by Edgar J. Hyde is the fifth book in the Creepers series. Charlie, Kate and Neil are teens that move into a haunted house with their parents. Charlie is writing stories for the school paper when he notices additional writing in his notebook. He also starts having a recurring dream about dying in a bricked-up room. Charlie is the first to see the ghost before his younger siblings also see him. The trio starts investigating past deaths and disappearances, which leads to a murderer that is a demonic cult leader. Very scary moments in this one and the best book in the series so far. Overall, I give it an A+ and highly recommend it.
Mixing humor with ghosts, demons and witches, The Golden Goblet by Edgar J. Hyde is the fourth book in the Creepers series. Shona MacDonnell is a thirteen-year-old girl born in Scotland but lives in Washington, D.C. with her parents. Granny MacDonnell is her grandmother that still lives in Scotland and visits Shona in her dreams. Granny informs her in a dream that she is dying after suffering from a stroke. Shona is introduced to good ghosts and demons before finding out that she is next in line to be the clan's witch. She is told about the Golden Goblet and the Secret Memory contained within it. The family moves to Scotland due to her dad's job and to be closer to Granny. Shona then meets the bad ghosts and demons in a dream. They tell her of their plans for the Golden Goblet and how their descendant is going to use to rule the world. The second half of the book is better than the first. I give it a solid B mostly because Edgar J. Hyde is mentioned in the Epilogue.
Marvel dropped Hellhunters #1 last month and #2 today. The series takes place in Nazi-occupied France in June, 1944. Characters include Logan before he was Wolverine (he appears in the second issue), Sgt. Sal Romero who becomes a Ghost Rider, Nick Fury before the eye patch, Peggy Carter and Sebastian Szardos aka Soldier Supreme (merges Captain America and Doctor Strange). It's a pretty good horror series so far with demonic Nazis and Bucky should be joining the group next issue (yes, he's on the cover of the first issue but doesn't appear in the story).
Here's a special bonus treat for this week's women Wednesday. Zenescope Entertainment's Horror and Fantasy Illustrated 2024 Pinup Special came out earlier this month. The issue starts off with a special eight-page science fiction story.
The rest of the issue is filled with pinups of various women by different artists. The artwork includes fantasy, horror and science fiction. My favorite has to be the sexy mummy by Vinz El Tabanas
The Horror and fantasy Illustrated 2024 Pinup Special has several alternate covers. My favorite is Cover A featuring a demoness by Pierluigi Abbondanza.
Zatanna: Bring Down the House will be a five-issue DC Black Label series starting June 25, 2024, that will have her fighting a demon in Las Vegas:
If you think that Christmas should be just full of cheery women and jolly men, then you might want to skip Grimm Universe Presents Quarterly: 2023 Holiday Special from Zenescope Entertainment. The cover alone shows a buxom blonde sitting on a demon's knee in the office. The horror tale is about the boss giving three very special gifts to his employees. The first gift is a car while the second gift is a watch. The third and final gift is a fur coat. There is a final twist in which the boss gets a special gift from his boss.
There are also two other covers featuring women that I wouldn't mind having. I'm sure they are both on Santa's naughty list.
I actually picked up the Insidious 4-Movie Collection at the local Walmart's at the beginning of the month. It was in the five dollar bin but the actual price ended up being about twenty dollars. I watched the first one last Friday night, the second one on Saturday afternoon and the last two yesterday. There are two DVDs with each having two movies on them. My favorite characters are Elise the psychic and the two amateur ghost hunters, Specs and Tucker. The trio are also the only characters to appear in all four movies. What I find interesting is that the movies are listed from four to one on the back instead of one to four. Movies three and four are actually prequels to the first Insidious movie. They are all great movies featuring ghosts and demons and I'm glad that I got this set.
Grimm Universe Presents Quarterly: 2022 Halloween Special is out now and it's a pretty good issue. Not only are there sexy women but there are also zombies, werewolves, demons and other monsters.
The first page tells you in advance that this issue is going to give a very horrorifying spin on those Survivor-type tv shows:
There are four covers and here is the cover gallery (my favorite is the sexy witch on Cover D):
I was lucky enough to pick up all six die-cast cars in the Kroger Halloween Hot Wheels 2020 set last week at the local Dillons store. They are a bit higher price at $1.99 but it was worth actually getting a whole set for a change. In the past, I usually find one or two in the set. I really like the card artwork, which depicts a ghost chasing two cars. There is even a building with a Jack O'Lantern face in the upper left-hand corner.
Epic Fast is the first car in the set and it has skulls on the wheels:
The second car in the set is Twinduction and it features a horned demon on the sides plus skull on the wheels:
Hover & Out is the third car in the set and reminds me of a hovercar:
The fourth car in the set is Night Burner and is a mostly orange one with the top design that reminds me of an oven burner:
HW Poppa Wheelie is the fifth car in the set that is a green machine with the front end high in the air along with eyeballs on the sides and hood:
The sixth and last car of the Kroger Halloween Hot Wheels 2020 set is Super Stinger that not only has skulls on the wheels but also glow in the dark (this is my favorite one):
Here is what the back of the card looks like (yes, the copyright year is 2019):
I must apologize about the quality of the above pictures. The pictures either came out too bright or too dark. I probably could of gotten better pictures of the die-cast cars out of the package but I don't want to open them. Here is a photo of the Kroger Halloween Hot Wheels 2020 set that I found online to give you a better look at the cars: