Halloween Scene: Art Adams' Creature Features (1996)

I seriously hope you guys are familiar with Art Adams. He's one of those phenomenal artists with a dazzlingly unique style that unfortunately doesn't do much more than covers. He's probably one of my top 10 favorite artists, but I've probably only read a handful of comics he's drawn. So, when I found out about this book from Dark Horse which combines a Creature From The Black Lagoon one-shot, a Godzilla one-shot, two short Monkeyman & O'Brien strips (I still need to read those comics) and then a 3-page Godzilla strip set to the words of Alan Moore, who wrote a song about Godzilla. I had no idea that existed and it wasn't all too thrilling, but I will never pass up a Moore/Adams collaboration.

I've never seen The Creature From The Black Lagoon, so I have no idea if this Steve Moncuse-written story completely follows the movie script or if it's an original story. I'm guessing it's an adaptation, but I like I said I don't know. Usually, I would be bummed out that all the details of a movie were ruined by a comic, BUT, I don't really mind in this case because I guarantee that Adams' version of the monsters and characters looks way cooler than the movie. The story was a bit long, but I love looking at anything Adams draws, even panels that are just headshots.

The Godzilla one-shot is a lot of fun because it involves four people in a high-tech anti-Godzilla attack squad AND a giant Japanese demon fighting Godzilla. Adams co-wrote it with Randy Stradley and the two created a really well-paced, fun action movie in comic book form. I wish more Godzilla movies were actually like this: focusing less on the boring humans (these humans are interested and, like I said, are high-tech so they can actually dent Godzilla's hide) and, of course, offering up a strong, dangerous and unique enemy for G-unit to fight. Good stuff.

The other smaller stories are interesting enough and really just make me want to read Monkeyman and O'Brien. It's rare for me to get a trade solely for the art. I think the only other trade that's on my shelf that I got based on the artist is the Marvel Visionaries: Jim Steranko book, which is amazing. Creature Features will be joining it on my shelf because, like the Steranko Visionaries, the amazing art is paired with rad stories. Plus, I love Godzilla.

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