Titans Terrors and Toys

Anyone who is a horror fan knows that there's much, much more to it that just reading novels or watching films. A genuine fan life is filled with collectibles, comic books, fanzines, posters, and a selection of oddities with an appeal that would baffle outsiders. The publishers of We Belong Dead magazine understand fan life very well, and they have just published a book that is completely devoted to horror fandom from a particular decade: 70s Monster Memories . 70s Monster Memories is a full-color, soft-cover book with 400 pages worth of essays about various aspects of horror fan life during the '70s. The essays cover just about everything that was unique to that era, from Aurora model kits to poster magazines to noteworthy horror movies that were produced exclusively for broadcast television. Since this was the last decade before cable TV channels found their footing and VHS rentals became a blockbuster business, some essays cover super 8 films (the only way to watch ...

Since I've been a fan of the Star Wars franchise since its debut in 1977, it was my personal responsibility (or perhaps a mandatory requirement in my Lifetime Commitment to Geekery contract) to see the latest installment, The Force Awakens (a.k.a. Episode VII ), as soon as possible after it was released last month. So far, I've seen it twice already--once on a regular movie screen and once in the IMAX format--and while it's a fun movie, it's the only Star Wars film that left me feeling underwhelmed. Lucas may have felt that Disney would be an ideal home for his franchise after he sold it back in 2012, but its latest live-action contribution to the saga felt like it lost its spirit of fantasy when compared to the other movies. This post isn't a review of Force Awakens as much as it is a look back at Star Wars as a whole, what the new movie means in that context, and speculation of what Disney era of the franchise will look like in the years to come. Read on ...