Monthly Archives: October 2019

Each month,Billboard Pridecelebrates an LGBTQ act as its Artist of the Month. Our September selection:Mika.

Its early afternoon on a Thursday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and despite his cool manner, Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr. is feeling nervous. Not because of this interview --hes been speaking to members of the press for over a decade at this point --but because in just a few hours, he will be donning his stage name, Mika, and returning to perform in the States for the first time in over three years.

I dont know what youre going to see tonight, he says with a laugh as he takes a sip of his San Pellegrino. His performance will be the first stop on a5-city tiny tour, reintroducing himself at intimatevenues to an audience he hasnt seen since touringhis last full-length album, No Place in Heaven, in early 2016.

But the moment he steps out onto the stage at Brooklyn Steel on Sept.12, it's clear that Mika's nerves have washed away. The crowd of nearly 2,000 attendees screams along to every song, as Mika dances around the stage, reveling in his return. "God, it feels good to be back on the stage," he says, grinning.

U.S. stages aren't the only thing he's returning to this fall after a four year hiatus from the music industry, Mika is officially back with his fifth studio albumMy Name Is Michael Holbrook(due out Oct. 4 via Republic). It'san expectedly ecclectic mix of pop tracks, spiritually harkening back to the days of his debut withLife in Cartoon Motion;if his debut was about moving on from childhood, his newest album is about growing into adulthood.

Mika says the album was written over the course of the last two and a halfyears in "real time," as he continued to learn what it really means to be a grown-up. "I really wanted to address the idea of growing up without losing your colors," he says."Becoming an adult, but without losing your human warmth, or your sense of color and whimsy ... those things are seen as things that you leave behind. If anything, I think they're things that you have to claim even more."

It shows throughout the album --whether he's battling his own inner envy with "Dear Jealousy," finding joy in the little things on "Platform Ballerinas," or lusting after a boy on "Ice Cream," Mika goes outof his way to create as many different representations of his own emotional state as he possibly can.

But Mika had a long road to get to his new album. Back in 2016, after releasingHeaventhe year prior, and touring near-constantly afterward, the singer decided it was time for him to step away from music. As he describes it, he long felt a general disdain towards the way business was done in the music industry, and that disdain eventually "contaminated" his love of making music."It took a little while for me to disassociate one from the other, and so I kind of just had to do a bit of internal housekeeping," he says.

Specifically, Mika says that he found himself constantly feeling "gross" about the commercial side of artistry. "I get knots in my stomach thinking about the process of trying to sell music," he says."Which a lot of people won't say because now it's so good to be commercial, it's so good to be brazen and to get out there! But I don't care!"

So, during his hiatus from the music business, Mika worked on creating a sound that was purely authentic to him, and untouched by his perceptions about what is current and trendy in pop music --My Name Is Michael Holbrookis that vision realized. "I have completely abandoned any kind of worry about what people may or may not think about my music. I have absolutely refused to mimic the sonics of anything that is mainstream," he says, adding,"While still remaining within a pop context, of course."

That refusal also extended to his Tiny Love Tiny Tour, starting with his kick-off show in Brooklyn. While past tours of his included incredible theatrics, props, dance numbers and more, his latesttour simply featured Mikaand his band playing through some of his favorite songs across all five of his albums. And itall took place in the weeks ahead of thealbum'srelease, a facthe says caused trepadation amongst his team"[My agent] wasjust like, 'You know, we're selling these shows you haven't played the U.S. in three and a half years, and you haven't put any music out,'" he recalls. "She ultimately trusted me."

His strategy payed off the star sold out each of the intimate venues almost immediately, in some cases having to add additional shows that also immediately sold out. "We sold 4,000 tickets in New York already," he says, with a cheeky laugh."2,000 more and we'd be at Radio City Music Hall. For someone who's never been played on radio in this country, that's pretty good."

Mika wasn't surprised that his team trusted him with the decision, though despite his aforementioned contempt for the music business, he contends that his record label, Republic, has always endorsed his "weird" vision, despite any questions regarding popularity or sales numbers. "They kind of see me as this completely atypical artist," he says. "There's this sense of pride from them ... and so they're quite supportive of me."

The singer's frustration with the music industry traces all the way back to the start of his career, when the star had spent years writing and sending out songs to labels, only to find them roundly rejected by music labels. His first official single came in 2006with Universal Music Group's new label Casablanca, titled "Relax, Take It Easy." The song went on to have some tempered European success, but ultimately didn't achieve the success they were looking for.

Thus, Mika's magnum opus "Grace Kelly" was born. Upon its release, the song hit No. 1 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy and Belgium, while marking the singer's first entryonto the Hot 100 in the U.S., and saw Mika offering a rebuke the systems in place that would try to label and reject him."After a certain while, the 'no's just provoke this kind of outburst, and this outburst manifested itself in this explosion of colors," he says."So it became, 'I'll try to be like Grace Kelly. Oh, so sorry, is that too feminine for you?' It's like, I can be every single color of the fucking rainbow --but in the end, I don't think it's going to work for you, so I might as well just be myself."

And yet with his success on that single, quite literally written about how trying to compare himself to others simply doesn't work, he was heralded by many as the new Freddie Mercury (which Mika still calls "absolutely ridiculous"). Even with a song about individuality, the star felt his talent was being reduced to a need by those in the industry to identify him. "Therein started thistension between me and the idea of the music industry," he says."Again, it just shows you how there's different frustrations and negatives in this business."

Another label that Mika was regularly faced with early in his career was one surrounding his sexuality --in almost every interview, the star would be asked about how he identified. And for years, he would respond by saying that he didn't want to label himself. It's something that he says, looking back, he wouldn't change. "Itwas a conscious decision, and it was a part of my process," he says. "Real life and personal life and career all kind of evolve and develop along different timelines. It's just one thing at a time, where I wasnot obsessed with this idea of pigeonholing me."

But the evolution did occur, leading to the singer's "official" public coming out in 2012, when he revealed that he identified as gay in an interview withInstinct.Today, the star says he saw an opportunity to lead by example and took it. "If I was a 14 year old, I think it would be really good for me to hear about someone like this, and to hear that story," he says. "But everything takes time. Everything is a different type of journey, and every journey, when it comes to sexuality, is a different one, is atypical."

One assertion that he does fundementally disagree with is the notion that life is easier today for LGBTQ artists the world over. Mika acknowledges that "from a media point of view, we're certainly not givenas much shit as before," but adds that it doesn't diminishthe constant struggle queer people everywhere still face on a daily basis. "But this question of, 'is it a simpler journey?' My ass, it is!" he exclaims, specifically turning to address industry executives. "Stop thinking that --because you all suddenly realize there's this market out there --that it's somehow a simpler journey. It is still difficult, and every person's journey is difficult, and it's so important to respect that."

Relegating a queer artist to a mere descriptor of their sexuality, he says, only lead to further marginalization. Instead, he points to trailblazers like Elton John and Rufus Wainwright, saying that their work broke through into the mainstream because it was well-crafted,andbecause they decided to be honest with their audiences. "The one thing that breaks walls is the joy and the emotion that can be provoked by a piece of work that is excellent," he says."Because that lasts."

Mika hopes that his fans find that excellence inMy Name IsMichael Holbrook,a work he says is his proudest acheivement. "I just feel kind of like, 'Wow, it's starting to come together, and it's taken me 14 years,'" he says. "I've got a long way to go, I've got a lot of challenges. It's not an easy career, I don't have an easy time. And at the same time, I wouldn't change a single part of it."

Read more:
Mika Returns: How the Glam-Pop Star Rejected Industry Standards to Make His Boldest Record Yet - Billboard

Halloween has always been a time where comics creators flex their horror muscles. By Halloween, I mean the whole month of October, not just the 31st. Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore debuted The Walking Dead #1 in October 2003. Eleven years later, it was Scott Snyders and Jocks Wytches, a series that has figured into most Best horror comics lists since its debut.

This years Halloween season has the potential to be one for the history books, with acclaimed horror writer Joe Hill getting his own POP UP horror imprint under DC Comics with Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Joe Kelly, and Laura Marks among its contributing creators.

Storm King Comics will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of its horror anthology Tales for a HalloweeNight while Charlie Adlards post-Walking Dead horror comic Vampire State Building will be hitting shelves in the hopes of becoming the next big thing in horror. And this is just the beginning.

Here are 42 horror comics and graphic novels that will be haunting comic stores this Halloween season.

Writers: John Carpenter & Sandy KingArtists: VariousCover Artist: Tim BradstreetPublisher: Storm King ComicsRelease Date: Sept. 25List Price: $24.99

Fromthe mind of John Carpenter, the man who brought you the cult classic horror film Halloween and all of the scares beyond, and the heart of writer, editor, producer Sandy King comes 12 more twisted tales of terror, tricks, and treats. In volume 5 of the award-winning graphic novel series, they bring together another stellar ensemble of storytellers from the worlds of movies, novels, and comics for another spine-tingling collection of stories that will haunt you. Each story is a standalone surprise that captures the essence of fright night. We dare you to read it all the way to the end. If you get too scared, remember, its only a comic. Its only a comic or is it? Happy Halloween.

Writer: Don AvenellArtist: Carlos CruzPublisher: Rebellion Graphic NovelsRelease Date: Oct. 2List Price: $15.91

Hammer Horror meetsDoomlordin this 1970s supernatural comics gem! After several artefacts are stolen from his home, the mysterious Egyptologist Dr. Mesmer resurrects a five-thousand-year-old mummy called Angor, a Pharaoh possessed with great mystical power. Together they set out to retrieve the missing items, bringing terror and destruction in their wake! Featuring the work of legends of British comics Donne Avenell (The Spider,The Phantom) and illustrated by Carlos Cruz(M.A.S.K,The Phantom).

Writers: Tom Peyer, Mark Russell, VariousArtists: Peter Snejbjerg, Hunt Emerson, VariousCover Artist: Richard WilliamsPublisher: Ahoy! ComicsRelease Date: Oct. 2List Price: $19.99

A comedic collection of classic tales and brand new stories, adapted by comics snarkiest talents, in this cross betweenDrunk HistoryandTales from the Crypt, all introduced by Edgar Allan Poe at his drunkest. Collecting all of the comics from the 6-issue AHOY Comics series, plus terrifying prose and poetry features.

Writer: Jeff LovenessArtist: Lisandro EstherrenCover Artist: Evan CaglePublisher: BOOM! StudiosRelease Date: Oct. 2List Price: $3.99

MANKIND MADE IT TO SPACE. AND NOW SPACE HAS FOLLOWED THEM BACK.Herring is a disillusioned American spy stationed on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall, struggling with his role in a Cold War that seems to have no end. But when hes sent on a mission behind enemy lines to infiltrate East German intelligence, he soon learns the Soviets have a secret weapon that could change the tides of the conflict: an alien monster that they dont understand, and cant control.

The Soviets are about to learn that they re not in charge of the monster its already in their minds and has twisted them to their will. Now Herring must find a way to understand the impossible before it transforms him into a monster unlike any other.

Writer Jeff Loveness (Judas) and Lisandro Estherren (Redneck) team up for a story in the spirit of Cold War classics, for fans of period piece science fiction as well as alien action such as Barrier.

Writer: Cullen BunnArtist: Juan DoePublisher: AftershockRelease Date: Oct. 2List Price: $3.99

THE EPIC SERIES RETURNS!

Two arks were built to survive the Flood. One was filled with the creatures of the natural world. The other was populated byeverything else.

Now that the denizens of the DARK ARK have beaten Noahs Ark to land, a new so-cietal order must be created one based on the rule of monsters. Khalee, a new sorceress, ventures to maintain order amidst the chaos, but her otherworldly mas-ters have a different task in mind. She must devise a way to bring Noahs Ark to the monstersbecause the beasts must feed.

From writer Cullen Bunn (UNHOLY GRAIL, BROTHERS DRACUL, WITCH HAMMER, Deadpool, Venom) and artist Juan Doe (ANIMOSITY: THE RISE, AMERICAN MONSTER, WORLD READER) comes an even more sinister tale of biblical proportions!

Writers: More, Marv Wolfman, Gerry ConwayArtist :Gil Kane, Ross Andru, MoreCover artist: John Romita Sr.Publisher:MarvelRelease date:Oct. 2List price:$39.99

When J. Jonah Jamesons astronaut son, John Jameson, brings a strange red gemstone back from the moon, he finds himself transformed into the macabre Man-Wolf! Becoming a lycanthropic creature on the loose, the Man-Wolf battles Spider-Man, Morbius, Kraven the Hunter and more while investigator Simon Stroud comes ever closer to the Man-Wolfs true identity! Jameson soon discovers the truth behind the gem but does his destiny lie in Other Realm wielding the sword of the Stargod? Or will the parasitic stone mean his destruction? Man-Wolf takes on Frankensteins monster, She-Hulk and more but can Spider-Man save him from a fate worse than death? Collecting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #124-125 and #189-190; GIANT-SIZE SUPER-HEROES #1; CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #30-37; MARVEL PREMIERE #45-46; MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) #36-37; SAVAGE SHE-HULK #13-14 and material from PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #3.

Vengeance of Vampirella #1

Writer: TomSniegoskiArtist: Michael Sta. MariaCover artist:Lucio ParrilloPublisher:Dynamite ComicsRelease date: Oct. 2List price:$3.99

Originally debuting in 1994, Vengeance of Vampirella portrayed a more savage and feral look at the Daughter of Drakulon. Now, for the 50th Anniversary of Vampirella, original series writer Tom Sniegoski (joined by the incredible art of Michael Sta. Maria) is back and issue #1 features a host of incredible cover artists.

Set 25 years after the initial series, Vampirella is Dead!? Long Live Vampirella!Humanity holds on, but barely, the playthings and slaves of a multitude of supernatural monstrosities that have made the earth their own.Mistress Nyx continues to rule the planet, her Chaos Lords reigning over the various regions of the world, but she is getting bored Theres no one to challenge her! That is, until a small, but determined rebellion finds what could be their savior or seal their doom!

This new series and anniversary event is not to be missed!THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His teen fantasy YA series Fallen was adapted into a trilogy of monstrously successful TV movies by ABC Family Channel. His other books for teens include Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, Legacy, and Force Majeure, as well as the series The Brimstone Network. The authors first adult novel, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, developed into a series of novels about the character Remy Chandler.

Writer: David Avallone, Erica SchultzArtists:Roy Allen Martinez, Fernando RuizCover artist: John RoylePublisher: Dynamite ComicsRelease date: Oct. 2List price: $4.99

Something evil is lurking in the dark woods of Upstate New York, and hunting the student bodies at exclusive and isolated Annandale College. Model Agent Bettie Page investigates the Annandale Horrorand finds herself enrolled in Werewolf 101, for extra creditplus, Bettie and Lyssa go to the drive-in with a bunch of intergalactic gate crashers!

Writer: Ange, Patrick RenaultArtist: Charlie AdlardCover artist: InHyuk LeePublisher:AblazeRelease date: Oct. 2List price: $3.99

The newest horror series from the artist of The Walking Dead, Charlie Adlard! Just in time for Halloween, get ready to be bitten from the first full color page. Terry Fisher is a young soldier on the verge of being sent away for active military duty, and is going to meet his friends at the top of the Empire State Building for a farewell party. But suddenly a legion of vampires attacks the skyscraper and massacres its occupants. Hounded in the 102 floors that have become a deadly trap, Terry must take decisive action to save himself and his friends and the city of New York before the army of abominations, and the terrible vampire god within, walled in the building since its construction, spill into the city!

Writer: Tom TaylorArtist: Trevor Hairsine, Stefano GaudianoCover artist: Yasmin PutriPublisher: DC ComicsRelease date:Oct. 2List price: $3.99

The world is dying at the hands of the infected, and the very survival of humanity is at stake. Facing extinction, Superman and the heroes will make a decision that will fundamentally alter Earths presentand future!

Writer: Chris DingessArtist: Matthew Roberts, Owen GieniPublisher:Image ComicsRelease date:Oct. 2List price: $3.99

NEW STORY ARC

Spring has sprung and the Corps of Discovery is closing in on the Pacific! But new beginnings mean new horrors for Lewis and Clark, and out on the American plains a sleeping beast has awoken!

Writer: Al EwingArtist: Joe BennettCover artist: Alex RossPublisher:MarvelRelease date: Oct. 2List price:$3.99

As the war with Shadow Base comes to a brutal, bloody end, Bruce Banner has a choice to make. And the repercussions of that choice will have an effect on every single life on this planetincluding the IMMORTAL HULK.

Writers:Jordie Bellaire, Jeremy LambertArtist: Eleonora CarliniCover artist:Kyle LambertPublisher:Boom StudiosRelease date: Oct. 9List price:$3.99

THE FIRST EVENT OF THE ALL-NEW BUFFY UNIVERSE STARTS HERE!* Buffy Summers, the Slayer, has one job keep the forces of hell from coming to Earth through, uh, Hellmouth. Heres the bad news.she might have failed.* The Mistress Drusilla and her ally, Spike, have found a weapon to open the Hellmouth and unleash unspeakable evil across the town and the world.* With time running out, Buffy must team up with a new ally that she doesn t fully trust.the vampire.vigilante known as Angel! Can these two find a way to work together before the Hellmouth opens or these two decide they might be each others greatest enemy?* From Eisner Award-nominated writer Jordie Bellaire and rising star Jeremy Lambert ( Doom Patrol ) and Eleonora Carlini ( Saban s Go Go Power Rangers ) comes the first massive event of the Buffyverse.one that threatens to shake the entire fabric of reality. This is an absolute must read from the mind of creator Joss Whedon!

Writer:Steven T. SeagleArtist/Cover artist:Jason Adam KatzensteinPublisher:Image ComicsRelease Date: Oct. 9List price:$16.99

After a long year among normals, Skye is eager to return to Camp Midnight as an older, more seasoned camper. But her parents have other ideas. Theyre putting her on a bus to the camp she was supposed to go to last summer-Camp Daybright! With a sinking feeling of dj vu, Skye sets out for a summer of new friends in a new camp, complete with a creepily familiar new arch-frenemy. It all adds up to big adventures and even bigger scares at the camp with a happy name-and a monstrous secret just beyond its fences!

Writer: Dean R. Motter, Hunt EmersonArtists: Dean R. Motter, Alex Ogle, Hunt EmersonCover artist: Richard WilliamsPublisher:Ahoy! ComicsRelease date:Oct. 9List price:$3.99

AHOY Comics snarky anthology/desecration of Edgar Allan Poe returns for a new season-beginning with the ultimate Poe mashup! In Dean Motters The Tell-Tale Black Cask of Usher, the drink-addled writer falls prey to his own horrific imagination. Hunt Emerson offers another slapstick Poe and the Black Cat. A selection of horrific prose and pictures rounds out the issue. Painted cover by Richard Williams (MAD).

Artists:Alex Toth, Jon Blummer, Sid Check, Lin Streeter, Ross Andru, Lou Cameron, King WardCover Artist: Al AvisonPublisher:IDW PublishingRelease date:Oct. 9List price:$24.99

From the horror team that curdled your blood with Haunted Horror, Zombies, Return of the Zombies, Haunted Love, Swamp Monsters, and Mummies, Ghosts is the latest and ghastly greatest in the Classic Monsters of Pre-Code Horror comics collections. Over 128 pages of appalling apparitions, formidable phantoms, shuddery seances, shivery spooks n specters, and evil wraiths with much more than just revenge on their murdered minds!

Writer:Tim SeeleyArtist: Rapha Lobosco, CelorCover artist: Tim SelleyPublisher:Dynamite ComicsRelease date:Oct. 9List price:$19.99

Cassie Hack, Slasher Hunter Supreme, thought shed gotten rid of those teenager-perforating undead menaces. But now theyre suddenly springing back to life! Cassie and Vlad are going to have to team up with megadeath dispenser Evil Ernie to stop the slaughter, putting them on a path that appears to lead through Chastity, the Chosen, and Purgatori!

Tim Seeley returns to his beloved creations to pit them against the worlds greatest horror universe and brings back some of the series most beloved slashers!

Writer: John Carpenter, AnthonyBurchArtist/Cover artist: Philip Tan, Marc DeeringPublisher:DC ComicsRelease date:Oct. 9List price:$4.99

In the Year of the Villain, whats a Clown Prince of Crime to do when the world has started to accept doing bad as the only way to live? Out-bad everyone else, of course! The Joker is on a mission to get his mojo back and prove to the world that there is no greater villainy than the kind that leaves you laughing.

This special one-shot is co-written by legendary film auteur John Carpenter (The Thing, Halloween) and Anthony Burch (the Borderlands video games), making for a Joker comic thats twisted in ways you never imagined!

Writers:Paul Dini, Rafael Albuquerque, Rafael Scavone, Bryan Hill, Dan Watters, OthersArtists:Rafael Albuquerque, Cian Tormey, Jorge Fornes, OthersCover artists:John RomitaJr, Bill SienkiewiczPublisher:DC ComicsRelease date:Oct. 9List price:$9.99

Witness what hides within the Sinister House-the DCUs most horrific secrets and mysteries! Travel alongside Harley Quinn, John Constantine, Detective Chimp, Zatanna, the Atom and others as they face this macabre devastation firsthand! And in the bowels of this dark mansionwe return to the world of the legendary Red Rain to meet once again with the dreaded vampire Batman. Dont miss this years DC Halloween special-because if you do, itll haunt you!

Writer:Kek-WArtist/Cover artist:Dave KendallPublisher:RebellionRelease date: Oct. 16List price:$24.99

Deadworld was once a planet similar to Earth, until Judge Death and his brothers Fear, Fire and Mortis deemed that as only the living could break the law, life itself should be a crime. As the Dark Judges set out to bring extinction to this parallel world, Judge Fairfax and a family of farmers attempt to escape the chaos. Is it possible for the living to evade to cold, icy grasp of Death? This chilling collection also features theDreams of Deadworldstrips, giving an extraordinary insight into the undead psyches of the internationally famous super-fiends. Includes the untold origins of The Dark Judges, including Judge Dredd arch-nemesis Judge Death.

Writers:Al Feldstein, Bill GainesArtists:Jack Kamen, Graham Ingels, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, George EvansCover artist:Jack DavisPublisher:EC ComicsRelease date:Oct. 16List price:$49.95

Originally published in 1952 and 1953, this volume of Gemstones EC Archives series reprints issues #13-18 of Tales from the Crypt! Creators include writers Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein, and artists Jack Davis, Jack Kamen, Graham Ingels, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, and George Evans.

Writer: Jeff LemireArtists:Andrea Sorrentino, Dave StewartCover artist:Andrea SorrentinoPublisher:Image ComicsRelease date:Oct. 16List price:$16.99

The hot horror series that WIRED magazine named one of the best books of 2018 returns from the creative team that BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS said will go down as one of the greatest comic teams of all time!

After the mind-blowing events of the second arc, our story heads right through the looking glass. Father Burke tracks a vicious killer named Norton Sinclair? And when that killer can travel through time (and space!), readers are in for a wild ride.

Collects GIDEON FALLS #12-16

Publisher: Dark HorseRelease date:Oct. 16List price: $24.99

Two of cinemas greatest monsters clash in a battle that spans the galaxy and extends across one womans lifetime!Collected in one volume for the first time is the complete Machiko Noguchi/Aliens Versus Predator trilogy-over 400 pages of extraterrestrial action! Collects the original AvP series, AvP: War, and AvP: Three World War.

Writer: Cynthia von BuhlerArtist: Cynthia von BuhlerPublisher:Titan ComicsRelease Date:Oct. 16List price:$29.99

Acclaimed author and visual artist Cynthia von Buhler (Minky Woodcock: TheGirl Who Handcuffed Houdini) brings her hit immersive theater production TheIlluminati Ball to the page in an all-new graphic novel! A secret organization ofthe rich and powerful control the world, yet on the eve of a fabulous party for itsmembers, the human-animal hybrids trapped in its experimental lab stage abreak-out! The Illuminati Ball merges myth and mystery to tell an unforgettablestory about power, cruelty, deceit, betrayal, and insatiable hunger for freedom.

Writer: James TynionIVArtist/Cover artist: Werther DellEderaPublisher: Boom StudiosRelease date:Oct. 16List price:$3.99

Children are dying in the town of Archers Peak and the ones who survive bring back terrible stories. A strange woman named Erica Slaughter has appeared and says she fights these monsters behind the murders, but that cant possibly be true. Monsters arent real are they?

Writers:Mike Mignola, Chris RobersonArtist:Ben StenbeckCover artist:Julian Totino TedescoPublisher:Dark Horse ComicsRelease date:Oct. 16List price:$3.99

Flesheating corpses and an ancient temple discovered beneath London lead authorities to call upon Edward Grey, Queen Victorias official occult investigator. But the sinister Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra also has interests in the underground ruins. When they ask for Greys help, he has to wonder if the threat is great enough to team up with a secret society hes sworn to destroy. CollectsWitchfinder: City of the Dead#1-#5.

Writer:David DastmalchainArtist/Cover artist:Lukas KetnerPublisher:Dark Horse ComicsRelease Date:Oct. 23List price:$3.99

Aspiring reporter Jerri Bartman is furious when shes demoted to hosting the nightly Creature Feature at her small-town TV station. But Jerri quickly learns that there is more to horror hosting than just introducing bad B-movies. Her first night in the costume of her missing predecessor, Count Crowley, finds her face to face with a living, breathing . . . werewolf. Or was she just that drunk?

Featuring the dynamic creative team of David Dastmalchian and Lukas Ketner!The perfect comic for the Halloween season!

Elvira: Mistress of Dark, Vol. 2

Writer:David AvalloneArtist:Dave AcostaCover artist:John RoylePublisher:Dynamite ComicsRelease date:Oct. 23List price:$17.99

Elviras temporal adventures land her in hot water so hot one more time, and it may be the last. Her new nemesis sends her to the worst place in the universe, and were not talking about Encino! See it all go to Hell in the fifth exciting chapter of ELVIRA: TIMESCREAM, brought to you in Elvirascope (no special glasses required) by artist Dave Acosta (TWELVE DEVILS DANCING) and written in Elviravision by David Avallone (BETTIE PAGE), the team who brought you DOC SAVAGE: RING OF FIRE and TWILIGHT ZONE: THE SHADOW.

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42 horror comics & graphic novels coming for your blood this Halloween - Comics Beat

The Museum of Modern Art in New York used to function like holy writ. The things it chose to show were not just examples of modern art and design. They were claims staked, standards set, guiding lights. Together, they sent a clear message to the world about modernism: This was important. This counted. The rest did not.

Because MoMA had the biggest collection with the best examples of the most important modern artists and designers, the edicts it broadcast had unrivaled authority. MoMA not only had a story to tell, the people telling that story were confident and powerful.

If this era at MoMA has been drawing to a close for a while, it is now officially over.

Closed to the public throughout this summer and early fall, MoMA is about to reopen after a costly expansion. Ten years in the planning, it comes 15 years after the last addition, which was designed by the Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi.

Architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, working with Gensler, have rearranged the museum's internal structure. On the museum's west side, they have added a new wing that allows for more than 30,000 square feet of new gallery space. But the extra space, according to the museum's chief curators, is not really the point.

"Everything we're doing is actually almost independent of an expansion," says Ann Temkin, MoMA's chief curator of painting and sculpture. "The way this expansion differs so much from any prior expansion - and we've done plenty - is that it is simultaneously a physical expansion and an absolute rethink of the curatorial approach."

This rethink is also a kind of reversion, according to the museum's longtime director, Glenn Lowry. It brings the museum back in line with founding director Alfred Barr's original vision of the museum as a laboratory, a space for experiment.

In the broadest terms, MoMA wants to step back from the embarrassing business of telling big, confident stories about art and culture. It wants instead, says Temkin, to tell "short stories" - propositions that are provisional but fruitfully interconnected.

"The basic fact," says Stuart Comer, MoMA's chief curator of media and performance, "is that I don't think any of us believes any longer that there is a singular history. There are a lot of different histories, and how you weave those together is an evolution, an ongoing process. So we're approaching the collection less like a canon and more like a conversation."

"When we added in 2004 and 1984," says Temkin, "it was just more room to do exactly what we did, the same way we did it." This expansion, by contrast, is about rethinking MoMA's great strength: its permanent collection - the almost 200,000 works on which it lavishes tens of millions of dollars every year, acquiring, cataloguing, storing, studying and conserving, even though most of it is never displayed.

Tapping into this unrivaled resource means embracing a state of continuous flux - not the easiest thing for an art museum. The collection galleries will be rotated every six to nine months, so that more works will be put on display.

Just as significantly - and with huge implications for its administration - the museum has been working hard to integrate curatorial departments that once acted like separate fiefdoms, and at times almost like separate museums.

Rethinking how the staff collaborate has been a challenge, according to Martino Stierli, chief curator of architecture and design. "Before, each department had its respective galleries. ... Now, there's a constant conversation between all the departments. That's new and it's different. But it's also been extremely productive and an enormous learning experience for all of us."

The ground floor of the new MoMA will be free. Even those who remain outside can get a taste of MoMA's art, because a big, street-facing window will allow them to see into a large gallery.

There will be multiple routes leading from the ticketing desk to the galleries, so that audiences will be able to take different paths through the museum from the outset. The galleries themselves are now less regular in size and height than they were. More windows and openings will offer glimpses into spaces on different levels.

At the heart of the collection galleries will be a double-height space called the Studio for live performances and programming, so that dance, sound works, film and performance will be at the core of the museum's display, not cordoned off. A second-floor space, called Platform, will focus on education - but with a playful, interactive approach.

"The museum is not the place where we're going to give a lesson," says Christophe Cherix, chief curator of drawings and prints. "It's a place where you can experiment, understand and make your own opinion. We're totally committed to scholarship, as we've always been. But it's just a different way to share this collection. It's not about telling you 'this is important, this is less,' or 'that was made because of that.' "

When MoMA reopens, it will feature three temporary exhibitions. One, devoted to Betye Saar, will feature works on paper relating to Saar's autobiographical sculpture, "Black Girl's Window." Made in 1969, "Black Girl's Window" is part of the permanent collection, so the show exemplifies the new approach of blurring the lines between temporary shows and collection displays.

A second show will feature another African American, Pope.L. His sculpture, performance, video, photography and installation art will be the subject of a trio of presentations this fall at MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Public Art Fund.

The third - and by far the biggest - exhibition will be a display of abstract art in different media by leading Latin American modernists, including Lygia Clark, Hlio Oiticica and Jess Rafael Soto. "Sur moderno: journeys of abstraction" will highlight works given to MoMA over many years by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Scattered among the Latin American art will be a handful of works from Europe and Russia, including Piet Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie Woogie."

Tremendous power used to be invested in the individuals heading each curatorial department at MoMA. Those chief curators are now at pains to stress that their displays are a team effort - the result of contributions by curators from many backgrounds, at all levels, in all departments.

"We want," says Cherix, "to show contradictory perspectives."

Some who remember the old MoMA resent all the changes it has undergone in recent decades. They long for the days when the museum presented its canon of modernist masterpieces (which were also, of course, overwhelmingly by white male artists) in galleries that felt almost like hallowed spaces.

Temkin and her colleagues are expecting complaints. "I enlarged my mailbox for October," she laughs.

First-time visitors make up more than half of the total audience at MoMA. Conscious that many come expecting to see certain masterpieces (for instance, Van Gogh's "The Starry Night," Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie Woogie" or Matisse's "The Red Studio"), the chief curators drew up a list of the works that, as Cherix put it, "people really want to see if they've traveled the world to come to MoMA."

"We got it down," says Temkin, "to fewer than we would have thought" - about 15 works. Those iconic works will stay on display.

But if everything else is more or less replaceable, says Cherix, "why not change everything around? Why not allow people not to think about those works just as postcards? Because when we always show the same works the same way, people don't feel the need to come back, and those works are not really alive."

In the new setup, continues Cherix, "every work has a chance of finding its way to the galleries. That's an important change."

Temkin recognizes the relativity of aesthetic judgment and welcomes the evolution of the limited curatorial viewpoint. She stresses that her idea of what art is best is not the same as her assistant curator's idea; it's just her perspective.

"The polyphony among the curators' perspectives now is aligned with the polyphony of what we're thinking about art history," she says.

Public reaction to the new MoMA will no doubt combine a bit of polyphony with some cacophony.

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The new Museum of Modern Art opens Oct. 21; 11 W. 53rd St., New York; moma.org.

Link:
A new way to look at MoMA, the mecca of modern art - theday.com