Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Man with the Screaming Brain #1

Bruce Campbell is THE man. Ask anybody who knows anything, and they'll tell ya that there is just no one cooler than Bruce. Anyone who doesn't agree is just plain crazy. Whether you know him as Ash from "Evil Dead", Elvis from"Bubba Ho-Tep", Briscoe County Jr., or from his pivotal roles in both Spider-Man films, you know that Bruce Campbell is one groovy dude.

"Sure," you say, "Campbell is cool. But what does he have to do with the Book of the Week?" Excellent question and, if I may say so, very well asked! One of Mr. Campbell's latest projects is an independently produced movie, "The Man with the Screaming Brain," co-written, directed by, and starring Bruce Campbell. The clever folks at Dark Horse Comics, seeing a chance to embrace the Campbell-cool, asked him to put together a script for a comic adaptation of the film, and THAT is what Bruce Campbell has to do with the Book of the Week.

Man with the Screaming Brain #1 is co-written by Campbell and David Goodman with art by Rick Remender and Hilary Barta. The story is a bizarre tale about an unpleasant and obnoxious American millionaire, William Cole, who makes an ill-fated business trip to a small Russian city. Cole runs into trouble with commies, a former KGB cab-driver, hilarious Russian accents, and Gypsies. The Gypsies are bad enough, but Willie's troubles really start when he runs afoul of an "unstable" Gypsy femme fatale calledTatoya.

The book is drawn in a somewhat cartoony style, which fits the story perfectly. Campbell himself says that the comic is a truer vision of the story because characters and settings can be captured much more perfectly through the hands of an artist than by any movie studio. The caricature-like art also perfectly re-creates Campbell's famous chin.

Give a little sugar to Bruce Campbell! Try out The Man with the Screaming Brain #1. This off-the-wall comic makes a great change of pace. It has mad science (love the mad science!), Gypsies, seduction, betrayal, a wonderfully violent cab driver, and Bruce Campbell! And all this is before we even set eyes on a screaming brain. Best of all, Screaming Brain is Four Color Fantasies' guaranteed Book of the Week. Try it today! Just remember, there are two rules in Gypsy Town. Number One: Stay in the car. Number Two: Same as number 1.

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