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Fall is in the air! It's time for pumpkin spice EVERYTHING and seeing your HR Manager wearing a questionable "Sexy Kitty" costume at the company Halloween party. . .MEOW!
It's also time for the annual Longbox Junk Halloween horror celebration. So far, I've been having a pretty good time with some 80s horror anthology comics. . .with their little fun-size bites of horror hitting the candy bucket quite nicely.
What's that? You want MORE? All right then. . .LET'S DO IT!
DEATH RATTLE #5
Kitchen Sink Comix (1986)
COVER: Rand Holmes
THE COVER:
I really like the art of Rand Holmes, but this cover is just okay. It's not BAD, but it's also not the sort of thing that grabs the eye and fires the imagination enough to make me want to see what's inside. It's certainly not a great Halloween cover, but I only have a few issues of Death Rattle, and this is the only one I haven't done a Halloween review of yet, so here we are. Let's get inside this thing!
THE STORIES:
Three stories on deck this time out. There's some good names on the creator list. . .Mike Baron, Rand Holmes and a reprint of a Basil Wolverton classic. The "Part 3" on the last story makes me a little nervous, but I guess we'll see. Let's go!
Junkyard Dog
SCRIPT: Mike Baron
PENCILS: Rand Holmes
INKS: Rand Holmes
On Asteroid C-135 is the Solar System's highest security prison. Everyone serves a life sentence. No parole. No hope of escape. But a small group of prisoners are planning to defy the odds and be the first. Rufus is the ringleader, Jace is the muscle, Howell has access to materials they need to make their break.
Finally, the day comes! The three inmates put their plan into action and it works! Rufus turns on Jace and kills him once the trio get to the escape point. There's not enough room in their makeshift vehicle for three. Howell tries to bail on the escape, but Rufus forces him to continue on.
Their plan is to make it to a remote outpost and hijack a supply rocket. They manage to get there and get inside, but the outpost isn't unmanned like they thought, and they have to fight a guard and her monstrous alien "watchdog"!
Howell and Rufus manage to kill the alien beast. Rufus tries to assault the female guard, only to discover to his horror that she's actually a psychic alien shapeshifter! She kills Rufus, using his worst fears!
Terrified, Howell is sure he's about to die, but the creature changes back into her human form and spares him. She's psychic, so she knows that Howell is innocent of the crimes he's been imprisoned for, and he's no threat to her.
She hides Howell from the Prison Warden's search and the two of them remain living together at the isolated supply depot. . .there really is no chance for escape, so Howell makes the best of it he can.
But having escaped one prison, Howell finds himself in another. Trapped and living with a shapeshifting monster that can easily destroy him at will. . .
THE REVIEW:
Not a bad little story! This issue starts off good with some science fiction horror, courtesy of Punisher writer Mike Baron. It's got twists. It's got turns. It's got gruesome body horror. It's got a hopeless ending. It's just a fine little horror story!
I didn't really like Rand Holmes' cover, but his art on this story is really good. I've never really been a fan of the art styles of "Underground Comix" (where Holmes did almost all of his work), but in MY humble opinion, Holmes has a style that stands out from the rest, with a clean and darkly-inked look that really pops off the page, especially in color (most of his work I've seen has been black and white).
Overall, I really liked this sci-fi horror story! It's just what the Longbox Junk Halloween party needed.
NEXT!
Robot Woman
*Originally Published in Weird Mysteries #2 (1952)
SCRIPT: Basil Wolverton
PENCILS: Basil Wolverton
INKS: Basil Wolverton
Fozzmo is the most brilliant scientist and inventor of the century. He is acclaimed far and wide for his accomplishments. Unfortunately, he's also quite ugly and lonely. . .living an empty life without companionship.
But then he decides to end his loneliness by creating his masterpiece, a robotic woman with synthetic flesh! He takes great pride in his accomplishment, showing his creation off to the world.
But despite the incredible nature of Fozzmo's achievement, others find the robot to be strange and off-putting. But Fozzmo doesn't care. The robot woman is completely devoted to only him, and that's the way he wants it.
But eventually even Fozzmo begins to tire of her robotic devotion. Always around him, interfering with his work, never wanting to be away from his side. Fozzmo becomes abusive, and accidentally melts her beautiful synthetic flesh face with acid.
The hideous creature his beautiful creation has become still declares its devotion to Fozzmo, horrifying him enough that he accidentally kills himself while trying to escape. . .dousing himself with the same acid that deformed her.
Being the recluse that he was, Fozzmo's death isn't discovered until some time later, when a burglar stumbles across his skeleton, guarded by the hideous, but still devoted robot woman.
THE REVIEW:
Let's just start with this: Basil Wolverton was one of a kind.
His weird art style and creepy narratives stand out from the Golden Age pack as unique, and they STILL stand out as unique. I'm not normally a fan of reprints, but this crisply recolored presentation of this story stands strong as a fine example of Wolverton's weird storytelling, and holds up well even after almost 75 years.
Weird Mysteries #2 is a comic that costs hundreds of dollars in ANY condition, and thousands of dollars as you go up the grading scale. If you've never seen any of Wolverton's work in its original form because of the cost, then a reprint with the quality of this one is a great substitute. I'm glad that Kitchen Sink Comix included it here.
MOVING ALONG!
Bulto. . .The Cosmic Slug (Part 3): A Mountain of Silver
SCRIPT: Jack Jackson (Jaxon)
PENCILS: Jack Jackson (Jaxon)
INKS: Jack Jackson (Jaxon)
An old Apache begins to frequent Josef Guzman's saddle shop. He brings bags filled with silver nuggets and makes strange requests of Guzman, wanting discs with holes in them made, some of them with strange symbols engraved.
Eventually, after about a year of Guzman trying to discover the source of the Apache's silver, the old man finally agrees to take him and his apprentice to his mine. . .the Silver Mountain.
After a three day journey through the harsh Mexican desert, the trio finally arrives. Inside the dark cave, Guzman is astounded to see veins of pure silver criss-crossing the walls of the cavern.
The old Apache tells them to take as much as they want, but to remember that they are sworn to secrecy. Guzman and his apprentice load up as much silver as they can carry. The Apache leaves them to return home without him. He says it will be too dangerous if he's caught with them and the silver.
A harrowing journey back across the desert commences, with Guzman and his apprentice dodging hostile Indians along the way. They finally make it back and celebrate their newfound wealth. I'm quite sure that nothing bad will come of this adventure. . .
To Be Continued. . .
THE REVIEW:
I was a bit nervous to see that one of the stories in this issue was labeled as being Part 3 of a story, and truthfully it IS a bit hard for me to try and review something that's just a part of something else.
BUT. . .
I found this to be a pretty interesting little tale. It's well-written, engaging, and has some pretty cool artwork. I absolutely LOVE weird western horror stories, so this had me hooked enough that I want to see what happens next, because I KNOW that nothing good will come of the events of this story.
Unfortunately, the only other issues I have of this volume of Death Rattle (there were 3 volumes) is is #1 and #2. I see from a bit of research that the "Cosmic Slug" story started in issue #3. It doesn't look like this series was ever collected, so I guess I just have to be left hanging on this story.
But for what it is, I thought it was still pretty good.
CONCLUSION
DING-DING-DING! And we have a winner, folks!
Of the three comics I've looked at so far for the 2026 Longbox Junk Halloween celebration, this one was the best. Engaging stories, great art, and just good quality from cover to cover. Okay. . .the cover wasn't the greatest, but I'll let that slide and stamp an official Longbox Junk Gold Seal of Approval on Death Rattle #5. This issue is just a really good read.
Like I said in the review of the last story in the issue, Death Rattle doesn't look like it was collected, so if you want to get into it, you'll have to dig and find the individual issues.
I have issues #1 and #2 of this series and they are ALSO good reads, so I'm going to go ahead and assume that any issue you spot of this series while out on the hunt will probably be a good one. I know I'M going to keep my eye out for more of this.
Up Next. . .
The Halloween party continues! Let's get into one more 80s horror anthology comic before we move on to something else, shall we? WE SHALL! Be there or be square.
