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Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight #1-4
Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight Double Feature Vol. 1
Literature: overrated. Morality: expendable. Midnight is right for some over-the-top sex and violence, and this Grindhouse double feature is packing the aisles with blood ’n’ guts and T ’n’ A! Gasp as insatiable alien insects overtake a Southern town with only a one-eyed deputy to stop them in “Bee Vixens from Mars”! Shudder as the sexy lady convicts of Block E revolt against an insane warden in “Prison Ship Antares”! Tremble in anticipation at the gallery of shocking “coming attractions”! Collects issues #1-#4 of the miniseries in a filthy flipbook.
* Alex de Campi (Smoke, Ashes), Chris Peterson (Grim Leaper), and Simon Fraser (Doctor Who)!
* Cover by superstar artist Dan Panosian!
* Alex de Campi (Smoke, Ashes), Chris Peterson (Grim Leaper), and Simon Fraser (Doctor Who)!
* Cover by superstar artist Dan Panosian!
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 2, 2013
8 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Alex de Campi
260 books239 followersAlex de Campi is a New York-based writer with an extensive backlist of critically-acclaimed graphic novels including Eisner-nominated heist noir Bad Girls (Simon & Schuster) and Twisted Romance (Image Comics). Her most recent book was her debut prose novel The Scottish Boy (Unbound). She lives with her daughter, their cat, and a Deafblind pit bull named Tango.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
July 20, 2015
Basically, if it's not published by either Marvel or DC, it fair game for this week's Shallow Reading.
A comic book based on the B movies from the seventies?
After reading the awful Batman ’66, I was afraid I was going to be incredibly disappointed in another comic reworking of a media sub-genre, so I set the bar low. Very low.
You have the requisite midnight double feature: “Bee Vixens from Mars” and “Prison Ship Antares”. Of the two, “Prison Ship Antares” is probably the more engaging. A space ship full of half-naked female prisoners is headed towards Alpha Centauri for breeding purposes. The ship is governed by a sadistic warden and her android guards and before the bar of soap hits the shower floor - it’s on.
In “Bee Vixens from Mars” if the one-eyed female sheriff doesn’t do something, the Earth will be overrun by scantily clad Bee Vixens. From Mars.
I welcome our Martian Bee Vixen overlords!
If you leave your brain at the door and have minimal expectations, this is reasonably entertaining.
A comic book based on the B movies from the seventies?
After reading the awful Batman ’66, I was afraid I was going to be incredibly disappointed in another comic reworking of a media sub-genre, so I set the bar low. Very low.
You have the requisite midnight double feature: “Bee Vixens from Mars” and “Prison Ship Antares”. Of the two, “Prison Ship Antares” is probably the more engaging. A space ship full of half-naked female prisoners is headed towards Alpha Centauri for breeding purposes. The ship is governed by a sadistic warden and her android guards and before the bar of soap hits the shower floor - it’s on.
In “Bee Vixens from Mars” if the one-eyed female sheriff doesn’t do something, the Earth will be overrun by scantily clad Bee Vixens. From Mars.
I welcome our Martian Bee Vixen overlords!
If you leave your brain at the door and have minimal expectations, this is reasonably entertaining.
June 14, 2016
I enjoy the occasional 70s exploitation flick as much as the next guy (in fact probably a bit more than the next guy, I'm afraid), but I am getting tired of all this "postmodern" celebration of 70s trash, tired of the name-dropping targeted at the cooler-than-thou crowd. The Grindhouse double feature by Tarantino and Rodriguez did not do much for me, and most of the tongue-in-cheek pseudo-grindhouse fare that followed was even worse - this book included.
Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight, Volume 1 collects two stories (it's a double feature, get it?): the completely uninspired alien-invasion persiflage “Bee Vixens from Mars” and the at least mildly entertaining women-in-prison-in-space feature “Prison Ship Antares.” As is the case with your typical contemporary grindhouse-homage movie (Machete, Hobo with a Shotgun, Hell Ride...), the main problem is that the stories are neither cheap and sleazy and shocking enough to qualify as actual exploitation, nor smart and insightful enough to provide any kind of relevant meta-commentary on the genre.
Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight, Volume 1 collects two stories (it's a double feature, get it?): the completely uninspired alien-invasion persiflage “Bee Vixens from Mars” and the at least mildly entertaining women-in-prison-in-space feature “Prison Ship Antares.” As is the case with your typical contemporary grindhouse-homage movie (Machete, Hobo with a Shotgun, Hell Ride...), the main problem is that the stories are neither cheap and sleazy and shocking enough to qualify as actual exploitation, nor smart and insightful enough to provide any kind of relevant meta-commentary on the genre.
July 9, 2018
Reminded me of what a spectacular experience the Rodriguez/Tarantino film project was. This one is wacky and outrageous, entertainment served in exaggerated, even silly strokes.
October 21, 2017
If you have any affection for "grindhouse" cinema, then you'll probably enjoy this series. Really the writing is stronger than most grindhouse movies but the series did manage to capture the right vibe. The first story features an invasion of bee women from Mars and the second story is a women's prison story set on a spaceship which was a cool twist on a familiar theme. The series isn't as raunchy as you would expect but there's still plenty of violence and some nudity. Overall a very entertaining series.
August 2, 2014
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.5 of 5
What did I get myself in to?!
Ever since I watched the 2007 film Grindhouse (a double feature with Robert Rodriguez directing Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarantino directing Death Proof) I've been slightly (let me emphasize slightly) fascinated with the grindhouse category of film (low-budget, hack-em, slash-em exploitation films). I was curious to see how the category (truly a film category) might transfer to the comic book/graphic novel industry. In my mind, it doesn't.
When you are making a grindhouse film, you are doing so because of a low-budget, resulting in cheaper costumes, weaker lighting, fewer sets, B-list actors. When you are making a grindhouse comic you are doing so how? Second rate artists? Cheaper pulp paper? Fewer pixels per inch for the digital edition? How does this correlate to the comics?
What we have here are two horror stories, "Bee Vixens From Mars," which has ample amounts of sex-tease and some pretty dreadful, horrific occurrences, and "Prison Ship Antares," also with a fair amount of almost-nudity and plenty of violence. Both stories do a good job capturing the feeling of the low-budget scripts of the grindhouse films -- just the right amount of 'story' compared to action.
Where we don't succeed well is in the art. Grindhouse films tend to have a particular 'look' to them. That look is nicely captured by the bonus art included here which is mock movie posters. It also sports the film scratch look that is often part of a grindhouse film. But the films tend to have dull, muted colors and lots of shadows (a result of the weaker lighting). The art within the stories was bright and colorful and flat (lack of shading). It never felt as though I were looking at a grindhouse film storyboard.
If you love the grindhouse film style and you like comic books, then you've been waiting a long time for this kind of graphic novel to come out. But the stories aren't particularly deep or memorable and the art is passable so it's not something I'd recommend to the average graphic novel reader.
Looking for a good book? Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight, Vol. 1 captures the essence of the grindhouse films, but ultimately the film medium doesn't transfer well to the graphic novel format.
What did I get myself in to?!
Ever since I watched the 2007 film Grindhouse (a double feature with Robert Rodriguez directing Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarantino directing Death Proof) I've been slightly (let me emphasize slightly) fascinated with the grindhouse category of film (low-budget, hack-em, slash-em exploitation films). I was curious to see how the category (truly a film category) might transfer to the comic book/graphic novel industry. In my mind, it doesn't.
When you are making a grindhouse film, you are doing so because of a low-budget, resulting in cheaper costumes, weaker lighting, fewer sets, B-list actors. When you are making a grindhouse comic you are doing so how? Second rate artists? Cheaper pulp paper? Fewer pixels per inch for the digital edition? How does this correlate to the comics?
What we have here are two horror stories, "Bee Vixens From Mars," which has ample amounts of sex-tease and some pretty dreadful, horrific occurrences, and "Prison Ship Antares," also with a fair amount of almost-nudity and plenty of violence. Both stories do a good job capturing the feeling of the low-budget scripts of the grindhouse films -- just the right amount of 'story' compared to action.
Where we don't succeed well is in the art. Grindhouse films tend to have a particular 'look' to them. That look is nicely captured by the bonus art included here which is mock movie posters. It also sports the film scratch look that is often part of a grindhouse film. But the films tend to have dull, muted colors and lots of shadows (a result of the weaker lighting). The art within the stories was bright and colorful and flat (lack of shading). It never felt as though I were looking at a grindhouse film storyboard.
If you love the grindhouse film style and you like comic books, then you've been waiting a long time for this kind of graphic novel to come out. But the stories aren't particularly deep or memorable and the art is passable so it's not something I'd recommend to the average graphic novel reader.
Looking for a good book? Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight, Vol. 1 captures the essence of the grindhouse films, but ultimately the film medium doesn't transfer well to the graphic novel format.
August 2, 2014
Ein Trash / Exploitation Double Feature als Mitternachtsvorstellung - ein witziges Konzept; zwei Horror- /SciFi-ComicFilme zum Preis einer Vorstellung. Wie bei manchem Film aus den legendären Hammer Studios hat der Inhalt aber leider Probleme, die Erwartungen zu erfüllen, die die Plakate beim Zuschauer geweckt haben.
Kurz und knackig erzählt BEE WIXENS FROM MARS die Story einer Invasion außerirdischer Horrorinsekten, die ausgerechnet in den Südstaaten die künftige Weltherrschaft antreten wollen.
Die zweite Story heißt PRISONSHIP ANTARES. Wer fliegt als Freiwilliger zu fernen Planeten, um dort eine Kolonie zu gründen, wenn es keinen Weg zurück gibt? Eine SF-Variation von "Frauenknast" inklusive sadistischer Wärterin.
Beide Stories zeichnen sich durch die explizite Darstellung von Sex & Gewalt aus, was den Verkauf anheizt. Aber die Lektüre hat mich nicht zufrieden gestellt. Allzu schnell sind die zwei Stories durchgelesen und zuende, bevor sie richtig begonnen haben. Sex und Gewalt also, dazu fließt das Blut in Strömen und es gibt keine Verschnaufpausen, bis alles durchgestanden ist.
Allzu empfindlich und korrekt sollte man nicht sein, wenn man das Grindhouse Double Feature in die Hand nimmt, es ist kein Comic für Kinder und jugendliche Leser. Wer Spaß am klischeehaften Genre hat, wird hier leidlich unterhalten.
Sex...
und Gewalt...
Kurz und knackig erzählt BEE WIXENS FROM MARS die Story einer Invasion außerirdischer Horrorinsekten, die ausgerechnet in den Südstaaten die künftige Weltherrschaft antreten wollen.
Die zweite Story heißt PRISONSHIP ANTARES. Wer fliegt als Freiwilliger zu fernen Planeten, um dort eine Kolonie zu gründen, wenn es keinen Weg zurück gibt? Eine SF-Variation von "Frauenknast" inklusive sadistischer Wärterin.
Beide Stories zeichnen sich durch die explizite Darstellung von Sex & Gewalt aus, was den Verkauf anheizt. Aber die Lektüre hat mich nicht zufrieden gestellt. Allzu schnell sind die zwei Stories durchgelesen und zuende, bevor sie richtig begonnen haben. Sex und Gewalt also, dazu fließt das Blut in Strömen und es gibt keine Verschnaufpausen, bis alles durchgestanden ist.
Allzu empfindlich und korrekt sollte man nicht sein, wenn man das Grindhouse Double Feature in die Hand nimmt, es ist kein Comic für Kinder und jugendliche Leser. Wer Spaß am klischeehaften Genre hat, wird hier leidlich unterhalten.
Sex...
und Gewalt...
May 24, 2014
This is blood splattering genius!
This brings back memories watching B-rated horror movies late at night with my brother when I was like ten. Our parents never paid attention to what we watched.
A cursed bee hive gives more than honey to a small town. This feature gives sexy girls, honey sucking blood dripping, gut splatter.
On the flip side a woman prison in space. That starts out in a shower scene. "oh I love lesbians" but the warden is offing then one by one. What will harm next. An out of this world look at the stars from space. Great fight scenes and much more!
I am most definitely buying Volume 1 & all the rest that drop by this is great. Unless Dark Horse is so kind and hooks me up with copies. Thank you for approving my read for ARC.
This brings back memories watching B-rated horror movies late at night with my brother when I was like ten. Our parents never paid attention to what we watched.
A cursed bee hive gives more than honey to a small town. This feature gives sexy girls, honey sucking blood dripping, gut splatter.
On the flip side a woman prison in space. That starts out in a shower scene. "oh I love lesbians" but the warden is offing then one by one. What will harm next. An out of this world look at the stars from space. Great fight scenes and much more!
I am most definitely buying Volume 1 & all the rest that drop by this is great. Unless Dark Horse is so kind and hooks me up with copies. Thank you for approving my read for ARC.
January 13, 2021
Two books here, Bee Vixens and...damn it...oh, space prison for ladies. Jesus, I couldn't even remember it, and I read it last night.
Bee Vixens:
Somewhat grindhouse-y and fun. But for me, it gets a little off track when our female hero, who is a Latina cop with an eyepatch, a great grindhouse badass type who is like Clint Eastwood with a giant rack, gets into a racism argument with a giant bee from Mars? Apparently, the bee doesn't want to make her a drone because her "skin is too dark." The character calls out this racist bullshit.
But let's put on the brakes for a second.
How would an ALIEN BEE have an interpretation of race that's parallel to what humans have? If race is a construct, why would an ALIEN BEE have any concept of race, and if so, why would that concept have developed to be the same as that of humans from Earth?
I know a little something about bees because we attempted a bee rescue. We were hoping for a wonderful success story like you see on The Dodo. Instead, the bee lasted about a day, then we watched it die in terrible agony for a few seconds before I crushed it and put it out of its misery. You wouldn't think it'd be a big deal to watch a bee die, but it's a weird feeling. It's very different to have a bee splatter on your windshield versus trying to nurse one back to health and then it shoots out a bunch of liquid, its tongue extends way too far out of its mouth, and it staggers around in obvious pain, obvious even though it's a completely different species.
Ahem.
Anyway, bees, as they approach the end of their lives, lose most of their fuzz, and they appear darker. The darker the bee appears, the more likely its close to the end of its life.
Therefore, a more logical explanation for the Mars Bee's dislike of dark skin is because, in bee physiology, darker colors indicate closeness to the end of life.
Now, my thesis here isn't that this is what the bee was saying in this book. My point with all this bee shit is that the addition of a "racist" Martian bee into this story makes no fucking sense, and not in a fun way that things make no sense. It's throwing in some racism so that we can see "Geez, this bee really IS a villain!" I accuse this book of using racism as a character trait in order to create stakes, completely unnecessarily. Bee women are killing everyone left and right. You don't need to convince me that this queen bee's gotta die.
Anyway, it's a little weird, to me. It's like the book wants to have its cake (make a wacky grindhouse tale) while also eating it, too (making an IMPORTANT point!). And that mix ain't so effective for me, like mixing Archie and The Predator, which is also something writer Alex de Campi attempted.
Space Prison Ladies Story
Okay, writers of things, let me say it one more time for everyone in the cheap seats: We've seen the sci-fi prison as metaphor for the injustice of the justice system. We've seen it a lot. So unless you're going to do something interesting with it, skip it.
There's a bunch of chicks on a prison spaceship headed to somehwere so they can be imprisoned in that place instead of on the ship.
Already: dumb. With the expense of sending people into space, I guarantee you, if the government ever started a "prison planet," it'd be a fake thing made with movie magic that never exists, and the "prisoners" would be shot and dumped in a big, deep hole right here on good ol' Earth.
But let's not critique the plot holes of something that's not intended to be airtight. Though I am beginning to suspect this "Grindhouse" series is a cheap way to be able to tell terribly-plotted stories because that's "part of the aesthetic."
Forget all that. Let me come up with, right now, 10 alternative prison scenarios more interesting than most of the ones I've seen lately:
1. White People Prison: All the white people create prisons and put themselves in voluntarily. Because it's easier to put walls up around YOU than it is to put walls around everyone else. It's easier to keep everyone else OUT than it is to keep them IN. And we also get a parallel story: What does the rest of the world think about this, and do they attempt to destroy this system?
2. All-Gender Prison: If the prison system is no longer gendered, what happens? How does it work? What becomes of the babies that are born into this system, literally?
3. Relationship Prison: Convicted criminals are punished by being put into relationships with total assholes. They cohabitate, have to do date nights, all that bad shit, at the non-prisoner's direction. Is there a worse prison than being forced into a 5-hour Christmas dinner?
4. Appalachin Trail Prison: A long, forest-y path that constitutes a "prison." Convicts start at the beginning, and if they survive, walk out at the end free people.
5. Couples' Prison: Couples who just can't get along are put into what's basically a studio apartment. They can leave when one of them dies, either naturally or not.
6. Helen Keller Prison: Depending on the offense, your hearing, sight, touch, or any combination of senses is temporarily disabled.
7. Body Horror Prison: In a future where we've got the technology to remove and re-grow limbs, convicts lose limbs for periods of time.
8. Dad Prison: Shitty dads have to sit through a pop concert that never ends. They are charged with protecting a pre-teen girl and waiting in line to buy her merch.
9. Cult Prison: over time, the members of a cult all get imprisoned, intentionally, and rule the prisons from the inside.
10. Inexplicable Experiments Prison: Prisoners are subjected to varied, ever-changing, nonsensical experiments. Prisoner A is fed only milk. Prisoner B has to fix typewriters that are sunk at the bottom of a pool. Prisoner C has to construct a logical timeline that provides continuity for all iterations of Batman, including all the films, TV shows, and comics.
Okay? That's 10 mostly-crappy ideas, but that was like 10 minutes of my time. So let's see something wortwhile with these future prisons, eh?
The concept of a prison that's unfairly putting people in a jail with no rehabilition efforts is barely even a fiction. It's like writing about a mega fast food corporation that's not really concerned with the health of the people who eat there. Wow, where did you come up with such a creative idea!?
Bee Vixens:
Somewhat grindhouse-y and fun. But for me, it gets a little off track when our female hero, who is a Latina cop with an eyepatch, a great grindhouse badass type who is like Clint Eastwood with a giant rack, gets into a racism argument with a giant bee from Mars? Apparently, the bee doesn't want to make her a drone because her "skin is too dark." The character calls out this racist bullshit.
But let's put on the brakes for a second.
How would an ALIEN BEE have an interpretation of race that's parallel to what humans have? If race is a construct, why would an ALIEN BEE have any concept of race, and if so, why would that concept have developed to be the same as that of humans from Earth?
I know a little something about bees because we attempted a bee rescue. We were hoping for a wonderful success story like you see on The Dodo. Instead, the bee lasted about a day, then we watched it die in terrible agony for a few seconds before I crushed it and put it out of its misery. You wouldn't think it'd be a big deal to watch a bee die, but it's a weird feeling. It's very different to have a bee splatter on your windshield versus trying to nurse one back to health and then it shoots out a bunch of liquid, its tongue extends way too far out of its mouth, and it staggers around in obvious pain, obvious even though it's a completely different species.
Ahem.
Anyway, bees, as they approach the end of their lives, lose most of their fuzz, and they appear darker. The darker the bee appears, the more likely its close to the end of its life.
Therefore, a more logical explanation for the Mars Bee's dislike of dark skin is because, in bee physiology, darker colors indicate closeness to the end of life.
Now, my thesis here isn't that this is what the bee was saying in this book. My point with all this bee shit is that the addition of a "racist" Martian bee into this story makes no fucking sense, and not in a fun way that things make no sense. It's throwing in some racism so that we can see "Geez, this bee really IS a villain!" I accuse this book of using racism as a character trait in order to create stakes, completely unnecessarily. Bee women are killing everyone left and right. You don't need to convince me that this queen bee's gotta die.
Anyway, it's a little weird, to me. It's like the book wants to have its cake (make a wacky grindhouse tale) while also eating it, too (making an IMPORTANT point!). And that mix ain't so effective for me, like mixing Archie and The Predator, which is also something writer Alex de Campi attempted.
Space Prison Ladies Story
Okay, writers of things, let me say it one more time for everyone in the cheap seats: We've seen the sci-fi prison as metaphor for the injustice of the justice system. We've seen it a lot. So unless you're going to do something interesting with it, skip it.
There's a bunch of chicks on a prison spaceship headed to somehwere so they can be imprisoned in that place instead of on the ship.
Already: dumb. With the expense of sending people into space, I guarantee you, if the government ever started a "prison planet," it'd be a fake thing made with movie magic that never exists, and the "prisoners" would be shot and dumped in a big, deep hole right here on good ol' Earth.
But let's not critique the plot holes of something that's not intended to be airtight. Though I am beginning to suspect this "Grindhouse" series is a cheap way to be able to tell terribly-plotted stories because that's "part of the aesthetic."
Forget all that. Let me come up with, right now, 10 alternative prison scenarios more interesting than most of the ones I've seen lately:
1. White People Prison: All the white people create prisons and put themselves in voluntarily. Because it's easier to put walls up around YOU than it is to put walls around everyone else. It's easier to keep everyone else OUT than it is to keep them IN. And we also get a parallel story: What does the rest of the world think about this, and do they attempt to destroy this system?
2. All-Gender Prison: If the prison system is no longer gendered, what happens? How does it work? What becomes of the babies that are born into this system, literally?
3. Relationship Prison: Convicted criminals are punished by being put into relationships with total assholes. They cohabitate, have to do date nights, all that bad shit, at the non-prisoner's direction. Is there a worse prison than being forced into a 5-hour Christmas dinner?
4. Appalachin Trail Prison: A long, forest-y path that constitutes a "prison." Convicts start at the beginning, and if they survive, walk out at the end free people.
5. Couples' Prison: Couples who just can't get along are put into what's basically a studio apartment. They can leave when one of them dies, either naturally or not.
6. Helen Keller Prison: Depending on the offense, your hearing, sight, touch, or any combination of senses is temporarily disabled.
7. Body Horror Prison: In a future where we've got the technology to remove and re-grow limbs, convicts lose limbs for periods of time.
8. Dad Prison: Shitty dads have to sit through a pop concert that never ends. They are charged with protecting a pre-teen girl and waiting in line to buy her merch.
9. Cult Prison: over time, the members of a cult all get imprisoned, intentionally, and rule the prisons from the inside.
10. Inexplicable Experiments Prison: Prisoners are subjected to varied, ever-changing, nonsensical experiments. Prisoner A is fed only milk. Prisoner B has to fix typewriters that are sunk at the bottom of a pool. Prisoner C has to construct a logical timeline that provides continuity for all iterations of Batman, including all the films, TV shows, and comics.
Okay? That's 10 mostly-crappy ideas, but that was like 10 minutes of my time. So let's see something wortwhile with these future prisons, eh?
The concept of a prison that's unfairly putting people in a jail with no rehabilition efforts is barely even a fiction. It's like writing about a mega fast food corporation that's not really concerned with the health of the people who eat there. Wow, where did you come up with such a creative idea!?
November 26, 2019
Wild, but necessary.
June 30, 2014
What would summer be without a little sex and violence? Perhaps the real question is: what would summer be without A LOT of sex and violence?
Well, there's no need to worry, because Alex de Campi has got your covered, which is more than can be said for the buxom babes populating the pages of this graphic novel.
Collecting the first four issues of this ferocious series, we are treated to two two-part tales. And you may as well flip a coin to choose which is the more debauched and delectable.
First up is "Bee Vixens from Mars," which I originally reviewed over at I Smell Sheep as it was released in single-issue format (#1 and #2). A small southern town finds itself infiltrated by a bevy of honey-suckling beauties bent on world domination. How do they do it? Why, the honey of course. This has all the gusto of a sci-fi movie from the 60s and some 70s-caliber titillation thrown in for good measure. It sets the tone for the series as a whole really well, so if you wind up offended by this one, you better stay the hell away from "Prison Ship Antares".
Ever heard of Orange Is the New Black? Yeah, well, "Prison Ship Antares" ain't that. Instead, it's lesbian prison exploitation ... in space. Just picture a the OITNB cast terrorized by a sadomasochistic warden dominatrix. Yeah, the level of sex and violence is somewhere north of 10 with this one. And somehow, Alex de Campi creates a heartfelt moment or two in the cacophony of screams and explosions. Not too shabby.
If you grew up loving those campy, racy, shooty, stabby, movies of yesteryear, the kind that really did not give f**k one about the sensibilities of school marms and anal retentive malcontents, then this is the graphic novel for you. It was certainly the graphic novel for me.
November 3, 2014
This is an attempt to bring the spirit of drive-in exploitation movies to the comics, and it is only partly successful. The first story, "Bee Vixens from Mars" is terrific, taking inspiration from the actual movie "Invasion of the Bee Girls" and amping up the sleaze, gore, and t&a factors while adding some fun twists of its own. On the other hand the "Prison Ship Antares" story takes its inspiration from "Star Slammer" and doesn't really add much fun or new. A mix bag here, but worth reading for any fan of drive-in movies.
May 15, 2014
That was quite unique and original and the art was extremely well done!
April 13, 2016
Alright, that does it. I am completely sold on this series. Not only was this an epic conclusion to the first story in the series, it also reassured me that the author is really not all that questionable. Oh, the tits and gore continue to be aplenty, but there is a little subplot with a gay couple that just assured me the author is in this for the twisted humor, and nothing is included solely for the wow/ick factor ... okay, maybe some things are ... what I am trying to say here is: the author's taste is no longer in question. Haha.
As far as the story goes, only three characters in the whole town live. There are a bunch of jokes that turns the stereotypical elements on their side, while still maintaining the original flavor of a b-movie ... it's genius to be quite honest. If they ever made this into a movie ... mmm ... yeah, let's not think about that right now. I loved every moment of this comic, from the pile of severed heads to Garcia impaling herself onto the queen's stinger. Love, love, loved.
Reading this reminded me of staying up late and watching marathons on the Sci-Fi Channel when I was a kid. There was just enough of all the right elements to satisfy a demented corner of my mind. There was lots of dirty sexual situations. A lot of people might find it shocking. Granted, most of them probably don't read comics. I, for one, am happy to see this genre used in such an endeavor. I am very excited for the next story. BRING ON THE SLEAZE!
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
Merged review:
If I had any doubts that Alex de Campi was just writing stories for the shock, and not with a precise hand, then those doubts have been dispelled with this issue. If you are reading these notes, and have not yet started this series--close this goddamn webpage, get off your fatass, and get thee to a comic book store--seriously. (I'm sorry for calling you fat ... but seriously, go read this if you haven't.)
I was totally taken in by this story. Humanity is looking to seed a "new earth." Who do they send? Well, the trip is going to take 25 years, so who else? Prisoners. Women prisoners. The guards appear to be the males. The ship is run by a woman. A very strange woman. She is going to "purify" (and by purify she means kill) most of the women on the ship before they even get to the new planet. I wonder what is going on with this chick. She seems to be physically invulnerable. What is up with that?
The deaths she caused made for some great, disgusting gore. I'm starting to think John Waters as I read. I bet he would totally dig these comics. Wouldn't it be awesome if de Campi did a Divine issue? Oh, please, please, please.
de Campi likes to dance on that line between offensive and humor. I am sure some people would take offense to many of the jokes in this issue, but I feel like de Campi used such a delicate hand to construct the story. Often he turns the racism and misogyny around, and the offenders end up being the ones dead. One of my favorite moments was when the girl (I can't remember any names right now, haha) kicks those glass covered dildo wielding prison-guard pricks in the ass and says "I'm Japanese."
A note on the artwork--perfection. I don't use this word lightly (not since Stephanie Meyer killed it). It is filled with grit, and the gore is ... well, it's beautiful. Alright, enough notes. I need more... oh, oh, before I delve into the next issue--Solitary is Transgender ... and that is probably about the most normal thing about her. Wicked cool. I love how de Campi is handling all of this!
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
Merged review:
I don't know how de Campi is doing it, but each issue gets better than the next. I almost DON'T want to read the next issue I have, because I don't have the sixth one yet ... I don't want there to be a cliff hanger. The end of this story was positively perfect. Not only to the badass women of Prison Ship Antares rise up and kick some major crazy-bitch ass, but they save themselves from certain death by burning up in Saturn's atmosphere.
Plus, there was plenty of blood and breasts and questionable humor to make me tear through each page with reckless abandon. Also--how fucking awesome was it that the ladies were singing "Toreador" while they took back the ship? Yeah, that was a moment of comic genius that I will not soon forget. And in case you are not up on you're not up on your 19th century opera, here is the number plucked straight from "Carmen" to give you an idea of what we just witnessed:
( see video on full commentary at: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin... )
Pretty effing hilarious. I don't know if I can handle this series getting any more awesome. I might even go as far as saying this particular issue was my favorite comic that I have read to date. I know I'll be devouring this one again and again ... I wonder what that says about me? Haha! Alright, I am going to read the next one now. I can't resist.
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
Merged review:
There was so much goddamn wrong with this comic it was amazing. I've always had a soft spot for b-movies, and I picked up this series because it looked like it would fit that bill just nicely. That being said, it is all kinds of questionable. The women of the story are the "villains" and sex objects. The men tend to die very horrifying deaths.
In the first few pages we get an eye full of gore. A man found parked in a cemetery has his head and DICK eaten off. Yick! The comic begins with two busty women feeding each other honey in VERY suggestive ways. I can't say I wasn't turned on by this ... holy boobs, Batman.
I can't even begin to think of the chauvinistic/misogynistic implications this comic has. I know I am in for a whole lot more as I read on. Yet, there is something that makes me WANT to read on. I know this is fantasy. Really, I feel like this is moral-porn. Everything is so wrong that it just comes together in this dark, twisted, so-not-right way that makes it as irresistible as the Marsian Bee Honey.
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
As far as the story goes, only three characters in the whole town live. There are a bunch of jokes that turns the stereotypical elements on their side, while still maintaining the original flavor of a b-movie ... it's genius to be quite honest. If they ever made this into a movie ... mmm ... yeah, let's not think about that right now. I loved every moment of this comic, from the pile of severed heads to Garcia impaling herself onto the queen's stinger. Love, love, loved.
Reading this reminded me of staying up late and watching marathons on the Sci-Fi Channel when I was a kid. There was just enough of all the right elements to satisfy a demented corner of my mind. There was lots of dirty sexual situations. A lot of people might find it shocking. Granted, most of them probably don't read comics. I, for one, am happy to see this genre used in such an endeavor. I am very excited for the next story. BRING ON THE SLEAZE!
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
Merged review:
If I had any doubts that Alex de Campi was just writing stories for the shock, and not with a precise hand, then those doubts have been dispelled with this issue. If you are reading these notes, and have not yet started this series--close this goddamn webpage, get off your fatass, and get thee to a comic book store--seriously. (I'm sorry for calling you fat ... but seriously, go read this if you haven't.)
I was totally taken in by this story. Humanity is looking to seed a "new earth." Who do they send? Well, the trip is going to take 25 years, so who else? Prisoners. Women prisoners. The guards appear to be the males. The ship is run by a woman. A very strange woman. She is going to "purify" (and by purify she means kill) most of the women on the ship before they even get to the new planet. I wonder what is going on with this chick. She seems to be physically invulnerable. What is up with that?
The deaths she caused made for some great, disgusting gore. I'm starting to think John Waters as I read. I bet he would totally dig these comics. Wouldn't it be awesome if de Campi did a Divine issue? Oh, please, please, please.
de Campi likes to dance on that line between offensive and humor. I am sure some people would take offense to many of the jokes in this issue, but I feel like de Campi used such a delicate hand to construct the story. Often he turns the racism and misogyny around, and the offenders end up being the ones dead. One of my favorite moments was when the girl (I can't remember any names right now, haha) kicks those glass covered dildo wielding prison-guard pricks in the ass and says "I'm Japanese."
A note on the artwork--perfection. I don't use this word lightly (not since Stephanie Meyer killed it). It is filled with grit, and the gore is ... well, it's beautiful. Alright, enough notes. I need more... oh, oh, before I delve into the next issue--Solitary is Transgender ... and that is probably about the most normal thing about her. Wicked cool. I love how de Campi is handling all of this!
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
Merged review:
I don't know how de Campi is doing it, but each issue gets better than the next. I almost DON'T want to read the next issue I have, because I don't have the sixth one yet ... I don't want there to be a cliff hanger. The end of this story was positively perfect. Not only to the badass women of Prison Ship Antares rise up and kick some major crazy-bitch ass, but they save themselves from certain death by burning up in Saturn's atmosphere.
Plus, there was plenty of blood and breasts and questionable humor to make me tear through each page with reckless abandon. Also--how fucking awesome was it that the ladies were singing "Toreador" while they took back the ship? Yeah, that was a moment of comic genius that I will not soon forget. And in case you are not up on you're not up on your 19th century opera, here is the number plucked straight from "Carmen" to give you an idea of what we just witnessed:
( see video on full commentary at: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin... )
Pretty effing hilarious. I don't know if I can handle this series getting any more awesome. I might even go as far as saying this particular issue was my favorite comic that I have read to date. I know I'll be devouring this one again and again ... I wonder what that says about me? Haha! Alright, I am going to read the next one now. I can't resist.
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
Merged review:
There was so much goddamn wrong with this comic it was amazing. I've always had a soft spot for b-movies, and I picked up this series because it looked like it would fit that bill just nicely. That being said, it is all kinds of questionable. The women of the story are the "villains" and sex objects. The men tend to die very horrifying deaths.
In the first few pages we get an eye full of gore. A man found parked in a cemetery has his head and DICK eaten off. Yick! The comic begins with two busty women feeding each other honey in VERY suggestive ways. I can't say I wasn't turned on by this ... holy boobs, Batman.
I can't even begin to think of the chauvinistic/misogynistic implications this comic has. I know I am in for a whole lot more as I read on. Yet, there is something that makes me WANT to read on. I know this is fantasy. Really, I feel like this is moral-porn. Everything is so wrong that it just comes together in this dark, twisted, so-not-right way that makes it as irresistible as the Marsian Bee Honey.
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/grin...
June 24, 2020
A fun, if short, double feature of horror for those who enjoy grindhouse horror. In the first feature, "Bee Vixens From Mars," a small town is overrun by alien bees whose honey turns the women into bee creatures. In the second, "Prison Ship Antares," the sadistic captain/warden of a prison spaceship waits until she is out of communications range to start torturing her female prisoners. The first is a great tribute to classic alien monsters from space and the second a classic women's prison tale but set in space.
October 24, 2017
4-star review for Bee Vixens from Marz, 2-star review for Prison Ship Antares.
May 15, 2018
Amazing in every way <3 <3 <3 adore this. The strong Latina characters are boss af
June 2, 2018
It delivered what it promised. I have no right to be annoyed. And yet.
December 5, 2018
That was *so* much fun. Loved it.
June 9, 2020
Such a fun quick read! Super entertaining
July 6, 2020
yeah.. not a fan of the racial slur that was used in this.
July 21, 2024
Awful.
March 28, 2025
Meh. Well-drawn, the art was really good. But the story was weak, and the gratuitousness was childish, and didn't support or enhance the storyline.
December 26, 2019
What an insane read!
July 9, 2014
Pulpy, campy, fun, this book is everything you would expect from a Grindhouse installment. It moves along quickly (they're not here to play, folks) and probably takes a morning to read. Still, in those few pages you have the sex, action, and over-the-top dialog you would expect--complete with a female heroine of some interstellar might and some dirty hives.
It's about the size of a commercial, really (anyone remember the Machete commercial of Tarantino/Rodriguez fame?). In addition, they've gone the extra mile to include teasers for upcoming titles and movies. I'm not sue if they're real or fake, but the only thing that could almost make this better is buying it printed on newsprint from the dark corners of my local newsstand.
It's about the size of a commercial, really (anyone remember the Machete commercial of Tarantino/Rodriguez fame?). In addition, they've gone the extra mile to include teasers for upcoming titles and movies. I'm not sue if they're real or fake, but the only thing that could almost make this better is buying it printed on newsprint from the dark corners of my local newsstand.
January 18, 2015
“Bee Vixens from Mars” and “Prison Ship Antares” are both great schlocky titles, and the stories that accompany them are delightfully bloody and awful, in the way grindhouse movies were (and that Tarantino and Rodriguez captured so well in their double-feature). Alas, De Campi and the artists working the stories spent a lot of time on naked ladies as well, which detracted, for me, from the stories they were trying to tell. I suppose this is to be expected in a comic drawing on exploitation films, but I think the stories would have been more enjoyable if that aspect of the genre had been kept in check a bit more.
November 8, 2015
Bee Vixens from Mars and Prison Ship Antares are two of my all-time favorite comics, and probably the two books I would most like to see made into films. The author has a particular genius for taking everything wonderful about b-movies and then flipping the lens to give the awesomely sexy ladies power, agency, subjectivity, and thus allowing for - gasp! - some actual depth and complexity to her fabulously fun romps but without making them at all heavy. Fantastic pulp candy for all of us who questioned why straight white cis men always had to be the heroes.
May 24, 2014
2 great tributes to the grindhouse movies of old. Classic double feature format with disparate themes, but the same elements of girls who kick a$$ and the monsters with said a$$. So much fun.
This double format with the second title flipped upside down was really quite hard to deal with in the Adobe format. I literally had to hold my laptop upside down to read the story. This will work well for a print edition, but digital edition will have some real issues.
This double format with the second title flipped upside down was really quite hard to deal with in the Adobe format. I literally had to hold my laptop upside down to read the story. This will work well for a print edition, but digital edition will have some real issues.
May 1, 2015
Decent hybrid of pulp sci-fi and Tarantinoesque weirdness
This two story volume features "Bee Vixens From Mars," a modern comic-book spin on Invasion of the Bee Girls, and "Prison Ship Antares," which is essentially every "women in prison" movie except it's set in space. This collection also includes some amusing mock movie posters. The stories have sufficient gore, nudity, and all-around craziness to entertain the fan of films like From Dusk Till Dawn and Machete.
This two story volume features "Bee Vixens From Mars," a modern comic-book spin on Invasion of the Bee Girls, and "Prison Ship Antares," which is essentially every "women in prison" movie except it's set in space. This collection also includes some amusing mock movie posters. The stories have sufficient gore, nudity, and all-around craziness to entertain the fan of films like From Dusk Till Dawn and Machete.
March 23, 2014
What a great comic. The volume follows two stories. Think pulp fiction, but not Quentin. Vixens bees trying to take over the world. Female prison spaceship on their way to new planets. Too bad the warden is a sadist and the guards are robots with a letter as their name. Quite unique. Highly recommended.
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