While this piece is going to be an opinion piece, I always remind you the Readers to take my opinion for what it is, but I have been too plenty of conventions to form this opinion. I have been going to Rock and Shock, a horror convention in Worcester, MA since 2015, I have been to two Rhode Island Comic Cons, and Three Super Megafests. I have spent plenty of money meeting all the movie stars, wrestlers, comic book artists, and everyone in between to form this opinion and this year’s Rock and Shock has been the best convention I have ever been to. This year’s Rock and Shock featured stars like Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks/The Wraith), Ray Wise (Cat People/Twin Peaks), Adrienne King (Friday The 13TH), Edwin Neal (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), John Dugan (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), Bill Moseley (3 From Hell), Bill Johnson (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II), Derek Mears (Friday The 13TH 2009), Kane Hodder (Friday The 13TH Parts 7, 8, 9, 10), Adam Green (Hatchet), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead), and so many more. With so many big names of the genre, it was hard to gauge coming in how everyone would react to the stark raving mad horror fans like me.
One name on the list gave me hope for the rest of the show and that was original final girl Adrienne King who first gained fame as Alice in the original 1980 Friday The 13TH. The moment I approached her table, she was the sweetest woman on the planet who gets her fans 1000% and she was just a joy to talk to. I was feeling good about myself after meeting her that I made my way to Edwin Neal’s table who first appeared to us as The Hitchhiker in the original 1974 classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and we had a great conversation about the power the film had in its time and for years that followed. I couldn’t believe it, two for two, this had to be some odd anomaly because you never get two sweet people in a row. I then made my way five feet over to John Dugan who made his debut in the horror world alongside Neal as Grandpa and what an amazing gentlemen he was and Dugan was so knowledgeable that he has made me a fan for life. The one thing that we both could agree on is that Hollywood does not truly care about the horror genre otherwise we would have a category at the Oscars for it if they did. At this point, every has been great to my friend and I and it was smooth sailing from that point on as every one was amazing. Dan Yeager was amazing, Sherilyn Fenn was amazing, and Adam Green and Felissa Rose were always the nicest people to meet at a convention. A certain head spinning, green vomiting, cross shoving in the crotch area legend who appeared last year could learn a thing or two about humility. I want to thank the organizers of this convention on a job well done and I hope that there will be more to come next year.
Last week was a dull week in my opinion, but this week was absolutely insane as far as brand new issues that looked amazing were concerned. Sometimes that is the unfortunate job that i have because I have to pick just one comic book for the comic book of the week. There was one comic book that was on the shelf that caught my attention and it was because the cover looked like a vintage VCR horror film that you would’ve found at your local video store (when those existed). That comic book was The Replacer which was released by Aftershock Comics. The horror themed comic was written by Zac Thompson (Edge Of Spider-Geddon) and illustrated by Arjuna Susini (Made Men). Everything is normal for nine year old Marcus, he watched horror and monster movies with his dad while his sister has to go to church with mom. All that changes the night The Replacer shows up and takes over Marcus’s dads body. The only problem for Marcus is that he is the only one that thinks and sees that there is a demon inside of him while everyone else thinks it was a stroke. Time is running out for Marcus as the demon continues to feed on his father’s soul, but what will Marcus do? For more information, check out Aftershock Comics website 
I honestly enjoyed the comic and what it brought to the table. At first, I was a little confused by the ending, but I instantly got it within minutes. The story seems to be based on a real life situation in Zac Thompson’s life and how he had to deal with tragedy. It’s hard being a kid and I say that in any day and age whether it be the 1980’s like the comic was set in or even today. The difference is that there is a lot more information at our disposal today then there was when Zac Thompson was growing up. Sometimes those are the best stories to tell because confusion as a child can be horrific especially when we don’t understand exactly. Plus it can be very therapeutic for the author as well and the story is a really good one as Marcus struggles save his dad from this demon that eats their souls. Oneof the other things I enjoyed were all the references to great 80’s/70’s horror films like The Exorcist, The Evil Dead, and The Shining to name a few because those are the films I would’ve watched in his situation. The artwork is pretty decent, it matches the tone of the book overall with not a lot of bright colors because this isn’t a happy story overall and that is what you want in a dark horror story. I definitely recommend this to anyone that loves the 80’s and all of the shows like Stranger Things, etc. Check out my grades below:
Moshpits And Movies 