Exploitative in all the right ways.
What They Say:
Literature: overrated. Morality: expendable. Tonight is right for some over-the-top sex and violence! Bringing the flavor of midnight exploitation flicks to comics, Grindhouse delivers four two-issue gore operas, starting with “Bee Vixens from Mars,” pitting a one-eyed southern Latina deputy against lusty alien chicks bent on laying eggs in the entire male population!
Creators:
Writer: Alex de Campi
Artist: Chris Peterson
Colorist: Nolan Woodard
The Review:
The dead body of a teenage boy is found up on Cemetary Hill with both its heads missing. Strange bees have built their hive in the trees above the tombstones, producing the sweetest honey every tasted, bringing out the more salacious side of the townspeople, and the only thing standing between the space bee vixens threatening to impregnate the entire male population of a sleepy southern town is a one-eyed Latina Deputy. This is Bee Vixens from Mars, the first story in a new anthology series steeped in the Grindhouse tradition.
I love B movies (and I suspect that the choice of Bee Women as monsters for this first arc is a nod to what inspired this new series), and it’s obvious that Alex de Campi, Chris Peterson, and Nolan Woodward do as well. I love the over-the-top, fantastical stories, the strange characters, the violence, and the sex. I used to gobble up those movies, watching late night creature features with my dad, and I still enjoy them to this day. One of the more interesting aspects of being as old as I am now is the resurgence of Grindhouse movies and the cross-pollination of the style into comics and books and video games, and it’s great to see such talented people as the ones collected here working on new stories in this style.
What really makes this work, though, is that the comic treats the genre with love and respect. de Campi, Peterson, and Woodward don’t try to be clever or ironic—they just set out to tell a fun, Grindhouse-style story full of sex, gore, and sweet, sweet honey.
In Summary:
Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight: Bee Vixens from Mars is a solid start to what could be a fun new anthology series. Alex de Campi, Chris Peterson, and Nolan Woodward do a great job of capturing the feel of the great old Grindhouse movies and never apologizes for the sex and gore. It embraces the core concepts of the genre and never falls into the trap of trying to be clever or ironic. It’s lowbrow storytelling at its finest and I hope that this is the start of a long run. Highly recommended.
Grade: A+
