From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

Posted on May 12, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. For this “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update we will be talking about a 2014 film that was spawned from a short film and would become a super popular indie horror film that is talked about to this day and respected by those viewers who like a little art in their spooky films. That film is A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night! This comic is very cool as most comics based on horror films that are about vampires are tied into Dracula and this one is not as it showcases a female vampire simply known as The Girl. This has been a update I have wanted to do for a while now and with this year being all about the From Horror Movie To Horror Comic, the time has come for it to finally get the Rotten Ink treatment. So if you are ready, let’s grab our skateboard and head into Bad City and see what horrors await us.

Let’s first take a look at The Girl and her ways of dealing death to humans that become her targets and victims. The Girl is an attractive Middle Eastern female vampire who has the charm to draw people in with her looks as her beauty gives them a security of no harming falling on them by such a woman. She is very quiet and watches and stalks her prey without them even catching on that their time on Earth is coming to an end by her hands. She is seductive and cold and has eyes that will both make you call in love as well as fill your heart full of fright. The Girl is a music lover, skateboarder as well as likes to dance and this keeps her in touch with her human side and allows her to somewhat bond with humans. She is strong and fast and can uses these skills to rip apart a human to get what she craves and that’s blood. Being a vampire her main way to kill is her razor sharp teeth that she plunges into skin to drink blood and rip apart flesh. She also has a way of attracting the scum of city the ones who wish to do harm to the weaker people of the city. When she speaks her words can be very fearsome and scary and this as well helps her strike total fear into her victims. Being a vampire, she does have weaknesses with he major one being sunlight that will kill her, she also has a weakness as she is looking for love and her own place in this twisted world. The Girl is very dangerous as she is a vampire who kills for blood to feed as well as sport when it comes to ridding her city of scumbags. The Girl is very deadly and can kill a person very fast making her truly a dangerous being.

Now that we have taken a look at The Girl, I think that its time that we take a look at the film she is from, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night that was released in 2014 and was a hit among indie horror fans. Like always, our friends at IMDB will supply the films plot and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts about the film. So with that, let’s head deeper into Bad City and see what this film is all about.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

“In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.”

In 2011, Ana Lily Amirpour made a short film called “A Girl Walks Home Along At Night,” and it was a big success as it was traveling festivals and winning awards. In 2012 a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo was launched as Amirpour had an idea to turn her short film into a feature, and she ended up getting over what she needed to get this film off the ground. The film would bring in such actors as Arash Maradni, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains and Sheila Vand would play the vampire The Girl. The film would be filmed in twenty-four days in California as it was cheaper and had fewer obstacles to over come if it was shot in Iran where the story takes place. Once the film was done, Bei Ru would score it and it would be released by Vice Films and Kino Lorber and would have a limited run in the theater released on November 21, 2014 and would bring in around $491,910.00 in America. The film would be well liked by both critics and fans and would gain even more praise and fans when released on home media. The film would be released alongside such other horror films as Tusk, As Above So Below, IT Follows, The Pyramid, Last Shift, Purge Anarachy, Annabelle, The Quit Ones, The Babaook and many more. Sadly this is one I did not get to see in the theater as I am not sure if any of the local theaters showed it.

The vampire genre in horror cinema has so many interesting films and one of the more artistic and well done in recent years is A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night as it brought the vampire into western cinema with an Iranian legend touch. The thing that made me very interested in this film, besides that fact it was in the horror genre, was The Girl, a vampire who tries to be like Dexter (from the Showtime TV show) and only deal death to those who are bad. Plus it is cool that she is a skateboarder in Iran who skates around at night looking for her next meal. I really enjoyed this film that I would end up having to watch on DVD as it reminded me slightly of one of my favorite Universal Monster films “Dracula’s Daughter” that was released in 1936, and by that I mean the atmosphere and beauty of the female vampire lead. The acting in the film is really good with Sheila Vand who plays The Girl really stealing the film as her performance is what makes it all work so well as I found The Girl to be haunting, scary, sympathetic, sad and stunning and that is perfect as that what a well played vampire should be like. The film does not rely on gore to bring the scares but more the fact that the world at times can be a very sad and depressing place and in the end all we want is to find our own happiness and place. The film also made the right choice of being shot in black and white as it truly adds to the films mood and feeling and brings out the city as well as the citizens that live in it. The film is slow paced and subtitled and that might scare away some viewers as will the fact that its very Indie, but if you like vampire films, I say that you should give this one a watch as you might just find yourself really into it…and I wish I would have gotten to see this one on the big screen.

So now that we have talked about The Girl as well as the film she is from A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, I think that it is time that we take a look at the comic book based on the film that was released by Behemoth Comics! This was original released as a graphic novel, but a few years later was released as two issue and those floppy issues are what we will be reviewing for this update. I would like to thank both Mavericks Cards And Comics and Bell Book And Comic for having these issues in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s walk together this night and see what The Girl and her vampire bite has in store for us.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night # 1 ***
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Behemoth Comics # 1 of 2

The Girl is soaking in the bathtub thinking about Bad City and how every night is the same for her as she heads into the night looking for a person to drain of their blood, and sadly this city is filled with bad people who she can pray on. The Girl also at night meets street cats as well as skateboards around in the darkness. She finds a young kid up late at night watching TV, but chooses not to take his blood as he is yet to show if he is a good or bad person…but she will wait and see where is life takes him and she will be waiting. A gay man is hanging around a fence putting on lipstick as a man filled with hate attacks him with the idea of doing him physical harm when The Girl arrives and drains him of his blood an stills his ring and ditches the body in a massive pile along with her past victims. We then join The Girl back in the tub as she is thinking about the sins of those lives she has taken as next to the tub is a large basket packed with all the rings of her victims.

I truly feel that this comic does justice to the film it’s based on as the plot of the comic is about The Girl, a female vampire skateboarder who lives in a rundown city in Iran who looks for victims by taking a look at their dark secrets they have, and she chooses those who have or are doing horrible things to become her next meal. The Girl is clearly a vampire who tries to live by her own code as she knows that she must feed on human blood, she tries her best not to hurt those who are innocent and only select those who are evil and just foul people. She is also very torn in nature as you can tell she enjoys aspects of her “life” but also very much loathes other parts of it as she is looking for something or even someone more…she is lonely. The Girl is almost like a protector of the innocent and weak in her own ways as she roams the streets saving people from the evil that mankind does. Her victim in this issue is a very nasty man who is homophobic and is walking the streets at night just looking for trouble, and he finds it when he messes with a gay man and ends up having his life taken by the fangs of The Girl who witnesses the attack. The comics horror comes from the mood and atmosphere of a rundown city that is filled with the down and out as well as criminals, and of course the main comes from the fact a vampire is loose on the streets. The comic does have some blood spilled but is by no means a blood bath, but for those looking for the red stuff via vampire bites will not be disappointed. The cover for this issue is very cool and eye catching and the interior art is really good and done by Michael DeWeese. And I have to say that this first issue is very well done and does justice to the film it’s based on and is making me look forward to reading issue two so let’s get to it.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night # 2 ***
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Behemoth Comics # 2 of 2

The Girl is in the desert buried under the sand she came there to die via the sun, but fear and instinct causes her to always hide right before the sun rays hit her undead skin. At night she rises and looks around at the skulls and bones of her past victims including a couple that were making love and she enters their room and slaughters them. The Girl wonders what her “life” is really about and even takes the life of a spider just cause she can and needed to feed, but her hunger is strong and she heads toward Bad City in order to find a life to take, and as she makes her way toward the city she remembers all the different countries she has been in and all the blood she has taken. And at the end she hits the city limits of Bad City and her hunt is about to start.

The second issue is just as good as the first issue and this time around The Girl is hiding out in the hot desert being upset over her own thoughts as she is conflicted about being a vampire as she both enjoys and hates the fact that she must kill a person for their blood in order to survive. And at times it seems like The Girl is looking for love and when seeing humans in love makes her more angry and makes their deaths more gruesome and painful. We also see that she will kill insects as in the first issue she shows that she cares about felines as she pets the animal instead of taking its life and here she chomps down on a big spider. This issue almost feels like the start of the story as well as it kind of has that vibe that this was her first time entering Bad City that she would end up making her “home” and hunting ground for some time. With this second issue it also is a very fast read with most of it being visual and very little dialogue, but this works so well for this issue as I feel this one is about finding oneself and coming to terms on who you are and what you have done. This issue as well has more blood and gore with the couples death aftermath being pretty gruesome as The Girl has their insides ripped out and even has removed heads! I really do think that this comic series did the film it is based on justice and I really do with that more Indie Comic Publishers would team up with Indie Horror Filmmakers and make comics like this more often. The Girl is a very interesting vampire and this issue really adds a new level to her as she is very torn about her existence but also loves her powers. The cover for issue two is also very cool and eye catching and has The Girls hand coming out of the sand, and like before the interior art is done by Michael DeWeese and his art style is really great and I love the way he draws The Girl as it looks mostly like the actress who played her. This was a very cool and entertaining series based on a very cool cult Indie Horror film that if you enjoyed you really should track down these comics as I think they will deliver some fright. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by DeWeese as his style is really spooky and truly captures the nature of the film and characters.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is clearly not a film nor comic that is for everyone as they both are a little artsy and having many hidden messages and meanings behind them, but I do think that fans of horror films from companies like A24 and IFC will truly enjoy it. And as you can see, our update and time with the vampire called The Girl has came to an end and with that I think we should take our leave from Bad City, but don’t worry our next update will have us remaining in the world of horror as we will find ourselves this time a tourist in the world of Turistas a 2006 gut stealing Horror Film that got the comic book treatment thanks to IDW. So until next time read a Horror Comic of three, watch a Horror Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. I wander what a kidney goes for now and days?

Comic Strip Funnies: Trudy

Posted on August 24, 2023 by bloodlinematt

Sorry to say that the Stella update is not ready for publishing so we will instead be taking a look at a classic comic strip character! It’s that time again to open up the old “Rotten Ink Daily News” and find the Rotten Funnies and see what comic strip we will be covering for this update…and I think we are going to take a look at Trudy! Oh I hear it, most of you readers are saying who the heck is Trudy and to be honest I was the same way, until I discovered this comic strip character while buying a lot of paperback books to cover for these updates. As far as I can remember the Sunday Funnies I grew up with in Dayton Daily News never had Trudy in the paper and to be honest if they did, that’s how little of an impact the strip made on me. But like in the world of Comic Books, Horror Hosts, Indie Horror Movies and 80’s Hairbands I love to discover something new and this could be a very funny comic strip or it could be one that is the pits…and only time will tell. So grab a cup of coffee or pour yourself a bowl of cereal and lets look that the Rotten Funnies and see what Trudy brings to the ha, ha funny table.

Jerry Marcus was born on June 27, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up poor, and sadly at the age of three his father past away and he watched as his mother raised him as well as his three siblings. Jerry dropped out of high school and tried to enlist in the Navy during Word War II, but was rejected for being underweight. But while he was bummed, Jerry did not give up and signed on with the Merchant Marine and shipped out fuel tankers to the North Atlantic and this was in 1943. When he was able to gain the weight Jerry was finally able to join the Navy and became a Seabees and was stationed in the Philippines. In 1946 he was discharged and attended New York’s Cartoonist And Illustrators School, and this lead him to the path of becoming a freelance artist his work shown in may major publications like Ladies’ Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post and The New Yorker. In 1963 Jerry Marcus created the comic strip Trudy that followed a housewife and her family, and the comic strip would debuted on March 18 and was not only a Sunday Strip but also was a Daily Strip in more than 200 papers worldwide. The comic would run until August 20, 2005 and ended when Jerry Marcus himself passes away after dealing with a long time illness on July 22, 2005. While not as iconic as other comic strips like Peanuts, Garfield, Andy Capp or Dennis The Menace, Trudy has made its mark on the comic strip world and on those readers who enjoyed her antics.

Lets take a quick look at the characters that make up this comic strip universe. Trudy is a housewife who lives her day-to-day life taking care of her family as well as taking care of the home all the while dealing with nosey neighbors and two silly pets. Trudy is a kindhearted woman, but also does not take any guff from her husband nor their son. She is a good person who does what she can for her family, and will stand her ground when pushed to far. Ted her husband and hard workingman who loves his family, enjoy playing golf and cards with his friends and hates mornings…he can also be forgetful as well as un-thoughtful to his wife, but not mean spirited just in his own world at times. Their son is Crawford a young man who loves baseball and hates baths, over all he is a good kid just has a messy room, gets into little trouble and argues with his mom from time to time. The family animals are Fatkat a cat that can be a little troublemaker and the loveable dog Rodney. Trudy also has an older lady friend named Mrs. Nozie who spreads gossip and has no tact. That’s is the cast of characters that make up comic strip Trudy.

So now that you got a brief history of Trudy and her creator Jerry Marcus and as you can see they are a typical 60’s family with pets. It’s crazy that I don’t remember this comic strip as growing up both my brother and I loved looking at comic strips at out house as well as our Grandparents house in the country that at times had the better comic strips printed in them as they got Dick Tracy, Spider-Man and Prince Valiant! Before we get into this paperback book I want to thank the Etsy Seller for having this book as part of a lot and also want to remind you readers that I grade this book on a standard 1-4 star system and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, it’s entertainment value and it’s art and story. So lets get to the one and only Trudy!

We Love You Trudy PB *1/2
Released in 1978 Cover Price .95 Tempo Books #? of ?

Much like all these comic strip paperback books they feature on page jokes and stories so it makes it very hard to cover for these reviews, so like always I will pick 10 of my favorite gags from this book and give you a taste of the style of humor used in Trudy and again in no real order. # 1 has Trudy telling Tom a list of items that he should pick out including a very nice tie, as she is sending him to get her own presents for his Birthday. What I selected for # 2 has Ted eating what he think is a steak only to be told by Trudy that it was really hamburger she made to look like a steak…tricky, tricky Trudy. # 3 has snow coming down outside and its bedtime as Trudy is in bed Ted is asking if they have to put the cat out for the night as FatKat is wrapped around him clinging for dear life! # 4 has a dinner table with a large meal and candles as Trudy is on the phone with Ted as he informs her he was wrong and they are having dinner at their friend’s house. # 5 it’s Crawford’s birthday and Ted has a video camera out and is yelling at all there like he is a director, as Trudy and the kids all look highly annoyed with his over bearing orders. # 6 has Ted coming home with a line filled with fish he caught, as does his friend Ed and while walking in Ted is telling Ted to bring his fish in as well as he will have Trudy clean them all, she does not look happy! # 7 has Trudy and Ted in the room of Crawford and she is crying as his baseball player poster is taken off his wall and it his place is a sexy woman poster, and Ted is explaining to her that it was only a matter of time. # 8 has Trudy and Ted in bed with both cat FatKat and dog Rodney as they look all scared and Trudy worried and Ted annoyed as she tells her husband that the animals heard something weird downstairs! #9 Has FatKat at the vet and the veterinarian is telling Trudy that the cats main issue is that he is getting to much sleep. And for # 10 I went with Trudy at the meat market looking annoyed at the butcher Mr. Pipkin who is flexing his arms as she is once more asking to see what mussels they have in stock, his joke is played out with her. And these were the 10 best that I could find, and it was hard to even find 10 that were “funny”.

Trudy is very dated humor and I could never see kids getting behind this comic strip that is more about life being a housewife in the 60’s, and what young kid was laughing their head off about a joke that’s punch line is dinner being late or not feeling up to sweeping the house, none that I grew up with that’s for sure! And this “Housewife” humor is why I for one just did not get Trudy as I did not chuckle once while reading this whole paperback book, and I even read the most of it as one of my favorite quite places to read comics and that is one of our many massive local cemeteries, and even with the peace of nature and a light rain on the cars windshield it still was just a so-so read with flat humor. Now while I did find Trudy humorless, I do however have a few things positive to say as I found it to be charming as it does hold a real life household feel. Each comic as well has heart behind them and Jerry did an outstanding job of capturing things that real families go through from kids hating Thunderstorms to animals going being odd. And it does have to warm your heart a little when you find out that Trudy was inspired by his mother who worked very hard to raise him as a single parent, to that I must say that it proves Jerry had heart when making this comic strip. I feel that while reading this book that Trudy was a very likable character even if I found her humor bland and lackluster. I should also say that while I enjoyed the supporting cast of characters the standout to me was of course FatKat as many of the cat’s traits I have seen in the cats I have had in my life. The cover of this book is “Woman’s Day Magazine” welcoming and the interior art by Jerry Marcus is classic 60’s cartoonist style and is charming. Over all while I was not a major fan of Trudy I still respect the comic strip and its creator as I am sure she meant something to many readers as the longevity of the strip proves that it had an impact. Check out the art below to see the style of Marcus.

Again I do want to stress that just because Trudy is not for me does not mean that its total garbage and you are wrong for laughing at its humor, as that’s the beauty of humor we all have our own taste in what we find funny. And for me looking back and even discovering some of these old Sunday Funnies for Rotten Ink has been lots of fun, and I will continued to cover them as your friends and readers as well seem to be enjoying them. But with us being done with Trudy for our next update we are walking away from the world of Comic Strips and will be heading into the world of cartoons as I will be breaking down the 1966 Incredible Hulk series episode by episode in a new update theme that I will be calling “Tube Tunes” and don’t worry Juliet’s look at Horror Hostess Stella will be posted at a later date. So until next time read a comic of three, watch a movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update as we watch Hulk smash 60’s cartoon style!

Marvel’s Star Police Academy

Posted on June 23, 2022 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. It really is hard to believe that this little blog of mine is 10 years old; what started out as just a silly way to feel nostalgic for things that I grew up loving has now turned into a way for many of you readers as well to take trips down memory lane about the topics covered. With that said, today’s update is no exception as growing up my brother and I loved the Police Academy films and we would watch them all the time, but in 1988 they also made an animated series…that was not watched all the time and this update is about that animated series and the Marvel Comics under the Star Comics branch comic series based on it. Who would have ever thought that Police Academy would get a cartoon and comic book series? I know growing up it seemed like Marvel and DC Comics did more oddball releases like this, and now they play it way too safe. So if you are ready let’s head to the station and see what is going on with Mahoney and his friends.

The Police Academy Cartoon series started airing on September 10,1988 and was a syndicated show that was based on the movie series that was being released by Warner Brothers at the same time. The cartoon would follow Mahoney and his fellow Cadet friends as they bust crime and try to take down the evil Kingpin who is a member of the Council Of Crime and other baddies include Mr. Sleaze, Claw, Numbskull and Big Burger. The cartoon was made by Rudy-Spears and was released by Warner Bros. Television and would last for two seasons and a total of 65 episodes, as it would end on September 2, 1989. None of the movies cast would voice their cartoon counterparts and names like Dan Hennessey, Ron Rubin, Greg Morton and Frank Welker would lend their voices to help make the characters come alive. Growing up very few of my friends at school watched this cartoon as it really was not popular at all and to be honest while I did watch it from time to time it was not must see TV for me, and looking back this is a little odd as I was a big fan of the movies. I will say that the animation for the cartoon was good and that classic 80’s style but I do always remember not being a fan of the voices of the characters, as they sounded nothing like they should and even the kid friendly humor fell flat. The series would get some home media releases with select episodes making it to VHS and part of the series would get a DVD release. Now keep in mind while I was not a major fan of the cartoon I will say I enjoyed if even with all its flaws.

While I was not a mega fan of the cartoon series, I was a fan of the action figures based on it that was released by Kenner that started in 1988 and ended in 1989 and only lasted three series. The first wave of figures featured Mahoney with Samson the dog, Tackleberry, Hightower, Jones and Zed for the heroes and for the baddies you could get Cat with Mouser Cat, Numbskull and Mr. Sleaze with FooFoo Dog. Wave one also had some cool play sets like the Precinct Police Station that was really just the Real Ghostbusters fire station re-done. Wave 2 had new versions of Tackleberry and Jones and then added baddies Flung Hi and Kingpin to the mix, and a mail away figure was Captain Harris that is very rare. The third and final wave that is called “Special Assignment Rookies” the cops added was House, Sweetchuck with new versions of Zed and Mahoney and no new baddies were added. They also had vehicles released that included Crazy Cruiser and Crash Cycle. And growing up I had several of these figures like Jones, Tackleberry, Mr. Sleaze and Cat and got them from of course Big Bear and Hearts. The one I always wanted was Hightower as he was at the top of my favorite characters in the films series as well as the animated one. Its weird as very few of the kids I grew up with had the Police Academy figures and I knew no kid who watched the cartoon, I do however knew a few classmates who had the Marvel Comics based on it. And to be honest I do not even remember Harts stocking them for very long and can not even remember them being at Hills Department Store, though I am sure they were as Hills was the place for Toys!

And when I became a teenager I got ride of my Police Academy figures and regretted it later in life, so I did what any nerdy adult would do and I bought many of them back plus the ones I didn’t have when I was a youngster! And below is a group shot of the figures I have in my collection and I wanted to share it with you readers. No as you can see I do not have the full set as some figures are way over priced like House, Sweetchuck and Captain Harris as they are rare and while I had a chance to buy Sweetchuck at a local store I decided not to pay the price they were asking. But as you can see I do have a good amount of them with my two favorites being Hightower and Tackleberry as I do think they are good figures and are two of my favorite characters from the whole Police Academy series. But check below to see the figures I have, and yes over time I do hope to get more and complete the set, and when looking at them I really need to get more of the bad guys as I need Claw and Mr. Sleeze back.

The Police Academy film series started in 1984 and followed Mahoney who is a cadet at the Police Academy who is a prankster and a ladies man who is hated by Lt. Harris, and worse his fellow cadets would follow his lead and they would become good cops who worked well with the people they are protecting. The series would spawn five sequels a cartoon and even a short-lived live action TV Show. The film series would star names like Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, Bubba Smith as Hightower, Michael Winslow as Larvell Jones, David Graf as Tackleberry, Marion Ramsey as Laverne Hooks, Bobcat Goldthwait as Zed McGlunk to name a few. The first film in the series was the biggest success bringing in $81,198,894.00 at the Domestic Box Office but with each sequel the profits dropped hard as the sixth film in the series “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege” only did $11,567,217.00 showing that the series did not have much legs behind it in the end, but to be fair to the later sequels they did do great on home media and the rental market and did their job of keeping the series alive. I have worked for several used media stores over the years and have had many of customers ask if we had Police Academy films in stock, and mostly they are looking for the sequels so that’s a sign at least that they do have a fan following. I think that if I had to choose my top three films in the series I would say that for me “Police Academy”, “Police Academy 4: Citizen’s On Patrol” and “Police Academy 3: Back In Training” make up that list with my least favorite film in the series being “Police Academy 7: Mission Moscow” a barely in the theater film that had hardly none of the original cast and had many jokes that just fell flat, but to be fair the film did star Christopher Lee and Ron Perlman as Russians. Rumors of an eighth film have been floating around for years and Steve Guttenberg has also fueled those rumors in 2018 by claiming talks are taking place, but I think sadly this sequel will never happen and if anything a remake will be made that will go direct to streaming. Say what you will but Police Academy in the 80’s was a big comedy franchise that sparked so much other media and helped make Warner Brothers some money and brought laughs to movie watchers around the globe.

I want to also take a moment before we take a look at the score for the first Police Academy film that was done by Robert Folk who is also know for his music work on such films as “Toy Soldiers (1991)”, “Beastmaster 2: Through The Portal Of Time (1991)”, “Rock-A-Doodle (1991)”, “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)”, “Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)” and “Beethoven’s Big Break (2008)” to name a few. But while all the above mentioned and even the none mentioned scores are good it really is his work on the Police Academy film series that is his crown jewel as the Main Title for the series is so iconic and when it starts to play almost everyone knows that its from the film and still even more will hum along to the catchy tune, and funny enough I still even hum this song at random from time to time. And my niece plays in a marching band and my brother use to try and get her to ask her teacher if they would play the Police Academy Theme at football games, he of course said no but it was worth a try. The soundtrack was released for a limited time on CD and I was lucky enough to nab a copy before it went out of print and to be honest the whole score by Folk is really good and if you can find it cheap enough and enjoy movie score soundtracks give it a listen.

And yet still before we review these comics we should talk about my three favorite characters in this series with my first being Hightower who was played by Bubba Smith in the films and voiced by Greg Morton in the cartoon, and the reason he is my favorite is he is as strong as a bull, is fair when busting crime, is as big as a pro wrestler and just is a very cool character. Next would have to be Tackleberry who is Rambo with a badge and carries a massive handgun and is really unstable who comes from a family of cops who all act just as intense as he is, Tackleberry is played by actor David Graf in the films and was voiced by Dan Hennessey. And my third favorite is Zed who was a one time criminal who turns a new leaf and joins the Police Force, but he is just as crazy as he was when he was a bad guy he is played by the awesome Bobcat Goldthwait in the films and voiced by Dan Hennessey in the cartoon. And now that you know who my top three favorite characters are I want you to take a few moments to think who yours are as I think every fan of this series has their most as well as least favorites.

Well as you can see we have somehow found ourselves in Comic Book Jail all because we said we enjoy old Marvel Comics over old DC Comics in a Warner Brothers part of town and now we have to wait for Mahoney to get here to straighten this mess all out, but while we wait lets take a look at the comic book series from Marvel Comics in connection to the Star Comics brand that of course is based on the super kid friendly animated series of Police Academy. I want to thank Bell, Book And Comic as well as Lonestar Comics for having these issues in stock and making this update possible. I also want to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, it’s entertainment value and it’s art and story. So with that let’s find a bunk and see what this comic series has in store for us. And on a side note I do remember reading the first issue as a kid and the rest will be first time reads for me.

Police Academy # 1 **1/2
Released in 1989 Cover Price $1.00 Marvel # 1 of 6

Mahoney and Jones are acting as a two man parade for all of the higher officers at the academy, and this is bad news as they the higher ups showed up a day to early and this annoys many of them and worse when Hooks, Zed and Sweetchuck have made a float head that looks like criminal computer and tech mastermind Mad Byter! This gets Mahoney and his friends in hot water and they are sent on duty in a terrible part of town and while directing traffic Mad Byter and his henchmen drive by and the cops give chase, but the criminal makes it to his base that is a massive movie sound studio! Mahoney gets an idea and as he and the rest hide inside of the Mad Byter float head that they will have Sweetchuck drop off as a gift to the criminal and this will allow them to be inside the hideout…and it works! Once inside Mahoney and his fellow officers find that Byter is using props from movies against them and when he makes his escape Mahoney uses one of the props to capture him and get back into the graces of the higher ups. “Little Boy Blue” is the second story and is about Buster a kid who won a contest to be a police officer for a day, the downside is that he is a brat and Mahoney and Jones are the ones who end up having to take him out for the day. Buster is running wild and Mahoney comes up with a plan for him and Jones to wear ski masks and fake kidnap Dusty to teach him a lesson about manors, but a pair of real kidnappers beat them to it and this causes Mahoney and Jones to save the day and in the end they do teach Buster a life lesson on how to act.

This first issue of Police Academy is pure silly stuff and has one longer story as well as a small back up and both pack the same silly humor and jokes and while it is entertaining it does have lots of flaws including characters being in spots they should not be and jokes that are eye rolling bad, you know the type like a bad dad jokes. The first story has Mahoney and company screwing up a parade and being forced on a terrible part of town that they end up saving the city from a very bad man who is a computer hacker that robs places. And that baddie is Mad Byter and he does rob a place and even uses movie props to stall and keep the cops at bay as he and his goons try to escape, they do fail but at least he tried. The second story is shorter and has Mahoney and Jones having to watch the Mayors nephew and have to save him from kidnappers, and the odd part of this plot is that Mahoney himself has a plan to kidnap the kid to calm him down…very odd coming from a cop. Mahoney is clearly the leader of the cadets and is as snarky as ever and while he saves the day often he still is a joker who does so by falling backwards into being the hero as really in this comic he is very bad at his work! Jones is kind of the sidekick to Mahoney and because they are friends he seems to be roped into helping, even when the idea is a bad one. The rest of the characters like Sweetchuck, Zed, Hooks and so on are around they do very little in the stories and play background to Mahoney and Jones. So far this comic held up to what I remember it being as a kid and while the jokes are bad and I cannot stress that enough it was a very entertaining read and while the characters act nothing like they do in the film series they do act like their cartoon counterparts. The cover is eye catching and features the whole cast and the art by Howard Post is good kid friendly art, I do have to say that his Mahoney in some panels looks like an old woman. With that lets see what issue two has in store for us.

Police Academy # 2 **1/2
Released in 1989 Cover Price $1.00 Marvel # 2 of 6

While on a date at the beach Mahoney sees a sea monster and rushes back to the station to warn his coworkers of this danger, and unlucky for him and his normal bank of fellow officers they get sent to the beach to stakeout and capture the creature! But when the sea monster eats Zed while he was surfing, it’s Mahoney and Jones that have to go after him in a tiny submarine that looks like a goldfish. They soon find themselves out of the sub and diving toward a sunken ship that is being robbed by diver, and Mahoney and Jones get caught in a net and captured by a Captain who is holding them and Zed prisoner as the sea monster is really a submarine that he and his crew are using to scare people away as they steal the safe from the boat! And when the criminals get the safe and try to escape, its Mahoney and Jones that escape the net and use the gold fish sub to attach onto the creature sub and crash them onshore! As the Captain and his men make a run for it with the safe to get to a van our officers go to work as Hightower makes one faint and Callahan uses her martial arts to take down another. As the Captain and one of his goons make it to the van it’s Tackleberry armed with an ice cream bazooka and Sweetchuck that brings the Captain down. The second story is “The Cookoo Commandant” and has Mahoney and his fellow officers being yelled at and sent on strange missions by Commandant Lassard who is acting very different and this has lead to The Chief to force the now missing Lassard to step down and Harris to take his place, but Mahoney thinks something is going on and after seeing an old year book he thinks he might have figured it out. Mahoney along with Jones, House and Sweetchuck head to a live taping of a kids show and soon find that the host was a former cadet at the academy at the same time as Lassard and was jealous of him because he got promoted and while the real Lassard was on vacation he wanted to show up and ruin his reputation. In the end all goes back to normal as Lassard returns from vacation and is just as laidback and silly as before.

The second issue in the Police Academy comic is slightly better than the first issue as the two stories just flow better and had less flaws in the art and character placement. The first story has Mahoney at the beach with his fellow officers and they put a stop to a sneaky Captain who is using a fake sea creature in order to rob a safe from a ship that had sunk, and in this story we see that Mahoney is a jerk as he is one a date trying to be smooth with the woman that he keeps forgetting her name. And the Captain is kind of a goofy bad guy for the story as his goal is to get the safe off the ship and he runs around like a goof on the beach with a stolen safe to get into a van! And I love how Mahoney and Jones leave Zed tied up on the ship so that Mahoney can be hero again, man Mahoney is really a jerk! The second and shorty story has a kids show host who went to the academy with Lassard being mad at him and using his master of quick change into characters to try and ruin his reputation at the academy and of course Mahoney is to smart to fall for that. Over all both stories are good fun natured stuff and Mahoney is always the hero of the day, the comedy is slightly less bad but still very goofy in nature. And like before this does a great job of capturing the feel of the cartoon series and does justice to the characters even if some are not getting the time to shine of these pages. I must also say that Tackleberry and his ice cream bazooka is amazing and I wish they would do more with him as well as Hightower as both officers are pushed back into just almost cameo roles. The cover is good and eye catching and has the officers along with the sea creature as sea and as before the talented kids comics artist Howard Post does a great job on the interior art and I like the way he draws Tackleberry! Over all a good solid kids comic that was a fun read and while the plots are simple and silly that is kind of the point with kids comics.

Police Academy # 3 **1/2
Released in 1989 Cover Price $1.00 Marvel # 3 of 6

House has eaten way to many pizzas and hamburgers and has landed himself in the hospital and Mahoney and his fellow officers go to visit him on a stormy night, and when they are asked to leave the room so the doctor can look at him they learn that the doctor was a fake and now House is missing! Mahoney comes up with an idea that has them all act as staff at the hospital to find him as well as the crazed doctor. They soon find a trail of jellybeans and when they follow it they find a hidden lab and House is tied up and meet Doctor Jockensteen and his assistant Clarence who have an idea to take part of Houses brain to put into a robot monster that will be the biggest sports jock the world has ever seen. And when Doctor Jockensteen is mad cause Mahoney frees house the Jock Robot Monster goes on the attack and as the officers run off Mahoney, Jones and House jump into an ambulance and drives off only to be chased down by the robot monster, that they end up getting addicted to jellybeans and have him reprogramed to play on the youth policed baseball team. “The Singing Smash!” has Hightower being charge of a singing group that is he and his fellow officers singing, and because Zed is a fan of pro wrestling he sets up a gig at a wrestling event and they get booed out of the building but they stumble on a plot as a manger has a team kidnapped in order for his team to win the match and Mahoney comes up with an idea to teach them a lesson as Hightower, Zed and Callahan take the match and win the titles and Hightower even gets to sing for his victory.

The third issue is as well fun and the features two stories that have elements of some of my favorite things and that’s Horror and Pro Wrestling! The first tale takes place in the hospital and has a mad doctor on the loose that is trying to build a robot jock and wants to use an injured officers brain to keep it hungry for the win. While the second story has the officers having to enter a wrestling match to stop a con man from winning titles and also get the crowd to be on their side when it comes to singing Christmas carols. Mahoney as always is the main focus and the hero of the day when it comes to the first story but it is nice to see Hightower be the main officer in the second and his size and power comes in play as he beats three wrestlers pretty much by herself by slamming the whole ring on top of them! I also like that Zed as well as even House get a little more time to shine on the pages as they each have some stories, and while Mahoney and Jones are around they are not the full heroes of the issue. The main bad guy of this issue is the sinister Doctor Jockensteen who works for the hospital but is really working on his own experiments and all he cares about is making a robot that will be perfect at every sport, and the robot it’s self only follows orders and while it can be mean its only following orders. And I have to say I am glad Hightower got to be more showcased a little in the comic series, now if he can get them to do so for Tackleberry all would be good. The cover is good and fitting for a kid’s comic series and like before Howard Post did the interior art and is good for this kind of comic. With that let’s see what issue four has in store for us.

Police Academy # 4 **1/2
Released in 1990 Cover Price $1.00 Marvel # 4 of 6

Lassard when he was a cadet captured a mad bomber called Baby Boomer that was tormenting the city, and after being put away for 40 years he has escaped jail and he is going after Lassard to even the score. Mahoney comes up with an idea that he along with the others will really capture Baby Boomer but will once more give Commandant Lassard the credit and make him the hero of the day again. As Baby Boomer heads into an old amusement park to get his stolen loot, Lassard goes in after him as does Mahoney and his fellow officers. After many failed attempts to capture Baby Boomer it is Mahoney and Lassard that capture him on a roller coaster and are able to stop a dropped misplaced bomb from going off, and Lassard is once more the hero as Baby Boomer heads back to jail. Our second wacky story is “Jonesy’s Day Off” has Jones off duty but yet as we walks around town he keeps seeing miner crimes being committed as well as bratty kids not listening to their parents and uses his sound effects to stop it all. He even saves a street musicians tips from being stolen before finally given up and clocking in to work.

This fourth issue in the series is good but does lack a little of the charm that the last few issues have had as both stories while silly and kid friendly do lack a little bit of charm as well as even a thought out story as they kind of come off a little generic. The first story is the better of the two and has Lassard going after an old criminal who has escaped from jail, and he is the one who put him away in the first place and along with the help of Mahoney he does so again when he recaptures him. The second story is kind of bad as it just is Jones walking around town and using the sound effects he makes with his mouth to stop small crimes, and he then because of the stress of being off work and yet still working he decides to just clock in. The main villain is Baby Boomer a criminal who likes to use bombs to strike fear as well as rob places, and when he escapes he only gets the chance to blow up on thing and that’s a package bomb that he sends to Lassard. Mahoney of is the main focus in the first story with Jones being the main cop used in the second story. Over all nothing special when it comes to this issue and the stories it brings to the readers. The cover is pretty cool and has Mahoney and his fellow officers on a roller coaster and the interior art by Howard Post is as solid as ever. While not the best issue in the series this far, it still is pretty fun I guess for the most part.

Police Academy # 5 **1/2
Released in 1990 Cover Price $1.00 Marvel # 5 of 6

Sweetchuck is a big comic book reader and his favorite hero is Grasshopper and Flea Boy and he looses his mind when the movie based on the hero is shooting in their city and the cops have been asked to help keep the actors safe. But an accident on set leaves the actor playing Grasshopper believing he is the masked hero and he heads out into the city to stop crime, and this gives Sweetchuck an idea who puts on the Flea Boy costume and rushes to help keep an eye on the confused actor who ends up stopping a scam that is going on at a construction site, but as Sweetchuck makes it to the scene Grasshopper has another bump on the head and regains his memories and runs away from the scene of the crime leaving Sweetchunk to try and stop it on his own, that is until Mahoney and the others who up and help Sweetchuck become the Superhero of the city by stopping the concrete crime at the work site. “Callahan’s Big Date” is the second story and has everyone at the academy wanting Callahan to be their date at the Police Ball and Harris uses his power of being the one to select who enters the judo tournament to force a date from her, and when Mahoney and Jones tell her she should be herself on the date her power and skills scare Harris away and the date to the ball is cancelled and she still ends up being able to compete in the judo tournament.

This issue’s main story has Officer Sweetchuck being a big comic book reader who gets to live his dream of becoming a superhero as well as working on a move set that is based on his favorite comic superhero! And he gets to also along the way stop a crime that has a crooked man strong-arming a builder into having to buy a ton of concrete. And in the end Sweetchuck learns that cops are the true heroes and his new favorite hero is himself after he and his fellow officers really save the day. The second story is all about Harris being taught a lesson when he tries to bribe Callahan into being his date for a big ball, that is until he sees that she is not a Barbie doll and is a super strong woman that scares him with her fighting skills as well as weightlifting feats. While Harris is a scummy officer the issues main bad guy is the Concrete seller who is trying to force people to buy more than they need for construction work. Sweetchuck and Callahan are the two officers that get their time in the spotlight and Mahoney this time while around is not the main focus and that is a nice change of pace. The cover for this issue is fun and while not great is surly cool for a kid’s comic, and as always the interior artwork by Howard Post is good stuff for this style of comic. Over all a good issue that brings a few laughs and none threatening baddies.

Police Academy # 6 **1/2
Released in 1990 Cover Price $1.00 Marvel # 6 of 6

The police van has broken down in front of a castle and when Mahoney and his fellow officers meet the owner they soon find that they are in the middle of a war as the former owners the Von Sluggs want it back and are using all types of weapons to attack from cannons to tanks and this has became dangerous for everyone involved. But when Mahoney decides that they are going to defend that castle the officers dress like knights and find ways to stop the attack. And it’s House that ends the war when he by accident is thrown from a catapult and brings down the helicopter that King Von Slugg was in, and they family surrenders. In the end the Von Slugg family are asked to live back in the castle and to give up their acts of war and are introduced to video games to get out their aggression. The second story is “Fast Company” has Mahoney being a terrible driver as he has wrecked many police cars over the weeks as he is ogling female officers and drives wreckless. Harris takes away Mahoney’s cruiser privileges and he is forced to use a super fast skateboard and of course he uses this to stop a car thief, and in the end Mahoney understands he drives everything to fast and buys himself an old car that only goes 30mph!

This sixth issue in the Police Academy comic series is also the final issue in the series, and clearly it was not suppose to be the final issue as a seventh issue is advertised in this issue and I would guess that maybe low sales is what did this Star Comics/Marvel Comics series in. The main story of this final issue has Mahoney and the officers fighting off a family who want to take over a castle that they have sold and are war hungry to get it back. And the second issue is about Mahoney wrecking cars and using a skateboard to stop a crime, when really the story is Mahoney is a sleazebag and harasses female officers and drives like a drunk person in order to catcall them. I do like in the first story House decides to order pizza during the battle as he is hungry, and when the delivery man is attacked and drops the pizza he goes out and ends the war so that he can eat. Both stories are ok and entertaining and do a pretty good job of bring a kids comic that captures the cartoon it was based on. While Mahoney and Jones get most of the attention throughout this series House, Sweetchuck, House, Callahan, Lassard, Zed and Harris get some stories while I think Hooks, Hightower and Tackleberry are very much underused and that’s a shame. And while some of the stories are better then the others I do find that over all they are fitting and deliver fun situations for Mahoney and the officers to solve and stop and this surly entertained young readers who enjoyed the cartoon. But while the stories are good they sometimes are way to simple and even at times flaws are all over them with even skin color of characters changing from panel to panel. The interior art work by Howard Post is good while very simple captures that perfect style of art that was used at the time for so many kids comics. The cover for the final issue is ok and has the officer dressed as knights on the castle. To sum this up the Police Academy comic series that was based on the cartoon was pretty good and did a good job of bringing the comic versions of these characters to the pages of a very kid friendly series that brought the humor side of law enforcement to readers. Check out the artwork bellow to see the style of Post used in this series.

Who would have ever thought that the 1984 comedy film Police Academy would have spawned a cartoon that would in turn spawn toys and a comic book series. And it’s also great that while all outside branding of this series says Marvel Comics inside its clear that this was a Star Comics release and I really do wish that Marvel would have ran with the Star brand for longer then they did as so many cartoons and toys could have gotten the comic book treatment. While the Police Academy cartoon was never super popular in my friend circle it still did make it’s mark in the world of 80’s cartoons and this update was a lot of fun to do for Rotten Ink’s 10 Year Anniversary as growing up the brand Police Academy was big for me growing up. But for our next update we will be leaving the police academy and will be heading into our July 4^th update that will feature the America Hero known as G.I. Zombie released by DC Comics. So until next time read a Star Comic or three, watch a classic cartoon or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update for some fireworks, grilled food and of course a DC Horror undead monster.