Friday the 13th boasts some of the strangest movie tie-in comics ever made.
We hit the bloody highs and lows.
Friday the 13ths Jason Voorhees has been part of pop-culture for decades.
The surprising thing to me is that the earliest Jason comic is only in the early 90s.
For comparison,the RoboCop comicsall stretched across the franchises entire existence.
They were around for all four movies as well as the stretch where he was just about nostalgia.
Jason Voorhees didnt get the same treatment.
For the most part, they missed the boat.
Topps Comics first picked up the license and Jasons comic book debut came in July of 1993.
One of the two comics wasSatans Six #4by Tony Isabella and John Cleary.
It didnt last long enough to finish and withSatans Six, its no wonder.
He summons Jason Voorhees, who proceeds to talk like Rorschach and attempt to kill anything nearby.
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Anyone else find randomly and casually tossing Jason into a superhero universes continuity really weird?
Despite only appearing for a couple of pages, Jason says thatsixtimes.
Kamodious summons him back where he found him and starts making a blatant reference about Jason going to Hell.
And at that point, readers stopped caring.
Based on the screenplay, the comic is written by Andy Mangels and drawn by Cynthia Martin.
Thats how far down the pipeline we are.
By this point, the movie franchise was in dire straits.
Also, if youre all about drawings of bare asses, this is the comic for you!
That was the original Nick Fury asks Tony Stark to join the Avengers moment.
It just, you know, took ten years, is all.
Okay, they didnt get Michael Meyers, but the next best thing afterthat.
Some corporate types have the lake drained of all the toxic grossness and Jason goes with it.
This leads to a really awesome moment where Cook asks him his name.
Through this partnership, we see the differences.
Mainly, Jason gets along with them due to the way he sees his younger self in Leatherface.
For once, he feels sympathy and it drives him to hate Hitchhiker for constantly being such a dick.
Now we can see Jason punch a guy in the head so hard that it comes out his ass!
Avatar mostly released a bunch of one-shots, starting withFriday the 13th Specialby Brian Pulido and Mike Wolfer.
Like inFriday the 13th Special, its about the children of the man who previously owned Camp Crystal Lake.
If Jasons hanging around the woods, just hire a ton of military guys to take him out.
That basically took care of Jason in the very beginning of the ninth movie, didnt it?
Jasons way too overpowered and that continues on for the next year of comics.
It actually comes across as a prototype forCabin in the Woods.
Their boss is Kevin Carny, a kindly southern guy who feels like really laid back about everything.
The counselors all hit it off and immediately pair up with no problem.
In fact, they pair up a littletooeasily, like they were handpicked.
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Naturally, theres more to Carny than meets the eye.
The camp is nothing more than bait.
You end up getting a story of the would-be victims vs. the military vs. the unstoppable killer.
It actually has a really good ending too, which will be ruined months later.
Around this time, Avatar released theJason X Specialby Pulido and Sebastian Fiumara.
Yes, aJason Xcomic.
Uber Jason is shot into space, where he stumbles across a party-based space ship.
That leads us right into the two-parterJason vs. Jason Xby Mike Wolfer.
Is that even a contest?
Thats like having the regular version of the Hulk fight a super-pissed off Hulk.
The story of this one is more contrived than even the beginning ofJason Takes Manhattan.
The ships cloning machine builds a new body out of dead victims and Jason is reborn!
Fully clothed too, which I suppose I shouldnt be complaining about.
I can live my entire life without seeing his hockey stick.
The fight brings them to Earth Two, where, big surprise, Uber Jason wins.
He tears Jasons brain out, shoves it into his own brain, and reminisces about his mother.
You know, just in case they were to ever make anotherJason Xmovie.
The last book from Avatar isFriday the 13th: Fearbookby Mike Wolfer and Sebastian Fiumara.
Its a direct follow-up toBloodbathand is especially pointless.
Its basically about killing off anyone who survivedBloodbathwithout any real drama.
Jason just effortlessly kills everyone for two dozen pages.
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Also, the art is really bad in the sequential sense.
It seems to go from point A to C from panel to panel with no sensical movement.
For instance, inBloodbath, they were able to stop Jason by freezing him.
The only reason he was able to escape was Violets doing.
Makes 100% perfect sense that theyd just try that again, right?
Whats up with that?
The ending suffers from the same problem.
Violet is backed up to a window and Jason is coming.
She jumps and the perspective makes it look like shes at least ten feet away from the window.
Suddenly, Jason has her by the neck and drags her back in.
For the most part, its a basic, by-the-numbersFriday the 13thstory in comic form, just handled competently.
Theyre reopening Camp Crystal Lakeagain.
A handful of teens are brought in to clean up the cabins.
Sex and drugs and beer are had.
Jason shows up and starts killing people.
The drawback is that for the sake of conflict, theyre almost all over-the-top in terms of being assholes.
Otherwise, its nothing special.
It hits comedic levels once we see the doctor smoking a cigarette while delivering the baby.
Thats dark as hell but I had to laugh.
Im not sure if this is the bestFriday the 13thcomic, but its definitely the most fun.
Its about a little boy named Davie Falkner who is at summer camp.
At Camp Crystal Lake.
They opened the goddamn thing AGAIN!
While he has normal intelligence, he looks an awful lot like Jasons young self, albeit with hair.
Finding out that Davies still alive makes him want to confirm he can kill the last witness.
Its awesome and I wish it was longer.
Davie goes from being dragged around against his will to following his new hero.
Plus with the comedic psycho sheriff, Jason gets to actually play the role of anti-hero here.
Granted, he still kills so many undeserving people, but the book is still sort of cute.
Its about two different stories from different times that run parallel.
Horrible things happen to the woman and her child, shortly before her husband arrives.
They blow his face off with a rifle shot and he runs off, only to plot his revenge.
We have the Proto-Jason.
Wonder whatever happened to that guy.
Lot of great expressions and action in there.
The issue is kind of an alternate take onHow I Spent My Summer Vacation.
It deals with a girl who is constantly abused.
Totally worth checking out for the fantastic fight scene.
The Jeff Katz screenplay is adapted by James Kuhoric with art by Jason Craig.
Its nothing especially great or especially awful.
Freddy is able to convince Jason to do his bidding by banging his mother.
TheFreddy vs. Jasonmovie didnt have anyone nearly as likeable as Ash.
The main drawback is that Jason is the third wheel, mostly overshadowed by the other two co-stars.
This becomes a bigger problem in the sequel, which Ill get to in just a bit.
Sorry, I was wrong.
Thats too bad, since the final battle between the two is excellent outside of that.
Ash is bemused, noting the lack of originality.
Sadly, Jason Craigs art takes a huge dive, even worse than before.
Its such a brilliant concept for a climactic finale to Freddy and Jasons respective series.
Also awesome is Jasons redesign.
For the first half, at least.
He also gives him long, black hair, making him look like a generic 90s vigilante.
This also allows him to speak for once when he has his final battle with Tommy Jarvis.
Certainly better than, HRMM!
As I said, the book goes completely full-on nuts, especially when it comes to Maggie Burroughs.
Here, shes secretly evil and is working for her father.
And he puts his hand down her pants while grabbing her boob with the other.
Strange, strange comic.
The book has a lot of big ideas, but its completely incomprehensible.
What I find interesting is the ending.
Hes stripped of his powers, leaving a naked human form, begging for his life.
Ash shoots him with his boomstick, killing him.
Not only is Freddy done, but he never really started in the first place!
Gotta protect the sanctity ofJason X, man.
Despite being such a cinematic icon, theres only so much you might do with the character.
Hes a walking plot rig who isnt allowed to be anything more, nor should he ever be.
Finally DC Comics is about constantly tearing peoples arms off and Jason doesnt get to play.
