Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight, Vol. 1: Double Feature

Grindhouse movies, made-on-the-cheap, action- and gore-packed B-films, were the fodder of cheap-seat cinemas and drive-ins up through the ’80s. Directors like Quentin Tarantino repopularized the genre in the 2000s, and, here, writer De Campi (Smoke/Ashes) and a gang of lively artists—among them Francesco Francavilla and Dan Panosian—bring their bloodshed and havoc to the comics page. Like a classic midnight movie show, it’s a double feature, filled with sex, violence, fast cars and fast women—even “coming attractions” in the form of a grindhouse-style movie poster gallery. The first story puts the “bee” in “B-movie”: southern belles, transformed into honey-sucking killer bees, swarm their small town wreaking over-the-top carnage until the town’s single savvy police officer, a one-eyed female cop, gets called in. The second tale is set aboard a prison spaceship bound for exile in a distant solar system; the all-nubile, all-female (of course) prisoners riot against the clone guards and their sadistic warden in a bloody breakout. It’s all just about as violent, outrageous, and in-your-face as you’d expect from the title—which also makes it a adrenaline-filled thrill ride, packed with explosions, intestines, and drily witty quips. Mature content. (Aug.)