Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 2h

243. A Highland Song. This game is lovely. You play Moira, a girl trying to cross the Scottish Highlands to reach the sea. There’s a time limit, and multiple paths to take, plus occasional rhythm sections where you run with a deer. It looks beautiful, and sounds great. I love it. #365games

Cover art for A Highland Song, showing Moira running through the Highlands, a trail of musical notes behind her.

A screenshot from a rhythm section in the game. Moira runs after a deer up a hill.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 6h

Suffice to say, it’s one of my favourite pieces of art to feature Dracula, as it feels truly unique. And with a character as well used as Dracula, that feels like something special.

Have you read Dracula Morherf**ker?

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 6h

before moving to Los Angeles in the mid-twentieth, where the stake is removed. Quincy Harker, a crime photographer, is the only witness to the event. And Dracula’s brides are also there.

I don’t want to spoil this one, as I highly recommend everyone read it.

A page from the comic of Dracula hypnotising a victim.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 6h

I’ve used the word gonzo before to describe how Dracula is presented in this comic, and it still feels like the most apt word.

The story starts with Dracula’s brides nailing him to the bottom of his coffin in the late nineteenth century,

The brides attack Dracula in a splash page from the comic.

A sequence of the Brides nailing Dracula into his coffin.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 6h

#31DaysOfDracula Day 16 - Dracula Motherf**ker

I love this comic. It’s ridiculous, in the best way. Written by Alex de Campi, and illustrated by Erica Henderson, it presents a seventies grindhouse take on the Dracula myth, with a unique take on the Count himself.

Cover art for Dracula Motherf**cker, featuring a montage of characters from the comic around a crucifix.

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Reposted by PJ Montgomery

Madeley @madeley.bsky.social · 9h

If you're a Labour, Green or Lib Dem voter in Caerffili it's morally incumbent on you to vote Plaid. That's the long and the short of it. We're out of excuses or arguments now, either we stand up to fascism or we give in.

Dr Adam Evans @a-b-evans.bsky.social · 11h

A… remarkable @survation.bsky.social poll out today of voting intentions in Caerphilly ahead of next week’s Senedd by-election

Reform 42%
Plaid 38%
Labour 12%
Conservatives 4%
Greens 3%
LibDem 1%
#senedd #devolution

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 21h

Weirdly, I’ve been thinking this myself recently. I’m currently reading the Labyrinth novelisation to my son, and it’s great! And utterly bizarre in places, in completely unexpected ways. It’s made me remember how much I used to love a novelisation.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

242. California Games. Specifically the Master System version. I haven’t played this for a long time, although I think I own a version on the Evercade. But it was great fun as a kid. Different events mean different buttons to press. A precursor to Mario Party? Sort of. I guess. #365games

Cover art for California Games, showing a bunch of people dressed for the beach. Not their heads, of course.

A screenshot from the game of the hackysack event.

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Reposted by PJ Montgomery

Jon Lock @jonlock.com · 1d

Tiny Hercules has been selected by @waterstoneskids.bsky.social to be a part of their 25% off pre-order autumn promotion! We're in great company!

⚡ Offer runs until 23.59 on Friday 17 October
⚡ Enter “OCTOBER25” at checkout to receive 25% off RRP

Pre-order now:
www.waterstones.com/book/tiny-he...

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

Have you read Red Rain? What do you think of its take on Dracula?

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

But Dracula himself wouldn’t return for them, only appearing in Red Rain.

DC have also revisited the universe of Vampire Batman several times in other comics, and while it has been fun to do so sometimes, it’s never recaptured the magic of Moench and Jones’s original trilogy.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

Red Rain had two sequels, Bloodstorm and Crimson Mist, which examined the consequences for Batman and his friends and enemies of the Caped Crusader becoming a vampire. They are also from the same team, and are both excellent, filled with their own tragedy and pathos.

Cover art for Bloodstorm, showing Batman, as a vampire, crouched on a tree branch, as bats fly passed.

Cover art for Crimson Mist, showing Batman as a vampire haunting a graveyard.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

He’s less the Prince of Darkness, and more evil dude in a trenchcoat. But he still feels dangerous, beyond the usual rogues Batman faces. He’s still Dracula enough to warrant equal billing with the Dark Knight.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

Because it’s an Elseworlds book, Batman can die. Or undie, as it may be, and that lends the book a weight that it wouldn’t have otherwise, even before the powerful denouement.

Dracula himself is a little more low key in this book than we might be used to.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

Honestly, it’s one of my favourite books by either creator. Jones’s Batman is one of those where his ears are crazy long, and his cape defies the laws of physics, but who cares when it looks this good? He and Moench perfectly balance the tragedy of the story as well.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

he ends the story as a vampire himself.

The book is great. Written by Doug Moench, who had already done some great Batman stories in Detective Comics, and drawn by Kelley Jones, who would go on to draw a lot more Batman after this, the book has a dark, gothic feel in keeping with the theme.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

Batman begins investigating a rash of murders, mostly of homeless people, only to find that the killer is Count Dracula, who is creating an army of vampires. But Batman isn’t strong enough to defeat Dracula without paying a huge price, and (spoiler warning here),

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, and Superman: Red Son are two brilliant comics that use their premise to the full. And then there’s Red Rain, the Elseworlds comic which DC just keeps coming back to.

The premise is fairly simple.

The cover for Gotham by Gaslight, showing a noir Batman brooding over a Steampunk, Victorian Gotham.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

#31DaysOfDracula Day 15 - Batman & Dracula: Red Rain

DC Comics Elseworlds imprint can be a real mixed bag. Essentially stories set outside the main DC continuity, pretty much anything can happen in them. And often does. While there are many duds in the line, there are also some absolute classics.

The cover for Red Rain, showing Batman clawing his way out of a grave.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 1d

I have had this Drew Struzan poster for The Empire Strikes Back in a frame on my wall for years now. One of my favourites. RIP to a master.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 2d

Ah, fuck. I failed my English A-level. I guess I’m not allowed a job. Wish someone had told me before I applied for 200 of them.

The Independent @the-independent.com · 2d

Migrants will need A-level standard English to work in UK

www.independent.co.uk

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 2d

241. Final Fight. I came to this one late (I was a Streets of Rage kid). In fact, my first encounters with the Final Fight characters were in the Street Fighter Alpha series. But I am glad I have now played Final Fight, as it really is one of the best scrolling beat-em-ups going. #365games

Cover art for Final Fight, showing Cody stood next to a thug on the ground, while another approaches him. Behind him, Guy is doing a spin kick into some others.

A screenshot from Final Fight. Cody and Guy are stood to the right, waiting for some bad guys who are walking towards them. Cody has a knife.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 2d

If I want to play a Dracula video game, more often than not, I’ll go with a Castlevania. But if I’m after something that sticks a little closer to the novel? This is where I go.

What’s your favourite Dracula themed video game? Oh, it’s Castlevania? Yeah, okay, that’s fair.

My copy of Atari Lynx Collection 1 for the Evercade, which includes Dracula the Undead.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 2d

It’s all suitably atmospheric, and captures the tone of the novel nicely.

That said, the Atari Lynx wasn’t really designed for point and click games, and the controls can be frustratingly clunky at times. But still, as an attempt to adapt the novel to the video game medium, I admire this attempt.

A screenshot from the game, of Harker and Dracula by a dining room table.

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PJ Montgomery @pjmontgomery.bsky.social · 2d

The player has to guide Jonathan Harker through his escape from Castle Dracula. The game looks lovely, with a sepia tone and occasional splashes of colour (on the Evercade, stick with handheld mode. It loses something when blown up onto your television).

A screenshot from the game, of Harker investigating Dracula’s coffin.

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