Learn about the best on vampires and which ones to hold up a crucifix to . Bif Bam Pow Wow Episode “Vampires” Tom: From Count Dracula to count Chocula, vampire myths have haunted popular culture for centuries and today I m going to give o one more good reason to be afraid of the dark. Well hello my friends and welcome, or shall I say velcome? It is another exciting installment of Bif Bam Pow Wow. Now like Braham stokers Dracula I like to sleep all day and play all night, that’s basically where the similarities and, with the blood drinking and the screaming and the running. Anyway I am Tom your congenial guide on the journey through pop and geek culture. Now not since Nosferatu has there been a vampire story this awesome, and I am talking about thirty days of night. It is a comic horror mini series that was a breakout success for writer Steve Niles. And of course is soon to be a major motion picture. Thirty days of night is set in the small Alaska town called Barrow. Way up north there in the arctic circle, where they are plunged into complete darkness for almost thirty days during the winter. It is the perfect place for sun hating vampire to ply his trade you might ay. Soon Vampires are flocking there like old people to Fort Lauderdale. A veritable feeding frenzy ensues and a few remaining towns’ folk have to fend them off in increasingly creative ways until the sun once again rises. It is powerful stuff, and this series has almost single handedly revived the horror genre. And I am here to tell you, you have got to read this before the movie comes out. Oh and then you a go get dark days which is the sequel to thirty days of night. Now grab the garlic cloves and turn the lights on because I have got more vampire favorite coming right up. In Toms picks and pans. Alright ladies and gentleman, here we go. I have already mentioned thirty days of night, and I can’t say enough good this about this book. But I won’t go on any further, just do yourself a favor, and pick it up, great horror. Also by the same writer Steve Niles, he has go a little character he created by the name of Cal McDonald. Who I completely love. He is a hard drinking, hard drug doing, pill popping monster hunter and he is awesome. This is actually a novel called dial M for monster. And I high recommend checking this out. But we have some other comics as well. Now one of the best monster hunters of all time is Hellboy. Mike Mignola created Hellboy in 1993, this is a fantastic book. Definitely check it out. Now maybe you are thinking oh Hellboy has been around for awhile. I don’t know if I could actually get into it, maybe I can t find it. Seed of destruction, volume on Hellboy, read it, buy it. Mignolas artwork is awesome; his writing is awesome, funny kick ass. You must buy. Now all you Joss Whedon fans, I know you are out there. You are out there chomping at the bit for moiré Buffy. Well now you got it, Joss Whedon ended season seven of Buffy in television. And now season eight is right here in comic book form. Here it is, you can buy it, it is coming out, come pick it up. And sooner or later I am sure it will be collected in a trade paperback or something like that. but for no you can get it in individual issues. Very enjoyable for all the Buffy fans. I also recommend a Joss Whedon book called Fray, which you might not know about. It is about a slayer set way in the future. Kind of cool, you might dig it. Now ladies and gentleman, Bruce Campbell, evil dead 2. Fantastic I have to recommend the sequel, Army of Darkness. Very good stuff. Hilarious, low budget, fantastic. Good monster killing right here. Now for the back issue of the week. I mentioned Hellboy earlier. Hellboy first appeared in the San Diego comicon comics issue number 2 very obscure. So that’s the first appearance of Hellboy. Right now it only goes for about twenty or thirty bucks if you can find it. But it is the first appearance of Hellboy people, it I going to be an investment, I think. Last but not least, the bottom of the barrel. Marvel has tried to bring back, blade. This I not Wesley Snipes, this is lame, this I painful. It is so not good. Don’t spend your comic dollar on blade. It was really brutal, marvel tried and they failed. I apologize Marvel; you go other good stuff but this no dice. Now sit tight, because I got a real cool treat for you. I sent my friend Mary out into the world to have an actual interview with a vampire. Well a vampire enthusiast at least. She was kind enough to let us into her layer o help us dispel some of these common vampire myths. Mary: Thanks Tom you know I am so thrilled to be acting out scenes from one of m favorite movies of all time, interview with a vampire. You mean I am interviewing a vampire, you got to be kidding me. Q: What ever is a psychic vampire? Alex Savage: Basically what a psychic vampire is, is we are people that basically don’t produce our own energy levels, so we need to borrow those from other people, consensually. But there are some feeders who do drink blood and they take their life force out of the bold. I actually used to be one of those. Mary: What are some of your favorite vampire books? I know you mentioned Anne rice. Alex Savage: Of course she is kind of the goddess of all things vampire. Um ,or the ethical psychic vampire by Raven Kaldera, which will teach you a little bit about what it is and the differentiation between people who are really psi vamps or sanguid vamps. And people who are kind of just like saddlers, kind of going along with the pop culture flow. Mary: I got to know as far as movies, because I am a movie geek. What’s your favorite Vampire movie? Alex Savage: I have a few, I have to round them off, and of course interview with a vampire is one o my favorites. Because it was beautifully shot. And you know lots of good looking men playing the right characters. Uh, the hunger, classic. And near dark. Mary: So I got to ask you Christopher lee, or Tom cruise what’s your favorite vamp on screen? Alex Savage: Um, Tom Cruise I thought did a really great job but actually. Io like Stuart Townsend. Mary: Do you really? Q: Are there any vampire balls or conventions? Alex Savage: There is vampire Lestat ball that goes on every Halloween season in New Orleans and then there is also endless nigh which is a psi vamp sort of fetish ball that goes on in New York. You can go thee to VampireLestatfanclub.com and get all the information about the party, the ball. You know what to wear, where to go, what to check out. What stores you can go to there, to find clothing and accessories. Hey have tons of them there. Tom: Awesome, special thanks go out to my friend Mary from DVD geeks, who haven’t been seen since. Jesus I go to go. Well I am going to leave you today with the Adams family credo; we gladly feast on those who would subdue us. Until next time baby.