Publisher:  Asylum Press

   Disgusting, tasteless, repugnant..."Satan's 3 Ring Circus of Hell" is all of this. It's also pretty damn funny and a riot to read. The book is the brainchild of writer Robert Steven Rhine and a whole host of talented artists such as Tim Vigil, Steven Bisette, Frank Dietz, Hilary Barta, Jeff Gaither, and many more. This is a collection of horror and horrific stories and one page illustrations. At first glance one may think they are inspired by old Warren Mags like Creepy, but the level of gore hints at perhaps being inspired more by Eerie Publications magazines like Horror Tales and Tales from the Tomb, not to mention modern day splatter films.

   Right out of the chute the book pounds the reader with morbid ferocity and oodles of slimy, sticky gore, but often infused with a dark sense of humor. "Separation Anxiety" with art by Frank Forte tells the story of the freak show sisters of Satan, a pair of conjoined twins, one a beautiful woman, the other a small, goblin-like beast. Their affair with the tattooed man goes awry when he wants to separate the pair.

   "Bone Soup" was a favorite of mine with gorgeous art by Joe Vigil. Set sometime in old Eastern Europe during a great famine, a mysterious visitor to an inn decides to cook up bone soup. But he needs to acquire all the ingredients first: Bones, tongue, liver, heart...

   A truly ghastly story of revenge is "The Roast" as hundreds of victims of botched cosmetic surgeries get their just revenge on the doctor who disfigured them, turning this tribute into a true roast!

   "The Haunted Hood" is an outrageous story of the Braddock Downs Housing Projects filled with Hos, pushers, pimps, gangstas...and things much worse. It's a wonderful slapstick horror farce. "Fungus Among Us" with art by Nenad Gucunja is another favorite about a little boy who is unwilling to part with his foul, odorous sneakers that he used to score the winning goal in a soccer championship game. His mother learns the hard way that she should never throw her son's stuff out!

   In addition to the stories there are some hysterical parodies of old comic book ads such as for the box of mini-plastic soldiers, Sea Monkeys, etc, and there's even a little bit of anti-Bush humor tossed in for good measure.

   It's a wildly ghoulish ride from beginning to end and I highly recommend it for horror fans.

 - Tim Janson

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