Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm
Directed by Eric Radomski, Bruce W. Timm
Written by Alan Burnett, Martin Pasko, Michael Reaves, Paul Dini
Voiced by Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Dana Delany, Stacy Keach
1993

When Miss Andrea Beaumont returns to Gotham City after a ten-year absence, it throws Bruce Wayne’s world into upheaval. Bruce and Andrea were romantically involved just as Bruce was beginning his trial runs as a vigilante, and her presence brings back a flood of memories — both about the love that he lost and his earliest crime fighting adventures before he became the caped crusader. Bruce’s troubles become twofold, when a new masked entity in the city begins knocking off gangsters, and Batman takes the wrap.

Things go from bad to worse when an elderly crime boss turns to desperate measures and hires the Joker to kill Batman before he is murdered. Now, Batman must try to solve the mystery of the ghostly Phantasm while preventing anymore deaths, and at the same time subdue the psychotic antics of the Joker, who has taken up residence in the abandoned Worlds Fair exhibit. Meanwhile, as boy billionaire, Bruce must reconcile his feelings for Andrea.

The Eye 3
Directed by Oxide and Danny Pang
Written by Oxide Pang, Danny Pang, Mark Wu
Produced by Peter Chan and Eric Tsang
Starring Chen Bo-Lin, Isabella Leong, Ray MacDonald, Kate Yeung, Gu Yu
Lionsgate Home Video
Release Date: June 24, 2008

When a group of friends from Hong Kong visit another friend, Chongkwai, in Thailand they are taken on a fun tour of Bangkok’s sights and sounds, but on their way back to Chongkwai’s house they see a person who had been killed by the side of the road. Morbidly fascinated by the death, the five friends begin to tell ghost stories, and that is when Chongkwai pulls out a book her purchased that goes through ten steps to actually see ghosts! The friends decide to try a few of the tricks out, and lo and behold, they are visited by ghosts from the Spirit World! Things take a turn for the worse, though, when one of their friends seemingly disappears during one of the ghost “games.”

Devastated by Gofei’s disappearance, the others return to Hong Kong, but the ghost games keep on going, and the horrified teens keep seeing spirits at every corner. Reluctantly, they return to Thailand where Chongkwai believes that they will have to go through all ten ghost games in order to make them stop. To the teens’ horror, the final game involves pretending to be dead in order to cross over to the Spirit World. Donned in funeral dressings, May and Tak boldly cross over to the other side, but what they discover will stay with them for the rest of their lives!

The Black Coat
52-page One-Shot
Heart of Ice/First Blood
Written by Ben Lichius
Pencils by Garbriel Hardman, Ben Lichius
Inks by Jeremy Colwell
Letters by Dave Rothe, Chris Studabaker
Colors by Joe Suitor
Covers by Jim Charalampidis, Garbriel Hardman, Ben Lichius
Ape Entertainment
Cover price: $6.95; Available July 2008

The tyranny of The Crown is getting evermore so bold as it levees taxes against its colonies and fights to keep the rebels and dissidents under control in the mid-1700s. This is seen no where more apparent than in the streets of New York City, where the redcoats marching in the streets remind the citizens on a daily basis that they are not free-living Englishmen, but children or even slaves to the King. But amongst these citizens is a group of spies and politicians who call themselves the Sons Of Liberty, who are dedicated to freedom for all and speak loudly against the grip of control the King has over them.

Among the Sons Of Liberty is a man known as The Black Coat, an especially daring and talented individual whose skills as a detective are as equally sharp as the blade on his sword and the tip of his quick-witted tongue. His adventures at the dawn of the Revolutionary War have already been chronicled in Ape Entertainment’s trade paperback A Call To Arms, and now here in this one-shot some of The Black Coat’s earliest adventures in the days following the French and Indian War are being brought to light.

The Eye (2008)
Directed by David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Written by Sebastian Gutierrez
Produced by Don Granger, Paula Wagner, Roy Lee
Starring Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey, Rade Serbedzija, Fernanda Romero
Lionsgate Home Video
Release Date: June 3, 2008

Sydney Wells, who has been blind since the age of five, is now an accomplished violinist and living a life of independence in Los Angeles. At the behest of her sister, Sydney agrees to undergo a cornea transplant which will restore her sight. With the surgery a success, Sydney begins to adapt to using her newly restored sense with the help of Dr. Paul Faulkner and his tough-love approach to therapy. But Sydney’s return the world of the seeing is not without its problems, as Sydney begins to have visions of people and places she swears are not real.

Although Paul is adamant that what she is going through is absolutely normal, and that what she is seeing is simply her new eyes trying process the information, Sydney is equally adamant that what she is seeing are the ghosts of the recently deceased and the black-garbed shadows that guide these ghosts to the spirit world. Sydney becomes obsessed with finding out who her eyes originally belonged to, and as her visions become more real and more frequent, she sets off with Paul into Mexico and discovers that the local residents of the donor’s town called her Bruja, which is Spanish for witch!

The Black Coat
A Call To Arms TPB
Created by Ben Lichius and Francesco Francavilla
Written by Ben Lichius, Adam Cogan
Illustrated by Francesco Francavilla
Inked by Jeremy Colwell
Letters by Chris Studabaker
Ape Entertainment
Cover price: $12.95; Available now

The year is 1775. War between the colonies and Britain is imminent and nowhere is this tension greater than in the streets of New York City, where the British forces conduct all their activities. In the shadows of the city work The Knights Of Liberty, an underground organization of spies and officials that are working toward the independence of the colonies. The mysterious organization is led by an even more mysterious man known only as The Black Coat.

With the return of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Knights’ most important members, from France, the organization is rejuvenated with their efforts to combat the injustices of the Crown. Among the British officers is General Savidge, who in an attempt to finally rid the streets of the rabblerousing Black Coat, joins forces with a secret society that means to keep a firm control over the colonies. Soon the Black Coat finds himself framed for a series of murders and the public turns against him, but he knows who is truly responsible for the murders — a hulking madman sewn back together half a dozen times that seemingly cannot be killed!