The story, titled "Man of a Thousand Monsters" is about the slow death of practical make-up effects in favor of, usually, less effective CGI effects. The story is set at the Hanna-Barbera Studios, which I've treated in the past, and continue to do so here, as a physical live action studio like Warner Brothers or Universal Studios, and where their stable of cartoons were all live-action tv series and feature films.
The prop department, as seen below in the panel with fantastic artwork by story illustrator, Robert Pope, is a treasure trove of thinly disguised Hanna-Barbera props. There's the robot spider and jet from "Jonny Quest" one of the motorcycles from "Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch," "Speed Buggy," "Frankenstein Jr.," anvils, tnt, mousetraps, picnic baskets from "Yogi Bear," the Grape Ape's costume, Touché Turtle's sword, the guitar used by Quick Draw McGraw in his El Kabong disguise, Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har's balloon, Dick Dastardly's car, Rosie the Robot from "The Jetsons," and my favorite "Wally Gator." There's also a couple of items that look like they came from a certain superhero's cave. There's more on subsequent pages too.
Along with a "King Kong" reference, there are a number of classic, and contemporary horror references as well. Three make-up artists appear in the story. Recurring character, Time Sevine (named after Tom Savini), Jacques Pierce (named after classic Universal make-up artist Jack Pierce) and Rick Broiler (named after make-up legend Rick Baker). There's also an appearance by contemporary monster suit actor Doug Jones (here as Doug Bones).
Again this issue is available on June 10th. You can still let your local comic book retailer know that you'd like an issue put aside for you.
John: I'm in! I love Hanna-Barbera and can't wait for the issue. I'll be on the lookout on my Internet comic source.
ReplyDeleteTo reiterate: drawing that story from your swingin' script was, as Francis Albert would say, a mothery gas from the beginning to the end.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait. It's not often this area is covered in comic books. I'll keep an eye out for it!
ReplyDeleteAww... I will definitely be picking this one up. That actually means a lot to me, thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteIs that also the chest of demons from "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo" I spy? o_O
Hi John, greetings from Shaggy's biggest fan. I'm really looking forward to this story as I look forward to all your Scooby tales since you are the very best (well, next to Joe Staton, but he's only cowritten one story albeit my favorite). In case you don't keep track of such trivia, this will be your 98th Scooby Story and you will have had 677 pages (and of course a cover) published when this 12-pager comes out (reprints don't count). I'm happy to have 131 original comic pages from your Scooby stories in my collection, though only 8 with your words on them, the rest are post Scooby #38. Oh yeah, Robert Pope Rules!------JimH
ReplyDeleteWow, this will be great! I'll be sure to pick up a copy.
ReplyDeleteJim, I'm either impressed, or alarmed by your vast knowledge and statistics on my work. I knew I was close to 100 stories in print, but haven't been keeping close track. Thanks for the info. I passed it on to my editor. Maybe they'll bake me a cake.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone else: Thank you.
Stop the presses! The mayor of Neato Coolville has been found!
I totally agree that CGI is often less effective. It was one of many reasons why the new Star Wars movies disappointed.
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