Superman's Pal - part 7

Some pal.

Fun With Scissors - part 116

Underdog foe, Riff Raff was a bit tedious to collage, but ended up being one of my favorite pieces in this series.

Superman's Pal - part 6

Jimmy had realtionship woes as well, even the marriage variety as seen here.

What I love most is that these were issues #75 and #100, apparently no big deal when comics sold hundreds of thousands of copies per issue as they did then. Now, these issue numbers would be seen as milestone issues and would have some sort of gimmick attached to them, much like sweeps week on television; double the number of pages, special artists or some earth shattering plot development or new costume. Anything to try and boost sales.

Superman's Girl Friend - part 2

Marriage was one of the most popular subjects in "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane." Here's two covers dealing with that particular area. I've been questioning the validity of Superman's friendship with Jimmy Olsen based on their interactions on the covers of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen," but Batman looks like he's one upped Jimmy on removing the "r" from friend on the second cover.

Superman's Pal - part 5

Jimmy takes to the wrestling ring and is able to make Superman cry "uncle!" How does he top beating DCs strongest Superhero 14 issues later? By defeating a couple of bargain basement costumed bad guys. Way to go, Jimmy!

Superman's Pal - part 4

This time around, Jimmy gets to dish back the callous treatment to Superman, hardly acting as his pal.

Continuing the trash theme of this post, and the transformation theme of the previous Jimmy Olsen post, once again, Superman is helpless to restore poor Jimmy.

Superman's Girl Friend - part 1

"Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane" ranks right up there with Jimmy Olsen on my all time favorites list. It had just as many wacky premises and covers as "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" did. Unfortunately, I have only a handful of my Lois Lane comics on hand, with the majority being in storage 800 miles away, making it a bit difficult to retrieve at the moment. Sadly the issues I do have on hand have pretty mundane covers compared to what I've been posting on Jimmy's behalf.

Here's 2 to start with.

Superman's Pal - part 3

This is why Jimmy could never have his own monthly series now. The current Jimmy Olsen doesn't have any romantic entanglements and the biggest calamities that he ever seems to face is being yelled at by either Perry White or Lois Lane, and having his camera smashed.

You call those problems? Look at these troubles.

Not only does Jimmy have to suffer through all manner of physical transformation, but an insensitive Superman as well. Some pal!

My favorite is that for dramatic tension on the cover of issue #65, do we have a life in jeapordy? A secret revealed? No! One of Jimmy's quills has accidentally knocked off Lucy Lane's hat. No wonder people bought this issue.

Superman's Pal - part 2

One of the things I love best about the covers to "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" are the premises which were depicted to hook a potential reader into buying the comic. Covers, and premises, like these would be unthinkable now. I love to imagine some kid in a drug store wondering "How DOES Jimmy Olsen cut Superman's hair of steel?" and immediately rushing to the cash register to buy it and find out.

Nowadays, Superman is so busy, he barely has time to eat an entire meal with his wife, let alone don a chefs hat and cook for an eating contest. What I wouldn't give to write a comic book series like this now.

Superman's Pal - part 1

One of my favorite comic books of all time is "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen." Yes it was silly, but it was also pretty inventive too> I only wish comics published now were this much fun. The best part of this series for me, were the covers. Sadly, I do not have all of my Jimmy Olsen comics available at this time. Many are still in storage. Starting today, I'll post a couple (and some "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane" covers as well) each day, until I run out.

Today: two of my favorites; issue #79 and issue #88.

Dead High Yearbook Available Now

Apparently "Dead High Yearbook" is available now in book stores. I couldn't tell you when it came out. Last week I think. I haven't seen a copy yet, so I couldn't even tell you who did the art for the story I contributed to it. All I know is that one of the stories was written by me and it involves some unhealthy diet supplements.

If any one has seen this book, or has it, and wants to provide me with more details, I'd appreciate it.

Fun With Scissors - part 115

This week's chawactuh is one I've been wanting to get to fowuh some time, the one, the ownwee, Elmer Fudd.

Mystery Solved!

Scooby-Doo #118, available in stores now, DOES in fact contain a story I wrote. It is one of my regular "Velma's Monsters of the World" features in which Velma imparts on the reader information about various monsters from folklore and myths in cultures from across the globe. This month's shape altering monster may be one of the most disturbing entities to appear in Scooby-Doo, as evidenced in this suitably creepy panel detail by Robert Poe and Scott McCrae. It gets worse. Don't believe me? Then, what are you waiting for, get to your nearest comic book store now!

Freddie Francis 1917-2007

Freddie Francis (smiling on the left) directed a lot of movies of varying quality, many of them horror movies. For every subpar film such as "Trog" (1970), there were more gems such as "The Evil of Frankenstein" (1964), "The Skull" (1965) and "Tales From the Crypt" (1972).

He was a an even more accomplished cinematographer nominated, and winning many international film awards for his work including two Academy Awards, most recently for "Glory" (1989). He also provided the cinematography for "The Innocents" (1961), Scorcese's "Cape Fear" remake, three of David Lynch's movies including "The Straight Story" (1999) and one of my favorite movies of all time "The Elephant Man" (1980).

His name was one of the first non-actor names I recognized as a kid, usually in garish hammer lettering or on an Amicus anthology movie. Either way, I knew I was in for a good time. Thanks, Freddie!

Spring Is Here!

...not that it feels like it yet.

Another Mystery to Solve

According to the DC website, Scooby-Doo #118 contains a story I wrote. Since I've not received copies of this issue yet, I cannot confirm this. The fact that copies of this issue have not reached me, leads me to suspect I'm not in there.

If any one happens into a comic book story and wants to check for me, I'll made them an honorary member of Mystery, Inc.

I'll post an update once I know one way or another.

Fun With Scissors - part 114

This one was meant to be included in my month long Halloween celebration last October, but scanner mishaps eliminated inclusion of any monster characters that month. I was going to save it for next October, but with the release of the complete "Milton the Monster Show" to DVD this week, I thought I'd throw up the show's star, Milton, himself.

White Zombie

I found this collage of Bela Lugosi as Murder Legendre in "White Zombie" in a box of stuff. I'd completely forgotten about it. I did this collage about three years ago, and didn't quite finish it. It was in pretty abysmal condition when I found it. I cut everything away from the original blackground and attached the pieces to a new sheet of black paper. The blend between the hair and the black isn't as seemless as it was with the original sheet, but an attempt at restoration seemed to be more worthwhile than simply throwing it into the recycling. I'll probably play with it a little more at some point, or simply redo it from scratch.

Fun With Scissors - part 113

Straight from the Lost Valley and costarring with Space Ghost it's Dinoboy and his trusty pal, Bronty.

Illustration Friday - "Hide"

It's been a long time since I participated in Illustration Friday. A busy schedule and two and a half months without a scanner has kept me away. Here's a quick collage I whipped together this morning to illustrate "Hide."

Fun With Scissors - part 112

Here's Floral Rugg of "The Hillbilly Bears."

Fun With Scissors - part 111

Alfy Gator was a parody of Alfred Hitchcock and one of a few characters out to try and eat Yakky Doodle.

The Ice-Cream Cone Coot

One of my favorite children's books from when I was a kid, and one I still love now is "The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds" by Arnold Lobel. This book describes in verse and artwork that has a mysterious quality to it, a variety of birds which are made up of common household items, such as umbrellas, cameras, brooms, and money such as the dollar bill dodo.




Beneath Arnold Lobel's original Dollar Bill Dodo is my own recent reinterpretation.

This book clearly had a major effect on me as my comics are often populated by scissor-headed birds and assassins, as well as beings with wasps nests and flower pots for heads, factory smokestacks for spines, etc., often with atrocious puns for names.



Last Fall, I came across "Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant" by Jack Prelutsky and with gorgeous collage art by Carin Berger. This book immediately reminded me of "The Ice-Cream Cone Coot." It's filled with fanciful creatures made out of common household items, often with terrible puns for names.

"The Ice-Cream Cone Coot" is sadly out of print, though shouldn't be too hard to track down, if you are so inclined. I recommend both books.

Fun With Scissors - part 110

Lippy the Lion's sidekick, Hardy Har Har.

Happy Accident

When I scanned this collage, the scanner light reflected off minor wrinkles in the trees. At first I was annoyed and was going to give it another try, but then I decided I liked the effect. It looks like mist is rising out of the woods in the middle ground.

Fun With Scissors - part 109

The last time I posted an entry in the "Fun With Scissors" category was back in October. Then my scanner kicked the bucket, I got busy, etc., and that was the end of it...until now.

For anyone coming here for the first time, this category was originally created as a quick collaging exercise meant as a brief diversion from an involved project I was involved in about a year ago. For this exercise I chose to depict various classic cartoon characters in collage form. I chose them in part for my fondness of them, but also because I could render one in about an hour. I initially was doing this at the rate of one a day, but the schedule was too diifficult to maintain, so I took a break then scaled back my schedule to once per week, until scanner trouble ensued.

I actually managed to do a few others I'd intended to post during my month long Halloween posts, but have decided to save them for next October. In the meantime here's the annoying shark, Jabberjaw.

I'm going to do my best to maintain a weekly schedule from here on in, but expect there will be periodic gaps.

Early, Early, Robot Comic

This is the second oldest work of mine in my possession. It's my oldest attempt at creating a comic book that I am aware of. This was done sometime during second grade. Both the art and writing a crude to be blunt. This must have been part of some larger scenario since one of the characters has the inexplicable ability to transform himself into various animal forms. I can't discern any obvious influences on the story or art.

I don't know what happened in the black hole, or whether that story was ever written and drawn, though I do remember doing other episodes of this comic without a title. Sadly, or fortunately, those efforts are most likely gone forever.

What's most interesting about this comic strip is how it compares to one that my son did a few months ago, without him seeing this strip of mine until I noticed the uncanny resemblence. Dash is about 1 1/2 - 2 years younger than I was at the time I drew mine.

The Rondo Awards

The nominees for the Fifth Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror awards,have been revealed. The Rondo, named after, and sculpted in the likeness of actor Rondo Hatton, recognizes the best in monster research, creativity and appreciation.

The nominees cover a wide range of categories celebrating the continued appreciation, and scholarship of classic horror films. Every year, it is difficult to choose merely one nominee in each category as being the best for that year. This year is, I think, the most difficult year of all, as the nominees are all top choices.

If you're interested in voting, or simply seeing who the nominees are, stop by the official site linked above. Voting ends March 10, 2007.

Update

I hope everyone had a terrific National Gorilla Suit Day yesterday.

I apologize for the lack of content of late. I've been so busy that this is the first time I've even turned on my computer in about a week. I plan to have some new/fun/insightful/interesting material up within the next week, so stay tuned.

In Stores Today

SCOOBY-DOO #116 is available in comic book stores today. It contains a very short informative story I wrote about a bit of japanese folklore known as Tsukumogami, or "haunted utensils."

Fun For You

I just noticed that 3 out of the past 7 posts were obituaries. Not to diminish the passing of any of the individuals mentioned (which was done because they are all significant to me) I thought it might be time to offer up some fun distractions.

Digital Funnies beautifully archives early forgotten comic strips.

Omni Monster features gorgeously photographed images of beautiful Japanese vinyl kaiju which I wish I possessed, such as Ikarus from "Ultra 7" shown above.

Steven Hill has amassed a tremendous collection of screenshots of movie title screens.

An evolving look at how all of the Disney theme parks have changed over the years can be seen through the collection of park maps found at mousemaps.

Finally, Todd Kauffman finds worthy inspiration in H.R. Pufnstuf and creates beautiful art celebrating this wonderful tv show.

Yvonne DeCarlo (1922-2007)

Babydoll

I'm still without a scanner (if anyone has any recommendations on what I should buy, please advise me), so I haven't posted much of my own stuff in a while.

Here's a preliminary sketch I did a few years back for the character "Babydoll" for "Midnight, Mass. -- Here There Be Monsters" Obviously, she didn't have a speaking part, but she was one of the good-guys.

Iwao Takamoto (1925-2007)

Today, the world lost one of the great contibutors to animation. Iwao Takamoto began his career at Disney and is best known for the work he did for Hanna-Barbera where he designed, or had a hand in the design, of most of their characters beginning with their second wave. Among his creations; The cast of Scooby-Doo, The Impossibles, Penelope Pitstop, Speedbuggy, The Hillbilly Bears, Captain Caveman, Dastardly and Muttley, and Astro on "The Jetsons."

Cartoon Brew reprints Amid Amidi's informative 1999 interview with Iwao Takomoto from CARTOON BLAST #3.

Happy New Year!

If you haven't picked up a calendar for 2007, here's a cool, free dowloadable one courtesy of the Website at the End of the Universe featuring vintage science fiction art of impractically clad space babes, and filled with the birth dates of various science fiction authors, artists and editors. They still have calendars for the past few years to download as well.