Halloween Leftovers

Jolly jaundiced jack-o-lanterns

November 1st just doesn't have the same ring of anticipation as October 1st did, but it is The Day of the Dead.

Happy Halloween 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Mad Science

If you had a productive pumpkin patch this year, automating the carving process for all your Jack-O-Lanterns would be a great help.

I wonder, do you think scenes like this are taking place in the cold damp basements of all the haunted house around town?

Halloween Haunted House

Last month I was doodling as I was talking on the phone and came up with a rough image of a haunted house. I decided to ink the sketch, scan, and color it using Photoshop.

It would be great if we all had a cool haunted house to visit on Halloween night.

Halloween Fruit Crate Label

Old fruit crate labels can have some of my favorite combinations of art and design. There is another earlier version of this label that does not have a zip code.

Draw Me; Horrors of it All

If you have never checked out The Horrors of It All, the Halloween season would be a great time to click on over there.

They are having a little contest based on the old "Draw Me" ads we must have all seen at one time in comic books. There are some clever pieces there and you get to vote for your favorite. Of course, I wouldn't mind if you voted for my Cyclops Beauty; but you may find one of the other drawings raises the hair on the back of your neck.

You will definitely find some creepy old stories from the comic books of the past.

Professor Gizmo; Ruff and Reddy

Ruff and Reddy was the first Hanna-Barbera cartoon made for Saturday mornings. The episodes that I remember from the late 50's and early 60's featured MUNI MULA or the CHICKASAURUS. I have never seen any Ruff and Reddy comics that had either of those two episodes in comic book form, but here is a story with Professor Gizmo, Ruff and Reddy's adsent-minded mad scientist friend.

The Mad Doctor: Mickey Mouse

Captive Wild Woman, 1943

What is the difference between a mad scientist and a mad doctor?

Capt. Pepper Jack: 077

Metropolis: Mad Scientist

In this nice sepia tinted image, here is a slick modern mad scientist, C.A. Rotwang, from Fritz Lang's 1927 German Expressionism silent film Metropolis.

The upside down star is often said to be a satanic symbol. I wonder what it's prominent placement here was meant to express.

The logo for the Republican National Committee also uses this star shape. It has been written that the star is only tipped to the right, standing on one leg. If that was the intent, the star could be tipped either to the left or the right.

Roberto Campus; Mad Scientist Tutorial

The image we have of a typical mad scientist has been set in out minds by popular culture. The original 1931 film Frankenstein seems to be the origin of what we think a mad scientist in a buzzing, popping, bubbling laboratory should look like.

This image is by Roberto Campus. I ran across it as I was looking for images of mad scientists. He has written a little step-by-step tutorial about how he went about creating this art.

George Tuska (April 26, 1916 – October 15, 2009)

I did not realize that George Tuska was 93 years old. It was in the 1960's when I first became aware of his comics, with his work for Marvel. He had been around and drawing comic for sixty plus years and it seems he retires in the early 2000's. Click on the image of the Headless Horseman to read a comic pencilled by Tuska and inked by Jack Abel from 1973.

Paper Craft Skull

If you need some skull decorations for an upcoming Halloween Party, here is a link to Skull A Day where you can download a pdf pattern to make this paper skull.

The Inside Man

1954's The Inside Man is from Chamber of Chills #21.