The Pigwitch Horror

Uncle Ernie's HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope everyone has a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Capt. Pepper Jack: 029

Henry Hawk in the Pumpkin Patch

From Bugs Bunny's Halloween Trick "n" Treat #4, 1956

Mummy Pigs-in- a- Blanket

To keep with the Hog Wild Halloween theme, here is a recipe I came across for Mummy Pigs-in-a Blanket. I have seen another version that uses black peppercorns for eyes. You should be able to find something that looks spooky.

Pork-O-Lantern

I smell Bacon!

JasHAM

The Lonesome Pumpkin

From Bugs Bunny's Halloween Trick 'n' Treat #4

, 1956

A Monstar is Reborn

"We Dare you to read this!" is what Cracked stated on it's cover. The magazine was a poor attempt at copy the more successful Mad Magazine. Cracked did have some nice art by the old Mad artist John Severin; but the writing in the magazine formatted comic was never very good. The writer listed for this story is George Gladir. I know his name from Archie Comic's Madhouse; and I can feel that same "just missed the mark" humor -- but still fun!




Cracked Collector's Edition: Monster House Gallery, 1979.

© Major Magazines

Dr. Cracklin and Mr. Hide

Curse of HAMenhotep's Mummy

Brined, smoke cured and buried in the ancient shifting sands, HAMENHOTEP has been awakened to search for the mysterious magic tea of the Golden Delicious. One sip is enough to keep Dr. Zombie away and allow the Ruler of the Swine to sleep for another 5000 years..

Capt. Pepper Jack: 028

Boris Karloff Tales of Mysters, #57

Comic books are primarily a visual medium. The writing is very, very important and when the words and pictures work well together, you have something special; but it's those pictures that move the stories along. This is from Golden Key, Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #57, from October 1974. It has a bit of an odd concept for a comic book. You really never see the monster. The strongest aspect of a comic book is not used. It is an interesting experiment; but I don't think it is all that successful.

An irritant in this story for me is that Fred, the man the monster seems to be harassing, talks to himself. An advantage that the comics medium has over movies, or television, or theater, is the use of thought balloons. You can read what someone is thinking as well as see their actions. In the panel to the right, he may be thinking something like that; but what he might say would be more like, "What the… who's there?"

Bugs Bunny's Halloween Trick 'N' Treat, #4, 1956

The last Bugs Bunny Halloween special I have is from 1956. I really love these painted covers with the characters. We have all watched the animated cartoons and are familiar with the flat cel coloring style used in them; so, paintings with full shading gave a very unique feel to the characters, especially back in the pre- personal-computer days of the 1950's.

Report of Yeti Footprints

Tikikris has directed me to a news story about a team of Japanese adventurers, who are saying they have found footprints of the elusive Yeti, while on an expedition in Napal to search for the creature. Here we go again? Should we send Woody Woodpecker to investigate this mystery?

Here is another link. This one is to a YouTube video of another report about Yeti tracks being discovered, from back in December 2007.

Bugs Bunny's Halloween Trick 'N' Treat Fun, #3, 1955

In 1955 the Bugs Bunny Halloween special from Dell looked a little different from the previous two specials. The numbering system continued from the previous year but the title of the comic was changed to Bugs Bunny's Trick 'n Treat Halloween Fun.

Bugs Bunny's Halloween Parade #2: 1954

Bugs Bunny and his friends continued to celebrate Halloween in this 1954 comic.

Bugs Bunny's Halloween Parade #1: 1953

I may be a bit prejudiced for thinking that the 1950's were a great time to be a kid at Halloween; and I am sure that everyone else thinks that their Halloweens as a child were just as great. Each year I hear that Halloween is only second to Christmas in retail sales; but it seems that there is less variety in special products available to celebrate this non-holiday than there were back in the 50's or 60's. You didn't have to go very far during October in the 50's to find special Halloween comics, TV shows, or decorations and knick-knacks. Now, those retails sales must come almost entirely from candy, costumes and beer alone.

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The Abominable Birdman

Here is a standard, but fun, story formula of Woody searching for a mysterious snow-creature. It is from Dell Comics, Woody Woodpecker, #55, 1959.

Something that is very different, from Disney Comics, in Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker comic book adventures is that Woody and his family, nephew and niece Knothead and Splinter, are often the only anthropomorphic animals in a world of humans. Walter Lantz told the story of the inspiration for Woody as being a woodpecker that was annoying him and his wife when they were on their honeymoon. If the story is true or not doesn't matter; but it does establish the woodpecker as being at odds with the world of human beings.




©1959 Walter Lantz Productions