Dark Horse to get Creepy and Eerie

Here is some good news for fans of the old Warren comics Creepy and Eerie. It looks like Dark Horse will be involved in reissuing some of the old material and producing new stories also. Read their recent news release here.

Mad Monster Party

Mad Monster Party is one of those movies that I wish was better than it is. The pacing is just too slow and the jokes are not very good; but I'll watch it once a year just to see some funny monsters designed by Jack Davis.

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The Medieval Bestiary

A recent link over at Draw pointed to The Medieval Bestiary. It looks like a great place to spend some time with the images of besties from a Medieval point of view. Medieval artists often only had vague descriptions from travelers to draw an animal from. I don't think anyone today would identify this bird as an ostrich. It looks more like a cross between a hyena and a hawk. Maybe some of these images are complete fabrications. At the time these Medieval artists were drawing these images, many of these animals may have been thought of like we think of Bigfoot today.

The Host

Earlier in the year, I watched this film on a low quality video CD. I'm glad it will be coming out on DVD soon.

The Host is a film from Korea that has a great monster and a story that mixes humor and horror. Like many Korean movies, playing with emotional ups and down seems to be important. It is a good movie that makes you care about this quirky family and is absolutely worth a rental and a bowl of popcorn.

Trailer here.

Jack Kirby Cover

I ran across another Jack Kirby cover image on the Internet with a Frankenstein theme. The cover is from the 1970's DC comic book The Forever People # 9. I'm a bit surprised, but happy, at the number of times Kirby seemed to go to this gothic theme in his work during the 70's.

Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's Doctor Doom, in Marvel Comic's Fantastic Four books, is an example of a Kirby gothic theme from the 1960's. Whenever the plot line of the books took the Fantastic Four into Latveria, Doom's kingdom, the images were full of villagers with torches and stone castles - plus a healthy dose of Kirby's futuristic weaponry.

Cereal Killers

This looks like a definite book to check out when it is published. Take a look at the Cereal Killers blog for some more examples and news about the upcoming book.

Jimmy Olsen as "The Giant Turtle Boy!"

Is it just me or do you see some similarities between these two images? The pulp magazine cover is from 1940. The Jimmy Olsen comic is dated 1961.

Yes, it is obvious, the Jimmy Olsen cover was derived directly from the July 1940 Thrilling Wonder Stories.

The editor for the Superman group of comics at DC was Mort Weisinger until his retirement in 1970. He had been active in early science fiction fandom from the late 1920's. He also was involved with an early sci-fi fanzine, Time Traveller, with fellow future DC editor Julius Schwartz and Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J. Ackerman. I am guessing the idea for the cover came from Weisinger, who would have been very familiar with the pulp magazines, and not from the artist, Curt Swan. I prefer the less static pose in the original pulp cover to the more upright Jimmy Olsen figure.

Charles Addams Cartoon

It is, of course, not surprising that I love the cartoons of Charles Addams. This photo of an original piece of art is from Neil Gaiman's web site. This is one of the most disturbing Addams cartoons I have ever seen. It looks like, on this street, only men are allowed to be oddball individuals or is it saying that every man has the same dream for success and happiness. Like some other Addams cartoons, there may not be a definitive punch line. The situation is enough to tickle your brain.

Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats #7

Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats was one of my favorite comic books in the early 1960's. It had been a humor magazine fashioned to be something similar to Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad; but this issue #7 tried to be a serious horror comic. The storyline change didn't work. This was the last issue. The triclopes Frankenstein cover was definitely an odd way to go out.

© Archie Comics

Dick Briefer's Frankenstein

There was a unique incarnating of Frankenstein during the 1940's in a comic book by Dick Briefer. The comic began in the early 1940's as a serious horror title; but it later evolved into a humor book. There is a book available with reprints of the early stories.

Here is a link to scans of a 1946 issue of Frankenstein by Dick Briefer, more stories here.

©1946 Feature Publications

Friday the 13th

Happy Paraskavedekatriaphobia! I need to pop my brain out for a long over due dusting. I didn't even notice that today is a holiday for all monster fans. Well, if it isn't, maybe it should be. After all, we only have the one day, Halloween, when the rest of the folks get those lovely holiday shivers that we monster lovers feel every day of the year. Maybe we should begin a campaign to add a 13th month to the calendar. That way we could have a 13th day in the 13th month!

Frankenstein's Fun House

There is a newish blog in town, FRANKENSTEIN'S FUNHOUSE. Add it to your list of places to stop by for some monster fun.

Monster Poll

What is your favorite type of monster? Take the poll and let's see what others think.

Giant Moon Monster Comic Book Ad

This ad from a 1972 Beetle Bailey comic, published by Charlton, promised a lot for your $1.00 membership fee, plus $.25 postage. I wonder what did the actual premiums look like; and what is free about $1.25?

Big Eats!

The definition of monster usually includes reference to plants or animals of unusually abnormal development or size. This is actually a small linocut, 4"x5". All of those great roadside attractions and postcards from past summer vacations and car trips were the inspiration for this image.

The original print did not have the helicopter. I added it later to the image digitally. It's a great tribute to the spirit of discovery. When you take off on a road trip, you never know what you will find.


© Ernie Kwiat

GeGeGe no Kitaro

In Japan it is Tanabata Star Festival, 07/07/07. I'm always in the mood to celebrate with some GeGeGe no Kitaro, which has nothing to do with the festival.

The Little Mermaid

My interpretation of the Sea Witch is a linoleum cut from the early 1980's. I think about reworking it sometimes; but it is usually a good idea to let the past go. Starting fresh is a better idea.

Max : The Little Mermaid

I was looking at a bilingual book from Chronicle Books of The Little Mermaid and discovered the work of Spanish illustrator, cartoonist Max (Francesc Capdevila Gisbert.)

I'm attracted to his straightforward, bold line and muted color palette. The Sea Witch in Hans Christian Anderson's story is a wonderful character to illustrate. There is enough leeway in the story's description of the witch to allow an illustrator to come up with something unique. Max does a nice job of giving her a bit of a kindly appearance that might work to lure an innocent mermaid into having false hopes.

If you are only familiar with Disney's Little Mermaid, read Hans Christian Anderson's original story and compare it to the Disney adaption. You will notice some major differences.

Creepy cowboys

Well, what's more American than a nice cowboy drawing? Between watching a Twilight Zone marathon on TV today and eating hamburgers and baked beans, I did a creepy cowboy drawing.

I have wondered why there have not been more movies made that combine the western and horror genres. The height in the popularity of western and classic horror and atomic age monster movies was concurrent with each other. With the mercenary nature of Hollywood, I am surprised the two genres didn't meet more often.

Dinosaurs Attack!

Back in 1988 Topps released a series of cards called Dinosaurs Attack! They were obviously meant to be a follow-up to their successful Mars Attacks cards from 1962

In the 55 cards and 11 stickers, I thought Topps and their artists did a wonderful job of recreating the feel of the old Mars Attacks series. I never understood why Dinosaurs Attack was not successful. The time for the mass appeal of something like these cards must have just passed. The satirical, overtly overboard, campy violence in the cards could be found in movies or TV. It seems, trying to recreate the success of a cult favorite, especially 26 years after the original's popularity, was doomed to fail.

CafePress Coupon

I was looking around the Internet this morning and found this coupon code for Cafepress. It is for $10 off a $50 or more purchase and expires 8/31/2007. Type in CABINTEE during checkout at the Cafepress billing and shipping page in the coupon code area. You can go to the link above for more information about the coupon.

This retro sci-fi piece of art can be found in the Anxiety section of my store.

On My Floor 01

I called my sister to wish her a happy birthday the other day. She was stuck at home cleaning her house and she was happy for a little break, before family would be dropping by. She talked about how amazed she was that she could fill up a trash bag with scattered debris from just a normal evening at home the night before with just herself, one husband and one daughter.

I look around my apartment sometimes and see things that have been laying untouched for unknown periods of time. I have thought to myself, " Since I live alone, I have been and am the only person responsible for every object being where tit is - and stays." Here is a piece of paper I found under a table several days ago.