Hey all (and by "all" I mean "me"),
I took a short 4.5-year break and the world is still here, so I figure I'll try to squeeze out a few more posts before the whole shithouse goes up in flames at the end of next year.
One of the features I am adding is the files I use and create for my comic book-binding projects. If you want to use anything I post, take, but please let me know and post pics of your final work when you're done.
Let's make a community. Together.
Bringing you such hits as "Pupu Platter," "Cribbage with Helen" and "A Gassy Demise"
August 12, 2011
November 12, 2007
More game-changing
Running a little late, so let me catch y'all up to speed.First, I want to point your undivided attention to two things. I guess that would make the attention divided, so, to remain in a unified spirit, I suggest you attend to one item at a time. Leading off is the story how pilots and pols are calling for an investigation on our government's knowledge on UFOs. Second are the sounds of joy coming from the planet Saturn. Somewhere (probably on the ringed gassy giant), Sun Ra smiles. But I digress.
I'm going to respond to some comments from the massively popular recent post I did. People, we are going to 55 Cancri by 2010 – but only if Dennis Kucinich – only candidate to have had a UFO encounter – becomes president. A number of factors are in play here, but let's first focus on the candidates fact-fudging about his alleged experience.
Now, I understand that politicians pander to folks – telling them what they want to hear – like how Iraq attacked us on 9/11, that Dems in Congress are brave and that Dick Cheney is not a SkyNET project gone awry. White lies, like white surpremists, just make Americans feel warm and fuzzy, like standing next to a burning cross in a 400 thread count sheet. But Kucinich is lying for the best of reasons: to get elected in order to save us from fucking doom. Kucinich claims his encounter was in Washington state, but the cosmic truth is that that meeting was followed by another pow-wow on Enceladus, a moon orbiting Saturn.Shocking, I know, but after much meditation, four Bell's Java Stouts and a doobie, I came to the conclusion that Dennis Kucinich has a wormhole in his brain that connects him to the aformentioned Saturian moon of import; the House on the Rock; 55 Cancri; and Berlin, Ohio. Kucinich used his chance (or not?) run-in to schedule the second meeting, in which he made a deal with the aliens to a) provide us with warp technology and b) secure a wife in exchange for long-term organ harvesting on Fox News anchors, starting with Sean Hannity's chin. He famously got the wife, complete with the even-more notorious tongue-ring, which serves as an insta-comm device between Dennis and the aliens (I'm not yet sure from where they come. Watch this space).
The warp technology will, of course, be used to add a warp drive to the world's largest Amish buggy: The wormhole in Dennis' brain can only transport so many people at one time, and to get everyone off world and safely onto the potentially habitable planet in 55 Cancri, he's gonna need help. But the man has a plan.Despite the Amish's general disdain for technology, there has thus far been no outcry against the proposed warp drive.
Anyway, let's rally and propel Dennis Kucinich into the White House – and humanity to safety.
November 06, 2007
This changes the game
Not only have scientists found a new solar system, but it may have an inhabitable planet or moon. I've made my concerns about earth's imminent annihilation in the murderous maw of a supermassive blackhole known, and I think that the discovery of a planet in the habitable zone points us in the right direction: Our future is 55 Cancri.
More Werewolf
November 04, 2007
The Curse of the Werewolf!
Since Essential Werewolf by Night Vol. 2 is out, and my copy is on the way, I thought I'd celebrate it by looking at this seminal WBN old school audio-visual from Marvel Comics and Power Records.
"Curse of the Werewolf" was a defining monster moment for the children of the 70s. Like the rest of the Power Records' Book & Record set, "Curse" consisted of a 45 and a comic book. The content was culled from contemporary comics and edited to limit unnecessary backstory or subplots. "Curse" actually pulls from three comics, fusing two separate WBN tales: his origin story from Marvel Spotlight 2 (Feb. 1972) with elements from Werewolf by Night 15 and Tomb of Dracula 18. It features the art of Mike Ploog and Gene Colan, and the cover by Neal Adams.
The story, loosely
In Marvel Spotlight, Jack Russell celebrates his 18th birthday by turning into a werewolf and tear-assing around Los Angeles. His mother suspects she knows why Jack's been disappearing and, while searching for him, wrecks the car and ends up on her deathbed in the hospital. She hangs on long enough to tell Jack he's got the family curse, which sets him on a quest to discover the origin of the curse and if there's a cure. The scene ends as Jack transforms while his mother fades. This is where Marvel Spotlight 2 and "Curse" diverge, and the story jumps to Werewolf by Night 15.
Jack and his girlfriend, Topaz, are now in Transylvania, at his family's manor. In a diary scribed by Jack's great, great, great grandfather in 1795, the pair learn that the author had slain Dracula in revenge for killing his wife and had been attacked by a werewolf he had mistakenly freed from the vampire's castle. Jack decides to kill Dracula (apparently not dead) in the hopes that it will break the curse, and the scene shifts to Tomb of Dracula 18.
Atop a tower at Castle Dracula, the owner of the house watches Jack and Topaz approach. Drac turns into a giant bat and snags Topaz. The moonlight hits Jack and the werewolf attacks Dracula. There is a dramatic battle ends in a draw with Dracula warning WBN to pray they don't meet again.
To be sure, the story is a chop-job. The elements of the original comics are moved around. On some pages, parts of Gerry Conway's and Marv Wolfman's scripts are replaced with simpler dialogue. Subplots about Jack's mother's potential murder, the sorceress Topaz and the intricacies of Jack's family's past are necessarily ignored. But it's still a fun – if disjointed – ride. And the art is great.
Three giants
The cover of "Curse" is adapted from Neal Adams' front of Marvel Spotlight 2. Adams arguably is the greatest of his generation, and his work on Batman, Brave and the Bold, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, Deadman in Strange Adventures, and X-Men, among others, as well his prolific cover work ranks among the best ever. He runs a pair of animation studios in New York and Los Angeles.
The interior art of Marvel Spotlight 2 and Werewolf by Night 15 is by Mike Ploog, whose pencils are all over the line of monster and macabre books Marvel launched after the loosening of the Comics Code in 1971. His cartoony stylings can be found in pages of WBN, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider and Frankenstein and he is still active today.
Tomb of Dracula's artist is Gene Colan, whose apocalyptic strokes perfectly captured the horrific mood of that book. He had been in the business for about 25 years and was a mainstay in the Marvel bullpen when he started Tomb of Dracula in 1972. He drew the entire run. The great Gil Kane did the cover for Tomb of Dracula 19.
Some other stuff
Marvel Spotlight was an anthology book used to test-launch new characters. Ghost Rider and Spider-Woman (who made her first appearance in the series' penultimate issue) got their starts here. WBN was the lead for three issues before being spun out into his own series.
Werewolf by Night ran for 43 issues. It was drawn by a number of artists other than Ploog, most notably Don Perlin. The character also made a number of guest appearances throughout the Marvel Universe. He appeared in Legion Monsters: Werewolf by Night one-shot in 2007.
Tomb of Dracula ran for 70 issues, ending in 1979. It is considered by many to be the best example of Marvel 1970s horror books.
Marvel Essentials
The bulk of Marvel '70s books has been reprinted in the company's black-and-white Essential line. Monster of Frankenstein, Man-Thing, Zombie, Ghost Rider, Godzilla, and Son of Satan and his sister, Santana, each have a volume (Son of Satan and Santana are featured in Marvel Horror). All are worth a look. Dracula has four, and the first three are must-haves for the master penciling work of Gene Colan. Werewolf by Night Vol. 1 collects Marvel Spotlight 2-4, Werewolf by Night 1-21, Marvel Team-Up 12, Tomb of Dracula 18 and Giant-Size Creatures 1. Vol. 2 reprints Werewolf by Night 21-43, Giant-Size Werewolf 2-5 and Marvel Premiere 28.
Also check
Power Records Plaza
Great Comic Book Database
Marvel Masterworks and Essentials Resource
John Seavy on Werewolf by Night
Interview with Mike Ploog
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