They Wrote for Superman!

This is from the August 15, 1988 Amazing Heroes, that's issue #147.  The article covers Super Scribes from the Sixties to the Eighties.

I loved these recountings and summations, especially since at the time I hadn't read everything mentioned.  Boy, I gotta get back into the Comics Closet and read a few thousand comics again!

Until Thursday, see ya in the funny books!

  

It's the Time for Gory Musical Glory!

To wrap up the glories of Halloween, let's go out with a *blorp* and a *squish*, wiht a new Halloween comp!

The photos were taken Halloween 1963 at the White House with JFK and kids -- Track 19 is a reference to "Something to Tide You Over" in 1982's Creepshow.  The performers of Track 23 are no relation to the TV show, except in name.

 01 - Somebody's Watching Thriller (Michael Jackson vs Rockwell) - DJ Schmolli - 2019  (3:49)

02 - Just Another Halloween - The Mutts - 1985  (2:14)

03 - Irving - Johnny Brandon and Irving - 1958  (2:35)

04 - Sneakyville - Secession - 1987  (3:42)

05 - Grim Reaper - The Twelfth Night - 1965 (1:54)

06 - Love in the Cemetery - Lord Kitchener - 1962  (3:28)

07 - Living in a Coffin - Lost Cherrees - 1984  (1:43)

08 - The Raven - Jackie Brooks - 1956  (2:51)

09 - Frankenstein Again - The Lurkers - 1985  (3:59)

10 - Dis-Gorilla (Part 1) - Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots - 1977  (2:57)

11 - The Omen - Shattered Faith - 1983  (2:09)

12 - Minnie the Moocher at the Morgue - Smiley Burnette - 1935  (3:02)

13 - Munsters Theme (live) - The Deadbeats - 1978  (1:51)

14 - Teach Me How to Rock and Roll - The Creepies - 1975  (3:11)

15 - The Robot Walk - Tony Alamo - 1964  (2:44)

16 - The Lakeview Man - The Rainmakers - 1987  (3:00)

17 - 30 Foot Bride - The Tinglers - 1959  (2:07)

18 - Witchcraft Love - Richard Starr - 1964  (2:16)

19 - Deep Black Sea - Left for Dead - 2006  (2:54)

20 - Polka Dotted Poliwampus - Clint Miller - 1958  (2:10)

21 - Flesh to Flesh - Lamont - 1988  (3:50)

22 - Split Personality - Ronn Cummins - 1964  (3:15)

23 - King Kong - Groovie Ghoulies - 1989  (2:10)

24 - Halloween 9 - Stevo In Yr Stereo - 2024  (9:13)

The biggest excitement is saved for last!  Track 24 is by my old friend and fellow Mazeppite, Stevo In Yr Stereo, who concocted this truly ghoulish (yet lighthearted) mashup.  Find tons of delightful musical bemusements at siysradio.com.

 See you round the graveyard, kiddies!

THIS LINK GOOD FOR THREE DAYS.

PERMANENT LINK.

See you on Monday, assuming you survive this night of frights!!!

 

Number One in a Creepy Old Series!

 

Scary Books,

Kiddies!

 

 The Werewolf of London.  By Carl Dreadstone.  Berkley Medallion Books, 1977.

            “Carl Dreadstone” was a house name used by Berkley for these Universal Monsters tie-in paperbacks.  According to the online Sci-Fi Encyclopedia, these monster books were written by Ramsey Campbell and Walter Harris.

             This one is by Harris.  But like the rest, it has an introduction by Ramsey Campbell, describing the film and the lack of fan affection it has attracted.  I agree that part of the film’s lack of charisma is due to Henry Hull’s semi-wooden demeanor.  But overall, this film is simply overshadowed by the operatic madness of the cycle begun in 1941 with the inimitable Lon Chaney, Jr as the tortured Sir Lawrence Talbot.

            But it’s awfully nifty to notice, at the eight-minute and twenty-five-minute point in the film, Glendon uses video surveillance to see who's at his laboratory door, signaled by a flashing light.  Talk about before his time!

             Back to the novel—it’s a nice touch to suggest that the Yeti of the Himalayan peaks might be not a hominid, but a lycanthrope.  After all, who knows what is howling and yowling out there? 

            I bought this paper-bound beast on July 9, 1977.  The title page says, “Adapted from the screenplay by John Colton.  Based on an original story by Robert Harris.”  And it’s narrated in the first person by the doomed Dr Wilfrid Glendon.

            But it’s not a strict adaptation.  As somebody in Wikipedia says, “Rather than turning into a werewolf, killing Yogami, and then being shot by Sir Thomas, Glendon decides to cooperate with Yogami and they both attempt to control their transformations through hypnotism. However the plan fails, the hypnotist is killed, and Glendon and Yogami both transform and fight to the death. Glendon wins, killing Yogami, and returns to human form afterwards. The novel then ends with Glendon, alive, contemplating using the hypnotist's gun to commit suicide rather than go on living as a werewolf.”

Avoid nosy landladies and get home before the moon rises—that’s my advice for you!

See you on THURSDAY for the grand wrap-up of this month of frights -- ANOTHER new Halloween-music comp!!!!

  

All in the Cards

... Although I only have a FEW of the cards!

Here are the other two "Scare-Cards" from Scary Monsters mag which I've encountered.

Feel free to let me know if you get a prize while writing to the above address.

See you Monday for the final week of this year's BLOG-O-WEEN!  It's a date, ingrate!

  

Those Halloween Kids!

I first noticed these silhouetted Halloween kids on Hiland Dairies’ Chocolate Peanut Butter Milk—which is scrumptious, by the way.

Then I noticed those kids in a 2011 folder of clip art. Then I noticed them all over!

This one’s from 2019.

This is from a Mixcloud show for which I’ve misplaced the particulars.

And this one’s from 2015.

The one above is a variation.

The "orignal" image is supposedly “only available” from istockphotos. But tell me, where else have YOU seen it?  I know those kids are out there somewhere RIGHT NOW!

See ya Friday.

  

Target -- Earth!

 Scary Books, Kiddies!

Flying Saucer Invasion – Target Earth! by Brad Steiger and Joan Whritenour. Award Books, 1969.

This is not only a more serious book than the sensationalist title, it’s an anthology by some credible writers, including John Keel, George Duplantier, and the editors (“partly” credible in the case of the editors).

I have no idea where the “experts in 40 countries” means, since there are about ten total authors. But the rear cover explains: It’s the reports, not the experts, that are far-flung. Huh.

See you Wednesday, kiddies!  Keep watching the skies!

  

Bloody Good Books?

This is from the May 15, 1973 TIME mag.

Of course, I own both tomes.  Yeah, Leonard Wolf has in the years since made a small industry out of Dracula.  And McNally-Florescu cranked out a second book about Prince Vlad.

Seek out these tomes, I command you!

See you Monday.

  

More Munster Pages

Well, after umpteen years, we are ALMOST at the end of this coloring book.

As a kid, I never wondered exactly how in the world Herman Munster might've made it into the army.  I mean, don't you have to have a pulse?

See you on Friday, fiends and degradations!