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!

  

 Scary Books, Kiddies!

 The Mummy: Dark Resurrection.  By Michael Paine.  DH Press, 2006.  Cover painting by Stephen Youll. 

            Well, I’m sad to report that this is another of those books whose memory is lost to the time and tides.  It’s set in the present day, and ye olde Karloffornian Ardath Bey is once again dragging around as THAT mummy.  Ye gad!

           See you next time—mayhap with more verbiage, kiddies!  That's Wednesday -- It's a DATE!

These Didn't Fall Out

For awhile, I was happily picking up copies of Scary Monsters magazine in the early 1990s.  A few issues enclosed some cards, reminiscent of the Topps cards of the sixties.  Here are three of the few I have:

I never read the MR MONSTER comic, nor encountered Uncle Ted and Nefu Ned.  However, I assure you that Zacherly is definitely an entertainer for which I have NO appreciation.  Just a matter of taste, kiddies!

See ya Monday.

  

Them Thar Feet Is Big

This hyar story from the local rag is about a hairy guy possibly living in our own Sooner State.

To me, "Boggy Bottom Monster" sounds like a villain in a diaper commercial.

This is from the July 30, 2006 Oklahoman.  Note the writer credit, a "staff writer."  I don't know how many of those the paper has today.  (Although the phone number at article's end has a Dallas area code.)

I like the felicitous phrase "fleeting furry freak," don't you?  See you Friday for some FICTIONAL monsters!

  

Were YOU Scared Too?

Lovecraft: A Biography.  Abridged by the author.  By L Sprague de Camp.  Ballantine, 1976.  Cover art by Murray Tinkelman.

           This is a fine read, due to de Camp’s writing skills.  The hardback was just over 500 pages—I’ve read it too.  This abridgment “by the author” gets us down to 480 paperback pages. 

            Look at Murray Tinkelman’s cover art and explain why a dragon is erupting from the head of ol’ Aich-Pee Ell.

            It so happens that de Camp and his lovely wife Catherine were guests of Norman, OK’s PsurrealCon in February 1990.

            And he was gracious enough to autograph my paperback!

             See you in the stacks, kiddies!

  

An Eternal Haunt!

If you were ever a red-blooded American kid, you thrilled to the cartoon adventures of Jonny Quest.

The Sea Haunt turned out to be the final episode, airing in April 1965.  The Quest crew encounters a seemingly deserted ship.  They find one survivor hiding in the freezer, who warns them about the devil from the sea which killed the others.

Here's a screengrab from about eight minutes into the show, when we the viewers learn that the cook isn't crazy -- there REALLY IS a sea monster prowling the vessel!

This shot from about 15 minutes in gives us a better view of the whole beast.  

Well ... imagine my surprise when, in a book about pulp horror, I came across a familiar face!

This here's the cover of Strange Tales, cover-dated October 1932.  Tell me these haints ain't related!

See you Monday!

  

Still the Munsters!

Yes, we still have not exhausted all the pages of the 1965 Whitman coloring book featuring The Munsters.

Several generations of kids colored on this one.

See you on Friday!

  

Welcome to October with MA-199 - Scare Parts!

Yes, the creepiest, mostest bestest time of year is finally upon us, ghouls and ghoulettes!

We've got all kinds o' fun in store, both on the Super Blog and the Record Round-Up.  Exhibit One:  A new music comp!

01 - Adventures of Frank N Stein - Al Casey and the Bats - 1958  (2:04)

02 - Werewolf - Harla Horror - 2005  (4:21)

03 - The Monster Hop - Jimmy Dee and the Meteors - 1962  (2:04)

04 - Billy the Monster - The Deviants - 1969  (3:26)

05 - Zombie - Vital Disorders - 1984  (4:19)

06 - Creature - Tijuana Panthers - 2009  (2:59)

07 - The Rat's Revenge (Parts 1 and 2) - The Rats - 1965  (5:38)

08 - King Kong - Orlie and the Saints - 1962  (3:00)

09 - The Beetles Will Getcha - Carl Lertzman and the Bo-Weevels - 1964  (1:45)

10 - Humanoids from the Deep - The Witch Trials - 1981  (6:52)

11 - Vampire - Jesse Martinez and Famous Flames - 1958  (3:14)

12 - Zombie Creeping Flesh - Peter and the Test Tube Babies - 1983  (4:06)

13 - Monsterman - DEVO - 2014  (2:09)

14 - Little Black Things - Sheldon Allman - 1963  (2:02)

15 - Johnny Frankenstein - Tony Carr and the Riff Riders - 1967  (2:19)

16 - A Dragon in the House - Lew Morris - 1967  (2:40)

17 - Bigfoot Song - Buddy Knox - 1986  (5:03)

18 - Purple Gorilla - The Vyllies - 1984  (3:31)

19 - The Thing - Bill Buchanan - 1958  (2:20)

20 - Revolution 31 - Mark  Alfred - markssuperblog.blogspot.com - 2024  (8:22)

Besides the other wonders herein, I am thrilled to offer my own Frankensteinian audio assembly as the last track.  Assembled from about 35 different sources, “Revolution 31” is my Halloween answer to the Beatles’ “Revolution 9” (on their White Album).

A chart of the components of "Revolution 31" is included, too.

THIS LINK GOOD FOR THREE DAYS.

PERMANENT LINK renewed 10-5-2024.

Your humble lab assistant hopes you look kindly upon his offering!

Come back Wednesday for the next excruciating installment of BLOG-O-WEEN!

  

Superman Kills!

This is from the October 1, 1988 Amazing Heroes #150.

You know, I not only agree with Morrissey's reasoning, I pretty much concur with these opinions of Byrne's effect on Superman and DC.

I'll leave you to ruminate silently on such horrors, as you gird your loins for the commencement of BLOG-O-WEEN ... TOMORROW!

  

DOOMSDAY’S HIT LIST

            Before the advent of thrash and death metal, some everyday-style pop songs confronted the idea of The End of All Things.  Here are a few of them, selected for amusement or bemusement value:

• ·       The 1954 “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)" is not really about The End of the World as We Know It, but was inspired that way.  The song’s writers were sitting around in a car listening to the radio when a newscaster announced the first successful H-bomb test.  A discussion followed about what kind of sound the thing might make.  “Sh-Boom” was suggested, and from there, talk segued into writing a song about a girl’s big impact on some poor guy.
• ·       In Eddie Hill’s 1959 song “Monkey Business,” male and female research Astro-chimps (from the USA and USSR respectively) watch from the Moon as mankind bombs himself back to the Stone Age.  The chimps decide to go back to Earth and start the evolutionary ladder again.
• ·       In the 1966 song “The Year 2000,” by Estelle Bennett (also a member of the Ronettes), the planet Earth is now completely at peace, because everybody is dead, through war. No more wars, no more hunger, all is now at peace.
• ·       In 1961, Sammy Salvo expressed the atomic angst of several generation in his song about how “A Mushroom Cloud” overshadowed his every attempt at happiness. 
• ·       The Shirelles in 1964 internalized the end of a love affair as “Doomsday,” listing many familiar end-of-life scenarios in this doo-woop song.  "Surely the end will come, I thought it would be an atomic bomb, but if you should take your love away. Doomsday."
• ·       Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 album Wednesday Morning Three AM includes a slice-of-life song, “The Sun Is Burning,” where everyday life continues as normal until suddenly there are two suns in the sky—one a nuclear fireball.
• ·       “The Cave,” by Johnny Paycheck, made it to Number 32 on 1967’s Billboard Country Chart.  It’s a first-person tale of a fellow who goes spelunking, experiences an earthquake, and comes out to find himself the only person alive after a nuclear exchange.
• ·       “Wooden Ships,” from the 1969 album Crosby, Stills & Nash depicts an encounter between soldiers of opposing armies who aren’t sure which side—if any—won the war. They then share survival tips and join forces.
• ·       Dennis Zager and Richard Evans’s more familiar “In the Year 2525” (1969) has become a staple of oldies radio, describing possible changes to humanity and ending up wondering if the Lord will just get tired of Man and say, “I guess it’s time for the Judgment Day.”

             Although we could probably keep listing songs about the end of the world from now until doomsday, this list is enough to get your feet wet.  Just don't catch your death of cold!
  

The Trip to Earth

This wonderful single-page bit of Silver Age lore is from Superboy #100, cover-dated October 1962.

My friends, you DO know all about Supergirl, and Argo City, and Krypto, and Super-Menace, don't you?

Extra points if you can tell me about Anti-Kryptonite, or Beppo the Super-Monkey!

See you Thursday.

  

Okie Fanboy Makes It Big!

E Nelson Bridwell, born in Sapulpa (pronounced Sap-a-LOOP-a by Mazeppa), in his youth wrote lots of letters to comics from EC horror/sci-fi to Katie Keene. From such inauspicious beginnings he became a writer for DC and MAD magazine, and was known as the continuity maven of DC.  For the Legion of Super-Heroes he created the White Witch and RJ Brande.  He edited letter pages and specials for DC.

This tribute is from Amazing Heroes #114, cover-dated April 1, 1987.

Regarding the illo above, I as a kid I heard the punchline as "What you mean WE, white man?"

Elsewhere I read that Captain Metropolis of Watchmen received part of his name from ENB.  "Nelson Gardner" was assembled from ENB's name and that of Gardner Fox, creator of Hawkman and Silver Age Flash scribe.

Ah, the past glories of those silly "kid" comics!  I wish I could've had many comics-kid convos with ENB!

See you Monday, my fellow super-wannabes!

  

It Wasn't a Bird in 1993

In this interesting interview from Comics Interview #120 from 1993, we learn about a then-current revival of the once-Broadway musical It's a Bird, It's a Plane ... It's Superman!, which was gonna happen in Connecticut.

I must admit that Gary Jackson looks pretty good in both sides of the Man of Steel in these pix.

Tell me, campers, did any of you East Coasters see this show?

  

See you Thursday!