Superboy TV, Part 5

More of the promo folder for Season Two of Superboy, aired in 1988-89.

The motif is pages from a phone book.  Like a phone book in a phone booth.  Like a phone booth that somebody might go into to change clothes.  Right?

They might be "photos," but they're slides.

Did TV stations of the 80s and 90s use slides, not photos, in their promos?  I don't know.

BTW, this treasure of Super History was courtesy of the gentle giant Mark Barragar, 1959-2011.  We still love ya and miss you, my friend!

See youse guys Monday.

  

I Gotcher Details Right Here!

I came across the wondrous little tome at a book sale at my alma mater, OCU (Oklahoma City University).

This quick-reference little book, copyrighted 1934, is stupendous in its brief scope.

The inside front cover is above.

The copyright page.

Even the Intro is punchy and concise!

The first working page, next to my pica pole, to show the scale.

A random spread to show the brevity and depth.

The inner rear endpapers.

Isn't this book a thing of beauty?  If only you could riffle its pages yourself and marvel at the depths of factitude at your fingertips.  It ain't exhaustive, and modern-day magic computer tech makes you want to scoff, but to me this little book is a wonderful example of digested knowledge and helpfulness.

See you Thursday.  Don't take any wooden facts!

  

Superman Evolves! (Until 1983)

It's been more than a decade since I stopped buying new Superman comics.  Frankly, I felt dicked around as a reader by folks who were chasing ephemeral boss dictates or demographic phantoms than seeking to entertain and/or inspire people who wanted to read about Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

This article is from Comics Collector #1, dated Spring 1983.  It's a fine survey, with plenty of clipped-out figure illos, of the progression of the Man of Steel from radical strongman to beloved institution, to "old hat" seeking relevance.

See you Monday.  Have you got any comments on Superman's Evo/Devo-lutions?

Give My Creation LIFE!

Yes, it,s MA-80, Boneyard Bash.  Dead for a few years, resurrected just for you!

01. Reveille - American Military Bugle Call (0:21)

02. Danse Macabre (Franz Liszt piano transcription) - Camille Saint-Saëns   (9:53)

03. Graveyard Dance - Ray Sanders (1:45)

04. March of the Trolls - Edward Grieg (2:48)

05. Zombie Stomp - The Del-Aires (2:05)

06. Dance in the Graveyards - Delta Rae (3:39)

07. Laurie (Strange Things Happen) - Dickey Lee (3:05)

08. The Skeleton Dance (1929) - Carl Stalling (5:35)

09. 'Til the Following Night - Screaming Lord Sutch with The Savages (3:42)

10. Spookie Boogie - Cecil Campbell and His Tennessee Ramblers (2:25)

11. Zombie Jamboree (Back to Back) - Harry Nilsson (2:55)

12. Yodeling Ghost - Patsy Montana (3:03)

13. She Came Out of the Cold (1967 demo) - The Iveys (2:14)

14. The Cat - Rod Willis (2:22)

15. Tennessee Hillbilly Ghost - Terry Preston (Ferlin Husky) (2:23)

16. Cha Cha with the Zombies - The Upperclassmen (2:36)

17. Skeleton Frolic (1937) - Joe DeNat (7:07)

18. The Way Out Mummy - Bob Ridgley (1:58)

19. Rigormortis Rock - The Gazmen (2:13)

20. Pet Sematary - Ramones (3:29)

21. Misty Water Woman - Rick Springfield (4:35)

22. The Ghost Song - Salty Holmes (2:50)

23. Flip Top Box - Dickey Doo and The Don'ts (2:08)

24. Dead Shall Rise - The Dark (3:52)

Included are exclusive liner notes about the selections. I must comment on the brilliant Carl Stalling score for the 1929 Silly Symphony Skeleton Dance. In all commercial releases, there's a small audio dropout about one minute in. I fixed it with a little mad-doctor stitching.

Well, this concludes our month of fun of BLOG-O-WEEN on the Super Blog and SPOOKY SPOCK-TOBER on the Record Round-Up.

Seems I forgot the link.  Sorry about the trick!  https://www.filefactory.com/file/2ca3iimw7lde/MA-80_-%202023.rar

See you on Thursday for our regularly scheduled silliness!

   

Hometown Monsters?

Out here in the supposed boonies of Oklahoma, any kind o' critter is likely to pop up!

It's from the August 3, 2006 Oklahoman.  PS I don't know how big a foot is required, to qualify for that moniker.  I mean, I got family members who wear size 14!

See you tomorrow, HALLOWEEN, for the resurrection of a long-dead music comp, just for my fiends!

  

Scary Book Numero Uno!

 

                                                      Scary Books,

       Kiddies!

 Frankenstein: The Original 1818 Text.  By Mary Shelley, edited by James Reiger.  Pocket Books, 1976.  Copyright 1974.  Cover art by Maria McAfee.

            This astounding book was correctly judged by Pocket Books to be attractive to the general paperback public.  It was originally printed by Bobbs-Merrill, I assume as an English-lit textbook.

             But any monster fan would be captivated by the cover blurb.  Who wouldn’t want to see “the original” text?

             This edition contains a hefty introduction.  The text itself has line numbers in the margins (for reference’s sake), for heaven’s sake!  Reiger also divides the text into three volumes in the places where the original publication breaks were.  You did know that Frankenstein was originally published that way?

            Other items include Shelley’s intro from 1831; and the two other literary works inspired by the famous ghost-story party: “A Fragment,” by Byron, and Polidori’s “The Vampyre.”

            As you know, Shelley’s book is demanding, yet rewarding.  A product of its time, it still resonates today by its inspiration of generations of horrors who never asked to be generated.

            As a side note, the book has no dire warning of copyright from Universal in regards to Karloff’s face and the very specific monster familiar from those movies.  Must have come before the lawyers decided to get busy that way!

            Buy it and read it!

See you Monday for the final week of BLOG-O-WEEN!

Dracula Exploited! Film at Eleven!

It shouldn't come as any news to you that, once news of ole Vlad the Impaler became common knowledge, the land of his reign decided to make some money off the ole stick-in the-mud.

Note the headline ... we monster kids would've called Dracula an "unnatural" resource, eh?  It disturbs me when this story calls Vlad "a national hero."  He was a nationalist, and he may have kept the Turks out of what was later called Romania.  But a hero?  No matter what the italicized lead-in says, not all of Vlad's victims were "enemies."

This clipping is from the October 2, 1983 Tulsa World.

See you Wednesday!

  

IT Came from the King!

... And in my opinion, it was the first King book that was TOO MUCH . But I still bought it with birthday money!

It's the cover story from the October 6, 1986 issue of Time.

In my opinion, nearly every King book needs to ne truncated the way the "original," bloated version of The Stand was.  The shorter version, which I finished rereading this past week, is MUCHO better than the swollen,"uncut version."

Well, here in America BEFORE Cap'n Trips or President Greg Stillson, you're free to disagree with me.  Have you any royal favorites to stick up for?

See you Wednesday!

  

There! There, Wolf!

Scary Books, Kiddies!

                                                 

Werewolf!.  Edited by Bill Pronzini.  Perennial Library, 1980.  Copyright 1979.  Cover design by Jon Weiman. 

            You can read the contents on the back cover.  There’s also an introduction by Pronzini.

            It’s a fun conglomeration with a wild cover.  That’s it.  See you Monday!

  

Flight 19 Still in the Ether!

A few times, the mysterious loss of Flight 19 has been heralded as solved. As narrated in countless books harping on the so-called Bermuda Triangle, Five Avenger planes in the USAF (and one follow-up plane searching for them) went missing in December 1945.

As a follower-after of spooky, oddball things, I was quick to clip some newspaper articles which mention such things.

This article's from the December 6, 1989 Tulsa World, forwarded to me by my dear mom, who knew my taste for weirdness.

On May 17, 1991, the Oklahoman reported another false find.  I mean, they found five Avengers at the bottom of the deep blue sea ... but they were some other five Avengers.  Yeah, right ... 

The next day, an OKC resident recounted his role in the search for Flight 19, back in the day.

This article from the Oklahoman of May 27, 1991 ruminated on how the discovery of the five planes was interesting, whether they were Flight 19 or not.

But they weren't, as this clipping from the June 5, 1991 Oklahoman narrates.

You may read the government's version of the tale here.  But Flight 19 flies on in the imagination, until pinned down by an actual discovery.

See you Friday, ladies and germs!

  

SHOCK! A New Halloween Comp!

Gotcha, didn't I!

Yep, it's another putrefying posse of puke punches to the breadbasket.  To wit:

01 - Monster Music (from The Monster Squad) - Bruce Broughton - 1987  (0:52)

02 - Peek-A-Boo - The Cadillacs - 1958  (2:11)

03 - Attack of the Giant Ants - Blondie - 1976  (3:25)

04 - How Come I Can't See You in My Mirror - Tonio K - 1978  (2:59)

05 - Horror Pictures - The Calvanes - 1958  (2:03)

06 - Victims of the Vampire - Slaughter and the Dogs - 1978  (2:56)

07 - I Crept into the Crypt and Cried - Vic Norwin - 1965  (2:40)

08 - King Kong - Suzy Andrews - 1982  (3:00)

09 - Drac Walk - Vladimir and the Grave Diggers - 1962  (2:53)

10 - All My Friends Are Zombies - The Priscillas - 2005  (2:38)

11 - Creature with the Atom Brain - Mike Rep and the Quotas - 1975  (4:39)

12 - In a Cave - Zimbo Chimps - 1984  (2:46)

13 - The Chiller - The Vic Plati Quintet - 1965  (3:22)

14 - Morgue Watch - The Nubs - 1980  (2:26)

15 - Who Dat - The Commodores - 1959  (1:59)

16 - Creature Without a Head - Lenny and the Squigtones - 1980  (1:53)

17 - Spooks the Cowboy - Sheppy King - 1958  (2:02)

18 - The Ghost Train - The Hairs - 1991  (2:37)

19 - Hillbilly Swampman - Eldon Rice - 1965  (2:50)

20 - Graveyard Rock - The Joneses - 1982  (2:27)

21 - Horror Movie - Mann Drake - 1962  (2:31)

22 - Fade to Black - Junior Achievement - 1984  (3:19)

23 - Voodoo Doll - Rhonda Silver - 1963  (2:10)

24 - Vampire Beat - The Golden Horde - 1986  (3:00)

25 - Basket Case from Outer Space - The Voronas - 2004  (3:31)

26 - Count - Vain Aims - 1980  (2:53)

27 - Nightmare - Johnny Worth - 1960  (2:20)

28 - Mazeppa - Randy Prahl - 2008  (2:52)

29 - To Die on Halloween - Two Steps From Hell (featuring Nick Phoenix) - 2012  (3:11)

Go ahead and gulp the whole thing down at once ... it can only kill ya!

https://www.filefactory.com/file/647gmguu9ht6/MA-188.rar

I worked my fingers to someone else's bone on this one, kiddies!  Hope you have fun!

See ya on Wednesday!

  

Don't Eat Them Shrooms!

Scary Books, Kiddies!

 

Fungi from Yuggoth and Other Poems.  By HP Lovecraft.  Ballantine, 1971.  Cover art by Gervasio Gallardo.  Formerly titled Collected Poems.  Copyright 1963 by Arkham House.

What can I say? If you like ol’ Aich-Pee Ell, you may like his poems. Of course, there’s the sonnet cycle after which the book is named, but plenty of other brief riffs, most of them belaboring under that 18th-century affectation so dear to the Old Man’s heart.

            Speaking of that organ’s equilibrium ... he might have been scandalized by the mammacious lizard woman on the back cover!

            See you on Monday, with a brand-new music comp, chillun!

  

Looking for Some Action?

... Of the juvenile kind, that is?

This ad is from Action #466, cover-dated December 1976, but on sale well before Halloween.

I do suggest not printing, filling out, and mailing the order form.  I bet the prices have gone up a bit.

See you on Friday for more Scary Books, Kiddies!

  

Remembering a Big Ole Hairy Guy ...

... and half the time, he didn't WANT to be hairy!

Yes, I cut this article out when it was printed in the July 14, 1973 Tulsa World.  Should I be worried that RIGHT NOW I am that same age?

Scary thoughts, kiddies!  See you on Wednesday with a spooky ad from our nation's bicentennial year.
  

Honeymoon in Hell

Yes, it's another year of installments of

Scary Books, Kiddies!

                                                    

Honeymoon in Hell.  Fredric Brown, 1958.  Bantam, 1982.  This selection from Bantam gives no cover credit. 

      But wouldn’t you be intrigued to meet her ?!?! ... even if it’s the last thing you ever do ...

      It’s another brief tome packed with more ideas in 150 pages than many authors achieve in 700.  Among the many gems is “Arena,” adapted by Star Trek as an episode of the same name.

      “The Weapon” sticks in your memory.  Only a madman would give a loaded gun to an idiot.

            And don’t forget the vignette, “Imagine.”  Rediscover some of that ol’ sense of wonder here, kiddies!

See you on Monday.  Don't get spooked!