SWAMP ZOMBIE

Every now and then, I get the urge to take another trip down to the swamp and draw one of the muck monsters that like to lurk down there.  Always freeing to draw and always fun, Man-Thing here has it all--big muscles, alluring eyes, a tall build and a mysterious silence.

This zombie is based on the models of zombies from the PLANTS vs. ZOMBIES game.

MONSTER MONTH: A COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 19)

(Frankenstein's Monster is a Foodie?)

Well it’s much later than I usually post these Monster-Month blogs, but I had a snag last night and could not complete the task.  And so, let us look instead to the future.  More specifically to the children who will carry the torch (pardon the pun) for Frankenstein’s creation for the forseeable future.  

Adam Rex created a couple of really neat books featuring our fair Frankenstein Monster and they are for kids, though I’m of the opinion that they’re good for all ages.  The focus isn’t completely on the creature, but on many of the monsters who are out there making meals every day trying to feed themselves and their families.

FRANKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH and FRANKENSTEIN TAKES THE CAKE are the two titles in question and I wish I had my copies of these two books available, but I can’t seem to find them at the moment.  But as you can see from the art and bit of poetry in the images around, it’s fun stuff.

(Click to Frankensize)

from the KIRKUS REVIEW:

FRANKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH (reviewed on August 1, 2006)

Readers will relish every gross and hilarious entry in this monstrous menu of misadventures, from the towering appetizer concocted by Frankenstein—a green-skinned Fred Gwynne in Rex’s detail-rich, superbly over-the-top illustrations—to the Japanese-inflected closer, “Godzilla Pooped on my Honda.” Interlaced with repeated appearances from an increasingly frantic Phantom of the Opera (who can’t get a succession of pop tunes out of his head), the verses and accompanying art go from suggesting unfortunate results when “The Invisible Man Gets A Haircut,” to making lurid allusions to the contents of “The Lunchsack of Notre Dame.” They range from why “The Yeti Doesn’t Appreciate Being Called Bigfoot,” to tracking the Mummy’s reluctance to bed down: “Here’s his new excuse: / He wants cookies with his juice. / But he won’t get far— / that’s his stomach in that jar.” Making Judy Sierra’s Monster Goose (2001), illustrated by Jack E. Davis, look like an exercise in restraint, here’s a read-aloud candidate sure to elicit loud screams—but not of fright.  (Poetry. Ages 6-10)

(Click to Frankensize)

(Click to Frankensize)

SITES CITED:

http://adamrex.blogspot.com

http://www.superchefblog.com/2008/06/adam-rex-frankenstein-takes-cake.html

http://www.ironicsans.com/2006/09/interview_with_adam_rex.html

http://vbplrecommends.blogspot.com/2010/10/frankenstein-takes-cake-by-adam-rex.html

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/10/interview-with-king-of-the-monster-illustrators-adam-rex/

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1425

BTW, here's some other art by Adam Rex of note to you, my readers:

And don't forget that TCM serves up these goodies

TOMORROW MORNING:

Saturday, October 20, 2012

9am - ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)

10:15am - THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958)

12pm - FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1966)

1:45pm - DIARY OF A MADMAN (1963)

FINIS.

PEOPLE PUPPETS: A NIGHTMARE IN WAX MOVIE POSTER

A fine piece of shlock cinema from the classic days of film making

and a spiffy as hell poster that does all it possibly can to 

draw in the intended audience.

My eldest brother picked this rough one up at a local antique/flea market shop

for a darn good price and I really like it (wish I had space on a wall somewhere for it too).

I have not yet seen the film in question, but when I do, expect a review.

THE COUNTDOWN TO THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN CONTINUES...

THOR HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE - COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 20)

Last weekend the challenge was put forth to draw ones' favorite character as a zombie. And so I sketched the above.

WALKING with the DEAD on AMC - COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 16)

I like a good horror story. I like a good zombie story. Stress the word ‘good’. These days zombies have saturated and oversaturated pop culture. We’re practically up to our armpits in ‘em. As a ‘genre’ zombies are like any fare, if they’re popular they will be done to death. Pun intended.



It’s not like zombies were as common as clay back when the first issue of THE WALKING DEAD came out. Sure, there was a popular film called 28 DAYS LATER, a popular novel by Brian Keene called THE RISING and a few other things digging up from the ground like a corpse reanimated. But it was nothing like it is now… zombies had yet to form into mobs. You would see one occasionally and evaluate it on it’s own qualities. Now there are so many you can’t throw a detatched limb without hitting a few.



I was one of the few thousand or so folks who was there from the very beginning with THE WALKING DEAD, the Robert Kirkman comic book published through Image. It was initially the very compelling art by Tony Moore that inspired me to pick it up off the shelf (and order it more heavily for the comic shop I work at than the usual Image first issue). I didn’t know Kirkman’s writing from Adam.

The art was strong and stark and let the story flow like an open vein. But what made me stick around is that by the time that first story arc ended, I had grown to love the characters and how they, in vein, tried to find a way to live in that nightmare world. Many refer to it as ‘Survival Horror’ rather than ‘zombie plague’ and I kind of agree.



Like it’s comic book counterpart, the television series looked compellingly drawn. Same strong characters, vivid visuals and horrific situation. I nearly expected a replay of the comics on video. Only, there were some differences. Enough so, that by the end of the first season, I had as little knowledge as to what would happen as the preverbial newcomer. And that was fine with me as that meant a freshness that would be lacking for me otherwise.



And, it seems, like the comic, which grew and grew it’s audience with each issue (It don’t happen like that, folks, sales are supposed to drop as time goes on.); the tv series is growing it’s audience. Makes one wonder what would’ve happened had AMC had faith enough in the series to keep it going for twelve episodes in it’s first season instead of the anemic six we were allowed.

We may soon find out how far this zombie plague will go, in fact it begins again tonight… so quiet people. Hold your breath… it may be your last on this Earth.

MONSTER MASH MONDAYS on TCM - COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 10)

It's Monday in October and that means over a half-dozen macabre motion pictures over on Turner Classic Movies tonight:

OCTOBER 10
8:00 pm – The Wolf Man
9:15 pm – The Uninvited
11:00 pm – Dead Of Night
1:00 am – I Walked With A Zombie
2:15 am – Cat People
3:45 am – Curse Of The Cat People
5:00 am – The Devil Bat
6:15 am – Dead Men Walk

THE WOLF MAN is easily the most well known of these eight pictures as the Universal Monster ruled the box office for most of the first fifty years of film. Lon Chaney Jr. was probably the most sympathetic of the monsters being that his condition was no fault of his own. He simply became half-man/half-wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the moon is full and bright.

Did You Know: "The Wolf Man" is Universal Pictures second werewolf movie, it followed the less successful "Werewolf of London" six years earlier?



THE UNINVITED is a beautifully shot gothic tale of a haunting. A bit complicated compared to other haunted house stories, it begins simply with a brother and sister wanting to buy a seaside English home while on vacation. And, as they say, is only the beginning...

Did You Know: "The Uninvited" is based on the novel UNEASY FREEHOLD by Dorothy Macardle?



DEAD OF NIGHT is an early anthology film that begins when a man arrives at a party with a disturbingly accurate account of this very party from a nightmare. The stories told by the guests at the party are a result of his revelation. There is the story of a ventriloquist who believes his malevolent dummy is alive and a story set at a children's Christmas party (that was cut from the American release of the film because distributers thought the movie was too long), one about a haunting mirror and another about two golfers among others.

Did You Know: Cosmolgists Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold and Hermann Bondi, developed the Steady State theory of the universe, an alternative to the Big Bang, after seeing "Dead of Night". They said that the nature of the plot inspired the theory.



I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is a traditional zombie story in the sense that it is set in the West Indies and deals with "voodoo" and it's effects on the wife of a plantation owner. It is also a tale of love gone sour, twisted.

Did You Know: The disclaimer at the end of the film reads: "The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living, dead, or possessed, is purely coincidental."?



Like so many films that came before special effects could portray transformational moments, CAT PEOPLE had to rely on subtle creative shots using shadow and acting to convey these not so subtle moments. One of my favorites from this era of film...

Did You Know: The film was such a hit at the box office, the releases of the next two Lewton films (I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man) were delayed and that critics who had originally bashed the film were able to see it again and many rewrote their reviews with a more positive spin?



Nearly only a sequel in name to CAT PEOPLE, CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, is mostly a story dealing with a child creating an imaginary companion. The studio retitled this film to cash in on the great success of CAT PEOPLE.

Did You Know: This is a very well made film, but not a horror/suspense/thriller.



THE DEVIL BAT is, simply put, a reason to not wear after shave lotion. Bela Lugosi stars as a scientist who creates mutated bats who will hone in on the smell of that after shave and kill whomever is wearing it!

Did You Know: The Devil Bat is one of the most successful poverty row films?



DEAD MEN WALK is the story of a twin of a small-town physician returns from the grave for vengeance against his brother, who secretly killed him because the twin summoned his power from the devil.

Did You Know: Although the title implies zombies, it is actually a vampire to fear in this flick.

COMIC BOOK SHOW ADVERT

Above is the final draft (minus a few minor touch-ups) of the art for the advertisement about the upcoming return of the Nostalgia Newsstand's Greenville Comic Book Show on Saturday, October 8th 10am to 4pm at the City Hotel & Bistro. Not so sure about some of the likenesses, but it was fun doing 'em.

GUY DAVIS AND THE GOOMBAH OF DOOM

Earlier this year at Heroes Con Charlotte, I was able to meet the soft-spoken and completely neat artist of the vast majority of B.P.R.D. comics, Guy Davis. And, I might add, his charming wife Rosemary (whom I'll post a little bit about later).

Anyway, my friend, Jeff, and I were there after having just met Mike Mignola and we notice Guy Davis is right there beside where Mike was set up. An obvious pairing, no doubt. But he was doing little free sketches for the masses and we went up a begging. Jeff got the best pulp hero created after 1990--Lobster Johnson. And I wanted to get something different from Thor (who I always ask for) so I said, draw what thou wilt! And this is what he drew:

I call him the Goombah of Doom because I can't say for sure if he's a character from ZOMBIES THAT ATE THE WORLD, which I have yet to get around to reading. I can swear that my great grandfather was pictured in a suit and hat just like this one! Scary, ain't it?

THE DEAD ARE COMING FOR YOU IN OCTOBER

In October, on the AMC network, will begin airing it's adaptation of the acclaimed comic book series THE WALKING DEAD. Below is footage of it's panel discussion at the San Diego Comic Con 2010...

ODIN as a ZOMBIE

They'd "killed off" Odin for the umpteenth time and I figured he could make it back from the clutches of Hela if anybody could, so this blue pencil drawing later we have a walking dead god:

ZOMBIE SUPERMAN

Long before "Blackest Night" but after the "Death of Superman" I was bored at the comic shop one day when I came up with the idea of an undead Superman and this image popped out of my head: