Maskatorium!

I am super jealous of this guy's amazing collection of masks! Looking through all these fantastic faces is a great way to kill some pre-hallowe'en hours.

Hype For Beasts

There's a nice article on the Secret Saturdays game over at Kidzworld that's of special note because it's got 3 mini-interview videos with Phil 'Doc' Morris, Nicole 'Drew' Sullivan, and Jess 'Piecemeal' Harnell! Go check it out!

July Is Saturdays Month...

... and not just because that's our month on the CN 2009 Calendar (check out that sasquatch Nood above!). July is also the month we launch the Toy line... all this cool stuff is out now, so do me, the series, and cartoons on Cartoon Network a big favour and support the Secret Saturdays! Later this month (the 21st) will see the release of the first Saturdays DVD, too, and the second one has just been announced. It's starting to get exciting!

Saturdays Hype

Here's a little hype about all the wicked Secret Saturdays merch heading your way this summer. The cryptids are taking over the world! (Saturdays computer screen image by Geno)

Monster Rain

Man! Is it ever coming down in my neck of the woods! I think I'd better start collecting up two of each cryptid. (Nice umbrella from Kinderkaboodle, huh?) The CBC is calling the never-ending rain a "Soaker Storm", whatever that is. This is the kind of weather that brings out the Kasa-Obake, or Japanese umbrella Yokai. The gorgeous fiberglass sculpture below is by Colin Christian

Heads Will Roll

My kind of wheels, from JH Design. James tells me a Creature From The Black Lagoon board is next on the list. Amen.

Toyfair Pics

More pics of Secret Saturdays toys (from Toyfair) by the wonderful folks over at Cryptid Saturdays...

Saturdays Action Figures!!!

A nice photo gallery of Mattel's Secret Saturdays toys on display at the NY Comic Con. I notice some broken bits and paint errors on a few of these promo models... but the firesword looks perfect! More toys to come soon, including large figs of the main cast and the Cryptipedia. Thanks to Dex and Actionfigure.com!

Happy 2009

Some updated *official* news on the Secret Saturdays toy line coming from Mattel next year. And speaking of Mattel, this might just be the coolest Barbie ever! Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors of all time... just watched Spellbound again last night, in fact, thrilling all over the Salvidore Dali dream sequence. I think I'll watch Rebecca tonight. My kind of Christmas movies!

Ooo! Kreepy!

Say 'hi!' to Mister Guts, Tequila Sparks, and Laffy Blue Bottom... just three of the bazillion cute creeps up for ever lovin' grabs at the Kreepy Doll Factory. Started in Cleveland, Ohio back in 2000, the KDF is composed of a trio of wicked artists: Dan Baxter, Thu Tran, and Jeff Vincent. They make weird, cuddly stuff, and the site is chock full of kooky sketches, loopy comics, and lots and lots of one-of-a-kind plush psychos. Monsterama approves!

Creature... GOOD!!!

My favourite classic monster is Dr. Frankenstein's creature, as you might have guessed. In fact, I've built a lifesized one myself recently, and not out of paper, either. I hope to get him working (with small scale motion detector stuff) in time for All Hallows... I'll let you know how it goes. Cool Frankenstuff here...

Metal For Monsters!

I'm proud to announce my involvement in the cool Metal For Monsters project instigated by Blend Creations, and featuring a horror-ful host of crap-hot creators! From the press release... Having a kid changes everything, even the way you read the newspaper. While taking in the latest atrocities inflicted upon young children throughout the world, owners of online jewelry boutique BlendCreations.com, Vivian Cheng and Eric Jean-Louis, hugged their little "monster" Jack and vowed to do something for his international monster cohorts. And since they are designers, not lobbyists or Peace Corps activists, they called on nine of their talented artist peers to draw their way toward a $10,000 donation to UNICEF. The resulting collaboration is a line of twenty limited-edition stainless steel pendants upon which comic-style monsters are laser etched. Starting on October 1, one hundred copies of each of the twenty designs will be offered for $81 through the website MetalforMonsters.com. Almost 20% from each sale ($16) will be donated to UNICEF. From the renowned to the contented fringe, artists include: S. britt, Stefan G. Bucher of dailymonster.com, Jon Burgerman whose clients range from The Science Museum to Sky, Pepsi, Sony and KidRobot; Anna Chambers; Justin Hillgrove of impsandmonsters.com; Adam Koford, a creator of the Laugh-out-Loud Cats comic; John Martz, editor of the popular illustration blog Drawn.ca; Jay Stephens, creator of the Emmy Award winning animated creation TUTENSTEIN; and Brian Taylor of candykiller.com. Get your mitts on Bathead and Spooklops while they last, and feel good about helping out children in need at the same time.

Stumble and Flail

I've fallen a bite behind scanning and posting my own cool, creepy, crap these days, so here's an Unholy Trio to keep you idling.Frankensteinia compiles (you guessed it) all things Frankenstein, from foreign film posters to pet costumes. Me like! Me also like Monsterbrains, so go there for awhile. Monsterama commands you! And if you've got a hankering for a daily (!) dose of pre-code horror comics, please drop by the dead-lightful blog known only as The Horrors Of It All...

Millie Merch

Well, it's been a couple of years since I last tortured you all with words and pictures of Millie the Lovable Monster, the sweetest creep ever to crawl across a comics page. I'm just sick enough to dig her, and I'm delighted to say that I recently aquired what is most likely the only ancillary Millie product... a die-cut colouring book from 1963! With all-new interior art draw by creator Bill Woggon, no less! The images roughly follow the stories from the comics in sequence, in case you're interested. Here are a couple of samples...

Dear Santa...

... I want North American Region Code DVD's with English subtitles of last years' Nekome Kozo (Cat-Eyed Boy) based on the maga by Umezz, and the live action Kitaro movie, please. And all of these Shigeru Mizuki toys. Thank you.

Monster Toys For Girls And Boys

I've been a busy guy lately. Had a really great trip down to Mattel Toys HQ in El Segundo last week. Great bunch of people with jobs at least as fun as mine. It's official... Mattel will be doing our Secret Saturdays action figure line, and it's going to be awesome. Too bad we have to wait until Fall 2009 for the first wave... Merry Christmas 2009, everybody! One of the Cartoon Network Consumer Products team members I had in my corner for the presentation was Rick Blanco, who also just happens to paint creepy pictures in his spare time. We had a chat during the break about Leonard Nimoy's In Search Of... TV series that inspired and disturbed us both as youngsters. 'Leonard Searching' (pictured above) is described on his site thusly... "This painting is a bit of an homage to my childhood. In the late 1970's/early 80's there was a show called "In Search Of," which was hosted by Leonard Nimoy. This show used to investigate mythological, supernatural or cryptozoological subjects and even though much of it was over the top conjecture, it gave me the creeps while keeping me enthralled the whole time. I'll always remember the raw grainy footage of the Sasquatch looking over its shoulder as it stomped back into the forest. Here little Leonard has gone searching for his ball or a new friend and winds up with both."

It's Never Too Late

... But you really ought to hurry if you want to grab a great costume, decoration, or prop for Halloween. Fright Catalog has some spectacular stuff, and a handy shipping time estimate right on the site (North Americans can get stuff in 24 hrs!). And if you're in the London area this weekend, it's not too late to haul your carcass to The 12th International Halloween Festival at Queen Mary College, Mile End Road, from 12noon-8pm. Tarot readers, a Pagan craft market,lectures, and workshops... sounds like a party to me!

All Sorts Of Souls

The bad news is that I'm too busy this year to post up any sort of Hallowe'en storm here on MONSTERAMA. The good news is that I don't need to! Branded In The 80's, John Rozum, Neato Coolville, Plastic Pumpkins, and Secret Fun Spot are all contributing daily holiday posts for what they're calling '31 Days Of Halloween', and it's more monstrous mish-mash than you fiends can probably digest in one mere month! But don't take my word for it.. go look! And you'd better get busy... we're already 18 days in.

Luminous Monsters

When I was a kid (around 8 or 9, going by the copyright date on the label), I had these exact glow-in-the-dark stickers on the headboard of my bed. I loved them even though they freaked me out a little, and made me feel sort of queasy if I looked at them too long. I found this unopened package in Chicago years ago, and always keep it close by my workspace to 'inspire' me. Stuff like this can bring the kid in me right back to the surface. Just thought I'd share.

Omni-monster! Aieeeee!!!

Mmmm, Kaiju! Geozilla has created what he calls Kaiju Utopia, and I gotta tell you, it was hard to leave the place! Omni-monster is overflowing with cute, creepy vinyl. Just the sort of site to help you kill off a dozy spring morning.