R.I.P. Alex Toth

One of my biggest heroes passed away this weekend. Alex Toth was a giant in both comic books and animation, a genuinely unique talent with a gorgeous drawing style. Toth's smooth, inky minimalism looks so effortless, but, as I discovered myself aping Toth's Superfriends designs in Evan Dorkins Worlds Funnest project, and his Scooby Doo monsters for a video game project, it ain't as easy as it looks, folks. How obvious is it that I like his monster designs? Since my inlaws all speak Hungarian, I'd like my final words will be in Toth's native tongue... Nem nehéz kitalálni, honnan kaptam az én inspirációm… köszönöm szépen, Alexbácsi.

Homer The Happy Ghost

What do you get when you cross the talents of Marvel Comics maestro Stan Lee (co-creator of Spiderman, the Hulk, the X-men, Fantastic Four, etc.), Archie Comics legend Dan DeCarlo (creator of Josie and the Pussycats, Sabrina, etc.), and the runaway success of Casper the Friendly Ghost? Why, you get the best Casper imitation of them all, of course... Homer! Yeah, it was a blatant rip-off, but it's not like Casper was all that original to begin with. Instead of 'Friendly', Homer was 'Happy'. Instead of a tough, streetwise pal with a bowler hat named 'Spooky', Homer had 'Dugan', the Dead-End Ghost. Instead of a witch pal named 'Wendy', Homer had 'Zelda' (who would later show up in almost identical form in DeCarlo's Sabrina the Teen-aged Witch). The only relatively new addition was Melvin the Mixed-Up Ghost... a complete idiot with consistantly annoying behaviour. I really like Melvin a lot. Homer The Happy Ghost debuted in 1955 and lasted 22 issues, plus two issues of an offshoot series, The Adventures of Homer Ghost... a very good run for a monster kid book, actually. 'Stan and Dan', as they billed themselves on these stories, were already really strong talents, and the stories have a lot more pluck than the decidedly insipid Harvey originals. This Robot cover from 'Adventures of...' number 2 (1957) is one of my favourite covers ever! Inside, Homer and the gang battle Doctor Doom and his sinister robot assistant, Monstro. See for yourself... (click to enlarge) For another story in which Homer battles a robot, check this out.

Doubly Diabolic

Speaking of monster cards, it's been awhile since I first brought your attention to the macabre Diabolic Monsters blog by 'R', and I think you ought to check in. Especially if you like unlicensed pics of Darth Vader with blood pouring from his mouth (#41. "Robot Galactico").

Monsters Unlimited

Here's a really great scanned collection of all 50 Monsters From Outer Limits bubble gum cards. Do not adjust your set.

Transylvanian Tourist Trap

Anthony de Mariaffi, my Transylvania born Father-In-Law, is always a little irked by the indeservedly ghoulish reputation of his homeland... though he certainly enjoys terrifying kids with his Lugosi-ish accent come Hallowe'en. This great 'ad' from Bats is exactly the kind of thing he finds offensive. Of course, some of the childhood stories he tells are weirder than anything I've ever read in a comic book... not that he would ever admit that Transylvania's reputation might be based on more than a little fact! When I was last over there, I wasn't the least bit dissapointed by the wild countryside or vast hillside castles.

Future Fiends

This site has a bunch of 'Monster Pals' (like Jeremy's, at left) created by Chicago gradeschoolers as some kind of pen pal project. As 'Kathy' says: "To make my monster you must draw an egg for the head. In the head near the bottom you must draw a curved line going down. Next, you put two tongues in it so it can look like a mouth. Then, at the top draw an eyeball, just one. After that, you draw one string of hair." It looks as though this is a growing phenomenon... kids everywhere are getting into the 'Monster Exchange' program. This 'Licorice Pirate' was created by Mohammed from New Jersey. Cute? A little creepy? Yes!

Wilder Things

Where The Wild Things Are had already earned our beloved author Maurice Sendak an all-time top slot on Monsterama's 'best ever' list, but now the man is doing a Universal Horror Pop-Up Book! My brain is going to explode at how cool this is! Mommy? is loosely based on the play It's Alive, also by Maurice Sendak. After so long in the works, Mommy! is wending it's way towards an autumn 2006 release from Scholastic Books. In time for Hallowe'en, I'm sure!

Cute Zombie Attack

Declan Skwarczek is the spawn of Eat Your Lunch. Declan is also the creator and star of the must-see short, Zombie 2: Darkness Of Dead. Mind blowingly cute undead film in the grand tradition of Monster Kid home movies. His dad tells me he's a big Tutenstein fan, too... awww...

The Phantom Army

Japanese Suitmation shows produced some of the creepiest looking monster costumes ever. Maybe it was all that nuclear bombing seeping into the collective pop culture, but WOW... look at these freaky yokai-ish Phantom Army mutants from the 1973/74 series Inazuman! Yikers! F.Y.I., Inazuman went through a moth-like transformation... first entering a pupal stage called "Sanagiman" by weaving a coccoon around himself. Sanagiman has limited powers and must wait until the power gauge on his belt powers up to full. At that point, he poses and yells the command, "Choriki Shorai!" (Super Powers Summoned), the pupa explodes, and reveals the mighty Inazuman underneath. Yessir... even the good guys were kinda gross!

Two Headed Monster Fight

Mister Kitty's got a great thing going with his Stupid Comics site. 'Head' on over to see Electro batttle a two headed monster and some filthy rich zombies.

Good Ol' Jake

If you're ever out near Marsh's free museum in Long Beach, Washington, be sure to drop in and say hello to my pal Jake the Alligator Man. He may be dead, but he's still likes a little company. Who is Jake, you might ask? Well, no less an authority than The Weekly World News said, "Scientists call bizarre creature the Missing Link." But Sideshow World has the full scoop... "A lot of folks claim Jake was a valet in a New Orleans whorehouse. Others say that Jake was a sideshow freak who smoked cigars and could nod yes or no to simple questions when asked. There have even been people that stopped by to visit Jake that say they've seen him alive in a Texas carnival. Out of all the curiosities found in Marsh's Free Museum Jake the Alligator Man is the most amazing."

House of Horror

You gotta love that In Crowd series by Amos Toys... Zombies and Monsters and Punks, Oh My! This is how to make a grown man buy toys.

More Evil

Here's some more Mr. & Mrs. J. Evil Scientist for your sick enjoyment. Click to enlarge the comic.

GrrrrRabbit!

NEWSFLASH!-- A real-life 'Wererabbit' is on the loose in Felton, England, just in time for Easter. From the BBC: "Sharp-shooters have been brought in to defend allotment patches in Northumberland suffering from a real-life "curse of the were-rabbit". The ravenous giant rabbit, named after the famed Wallace and Gromit character, is reported to have ripped up dozens of prize-winning leeks and turnips." No, really.

Indubitably Abominable

If you're anything like me, you've always wanted to be attacked by a rampaging Yeti. Now you can! Expedition Everest opened in Disney's Animal Kingdom earlier this month, and, "...unlike any other roller coaster, tracks ripped to shreds force the ride to an abrupt hault. Then, backward you plunge along a new course as the great Yeti, a mere shadow at first, takes over the ride. And before you step off, you'll whiz by a mammoth-size replica of the beast."

Ogre

Here's another monster advert from the pages of BATS. Brought to you by the team of Gladir and Busino. Hope you don't think it stinks...

The Trouble With Poltergeists

Boyohboy! Monsterama favourite, Matt Putnum-Puliot (of 'Little Daikaiju' fame) , has a new home for all his creepilicious strips called Dial K For Komics, featuring a wonderful new series called The Trouble With Poltergeists. Go check it out!

Cut Apart And Given New Life

Comic book writer John Rozum has an interesting side hobby. Late at night, he takes out his long, sharp scissors, and goes to work slashing pretty pieces of paper to bits, and then reassembling them into often monsterous works of art. He calls it 'collage', and says it's perfectly legal. His blog is full of these paper zombies, many done up to look like Hanna-Barbera characters like Big and Little Gruesome or the Scooby Doo gang, which suits Monsterama just fine. But if the cops come snooping, I never told you anything...

Eerie Emulsions

Hmmmn... I sure do love old style photographs. They're even better if they have aliens and neanderthals in them like these beautifully creepy prints by Stephen Berkman. His art objects are pretty icky, too. And I mean that in a good way.

Milton The Monster

One of my favourite cartoon shows is Hal Seeger's Milton the Monster, a half-hour anthology series that first appeared on October 9th, 1965 on ABC, and continued as re-runs of the same 34 episodes until 1968. It is often erroneously reported that Mr. Seeger was cashing in on the hot 1964 horror-comedy TV fad that included The Munsters and The Addams Family, but Milton the Monster had in fact been in production long before those two series aired and it was actually slated to debut in fall 1964 until various production delays pushed it back to October 1965. Milton was a Frankensteinish monster, created by Professor Weirdo and his strange friend Count Kook. As recounted each week in the theme song, Weirdo spoons in liberal doses of essence of terror and sinister sauce and is supposed to put in just a wee drop of tincture of tenderness so the monster doesn't turn right around and destroy him. But, OOP!-- his arm is bumped by Kook and too much goes in... Milton comes to life with gentle manners and a kind heart. Because of his goodness, Weirdo and Kook repeatedly try to kick him out of the mansion on Horrible Hill where all three reside along with fellow monsters Heebie (a skull-faced ghoul) and Jeebie (a shaggy, green cyclops). Milton and his friends definitely fell into the goofy rather than scary category, with some clever scripts by the team of Jack Mercer and Kin Platt, as well as Woody Kling. Bob McFadden provided the Gomer Pyle-esque voice for Milton, an 'Aw, Shucks' country bumpkin approach (McFadden was also the Karloffy voice behind Frankenberry!). Other than the wonderful Fearless Fly segments, none of the other backup cartoon shorts were very memorable... Milton being the best of the bunch. He even got a one-shot Dell comic book in 1966, excerpted here...