Rise the demon...
Father, son, husband, artist, author, researcher, cinema & comics historian, and former instructor (retired),
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Rise the demon...
Any Esperanto speakers/readers hereabout? Just curious.
Watching the "Bad Luck Gremlin" movie. Hope it's not bad luck to watch it...
I recall "THE BIRDS is coming!" prompting MAD mocking Hitchcock's ad campaign ("THE BIRDS is coming—and good grammar has went!"), and complaints from some about MGM's "THE GREEN SLIME are coming" being problematic. But I always think of this one, and it's a movie I irrationally love.
The best history of adult filmmaking I've ever... um...come across. No, that doesn't sound right. Best I've found. Purchased. Have on my library shelf. That's better.
No coincidence: PETER GUNN was a Universal-International studio production. Lots of background Millicent Patrick art in that beatnik joint!
WALKING small— Well, there goes another American crime-crushin' vigilante 'hero.' www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
I've got to check my CD shelves, I know I have some of these; placing an order for those I don't. Great music to draw to on those autumn and winter days...
Because of course. It's Amerika.
Still no official release of this raucous Don Siegel gem. It still blisters the screen (even if bootlegs are all we've got)!
My first stab at writing an entire book; late, great Chas Balun did a miraculous edit on it for THE DEEP RED HORROR HANDBOOK (1989), and I did a limited bound-photocopy edition a couple of times of the complete ms. in subsequent years. Long OOP, maybe I should see it through...?
I love making collage art. Incorporated a few of my drawings into the mix, for FantaCon, back in the... day? Decade?
Thanks so much; I never know, really. "Am I boring somebody shitless?" always runs through my mind at some point—before I go on and on and on... which is the gig, of course. Hope you'll dig these new ones, which will be announced soon!
Two from my paperback bookshelf; original Essex editions.
Lunch or brunch?
As that great patriot we don't remember just now once said, "Give me Uptite Mouse, or give me death!"
I dunno—I've got a pretty wild imagination.
Another one of my SGT. ROCK jobs for editor/mentor Joe Kubert—and my first pro-published script (art by Tom Yeates) for four-color mainstream comic books. Written specifically FOR amigo Tom, so he could draw stuff he loves.
One of my SGT. ROCK gigs for editor/mentor Joe Kubert. And it's all true!
Just wrapped up my deep-dive into the history of Hallmark Releasing out of Boston; it's quite a tale, I tell ya. Woof! What a haul of horrors from the hall[mark] of horrors...
Is it moonlight on, or in, Vermont?
Bring 'em on!
Delivered commentary track last week, delivered loooong bonus feature over the weekend & last night; recording 3 more tracks this and next week. Whew! I'm gonna be drinking a gallon o' Throat Coat herbal tea before I'm done.
My take on an ol' DC villain.
Keeping my one-sheets & posters in eyeshot, to keep me on task... delivering my work early next week (if not sooner), been working months on this one.
NOPE, you didn't miss it! It's not available as yet, Kevin! Soon...
The Devil Bear (1929) is a silent, independent Canadian film that never received a release. The version included on the upcoming Blu-ray is a new scan, without intertitles, as it's believed they were removed in preparation for making the film a talkie.
NEW WORK: What's the DEVIL BEAR (1929) up to? You'll have to go over to Gold Ninja Video to get a copy—while you can—and hey, I contributed a bonus feature to this revival of this rarity!
NEW WORK: I'm among the bonus features on Gold Ninja's forthcoming release of a previously long-lost feature film from our friends in Canada, DEVIL BEAR (1929)! I've wanted to see this film ever since I spotted a wee little photo from it in a book when I was about 7 years old...
NEW WORK: Wow! I'm really psyched to be part of the resurrection of this long-lost Canadian 1929 feature DEVIL BEAR, & you know you love man-in-suit-gorillas as much as the rest of us do, right?
NEW WORK: I contributed an essay to this new book on the life & films of Robert Downey (A Prince), underground & overground filmmaker extraordinaire! Jump in to the crowdfunder, spread the link, please, make it happen—https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/truth-soul-a-robert-downey-sr-reader#/
It wasn't the FIRST, not really. But what the hell, right? "You put your foot down/with an awful clomp..."
Revisiting this classic gem by the late, great Jonathan Kaplan.
Well, well, well.
A fellow comics creator/graphic novelist passed this on to me back when THE SUBSTANCE played theaters (when I saw it). Time to track down & check this comparion out myself...
Ya, well, there's that. Every. Fuckin'. Day, eh?
Not yet, TBA by the client/label when they're ready to go public. Thanks for asking, though!
Two questions: (1) was this actually published? (2) Anybody out there have a copy? Seeking readable pix or scans of the FRIGHTMARE pages, or better yet, a copy of the book itself. I have other titles in the Hemlock Horror Companion series to offer in trade, or happy to pay $$
Recording/editing not one, not two, but 3 commentary tracks and/or bonus features for two different clients. Wish me luck!
I've still got my vomit bag from this showing! Unused, of course.
Tough decision: EASY RIDER (again) or the AIP double-bill at the Paramount? I didn't need two heads to decide: I caught all of 'em that week! AIP double-bills made so many nights memorable in the '70s, up through those that graced my Kubert School years (playing at the Dover NJ Baker Theater).
newspapers.com
During COVID, son Danny & I had a great father&son night out at the Hathaway Drive-In seeing the Pierce Brothers' THE WRETCHED (2019), which we really enjoyed.
I've always had a weakness for MARK, it really got to me first viewing; such a bleak, despairing 'witchfinder' expose. The musical score is terrific, & the cast (Herbert Lom, Udo Kier, Reggie Nalder) lend it sobering conviction. Underrated.
You pick the WINNAH! Godzilla literally 'kicks the shit' outta Hedorah.
Quite liked DAY OF THE DOLPHIN ("Fa love Pa!"); I'd already seen AMERICAN GRAFFITI, CANDIDATE, & the Dirty Harry in Burlington indoor theaters, making it an easy pick to catch BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE the priority this week.
Along with Disney movies, seems like as a family we saw every one of the 1960s Don Knotts movies in the theater (except THE LOVE GOD). We only saw the first feature this drive-in outing. Dad & Mom left the drive-in right after MR. LIMPET. No way they'd let us kids see a frame of its co-feature...
No wonder I couldn't remember what the co-feature was for GODZILLA vs THE SMOG MONSTER—there wasn't one! Another Woodard brothers outing I was invited to join; growing up in VT, it was impossible not to see Hedorah's demise as too much like plain ol' cowpies not to laugh (& laugh we did)!
High school pal Alan Finn & I had a great time with LATITUDE ZERO's matinee this very weekend at the Capitol, which was an easy half-hour haul from our home bases. Cesar Romero transplanting human brains into his flying lion critter had Alan in stitches; Streisand's psychic pic trailer was e-nough
For some reason, ended up seeing MR. LIMPET with family not once, but twice: hardtop cinema in Burlington first, then again at this drive-in showing. The Moonlight & Twin City screens were visible from both car lots; I remember peeking over at THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, had to wait to see it on TV later
AIP double-bills were great nights out for this horror-hungry-teen-with-a-drivers-license. Much as I loved (& love) both PHIBES philms, the Spanish THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED & Hammer's BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB were grand big-screen treats. Also loved/love THE REIVERS & LIGHT, great scores, too...
Tough week for picking 'what to see'—of course, I didn't let the "Frenzy of Blood" double-bill elude me. Vicente Aranda's angry, confrontational, erotic THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE was an instant favorite, handily ghosting I DISMEMBER MAMA, which faded from memory almost instantaneously.
PS: I caught ALL of the movies listed in these ads. ALL. Except I EAT YOUR SKIN, cuz Alan made us leave after the first feature. Thankfully, it was the better (bloodier) of the two!
No, I was 7 years old! Seven. Sorry, brainfart.
Wish I could have seen PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES at the drive-in, but THAT wasn't gonna happen. Drop me off at a matinee at the Capitol for a G-rated movie: that was OK. "Family movies only" were our rare drive-in nights, until I finally got my license at age 16, spring 1971. Then, all bets were off!
First Ray Harryhausen movie I got to see on the big screen! I was 9 years old, first time parents agreed to take us to a movie *I* asked (begged) to see—fortunately, family enjoyed it, even though it was (ahem) "a monster movie." My choices were always VERY suspect, y'understand. Monster Kid & all
8 years old, I was. Greatest drive-in movie night ever; end of summer, one of August's last evenings, parked alongside auto of our next-door-neighbors the Caseys, watching HATARI! laying on the ground with best-friend Mitch Casey & speakers on the grass alongside. Never forget it...
My home state premiere of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY was in October, 1968. Movies didn't open day-and-date-everywhere before the mid-1970s; they gradually arrived, if ever. Burlington "too far a drive," so I had to wait until May 1969, saw its first matinee at the Capitol in Montpelier. Life changing!
I sure did!
PROOF at last! Drove to see it; but... they didn't show it. "We didn't ever get the print to project" the manager said. Oh, well, at least I can prove now it was indeed advertised as a matinee (Montpelier, VT Capitol Theatre)...
Another favorite night-at-the-movies at the Paramount, Barre VT.
A really really, really busy "gotta go to the movies every night" week in July, 1973 for me. Snuck out, alone, twice for the tripe bill at the Twin City... and that's the double-bill at the Twin City my pal Alan Finn was sooo pissed about he insisted we leave after 1st feature (I DRINK YOUR BLOOD)
Nailing the dates I actually saw some favorite films, back when they were new, at local (to me) theaters. A great night out with the Woodard brothers at the Paramount in Barre, VT!
Ya GOTTA see it. Watch the original THE CAT PEOPLE (1942) first, then CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944)—very, very different films, but one does inform the other in ways you'll love.
Watch CREATURE first (1953), SHAPE OF WATER second. It's the remake Universal would never make themselves.
I've been thinking over the years about a question you asked me, Cat, after one of my classroom talks (the one about SWAMP THING #25-27, the autistic school narrative with Etrigan and the Kamara). CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE counts (seriously a great, great movie), for sure...
Out of these? THE SHAPE OF WATER and THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, webbed-hands-down.
I think it was indeed Fabian Nicieza, but I always associate that era with Carol Kalish (1981-1991 at Marvel, VERY visible in reshaping Direct Sales marketing)...
If memory serves, Fabian Nicieza joined up with Marvel under Carol—in '84 or '85? Worked his way up to promotions and advertising, but not sure if that would have been in '87 or not.
PS: Carol Kalish isn't quite correct—Carol was Direct Sales Manager and Vice President of New Product Development at Marvel Comics, 1981–1991. She revolutionized some key elements of the market during her tenure, & died too young. I was working then, including for Marvel (until end of 1982).
Me, I saw ALL of these movies, and more!
Terrific work-in-progress from fellow Vermont graphic novelist @onegemini.com — Blair, you're taking it up to a new level! www.onegemini.com/the-worlds-b...
You elect criminals into high office, & this is what you get.
Martial law in Washington, D.C. Alex Garland's CIVIL WAR is more prescient by the hour.
More recent magazines with my articles: cover stories for both issues of SCREEM, articles on THE BAD & THE BEAUTIFUL and THE SPACE CHILDREN for THE FANTASTIC FIFTIES.
I've had a pretty good track record writing occasionally for SCREEM, landing the cover spot just about every time. Here's hoping I get to do it again sometime soon...
There's days I think, "Jeez, was he really 12 years old when he painted this?" and other days, "no fuckin' way a 12 year old painted this." My, my, how times haven't changed.
Can't have everything...
Carol Kalish.
I have it, Christopher, along with two issues of a Gold Key fanzine and the complete (I got 'em bound in hardcover, two volumes) run of the color chronology of Dell's FOUR-COLOR series and specials. I'm alway looking! Robin Snyder's THE COMICS has detailed much, including editors of the line...
Weellllll, a lot of mayhem follows...
A fantastic book; however, it ignores so much of Western/Dell's published line, though Barrier has always made his preferences clear (I'm a longtime FUNNYWORLD zine buyer/reader, going back to 1970). I totally get his bias, and why, but it really sidelines so much—a companion volume would be welcome
There just aren't enough robot canine comics in the world.
Your Monday morning lesson plan. You will learn...
I love regional horror comics! Lucked into a set of these long ago, at two different Maine multi-dealer 'antique' shops.
Photo from 1959, part of this "comics directory" page...
Welcome home!
From Bernard Bailey's drawing board to 1963's most beloved THE OUTER LIMITS episode, "The Zanti Misfits"—I'm forever convinced the Zantis came from WEIRD MYSTERIES #4!
Dell Comics outsold ALL competitors until 1960. The fact that there's so, so little in print about Dell's history, specifically their longstanding partnership with Western Publishing (until they split in 1962, Western launching Gold Key Comics), remains a tragic oversight amid comics histories.
Someday, hopefully in my lifetime, we'll see the wicked worms in charge now... turn, as they say.
He sure did.
Sigh. TYRANT®—the baby I had to give up. Alas, there never was a #5, nor will there be. But I sure poured my 'all' into the four that I self-published. Thanks for the kind words, nice way to start my Monday...
Monday morning/moaning/mourning headline & news item: www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Them coffin nails gonna take you someday, Constantine. __ ©2020, 2025 Stephen R. Bissette
6:15 AM in the boneyard... __ ©2025 Stephen R. Bissette
Sunrise over the relocated (net-yet-refurbished-or-reopened) Windsor Diner, 6 AM this morning. __ Pic ©2025 Stephen R. Bissette
Returned to morning walks, since the smoke blanket has cleared & 6 AM is inviting again (well, to me, inviting)... __ Pix ©2025 Stephen R. Bissette
These punkass losers are just goofin' off all day long. __ ©2018, 2025 Stephen R. Bissette
