It’s not Tales of Fantasy, but still a rare and wonderful book. The artist is unknown.
Archive for the 'Coloring/Activity Books' Category
Mitsubishi Colt Lancer Promotional Coloring Book, Circa 1976
Published November 17, 2015 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Coloring/Activity Books 1 Comment
Groovy item meant to keep the kids busy at the dealership while dad and mom kicked the tires. Joginder Singh won the Safari Rally in 1973 and 1976 driving a Colt Lancer.
Cars didn’t transform in the ’70s. They just went really fast to evade the cops or catch the bad guys.
Dragon’s Lair Coloring Book: ‘Dirk the Daring Battles the Giddy Goons’ (Marvel Books, 1984)
Published November 16, 2015 Coloring/Activity Books , Dragon's Lair , Marvel Books (Imprint) , Video Games Leave a Comment
There were two coloring books and two coloring/activity books based on Dragon’s Lair, all of them published in 1984 by Marvel Books. The second coloring book is The Magic Sword, and the coloring/activity books are Dirk the Daring Battles the Black Knight and Dirk the Daring Battles the Crypt Creeps.
More on Dragon’s Lair here, and I talk about the Marvel Books imprint here.
(Images via Dragon’s Lair Fans)
Fantastic Four Meet ‘The Witch’ Coloring Book (Whitman, 1977)
Published October 28, 2015 Coloring/Activity Books , Make Mine Marvel Leave a Comment
James Bond’s Moonraker to Color, Cut Out and Fly (Price/Stern/Sloane, 1979)
Published June 15, 2015 Coloring/Activity Books , James Bond , Moonraker , Troubador Press 1 Comment
A rare piece of US-made Moonraker merchandise that I want to get a better look at. The “color, cut out and fly” design was lifted from Malcolm Whyte’s Troubador Press, whose Paper Airplanes to Color, Fold & Fly by Marc Arceneaux was published in 1974. Space-themed titles followed in the wake of Star Wars.
I think these bad photos came from a long finished auction, but can’t quite remember.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Coloring Book: The Crown of Rulership (1983) (Part One)
Published May 18, 2015 Coloring/Activity Books , D&D , D&D Art , D&D Non-Gaming Merchandise , Earl Norem , TSR 2 Comments
A new adventure begins, this time with the creative team of David Anthony Kraft (writer) and Pablo Marcos (artist). The cover is by Earl Norem.
Kraft started at Marvel as the editor of FOOM in 1978 and had a memorable run on The Defenders. Throughout the ’80s he worked on promotional materials, coloring/activity books, and the Marvel Books imprint. He went on to found the influential Comics Interview, which ran from 1983 to 1995.
Peruvian Pablo Marcos emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1970s and got his first American comics work with Warren and Skywald publications before moving to Marvel. He is best known for penciling Tales of the Zombie and inking John Buscema’s Conan the Barbarian.
As for the story thus far in The Crown of Rulership, my only question is, why the hell is the map to the all-powerful Crown shoved in willy-nilly with all the other scrolls, and very much out in the open? Better yet, why hasn’t someone of lawful good alignment already secured the Crown, to prevent evildoers from doing the same?
More to come. The AD&D Characters Coloring Book, if you haven’t seen it, is here.
Jaws 2 Activity Book (Grosset and Dunlap, 1978)
Published April 21, 2015 Coloring/Activity Books , Jaws 1 Comment
Keep your eyes open.
Tales of Fantasy by Larry Todd (Troubador Press, 1975) (Part Two)
Published March 2, 2015 Books , Coloring/Activity Books , Counterculture (1960s) , Fantasy Art , H.P. Lovecraft , Larry Todd , Lord of the Rings, The , Troubador Press 2 Comments
In part one I give some background on the book and publisher Malcolm Whyte explains how it came to be. The material Todd covers is a very eclectic mix of ancient myth, fantasy, horror, sci-fi, pulp, children’s literature, and even poetry (Lewis Carroll, whose work was a drug culture keystone). Many of the works represented, including Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, had recently seen new editions as part of Ballantine’s popular Adult Fantasy series.
Willow Activity Book (Jell-O, 1988)
Published February 17, 2015 '80s Movies/TV , Coloring/Activity Books , Fantasy Movies/TV 2 Comments
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Characters Coloring Book (1983) (Part Four)
Published June 30, 2014 Coloring/Activity Books , D&D , D&D Art , D&D Non-Gaming Merchandise , Marvel Books (Imprint) , TSR 4 Comments
The fourth and final installment of the AD&D Characters Coloring Book. My favorite page in this lot: “Mercion is a good cleric. Scary things like skeletons are afraid of her goodness.” I think Zarak looks appropriately sinister, but isn’t he a little short for a half-orc?
Parts one, two, and three of the book are here, here, and here, respectively.
2 Warps to Neptune 