Archive Page 10

Crossbows and Catapults: Battling Giant Minotaur (Lakeside, 1984)

Published January 25, 2016 Board Games/Tabletop Games , Crossbows and Catapults , Ken Kelly 3 Comments

Crossbows Giant 1984

Crossbows Giant 1984-2

Crossbows Giant 1984-3

I had Crossbows and Catapults, but I forgot about all the expansion sets. It’s obvious now that the game, while revolutionary in its way, was a simplified, physical expression of D&D. The problem with pen and paper role-playing is that you need time to play and people to play with. Toy companies began to exploit this limitation early on. Still, Lakeside’s “the fun is only limited by your imagination” is a crude mockery of TSR’s “products of your imagination” motto. You don’t need imagination to play Crossbows and Catapults. You just need what’s in the box.

There was apparently a set that included both the Cyclops and the Minotaur, and the sprawling box art (below) was scanned by some kind soul at Board Game Geek. The artist is Ken Kelly, who was illustrating LJN’s AD&D toy line at the same time. Kelly also did the art for the Crossbows and Catapults: Trojan Horse (1984) expansion set.

I wrote a piece on how Kelly changed the toy industry here.

Crossbows Box 1983

(Images via eBay)

Richard Corben Cover Art for Piers Anthony’s Ox (Nelson Doubleday, 1976)

Published January 22, 2016 Books , Cover Art , Richard Corben Leave a Comment

Corben Ox

My God, the colors!

Richard Corben Cover Art: Anomaly #3 (1971)

Published January 22, 2016 Comic Books , Richard Corben , Underground Comix Leave a Comment

Anomaly #3 Corben

Read the story here. More Corben here.

Neal Adams Concept Art for Unmade Childhood’s End Mini-Series, Circa 1980

Published January 21, 2016 Magazines/Zines , Starlog 6 Comments

Starlog #42 1981-2

Starlog #42 1981-3

Starlog #42 1981-1

Starlog #42 1981-4

Long story short: The project met with Arthur C. Clarke’s approval, but producer Phil DeGeure could not get Universal to put up the huge budget needed to start production. DeGeure was a fan of Adams, who did not disappoint with his conceptual designs.

The article is from Starlog #42 (January, 1981).

Hat tip Martin Kennedy.

X-ploratrons Ads, 1979

Published January 21, 2016 Corgi Toys , X-ploratrons 5 Comments

X-ploratrons Ad 1979

Here’s the X-ploratrons backstory, and below is the ad from the 1979 Corgi catalog. The first ad is illustrated by British artist Frank Langford.

X-ploratrons Catalog 1979

(Images via combomphotos/Flickr and Moonbase Central)

Corgi’s The X-ploratrons (1979)

Published January 20, 2016 2000 AD , Adventure 2000 , Corgi Toys , X-ploratrons 5 Comments

X-Ploratrons 1979-1

X-Ploratrons 1979-2

X-Ploratrons 1979-3

The X-ploratrons were Corgi’s short-lived (and ill-named) answer to Matchbox’s Adventure 2000 line. They seem to have been produced for one year only, and there were four vehicles in total, each featuring specialized equipment: Lasertron (reflector), Magnetron (magnet), Rocketron (firing rocket, working compass), and Scanotron (magnifying lens).

The X-ploratrons, according to the backstory, were created to combat a nature that’s gone wild in a 21st century post-apocalyptic world. While the the actual product doesn’t match the quality and imagination of the Adventure 2000 line, the art is superior: all of the package illustrations were done by Carlos Ezquerra, a longtime 2000 AD alum and the co-creator of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog. Interestingly, Adventure 2000’s Raider Command vehicle appears in a 1978 Judge Dredd story arc called The Cursed Earth.

More views below, and more on the X-ploratrons later.

X-Ploratrons 1979-11

X-Ploratrons 1979-12

X-Ploratrons 1979-10

X-Ploratrons 1979-14

(Images via The Saleroom, Vectis Auctions, and The Toy Cabin)

Clash of the Titans Jigsaw Puzzles (Whitman, 1981)

Published January 19, 2016 Clash of the Titans , Jigsaw Puzzles 11 Comments

COTT Puzzle-1

COTT Puzzle-5

COTT Puzzle-3

COTT Puzzle-4

COTT Puzzle-6

COTT Puzzle-2

Here are three of the four puzzles produced by Whitman. You can see them all in the last shot. The same artist painted all of the covers, but I can’t make out the signature.

UPDATE (1/21/16): Thanks to Ian for identifying the artist as R.L. Allen. Allen did a series of Universal Monster jigsaw puzzles for Whitman in the late 1960s, as well as quite a bit of work for the Masters of the Universe franchise.

Clash of the Titans Illustrated Storybook (Golden Press, 1981)

Published January 19, 2016 Books , Clash of the Titans Leave a Comment

COTT Golden 1981

COTT Golden 1981-2

COTT Golden 1981-3

COTT Golden 1981-4

COTT Golden 1981-5

COTT Golden 1981-6

COTT Golden 1981-7

Not the best pictures, I know, but it’s the best I could do. Illustrations are by Mike Eagle.

Clash of the Titans Coloring/Poster Book (Whitman, 1981)

Published January 15, 2016 Clash of the Titans , Coloring/Activity Books , Posters/Poster Art/Poster Pen Sets/Paint by Number 6 Comments

COTT Coloring 1981

COTT Coloring 1981-2

COTT Coloring 1981-3

COTT Coloring 1981-4

COTT Coloring 1981-5

COTT Coloring 1981-6

It’s not Tales of Fantasy, but still a rare and wonderful book. The artist is unknown.

The First Sword and Sorcery Movie Was Almost Thongor: In the Valley of the Demons

Published January 14, 2016 Magazines/Zines , Starlog 5 Comments

Starlog #15-1

Starlog #15-2

Amicus Production’s Milton Subotsky gave us some of the most beloved B films of the 1960s and 1970s, including two of my all-time favorites: The Land That Time Forgot (1974) and The People That Time Forgot (1977). Too bad we were denied his sword and sorcery extravaganza that would have featured stop-motion animated “air boats,” “lizard-hawks,” “giant flying spiders,” and a “Dragon-God,” not to mention David “Darth Vader” Prowse in the role of the barbarian hero. Subotsky wanted to do a Conan movie very early on, possible as early as the late 1960s, but he couldn’t get the rights. He settled for Lin Carter’s copycat, Thongor.

The article, from Starlog #15 (August, 1978), has Thongor: In the Valley of the Demons slated for a July 1979 release, but it was not to be. Both Clash of the Titans and Conan the Barbarian were in development, and Subotsky couldn’t get the money he needed to compete with the talent involved (namely, Ray Harryhausen).

The first live action sword and sorcery movie was, instead, 1980’s Hawk the Slayer.

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