Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
Darkseid? Darkseid. It appears that DC/Ben Cooper were banking on the success of Super Friends: The Legend of the Super Powers Show, which debuted in September 1984 and was the first animated series to feature the super villain. The Kirby creation had been around in the comics since 1970.
“Hey, Mom, can I be an evil half-orc assassin for Halloween?”
“Sure, honey. Just don’t eat too much candy!”
Actually, I don’t think my parents ever shelled out for a “name brand” costume. My mom would make them herself from supplies she got at the thrift and craft stores.
Chock full of history about monsters and monstercons, Forry Ackerman (check out his office in the fourth photo down), Phil Seuling (early con organizer who developed the direct market distribution model), and James Warren, not to mention some glorious art and ads, you can read the whole program at From Zombos’ Closet, a terrific monsterkid blog. Also check out the equally interesting 1975 Famous Monsters Convention Program.
Found on eBay. These are all the masks included in the book. I posted some cool “punch out” Star Wars masks last year.
I have no recollection of Drak Pack. It aired right after Thundarr, so I don’t know what the problem was, unless I was on my bike by that time. The intro is spectacular! A “new generation” of monsters “dedicated to reversing the evil image of their forefathers,” the teenage mutants transform into “super mighty monsters” and battle Dr. Dred and O.G.R.E. (Organization of Generally Rotten Enterprises). Perfect seasonal viewing. The DVD isn’t readily available, but the single season run is currently on YouTube.
(Image via Once Upon a Geek)
Weird Worlds was a kid’s horror and fantasy magazine that ran for eight issues from 1978 to 1981. Much like other Scholastic magazines, many issues featured a detachable poster. I would love to scan the whole run, because it’s a great example of the kind of advanced, somewhat esoteric material kids expected at the time. There were stories by sci-fi luminaries like Bradbury and Asimov, features on UFOs and paranormal phenomena, weird and disturbing facts and Forteana, fantasy art portfolios (Frazetta, the Brothers Hildebrandt). I particularly remember the wonderfully graphic comic book strips by Steve Bissette, best known now for illustrating Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing in the ’80s. You can read a few of these strips at The Horrors of It All.
Also check out this Monsters of the Greek Myths poster, a Scholastic giveaway from the same year. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: 1980 was a hell of a year to be a kid.
(Image via Donald Deveau/Flickr)
Nine years after Bill Gaines was forced to shelve EC Comics’ horror, crime, and sci-fi titles due to creative restrictions enforced by the Comics Code Authority, Ballantine reprinted a number of the original tales in five volumes published between 1964 and 1966: Tales from the Crypt (1964), The Vault of Horror (1965), Tales of the Incredible (1965), The Autumn People (1965), and Tomorrow Midnight (1966). Frazetta, who had worked briefly for EC in the ’50s, painted the covers for the whole series. Original art for The Autumn People and Tomorrow Midnight are below. You can see all the volumes together here.
Although the stories were in black and white and awkwardly laid out due to the smaller paperback format, the series is notable because it marked the first time the comics had been anthologized, thus introducing a new generation, already developing a taste for what would eventually be called speculative fiction, to the visceral and groundbreaking (pun intended) work of EC.
The following year, Ballantine would release the first authorized paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings, probably the single most important event in the popularization of the fantasy genre. Starting in 1969, Ballantine struck again with the remarkable Adult Fantasy series, which gave H.P. Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Clark Ashton Smith, William Morris, Lord Dunsany, and several other genre pioneers the lofty status they hold today.
(Images via Cap’n’s Comics and Pinterest)
There were at least two Jaws costumes released by Collegeville, as seen above via Babble and Plaid Stallions. There were also minor variations on each design such as different colored pants, etc. The Jaws 2 costume is below. The mask is the same.
2 Warps to Neptune 