Archive Page 93

The Art of Earl Norem: Planet of the Apes #8, #22, and #28 (1975 – 1977)

Published November 5, 2013 Comic Books , Curtis Magazines , Earl Norem , Make Mine Marvel , Planet of the Apes Leave a Comment

Norem Original Pencils 1975

Norem POTA #8 1975

Norem POTA #22 1976 original

Norem POTA #22

norem pota 28 1977

POTA #28

Many of Earl Norem’s original pencils and paintings, from the ’60s through the ’90s, are popping up on eBay. (The original pencils for Planet of the Apes #28 went for over $1000.) A lot of it is in pretty rough shape—multiple folds, tattering, yellowing. Illustration was a tough gig, and artists had to crank out page after page of quality work to make a living. Even for Norem, who was well established by this point, there was no time for sentimentality. It was all business.

The more I see from Norem, the more I realize how much he contributed to the vision of almost every major kid’s property from the late ’70s through the late ’80s, including Conan, The Six Million Dollar Man, Indiana Jones, Planet of the Apes, Buck Rogers, Masters of the Universe, D&D, Marvel Comics (superhero and horror), G.I. Joe, and the Transformers.

The amount of detail he squeezes into his cover paintings is staggering. See the control panels in #28, the chimp’s hair in #22, and the dense, layered colors he uses to fill the big spaces in #8.

British Kids Using Computers, 1980 – 1981

Published November 4, 2013 Atari , Computer Labs , Personal Computers , Video Games 13 Comments
Mirror-2 1981

Slatyford Comprehensive School, 1981. Photo: The Mirror

All of the photos shown here are from The Mirror/Daily Mirror archives and collected by Us Vs Th3m. Click the link to see more.

The first one shows the lads on a Video Genie, known as the Dick Smith (of Dick Smith Electronics) System 80 in Australia and New Zealand, where it was important as an alternative to the scarce and largely unaffordable TRS-80. It appeared briefly in North America as the PMC-80.

Mirror-3 1981

Longbenton High School, Newcastle, 1981. Photo: The Mirror

The Research Machines 380Z was developed and produced in Oxford for the education market starting in 1977. It was succeeded in 1981 by the Link 480Z, although the 380Z continued to be produced until 1985.

Mirror-4 1980

Benfield Road High School, 1980. Photo: The Mirror

Another 380Z (the CPU is under the TV). The aloof pose of the young lady on the right reminds me of the young lady in this photo. Not everyone found the new technology thrilling, or even interesting.

Mirror-1 1980

Space Invaders World Championship, 1981. Photo: The Mirror

Okay, so the kids aren’t really “computing,” but it’s a beautiful shot. The description identifies the scene as the “National Space Invaders Championship” of 1981, but that event, probably the most famous video game tournament in history, took place in late 1980, and it was exclusive to the U.S. (The Golden Age Arcade Historian talks about it here.) The Space Invaders World Championship was held in 1981.

The Black Hole Portfolio Folders (Mead, 1979)

Published November 1, 2013 Black Hole, The , School Supplies , Sci-Fi Movies/TV , Sci-Fi Production Design 3 Comments

BH-1

BH-12

BH-2

BH-11

BH-3

BH-10

BH-4

BH-9

BH-5

BH-8

BH-6

BH-7

The Black Hole Sheet Sets (1979)

Published November 1, 2013 '70s Decor/Design/Fashion , Black Hole, The , Sci-Fi Movies/TV 4 Comments

Black Hole Sheet

Black Hole Sheet-2

Black Hole Sheet-3

Black Hole Sheet-4

Black Hole Sheet-5

Black Hole Sheet-6

Black Hole Sheet 79

Black Hole Sheet 79-2

Black Hole Sheet-7

Black Hole Sheet-8

Black Hole Sheet-9

Black Hole Sheet-10

(Via eBay and Etsy)

Movie Theater Marquees: Dawn of the Dead (1979)

Published October 31, 2013 '70s Movies/TV , George Romero , Horror Movies/TV , Movie Theaters/Marquees 1 Comment

 DOTD Marquee 1978

I don’t remember where I found the photo, unfortunately, but it’s the creepiest one I’ve got. It almost looks like a screenshot from a post-apocalyptic movie referencing another post-apocalyptic movie. What’s the figure doing? Where is everyone else? Who’s taking the photo? The only thing I can think of is that he wants to show off his DotD t-shirt under the DotD marquee.

The Hollywood Theatre was a classic. You can see a better shot of the beautiful marquee here. It closed in 1992, “doomed” by “the seedy, dilapidated state of Hollywood Boulevard.”

Also, there’s this:

DOTD 1979

Halloween, 1984: Gizmo and Gremlins

Published October 30, 2013 '80s Decor/Design/Fashion , '80s Movies/TV , Halloween , Halloween Costumes , Horror Movies/TV 2 Comments

Halloween Doom 1984

The Gremlins costume is a Ben Cooper, but I have no idea why it says STAR. It should say STRIPE, the only Gremlin named in the movie. At the time, even though I adored Gremlins (kids were literally running out of the theater, scared shitless—it was awesome), I would have been all over that Dr. Doom costume. In ’83 and ’84 my pursuit of comics was approaching mania.

UPDATE (10/12/15): Thanks so much to Shawn Robare for pointing out that the Gremlins costume does indeed say Stripe. My reading of “Star” was an optical illusion.

Here’s the Ben Cooper Gizmo costume.

img301 Halloween 1984

There was also a full body Gizmo costume. Here it is in action.

Halloween Gizmo 1984

And here’s the McCall’s pattern, if you want to try and track it down. Notice the box with the painted air holes (not included).

Halloween Gizmo McCalls 1984

(Photos via bobcat135/Flickr, Sean/Flickr, Needleloca, and Etsy)

Jan Terri’s ‘Get Down Goblin’ (1994)

Published October 29, 2013 Halloween 1 Comment

Welcome to your Halloween theme song for 2013. You can thank my friend J., who sent it my way. Jan Terri is real. She is not being ironic. At this very moment, she’s running a Kickstarter campaign (only 10 days left!) to fund her “final” album, No Rules. Please go there and listen to “the hit single,” “Skyrocket.” I beg you.

Full lyrics to “Get Down Goblin” are here.

(Video via oswaldwang/YouTube)

The 700 Club on a Certain Fantasy Role-Playing Game That Shall Not Be Named: ‘Only Blood Will Satisfy the Dragon’ (1993)

Published October 29, 2013 D&D , Moral Panic 9 Comments

You may have seen this one before. I can’t resist making some comments:

  1. Can I hire that 13th century DM and his gnarly DM’s Tome™ for parties? “There’s only one way to save yourself, and that way is blood.” Cool. Everybody put your keys in the jar and pass the knife!
  2. How exactly do those dice work? Are the numbers coordinates? And why the hell does he roll again when the treasure and “power beyond imagination” are right in front of him?
  3. I’d like to be one of the shadowy figures who removes a player (or places a menacing hand on the player’s shoulder) once that player is “no more.” Do I have to apply? I bet there’s a psych test.
  4. What the hell do the kid and his dog have to do with anything? And who are they looking up at in the woods? Is Satan wearing Levi’s? Whoever it is, he’s like 20 feet tall.

The complete 700 Club episode the clip belongs to is here. Both videos are via LadySorrowIshana/YouTube.

Board Games: Which Witch (1970), Voice of the Mummy (1971), Séance (1972), and Superstition (1977)

Published October 28, 2013 Board Games/Tabletop Games , Occult/Supernatural 5 Comments

Which Witch 1970

Voice of the Mummy 1971

Seance 1972

Superstition 1977

Voice of the Mummy is the only one I’ve played, and it was over 30 years ago. There’s a little plastic record playing under the mummy that directs the players’ moves. Example: “The Screeching Green Pestilence Brings Death. Take Three Jewels if Your Age is an Odd Number.” Read all the messages here. Séance uses the same concept.

The resurgence of the horror genre in the ’70s was paralleled by a fascination for all things supernatural and occult. Both Rosemary’s Baby (Ira Levin’s fatalistic novel was a bestseller before it was adapted for film) and the musical Hair—promising a coming era of peace and love, the Age of Aquarius—came out in 1967. The hippies, determined to escape an everyday reality that had become toxic to them, also experimented with witchcraft, magic, and paganism.

All of this eventually filtered down to the mainstream and middle class kids. Ouija boards were sold in all the major catalogs. Doctor Strange (“Master of the Mystic Arts”), Ghost Rider, and the Son of Satan were popular superheroes. Everybody saw Anton LaVey or Satan himself in the inside cover of Hotel California (1976). Heavy metal, much of which directly referenced the occult, was charting. Two popular kid’s books with occult themes, Watcher in the Woods (1976) and Escape to Witch Mountain (1975), were adapted by Disney—both of them saw heavy rotation at my Lutheran elementary school on “movie day.”

The Moral Majority would soon put an end to the ride.

Movie Theater Marquees: Friday the 13th, Don’t Go in the House, and Aliens (1980, 1986)

Published October 25, 2013 '80s Movies/TV , Alien Trilogy , Horror Movies/TV , Movie Theaters/Marquees , Sci-Fi Movies/TV 3 Comments

Friday the 13th 1980

The Warner Cinerama Theatre in New York, originally The Strand Theatre, opened in 1914. It was demolished in 1987.

Don’t Go in the House is a very low budget slasher about (the IMDb description is brutally succinct) “a victim of child abuse… who grows up to become a maniacal construction worker. He stalks women at discos, takes them home, then hangs them upside-down in a special steel-walled room and sets them on fire.” The trailer is here.

Below is the same theater seen from the opposite side. You can see a Howard the Duck poster to the left of the marquee.

I saw Aliens four or five times at the theater in the summer of ’86. It was a perfect movie then, and it’s a perfect movie now.

Aliens Marquee 1986

(Images via Jane R. Fink/Pinterest and Cinema Treasures)

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