30 October 2017

Tricky Treat

Well, tomorrow is Halloween. So let's check back with Bugs and see if he's ready yet...


Maybe not.
Right then - let's skip across the pond and check in with the Dandy and see what Tricky Dick is up to for Halloween shenanigans...


His work here done, he heads out back to check on Dad...


And so, Tricky Dick, being a dick on day for tricks with a really big bag full, spends the next 50 pages terrorizing the town...
 






But and good(?) things must come to an end, and so...


Maybe he should stayed home and read The Topper instead.
(Hmm. Can you read the book you appear in? Perhaps not. Okay - should have gone with The Beano)

Here's our cover, for them what likes 'em: 



Tricky Dick by John Dallas for Tricky Dick's Hallowe'en Horrors (1985) 

It Was The 70s...

Our Halloween Blue Monday continues with, as alluded, The Sexorcist-


Yes, eagle-eyed readers, that is Ernie Colon's artwork gracing the cover of this book. In fact, though it is a text novel, Colon's art is on pretty much every page. It is a short book, however. Less than 50 pages of text.

If you're too young to be familiar with Ernie Colon's work as an artist and editor, he began his career back in the 60s, working at Harvey, Gold Key and Warren before moving to DC to work as both artist & editor. That didn't stop him from working with Marvel, too. The man's work was everywhere, and he introduced characters like Amethyst and edited titles like Flash, Green Lantern, & Wonder Woman.
In more recent times he's drawn the 9/11 Commission Report graphic novel and other more politically important work.

As you can tell looking at the cover, this was the 1970s.
Ernie was approached to illustrate the book for Bleep, but didn't really want to do that sort of thing and turned them down. But, they wanted him and kept pushing more money at him until he felt it would be just stupid to refuse it. It was the 70s - sex was on the upswing, The Exorcist was huge. And Jaws gave us that cello Da-Dum echoing in our heads...



NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.



Hey, look! Jack Kirby wasn't the only one experimenting with collage work in his comics back in 1974:



Unfortunately, the printing on this page is terribly muddy. I'd love to see this artwork clean:



It's not a great book, but it's certainly unique and a look at a side of Ernie Colon's work we don't often see.
The author goes uncredited on the book. In fact, the only credit is Ernie's signature on his work.
Even the publisher's name gets BLEEPed.

illustrations for The Sexorcist by Ernie Colon for Bleep Publications (1974)

Monday Cafe

It's time to face a new week, and we always try to help with our regular Monday feature -


...um, no....  That's not it. But that is our featured artist this outing - Dave Stevens, an artist fairly well known for his loving renditions of the female form, as well as for triggering a renaissance of interest in the immortal Bettie Page. Both are easily great features we'll focus on in the future, let's narrow things down a bit to vaguely Halloween/Spooky/Supernatural themed images from Mr. Stevens for this edition of



Meanwhile, back in the pumpkin patch...

NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.


That comic sure has changed since i was a kid.
Something we get to see less often is Dave's paintings, such as this lovely witch-



Dave's Delicious Daughters of Darkness:



She may be "dressed," but his rendition of Vampirella looks all the more naked for it




Ever wonder who's in charge of dirty movies down below?



Let's end it with a another look at the bewitching Jill-



That's enough for now. We wouldn't want to have to call a sexorcist...

all art by Dave Stevens (various)

29 October 2017

More Than Just Pumpkins

From classic comics characters to classic comic monsters - The Monster Of Frankenstein, to be precise. Nice how they used the simple phrase and font sizing to effectively call the book/monster Frankenstein while still maintaining accuracy, way back in the days before they had to worry about the internet setting the alt-write* on them.
Now, some might say this tale has more to do with Little Shop Of Horrors Day than Halloween, but Eclipse decided it was right for their Halloween Horror book back in 1987, and that's good enough for me. But, i prefer the colouring on the original version from 1954's Frankenstein #33, so that's what we're going with for this tale.


For you cover lovers, here's the cover to this issue of Frankenstein and for the Halloween anthology book that reprinted it:


Frankenstein And The Plant drawn by Dick Briefer for Frankenstein #33 (1954)


===
*(that is what we're supposed to call grammar nazis now, right?)

Halloween With The Classics

Let's visit with some of the classics for the holiday, eh?
How about a peek to see what good ol' Bugs and the gang are up to for Halloween-


Um... maybe we better come back later. He looks... busy.

Well, there's someone else for whom Halloween is a very special holiday...




"Would I confuse NBC with CBS?"
You see, kids, way back almost before Once Upon A Time, there were only 2 networks on television, both having transitioned from nationwide radio networks. ABC didn't join the fun until the 60s, leading Get Smart to run the I, Spy parody episode "Die, Spy" featuring the menace of a Third Spy Network - ACB.


More timely cultural references. The now retired slogan for Avis car rentals - We're #2 - We Try Harder - was nearly omnipresent in advertising at the time.
I, of course, prefer Snapple's old campaign - We Want To Be #3




Hm. Looks like he's just back from woodstock...



Not On Mockingbird Lane

It's time for a more traditionally flavoured Halloween treat. Let's dig back into 1945's Dime Comics #1 for some Spooky Creeps-


Neither i nor the Grand Comics Database have any clue who wrote & drew this tale.

Spooky Creeps from Dime Comics #1 (1945)