Friday, October 29, 2010

Design of the Week--Dinosaurs vs SpaceMen!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...
To celebrate the release of our new Dinosaurs 2011 12-Month Calendar, our Design of the Week features one of the previously-unseen covers included on the calendar.
It's Wonder Stories, Nov, 1934 featuring "One Prehistoric Night", a tale of alien invaders defeated by...dinosaurs! (The aliens landed on Earth in prehistoric times)
Now that's MY kind of story!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Dead Set...Reality TV Meets Zombies!

Britain is in trouble (or, at least, more than usual).
The dead are returning to life and attacking the living.
The people they kill get up and kill – and it’s spreading like wildfire.
Curiously, there are a few people left in Britain who aren’t worried about any of this – that’s because they’re the remaining contestants on the reality series Big Brother.
Cocooned in the safety of the Big Brother House set, they’re blissfully unaware of the horrific events unfolding outside. Until an eviction night when all hell breaks loose...
Currently running on IFC, the five-part miniseries originally aired in England in 2008 to rave reviews.
Besides the usual kool classics on TCM (including previously unaired uncut Hammer Horrors , Val Lewton and Roger Corman flix, and a Vincent Price tribute), it's the best scary stuff on tv this Halloween weekend. (The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" won't air until November 6th!)
Watch it!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

YouTube Wednesday: THE GREEN HORNET "The Ray is For Killing"

Continuing our weekly feature "YouTube Wednesday"...
The Green Hornet and Kato face art thieves armed with a laser rifle!

Except for the two-part series finale, "Invasion from Outer Space", this was the most outlandish episode of the series.
Usually, the show was a straight "detectives with masks" format, dealing with gangsters, extortionists, etc.
No flashy costumed villains.
No super-weapons (except The Hornet's, of course).

Curiously, there's no explanation as to how these criminals got their hands on a laser, who taught them how to use it (or who's gonna fix it if it breaks), or why they're not using it for more lucrative crimes.
SideNotes:
We don't know who built the laser. These guys didn't have the scientific background to do so. Was there a mad scientist running around the city?
Why didn't The Hornet take the laser and incorporate it into his weaponry? As it is, leaving it for the police left open the possibility that they could adapt it and use it against him and Kato!
The laser itself is shown to be powered by simply plugging it into an electrical outlet! 110 or 220 volts? It also conveniently fits into a suitcase.
There's location shooting in the Los Angeles storm drain system, both inside the tunnels (where the Black Beauty's green headlights really glow with an eerie effect unseen any other time in the series), and outside using some of the same viaducts seen in Terminator 2 and THEM.
Though it's the ninth episode aired, this was the second episode shot, after "Programmed for Death".
We're using a new YouTube provider, HornetNest1000, so you'll notice a slight difference in the openings of the individual segments, though the picture and sound quality are equal to Michelle66's work.
Enjoy.



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

MORE Creepy Calendars Coming!

We already have over three dozen kool 12-month calendars for 2011 covering almost everything from Sherlock Holmes to romance comics to sci-fi / fantasy to wartime aviation to the Old West to The Green Hornet, and back.
 But, are we done? Are we content to sit back and relax?
Not by a long shot, fellow pop culture aficionado!
We're busy finishing up five NEW calendars, requested by...YOU!
Buyers of our Horror Comics of the 1950s™ and Thrilling Science Fiction Tales™ calendars suggested...hinted...cajoled...even begged for subject-specific calendars for themselves and loved ones with serious interest (or even mild obsession) for...
VAMPIRES
ZOMBIES
WEREWOLVES
DINOSAURS
and
BUGS & OTHER CREEPY CRAWLIES!
All featuring cover art photographed directly from rare 1920s-1960s pulp magazines and comic books, digitally-restored and remastered!
NO second-generation pix from reference books or reprints!
NO low-rez files from the Net, rezzed up and pixelated beyond belief!
 What you see here are the covers for the calendars.
We're finishing work on the interior art and will post samples next week as we finish each one.
Check back next week!

Monday, October 25, 2010

No Sh!t, Sherlock!

Caught the updated SHERLOCK on PBS last night.
While my admiration for the "classic" version in both print and film is unbounded, I found this revamped version to be quite entertaining, the same way I enjoyed the 1990-2005 animated DC Comics Universe's use of the established characters and plots of the long-running comics (er, graphic novels) and adapting/updating them or the recent Star Trek revival film.
Don't cry "sacrilege" before watching it!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Shakespeare: the Comic Books (err, I mean Graphic Novels!)

If you're both a graphic novel and Shakespeare fan (or know someone who is)...
If you're a home stager looking for an interesting, kitchy, yet inexpensive, display piece for a library or den...
If you know a budding thespian (or are one)...
Or, if you feel the need to inspire a youngster who just isn't into classic literature, yet...
Why not try one of these three kool posters based on the first comics adaptations of the Bard of Avon by Famous Authors Illustrated!
The comics these images were derived from were produced in the 1940s-50s by a company competing with Classics Illustrated for the educational comics market!
They were so successful, that Gilberton Publishing, the owners of Classics Illustrated, bought out the company to eliminate competition!
Since these books are so hard to find today, one can assume that, when Classics issued their versions of these stories, they "suggested" that libraries and schools destroy the Famous Authors editions (to avoid confusing the kids, of course).

At any rate, these posters, available in several sizes up to 16" x 24" are the perfect size for bedroom, dorm room, or den, and come in a variety of paper types, from a matte finish poster stock to canvas!

Ods Bodkins! Verily and forsooth! If thou dost not acquire yon wall decor, than what canst we say but..."Lord, what fools these mortals be?"