Monday Morning, No Blues...
Ya, I know -- "Speak for yourself, Bissette!" Well, this Monday morn finds me applying the final coats of poly to the massive new computer desktop that'll be installed into my studio this week (with just enough poly left to slap one coat on the wall-mounted floor-to-ceiling shelving unit), and it's warm outside and I'm prepping for tomorrow's CCS class all day, so it's all good from here.
Some links, updates, and news:
Meet David Paleo: If Taboo still existed, he'd be there!
Thanks to an October email out of the blue from Argentina, and a followup from Mark Martin, whose email to me prompted contact with one David Paleo and a little connect-the-dots to the earlier October email I referred to, it's my great pleasure to introduce you to a cartoonist you've likely not heard of -- or much of, unless you're familiar with his appearances in The Comics Journal oversize specials, or saw his work in Satan's Three-Ring Circus. Meet David Paleo, whose art would be a fixture of Taboo were I still editing/co-publishing that verboten anthology. He's the first cartoonist I've seen whose work echoes and expands upon that of my old amigo Rick Grimes, though I've no idea if David has ever seen Grimes's work. David's work has its own distinctive intensity, and an eye for detail closer to the more Basil Wolverton-inspired underground comix maestros of yore, but don't take my word for it. You'll see what I mean if you check out these single-page illustrations:
Niamis
Suaz
Vvovil
Mark also sent me a link to one of David's stories, and it's mesmerizing, hilarious, perverse, and downright anus-puckering in the extreme. WARNING! Be sure you've finished breakfast/lunch/dinner before clicking to this one! You have been cautioned! If you've the belly for it, check out the scatalogical three-page story"Mengeloid!"
__
Where Oh Where is Horrible Hamilton?
ALERT! ALERT! Aging cartoonist seeking alien artifact from his youth! Does anyone out there know where I can get my hands on a Horrible Hamilton? I would so love to see my old buddy again.
Last night I caught the first fifteen minutes of the new WB show Supernatural, which left me cold and indifferent, despite the bug attacks peppering every closing for a commercial break. Yawn.
Now, I remember when bugs were big, I mean, BIG. And I remember when they invaded the pages of the beloved Sears Christmas Catalog back in '62 or '63, via the unexpected appearance of outsized, green, bug-eyed, blood-veined sac bristling, jaws-agape invertebrate extraterrestrials who presented themselves as -- Hamilton's Invaders!
That Christmas, these objects of compulsive fascination indeed invaded our Christmas, and they were great monster toys. There was no explanation for who or what Hamilton might be, so I assumed he was the main bug, the BIG bug -- Horrible Hamilton -- and here he is, in all his glory:
Horrible Hamilton and his Beetle Battle-buster!
Both insects moved -- Horrible Hamilton by a rotation of that quartet of legs, activated by pulling a string out of his ass, the beetle by a little motor and wheels in his carapace underbelly -- and if you pried their jaws open, they would automatically close upon contact with, say, a plastic soldier, or one of the futuristic army grunts featured with the following:
Weapons of Mass Destruction to Halt Horrible Hamilton's Invaders!
Hamilton's Invaders Helmet!
I had them all -- and as a matter of fact, that final item -- the helmet, still in its (beat up) box -- is in the Henderson State University/HUIE Library collection of my weird shit, in case any of you doubt my wistful memories here. Lea Ann, quick, display the helmet! Better yet, wear it! It may be all that saves you from... Hamilton's Invaders!
I gave up my helmet to the greater good of the Stephen R. Bissette collection at HUIE, but I'd sure love to find a real, semi-live Horrible Hamilton. If anyone has any leads, let me know, please!
These colorful online pix come to you and me courtesy of the marvelousGallery of Monster Toys. It's a site my amigo Michael Ryan steered me to, and here's what its sponsors have to say about Hamilton's Invaders:
"A set of imaginative "giant bug" toys. Though manufactured in the 60's, their B-movie style owed more to the 50's. Three large boxed playsets included one giant bug, a military vehicle and a squad of brave plastic soldiers. Several smaller bugs were sold seperately, as were additional vehicles, soldiers and a helmet that kids could wear. The "leader" bug was named Horrible Hamilton, the biggest of the invading insects."
Explore the site, and have some fun.
___
And if this wasn't a toxic enough dose of my obsessions on a Monday morning, or enough of little ol' me to slake your thirst for Bissettiana, I've just completed on online interview for the regional website iBrattleboro site. It's the website for the closest thing to a real town, Brattleboro, VT, where my daughter Maia and son Dan live and work, so it's home sweet home for some of the Bissette clan.
Anyhoot, iBrattleboro Grand Omnipotent Stomper and contributor Christopher Grotke asked me some pungent questions (including some I've never been asked before -- read all about my high school animation experiments!), so my futher blatherings await youhere.
That's that for this morning... Have a great Monday, if the Mengeloid didn't put you off your granola!
Ya, I know -- "Speak for yourself, Bissette!" Well, this Monday morn finds me applying the final coats of poly to the massive new computer desktop that'll be installed into my studio this week (with just enough poly left to slap one coat on the wall-mounted floor-to-ceiling shelving unit), and it's warm outside and I'm prepping for tomorrow's CCS class all day, so it's all good from here.
Some links, updates, and news:
Meet David Paleo: If Taboo still existed, he'd be there!
Thanks to an October email out of the blue from Argentina, and a followup from Mark Martin, whose email to me prompted contact with one David Paleo and a little connect-the-dots to the earlier October email I referred to, it's my great pleasure to introduce you to a cartoonist you've likely not heard of -- or much of, unless you're familiar with his appearances in The Comics Journal oversize specials, or saw his work in Satan's Three-Ring Circus. Meet David Paleo, whose art would be a fixture of Taboo were I still editing/co-publishing that verboten anthology. He's the first cartoonist I've seen whose work echoes and expands upon that of my old amigo Rick Grimes, though I've no idea if David has ever seen Grimes's work. David's work has its own distinctive intensity, and an eye for detail closer to the more Basil Wolverton-inspired underground comix maestros of yore, but don't take my word for it. You'll see what I mean if you check out these single-page illustrations:
Mark also sent me a link to one of David's stories, and it's mesmerizing, hilarious, perverse, and downright anus-puckering in the extreme. WARNING! Be sure you've finished breakfast/lunch/dinner before clicking to this one! You have been cautioned! If you've the belly for it, check out the scatalogical three-page story
__
Where Oh Where is Horrible Hamilton?
ALERT! ALERT! Aging cartoonist seeking alien artifact from his youth! Does anyone out there know where I can get my hands on a Horrible Hamilton? I would so love to see my old buddy again.
Last night I caught the first fifteen minutes of the new WB show Supernatural, which left me cold and indifferent, despite the bug attacks peppering every closing for a commercial break. Yawn.
Now, I remember when bugs were big, I mean, BIG. And I remember when they invaded the pages of the beloved Sears Christmas Catalog back in '62 or '63, via the unexpected appearance of outsized, green, bug-eyed, blood-veined sac bristling, jaws-agape invertebrate extraterrestrials who presented themselves as -- Hamilton's Invaders!
That Christmas, these objects of compulsive fascination indeed invaded our Christmas, and they were great monster toys. There was no explanation for who or what Hamilton might be, so I assumed he was the main bug, the BIG bug -- Horrible Hamilton -- and here he is, in all his glory:
Both insects moved -- Horrible Hamilton by a rotation of that quartet of legs, activated by pulling a string out of his ass, the beetle by a little motor and wheels in his carapace underbelly -- and if you pried their jaws open, they would automatically close upon contact with, say, a plastic soldier, or one of the futuristic army grunts featured with the following:
I had them all -- and as a matter of fact, that final item -- the helmet, still in its (beat up) box -- is in the Henderson State University/HUIE Library collection of my weird shit, in case any of you doubt my wistful memories here. Lea Ann, quick, display the helmet! Better yet, wear it! It may be all that saves you from... Hamilton's Invaders!
I gave up my helmet to the greater good of the Stephen R. Bissette collection at HUIE, but I'd sure love to find a real, semi-live Horrible Hamilton. If anyone has any leads, let me know, please!
These colorful online pix come to you and me courtesy of the marvelous
"A set of imaginative "giant bug" toys. Though manufactured in the 60's, their B-movie style owed more to the 50's. Three large boxed playsets included one giant bug, a military vehicle and a squad of brave plastic soldiers. Several smaller bugs were sold seperately, as were additional vehicles, soldiers and a helmet that kids could wear. The "leader" bug was named Horrible Hamilton, the biggest of the invading insects."
Explore the site, and have some fun.
___
And if this wasn't a toxic enough dose of my obsessions on a Monday morning, or enough of little ol' me to slake your thirst for Bissettiana, I've just completed on online interview for the regional website iBrattleboro site. It's the website for the closest thing to a real town, Brattleboro, VT, where my daughter Maia and son Dan live and work, so it's home sweet home for some of the Bissette clan.
Anyhoot, iBrattleboro Grand Omnipotent Stomper and contributor Christopher Grotke asked me some pungent questions (including some I've never been asked before -- read all about my high school animation experiments!), so my futher blatherings await you
That's that for this morning... Have a great Monday, if the Mengeloid didn't put you off your granola!
posted by SRBissette at
6:29 AM
5 Comments
