Mucous Monday

It's snowing/sleeting outside, I'm stewing in my own mucous juices with one hell of a cold hammering my chest and head, and chipping away at an interminable interview transcription... flaaaaugh. Monday, Monday; at least I don't have to be on the roads today, though at some point I have to bundle up and go outside to scrape down and salt our driveway so Marge can make it up to the garage by 4 PM. Thereafter, I will have manufactured another vast, clotted ocean of yellow-green phlegm and will be expelling it from every opening and pore.

Speaking of vast oceans of congealing snot, Warner Home Video just announced the release of this cinematic phlgem-drop... ah, my first brush with something I'd had a hand in during my comics career being turned into a movie (the prior experience with Rick Veitch via our Heavy Metal 1941 graphic novel was the opposite: a comic based on a movie).

This clinker is typical Jim Wynorski fare -- as contemptuous of its content as it is of its audience -- and there's a back story I'll share down the road, closer to the January release of this title.

I'm not immune to Wynorski's product -- I love his direct-to-video collaboration with Fred Olen Ray, Dinosaur Island -- but given the reported release of both the Swamp Thing cartoon series and live-action TV series, we'll all soon be nostalgic for those Swamp Thing fuzzy slippers again, a sure sign of the apocalypse.

Jeez, it feels like those slippers are crammed into the back of my throat -- which just about summarizes how Return of the Swamp Thing left me feeling upon first viewing -- rented on video from a general store in South Newfane, VT -- which prompted a sleepless night ("is that what our work read like to others?") until the dawn light and reason prevailed.

Of course, my ST slippers are safely tucked away in the Bissette Collection at HUIE Library!

In cleaning up the clutter on my iBook hard disc last night, Marge and I stumbled on some photos from our visit to Henderson State University's HUIE Library opening on the Bissette Collection back in November, 2005, and I thought I'd post a couple of those here to follow up on last week's post about my shipments to the collection.

I should have put these up long ago -- there's still a number of photos from this event on Marge's computer, and we'll get 'em up here for you to check out sooner than later.

Some notes on what you're seeing in these library showcases: the first photo includes various work editions and documents relevant to the creation of Taboo and Taboo-related projects (From Hell, etc.) and personal collection artifacts like the Diabolik screenplay (that's the green-covered binder in the left window, bottom right), a copy of the Joe Kubert School pioneer class anthology Manticore (1977), and more.

The other case houses more Bissette books and art, including the rare FantaCo promo booklet for the planned (but aborted) adaptation of Night of the Living Dead, the hardcover edition of my Stoker Award-winning novella Aliens: Tribes, Comic Book Rebels, Joe Citro's novel Deus X (the limited edition hardcover I illustrated), the now-rare From Hell: The Compleat Scripts Vol. 1, and more.

A lot of amazing stuff happened this weekend, but I'm too sick to get into it now. Sorry. But really, it was full of odd meetings, remarkable breakthroughs, and the laying of groundwork for some promising 2008 projects. And Marge and I made more ceramic masterpieces, working through our Christmas list with one-of-a-kind items lovingly handpainted by Marge and I. Sweet.

OK, I've got to get back to work -- more tomorrow, and have a moldy Monday...

Shipping More to the Bissette Collection at HUIE Library...

Another jam-packed day, but among my interminable chores every month is the continuing prep, packing and shipping of my collection to Lea Ann Alexander and her staff at HUIE Library, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

This is an ongoing project, now into its third or fourth year, and I thought I'd post a sample ship list just to give you some idea of what info I provide to Lea Ann and her co-workers (and HSU instructor Randy Duncan, who instigated this whole process with his usual "oh, I'm not really doing anything special" diplomacy and grace). Note, too, I am also regularly donating books to The Center for Cartoon Studies Schulz Library and selling off some collectibles in the Quechee Gorge Village Antique Mall booth (dealer #653) -- it's a process, folks.

Here's the contents list for two boxes going out next week. Mind you, this isn't a particularly representative shipment -- there's almost no art, scripts, documents, comics or graphic novels in this particular shipment, which constitutes most of what has been donated already to the HUIE Special Collection. The link to the Collection is forever available to you on the link menu at right -- in time, this information will be online in some form, another huge project related to this special collections venture.

FYI, the goal is to ensure my collection is available long after I'm gone to comics/movie/media/etc. researchers, scholars, creators, fans, etc. and Maia, Danny, Mike and my own heirs (and minimize their nightmare of dealing with "my shit" after I'm gone).

Just thought you might enjoy a snapshot of the process this morning. Have a throbbin' Thursday, folks!

Bissette books:

* DEAD MAN’S HAND (October 2007, Center for Cartoon Studies student anthology, White River Junction, VT) -- Two (2) copies. This student-edited and published anthology features a new 6-page story by Bissette, “Tenderfoot,” completed fall 2007. This was created and published for its debut at the October 2007 SPX independent comics convention in Bethesda, MD; note these copies are signed by most of the CCS participants (inside front cover).

* Foreign Edition of SWAMP THING: SWAMP THING L’INTEGRALE: VOLUME III: LA MALEDICTION (2005, Delcourt/Guy Delcourt Productions, France) -- Note the inclusion of one special piece by yours truly, the original pencil art for the final page of SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #24 on the final page of this collection. I was invited to contribute additional material to this collection series, sans payments, and sent photocopies of many of my original pencils. Alas, few were used.

Related books:

* John Totleben’s FETAL BRAIN TANGO (1991, TundraPublishing Ltd, Northampton, MA) -- “Volume Two in the Tundra Sketchbook Series” features a delightful collection of John’s sketches, doodles and color pieces in many media. John was, of course, my fellow artist on SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING, a fellow XQB (ex-Kubert School student) and a dear friend of 30 years!

Audiobook:

* “DIANE...” THE TWIN PEAKS TAPES OF AGENT COOPER (1990, Audioworks/Simon & Schuster Audio, NY) -- Based on the David Lynch/Mark Frost TV series, performed by Kyle MacLachlan, who played FBI Agent Dale Cooper on TWIN PEAKS. Single cassette, library casing (cut packaging), but complete. I love David Lynch and Mark Frost’s work, and Marge and I loved and love TWIN PEAKS -- this audiocassette took years to track down; this is a second copy from my home collection.

Books:

I’m sending you a chunk of my expansive cinema/film book library this shipment, the tip of the iceberg -- more coming in the future! Believe it or not, these are all (choke) doubles. Note the dominance of genre (all genre) studies, which is a particular interest of mine, and of review books covering specific eras, specifically the late ‘60s-early ‘70s -- the years of my personal maturation and of the American cinema, post-MPAA code repression of what could be filmed and shown and during the initial years of freedom promised by the new MPAA Ratings system. All books listed here are original hardcover editions in dustjackets, unless otherwise indicated.

* JOE BOB GOES BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN (1990, Delacorte Press, NY) and
* IRON JOE BOB by Joe Bob Briggs (aka John Bloom) (1992, Atlantic Monthly Press, NY) -- Paperback editions. “We Are the Weird” (newsletter) and “Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In” (newspaper column, two books collections) codified Bloom under his pen name Joe Bob Briggs as one of the popular advocates of junk culture and satiric male paradigms of the ‘80s and ‘90s. These books followed the demise of his column, booted from its Texan-based syndicate due to content and the dwindling drive-ins surviving into the ‘90s. Briggs and my buddy Chas Balun (THE GORE SCORE, etc.) both parodied and codified an approach to criticism and cinema writing that is now popularized and prevalent, particulalry in genre magazines (RUE MORGUE) and circles.

* THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ANDY WARHOL by Victor Bockris (1989, Bantam Books, NY etc.) -- pb edition, slight wear. Bockris’s excellent bio of 1960s pop artist Andy Warhol covers all aspects of Warhol’s life, art, filmmaking and career.

* PROJECTIONS 7, edited by John Boorman and Walter Donohue (1997, Faber & Faber, London/Boston) -- The seventh volume of this excellent paperback-format cinema magazine; I have nearly a complete set, this is a double. Boorman is the famed director of POINT BLANK, EXCALIBUR, DELIVERANCE, etc., and PROJECTIONS was a key resource in the ‘90s.

* JOSEPH LOSEY: A REVENGE ON LIFE by David Caute (1994, Oxford University Press, NY) -- Expansive, definitive biography of seminal filmmaker Joseph Losey, who survived the notorious 1950s HUAC blacklist to make some of the key films of the ‘60s and early ‘70s. Great book, great bio, and essential guide to Losey’s life and films.

* A HISTORY OF NARRATIVE FILM (SECOND EDITION) by David Cook (1981, 1990, W. W. Norton & Company, NY) -- Arthur Knight’s THE LIVELIEST ART remains the most readable cinema history, but Cook’s book is more expansive, comprehensive and exhaustive, a magnificent book. Together, the Cook and Knight books are key texts in any cinema library.

* THE WESTERN: FROM SILENTS TO THE SEVENTIES (New and Expanded Edition) by George N. Fenin and William K. Everson (1973, Grossman Publishers, NY) -- The original 1962 edition of this book was the first excellent book on any film genre published in the US, followed in 1967 by Carlos Clarens’s definitive AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE HORROR FILM. This is an essential work and a landmark in cinema studies for my generation, hence its inclusion in the collection! This is the revised edition, encompassing the major changes the genre enjoyed in the ‘60s (Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, etc.) and early ‘70s.

* SCIENCE FICTION FILM DIRECTORS, 1895-1998 by Dennis Fischer (2000, McFarland & Company, Inc., NC) -- Comprehensive critical overview of key genre directors, including an introductory brief history of sf films and concluding section on key sf films by non-genre directors; all in all, an invaluable tome for the collection.

* WAR MOVIES by Brock Garland (1987, Facts on File Publications, NY/Oxford UK) -- Efficient alphabetical overview of the war film genre is fortified with Garland’s concise history of the genre in the short introductory piece, a handy reference.

* THE FIFTY-YEAR DECLINE AND FALL OF HOLLYWOOD by Ezra Goodman (1961, Simon and Schuster, NY) -- hc some wear, no dj. Worthy and solid read providing an industry insider take on the American film industry through to the end of the 1950s, roughly the eve of the collapse of the classic Hollywood studio system.

* THE BFI COMPANION TO CRIME, edited by Phil Hardy (1997, University of California Press, CA) -- BFI is the British Film Institute, and this book series in invaluable; I contributed to the BFI COMPANION TO HORROR, which I think is already in the collection. I think. Great overview of crime films to the late ‘90s, excellent resource and guide.

* THE LIVELIEST ART: A PANORAMIC HISTORY OF THE MOVIES (REVISED EDITION) by Arthur Knight (1957, 1978, The Macmillan Publishing Co. Inc., NY) -- Still the most readable, engaging one-volume history of cinema; I made sure to ship the revised edition, which brings Knight’s seminal 1957 tome up to the key changes in cinema internationally of the mid-’70s. A magnificent book, best one-stop film history read available.

* WOMEN IN FILM: AN INTERNATIONAL GUIDE, edited by Annette Kuhn and Susannah Radstone (1990, Fawcett Columbine, NY) -- Excellent cross-referenced guide to women filmmakers in all aspects of cinema and the film industry.

* 3 Volume set: SCIENCE FICTION, HORROR & FANTASY FILM AND TELEVISION CREDITS, Second Edition, by Harris M. Lentz III (2001, McFarland & Company, Inc., NC) -- I’m glad I’m also able to donate this set to the collection, it will undoubtably prove of use to many down the road. Vol. 1: Credits (filmographies for many key genre performers, filmmakers, writers, special effects and makeup artists, cinematographers, etc.), Vol. 2: Filmography (comprehensive alphabetical listing with credits of all known genre works circa 2001), Vol. 3: Television Shows (the same, only for TV series and one-shots).

* DIANYING: ELECTRIC SHADOWS: AN ACCOUNT OF FILMS AND THE FILM AUDIENCE IN CHINA by Jay Leyda (1972, MIT Press, Cambridge MA) -- slightly worn pb edition. The essential history of Chinese film in the English language, and given the incredible explosion and new access to Asian cinema today, an more vital book than ever before. Leyda’s net is cast over the Chinese film industry and medium’s growth from its roots in the 1890s to the mid-1960s; great book.

* MOVIE LOT TO BEACHHEAD: THE MOTION PICTURE GOES TO WAR AND PREPARES FOR THE FUTURE by “the Editors of LOOK”, preface by Robert St. John (1945, Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., NY) -- hc with minor wear, sans dj. Unique, rather extraordinary book on the WW2 alliance of Hollywood and the Pentagon and US gov’t to produce a coherent propaganda front for America via motion pictures -- studio features, documentaries, shorts, military programs, etc. This includes the Warner Bros. cartoon studio SNAFU animated shorts (see pp. 56-57), the ‘recruitment’ of initially reluctant Chinese Americans to play Japanese villains, the role actors and actresses played (both actively serving in the military, and/or entertaining the troops, etc.), and much, much more. Remarkable book, and invaluable to any student/instructor/researcher charting propaganda of any kind, and the role of ‘entertainment’ in gov’t sponsored wartime propaganda.

* LORENTZ ON FILM: MOVIES 1927 TO 1941 by Pare Lorenz (1975, Hopkinson and Blake, NY) -- Excellent collection of early film criticism from the end of the silent era to WW2, another primary volume in my collection.

* PEOPLE WEEKLY MAGAZINE GUIDE TO MOVIES ON VIDEO, edited by Ralph Novak and Peter Travers (1987, Collier Books/Macmillan Publishing Company, NY/London) -- Now, I collect old TV and video movieguides. I am using them for a number of projects to track the pop cultural shift in assessment of genre films -- horror, sf, fantasy and ‘trash chic’ films. This is one of many, and they’ll all end up in the collection. Keep ‘em. These are ephemeral in one way, yes, but these are great barometers for popular tastes -- good and bad -- and will be of use to some lonely researcher down the road. Trust me.

* BIG SCREEN LITTLE SCREEN by Rex Reed (1971, The Macmillan Company, NY) -- worn hc, sans dj. Rex Reed’s film reviews and articles from 1968-71 for WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY covers four of the liveliest years in American film history, including his own role in the notorious X-rated MYRA BRECKINRIDGE (pg. 263, which Reed cites as one of the worst films of 1970 herein).

* THE REEL TINSEL by Bernard Rosenberg and Harry Silverstein (1970, The Macmillan Company, NY) -- slightly worn pb edition. Fine collection of unique photos (most behind-the-scenes) and 24 interviews with film actors, directors, producers, etc. provides much of value and many great anecdotes.

* PRIVATE SCREENINGS: VIEWS OF THE CINEMA OF THE SIXTIES by John Simon (1967, The Macmillan Company, NY) and
REVERSE ANGLE: A DECADE OF AMERICAN FILMS (1982, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., NY) -- Though I rarely agreed with Simon’s views -- his views of cinema are a generation removed from mine, and he often despised the very films most important to me personally -- he was a tremendously affluent and articulate cinema critic, and these collections of his 1960s reviews and essays and subsequent overview of the 1970s are invaluable. The years 1963-66 and 1970-82 are covered here, making these ideal companions to some of the other critical anthologies in this shipment.

* SCREAMS OF REASON: MAD SCIENCE AND MODERN CULTURE by David J. Skal (1998, W.W. Norton & Company, NY) -- Skal is among the most perceptive and intelligent of all writers to specialize in writing pop analysis of the horror/sf/fantasy genre and its cultural underpinings, purposes and importance, and this is one of his most incisive books, tracing the archetypes of science and scientists as embodied in each respective generation’s popular sf/horror films.

* RIVER OF SHADOWS: EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL WILD WEST by Rebecca Solnit (2003, Penguin Books, NY etc.) -- Best book I’ve ever read on influential photographer/inventor Muybridge, whose photographic studies of humans and animals in motion are still primary reference works for cartoonists and artists. Muybridge’s 19th Century high-speed photography experimentation also fueled the birth of cinema.

* ENCHANTED DRAWINGS: THE HISTORY OF ANIMATION by Charles Solomon (1989, Alfred A. Knopf, NY) -- First Edition, with plastic dustjacket; rare! Glorious overview of the animated cartoon, fully illustrated and among my favorite books on the subject -- and a necessary addition to the HUIE Library selection. I hope this gets some use.

* BEYOND FORMULA: AMERICAN FILM GENRES by Stanley J. Solomon (1976, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., NY etc.) -- Fine introductory critical text/analysis of primary American film genres: westerns, musicals, horror, crime, detective and war films, focusing on seven-eight key titles from each genre to define parameters, themes, permutations, the language and the function of each. Some wear to this edition, a second copy heavily used.

* PRODUCED AND ABANDONED: THE BEST FILMS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN, edited by Michael Sragow (1990, Mercury House, Inc., San Franciso) -- worn pb copy. Terrific anthology collecting essays, articles and reviews of some of the most overlooked films of the ‘70s and ‘80s, including many of my personal favorites. A great film class or festival(s) could (and has) been built around this book!

* THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN: THE FILM COMPANION by Richard Taylor (2000, I.B. Taurus, NY/London) -- KINOfiles Film Companion 1, first in the series, offers the best single-volume overview of Sergei Eisenstein’s classic 1925 Russian feature film BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, from production to release and legacy. Comics scholars note the classic “injury to the eye” imagery gracing the cover; what would Dr. Wertham have said, had he been paying attention?

Dinosaur books:

* Boxed set LITTLE LIBRARY OF DINOSAURS by Isaac Asimov, illustrated by Christopher Santoro (1989, Chatham River Press/Arlington House, Inc., NY) -- boxed set of five compact illustrated children’s dinosaur books by the famous science and science-fiction author Asimov, printed on heavy-duty cardboard stock and in original packaging.

Action Figures/Toys:

* Dinosaur brass figure: Plesiosaurus (1941, Sell Rite Giftware, NY) -- My favorite old dino shelf figure, one of a handful of 1941 brass-coated lead dino figures I had (some already shipped to the HUIE collection) -- see the “SRG” listing on pp. 89-90 of Dana Cain’s Dinosaur Collectibles (1999, Antique Trader Books).

* Dinosaur Pewter figure: Raptor (1998) -- Cool pewter dinosaur, a shelf knick-knack in my drawing studio of yore.

* Dinosaur stone figure: Tyrannosaurus rex (circa 1990s) -- another Bissette studio shelf dino doodad.

* Dinosaur plush stuffed toy (circa 1990?) -- Another Bissette studio shelf item, origin unknown, possibly from Japan (import); likely a gift from Maia or Danny.

* GAMERA toy (1996, Bandai): l’il tiny plastic figurine of JIGER from GAMERA VS. JIGER/GAMERA TAI DAIMAJU JAIGA aka GAMERA VS. MONSTER X, WAR OF THE MONSTERS or MONSTERS INVADE EXPO ‘70 (1970, Daiei), in original packaging with ‘monster container’ and ID tag attached. Note this figure and character is NOT listed in Collecting Japanese Movie Monsters by Dana Cain (1998, Antique Trader Books); it should be on pg. 153, but no go!

* GODZILLA plastic figure (1990?) -- Source, unknown: original Japanese 1990s series Godzilla figure.

* Two GODZILLA plastic figures in eggs (199?) --
- Large tan egg w/scale pattern: ES Toys wind-up walking Godzilla in egg: you wind up the top section of the egg, then press the tiny release button on the side of the egg to release the walking Godzilla. This MAY be from the Takara “Wind-Up Egg Series”, FT6011 (Godzilla) -- see Sean Klinkenback, An Unauthorized Guide to Godzilla Collectibles (1998, Schiffer), pg. 124 -- or an imitation of that product.
- Small purple egg: Bright green Godzilla or Baby Godzilla from 1990s series, source/manufacturer unknown.

* GODZILLA tiny figure (painted, circa 199?) -- Tiny painted Godzilla figurine, ‘squashed’ style.

* GODZILLA toys: Tiny RODAN, KING GHIDORAH (aka GHIDRAH) in plastic bubble (as packaged) (1991, IMS) -- Japanese toys in toy dispenser bubble packaging, complete with small brochure/folder for entire line of Godzilla figures in this format.

* GODZILLA toys: SD-GODZILLA DAIKESSEN (1992, Bandai) -- This is also known as “Superdeformed boxed set” or “SD GODZILLA GIANT MONSTER SET”, featuring 10 1” “finger puppets in box set” -- this is the complete set, in original packaging (with only slight wear, due to storage), of the ten-figure “tiny” Godzilla/Toho monster universe monsters for the 1990s revisionist Godzilla movies. More on these when I lay hands on the right book! See Cain, Collecting Japanese Movie Monsters, pg. 40; Klinkenback, An Unauthorized Guide to Godzilla Collectibles, pg. 121.

* GODZILLA toys: GODZILLA WORLD monsters in box (1994, Morinaga) -- trio of classic (1950s-’70s) era Godzilla/Toho monster figures, in original packaging, featuring Godzilla (classic design, circa GODZILLA vs. MOTHRA, 1964), Angulus aka aka Anguilas aka Angiras (circa GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, 1955) and the non-Godzilla monster Baragon (from FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD/ FURANKENSHUTAIN TAI CHITEI KAIJU BARAGON, 1965). The candy was eaten long ago (it’s pictured on the box); see Klinkenback, An Unauthorized Guide to Godzilla Collectibles, pg. 113, TC1038 “Godzilla Chocolate (1994-1995),” which indicates two figures per box -- hmmm, this had three.

- NOTE: someone with more time than I have just now should consult one of the Godzilla guides -- Klinkenback, An Unauthorized Guide to Godzilla Collectibles, and/or Collecting Japanese Movie Monsters by Dana Cain (1998, Antique Trader Books, which I believe IS in the HUIE collection already via prior shipment) -- to double-check my references here, and hopefully identify those items I cannot.

* GRO DINOSAUR (circa 199?) -- In original packaging; manufacturer, year of release unknown and unlisted.

* JURASSIC PARK III Raptor figure (2000, Hasbro) -- Bissette studio shelf toy, gift of my daughter Maia; push the little yellow button in the red gash wound, and hear the raptor gurgle!

* RAT FINK (1990) -- Miniature Edward “Big Daddy” Roth RAT FINK figurine from the early ‘60s, from its 1990 licensed merchandizing revival; further info unavailable, not sure where this studio shelf curio came from.

AND:
* THE CARNEGIE COLLECTION: A COLLECTOR’S GUIDE (Sixth Edition) (1998, Safari Ltd./The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Miami FL) -- Just found this booklet would should be kept in the collection with the Carnegie Collection dinosaurs sent in earlier years. This is a complete (circa 1998) guide to the Carnegie Collection of plastic dinosaur figures, which was among the best of the ‘90s.

Misc.:

* Dinosaur puzzle: POCKET PUZZLE TRAYPLAY PUZZLE: STEGOSAURUS (198?, Fink & Company, Inc. AK) -- Hey, an Arkansas-manufactured dino puzzle! In original shrink-wrap packaging, for very young (15 pieces, “Ages 3 and up”) players; second copy, the first (a gift for my kids when they were toddlers) long ago worn out and disposed of.

* Movie promo card: THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN (1995, Kitchen Sink Press) -- Promo card from Kitchen Sink after its move to Northampton, MA and consolidation with Tundra, not sure why this was released or in conjunction with what KS product, but here ya go. Directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro had registered internationally with their prior (debut) feature DELICATESSEN, still a classic.

* JURASSIC PARK invitations (1992, Gibson Greetings, Inc., Cincinnati OH) -- Two packages, unopened.

* View-Master ‘Classic Tales’ THE LITTLE YELLOW DINOSAUR (1971 edition, GAF Corporation, NY) -- 1971 re-issue of ‘classic’ (I remember it from my formative years, but don’t know when it was originally released) View-Master three-reel dinosaur tale, presented in the distinctive dimensional-model 3-D View-Master dioramas. I believe the booklet credit “scenes created by Mary Lewis” (see 16-page booklet, last page) refers to the booklet illustrations, not the dioramas. The bright, primary-colored dinosaurs make this appealing to younger viewers, though older or more ‘sophisticated’ dino fans (like me) preferred the more ‘realistic’ dinosaur coloration.

* 3-D glasses and my ticket stub from BEOWULF (11/16/07 screening at Reald Cinema venue in Minnesota) -- Well, the very weekend Henry Wagner and I flew out to spend the weekend with Neil Gaiman to interview Neil for THE NEIL GAIMAN COMPANION (2008, St. Martin’s Press, NY), Neil’s new feature film BEOWULF was opening -- and Hank and I went to see it with Neil’s personal assistant Lorraine Garland and her friend Jen. We did so at Neil’s insistence that the film had to be experienced in digital projection 3D, which simply isn’t available in Vermont, so off we went. I have an extensive collection of movie 3-D glasses, which will soon be on its way to HUIE to join this latest addition! BEOWULF the movie was fun, but the 3D was spectacular.

What Mark Martin Wants,
Mark Martin Gets

(except for Condi)

You want an explanation for this image,

visit Mark Martin's glorious website and go exploring.

I'm just realizing what was apparently his fondest wish one morning -- January 14th, 2007, to be exact. Sorry it took so long, Mark, but I really had to get that Pan's Labyrinth review done first!

But -- What About My Head?

And, a recap (redecap?) of Mark Martin's glorious Blog Opera, which was serialized

at Mark's magnificent blog, "Jabberous," late last year.

All this sturm und drang, then -- nada.

My head, abandoned, in midair, like Tyrant's sibling on Eggsucker's tongue. Forever dangling, dangling.

I am crestfallen (pun intended).

Here's the sequence, in total, depicting my vain effort to save my dear amigo G. Michael Dobbs (aka Mike Dobbs aka Mayo Blot) -- well, his head, anyway. My greatest disappointment: no Brain That Wouldn't Die in-jokes. Read it and weep.

Panel the First

Panel the Second

Panel the Third

Panel the Fourth

...and t-t-t-that's all, folks!

PS: Note Mark's and Mike's ongoing revulsion at

my papers and collections at Henderson State University and the HUIE Library Special Collections.

It's a constant dig (in more ways than one!), but one I know that comes from profound and malingering envy. Mark's papers were to be stored at the Clinton Library in nearby Little Rock, Arkansas, but that fell through -- and with President Bush reclassifying declassified materials, it's likely Mark's highly-sensitive papers will be forever buried, perhaps with him.

Anyhoot, since I've linked to all Mark's online universe, it's only appropo

I do the same for Mike, kicking off with his venerable "Out of the Inkwell" blog,

bopping over to his "That's Thirty" journalism site,

and winding up at his ongoing Fleischer Brothers book-in-progress blog, "Made of Pen and Ink."

Mike's papers are -- well, out weekly. In Massachusetts. Five of 'em. That he edits. Weeklies. Got it?

I'm outta here -- more later!

Swamp Thing Shit

Ya, I know, I'm supposed to be en route to Middlebury. Due to the first winter storm of the winter, we powwowed last night and rescheduled my guest lecture visit to a kinder day of the week, weather-wise. Marge is much appreciative, and thanks, Cole (Odell, Middlebury College comics class instructor extraordinaire), for being flexible.

Having ensured Marge sleeps in this morning (she's off from work today), allow me to indulge my nightmares for the pinch-hit blog post for this Martin Luthor King's Day I expected not to be posting...

For those who don't note the comments on this blog, Bob Heer has been posting links from

Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin,

steering me to Mike's postings on the worst of all the early 1990s Swamp Thing merchandizing crap.

I have all this mind-boggling drizzle in my own collection -- now, and forever, housed for all to see at

the Stephen R. Bissette Collection at HUIE Library and Henderson State University.

Special Collections librarian and amazing HUIE Goddess Lea Ann Alexander in fact had the HUIE Library glass display cases brimming with this insane Swamp Thing pop debris back in November of 2005, when Marge and I made our pilgrimage out there for the opening of the Collection.

We've got those photos... around... here... somewhere, but until we can unpack them and I can post them, I'll give you my personal choice of the lamest Swamp Thing merchandise ever (using photos from

Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin,

which I urge you to visit if you want to see more!)

Special thanks, then, to Bob Heer for navigating me there, and to Mike Sterling ("The Most Dangerous Man Alive Since 1969" -- only in California) for harboring such loopy delights online.

Now, Bob maintains that this admittedly crap Swampy item is the single most absurd of all the Swamp Thing merchandizing to date, and he's got a point. It is singularly bizarre; here's what Mike Sterling had to say about his eBay acquisition:

"This piece of merchandise boldly tells you, the consumer, just what exactly you're getting. "I'M CHALK!" exclaims the package, and by God, chalk is exactly what you get. Chalk carved in the general likeness of Swamp Thing and colored green, perhaps, but that, my friends, is Washable, Dustless chalk in its purest form. According to the back of the package, some of the suggested uses for Swamp Thing chalk are "Do Your Homework," "Play Games," and "Draw Funny Pictures" - yes, Swamp Thing chalk can cover the full spectrum of life. Also, according to the package, the Swamp Thing chalk "works great on chalk boards" which must come as great relief to someone.

Okay, seriously, I'm sure the "I'M CHALK!" legend on the front is some kind of warning that this item isn't candy, just in case having "CHALK" in orange letters on the front, and having pictures of kids drawing things with chalk on the back, weren't clue enough."

(Image and quote from

Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin, Monday, September 20, 2004 post; scroll down to read the original Sterling post.)

In the same September 20th, 2004 posting, Mike also unveiled the likewise silly-ass Swamp Thing Bop Bag -- also high on the "What the fuck?" list of Swampy merchandise -- but at least one can cite 1960s movie monster bop bags as precursors, thus reducing the absurdity component of the Swampy bop bag to near nil.

As the attentive comics and Swamp Thing fans likely can make out from Mike's posted photo, here, the artist of note on these merchandizing miracles was none other than Alfredo Alcala -- or, I should say, those are definitely Alfredo's inks, perhaps working over some uncredited penciller. You may recall that it was John Totleben who first suggested Alfredo as the best fill-in inker on Saga of the Swamp Thing (during the tag-team collaborative effort editor Karen Berger orchestrated on the title around the buildup to Alan Moore's ambitious Swamp Thing Annual #2 script, "Down Amongst the Dead Men," which necessitated some fancy footwork on SOTST #30 and #31 to buy me time to pencil the Annual without a break: it was double-page-count, natch, and we were starting behind the deadline eightball -- where we'd been, like, forever). Anyhoot, it was John T who suggested Alfredo as the best alternative to his own inks, an astute call given John's and Alfredo's shared roots in Franklin Booth's pen-and-ink aesthetic. This was so that Rick Veitch and John could collaborate on #30 while I pencilled (the tightest pencils of my career) for Alfredo to ink on #31, allowing John and I to collaborate on the Annual (with a couple of pages of pencil assist from Rick Veitch). So that's how Alfredo was brought into the fold -- leading, ultimately, to his becoming the regular inker on Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing run (as penciller with Alan scripting, and later with Rick writing and pencilling), culminating in these ST merchandizing monstrosities.

A long road to China, indeed.



Well, OK, so now you know Bob Heer's choice of most absurd Swamp Thing merchandizing item ever. Though Mike Sterling doesn't indulge such nominations, he does bring special personal history to this gem, which also rank pretty high in my personal choice for most absurd Swamp Thing merchandizing ever -- the Swamp Thing Pencil Sharpeners!

I have 'em all -- again, now in the HUIE Library Bissette Collection archives (thank God, I didn't have to move them again!) -- and there are indeed three different designs, as shown on the back of the packaging (below). Mike's original post reads:

"This is one of the very first things I'd ever bought on eBay, over six years ago now. In fact, I think this may be the very item that inspired me to get an eBay account in the first place. Let me distract you from that highly embarrassing and very sad bit of personal information and draw your attention to the ballyhooing of "ACTION! Movable arms" blurbed on the package. While, yes, the arms do appear to move, I would have had a hard time attributing any kind of exciting "action" to that. Maybe you could pretend to move his arms around as if he were writhing in pain as you jab a pencil into his hip...."

Now, I have no such history. I bought these damnable things at local toy stores (in Keene, NH and down in Massachusetts) as they surfaced in the blow-out sale bins. I've been harboring these in my archives for nigh on 13 years now. Thankfully, I didn't have to suffer the public humiliation of bidding for them on eBay! That might have prompted a Heidi MacDonald column or something, Bissette bidding on Swamp Thing shit on eBay. No, I just put up with my kids saying, "Dad, why are you buying that? It's not for me, is it?", with relief beaming from their wet little eyes (brown for Maia, baby blue for Danny, like his Poppa) when I told them it was for (choke) me. "Oh, good," they said.

My misguided affection for these pencil sharpeners, though, lies in the fact that you're using a tiny Swamp Thing idol to further carve/maim a wood product already mechanically sculpted from ravaged trees -- a pencil, natch -- thus using a replica of DC's protector of the trees, the Plant Elemental incarnate, to, like, sharpen pencils. Among tree-huggers, this isn't only misapplication of a false idol, it's ideologically abhorrent in the extreme on so many levels, one can't comprehend them all. And that, I love.

(Images and quote from

Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin, Monday, September 20, 2004 post; scroll down to read the original complete Sterling post.)

But for me, the nadir of the Plant Elemental's false idols, the ultimate absurdity of all the 1992 Swamp Thing merchandizing, the most perverse and brain-wrenching of all these misbegotten horrors, that-which-should-never-have-been-made, much less worn and adorned, are these little wonders:

AGH! SWAMP THING SLIPPERS!

Beastie booties for wee feet! Yep, they're bright green fuzzy kid's slippers with the dumbest little bright green hollow plastic Swampy heads imaginable perched (well, actually, glued) atop the isky-li'l toes of the tots who tottered around in 'em.



Of course, licensed merchandizing isn't licensed merchandizing until you've slapped the official registered trademark logo on the damned things, so there 'tis, Swamp Thing, on the sides of the slippers, adding elegance and grace to these hideous mass-production nightmares.

That's it, the point at which I concede that those who once held all rights, save comics rights, to Swamp Thing did their utmost to exploit every conceivable niche market abomination the human mind could concoct.

The slippers, the slippers -- Marge catches me some nights, muttering that in my sleep as I lay, slavering and glistening with cold sweat, in the grip of some dreadful recollection of what once lurked in my own home.
The slippers! IT WAS THE DAMNED SLIPPERS!

(Images from

Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin, Saturday, January 13, 2007 post.)

And that, my friends, is all I can stomach of that.

Again, all this -- and more! -- is forever sheltered and selectively showcased in

the Bissette Collection at HUIE Library/ Henderson State University.

Thankfully, this is only a tiny fraction of the collection, which houses much more interesting and invaluable things, including Alan Moore scripts, Bissette art, and all manner of matter from my 30+ years in comics.

But oh, baby, those slippers!