Voodah in "The Petrified Peril" (Golfing;McCombs;1945) / "A Plot of Land" (St. John;1953)

It's "double-feature" day!! The native African hero of the jungle returns to the Catacombs after a lengthy absence to face off against a "strange terror" from out of times abyss in "The Petrified Peril" from Crown Comics #5 (Spring 1945) originally published by Golfing;McCombs in Spring 1945 and written & illustrated by Bob Hebberd; with nifty front cover artwork by Matt Baker & Al Feldstein. Watch as Voodah saves his people from a dinosaur in this golden age classic.

The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

The second feature on the bill is another tale from Strange Terrors #6 (Jan.1953) originally published by St. John; and written & illustrated by an unknown artist. Watch as Bert Trent discovers the dread price to be paid once he purchases "A Plot of Land".

Tuesday brings the second in this years "Icons of Horror" series. See you then!

Profile Antics: A Chat with Jay Piscopo!

Today's spotlight feature is a neat interview with Jay Piscopo, the author and illustrator of the all-ages graphic novel series, "The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli". I recently noticed the Facebook page that Jay had set up as promotion for a cool new spin-off from "Capt. Eli" that focuses on a major supporting character from that series called "The Sea Ghost". This underwater champions visual design is really classic in appearance, and I have to admit that I've always had a soft spot for ocean-based heroes like Aquaman and the Sub-Mariner, so I fired off an invitation to feature Jay and "Sea Ghost" in the Catacombs.

Jay has been producing children's entertainment for almost 20 years, primarily using the computer to hone his own unique style by combining regular two dimensional characters with three dimensional backgrounds.

Jay was an art director at Tom Snyder Productions, leading their creative team in the production of educational CD-ROMs like the award-winning "Fizz and Martina Math Adventures" and he was an animator on the ABC Saturday morning show "Squigglevision". For Goodwill Industries, he co-created an internationally distributed comic book series featuring the world's first disabled superheroes, "The Scrap City Pack Rats".

Jay has conducted hundreds of comics workshops and classroom events teaching drawing and storytelling techniques. He lives in Portland, Maine.

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Q) Jay, I noticed that you’ve used your talents to reach out to school kids. What prompted your interest in using Capt. Eli in educational efforts?

I have a bit of experience working on cartoon characters with a message. In the early 90s I was working on The Scrap City Pack Rats - a group of disabled heroes - a comic book series published by Goodwill. Also I worked at Tom Snyder Productions working on educational software with the characters Fizz and Martina teaching math and language. With Capt'n Eli's connection to the sea, there seemed plenty of opportunity to develop Eli's ability as a messenger on a range of subjects, including oceanography, geography and science generally. The graphic novels themselves are not text books but can be used to create discussion and curiosity. Teacher Laura Richter has created educational materials that teachers can use with the graphic novels to launch into practical lessons.

I also have a one hour interactive workshop teaching kids cartooning. It’s a great way to promote the book, travelling to schools and libraries - and to help de-mystify cartooning and bring young kids back to comic books.

Q) I first noticed Sea Ghost on Facebook and would like to know more about him?

Sea Ghost was formerly The Sea Raider - a golden age hero and featured prominently in The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli. In fact his origin is in Book 2.

Q) As a fan of the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons, I immediately wondered if Sea Ghost was inspired by the late Alex Toth’s “Space Ghost” design.

Absolutely-- His design is an homage to Mr. Toth and Space Ghost. As well as Bill Everett the creator of Submariner. Alex Toth's design work for Hanna-Barbera is a major influence -- Birdman, Herculoids, Mighty Samson as well as Space Ghost warped my brain forever!

Q) What are your plans for Sea Ghost beyond the one-shot that’s coming out now?

We are looking into creating a Mego-style action figure of Sea Ghost similar to the Commander X figure. Looks very promising and a real possibility in the near future.

Q) You have a multimedia background; do you feel that those skills serve you well in telling stories in a graphic novel format?

Absolutely, comics have their own vocabulary but learning cinematography and storytelling in prose and pictures has been essential.

Q) Which comics industry creators most appealed to you as a young reader and do you follow any series that are currently on the stands?

My big three are: Alex Toth, Jack Kirby and Wallace Wood. Luckily I’ve had the opportunity to have some of my idols create pin ups - Herb Trimpe, Howard Chaykin, Steve Rude and Ramona Fradon who is my favorite Aquaman artist and who created a beautiful pin up for the Sea Ghost book. I loved Jim Aparo's work when I was a kid -- still do. Love the Buscemas, John and Sal -- I could go on and on. Most of the current stuff I look at is independent: Sky Pirates of Valendor by Susan and Everett Soares, Serial Squad by Paul Shultz and Jon Hodges. Always looking forward to seeing what friends like Michael Leal (Curse of the Vessel) and Dan Barnes (Tree Frog Comics) and Josh Alves (The Araknid Kid) come up with.

Q) What types of art “tools” do you use to produce your work or is all of your stuff completed solely on the computer?

I will work traditionally with paper pencil and ink occasionally -- especially if I’m doing a golden age homage. But generally I’m getting all the effects I want with the computer. I’m using a variety of programs, Flash, Photoshop, Poser, Lightwave.

Q) Has recent industry turmoil affected your self-publishing efforts in any way?

Not really. When we started Capt'n Eli we took into account where the market was. The audience we chose to market to has pretty much left the industry - young kids and adults that want to recapture the fun they had reading comics as a kid. We do have hardcore comic fans but in order for this to work we had to reach beyond the comic shop.

Q) I gave up on the DC Direct action figures years ago when so many of them were afflicted with design flaws that limited their ability to stand up. How well does your Commander X dolls hold up?

Our manufacturer is "Dr. Mego", Paul Clarke. He's the man behind the Mego rebirth and the new Mattel Retro super heroes. He keeps a keen eye on quality control . The Mego format is what I grew up with and what I prefer to see in my action figures. Commander X can definitely stand on his own two feet.

Q) What’s your favorite flavor of Capt’n Eli’s Soda?

I'm still partial to the Root Beer- but the Blueberry Pop is great!

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Here is a link to Jay's online store where you can purchase a hot-off-the-presses copy for yourself. You will also find a smorgasbord of other stuff like his Capt. Eli books, apparel, several flavors of bottled Capt. Eli soft drinks, card games, action figures and educational items. There's something for everybody, and the holidays are rapidly approaching!

Jay and his publicist, Tami Kennedy, kindly provided me an uncorrected file copy of the entire first issue of Sea Ghost to review (thanks) and I really appreciated the opportunity to see the issue first-hand. It will appeal to every fan of Hanna-Barbera superheroes, silver age comics and all-ages friendly material. I also feel like fans of Mike Allred's Madman and The Atomics would really enjoy this book as I got a strong "Allred-kind" of vibe off of Jay's visuals in Sea Ghost.

Since it was an uncorrected proof that I actually read, I have no real criticisms of "Sea Ghost" other than a couple of minor misspellings (which will probably have been fixed already) and in my humble opinion as a snobby purist (you guys better laugh at that tongue-in-cheek remark), I believe that the only "improvement" that I could suggest in future Sea Ghost adventures, is the addition of expository captions, the purpose of which is to inform, explain, describe, or define the author's subject to the reader. There were a few places where captions would have been of great benefit to me as a reader, such as the pages where SG encounters a device that transports him to another planet. However, the absence of captions didn't detract from my overall favorable impression of the book. I enjoyed it quite a bit and certainly enough to hope that Jay is successful with this spin-off and can bring Sea Ghost back for more. Recommended!

1980's "Movie" Flashback: Galaxy of Terror

I have a history with this film, as it was the last movie that I ever saw at a drive-in movie theater while I was stationed with the Air Force in North Dakota. It was part of a double feature, the other half of which remains forgotten.

Galaxy of Terror was a 1981 sci-fi/horror film produced by the legendary Roger Corman. It starred Edward Albert (Cabren), Erin Moran (Alluma), Robert Englund (Ranger), Ray Walston (Kore), Zalman King (Baelon), Grace Zabriskie (Capt. Trantor) and Sid Haig (Quuhod). The film was basically a low budget rip-off of Alien (1979), although it has gained a cult following as the first significant film with work by James Cameron and for it’s notorious worm rape scene.

Answering a distress call, the spaceship Quest is dispatched to a desolate planet called Morganthus by two mysterious figures (one known as "The Master") who are seen playing a strange game. Piloting the Quest is Captain Trantor, a survivor from a famous space disaster that left her psychologically scarred and unstable. As the ship arrives at Morganthus it suddenly veers out of control and plunges toward the surface, crash-landing there. After recovering from the landing, the crew prepare to search for survivors of the original mission. The teams psi-sensitive member, Alluma (Erin Moran) and the search team have significant problems with their leader Baelon, who is pushy, arrogant and unimpressed by Alluma's early inability to detect any life signs, however they eventually reach the other vessel and find evidence of a massacre. The highly-strung rookie, Cos becomes increasingly terrified and a short time later is killed by a grotesque creature.

This starts a chain reaction among the crew members after they discover a massive pyramid-shaped structure, which Alluma describes as "empty" and "dead". Their explorations of the pyramid leads to a series of deadly encounters with monsters and other strange beings that kill the crew members in exceedingly violent ways.

Eventually, only two members of the team, Ranger and Cabrin, remain alive after they realize that the pyramid itself is manifesting each persons deepest fears. Cabrin encounters the Master (Ray Walston), who had been masquerading as the ships cook, Kore. The Master explains that the pyramid was actually an ancient toy for the children of a long-extinct race, built in order to test their ability to control fear. Cabrin quickly kills the Master for allowing his colleagues to die, but is himself transformed into the new Master.

Galaxy of Terror was one of the earliest films for Oscar-winning director James Cameron, who served as Production Designer and Second Unit Director on this film. It was the second Corman feature film that Cameron worked as a crewmen on (the first being "Battle Beyond the Stars"; 1980). Cameron reportedly helmed the so-called "worm rape" scene, referenced above. Working on a tight budget, Cameron needed to figure out a way to get the maggots to wiggle sufficiently on cue, so he installed a metal plate onto which the maggots were placed, then ran an electrical current through the plate whenever filming began, causing them to move energetically about.

Of course, that sets up the infamous scene in which actress Taaffe O'Connell's character “Dameia” is raped and killed when one of the maggots grows into a giant worm created from her fears. O'Connell was nearly crushed by the one ton giant worm during the filming of the notorious rape scene and although she didn't object to doing nudity, she was apparently upset by the fact that both the set and the slime that she was coated with were freezing on the day of the shoot. It must also be mentioned that she used a body double for portions of the nudity featured in the scene which was considered too graphic, and the audio of O'Connell too intense, by the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system which initially gave the film an X-rating because of adult sexual content. The scene was then re-edited to tone down the sexual sounds O'Connell made during shooting in order to allow the film to be released to U.S. theaters rated-R. This allegedly angered producer Roger Corman, who ordered the cut pieces destroyed. Despite the editing, the scene was still found to be too explicit and it was completely omitted in some countries. Eventually, later VHS and DVD releases contained the scene in its final, R-rated version.

The production values on this B-movie are much better than last weekend's reviewed film, Inseminoid, and even with the few actors present who obviously have no talent the well established cast members at least make this film watchable. If you're a closet perv, the worm-rape scene is strangely provocative, largely due to how smoking hot Taaffe O'Connell was in the role of Dameia. Recommended!

"Gal" Friday! Danielle Harris

Although Danielle Harris is best known for her appearances in four films in the "Halloween" series, she has amassed an extensive resume of other horror movie roles during her career, which started when she was barely past the toddler stage.

Just check out her genre filmography: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5, Urban Legend, Halloween (2007 remake), Left for Dead, Halloween II (2009), Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet, The Black Waters of Echo's Pond, Godkiller, Hatchet II and she is currently in post-production on three more genre works, the post-apocalyptic vampire epic, Stake Land, The Victim and Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D.

Danielle also has her fair share of mainstream films including Marked For Death, City Slickers, The Last Boy Scout, Free Willy, Daylight and many television guest spots, not to mention her voiceover work for animated properties like The Wild Thornberrys & Rugrats Go Wild.

She earns a special place in the Catacombs as one of my "Strange Terrors" selections this month because even though she may have started her horror run as a child actor, she certainly grew into a hottie to take notice of, and for those of you who saw Rob Zombie's revisionist remake of Halloween, Danielle took over the role originally held by Jamie Lee Curtis (one of last years Halloween hotties), but Ms. Harris revealed quite a bit of skin in her interpretation - not that I'm complaining.

"The Deep Pit" / "The Phantom Airmen" (St. John;1953)

I promise you that a few of the artists who worked on St. John Publishing's Strange Terrors #6 (Jan.1953), will be revealed before the end of the month, I just haven't gotten around to posting those stories yet.

Both of today's features, "The Deep Pit" and the single page bonus strip, "The Phantom Airmen" are by unknown creators, but that doesn't detract from the pleasure of reading these golden age gems.

Just like yesterdays tale, "The Deep Pit" touches on subjects like greed, revenge and the unintentional fallout from an unfortunate inheritance.

Tomorrow another "Scream Queen" earns a space in the Catacombs as this weeks "Gal" Friday selection and I have a "ghostly" interview (with a twist planned for this Sunday).

See you then, but for now, enjoy!

"The Amusement Park Terror" (St. John;1953)

The second spooky tale from Strange Terrors #6 (Jan.1953) also features work by an unidentified writer & artist.

Murder, mayhem and greed go hand in hand in "The Amusement Park Terror", which shows what happens when one persons obsession turns into something much more macabre. Plus a young married couple may discover that their inheritance is far more trouble than it's worth!

Enjoy!

Icons of Horror: Clive Barker

As part of the Catacombs "Strange Terrors" celebration, here is the first of four weekly posts in my 2010 "Icons of Horror" series, with this years set focusing on popular or significant genre authors.

Clive Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, mostly in the form of short stories such as his Books of Blood and novels such as The Damnation Game. He has also written modern-day fantasy, blending urban-fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld, The Great and Secret Show, Imajica and Sacrament; bringing in deeper concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams and the power of words or memories.

Barker's distinctive style is characterized by elements of hidden fantastical worlds coexisting with our own, the role of sexuality in the supernatural and the construction of coherent, complex and detailed universes. Barker has referred to this style as "dark fantasy" and his stories are notable for a deliberate blurring of the distinctions between binary opposites such as heaven and hell, or pleasure and pain.

Displeased by how some of his theatrical screenplays were being handled, Barker began directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella "The Hellbound Heart". After his film Nightbreed, was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. He later served as an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, a fictionalized account of the last days of troubled film director James Whale (Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and Bride of Frankenstein) which received wide critical acclaim.

A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the “Razorline” imprint in 1993. Other comic book publishers that have adapted Barker’s works include Eclipse, Dark Horse and IDW.

Barker has been openly homosexual since the early 1990s and he received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards in 2003. This award is presented to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities. [Portrait illustration (above; left) by Maya Samuels-Smith.]

"The Devil's Chair" (St. John;1953)

As you comics-loving ghouls build towards your own personal Halloween celebrations, please take a moment or two throughout the month to enjoy my "Strange Terrors" theme with this first fine tale from - of all places - Strange Terrors #6 (Jan.1953); published on the cusp of the Silver Age by St. John. Sadly the writer and artist for today's story is unknown (strangely appropriate if you ask me), but the excellent front cover was done by Albert Tyler.

Have a seat in "The Devil's Chair" and brace yourself for a chilling experience and then hustle on back here tomorrow for the first of this years "Icons of Horror" posts.

See you then!

"The Vision on Death" (St. John;1953)

This bonus page is from Strange Terrors #6 (Jan.1953); originally published by St. John; "The Vision on Death" features artwork by A.C. Hollingsworth. This 100-page issue served as the inspiration for this years Halloween theme and over the course of October the Catacombs will be presenting its full contents for your entertainment. That's seventeen stories or special features like today's post!

Many of the writers and artists on the stories from this classic golden age issue are identified in the Grand Comics Database, but this mammoth issue was edited by Marion McDermott. Additionally, I've cherry-picked a few more jungle comics stories that nicely pair up with the eerie tales from this old comic. Stay tuned for more of these chilling thrills throughout the month and I'll see you next time.

Enjoy!

Rayboy's Review: Franken-Castle #21 (Marvel)

The Punisher is a title that I haven't followed in many years so I really couldn't tell you what the character has been doing. Now I had read snippets about or seen promotional stuff for the whole "Franken-Castle" story arc, but I'm uncertain how long this aspect of the Punisher has been running.

However the recent solicitations for Franken-Castle #21 that revealed artist Dan Brereton's participation on this popular arc's denouement captured my attention. It seems that as part of the "Dark Reign" finale, Frank Castle (aka The Punisher) was dismembered and killed by Wolverine's son Daken and then reassembled as a Frankenstein monster by Morbius and the Legion of Monsters using the Bloodstone.

Apparently in his quest for revenge against Daken, "Franken-Castle" suffered even more abuse at the hands of Daken & Wolverine and ultimately had to retreat somewhere to lick his wounds and that place proves to be Monster Island.

Sent there by his associate, Henry Russo and the Legion of Monsters, "Franken-Castle" convalesces while the Bloodstone heals his body. Unfortunately as he recuperates, slaughtering a few of the islands large residents, Frank’s mind begins to fade into madness under the influence of the cursed gem embedded in his chest. The Legion of Monsters (Morbius, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Living Mummy, etc.) travel to Monster Island in order to retrieve the stone and to help the Punisher; needing some special assistance to pull this off, they bring along Ulysses Bloodstone's daughter, Elsa.

For me this was a fun standalone way to participate in this story arc, but if Marvel had chosen to have Brereton illustrate the entire run in his beautiful painted style, I would have been all in from the start. Regular readers may be antsy to return to business as usual, however besides Brereton, another thing that grabbed me about this issue was the inclusion of Marvels terrific assortment of bronze age monsters; particularly with an artist who could present them in a way that paid homage to their classic "looks" while still seeming to be contemporary, too.

This may be the last issue of this storyline, but I highly recommend it to anyone who remembers how fun Marvels comic books used to be.

1980's "Movie" Flashback: Inseminoid (aka "Horror Planet")

I knew that this genre movie, which I had never seen before, was likely going to be the worst of the science-fiction/horror movies that I selected for my “Strange Terrors” film festival this month, so I am very glad that I got this review out of the way.

Because boy, was I right!

Inseminoid (known as “Horror Planet” in the United States) was a British science fiction/horror film originally released in 1981. The plot of director Norman J. Warren’s film concerns a group of future scientists excavating the ruins of an ancient civilization on a distant planet. When a monstrous alien creature attacks, rapes and inseminates one of the women in the team, chaos ensues as the unbalanced victim, possessing unnatural strength, murders her colleagues one after another in a psychotic bid to protect her unborn twin-hybrid offspring.

Hampered by a low budget, the producers resorted to using colored-filters and smoke to simulate a desolate planet, where the team of twelve scientists are conducting archaeological excavations of an ancient civilization. The intelligence of the unborn fetus quickly assumes control of Sandy (the female rape victim played by Judy Geeson) and her mind becomes unhinged sending her on a murder spree to dispose of her colleagues ostensibly to protect her alien offspring. Sandy easily disembowels, mutilates, shoots or blows up the entire team (who are strangely pacifistic considering how quickly they realize that somethings not right with her) and she proceeds to drink their blood as nourishment. Most of the actors chosen for this film had absolutely zero talent. There are four recognizable British actresses present: Geeson (well-known as the schoolgirl with a crush on her teacher from the 1967 Sidney Poitier classic,"To Sir, With Love") along with the beautiful Stephanie Beacham, Rosalind Lloyd and Victoria Tennant, the latter two mercifully killed off and spared the shame of surviving to the end of this ridiculous waste of time. The remaining “performers” come across as a group of clueless neighbors who mutually decided to pool their financial resources and make a scary movie – minus the talent to actually do so.

The film’s tagline “Somewhere in the Depth of Space ... A Horrific Nightmare is About to Become a Reality” proves to surprisingly be true, but not in the way that the producers intended. In fact I encourage you to read this films summary on Wikipedia. It was hilarious reading the serious comments made by director Warren and others over this utterly stupid movie. The horrific nightmare comes when you realize that you’ve wasted almost two hours of your life on something this bad!

Some of you may be morbidly curious to see this one, if you are a glutton for punishment so here’s the high spot. Inseminoid is famous for its rape scene, but other than the nudity, the rape is odd, surreal even. I mean you see Geeson stripped and lying on a medical table (that materializes from nowhere) and then the bug-eyed alien conveniently appears between her legs, inserting a long clear-glass tube into her and through which a viscous green substance is injected inside her. It’s less disturbing and just really weird. Not erotic at all!

Stephanie Beacham is featured in a supporting role and although she looks hot in the minute or so that she appears on camera in a tight white tank top and panties, later (after the carnage gets underway) every time that she comes across the dead bodies of her colleagues, she screams as loud as humanly possible, apparently in an effort to help the impregnated psycho-bitch find her as quickly as possible. I was then shocked to discover that Geeson can actually scream even louder than Beacham, during her delivery scenes when she births the twin-hybrids. Beacham is ultimately disposed of off camera; probably a mercy killing for being stupid enough to take this role. That doesn’t explain why the other dolts in the cast stand around and twiddle their thumbs as they are being picked off one by one, unless of course, these folks just didn’t have the talent to make even a passable SyFy movie of the week somewhat palatable. I do have to say that American actress Jennifer Ashley grated on me the most of this cast of losers. She starred as "Holly", the groups leader and never has a woman seemed to command less authority than this ditsy dame. Damn, was I glad that she was killed off just past the halfway point of this movie and don’t think that the male actors were any better. Robin Clarke had top billing as "Mark", the love interest of Geeson’s poor, doomed character and since I’ve never seen him in any other role; I have to believe that someone in Hollywood learned a valuable lesson about Mr. Clarke.

For just one minute consider that superior genre movies like Metropolis was made in 1927, or King Kong which was made in 1933 and it becomes clear that despite a low budget, the problem here is that in 1981 cheap-looking rip-offs of many similar flicks leads to well-deserved career embarrassment for every one involved in this turkey.

"Gal" Friday! Barbara Leigh

Barbara Leigh is often described as "strikingly beautiful" and since she is part Irish and Native-American Cherokee, I would have to say "no wonder".

Leigh was cast as the original "Vampirella" for Warren Magazines classic silver age comics series and she has also done two magnificent Playboy celebrity pictorials (May 1973, January 1977); in fact Barbara currently works for Playboy Magazine out of Santa Monica, California.

Her film career was showcased in 1970's and 1980's films like The Student Nurses, Pretty Maids All in a Row, Junior Bonner, Terminal Island, The Presidents Plane is Missing and Seven. She was also featured as a guest star in classic television series such as Baretta, Harry O, The Rockford Files, The Incredible Hulk and CHiPs.

Barbara is a great choice to initiate the Catacombs Halloween celebration hereby dubbed "Strange Terrors" as this weeks "Gal" Friday selection. As you can see (above; center) she remains strikingly beautiful even today!