The first 3 issues of CRAZY the comic book...

Only one of the coolest damned comic series ever! ( Say it like Napolean Dynamite ) for a little bit more...read the post below this one. ( Click F 11 for full screen.)

" Has everyone gone CRAZY ? "

A hand colored recreation by Marie Severin and Herbe Trimpe... the classic cover from CRAZY number 3...
Crazy magazine…What started out in the late 1960’s ( Actually in the 1950's Atlas comics which would later become Marvel already had a MAD style comic book titled CRAZY. A total coincidence ? I think not...) as NOT BRAND ECHH a parody comic book where Marvel in a “MAD , Kurtzman” style satirized the world of movies TV and comics… Marie Severin contributed and helped to create some of the funniest stories with some of the greatest artwork. It was a short lived series…as genius as it was it just did not have the same punch as the serious Super Hero stuff. But they were not done. It the early 1970’s they reprinted some of the ECHH material in a new package and called it CRAZY…some of the coolest covers were on the first 3 issues of that comic. All by Mirthful Marie. But yet..they were not done!!! MAD magazine was still going strong and they reformatted CRAZY into a black and white magazine ready to go head to head with MAD magazine and CRACKED and NATIONAL LAMPOON! It lasted for many years and kept going strong for quite a bit. I loved the idea there were Super Hero parody segments in just about every issue.
A few years ago ( about 6 ) There was a comic book store going out of business…the old man was retiring and moving away to some green pasture somewhere. He was having SICK,MAD CRAZY blowout sales…and during that sale I acquired the first 10 issues of CRAZY magazine for a buck a piece. To me that was like hitting the jackpot. I bought those babies up and went on home to read myself silly! I did….read myself silly. My favorite issue of CRAZY is number 90…with Obnoxio the clown striking the famous Frazetta pose for the issue that parodied CONAN the Barbarian. A funny little story too…I highly recommend to anyone who loves to laugh and loves comics…find these books on e-bay or wherever
Get them read them and be a better person because of it. These are my favorite CRAZY covers!

Original art to cover of KULL # 11

When I am feeling ambitious...I believe I am going to attempt a recreation of this piece of art by Mike Ploog. It's one of my Favorite covers and he's one of my favorite artists. So It's worth a shot.

Blogging with dignity and class.

I’ve seen it before on other blogs and I‘ve seen other Blog Authors comment about it but just recently I experienced it myself. On one of the blogs I contribute to I published a blog post. I garnered a lot of traffic and interest with my topic. When I write I generally leave room for someone to question a statement or comment and or theory. I was discussing the hypothetical’s regarding the origin of one particular subject.
Well first one guy chimed in to dispute some of the things I said. I diplomatically reminded him these were just theory and not decisive conclusions and should not be questioned as if they were. He was satisfied with my rebut.
I saw this one fella here and about on the blog following that one posting. I though “ Cool , another follower! “ Well another commenter came in and started verbally berating the other guy and he in turn shot back with more nanny nanny poo poo…like two 1st graders they were.
When we write these blogs it is because we are passionate about something and want to have fun doing it. Some people just blog for the fun of it…with adult themed blogs one needs to answer a consent for and so on and that’s all fine. It is all in the spirit of fun and it’s lighthearted as it should be. But I believe there are some people who just want to cause trouble and grief and start fights…for the fun of it.
There is no real way to block these folks…anonymous comments can be blocked in the settings to prevent drive by’s and hit and runs.
But seriously…childish nonsense? “ I know more than you!” and “ You’re a hypocrite!” and blah blah blah and my word is more credible than yours and so on.
Grow up. It’s like Sheldon Cooper and Howard from BIG BANG THEORY came to the blog and showed us what kind of dweebs they are.
Not to sound cliché but..” Can’t we all just get a long?”
In the world of Robert E Howard’s CONAN….there are several different theories based on when and where the Hyborian age was and people add their usually welcome two cents and that is all well and good. Until they start with trying to preach the facts to you.
I kind of noticed something. It is similar to religion. Like STAR WARS or The Lord of the Rings…Conan has fanatical followers. It’s not just a hobby or an interest or regular old fandom…it’s pretty much a religious devotion.
So I’ll tell the people now what I tell Born again Christians or Jehovah’s witness’ when they come around. “ I understand and recognize your passion and respect that this is the way you live your life and feel you must spread the word. But I saw you coming a mile away and now I must tell you…I believe the way I want to believe and that is my right. To tell me I am wrong…is wrong. You can’t tell me what to think and feel…freedom of choice is my prerogative. So read your book and study all you want…what you interpret on your own is what will drive you. What I interpret is going to be different from what you got out of it. To attempt to bend me one way or the other will only point out that you are a Banana nut muffin.
I understand that. Now you need to understand that. We can agree to disagree without the drama show or the sermon. If one can’t help oneself then at least try. Nobody is your enemy in the beginning so why antagonize and instigate? It’s childish. What you’re doing is showing the world and other people who visit the blog that you are irrational and will write you off as a crack pot.
While your points may have been valid your attitude dictates how you will be perceived. So the main point here is for people to learn how to agree to disagree and everyone will be happy.
But to resort to name calling and broadcasting your connections and how much you know is just as childish as when you were being attacked and berated by the other numbskull who insists on creating a competition out of everything.
It’s not what you know or even who you know…it’s how you conduct yourself. Nes’ pa?
More covers to come...hang in there.

Meanwhile check out this link. xkcd: Duty Calls

" CONAN , DUKE a rope swing and a machete "

CONAN and Duke the rope swing the swamp and a Machete.
Ahhh..youth. when I was a kid growing up in Bay shore NY…I had pretty much the time of my life. We always had a swimming pool and the house we lived in had a huge crooked tree in the back with a giant branch that was overhanging a stream and beyond that stream…a swamp. I recall countless hours pushing off the tree hanging onto the rope and swinging all the way around the tree in a wide at least 30 foot circle…over the stream and landing on the other side of the tree like Tarzan. The property was on a down grade at the back of the yard near the stream so when you left the crooked trunk of the tree you were swinging between 4 and 10 feet off the ground in certain places…I even did it one handed from time to time. My dog Duke used to stay by my side and watch me and wander around our yard and pee here and there but he always stuck right near me and never left my side. Duke was a part Collie part German Sheppard mix and he looked like a Sheppard but had the coloring of a Collie. He was a beautiful mix of a dog….he was a Mutt…but he was Gorgeous. Smart too…just like a dog from the movies…he was that smart.
For ten years I used that rope swing every single day it was joy to me. Absolute joy. But that was not my only way of passing the time. The Swamp…it was a means of escape…a chance to go on adventures…quests and journey’s to long lost lands and ancient cities of gold.
I was 12 years old and I swiped a machete from my Dads tool shed and headed off into the swamp and started hacking away at the sticker bushes and vines and all forms of flora and fauna. I was carving trails. It became a Sunday ritual. During the week I’d play street Hockey or softball with friends but on Sunday’s it was the Swamps. Now the swamps were made up of little islands about 15 to 20 feet wide and practically circular and there were little connecting and intertwining inlets in between the islands and some of them were as much as 3 to four feet across and you either jumped it…or put up planks or built bridges to get from one to the other. Some areas were too mucky to bother with but for the most part this network of streams and mini islands went on for 2 miles behind mine and all my neighbors houses. Funny how it was shaped though. 2 miles long but about 400 yards wide. It was actually on the map as Sampawam's creek.
So Duke and I would go back there and I would play CONAN or TARZAN and I’d hack away at vegetation or some thin tree and imagine I was battling a horde of Demons or battling against the Murderous minions of YILDIZ! Or perhaps I was fighting off a dozen angry sub human ape men.
Either way…I was having a ball. Oh and the tree’s…there were downed tree’s all over the place..it was like something out of HUCK FINN!
It was a perfect playground and I was never more at home than when I was swinging on that rope or off on an adventure with Duke and my Dad’s machete. Of course…being 12….I should not have been running around with a machete. But nobody knew…except Duke. He wasn’t gonna rat me out he’s a dog.
It was not always safe either…one time I pushed over a rotted tree and a swarm of yellow jackets came out and stung me in a couple of dozen places…the dog was ok. I had to go to the hospital for that one. But another time two guard dogs from the neighboring factories came charging me and Duke…I ran calling Duke but the two of them gang attacked him and he got bit on the ear…but then he got a good grip on the neck of one of them and that dog yelped. I didn’t know which dog was crying so I charged at the dog fight ready to whack a dog with my machete if I had to but the other two dogs…ran. As if they were being called. Not because they were scared. I grabbed Dukey’s collar so he would not chase them and we went home. Of course I had to lie about how Duke had a bite on his ear and say the stray dogs came into our yard and attacked him. We never went into that area of the swamp again…to avoid the guard dogs.
Then there was the time I climbed a tilted tree ( just because it was there ) It was about a 50 foot tall tree and it was on a 45 degree angle…so I climbed it. I got pretty much to the top and DOWN IT WENT! Now I had ridden trees to the ground before but this tree DECIDED to swerve for some reason and I fell off and landed flat on my back and got the wind knocked out of me and I passed out. I don’t know how long I was out but I woke up with Duke licking my eyes and face. I guess it helped to revive me. When I got up off the ground I was wobbly but ok. I went right home. That was enough adventure for one day. It was time for CONAN to go home. Shaken and stirred I headed home. This time around when I got home my feet were both muddy as hell. That mud stunk boy…the stinkiest mud ever. I actually threw out my sneakers. I had learned from past experience that once you got your sneakers muddied up with that gunk…they were done. There was no saving them.
A few years later Hurricane Gloria tore through Long Island and knocked my Tarzan tree down…my childhood was gone. I was 18 now and Duke was an old Dog…I came home from work some months later and he was not on the lawn waitng for my arrival as usual. My parents had taken him for the big sleep as chronic arthritis pretty much crippled him and he could not even stand for more than 3 or four minutes before the pain would exhaust him and he’d just lay down. It was time
My heart was broken…I cried like a baby. For weeks I’d go in my back yard and stare at the swamp while visions of past adventures swirled around in my mind. Duke was certainly the best dog ever.
Once that tree was down and my dog was gone…I became an adult. When my grief was passed I was a new man…an official adult and looked at life and the world in a different way.
I turned my attention to my then girlfriend at the time and work and making money so I could buy Conan comics and go to concerts and take her on dates and buy her an Engagement ring…but that……is another story.

HOLY WAR # 1 the cover

For the first time in about 17 years...HOLY WAR....sees the light of day once again. Originally my concept was simple. It was a big sword wielding Angel who was a composite of Jesus and Saint Michael and God and whoever else you want to throw in there. His name was simply LORD...and he was created to be a religion based fictitious character with no theology anyone can claim to follow...he was for all intents and purposes a composite and that is all. His foe...was likewise a composite of the Devil and I named him Luseff. ( Get it ) The stories would be an anthology style deal where throughout time in different settings modern and in the past they would meet and LORD would always triumph by hacking LUSEFF into bits. That was my concept...so my creations did not intentionally reflect...God and the Devil. They were just my characters based on religious figures found throughout history and in the Bible.
I borrowed heavily from art projects I had done during my stint at the Joe Kubert school. I think I should mention that...the last panel of the story where LORD is flying into the sky that that was not swiped from LED ZEPPELIN but rather...Frank Frazetta's " Against the Gods " painting. Now if you look close ...you'll see it. But at first you're going to think that is Icarus flying towards the sun. ( It's not )...I hope you like my story. Ladies and Gents...I present
HOLY WAR! ( If you press F11 for full screen you'll see a larger picture...then just press F11 again to go back to normal. ) Enjoy

HOLY WAR # 1 ( Part 1 )

HOLY WAR # 1 ( Part 2 )

Jack Kirby's " The Demon "

Jack Kirby's DEMON has to be one of my all time favorite Kirby creations. The origin , the prose and rhyme..." Gone Gone o' form of man , rise the DEMON Etrigan " Wow...just wow.
It's one of the few things that creeped me out that also kept me wanting more. These covers here represent my favorite thing about Kirby's compositions. In one panel you get a whole story...People laud Will Eisner for his masterful and expert sequential storytelling . Jack Kirby was quite the masterful storyteller himself.
Look at the apparitions created by Etrigan on the cover of the DEMON number 13 here. Self explanatory.
Look at the Castle courtyard behind the Inspector and his men on the cover of the DEMON number 2...need I say more. Kirby had a way about him so unique to him alone that was both simplistic yet intricate all at the same time.
Not just anyone can ink Kirby either. You'd need to understand the complex placing of blacks in the shading in relation to the aspect of the figure or buildings being inked.
I've read these comics through and through several times over and still am amazed. Sure the Marvel universe and the FF and the X-men have all been part of Jacks legacy and Dynasty...but the DEMON and the NEW GODS and all of Kirbster's FOURTH WORLD creations are among some of the greatest comic books ever produced and printed in four color dynamic glory.
These are my favorite DEMON covers.

HOLY WAR mock up

Just messing around real quick I whipped up this cut and paste. If only I had a pc back in 95

The cover to my ash can HOLY WAR

In 1995 a friend of mine and myself decided we were going to print up a comic book, He came up with his character and I...mine. At first I had a Captain America clone. It was a character named "Glory Boy" he was a kid...BUCKY/ROBIN type...but he was the lead in the light hearted almost Archie comics MLJ kind of world I created for him. At the last minute in a stroke of inspiration I decided to change the character and instead whipped up HOLY WAR in a week flat. I drew and inked the story in a week. The actual comic will be posted later...but. This is the ash can. We actually went to a few conventions and handed out free ash cans and drew pictures for anyone who wanted one. I drew Conan and Thor and Wolverine and even a BatMan. In some ways I'd like to have printed up the Glory Boy comics instead but I'm pretty fond of my slapped together hackneyed Ash Can. I am proud of my attempt and even had very nice compliments from a few pro's about my quirky yet oddly appealing style. I was told by one note worthy professional that I was ready and to peddle my stuff around. ( He shall go nameless tro protect his I.D. ) Only one thing bugs me about this though. I certainly could have done a better job on the F'N LOGO! Look...it's pathetic. Anyway...enjoy. :)

" HOLY WAR " Ash can

And now ...My humble opinion.

People who have found God and faith in religion and turned their lives around are better off than they were. Drugs and the inability to control themselves and maintain their composure and not let their bad habits and wants and desires get in the way of progress and success in their daily life was definitely not the way to go. To find something that helps them control their urges and weaknesses like religion is moreover probably the best thing for them. Providing they do not regress and go back to drugs or alcohol.
But their minds are as weak as ever and they begin to preach and judge and think they are right and push their new found faith and beliefs on people who already have it together. God does not discriminate. If a person lives their life while being kind and generous to others then that person is a good person. Just because they follow a different set of beliefs than someone else does not mean they will go to hell because of certain said beliefs.
These addictions that were ruining their lives have now been redirected to controlling their problems through the new found faith in God. So they rattle on passages and phrases from the Bible. They recite scripture and then follow their inane blather up with “ Praise God “ or words to that affect. If a person’s life can turn around due to a renewed faith in God…that is good.
But you can’t tell them that they can’t run off at the mouth to you about God and turning yourself away from sin. They insist it is you who are in denial and need saving. When they themselves don’t realize that it is they themselves who are the one who needed saving. What do you do with people like that. My answer is…be happy in the fact that they are no longer drinking or doing drugs. Take comfort in that. The human mind has a way of coming around and fixing itself. Provided there is no long term chemical imbalances due to their past of drug use. We must patronize and condescend and be an ear for them as they go through their metamorphosis. Eventually their mind will become more clear and their thinking will be more stable and they will begin to exhibit signs of a new sense of rationale. Oh..they will still have faith in God because they are now immersed in the belief system of whatever religion saved them from themselves. But they will also no longer judge everyone who does not believe what they do. They won’t tell you about how you’re going to hell anymore. They will realize about balance and boundaries and which lines must not be crossed as a new awareness envelopes their mind. It takes great patience and an extra degree of tolerance to see it trough until they come to that sense of awareness. One thing that can’t be done in cases like these is argue with the person. They must be chided and affirmed in order to help them along.
Whether or not you believe in God and follow a religion is a choice. We have these choices because we have the freedom to choose. Something nobody can take away. But one thing is for sure. Don’t be pushing your mumbo jumbo on me and then tell me I don’t have a choice!

ERB Reissues -

I was walking around in the bookstore last night just looking over the same material with the same M.O. as I always do and came across these two pretty damned cool new 2011 editions of ERB classics...the first series of Tarzan tales with a new cover by a guy whose name I believe is Mandrake...can't really tell yet. I did not buy the book but intend to for the new fantastic cover. I really don't like the DISNEY inspired dred locks look but the rest of the painting evokes a Frazetta feel.

The John Carter book is also a classic tale wrapped in a new cover. This artist I can't make out as his signiture is a squiggle. But because of the new cover I will buy the book. I can print out the covers right from my pc...but I want to add these to my coolection. If you never read either book. Well now is the time.

all 4 issues of Jungle tales of TARZAN...

You learn something new every day. I found out yesterday that these comics were not done with the permission of the ERB estate and they were put out pretty much illegally by Charlton comics...the lawsuit was served when the ERB people saw # 1 and quickly went into action.

BUT Charlton comics kept producing the comic books even while they were in the midst of a lawsuit. Funny though at the time DELL comics who did have the rights to produce TARZAN comics were churning out TARZAN comics with Photo covers of Gordon Scott and Lex Barker and Ron Ely left and right like nobodies business.

But for some reason as much a fan of the films and TARZAN in general I only own a few of the DELL Tarzans.

They just don't have any affect on me. I don't have any wish or desire to get them or own them. I can't say why. I'm thinking it may be the photo covers...I just don't care for photo covers...that is more than likely the reason.

The Charlton's however are freaking awesome I love the art and I love the covers...Whoever Pat Masulli is he's a great artist. I can go on and on about Sam Glanzman everyone knows I love him. These covers have a color and a texture to them that just appeals to me check out the cover of # 4...It looks like the art of recently passed and fantastic artist Dave Hoover. I love the touch of the leopard spotted trunks...a look Joe Kubert kept when he began producing TARZAN comics for DC back in the 1970's. I can't say enough about Kubert either.

The lawsuit was an interesting fun fact that I found to be more of a reason for me to love these comics. They are rare and I suggest any fan of TARZAN or even Charlton should go and find them. These are my favorite Charlton TARZAN comics!