(Bryan Reesman is a veteran entertainment journalist who has contributed to over 100 media outlets including the New York Times, Playboy, E! Online, American Way, Fandango, Grammy, Stage Directions and Metal Edge. He has written liner notes for AC/DC, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Toto and many others.)
Cool interview. I completely agree with your assessment of the new Tales From the Crypt; I was in disbelief when I flipped through it as well; I can't stand "modern" cutesy artwork and digital enhancement, especially when they are somehow given permission to use a legendary title. How did that happen? It's like the new Misfits or Dead Kennedys--cheap imposters that tarnish the real thing by keeping the same freakin' name (and lacking the real soul).
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read about how you grew up in the '70s obsessed with horror. I have a similar story, and I bet many of the regulars do as well.
Your efforts at keeping this blog going and posting these hard-to-find treasures is very appreciated. Thanks so much!
And thank you SFD!
ReplyDeleteI encourage people to relay their own interesting "first encounters" with horror, or pre-code horror (or simply just anything horror related) here in the comments... it's a fun topic and all part of the THOIA experience for sure.
Congratulations on completing your WItching Hour run Karswell!
ReplyDeleteMy early horror experiences are pretty similiar probably, being attracted to from as early as I can remember. Pre code stuff through the reprints in 70's comics and EC stuff came by way of Mad and Wrightson. The images from the Corman Poe movies , that swinging pendulum, along with the Universals . Kiss and Cooper were my favourites before I really I got into punk. I used to freak out watching that Welcome to my Nightmare concert film when they would show it on tv and taping Kiss meets the Phantom with my casette player when it premiered.I used to like drawing Mephisto from the Surfer comics.
Good interview. Common touchstones, though I caught the TV stuff in late night syndication in the 80's.
ReplyDeleteWriting TV and film, I've found a lot to hate about the internet, quite honestly. From self-appointed "movie critics" with no integrity who can be bought and sold, to a thousand links on blogs to DVD rips for work I sorely need residuals from, it's just as destructive as it is constructive for the arts.
With the pre-code comics you (and others) scan and post, nobody is getting hurt or losing money. The creators and business people are long retired or gone, and any ownership is fair public domain or in the hands of mega-corporations and their lawyers, and their inherited property's value is lost on them.
THOIA is what pop culture blogs are all about. Keep up the good work.
Congrats on the article hopefully it brings you many more fans of your music and your blog. I did find it a little funny though how the dude kept trying to make a connection between the stuff you post and the EC line. I kept waiting (wishing?...) for you to explode in anger and say, " THOIA IS NOT ABOUT EC COMICS MAN,OKAY?!?!"
ReplyDeleteMy personal walk of horror was through comics first, ( 70's reprint titles mostly ) some TV Kolchak, Night Gallery, and an awesome Saturday afternoon cable (WSBK Boston) show: CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE. Had a pile of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND too.
This all took place for me around 1975-1980 ( age 9-14 )
Excellent interview! Plus, I now know that you have an SG!
ReplyDeleteMan, how come you moms never posts over here?
ReplyDeleteI liked the interview a lot. How I got into horror isn't all that interesting. All my life my birthdays have been on Halloween. So those decorations and those costumes and things, makeup, that was like such an early sort-of cozy nurture thing that I hardly think of it as horror and I certainly didn't at the time.
I'm sitting here trying to decide when it might have been that I can remember becoming fascinated with something that actually scared me (rather than these other trappings of horror, which did not). I distinctly remember being scared to death by some Bigfoot trailers on TV (maybe it was the Legend of Boggy Creek? That's seems about too early). I would get tucked into bed down the hall, and my parents would watch TV until late. I would just lay there and listen, terrified. Then later on, everyone else would go to bed, and I would lay there and look out the window into the surrounding North Carolina woods. Terrified.
I didn't get into horror comics until I discovered Warren publishing stuff in a box of Heavy Metals when I was nine or ten. I didn't actually buy any till was thirteen or fourteen, seeking out Wrightson and Jones (and Jones) stuff that I have since sort of fallen out of love with.
But it’s really the movies and the decorations and the costumes and the holiday. Those are where my heart is really at.
THOIA is the coolest thing on the internet.thanks karswell! My first encounter with horror was the underwood deviled ham commercials were the devil would hop off the can and dance.I was around 5 years old.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments (and memories) everyone, as well as the comments over at Bryan's blog too. And another big thanks to Mr. Reesman for the fun interview and for really plugging THOIA all over the web. He's an awesome new addition to our gang of ghouls around here!
ReplyDeleteGreat interview! Ok, what rural town did you find the box of comics?
ReplyDeleteSome of the first horror comics I bought were DC's Weird War and Secrets of Sinister House. I started to pick up Marvel's Monsters on the Prowl after finding my own little stash of 'em at a flea market.
AWESOME!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteQuite an accomplishment!!!
ReplyDeleteKudos.