Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monster Howls (PART ONE)
THOIA honors the great John Severin who passed away earlier this month at the age of 90. An incredibly gifted, influencial artist who needs no introduction, (but if you need more info click HERE), and at THOIA, we like to let the art do the talking with some highlights from the awesome 1966 Monster Howls one-shot issue (Humor-Vision / Major Magazines.) These pages speak volumes about his distinct talent, sense of humor, and monster mastery! John Severin (Dec. 26, 1921 – Feb. 12, 2012)
Kind of interesting to think in 66 they still remembered Vampira (whose show only lasted a year about 10 years earlier -- and I don't think any of the movies she did had that big of an impact.)
ReplyDeleteShe did start the horror host craze and she was absolutely stunning, so you could see it happening!
great stuff!
ReplyDeleteCompletely disagree with the Vampira comment... once she hit the scene it was impossible for anyone to ever forget her, not in 10 years, not over half a century later.
ReplyDeleteWell, not for people like us, that's for sure, we're the right audience. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd her show was only cancelled because she refused to play ball with the station and sell out; every horror host out there owes a great deal to her (and some probably should have owed her a check, we know who I'm talking about :) ).
Regardless, we can all agree she was one of the most gorgeous things ever to grace the TV, and sadly so little of that show remains.
That is NOT why The Vampira Show was cancelled. After the death of James Dean (where she was maliciously blamed for cursing him with black magic) she was blacklisted by pretty much everyone in tinseltown. You're sort of preaching to choir on this one Gumba, Maila was a good friend of mine throughout most of the late 90's.
ReplyDeleteYou can read the original stupid Whisper article that I posted on my other blog here:
http://andeverythingelsetoo.blogspot.com/2011/08/prettiest-vampire-in-town.html
Well, that's super interesting, everything I've ever read says otherwise and it's something I will no longer ever repeat and TRY to repeat the real story every chance I can get.
ReplyDeleteAnd, from all the people who thought she was a great lady who added a lot for horror and beauty, thanks for whatever help you gave her.
And thanks for setting me right!
Alot of the misinformation about Vampira comes from a certain other "lady" who was handed the horror hostess role years later, despite that fact that Maila was working her rear end off PLAYING BALL with the studio to get Vampira back on the air. Unfortunately, someone else with bigger dollars, (and boobs), and connections had other ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe Vampira story is hardly over, I'll hopefully have some cool news about this in the coming months.
Not to change the subject, but how about these super Severin illustrations?!
Sorry for the side track! Yeah, Severin was not only a genius (his cracked work was why anybody would buy that magazine), but his EC war/western stories were second to none, and he was still working -- doing good work -- right up until his death.
ReplyDeleteMy all time favorite Severin piece was the one he did for Warren that was with the "monster hunter kit". I loved that one when I was a kid. Thanks for posting this tribute!
ReplyDeleteTell me where to find it Trev and I'll see if I can get it posted for you.
ReplyDeleteIt took a while, but I looked it up and it was "The Super-Abnormals Phenomena Survival Kit!" from Eerie #106. It was originally in Creepy #79.
ReplyDeleteCool, I'll see if I can get this up for you later this month Trev.
ReplyDeleteThat would be awesome!
ReplyDeleteFantastic tribute!
ReplyDeleteI remember the Frankenstein-going-Tilt! from the German edition of CRACKED magazine which was called "Kaputt!" (no kidding!).
It's a classic.
60's (and 70's) camp fun with 30's (and 40's) horror icons is part of my early childhood memories of fun and the fantastic. Thanks for dredging up some of the lesser known (or remembered) examples.
ReplyDeleteWas this ever reprinted anywhere? I've definitely seen this before, and it kills me to think maybe I actually owned Monster Howls at some point and then lost it.
ReplyDelete