Colouring Book Theatre: Bernie Wrightson's Monsters

Turning over the reins to the ever talented Rob Kelly, creator of the Aquaman Shrine among many other awesome comic related blogs such as All in Black and White for Seventy Five Cents which explores Warren publications, which is what we have here today. Take it away Rob!

Will Eisner's The Spirit Coloring Book wasn't the only odd coloring book offered for sale in the back of Warren mags:.

Always solicited alongside Eisner's effort was a coloring book from another comics master, this one at the very eve of his career: Berni Wrightson.

Berni Wrightson, with his intricate line work and obsessive cross-hatching, seems like an odd choice to headline a coloring book, but again, like Eisner's, this book was clearly aimed at the older, comics collector audience. And if the cover didn't tell you this book wasn't made for kids, maybe the opening page would:

"...Mommy, what color is the inside of someone's skull?"
The book is made up of fifteen "plates"--single-sided, page-size illustrations highlighting a particular gruesome character. There's a Ghoul:

A, ahem, "Swamp Creature":

As well as a vampire, a glob, a mummy, a werewolf, a cyclops, Frankenstein, a plant monster, a zombie, goblins, the creeping dead, an axe-murderer(fun!), a witch, and my favorite, a gun-totin' alien:

Each piece also comes with a little goofy poem describing each creature. Since the opening page says the text is copyright comics pioneer Phil Seuling, I have to assume he wrote these wonderful, EC-style ditties:

The book measures a whopping 11x17", which is a perfect size to enjoy all of the detail Wrightson put in his work. It makes me long for a classic Swamp Thing treasury comic--that would've been a sight to behold!

A very fun book, and I guess perfect for a kid who loves monsters and horror. Though at the prices this book commands on eBay, I don't think anyone would hand this treasure over to some crayola-mad tyke.

Got a colouring book you'd like to guest review? Drop me a line!

Previous Colouring Book Theatre Entries can be found here.

Coming Next Week: Superman! (perhaps?)

Links of Interest: 1982 Ben Cooper Catalog

Treasury Comics dot com (another RK production which catalogs all the tabloid sized comics of the 70's)

Thwip! Chemtoy Spider-Man Webmaker

This is a cool rack toy I picked up recently that brings back lots of happy memories. My Dad brought this back with him from the 1978 Toy Fair and I immediately cracked it open and made a huge mess on my desk. It maybe lasted a day tops but what a cool item with beautiful art.

Cool toys like the web maker never got into many department store wishbooks but they did get into the Heroes World Catalogs, the Megomuseum has a comprehensive gallery of old Heroes World comics and ads.

Mattel Donny and Marie Catalog

Donny and Marie were TV superstars in 1977 thanks to their Sid and Marty Krofft (yes, the Land of the Lost guys) produced variety show which I watched an awful lot as a kid.

Girls loved Donny and looked up to Marie so it only made sense when Mattel Toys snapped up the merchandising rights to this squeaky clean pop duo.

The results are a little bit Barbie, a little bit Rock and Roll....

Check out the 1977 Mattel Donny and Marie Catalog

Logical Putty

It's hugh time we looked at Rack Toys again and what better a subject than Star Trek: The Motion Picture? I'm not sure what the connection was to the film. It's pretty funny to imagine the crew of the Enterprise playing with this Silly Putty knock off, imagine if during the kolinahr ceremony spock just starting bouncing this stuff.

Open the door, to your mystery date!

Not a dud in the bunch, although number four is the dreamiest. I think it's the moustache and the fighting stance, I'm a sucker for both.

If you liked yesterday's blog about Incredible Hulk Toys then you'll love the one I wrote for Topless Robot entitled The Top Ten Most Incredibly Lame Hulk Toys. It's a look into some of the more strange Hulk merchandising over the years.

Hulkamania!

Even though he's getting another summer blockbuster this year, I still say the Hulk was never more popular than in the late 70's. The TV series was, in my opinion the thing that made the character the pop culture icon he is today. Merchandising back then went from logical to the truly insane, I mean why would the Hulk need a race set?

For no other reason than "Because I can", I'd like to showcase some Hulk live appearance pictures, Marvel never quite got it right. When I met the Hulk in 1975, he was a big balloon, complete with fan and you could see the guys loafers underneath. The suit above is an improvement but still kind of weird.

The 1979 Philadelphia Car Show had a great idea, dress up a local body builder for the event, not bad, bet it fooled a lot of kids.

Related Links: Marvel Superheroes: Live and In Person!

A Bright Future in Sales

One has to wonder if there was anyone who grew up loving this Burger King Playset and then later ended up working at a real Burger King. I know I used to pretend I had a variety store as a kid and eventually ended up a register monkey for a couple of years. I never calculated the drunk and crazy people at that tender age....

Colouring Book Theatre: Star Wars

Today's colouring book was supposed to be Superman but I misplaced that (I tend to do that) so we'll go with a book based on a little known movie called Star Wars.

This book is by Kenner, being the master toy licensor, they left no stone unturned. The book itself is rather bland, there is no story, rather it looks like it was created by a few folks in their design department amidst a pile of stills.

The art has a strong contrast, some of it is better than any book I've seen and other times it looks like children scribbled it.

One of the things I noticed was that none of the pages were coloured, this is because when Star Wars dawned, I was no longer a kid, I was a serious collector. Probably why I don't really have a lot of nostalgia for SW merchandise but I digress...

This first image is swiped right from the Marvel comics series, there are a few pieces like this in the book, many of them wonky as somebody tried to trace Howard Chaykin's artwork.

Walrus man: The good times. Oh and you can keep your "Ponda Baba" to yourself, his name is Walrusman, dammit!

Aother example of wonky comic book tracing, there isn't a straight line in this thing!

I missed this scene in the movie, I'm assuming this is a still.

Another scene I missed, actually I'm pretty sure this a drawing of the actual Darth Vader Toy. You can imagine him saying "The Force is with Kenner Toys Children kooo-kah kooo-kah!" Oh man, I'm sorry for that, this book is giving me nothing.

Got a colouring book you'd like to guest review? Drop me a line!

Previous Colouring Book Theatre Entries can be found here.

Coming Next Week: Superman! (maybe)

Links of Interest: 1978 Kenner Star Wars Catalog

Me as yoda, halloween 1980. Yes, hmmm.

Found this today and thought I'd share, me in my Ben Cooper Yoda costume circa 1980. Like a lot of kids then, I was pretty smitten with the character at the time, not so much anymore mind you. I decided to go for realism with the costume by adding the greenest sweater I owned, some playtex gloves and my pajar boots, just like Yoda didn't wear. I don't why I was trying to add realism to a dark blue suit with Yoda's face on it, guess that comes with being nine.

If I ever wanted evidence of having a large head, this photo is it, it looks as if Yoda is wearing a hair hat.

Related Links: 1980 Ben Cooper Catalog

Matchbox Mobile Action Command

Mobile Action Command or MAC is one of the most underrated action figure lines of the 1970's.

The concept is centered on the nameless men of MAC, an international rescue operation similiar to the Thunderbirds, each man has his own quasi futuristic vehicle. The combination of a 2" figure and attractively priced vehicle lured me many times and the lack of a back story intrigued me and millions of other children world wide. The thing I hear most about MAC these days from collectors is "I had that but never knew what they were called!"

Check out the 1977 MAC Catalog on Plaidstallions

If you'd like to know even more about MAC, check out Mobile Action Command Headquarters which has more information and catalogs from other years.

Available Suitors in your Area

Suitor #1975 : Greg "Svengali" Miller

Hobbies include: Ferns, Astrology, Hypnosis, Conversation Pits, Fondue, El Caminos, Compulsive Cleanliness and long soulful walks on the beach.

Suitor # 1872 : Duane "Thirsty" Dorffman

Hobbies include : Generic Beer, Unemployment, El Caminos, Nugent, Probation, Doin' Donuts, Wood Sheds, Hustler Magazine and
"Partyin!"

Make your selection now!

Evel Knievel Takes on Big Cavities!

"Let's face it.....Evel Knievel can convince kids to brush their teeth better than you can!" Right, he can pick his own teeth up from the bottom of his rocket car and show kids how white and clean they are.

In other Evel Knievel news, World's Greatest Toys Blog is taking a look at the Evel Knievel products pitched by Mego in 1975. These are the rarely talked about Bike accessories and *ahem* Popsicles(!) Evel was playing both sides when it came to tooth decay.

Scotty, Beam Starsky up!

Technological advancement in the 70's made it easy for companies to market once expensive walkie talkies to us kids and wow, they were cool. While I longed for the Mego Star Trek communicators my sister and I ended up with some generic looking ones on the end. My best friend and I spent hours annoying a neighbour with a CB, we'd be playing SWAT and all of a sudden hear "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!"

Dashing Denim Duos

Denim never really goes bad but this ad issuggesting that dressing alike is good for your relationship, that notion seems to have happily evaporated. It just seems like a cheat if you are going to wear matching denim outfits to not include the vest.

Gonna plug myself again, an article I wrote for pop culture super blog Topless Robot is up today. It's called "6 Awesome '70s Toys Only Foreigners Got", if you like it, leave a comment there.

RIP Chuck

I awoke to sad news this morning that one of the biggest icons from my youth, Charlton Heston had passed away. If you're a child of the 70's you couldn't escape Charlton Heston's influence, he was Taylor, The Omega Man, Ben Hur. He was the reason this past Easter my wife and I channel surfed until we found the Ten Commandments.

I loved this guy, I even read his book "The Actor's Life" which is a diary of his life up until the mid seventies. In it, he describes going to see "Deep Throat" and his distaste for it, it's possibly the funniest thing I have ever read.

I'll miss you Chuck and I'll never forget that Soylent Green is People.

Colouring Book Theatre : Star Trek

Today's colouring book comes from Sharry aka Hardygirl and it's one I'm excited to have here.

Star Trek was always on when I was growing up thanks to my sister's obsession with William Shatner, I was convinced as a kid that it was a filmation saturday morning series like Ark 2.

In the 70's most Star Trek merchandise was aimed at kids, there was something really charming about that.

The book is titled "Planet Ecnal's Dilemma" and it's by Whitman, one of the higher profile players in the trillion dollar colouring book industry. It's also one of the nicest books I've seen.

Sharry tells me the story begins with the enterprise going to the planet Ecnal who has asked the Enterprise for help because their planet is dying. I hate to be nerdy but check it out, they got Sulu right. That sounds weird but I have a Power record where they made him black.

Again, nice detail on the crew, Deforest Kelly must have loved how he was defined by his wrinkles.

It's rare in mid seventies Trek merchandise to get so many details right, if you look at old Gold Key comics at the time, the Enterprise has flames coming out the back and the bridge has large devices on it with humungous dials and levers.

The crew discover that planet Ecnal is dying, what could be causing this?

Spock does some science stuff to figure it out and for some reason dresses like a pharmicist from the 50's.

Turns out it's another alien race (the Lerows) draining the life energy from Ecnal, these aliens look a little over budget for the original series but right in place with the animated show.

Kirk takes off his shirt, makes love to their women and blows up a computer, I won't bore you with those pages, it all works out in the end. Thanks Sharry for this awesome book!

Got a colouring book you'd like to guest review? Drop me a line!

Previous Colouring Book Theatre Entries can be found here.

Coming Next Week: Superman!

Spiderman Visits Massachusetts

Today's Superhero appearance is courtesy of Greg and he his brother met Spidey when he visited Acton, Massachusetts in 1978. Look at that line up of kids! Remember when everyone looked like Adam Rich from Eight is Enough?

Wanna See More? Check out our Mall Appearance Gallery and the Marvel Comics: Live and In Person Gallery.

Got a mall appearance photo from the 70's/80's to Share? Drop me a line!

The SunShine Family

I'm surprised I'm doing this update because these figures kind of gave me the creeps as a kid. The Sunshine Family were devised by Mattel as grown up hippies now starting their families in the middle of the "Me Decade". These extremely large eyed figures had a real folk art scene going on and remained popular for four years.

More Girl's Toys at Plaidstallions:

1976 Mattel Superstar Christmas Fun Book

1980 Barbie Catalog

While girls were playing with the Sunshine family in North America, kids in the UK and Europe got Havoc a female super agent with a really big head. It's a really neat look into a relatively obscure toy line.

Commericals : Shogun Warriors, Battlestar Galactica, Micronauts and more!

It's movie day today! Surfing YouTube last night and I found this great block 70's Toy Commercials that weren't really marked as such, this series features Shogun Warriors, Micronauts and Suckerman!

This second block of commercials features the Mattel Battlestar Galactica Action Figures, Viper Launch Station, More Micronauts and Mego World's Greatest Superheroes.

I get asked a lot about the Micronauts, usually I do Micro Stuff at the Museum Blog but I thought I'd post a picture of the Aliens here, my favourite characters.

Might as well point out links for the stuff in the commercials above, you could lose a whole day in these sites:

Battlestar Galactica: The PS site has the 1979 Mattel Catalog but also check out the Battlestar pages at the 3 3/4" Archive

Micronauts: Megomuseum has a section but also check out Innerspace Online for a complete perspective.

Mego Superheroes: The galleries at Megomuseum are unmatched and there is also the book World's Greatest Toys that everyone should own.

Shogun Warriors: Wildtoys has a great page and we've got pages from the 1979 catalog.

Spider-Mania!

Not that he ever really goes out of style but Spider-Man seems to have seen a real resurgance of merchandising, probably due to the CBS live action series which I loved as a kid and now doze to as an adult.

The Spider-Man drawing machine is an especially terrific toy, a friend of mine left one at my house for over a decade, I played with it a lot. I also like how there are two car sets on this page, kind of funny considering Peter Parker usually can't afford bus tokens.

Super Fun: The guys at Action Figure Insider created this clever commercial as an April Fools Prank yesterday, it's a modernization of the Kenner Super Powers Commercials but it also serves as a great parody of modern action figure collectors.

Speaking of Spider-Man: The Mego Marvel Comics Superheroes are being praised at the World's Greatest Toys Blog.

Thug Wear

Whether you're going to follow McCloud around for the day or just rough up Banacek, the luxurious Dupont fibers of Thug Wear will keep you cool and confident.

I'm going to talk about Mego today and share a few links, first off I'll toot my own horn and mention that I posted a fun 1979 Wards Catalog page full of Mego Superheroes at the Mego Museum Blog. Ever wonder why I don't do a lot about Mego (and Micronauts) here? It's because it would mean me doing double the work, that's why.

Also, World's Greatest Toys has made a unique Mego Discovery, well worth a look on this fine April morning.