Original Alien Artwork for sale

What an awesome treat I have today. I was alerted on Tuesday by a seller that they had some original Earl Norem Artwork produced for the HG Toys Alien series coming up for sale this weekend.  This is not only huge, it's wonderfully timely considering we're ten days into our Month of Halloween celebration and Promethius just arrived on DVD (please no spoilers).

 

 

Here is the Alien from the Blaster Target Set (here's a shot of the final product here) from what I'm told HG blacked out the eyes on Norem's artwork. Alien was a project that toy makers were really leery of.

 

 

 

And here we have the brilliant early artwork for what became the 250 Piece Alien Puzzle (you can see it better here). Sadly HG did not return Norem's artwork, this happens more than it should.

I cannot say anything more than I'm overjoyed that wonderful bits of toy history still surface to this day, this is going to look amazing in somebody's collection.

Both of these pieces are available on Ebay via this seller come this weekend. I am not afiliated, just spreading the word.

 

 

Prototype Creature from the Black Lagoon

I recently got a decent scan of this to ad to the Azrak Hamway Monster archive, it's the mocked up Creature from the black lagoon figure on his looks to be hand drawn card.

It's hard to say what he's constructed of, it almost looks like a converted Aurora Creature kit, either way I hope it survived and will be found some day.

if this guy looks vaguely familiar it's because you saw the same figure in Famous Monsters ads:

Creepy Creatures

These coffin shaped puzzles show that Monster Love was alive and well in '75. I don't own any of these but I've been sorely tempted at many a toy show/flea marker/antique mall.

Introduction to Horror

Really happy to be unveiling this today as it's something I've been sitting on  for a few weeks. What you're looking at is the intro to the Monster chapter of my  Rack Toys book. This was painted by the mad genius Matt "MonsterMatt" Patterson.

I met Matt at one of my favourite summer time haunts, the Clarence NY flea market, this past July. While we walked and talked, he showed me some of his incredible paintings and was apt to help out with the book.

I jokingly mentioned to him that I'd love to have an image of an AHI Frankenstein Jiggler being chased by villagers. That was pretty much all he needed and within a few days, he sent me quick sketches of the "monsterpiece" you now see.

Having Matt on board the project was just one of those things that really lifted my spirits and made the project that much more special to me.

Each person who orders this book from me will get a postcard of this image included with every copy.

Also Matt will be setting up at the Buffalo Comic Con this Sunday, drop by and see the painting in person. 

Remco Famous Monsters

 

Stumbled upon this great Captain Company ad for the Remco Monsters figures and well there's no better time to showcase it than now. Also, I can also tease the fact that I'll be showcasing some never before seen Remco Monster goodies this month, stay tuned....
 

 

 

Frankenstein Flipit

Ever since I saw these Flipit ads in the back of Gold Key comics in the late seventies, I've been intrigued by what they looked like. I've never seen them at shows in my travels so I finally sought one out through ebay for the mere purpose of satiating my curiousity. Being it's Halloween, the logical choice was Frankenstein, if you've ever wanted to see what you got for your buck join me after the jump.

The Last Photo

The name is Bond, Elton Bond.

I'm interupting the Halloween hijinx for a moment just to make a special announcement, this is the last photo I'll take for my upcoming book, Rack Toys : Cheap, Crazed Playthings.

While they don't look like much, these Secret Service Sunglasses hold some special meaning to the whole thing.

First, they were sent to me by my pal Jason Lenzi, who also wrote the book's introduction. When Jason and I  first got to know each other, we bonded over our fascination of silly items like this.

Secondly, I remember a pair of these hung forever at the "Checker's Variety" store I worked at as a teen,I mocked them constantly, thinking "who'd want those?". 

Well, future me apparently.

Lastly, I'm done. I mean there is still a few hoops to jump through until I push "send" to the printer but it's all just sniggling details, photo corrections, text edits etc. but the creation of Rack Toys is over. So it's now very real and I couldn't be more excited. Even if 95% of these linger in my garage, I won't regret it.

So 2012 will end with Rack Toys being a thing. Until then, I've created a Facebook page to give looks at not only the book itself but it's crude origins. Please check it out and like it to get updates.

It's been exhausting and it's not even here yet but I'm already planning the next one, I need help....

Target : Monsters

I found this toy in the 1976 Larami catalog, I have no clue as to whether or not it was produced but it is something I will keep my eyes out for. It's a pretty galling use of the Universal characters and I doubt it's officially licensed in any way. That's the joy that is Rack Toys!

Cardboard Kong

My friend Corey gave me this shot (you can check out his awesome auctions here) and I honestly can't ever remember seeing this cool toy before.

What amuses me about it is while it appears to be from the 1970s, it seems to be based on the original film and not the Delaurentis remake. Which of course, makes it cooler in my book.

Review : Too much horror business

 

I can`t think of a better way to kick off a month of celebrating Halloween than a review of the new book `Too Much Horror Business`by Metallica s Kirk Hammet. For those not in the know, Hammet is known to be a voracious collector of all things horror and comic books. More after the jump...

Nikita and Spidey BBFs!

Nikita sent in this cool image of her and her folks meeting Spider-Man,  It was taken on the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk in 1979. She wants us to note her dad's manly beard and mustache. I have a beard too but his totally beats mine..

I've never seen a Spidey quite like this one before, I wonder what it's origins are ?

Thanks Nikita for sharing this, it's wonderful.

Send me your mall appearance photos!

Alien Attack

I was rummaging around preparing for our annual month of Halloween and this popped up, it's an awesome sell sheet for the Syndicated TV movie "Alien Attack" which actually was just two episodes of "Space:1999" glued together and sold as a feature film.

I cannot tell you how addicted to these things I was as a kid, I watched every single "film" that ITC cranked out in the early 1980s including stuff like "Cosmic Princess" (two more episodes of 1999), "Invasion UFO" (a real jumbled mess of "UFO" episodes stapled together) and really rare stuff like "The Champions".

Note how they try to sell this as a new concept, there is no mention of the series. I think Alien Attack even added newly filmed scenes (that stick out like a sore thumb) to try to frame it differently, it's not even set in 1999. After all that work I doubt a single person who watched this didn't know it was just two episodes of a show that had been cancelled five years before.

These types of things were a late night staple and I've got the bags under my eyes to prove it baby....

AHI Mysteries #3: Super Klobbers

Here's another one I hope is real, Super Klobbers. Basically, they're just Centsable Socker Boppers with Super Hero dressing. The kick of these is they seemed to have used classic stock art (including swipes from the Mego Superman box) and added boxing gloves to them. Look at that lovely Neal Adams Batman ready to go into the ring.

If you remember these as a kid, drop me a line.

Nipple Kings

The concept of nipple rings got off to a shaky start in 1977.

Super 7 Find

 

This "Manta and Moray" watch is my first find of merchandise from childhood favourite show "Tarzan and the Super 7". Somebody actually offered this for sale at the Megomuseum forums where I'm known to be, so it was rather serendipitous It's pretty well documented that DC comics felt Manta was a little too close to Aquaman for them, so not a lot of toys get out there.

What it really gives me is hope that this other stuff is out there....

 

 

Check out our upcoming book!

Chaperones for hire

Have your next prom looked after by our licensed professionals, at the Tommy Gibbs Chaperone Service we guarantee absolutely nothing will occur while we are on the job, no spiked punch, no unplanned pregnancies, hell, there is no dancing unless we say so.

Sixth annual Halloween beg

It's almost my favourite time of year again and that means PS will convert to full time monster mode as in accordance with the Countdown to Halloween consortium of blogs. As always I'd love to see your vintage Halloween pictures and monster toy collections.

 

 

So send me your 70s Halloween love big or small!

 

 

 

 

Presto Magix Store Display

I thought I'd spend this Friday showing you one of my more impulsive moves in recent history. I set up at the Burlington Toy Con two weeks back to clear up space, I brought three bins of stuff from Rack Toys photo shoots and hoped to come home with none.

Two tables down was this, this wonderful, triggered memory and worst of all, the dealer was a friend. Yeah, I stared at it all day and  at the end it went home with me.

Presto Magix had a power over me as a kid, they were cheap, creative and I loved them. As an adult, I even worked for a company that made similiar sets, my sickness runs deep.


This thing is loaded with many of my favourites and...Scrappy Doo. I don't have the space for this absolutely fantastic piece, so if there is anyone interested please drop me a line.

Eventually when the dust settles, I'll put together a compendium of all the Presto Magix designs I have and try to track them all.

Mr Peanut Butter

 

 

Every time I make a sandwich I think "I wish this was harder with a bigger mess!".

Tiger and JJ

"Hurry! We've only got seconds to save the roller disco!"