Stop me if you've heard this bit before, but... Halloween 2020 isn't over until I say it is!
And I promised a return to "Happy Stuff" the day after Election Day, so here we go!
Whether or not you were satisfied with the results, or even if the results are still up in the air (Oh, I hope not... I can't take anymore! ...And *I* don't know myself, because I'm writing this BEFORE Election Day - so Good Luck, USA!), you're probably all wondering...
...What did Joe read and watch for Halloween 2020?
...And, if you aren't wondering that, you SHOULD, because it's a darn sight more pleasant than the NEWS was on that day!
In my opinion, I did a remarkable amount of partaking in Halloween-themed entertainment for one day - especially as much of the day was taken with domestic and outdoor chores... two loads of wash (wash, dry, put away), gathering and storing all the outdoor furniture and equipment, removal of outdoor plants which will not survive the winter, gathering the week's recycling, cleaning the backyard fence of dirty smudges... and, believe it or not, washing-down the front of my house (at least the parts I can reach without a ladder) by hand! Whew! Puff-Pant!
It was during those activities, particularly the house hand-washing, that I observed no kids trick-or-treating - as discussed in a previous post!
That I found ANY time at all for Halloween-themed products of entertainment, is a tribute to the "hold" this particular holiday has on me.
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But, yes... there were two comics, and two items on DVD, in the following order... (David Gerstein will be proud of this first one!)
DELL FOUR COLOR #46: FELIX THE CAT AND THE HAUNTED CASTLE (Dell Comics, Cover Date: June, 1944)
In this 48-page collection of Felix the Cat daily newspaper comic strips from the great Otto Mesmer, Felix has a (typically) disjointed adventure of non-sequiturs that include:
In Fairyland, helping "Little Betty Blue" attend the Fairyland Ball, thwarting the efforts of her wicked stepmother. If this bit sounds familiar, it seems odd that Cinderella herself, as well as Little Bo Peep, and Little Red Riding Hood, have no trouble getting dolled-up and attending the Ball! ...No wonder Betty's so (sorry, but I gotta say it) blue!
Meeting a group of four "Magical Midgets".
Evading "Bruto", the wicked stepmother's executioner.
And finally helping a poor shoe-shine boy, when the larger "Simple Simon" muscles in on his territory!
However, somewhere between besting Bruto and snookering Simple Simon, a larger part of the story takes place in the titular "Haunted Castle" where Felix must escape from a family of ghosts who have pressed him into service as both a pet and a slave.
A nice, long romp that never gets dull!
HERE'S the GCD link for it!
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Then, on to BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #13 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date. March, 1966) With all the recent Blog activity about BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY of late, how could I NOT read one of these for Halloween!
This issue is highlighted by it's lead story, "The Five Casks of Greed", a haunting tale of the corruption and utter consumption of a man by avarice.
Archaeologist Andrew Lake recounts the his woeful tale of the discovery of five sealed casks below the surface of Crete. The casks are said to each hold great riches... BUT only one must be opened within a ten-year period - and, in order for a cask to magically open, one must commit a designated act of evil that is stated on the cask!
Would you commit acts of evil, which incrementally increase in severity, in exchange for riches? And would you be willing to wait the prescribed duration before claiming the treasures in the remaining four casks?
Those are the questions facing Andrew Lake in this magnificent 12-page tale!
Making it all the more special, Boris Karloff appears, not only as the "host", but is also a participant in the story as the person to whom Lake tells his tragic tale!
In keeping with my penchant for casting "era-appropriate actors" as the characters in the Boris Karloff and Twilight Zone comic stories, and "hearing their voices" as I read, I cast Mark Richman (also known as Peter Mark Richman) as Andrew Lake. Yeah, the "hair color" doesn't match up but, if you've seen him in anything, you'll know why he's my choice!
I've always said the overall quality of the Gold Key Comics of 1964-1966 was unsurpassed. Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #13 is just one more reason why!
HERE'S the GCD link for it!
This is the first time I have read either of these comics and both, in their own unique storytelling were perfect Halloween reads!
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For DVDs, on the other hand, nothing new - just familiar, tried, and true!
At Scarecrow33's suggestion I went for the 1964 Woody Woodpecker TV special "Spook-a-Nanny", on the DVD set "The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection"
Woody unsuccessfully tries to blow up party balloons for "his boss" Walter Lantz, then heads off to a Halloween party attended by the various Lantz characters (largely voiced by Daws Butler), and encounters a rock band of ghosts with Beatle-wigs!
The special also features one of my favorite Woody theatrical cartoons, "Under the Counter Spy" (1954), a parody of "Dragnet" in which Woody encounters "The Bat" a (perfect for Halloween) villain who resembles The Phantom Blot! ...At least he did to me in 1964!
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Finally, does anything say Halloween like a SIMPSONS "Treehouse of Horror" show? ...No! Nothing does, so let's just get on with it!
"Treehouse of Horror XIV" leads off the DVD set THE SIMPSONS: THE COMPLETE FIFTEENTH SEASON, and originally aired on November 02, 2003 (literally SEVENTEEN years to the day, as I write this!) And, yes, they DID do a joke about a Halloween Special airing in November!
Homer becomes "Death", and actually enjoys purging the world of various folks... until his next assignment is to expire Marge! Will Death take a holiday? Or a donut break? Or will Homer use (or lose?) his head to get out of his predicament?
Professor Frink re-animates his dead father - who is very appropriately voiced by Jerry Lewis!
And Bart and Millhouse possess the ability to stop and start time... What could possibly go wrong?
Unlike the two comics, which I hadn't read previously, these shows are "comfortable old friends"... or as "comfortable" as you can possibly be with Homer Simpson in the role of "Death"!
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BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!
...Don't bother counting, the clock doth strike-eth TWELVE, and Halloween be-eth over for another year-eth!
But, we sure packed a lot of housework, chores, and Halloween reading and watching into this one didn't we-eth?
Oh, wait, Halloween's still not over until I say so... but it IS winding down, so stay tuned, or blogged, or whatever it is you do-eth!
9 comments:
I watched “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and the Simpsons parody of it, “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse” from Simpsons season 20, which also featured a Transformers parody and a story about Homer killing celebrities so that their likenesses could be used in commercials...until they all come back and get him! We also watched a few Twilight Zone episodes and a couple more Treehouse of Horrors (in the days before and after Halloween). My favorite of all of the Simpsons Halloween shows still has to be the first one, with “Bad Dream House”, “Hungry are the Damned” (another Twilight Zone takeoff) and “The Raven”. Hearing Homer reading Edgar Allen Poe’s lines really makes me laugh.
Election Day is not over until the vote-counters say it's over, AAAAAAAARGH!
I'm still in the middle of the lo-o-o-ong "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", so haven't yet gotten to watching other Halloween standards. Not like I need more scary stories in my haunted-by-the-vote-count mind.
My Halloween comics re-read list is largely Disney Ducks, plus two Mickey stories and two Little Lulu stories, and five non-Disney Halloween Comicfest ashcans. I have gotten through most of that list in the past several days--just a couple Barks stories and my six (six!) favorite Disney comics featuring ghost ships left to read. I have a pile of papers my students submitted Monday to read, so I'm rewarding myself by reading a comic or two after each paper. That will include my two Day of the Dead comics: the comics adaptation of Coco and the Ghostbusters Day of the Dead story that was helpfully reprinted in a 2017 full-size Halloween Comicfest issue.
New Halloween comics this year: a couple issues of Super Picsou Géant with Halloween-relevant stories and Bugs Bunny 87. Favorite story in BB 87: Elmer Fudd in House Hunting Goblins, a ten-pager that ends with a gag that depends on a clever pun. Do you have that issue? Favorite story from SPG: Terry LaBan/Vicar's The Scariest House in Duckburg, wherein Donald, competing in the Halloween house-decoration contest, does such a good job that he attracts a family of ghosts to his house. This was printed in the same issue as Zimmerman & Rota's Haunted Houses, where Donald recruits a ghost in a scheme to make money as a ghostbuster. (The two never should have been published in the same issue, in my opinion; their similarities detract from the effectiveness of the LaBan story which appears second.) While I love Rota's art, I actually prefer LaBan's story. Donald's scheme in the Rota story bothers me in its flagrant dishonesty; he's just blatantly ripping people off. That seems a bit out of character for him. In LaBan's story he's perfectly in character, competing with neighbors and overdoing it. Plus, there's a child-ghost who is after Huey, Dewey & Louie's baseball cards!
Deb:
Nice to know there are some other “Simpsons Treehousers” out there! That really became a part of our seasonal culture, hasn’t it? And you can’t go wrong with TWILIGHT ZONE!
I only wish there were time enough for me to fit in the real, original, nothing-can-ever-take-it’s-place “Night of the Living Dead”! …But, all that housework was pretty scary too!
I’ll find time for it, before the fall season is out. Fall evenings are perfect for it!
Elaine:
You write: “Election Day is not over until the vote-counters say it's over, AAAAAAAARGH!”
And the LAWYERS, too! Give ya odds on which one’s over first… Halloween at TIAH Blog or Election Day!
I never cease to (ahem!) marvel (pardon) at your diligence in tracking down appropriate Disney comic stories for all occasions! As much as I love the stuff (until “Fresh and Modern” IDW), I don’t think I’d ever devote the time to such a pursuit! Glad we still have Fantagraphics to scratch that particular itch. …Besides, I just got another great old one today (Four Color #19 “Thumper Meets the Seven Dwarfs” 1943 – at a surprisingly reasonable price, too), and I’m gonna crack that one open after I complete this reply! I have no doubt I’ll (ahem again!) marvel (pardon again) at the superb craftsmanship to be found inside!
I’ve had BUGS BUNNY #87 since its original release, which the newsdealer stamp on its cover indicates was October 03, 1962! Grandma Millie would have bought that book for me – but, by that time, I would have voraciously read it myself… her translations having been lovingly relegated to the past.
Funny thing… My own favorite story in the book was also that Elmer Fudd story – and for the same reason, puns and I had already bonded by that point! That story was written by Don R. Christensen, who wrote most of the stories in that book (but not all). Michael Maltese most likely wrote the Daffy Duck story, right before it – and ended that one on a pun too!
Not only puns, but isn’t it funny that I was (ahem x 3) “drawn” (pardon x3) to the writing, even back then! Everything goes into making you “what you are”!
For anyone who wants to look it up, HERE is the GCD link. …Clearly, there’s some stuff in it that I’ll have to eventually update.
Oh, Don Christensen, cool! A couple of his Disney stories have made it onto my long list of favorites to re-read: the Grandma Duck story from WDC 141 where we meet Greta Goose and her boyfriend Hjalmar, and the Mouse story "The Poodle People" from MM 52. Rare for a Mouse story to stick in my mind!
Elaine:
Don told me that he wrote “over 300 stories for Bugs Bunny alone”! We’ll never know if he counted that one as a “Bugs Bunny” or as an “Elmer Fudd”! And I never really tallied them up from the “many-pages-long-list-in-very-small-type” he gave me of the stories he wrote for Western Publishing but, at a glance, that “over 300” count sure looks accurate!
Armed with that list, BTW, I continue to give Don more and more story credits at GCD! He deserves them - and I also supplied the photo of him at GCD from my own private collection. It's the least I can do for such a kind and talented human being!
Among those “300-plus”, Don wrote (and Tony Strobl drew) my most favorite Bugs Bunny comic book story of all time “The Rocketing Radish”, originally in BUGS BUNNY #31 (1953) and reprinted in BUGS BUNNY #101 (1965) where I first read it.
“The Rocketing Radish” was not only a sci-fi tale, but might very well be one of the first comic book stories to deal with “The Comic Book Industry” – writers, artists, publishers – and, oddly, not in a “meta way” (as most such references are), but just as a part of the overall narrative! You could see how THAT combination would appeal to me, both in 1965 and today!
In fact, I have the cover for “The Rocketing Radish” lined-up for a “Separated At Mirth” with another similar cover in my backlog of posts!
AND, waaay back in the “hard-copy, fanzine and APA days” of TIAH, I even wrote about this story and contrasted what it did with a typical Bugs Bunny cartoon! I keep meaning to find that disc and reprint that one here! It’ll happen someday.
OK, I just ordered myself a fairly inexpensive copy of Bugs Bunny #101, so I'll be all prepared for your posts on the cover and contents whenever they arrive! Kudos to you for giving Don Christensen credit where credit is due on GCD! It's sounds like that is a task of considerable size....
Elaine:
Giving Don and so many of those unsung and underrated talents their due is one of the primary reasons I joined GCD! Given the scope of the task, it’s a job that might never end, but you can bet I’ll give it a good run. It’s been a fun experience over these last 14 months (!), and just another thing I’ve squeezed into my still (all together now) “horrifically busy” life!
Of course, the nice thing about being retired is that most (not all, but most) of the things that keep me (all together now) “horrifically busy” are good things!
Oh, and I’d say, based on no actual tally at all, that the “top three” creators I’ve generated the most “new credits” for at GCD would be (in no real order) Don R. Christensen, Vic Lockman, and Jim Tyer.
I’ll make a deal with you… Let me know when you’ve read “The Rocketing Radish” (you can do that “off the Blog”), and I’ll definitely run the “Separated At Mirth” post, and make an effort to locate the square floppy disc that contains the larger post!
ALERT: We have a comment exchange intended for this post, that was inadvertently misdirected by the commenter to THIS POST INSTEAD! I’ve been posting so much lately, that’s an easy mistake to make!
If you’re so inclined, take the link to read it and complete the experience!
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