Lunch Hour Horror Animation #1

Here’s a lunch hour animation I sketched using a new Wacom Cintiq monitor.
I never could use the wacom tablet because of the hand-eye diconnect but I love drawing on the Cintiq screen. In the Hallmark land of cutesy critters my head poping doodle caused some errr…eyes to pop. Lol!

Spectreman! 1971 Episode 1

A classic Japanese Superhero tokusatsu (special effects) show which aired in Japan from 1971 to 1972. Spectreman disguises himself as a human being, but when the Earth is in trouble, he sends a message to the Nebula Star which shoots a beam right at him transforming Jôji Gamô into a cyber super-hero.

The show uses a great combination of special effects including animation, stop motion and of course rubber suits. The inspiration for the show’s main villains, Dr. Gori and Karras, was obviously “Planet of the Apes” released a few years earlier. But the mod design of Dr. Gori and Karras’s bling riddled outfit and dance/nodding mannerisms make for some good cheesy entertainment. Ironically it’s Dr. Gori that is shocked at the polluting abuse inflicted on the Earth by it’s own people and turns our pollution… you got it, into giant menacing monsters so he can rule the Earth and enslave humans. When the show was created in 1971, pollution was an important topic in Japan because Tokyo was considered the most polluted city in the world.

In usual Japanese fashion the show has a catchy theme song that sticks with you, well me anyway. I love how so many of the tokusatsu shows from Japan utilized kids in their chorus and theme songs. It’s easy to see how theses shows were endearing to children then and cornball adults like me now.

Episode 1, Part 1

Episode 1, Part 2

Episode 1, Part 3

Bring Back the Tap! The Story of Bottled Water

If Cleveland can fight back, so can we!

AFOL a Blocumentary

We’re a family of Lego lovers so I wanted to share this fantastic documentary I came across that
Larry Fire posted on his great pop culture site “The Firewire”.

Directed by Jess Gibson, “AFOL (Adult Fans Of Lego) a Blocumentary” features candid interviews with some diehard and somewhat obsessive, adult lego fans. Not only are the interviews really interesting but Jess Gibson did an outstanding job of directing / producing the documentary. Some great music, beautifully edited and clearly shot to capture the details of all the eclectic lego creations and creators, the video is thoroughly enjoyably even if you’re not a big Lego fan.

AFOL A Blocumentary from AFOL on Vimeo.

Hot Rods & Munsters!

Here’s a vintage “Alps” made in Japan tin & plastic hot rod my son Dante and I discovered at a local antique show we attended last week. We had lost all hope of finding any vintage toys there, but it wasn’t until the very last aisle we went up before leaving, that amongst all the antique furniture and endless booths of freakin glassware did we discover one guy in a booth with a treasure trove of toys. Our eyes bulged out of our heads and paying admission was worth it after all.

We stepped in the booth and began talking about some of toys he had and my interest in robots by Daiya, Horikawa and Nomura which lead to collecting toys that were MIB (mint in box), that’s when he said,
“Let me show you this toy I just found at an estate sale”. He reached under some other boxed toys from a corner of a table against a wall and pulled this beauty out. It was mib, it even included the instructions. I asked if he could throw some batteries in it to see if it worked and sure enough, the stop and go action kicked in and the radiator even began smoking (not a defect but a feature).

I made him an offer and it was ours.

What I’ve always admired about the Japanese tin toys is not just the overall quality and ingenuity, but the tin lithography they’re so famously known for.

The only kaiju (monster) figure (not included) I could get in the drivers seat was the Gargamel crouching mini Zagoran ( a modern vinyl toy made in Japan). He’s got the perfect expression to be driving a hot rod so he worked out just fine.

Here’s it is with some smaller tin friction cars.
The hot rod itself measures a whopping 11 inches long, 5.5inches wide and 5 inches tall.

There’s also a really  great “limo” version of this hot rod that Alps made.
It reminds of the Munsters hearse hot rod…one of these days I’ll track those versions down.

The Munsters on a family outing in the Munsters hearse hot-rod.

A Marilyn Munster pin-up!

Superman VS Fleischer Robots!

Click on images for detail
Inspired by the Max & Dave Fleischer Superman in general,
I had to incorporate the fantastic robots from the 1941 “Mechanical Monsters” episode. However, I took liberty and gave the robots giant claw hands to make them even more menacing.

1941 “Mechanical Monsters”, Fleischer Studios.

1941 “Mechanical Monsters”, Fleischer Studios.

Say Whaaat?! Monster Pillows Coming Soon

Finally, here’s a sneak peek at actual samples of the “Say Whaaat?!” monster pillows my wife
and I will be selling on our new online shop “Jumbee”. We’re getting close to going live,
hopefully in a few weeks.

Click on image for close-up
Introducing “Say Whaaat?! monster pillows. Illustration and designs by me, printed on high
quality linen fabric here in the U.S. Hand sewn by my crafty best pal and wife Lisa!

In background on left; my Kaiju Kidz toys and Fun-boy book.
On right top shelf next to my Batman picture book; fellow kaiju comrade Mark Nagata’s fantastic
vinyl monster toy “Drazoran”, available here. Vintage Bullmark Denjin Zaboga toy in foreground.

Wolfman, Frankenstein & Nosferatu

The back of each pillow has a pattern of monster heads and fun monster quips.

Detail.

Big thanks to Michelle and Amanda at “Contemporary Home” in Kansas for graciously
allowing me to photograph in their wonderful store.

Soon, metal shall shred. Superman Page 7

Superman page 7.
Click on images for more detail.

Superman page 7 close-up.

Fortress of Solitude Interior Illustration

Part of a spread in “Superman The Story of the Man of Steel“.

Fun-boy Tighty Whitey Pillow Art!

Here’s the art for the new 12″ x 12″ Fun-boy pillow soon available on Etsy from our “Jumbee” shop.
The front of course depicts FB in his trademark tighty whities cowboy outfit and the back features a pattern of all the characters like D.J. Ray, Lickety-Split-Lynn and Sax from my pantomime picture book.
Originally I wanted to have a few pee stains on his undies but the family consensus was, “That’s gross!”  LOL!

My wife’s been busily sewing the printed fabric and experimenting with rope piping and fringes on the edges of the pillow to really take the cowboy/western theme to the hilt. I think folks will really like the high quality linen fabric we choose as well. More pics soon!

Shikaruna Koubo Giant Madalla figure

Click on the photo to see more images

This the Giant Madalla figure from Shikaruna Koubo, made in Japan. He’s larger than a standard size kaiju figure which is normally 8-9 inches…he’s almost 12 inches tall. This is a small edition, beautifully painted on glow vinyl, and I love the baroque pose! I’m not a fan of all the Shikaruna Koubo sculpts, but this one I really gravitated towards because it reminded me of “S’pell Sejin” (see below), the famous alien from the 1960s Ultraseven, episode 12, “From Another Planet With Love” in which Ultraseven, in order to ultimately defeat the alien villain, zings his helmet blade and cuts him in half! My son and I were floored! That scene was so crazy and outrageous!

The episode was also never shown again after it’s initial broadcast in Japan because many survivors of the Atomic bombings during WWII in Japan were offended by the portrayal of the alien villain. The alien race was poisoned by nuclear or “S’pellium bombs” on their own planet and in order to continue living, they needed to feed on the blood of human children, so they invade Earth. This negative depiction of radiation victims turning into alien vampires caused the uproar and Tsuburaya Productions pulled the episode. More detail on it at  August Ragone’s excellent Japanese film, pop culture blog that’s also up for a “Rondo Hatton” award. Go vote (category 15)!

Spell Sejin

Ultraseven

The origin of manga: Storytelling Man

Here’s a wonderful article I found on Ping-Mag about the origins of manga and a lost art in Japan known as Kamishibai. Kamishibai was live storytelling on the streets of Japan for children and adults. Kamishibai included the showing of fantastic illustrations as the narrator sometimes performed his stories. Sometimes those illustrations were even original pieces of art. It’s one of these wonderful lost arts that has diminished due to our modern age of entertainment thru tvs, computers etc… wonderful article but at the same time somewhat sad…Of course I would be in quite a state of bliss to be able to hear him tell/show an Ogon Bat story…live.