A Lone Fan Crying In The Wilderness

Frank Langella Loves Being Skeletor

2012-02-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

I contend and will till the day I die that 1987's Masters Of The Universe is a highly underrated fantasy film and one of best live action adaptations of 1980's toy/cartoon fair ever to be presented. I have argued for the script, for the choice of setting the film on earth, and various other decisions director Gary Goddard made on his first feature outing. Luckily one thing I rarely have to argue for is the stellar performance delivered by Frank Langella as Skeletor! Mr. Langella is gold from beginning to end: fun and frightening, deadly yet poetic, and effective in every respect.

Now the great thespian shares some of his thoughts about the role of Skeletor and why he decided to take the part. The video posted below is extremely short, amounting to just a few comments most of which are pretty basic, but it is nice to know that he enjoyed the part as much as he is appreciated for what he did with it.

By The Power of Grayskull! Watch This Video!

A Double Dose Of The Man of Steel!

2012-02-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

Straight from the archives of my old blog, here are two articles chronicling the Last Son of Krypton! Enjoy!

What Superman III Could Have Been

(originally posted on June 22, 2010)

Most of us remember Richard Pryor Meets Super, er, I mean, Superman III as being a lackluster disappointment following the first two installments of Alexander and Illya Salkind's Superman series.

There was, however, a very different proposal for that movie by Alexander Salkind's partner and son, Illya.

What follows is a plot outline of what Illya proposed for Superman III. I don't think it's better than what we got, though it certainly isn't any closer to the comic material so many fans are familiar with, but it is more exciting at least and it would have introduced ...

Brainiac...

Mr. Mxyzptlk (pronounced Mix-yez-pit-ul-ick) ...

and Supergirl ...

To audiences that might have been previously unfamiliar with them.

The plot really stinks and has some outrageous ideas that border on the ludicrous. You can definitely feel the absence of Richard Donner's expert touch to the proceedings. All the same, here it is, Alexander Salkind's story treatment for the Superman III that never was!

Looking back, I still don't think that film would have been as bad as the one we got, not that Superman III is irredeemable ... at least not fully. Oh well, at least one of those characters finally did make it to the big screen ...

... but alas, that is a post for another day.

And also, we are pleased to present ...

Just In Time For Halloween, Something Really Scary

(originally posted on October 31, 2010)

Behold my dear readers ...

A horrifying, twisted, transparant claw!!! What mad movie monster could have been in mind when the prop department dreamed this up? Believe it or not, it was Superman.

Yes, that Superman. Y'know, the guy who fights for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

What you see in the top photo is a prop still that was designed for a feature film in the late 90s that THANKFULLY never came to fruition.

Superman Lives was based on a script by Kevin Smith ...

No, not the guy who used to play Ares on Xena: Warrior Princess. THIS KEVIN SMITH ...

You know, the guy who built his reputation as a director who loved fanboys until he got his own fanboys and decided it was okay to start dumping on people who like Transformers and Lord of the Rings.
Yeah, well anyway. He wrote a Superman script, which actually had a pretty decent plot from all I've ever heard. It involved Brainiac, Lex Luthor, The Eradicator, and Doomsday which given that out of Superman's six feature films, he's so far only fought two villains from the comics, that would have been refreshing.
Tim Burton was signed to direct, and Nicholas Cage (who actually took his stage name from comic book hero Luke Cage) was cast as the Man of Steel.

Yeesh, talk about worse than Kryptonite.

Now, no disrespect to Mr. Cage. I mean, he loved the character enough to name his first born Kal-El (Superman's Kryptonian name) and the guy's been concentrated awesome in everything I've ever seen him in, but this is, well ... ew.

Anyway, the film was delayed a few times and finally canceled. I'm rather glad actually because in Burton's version, this was the design for the Superman Costume.

Yeah, good ole Tim.

These designs have been kept out of the public's eye since ... well, since always! BUT, visual effects designer Steve Johnson recently put a gallery of these images online. Follow the link and see what could have been!

!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE !!!

He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe According To Chris Bores

2012-02-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I love 80's cartoons and while Transformers will always be king of the heap in my mind, I can't help but gush anytime He-Man comes into the conversation! He's become a joke to some, a cherished childhood memory to others, and a personal hero to the true fans of The Masters Of The Universe! As such I try to post He-Man related topics wherever I can find them. And speaking of which, let's talk about the Irate Gamer.

Over the years Chris Bores has had his fair share of bashing and I'd be remiss in saying that not all of it was ill deserved. But he is an entertainer and he's not a bad one in his own right. Recently I came across a video where he reviewed the Masters of the Universe video games for the Atari 2600 and Intellivsion.

It's a decent video, short and sweet, with some nice screen shots of the game play. Definitely worth checking out for video game fans and He-Man-aholics like myself. Check it out and if you enjoy it, give Mr. Bores own youtube channel a gander. You might just like it.

Chris Alexander Previews Fangoria #311

2012-02-23T21:40:00.001-08:00

Chris Alexander is THE VOICE OF FANGORIA!!! This carnal Canadian is the mastermind, the maestro, the maniacal, miscreant muse of Fangoria magazine! For so long has this publication been covering horror and shock cinema, some have come to regard it as a veritable institution of splatter house excellence.

For the last three months, the editor and chief of Fangoria has been giving us video previews of their upcoming issues. Now, Mr. Alexander is back with a sneak peak at Fangoria #311.

He's going to talk Dr. Frankenstein radio dramas!
He's going to talk Nic Cage!
He's going to talk Roger Corman!
He's going to talk black and white cover presentations with blood red lettering seared across its top!

If you love the odd, the bizarre, or the strange this video will hold delights both gross and grand for your prying eyes. Check it out below and be sure to visit his youtube channel for even more insights into dark and twisted corners of film, music, and beyond! Enjoy ...

Power Of The Horse, Full Force!

2012-02-20T07:56:00.001-08:00

Created as a student project for Denmark's impressive animation school The Animation Workshop, Space Stallions was created by Thorvaldur S. Gunnarsson, Jonatan Brüsch, Ágúst Kristinsson, Arna Snæbjørnsdottir, Esben J. Jespersen, Touraj Khosravi and Polina Bokhan and may just be the greatest sci-fi fantasy cartoon never made!!!

The series obviously draws inspiration from the 80s but I'm sensing a pervading Rankin/Bass vibe more than anything else. Compare the below pic of Lion-O with the image of Sun Ray at 01:45 for one point of reference.

Aside from the short, Space Stallions has an official facebook page and a website. Whether it remains a student film or goes on to become something else, this idea is definitely worthy of a following! I mean there have been shorter, less impressive pieces that have gone on to become cult classics! Look at Bambi Meets Godzilla for crying out loud!

Bronies React To Teens React To My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: A Thought Provoking Rebuttal To The Hormonally Unbalanced!

2012-02-20T07:15:00.001-08:00

Guess what everyone! I've got a new video posted below fresh from you tube that is both thoughtfully constructed and entertaining! That's great, you say! Where is it, you ask? Well, you can skip down at the end to find it if you want, because first I'm going to be talking up a blue streak in true ranting fashion!

Teenagers (A Short Definition) -- A group of emotionally overdosed human beings who believe that reinforcing petty, childish conformity to the most popular social norm in their circles of experience will somehow elevate their maturity to the level of adults.

When it comes to this particular age group, I honestly don't have a lot of good things to say. I know that this behavior is part of our natural development but does it have to be so darned obnoxious? Case in point, the program known as Teens React To ... a series of videos where teenagers are herded together and exposed to brief clips of tv shows, movie trailers, ect. and then, well, they react to it and give their opinions.

The series was created by Benny and Rafi Fine, a duo of professional filmmakers, who have garnered (according to info posted on their youtube channel) over 350 million views from their web created content. So what does any of this have to do with anything?

Recently one of their panels of 'polished experts' decided to pick on a show that is both near and dear to my heart, namely My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic a startling re-imagining of Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise developed by Lauren Faust (of Cats Don't Dance, Powerpuff Girls, and Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends fame!). The series has reached a wide audience, creating diehard fans, some of whom affectionately refer to themselves as Bronies (for male fans) and Pega-Sisters (for the ladies).

The video Teens React To My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is more or less an attack on the fanbase by the teens involved, who I might add, ONLY WATCHED THE INTRO TO THE SERIES, and nothing else. As Mr. Holmes once stated:

"It is a Capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgement."

From A Study In Scarlet, Chapter 3

But thankfully there is a voice of reason shouting above the inane prattling of the hormonally poisoned delegation! A group of Bronies have decided to fight fire with fire, offering their analysis of the teens behavior! A commentary on a commentary, you say? And a sound one indeed! Enjoy!

(Special thanks to AC Racebest for the video)

Meet Roger Slifer

2012-02-15T23:04:00.000-08:00

Roger Slifer began his career as an assistant editor at Marvel Comics where he had a hand in editing all the titles they published at that time. He became their Special Projects Editor overseeing comic magazines such as the Rampaging Hulk and their Classics Comics line, in addition to movie adaptations. He also co-wrote The Defenders with David Anthony Kraft and other stories featuring The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and Iron Man.

Shortly thereafter, Roger published one of comicdom’s first Graphic Novels, Manhunter: The Complete Saga, a collection of stories featuring DC’s popular character by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson.
From there, he went to DC Comics where he served as their first Sales Manager to the specialty comic book shops and also wrote The Omega Men, DC’s first on-going title sold exclusively to comic shops. In that series, he co-created Lobo, the popular and infamous interplanetary bounty hunter. Additionally, Roger edited World’s Finest, New Talent Showcase and a quality reprint series of Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams.

In the eighties and nineties, Roger worked for Sunbow Productions, first as a writer on the G.I. Joe series, and later as Sunbow’s Supervising Producer of various shows including Transformers, Conan, Bucky O’Hare, My Little Pony, G.I. Joe Extreme, and Jem. In addition to his work on hundreds of hours of TV series programming, he was an executive story consultant on three theatrical movies: Transformers, G.I. Joe, and My Little Pony. He was also the story editor for many series including Jem, G.I. Joe Extreme, and Streetfighter. In 2001 he co-produced the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh for 4KIDS Productions. Roger has also written for many animated series including Jem, Bucky O’Hare, Conan, Spider-Man, Princess Tenko, G.I. Joe, and Robocop.

Most recently, he has worked as a writer and consultant in the videogames industry. He is also hard at work on several movie and TV scripts. And he has been approached to write a graphic novel based on World Champion Pole Dancer Felix Kane.

I recently had a chance to sit down and talk to Mr. Slifer about some of his past work. I hope everyone enjoys the following interview ...

Lone Fan: Is it true that both the Ghost Rider villain Inferno (real name Slifer) and Slifer, the Sky Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh, are named after you?

: INFERNO: FOE OF THE GHOST RIDER!

Roger Slifer: Yes. I had met Tony Isabella through our mutual friend Duffy Vohland on a roadtrip to New York. Tony was writing Ghost Rider at the time and decided to name Inferno, a demon from Hell, after me. I’m assuming it wasn’t a reflection on my character since Tony and Duffy later were instrumental in getting me my first job as an assistant editor at Marvel Comics. Duffy was very determined to get me on staff and, I’m sure, hounded Tony relentlessly. Tony recommended me to Roy Thomas, saying that he remembered meeting me and that I was a nice guy. I’ve always assumed he had gotten me confused with (artist/letterer) Jim Novak who he met at the same time and who really is a nice guy!

As for Slifer the Sky Dragon, despite the rumors on the web, I did not name that character after myself, even though I was a producer on Yu-Gi-Oh at the time. What happened was this: Another 4KIDS employee, Sam Murakami, was our liaison with the producer of the cards. Some names of the cards had to be changed because there was concern their names would be considered demonic or sacrilegious or something here in the states. It never made much sense to me, but when you’re broadcasting here in America, it’s something that has to be accommodated. Anyway, Sam renamed a bunch of those characters after people on staff at 4KIDS. It just so happened that the one he named after me happened to be a “god” card and much more prominent than the others in the series. I attribute it to the cosmic forces in the universe trying to balance things for me being made a demon in Ghost Rider. And again, just to set the record straight, I wasn’t even aware of it until after the names on the cards had been changed and it was too late to go back.

Lone Fan: Moving on to your television career, most of the references I found for you as a producer and screenwriter were for animation house Sunbow Productions. Was that the first television production company you worked for?

Roger Slifer: Yes.

Lone Fan: How did you get hired?

Roger Slifer: I had worked for Sunbow as a writer on the G.I. Joe series which was being story edited by Steve Gerber. Steve was a good friend of mine, back from the days at Marvel. Steve had spoken very highly of his experiences with the company. I had told him that if there was ever a staff position that opened up (Sunbow was based in New York, where I was living) that I’d be interested. One day I got a call out of the blue from one of the Sunbow production assistants that they understood I was interested in interviewing for the job they had available.

I went in and interviewed, first with Joe Bacal and then with Tom Griffin who were the heads of Sunbow. Much to my chagrin, when Tom called Jay Bacal, my potential direct boss, to come downstairs to meet me, Jay seemed reluctant to do so. But it turned out that Jay was just trying to get out a FedEx package in time for a deadline. When he did come down, he looked very frazzled and like he hadn’t slept in days. I could see why they were trying to get him some help. But we hit it off and got along great. About a year later, I remember looking up from my desk and telling Jay that I felt like he looked the day he hired me. He said that was probably because I was now doing all the stuff he was doing at the time. By that point we had expanded to doing many more shows. And we had three feature films in the works.

Lone Fan: What was your first job for Sunbow?

Roger Slifer: Weirdly, although my title changed over the years, my job really didn’t. I was Sunbow’s supervising producer for a number of shows. What that meant was that I worked closely with the writers and story editors and also with the producers of our production partners. When I first started, we were working closely with Marvel Productions who had a lot of great people working there. I worked very closely with their producers, who included Will Meugniot, Boyd Kirkland, Frank Parr, and Larry Houston, who are still friends till this day. Those guys are all amazingly talented and worked hands on with a lot of other talented storyboard artists and designers. They were the ones really responsible for the making the shows look as great as they did. Sunbow and Marvel Productions had a very close working relationship in those days. I also worked with Marvel’s film editors in editing the film of the episodes, with Wally Burr who was our voice director, and with various post-production people in mixing the final shows. Of course, Sunbow was also working very closely with Hasbro to make sure that their concerns were addressed and that all their characters got ample coverage in the stories.

Lone Fan: I notice you worked as producer on Robotix and Big Foot and the Muscle Machines, both of which were part of Super Week (also billed Super Sunday and Super Saturday), which was a half hour cartoon block that featured four serialized six-minute cartoons. What was your primary job as a producer on Super Week?

Roger Slifer: I was involved with the JEM segments, which I believe was the only one of the three that went on to its own series. I also remember working with Doug Booth and together re-writing some of the Robotix scripts.

Lone Fan: Since you were only working as a producer on one of the featured segments, did that present any problems in working with the producers who might have been in charge of the other two segments?

Roger Slifer: None whatsoever. All of Sunbow’s creative people got along great together. That’s one of the reasons I enjoyed working there so much. Also, even on the shows I was working on, there were other Sunbow staff people involved as well. Eric Early was involved in post-production for JEM, for example.

Lone Fan: You were a producer on The Transformers not long after that. You’re also listed as a writer for that series on imdb.com. However, they designate you as a writer of unknown episodes. Which episodes did you author?

Roger Slifer: I actually did not write any episodes of that series, even though Jay often asked me to submit stories. I was way too busy overseeing the production and working with our story editors (Flint Dille, Steve Gerber, and Marv Wolfman). To give you an idea how busy we were those days, I remember there was one weekend where I had to fly to L.A. and work with three different film editors simultaneously on three different Transformers episodes. I think we finally finished up about four in the morning and I went back to the hotel and crashed. Also, frankly, when it came to writing, I preferred doing scripts for the JEM show.

Lone Fan: You’re listed as an associate story consultant for Transformers: The Movie. I know from talking to Buzz Dixon that he actually wrote the screenplay for G.I. Joe: The Movie even though Ron Friedman is credited as the writer due to a contractual agreement with Sunbow that promised him a writer’s credit regardless of whether or not he wrote the final story as long as he worked on it. Interestingly enough, Mr. Friedman is also credited as the writer of the Transformers animated film. Is he really the writer? Frankly, I always thought the movie smacked more of Flint Dille’s work than Ron Friedman’s.

Roger Slifer: Well, first of all, I wouldn’t say that Ron had nothing to do with the writing of G.I. Joe: The Movie. Ron definitely submitted an outline and a script for the movie. One of the first things I was asked to do on the movie was to refine his outline. But there is also no doubt that the script went through a lot of revisions. I know I re-wrote parts of the script and Buzz did a major rewrite. I’ve never done a comparison of all the scripts so I don’t really know how much of Ron’s script remains. But Buzz certainly did a major overhaul.
As far as Transformers, that story also underwent major revisions. I know Flint Dille and Jay Bacal wrote a completely different script that never saw the light of day. The longest meeting I ever participated in was a story meeting for the Transformers movie. I think we were there sixteen hours. It was Joe (Bacal) and Tom (Griffin), Jay, Flint, myself, Carole Weitzman and maybe another one or two people I’m forgetting. We ordered out for pizza at lunch and when dinner rolled around, we ordered Chinese. But we never left the room. The edict was, before we left the meeting, the story was going to be hammered out. After that, Flint rewrote the script. And he did a great job. It’s not easy to fit all those characters into one story!

Lone Fan: I notice you only wrote two episodes of the original G.I. Joe series: The Germ and Money To Burn. Both of these episodes prominently feature Tomax and Xamot. Is there any reason you chose to focus on those two Cobra operatives in particular?

Roger Slifer: I liked them. Also, I think Steve Gerber, the story editor, felt that I knew more about economics, the stock market, etc. than most of his other writers. That’s why I believe I was assigned Money to Burn. I don’t really remember any particulars for The Germ.

Lone Fan: In the episode Money To Burn, you had Cobra attempting to subvert America’s monetary system. Economics are an interesting choice of tactics, especially since so many cartoons focus on bad guys blowing stuff up as the only option of attack. Why did you choose economics as your primary subject matter?

Roger Slifer: Well, I guess the easiest answer is, “Why not?” As you know, at Sunbow we tried not to talk down to the audience. Also, we tried not to do typical storylines. So the idea of using the monetary system to collapse America seemed like a reasonable objective for the bad guys. I guess more than a few modern bankers were fans of the old G.I. Joe show.

Lone Fan: I got a real kick out of The Germ. The mutant monster that appeared in it reminded me a lot of the 1950’s science fiction movies. What was the inspiration for that story in particular?

Roger Slifer: Obviously, the major inspiration was The Blob. There was an interesting reaction to the germ from some apple growers association. Apparently, they were concerned that we pointed out that there is cyanide in apple seeds. Personally, I think we were performing a public service—I mean, I had no idea there was cyanide in apple seeds until I did my research.

Lone Fan: In 1990 when DIC had taken over production of G.I. Joe from Sunbow, you came back and wrote one more episode called Pigskin Commandos. What were the differences in scripting for Sunbow vs. scripting for DIC?

Roger Slifer: I enjoyed working for Sunbow. But, seriously…Doug Booth asked me to do a script for the DIC show. And Doug is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. But one really shouldn’t ask a guy who has no interest in sports (that would be me) to write a show with a football metaphor.

Lone Fan: In 1995, Gunther-Wahl Productions began working on a new series entitled G.I. Joe: Extreme, for which you were the story editor. The setting of the series featured a smaller cast of characters fighting the terrorist organization SKAR. How did the series develop and at what stage in its development were you brought in?

Roger Slifer: There were actually two seasons of G.I. Extreme, the first produced by Sunbow and Graz Entertainment and the second by Gunther-Wahl. The first season, I was Sunbow’s supervising producer and worked closely with the people at Hasbro. When Hasbro decided to move the series to Gunther-Wahl for season two, they asked me to come along and be the story editor. My friends at Sunbow didn’t object, so I went along. That series was also one of my easiest negotiations. When I sat down with Lee Gunther, I asked that he pay me what I was being paid to write and story edit Street Fighter, which I was story editing for Invision for USA Networks. He agreed, we shook hands, and he said “I know you and you know me, so let’s get started.” Lee had run Marvel Productions, when Sunbow was working with them, so we already knew one another. The “Extreme” second season production was already behind schedule, so I dug in. Eventually the contract showed up and it was everything to which we had agreed.

When I was brought in on Season One, I believe the series bible had already been done. But Hasbro wasn’t completely happy with how things were developing. Lloyd Goldfine (with whom I later worked with on Yu-Gi-Oh at 4KIDS) and I starting working closely with Hasbro and the producers at Graz to address Hasbro’s concerns and together got things on track. Dan Price and Ben Torres were Hasbro’s point men on that show. Will Meugniot was the Graz producer. And we all had a great time working on the show together. Also, behind the scenes, David Anthony Kraft, an old and very talented friend with whom I had previously worked at Marvel, assisted me with story-editing the series.

I recently ran across a note that Chris Connolly at Hasbro wrote to Carole Weitzman at the completion of the first season. It was very complimentary and praised my involvement in the series. It was appreciated, because, in this business, rarely do people take the time to write a personal note. And, like I said before, it was a great pleasure working with Ben and Dan on the show.

Lone Fan: Previous to G.I. Joe Extreme, Sunbow had created one half-hour animated cartoon called Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles. The special was packaged on a VHS tape that was sold exclusively with the Sgt. Savage toy line that Hasbro produced. It was a follow up to the original G.I. Joe cartoon, and certain fans have speculated that G.I. Joe: Extreme was a sequel to that special since Sgt. Savage was one of the characters featured in Extreme. Do you know if it was ever the intent of Gunther-Wahl for their series to be part of the G.I. Joe cannon that was started Sunbow and continued by DIC?

Roger Slifer: There was definitely a connection between the Sgt. Savage one-shot and G.I. Joe Extreme, but, like I said, Sunbow was the first to carry it over. I wasn’t really involved in the Sgt. Savage one-shot but I remember being handed it as reference. I also believe Ben and Dan from Hasbro were involved in that production as well. As was Lloyd, if memory serves.

Lone Fan: There’s not a lot of information about G.I. Joe: Extreme on the web and so far as I know it has never had a single DVD or VHS release. Would you mind sharing some memories about the show?

Roger Slifer: It was an interesting show to work on. Most people aren’t aware that Bill Sienkiewicz did character design for that show which was later adapted to animation by Will Muengiot. The aim with that show was to make it more “cinematic” than other shows on the air at that time. Ben and Dan at Hasbro were very involved in pushing for that. And Will and his team I think fulfilled that vision. At least in the first season.

Lone Fan: Out of curiosity, as someone who has contributed to Transformers and G.I. Joe over the years, what are your feelings on the live action feature films based upon them?

Roger Slifer: Years ago, when I was in the Marvel Bullpen, one of the artists was critiquing one of the Star Wars films. When he concluded his argument, he paused and said, “But I’m very critical, and they’re (Lucas and Fox) very rich!” Let’s just say I apply that same sentiment to the Joe and Transformers films. I would like to say, though, that I thought the animated G.I. Joe: Resolute was terrific!

I would like to thank Roger Slifer for talking to me and granting this interview, and to all those who took the time to read it and to all those who remember those wonderful days of cartoons gone by. For that, more than anything, we are forever indebted to Mr. Slifer and the quality of his work!

Cereal Geek and the Coming of the 1980's Cartoon Revolution!!!

2012-01-03T05:35:00.000-08:00

(Original published on November 29, 2010 at
ALoneFanCryingInTheWilderness.wordpress.com)

Like any profession, tracing the birth of animation journalism to its exact beginning is a bit of a rough go, but if you want a good place to start you could do worse than to look to the 1970s. It was in 1970, after all, that now noted animation historian Michael Barrier …

… began publishing Funny World, an independent magazine devoted to comic book and animation art …

1976 saw the debut of Remembering Winsor McCay, a documentary dedicated to the life of the great newspaper cartoonist and the father of hand drawn animation. This documentary was the work of Mr. John Canemaker, another influential pioneer into that strange field of study men know as animation journalism.

An entire crop of animation historians, critics, and, most importantly of all, journalists have risen in the wake of men like these to catalogue, chronicle, and document the history of the cartoon art form, and a number of animated television shows, feature films, and short subjects have benefited from the attention such men have paid them. However, a good number of the people who are currently working in this field tend to have a very dim view of a particular type of cartoon that is very near and dear to me; the franchise (or toy as some call them) cartoons of the 1980s.

I've spoken to several people who worked on these types of shows. Some of them are proud of their work. At least one I’ve met seemed to buy into the lie that these shows had no artistic value and were little more than half hour toy commercials.

Whether we’re talking about G.I. Joe, The Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake, the Care Bears, even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, what have you! Every one of those shows was paid for by toy companies or greeting card companies with the intent of boosting their bottom line.

A major argument from the opposition is that the toy companies dictated which characters from their lines the animation studio could use. There’s also some gobbledygook about the cartoons rotting the minds of children, being preachy, boring, ect. For all these reasons a full decade of animated television has been demonized by a frighteningly large portion of animation journalists and critics.

At first glance a lot of these arguments seem fairly sound, but are they? These cartoons were made to sell toys, therefore they are commercial, therefore they cannot be art. What about product placement in film? Is every movie that flashes a storefront or a logo automatically disqualified from artistic consideration? Both of these types of productions raise funds to help a film or television series raise its budget on the bet that people who see the product will go out and buy it. Isn’t that the same thing?

Bladerunner is considered one of the best science fiction movies of all time and it prominently displays Coke-A-Cola adds?

Does that mean it’s not art? Superman: The Movie was a critically acclaimed, box office hit yet it received $20,000 to work a Cherrios box into one of its scenes.

Now to be fair, product placement is added after the creative process has started, while with toy cartoons the product is the reason there is any production at all. It can be argued that this disqualifies the product placement argument BUT only if you admit that a cartoon’s disqualification from the honor of being able to become ‘art’ depends on whether or not it was created to sell a product. If you do that, it opens a whole new can of worms all together.

Many films are made from successful books. These are preexisting products that have a proven market, in some cases the creator of the preexisting product wields great power over the production even though they might have no film experience at all, and yet think of all the wonderful artistic films that have come from that stock: The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, ect …
“But,” says the opposition, “this is different. These movies were inspired by the books. They were not meant to sell them.”

If that’s the case, then how come whenever a new movie based on a book comes out, Wal-Marts, Krogers, and other stores that may or may not sell that particular kind of book will begin stocking them around the country?

“Oh ho,” says the opposition, “This matters not. For books are creative products created by creative people. They are not the same as mere toys.”

What about the artists, sculptors, and writers employed by toy companies? Are they any different? Keep in mind Hasbro actually paid comic book writers Gerry Conway …

And Dennis O’ Neil …

… to create the back story and many of the names for the Transformers toyline they imported from Japan. Mr. O’Neil who is one of the most respected comic book writers of all time actually named Optimus Prime!

The basic problem with the argument against toy cartoons is that the critics judge the production on the method by which the show was created and not by the finished product. We would hardly expect an art critic called to judge a painting, to turn aside and question the artist about what brushes he used, where he got the money to buy them, and whether or not his inspiration came entirely from his own imagination or from something he saw. No, the critic would examine the finished product and judge it for what it was.

A good movie is not judged because of product placement, or whether or not it’s based on a preexisting idea, or whether or not someone from outside the creative process forced the staff to change an aspect of it, so why should a good cartoon be any different?

That’s where the next line of attack comes from. We are told that these cartoons are judged badly because they are of an inferior quality. Okay, granted, some of these cartoons did suffer from animation problems. This was the early days of cartoon outsourcing when many shows were animated overseas by inexperienced personnel. You can hardly watch an episode of any show from that time period without witnessing a continuity or design mistake. BUT, the strength of the 1980s wasn’t in the execution of the animation as much as it was in the writing. The 80s saw a sharp increase in action …

… drama …

… characterization

… and suspense!

There are a number of animated features and television shows made both before and after the 1980s that have fantastic art but suffer from story problems; many of these same critics conveniently overlook that.
For instance, one particular animation critic I could name (but won’t because I actually kind of like him) who is also a proponent of toy cartoons = crap, praised Disney’s Tarzan.

Yet the film suffered from underdeveloped characters, an uninspired villain, a disconnected plotline, and a heavy handed moral (kind of funny how those get overlooked when they’re not attached to a toy cartoon) that had already been used in Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notredame, and actually about 8 out of 10 Disney features from the 90s.

(Pssst: the moral was PEOPLE FEAR AND HATE WHAT THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND. And honestly, it’s good moral, but when you get spoon fed it three or four movies in a row it can get a little tiring.)
I’ve just never bought into the argument, lackluster stories are okay as long as the film is pleasant to look at. You’ll pardon me for my cynicism but as Doug Walker (an internet critic and comedian) once wrote, “Lame story + Pretty Images = Pretty Lame”. Maybe the cartoons from the 80s do have animation problems, but at the end of the day I’d still rather watch THIS!

… than THIS!

And besides that the few times a project from that time period was able to combine their strong writing and unique designs with well timed animation, it usually turned out something exceptional!

See what I mean.

Now, that’s not to say the writing was always perfect, and while 80s franchise cartoons could be and often were guilty of the same sin of heavy handed morals, they at least put some thought into it. Disney produces animated features for hundreds of millions of dollars and yet it feels like they’re pulling their messages out of their rear ends at times. The Rankin and Bass series Thundercats which was made for significantly less money than any Disney feature I’ve ever heard of, took the initiative to keep a child psychologist on their payroll, so that he could review their scripts and offer suggestions about the commentary of their stories!

That kind of staffing choice gives me a lot more hope for their ability to deliver a positive moral than Disney has, so far.

All of these observations are technical, mind you. Art is not. Art is something that happens, it stays with you and changes the way you think. It makes an impression. The first time I ever saw a cartoon character die was on the Transformers, the images of people degenerating into mutants from G.I. Joe: The Movie horrified me as a child, as did Cobra Commander’s pleas for mercy as his mind and humanity were stripped away from him by the denizens of Cobra-La.

Incidentally, that scene of Cobra Commander got to my older sister so much that for years after, she refused to have anything to do with G.I. Joe.

I can’t speak for everyone else, but what I’m talking about here are a group of cartoons that moved me, scared me, in one or two instances they made me cry: in short, they IMPACTED me as an individual in a way that’s never really lessened. Isn’t that what art is all about? Isn’t that what it’s supposed to do?

“But oh ho,” says the other side, “you’re just being nostalgic.”

Am I? I never saw Thundercats till I was in my 20s. None of the local affiliate stations carried it when I was young. The five part episode that began the second season of that series Thundercats Ho! Still moved me.
In the story Lion-O, the leader of the Thundercats, finds out that there are three more members of his nearly extinct race living on their adopted planet of Third Earth. He and the other Thundercats set out to find them simply because they are their countrymen. This is going to sound corny and sentimental and honestly it is, but in this age of national cynicism, party divisions, and political mudslinging, I found myself stirred by the honest devotion of these flat, two dimensional, “TOYS” as they concerned themselves with the fate of their countrymen simply because they were their countrymen.

This ‘toy commercial’ for which I had no nostalgic value moved me, and impressed its message upon me as an adult. It made me rethink some of my positions concerning people who didn’t belong to my political party, and it made me want to reach out to them more. Maybe I’m an idiot or maybe, just maybe, these shows are better than they are given credit for!

But then prejudice in or against an art form or genre is nothing new. Leonard Da Vinci claimed sculptors were nothing more than common labors and neither their work nor their profession should ever be considered as grand or as lofty as that of the artist and his brush.

There was a time when motion pictures as a whole were not considered art. Dissenters contended that because film was a joint effort by numerous individuals and not the sole vision of a single person, it could never be placed on the same pedestal as novels or paintings or the traditional arts.

This is the same type of self serving, conceited, snobbery that has long afflicted ten years of memorable, well constructed cartoons. But sculpture survived criticism, as film has and it is from film that we can learn a valuable lesson as to how franchise cartoons can throw off the dead weight of these jaded naysayers.
It was the efforts of publications like Cahiers Du Cinema and organized film clubs that began to argue for a film as art.

To break the success of film’s near universal affirmation in the art world down to any one person or source would be futile. It wasn’t a person eventually changed the world’s mind, it was a movement but that movement needed a rallying point before it could gain any steam!

Ladies and Gentlemen and fans of the 80s, we need a voice! If the animation critics we have are not willing to recognize that, then we need new journalists and historians who will and as luck would have it we already have them!

THIS IS CEREAL GEEK!

Founded by British writer/animator James Eatock who has provided content and commentaries for numerous dvd releases of 1980s franchise cartoon in both the U.K. and the U.S., co-producer of Time Life’s phenomenal dvd release of The Real Ghostbusters, the author of The Unofficial Guide to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, as well as the creator of The He-Man and She-Ra Blog, and a frequent contributor to Master Cast (a He-Man and She-Ra podcast), the distinguished Mr. Eatock is attacking this problem head on!

His quarterly magazine Cereal Geek provides in depth articles on tons of oft overlooked animation gems from those marvelous Reagan/Thatcher years. The magazine is 100 glossy pages of add free goodness served to you with engaging commentary, production insights, informative commentaries! Cereal Geek has been selling out since it first debuted (sadly issues 1-3 can no longer be had) because it finally provides fans of this marvelous era of entertainment with a long sought after outlet for the intellectual aspect of our fandom! This isn’t just a magazine we want, it’s a magazine we need! It’s engaging the subject of 1980s animation on a level that has never been undertaken by a professional journalistic publication.

This type of attention is what is going to raise the bar on our argument with people who want to see these cartoons forgotten and it is an essential tool that can and hopefully will work to change the minds of those who are undecided on these shows and their place in film history.

For those who are curious but not sold on the idea, allow me to present a preview of the magazine that was kindly hosted by toonzone.net

Andrew Cramer who works as a colorist for Cereal Geek has some samples of internal artwork from the magazine on his official website.

You can also find info about it on Cereal Geek’s My Space Page, Face Book Page, Twitter Account or the magazine’s Official Website

Cereal Geek can be purchased courtesy of the magazine’s website or at Graham Cracker Comics.
The magazines tend to run 10-20 U.S. dollars per copy, but if you can’t afford that I suggest you checkout the PDF format downloads for sale on Cereal Geek’s Website. They’re different than the magazines but they still include tons of content as well as some of the published articles that have appeared in previous issues, and the best part is they only run about three buck U.S. currency a’ pop!

And now that I’ve dumped all that awesome in your laps, I’m going to go one further!

How’s that for a smurfin’ good time?

There's No Need To Fear ...

2012-01-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

... because at long, LONG last my precious, er, I mean, Underdog is coming to dvd in a complete series boxset courtesy of Shout Factory!

Co-created by W. Watts Biggers, Chet Stover, Treadwell D. Covington and artist Joe Harris, the series featured an anthropomorphic dog named Shoeshine Boy who transformed into Underdog to battle the likes of Simon BarSinister, Riff Raff, The Electric Eel, and the sinister Kingdom of Zot!

At 124 episodes, it's unknown at this time if the series will feature all the supplemental cartoons such as Go-Go Gophers that ran with it originally, but just having the complete original adventures of Underdog (many of which have only been available in best-of collections up to this point) is as powerful a motivator as any super-energy pill!

And remember!

Simon Sez: BUY THIS DVD!!!

The Deadly Foes Of Spider-Man: Remake Edition part 3

2012-01-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

I wasn’t expecting to write another one of these articles anytime soon, but the recent appearance of the new Lizard forced my hand. I mean what do you say when they take this …

And turn it into this!

After witnessing the debut of the character’s mug on a new toy (courtesy of superherohype.com) I honestly have to imagine that the director sat down at a design meeting and said, “Okay, I want the Lizard but before we use him let’s suck all the imagination out of his design and make him look as uninteresting as possible!” If that is what happened, then all I can say is MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Seriously, Steve Ditko was one of the greatest comic book designers of all time, but I bet if you wrapped his rotting corpse in copper wiring just now the electricity produced from him spinning in his grave could light up Cleveland!

The movie remains to be seen and I’m still trying to keep a positive outlook on it. I mean, I’ve been surprised before and honestly I want to like this movie! I really, REALLY want to like it! They’re just making it so darn hard!

But what do you think?

The Deadly Foes Of Spider-Man: Remake Edition Part 2

2011-12-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

Long ago there was a film, Nay! A Godsend by the legendary lord of the Evil Dead Sam Raimi himself! This one did forge a motion picture that surpassed all its closer kin of comic book live action adaptery and brought Stan Lee's wallcrawler to the silver screen for the very first time!

And now by all the powers of the internet we do behold a test shot of the Green Goblin makeup that was once considered for use in that awesome celluloid gem! BEHOLD THE GREEN GOBLIN AS HE COULD HAVE BEEN!!!

I have to admit I'm kind of torn. I actually liked the way the Goblin appeared in the movies. Making the outfit a flight suit and then using a demonic helmet as psychological warfare was a practical, believable way to explain why a weapons manufacturer would develop a million dollar boogeyman costume! Looking at this though, the features of the makeup are as close to the comic as Spidey's suit in the movie. I kind of find myself wishing they had gone in this direction. I realize that the mask is a bit rubbery looking, but with color tinting and the proper lighting it could have been incredible!!!

This is one Spidey villain makeover (or rather a look at a possible makeover that never was) that I approve of!

Lone Fan Classics: A Dwight Kemper Double Feature!!!

2011-12-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

As I stated in the days or yore, I have traveled to blogspot after many moons of posting on wordpress.com! Thus doth the Lone Fan decree, my older work should not be neglected the fair fields of blogspot.com! This shall be the first in a series of reposts! Today I do herein present two interviews once taken from mystery writer Dwight Kemper! The first of these I posted on June 7, 2010! Enoy!!!

DWIGHT KEMPER FRAMED BORIS KARLOFF

by Mark Morgan Jr.

Boris Karloff is a figure who certainly needs no introduction.As the man in the monster makeup from Universal Studio’s classic horror film ‘Frankenstein’, Karloff made a name for himself, and continued to play monsters, mummies, and mad scientists throughout the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and beyond.However, I wonder how many of us have heard of Dwight Kemper?

I first met Dwight many years ago in the darkest wilds of the internet.Already an accomplished playwright and film critic, Dwight had founded a fan fiction page based on a popular cartoon series called “The Powerpuff Girls”.It was a site where aspiring authors could submit stories for review.The established series gave each writer a familiar cast of characters to work from and unlike so many other fan fiction pages, which post stories at random, Dwight read each one and only the best efforts were allowed in his online library.This screening process taught each member what it was like to write under an editor, and through constructive criticism, he helped them identify their weaknesses and improve their strengths.

Almost five years have past since I first communicated with Dwight.He’s become a teacher and a friend, as well as one of my favorite writers.During this time, he’s added another credit to his name, with the publication of a mystery book entitled ‘Who Framed Boris Karloff?’.

The book takes place during the filming of “Son of Frankenstein”, which was the third installment of the Frankenstein series and the last with Boris as the monster.As the plot unfolds, Boris Karloff is framed for murder.The crime is quickly covered up by the studio producers, who don’t want to lose one of their premier stars.Boris realizes that the killer must have counted on that fact and framed him to cover his tracks.Now Boris is hot on the case; aided by fellow co-stars Bela Lugosi (of Dracula fame) and Basil Rathbone (famous for playing Sherlock Holmes).The book is a mix of comedy and suspense, with enough true Hollywood facts and scandals to satisfy even the most ravenous film buff.

The book was released last year by Midnight Marquee Press (http://www.midmar.com).Since that time Mr. Kemper has been busy and now he has two new books slated for release sometime in late 2008/early 2009.One is entitled ‘Bela Lugosi and The House of Doom’, and serves as a sequel to his first novel.The other is entitled ‘Bela Lugosi’s Final Curtain’ and it is a standalone project that centers on the death of Hollywood’s first, best Count Dracula.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Kemper last week and got a chance to talk to him about these three books as well as another upcoming project that will be mentioned later on.I hope you enjoy this talk as much as I did.

Mark:Good Morning, Dwight.

Dwight:Hello, Mark.

Mark: I think I’d like to start off with a straightforward question.What gave you the idea for “Who Framed Boris Karloff”?

Dwight:What gave me the idea was the same photograph I have in the first chapter of my book; a picture of Boris Karloff in full monster makeup, cutting a birthday cake on the set of ‘Son of Frankenstein’.Some people might have looked at that and said, “Oh very cute.Boris Karloff in a monster costume and Bela Lugosi as Ygor, and Basil Rathbone and the director and they’re having a little party on the set of ‘Son of Frankenstein.’”But to me, it looked like something very awful had happened on that set.They’re about to discover something.No, this is just the calm before the storm.So that got my twisted imagination going and thinking about somebody being murdered on the set and Boris being blamed for the crime.As for the format of taking real people and putting them into a mystery setting, there were actually a bunch of books published back in the forties by MGM and they took their starlets, people like Judy Garland and Alice Faye put them in these, not murder mystery, but mystery books similar to the Nancy Drew books.There was something like “Alice Faye and The Case of The Haunted Stair Case” and others titles like that. So I decided to take that idea and put it into a murder mystery setting.As an old Hollywood nut, I tried to get as many real people into a fictional story as I could.

Mark:You’ve actually answered my next question.I was going to ask you why you chose Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Basil Rathbone in particular, but the photograph was your main inspiration for that cast, I would assume.

Dwight:Oh yes, because what’s great is that it not only gave me the people, it also gave me the setting.And when you have the setting, you have your time period and you have your suspects and it pretty much writes itself almost.All you have to do is find a publisher who’ll go along with it.The only problem that I faced is that ‘Son of Frankenstein’ is not that well documented as far as production notes.I tried to get them from the UCLA film library and I got no response.The only source material I had was watching the DVD a hundred times and studying every single frame of it, trying to figure our where would this be, where would that be. There’s also a book by Gregory William Mink.It’s part of the Universal Film Scripts series, concerning ‘Son of Frankenstein’. It has the script that was abandoned as well as different production photographs, little articles and things like that.So that was really the only source that I had for writing my book.

Mark:Let me ask you about Sara Karloff.I know that she wrote the introduction to the book and she really seemed to like the novel.I know Bela Lugosi has a son who’s still living.Did you make any effort to contact him and let him look over your material?

: Dwight Kemper and Sara Karloff

Dwight: Sara was the one I contacted, because I already knew her.We had actually met on the internet.She has a site called Karloff.com.It’s a place where you can find Boris Karloff merchandise, and if you have an idea for merchandising and so forth you can contact Karloff Enterprises to discuss it.I had a tape that someone gave me; in fact it was one of our Powerpuff Girl associates, Rhodescholar.(Rhodescholar is the pen name of a fan fiction writer who is a member of Dwight’s fan fiction page)She had sent me a tape of both the Jack Benny and Spike Jones radio shows where Boris Karloff was a guest and I noticed on a list of radio shows that were on Sara Karloff’s website, they didn’t have these episodes on them.So I contacted her and said I have these radio shows on tape and I’ll make you a copy.She asked how much I wanted for them and I said, “Well I don’t want anything for them.First of all it’s just a copy that someone gave to me.It’s just a copy of a copy and I have no property ownership of them.And secondly your father gave me so much entertainment over the years, as far as I’m concern it’s paid in full.”I gave Sara Karloff the tape and she sent me a thank you card and then we started corresponding and then I had this idea for the book.I wrote to her and I told her what my idea was, and she got really enthusiastic about it, and the next thing I knew I started writing it and sending her chaptersSara was sort of convalescing at the time because she had just had gallbladder surgery, and she was laid up.It was sort of a way to keep her entertained, and while she read my chapters, she would give me feedback about anything that went on at the time that she was told about, and she helped me with her Dad’s character.For instance, there’s a scene where Boris is puttering in his garden and he’s kind of preoccupied because of the problems in the book.But when I originally wrote it he was extremely angry, but Sara told me that he wouldn’t really be angry, because he tended to brood.So I rewrote it to reflect that.Her input made the book more realistic.And she also told me something I didn’t know, that her mother was actually laid up in the hospital for one or two weeks with an infection after giving birth and that became an important plot point of the book, and also brought in Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital which is where Sara’s mother, Dorothy Karloff would actually be at this time.

Mark:Where did you get your research material for personality information?You’ve told me where you got your feedback on Boris, but what about Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi?Where did you go to get an idea of what they were like and how they would react?

Dwight: Bela Lugosi has filmed interviews, some very early interviews that showed up as extras on some DVDs of his movies.These were from 1932 or 1933.Then there are several that were filmed in his later life.These along with a number of biographies which I mention at the end of the book, are the source material for his personality.I don’t know if he was really as sarcastic or as quick with a comeback as I made him, but he seemed to want to be that way, and he became my favorite character.

Mark:He was actually my favorite character too.I loved the fact that you made him as gutsy as he was.

Dwight:He was a very proud man and I wanted to show that and do it in a way that would be very ‘Old World’.According to several of his ex-wives, he was very controlling and domineering, so I figured he would be that way if the situation called for it.

Mark:I want to ask you one more question before we go on to Rathbone.In the book you made Lugosi sort of a lecher.Were there any famous affairs or scandals where any of his marriages were concerned?

Dwight:Oh yes!Oh my god, yes.As a matter of fact, as I mentioned in the book he had a big painting of a nude Clara Bow on his wall that Clara had posed for and had presented to him.One of the actors from the stage play “Dracula” said that Bela came into his dressing room, took off his shirt, and showed him all the bite marks on his back, and he would say, “They’re from Clara.”So, Clara Bow was his big hot number. Then there was a recollection by one of the young ladies who worked with him, you can see her interview on the DVD “Lugosi: Hollywood’s Dracula,” when Bela was with the Road Company production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” She said that she was getting into her costume and at one point she could feel Bela Lugosi’s lips on her back, and he said to her, “I would like you to tour with me, but of course, you would have to be my baby.”He was quite a character.There were a number of affairs that he had had.In fact, one of his female co-stars from the stage version of “Dracula” said that he hugged her so hard that he broke her ribs.

Mark:Wow.We can move on to Basil Rathbone now?Where did you get your information for his personality and moods?

Dwight:Basil Rathbone has an autobiography called “In and Out of Character” and that was my key source of information.In some ways, in order to make him more Sherlockian, I sort of glossed over the fact that in his later life he actually became quite superstitious and believe in psychic phenomena.The next book I’ll be working on, “Basil Rathbone and the Curse of Conan Doyle,” will actually touch on that more.Aside from “In And Out Of Character” there are some DVD extras in “Robin Hood” where he played Sir Guy of Gisborne. It shows some behind-the-scene stuff where he seems very serious.There’s actually one point where he’s trying on different helmets for a costume change and looking rather vexed while he’s doing it.I derived some of his character from the behind the scenes shots.

Mark:I know from things that I’ve read that he later came to regret his association with the Sherlock Holmes movies.Is any of that going to factor into the “Curse of Conan Doyle”?

Dwight:Oh yeah.That’s why it’s called the curse of Conan Doyle, because he considers there’s something of a curse in it.It’s going to take place during a disastrous attempt to bring Sherlock Holmes to the stage.Basil actually did a stage production of Sherlock Holmes that his wife wrote with the assistance of the Conan Doyle estate and Adrian Conan Doyle, the son of Arthur Conan Doyle.By the way, I didn’t know this, but apparently Basil Rathbone’s father and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle actually fought together and knew each other in the service.So you never know about these things.Maybe they were destined to be entwined in one way or another.

Mark:I’m a huge Holmes fan.I’ve read every single short story, novel or essay I can get my hands on from Conan Doyle concerning Holmes.There are times, particularly at the end of the book when Rathbone is racing through Billie Bennett’s brothel in hunt of the killer that I really got this Sherlockian thrill, where you could see that character taking over.Was that intentional or was that something that just happened?

Dwight:It was intentional because at the time of the book, he’s only just played Sherlock Holmes the one time, in the “Hound of the Baskervilles”.And he had just finished it.So it would have been very fresh in his mind and it would not have been something that he had grown tired of.So as an actor in a situation where he has to perform as a real detective, the character of Sherlock Holmes would naturally be what Basil would draw upon.

Mark:Moving on to a somewhat more technical question, Frank Dietz painted the cover for your book.I understand he’s something of a name where covers are concerned.Were you familiar with his work prior to the novel?

Dwight:Yes, I was.I have visited his website many times and drooled over his paintings.I wanted to get one, one day.Now I have one and it’s my book cover.How he came to be involved happened through my publisher and through the Monster Kids Message Board on yuku.When we did the press release for the book, Frank Dietz, a member of the Monster Kids Message Board, said, “Gee, I’d like to do a book cover for or illustrate something like that.”So my publisher got in touch with him.Next thing you know, Frank Dietz is doing the cover of ‘Who Framed Boris Karloff?’.

Mark:He’ll also be doing the cover for your forthcoming release, “Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom” correct?

Dwight:Yes he will.He’s busy working on a movie right now, but he assures me that the cover is going to be something I’ll really be crazy about.As it happens, the book takes place during the shooting of “Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein”, and that is one of his favorite movies.It seems to be a perfect blending of cover artist and story.

Mark: Let’s talk a little bit about the photographs in ‘Who Framed Boris Karloff?’.Where did they come from?There are some wonderful, wonderful pictures scattered all throughout your book.

Dwight:Those were made by Susan Svehla, and basically what they are, are Photoshop photo collages.Some of them are real pictures, like the photo of Boris in his monster makeup cutting the birthday cake, but others are complete constructs.What we’re doing with the next book, there’s an artists who’s supposed to be illustrating it.

Mark: I’m assuming your title was inspired by “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”Was that meant as an homage to the movie or the book?

Dwight:Well, the book was called “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?”.

Mark:That’s correct.I’m sorry, I forgot about that.

Dwight:Which I’ve read, by the way.The reason that the title came about, originally “Who Framed Boris Karloff?” started out as a Halloween murder mystery show at the Sherwood Inn.It was being done through Broome Community College and in the college catalogue I wanted a really catchy title.It seemed best to name it something pun-inspired like “Who Framed Boris Karloff?” (So, the short answer is, yes, it’s a play on the Roger Rabbit movie title).When it came time to convert it from a 90 minute crime scene murder mystery to a novel, the two stories were completely differentThe only thing that remained was the fact that Boris Karloff was the murder suspect.I told my publisher, “It’s kind of a joke title. Do you still want it, or do you want me to come up with something else?”He said, “No, ‘Who Framed Boris Karloff?’ sounds great.”

: Dwight Kemper at a book signing with graphic novelist Geoff Grogan

Mark:Let’s talk about your next book.You’ve written two books about Bela Lugosi, which are “Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom” and “Bela Lugosi’s Final Curtain”.Are they both still scheduled to come out some time in the next year?

Dwight:Yes.In fact, I’m sitting here, right now, with a box that contains the manuscript to “Bela Lugosi’s Final Curtain”.I’ll tell you how this happened.I wrote “Who Framed Boris Karloff?” and then I started working on “Final Curtain”, which when I first wrote it was titled “Dead Wood”, which was again based on a mystery play that I did for Halloween.It took place at Bela Lugosi’s funeral and I called it “Dead Wood” because he had been working with Ed Wood at the time.“Dead Wood” for a murdered Ed Wood, it just seemed like a funny title.Unfortunately since then, HBO started a series that was also called Deadwood, so I had to change it. Anyway, I was writing “Final Curtain” as a standalone book because I had no idea if “Who Framed Boris Karloff?” would ever be published. It was still a manuscript collecting rejection slips that my former literary agent was shopping around. Since then, I’ve added hints in “Final Curtain” that allude to things that keep continuity without outright mentioning incidents from the other books, mostly so I don’t write myself into a corner when it comes time to begin work on “Curse of Conan Doyle.”

Mark:There’s a story I’ve heard about Lugosi’s funeral. I was wondering if you included it in your book.Lugosi had requested to be buried in his Dracula cape, and apparently, Peter Lorre and Vincent Price were in the crowd at the funeral.When they approached the coffin, Peter leaned over to Vincent and said, “Hey, Vincent.Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart, just to be sure?”

Dwight:I’ve heard that story.It gets retold a variety of different ways.In one scenario it’s Boris Karloff and Vincent Price or it’s Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff, or it’s Peter and Vincent or it’s all three of them together.It never happened.I do mention it in my book.If you’d like, I can read you the passage.

Mark:Really?That would be great!

Dwight:This is from Chapter 17 and it starts with, “The Curtain rose at 1:30 pm.A long line formed down the street as mourners arrived for the final viewing hours.A popular anecdote claimed that Boris Karloff had attended a showing with fellow boogeyman Peter Lorre.As they passed Lugosi’s body, Lorre was said to have joked, ‘Come on now, Bela.You’re putting us on.’Actually neither Mr. Karloff nor Mr. Lorre was in attendance, which was a pity because they missed a hell of a show.”So that’s how I actually allude to that.

Mark:As I understand it, the story in “Final Curtain” is being told by Criswell, the television psychic, who was, among other things, famous for appearing in Ed Wood’s films.Most notably, he was the narrator in ‘Plan Nine from Outer Space’.

Dwight:Criswell, full name Charles Criswell King, is in fact the detective in this story with Forrest J Ackerman, who at the time was a literary agent, but later became the publisher of “Famous Monsters of Film Land” magazine.He’s in it and so is Ray Bradbury.

Mark:Really!Bradbury, too?

Dwight:It’s because Bradbury and Ackerman were buddies and they hung out together, so it only seemed natural that Ray Bradbury would be in my book too.There are a lot of people from Ed Wood’s collection of friends, plus Lugosi’s family and his ex-wife who was the widow at the time.This book basically takes all of the legends and myths and facts and puts them all into a blender and then puts a murder mystery in it as well.So everything that’s become folklore about the funeral, including that the funeral procession inexplicably detoured by way of Hollywood and Vine, which was in the opposite direction of where they had to go for the burial, is made part of the plot and in my book there’s actually a reason for it.That’s in “Bela Lugosi’s Final Curtain”.Now, talking about my other book, “Bela Lugosi and The House of Doom,” it’s going to be a lot more accurate. Whereas before with “Who Framed Boris Karloff?” I did not have a lot of background information to work with except for a couple of books, this time I had access to all of Universal Studios production reports, thanks to Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo, who were the authors of “Abbott and Costello In Hollywood”.They heard about my book, again through the Monster Kids Message Board, and Bob Furmanek invited me to his house and he let me have a look at all of his files as well as seeing raw footage from all of the outtakes from “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” and he let me flip through all of his still photos and things like that.So this book is going to be as bulletproof and authentic as humanly, conceivably possible.Ron Palumbo was able to get me production reports so that I would know exactly who was late on what day, at what time, and how many takes they did, and what the take numbers were, and what stages were used for what sets at what time.It was great!They gave me so much information that now my publisher thinks maybe I’ve got too many facts crowded in the story.

Mark:There’s no such thing as too many facts for a film buff, I mean come on.

Dwight:I know.They’re reading it now, and I’ve got things like street names for the studio, which I could only allude to before, but now I’ve found maps to the old Universal Studios which by the way, if you use new Universal Studios maps they have no bearing on old Universal Studios maps.The place has been rebuilt several times.Only the very first few buildings and stages on the lot are from the old days, and all the stages have since been renumbered. But an article that Ron gave me, one he had written for the A & C Fan Club Newsletter, gave me all the pertinent details about that. This book is as authentic as its going to get.

Mark:This is my biggest question concerning your book.Unlike “Bela Lugosi’s Final Curtain” which is a standalone, ‘House Of Doom’ is the sequel to “Who Framed Boris Karloff?”.I know that Lugosi will be back, I mean obviously his name is in the title, but will we see Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff in this one, as well?

Dwight:Yes, but the situation is going to be that Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone are up to something, but they won’t let Bela in on it.Which tee’s off Bela Lugosi incredibly, and causes him to investigate what they are trying to keep from him, which involves all manner of things including kidnapping, murder, and espionage.It’s going to be quite a juicy mystery for Bela Lugosi to solve, with Lou Costello as his Watson.

Mark:If Lou Costello is a main player, I’m not only going to buy it, I’m probably going to buy two or three copies.

Dwight:Lou Costello is a main player.So’s Bud Abbott.Much of the information I uncovered on them is not only from years of watching Abbott and Costello stuff, but I had to actually get to know the real Abbott and Costello.So watching documentaries and reading books helped me; particularly “Lou’s On First” by Chris Costello which gives you a very intimate portrait of Lou Costello.I had this problem of balancing the real Lou Costello with his comedy persona.The comedy persona that you see on screen and the comedy persona that you see in outtakes, because despite what people have said to the contrary, Lou could get very crass if he wanted to.In several takes he’s obviously trying to do and say things to shock his female co-stars.At the time this book is taking place, I also had to deal with the real life tragedy of the drowning of Lou Costello’s only son, Butch.This was a very delicate thing to do, but my publisher thinks that the scenes that I’ve written involving the discussion of Butch are some of the best work I’ve ever done.

Mark:That’s a very high compliment.I’m a huge fan of yours, going back to your fan fictions on the Powerpuff Girls Fan Fic Page.Particularly the story ‘Bubble Duty’, which was both a Superman crossover and tribute to Christopher Reeve. It was very respectful of him and very well written, and as it turned out, very funny at the same time.

Dwight:Thank you.That was one of the ones that just sort of flowed out of me.In regard to “House of Doom”,my publisher says that I’ve obviously improved with my skills as a novelist, hopefully not implying that my first novel was crap.He said that my characterizations in this novel were some of the most spot on characterizations that he’s ever seen.He particularly likes what I’ve done with Bela Lugosi.At this time, Bela is in the throes of his addiction to morphine, his marriage is kind of shaky, he’s having tantrums on the set, and he’s also very weary of the outbreaks of pie fights and seltzer fights that are likely to happen on an Abbott and Costello picture.For fans of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” the opening scene of Chapter One in “House of Doom” takes place during the filming of one of my favorite bloopers.Bela Lugosi is coming down a staircase, and he’s supposed to be saying “How careless.You should be careful.A person could get killed that way.”And as he’s saying this line, a figure is skulking behind him in a cape and a Mr. Hyde mask.It’s comic Bobby Barber.As it turned out from my research, this was the first take after Bela Lugosi was an hour late getting to the studio.After having an hour of rehearsal, this was the first take and it really upset him and there were like seven or eight takes after this and it kind of threw him off and apparently it took quiet a while to get this one simple shot.While Bela was an hour late on this day, two of his co-stars, Lenore Aubert and Jane Randolph, were half an hour late, and in this book I have an explanation for why they were late.

Mark:One of the best features in “Who Framed Boris Karloff?”, in my mind at least, was “A Good Cast Is Worth Repeating or Separating Fact From Fiction” which was the appendix you had in the back, where you told the reader what was real and what was just made up for the novel.Will we have something similar to that in “House of Doom”?

Dwight:Yes, it will be called, “Who’s On First: Separating Fact from Fiction on the Way to Third Base”.

Mark:I’m assuming Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone won’t play as big a part in the sequel as they did in your first book.Is that a good assumption or am I way off?

Dwight:As it’s written right now, they’re kind of background characters.If my publisher wants me to bring them to the fore, I’ll have to write some chapters to show what they’re doing.I’d like to keep them in the background, because I think it’s better if you discover what’s really going on along with Bela Lugosi.It really depends on what my publisher wants to do.(NOTE: Since this interview, the publisher has decided to leave things as is). The whole gist of my idea is, what if you had a James Bond story, but not from James Bond’s point of view.Bela’s looking for his kidnapped wife and son and keeps coming across other things which lead to a very Bondian style climax.

Mark:Is there anything else you can tell me about the book?

Dwight:I will also say this.In “Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom”, we are going to meet a member of Boris Karloff’s family.In fact, the research for this was provided to me by a chap named Stephen Jacobs who has a book coming out called, “Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster”.It’s going to be put out by Tomahawk Press.He’s doing a biography of Boris Karloff, including all six of his brothers.He gave me a lot of research material about some of Boris Karloff’s brothers in the consul service; which will figure prominently in this upcoming story.

Mark:I really just have one more question:I know this is several years in the future, but when we finally get the third installment of your series, “Basil Rathbone and The Curse of Conan Doyle” will we actually see Karloff and Lugosi in that novel or will you go into a completely different cast?

Dwight:I definitely know Lugosi’s going to be in it.This is still in the very early stages.You know sometimes you have a book and you don’t have a title, and sometimes you have a title and you don’t have a book?At first, I had a really cool title and a vague idea.I now have a very solid idea of what that book is about.Right now I know definitely that Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi are going to be involved in it.I don’t know about Boris Karloff.Maybe, but I’m not sure.I really like the antagonism that Bela and Basil seem to have for each other that figures prominently in “Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom”.I have different ideas for scenes and I don’t know if I’ll use them in “The Curse of Conan Doyle” or another book.I have this vision of an opening scene that takes place at Holy Cross Cemetery where an aged Boris Karloff and an aged Basil Rathbone have been asked to open a letter at the grave of Bela Lugosi.I don’t know if I’m going to use it in “Curse of Conan Doyle” or not.I’m not really sure yet.

Mark:Dwight, I want to thank you for talking with me today.You’ve given me some great tidbits about your upcoming projects and I look forward to reading them in the future.

For those interested, ‘Who Framed Boris Karloff?” can be purchased at:

http://midmar.com/fiction.html

Dwight Kemper’s fanfic page is located at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thepowerpuffgirlsfanficpage

The Monster Kids Message Board can be accessed at:

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/

And please feel free to visit Karloff.com at, well, where else?

http://karloff.com/

And once again, Stephen Jacobs book “Boris Karloff: More Than A Monster” can be found at:

http://www.tomahawkpress.com/karloff.html

Dwight Kemper is a mystery writer, critic, and playwright living in New York.

My Second meeting with Mr. Kemper yeilded many more facts! By all means enjoy this next reposted article:

THE HOUSE (OF DOOM) THAT DWIGHT KEMPER BUILT

by Mark Morgan

Mystery Author and Playwright Dwight Kemper speaks about his new book
Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom

: Dwight Kemper

In August of 2008 I was fortunate enough to conduct an interview with Dwight Kemper about his new book, a star studded murder mystery featuring some of the biggest names of Hollywood as its sleuths, called Who Framed Boris Karloff.

Back then, Mr. Kemper mentioned he was already working on a sequel which would feature Bela Lugosi in a prominent role. A year has passed and Dwight's new book Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom is here. Mr. Kemper has kindly consented to answer a few of my questions.

Mark: Good evening Dwight. How are you?

Dwight: Typing on a computer at 2:30 in the morning, thank you.

Mark: Let’s talk about your new book Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom. You mentioned this project to me when I interviewed you last year. Now that I’ve had a chance to actually read it, I have to say I’m rather impressed. To get things started, let’s go right for the jugular, as it were. Why Bela Lugosi? This is a sequel to your first book Who Framed Boris Karloff, which starred Boris Karloff, of course, with Bela Lugosi and Basil Rathbone as his helpers. So why shift the focus onto Bela and away from Karloff? And for that matter, if you were going to shift the focus, what made you choose Bela Lugosi over Basil Rathbone?
Dwight: Firstly, when I was writing Who Framed Boris Karloff, I found that Bela Lugosi as a character was fun to write for. He was funny and angry and the loose cannon detective of the partnership. So when it came time to write the next book, Lugosi was my first choice. Secondly, the setting of the mystery, the making of Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, it seemed like a great opportunity to go deeper into his character. Also, while I was writing the Karloff book, I was working on a second book dealing with Lugosi’s death and his time with Ed Wood and company. So Lugosi was definitely on my mind.

Mark: This story fits in nicely as a sequel to your first book Who Framed Boris Karloff , despite that it’s a very different type of story all together. WFBK felt a lot like a Universal Horror picture in terms of its mood and subject matter. At the time the story takes place Karloff was still making Universal Pictures. Your new book, however, reflects the over- the-top narrative of the types of Poverty Row science fiction films that Bela was making during the period this tale takes place. Was that always a goal to have your books reflect the kind of stories that the main stars of your series were engaged in at the time?

Dwight: Exactly! Each book will reflect the times and the works of the protagonists. In the case of House of Doom, we have Lugosi’s Poverty Row pictures, his Universal serial pictures, as well as the films and careers of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. There are moments that reflect not only their Universal comedies, but their Burlesque and Vaudeville days. My next novel, “Bela Lugosi and the Final Curtain,” deals with 1950’s Hollywood and the world of filmmakers who never achieved mainstream success. It’s a grittier novel, and in many ways reflects the kind of sex and violence potboilers Ed Wood wrote in his later career. It’s also pretty damn funny in spots, sad in others.

Mark: What were the challenges presented in taking such a drastic jump in subject matter? Not only that, was it easy to maintain the same characterization of the main characters following the change of subject matter?

Dwight: Well, as far as characterization, you have to realize that Lugosi in this book is older, he’s had many, many career disappointments, he’s deep into his drug addiction to pain killers, his marriage is heading for the rocks, it’s a time of desperation and stormy emotions. I was challenged to reflect that and show character development, while at the same time making sure the story was entertaining. The other challenge was getting all the details right, and that’s where Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo, the authors of Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, came in. They heard that I was writing this book and they very generously offered to help. Bob invited me to his home and gave me access to all of his files dealing with the making of Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. He also had all the outtakes from that film on DVD. Ron had scene reports and told me when and where all of the scenes were shot. I knew who was paid what, what costumes were worn, who was late, who was on time, everything I needed to write the book. He also wrote an article for the Abbott and Costello Fan Club Newsletter about which soundstages were used to shoot what scenes. I can safely say that without Bob and Ron’s help, the book probably couldn’t have been written.

Mark: Taking a step back from the book itself, I know you’re a huge Universal fan. Do you have the same love for the lesser known movies of the Poverty Row circuit?

Dwight: Well, yes and no. Some of those films are in the so bad they’re good category. Some of them make no bloody sense whatsoever, things just happen. There’s even a movie where some guy warns people not to go down certain streets to keep them from getting killed, and when the hero asks who he is, he replies that he’s the writer of the movie! Lugosi starred in a movie called Bowery At Midnight, a crazy mix of crime drama and zombies. Yes, Lugosi plays a racketeer with zombies in his basement. Tom Weaver wrote a great book called Poverty Row Horrors! and it was one of the first things I read to prepare for a Lugosi centric story. I was originally going to set the story at the making of one of these low budget thrillers, but felt more at home at Universal Studios. Like they say, “write what you know.” But my research didn’t go to waste, I was able to refer to the Poverty Row AND set my story on a Universal film.

: Lou Costello and Company Face Dastardly Robots

Mark: What are your feelings and views on Poverty Row pictures in general? What do like and/or dislike about them?

Dwight: I pretty much answered that. They’re like the little girl with a curl on her forehead, when they’re good they’re very good like Bluebeard and The Lady and the Monster and when they’re bad, they’re horrid; Spooks Run Wild.

Mark: Would you mind listing a few of your favorite Poverty movies as well as a few of your least favorite? Why are they?

Dwight: Favorites: John Carradine in Bluebeard. It’s a great role and a well written script. I really liked Eric Von Stroheim in The Lady and the Monster, the Poverty Row’s adaptation of Donavan’s Brain. Least favorite, that would have to be Spooks Run Wild, a terribly un-funny Bowery Boys comedy with a slumming Bela Lugosi. The jokes fall flat and the pace is awful.

Mark: Another plot point I wanted to ask you about was the Ice Machine. One of the characters in your book, a former Nazi no less, invents an icemaker. Is there any truth to this? I mean, did you throw that in for effect, or did you research the development of that appliance and incorporate it into your book?

Dwight: Lou Costello really did invest a lot of money in an ice machine, but it wasn’t the invention of a Nazi scientist. I remember once seeing a short on TCM where Costello was demonstrating the ice maker. There is a story in Chris Costello’s book, Lou’s On First that alleges during one demonstration the ice machine shot ice cubes out like a machine gun. I find that story somewhat apocryphal since the mechanism Lou Costello demonstrated in the documentary used a small conveyor belt of ice trays to make the ice and there was no actual way the cubes could have shot out anywhere. But it’s a good story. That was my inspiration for the ice maker.

Mark: One of the things I really loved about this book was your inclusion of Lou Costello as Bela’s sidekick and your use of Bud Abbott as a secondary character. Why did you choose them for this book? What was the draw?

Dwight: Well, they’re my favorite comedy team next to Laurel and Hardy and an outtake from Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein inspired the opening scene to Chapter One, the scene where Lugosi comes down the stairs and his scene is interrupted by Bobby Barber.

Mark: Did you have any difficulties writing either Bud or Lou?

Dwight: It took a lot of research. I know Bud and Lou as their characters. But off stage they were very different people. Bud was very quiet and an alcoholic, no doubt drinking to deal with his epilepsy, and Lou could be very volatile, especially since the death of his only son Butch. And when he wasn’t raging at someone he was very quiet and reserved. I could see this part of his personality on Ralph Edward’s This Is Your Life. Lou looks like a deer caught in headlights. Still, he manages to sink a basket on the first try. I had to find a balance between the real people and their comedy personas. I think I managed to do that. Chris Costello herself said I was spot on when it came to my portrayal of her dad in his more impish as well as his angry moments.

Mark: What made you decided to give Lou Costello a starring role and regulate his partner, Bud Abbott, to a supporting role?

Dwight: Lou was easier to give a lead role to. Bud Abbott, as I already said, is kind of quiet. He’s a natural straight man, the best in the business, but he does the set up. Lou does the follow through. Duos are easier to write for than trios, and I liked the early scenes I wrote with Lugosi and Costello.

Mark: One of the main subplots of your book was about the real life death of Lou Costello’s infant son, Butch. How did you conduct your research into this real life tragedy?

Dwight: Chris Costello went into great detail about it in Lou’s on First. She brought up the mystery of Butch’s knees not being scraped and how it haunted the family that if the baby crawled out of his crib and drowned in the swimming pool, why weren’t they scraped? I think my solution is the most logical and straightforward explanation. And really, You can’t deal with Lou Costello and his motivations during that period without bringing up the baby’s drowning. It consumed Lou Costello and the family.

Mark: At the end, Bela Lugosi offers a possible explanation for Butch’s mysterious death. How did you arrive at the conclusion Bela offered and had that theory ever been suggested before the publication of this book?

Dwight: I haven’t read anyone else coming up with that explanation, but when you factor in the sock found near the pool, the fact that Anne Costello was buying a stroller for Butch, which in that period, a stroller was a rig to hold a baby upright so he can learn to walk sooner, and that there were no scrapes on Butch’s knees, well the conclusion that I arrived at was rather obvious, don’t you think?

: Bela Lugosi and Basil Rathbone Are On The Case

Mark: You dealt a lot with Communism in Hollywood or suspected communism at any rate. You wrote Lou Costello, in particular, to be a patriotic firebrand. Was any of that based on actual fact, or did you just decide to play him that way?

Dwight: Yes, that was based on actual fact. Chris Costello deals with it in her book. During a recent radio interview we did for my local NPR, she said that if her dad had lived long enough, he probably would have been embarrassed by his behavior when it came to his McCarthyism. She made mention that while she was writing her book Lucille Ball told her that when she was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee and blacklisted, Lou Costello came to her door and gave her his full support, telling her that he didn’t believe a word of it. He was the only one in Hollywood with the guts to do that. Now that took guts.

Mark: Let’s talk about Bobby Barber. He’s mentioned in your book as a sort of prankster that Lou Costello hired to keep from getting bored. How did you research Mr. Barber’s character, and did you exaggerate him for the novel?

Dwight I didn't have to exaggerate anything about Bobby. Chris Costello's portrayal of Bobby in her father's biography, "Lou's On First" was my main reference source. As far as I know, he never gave an interview. At least, I couldn't dig up any. There were also various "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" outtakes of Bobby as well as several production stills with Bobby, including one with Lou introducing him to his doghouse. He also made appearances on The Abbott and Costello Show. Using these various sources it was pretty easy to piece together Bobby's character. He also has a cameo in Meet Frankenstein. He's the waiter that Lon Chaney asks if he's seen Chick Young or Wilbur Gray. "Seen them? I don't even know them," was Bobby's line. He and Lou were friends until the end of Lou's life.

Mark: In your book, you said Eddie Mannix had a portable radio telephone in the trunk of his car. Was this a real device and was he really one of the first people to test this product?

Dwight: The product is real; the bit about Mannix being one of the first to test it is fiction. You’d be surprised how old many of our “modern” devices really are. Frankly, I originally introduced the radio telephone because I was getting tired of inventing ways of getting people to a convenient telephone booth. And as it turned out, the device came in handy for a very important plot point or two.

Mark: You wrote a lot about a portion of the Universal back lot being put up for sale. Did that ever happen, or was it just something you used for your book?

Dwight: Oh yes, they really did try to sell off some of the property. That was the fate of the M-G-M back lot. If it hadn’t been for studio tours, Universal would probably have followed suit.

Mark: Concerning Lon Chaney Jr. in your book, he makes a rather disgruntled statement to the effect Abbott and Costello are making laughing stocks of the monsters. Did he feel that way in real life?

Dwight: Yes he did. He thought the Abbott and Costello comedies turned the monsters into buffoons and ruined the franchise.

Mark: You introduced your readers to real life relative of Boris Karloff: his brother Richard Septimus Pratt. What sort of research did you do on him for the book?

Dwight: Sara Karloff, Boris’s daughter, introduced me to a writer in England named Stephen Jacobs who is writing a book for Tomahawk Press entitled Boris Karloff, More Than a Monster. He had newspaper clippings, photos, and other information about Boris’s siblings that became vital to my research. I told him why I needed a brother (there were six brothers) and who did he think would best suit my purpose. Jacobs came up with Richard Septimus. He was named Septimus for being the seventh son. And I thought the name was cool, it was allegedly the first name of Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein.

Mark: Will Richard be showing up in any of your future books?

Dwight: I’d like to do something with him again at some point. He was fun to write for. He’s not in my latest finished manuscript, though. It would have to be a special story. Maybe he’ll make an appearance in Basil Rathbone and the Curse of Conan Doyle. We’ll have to see. So far I haven’t gotten any fan letters about him. They’re all about Lugosi and Costello.

Mark: Do you have plans to include any other members of Mr. Karloff’s family in any future projects?

Dwight: I asked Sara if she wouldn’t mind taking on a Nancy Drew role in my next book. The plot of Curse of Conan Doyle takes place in the sixties, when Boris and Basil are elderly and may need younger helpers to do the footwork for them, similar to Nero Wolfe, where Archie Goodwin did all the footwork for the obese detective.

Mark: I think probably the most interesting original character in the book was the lady spy Madame Z. Do you have any future plans for her as well?

Dwight: That depends on the readers. Personally, I would love to do more stories with her. She was fun to write for.

Mark: I was pleasantly surprised to see that D.W. Griffith made a cameo. What made you decide to include him?

Dwight: Because he really did live at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel and he also represented Old Hollywood. There were echoes of Old Hollywood all through the book, referring of course to the silent film days. Lon Chaney, Sr. is mentioned, as well as director Eric Von Stroheim.

Mark: Out of curiosity, what are your views on Griffith, his life and works?

Dwight: He was brilliant. He invented most of the camera moves and set ups that are still used to this day. Before Griffith, movies were shot as photographed stage plays. He took cinematography to the next level. And despite the obvious racisms of Birth of a Nation, making the KKK heroes, Griffith was a Southerner who was a product of his time. It’s still a brilliant film.

Mark: I was literally surprised and quite amused with the villain of your book when he was finally revealed. What made you decide to cast Erich Von Stroheim as the story’s heavy?

Dwight: His career and Lugosi’s were quite parallel to each other. They both had meteoric early careers and their personalities and circumstances led to their downfall. In the case of Von Stroheim, it was his extravagance as a director that nearly bankrupted the studio. He was a tyrant as a director and he loved to make up stories about himself, like that he slept on black silk sheets. He was a genius at publicity that way.

: Bela Lugosi Stands Against A Lone Gun Woman

Mark: Let’s talk about the illustrations in your novel for a moment. You drew all of them yourself, correct?

Dwight: Everything but the cover. That was drawn by Frank Dietz. But all the inside illustrations are mine.

Mark: Why did you decide to go with original artwork instead of the photo collages that were used to illustrate Who Framed Boris Karloff?

Dwight: Honestly, because Susan Svelah, one of the owners of Midnight Marquee was too busy to do them. She did the photo collages for the first book. Besides, I felt that my original inspiration for doing these books required pen and ink illustrations. Back in the day they used to take Hollywood movie stars and write them into Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew style mysteries. Gregory Peck, Dorothy Lamore, and even Judy Garland starred in these mysteries. The only weird part was, they named after these people but they weren’t really them. The book I have with Dorothy Lamore has a secretary named Dorothy Lamore, the illustrations are of Dorothy Lamore, but there is no mention of her film career! It’s as if they took a mystery manuscript and changed the heroine’s name to Dorothy Lamore! Obviously my books don’t do that, but I wanted to do illustrations like the ones they used to do for these books.

Mark: How did you come to be the illustrator as well as the author of this piece?

Dwight: There’s a long story about that. But the short version is, I always wanted to draw the pictures, then another artist was suggested to do it, then he lost his day job and only delivered one sketch after a month of my trying to get in touch with him about the illustrations, then I decided it would be best to do what I originally wanted to do and draw the illustrations myself.

Mark: The cover of your new book was painted once again by Frank Dietz, who did the cover of your first book. Frank’s career is rich in experience, not only as an artist and a Disney Animator, but as a screenwriter and actor as well. How closely did you work with him on the cover? Did he consult you prior to painting it, or did he simply look over the book and act on his own?

Dwight: He acted on his own. He dealt mostly with Gary and Sue on the first book. On the second, I said I’d pay him myself if I got to keep the artwork. He charged me a really fair price that wouldn’t break me and he did the illustration, again sending it to the publisher. The first time around I tried to make suggestions but Gary and Sue never relayed them to Frank. The second time I thought I’d just let them handle it, and then I heard that Frank thought I didn’t like the cover because I didn’t say anything about it! For the third book, I sent him the manuscript that was still a work in progress and he asked me what I envisioned as the cover since he wasn’t sure how to proceed. I gave him some ideas, but I haven’t heard anything since. I’m assuming because the third book was in doubt because of book sales of the last two.

Mark: What’s Frank like?

Dwight: I’ve never met him, but he writes a nice email.

Mark: Who Framed Boris Karloff was an obvious nod to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Was the title for Bela Lugosi and the House of Doom in any way inspired by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?

Dwight: Actually, no. House of Doom was the European title for The Black Cat, so it was a nod to that great Karloff and Lugosi classic.

Mark: Has the publication of this book renewed interest in Who Framed Boris Karloff?

Dwight: So it would seem. It’s in the top 100 at Oldies.com. House of Doom was number 7 when the Rue Morgue Magazine article first appeared. Now Who Framed Boris Karloff? is number 73.

: Mr. Kemper's Previous Book

Mark: Based on your interactions at book signings and convention appearances, how would you gage the reception for House of Doom by your readers?

Dwight: Some people think it’s better than the first, some like the first better, but all seem to like them both for different reasons. One of the best compliments I ever got was from Donnie Dunagan, who played Peter von Frankenstein in Son of Frankenstein, who read both books and said how well I captured the feeling on the set of Son and, how well I captured the espionage aspects in House of Doom. Donnie is an ex-Marine and a former Intelligence Agent. You can’t get a better review from a reader than that.

Mark: I understand this book has gotten you a lot of publicity as well. You’ve appeared on a few radio programs and had more than one article written about you. Would you care to comment on those experiences and how they made you feel?

Dwight: They made me feel great. But they didn’t just happen. I made them happen by acting as my own PR representative. For instance, I wrote to Rue Morgue, who did a nice side bar review of my first book and asked if they wanted to review the second one. I expected the same mention, but they wrote me back and asked if it was okay to do a full page article. I said, YES! At first the writer wanted to do something more extensive and actually apologized to me for having to reduce it to one page. I told him I expected to be just a side bar review, so I was more than satisfied with one page. It was like that with all the articles and interviews, me making an inquiry to see if they were interested and then sending them a book to review. That’s what you have to do when you’re with a small publishing house.

Mark: How are things coming with your new book, Bela Lugosi’s Final Curtain?

Dwight: The title is now Bela Lugosi and the Final Curtain, to go along with the previous book title. It was finished just this afternoon and now in the hands of my new literary agent.

Mark: Do you have any idea when we might expect a release date for that title?

Dwight: Don’t know for sure. Midnight Marquee is skittish about publishing it and said I could shop it around to other publishers, and Sara Karloff put me in contact with a literary agent with some great contacts, so we’ll have to see what happens. I’ve been working on Final Curtain for about four years now and recently got people who knew Forrest J Ackerman involved to help me with my characterization of him. 4SJ is the Watson to Criswell’s Holmes and I wanted to make sure I had all my ducks in a row. Ackerman’s caretaker, Joe Moe gave me a lot of great feedback on his dialogue and facts about his personal life. Eric L. Hoffman, who used to write for Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine as Professor Gruebeard is also getting me some much needed feedback and photo material when it comes time for me to illustrate it.

Mark: We covered the basics of this book in our interview last year. Has anything dramatically changed in the story during that time?

Dwight: There are some interesting twists added to the book. A nice resolution was added. I can’t say too much right now. I will say that my new agent knew Forry Ackerman and he said I got him right. So it pays to know the right people.

Mark: Are you still planning to write Basil Rathbone and the Curse of Conan Doyle?

Dwight: Yes, although I haven’t thought too much about the plot beyond knowing who did it and why. It’s a hell of a story. I just need to figure out exactly when it’s taking place. I was going to do it during a disastrous revival of Sherlock Holmes on Broadway. But that’s a play and my books are about movies, so I’m thinking of setting the story on the set of Roger Corman’s The Raven and involving Peter Lorre and Vincent Price.

Mark: Would you like to discuss any of the particulars about that project?

Dwight: I don’t have any particulars at this time to discuss beyond what I’ve just told you. I have scenes in my head but I don’t know what they mean yet. That’s how these things come to me. I see Boris and Basil in the back of a limousine with Bela Lugosi, Jr. There’s a letter addressed to them from Bela, Sr. that has to be opened at Lugosi’s gravesite, but they don’t know why. And frankly, neither do I at this point. That’s how I write. It’s as big a surprise to me as it is to everyone else.

Mark: I understand you’re also planning a book on Truman Capote. Would you care to give us a few insights into what that story might entail?

Dwight: I’d rather not say just yet, although I did pitch the story to my agent. He was intrigued.

Mark: Do you have any other upcoming projects you’d like to mention?

Dwight: I have a mystery cruise coming up in October 23-28, 2010 with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. It’s called Killing Karloff and Sara Karloff will be starring with me in a mystery cruise to Bermuda. Chris Costello is doing the booking for Excel Travel. Here’s the link for more information: http://www.exceltravel.com/packages/murder-mystery-cruise/

Mark: Thank you, Dwight. I greatly appreciate the time you took to speak with me.
(And for the record I also appreciate the time anyone reading this might have taken to do so.)
Mr. Kemper's new book can be purchased from:

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Bela-Lugosi-House-Dwight-Kemper/dp/1887664939/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259923800&sr=1-1]Amazon.com

Barnesandnoble.com
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bela-Lugosi-and-the-House-of-Doom/Dwight-Kemper/e/9781887664936/?itm=1&usri=Bela+Lugosi+and+the+house+of+doom

Or directly from the publisher at:
http://www.midmar.com/fictionhouseofdoom.html

Thank you all for reading and have a very good night.

: Never A Vampire And Yet Immortal Still

So it was written. So it is written still. Gaze upon the wonder of ages past with more to come, both the old revisited and the new revealed! I am as I shall ever be, A Lone Fan Crying In The Wilderness!

The Deadly Foes Of Spider-Man: Remake Edition Part 1

2011-12-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

Long have comics renigged their positions! Bold stances once made were quickly reversed when the dread dragon of fanboy outrage reared its gruesome head! So badly had this malady maliad the sequential arts, that any change of substantial degree was almost certainly temporary at best.

Oh there were hallowed hallmarks once that assailed these forces! Events so engrained that they seemed pillars of eternal irreversibility! The Death of Bucky! Norman Osborne's passing! These were tried and true and yet even they too have now been undone. Oh pitious fate! Calamity beyond comprehension forever and ever more!!!

All that being said, the recently issued Amazing Spider-Man #676 has now unveiled a new look for Spidey's long time nemesis Dr. Octopus!

Here is how he once was seen!

And here is how he now shall be!

But seriously folks in a world where Barry Allen and Jason Todd can come back from the dead, does anyone really think that this is going to stick? The look is bulky and overplayed and not nearly that original. I realize they probably wanted to make him more powerful but why this massive of a rehaul? Why not simply bring back the Adamantium Arms he had in The Revenge Of The Sinister Six storyline that ran from Spider-Man Vol.1 #18-23.

I mean he beat up the Hulk with those arms! You heard me right! BEAT UP THE HULK!!!

How much more deadly do you need to be when you can trounce the strongest one there is?

I've actually gotten a bit tired of the excess in comic book storytelling. It seems like everyone's getting a bigger, badder makeover these days and most of it is unnecessary. Interesting characters make for good reading and when you turn the four-eyed fat kid of Spidey's rogues gallery (who already happens to be one of the most intimidating members of the bunch despite being the four-eyed fat kid) into a Terminator drone extra from McG's stab at the John Conner franchise then you've officially gone too far!

Moving Day!

2011-12-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

Long ago in ages past, I blogged upon the fertile fields of wordpress.com, a lush and righteous domain, but dark powers have assailed it and options and features I once used to bring you unique perspectives and curiosities galore have faded and lingered into the nothingness of foul updates that limited my abilities.

So now I, your Lone Fan ever Crying In The Wilderness of the web have moved on to more fertile pastures! Here and here alone you will find comforts gross and grand ranging from vhs obsession, video game commentary, Comic Book lore and science fiction, fantasy, and horror news that will send your hearts aquiver!

A new age dawns for both myself and blogspot.com as we enter into a union from which no man dare turn away! LET THE RANTING BEGIN!!!