To Die And Let Live...Again!

Like so many folks, I love October. It's the month which guarantees cooler temperatures as the leaves turn color and begin to fall away. It's also the time of Halloween and all this month in celebration of this most entertaining of holidays the Dojo will celebrate three topics -- Swamp Thing, Frankenstein and the man who brought those two together through the magnificence of his art -- Berni Wrightson. And there will be extras too, if things go as planned. 

Swamp Thing will dominate the proceedings here in several ways. For one thing I am reading yet again the superb stories by Swamp Thing's creators Len Wein and Berni Wrightson and later artist Nestor Redondo. These ten stories have been collected time and again and I've written about them here. I will be republishing those reviews in a series labeled "Swamp Classics". Look for a few Berni Wrightson cover galleries here and there as we go. 

Further I will be for the first time taking a look at the second and third "Bronze Age" volumes of Swamp Thing's misadventures as written by David Micheline, Gerry Conway, and Marty Pasko among others, with fabulous art by the aforementioned Redondo brother as well as Tom Yeates, Ernie Chan, and Stephen Bissette among others. Almost all of these stories are new to me. 

This will lead naturally enough into a reading of the legendary Alan Moore stories for Saga of the Swamp Thing, which along with his work on The Watchmen cemented his reputation among American readers of comics as a true master. I've never read these Moore stories, not a one, so I'm very much looking forward to this. 

And I'll be backing up this reading with interviews and articles from the highly informative Twomorrows volume Swampmen - Muck-Monsters and Their Makers. 

Then it's back to Wrightson and perhaps his most esteemed work, the illustrations he did over a seven years period for the seminal science fiction and horror  novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I've read this book many times over the decades and taught it in school several times as well. But in this reading I'm going to linger over the words and especially the very alluring artwork carefully crafted by Wrightson. It's a magnificent effort. 

There's also Frankenstein Alive, Alive! -- his sequel to the classic Shelley novel. Assisted by writer Steve Niles and posthumously by Kelley Jones this is an appropriate finale to Wrightson's long artistic career. 

And I'll be working in as much of the rest of Berni's outstanding output as time and space allow. His work for Warren Magazines in particular is noteworthy. 

And though you will see no evidence of it on this blog, know that to thoroughly saturate myself in the essence of this season I am once again watching the classic horror flicks from Universal. I am watching these in chronological order beginning with Dracula and Frankenstein from 1931. There is much to be gained by such an approach as the you can see the rise and fall of certain popular attitudes and talents as the films tumble forward. I'll be working in other films from other studios as time will allow. I've already jumpstarted this effort and it's been enormous fun so far to prowl the darkness alongside the most famous monsters of the screen. 

And finally as Halloween gets nearer look for a few other special items to celebrate this most entertaining seasonal event. Hold on to your bats effendis, this month will prove to be a monster here a the Dojo. 

And by the way don't forget the "Countdown to Halloween". The Dojo is once again participating and by tapping the icon above and in the sidebar column you can discover a universe of great holiday entertainment. 

Rip Off