DrSpecter

A comic book classic!, Feb 28 2007

This and Crime Suspenstories are my favorite EC titles. Shock has a blend of science fiction, horror, crime, and morality tales that makes it a forerunner of The Twilight Zone. Many are hoaky fun, but a few are amazingly great! With great artwork by Jack Davis, Wally Wood, Bernie Krigstein (in later issues), "Ghastly" Graham Ingels, Reed Crandall, etc. As much as the early Mad, the Suspenstories titles were pinnacle of 50s "genre" comics, IMO.

Now, if James Warren would just release the Archie Goodwin-era Creepy and Eeries from the 60s...

Some Essential Information, Oct 9 2006

I wouldn't recomend this book if you're brand new to drawing animation. But it does a really good job of covering things that other books don't. I'm taking animation right now, and consider this book as essential as the Preston Blair or Richard Williams books.

It goes into detail on the path of action as the foundation for a drawing. It talks at length about clean-up drawing, including helpful transparancies with the blue pencils underneath. It has several pull-out backgrounds with multiple vanishing points-- an ancient cartoon BG trick. And it generally focuses on drawing and line quality-- which is extremely important to being employable in the industry, but which is usually… Read more

A mid-sixties masterpiece of shock and schlock..., Aug 9 2006

Most B-movies produced for the drive-in market are watchable once or twice. This is one of a handful that improve with repeated viewings. And speaking of handfuls, let's look at the Pussycats themselves. First, there's Tura Satana as Varla. She must have taken a deep breath before every take, because she belts out almost every line of dialog with amazing force and menace. The only time she speaks at all rationally is when she's lying. Then, her whole persona changes to a shrugging deadpan. Lori Williams as Billy is the weakest of the three, though she would have dominated a normal drive-in flick. And her drunk scene is pretty much of a blast. But it's Haji's performance as Rosie that's the… Read more