JOE JUSKO, THIS POST'S FOR YOU -- AND TIM FERRANTE, TOO!

A week or so ago, fantabulous fantasy artist Joe Jusko left a comment here at MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD and mentioned that his first-ever published art appeared in Joe Kane's much-loved THE MONSTER TIMES newspaper.

Well, that got my curiosity and I dug out the issue from the catacombs of my domicile, otherwise known as Mysterious Mansion. The artwork was in issue #10 from May 31, 1972 -- I was a couple of weeks away from graduating high school myself, and soon to be heading on a cross-country wanderlust of high-adventure . . . well, travel anyway.

There it was, on the letters page -- a bit rough, but a nicely done drawing of Boris Karloff as The Monster. Editor Kane's caption reads: "This sketch came lumbering into our office one day last week on its own steam . . . no letter . . . just a name (J. Jusko), address (N.Y.C.), and an age (only 13). We dug the drawing enough to share it with all our readers."

In a bit of sinister synchronicity, turns out there was word on this page from another developing Monster Kid, this one of the scrivening kind. Seems like a certain Tim Ferrante heaped on the accolades for TMT, calling it "a blessing to us horror and fantasy lovers". Hey, I can't argue with that.

You can see Mr. Jusko's work all over the place these days, especially on the John Carter of Mars comic book series from Dynamite Entertainment. And, irony of ironies, Mssrs. Kane and Ferrante ended up working together, most recently in Phantom of the Movie's VIDEOSCOPE mag!

Here you go, guys. Enjoy, and Long Live THE MONSTER TIMES!