GUEST STARRING . . . GORGO?

You just can't keep a good monster down, I say. After acquiring the rights to the giant sea-monster Gorgo from MGM, Charlton published 23 regular issues of the title starring the titular character, as well as two issues of THE RETURN OF GORGO and one issue of GORGO'S REVENGE.

However, it seems that executive editor Pat Masulli and company weren't quite done with the scaly underwater beast. A few years after Gorgo's run, he (she?) suddenly appears on the cover of THE FIGHTIN' 5 #41 (January 1967). One thing is different, though -- the creature has been left un-named, instead being referred to as a "reptile" from the lost age of dinosaurs, who gets in the middle of this odd tale of the special forces team versus the evil Dr. Aquilla.

The cover is by Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, the script is by Joe Gill (who else?) with art by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, who teamed up to draw some of the later issues of GORGO. No wonder it looks so familiar!

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S HOME SPARED FROM L.A. FIRESTORM

This one's gonna be personal, folks, and I'm hoping that writing about it will help purge my angst -- at least that's what's commonly said to do. The fact that I haven't posted one of these regular Sunday features makes it all the more grim.

I have been watching for the past few days some of the best memories of my life go up in flames. As regular readers may remember, I spent half of my life in the Los Angeles area before moving to the Pacific Northwest. Until then, L.A. and its environs was not only the place where I grew up, it was my playground.

There was never any shortage of things to do as a kid: movie theaters were plentiful and places like Disneyland (when they still used ticket books) and Knott's Berry Farm (when it was free) were highlights. As I grew older, I spent a LOT of the time at the beach, mainly Malibu and Zuma, and Pacific Coast Highway could take you anywhere you wanted on the coast. I caught my last fish while in California -- a halibut off the Malibu Pier and hit on my first girls at Zuma. When I got my own car, there were frequent trips to Hollywood where there were more theaters than you could count, a multitude of eateries (Love's Pit BBQ was a favorite), and numerous cinema bookshops with the occasional backroom comic shop before there were any storefronts dedicated to them.

But when I looked at the live feeds of the apocalyptic devastation in those same beach areas that I grew up in, not only my heart, but my soul sank. Sure, the beaches are still there and the ocean still brings the tide in and out, but the houses where I knew people and partied with were now nothing but charred ruins.

What's left of a familiar strip of Pacific Coast Highway.

Then I heard of the Kenneth Fire in the west end of the San Fernando Valley and couldn't believe when I heard that the street that I used to live on as a teenager was closed and the fire was torching a park where my pals and I played ball and I would walk my dog (I'd turn her loose and she'd run away yapping and disappear for an hour chasing rabbits . . . right in the same spot where the fire now burned). My old high school is barely a mile from there and I learned they were using it for a relief center for victims of the Calabassas Fire a little further down the road.

Then, I found asking myself: "Why am I getting so rattled about this?" I don't live there anymore and haven't for years and it's been near a decade since I've been back. After thinking a few moments, I realized that all those places are a visual representation of my early life, and, although I had no tangible or material investment in them anymore except in my memory, they remain indelible symbols of that halcyon time, and when you see those images being wiped away by hellfire it's a damned shocking and humbling experience.

Fortunately, everyone I still know there is safe and mainly unaffected, so there's a lot to be thankful for despite knowing that many more have been left homeless with virtually no material possessions to call their own. Again, fortunately there have been a few miracles against this tragic background of what is sure to impact the residents who called these areas home for years to come.

On a less gloomy note, horror fans will be happy to hear that, as of this writing, Guillermo Del Toro's "man cave" has been spared thus far from the destruction that has caused the loss of so many others' homes. Del Toro moved his monster memorabilia into what he named "Bleak House" after his wife complained of too many gruesome images adorning the walls and furniture.

Guillermo del Toro Says Bleak House Spared by L.A. Fires

The Oscar-winning filmmaker said he toured his Los Angeles creative man cave Friday and rescued hundreds of objects from his private collection of curiosities and ghoulish props.

By Etan VLessing | January 10, 2025 | TheHollywoodReporter.com

Guillermo del Toro says his Los Angeles-area Bleak House — filled with creatures, curiosities and ghoulish props, paintings and costumes that he collected during his life — is safe so far amid the wildfires sweeping across southern California.

“Brief check in — Bleak House was so far, spared,” the Oscar-winning Shape of Water helmer said on Bluesky. “We hand carried over 100 pieces out of the collection. Many friends lost their homes. Helping them now. Will be absent here for a while. Stay safe.”

The director added he visited Bleak House to check on the property and thank first responders working to battle the blazes. “Stopping by to thank everyone helping, supporting or encouraging friends, neighbors or brave safety and firefighters out here and there… Back to it,” he added in a second Bluesky post.

Del Toro’s update comes as the death toll in the fires that are ravaging Los Angeles County this week has risen to 10 as firefighters struggling against high winds are hoping for a reprieve on the fourth day of seemingly unstoppable blazes that have destroyed entire neighborhoods and over 10,000 homes and buildings as residents flee for their lives. 

A number of objects from Bleak House were included in a 2016 LACMA exhibition, Guillermo del Toro: At Home With Monsters. 

The curiosities featured included a replica of the ghost of Santi from The Devil’s Backbone, complete with blood (red smoke) streaming from a head wound, an immense head of Frankenstein’s monster looming over a walkway and the comic books that inspired del Toro’s Hellboy films.

“This is a religious place for me. See, to me, everything that surrounds us is not a collection, it’s relics. It’s relics or it’s talismans. Whatever you want to call them, they have a spiritual hold of who I am essentially,” del Toro said in a 2016 LAist story about Bleak House and his personal collection.

Bleak House is separate from another Los Angeles family home del Toro has, as his private collection had grown to the point his wife intervened when he hung a decidedly creepy Richard Corben painting too close to the kitchen. He recalled in the LAist story: “My wife says, ‘That’s too close to the kitchen, the kids are gonna be freaked out.’ And inside of me something cracked and I said, ‘I’m gonna get my own place.'” 

ESOTERIC COMIC ARTIST CARTOONS

In the 1940's and 1950's low page rates and late (or no) payments by unscrupulous publishers forced comic book artists to produce more work outside the industry to make ends meet. Some put their cartooning skills to work and submitted gags to the digest-sized humor magazines that were very popular at the time. Comic strip artists also turned to these "throw-aways" as a quick means to supplement their incomes.

One such outfit was Humorama which accounted for nearly two dozen titles for sale at newsstands drugstores, cigar shops and other outlets. Formed by Martin Goodman in 1938, the line was headed by Goodman's brother Abe. These books used the cheapest newsprint available and were inexpensive to print, providing an additional cash stream that led to the fountain of the Goodman publishing empire.

Virtually all of these types of magazines were aimed at men and contained ample amounts of bawdy humor, risque cartoon gags and saucy pinups that would be obviously considered sexist and misogynistic these days.

What makes the line of Humorama 'zines so remarkable is the number of excellent cartoonists that were found within their pages, many of which are highly regarded today.

The example shown here is just a sample of the esoteric treasures that can be discovered. It also provides an insight of a by-gone era that we will not likely see again.

Lower left cartoon inset by Bill Ward.

Cartoon by renowned good girl artist Bill Wenzel.

Master cartoonist Dan DeCarlo is best known for designing the Archie comics characters that we recognize today. He also co-created SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH, CHERYL BLOSSOM and JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (the character of Josie was inspired by his wife). His first comic book gig was with Timely/Atlas/Marvel where he worked under Stan Lee. DeCarlo made side money submitting cartoons such as the ones you see below to Martin Goodman's humor magazines for extra cash. True to form, Stan Lee got his cut out off the top! It's not hard to see why DeCarlo is also noted as a premier good girl artist.

Another surprise was seeing this by non other than Don Perlin. Perlin worked for a number of comic book publishers including Fox, Hillman, Stanley Morse and Charlton. He worked full-time for Marvel for nearly 15 years, drawing strips for titles such as DR. STRANGE and WEREWOLF BY NIGHT.

Based on the signature, I suspect this is by the same Jim Mooney who drew comics for DC and Marvel.

Lovers of good girl art will be familiar with Bill Ward whose unforgettable babes were seen in countless humor and men's magazines for years. He started his comic art career at the Jack Binder (brother of Earl and Otto) "comic-packaging" studio and later drew covers and stories at Quality for TORCHY and BLACKHAWK after regular artist Reed Crandall was drafted. Ward drew a sexy secret agent in the series, "The Adventures of Pussycat", and even worked on a few underground comics. Monster fans have seen his work in Globe Communications' CRACKED monster magazines, signing his name "McCartney" in these.

And perhaps the most esoteric (and strangest) of all is this from artist Joseph Krucher. Astute Monster Kids may recognize his unique style depicted here.

Born January 9, 1906, Joseph Howard Krucher studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York and began his career writing and illustrating for the pulps in the 1940's, including WEIRD TALES and fanzines (see below). Some of his stories were adapted into radio shows of the time. He is said to have become interested in fantasy after he saw DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN.

In later years, Krucher's illustrations appeared in Charlton's line of monster magazines where he was billed as "The Bela Lugosi of the Brush". A portfolio of his prints was also available for sale.

Examples of Krucher's work for WEIRD TALES:

Let's not forget the cheesecake!

See more of Bill Wards' art HERE.

More to come!