Happy Bela Lugosi's Birthday!

A national holiday here on the Dork Forty, Bela Lugosi's Birthday is a time for reflection and remembrance, indeed of appreciation, for all the evil brought into our monstrous little hearts by the Patron Saint of Halloween.

Click to embiggen, children of the night!

Why Kirby Was King VI!

He got GOD HIMSELF to sit for a portrait!

Not once...

(click to embiggen)

Not twice...

(click to embiggen)

But THREE FREAKING TIMES!!!

...And the last time, he tossed in a big ol' 3D Ball of Hell!

Why Kirby Was King V!

Normally, you have to do drugs to see shit like this!

I don't know what it is... But I like it!

Why Kirby Was King IV!

AAAAAA!

Why Kirby Was King III!

Monsters that walk like men!

While wearing pants!

Why Kirby Was King II!

Tiger Force!

Why Kirby Was King I!

Giant Red Skull! 

Andy Warhol's Batman

From an Esquire photoshoot in 1967, it's Nico and Andy Warhol as Batman and Robin! Really, what else can you say about that...?

I Believe

Fearless Vampire Santa

Danny Hellman



Santa vs the Devil!

Just a Christmas quickie, as my day job continues to kick my ass in ways I never thought possible...

It's Santa Claus showing us what a punk-ass the Devil really is when confronted with the unrelenting power of Christmas!

Taken, of course, from that insane Mexican Santa Claus movie they showed on Mystery Science Theater...

Visit Beautiful Frankensteinia!

So I've recently discovered Frankensteinia, a blog to satisfy all your Frankenstein needs! And considering how prodigious our Frankenstein needs are here on the Dork Forty... That's really saying something! Alongside articles on anything and everything related to Big Frankie, blogger Pierre Fournier also features some really great artwork and photographs. I've snagged tons of stuff from Frankensteinia for my screen saver, and I thought I'd present three pieces of it here for your edification and approval...

1. Disco Frankenstein! 'Nuff said!

More of the World's Finest Crap!

So once upon a time, on a nerd farm far, far away... We were en-gaged in an important piece of funnybook archeology: figurin' out, once and for all, whether it was Superman or Batman who had to put up with the most crap in their classic funnybook appearances. Then Halloween happened, and there was that whole "November" thing, and well... We just forgot about it. But today one of the new nerd wranglers (a Christmas temp) fell into the dig site. Turns out some of the boys had covered it with a tarp, hopin' to use it as a sorta... Burmese Tiger Trap? For wayward trick-or-treaters? And it just laid there gettin' covered up with leaves and snow til it finally caught itself a victim. We'll be sendin' his family a nice memorial fruit basket this Christmas, but in the meantime... Let's all go enjoy ourselves some Pure-T Classic Funnybook Crap!

Now, seein' as this thing's a competition, I thought it might be nice to lead off this round with a few covers featurin' Supes an' Bats squarin' off against each other...

1. Whether they were just brawling in general...

Real men battle with boulders!

2. ...fighting over the love of a pretty lady...

Somehow, I never pictured Supes as a size queen.

3. ...or over a love that can't be named...

Are cape rides a Boy Wonder fringe benefit?

...Superman and Batman's relationship was always a tumultuous one.

A Quick Word About Birth and Death

So things have been pretty quiet here on the Dork Forty in the back half of Thanksgivin' week. We had a big ol' time with family and friends, ate a lotta turkey and pie, and then settled back to take in the official sportin' event of the Dork Forty: the annual Punkin Chunkin' competition. It was either that or rasslin', and mama don't like the rasslin'. But while we been celebratin', two important dork events got past us, and we'd like to make mention of 'em tonight.

First, on a sad note, Hammer horror star Ingrid Pitt passed away this week. Among many other roles, the Polish-born Ingrid set many an adolescent pulse a-racin' in the films The Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula. RIP.

But on a happier note, this past Tuesday would have been the 123rd birthday of the man who was arguably the greatest horror star of all time, Mr. Boris Karloff. I won't list Karloff's many achievements, but if you really don't know who he was and why he's so important, you can read about him on the Wikipedia. Karloff appeared in heavy make-up for all his most famous roles, but here he is looking more or less like himself in a promotional picture for one of my favorite obscure Karloff films, The Black Cat:

Happy birthday, Boris! Wherever you may be!

And now it's time to slip back into my turkey-induced coma for a while. But I might just be back later this weekend with a very late list of things that Dorks ought to be thankful for from the year 2010...

The Dangerous Art of Frank McCarthy

So I've recently stumbled across the work of an artist named Frank McCarthy. A commercial artist and illustrator by trade, McCarthy spent a lot of time in the 1960s doing movie poster work, which is how I ran across him. In later years, McCarthy did more "fine art" style paintings, mostly with Old West themes. And I like that stuff alright, but it's his movie poster art that's been blowing me away. Here's his poster art for one of our personal favorite B-flicks here on the Dork Forty, Danger: Diabolik!

For god's sake, click to embiggen!

Holy crap! Does that not look like the most exciting movie ever?! And, honestly, this isn't even McCarthy's best work. But it does show off his specialty: summing up all the action of a film into one big image. Or series of images, as in the case of his poster for The Dirty Dozen:

Wonder Wha--?!

So my planned look at Batman and Robin 16 has been delayed. My analysis got bogged down in subtext, and though I think I've got it figured out finally... I'm too damn tired to actually write it up. But I wanted to post something tonight, so I'll share this lovely photo of Lynda Carter that a friend of mine found recently...

Hmm. I don't know what's going on there, and I don't think I wanna know.

But, man. They sure did have some wild parties back in the 70s, didn't they? 

Bat-Villian Bouillabaisse!

Dennis Culver has finished his "Bat-Villain-a-Day" marathon, and the finished product can be seen below in tiny form. But go to his Flickr page to check it out full-size. It's awesome, and there's a character key for all the baddies you don't recognize. I like that he did Egghead and King Tut, but my personal favorite is his interpretation of the Joker. That may be the only updating of the character's look that I've ever liked.

But no Blockbuster, dammit!

Holy Natty Dressers!

Some nice Bat-villain re-designs, by artist Dennis Culver, whose flickr stream with tons more like this can be found here. Nice stuff. The Terrible Trio there are already awesome, of course, but he even makes me wanna read a story about freaking Hush!

Picture found at Robot 6.

Holy Crap, Batwoman!

B-DC-857cover-clr-, originally uploaded by JH Williams III.

Here's the cover to Detective Comics 857, from JH Williams' Flikr account. (These Flikr links are courtesy Bad Librarianship blog, by the by. Great blog, great links.)

It Was the 60s! So Sue Them!

robert mginnis, originally uploaded by fraction.

Ran across this sweet piece of Robert McGinnis artwork on Matt Fraction's Flickr, and just thought I'd share. I especially like the furry pants on the James Coburn guy there...