Herculoids comics 1: "Invasion of the Martian Ants"

So imagine my delight to see the following cover at the newsstand in 1968:



Actual Herculoids comics! Okay, a little disappointed that it wasn't an actual Herculoids comic; that is, that the entire issue wasn't devoted to them... but, as it is today, ya takes what ya can get.

Now, I have no idea who the writer or the artist is. But the story does manage to capture the flavor of the TV episodes. (And they share one of the handicaps of the TV show: just as I feel the quality of the stories and the storytelling is hampered by the inadequate length of each episode, so the comics suffer from having to be shoehorned into six pages. But the art is serviceable if not spectacular; the writing seems to anticipate the Space Stars version of the series in that Tara, Zandor and Dorno speak (as in Space Stars) in a more stilted manner than in the original series.

One other note: I did not make these scans, and I've forgotten who did. (I found the link for this issue, as well as for issues #2 and 4 which also feature Herculoids stories, here.)

I've toyed with the idea of making my own animation of this story; and I would if I didn't have so many other things I want to do!

Click on each image to open it full-size (896 by 1296 pixels) in a new window:













Stay tuned for more!

Wonder what this means?

I've been taking note recently of various DVD releases from Warner Archives, the MOD (manufacture-on-demand) arm of Warner Bros. Home Video. On the animation/superhero front, they include:

• Thundarr the Barbarian - The Complete Series


• Josie and the Pussycats In Outer Space


• Goober and the Ghost Chasers - The Complete Series


• The Funky Phantom - The Complete Series


• The Dukes - The Complete Series (I didn't even know anyone had done an animated adaptation of The Dukes of Hazzard!)


• Legends of the Superheroes

Now, Thundarr has been on the wantlists of a lot of people for a lot of years now; but some of these choices really make me go "Huh? wut?" Legends of the Superheroes is a 1979 two-hour live-action special that was shown exactly once. It's a spoofy take on DC heroes, like Captain Marvel, Green Lantern and Hawkman, as they take on villains like Solomon Grundy and Sinestro to the accompaniment of a laugh track. (It even stars Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin!) And The Dukes? Really? Has there really been that much demand for this show? And if so... why not The Herculoids?

So I started following Warner Archives on Twitter, and I tweeted the following:



And lo! I did receive the following reply:



Okay, that first part was a little snarky, but that second statement - "Everything will be OK in the end!" - is fraught with meaning. Are they trying to say that there are plans to put The Herculoids on DVD?

If so, I'll be one of the first ordering!!

Unintentional hiatus

Sorry for the lack of posting over the past... two months??? Has it really been that long?

I certainly didn't intend to let it go this long. But that sneaky devil called "real life" tends to interfere with a lot of what I want to do. Commitments to job, to my art commissions, to family, all claim my attention.

I hope to get something posted here by the end of the week. If nothing else, I can post some Herculoids comics here... yes, there were Herculoids comics! They never starred in their own title, but they did make several appearances in a Gold Key series, Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes (that also featured characters from several other H-B shows of the time, Like Shazzan! and Birdman.

And I also hope to get back on track with the episode reviews. Next up: "The Mole Men"!