Friday, June 6, 2008

I thought I had better come clean about where the title for
my little rant came from....

As a kid growing up in the early seventies The Planet of the Apes
was pretty much a phenomenon equal to Harry Potter today.
In fact, before Star Wars, it was the box office and merchandising bonanza of its time. One thing's for certain, it sure did capture my young fertile imagination.
Cashing in on this success was the Marvel B/W format 'magazines/comics' that featured adaptions of the movies (the original film spawned 4 sequels no less), articles, as well as all new original stories.

Look it's probably nostalgia, but there's something really neat about
the format of these mags that I still find exciting, even today.

The writing chores on all the stories were pretty much single-handled by Doug Moench. Man, some of the way out stuff he would think up...wow. Anyone who comes up with 'Up the Nose Tube'....
Mike Ploog is the artist you see here on this interior page. He did most of the issues featuring 'Terror on the Planet of the Apes'. There were other stories like 'Future History Chronicles' and 'Evolution's Nightmare' featuring some really great underrated artists.

The covers were done by a bunch of different fellows...but I always liked this guy Bob Larkin. He had such a solid, dependable style...I think his covers really inspired me.
So many of these artists are kind of disregarded because they were more 'substance' over 'style' and these days it is all about style.

This magazine format pretty much died with the seventies...I've missed it ever since.


Sunday, June 1, 2008

Ok. Here goes.

I swore I would never do one of these bloody things. Why?

It just seems so...unashamedly....naked. Or self-centered. I think we have enough information already screaming down the lines of communication at us. It used to so quiet out there in the open air of proto-cyberspace. Now everybody has their 15 nanoseconds of fame sending opinions, confessions or adverts to an awaiting world.

Whether it wants them or not.

Then I thought, 'Ahhh, shuddup you old dufus. This could be fun.'
If you can't beat them...

Besides, it might be a good way to motivate me out of my comfortable surburban-Brisbane malaise.

Anyway, if you looked up at the right there you may have noticed that I have called myself an artist. Well that's because for most of my adult life I have pretty much pursued a creative career in the arts.

Look this is the first post...so I'll ease myself into this process and not go too overboard with my life story just yet.

What I hope to achieve here is post some of my work, talk about things that affect my family,
and become famous.

....even if it's only for 15 nanoseconds.