The Hip Horrors

 

The Hip Horrors first appeared in a short story titled "Animal Friends", in HIP HORROR COMICS, one of my hundreds of home made comic books, in 1982, but which I cover-dated June 1968.

I was always a fan of horror movies, especially the Universal horrors of the 1930s and 1940s.  I also liked Roger Corman's productions of the 1960s, and anything with Vincent Price in it.  But I also really liked the mixture of horror and humour, such as the classic ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, or the Bowery Boys, when they found themselves in haunted houses, and Corman's THE RAVEN, with Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff, who also starred in another horror spoof, THE COMEDY OF TERRORS.  Every week I watched the monotonous but entertaining HILARIOUS HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN.  The list goes on.

I also bought Stan Lee's MONSTER MADNESS, and collected the "You'll Die Laughing" bubble gum cards, circa 1973.

The Hip Horrors are a quartet of London hippies whose favourite hangout is a nightclub called the Ganymede Spectrum Sanctuary.  They also take it upon themselves to battle vampires, werewolves, zombies and other supernatural creatures that cross their paths.  The group consists of Mary Jane Jones, the brains of the bunch, and perhaps the most fearless; Carl Caine, calm and rational, the voice of reason; John Bedford, a Jughead Jones-type character, who is often found sleeping or eating, and is somewhat indifferent to monster hunting; and Jim Spencer, a gravedigger by profession, who is cowardly and would rather steer clear of monsters, but is the toughest member, and won't back down if the fight is brought to him.

The following 10-page story, "He Was A Middle-Age Vampire", was extemporaneously written and drawn in pencil on 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper folded in half (as was HIP HORROR COMICS), probably in 1983.

Hip Horrors pg1

Hip Horrors pg2

Hip Horrors pg3

Hip Horrors pg4

Hip Horrors pg5

Hip Horrors pg6

Hip Horrors pg7

Hip Horrors pg8

Hip Horrors pg9

Hip Horrors pg10

Animation

 

Originally, the young girl featured in this 40-page comic was to be May the Hyperborean, whose only previous appearance was in 1990, in a piece of pulse-pounding prose titled "The Story of May", slightly revised in 1999 as "Nightmare in Metal".  May's dog, Digger, was perched on top of the armchair.  I'd hardly begun when, for some reason, I changed the character from May to that of "Betty Copper", simply by adding proper clothing over May's jungle girl-type bikini, and the whole story became a dream-like allusion to characters from Archie comics.

Betty Copper is, of course, Betty Cooper.  Both girls being blonde, I didn't have to change a single hair on May's head.  The gorilla is Big Moose, whose last name is Mason, hence the jar he was looking for.  Gilda Golde is none other than Veronica Lodge, Betty's wealthy best friend (and worst rival).  Gilda's subservient robot is Archie Andrews.  Dolton is the boy genius, Dilton Doiley.  Jawbone is seen stuffing his face with a sandwich, a favourite pastime for his counterpart, Jughead Jones.  Jawbone makes a passing reference to "Dismantle", who sabotaged the robot, just as Reggie Mantle always does his best to upset Archie's plans, or otherwise ruin his day.

When the forty pages are in a file on a computer and clicked through, they seem to move like an animated cartoon.  The story ends where it began, with Betty being bored.  The only difference between the first and last page is the bottle of pop: Betty sips it throughout the story, leaving it empty on the last page.

May the Hyperborean did finally make her comic book debut in PLOGG #1 (August 1994).

Animation Page 1

Animation Page 2

Animation Page 3

Animation Page 4

Animation Page 5

Animation Page 6

Animation Page 7

Animation Page 8

Animation Page 9

Animation Page 10

Animation Page 11

Animation Page 12

Animation Page 13

Animation Page 14

Animation Page 15

Animation Page 16

Animation Page 17

Animation Page 18

Animation Page 19

Animation Page 20

Animation Page 21

Animation Page 22

Animation Page 23

Animation Page 24

Animation Page 25

Animation Page 26

Animation Page 27

Animation Page 28

Animation Page 29

Animation Page 30

Animation Page 31

Animation Page 32

Animation Page 33

Animation Page 34

Animation Page 35

Animation Page 36

Animation Page 37

Animation Page 38

Animation Page 39

Animation Page 40