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

The Dial-Up Drawings

Beach Girl

 

I had dial-up internet until 2009.  That meant speeds of 40 or 50 kilobits per second...if I was lucky.  Waiting for a page to load took forever.  It was tedious and aggravating.  I had piles of notepads with white paper, 5 1/4" x 8", thick stock.  I always kept one between the keyboard and the screen, to make notes or doodle, always with a ball point pen.  In the last few months of 2008 I started drawing something more than a scribble, using one of my Staedtler felt tip pens.  It was better than staring at the screen, waiting.

It was a good exercise, because the drawings were extemporaneous and, as I was using a pen rather than a pencil, I couldn't do any erasing; if I made a mistake, all I could do was curse myself, or work around it.  Not that it mattered: they were just doodles that no one would ever see.  Till now.  Here's a few of the better ones from those last few months of dial-up.  One and a half inches of the paper in those pads is taken up by the company logo, so the illustrations are actually 5" x 6 1/2" or less.  Arranged in alphabetical order.

Chamber Maid

Cloud

Cyclops

Dungeon

Eyeball

Geologist

Goblin

Lizard

Lost In Thought

Red Riding Hood

Repairs

Rowboat

Smile

Spear

Spiral Eyes

Stone

Tough Bull

Up And At 'Em

Wild Man

Wrench

Horror at Pinocchio's House

 "Horror at Pinocchio's House" first appeared in PLOGG #3 (October 1998) as a back-up feature.

 

Pinocchio, page1

Pinocchio, page 2

Pinocchio, page 3

Pinocchio, page 4

Pinocchio, page 5

Pinocchio, page 6