Monday, December 31, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
ROM HEMBECKNIGHT
The first lady surprised me with a very cool Christmas gift this year with this original piece of artwork featuring Rom and Starshine by the one and only Fred Hembeck.
My sneaky wife somehow pulled the wool over my eyes as I didn’t see this gift coming. I’m glad I didn’t as I love a good surprise, especially when it’s original artwork.
It seems coincidences always swirl around me as I just discovered that Fred has done another amazing piece of artwork of everyone’s favorite toaster head cyborg for a wonderful cause. I was catching up on Fred's Blog and saw his Dec. 23rd post about a fund raiser for Bill Mantlo, one of Marvel’s best writers from the 1970's and 80's and the man who wrote every issue of Rom. Sadly, Bill was terribly injured when he was struck by a car in the early 90's and has since been in the care of an institution for folks who suffer from brain damage.
There’s a lot of great Rom artwork up for sale on ebay right now, including Fred’s Rom art! Go check it out as the auctions end tonight and if you can bid on some of the artwork you’ll know your money will help a man who gave many people a lot of joy.
Read more about the generosity of Floating World Comics, who made this all possible. They also had an art gallery show back on Dec. 6 featuring Rom related artwork.
Also check out the nice tribute book called Mantlo: A Life In Comics and the proceeds also go to help for his care.
Of course while you're buying books don't forget about Fred's new book!
My sneaky wife somehow pulled the wool over my eyes as I didn’t see this gift coming. I’m glad I didn’t as I love a good surprise, especially when it’s original artwork.
It seems coincidences always swirl around me as I just discovered that Fred has done another amazing piece of artwork of everyone’s favorite toaster head cyborg for a wonderful cause. I was catching up on Fred's Blog and saw his Dec. 23rd post about a fund raiser for Bill Mantlo, one of Marvel’s best writers from the 1970's and 80's and the man who wrote every issue of Rom. Sadly, Bill was terribly injured when he was struck by a car in the early 90's and has since been in the care of an institution for folks who suffer from brain damage.
There’s a lot of great Rom artwork up for sale on ebay right now, including Fred’s Rom art! Go check it out as the auctions end tonight and if you can bid on some of the artwork you’ll know your money will help a man who gave many people a lot of joy.
Read more about the generosity of Floating World Comics, who made this all possible. They also had an art gallery show back on Dec. 6 featuring Rom related artwork.
Also check out the nice tribute book called Mantlo: A Life In Comics and the proceeds also go to help for his care.
Of course while you're buying books don't forget about Fred's new book!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
1977 PEANUTS CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT
To the First Lady of Neato Coolville, Merry Christmas!!! My wife has saved this Peanuts ornament since childhood.
Monday, December 24, 2007
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM NEATO COOLVILLE
As the Mayor of Neato Coolville I just want to wish everyone a Cool Christmas and a Neato New Year! A big thank you to everyone who has visited Neato Coolville this past year and we invite you back anytime.
1977 SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PROGRAM
I attended a small elementary school in Osage Beach, Missouri at the Lake of the Ozarks. The school was and still is the classic little red brick school house. Every year all grades K-6 participated in a Christmas program.
Luckily, my mom taped the 1977 program using an audio tape recorder. Recently I found the tape but unfortunately the quality of the audio had deteriorated. I did manage to rescue one song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
A few years back my second grade teacher gave me a photograph of this very Christmas program from 1977.
Since we didn’t have video cameras back then I’ve tried to recreate this fun memory using the photo and the audio to make a video. (For some reason I had trouble uploading it to YouTube so the quality isn't the greatest)
Here I am with helmet hair and sweater vest at age seven.
Luckily, my mom taped the 1977 program using an audio tape recorder. Recently I found the tape but unfortunately the quality of the audio had deteriorated. I did manage to rescue one song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
A few years back my second grade teacher gave me a photograph of this very Christmas program from 1977.
Since we didn’t have video cameras back then I’ve tried to recreate this fun memory using the photo and the audio to make a video. (For some reason I had trouble uploading it to YouTube so the quality isn't the greatest)
Here I am with helmet hair and sweater vest at age seven.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
THE STORY OF FRANKEN CLAUS
Here is a rare Gruffman’s souvenir photo folder with Santa.
Now here’s the story behind this photo and why Frankenstein's Monster is playing Santa.
For years Neato Coolville resident Stanley Lunder played Santa Claus at Gruffman’s Department store delighting children every year during Christmas. One year, poor Stanley agreed to play the Frankenstein’s Monster during a Halloween promotion at Gruffman’s and he was a big hit and brought in big crowds for the department store.
The sad and horrific thing was that he had a terrible reaction to his monster make-up and it permanently stuck to his face and hands. Gruffman’s sent him all over the country to some of the best doctors to try and remove the make-up, but for some unknown reason he was to wear his monster make-up for the rest of his life.
When Christmas rolled around Stanley actually tried to play Santa Claus, but unfortunately this only lasted a week or two as he kept scaring the children. Gruffman’s saw a huge drop in customers and poor Stanley Lunder was soon out of work.
What was a newly man made monster supposed to do? Well this does have a happy ending as Stanley Lunder learned to live with his new face and became successful traveling around the country to sideshows, fairs, movie theaters and Halloween events. He would eventually return to his hometown of Neato Coolville and open the very successful wax museum appropriately named Dr. Frankenstein’s Wax Museum.
Now here’s the story behind this photo and why Frankenstein's Monster is playing Santa.
For years Neato Coolville resident Stanley Lunder played Santa Claus at Gruffman’s Department store delighting children every year during Christmas. One year, poor Stanley agreed to play the Frankenstein’s Monster during a Halloween promotion at Gruffman’s and he was a big hit and brought in big crowds for the department store.
The sad and horrific thing was that he had a terrible reaction to his monster make-up and it permanently stuck to his face and hands. Gruffman’s sent him all over the country to some of the best doctors to try and remove the make-up, but for some unknown reason he was to wear his monster make-up for the rest of his life.
When Christmas rolled around Stanley actually tried to play Santa Claus, but unfortunately this only lasted a week or two as he kept scaring the children. Gruffman’s saw a huge drop in customers and poor Stanley Lunder was soon out of work.
What was a newly man made monster supposed to do? Well this does have a happy ending as Stanley Lunder learned to live with his new face and became successful traveling around the country to sideshows, fairs, movie theaters and Halloween events. He would eventually return to his hometown of Neato Coolville and open the very successful wax museum appropriately named Dr. Frankenstein’s Wax Museum.
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