Movie Macabre Music

 Trolling around eBay (you'll come to realize that I tend to do a lot of that), I recently purchased four 7 inch singles by the Nashville, Tennessee based "goth garage rock" band The Black Belles, a pet project of Jack White that's signed to his Third Man Records label.

I was familiar with the band due to their contribution to Cassandra Peterson's 2010 Elvira syndication package, MOVIE MACABRE.  The Belles provided an instrumental version of their song, "What Can I Do?" to the show, which was used as the opening theme tune.

The aforementioned theme song, picture disc release

I ended up purchasing the following 7 inch .45s:

TMR 024 Side A: What Can I Do? / Side B: Lies

TMR 094 Side A: Honky Tonk Horror / Side B: Dead Shoe

TMR 140 Side A: Wishing Well / Side B: Ms Black Boots

...and, this weird release where they collobrated with Stephen Colbert...

TMR-105 Side A: Charlene II (I'm Over You) / Side B: Charlene (I'm Behind You)

I'm a fan of Elvira (and late night horror movie hosts in general like Svengoolie and the like) and this purchase spurred me to dig through my comic collection and pull out some books I bought, read and collected in middle school- the 1986 DC Comics effort, ELVIRA'S HOUSE OF MYSTERY...

The final issue of the title's original run, #321, from March 1983

HOUSE OF MYSTERY was a long running horror anthology title which DC Comics published for over three decades, from 1951 until 1983.  It was hosted by a creepy gentleman with huge muttonchops named Cain (folks familiar with the DC Comic SANDMAN might be familiar with the character, a supporting player in that book's cast).  About two and a half years later in early 1986, after the conclusion of the publisher's canon changing CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTH event, DC decided to relaunch and rebrand the book, replacing Cain with Peterson's Elvira character as host.

Elvira's House of Mystery #1 (January 1986)

Being a weird 12 year old Elvira fan in 1986, I immediately started buying and reading the book, and I'm kind of glad I hung onto the back issues of the complete eleven issue run, because the first and final issues are going for ridiculous prices these days (a Near Mint copy of #1 will set you back around $100, while the final issue (#11) with the gorgeous cover art by the late Dave Stevens, Near Mint, will run you around $150.

Elvira's House of Mystery #11 (November 1986)

For more on my love for horror hosts, I suggest you check out this review I wrote about 15 years ago for the 2007 documentary AMERICAN SCARY over at ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT DVD

 

Faceful of Violence....

 I've been a fan of the DC Comics character JONAH HEX since childhood...he's probably the first character I took an interest in primarily because of his aesthetics.  With that scarred visage, he's not only visually arresting, but he just looks like the dictionary definition of "Bad-ass".

The first issue of Hex's most recent series, which ran from 2005 to 2011

And, yes....I am old enough and have been involved enough with the hobby that I was purchasing the last couple years worth of Jonah's Bronze Age ongoing series off the newsstand monthly as it was being published.

The first and final issue of the Bronze Age series

About 10 years ago, I spent about two years trolling eBay, comic book shops, conventions...and randomly wandering around local flea markets and used book stores...and was able to piece together a complete run of all 92 issues of the Bronze Age book (for the uninformed, the Bronze Age of Comics is a period of time referred to by fans and collectors that roughly spans from about 1970 until around 1979 and any books that were published during this era are referred to as such).  In 2017, I scored fairly decent condition copies of Hex's first two appearances, ALL-STAR WESTERN #10 and #11 (on sale in March and May of 1972, respectively) without paying an arm and a leg for them.  This led to my latest endeavor- obtaining a complete run of WEIRD WESTERN TALES, which is what the title was rebranded to with issue #12.

Hex's first appearance

So, due to some recent eBay trolling, I was able to obtain five issues that I needed, issues #18, 19, 20, 22, and 25.

I was even a fan of writer Joe R. Lansdale and artist Tim Truman's mature audiences VERTIGO take on the character that was popular in the 1990s....I thought the blend of horror and Western themes suited the character very well,

I used to joke that JONAH HEX was the easiest property in comics to adapt to film:  basically all you'd have to do is make a really good revenge thriller Western and stick the character of Hex in it....

Boy, was a wrong...

So, here's my suggestion for Warner Bros./ James Gunn's New DCU-

Hex creator, writer Michael Fleischer has stated in the past that he drew major inspiration for the character from the Clint Eastwood film THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES.  Hell, Hex has always been depicted as a disfigured version of Eastwood in the comics.  Cast Clint's son, Scott Eastwood, as Hex and slap some prosthetics on his face.  Then make a really good cheap Western with a revenge plot. Look to the Italian Spaghetti Western genre for inspiration.

Ladies and gentlemen, Scott Eastwood

An Introduction of Sorts....

 Hello, my name is Anthony Wayne Conn (please see profile attached at the sidebar to confirm this) and this is my new blog where I sit around and reminisce about comic books.

No, really.  Don't judge.  I'm sure nobody governs how you spend your free time, so please refrain from telling me how to spend mine.   Unless....you're currently a resident of a correctional facility.  If so, there's probably someone there governing how you spend your leisure time.  And, even if that's the case, you obviously have issues with self control and make poor life choices, lacking the proper background and credentials necessary to tell me how to live my life.  So....mic drop, I guess.

Anyways, I'll be starting with regular blog-type entries next week.  To kill time in-between then and now, please feel free to enjoy some pictures of me:  

This is me age 4, circa Christmas 1978, holding my Remco Electronic Spider-Man.  I'm about 6 months away from beginning my journey on the nutty path of comic book fandom (more on that in a later post).  Adorable.

And, here's me around age 25, 2000-2001ish...potentially a little drunk, and holding a comic book I'd wanted for years that I'd purchased earlier that day from a vendor at a local flea market.  Still adorable!

Here's me now- bitter, cynical, potentially unaware of why I'd entered the room.  I do that from time to time these days- get up, walk to another room, then stand there and wonder exactly what my purpose for this journey was.   Literally and philosophically.   Aged 51 years.  Still adorable ?

Next week:  Hi-jinx!