Greetings Scared Silly fans!
Welcome to a brand-new new feature on this blog: CARTOONEY CREEPSTAKES. I received a note from a reader asking me to plug one of his favorite horror-comedy online comic strips and I got to thinking, “With my own background as a writer of horror-comedy comic books (namely “Archie’s Weird Mysteries,”) why not make discussion of non-movie horror-comedy a regular feature?”
So, CARTOONEY CREEPSTAKES will be just that. In-between classic horror-comedy movie reviews, I’ll post about how the genre is being tackled by cartoonists, whether doing comic strips, comic books or animated cartoons. Sometimes it may even be take some other form – for example, I have a friend who does silkscreen art that is cartoony and clearly inspired by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Addams and Tim Burton. CARTOONEY CREEPSTAKES will be the feature where such folks can be spotlighted.
In addition to new projects, I’ll occasionally dip back into history to feature some classic comic or cartoon from the past.
In truth, I’ve been doing all of the above all along (click here and here and here and here and here for other examples). The difference now is that I’m making this an official feature by giving it a name and by setting a goal of delivering such a post at least once a month. With my crazy schedule as of late it will also help to have such posts in-between my more in-depth movie reviews (and it offers you faithful readers some new content while you await those reviews).
Before I let the preamble ramble on too far, let’s get right into this first official installment. As mentioned above, a reader named Dan Bostaph asked that I please give special mention to Chris M. Cantrell’s web comic, The Deadlys. Here’s his email, reprinted with his permission:
“Recently, Chris' web comic "The Deadlys" got hacked. Everything was either deleted or virus-contaminated. He tried to reconstruct the site from his backups, only to discover that the virus used had contaminated his backups, too. Fortunately, a Data Recovery Specialist helped him get back all his strips.
Nevertheless, Chris was, upset, and just about ready to pack it in. A few of his fans, including myself, encouraged him not to give up. He agreed.
Now, Chris has redesigned the website, with extra security, more features, and he even intends to write & draw a second feature "Vampire Teenage Mystery Solvers", using a younger version of one of his characters.”
Per Dan, “The Deadlys" is “a little slice of Charles Addams's territory, if the Addams' had been written by Hank Ketchum.” It chronicles life in suburbia for Jack Deadly – a goale-masked Jason-esque fiend; his vampire wife, Elizabeth and children Morgan and Viktor.
“They deal with job stress, unwelcome relatives and everything else modern life can dump on a family of monsters,” Dan continued. “In short, fun.”
Dan went on to explain that much of Chris's readership is AWOL, and he needs a hand getting started again. His strip returns today, September 17th. I encourage you to check it out at the new website address, www.thedeadlys.com
One last thing: Dan states that he is “not connected to Chris, and don't get any money from the strip, I just get the enjoyment.” That’s enough of an endorsement for me! Enjoy!
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