THE QUEST FOR THE GLOWY GRAIL: Dig the TOP 13 MARVEL BLACK LIGHT POSTERS
MORRISON MONDAYS!
KA-POW! These BATMAN TOY GUNS Will Blow Your Mind
MORRISON MONDAYS meets TOYHEM — once more!
MORRISON MONDAYS! By BILL MORRISON In honor of John Romita’s birthday this past Friday, I offer another in my series of “What if – – ?” cover tributes. In this case, my inspiration came from an interview that John did with Roy Thomas, published in the TwoMorrows book, John Romita… And All That Jazz. The two discuss Romita’s stint on romance books at DC Comics in the late ’50s and early ’60s, prior to his move to Marvel to work on Daredevil and, soon after, The Amazing Spider-Man. Although John had done plenty of Westerns, adventure, and even superhero work for various publishers, he was typecast at DC as a romance artist. John shared the following with Roy: “In my daydreams, one of those (DC) editors would say to me, ‘How would you like to do Batman’ or something, ‘as a filler?’ I was itching for it, but I didn’t have the confidence to go in and ask anybody.” So, this piece is my answer to the intriguing question, “What if John Romita had found the confidence to ask editor Julie Schwartz for a job on Batman and had never gone to Marvel?” Of course, the possibilities are endless, and given Romita’s talents, he would have drawn covers that were more action-packed, probably working from dynamic layouts by art director Carmine Infantino, and not anything like my melodramatic super hero/romance mash-up. But since I’m not a great Romita imitator I decided to swipe this Young Love cover by John that was published from inventoried art in 1966, the year following his departure from DC. Also, in case anyone is wondering, I felt that Batwoman would make a more suitable member of this love triangle than Batgirl. She and Batman had an established romantic relationship, even though she disappeared from comics pages in 1964. Plus, the new Barbara Gordon Batgirl would not have her debut until the January 1967 issue of Detective Comics. So here, Batwoman returns after a two-year absence! — Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below! — MORE — THE QUEST FOR THE GLOWY GRAIL: Dig the TOP 13 MARVEL BLACK LIGHT POSTERS. Click here. — The Complete, Uncensored Truth Behind the Infamous DISNEY LITTLE MERMAID SCANDAL. Click here. — Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been working in comics and publishing since...
MORRISON MONDAYS! By BILL MORRISON When I was around 11 years old, there was a head shop in my hometown of Lincoln Park, Michigan, named The Poster Pit. This hippie mecca had a large variety of posters for sale, from blowups of black-and-white movie stills of Dracula and Humphrey Bogart, to pictures of grandmas smoking weed and cats hanging in there (baby!), to peace and ecology symbols. But the best ones were in a small, dark room, lit by an ultra-violet light. I don’t recall the occasion of my first visit to the store, but I do remember that I was instantly hooked on the glowing, fluorescent posters in that little room, and I began to decorate the walls of my bedroom with them. On my 12th birthday, I received my first black light, along with a fluorescent poster of the Roadrunner and a psychedelic lamp that projected swirling optical designs on my bedroom walls. On one visit to the head shop I discovered something new and awesome! Amid the glowing graphics of Jimi Hendrix, Mr. Natural, and the Zigzag Man were several vibrant visuals that I couldn’t look away from. They were fluorescent images of Marvel superheroes! I had always been a DC kid, mostly because A) I was crazy about Batman, and B) the bookstore where I got my comics carried pretty much everything but Marvel. I had seen Marvel characters on TV in the animated Saturday morning shows and the weekday afternoon syndicated Marvel Super Heroes cartoons by Grantray Lawrence Animation, but had never really read any of the comics. But one day I was given a short stack of Marvels from a friend of my sister and was just starting to get familiar with Spidey, Cap, Thor, Iron Man, etc., when I saw them in all their psychedelic glory on the walls of The Poster Pit! The weekly allowance of a 12-year-old boy has to be split many ways, so between comics, model kits, trading cards, etc., there’s only so much left for wall décor (and only so much wall space) so I had a few of the Marvel posters by The Third Eye, but no hope of collecting all 24 of them. And as I became an adult, I sort of forgot about them. However, in the early 1990s my passion for black-light posters...
MORRISON MONDAYS!
MORRISON MONDAYS meets TOYHEM — once more!