The Louise Brooks Quarterly: A White Christmas

Louise Brooks would like to remind you that there's only four days until Christmas. Also, she wants to underscore the unifying theme of this blog.

Christmas is coming...

... and Ann Miller is trimmer her tree. Soon she will be applying fake snow to her lawn, using the world's largest powder-puff.

Are you ready for Christmas yet?

That's no way to treat the mayor!

Earlier this week, NUELOW Games released another book in which I contribute a chunk of RPG material -- this time, a set of rules for creating superheroes in the d20 OGL Modern system with Golden Age teen heroes Dynamic Boy and Yankee Boy being statted out as examples of how to use the rules in practice.

The book in question is titled "Madden's Boys," and it's the fourth in a series of comics/rpg hybrid books spotlighting the work of Bill Madden, an artist who had a brief comics career in 1941 and then faded from the field. He had an energetic and quirky style that in many ways resembles that which would become with underground comics artists in the 1960s and 1970s. I feel that his art has stood up to the passage of time very nicely and that the total obscurity into which his small body of work has fallen is undeserved.

That said, like many Golden Age artists, Madden's execution is sometimes a little rough around the edges. In each of the collections I've worked on, there's always a panel or two that make me laugh... for unintended reasons. The sequence below comes from Dynamic Boy's origin story where he takes on gangsters and corrupt politicians:

Yes... taking his head off with a chair is indeed no way to treat the mayor! (But, whew!, turning the page we discover his head is still attached and his neck isn't snapped!)

Whether you are in the mood for some quirky, early superhero comics, or if you want to see a new way to handle super-characters in d20 Modern games, this is a book that's worth checking out. Click here to take a  look at previews and, I hope, to purchase and download your own copy.

Dancing through the snow...

There's only ten days 'til Christmas!

A Black and White Friday the 13th

Our thanks to Kate Moss for demonstrating the unifying theme of this blog. May your Friday the 13th be a lucky one!

Picture Perfect Wednesday: Look Who's On the Naughty List

Ida Lupino punishes a bad Santa

In the Twilight Zone.

A girl. A guy. A guitar. A curious, version of a classic song that builds to a cheerful finale. A fitting performance for... the Twilight Zone




(This strange little cover was performed by Tess Gaerthe (vocals) and Thomas Zwijsen (guitar) of the Netherlands. I hope you enjoy it. I came upon it while amusing myself posting a whole string of "Twilight Zone" covers to Facebook. It seemed to fit better here, though.)