Showing posts with label EC Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EC Comics. Show all posts

Friday, August 12, 2022

Baltimore's Ron Barlow obituary - EC fan and publisher (updated)

Photo: Ron Barlow & Bernie Wrightson c. 1974

by Joel Pollack

R.I.P. Ron Barlow (1949-2022).

Ron commissioned and published Bernie Wrightson's Badtime Stories, the first deluxe comic fanzine devoted to a single artist.

Ron worked as an editor at Woody Gelman's Nostalgia Press, where he edited hardcover reprints of classic comic strips including the finest Alex Raymond Flash Gordon strips. It was at Nostalgia Press that Ron edited EC: Horror Comics of the 1950s.

Ron and his partner, Bruce Hershenson, published the earliest full-color EC reprints, under the East Coast Comix imprint.

In 1972 , Ron and Bruce staged the first and only EC Comics convention, attended by most of the EC staff. For that convention, they published EC Lives, a collection of articles about EC Comics written by EC creators.

Ron was active in Star Trek fandom, and owned and operated the Federation Trading Post in Manhattan c. 1973.

Joel's contacted other friends of Barlow's on Facebook for their reminiscences. Here's Bruce Hershenson's:

RIP Ron Barlow January 1, 1949 - August 9, 2022

When I was 15 I spent four days over the 1968 July 4th weekend buying and selling comic books. Not so strange nowadays, but beyond bizarre back then. I left my home with 6 boxes of comic books and $20, and after 4 frantic days of wheeling and dealing I went home with 20 boxes of comics and $100, and I knew I had found my life's calling!
 
I also met two 18 year olds who would have a massive impact on my life. One was a Californian named Barry Bauman (a story for another day), and the other was from Baltimore, named Ron Barlow, and both were very good looking guys with very long hair (well before that was mainstream) and for the life of me I could not see what either of them saw in me, but their friendships sure helped this pathetically nerdy and shy 15 year old immeasurably!
 
Flash forward to the end of 1971. I was in college and hating it, and spending most of my time buying and selling comics, completely supporting myself doing so. It was at this point Ron Barlow re-entered my life in a big way. He had gone to work for Woody Gelman, the visionary who first saw a market for deluxe hardcover reprints of classic comic books.
 
One of those books was devoted to EC Comics, and through editing it, Ron caught the eye of Bill Gaines, and they became great friends, despite being decades apart in age. Ron had grown up with Berni Wrightson and Jeff Jones, and he had the idea of a new publication that would be a tribute to EC Comics, but with all new stories by modern artists, and instead of a lowly comic book, a "graphic novel," printed on the finest paper.
 
Ron was able to persuade Berni to draw one entire book called "Badtime Stories", and he gave him an astronomical page rate, AND returned the art, something never done in those days! I came into the picture in early 1972, because Ron and I were both living in Great Neck, New York, and thanks to my successful mail-order business in comics, I had put together some savings from it, even though I was now only 18.
 
Ron had run out of money, and he proposed that I put up the printing bill, and that I handle the distribution of the book, and that once we each got our investment back, we would split whatever profits that were made 50/50.
 
I agreed, because I felt then that Berni was the young artist who most could have been an EC artist had he been 20 years older, and I thought his work on Badtime Stories was especially wonderful. So that's how I became the 18 year old "publisher" of Badtime Stories, and what started my longtime partnership with Ron Barlow.
 
It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but I got us all the money back on Badtime Stories, and Ron told me he admired my business acumen and wanted us to together organize a convention solely for fans of EC Comics, a "theme" convention no one had done before.
 
I had zero knowledge about running a convention (although I had attended many), but it sounded like "fun", so I agreed. I was now 19, and Ron was 23, and somehow we were able to rent the giant McAlpin Hotel in New York City for four days (with no money!).
 
What made the convention a major success (except we made no money, but that was not important to us) was that Bill Gaines was able to convince just about every EC artist and writer to attend, and there has never been another convention like it. Ron next suggested we approach Bill with the "crazy" idea of reprinting the original EC comics as full-color comic books (the very first time fans ever did that for ANY comic book company), and to our amazement Bill agreed!
 
That led to my dropping out of college, and Ron and I co-publishing 12 issues of full-color reprints of EC comics over the next two years, under our "East Coast Comix" label (we were given the catchy name by longtime Ron friend, Joel Pollack!). Sadly, there just weren't enough comic book collectors back them to fully support the project, and we folded it after 12 glorious issues! 
 
After that I was partners with Ron in a vintage clothing business in Baltimore. He discovered the Internet in the late 1980s and wanted us to move our business online, but it sounded "sketchy" to me, and I talked him out of it, to my eternal regret, because WE might have become early Internet moguls, bringing collectibles to the Net, as eBay did years later!
 
Ron had also discovered vintage movie posters, and he wanted to do a mail order business of those as well as the vintage clothing. But as so often happened with Ron, he grew tired of the posters, and offered to trade me his half of that poster business for my half of his vintage clothing store and I reluctantly agreed.
 
But I took that tiny poster business and it evolved into my current business, eMoviePoster.com, with $107 million in total sales, so in a way I owe that success to Ron Barlow as well!
 
In the late 1980s Ron moved to Santa Fe and started selling antiquities, with a very successful gallery there. He later moved back to Baltimore (where he started out) and pursued a career as a painter, something I wish he had more vigorously pursued far earlier.
 
Ron was the most gifted, talented, and "ahead of his time" person I have ever met! I have just barely scratched the surface of the many business ideas he had over the years. He launched a free "adzine" for comic book collectors, years before The Buyer's Guide copied his idea. He owned a store entirely devoted to Star Trek memorabilia, in the days when it was a cult favorite, but long before it became a beloved franchise.
 
Ron was incredible at "spotting talent" and upcoming "trends". It was he who told me in 1976 about the forthcoming Star Wars movie, and he told me it was sure to be a giant hit, and that he had been able to buy the rights to some merchandising, with the little money he had, and he had a real "score" from that.
There was so much more to Ron's incredible life! If only he had been able to stay focused longer on each individual project, he likely would be a household name today, but that was just not his way. Once a project took fruit, his mind was on to his next idea!
 
So rest in peace my old friend. You surely have earned some time off. But knowing Ron, I bet he is at St. Peter's shoulder, giving him endless ideas on how Heaven could be run better!

 

Monday, February 24, 2020

Cuddles and Rage talk Bites of Terror - their new horror comic


by Mike Rhode

Cuddles and Rage (aka Jimmy and Liz Reed) have a new book coming out soon, but it's not a friendly little children's book. Instead it's 144 pages of horror comics starring anthropomorphic food. 

As their press release states - 

Tales from the Crypt meets All My Friends Are Dead in Bites of Terror: 10 Frightfully Delicious Tales (Quirk Books; On sale: March 24, 2020) by the creative duo Cuddles and Rage, also known as Liz and Jimmy Reed. The team’s adorably creepy work began as a webcomic and has been featured everywhere from Nerdist to the Washington Post. Now they’re bringing their unique combination of adorable hand-sculpted characters, meticulously designed dioramas, and photographed panels to a graphic novel that’s sure to delight anyone with a dark sense of humor. In the book’s foreword, Fangoria magazine’s Phil Nobile, Jr. notes that Cuddles and Rage is “a brilliant storytelling duo that examines the human condition through stories about anthropomorphic foods who live rich, full, hilarious, and often relatable lives.”  

From an ice cream cone who makes an ill-fated deal with the devil(’s food cake) to a moldy strawberry craving one last dip in a bowl of whipped cream, Bites of Terror’s characters find themselves caught in various fear-filled scenarios, each with a uniquely morbid twist ending. Introducing the tales is the Cake Creeper, a partially eaten groom’s cake who seems to have a sinister agenda. Here’s a sampling of sinful stories to whet your appetite:
  •  Deviled Egg: A freak accident has a Jekyll-and-Hyde effect, leaving a hard-boiled egg split in two sides—one good, one evil.
  • Pizza Party Massacre: A pizza slice working in children’s entertainment reluctantly agrees to attend a last-minute birthday party at a previous client’s house, the site of a violent incident.
  • Death by Chocolate: At the request of his police chief, a turnip detective grudgingly allows a banana from the press to tail him as he investigates a murder spree perpetrated by a killer who removes the chocolate from his tasty victims.
     Unfortunate Cookie: After his mother’s death, a fortune cookie gains her gift of second sight, but his newfound knowledge may be more curse than blessing.  
  • Preserved: A peach tries to keep her life and household afloat while dealing with the incessant criticism and neediness of her mother (and roommate).


In our two previous interviews in 2013 and 2016, I don't think we ever firmly pinned this down. For the record, which one of you is Cuddles and which is Rage? 

Liz: Personality wise, we go back and forth.  Originally, Liz was Rage & Jimmy was Cuddles.

Jimmy: It’s definitely a rotating situation. I feel lucky that we have each other to keep the balance in check. 

Where does the name come from anyway?

Liz: “Cuddles” and “Rage” were nicknames we created for each other when we would co-op game together. I can confirm that you are more successful at gaming when you lead with cuddles instead of rage. I died a lot, but Jimmy was always there to revive me. 

When last we chatted you were publishing comics on HelloGiggles website. When did you stop doing work for it? Are you doing work for any other web publication now? 

Liz: We shared our work there for about two years ending mid-2015. We are so thankful to Zooey Deschanel, Sophia Rossi, and Molly McAleer for the time our comics did live there. They created a platform that lifted a lot of female creators to another level. I don’t think we’d be where we are today without their support. Right now our work is posted on our own site and social accounts, but we’ve done work for a number of other publications and platforms and love collaborating on new projects. 

Your new book, Bites of Terror, is a blend of humor and horror. In 2016, you said " the old days of Cuddles and Rage were pretty dark."  Did you purposefully decide to return to that darkness after 2 children's books? Or were the stories just coming out darker, and you decided to embrace it? 

 Liz: Over the years, Jimmy and I have worked hard on fine tuning our voice to match our “quirky stories with heart” mantra. With the picture books, we originally wanted them to be darker, but the stories for that age group needed more cuddles than rage. I love that those stories bring smiles instead of nightmares to kids. I hope we will have an opportunity to write some creepy kidlit one day. After writing each picture book, we would animate a new Dr. Taquito short to unleash all the dark humor brewing inside our hearts. For me, horror is my true love. Bites of Terror gave us the opportunity to create darker stories fit for the whole family to enjoy. This is where we want to be. 

Jimmy: I agree, we are huge fans of horror. We’re always writing weirder and darker stories for ourselves. I love that we’ve been able to embrace those aspects of our storytelling with Bites of Terror.
What are your influences here? The original EC comics in this mode, or the later DC ones like House of Mystery, or the Tales from the Crypt tv shows?

 Liz: I grew up watching Tales from the Crypt with my mom. That was really my first experience with horror anthologies. Since then I’ve consumed every horror anthology I can get my hands on. They are the perfect length for a quick fix or a long binge watch. In writing the proposal for Bites of Terror, I read a lot of the EC comics and dissected how the stories unfolded. You can’t beat the classics. Watching the HBO Tales does make me clutch my pearls at times now. Was I too young to be watching something so revealing in the 90s? This is a question I’m saving for my mom next Christmas.

 Jimmy: I also grew up watching horror with my mom. It’s something that Liz and I discovered that we had in common early in our relationship. We’re huge film fans, and some of our influences there were horror anthologies like Tales from the Crypt, Cat’s Eye, Creepshow, Trilogy of Terror, and Tales from the Hood.  I have always gravitated toward compilations where you get to sample multiple stories. I’m that way at a buffet, too - I’m putting a little bit of everything on that plate! 


 Who takes the lead in writing the spookier stories? The sweeter ones? 

 Liz: We each wrote five stories. It surprises me to say this, but I think Jimmy may have some of the darker stories in there. Young. Old. Sweet. Sour. Nobody was safe from Jimmy’s words. My stories focused a lot on relationships and life. Our 14-year-old dog passed away while we were writing Bites of Terror. My life had been flipped upside down. Getting lost in the writing during that time was very therapeutic—although some of the early drafts read a little too sad at times.

Jimmy: I think we found a nice balance between us in giving each story its own voice. We each gave a few of our characters some sweeter moments, but we also both put a few of them through the emotional wringer. No food is safe around here. 

Who does the character design? 

Liz: We typically designed the characters for our respective stories, but Jimmy did most of the heavy lifting there. I focused on sculpting and sets.

Jimmy: For most of the characters, we tried to use the story that was happening to them to help guide their character design. A curmudgeonly old carton of milk needs to have some big, bushy eyebrows. The Cake Creeper was a big collaboration between us. He’s my favorite character in the book. 

How many media did you use in the new book? I see clay, photography, drawing & paper cutting (the "Make a Wish" title panel). 

Liz: Oh gosh! I lost count. Clay, liquid clay, silicone, foam, acrylics, pastels, wire, wood, paper, gel, inks, foil, sticks, foam board, old clothes, cardboard, cotton, steel wool, spray paint, felt, cabinet liners, mesh bags from produce and tons of miscellaneous trash. It got to the point where I had to accept that maybe some of this stuff was more trash than art. 

Are all these stories new for the book? 

Liz: All new stories. A few of them were inspired by our older comics. 

Are you going to collect your earlier webcomic material? 

Jimmy: We have self-published a few compilations for our convention appearances, but would love the opportunity to put a comprehensive volume together.  

Are you still going to local cons? 

Liz: Yes! Our next local con is Awesome Con DC in May. We always love doing Small Press Expo too in September.

Jimmy: We love the local comics community, and our local conventions have such a great mix of artists. We watch the table for each other so we can shop and always walk away with a bag full of new books and art. 

Are those grape neighbors throwing away raisins? Any other food 'easter eggs' included (besides the deviled egg story)? 

Liz: Yes. The cycle of life is quite short for those little guys. We hid mini jokes throughout the entire book. We even included Middle-Aged Pig who we sneak into every book we make.

See Cuddles and Rage:


Cuddles and Rage Presents Beetlejuice at The Alamo Drafthouse, Winchester, VA - March 26 at 7:15pm
Fountain Books Signing, 1312 East Cary St. Richmond, VA 23219 - March 28 at 2pm
Fantom Comics Signing, Washington, DC - April 11, 2pm
Third Eye Comics Signing (date TBD)

To keep up with C&R:
Disturbingly cute stuff by Liz & Jimmy Reed
Follow us on Twitter: @cuddlesandrage 
Follow us on Instagram: @cuddlesandrage 
Follow us on YouTube: CuddlesAndRage

Friday, August 05, 2016

Fanzine and fine artist John Fantucchio has died

Fantucchio's art, possibly for Gary Groth's first Metro Con

It's being reported on Facebook that Arlington's John Fantucchio passed away yesterday, August 4th, at age 78. He was at Virginia Hospital Center after suffering a stroke.

Big Planet Comics founder Joel Pollack writes, "John Fantucchio was my mentor when I was 16. He taught me about the great strip artists Alex Raymond and Hal Foster, as well as illustrators such as Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth, and Howard Pyle. I'm happy that we rekindled our friendship in the last five years."

Joel noted that Fantucchio's influence wasn't limited to him. "John's nephew, Rick Lowell, owns Casablanca Comics, Maine's coolest comics stores!, in Portland, ME, and counts John as a mentor, as well." Fantucchio eventually left the fan community and made a name for himself as a fine artist.

Joel took me to meet John, who coincidentally lived right around the corner from Richard Thompson, and we had a great time looking at his paintings and his collectibles. John had a fondness for the Shadow just like me. He wasn't all that interested in revisiting his fanzine days, so we never did an interview, but he does have several mentions on ComicsDC, mostly about his later career.

John is survived by his wife Mary.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Heroes Con Feldstein (and Friends) panel recording online

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Al Feldstein and Ben Towle

I've uploaded Craig Fischer and Ben Towle's panel to the Internet Archive as an mp3. Click on the link to download it.

NOT THE USUAL GANG OF IDIOTS: EC COMICS PANEL
Part 2: A Chat With Al Feldstein (and Friends)

Ben Towle and Craig Fischer host an in-depth interview with Al Feldstein, EC artist and writer and MAD MAGAZINE editor extraordinaire! Along for the ride is a pair of celebrity funsters - FRED THE CLOWN and FIN FANG FOUR cartoonist Roger Langridge and CUL DE SAC comic stripper Richard Thompson - ready to roast and grill Feldstein about The Lighter Side of Editing America's #1 Humor Magazine!

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Craig Fischer, Richard Thompson, Roger Langridge, Al Feldstein.