My fave local columnist, the Video Vulture (John Tebbutt), did a piece about the ridiculously sublime mid-period Bela Lugosi films in which the Master of Ham n' Cheese Menace makes use of a number of off-the wall tools for exacting revenge on his multitudinous enemies:
The Devil Bat (1941): shaving lotion which has an unusual scent that attracts his legion of electrically mutated vampire bats.
SOS Coast Guard (1937): a gas that is capable of melting mountains, tanks, peoples,etc... don't say it!
The Phantom Creeps (serial, 1939): a giant robot that he went to the trouble of designing a particularly grumpy-looking giant bald head for. Also features a lethal little robot spider, an idea later cribbed in the awesome Tom Selleck/Gene Simmons epic "Runaway".
hmm...is john's column featuring illustrations now? Ahh...all is right with the world. I hope you get to draw Reptilicus!
Posted by: Eric | November 01, 2006 at 09:30 PM
There is so much love and joy in this that it damn near makes me tear up. And big-ass bonus points for unearthing the Phantom Creeps/Runaway connection.
Posted by: Viper Tetsu | November 02, 2006 at 10:31 PM