This poster was included in an issue I picked up of Scholastic Books' "Dynamite Magazine", the "People" magazine for the 1970's and 80's prepubescent crowd. Each month brought a celebrity spotlight along with jokes, cartoons, magic tricks, child psychology advice (I'm not kidding) and puzzles. One of the featured puzzles was hosted by an insult-spewing vampire called "Count Morbida". This poster features Morbida's girlfriend, "Horibella", his dog "Transylvester" and many of the Count's friends. What may not be immediately evident is it also features Count Morbida himself among a host of bats, mummies and other critters hiding throughout the trees and sky. I counted 9 bats, 2 mummies, and 2 witches and the Count. Have fun finding them.
Count Morbida was drawn by Arthur Friedman, a Hasidic Jewish illustrator from Brooklyn. There's not much about him on the internet (except that he was a Hasidic Jewish illustrator from Brooklyn). He drew for a few children's educational books as well as illustrated the children's book "Hershel of Ostropol" about a Jewish folk hero.
i loved Dynamite. LOVED it. it was always a good day when the new issue showed up, and i pored over it from cover to cover. I seem to remember reading somewhere about how each issue was made (on a ridiculously cheap budget, to my adult eyes), but i can't recall where i saw that. was it here?
ReplyDelete>I seem to remember reading somewhere about how each issue was made
Delete>(on a ridiculously cheap budget
That rings a bell, but I don't think I wrote about it here. Here's an interview with Chip Lovitt who was an editor and writer for Dynamite: https://tinyurl.com/yca8bp76. He speaks a little about those days at Dynamite.
hmm, yes, this is pretty similar to what i recall, except it went into more detail on the actual design and production of it, which is what i glommed onto from a designer's perspective. their budgets seemed so tiny to me, but then again this was 1970s dollars. and Joe Kubert's Corner! omg, i had forgotten about that. great stuff.
DeleteLoved seeing reading through these, heck - I loved just seeing them in the Scholastic Book Order flyers!
ReplyDeleteStick around, Joe, I'll be publishing some more Dynamite-related content this month.
DeleteThanks for this! Curious about the artist of our beloved Count Morbida and Dynamite magazine. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by, Doc! Glad you enjoyed.
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