'COUNT DRACULA'S SECRET' ICE LOLLY ADS

Who remembers these back in the 1970's? 'Count Dracula's secret' ice lollys, black ice lolly with blood red soft centre. Hope you didn't have sensitive fangs/teeth back then.

'CREEPY COMIX' - 'Frankie Stein' Frankenstein

For your viewing pleasure here is a great peice of art from the popular comicstrip 'Frankie Stein', this image is almost on first viewing gives a look of a peice of art from a serious comicstrip, very filmic Frankenstein inspired. These panals are from 'Whoopee and Shiver and Shake' 12th October 1974.

CREEPY COMIX - 'Scream Inn'/'The Spooktacular 7'

Scream Inn is in my opinion certainly one of the most atmospheric of all the comicstrips featured in the Fleetway line. The illustrations were dark and full of creepy details, it really gave you a sense of a spooky place on a dark and stormy night. Scream Inn is to the TV series 'The Ghosts of Motley hall' that 'Hire a horror' is to TV's 'Rentaghost'. Although 'Scream Inn' remainded popular, the stories would run out of steam; so an evolution of stories and a change of title to 'The Spooktacular 7' would eventually appear in issues of 'Whoopee'. The scans here show the title panals from both titles and an example of 'Scream Inn'/'Spooktacular 7' artwork. Thanks to John.

CREEPY COMIX - Ken Reid art

One of the Fleetway comics main artists was Ken Reid - The artist's artist, creator of Frankie Stein, Faceache, etc.

The scans here are some of Reid's illustrations used for 'Creepy Creations', 'World wide Weirdies', etc. These series of pictures would appear for several weeks in a number of Fleetway's line of comics, the full page pictures usually appeared on the back pages.

'Wanted' comes from 'Whoopee' (15th June 1974), 'Creepy Creations' - 'Shiver and Shake' (5th January 1974), 'World wide weirdies' - 'Whoopee' (14th October 1978).

If you would like to see more of these series of illustrations please let me know.

Thanks to John for scans/info.

TV tie-in - 'THE HAUNTING OF CASSIE PALMER'

The TV tie-in sections will concentrate on those spooky shows that were shown during the 60's, 70's, and 1980's, of which a vast number were made either as a serial, anthology or one offs. I think that British TV made some of the most entertaining and spookest shows on TV, there was classic dramas from the likes of 'Supernatural', 'Classic adaptations of famous horror stories such has 'Dracula', 'Frankenstein', 'Fall of the house of Usher', 'Carmilla', etc featured in 'Mystery and Imagination'. Many anthology shows were made during the three decades, not all would feature a tie-in book. Titles included: 'Shades of Darkness', 'Dead of night', 'Menace', 'Shadows of fear', 'Beasts', 'Hammer house of horror', etc. One of most popular children's supernatural anthology series 'Shadows' was also one of the longest running. Other classic children's supernatural series included 'The Clifton house mystery', 'Nobodys house', 'Children of the stones', 'The Watch house', 'The Owl service', 'Chocky' 'Moon dial', 'Lizzie Dripping', 'Secret world of Polly Flint', etc and Comedies such as 'Ghosts of Motley hall', 'Rentaghost'.

Some supernatural series stories were based on true stories, series such as 'Worlds beyond', 'The mind beyond', 'Leap in the dark', and 'West country tales'.

The first tie-in I want to show you is from the 1982 six part series 'The Haunting of Cassie Palmer', which starred Helen Probyn as Cassie, Geoffrey Rose as Deverill [both featured here on the cover], and Elizabeth Spriggs as Mrs.Palmer. The show was made by TVS for ITV and directed by Dorothea Brooking. This children's supernatural drama tells the story of Cassie Palmer the seventh child of a seventh child, who inherits her mother's psychic powers. Her mother is a not so successful medium who wants to teach and develop Cassie's psychic powers of which Cassie doesn't want to except she has these powers. On a dare she attemps to call upon a spirit in the local graveyard with her sister and brother. Instead of a little girl, Cassie instead raises the spirit of a tall gaunt man dressed in black named Deverill, whom Cassie is the only one who can see him and speak to. Deverill begins to haunt Cassie, appearaing along side her while walking from school etc. She befreinds him, but wants to know what Deverill's purpose is.

CREEPY COMIX - 'Hire a horror'

'Hire a Horror' was a comicstrip that appeared in 'Cor' comic. This was about an agency that hired out monsters etc to clients to use to scare someone in particuliar situations. The panels here were taken from the 17th April 1971 issue.

CREEPY COMIX - 'Grimly Feendish'

Here is another comicstrip character that first appeared in 'Wham' [along side George Michael - no of course not, could you imagine though?]. He was the main villain in the comicstrip 'Eagle-eye Junior Spy'. The picture above is from issue no.30 (9th January 1965). Odham's Press Publishers of 'Wham' comic launched a second comic title called 'Smash' in which Grimly got his own strip on the back pages, this time he had a greenish tint to his skin. I am sure he must be inspired by The Addams family character Uncle Fester, certainly there is a likeness, especially from the original Charles Addams illustrations. Eventually Fleetway/IPC obtained the rights to Odham's Characters and Grimly Feendish would be seen again in 'Shiver and Shake' (1973/74). The black and white strip above is from the Pick-a-strip page when Shiver and Shake were incorporated with Whoopee. Dated 9th November 1974. [Thanks to John for the Eagle-Eye strip]

CREEPY COMIX - Krazy Spooky issue/Buster spooky stories

Although 'Krazy' comic had not featured any spooky type strips for 70 odd issues, there came a special themed issue from 26th Febuary 1977. Other non-horror/spooky comics sometimes had a special themed issue or special, and not always around Halloween which many general comics/magazines choose to do a spooky special. 'Beano' comic published a few spooky specials in recent years and 'Buster' had a couple of softcover annuals - 'Buster book of spooky stories' 1975 and in 1976. These were comicstrips, stories and real life spooky stories and legends.

I am sure there are many others, of which I will post as soon as I find out about any ones of interest. Thanks to John for the Krazy cover.

CREEPY COMIX - 'FRANKIE STEIN'

The Creepy Comix sections of The Cobwebbed Room will feature the several spooky type comicstrips that appeared in British comics during the 1960's, 70's, and 80's. Although there were not that many comics on the British market that catered for the horror fan, there were plenty that did feature a spooky/monster type comic strip. Many of these comic titles were published by the company Fleetway, a leader in comic publishing. Titles of which included Whoopee, Whizzer and chips, Buster, etc. The two titles that Fleetway did publish with a monster theme were Shiver and Shake and Monster Fun, both of which were short lived.

'Frankie Stein' first appeared in 'Wham' comic published by Odhams in 1964. Frankie Stein would eventually be a regular in 'Shiver and Shake', also apperaring in 'Monster Fun' As well as the two Fleetway titles;his apperances were also so seen in Monster Fun and Shiver and Shake annuals, Whoopee, and also having his own Whoopee holiday specials.

Frankie Stein was first created by comic artist Ken Reid whose original drawings of Frankie looked a little darker in style untill artist Robert Nixon took over the design of the character and made the comicstrip character more fun looking showing the innocence of the character. Another reguliar character in the Frankie Stein comicstrips was Professor Cube whom Frankie referred to has 'Dad'. Cube was always finding ways of trying to himself of his creation. The Professor also featured in his own strips in the specials and annuals.

Take a look at the difference in styles of Ken Reid's Frankie Stein and Robert Nixon's.

'BEAVER BOOK OF HORROR'

Here is another great book I used to have when I was much younger, The beaver book of horror by Daniel Farson [grandson to Bram Stoker]. What especially attracted me to this book was this wonderful painted cover by Alan Lee, which extends to the back of the book too. I kind of love the innocence of the characters, even though the monsters look quite grusome, they also look innocent enough to just look at the book the children are reading. For some reason I can't find any pictures of this actual painting, even on websites about Alan Lee and his work.

The book itself covered a wide spectrum of subjects such as true stories about ghosts, vampires, werewolves etc, as well as people such as Vlad the Impaler, Countess Bathory, Rasputin etc. There is a look at the classic horror stories such as Dracula, Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Frankenstein etc. An almost human section that looks at The Elephant Man, wolf children, The Lambton worm, etc. other sections include Horror on stage and screen and a guide to places of horror such as Translyvania, Haiti, Whitby, Highgate cemetery etc. This is a highly recommended read and has 16 pages of photos. 206 pages of grusome reading.

'HORROR BAGS' super horrid picture cards ad

Well here is another Horor Bags ad from 1976/77. This time for Super Horrid Picture cards, a set of six cards that form a big? scary 6inch square picture and on the back of the cards a spooky story about the Dracula character.
The ad artwork is a little cruder than the other ads featured in The Cobbwebbed room, although I quite like the picture of Dracula. This must of been one of the cheaper promotional items for Horror Bags. Now what is needed is advertisements for the serpents and stairs game and the vinyl swimming bag. If there is anyone that can provide scans of these or any others not featured all ready, please get in touch.
Thanks to neil for this contribution.

'MONSTERBACK' books

Of all the books on
monsters, ghosts,etc that are aimed at children, this set of books are certainly the best I have seen, not only do they have fantastic covers, but the stuff inside is just as impressive. I bought these from a shop called 'The book cellar', before it became 'The Works' back in the early 80's. The Monsterback series of books was first published in 1980 by Marshall Cavendish. The books covered a broad range of topics such as stories, frightening facts, games, projects etc. Illustrated throughout with fantastic artwork and photographs. Examples of the contents include: For the Vampires book - What is a vampire?, Curse of the undead, Vlad the Impaler, Make a Dracula's castle, The Croglin Vampire, How to tell a vampire, The film Dracula, what is blood, etc. MONSTER OR MAN? book - The Minotaur, Fiends and Fairies, The Gorgons, King Kong, Make a monster mask, The film monster, The Red death, Frakenstein's monster, etc. WEREWOLVES AND OTHER WEIRD CREATURES book - Legend of the werewolf, Wolfman, Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, Werewolf in film, Island of Dr.Moreau, Loup-Garou, Invisible man, Wolf boys, Wolves everywhere, etc. GHOSTS, GHOULS AND SPIRITS book - What is a ghost?, Things that go bump in the night, Film ghosts, The Brown lady, Sea ghosts, Ghosts of the Tower of London, Church ghosts, Canterville ghost, Theatre ghosts, etc.
These four books are certainly worth checking out, keep a look out for them, I am sure you will be able to get them at a reasonable price. A light, ghoulish read.

'THE BLACK BOX CLUB' audio magazine

Here is a great item that came out during the 1980's - A audio magazine on cassette. This was made and produced by Mark Phelps who also used to publish a Peter Cushing fanzine. 'The Black box club' was a very well put together audio magazine that mainly concentrated on Hammer and Amicus films and their makers. The first copy of the cassettes featured such items as an interview with 'Legend of the Werewolf' star David Rintoul, part 1 of a comedy story called "Attack of the killer wardrobe', 'Dr.Bedlam's bedtime terror tales', video Reviews, news, jingles, well wishes from famous people such as Geoffrey Bayldon, etc. The Black box club kind of had a feel of a radio show, very entertaining, and Mark Phelps was enthusiastic and funny, the black box club had a feel good feel to it, besides being informative. I only ever got round to buying this first issue, but years later when I wrote to Mark again, he sent me lots of flyers about other issues that he had made and he said that the quality was alot better this time. Take alook at the flyer above which tells you about the other editions of the Black box club that were available. Unfortunately I nether got round to ordering the rest of them and I lost contact with Mark.
Is there anyone else that remembers The Black Box Club? I would love to hear from you.

'HORROR' Pens

Here is a set of pens that came out during the 1980's, not sure exact year. As you can see from the photo they featured really nice artwork of Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and a Werewolf [looks to be based on Curse of the Werewolf]. You could either buy the set as ball-point pens or fountain pens. Does anyone else remember these or bought them or have anything similiar they could share with the Cobwebbed room?

'Spooky ads for non spooky products'

Advertisers always find a
different way to promote
a product;sometimes play-
ing what is popular at the time, whats works well,what would works that
kind of fits in with the product etc. Horror, monsters, etc are no exception as you can see from these three examples of product advertising that were printed in British comics, of course aimed at children. The first is 'Fangs of Dracula' done as a comic strip advertising 'Signal' toothpaste; of course we have here the connection of Dracula and teeth/fangs with using toothpaste. The advert also has a book on horror and a pair of Dracula fangs that could be sent for as promotional offer for Signal. The next advert for Kellogg's Frosties also is done as a comicstrip and features Tony the Tiger spending a night in a Haunted House, which turns out to be a dream, is Frosties saves the day. The last advert is for 'Jammie Dodgers' which features
a Spooky T-Shirt offer on special packs of Jammie Dodgers.
As you can see the T-shirt features a ribcage on front and back.
I'll stick some more spooky ads on sometime as soon as I sort them out. Unless you have any yourself that you could possibly send a scan to The Cobwebbed room to be featured for next time.
Thanks to John for the 3 adverts.

'FANTASY FIENDS' movie marks

Here is a great set of bookmarks [this set called movie marks] that feature 5 different monsters in a film strip design. These came out in 1989 and made by Animated Opticals Ltd of london. Each film frame is slightly different as though it is a frame by frame of a movie scene. really nice artwork on these. Monsters featured are Zombie [from Hammer's Plague of the Zombies], Spooks [I don't think from any particuliar film], The Mummy [either Lon Chaney or Tom Tyler], Frankenstein's Monster [Boris Karloff], and Werewolf [Lon Chaney as The wolfman].

'GRIZZLY GROWLER MASK'

Reverse of Mask

Grizzly Growler Mask

Here's an unusual 'Horror Bags' send away item, its a Grizzly Growler Mask that isn't really a mask, just a card picture of Dracula, and on the back it originally contained a spooky record.

Great graphics though. Thanks to John for this contribution.

'HORROR BAGS' Dracula hand puppet ad

Comic ad for Horror Bags Dracula hand puppet

Here for your ghoulish delight is another 'Horror Bags' comic advertisement, this time it is for a Dracula hand puppet, quite delightful; the ad doesn't tell you want the hand puppet is made of, I would guess at stiff card or cloth of somekind. Its certainly something I wouldn't mind owning if I ever find one. Thanks again to John for the contribution.

'CREEPY CLUTCHERS' comic ad

Cover of Buster/Monster Fun which
came with free Frankenstein
Creepy Clutcher

Closer look at Frankenstein Creepy Clutcher

Ad that appeared on back of above issue

Here is a wonderful comic strip advertisment for the Horror Bags 'Creepy Clutchers'. This ad was in a copy of the comic 'Buster/Monster Fun'. I am not sure if the Free Frankenstein Creepy Clutcher was part of the set that could be sent for or was an exclusive to the comic.Thanks to John for this contribution. More to follow.

'World of Horror' magazine 'Horror bags' peice

Here is a small peice that tells about the new creepy corn snack, that is 'Horror bags'. This appeared in an issue of the British horror magazine 'World of Horror' in 1974. I know the picture isn't too clear, but you can probally make out some of the creepy advertising images for Horror bags, including the top hatted vampire boards, a mask, the bags and boxes themselves.