And Now, Pop Culture in 1993!

I really have saved the best for last.



Oh boy.  This cover is a good place to begin with this treasure trove, with a visibly uncomfortable Arnold Schwarzenegger hanging with some kids, and noted iconic characters of the early 90's like Barney, Wolverine, and... Dennis the Menace?

That's the fun thing when reading these old preview-style magazines from a specific year.  There's a good chance they'll cover every bit of media with equal fervor, since they don't have the benefit of hindsight that we do and can only make educated guesses on what the big hits will be. Hence, "Dennis the Menace" getting a spot on the cover and Arnold rhapsodizing about his surefire hit "The Last Action Hero".  Oof.

First, here's what TV Guide considered the cream of the crop in kid's entertainment, circa 1993:



Dispersed throughout the issue are interviews with children asking what they like as far as books, movies, etc. go.  Turns out Berenstain Bears are as timeless as the Beatles (but we knew that already).  "Saved by the Bell" was once a realistic, down to Earth show.  And I can all too easily imagine a Disney executive at the time losing it at this one article quoting a group of 8-year-olds complaining that their animated musicals were "ucky". Thanks, random kids and Disney exec.






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Draw of the Day!

Let's Read a Weird Preview of Barlowe's Expedition!

Current Science was one of the many, many magazines passed out in classrooms during the 80's and 90's, most of which were spin-offs of Weekly Reader.  This one specialized in science (of course), but would occasionally give some attention to speculative fiction.  There were issues with reader-submitted science fiction stories and an issue (which I have lamentably lost) that previewed the book Jurassic Park.  And there's this preview of Wayne D. Barlowe's Expedition.

This is, in fact, how I learned about Barlowe as an artist and where it finally clicked that fantastic creatures in film, books, games, and so on had to have been designed by an artist - a creature designer if you will.  Sadly, in hindsight, the article itself isn't very good.  The illustrations are, of course, unbeatable, but I'm not keen on how the residents of Darwin 4 are presented as a puzzle to be solved.  I do like that prompt for fanart at the end though...





Next week, I'm taking a mental health break and then...



...we finally start in on this feast.

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Draw of the Day!

Here's a Barlowey critter I drew a while ago.  I figure something has to be swimming in that river...

Let's Update Our Knowledge of Dinosaurs... in 1993!

Oh boy. This one is a doozie.



June 11, 1993 was the premier date of the original "Jurassic Park" movie, which means that today is it's 23'rd birthday.  To celebrate, let's take a look back at this Time Magazine cover story meant to not only get us hyped for the movie, but also to bring people up to speed about dinosaurs.  It's all old news to us (woah, dude, birds are a kind of dinosaur?!?) but the illustrations are quite lovely.








There's also a neat article about "Jurassic Park" where we're reminded that the special effects team was kind of terrified that their creatures wouldn't be convincing, that paleontologists were on the whole very enthusiastic about the film, and that poor Tianchisaurus (nee Jurassosaurus) might have the most ghastly species name of any animal, extinct or extant.



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Art of the Day!

Last month was Mer-May! Here's a cute Mer-Fay and her nymph buddy.

Sad News

My beloved aunt and Godmother passed away last Sunday morning.  Yesterday was her funeral.  This whole week has been an awful whirlwind of mourning and heartache and I'm just now able to write about this here.

My Godmother was an incredible, wild, vivacious woman who loved me like another daughter.  Her loss is so monumental, my entire body hurts like I've been gutted.  If you ever met her, you'd never forget her, and you'd feel heartbroken too, because she brought joy and light to so many different people.

I think that was the only happy aspect of her wake; the line to pay her respects went around the block (twice, curling like a seashell, according to some!) and the room was so crowded that I kept crashing into people - but they were all people who I love and who love me.  That was my Godmother's effect on everyone and I don't have any better word for it than magic.  There are a lot of angels in my life but she - she's my Faery Godmother.

Life is never going to be the same without her.  But the world turns, time passes, and shows must go on, so new posts will go up as scheduled.  Drawing and writing helps keep me from despairing, and it helps me a lot to remember and laugh about the past.  We all know 2016 has been a really crummy year so far with all the profoundly creative people we've lost, so I think the best thing to do is fill the void with more creativity.  Art and imagination are the magic in this world and we need more.

Let's Look at the State of Superheros Back in the Day!

You've probably noticed that in the 2010's, superheros are a pretty big deal.  Back in 1994, there were also lots of superhero shows -lots, as we shall see in a minute- and "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" was a monster hit.

So of course, more Sentai series flooded the airwaves to cash in ride the tide.  I wonder if anyone has any nostalgia for "Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills"?  (Which, unbelievably, it turns out isn't made up by the author as a joke to see if us readers in the future were paying attention.  Although maybe, given later series like "The Mystical Knights of Tir-Na-Nog" [Sentai and also Irish folklore as interpreted by somebody who saw the commercial for "Celtic Moods" once] and the insane "Big Bad Beetleborgs" [Sentai and also classic movie monsters and a horrifying Jay Leno Genie thing because sure why not], it's not that unbelievable.)



But it's in animation that we find more of the established comic superheros in 1994.  This deeply strange (oh, we will get to that) article credits "Power Rangers" for their rise in popularity while ignoring the fact that, under some title variation or other, arguably the greatest superhero animation in recent history has been going strong for several years now.  I speak of course of "Batman: The Animated Series", which the author of this article enjoys because he can watch it with his six-year-old son, since it's easy to tell that Batman and Robin are good guys.  Not like in "Gargoyles", where the titular characters look scary.

Now... six is definitely a little young for "Gargoyles" to be fair.  It was the show you had to take notes on after all.  But the thing that strikes me as weird is that it's not only the little kid who can't process the series; that'd just be understandable.  It's also the grown-ass adult who can't understand that the monstrous-looking but very honorable Gargoyles are good guys, even though they fight obvious villains to protect the city and Goliath spends at least half of every episode talking about duty and bravery and generally being Proud Warrior Guy With A Very Sad Back-Story.

You know, like Batman is a Proud Warrior Guy With A Very Sad Back-Story.  Though the author just doesn't get who Batman is and why he fights villains and... uhhhhgh...

There's other weirdness, including a dismissive mention of "X-Men" and a very brief side-glance at "The Tick".  There's also a surprisingly fair explanation of why Disney was way out of their tree when trying to market "Gargoyles".  (I still can't look at their initial home media release's cover without thinking, "Ahahaha, damn..."  Looks like the States got that "Moms, this is totally an OK Disney movie to buy for your kids look how everybody's smiling cutely" cover while European markets got something just a tiny little bit more indicative of the actual show.)




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Draw of the Day

Everybody has a "Gargoyles" fan-character, here's mine. She's a library Gargoyle of course.