Once, in The Brave and the Bold #32 (2010), Aquaman teams up with the Demon to journey to an underwater city, fight fishmen, and stop the horrible menace of Cth. . . wait, is that still under copyright? Some idiots claim they own it but have no papers to prove it? It's actually in the public domain now? Nevermind, we'll call it, um, a Night God. That's great! Let's go to print!
Then, in Aquaman Vol 7 #23 (2013).
Oh, but wait, that's Aquaman's buddy, Topo, from Prime Earth. Topo is a sentient octopus that first appeared in Adventure Comics #229 (1956). Wanna see what he used to look like?
Look familiar? This is Marvel Comics' Dweller in Darkness who first appeared in Doctor Strange #30 (1978). The original "The Dweller in Darkness" was written by August Derleth in 1944. Ironic, that Marvel ripped off Cthulhu's likeness from Lovecraft, but ripped off the name from August Derleth who many consider to have ripped off Lovecraft; unscrupulously riding the coattails of the Old Gentleman from Providence.
"Turn of the century, London England. A poisonous gas has been unleashed into the air and is quickly turning everybody into ferocious werewolves. The city is being decimated as the creatures gain in numbers. Bodies are ravaged in the streets while carriages crash and burn. Can you survive this adrenaline-charged ride as you fight off the beasts that hunt us down and try to purge the city of their creator."
That is the description for the Werewolves XD Dark Ride, a 3D motion simulator interactive laser gun shoot-'em-up video game experience. It lasts about 5 minutes and each location will have different themes (zombies, robots, Godzilla-like monster, Road Warrior style wasteland battle, etc). It costs $5 here in Phoenix, AZ inside Castles ~n~ Coasters at Metrocenter Mall.
I've also done the zombies and the Pseudozilla, and Werewolves is the best so far. I got outvoted for going Mad Max and doing Road Fighters.
The steampunk elements don't kick in until the end of the game, and ARE SHOWN in the trailer. So don't watch if you don't want the spoilers.
Here is the Werewolves trailer:
This is what the typical theater-style setup looks like.
I really need to get back to the world of Chainsaw Alice. I miss her adventures. Here are some new pics of Tuella the Two of Hearts (The Queen of Hearts' enforcer from Chainsaw Alice in Wonderland). After Alice, she is my favorite character. She's tough, she's confident, and she's not afraid to let you know it - by beating your ass, if necessary!
The advancement in graphic quality in Second Life makes for quite the incredible places to discover and explore. Most of my book graphics and covers are done using their program.
A friend killed herself Monday night. We had just seen her over the weekend at a convention. There were no warning signs. She was always a positive person. She had starred in a bunch of local films. She had a great job that she loved working as a studio director and DJ at a local radio station (she loved music). Life seemed to be going well for her. She bought stuff at the con, got a pic with a celeb, was making plans for later in the week. Had messaged a couple other people to get together. None of these are the usual activities of someone in a suicidal state.
She went hiking with her besties Monday morning. Then Monday night there was a post on Facebook that simply said, "I am done" and she killed herself.
I didn't know her well enough to know if there were hidden demons. I've had family members with bi-polar disorder, and from the outside it looks an awful lot like that, because that tends to be a genetic, biological illness, a literal chemical imbalance. You can have the greatest life, friends, family, job you love, no stress, no money worries, and still suffer from manic depression.
It seems like she was on a great streak, but when the illness struck on Monday night it hit her hard, too hard for her to fight back, and dropped her into that dark pit of despair and hopelessness.
If you suffer from bouts of depression, especially sharp declines and ones that include suicidal thoughts, I urge you to seek help. Even just talking about it, how you feel, what you fear, can go great lengths to easing your mind.
You knew it was coming. In an age of mashups, if you hadn't seen them already, it was only a matter of time before the two cosmic horrors of Disney and Cthulhu collided. Ursula from The Little Mermaid and Davy Jones from The Pirates of the Caribbean are two very obvious, already existing nods to H. P. Lovecraft and his most famous, tentacled creation. But those are easy ones. Even my young daughter noticed, saying, "Ursula is Cthulhu's sister." But have you seen the others?
This is Duckthulu from the official Disney comic of Darkwing Duck.
Not sure what exactly is going on here, but it can't be good.
Then come the mashups.
Ursula meets Cthulhu by charneco
by Keith "Streetsweeper" Portzen
The Little Cthulhu by Captain Ribman
by Alex "Shin" Trombetta
Mickthulu Mouse by Beastpop (Popmonkey)
Silly Nameless Terror from the Goon Comic by Eric Powell
Cthulahula by ZombieMedia
this is a parody of vintage Hula Minnie Mouse
by Pahko Moreno
Call of Kerthulhu by Winter Artwork
(The Muppets are now owned by Disney)
My Neighbor Cthulhu by Murrills81
The classic anime style was inspired by Walt Disney's work
and Disney did redub and redistribute My Neighbor Totoro
Totoro Cthulhu by Crabro
Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2
based on the Marvel comics title of the same name
Marvel is now owned by Disney
Eldritch! is a digital comic definitely worth a mention!
Though this comic is not directly Disney related, it's creator Drew Rausch has quite the Cthulhu and Disney resume': Drew Rausch (Cthulhu Tales, Disney's Haunted Mansion) and Aaron Alexovich (Fables, Confessions of a Blabbermouth, Avatar: The Last Airbender).
I figured I'd throw in a couple of my own.
I can't believe no one ever thought to replace Mickey Mouse with Brown Jenkin before!
And it would seem that most religions have some sort of silly hat.
So I made this one for the First United Church of Cthulhu.
Dangerous
Worlds – the steampunk band that never was from a past that never
was. Sometimes things just don't work out. Steampunk music. It
seemed like a nice change of pace from the intense days of my earlier
industrial punk band Crowd Violence (ataricore noiserock is go!) A
simple three piece of strings-drums-vox. I even had a Tesla coil so I
could play some electrifying surf rock for a finale. Turns out the
coil builder was a good fabricator but not a good engineer. Thing
never worked properly beyond playing happy birthday and a few other
tunes via midi, and even half of those were messed up because of bad
channel interface. And none of my local mad scientists had the
know-how to bring it back to life. Sad, sad.
After
hitting up all the classical (violin, cello) strings players I could
find, some 40+, and being unfruitful in my pursuit, I turned to my
other passions, such as writing steampunk horror novels like Chainsaw
Alice in Wonderland or starting an officially recognized religion
to the dark gods via the First United Church of Cthulhu. But I will
always be a musician. At my root, that is who I am. I listen, play
or sing every single day and will until I die. You can't stop rock
and roll.
And
hey! I've heard a lot worse at some of the steampunk conventions.
And they were getting paid! So if you'd like to pay me to never sing
again, feel free to donate generously via Paypal. And let's face it,
steampunk needs a little more punk and a little less robots playing
PBS kids show tunes or pompous assholes who think they invented the
subsubgenre. You are not a rockstar! You're playing in the Montana
Room at the Holiday Inn at an old-timey sci-fi convention. Get over
yourself. Fuckin' amateurs.
Was
feeling a bit nostalgic for the good old days of performing and
hitting the local music scene five nights a week, so after a show and
still inebriated I recorded some lyrics. This was the only one that
made it through without slurring, laughing, or forgetting some of the
words. Bathroom acoustics are not everything they're cracked up to
be.
And
trug is an obsolete obscenity. Maybe I'll see you down at the
trugging house.
GRAND
THEFT AIRSHIP (a capella)
In
an armored zeppelin, baby, don’t you know that I’ll always love
you
In
an armored zeppelin, baby, don’t you know that I’ll always be
true In
an armored zeppelin, baby, come and take a ride In
an armored zeppelin, baby, it’ll all be alright
Been
a long time since I flew in the moonlight Been
a long time since my airship took flight Been
a long time, been a long time,
Been
a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time, yes it has
I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands Don’t
you understand?
I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands Don’t
you understand?
No
GTA today! No GTA today! No GTA today! No GTA today! Grand
Theft Airship
No
GTA today! No GTA today! No GTA today! No GTA today!
Air
pirates trug off! Air
pirates trug off! Air
pirates trug off! Air
pirates trug off!
No
GTA today! No GTA today! No GTA today! No GTA today!
I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands I
got my head in the clouds and my heart in your hands Don’t
you understand?
Sometimes
I can't sleep. . .so I sing! Or perform an entire concert, in my
bedroom. This time I actually recorded it. And not drunk this time,
just suffering from terrible insomnia. The song is based on true
stories. This is actual advice I received from my young daughter,
and YES! I still do stupid things for pretty girls.
My
neighbors are all good people so I decided it best not use the actual
drum kit for this one. Bedroll drumroll. And check out that rock
face! Jack Black would be proud. Can you find the pictures of the
dead Victorian family members and the idol of Cthulhu in the
background? And the Tesla shirt, naturally.
YOU'RE
NO PRINCESS
My
daughter said Daddy, “No more bad girls, you can only kiss a
princess.” But I need some help to save me from myself
‘Cause
you know I can’t resist ‘em!
You’re
no princess! You’re no princess! You’re no princess!
You’re
no princess! You’re no princess! You’re no princess!
And
I think I like it
These
Vicki chicks come equipped
I
do
Stupid
things for pretty girls Stupid
things for pretty girls Stupid
things for pretty girls Stupid
things for pretty girls
Stupid
things for pretty girls Stupid
things for pretty girls Stupid
things for pretty girls Stupid
things for pretty girls
You’re
no princess! You’re no princess! You’re no princess!
You’re
no princess! You’re no princess! You’re no princess!
And
I think I like it
Saloon
girls are people, too
Saloon
girls are people, too Saloon
girls are people, too Yes
I’m gonna make love to you
You’re
no princess! You’re no princess! You’re no princess!
You’re
no princess! You’re no princess! You’re no princess!
And
I think I like it
Deaths
come in threes, right? Well so does shitty steampunk music. And if
it's not apparent, I may have drums but I am not a drummer.
What
exactly was Doctor Moreau making on that island of his?
Party
animals.
WHERE
THE WILD THINGS ARE
I
wanna kiss you on the velvet sofa
Let
my lovin' take you over Why
don't you slip a gin jacket on We'll
keep it going 'til the break of dawn
I
wanna be where the wild things are
Have
a good time and get a few scars Come
on, baby! Show me your claws I
wanna be where the wild things are
A
little brown sugar on the tip of your tongue
Come
with me, the night is still young This
is the plight of the working class The
king is dead and Vicki is a gas
I
wanna be where the wild things are
Have
a good time and get a few scars Come
on, baby! Show me your claws I
wanna be where the wild things are
Come
on! Come on! Come on! Wild thing
Come
on! Come on! Come on! Wild thing Come
on! Come on! Come on! Wild thing Yeah!
Yeah! Yea-ah!
Come
on! Come on! Come on! Wild thing
Come
on! Come on! Come on! Wild thing Come
on! Come on! Come on! Wild thing Yeah!
Yeah! Yea-ah!
I
wanna be where the wild things are
Have
a good time and get a few scars Come
on, baby! Show me your claws I
wanna be, where you are
