Attention Deficit Delirium

Over the airwaves Alice Cooper publicly reminds Meat Loaf about what type of restaurant he should open.
(Photo courtesy of United Stations.)

Shock rocker Alice Cooper has been in the business of provoking people for over 40 years, mostly onstage with his outrageous attire and make-up and gory set pieces. But he’s full of surprises. Outside of his passion for golf, the most surprising revelation about his career is that he owns a family-friendly restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona called Alice Cooperstown. It’s a hit with the locals and tourists and has been going strong since 1998.

Taking time out from his busy schedule juggling his roles as rocker, radio host, philanthropist, golfer and family man, Cooper spoke to ADD about life in the restaurant business. You can find more of his thoughts on his food exploits in my “Eat, Drink & Rock and Roll” feature for Grammy.com.


So Cooperstown has a fun atmosphere?
Oh yeah. I designed the restaurant to be rock ‘n roll and sports because I realized that those are the two things that everybody can agree on. Those are the two things that you can’t go wrong on. So you’ll have a bass from The Who and a bat from Al Kaline. You’ll have Johnny Miller golf clubs and a drumhead from the Rolling Stones. Most of our clientele is either going to be going to a Phoenix Suns game or a Diamondback game because we’re right there [by both stadiums]. You have to walk right by our restaurant. So I said barbecue. Everybody loves barbecue. I said let’s get big fans just to blow the smell of barbecue out there. If I had a choice between going to the stadium and having a hotdog for eight dollars or going into Cooperstown and feeding my family for fifteen, I think I might do that. One time [celebrity chef] Anthony Bourdain came in, and he wanted to try the two-foot hot dogs. We have a two-foot hot dog called The Big Unit, named after one of my co-owners, Randy Johnson the baseball player, who they call The Big Unit because he’s about six-foot-eight. So we couldn’t resist calling the hot dog The Big Unit, and anytime anybody orders it, sirens go off.

You will order my Zappa Zukes and like them!
(Photo credit: Piggy D.)

It sounds like the Rock and Jock Hall of Fame.
It really is. The thing I found out about restaurants is you don’t ever try to serve something that you can’t do. Don’t try to serve fancy food. Our food is totally based on comfort food — tuna noodle casserole, meat loaf and mashed potatoes, things your mom used to fix you.

A sneak peek at the Cooperstown menu.
(Image courtesy of Cooperstown.)

You are many things — rocker, golfer, radio host. Why a restaurateur?
My manager Shep Gordon is a foodie. He used to manage Roger Verge and Wolfgang Puck, and he made these guys into international stars. He looked around and said, “How come everybody is treating you guys like you’re the help? You guys should be rock stars.” So he organized them. The reason why these guys are now getting $100,000 every time they go out is because Shep put them in that situation. So he’s the foodie. Somebody came to us and said, “What do you think about a sports restaurant downtown?” And I said, “If you say Alice’s Restaurant, I’ll hit you with a five iron.” They said, “No, Cooperstown.” I thought that was actually clever. I said as long as it’s a place that’s family oriented where you don’t have to worry about a wet T-shirt contest — you can bring your kids, and they can have their birthday parties there — and I don’t want everything deep-fried. I want the food to be something people like and will come back for.


I imagine that young Alice would have looked into the future at older Alice and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
It’s unbelievable. And the funny thing is that I told the people that worked there, “For the first month, I think it’d be great if you wore my eye makeup because it will just be a cool gimmick.” So they did, and after a month I said, “You don’t have to wear it anymore.” Then people started complaining. They really like the makeup. So for 12 years now everybody wears the makeup. I let them do their own versions of the makeup. When a pretty girl comes over to take their order with my makeup on, people from out of town really love that. It gives it that extra little bit of signature. Kids love it [Cooperstown] because there are 35 televisions. And if it’s not a sports station on, it’s MTV or music videos, so you’re getting your dose of really loud rock music and sports at the same time.






Alice knows where you can feed your Frankenstein.
(Photo credit: Piggy D.)

There are other rockers who have embarked on food ventures. Geoff Tate and Maynard Keenan make wine. Sammy Hagar has his tequila and Michael Anthony and Joe Perry have hot sauces. Why do you think rock stars who have been in the business for 30 or 40 years are delving into these kinds of undertakings?
We obviously understand that our name is worth something. I think all of us have our favorite places to eat. One of the things that I liked about this was that the [Cooperstown] building is 100 years old. It’s brick and kind of looks like the Chicago Cubs stadium. I didn’t want to lose all the old brick and everything, so we kept that. It has a really warm feeling. When you walk in you feel like it’s really homey. I want it to feel like it’s been here for a long time. I don’t want it to look like a new restaurant. That was part of the trick, to make people feel like they get there and feel like they belong. And then the fact that I’m there [once in awhile].

Didn’t you have Cooperstown restaurants in Denver and Cleveland in the past?
As far as the one in Denver, after 9/11 the whole strip of restaurants just went down. People just wouldn’t go out. We had one in Cleveland, but we farmed it out to T.G.I. Friday’s. It was our menu but not really, so when it closed down I wasn’t unhappy. I like having the one open that’s the mothership. If I go down there and the barbecue sauce is not what I want it to be, I can go, “Hey, this needs more vinegar.” Or, “Why did we change sauces?” I can go directly to the source and ask whose idea was it to change sauces because what we had before was really good.

When I get older, this is gonna be killer Goth waitress make-up!
(Photo courtesy of AliceCooper.com.)

Have you tried everything on the Cooperstown menu?
Pretty much. They keep putting different things on there. I go out on tour for six months out of the year, so I’m not home for six months. I’ll come [back] in, and they’ll have two or three new sandwiches. We try to name them after celebrities in sports or rock ‘n roll. I say always give them something where they taste it and think it’s great. The funny thing was watching my mom in the kitchen teaching these guys how to make tuna noodle casserole. “Okay, here’s the noodles. You open up Campbell’s mushroom soup. Here’s the tuna.” They’re trying to add something in, and she goes, “No no no, it’s very simple. You’ve got to keep it simple.” The thing that makes tuna noodle casserole great is to keep it simple. Don’t add things to it. In the end, people will come in there and order ten of them and take them home and put them in the freezer because every once in a while they’ll have a craving for tuna noodle casserole.

A look inside Cooperstown, which opened in 1998.
(Photo courtesy of Cooperstown.)

Are there any other restaurants run by famous rockers that you’ve been to?
I went to Bill Wyman’s restaurant [Sticky Fingers] in London. We did a couple of functions there, and it was very American actually. Wings, ribs and cheeseburgers — very Americanized. And it was good. I’ve been to Cabo Wabo. In fact, we did a live album there. I’ll tell you the funniest story about this. My restaurant had been open for five or six years and was very successful. Meat Loaf comes to me and says he wants to open a restaurant. I say, “What a great idea. Nobody’s ever done a meatloaf restaurant. Chinese meatloaf, Italian meatloaf, Spanish meatloaf and all these different meatloafs with a certain kind of flare. That’s a great idea, man.” He goes, “I was thinking about a chicken place.” That stunned me for a second. I said, “Your name is Meat Loaf.” “Yeah.” “You open a meatloaf place.” He said, “That’s why I come to you because you have such good ideas.” So I kept saying, “What’s your name?” He goes, “Meat Loaf.” I said, “Right. What kind of restaurant?” “Meatloaf.” Every time on my radio show I do that. Every time I play a Meat Loaf song, I go, “Meat Loaf, what’s your name? What kind of a restaurant are you going to open?”

Has he opened it up?
No. That one was such a no-brainer. It’s a great idea still. Nobody’s done an exclusive meatloaf restaurant. I think your job now is to get in touch with Meat Loaf and get him to start his restaurant and get in on the bottom floor.

Part of the facade of Cooperstown.
(Photo courtesy of Cooperstown.)

So what did you think of Cabo Wabo?
Cabo Wabo is great because it was exactly what I expected — pretty good Mexican food. When you’re down in Mexico, you hire the locals because they know how to make it.

After all these years, what do you think your fans would be surprised to learn about you?
Luckily for them that I don’t cook, but I do have good taste for what I want to see on the menu. The one thing about me is that I want a restaurant where everybody can go in at any time and not be embarrassed to take their kids in. And kids want a great cheeseburger. Give them a great cheeseburger, and they’ll come back every time. The one thing that I flat out stole is that we do sliders. I grew up on White Castle hamburgers, and I tried to get as close as I could to them. I said, “Cook these little hamburgers and cheeseburgers in onions with a pickle on them in a soft bun.” It’s something that I grew up with that you can’t just eat one. When we sell them, you have to buy six of them.





Phill Baker with his son Dylan at the opening of his Art Bar exhibit, October 28, 2009. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

You may have seen Phill Baker’s artwork outside of CBGB’s. Or online. Or in line at an event like the Heaven & Hell in-store at Sam Ash in NYC last summer, where I first met him. Known as The Rock ‘N’ Roll Painter, a title he says was bestowed upon him by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, Baker has made a name for himself among rock’s elite. Working for reference from photos or other iconic images of his subjects, Baker has created some striking paintings of the most famous faces in rock ‘n’ roll — everyone from Lemmy to Robert Plant to Bono — and many of them have signed his creations. Phill has even tackled some Hollywood heroes.

Over the years Baker has painted a plethora of pictures thanks to his raw talent and fast hands. The mural that he made for the aforementioned Heaven & Hell in-store (see the link above) took him only three hours to do. He also does not work for profit but for the love of music — he says he does not sell any of the paintings that he has had signed by their subjects. But the artist is working on a book to be published in the near future.

The Rock ‘N’ Roll Painter currently has an exhibit (“Rock ‘N’ Roll Art Show’) being displayed at Art Bar in the West Village in Manhattan. It runs through the end of December. Check it out. And enjoy ADD’s one-on-one with the man himself.

Can you identify them all? (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

How long have you been a painter?
I have been painting ever since the day I first saw Bozo the clown on TV. It’s all his fault! I drew and painted Bozo all the time. Then one day I tore off Bozo’s head — no, wait, I think I hung him — when I first seen Alice Cooper on Wolfman Jack’s Midnight Special. [laughs] True!

What are your larger pieces like and how many have you done?
Larger  works — I have many sizes. I have a Debbie Harry in front of CBGB’s that is 6 feet high by 62′ across, a Dead Boys and a Beatles that are 6 feet x 6 feet, but the bigger ones are mostly 48′ x 34′ on average. Almost all of my bigger ones are all color. I only went black and white last year. I have over 400 color [ones] and about 270 of them are autographed by the musicians themselves. Have a look at a few that I have up [online]. I can’t put up 300 pics on a site. That’s where my art book comes in — www.myspace.com/rocknrollpainter.


Have you sold any of your works?
Sell my works? I never thought I was ever good enough to sell. I still don’t. I am still teaching myself. I never had art training. It was all out of the love for rock n’ roll and art. I wish I had schooling. I would be a better painter, and I’d have a teacher to thank. But I never sold a painting for I always painted for myself, hoping to get the painting autographed by the rock star. And if word got out I was selling an autographed painting, I think that they would stop signing my works. I am known by a lot of musicians. I made the circle. Well, that is what Chris Robinson told me one day, that he was wondering when he was going to meet me. Flipped me out. But I never sell a signed painting. That’s why my collection is sooo huge and worth millions today as a lot of them have now passed away. The paintings that are not signed, sure I sell. Or someone will ask me to paint whomever. I’m raising twins on my own, and we all have to eat.  But I paint murals in clubs, in football players homes, and I may be doing a mural for Joe Piscopo’s place.  Elvis, Sinatra, Brando, Monroe — he likes all that.

Phill (center right) holding court at Art Bar. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Who are some famous rockers that you have yet to paint?
Well, I can do the Rock n’ Roll Alphabet forward and backward. A is for Aerosmith and so on to Z equals Zeppelin, and then Z equals Zappa back to A for Allman Brothers. It will be in the book. But I am always interested in hearing what people have to say. As in who I should paint or who they would like for me to paint, people have told me to paint Tom Waits and William S. Burroughs. I did and have them both signed, so thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming!

The scarf-loving frontman who named The Rock 'N' Roll Painter. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Is true that Steven Tyler gave you your nickname?
Yes, Steven Tyler did give me the name “Rock n’ Roll Painter”. At first it bothered me all the time, when he would shout at me, “Hey Rock n’ Roll Painter, whatcha got now?” Over and over. He knew my name was Phill, and he told me he knew that! But he kept on calling me Rock ‘N’ Roll Painter. One day I was at a Pretenders/B-52′s show — I think it was at Radio City — and he got out of a limo saying, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Painter, how the hell are you?” And I told my brother, who was with me, “He knows my name, what is with this guy?” My brother said to me, “Lil’ bro, if that’s what Steven wants to call you, then let him. After all, it ain’t that bad that he calls you that, and after all, you have now been named by  Rock n’ Roll Royalty!” How true it is! So that’s what has stuck, and I kept the name and [now] introduce myself, “Hi, I’m the Rock n’ Roll Painter.”


Following are more images from the Art Bar show.

More famous faces. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Rock idols from the '60s and '70s. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

A portrait fit for a King named B.B. And he approved. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Blues Brothers and a blues master. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Hollywood icons. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

A collection of wise guys. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Opening night laminate. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

A spooky Art Bar at Halloween. (Photo ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

The calm before the chaos.

Massachusetts metal monsters Shadows Fall are still going strong eleven years into their recording career. The melodic thrashers from the Northeast have just released their new album Retribution, which blends belligerence and beauty into a potent sonic brew. The group has stuck to their hardcore metal roots while branching out into more classic metal territory, unleashing a hailstorm of powerhouse riffs and raucous rhythms, all united by Brian Fair’s growling and singing, which he is doing more of this time out.

While their last album Threads Of Life found Shadows Fall graduating to the major leagues through a deal with Warner Bros., they have renegotiated the terms so that they now are releasing their music through their own label, Everblack Industries, while retaining distribution through Warner Bros. For the group it’s the best of the worlds — major label retail power with more creative and personal control and a better royalty rate. ADD caught up with fierce frontman Brian Fair outside of Looney Tunes, a Babylon, New York-based indie music store, where soon after the quintet — Fair, guitarists Jonathan Donais and Matt Bachand, bassist Paul Romanko and drummer Jason Bittner — unleashed a six-song set on a small stage for dozens of pumped up fans that proved they could tear it up even in the most confined of spaces.

(All photos following ©2009 by Bryan Reesman.)

Talk to the dreads.

The new album is more melodic and has many acoustic sections, and you’re singing more. How are your hardcore fans reacting to this maturing musical shift?
I think it’s something that they’ve always heard anyway. We’ve always had melodic moments, since the first record and since even the demo days. I think it’s always been an intrinsic part of our sound. But there are probably some people that if they were only into the extreme moments may not be as into some of [the other stuff], but at the same time you’ve got to make music that’s a balance of your influences. We’re just as much into arena rock and big, anthemic stuff as we are into thrash and melodic death metal, so you’ve got to be true to your own influences.

In the past you have spoken about how your lyrics explore Eastern philosophy, and you live a vegetarian lifestyle. With groups like Shadows Fall and vegan death metal band Cattle Decapitation, do you think that some of the fans hear the message in the music? Or do you think that they’re just into the aggression?
Some will, but some are just going to be in for the sonic reasons, like they just love the way it sounds. That was like that for a lot of hardcore back in the day. There were always messages behind it, but half of the audience was into it and the other half just wanted to jump on top of each other and go crazy during the show. Back in the day you’d see kids that you knew were wasted drunk with leather jackets on singing to Earth Crisis, a straight edge vegan band. They were obviously not in tune with the message, but they were feelin’ the riffs. It’s funny for me to see that.

Fair's flair for the dramatic pose.

Do you find it ironic that people would be moshing to a song with a more peaceful or introspective message?
I always loved that, too. Like a song from our new record, “War,” which has lyrics from a speech by Haile Selassie that was used By Bob Marley before, but it’s the most brutal song on the record. So it’s this song about brotherhood and unity with an anti-racism message just being screamed at you. But I’ve always loved that dichotomy in hardcore to begin with. Even old thrash metal would have these very political or environmental lyrics – Nuclear Assault had “Critical Mass,” which is a song about saving the earth and going green, but it’s screamed at you over thrash [riffs]. I’ve always loved that kind of duality.

"Someone tell that photographer to give me more head room!"

What inspired the song “Picture Perfect”?
It’s a song about when you want to see the best in a situation regardless of the reality around you. You’re just projecting perfection onto something to really avoid what’s actually happening. It could be a relationship, it could just be a situation in your life where you’re always seeing it through rose colored glasses while everything is just burning around you. And then by the time you realize it it’s usually too late. That’s happened to everybody at different points in their life. Honestly, the lyrics came out of the melody to begin with. Jon was humming that chorus over the riff while we were practicing, and as he was humming it kept getting stuck in my head. We refined it, and the lyrics almost wrote themselves as I sang along. That set the tone for what the song was about. I want to do that one live because we get to do the big vocal harmonies, the big Journey chorus, so good times. We have to work it out. We’re not doing it on this tour because we haven’t had a chance to work out the harmonies in the practice space.

What’s the most personal song on the new record?
That one and “The Taste Of Fear” are the ones that are from more life experiences as opposed to being philosophical, like songs with a more political message. You’re going to have more of an attachment to songs from real life experience rather than a philosophical idea that you’re expressing.

Someone has evil on their mind...but who?

Where did “The Taste Of Fear” sprout from?
It’s written from the perspective of someone who’s constantly taking all of the abuse in a relationship — not necessarily love, but any sort – like when you’re the one that’s constantly getting heaped on and heaped on, but allowing it to happen continually and not breaking that cycle.

You released one album on a major label. What was that experience like, and why did you switch to releasing the new album on your own label?
It was honestly a great experience, but one big obstacle we ran into was the major labels started being affected by the shift in record sales and the economy being so poor. They’re more used to spending a ton to get results, whereas we’re a band that’s all about being as cheap as possible. We grew up as a D.I.Y. metal band, so we’re about just skimming by and getting it done. Unfortunately they started downsizing, and suddenly everyone who signed us at the label was gone, so we were left without our team. We signed an option and were able to renegotiate that option to where we actually still have a deal with Warner Bros. for distribution, but we now own the record. It worked out perfectly. They hire Ferret Records to do the every day promotions, so we have a smaller, thinking, D.I.Y. hardcore label to do the everyday work that before was being done by the major label staff that may have never understood this well. But we still have the major label presence at retail. So we’re using their strengths but also using smaller label strengths for a band like us. That’s what we need more. We know what works for us. We’re more of a peer-to-peer kind of band – going out and spreading the word on the road and direct through our message boards and websites and Twitter. We don’t need some of the major label mechanics behind it because that’s not how we operate, [with] a big video, a big single. We don’t have singles.

The pen is mightier than the axe.

Some people argue that metal bands, especially extreme metal bands, should not be a major label because they don’t understand how to market those bands. It might be better for a metal band to be on a major indie.
Sometimes it can be. The [Warner] deal was worked out so well that it would have been silly not to take it. We had a chance to make one record at a great studio, so at the time it made total sense. We still moved over 100,000 records at a time when records aren’t selling. It was great, but we realized what we could do if we own it, [which] changes everything. Now we own the record and the royalty rates shift. Before bands always got fucked. First everyone gets paid back, then everyone gets paid, and the band gets paid last. It’s a trickle-down pyramid where you’re at the bottom. Now we’ve taken that and switched it so everything you do to stay on budget and the money you spend you know is for the best of the band because you’re the one who made that decision. The label is always going to tell you, “we’re doing this in the best interest of the band,” but they’re doing it in the best interest of the bottom line. Now the bottom line is us, so it makes sense to do that. We know that it’s for our best interest because we made every decision. It’s a lot more work, but for bands like us who have been around for 10 years or more and have that kind of leverage to create a deal like this, it’s the way to go because at this point if you haven’t learned everything in the business then you weren’t paying attention anyway. And if you have, you might as well use it to your advantage and put out your own music because you can do it these days.

What do you think your fans would be surprised to learn about you or any of your bandmates?
I probably don’t look like an avid golfer, but I definitely golf as much as possible when I’m not on the road. That will probably surprise people, but it doesn’t surprise me. Me and Alice Cooper, were going to go head-to-head one day, a metal golf-off. And our guitar player Matt loves Yanni. People might not know that. He’s seen him, like, four times.

Would you golf with this man? Or this duck?

Jonesing for classic Fifties horror comic books? You know, the ones where people rise from the dead to torment those who killed them or made their lives hell, where bad people get their just desserts and where all manner of gruesome and supernatural atrocity is splashed across the pages in glorious color? Karswell, the creator of the fantastic blog The Horrors Of It All (and the frontman for “devil rockers” Sons of Black Mass) is the man to give you what you crave. From his massive collection (and the occasional contributions of other posters) he has conjured an online repository of vintage comic fear fare where individual stories from long out-of-print issues are posted in high resolution, page by page. For a fan of EC, Atlas and other Silver Age-era comic companies, it is pure heaven (and hell), particularly because many of these titles can cost $100 or far more on the market.

Karswell (above) and the Crypt Keeper (below). Notice a possible family resemblance?

Attention Deficit Delirium caught up with Karswell to chat with him about his site, love for horror and thoughts on comics that were once considered reading material for delinquents — and inspired censorship and the creation of the Comics Code Authority — but now fetch top dollar on the collectors’ market.

When did your obsession with vintage horror comics start? What attracted you to them originally?
For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with horror. From a very young age in the early Seventies I had the monster model kits, toys, spooky books and records. I collected Famous Monsters of Filmland and constantly scoured the TV Guide for when classics like King Kong and Creature from the Black Lagoon were airing. I loved ghost stories, and television in the early Seventies was awesome for it — Night Gallery, Kolchak, etcetera. I worshiped Alice Cooper as much as Vincent Price — still do, in fact. I was definitely the creepy kid in class, and every day was Halloween for me. But it was sometime in the late Seventies when I was with my grandmother at an antique store in rural Missouri that I found some coverless comics in an old box. I was already fairly obsessed with some of the hero comic books, so to find mags that contained full blown illustrated horror stories and no super powers totally blew my mind.

From "Journey Into Unknown Worlds" #15, February 1953.

Did you collect these comics as a kid or when you became an adult? Have you inherited a lot of the stash you are reprinting online?
I actually got into hardcore Pre-Code collecting later as an adult — when I could actually afford these comics — but through my entire life I’ve always sought out the affordable Atlas and Prize Fifties reprints from the Marvel and DC Silver Age era, as well as the black and white Eerie Pub stuff which re-printed and sometimes “re-made” a lot of the other oddball 50′s publishers like Superior. Anything I could get my hands on, reading was my thing. Still is. And I’ve never inherited any comics. That’s like the dream though for every fanboy, isn’t it? Some crazy old Uncle you never knew leaving you a pile of Harvey horrors or Batmans in his attic. You’re never too old to keep wishing for that miracle.

What is your favorite illustrated horror story ever and why?
Jeez, I get asked this at least twice a week from readers who email me. I really have no clue. I have favorite illustrators like [Alex] Toth or [Bill] Everett, and of course everybody that worked at EC were brilliant. I guess my readers will probably find this shocking since I do not post EC stories, but if I had to pick an “all-time fave” story it would probably come from EC, and probably be one by Jack Davis or Johnny Craig. Is that a good enough answer?

How about this — Who is a cooler EC icon for you: The Vault Keeper, The Crypt Keeper or the Old Witch?
Crypt Keeper.

What do you think of a lot of the late Sixties and Seventies horror titles from DC and Marvel?
I love Silver Age horror, that’s the stuff I mostly grew up on. It was cool when Marvel would mix issues of say Chamber of Darkness with new stuff and older pre-Code reprints. I finally just completed an entire run of DC’s Witching Hour. That stuff is loads of fun.

Karswell rocking out in Sons of Black Mass, a self-proclaimed "heavy hybrid mix of punk/metal/rock that we have christened "Devil Rock". Horns up!

How do you feel a lot of these stories have influenced the horror film genre in the last 50 years?
Well, aside from Creepshow and maybe a handful of others — most notably from England’s Amicus Studios in the Sixties and Seventies — I’d say not hardly at all. Which is surprising, because instead of endless cliche and re-makes, there’s a treasure trove of tremendous ideas sitting in old pre-Code books just waiting to be exploited. And it doesn’t have to be an omnibus film to harken the days of Pre-Code, just make something inspiring with a good ending for once! Christ, some of those one page quickies in Ace Comics have better character development within just six panels than an entire franchise of Hollywood hits containing multiple sequels. This topic comes up [on my site] a lot in the comments, and I love when our occasional deep threads or themes connect comics with film, or even music and TV. I used to concoct contests around it too, with “match a song to this story” or “Casting Call,” where you actually cast the film version of the days post with famous names. I should start doing that stuff again. I suddenly have no idea why I stopped.

What copyright issues have you faced in placing these stories online?
Not a single one. I have heard stories of the occasional scan poster getting an angry email from someone though, and it’s the main reason why I steer clear of EC stories since those great issues in particular seem to have never gone out of print. But if anyone ever has a rights problem with something I post just email me with proof, and I’ll take it down immediately. I sometimes wonder how I’d react if Stan Lee personally asked me to ixnay on the Atlas stuff. On one hand it would suck to have to remove Atlas horror from THOIA, but on the other hand — whoa, an email from Stan Lee!

The cover of Spellbound #15, June 1953.

What do you think of the recently resurrected and more modern Tales From The Crypt comic?
I’ve only seen the very first issue, and I wish it all the best. That’s a lame answer isn’t it? I have to be honest and say I didn’t give it much of a chance. After all, with a name like Tales from the Crypt you have some very big shoes (and coffins) to fill! What I did with #1 is the same thing I do with any new comic book I’m checking out on the stands — the quick flip-through test. Something has to really jump out at me and grab me by the throat to get me excited or interested enough in delving deeper. Especially at today’s prices! More specifically, it’s about the artwork. Since I’m more in tune with Golden and Silver age styles and vibe I was probably turned off by something as simple as a bevel / emboss photoshop filter on a story title. I don’t really remember. Do you recommend I give it another shot? Cuz I will.

Check out The Horrors Of It All for an amazing repository of the creepiest horror comics from the Golden Age.