Welcome to Zombie Week–my first week-long celebration of Halloween. (And possibly the strangest thing I’ve ever done with Last Kiss.)
If you love it then Mike Pascale (creator of the infamous Bru-Hed) deserves the credit. It was his idea and he did all the work to transform old romance art into ghoulish horror. If you hate it then it’s my fault–because I went along with it.
I’m not sure how Mike got the idea to redo some of my romance art with the walking dead, but I do remember the instant he suggested it. We were walking back to the San Diego Convention Center after a memorable, late-night dinner. (So late that I was too tired to wait for a seat at any restaurant. So we had sundaes at an ice cream shop instead. Yum!)
Anyway, we’re having a perfectly normal sugar-fueled conversation about comics, life, and the universe, when all of a sudden Mike says, “You should do zombies!”
And I cleverly responded, “Huh?”
“You should do zombies for Halloween,” explained Mike. “I could take some of your Last Kiss characters and turn them into zombies!”
This was obviously a crazy idea and needed to be carefully evaluated. So, of course, I immediately said, “Cool! Let’s do it!
I’ll be posting three of Mike’s zany zombie images this week. And each time I do, I’ll post the original art with it so that readers can see what Mike had to work from and how he altered some perfectly lovely romance characters into shambling horrors!
For more about the fascinating Mike Pascale, check out his art on his Facebook page or his column on Wednesday’s Heroes.
Below is the original 1940’s romance art with dialog. Click on image to enlarge.
You are too kind, John! You got the story right and it’s probably one of those wacky Comic-Con stories I’ll always remember. (Probably also the first time I had ice cream for dinner, even though I dreamed about it as a kid for years!)
Not sure which I enjoyed more…Our “brains-storming” session & emails, your guffaw-giving gags, or desecrating such wonderful art by all-time greats of our field! (Hopefully they’re laughing while they turn in their resting places–and don’t come back to get me! No disrespect intended.) Thanks again…Happy Halloween to you and your wonderful readers!
Thanks for the link! I really appreciate it!