Monster Monday: Mike Ploog Man-Thing Commission

We haven't had a Monster Monday here for quite a while.  Here's a Mike Ploog piece to get us back in gear.

A nice gluey gloppy Man-Thing commission for ComicArtFans Simon Reed.  Nuff Said!

Monster Monday: Mike Ploog Ghost Rider cover recreations

When Ghost Rider first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #5, I was absolutely run over (pardon the pun) by Mike Ploog's artwork and character design.  Especially intriguing was the cover blurb: Is He Alive or Dead?  I sold my original as a kid, but I was able to buy a back issue a few years ago.  It's still one of my favorite origin issues ever.

Here are the pencils to a recreation that Ploog did a few years ago, from Pheng Taing on comicartfans.

Marvel Spotlight #8 really showed me the potential of Ghost Rider as a character--by taking him out of the city and pitting him against another brand of magic.  It was also cool to see the Ghost Rider--a revamp of a Western character--in an Indian reservation.

Ploog's recreation--also from Pheng Taing--really oomphs up the crazy magic going on here.  What lucky guy to have both of these!  Nuff said.

A Mike Ploog Monster Mash for Halloween

What would a Marvel monster version of the Defenders look like?  If Mike Ploog were drawing it, something like this nifty commission done for Leo Chuah on comicartfans.

Ghost Rider, Frankenstein, and Werewolf by Night on a moonlit night.  Greatness!  Nuff said.

The Monsters of Mike Ploog: Frankenstein Covers and Character Designs

Mike Ploog brought his artistic talent to shed light on Marvel's version of the Monster of Frankenstein in 1972.  Here are some of the best covers, with the original black and white art versions for comparison.



Monster of Frankenstein #2 is one of my top 10 favorite Marvel covers of all time, and perhaps my favorite Ploog cover as well.  You can really feel the Monster's pain as he carries his Bride (snuffed out after a horrific rebirth by Victor Frankenstein) away from the castle.  I loved this cover so much, I put a piece of light paper over it, traced it, and inked it in junior high school.  There was a girl in my class who was really impressed by this:  You drew that?  I nodded my head.  What the heck, was she gonna know who Ploog was?

There is one negative thing about the cover: that logo is one of the worst designs for a title that I've ever seen!



The original art to this piece is even more stunning, the textures and shadows are wonderful.  Who is the lucky sonofagun who owns this piece?  John Butler from comicartfans, unless it was sold to another person.



After Victor crushed his dream of friendship and love, the Monster gets revenge in issue #3 by murdering Elizabeth Frankenstein on her wedding night.  The cover is just classic horror to the max: the Monster's rage with the full moon in the background, Elizabeth's décolletage, her expression of surprise, and the candles getting snuffed out by the sudden gush of wind.  Just as Elizabeth herself will be snuffed out.



The original art to Monster of Frankenstein #3.  From the collection of John Scarpone at comicartfans.



Issue #4 featured a departure from the general story of Mary Shelley's novel.  The Monster winds up meeting a tribe of native aborigines who adopt him.  The creature finds a home for a while--until a war with a neighboring tribe kills all of his friends.



The original art to Monster of Frankenstein #4 looks a lot more striking in black and white.  If this scan is correct, Marvel flipped the cover.  Notice the mountain and sky in the background--completely erased in the printed cover.  Once again from John Butler's gallery.  I am getting really envious of that dude.



Now here's an interesting behind the scenes look at the design of Marvel's Frankenstein Monster.  This character design sketch was done by John Romita Sr.  There is a note written in ink by Roy Thomas to Ploog.

Mike --
This is (the) version Stan wants to see.  Please call me to discuss.
Roy




Ploog then created this Frankenstein conceptual drawing based on Romita's sketch and Roy Thomas' comments.  I think I first saw this in the Essential Monster of Frankenstein a few years ago.  Both of these character design pieces are from Doug Edelman on comicartfans.

Many thanks to all of the Mike Ploog fans on comicartfans for these scans.  It's nice to know that many people love Ploog!

You can also view Ploog's recreation of Frankenstein Monster #6 from a post I did in Jan 2009.  Nuff said.

Update: Comments from my old MT blog...

4 Comments

By Wade Carmen on March 22, 2010 5:45 PM

How come THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN was cancelled and lame mutant titles continue?

By Richard Guion on March 22, 2010 11:55 PM

If I only I knew that answer, Wade! I suspect I like comics such as Frankenstein because they are offbeat and not that popular. But they were exceedingly well drawn and written! Thanks, Richard.

By Wade Carmen on March 24, 2010 5:54 PM

Could the Monster of Frankenstein beat the Living Mummy? How come the Werewolf by Night never fought Man Wolf?

By Christian König on September 22, 2010 1:06 PM

FRANKENSTEIN was very popular in Germany. It was cancelled too, with Issue No.33. But the problem was, that the german issue - only started 1 year after the US issue - was published bi-weekly instead of monthly. So they had to split the Frankenstein comic in two parts.

FRANKENSTEIN only had 9-10 pages with FRANKENSTEIN, the rest was filled with (excellent) Marvel/Atlas Horror Comics.

But it had a strong fanbase here in Germany.
Interesting is No.27, because this was a fill up story, drawn by a spanish artist, that was produced for the german market only.

Mike Ploog Man-Thing Recreations

A number of years ago, Mike Ploog produced a series of cover recreations for some of his most famous Marvel Comics from the 1970s.  I'll showcase a few each day leading up to Halloween.

Man-Thing #9 from 1974 has a great yarn about the creature discovering a hidden enclave of Spanish soldiers who had discovered the Fountain of Youth.  They have miraculous potions which can possibly change the monster back into Ted Sallis.  But construction magnate F.A. Schist (fascist) throws several wrenches into this plan.

The recreation to this cover accentuates everything.  The Man-Thing is gloopier than ever and the wizened skeletal man in the lower right is scarier.

Giant-Size Man-Thing #1 is one of my favorite all time comics.  Ploog and swamp monsters slugging it out in a giant-size comic, what could be better?

The recreation is pretty cool--notice how great the colors are in this version. 

You can find all these Mike Ploog cover recreations (and more) on comicartfans.  Nuff said.

Monster Mondays: Mike Ploog October 1975 Calendar piece with Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolf by Night!

Marvel Comics started producing calendars in 1975.  For the very first calendar (which I've been able to acquire recently, thanks to eBay), they tapped the best artists of that year...including Mike Ploog, who they unleashed in the month of October.

The October illustration featured the trio of monsters that Ploog had drawn in their own comics: Frankenstein, Man-Thing, and Werewolf by Night!  The big bad daddy of all supernatural characters, Dracula, lorded over all of them--Ploog had drawn this character as well, when he teamed up with Jack Russell in Werewolf by Night #15.

The month of October itself is ridden with monster-sized jokes by Marvel staffers. 

Oct. 4th: Man-Thing with the caption: Save the Everglades--Or Else!  That scares me into taking care of the environment.

Oct. 8th-9th:  Son of Satan asks pop for the hell-horse drawn chariot, but sister Santana asked for it first.

Oct. 13-15: Three nights of the full moon with Werewolf by Night.  Jack Russell's eyes go left, middle, right.

Oct. 19th: Jim Starlin's birthday.  Which is today, Happy Birthday Jim!

Oct. 28th-29th: Two creatures called IT!  The first one was featured in Supernatural Thrillers #1, the second one was a hero who appeared briefly in Astonishing Tales.

Oct. 30th: The Halloween party in Rutland Vermont, which was featured by Roy Thomas in both Avengers and Defenders (Marvel Feature #2).  Several comics creators made the trek to this party.  If only we could go back in a time machine! 

Many thanks to Sanctum Sanctorum Comix for providing the scans of the Marvel Calendars!  Nuff said.

Mike Ploog and Doug Moench bring Terror on the Planet of the Apes

The highlight for the entire run of Marvel's Planet of the Apes magazine was the spectacular series, Terror on the Planet of the Apes.  Written by Doug Moench (from an initial idea by Gerry Conway) and drawn by one of my favorite artists, Mike Ploog, it was as close to a sequel to the final movie (Battle) that I would ever get.

 

You can place Terror a generation after the events in Battle for the Planet of the Apes.  Apes and Humans are living somewhat peacefully together, with racial tensions always simmering beneath the surface.  The Lawgiver keeps them together through his sermons and wisdom.  Jason (a human) and Alex (a chimpanzee) are best friends. 

When the Lawgiver decides to take a vacation in the Forbidden Zone, the Gorilla general Brutus throws their lives, as well as Ape City, into turmoil.  He has a band of masked Gorillas (somewhat like the Ku Klux Klan) who terrorize humans.  They beat up Alex's father (for being a human sympathizer) and murder Jason's family.  Jason swears revenge, but Alex isn't so sure.

By the end of the first chapter, Alex is convinced of Brutus' conspiracy.  He helps Jason escape prison and the two are on the run for their lives.  Brutus has convinced people that Jason has murdered his wife.  Just like the TV show the Fugitive, the pair would spend the next year on the run throughout the wild world of the Apes.

In the Forbidden Zone, Jason and Alex rescue the Lawgiver, with Brutus' army right behind them.  The mutants in the Forbidden Zone are led by a trio of giant brains encased in glass spheres--a great gag that I've seen repeated in many other stories.

Mike Ploog was the perfect artist to draw this series.  He excelled at drawing fantasy adventures and he was great at drawing the facial expressions on the Apes.  But I think the sheer amount of detail and the publishing schedule got to him after a while.  Ploog's artwork was reproduced in full pencils without any inks in issues 4, 6, and 8.  Terror began skipping issues as well, and it was a crapshoot as to whether the serial would be appear each month.  Terror appeared in POTA 1-4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 19, 20, 23, 26, 27, 28. 

Ploog's last chapter would appear in issue 19, where he was inked by Tom Sutton.  After that, Sutton did a few chapters, and Herb Trimpe drew the remaining ones.

Even though the reproduction was not as advanced as today--I thought Ploog's pencil art was amazing.  Perhaps because I had never seen comic art before it was inked!  But take a look at the quiet scene of this boat on a lake.  The reflection in the water, the detail on the jungle surrounding the shore.  It's sublime.

Moench and Ploog created many different Ape cultures within this series.  Jason and Alex encountered Gunpowder Julius' band of riverboat Apes, a Davy Crockett inspired version of this world.  In issue 6, the riverboat Apes met a band of gypsy Apes--which included a breathtaking human gal called Malaguena.

Malaguena was the kind of liberated gal who could sleep with both apes and humans.  When we first meet her, she's with the Grimaldi the gypsy chimpanzee.  She becomes Jason's girlfriend after he kills Grimaldi in a knife fight.  Then she winds up with Alex!

As you can see here in this panel, Jason's ape-prejudice is always present, erupting in moments of physical violence.  You Dirty Stinking Crazy Ape!! 

While Terror in the Planet of the Apes appeared in the Marvel magazine until the end of the run, for me the series came to a logical conclusion in issue 11.  All the plot threads of the first storyline were neatly wrapped up.  Jason, Alexander, and the Lawgiver returned to Ape City and revealed the truth about Brutus' treachery.  The discord between humans and apes is put to rest after another Lawgiver sermon.  Brutus' last ditch attempt to murder the Lawgiver and take over Ape City is upset. 

The Lawgiver banishes Brutus from Ape City forever--and this sends Jason into a fury.  He won't settle for anything less than the death penalty.  He attacks Alex with racial slurs and violence, abandons Malaguena, and storms off in search of Brutus.  On the last panel, Alex speculates about his friendship with Jason:  "Maybe we never were friends...and can never be friends.  Maybe we were just too afraid to hate each other."

I still own many of the POTA magazines with the Ploog and Moench stories.  Here's a question for you, readers:  was Terror on the Planet of the Apes ever collected in a trade?  Nuff said.

Monster Mondays: Ploog Recreates Frankenstein Monster #6

I recently discovered this cover recreation by Mike Ploog on Romitaman:

It's a recreation of Frankenstein Monster #6, the last issue of the series that Ploog illustrated, before moving over to Man-Thing.  This is a big improvement over the original cover:

Published in 1973, it looks to me like the original cover was penciled by Ploog and retouched/inked by Romita.  My guess would be that Romita wanted to portray that monster as being much more fierce and upset over his captivity.  It just doesn't jibe with the rest of the cover, which is clearly drawn in Ploog's style.

The story inside is pretty decent as well--the Monster has survived 100 years after his creation and discovered Frankenstein's ancestor still lives in the area.  Ploog plotted this tale in addition to providing full pencils and inks.  Pure Ploog!  Nuff said.