Yesterday we battled through a humid Sunday afternoon to a special appointment in the beloved suburb of Berwyn- to visit the longtime home of horror collectibles located there on Roosevelt Road- Horrorbles!
We arrived to find a line of fans waiting outside the store, and went in to take our place of honor behind one of the counters to sign a few chickens and the brand new horror comic the store has produced “Haunting Tales of Horrorbles”!
The book is very impressive- lots of impressive artwork , and stories that harken back to the old EC horror comics, with unusual twists and their own mythology interwoven with the real world of the Horrorbles store and its owner, “Monster Man” John Aranza, who grew up as a “monster kid” ( the popular term for those of us whose fascination with horror movies started when we were just children) and achieved a major dream by having a store devoted to the scary stuff he’s always loved. The book not only has some chilling stories, but also some single page pin-up artwork (not that kind of pin up-more like single posters)-and, of course, an introduction written by yours truly!
The book was selling very briskly, with many customers buying multiple copies, and getting them signed not only by me, but also the comic’s talented creators who were on hand for the launch.Among the visitors were two nice ladies from the Los Angeles area who grew up watching me, and now are happy to be able to watch me in L.A. on “Me-TV Hollywood”. They both work in the film business out there! Also in line was the delightful Shannon Rullo, whose cook book,”Cannibal Kitchen: A Horror Lover’s Cookbook” has been mentioned on our show and in our blog- she made a special trip to come and finally meet me in person! My only regret was that she didn’t bring some of her delicious “Re-animeatloaf” with her!
We also had some gentlemen who are pals of our friend Kevin J. O’Connor, the actor who played Beni in “The Mummy”- Kevin couldn’t make it , though he had hoped to, but we’re hoping to see him soon- maybe at the Flashback Weekend horror convention in August.
We had some of our old friends come by,as well as a young lady who actually watched her very first Svengoolie show ever the night before!(Her family had been watching for years…)The big question was- would she watch again? The answer was a very enthusiastic “yes”!
Once again, it was so nice to see families who always watch the show together- moms and dads, grandparents, teenagers, little kids- I consider it the ultimate compliment that such a wide range of folks watch the show- and like to watch it together!It’s always fun to have the young fans give me their opinions, requests, and comments- and have them present me with their personal rubber chickens to autograph!
Several people had their copies of the fine Ted Okuda/Mark Yurkiw book “Chicago Horror Movie TV Shows: from Shock Theatre to Svengoolie” for me to autograph (a couple visitors grew up with Mark, and offered to tell me childhood stories about him- don’t worry, Mark, I politely declined!) The book is still popular, though out of print- and people still ask about it. Perhaps Lake Claremont Press might want to consider doing another re-printing- especially now that our show is national, and there are plenty of new fans who have asked about our Sven history!
The two hours we were there flew by- and plenty of the comics flew out the door with satisfied customers! Our thanks to everybody who came out to visit-as well as our friend John and his staff at the store.
My only regret- I was kept so busy, I didn’t get to look around at the current merchandise in stock! Time for a visit incognito soon…