To commemorate Disney 100 today, Disney's actual 100th anniversary, my YouTube channel will be celebrating all week with special videos. Today's video is a bonus episode of Digging the Details with Jim & Dean about the National Film Registry and some of the Disney films therein. Click here to see our special video and be sure and check back all week.
For Countdown to Halloween 2023: The Universal Monsters were featured on some of the coolest kids meals toys ever offered by Burger King, or anywhere else for that matter. Available in Burger King's Kid Club Meals in 1997, these monstrously playful toys (including Bolts and Volts Frankenstein and Down for the Count Dracula) helped everyone Scare Up Some Fun. Thanks to Dinosaur Dracula for this awesome poster Burger King used to encourage customers to "Collect All 4—If You Dare!" PS Be sure and catch Dinosaur Dracula's Purple Stuff podcast!
Can Disney's TRON qualify as a Countdown to Halloween 2023 entry? It's not a horror film, but on the other hand, a malevolent some might say monstrous elecTRONic force abducts a hero and forces him to compete as a gladiator in games to the death. At any rate, my co-host on our YouTube series, Digging the Details with Jim and Dean, the uber talented artist-writer-historian Dean Brinkerhoff, has written an excellent multi-faceted article about both TRON and TRON Legacy. It's on the Communerdy website, which features many other fascinating articles as well. What's better than reading Dean's article? Listening to Dean read it! Check out Dean's YouTube channel and this video and give it a listen.
With stars such as Casper and Spooky and Hot Stuff, Harvey Comics are a Tulgey Wood spooky-season staple, and Countdown to Halloween 2023 is no exception. But it's good to remember that Harvey Comics is more than the ghosts and devils and witches. Also among their stars were children, so of course Halloween is a perfect subject for those characters as well. Here, on the cover of Little Dot No. 156 December 1974, Dot helps us connect the dots by trick-or-treating as only she can.
For Countdown to Halloween 2023: October 10, 1952 saw the release of Walt Disney's Trick or Treat. Among the merch inspired by this beloved short is the famous comic-book adaptation by Carl Barks. The legendary comic artist-writer added some scenes and elements not seen in the screen story. Chief among these is Smorgasbord the Ogre. Here is Smorgie the Bad, immortalized by William Van Horn in this cover art for Donald Duck Adventures No. 47 December 1997, pictured here. Discover more about this classic animated short, the comic-book story inspired by it and all things Trick or Treat in the article I wrote for D23.
As noted previously here in Tulgey Wood, super heroes occasionally meet up with monsters. One can see such in The Marvel Family No. 52, October 1950, where Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Mary Marvel battle Ichabod Vort (great name!) and his school for witches. Aside from witches, bats, demons and even dinosaurs are on hand. Perfect for the Countdown to Halloween 2023.
Word is that toy giant Toys "R" Us is making a comeback. Once upon a Halloween time, Toys "R" Us was very much a spooky season HQ, with costumes, decor and treats...so in celebration of that fun place-to-be for October goodness, here's a Trick-or-Treat bag. No Toys "R" Us logo (to its credit), just Geoffrey the spokesgiraffe in eye-candy art, perfect for our Countdown to Halloween 2023.
When Bedknobs and Broomsticks was released on October 7, 1971, Whitman, Disney's longtime licensee, issued a cauldron full of tie-ins, much of it with beautiful art. Here's the cover of the box foe the Bedknobs and Broomsticks game with art that is typically enticing as well as enchanting. Celebrate the premiere of this bewitching musical fantasy with the article I wrote for D23. And be sure to stop by all month for more treats and maybe even a trick or two as we continue our Countdown to Halloween 2023.
As is our Tulgey Wood tradition, here's Archie to bring some monstrous fun for Halloween on the cover of Archie's Mad House #15 October 1961. The Archie's Mad House title was just that—mad. So it featured out-there gags and fun beyond the normal world of small-town high-school that was the Archie mainstay. Hence, Jughead transforming into a werewolf, because of course. It's all part of our Countdown to Halloween 2023.
