This week’s feature was inspired by the ’80s horror movie anthology classic…CREEPSHOW! It was directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. Stephen also acts in the movie, as does his son Joe Hill (then Joseph Hillstrom King or just “Joe King”). The short story was first published in the July 1979 issue of Gallery magazine, adapted as a segment in the 1982 movie, and included in comic-book form in the Creepshow graphic novella. Hare to believe the movie is over 40yrs old now..! I remember watching it over and over whenever it came on cable or out on VHS.
“The Crate” is one of many terrifying tales from Creepshow, and even though that segment stars Hal Holbrook and Adrienne Barbeau, it’s “Fluffy” the crate beast that lives under the stairs and steals the show…and in my opinion the whole movie! It’s one of my all-time favorite horror movies.
Production designer Cletus Anderson made three prop crates for this segment. SPFX legend (and sometimes actor) Tom Savini created the “Fluffy” creature make-up, and it was played by Darryl Ferrucci. Tom also played Garbage Man #2 in the “Epilogue”segment of the movie, and can be seen in other flicks like “From Dusk To Dawn“.
I got to meet Tom years ago at Wonderfest in Louisville, KY. I haven’t been back since the late ’90s- not because it’s a bad show, but because it moved to the same time as the Superman Celebration. I really want to go back to it again now that I’m not running the artists alley in Metropolis. Wonderfest is a horror/sci-fi/model/toy convention and this year is the show’s 35th anniversary and “The Walking Dead” and “Creepshow” series horror legend Greg Nicotero will be one of the guests of honor.
For this sketchcover I used a “Mark Spears: MONSTERS” #1 blank from Keenspot.
Sketchcovers are variant cover versions of comic books that you can design and create your own cover art on. Click HERE to find out more about how I work on them.
Artist Mark Spears is known for his incredible (and colorful) work in comics, horror art, trading card, and fantasy illustration. I first found out about him a couple years ago through his trading card on social media and when he was on the Pencilled In Podcast (Ep. 39). I was able to back the Kickstarter for his Monsters trading cards back then.
There was a recent Free Comic Book Day Monsters issue available back on May 3rd and I was able to snag a copy last weekend! You can see an Action-Nerd 2024 interview with him here where he talks about the creation of his Monsters comic series. Issue #1 is already on its 5th printing!
Mark has a unique style that’s popular with comic collectors, art fans, and readers all around the world. He stays in demand by publishers and fans, and his art can be seen on a variety of comic covers these days.
Mark will be in the M-town all weekend long at Memphis Comic Expo, September 13–14, 2025! I missed him at the Metropolis Superman Celebration last year, so I’m looking forward to hopefully meeting him at DonnieCon here this fall at the fairgrounds.
You can see a creator spotlight on YouTube Mark HERE- “Mark Spears: A Look At His Monstrous Comics”.
A lot of folks try to compare him to artist Alex Ross. I get it, but his is artwork reminds me more of a cross between Basil Gogos and some of the 3D ChromaDepth art I’ve seen at haunted houses that layers color to create depth. ChromaDepth is an optical illusion that works by layering colors in a certain order and was invented by Richard Steenblik as a display tool. Red>Orange>Yellow>Green>Blue – other colors like teal and purple fall in between depending on how much of the other colors were in them. The more red they are the closer they appear, the more blue’ish the more they seem to be further away.
You can blend them to create a more rounded effect, or add black between the colors to really make them pop and appear to float in front of you! Haunts use it, but so does 3D typography maps, and even your car’s speedometer utilizes this effect. I got a chance to talk to artist Steven Walden about his colorful art a couple years ago at the Metropolis Superman Celebration’s Artists Alley.
I really need to look at some of Steven and Mark’s art with my old haunt 3D glasses..! You can find out more about ChromaDepth, local 3D glasses company American Paper Optics, and 3D haunting HERE on Have Geek Will Travel.
For this sketchcover comic I used a #2 pencil, Copic markers, white Prismacolor pencil, Pigma Micron pens and white Gelly Roll pen. Once done I sprayed both sides with some Krylon workable fixative. I didn’t want to copy his style, but wanted to emulate the feel many of his covers have. Hopefully both images I drew for this looked like something that Mark might have done. I’ll have this one and some Universal Monsters sketchcovers for sale at the Memphis Libraries Comic Con on May 31st.
I’ll also have my “Scared Silly” art prints, zines, and stickers there, as well as my “BATS” trading cards with special LINticular 3D motion cards. Oh, and I’ll be back at the Memphis Monster Market again this October with even more monster merch and art.
I also have several of my sketchcards for sale out at The Cellar in Bartlett, TN.
You can watch the “The Crate” comic on YouTube, or watch a clip of “The Crate” segment here.
Stephen King’s “The Crate” — Deep Dive into the Story and the CREEPSHOW film video on YouTube.
Movie Dumpster review of “Creepshow” on YouTube (NSFW) – “Why Creepshow (1982) is the Best Horror Anthology Movie of All Time”.
Hope to see you at comic cons and events around the mid-south this year.
Lin
