The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Omnious Omnibus, Vol.1: Scary Tales & Scarier Tentacles

The premise behind the Ominous Omnibuses is to collect all 23 volumes of Treehouse of Horror annuals that were issued from the now defunct Bongo Comics. This is to occur with the publication of 3 slipcased hardcover editions. Though whether this will happen in just a few months or annually until 2024, I just don't know. 

Along with the material found in the Halloween annuals, these collections are supposed to house horror themed material from other Simpsons related holiday titles and some never before published material. But right now from a collector's standpoint, all I've got is a massive headache.

Let's do a little comic book math. There's 23 total ToH books in existence and I don't own any of them. These comics aren't very easy to find and when I do stumble across them, they're selling for an average of $15 per book. So $15x23=$345. If all 3 omnibuses retail for the $40 MSRP of this issue, I should only have to pay $120 plus tax. Overall, going this route seems the most economical, even if I have to wait a couple more years. Yet, because of how this book was edited, I can't mark anything off of my wish list yet.

Instead of collecting the comics whole, publisher Harry N. Abrams decided to cut all the books into pieces and catalogue the stories based on genre type! There are stories about aliens Kang and Kodos, frights about alternate realities and legends of things that go bump in the dark. Plus, there's a whole lot of shorts, parody ads and vignettes about life in Springfield that I've read in many a Simpsons regular series comic book.

While I am unhappy with how these stories have been collected, I have been thrilled with many of the surprises in this book. There's Simpsons yarns written by Star Wars' Mark Hamill, The Goldberg's Patton Oswalt and Doug TenNapel (Cardboard). I had thought that celebs didn't appear in Simpsons comics, but we get visits by Alice Cooper, Lemmy Kilmister and the living embodiment of Ned Flanders, Pat Boone! in a trio of stories written by the stars themselves.

My favorite story in this collection was an EC Comics tribute that featured inks by Al Willamson (Weird Science, Weird Fantasy) and pencils by John Severin (Two-Fisted Tales)! I never thought I'd ever see the Simpsons rendered by a pair of EC legends! But I did and it was fantastic. The story might have been a bit disjointed. But it was a visual dream come true!

Over 400 pages of Simpsons frights. A great way to start off my Halloween 2022 reads. I just wish this book could have been in order like an actual omnibus and not a mix-matched catalogue of titles organized by genre. I really wanted to get a few volumes off my wish list and right now, I now have 2 future editions of omnibuses added to it.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 74

      Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the debut of Eight is Enough. The family comedy/ drama ran for 5 years and helped make several stars (albeit temporary) household names, such as Dick Van Patton, Adam Rich, and Willie Aimes. 
   

Cover to the book on which the TV series was based.

  
      Eight is Enough was based on a book of the same name by columnist Thomas Braden who wrote about life as a father to 8 children. That's about as close as the book and TV show come because the actress hired to play the mom, Diana Hyland, became ill from breast cancer and ultimately succumbed to her illness just a few days after the first episode aired. She only filmed 4 episodes.

     There was another big casting change. In the pilot, the role of oldest son, David was played by Mark Hamill. Hamill wanted out after the pilot in because he sensed that Star Wars was going to make him a star. But, execs on Eight Is Enough refused wanting to cash in on the possibility of having a big star on the show. However, fate came into play when in January of '77, Hamill got into a massive car wreck. Hospitalized, Hamill couldn't work on Eight is Enough and so he was released and Grant Goodeve took his place as David. But this now meant Hamill could focus all his efforts on movies.

Hamill, center, in the pilot episode of Eight is Enough.

       I vaguely remember the show. By the time I was old enough to remember and watch it, the show was in syndication. Though there was at least 1 or 2 reunion TV-movies in the late 80s or early 90s. I remember that my mother loved this show and my wife seems to have fond memories of it too. But to me, the big deal is the Mark Hamill connection. 

      Well, that's all I got for today. But before I go, here's a clip of the shows original theme. Enjoy...

   

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 11

  Today marks an anniversary that could've gone quite tragically. It's a date in history that while minor to many, chills me to my very core. I remember my dad reading me an article in People magazine about the accident when I was a little kid sitting in my childhood dentist office (maybe that's why I bit him. The dentist, not my dad) and the whole thing has stuck with me ever since. It seems to resonate with fans too, as it's often mentioned on Facebook fan pages.

 often. Besides had things turned out differently by just a little bit, the history of several fandoms including Star Wars, Batman, and the Flash would have been very, very different. And for the Star Wars universe, it actually did change it somewhat...

Hamill, as Luke Skywalker, pre-accident.

    On this date in 1977, actor Mark Hamill got into a serious car accident. He had been speeding, made a wrong turn, and his course correction went out of control. The crash resulted in Hamill fracturing his nose and cheekbone so much that cartilage from his ear had to be used for reconstructive surgery. 

   Though Hamill's life was saved, his appearance was seriously altered. After the surgery, there was major scaring. The symmetry of the actor's face was change, most noticeably along his right eye.

(Note: Most of the reconstructive surgery happened a year after the accident. That's why photos of Hamill during the premier of Star Wars don't look so bad. But you can see the glare of a scar on is right cheek in this photo.)

During filming of 1978's Hamill was put in heavy make-up, given bangs, and shot from reverse,
to minimize the scaring from surgeries. On the right, George Lucas added the actor's scars
to the plot of Empire Strikes Back, having Luke be attacked by a giant snow creature. 

    The accident happened just 4 months before Star Wars premiered. Some re-shoots had to be done by a stun double from behind. But the incident happened with very little fanfare because at this time, Hamill was a relative unknown entity- plus Star Wars was expected to be a major flop! Instead, Star Wars went on to become the biggest motion picture hit of all-time and movie history was made- But I'll get to that later this year.

     History would have been so much different had this accident turned deadly. Without it's star, would there have been an Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi? Would the film franchise even be as popular as it is now if only one film had been released? I know my childhood would've been quite different without further Star Wars sequels. And I don't even wanna think about what the Joker's voice would sound like on Batman: The Animated Series without the voice talents of Mark Hamill. (Interestingly enough, it was Hamill's accident that lead to him becoming less of a leading man and more of a major voice talent. Listen to a sampling of his Joker as Donald Trump below...) And not just one live-action Flash, but three (yes, I did the math) would've been without one of his greatest enemies. 

    
    Fate likes to play games. Sometimes it's fair, sometimes it's not. And sometimes destiny likes to be a little of both. That seems to be how it was with Mark Hamill on that fateful day in January 40 years ago. Had he not had the accident, maybe he wouldn't be, in my opinion, the definitive voice of the Joker. I don't know; maybe he'd still be a voice over action. Or would Hamill have made the jump Harrison Ford did and become a mega-star of some other franchise like Terminator or Aliens? Maybe nobody will ever truly know. What I do know is that my life surely has been enriched thanks to Mark Hamill still being around and that's a very good thing. 
     Here's to another 40 years, Mr. Hamill. I hope they are good ones!