Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Iron-On Movie Monsters

What?!! No April Fools gag this year? Maybe the joke actually is on you, and this post hides something sinisterly untruthful to catch you all off guard, eh? Nope, it's just a post about iron-ons, and featuring movie monsters in all of their Universal horror glory! I found this exciting ad in a rather dull issue of Fightin' Air Force Comics from 1966, and it's a very cool ad too as I love how they have the big 'ol bobble heads and teeny little bodies! A regular scan at 100% just didn't seem big enough to bring out the details of the smaller related items featured in the backgrounds of each monster, so I blew them up 400% (for WAY BIG WEDNESDAY); this way you'll only have a little bit of trouble making out the bats, dinosaurs, sarcophagi, and whatever the heck else is going on in these damn things! Victor Specialities (based in Derby, Connecticut) even encourages you to try ironing these onto more than just shirts or jackets-- try paper, wood, and leather too!

More blown-out monster iron-ons in the next post too-- no foolin'!







6 comments:

J_D_La_Rue_67 said...

"And when mommy caught me ironing these on our curtains, I got a beating that actually made my face like 'The Phantom'. Cool!"

Brian Barnes said...

Because the original art was so small I can't tell what the wolfman is holding, but it looks to me like a fork.

That's one very prim and proper wolfman!

BTW, the art on these is great. Each one really looks like the actor, and that makes me wonder if they weren't traced. Why there's a "cut here" line on the Frankenstein monster, though, I'll never know!

Craftypants Carol said...

is that the Wright Brothers plane flying over a dilapidated barn next to The Phantom?

Mr. Cavin said...

Damn, Wolf Man taking a literal back seat to Frank and Vlad. That's effin' cold, adman. I love trying to decipher the ink-blob clip arts beside the characters. I am pretty sure that's grave robbery on one side of Frank, and for a one-millimeter illustration, I think Igor threatening the creature on his power-gurney with a flaming torch is really quite clear. Harker discovering Dracula in his basement coffin doesn't fare so well.

Excellent find! I'm off to find pictures of the actual patches, if that's possible.

Mr. Cavin said...

Recently returned from my voyage of discovery with saddening news. This is probably obvious to most of you, but in real life the patches are only the bobble-heads here; the cartoonishly mismatched bodies seem to be an invention of the ad. I'm just an April fool. But the real patches look stunningly good in color or in black and white.

Looking at the art carefully, I think that what the Wolf Man is holding is a safety razor, Mr. Barnes. And speaking of Barns, I think that grid of creaky lines beside the Phantom is an illustration of Eric cutting the ropes to a listing chandelier. Maybe.

Mr. Karswell said...

Damn, really? I'll have to do some digging around and see if I can find anything on these too then.

Personally, I think that's someone playing air hockey in the tiny picture next to Dracula, and I still think the Wolf Man is just surprised at how much he's enjoying some karaoke