A Belated Farewell to Publishing Giant Michael Z. Hobson

Even with the usefulness of the Internet, it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with events in the publishing industry. Which is why it came as such a surprise last week when I learned of the passing of Michael Z. Hobson on November 12, 2020, at age 83 due to heart failure. (The fact that the sad news broke over Thanksgiving Day weekend probably had a lot to do with that announcement being overlooked.)

Mike had been a Harvard graduate, a literary agent, and an executive at Little, Brown and Company and Scholastic Publishing before joining Marvel Comics as an executive vice president from 1981 to 1994. 

He was also Pandora Zwieback’s first advocate.

As I often say, get comfortable—it’s a lengthy tale…

Our association started in 1997, during my time as a book editor, when my boss at the time, Byron Preiss, had hired Mike to be executive vice president of publishing for Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, which not only produced screensavers and the like but also co-published a highly successful line of original novels and anthologies based on the Marvel Comics characters (my three X-Men: The Chaos Engine novels, published from 2000 to 2002, were part of that line). It didn’t taken Mike very long, however, to discover that as EVP he wasn’t really allowed to make a lot of final decisions; as president and publisher, Byron held on to that position. Over time, Mike grew tired of the situation and decided to move on—the line of wellwishers on his last day stretched down the hall.

But in the time he was at BPMC, we’d gotten to be friendly. Mike was an easily likeable guy: he didn’t put on the sort of superior attitude you’d expect from someone who’d been in the business as long as he had, and who’d been a top-level executive for just as long. He was attentive, encouraging, and a firm believer in letting creative people be creative. 

It was those qualities that made him one of the most respected people in publishing; adding Mike to your roster was considered a major get. So it was no surprise that after he departed BPMC there was news in 1998 that he’d landed as the new president of Parachute Properties, whose book-packaging company, Parachute Publishing, was the home of R.L. Stein’s bestselling Goosebumps and Fear Street series (also books starring the Olsen Twins, but…meh).

That summer, after he’d had time to settle in at the new place, I got a call from Mike, and an invitation to lunch. Hey, who was I to turn down a free meal?

At a bistro not far from Parachute’s offices, Mike explained the reason for the get-together: he was looking for new titles. As he put it, he’d sat down with management and told them that Goosebumps and Fear Street were all well and good, but if Parachute was to remain successful, it needed to expand its lineup, and that meant bringing in outside projects—creator-owned outside projects.

That was a huge step. Book-packaging companies like Parachute—as well as Byron’s Byron Preiss Visual Publications—typically owned the projects they assembled, and hired authors and artists through work-for-hire contracts, which meant that what they wrote and drew was wholly owned by the company. For a packaging company to start offering deals in which they were profit participants on projects but owned no part of them would be a game changer.

Mike went on to remind me that he greatly enjoyed my writing and my approach to editing, which was why, given the praise he’d just heaped on me, I thought he might be headhunting me to join him as a Parachute editor. But he had an even better proposal to offer:

“So…do you have any project of your own you think would fit in at Parachute?”

Well, no, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t have one for him in record time! 

A couple weeks later I presented him with Heartstopper, a proposed six-book series of young-adult novels starring an immortal monster hunter named Sebastienne Mazarin and her teenaged Goth-girl sidekick, Pandora Zwieback. I even included character designs, courtesy of Pan and Annie’s co-creator, artist Uriel Caton, who had collaborated with me on the original-but-failed Heartstopper mature-readers comic published in 1994. (Hey, there’s nothing wrong with recycling a title and a character and adding a teen assistant to get it into the YA market.)

Mike loved it. He loved the title—Heartstopper was a short, memorable title like Goosebumps, easy to sell. Even more, he immediately saw its potential—not just YA books, but comics, movies, TV shows, merchandising…yes, this was exactly the sort of new Parachute title he was looking for. By mid-1999, after some fine-tuning of the proposal and a series of editorial back-and-forths, a deal was reached and contracts signed—Heartstopper was now one of the half-dozen (or so) creator-owned properties that Parachute Publishing was going to package. Even better, Mike had put me in touch with one of the other property owners, an artist who needed a writer to help develop his storyline; so now I was looking at two writing projects!

“Off we go!” Mike wrote in his cover letter to the final executed agreement.

But then a few months later I got another call from Mike, and another invitation to lunch. When we got together, Mike explained he had some very bad news to deliver: the new line of books was being scuttled. He couldn’t tell me exactly why that was—that was in-house politics not open for discussion with outsiders—but my impression was that Parachute soured on the idea that they weren’t going to own any of these new properties and thereby reap all the benefits. And possibly they hadn’t realized at the start just how successful Mike would be in launching his plans, or how quickly he’d be able to line up talent for them.

So now they were killing the program, and Mike was placed in the position of having to go back to all us creators and apologize for having us do all this work for no reward. (Since we owned the properties, none of the creators were paid for developing them; the money would have come from eventual sales and a 50/50 split with Parachute. But we all understood that going in.)

For someone with Mike’s standing in the industry, it was a major embarrassment.

The good news, though, was that with the publishing deals dead the creators were free and clear to do what we liked with our projects, hopefully finding homes for them at other publishing houses. Mike even later reached out to some of his contacts to see if Heartstopper could land somewhere (unfortunately, everyone passed on it).

After that, I’d occasionally run into Mike at trade shows like Book Expo America, although in 2000 he went above and beyond just hoping I’d become successful as a writer and editor by convincing Marvel Comics’ licensing division to make me an unusual offer: If I was interested, they’d hand me the publishing rights to all their supernatural characters—which Byron had turned down because he disliked horror—in order to create my own line of original novels and anthologies.

Doctor Strange, Blade, Dracula, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Satana the Devil’s Daughter, Morbius the Living Vampire, even the superheroic mercenary Moon Knight—all those and more, mine for the taking because Mike had such confidence in me. Of course I was interested, but things just didn’t work out, unfortunately. That’s a story for another time, though.

By 2003, Mike had retired to become a part-time consultant in publishing, but every time we met he’d ask if anything was happening with that Heartstopper thing. Over time I let him know that the title had changed to The Saga of Pandora Zwieback—the teen-girl sidekick having shifted to the lead position—and he’d encourage me to keep at it.

The last time I saw Mike was in 2011. Elated over the fact that I’d finally taken the plunge and self-published the first Pandora Zwieback novel, Blood Feud, I got ahold of him and asked if he’d be interested in my mailing him a copy (especially since I’d dedicated the book to him). Instead, he invited me to lunch so we could catch up. Well, who was I to pass up a free meal?

Mike was in fine spirits that day, complimenting me on the book and remembering the potential the property still has for ancillary development. It was a fantastic two-and-a-half hour get-together as we talked about old times and the projects we were currently involved with, and as we left the restaurant he shook my hand and wished me continued success.

Like I said, Mike was an easily likeable guy, attentive, encouraging, and a firm believer in letting creative people be creative, and I’m glad I was able to know him, and to be encouraged by him.

Rest in peace, Mike.

Talking Comics Publishing with J.D. Calderon

This past Sunday night, I made a return appearance to J.D. Calderon’s YouTube interview series Indy Comics Explained, joining fellow comic-creating guests Randy Zimmerman (Tales from the Aniverse), Evan K. Pozios (Time Grunts), Joe D. McFee (Amazonia: The Continuing Adventures of E),and Ray Felix (Bronx Heroes), and publisher/podcaster Varian Grant (Indie Volt). (Sorry for not posting an advance notice, but it was sort of a last-minute invitation to join the chat.)

(J.D., by the way, is the writer/creator of the fantasy series The Oswald Chronicles and the anthropomorphic fantasy comic series Tall Tails, both published through his Dream Weaver Press company. He’s also been a friend of mine since we met back in the 1990s’ days of the indie comics explosion.)

On the show, we discussed a variety of topics related to comics publishing: the pros and cons of crowdfunding; the best money we’ve ever spent as publishers; the best and worst publishing advice we’ve gotten; dealing with printers and the rising cost of paper; the problems of getting comics distributed, and whether there are alternatives beyond crowdfunding; the difference between young adult and middle grade reading audiences; and whether changes in the comics industry will eventually lead to the demise of comic shops.

The panel runs a little over two hours, so find a comfortable chair and settle in for “Sunday Night Talking Comics,” the latest episode of Indy Comics Explained.

And in case you missed it, back in May I made my first appearance on the show, where I promoted my critically acclaimed comics historyFrom the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, and talked about my time as a professional book editor (and the troubles associated with such work, especially in licensed publishing), my history as a writer and as a self-publisher, the Saga of Pandora Zwieback series, my current work as scripter for Oniric Comics’ Sideral: The Last Earthman, and, if I were offered the chance to write comics for Marvel and/or DC, which characters I’d want to work on. 

Talking to Steve A. Roman” is still available for viewing at Indy Comics Explained. If you’ve got an hour, click on the link and head on over to check it out. 

Happy Local Comic Shop Day 2020!

Hey, comic fans! Today is Local Comic Shop Day. It’s an annual appreciation “conceived and implemented by ComicsPRO comic book specialty retailers to call attention to locally owned independent comic book specialty stores, celebrating their unique and vital role in being the primary fire-starters of pop culture.” In other words, it’s a way of encouraging comic fans to visit their LCS as the holiday season kicks into high gear and show some support. That’s especially true now, when the coronavirus pandemic is crippling a lot of businesses. 

For more information, including a list of participating stores and the special collectibles they’ll be offering for sale, visit the Local Comic Shop Day website.

But it’s not just the retail shops that have something of interest for comic fans—not when StarWarp Concepts has its own range of comics and graphic novels to offer!

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: A free, downloadable comic that serves as an introduction to the adventures of Pandora Zwieback and her monster-hunting mentor, Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, with an 8-page story written by me and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia, and a preview of Pan’s first novel, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1. Pan is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets Annie that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world.    

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1: A spinoff from the novel series, this 56-page, full-color comic special finds the teenaged Goth adventuress battling vampires and a jealous, man-stealing siren. It features stories by me and Sholly Fisch (Scooby-Doo Team-Up), art by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0), comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), and Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), and cover art by award-winning artist Henar Torinos (Mala Estrella).

Heroines & Heroes is a collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by me, dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find: “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn story that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (it didn’t work out); “Dirty Laundry,” an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the mid-‘90s indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and “I Was a Super-powered Vampire Slayer!,”an adventure of the indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger. Twenty-four pages of comicky goodness—and all for free!

Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a general readers’ graphic novel about a group of supernatural-superheroes-for-hire taking on their first case. The team consists of a wizard, a female ninja, a sorceress, a werewolf, and a rock ’n’ roll lighting designer wearing high-tech armor. Sure, they might not be on a power level with the Avengers or Justice League of America—they’re more like superpowered Ghostbusters—but they get the job done. The graphic novel is written by the husband-and-white team of Richard C. White (The Ultimate Hulk) and Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman. Cover art is provided by Richard Dominguez, creator of the pulp-hero comic book El Gato Negro.

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual and Troubleshooters Incorporated are available in print and digital formats. Pandora Zwieback #0 and Heroines and Heroes are digital exclusives. Visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for ordering information, as well as sample pages. 

Happy reading!

Horror Street: The Griffin

Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

Today we return to the Welling Court Mural Project for another episode of monster hunting. Welling Court is a street located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York, and for over a decade it’s hosted a streetside art gallery showcasing the graffiti-mural works of New York area artists. It’s here that in 2018 I found the rarely seen mythological beast known as…The Griffin!

Griffin-WellingCt-2018

Amazing work, don’t you think? And now that I know that there’s a 2020 version of the “show,” even in these Pandemic Times, I can’t wait to see what creatures are currently lurking in the nooks and crannies of Welling Court!

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-RodWhere the Gene Wilder Things Are, the beast called Queens’thluhu, and the scarifying Ghoulmobile!

Happy Book Lovers Day 2020!

blood_feud_lg_cover_2013Hey, fans of reading! Today is Book Lovers Day, a worldwide event held every August 9th (although no one seems to know when it started, or who invented it) and if you’re looking for the right book on this special day, here are just a few titles from Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, that you might want to consider purchasing to help you celebrate the occasion:

Dark Urban Fantasy
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is my young adult novel that’s perfect for lovers of dark urban fantasy.It introduces readers to Pandora Zwieback, a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets professional monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world. In Blood Feud, Pan, her parents and friends, and Annie are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans searching for the key to an ultimate weapon (or so the legend goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father!

SWC-Chasing-Danger-cvrChasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase, by bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special), is a pulp-fiction-styled collection of noir-fantasy novellas starring a private eye working the supernatural beat in the city of Calasia. From a sexy chanteuse who literally turns into a beast when the moon is full to a string of pearls that kills its owners, and from the ghost of a dead woman seeking justice to the Grim Reaper’s little girl seeking her stolen chicken, Theron Chase certainly has his hands full—of danger, death, and dames!

 

Illustrated Classics
Carmilla_CoverCarmilla is J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century classic vampiric tale of love gone wrong. Laura is so desperate for a friend that when a young woman named Carmilla practically turns up on the doorstep of the castle owned by Laura’s father, she thinks her prayers for companionship have been answered. But as she comes to realize, Carmilla isn’t as interested in making friends as she is in spilling blood. Regarded as the one of the earliest female vampire tales—if not the first—Carmilla was an influence on author Bram Stoker in the creation of the vampire brides in his seminal novel, Dracula, and remains a popular character in fiction to this day. The SWC edition contains six original illustrations done especially for StarWarp Concepts by the super-talented Eliseu Gouveia, artist of The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 and The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1.

King-Kong-Final-FrontCvrKing Kong is an e-book-exclusive Illustrated Classics edition of the 1932 novelization of the renowned motion picture. Written by Delos W. Lovelace, based on the story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper and the screenplay by James A. Creelman and Ruth Rose, the SWC edition of King Kong features scenes that didn’t appear in the final cut of the film—including the notorious “spider pit” sequence in which Kong’s human pursuers are attacked by horrific arachnids and insects. What makes the SWC version special is that it contains six exclusive, original black-and-white illustrations by comics artist Paul Tuma, whose pulp-influenced style has appeared in the pages of The Twilight Avenger and Flare.

Nonfiction
SWC_From_the_Stars_cvrFrom the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is my nonfiction history of the queen of the comic book bad girls. In its pages you’ll find a breakdown of every Vampirella story that appeared during her Warren Publishing days from July 1969 to December 1982 (plus a list of the modern-day books that reprinted them); a checklist of every Warren Era appearance she made; a look at the six-book novelization series written by sci-fi and pulp-adventure author Ron Goulart and published by Warner Books in the 1970s; an examination of the awful 1996 movie that starred Talisa Soto of the Mortal Kombat movies as Vampi and featured a scenery-gulping performance from rock-god Roger Daltrey (lead singer of the legendary band The Who) as Dracula; and a pretty extensive look at the history of Hammer Films’ Vampirella movie, announced in 1975 with model/actress Barbara Leigh and Hammer legend Peter Cushing as its stars, but which was never produced. Plus little-seen photos and other material pulled straight from the vaults of the Ackermonster by the Official Vampirella Historian, Sean Fernald, who also wrote the foreword.

With the exception of King Kong (a digital exclusive), alll titles are available in print and digital formats, so visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for ordering information. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out all the other books, comics, and graphic novels they offer. Happy reading!

Happy Free Comic Book Summer!

Free-Comic-Summer-2020Free Comic Book Summer? Where’d that come from? Isn’t it supposed to be Free Comic Book Day?  That’s probably what ran through your mind when you saw the header for this post—and you’d be right to be confused. Free Comic Book Day—the brainchild of retailer Joe Field as a promotional tool to get people to visit their local comic shop—has been around since 2002, held the first Saturday in May and usually timed to coincide with the release of one of Marvel Films’ big summer blockbuster.

But then the novel coronavirus pandemic became all the rage during the first third of 2020, sweeping around the globe and throwing everything into chaos. Just about all businesses (the ones not considered “essential” by government officials) shut down, including movie theaters, comic book shops—and Diamond Distribution, the source of those shops’ retail products. Suddenly there was no summer blockbuster from Marvel—if you remember, it was supposed to be the long-awaited Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johanssen—no comics being shipped, and no Free Comic Book Day.

Which brings us to today, which Diamond has designated the start of Free Comic Book Summer, slated to run until September 9. During this period, the comics you should have been able to pick up all at once on a single day back in May will now be staggered throughout the summer. According to their press release:

“Comic shops will receive five to six Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) titles in their weekly shipments during each week of the promotional window. Release of these titles may vary from shop to shop, as retailers are encouraged to release the books as they see fit for their unique circumstances. Retailers may release one free title a day, may make all of that week’s free titles available at once, or any other plan that works for them. Free Comic Book Summer is designed to be flexible and customizable so retailers and fans can get the most out the event.”

As for free titles from Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, well, they’re always available for your reading pleasure, so if you missed them, then join us in celebrating Free Comic Book Summer 2020 by downloading them now!

heroinesandheroes-1Heroines & Heroes: A collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by me, dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find mainstream heroes and small-press heroines, and even a couple of anthropomorphic bikers. Leading off is “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn story that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (it didn’t work out). If you enjoyed Harley’s recent animated series or her latest movie, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), you might get a kick out of her matching wits with the Amazon Princess (whose own movie, Wonder Woman 1984, comes out later this year). The WW/Harley matchup is followed by an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the long-canceled indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and an adventure of the indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger.

Pandora0_CoverThe Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: A full-color introduction to the young adult novel series of the same name, hosted by Pan herself. Pan is a 16-year-old New York City Goth who’s not only a horror fangirl but someone with the rare ability to see the for-real monsters that regular humans can’t (she calls it her “monstervision”), and with the help of a 400-year-old, shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, she’s learning how to protect her family, her friends, and the world from the supernatural dangers out there—and maybe even have some fun while doing it. This 16-page comic features a seven-page story written by me, with art and color by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual#1, Carmilla, A Princess of Mars), and includes two sample chapters from Blood Feud, the first Pan novel.

Heartstopper_CoverHearstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa#1–3: Before she became Pan’s monster-hunting mentor, Sebastienne Mazarin made her debut in this short-lived, 1990s Mature Readers series from Millennium Publications. A nefarious heavy metal band has arrived in New York City, and its lead singer is more than just a sex magnet for his female fans—he’s an incubus! Will Annie put an end to his plans for worldwide chaos, or fall prey to his supernatural charms? Written by me (of course), issue 1 is drawn by Pan and Annie co-creator Uriel Caton (JSA Annual) and inker Alan Larsen; issue 2 is penciled by Uriel, Holly Golightly (School Bites), and David C. Matthews (Satin Steele) and inked by Larsen; and issue 3 is penciled by Holly, with four pages of inks by “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Harvey Kurtzman’s New Two-Fisted Tales). As a special bonus, issue 3 includes a brief look at the never-published Heartstopper/Trollords, a crossover special that would have had Annie meet Harry, Larry, and Jerry, the Three Stooges–inspired trolls created by Scott Beaderstadt and Paul Fricke, written by me with pencils by Holly and Scott and inks by Bill Lavin (Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings).

(Warning: Heartstopper is designated a “Mature Readers” comic for violent scenes and some sexual innuendo, so younger Panatics should avoid it.)

All these comics are available for download, so visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for more information as well as sample pages.

Horror Street: Ghoulmobile

Welcome back to Horror Street, an ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City.

Today, we’re in the Queens, New York, neighborhood of Sunnyside, home to the offices of Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts (and Marvel Comics hero Peter Parker, if you’ve seen the movies Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home).

Ghoulmobile-Sunnyside-2018

What you see here (click to embiggen, as they say) is what’s known as an Interceptor II, or GO-4 Parking Enforcement vehicle, manufactured by Canada’s Westward Industries and used in New York primarily by the traffic enforcement division and the Parks Department.

NYPD-InterceptorThe GO-4 is a three-wheeled, one-person scooter that you’ll find tooling around neighborhoods in search of cars to be ticketed for violations, or in parks that need to be patrolled but don’t have mounted police riding horseback. It’s not the kind of thing you’ll ever see involved in a high-speed car chase, since its top speed is around 50 mph, and what’s interesting is that in order to qualify as a “street legal” vehicle they’re registered as motorcycles.

But based on its unique, ghoulish paint job, this particular Interceptor isn’t used for patrolling parks; clearly it’s for cruising the streets of Gothopolis, that city of monsters that lives right alongside New York City but can only be seen by people with special sight—people like our own Pandora Zwieback. Now that she has her learner’s permit, Pan probably wouldn’t mind getting one for herself—if she could convince her parents to spring for one!

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-RodWhere the Gene Wilder Things Are, and the beast called Queens’thluhu!