Hallowe’en Countdown II, Day 10

« I don’t like mushrooms! We’ll find a way out yet! » – John Agar as Dr. Roger Bentley

Fumetti: from the italian, it means « little smoke », describing the word balloons as they emanate from characters’ mouths. It’s comics, in other words. In English, it has come to denote comics created using photos instead of illustrations, also known as Fotonovela or, in French, photo-roman. Confused? No need to be. Here’s a rare American specimen of the beast, issued by Warren Publications, home of Famous Monsters of Filmland, Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, in MCMLXIV (hey, that’s what the indicia says!).

MolePeopleA

MolePeopleVersoA
The back cover image, featuring the film’s wacky poster art.

The Mole People was a 1956 feature film from Universal Studios starring the, uh, immortal John Agar.

Some excerpts from the insides? But of course!

MolePeople02A

MolePeople01A
We’re dealing with the familiar (but welcome) scenario, in the worthy tradition of Herbert George WellsThe Time Machine… of the Normals turning out to be evil pricks and the presumed Monsters really being sweet if you treat them with any kind of basic decency.
BjorkMolePeople
The human prisoners are treated to an exclusive semi-musical number by a young Björk Guðmundsdóttir.
CaptainAdA
This Captain Company ad from the 1970s always made these titles seem so mysterious and enticing. The Mole People are first in the middle row. Dan Clowes was a big fan of that first Screen Thrills cover.
MolePersonA.jpg
The far scarier real-life version.

-RG

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