Recognize this dapper fellow? Unless you lived in the Cincinnati television area you probably would not recognize one of the mainstays of my childhood, the Cool Ghoul. I was too small to remember seeing him except in repeats of his Saturday night hosted horror movies but he still made appearances especially around Halloween up until his death in 2004. I was fortunate not only to meet the Cool Ghoul’s alter ego Dick Von Hoene but was interviewed by him for a local show a year before his passing.
I know in the 70’s and 80’s, the horror hosts were big in other areas. I remember being able to get Dr. Creep to come in from Dayton stations as well. Any horror hosts in your towns?
What is also cool is that I picked up this picture at the Cincinnati Comic Expo. I had friends exhibiting there including Tim Fuller of Zombie Marge cartoon, Darryl Collins, and Dave from Rockin’ Rooster Comic and Games but I am not what you would normally expect as a comic book junkie. I couldn’t tell you who wrote or drew a comic but it seems others can and there are waves of fans lining up to get a signed copy of whatever.
I dragged my wife this year because we were heading to the Oktoberfest festivities just a few blocks away. As soon as we got into the Expo we came across a large line of people. My wife asked “What’s that line for?” to which I replied, “Probably some artist”, not knowing who was set up there. Two fanboys waiting in line were appalled by my response because as we continued walking one of them said to the other incredulously “SOME ARTIST???”
Speaking of artists. The Cool Ghoul artist is actually better known as a writer. Craig Boldman has written the Archie newspaper strip since 1992 and writes the Jughead line of comics as well.