The Stroller goes to War. Pulp fiction. Movie Poster.

The Stroller is now going to war to fight the Nazis. He walks the London fog dealing out justice to evil doers, everywhere. . .

Blokkhed

The Shadow. Radio. Mystery. Illustration. Poster 1930s.

I forgot about this close-up of The Shadow. I thought it deserved to be seen and I think its much stronger than the original as posted earlier. I've just put a gallery onto coroflot, which does sound like a russian airline but is in fact a very cool illustration and design site where you can put your portfolio. So take a look and get your own work on there.

Blokkhed

Zoltan The Magnificent. Magician. Illusionist. Poster.

Zoltan the Magnificent.
Zoltan is a Magician [like Mandrake] and an Illusionist, he solves crimes and defeats evildoers using his unearthly skills in the black arts. He is aboard the Ocean Liner "The Venturer" out of San Francisco bound for Shanghai. This is "The Voyage of Death", but who will survive this terrible voyage?
Zoltan knows. . . Zoltan sees everything. . . He is . . . Zoltan the Magnificent.

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The Shadow. Radio. Mystery. Illustration. Poster 1930s.

"The Shadow knows the evil that lurks in the minds of men" The Shadow started as a radio announcer for Detective Story Hour, he became more popular than the stories he was introducing and became the main character. Written by Walter B Gibson and played by Orson Welles on radio [only for a year]. As well as the radio plays which ran from 1931 to 1954, The Shadow appeared in pulp magazines, serials and movies.
The character has that air of weirdness and mystery that I find really interesting, he had the ability to "cloud mens minds" to make himself invisible. There is a mixture of fantasy as well as detective mystery here that has similarities to Fantomas and Doc Savage, these characters are not super-heroes' but do have unnatural powers. They are prototype super-heroes and Lester Dent [writing as Kenneth Robeson] who created Doc Savage [to cash in on The Shadows success] could be said to have started the super-hero. I want to do more on both The Shadow and Doc Savage, so that gives me more projects to work on. I wasn't intending doing so much on the 1930s but its nice when ideas come and you just have to go with it don't you?

Blokkhed
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The Blue Lotus. Shanghai. 1930s.

The Blue Lotus was a real opium den in old Shanghai [as well as being a TinTin book of course]. With these pictures I'm trying to evoke the world of the pre-war thirties, there's more to do and lots of themes to pursue, travel, exotica, Catalina planes, steamships, shady ports at dead of night, adventure and mystery.

Blokkhed

The Green Gang. Shanghai. Opium.

Shanghai was the original Sin City due to its association with Opium and vice. This image is about the Green Gang in old Shanghai which was under the leadership of Du Yuesheng [known as 'Big Ears'].
There's a bit of Art Deco again here as well as other influences [I watched Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express recently which was beautiful to look at-and a great film of course].
I'm trying different things out at the moment and this is a companion image to the one in the previous post. I hope to do more in this vein again.

Blokkhed

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Shanghai. Sin City. Poster. Glamour. Danger. Art Deco

Shanghai, the original Sin City. The 1920s and 30s was an era of turmoil with enormous social and political changes taking place. Shanghai had an aura of both glamour and danger which is so evocative of the period [the rule of the Green Gang is something I'll hopefully explore later]. Art Deco was again partial inspiration as was the imagery of Shanghai and China in the movies of the period like Lost Horizon and Shanghai Gesture.

Blokkhed

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Art Deco Poster. 1930s Radio Mystery.

The Stroller, Art Deco style. Who is he? Why does he stalk the streets at night? What mysteries does he explore?
It started as a Pulp style character but has now become more art deco, which is ok with me. I'll explore the Stroller again some other time, maybe even take a look at his face...maybe...

Blokkhed

Pulp Fiction. The Shadow. The Whistler. Fantomas. 1930s Radio Mystery. "The Stroller" in the Fog.

The Stroller in the Fog. Radio Mystery 1930s style. In the vein of The Shadow, Fantomas, The Whistler and all the Pulp Fiction mystery detectives/thieves/strange characters that proliferated then. The Stroller patrols the night and narrates strange stories of weirdness and danger. The Stroller lives in the fog and disappears like a thief in the night. Who is the Stroller?

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Art Deco. Poster. Suspense. Pulp Fiction. 1930s Radio mystery. "The Stroller"

"The Stroller" in The Night of Lost Souls. An enigmatic and ghostly character who introduces and narrates strange stories of mystery and suspense. The Stroller is in the same pulp style as The Whistler and the The Shadow. I really like the 'strange' stories of weird suspense and "The Stroller" is as enigmatic. The poster is in an art deco style and colours. Using a limited palette is interesting to do and Ludwig Hohlwein and Spanish deco were also inspirations.
Who is The Stroller? Where does he come from? All may be revealed at some time.

Blokkhed

Art Deco. Poster. 1930s. Mystery. Radio. Theatre

The MysteryLand Radio Theatre poster for the production of the 'Theatre of Lost Souls'.

Blokkhed

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