Saturday, February 6, 2010

The Most Terrifying Cartoons Ever Made!

As a kid I thought the most terrifying cartoon ever made was "Quasi at the Quackadero," by Sally Cruikshank, an incredibly talented artist and animator. Reading about this cartoon and looking at the stills from it in the old Comics Scene magazine (from the publishers of Starlog) immediately filled me with a sense of dread. Of alienation and disassociation. Existential? What was it about those strange, inhuman characters that churned my soul into a miasma of dark unease? When I finally saw the cartoon itself...

Anxiety intensified to pure terror. My eyes must have rolled back in their sockets, revealing wet whiteness, a fine tracing of curvilinear blood vessels, perhaps a pink blur from a few feet away but up close, under microscopic scrutiny, red and alive, pulsing with life. Long, sleepless intervals followed by troubled slumber and nightmares of rubber-limbed anthropomorphic ducks engaged in unspeakable horrors. I've since grown up and come to appreciate "Quasi's" deliberately naive aesthetic and weird humor. But obviously these things were beyond me at the time.

And yet... and yet... even then, this feeling was familiar. Yes, I'd felt something similar, not long before. Its source?

Clutch Cargo.



Along with Quasi, Clutch Cargo frightened me. Watching cartoons on WTBS or WGN while eating cinnamon toast before school, I often worried they might air a Clutch Cargo cartoon. Bugs Bunny, fine. A Little Rascals or Three Stooges. Occasionally a Tex Avery short outlandishly psychedelic in its intense and schizophrenic imagery-- I found some of those a little scary as well. And then, on random unlucky mornings, Clutch Cargo and some of the herky-jerkiest limited animation ever rendered.

But what scared me... what really and truly sent shivers down my spine and put me off my breakfast... were those mouths. The Syncro-Vox system, where the animators superimposed film of live action mouths over the illustrated faces. Those little Chicklet teeth, wormy lipsticked ropes writhing about them forming vowels and consonants. I would instantly lose my appetite.

I had no idea at the time I was seeing what amounted to filmed Alex Toth drawings. Not long after, I discovered Toth's comic book artwork in a hardcover DC war comic reprint book, America at War. I've been a huge fan of Toth's artwork ever since. The story that convinced me was the Civil War-era "The Glory Boys," and I had no idea the man who created the melancholy, lyrical linework there-- including the memorable final panels where a dying boy releases a dove into a light drizzle falling on a grassy battlefield-- was the same guy who freaked me the hell out on school mornings and caused me to waste some perfectly good cinnamon toast.

Toth or not, after re-watching Clutch, Spinner and Paddlefoot star in "Bush Pilots" on YouTube, I've decided I'd rather stare down the barrel of a loaded Glock 9mm in the sweaty, unsteady hands of a bank robber with nothing to lose and little to live for than watch another Clutch Cargo cartoon. Can you imagine the effect on my imaginative little monkey-brain if Sally Cruikshank had employed Syncro-Vox on "Quasi at the Quackadero?"

7 comments:

Sally said...

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry- I'M CRACKING UP! (thanks google for showing me the way here.) YAAH!

Unknown said...

Wow! I'm so happy you found this and I'm beyond flabbergasted now! To be honest, you've been one of my idols ever since I read that Comic Scene article!

This post was inspired by some artwork a friend of mine did I thought was similar to yours and all the memories of Quasi came flooding back. And she's completely in love with it and excited to share it with her kid now.

What a dull childhood it would've been if I hadn't seen this cartoon. So really... thank you!

Unknown said...

PS- I love Fun on Mars, too!

Pete Mullins said...

I love reading Toth's account of his days on that show as well as at Hanna Barbera.

He used to have a go at the animators if he thought they
weren't putting the effort in.
He constantly would put 110% into the projects only to find the 'lesser beings' destroying his hard work.

I often wonder if anyone at those places understood how fortunate they were in having a giant talent like Toth around.

Still... it makes for bloody funny stories, at least the way Toth tells 'em.

Unknown said...

And yet I can think of one genius animator who hates that Toth ever dared sully the sacred world of TV catoons with his art.

Was it in Comic Book Artist magazine they ran some of Toth's animation designs for The Three Musketeers where he not only drew the characters but provided tons of notes on proper fencing techniques for the animators?


Heck, I've got the magazine right there on the shelf, but I'm too lazy to go get it!

Tony LaRocca said...

When I was a kid the ending of the Canadian animated special "The Devil and Daniel Mouse" absolutely horrified me. I've seen many horror movies in my life, but I can't even watch clips of that kid's cartoon without remembering how terrified I was!

Village Talkies said...

Thank you for your informative post!!!
Village Talkies a top-quality professional corporate video production company in Bangalore and also best explainer video company in Bangalore & animation video makers in Bangalore, Chennai, India & Maryland, Baltimore, USA provides Corporate & Brand films, Promotional, Marketing videos & Training videos, Product demo videos, Employee videos, Product video explainers, eLearning videos, 2d Animation, 3d Animation, Motion Graphics, Whiteboard Explainer videos Client Testimonial Videos, Video Presentation and more for all start-ups, industries, and corporate companies. From scripting to corporate video production services, explainer & 3d, 2d animation video production , our solutions are customized to your budget, timeline, and to meet the company goals and objectives.
As a best video production company in Bangalore, we produce quality and creative videos to our clients.