Untold Tales: The shocking secret history of Europe’s Black ‘Santa Claus’ tradition

Back in 2005, I published a very early draft of my groundbreaking essay "The Secret Santa" in photocopy zine form. Then, in 2012 it was moved online here to the Kung Fu Grip blog, where it would gradually manage to garner some some 2,000+ views. 

Six years later, after I'd established another online home for my writings on Medium in 2017, I published the revised final edition of the essay. If you'd never had the chance to peep it before, I'm making it available now to visitors to the KFG blog by clicking here. 

Or...if you're like yours truly and just enjoy giving good stuff a re-read, please feel free to return to one of the classics. LOL

Seriously, y'all. After all this time, I still think that "The Secret Santa" is one of the best things that I've ever written. It's certainly one of the pieces of which I am most proud. 

Keep warm. Stay woke. 

Because You Asked For It (Kinda Sorta): The Art of Arthur 'Art' Adams

 

Keep your Todd McFarlanes, your Rob Liefelds, your Erik Larsens, your Jim Lees (the very last of whom I am, admittedly a total Stan). 

Art Adams is the mother fawkin' man. You know it. I know it. Your mama knows it. 

The guy draws beauties, beasts and spandex bedecked superheroes like nobody's business. 

Oh, and gorillas. Adams really has this thing for drawing gorillas. (We all have our kink don't we?)

Since 1984, when he turned pro, he's been producing work at a level that, pencil for pencil, very few in the industry can rival. And some of his early stuff almost pales to the work he's been producing since the late 1990s.  

I mean,  yeah. He's slow and meticulous––which is why his name doesn't rank higher than it does in the pantheon of comic book artists with legions of fans. 

He's never done an extended run on Spider-Man, X-Men, New Mutants, X-Force or...Batman. But he plays to his strengths, which are shorter stories in anthologies like Tom Strong's Terrific Tales, limited series like the X-Men affiliated Longshot and artistically breathtaking Ultimate X. 

And let's not forget the his creator-owned Monkey Man and O'brien published by Dark Horse. The beloved comic book duo who, by the way, made their debut in the back pages of Hellboy: See of Destruction #1. 

For the last few years, most of the work he's been turning in are covers for various Marvel titles, because Marvel knows what they've got, and Art Adams cover art is an attention grabber. 

If DC Comics was smart, they'd tie Adams down to a chair, pay him a bajillion dollars to illustrate 12-issues of a new title they're ready to launch into the stratosphere (uh, about 24 months into the future) and then wait patiently for the magic to happen. 

A long run on a flagship book is the only thing missing from his resume, and keeping a great artist from being really really great. 

But...then again. Greatness is overrated. 

Doing what you love how you want is what's really great, right?

Art Adams is a total draftsman. An artist's artist. And the work this man produces, even when the subject is a repulsive looking monster, is always a thing of beauty. 

 

But as LeVar Burton on his Reading Rainbow TV show used to say: You don't just have take my word for it! 

Buh-dun-dunh!

Great Debate: 7 Times ‘Hip-Hop’ Was Used in Print Before Historians Say

"It was perhaps that casual use in “Rapper’s Delight” that lead some to surmise that the meaning of the term hip-hop wasn’t clearly understood by party-goers in the Bronx or that it hadn’t been meaningfully defined until Manhattan took an interest. But this looks to have been a mistake on the part of regional and/or cultural outsiders."

To read my latest piece celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop, zip on over to my Medium page by clicking here. 

[Press-N-Play®] Elvis Presley - 'I Got a Feelin' in My Body (Take 1)'

That time back in the '70s when Elvis got soooper funky. "I Got A Feelin' in My Body," featured on the 1973 album Elvis at Stax (yep, that Stax). 

You're welcome. 

Collector's Gon' Collect: Arthur Adams

Yo, the homie Darrell D has been living his best friggin' life recently by expanding his impressive Richard Corben comic book collection (and taking us all along for the journey via weekly vlogs on YouTube). 

His passion towards this righteous effort has recently inspired me to do the same, but as it pertains to the comic book works of artist Arthur Adams. 

Oh, and no. Not to vlog (nah, not my thing...yet), but to go diggin' for the "weird, startling, uncanny" stuff that my collection is missing!

Although I have a few different artists who make my "favorites" list, Adams, who first made his splash in comics back in 1984, has probably been on my list the longest. I certainly have more of his work represented in my collection than anyone else, so I wanted to honor that by filling in some gaps in my already extensive Adams library. 

One of the biggest gaps has been Urban Legends #1, a black and white anthology comic produced by Dark Horse back in 1993 that somehow escaped my notice until fairly recently. The issue features a gorgeous 1-page submission by Adams documenting a once über popular urban legend about the 1966 film King Kong vs. Godzilla. (All of us kaiju geeks believed it was true.)

How this work by Adams slid by me is a friggin' Area 54-Level mystery. I mean, when it comes to comics and whatnot, Paco stays in these streets! So I'm utterly mystified as to how I missed out on it––and for nearly 30 years! [Que Twilight Zone theme]

Anywho, Adams is the man who, maybe more than all others, was born to draw kaiju (giant monsters). His comic books featuring Godzilla, in particular, make up some of the most treasured gems in my collection. So it was an absolute must that I begin this current foray filling in the Adams-related gaps in my stash with this book.

And the price was right, too, so you can't be that. 

Oh, ironically, Urban Legends #1 also feature cover art by Dan Clowes (Eightball, GhostWorld), whose name came up recently on one of Darrell D's related vlogs on underground comics. D isn't particularly a fan of Clowe's work, so I had to laugh to myself,  considering the timing of that vlog and this post.

So on that note, True Believers, if you're interested...click here to peep the homie's Darrell D's latest haul of Underground COMIX, or click here to follow his wondrous journey into the world of Richard Corben comics. 

And if you, like I, are an Art Adams fanboy who missed out on Urban Legends #1, look for your copy wherever fine comics are sold. 

Wild Style Revisited: My graffiti art records covers joint deserved better, so...

Credit: Animal Records

After some seven years (or so) of an older piece that I wasn't totally satisfied with just eating at me, I finally gave the work the 'level up' it deserved. 

The original version of this record cover art listicle (2016) was one of my earliest attempts at exploring the then new direction of online content creation: listicles. 

And I had a lot to learn. 

This promptly became apparent when I started writing for MoviePilot (and then CBR), which taught me the fine art of listicle making and gave my online writing the creative boost that I was looking for. 

So...without any further delay or ado, the revised, remixed, and remastered version of an older blog post that ya didn't know ya needed. 

Enjoy. (Click here)