ANOTHER MIXED BATCHA MATT CRENSHAW

RANDOM MATT CRENSHAW SKETCHES

MATT CRENSHAW DEVILISH POODLE DOODLES !

I use brush alotta times to 'Think

Out Loud' on paper, which allows

for certain concepts to evolve.

I had already decided prior to

these doodles that the Devil

would 1st approach Matt as

a big black Poodle, ala the

Mephistopheles character

from Goethe's FAUST...

VARIOUS DEVIL INCARNATIONS FOR THE MATT CRENSHAW COMIC BOOK CONCEPT

tHE dEVIL can appear as a dog, a cat, a Girl in a Bikini,

your Mother, a bottle of booze, or various shape-shifty

creepazoids like the following mixed array...

MORE MATT CRENSHAW STORYBOARDS

MATT CRENSHAW PAGE TWO MASH-UP !

He gets up in his grave...

Takes a look around...

Realizes he's back to square one...

With another 'New' life at the same crappy

cemetery, with the same grave-digger job !

MATT CRENSHAW REDUX !

Gosh, I LOVE this concept ! The story

of Matt Crenshaw will forever hold a place

in my heart. I mean, who doesn't love a

good deal-with-the-devil story ? Below

are various sketches from the opening

sequence of my still incomplete version

of the ORIGIN of Matt Crenshaw. You

can see how I obsess, like a true

perfectionist, over getting

certain visuals JUST

right. I am no longer

that anal, but still

have an occasional

relapse into perfectionism.

If I had more talent, I wouldn't

have to re-do these things, but, the

sad truth is, only HARD WORK will

ever cut the mustard for me ! (what-

ever that means !!!)

NEWSPAPER CLIPPING to

be used as reference for the

scene when Matt recieves

HIS giant Lotto check !

The following 11 X 17 page was meant to be

just a series of layout sketches but now I

think with a little brushing up it might

work AS IS !

The Sun now beams upon Matt in the

shallow grave he perpetually digs for

himself, forcing him to 'AWAKEN'

from his previous existence...

THE ORIGIN OF: THE DEVIL & MATT CRENSHAW

Before the Gladstone/Russ Cochran

reprints of all the classic EC pre-code

horror stuff, there were very few

chances to catch a glimpse of

what that amazing era in

comic publication was

all about...

One source, was the annual

Overstreet Price Guide, which

featured great insightful articles

along with two thick full-color

cover-art sections. Well, this

was more than enough to

spark the imaginations of

a couple of devout comic-

book Geeks like Erik & I.

This was also around the same

time that Alan Moore was busy

resurrecting the Swamp Thing

Mythos~ and Horror comics

were a hot commodity again.

So, anyhow, I spent the night

over @ Erik's house one Friday

night and we did some low-brow

humor stuff with Aliens & cows,

and also, during Late-Nite with

David Letterman, busted out

the One-Page Pin-up of a

loser Gravedigger whom

Erik later named Matt

Crenshaw. The idea

was pretty simple:

Wouldn't it suck

to be doing your

job when all of

a sudden Zombies

rose from the Grave ?

Later, Erik seized the potential

of this tragic, down-on-his-luck figure

and just ran with it, creating another

'Deal-With-The-Devil' concept, with

the unique twist, however, that

Matt was NOT intelligent, and

would be 'reborn' a thousand

times to suffer new, excruciating

ways to die, all, for breaking his

end of the bargain he made with

Satan. If the Devil & Matt Crenshaw

were a comedy team, the Devil would

be the straight man who gets more

laughs than Matt, the buffoon...

Long after Erik & I went separate ways

in life, I decided that Matt Crenshaw

needed a new lease on life and began

new, more detailed origin story. I

hope to finish it and post it here !

Though, I do not know when that

will be :~(

Price Guide that inspired us:

1st appearance of Matt Crenshaw !

Color study I made several

years after our collaboration:

ps: this concept pre-dated the

film Groundhog Day by nearly

a decade. The idea was never

really a new one anyway, just,

hadn't been done in comics.

Now, people would say, "Oh~

it's like a Horror version of

Groundhog Day !" But, now

you know the secret truth.

Shhhhhhh.....

INFAMOUS STORIES~ 1986 COMIC BOOK COLLABORATION~ SPACE ! by JAMIE WILSON~ THE DEVIL & MATT CRENSHAW by ERIK HILTNER (VICTOR McCREA)~ COMPLETE~!

Two Young Punks busted this out

in their spare time (with help from

our moral support Editor Brian Wenny)

back in 1986. A full-length comic book !

This was right around the time that

Independent Publishers were making

some waves & Specialty Comic-Book

Shops were popping up all over...

Tomorrow, more of The Devil

& Matt Crenshaw (an origin) !

Of course, it wouldn't be complete

without a short Comedy back-up

story. Erik did page #1, I did page

#2. I would love to go back in time

and listen to our discussions over

the basic plot concept etc. !

And the back cover is a rejected

page one splash that I now prefer

over the one used. I think I changed

it to make it more 'Dynamic' ;~j