Morgo the Mighty takes place in Surrilana, a vast cavern – series of caverns actually – beneath the Himalayas. Our protagonist, Jerry McRory, is hired to fly a plane through the mouth of a cave in the side of one of the mountains. While McRory believes that his employers claims of a great treasure are nonsense he never stops to ask what seems like a more obvious question – “Where I going to land this plane in a cave?”
I’d love to do a series of stories featuring these three as team. Whether they would be villains or heroes would probably depend on the situation. It’s not as if any of them have a reason to love humanity.
From left to right – Wilbur Whateley, the Frankenstein Monster and Helen Vaughn. I did a portrait of this trio last year. I didn’t think I did them quite the justice they deserved so here’s another attempt.
Most folks know who the Frankenstein Monster is. Other folks know Wilbur Whateley from The Dunwich Horror. Helen is the more obscure character. She’s the “monster” in The Great God Pan.
Are the colors lurid enough?
What’s a pulp novel without a villain?
Zorimi, the archfiend of Morgo the Mighty, works hard to earn his keep.
He wears a cowl to hide his identity. The fact that he’s in a cavern, far away from any of the civilized folk who might recognize him, is of no consequence.
He has an army of scaled men at his command. That’s scaled, as in “scaly” like a lizard or snake. In the novel they are referred to as Silurians but it’s unclear if they are actually reptiles or if they are a species of humans with reptilian features.
He has a thing in a pit to which he sacrifices victims.
He keeps a collection of severed heads.
He has a nubile young virgin locked away in his fortress.
He’s tailor made to act as the villain in a movie serial. Given that the author, “Sean O’Larkin” had a play made into a film, perhaps Zorimi was auditioning for such a role.
I gave the Bride the same neck bolts as the Monster. In the film she doesn’t have them. There’s no explanation in the film why she doesn’t. It’s possible that Frankenstein and Pretorius improved on Frankenstein’s animation process and the bolts weren’t necessary. Or perhaps they put the bolts in a more discreet place?
I’ve read that the Bride (of Frankenstein) spends less than two minutes onscreen. In that short time she manages to be unforgettable. It does help that Bride of Frankenstein is a good movie and the Bride herself never got watered down or ruined by appearing in sequels.
In Morgo the Mighty, the Surrilana caverns get brighter the deeper the one goes. In the brightest cavern the light is bright white and the flora and the fauna is white as well. Hopefully I managed to depict that.
Back in 2012 I serialized Morgo the Mighty, a pulp adventure set in an vast cavern system beneath the Himalayas. Someday I’d like to adapt the story into an illustrated novel. In the meantime, here’s Jerry McRory, our hero and narrator, attempting to avoid being eaten by one of the fauna of Surrilana.
Dear teenagers,
If you must party at the beach (or in the woods or some other secluded spot) be sure to bring plenty of weapons. And salt. Because salt works on demons and bloodsucking atomic fishman zombies birthed by atomic waste. Even though said fishman zombies were birthed in the ocean. Salt water is apparently not as salty as salt. Go figure.
Affectionately,
DLI
