Don Martin's Fairy Tales

I grew up with Mad Magazine.

I was completely in tune with the ( lack of? ) sensibility.

My uncle Bud gave me a few of those paperback collections of

Don Martin's work and I wore them out. I particularly liked his

twisted versions of classic Fairy Tales! He tortured the

Frog Prince story more than once, but here is a sample.

"What, Me Worry?"

Frogs! The Movie.

People keep trying to make frogs out to be villains.

I always identified with frogs as heroes.

This movie came out in 1972. I did not get to see it ( still haven't ),

but the poster had a big impact on me.

It was part of a wave of 70's environmentalist exploitation movies

that also gave us Godzilla vs the Smog Monster.

Home-made Frog Action Figure

When I was about 10 years old I traveled with my sister to visit my Dad in Huntsville, Alabama ( my parents were divorced ). My lifelong friend Pat had started making plush action figures with outfits and weapons, etc. I made this Warrior Frog to match so we could have adventures together. I particularly like the earring. I must have been ahead of my time!

The Frog Prince through the Ages

OK, scrap the sci-fi future. I am a bit of a purist when it comes to Fairy Tales, sticking with a European setting and more traditional time periods. I did this exercise to establish my preferred time period for The Frog Prince. Even though the swash-buckling pirate frog of 1650 is compelling, my choice is the Dark Ages, 800 AD, especially since that history is not so well known and people already accept the Arthurian stories that introduce magic and the supernatural - a prerequisite for this tale. Besides, a rogue Robin Hood frog, living off the land, is hard to pass up!

Now that I think of it, an alien frog popped up again when I was designing a line of monsters for Little Tikes. This project included character art for playing cards that coordinated with action figures based on my drawings. The whole product line was designed to make learning basic math fun for boys.

Years later, when I was fishing for a time period for my version of The Frog Prince, I tried putting my hero in the far future. I am pretty sure that Lost in Space episode must have been in my subconscious when I drew this!



I was a BIG FAN of Lost in Space when I was young. I most strongly remember their take on The Frog Prince, where the topic of "don't judge a book by its cover" was the theme. Penny plays the good princess who sees through the outward appearance of both combatants to the true character within. The competing princes is a theme I incorporate into my own version of The Frog Prince.

The Maze

When I was very young my room was actually the family room. I shared this space with our main window air conditioner and our old B&W TV.
My parents never let me watch horror movies, but I discovered that "Shock Theater" was on a UHF station very early on Sunday mornings. If I got up at sunrise, and kept the sound down very low, I could watch Frankenstein and The Mummy in secret!
One Sunday they showed The Maze. I don't remember much about it - but at the end there was a big frog that they tricked into jumping to its death. I was crushed.
I mourned for a week, and it still bothers me.
I have just ordered the film on DVD.
Maybe I'll get up early on a Sunday and watch it.

Summer School Church Camp.
My first ceramic project.
"Froggy" of course!

From early on "The Frog Prince" has held a fascination for me. My first favorite toy was a Frog Prince plush my mom bought for me with S&H Green Stamps at Sears when I was probably 3 years old.

My pal "Froggy" got pretty worn out with love. The last of his yellow felt crown is barely visible above his right eye.

He was my constant companion on family trips and hanging out in my room.