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Best Of British: Comic Book Robots - A look at the comic book history of the UK through the eyes of robots. From Robot Archie and Brassneck, to the robots of 2000 AD and C+VG.
DC Comics 60s Hippy Hero: Brother Power The Geek - Lasting only two issues, Brother Power was a hero for the flower power generation. A peace and love raggedy-man with super-powers.
Fantomah: The First Kick-Ass Female Superhero - The first ever female superhero, the guardian of the jungle Fantomah. Flying around changing into an angry blonde haired skull creature.
Judgment Day! EC Comics Against Comic Code Racism - In 1956, controversial comic book publisher an allegorical short story about segregation in the USA. It would be their last.
Pocket Guide To China (1942): "How To Spot A Jap" Comic - A piece of WWII propaganda that's so bad, you wonder whether the top-brass were all on drugs when the authorised its release.
Punching Hitler: WWII Era Comic Book Covers - Comic books were in their infancy when WWII broke out, and it wasn't long before the industry joined the war effort in defeating the enemy.
Stan Lee Presents: The Mighty Marvel Comics Strength And Fitness Book - An odd little comic book from 1976, as the heroes of Marvel try to motivate kids into doing exercises.
Ten Worst Comic Book Superhero Movies - With the current vogue for churning out comic book superhero movie, a look back at some of the worst superhero movies of the past.
The Bug Hunters: The Forgotten 80s Comic Series - In the 1980s, the world's first ever dedicated video gaming magazine published a genius comic book serial, The Bug Hunters.
The Rapeman: The Weirdest Japanese Superhero?! - Originally a manga series in 1985, the bizarre anti-hero character of The Rapeman has spawned both an anime and movie series.
Tijuana Bibles: Comic Book Porn In Your Pocket - The salacious story of early underground comic books, generally known as Tijuana Bibles. Little 8-page, wallet sized piece of pornography.
Users Are Losers: A History Of Drugs In Comic Books - From the Weird Retro archive, a list of some of the best and worst of comic books about the dangers of drugs on the youth of America.
Copy-Cat Cinema: The Turkish Superman Movies - The crazy world of Turkish low-budget movies that attempted to copy Hollywood movies. We look at the many Superman variations.
Hype & Hysteria: The Gory Story Of Video Nasties - Early 80s UK, as home video machine became popular, there was moral outcry at the horror titles that were hitting the shelves.
Special Discretion Required: The Controversial Channel 4 Film Season - Between 1986 and 1987 Channel 4 screened the "red triangle" season of controversial films. Here's the list.
Stoned On Screen: Drugs In The Movies (Part 1) - Since the dawn of motion pictures, the portrayal of illegal drug use or references to drugs at all has been a controversial one in the United States.
Schlock-O-Rama: The Gimmicks Of William Castle - The king of the gimmick, Castle used outrageous ballyhoo and tricks to draw in audiences to see his hokum horror movies.
Stoned On Screen: Drugs In The Movies (Part 2) - A trip through the drug culture of cinema from the 1950s to the almost ubiquitous use of drugs in late 60s counter-culture cinema.
Ten Lovecraft Movies You May Not Know - There are plenty of movies out there that are based on or inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Here's a few that you many not of come across.
Tentacle Sex In The Movies - From Japanese historical drama, via Lovecraft inspired b-movie nonsense, to possession and alien abduction. A slip and slide through movie tentacle sex.
The Best Of The Worst Weird Christmas Movies - Let this be a warning to you. Clicking on this link means you are exposing yourself to some of the worst movies of all time. Happy Christmas!
The Greatest Film Never Made: Jodorowsky's Dune - One of the most influential sci-fi movies in history. Yet it was never brought to the screen.
The Naked Screen: Sex & Nudity In Cinema (Part 1) - Since the first movie cameras were cranked into action, sex & nudity has been a provocative subject for film-makers.
The Naked Screen: Sex & Nudity In Cinema (Part 2) - The 1930s saw the introduction of the Hays Code, which prohibited sex and nudity on screen, so film-makers had to get inventive.
Top Ten: Christmas Slasher Movies - A festive season sub-genre of the slasher movie genre. And one that in many ways started it all with 1974's Black Christmas.
Top Ten: Exploitation Cinema Documentaries - Weird Retro presents its Top Ten of the best documentaries about exploitation and Grindhouse cinema.
Top Ten: Freaky Frankenstein Movies - Bad art-house, B-movie cash-ins, comedies, blaxpolitation, horror and as much marvellously monstrous madness to satisfy everyone's Frankenstein needs.
Top Ten: Horror Of Movie Musicals - A bizarre countdown of some of the worst and the best of weird and way-out movie musicals based on the themes of horror and sci-fi.
Top Ten: Really Undervalued Robots - Side-lined by the more famous movie robots, we present a top ten of some of the most underrated robots in movie history. In my opinion anyway!
Top Ten: Weird Alice In Wonderland Movies - From the early days of silent cinema, via musical porn and surrealist European cinema to Japanese anime. We certainly ain't talking Disney here.
Where Have All the Midnight Movies Gone? - Midnight movies had their hey-day in the 70s, but what would be on your list of modern midnight movies? Take the Weird Retro survey!
Why Modern Extreme Cinema Has Nothing On European Arthouse - The most disturbing films ever made aren't from the new wave of Extreme Cinema, but old from European arthouse.
Yongary vs Pulgasari: The Korean Movie Monsters - The truly weird story of the movie monsters of North and South Korea.
Articles & ReviewsFighting Fantasy Books: Dice, Pencil & A Paperback Book - Before the Weird Wide Web and MMOGs, all kids had was an imagination a couple of dice, a pencil and a role-playing book.
Greenleaf: The Golden Age Of Erotic Novels - Back in the late 50s and into the 1970s, respected sci-fi writers wrote what have become cult classics of erotic pulp fiction under pseudonyms.
Henry Darger: In The Realms Of The Unreal - The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.
The Dial-A-Poem Poets - A New York City poetry project started in 1968, by poet John Giorno. It used the telephone system, to spread poetry recorded by poets and artists.
The Fantastically Surreal World Of Roland Topor - French surrealist writer and artist, more well known outside of France for his visual design of the cult animation Fantastic Planet (1973).
Voynich Manuscript: The Most Mysterious Book In The World - A bizarre 13th century manuscript that no-one has ever been able to decipher. Full of weird illustrations and strange text.
Weird Works Of Literature Most Will Never Read - There are works of literature whose infamy lies in insane length, or that they are just indecipherable to most mere mortals.
William S. Burroughs: The Junky's Christmas - A dark take of heroin addiction and redemption, in a short story my Burroughs. Later made into a short film produced by Francis Ford Coppola.
Who Goes There? Movies You May Not Know Where Based On Pulp Novels (Part 1) - There have been many movie adaptations of novels, but did you know of these weird ones?
Xyzzy Is The Magic Word: Adventures In Interactive Fiction - The story of the first ever adventure game, "Adventure", that spawned a new genre in gaming, and a new magic word.
New Hope - SerialisationNew Hope: Prologue - The serialisation of the novel New Hope. It's 1947, in small town USA, and the worst kind of tragedy is about to shatter the American Dream for one unsuspecting family.
New Hope: Part 1 - 1957 Pismo Beach, a small town boy with dreams of escape from the monotonous ebb and flow of life in small beach town on the California coast.
Short StoriesTen Foot Titans by Rich Sharp Wilson - Plastic guns and the long summer sun. Childhood memories of 'larking' out in Hull (northern England) in the 70s.
Weird Retro Exquisite Corpse Competition - The 1st Weird Retro short fiction writing competition. Exclusive prizes for all participants and an extra special one-off uber cool prize for the best piece.
A Haven For Devil Dolls - The unassuming looking house in a leafy Kentucky suburb, that is home to the world's largest collection of creepy ventriloquists dummies.
Bokor Hill Station: Holiday Resort, Torture Chamber & Movie Set - The story of the ghost town on a mountain top in Cambodia. Now lost to developers, but captured in the movie R-Point.
From A Single Stone, A Postman Built An Ideal Palace - The visionary outsider artist and postman, Ferdinand Chavel, who spent 33 years building his ideal palace, Le Palais idéal in France.
Las Pozas: The Surrealist Xanadu Of Edward James - Deep in the rainforests of Mexico exists a bizarre towering surrealist sculpture garden built by an eccentric Englishman.
Love Land: The South Korean Sex Theme Park - On the island of Jeju off the peninsula of South Korea is a bizarre sculpture park, full of giant pastel coloured sculptures of people having sex.
Monroeville: Mall Of The Dead - The biggest character in the cult zombie horror Dawn Of The Dead, the shopping mall, located just 10 miles east of Pittsburgh, PA.
Santa Theme Park In California - Sat in the mountains of Southern California, Santa's Village was the first ever franchised theme park. Opened in 1955, a month before Disneyland.
Shivering Sands Army Fort: The Pirate Radio City - In mid-60s Britain, pirate radio took to the seas. One radio station was established by eccentric shock rock singer Screaming Lord Sutch.
The Mystery Of The Toynbee Tiles - The weird tiles with cryptic messages, that have appeared embedded in roads and pavements around the world since the 1980s.
The Mystery Of The Wold Newton Meteorite - In 1795 a meteorite struck the earth near a hamlet in the county of Yorkshire, during a thunder storm. This is the "mysterious" truth behind it.
The Salton Sea & Slab City: Life, Death & Hope In The Badlands - A journey through the badlands of California, in search of the lost American Dream.
The Secret Nostalgic Seoul Of South Korea - The little eclectic toy museum buried away in the very heart of down-town Seoul.
The Winchester Mystery House - Like an Escher nightmare made real, a haunted house with an architecture that boggles the mind, and defies belief.
Top Ten Weird Places To Visit In The USA - A personal top ten of places past and present, that for one reason or another hold a weird fascination for me. What would you have on your list?
Zoro Gardens Nudist Colony - Between 1935 and 1936, at an exposition in Balboa Park, San Diego, two side-show promoters created a controversial nudist colony as a visitor attraction.
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80's Apple: Gift Catalogs, That Commercial, Yuppie Fashion & Matt Groening - Apple in the 80s, seen through its catalogs, brochures and that famous TV commercial. Interesting reading.
Bad Santa: 12 Creepy Christmas Clauses - From a drunk department store Santa to a happy hirsute hobo. We all love a dishevelled dude in a Santa suit.
Charley Says... Don't Do Stupid Shit Kids! - The British public information film series from the 1970s, in which Charley the cat warned kids not to do dumb stuff.
Cute Of Cthulhu: The Great Cuddly One - There's a wonderfully irreverent sub-culture of graphic designers and artists, that have played with the image of the Great Old One.
Elephant On Acid: Tusko Takes A Trip - The infamous and sad story of Tusko the elephant from Oklahoma Zoo , who in an experiment took a massive "trip" of LSD and died.
For The Love Of Ramen - A eulogy to the humble instant noodle. The history of ramen, and its iconic place in the culture of Japan and South Korea.
Freedom Of Satire: Hara Kiri To Charlie Hebdo - Our freedom of speech, is our freedom to offend. A very brief history of satire, and how the satirical magazine Hara Kiri became Charlie Hebdo!
Juden Raus! The Nasty Nazi-Era Board Game - Once called "History's most infamous board game", the story of the anti-Semitic board game that even the Nazis didn't like.
On Every Goth's Wish List: Vampire Killing Kits - Fake or not, vampire killing kits are a popular cultural phenomena that has spread across the Internet, selling for thousands.
Plastic Fantastic: Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes - The costume manufacturer that became a cultural icon, by printing pop culture characters on plastic sacks and cheap masks.
Psychological Warfare In The Korean War - During the Korean War, the use of leaflet drops as a propaganda tool was huge. An insight into what has since become a sophisticated science.
Randy Retro Robot Romeos - Redressing the romantic balance, with Weird Retro's romp through the Romeos of the robot world. For all the ladies who like a love-bot.
Sukeban: Japanese Girl Bosses & Girl Gangs - The phenomena of delinquent girl gangs in Japan and their representation in Japanese culture, particularly in Pinky violence movies.
The Dark Side Of European Christmas Traditions - Across Europe there are many dark and creepy figures associated with Christmas, whose folklore origins stem from pagan winter celebrations.
The Wreckers Of Western Civilisation: COUM Transmissions - The subversive avant-garde art collective, founded in Hull, that became Throbbing Gristle the industrial music pioneers.
They Fixed It For Jim To Sell Anything! - As a kid I knew there was something seriously creepy about Jimmy Savile. Yet he as used to sell all kinds of products and public services. Why was that?
Top Five Saturday Morning Kids TV Shows Featuring Classic Horror Monsters - Vintage Saturday morning shows featuring an ensemble cast of classic horror and B-movie characters.
Walt Disney's World War II Propaganda Films - During World War II the United States government turned to Walt Disney, to help boost the morale of the people.
Weird Toys Not To Be Found Under The Tree This Christmas - Before parents wrapped kids in cotton wool, and heeded recall warnings about dangerous toys. Things were much more fun!
A Journey Through Comic Book Addiction - I used to be a "comic book geek". I was addicted, I had hundreds of the things, all carefully bagged and boarded. This is my story...
Banned By Facebook - Boobs and bans! Falling foul of the notorious facebook nipple police. Self censoring and the furtively placed facebook logo.
Banned By Facebook: The Nipple Police Strike Again! - Weird Retro's facebook page and admins banned by facebook for posting a "link" to an article that featured nipples!!!
Halloween: The Hilarity And Horror Of The Holidays - A very American holiday, rooted in the pagan past of the British Isles, that the Brits are now beginning to embrace American style.
Sarcasm A Very British Revolution - The government is trying to detect your sarcasm on social media. Let the war on words begin.
Shop Till You Drop... Dead! - Is the zombie Apocalypse upon us? Is the virus dormant in us all, and it's inevitable that we are all destined to become "consumer zombies"?
Take Off That Christmas Jumper, It's Not Ironic You Just Look A Twat! - Tis' the season for usually sane people to blow money on clothing they will only wear once, in order to look like an idiot.
Those Toys You Wanted, And The Ones You Got!!! - Childhood dreams shattered by poor parental purchases.
Vintage Fairs: Just Over-Priced Jumble Sales - The vintage vultures are circling, picking off the last remnants of flesh from our consumer culture bones.
Where's The Jet-Pack I Was Promised As A Kid? - Taking stock of what sci-fi movies promised, and what technology actually delivered, in the year that Back To The Future 2 is set.
8-Bit Beethoven: Rob Hubbard - One of the most famous and prolific music composers of the 1980s. Yet little known outside of the world of computer gaming.
8-Bit Porn: Mystique And Their Atari 2600 Games - In the 80s a games company released the worst games of all time, while attempting at producing erotic games on an 8-bit console!
Banned 80s Arcade Game: Lover Boy - Bizarre doesn't even begin to cover this Pac-Man style vintage arcade game, that unbelievably featured rape as its central theme.
Bizarre Japanese Arcade Machines - Amongst the rows of Tekken machines and bubble gum photo booths in Japanese gaming arcades, are machine cabinets, that'll leave you dumbfounded.
Commodore 64 Vs. Spectrum - The great rivals of early home computing in the 80s, but which was the best computer? Weird Retro compares the two machines.
EarthBound: The Trippiest And Most Fucked-Up Cutesy RPG Ever! - The weird world of the SNES game from 1994. How it mirrored real world events, and created a nightmare.
Phantasmagoria: Vintage Gore In FMV! - The controversial survival horror adventure game, and one of the first games to use Full Motion Video. Or just a bad b-movie you had to play!
Shadow Of The Comet: Spot The Famous Actors Faces - The Lovecraftian based game from 1993, that used real actors images for its characters. Can you spot who they used?
The Creepy Legend Of The Arcade Game Polybius - The urban legend of the mind-altering arcade game designed as a covert black ops experiment, that appeared in Portland, Oregon.
The Horror Of Milton Bradley Board Games - We had a lot of Milton Bradley board games in our home as kids. It's only recently I realised how many of them were horror or fantasy related.
The Revolution Started Here: Beneath A Steel Sky - The "revolutionary" adventure game from a small software house in Hull, that went up against the big U.S. software houses, and kicked arse!
Top Ten: Weird, Wonderful And Wacky 80s Computer Games - The games that pushed the boundaries of 8-bit home computers, in both technology and all out weirdness.
Xmas Games: Festive Freebies & Christmas Cassettes - In the heady days of early home computing, magazines often gave away festive themed cassettes to get us in the holiday spirit.
You Must Defeat Sheng Long To Stand A Chance - One of the greatest hoaxes and most persistent mysteries in gaming history. The character of Sheng Long in the Street Fighter series.
Profiles & ReviewsA Band Called Death - The story of three brothers, in 1970s Detroit, at the height of Motown and rise of Disco, who formed the world's first black punk band... Possibly the world's first ever punk band.
Danger Music! Music Designed To Cause Pain - From conceptual art to viseral physical acts of destruction, Danger Music is a Dadaist genre of music that pushes boundaries.
H.P. Lovecraft: The Psychedelic Rock Band - The Lovecraft inspired psychedelic rock band from the late 1960s. They produced two eponymously titled albums in their short career.
Long Gone John: Sympathy For The Music Industry - The no nonsense and quirky independent record label that first released bands like The White Stripes and Hole.
The Devil And Daniel Johnston - A look at the outsider artist and musician, as famous for his battles with mental health as much as his moments of lo-fi musical genius.
The First Lord Of Horror Rock: Screaming Lord Sutch - Infamous horror rock musician, who had some of the greatest rock musicians in history pass through his backing band The Savages.
The Gerogerigegege: The Weirdest Band On The Planet? - The most outrageous Japanoise band in the world. Complete avant-garde insanity with no boundaries.
The Mystery Of Mingering Mike - The story of the discovery of the whole back catalog of an unknown soul super-star, and the mystery that surrounded the truth of their creation.
The Shaggs: The Worst All-Girl Band In The World Ever?! - The infamous 60s band made-up of sisters, that recorded the album, Philosophy Of The World, one of the worst albums ever made.
The Wilsons: Pizza Socks... A Song & Video In One Day - Lead by singer/song writer Xav, the Wilsons are a new band on the scene, but one to watch. Especially since Xav is only 3 years old.
Throbbing Gristle: Three chords? You Can Start A Band With No Chords! - Provocative pioneers of industrial noise music, formed from Hull based art collective COUM Transmissions.
Lists & BitsShortest And Longest Tracks In Music - The insane lengths some bands have gone to produce music that pushes the boundaries of time. From 1 second to almost infinity, it's all out there.
The Songs Of The Young Ones - The cult BBC TV comedy show, ran for 2 series and a total of 12 episodes. Each episode had a musical interlude, featuring bands and artists of the period.
The Sounds Of Silent Descent - The politics of silence. From avant-garde artistic statement to the silent voice of political descent, the hidden message of silent tracks on records.
Top Ten: Bands That Dress-Up In Weird Costumes - Since the beginning of rock music, costumes have been part of stage shows. But some bands have take it to weird extremes.
Weird Music Deaths: It's Not All About Drug Overdoses At 27 You Know! - A look at some of the weirdest deaths in music history. Gunshots, electrocutions, and suspicious circumstances.
Made In Hull: 8-Bit Beethoven: Rob Hubbard - Hull born and one of the most famous and prolific music composers of the 1980s. Yet little known outside of the world of computer gaming.
Made In Hull: TV & Films Based In Hull - Hull is being hailed as the place to come for film-crews, as part of the push as the 2017 city of culture. I look back at films and TV shows based in Hull.
One Hull Of A Story: Elephants In The City - The city of Hull has always been a unique and quirky place, on the edge of the world. This is one story of when they had elephants parading through it.
One Hull Of A Story: The Made-Up Major General - The story of one of Hull's famous eccentrics, the self-appointed American military Major General, who went to war against the city council.
One Hull Of A Story: The Oldest Sex Shop In Britain! - The notorious Gwenap adult shop in Hull, was thought to be the oldest sex shop in the UK, and possibly even in the world.
One Hull Of A Story: The Syphilitic Monks - Evidence that points to Hull being the epicentre of the Great Pox of the Middle Ages, syphilis! Pre-dating the Columbus theory by decades.
One Hull Of A Story: Venn You Are From Hull - One of Hull's famous sons, and inventor of the diagram named after him, John Venn. A fun look at the Venn diagram, Hull style.
One Hull Of A Trip: Time-Lapse Train Journeys - You don't have to be from Hull to appreciate this. Two brilliant and unusual time-lapse railway journeys. That should be played together.
Pattie Butties: The Food Of Kings, Made By Slappers! - Unique to the city of Hull, the humble yet glorious pattie. The inspirational snack food for generations of Hullies.
The Revolution Started Here: Beneath A Steel Sky - The "revolutionary" adventure game from a small software house in Hull, that went up against the big U.S. software houses, and kicked arse!
The Wilsons: Pizza Socks... A Song & Video In One Day - Lead by singer/song writer Xav, the Wilsons are a new band on the scene, but one to watch. Especially since Xav is only 3 years old.
The Wreckers Of Western Civilisation: COUM Transmissions - The subversive avant-garde art collective, founded in Hull, that became Throbbing Gristle the industrial music pioneers.
Throbbing Gristle: Three chords? You Can Start A Band With No Chords! - Provocative pioneers of industrial noise music, formed from Hull based art collective COUM Transmissions.
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