As an avowed enjoyer of the face of the Great Green Devil, I had to pick up this magnet a vendor was offering for sale at Gamehole Con. It now graces my refrigerator, alongside a couple of other RPG-related magnets. I wish I could recall the name of the vendor, because he was selling a lot of really great little souvenirs and tchotchkes like this one.
In any case, I'm still playing catch-up after my travels and, since I'm heading off to CleriCon this weekend – yes, another convention, but a local one this time – I've still got a lot of non-bloggy work on my plate. With luck, regular service will resume next week. Thanks for your patience.
I just looked through my (green cover) copy of S1 and there are no artist credits. However, there is a very small "DT" on the page of this art. David Trampier?
ReplyDeleteI always wonder when people make T-shirts, magnets, etc. of famous art if any of the royalties get back to the artist. In this case, of course, Trampier has passed but his estate.
Cool magnet!
For some reason that image says Erol Otus to me, but you're right, Tramp did it.
DeleteErol Otus did his own version of the Green Devil Face for the later green cover version of Tomb of Horrors, so I can understand the confusion.
DeleteThe face itself looks like a DAT face to me.
DeleteCompare, e.g., to the efreeti, cloud giant, and goblin illustrations in the AD&D 1e Monster Manual.
DeleteHope to meet you at CleriCon. Unfortunately I did not get in on our Dolmenwood table.
ReplyDeleteI'll be there all day. I'm playing a game in the afternoon session, so I'll be around.
DeleteAs an American who lived and worked in London over two decades ago, that also looks to me like the Green Man, which is nearly 1,000 years old.
ReplyDeleteAs you bring up good old Londinium :)
DeleteThe image (also) references the ancient Bocca della Verità ('Mouth of Truth') carving originally located in the area of Rome that housed temples to Hercules (as Victor over Cacus), as well as Fortuna Virilis, and which has a pretty bloody history (both animal slaughter, and human sacrifice). All rather apt considering both the design and play history of the Tomb adventure ;)
This Roman context nudged me to interpret the image along the lines of the Roman faun, described by Lucretius in De Rerum Natura as 'capripedes' '(goat-legged'). St Jerome used these as a symbol of Satan. While he may have been informed by the (rather 'chaotic') character of Greek satyrs as portrayed during the Hellenistic period (from about 330 BCE), the implication of such creatures with devils has an even more ancient history in Mesoptamian cultures.
Of course, like the Celts, the Greeks (including their Italian/Roman and Agean colonies), and some Near Eastern cultures all have versions of the same mythic creatures and divine pantheons, being branches of the proto-Indo-European diaspora (from about 4000 BCE).
Is there any evidence of Gygax's particular influences upon the iconography of the 'Green Devil Face'? (There is plenty to suggest he was generally familiar with this Classical history).
Cheerio, Matthew (Oxfordshire)
I don’t know man, magnets are like the gateway drug to t-shirts and other merch.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point! Thanks for the reminder.
Deletebumper stickers ... and window decals.
DeleteJames, who would have thought that after all these years, one of your most controversial posts remains "A Hobby Not A Uniform"?
DeleteI gave up trying to figure out what would upset people long ago.
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