Silent horror comedy ala the 1970s

Grave Danger (1973)
Starring: Dan Formento, Leslie Donahue, Janice Shaw, and Mary Perry

Director: Craig Highberger

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A vampire (Formento) on the hunt for young women to drain of blood encounters a mortal (Donahue) who reminds him of a love he thought lost long ago. But is the world ready for a human/vampire love romance?

 

Fifty years ago, Craig Highberger rounded up a bunch of high school friends and their siblings and made "Grave Danger". For a film made entirely by teenagers, it is surprisingly good. In fact, it puts any number of low-budget horror films that came both before and after it, and which were usually made by vastly more experienced people than Highberger and his pals. Heck, the sequence where the vampire and the leading lady meet for the first time rivals stuff you might see from top-of-the-line directors. 

Half-assed research into what the various people involved with this film indicated that only Highberger went onto having any sort of career in media--and his appears to be a minor one at that. (This is too bad, because there was a lot of raw talent on display in this film.)

--

And now, a joke inspired by an event in "Grave Danger"...

Touch the Tits of Dracula!

(The chilling sequel to Taste the Blood of Dracula!)

'The Vampire'

The Vampire (2021)
Starring: Lucy Rose and Jennifer Forristal
Director: Brian Elliot
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A woman (Rose) is bitten by a vampire (Forristal), and she transforms from prey to hunter.

"The Vampire" is a short film that was made with the intention of capturing the feel of classic horror films such as "Seven Footprints to Satan" (1929), "Dracula" (1931) and "White Zombie" (1932). With the exception of the acting being a little too subdued at times, writer/director Brian Elliot and his cast did an excellent job at this.

Elliott applied some commonly used digital tricks to "age" the film, but he did not do so to excess (thankfully), so it's not intrusive. More importantly, though, is that he actually manages to capture the essense of those classic horror films he was emulating... and THAT is what makes efforts like this succeed! If this had just been another one of those flat gray films made black-and-white through no other effort but digital color desaturation and the application of the aforementioned "aging" effects, such as artificial scratches. Even better, Elliott includes a couple of sly references to the movies from which he drew his inspiration, such as the vampire doing the same odd hand-twisting gesture that Bela Lugosi did as Murder Legendre in "White Zombie". (This is one of my favorite moments in the film.)

If like the old horror films we focus on around here, you're going to to enjoy "The Vampire" and it's straight-to-the-point, three-chapter tale of a woman who goes from victim to vampire. We're equally certain that you'll find the Halloween Spirit stirring within you as you watch it! Go ahead and click below... then leave your opinions in the comments section to tell us how right or wrong we were!

If you like old vampire movies and great comics, you're going to love this book!

Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires (2005. Fantagraphics)
Story and Art: Richard Sala
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When a member of the Baby Sitters Club mysteriously disappears, Peculia is recruited by the remaining three girls to help with a special assignment that required all four members: The new family in Groon Grove have needs that require special attention... 

Richard Sala's reluctant monster-fighter returns for a full-length adventure in "Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires", and she once again find herself under threat when all she wanted to do was hang out with other teen girls and do some babysitting/caregiving. While Peculia may not have the fun experience she was hoping for, I think readers of this book who enjoy classic horror films and well-crafted comics will have a great time reading it. Sala once again delivers a deftly told tale that delivers chills and chuckles in equal measure.

"Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires" is a fun tribute to classic horror and vampire films, with nods to the greats from Universal Pictures during the 1940s and Hammer Films during the 1960s, as well as some familiar elements from 1980s slasher flicks. Sala had a love of and respect for these films, and it shows in his work. He was also one of an ever-diminishing crop of writers/artists who understood and had fully mastered the art of the comic book medium, knowing how to lay out a page to keep the reader's eye moving to what's important; knowing when to use a long shot, medium shot, or close up; and knowing how to pace a story one page at a time to encourage the reader to keep turning them to see what happens next. I feel like Sala did some of his best work on the Peculia stories in general and this book in particular. He uses a starker style than in many of his other works, with lots of contrasting solid whites and blacks that sometimes feel like woodcuts; and his scripts are more economical and done in style that harkens back to old-time newspaper comic strips where, supported by traditional visual cues that were also originated in the newspaper strips. While this is true of much of Sala's work from the early 1990s onward, it is most evident in the Peculia stories, I feel.

This approach--of letting the art speak for itself--heightens both the humor and horror in this book, making its best moments even better. And there are some really good moments in this book. 

Sala has some wonderful, wordless scenes featuring George, a young boy who is being baby-sat by one of the soon-to-be-vampire-victims. George fills the role of a comic relief character who spends the story running from horror scene to horror scene, but, who in the end plays a pivotal role in the success of the hero--a kind of character that was a mainstay of the 1940s horror films that served as part of Sala's inspiration here. Sala, however, does a much better job with George than many of the screenwriters did with such characters Back in the Day; George is cute and funny where the old-time comic relief characters were oftentimes more annoying than anything else.

Other highlights are Peculia's mostly silent fights against the vampires; she's always been a girl of few words, but this is more true here than in almost any of her previous appearances. Her silence alternatively makes the horror and humor of her various scenes far greater than it would have been if Sala had caused a quip or a cry to issue forth from her.

Few books are perfect, but the only major flaw I find with this the presentation of how Peculia dispatches two of the vampires. Sala plays a similar gag back-to-back, and I would have preferred a little more variety, or at least a little more distance between the two. (The first time he plays it, it unfolds over what are two of the very best pages in the book.. which could also be why it doesn't work as well the second time around.)

In balance, however, "Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires" is an excellent read that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys classic vampire movies and well-done graphic novels/comic books.

'Fangs' is a must-read

Fangs (Andrews McMeel. 2020)

Story and Art: Sarah Andersen

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

With "Fangs", Sarah Andersen solidifies her place among the modern masters of the comic strip format. She tells the tale of a unusual romance between Jimmy and Elsie, who just happen to be a werewolf and a vampire, through 96 pages of stand-alone strips and illustrations, some of which add up to multi-page arcs, but all of which stand perfectly fine on their own.

Andersen is known to most for her long-running "Sarah's Scribbles" strip, and those readers may be surprised by the very different art- and storytelling style in "Fangs". Instead of the scratchy, bug-eyed, squat cartoon characters from Andersen's other series, this strip features smooth lines and handsomely drawn people and animals; and instead of cutting, self-deprecating observational humor, we instead get situational- and relationship-based jokes and comic situations arising from characters that conform to the pop-culture concepts of werewolves and vampires falling in love and making a life together.

In addition to the attractive art, "Fangs" succeeds because Jimmy and Elsie are both very likable characters. They are so charming and cute that after the opening series of strips showing how they met, you will spend the rest of the book enjoying their sweet and sometimes awkward romance and rooting for them to overcome obstacles and be happy together.

But this is still a book about "monsters" in love, so some of the humor gets dark and there's an occasional dangerous edge  visible in  how the lovers are portrayed. This is especially true of Elsie-- although she is now "vegan" and relies on bloodbanks instead of hunting humans for her sustenance, there are several episodes where you have the sense that she could easily "fall of the wagon". Meanwhile, there's a sense that Jimmy is something of a hippy among werewolves...

Not all the gags in fangs come off effectively, among these are a few that would be perfect if animated but fall flat in the comic strip format, but each strip is cute, funny, touching, and always entertaining. The single page illustrations scattered throughout the book are also very well crafted and add value instead of feeling like filler by moments scenes that either shed light on some aspect of Elsie or Jimmy's personality or on their relationship. The drawing of Jimmy meditating and the one of Elsie getting 

Another bit of "added value" is the physical quality of the book. It's a pretty little hardcover that's deep deep red in color with a simple drawing of Elsie on the cover. It looks more like a collection of poetry or a diary than a collection of comic strips. This means you can get get away with reading it almost anywhere, and you won't have to worry about people looking down their noses at you. And you should read it. Order your copy now!

Coming Soon: 'Fangs' by Sarah Andersen

Cartoonist and writer Sarah Andersen is best known for her zany "Sarah's Scribbles" strips, which detail a nerdy, introverted young woman trying to make her way through life. However, she has also created "Fangs", a series which is equal parts silly, sweet, and sexy... as well as even a little spooky at times.

"Fangs" tells the story of a vampire and a werewolf who meet and fall in love. It chronicles the ups and downs of their relationship, as they navigate the difficulties of being both the perfect fit for each other, but also very different individuals.

The pacing of the book is among the many reasons I think this is a great piece of work. The sample pages I read felt like the best newspaper strips of the old days, in the sense that each page is a tiny story unto itself that ends with a gag or a smile-inducing touching moment but they all add up to a larger story that unfolds as you read them in order. (This is not surprising, I suppose, since "Fangs" began life as a web-series back in 2019... so Andersen is just solidifying her place among the masters of the comic strip format.)

"Fangs" will be released in hardcover in September of 2020 through Andrews/McMeel Publishing. You can click here to read a little more about it. (Me, I've already pre-ordered by copy from Amazon, so you can expect a full review in these parts when the Halloween Season rolls around.)

'The Vampire's Ghost' stumbles at the end

The Vampire's Ghost (1945)
Starring: John Abbott, Charles Gordon, Grant Withers, Peggy Stewart, Adele Mara, Roy Barcroft, Martin Wilkins, and Emmett Vogan
Director: Lesley Selander
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An isolated trading post in Africa becomes the latest hunting ground of a world-weary vampire (Abbott).

"The Vampire's Ghost" is an interesting film that I think managed to transcend its quick-cash-grab roots. According to an interview given by screenwriter Leigh Brackett, this production was launched in response to Universal's successful revival of its 1930s horror characters--the Mummy, Dracula, and Frankenstein--and the popularity of their new kid, the Wolf Man. Tone- and style-wise, the film occupies a middle-ground between Val Lewton's atmospheric, psychological chillers from RKO and the pulp-fictiony, supernatural dramas of Universal's monster revivals.

Long-time horror fans will enjoy this movie for its unusual African setting and its swirling mix of European vampire lore and more "exotic" superstitions and beliefs. Fans with a narrower love of vampire movies will appreciate the villain of the story, the vampire Webb Fallon, is portrayed with more personality and a different flavor than is typical of films from this period. While Fallon is indisputably a monster, his main defining characteristic is not cartoonish, cape-swirling menace but rather a sort of jaded fatigue at having seen everything that's unfolding around him happen dozens upon dozens of times in the past. From his casually telling the hero where to look for information on how to destroy a vampire, to the air of resignation when he discovers attempts to take advantage of him and thus he feels obligated to exact revenge.

The supporting characters are mostly the stock figures you'd expect in a film like this, with a fairly bland young couple (Charles Gordon and Peggy Stewart) targeted as victims of the vampire, superstitious locals (foremost among these portrayed by Martin Wilkins), a devout cleric who is key to defeating the monster (Grant Withers), and so on. These stock characters are borrowed both from the standard gothic vampire story and from the jungle action/adventure tales that usually take place in this film's setting... but, as with the character of Webb Fallon, there are a few touches that allow them to be more interesting than what they might otherwise have been. It also helps that they are all portrayed by excellent actors. I've so far failed to mention Adele Mara who brings some random (and slightly goofy) sexiness to the picture while also, ultimately portraying one of the films more sympathetic characters, because jealousy plus a lack of understanding of what Webb Fallon truly is gets her into a whole lot of trouble.

Another fascinating aspect of the film is the notion that a vampire is weak in the presence of the power of God--whether a believer is waving religious symbol in its face or not. One of the more enjoyable scenes in the whole film is watching Fallon dealing with the devout Father Gilcrist and how simply being touched by him, and being in his general vicinity, drains Fallon's energy.

Unfortunately, this mostly interesting movie loses its way during its climax and ultimately ends on a disappointing, somewhat hollow ending where Webb Fallon dies off camera (while delivering a line that's  clearly looped from a scene earlier in the film) and some plot-threads that were set up very dramatically are left dangling without resolution. The botched ending cost the film a full star on my 0-10 star rating scale.

If you like classic horror movies, I think you'll mostly enjoy "The Vampire's Ghost". It really is an interesting and well-done film up to final minutes.

Halloween is coming...

... and Norm Breyfogle provides some portraits of heroes fighting to stem the tide of monster attacks!

'Billy Joe Van Helsing, Redneck Vampire Hunter' feels distressingly fresh

I recently looked in some boxes that have been sitting untouched for years. Inside were comic books that haven't been looked at since I read them 20-30 years ago. Many of them are black-and-white comics, which, although I grew up reading comics in that format overseas, were something unusual and noteworthy in the US comics industry during the 1980s through the mid-1990s.  I'm going to be writing about some of them here at "Shades of Gray""... some of them quite obscure. (As with all posts, click on the illustrations to see larger versions.)

Billy Joe Van Helsing, 
Redneck Vampire Hunter #1
Writers: Bill Kieffer, with Joe Migliore
Artists: Joe Paradise, Rob Hawkins, Donna Franklin, Tad Ghostal, John Skikus, Robert Roman, and Debbie David
Covers: Fred Harper (front), James Hopkins (back)
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

In 1994, Maine-based publisher Alpha Productions published the first (and only) issue of "Billy Joe Van Helsing, Redneck Vampire Hunter" It's a 32-page anthology title that satirized horror, politics of both the left-wing and right-wing variety, comics fan culture, and Stars-and-Bars-waving, beer-drinking rednecks. The title character is a Southern good ole boy who's carrying on the family business of vampire hunting. What's most fascinating to me about the book is how much of the humor holds up, nearly 25 years later.

"Billy Joe Van Helsing, Redneck Vampire Hunter" #1 contains four stories of varying lengths and three pin-ups. The primary artist is Joe Paradise, who had a hand as penciler, inker (or both) in three of the stories. All the stories were written by Bill Keiffer.

The tone of the book is blunt and sophomoric, and it seems pretty evenhanded in its mockery of both political wings. The stereotypes being played with are exactly the ones you see today when Left and Right conjure cartoonish insults of each other... and this goes for the spoofing of comics fans as well (which takes place when Billy Joe goes to a comic book convention).

The featured stories are "Here Comes Billy Joe Van Helsing, Redneck Vampire Hunter" which introduces us to our hero and his girl Maxi... although in this story, he is trying to convince her that she's made a terrible choice is dumping him for a guy who is not only a vampire but a (gasp) liberal; "The Devil and David Duke" where our hero sets aside his distaste for the KKK and its leaders like Duke to destroy a vampire who may become the next Vice President of the United States since he's Duke's running mate; "Horror of the South" where a quiet evening at home with Maxi turns awkward when her sister shows up to visit; "Li'L Billy Joe", a one-pager which spoofs the Hostess Fruit Pie ads that us Gen Xers read growing up; and "Southern Discomfort" in which Billy Joe goes to a comics convention and meets The Grad, a character from Alpha anthology series"Lethargic Comics." (That series ran 14 issues, from 1994 to 1996.)

Billy Joe Meets Klansman David Duke. 

Billy Joe goes to a ComiCon and meets the Grad

To my eye, the art and writing in this comic book is the low-end of average for what was typical in a small-press comic during the mid-1990s. Therefore, I think it's probably more reflective of the sad state of American pop culture and politics that the humor in "Billy Joe Van Helsing, Redneck Vampire Hunter" #1 holds up so well than any particular genius on the part of writer Bill Kieffer. We like to pat ourselves on the back and gladhand those who share our views, and pretend that we're better people than we were 25 years ago, but as soon as we spot someone who's not in lockstep with us culturally and politically, out come the same invective stereotypes and bigoted slurs. Every decent American agrees the likes of David Duke are scumbags, and that he and those like him on the contemporary stage should be mocked and sneered at, we also agree that it's A-Okay to toss around fat-jokes, sexist jokes, gay jokes, and stupid-Southerner-jokes so long as we are deploying them against those bad people over there who don't agree with us.

That said, no one but hardcore Gen X comics fans will know what a "Marvel Zombie" is. Am I right?

One of the Billy Joe Van Helsing pin-ups.

Countdown to Halloween: 20 Days to Go!

It's horror-themed Wonder Woman Wednesday (with special guest star Wonder Girl)!

By Rene Micheletti

By John Byrne

By Aaron Lopresti

'Monster Monster' with art by Pablo Marcosfrom NUELOW Games

NUELOW Games's Monster, Monster is series of books featuring horror comics illustrated by Pablo Marcos and RPG content for D&D Fifth Edition by Andrew Pavlides. Each book focuses on a different monster, and the main creators are joined by a different "guest star" contributor in each book. This post provides overviews of all three. (I edited all three, so that's partly why I'm plugging them here--yep, there's a little self-promotion action going on. Plus, if you're not familiar with the great Pablo Marcos, any one of the Monster, Monster books is a chance to become so,)

In Monster, Monster: Soul Drinkers, Pablo Marcos brings life to a script by the great Marv Wolfman, who wrote Marvel's legendary Tomb of Dracula series. Andrew Pavlides then used that quirky tale of gothic horror as inspiration for two all-new D&D monsters: The Soul Drinkers, a one-time mortals who traded their humanity for ageless beauty and an eternal hunger for souls; and the Soul Bereft, the twisted, monstrous husks that remain after a soul drinker is done with their victims. Several variants of each type of creature is included, as well as adventure seeds to help GMs include them in campaigns. Here's the first page of Wolfman & Marcos's horror tale as a preview:

Next up, we have Monster, Monster: Werewolves. The story included here--one of a werewolf who ends his childhood tormentors in a brutal fashion under the full moon--was written by Augustine Funnel. Pavlides provides a number of werewolf variants to spice up your horror adventures. Here's the first page of that story.

And, just released this week, there's Monster, Monster: Vampires. This latest entry in the series is bigger than both previous entries combined, with Marcos illustrating two tales from writer Ed Fedory, and Steve Miller (one-time contributor to TSR/Wizards of the Coast's celebrated Ravenloft gothic horror roleplaying game line) joining  Pavlides to provide vampire variants and adventure seeds.

In addition to the powerful artwork by Pablo Marcos, the books feature spot illustrations and pin-ups in the game sections by Robert Martin, Larry Elmore, Ricardo Villamonte, and others. The books are available in electronic format from RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, and DriveThruComics. You can see further previews of each volume at those sites.

Readers familiar with classic horror comics may recognize some of the pages above. The stories included in the Monster, Monster series all originally appeared in magazines published by Skywald during the mid-1970s. Some have undergone a number of editorial changes, however.

The Adventures of Larry Talbot, Wolfman

In the 1940s, the Wolf Man was something of a poor stepchild among the Universal Monsters, sharing his sequels with Frankenstein, Dracula, and even Abbott & Costello. Even Universal Pictures' Legacy Collection DVD series gave him short shrift: His films weren't even included in the set bearing his name, but instead spread across three Legacy Collections. Only the original film and the first Wolf Man sequel ("Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man") are included in the set where they properly belong while the others are in "Dracula: The Legacy Collection" ("House of Dracula") and "Frankenstein: The Legacy Collection" ("House of Frankenstein").

This post reviews all the classic Wolf Man pictures--films that established the rules for cinematic werewolves that would be followed the world over for decades afterwards. They also started the "monster mash" tradition of pictures pairing werewolves, vampires, and other creatures that go bump in the night in the same picture. The films are a little uneven in quality at times, with at least one of them being butchered in post-production, but they are among the most solid of Universal's horror efforts during the 1940s, and they show Lon Chaney Jr. at his best.


The Wolf Man (1941)
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya, Warren William, and Bela Lugosi
Director: George Waggner
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Engineer Larry Talbot (Chaney) returns to his ancestral home and reconnects with his roots... only to be bitten by a werewolf and find himself cursed. Will he manage to find a cure for a malady that no one in the modern world believes in before he kills someone he loves?


"The Wolf Man" isn't the first werewolf movie--I think that was Universal's "Werewolf of London"--but it's the one that brought werewolves firmly into pop culture, and most every other film, novel, or comic book that's followed in the 65+ years since its release owes one thing or another to it. In fact, there are a numer of elements that are now taken as "fact" about werewolf legends that didn't exist until the writer of "The Wolf Man" made them up.

Interestingly, this really isn't that good a movie. It's sloppily edited--leading to characters entering through the same door twice within a few seconds and other glitches--and the script shows signs of only partially implimented rewrites that gives the flm a slightly schizophrenic quality and that causes characters to seemingly forget key plot elements as the story unfolds. (The biggest one; Larry's given an amulet that will supposedly suppress his transformation, an amulet he gives to a lady friend when he thinks the werewolf stuff is a bunch of hooey. Later, though, he seems to have totally forgotten the purpose of the amulet. And let's not even consider the bad script-induced callousness of our heroine, Gwen, who cheerfully goes on a date the night after a good friend is mysteriously murdered in the woods.)

However, what flaws this movie possesses are rendered insignificant thanks to an amazing performance by Lon Chaney Jr. as the tortured werewolf, Larry Talbot. "The Wolf Man" is one of those rare movies where a single actor manages to lift a weak film to the level of a classic. Although he's assisted by a supporting cast that is a veritable who's-who of 1930s and 1940s genre films, and the set designers and dressers went all out, this is truly it is Lon Chaney Jr's movie. It might even be the brightest moment of his entire career.

Chaney plays a decent man who becomes a monster through no fault of his own, and who is horrified by the acts he commits while he is the wolf man. This makes Larry Talbot unique among all the various monsters in the Universal horror picutres of the 1930s and 1940s, and Chaney makes the character even more remarkable by playing him as one of the most likeable (if a bit smarmy when it comes to the ladies) characters in any of the classic horror films. This likeability makes Chaney's performance even more powerful and causes the viewer to feel even more deeper for Larry when he experiences the grief, helplessness, and terror when he realizes that he is a murderer and the victim of a supernatural affliction that his modern, rational mind can't even begin to comprehend.

There are other good performances in the film, and they too help make up for the weak script. Most noteworthy among these is Maria Ouspenskaya who plays a gypsy wise-woman. Ouspenskaya delivers her magic incantations and werewolf lore with such conviction that it's easy to see why they've become the accepted "facts" of werewolves. (This may also be the first film where gypsies became firmly associated with werewolves.)

Although flawed, "The Wolf Man" is a cornerstone of modern popular horror, and it's well-deserving of its status as a classic. It should be seen by lovers of classic horror pictures (Lon Chaney Jr. deserves to be remembered for this film and it's required viewing for any self-respecting fan of werewolf films and literature.


Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Steve's Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Starring: Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Patric Knowles, Ilona Massey, Maria Ouspenskaya, Lionel Atwill and Bela Lugosi
Director: Roy William Neill
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

When grave robbers disturb Larry Talbot's tomb, the unwilling werewolf (Chaney) awakens to the discovery that not only is he cursed to become a beast under the full moon, but he is immortal. With the help of Maleva (Ouspenskaya), a gypsy wise-woman, he seeks out Dr. Frankenstein, the premiere expert on life, death, and immortality... because if anyone can find a way to bring death to an immortal, it's Dr. Frankenstein. Will Larry find peace, or will Frankenstein's experiments bring more horror and destruction to the world?


"Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" is a direct sequel to both "The Wolf Man" and "Ghost of Frankenstein". It's the first time two legendary horror creatures meet... and without this film, we'd probably never have been treated to "Freddy vs. Jason" or "Alien vs. Predator" or "Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Dracula".

Unlike most of Universal's movies during the 1940s, I appreciate the fact that the creatives and executives at Universal are paying some attention to the continuity of prior Frankenstein films and "The Wolf Man", but there's still plenty of sloppiness and bad storytelling to remind us that this is a Universal film from the 1940s. (Like the werewolf mysteriously changing from pajamas into his dark shirt and pants when transformed, and then changing back into his pajamas as be becomes Larry Talbot again. Or the bizarre forgetfulness of the townspeople who drive Larry and his gypsy friend away, but who don't bat an eye when Larry is later invited to the town's wiine festival and the mayor's guest and date for Baroness Frankenstein (Massey), the granddaugher of the original monster-maker. Maybe the fact that Larry's wearing a suit and tie when he returns fooled them!)

The movie starts out strong, however. The grave-robbing and the wolf man's ressurection scene are spine-chilling. Chaney once again effectively conveys Talbot's mental anguish during the scenes where he is confined to a hospital and recovering from the supposedly fatal headwounds he receieved at the end of "The Wolf Man" (apparently, a werewolf's wounds don't heal while he's supposedly dead and piled high with wolf's bane). It looks like we're in for a thrilling chiller that's going to be better than the original film...

But then the action moves to Switzerland and things start to go wrong.

Although a seemingly endless musical number at the village wine festival is the low point, the inexplicable transformation of a level-headed medical man (Knowles) hoping to help cure Talbot of what he perceives to be a homocidal mania to crazed Frankenstein-wannabe, the seemingly laughable arm-waving performance of the Frankenstein Monster by Bela Lugosi--because Larry simply can't just leave him sleeping in his ice cave--and an ending so abbrupt that it feels like something's missing, all drag the film down to a level of crapitude that almost manages to make the viewer forget about the very excellent first half.

I don't know what went wrong with this film, but I suspect that it was decided at an executive level at Universal that the monster movies were going to be targeted at kids. It's the only explanation that makes sense of the deterioation from mature, well-developed films like "Frankenstein" and "The Mummy" to the mostly slap-dash stuff found in the movies featuring Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Mummy for the rest of the 1940s.

My guess is that someone, somewhere, made a decision to shorten this movie and make it more accessible for kids by simplifying it. According to several sources, this film suffered more than average from butchery in the editing room where all of Lugosi's lines were deleted from the soundtrack and key scenes were cut out, such as the one where it's revealed that the Monster is still blind from the partially botched brain transplant in "Ghost of Frankenstein". This detail explains why Lugosi is stumbling about with with his arms outstretched and is seen pawing strangely at items while Larry Talbot is searching for Dr. Frankenstein's records. Lugosi's performance goes from laughably stupid to perfectly decent when one understands what he was doing. (The original screen writer says that the editing was done was test audiences thought the monster was funny when speaking with Lugosi's accent and that this is why the second half of the film was so heavilly edited. That sounds reasonable, but only if one ignores the overall direction the Universal horror movies were heading in. And the shockingly badly handled, abrubt ending. And the dangling plot threads... where DOES Maleva vanish to?)

But, a film can only be judged by what's there on the screen. While the editing left the flim shorter and more straight-forward, it also resulted in very important plot-points and probably even mood-establishing scenes and elements being slashed out. We also have a movie where Frankenstein's Monster once again has very little to do (as was the case in "Son of Frankenstein"), And, ultimately, we're left with a movie that is both remarkable for its being the first meeting of two great cinematic monsters, but also for being a clear point at which to say that this is where the reign of Universal as king of horror films ended.

"Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" isn't a truly terrible movie. It's just rendered dissapointingly mediocre by its second half, and it just manages to earn a Six rating.


House of Frankenstein (1944)
Starring: Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr, J. Carroll Naish, John Carradine and George Zucco
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

After escaping from prison, mad scientist Gustav Niemann (Karloff) sets out to gain revenge on those who helped imprison him, and to find the notes of the legendary Dr. Frankenstein so he can perfect his research. Along the way, he accidentially awakens Dracula (Carradine) and recruits him to his cause, as well as uncovers the frozen bodies of Frankenstein's Monster and Larry Talbot, the unfortunate wolfman (Chaney) and and revives them. Cue the torch-wielding peasant mob.


"House of Frankenstein" kinda-sorta picks up where "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" picked up, although the method of survival for the monsters is a bit dodgey, with Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man having both been frozen in a glacier so they could be revived for this film.

"House of Frankenstein" unfolds in a very episodic way, with the part of the film involving Dracula feeling very disconnected from what comes before and what comes after. The main storyline sees Karloff's mad doctor questing for revenge while preparing to prove himself a better master of brain-transplanting techniques than Frankenstein, and the growing threat to his cause by his repeated snubbing of his murderous assistant (Naish). The whole bit with Dracula could easily be left out, and the film may have been stronger for it.

This is a very silly movie that is basically a parade of gothic horror cliches--I thought maybe I was having some sort of hallucinatory flashback to my days writing for the "Ravenloft" line--but it moves at a quick pace, and it features a great collection of actors, has a nifty musical score, and features great sets once the story moves to the ruins of Castle Frankenstein.

"House of Dracula" is one of the lesser Universal Monster movies--it's not rock-bottom like the mummy films with Lon Chaney, but it's almost there. The film is, to a large degree, elevated by the top-notch performances from Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr, and they're almost too good for this film.


House of Dracula (aka "The Wolf Man's Cure")
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Onslow Stevens, John Carradine, Lionel Atwill, Martha O'Driscoll, Jane Adams, and Glenn Strange
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Unwilling, immortal werewolf Larry Talbot (Chaney) seeks out Dr. Edelman (Stevens), hoping the doctor's cutting edge therapies will cure his affliction. Unfortunately, the doctor's other patient, Count Dracula (Carradine), endangers this hope when he out of pure malice afflicts Edelman with a condition that causes him to become a violent madman at night. It is during one of these fits that Edelman revives Frankenstein's Monster (Strange), which has been dormant in his lab since it was recovered from mud-floes under Edelman's castle.

"House of Dracula" was the third sequel to "The Wolf Man" and "Dracula" and the fifth sequel to "Frankenstein"... and it was the next-to-last stop for all three of the characters as Universal's decade-and-half long horror ride came to an end. nearly the last stop for Universal's original monsters, and it is something of a high note when compared to other Universal horror films from around the same time, even the one to which this is a sequel, "House of Frankenstein" with Boris Karloff.

The script in "House of Dracula" is stronger and more coherent than "House of Frankenstein". The effort at maintaining continuity with other films featuring the character of the Wolf Man are in evidence here, and they are greatly appreciated by this continuity geek. Also, all the various monster characters each get their moment to shine--unlike in "House of Frankenstein" where Dracula was completely superflous to the storyline and whose presense was little more than a marquee-grabbing cameo.

In this film, Dracula is the well-spring of evil from which the plot flows. Although he supposedly comes to Dr. Edelman seeking release from vampirism and his eternal life, he is either too evil or too stupid to control his desires for Edelman's beautfiful nurse (O'Driscoll). He gets his just desserts, but not before he guarentees that every brave and goodhearted character in the film is set on a path of destruction.

The climactic scenes of this film, as the insane Dr. Edelman and Frankenstein's Monster go on homicidal rampages, feature some very, sudden, casual, and matter-of-fact brutality. (I can't go into details without spoiling the plot, but two main characters are dispatched with such swift and surprisingly brutal fashion that modern-day horror filmmakers should take a look at the final minutes of "House of Dracula" and attempt to learn some lessons from them.)

And then there's Larry Talbot. The role of the wolf man in this story is the meatiest since the character's debut in "The Wolf Man". Although he still doesn't get to have the stage to himself, and he is once again a secondary character--the main character of "House of Dracula" is the unfortunate Dr. Edelman--he has some great moments... like his suicide attempt and his discovery of the dormant Frankenstein's Monster.

Acting-wise, this is also one of the better than many other Universal horror films of the period. This is partly due to a superior script that features a story that actually flows with some degree of logic and where the actors have some fairly decent lines to deliever.

Lon Chaney Jr. does his usual excellent job as Larry Talbot, but Onslow also shines as a scientific genius who's a little less mad than the standard in a movie like this (well, at least until Dracula is done with him).


John Carradine performs decently, but I simply can't buy him as Dracula. Even in his younger years, he had the look of a burned-out, alcoholic bum, and the lighting and make-up in this feature strengthen that look as far as I'm concerned. While miscast, he does a decent job.

Lionel Atwill is also on hand for another fine supporting role. The part is similar to the one he played in "Son of Frankenstein", but the role is even more interesting, as he's the voice of reason in a town that is otherwise inhabited by villagers whose favorite pastime seems to be grabbing torches and storming the castle.

When all things are taken into account, this is perhaps the best of Universal's original Wolf Man films, and it was a fitting send-off for poor Larry Talbot, as well as Frankenstein's Monster and Dracula.

But... there would be one last bow for Larry and his eternal foes.



Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Lenore Aubert and Bela Lugosi
Director: Charles Barton
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The reluctant Wolf Man, Larry Talbot (Chaney) learns that Dracula (Lugosi) intends to revive Frankenstein's Monster and use it as his personal super-soldier. He pursues the evil vampire lord to the United States where he finds his only allies to be Wilbur and Chick (Costello and Abbott), a couple of less-than-bright shipping clerks. Unfortunately, Dracula as an ally of his own--mad scientist femme fatale Dr. Sandra Mornay (Aubert), and she has Wilbur wrapped around her little finger. Little does Wilbur know that his girlfriend doesn't love him for his mind but rather his brain... she intends to do Dracula's bidding and transplant into the rejuvinated monster!


"Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" is a wild screwball comedy with the two master comedians doing their usual routines within the framework of a solid script and a story that's actually pretty logical in its own crazy way. I think it's the first fusion of comedy and monsters, and one reason it works so well is that the monsters are played straight. Even when they are involved in funny schtick (Dracula and the Wolf Man are both part of several routines), they remain as they were featured in the serious monster movies they were in. Of course, one shouldn't ask how or why Larry was once again cursed (given his cure at the end of "House of Dracula,") but otherwise the monsters are all consistent with previous films.

Too often, I hear this film written off as Universal's last and crassest attempt to wring some dollars out of their tired monster franchise. While that may be all the studio bosses had in mind, the creators involved with "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" managed to make a great movie that is still worth watching today. It's even superior to many of Universal's "straight" movies with Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolf Man (or, for that matter, countless recent so-called horror films). Much of its strength grows from the fact that has a plot that with some tweaking could be a straight horror movie.

I recommend this underappreciated film to any lover of the classic monster films, as well as lovers of slapstick comedy.

Vincent Price is 'The Last Man on Earth'

The Last Man on Earth (aka "The Night Creatures", "Wind of Death", and "Night People") (1964)
Starring: Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart
Director: Sidney Salkow (or Ubaldo Ragona, depending on the source)
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Dr. Robert Morgan (Price) spends three lonely years battling undead monsters after a mysterious plague that kills most people while causing others to rise as vampires sweeps the world. He starts to uncover signs that someone else is battling the vampires, and soon afterwards he meets Ruth (Bettoia), a fellow survivor. But is Ruth what she seems, or are the vampires getting smarter and is she part of an elaborate trap?


"The Last Man on Earth" is a fantastic horror film. It is creepy up to the very last moment, and it creates its sense of horror, dread, and even sorrow without resorting to gory violence or even obscenity.

Price is excellent in a rare part as someone who is a thoroughly sympathetic character who does everything in the film with the very best of intentions. The supporting cast are okay, but they are really just there for Price to play off.

This is a movie that's well worth the time it'll take you to see it... and it's a movie that all those oh-so-clever filmmakers out there who are churning out horror and suspense films with lame (and even movie-destroying) twist endings need to see. "The Last Man on Earth" offers a twist and then a twist on that twist, and both make the movie a stronger story.

Reviews of Classic Vampirella

For over 15 years, Harris Publishing has struggled to restore the classic icon of horror in comics, Vampirella, to the pinnacle of glory she acheived in the late 1960s and 1970s. There have been glimmers of genius in their efforts, but they've mostly been dissapointing. It seems like none of the modern writers have been able to capture what made the original comics so cool and fun. (Nor have any of the modern artists been able to match the glory of the art.)

In this post, I review four graphic novel collections that Harris has produced of the original Vampirella tales. Some of them are still available from the publisher at www.vampirella.com, but they are, sadly, mostly out of print.

Still... all hail the boot-wearing, alien vampiress with the impossibly skimpy costume! Theses books are some of the best Halloween reading you'll ever lay eyes upon, as they are brimming with vampires, witches, zombies, and demons. Even Dracula himself puts in several appearances!

(Among the illustrations are some of my favorite Vampirella portraits over the years, with the Dave Stevens illo at the top being my all-time favorite. It originally appeared on the back cover of "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos".)


Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artists: Tom Sutton and Jose Gonzalez
Rating: Nine of Ten of Stars

In the late 1960s, magazine publisher Warren introduced "Vampirella Magazine", an anthology series presenting horror comics with a "mature" flavor that was hosted by a vampire vixen who ware an impossibly skimpy one-piece bathing suit and high-heeled boots.

In fairly short order, however, one of the most talented creators to ever work in comic books--Archie Goodwin--took the character to center stage, developed a supporting cast of friends and foes and put down a foundation that other creators have been building on for nearly 40 years.

"Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos" is a paperback that was produced by Harris Comics in the early 1990s, shortly after they acquired the publishing rights for the Vampirella comics. It contains the early Archie Goodwin stories that chronicle Vampirella's first serious adventures. First, we have her initial encounter with the adherents of the Cult of Chaos and the introduction of her loyal companion Pendragon, as illustrated by Tom Sutton in some of his earliest professional work. The art's a bit rough around the edges, but the future hights his talent will soar to is still evident. Then, as Vampirella's struggles against the Cult continue and she finds herself persued by blind psychic and vampire hunter (and future ally) Conrad Van Helsing, the art chores are taken over by Jose Gonzales, the artist who is most closely associated with the Vampirella character. The art is postively amazing, and the stories also get stronger as Goodwin perfects a forumla that mixes equal parts of humor, horror, and B-movie style sci-fi as Vampirella squares off against angels of death, lycanthropes, zombie-masters, love-sick sea demons, and even the strip's unique take on the vampire of vampire, Count Dracula.

Lovers of B-movies, quality comics, and sexy women in outfits that can't possibly exist outside of comics (or only if the wearer has lots of spirit-gum applied to her breasts and moves very, very carefully) shold seek out a copy of this book. (All joking aside, the tales contained in the pages of "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos" truly are classic examples of high-quality comic book story telling.)

Vampirella: Transcending Time & Space
Writers: T. Casey Brennan and Steve Engelhart
Artist: Jose Gonzalez (cover by Dave Stevens)
Steve's Rating: Ten of Ten Stars

"Vampirella: Transcending Time & Space" was the second collection of classic Vampirella tales issued by Harris Comics after they revived the character in the early 1990s. It picks up where "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos" (review here) left off, and writers Brennan and Englehart continued to build an excellent house on the foundation that master storyteller Archie Goodwin put down.

The book reprints seven stories, which not only continues Vampirella's clash with the Cult of Chaos, but also manages to pick up and resolve some left over story-threads from the previous book. A major storyline running through the bulk of the tales relates to the attempt by Dracula (who in the Vampirella mythos is an alien from the same planet as our heroine) to reject the Mad God Chaos, to cleanse his soul, and to atone for the many centuries of evil he has committed. It makes for very interesting reading.

Although solidly rooted in the Goodwin stories, the tales presented in "Transcending Time & Space" have a different, more freewheeling flavor. Where Goodwin tended to anchor most of his tales with horror genre mainstays (vampires, werebeasts, and demons) or references to classic genre fiction, the stories penned by Brennan and Englehart lean more heavily on science fiction and bizarre fantasy elements--servants of Chaos trap Vampi and friends in a Dream Dimenions; they're transported to a distant world inhabited by a thoroughly alien and monstrous creature; and then there's the all-powerful Conjuress who hopes to show Dracula the path to redemption. All of these elements, mixed with the sexy Vampirella, a dash of humor, and healthy number of crazed cultists all add up to some great comic book stories that make up the second half of the greatest run of Vampirella tales in the character's near-40 year history. (The book is made even stronger by the fact that in the book's closing tales, Englehart ties off a plot thread that's been dangling since Goodwin's first Vampirella story, and then spins it off into an unexpected direction.)

As strong as the stories in this book are, they wouldn't be half as effective if not for the gorgeous Jose Gonzalez art. While I'm lukewarm toward his tendency to drop in fine art portrait-style images in the middle of his sequential panel art, the detail and beauty of work on every page of the book is a real joy to behold. His layouts are clear, his characters expressive, and every panel helps move the story forward AND be a work of art unto itself. (Gonzalez's finest moments on the Vampirella series are, arguably, found in this book; the two tales set in turn-of-the-century England are particularly well-rendered.)

Oh... and the Dave Stevens cover on this book is perhaps the finest drawing of Vampi that we've seen in 25 years.

All in all, this book is a must-read if you have any fondness at all for the Vampirella character, or if you like well-done, off-beat horror comics.



Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles Vol. 4
Writers: Flaxman Loew and Archie Goodwin
Artists: Jose Gonzalez, Leopold Sanchez, and Jose Ortiz
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

"Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles Vol. 4" presents 13 Vampirella tales from issues 29 to 41 of the original black-and-white "Vampirella" magazine published during the early 1970s.

The art in this volume is absolutely gorgeous, but the fluxuating quality of the stories show that even at the halfway mark of the magazine's life, Vampirella's best days were behind her.

With the initial Archie Goodwin stories, we had horror tales with a classic feel and touches of humor (collected in "Vampirella vs. the Cult of Chaos"). With the T. Casey Brennan and Steve Englehart scripted stories, the sci-fi aspect of Vampirella was emphasized more, but there was still an air of classic horror about the strip. With the arrival of Flaxman Loew (whoever he may truly have been, because that has got to be a pen-name!), the series moves in a campy, offbeat direction, with less of an ongoing storyline but instead having Vampirella and Pendragon globe-trotting from booking to booking, and adventure to adventure. (Loew makes more use of the magic act/showbiz angle than any of his predessors did.) It's still a horror strip, but it too often plunges into the depths of pure silliness. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Take, for example, the low points of the book. Each are two-part stories.

First, there is "The God of Blood" and "Betrothed of the Sun-God" where Vampirella becomes the lust-object of a very jealous Aztec god. Here the goofiness of a sun-god wanting to make Vampi his bride--and turning to ash anyone who looks upon her scantily clad body--is balanced by the lecherous evil of the god's priests, and a plotline about a phoney psychic who is murdering her way to a fortune. (Someone out there must really have liked this storyline, because not only did Warren reprint it later in the original Vampirella series, but Harris has already printed that slightly revised version in a previous paperback, "Vampirella: A Crimson Thirst". These stories are beautifully illustrated, but I think the presense of an Aztec sun-god whacking mortals over Vampirella is a bit much.)

Second, at the bottom of the barrel, the book presents "The Vampire of the Nile" and "The Mummy's Revenge". The in this two-part storyline "reveals" that Vampirella is a reincarnation of Cleopatra, and that she first became a vampire due to the actions of her evil brother. The follow-up pits her against occult forces that are bent on bringing back the evil from her previous incarnation. The second story has some decent elements in it--the sequence with Vampi is stranded in the catacombs under Rome and the dead may be coming back to life is very well done--but its too tightly tied to the idiocy of Vampi as the reincarnated Cleopatra to be any good.

On the flipside, the desire of Loew to send Vampirella off in different and unexpected directions work very well in "The Undead of the Deep" (where Vampi confronts a bizarre underwater party that she may never escape), "The Running Red" (where a cruel gambler and an immortal wanderer meet, with Vampirella standing at the crossroad of fate), "The Sultana's Revenge" (where the manipulative wife of a Middle Eastern prince brings danger to Vampi and Pendragon), "The Carnival of Death" (where evil hedonists get their come-uppance after they attempt to ruin a party thrown by the last remaining member of Venice's old upperclass, and "The Blood Gulper" (where Vampi crosses paths with a rock star and his agent who are truly operating on the life-blood of the public). These stories are all fabulous little chillers that pit Vampirella against unexpected foes while providing either chuckles, tragedy, or ironic twists (sometimes all at the same time).

Another two-part adventure--"The Head-hunter of London" and "The Nameless Ravager"--that pits Vampi against an insane killer and his spell-weilding sisters presents some of the most horrific scenes in the whole book, but the stories feel rushed, so their impact on the reader is someone lessened. Still, one has to congratulate Loew and the illustrator (Sanchez) in this case) on putting some naked women in the book who DON'T look hot in swimsuits.

The balance of the stories ("She Who Waits"--the single Archie Goodwin tale in the book, his last work on Vampirella, as far as I know-- and "The Malignant Morticians" are mostly forgettable and they have a sense of filler about them. They're not bad, but they are vapid.

As mentioned at the top of the review, the art in the book is spectacular. Leopold Sanchez's style is a bit more consistently cartoony than those of Jose Gonzalez and Jose Ortiz (in fact, Ortiz' style is so similar to that of Gonzalez that I had to check to credits page to sure I knew who was doing what), so the first impulse is to consider his work lesser. However, as one reads on and gets used to his style, it becomes clear that Sanchez's art is just as solid, spooky, and sexy as Gonzalez... it's not weak, it's just different. The cover galleries presented on the inside makes one long for the day when such gorgeous covers were common-place on comics magazines.

"Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles Vol. 4" may be a book that's erratic on the story-front, but it's still a collection of fun, creepy stories, and we still get to see Vampi when she was at her best. Most of the stories here are still superior to the more "serious", more modern tales that Harris presented during the past ten years. Get yourself a copy... it's great reading!



Vampirella & The Blood Red Queen of Hearts
Writers: Bill DuBay and Rick Margopoulos
Artists: Jose Gonzalez, Gonzalo Mayo, and Esteban Maroto
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

"Vampirella & the Blood Red Queen of Hearts" is a slim paperback reprinting eight stories from the original run of "Vampirella Magazine." About half of them focus on the villain mentioned in the book's title--a devotee of the Cult of Chaos who is quite possibly the craziest foe Vampi ever faced--and the rest capitalize on Vampirella's science fiction roots more-so than perhaps any others published. (Given that Vampirella's current publisher has ret-conned the sci-fi aspects of Vampirella's background into oblivion (except in the manga-esque "Vampi" version), those stories will probably stand as the ones that have taken the MOST advantage of the sci-fi roots of the character.)


The Blood Red Queen of Hearts was a crazed woman who decided she was going to make herself a Bride of the Mad God Chaos, and to prove her worth she was having her imp servant carve out the hearts of Chaos' greatest enemies. Her insane plan was to culminate with her offering up the ultimate dowry to the god-the heart of Vampirella, a woman who once narrowly escaped becoming a Bride of Chaos herself.

As you might expect, the Queen's plans don't go quite as she had planned. Her machinations actually end up leading to her getting the sort of “reward” anyone who disappoints Chaos gets, providing Vampirella with an opportunity to return to Drakulon, and for the reader to learn about the society that once existed there. The trip to Drakulon also brings Vampirella into conflict with perhaps the creepiest bad guy to ever cross fangs with her. In fact, the "Return to Drakulon" stories mark the end of consistently high quality for the series; after that point, the quality and tone of Vampirella's adventures become inconsistent and erratic.

The final two tales in the volume are from the last days of "Vampirella Magazine", and it shows. The art is not up to the standards set by the likes of Jose Gonzalez and Esteban Maroto, or even Tom Sutton, and one of the stories (a sci-fi horror take with Lovecraftian overtones) is simply lame. The closer in the book (“Return of the Blood Red Queen of Hearts”) is a fun read and it does manage to end the book on a high note.

According to the liner notes in "Vampirella & The Blood Red Queen of Hearts", the Queen was a favorite among readers, and she appeared on more covers than any other Vampirella villain. While the fact that the Queen ran around in even less clothes than Vampirella (being the Blood Red Queen of Hearts means you go topless everywhere!), but I think that readers also responded to the fact that she one of the most interesting Vampi foes to come along since the very earliest days when Archie Goodwin and Steve Engelhart were writing the stories.

It's Blade... in black and white

Blade: Black and White (Marvel Comics)
Story: Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, Christopher Golden, et. al.
Art: Tony DeZuniga, Rico Rival, Gene Colan, et. al.
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

In the 1970s, Marvel Comics published one of the finest horror comics series, ever... "Tomb of Dracula." In issue #10 of that series, writer Marv Wolfman added a tough-talking, black vampire-slayer to the line-up of Dracula's enemies--Blade. A rough-and-tumble streetfighter, this character's trademark was a bandoleer of wooden daggers with which he dispatched vampires with unrivaled efficiency and brutality.

A couple years after his initial appearance, Marvel Comics gave Blade his own solo-series in their "mature" black-and-white comics magazines. The series moved from title to title, as Marvel gradually whittled their commercially unsuccesul magazine line down to nothing, but the lack of readership wasn't the fault of the "Blade" series... those pages were some kick-ass vampire tales (in every sense of the phrase).

The main plotline of the stories collected in "Blade: Black and White" was written by Marv Wolfman and Chris Claremont. It sees Blade pitted against an emerging vampire organization that calls itself "The Legion." These vampires have chosen to target Blade where he lives--by killing his friends, his loved ones, and framing him for murder. It's only with the help of Katherine Fraser, a psychic Scotland Yard detective (another 'Tomb of Dracula' supporting castmember, featured mostly in the 'Giant-sized Tomb of Dracula' series') that Blade will even have a prayer of clearing his name.

This storyline occupies about 2/3rds of the book, and it illustrated primarily by the vastly underappreciated Tony DeZuniga, with some assistance from Rico Rival. The illustrations are top-notch, bringing the sort of gritty reality to the proceedings that the Blade character requires.

The collection is rounded with three additional 'Blade' tales. Two are illustrated by Gene Colan--one dates from the 1970s and in it we see Blade for the first time unable to bring himself to kill vampires... and that hestitation may cost him his life! The second tale was a one-shot issue scripted by novelist Christopher Golden that teamed Blade with his old partner, Hannibal King (who, like Blade, is a far better character in his original comic book incarnation that he is in "Blade" flicks) to take on an emerging vampire threat in New Orleans and confront ghosts from their past. Both tales are great reads, but I think Colan's art has started to degrade a bit. (It doesn't help matteers that the second tale was inked by someone who does't look to be a good match for Colan's pencils.)

Sandwiched between the two Colan stories is a pathetic little 14-pager that 's got bad art, a bad script, and doesn't really fit in with anything else that's been printed about the Blade character. Further, the way Blade is presented is closer to the movies than the comics. I recommend skipping that story entirely, or reading it after you've read the rest. (It should be placed in that order anyway, as there's a reference on the very first page to Blade being in New Orleans.)

"Blade: Black and White" is a collection of some fine horror comics (with one noted exception) from a time when vampires were monsters and men's men were devoted to their destruction. If you like horror comics and vampire tales, I recommend this book. (I'd leave the movies for when you have seen everything else interesting at the videostore. They are but pale reflections of the original source material.)





Note: The illo at the top of this article is by the great Gene Colan. To see more of his artwork, visit his webiste by clicking here.