As promised here´s the ELVIRA post I was working on. This time I have a bit more comic stuff about The Mistress of the Dark.
Originally I thought there was nothing new to add, but because some of the download links have vanished I had to look for new sources. While doing that I came about some interesting stuff of which some has to do with comics. So if that´s something that doesn´t interest you you can just scroll down to the download links.
Now, the only Elvira comics I have in my collection are from CLAYPOOL but since the covers are all photo covers they don´t look to exciting and are not really interesting for comic fans. But before that DC comics did an ongoing series that lasted 11 issues and included a special. According to the comicbook databases the first issue was published in January 1986 but judging by this beautifully drawn cover by Brian Bolland I´d say it was published earlier.
Now it says " JAN 86 " on the cover but there are two reasons why I think it was published earlier :
1 - as somebody who read comics at that time I know that most comics were still sold at newsstands ( I began buying them at the train stazion newsstans in Germany ) and as most printed matter that was sold at newsstands it was predated.
At newsstands the magazines are taken of the shelves as fast as possible to put on new stuff and earn more money. Which means that if it says " JAN 86 " on the cover and your comic is published in January it´s taken of the shelves at the end of January. And you have less than a month to sell it. But if your comic is published in October and it says " JAN 86 " on the cover then you have a few months to sell it. Or at least till the next issue hits the newsstand. As I said, I read comics at that time and I always wondered why the new issue had the date of the month after next month.
2 - as it clearly says " 1ST 64PAGE ISSUE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL " on the cover I´d guess it was published before the 31st October 1985. Otherwise it´s not a Halloween special.
Now, I haven´t read any of the actual issues but Brian Bolland was not the only high profile artist on the book. This ELVIRA´S HAUNTED HOLIDAYS SPECIAL cover was doner by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez.
And on top of that this issue also included a pin up by Paul Gulacy.
Looking for a little sumthing - sumthing extra to give my readers I found a video of GUARDIAN OF THE ABYSS presented by Elvira. Sadly the download link has been deleted but to tell the truth the movie is absolutely horrible - and not in a good way. The only good parts are the ones iwth Elvira so it´s no big loss. You can use your time more useful by watching the ELVIRA - MISTRESS OF THE DARK movie.
Yesterday actress Cassandra Peterson celebrated her 61st anni-
versary and that may not tell you much. Which may be because she´s most famous for playing the part of horror hostess / movie star / cult siren / pop icon ELVIRA a.k.a. Mistress of the Dark.
I already did a post about her and while I´m still working on this year´s ELVIRA birthday post I realized that I never got around to post the follow - up. So without any further introduction is the post about ELVIRA in the original form without any new comments by me :
Originally posted on Sunday, November 9th, 2008
ELVIRA - Mistress of the Dark
I'm still reeling from Yesterday's herculean effort of finishing a post I usually need two days for in one. So today I'm going to do it nice and relaxed. That's why, to continue RETRO WEEK, I've decided to do ELVIRA. I mean to do a post about her. Dammit, you just can't help seeing double meanings in everything with her - even in a simple word like double. Must be her big pumpkins ( 34 - 21 - 34 ).
I already did a post about her on the 100th post on TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN but it doesn't have much links or clips, just the one for SEARCH FOR ELVIRA. So I'm doing a more extensive post although I totally swiped the text from CULT SIRENS. What did you expect ? I said I was going to do it more relaxed. Seems I'm the only one around here who plans on doing that since my mother is already beginning to sabotage my work by opening the drapes and blinding me with the sun. Which means that I have to do other stuff and can't add the pictures. Which would be useless anyway since I'm blind at the moment.
Biography
Cassandra Peterson was born on September 17, 1949, in Manhattan, Kansas and grew up in Colorado Springs. As a youngster, her idol was Ann-Margret, after seeing her performance alongside Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas, where A-M dances frenetically from start to finish. With a straight goal in mind, Cassandra finished high school and then moved to Vegas, where she became the youngest showgirl ever in the colorful history of the town. Happily, Elvis, in one of his many stops in Vegas, met Cassandra, advising her to became a singer. When the King himself backs you up, how can you go wrong? There's a rumor that Cassandra can be seen as a dancer in a club in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever, resulting in her being an unexpected Bond Girl.
Suddenly, Cassandra found herself in Europe, as she became lead singer in an Italian rock band. Stopping in Rome, good luck permitted her to be cast in a future movie classic, nothing less than Fellini Roma. In 1973, she appeared in Working Girls in the U.S., with a rare (and very brief) nude scene. Cassandra created her own variety show, Mama's Boys, which she would take on tour around the country. At the end of the seventies, she joined an improvisation group having already Pee Wee Herman, Jon Lovitz and the late Phil Hartman as members. No doubt that this experience gave her solid grounds in playing comedy. All this alongside appearances on television (for Fantasy Island, Happy Days and St.Elsewhere) and motion pictures (for Cheech & Chong's Next Movie and Eyes of a Stranger).
But, finally, our actress' big break was on the horizon. I will digress a bit here, as I'll explain the "horror host" phenomenon on American TV. At the start of the fifties, as the new media of television was in its infancy, many stations bought packages of old horror movies from the thirties to be scheduled for late night programming. Very popular at that time was the series of Universal monster movies, which was introduced to a whole new generation watching these productions in what was often titled Shock Theatre. Thus, the tradition of having an host to introduce horror pictures to viewers was born with Vampira in 1954.
All this to mention that hosts were soon to be in vogue: other popular characters were Zacherle, Ghoulardi, Sir Graves Ghastly and many more, the vast majority using macabre humor and satire to spice up the viewing experience. So here's when and why Elvira was born, becoming host of Movie Macabre in October 1981 at KHJ-TV, a Los Angeles station. As she ridiculed the many lousy grade-Z pictures that she hosted, Elvira didn't shy away to use self-parody, with many subtle and unsubtle play on words, raunchy jokes and allusions to her personal life (and her prodigious physique). Of course, this was helped by an outrageous and sexy costume, a different wig that the one known today, and a personality based on the "Valley Girl"-type popular at the time.
May 28, 1982, remains an important date for Elvira's popularity, as she was host to a 3-D showing of The Mad Magician, starring Vincent Price. The film was really broadcasted in three dimensions, as was Elvira's bits. More than two million and a half special glasses were sold in the Los Angeles area. Were viewers more interested in an old and corny Price vehicle or in the sight of the charming hostess' ample chest? YOU TELL ME. This event would be followed by a first visit to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Movie Macabre would be now broadcasted across the country (excluding the State of New York!). Elvira recorded an album for Rhino and gave a short show in Times Square's Tower store. As Cassandra believed that no more than 10 persons would visit, a mob was involved in a riot and the police authorities were called to take charge. Elvira would next start a tradition to appear in popular TV shows, like CHiPS. At the end of 1982, she even was nominated for an Emmy for Best Local Show.
In 1987, Elvira became the first woman to be spokesperson for a beer company, that being Coors. 1988 is the year when Elvira invaded movie theaters with Elvira Mistress of the Dark. The movie didn't do much at the box-office but would become an incredibly good seller on home video.
Elvira began a big tour to promote the movie overseas, particularly in England, Spain and Japan. This time, Marvel Comics took care of the film adaptation in comic book form. The movie won the Critics and Audience prizes at the 18th International Fantasy Film Festival in Paris. Not the most subtle thing, Elvira Mistress of the Dark remains a pleasant viewing experience, for the star's many one-liners and imaginative costumes, as for its Las Vegas-style closing number.
1990 was the year when the official Elvira perfume came to be, named Evil, and which would be distributed in 15,000 stores. At this point, enumerating all the products bearing Elvira's name could take an entire website: video games, costumes, books, pinball machines, musical albums... a marketing flood still going strong to this day. Ah, those Elvira calendars...! 1991 saw the birth of Cassandra's only child, Sadie. In 1993, CBS canceled The Elvira Show after viewing the pilot episode, deciding that it was "too sexy"! Ignorant weaklings! Without any sign of being tired, Elvira continued to pop up everywhere, introducing Alice Cooper or White Zombie on stage, sharing bawdy jokes with Howard Stern on radio, participating in a horror show at Knotts Scary Farm (which she does since 1982). Her name would be associated with a series of frightful novel for youngsters and she eventually produced her own beer label, Elvira's Night Brew!
In 1997, her first official haunted house opened, Elvira's Nightmare Haunted House in Atlanta. She appeared on Nash Bridges as an owner of a S&M boutique (ouch!). In 1999, she was present at the Annual Roses Parade in Pasadena, well placed on a chariot displaying the newly created stamps honoring the great horror actors.
What about Cassandra Peterson in all this? She appeared sans Elvira disguise in Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold in 1987, playing the princess of the title city, under her real face, that of a gorgeous redhead with contagious smile. She also became a militant for groups fighting cruelty against animals. In 1994, she hosted an E! special dedicated to Scream Queens. She more recently was a guest right here in Montreal to introduce her last movie, Elvira's Haunted Hills.
Elvira's contribution to the world of horror fandom remains considerable. Since 1981, she's one of the genre's most passionate defenders. In consulting many of her interviews over the years, I can only deduce that she's an intelligent and wise businesswoman. What is her secret to conserve a youthful appearance? Is she the originator of the serum that many of our Sirens use? In any case, if Elvira is unable to spice your life with a bit of joy, well, there's no hope for you. Everyone on their knees, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is now our High Priestess! Adore! Love! Worship! Make sacrifices!
It´s been far too long since my last post but I just wanted to keep the review of MY EXCESS at the top of my blog as long as possible.
I also was a bit undecided if I should do another HELLBOY post ( although I wrote more about wrestling and not so much about HELLBOY in the post ) or finish the COMICBABE BATTLE theme. Since I have 4 posts on my blog all the time and I try to keep some variety as to the nature of my posts so I thought it was a bit too early for more COMICBABE BATTLE.
I have delved into the TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN treasure cove to come up with a topic so it´s time for another batch of comic news that are so outdated that you have probably already read the comics I´m going to mention.....which has become a staple of my comic news section. For this installment BLOG WITHOUT SUPERHEROES is suspended or as the month it was supposed to take place in has already gone it´s more like it´s time has passed. Which in short means : superheroes, superheroes and more superheroes. And a bit of non superhero comic news.
The assortment includes all kinds of stuff that I deemed important, weird or just outright funny. As I still have to read most of the links myself there might be spoilers involved. Just be careful.
AND NOW FOR A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME
First up is the preview of Carlos Pacheco´s first issue of ULTIMATE COMICS THOR , which may not come as a total surprise if you are an avid reader of this blog and you already know what a big Pacheco nut I am. As someone who religiously follows Carlos on most books I surely can´t miss this one.
THOR has always been larger - than - life, blockbuster, end - of - the - world - opera. It just needs the kind of kinetic art paired with a graphic composition inspired by some of the world´s greatest artists that Carlos Pacheco brings to the table. He´s just perfect for this title. He already did a great run on the last Captain America centric Ultimates story and it seems he´s happy in the Ultimate Universe.
Now I have to say I never read ULTIMATUM and after reading the reviews I´m really anxious to read this canniballistic slugfest. At first the idea of slushing everything down the toilet that MARVEL had build in the Ultimate Universe sounded like a stupid idea. And maybe it was. But I have to say with the line of new books that offer such high caliber artists like Frank Cho on NEW ULTIMATES, Arthur Adams on ULTIMATE X and now Carlos Pacheco on ULTIMATE THOR I can´t argue with the results.
Especially ULTIMATE X has surprised me with it´s resurrection of the singles stories format.
Now I only hope they get a good inker for Carlos and that he stays for the whole book not like with the last ULTIMATES mini he did.
Meanwhile in the regular Marvel universe the Avengers franchise is going strong. AVENGERS PRIME is as good as expected as you can see by this preview of issue 3 . Now how difficult was it to put Alan Davis on a high profile Avengers book ?
AVENGERS : THE CHILDREN`S CRUSADE delivers two things comic readers were clamoring for. 1. - Alan Heinberg and Jim Cheung back on a YOUNG AVENGERS book and 2. - the answer if the Scarlet Witch was really the villain in AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED or just Bendis´scapegoat ( Avengers Childrens Crusade 2 preview / unlettered ).
As for AVENGERS ACADEMY......I know it´s kind of the follow up title to the great AVENGERS : THE INITIATIVE but with my tight comic budget starting new series is difficult. This one is already on the wait - for - the - trade - list.
Oh, and there is news of the return of a certain founding member of the Avengers second superhero identity ( how´s that for not spoiling it while at the same time almost spelling it out ? ) so if you want to be surprised in that regard don´t read the interview with Christos Gage about his future plans for AVENGERS ACADEMY .
Staying on the subject of AVENGERS here´s a Chaos War preview , although I have to say I´m not up to day on my HERKULES reading. I managed to keep track till the two part story with the funeral but it seems after that it´s just one mini series after the other. It´s almost as if Marvel doesn´t believe in the books power ( no pun intended ) even after great reviews and a hardcore fanbase.
I know, the whole Herkuthor fiasko is something we´ll all need years of therapy for, but aside from that it was an enjoyable read about one of Marvel´s most underrated and underappreciated characters. But keeping up with the constant restarts and miniseries is just too hard for an old fart like me. This is a young boy´s game.
Another preview this time for DC´s issue 9 of Brightest Day . Now this is one book I had no intention on following ( after DC´s catastrophic crash and burn of COUNTDOWN I never wanted to read another weekly title from DC ) but it surprised me and somehow I ended up collecting it. Like John Byrne´s DOOM PATROL book. The art by Ivan Reis is one big draw and I´m not sure if I´m really THAT interested in the whole mystery aspect or just want to know how it all ends.
In any case the book stays on my pull list as long as it manages to keep the 2.99 price tag. There are not enough of those out there as it is.
The last preview is for Joseph Michael Linsner´s new Dawn - Not to touch the earth series. I have to admit I never tried this series although I like Jo´s art. My problem with the book is I have no idea what´s it all about. I have read a lot of stuff about it but it seems to be one of these books that everybody else is reading so nobody feels inclined to explain what´s it all about. The other problem is that since it´s one long line of miniseries after miniseries I have no idea where to start.
COMIC CREATOR´S NEWS
Since I mentioned THE AVENGERS above here´s an interview with John Romita Jr on Avengers and Kickass courtesy of DEN OF GEEK´s Seb Patrick. Also from DEN OF GEEK, this time by James Hunt are these interviews with Mark Millar on Avengers and Kickass and on Kickass and the sequel . Am I the only one or do comic creators get more interviews if their comics are turned into movies ? And finally another interview with Mark Millar by ComicBook Resources on Kickass 2. I think one of the interviews with Mark Millar is a repost but maybe some of my readers haven´t read it yet.
I really liked the KICKASS movie because at first I was reluctant to see another " realistic " superhero movie as they are most often only thinly veiled excuses to show their producers disregard of superhero comics ( say why hasn´t Garth Ennis done one yet ? He´s predestined to do one. ). But it was a really good movie with great, believable characters ( although in the comic he doesn´t get the girl - which was much more realistic ) and a lot of humor. One of these days I´ve got to get me the comic. I mean it´s drawn by John " freaking " Romita Jr. I guess I was just put off by the constant delays in production.
Here arethreeepisodes of fanboy radio featuring John Romita Jr and Mark Millar.
Speaking of production problems George Perez confirms the delay of the upcoming TEEN TITANS - GAMES original graphic novel. That´s right, this is a real graphic novel which means this is brandnew content that hasn´t been published before anywhere else in any shape, size or form. Not those graphic novels that are just trades but get called graphic novels to sell better.
Aw, what am I complaining ? I don´t care what they call it as long as people are buying it. And if people can ignore their prejudices towards the comic art form this way they can call the floppies graphic novels for all I care.
Back to Teen Titans the graphic novel has been delayed again, because of George Perez´ recent medical procedures ( becuase of his worsening eyesight ) and scheduling conflicts ( with his issues of LEGACIES ). Since GAMES is a oneshot and LEGACIES part of an ongoing series it was decided to put GAMES on the backburner. After finishing both assingments George will probably work primarily as an inker for the following year.
Now my thoughts on that are that for my part George Perez can take as long as he wants as long as he keeps his health. I mean, come on. How long have we been waiting for this Teen Titans graphic novel ? 25 years ? What´s one or two more years in the long run ? I mean this way I still have something to look forward to. And George Perez is one of those artists that only come around once in a comic reader´s lifetime.
So whatever it takes I´m okay with it as long as George keeps doing comics as long as possible. In the meantime I have the LEGACIES issues to read and I´m sure that when GAMES finally comes out it will be worth the wait.
Ethan Van Sciver talks about his new Wildstorm books and Cyberfrog series , Gary Frank talks about the World´s Finest as he has finished his SUPERMAN - SECRET ORIGINS series and is preparing for the EARTH ONE - BATMAN project. I just wish he had done more storyarcs on ACTION COMICS. And I still can´t get over the fact that Superboy´s first meeting with the Legion of Super - Heroes was redone for SECRET ORIGIN to make Superboy even younger. And that only a few months after the scene was shown in ACTION COMICS. Me, I would have just used the old sequence being the lazy bum I am.
Yes, there´s also a section of comic news that have nothing to do with superhero comics. First up is the news that the worldfamous newspaper comic strip BLONDIE AND DAGWOOD celebrates it´s 80 year anniversary . Another comic strip anniversary is BEETLE BAILEY who celebrates his 60th publishing year. Unlike BLONDIE AND DAGWOOD this strip is still written and drawn by creater Mort Walker, who is now 86 years old and has no plans for retirement .
Staying with the classics Peyo´s first two volumes of the smurfs are now are now reprinted . I think I read most of the smurf comics ( as well as LUCKY LUKE, UMPAH - PAH, ISNOGOOD, TINTIN, YOKO TSUNO and ASTERIX ) from the local library or the library bus. If you are also someone who reads a lot of comics at the library here´s a list of the 50 best mangas for libraries by Deb Aoki.
And speaking about comic books you can find at the library here´s an interesting discussion about Scottie Young and Darwin Cooke on comics for kids . I have to agree that there are not many superhero comics out there targeted at a younger audience. FANTASTIC FOUR under Mike Wieringo, SUPERMAN when drawn by Ed McGuiness and the first dozen of issues of the new HULK series with El Toro Rojo where a good step in that direction. But I find it weird that you have to think twice before giving a kid an issue of SPIDER - MAN or GREEN LANTERN. There might be beheadings, mutilations or cannibalism in it. And I´m not saying stuff like that should not be in comics. But does it have to be full - frontal on - panel ?
COMIC RELATED STUFF
As you can never have enough articles about webcomics ( I mean who really knows them all ? ) Katie Crocker at Daily Gamecock writes about the variety of internet comics . Douglas Wolk at TECHLAND discusses like FANTASTIC FOUR the problems of writing an infinitely ongoing series in light of the new storyline with art by Steve Epting in which a member of Marvel´s first family is supposed to die - although I think his conclusions as to the identity of that person is not sound.
Tom Bondurant over at Grumpy Old Fan reminisceces about Earth Two and the unique stories it offered. Kim Thompson talks about the difficulties of translating Milo Manara ( now known to a wider american audience due to his work on X - WOMEN ) and as someone who´s made his fair share of translations I have to say I have had the same experiences.
Although I try to avoid translations into a language I´m not really fluent in. And Bully the stuffed bull has found out that not every Marvel comic you own is published by Marvel as he has compiled a list of Marvel shell companies .
Now I try to keep this blog free from pictures of hot women ( because of various complaints in the past ) and I try not to put download links on this page but this time I´m making an exception because it´s comic related. This month I have finally managed to see the animated movie CORALINE
which ( as anybody in the comic community knows ) is based on the bestseller written by comic legend Neil Gaiman
with art by P. Craig Russell
now the voice of the main characters mother ( both of them ) was done by none other than the ravashing Teri Hatcher known for her role on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and inside the comic community for playing Superman´s wife Lois on THE ADVENTURES OF LOIS & CLARK. She was on a promo tour for the CORALINE movie and since most of the shows can´t be seen in Germany I made an exception and posted some download links.
One for a clip of Teri Hatcher´s appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show in a breathtaking red dress ( Massita ! ) and one for her appearance on Conan OBrien. Both times talking about CORALINE. The first link though is for an interview on Comicbook Resources.
Now I have to admit that I still haven´t read the comic but I can´t recommend the CORALINE movie high enough. It´s a movie for kids as well as grown ups and for comicfreaks of all ages. I haven´t seen the 3D version but even without it it´s a damn fine movie. I know what I´m going to give away as Christmas presents this year.
BECAUSE YOUR KISS IS ON MY LIST
Of course we can´t end the comic news without the usual top ten list - which is this case are top five lists. Over at Comicbook Resources it´s TOP 5 MONTH and so here are my favorite top 5 lists of the batch. Naturally the top 5 Walt Simonson THOR covers as he´s one of my favorite artists and especially good when it comes to comic covers.
The top 5 Mike Zeck G I JOE covers falls into the same category. Mike´s one of my all - time favorite artist who is pretty underappreciated by Today´s comic audience and I would really love to see more work by him. Compiling the list must have been especially difficult since it´s almost impossible to find a bad G I JOE cover by Mr. Zeck.
In closing I wanted to post something that I may have already posted but I´m not really too sure. And I´m too lazy to go back and check all my over 270 posts so I´m accepting the risk of reposting it. The TEARS TALES TRUST is an animated story done by Björn Hammel ( story and concept ), Harald Lieske ( art ), Michael Hoffmann ( screenplay ) and Leif Rumbke ( music ).
It´s really an experience which will make you go to all the emotions of the human spectrum and really something else. But I have to warn you : it takes a full hour to watch and should not be interrupted. So only start it if you know you have an hour and make sure you won´t be disturbed.
If you are ready I can only say : have a nice trip.
And that´s all for Today. I hope there were some interesting links for you in my selection and next time we will continue with more horror comics.....or fighting femmes COMICBABE BATTLE. We´ll see.
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