Thursday, October 27, 2011

Reading Room: EERIE Dracula Conclusion

Dracula has made Lucy Seward a vampire.
Dr Van Helsing arrives, too late to save the poor girl, but not too late to send her tormented soul to the afterlife by staking her thru the heart.
Now, his attention turns to her master...Count Dracula!
Though there were a number of Frankenstein tales in the Golden Age, including Dick Briefer's long-running series, there were only a couple of appearances by our favorite vampire (usually a cameo) before this story in 1953!
The trend continued until the late 1960s when Dracula became a supporting character in the b/w Vampirella magazine.
In 1972, when the Comics Code was revised to allow vampires, the Count reappeared not only in short stories, but a long-running series from Marvel highlighted by moody art by Gene Colan.

And, don't forget our brother blog Hero & Heroine Histories™, where we're currently running the Classics Illustrated version of Frankenstein!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Reading Room: EERIE Dracula Part 3

Dracula traveled to England, where he made Lucy Seward his newest victim.
Meanwhile, Lucy's best friend, Mina Murray received news that her fiance Jonathan Harker had been hospitalized.
Rushing to Budapest, she discovers he is speedily recovering, and the two are married that day!
To be concluded...tomorrow!

In case you're wondering why we haven't listed credits for this tale, it's because there aren't any!
We have no idea who the writer and artist(s) are since the art isn't signed and the records for Avon Comics are apparently no longer extant.
However, the art is very well-designed with both clear storytelling and detailed rendering, if slightly-stiff, much in the Reed Crandall / Murphy Anderson school.

And, don't forget our brother blog Hero & Heroine Histories™, where we're currently running the Classics Illustrated version of Frankenstein!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Reading Room: EERIE Dracula Part 2

Real estate agent Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to arrange the purchase of a London townhouse by a rich, reclusive nobleman...Count Dracula.
When he is molested by the count's wives, Harker discovers that they (and Dracula) are vampires, and that he is helpless to stop them!
Meanwhile, in England, Harker's fiance, Mina, worries...
But, will they have a honeymoon...or a funeral?
Be here tomorrow!
And, don't forget our brother blog Hero & Heroine Histories™, where we're currently running the Classics Illustrated version of Frankenstein!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Reading Room: EERIE Dracula Part 1

Did you know that Classics Illustrated did Frankenstein, but not Dracula?
Click on the art to enlarge and read
However, there was an adaptation of the original Bram Stoker novel, published several years after the Classic Comics version of Mary Shelley's tale in the mid-1940s (which we're currently running in Hero & Heroine Histories™)!
It appeared in Avon Comics' Eerie #12 (1953), and was the only book-length story to appear in the title!
To the best of our knowledge, the story has never been reprinted, probably due to it's length.
What shall Johnathan Harker do?
Join us tomorrow for the frightening answer!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Design of the Week--PussyCat Agent of S.C.O.R.E.

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...if Austin Powers had a sister, she'd be PussyCat: Agent of S.C.O.R.E. whose adventures we've presented HERE and HERE!
Written by Stan Lee & Larry Lieber and illustrated by a who's-who of good girl artists including Wally Wood, Jim Mooney, Bill Ward, and Bill Everett, the 1960s she-spy appeared in mens' magazines published by Marvel Comics' then-publisher Martin Goodman as well as a one-shot b/w magazine that reprinted those earlier appearances.
In fact, it's the one-shot's painted cover by Bill Everett that we use on our line of kool kollectibles available for one week only!

Tomorrow: 
a return to Halloween Horror with the first
Dracula comic story!