Blog Archives
Review: Dracula by Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano
To celebrate Halloween this week, The Comics Observer presents a pair of reviews by Bree Todish, a writer and voracious reader being introduced to comic books. Come back Wednesday for the second half.
Bree Todish
Way back in the mid-aughts, Marvel comics revived an adaptation, begun in 1974, of quite possibly the most-adapted work of all time: Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There have been a not-small number of appearances and reimaginings of Dracula in comics (especially in the Marvel universe), as in all forms of entertainment media, over the decades but no one ever really tried putting Stoker’s iconic novel in comic form until this point. The result is an effort certainly of devotion to the original story (though not always as faithful as purists might hope) in an artistic, albeit extremely dated, manifestation.
Seeing as the image to the right was the visual reference from comics to that point, I can see how they were simply staying on trend, especially with what Marvel had already established as their Dracula model. Still, that collar and flowy cape aren’t exactly going to instill a lot of fear, not to mention a widow’s peak Eddie Munster would be proud to sport.
I’ll be upfront here: I’m not a comics expert, by any means. I’ve dabbled a bit over the years and this past year have made a concerted effort to once again understand the appeal of the comic medium. It’s not that I have anything against it; it’s just never struck my fancy. I prefer my reading experience to be heightened by my own mental pictures, not someone else’s. However, as a storytelling medium and as an artform I do appreciate comics. They’re just, as I said, generally not my thing.
Dracula on the other hand is utterly my thing. Use whatever term you prefer: nerd, geek, fangirl, aficionado, obsessive, passionate, creepy… alright, I prefer you not use creepy. Nevertheless, these all are applicable for describing my association with Stoker’s novel. I could go on for hours about what this incredible piece of Gothic Victorian literature has done to shape my view of fiction, and how tremendously misunderstood it is by the bazillion interpretations given to it by film, television, books, culture and, yes, comics. That would take pages though, so I think ‘voracious intellectual fangirl’ about sums it up.
Dracula, adapted by Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano
So how well does Marvel do at delving into Stoker’s world and crafting something unique while not mussing up the original story? Pretty well, actually. All the major characters are included, which doesn’t typically happen, and they are more or less transposed faithfully. There are some early thoughts by Dracula’s captive solicitor, Jonathan Harker, which diverge from the text. It’s a rather jarring departure from the naivety Harker expresses in the books in that this version has some distrust of Dracula pretty much from the start. Stoker’s Harker is more accepting of Dracula in the beginning because he’s, well, pretty naive. Also, Stoker’s Dracula might seem a little off, but he doesn’t exude Vincent Price-esque creepiness from the get go like Marvel’s Dracula. On Harker’s first night in the castle, Dracula seems “almost to merge with the fast-fading shadows,” and disappears with the dawn. Harker thinks his mind is playing tricks, but it soon becomes obvious that subtlety is not a word known to Marvel’s Dracula.
Overall, possibly the biggest point of suffering for those looking for a faithful graphic novel adaptation is the blatantly over the top style illustrations. Considering the concept was originated during the 70’s it makes sense to a point. However, much of the true horror and suspense associated with the book is lost when the characters are drawn as exaggerated, campy versions of themselves. I mean, we’re talking about a story where the most noble man to ever leave Texas sometimes sounds like he came out of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and a brilliant Dutch neuro-para-psychologist cannot comprehend ship-hands’ frequent use of the words ‘bloody’ and ‘blooming.’ Yet one of the most absurd moments in the comic is Dracula turning into a swirl of mist that looks like Edward Cullen exploded in a tornado. Blissfully, however, that’s about the only connection one can make between this adaptation and Twilight.
Seriously, if that collar gets any larger it’ll need its own page.
In the end, however, I’ll take some very dated artistry when the writers stick (pretty much) to not only the spirit of the novel, but the plot. While Mina and Lucy’s looks are reversed (a very common issue in adaptations), their characters are neither flitting, sultry, fantasy fodder nor ridiculously hypocritical, over-feminist depictions who despise all the men around them except Dracula and his sexy European accent. (Though I admit there is one instance where Lucy is splayed out on her bed, almost dead, and while her face is horrified the position in which she lays caused me to remark, “Oh! My terrified boobs!”) Dracula, while preening around like he belongs on Dr. Tongue’s 3-D House of Raised Collars making his goal of blending in with Victorian society a bit difficult, is not seeking love or redemption or acceptance. Van Helsing is appropriately cryptic in the beginning yet powerful in his faith and reason by the end. Even the death of Dracula himself is illustrated accurately, and the sacrifice of Qunicey Morris is not ignored or demeaned by changing the other characters’ motivations throughout the story.
For a graphic novel interpretation of this classic tale one could desire more contemporary illustrations that play up the Gothic and the real horrors, and play down the Hammer-style theatricality. However, from the perspective of the story and characterization (even with the title character being a brasher, bolder villain than in the original), no film has done as worthy a job of interpreting the realm Stoker created as Marvel Comics have.
Bree Todish is a Writer, Michigan ex-pat, obsessive and voracious reader, devourer of pop culture, adorer of music, highly opinionated trixie little pixie. You can see her talk a bit about the vampires in popular culture here, or follow her reviews, rants, and pep-talks on pop culture and life here.
Confessions of a Cranky Comic Book Cartoonist: How I Became a Comic Book Reader, a Comic Book Collector…
Guest columnist Scott Shaw! brings his perspective as an experienced professional cartoonist and active participant in the comic book industry for more than 40 years. Get an insider’s look at the art form from someone in the trenches every day.
“How I Became A Comic Book Reader, A Comic Book Collector, A Comic Book Fanboy, A Comic Book Convention Organizer, A Comic Book Character, An Underground Comix Book Creator, A Comic Book Cosplayer, A Comic Book Retailer, A Comic Book Professional… And A Cranky Comic Book Cartoonist!“
I was born in 1951. I assume it wasn’t with an overly moist funnybook clutched in one of my tiny pink fists, but with me, you never know.
Approximately three years later, I began to teach myself how to read using comic books. Their mysterious combinations of words and pictures proved irresistible to me, and I became determined to unlock their delicious secret. Somehow, I vaguely remember an issue of Dell Comics‘ Woody Woodpecker was responsible for my big breakthrough moment.
Now I was a comic book reader.
My childhood occurred roughly during child psychologist and author (Seduction of the Innocent, 1953) Dr. Fredric Wertham’s war on comic books. His theory was that comic books caused juvenile delinquency because every juvenile delinquent he’d ever interviewed had read comic books. (By that reasoning, milk also caused juvenile delinquency!) Decades later, I asked my elderly mother why they bought me so many “funnybooks” in such times, but her only response was, “They seemed to be really important to you.” Yep, that’s me, all right, then and now.
CBS Television Presents Tom Terrific!
Not long after I turned five, I was hospitalized for a tonsillectomy, a childhood rite of passage in those days. It meant that, for at least three or four days (and scary nights), I was away from my parents and my home in a children’s ward with dozens of young strangers. The only good things about the rather traumatic experience were all the ice cream and the huge pile of funnybooks that my folks brought me. I still remember a few of the titles in that tower of pulp: Dennis the Menace, Mighty Mouse, Zippy the Chimp, Tom Terrific, Captain Kangaroo (strange, to my knowledge, my parents were never stockholders in CBS); and my first-ever “realistic” comic book, an issue of Superboy, cover-featuring “The One-Man Baseball Team!,” probably the first and last time I ever cared much about sports. One thing was certain; I’d never received so many new funnybooks at the same time in my young life. Soon, I owned a lot of funnybooks, so many, in fact, that I had to sort them into small stacks: funny ones featuring comic strip and animated cartoon characters; exciting ones featuring Superman and Batman and Congorilla and, of course, the scary yet cool ones featuring lots of monsters! That’s when I realized I was not just a comic book reader.
Now I was a comic book reader and a comic book collector.
Early on, I decided that I wanted to be a cartoonist, primarily due to the influences of Dr. Seuss (The King’s Stilts, McElligot’s Pool, If I Ran the Zoo), Jay Ward (Rocky and His Friends), William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (Ruff and Reddy, Quick Draw McGraw, The Flintstones), Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey) — and from comic books, Sam Glanzman’s Kona, Monarch of Monster Isle and George Gladir and Orlando Busino’s Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats.
Tales of Suspense by Jack Kirby
I saw my first Jack Kirby-drawn comic book story around then. It was either in DC Comics‘ Secret Origins No. 1 (featuring a reprint of approximately half of the origin of the Challengers of the Unknown) or Marvel Comics’ Tales of Suspense No. 11. (If it was the latter, my mother made me put it back on the rack because she thought the story “I Created Sporr, the Thing That Could Not Die!” looked like it would give me nightmares and instructed me to purchase a nice and safe Space Mouse funnybook instead. (Decades later, I got revenge on her by naming her only grandson after the cartoonist who drew “Sporr”!)
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, I loved many four-color gems of the Silver Age of Comic Books, many of which featured dinosaurs and/or talking purple gorillas on their front covers. I’m sure that this was when my tastes in Oddball Comics began to develop.
In the middle of 1961, I saw most comics go from a dime to 12¢, except for Dell Comics, which jumped to 15¢. The moment when I was told that I was a nickel short of the cover price of the latest issue of Daffy Duck was one of the most traumatic events of my young life. And even though DC Comics published on the inside of the front cover of all of their comics a full-page apology/explanation for their price hike to 12¢, my ability to perform mental mathematics has never been the same.
In 1964, I had my first letter to a comic book editor published; it was in DC’s Challengers of the Unknown No. 40 and I was suggesting a sequel to issue No. 35’s “War Against the Moon-Beast”. I even sent editor Murray Boltinoff a color sketch of a revived version of that ol’ moon-beastie that was more than slightly influenced by the makeup in the 1958 monster movie, War of the Colossal Beast. (Geez, was I a nerd, or what?) That same year, I finally jumped on board with the early Marvel superheroes a little more than two years into their existence. My first purchase was Fantastic Four No. 29 and that entire run of issues by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee on FF has remained my favorite superhero comic book series ever since.
I was lucky to attend junior high and high school with a surprising number of fellow geeks, weirdos and nerds, many of whom followed their instincts to become writers, artists, scientists and booksellers. In 1968, two of those friends and I attended my first fan convention, the 26th annual World Science Fiction Convention, AKA WorldCon and BayCon, in Berkeley, California. Being surrounded by nearly 1,500 oddballs that shared my interests and outlook was a transforming experience, to say the least.
Now I was a comic book reader, a comic book collector and a comic book fanboy.
Feds 'n' Heads by Gilbert Shelton
Later that year, I bought my first underground comix in 1968, Gilbert Shelton’s Feds ‘n’ Heads. I had already loved Gilbert’s “Wonder Wart-Hog” in Shelton’s Help! and Drag Cartoons, and the short-lived Wonder Wart-Hog Magazine, but I found his “Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” to be even funnier, with some of the best timing on the printed page ever seen in funnybooks. Joining Jack Kirby, Gilbert Shelton became my second primary inspiration as an aspiring cartoonist.
Along with some of my high school buddies and some other fans, I was one of the kids who organized the first San Diego Mini-Con in March, 1970. This directly led to the San Diego Comic-Con in August, 1970. Over the next few years, my involvement with what would eventually grow to become San Diego’s Comic-Con International, I met dozens of fans, retailers and professional writers, artists and editors, many of whom are still my friends. In fact, more than 43 years after that first mini-con, I’ve attended every day of every year of the San Diego Comic-Con and proud of it. I’ve really got to get a life.
Now I was a comic book reader, a comic book collector, a comic book fanboy and a comic book convention organizer.
I met Jack Kirby in 1971. He seemed pleased when I told him that he was my favorite cartoonist. Not “artist”, “cartoonist”. Almost immediately, Jack offered to transform my friends and I into characters in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen No. 144 (December, 1971); we became “The San Diego Five String Mob,” assassins disguised as a rock band, summoned from Apokolips to Earth on a mission to bump off Superman.
Now I was a comic book reader, a comic book collector, a comic book fanboy, a comic book convention organizer and a comic book character.
Gory Stories Quarterly with Scott Shaw!'s The Turd
My first professional sale to a comic book was “The Turd” in Ken Krueger’s Gory Stories Quarterly No. 2 ½, published by Shroud Press in 1972. Ken was a longtime fan, retailer and publisher, as well as being one of Comic-Con’s founders, but he was also willing to pay me – a kid whose cartoons had only appeared in school newspapers and fanzines – for my story about a sewer monster made of living feces.
Now I was a comic book reader, a comic book collector, a comic book fanboy, a comic book convention organizer, a comic book character and an underground comix book creator.
In the summer of 1972, I attended the 30th annual WorldCon in Los Angeles. There, I was awarded a special award for a masquerade costume I made out of eighteen pounds of peanut butter, based on my character, “The Turd”.
Now I was a comic book reader, a comic book collector, a comic book fanboy, a comic book convention organizer, a comic book character, an underground comix book creator and a comic book cosplayer.
In 1975, I moved from San Diego to Los Angeles, where I became the manager of the comic book store American Comic Book Company in Studio City. I even set up my art studio in one the shop’s back rooms, so I could create new comic book stories when I wasn’t selling old ones.
Now I was a comic book reader, a comic book collector, a comic book fanboy, a comic book convention organizer, a comic book character, an underground comix book creator, a comic book cosplayer and a comic book retailer.
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! by Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw!
The next year, I met Marvel Comics editor Roy Thomas at the ACBC, and he asked me to write and draw a back-up story for Marvel’s What If? No. 8, “What If the Spider Had Been Bitten By a Radioactive Human?” (My late, great friend Dave Stevens, creator of The Rocketeer, helped me out on a few panels; the difference between our styles is obvious.) This eventually led to Roy and I co-creating Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! for DC Comics a few years later… and surprisingly, it didn’t hurt Dave’s career a bit.
Now I was a comic book reader, a comic book collector, a comic book fanboy, a comic book convention organizer, a comic book character, an underground comix book creator, a comic book cosplayer, a comic book retailer and a comic book professional… and I’ve worked as the latter for more than forty years now, on an assortment of characters for a variety of publishers.
So why have I gone to the trouble of informing you of my history in the wacky world of funnybooks? Well, when my friend Corey Blake asked me to contribute a regular column for The Comics Observer, it occurred to me, “Why not? I’ve already done everything else related to comic books!”
I suppose this is just my way of letting you know that, although my new column here “Confessions Of A Cranky Comic Book Cartoonist!” will be a forum for me to rant, rave, observe and criticize the art and business of comic books, it won’t come from an uninformed opinion.
After all, I’ve earned the right to be a crazy old coot, dammit.
I’ll see all of you back here next month for some of that ranting and raving I promised.
– SS!
Scott Shaw! — yes, that exclamation point has adorned his name since junior high school — currently writes and draws comic books starring the Simpsons for Bongo Comic, The Adventures of Captain Rochester for Rochester Electronics, and his autobiographical comic strip, Now It Can Be Told! for Act-I-Vate, as well as performing his live Oddball Comics show.
Confessions of a Cranky Comic Book Cartoonist is © 2012 Scott Shaw!
New Graphic Novels, Comic Books for You – 12/16
Never read a graphic novel before? Haven’t read a comic book in years?
Here’s some brand new stuff that came out the week of December 16 that I think is worth a look-see for someone with little to no history with comics. That means you should be able to pick any of these up cold without having read anything else. So take a look and see if something doesn’t grab your fancy. If so, follow the publisher links or Amazon.com links to buy yourself a copy. Or, head to your local friendly comic book shop.
Disclaimer: For the most part, I have not read these yet, so I can’t vouch for their quality. But, from what I’ve heard and seen, odds are good they just might appeal to you.
Chimichanga #1 – $3.00
By Eric Powell
32 pages; published by Albatross Exploding Funny Book
Chimichanga, a story fit for youngsters! In Eric Powell’s first creator owned series since The Goon, he brings his off beat humor and unique style to comic readers of all ages! No, this is not a story about a fried Mexican delicacy! This is about a little bearded girl and her escapades with a slightly less than extraordinary traveling circus.
Unfortunately I can’t find a preview of this, but if Eric Powell’s work on The Goon is any indication, this will be a weird delight.
The Engineer: Konstrukt – $9.95
By Brian Churilla & Jeremy Shepherd
136 pages; published by Archaia Comics; available at Amazon.com
An ancient sentient entity is feasting on the very fabric of space and time. Only one man can stop it: The Engineer, last survivor of the destroyed Earth. Utilizing a colossal pipe organ that enables ‘pan-dimensional travel,’ The Engineer pursues the lost components of The Konstrukt, an archaic mechanism that imbues whoever possesses it with the ability to manipulate reality itself, in the hopes of using it to defeat the creature and undo the incalculable damage it has already done. Giant bat creatures, were-crabs, immense rock creatures, amorphous witches and armies of undead abound in this pulpy sci-fi romp for all ages! Collects and completes the ENGINEER series.
Pretty good price for a hardcover collection this size. Another crazy ride that only comics can pull off. There are preview pages at the publisher link above.
Dead Run – $16.99
By Andrew Cosby, Michael Alan Nelson & Francesco Biagini
128 pages; published by Boom! Studios; available at Amazon.com
“All Speed. No Limits.” The end isn’t near… it’s here. America has become a wasteland, leaving the few cities that remain transformed into impenetrable fortresses. Beyond these walls lies The Zone, a brutal, plague-ravaged landscape stretching from one city to the next, populated by mutants, monsters, and warring factions of survivors driven insane by disease and starvation — only the very brave or the very foolish voluntarily step foot outside the protective confines of the mega-cities. NICK MASTERS just happens to be a little bit of both. Nick’s a driver, the best there is. If you need something picked-up, delivered, or disposed of, Nick’s your man. And he’s all business. But when he fails to deliver an important package to a local crime lord, Nick’s business suddenly becomes very personal. A science fiction action piece in the vein of MAD MAX from the writer of HEXED and FALL OF CTHULHU, Michael Alan Nelson, collaborating for the first time with EUREKA creator Andrew Cosby!
Co-writer Michael Alan Nelson says on his blog, “if [you] like a little snark with your post-apocalyptic stories, this one is for you.” Here’s an 11-page preview.
The Complete Alice in Wonderland – $4.99
By Leah Moore, John Reppion & Erica Awano
48 pages; published by Dynamite Entertainment
“What is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations!”
Following up on the success of The Complete Dracula, and Sherlock Holmes, Dynamite presents The Complete Alice In Wonderland. For the first time ever Lewis Carroll’s classics, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass with “The Wasp in a Wig,” the “lost chapter” (from the Looking-Glass) are adapted into one complete tale. In this All Ages adaptation, writers John Reppion and Leah Moore are joined by Erica Awano for a 4 issue adventure down the rabbit hole!
This full color series features a massive 40 pages of story and art per issue, all under covers by John Cassaday, who supplies a unique die-cut design for the first issue that is sure to enthrall young and old. Moore and Reppion also provide bonus material such as script pages, annotations and samplings of the original text by Lewis Carroll.
Great way to prepare for the coming movie. Love the art. Check out the 8-page preview at the publisher’s link above.
The Rocketeer – $29.99
By Dave Stevens
144 pages; published by IDW Publishing; available at Amazon.com
The Complete Rocketeer saga is collected into one handsome hardcover volume for the very first time, combining The Rocketeer and The Rocketeer: Cliff’s New York Adventure into one great book. Dave Stevens’ classic adventure strip is set in the 1930s and is an homage to the classic pulp novels of the time. Cliff Secord is a stunt pilot who happens upon a top-secret experimental jet pack and meets adventure head on!
Long considered a classic, the Rocketeer has been out of print for years. Now, with the blessing and full cooperation of the Dave Stevens estate, the Rocketeer will be collected as one book and with ALL-NEW COLORING by Laura Martin (who was Dave Stevens choice to recolor the series)
Whether you’ve seen the 1991 movie or not, this is worth getting. The original source material was a comic book character that was sporadically published throughout the 1980s and ’90s. This is the first time it has ever been reprinted in one place. In addition to this $30 version, there’s also a fancier/more expensive ($75) Deluxe Edition, which is printed larger (8″ x 12″) and has an extra 100 pages of Dave Stevens’ pin-ups, sketches and other preliminary artwork. Here’s a look at the deluxe version at the blog of IDW editor-in-chief Chris Ryall.
P.T.A. Night – $12.99
By Jeremy R. Scott
32 pages; published by Image Comics’ Silverline; available at Amazon.com
It’s the creepiest PTA Night ever when the lunch lady’s soup comes alive, the janitor turns into a werewolf, and the old graveyard that the school was built over brings the dead back to life! More humorous than frightening – a treat for kids of all ages!
Silent double-page illustrations tell the tale of the Austintown Middle School on the eve of one of its monthly PTA meetings. At the beginning everything seems normal, with teachers and parents meeting in the auditorium, a janitor mopping the halls, a lunch lady cleaning the pots and pans from earlier in the day, etc. But things will quickly change, and the night will get very strange as the lunch lady’s soup comes alive and begins preparing lunch all on its own, a full moon shines through the clouds, turning the janitor into a werewolf, and a science fair project in the science lab makes contact with a UFO! The old graveyard that the school was built over brings the dead back to life, and the tenants make their way to the PTA meeting!
Very cute and very fun book. Here’s a 4-page preview at Jeremy R. Scott’s blog. This has a very clever use of the comic page, where each 2-page spread is a bi-section of the school. As you make your way through the book, you see the amusing chaos break out in different rooms. I thought this was released by earlier this year, so I’m not sure why it’s popped up on the new release list again, or why the writer/artist Jeremy R. Scott only recently got copies himself to sell. So I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but it looks like it’s out now, so go get it! You can also buy a signed copy straight from Jeremy R. Scott right here. And there’s also the great website PTAnight.com.
Kidnapped – $14.99
By Robert Louis Stevenson, Roy Thomas & Mario Gully
128 pages; published by Marvel Comics; available at Amazon.com
A STOLEN INHERITANCE! ABDUCTION AT SEA! AN UNSOLVED MURDER: These are the elements that Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, wove together in Kidnapped, his novel set upon the ocean and in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands in the middle of the 18th century. Young David Balfour tries to claim his rightful inheritance from a treacherous uncle determined not to share it—and is kidnapped aboard a ship bound for the American colonies, where he’ll be delivered into slavery. He escapes in the company of a dynamic Scottish rebel named Alan Breck Stewart, and the two of them forge a powerful and memorable friendship—fighting all foes side by side, and triumphing in the end.
Marvel Comics has been doing these classic novel adaptations for a few years now. I’ve never really heard much feedback on whether they’re any good, but I thought I’d point it out because I think it’s a good publishing program, in concept. Roy Thomas is an old Marvel warhorse. He was the first person that wasn’t Stan Lee to handle their characters on any significant level, and became Marvel’s editor-in-chief for much of the 1970s. Here’s a 6-page preview, which certainly seems decent enough.
Today in Comics: Roy Thomas & “Cathy”
“Cathy” turns 30!
Today, November 22, is typically remembered as the day United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. But the comics world remembers today with two important births.
Today in 1940, Roy Thomas was born in Missouri. He grew up to write for Marvel Comics, starting in the mid-1960s, on Conan the Barbarian, X-Men, The Avengers, and other titles before becoming Marvel Editor-in-Chief for two years. He also worked for DC Comics in the 1980s on such titles as Justice Society of America, All-Star Squadron, and Infinity, Inc. He continues to work to this day, most recently returning to the character he created to write Dynamite Entertainment’s Red Sonja: Monster Island. (Source: Wikipedia)
(Roy Thomas; photo from The Robert E. Howard United Press Association)
Today in 1976, Cathy Guisewite’s comic strip “Cathy” debuted in United States newspapers through the Universal Press Syndicate. The strip, playing off gender stereotypes, still runs in thousands of newspapers and online at goComics. The strip won a Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society in 1993. A Cathy television special won Guisewite an Emmy in 1987. (Source: Wikipedia)
