This Mexican lobby card for The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959) uses a visage in the upper left corner familiar to classic horror movie fans: the Phantom of the Opera. That caught my attention. Of course, the noose, the tombstones, and the effectively chilling font and colors caught my attention, too.
More from Paul Naschy. A minimalist pressbook, but so are Naschy’s movies. The last page collage is effective to convey the movie’s themes.
I don't know what I like more on this Mexican lobby card for Los Automatas De La Muerte, the inset movie scene or the illustration; both are powerful, yet simple, with their machismo.
Zombos Says: Good
Dark Shadows, although it originally aired on network television beginning in the 1960s, still has a strong fan base and still remains a vibrantly brooding and evocative gothic tale of vampirism, witchcraft, and the supernatural realms. It's a love story, a ghost story, a werewolf story, a revenge story, and a story whose characters are damned or cursed or caught between the forces of both at any given moment.
At its heart is Angelique's unrequited love (or lust) for Barnabas Collins. This is the strongest element that comes through in Tim Burton's reimagining of the tale, and the only one worth our attention in his otherwise lame-o attempt at campy vampy self-indulgence–
–Which is why Dynamite's Dark Shadows Year One series is important. After the bad taste left by Burton's movie, and its sullying effect on newbies to this classic horror story, it's reassuring to see Dark Shadows reaffirmed as a serious entry in the gothic crawlspaces of terror.
And yes, the television series was bit of a campy hodgepodge, but that was due more to a low budget, little rehearsal time and no retakes, and a flair for the over-dramatic, rather than an intentional over the top scheming as seen in Adam West's Batman (which I still love, so don't snipe me on this).
Once you get past the annoying conceit of "Year One" used in comic book titles, and the gimmick of numerous first issue covers to boost sales while you (and me!) waste dollars buying each variant, Marc Andreyko and Guiu Vilanova pen and ink the background of Angelique's curse on Barnabas Collins and its deleterious effect on the Collins clan. Completing the effect is Josan Gonzalez's colors, giving the panels enough smoky lighting and dark spaces to bring us into the tight rooms of Collinwood and the gloomy climate of Collinsport. Dialog is suitable enough to the age without being ponderous and the smaller panel arrangements provide the necessary emotional momentum, if perhaps a little too quickly paced.
Barnabas's indiscretion is also potentially revealing as to his character before becoming a vampire. Just how much does he really love Josette? How much influence did Angelique's witchcraft play into it?
This first issue introduces Angelique's malevolence, but not precisely why she finds Barnabas so attractive. I'd like to see more of that in subsequent issues. What does she really want? is the question that drove the television series and will need to drive this series as well if it's to be successful at bringing us into the Dark Shadows ouevre; which appears never-ending, just like its fans.
Who wouldn’t want a jetpack strapped to their back and be called Sky Marshal of the Universe? Here’s the over-sized pressbook to one of my favorite serials, Radar Men From the Moon.
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake Mexican lobby card combines creepy illustration with a hint of female in danger and a touch of witchcraft. Great greenish, yellowish colors and strong font lettering complete the "sell."
These two theater heralds to promote a five movie marathon with "The Master of Menace" Boris Karloff are colorful. Awesome. I'd hit the marathon stocked up with a bag of White Castle sliders and a malt shake. Definitely.
I haven’t a clue as to why this pressbook for the Finnish movie The Day the Earth Froze was in Zombos’ closet. It’s quite underwhelming, but the cover art, at least, is rather exciting, although I can’t fathom why the girl’s not dressed properly for the weather. Wait a minute…maybe that’s why…the cover’s cool, even if the movie isn’t.
Zombos Says: Good
In the never ending wishing well creators keep dipping into to keep zombies fresh, IDW's Chris Ryall and Drew Moss manage to get aliens mixed up with animated corpses in The Colonized. The aliens bring one up to their ship but never get the chance to go through their carefully rehearsed formal "greetings earthling" introduction because the dead guy wants to eat them instead of greet them. So much for superior technology in the face of adversity: the aliens have stun rods, but no cool disintegration rayguns. Bummer.
Ryall and Moss are going for a 1950s kind of alien sensibility, even if the local town being visited is going green, which seems to be annoying the local Cabela's shoppers, and the dead are rising faster than the aliens can say "take me to your leader."
The artwork is a perfect match for both the tone and mood of the storyline in issue 1: the zombies are decayed enough, but not too gooey serious, and the aliens act more like chimps dressed in spacesuits rather than predator warriors. The fishbowl helmets they wear aren't very good protection for them, especially when they trip over their own feet. Or whatever they call the things they have stuffed in their boots that work like feet.
No reason–yet–is given for the dead rising, and it appears the aliens didn't have a plan 9 for visiting earth. They're just a bunch of shlubs, like some of the locals, caught up in the moment. I'm not sure where it will go from here, but I hope the IDW team can keep the momentum going, or this could wind up being another Cowboys and Aliens.
(Note to Ryall and Moss: Come on guys, let's see some rayguns!)
Zombos Says: Good
The foldout cover is not the only good thing about the continuing saga of John Constantine in issue 2 of Constantine; the Spectre pops in to pass judgement on all those nasty happenstances that follow Constantine around, like the escalating body count of his too-close associates who tag along with him. Briefly.
It’s a close shave, sure, but Constantine gets into more of a lather with bad people itching to piece together Corydon’s compass. More sinister mayhem ensues, but the issue’s 20 pages come a wee short of a pint, so you’ll easily wet your whistle, but keep thirsting for more story. Still, the art is consistently appealing and Constantine’s consistently unyielding in his steadfast refusal to ignore the sh*t rolling downhill along with him. Man’s got nerve: must be the trenchcoat. How can you not act self-assured and hard as nails when dressed in a trenchcoat?
Or carrying it along to Myanmar, anyway, since it’s too hot to wear it. Of course he manages to get knocked unconscious. Good timing, though, since he was about to light up another cancer stick. He also must fend off a certain blind sorcerer who doesn’t want to hear his jokes, and then deal with the cold, accusatory glare of the Spectre, ready to smack Constantine’s soul down hard.
The story moves fast, a tad too fast, and although the principal players are moving into their squares for the middle game to begin, more pages would have made this issue better than just good. What can I say, I’m an old comic book fan. I think 20 pages an issue is too little to tell a great story; but I’ll settle for a good one anytime.
Funny thing is I’m hooked on Constantine since his rebirth. I still think he needs more British in him, and his trenchcoat needs to look more rumpled. But Fawkes and Lemire are hitting the right tempo, and Guedes panels are an eyeful. So far this New 52 incarnation of John Constantine is keeping his Hellblazer ghost around for old time’s sake, and that’s a good thing.
Cold War tension and military might make The Lost Missile a child of the past and today, ironically.
In the 1960s and 1970s there was a fascination with shockumentaries: among them are Mondo Cane (1962), Africa, Blood and Guts (1970), Brutes and Savages (1977), Mondo Balordo (1968) , and Kwaheri: Vanishing Africa (1964). Of course, now you can just watch stuff like this on YouTube. This pressbook is quite impressive. From enticing poster art to using classified ads, balloons, post cards, and diverse "tie-ups" (product tie-ins) with Mobil Oil, Volkswagon, and Chevrolet, this pressbook provides the mojo to sell, sell, sell, this movie.
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