THE GOODS: Silver Surfer

Sunday, October 27, 2013

THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 27

(The Dracula Versus)

Anytime you're the heavy and Dracula is one of the baddest of the bad,

you're going to come into conflict with nearly everyone you meet.

They've got blood, you eat blood, there's the rub...

To that end, I've compiled a large collection of images depicting the Lord of Vampires in conflict with other characters in book, film, television and comic books.

Have a look...

Possibly the worst film ever made of the potentially greatest story concept! Sadly this is one of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s last films. It's so bad, it's almost watchable.

Not a bad story for a very off-beat idea--one to watch if given the chance one day.

I wish I could say I've seen this one, but I'm honestly not even sure if it exists or some fan made this thing up as a joke.

Which is the case with the above "poster"--one well worth a look if it did exist!

Dracula beats up everybody!

Drac and Frankie have to team-up to take on the man of steel!

Mr. T--'Nuff said!

The green-skinned Hulk vs white-face Dracula!

Zorro prepares to take down the Prince of Darkness!

Vlad vs Arthur for all the marbles!

Dracula doesn't like this particular child of the night!

I think it's because Chris Claremont liked Dracula that he showed up a few different times during his long run as X-writer X-traordinaire!

The two above show how it is attractive to pit such a heroic character as Holmes against such a dark one.

Don't know how the battle comes out, but it sure looks promising!

Mr. Colan was probably asked to draw this strange crossover and Mr. Palmer was called in to ink!

I expect more trouble between these two...

Ah, here we go! Mr. Frank Frazetta's painting of Dracula battling the Wolf-Man!

Hard to believe there was a two issue arc in the pages of THOR just before Mr. Simonson did is legendary run in which Dracula bites Sif and has enhanced power because of it. Never fear, as Thor soon shows up, properly outraged, and battles the blood-sucking fiend until he has to retreat into the darkness from whence he sprang!

Much like the tales of Mephisto versus Norrin Radd, this one seems more high-brow than most battle issues!

Immortal mutant versus immortal vampire--my money's on Vlad.

These two are natural enemies and often come into conflict--

it's a tough road to hoe for Stephen Strange!

Here we have two stories that mix the mafia with monsters!

Sadly, the Dracula depicted in Buffy was a joke compared to the vast majority depicted in the media usually.

Bad idea for Superman to attempt to take down Dracula without some help from Zatanna!

As is always the case, if you exist in pop culture, sooner or later you will meet Batman!

A quick programming note to all my readers...

on TCM today, Sun. Oct. 27:

2pm -- THE BAD SEED

4:15pm -- CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED

6pm -- THEM!

1am -- THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

3am -- DIABOLIQUE

And this time we end our little get-together with...

Neil Young's very political...

VAMPIRE BLUES

Saturday, October 6, 2012

MONSTER-MONTH: COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 6)

(Click to Frankensize)

Our sixth day of Monster-Month features another favorite of mine,

the Marvel Monster!

(Click to Frankensize)

In the ‘70s, Marvel Comics took note of the growing popularity of their non-superhero monster/horror themed titles and decided to make a go of a comic based on Mary Shelley’s creature. The end result of this was a three year run of a series called

THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN.

(Click to Frankensize)

The first third of the series focused on reimagining Mary Shelley’s novel and, featuring distinctive art by Mike Ploog and fairly faithful storytelling by Gary Friedrich, the Monster was born, the Doctor was dead and then in an attempted suicide the Monster slips into “suspended animation”. A condition the Monster returns to now and again when confronted with overwhelming cold.

(Click to Frankensize)

Through the centuries, the Monster is awakened and has adventures until, finally he is awakened into the age of the Marvel heroes, with whom he often finds himself in conflict and/or in cahoots. Here are a few of the characters he’s clashed and cavorted with--Marvel’s version of Dracula, Werewolf by Night, Man-Wolf, Iron Man, Howard the Duck, Nighthawk, She-Hulk, Hulk, Thor, The Avengers, Ulysses Bloodstone, Elsa Bloodstone, and Spider-Man

(Click to Frankensize: Wonderful words by Friedrich, Pretty pictures by Val Mayerik)

Marvel’s Monster has been portrayed as smart, well spoken and slow and monosylabic throughout the years. Explainations range from damaged vocal cords and damage to his reanimated body.

(Click to Frankensize any of the Above)

FIVE FRANKENSTEIN FUN FACTS:

Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Roy Thomas, who was working on a similar project involving Dracula, wanted to adapt Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN, but passed the project on to Gary Friedrich due to time constraints.
At some point, the Monster was temporarily pulled out of time to serve in Kang the Conqueror’s Legion of the Unliving in a battle against THE AVENGERS.
In 1981, an animated television movie loosely based on THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN was released by Toei, a Japanese company. It aired there as KYOFU DENSETSU: Kaikil Furankenshutain. An English dubbed version was released in 1984 untitled, but advertized as both MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN and FRANKENSTEIN LEGEND OF TERROR.
Once he befriends Ulysses Bloodstone, a famous monster hunter, the Monster is sometimes referred to by the name “Adam”.
Mike Ploog based the look of the Monster on John Romita Sr.’s design for the character that differentiated it from the classic Universal Monsters design.