Icons of Horror: Peter Cushing

During an acting career that endured for over fifty years encompassing drama, comedy and genre work, Peter Cushing became best known for his strong portrayals of Baron Frankenstein and Prof. Van Helsing in a popular series of horror films for Hammer Studios. Cushing also assayed the part of the detective Sherlock Holmes in both television and motion pictures productions; and twice took on the enduring role of British sci-fi favorite, Dr. Who. Cushing added another stellar science fiction classic to his oeuvre in 1977, co-starring in the original Star Wars as Grand Moff Tarkin.

His impressive resume of terrors includes The Curse of Frankenstein,The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas,The Horror of Dracula, The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Flesh and the Fiends,The Brides of Dracula, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Gorgon, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Dr. Who and the Daleks, She, The Skull, Island of Terror, Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, Frankenstein Created Woman,Torture Garden, Blood Beast Terror, Corruption, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, Incense for the Damned, Scream and Scream Again, The Vampire Lovers, The House That Dripped Blood, Twins of Evil, Tales From The Crypt, Dracula AD 1972, Fear In The Night, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Asylum, And Now the Screaming Starts!, From Beyond the Grave, The Creeping Flesh, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Horror Express, Madhouse, The Beast Must Die,Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, Legend of the Werewolf, Space 1999 (TV), The Ghoul, At the Earth's Core, Star Wars, Shock Waves, The Uncanny, House of the Long Shadows and The Masks of Death (his final appearance as a retired Sherlock Holmes called back into action).

Cushing was often cast opposite actor Christopher Lee, with whom he was best friends. Following his wife's death in 1971, Cushing stated that the heart had gone out of of most everything in his life. After Star Wars, he continued appearing in films and television only sporadically as his health allowed, due to an ongoing battle with cancer. In 1989, Cushing was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his contributions to the acting profession.

Always one of my personal favorite horror actors, Peter Cushing died of prostate cancer on August 11, 1994, at the age of 81. Painting [above; middle] by Jim McDermitt.

From the Dust Bin: Genesis II (TV)

Back on September 23, I made a blatant request for help in locating DVD's of a few 1970's era sci-fi pilots that I hadn't seen in years. One of the nice folks who follow the ravings that I post here in the Catacombs, stepped up and sent me a disk with AVI files for damn near all of the ones that I was looking for.

Thanks to Jim Shelley, my own personal October film festival got a a little bit brighter. Jim is a net developer and web designer from my own home state. You should all go over to Jim's blog [here] and check out all of the cool comics-related stuff that he regularly features there.

Since I plan on profiling all five of the movies that Jim sent, let's get started with the first of three attempts by the late Gene Roddenberry to launch a new science fiction franchise built around the same basic premise. Created and written by Roddenberry in 1973, Genesis II was made for the CBS television network; but executives turned it down in favor of the Planet of the Apes series, thinking that the network could have only one science fiction show on its schedule at a time. Those guys would probably have never made it these days either, but it turned out to be pretty good 70's-era science fiction.

Scientist Dylan Hunt (Alex Cord; above left) places himself into suspended animation, for what is intended to be a few days, in a remote Carlsbad Defense Command cavern in 1979 to research the new technique before extending the process to Earth’s astronaut program. However the cavern is buried during an earthquake and Dylan isn't recovered until the year 2133. During the 154 years he spends asleep, war has broken out forcing the world's scientists into rebellion against the military. Developed into a society called Pax their goal is to preserve the best of mankind’s achievements. However upon his revival, Hunt meets the mutant known as Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley), whose people, the Tyranians plan to become rulers of the slowly recovering world. Dylan is tricked by Lyra-a in order to use his knowledge of the past to repair their failing nuclear generator and bring their plans to fruition. A Pax team is dispatched, via underground sub-shuttle tube (pictured; above center), to rescue Dylan Hunt or stop him from destroying the future.

Veteran character actors Ted Cassidy, Percy Rodrigues, Titos Vandis, Harvey Jason, Majel Barrett and Lynne Marta are also featured. The sets, special effects and costuming are fairly standard for the decade in which this telefilm originally aired, and the acting particularly by Cord & Hartley, is very good. The makings for a decent genre series are definitely present, and kudos to Roddenberry for trying to forge a show out of this idea more than once. Considering that Planet of the Apes failed to grab an audience, its perhaps unlikely that Genesis II would have fared any better, but I've always like this pilot and wished that it had been given a full seasons chance anyway.

Next up we'll take a look at the second pilot effort and the actor who eventually took over the role of Dylan Hunt in a more action-oriented outing the following year.

"Gal" Friday! Jamie Lee Curtis

The first modern era “scream queen” was the child of noted Hollywood-royalty actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Jamie Lee Curtis earned her initial fame for starring roles in horror films early in her career such as Halloween, The Fog (both directed by John Carpenter), and two slasher films, Prom Night and Terror Train; the latter films performed only moderately well at the box office. Curtis has since compiled a body of work that encompasses drama, comedy and family film genres. She has published best-selling children’s books as well.

Curtis had a similar function in all of her horror films, as the main character whose friends are brutally murdered, leaving her as practically the only protagonist to survive. Curtis later appeared in the sequels Halloween II, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and Halloween: Resurrection, and she provided an uncredited voice role in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

On the small screen, Curtis appeared as a guest star on the television series, Charlie’s Angels, Nancy Drew, The Love Boat and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Jamie Lee Curtis left her horror image behind with 1983’s Trading Places, in which she appeared topless, and she showed even more “skin” in that same years, Love Letters. Curtis also achieved near cult status – while showcasing herself as a first rate comic actress in 1988’s A Fish Called Wanda and she won a Golden Globe award for her work in 1994's True Lies, which had a truly phenomenal striptease scene with co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Cave Girl in 'The Devil Boat!' (Magazine Enterprises; 1953)

This weeks classic comic story is from Cave Girl #12, published by Magazine Enterprises in 1953. The Grand Comic Database lists Gardner Fox as the writer of this story, although comics historian Jerry Bails gets credit for identifying Fox's contribution, and the great Bob Powell provides full art duties.

'The Devil Boat!' pits Cave Girl against a group of skull-headed hooligans who are up to no good, but then they didn't exactly count on a "well-equipped" jungle hottie putting the kibosh on their foul operation.

The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

1980's Flashback: Night Force

Night Force was originally introduced as a 16-page insert in New Teen Titans #21 (July, 1982), and moved into its own DC Comics title the following month. The main character was Baron Winters, a cold and aloof sorcerer who would assemble a team of chosen individuals to fight supernatural threats. This group was hazy and loosely defined, consisting of whomever the Baron chose to perform a particular mission, usually, but not always, chosen from a group of regular associates. They included scientists, psychics, petty crooks and a wide variety of other types. The missions themselves were chosen by various criteria — sometimes the Baron was motivated by curiosity, sometimes by a desire to vanquish evil, sometimes by payment of a fee.

While the team had a rotating membership, notable members included: Vanessa Van Helsing - granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing and a powerful psychic; Jack Gold - Vanessa's husband, a reporter; Donovan Caine - a professor of parapsychology who lost an arm and a leg on one of the missions; and Zadok Grimm - apparently, an ancient warrior from the time of King David (he had an unexplained connection to Baron Winters). The Baron himself did not participate in these missions and would often manipulate, sometimes unethically, the others into doing so for him. For reasons that were unrevealed, he could not leave Wintersgate Manor, the labyrinthine mansion in Washington, D.C., where he lived. The mansion was located in a special juncture of time and space, which allowed him to send his team to different places and times.

Deliberately affecting a blunt demeanor, the Baron has sent some agents to their deaths and aroused a deep resentment in others who've been maimed as a consequence of their missions. The Baron's closest companion is the centuries-old Merlin, a leopard who possesses a degree of sentience unsuspected by most who encounter the big cat. Baron Winters and his outfit continued adventuring for 14 issues, the last original series issue was dated September, 1983.

Retro-View: Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre #5

Beware the creatures of the night - - they have lawyers!

Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre has been a comic strip, comic book and currently a web comic series written and illustrated by Batton Lash since 1979. The series features the law practice of Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd, who specialize in serving the legal needs of monsters and other supernatural beings, or those who find themselves in conflict with such beings. Wolff and Byrd themselves are human, as is their secretary Mavis.

"Wolff and Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre" first appeared in The Brooklyn Paper in 1979. From 1983 to 1997 The National Law Journal ran the weekly strip. The characters have also made occasional appearances in other creator's comic books over the years (Mr. Monster, Munden's Bar Special, Satan's Six).

In May 1994 an ongoing comic book series was launched by publisher Exhibit A Press, however the title was changed to Supernatural Law beginning with issue #24, in part to avoid readers' confusion over how to pronounce "macabre," and also to bring it in line with a planned title for a motion picture adaptation.

Issue #5's, 'That Model Client' begins with the plight of a top fashion model called Dawn Devine, who has grown increasingly dissatisfied with her agency representation and who has decided to approach Wolff & Byrd after receiving threats against her from the agency's owner. Unfortunately the beauteous Dawn's unannounced visit to the protagonists law offices coincides with the arrival of one of their "fearsome" clients, Sodd (a bit of a bog-monster), and the frightened model faints dead away.

After Wolff & Byrd revive the poor dear and depose her, their case is quickly scheduled for a court appearance, but oops; Dawn doesn't actually show up, leading the Greatbody Agency's own legal counsel, Ms. Sully (looking suspiciously hotter and more stacked than readers were shown a few panels before) to secure a dismissal.

Hustling on back to their offices Alanna and Jeff are startled to discover that Dawn has become terribly obese, and are stunned even further when she reveals that this is her actual appearance from when she was first recruited by the Greatbody Agency honcho, Jake Panache.

Presenting the "new/old" Dawn to the court, Wolff & Byrd make their case against the scheming Panache for his use of magic over his clients. Even the sitting judge, gets into the act relating how the opposing counsel's own physical appearance has mysteriously been altered recently. With evidence mounting against the Greatbody Modeling Agency, Panache is forced to reveal that he has a gnome at his beck and call, after having inadvertently captured the little guy in an animal trap. Alanna and Jeff win their case, with the added bonus of freeing the gnome after the judge declares his servitude contract null and void. The grateful gnome permanently returns Dawn to her beautiful appearance and as the issue ends it is shown that the gnome has turned Jake Panache into his own personal ceramic lawn ornament.

The storytelling by Batton Lash is pretty straight forward stuff, and it helps that he has the ongoing advice of a real attorney to help with the legal angles in his stories. His black & white artwork is fairly plebeian, simply constructed with decent layouts, but really only serving to get across the story beats. There is a lot in his overall Supernatural Law premise that would make a great film, or even better, a cool weekly television series.

I picked this copy up in the cheap bins at a local comic shops monthly sale day, and while I wouldn't be opposed to reading further adventures of Wolff & Byrd, it would have to be at that kind of price (8 books for a buck).

Icons of Horror: Vincent Price

Despite his long dramatic film career, Vincent Price was best known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made primarily during the latter part of his motion picture career. Price was also a noted gourmet cook and art collector.

His resume of memorable horror roles includes classics such as Tower of London, The Invisible Man Returns, Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (voice only), House of Wax, The Fly, House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler, Return of the Fly, House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, The Raven, Diary of a Madman, The Haunted Palace, Twice-Told Tales, The Comedy of Terrors, The Last Man on Earth, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Oblong Box, Scream and Scream Again, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, Theatre of Blood and House of the Long Shadows.

Price also provided voicework on the Hanna-Barbera animated series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo as the mysterious Vincent Van Ghoul and as Professor Ratigan in Disney's The Great Mouse Detective (one of his favorite roles). He often favorably commented on his recurring role as the villain Egghead on the 1960's television series, Batman and Price earned additional acclaim after recording a popular rap segment for Michael Jackson's multi-platinum album,Thriller. Vincent Price made his final movie appearance in 1990 as the inventor in Edward Scissorhands.

He died of lung cancer on October 25, 1993. Painting [above] by Daniel R. Horne.

At the Movies: Zombieland

The new horror comedy Zombieland focuses on an eclectic quartet who have found their own unique ways to survive in a world that has been overrun by zombies. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is a neurotic teen slacker who has allowed his fear of being eaten by zombies to help him craft a set of rules by which he stays alive; these hilariously become a running theme throughout the entire film. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) is an AK47-toting, zombie-slaying' redneck, bad ass whose single determination is to locate the last Twinkie on earth. The boys eventually join forces with Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who initially turn the tables on their male counterparts, but soon have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombie hordes.

[If you've already read the spoilers on the web concerning a high profile celebrity cameo; let me say that it is everything you've heard and then some.]

This terrific early Halloween flick is definitely worth checking out. The greatest thing about it is that it is a full on zombie movie in its own right, while at the same time serving as a laugh riot comedy feature. I will say that the undead in this film are of the fast on their feet variety ala 28 Days Later or the Dawn of the Dead remake. Added in almost as an afterthought, is a really nice emotional undercurrent about what it truly means to be a family.

Zombieland scores in every possible way, so do yourself a favor and buy a ticket.

"Gal" Friday! Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Let's kick things up a notch with the first of our 31 Days of Halloween series of Scream Queen/"Gal" Fridays!

Cassandra Peterson is best known for her on-screen horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She originally gained fame hosting weekly horror flicks on Los Angeles TV station KHJ wearing a black, gothic, (cleavage-enhancing) gown. Her wickedly vampish appearance was offset by her quirky, quick-witted comedy skills and valley girl-type speech.

The movies featured on Elvira's Movie Macabre were always B-films (or lower). Elvira, reclining on a red Victorian couch, often interrupted the movies to lampoon the actors, the script, and the bad editing. Adopting the flippant tone of a California valley-girl, she brought a satirical, sarcastic edge to her commentary without ever being crass or mean-spirited, although she reveled in dropping risque double entendres as well as making frequent jokes about her eye-popping display of cleavage. Her campy humor, obvious sex appeal, and good-natured self-mockery endeared her to late-night movie viewers as her popularity soared. At the same time, Elvira was embraced as an icon of the waning 1980's punk movement as well as the emerging Goth subculture.

Her popularity reached its zenith with the release of the feature film, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (co-written by Peterson) in 1988; a second feature film in 2001 was called, Elvira's Haunted Hills. In 1992, CBS filmed the pilot episode for Elvira, a proposed sitcom with Peterson and actress Katherine Helmond as witches living in a small town. Network executives balked at the ribald humor and decided the series was too risque for television. The series was shelved and the pilot was never aired.

Dr. Voodoo in Okoro's Revenge Plot (Fawcett Comics;1940)

Welcome to The Comic Book Catacombs month long celebration of Halloween. My intention is to feature a series of posts that lean towards the creepier, but fun side of things throughout the month of October. That includes theme-appropriate 1980's Flashbacks, "Gal" Friday's, Retro-Views, Rayboy's Reviews and hopefully a couple of interesting creator profiles or interviews.

I'm going to kick things off with a nifty five page story from Whiz Comics #8 starring the original Dr. Voodoo (Hal Carey). After Marvel Comics recently had Brother Voodoo, a character that was perfectly fine in its own right, renamed as Doctor Voodoo, Avenger of the Supernatural, taking on the mantle of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme - and ousting Stephen Strange from his signature role (while at the same time exiling him into a new book called, Strange) .... well, I just had to fire back with this golden age great who doesn't suffer from an unfortunate identity crisis.

The tale of 'Okoro's Revenge Plot' is written and illustrated by John Hampton and was originally published by Fawcett Comics in September 1940. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes. [DC Comics]

Enjoy!

1980's Flashback: All-Star Squadron

All-Star Squadron was created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway, and following a debut in Justice League of America #193, their book chronicled the adventures of a large team of superheroes, including members of several established DC Comics groups like The Justice Society of America, The Freedom Fighters, and The Seven Soldiers of Victory, as well as many other solo heroes. The original premise was that following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gathered all available superheroes at the White House and personally asked them to combine their forces to battle enemy sabotage and maintain peace on the home front during World War II. At the time, many Justice Society members had been captured by the villainous Per Degaton, so the available heroes were asked to first guard against a potential attack on America's West Coast. Degaton himself used stolen Japanese planes to launch such an attack, so the Squadron's first major mission was to stop the attack and rescue the captured heroes, who then became part of the new group. The rationale for not using the Squadron in combat within the European or Pacific Theaters of War was that Adolf Hitler had possession of the Spear of Destiny, a mystical object that gave him total control over superheroes with magic-based powers or a vulnerability to magic (including Superman, Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, and others) who crossed into territory held by the Axis Powers. America's entry into World War II had already prompted several members of the JSA to enlist, or be drafted in their civilian identities including Starman, Hawkman, the Atom, and Johnny Thunder.

All-Star Squadron was an example of "retroactive continuity" or "retcon", as it rewrote the officially-established history of DC superheroes that had been previously published during the 1940s. The first known use of the term "retcon" was by writer/editor Roy Thomas in the letter column of All-Star Squadron #20 (April, 1983). During its 67 issue run, several storylines ironed out previous continuity errors, fleshed out characters' origins and rewrote some earlier stories to explain inconsistencies in character development, resolve lingering continuity questions or fill in missing details.

Following DC Comics 1985 crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, the parallel universes DC had established over the decades were merged into a single fictional universe. "Golden Age" versions of DC's major mainstream heroes were largely eliminated from earlier continuity, leaving the All-Star Squadron with characters deemed unique to that time period. Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow & Speedy, Plastic Man, and a few other heroes were no longer considered to have existed at that point in history, and were thus never Squadron members.

Morass of Death (Star Publications;1953)

After studying commercial art, Jay Disbrow became a staff artist at the Iger studios in 1950, where he worked on such titles as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Kanga and Firehair. He then began freelancing at Star Publications, which included writing his own work. Disbrow worked on a variety of titles, such as Spook Suspense Mystery and Eerie Tales, while also exploiting other artistic activities.

This adventure of Taranga comes from Terrors of the Jungle #4 (Apr. 1953), and it features the introduction of Taranga's future bride, Rita Wayne. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!