Great Moments In Comic Book History #35: Tomb of Dracula #49

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula #49 (October, 1976) finds Dracula in a foul mood. Not only does he have the pesky vampire hunters still chasing him but also the leader of his cult, Anton Lupeski, is obviously plotting against him. Dracula just wants to spend some time with his wife but instead, he finds himself suddenly transported to the mansion of Angie Turner.

Angie is a recluse who has the ability to bring fictional characters into existence. She spends her time with the Frankenstein’s Monster, D’Artagnan, Tom Sawyer, and Injun Joe. Her favorite fictional character, though, is the title character from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The real Dracula is stunned and angered to discover that he’s been summoned by a woman who thinks that he’s the same as what calls the “inferior” who is featured in Stoker’s novel. Angie watches as Dracula not only kills all of her companions but also kills Robin Hood and Zorro when she summons them. Angie realizes that Dracula is not the tragic figure that she imagined but instead a vicious monster.

Dracula, who truly was a monster in Tomb of Dracula, taunts Angie and prepares to attack her, just to suddenly find himself back in his lair. Dracula may have claimed to have been real but Angie was not only able to wish him out of her mind but, as the final panels show, she was also able to bring back to life all of her other companions. The story ends by revealing that Angie is a mental patient who has been in a padded room ever since losing her family.

If this issue just featured Dracula dismissing Stoker’s novel, it would be an important part of Marvel’s vampire mythology. What makes the issues a classic is the suggestion that even the “real” Dracula is just a figment of Angie’s imagination. Since Tomb of Dracula regularly featured guest appearances by other Marvel character, one could argue that this one issue suggests that the entire Marvel Universe might just be an elaborate fantasy in the mind of a woman mourning the loss of her husband and children. Either way, this issue is a strong portrait of the power and comfort of imagination. Angie stands in for every comic book reader over the years.

Tomb of Dracula #49 (October, 1976)

“And With The Word Shall Come Death”

Writer — Marv Wolfman
Penciler — Gene Colan
Inker — Tom Palmer
Colorist — Michele Wolfman
Letterer — John Costanza
Editor — Marv Wolfman

Previous Great Moments In Comic Book History:

Horror Game Review: Weird Texts From An Unknown Number (2023, Mark Sample)

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

When you get a weird text from an unknown number saying that all of your secrets will soon be revealed, you assume that it is your brother Matt, pulling another stupid prank while traveling around Europe.

But what if it isn’t?

That’s the question at the heart of Weird Texts From An Unknown Number, a short but creepy Interactive Fiction game in which how you respond to the texts can lead to five completely different but equally disturbing endings.

This is a short game that can be played in under five minutes but, because each answer leads to an entirely different ending, it is also a game that can frequently be replayed. I found myself replaying this well-written game several times because I not only wanted to see every ending but also just how bad things could get the for the main character. The answer is very bad. The lesson? Some numbers are best left unknown.

Play Weird Texts From An Unknown Number.

Music Video of the Day: How You Gonna See Me Now? by Alice Cooper (1978, directed by Bruce Gowers)

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

How You Gonna See Me Now? is one of the songs to cite if anyone ever says that Alice Cooper was only capable of writing gimmicky songs. This is one of Alice’s best ballads, asking his former companion how she is going to see him when he returns to her life.

Of course, the video features Alice in jail and getting what appears to be electroshock therapy, in between writing a letter home to his wife. As with many of Alice Cooper’s videos, this video is memorable because of the contrast between the heartfelt and sincere lyrics and the macabre, sometimes bordering on campy imagery.

Director Bruce Gowers has also directed videos for Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, Supertramp, and really just about anyone who was anybody in the 70s and 80s.

Enjoy!

Great Moments In Television History #32: The Doors Are Open

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

55 years ago today, The Doors Are Open aired on Granada TV in the United Kingdom. This documentary featured The Doors performing at The Roadhouse in London, along with interviews with the members of the band and also clips of the turmoil that was occurring across the world at the time. The documentary takes a look at The Doors as both musicians and activists.

Previous Moments In Television History:

Zombex (2013, directed by Jesse Dayton)

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the residents of New Orleans are suffering from PTSD. Chandler Pharmaceuticals introduces a new pill called Zombex that they claim can conquer the symptoms of PTSD. Because of the crisis, the pill is given rushed approval by the government and introduced to the citizens of Louisiana.

Zombex has one unfortunate side effect. If you take too many of them, you turn into a zombie and start eating all of the people around you. With New Orleans besieged by zombie drug addicts, the government closes the airspace. Even though there are reports of a cure that has been developed in Austin, no one can catch a plane. A group of people, including an annoying talk show host named Aldous Huxley (Lew Temple), get in their cars and head off for Austin.

Zombex is a zombie film with a message. Don’t trust big pharma. Don’t trust mood-altering drugs. Don’t trust the government. They’re all good messages but the film’s execution is lacking, with thinly drawn characters and action that moves slowly. The character of Aldous Huxley is especially hard to take, as he never stops talking, even though all of his talking often seems to slow down the effort to get to Austin. Since the only cure for the zombie apocalypse is in Austin, it seems like our heroes should be in more of a hurry to get there. Instead, they stop ever chance they get. Even though they always seem to get attacked by zombies whenever they stop off somewhere, they still keep doing it. It doesn’t make much sense.

As is typical of films like this, there are plenty of familiar actors in small roles. Malcolm McDowell plays the man who developed the drug. His name is Prof. Soulis, which is pronounced “soul-less.” (Tell us how you really feel, movie.) Corey Feldman shows up for a minute as one of Soulis’s co-workers. Sid Haig plays a big bad army man. Kinky Friedman plays a guard. Even Slayer’s Tom Araya gets a blink and you’ll miss it appearance.

Zombex takes on Big Pharma, which it should, but the film doesn’t live up to its intentions.

Music Video of the Day: The Earth Dies Screaming by UB40 (1980, directed by ????)

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

Though the song’s title was taken from a 1964 B-science fiction film, the song itself was about the very real fear of nuclear war. To understand this song, it is important to remember that, in the 1980s, nuclear war was viewed as something that was destined to happen eventually. Teachers and school counselors were even specifically trained on how to talk to children who woke up one morning, saw the wrong story on the morning news, and came to school terrified that the bombs were going to drop at any moment. I guess the nearest equivalent of that today would be the fear that we only have ten years left due to climate change.

Luckily, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it looked like nuclear war had been avoided. Over the past few years, though, I’ve seen a return of those earlier fears as more and more nations brag about developing their nuclear capabilities. As a results, songs like this will always feel more relevant than we may want them to.

The Odds (2018, directed by Bob Giordano)

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

In a nearly bare room, The Player (Abbi Butler) sits at a table. The Player is taking part in what she had been told is an international challenge. The Game Master (James J. Fuertes) tells her what task she is expected to do. If The Player accepts the task and is not the first person to drop out of doing the task, she’ll move on to the next round. If The Player refuses the task or fails, she’ll be out and who knows if she will even be allowed to leave the room.

The challenges start out as simple things, like holding her hand over an open flame for as long as she can. But as the game progresses, the challenges get more and more extreme. Burning her hand is nothing compared to chopping off her fingers.

The Game Master remains in the room with the Player the entire time, occasionally encouraging her and sometimes taunting her. With each challenge, he dares her to drop out of the competition. But is The Game Master in charge of the competition or is he just another competitor? The Player only has the Game Master’s word that there’s even a competition going on in the first place. With each escalating round, the Player and the Game Master attempt to manipulate each other and psychologically break the other one down.

Featuring a small cast and only one location, The Odds is stagey and sometimes draggy but it is redeemed by the performances of James J. Fuertes and Abbi Butler. Even though some of the dialogue feels overwritten, the movies does keep you guessing about what is actually happening in the room and what the Game Master is actually trying to accomplish by forcing The Player to torture herself. The final exchange between The Game Master and The Player is an effective mind screw that makes you reconsider everything that has happened up until that point. The Odds is uneven but it holds your attention and keeps you thinking.

Music Video of the Day: Devil Woman by Cliff Richard (1976, directed by ????)

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

In a song that was a definite change of pace from his usual work, Cliff Richard sings about how he became cursed after seeing a black cat with yellow eyes. Cliff went to a fortune teller, asking her to lift the curse but it turned out that the fortune teller was the one who cursed him in the first place!

This song was Cliff Richard’s biggest hit in the U.S. It undoubtedly helped that the song came out while America was still in the grips of Exorcist fever.

The ultimate message is that if it can happen to Cliff Richard, it can happen to anyone.

Enjoy!

Blood Vessel (2019, directed by Justin Dix)

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

In the waning days of World War II, a group of Allied soldiers and reporters find themselves floating in a lifeboat, having survived the torpedoing of the troop transport on which they were previously traveling. A mix of Australians, Brits, Russians, and Americans, the survivors are on the verge of giving up when they spot an apparently abandoned German boat floating in the middle of the ocean.

The survivors board the boat and discover that the crew is missing or dead. The only survivor on the boat is a little girl (Ruby Isobel Hall) who hungrily eyes any open cut. The survivors discover that the boat was supposed to be shipping art that had been stolen by the Nazis but that the boat instead picked up some unexpected passengers who wiped out the crew and who are still hungry for blood. While one weaselly survivor resorts to trying to contact the Germans for help, the others try to stay alive in an environment that they can’t control.

Blood Vessel owes an obvious debt to the Alien franchise, with the survivors roughly corresponding to the space marines who failed to stop the Xenomorphs in Aliens and the ship acting as a water-bound version of the rickety spaceships that have appeared throughout all of the Alien films. There’s no real surprise to the nature of the monsters that have taken over the boat. The film’s entire premise is right there in the title. But Blood Vessel is claustrophobic and the monsters, when they do make their eventual appearance, are frightening in both their ruthless savagery and the mocking joy that they take in their activities.

All the more memorable for having been shot on an actual boat, Blood Vessel is effective low-budget horror.

Music Video of the Day: Candy by The Killer Barbies (2002, directed by Oliver Sommer)

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Jedadiah Leland

Today’s music video of the day comes from the Spanish punk rock group, The Killer Barbies. Silvia Superstar buys a comic book featuring an animated version of Dracula who starts to speak directly to her. Not coincidentally, this video was released at the same time that the band was preparing to star in a film called Killer Barbys vs. Dracula, which was directed by Jesus Franco.

(For the film, the band changed their name from the Killer Barbies to the Killer Barbys to avoid being sued by Mattel.)

This video was directed by Oliver Sommer, who is one of the busiest and most prolific music video directors out there. At this point, it would probably be easier to keep track of who, in Europe, Sommer has not worked with than with who he has.

Enjoy!