Ross Novels / Gold Key Comics

[ClaudeNorth]

[spoiler]And If she tried to commit suicide, why didn't the Collins family get her to a doctor?[/spoiler]

That's a good question.  Why didn't these people ever ask for help.  Remember David trying to do away with his father (at least twice) but it's just swept under the rug.  Liz almost ended up jumping off Widow's Hill a few times. However, Liz does call in help for David the time he's being terrorized by Barnabas.

Don't know if you've read any of the Marilyn Ross DS novels (which are hilarious), but Liz is forever sweeping things under the rug in them.  In one of them (in all of them?), Vicki is subjected to all sorts of sadism by an unknown assailant and when she suggests going to the police, Liz dismisses her suggestion, saying that she'll handle things in her own way. 

[michael c]

claude, is the "unknown" assailant you refer to by any chance professor mark veno aka the "phantom mariner"?

i have a few of the ross novels and they are bizzaro.talk about parallel-time.they bear almost zero resemblance to the show itself.
i mean,who knew that liz and roger had another brother?

[ClaudeNorth]

claude, is the "unknown" assailant you refer to by any chance professor mark veno aka the "phantom mariner"?

i have a few of the ross novels and they are bizzaro.talk about parallel-time.they bear almost zero resemblance to the show itself.
i mean,who knew that liz and roger had another brother?

ROTFLMAO 

I forgot all about him!  The incident that always stands out in my mind is when someone wraps a noose around Vicki's neck, drags her across the lawn of Collinwood, and dangles her down a well.  I think all of the novels involved some sort of strangulation, come to think of it.

And if you want to experience the ultimate in parallel time, check out the Gold Key comics.  In one of them, Liz and Roger are husband and wife!  In another, Liz refers to Barnabas as 'Barnaby'!  And when Angelique casts spells, she often says "When the moon is in the seventh house," and, "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida."

[michael c]

i don't specifically remember vicki being dragged-and-dangled...but she did suffer unrelenting torment in the ross novels...almost more than in the actual show.

what was it about this dear girl that inspired never-ending persecution? 

[Joeytrom]

In an interview, Dan Ross stated that it was Matthew Morgan who was the unknown attacker on Vicky.

The first Gold Key DS comic book is hilarious in that everytime Barnabas is shown, he is seen running with one arm raised while holding his cane in his hand!

[ClaudeNorth]

The first Gold Key DS comic book is hilarious in that everytime Barnabas is shown, he is seen running with one arm raised while holding his cane in his hand!

It's funny because Barnabas is often depicted running around, while I cannot imagine the TV Barnabas even walking hurriedly.

And don't you love the way he's always shouting, "(Character name) MUST DIE!!!!!!!" and bearing his fangs during casual conversations?

I think my favorite Gold Key moment is when Barnabas sets fire to Collinwood in order to frame an old beggar as an arsonist.  The "real" Barnabas would never do anything to harm his beloved Collinwood.  Shows how out of touch the Gold Key people were.

[michael c]

In an interview, Dan Ross stated that it was Matthew Morgan who was the unknown attacker on Vicky.

The first Gold Key DS comic book is hilarious in that everytime Barnabas is shown, he is seen running with one arm raised while holding his cane in his hand!

matthew morgan might have been vicki's attacker in some of the ross novels[spoiler]...but in "the mystery of collinwood" it's professor veno/aka/the phantom mariner.i can't recall exactly why he was tormenting her(probably a very flimsy reason).[/spoiler] in this book widow's hill was called "suicide cliffs".

these early books tried to market victoria as a "nancy drew" type character.girl-solver of mysteries(an ability she sadly lost on the t.v. show).their intended audience seemed to be teenage girls.they have that perfect "i read it in study hall" feel.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I haven't read the Ross novels in more than 30 years, though, when I did, I often read them in school during study breaks instead of doing my homework (kids don't follow my example ). But I wasn't a girl - or even a teenager when I did that. I was 12 and still in (Catholic) grammar school (middle school for those who went to public school). I honestly lost interest in actually reading the books soon thereafter and only bought them for their cover photos. So, if they were aimed at teenage girls, well, maybe my loss of interest is your proof of that. 

I've thought about getting around to reading the ones I never dfid. But then I usually remember what the ones I did read were like, and, funny, I just never seem to find the time. 

[Joeytrom]

The best of the Ross novels were the early ones.  There is some continuity between the first six or seven from "Dark Shadows" to "The Foe of Barnabas Collins".  They are also most like the series, though there is a cosuin named Ernest Collins, whom Vicky is in love with.  He is written out in "The Curse of Collinwood", which also ties up the loose ends of some of the characters, paving the way for Barnabas to be introduced in the next novel "Barnabas Collins".

[spoiler]Apparently, some of these loose ends were taken from Art Wallace's "Shadows on the Wall" Bible for the first year of DS:
-Elizabeth learns that her husband she thought dead is alive and has a career in the sea.  Upon learning that he is alive, Liz decides to leave Collinwood and join the community again after 20 years.
-Roger's wife has died.
-Ernest Collins is killed in a plane crash. (not from the DS Bible)
-Burke and Vicky start a romance.

The first three take place in about the first three pages of the book![/spoiler]  This is a really fast read and not as gothic but more horror like then the previous novels.

[Raineypark]

All this discussion of the novels makes me wonder........I donated a substantial number of those paperbacks to my local library some time in the late 1970's. And the library routinely sold old books off to make room for new acquisitions.

I'd laugh like hell to know that some of you are in possession of my old copies!!! 

[ClaudeNorth]

I got most of mine in the mid-1980s at my local library (Drexel Hill, PA).  They had a paperback swap rack, and I noticed a few of the DS novels.  I grabbed them and asked the librarian if there were any others.  She went into the office and came out with a bag filled with them!  The entire series wasn't there, but still, to be handed most of them for free was a treat.

Another find was the HODS novelization, which I bought from a thrift store for only ten cents.

[Sandor]

Speaking of the DS novels and those Gold Key DS Comics, does anyone recall a COMIC STRIP version of "Dark Shadows" in the daily/weekly newspapers back in the late 60's? Vaguely, I remember it was alongside Mary Worth, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Little Iodine, Dick Tracy, etc., and was an on-going story, though different from the plots on the series.
Anyone know if these exist in book form somewhere, who wrote the strip, or how long it lasted in syndication? I'm having flashbacks...

[ClaudeNorth]

Kathryn Leigh Scott, through her Pomegranate Press, issued a paperback containing the entire run of the DS newspaper strip, along with information about the writer and artist.  As I recall, the strip ran for exactly one year.

I think you might still be able to order the book from her website (http://www.pompress.com) or through Amazon.com or from a bookstore.

[Sandor]

Thanks, J-C.
Leave it to KLS to provide such a luxury... though I'm tempted to hear a review or two on the comic strip book prior to making a purchase. Some things play better in memory... as when I dragged out my "Barnabas Collins/Dark Shadows" Milton Bradley game recently. Back in 1970, it meant so much to be the first kid to construct a full glow-in-the-dark skeleton, as the winner got to wear the Barnabas fangs. Nowadays, I see some of my own teeth turning into fangs, and it ain't pretty.

[michael c]

what was the gist of the gold key comics?did they consistently portray barnabas as the evil character he was early on on the show or did they try and work in the guilt-ridden,romantic side of his character?

what other characters from the show appeared in the comic?