(*PAGE EXAMPLES - reply #31*) "Dark Shadows" Returns in October (in new comic form)

Got mine!  I have only read the first three pages.  And I have to say, the art is phenomenal.  Lara Parker and Jonathan Frid look great in these early pages!  We will see how they look throughout the rest of the book.

amazingly the store where i purchased the first two issues(forbidden planet new york)sold out of volume three...and they just received it this morning! the clerk said that since the movie has been picking up steam in terms of publicity interest in the comic has skyrocketed.

luckily midtown comic still had it. i haven't really read it yet. more thoughts tomorrow.

It seems to be taking A LOT from the new movie if we are to believe some of the spoilers...

really?

i'm not getting that from it at all.

Well first there was the long-fingered Barnabas and now we have a... (Purported movie spoiler ahead: )

[spoiler]Flying Angelique![/spoiler]


Having now finished this comic, though, I must say it is going in an interesting direction.

The art of Parker changes throughout the book.  After the first few pages, the artist adopts a new look for her, and it's strangely modern, as in 2000s modern.  It seems out of place for the 1970s.  The art reminds me of Michelle Pfeiffer in a couple of the panels.  Too much 2012 invading my mind!   

The art of Hall, Frid, and everyone else, though, is very strong. 

Now for my thoughts on the story...

It is written better than the second installment.  The plot isn't groundbreaking.  Didn't Angelique do this (Comic and PT spolier: )[spoiler]sucking life out of people[/spoiler] thing in PT?  All in all, I had no issues with this issue.  (Punny!) I would have liked to have seen the story go in another direction, but it is what it is.  There are lots of elements taken from the OS, and that is good.

[spoiler]I am frankly tired of the main family being seen as a collective, though.  They are not a singular unit.  They are what make up the whole of Dark Shadows.  I hope they get their own stories as this series continues. 

It is nice to see Carolyn get a big piece of the action.  It's refreshing to see her in a large capacity.  In fact, she is the only character I really care about at this point.  I am intrigued by Angelique, but Barnabas just isn't doing it for me nor is anyone else.  So, as long as the story focuses on Carolyn and Angelique, I think we'll be in good hands.  Maybe I will start to care about the other characters when they have more plot. 

I am upset that Jack was killed off.  Even though, in this issue he looked like Craig Slocum more than Don Briscoe or Roger Davis, I still got attached to him as a character.  It seems that a lot of throw-away characters are being introduced.  It would be nice to see some familiar faces, like Kate Jackson or KLS or Alexandra Moltke, make a return, so we aren't just getting people who come and go with each issue.  [/spoiler]

In the end, I am still dedicated to this series.  I think it's a great effort.  I am glad it is going well... I just don't want the rise in popularity to thwart the OS-feeling that was really captured in the first issue. 

I picked it up at New England Comics on my lunch break.  The fact that I looked at a few pages and then set it aside and still haven't picked it up again tells you just how intrigued I am by it all.  Nonetheless, this number thus far seems a huge improvement upon the previous one--the art seems sharper, and there is a little less of that "Superwitch" nonsense with Angelique (though it's still there as a plot device).  I could rant about how much the whole Superwitch bugs me in various DS spinoffs, but does anyone really care what I think? 

It's an odd little book.  You almost think they've got it, and then there's some really dumb blunder in the writing or artwork.  I think new, younger fans will enjoy it more than us old Collinwood hands.

g.

Well for those (like me) who haven't gotten it yet, there are some preview pages up for issue 3:
http://dynamite.net/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C118398#previewImages

TFAW has the plot outline (but not the image, yet) for issue 7 up:
http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Dark-Shadows-7___401447

You'd think Dynamite would have adjusted their release schedule by now. Unless the issues are going to start coming out sooner than a month apart, there's no way #7 is going be out on April 25th.

Thanks for the links, Sara. 

A mythological note for the curious:

[spoiler] When Angelique is toying with her victims in the Blue Whale, the jukebox is playing a song whose lyrics are from an ancient Sumerian hymn describing the Descent of Inanna (aka Ishtar), ancient Goddess of Love and War, to the Netherworld (that's Hell, to you Christians out there).  The Netherworld was ruled by Her Sister Ereshkigal.  I wonder whether this is meant to be a hint that this "Angelique" isn't really the Angelique we know at all, but some other being taking the form of Angelique.

It seems really un-DS, but is still what I regard as the coolest thing that happens in the book.[/spoiler]

G.

A mythological note for the curious:

I looked this up, G.  I was really curious about it.  And you are right.  It seemed very out of place in the DS-universe we all know.  But, like you, I found it enjoyable. 

one thing about this series that is starting to disappoint me is that...

[spoiler]like many variations on the series it's looking increasingly like elizabeth,roger and david are just part of an establishing presence. they're not involved in the plot. it's starting to very much resemble "the adventures of barnabas and quentin". a popular pairing which nonetheless bores me to tears. in that it's reminding me of the gold key comics or the later ross novels. and really, so angelique shows up again for the twentieth time. so what.[/spoiler]

also i really dislike the drawings of angelique in a pink sleeveless dress. visually it doesn't coordinate well with the darker, more 70's look of the rest of the book.

this is only a 4 dollar investment so i don't mind shelling out but unfortunately my interest is starting to drift. this happened with the audiodramas as well. i'm thinking that stuart manning and i have very different sensibilities and wants from DS.

the plot outline for volume 7 sounds really creepy and gross.

I'm only buying them for sh&ts and giggles at this point.  I doubt whether I will continue past the end of the current arc.

If I hear about a Laura Collins story with different artists and writers, I might check that out.  Somewhere down the line.

cheers, G.

indeed.

at first it felt like the feeling of the OS had been captured. now it's drifting into standard adolescent, comic book fare.

kind of a let down.