Boardindex Page Montage/aka 'Book 1'?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

He's addressing Willie--the lineal descendant of Ben Loomis. I don't think the two were related in the 1991 series but again, I never paid much attention to that.

Yes, Willie is Ben's descendant in the '91 Series.

I think this dialogue is a quote from DRACULA

You've taught me something that I never knew because I googled the blood/kin part of the quote and apparently it appears in Chapter 21 of Dracula. When I've watched the '91 Series and Barn says that to Carolyn in hour six after he's attacked her, I always thought he was referring to her being his descendant (as in his brother Daniel's whatever how many greats grand daughter). I never understood why he would say the same thing to Willie in the comic because Willie and Barn have no familial relationship that we're aware of.

[Gothick]

It's really odd that the writer gave those lines to Barnabas in this scene. Because the original context in the novel, if I'm remembering correctly, is that Dracula just had Mina perform the vampire version of oral sex on him and this is his statement that she is now his Bride.

In the Lugosi film, he says "my blood now flows through her veins... she will live through the centuries to come" ... his voice, and bearing, were magnificent in that scene.

In this scene, Barnabas has simply made Willie his slave. But how this is portrayed here seems so erotic to me. Of course, I fully admit that I'm far from an objective viewer. And again, I don't have anything like the encyclopaedic knowledge about all of the 1991 stuff that some of you possess. I barely remember these shows.

For reference purposes, I'm using google Chrome on a circa 2009 MacBook to view the internet.

cheers, G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the seventh page -

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version)

And note that this page contains dialogue and panels that were not featured in the slideshow...

[Josette]

Thank you, Gothick!  Your explanation of the meaning makes sense, but in seeing it I didn't think of it that way.

[Gothick]

Happy to help, Josette!

I think I saw a scan on a website somewhere, at some point, of the panel of Barnabas and Willie that's the central image on this latest page. I remember it being captioned something like "ever wonder what Barnabas looked like when Willie first opened the coffin?"  I don't think I ever saw this particular book, though. I am enjoying this feature about it.

I was teaching in Middletown, Connecticut, I think from the Fall of 1992 through the Spring of 1994. I'll have to look for info on when the Innovation comics started up. Maybe in the Fall of 1991?

Best, Gothick

[Gothick]

For anyone who's interested, this page includes links for each issue published.  Unfortunately, some of the pages are blank, presumably because whoever worked on this either did not have access to all the issues, or just never got around to doing treatments for certain numbers.

It states that issue 2 was published in August of 1992, and that the publication schedule was erratic. So maybe the first one came out in June, which always feels like International DS History month to me.

http://darkshadows.wikia.com/wiki/Innovation

Only the first issue of the third "book" was released when Innovation, the publisher, went out of business. I wonder if the complete storyline planned for that "book" was ever posted online.

Despite their disclaimer, the comics do seem to make use of material from the original series that weren't a part of the Universe of the 1991 iteration. For instance, in one story, Liz warns Vicki not to set foot in the basement, and Carolyn asks her what she's hiding, to Liz's displeasure. This idea of Liz keeping the basement locked up and warning people away from it wasn't spoken of in the 1991 episodes that I saw, at least, I don't recall it ever being mentioned.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I have two problems with today's quote, though only one is storyline oriented. The one that isn't is this line:

"WHAT YEAR BE THIS?"

In the series, and particularly in the 1790 sequence, Barnabas speaks impeccably correct English. He would never say "What year be this?" when the correct way to ask the question would be "What year is this?"

True, Daniel incorrectly used "be" when he shouldn't have asked Vicki "Who be you?" and then introduced himself as "I be Daniel." But 1) he was a child, and 2) Vicki was quick to correct his grammar.

But the storyline problem comes with:

"YEAR? IT'S...IT'S 1991."

No it isn't. When Barnabas is released from his coffin it's 1990. Among other indications of that is that the date 1990 is listed on Daphne's plaque in the mausoleum after Barnabas has killed her. And given the fact that Barnabas has just been released from his coffin and hasn't even come across Daphne, well...

And the reasons why the '91 series actually begins in 1990 were twofold:

One is that when the series went into production in July, 1990, the original plan was for it to debut around Halloween 1990. But then NBC decided to do a huge promotional push to launch the series so they moved its debut to January 1991. (If only it had debuted in October, 1990 things might have been very different as in there wouldn't have been any Gulf War to interfere with it. But...)

The second is that the series wouldn't have to depict Collinsport during the winter if they placed 10 weeks of Barnabas' cure in the late fall and winter and decided to skip over those 10 weeks by merely referring to their passage during one of Julia's voiceovers. And one would think, given the fact that they chose to set their comics during those 10 skipped weeks of Barnabas' cure, when the creators of the comic researched the time frame of those 10 weeks, they would have realized that they took place in the late fall and the winter, and thus during the time when the transition from 1990 to 1991 took place. But apparently not... But then, as we'll see, that was hardly the only instance where they didn't think things completely through...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Your explanation of the meaning makes sense, but in seeing it I didn't think of it that way.

Exactly, Josette. I think it went over the heads of many people, including myself.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It states that issue 2 was published in August of 1992, and that the publication schedule was erratic. So maybe the first one came out in June

I'd have to dig out my ShadowGrams from 1992 to be sure of exact release dates. But I keep my issues in the envelopes that Innovation mailed them in and Book One, Issue One is postmarked April '92, while Book One, Issue Two is postmarked July.

Only the first issue of the third "book" was released when Innovation, the publisher, went out of business. I wonder if the complete storyline planned for that "book" was ever posted online.

SG may have given some indication of where Book Three was to be headed. I believe they may have also shared some unpublished artwork from Book Three...

Despite their disclaimer, the comics do seem to make use of material from the original series that weren't a part of the Universe of the 1991 iteration. For instance, in one story, Liz warns Vicki not to set foot in the basement, and Carolyn asks her what she's hiding, to Liz's displeasure. This idea of Liz keeping the basement locked up and warning people away from it wasn't spoken of in the 1991 episodes that I saw, at least, I don't recall it ever being mentioned.

No references to staying away from the basement ever came up on the '91 Series. And I believe what Innovation's disclaimer may have actually meant was that unless they introduced any elements from the original show into the comics, those elements from the original show didn't exist in the world of the comics. However, one thing I do know for sure is that they stated that if they "borrowed" any elements from the original show, they planned to take them in different directions, so essentially they wouldn't be the same as what took place on the original show. Though we'll never know if they would have stuck to that or not. But another thing I do know is that Innovation definitely planned to reveal that Liz was Vicki's mother...

[Uncle Roger]

Now that you mention it, I do recall a conversation in one of the Innovation books where Roger asks why Elizabeth was so bound and determined to hire Vicki as the governess. Elizabeth's very frosty response, something along the lines of I have my reasons, indicated that it was not a topic that she was going to discuss.

[Gothick]

Thanks for the further info, MB. The whole period of the early to mid 1990s was hellishly busy for me. It was also when I had my first few brushes with DS fandom. I really needed something that wasn't academic in my life.

With all the caveats you mention, thus far I think this comic book series was about 5000 percent superior to the "Gold Key" books.

Thanks again to yourself and Midnite for your work on this.  I am enjoying it.

cheers, G.

[Gothick]

One of today's drawings definitely feels like a continuity error. I don't recall Barnabas's hands sporting those Nosferatu-nails when we saw him take out the hidden coffer of jewels in the original 1991 episode.

G.

[Gerard]

I guess, Gothic, that writers will take liberties in correcting perceived errors in the original "bibles."  It would make sense that Barnabas would be rather "scruffy" after being chained in a coffin for 200 years devoid of blood to keep him "young" rather than continuing to "age" while still alive.  To me, the '04 version made the most sense when Willie and his girlfriend opened Barnabas' grave and found an emaciated, mummified-like "corpse."  As more blood is consumed, the aging process ceases and reverses.  Stoker referred to that in Dracula, where the count first appeared as a grey-haired old man because the blood he consumed in Transylvania was "old."  When he relocated to England where the blood was "younger" his aging reversed and his hair returned to its pre-geriatric state without the benefit of Clairol.

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'd have to dig out my ShadowGrams from 1992 to be sure of exact release dates. But I keep my issues in the envelopes that Innovation mailed them in and Book One, Issue One is postmarked April '92, while Book One, Issue Two is postmarked July.

SG may have given some indication of where Book Three was to be headed. I believe they may have also shared some unpublished artwork from Book Three...

Curiosity got the better of me and I did dig out my SGs. I discovered a whole bunch of stuff that I'd totally forgotten SG had shared. As soon as I have the chance to format much of it for the forum, I'll share it...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the first thing to share from SG. It comes from Issue 58, November 1991:

It's interesting to see Page 4 without the dialogue.

I'm going to hold off sharing any more for now because a lot of it has to do with pages we haven't reached yet...