Innovation's '91 DS Comic, Book 2

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's SG #65's update on the AKI Barnabas models:

I tried searching for the box of the second Ben Cross model, but all I could come up with was the box for the first one:

DARK SHADOWS BARNABAS COLLINS RESIN MODEL KIT - ACTION INTERNATIONAL - RARE

Also, I'd forgotten that I have these two images of the first model:

They show it off a lot better than the ad in the comics (see reply #273 on Page 19 in the "Boardindex Page Montage/aka 'Book 1'?" topic) did...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the third page of the letters column (the twenty-seventh page):

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version (without any of the artifacts that the forum's system created when downsizing the image))

This one contains a graphic of Nathan from Page 5, which is also today's graphic in the slideshow - but it also contains a graphic of Barnabas from Page 7, which we haven't seen yet. And we finally get some feedback on Book 2 - feedback I couldn't agree more with...

And speaking of feedback, I have to say I also couldn't agree more with Libby Singleton regarding how Willie should be perceived, as well as what Scott has to say. And it seems quite true that Willie may indeed be the only character in fiction to actually benefit from a vampire bite.

Also, anyone who may have doubted Uncle Roger's claim that Nathan's look is based on actor Roger Rees will have to lose any doubts now that Scott Rockwell confirms it in his second response on this page...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the fifth page:

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version)

Note the missing dialogue and the panels that the slideshow skipped...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Is it just me or is it more than a bit fascinating how similarly Daphne's portion of her staking is depicted in Book 1 and Book 2:

E. Silas Smith - Book 1, Issue 1, Page 23, Panel 5

Jose Pimentel - Book 2, Issue 3, Page 6, Panel 2

It's almost as if Jose Pimentel used E. Silas Smith's version as more than simply a guide. But no, one artist wouldn't copy another artist's work, even if a few changes were made here and there, right? 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the sixth page:

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version)

Note the few bits of dialogue that the slideshow skipped...

And I know it's easy to tell, especially because of the dialogue, that the panels featuring Daphne are depicting events that happened previously, but I did like how E. Silas Smith made things like that even clearer by the way he didn't use straight edges with the panels, as can be seen in his panel of Daphne's staking that I shared above...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The most exciting thing in SG #65 (July 1993) was probably this:

Sadly, through a set of unfortunate circumstances, the project never came to be. Though SG did share updates/details in subsequent issues. And one thing DC did point to as a selling point for the films was how there was still interest in the '91 Series because the Innovation comics were selling so well...

I didn't join the Prodigy service until April of 1994, so I missed out on all but the very end of that excitement online. But it was definitely quite exciting (and frustrating) to read updates in SG, all of which I'll be sharing in upcoming posts...

[Uncle Roger]

So, four people make up a triangle?

You know, I think it's just as well that the movies didn't come off as planned. No matter how many twists and turns you add to the story, it's still the same story that was told on NBC. As well as that making it four times for the same basic storyline.

And good old DC never seemed to realize that the actors had moved on to other things and could rightfully expect a higher salary than they received on the series.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

So, four people make up a triangle?

It was the new Math. 

You know, I think it's just as well that the movies didn't come off as planned. No matter how many twists and turns you add to the story, it's still the same story that was told on NBC. As well as that making it four times for the same basic storyline.

When I heard about the proposed movies my first thought after finding out that DC had co-written the script was "Oh, great - yet another retelling of hoDS!" But then it came out that someone else (I prefer not to say who quite yet) was also involved and bringing a fresh take to things. As more details came out, some might even say that the movies seemed like they may have had even a radical take on things. And if one reads the announcement carefully that might have already been able to be gleaned as the first film would have ended in "tragedy for Barnabas," as in a possible death? And with the second film it appeared as if Vicki would somehow deliberately go into the past to change the course of history to save Barnabas, possibly meaning she had somehow learned he was a vampire and had been cursed in the past? If that actually was to take place, can you imagine an ending to the second film along the lines in the present of an actual Barnabas descendant arriving at Collinwood as a real long-lost cousin from England and not as a vampire using that cover? But who knows? Only the first script was ever written, and so far as I'm aware even that one has never surfaced publicly...

And good old DC never seemed to realize that the actors had moved on to other things and could rightfully expect a higher salary than they received on the series.

Surprisingly enough given that all too often DC operated by the seat of his pants, before he announced the proposed movies DC checked with the actors to make sure they were interested. They all said they were - though some said depending on the script. But apparently the script met with their approval.

And as far as actors' availability goes, I believe only Joanna Going and Roy Thinnes had new continuing roles in '93. However, Going's series Going to Extremes got canceled, and though Thinnes was appearing as Sloan Carpenter on One Life to Live, he expected to be able to work around that.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the fourth page of the letters column (the twenty-eighth page):

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version (without any of the artifacts that the forum's system created when downsizing the image))

This one contains three various panels depicting Julia from upcoming Page 9.

And we get to read a letter from "Pinky" Perrotta. If you don't remember who that is, she was mentioned on the fifth (the last) page (page thirty-one) of the letters column in Book 2, Issue 2 - and Uncle Roger questioned if there was ever any kind of screw up with her name. If you've been observant, you can see that there has been. But so far no one from Innovation has acknowledged what it actually was. Perhaps on the fifth (the last) page (page twenty-nine) of this issue's letters column...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the seventh page:

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version)

You'll notice a slight green tint to the page's border and separations. That was caused when I corrected how the panels on the page, like Page 3, were printed with too much of a red tint. But I figured better to have the panels look correct than to worry about slightly green border and separations.

And note the small bits of dialogue that the slideshow skipped...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It wasn't until I noticed this -

- in SG #65 from July of 1993 that I realized that Abbelare Inc. offered a discount on the two watches based on the '91 Series. Here's the announcement from SG #64 from April of 1993:

Perhaps if Abbelare had continued to advertise the watches in the Innovation comics, Innovation would have gotten in on the discount deal too. But considering the ad for the watches never appeared in the Innovation comics after Book 1, Issue 4, which came out in February of 1993, we'll never know...

It'll be interesting to see if the discount is still continued once we get to SG #66...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I just realized that the portrait of Josette in today's graphic in the slideshow -

- is incorrect. That's the portrait that was used in the pilot. But once the '91 DS went to series, they'd created a different portrait - the same portrait that's featured in the article on Page 27 of Book 1, Issue 1:

I swear it's as if they deliberately make these goofs to see how many people will notice. Or at least that's a better alternative to the editors being completely incompetent...

[Uncle Roger]

I was moderately interested in getting the watches at the time. They were well made and the Barnabas turning into a vampire idea was quite clever. But they were rather expensive at the time, so I ultimately passed on them.

Was any reason ever given as to why the Angelique one played Love Story instead of Josette's theme or something by Robert Cobert?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the eighth page:

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version)

Again a page that would normally be a full page but doesn't fully extend to the sides and has a margin at the top and bottom.

And it's another of the very few pages in the comics where all the dialogue is featured in the slideshow...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Considering that two of the panels on Page 9 are skipped in the slideshow because they don't contain any dialogue, it's good that they're featured on the fourth page of the letters column and that I've already shared that page because the panels are needed to fully explain what's happening in today's entry in the slideshow:

Book Two/Issue Three/Page 9 - Julia: '...BLESS TO OUR
PURPOSES: THAT THE INJURED SHALL BE MADE WHOLE,
THAT THE SUFFERING SHALL BE COMFORTED, THAT...'