Innovation's '91 DS Comic, Book 2

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Given yesterday's and today's installments in the slideshow -

Book Two/Issue Three/Page 17 - Nathan: 'I-- CAN'T--
 IT'S--* NO! MILLICENT COLLINS! WHAT HAVE I DONE?'

Book Two/Issue Three/Page 17 - Nathan: 'D-DREAMS,
WILLIE! IT'S BARNABAS'S DREAMS! HORRIBLE DREAMS!'

- it's interesting that they're establishing that Barnabas dreams even though they'd already done that in Book 1 -

Book Two/Issue Three/Page 15 - Julia's Journal:
'NOTE: Does B. dream?'

Book1, Issue3, Page16:

- and it's even more interesting that at first in Book 2 they tried to establish that Barnabas doesn't dream -

Book Two/Issue Three/Page 15 - Nathan: 'STILL NO
DREAMS, BARNABAS?'

Book Two/Issue Three/Page 15 - Nathan: 'DOESN'T
SEEM FAIR. YOU'VE GIVEN NIGHTMARES TO SO MANY.'

- but apparently Nathan was simply wrong in his initial impression, which may mean Barnabas isn't continually dreaming while he's resting in his coffin.

What's also interesting is that apparently Barnabas dreams about the same events over and over because both examples of his dreams involve his attack on Millicent in 1790...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the seventeenth page:

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version)

Note the several pieces of dialogue and panels that weren't used in the slideshow...

And when it comes to the 4th panel, who knows how Jose Pimentel confused the entrance to Barnabas' coffin room in the Old House's cellar with the entrance to the crypt in the mausoleum. But then...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Why does Barnabas look so horrified in today's graphic in the slideshow:

That's a very good question. Though we won't get a clue until Page 18 is posted tomorrow...

[Gerard]

I'll bet he just found out how much it costs to buy popcorn, a candy bar and a soda at the movies.

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   That's a good one!!   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the eighteenth page:

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

Note the panel and the bits of dialogue that weren't used in the slideshow...

And what do we think has Barnabas so horrified: watching La Belle Et La Bête(the 1946 French version of Beauty and the Beast), watching The Univited - or maybe it really is the price of popcorn, a candy bar and a soda...

[Uncle Roger]

Interesting that Collinsport has so few places for social gatherings other than the Blue Whale but seems to have something as esoteric as a revival house
Barnabas, at least the Frid Barnabas, would have had that reaction if they had been screening The Collector.

[KMR]

I think maybe what Victoria had heard (before she went to Collinsport) was that the town had what was effectively a revival theater. But since Collinsport sometimes seems to be in kind of its own weird time warp, maybe everybody thinks these are current movies?

[Gerard]

I'm thinking it's the brilliant special-effects scenes of the evil ghost in The Uninvited.  For those who've seen the film, the spirit looks like a dead ringer for Angeliques' spook in the '91 series. 

When it comes to the cost of the movie popcorn, candy-bar and soda, Barnabas managed to convince everyone to go Dutch treat.  He didn't have enough of Naomi's jewels on him to buy a round.

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And, no, you're not seeing things in today's graphics for the slideshow. That really is Joe:

He finally makes more than a passing appearance in the comics - and he's the last of the major characters to do so. And it's about time...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

One of the things I am most impressed with when it comes to Book 2 is that Joe's plot fits in very well with and expands upon what was presented on the '91 Series.

Book Two/Issue Three/Page 19 - Joe: '"SLEEP." WHEN I
SLEEP, I KNOW HORRIBLE THINGS WILL HAPPEN AND
WHEN I'M AWAKE, IT'S NO DIFFERENT.'

Joe expresses a similar sentiment in '91 Series' hour 4 in the scene in which Carolyn checks on him out on Collinwood's terrace. And as we'll see as we make our way through Pages 18 and 19, Maggie Thompson picks up on that scene and fleshes it out in satisfying ways. Though as I mentioned before, I do have a quibble in that in the scene on the series, it is strongly implied that Joe has been continually haunted by his time spent being treated at Collinwood and he can't wait to get away because he feels trapped there, but Book 2 has this panel in Issue 1 -

Book Two/Issue One/Page 6 - Vicki: '"CAROLYN WANTED
TO CHEER UP JOE, SO THEY TOOK DAVID TO PORTLAND
TO GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING--'

- and that would certainly seem to fly in the face of what Joe establishes in hour 4. And someone will actually point that out in a letter the comics share in an upcoming letters column. Though, of course, as is mostly the case when any conflicts with the series are pointed out, the complaint is brushed away like it doesn't contradict the series. Big surprise, huh? Not! And it's not even a case that one could argue that, well, Carolyn must have made plans for Joe to get away from Collinwood by having him drive her and David to go Christmas shopping. And the reason that is is because there's a scene coming up on Page 22 of Issue 3 that's a recreation of a scene that takes place in hour 4 of the series and it takes place in that hour before Joe's scene on the terrace...

[Uncle Roger]

If Carolyn really wanted to do something to help Joe, she should have invited him to spend Christmas with the family at Collinwood. I hope that she did.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, Joe was already there at Christmas because his entire treatment by Julia took place at Collinwood. Why we didn't see him, who knows? Perhaps he wasn't up to the Christmas Eve gathering they had to decorate? But then, Julia wasn't seen during that gathering either. And if Joe wasn't up to it, then he sure as hell shouldn't have been out driving that day. One thing we have learned from the current scene is that apparently there were setbacks in his treatment...

Joe may have taken part in the actual Christmas Day events. Who knows - we didn't see any of that period of time because Issue 2 jumped from Christmas Eve right to December 26th...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And continuing with more of the ads for the '91 Series tapes from the MPI's 1993 catalogue, here's the ad for August -

(Click here for a 792X1600 version (without any of the artifacts that the forum's system created when downsizing the image))

- and it just so happens that tape was released 26 years ago today...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks to the second graphic in today's slideshow we actually get to see the living Daphne in a flashback:

Previously we'd only seen VampDaph. And from those drawings I'd actually wondered if Rebecca Staab had licensed her image for the comics because I didn't think they resembled her all that well. But today's definitely does. So apparently she did...