I'm sure I'm the only puppy around here who finds today's panel from the comic book distinctly homoerotic. Right? Oh, Barnie-boo, you BEAST.

I thought I had seen the first few issues of this book. But I have no memory at all of this issue or story.  I remember when it came out I was living in New Haven CT and commuting regularly to teach in Middletown, a neighboring burg. And there was a comic book store somewhere in town, close to the bus terminal I think. I'd stop in and pick up an issue of the Innovation comic occasionally just to have something DS related to peruse on the ride home.

The letters page of the comic was maybe my favorite part of it. Because people would write in and some would share their memories of the 1960s show. The one I remember best was this person who sent in their excerpt from a diary they were keeping way back when, and the entry had to do with an episode aired sometime in January 1971. These episodes (from the final phase of 1840) had yet to be released on home video in the early 1990s, and had never been seen on TV since the original airing.

The fan wrote in their diary about how delighted they were to observe that Angelique's poppet was a Barbie-doll covered with some kind of cheap modeling clay. And as she was incanting furiously and stabbing the poppet with a needle, the clay started to fall off the doll and suddenly Barbie, stark naked alas, had a cameo appearance on DS.

I was smiling riding the bus home that evening.

cheers, G.

This interesting article about a mention of "Dark Shadow" in an early 70s "Jack Chick" tract was posted on social media today. I don't know if the special update "confirmation" featuring a very rare contribution from "a certain Mysterious Benefactor (tm)" is recent or not.

http://www.collinsporthistoricalsociety.com/2016/10/the-unsavory-jack-chickdark-shadows.html

The second part of the article is a bit disturbing. These old tracts seem so campy and funny now, but we have to bear in mind that the people who produced them were often very disturbed, malignant individuals. This is shown in the second part of the article. Also, it's known that the tracts did inflict psychological damage on untold numbers of young readers.

G.

A beguiling portrait of a mysterious, dead femme fatale... a piano, a painter, and the smell of jasmine... sound familiar? This episode of JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN--a series which I believe aired in a nighttime slot on CBS in 1969--was adapted from the novella by Oliver Onions, "The Beckoning Fair One."  The series was produced through England's legendary Hammer studios. Gabrielle Drake, who appeared on both THE AVENGERS and UFO, plays the clueless girlfriend to Robert Lansing's moody, troubled painter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elKsuZxjpAM

I may have posted about this show before--if so, I apologize for the repetition. I remember posting about an episode of ONE STEP BEYOND which also had elements of the NoDS in its plotline.

Best, G.

I thought Aron Kincaid was pretty sexy. I looked him up yesterday and it sounds as if we would have had some things in common. He died a few years ago, unfortunately. 

This movie used to air a lot in early evening and weekend afternoon slots. I'd start to watch, enjoying the opportunity to see Boris again, then get bored once all the teen "shenanigans" began. Even as a teenager myself, I found all that really dull, obvious, forced attempts at "fun."

G.

I got to see Marie do a short performance at a Festival many years ago. I wish I could remember more about it, but I do recall how wonderful she was. A vibrant, beautiful presence onstage.

G.

With the extreme weather here in New England this weekend, I've been continuing to catch up with episodes from one of my favorite Sixties shows, the UK series ADAM ADAMANT LIVES! It ran on the BBC from June of 1966 through the Spring of 1967.  It occurred to me when I got out my DVDs again last week that this show has a couple of things in common with DS. Notably the fact that the hero, a Victorian gentleman adventurer put into suspended animation in 1902, reawakens in the London of 1966 completely out of his own time and place. There are some other commonalities, down to the producer of the show demanding a specific hairstyle for the hero, and the latter occupying a home furnished in the style and manner of his own time, which was the late Victorian era. (I always thought on DS they could have done more with exploring Barnabas's less than happy adjustment to life in the 1960s as an 18th century gentleman. I wasn't at all happy with how this theme was developed in the Burton/Depp film.)

ADAM ADAMANT combined elements of The Avengers, Doctor Who, and James Bond (including a wailing theme song reminiscent of GOLDFINGER). It was more violent than would have been allowed on US television at the time.  And many of the guest players also showed up on THE AVENGERS. Moreover, some of the plots were either similar, or outright recycled.  A good example of all of these facets, including a scene that is definitely echoes what was to happen on DS in 1967, is this story, "The Terribly Happy Embalmers." John Le Mesurier, Jeremy Young, and Alf Joint (a popular stunt fighter), all of whom appeared in THE AVENGERS, show up in this one. It's not surprising that you keep expecting Diana Rigg or Patrick Macnee to show up since the script was written by longtime AVENGERS scribe Brian Clemens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzWdQlG6T2A

Best, G.

Yes, the last Friends of 91 DS event in NYC was canceled, wasn't it, due to lack of pre-registration?  The main area where I see fannish activity is on Facebook groups. I know there are some younger people who have become fans, but it's quite random. Unfortunately, if the series is no longer on hulu, that will remove from the game the last somewhat more visible arena where the series was seen. I don't know how successful MPI's attempt to run their own DS channel is going to be.

I myself don't pay all that much attention to Shadows fandom any longer and I don't really have the time or extra funds to devote to attending the occasional events that are run. 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the appearance of Barnabas Collins and it seems that barely anything happened to celebrate that.

And 2018 was the year we first clapped eyes on Mrs Cassandra Collins... also the 50 anniversary (as of late June) of my first episode ever viewed of DS.

Best, G.