DARK SHADOWS RETURNS: A review of DARK SHADOWS #1

This isn’t the first time DARK SHADOWS has been a comic book. Many of you might remember the old Gold Key classics . . . probably unfavorably. Like many spin-off series back then, it had little to do with the show aside from characters who vaguely looked like the actors who played them.



Dynamite, which is now making a name for itself as the go-to place for media tie-ins (or have you missed their GREEN HORNET, WARLORD OF MARS, THE BIONIC MAN, FLASH GORDON, and TARZAN books, among others?), has set its sights on the cult classic television show, DARK SHADOWS, a gothic soap opera from the late ‘Sixties and early ‘Seventies. In the big picture, the show didn’t last long, but since its untimely cancellation, it has lived quite an undead life in reruns and DVD’s. How many other soap operas have been released in their entirety on DVD?


And now, the show is resurrected again, apparently from where the TV series left off. Barnabas Collins, once a wealthy young man who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, then a vampire chained away for two hundred years until he met someone who could remove the curse, is now a vampire once again. Just like in the good old days, he argues with his only true ally, Dr. Julia Hoffman, who is desperately trying to find a way to cure him of his vampirism. He shouts and rages because he is impatient. He’s been given a taste of normal human life, if only briefly, and he can’t stand being a monster anymore. He can’t stand the hunger. He is, after all, TV’s first reluctant vampire.


In the meantime, it seems that Angelique, once a Barnabas’s lover, always a witch, has followed him back to “present day” Collinsport (keep in mind, this takes up the story where it left off, meaning 1971), intent on making sure he remains cursed. And as per usual, the Collins family is coming apart. Roger is drinking too much. Elizabeth nurses the worry lines on her face. Carolyn, now a bereaved widow, seeks solace in the Blue Whale and another man’s advances. Quentin, a relative out of time, spends his life listening to his ever-relaxing song on the Victrola. And David? Yes, he’s still around. After all he’s been through, he probably wishes he wasn’t. He’s found his comfort in setting fires and turning to a life of crime.


Yes, life at Collinwood is full of strife, as it always seems to be. That’s the best part; either writer Stuart Manning did his research very well, or he’s a longtime fan. He knows the locale, the characters, the histories, everything, even down to the opening. Granted, since her early departure from the show, Victoria Winters can no longer introduce the episode, so the task falls to another character: “My name is Dr. Julia Hoffman . . . .”


And Manning isn’t alone. It’s clear that artist Aaron Campbell paid close attention to the show. Where else did the tumultuous waves in the first panel come from? You can almost hear the lugubrious tones of the theme song. The images of Collinwood are very detailed and perfect. And while the characters aren’t exactly spot on, they’re pretty damned close, especially for Elizabeth Stoddard, played by Joan Bennett, and Roger Collins, played by Louis Edmonds.


There is one problem. On the show, while things tended to get a bit bloody every once in a while, it was always kind of a neat, polite mess. Horror doesn’t come with better manners than a good episode of DARK SHADOWS. There is one scene in which someone writes a message in blood on the walls of Collinwood. One would think that would be too much for the sensibilities of DARK SHADOWS.


A small quibble. This book is headed for good things. Get in on the ground floor.


DARK SHADOWS #1
Written by Stuart Manning
Illustrated by Aaron Campbell
Published by Dynamite Entertainment
22 pages
$3.99