“Gutter of
Horror” is a Brazilian column from Dinamo Studio website that talks about
horror comics.
This is an adapted version of the article.
Elvira is
an American icon, as part of the culture of Halloween as Santa is for
Christmas. Many people knows Elvira through her movie, but her story began much
earlier – even before the creation of the character.
Among the
thematic shows from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were the “horror film shows” that
featured horror movies, frequently monsters movies. But that were also those
that featured all kinds of B movies, old movies and low budget sci-fi flick.
Those shows usually had an actor playing as host dressed for the mood, commenting and introduced the movies that would be playing.
One of
these shows was “The Vampira Show”, which began in 1954 and is considered the
first to use this kind of format (in TV, at least). The show was presented by Vampira, played by
actress Maila Nurmi, which also created the idea of the character inspired by
Morticia Adams, the character from the classic Charles Adams comic strips. And
then begin the TV “horror host/hostess” trope. It was a novelty in TV, although
it was already common in comics, especially with E.C. Comics horror titles like The
Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear and, of course, Tales from the Crypt.
Elvira,
created by actress Cassandra Peterson (which also plays it) came about 30 years
later to replace a popular show called Fright Night, cancelled due to the
death of the actor that played its horror host. Elvira’s show was called
“Elvira’s Movie Macabre” (sometimes just “Movie Macabre” and it had The Vampira
Show as visual reference, although Movie Macabre was more comedic in tone. Elvira was a
hostess with tight clothes, a hard to ignore cleavage and a body that almost
didn’t fit the clothes that introduce B movies with a sarcastic humor. The
over the top humor and the self-aware comments on her figure and the quality of
the movies were her main characteristics.
The show
lasts five seasons and ended in 1986. But the character’s popularity only grew
and she ended up being a cult icon, starring in two movies (Elvira Mistress of
the Dark and Elvira’s Haunted Hills) and becoming a lucrative brand. And, as you might have guessed by now, she also make the jump to comics.
Elvira’s
House of Mistery (DC Comics, 1986/1987)
In the 1970s the two big publishers – Marvel and DC – decided to invested in the
horror genre again, at least the horror that was possible at the time because the
Comic Industry was still living by the infamous Comics Code Authority. While
Marvel had Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf by Night, titles with main characters,
DC had The House of Mysteries and The House of Secrets, anthology books that
featured stories presented by its horror hosts, Cain and Abel (yes, the brothers from the Bible. Eve was also a Horror Host in its own DC
horror title - I will do an article about the horror hosts from the comics).
In 1986-87,
DC decided to shake up The House of Mystery a bit and brought Elvira to “invade”
the House and become a makeshift hostess. The first issue is almost a sequel to
“Movie Macabre” – which were just being cancelled – and shows Elvira having to
shelter in and old house to escape a furious crowd who wanted to burn her alive
(because of her familiarity with the dark arts and this kind of thing – it was
never clear if Elvira were a Witch/supernatural character or just an actress
with the taste for the gothic that always ended up getting into trouble. But
the old house, it turns out, was the House of Mystery and Elvira ended up
becoming the unintentional hostess since the original host, Cain, was missing. The House itself gives Elvira the mission to search for Cain and,
meanwhile, she do what she knows best, to show her attributes, I mean, to show,
each issue, several horror tales. This run had Dick Giordano as the main editor
and the stories were written by Joey Cavalieri, Tom Bierbaum and Mary Bierbaum.
The issues featured several artists, such as Ron Wagner, Bob Oksner, Stan Woch, Sal Amendola, Mark Beachum and Dick Giordano, among others. Colors were
done mostly by Liz Berube. The covers usually referenced one of the stories
featured in the issue or pay homage to several common themes in fiction and
were made by "new" artists like Brian Bolland, Kyle Baker, Bill
Sienkiewicz and José Luis García-López, as well as veterans like Joe Orlando.
Elvira’s
House of Myrstery was an interesting experiment. It was basically and
adaptation of the TV show, taking advantage of an already well known and
popular DC title. Between the stories featured in each issue, Elvira tries to
find Cain doing the things he does best: making fun of the house and the
mission itself. Elvira’s House of Mystery lasted 11 issues plus a
Christmas Special and ended up, of course, bringing back the original host –
with some special appearances by Abel, host of the House of Secrets. And, more
importantly, this is cannon, which makes Elvira officially a DC Character (I
mean, at least in some pre-reboot DC Universe).
Elvira,
Mistress of The Dark (Marvel Comics, 1988)
Marvel also
had its chance to publish some Elvira in 1988 with a one-shot that
adapted her first movie Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. The issue was adapted by
Sid Jacobson with pencils by Ernie Colón and Romeo Tanghal. Dwayne Mcduffie, who
2 decades later would be one of the guys responsible for the Justice League
animated series, worked as an Assistant Editor for the comics. The cover art was made by Colón and Joe Jusko, iconic artist that become known for magazines like Heavy Metal.
Elvira,
Mistress of the Dark (Claypool Comics/Eclipse Comics 1993-2006)
A more
lasting title came through Claypool Comics in the 1990s. Taking advantage of
the 1988 movie and the fact that the publisher had just acquired the rights to
the character, Claypool published a regular comic called Elvira, Mistress of
the Dark in 1993.
Unlike
Elvira’s House of Mystery, this comic series explored Elvira’s daily life
trying to make some bucks as a Horror Host while also trying to make a life as an
actress. But her otherwise ordinary life would always be interrupted by
crazy incidents with all kinds of creatures, from supernatural creatures to killer
clowns - or Hollywood executives. The title was initially written by Paul Dini –
another one that later would make fame with DC animated Series – with several
artists like Kurt Busiek and Steve Leialoha. The covers were photoshoots
featured the very own Cassandra Peterson as Elvira.
Elvira,
Mistress of the Dark was almost a sequel to the movie and had a more comedic tom
than Elvira’s House of Mystery, making parodies of common fictional tropes –
especially elements and characters from classic horror comics) and lasting
impressive 166 issues from 1993 to 2006.
Elvira
Mistress of the Dark and beyond (Dynamite Enternainment 2018-present)
In 2018,
Dynamite Entertainment started to publish new Elvira comics. The main title was
– you guess it – Elvira Mistress of the Dark and had David Avallone as writer
and Dave Acosta as the artist and it featured several alternative covers by artists like Francesco Francavilla, Brittany Pezzillo, Robert Hack and Greg Smallwood, among others. Colors were done mostly by Andrew Covalt, Brittany Pezzillo and Ellie Wright. The title ran for 12 issues from 2018 to 2020 and is
faithful to the spirit of the TV show and the movies, with the sassy, the self-awareness and
acid comments from the protagonist. It’s arguably
the best comic featuring Elvira, were we see her – unwillingly – travelling
through time and meeting several classic horror authors such as Edgar Allan Poe
and Mary Shelley, going to the literal hell and fighting a weird cult with
the help of a masked vigilante.
Dynamite
also published a Halloween Special written by Scott Bryan Wilson with art by
Fernando Ruiz and a 4-issue miniseries The Shape of Elvira, written by David
Avallone with art from Fran Strukan that also featured several alternative covers. Colors were done by Maxim Šimić, Brian Level, Walter Pereyra and Kim Mohan .
That's it, at least for now, but Dynamite sure looks like it won't stop publishing Elvira anytime soon, so if you are a fan of the character, don't worry, there's many more stories to come. Unpleasent Dreams!
Rafael Algures is a Bachelor of Philosophy specialized in Neurosciences of Language. He is also a copywriter, content and science writer, and a comic book creator. His latest work, “Gutter of Horror: Transition”, is available at Amazon – digital and paperback.
Further
reading: ELVIRA: Mistress of the Dark Vol. 1: Timescream, by David Avallone and
Dave Acosta