2008 Halloween Countdown 9: Elvira's House of Mystery #5

The cover artist for Elvira's House of Mystery #5 (July 1986) from DC Comics is Mark Beachum. The Mistress of the Dark is featured in a four page segment titled "Clue Number 1" written by Joey Cavelieri and Mark Beachum. Not only do we find out that she sleeps nude but we also find out that she wears nothing under her gown. The first twisted tale is "Waddell and the Beav" about a mean drunk that dresses up as Billy Beaver for a kiddie show meeting a nasty end. The second shock story is "The Clockwork Dragon" about a woman that discovers her husband is a monster. As usual, I am just posting the cover and the Elvira segment.

Elvira's House of Mystery #5 cover

Clue Number 1 page 1

Clue Number 1 page 2

Clue Number 1 page 3

Clue Number 1 page 4

Breaking News From Smallville

We interupt the 2008 Halloween Countdown to bring you breaking news from Smallville: Jonathan Kent passes on. The Kansas farmer leaves behind a wife, Martha, and an adopted son, Clark.

Goodnight, Pa Kent, we will miss you...again.

2008 Halloween Countdown 8: Elvira's House of Mystery #4

After the first three issues, the Mistress of the Dark does not appear much in Elvira's House of Mystery #4 (June 1986). The peek-a-boo cover is by an unknown artist. She does present two tales that are more romantic than scary. The first is "Light of Day, Dark of Night, All the World Loves a Lover" and the second is "She Knows Someone Is Watching Her". The real bonus is the live pinup of Cain and Abel circa 1970.

Elvira's House of Mystery #4 cover

Elvira's House of Mystery #4 page one

Cain and Abel pinup circa 1970

2008 Halloween Countdown 7: Elvira's House of Mystery #3

The Mistress of the Dark is still wearing her cowboy hat and six guns in Elvira's House of Mystery #3 (May 1986) from DC Comics. The cover art is by Denys Cowan and Dick Giordano. Elvira's segment is titled "Retribution" or "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Tin Badges!" written by Joey Cavalieri with art done by Stan Woch and Dick Giordano. The two tales of terror are "Ballad of Hanging Rock" (a weird western tale) and "One Way Passage" (elevator to Hell story). Here is the cover and the four page Elvira segment:

Elvira's House of Mystery #3 cover

Retribution page 1

Retribution page 2

Retribution page 3

Retribution page 4

2008 Halloween Countdown 6: Elvira's House of Mystery #2

Elvira's House of Mystery #2 (April 1986) from DC Comics is a Samurai special. The cover features the Mistress of the Dark holding a sword. The segment featuring Elvira is called "In Quest of a Caretaker" written by Joey Cavalier and drawn by Bob Oksner. The two tales of horror featured are "The Samurai Condemned To Live!" and "The Samurai Who Surprised Death!" I am only featuring the Elvira story in this post.


Elvira's House of Mystery #2 cover

In Quest of a Caretaker page 1

In Quest of a Caretaker page 2

In Quest of a Caretaker page 3

In Quest of a Caretaker page 4

In Quest of a Caretaker page 5

2008 Halloween Countdown 5: Elvira's House of Mystery #1 Final

To wrap up my coverage of Elvira's House of Mystery #1 (January 1986), here are two black and white pinups of the Mistress of the Dark. At first glance, the pinups appear to be the same but there are a few subtle differences beside just the color of the background.

Inside back cover of Elvira's House of Mystery #1

Back cover of Elvira's House of Mystery #1

2008 Halloween Countdown 4: Elvira's Ads

The following scans are from Elvira's House of Mystery #1 (January 1986):

Elvira's t-shirt ad

Elvira's fan club ad

2008 Halloween Countdown 3: Elvira's Quest

"Elvira's Quest" is the filler story from Elvira's House of Mystery #1 (January 1986) from DC Comics. The segment was written by Joey Cavelieri, penciled by Bob Wagner, inked by Bob Oksner, colored by Liz Berube, lettered by Kurt Hathaway and edited by Sal Amendola. Here is the complete eleven page story:


Elvira's Quest page 1


Elvira's Quest page 2


Elvira's Quest page 3


Elvira's Quest page 4


Elvira's Quest page 5


Elvira's Quest page 6


Elvira's Quest page 7


Elvira's Quest page 8


Elvira's Quest page 9


Elvira's Quest page 10


Elvira's Quest page 11

If you would like to see larger images of the "Elvira's Quest", then check out my special Elvira's House of Mystery page.

2008 Halloween Countdown 2: Elvira's House of Mystery #1 Cover And Pinup

For the second day of Halloween, I give you the cover of Elvira's House of Mystery #1 (January 1986) from DC Comics with art by Brian Bolland and a black and white pinup featuring the Mistress of the Dark

Front cover of Elvira's House of Mystery #1

Inside front cover featuring Elvira pinup

2008 Halloween Countdown 1: Elvira Pumpkin Puzzle

To kick off my first post for the 2008 Halloween Countdown, here is an Elvira pumpkin puzzle featuring the cover of Elvira's House of Mystery #1 (January 1986) from DC Comics. The cover artist was Brian Bolland.

112Elvira's House of Mystery #1 (1986 DC Comics

Spider-Man Folders 2008

The final set of Marvel Comics folders that I have features Spider-Man from Marvel Comics. I bought these the same time that I bought the Dark Knight folders. The covers are mostly pin-up shots of Spider-Man wearing either his classic blue and red costume or his black costume. Other characters that appear include Venom, Sandman and Carnage. The interiors of one and four are the same while the interiors of two and three are the same.

Spider-Man folder #1

Spider-Man folder #2

Spider-Man folder #3

Spider-Man folder #4

Spider-Man Wall Clinger 2004

I found a Spider-Man wall clinger from 2004 at a local thrift store on Saturday for fifty cents. He has the classic colors instead of the movie colors. The back of his left leg has 2004 Marvel, Gosrich Group, Inc. and Made In China. He originally came with a bottle of bubble bath that was not found at the thrift store.

Back of Spider-Man wall clinger

Front of Spider-Man wall clinger

Blog Alert: Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine

Fans of golden age horror, crime and science fiction comics will want to check out Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine. The blog offers scans of a complete comic book story for visitors to read. Currently, he has scanned "Big Racket", a story featuring Johnny Dynamite, a one-eyed private dick in the tradition of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, from Dynamite #4 (November, 1953).

Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine also features pirates and superheroes on occassion.

The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson

I have never read a book by Kevin J. Anderson before even though he is a best selling science fiction writer. He has co-authored Dune prequels with Brian Herbert, written numerous Star Wars novels and had great success with his own series titled The Saga of the Seven Suns. Being a fan of Superman, I just had to pick up The Last Days of Krypton when I saw the paperback at the local newstand.

Anderson puts his spin of the final fate of Superman's homeworld. Events such as the meeting of Jor-El and Lara, the discovery of the Phantom Zone, the theft of Kandor by Brainac and the reign of Zod are included. At 467 pages, the science fiction book is fast paced and is a must read for any Man of Steel fan. I give The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson an A+.

The Batboat

We had McDonald's again last night so I ended up getting another Happy Meal. This time around, I got the batboat, which is the first toy in the set. The box was the same and I had a hard time getting the mini ski boat to go very far. I did like that feature of having Batman's head turn around depending on if the mini ski boat is inside the batboat or not. The batwings on the back can rotate so that makes for a cooler feature. Overall, I give the batboat a 7 out of 10.

Wrapper for Lego Batman Happy Meal batboat
Side view of batboat and mini ski boat
Front view of batboat
Front view of batboat and mini ski boat
Back view of batboat
Top view of batboat

Comics That I Bought Today

I took a road trip to Hutchinson, Kansas and bought several comics at Hastings. I don't take road trips very often and that's about the only place that I buy comics anymore since they don't have a comic book shop. I mostly picked up comics from Dark Horse and DC.

Dark Horse Comics Includes Conan #49 (torn cover), Conan #50, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull #2 and Indiana Jones and the Tomb of the Gods #1.
DC Comics includes Challenge of the DC Super Friends #6, Final Crisis #2 (Wonder Woman) and Final Crisis #2 (Batman).
DC Comics includes Batman and the Outsiders #9, Batman and the Outsiders #10, Brave and the Bold #15 (Nightwing and Hawkman) and Brave and the Bold #16 (Superman and Catwoman).
DC Comics includes Superman #678, Superman #679, Wonder Woman #22, Wonder Woman #23 and Comics Value Pack featuring 3 DC Comics from Metropolis Collectibles (shown is Adventures of Superman #614, not shown is Green Lantern #74 and Hawkworld #16).

My Favorite Webcomics

I added a new section in the sidebar featuring my favorite webcomics that I currently follow and they include:

Commissioned - follows the misadventures of a bald artist and his friends in real-life and in roleplaying games.

CTRL+ALT+DEL - a webcomic featuring two gamers.

Dire Destiny - a black and white fantasy webcomic with amazing storylines.

Penny Arcade - another comic featuring two gaming geeks.

Sidekick Girl - featuring Valerie's misadventures as a sidekick to Illumina.

Wondering Ones - a black and white science fiction comic with tracker/scouts battling a military force set on domination set in a vastly depopulated Northwest in 2066.