I finally got to see the commercial for Alice Cooper's Munster Mash Marathon. The shock rocker is hosting eight hours of The Munsters starting 4 pm East/1 pm West on Friday, October 31st. The website has the promo video, an online trivia game called "Alice Cooper's Munster Mash", titles of the episodes that will air and clips from the series.
Alice Cooper has been in several comic books starting with Marvel Premiere #50 (October 1979) with the story titled "From The Inside".
The only comic that I have with Alice Cooper is Rock N' Roll #18. I do have several of his albums on vinyl, cassette and/or cds. I am surprised that no one has turned his Welcome To My Nightmare album into a comic book yet.
The Mistress of the Dark's relationship with the Coors Brewing Company became rocky because they wanted to tone down her sexy image (that's why you see less of her cleavage). She decided not to renew her contract in 1996 and decided to start her own beer label. The result was Elvira's Night Brew and I managed to buy a few six packs (I wished I had all the bottles and holders but I did keep seven bottles and two holders). Only one of the local liquor stores stocked Elvira's Night Brew and a six pack sold for $5.79 at the time. The dark beer tasted much better than Coors and Coors Light. Unfortunately, Elvira's Night Brew only lasted a year since she could not enter the Colorado Beer Convention since her neckline was too low.
Elvira met the Coors Beerwolf in 1986 when the beer company was doing their Silver Bullet campaign. She became the official national spokeswoman for Coors Beer Co. for the month of October starting in 1988. I do have a few items of her promoting the beer. I managed to get an Elvira Coors Light vinyl sign from 1991 that measures seven inches by seven and a half inches. I was able to get this from one of the local liquor stores for ten dollars. I could have gotten a large banner but the store manager wanted fifty dollars for it so a friend at the time bought it since I did not have the money (the friend moved away a few years ago and I don't know what ever happened to the large banner). The sencond promotional item that I have is a table standee that is eight and half inches tall. I managed to get this at a local beer joint for free.
In the mid-1970s, I received an 8 track titled Heavy Hits and one of the songs that quickly became my favorite was Werewolf performed by the Five Man Electrical Band (the other song was Things Get A Little Easier, Once You Understand by Think). The song was orginally released in Canada in March 1974 and was the last single to chart for them. The 8 track cassette and player are long gone but I can enjoy the song once again thanks to YouTube. Not only am I posting the video but also the lyrics.
Werewolf performed by the Five Man Electrical Band
Werewolf Performed by Five Man Electrical Band (1974)
Momma said “There’s something weird ‘bout Billy I looked in his room, his bed wasn’t slept in at all last night But Papa said “Ah, now Momma don’t you go talking silly He’s just a young boy, he’s just sowing his wild oats and that’s aright” But momma said “No, something real strange ‘bout my Billy Farmer down the road said he lost a few of his sheep last night I know he’s my own flesh and blood but he makes my blood run chilly ‘Cause I saw from my window and he was on the hill just screaming at the moonlight”
Is it any wonder We hate to see the sun go down And is it any wonder We hate to see the full moon coming ‘round
So Papa said “I guess there’s only one thing to do ‘bout Billy Hand me down my gun son and bring along that silver dinner bell” But Momma said “Papa I beg you don’t kill him ‘Cause I just couldn’t bear to think about my baby in hell” He went down to the blacksmith got him out of bed and said “Get your fire hot Oh shut up your shutters close down the doors, we’re gonna need all the heat you got ‘Cause I want you to melt my silver bell down to a single shot I got a job to do and I got to get it done before the sun comes up”
So is it any wonder That we hate to see the sun go down
Then we heard a shot and I said “Papa got him” Then we heard a scream and Momma smiled and said “Betcha Billy got him” But when I lifted up my eyes there was Papa in the doorway staring at the floor And my big brother Billy never did come home no more
Now is it any wonder We hate to see the sun go down And is it any wonder We to see the full moon coming ‘round
Marvel Spring Special #1 (October 1988) is the official comic book adaptation of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark movie by Sid Jacobson with pencils by Ernie Colon and inked by Romeo Tanghal. The cover was done by Ernie Colon and Joe Jusko. The black and white magazine is forty-four pages so I will only be posting the first page to give you an idea of the artwork. This is a nice companion to the movie but several scenes are not in the magazine (especially my favorite where Elvira is being spied on). Only one black and white pinup of her is found inside while the back cover has a color pinup. The ads for Stray Toasters and Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers could have been dropped for more pinups of the Mistress of the Dark.
Unfortunately, no one has yet to make a comic book adaptation of her second movie, Elvira's Haunted Hills, which is the better of the two in my opinion.
Jon's Random Acts of Geekery has a special "By the 10's" post featuring every tenth cover of Tomb of Dracula from Marvel Comics. I only have two issues of the horror comic book series (#1 and #9). Be sure to check out his other posts dealing with monsters, superheroes and other fun topics.
The Elvira Fan Club goodies change over time for LadyHeather13 wrote that her Elvira Fan Club pack included a two pocket folder (oh, I like this), two autographed 8 x 10 photos, two pins, a membership card and two Elvira, Mistress of the Dark comics published by Claypool Comics. The new membership fee is now $18 as opposed to the $6.50 when I joined in 1987. Not a bad price considering all that you get.
Barcadi's Halloween Party offers free MP3 music downloads, a short film and desktop wallpapers. Some of the songs available are Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare (one of my favorites), Black Sabbath's Heaven And Hell, Ramones' Pet Semetary and Dream Syndicate's Halloween. The short film is The Bat and is pretty interesting to watch. The desktop wallpapers features a lucky jack-o-lantern with some masked beauties.
In 1987, I finally joined the Elvira Fan Club. One of the items that I received was volume III of The Elvira Examiner. This edition features articles, comic strips, fan art, pictures of Cassandra Peterson with and without the Elvira make up, letters and horrorscope. This is the only newsletter that I received since I never renewed my membership.
I found the following picture of The Elvira Examiner from the 1990s on eBay (I'm so tempted to bid on it). Notice that the header has a picture of the Mistress of the Dark instead of a drawn figure and the paper is white instead of brownish.
Hackoween is the first part of the Halloween Man versus Devil's Due Hack/Slash web comic. You can check out each page as a JPG or you can download it as a PDF for free.
DC Comics was not entirely finished with the Mistress of the Dark and put out Elvira's House of Mystery Special #1 (1987). The cover art of the horror hostess sitting on Santa's lap was done by the very talented Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Her ten page segment is titled "Elvira's Christmas Carol" written by Joey Cavelieri, colored by Shelley Eiber with Frank Springer doing the pencils and inks. The four tales of haunted holidays include "Oh, What Fun to Laugh and Sing a Slaying Song Tonight!", "O, Christmas Tree..." (a one pager), "'Twas the Night before X-Mas..." and "Anyone Ready for Roasted Chestnuts?" (the worst of the bunch).
As my final post about the Mistress of the Dark at DC Comics, I give you thirteen pages of goodies including a very sexy Christmas pinup.
Superman and Batman Vs Vampires and Werewolves #1 hits the newstands today. This is a six issue mini-series that will please fans of horror and superheroes. Tom Mandrake drawn the cover and the story was written by Kevin VanHook.
"A man is killed by a mysterious creature - his body drained of blood. A woman is savagely attacked by a ferocious beast - her jugular ripped out. Bat wings flutter across the moon and the howl of a wolf echoes through the streets, for the creatures of the night have risen from the grave, and humanity's only salvation is the combined might of The Last Son of Krypton and The Dark Knight Detective. Blood will run red when Superman and Batman face off against vampires and werewolves for the fate of the entire DCU! On sale October 15 - 1 of 6 - 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US"
Superman and Batman Vs Vampires and Werewolves #2 will be released on October 29.
Superman and Batman Vs Vampires and Werewolves #1 cover art by Tom Mandrake
